Step Up with Me

by Kris Jacen

  “Yeah, what he said,” Randolph chimed in.

  “Now back to my problem?” Siah pointed out. “I was thinking Tank could be Black Panther. I know, really original but… Jack, Hawkeye. Briar and Phinny could be Captain America and Winter Soldier.”

  “And you and Carter?” Briar asked.

  “Oh, we’re going as Thor and Loki.” Siah had a huge grin on his face.

  “Who’s going as Loki?”

  “Me,” Siah answered before grabbing for the popcorn. “Movie?”

  Jack just shook his head and handed the bowl over. “Never a dull moment with you.”

  “That’s why Carter loves me.”

  Chapter Five

  Okay, it was official. Tank was somehow going to kill Siah. He didn’t know how; he didn’t know when, but he was going to. Pulling at the pants of his costume, he parked his Camry in the school parking lot. It was still a bit light out so he could see that the crews were already there. Great. Now he was the last to arrive so he couldn’t skulk away and hide in a hallway somewhere.

  After throwing the car into park, Tank took a deep breath and got out. There wasn’t a mask with the costume – thank fricking God. Sorry, Mama. He squared his shoulders and looked straight ahead like his drill sergeant had taught him. He’d get through this.

  He entered the school and headed toward the multi-purpose room where they’d set up the food stations last night. Tank couldn’t remember where Siah had said he’d be tonight so that was the place to start, right?

  The room as already buzzing with all the costumed adults moving around. He saw Bree and Barbie. Holy shit! They looked just like Wanda and Natasha. He’d have to get a picture and send it to his cousin, Randy. Walking across the room toward them, he realized Jack was standing there, too, and swallowed his tongue. When had Jack gotten those biceps? He’d grappled with him this past Tuesday on the mat and didn’t remember feeling them but damn, could Jack wrap him up again? Please? Oh, shit! No getting a hard-on in this costume. There was no way he could hide himself and he really, really didn’t want the embarrassment of being attracted to Jack and him not feeling the same. There had to be something to distract him.

  “Black Panther!” He heard being yelled from behind him in two different but similar voices. He turned to see Spiderman and Ant Man barreling toward him. Tank caught the two mini-superheroes as they hugged him. They both had on masks but as they started talking again, he realized it was Cam and Cal.

  “Uncles Siah and Carter—” Spiderman started talking until he was cut off by Ant Man.

  “said we could help tonight. Since—” Seemed Tank was in for a confusing conversation tonight.

  “we don’t go to school—” He really wished he could follow these two. How May and Siah did it, he wasn’t sure.

  “here anymore. Isn’t that—” Maybe he could just nod until someone rescued him?

  “cool?” Tank thought that it was Cam that finished ‘their’ sentence. He really hoped that one day they’d stop finishing each other’s sentences. It confused the crap out of him.

  “Oh, you can keep hoping that. We’ve been hoping that since they started talking and it hasn’t happened yet.” When Tank turned to the voice, he saw the sergeant major dressed as Nick Fury. Now wasn’t that appropriate with how he’d guided May.

  “Gotta work on my poker face then?” Tank asked as he held out his hand to the sergeant major.

  “Please? Call me Mooney. It’s what all my friends use and since I’m retiring soon…” Mooney looked to the side and seemed to swallow hard.

  “Certainly, sergeant major… I mean Mooney,” Tank said with a smile that was returned by Mooney. “Siah got you, too?”

  “More like he got the boys and they dragged me along. Besides, I’m kinda enjoying these things since I missed them quite a few times as they grew up. Now, boys? Where are we supposed to help?”

  “Mooney, you look amazing! Cam, Cal? You were so right when you said that was the perfect costume for your dad. You three are going to help out with some of the games in Mrs. Simon’s room. You remember where that is?” Siah, as Loki, said as he walked up. How the hell had he gotten that close without Tank noticing?

  “It’s okay. You know you’re in a relatively safe place so your internal warning system is relaxed,” Mooney counseled. “When do we need to head that way, Siah? And thanks for the costume.”

  “Thank the boys. They helped me pick them out for everyone last time they were with us.” Siah turned to Tank and his jaw dropped. Oh, yeah, Tank was killing him. “Tank! You look fu—frickin’ amazing. Why can’t I fill out my costume like that? Jack is going to shit a brick when he sees you.”

  “Jack is going to do what, Siah?” Tank turned his head to see Jack standing to the side and all the blood left his head to head south. Damn, Jack looked even better close up.

  “Ummm, be a great friend and monitor the hallways with Tank,” Siah said with a big smile on his face. Cam and Cal turned to Siah and crossed their arms. Tank was sure that if he could see their faces there were frowns on them.

  “Uncle Siah! You—” Cam, aka Spiderman said, because Tank recognized the voice this time.

  This time Cam wasn’t cut off by his brother but his father. “Cam, let’s head to Mrs. Simon’s room and make sure everything is set up.”

  “But Dad, Uncle Siah—” Ant Man interjected and stopped when he got “the look” from his father. “Yes, Dad.”

  “We’ll let you know if we need anything, Siah. Come on, boys.” Mooney held out his hand in a ‘lead the way’ gesture and followed the boys.

  “You two just roam the hallways, please, and if you find anyone out of place, bring them back here. I’ll be monitoring everything here and Mr. Flowers will be here soon. We want everyone to have a good, safe time. I’m sooooo hoping that everyone behaves and we bring in the funds for the new learning systems.”

  “Siah? You need to breathe or you’re going to pass out soon,” Jack said with a chuckle. “I’m sure that everything is going to go just fine.”

  “Yeah, you’ve got us all here. You’ve got everything set up. Did Barbie and Bree decide on what they were going to set up?” Tank asked. He knew that Siah had asked the girls to figure out a good activity for the little girls.

  “They won’t tell me what they’re doing. Said that I wouldn’t understand but that they had it under control.” Siah frowned and glared at the two women across the room. They must have felt the energy from him because they both turned and waved at Siah.

  “You’re in trouble now,” Jack said. “Any places we need to check more often?”

  § § § §

  It was all Jack could do to form a coherent sentence. Tank looked fantastic in costume. If his sergeant could see him like this, there would be no way they’d consider Tank overweight. Maybe Jack could talk Tank into coming home with him tonight. Wait? What? Where did that come from? Jack didn’t even know if Tank was interested in him. With his luck Tank only liked black men. He knew that Tank wasn’t a reverse bigot, but Jack knew from past experience that there were some black men who didn’t like having relationships with white men. Something to think about another day when he had nothing better to do than ruin his self-esteem.

  “Lead the way,” Jack said.

  “I’m King of Battle,” Tank corrected.

  “Ooops. Since there’s nothing to blow up, how about we wander the halls looking for nothing?”

  “Sure. Let’s hope we’ll get bored for the next few hours. Not sure I want to see Siah pissed, and you know it’s never good to have to see the principal.” Tank headed out the door. Christ, the view from the back is even better than the front. Jack was in so much trouble.

  § § § §

  He never knew that walking around a school could be torture but Tank knew it now. Whether Tank was walking beside, behind or in front of Jack, he was hyperaware of him. They’d been friends for two years now, why was he so attracted to Jack all of a sudden? Or had he been attracte
d to him all the time and was just now acknowledging it?

  They as walked around the corner on the third floor, Tank noticed a few boys standing against the wall. They weren’t close enough to hear what they were saying but they weren’t supposed to be up here. None of the activities were up on this floor. Jack and him were only up here because it was better to walk up and down the stairs then basically pace the hallway.

  “You’re such a fat blob. Why are you even here?” one of the boys said in a nasty tone.

  “You’re sick. You should disappear,” another one said, before pulling his leg back and start to kick at something.

  “Whoa! Stop that!” Jack yelled as he moved forward.

  Tank was only a step behind him and started jogging to grab the boys as they tried to run. “I don’t think so,” he said as he grabbed two of the boys by the collars. Seemed as if grabbing two, stopped all of them.

  Jack had stopped next to someone on the ground. “Are you okay? Let’s get you to stand. Can you?” He helped a boy stand and when Tank saw the boy he gasped. The boy could be him ten years ago. The boy had on a costume for some techno character, but it was too tight. Tank could remember trying to be Wolverine and being picked on.

  “What do you think you were doing?” Tank asked as he shook the boys he was holding.

  “We weren’t doing nothing. He’s just a blob. He’s disgusting,” the boy on the right said.

  “Oh, really? He’s disgusting? Maybe you are? Do you think he wants to be like that?” Tank was glad for his training in holding his temper in.

  “Let’s take this group down to the multi-purpose room. Guess our hope of not seeing Siah mad is out the window.”

  “Mister Kent?” one of the boys asked.

  Jack had his arm around the boy he’d helped up. “Yes, Mister Kent. I take it you know him?”

  The boys all looked at the floor. “Yeah, we’re in his class.”

  “Well, isn’t this going to fun then? Head down.” Tank turned his troublemakers around and guided them forward.

  Chapter Six

  November

  Jack threw himself into his desk chair and looked down. He’d had to change into scrubs after a poodle protested having peroxide squirted down his throat and threw up all over Jack. Yup, he’d eaten the Halloween candy the kids had left around. Scrubs would have to do for the interviews they had this afternoon.

  Kate had coordinated with UVA and College Park to send some candidates over. He’d finally agreed they needed another vet on board. The practice was doing nicely and neither Kate nor he wanted to work every weekend. He needed to review the resumes before the first guy got here. Jack sat up and pulled the folder over when a knock at his door stopped him.

  “Come on in,” he said absently. Hmm, likes to work with big animals. That wouldn’t be a bad thing to have in the practice. A throat clearing had him looking up. Briar stood there holding something and looking nervous. Wonder why. He couldn’t be worried about the wedding next weekend. “What’s up?”

  “Well, first here,” Briar said as he shoved what he was holding at Jack. Instinctively Jack grabbed the bag. Looking inside, Jack saw a sub and decided on the spot that Briar was his favorite tech ever. Jack looked up hopefully at Briar. He hadn’t realized he was hungry until he saw the bag in Briar’s hands. “Yes, it’s your favorite. Chicken tenders, medium sauce with provolone, mayo and blue cheese dressing.”

  “You’re my favorite ever.” Jack cleared a spot on his desk and spread out the wrapper before taking a bite of the sandwich. After swallowing he looked over at Briar who was still just standing there. “What’s wrong?”

  “Ummm, well, can I ask you a favor?” Briar started shifting his weight from side to side which couldn’t be good for his prosthetic.

  “If you stop that and sit down. Look at BB, he’s vibrating. Are you okay?” Jack took another bite and watched Briar, really hoping that he wasn’t about to have a seizure. His day had already been eventful.

  It took a few minutes but finally Briar seemed to settle. “I’m feeling fine. So favor?”

  “You should know by now that of course you can ask a favor. I let you live with me and got you BB.” Jack sat back in his chair. Seemed he was hungrier than he realized since he practically inhaled the sub.

  “So about next weekend…” Briar started but then just trailed off.

  “The wedding next weekend…what?”

  “Will you be my best man?” Briar asked in a rush. Jack wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. He sat there waiting for the punch line. Briar couldn’t have asked him to be his best man. That would be Carter. Right? “Ummm, so I guess your answer is no.” Briar went to stand, snapping Jack out of his head.

  “Wait! You’re serious? Why me? I would’ve thought you’d ask Carter.” Jack was really dumbfounded.

  “Carter will always be close to me and yeah, I guess I could ask him but… You’ve done so much for me and been there for me since I got back. I consider you one of my closest friends and I’d really like you to be next to me when Brand and I say our vows. Did I tell you that we were writing our own?” Briar finally seemed to calm down.

  Jack cleared his throat then reached for the water bottle on his desk. “I… I don’t know what to say. I know that we’ve become good friends. I just never expected this. Of course, I’d be honored to stand with you next weekend.” Jack thought for a minute. “I’ve got responsibilities now. I need to throw a bachelor party for you. I should coordinate with Randolph’s best man. Who’s he asking? Wells?” Ideas started running around his head as to what to do for a party.

  “Stop right there. Neither Brand nor I want a bachelor party. Just like the wedding and reception are small, we don’t want something big and gaudy like strippers or anything. Okay? And Brand asked Tank to be his best man.”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll make sure there’s nothing of the sort. Maybe just a marathon movie night? We’ve got to do something to celebrate. A suit is good for this?” Jack was hopeful. He’d only worn a tux once for his sister’s wedding and Tom had picked some awful cummerbunds and bow ties. They were itchy and tacky but Sandy had let Tom have his way and there they were.

  “I’d appreciate it if you’d join me in a tux. Brand’s wearing his blues and Tank is, too. Everyone else will be in suits. Don’t need anyone else to dress up but it’s our day and how could I pass up the opportunity for Brand in dress blues. I’m sorry, have you not seen the guys in formal uniform? Jack-off material for weeks.” Briar stopped short and turned an amazing shade of red before he started laughing. It took Jack a minute to figure out the issue but then he started laughing along with Briar. It wasn’t a normal point of discussion between him and his friends but when they “got the joke” it was entertaining to watch how they reacted.

  Jack reached for his bottle of water and took a sip. “Okay, tux it is. Not sure who you think I’m going to be jacking off, too, since it’s just Randolph and Tank.” Maybe he could get away with the lie to Briar. “Do you know which candidate is first?” Ignore and distract. Ignore and distract.

  Briar seemed to look through Jack’s soul as he stared and it was all Jack could do not to squirm. Finally, Briar shook his head. “So we can go tomorrow at lunch for the tux fitting if you’re available?”

  “You know my schedule these days better than I do so I’m sure I’m free. Just please promise me that the tie and cummerbund aren’t tacky?” Jack wasn’t above begging if it got him free.

  “I was thinking a nice vest and long tie instead of the traditional. Do you think it’s too much?”

  “I think that’s perfect if it’s what you want. It’s just you and me so your heart’s desire,” Jack said and winked.

  Briar chuckled and stood before signaling to BB. “Your first interview is in ten minutes and the big animal guy is first.”

  After Briar left the room, closing the door behind him, Jack leaned back and closed his eyes. He was still hard thinking about Tank as the Black Panther. Now him
in dress blues? Oh, yeah, jack-off material indeed.

  Chapter Seven

  Tank looked at himself in the mirror, checking that his ribbons were straight, not a speck of lint showing anywhere. He ran a hand over his head; he and Randolph had gone to the barber shop over in the Town Center yesterday and had that been an amazing experience. Hot towel with a shave and scalp massage. Randolph hadn’t let him pay, said he was doing it for his best man. Tank was determined he was going to be the best best man for Randolph. He was still surprised that Randolph had asked him, but he was glad that he wasn’t mistaken when he thought of him as one of his best friends.

  Looking at his watch, Tank turned from the mirror and headed toward the master bedroom. He knocked on the door and looked in. Randolph was pacing back and forth. Guess he was a bit nervous. Why, Tank wasn’t sure because if anyone was in love it was Briar with Randolph.

  “You ready?”

  “Bring it.” Tank opened the door and gestured for Randolph to lead the way. “Hope Jack is close to Briar when he sees you. He might need to catch him before he hits the deck. Looking good there, staff sergeant,” Tank said teasingly.

  “You think?” Randolph asked as he straightened his jacket. When they got to the deck, they stopped in the shade. Briar and Randolph had decided that instead of one walking from the front and the other the back, they were going to walk to the arch together. Tank and Jack would go in front of them.

  Was he supposed to hold Jack’s hand? Crap, he should have asked before now.

  Jack walked up to Tank and held out his arm. “You ready?”

  Tank stared at Jack before he leaned in and kissed Jack’s lips, before placing his hand on Jack’s arm. He wasn’t sure what possessed him to do that right here and now. Maybe the romance of the moment? Watching Randolph put it all out there for Briar? He wasn’t sure. Tank watched as Jack stood there for a minute before he woke from his daze and moved them forward. Looked like Jack wasn’t going to slug him. That was a good thing. He’d already caused a disruption to Randolph and Briar’s day.