by Solet, Trina
"You want cereal? I usually have toast. I can put in some extra slices. Check out this monster," Zack said as he showed him a fancy, four slice toaster. Seeing Mark's raised eyebrows, he said, "It was a gift. I never make more than one slice at a time. I need a one slice toaster not this."
Mark added some extra slices of whole grain bread to put the toaster's capabilities to better use.
"Now we're living," Zack said as he pressed down the lever.
Mark offered to go get Al since he didn't show up when Zack called him to come eat his cereal.
"No. Don't chase him. Make him come to you. Threaten him with vegetables. That always works."
Then Zack demonstrated his technique.
"Al! I was just showing Mark where we keep the broccoli!"
"Why?" Al said as he rushed in and looked around the kitchen suspiciously.
"So he would know where we keep it. You want him to cook you some right now?" Zack even reached as if to open the refrigerator.
"No," Al said and went to sit in front of the cereal bowl
"Then eat your cereal."
Al glared at Zack and a little bit at Mark too. He obviously suspected that a conspiracy was forming against him. Since Zack ate standing up and worked on his laptop a little, Mark went to sit with Al.
"What's your plan for today?" Mark asked him.
"I'm going to kindergarten. Then I'm going to Little Rainbow."
"I'm going to do some stuff too," Mark told him.
Al nodded. Mark noticed that he ate with a big spoon.
"How come you have that big spoon? You want a smaller one?" Mark wondered if maybe there weren't any small, clean ones left.
"No, I like this kind."
"How come?"
"It's faster," Al explained.
Mark looked at Zack who shrugged like his own kid was a mystery to him too.
Standing at the front door, Mark held PJ and waved to Zack and Al as they drove away. After he closed the door and let PJ scamper away, Mark went into the kitchen and poured himself what was left of the coffee. He looked at the Christmas coffee mug. His coffee mug now. His mug at the Prestons’ was a Superman one that Dorie had given him as a birthday gift. It was still packed somewhere among his things. He would show it to Al and see if he could get his permission to use it. Dorie had been a bossy kid too but in a different way. Catching himself at it, Mark resolved not to compare the two kids. He would probably get just as attached to Al soon enough.
To start making himself useful, Mark checked to see if any laundry needed to be done. He went through Zack's bedroom and resisted the urge to go to his bed and wallow in it. But soon enough he found himself staring at the hamper in Zack's bathroom. Zack had thrown a t-shirt and sweatpants on top of it. Mark wondered if that's what he had slept in. He told himself not to, but he was already kneeling on the bathroom floor. Pulling Zack's clothes to him, he buried his face in them. He felt almost dizzy with lust and he gasped. He started taking his own clothes off then he stopped himself. Mark wanted to feel Zack's clothes against his own skin. Instead he just held them in his hands. They were soft, wrinkled from being slept in, and maybe still the slightest bit warm from Zack's body. Mark breathed hard. He knew that if he couldn't get his desire under control, this would never work, and he would have to leave. Standing up, he held the clothes against his face gently then added them to the others he was going to wash.
He was busy for a while, but then thought about Zack and Al coming home at the end of the day. Mark found that he looked forward to seeing both of them, though in very different ways.
Zack didn't expect everything to change like this because of Mark, especially not at work. His whole workday was spent in anticipation of going home and seeing Mark again. He usually only looked forward to seeing Al at the end of the day. He found that he had to remind himself that Mark had the evenings off, and he might not be there. That thought brought him to a state of crushing disappointment. But maybe Mark would be home. Because of that he constantly checked the time, and he did that too much even before Mark came along.
Zack had developed an obsession with punctuality when he was a kid. It faded as he got older, but ever since Al came into his life, Zack had a new awareness of time that centered on his son. It wasn't about making a good impression, keeping appointments and being on time for meetings any more. Now it was about being on time to pick up Al. Of course he wanted to be considerate to babysitters and the people at Little Rainbow. But it was really about trust. He didn't want Al to ever doubt him. He was determined to never give Al that moment of fear when a parent doesn't come to pick him up. That terrible waiting was burned into Zack's mind.
Zack's mother was a lot like Zack, always on time, or if not on time, then early. When Zack stepped out in front of his school and she wasn't there, it was the first time that had ever happened. And it wasn't a wait of a few minutes. The waiting went on and on.
Zack didn't remember who finally came to pick him up from school because the news that came after obliterated the ride home from his memory. There were too many people at the house, and Zack couldn't find his father or mother. Then his father was there, but he looked different. Then came the terrible thing his father had to tell him.
No one who came to pick him up from school after that was as punctual as his mother. His grandmother was not well even then. Her daughter's death only worsened her heart condition. She did the best she could for Zack. His father did his best too, but he had a job that took up a lot of his time. Babysitters came and went, punctual or not according to their character and circumstances. His stepmother was hardly ever on time. Once she was almost an hour late because the car broke down. Though Zack often had to wait and wait, that first endless wait could never be repeated. He knew that no matter how long he stood, watching for her red car, his mother would never again come and pick him up.
Zack looked at the clock almost obsessively when he was on his way to pick up Al but especially if there was any kind of delay on the road or even a hint of one. Today the drive was nice, and he pulled up in front of Little Rainbow right on time.
"Did you have a good day?" Zack asked Al as he made sure he was buckled properly.
Al thought about it. "Yes," he concluded after some deep thought.
Zack smiled at him. He wondered how much their lives were going to change because of Mark. Already Zack was thinking too much about him. He found that he had to subdue a feeling of excitement and anticipation as he drove home.
In his distraction, he almost missed what Al was saying in the back seat.
"Upchuck, upchuck," Al was repeating to himself.
"What are you saying over there?" Zack asked him.
"Millie upchucked. Ha ha."
"What do you mean, ha ha? Would you think it was funny if it was you?"
"Yes," Al said without hesitation, and Zack saw him nod emphatically in the rear view mirror.
"And what's this upchuck business? In this family we say barf," Zack corrected him.
"Barf. Barf. Upchuck, upchuck, upchuck." Al tried them both out, but he still seemed to like upchuck better.
As soon as they walked in the house, Al started yelling for Mark. Zack wondered if he was going to tell him the upchuck story. When Mark poked his head out of the kitchen to greet Al, Zack couldn't help but smile. Then Mark smiled at him too, and they were just two grinning fools staring at each other.
They heated up the pizza from the night before and added salad for that night’s dinner.
"How was your day, young man?" Mark asked Al after they started eating.
"I got in trouble," Al announced though he didn't seem to be upset about it. He had also forgotten to mention anything about it to Zack until now. Typically there was a trickle of information from Al about his day. And the more important the information, the later Zack would find out about it.
"What did you do?" Zack asked knowing that it couldn't be too bad, or he would have gotten a phone call about it.
"B
rooke got me in trouble. But she was the one who was saying stupid stuff. Brooke said that you aren't allowed to adopt me because you'll teach me bad things. That's what her mom told her," Al said.
"Did you tell this little girl that she was misinformed?" Zack asked dryly.
"No. I told her she was stupid and ugly and that her mom was stupid and ugly too."
"So you paraphrased," Zack said confusing Al.
"What?"
"And did Miss Avril talk to you about it?" Zack asked.
"Aha. She said not to listen to anything Brooke said. And she said not to call other kids names. And she told Brooke that she shouldn't say mean things about other kid's parents if she doesn't want other kids to call her mom ugly and stupid and fat. But I didn't say fat."
"Good for you," Zack said while covering his mouth with his hand so Al wouldn't see him smirking. Mark did smirk a little.
"Do I have to write a sorry?" Al asked.
"No," Zack and Mark answered in unison. Mark looked like he thought he shouldn’t have said it but also like he wasn’t sorry. It proved that they were in agreement as they looked at each other and smiled wickedly.
Who knows how long they would have been doing that if Al hadn't knocked over his juice glass.
"I'll get paper towels," Mark said and got up.
"No. You're off duty, remember," Zack said as he tried to wipe up the spill with napkins.
"I can still help," Mark insisted. They moved the plates and cleaned up with Al looking worried.
"Now you do have to write a sorry. Just a small one," his father told him.
Al wrote the sorry and drew a tipped over glass on the back of it, not that they could tell, but he told them what it was.
Chapter 7
Mark spent the rest of the week getting used to things. Mostly he had to get used to his feelings for Zack. After the first rush of uncontrollable lust, Mark calmed down a little and learned to deal with thing better. It still wasn’t easy to be close to someone he wanted so much but couldn't make a move on. Zack made it both harder and easier on him by making Mark like him in other ways. By being easygoing and casual, Zack pulled Mark in. And the more Mark liked Zack, the less he wanted to do anything that would force him to leave. Maybe he couldn't have Zack, but at least he could be close to him and Al too. As for how Zack felt about him, Mark was almost sure that the attraction was mutual. But he also knew that Al was the most important thing to Zack, and he wouldn't do anything that would confuse him or complicate his life.
On Sunday morning, Mark came into the living room to find Zack with a coffee cup, reading the paper while Al was hanging over his shoulder. When Zack tried to turn the page, Al stopped him.
"I'm not done," Al said. Seeing Mark, he called out to him, "Come and help us read the newspaper."
"Yes. Al is already helping me so I can use all the help I can get," Zack said.
Mark took that as a hint that Zack wanted to be rescued.
"Al, you want to help me with breakfast?" Mark asked. He had a choice of Sunday or Saturday off. That week he had taken Saturday off. But since Zack was home, there really wasn’t much for him to do on Sunday either.
"Relax. You don't need to worry about breakfast," Zack said. "I'll deal with it. I just got sidetracked."
"I wanted to make something," Mark said. "Pancakes maybe."
"Yes! Make the big pancakes!" Al said making a circle with his arms to show him how big.
"I made the mistake of making him a giant pancake once," Zack lamented. Then he said to Al, "No giant pancakes. The giant pancakes are only for special occasions."
"Aww."
"You want to help me make some normal pancakes?" Mark asked Al.
"Are you sure you don't want to just relax?" Zack asked him.
"I'd like to do it if it's OK," Mark said. He felt like as long as he was on the clock, he should make it count.
"Sure, but don't feel you have to. We're not used to special Sunday breakfasts. You don't want to spoil us," Zack said.
But Al was already running into the kitchen yelling, "Pancakes, pancakes, pancakes!"
Though Mark thought Zack wanted to be left alone to read his Sunday paper in peace, Zack soon brought his coffee and his paper and came to join them in the kitchen.
"Dad! He's doing it wrong," Al tattled on Mark.
"He's not doing it wrong. He's just doing it his way," Zack told him. He was just taking a seat at the kitchen table and not taking Al seriously.
"He'll ruin them," Al complained.
"Have a little faith," Zack admonished him. Then he added his usual threat, "And you know you can always have broccoli."
"Broccoli, broccoli, broccoli. Stop it with the broccoli all the time!" Al lamented.
Zack looked over at Mark who was laughing over the bowl of pancake batter he was mixing.
"He's smooshing bananas!" Al said with alarm.
"Sounds good," Zack told him without taking his eyes off the paper.
"No. There are no bananas in pancakes," Al was now telling Mark.
"There are bananas in banana pancakes," Mark told him patiently.
Al thought about that for a while.
"Will I like them?" Al asked with a look of serious concern.
"Do you like bananas?" Mark asked him.
"Yes."
"Then, yes, you will like them," Mark told him with complete confidence.
Still Al kept observing the whole cooking process with doubt and looking up at Mark for reassurance. When the pancakes were almost done, Al and Zack set the table. Then the banana pancakes were served. Zack put only a little butter and maple syrup on his pancakes. Al tried to drench his but was stopped after pouring only enough syrup to cover the top of one pancake. Al waited for his father to taste the pancakes first. Zack forked a big bite into his mouth.
"Hey. Good stuff," he said after swallowing. If he was saying that only for Al's benefit, he was a really good actor. Then he revealed his reason for liking them. "They hardly need any syrup. They're great. Even better than blueberry. Good job." Zack then put more of the pancakes in his mouth.
Mark wasn’t sure how much Zack liked them and how much was a ploy to convince Al to like them. He was sure that Zack approved of them. Al never took his eyes off his dad as he ate. When he thought it was safe, Al tasted his pancakes more cautiously and with more syrup.
"I like them too," he pronounced without swallowing first.
"I'm glad," Mark said to him. He was happy to hear that from Al and from Zack. Maybe even too happy.
"Sure. You can make them any time," Al said.
"You wish," Zack told him. To Mark, he added," See. He's already spoiled."
But Al had more to say about his preferences.
"Just don't make anything with raisins. I don't like them."
"You like them, you just don't know it yet," Zack told him.
"No. I really don't like them. They're wrinkly," Al explained.
"So when I'm old and wrinkly, will you stop liking me?" Zack asked leaning over to make a wrinkly face at Al.
Al nodded solemnly his mouth full of pancakes.
"You're going to ditch your poor, old, wrinkly dad?" Zack pressed him. He even gave him a sad expression to try and guilt him.
"I won't ditch you," Al reassured him. "I just won't like you."
Zack looked over at Mark like he wanted sympathy. Mark gave him a shrug instead. In response, he got a blue eyed glower from Zack that tingled down his spine. He tried really hard not to think about licking pancake syrup right off his lips or licking him in general.
When Zack managed to think about Mark objectively and not with his dick, which was rarely, he had to admit that he was pleased. As Mark learned the ins and outs of their household, they did have some ups and downs though. All the downs so far were minor. Zack could only smile when he thought how well Mark fit in. He did his best not to read too much into it. But Zack’s stupid brain would often jump to the conclusion that Mark belonged because he was
meant to be one of them. He was made to be part of their family.
Mark was getting ready to go grocery shopping, and of course Al wanted in on that action.
"I want to go!"
"Is that OK?" Mark asked naively.
"OK? It's a nightmare. He'll ask you to buy him the whole store. He just grabs things off the shelves and tries to sneak them into the cart. And those displays by the cash registers were designed for grabby little hands like his," Zack warned him.
The whole time Al shook his head to deny the charges being leveled against him.
"So I can take him," Mark concluded from all that.
"You take Al with you at your own risk," Zack said to throw in a final warning.
Mark gave Zack a crafty look before he explained his reasoning.
"I have to take Al with me at least once to see if he can be good. Then if he doesn't behave, he'll never be allowed to come with me ever again," Mark said perfectly deadpan.
Zack had to laugh especially at Al's reaction to the news that he would have to be on his best behavior or else. It made sense though. Before Mark, Zack was stuck taking Al shopping with him. Now with Mark there, Al would only get to tag along with either of them if they let him.
Mark was just back from the store with a good report card for Al’s behavior. As he was putting away groceries, he improvised weights from the milk jug and the orange juice carton. Zack caught him doing this when he came into the kitchen to help.
"I have weights you know. They are in the closet in my office. They might be a little dusty because I use them all the time of course."
"Thanks. Frank let me use his weights too," Mark said.
"I can tell," Zack said without thinking, and Mark gave him an amused look.
Zack didn’t mean to make it so obvious that he had checked out Mark, though not as thoroughly as he would have liked.
