Daddy's Boy

by T C Heffer

  He knows exactly what will happen if he convinces Jeremy to do that:

  They'd get to the school, Jeremy would drop him off, and a bunch of other students would see and immediately begin speculating about who they are to each other. Previously, just thinking of rumours spreading about him and another guy—particularly one that's a lot older than him—would've had Pete freaking out. But now that he's getting much more comfortable with himself, and with both himself and Jeremy recently confessing their love for each other…Pete believes he's ready.

  And so, when he's finished with his laces, he stands up and turns to Jeremy.

  "Have a good day at school," the man says, leaning in for a kiss.

  Pete gives it to him but doesn't get his keys and walk out the door afterward. "Actually, I was wondering something," he says instead.

  Jeremy cocks his head to the side confusedly. "And what's that?"

  Pete takes a moment to gather his courage and then makes his request. "Can you drive me today?"

  Jeremy's expression turns from confusion into surprise. "I'd be happy to, but are you sure?"

  "Yes." Pete stands tall, radiating certainty. "My Dad knows about us now and is okay with it, and I want everyone else to know that I'm yours too."

  Jeremy peers into Pete's eyes for a few seconds, gauging how genuine his words are. He must see what they both want him to, because eventually he nods his assent and walks around Pete to collect his keys from the bowl next to the front door. "Well, c'mon then, let's get this show on the road."

  Pete grabs his backpack, bounds over to Jeremy and pecks him on the lips again. "Thanks, Daddy. You're the best."

  "I know."

  Pete shadows him outside, waits for him to lock the front door and then accompanies him down the steps toward Jeremy's shiny silver Porsche, which sits in the driveway next to Pete's beat-up Kia. The two vehicles look very out of place next to each other, but in an odd way, it's their differences that also make it seem like they fit.

  Their vehicles are reflections of them, Pete muses as he opens the passenger door of the Porsche and climbs inside. He's kind of rough around the edges like his Kia, and he's usually happy and loud like the bright paint. Jeremy, however, is more sophisticated, calm and even-tempered, just like the Porsche.

  Pete spends far too long thinking about this, and he gets so into picking out all the little things their vehicles say about them that it's a struggle to keep up when Jeremy attempts to engage him in conversation about his upcoming classes.

  "What're you daydreaming about?" Jeremy enquires, sending Pete a patient smile as they wait at a red light.

  "Nothing important," Pete responds, demurring from sharing his silly thoughts.

  "Must've been something interesting, though."

  Pete shakes his head and is still not going to reveal what he'd been pondering, but then he mentally chides himself for acting like that. This is Jeremy, his Daddy. Jeremy won't think it's stupid, and he's said many times before that Pete can tell him anything.

  "Well, actually…" he begins.

  For the remainder of the drive, he fills Jeremy in on his revelations. By the time they arrive at school, the conversation has turned into each of them giving the other whatever compliments they can, like it's a game to see who can come up with the most. Pete finds it slightly embarrassing to be bombarded by so many words of praise, but he's pleased by each one and is grinning so wide that his cheeks hurt when Jeremy brings the Porsche to a stop just outside the school and pulls up the parking brake.

  Before Jeremy can say goodbye to him, Pete unbuckles his seatbelt, grabs his backpack from the footwell and gets out of the car. He leans down to look back inside. "Well? You coming?"

  Jeremy stares back suspiciously. "What're you planning, Pete?"

  "You'll find out if you get out."

  They have a short staring match, and then Jeremy gives in and unbuckles too. Pete rights himself, shuts the passenger door and walks around to the curb, where Jeremy awaits. Just like Pete suspected would happen, Jeremy's mere presence is enough to catch the attention of a lot of the students who have chosen to mill around outside until the first bell rings.

  Pete relishes their wide eyes and the salacious looks they send Jeremy. He relishes it all so much, in fact, that he isn't the least bit perturbed when he walks up next to Jeremy and some of the other students' lust turns into bafflement, like they can't believe such a hunk of a man would ever deign to be with him.

  Sucks to be them, he thinks.

  "Now you can tell me to have a good day," Pete prompts when he's right in front of Jeremy, his backpack hanging from his hand.

  "Don't think I haven't sussed out the purpose of this," Jeremy murmurs.

  Pete drops his backpack to the ground and slings his arms over Jeremy's shoulders, not the least bit contrite. "You gonna play along?"

  "Mmm…maybe. You'll have to make it worth my while."

  Pete smirks. "And how would I go about doing that?"

  "I'll figure something out later. For now, I guess I can go with it. C'mere." Jeremy puts a hand on the small of Pete's back, pressing their bodies together from head to toe. He cups the side of Pete's face with the other.

  As soon as their lips lock, Pete hears a few gasps and even a cry of outrage from those around them, and he can't help but laugh quietly into the kiss.

  "You're being very naughty," Jeremy whispers when it ends, their mouths remaining close.

  "I regret nothing."

  "Mmm, I bet you don't."

  "Well…I guess that's my coming out officially taken care of," Pete says, leaning back slightly so that he can see Jeremy's face.

  Jeremy keeps holding him, ignoring everyone else. His eyes are all for Pete. "How does it feel?"

  "Pretty good, actually." Pete glances around and notes the shock slowly receding from the other students' countenances. His eyes alight on Steve by the front steps, where Pete hadn't noticed him before. Mia is with him, and both of them give him enthusiastic thumbs-up.

  Just then, the bell rings and a flurry of movement ensues. "I guess that's my cue," Pete says disappointedly. "You'll be here to pick me up after?"

  "Of course," Jeremy confirms, kissing him one last time before releasing him. "Maybe we can go out for dinner, find a nice restaurant or something."

  "Can't wait."

  "Kick ass in there," Jeremy says as Pete begins walking away. He waves when Pete looks back at him over his shoulder.

  Pete waves back and then continues walking until he reaches the steps leading up into the main school building, where Steve and Mia fall into step with him. He walks through the halls with them with a lot of eyes on him, the news of the DILF in the parking lot spreading like wildfire through the rest of the student body. He doesn't mind and enjoys it for what it is. It'll be the hot gossip for maybe a week, and then somebody else will do something to get others talking and the facts that Pete Campbell isn't straight and that he was dropped off and kissed by a sexy DILF beside said sexy DILF's fancy car will be old news.

  — CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX —

  - Monday, December 9th, 2013 -

  When Pete arrives home later on, his Dad's cruiser is already in the driveway. He parks next to it and enters the house in good spirits. Spending some quality time with Jeremy and having a decent, uneventful day at school will do that, and now he's about to spend some time with his Dad as well, something they rarely get a chance to do nowadays. His Dad works hard to keep the household running, and as the Chief of Police, a lot of people rely on him. Pete is proud of his Dad, and as much as he would like them to have more time together, it's just not in the cards right now.

  "Dad, I'm home!" Pete calls as he slips off his shoes.

  "In the kitchen!" comes the response.

  Pete kicks his shoes off to the side so that they're out of the way and goes to join his Dad.

  The Chief stands in front of the fridge, still in his uniform. "How was school?" he asks without looking away from the shelves
.

  "Pretty good," Pete replies.

  "I'm happy to hear it. Have you already eaten? Nothing in the fridge is catching my eye, so we can order pizza, if you want."

  "Nah, I had dinner with Jeremy."

  At this, Pete's Dad shuts the fridges and faces him, his countenance honestly interested. "Anything nice?"

  "Yeah, it was, actually." Pete tells his Dad about the restaurant Jeremy ended up taking him to; a nice Italian place that had the best pasta sauce he'd ever tasted.

  "I'll have to check it out sometime, then."

  "For sure."

  In the lull that occurs in the conversation, Pete moves over to the cupboards, gets out a glass and fills it with water. He takes a long drink before setting the glass on the countertop. He recalls the plans he made to himself about getting different opinions on which colleges to apply to. The preliminary research he did at Jeremy's is still waiting to be continued, after he emailed it to himself from Jeremy's MacBook.

  No time like the present.

  "Hey, Dad? Can I get your thoughts on something?" he asks.

  The Chief sits down at the island, giving his son his undivided attention. "Sure, what's up?"

  "It's about college."

  "You haven't heard back from anywhere yet, right? I thought the deadlines weren't until the beginning of next year."

  "They aren't. I, uh…" Pete rips off the Band-Aid. "I haven't actually applied anywhere yet."

  The Chief's eyebrows climb high on his forehead. "Pete…"

  "I know, I know, you can save the lecture." Pete leans back against the counter. "Jeremy's already given me one and punished me for leaving it so late."

  The Chief chokes on his own spit. "Punished?"

  Oh shit. Pete realises his mistake and hastens to cover it up. "Never mind. That bit's not important."

  "Punished you like…spanked you?" the Chief guesses, not listening to what his son just said.

  "Dad, can we not get into this?"

  "I just want to understand. I'm still wrapping my head around you and Jeremy doing things like…that. Are punishments a part of it?"

  "Dad, please…"

  "No, I want to know," the Chief says stubbornly. He doesn't seem too uncomfortable, which is nice for him, but Pete definitely is.

  Pete shuts his eyes. He doesn't really wish to speak about this with his Dad, but he doesn't like the thought of rebuffing him either. It means a lot that his Dad is trying. "Yes, Jeremy punishes me if I do something wrong," he reveals. "But no, spanking isn't a part of that."

  "Oh." The Chief takes a few moments to process this. "Your mom and I were never believers in spanking you if you behaved badly, so I guess that's good."

  Pete nods stiffly. He doesn't mention that Jeremy does spank him. It's just not for the purposes of punishment. "Anyway, can we get back to the whole college thing? Please?"

  "Alright," the Chief agrees. Hurt flits across his face. "So you told Jeremy first?"

  "Uhh…yeah?"

  "I see."

  "It's not like that, Dad."

  "No, it's fine. As long as you talked to someone about it, I guess."

  Pete instantly feels guilty. He steps over to his Dad and hugs him. "I'm talking to you about it now. I wanted to get your input."

  The Chief embraces him back. "Why would that matter? You can go anywhere you want. We'll figure out a way to get you there."

  "It's not like I wanna go out of the country or anything. I've already got it narrowed down a bit."

  The hug ends then, and the hurt has cleared from the Chief's expression. "Can I see?"

  "Yeah, sure."

  Pete retreats upstairs to grab his MacBook from his desk and then returns downstairs. His Dad has relocated into the living room, so he sits down on the sofa next to him and rests his MacBook over his lap. After logging in and opening Chrome, he goes to his email and downloads the document that contains everything he'd found before.

  "These are the places I was thinking about applying to," he explains once the document has loaded.

  His Dad leans in close to that he can read the small text. The document is laid out neatly. It's comprised of several different sections, one for each potential college, and each section includes the location, the price of tuition and the price of the application itself.

  "Some good work so far, son," his Dad compliments.

  "Thanks."

  "Seeing this list again, what're your instincts telling you? Ignore the money for now."

  Pete thinks it over carefully. He still isn't a hundred percent sure what he wants to choose as his major, so that doesn't rule out any of the choices in front of him. The only criteria he has to base his choice on is distance. He'd prefer not to go somewhere too far away from Leraine. Jeremy promised to come with him wherever he ends up, yes, but Pete would still prefer if his Dad was close by too. It's horrible to even think about it, but just in case something bad happens, he wants to be by his Dad's side as quickly as possible.

  "Maybe Berkeley," Pete selects eventually, pointing it out on the screen.

  "That's close."

  "Yeah."

  "Is that the only one that sticks out to you?"

  "No, but you asked me to follow my instincts." Pete purses his lips. "It's not the only place I'd apply to anyway. Applying to just one place seems like a bad idea."

  His Dad nods his agreement. "It is."

  "What did you do?"

  "I joined the Police Academy," his Dad answers, his tone basically adding, "Duh," to the end of his sentence.

  Pete snorts. "Right. Of course you did."

  For another few minutes, Pete goes through the rest of his options with his Dad without much more in the way of results. There's just nothing that stands out to him as a cut above the rest.

  In the end, the Chief leaves him to it, announcing that he should really get something to eat and go to bed so he's well-rested for his next shift in the morning. He wishes Pete good luck before he goes upstairs, leaving Pete to wrestle with his indecisiveness by himself.

  What should he do? He needs to make choice and stick to it.

  "C'mon, Pete, you can do this," he mumbles, reading through his list for the fiftieth time.

  Once again, nothing jumps out at him. He's got Berkeley, sure, but he's not exactly filled with excitement at the thought of going there.

  Getting frustrated, Pete shuts his laptop and puts it on the coffee table. He tips his head back over the back of the sofa and stares up at the ceiling, wishing the right answer would just appear to him already. Why is this so hard? It shouldn't be. Apart from Steve, every other senior he knows at school is already dead-set on what they want to do with their lives. Hell, even most of students in the grades beneath his aren't as lost as Pete is right now, or at least that's the way it seems to him.

  It's with this thought that Pete turns his head to side and spots a laundry basket on the floor in the corner. It's filled with clean laundry, and right at the top is his Dad's spare uniform, all folded up neatly. This gives Pete an idea, and for the first time since he sat down with his Dad, his heart is beating a bit faster in his chest.

  He takes it as the sign he was looking for.

  Pete picks up his laptop again and opens a new tab in Chrome. He has more research to do, but he feels like he's on the right track now.

  Finally.

  — CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN —

  - Tuesday, December 10th, 2013 -

  In the morning, Pete wakes up feeling peppy. It usually takes him a while to get himself out of bed, but today, he's up and in the shower just a minute after his alarm has blared in his ears. He just can't help himself—the decision he reached last night regarding his future fuels his enthusiasm, has him ready to tackle whatever challenges the day will present him with.

  Only one issue remains: how should he tell his Dad and Jeremy about his choice?

  Perhaps Pete can just drop it on his Dad the next time they see each other—which, judging from the delicious smell comi
ng from downstairs, should be very soon.

  Or maybe he can wait a while to tell his Dad, until he's actually accepted into the Police Academy.

  The only part of this that Pete knows for sure is that he'll tell his Dad before he tells Jeremy, or at least that he'll tell them at the same time. The Chief had seemed hurt that Pete told Jeremy before him about his failure to apply to any colleges. He'd hidden it well after the first small crack in his expression showed, but Pete doesn't want to repeat the same mistake.

  He hopes that his Dad will be touched that he's following in his footsteps and won't be worried about his son entering a profession that can be dangerous. That should be the case, but Pete can't say for certain. Still, he has faith that it will all work out in the end—and like before, should the worst case scenario present itself, he'll have Jeremy's support while he waits for his Dad to come around.

  Once he's out of the shower and dressed in a pair of maroon chinos and a muted yellow T-shirt, Pete descends to the ground floor and joins his Dad in the kitchen.

  "Hey, Pops," he greets, peering around his Dad's body to look at what's cooking on the stove—hash browns and bacon. Scrambled eggs are already cooling on two plates on the side. "You're actually cooking today."

  His Dad raises an eyebrow at him. "What was your first clue?"

  "The smell." Pete practically skips away to the fridge and gets himself a glass of orange juice.

  "You're in a good mood this morning," the Chief observes. "Did you get college sorted last night?"

  Pete takes a sip of his juice before he responds. Should he tell him now? Nah. "Something like that," he says. He'll leave it until a bit later.

  "Don't wanna tell your old man, huh? Fine, be that way."

  Pete rolls his eyes.

  "Anyway, while I was getting ready for work, I had an idea," his Dad says, sliding the bacon and hash browns onto the plates with the eggs.

  "Lay it on me."

  "How about you invite Jeremy over for dinner this Saturday?"

  Pete freezes with his glass halfway up to his lips. "What?"

  The Chief brings the plates and two forks over to the island, puts Pete's in front of him and takes a seat on the opposite side. "You heard me," he says as he digs in, spearing some hash browns on his fork and biting into them.