by G. R. Lyons
“You start your classes tomorrow,” Spencer reminded him, “and I've gotta keep things running for Dirk here.”
“But…” Jayden started to protest, trailing off and biting his lip instead.
Spencer brushed a thumb across Jayden's lip, pulling it free of his teeth, so Jayden latched onto Spencer's thumb. “Tell you what,” Spencer murmured, “you go to school, like you promised Dirk you would, and when he gets back, you can show him all the things you learned. Then you can see how happy and proud he is. Just like I'll be proud of you.”
Jayden slowly released Spencer's thumb. “Daddy?” he whispered.
“Yes, baby?”
“Can I spend the night with you?”
Spencer almost sighed, but managed to hold it in. He couldn't very well stay up all night working if he had Jayden in his bed, trying to sleep, but Jayden needed him, too. “Of course, little one.”
Jayden drew up his knees and snuggled in closer, so Spencer tightened his hold and stared out the window, wondering how in all seven hells he was going to handle all the extra load.
But he didn't have a choice. He had to take care of his boys.
Chapter 13
JAYDEN LAY curled up at Spencer's side, checking his phone every few minutes. It was after midnight, and there was still no word from Dirk. Spencer was sitting up against the headboard, intently focused on something on his laptop just as he had been for the past few hours since he'd put Rey to bed. Jayden kept glancing at the screen, but all he saw were graphs and articles and a whole bunch of stuff that made no sense to him whatsoever. He kept going back to his phone, looking for a distraction, then reached for his notebook.
He'd been trying to lose himself in a new design all night, but worries about Dirk kept creeping in so that he couldn't focus. How Spencer managed to concentrate on his own work was beyond him.
Jayden even considered trying to seduce Spencer away from the laptop, but he honestly wasn't in the mood. A part of him wanted Spencer to take him to pieces so that he wouldn't have to think about anything at all, but the rest of him scoffed at the idea. How could he even think about sex when Dirk was sitting in a hospital, waiting to hear if his mom might live or die?
Gods. Jayden tried to imagine being in the same situation—waiting for news on his own mom—and it almost made him sick.
Spencer reached over and brushed a hand through Jayden's hair without taking his eyes off the laptop. “Hush, little one. It'll be alright.”
Jayden whimpered and curled in closer. Spencer balanced the laptop on his knees, keeping one arm around Jayden while he used the other to continue going through his work, typing with just the one hand when he had to.
And the minutes kept passing. Jayden blinked sleepily, then inwardly scoffed at himself. Until he'd started dating Dirk, he'd slept in until noon and never went to bed before at least three in the morning. Being with Dirk, though—and even more so after Spencer had come into the picture—had changed his routine. Now his body was used to going to bed and waking up at normal, adult times because that was what Dirk and Spencer did.
Jayden took a deep breath and forced his eyes open. He wasn't going to sleep until he knew Dirk was alright.
Finally, at almost half two in the morning, Spencer's phone rang.
They both gave a start, then Spencer shoved his laptop aside and grabbed his phone, answering it on speaker between them. “Dirk?”
“Hey,” Dirk said, his voice heavy with exhaustion but just light enough that it didn't sound dire. “I hope I didn't wake you.”
“No, we're still up,” Spencer told him.
Dirk sighed happily. “I was hoping Jay was there with you.”
“How are you?” Jayden asked. “How's your mom?”
“Good,” Dirk murmured. “She's out of surgery. They got her here in time.”
“Oh, thank gods,” Spencer said.
“They said it was close there for a while, but she made it through. Should make a full recovery, but they want to monitor her for a few days before she goes home.” Dirk yawned. “Dad's gonna stay here with her, but the rest of us are all gonna go back to the house and get some sleep.”
“Just be careful–” Spencer began.
Dirk chuckled. “Don't worry. We're getting a ride. We're all too tired to drive.”
Spencer sighed with relief. “That's my good boy.”
Dirk chuckled again, the sound trailing off into another yawn. “I miss you two.”
“And we miss you,” Jayden told him. “The bed feels unbalanced without you.”
Spencer nodded agreement even though Dirk couldn't see it.
“Hmmm, keep my spot warm for me?”
“Always,” Spencer murmured.
“I'm gonna stay until she's discharged, if that's alright. I hate to do that to you guys, but–”
“You stay as long as you need,” Spencer ordered him. “I've got the magazine covered, and Jay's gonna be a good boy and start school tomorrow.”
“Yeah?” Dirk asked, happiness bleeding through the exhaustion in his voice. “Thank you both. So much.”
“Go get some sleep,” Spencer said.
“And give your mom our love,” Jayden added.
“Will do,” Dirk murmured. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” Jayden and Spencer chorused.
Spencer ended the call, set his phone aside, then grabbed Jayden and gave him a firm kiss. “I think that's bedtime for you, too.”
Jayden nodded sleepily, the exhaustion catching right back up to him now that the waiting was over. He settled down on the pillow and closed his eyes, then felt Spencer spoon up behind him, switching off the lights without getting up. Jayden went right to sleep, but woke up again an hour later, the numbers on the clock dancing blearily in his vision.
He had the strangest sense that Spencer wasn't in bed with him anymore, but he fell back asleep before he could rouse himself enough to check.
The next thing he knew, Spencer's alarm was going off. Jayden cursed under his breath, knowing that he'd only slept for a few hours. He rolled over and found Spencer already out of bed, shutting off the alarm in a hurry before almost stumbling back toward the bed to brush a hand over Jayden's hair.
“Go back to sleep,” Spencer said, then covered a yawn before he bent down and pressed a kiss to Jayden's temple. “I need to get Rey up and get ready for work, but you can sleep in until it's time for class if you need.”
Jayden wriggled under the covers, then yawned himself. “Mmmm. Thank you, Daddy.” He closed his eyes, vaguely aware of the sounds of Spencer getting ready and leaving for work, followed by the sounds of Irene and Rey puttering about the house as they did whatever they did each day. Jayden drifted in and out of sleep, then finally got up when his own alarm went off, giving him just enough time to eat, get dressed, and get over to the business school campus.
He checked his schedule as he tried to find the building for his first class, Intro to Economics. After that would be Intro to Business, followed by Accounting I. The whole thing still sounded really boring, but he wanted to make Dirk and Spencer proud.
Jayden kept that thought in mind as he sat through his first two classes, taking notes and trying to pay attention even when all he wanted to do was go home and draw. But that was exactly the point. Dirk wanted him to have an understanding of how business worked so that he actually could pursue his designs on a larger scale. If he truly wanted to own a company someday, he was going to have to understand all the aspects that went into running one.
But, having been out of school for so long, sitting for lectures was definitely going to take some getting used to.
He got to his third class and took the last empty seat near one side of the room. Setting out his tablet, he started a third new file for the day, ready to take notes and jot down whatever homework was assigned so that he wouldn't forget it later.
“Excuse me?” a tiny, shy voice whispered beside him.
Jayden turned to his right and saw a
pretty twink hunched in the desk next to his, looking up at him from under his eyelashes and not quite meeting his eyes.
“Do you–” the boy began, still talking in just barely above a whisper. “You wouldn't happen to have a pen I could borrow?”
“Yeah, sure.” Jayden looked in his bag, shoving aside his design notebook—he'd brought it along to doodle in between classes—and dug through a bunch of loose pencils until he found a pen. “Here you go.”
The boy blushed shyly. “Thank you,” he whispered, taking the pen and opening his notebook to a new page, writing out the name of the class across the top in neat, precise handwriting.
The professor walked in, so Jayden turned away before he got to ask the boy's name.
Jayden focused on the syllabus as the professor reviewed it, taking notes as needed. He knew that accounting was Dirk's particular background, so he'd have to put in extra effort to make sure he understood the material and did well in class, wanting to show Dirk that he meant business.
When class was over, the students all jumped up from their desks and began to hurry out of the room. Jayden took a moment to type out a few more things he wanted to remember, then started to put his tablet away.
“Here's your pen,” that whispered voice came again.
Jayden turned to look at the boy beside him. “Oh. You don't have to do that.”
The boy smiled shyly. “I hate it when people ask to borrow a pen and then don't give it back when they're done.”
Jayden chuckled. “Well, thank you.” He took the pen back and dropped it into his bag. “I'm Jayden, by the way,” he said, holding out his hand.
“Oh. Storm,” the boy said. He started to twist toward Jayden to accept his handshake, and wound up knocking his notebook off the desk, a bunch of loose sheets scattering across the floor.
Jayden bent down to scoop some of them up.
“Oh! No, you don't have to do that,” Storm said, scrambling to get to the pages first, his cheeks bright red.
Figuring they were something private, Jayden was about to hand over the pages, then he gasped as he saw what was on them. “Holy shit.” He flipped to the next one, then the next, then snatched another off the floor. “These are amazing!”
Storm sat hunched in his chair. “They are?”
“Seriously.” Jayden looked through the pages again, all of them covered with sketches of clothing designs. He set them on his own desk as he twisted around to fish his own notebook out of his bag. “Here,” he said, thrusting it into Storm's hands.
“What's this?” Storm asked, gingerly holding the notebook without opening it.
“I design, too,” Jayden told him. “That's what I want to do.”
Storm's eyes brightened, and he carefully opened the notebook, turning the pages with reverence and gasping at each new sketch. “Oh my gods,” he whispered. “These are beautiful!”
Jayden grinned. “Thanks.” He paused, watching the shy boy. “How long have you been designing?”
Storm frowned, hunching in even farther on himself. “Always. I used to design clothes for my dolls–” He blushed furiously and broke off, swallowing hard as he looked down at the pages. After a moment, he went on, “But my parents don't think it's a viable career for me. That's why I'm here.”
“Oh?”
Storm nodded. “They want me to be a bookkeeper. All the women in my family are, so…” He shrugged like it didn't matter, but the hurt in his voice was obvious.
Jayden frowned. “But you're a boy,” he pointed out. Granted, Storm had the prettiest, most feminine features he'd ever seen on a boy, and Storm's voice was higher than a normal male register, but he seemed like a boy nonetheless.
Storm jerked his head up, his gaze intense as he looked right at Jayden for the first time. His bottom lip trembled, and Jayden saw a hint of tears in Storm's blue eyes.
“Thank you for that,” Storm whispered, then swallowed hard and sniffed before he blushed and looked down at the notebook again.
Jayden opened his mouth to ask, putting the pieces together, but it was really none of his business. Instead, he put on a smile and said, “Hey, you wanna go get a coffee? If you have time, I mean. I'd love to see more of your designs.”
Storm brightened again. “Yeah?” he whispered.
“Yeah,” Jayden said, taking his notebook back and stuffing it into his bag as he stood up. “Come on.”
Storm gave him a tiny smile, then quickly gathered his things and followed.
They walked down to the nearest coffee shop, put in their orders, then snagged a table near the back. Jayden normally would have tried to sit by the window so he could people-watch and get ideas, but Storm seemed to shrink away from any kind of exposure.
If his suspicion about the boy was correct, then Jayden wasn't really surprised. He hadn't ever met a trans person—that he knew of—but he'd read enough of their stories when he was growing up and trying to figure out his own identity and sexuality. One in particular had always stood out to him, the trans man describing how everything felt like a spotlight, like no matter how many layers he wore, people would still know that there were breasts underneath those clothes.
They got settled at the table, and Jayden held out his hand. “May I?” he asked gently.
Storm blushed shyly again, but he pulled out his notebook and the loose pages he'd gathered, handing them all over. He picked up his coffee with both hands, eyes focused on it as he took little sips while Jayden flipped through the designs again.
Jayden couldn't help grinning at everything he saw. Whereas his own work tended toward more business casual or formal wear, Storm's work focused more on casual or daily wear. They weren't the same old boring t-shirts and jeans, though. There was a subtle flair to them, the colors vibrant without being overwhelming and the cuts unique enough to stand out without being ostentatious.
“You're really talented, you know that?” he told the boy.
Storm blushed afresh. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Jayden said, ideas spinning through his mind. He could just see it: an entire clothing company that offered menswear for any possible occasion. “Gods, I wish I could show these to Dirk. He'd love this.”
“Dirk?”
“My boyfriend,” Jayden said. “One of my boyfriends.”
Storm's big eyes went wide. “You have two boyfriends? At the same time?”
Jayden nodded. “I was with Dirk first, but we always knew something was missing. But now we have Daddy, too,” he said, and couldn't help smiling even though he was missing Dirk. “And it's so perfect.”
Storm's eyes got impossibly wider. “You have a daddy?” he whispered, his voice full of awe.
“Yeah.” Jayden tilted his head. “Is that what you want?”
Storm looked all around, then hunched in even more and lowered his voice to the barest whisper. “Yeah.”
Jayden took a sip of his coffee, then leaned in. “How old are you?”
Storm blinked. “Seventeen.”
“Still living with your parents?”
Storm grimaced as he nodded. “Until I can afford otherwise.”
“Are you good at school?”
“Very,” Storm said, frowning with confusion, probably trying to figure out what the hells Jayden was getting at with all his questions.
“Tell you what,” Jayden began, and Storm tilted his head to one side in curiosity. The action was so puppy-like—eager and adorable—that it almost made Jayden laugh. “How about you and I be study buddies so we can kick ass at these classes, then we can also work on designs together? And if I can get Dirk and Daddy to find some free time, we can take you out to the club and see about finding you a daddy of your own. How does that sound?”
Storm's eyes brightened, the little thing almost vibrating in his seat. If he'd had a tail, Jayden was pretty sure it would be wagging like crazy.
“You mean it?” Storm whispered.
“Yeah.” Jayden held out his hand. “Friends?”
; Storm grinned. Not just the shy little smiles he'd shown so far, but a full-on, bright, beautiful grin. “Friends,” he agreed, shaking Jayden's hand.
Jayden grinned back, and the two of them spent the next hour talking about designs, about having a daddy, about all the dreams they had for the future. He couldn't wait for Dirk to get back to town so he could tell him all about it.
And gods knew, no matter the outcome, Dirk could probably use a night out once he came home. Spencer, too, for that matter. The man worked way too hard.
Jayden and Storm exchanged phone numbers, then went their separate ways, planning to meet up after class again tomorrow. For the time being, Jayden hailed a cab. Spencer really did work too hard. Maybe what the man needed was to end his work day with Jayden blowing him under his desk. Or with Jayden bent over the top of it with his pants around his ankles. Maybe they could even get Dirk on a video call while they were at it.
“3265 Fairsoll Avenue,” Jayden told the taxi driver as soon as he slid into the car. “Fast as you can.” He slammed the door shut and sat back in the seat with a grin.
Chapter 14
SPENCER POURED himself another cup of coffee even though it was fast approaching five o'clock in the evening. He covered a yawn, then took a sip, trying to decide if it was worth the risk to transport his jar of daevaak from the cupboard at home so that he could boost the caffeine. He was already up to three pinches of daevaak a day. One more wouldn't kill him. And it was only for a few more days. Once Dirk got home, he could cut back to just one or two again. Simple as that.
He yawned again, then dropped back into his chair when his desk phone rang for what felt like the millionth time that day.
Spencer tried to finish an email from earlier while he got through the call, then hung up the phone and turned all his focus on the computer screen, double-checking the numbers in the email before he sent it off. He was about to turn to the next thing when he saw Jayden leaning on the counter.
“Hi, Daddy,” Jayden murmured, then bit his lip seductively.
Father's love. Spencer's cock twitched, but only weakly. Even it seemed tired. “Hey, little one.”