It felt like an eternity by the time they pulled up in front of Racetrack's house. As usual, the driveway was blocked with construction stuff. Race's dad owned a remodeling company, and was constantly redesigning his own house whenever he got bored. Currently he was redoing the kitchen for about the third time since Blink had known the family.
"You coming, Blink?" Race inquired. He and Sari had already gotten out of the car, and were waiting for him to do the same.
Blink nodded, hopped out of the car, and wordlessly followed them into the house.
"Hey mom," Race called up the stairs. "We're back."
"And how many people is we this time, Anthony? Do we need more food?" his mother called back, appearing at the top of the stairs. She smiled as she saw Sari and Blink. "Oh good! There is company." She walked down the stairs and pulled Sari into a hug. "How are you sweetie?" she asked. "Your mom doing okay?"
"She's wonderful, Mrs. H," Sari replied, grinning.
"Sweetie, how many times do I have to tell you, you're family. Call me Mom," she demanded.
Sari giggled. "Yes Mom," she said, rolling her eyes.
Mrs. Higgins released Sari, who headed back outside, and then turned to Blink. "Oh Ryan, it's so nice to see you again! You haven't been over for dinner in weeks. You should visit more often, we love having you."
"Thanks, Mom," Blink said softly.
"Mom, Blink's going to stay with us for a while," Race cut in.
Mrs. Higgins looked mildly surprised, but also pleased. "You're always welcome here, sweetie. We love having you around." She turned to her son. "Tony, go make up the couch in your room. Your father started remodeling the guest room this morning."
Racetrack stared at her. "What happened to the kitchen?"
"He got some new idea for the guest room. And no, he didn't consult me about it either." She looked mildly cross for a moment, but then turned her smile back on Blink. "You do know where Tony's room is, so why don't you put your stuff down, and then we'll get something to eat."
Blink nodded, and started towards Race's room. He could hear Mrs. Higgins quickly grilling Racetrack about what had happened, and Race's answer that all he knew was that Blink's father had kicked him out again, and he suspected it had something to do with the night before.
As he reached Race's room, Blink noticed that Race seemed to have added even more posters onto his door, so that they were now partially obstructing the giant pride flag that was hanging on it. Although he had to admit, Brian Kinney, the really hot guy from Queer as Folk, was definitely worth looking at. Opening the door, he walked into the disaster area that was Racetrack's room. It may have been a fairly huge room, but it was also stuffed full of things to the point of overflowing. Everything was crammed in, and it was almost impossible to reach the bed. Not that Race slept in the room that often, Blink remembered. And when he did, he usually spent the night on the tan leather couch that was shoved in the corner.
Race had accumulated a lot of stuff over the years, as he was one of the biggest pack rats that Blink had ever known. As usual, there were clothes strewn all over the floor, and all the surfaces and shelf space were packed full of books, DVDs, and random things that Race had picked up. Plowing his way through, he dropped all of his stuff on the couch that he would be stealing from Race that night.
"Blink?" a voice called hesitantly from the doorway. "Can I come in?"
Blink nodded, and Sari walked in and sat down next to him on the couch, dropping the packages from the mall on the ground. "Wanna talk?" she asked.
"They fucking kicked me out," Blink said bitterly. "What else is there to say?"
Sari winced and put her arms around him. "They'll realize their mistake," she told him softly, although she didn't sound very confident herself.
"Even if they do take me back," Blink said gloomily, 'they'll just pull the same shit again in May, after I refuse to pretend to be straight."
"Maybe they'll learn from this though. You're still their son!" Sari exclaimed.
"Yeah, well, not all parents are like Race's."
There was a snort from the doorway. "That would be a good thing," Race said. "The world couldn't handle another set like my parents. The entire universe would explode."
Blink managed a laugh. "Wouldn't want that to happen," he said with a smirk.
"So Mom says she'll call your family and let them know where you are, and see what she can do. She'll talk some sense into the, I promise."
"Don't bother," Blink told him bluntly. "They don't care, they never did.
Race crossed the room and pulled out his desk chair. Moving it so he was sitting right in front of Blink, he sat. "They care, they just suck. In some twisted way, they think they're doing the right thing. We'll just have to re-educate them. Again."
Blink looked at him in amusement. "They think we're going out," he said bluntly. He silently counted to three and waited for Race's reaction. He wasn't disappointed. Race fell out of his chair, and landed in a heap on the ground, literally rolling on the floor laughing his ass off.
Race stood up and looked at him. "You have got to be shitting me," he managed to gasp out through his laughter.
"Nope," Blink smirked. "You apparently corrupted me, and the only reason I'm gay is because you are."
"Is that why they kicked you out?" Sari exclaimed in mock horror, which turned to real shock at Blink's nod.
"Partially," he said. "It was mostly my total refusal to pretend to be straight."
Race had managed to stop laughing by this point, but suddenly started cracking up again. "I'm sorry," he managed to say, "but 'no, Mrs. Ballat, I am not dating your son' is not something I ever expected to have to say."
The three of them collapsed into laughter, and for a few moments Blink actually thought that everything was going to be all right.
Then he remembered that he'd been kicked out of his home, his family had abandoned him, and he couldn't even afford to go to a SUNY school.
"It'll be okay," Race told him. "You can stay here as long as you like. You're my best friend, and you're practically family."
"What about school?" Blink asked him. "What the fuck am I supposed to do about that?"
"We'll figure something out," Race promised. "We always have before."
"Anthony," his mother's voice called down over the intercom. "Your father is home with a pizza. You and your friends should wash up."
"Yes Mom," Race called back. Turning to Sari, he asked, "You staying for dinner or going home?"
"Pizza!" she said gleefully.
~*~
Dinner at the Higgins household was always an interesting experience. Race had no shame at all, and would talk about anything at the dinner table, and Sari also had no shame about encouraging him. Race's parents were both former hippies, who were firm proponents of cultural literacy, and would educate you on whatever area of pop culture they thought you should know. Dinner discussions would range from politics, to sex, to radio during the 1940s. Race swore that Blink still hadn't been to a full Higgins' family dinner, because no fist fight had broken out in his presence. Although, as that usually only occurred on Thanksgiving and Christmas, Blink had doubted he'd ever see one.
This one was definitely up there on the entertaining scale.
As soon as they sat down, Mr. Higgins turned to his son, and asked, "Anthony, I have errands for you to run this weekend."
Race sighed, and rolled his eyes. "What do you need this time? A folding table that you've measured down to the nanometer? A saw that was made in a little village on a south pacific island? Or an organizer that needs to be bought at a staples three towns away and needs to be facing a north west corner?"
"Only the first one and the last one, actually. I had the saw ordered last week."
Race stared at him. "You have got to be kidding me. It's the weekend, I'm not spending the entire time running your errands. I have a life."
"Well, after the errands, we could always watch Bed Sitting Room."
"Eeep!" Sari squealed. "Um, no thanks this time, Mr. H."
"What makes you think you're coming along?" Race asked her.
"Because you call me at 9:30 am on Saturdays, informing me that you're running errands and not going by yourself."
"Actually, it was 9:00. Not 9:30."
"Oh, whatever," Sari said crossly.
"It doesn't matter, as you won't have to run the errands anyway. We have a guest," Race's mother cut in.
"So Ryan can run the errands with Anthony then. Perfect."
"Um, Dad? I think Mom meant that we're both off duty until further notice," Race told him.
Racetrack's father looked like he was going to continue to protest, but one glance from his wife made him change his mind. Instead, he turned the topic of conversation to something else. He was rambling on about some new commercials from the 1950s that he'd just won on ebay, when Racetrack's cell phone went off. Race quickly glanced at the caller ID, smiled, and answered the phone.
"Hey Spot," he said, quickly standing up and heading out of the room. Dinner continued as normal (if you could call any of their conversations normal) while Race spoke to his boyfriend. Three marriage proposals from Sari later, they had all but finished their dinner when they heard Race shouting at his cell phone.
"Look Spot, he's my best friend, and I'm not going to… no, I do care about you… look, I'm not trying to avoid you, I saw you last night, remember? Please Spot, be reasonable about this, Blink just got… he's my best friend you moron!"
That conversation was followed by the sound of a cell phone hitting the wall.
"Excuse me," Blink said quietly, and he quickly left the dinner table to go look for Race. He found him in his room, curled up on the couch, which looked like it was about to live up to its reputation as a man eater, and swallow him whole.
"Hey," he said.
Race just ignored him.
"Race," Blink began, but he couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Don't bother," Race said bluntly. "My relationship is shot to hell. And before you decide to start blaming yourself for it, it's not your fault. I've known it was coming for months."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I was busy trying to convince myself that I actually had a relationship. That Spot actually did care about me as his boyfriend, not just as someone to fuck. We've been together for two years, I should stop deluding myself already."
"But you two were always all over each other… and he does care about you, you'd have to be blind not to see that."
Racetrack laughed. "We were having sex for almost six months before I got him to refer to me as his boyfriend. And do you really think I'm the only one he's slept with since we got together? Jesus Blink… I know of at least two times he's cheated on me. And I'm going away to school in what… another four months? You really think he'll be faithful to me?"
"He does love you," Blink said. He couldn't believe this was happening… Spot and Race had always seemed so together. Although the cheating didn't completely surprise him; Spot had quite a reputation.
"Yeah, in some weird and strange way… but he doesn't know how to show it. He's such selfish and self-centered bastard, and I don't know why I've stayed with him for so long."
Blink laughed. "You know, you just don't want to admit it. You love him."
"Yeah," Race said mournfully. "I just wish that was enough."
"Is he worth the next four months?" Blink asked, surprising himself.
"What?"
"Could you stay with him til you leave, knowing what will happen? Would you be happier doing that, or regretting the fact that you could have had the extra time?"
"I have no regrets."
"Bullshit."
"Look," Race said. "Yeah, I'd like to see him. And stay with him for as long as possible. But Blink, Spot is just a boyfriend. You're my best friend. You come first."
"And you're my best friend too, and I hate dealing with you when you're moping. So go fuck your boyfriend, and I'll hang out with you tomorrow, all right?"
"Well, actually, he'd be-"
"Don't," Blink said firmly. "TMI Race. Just way too much information."
"No such thing," Race laughed.
"Right…" Blink said skeptically. "Seriously, go call up Spot. And go have fun."
"Thanks Blink," Race said. He looked at the wall. "Great. I broke my cell phone."
"That's what happens when you throw it at the wall," Blink pointed out.
Race glared at him, and picked up the house line. He quickly dialed the number, waited a few moments and began to speak. "Hey Spot, it's me. Look, if you still want to get together, I am free tonight… no, I'm still annoyed but I do want to see you… he's going to watch bad movies with Sari… you're sorry? That's a first… of course we'll make it up… what flavor ice cream?"
The conversation was still going on, but Blink definitely didn't want to know where it was going. Especially because he knew exactly where Race was going with the ice cream thing.
Blink grinned. You know you watch too much Queer as Folk when…
He rejoined Sari in the living room, and they settled down to watch whatever movie Mr. Higgins was going to subject them to that night. A few moments later, he heard Race's van pull out of the driveway.
Hopefully, he thought to himself, everything is going to work out.
~*~
Disclaimer-I don't own newsies, I don't own any Queer as Folk, and I don't even own Racetrack's family. I own nothing. And I'm broke anyway, so you wouldn't get anything.
Author's notes- Um. Wow. That was a hard chapter to write, but I think it came out okay. Well, since I last updated, I got into the NJL! 3333 Shortie and Keza. This chapter is dedicated to my darling Bovine, who kindly donated his family and his personality to Racetrack. And of course, thanks to B and Shortie for beta reading.
Next chapter, Racetrack's mom makes good on her threat/promise to speak to Blink's mother. And we see what happens with his dad…MWAHAHAHA
Shoutouts!-
B-All Blink torture is your fault. Because you're the one who keeps talking about how much fun it is to abuse Blink… and it is fun.
Shortie-Glad you like all the QaF references. And I'm writing as fast as I can, I promise. :)
Flare-I have plans for Blink's dad… you'll have to wait and see. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA. And Race always needs more love. Especially considering how much I love to torture him…
Oxy-Ah, but we still have the main problem that Blink faces… Mush still thinks he's straight….
Braids-He can be taught! Or can he… hopefully he'll learn to love his son. But, I'm evil, so maybe not…
Rumor-ff.net is evil. It likes eating reviews. *kicks it* And as for Blink's mom, she really does want what's best for her son… she's not all bad.
Strawberry Shake- Spot/Race is my OTP too! Even if you can't really tell from this chapter. ;)
Gothic Author-*evil grin*
Mondie (twice!)-Homework? What's that? *thinks of paper that was due last Tuesday* Hmmm… I have the moon song and the gay boyfriend song bookmarked also. My friends play them all the time, and they sing along. Have you seen the quiznos commercial that has the moon song in it? And as for Blink/Bumlets… just keep watching. 3333
Nani-No killing his dad! I need him for my plot. :P And as for Columbia, just wait and see. ;)
PsychoJo-Blink really does need more love. But, that's what Mush is for…
Til next time!
~TSB