Emo Boi Finds Love

Chapter Sixteen

by Terrance MacDonald

This was going to be a big day. Thomas was finally going to meet Tyler - or at least he was supposed to. The thing was, he had doubts that the boy was going to get into the plane at Thunder Bay - and thus wouldn't be meeting him at the airport in Atlanta as they had planned. Why did he feel this way? That answer was actually fairly simple - he knew Tyler's history - everything that had happened to him in the past. Thomas knew the whole story about Drake, and from what Thomas knew about that experience alone, he would have thought that it would have kept most people from traveling over 3000 miles to meet someone in person who they only knew from online chat, e-mail and the occasional phone call; especially someone who had only just turned 18 years of age as Tyler just had.

Sure, they had become very close friends online, but that wasn't nearly the same as actually knowing someone in real life, and that's what made the situation so much more difficult. Thomas hoped that Tyler understood how he felt about him - the love that he felt for the young man. Yes, Thomas loved Tyler, but he wasn't in love with him. Thomas had come to realize this a long time ago; his instincts were to protect Tyler, to comfort him when he needed it, and to give him advice when he asked for it (and sometimes even when he didn't). It was a paternal love that he felt for the boy, not a romantic one. He had felt that way about Tyler since shortly after they met online. There were even times he had helped Tyler with his homework during their online chat sessions.

Deciding that he was worrying too much, Thomas finished packing his suitcase and wheeled it into the garage. He loaded the bag into the trunk of the black Cadillac sedan that was parked there, and then returned to the kitchen. He checked the clock on the microwave; it was almost two in the afternoon. 'Tyler should be at the airport by now,' he thought. 'I hope he'll have a comfortable trip - he's got a really long flight.' Thomas was well acquainted with travel by air; he had held a job for a long time that required him to travel extensively, not only around the United States and Canada, but sometimes to parts of Europe as well.

Thomas poured himself the last cup of coffee from the second pot he had made that day and contemplated whether or not to brew one more before he left for Atlanta. Stirring in some sugar, he decided that this was going to be his last cup. The drive from Savannah to Atlanta would take around four hours, and he didn't want to have to stop for restroom breaks along the way.

Walking into his computer room, he sat down at the desk and logged in. He printed out the itinerary for Tyler's flight, and then for the trip that he had planned for them for the weekend. This was a trip that he and Tyler had talked about many times over the four years they had known each other, and looking at the printed version of their plans brought a smile to his face. Thomas walked back to the garage and tossed the papers onto the front passenger seat. He'd need them to program the addresses they would be visiting into his GPS system before he got on the road. He didn't need the GPS system to get to Atlanta; he had driven that route many times over. He wouldn't really need it to where they would be going the next morning either, but he didn't know exactly how to get to the hotel in Atlanta where he had made reservations for that evening. Thomas had always been bad with directions, so he had been thankful when GPS had become available.

When he returned to the kitchen and his coffee, it had cooled off, so he gulped most of it down, and then poured the rest down the sink. He added the coffee cup and carafe from the coffee maker to the dishwasher and set the wash cycle. After packing his laptop into its carrying case and depositing it into the trunk of the car, he finally got into the driver's seat and pressed the button on the remote control to open the garage door. Thomas tapped the starter button, bringing the engine to life and backed out of the driveway. Pressing the button on the remote once more, he closed the garage door, and shifted the car into drive. As he pulled away from his house, Thomas waved to Kevin - the nineteen year old son of one of his neighbors who was out in front of their house cutting the grass.

Kevin had agreed to come over to Thomas' house and feed Shakespeare, Thomas' six month old German Shepherd puppy that weekend while he was out of town - for a small fee of course. Thomas had to admit the young man was cute, despite the 'snake bite' piercing that recently came to adorn his lower lip - Thomas was a little too old fashioned for this sort of thing, but he did understand that kids would do things like this sometimes - and at nineteen years old, Thomas did consider Kevin to be a 'kid.' If he'd been twenty years or so younger, Thomas might have even thought about trying to seduce him, but that was out of the question considering the difference in their ages.

Kevin wore his brown hair swept over his forehead in the Emo sort of style - a look he had adopted only about a year before. This was the same style as Tyler preferred for himself, and somehow Thomas thought that when they met they would probably have quite a lot in common, and it was a good guess that they would probably become friends. Thomas didn't know for sure if Kevin was gay or not - if he was, he wasn't generally 'out,' but Thomas strongly suspected that he was.

So now Thomas was finally on his way to a meeting that had been planned over a period of years. But how was it going to work out? Was Tyler going to take one of the biggest risks of his life and make the journey to meet him? Would they get along once they met in person? They were both taking risks, but Thomas recognized that the biggest by far was the one Tyler would be taking. After all, Tyler was the one who would be crossing an international border and flying thousands of miles for their meeting.

He would find out for sure before the end of the day, but Thomas hoped that Tyler was going to make this huge leap of faith.

The 160 miles between Savannah and Macon went by fairly quickly, but the interstate passed through mostly undeveloped areas, so it seemed like much longer than the little less than two hours it actually took. Thomas wasn't exactly paying attention to what the speed limit, or as he preferred to refer to it, the 'speed suggestion' was, except when the warbling tone of the RADAR detector announced the presence of a state trooper, and for as devoid of any towns as this stretch of highway was, it actually happened unusually often. Thomas had driven this road many times in the past, and knew that it was a favorite of the Georgia State Patrol as a spot to boost the state's revenue by way of traffic citations.

Just north of Macon on I-75, Thomas hit a traffic jam. The GPS unit identified it as a half hour delay, but didn't offer an alternate route around it. All that meant was that there wasn't one, and he was stuck on the highway. Forty five minutes later, the traffic finally cleared, and Thomas was able to make good time again.

Finally in Atlanta, Thomas let the GPS unit guide him to the Hilton Tower hotel by the airport where he had made reservations for the night. He and Tyler would be leaving for their actual destination in the morning after breakfast. For now, Thomas was going to catch a nap before he went to the airport to meet Tyler. He had a feeling that they were going to be up late, finally getting acquainted in person, so he wanted to be well rested.

Tyler had been worried about Drake getting jealous and losing his place to live as a result of his desire to dance with Oliver. As it turned out, this didn't bother Drake. However, some of the attention other men showed him when he and Ollie danced did. He knew that Tyler wanted, or rather needed to make some spending money, and Drake actually found the dancing that Tyler and Oliver did together quite a turn-on. Normally on either Friday or Saturday night after they had finished dancing at The Cavern, Oliver would come back to Drake's apartment with them.

Oliver's weekly visit was the main reason that Drake didn't get jealous of Tyler's relationship with him. On these occasions Drake would start the night back at his apartment after they had left The Cavern by having the two put on even more of a show for him than they had at the club - and it was definitely a show that they couldn't have performed in public. Drake had given consideration to videotaping them, something for his own personal collection; a souvenir of sorts for the day that one or both of the boys eventually decided to move on, and he knew that sooner or later this was bound to happen. This was one of the reasons that he was normally very possessive and controlling of Tyler, because the more he kept Tyler under control, the more dependent upon Drake Tyler became, and the less likely it was that Tyler would be inclined to leave. It wasn't a brilliant plan, so much as crafty, but then that suited Drake's personality perfectly.

After he had watched Tyler and Oliver perform for him for a while, Drake would usually join in himself. On the rare occasions that he preferred only to watch, he would sandwich himself between the boys when they would finally go to bed in the wee hours of the morning. Drake had offered for the first several weeks to give Oliver a ride home the next day, but he never accepted. Oliver still didn't really like or trust Drake, and didn't want him knowing exactly where he lived. The only reason Oliver went along to Drake's apartment was because of how he felt about Tyler, his love for Tyler had taken on seemingly unknown proportions. Had it not been for that, he would have stayed as far from Drake as possible.

It had been a little over four months since Tyler had run away from home. His mother still tried to contact him on his cell phone two or three times a week, and he had finally answered her calls a couple times. She had told him how worried his father and she were about him, but somehow he thought she was just mentioning his father when she told him that - he didn't think that his father really cared. His supposition was far from the truth, but his mind was made up, and there wasn't going to be any changing it. She asked him to come home, but he refused, although he did reassure her that he was doing okay, had plenty to eat, and was still in school and getting reasonably good grades. In truth however, this was not quite the case. His drug use had caused his grades to fall considerably. Tyler had maintained an 'A' average all the way through school up until the time he started smoking pot and taking pain killers. So far his grade point average had slipped into the 'C' range, and was currently in danger of dropping even further in a couple of his classes.

It was getting into the winter months, and the weather was quickly turning cold. Drake had started staying out late most nights, except when Tyler and Oliver would be dancing at The Cavern, and then he would usually show up an hour or so after he got off work. Since the weather had been nice when Tyler had run away from home, he hadn't had the foresight to take a winter coat with him, and he was starting to regret that now. The windbreaker he had borrowed from Drake didn't fit him well - it was way too large, and though it had served him well enough in the early weeks of fall, it wasn't going to keep out the severe cold of a Thunder Bay winter. It was for this reason that Tyler decided to sneak back into his parents' home the first time.

Tyler climbed up to his bedroom window; exactly as he had done all the times he had to sneak back into the house before he had run away. He was happy to find that he was still able to work the latch open from the outside. This was short-lived however, as when he tried to raise the window he discovered that his father had indeed bolted it shut as he had said he was going to do the day Tyler had run away. 'Shit! How am I going to get in now?' Tyler thought.

Then he remembered the key. His parents had kept an emergency key hidden near the back door that led into the kitchen for emergencies. And this was definitely an emergency to Tyler. He just hoped they hadn't moved the key. Moving aside a loose brick in a low wall extended from a corner of the house, he retrieved the key and let himself into the house as quietly as he could. All the lights had been out when Tyler had arrived, but both his parents' cars were in the driveway, so he was hoping that they were both asleep. They usually were at this time of night, so Tyler thought he would be safe from them hearing as he eased the kitchen door closed behind him and crept toward the stairs. He made it to the second floor landing without making any noise that would alert his parents to his presence. He had been careful to avoid that one creaky step in the middle of the staircase. The door to his bedroom was closed when he reached it, and he opened it slowly and cautiously, not sure what to expect. His eyes had already adjusted to the darkness inside the house, and there was some light coming in from the nearly full moon outside. His room looked exactly as he had left it, with the exception of the clothes, both clean and dirty that had been scattered about the floor, and the fact that his bed was now made. Aside from those two details, it was as if he hadn't been absent for four and a half months.

He closed the door to his old bedroom, keeping the knob turned so that the latch wouldn't make any noise as it caught in the door frame. Once he was sure the door was secured behind him, Tyler eased his way to the side of his bed and clicked on the switch for the lamp on his nightstand. With the room better lit now, he looked around, studying the walls, the photos and posters that he had pinned up, his desk where he used to sit and do his homework, his computer sitting atop the desk - he really wished he could take that with him, but even if he did, it wouldn't matter much - Drake didn't have Internet access at the apartment, and Tyler knew that Drake wasn't going to get it, so it didn't really matter anyway.

Tyler moved to his closet and slid the door open. Most of his clothes were hanging here, the rest that he had left behind were no doubt folded in his dresser on the other side of the room. His mother must have put them away. There was a backpack on the closet shelf - Tyler pulled it down and began to put some of his most favorite clothes into it, both from his closet and his dresser. He thought about taking a chance and logging onto the computer, just for a few minutes, but decided that would be taking an unnecessary risk. He pulled on his heavy winter coat, then put on the backpack and made his way back out of the house as quietly as he had come in.

When Tyler got back to the apartment, Drake still wasn't home. He dropped his coat on one of the two sofas in the living room and took the backpack to 'his' room and put the clothes he'd brought back with him away. When he finished there, he went down to the kitchen and started fixing something to eat. Tyler had become a pretty good cook since he'd moved in with Drake. It was a simple choice - learn to cook, or eat a lot of microwave food or sandwiches. Most of the microwavable meals didn't accommodate Tyler's diet of fish and vegetables - and you can't live off peanut butter and jelly, not for very long anyway.

The smell of the stir-fry vegetables Tyler had cooked permeated the apartment when Drake walked in. Tyler was still seated at the dining room table eating. He looked up as Drake walked into the room. "I made stir-fry," Tyler said, quite unnecessarily. "I'm sure it's still hot if you want some."

Drake smiled at him. "Thanks babe," he replied. "It really smells good." Drake returned to the kitchen to fix himself a plate. He really wished Tyler didn't have this odd vegetarian and fish diet. The boy was a good cook, but Drake liked to have meat with his meals. In addition to not eating meat, Tyler didn't cook it either.

When they finished eating, Tyler went into the kitchen to clean up the mess that was left over from preparing the meal. Drake went to the living room and grabbed the remote control for the television. When he picked it up, he noticed the coat Tyler had left on the sofa. "Where did you get the coat?" he called out to Tyler.

Tyler walked into the living room to answer. "I went by the 'rents house a little while ago. They both have to be up early for work, so I knew they would be asleep. It's starting to get cold and I needed a heavier jacket, so I thought I'd sneak in and grab a few things I left behind."

"I would have gotten you one," Drake responded. And he would have - it would have been just one more thing to strengthen his hold on the boy.

"Yeah, thanks. And I appreciate it, but I really like that coat and some of the other stuff I picked up." There was also a part of Tyler that didn't like being dependent on Drake. He wasn't going to voice that thought, but it was still there, hovering in the back of his mind.

Drake smiled at him and patted the seat on the sofa beside him. "Come sit down with me and watch a little TV," he said.

"No, not now," Tyler answered. "I need to finish cleaning up in the kitchen, and it's getting late, so I need to go to bed. I do have school in the morning."

Drake just nodded and grunted.

When Tyler finished in the kitchen, he did go straight upstairs to the bedroom - Drake's bedroom - the one they had been sharing. He stripped off his clothes, and was about to get into the bed. Then he stopped and went to 'his' room for a moment. He kept his stash of pills there. Tyler shook the last two from the bottle and swallowed them - he didn't even need to wash them down with anything anymore. Tyler returned to the other bedroom, thinking that he would have to make a trip to see Bryan the next day. But he didn't have the cash he needed to get more of the pain killers - or even just a few joints at the moment. It was time to renew his bus pass, and that was something else he wasn't going to be able to do without - the municipal bus service wasn't willing to take the price of their monthly pass in trade. But Tyler knew all too well, and from experience, that Bryan was.

The next day after school, Tyler took the bus to his old neighborhood. He got off a few blocks from the arcade where Bryan worked and walked the rest of the way. He liked the feeling of being in his own neighborhood. The familiarity of being back in the area where he grew up was a slight comfort to him, even if it was really only a few miles from where he was staying now. Tyler was surprised by how much he missed being here, in the area where he grew up. And he really wished that he could come back, but somehow he just couldn't see how he was ever going to be able to do that. It was as if he'd crossed a bridge and burned it behind him.

Bryan was behind the counter in the arcade when Tyler walked in. Tyler signaled with his eyes that he wanted Bryan to meet him at the door to the back room. Bryan nodded that he understood, and held up a finger to indicate that it would be a moment before he would be there.

Tyler was nervous. He hadn't come to get drugs from Bryan for a long time without having the money to pay up front, and Bryan had made it clear then that the price was going to be higher if he didn't have the money. Just like Tyler, Bryan didn't forget that conversation from months before, and the price did in fact go up.

When Bryan joined him and let him into the back room, Tyler had a resigned look on his face and was unable to keep his feet still - these were undeniable signals that Bryan picked up on immediately. He instinctively knew that Tyler didn't have the money he was going to need for his purchase today. "So, what do you need today?" Bryan inquired as he swiped the key-card in the lock that opened the door to the back room.

"A few Percs and some pot..." Tyler started.

"It's just that, um... I, well..." Tyler was trying to get the words out, but they didn't seem to want to come.

"You don't have the cash," Bryan made the statement for him.

Tyler nodded, acknowledging that Bryan had guessed correctly.

Bryan ran his eyes up and down Tyler's body. 'This kid is seriously cute, I am really going to enjoy this,' he thought.

There was a look in Bryan's eyes that Tyler knew he had seen before after they had traveled over his body. It was a look of anticipation, lust and probably even hunger. Tyler wasn't looking forward to this, but he needed the drugs he was going to get from Bryan - at least that's what his brain was telling him.

Bryan just said one word - "Strip."

Suddenly Tyler felt very alone. He did what Bryan told him though - albeit very slowly, not realizing that this was actually a turn-on for the older boy. First he bent to untie his shoe laces, and then kicked his shoes off. Next, he shrugged out of his jacket and pulled his t-shirt over his head and dropped in onto the floor on top of his coat. He heard Bryan gasp a bit as his smooth, slender chest was revealed.

Tyler hesitated now. He wasn't so sure about what he was doing as he had been before. But when Bryan motioned for him to continue, he did. He dropped his jeans and stepped out of them, standing in just his boxers, looked hesitantly at Bryan. Bryan made another 'go ahead' motion with his hand and Tyler removed his final piece of clothing. Tyler just stood there, as if waiting for instructions, but Bryan didn't say anything. Instead, he circled Tyler, looking appreciatively at the boy's smooth, slender body as he did. Bryan let out a quiet whistle, and said under his breath, "This is gonna be sweet." Bryan's comment did nothing to reassure Tyler - quite the opposite in fact. But then it hadn't been meant to be reassuring.

Bryan stepped back in front of Tyler, "Now undress me," he commanded. While this was something that Bryan found very erotic - having the girl, or boy that he was about to have sex with undress him - Tyler was very unnerved by it. He didn't want to, but he knew that he really had no choice at the moment. The only way Tyler would get through this was by putting his brain on auto pilot. He turned his emotions completely off. Tyler slowly pushed Bryan's t-shirt up, and Bryan raised his arms so it could be pulled over his head. Bryan interpreted this as an attempt at eroticism - not the reluctance that it actually was. But that didn't matter to him in the least. This was all about pleasure for Bryan, in exchange for the drugs Tyler wanted. Bryan could care less if Tyler enjoyed what was about to happen or not.

Once Tyler had stripped Bryan completely naked, Bryan pushed him forward so that he was standing in front of the desk. "Sit up on the desk," Bryan told him.

Tyler turned around and slowly raised himself up so that he was sitting on the cool surface. He had scooted back so that his knees just barely hung over the edge. This wasn't exactly the position Bryan wanted him in, but that didn't matter at all. Bryan grabbed Tyler's legs and lifted them, which had the effect of pushing him back onto his back on the plastic that formed the top of the cheap furniture. Then Bryan pulled him back toward himself so that Tyler's butt extended slightly over the edge of the desk.

As Bryan moved in toward him, Tyler suddenly realized that the only lubricant Bryan intended to use was going to what little was going to be the little bit his pre-cum would supply. Tyler remembered from his earlier session with Bryan that he had tasted that substance, but he had no idea whether or not Bryan produced a large enough amount so that this wouldn't be a hellish experience as Bryan began to violate his rear entrance.

Fortunately for Tyler, between the pre-cum Bryan had produced and Drake's regular fucking, Bryan's entry wasn't too painful. He didn't do it gently at all - and the suddenness of his penetration caused Tyler to cry out just a little. He actually felt Bryan's thick cock catch and squeak on his dry inner flesh. "Keep quiet, bitch!" Bryan hissed out. "Nobody better hear what's going on back here!"

There wasn't much chance of that happening unless Tyler had actually screamed out; the noise of the games in the arcade was plenty to cover up the noise that was being made by the two boys in the back room. At least that was the case up until Bryan's final thrusts. As his orgasm began, Bryan let loose an almost guttural scream, and then began pumping his seed into Tyler's behind.

A couple of the regular customers in the arcade recognized the sound, and they knew exactly what was going on when they heard Bryan's shriek. They weren't going to say anything to anyone though; they were also Bryan's customers. Tyler dressed quickly once they were finished. He wanted to get out of this place as fast as he possibly could.

Bryan actually gave Tyler more of the pain pills than he had intended, and Tyler swallowed three down while he waited for the bus to take him to the apartment he was sharing with Drake. He felt more down than he had in a long time, perhaps because of the pills, but perhaps because of what he had been required to do to get them. Tyler was very near catatonic when he stepped off the bus, but not so much that he wasn't very aware of the wetness in his underwear that was Bryan's seed, which had oozed back out of him so shortly after having been deposited there. He was not in the neighborhood he intended when he stepped off the bus. The place where he had stumbled off the bus was familiar to him, but because of the drugs he wasn't quite sure where he was.

Tyler woke in the morning disoriented and confused. 'Where am I?' he thought. It was a familiar place, and he thought he recognized it, but he wasn't sure in the dim light of the early dawn. Suddenly Tyler became aware of a body lying next to him and he bolted upright, now completely awake. He had become used to waking up with Drake, in his bed in the apartment they were sharing. But that wasn't where he was now - Tyler was sure of that. And whoever it was in the bed next to him was smaller in stature than Drake - much more Tyler's own size.

It was only when he clicked the lamp switch on the night stand next to the bed that he became fully aware of where he was. It was Oliver's room, and it was Oliver in the bed with him. Tyler surveyed the scene. His clothes and Ollie's were in piles on the floor. He was completely naked. Oliver was nude beside him, lying on his back. His head fairly clear now, Tyler admired his friend's body. He thought briefly about reaching over to touch it, but Ollie looked so peaceful, laying there asleep that Tyler didn't want to risk disturbing him.

Realizing finally that the reason he had awakened was that his bladder was full and he needed to pee, Tyler made his way quietly into the bathroom. When he made his way back into Oliver's room, his friend was sitting up in bed. Oliver smiled at Tyler as he came back in and pushed the door shut behind him.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Ollie asked him.

"Okay," Tyler shrugged.

"You were pretty out of it when I found you last night," Oliver informed him.

Tyler was still fuzzy about what had happened the night before. The last thing he really remembered was getting on the bus, with the intention of going back to Drake's apartment. He admitted this to Oliver.

"You were slumped over on a bench at a bus stop outside The Cavern when I found you," Oliver told him. "So I brought you back here."

Tyler considered that for a moment, realizing the situation he had left himself in. "Thanks," he said quietly as he slid back onto the bed next to Oliver.

Oliver slid back down so he and Tyler could enter into a comfortable embrace. "Anything for you babe," he whispered into Tyler's ear as they hugged each other. And that is how they went back to sleep.

It was after ten when they woke again. Oliver woke first, and now he needed to pee. As he disengaged himself from the embrace he and Tyler were still in, he woke his friend. Oliver moved back toward him and kissed his forehead. "Be right back," he whispered.

While Oliver was gone it finally hit Tyler that he was here in the house where Oliver lived with Frank. He wondered what Oliver had told Frank about bringing him home. When Oliver returned, Tyler asked.

"I didn't tell him anything. He was already asleep when we got here and it's after ten now, so he's gone to work," Ollie explained. Oliver thought that it was a good thing they hadn't woken Frank when he had brought Tyler home with him. It would have been difficult to explain. It would have been obvious to Frank that Tyler was wasted, and on something far more potent than just liquor.

"So what were you on anyway?" Oliver asked.

"Just some pain pills," Tyler replied.

"You need to be careful with those things," Oliver cautioned him.

Tyler didn't reply to that, but the thought did get stuck somewhere back in the canyons of his mind.

They lay together on the bed in silence, just enjoying the closeness of each other's bodies for a few minutes before Oliver asked Tyler if he wanted some breakfast. Tyler realized now that he hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday, and he was famished. "Yeah, breakfast would be great," he replied.

Oliver pulled on a pair of what Tyler was beginning to think of as his 'trademark' tattered white briefs and tossed Tyler a similar pair to put on before they went downstairs. Tyler helped by setting the table while Oliver cooked them breakfast - scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon and toast. Tyler passed on the bacon, as it didn't fit into his dietary regimen. He did have to admit that it smelled very good though. It reminded him of the breakfasts his mother would make for his father, he thought sadly. He finally started to realize that he really missed his parents, the daily routine around their house, the familiar activities and rituals that become part of any family, and even the smells he was used to around the household.

Oliver noticed the look on his face and asked what was bothering him. Tyler just shook his head and answered "Nothing." Ollie knew this wasn't true, but decided not to press the issue. He correctly assumed it had something to do with the soiled nature of Tyler's underwear when he had removed them before he put Tyler into his bed the night before.

Tyler had spent the day with Oliver, skipping school again. Tyler thought again about the promise he had made to Thomas about not doing that anymore, and once again felt guilty about not living up to that promise. After they had finished breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen, Oliver and Tyler showered together. They spent the day lounging in front of the TV or out back in Frank's garden smoking. They managed to stay stoned from this most of the day. Tyler was feeling depressed, and it was apparent to Oliver. But when he asked Tyler what was wrong, Tyler still wouldn't tell him. It was a combination of the promise to Thomas that he was breaking combined with homesickness and missing his parents and how he felt he had lowered himself by having sex with Bryan in exchange for drugs.

Tyler knew that his mood was a buzz kill for Oliver, so he decided to leave in the mid afternoon and go back to Drake's apartment. He didn't want his mood to spoil the day too much for his friend. They had hugged and cuddled a good bit during the day, but there was no sex.

Tyler was surprised that Drake was at home when he got back - particularly since he had been staying out so late every night recently. Drake questioned Tyler about where he had been the night before. In fact, it seemed almost like one of the interrogations he would have gotten from his father, based mainly on Drake's tone of voice. He didn't smart off to Drake as he would have done to his father though - knowing that this man could choose to throw him out onto the street at his slightest whim whereas, at his parents' home, his mother would have played the role of peacemaker, keeping both Tyler and his father from crossing a certain line.

So Tyler answered Drake with what was mostly the truth - he'd gotten wasted and passed out at a friend's house. He wasn't specific about who the friend was, and Drake didn't ask. But Drake didn't really have to; he knew that Oliver was really the only person other than himself who Tyler hung around with. Drake had thought it odd at first that Tyler never even talked about friends at his school, but he accepted it, especially since it worked to his advantage if Tyler had fewer friends. With his desire to the keep Tyler under his control as much as possible, and thus with him longer, it was better that way.

One weekend a couple months later, Oliver didn't show up for their normal dancing session at The Cavern on Friday night. Tyler didn't think too much about it at first - Ollie had been late before. But half an hour past their normal meeting time, Tyler tried calling him on his cell phone. It rang four times, and then went to voice mail. 'Maybe he's just running late and is taking a shower,' Tyler thought. 'Yeah, that's it - that's why he didn't answer his phone.'

After another half hour, and two more calls, Tyler started to worry. It wasn't at all like Ollie to be this late - and not to answer his cell phone. Something had to be wrong. Now Tyler started getting nervous. 'What if something has happened to him?' That thought kept coursing through Tyler's mind.

Oliver was his best friend, his lover. Yes, they had been in love for quite a while now. Neither was very happy about Tyler's living arrangements with Drake, or the fact that Oliver had to prostitute himself to make enough money to live, but they accepted these things as the facts of their lives. They both knew that if they weren't doing these things to simply survive that they wouldn't be able to see each other at all. Neither liked the shared sessions with Drake either, but again, they both viewed this as a necessary evil for them to be together.

Tyler thought about the day that Oliver admitted to him that he was regularly selling his body to make enough money to live. It wasn't long after the boy they had seen dancing in the club with them that Friday night had been found beaten to death. And while this really made Tyler worry more about him, Oliver had promised that he was always careful. 'What if he finally wasn't careful enough?' Tyler thought as he hit the redial button on his phone one more time. Still there was no answer. Tyler left his shirt and shoes in the dressing room as he and Ollie always did and went out into the main bar area, hoping that Ollie would show up soon.

At nine o'clock when Drake showed up, Tyler was in a real funk. He had become so distressed that Oliver still hadn't arrived that he'd taken two of the Percosets to calm himself down. Still, the adrenaline coursing through his body was counteracting the effects of the drug and had him fairly well wired. Tyler wasn't dancing tonight though. Without Oliver there with him he really didn't feel like it at all. Tyler flinched when Drake came up behind him and placed his hands on Tyler's shoulders.

"Where is Oliver, and why aren't you dancing?" Drake asked after Tyler had turned to see who it was that was touching him.

When Tyler had first felt the hands on his shoulders he hoped against all odds that it was Ollie, but knew almost immediately that the feel of the fingers was all wrong. These hands were not Ollie's.

He didn't answer Drake's question immediately, but after a moment Tyler finally told him that Oliver hadn't showed up yet, and that he had not been able to get in touch with him on the phone all afternoon and evening. "I'm really worried about him," Tyler confessed. "I just have this horrible feeling that something awful has happened to him."

"I'm sure he's fine," Drake said, trying to reassure Tyler, though not very convincingly. "Why don't you go ahead and dance a little anyway? Maybe it will make you feel better," Drake suggested.

"I really don't feel like it," Tyler replied. And he didn't. He was too worried about Oliver to have a good time at all, and dancing wouldn't be the same at all without a partner - his partner. Still, he did as Drake suggested. He really wasn't into it though, and this was obvious. Drake mentioned it when Tyler came back to the table during the next break. Tyler just shrugged - with a pout on his face as he did.

During the break, Drake told Tyler that he ought to go ahead and strip down to his underwear, as most of the other regular dancers already had. "You don't want them getting an edge on you," Drake suggested, seemingly encouragingly.

Tyler nodded shyly, and walked slowly into the dressing room. Once there he tried again to call Ollie, but there still wasn't any answer. Slowly, Tyler unfastened his belt and opened the button and zipper on his pants. He let them drop down his legs and stepped out of them. His heart really wasn't in this, but he'd gotten the encouragement from Drake besides, he did need the money that he stood to make from tips that evening, so he decided that he would try to make the best of it.

As he was getting ready to leave the dressing room, Jesse and Trevor came in, hand in hand - and very obviously high. They were laughing and giggling a lot, and bumping into each other a lot as they walked through the narrow space leading into the room. "Have you guys seen Ollie?" Tyler asked them.

"Not since last night," Trevor told him. "He was making pretty good time with a couple of decent tippers, but we left before he did."

"Okay, thanks anyway," Tyler replied, the pouty expression returning to his face. He had really hoped to learn something about what had become of Oliver from the other two teens. But completely out of luck, dejectedly he returned to the table where Drake was waiting for him. Tyler was wearing a pair of old, plain white boxers this evening. The material was fairly thin from age, so the little triangle of hair could be made out on his pubic bone when the lights hit him properly.

Tyler resumed his seat next to Drake, his arms folded over his chest. The expression on his face made it fairly clear that he was not in a good mood this evening. That didn't stop Drake from reaching over and placing his hand into Tyler's lap - after all, it wasn't really like Drake to notice or care anyone else's moods or desires. Tyler's expression didn't even change as the man's hand rested atop his genitals and then gave them a gentle squeeze. Drake mistook Tyler's lack of any reaction as a signal for him to continue - but then that's what Drake intended to do anyway. 'Besides,' Drake thought, 'if I help him get a little hard, he'll get better tips when he's dancing. That was all the justification Drake needed to give himself for groping his fifteen year old boarder here in this public place.

Despite the way Tyler was feeling this evening, Drake's hand gently massaging his penis was causing it to react exactly as Drake was hoping that it would, and he felt the shaft begin to thicken in his hand. The waiter brought over drinks that Drake had ordered while Tyler was back in the dressing room, and Drake pushed one over in front of him. "Drink it," he told Tyler - more as an order than anything.

Tyler looked over toward Drake, who made a 'go-ahead' motion with one hand as he picked up his drink with the other. Tyler took the shooter, tapped his glass together with Drake's and then they both downed them. Drake pushed another drink over to Tyler - this one a regular drink, not a shooter, but it was the same concoction, just served over ice this time. The drink was creamy and sweet, but not something that Tyler recognized. On any other day he probably would have asked what it was, but today he didn't even care. He probably would have even consumed straight Wild Turkey if anyone had pushed it in front of him.

Drake's hand found its way down to Tyler's naked thigh, and then started sliding north, toward the hem of his boxers. Tyler wasn't even paying attention as Drake's hand slowly crept up his leg, pausing every so often, rubbing or squeezing a little bit when it did. The first time Tyler paid any attention at all to what Drake was doing was when the man's hand finally pulled the leg of his boxers up, exposing and then finally grasping hold of his 'twig and berries.'

Suddenly Tyler's mind snapped back to reality, despite the drugs and alcohol he had consumed that day. He was sitting in a bar, dressed only in his underwear and socks, while an older man had pulled his junk out and started playing with it. But what could he do? He didn't want to piss Drake off by telling him to stop. That could potentially cost him his place to stay. So Tyler put up with it. At least they were sitting at a table so it wasn't obvious what was going on; even though Tyler thought he caught a few of the guys in the place giving them knowing glances.

Tyler had become fully hard as Drake rubbed, stroked and massaged his privates under the table. 'This could really be embarrassing,' Tyler thought. His dick and balls were completely exposed at this point, and being hard, if he were to have to get up... Well, that was going to keep sticking out, even if his balls fell back into the leg of his boxers. 'That's okay though,' Tyler thought some more. 'There's no way I'm getting out of this chair.'

Or so he thought.

Drake was continuing his ministrations on Tyler subtly, under the table with his hand, when Jesse and Trevor approached from behind Drake and Tyler. They had decided that Tyler had looked pretty unhappy after they had talked in the dressing room earlier, and after having more than a couple shooters at the bar, they had decided to try to cheer him up. Not having any better idea, and since Tyler always seemed happy when he was dancing with Oliver, the thing that seemed right in order to cheer him up was to pull him up on the dance floor with them.

Oh, how wrong they were.

Jesse grabbed one arm while Trevor grabbed the other, pulling Tyler up from his chair and toward the stage to dance with them. Neither of the older teens realized when they pulled Tyler from his chair that Drake had Tyler's equipment exposed and in hand. Of course neither Drake nor Tyler had any idea that Tyler was about to be grabbed by the other two teens and dragged up onto the stage with the other boys who were dancing either.

There were a few cat-calls and whistles as Jesse and Trevor pulled Tyler onto the stage, but hardly anyone really noticed that Tyler's ragingly hard penis was exposed as he was quite nearly dragged up the stairs to the elevated portion of the dance floor. Even Jesse and Trevor weren't aware of it. Not at first. But when they spun him around between them, the noise from the crowd erupted - now everyone saw Tyler, very much more exposed than he had ever been in this place before. Jesse and Trevor were still each holding one of Tyler's arms, but now he was trying to wrestle free, wanting to cover himself. Tyler didn't like the idea of having been put on display, in his full glory, in front of the Friday night crowd at The Cavern. This was probably the most embarrassed Tyler had ever been in his entire life. How was he ever going to live this new humiliation down?

Tyler jerked free from the grip Jesse and Trevor had on his arms. As soon as he was loose from them, he turned and ran toward the dressing room where his clothes were. His intent was to get all his clothes back on as quickly as he could, and then run away from this place as fast as he could, but he wasn't able to do it.

Everything seemed to hit Tyler all at once as he ran into the dressing room. Oliver, the only person he really loved, and the only one who had ever really returned his love was missing. And no one knew anything about where he was. Not anything useful anyway. Drake was using him... He was nothing but a puppet, a mere sex toy for the man he was staying with, yet afraid to leave. There was more though, and it continued to crash down upon his shoulders. Tyler had sobered suddenly when he was pulled onto the stage with all he had exposed for everyone to see.

There was another realization during that sobering moment as well. Oliver had been right when he had warned Tyler about taking too many of the pain killers that he liked so much. Tyler felt himself slipping away, as if he were about to pass out.

The next thing Tyler saw was the faces of Jesse and Trevor. He was looking up at them as they knelt above him. Trevor had one of his hands and Jesse was gently slapping his face as if to bring him around. When his eyes opened, Jesse asked, "Dude, are you okay? What happened?"

Tyler couldn't answer. Not because of an inability to speak, but simply because he wasn't sure. "I don't know what happened," he finally got out. "I think I'm alright though..."

Tyler tried to sit up, but Trevor put a hand on his chest, gently pressing to keep Tyler lying on the floor. "You better just lie down for a while, dude," Trevor stated flatly. "You might have hurt yourself." Then, looked to Jesse he added, "Think we should get Sister Mary to look at him?"

Tyler didn't know who this 'Sister Mary' was, but whoever she was, he certainly didn't want her to see him like he was now. At least as he last remembered himself... Tyler lifted his head, and was able to see that at least he was no longer exposed as he had been before he passed out. 'Did I stuff my junk back into my shorts, or did one of them do it?' he thought. He could tell that he was still hard, so he couldn't have been out that long, but still - there were a few minutes missing from his memory that he was unable to account for.

Tyler didn't wait for Jesse to return with whoever this 'Sister Mary' they were talking about was. Trevor was protesting as Tyler got up and pulled the rest of his clothes back on, but it was almost as if Tyler wasn't listening at all. Finally as he was pulling his shoes on, Tyler looked over at Trevor and said "Look, I'm alright. I just need to get out of here, okay?" Then he turned back to finish tying the laces on his shoes.

When Tyler came back out of the dressing room and rejoined Drake at his table, Drake was watching the guys who were dancing and munching on an order of nachos as if nothing at all had happened. Drake didn't even comment on Tyler now being dressed, but he did slide the plate of nachos over, as if to offer Tyler some, even as he kept eating. This got under Tyler's skin, but he didn't say anything only because he didn't want to risk losing his place to live. Tyler sat; silently sulking for a few minutes and was about to speak, when Drake finally said something. "So still no word from Oliver yet?"

Tyler shook his head. "Jesse and Trevor didn't know where he is either. All they could tell me is that he was here last night, but they don't know anything else."

There was silence at the table for a few minutes. Finally, Tyler spoke once more. "Look, can we just get out of here, please?"

"You sure you don't want to wait for Oliver a little longer?" Drake asked.

Tyler nodded, and quietly he told Drake, "Yeah. I don't know how, but I just know he's not going to show up. There isn't any point staying here any longer. Let's just go home please."

Drake slid his chair back, stood and extended his hand to Tyler. "Okay, come on. Let's get you out of here." This seemed to Tyler as if it were a kind gesture, so he smiled, stood and took Drake's hand. Drake put an arm around Tyler's shoulder as they left the club. Drake wasn't exactly pleased that he was going to miss his usual weekly entertainment, but that was okay. Seeing Tyler exposed as he had on the stage a short time before had Drake very aroused, and he intended to make the most of it. Despite what Tyler may have thought, Drake's actions, and certainly his motives were anything but altruistic.

The public display Tyler had inadvertently become at The Cavern was nearly as powerful a stimulant as Viagra might have been for Drake. His dick was hard and throbbing, and he wouldn't have been surprised had there been a wet spot on the front of his pants from the pre-cum he knew was leaking out of his thick rod. Drake would have preferred a semi-public place tonight - that would heighten his arousal he thought. Unfortunately for him, the weather wasn't going to permit it. The temperature was too cold for that. Then the thought struck him - the hot tub on his patio. They hadn't had sex there for quite a while, but Drake thought that tonight was going to be the perfect time to use it once more.

When they got back to Drake's apartment and entered the patio, he stopped to turn the heat up to what would make it a more comfortable level when they came back out a few minutes later. He also opened up the cover and turned on the underwater lights, illuminating the clear water as it swirled about from the jets as they pushed water through the heating system and back into the tub. There was already steam coming off the top of the water, as Drake kept the heat on enough to ensure the water wouldn't freeze during the cold winter months, not to mention that it also meant that when he wanted to use the Jacuzzi that it would be ready far more quickly.

Tyler looked askance at Drake when he stopped to prepare the hot tub. Drake smiled at him. "We're coming back out in a few minutes after it has time to heat up properly," Drake informed him. Drake's tone didn't seem to leave any question that they would be, and Tyler knew full well what the end result was expected to be. He didn't want to have sex with Drake tonight - especially tonight, but between the drugs, the alcohol and his weakened emotional state he put up no argument at all - he was going to do it and both he and Drake knew it. Besides, he had become resigned to believe that it was more or less expected of him now.

Tyler was sore when Drake finished with him in the Jacuzzi, and not only that, he felt dirty as well. He hadn't been into the sex at all, but Drake either didn't notice or didn't care. Regardless, when Tyler went inside after Drake was finished, he didn't go to the room he had been sharing with Drake, instead he went to the bed where he had slept when he first moved into the apartment, but not before taking a shower. That still didn't help make him feel any cleaner, regardless of how much he scrubbed.

Before he fell into bed, Tyler pulled on the pajamas he had brought back with him when he had snuck into his parents' house. That comforted him more than anything else could have that night. Still, he cried himself to sleep. He was certain that he had completely wrecked his life, and he had no idea how to make it right. 'What would Thomas think of me now if he knew what I was doing?' was the last thought that ran through his mind before he lapsed into a fitful sleep.

When Tyler woke in the morning, Drake was gone, and he thought he was going to be late for school. Then he realized that this was Saturday. He had no cares or responsibilities to tend to today. Well, other than cleaning the apartment and taking care of his laundry.

Tyler checked his cell phone, and found that Ollie still hadn't called. 'Where the Hell is he?' Tyler thought. 'Why hasn't he answered or returned any of my calls? Something has GOT to be wrong!'

Trying to take his mind away from his missing friend, Tyler busied himself around the apartment. He even went outside to the hot tub and turned the heat down and replaced the cover, which Drake had neglected to do the night before whenever he had come in. Still, Oliver being missing was the predominant thought in his mind, so he kept calling.

Finally, this time there was an answer. It was a voice Tyler didn't recognize though... Obviously an adult... "Hello? Who is calling please?"

Tyler took the phone away from his ear to look at it and verify that he had called the right number - yes, it was Ollie's speed-dial setting he had called. 'So who is this man that's answering Ollie's phone?' Tyler's mind was racing. 'What should I say? Should I give my real name? Should I ask who it is that answered Ollie's phone?'

In the end, it was Tyler's panic and concern for Oliver that answered the question for him. It was only a couple seconds, but it seemed like an eternity to Tyler. "My name is Tyler, who is this?" he answered.

"This is Detective Constable Henderson," the man who had answered Ollie's phone informed him. "May I ask who it was that you were calling please?" he continued.

Tyler's concern overwhelmed him, "I was calling my friend Oliver, why are you answering his phone?!" he blurted out after a moment. "Has something happened to him? You have to tell me!"

The policeman who had answered Ollie's cell phone tried to calm him. "Listen son, we need your help. Can you tell me where you are please?"

Tyler told the policeman to meet him at the entrance to the apartment complex where he was staying with Drake. He was very nervous about this, but he had to find out what had happened to Ollie. There was obviously something wrong, just as he had sensed. Tyler dressed in a hurry, and was waiting nervously at the apartment entrance when the unmarked police car arrived to collect him.

Tyler wasn't prepared for where the police car took him. It was the city morgue. What they had wanted was for someone to identify Oliver's body. Somehow, just barely, Tyler was able to avoid breaking into tears as he told the policeman that this was his friend. He was ashamed to admit that he didn't even know what Oliver's last name was, but if that was all he could do to help, he was determined to do it.

He stared at Oliver's face, exposed when the officer drew back the sheet. The skin was almost as white as the cloth, apart from blueness around the lips. Tyler was mesmerized by his first sight of death, other than in a photograph. This was not the sleep in which Oliver had rested beside him, Ollie, so full of smiling life and movement, was preternaturally still. And he would never dance again. Tyler was too numbed by the finality of it all even to cry. That would come later.

When Tyler asked how Oliver had died, the policeman told him that it had been a drug overdose - most likely ecstasy. And that was something that Tyler knew that Ollie would never take of his own volition. Someone had to have given it to him without his knowing, and Tyler told the detective that.

Naturally there were a lot of questions to follow, and Tyler did his best to answer them all. This required him to break the 'hustler's code' that Ollie had told him about, but somehow Tyler didn't think Ollie would mind, given the circumstances. Tyler hoped that Jesse and Trevor would understand. If they didn't, that was okay with Tyler. He just wanted to find out who had caused Ollie's death. He did hope they would feel the same way, even if they didn't love him like Tyler did.

When the police questioned Jesse and Trevor, it was away from The Cavern, and the subject of who had given their names to the police didn't come up. There wasn't any doubt in either of their minds how the police knew to ask them about the last few hours of Oliver's life, and although they did resent the hassle of the police showing up at the apartment they shared, they knew that Tyler and Oliver had been in love, so they did understand. They were as helpful as they could, they answered the detective's questions, and included a description of the man they had last seen Oliver with at the club.

After the police left, Jesse turned to Trevor and asked "Do you think we should say anything to Tyler about the police coming here?"

"Nothing more than that they talked to us," Trevor answered after a moment of consideration.

Jesse nodded his agreement. Nothing good would come of giving Tyler any shit about him letting the police know that they had seen Oliver the night he died.

And somewhere deep inside, they both realized that something like this could happen to them, so it was in their best interests to help the police find whoever had given Oliver the drugs that had caused his death. They wouldn't admit this, even to each other - but that thought was stuck in the back of both of their minds.

There was no insurance money to pay for Oliver's funeral, and no one had any idea where to find his parents. It seemed as though Oliver was destined for a pauper's grave at the government's expense - a simple pine box, and an unknown grave with a simple stone marker showing nothing more than that a body was buried there, but nothing to tell who Oliver had been.

Somehow it didn't seem fair. 'Why should Ollie, who was such a beautiful, loving person, have to meet such a horrible end? Why would there be no real record of the fact that Oliver had ever even existed?' Tyler thought.

He tried to get some of the other boys that he knew from The Cavern, even if only vaguely, to pitch in some money to at least be able to buy Ollie a proper headstone. Only Jesse and Trevor had been willing to kick in more than just a couple dollars. They had each given Tyler $20 for Oliver's burial fund. Drake gave him another fifty dollars, and Tyler had put in a hundred, which was all he had at the time. Still, this wasn't nearly enough to buy Oliver a proper grave marker. In the end, it was Frank who came through.

It was a bold move on Tyler's part to go see him, but he didn't know what else to do. Tyler went to Frank's house. He wasn't quite sure how to approach the man who Ollie had been living with, but when it came right down to it, he had nothing to lose. At the very least, he could find out Oliver's last name, at least he hoped that he could.

Frank had been questioned by the police about Oliver, just as Jesse and Trevor had been. He wasn't able to give them any useful information though. He did back up Tyler's statement that Oliver hadn't been a drug user - at least not to his knowledge. He allowed the police to go through Oliver's room, hopeful that they would find something that would assist them in finding out who had given him the drugs that had taken his life. There wasn't anything there that provided them any new information, even though they were very thorough in their search. They didn't find any drugs or paraphernalia in his room, which strengthened the statements that both Tyler and Frank had made that someone must have slipped him the drugs that killed him without his knowledge.

When Tyler visited Frank's house, Frank told him about the visit from the police. Frank was visibly upset over Oliver's death. Apparently he had cared more for Ollie than Tyler had realized. They sat and talked for a while, sipping on tea as they did. Tyler explained his predicament - wanted to provide a proper marker for Ollie's grave, and not having been able to raise enough money to be able to do it. He was in tears by the time he'd finished. Frank stood and pulled Tyler into a hug. "I'll cover anything you can't get the money for," he promised. And he had made good on that.