Prying Ears - 1. Chapter 1

"... come on, dude, you have to go..."

Colt paused as he passed by Ryan's door. He smiled at the voice of his son's new friend, Trent, from down the street. It had taken Ryan a couple of months before he'd even talk to any of the other teens who played basketball at the neighborhood court. Ryan had come a long way since he'd moved in with Colt and Shane, but he still had a ways to go.

Colt knew Trent was a decent kid, having met his parents at several of their block parties. Trent had caught Ryan watching their pick-up basketball games several times, and even though Ryan had tried to avoid the boy, Trent had been determined to draw him out.

Hearing Ryan laughing with Trent made Colt's heart flip with joy. Ryan had been through so much in his young life. Abused by his parents, thrown out for being gay, left with no one to count on, to trust. He'd been arrested for prostituting himself for food and money when Colt had first seen him, and the teen had reminded him of a boy from his own past.

Shane and Colt had taken Ryan in. It'd been a rough start with Ryan having spent so much time with no one; he had a hard time accepting that Shane and Colt were really there to accept him, to be there for him. And now Trent was slowly worming his way into Ryan's carefully constructed emotional fortress.

"I don't know..." Ryan's voice edged. "I don't know anybody."

"Hey, you know me. And the other guys will be there. Tons of people will be coming. You'll blend right in. It'll be a blast."

"I've never been to one. I'm not sure what..."

Their voices dropped a bit, and Colt found himself edging closer to the door to listen. When he leaned into the door, he suddenly felt guilty for eavesdropping, but he was anxious to hear how Trent would convince Ryan to go to the party he was obviously talking about. Trent had tried before to talk Ryan into going to a party with him and some of the other high school students, but Ryan had never felt comfortable enough since he didn't attend the local school.

"... it'll be fine..." Colt strained to hear Trent when his voice dropped, catching parts of the conversation. "... but you can't wear that..."

"Why not?"

"It's a blackout... you have to..."

What the fuck? Colt jolted back. A blackout party? In his jurisdiction? Oh hell no!

His anger flared at the teen trying to talk his son into attending a binge-drinking rave. Where the hell were they even holding it?

He slammed his hand against the door, swinging it wide open. Trent jumped from where he was sitting on Ryan's bed, and Ryan froze mid-way in pulling off his t-shirt. He was still so damn thin.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" he snapped.

Both boys stared at him wide-eyed before glancing at each other.

Ryan's bright eyes held a mixture of confusion and fear. "Changing?"

"For what? You think I'm going to let you go off to some blackout?" Colt railed before turning and leveling his stare on Trent, pointing. "And you. You are going to tell me right now where it is happening."

Trent glanced in bewilderment at Ryan again, who looked just as disturbed by Colt's sudden intrusion in their conversation.

"At the football field?" Trent stated, but it came out more like a question.

That had Colt freezing in shock. What? The football field? How could they hold it there? Even if the lights were off, they'd still notice a bunch of kids partying and drinking in the dark.

"The football field?" Colt repeated in confusion.

Ryan finally managed to move, pulling his forest green shirt over his head before swiping up a black one from his bed. "Shane already said I should go, said I need to get out and socialize more. I wasn't going to, but Trent keeps bugging me about it."

"What?" Colt was sure his neck popped as he snapped it around in shock to Ryan. "Shane said you could go? Does he even know what goes on at one of those things?"

Now both boys were staring at him oddly.

"Uh, yeah? Doesn't everybody?" Trent's voice held a hint of amusement.

The teens were eyeing him like he'd lost his mind. Colt was beginning to think he had if his partner, his lover, had agreed to let Ryan go to a party like that.

"Hey!" Shane's voice came from behind him. "So you decided to go?"

Colt spun, pinning an evil eye on his partner. Shane was smiling broadly at Ryan, as he slipped the clean T-shirt over his head.

"I was, but Colt said I couldn't," Ryan stated.

Shane turned a frown on him. "Why would you say that?"

"Because it's dangerous!" Colt yelled, frustrated no one else seemed to see the issue in letting two underage boys head out to a blackout rave.

Shane quirked a brow at him. "Only for the players. What the hell's wrong with you, Colt?"

The players? What--?

"Wait. Just hold on a sec." He held up his hand as he took a deep breath. He turned back to Trent, sitting wide-eyed on the bed. "Where, exactly, are you planning on taking Ryan?"

"To the football game. At the school?" Trent stated, again his voice hedging on questioning as his confusion at Colt's objection bled through.

"Football game?" Colt repeated numbly, his eyes casting around at each of the others in the room as they gave him a slight, puzzled nod.

"Yeah. Where did you think we were going?" Ryan finally asked, noting that perhaps his new father figure had maybe been mistaken about what he thought was happening.

"I—I thought..." Colt stammered. "Wait, wait, wait. He said you were going to a blackout."

"Yeah, it's a blackout at the game tonight," Trent agreed. "As opposed to a bleed out."

Colt frowned uncomprehendingly.

Shane nudged his shoulder. "Come on, you're not that old. You know, you wear the colors your team is wearing on the field. To show your team pride."

Oh, fuck... Colt groaned in realization. The local high school's team colors were black and red—a blackout, a bleed out. Showing school spirit. He finally noted that Trent was dressed in black jeans and a black t-shirt. "A blackout."

All three still stared at him, waiting for him to explain his rampage. He flushed, embarrassed at having assumed the worst of the teens' plans.

"I'm... I'm... just forget I said anything. Sorry, I interrupted. Have fun, boys," he stammered, backing out the door with a confused Shane following him.

He could feel Ryan and Trent's bewildered eyes trailing him out the door.

"Dude," Trent's voice followed him, "your dad is really uptight."

He leaned against the wall, mortified at having embarrassed Ryan in front of his friend like that. The poor boy already had a hard time feeling like he fit in.

"He's just protective, is all," Ryan defended, shocking Colt. "Dad's a good guy."

Colt's heart stuttered. Dad. Ryan had just called him Dad. God, he was going to lose it any second. Bouncing from worry, to anger and panic, humiliated, and now honored and ecstatic—these paternal emotions were going to kill him.

"Hey," Shane's voice drew his gaze up. He felt the hand of the man he loved slide around the back of his neck. "You okay? You seemed..." Shane shrugged. "... a little upset in there. What's up?"

"Nothing. I just... I thought..." he stumbled over what he wanted to say. "God, Shane, I thought they were going to a blackout rave."

"A rave?"

"Yeah, you know, a drinking party. We've heard about them a lot at the station, especially over in the bigger cities. I... I just heard them say 'blackout' and assumed..."

Shane smirked. "You assumed the worst."

Colt sighed. "Yeah."

"Hey, it's natural. You're worried about him. So am I. We kinda came into this parenting thing a little late, so we're going to be a bit protective. It's okay."

Colt tipped his head up with a small smile. "Did you hear him? He called me Dad."

Shane laughed. "Yeah, I did. Come on. Let the boys head out to their game." He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively. "And while they're gone, maybe we can have a little blackout party of our own... in the bedroom."