1994

Patrick was an only child, born to a retired military man and a traditional woman. Good-looking, charismatic and generally pleasant, Pat was popular in school. In high school he was on the wrestling team and was on the student council. He was one of those boys everybody liked: He was a shoe-in with the popular crowd but his generous nature and outgoing disposition made him friends in all corners, from jock to nerd.

He had no shortage of girls interested in him. Good-looking as well as nice, he came onto the high school radar the moment he set foot in the school. The attention was flattering and exciting. Pat dated several girls over the course of his high school career, one at a time at first but he found it hard to say no when a pretty girl made herself available. There was more than one drama that blew up in the lunch room over who was really Patrick's girlfriend.

Then in the summer before senior year Pat met a new boy in his neighborhood down at the convenience store arcade nook. They got to talking video games and the boy, Terrence, invited him over to see his collection of Nintendo games. The black-haired teen was staying with his dad and uncle in an apartment complex behind the store, visiting for the summer since his parents were split up.

No one was home when Terrence let them in with his key. The place was a two-bedroom wreck. Pillows and blankets wadded on the couch were the teenager's temporary bed. They passed that and the filthy kitchen. Terrence led the way into one of the bedrooms. A big Star Wars blanket covered the room's window, making it hard to see so he turned on the bedside lamp.

The floor was covered in clothes, magazines, empty beer cans, vodka bottles and all kinds of other personal belongings. The closet couldn't shut because of the trail of dirty clothing wedging it open. Terrence went over to that closet and started digging around. Pat looked about the floor, amazed and slightly repulsed by the mess. There were all sorts of interesting things worked into the junk: He saw what looked like a fake pussy and right beside the bed was a palm-sized plastic coffin.

Patrick picked up the coffin and opened the lid. A little vampire popped out with a teeny little penis sticking out of his crotch.

"What the fuck?" Pat laughed.

Terrence glanced over. "Oh. It pees if you put water in it."

Patrick looked over at him with an odd expression. It seemed like a very strange thing to own, to him. It seemed an even stranger thing to leave laying on the floor. But then the only thing he'd ever seen on the floor at his house were rugs and occasionally shoes.

Terrence just shrugged. He'd grown up around his uncle's habits so he didn't think anything of it. "I didn't buy it," he said and went back to his search. "Hey. Come here."

Pat closed the coffin and set it back down then picked his way across the littered floor. Terrence pulled a small plastic crate filled with games from the shelf. A loose stack of magazines fell to the floor when he moved the box. They scattered everywhere.

Patrick looked down at the fallen media and was surprised to see naked people. He'd never seen porn before and there was quite an interesting variety on the floor that blew the fake pussy away. He crouched down and picked up the nearest one.

"What is this stuff?" he asked, amazed. The magazine he held featured a man and two women. The photographer had attempted to capture classy with the fake fur and faux pearls but didn't quite manage it.

"My uncle's porn collection," Terrence said. Like the coffin, it was old news to him. But he found his friend's reaction to it entertaining. "He's got a lot of it. He's, like, crazy for porn."

Patrick leafed through the magazine then dropped it and reached for another one. That one had a harder cover and was a how-to manual involving a sex swing. Terrence sat down with his new friend and set the crate of games down, freeing his hands to dig around in the scattered smut.

"Here, check this out," he said.

He handed Patrick a photographic study of the kama sutra. They explored that together, laughing at some of the positions and finding some impressive. Terrence wasn't understating his uncle's love of porn: He had all kinds of dirty material. He didn't restrict himself to much. He had hetero magazines, magazines of muscle-bound men in leather with other men; there were magazines featuring only women. He even had one really nasty one that featured old people.

It was the start of a very educational summer. Terrence - and by proxy an uncle Patrick never met - introduced him to all kinds of new ideas. When they got bored with the literature the friends raided Uncle's video cache. Again the man's tastes didn't stick to any single genre. Pat would always remember the first porn video he watched that included gay action: The Stud. The main character fucked every person he met, male or female, often more than one at a time. The boys joked about that video for a long time after it ended. Joking turned to play-acting. Play-acting shifted to reality. Pat had experienced oral sex before but Terrence knew his body the way only another boy could. It changed everything for him.

The fun ended when Patrick made the mistake of telling a friend about Terrence's uncle. That friend told his brother, the brother told their parents who, in turn, told Patrick's parents. When they learned of the peeing vampire and other delights, they grounded Pat to the house for the rest of the summer. Terrence moved back to his mother's home when summer was over. Patrick never saw him again but he would never forget those hot months.

When school started Pat had to pretend like nothing had changed. But it had. He had changed. He was smart enough to understand that he needed to pretend that nothing was different but it was frustrating. Stifling. He found himself watching other boys in the locker room; staring too long, copping 'accidental' feels while wrestling. It wouldn't be until after college that he would feel free to experiment again. Not until after his dad passed away.

...

2009

Patrick was getting married.

He and Chad had been seeing each other for nearly five years and had been sharing an apartment for a year. The state of California had legalized gay marriage but there was rumor that the law could be overturned in future court proceedings before the year was out so they'd decided to take the plunge while they could.

Chad had been the one to propose. He agonized over it for weeks with every friend they had. He came up with plan after plan, discarding them in fits of manic-depressive anxiety that tried their collective patience. In the end he proposed at their favorite fondue restaurant, in front of most of their friends and local family, who were hiding behind menus and potted plants until they were sure the answer was 'yes'. Then there was celebration and laughter. It was a highlight of their lives.

Pat glanced in the dressing mirror in his staging room and straightened his tie for the fifth time. He saw the door open in the reflection. He smiled and sighed.

"Mom," he said, turning to her. "What are you doing? You're supposed to out there, sitting in the front row."

She came over to him, smiling tearfully. She looked like a stranger to him in the fancy mother's gown and makeup she wore. It was one of the only times outside of church that he'd seen her without an apron on. He hadn't seen her in makeup since he was a kid.

"I just wanted to see you one last time before you're married," she said as she hugged him. Her gray beehive only came up to his muscular shoulder. "I'm so proud of you. Your father would be too."

Pat hugged her back but he frowned. "Mom. Dad would've had a heart attack if he knew I was marrying a man."

She looked up at him and fat tears rolled down her face. "Your father would have loved Chad."

"I'm just glad you do," said Patrick. "Now you should go, mom. They'll be starting soon."

His mother kissed him then she had to smudge the lipstick off his face again. Then one more hug and he finally got her out the door. He didn't have time to be nervous - shortly after she left the processional music started. Stepping through the door felt like mounting the top of the first steep hill of an insane roller coaster. The next two years would be the wildest - and last - ride of his life.

...

Author's Note:

I didn't realize when I wrote this that Pat took up a whole chapter with his back story. But now you know. While Tate was planning his Noble War, Pat was playing with peeing vampires. Talk about different worlds.

Also, I didn't do the math till just now but by the years above, about the time Chad and Patrick moved into Murder House they would have been together for 7 years. Which jives with Pat's cheating. 7 year itch and all.

This chapter's title is also the name of a Twilight Zone original series episode about a kid who could make whatever he wanted real.

Next chapter both Vivien and Tate are upset with Ben. I kind of am too. He doesn't play nice.