Ely hated this assignment the most. Eragon went to get coffee and they had separate nights for dinner with the family. They always asked how the other was. They were miserable. Everything in Ely's apartment reminded him of Darwin. It was no longer his teddy bear. Eragon became his constant and the gym. This would be how his life would be without Darwin and Ely hated it.
Darwin was miserable. Every time the door opened and the bell chimed, he hoped it was Ely. He knew better but he still looked. He hated this. He annoyed his mom and Dennis with questions about Ely. They even did therapy at different times. The month just dragged.
Hillary smiled at Darwin. "This is it. Day thirty. Well?"
Darwin shrugged. "I'm not sure. We made it thirty days without each other...I know I could live without him." He gasped and smiled. "Denise is cleaver."
"What are you going to do?" Hillary wasn't sure.
"Well, I could live without him but I wouldn't have any fun!" Darwin shrugged. "I think I have a date!" He took off out the door. He got to the park an hour early.
Eragon smiled. "So, what have you learned?"
Ely was grouchy. "I know what she was showing me and I hate it. I can live without Darwin!"
"But you don't want to because you are unbearable. You better go get that sexy man or I will!" Eragon shoved him from his car and to the park. "If you don't do this, I will kill you, a lot!"
Ely glared. "It has to be my choice!" He turned and walked off. He wandered around the park for a while. He had to think and he had an hour.
Darwin was at the spot waiting. He paced. He checked his phone. That asshole had three minutes! "What in the fuck!" He was getting pissed. Why wouldn't Ely want to be with him? He took a breath and waited. Ely had a minute. Darwin stared as the minute ticked by. It was noon. Twelve o'clock. "What?" He was upset. Ely decided he would rather live without him! No way?
He dialed Eragon. "Man, he didn't show!" Darwin was in tears.
"What? I kicked him out of the car myself!" Eragon was coming. "I will kill him! I'm coming, Darwin."
Darwin hung up and stood there, lost. Twelve oh five! Ely broke through the bushes. He has scrapes and was out of breath "Fuck! Eragon dropped me at the wrong fucking park!" He bent over and tried to breathe. "Am I late?"
Darwin wiped his face. "Ely, you are fourteen years and five minutes late! Are you sure you want to do this?"
Ely glared. "I just ran across town!" He inhaled. "For you. I fucking love you, Darwin! You make me whole and I would be a fool not to love you! Okay? I'm sorry that it took me so long to get here! I love you and everything that I thought annoyed me. This last month was miserable!" He walked to Darwin and wrapped around him. "Are you okay?"
Darwin shook his head. "I was terrified that you were okay without me!"
"Hell no! It was awful. I never want to live without you, Darwin. We are getting married and moving into your house and having sex in your shower!"
Darwin nodded and wiped tears. "Okay!"
Ely smiled and kissed his man. He was going to marry Darwin. "I have loved you since we were kids, Darwin. I'm not stopping now!" He kissed Darwin and melted as Darwin kissed him.
Ely's phone rang. "What?" He was holding Darwin.
"Where are you?" Eragon was at the wrong park.
Ely laughed with Darwin. "We are at School Park, you stooge! You have to stop dropping me at the wrong places! Know your city!"
Eragon cursed. "Oh!"
Darwin laughed. "He's bad at directions."
Ely laughed as he put his phone in his pocket. "I hated this last twenty-nine days. It was horrible. I worked out a lot though and didn't sleep very well."
"I didn't either. Dinner wasn't fun either. I didn't have any fun without you, Ely. I missed you in my shower. It wasn't even fun to take my forty minute shower or lose my keys!" Darwin smiled.
"I missed looking for your wallet too!" Ely smiled.
Darwin nodded. He slid his hand into Ely's and they walked through the park, slowly. Ely put his head on Darwin's shoulder. They weren't in a hurry and it was a gorgeous day. "We have therapy tomorrow."
"I think we should fuck with her!" Darwin smiled.
Ely laughed and nodded.
Denise called them into her office and she was worried. They were sitting apart. They sat away from each other on the couch. "So?"
"I learned that I could live without Darwin." Ely shrugged.
Darwin nodded. "Me too. I can live without Ely."
Denise stared. "But?" She figured they would meet. "You didn't meet at the park?"
Darwin looked at Ely and saw a slight smile. Darwin was letting her off. He smiled. "We did! We were just messing with you!"
Denise inhaled. "Don't do that!"
Ely laughed. He slid closer to Darwin. "We just wanted to mess with you. We are leaving things as they are for right now. I know we have things to work out but we agreed to love from here on out. When I mess up, he can throw that in my face."
Darwin smiled. "And he will mess up. We still need some assistance with a relationship. Neither of us has had a healthy one."
Ely nodded.
Denis nodded. "Okay. Well, I'm happy that you are taking this slow."
Ely nodded. "We have to get to know each other again. Catch up."
"Smart." Denise nodded.
Ely cleared his throat. Darwin smiled. "He did propose to me but we are going to wait. We think maybe a year or two. We aren't making plans for a wedding yet."
"I just had to ask him." Ely sighed. "I was surprised that he said yes."
Denise smiled. "Good! Take this slow and steady. Get in some romance and conversation. Get to know each other."
"We are and we still need you." Ely smiled. "We really appreciate you. I can't tell you how much you have helped us."
"Really, Denise." Darwin smiled. "When we do get married, you are getting an invitation!"
Denise smiled. "I'll be there! In the meantime, what happened after you met in the park?"
Darwin sighed. "We walked around. Talked until dinner and went out to eat. We went home and told our family."
"Is that awkward?" She was curious.
Ely laughed. "Should be! They are all dysfunctional! They were happy for us, even the kids. I have no idea if this should be weird? We are technically step-brothers? This is a gray area."
"Sure. It's love. It's never black and white. I don't see this as a problem. There are special circumstances and this is one of those times. I think you were in love before you were step-brothers. Darwin, when did you know you were in love with Ely?" Denise watched them.
Darwin smiled. He knew the exact moment. "Second grade. Mrs. Hart's class. Some jackass kid kept throwing erasers at me. I was the smart kid in the front row. Ely tackled him over the desk, middle of a lesson. Mrs. Hart was talking and Ely stands up, dives on this kid and pins him to the floor. Makes him apologize before he is carted off to the principal's office."
Ely laughed. "I forgot about that!"
"I never did. That kid never messed with me again." Darwin smiled.
"Ely?" Denise watched Ely.
He knew the exact moment. "First grade. Darwin walked in and smiled. I was in love." He shrugged like it was that simple.
"Really?" Darwin stared. "I didn't know that!"
"Right? You hadn't even talked yet. If I had been older, I would have found you in a bathroom and taken you there!" Ely smiled. "The first time I masturbated, I was thinking about you!"
"You lied!" Darwin glared. "You said it was Michelle Sours."
Ely laughed. "I couldn't say I just masturbated thinking about you, Darwin. We were what... eight...nine?"
"I know." Darwin sighed. "I was thinking about you."
"You lied too?" Ely glared.
"I did! I told you it was some girly magazine. But it wasn't." Darwin sighed.
"So, how did you tell your parents?" Denise liked to keep them talking.
Ely smiled. "Uh, my mom caught us in seventh grade. It was just once." He paused.
"His mom, Karen, caught us." Darwin smiled. "We were in Ely's room studying. We started that way. We were sitting on the floor... I was so nervous because we started talking about hot girls. I wanted to say that Ely was hot. He was too. I said something about some chick saying he was hot. I accidently told him that I agreed with her. I almost freaked out. I stood to leave and Ely stood up and he kissed me. Just one time."
"My mom walked in. She was furious. Totally anti-gay! She pulled Darwin out of the house and told him not to come back. I was dragged to church and it didn't happen." Ely sighed. "She was so worried that someone would beat us up for being gay."
"So, that was it?" Denise stared.
Darwin sighed. "Don't have children, huh?" He smiled. Ely laughed.
Denise shook her head. "What's funny?"
"A tip for you, if you ever have kids. The one thing you tell them not to do, they will break laws to do it. Even if they had no intentions of doing it again." Ely smiled and Darwin nodded. "I had no intentions of kissing Darwin again."
Darwin shook his head. "Me either. I was so scared the first time that I'm not sure it was good!"
Ely laughed. "Me either."
"So, for a few days, we didn't really talk." Darwin sighed.
"I missed him like crazy. I hunted for him after school. He was in the locker hall. I had to talk to him. I apologized and told him about church and my crazy mom. He told me his mom was fine with him being gay. That was disappointing." Ely smiled. "Nothing for him to rebel against. My mom had a loaded arsenal of things we could rebel against."
"We promised Karen a thousand times that it wasn't anything." Darwin sighed. "I told her I was trying out for a play and had never kissed a girl. Ely volunteered for practice."
Ely laughed. "She actually bought it. Of course, he had to try out for Romeo and Juliet. That was funny."
"I actually got a part!" Darwin laughed. "I was Lord Montague!"
"It was a good play. Darwin was awesome." Ely smiled. "Mom even went. I think to see if he was being honest. Of course, Lord Montague doesn't kiss anyone but she never said anything!"
Darwin just laughed. "I know. But I practiced my lines with Ely every night. Karen would leave us alone or she let Ely come over. He could visit his dad too. We would make out. Those make out session were hot!"
Ely nodded. "We cooled it when my dad and his mom finally got married. I don't know why that was different! We just stuck to talking about girls at lunch even though I never cared."
"I didn't either." Darwin sighed. "Those were wasted days!"
Ely nodded.
"So, your first sexual experience? Who was that with?" Denise was mostly curious.
Ely blushed. Darwin smiled. "Ely was my first." Darwin sighed. "It was awesome. Best night of my life. I held on to that night, tight."
"Me too." Ely sighed.
"Care to explain?" Denise stared.
Ely nodded. "The night before my suicide attempt, we had sex all night. It was beautiful. It wasn't tough because we shared a room. It was midnight when Darwin woke me. He kissed me and slid his hands under the blanket. I was sleeping naked."
Darwin smiled. "It was hot too! I was laying in bed, horny. I was sick of laying there thinking about Ely, so, I wanted the real thing."
Ely laughed. "It was amazing."
Denise sighed. "And then you..."
Ely nodded. "I had amazing sex and figured that was as good as my life would get. I wanted to end it on an amazing night. I figured it was the peak, I guess. The climax. I loved Darwin, he loved me. I could see it going wrong so fast. I knew I would screw it up if I stayed. It's the best I can do. I don't think that now. I can't wait to try to do better next time!"
"I will take that challenge!" Darwin smiled.
Denise nodded. "Okay. Go. See you in two weeks."
"Two weeks?" Darwin stared.
"Yes. I am taking a vacation. I have next week off. Enjoy." She smiled and opened the door. "Two weeks, gentlemen."
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