The boys were having breakfast.
"We all are college students." Seth explained to Roman.
Kofi continued the explanation. "Xavier and I work part-time as waiters in a bar where Big E is the bouncer. Seth doesn't work because his mother is a millionaire and she pays for the room where he sleeps and all his expenses." Kofi smiled.
"Why don't you live with your mom?" Roman asked.
Seth's face turned grim.
"Because his mom lives with the gold digger." Big E complained. "We're not going to let Seth ruin his life by living there."
Roman blinked several times. "How could Seth ruin his life by living with his mom?"
The boys looked at each other but no one answered that question.
"The question here is: what are you going to do?" Big E deflected the topic. "You don't exist in this country. I don't see how you can get a job."
"It is not his fault." Seth quickly intervened. "For now he sleeps in my room and he will eat my food, there will not be an expense for any of you."
"No, Seth." Roman admitted. "I must work."
"We know it's not Roman's fault he's here." Kofi said smiling at Seth. "While we figure out what to do with him... his job will be to take care of you."
Big E and Xavier smiled knowingly. Seth's was doe eyed, his friends wanted to use Roman to get him away from...
"I agree with that." Big E said smiling. "Don't take your eyes off Seth, we don't have college today and Drew will come to bother him."
"Drew?" Roman didn't understand anything.
"You will see." Kofi said.
The boys left and Roman and Seth were sitting Indian-style on the boy's bed. The raven haired man noticed that ever since the guys mentioned this guy, Drew, Seth looked sad.
"How's life here?" Roman asked trying to distract Seth.
Seth smirked. "It's good, this is a quiet place to live and we all get along. I can't believe that in just 31 years everything is going to change so drastically."
"Less than that, Seth. In 20 years there will be nothing left of what you love." Roman said sadly. "I'm sure you won't even exist. I never saw you or anyone with your last name."
Seth sighed, the future was horrible. "Tell me more."
Roman nodded. "My sister and I came to this city when I was 15 years old. Everything was under the control of Z&B Industries, everything was different, everything automatic, technological and lifeless."
Seth was a little saddened. "How did all this happen so fast?"
"Z&B created a kind of technology that revolutionized the world, it was something out of the ordinary for its time, and soon everything was done with this technology, to which only they had access. People who didn't have money for the updates they put out every year were left behind and were poor. Those who could not adapt to the rapid changes became unemployed and people had become so selfish that they did not want to use their taxes to help others, so health and education became almost inaccessible for the poorest."
Seth was amazed. "You omitted a lot of these things in the explanation you gave to my friends..."
Roman sighed. "Migrants, illegals, minorities and specially people of color, were displaced to the point where they had no right to health or education, which led them to commit crimes. The result was that they were taken to jails where they were executed, because as I said, people voted for their taxes not to be used on people who did not deserve it. I was one of the few non-whites that existed in my time. What awaits your friends is horrible, I didn't have the courage to tell them anything."
"But my mother is a millionaire." Seth sighed disappointed. "And she's also part of the people who hate that their taxes are used for the poor."
"And that selfish thought backfired, many millionaires ended up in bankrupt. There were suicides because of this, the only millionaire was him, his scientists also had money but not even close. The middle class worked to obtain health and education that were very expensive and that was all they could afford, the poor could only survive."
Seth's gaze was filled with pure sadness, thinking about the future. Roman looked at him empathetically.
"And the icing on the cake was the big plague, where most of the people of your generation died because they didn't have access to vaccines. They had to choose between using the few resources they have for themselves or their kids, they chose their kids, and that ended with the most people of your generation dying too soon."
"And what happened to those kids? The survivors." Seth asked.
"I am part of those kids. We grew up with astronomical debts in health and the little education we could access before dropping it, because we did not have enough credits. Most of the people of my generation were engaged in prostitution and robbery, which were the only means of obtaining credits to pay the interest on our debts. Getting food was something we did illegally. The older ones educated the younger ones. Only the children of workers and scientists who worked for Z&B could have an education that it was certainly of a very high level. To the rest of us it was inaccessible. Dean's and Sami's parents were scientists who worked for Z&B."
"And how did they join you?" Seth asked.
Roman's gaze turned grim as he remembered these things. "When I got here, I was 15 years old and my sister 19. She came to this city to... prostitute with men who had money, because we were very, very poor. I got a job stealing for some traffickers because I was the right size."
Seth tried to hold back tears. The future was horrible, now he understood why Roman should kill that man.
"When I was 17 years old, I had become an expert in breaking into houses to steal things. That morning I managed to enter the patio of Dean's house, but the alarms sounded. The security system locked me in a laser cage that if I got closer, it would burn my skin."
Roman closed his eyes fully focused on this memory. Seth linked his hands with Roman's in support. Roman's features softened a bit, feeling the warmth of Seth's hands.
"Dean and Sami found me there." Roman sighed. "You know? When I saw Dean, it was like seeing an angel, he was so beautiful and perfect."
"He is a thief." A 16-year-old Dean approached the cage. "He must be our age."
"I'm not a thief!" Roman yelled.
"If you came here to steal, then you are." Sami intervened.
"Sure, it's easy to say that when you are here, receiving education, food and health, living happily in a house while we sleep on the street and eat your leftovers. If any of us get sick, we know we will die anyway. No, you have no right to call me a thief." A tear rolled down Roman's cheek, he knew he would be taken to one of the facilities where he would be executed.
"That's not fair." Dean sighed. "Sami help me get him out of here."
"You're crazy, the house films everything, your parents will find out we did this." Sami refused.
"You're kind of a genius, you can delete those videos. Please help me get him out of here."
Sami and Dean released Roman. And while Sami erased the evidence, Dean made Roman shower and wear clean clothes, as well as feed him.
"You are not like them." Roman smiled at him, after all, they were only teenagers. "When I saw you I thought you were an angel, I was not wrong."
"Dean started giving me food and clothes and most of the times ran away from school to talk to me." Roman opened his eyes and looked at Seth tenderly.
"This is how you fell in love." Seth smiled at him.
"Yes, we fell in love and it was then, that Dean couldn't take it anymore. Finally, he ran away from his house and joined our little army, Sami followed him because they were best friends and he was also aware of the evil around them."
"Now I understand why you have made this sacrifice, I really hope you meet again." Seth said sincerely.
"It's weird." Roman squeezed Seth's hands tighter. "It is the second time I come to this city and I meet someone who helps me. You are my angel of this year, your friends are right, I have to take care of you while I'm trapped in this place."
Seth was touched. "This is the first time someone has called me that, thank you, but if you protect me, the angel would be you. You will be the angel of this entire city if you prevent the future from turning into the horror you have described."
They both looked at each other. Roman smiled at Seth, and the Samoan realized that this young man was very handsome, long eyelashes framing those almond-shaped eyes. His skin was perfect and radiant. His fluffy hair made him look a bit childish and he was also very sweet.
Seth also looked at Roman, the raven haired man was so handsome, brave and capable of sacrificing himself for love. A love that was not selfish. Things that seemed alien to his current situation.
Someone knocked on the door, snapping them both out of their reverie. Seth realized what they were doing and released Roman's hands. The Samoan smiled at the blush on the boy's cheeks, absolutely adorable.
"I'll see who it is." Seth said something nervous
Roman watched him go and shook his head. What the hell was happening to him? The samoan touched his face and noticed it was warm, like he was blushing too.
Seth opened the door and couldn't even see who it was, but he definitely knew it, when he was being manhandled by the other man.
Man who entered the house, closed the door and pushed him against the nearest wall.
"You missed me, Sethie, because I missed you a lot." Having said that, the man kissed him passionately.
Seth tried to push him and resist... he always tried, but as always, he couldn't.
That man was kissing Seth's neck leaving a huge hickey.
"Please Drew, don't do this, it's wrong." Seth said moaning. He couldn't resist.
"If it's so bad, why don't you stop me?" The deep accent in Drew's voice made Seth's legs shake.
"You are a bastard! If you care about me, why don't you choose me?" Seth asserted, however, he made no effort to let go.
"Because you're already mine, Sethie. You'll always be mine. I don't need to do such a thing. You've come to hide in this pigsty and you know what? This is where I'm going to fuck you."
Seth was breathing heavily, he knew this was wrong. That this made him a bastard, but he couldn't help it. Although he never admitted it out loud, he was in love with this man.
A man who said that he loved him too but with a selfish love. A love that would be his disgrace if all this were to come to light.
"Stop questioning yourself so much that we don't have much time and I want to have a bit of you, even though I can't do what I really want." Drew said and kissed Seth again.
Seth couldn't resist anymore. He kissed Drew back. This man was driving him crazy, he was gorgeous and domineering and... evil.
Seth tangled his legs around Drew's waist, forgetting everything around them, it was just the two of them kissing like there was no tomorrow.
Drew's hands were on Seth's butt, making the boy moan.
"I can't wait to fuck you." Drew said between kisses. "I don't know why you keep resisting. You should live with us or live alone, your mom will pay for that."
"Seth, have you seen..." Roman went to the living room and found both men.
Seth released Drew immediately, feeling embarrassed as fuck.
But before Roman could ask anything, someone else knocked on the door.
"Seth!" Shouted a female voice.
Seth and Drew straightened their clothes and the young man opened the door. Seth was obviously nervous. The woman came in and hugged the younger boy.
"It took me 20 minutes to find a parking lot. You should come home to me instead of living in this horrible place." She complained. "It's absurd that my only son insists on living in this pigsty."
The woman released the hug and walked over to Drew. She gently kissed the man's lips and smiled at him. "Honey, I hope you've already told Seth about Thanksgiving."
Roman was speechless. The man the boys referred to as a bastard and a gold digger was Seth's mother's boyfriend, and he was also the lover of his girlfriend's son.
Seth looked at Roman doe eyed. Shame and guilt were reflected in his eyes.
The woman walked back to Seth and that's when she noticed the huge hickey on her son's neck. "This is recent..."
Seth and Drew looked at each other. They were going to be exposed.