We Didn't Start The Fire

Corey doesn't spend much time dwelling on his new found feelings. He figures he just had a better time than usual with his flavor of the week, and there's nothing strange about that. The only one he'd ever want to be with is the one he could most likely never have. Sounds like a broken record but it's just his mentality. He has many guys that would love to actually date him, or wait- maybe that's Caleb.

It's not that no one likes Corey...it's just that no one really knows what he's about. They only see one side of him. There's so much more to him that would make people change their minds. He doesn't feel as if he needs to prove anything to anyone, and therefore he's totally fine with flying solo for a while. And most times, he's not really alone. But his hook ups only last for so long.

"I think you're totally blowing me right now because you're not even trying to make a move," Corey says to Kevin, who is currently rolling his eyes.

The weekend went so fast for the both of them. But school isn't so bad, especially if they have some nice eye candy in the morning. Corey and Kevin hate leaving the class, but when 8:15 comes around, they have to.

"And how would you know? You're not subtle. But maybe I am. You just wait and see," the blue eyed boy says, defending himself politely.

"Well Mr. Langhan is going through a divorce so we have perfect opportunity. The way I see it. We-"

Kevin puts his hand up to stop Corey from talking. This is new information to him. Information that unfortunately changes everything.

"Langhan is getting divorced? Which means right now he's married? Umm deals off with me, man. That's a little messed up."

Corey laughs and puts his hand on Kevin's shoulder. Kevin jumps a little, not expecting his friend to actually have contact that is not sexual.

"You're funny. So What I was saying before. He's totally vulnerable and sad and all that shit but most importantly? He's not getting any from his skanky ass wife so we have a perfect shot. Not like I'm trying to help you score him or anything I'm just saying..."

Kevin shakes his head. "No, Corey...I'm sort of not kidding. I don't want to mess around with a married man. I- I just won't. Sorry. If you want...I will just blow you now. Cause that's fair."

Corey is beyond mad. He thinks Kevin is a jerk for pussying out on him like this. So Corey does what Corey does best. Accept sexual favors when they are presented to him.

"Fine you scaredy cat. If you want to back out, fine. No fun." he says, pushing Kevin into the nearest bathroom. "Pick a stall I don't care."

Kevin's knees aren't shaking like Corey thought they would be. He thought for a second that Kevin would say 'oh no I didn't think you'd actually make me do this...' he seems to be obliging quite nicely. Makes Corey think he's done this before.

Corey makes himself comfortable on the toilet and Kevin looks directly into his eyes while he slides his pants down. Kevin knows that this means nothing, and he also knows that Corey will still try to seduce their math teacher even after this whole bathroom thing is over and done.

Corey grabs onto Kevin's hair as he goes down on him; he closes his eyes for a moment and groans. Kevin definitely gets an A on sucking dick. It doesn't bother Corey at all, to know that Kevin must have a lot of experience. He may or may not have had his share of oral sex before. He'd never tell, for some reason he has no problem sharing his sex stories but he doesn't like admitting to things like what he's experiencing right now.

"Thanks for that. It was more enjoyable than I had expected. I'll see you later," Corey says picking up his pants and zipping himself up.

Kevin feels like nothing other than a toy being played with, used, and thrown away. But he would never let Corey know that.

"A bet is a bet. Good luck with still trying to get Langhan to sleep with you."

Corey flashes his famous smirk and exits the premises.

And as soon as he does, it's just as if it's his birthday. His face lights up with pure joy when he sees Elliot walking down the hallway. Alone. He doesn't see him though, so Corey uses this to his advantage. He sneaks up behind the shorter male, covers his mouth, and laughs next to his face.

"If you," he whispers really lightly into the boys' ear. "if you ever put your hands anywhere near my brother again, I swear, I fucking swear I will kill you." he turns him around and knees him in the stomach, causing him to shut his eyes and wince. "I should beat you to a bloody pulp now, but I really don't want to get suspended again. If you know what's good for you, stay the fuck away from Caleb. Or I will keep my promise to end your life."

He gently, but not super gently, smashes Elliot's head into the wall and walks away, but not before he hears the word 'faggot' escape his disgusting mouth. Corey quickly returns to Elliot and asks him to repeat himself.

"I fucking called you a fucking faggot. Shouldn't offend you. Cause that's what you are, nothing but a cock-sucking fuckin' fag."

Corey wraps his hands around his enemies throat. "I hope you get hit by a fucking bus, Greener. And I hope it doesn't kill you, I hope you get hit by a bus and I hope it ruins your sad excuse for a fucking life." he lets go and walks away successfully this time.

That boy makes his blood boil.

~

After school Caleb invites Ben over to his house. To his surprise, Ben says he'd love to, but he'd rather Caleb come to his house. Ben thought Caleb would take one look at his home and never want to return, but he stayed and he enjoyed his time there, so Ben feels a lot better about himself.

He's terrified of what his mother is going to do, or how she's going to act, but if Caleb wants to stay with him, like... really wants to stay with him he's going to have to meet his mother.

"You know after you left the other night Emmy wouldn't stop talking about you. She honestly isn't ever that shy around people. She just really likes you. She um. She's really intelligent. She knew that you got beat up, and she says she's sorry." Caleb chuckles. Can't even fool a four year old, he supposes. "But she likes you...and she wants to play more games and stuff. That is, if you want."

Caleb strokes his boyfriends face, even though he's driving. He can multi-task any time for Ben. "You know I do."

"Well good. Because she told me that if you didn't she'd take away the friendship bracelet she made for you, and...it's a really cute bracelet so yeah."

Caleb resists the urge to pull Ben in for a kiss when he pulls into the driveway. He likes this boy more and more with each day that goes by. Nothing can change that.

"Um. Before we go inside I...I just want to let you know something. Something rather important. It might be a deal breaker but...my mom is kind of an alcoholic. She...doesn't really cope that well with my dad being in Afghanistan. She drinks so she forgets and... she's not very pleasant. I only hope she's not too drunk right now, but I still want you to meet her."

Caleb wants to hug Ben and never let go. His mom is a drunk and he's the last person in the world to deserve that. "Oh and um. She knows that I- um, like boys but she's never really seen me with one. She um. She doesn't believe that I actually am gay, she just thinks I'm too much of a loser for any girl to want to date me and I'm just using gayness as an excuse for not having a girlfriend. But uh, I don't know how she'll react to you. I really don't want her to be nasty to you-"

Caleb shushes his boyfriend. "Ben, don't worry. You can't help who your family is. I won't...break up with you just because your mom doesn't like me. I'll try to make it easy for her to like me. I won't give up. I want to be a part of your life, and your family is part of your life so...I'm gonna do what it takes."

Ben smiles and kisses Caleb on the cheek. "Thank you, so much."

Ben opens the door to his home and calls for his mother. The house is a mess, just as it was this morning. Ben is already kind of regretting bringing Caleb here.

A tall blond women surfaces with a red plastic cup in her hand. Must be some sort of mixed drink.

Caleb was right, Ben does take after his mom, he looks like her a lot.

"Mom, um. This is Caleb. I go to school with him. He's... my boyfriend."

She wobbles as she walks closer and sets her drink down on the table.

"Oh your father is going to love to hear this," she laughs, running her fingers through her semi-nappy hair. "Oh, Benjamin. You do realize your father is going to walk in front of a goddamn bullet when he hears this. Don't you?"

Ben's lip trembles. His mother is a nasty bitch when she's drunk.

"Mrs. Kellers, I um. I care for your son very much. I'm not trying to make him look like a fool. Or you, or your husband. I think...I make Ben happy and I believe that Ben's happiness is important."

She picks her drink back up and downs it in one go. "Well. Don't you sound proper. Well I don't want to hear it. I don't give a shit whether Ben is happy or not. I don't even think I'm going to tell Peter about this. I swear he'll never come back. If he knew he had a queer for a son, oh Lord help me."

Ben grabs Caleb by the arm and leads him up the stairs. This is exactly what he was afraid of.

"I am. SO so sorry. Why did I bring you here? Why did I think she'd be normal? She was so rude to you-"

"Hey, hey, shh. It's okay. I can handle it. I'm a big boy. What I'm worried about is you. Does she always speak that way to you?"

Ben shakes his head. "No, when she's sober she's nice to us. Me and Emmy. But...when she's drunk she's a total different person. Listen, I won't bring you here again if I know she's like this. I'm sorry. If you want to leave..."

Caleb sits with his boyfriend on his bed. "No, I wouldn't like to leave. I'm staying right here." he tilts Ben's chin and places an innocent kiss to his soft lips.

"Yucky!" A little voice says. "Just kiddin!" Emmy laughs and reaches in her pocket for something. "Um..I got. Uh...I feel lint. Umm," she frowns and tries her other pocket. "Oh! Here it is, Caleb I made this."

She pulls out two friendship bracelets and hands him a pink and purple bracelet. "I got friends and you got best cause um. Cause you're the best and yeah and um you look good in a crown well I never seen you in a crown cause I won that game but if you won you'd look pretty in it too."

"Whoa, run on sentence," Ben laughs, taking the bracelets from his little sister. "Do you need help putting yours on?"

She nods and smiles. "Yeah I tried to put mine on myself but I couldn't do it then I asked mommy if she would help me but she said they were dumb. I like them, I don't think they're dumb."

Ben sighs and clips on the bracelet for his sister, handing the other one to his boyfriend.

"Perfect. Fits very nicely. Thank you sweetie. Can I have a hug?"

She runs up to him and he picks her up and spins her around like he wanted to the other day.

~

Grace knocks on the twins' door and waits patiently for one of them to answer. Considering Caleb is still at Ben's, Corey answers. And boy could his day get any worse?

She looks upset, though, and he almost feels bad for her. But with his luck she probably broke a nail and wanted Caleb to magically turn into a person who can fix it. It's probably no big deal.

"Um, Caleb isn't here but why don't you come in?"

She sniffs and wipes her nose, walking into their house. He doesn't realize she's crying until just now. "I um. Do you know when Caleb will be back? I...I really really need to talk to him."

She may be dumb, but she knows when her sob story isn't wanted. Actually she has no idea that Corey doesn't like her, so he's confused.

"Uh. I could text him? I'm not sure. He's at his boyfriends house so it could be a while."

She shakes her head and picks up her coach bag that was falling off of her shoulder. "No don't bother. I don't want to interrupt or anything. I'll come back tomorrow or something. I'll see you later."

As Corey closes the door a little light goes on in his mind. Maybe, just maybe Trevor broke up with her. Oh, what a joy that would be. Maybe he'll never have to listen to a stupid remark from her ever again.

'Trev, dude, did u n G break up? -Cor'

He waits a few minutes, tapping his foot. It would be so nice to have Trevor all to himself, not in a weird creepy way- just a normal best friend sort of way.

'Um...........no. Y wtf?'

Busted.

'No, no reason. Hah, I make shit up. Come here for dinner. K Bye'

He hopes Trevor is high or something so he'll be more mellow about all this. He hopes even more that he believes him, that it was just a joke, and forgets about the whole thing. Because if he doesn't then shit is going to hit the fan and it's all gonna blow up in Corey's face.

He does wonder what could make Grace so upset if Trevor wasn't breaking up with her.

Oh well, it won't affect his day for more than two seconds anyway.