What Men Do: Part 2

Billy did not feel like getting up.

His father knocked on his bedroom door for the third time that morning, shouting for him to get a move on. Traffic was going to be rough in the city as well as parking, and he wanted to hurry.

After awhile of moping under his covers and realizing that he was not going to fall back asleep peacefully, nor would he magically be able to get out of this, he got up and got a shower.

Brent and Mike were already up and ready, and they were downstairs talking sports with their dad. It was nice to take a nice shower and get ready in peace for once. Billy figured his dad should take Brent and Mike to more sports outings if it was the one time they weren't going to be jerks.

Figuring it'd be cold in the stadium, he selected a vertical striped button down, and a navy blue blazer with a pair of nicely fit jeans, complete with large, white sunglasses. It was casual, yet boyish enough and navy blue was a neutral color that was probably ok for wearing no matter what sports team he was there to "support".

Before he went downstairs, his cellphone vibrated.

Michelle was on the caller id, and he immediately flipped it open.

"Morning, Billy Boy!" shouted Michelle, and before Billy could respond, Eleni too shouted, "Billy, we miss you!"

"Hey! Aren't you guys supposed to be in class?" Billy laughed.

"We're in the girl's bathroom. Teacher-free territory."

"Today sucks 'cause your not here."

"Excited for the game? What are you wearing?"

He didn't know which one was saying what because the two girls always sounded the exact same over the phone, but he was so very happy to hear them both.

"I went with the navy blue blazer today. Think it's 'manly' enough?" asked Billy, mocking the theme of the day.

"Very. Men are drawn to ugly, bland colors. Navy blue is the ugliest color ever invented, hence why I loath our uniforms." He was sure that came from Michelle.

"Speaking of clothes, my date with Alan is tonight. At Bozman's." That was Eleni. "Should I wear the jean skirt or the white capris with the light pink top I bought last week?"

"No, no, no. I don't trust him not to spill anything on those white capris. He's too much of an idiot," said Billy, rolling his eyes. "Go with the jean skirt but try a more modest top. Let him know that you don't kiss on the first date."

"Billy!" Eleni giggled.

"I'm serious, Leni. He's not worth it. In fact, you just made the rest of my day a downer for even reminding me you might actually like that guy."

"You don't worry your cute little butt about that now. Just have fun today, and hey, you don't have to deal with Ms. Mullins cracking the whip. That's enough reason for anyone to enjoy the day off."

"Text us if you need anything. Love ya!"

"Love ya!"

"Love ya! Bye," he said and hung up, ready to go downstairs and get the show on the road.

His father was in the doorway, face neutral. "I see you're finally up. Grab something to eat so we can get moving."

He grudgingly followed his father down the steps, sighing out loud and hoping he'd hear him and get the hint that he'd kill to be in school today rather than go to this stupid baseball game. Brent and Mike were arm wrestling over an extra bagel, and so far Brent was winning. Blocking out the annoying grunting and scuffle, Billy sat down and tapped his fingers on the kitchen table with impatience.

"How are you feeling today, Honey?" his mother asked, placing a plate of French toast, scrambled eggs, and hash browns in front of him.

He looked up at her smiling face and wondered if he could make himself cry in order to stay home. No, she wouldn't buy it. As a matter-of-fact, he was sure she was up to this in some way. He had no allies in this house anymore.

He sighed dramatically. "Pumped. Absolutely pumped."

"Yeah!" Mike shouted, slamming his fist down on the table. He snatched up the bagel smugly, proud to have beaten his older brother. Brent sulked for a moment and focused his attention on Billy. Billy looked away hastily and started on his breakfast.

"Hey fag, you gonna eat that?" asked Brent pointing to something on his plate.

"Watch your mouth, Brent!" their mother snapped, spinning around to give him the death glare.

"Mom, relax, I'm just playing with him," Brent shied away. "Are you going to eat that?"

"Yes," said Billy, smirking in his direction. Maybe he did have an ally left after all. As he turned in his chair to plead to his mom to stay home, his father stood up from the table and told them to head out to the car.

Billy took one last glance towards him mom, who shot him a sympathetic look and nodded in assurance. He sighed for about the tenth time that morning and followed his bulky brothers out the door.

The conversation during the ride into the city was nothing special. Billy and Mike sat in back, while Brent and their dad had the front. The three of them chatted importantly about the stats of a couple of the players on the baseball teams, while Billy stared out the window dully. He regretted that he didn't bring his IPod along, and even though it only took twenty minutes to drive into the city, it felt like an hour by the time they arrived.

Traffic looked impossible from the inside of the car, but somehow, Billy's dad managed to find a parking garage near the baseball stadium. The crowd filtering in was enormous, and Billy jogged to keep close to his family just in case the crowd tried to swallow them up. Before they found their seats, they stopped at the concession stand. Brent and Mike loaded up on snacks, and Billy settled for a large soda and a hotdog.

Once they found their seats, the game had already started and the crowd was rowdy. Billy's seat was towards the middle, next to a large man that could barely fit into his chair. A loud woman with bushy dirty blonde hair and a team jersey sat behind him and shouted hoarsely in his ear a bunch of mangled swear words.

He kept his sunglasses up so no one could see him roll his eyes and winced at the woman's voice when she screamed again.

Ten minutes in, he was playing bowling on his cellphone, ignoring the roar of the crowd whenever someone ran all three bases all the way home and scored. By the look on his father and his brothers' faces, the team they supported wasn't winning.

"This is—I can't believe—holy—!" the bushy haired lady was screaming incredulously in his ear. The fat man sitting next to him was guzzling beer and burping every once in awhile.

"Billy, get off your damn phone," Mike suddenly nudged him, "You're missing the whole thing!"

"What a tragedy," Billy mumbled lamely.

"Awh, don't be such a drama queen," Mike joked, pinching his cheeks.

Billy tried to fan him off, and one of Mike's eager hands smacked the phone out of Billy's, and it fell to the ground, the battery popping out. Mike laughed and returned back to the game. Just as Billy reached down to pick it up, something happened that had his father and brothers up out of their seats and cheering loudly. The fat man had been excited too, and right before Billy's fingers could even brush the smoothness of the phone, it was crushed to pieces under the man's foot. Billy gasped and jumped up out of anger and panic, and the mustard on his hotdog when sliding down his jeans.

"Dad!" Billy shouted over the claps and roars. But his dad was caught up in his team's new luck to hear him, as were his brothers. He stared at them for a long time, trying to understand them as if he were a stranger looking in. He couldn't, and they would never understand him. He excused himself to the bathroom without anyone noticing, and whenever he heard cheering echo into the bathroom stalls, he prayed that his father's team was still losing.

A/N:

I'm back…... yay?!

I literally look at this story on my computer once a month, and every time, I know what I want to happen, but I never have the energy or time. Needless to say though, I had an EXTREMELY tough time with this chapter, which is why I decided to cut it so short. Very short. Very very short. It just needed to be so I could move on.

I've had the next chapter written forever, but I obviously couldn't post it without posting this. So please forgive me for leaving you guys hanging. I have really good reasons, I promise, but tonight, I just needed to do it. The next chapter is a bit dramatic, but I love it for some reason. I promise myself and you that I WILL finish this story in time. I don't know when, but I hope soon. And just to make it up to you guys who actually take the time and read my stuff, I wrote another SOR one-shot kind of fanfic, and I'll post that as well probably by the end of the week! But only if you want it... Do you want it? Do you? Do you really?

Please review. Constructive criticism, people, I love you for it. Thank you for reading.