Terrible Things

12/3

Cooper smiled mischievously at him, sitting up a little taller to look in the rearview mirror of the Uber car and arrange his hair a little.  “Who says you have break up the sleepover?  We can go to his pal’s house and lurk outside the windows!”  

“It sounds tempting,” he laughed, “It really does, but I trust Sam with my kid. And if I’m honest, I just really need to get laid. It’s been an embarrassingly long amount of time.” 

12/3

Cooper wasn’t sure what to do with the bit of melancholy he saw in Ben’s eyes, so he ignored it for the time being.  His blue eyes twinkled. “Well not much has changed, except drinks seem to be organic and have local stuff in them more and more now…very awesome.  And there are more rum drinks, yum.”  After a brief silence Ben’s fatherhood seemed to loom in Cooper’s head.  He’d dated more than one single parent, after all.  “Are you going to worry all night about your kiddo?  Do you want to go back?”

“Rum is always good,” he agreed, watching the other man carefully. He was vibrant in a way that Ben had only seen in one other person, Charlie’s mother. Fun seemed to run in his blood, and he couldn’t help but be captivated. His question pulled Ben out of his thoughts, “No- no, he’s with Sam he’ll be okay. I can’t be the lame dad that breaks up his sleepover.”  

Cooper looked at him with a gentle smile few saw as he connected to the slight…trepidation?  Shyness?  Whatever it was, it moved Cooper to pat Ben’s arm as they rode toward the bar.  He reacted slightly to the muscle tone he felt under his hand, much more impressive than he might have imagined under the jacket of this soft spoken guy.  “Sure, sure, we can play it by ear…”  His brow furrowed as he considered Ben for longer.  “I didn’t realized how young you were when you had Charlie… have you been to any straight bars?” he asked with a teasing look.

“Yeah, I was barely eighteen,” he chuckled a little, but it was hard to hide the hint of sadness in his eyes. He wouldn’t trade his son for the world, but the fact that he hadn’t really gotten a chance to experience his twenties was more relevant than it’d ever been. “Of course I’ve been to a bar,” he said, breaking the quiet moment, “Just not in the last year or so.”

“The Abbey,” Cooper said briskly, as they got into the Uber at the curb.  “Y ou ready?  When’s the last time you did this?  I haven’t been to a gay bar in probably 5 years, except to meet Sebastian and my brother here and there.”  His head turned sharply towards Ben and the blue eyes danced.  “Ooh!  Maybe we should do some planning…should we come up with signals to escape, fake identities and scuh?  I can pretend to be your older brother or your boyfriend if you get cornered!”

“I’ve actually never been to a gay bar,” he chuckled a bit, “I was underage when Charlie was born and I haven’t really had the time since.” Ben was a bit overwhelmed at the sound of Cooper’s plotting, shaking his head a bit, “Maybe we should just play it by ear.” 

Cooper strutted into the living room, wearing a stylish hat, a pair of exhorbitantly expensive  jeans, and an equally pricey t-shirt and vest.  "You could do a lot worse than to be left with me, Benjamin,“ he said playfully.  He grabbed his leather jacket and headed to the door.  "Come on now!  Hurry up!  Poor Charlie, having to put up with your glacial pace! Tsk, tsk, tsk!” he added, looking over his shoulder with an impish smile.

“You’re the one who-” he broke off when he realized Cooper was joking, shaking his head in disappointment with himself. He pulled on his own jacket as they walked out of the apartment, his eyes trailing over Cooper. He couldn’t help but check the other man out as he caught up with him, though he probably shouldn’t be, “Where are we going, again?” 

Little nerds are the cutest.  And you know they will have steady, well paying vocations!  My little diva is gearing herself up to be a starving artist (before she gets her big break, of course, if you ask my wife).

Those are excellent ideas.  The next layer though, is getting the choice vetted by Rachel.

Good luck with that one! 

Okay, just let us know.  I know Mary would love to see you more often.  We could even make it a regular thing. 

It could be that some people just aren’t kid people, but they might get there.  I know I enjoy my niece and nephew (in limited doses) but other kids aren’t really my thing necessarily.  Maybe a few of the cool ones spawned from Blaine’s crowd, but that’s it.

The jealousy thing is ridiculous.  That’s just annoying.

I’m moving on to men.  It’s been awhile since I’ve been with one, so we shall see.  

It is annoying. One girl asked me to take a picture of her down, it didn’t take too much longer for that one to end. 

Good luck, man. Let me know if you find anyone for me. 

Seriously, it’s just not worth the effort anymore.  I’m not sure it ever was to begin with.  And the older I get, the worse the selection gets.  They are either desperate 30 or 40 somethings or gold-digging 20 somethings.  I found a dossier on my father and his estimated net worth on a girl’s desk last night.

I’m so over women.

No wonder you and Charlie seem so tight.  I really admire you, man.  I can’t even explain how much.

And I’m sorry I asked, to bring up all those memories.

You really should.  I’m going to keeping asking you til you give me a date. 

I’m sure I’ll think of a day. Some kind of appointment or something’s bound to come up. 

Pick a date, every parent needs a break.  The fact that you don’t know what you’d do with the time is a sign that you REALLY need the time.

If anything, you can get a nap.  Or go to the beach, the mountains, the gym, get a massage…so many options!

We met at a party when were seventeen. We didn’t really know each other, but we hooked up and boom, Charlie. When she told me she was pregnant I didn’t run, obviously. And we came down here to stay with her grandparents after graduation, her parents weren’t really all that supportive. I fell in love with her, man, she was just- she was the most incredible person I’ve ever met. I wanted to marry her. But she, uh, she passed away. There were complications with the birth and her body just couldn’t handle it. I miss her everyday, you know? And I don’t really believe in all that heaven bullshit, but I know she’s with me still. That’s the story. 

I will, eventually.  

Eh, I am arguably in the position of one who has won the lottery and retired early…and I can tel you at least for me, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

Hah, you’re polite, aren’t you?  Remind me where you’re from?  This crowd of  us that Sam has introduced you to, we’re all from the Midwest, where people are theoretically nice.  So you’ll fit in well if you decide to hang with us more live. 

I try to be. I’m from Seattle, but school and my wife’s family were out here and Charlie and I kind of just hung around. The Midwest, huh? That’s interesting. What brought all of you out here? 

Hahah and we just brought another disgusting boy into the world.  And seriously, they are probably the most disgusting at this age. And not even entertaining yet. At six weeks, we’re just rooting for Christopher to hold his own head up.

Ah yes, the Force is strong, I look forward to doing this with Christopher some day.  Leia/Darth is never the same effect.

You should! I was surprised that he picked it out, I’m raising a little nerd. 

Ah, what a classic. Try to talk her into it, she could even be Wendy or Tiger Lily. There’s options. Plus, you could dress Christopher up now while he’s not going to argue with you. Make him a little bag of pixie dust or something.