Vincent Kinsington

It had been just over a week since I started living with the Watakeekuls. I still couldn't believe how welcome each of them made me feel. Even Kannika had immediately made herself my little sister. When Chet's parents realized it wasn't going to be so easy for me to just call them mom and dad they told me I could call them by their names Nat and Nate. Those were shortened versions of their full first names - Natcha and Nattapong. Finals were over and school was now out until the beginning of January.

I sat on Chet's bed - our bed - looking at the contacts in my phone. I had made one change to the contacts that Mr. Watakeekul had put into my phone. I had changed boyfriend to My Heart. And since Chet had to change my phone number in his phone anyway and we were no longer hiding that we were dating, he had changed my contact in his phone to My Love.

I had added five other contacts into my phone - Aley, Trev, Mateo, Gareth and Grandma. I pulled up grandma's contact and contemplated calling her. It hadn't been the first time I sat there with her contact pulled up. In the end, I put away my phone. I wouldn't be able to handle it if she sided with my dad and mom. It was safer to just not know.

Chet came into the room, sat on the bed beside me and wrapped his arms around me. "What time is your job interview today?" he asked. He put his chin on my shoulder.

"I should leave in an hour," I said.

"I'll go with you," he said. "Some of the guys from the team are getting together to play soccer on the field. I'll go practice a bit until your interview is through."

"Okay." I had been on a handful of interviews this past week. Today's interview was with the registrar's office on campus. Nat had been kind enough to help me make a resume. She also gave me interview tips and told me to put her down as a reference. She had told me to put Nate as a reference too especially since I had actually worked under him, but I didn't want him to get in trouble at work if my dad found out so I didn't put him as a reference. My other references were Alex and Trevon. I hadn't actually worked with any of my references. The only job I ever had was at my dad's business those two summers.

Despite my lack of references and job experience, I still thought it was going to be easy to find a job. There were plenty of students that hadn't had jobs before they attended the university and they all got jobs. Jobs around the university seemed to be specifically for students that didn't necessarily have job experience. Everyone had to start somewhere.

The interviews I had gone on all seemed to go well. The interviewers seemed to like me and when I discussed them with Nat afterwards, her impressions were that they went well too.

There was a knock on the open bedroom door which startled me because I thought no one was home except me and Chet. Kannika's winter break hadn't started yet so she was still in school and Chet's mom and dad were both supposed to be at work. It was Chet's dad.

"What are you doing home?" Chet asked. "Aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"I came home for lunch," Nate said. There was a slight pause and then he said, "Actually, I wanted to talk to the both of you when Kanni isn't around. Could you come into the living room, please?"

My first thought was that I had done something wrong and they were going to kick me out. But, in my short time here, I didn't think they were the type of people to kick me out.

Chet and I followed him into the living room. He sat in a chair and we sat side by side on the couch.

"What's up?" Chet asked.

Nate wrung his hands together in his lap. "I'm not clueless. I understand what it means when you spent your nights at Vincent's apartment."

Wait...were we about to get the sex talk? I never had one before. What I had learned was from the sex education classes in school and the internet. No one in my family ever talked to me about it. I knew it should have been embarrassing, but honestly, I was a little excited to finally get the talk. Even if it was a little late.

"Dad!" Chet scolded.

"What?" Nate said. "You two obviously had sex."

Chet's head dropped, but I couldn't stop the smile that came to my lips.

"I just want to make sure you two are being careful. Always use a condom."

"Dad!" Chet's head shot back up.

Nate continued talking as if he hadn't been interrupted. "And since you are both men you need to make sure to use lube. Don't use an oil based lube, it can break down the condom."

"Oh my god, dad," Chet said.

I pinched my lips together so I wouldn't start laughing.

"There are different sizes of condoms," Nate went on. "Make sure you always use the right size. You probably need two different sizes..."

"Why?" Chet interrupted.

"Why what?"

"Why would we need two different sizes?"

"Well, obviously because you're going to be different from each other," Nate said.

"We're the same size," I said.

"Really?" Nate asked.

We both nodded. Chet's dad looked at his crotch and then at Chet's.

"DAD!!!" Chet practically screamed aghast.

"I'm sorry," Nate said. "I just didn't think you were bigger than me. I guess you got it from your mother's side. I wonder how big her brothers are."

"Dad! I can't believe you are talking about this."

I couldn't hold in my laughter anymore and I burst out laughing.

"Okay," Nate said. "It doesn't matter. I don't need to know your size or who tops or if you switch. Don't tell me that. I don't want to know. I just want to be sure you two are being careful."

"Don't worry, dad," Chet said. "We have always been careful. We always will be careful. Can we go now? Vincent has a job interview to get to."

We still had time before we had to leave. I was sure Chet just wanted to get out of there and avoid anymore embarrassment.

"Yes, you may go now," Nate said. "I'm glad you both are aware and being safe."

Chet stood, pulled me to my feet and immediately walked to the front door. He opened it, but paused there. He turned back to his dad and said, "It's none of your business, but just because you said not to tell you I'm going to tell you that we switch." And then he pulled me out the door with him.

I burst out laughing again as we walked along the sidewalk hand in hand.

"That was so embarrassing," Chet said. "Sorry you had to be there for that."

I shook my head. "I'm kind of glad it happened. It shows your dad cares. I've never got that talk from my family."

"Really?"

"Really," I said. His hand squeezed mine a little tighter.

"Can I ask what a yaoi manga is, why your sister reads them and why we have to keep it a secret from your dad?" I asked as we got to the bus stop.

Chet laughed this time. "They are boy/boy love comics."

"Okay," I said, "but why do we have to keep it a secret from your dad?"

"Some of them can be explicit," he said.

"Explicit with like sex scenes?"

He nodded.

"And your mom knows and let's her read them?"

"My mom reads them too."

"I know, but your mom is an adult."

Chet shrugged. "Maybe she thinks it's better than Kannika watching porn. Whatever, kids are going to get access to that kind of thing whether their parents want them to or not."

"Did you?" I asked, but already guessed the answer.

"I mean, I saw stuff," he said, "but it never really interested me until you came along. And even then it didn't really turn me on unless I thought about doing those things with you."

The bus came. We got on and sat near the back. I got off first as the stop to the registrar's office came first. The interview went well, I thought. The manager seemed to think highly of me. It was hard to know for sure though as I had no idea how well the other applicants were doing.

I took the shuttle to the soccer field. Alex sat in the empty stands and watched Mateo. I went and sat next to him. It was definitely colder than the last time I sat in these stands. There were dark clouds up above and I wondered if it was going to snow again.

Since it wasn't an official practice and it was colder, they weren't wearing their official uniforms, or shorts. I couldn't even ogle Chet's thighs. I sighed.

"What are you thinking about that causes you to sigh so heavily?" Alex asked me.

"I miss looking at Chet's thighs," I answered honestly.

Alex rolled his eyes, but smiled. "You can still touch them," he said.

"Touching his thighs would lead to things that are not PG13. I miss him shaving my face too."

Alex looked at me strangely. I had never told him about Chet having a thing for my jaw.

"That would lead to other things too," I said.

Alex shook his head. "You two are weird."

"I'm sure you and Mateo must have some weird fetishes too."

He didn't deny it, but didn't admit it either.

When they were through playing soccer, had showered and were back in their regular street clothes, we went to Alex's and Mateo's apartment. We played video games. Gareth showed up not too long after to join us. Chet and I gave up our controllers so we could sit on the couch and cuddle. We could cuddle at his house. That wasn't something that was prohibited, but I could never have enough cuddle time with him.

He looked at me with his deep, brown eyes and blinked lovingly at me while the others played. He closed the distance between us and kissed me gently. I missed his lips on me. We still kissed at his house. I didn't mean I missed his lips on my mouth. I meant I missed his lips on the rest of me.

I took the kiss deeper, moving my wet lips with his, snaking my tongue in his mouth where his eagerly met mine. Our tongues danced with each other, tasted each other. He shifted and leaned into me more. My arms tightened around his waist as his came around my neck. His fingers fisted in my hair.

This kiss was intense and arousing and something I missed even though it had only been a week. He moved so he now sat directly on my lap, his legs on either side of my hips. His hands left my hair and trailed along my jawline. It was amazing to me how his fingertips on my jaw heated me.

His lips broke away from mine and trailed along my jaw. His tongue darted out to lick my skin. I almost moaned, but came out of my reverie enough to remember we weren't alone.

I opened my eyes slightly to see Mateo and Alex making out too. Gareth was still playing the game. My eyes shut again as Chet's mouth neared my ear. He took my earlobe in his mouth and nibbled it and sucked it. I almost moaned then and grabbed onto Chet's thighs to stop myself. Except his firm muscles underneath my hands reminded me how turned on I was of his thighs. The muscles contracted and released under the thick material of the jeans and I squeezed his thighs.

"You know," Gareth said. His words caused not only me and Chet, but also Mateo and Alex to break away from each other. "I normally tease about being the fifth wheel," he said, "but if this makeout session between all of you continues, I'm just going to go home."

"Deal with it," Chet said. "I can't make out at home."

"Remember, Chet," Mateo said, "when I was frustrated that I couldn't have sex and you didn't sympathize with me and I told you to be careful because it might happen to you." Mateo smiled. "I'm kind of happy it's happening to you now."

Chet tried to kick Mateo, but Mateo dodged it.

"You can borrow our apartment," Alex said helpfully.

"No," Mateo and I said at the same time just as Chet said, "Okay." Gareth burst out laughing at all of us.

"You should discuss that with me first before offering it," Mateo said.

"I'm not really comfortable with that anyway," I said.

"Me neither," Mateo said.

"Why not?" Chet and Alex said at the same time.

"It would just be weird," I said.

"But they're offering," Chet said.

"I'm not," Mateo said.

"It would be fine," Alex said.

Gareth started laughing even harder at all of us.

"No," I said to Alex, "but thank you for the offer."

"My dad talked to us about safe sex today," Chet said.

Gareth had quieted, but at this, he started laughing again. "Doesn't he realize you're a little old for that?" Gareth asked.

"He's had the talk with me before," Chet said, "but it was about girls. I guess now that I'm dating a guy he wanted to talk about it again."

"That must have been awkward," Mateo said.

"Why would it be awkward?" Alex asked.

"Didn't your mom ever have the talk with you?" Mateo asked. "I remember when my dad tried. It was embarrassing. That was before he knew I was gay though. He hasn't brought it up again now that I'm out. Thank goodness."

"My mom talked to me about it," Alex said. "I didn't think it was awkward."

"My first talk was today with Chet's dad," I said. "I kind of liked it. It meant he cares."

"My mom had the talk with me," Gareth said. "My dad was too chicken. Honestly though I just came away more confused because after she talked about the basics she talked about how I was supposed to treat the girl. She started out saying I should treat her nicely and respectively. I should be careful not to be too rough or go too fast. But then she said unless they like it rough and fast and then I should go rough and fast. And then I asked her how I was supposed to know what the girl liked and she told me to ask them. But then she told me the girl might not know herself what she likes. I was really confused. I'm still confused."

We all blinked blankly at him.

"Sympathize with me," he demanded. That made us all laugh. Chet was great. His family was great. And his friends were great. I was happy.