Tony and his dad Anthony moved to Danville for a job offer to manage a Grocery Store. It was much for more money and a chance that he could help Tony pay for attending the local state college. They did not have a lot of stuff and moved into a duplex where they had the whole upstairs apartment.
Tom and his single mother lived downstairs and had for ten years. Both Tom and Tony were starting their senior year. Tony had tons of questions about his new school. With just three weeks before school starts Tony was trying his best to become friends with Tom.
Tony - So, you do not play sports, you don't belong to any clubs. What do you do at school besides classes?
Tom - I study, I have straight A's and have for the last five years.
Tony - Damn bro I bet that makes you a virgin too?
Tom - You do know I am gay right?
Tony - What? Hell no, you do not act gay, does your mom know?
Tom - Everyone knows I am one of three gay guys that are out of the closet at school. The other two are boyfriends.
Tony - So, have you done gay stuff with a guy?
Tom - Some stuff with the other two guy guys growing up, but nothing lately.
Tony - Wow my dad is going to freak we moved in next door to a gay kid at school.
Tom - Why is that? Does he not like gay people.
Tony - No, it is complicated, my mom is a lesbian now and my dad is not dealing with that very well. She split four years ago and he is still not over it.
Tom - My dad was killed in Afghanistan. We are a Gold Star family, and my mom is still in love with him. She works for the school district administration, and everyone seems to think that she is why I am so smart. So, I take it you are straight, have you ever had a girlfriend?
Tony - Went my parents divorced I was twelve and they did tell me my mom fell in love with her female boss. So, at sixteen I find out, I freak out. I hooked up with Julie Hunter who is a year older. We started doing it every day after school for a week. She wants to hook up on Saturday by my dad is at home, and her parents are at her house. So, we skipped the weekend, and she breaks up with me on Monday. Telling me she is having another guy’s baby. I have not been with a girl since. I am waiting for college. It is getting late; I need to crash.
Tom - I got to crash too call me if you need a hand with anything straight boy.
Tony - Oh funny he makes gay jokes. Good night gay boy.
The next morning Tony explains to his dad Tom is gay, and one of three at his new school. This was a huge change from his last school where gay kids did come out, they talked their parents into moving. His mom hooked up with her boss at the local bank was a scandal that kids at school would give Tony a tough time about. First his mom and her boss moved out of the state. Now dad and Tony are doing the same. All because of his mother’s choice to leave us for a her.
He told his dad that Tom's mom worked for the school district. She could help get his records transferred. His dad said he would find out the next time he sees her. Tony could ask for himself also. He was hoping that people would just know he was divorced and not why he was divorced. Please ask your friend Tom not to tell anyone about his mother’s choices. People judge me as a husband because of your mother.
That was a revelation Tony was unaware of and never considered. His dad was trying to move on and start a new life. With Tony starting college in a year now is the time to start looking. Looking at what he did, as Anthony exited upstairs Angelica Tom's mother exited the first-floor apartment. They both seemed stunned to see each other. Anthony introduced himself as the new upstairs neighbor, with a son and gave her his business card.
Angelica - Hello and nice to meet you my son Tom told me you were moving in. No time to unpack you have started your new job already I take it.
Anthony - Once they found out I was here they put me to work. I hear you work for the school district, and clue is and getting my son's records transferred?
Angelica - If it is okay I send the instructions to this email on your card if you like.
Anthony - That would be great I would be very grateful Tony cannot wait to get started.
Angelica - Your son and you should join Thomas and I for dinner tonight say 6:30. We can
burgers on grill in the back yard and talk about enrollment tonight. I can bring a course and class description and Tony can look at what classes he would like to take.
Anthony - Tell me what to bring please.
Angelica - Your son and desert.
Anthony - I can do that; we will see you at six-thirty.
Both parents get in their vehicles and text their son’s dinner is a six thirty with the neighbors. Tony is told to get some more unpacking don and Tom is told to clean up his bathroom for public use.
The two young men text each other and Tony talks Tom into helping him unpack the kitchen. Which was good because Tony was clueless as to where things should go and why they should go there. Tom was impressed and he wanted to understand the logic. Glasses in the cabinet next to a water dispenser in the frig. Silverware in a drawer closer to the table, pots and pans by the stove.
Tony - Let me guess you know how to cook too?
Tom - I can cook a few things. I am on the grill tonight. Does your dad drink alcohol?
Tony - Yes, he has a twelve pack of bud light bottles at all times and drink two a day during the week and weekend are to be determined. Your mom?
Tom - She does Margaretta's on weekends or special occasions. She lets me have one sometimes.
Two more boxes and the boys move to the living room and set up the TV and PS 5. and decided to change all the furniture around. Anthony got home and freaked the only thing left to unpack was his stuff in his bedroom. He loved it that everything was set up, he finally got Tony to admit it was all Tom's idea. It seemed to make since when he told me why.
Anthony - So did you ask the gay guy about the girls at your school?
Tony - He said they were high maintenance, and expensive. It is why he is gay they are poor, and he cannot afford a girlfriend.
Anthony - So, let me guess you told the gay guy no girls until college, so he can help his straight friend who is afraid to become a "baby daddy " or A baby's daddy? Do not let him fall in love with you.
Tony - Wow thanks for the suggestion you pervert why would you mind go there? You should be more worried about me falling for him. I know he cannot make me a baby daddy. Gay does have benefits.
Anthony - Let us go.
As predicted Tom was on the grill and the food was fantastic. Anthony was grateful for Tom's help putting the kitchen and living room away. The two talked about the courses she was most impressed with. Tony was a B student because it was passing, and easy. Getting As required more work than he was prepared to put out. Dessert was served and followed by a margarita with a special Tequila. Tom and Tony are going upstairs to play video games.
Two hours later they each get a text from their parents.
Anthony - Ask Tom if you can spend the night but NO gay stuff.
Angelica - Tony is going to ask you to spend the night, say yes and do not hit on him or make him feel weird. Anthony is nice, don’t you think? We are just down here talking. Just getting to know each other.
The two boys give each other a high five. Both swear this never happens to their parents, it would be awesome if they could hook up. Sitting on the couch they joke about someday being brothers due to the parents getting married. What would that be like to have a gay brother. Tony suggests it is not gay for a straight brother to do gay stuff with gay brother. As long as no one found out.
Tom said I have gotten that offer from a lot of guys. I give you five minutes of gay stuff for five minutes of making out.
At seven am four cell phone alarms go off and all four people panicked when they realized what had happened the night before. It was Saturday Morning, and everyone had time to destroy any evidence while staging a different explanation. A pillow and blanket placed on both couches implies someone sleeping there. Finally, at 9 am Anglia sends a text I am cooking breakfast who is showing up. Tom and Tony both reply I am. Not weird was the fact that everyone looked guilty and acted like they were hiding something. All of them lied.
Weird they everyone just planned to hang out together. Anthony got Tony's transcripts and Angelia uploaded and enrolled him from her home computer. The three of them picked out his classes and schedule which was like Tom's minus the ap classes for German and English. Tom was grateful they had PE together because that was where he got picked on the most and he wanted a witness.
Anthony ordered Pizza for everyone and over dinner the boys brought the subject for another sleepover. Anthony kept asking why I would trade a night in my bed for another night on that couch. They were not buying it while Angelica tried to ignore both boys. Finally, she said loudly, enough guys. She turns to Anthony and asks would like to have another sleepover. Anthony stands up, gives her a kiss, and says I would love to. The boys go insane for about three minutes and then head upstairs.
The boys are too excited to sleep. They played video games for several hours and watched a movie on Netflix before passing out on opposite in of the couch. Legs twisted together Tom's pillow on top of Tony's feet, Tom was hugging his legs as if to keep him right where he was. At 7AM alarms go off and Anthony must go to work. He walks through the door just as the two boys are waking up.
Anthony, you two slept on a couch when one of you had a queen size mattress in the next room.
Tony - Bro I only have a full size we should go crash in your bed it is too early to wake up.
Tom - Fine I am right behind you.
Tony - Watch it gay boy not too close.
Tom - You look happy. You two should be a couple. Have a good day at work.
School started and it was different for a lot of reasons. With Tony as a witness, he could help blow off some of the comments, but when it was wrong Tony would call them out. Because people knew Tony would be honest about what happened. Tony was getting offers from girls and was grateful Tom could give him the info on all of them. After three months of a lot of sleepovers Anthony and Angelica want the boys to share the upstairs and they would live together downstairs.
Tom and Tony were in heaven, it was as if it was their own apartment. Tony had someone to help him with his homework. With a best friend having a girlfriend or boyfriend seemed less important. Tom had someone to do things with, that he had never had before. He was determined to keep his feelings in check. Having a best friend or big brother was too important. By Christmas it had been six months and while it was not legal Tony had started calling Angelica Mom, and Anthony would say go ask your mother. Tom was testing boundaries with Anthony by giving him hugs and saying things like good morning daddy. How was work daddy?
By spring break the boys were thinking a local college and both want to fix AC and Heating and Refrigeration repair men. There was a two-year course they were looking into. All the time Anthony was thinking eight years of college and a masters in something for Tom. Yet the money was about the same but the demand for cooler with global warming. This was the job of the future.
Anthony pulls the boys aside to say he is going to ask Angelia to marry him this weekend. They are thrilled and want to know if they can keep the apartment. Anthony said they would talk to the landlord. The big night comes, and Anthony wears a suit and Angelica looks like a model, with her hair all up on top of her head. They texted the boys a picture of the ring on her finger with the following message.
We are catching a redeye flight to Las Vegas. Back in two days married. We love you.
Tony - That was not supposed to happen. That is not the way to do this.
Tom - They are getting married without us. That sucks so much for family.
The boys drank Anthony's twelve pack of bud lights, got very drunk and did some actual gay stuff with each other. Tony would deny anything happening for over a year. Until it happened again due to his personal alcohol consumption. He took finding a girlfriend seriously for about six months. His one volunteer did not work out. A week of Tom’s pointers suggests, and personal lesson she gave up and said she would rather be gay.
Finally at the age of twenty-one Tom meets Chris, a college student who hit on him while he was fixing his AC unit. They start going out and are thinking about boyfriend status. He is a third-year student living with his younger sister, a first-year student. who thinks Tony is hot. Tom breaks the air condoner he just fixed. This time Tony showed up and Alison did more than hit him. They became a couple. Six months later she was going to have a baby.
They took over the downstairs duplex apartment. Angelica owned the building and was renting out the upstairs. He and Anthony had met on a previous visit to the store he took over. Even he did not know she owed the house he was renting from a management company. She referred him to her management company, telling him it was vacant.
The Duplex - Story Time Blog
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