Living in a Small Town

 

The court cases against the teens' sperm donors were settled with a prison sentence for Mr. Montgomery and a deportation for Tay's birth father. Tommy and Tay had not been required to return for any more testimony. Officials had tried to deport the entire family, including Tay, but once again, Granny came to the rescue. She pointed out that since the family had their parental rights over Tay revoked, and that he had been legally adopted, including a change of his name, Tay was no longer part of the family being deported.

As for the not so good reverend, news reports told of the Sunday service at his church interrupted by a man in his forties barging into the church building and shooting the preacher dead in the pulpit. When asked by police why he had done it, the man answered that his mother had died penniless thanks to giving that preacher every penny of her money to support a camp where his son had been kidnapped and taken, only to later commit suicide in the camp, believing himself to be unwanted by his family. He had been fine with his son being gay, but his now deceased mother had not, believing the hatred and bigotry that the preacher spewed everywhere. Because he had killed the preacher, he was found guilty of murder, but it was deemed to be "under extenuating circumstances." He was sentenced to a psychiatric hospital rather than a prison.

There were other issues for the Truesdale family over the summer that, while not legal in nature, were still problematic. It seemed that a certain young boy with scars on his back thought that 'his' friend Kenny should not spend so much time with his big brother or his big brother's boyfriend. Stan and Jude saw the jealousy for what it was, but obviously they were not about to explain it to their young son in that much detail. They simply told him that Kenny was allowed to have friends his own age with similar interests so he didn't feel so alone.

When it was put to him that way, Kaden ran to Kenny, hugging him tightly while crying. "I don't want you to feel all lonely. Lonely's not fun to feel all the time. You can be friends with my brother if you really want to be. It's ok, I'm just a dumb little kid anyway."

"Hey, you do not get to talk like that about my friends," Kenny told him seriously.

"I didn't say nothing bad 'bout Tommy or Tay," Kaden blinked in confusion.

"You're my friend, too," Kenny explained. "You don't get to talk bad about you, because you are my little superhero friend. Tommy and Tay are just regular friends, but you're super special. Remember what I told you when I first met you?"

"You said you would hold me for dinner so I could reach the table, like you used to do for your little sister and brother, like a little baby," Kaden said sadly.

"Ok, I did say that, but I also told you that you were my little superhero because you were so brave and strong. I said it then and I'll tell you again now, I would have been scared to death to run off on my own in the middle of the night when I was your age. Not you, though. You made up your mind to get away from what was hurting you and you did it."

"Yeah, you're our hero too, little bro-in-law," Tay told him with a kiss to the top of Kaden's head. "Me and Tommy hid, and I don't know about him, but I was crying when his father and the **&^%$$# who sired me were hurting poor Mr. Jenkins."

"What's a... that word you said?" Kaden asked innocently.

"Something I should not have said around you," Tay actually managed to blush despite his dark skin. "Do not ever repeat it, or your fathers will never let me come over anymore."

"Hmmm....." Kaden said melodramatically with his finger on his chin as if he were thinking it over.

"Aww come on, Kaden," Tay begged. "I thought you liked me now. I don't call you baby brother anymore."

"I guess it's ok if you want to call me baby bro sometimes, but only in private, when Janie and Nicky aren't around," Kaden agreed but warned in the same breath.

"I would never bring shame to the honored brother of my heart," Tay vowed.

"Aww," Tommy, Kaden, and Stan all cooed. Tommy kissed him on the cheek as well.

"Are we friends again, Kat Boy?" Kenny asked the boy.

"You told him my super hero name?" Kaden whined at his big brother.

"I thought it was ok to tell him," Tommy explained. "At least I didn't tell him your other one, Captain NudeeButt."

"Wait, what was that one?" Kenny asked.

"Nothing," Kaden snapped. "It was nothing. My brother was being dumb and he's shutting up now."

"Aww, no fair," Tay pouted. "I don't even know the story on that one."

"And you better not know it ever," Kaden snapped.

"How about a deal?" Kenny offered. "I hear this story, and I will tell a really embarrassing story about me."

"That sounds fair," Tommy smiled.

"Hold up, let me think," Kaden cut in. "I don't know."

"I promise I will try my best to make it as embarrassing as your story is," Kenny vowed.

"Ok, but Tay has to go away," Kaden announced.

"How come I don't get to hear it?"

"Cause you didn't offer me a story about you," Kaden answered.

"It's hardly my fault that I've never done anything embarrassing," Tay snarked.

"Oh really?" Tommy snorted. "I seem to recall the day we met, at the ice cream truck."

"Shut up, no one needs to hear that. You swore you would never tell anyone."

"Yeah, but both of our families told it plenty of times," Tommy pointed out.

"They aren't our families anymore. It never happened. I've drawn a veil across everything before we came to this town."

"Oh, so that means we're not boyfriends anymore?" Tommy asked with his hands on his hips.

"I never said that," Tay tried to backpedal.

"You said nothing exists from before we moved here, and we agreed to be boyfriends before we moved here, so that means we're not boyfriends now."

"Fine, fine, tell you little brother and our boss about my most embarrassing moment," Tay surrendered. "Kaden, your brother does not play fair."

"I think it's very fair," Kaden grinned happily. He looked over to his big brother. "Tell his story first. I want to hear about the ice cream."

"I met Tay about a week after his family moved in next door to us," Tommy told them all. "The ice cream truck came into our little dead end street and stopped right in front of my house. I went out with my whole piggy bank, and I look over to the boy who was standing beside me only to see that he was completely naked, and wet. He had jumped out of the bath tub and run out of his house just so he wouldn't miss the ice cream truck. I paid for his ice cream sandwich since he didn't have any money."

"My mother paid you back," Tay said with a pout. "Anyway, you all know my most embarrassing moment now."

"I wouldn't fret over it too much, Tay," Kenny said with a smile. "Obviously it made a good impression on your boy here, since he paid for your treat and he's your boyfriend now. He must have seen something he really liked even then. I mean how old could you have been, like four?"

Tay mumbled something none of them understood, but Tommy grinned and answered for him. "We were both nine years old."

"NINE?" Kenny squealed. "I am shocked, sir, shocked, I say. I would never have gone out of my house without clothes at such an age."

"Now, it's your turn," Tay responded sourly.

"Ok, well, I'm not sure if this will beat nine year old exhibitionism by choice, but here goes," Kenny laughed. "This one time, at scout camp...."

"Oh my god, tell me he did not just go there," Tommy giggled and groaned.

"Of course he didn't just go there, he's been here all summer," Kaden said as if he were explaining this obvious fact to someone very dumb.

After a round of laughter that Kaden didn't quite understand, Kenny continued. "We were rafting down a river in these giant inflatable donuts and we were supposed to stop at a certain point by swimming over to the edge of the water. Only a certain idiot dared me to go further downstream with him. So, I did... and found out why we were supposed to stop where we did. There were rapids just around the bend of the river. He managed to grab a rock in the river and stop, but I was stuck in the current."

"Did you drown?" Kaden asked breathlessly.

"I almost did," Kenny answered seriously. "The camp counselors managed to throw me a rope and pull me to safety, but they couldn't save everything. My swim trunks that were a little loose anyway are probably floating around out in the ocean somewhere now."

"They rescued you in your undies?" Tommy asked.

"Worse, I wasn't wearing undies with my swim trunks," Kenny admitted. "I got out of that water naked, but I was so happy to be alive and not still fighting the rapids, that I didn't care or even notice until Sean ran over and hugged me and yelled at everyone to quit looking at me. One of the counselors took his shirt off for me to wear so I was mostly covered until we got back to camp."

"How old were you?" Tay asked curiously.

"I was twelve," Kenny admitted. "I wasn't naked by choice though."

"Now do we get to hear about Captain Nudeebutt?" Tay asked with a grin.

"You don't have to look so happy about it," Tommy scolded his boyfriend. "It wasn't cute or funny. Poor little Kaden thought he wasn't wanted anymore, so he was going to run away but he didn't want to take stuff that wasn't his, well except for the blanket from the front porch swing, and the cat's bed and food bowl."

"You were running away from home with Kit?" Kenny asked with a sniffle. "Aww, Kady, you know your dads love you so much. They must have been so sad that you left."

"Yeah, and Tommy here has always wanted a little brother," Tay added. "We all love you and want you around, little bro-n-law."

The conversation ended in a group cuddle with Kaden and Kit in the middle of it. Stan snuck back to the kitchen quietly and prepared some brownies for the boys to eat with a smile on his face, even if there might have been a tear or two in his eyes. They were happy tears, though.

 

************************

 

It was almost time for school to start up again when the next major thing happened in little Kaden's life. Doc finally said that his back was healed enough that they could have the consultation with the tattoo artist about Kaden's back. Mama Stan called the number for the shop that was two counties over, but the conversation did not go well. Stan hung up the call and refused to talk about it. He instead went directly into the kitchen and started making Flo's homemade bread. All the sheriff's office wives had the recipe, because as Flo put it, "Sometimes you just need to beat the ever-loving crap out of someone or something, and that's why we make this bread."

He made seven loaves of the bread before he would talk to anyone, and then he just made another phone call that involved going somewhere to talk to someone. It turns out, he was talking to Uncle Henry. The person he had spoken with at the tattoo shop had categorically refused to tattoo a child under any circumstances and had accused Stan of a number of inappropriate things in the process, not least of which was the fact that it was illegal to tattoo a child. Sadly, Uncle Henry had to agree on that point, but he believed that legally an exception could be made for extenuating circumstances if the situation were to be taken to court. What he suggested was going to the tattoo parlor in person with pictures of the damage to Kaden's back and discussing it with the artist in question.

The next morning, Stan woke his boys up with the announcement of a road trip. He had been anxious to take his new-to-them minivan further than the local grocery store, so was excited for the chance, even without the mission at the end of the journey. Jude stayed home to sleep so he could work again that night. Stan, Tommy, and Kaden all three cooed over how cute it was to see little Kit curled up against Daddy in the big bed before they left. It took a few hours of driving, but they arrived in the town, and found the business in question. They were quickly told by the man inside that neither of the boys were allowed inside the building by law, but he agreed to talk with them out in front of the shop on the sidewalk.

"I don't own the place, you see, so I don't want to risk the business license for my nephew, even if he is.....Well, it don't matter to you folks what he is. Why did you bring your kids to a tattoo parlor? Trying to teach them about the evil, bad stuff out in the world?"

"Actually, I was hoping to appeal to the owner to make a little exception to a state law that leaves no room for...." Stan began.

"Wait, you telling me that Dipshi....err my nephew refused to break the law? I never thought I'd see this day," the man said in amazement. "Usually, I'm the one reminding him that he can't do things just because he wants to. He always was a chucklehead. I liked the boy when he was this little one's age, but by the time he got to the bigger one's size, my brother had turned him into a stupid bully of a brute. Then my brother went and died, and the idiot thinks he's a freaking hero. He wasn't killed by accident in a bar fight, he started the stupid fight, as usual. He may have been my brother, but he was no rocket scientist. Don't start a knife fight with a gang of bikers that always carry guns." He shook his head a little sadly, and then focused on Stan again. "Just what is it somebody like you wanted him to do. I mean, no offense, but you don't look like the type to run against the law."

"I'm not by a rule, in fact, my father-in-law is the county sheriff back home," Stan told him a bit proudly. "What I was wanting was.... Well, it's like this. We were advised by a doctor that tattoos could cover up scars, and..."

The man cut him off there. "Your doctor has watched too much tv and movies. Covering up a scar isn't the easiest thing to do. You see the skin is already damaged, so it's not as likely to take the ink the way healthy skin would. Plus, you gotta wait until it is TOTALLY healed up, not just cleared by a general practitioner. A dermatologist could tell, but most gp's just aren't as educated in the specifics."

"It's for me, see?" Kaden blurted and pulled his shirt off and turned around facing away from the man.

"My God, baby, it looks like someone tried to put you through a meat grinder. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry, little one. Are you healing up, good and proper with a doctor checking you out?"

"Oh, yes sir," Kaden nodded happily as he turned back to face the man. "Uncle Doctor Zebbie takes real good care of me."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, cutie pie, but I'm afraid I have to tell you some bad news. You see it isn't so much that it's against the law to tattoo a kid, even though it is. The real issue is that the skin is still growing and stretching and rearranging. If we were to try and tattoo you, especially someone as little as you are, well, within a month or two, the tatt might be all warped out of shape just from you growing big and strong like you're supposed to. We could put a cute little robin on your tumtum here," and the man reached out to tickle Kaden's still exposed belly, "but by the time you get as big as your brother here, it would look more like an ugly old vulture."

"He knew we're brothers," Kaden beamed up at Tommy, who picked him and hugged him tightly.

"Well, of course I knew that," the man said with a smile. "Anybody could tell that just from looking at the way he watches out for you, just like big brothers are supposed to, at least if they're even halfway decent big brothers, that is."

"Does this mean we got to go dig up dead people in the graveyard to get me new skin?" Kaden asked Stan, his cute little nose wrinkled in disgust at the very idea.

"Hold up, where'd you get an idea like that, little man?"

"Dr. Mulhearn said the only other real option was cadaver skin, but that it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for enough skin for the grafts, and there would have to be several of them. You were our only hope for poor Kaden to just put this behind him without a lot of surgery and missing out on activities while he recovers, over and over."

"Now, wait a minute, here," the man held up a hand to stop Stan. "I said I couldn't tattoo the boy, but how's about I paint him? I could use that body paint stuff like they do for movies out in Hollywood. It's just temporary, but it's waterproof, and you can sweat in it, and it looks like a tattoo if it's done right."

"Just how temporary are we talking, and how long would that take?" Stan questioned. "I mean the whole point here is doing something so that Kaden here doesn't miss out on normal childhood activities. If he's going to be in a makeup chair for several hours a day...."

"Plus, it's an all-day car ride here and back," Tommy pointed out. "I mean he's a great driver, and all," he added pointing at Stan, "but that's a lot of time in the car, and I don't even get to pick on little stuff about having to ride in a baby seat."

"Not a baby seat," Kaden whined and squirmed away from his brother's embrace.

"Not to mention what it does to my cleaning schedule," Stan mumbled, ignoring the sibling bickering, which he actually thought was adorable.

"I'll help more with the cleaning now that my back is all better, Mama Stan," Kaden vowed quickly. "I can do lots more, honest."

"I'll help more, too. I'm not some dumb jock of a guy that never does anything around the house," Tommy blurted. "I already do my laundry, Mama. I can do all the laundry; I don't mind."

"Mercy me, two boys volunteering to help more around the house. You are clearly raising them right, Mama," the tattoo artist said with a smile, and a little extra emphasis on the last word. The smile was genuine, not condescending or judging. "Before you get upset, let me tell you that your private business is none of my concern. If you're not hurting these boys, or anyone else, which you clearly aren't doing, then I got no problem with you. I am what you call an ally. Trust me, you see ALL kinds in this line of work. I know more about the private lives of a lot of people around here than even their bartender or barber."

"I hadn't thought of that before, but I suppose you would, wouldn't you?" Stan blushed a bit.

"Once you've been asked to tattoo the word Johnson on some guy's Johnson, you've pretty much seen it all," the man laughed. "Back to this little one's situation though. Normally a full back tattoo would take several months to complete and at least three if not four visits or more, depending on how complex a picture is wanted. Painting, however can all be done in one session as we aren't jabbing you with needles, meaning recovery time. There's also the fact that little man here is so little. I don't mean offense, child, it's just a fact. Your whole back is still smaller than a lot of shoulders or thighs I work on every other day. Again, it's going to depend on what you want done as an image. If you want a big teddy bear, that's fairly simple, but if you're thinking the forest primeval with animals and clouds and all, well...."

"How complicated would wings be?" Stan asked.

"Bird, bat, or dragon?"

"Angel wings," Tommy supplied. "My boy... my friend, Tay drew a picture for a suggestion."

"Ally, remember, young one?" the man smiled. "You can call him your boyfriend around me. He's a lucky boy if he is." Tommy blushed, but smiled. "Now, do you have that picture with you?" Tommy ran to the van and retrieved it. "Well now, your boy has some skills. This looks good, real good, and fairly simple to do as well. Now it would just be a matter of getting the paint, and asking a couple of questions." He looked directly at Stan and with a smile, said, "What's the chances of finding a cheap house with maybe a garage I could open my own shop in?"

"You would move to our town, just to help my little bro?" Tommy asked.

"Well, not just to help him, but it would be the primary motivation," the man admitted. "OOF!" he grunted as both boys slammed into his sides, hugging him tightly.

"I can't begin to thank you enough," Stan mumbled as he fought his tears.

"Don't cry, Mama Stan," Kaden pleaded. "He said yes."

"I know he did, sweetie, I know he did," Stan snuffled.

"If you start crying, I may join you," the older man warned. "I been wanting to do this since my brother died. You folks wait right here." He walked back into the storefront shop and within a few minutes he was back on the sidewalk holding two suitcases awkwardly while pulling what looked like a rolling tool chest with drawers. He locked the door then shoved the keys into the mail slot, and then took a marker out of his pocket and wrote the words I QUIT on the glass of the door. "You know, I just might cry a little bit after all. I didn't expect this to feel so liberating. I'm free of the spoiled little brat my nephew grew up to be. Now, could I impose on you good folks to help me load the accumulated wealth of my life into my truck, just around the corner? I can roll this bad boy around, but I know I can't lift up into the truck bed by myself."

"I'm stronger than I look," Tommy bragged and posed like a body builder, if body builders were 95 pound slightly fem boys, that is.

"I can help, too," Kaden said proudly, imitating his big brother's pose.

"Yes, you can and you have the most important job of all, you're the supervisor," the man said with a wink to Stan.

"You hear that, Tommy? I'm such a good visor, I'm super." His pose changed to that of a comic book hero. "Kid Dynamite and Super Visor," he called out, and then made the sound effects of trumpet call.

"Ok, Captain Nudeebutt," Tommy giggled.

"Stop calling me that," Kaden whined. "Mama, make him stop calling me that."

"Thomas, stop calling your brother by his rightfully earned title," Stan said dryly.

"MAMA!" Kaden squealed and then pouted all the way around the building as the other three guys all laughed.