Off Campus

Seth’s Perspective

Damn, I never saw that coming. I had expected the reunion to be difficult, I had expected it to be full of drama, and lastly, I had hoped for a happy ending. I was right on all three counts, but not in the way I expected any of it to be. The conflict wasn’t completely with my parents, it was internal as we all finally faced what happened to us as a family. The drama wasn’t JUST an emotional battle with my parents, it was also in hearing the details of what they had put each of us through. And the happy ending? It wasn’t me reuniting with my “long-lost” parents, it was me realizing that I had the perfect family all along. It had been a hell of a weekend. I was looking forward to getting back to the duplex.

Zach and I were on alert as we walk through the Phoenix airport towards our gate. My parents had ghosted us, but I didn’t know if they went back to Texas early or if they were still in town. The last thing I wanted was to run into them at the airport, I doubted very much that I could control my distain for them at that moment. Luckily, we made it to the gate without incident. The plane was a lot more crowded than it was on the flight to Phoenix. We were both in aisle seats, across from each other in the same row. So much for him returning the favor on the way home.

I was so focused on my family during our trip that I completely ignored my psych paper. As soon as the flight attendant gave the okay, I pulled out my laptop and went to work. I had a new perspective on non-traditional families, so much more insight. My fingers were moving rapidly across the keyboard and my brain was directing them with confidence and precision, the words were just flowing. This wasn’t just a term paper, it was an exploration of my own world and my own feelings, it was a form of unburdening and acceptance and it felt good. For the first hour I was oblivious to everything around me as I put it all down in writing, then Zach stood up from his seat across the aisle and touched my shoulder “meet me in the bathroom” he whispered so quietly that he was almost just mouthing the words. I shook my head ‘no’, there were way too many people. Then he shot me that smile and again whispered quietly “I’m not asking.” That made me laugh. I couldn’t resist the guy. I watched his perfect ass walk down the aisle and waited until the bathroom door shut. I looked up and down the rows of people to see if anyone was paying attention. When I felt like the coast was clear, I stowed my laptop in my backpack and put it in the overhead for safekeeping then headed nonchalantly up the aisle and tapped quietly on the bathroom door.

Zach unlocked the door with a loud click and pushed it open just a crack, I slid in. Damn, it was a tight fit as we stood face-to-face in the tiny, tiny room. He pushed my ass up against the metal sink and I felt the back of my pants getting wet from the water on the edge of the sink as he locked the door again. Zach wasted no time, he kissed me passionately and grabbed my crotch hard. He squeezed my balls through my pants, it hurt like hell and I moaned into his mouth, that just encouraged him more. He moved his free hand to my ass and squeezed my wet bottom. He laughed into our kiss when he felt the wetness. “Looks like somebody’s gonna have a hard to hide wet spot” he said. I grinned and pulled his lips back to mine. This was carnal lust, pure and raw. Zach fumbled with my belt buckle and zipper. Once my pants hit the floor, so did Zach’s knees. It was tight as fuck in there but he managed to fit and took my hardening cock into his mouth, pulling roughly on my ball sac as he did. Oh my god, he must’ve stretched my scrotum at least two inches or more, it hurt in the most pleasureful way. Then, he went to town on my shaft, deepthroating me as he moved his head and hand up and down on my long shaft swirling his tongue along the way. He had me on the edge within a couple of minutes. I hadn’t cum since Tuesday night when Zach and I made love before we left on our trip. Once we got absorbed into the family drama we were either too tired for sex or couldn’t get any privacy. Now I was horny as hell.

I grabbed two handfuls of his hair and held on tight (if he wanted rough, two could play that game). I pushed my hips forward and face-fucked him hard. He gagged and slobbered on my engorged member as I pumped in and out. “Fuck I’m cumming” I yelled as Zach grabbed my ass pulling me deeper down his throat. Just as I shot my hot load down his throat, we heard the *ding* “The captain has turned on the fasten your seat belt sign as we start our descent into Milwaukee. All passengers must return to their seats, stow their trays, and put their seatbacks in the…” you know the drill. Zach swallowed and swallowed as I deposited my five-day load into his gullet and the flight attendant finished his announcement. Zach quickly cleaned off my cock with his amazing tongue as I fumbled to get dressed again, pulling up my wet pants. Zach gave me a quick kiss and squeezed his way out of the bathroom and back to his seat. I followed less than a minute later and saw the flight attendant shoot me a suspicious look as I exited the bathroom. Zach shot me a shit-eating grin as I took my seat, sat on my wet butt, and buckled up for the rest of the flight. “Welcome to the club” he said quietly.

We touched down about twenty minutes later, it was just about 4:30 in Milwaukee. When I turned on my phone there were a few texts from my siblings telling me to text them when we landed so they knew we were safe. I did.

Then I saw a text from Cam, “Can we do sushi tonight, just you and me like old times?”

I showed it to Zach as we walked down the aisle. “Are you good on your own for dinner tonight?” I asked.

“Yeah, Maybe Eric and Max will wanna order a pizza or something” he responded. “Do you think somethings up?”

My intuition kicked in and I instantly assumed that either something happened at Eric’s house over Thanksgiving, or Max built up enough courage to tell the guys he was having doubts about their relationship. I had given Max my word that I wouldn’t share our conversation with Zach. So, I just answered, “No clue, you know Cam, it could be anything.” I texted Cam back and accepted his invite.

When we got to the end of the aisle the flight attendant said goodbye to us, then slipped something into my Hand, then Zach’s. “I hope you had a great flight. I’m pretty sure you earned these” he said with a knowing smirk, then he said his goodbyes to the next passenger as Zach and I walked into the gate area. We both opened our hands and saw a pair of plastic wings. Zach laughed out loud and pinned them proudly to his shirt; I almost died of embarrassment.

“Oh my god, do you think he heard us?!” I asked in humiliated horror.

Zach just kept laughing and said, “probably.” We left the airport and found Zach’s car in the parking structure. Zach laughed the whole way home. I was still embarrassed.

When we pulled up to the duplex and parked the little GTI in the back, I was so happy to be home. It had been a hell of a trip. But my instincts were telling me I was walking into a whole other wasp nest of drama. We entered through the backdoor, the kitchen door of the lower flat was open as we passed by “We’re home bitches!” Zach yelled through the open door, then walked through the flat and into the living room where everyone was hanging out and said, “And we’re official members of the mile-high club” as he proudly pointed to his wings. The other guys all laughed as Zach told him the story. Eric argued that oral didn’t really count. Ugh, I was so embarrassed by all of it.

Cam looked over at me and said “6:00?”

“Works for me, let me unpack and call home, then we can go” I said.

“Where you goin’?” Max asked.

“I’m taking my ex out for sushi” Cam said, “but he’s buying.” Zach and Eric were already buried in some video game and Max looked at me knowingly and mouthed “I told them.” I just nodded discreetly. Now I knew why Cam wanted to talk.

“You guys wanna order a pizza?” Zach asked the others, they were on board.

I left Zach on the couch with our friends and lugged both our suitcases upstairs to unpack. My text dinged as I was walking up. It was from Father “I’m sorry Seth, but your mother refused to come with me to dinner, we decided it was best to go back to Texas. I love you, son.” His text made me furious. What a crock of shit! He basically said I love you, but not enough to face the truth, and then had the audacity to blame my mother. Those two fuck nuts deserved each other. I was officially done with them. I forwarded the text to Brad and added “they can go fuck themselves. I’m done.” Brad called me almost immediately and we bitched to each other about it until Brad had me laughing about it. It felt so good to finally just let go of my childish delusion of what a family should be and embrace my perfectly flawed unconventional family of heroes instead.

Cam came up and walked into our flat just as I said goodbye to Brad “Hey Brad?” I said before he hung up “thanks for everything. I love you brother.” He returned the sentiment.

“Ready for sushi?” Cam asked.

“Yup, let’s do it!” and we bounded down the steps, said goodbye to the other guys and jumped in the little white to drive to our favorite sushi place. We took a small table in the corner and ordered. While we were waiting for our sushi, I just put it out there “So, what’s up?”

“Why does something have to be up for me to want some alone time with my best friend?” Cam said innocently, and almost defensively.

“Because your best friend knows you best” I replied, “Spill it.”

Cam sighed deeply, “Max wants to break up with us.”

“Is that what he said, break up?” I asked.

“Those weren’t his exact words. He said he thought our relationship had run its course and he wanted to be free to date other people but still wants to live with us and doesn’t want to lose us as friends.”

“So, does he want to date Brody?” I asked wondering if Max finally admitted it to himself.

“He doesn’t know what he wants, he said he just wants to be free to figure it out. Eric just calls it changing the rules.”

“I’m sorry, Cam” I said, “But did you really think it was going to last forever?”

“Why does everyone keep asking me that? Eric and Max both said the same thing. YES, I did think it was forever.” I listened to him tell me about how perfect everything was between the three of them. The look on his face was pathetic, but I had seen it before. He had the same look on his face when we broke up a couple of years ago.

“Cam, do you remember when we broke up?” I asked gently. He nodded. “You said we were perfect together and told me that there would never be another person for you. We avoided each other for months because you couldn’t handle seeing me, then you met that guy Noah and dated him for a while, and when you got comfortable with him you stopped avoiding me and we became best friends. We have a way better relationship than we ever did as boyfriends and I can’t imagine my life without you.” He listened intently, but his expression remained the same. “The same will happen with Max.”

“Logically, you’re right. But it hurts. I like things the way they are.” He said quietly.

“Did Max tell you why he wanted to break up now?” I asked hoping that he had sad something about Brody. Max claimed Brody wasn’t the reason for his change of heart, but I was convinced he was, and frankly… I thought the two of them would be good together.

“Well, Eric and I came home early to take care of him and found him asleep with his head in Brody’s lap.” My eyes got wide as Cam continued. “It was totally innocent, but it got us talking about our relationship and he said he’s tired of hiding our relationship from everyone, he wants a relationship he can show off, and someone he can plan a future with, like you and Zach.” Cam said.

“I get that” I responded. “It has to be hard to hide everything, remember, that’s why you and I came out in the first place.” When I originally came out it was because I didn’t want to lie to my brothers or anyone else. “I mean a huge part of my relationship with Zach is being able to share our families and spend holidays together, I would hate having to hide that.”

Cam exhaled a sarcastic “HA” and said “I kind of lost it on him when he said that and told him I’d call my mother right then and tell her I had two boyfriends… I went off on a little tirade about it.” Then finally he smiled, “Eric called me a drama queen and I realized I was going off the rails.” I laughed at that; I mean Cam could definitely be a drama queen when he wanted to.

“So, where did you guys leave it?”

“Max moved into the middle bedroom and we’re going to try to be just friends… well Eric made him commit to friends with benefits for now.” He said seemingly better with it all than he was just a few minutes before. The waitress came and put a bunch of sushi rolls on the table, it looked amazing. After a solid week of turkey (which I loved) it was a nice change of pace. We both dug in as we kept talking. Our conversation moved from their relationship to my relationship with my parents and family. Cam and I met when I first moved in with Brad and Scotty, so he knew the background and all the crazy stories.

“I would have loved to have been there when Brad told him off” Cam said as he popped a piece of the spider roll into his mouth. “I’m sorry, Seth. I’ve tried to be supportive of you, but I never understood why you’d want a relationship with the guy that abused you all.” Frankly, at that point neither did I. For almost four years I held on to the fantasy of reuniting with my parents, now I felt like a fool for trying.

“So, I guess neither of us understood our best friend’s relationships” I said with a chuckle as we continued to graze on the sushi in front of us.

“But we’re both here to deal with the aftermath, because that’s what friends do” Cam said with a big smile.

“So, what about you and Eric?” I threw out there. It didn’t matter what Cam said next because his smile told me everything I needed to know; he couldn’t control it.

“Well, we pretended to be a couple at Thanksgiving to avoid trying to explain our reality to his family” Cam said still smiling wide.

“And…?” I asked.

“And I liked it” he answered definitively, “god it felt good not to have to hide, even though I felt guilty that we left Max out.”

“So. PURSUE IT!” I almost yelled in his face. “What I’m about to say is gonna sound judgmental as hell, but dammit Cam, just be in a normal relationship already!!! If Eric makes you happy, then be with him. Max will understand.”

Cam laughed at me, “normal? Since when do I do normal?” We both laughed at that statement. Cam had always been an original and that’s why we were friends. In high school we were the oddballs together. We sat at the nerd table and were perfectly happy there. “Max actually suggested it.”

“What did Eric say?” I asked.

“He didn’t. You know Eric, he only speaks up when he’s against something, so I assume he’s on board.” Cam replied as he picked up another piece of sushi with his chopsticks and dipped it in the soy sauce. For the rest of dinner, we talked and laughed like old times, both forgetting our issues for a while. After dinner we jumped in the Fiat and blasted the tunes on the way back home. It felt like we were back in high school.

When we got back to the duplex, Zach was still downstairs with the guys playing video games. I poked my head in to tell him I was back then went upstairs, sat on the couch, and pulled out my laptop again. I was so into this paper. It was cathartic to think about my world and put it all in writing, especially after what happened with father and mother over Thanksgiving. I was about twenty minutes into it when Max came in through the kitchen and sat on the couch next to me.

“How’s the paper coming?” he asked as I kept typing.

“Awesome, I am so into it” I said. “How about yours?”

“I’m barely ready for my meeting with the professor tomorrow. I can skate by, but I’m not into it.” Then he dropped the small talk “How’s Cam?”

I shut my laptop and looked at the cute ginger with the worried look on his face and replied. “He’s a little upset, but he’ll be fine. Honestly, I think he’s more worried about change in general and losing you as a friend than anything else.”

Max nodded “Good. He’s not gonna lose me, and we’ll get through the transition.”

“So that conversation had to be awkward as hell” I said.

“Yeah, but it went better than I thought it would and now it’s out there.”

I smiled “and you can date Brody.”

Max gave me an embarrassed smirk as his face turned crimson and said, “I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet, but I did talk to him about it.”

My eyes went wide “really! what happened?!”

“I told him about our conversation and he asked me point blank if I broke up with them for him, I told him no, that I just needed to figure things out for myself.” Max said, then looked up at me with a grin “he told me he wasn’t in a hurry and would wait for me to figure it out.” His cute grin turned into a full, gleaming smile. He couldn’t contain himself.

Now, both him and Cam seemed to be smiling inside over the future possibilities. Their relationship helped the three of them move forward, but I think Max was right, it had run its course. “Well, I take it that’s a good thing.” I said hoping for more clarity.

“I really fucking like him, Seth. But it’s going to be awkward as fuck with me still living with them and I don’t’ want to drag Brody into our drama. I need to see how we all handle our new arrangement first. I mean, I know I asked for this, but I’m sure I’m going to feel like a third wheel for a while. Eric will be fine, he just wants to know if we can still have sex, but Cam is taking it personally.”

“I have experience in the breaking up with Cam category.” I reminded him. Max got a look of realization on his face I think he forgot we used to date. “I reminded him how hard it was in the beginning, but how much better we are as friends. We had a couple of really rough months where we avoided each other, then we got comfortable with it and have been best friends ever since. He’ll be fine.” I saw a relief come over him when I said those words. The transition might be a little rough, but things would work out fine. “Max. Do what makes you happy. In the long run, if you’re happy, they’ll be happy.”

After that, I reopened my laptop and we talked about my paper. Max wasn’t sure what I was working on until then and he was fascinated. He literally begged me to let him read it. I did. I handed him my laptop while I went into the kitchen to grab us a couple of beers. When I came back, he was deep into it, muttering the occasional “oh my god” or “wow.” I watched his reactions and kept asking “what part are you reading?” He would tell me, then we’d talk about it. My professor had assumed that the overall story was just a hypothesis, I had to convince him that everything in there was true. Once he understood, he was fascinated and suggested I treat it as a case study and narrow the focus. The only part of my original outline that I cut was the case study on mixed-orientation-marriages. I was afraid that if anyone ever wanted to figure out who the case study was about (not that anyone would ever be that interested in my work), it could be harmful to Nathan Hall’s political career, so I left it out.

Max laughed that I had put progress graphs of Brian, Eli, and my grades comparing our years living with Brad and Scotty to the three years prior with my parents and highlighted the spikes. He couldn’t believe that I had created psychological profiles complete with analysis for each person mentioned in the case study (not using actual names of course).

When he got to the part about his throuple relationship, I asked him if he was okay with me writing it. “As long as you don’t put names, I’m fine with it” was his response, then he added, almost laughing out loud “Oh my god, your analysis is spot on. You kept saying you didn’t understand our relationship, but you got it perfectly.” I was so happy he felt that way. “You should fucking publish this, Seth. It’s such a unique, multi-dimensional view on ‘the gay lifestyle’ whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean. You’re crushing myths and stereotypes” I smiled at his statement because that was exactly what I had hoped to do. “I assume your references and sources back up your analysis.”

“Yup” I responded, “but some of this is unprecedented so I had to stretch comparisons a little and make footnotes.” He was enthralled by the paper, laughing at the psychological profiles of all our friends and agreeing as he read parts out loud. He even reluctantly admitted that I had pegged him spot on. He was really enjoying my paper (which caught me completely off guard).

Then he got more serious, “did all that shit with your father really happen? Is that really how you grew up?” Max asked. “I’ve heard some of the stories, but never in this kind of detail. Did your father really have people drug Brad so he could convert him?” I nodded. Then I told him about what happened with my parents over the holiday. He listened in wide-eyed disbelief. “Have you shared this paper with your family yet?” I hadn’t, but I planned to.

“The only one who knows I’m working on it is Kev, I called him a couple of weeks ago to ask a bunch of questions about their surrogacy, other options they investigated, and what it’s like to be a gay couple raising kids. He was a humongous help. I didn’t tell anyone else I’m working on it but was planning on letting them all read it before I turn it in… or maybe after. I’m afraid that if they have a bad reaction to it that I’ll be afraid to turn it in.” I responded in all sincerity. I had thought long and hard about that. As much as this was an analysis and societal commentary based on facts, it was also a very personal story for all of us. I would have to cross that bridge soon.

“Dammit!” Max said in disbelief. “This is basically done, and mine is barely ready for my meeting with the professor tomorrow.”

“Well, it was almost done” I said, “Now I gotta write a section about de-throupling.” Max laughed at that.

Max was still hanging out when Zach came upstairs about 10:00. “Well, shit” Max said. “I got some work to do before my meeting tomorrow.” He said goodnight to us and went down to his place. Zach and I took a quick shower to wash the travel off us, then went to bed. Eric and Max had told him about the break-up, so we talked about it for a while and decided that all three would be fine.

The next morning Max and I walked to class together. “You look like shit” I said as he came out of his flat, was there more relationship drama last night?”

“No, they were going at it in the bedroom with the door cracked open when I got home. They invited me but thanks to you I had to say no. It’s your fault I look like hell, fucker” he said. “I was up literally all night working on my paper because yours put mine to shame.” I smiled at that. Max was a great student and I was proud that my paper intimidated him a little.

“You ready for your one-on-one with the professor?” I asked.

“Yeah, my paper is nothing like yours though. It’s just a research and analysis of the multi-generation workplace and how each generation challenges the social norms” he said in a somewhat disinterested tone.

“That sounds interesting” I replied, meaning it.

“It is, but it’s just research and analysis of something I don’t know shit about. It’s not like yours, a personal story full of heart and emotion.” He said.

“Well, the assignment was about research and analysis” I said, “I just happened to find something I was close to… dumb luck.”

“Will you read mine at lunch?” Max almost begged, “My meeting’s not until 3:15.” I agreed. We went to class, then I had another, then a study group before lunch. We met at the cafeteria and sat in the corner as I read his paper. Max was a smart guy and his paper was damn good. He felt much better and more prepared for his meeting after we met.

I had one more class, then work, I got home a little after 8:00 and Zach had made dinner for me. Nothing fancy, just macaroni and cheese and a salad, but damn it was nice not to have to cook or figure out what to have. That night I called Brad and told him about my paper, then I sent an e-mail to all my siblings with the first draft telling them I didn’t want to submit it until they all had a chance to read it. I sent a copy to Kevin and Randy too. I was nervous as fuck waiting for their input. Theresa was the first to call me at 7AM the next day. I nervously answered the phone with “So, what did you think?”

“Holy shit, he was an evil prick, wasn’t he?” She asked without hesitation. I agreed, then she added “This must’ve been hard to write, but it’s amazing.” We talked for a while and she gave me some great input on some of the profiles, and even embellished a couple of my examples. But as always, she supported me 100%. All day long I was fielding calls from my siblings and every one of them was supportive, had great input, and on board. Eli wanted me to add “chick magnet” to his profile, and Brian wanted me to call him “muscular and sensitive,” other than that the input they all gave me was helpful. It felt so good to be able to discuss it all openly after all these years.

That night Zach and I crawled into bed and he spooned my naked body. Just as we were about to drift off, I got another text from father asking if we could talk. I picked up the phone, pushed the button and… blocked his number.

To be continued…