Seth’s Perspective
Christmas had been truly magical, but now it was back to reality… well almost, Zach and I both had the week off save for a couple of meetings. It was the morning after Christmas, and I had gotten up early to have coffee on the chilly front porch to wake my ass up and do some writing, Freddy had gotten up, come downstairs and found me, and the two of were having a great conversation. I just listened while he sipped hot chocolate and told me all about his favorite parts of his “best Christmas ever.” He was excited that Teddy was going coming to our house for the day to play and BEGGED me to ask Max and Brody to bring Teddy’s bike so they could ride up and down the gravel drive together (yeah… that was already the plan… the dads were on it). He was so excited that it was contagious, he made riding his bike up and down the driveway with his best friend sound like the most incredible expedition in the world.
Our talk turned serious when Freddy asked me, “was Ali’s momma real bad too? Is he gonna stay with us forever?” Zach and I had researched and talked about how to handle it when it came up. I thought about it, and although Zach and I wanted to approach the subject together, the opportunity had just presented itself, so I seized it.
“Do you know what dying is?” I asked to gauge his understanding.
He nodded and replied, “yeah, that’s when you go away forever.” So, he got the concept.
“That’s what happened to Ali’s momma, but he’s too little to understand so he doesn’t know” I replied and waited for a reaction.
Freddy nodded in understanding, “Is he gonna get ‘dopted too and be our brother?” He seemed to grasp things pretty damn well, I was impressed.
“We don’t know yet, maybe. Someone might be looking for him. Ms. Elkin is trying to find out if he has a daddy or grandma or someone who’s trying to find him” I answered honestly. “But if he’s all alone, we might adopt him. Would that be okay with you?” I asked.
“Yeah” he said quietly, “I like him, especially when he’s happy.” I leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, such an amazing kid.
“Well, if he stays, he’ll have the best big brother ever” I said. Freddy had a lot of questions, most of them about Ali and what would make him happy… it was clear he had already taken on the role of his protector. I kept telling him that Daddy Zach and I would take care of Ali, he understood but it was clear that he had taken on the role of Ali’s protector regardless; it’s just how his mind worked.
We talked for almost a half hour before the front door opened and a little voice said, “Why you out dao, it code. I hungwy now” (Izzy to English, “Frederico and Daddy Seth, why in the world are you out in the cold. You need come in, it’s time for breakfast”).
“We were just talking. Is Daddy Sach awake?” I asked Izzy.
“Yup” Zach said from behind her, “So is Ali.”
“Hi, Seth” I heard Ali’s perfect little voice say from inside the house. I loved that he called me by my name.
“Good mornin’ pal” I answered. Well, my ‘alone’ time wasn’t going to happen, but my one-on-one with Freddy was worth pure gold.
“C’mon, bud” I said to Freddy, “time to go inside and feed these animals.” Freddy laughed, then he and I joined the others in the warmth of our little home. I kissed Izzy, Ali, and Zach good morning, then the kids took off to the piles of toys littering the living room and playroom (AKA our former den) and started playing. They had gotten so much stuff for Christmas between us, Santa, Grandma & Grandpa, Aunt Riley & Uncle Elie, not to mention the stuff that my family shipped to us… they had forgotten some of it already. It was like Christmas all over again as they rediscovered all their gifts. While the kids played, Zach built a fire in the fireplace and I made breakfast. I got creative and my famous Mickey Mouse pancakes turned into Frosty The Snowman pancakes with blueberry eyes and bacon arms. Before the kids joined us, I updated Zach on my conversation with Freddy.
“Well, that’s one down. What do you think Izzy will think about it?” He asked.
“Honestly, I think if it does happen, we just let it happen. Ali just stays, life goes on, she may never even notice… hell she’s too absorbed in ‘Bowbie world’ to know the difference” I said with a snicker… half-joking, mostly serious making Zach grin. It was fun as hell seeing Izzy so into something like that.
Our conversation was interrupted by the kids, as per usual. Everyone took their seats and I served up our morning after Christmas breakfast complete with Frosty The Snowman pancake, the kids thought I was a frigging culinary genius. Breakfast was so much damn fun! All three kids were happy, excited, and animated and couldn’t wait to get back to the hard work of playing.
Izzy went on about, “Bowbie sweeps n drives da caw to woke and eat wunch wif ho boyfwend Ken…” and went on forever with me and Zach both asking her “and then what?” so she would keep the story going, it was hilarious. (Izzy to English translation: Barbie sleeps in her beautiful dream home, then drives her pink car to the office where she works hard until she takes a break to have lunch with Ken, her loving boyfriend”). She had moved into Barbie’s dreamworld and was living the dream right along with her.
Ali took his turn at breakfast to tell us, “I like my blocks.” He got a lot of toys (and clothes from Grandma and Grandpa) but so far had just sat in the corner stacking blocks, knocking them down, and giggling. He hadn’t talked a heck of a lot, but what he said was clear and to the point. That little shit knew a lot more than we gave him credit for (all three of them did). He was only about 18 months old but seemed ahead of the curve for his age in language, he was just quiet. He hadn’t asked about his mother since before Christmas Eve, Gina was right, he was too distracted to be sad. I was happy he was getting comfortable with us, but sad that he probably would have no memories of his mother.
While Zach and I sat at the table with the three kids getting bombarded with their post-Christmas excitement, the front door opened and Uncle Max yelled “Merry Christmas Westin-Halls!” He had come to drop Teddy off for the day on his way to work.
“We’re in the kitchen” Zach yelled back.
Teddy came running into the kitchen at four thousand miles an hour bursting with excitement as he yelled, “Freddy, Freddy, I brought my bike with!”
“Awesome!” Freddy yelled back. “Daddy Seth says we can ride them in the driveway, and Santa brought me soccer goals, and…” he went on about everything Santa brought. By that point Freddy had gotten up, abandoned his breakfast and he and Teddy were just faint, excited voices coming from the living room as the two boys tore through all the new stuff under the tree.
“Unco Mac, I got a Bowbie” Izzy said to Max.
“I can’t wait to meet her” Max said, then he greeted Ali and sat down in Freddy’s spot and picked at the bacon left on the plate. He looked at me and Zach and said, “So it looks like we’re all spending New Year’s Eve in Charleston. Where did that come from?” He laughed. We all appreciated the gesture, but it kind of came out of nowhere.
“I got a hundred bucks that says it was my mother” Zach laughed, “It’s a ploy to get her hands on the kids for a couple of days without us around.”
“Unco Mac, Bowbie has a cow” Izzy injected. (Izzy to English translation: Uncle Max, Barbie has a car”).
“Wow! She can even drive?” Max replied to Izzy who nodded with a smile, loving the attention Uncle Max was giving her. Max then turned his attention back to Zach and laughed, “well you know my parents and BA weren’t fighting her on it. But hey, I’ll take the break. I was thinking we could leave right from the Candle Company after the board meeting for The Village since we’ll all be there. Everyone can leave their SUV’s with the seats at home and we can take the Pacifica and ride together, my parents can use the Gladiator if they need the car seat.” Max had a plan.
“Sounds good to me” I said, Zach agreed.
“Unco Mac, Bowbie have a big house and she sweeps dao” Izzy injected again. (Izzy to English translation: Uncle Max, Barbie has big house too, she sleeps there”).
Max knew he wasn’t going to get any peace until he met “Bowbie.” “I gotta get to work now, sweetie. Can I meet Barbie and play with her car and house when I come pick up Teddy later today?” Max asked with believable excitement in his voice. Izzy smiled with wide-eyed excitement and nodded her head vigorously. She couldn’t have been happier having found another adult to suck into Barbie’s world and nodded. “Okay, it’s a plan. I meet Barbie tonight” he said as he stood up, kissed my daughter and Ali, yelled goodbye to the two preoccupied boys in the living room, and left for work.
The rest of that day the boys rode their bikes up and down the driveway, taking breaks for lunch and to play with Freddy’s other new toys. Ali stacked blocks, knocked them down, and giggled and clapped every time as if the ending was unexpected. Izzy moved into Barbie’s world and was living the dream. Me and Zach played with all of them throughout the day (both taking the occasional work call or email break), and true to his word, Uncle Max played Barbies with Izzy when he came to pick up Teddy that evening.
That night Freddy slept over at BroMax Farm so they could play with Freddy’s incredible Christmas haul. There’s no doubt that Freddy appreciated the break from Izzy and Ali, he loved them both, but they were ALWAYS around… he deserved some best bud time with Teddy. Over the next few days Maggie and Teddy both came by to play, and Freddy and Izzie spent time at their houses too so everyone could play with all the new toys and all parents involved got the occasional break. Ali hung out with me and Zach and we got to know the little guy. All in all, it was an awesome week at home.
The BroMax Candle Co. Annual Meeting was great. It was mostly Max going through the year’s success and the upcoming year’s plan. The company was doing quite well with the expansion of the plant, new revenue streams from the retail store, classes, and tours. The big news for the upcoming new year was the planned expansion of herb production and the exploration of a line of artisanal spices. Max took his hobby and turned it into an amazing enterprise that provided good jobs for several people.
The 30th came up fast and The Village Annual meeting also went well. The previous year’s meeting was held in Vegas and turned into a great vacation for most of us, but this year was more lowkey (and frankly more befitting of a nonprofit). The meeting was held in Max’s Office at the candle factory and those who were out of town attended by Zoom. The venue was perfect because Max’s office overlooked the Candle plant where several Villager (past and present) were hard at work demonstrating the success of our program. Rodney and I were well prepared, the biggest news for the board members was success. Looking at The Village by the numbers was impressive for a two year old nonprofit. Sustaining donations from businesses and individuals were high (sustaining donations were those that pledged to donate every month), we had revenue coming in from Cars For Queers, and then there were grants, and random donations. Thanks to Rodney, we had a great network of resources for housing, jobs, food, education, transportation, anything a villager could need. We had an amazing number of success stories… and by that, I mean those who came to us for help and were now standing on their own two feet (our ultimate goal). The unique thing about The Village is that our success stories all did their damnedest to pay it forward and helped in anyway they could whether it was donations, volunteering, or just guiding another villager. Lastly, we were building a strong national reputation and had requests coming in from all over the country. We were stable, successful, and poised for growth… that was the core of most of our discussions. What did growth look like? Offices in other cities? More services? Less services (more targeted)? A more national presence? How could growth benefit our current villagers (jobs in our organization, etc.). We spent the morning going through our current situation and the afternoon brainstorming our future, it was very productive and helped me start to wrap my head around the future of The Village. I think it is worth noting that Zach, Max, and I all proudly wore the ties our sons had made for us to both board meetings and took a lot of shit for it.
After the meeting, Dylan and Gina loaded their luggage from their pick-up to Max’s minivan, and Zach and I moved ours from the GTI. We left our vehicles in the BroMax Candle Co. parking lot, piled into Max’s soccer mom mobile and headed to Charleston for a two night respite from our kids knowing they were safe in the arms of their loving grandparents. The road trip was a LOT of fun! We had all met in college (well, Dylan wasn’t in college but was brought into the mix by Brody) and had grown from goofy, unsure college kids to responsible members of society and parents raising our kids together. The second the six of us shut the door to that minivan we were back in college; we laughed, gossiped, ate junk food, and sucked down soda (and the occasional beer from the cooler Dylan packed) for the next three and a half hours. It felt good to just let go and be an idiot with my old friends.
We got to the hotel around 7PM and checked in before dinner, the rooms were nice and we were all on the same floor. We called home to check on the kids who of course were having the time of their young lives with Grandma and Grandpa. They each got on the phone to say goodnight, there’s little doubt that all our friends were calling home too. Dylan had been to Charleston a few times and made reservations for us at a restaurant he’d been to downtown. It was a cute little town and the restaurant was nice (no kids menu and not a highchair or booster seat in sight). The six of us ate amazing food with no macaroni, hotdogs, or chicken nuggets, and drank cocktails… several of them since Brody volunteered to be our DD. We engaged in rare adult conversation, most of which revolved around Christmas with the kids.
“So… did anything ELSE special happen at Christmas” Gina asked using air quotes around “special.”
“I think we covered it” I said as I continued to devour the non-kid-like food.
“So, there was no announcement of any “special package” coming this summer?” Gina asked using air quotes again as she looked straight at me and Zach.
“So, I take it she told you” Zach said.
Gina squealed excitedly “Of course she told me. I’m so excited our little Riley’s gonna be a Momma!”
“WHAT?!” Max, Brody, and Dylan all said in unison.
“GINA!” Zach said almost scolding her. “They weren’t going to announce it yet.”
“Shit, Zach. She told me and she obviously knows I can’t keep my mouth shut” Gina laughed as she pulled out her phone and facetimed Riley. When she picked up Gina said, “Don’t hate me but I couldn’t hold it in and told all the guys.”
Riley laughed, and Eli yelled from off screen, “You owe me twenty bucks, Riles, I told you she’d blab when she got a couple of drinks in her.” We all laughed it off and congratulated the parents to be as we talked excitedly about the new “Westin-Hall to-be.” We were all so excited for them. Dinner with our friends was so much fun.
After we hung up with riley and Eli, and finished dinner, we hit a couple of local bars and clubs. We drank, and laughed, and danced, just like we used to when we lived in the Duplex on the East side of Milwaukee back in college. It was a fun, fun night out.
Brody drove us all safely back to the hotel and there is no doubt that we woke up half the people on our floor as Gina laughed obnoxiously while she bounced off the walls and room doors making her way to their room. We all said goodnight in the hallway and Gina insisted on giving every one of us kisses full on the lips… I thought Brody was going to shrink up and wither away. Zach and I stumbled into our room where he pushed me up against the door after it shut and we engaged in a sloppy, wet make out session as we fumbled drunkenly to strip each other naked. Zach’s lips and tongue were everywhere! His tongue explored my ear, then licked the dance-sweat from my neck and ultimately suckled on my nipples.
“God, that feels so good” I whispered.
“Why are you whispering” Zach jokingly exclaimed in an almost yell. “The kids are over three hours away and can’t hear a damn thing!” I laughed; it had been a while since we didn’t have the kid-factor to worry about.
“Shut up and keep licking me, you hot fuck” I said in a sultry voice as I put both hands on the top of his head and pushed him further down my body. He licked my abs taking a few seconds to shove his tongue inside my bellybutton, oh my god that made my dick twitch… Zach noticed.
He looked up at me with those damn hazel eyes of his glossed over from his buzz and that sly grin on his face, “so you like that do ya’?” he asked then he put his arms around my waist and pulled my abdomen to his face then poked his tongue as deep as he could into my navel as if he were rimming it, driving my body into erotic chaos. My rare buzz (we hardly ever drank anymore with the kids around), the adrenaline high from hanging out and dancing with our friends (sans any toddler interruption), and just the sheer quiet of the room were working together to fuel my desire. I pushed him further onto my growing manhood, I was firming up, but I’d totally be lying if I said I was hard as a rock… the alcohol was fighting my lust. Zach took me in his hot, wet mouth and just like that the alcohol lost the battle and I was hard as a fucking steel girder. GODDAMMIT he felt amazing. He was on his knees; my back was against the door and I lifted my leg over his shoulder to encourage him to suck my balls… it worked. With my fingers tangled in his hair, he reached out his tongue and lapped the underside of my low hangers bathing them with his warm saliva. He moved lower and his tongue lapped my hole. “C’mon, we’re wasting that giant bed” Zach said as he stood up. Our lips met and my legs instinctively wrapped around his perfect body. He lifted me, turned around and carried me over to the bed where he plopped me down and lay on top of me. The weight of his body pinned me to the mattress, my chest was heavy but I loved the intimacy.
The room was a bit chilly and the cold air felt good in contrast to our hot bodies writhing on top of each other. Zach rolled me onto my stomach and rimmed my hole, the warmth, the cold air, etc. made my brown eye wink at him like it was desperately flirting. He lifted me up by the hips so I was on my knees with my face in the pillow, he stood on the bed, crouched behind me, pulled his dick down to line it up with my saliva slickened hole and then pushed in. he was literally riding my ass and I was biting and moaning lustfully into the pillow. Zach had a firm grip on my hips as he moved in and out of me slowly and steadily, my hole clamped down on him sucking him deeper into my hole. He fit perfectly. He just fit, he always had and I believed he always would. His slow, steady lovemaking became more like a nasty, dirty, lust-driven drunk fuck that consumed us both. The room was filled with groaning, grunting, and the sound of his balls slapping my aching ass. It was primal and animalistic as he shot his spunk deep into my bowels and fucked his essence into me with passion before his sweaty body collapsed on top of mine in victory.
Panting and spent he whispered, “Did you cum?”
I snickered a drunk snicker, “I think I’m too fuckin’ drunk, but goddammit that felt so amazing!!!”
“It sure as fuck did” Zach quietly growled in my ear before rolling off me. We ended up bathing together in the oversized Jacuzzi tub, I sat between Zach’s legs as the bubbles came up around us and sobered us up. Zach jacked me off in the water until my Jizz became part of the bathwater. Then, I admit it, I fell asleep in the tub leaning against the man I loved; I just couldn’t help it, I was so comfortable in Zach’s arms, enveloped by the warm bubbles of relaxation. Zach whispered in my ear, “Hey, wake up. Let’s go to bed” then he kissed my cheek. We stood in the water, grabbed our towels from the rack above us, and lovingly dried each other off before going to bed. We got under the covers naked again and fell asleep spooning. We got a great night’s sleep (except for the drunk neighbors in the next room being loud on the balcony and waking us up for a few minutes).
New Year’s Eve morning promptly at 7AM Zach’s phone rang, his mother was facetiming us. We sat up in bed and made sure our naked bodies were covered and only our faces were in the frame before we answered.
“HAPPY NEW YEO DADDY SACH AND DADDY ZEFF” Izzy said with the phone so close to her face we could only see her nostrils and a little bit of her eyes.
“Happy new year sweetie” I said. “Are you being good for Grandma and grandpa?”
“I vewy good” she said.
“Me too” said a sweet little voice from off screen, then the camera moved and there was Ali in his highchair eating breakfast.
“ME too daddies” Freddy said stealing the phone out of her hands. “Grandpa and grandma let me stay up late and play chutes and ladders with them, last night” Freddy said, then he gave us a report card on Izzy and Ali, it sounds like everyone was being good while we were gone. We talked to our kids for a while before hanging up. I already missed them.
Zach jumped outta bed butt-assed naked and yelled, “I thought they’d never hang up, I gotta piss like a racehorse” And ran to the bathroom making me laugh. I got up and made coffee.
Gina texted our group “Brunch! Meet in the lobby at 10.” We got up and took our coffee out to the balcony. Brody and Gina were already our on their balconies talking. So, we joined the party. After that we took a leisurely shower (together), and got dressed, and even had time to just hang out and watch TV before we headed to the lobby to meet our friends for brunch. Our unexpected adults-only New Year’s Eve getaway was off to a good start.
To be continued…
