By the next morning, it was like Junior had lived with him all his life. By the end of the week, if you had tried to tell him that he hadn’t had a stepson, that he’d never even been married, he would have laughed, and thought you were insane…although he still couldn’t remember ever getting married. Junior was more than family, however, he quickly became a confidant. Max had never been very good at making friends. If anything, he sort of despised people–not that he would ever allow himself to admit something like that–but the fact was, he thought most people were simply cruel, mean and petty. Why would he want to engage with people like that?
He told Junior this and Junior laughed. Max insisted he was serious, and Junior simply told him, “I know, and that’s why you’re going to be so much fun. We’re going to have so much fun together, you and I!”
He laughed again, and not wanting to seem strange, Max found himself laughing too, even though he wasn’t certain what was so funny.
They still hadn’t gotten any further than a kiss, however. Max wanted to, but he didn’t want to want it. Junior could tell, and toyed with him, but made no attempt to force him, because he knew Max would never really want to resist, or even try. Their days settled into a bit of a routine. Max had begun getting up earlier now to cook breakfast for Junior, and Junior insisted that Max eat as well. He would go to work, spend much of the day thinking about his stepson, and then go home. They would eat dinner together, spend the rest of the evening talking, and eventually Max would get tired and go to bed. On the weekend, they had spent most of the day talking again, and most of it had been spent discussing Max’s current dilemma at work.
Max worked for a large technology company as a mid-level manager responsible for a team of eight. However, the new budgets had just been sent down from on high, and Max’s manager had informed him that their budget no longer had any room for “fat or gristle,” as Mr. Herman had said. He said that Max would need to let two people go by the end of the month, but Max hadn’t been able to do it. He didn’t want to fire anyone–he thought his whole team worked hard, and more than that, he needed everyone to get the project done on deadline. He’d tried to explain this to Mr. Herman, who had instead informed him that if he didn’t have names by the end of the week, he would be firing Max instead.
To Junior, the answer was obvious–just fire people. Max didn’t think it was so easy, and he didn’t know if he really wanted to work for a company that was so interested in its bottom line that it would fire good employees. When Max told him that, Jenior just stared at him–or maybe through him or into him, and smirked. “But what about me?” he asked, “Don’t you care about me? You need to keep bringing home the money to keep me happy, daddy.”
“We could make it work, I have some savings, and–”
Junior just scowled at him pursed his lips. Max again had this odd awareness that he didn’t know how old his stepson actually was. That..that he didn’t even really know who he was, either.
“Look, let’s talk about something else. How’s school going.”
“I don’t go to school daddy, you know that.”
“What? But–”
“Look, Daddy, I know you must be tired,” Junior said, standing up and stretching, Max’s eyes feeling heavy even as he tried to focus on his stepson’s crotch as hard as he could, inches from his face, “Why don’t you go to bed–you have an important decision to make this week, and you need your rest.”
“Y-Yeah, I mean, I do feel…tired.”
“That’s a good daddy. Now give me a good night kiss, and go get to bed.”
Bracken's Corner 