Monday, October 29, 2012

Chapter Eleven

Another Monday morning. Chris felt, as he heard his alarm blaring from the nightstand to his right, that he hated Mondays far more than Ty did at the moment. Maybe in time the boy would grow to despise those retched days and to long for the weekends, but for now, Ty still loved any and all days in which he attended school. Chris wanted to throw his clock through the window and go back to sleep.

Instead, he blindly swatted at the alarm until he hit the off button. Almost immediately after the sound ended, Ty burst into the room, brighter than the block of sun which shone through the window and hit Chris's eye as he turned on his side. The little boy skipped over to stand beside the bed, sticking his face as close to Chris's as possible.

“Good morning, daddy,” he giggled. Chris smiled and returned the greeting, though he made no further attempt to get out of bed. Ty waited a few moments, and then ripped Chris's blankets away from him. Chris curled up, still not willing to move, but Ty proceeded to poke Chris in the arm, exclaiming, “You have to get up, there is a surprise for you!”

A surprise?” He tried to sound intrigued, but his eyelids were begging to close once more. Ty gave up on the poking and switched to yanking on Chris's arm. Finally, Chris allowed himself to be pulled out of bed, dragged down the hallway, and shoved into the kitchen, where upon the table sat a full breakfast, eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes.

Stopped in the doorway, Chris shifted his gaze from the table to the little boy at his side. Obviously, Ty could not have done this himself – and if he had, well, Chris had better get the number for Guinness. By the frown on Ty's face as he stared at the breakfast, though, Chris could see that Ty was experiencing his own surprise at the moment.

Ty dropped his hold on Chris and spun around, searching. He mumbled to himself a bit, and then ran back down the hallway. Chris took a few steps into the kitchen, marveling at the spread. From the hall came the sound of a door opening; seconds later, Ty shouted, “There you are!”

Chris backtracked into the living room as Ty hopped into the space. He jumped to a spot just in front of Chris, gestured to the opening of the hallway and let out a little, “Ta-da!” At first, Chris watched Ty and wondered how he could have so much energy so early in the morning, but the dark-haired figure which emerged from the hall caught his attention.

Tristan stood next to Ty with a wide, slightly apologetic, grin. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Sorry, I had to fix my hair.”

The breakfast made a lot more sense now, Chris thought. What didn't make sense was why Tristan had come to their apartment on a Monday morning to cook for them – or, more importantly, how Tristan had been able to get in in the first place.

Perhaps sensing Chris's line of thought, Tristan stepped forward and ran his hand down Chris's arm. “I thought maybe you would be up a little earlier, but Ty opened the door and then we decided to let you sleep while we made breakfast.”

Chris still felt confused, but the rumbling in his stomach demanded priority. The three sat down for breakfast, and over the meal Tristan explained in more depth exactly what had happened. He had brought over some food, intending to surprise an awake Chris and spend some time with his boyfriend while Ty slept. However, he had not anticipated that Ty would be the one to answer the door, but figured that it would be just as nice to spend time with Ty, and to surprise Chris in a different way (which he concluded had been very successful).

After Ty finished eating – or, rather, shoveling eggs into his mouth until he could no longer cram in another morsel, and then swallowing all at once, causing Chris to panic at the thought of Ty choking – Chris sent him off to dress himself and gather his school things. He and Tristan continued to talk.

By the way, we're spending the morning together,” Tristan announced. “I have a few plans for us.”

In the middle of bringing a forkful of sausage to his mouth, Chris paused. “But... you have to work...”

Tristan shook his head with a sly smirk on his lips. He stood up straight, let his eyelids droop and let out a nasty-sounding cough. “I'm not feeling well today,” he croaked. “I have to call out, I'm sorry.”

Chris laughed as Tristan gave a bow. “You know what's going to happen is, like in those sitcoms, when someone skips out on work and then their boss catches them goofing off around town, and you'll get fired.”

They can't fire me for taking one day off. I've called out maybe twice in the whole three years I've worked there.”

You've worked there for three years?”

Tristan smiled, reached across the table to set his hand over Chris's. “See, this is why we need to spend more time together. Plus, I've hardly seen you since you came back.”

Chris recommenced eating. He ran his thumb under the palm of Tristan's hand. “So, what are your plans?”

You'll see.” Tristan removed his hand, shoveled into his mouth the last bit of eggs on his plate. Chris didn't pry further, as he knew he wouldn't get an actual answer, but he did begin to feel the excitement he should have felt earlier when Ty first mentioned the surprise. He had missed Tristan a lot since that night they spent together, and with the stress of speaking to his mother again for the first time in five years, Chris felt he could definitely use a morning like this.

After the men had finished breakfast and Ty had readied himself, the time came to leave the apartment. Chris forced Tristan to stay behind on account of the fact that he couldn't show up at his workplace having called out for the day. Besides, he figured, the drive there and back wouldn't take too long. Tristan could surely find something to keep him occupied while Chris was gone.

Sure enough, when Chris reentered the apartment no more than half an hour later, Tristan had disappeared from his spot on the couch, where he had sat as Chris and Ty left. Chris slipped his shoes off at the door and set out to find the dark-haired man.

Tristan wasn't in the kitchen. The dishes they had used for breakfast had been washed and sat now in the strainer, so he must have been in the room at some point, but not anymore. Chris moved on.

The bathroom was also empty. Tristan must have had his fill of grooming himself earlier. Chris, on the other hand, realized that he had yet to relieve himself that morning, and thus figured he could take a few minutes out of his Tristan hunt to do just that.

Chris never thought about checking Ty's bedroom, as that seemed to be a ridiculous place for Tristan to have moved into. In any case, Chris's room was closer to the bathroom, so he peered into there first.

That was when he saw it: Tristan lay on his bed, leaned back against his pillows, legs stretched in an open V before him, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. Chris stood in the doorway and blinked at him for a while.

Could you believe it?” Tristan began after several moments of silence. “I thought I'd take a quick stroll around the apartment to get my legs stretched, but some strange force sucked me into your room and took off all my clothes!”

Is that so?” Slowly, Tristan nodded. Chris stepped into the room, inched his way to the bed. As he drew closer, he suddenly leaped forward, landed with his knees between Tristan's legs, his hands on either side of Tristan's torso, their faces only inches apart. “Oops, I tripped.”

Tristan smiled. “Your room is a dangerous place to be.” He pushed himself up just enough to mash his lips against Chris's.

Was this part of your plans?” Chris asked in a low voice. Tristan watched his fingers trail down Chris's chest.

Actually, no. But as long as we're here...” As the last word left his mouth, Tristan's hands settled on the button of Chris's pants. His eyes flicked up to Chris's and he bit his bottom lip. Chris leaned down again to kiss Tristan, who started the hefty task of removing Chris's clothes. Tristan managed to wriggle Chris's jeans down to just above his knees, before shoving all of his weight forward and flipping Chris onto his back.

Chris landed on the mattress with a gasp. He always underestimated Tristan's strength. Tristan held up Chris's legs, now wrapped around Tristan's waist, and slid the jeans the rest of the way off. He pushed Chris's shirt up over his stomach, but must have figured that was close enough, and moved his hands down to Chris's boxers. At the same time, Chris reached for Tristan's, not wanting to be the only one exposed.

The rest was just a sweaty blur, albeit an awesome sweaty blur. At least Chris thought so, as he and Tristan, on opposite sides of the bed, slipped their clothes back on. Once fully dressed, Tristan grabbed Chris's hand and led him out of the apartment without a word.

They took Tristan's car, presumably because Tristan knew where they were going. Chris stared out the window at the passing scenery, desperately resisting the urge to ambush Tristan with questions of where they were driving, what they'd do when they got there, how long it would be before they arrived, how long before they left again. Though he couldn't quite see it, Chris thought he felt Tristan's eyes glance at him once or twice every few minutes. He wondered if Tristan wasn't trying just as hard not to spill about the surprise.

Finally, Tristan parked the car in front of a plain brick building, turned to Chris with a hint of a smile. “We're here.”

Chris eyed the building. He felt no disappointment at the sight of such a seemingly uninteresting place; rather, he knew that Tristan would plan something spectacular and try to pass it off as ordinary. If anything, Chris felt even more excited now, itching to figure out what was going on.

While Chris was busy staring, Tristan had managed to slip out of the car, slide around the front, and open Chris's door. Chris started as the door opened and Tristan came into view, but he smiled up – and then down – at Tristan as he stretched his legs out of the car and stood.

Should I close my eyes?” Chris asked jokingly as they approached the building's entrance.

No,” Tristan replied quickly, “I want you to see it as soon as you walk in. And you will see it.”

Chris scrunched his eyebrows at the last remark, but did not outwardly question what Tristan had said. He let the shorter man lead him into the building, all the while still focused on the statement. Did Tristan mean that Chris might refuse to walk into the building?

But Tristan was right. As soon as they entered the little shop, Chris set his eyes upon a truly frightening sight. Right beside the door, set on top of a small platform, stood a mannequin dressed in hippie attire. The mannequin wore a baggy, tie-dye shirt, and an oversized peace-sign necklace. Even more frightening was the mannequin's head, which sported tiny John Lennon-esque glasses, a headband wrapped around a long, dirty blond wig, and a wide grin which had clearly been drawn on with a black permanent marker.

Great,” Chris said, eyes wide and still set on the creepy mannequin. “I'll have nightmares now.”

Tristan laughed loudly, grasped Chris's arm and buried his face in Chris's shoulder. “He's a cutie, i'n't he? I knew you'd love him.”

Chris shuddered, which caused Tristan to laugh harder into his arm. Tristan let his hands fall to Chris's wrist, tugged on his arm to pull him away from the mannequin.

Throughout the shop sat several long, wooden tables, all covered in plastic sheets and supplied with bottles of mysterious colorful liquids, boxes of latex gloves, and large basins. At either end of each table was a kitchen-style sink. While Chris took in all of this, Tristan sauntered over to a small counter on the side of the room opposite the welcoming mannequin.

Hey, you made it back,” a deep voice said as Tristan approached. Chris looked over to see a short blond guy behind the counter, smiling widely at Tristan. But the man's smile quickly faltered as he glanced over at Chris. “Where's your friend?”

I brought a different friend this time,” Tristan replied, waving vaguely back at Chris. “Sorry to disappoint.”

Chris slowly walked up behind Tristan as the two continued their conversation. He eyed the wall behind the blonde man and the various articles of clothing pinned to the wall's surface. Plain white t-shirts, tank tops, v-necks, and even several styles of underwear, covered the wall from ceiling to floor. After looking over the collection for a few minutes, Chris felt Tristan's elbow him in the ribs.

What?” Chris asked, turning to Tristan, who smiled at him.

I said I'll do a tank top this time. You can pick yours.”

Um...” Chris glanced briefly at the wall, but looked back at Tristan with an expression of uncertainty. Tristan watched him for a few moments, laughed, and turned back to the blond man.

Two tank tops.”

The blond man ducked behind the counter. Chris thought he heard the sound of a drawer being pulled out and then pushed back in seconds later. Sure enough, the blond man returned with two white lumps of fabric in his hands. He set the fabric on the counter, punched a few buttons on the register beside him, and rattled off a number to Tristan. While Tristan removed a few bills from his wallet, Chris grabbed one of the tank tops and held it out for examination.

Tristan grabbed his hands, tilting Chris's arms back so that the fabric was pressed against Chris's torso. He smoothed the cloth at the bottom and held it against Chris's stomach.

This'll look really good on you,” Tristan muttered, almost to himself. He grinned up at Chris. Chris hesitated before smiling back, not so sure he agreed with Tristan's comment.

Actually, as he thought about it, Chris realized that he had never worn a tank top in his life. He had worn sleeveless undershirts, but looking over the cloth now in his hands, he could see that the two were very different. The undershirts he wore always had a collar which rested at the very bottom of his neck; this tank top had a neckline which plunged so low that he wasn't sure it shouldn't be called a pec-line instead.

In the midst of contemplating his fashion history, Chris had been dragged over to one of the long tables. Tristan slipped two pairs of latex gloves from the nearest box as the blond man brought over two dye-stained aprons.

If you guys need any help, I'll be over there,” the blond man said, pointing at the counter behind which he had at first been standing. Tristan nodded and thanked him. He brought a second basin over from a few feet down the table, and dunked both tank tops into the solution in each basin.

The shirts had to soak for at least ten minutes before the next step. In the meantime, the men tied on their aprons and snapped on their gloves. Since Tristan had obviously been to the shop before, he undertook the job of showing Chris exactly what to do, how to wring out the cloth once it finished in the solution, how to tie up the fabric with the rubber bands which Chris had not at first seen lying on the tables.

Then came the time to actually apply the dye to the fabric. Chris learned that the plastic cover on the table was meant to prevent the messy dye from not only staining the table, but also affecting future sessions. The last thing anyone would want is to accidentally dip a shirt in a spot of someone else's dye.

Tristan grabbed the bottle of red dye first and began to make little swirls on his fabric. He admitted to Chris that he had little idea of what it would look like when it was finished.

It's not like I can go about sporting only a tank top in November anyway,” Tristan said with a smile and a little shrug. “If it looks bad... well, I can always turn it into a pillow case or something. I've seen stuff like that in magazines, it's pretty cool.”

You read magazines like that?”

They were in Claire's mum's house. We were waiting for dinner to be ready, and while I love Claire's family, I'd rather read stuffy magazines targeted toward women than listen to her dad go on about his last visit to the dentist. Oops,” he added as he squeezed the dye bottle a little too hard, causing a splotch of red liquid to squirt over his gloved hand. He set the bottle down and reached for the blue. “Anyway, it's funny to see how seriously the articles take themselves.”

I don't think the articles do anything by themselves,” Chris quipped, splashing a dash of yellow dye onto his fabric. Tristan smirked and elbowed him.

Mr. Writer. You know what I mean.”

No more than five minutes later, the tank tops were covered in dye and the men were ready to leave. A second employee, this time a blond woman, brought to them two plastic bags meant for the clothes. Each tank top would have to sit for twenty-four hours before the dye could be rinsed out.

After shoving the clothes in the bags, the two men proceeded to remove their gloves and aprons, and to wash off any dye which may have strayed onto skin. They bid farewell to the employees, grabbed their bags, and headed back to Chris and Ty's apartment. Tristan once again drove as Chris sat staring out the window. This time he didn't wonder what Tristan had in mind for them; he figured that the tie-dye workshop had been the big surprise, and that once it came time to bring Ty back to the apartment, Tristan might leave and spend the rest of the day on his own.

But as soon as Chris opened the door, car keys in hand, he realized that Tristan stood right behind him, fully prepared to tag along on the trip to the school. Chris stopped in the doorway and turned to face the other man.

What are you doing?”

Going with you,” Tristan said with an obvious tone. Chris tilted his head.

I thought you'd stay like you did this morning.” Tristan shook his head. “But you can't go, you're supposed to be sick.”

Tristan inched closer to Chris. “Maybe I'm feeling a little better now. Maybe I need some fresh air.” Chris gave him a look which was meant to convey that his opinion on the matter had not changed. Tristan made a little whimpering noise. “I just want to see Claire! She might think I'm actually sick. She might be worried about me.”

I'll tell her you're fine.”

Can you also tell her to call me when she goes to lunch?” Tristan batted his eyelashes at Chris, who nodded in return. Beaming, Tristan stood on his toes and kissed Chris on the cheek. “OK, I'll wait for you here.”

Tristan then swooped over to the sofa and flopped down. He set his head in his hands, rested his arms on the side of the couch, and smiled at Chris, who shook his head with a smile in return. Tristan kept his eyes on Chris as he headed out of the apartment.

As always, Ty jumped excitedly as soon as Chris walked into the classroom, roughly ten minutes later. Within seconds of Chris's arrival, Ty had gathered all of his belongings and bolted toward the door. Chris almost didn't realized Ty had even passed him until the little boy was standing in the hallway, tapping his foot impatiently. Chris stared at him with wide eyes as the pair met in the hall.

“Come on, daddy, we have to get back home,” Ty said, in a tone much less chipper than normal. Chris briefly wondered if he'd stepped into some parallel universe where their roles had switched; Ty the parent, and Chris the child.

Chris stared at Ty for a while, lost in thought, as Ty slowly raised both of his eyebrows. Once the brows reached their maximum height, Ty let out a groan and latch his hand onto Chris's, tugging so hard that Chris actually exclaimed in pain.

Sorry, but you weren't moving!”

“All right, calm down,” Chris replied. The desk where Claire stood quickly came into reach. Chris took back control and pulled Ty over to the desk. He informed Claire of Tristan's message, to which she simply rolled her eyes and asked Chris to let Tristan know she would call him.

Indeed, not long after Chris and Ty had returned to the apartment, Tristan's cellphone went off. Ty had slipped into his room to put his backpack away and to change into play clothes, while Chris and Tristan lounged on the sofa in the living room.

OK, so once Ty is done, we're going to move on to Phase Two. I think he named it 'Playtime,' but I can't remember exactly.” Neck leaning against the back of the sofa, Chris let his head fall to the side so that he faced Tristan. He raised his eyebrows.

There's more?”

Is that bad?”

Chris shook his head. “I didn't realize you planned more.” Tristan gave a sly grin, and then glanced over his shoulder to look down the hallway. At that precise moment, Ty bolted out of his room and toward the men, sporting an old pair of jeans and a light sweater. He stopped only inches from the back of the sofa, and immediately proceeded to bounce in place, pressing most of his weight down each time to lift himself into the air.

“Let's go, let's go!” Ty chanted this several times as Chris watched him with a careful expression.

Once the little boy settled a bit, Chris leaned toward Ty and whispered, “Where are we going?”

Ty mimicked Chris, stifling a grin as he tilted forward. “I can't tell you.” He jumped back to his original position in a flash, and began to hop around once more. This time, though, he did not remain stationary; with each step, Ty brought himself closer to the front door, most likely with the intention of forcing the adults to follow him. It worked, of course. Ty couldn't open the door by himself, but once Chris turned the handle for him, the little boy shoved the piece of wood out of the way and ran out of the apartment.

For the third time in a few short hours, Chris slid into the passenger seat of Tristan's car. They had to move Ty's car seat into the back, but luckily the process did not entail much work, and Chris was used to moving the seat every time Ty went to visit Kirsten.

Ty provided the music for the drive, belting several improvised songs about surprises, excitement, and how it's not nice to keep secrets from someone, especially a parent, unless the secret is a surprise, in which case it is “lotsa fun.” Tristan joined in after a while, trying to sing along with the chorus as Ty made it up, and even contributing his own verse about watching boyfriends squirm as they try to guess what your surprise is.

Chris wanted to sing a song about feeling like an outsider, but by the time he thought of even a few lines, they had arrived at their destination. Ty kindly informed him that singing would no longer be permitted.

As soon as Chris unbuckled Ty from the car seat, the little boy slipped underneath him and out of the car. Though he'd already had Chris's attention, he tugged at Chris's jeans several times. With his back against the open car door, Chris looked down at the boy.

Can I go play now?” Ty asked, using his free hand to point to the playground which sat a few hundred feet away from the parking lot.

Go for it,” Tristan answered, before Chris could even open his mouth. Chris shot a glare at Tristan, who returned an innocent look and a shrug. “Kid's been waiting for it all day.”

Chris turned back to Ty with a hint of a smile. “Yeah, you can go play.”

Ty squealed, released his grip on Chris, and bolted across the grass stretched between the car and the playground. Chris kept his eyes on Ty while maneuvering around to close the car door. Tristan walked around the front of the car to stand behind Chris, who did not realize until Tristan set his hands over Chris's shoulders. The dark-haired man laughed at the fright he'd caused.

That was your second surprise.” Mouth twisted in a stifled grin, Chris pushed his arm back to lightly elbow Tristan in the ribs. But Tristan was much quicker, and managed to step back and dodge Chris's jab just in time.

Tristan reached up to peck Chris on the cheek as he walked around the taller man, headed for the trunk of his car. From within he removed a half-used bag of bread, which now sported several patches of mold. Chris stepped over, eying the bread with caution.

Lunch?”

Tristan let his head fall back as he let out an oddly loud cackle. Chris didn't think it was that funny. He shifted his cautious gaze from the bread to Tristan.

We're going to feed some duckies, Mr. Martin.”

Chris shook his head. “That's not good for the ducks, you know.”

Silence reigned over the men for several seconds as Tristan narrowed his eyes at Chris, thinking. He tilted his head and let his eyelids open again. “Really?”

Well, first of all, it's all moldy,” Chris said, flicking the bag with his pointer finger, “but, anyway, ducks can't digest bread like humans can. There's just not enough nutrients for them.”

Tristan glared down at the bread with a deep frown. “What am I supposed to do with this, then?”

Chris shrugged his shoulders; Tristan sighed with great force. He tossed the bag into the open trunk and closed the top with some melancholy. Chris twisted up his mouth and leaned close to the dark-haired man.

Did I ruin it?”

Tristan looked at him with a gloomy expression, his face unchanging for so long that Chris began to fear he had messed up even more than he thought. But then the corner of Tristan's lip quirked up, and Chris felt a little lighter.

We can talk to them, at least.”

I think they'll like that.” Chris stepped forward to press a kiss to the top of Tristan's head, as Tristan grabbed one of his hands and began to lead the pair toward the small pond just to the side of the playground.

Besides, this part of the plan was more for Ty,” Tristan continued as they walked. Overcome with a sudden swell of gratitude, Chris leaned over and kissed Tristan again, this time hitting just below his eye. Tristan laughed and shrugged. “He never plays with the other kids during recess. He stands off toward the doors and just sort of talks to himself.”

He likes it that way.”

Well, sometimes there's this other little girl he plays with. Alicia, I think.” Tristan glanced over at the playground, and Chris followed his gaze. A group of kids crowded around the monkey bars, which drew their attention first; however, Ty was underneath a little platform by the largest plastic slide, his fingers brushing through the tufts of grass at his feet as he mumbled to himself. “But other than that, he's always alone.”

Tristan's words hit Chris a little harder with the image of Ty hiding from the other children. He began to feel a bit sorry for the little boy, even though he knew Ty really didn't mind being on his own. His imagination was active enough to make up for the lack of company. Besides, Chris could see that Ty chose this for himself. Ty wanted to be away from the other children, for whatever reason.

Chris's thoughts were interrupted by an absurdly loud quacking noise. Tristan whipped around to find a large, green duck waddling in their direction. He bent down and stretched his arm out to the duck.

Hey, mate,” he began, only to be immediately interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. He exclaimed briefly, then jumped up and dug the phone out of his pocket. He flipped it open and pressed it to his ear. “Hi, Claire!”

The phone conversation continued as Tristan walked along the edge of the pond. Chris placed himself in Tristan's position before the duck, but the duck wasn't so willing. As soon as he set his feet down, the duck turned around and waddled back to the water.

Chris heaved a sigh and sat himself down on the ground, knees to his chest. He twisted so that he could observe Ty, who still sat in solitude. Ty whispered something and began to crack up. Chris could almost hear the little boy's laughter over the sounds of the other children shouting to one another.

Moments later, another laugh sounded, this time from Tristan. Chris looked over to the dark-haired man, who continued to smile and almost giggle in a rather flirtatious manner. He spoke into his phone, but Chris was so far into his own thoughts at this point that he did not hear a word Tristan said. Instead, he kept hearing two distinct voices echo in his head...

I hope he makes you happy –

Chris let his eyes trail over the grin consuming Tristan's face. He thought about the evening they'd spent together during the book tour, the way he almost had to force himself to think of his boyfriend as he fell asleep that night. He liked spending time with Tristan, sure. Tristan was a great guy.

when he doesn't, I hope you find someone else to make you happy...

But not quite enough. Maybe if the past month had gone differently, maybe if Chris hadn't gone away, hadn't met up with the one person he could never stop thinking of since the day they met, then the relationship could have thrived. Maybe he and Tristan could have formed some sort of family – Chris shifted his gaze over to Ty, still in solitude – even if it may have been a non-traditional one.

Chris knew all of those things could still be possible, but the amount of work he and Tristan would have to put into the relationship didn't seem worth it in the end. Despite what the logical side of his brain screamed at him, he remained hopeful that what Jonathan had said to him would prove true, that the pair would one day be reunited and stay that way forever; that not only did the concept of soul-mates actually exist, but that he had found his already, even though he had only barely lived his life so far.

Which brought him to the second voice:

It seems like you're waiting for someone else, anyway...

It wouldn't be fair for Chris to pretend he had never questioned the strength of their bond, or wondered why they even decided to pursue anything past the first date, which had been, if he was completely honest, a disaster. On top of Tristan ditching Chris for a chance to cling to the past, they had both realized even back then that whatever relationship they might have would only be temporary. Filler.

There's always that one person,” they had said to each other. Chris could never deny it. He was waiting for someone else – and, turning his gaze back to the dark-haired man howling at whatever joke Claire had just made, he could see that Tristan was, too.

What he didn't know was why all of this had suddenly hit him, here, in the middle of the day at the playground, after he and Tristan had spent the morning together. He thought he had enjoyed the time, but perhaps the numerous mentions of Claire had sparked something in his mind. Ever since Chris had returned from the book tour, Tristan seemed different. Now, Chris felt like his eyes were opened and he could see exactly what had transpired: Tristan hadn't changed at all. His devotion to Claire only appeared more obvious now, because Chris knew to look for it. If he had the option to go back in time, he felt certain he would have noticed it back when he and Tristan first met, when Chris first brought Ty to the school for orientation.

The way Tristan looked at Claire. The way he smiled whenever he spoke of his blonde friend. And they were friends, clearly best friends for who knows how long. Tristan and Claire seemed like the kind of duo who would roam around and completely own the school hallways, despite being the biggest outcasts in their grade.

Of course, Chris may have borrowed from fiction for that mental image; he had grown through his teenage years with a very different school environment, surrounded only by boys who tried to impress him simply because his father had power. Chris never had a best friend like that. He might have considered Jonathan for the role, but their relationship still couldn't match, since they had at first only known each other in a romantic sense, and became friends later. Chris had no idea exactly how long ago Tristan and Claire had met, but they acted as if they had grown together since birth.

So, Chris and Tristan both had attempted to fill a void that the other simply could not fill. It was hopeless to even try, and unfair for all of the parties involved. It couldn't go on.

Chris was brought back to the moment by the loud snap of Tristan closing his phone. His eyes followed Tristan as he stalked back toward the water and sat down beside Chris.

Claire and I are going out for dinner later. Would you and Ty like to join us?” Chris could not answer, or at the very least had no desire to answer. He stared at Tristan as blankly as possible, until Tristan finally cracked and asked, “What happened?”

You and Claire should go by yourselves.” Though Chris had not inflected any malice into his tone, Tristan still looked at him as if he had accused the dark-haired man of some terrible crime.

Chris–”

Tristan,” Chris immediately retorted. “It's OK.”

Tristan kept his gaze on Chris for only a moment longer. Then, he looked down at his feet, scratched at the back of his neck. His shoulders sagged just slightly, but enough for Chris to notice. When Tristan next spoke, his voice was much lower, much sadder.

I thought it was going to happen this time. I thought, this is a brilliant guy, very sweet, very dorky in an endearing way. There's a lot to admire about you, but... Well, to be honest, sometimes you make me feel stupid, and not the kind of stupid that people who are in love are supposed to feel.” Quickly, Tristan glanced up at Chris and reassured, “Not that it's your fault. You're just too smart for me.”

You're really intelligent–” Chris cut off his argument as Tristan began to shake his head.

I wanted to be a teacher. That's all I wanted, ever since I first went to school. I wanted to teach kids.” As he continued to speak, Tristan's voice started to crack, and his eyes began to water. “But I couldn't even make it through my second year of college. I spent all of my time doing schoolwork, but I was still failing almost all of my classes. I gave up. I dropped out.

Don't get me wrong. I love my job. It's really working with children that I like the most. Except, when I'm at the school, sometimes it feels like too much. There's all these people who made it, who are doing what they love, and then there's me, who can't do more than make photocopies of permission slips for the next class trip.” Tristan squeezed his eyes shut and hid his face in his hands. “God, I'm sorry. You don't want to hear about all that.”

Sure I do.” Chris set his hand on Tristan's back. Tristan dropped his hands with a sigh.

I think part of why I like Claire is because we're in the same boat. I don't have to feel so bad when she's there making photocopies with me,” he said with a hint of a smile.

“If it makes you feel better,” Chris began, brushing back a bit of Tristan's hair with his fingertips, “I'm in love with someone else, too.”

Tristan nodded, nudging his head into Chris's hand. Chris wrapped his arm around Tristan's shoulder and let his chin rest on the back of Tristan's neck. He would miss this, definitely; there still existed a great amount of attraction to the dark-haired man on Chris's part, but every time he thought about a future between them, a real future, his feelings just sort of crumbled away.

After a while, Tristan pushed away, smiled up at Chris. “Let's go keep Ty company,” he said, grabbing Chris's hand and using his other arm to push himself off the ground.

The crawl space under the slide just barely fit one grown man, let alone two and a small child, but the trio somehow managed to make it work. With Tristan and his father there, though, Ty became a bit more outgoing, and decided to venture outside of the hiding spot. Chris and Tristan were too large to really run around and play with Ty, but they did at least wait for Ty at the bottom of the slide, or stand by the monkey bars to help the little boy swing across. A few of the other kids made an attempt to talk to Ty at one point, but they quickly lost interest and ran off without him.

Nearly two hours later, Ty flopped down in a bit of grass and buried his head in his knees. He hadn't seemed upset, but Chris grew a bit worried at the sight of the boy curled into himself like that. When Chris approached Ty, however, he could see almost immediately that the boy looked more exhausted than anything else.

Ty blinked slowly a few times as he stared up at Chris. “Daddy,” he said in a quiet voice, “I don't want to play anymore.”

Do you want to go home and watch a movie?” Ty nodded his head, and then proceeded to fall forward into Chris's torso. Chris laughed, and heaved the boy up so that he could carry Ty back to Tristan's car. Tristan, who had been standing a few feet away, must have understood that it was time to leave, as he headed for the car just as Chris got to his feet. Within five minutes, they were all packed in the car, buckled up and ready to leave.

Ty ran into the apartment building as soon as Chris let him out of his car seat. Tristan stepped out for a moment; he and Chris shared one last goodbye hug and kiss, before Chris mentioned that he needed to make sure Ty hadn't been kidnapped by the neighbors. Tristan laughed and shook his head, went back into the car without another word.

Of course, Ty had remained completely safe within the building. He stood by the door, waiting for his father, and when Chris finally appeared, he grabbed his hand and the two ascended the stairs in silence.

Ty curled up on the sofa while Chris stuck a disc in the DVD player. He hit the play button, and then slipped into the kitchen to prepare two wholesome grilled-cheese sandwiches. The film was already well into the exposition by the time he returned, but he and Ty had watched the movie so many times that they both knew every line and action by heart.

Once the sandwiches had been consumed, Chris set his and Ty's plates on the coffee table. Leaning back, he stretched his arm over the top of the sofa. Ty shifted over several inches, laid his head on Chris's chest. The pace of the movie had slowed considerably, now that the build-up of the main plot had shifted into the execution of the story, and Chris knew that for the moment Ty's attention had worn thin. Chris reasoned that he was also probably still tired from playing all afternoon.

Daddy,” Ty said in a voice so quiet that Chris almost didn't hear him. “Tristan won't be coming over anymore, will he?”

Surprised yet again by Ty's intuition, Chris stared down at the boy, blinked a few times as he thought of how to respond. He figured an honest answer would be best. “No, he won't. But we'll still see him at the school.”

Ty sat straight up and glared into Chris's eyes. His unidentifiable expression left Chris feeling a little uncomfortable after only a short while; eventually, though, he broke the eye contact and muttered, “OK.”

Are you sure?” Chris asked, a reflex of sorts. He didn't really want to push the subject, but he didn't want Ty to be upset, either.

Now looking toward the TV – though Chris could see that his attention hadn't shifted back to the movie just yet – Ty tilted his head to the right. His eyebrows scrunched ever so slightly toward one another as he appeared to become lost in thought. Chris fidgeted in his seat while he waited for Ty's reply.

By the time Ty finally did speak again, Chris had gone back to watching the movie. Once again, he almost missed Ty's soft voice.

Ms. L. read us a story that said when a door closes, then there's a second door that also opens.” Chris glanced down at Ty, who had pushed his eyebrows even closer to each other. His mouth twisted. “Tristan isn't a door, I think, but it means that something else good will happen soon.”

Stifling a bit of a laugh, Chris bent forward and pressed a kiss to Ty's forehead. Ty smiled, apparently pleased that he said the right thing. He turned his beam to the TV and spoke with a much louder voice.

Maybe Jonny will come back.”

Chris felt a squeezing and burning sensation in his chest at the mention of Jonathan. He knew he had already gotten his hopes up that Jonathan would return one day – but surely it wouldn't happen any time soon. It had only been a few weeks since they ran into one another at the coffee shop, and only a few hours since Chris and Tristan broke off their relationship. Even if Jonathan's speech were to become true, they probably would not even meet up again for another few years. Jonathan was off performing in his jazz band; there was no reason for him to suddenly show up anywhere near Chris and Ty's apartment other than during a tour, in which case he certainly wouldn't be sticking around for very long.

No, the door had closed on Tristan, but the next one would not open to reveal Jonathan. And even if it did, well, Chris didn't want to think about it, because he knew he would drive himself crazy if he did. He'd be alert everywhere he went, eyes darting around in search of those brilliant green eyes. Every man over six feet would catch his eye, every tuft of light brown hair would send his heart racing and his mind whirring – Was that him? Could that have been Jonathan? What about that guy over there?

But he could let Ty hold onto his hope. It might not be easy to hear the little boy talk about Jonathan, but Chris knew he could suffer through it. Plus, Ty seemed so certain when he spoke. Knowing Ty's knack for this sort of thing, Chris thought it at least plausible that the boy could be right.

Chris had been internally fighting himself for so long that he far passed the chance to add any comment to Ty's statement. Instead, he kept silent, and tried to rein in his thoughts as the rest of the movie played. Once the first movie had finished, Ty selected another DVD to watch; then another as the end credits rolled on the second movie. Chris thought about sitting at his computer and working on the article due the following week, but ultimately he decided to spend the time with Ty. One night wouldn't hurt.

Anyway, he was able to write the bulk of the article the next day while Ty was in school. It hadn't been as awkward running into Tristan that morning as he thought it might have been. Of course, Claire had been elsewhere when Chris and Ty entered the building. Perhaps if the three of them had been in the one area, Chris might have felt differently. In any case, their interactions went smoothly, and so Chris lost barely any time fretting, and was able to get even more work done than he had expected. He only stopped once it was time to retrieve Ty.

For roughly another week, Chris and Ty's schedule remained this way. Chris brought Ty to school as usual, sometimes stopping to talk to Tristan, other times just waving as he walked past. He didn't believe anything had happened yet between Tristan and Claire, but he could see they had already started to grow even closer. Oddly, Chris felt a deep sense of happiness for Tristan. He'd be far better off with Claire than he ever would have been with Chris.

After doing any schoolwork he had brought home, Ty would either watch a movie, or play some sort of game with Chris. One night, in the midst of an intergalactic heist, their concentration was broken by a loud knock on the door. Despite the interruption, Ty never broke character.

It's the Space Police!” he said in a hushed voice. “Quick, put on your disguise and answer it. I'll hide.”

Chris dropped the imaginary gun he held and headed for the door. He was stopped by an odd squeaking noise Ty made. He glanced over to see the boy frantically waving to him.

“Daddy, the disguise.”

Ty pointed to his pocket, and then his upper lip. Chris blinked several times. He hadn't thought Ty was serious about the disguise – though he should have known. Ty always took playtime seriously.

Chris stuck his hand into his pocket. He removed from it a small piece of paper with a fake mustache attached, a cute little strip of false facial hair which Chris had bought for Ty from a gumball machine. Little did he know as he pulled the plastic cup from the gumball machine that he would be the one to wear it. He peeled the mustache away from the paper and stuck it over his own stubble.

Ty was really lucky that Chris loved him so much.

With a bit of a sigh, Chris pulled open the door to the apartment. He hoped that whoever was on the other side would understand, that he wouldn't have to be embarrassed as he explained why exactly he donned a fake mustache, especially when he was clearly capable of growing a real one.

What he didn't expect to find behind the door was a man over six feet with light-brown hair and green eyes. Chris felt his entire body freeze, everything except for his heart. Jonathan looked a bit scruffy, even more so than when they had met at the coffee shop. His clothes seemed a little baggy and dirty. But Jonathan himself stared at Chris with quite a smile on his face. Chris forgot all about his mustache, and jumped forward without hesitation to wrap his arms around Jonathan. To make sure this was real.

Nice mustache,” Jonathan spoke, a soft laugh under each word. He let a few seconds pass before speaking again. “I'm glad you guys didn't move, or I wouldn't know where the hell you were.”

Chris couldn't speak; he couldn't do anything more than squeeze his arms a little tighter around Jonathan's shoulders. Jonathan responded with a similar move, though his arms were around Chris's midriff. The two stayed that way for a long time –

Until rustling sounds broke the silence and Ty shouted, “What's going on over there?” Chris slid his hands over Jonathan's shoulders as he pulled away, staring into the green eyes he had missed for far too long. Ty appeared around the edge of the door, still standing to accommodate the imaginary space armor he wore. But he quickly dropped the facade as he stared up at Jonathan. Instant recognition lit his eyes.

Jonny!”

Ty bolted for Jonathan's legs, probably meaning to hug Jonathan's kneecaps, but Jonathan knelt to the ground just before Ty reached him. They shared a hug similar to the one Jonathan had just shared with Chris. Jonathan laughed as Ty did a bit of a dance in his arms.

You've gotten a lot bigger since the last time I saw you.”

When you saw me, was I really little?”

You were really little,” Jonathan affirmed, leaning back and setting his hand down toward the ground to show Ty how small the boy had been. “About that tall, and you could talk, but not exactly English.”

Ty giggled. “I always speak English now.”

I'm sure with your dad being a writer, you probably know how to speak English better than I do.”

I wouldn't say that,” Chris interjected. Jonathan looked up at him and smiled.

Hey, I didn't know you could say anything at all!”

Chris tried to smile back, but still felt too shocked to really move. “Why don't you come in?”

Jonathan glanced over at Ty, who stepped back far enough to allow Jonathan into the apartment. He stood and walked past Chris. Chris thought his legs might turn to jello if he tried to use them, but he knew he couldn't just stand in the doorway for the rest of his life. He closed the door and took a few steps forward. Sure enough, he did feel shaky on his legs, but was able to cover it up by holding onto Jonathan's shoulder for support.

With a quick announcement that he would be right back, Ty ran off to his room, leaving the two men to themselves. Chris had so much he wanted to say, so much he was trying to say in his head, but which he could not bring himself to actually utter. When he opened his mouth, he found he could only get out one question:

Is this it?”

Almost immediately, he wanted to hide his head in embarrassment; as it was, he could already feel his cheeks redden. It was something which under normal circumstances he'd have thought about saying, but would have decided against actually letting the words out. This time, he had no control. It had just sort of shot out of his mouth, and now he had to deal with the consequences.

The three small words seemed to convey enough meaning to Jonathan, at least. He shrugged a shoulder and replied, “My band split. We knew it was coming soon. We've been fighting like mad. Thought I'd live with my mum for a while...”

Then he looked at Chris, as if to say that it was Chris's decision from there. The pressure sent a terrible burning sensation up Chris's throat. “I don't have a boyfriend anymore.”

Jonathan nodded, thought for a quick second. “Are you sure?”

Chris thought he saw one of Jonathan's eyelids flutter down in a wink, but he wasn't entirely certain, and he couldn't ask, because Ty came rushing into the room only moments later. Judging by the smile on Jonathan's face, though, Chris hadn't simply imagined the gesture.

Ty explained to Jonathan that he had gone to grab an extra set of armor for the man. Jonathan accepted it with a polite nod, and suited up within seconds. Next, Ty handed him a gun, as well as a duffel bag – Jonathan would be the one to carry the loot from the job.

Chris stood dumbfounded for a while, until Ty tapped him on the arm and told him that he needed to get his armor back on. As Chris moved his hands over his body to mimic dressing, he realized that the fake mustache still stuck to his face. Realizing then that he had just had a serious semi-conversation with Jonathan while wearing a mustache meant for children, Chris momentarily lost the desire to continue playing with Ty, instead wishing he could shove himself under the sofa until so much time had passed that no one could possibly remember he had ever even been close to a fake mustache in his life.

He couldn't do that, of course, and a voice in the back of his head told him that braving such embarrassment would provide a good example for Ty. He could push through this if he convinced himself he was doing it in the name of good parenting. He ripped off the mustache, shoved it back in his pocket, and resumed putting on his armor.

The heist went off with only a few minor mishaps: The Space Police really did come after them, but Ty was able to shift the spaceship into manual control and navigate toward a large patch of meteors, where they proceeded to lose the officers. When they landed back on the home planet, Ty accidentally drove right into a parked spacecraft. He made sure to leave his space insurance information and a note of apology.

Finally, they arrived at their space apartment, safe, sound, and in possession of over ten billion British space pounds. They celebrated a little at the successful completion of the job – Chris wrapped Jonathan up in a hug, so excited that he actually lifted Jonathan a few inches off the ground, and then became embarrassed again – after which they settled that they would split the money three ways, each person free to do whatever they pleased with their share.
For a while, they imagined ways to spend their money. Chris said that he would buy a nice mansion for he and Ty to live in (throwing furtive glances at Jonathan every few seconds to judge the other man's expressions). Ty would invest his money in the space stock market and let it go from there. Jonathan bought with his money an array of musical instruments, not only for jazz, but for any and all possible genres. He spoke with much more passion about his purchases than either Chris or Ty did; Chris felt a swelling in his chest, and even Ty seemed to be in awe of Jonathan's demeanor.

Eventually, it drew close enough to Ty's bedtime that they had to end their play. Ty frowned, but did not fight. As he once again dropped his act, Ty scuttled over to Chris. He leaned in close and gave his father the best puppy-dog eyes he could muster. “Daddy, can Jonny sleep here tonight?”

Chris smiled with a slight sigh. He directed his answer at Ty, though clearly he was speaking to Jonathan. “He can stay if he wants.”

He glanced over at Jonathan just as the other man threw him a smirk. Their eyes met, and he knew: They would never have to be apart again.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Chapter Ten

Chris tugged the handle of his wheeled suitcase. Rolling over the linoleum floor, the hard plastic made a terrible, hollow noise, one which Chris had always hated. The sound brought images of a man trapped in a dark room with no windows and no doors, barely any air to breathe. Chris could find no conscious reason to connect the two, the sound and the image, but still his mind forced him to imagine those suffocating conditions.

But this was not a time to panic over mere fantasy. Chris focused instead on the signs above his head as he walked through the airport. He focused on the conversations taking place between those who were leaving and those who would be left behind, between those who had stayed and those who were coming home.

He increased his pace, though the noise of the suitcase grew louder as a consequence. He didn't care. He wanted to be part of those conversations.

The signs seemed endless, advertising various shops and giving directions to those who had lost their way. Chris passed by numerous groups of people engaged in heartwarming reunions. Though with every passing second he knew he grew closer to a reunion of his own, he felt more like he was trapped in a continuous loop, doomed to witness the happiness of others and never reach his own. The noise was driving him crazy.

And then, from amidst the sea of people emerged a call. A young boy yelled, with preposterous volume, “DADDY!” and before Chris had the chance to register the shout the same boy sprinted toward him, his mother left behind in the crowd.

Only a second passed before Chris finally did recognize the little curly-haired boy running across the stretch of empty floor to reach him. He kept his pace until Ty approached, only a few feet away now. He released the handle of his suitcase and dropped down on one knee. Ty ran right into his arms, buried his tiny face right into Chris's chest.

Chris held on as tightly as he could without squishing Ty. Ty seemed to be the same weight he was when Chris left, so Chris knew that he could at least trust Kirsten to feed the boy. He did notice that Ty now had a considerably lesser amount of hair atop his head than before. Chris asked about it.

“Mommy said it was too long and she didn't want to 'drag a brush through it every morning',” Ty explained, with the best impression of Kirsten he could muster. “So she cut it all off. But I said that's OK, now I look more like daddy!”

“That you do.” Chris skimmed his hand over the top of Ty's head. “She's right, though. It'll be nice to not have to worry about brushing it.”

Ty nodded with great enthusiasm. Then, he leaned in close to Chris and in a lowered voice said, “And guess what? Alicia said that I look very handsome with this haircut.”

Chris smiled. “Well, that was nice of her. Did you thank her for saying that?”

“Yes, I did. I said, 'Thank you, Alicia. Your hair looks very pretty, too.'”

“I'll bet she liked that.” Ty nodded once more, though more calmly. Chris ruffled his hair a bit. “Ah, you'll be a stud one day, Ty. You'll make all the ladies swoon.”

Ty shrugged, most likely indicating that he had no idea what Chris was talking about. He fidgeted a little and glanced back at Kirsten. “Daddy. Can we go home now?”

“Yeah.” Chris stood, grabbed his suitcase, and the two walked back to where Kirsten stood.

As they approached, Kirsten folded her arms across her chest and glared down at Ty. “There, are you happy now? He's back.” She sighed and switched her gaze to Chris. “He wouldn't shut up about it. It was driving me crazy. You'd think you'd been gone for years, not one month.”

Chris thought Kirsten sounded unreasonably harsh about the situation, but as he spared a look at Ty he saw that the little boy did not seem bothered by it at all, and so he let it go. They left the airport then and walked around the parking lot for a few minutes before Kirsten remembered exactly where she had parked.

On the ride home, Chris opted to sit in the back seat of Kirsten's car with Ty so that they could catch up. It was simply a bonus that he wouldn't have to deal with Kirsten that way, though she did make the occasional comment on Ty's stories, mostly to defend herself against anything she thought might make her look bad.

When finally they arrived at Chris and Ty's apartment, Kirsten dropped the boys off and, after a hasty goodbye, sped off down the road. Since the one elevator in the building had never worked quite properly, the two boys were left to hauling their luggage up the stairs. Chris noticed that Kirsten had decided to stuff all of Ty's clothes into a few plastic bags rather than trying to fit them back into the suitcase – which actually was beneficial in the long run. Chris could pull his own suitcase and the bags of Ty's clothes up the stairs while Ty dragged his own suitcase behind him, considerably lighter than it would have been with the clothes inside.

Upon entering the apartment for the first time in a month, Ty dropped his suitcase by the door and bolted through the living room and down the hallway to his bedroom, shouting, “My room!”

Chris caught up with him within a minute. He found Ty lying face-down on his bed with his arms spread out, embracing the mattress.

“Oh, I missed you so much, bed,” Ty said, his voice muffled by the blankets. Chris stood in the doorway, leaned against the frame and laughed. “I'll never leave you again. Unless I go over to mommy's for a night. Or if I go to a sleepover or something. Some boys in my class have sleepovers, maybe one day I will go to one of those. But any other time, I will not leave you.”

“Ty,” Chris chuckled, “if you love your bed so much, why don't you marry it?”

Ty rolled around on the mattress until he was able to glance at Chris while still lying face-down. He ran his tiny hand over the blanket. “Can I, daddy?”

“Yeah, I'll send out the invitations.”

“You can't send out invitations if we elope.” Ty spoke so casually that for a second Chris nearly forgot he was speaking to a five-year-old. Quickly, this became one of the rare moments in which Chris realized just how often Ty watched movies, for Ty couldn't have learned such language anywhere else.

Chris pushed himself off the doorway and into the room. “Then I'll drive you to the chapel.”

Ty jumped to his feet immediately, leaped from the mattress and into Chris's arms. Chris barely reacted quickly enough to catch the boy, and he let out a small “Oof!” as Ty slammed into his chest.

“Thank you, daddy.” Ty had his arms wrapped tight around Chris's torso. Chris tried to pry them away for a moment so he could shimmy Ty up a bit and get a better grip on the boy, but Ty refused to let go. After a few moments, Chris had to set him down.

But as soon as his feet hit the ground, Ty clasped his arms around Chris's legs instead. Chris bent down and gave Ty a proper hug.

“I'm glad you're back now,” Ty whispered. Chris stroked his hand over Ty's freshly cut hair. “I love mommy, but she's not as nice as you. She wouldn't let me watch movies.”

“Well, you're home now, and guess what?” Chris pulled back a bit to see, and as he did so Ty mimicked his action. Ty looked at him with oddly calm eyes. “We have the entire afternoon, and a huge stack of movies in the living room that haven't been watched in a whole month.”

A grin spread wide across Ty's small face. Chris stood up and held his hand out to Ty.

“But first I have a present for you.” Ty gasped as he grabbed onto Chris's hand. Chris led them out of Ty's room and into his own bedroom.

“What is it?” Ty asked.

“It's something I made while I was gone.”

Chris flicked on the bedroom light; though it was still daytime, his curtains were drawn, and he didn't feel like going through the trouble of opening them up. He brought Ty over to the bed, where Chris's open suitcase rested. On top of the stack of clothes sat a white package. Chris removed this package and handed it to Ty.

“What is it?” Ty ran his hands over every inch of the package. He put his ear up to the wrapper and shook the present, but it made no noise other than the sound of his hands against the exterior. Finally, he flipped the package over and neatly unsealed the wrapper.

He pulled from the envelope a stack of card-stock paper which had been glued together on one end to make a spine. He looked blankly at the top of the pile, a paper with words written in a large font and a picture of a small boy flying a kite. Ty had no clue what the words said, but he thought the picture looked very nice, and he knew almost instantly what this present was.

Ty directed his gaze at Chris. “Is this a book?” Chris nodded. Ty beamed. “You got me a book?”

“No, I wrote it for you.” Ty's jaw dropped. He turned back to the book, eyes fervently scanning the cover. “Uncle Alex drew all the pictures.”

Ty pointed to three tinier words at the bottom of the cover, just under the illustration. He ran his finger over each letter. “By... Chris Martin?”

“Yeah,” Chris quickly answered, blinking several times in rapid succession. “Did you just read that by yourself?”

Ty glanced at Chris. He frowned and looked at the cover, then back to Chris once more. “Did I read it wrong? That weird loopy thing and the slingshot, I thought that says 'by.'”

“It does.”

Seemingly not comforted by Chris's reassurance – perhaps still worried by the certain look of confusion on Chris's face – Ty tapped his finger over the letters again. “That word is on all of the books you read me and the ones Ms. L reads to us in class. It looks exactly the same. And this is your name. That's what it looks like on the mail.” Ty brought his eyes up to Chris, furrowed his eyebrows. “Is that bad?”

Chris shook his head while his brain struggled to find words which could capture with accuracy his total shock. “No, Ty, that's amazing. I don't know why, but I'm just always so surprised by how smart you are.”

Ty appeared no more confident than before. He stepped up to Chris and held out the book. “I can't read all of it. Will you read it to me?”

Chris grabbed the book and set it down on the bed. He also took a seat beside the suitcase and brought Ty into his lap. “I'll read it to you before you go to bed. Which reminds me, I have something else to give you.”

Reaching back into the suitcase, Chris retrieved Ty's precious stuffed elephant. Ty squealed at the sight of the stuffed animal, and promptly squeezed it to his chest, eyes closed and cheek squished up against the plush. After a few moments, he pushed the elephant back into Chris's hands.

“I have something for you, too, daddy,” Ty said as he reached for his shirt collar. He couldn't unclasp the chain of the necklace by himself, but he did pull out the locket and hold it for Chris to see. Chris brought his hand to the back of Ty's neck and undid the clasp. The chain slithered into Ty's hand as it fell from his shoulders.

Chris took the locket from Ty, after which Ty snatched up his elephant again. Chris laughed and poked Ty in the nose. In retaliation, Ty shoved the elephant's trunk into Chris's nose, and then snorted with laughter.

“I went through the trouble of writing you a beautiful book, and that's how you repay me?”

“It wasn't me, daddy, it was the elephant,” Ty said with a goofy smile. “I would never hit your nose with a trunk.”

Chris laughed, rolled his eyes, and made a comment about how Ty would of course never do anything so cruel. He scooped Ty up in his arms and carried the little boy out to the living room, where he promptly dropped Ty on the couch. He slid over to the stack of DVDs, which had by now accumulated a nice layer of dust, and extracted the movie he knew Ty loved most.

As the menu music roared through the television speakers, Chris plopped down into the seat beside Ty. “Oh, guess who I ran into while I was gone?” Chris directed at Ty, who merely shrugged in response. “Your grandfather.”

Ty stared at Chris with a glazed expression. “I thought grandma and grandpa went to see grandma's mom 'cause she's sick.”

“No, no. Grandpa is your mom's dad. I meant my dad.” He added, unnecessarily and in a softer voice, “My father.”

Ty bobbed his head as if he understood. Chris knew that he actually didn't, or at least didn't care, when he turned to face the TV with no additional comment.

“He said we should come over for dinner some time,” Chris continued. “He wants to meet you.”

“Other grandpa wants to meet me?” Ty asked, flinging his head around to face Chris. Chris nodded. Ty leaned back in his seat, a serious look stretched over his face. “I want to meet other grandpa.”

Chris glanced toward the kitchen. “Maybe I should call him now. If I call him, do you want to talk to him?”

“No,” Ty responded without hesitation. Chris shot him a questioning look. “I don't even want to see another phone for the rest of my life.”

“Fair enough,” Chris said with a smile. He grabbed the remote from the arm rest of the couch and hit the button to start the movie. As the menu faded and the opening credits began, Chris stood up and wandered into the kitchen.

The phone call lasted no more than five minutes, as Cliff wanted to set the dinner date as quickly as possible lest Alice overhear the conversation and question her husband. At the very end of the week Chris and Ty would travel to the manor in which Chris had grown up, but had not seen in nearly five years, since his extremely brief trip to the house with Alex. Chris hadn't asked about spending the night, but figured that he could probably handle driving back home if neither of his parents offered. He knew of a few different hotels in the town, anyway, should he and Ty need to stay overnight.

Then came the waiting. Chris had told Ty about the dinner later, but Ty, being a small boy with many other things occupying his mind, had seemingly forgotten about it throughout the week. Chris, on the other hand, thought about the future meeting almost every five minutes. He was nervous, definitely, but not just because he would be reunited for an evening with his mother, who had no idea that Chris and Ty would be there that Friday evening. He thought back to the meeting he had with Darren's mother and knew that if his parents didn't approve of the way he had raised Ty thus far, he would probably break down completely. This frightened him, that he still cared so much about how he compared to his parents' expectations, and that he was dragging his son into it this time. Chris promised himself that he wouldn't become invested no matter what his parents thought, but he knew that he probably wouldn't be able to control it regardless.

So when Chris picked Ty up from school on Friday and reminded Ty of their plans, he could only respond with a halfhearted laugh to Ty's outburst of excitement. On the way home, Ty sang a song about finally meeting his paternal grandparents – whom he referred to as “other grandpa” and “other grandma,” which Chris told him he should probably not call them to their faces – and when they entered their apartment, Ty ran to his room to get ready. Chris yelled to him down the hallway to say that they weren't even leaving for several hours, but Ty merely responded, “Looking nice takes a lot of time.”

Indeed, Ty spent the entirety of those next hours preparing himself for the night. He refused any and all help from Chris, and at one point wouldn't even let Chris into the bathroom to pee because he didn't want Chris to see what he looked like.

“Ty, I already know what you look like,” Chris said through the bathroom door. “Let me in.”

Ty only agreed to allow Chris to enter under the condition that Ty would stand in the bathtub with the shower curtain pulled closed so that he would not be visible. Chris was just happy to finally be able to relieve himself.

Half an hour before he planned to leave, Chris told Ty that he had to stop getting ready, so that there would still be enough time for Chris to fix anything on Ty he needed to before they would have to go. Surprisingly, though, Ty had groomed himself well enough that the half-hour was instead spent expressing enthusiasm – that, and playing “find daddy's car keys.”

The drive to the manor also consisted of much celebration, at least on Ty's part. He once again sang the song about his “other” grandparents. He also sang about how much of a “super awesome and great job” he had done getting ready for the event. Chris did genuinely love Ty's quirkiness in this type of situation, but after an hour and a half he thought he could never be more grateful to see that plain white house with his father's expensive car in the driveway.

“Daddy, are we here?” Ty asked when Chris parked beside the fancy car.

“We're certainly not there,” Chris sarcastically replied as he pulled the key out of the ignition. He turned to face Ty in the back seat. “We have arrived at your other grandparents' house.”

Ty didn’t even wait for Chris to get out of the car before he unbuckled himself and flung the back door open. He leaped from his car seat and onto the gravel driveway just as Chris unfolded his legs and set his feet on the ground. With all his might, Ty pushed the door closed and ran to the front of the car to wait for Chris. As Chris walked up to Ty, the little boy grabbed his hand and yanked as he attempted to sprint to the house. Chris pulled his arm back just a bit.

“Ty, slow down. The house isn’t going anywhere,” Chris said. Ty yanked on his arm again.

“I’m going somewhere.” Ty paused and puffed out his chest. “I’m going to meet my other grandparents. You don’t care, because you’ve already met them!”

After a long moment of staring down at Ty, Chris sighed. “All right.” Chris released Ty’s hand and waved for the boy to continue on the path to the house. Ty beamed and bolted onward just as Chris was struck with a terrible realization. “Wait, Ty!”

Chris ran after his son, who he caught just before the boy prepared to knock on the front door. He bent down and grabbed Ty’s shoulders. Ty looked at him with big blue eyes.

“Daddy, you said I could go.”

“Listen,” Chris told him, “you know how you get angry when you think people are being nasty to me?”

“Like Darren’s mommy,” Ty replied in a grudging voice, folding his arms over his chest. Chris pulled Ty’s arms back down to his sides.

“Yes, like that. Your grandmother doesn’t know we’re coming. She might not be too happy to see us – well, to see me, anyway. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s possible that she’ll say a few things that you won’t like.” Ty’s eyebrows scrunched together and his lips tightened. His facial expression seemed to be a mixture of anger and confusion. “I need you to stay calm, OK? Please don’t get upset if she does saying anything.”

Ty stared at Chris for a few seconds. When next he spoke, his voice was oddly low. “Why would other grandma be mean to you?”

“It’s a bit complicated and too much to go into right now. Will you promise me you’ll be all right? No yelling. And definitely no hitting.”

Ty looked down at his hands and fiddled with his shirt. “I won’t hit anyone.”

Chris smiled and gave Ty a quick hug before standing up. Ty followed Chris with his eyes, which had begun to shine with excitement once more. Chris gestured toward the door. Ty beamed as he curled his hand into a fist and promptly knocked on the door. As they waited for an answer, Ty brought his hands up to his mouth and emitted an odd combination of giggling and snorting. Chris reached over and ruffled Ty’s hair just as the door opened.

Cliff stood in the doorway, towering over the two because of the large step from the porch into the house. He nodded briefly at Chris and then glanced down at the fidgety boy.

“And who might you be?” Cliff asked.

Ty let his arms drop to his sides. He stood as straight as he possibly could while having to stretch his neck back just to see Cliff’s face. “My name is Tyrone.”

Cliff turned to Chris with raised eyebrows. “Tyrone?”

“I didn’t name him,” Chris replied. He gave a quick shrug. “His middle name is Bunimo.”

“Mommy said she was sorry for naming me that, because the hospital people gave her drugs and she couldn’t think when they asked her to name me, but I said, ‘Mommy, you don’t have to be sorry. I like being Tyrone.’” Now Cliff turned to Ty with a similar expression, no doubt astounded by the boy’s ability to ramble. Ty beamed like nothing had happened. “Anyway, lotsa people call me Ty, so you can call me that too if you want, but it’s polite to give people your whole name first. Ms. L. taught us that. I would tell you her whole name first, too, but I can’t remember it.”

Ty simply smiled at Cliff when he finished speaking. Cliff looked thoroughly overwhelmed, but seemed to snap out of his trance after a moment. He took a step back and held his arm out behind him.

“Well, Ty, would you and your father like to come in and dine with us?”

“Yes, please!” Ty jumped up and down a few times. He turned to Chris and whispered, “I’m going to meet other grandma now.”

“All right, come on,” Chris said with a laugh as he pushed Ty along into the house. Once in the foyer, Ty examined the pictures hung up on the wall. He stopped and gasped loudly, pointing at one picture of two teenage boys wearing suits in front of a light blue backdrop.

“That’s Uncle Alex!” He spun around to Chris and pointed back at the photograph. “Daddy, that’s Uncle Alex.”

Chris nodded as he hoisted Ty in the air. “That’s Uncle Alex, yes. This boy next to him is your Uncle David.”

Ty glared at the picture. He squinted his eyes and leaned as close as he could. “He doesn’t look like you or Uncle Alex.” He glanced quickly at Cliff. “Or other grandpa.”

“He looks more like your grandmother,” Chris told him.

Then, as if on some cue, a voice drifted from the vicinity of the kitchen. “Cliff, who is it?”

“Just a few dinner guests, dear,” Cliff called in reply. He and Chris shared a nervous look as the sound of footsteps drew closer to the foyer.

“Dinner guests? We’re not expecting any–”

As soon as she stepped into the room, Alice’s eyes locked on Chris. Chris had a flashback to the last time he had been in the house, a trip that had lasted only a few minutes. Alice had glared at him the same way, had refused to say even one word to her estranged son. This time Chris glared back with none of the insecurity he felt before. He had every right to be here, if only as a guest of his father.

Ty must have grown tired of the tense silence, for he wiggled himself out of Chris’s grasp and skipped over to stand in front of Alice. He grinned up at her. “My name is Tyrone. It is nice to meet you. Oh!” He whipped around to face Cliff with a bit of a panicked expression. “It was nice to meet you, too. I forgot to say that.”

“You’re forgiven,” Cliff said with a bit of a smile. Chris felt relieved that at least his father seemed to approve of the boy.

Yet, Alice had simply shifted her hard gaze to Ty. Kneeling down before the boy, her expression began to soften. She appeared more blank now.

“My God, you're practically a clone.” Ty twisted up his mouth and examined his hands, as if he would find there a sign of his uniqueness. Alice shook her head ever so slightly. “May I ask, Tyrone, what it is you're doing here?”

“Daddy said other grandpa wanted us to come for dinner so he could meet me.” Ty brushed off his shirt and fixed the hem. He stood tall and smiled for the umpteenth time. “And I wanted to meet him and I also wanted to meet you. I got ready all by myself. It took a long time, but I think I did a pretty good job getting ready without any help.”

Then, quite surprisingly, Alice smiled back. Chris questioned if this was actually happening, until he realized that the pause Alice had taken thereafter could not result in any good. “I suppose your daddy was too busy flirting with the mailman to help.”

Um, no,” Ty said, scratching his head, “daddy was just working in the living room, I think.” He glanced over at Chris, who surely had begun to glare at Alice. Ty seemed to understand then the spite behind Alice's tone, and he frowned at his grandmother. He struggled for a few seconds, before finally running over to Chris and hugging Chris's leg. Chris patted Ty on the head.

I don't even know the mailman, thanks.”

Alice rose from the ground like a snake in a basket. She straightened her skirt and threw Chris a dirty look. “You don't have to,” she sneered just before returning to the kitchen. Cliff made to follow after her, stopping in the doorway.

You're welcome to have a seat in the salon,” Cliff told the two. “I'll go have a word with your mother.”

Chris nodded as Cliff disappeared into the other room. Seconds later, Ty tugged on Chris's jeans.

Daddy,” Ty began, his voice so low that Chris could barely hear. “Did other grandma say something mean to me?” After a moment of hesitation, Chris nodded. “So she doesn't like me?”

No, she doesn't know you yet. It was about me.” Chris glanced over at the kitchen doorway and added in a loud voice, “And it was wrong of her to do that to you.”

It was wrong for you to come here!” chimed Alice from the other room. At this, Chris sighed and felt Ty squeeze his leg again. He pried Ty away and brought the boy into the salon. Ty momentarily forgot his grief, immediately running to the largest chair he could find. He hopped into the seat and sank down into the cushion. His arms stretched to reach the armrests, but couldn't reach. He scooted over to the left armrest and patted the spot beside him.

Come on, daddy, you can sit here, too.”

Chris wasn't sure that there would be enough room for the both of them, but he walked over and took a seat anyway. Little room existed between the two boys, but this was no matter, as Ty snuggled up to Chris as soon as Chris was off his feet.

Did you used to live here, daddy?” Ty asked in a soft voice. Chris nodded, confirmed that he had in fact grown up in this very house. Ty was astonished and asked to hear stories. After several moments of thought, Chris provided a story from his early childhood, which he figured would please Ty – and would spare Chris having to explain the complications of his teenage life.

The story Chris told was one from the summer of his seventh year. David was only sixteen years old, Alex eleven. Chris had started school the previous autumn, though now the academic year had ended. The three boys played in the back garden one afternoon, as they typically did. That is, Chris and Alex played; David more or less babysat his younger brothers, sitting on the back porch with a newspaper in hand. David had decided that since he had only a few years left until adulthood, he should begin to catch up on all the world's affairs.

Chris and Alex, on the other hand, had brought outside a kickball, which they then proceeded to kick at and throw to each other. The game had no real rules, and thus the boys became tired of it quickly. Alex kicked the ball too hard once, sending it soaring over Chris's head and far behind the little boy. Chris sprinted to catch it, but still took several minutes as the ball continued to roll across the wide, empty estate. By the time Chris had retrieved the ball, Alex waited in his spot, watching David scan through his newspaper.

I have the ball, Alex,” Chris chirped. Alex shushed him and pointed at David. For a few seconds, they both watched the teenager. “Why are we looking at David?”

Alex shushed him again. He spun around and pulled Chris with him, threw his arm over his brother's shoulder and leaned close. “Listen,” Alex whispered, “I have a plan.”

David flipped the page of his newspaper. He saw the two boys huddled and thought nothing of it. Just another example of his brothers playing their stupid games. He returned his attention to the paper.

Moments later, Alex broke the huddle. He grabbed the ball out of Chris's hand and took a few steps back. Running forward, he dropped the ball, connected his foot with it as hard as he possibly could. The ball whirled through the air so fast that by the time David caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, it was already too late. David tried to shield himself, but the ball collided with the side of his face, leaving a mark which quickly reddened.

To claim innocence Alex and Chris tried to stifle their laughter, but were not at all successful, especially Chris. The little boy let out a roar of laughter at the sight of his oldest brother in pain. Alex soon lost his cool as well, just as David threw his newspaper to the ground. The teen slowly rose from his chair in a manner which he surely had found menacing, though it didn't seem to concern the other boys.

Until, of course, David opened his mouth and shouted, “MOTHER!”

Alex immediately silenced. Chris still chuckled, but stopped as soon as Alex spit out, “Shit.”

Alex!” Chris yelled, covering his ears with his hands –

At this point in the story, Ty gasped. Leaning in close to Chris, he whispered, “Did Uncle Alex really say that?”

He did, and he got in a lot of trouble for it.” Chris told Ty about the punishment both of the younger boys had received: An entire month of doing the dishes before bedtime. Since Alex had been the brains behind the shenanigans, he had to do the washing each night. Alice made sure to cook the greasiest and crustiest food that month.

Once Chris finished his tale, Cliff walked into the room. He stopped in the doorway and waited until the other two looked over at him. “Dinner is ready,” he said with a polite, yet clearly distressed, tone.

Chris set his hand on Ty's back, pushed gently until the boy hopped off of the chair and scrambled into the other room with Cliff. He climbed into the seat closest to the doorway, but had to rest on his knees just to see over the tabletop. Chris had not considered the fact that their table at home was shorter, thus Ty had never required any type of booster seat in the past. He highly doubted his parents would have one on hand.

Yet, as Chris watched Ty lean his elbows on the table, Cliff swooped in with a seat which Chris almost instantly recognized as the same one he had used when he was Ty's age. He shared a brief glance with Cliff, who seemed to have caught on to what Chris was thinking.

Then Alice was in the room with two large bowls, one full of pasta and the other full of tomato sauce. Ty wiggled into a comfortable position in his seat as Alice set the dishes on the table. He squealed as he caught sight of the food.

I love spaghetti!” he said with a few claps of his hands. “Not more than grilled cheese, but I love spaghetti, too.”

Yes, we made it just for you,” Alice sarcastically remarked, though the bitter tone was lost on the little boy. Instead, he simply grinned wider and wiggled more, this time because of excitement.

You do have napkins, right?” Chris kept his eyes on Ty, who now began to practically dance in his seat. “Like, a whole package of napkins.”

Ty stopped his movement and narrowed his eyes at Chris. “I will be the cleanest, daddy. Not even one spot will be on me.” Quickly, Ty leaned forward and pointed his finger in Chris's face. “And you will be the messy one.”

You're on.” Chris extended his hand. Ty pulled his finger back and shook Chris's hand. “The cleanest one will be the winner.”

The dinner itself passed by in almost complete silence, the only real noise being that of forks scraping against dishes and the occasional slurp from Ty's corner of the table. Chris noted every time Alice threw a glance in the little boy's direction, though no sneer ever crossed her face. It seemed as if she simply had difficulty comprehending the boy's existence, perhaps because he was a grandchild she'd never met and was unexpectedly thrust upon her, or perhaps because he could have passed for a five-year-old Chris. Chris felt certain his mother would have loved to have kept him at that age, the age in which he did everything she told him to with no fuss.

Ty, of course, would not do anything without a fuss. Not that he was a brat, just that he loved to ask questions, and sometimes those questions just didn't have answers. Chris knew Ty would drive Alice crazy if the two had to spend any extended length of time together.

Cliff could probably handle Ty's curiosity. Chris had plenty of memories from when he was growing up of Cliff explaining various subjects to him. Chris would save any and all questions he had about life for Cliff, since he knew he could get an answer no matter what. He realized now that Cliff had made up some of the answers, or had used convoluted language to trick the boy into believing he had received an actual answer instead of a vague rambling speech.

After dinner (Ty won the clean contest, as Chris purposely smacked a few strands of spaghetti against his face), Cliff brought Ty up to the attic to examine several old photo albums, presumably the ones Cliff had mentioned to Chris when they met in the bookstore. Not wanting to deal with his mother, Chris decided to join them. The attic felt much smaller than he had remembered – though by the time he left the house he had already become a large boy, in his few final years of school Chris had continued to grow.

Ty made the loudest, and most ear-shattering, high-pitched noise when he first laid eyes on a picture of five-year-old Chris. He shouted, “DADDY! That's daddy!” and proceeded to ramble about the resemblance between himself and his father.

Cliff laughed at the boy's reaction with such mirth that Chris felt his heart swell at the sight; no matter what had happened between the family in the past, he could clearly see that Cliff loved Ty as he would any of his other grandchildren. It felt almost like a fresh start.

But the past still existed. Chris began to feel cramped in the attic after a while. He left Cliff and Ty alone while he strolled around the house. He passed the room which had been his when he lived there, the door closed, and took only a few steps further before glancing back, contemplating peeking in to see what had become of his space.

He stared at the door for what felt like hours, fighting with himself. He shouldn't open the door, because it's not any of his business what these people did with their spare rooms. He didn't live here anymore, he shouldn't care.

On the other hand, he wanted to know what sort of horrible things they – specifically his mother – might have done to the room, how they might have gone about erasing Chris's existence. He wanted to know and to not be surprised by how awful the change was.

And then suddenly his hands were upon the door, one turning the knob, the other pushing gently on the wood. He closed his eyes, just in case he decided at the last second that he didn't want to see after all. A few seconds of standing in the doorway with his vision blocked later, he decided to go for it. His eyebrows must have gone up far past his hairline when he finally saw the room.

Nothing had changed. The only difference between the room now and the room when he left was that presently cobwebs covered almost every possible surface, all of his books, the bed, even the corners where the wall met the carpeted floor. As Chris gaped, unable to quite comprehend this shock, light footsteps sounded in the hallway just outside.

Alice cleared her throat, causing Chris to jump a bit, as he had been so entranced that he had no idea she had appeared. He spun around, bringing with him a look of utter confusion. Alice's face displayed more of a guilty expression, a demeanor of having been caught doing something wrong or potentially embarrassing. For a while they stood like that, completely silent.

Chris opened his mouth to speak, but soon lost the words and merely gestured backward to the room instead. Alice folded her arms across her chest in an almost defensive way.

In case you changed your mind,” she said in a low voice. Chris dropped his hand, already starting to see that perhaps this gesture was not as kind as he might have thought. “But it's not yours. That room belongs to my son.”

Chris inhaled deeply, fighting back the surge of frustration which he had known all too well in his teenage years. He took a few steps closer to his mother, prepared to do what he had never done before in her presence and stand up for himself.

That room belonged to me, and if you think that the person I was back then is not the person I am now, then you're wrong.” Chris took another deep breath, watched as Alice stared blankly back at him as if challenging him to make her show some sort of emotion. “Have you ever even looked at what's in there? I mean really look. Because if you have, then you'd know that your son could never be the person you expected him to be. The person you thought he was.”

At this, Alice sneered. “What you do is far more important than what you are. You can be one kind of person and still do what is expected of you.”

Fine, then I'm just weak, because I couldn't handle both.”

Alice's voice began to rise with every word she spoke. “You're a brat for whining about it. Do you think this is easy for anyone?”

It doesn't make sense for anyone,” Chris shouted back. “What's the point of pretending, and what does anyone else get out of it?”

That boy of yours, what does he get out of you acting so self-righteous?” Alice took a step forward to meet Chris, dropped her arms to the side and held herself with as much confidence and conviction as Chris had always wished he could have. “Does he have two parents who work their hardest to provide him with a nice home, a safe and secure roof over his head? Three healthy and plentiful meals every single day? A nice yard where he can run around and play whenever he feels like it?”

Chris began to feel his resolve weakening. He struggled to find the right words with which to beat down Alice. “Ty doesn't need any of that,” he said, so quickly it came out as one long word. “What we have is fine.”

I'm sure.”

Chris shook his head. He pushed against the doubt. “No, I do work hard for him, even if my job's not quite steady. He eats well; maybe not the healthiest foods, but he eats what he likes and he doesn't starve. He loves just sitting in our living room and watching movies. Even when he plays, he has the wildest imagination. He can work with anything.” Chris paused briefly to shrug his shoulders. “He sees his mother every now and then. She's busy with school anyway.”

Alice narrowed her eyes so subtly Chris almost missed it. The brief pause seemed to calm her down, as she spoke next in a much softer voice. “Is that what's best for him?”

Yeah, because I let him be who he is.”

Alice began to tap her foot with clear frustration. “This again. Sometimes we don't get to be who we are. That's all there is to it.”

Clearly, that's not all there is.”

There are standards–”

And who's holding you to those standards? Your parents? They're not around anymore, so you can pull off your ridiculously pretentious mask now.”

Then, as if his words had pulled some invisible thread attached to Alice's hand, her palm collided with the side of his face in a split second. She continued to hold her hand up after, seemingly a bit surprised herself. Chris inhaled sharply, feeling the hot sting as his face reddened.

You can say whatever you want to me,” he breathed. “Tell me that I'm a fucking brat and that you disapprove of everything I've ever done.” He quickly glanced up at Alice, who had lowered her hand by this point, though still looked uncertain of what exactly had happened, what was happening. “But I would never hurt my child.”

Daddy?”

Both Chris and Alice started at the sound of Ty's voice. He and Cliff had appeared in the hallway moments before, but had done so quietly enough to allow the feuding duo to miss their entrance. Chris turned to Ty, a sinking sensation in his chest as he wondered how much the little boy had overheard.

Ty didn't wait for Chris to answer before he spoke up again. “Is it time to go home?” he asked in a small voice.

Chris noticed that Ty held a photo album tight against his chest. It looked fairly new, unlike the other albums they had been going through before Chris left. In fact, Chris was sure he hadn't seen that album in the attic at all. But before he let his attention wander too far, he nodded. “Yeah, I think it is.”

Frowning, Ty spun around and hugged Cliff's legs. Cliff smiled and patted Ty on the head. Then, the boy headed over to where Chris stood, all the while glaring at Alice like she was a giant alien who had just declared grilled cheese sandwiches to be, in fact, the worst food in existence. Still clutching the photo album in one arm, he reached his other arm up to grab Chris's hand. When Chris felt Ty squeeze tighter than normal, he figured it was meant as a comforting gesture, and squeezed back.

Bye grandpa, bye other grandma.” Ty started to walk away, tugging Chris behind him.

I'll walk you out,” Cliff said, following close behind and leaving Alice alone in the hallway.

At the car, Chris realized that Ty had carried the photo album out with them. Chris bent down to grab it from Ty, but before he could, Cliff's hand rested on his shoulder.

It's a present,” he mumbled, perhaps to keep Ty from overhearing. Chris stood back up, eyebrows raised at his father.

Grandpa said it's a very special book,” Ty chimed in with a wide grin.

Did you thank him?” Ty nodded fiercely. Chris thought he might start jumping at any moment. “Good.”

Chris tugged open the back car door. Ty hopped inside and climbed into his car seat. Cliff took a step forward.

May I?” he asked Chris, gesturing to Ty. Chris nodded without a second thought. He watched as Cliff half-bent over to fit into the car and began to fasten Ty's seat belt. “Thank you for coming today,” Cliff said to Ty, though his voice was so low that Chris could just barely hear.

It was lots of fun,” Ty replied in an equally quiet tone, but with a clear smile on his face. “Grandpa?”

Yes?”

Could you come to eat dinner at our house one time?” Ty flicked his finger at the cover of the photo album, his eyes down to watch Cliff's hands buckle the straps across Ty's chest. “We don't live in a fancy place like you, but you could still come over and we can eat grilled cheese sandwiches and I will show you all of the great movies that we have and we can even watch some of them, too.”

Cliff finished buckling Ty in just as the little boy lifted his big eyes to see his grandfather's face. Ty beamed and nodded excitedly, as if trying to coerce Cliff into agreeing. Cliff laughed under his breath and patted Ty on the shoulder.

That sounds wonderful. As long as your father agrees to it.”

Oh, he will,” Ty answered with such confidence that Cliff let out another chuckle. Ty faced Chris and shouted, “Right, daddy?” Then, he cupped his hand around his mouth and whispered, “Just say yes.”

Chris stared blankly at Ty for a few moments. Shifting his gaze to Cliff, a small smile broke out over his lips. “Yeah,” he said with a quick nod.

Cliff moved his hand from Ty's shoulder to the boy's head, patted twice, and stood up from the car. He headed to where Chris stood and waited a few seconds before finally engulfing Chris in a hug.

It was good to see you again,” Cliff mumbled as Chris returned the embrace. “Sorry about your mother.”

Yeah, me too.” Cliff let out a short, breathy laugh in response. The two pulled away from each other. Chris shrugged his shoulders and gave his father a wide smile. “She'll never come around and I don't expect her to.”

Keep in touch.”

Chris nodded, but wasn't sure what to do next. Awkwardly – or it felt awkward on his part, at least – he set his hand to rest on Cliff's shoulder for roughly five seconds, then tore his hand away and got into the car without another word. Cliff remained in his spot as Chris started the car, backed out of the driveway, and took off down the road.

By the time the car finally pulled up to the curb in front of the apartment building, Ty's bedtime had come and gone. Unsurprisingly, the little boy had fallen asleep on the ride home. Chris hated waking Ty, and so he unbuckled the little boy as carefully as he could. Of course, Ty still woke as Chris pulled him out of the car and heaved him over Chris's torso.

Daddy,” Ty mumbled into Chris's chest, his voice muffled by clothing, as Chris began to climb the stairs toward their apartment. “I liked meeting grandpa.”

Chris ruffled Ty's hair a bit with his free hand. “He liked meeting you, too.”

But not other grandma,” Ty said with more conviction. “She made me feel angry.”

But you stayed calm. I'm proud of you for that.” Ty went silent after this point, though Chris felt Ty's arms tighten around him.

A few minutes later, Chris set Ty down into his bed and pulled the covers over him. Ty blinked sleepily as he clutched the blanket in his tiny hands. Suddenly, his eyes widened and frantically searched the surrounding area. He gasped and informed Chris that his photo album had been left behind in the car. Chris tried to tell him that it would be safe until the morning and that Ty should just go back to sleep, but Ty insisted that having the album beside him was of utmost importance.

Thus, to retrieve the album, Chris trudged down to the car and back. The thought of sneaking a peek at the contents before handing the book to Ty didn't actually occur to him until after it rested snugly in Ty's arms. But Ty looked up at Chris and asked him if he wanted to look at the album together. Chris said yes, as he figured Ty would grow tired again after five minutes or so. He figured correctly.

Before Ty did fall asleep, though, the pair glanced at a few pages of the pictures inside. Cliff had duplicated several of the photos from the camping trip he had recalled to Chris. Most of the pictures were of the three young boys, as Cliff had been the one controlling the camera. A few of the shots were only Cliff and Chris, and some of them were pictures Chris couldn't remember ever seeing before.

As Ty slowly drifted off, Chris took over flipping the pages. Ty had gone silent for such a long time that Chris assumed he had fallen asleep already, but out of nowhere the little boy spoke up, “Grandpa said he would take me to go camping with him like you did when you were little.”

Ty said nothing else after that, and Chris gave no vocal reply. He smiled at Ty, whose eyes had closed now, and brushed his hand over Ty's short dark hair. He thought about the anxiety he had experienced leading up to the dinner, and though the evening had not gone completely smoothly, he felt it was a step in the right direction. He knew now that he could at least patch up his relationship with his father, and seeing how well Cliff and Ty had connected in those few short hours, he felt that was good enough.