The Village

Seth’s Perspective

It was an amazing Thanksgiving… I mean frigging amazing! My family, my friends, Benny and Chris, The Villagers. Our home was so full of people, food, and love that I thought it was gonna burst. The Villagers were stuffing their faces with desserts, our kids were running around playing with their cousins and friends, and everyone was talking and laughing and seemed to truly be having a great time. Brooklyn, Izzy (and Maggie of course) were reveling in some rare girl time with Riley, Gina, and Ella as they all giggled in a corner of the living room talking about god only knows what. I thought about what the judge had said at our adoption hearing ‘I believe that in order for children to flourish, they need both a male and female influence in the home. I am concerned that there is no female influence in the home.’ I thought about those words often and did my best to make sure there were good female influences in their lives… that moment was a perfect example of Izzy being influenced by the females in our world. Of course, not all ‘female influence’ is great… like Aunt Riley teaching my not quite three year old Izzy the word “bitch” (argh, I love Riley, but she can be such a… a … a little sistersometimes). I couldn’t help but notice Izzy, as much as she was loving her girl time, she kept her eye on Uncle Eli the human eating machine. As usual, Eli stuffed his face with food all day long, and whenever he got something new, Izzy would wander over to him and flash her puppy dog eyes and Eli would share whatever he was eating. He was undoubtedly the softest touch in the room and Izzy knew how to work him. I should’ve intervened but it was so damn cute watching Izzy work he favorite pushover. I just let it go… it was a holiday.

Besides the girl talk, there were a million other conversations taking place in our little home that day. The Villagers were being exposed to several new great gay role models like Brad, Scotty, Benny, and Chris… and don’t think any of them even realized they were witnessing Benny and Brad reuniting with their estranged fathers and trying to change decades of hatred into something better. Thanksgiving at our home that year felt hopeful to me. Everyone was having a great time, and the day soon rolled into evening.

Brody, Zach, and Eli were at the kitchen island scheming, after several minutes they yelled for me and Max. “Okay,” Brody said. “We’re gettin’ ready to flip on the Christmas lights, I’m gonna head back to BroMax, Eli’s headin’ over to Harrison and Terrance’s, and Zach will get the lights here.” He looked at his husband and me, “Maxwell, you and Daddy Zeff here are in charge of gettin’ folks onto the road for the big reveal, I’ll send a group text givin’ the signal to flip the switch… then BAM Christmas magic” (FYI, he said “BAM” like BAY-UM”). It was fun watching Brody get into the Christmas light display… he was like a little kid. All three houses had added more lights than the year before, more dimension, more everything! The biggest “more” was Brody adding life-size versions of the kids to the life-size wooden cutouts he made of all of us the year before. It was odd to think that this time last year the kids weren’t even part of our lives yet. In a very short time they had entered our world and became the center of it.

Kelly made hot chocolate and put it in to-go cups for everyone, she had peppermint stick stirs, and added a shot of Peppermint Schnapps for the adults who wanted it. While she was gearing everyone up with hot Chocolate, I grabbed every blanket I could find and used them to line the truck beds. Max, Nathan, Dylan, and Maverick jumped into the driver’s seats of the pick-up trucks and we all piled in the back of the four vehicles.

“Daddy Sach say no” Izzy told me with a scowl as we jumped into the truck bed. She and Freddy were always asking to ride in the back of the pickup, but Zach told them they couldn’t do that because it wasn’t safe.

“Just this one-time with us grownups in here with you” I said, “and you hold onto me tight, okay?” I said to the toddler, she wrapped her arms around my neck and held on for dear life as I sat in the bed of Max’s pickup. Freddy and Teddy jumped in with me too, then Brad, Scotty and their kids joined us, the others got into the other truck beds. While we waited for everyone to load in, Brad gave me more details about his meeting with Benny, Dad, and Best earlier that day.

“I feel really good about it” Brad said. “I saw him at Mother’s funeral, then we had our first talk a year ago at Thanksgiving, then I saw him at Eli’s wedding. Each visit is a little less painful and more enjoyable… someday it will all feel normal.” We chatted about it for a few minutes, then my big brother turned the conversation to me (as he tended to do).

“You and Zach seem to be doing great with the kids. How is everyone adjusting?” He asked. I told him about Izzy’s breakdown after the visit with her mother, and just general how our day-to-day world was shaping up. Izzy was in my arms for the conversation, but oblivious to it as she watched all the adults load into the trucks.

“Wook, dao Gwamma, dao, Gwampa, dao Unko Mac, dao… she went on and on (Izzy to English translation: Look! There’s grandmother, there’s grandfather, there’s Uncle Max, there’s…). We listened to the toddler with smiles, god I just loved watching her enjoy the world around her. While she was watching the crowd, Asher caught her eye and she yelled to (one of) her (many) friend(s), “HEY ASSO!!!!” And waved wildly. The other villagers and Bromax crew responded instinctively by yelling, “ASSO!” Which had become the norm when he entered a room. Izzy had branded the dangerously shy, intersex person for life. Frankly, I think it was the best thing that could’ve happened to them. He learned to deal with the razzing from the other guys, and I think it made him feel accepted by them, like part of the gang (Eli used to tell me that you only pick on the people you love).

Brad let out a belly laugh at Izzy’s outburst, “So you laugh at that, but get upset at Riley teaching her the B-word” he chuckled.

I laughed a little but before I could respond, Max yelled out the window of the pickup, “WAGONS HO!” Everyone was loaded up and seated in the beds of the pickups. Max moved slowly down our drive towards the road with his flashers on, the other trucks followed behind. Max turned right onto the park street with Nathan following, Dylan and Maverick turned left and went the other direction. Max moved down the dark street and past Bromax Farm, then made a U-turn so that we were looking down the street towards our houses (Nathan followed behind while Dylan and Maverick made the same move on the other end of the road facing us). Brody sent a countdown text to us and I started recording for Terrance and Harris. Max and I read the texts out loud together, “THREE” we shouted, “TWO” We yelled louder, “ONE!” We bellowed through the dark Carolina countryside and then it happened… our dark, quiet, country road in the middle of frigging nowhere lit up like Times Square on New Year’s Eve. The crowd let out an audible gasp… it was so beautiful. All the kids were in our truck and looked on with wide-eyed wonder.

Max moved slowly towards the light display. He pulled into BroMax and made his way up the long drive so we could see every colorful lightbulb, and every display. A life-sized gingerbread Theodore had been added to the display “Hey! That’s me he yelled with excitement” as Brody jumped into the cab with Max and our group cheered for him, praising his talents and hard work. We turned around in the circular drive and headed back to the road then on to Harris and Terrance’s place where we passed the other trucks on their way out and the horns all honked. We cruised up the long driveway under the brilliance of thousands of white lights. Their display (just like their house) was more elegant and polished than the other two, and just as beautiful.

We drove back down the drive, across the road, and up the drive to our house. Our Nightmare Before Christmas theme was so different from the other two houses… each home had its own flare. Our kids went NUCKING FUTS when they saw themselves as life size wooden cutouts, “Dat me” Izzy said pointing with excitement, “And Dat Fweddy, and dat Daddy Zeff, and Dat Daddy Sach, and dao Tuna!” (Izzy to English translation “That’s me, and that’s Freddy, and that’s Daddy Seth, and that’s Daddy Zach, and there’s our family dog Petunia). Freddy was just as excited and started to stand in the bed of the truck as he pointed to the cutout.

“Nope! SIT!” I commanded like the parent I had become, and he complied. Brad shot me a smirk… he was getting a kick out of watching me parent. The other trucks were now all behind us and moving up our driveway. When we all got to the end, the trucks stopped and everyone jumped out, Zach was waiting for us. People were talking, clapping, and praising all the guys for their amazing work. We hung out in the cold night air for a while before retreating to the backyard where Zach had started a Thanksgiving bonfire. It was a perfect ending to an incredible holiday.

The crowd slowly dispersed as our guests all eventually went home. We put the kids to bed, and I took a look around the house before I locked up, tidying things up as I did… to my surprise, Kelly and my brothers had done most of the cleaning and the place didn’t look half bad. I was about to lock the front door when I saw Zach sitting on the porch alone, I went out and joined him.

“Hay, babe” I said with a kiss before I took a seat next to him. “What are you doing out here all alone?”

“Admiring the lights” he said. “I haven’t seen them all yet, I was busy holding down the fort here… I’ll have to drive down the road tomorrow night.”

“Here” I said handing him my phone with the video I sent to Harrison and Terrance queued up for him.

He watched it and said, “Wow, this is awesome, and it sounds like the kids had fun in the back of the pickup.”

I laughed, “Yeah, Izzy wasn’t going to get in at first. When we were all jumping in the back she said, “Daddy Sach say no” with a scowl on her face.”

Zach thought that was hilarious and said with a laugh, “hey! She actually listens to me! Who knew?” I laughed at that because some days it seemed like she was in her own little world and we were invisible to her.

“All the kids loved the lights; our kids and Teddy went nuts when they saw the cutouts of themselves” I told him, then gave him the highlights of our tour. “Freddy got so excited when he saw his that he tried to stand up, I told him to sit back down and he did what he was told… they really are great kids.” I was truly thankful for those kids.

When the video was over, Zach moved his chair as close as he could to mine, the arms were touching. He put his hand on my leg as we looked out into our yard at the beacon of light through the darkness that was our Christmas light display… seriously, it was usually so dark out there you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, but thanks to the lights it was as bright as daylight. I put my hand on his leg and rested my head on his shoulder. He was fumbling with his phone making sure we had the monitors pulled up in case the kids needed us. It was cold out, but it was nice to just sit in the quiet and look at the Christmas lights, enjoying the fruit of Zach’s labor of love.

After about fifteen minutes of just sitting there Zach said, “Let’s go inside. I’ll stoke the fire.”

“Sounds good to me” I responded with a kiss on his cheek for emphasis. We moved inside, I went up to our room to get out of my jeans and put on a pair of sweats (commando) and a T-shirt. I checked in on the kids on my way back downstairs, they were so damn angelic when they slept… of course they could be pure hell when they were awake, but at that moment they were total perfection. I got down to the living room to find the room lit by just the fire in the fireplace and the flicker from a few candles burning. On the rug in front of the fireplace I found a vision of erotic perfection. My hot, blonde jock of a husband lying naked on his back, hands on a throw pillow behind his head, feet on the floor, and knees up. He had whipped cream on his nipples and a devilish grin on his face. “You got room for just a little more dessert?” He asked with that… that… that FUCKING BRILLIANT SMILE! I swear to you I married the hottest man on earth and he just kept getting hotter as we got older.

“There’s always room for dessert” I said diving into the smooth decadent morsel waiting to be devoured. I went right for the cream covered nipples licking, biting, and sucking them. Zach let out a yelp that morphed into a moan and ultimately a purr. He was loving it. I was pretty vanilla when it came to sex but Zach did his best to push my limits and make me explore… it was easy with him for a lot of reasons, one: He was hot as fuck. The first time I saw him I thought he was my teenage masturbatory dream come to life. Two: He made it all so much fun! Three (which was really maybe number one): I loved and trusted him more than anyone on earth. I worked my way down his still-tight abs and followed the… Oh, fuck the metaphors and hyperbole… I sucked his cock. Yup. I deep throated that magnificent beast and choked myself on it… FUCK! Never was a more satisfying morsel served.

I bobbed up and down on him and my hand stroked his shaft using my saliva and throat phlegm as lube to make the monster move in and out of my throat with incredible ease. I don’t know what it was, but there was something about Zach’s perfect cock hitting the back of my throat that gave me an amazing thrill and motivated the hell out of me. The harder it hit, the more it hurt, the more it hurt, the more I wanted. I was bobbing and stroking faster on his spit slickened dick as my hand moved from his tightening balls to his purple tip, stimulating every vein along the way.

Zach was panting and his chest heaving, “Shit, I’m gonna shoot.”

“The frig you are” I said as I pulled off him, dropped my sweats and sat on his hard, ready to detonate dynamite stick. My hole was dry and tight, but his cock was slick and so fucking hard. It hurt like hell, but after about five enthusiastic bounces the pain subside and turned into pure ecstasy. I bit my bottom lip as I tried to hold back my screams out of respect for the two clueless angels sleeping on the next floor.

“Shit, this is it” Zach said with a grunt that came from his entire being as he exploded inside me. I bounced harder and faster on his still-hard manhood. He may have been done but I needed more. I stroked myself in rhythm with my bouncing and suddenly I shot all over Zach’s beautiful, chiseled face. His tongue did it’s best to lap up my essence while I squeezed the final drops out of my aching piece. I leaned back with my hands on his knees and his cock still planted inside my tight, cum-soaked ass, and caught my breath. Next, I leaned forward and licked his face clean off the cum that his tongue couldn’t catch, then we kissed. A wet, dirty, passionate kiss that only two people who truly oved each other could share. “Oh, my fucking god” Zach said in an exhale with this gorgeous smile of satisfaction on his face.

“Happy Thanksgiving” I said. Then we went into the kitchen and cleaned up with paper towels before going back to the living room couch and laying down on the couch. I fell asleep to the crackling of the fireplace with his strong arms wrapped around me as we spooned.

We were asleep a couple of hours when I felt a poking in my eye and this extremely loud whisper ask me, “you sweeping?!” It was Izzy lifting my eyelids.

Zach grumbled from behind me and said, “not anymore.” I looked up at the clock on the mantle, it was about 2AM.

“What are you doing up?” I asked the adorable little angel who had just poked my eyes and screamed in my ear.

“My tummy hotes” Izzy replied (which for those of you who still haven’t mastered Izzy-ease is ‘my stomach hurts’).

“Did you eat too much?” I asked.

She nodded and said, “Unko Ewi maked me.”

I snickered a little at that. She had just thrown my brother under the bus for no apparent reason. “Uncle Eli made you eat too much?” She nodded again in response.

Zach snickered in my ear, “What did he make you eat?” he asked trying to keep this going.

“Tokey, bwownies, beans, smushed tatoes, pie, stuffing, and utho tuff” (Izzy to English translation: ‘he made me eat turkey, brownies, beans, mashed potatoes, pie, stuffing, and other stuff’).

“Uncle Eli made you eat ALL that?” I asked. Again, she stuck to her story and nodded. “Well, I’m going to have to have a talk with him tomorrow. Shame on him.” She nodded, satisfied that she had successfully blamed Eli for her tummy ache, then she crawled on top of us, wedged her tiny body between us on the already overcrowded couch and fell asleep. When we woke up at about 6AM, she was still in the same position, but her tummy felt better.

Brad texted early, ‘let’s grab breakfast somewhere.’ We agreed, got up and ready to go, then drove across the street to meet my brother. We beeped the horn and the entire crew came out of the house and jumped into the rental cars. Brad and Scotty loaded their family into one vehicle wile Benny and Chris got into another and we all caravanned to the diner in the middle of freaking nowhere for a great, greasy breakfast.

We started out with some small talk and Zach told the guys how poor Izzy had a tummy ache because mean ole’ Uncle Eli forced her to overeat.  Izzy sat there nodding with a pathetic look on her face. Scotty, jumped to her rescue. “Mean Uncle Eli made you eat pie, and cake, and turkey?!” Scotty asked the toddler who sat in her highchair nodding.

“And bwownies… Unko Ewi is a mean guy” she agreed. Scotty and Brad were loving it and pulled every bit of the story out of her that they could. But god bless Izzy, she stuck with her story.

After Izzy told her story we turned to small talk. “Yesterday was great, Seth” Benny Said from across the table. “Thanks for talking us into coming.”

“I’m sorry my mother in-law forced y’all to sit together” I said apologetically.

“Sorry” Zach said, “my mother can be... um…”

“Pushy? Controlling? Overbearing?” I asked with a laugh.

“Yeah… that” Zach said with a smile.

“But her heart’s in the right place… ya gotta love Kelly. How did it go?” I asked.

“Better than expected” Benny said before he put a forkful of greasy eggs in his mouth. After he chewed and swallowed, he added, “me and Chris are double dating with him and your dad today” he laughed. “My father wanted to see the Titanic Exhibit at the museum, Zach’s sister got them tickets and they invited us to join them.”

“It’ll be good for the four of you to spend some time together” Brad said. Then he looked at me. “So, we’re free today, let’s do Something with the kids.”

Maddox overheard and yelled across the table “Go carts!”

Freddy added, “Yeah and putt-putt golf! Can I use my chore points?” I had to smile at that, Freddy was meticulous about doing his chores and tracked his points like he was Scrooge McDuck.

“It’s a holiday, you don’t have to use your points, we’ll pay for it” Zach said getting a huge smile and thank you from Freddy. The kids were all excited and cheering, it didn’t take much for them to talk us into it.

“Crap, that sounds way more fun than the museum” Benny said with a laugh. “Speaking of fun, is there any kind of gay nightlife around here?” Zach and I told him about the clubs and bars that we knew about. “After all this family drama, I need a night out” he added.

“Maybe we can get a sitter tomorrow after the BroMax grand opening and then we can take you guys out to the clubs” I said. “Max and Brody would probably come too… the’ve earned a night out.”

“Hey, what about your kids sleeping at our place tomorrow night, I bet my parents would be more than happy to stay with the kids” Zach suggested to Brad and Scotty.

“Or Dad and Best” I said. Brad looked at me and sighed, Scotty just shook his head no. It was a big leap of faith for them to trust the two men who abducted him alone with their kids. “C’mon Brad, the kids love them and you know Dad wouldn’t do anything to hurt them, he loves those kids.”

“I know… but” Brad started to say.

“You said it yourself, Brad, the two closeted, reprehensible mother fuckers who abducted you are dead and gone. Remember?” I said throwing his own words back it him. Yeah, my dad had done some reprehensible things back in the day, but I knew damn well he loved his grandchildren and would never hurt them… I trusted him. Well, we discussed it for a while, and it took some convincing but we got Brad and Scotty to agree.

I texted Dad who was more than happy to accept our offer, then I texted Brody and Max, and invited them. Before we knew it… BA was taking Teddy, and the eight of us adults were planning a gay night out.

“Looks like we got a plan for Saturday night on the town” Brad said.

“Now we’re talkin’” Chris said with a big smile. “This is turning into a real vacation!” The six adults talked while the four kids made plans for hitting Jungle Rapids, Freddy knew the lay of the land and filled his cousins in (they had everything from go carts to an arcade (they even had a waterpark but it was closed for the winter).

After breakfast, Benny and Chris went to meet Dad and Best while the rest of us were off on a day of family fun. All the kids and adults raced go carts, well, all except for Zach who rode slowly off to the side with Izzy on his lap. But as far as she was concerned, she was racing with everyone else (and winning). She was smiling, cheering, and yelling “I winning!” She was having the time of her young life slowly circling the track with Daddy Sach. After go cart racing, it was putt-putt golf, then skee ball, and arcade games. We spent the entire afternoon there and had so much fun playing with the kids. I wished Brad and his family lived closer! Freddy and Izzy loved hanging out with their older cousins… I’m sure Maddox and Brooklyn were getting sick of hanging with the little kids, but they were good to them and made them both feel special. It was so cool to me how this collection of people had become a family.

That night was pizza night at our place and it was pretty lowkey. We were all wiped out from our day with the kids (who were passed out by 7:00). Benny, Chris, and the Dads had a good day together and were telling us all about the exhibit. Kelly and Nathan had spent a quiet day at the Villa working on projects. Max, Brody, and Teddy spent some family time together… they needed it! Max had been burning the candle at both ends (no pun intended) trying to get ready for the grand opening of the new plant. Sammy and his family were in High Point visiting his grandma. Eli had spent the day working with Bubba trying to finish things up at BroMax, and princess Riley had treated herself to a day of selfcare complete with a massage. We told Eli how Izzy blamed him for her tummy ache… “That’s because I’m her favorite” he replied.

It was a quiet night at home with the people we loved… to me, there was nothing better in the world.

 

To be continued…