Ch. 2 June 23-24

Will sat down in his office and sifted through the legal briefs on his desk. His secretary saved him from the onset of eternal boredom by announcing "a Mr. McFarland to see you."

Will smiled. Far from being annoying, it had become a somewhat rare pleasure to see the (slightly) more mature man that had emerged in recent years. He embraced his friend and gave him an affectionate, chaste kiss on the cheek.

Unsurprisingly, the influx of wealth greater than even Karen's had suited Jack extremely well.

Today, his exquisite patterned blue silk McQueen dress shirt worked equally well to show off his taste, eyes, and of course money.

"What brings you here, Jack?"

"Hmmm. I would have thought not seeing my best friend in three weeks would have been enough, Will."

Will cringed. Had it really been that long?

"Oh, Jack. I am sorry. We've been really busy lately."

"Uh-huh. How are the hot cop and the life sized doll you two travel with?"

Jack examined his cuticles as he spoke, and Will had to grin at the turn of phrase. So Jack, really.

"We're all doing really well. What about you? How are the clubs these days?"

Jack leaned in close, his eyes shining with gossip. He finally finished the stories of last weekend, only to reveal the exciting events happening this weekend. He promised it was going to be the better than every other weekend.

"...at least that's what this guy at Boy Barn said." Jack concluded an air of authority in his voice.

Will looked at him and was in fact tempted. He hadn't been to a club in ages. He vaguely detected that Jack's voice had moved up an octave or so, a sure sign of his growing excitement.

"Come with me! It'll be awesome."

Jack started rambling. However before Will could mention a single objection, he looked him square in the eye and played his trump card; something Will couldn't possibly worm his way out of. Above all, Will genuinely couldn't stand hurting his friends' feelings. His falling out with Grace had nearly destroyed him.

"After all," he whined slightly, "we haven't seen each other in THREE WEEKS, WILL!"

Will winced. Jack was right.

"I'll call Vince, okay? Just give me-"

"Oh just do it now Big Forehead!"

Will scowled but dialed.

"Hey Vince…yeah, I know…great…of course...were you planning on doing anything tonight? I was going to-HEY!"

Jack had grown impatient and yanked the phone away.

"Jack McFarland here, former actor, current millionaire. Anyhow, I'm inviting you and your boyfriend out tonight."

Will grabbed the phone back at this point.

"Vince? Hi, sorry about that, but do you want to go to a club tonight? It's been a while since we did anything like that."

"Yeah, sure. I'll call to see if Sam is available to look after Ben. See you around 6, love you."

"Love you too."

They hung up.

"I'll see you both at 6 then. Later, Baldy," he wiggled his fingers.

Later that night, Will started to put dinner together while Vince took a shower and Ben did his homework. Jack walked in, carrying a plastic bag. He had changed into a black dress shirt and skintight black pants.

"Nice pants, Jack," Will said dryly.

"Oh you like? Marc Jacobs. Karen only lets me buy FOUR new outfits every week. It's just killing me, Will."

He sighed theatrically and Will patted him gently on the shoulder. Vince walked out of the bathroom wearing a wife beater and blue running shorts.

"What's in the bag, Jack? Any drugs, concealed weapons, or stolen goods?"

"Hey, hey relax. I'm sure it's just some hair gel, more cologne than is socially acceptable and enough condoms to last many men their entire lives. Right, Jack?"

Jack nodded.

After dinner, Will walked Ben next door to the babysitter's and went home to get dressed. It took him about half an hour to change into a nice dress shirt and his favorite pair of slacks. Vince took a little bit longer to get his hair perfect but, as usual, Jack took the longest. When he finally emerged from the bathroom almost 40 minutes later, his hair was gelled to the extreme, clearly with a sparkling component and he had slight liner under his eyes.

"Is it alright? Karen's been trying to teach me how to do it for ages," he said dramatically holding the pencil.

Jack led the way to the club and quickly flashed the doorman a smile that immediately got them into the club. Will didn't ask.

The guys stayed together for a little while while they talked and each had a drink. Jack eventually started dancing with some guy and Will grabbed Vince to do the same.

"Remember the first time we went to a bar together?"

Vince looked at him and started to smile. Will put on a sincere sounding hurt voice.

"You danced with someone else!"

"That you had already had sex with!" Vince said, sounding smug.

"I don't play games anymore," he whispered into Vince's ear.

Vince smiled broadly and pulled him into a deep kiss. The continued to dance, talk and of course kiss all night.

Will giggled loudly as they reentered their brownstone around 3 A.M.

"Shutup, you're gonna wake Ben." Vince said stumbling in behind him.

"Ben isn't here, remember? Spending the night over…THERE!"

He pointed triumphantly at the ceiling despite it being the neighbor on their left.

"C'mon let's get to bed."

Will giggled then looked at him, surprisingly lucid for a second.

"It's three A.M.! When did that happen…and how much did we drink?"

"Enough."

Vince sat down, holding his head in his hands. He had lost count after two beers and quite a few shots. Whenever his class had been empty, jack had magically appeared with a replacement. Bit spooky really. After a few minutes of listening to his boyfriend's chatter, he stood up and pulled him towards their room to sleep.

He woke lazily the next morning. He didn't like spending his days all alone though. He went into the kitchen and found a note from Will.

Hey,

Picked up Ben and dropped him off at school,

See you tonight, love you,

XO

Will

It was such a small thing but it made Vince smile nonetheless. He put breakfast together and texted Will, asking how he felt after last night. His own head was still slightly throbbing. Will replied that he was fine. Vince shook his head, smiling slightly.

After breakfast, he started the dishwasher and did some laundry. He then went for a walk and grabbed a sandwich from the deli nearby. After folding the laundry and putting it away, it was time to get Ben. He normally spent the afternoons in programs after school but if he was home, Vince figured he might as well pick him up.

"Padre!" Ben screamed excitedly.

Vince grabbed him and gave him a kiss on the top of the head. They went home and he told him to change his clothes. He made him a snack and asked him about his day.

Will come home shortly, rubbing his temples.

"Hi Dad," Ben said happily. They hugged and Vince started to make dinner, happy to enjoy a quiet evening at home.