Guys, I have so many new stories out there, if you're bored, try one out. I'm really diving into the fantasy category right now.
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"Franco," Louis walked into the kitchen, dropping his suitcase. "Have you noticed the car outside?"
Franco looked up from the book he was reading and frowned, "It's still there?"
"How long has it been there?"
Franco shrugged, "I saw it for the first time when Michael was leaving for school."
"Were there people in the car at that point?"
"Oh, god, are they still there?" Franco stood up and walked into the living room, He peeked out the blinds, "Different people, same car," he observed.
Louis headed towards the door, his face already taking on an expression of stony anger. "I'll go talk to them."
"Actually," Franco grabbed his arm, "I'm going to go talk to them. You sit down and relax. Oh, and by the way," he leaned over and kissed Louis' cheek, "Welcome home, sweetheart."
He left Louis standing there and walked out the front door. He couldn't help chuckling at the apparent alarm he saw from the man and woman in the car. The man grabbed his phone and hurried called a number just as Franco got their car. He rapped on the window and waited patiently for them to lower it.
He said very succinctly, "Look, I don't want to assume the worst but seeing how there's a lot of kids in this neighborhood, including my own, I'm going to. So please state whatever business you have here or leave before I call the police."
They gapped at him with silent horror.
The woman collected herself first and assured him shakily, "We're not planning to touch anyone's kids."
Franco rose an eyebrow at them, "Okay. So, you're here because...?"
They glanced at each other, having a silent conversation with their expressions.
Franco said with heavy sarcasm, "Go ahead, I'll give you a moment to make an excuse. You can have whoever's on the phone help you out."
"We'll be going now," the man raised his window abruptly while the woman started the car. They tore off down the street.
Franco shook his head and decided to consider the matter resolved for now. Though not without sending an email to the head of the neighborhood association council.
God, he never thought he'd be that parent.
He went back in and found Louis scowling out the window. He asked immediately, "What did they want?"
Franco just shrugged, "Let's hope we don't see them again."
Louis obviously wasn't satisfied with the answer but being with Franco had taught him a bit about letting go of things. "Where's Michael?"
"He sent me a text saying he's going over a friend's house."
"What friend?"
Franco shrugged again, "He just said friend."
Before Franco could blink, Louis was on the phone, dialing Michael's number. Franco sometimes felt bad for Michael since he had such an overprotective papa. Then he remembered that Michael brought Louis into his life. He really only had himself to blame.
Michael answered cheerily over speakerphone, "Hey, papa, what's wrong?"
Louis didn't even bother with pleasantries, "What friend are you with?"
There was a very noticeable pause. "Well, I met a new friend a few days ago."
"New friend," Louis echoed like he couldn't believe something like that could happen to Michael. "Who is this new friend?"
There was another pause that went on for long enough that even Franco started to worry. "His name is Soren," Michael answered slowly.
Louis continued to investigate with his faux calm voice, "How did you meet Soren?"
"Axel and I were playing around and I accidentally jumped into his friend's yard. Then we started talking."
Franco snorted quietly. 'Accidentally,' his ass.
Louis wasn't so amused. "Michael, is this Soren a potential boyfriend?"
Five seconds into the next pause, Franco had his answer. He yanked the phone out of Louis' hand, said, "Be safe, baby boy, love you, bye," and hung up. Then he reminded Louis' tiredly, "He's sixteen, Lou."
"Still a child," Louis argued.
"A young man, actually."
"You know how teenagers are," Louis practically whined, "When I was sixteen, I was sleeping around with men left and right. I even caught an STI once. And you were just a year older when you got a girl pregnant."
Franco took a second to think about that. "But doesn't that mean Michael is already more well-behaved than we were at his age?"
That gave Louis pause too. "Well, technically, yes, but that could change at any time."
Franco asked skeptically, "What could Michael possibly do that's worse than what we did?"
--- --- --- --- --- ---
"Can I see your wolf?" Michael asked once he was sure that his papa wasn't going to call again. After Franco hung up, the two of them stared at the phone, waiting for the command to come home. The mood of their impromptu nature reserve picnic dropping rapidly.
Soren, who would have happily complied just a few minutes ago, shook his head slowly and suggested, "Maybe we should talk about parents, consent and limitations now."
Wonderful, the exact conversation Michael wished desperately to avoid. Michael flopped back on the blanket and whined, "Do we have to?"
"Yes, I am fairly sure we do," Soren said apologetically. "Your papa seems reluctant to let you have a boyfriend."
Michael sighed, "He's overprotective. My dad is fine with it."
"Is he fine with a man seven years older than you?"
Michael couldn't help wincing, "The age difference might be a bit much for him. Can we talk about this later? It's really ruining the date."
Soren observed him quietly for a second then pursed his lips when he came to a decision. "You wanted to see my wolf." He stood up and started stripping. They were stowed away in a corner of the reserve that hadn't seen visitors in ages so he wasn't worried about anyone stumbling across them.
Michael hoped Soren didn't expect him to turn away. It would have been a crime to miss out on ogling the bare, rippling muscles of the enforcer. And Michael was no criminal.
By the time Soren got to his pants, Michael's were uncomfortably tight.
"Do you have to look like that?" Michael groaned.
Soren stopped and looked at him, confused. "Excuse me?"
"No, um," Michael waved him on, "Please continue. Please." His voice broke on the last 'please' but he'd give himself a pass on this one.
Soren eyed him worried but went ahead and pulled down his pants, leaving only a tight pair of black boxer-briefs. Then he hooked his fingers on the waistband of his underwear and Michael covered his eyes and blurted, "Alright, I give."
Soren blinked at him. Then sniffed the air. "Oh. You're aroused."
"Wow, you can smell that," Michael felt himself blush. "Maybe we can skip out on seeing your wolf today. And I swear that didn't sound like an innuendo the first time I said it." He blushed even harder and rubbed his neck nervously, "Can you take me home? I think a cold shower may help."
"I can help you," Soren offered without a second thought.
"No," Michael said quickly, "No thank you. We can take this nice and slow so I won't combust." And lose control. Just like his papa, Michael preferred having complete control of the situation. Teenage hormones kind of made that really easy to lose.
Soren just nodded in understanding, "I will take you home then."
The ride home was pretty painful but not as painful as trying to run in the house without his parents catching him and making it into the shower.
When he got out the shower, his dad was waiting for him outside his room. Franco had a strange look on his face as he said pointedly, "You ran in and then took a shower. Everything okay, Mikey?"
"Oh, yeah, of course, duh, everything is, uh, fine." Michael grimaced. "I'm not sounding very convincing. Let me try again."
Franco chuckled, relieved that it apparently wasn't anything too bad. Michael held it together the best when it was actually something bad happening. "Yeah, just take a breath."
"Okay, so Soren and I were at the nature reserve and we were, uh, rough-housing, so I needed a shower."
"Rough-housing," Franco echoed, disbelieving. "You?"
"Yes, me."
Franco nodded thoughtfully. "Okay. I'm going to give you a freebie this time. Come up with something better for your papa though. And tell me if you see anyone or anything suspicious. There were some weirdos hanging around the house today."
"Got it." Michael's shoulders lost some of its tension. "Thank you, daddy."
"No problem," Franco stepped forward and kissed his forehead. "Please be careful, Mikey."
"I will," Michael promised.