Disclaimer: Read chapter 1…

Chapter 5

Saturday brought a day of cleaning and chatting for Spencer and Bryan. They finished unpacking the numerous boxes around the house, dusted the cupboards and vacuumed the carpets and swept the floors before sitting down to eat a home cooked lunch. Nothing special, just toasted tomato and lettuce sandwiches. But both men enjoyed it immensely.

They spent their time after washing the dishes talking, about anything and everything that popped into their mind. It was the middle of the afternoon when they parted, a nod their goodbye.

Bryan watched as Spencer strolled down the street, a tiny ache throbbing in his chest. He wasn't surprised when the phone rang an hour later.

"Hello?" He answered dully.

"Is he gone?"

He sighed exasperatedly, "Yes Mum."

"I'll be over in a jiffie!"

And she was. Bryan had made tea for them both, and couldn't help but glare at his eccentric mother's comment on 'my you act like a housewife at times Bryan, get out more'.

The conversation started out innocently enough; with Nadja telling Bryan he was expected to be at Tala and Kai's by ten o'clock. But Bryan could tell that Nadja wouldn't last too much longer, and, cutting her comment on how well Yahlia was doing in school short, asked her bluntly; "What do you want?"

The woman tried to look innocent, and after failing miserably huffed, "Well I never! Am I not allowed to see if my only child is alright?" Bryan rolled his eyes, staring at her hard. She finally gave in, "Oh fine! I wanted to know what you two got up to last night."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked incredulously, his brows furrowed, a look of pure frustration on his face.

"Oh come now Bryan, after twelve years of celibacy what do you think I mean?"

"MUM!"

The woman blinked, taken aback by Bryan's outburst, "You're not embarrassed are you? Bryan dear, it's all natural…"

Bryan was as red as a radish by the time his mother left.

o0o0o

The next day, Spencer awoke early getting in the last bits and pieces of marking he'd needed to finish.

Tala's and Kai's gathering was today, and he lethargically made his way around the house as he cleaned up and got ready. His breakfast wasn't huge, nor was it filling, but it satisfied him until he ate lunch.

He'd had a shower and gathered what he needed to take, careful to not shake the drinks too much. A while later he approached a mirror.

He fingered his hair, sighing at its complete unwillingness to be helpful and stay neat and tidy. No amount of gel would keep it in place and Spencer was beginning to feel tired of it.

He sighed. Oh well… Why change something if it was working for you? From what he'd been told some people thought it suited him a lot more than most other neater hairstyles would. He'd had to agree.

He glanced up at the clock before throwing on his shirt and grabbing a bag. Tala and Kai hadn't wanted him to bring food, but drinks instead and Spencer found himself feeling at home with the weight on his shoulders and balanced evenly from his hands.

After checking everything over once, he left slamming the door after fingering his keys. He was surprised, to say the least, when he noticed Bryan parking his dark green car in front of his house.

He saw Bryan grin and couldn't help smiling in return, "You need a lift?" Spencer nodded immediately, hopping into the car. It took roughly twenty minutes to get to their friends' home, and by the ten minute mark, they were comfortably wrapped in silence, the air conditioning humming in the background.

"Mum thinks we're sleeping together, you know?" Bryan commented quietly, as they stopped at a set of lights.

Spencer hummed in response and tilted his head back, "Yes, well… I doubt that will be happening anytime soon. You told her that." He ignored Bryan's almost hurt glances, and resumed staring out the window.

They were greeted by a waving Yahlia, a huge smile on her face as she hugged her father and nodded briefly to Spencer, greeting him politely. Spencer smiled at her and watched as she turned to chatter excitedly to Bryan, her father, Spencer emphasized bitterly.

"What are you three doing?" Nadja was standing in the door way to the small house, it's old, peeled paint fence creaking loudly as they entered. "Hurry up! We need to get them cold."

Jamie, Rhys, Ian and Ming Ming were already there, sitting at the table Tala and Kai had made up in the small backyard.

Ian let out a cackling laugh as Tala swore lightly at the cooler he'd managed to fill with ice, before he was falling off his chair in a dramatic attempt to dodge a spatula Tala had flung at him. Spencer chuckled at them, as Tala waved him over.

The day had begun with a large conversation across the table as all the food was reheated and set on the table gently. To everyone's amusement (bar Tala's) many of the steaks and chops had become rather rubbery.

Kai comforted his long time lover gently, patting his arms and kissing his cheeks. The red head was over his sulks as he noticed they were allowed to start eating.

Spencer sat chewing quietly and thoughtfully on his food. He was staring again, but he wasn't worried, not too much; the others were too busy with eating and talking to notice his disgruntled stares and glares.

Was Yahlia being clingy? Spencer was sure she was, her talking hadn't ceased since Bryan had arrived. Maybe she knew that something had changed? Maybe…

Did she know about her origins? That she was conceived by two men, and did not have a 'mother' as such? Bryan had to have told her, they seemed too close for him to not have, though Spencer could tell that the man hadn't told her about the Abbey's horrors. She was too innocent to have heard.

"So Spencer…" he blinked the dazed look from his eyes as he stared over at Rhys, the man's dark eyes twinkling with amusement, "How that girlfriend of yours?"

Spencer felt a huge wave of exasperation wash over him and resisted the urge to walk into the house and bang his head on the bathroom wall a couple of times.

"I don't know who you're talking about."

The table had fallen silent, everyone's eyes on them. Jamie grabbed Rhys' hand, hoping to anyone that his dearest would shut his mouth before he said something extremely stupid. Tala and Kai looked worried, and wondered how many small beers Rhys had drunk, and instantly regretted letting him bring it.

The man grinned, "Oh you know… The one that wouldn't leave you alone and stop staring at you, she works at that school of yours." Spencer heard Jamie whisper quietly to his lover, trying to look discreet.

Spencer decided to ignore him for the most part and snuck a glance at Bryan who was staring between himself and Rhys with a look of confusion and agitation; he hated not knowing about something, and the fact that Spencer had told him only two nights ago that he hadn't been with anyone since the man had left, must have made him seem like a terrible liar.

"She's not my girlfriend." He said dully, returning to his meal.

He tried to gain his patience, to exercise every last bit of it, but the older male was making it astonishingly hard, "Funny. She was all over you the last time I saw her."

Everyone's attention was so tuned into the words exchanged between Rhys and Spencer that nobody noticed the man quickly pushing his plate away and dropping his cutlery until he was pushing his chair back noisily and he rising to his feet.

He cleared his throat, "I just remembered I had something to do at home." He said stiffly, before he bent down and kissed his daughter's cheek and walked back inside the house heading for his car.

Silence covered them uncomfortably, as Rhys shut his mouth, finally realizing his mistake. Yahlia was staring worriedly at Spencer, and Spencer was carefully making sure his temper remained under control.

They hadn't even had two full days to bask in the light of the other's forgiveness before it was violently ripped away from them.

Mimicking Bryan, he stood said farewell and left, glad that the yelling and fighting didn't start until after the door had closed behind him.

o0o0o

"How could you be so stupid-"

"-And to think you practically raised him-"

"-Rhys do not expect to be sleeping with me for a long time-"

Yahlia looked on confused about the events and worried about her father. He'd seemed happier than when she'd left him on Friday morning, and was glad to say he'd stayed that way for most of the afternoon. Until that guy started talking… Mr. Turanov.

How was it that he was invited? She'd never seen him before now, well… Besides in school. But he acted as though he'd known her uncles and grandmother all his life… How could she have never met him before?

"Um, uncle, who-"

She wasn't able to get a word in as her grandmother, uncles and near-aunt verbally attacked her Uncle Rhys. He seemed to want to shrink into nothingness, away from their accusations. Her Uncle Kai and Uncle Ian were plain out glaring at him.

"Spencer's only just forgiven Bryan and now you make Bryan think he's been chucked out! I can't believe you!"

Forgiven? What had happened?

"I'm sorry! I know what I did was stupid, but I got caught up; you know how much I love teasing him."

Yahlia couldn't help the temper in her, as it slowly, very slowly bubbled to the surface, eventually erupting in a loud, "Shut up!" She breathed heavily, not used to raising her voice so much. "Now, what is going on? Why is Dad so upset?"

Everyone eyed everyone else wearily.

Maybe this was something best left up to Bryan.

o0o0o

"Bryan! Open up this door!" Spencer pounded on the door, "Come on! We need to talk."

"Fuck off you bastard! You're nothing but a liar you-"

Spencer sighed as he recognized the sigh of frustration as Bryan trying to keep control of his emotions and started again, quietly this time, "Bryan, open the door, we need to talk."

"Go away."

It was quiet and Spencer continued, "What Rhys said was only partly true. That woman has been flirting with me for some time, but I haven't done anything. Bryan, please, open this door; I hate talking to it."

He heard the door click open pathetically and pushed it open gratefully. He was met with the fierce glare of Bryan, the man's fists clenched by his sides.

"You lied!"

"I did not! She likes me not the other way 'round."

"For fuck's sake you couldn't get rid of her?"

"She's a co-worker Bryan, I doubt being rude to her would help any at all."

Spencer was surprised, but ready as Bryan raised a fist and made to deck him, but he was lucky enough to cop only two punches before he'd managed to trap Bryan between the wall and himself. Bryan's carefully aimed punches stopped by his hands clamped down on the man's wrists.

"Let go." Bryan warned.

"Relax first; I do not intend to let you throw a tantrum over nothing."

"You lied, you fucktard."

"I did not, so relax." Spencer cursed as soon as he released Bryan, as he was swiped across the face, and was unable to stop his own fist heading towards Bryan's cheek.

It was more than their old rough-and-tumble matches, dangerous as both aimed to hurt the other. Spencer seemed to be aiming less for the face than the body though, far keener to slow Bryan down than harm him seriously. Bryan was just like he used to be, and was unmerciful with his hits.

Again Bryan found himself pressed against the wall, winded and gasping for breath. He felt his head being jerked up crudely, and before he could swear and rave, Spencer kissed him.

Spencer held still for a few seconds, reveling in the feeling of Bryan against him before pulling away and whispering, "She liked me, not the other way 'round." And fled for the door, closing it after himself, leaving a very agitated man behind.

Fire: Holy crud I updated another one! Amazing… -stares dazedly at the computer screen-

Anyway… This was drafted, edited and finally posted really late at night, 1 o'clock late in fact… So I'm sorry if it's messed up or has many spelling or grammatical errors, you can blame it on my inspiration's timing… It always comes out when I'm most tired…

Anyway… Review please, I'm sure you know what I think of them…