Thanks for reading and reviewing. Here is chapter 73. Enjoy!

Chapter 73

After the movie was over, the two men went upstairs. They both stopped at the front of the main bedroom door just staring at one another.

"So…ummm…you can take the master bedroom. I can sleep in the spare room." Phil suggested, glancing at John briefly before walking away. The other man had other ideas and grabbed Phil's arm.

"No. Please stay with me tonight. I didn't come all the way here to sleep by myself." John pleaded, looking into Phil's eyes. The smaller man bit his lip, unable to resist those blue orbs of John's and relented at the request.

"Okay. But no funny business!" Phil demanded. John only smiled and nodded his head.

"No funny business."

They both changed into their pjs and climbed into bed. Phil stayed on his side and John on the other. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, John spoke up.

"Can I…can I hold you?"

Phil responded by moving over and allowing John to wrap his large arm around him. Their foreheads touched softly and both men let out a contented sigh.

"Good night Philly."

"Good night John boy."

The two men drifted off into a deep sleep, holding onto one another throughout the night.

When morning came, John was alone in bed. He looked over at his phone and noticed it was still pretty early.

'Hmmmm….odd that Phil is up before me.' John thought. He managed to climb out and walk downstairs towards the kitchen. When he entered he saw Phil by the stove and what looked like some eggs and sausages in a pan.

"You're making breakfast?" John asked, smiling.

"Yes I am and they're not burnt!" The two chuckled as John went over and watched Phil prepare the meal. He wrapped his arms around the man's waist and kissed him gently on the neck.

"Thanks for this Phil. Tomorrow I'll make breakfast for us."

"No need to do that John. I actually don't mind it. It's fun."

"Where did you learn to cook anyway?"

"I always knew how to cook but I never really cared for the end result since it was always me eating it. Now that I have someone to cook for, I wanna make sure that it's perfect."

John's smiled widened at Phil's revelation and squeezed him a bit tighter.

"You're the best."

"Of course! The best in the world!"

Both men laughed as Phil finished with the eggs and began to place them on the plate for John and himself. As were about to start eating when the front door opened suddenly.

"Hey Phil! Are you up? I need to ask you some…" Colt stopped by the door frame of the kitchen and noticed Phil and John.

"Oh! Shit man! I'm sorry!"

John narrowed his eyes at Colt and looked over at Phil.

"Who's this?' He asked suspiciously.

"Oh this is my friend across the street. Colt. I'm sure I mentioned him to you before. He lives in California and has been here for almost a month just visiting." Phil replied, reaching out and squeezing John's hand for reassurance. That made the other man relax but his eyes didn't leave Colt's sight.

"A month. That's a long time for a vacation." John said.

Colt smiled a bit. "Yeah well…it's an extended vacation…"

Phil looked at him confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"Phil, I didn't wanna say anything to you because you had too much stuff going on but I got let go. That's why I came back." Colt looked over at his friend.

"Colt! You should have said something to me. Jesus we're friends!"

John watched, feeling a bit guilty that Phil's friend had to confess to that.

"Hey man, I'm sorry about that. I know it can hard being let go and all." John said. Colt looked over and shrugged his shoulders.

"Meh, it's okay. The company was going down the tubes anyway so it's probably for the best."

"Well, at least have some breakfast. I made enough." Phil went over and grabbed another plate. Colt took his and helped himself to some eggs and sausage.

"Thanks man."

"So you said you had a question for me."

"Ummm…yeah but you got John here and I don't wanna interrupt."

"No, I don't mind." John replied, smiling.

Colt went ahead and explained that he was looking at some apartments today and wanted to know if they would like to come and see them.

"Well, it's up to John." Phil said, smiling.

The other man looked at Colt, who had a goofy grin on his face. Although initially he didn't like Colt, after a few minutes of talking to him, he found him to be really genuine.

"Yeah. Let's check them out."

"Cool! There's about three and they're all in the same neighbourhood so no need to drive all over the place."

The three men began to chat again about random things until they all finished their meal. Colt got up, telling John and Phil that the first appointment was going to be for around 10 that morning.

"Okay, so I'm gonna go home and get ready and I'll be here in half an hour, deal?"

"Yeah, deal. Now go. You smell." Phil joked, smiling at his friend. Colt just made a funny face at him and jogged over to the front door to get ready. Phil turned his head to look at John who was leaning against the wall.

"Hey, sorry about that. I've known Colt since I was a kid and we're kinda like brothers."

"That's okay. You guys seem to get along and I'm glad you had someone here to keep you company." John replied, walking slowly over to Phil and wrapping his arms around the small man's waist. The two leaned in, as their lips touch for a brief moment before moving away. Phil looked down at his feet, trying his best to hide the red blush on his cheeks.

"Ummm…we should get ready." He said sheepishly. John just smiled and nodded his head as he went back upstairs to change.

30 minutes later all three men were ready to go. They climbed into Phil's car and drove to where the first apartment. The neighbourhood was nice. Decent looking and close to various amenities that people enjoy. They went inside and looked around. Colt asked some standard questions to the landlord while Phil and John scanned the area. After about five minutes, they left.

"So whatcha think about that one?" Colt asked, looking at both John and Phil.

"It's nice. Very spacious." Phil said.

"Yeah. Do you like it?"

"I do. But I wanna see the other ones and decide which one would be best." They all agreed and went to their second destination. Along the ride, they spoke about hockey and their sports teams. John was outnumbered since both Colt and Phil preferred the Blackhawks but it was a fun conversation that John really missed having.

Ten minutes later they arrived at the second apartment. It wasn't as nice as the first one and the landlord didn't seem too impressed with Colt but they all cautiously went along with it. They entered the apartment and all three men knew this wasn't a nice place to live. They weren't there for more than five minutes before they all rushed out. The landlord narrowed his eyes at them and mumbled under his breath.

"Damn faggots ruining this place."

Phil snapped his head around, staring holes right at the landlord's face.

"What the fuck did you say?"

The old man just smirked.

"You heard me. I don't rent to no queers. Get the fuck off my property."

Phil was about to lunge over there and give the guy a good punch in the mouth when John held onto his arm.

"It's not worth it. Let's go." Phil let out a deep breath and turned around, ignoring the bigot. But before they left the building, he grabbed John by the back of the neck and kissed right on the lips. All three ran out, laughing at the face that the man gave them as they hurried back to the car and onto the next unit.

After they finished looking at all three apartments, Colt made his decision. He dialed the number to the first place and accepted their offer.

"You made a good choice man. I really liked the first one." John replied.

"Yeah I liked it to."

"Well I am glad you guys have approved. Maybe when I'm settled in you two can come over and we can do some guy shit."

The two men smiled at Colt and nodded in approval. Afterwards, the man left their house, thanking them again.

John closed the front door and turned around to face Phil.

"I really like Colt."

"Yah, he grows on you, like fungus." John laughed, going over to the living room and sitting down on the couch. Phil followed him and they both watched some TV for a few hours as they enjoyed having some quiet time together.

The phone rang as John and Phil were getting ready to watch a hockey game on TV. Phil answered and handed it over to John.

"It's your dad."

John rolled his eyes and grabbed the phone, plastering a fake smile on his face.

"Hey John, are you busy?"

"No. Just hanging out with my fiancé." John replied with some sarcasm.

"Well, I was wondering if would like to come over to the hotel. I would like to talk with you about some issues."

John really didn't want go over to see his dad. But he knew this was something that they had to do sooner or later. He hesitated for a bit before responding.

"Okay fine."

They agreed to meet in about an hour at the hotel lobby. John got up and let out a frustrated sigh.

"UGH! Why do people want to bug me this weekend?"

"Come on. It's your dad. I'm sure he misses you."

"Oh yeah. Then how come he never came to visit me when I was at the facility?"

Phil only shrugged his shoulders as he watched John go upstairs.

"I'm gonna get ready. I hope this won't take long."

"I hope so too John boy." Phil replied, stretching himself out on the couch and grabbing the remote.

John smiled at the other man, knowing how Phil always loved to have the couch on his own.

"Well don't get too comfy. I'll be back before you know it." John warned as he headed back upstairs.

John waited in the lobby as planned for his dad to show up. His knee wouldn't stop bouncing and his hands were getting sweaty. He didn't know why he was so nervous. Maybe because he hasn't seen his dad in so long or maybe there was news that he didn't want to hear right now. Whatever it was, John kept on telling himself that everything will be fine.

Five minutes later, John saw his dad show up….with Shawn. Tensing a little, the larger man got up and greeted his dad with a short hug.

"I'm glad you're here John. I hope you don't mind me bringing Shawn with me."

"Sure. But if I knew that we could have brought a date, I would have brought Phil with me here to." John replied. Shawn frowned a little but Hunter only smiled.

"I'm sorry. He was welcomed to come. I never said it had to be just the two of us."

John had the urge to chew his dad out right then and there but decided against it. Instead, he let it go and asked what they would like to do.

"How about we have something to eat at the hotel restaurant." All three agreed and they went over to the front entrance where they were able to get a table near the window.

John sat across the couple as he looked at the menu options.

"So John. How's the weekend so far?" Hunter asked.

"Good. I'm enjoying my time with Phil, even though we've been interrupted a couple of times." John said, glancing up briefly before looking back at the menu. Hunter only smiled at John's comment.

"Well, people want to see you and make sure everything is okay."

The conversation ended there as the waiter came to get their orders. Once they placed them, all three men chatted again about non important issues. John was hoping that his dad would ask him about the facility and his progress but the he did not.

About twenty minutes, their food arrived. They all helped themselves to their meal, savouring the delicious taste. Hunter took a small sip of his drink before looking back at his son.

"Son, I want you to know that I'm very proud of you and I love you very much."

"Thanks dad…that means a lot."

"I also want you to know that I love Shawn to."

"Ummm…okay…" John replied narrowing his eyes.

"John…I don't know how to say this but, Shawn and I we got married a few months ago. We wanted to tell you about it but when the time came, you got into that…situation and we didn't know how to broach the subject. I hope you understand. Your mom does and gives us her support."

Hunter and Shawn smiled at John who had a shocked expression on his face.

"You…got married?"

"Yes, and I'm deeply sorry that we didn't tell you about it. We wanted it to be a private affair."

John snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, affair is the proper word to use."

"Excuse me?" Shawn asked, a little taken aback at John's reaction.

"What I mean is it makes sense that you would want it to be private. You don't want anyone in the force to know that you're gay. Hell, you didn't want me know at all! And now you come down here, tell me this and you expect what? A hug? A slap on the back? How about asking me how my life is for once or do you even care that your own son was almost killed because of some lunatic!" John raised his voice higher near the end of his rant, getting the attention of some other guests in the restaurant.

Hunter quickly got up and tried to calm the situation, grabbing John's shoulder for support.

"John, I know you may be upset right now but we can talk about this further if you like upstairs in the room."

"NO! Let's talk about it now. You selfish, inconsiderate bastard! I can't believe you would go ahead and do this. You made mom miserable, you made my life miserable and now you expect everything to be great!"

John got up and stormed out, leaving Shawn and Hunter in shock. As he was about to leave the hotel, he was grabbed suddenly but Hunter and pulled away to a secluded area.

"Dad, let me go!" John exclaimed but Hunter held on harder.

"Now you listen to me John. I had to give up a lot of shit in my life, including you and your mother and I deeply regret it. Shawn was the only person that I had at the time. He's my everything just like Phil is your everything. I would hope that you would understand what I'm going through."

"Oh please! Spare me your sob story. I've been through more shit than you have and you never even cared to know any of it."

"I do care John!"

"Then how come you never came to see me at the facility? How come you haven't even bothered to call?"

Hunter let go of John's arm as he hung his head low.

"Because…I felt guilty."

"Guilty?"

"Yes. I wasn't there to protect you John. I should have. I'm your father."

The two men stayed silent for moment as John processed what his dad was saying.

"I know I probably sound like a broken record but I am sorry for what happened in the past. I don't expect you to forget it but maybe…we can forgive."

John didn't respond. Instead he closed his eyes and let out breath before opening them up again.

"I gotta go."

Hunter looked up to see his son leaving the building without looking back him.

Well, that was chapter 73. Hope you liked it and let me know what you think. Thanks!