Andre and Chris - 25. Chapter 25

I woke up first. It felt really strange having a thirteen year old boy sleeping next to me. I tried not to wake him. I looked at him. His chest was gently rising and falling showing he was still sleeping soundly. He looked so innocent, peaceful, vulnerable.

I felt this love welling inside me. A love that made me want to support, nurture and protect. I knew I wasn’t Ollie’s father but I was experiencing a father’s love for a son, and last night he’s called us his dads.

I was now wide awake and decided to get up and start some coffee. I gently nudged Jackson and quietly told him I needed to get out of bed. Still three quarters asleep he stood while I left the warmth of the bed. He immediately returned to bed and slid next to Ollie.

I started the coffee machine. I was going to need one. He called us his dads. Twice. He saw us as dads. Could I live up to that expectation? The machine finished filling my coffee mug and I took my first sip. I was now ready to start preparing breakfast.

Andre arrived in the kitchen, and we exchanged good morning greetings and a kiss that said more than just good morning. “I smelt coffee. The other two are still sound asleep. They look so cute.”

“Cute enough for a photo?”

“Sure.”

They were too asleep to know we had taken photos of them sleeping innocently together.

While Andre made himself a mug of coffee, I had a quick shower before remembering that all my clothes were in our bedroom. With a wet towel wrapped around my waist I quietly entered the bedroom. I retrieved my underwear and a track suit and rapidly retreated to the bathroom where I dressed. Back in the kitchen I was greeted by a giggling Andre. “You really thought that through, didn’t you?”

I pulled him into a hug and a kiss. “Your turn. I’ll start breakfast.” I broke the hug and pushed him towards the bathroom. Having learnt from my experience Andre collected his clothes from our room before having his shower.

By the time Ollie and Jackson emerged breakfast was ready, and they were ready for breakfast. Ollie looked up from eating, “Dads. Thanks for letting me sleep with you last night. I needed that. It made me feel safe and wanted.”

Andre was closest to Ollie, so he gave him a hug. “We’re glad it helped you. Always remember we love you and we’re here to support you.”

Jackson commented, “You really are a family.”

Ollie looked across at Jackson, “I liked waking up with Jackie. I’ve never had a brother but having a big brother now is awesome.”

“And I love having you as another brother.”

They continued eating.

Breakfast finished, I told Ollie to go and have a shower.

“OK. Can my big brother Jackie shower with me?”

When I recovered from imagining how the authorities would view that I responded, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why, you shower together.” Indicating Andre and me.

Shit. I didn’t know having a young boy in the house was going to be this challenging. “That’s different. We’re in a committed relationship and sometimes people in a committed relationship do things together that . . . arr . . . you don’t do with other people.” Why then did I think of showering with Beau, or Jamie?

He screwed up his face questioningly, “Committed relationship? Is that like . . . marriage?”

That seemed safe. I nodded, “Yeah, it’s like that.”

“Like mum with dad, and then Jeff, when they used to sleep naked?”

Asking Ollie to have a shower seemed simple enough. How was I now dealing with this?

“Yeah, that’s right, it’s sort of private.”

“Does that mean ‘grown up stuff’ like dad used to say?”

Looking after William, even when he vomited on me, was a breeze compared to this.

“More or less, yes.”

“Oh but we wouldn’t do that sort of stuff.”

Fortunately, Jackson stopped giggling enough to save me, “Thanks Ollie for trusting me. I love being your big brother but I don’t shower with my other brother either. We stopped showering together when I was about eleven. So you have a shower now but leave enough hot water for me. K?”

Ollie was happy, “Sure. Basically, I just wanted to show you how safe I feel here with all of you and your friends.”

Andre gently put his hand on Ollie’s shoulder, “And, we’re glad you are. We want you to feel safe and therapy is helping both of us with that, but I know that sometimes something can happen, or there is a comment, that brings back those unsafe feelings. I want you to promise that if that ever happens, you’ll come straight to us.”

He wrapped his arms around Andre, “Thanks dad, I know what you’re saying and I promise I will.” He then turned to Jackson, “Jackie, I’ll let you know when I finish showering.”

Jackson smiled, “Thanks little bro.” Ollie went to the bathroom.

I was curious, “What’s with Jackie? I seem to remember you hating nicknames.”

“I do but it’s so cute when Ollie does it. It’s sorta personal and brotherly. And NO! You two CANNOT use it.”

I laughed, “Tempting! But it can stay a brother thing.”

It wasn’t long before Ollie called out that the shower was available for Jackson. His shower took longer than Ollie’s.

I received a text message that the furniture would be delivered in half an hour.

Tyron had kept his word about making the games available for a couple of hours this morning. We seemed to have more kids here today than at the party, so I guessed that the party crowd had brought along their siblings. Not surprisingly the VR experience room was the most popular. Tyron and Jackson took it all in their stride.

I went downstairs to greet the carriers and tell them where to put the workstations and other office furniture including shelving for the storeroom. That done I went back upstairs.

I noticed Ollie wasn’t next door gaming with the other kids. He was sitting by himself in the living area and using his phone. I was about to check if anything was wrong when my phone and Andre’s phone pinged. I looked at my phone. It was a message from Ollie thanking us for the party and the present. He looked across at us and smiled before returning to his phone.

It wasn’t long before he came over to me. “Dad Chris, can you give me Uncle Michael and Uncle Jamie’s numbers so I can send them thank you texts?”

“Sure.” I opened my phone and gave him the numbers.

“Can you give me Mrs Fletcher’s so I can thank her for the quilt, and I need Uncle Beau’s number and Aunty Skye and Pop Lachlan and Nana Carol for their presents and the food.”

“You’re sending thank you messages to everyone at your party.”

“Yeah. It was super special for me and I want everyone to know. I can do it while they’re all experiencing the virtual reality stuff.”

I looked at Andre who was beside me. We were both happy like proud parents. Ollie was such an amazing boy and so considerate of other people. He’d recently been through more unwarranted trauma than any boy his age should but, the evidence of some previous good parenting and innate goodness was shining through.

Armed with the phone numbers he needed he happily went back to sending thank you messages.

At around eleven, Bradley arrived to help with packing up all the party “toys”. Riley also turned up to help and with him was his brother Cooper. Ollie joined them and as the party crowd had gone home they all spent another hour enjoying the VR room themselves before packing up.

David stayed and had coffee and chatted with Andre and me. We liked David as a friend and his information and advice was very helpful. Andre told David about Ollie at the cemetery and the promised plaque not being made.

David looked down and shook his head in disbelief. “Thanks for telling me, Andre. The poor kid. I’ll make sure that is included in her file. It’s more evidence that he shouldn’t be returned to her.”

I commented, “We’re going to help Ollie decide on a plaque and have it installed.”

David responded, “You two are so good for Ollie. I’ll do everything I can for you to continue to foster him, You will also have my support and backing if there is an opportunity to adopt.”

Andre and I looked at each other and we were thinking the same thing. Was it OK to hug this very masculine cop? With a brief nod to each other we moved and grabbed David in a group hug. His initial surprise morphed into acceptance, and he wrapped an arm around each of us.

“Thank you, David, for your support. It means more to us than you can imagine.”

He responded by hugging us back.

Even though the boys hadn’t started packing up next door I suggested we order pizza for lunch for everyone. After lunch they can pack up. David declined staying for lunch and went home.

I ordered a variety of pizzas and Andre sent a text next door to tell everybody. Once the pizzas were consumed, party packing up resumed and in a surprisingly short time everything was packed up and ready to be returned.

I asked, “What are you going to do now?”

Tyron responded for the group, “Next is wearing our awesome4some Ts to video unboxing the bike and recording it for use on YouTube. Sorry Chris, but we’ll need your lights so we can do it next door.”

Andre offered to drive to the townhouse and get them and Jackson asked, “Can I go with you. I’ve never seen your place or Uncle Chris’ computer set up.”

“Sure I could do with the company.”

They left and Ollie said he’d go next door and set up the laptop and camera that Tyron had brought. I offered my laptop and external microphone and camera if he wanted them as well. Bradley said he would help Ollie set up.

Cooper came over to me and shyly asked, “Uncle Chris,” I seemed to be honorary uncle to all of them. “Jackson gave me his copy of that game you created.”

“Really! That’s interesting.”

“Yeah. I like it but I hope you don’t mind me saying this but it’s . . . . well it’s sort of not very difficult and sort of ancient.” He looked down embarrassed that he’d been critical.

“Cooper, I agree with you. I gather Jackson didn’t tell you that I developed that game when I was fifteen or sixteen and still in high school. That’s probably when you were a baby.”

He looked at me wide eyed.

“No, he didn’t! You’re not bullshitting me are you? You really developed that when you were my age? I couldn’t do anything like that.”

“No I’m not bullshitting you. And you’re right, by today’s standards it is simple and old fashioned. Cooper, you’re into game design so if you’re interested we can work together to create some games. We can start simple and see where we go.”

“No way! You’re willing to teach me to develop games.”

“It’s more like me helping you learn how to do it. It will be your imagination that’ll create the games. It can be that work experience you asked about.”

“Awesome!” He moved forward and hugged me. I was totally surprised so I just patted his shoulder and reminded him, “It’s not easy. You’ll have to study hard and learn coding.”

He let go and pulled back. “Yes, I will.” He looked around. “I’ll go next door and help the others set up.”

The boys spent the rest of the afternoon recording for the channel. Mid-afternoon I went next door because I thought they were taking longer than I expected for them to unbox the bike. They had, but I’d forgotten that they had a supply of things that had been sent to them to review. They had plenty of unboxing and reviews to occupy them. They showed me some of the raw footage of the bike with Ollie in front of the camera. It was his “debut” in front of the camera. It wouldn’t be his debut on the channel because they planned to hold the bike video until just before Christmas. I reminded them that we would have the studio and editing software in my shop next week.

When they were hungry they returned. Fortunately Andre and I had enough time to prepare a chicken pasta bake and a beef lasagna which were happily consumed. I asked Bradley if he was staying but he said he needed to go home. He told us that if he didn’t go home his parents might not let him spend most of next week here with his friends and making videos. There was a discussion involving all of us which revealed that they all wanted to spend most of next week together. I noticed that Riley and Cooper were becoming honorary awesome4somes.

When they finished eating Riley and Cooper went home. Cooper was carrying a bag containing the clothes he’d lent Bradley. Tyron went to be with his girlfriend and three of us drove Bradley home. Jackson decided to stay in the apartment and video call his parents and then his girlfriend. Or was it the other way around.

Bradley and Ollie continued to wear their awesone4some hoodies for the drive to Bradley’s home. We didn’t stay after dropping Bradley. We did have a quick discussion with David and Chelsea about Bradley being with us on Saturday night when I ‘d be moving my servers and next week when the Awesom4some want to record segments for YouTube. David and Chelsea happily agreed.

When we arrived back home we were greeted by Jackson. “Oh good. You’re back. My family want to meet Ollie.” He indicated his tablet. “They’re on a video call now.”

We gathered around and watched Jackson pull Ollie into frame with him. Mum, dad this is Ollie. They all said “Hi” to each other and then Jackson’s siblings joined in.

Jackson continued the introductions, “Ollie these are my sister Ruby and brother Samuel.”

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Hi”

“You should know I’ve adopted Ollie as my little brother.”

Samuel called out, “Cool. That means I’m no longer little brother.” Everyone laughed.

They then spent time getting to know each other.

Finally, Paul asked, “Have mum and dad met Ollie. Do they know he’s living with you?”

“No, Paul you’re right I haven’t included your parents. I’ll talk to Michael about a video call.”

Donna asked, “Mentioning Michael, I thought Jackson was staying with Michael.”

“He was but, the moment Jackson wanted to stay here, Michael couldn’t wait to bring his bags over.”

Paul laughed out loud and then, “That’s the Michael I know and love.”

Ollie called out, “But it was me. I wanted Jackie to stay with us.”

There was a silence. I wrapped my arms around Ollie and pulled him into a hug.

Samuel was surprised and curious, “He gets to call you Jackie?”

Jackson was defensive but open. “Yeah, he does, and I’m cool with it.”

“So, I can start calling you Jackie?”

“You do and I’ll start calling you Sammie.”

“Yuck. No fair. Jackson.”

Everyone enjoyed the interaction and shortly after the call ended.

Ollie was exhausted after two days full of activity. He told all of us that he was going to bed. After preparing for bed, he came out wearing his sleep shorts.

“I’m ready for bed. I’ll sleep in my bed tonight. Can I have a dads’ goodnight?” He then looked at Jackson and grinned. “And a big brother goodnight hug.”

We followed him into his bedroom and watched him lift the covers including the log cabin design quilt and slide into bed. Andre and I stood on either side of the bed, said good night, ruffled his hair, kissed his forehead and said “goodnight”. Ollie happily smiled up at us. “Thanks dads.”

Jackson moved to the bed, leaned over and gave Ollie a hug and then a fist bump accompanied by “goodnight champ”. As he stood Ollie said, “Thanks Jackie. I love this family. Goodnight, everyone.” Jackson, Andre and I left, turning off the light on the way.

Saturday afternoon the awesome4some arrived along with the honorary members, Riley and Cooper. We went into the shop and I explained where everything would be going. I also explained that I had hired a removalist company that specialized in moving servers and they would arrive at the townhouse at 2am. But there were things I wanted to do myself. I’ll start closing down the servers at 1am and will need help with that and disconnecting the cables and getting everything else like my monitor set up ready for transfer.

I continued to explain I would need help reconnecting the cables and rebooting the servers in my new shop. “I know you are all keen to help. Tyron and Jackson know how to do that so the three of us should be able to do it easily. You may find yourselves being asked to do things or just be watching. I’ll understand if you’re bored and want to go to bed instead.”

Andre added, “I won’t be able to help Chris but I’ve got sleeping bags and blowup mattresses so you can get some sleep before and after the move. You can also use them if you get bored and want to sleep.”

We were standing in the work area where the furniture for the three workstations was already in place. The boxes with new monitors and desktop computers were stacked in one corner.

Tyron looked around. “So, this is where I’ll have my own workstation.”

“Yes, we’ll both have our workstations in here.”

“That makes me feel official. Do I get business cards?”

‘That’s something we’ve been planning to talk to you about.” I looked towards Andre who nodded.

I gave Jackson my credit card and told him to take the others upstairs and order some take away and sides for all of us. He headed off looking like a pied piper.

Tyron was starting to look anxious but before he could say anything I said, “Yes you will get business cards, it’s something I should have organized before. What’s more important is that I want to move you from being casual to being permanent part time.”

“I’ve heard dad talk about things like that but what will it mean for me.”

Andre answered, “In your case the same hourly rate but you’ll also get paid sick leave and holidays.”

“That’s awesome. I love working with you so thank you.”

I came back to his question, “What do you want on your business cards?”

“I don’t know. What do you have on your business cards?”

“Just the business name and my name, no title.”

That works for me. Can I just have that?”

“Easy, and I like working with you too, so welcome to the business.”

Tyron surprised me with a hug. I hugged him back.

Moving my servers went smoothly and by a little after 5am everything was set up and running perfectly. As expected, Tyron and Jackson were invaluable in rebooting my servers and setting up the workstations. Riley, Ollie, Bradley and Cooper busied themselves setting up the studio ready for recording and editing.

We had an early night so we could all have a short nap before driving to the townhouse and moving the servers. With the servers installed in my shop and back in the apartment we were all tired and decided to have a some more sleep time. When Andre and I woke we were delighted to find Tyron and Jackson in the kitchen preparing food for everyone.

The rest of the day was spent in my new shop. Yes, I was still calling it a shop. The boys all headed for the studio to play with the equipment and edit what they had already recorded. After running checks on my system, Andre and I busied ourselves working on the family business website and business software.

We were interrupted by Cooper who wanted to talk about game design. Andre said he needed to talk to Beau about the website and left me with Cooper. I told Cooper we would start by pulling apart the game I’d developed in high school so he could see how that worked. He agreed and we were still discussing that when Andre returned to point out that it was nearly 5 pm.

After we had all eaten Logan came over to collect Riley and Cooper. When he saw Bradley, he asked if Bradley was staying and if we had enough beds.

Bradley answered, “I’m good, we’ve got air mattresses, but I’ll sleep on the lounge.”

Logan countered, “There’s a spare bed in Cooper’s room you could use, unless Cooper objects.”

“No, I couldn’t. The lounge will be fine.”

Cooper added, “Dad’s right. There’s a bed in my room you can use that’ll be more comfortable than the lounge. You’re a friend. I’m cool with you sharing my room.”

Logan took the three boys back to his place.