37
Steve
Honestly, Steve had never been happier in his life. He had never thought it would be possible to meet someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. That whole concept had just seemed odd to him. Until now.
James had been so good to him, taking him and his brother in, getting him enrolled in a better university, even hooking him up with an interview with James’s old fraternity. It was all too good to be true.
Steve wished he could do something to pay him back, something beyond sex.
One thing he could do while James was out of town was get the whole place cleaned up and organized. Even Kenny helped him do it. It wasn’t anything amazing, but it was something.
“So, what do you think of James?” asked Steve as he worked with his brother to take all the things out of the remaining boxes and put them away.
He’d never asked his brother how he liked James. He was honestly a little worried what his brother would say. The older man got along great with the little boy as far as he could see, like a fun-loving uncle.
James would get on the floor and play cars with him, or pretend to be an elephant and crawl on his hands and knees all over the house while Kenny squealed for joy.
It warmed Steve’s heart to see how great James was with kids, because truth be told, Steve had always wanted to have a family. He wondered if James wanted the same. But that was a conversation for another time.
“He’s cool,” said Kenny, digging through the boxes.
Steve loved having his little brother around, but he constantly worried if he’d turn out alright. They’d been through so many ups and downs, and even though the trailer had been shitty, at least it had been one solid place they could call home. Now, he’d bounced around with Kenny from home to home, and that couldn’t be so great on his psyche.
He hoped that now, for once, they had found their home and that there would be no more moving. Life hadn’t been great for Kenny, and Steve was determined that that would change from now on.
Steve stopped pulling the items out of the box. He sighed, trying to think of how he’d ask what he wanted to ask. “What do you think about us staying here longer?”
Kenny looked at him funny and asked, “How long are we staying?” The question made Steve worry that he may not like it here as much as he had thought, and that maybe he had read too much into it.
Taking a deep breath, Steve said, “I don’t know. Maybe a few months. Maybe a few years.” He shrugged, trying to act casual about it.
His brother didn’t answer immediately. He piled some of the items together and carried them over to a shelf. He just kept working as if Steve hadn’t asked him anything. Steve’s heart sank. He’d done everything he could to make his brother’s life as stable as possible, and this only made it more difficult.
“Kenny?” asked Steve, stepping in front of him to get his attention. The kid had serious A.D.D. sometimes, and it was difficult grabbing, let alone holding, his attention.
Finally, Kenny grinned. “Okay, I like him. He’s funny and he lets me eat as much junk food as I want.”
Steve smiled, a weight lifting off his shoulders. That was what he wanted to hear. So, his instincts had been right. The two of them got along really well together.
“Candy? Well, I don’t know if that’s so good,” Steve said with a smirk. He tickled his little brother until he kicked and screamed on the floor. He missed this, times like this when the two of them could smile and laugh and goof off.
It’d been so long since they’d had any semblance of a normal life, maybe now things would settle down so they could grow roots? Stability was what Kenny needed more than anything.
Steve let his little brother go and he quickly went back to work. They had to work fast if they were to get everything completed by the time James got back into town.
“Hey, what’s this?” Kenny asked, pulling something out of a box.
Steve squinted his eyes, looking at it. They shouldn’t look through all his things. He wanted to respect the man’s privacy. He thought they could put everything away without really snooping around too much. But if it was Kenny who found it…then really it wasn’t his fault.
“Not sure what it is,” said Steve. It was some kind of paper. Steve almost tossed it back, until he saw the words “Prison Release” and “Statutory Rape.” “Holy fuck,” said Steve, his jaw dropping.