Home - 5. Part 5

Suddenly I heard Troy saying goodbye to Beverly inside the house. The door opened and he came out. His face was red and his eyes were puffy, like he had cried. At first he only took a short glimpse at me and looked away again after a second as if he hadn't recognized me, but then his eyes quickly returned to me and he frowned very deeply.

"Cody?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes?" I answered and he walked over to us.

"Jesus Christ! What happened to you?!"

"Don't you like it?" I asked sadly and lowered my head.

"Do I like it?... I mean… Jesus…" he said, and I was about to cry. "I mean… I can't even think straight right now, my mind is just so fucking blown. You're… inhumanly hot."

"Really?" I asked, relieved.

"One billion percent."

"Do you have a boner?" Ashley asked.

"Who the fuck are you?" Troy replied.

"That's Ashley, my new BFF. She did all this for me," I said.

"Oh, thank you so much Ashley," he said.

"Don't mention it. Now, do you have a boner or not?" she replied.

"I don't know, is your puss-hole wet right now? And what about your assho…"

"Troy, that's Wyett's daughter!" I quickly said.

"Oh shit," he gasped. "I'm so fucking sorry Ashley. Please don't tell your father about this, alright?"

"Puss-hole?" she repeated and burst out laughing.

"That's right, it was just a silly silly joke. And yes, I am slightly hard."

"See Cody, I told you he'd get a boner."

I just smiled proudly and hugged Troy.

"Are you ok?" I asked, trying not to sound too worried.

"Yeah, I guess, but let's talk about it at home, alright?"

"Sure," I answered, stroked his back and then let go of him.

"Beverly's amazing, isn't she?" Ashley said. "She made me cry like a baby too. Just be glad you're not wearing makeup."

"I did not fucking cry!" Troy replied indignantly.

"No offence Troy, but you look like you were attacked by a bee hive."

"I had an allergic reaction to her perfume, that's all."

"Let's just change the subject, ok?" I said.

"Fine. Are you staying for lunch?" Ashley said.

"Yeah, your father invited us," I answered.

"Great, and you're in luck, because we'll have pizza today."

"Seriously? Pizza? Will there be beer too by any chance?" Troy asked.

"Of course," Ashley answered.

"Wow, I'm so glad we came here," Troy said.

"Oh really? Interesting. Maybe you should listen to me more often, huh?" I replied, smirking.

"Definitely… Hey, could we take some pizza home with us, for the boys? I mean, if that's a problem I'll just pack my share for them," Troy said.

"Yeah, they can have mine too," I added.

"Aww, how thoughtful of you and of course you can. How are the boys doing by the way?" Ashley answered.

"They're great, thanks for asking," I said.

"Isn't Dylan the cutest?"

"He is, but Michael and Troy don't get along."

"What did you do to him?" Ashley asked Troy sharply.

"He thinks I'm a pervert, cause when we met them I wanted them to strip, so I can check them for bites."

"That is pretty creepy. You didn't do it, did you?"

"No and in case you're wondering, I'm not a pedophile. You can ask Beverly, she has already 'screened' me and she has even written a long note for the boys to let them know that they have nothing to worry about from me."

"That's a relief, but just proving that you're not a pervert won't be enough to make Michael like you… I have an idea. Come."

We followed Ashley to her house and inside she told us to sit down in the living room, so we did.

"I have something you can give Michael. I was saving it for his birthday, but since you need to win him over you can have it. I'll be right back," she said to Troy and then hurried upstairs.

She returned a minute later and offered him a comic book. It looked really old and on the cover there was Superman, who was smashing a car against a rock, and people were running away from him in horror. Above it it said "No.1, June, 1938, Action Comics".

"That's supposed to win him over? An eighty-year-old comic book? And I'm pretty sure it's also a knockoff. I mean, they got the 'S' on Superman's chest wrong," I said, giggling. "Thanks anyway Ashley." But then I saw Troy's expression and had to frown, because he seemed to be completely awestruck for some reason.

"Is that an original?" he asked incredulously.

"It sure is," Ashley answered.

"Jesus," Troy gasped.

"What am I missing here?" I asked, confused, but Troy ignored me.

"I'm afraid to even touch it," he said.

"Can please someone tell me what the big deal is?" I asked.

"It's the first appearance of Superman," Ashley said, like it explained everything somehow.

"So?"

"It's the holy grail for every comic book fan."

"I didn't know that you like comic books that much," I said, surprised.

"Who doesn't? They're awesome. And Superman is my favorite, by a mile," Troy answered.

"He's Michael's favorite too. He'll lose his mind when you give him this," Ashley said.

"What? No! Fuck Michael, I'm keeping this for myself," Troy replied.

"No, you're not!" Ashley said sharply and jerked the comic book away.

"Come on, he won't appreciate this as much as I do and Dylan will probably draw on it with Magic Marker. It's a waste."

"He will appreciate this, but apparently you care more about your own happiness than his, so you can go screw yourself."

"Shit... No… I wasn't thinking clearly. Of course I'll give it to him. I'll even tell him he can only have it on the condition that he'll never let me near it, alright? Please? I really want us to get along, so we can be a family, you know?"

"Fine, but I'll ask him about it at our celebration and if he tells me that you didn't give it to him I'll have my dad shoot you dead."

"Fair enough… Could I at least read it first? Please?"

"Ok, but only because I'm such a nice person."

"Thank you."

"Can I offer you something to drink?"

"Do you have beer?"

"Sure. You want one too Cody?"

"No, water will be fine, thanks," I replied.

"Coming right up," she said. She gave Troy the comic book and then headed to the kitchen. He just stared at it like it was pure gold, which made me grin.

Ashley was back a minute or so later and handed us our drinks.

"This is cold," Troy said, surprised.

"Sure, we have electricity," Ashley replied.

"Wow, I'm gonna read Action Comics No.1 and drink a cold beer now. This is the best day of my life."

"Excuse me?" I asked indignantly.

"Oh shit, no… I mean, it's only the best day of my life cause you're with me and I love you so much. You know?" he answered nervously.

"So you don't really need the comic book or the beer to be happy?"

"Not at all. Just looking at you instead would give me a lot more pleasure, I swear."

"Fine, I believe you. Go ahead, have fun."

"No, fuck that. Come here," he said and tried to pull me to him.

"It's ok Troy, really, I get it, this is your fruit salad. Now enjoy, please."

"I don't want to anymore."

"Well, I insist."

"Fine, but you have to read it with me, alright?"

"Ok."

"I'll leave you to it then," Ashley said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude," I replied.

"Don't worry about it, I have a couple of errands to run anyway. If you want more beer or water help yourselves, ok?"

"Ok, thank you."

"See you later."

"Bye."

Ashley left, so Troy carefully opened the comic book. Agreeing to read it with him soon turned out to be a big mistake, because he studied every single panel so excessively that it made me wonder if maybe the key to eternal life was hidden somewhere in the pictures and he was trying to find it. At first it was really nice to see him that entranced, but after two hours I didn't care anymore and was just bored out of my mind. When he was finally finished I felt so relieved, but then he asked me if we could read it again and I just couldn't say no to his puppy-dog-eyed face, which meant I had to endure another painfully slow read-through. I was about to fall asleep when suddenly Wyett walked in and rescued me.

"Hello you two… Oh, look at you little gay, all dolled up. Did Ashley do that?" he said.

"Hi. Yes, she's very nice," I answered.

"You better not get any ideas. She's off limits. Am I making myself clear?"

"Don't worry, we're both in a very happy and committed relationship. Besides, we're not into women like that."

"I'm not worried about you little gay, but what about him?"

"Troy's totally gay too, trust me."

"Are you sure? He doesn't seem like the type."

"And I do?" I asked indignantly.

"You're wearing my daughter's clothes, so you tell me, little gay."

I didn't know if I felt more insulted or embarrassed, but I could definitely feel myself blushing.

"You're a jerk," I replied, glaring, and he laughed.

"Fair enough… Hey, Troy, I'm sorry about the pedophile-thing, I hope you're not holding it against me, because I'd really like us to be friends."

"No, I get it and I'm actually glad you made me talk to Beverly. So we're good, don't worry."

"That's great. Thanks for understanding. Now let's go, lunch is ready."

"We'll wait for Ashley if that's ok."

"ASHLEY!" he yelled.

"Coming dad!" Ashley answered.

"I'll save you a seat," he said and left.

About a minute later Ashley appeared and we all went outside where over twenty people were waiting to meet us. It was kind of intimidating, but then Troy suddenly took my hand and smiled at me. I thought it was really touching and gratefully smiled back at him.

"Come on, I'll introduce you," Ashley said and for the next fifteen minutes or so we shook hands with everyone there. They all seemed very friendly, welcoming and genuinely interested in us, which made me feel right at ease.

When we were through we sat down at Wyett's table and Ashley kindly brought us two big slices of pizza, a beer for Troy and a water for me.

"What do you think of our group?" Wyett asked.

"Everyone is great, but I thought there would be more of you," I answered.

"Yeah, me too," Troy added.

"There are, they're just busy at the moment," Wyett said.

"Doing what?" I asked.

"I can't tell you, sorry."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot, you don't trust us yet."

"Trust needs to be earned, little gay. Do you trust us yet?"

"Fair enough, I guess."

"Hey, do you guys want tattoos?" Ashley said.

"You have a tattoo artist?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, Keith over there. He's amazing," she answered and pointed at a tall and very thin looking guy, who was maybe in his thirties, had a shaved head, and a long black beard, and was covered with tattoos.

"Does he do it for free?" Troy asked.

"Sure," Ashley replied.

"Is everything here free? How does that even work?"

"No, everyone has to contribute and we have a system, so no one gets stuck with something they don't like to do for more than a week."

"What's your job?" I asked.

"I'm seventeen, so I don't have to do anything yet, but I help out where I can," she answered.

"What if someone wants to join your group?"

"Are you thinking about joining?"

"No, not at all, I'm just curious."

"There's a long screening process and afterwards someone would have to volunteer to let you stay at their house. You wouldn't get your own room though, because there are already up to five people sharing one house right now."

"I see. And why aren't the boys living with you? I mean, you obviously care about them and they told us that they really like you too."

"We offered for them to stay with us, but they refused. I think they just don't want to have to answer to anyone, which is understandable after what they've been through. Take my advice. Never tell them what to do. If you need something from them just ask them nicely. They're very sweet, they'll always help you, but only when they don't feel like they have to."

"Ok, thanks."

"Let's eat, before it gets cold," Wyett said.

I took a bite out of my pizza and couldn't believe how amazing it tasted. There was even cheese on it. Troy and I wolfed it down like we hadn't eaten in days, we just couldn't help ourselves.

"That was the motherfucking bomb," Troy said when he were finished.

"Watch your language gay boy, there's a child present," Wyett replied.

"Dad, I'm seventeen!" Ashley said.

"Yes, exactly."

"If Troy has to censor himself then how about you stop calling us homophobic names?" I said.

"What are you talking about?" Wyett asked, confused.

"'Gay boy' and 'little gay'?"

"How is that homophobic?"

"It's derogatory language."

"Don't be silly, I used to call my brother 'big old gay' all the time and he loved it. It's a term of endearment."

"Your brother was gay?" I asked, really surprised.

"Yes, and he was a better man than I can ever hope to be."

"Oh, I'm sorry then, I guess. But I still don't like to be called 'little gay'."

"You'll get used it," he replied, smiling, and winked at me. I just shook my head disapprovingly.

"Hey, we'll be visiting regularly from now on, cause I need to see Beverly once a week. What can we do to contribute?" Troy said.

"We've talked about that and as long as you take good care of the boys you'll never owe us anything," Wyett answered.

"There must be something else we can do," I said. "I kind of feel like we're taking advantage of you, you know?"

"You could keep watch with me sometimes," Wyett said to Troy.

"Yeah, I'd be happy to," he replied.

"What about me?" I asked.

"You could braid my daughter's hair if you want," Wyett answered.

"That's offensive!" I said indignantly.

"You think braiding my hair is offensive?" Ashley asked sadly.

"Oh, no, of course not, I'd love to do that. I'm sorry, but I heard him wrong, you know?" I answered nervously.

Ashley laughed and then kissed me on the cheek.

"Isn't he the cutest, Dad?" she asked.

"He sure is," Wyett replied and I felt myself blushing again.

"We should get going. I can't wait to surprise the boys with all the awesome stuff you're giving us," Troy said.

"Yeah, me too," I added.

"I'll wrap up some pizza and bring you a bottle of soda. You can get the comic book in the meantime," Ashley replied.

"Ok, thank you," I said.

Soon everything was packed and we were ready to go. Ashley hugged both of us, gave me a kiss on the cheek and then left us with Wyett.

"Come on, I'll give you a ride home," he said.

"No thanks," I replied.

"Gay boy's back is probably still store, so he can't carry you and with your limp it'll take you forever to get home."

"No offence, but we're not telling you where we live."

"I already know. The boys told me."

"Jesus," Troy gasped angrily.

"Don't worry," Wyett said, "if we wanted to harm you, you would've been harmed already, so just relax and let's go, I'll show you where the celebration will be on the way."

"You're not having it here?" I asked.

"No, at the beach. It'll be huge."

"I see."

"Oh, I almost forgot, here, give this to Dylan and tell him it's from you, it'll score you some points with Michael," Wyett said, and handed Troy a bag of candies.

"Thanks," Troy replied.

Reluctantly we followed Wyett to his car and let him drive us home. He must've sensed our discomfort, because he only dropped us off and then left right away, even though he probably would've wanted to say hi to the boys.

We went inside and were immediately greeted by Lucky and Barklay. Michael and Dylan were in the living room, working on the LEGO city, so we walked over to them.

"Hi you two. How are…" I started to say, but then I saw the couch. It was covered with drawing of googly-eyed animals. "Oh my God, what have you done?" I said, shocked.

"Nice, huh?" Dylan replied.

"Why would you draw on the furniture?"

"Why wouldn't I? Don't you think it looks much better now?" he asked and Michael glared at me.

"Oh… Yes. Definitely. It's beautiful. Isn't it Troy?"

"Yeah, amazing," he answered.

"Thanks," Dylan said cheerfully and smiled proudly.

"Did you use Magic Marker?" I asked.

"Mm-hmm."

"So it won't come off. Perfect."

"Look, that's Lucky and Barklay and Aimee and Betsie," Dylan said, pointing at the different animals he had drawn on the couch.

"And who's that over there in the corner?"

"That's the rhino and the mouse. They love each other very much."

"Good for them."

"Mm-hmm."

"Hey, have you two eaten yet?" Troy asked.

"No, we were so busy that we totally forgot to have lunch," Michael answered.

"Would you like to have some pizza and soda?"

"You bet," Michael replied excitedly and looked at his brother, who nodded forcefully.

"I'll warm it up for you," I said.

"No, we'll eat it cold, it's better that way."

"Much better," Dylan said.

"Ok. Would you mind if we join you?" I asked.

"No, not at all… Cool haircut by the way," Michael answered.

"So cool," Dylan added.

"Thank you," I said, smiling.

We all sat down at the table and I unpacked the pizza and the soda. While the boys were eating we told them about our day and when they were done the four of us returned to the living room.

"I have some stuff that I'd like to give you," Troy said.

"Oh? What?" Dylan asked.

"Well, for you I have this," he answered, pulling the bag of candies out of his backpack and handing it to Dylan, who immediately opened it, fed one of the chocolates to his brother and then had one himself. "And this is for the both of you," Troy continued and gave Michael the note from Beverly. While they were reading it they had to laugh a couple of times and when they were through they looked at Troy.

"Fine, you're off the hook," Michael said.

"Thanks, I really appreciate that. But I have one more thing for you. And before you ask, yes, it is real," Troy answered and handed Michael the comic book. The second he realized what it was he looked even more awestruck than Troy had.

"Oh my gosh, that's number two, isn't it?" Dylan asked excitedly.

"Yes DJ, can you believe it?" Michael replied, amazed.

"No?" he answered and hugged his brother.

"It's number one actually," Troy said.

"That's not what he meant," Michael replied.

"Oh, I get it, so you do like it?"

"Are you kidding? I love it! Thank you."

"You're very welcome."

"Do you want to read it with us?"

"No, I've already read it earlier, but thanks. Spoiler alert, it's amazing."

"I bet."

"Have you fed Lucky yet?" I asked.

"Of course," Michael answered.

"Great."

The boys lay down on the floor and started to read the comic book together.

"What are we going to do now?" I asked and Troy leaned over to me.

"I wanna kiss every inch of your body," he whispered into my ear, which gave me goose bumps, the good kind.

"Let's do it in the RV. I'll take a quick shower and you can make the bed in the meantime, ok?"

Troy nodded, grinning. He kissed me on the mouth and then we both got up and hurried to the RV. I quickly cleaned myself in the shower, but I didn't wash my hair, because I didn't know if I could style it back the way it was. When I came out of the bathroom in my underwear Troy was already lying on the bed downstairs naked. He smiled at me and got on his knees.

"Lie down on your stomach please," he said softly, so I did and he started to gently shower me with kisses.

First he kissed my neck, then my shoulders, and my entire back and when he had covered every inch of my butt cheeks he carefully parted them and licked down the middle till he reached my anus. He massaged it with his tongue and after a minute or so he entered me with his finger, which was very stimulating and made me gasp. He caressed me for a while, then pulled out his finger, kissed my anus and moved on. At that point I was so incredibly aroused that my whole body was tingling and I felt like I was about to climax. Troy thoroughly kissed both of my legs and even the soles of my feet, which was strangely exciting, then he turned me around and went to work on my front. The amazing thing was that all of the hundreds of kisses felt very loving and passionate, like he was enjoying every single one of them. Soon there was nothing left to be kissed, except for my private parts, which he had saved for last. He started to caress my testicles with his tongue and gently sucked on them, then he licked up my shaft and when he reached the head of my penis he let it slide into his mouth for a second. After such an intense build-up I was so sensitive that it overwhelmed me and all the pressure was finally released in a mind-blowing orgasm. I pressed my eyes shut and moaned loudly. It lasted for what felt like ten minutes and when I opened my eyes again Troy was already cleaning me with our towel.

"We really need to wash this, it's disgusting," I said, grinning.

"There's nothing disgusting about your cum and besides, it's like a token of our sexual adventures, so we can't just wash it."

"I guess that's true, but we should at least use a new one. I mean this is just unsanitary."

"Fine. Next time."

"That was incredible by the way. I don't think I'll be able to top that."

"I'm sure it was more incredible for me than it was for you," he said, smiling, and winked at me.

"I highly doubt that. Now get on your back please."

"Wait, I have a better idea," he replied and sat down with his legs stretched out in front of him. "Now get on top of me," he said, so I carefully did and he pulled me closer to him till our private parts were touching. Next he took the lube and squeezed some on his hand and some on mine. After we had warmed it up a little we started to massage each other's erections. I was really surprised how amazing it felt, because I had always been too embarrassed to buy lube for myself, so I had never masturbated my penis that way before.

"Let's go real slow, alright?" Troy said.

"Ok."

I closed my eyes again and we started to kiss very tenderly. The whole thing was electrifying, but extremely intimate at the same time and just unbelievably exciting.

After a while Troy climaxed and I could feel his body trembling, his erection pulsating in my hand, I could even smell the sperm that was coming out of him. It was like all of my senses were suddenly overloading and then the orgasm came crashing down on me. I clung to Troy and let myself be swallowed by the intense waves of pleasure. I had never felt closer and more connected to him than in those blissful moments. We stayed in each other's arms long after our orgasms had faded and neither of us said a word, because we didn't need to, everything just made perfect sense.

"Why haven't we done this before?" I eventually asked.

"Cause we're fucking stupid."

I giggled.

"Your legs must be asleep by now."

"Yeah, but even if they'd fall off I wouldn't care, cause that was totally worth it."

"Do you want to go again?"

"I never wanted to do anything again this badly."

"Me neither," I said and we both smiled.

After we had cleaned ourselves up and changed positions we started a new round of bliss.

Probably hours later we were both exhausted, but in the most pleasant way possible and finally decided to stop. Troy lay down on his back and I cuddled myself against him.

"Jesus, I've never come this often in one… week before," Troy said, still a little out of breath.

"Before today, I've never climaxed this many times in a month, maybe even two."

"Oh, so you have jerked off in the past?" he asked, smirking.

Weirdly enough I didn't feel embarrassed at all, which really surprised me.

"Yes I have! And I liked it, a lot!" I said, determined.

"Wow, you're admitting it! I think I've never been more flattered by anything you've ever told me. You know, from now on, instead of 'I love you', you should just say 'I've jerked off'."

I giggled.

"I have masturbated my penis, so much," I said and we both laughed, then I lifted my head and gave Troy a tender kiss on the mouth.

"Hey, not to break the mood, but could we talk about what happened earlier with Beverly? I wanna get it over with."

"Sure, but just so you know, you don't have to tell me anything you're not comfortable with, ok?"

"I actually wanted to ask you about just that. But could you promise me that you'll answer honestly, no matter what?"

"Of course, I promise."

"Would you be upset with me or take it personally if I didn't tell you what I've discussed with Beverly?"

"No, not at all, I'm just glad that she's helping you."

"Thanks. The thing is, I know that some of that stuff would be painful for you to hear, so I'd prefer it if it would stay between me and Beverly, for now at least."

"Don't worry, I completely understand."

"You're incredible, you know that?"

"I'm just trying to keep with up with you," I said, smiling, and stroked his chest.

"I love you," he replied and kissed me on the head.

"Was that it?" I asked.

"Pretty much, unless you still have questions."

"Well, I'm kind of curious about how Beverly screened you for pedophilia."

"It was fucking disturbing and that's really all I wanna say about that, I'm sorry."

"That's ok. Now, how about we take a little nap?"

"Sure."

I closed my eyes, clung to Troy's warm body and soon fell asleep.

I was woken by a loud banging. We figured it had to be the boys, so we quickly got up and after we had put some clothes on I opened the door.

"What are you guys…" Michael started to say, but then he frowned. "Eww, what's that smell?" he asked, disgusted, and I felt myself blushing really hard.

"We were working out, kind of. You know?" Troy replied.

"For six hours?" Michael asked incredulously.

"Oh my God, has it been that long?" I said, shocked.

"Yeah."

"To clarify, we were taking a nap for at least half that time," Troy said.

"Whatever. Just open all the windows, because DJ wants to sleep in there again tonight, he likes the Christmas decorations. And then come to the house, dinner is ready," Michael answered.

"Oh no, I should've made dinner. I'm so sorry boys, we completely lost track of time," I said guiltily.

"It's no biggie, we wanted to cook for you anyway."

"You did? Why?"

"No reason," Michael said innocently.

"Thank you. I'm starving actually."

"Me too," Troy said.

I opened all the windows while Troy folded up the bedding and then we went inside. The table was already set, so we took our seats. The boys had made some kind of casserole with tomatoes, pumpkins and potatoes. When I tried it I couldn't believe how good it tasted.

"This is amazing… Right Troy?" I said.

"Yeah, it's even better than the pizza we had for lunch or anything else I've eaten in a… Never mind. It's really great," Troy replied.

"Thanks. DJ helped a lot," Michael said.

"Mm-hmm," Dylan mumbled and smiled from ear to ear.

While we were enjoying the delicious meal we talked about the comic book and the growing LEGO city and when we were all done Dylan generously offered to share his candies with us for dessert, but Troy and I only took one piece of chocolate each so the boys would have more. After I had washed the dishes we decided to go to bed.

"Good night," I said to the boys, who were sitting in the living room, working on a tower together.

"Wait," Michael replied. They both got up and walked over to us. Suddenly Michael hugged Troy. For a second there I thought I was hallucinating or something. When they parted Dylan gave him a hug too, they said goodnight to us and then went back to the living room as if nothing had happened.

"Are we still sleeping?" Troy whispered to me and I giggled.

"Yeah, I have a hard time believing it myself."

"Come on, let's go to bed."

"I'll be right up."

Troy just nodded and headed to our room. The second he was out of sight I started to search the pile of toys till I found the Magic Markers. I put three in my pocket and then hurried after him. He was already in bed, so I quickly undressed and joined him.

"Troy? Could you please wake me when you get up tomorrow?" I asked.

"Sure, no problem."

"Thanks. Good night," I replied and gave him a kiss.

"Good night. I love you."

"I have masturbated my penis so much it's crazy," I said and we both laughed.

I closed my eyes and pretended to fall asleep, but I was actually trying to stay awake as hard as I could. After about an hour, when I was absolutely sure that Troy was sleeping, I pulled the Magic Markers out of my pants, which I had strategically left on the nightstand, and very carefully started to paint Troy's face black, including his eyelids, his ears and his whole neck. For his lips I used red. It probably took me almost two hours, because I did it extremely slowly, so I wouldn't wake him up. When I was finally done I cuddled myself against him and soon fell asleep, smiling mischievously.