Expanding Horizons

Chapter 14

"Hi guys, get your tickets here for tonight's showing of 'The Boys That Ate Me Out of Business'," Chris' Dad teased when Ronnie and Brad got to the theater.  "Oh wait, I forgot you're part of the cast.  Silly me, you two get in for free.  Chris and a very nice young man from out of town are waiting for you in his room.  Help yourselves to the snack bar on your way up.  They already did a couple of times."

"Thanks, Uncle Beni," Ronnie grinned as he headed straight for the soda machine.

"Yeah, thanks Mr. Bassi," Brad agreed as he got himself a Snickers ice cream bar and Ronnie a box of Milk Duds.

"Hold it just a minute there, mister," Mr. Bassi growled.  "I happen to know that Chris calls your parent Mom, yet I get called Mr. Bassi?  And you think that's going to work?  You better think again, kiddo."

"Umm, I wasn't sure how you felt about us, or me...."

"Blondie, if I had a problem with you and my son, you would have known it by now," Mr. Bassi said a sarcastic looking smirk.  "Not to mention, your partner in crime over there is now the son of my sister and her lesbian wife.  If I had a problem with you, it would mean I have a problem with them, and if I had a problem with them, I'm sure I would have been cursed or hexed or whatever into oblivion a long time ago by Dracula's daughter, my sister-in-law."

"Well, until tonight, I would have suggested Dad, but that is claimed now, I think, so how about Papa?" Brad said with a blush and a hopeful look.

"Papa sounds great to me, son-in-law," Mr. Bassi smiled and hugged Brad.  "Welcome to my family, Brad.  Now, go be a good influence on your boyfriend and take him out of here, so he stops raiding the candy counter and so he won't sneak peeks of the movie showing tonight since you are all too young for it."

"Yes Papa," Brad smiled and grabbed another quick hug before heading up the stairs.

"We're going to show Aaron around town, Uncle Beni," Ronnie called out as he followed Brad.

"Well, I hope you have a backup plan cause that won't take but about twenty minutes even on foot," Mr. Bassi called out to the retreating boys.

When they got to Chris' room, both Ronnie and Brad just about dropped their goodies from the candy counter.  Chris and Aaron were lounging on the bed in nothing but their underwear and Aaron's undies consisted of quite a bit less fabric than Brad's.  The two practically nude teens called out their greetings to their boyfriends.

"What are you two doing?" Ronnie blurted.

"Nothing naughty, I swear," Chris returned quickly.  "It's just so hot in my room all the time, so we got comfortable while we were waiting for you guys."

"You got naked with each other to wait for us?"

"They're not naked, Ronnie," Brad responded.  "Well, at least Chris isn't."

"I'm not naked either," Aaron protested.  "This is a thong."

"Ronnie, I swear to you, we've just been talking, mostly about you," Chris vowed. 

"Oh, so you've been telling him what a psych case I am?"

"Ronnie, chill," Brad murmured as he reached over and rubbed a hand up and down Ronnie's arm.  "I trust my boyfriend.  If he says nothing happened, then I believe him.  I also know how goofy he is over having you as a cousin, so I'm sure he didn't say anything that would make you look bad."

"You're family, now Ronnie," Brad told him as he got up and crossed the room to hold his arms out for a hug from Ronnie.  "I told him what a great baseball player you are, and yeah I told him more of the story about your ex folks because he didn't want to accidentally say something that would upset you over all of that.  I also told him that my family is from Italy as well as having a couple of witches, so he would have the Mafia on him if he ever hurts you as well as the hexes from your parentals."

"You're not really Mafia, are you?" Brad gasped.

"I can't answer that," Chris said quietly.  "The Corleone's don't like it."

"Wait a minute, the Corleone's were the Mafia family in those Godfather movies," Ronnie blurted.  "They weren't real mafia."

"Hey, my dad runs a theater, I pick up things," Chris shrugged and grinned.

"Chris!" Brad swatted at his boyfriend.  "I really thought you were in the Mafia."

"Brad, even if Uncle Beni was Mafia, which he definitely is not, Chris wouldn't be.  We're only thirteen years old for crying out loud," Ronnie laughed.

"Oh, yeah," Brad agreed and blushed.  "I just didn't want to get gunned down in a drive-by shooting or something."

"We don't exactly live in New York City, Brad, and besides, our Rainbow Ranger Armor would protect us," Chris grinned.

"Rainbow Ranger?" Aaron asked.

"When everything about us came out, literally, we came up with the name, kind of like the three musketeers, only gay," Ronnie explained with a grin.  "This is Captain Juliet, Commander Romeo, and I'm Sergeant Paris.  Brad's mom is Admiral Sweets."

"That's cool, guys," Aaron smiled.  "So you got room in the Rainbow Rangers for Private PegLeg?"

"Absolutely, dude," Chris grinned.  "What say we get dressed again and let's hit the streets of this booming metropolis and show these ruffians some rainbow awesomeness?"

"He did not just say that," Brad groaned.  "Somebody tell me he did not just say that."

"Hey, you had your chance at the other gay boy in town, but you chose the comedian," Ronnie pointed out.

"Is there something there I should know about?" Aaron said as he looked from Ronnie to Brad and back again.

"I promise to tell you all about it," Ronnie said quietly.  "You deserve to know what kind of asshole you are getting being around me."

"Hey, I thought he couldn't have your butt until you're in tenth grade?" Brad pointed out.

"Brad!" Ronnie blushed and squealed.  "I wasn't talking about sex."

"I know," Brad confirmed.  "That's why I had to tease you, spirit brother.  I'm not going to let you talk bad about yourself in my presence.  You are not responsible for the shit your parents and people like my father drilled into your head before you were cleansed by the healing powers of the rainbow."

"I will assume that means that you weren't the nicest guy to be around before you came out?" Aaron asked softly.  "My mom will tell you that I was a total psych case for a long time before I finally told her I was gay.  I get it, really.  That doesn't make you a bad person.  It just makes you human."

"It was a bit worse than back talking or smarting off to my parents," Ronnie confessed.  "If you don't want to be with me after you know, I will totally understand."

"Hey, how about you wait until I've heard it all before you go breaking us up," Aaron told him.  "This sounds like something we should not be talking about as we walk around town though."

"Yeah let's just kick back here and see how things go from there?" Chris suggested.

"Dude, your room is like an oven though," Ronnie complained.

"Well, you and I are a bit overdressed," Brad said with a tiny bit of a blush.  "Chris says the rule is undies only in his room."

"Well, when in Rome, as they say," Ronnie shrugged and started stripping.

"Ok, I want it clearly understood that I love Chris, but Aaron, if you dump Ronnie after seeing what I'm seeing right now, you're a dummy," Brad blurted as the four boys sat together on Brad's bed.

"Oh please, with all these scars that my sperm donor left me with for the rest of my life, I'm lucky people don't call me Frankenstein's Monster," Ronnie said dismissively as he crawled onto the bed as well.

"Hey, no dissing my angel, angel," Aaron said as he pulled Ronnie close and cuddled him.  "Let me tell you what my mother has always told me about my leg when I get depressed about it.  Scars and imperfections only prove to the world that you are strong enough to survive the crap that gave you the scars and imperfections."

"That's right, brother," Brad agreed.  "You were strong enough to not let them break your spirit when they were breaking your body.  You really are a hero in my eyes.  You could have told them all that it was all me and they would have all believed you, even my father.  But you took the blame for everything yourself and cleared me from trouble, even after I threw you under the bus in class that day."

"You didn't do anything to me that I didn't deserve for what I had done to you," Ronnie protested.  "You're the hero, bro.  You stood up to a bully, and then had the heart to help that bully out of a mess when you could have just let it happen."

"No, I could never have just let that happen, not to anyone," Brad said firmly.  "You were a jerk, but I knew why you were.  Not even a jerk deserved what our fathers were doing to you.  I just wish I could have gotten help sooner.  It was Mom's idea for me to go to the convenience store and call for help from there, so your mother wouldn't interfere."

"Yeah, Admiral Sweets is definitely one of the three most awesome mom's in the universe," Ronnie agreed.

"Can we please back up and start over so I know what happened?" Aaron pouted.

For the next thirty minutes, the three Rainbow Rangers filled their newest recruit in on the lives of his boyfriend, as well as Brad and Chris.  When it was done, Ronnie sat with his head down, staring at his feet on the bed, too afraid to even look at Aaron.

"Chris, you and I have to be the two luckiest guys on the planet," Aaron finally said.  "We managed to snag the bravest, strongest, cutest boyfriends in the universe."

"Yeah, we did," Chris agreed as he put his hands on each side of Brad's face and gave him a soft, loving kiss. 

"You mean that?" Ronnie whispered as he looked into Aaron's eyes.  He got his answer when Aaron mimicked Chris and kissed him.

"Hey boys, since you're still..... Uh, guys, you want to explain why you're all practically naked on a bed together?  I know from three of the parents of you boys that there are some rules about what isn't supposed to happen for a long time yet."   The boys all turned sheepish looks to Chris' Dad.

"We haven't broken any rules, Papa," Brad said quickly.  "We were just kissing because we told Aaron all about everything."

"And we're in our undies because it's always so hot in here, Dad," Chris explained. 

"Ok, guys, I'm going to trust you and believe you because you've never given me any reason not to," Mr. Bassi told them all.  "I came up to see if you guys wanted to help out with tonight's show in a couple of minutes.  Work the candy counter and the ticket booth, that sort of thing."

"We were supposed to show Aaron around town," Ronnie said softly, like he was apologizing for not having already done that, which he really was.

"Honestly, this sounds cool, though," Aaron said with a smile.  "I kind of didn't want to bring it up, but my leg and hip really weren't up for all that walking.  I kind of hit a growth spurt a month or so back and this artificial leg doesn't fit quite right now. I'm waiting for a new fitting to get a replacement."

"So I know who to put in the ticket booth," Mr. Bassi smiled.  He turned to Brad and Ronnie and his smile turned mischievous. "I'm counting on you two to make sure this bottomless pit sells more popcorn than he eats," he said as he pointed at Chris.

"DAD!" Chris protested.  "Besides, if you could cook, I wouldn't eat so much from the snack counter."

"If I could cook, I would be running a restaurant instead of a theater, son," Mr. Bassi returned.  "Now let's head down.  Aaron, I don't mean to offend or anything, but if your prosthetic is bothering you, I could carry you down the stairs.  It's the least I can do for you since I don't have an elevator."

"It doesn't offend me at all, Mr. Bassi," Aaron replied.  "I would normally just do the stairs on my own anyway, but my leg is bothering me, so if you really don't mind."  As he moved around on the bed, he made a funny-looking face.  "OOH man, I hate it when this happens."  At the curious and worried looks from the others, he continued.  "Ever heard of something called phantom pains?"

"Isn't that what they call it when someone feels their lost limb hurting?" Brad asked.

"Yeah, that's it," Aaron confirmed.  "The thing is you don't just get occasional pain.  Sometimes your foot that isn't there gets an itch, just like you get on the other one, only you can't do anything about it."

"Who says you can't?" Ronnie asked him.  He looked at his boyfriend's whole leg for a second and then put his hands out to where the missing foot would be.  He made scratching motions with his fingers and looked up at Aaron.  "Kind of stupid, I guess."

"Oh, my god, you really are an angel," Aaron blurted.  "That worked.  Ok, stop because now you're giving me phantom tickles."

"It really helped?" Ronnie asked in shock.  "I was just being dumb and hopefully cute."

"I don't think it was dumb at all," Aaron said with a big smile.  "But you are definitely cute."

"Ok, guys, hurry up and get clothes on again.  Just because the movie is R rated doesn't mean the crew needs to be," Mr. Bassi reminded them.  "Chris, we will get this room air-conditioned as soon as possible.  You could have told me it was too hot in here, you know."

"Yeah, but I was always comfy in just my undies, so it wasn't a big deal," Chris shrugged.

"Well, now that other boys are going to be coming over for visits, it is a big deal and I will get it taken care of this week."

"No more naked cuddles in Chris' room," Ronnie pouted over dramatically.

"No, this just means the naked cuddles will be under covers instead of on top of them," Chris blurted.  He saw the look on his father's face and held up his hands in surrender.  "It was a joke, Dad.  I swear."

"You boys are going to give me gray hair," Mr. Bassi whined as he scooped up Aaron now that the boy was dressed and started for the door.

"Doesn't he know he already has gray hair?" Brad asked as he, Ronnie, and Chris followed them downstairs, causing Ronnie and Chris to both laugh.

"What's so funny back there?" Aaron called out just as they got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Brad just had a blonde moment," Ronnie snickered.  "We'll tell you about it later."

"Oh, so Papa was joking about his hair?"

"You called my Dad Papa?" Chris asked.

"Well, I can't call him Dad, cause that one's already claimed," Brad replied.

"By who?" Chris blurted.

"You mentioned that earlier, but you didn't tell me anything else," Mr. Bassi said as he turned to look at Brad.

"Well, we found out tonight that Mr. Kennedy, the art teacher at our school, knew my mom when they were our age, then my mom got moved away," Brad explained.  "He has a gorgeous painting of her in his living room that he did when he was in college.  It looks just like her."

"I thought you said they knew each other when they were our age," Chris said in confusion.  "Did they get back together in college?"

"No he got Aunt Fawn to pose for the painting, but he painted my mom's face," Brad answered.

"Wait, he had Fawn Phillips pose for him, but he painted someone else?  It's a miracle he's alive," Mr. Bassi said in awe.  "He must have done a lot of penance for that one."

"I think he still is," Brad said as he and Ronnie both started laughing.

"Oh, he definitely is still paying for that trick," Mr. Bassi confirmed with a laugh as well. "He will be for many years if I know Fawn at all."  Here he looked sternly at Aaron and added, "Young man, trust me when I say that you never want to be on the bad side of Ronnie's new Mum."

"No sir, I see what you mean," Aaron gulped.

"So Robert and your Mom are an item now?" Mr. Bassi asked Brad.  "Well, that's another woman off my list."

"Dad, you couldn't date Brad's mom anyway," Chris insisted.  "That would have made me and Brad brothers."

"Somehow I doubt that would have stopped you two," Mr. Bassi snorted.

"DAD!"

"PAPA!"

"Oh, don't act like you wouldn't have still sucked each other's tonsils out every night," Ronnie quipped.  "You two got it so bad for each other."

"And who was it that was bragging about his high school man being so much better than us junior high boys?" Chris retorted.

"HEY!" Ronnie protested as he blushed.

"Oh, really?" Aaron piped up.  "Dude, we spent all that time in your room talking and you never clued me in on that?"

"Well, Ronnie's family," Chris answered.  "I can tease him when he's around, but I won't talk about him behind his back ever."

"Aww, thanks cuz," Ronnie grinned and hugged Brad.

"Ok boys, time for battle stations," Mr. Brassi announced.  "Chris, you teach the guys what they need to know at the snack bar, while I coach our new ticket seller."

"You got it, Dad," Chris agreed and led Ronnie and Brad behind the snack counter.