New chapter, guys!

Jeff was just heading out the door to go over to Nick's house when his dad stopped him and called him to the living room to 'talk.'

Things were still kind of tense when it came to Jeff's father, even though he had kind of come around to the idea of Jeff being bi. He still seemed really uncomfortable when Jeff even mentioned Nick's name, however, and he left the house if Nick ever came over.

Jeff closed the front door a little reluctantly, fighting the urge to just pretend he hadn't heard his father. Any sort of 'talk' with him usually wasn't a good thing. Jeff warily stepped into the living room where his father was sitting in the armchair.

"Yes?" Jeff said. "You wanted to talk to me?"

He motioned for Jeff to sit down, which he did without question. Ever since his father had lost his temper and slapped Jeff, he'd been a little…overly submissive. He did everything he could to keep from getting on his bad side. "I thought it was about time that we discussed…um…having certain boys over at the house," his father began.

Jeff was immediately uncomfortable. "Er, I don't think that's really necessary," he tried to protest.

"Just be quiet and listen," he ordered. "There are a few ground rules I feel I should lay down."

Jeff frowned but resigned himself to this awkward lecture without question. "Fine," he said. "Go on."

"First of all: no boys allowed in your room."

"All all?" Jeff questioned. That sounded just a little outrageous. "All of my friends are guys, dad."

"I know. And none of them are allowed in your bedroom. What about that is hard to understand?"

Jeff hesitated before speaking. "Well, it's just…I'm not into any other guys 'like that.' If anyone was in my room, it wouldn't be for anything…" gay? He couldn't find the right word. It just seemed like his father thought that now that he was bi, he would be out for sex with every guy he crossed paths with. He'd been in an all boys' school for three years already, though, so that definitely was not the case.

Hell, he probably wouldn't even do anything with Nick if he was given the 'opportunity.' Their relationship went deeper than the physical, and Jeff was more than willing to wait.

Too bad his father couldn't realize that. "I don't care. It's like the 'no girls in the bedroom' rule, just extended to boys," his father stated. "You are bisexual, as you have put it countless times. It's only natural that I'd feel the need to amend the rules."

Jeff sighed. "Okay. Fine," he agreed grudgingly. "Anything else?"

"Just one more thing," he said. "I'd really appreciate it if you would have enough class to just act normal around me."

Enough class? To act normal? Oh, god. This was not going to be good. "What does that even mean?" Jeff demanded.

"It means no gay activity around me. No holding hands with boys, no hugging, no cuddling, no sexual talk, and no kissing boys around me." He said it so blandly, so straight-forward. "I don't care who you're with, just don't force it on me."

Jeff almost couldn't speak. "What?" he choked. "That's ridiculous! You're basically telling me to act straight if you're in the room. That's like denying my feelings. That's a step back toward close-minded bigotry."

"Watch your mouth," his father barked, standing up. Jeff snapped his mouth shut and leaned back. It was pathetic how scared he was of his own father. "I'm entitled to my own opinions, and my opinion is that homosexuality is immoral and unnatural. I don't want to have to be exposed to it. It's disgusting."

Jeff flinched at that. So, you thing I'm immoral and unnatural? You think I'm disgusting? I thought we were making progress! But I guess I was mistaken.

"I'm not forcing my opinions on you. I'm letting you stay together with that…er, with Nick. So you could at least respect my view on all of this."

You mean have the 'class' to act 'normal?' Jeff remained silent. He wasn't willing to speak up. Besides, his father wasn't likely to change his view on this, anyways. And at least he remembered to use Nick's name instead of 'that boy.' That was some sort of microscopic progress, right? Right?

"Understood?" he demanded.

Jeff nodded. "Understood," he mumbled. "I won't act 'gay' around you. Can I go now?"

"Good," his father grunted. "Go on."

Jeff stood up and dodged out of the living room as fast as he could. He didn't know if he could stand another minute in there with his father. He exited out the back door and cut through his backyard and Nick's backyard, and made his way around to the front door. At his knock, Nick answered the door.

He smiled a greeting at Jeff. "Ah, hello, amore mio," he greeted endearingly. He leaned up to kiss him.

Jeff tilted his head. "What's that mean? Ah-morey Me-yo? Is it Italian?"

"Yup," Nick said. "It's a name I picked out especially for you, among others. That way I can use pet names without you teasing me for it."

"What? I would never!" Jeff pretended to act offended.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure. Come on inside," he said, taking Jeff's hand to pull him through the doorway. "My mom hates it when I leave the door open. It's a waste of cold air or something."

Jeff smiled. Just a few seconds with Nick could completely brighten up his day. "So you aren't going to tell me what it means?"

"Nope."

"Darn. It's at least a good thing, right?"

"Maybe," Nick mused teasingly.

"Now I'm worried."

"You know I wouldn't call you anything offensive. Or mean, or bad, or whatever," he assured. Nick led Jeff through the front hallway to the living room. They sat down on one of the sofas and Nick turned to look at him. "So, what's wrong? You look troubled."

Wow, Nick could tell that already? Then again, it had just happened. The initial anger and distress was probably still a bit evident in Jeff's face. "It's my dad," he mumbled.

"Again?" Nick frowned. "What'd he do?"

"Just…he set up some stupid rules for me now that I'm bi," Jeff explained. "I can live with no boys allowed in my room, but he actually made a rule that I'm not allowed to act 'gay' in front of him."

Nick furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What the heck does that mean?"

Jeff shrugged. "Bottom-line is, if you come over and my dad is in the room, we have to pretend we're just friends," he muttered. "He doesn't want to be exposed to my gayness, apparently."

"That's…really cold," Nick murmured. "He didn't actually say that, did he?"

"He did. He also used the terms immoral and disgusting. Oh, and don't forget unnatural," Jeff muttered. "He's so homophobic."

"I'm sorry, Jeff," Nick said softly. "I wish I could do something to help."

"It's just his view on things…There's always going to be homophobia around. Hell, there's still racism and sexism around, so I guess bigotry never really goes away, unfortunately."

"It's sad just how true that statement is," Nick said.

Jeff nodded. "Well, I'm done sulking. What do you want to do today?" Jeff said. "I'd like to get my mind off of my father."

Nick smirked flirtatiously. "Well, that shouldn't be too hard," he said. He leaned in closer to Jeff, drawing his arms around him and kissing him, one long and passionate kiss. When he broke the kiss, he whispered, "Working yet?"

Jeff smiled slyly. "I'm not sure. Maybe you should try again?" he murmured playfully.

Nick breathed a laugh and kissed Jeff again deeply. The sweet taste of his lips enveloped Jeff's senses, and he closed his eyes to savor it. Jeff drew Nick closer and eased back against the arm of the sofa, refusing to break the delicious contact.

His mind was definitely in a much more blissful place now…

Nick was especially careful to keep his weight off of Jeff's ribs, which Jeff was thankful for. Though he probably wouldn't even notice the pain if he did lie against his ribcage right now. He found Nick's waist with one hand and slid his fingers through his dark wavy hair with the other, counting every second in his mind.

So perfect.

But like every perfect moment for them, it just had to be interrupted. Mrs. Romano walked into the room. "Nick!" she gasped.

That effectively broke the kiss and Nick pulled away, off of Jeff. He licked his lips and grinned sheepishly at his mother. "Err, hi, mom," he greeted innocently.

She sighed, crossed her arms, and narrowed her eyes at the two of them. "I don't have to have the talk with you two, do I?" She said it almost threateningly.

Oh, God no, Jeff said silently. I'm good!

Nick shook his head. "No. We're fine," he protested. "We were only kissing."

"Looked pretty heated to me," she said. "Nick, you know the rules."

Nick looked embarrassed. "It wasn't anything like that, really," he said uncomfortably.

Though it probably had looked a little incriminating. Heated make-out session plus Nick had kind of been on top of Jeff… now, where could that have gone? Not that they couldn't control themselves if they needed to or anything, just that it probably looked that way to Nick's mother.

"Alright, then. I'll give you a warning," she decided, shifting a stern look between Nick and Jeff.

Jeff nodded. "Sorry, Mrs. Romano. Won't happen again." At least, we'll make sure you aren't home next time? He could hope.

"I can live with that," Nick said. He stood up and motioned Jeff to his feet. "We were actually just going out." He looked at Jeff. "Dinner at Breadstix sound good?"

"Sure," Jeff agreed. They always got a nice discount there, and Jeff didn't really have much money on him right now.

Besides, he definitely didn't want to go home. He felt he couldn't even meet his father's eyes anymore. It was almost like he didn't even know him anymore. He never imagined his father would take his coming out so negatively, and now the damage was done.

Jeff wondered if it would ever be the same again. Would dad really just deny his sexuality forever? Would Jeff just have to deal with it up until he moved out? He was willing to put up with it, in order to stay with Nick.

Little did he know, he was in for a rough year with his father. Things would get far from better. In fact, things were going to take a horrible turn for the very worst.

I felt the need to throw in some foreshadowing :)

I'd love some input, guys! Review! :D