Trigger The Years Past - 4. Chapter 4: Con Artist

"Sorry you had to see my crappy place." Miracle rolled his eyes. "Probably a dump compared to where you live."

"We all have to start somewhere." Cheston grinned. "So...what was this story you had to tell me about?"

"Oh...that." Miracle nodded. "Okay...so well, this guy saw me...at a place."

"At a place?"

Miracle nodded. "Yes, a place. Anyway, it wasn't my idea but I got pushed into trying to be a school counselor. So I went and there was the guy, he was the Principal. So...I gave him my very short and inexperienced job history and he hired me on the spot. Well anyway, no one knew I was in the office, the real counselor was on maternity leave...and we discovered I didn't even have the credentials to be hired there."

"Go on." He nodded towards Miracle.

"This sounds so stupid. Well my friend realized there were credentials and I obviously didn't have them. So I went and saw the man and he out right admitted that it was a joke." Miracle shrugged. "Can I do anything to him?"

"Unless he forged credentials for you or there was some kind of physical evidence..." Cheston grew quiet. "He did put you in an office, did you have access to files?"

"Yeah." Miracle nodded. "But that's not criminal on my part, I thought I was hired."

"It's a he said he said game." Cheston shook his head. "I wouldn't waste the time or the money if I were you, Miracle."

"Okay." Miracle nodded and ran his finger around the ring of the champagne glass.

"But...what place? It's odd the way you said it." He grinned.

"You can't ask that." Miracle grinned. "It'll be a secret."

"Already starting with secrets, huh?" Cheston took a bite of his food and looked at Miracle.

"If you hang around me...you might learn that I have a closet filled with skeletons, it's kind of a closet that I don't want to open and certain skeleton's I'd rather not fall out."

Cheston nodded and took a sip of his wine. "I can accept that."

"Can I ask you a question?" Miracle asked.

"You just did."

"Cliche." Miracle laughed quietly and shook his head. "If you had complete control of this night...where would it go? And be honest, you will find that I can handle the ugliest truth better than the prettiest lie, I tend to be more forgiving too."

He sat his glass down and looked at Miracle. "Do you mean, you want to know if my intentions are to hook up with you?"

Miracle grinned. "That's putting it right out there."

"Are you that type?" Cheston asked.

"I...used to be, but not for the reasons that you would think." Miracle looked at him. "I used to think that people fall in love after." He slowly shook his head. "Turns out they don't. So then I just did it to take the pain away when I hurt...or when something...magnetic was there, the pull. Then at least I could pretend, until it was over." He shook his head. "I don't do those things now."

Cheston looked at Miracle curiously. "What would make you think that made people fall in love?"

"A skeleton I'd prefer to stay in the closet." Miracle slightly grinned. "So are those your intentions?"

"Well, I'm not going to say there's anything here...yet. It's just the beginning, but no, I didn't intend to. Would I say no? Not really, but if I...choose to invest in someone, I go with the flow and I respect the other person."

Miracle nodded. "So you're basically down for whatever?"

"With that person, yes. So long...as I'm seeing you, if we establish that we're going to continue to see each other, I put myself into it and no where else, unless it fails."

Miracle nodded. "Just...don't dive in." He mumbled.

"I'm confused." Miracle said a moment later.

"About what?" Cheston questioned.

"There are various people in my life that I could be with, some who are practically in line and waiting. Kind of feels like the bachelor or something." Miracle looked up. "Are you sure you want to be part of the bunch?"

"Competition?" Cheston grinned. "I live for it, lets just say I'm a bit egotistical there."

"If you are, it doesn't show."

"Well, I like to think of it more like confidence. You see, I don't trash the competition, I don't play dirty, I just give it my best shot and I always feel confident that I will win, in anything."

Miracle nodded. "Would you take care of me?"

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Just take care of me, protect me, keep me safe...and warm..." Miracle stared off, almost like he was spaced out. "Hold me while I sleep...be my rational to my irrational. Just...care for me."

Cheston stared at Miracle. "You seem like you need to be cared for." He looked down. "Miracle, being like that will attract two types of people, one type more likely than the other, and that's users who will take advantage of you or...if you're lucky, someone who would do all of those things."

"My doctor says that's bad." Miracle looked at Cheston. "Says that if I let someone do those things, I'll attach to them like a child, and that...I'll never gain independence and self reliance." He shook his head. "For the people who have it and can be happy with it, great for them, but independence and self reliance has gotten me nothing so far."

Cheston stared at Miracle, concerned, interested, curious mostly. "I really want to talk more, but I don't think here is the best place."

"There's no where else." Miracle grinned. "Everyone in my house wants me, it'd be screwed up if we all broke out in orgy."

Cheston grinned only briefly. "Then my place? We don't even have to go inside. I have a porch swing...out on the porch."

"If you'll hold me...and swing it so gently." Miracle looked at Cheston. "The thought...is comforting."

Cheston nodded. "Not tonight, how about we make that...tomorrow's date?"

Miracle nodded. "That works." Miracle smiled. "Going to drive me to my dump now?" He laughed.

"It's not a dump." Cheston laughed and then nodded. "Come on."

Miracle stood up and then quickly grabbed his arm. "Wait."

Cheston turned around. "Yeah?"

Miracle took in a shallow breath and then leaned up and wrapped an arm around Cheston's neck and pulled him close to softly kiss him.

The kiss was soft, like the lightest touch yet deep like the remains of heat from a fire barely started. Cheston opened his eyes as Miracle stepped back.

"I haven't kissed anyone...in four years." Miracle admitted. "You remind me of him, you kind of look like..him, just a little older."

Cheston stared at Miracle. "I'm not sure how to take that."

"Well, given I just kissed you and then said that...I guess it's a skeleton I'll have to promise you...tomorrow night." Miracle said.

He nodded. "Tomorrow night." He then reached out and took Miracle's hand to lead him out of the restaurant.

"Morning, Miracle." Andy grinned, laying back on the couch.

"What are you all smiles about?" Miracle asked, walking out of the bed room in a sky blue Mickey mouse tee shirt and a pair of black silk shorts.

"Just how jealous you made Sterling last night." Andy said, flipping channels. "I had to hear him rant." He looked at Miracle. "He said he always had to be the jealous one when in all realities and times, he was the most faithful and you never see it. That way over four years later, he's still here for you...and you still do it."

Miracle walked around the recliner and fell back in it. "Do what?"

"Make him want you from afar while you gallivant with someone else." Andy rolled his head to the side and looked at Miracle. "I'm not being sarcastic, he clearly feels way more invested than me...and I guess he kind of is...given your history."

"Oh." Miracle pulled his legs up to his chest and rested his chin on a knee. "It just feels odd, like...really? After all of it...we end up together?"

"You and the jaded ex who stayed in the picture, not counting that insane trip of a thing with Ashley and then his active duty." Andy looked at the television, settling on Investigation Discovery.

"Well, I kind of wonder if I'm doing this new guy wrong." Miracle looked up. "I kissed him...and then right after, I admitted I hadn't kissed anyone in four years...and then went on mumbling about how he looked like him...just older."

Andy's eyebrows lifted. "That's a bad thing to do...on a first kiss."

"Yeah, it is. Now tonight I have to explain the story to him, at least that part of it...and then after I do that, he's probably going to start trying to put pieces together and think I was looking for a replacement. Fucked up, huh? On the rebound, still...after four years."

"Just tell him the truth, tell him how you feel, if that isn't what it was, tell him so. If he's worth anything, he'll understand, if not, well, it's not the end of the world."

"End of the world? Andy, I haven't kissed anyone in four years...and him, I kissed him. So if he hates me forever...kinda sounds like the end times revelations apocalypse to me."

"Dramatic..." Andy looked up at the ceiling. "Like how you started recording a video on December twenty first of twenty twelve so that you could record yourself laughing that nothing happened and then uploaded it to YouTube."

"Hey, it got a lot of hits." Miracle grinned and moved from the chair and walked over and straddled Andy's hips. "Naming it 'Laughing at 2012' was genius." He leaned down close to him.

Andy watched Miracle, surprised by the sudden forwardness and break in the barriers, yet he didn't question it. "Yeah, okay...it was a fun video."

Miracle leaned down and kissed Andy deeply and pressed his hips firmly against him. For Andy this was a sudden surprise and almost had him choking on his own breath, but his eyes closed as he returned the kiss and after a second of hesitation, his hands moved over Miracle's hips and he thrusted up against him before his hands moved beneath Miracle's shirt and glided up his bare sides and he wrapped his arms around him and pulled him down.

Miracle gently grinded and rolled his hips within Andy's grip and then he deepened the kiss and leaned down as he felt those hands on his bare skin. The kiss was quickly broken a moment later and he opened his eyes and stared down at Andy.

Andy looked up at Miracle, confused. "What was that?"

"Me...just doing something that...I wanted to do." Miracle then sat up and grasped Andy's hands and interlaced their fingers.

"That's confusing." Andy said with a slight smile.

"I'm confusing." Miracle grinned and got off Andy and stood up just before the door opened and Gavin walked in with a few boxes. "Oh, hey guys. Just brought the last of my stuff."

Andy blinked several times. "Oh, yeah, he's been back and forth all morning, talk about waking up at dawn."

"I hope to catch some vampires breaking their curfew." Gavin grinned at Andy and carried the stack of boxes into his room and lowered to the floor to sit them down and sighed. "I'll do my unpacking later!" He called out.

"Let me know if you catch Edward Cullen, hate the character, but you can't help but to like the actor that is him." Miracle walked off to the kitchen. "Anyone want some ice tea?"

"Huh?" Gavin walked back into the living room.

Miracle laughed. "Kidding, who the hell drinks tea?" He opened the fridge and grabbed a can of coke and popped it open before grabbing a bendy straw out of a container on the island and stuck it in the can and lifted it for a sip.

"I did." Andy rolled over. "You live on a ranch. See what you joke about come to life."

"And I lived on a dirt road in a small blue house, didn't change me." Miracle laughed and then looked off in the distance. "Until I realized there was a creepy taxidermy across the field...and he gave me a deer head for Christmas. And I had to hang it over the fireplace and I wondered how the skin didn't decompose...."

"You obviously didn't bring it with you." Gavin looked around.

"No, I buried it and uh...made a card board tombstone that is likely destroyed by now." Miracle nodded.

"He used a purple magic marker." Andy looked at Gavin. "Wrote that one day the taxidermy would pay."

"He will." Miracle said. "That's just creepy." He walked around the island and then laughed. "Now I'm going to leave before the jealous one gets home."

"Sterling? Why is he jealous?" Gavin asked.

"Because Miracle met a guy at the mall, got a dinner date, kissed the guy and told him that he looked like..." Andy trailed off. "And just now I got lapped and kissed and that makes no sense either, but this is Miracle we're talking about."

Gavin frowned and looked at Andy. "Oh." He said, trying not to let his apparent disappointment become to obvious.

"Yeah, and if I feel senseless again, who knows who might be next." Miracle grinned. "Later." He walked out.

"Might get lucky." Andy slapped the side of Gavin's thigh with the back of his hand.

"I...wow." Gavin looked at Andy. "That's different."

"That's...well, I was privileged to hear all about New York and his...affairs." Andy slowly nodded. "In fact, I really shouldn't be making light of it if he is regressing."

Gavin looked down at Andy. "Bet you didn't mind when he was all over you, regress away, right?" He grinned sarcastically and shook his head and walked off to his room.

Miracle sat in the chair across from the desk from the man who had introduced himself as Dion and listened to him as he explained everything.

"So as I've said, I'm an independent photographer, my work is artistic and varied, as in anything can apply, so if you have limitations, I would suggest that you reconsider working for me."

"By independent, what do you mean? I mean, I get independent, but I guess I'm asking about level of exposure? I mean, would I be going somewhere or would this be a dead end...thing?" Miracle asked.

"Well some magazines, sometimes. Nothing huge but exposed enough to possibly be noticed, in this day and age of social media, it has made independent modeling much easier to get out there if you make some good and decent connections, which I have, and websites never hurt."

"Wait..." Miracle disrupted him. "Websites..." Miracle made an odd face. "Uh...you said varied and implied no limitations...does that mean..."

"Yes." Dion answered. "It would be tasteful of course. There is also another side if you're interested. I have connections to some indie movie makers, so if you ever wanted some kind of part in a movie I have that reach, what you got, big or small, though, well that would be entirely up to them. However it's a packaged deal."

Miracle slowly nodded, thinking about how he would be again subjecting himself to the very thing that was done to victimize him, except this time, it would be willingly and with full knowledge of what he was doing. His breathing was heavy and almost forced as he weighed this one detail. It was still a good opportunity, he didn't need any kind of special credentials and it was better than fast food work and it could go some where, more so than dancing at the club. Maybe he would be discovered by movie people?

"Okay, I have a lawyer friend, could I have the contract, talk it over with him and then give you a call tomorrow?" Miracle asked.

Dion grinned. "Sure, but I can assure you that the contract says everything that I've just told you."

"Yeah, I just kind of want an opinion...and I kind of want it from someone who might be, maybe unbiased." Miracle took the contract.

"Okay, well my name and number is at the top, just give me a call. I'm telling you that it's a great opportunity." Dion grinned.

"I'm sure." Miracle stood up.

"Oh...and with the contract, I'll need some photos. Just about one or two, maybe three. That way I can see what I'll be working with and if it's good, I'll help you build a portfolio."

Miracle's eyebrows lifted. "I take it...you mean photos...of what you can't see now?"

Dion laughed. "You're nervous, cute. Maybe have your unbiased source do it?"

Miracle laughed, what a date this would turn into. "Oh, right, yeah, real easy. Thanks." He turned around and walked out.

"Hey!" A man called out and lightly grasped Miracle by the arm, long enough to cause him to jerk around due to the light, but brief grasp.

Miracle had opened a pack of gummy bears and tossed some in his mouth. "Hmm!" He spun around and looked at the guy. "Who the hell are you?" He spoke around his mouth full of gummy bears.

"Call me Dementia...it's funny."

Miracle started laughing. "I see why, that's kinda fucked up." He started picking out a few red gummy bears. "Whatever, what do you want?"

"Well, I'm a college student, long story short, I'm supposed to make a short film for film class, being me, I want to make a real joke of it by expressing my art without limitation. So I was kind of around here scouting people. So I was hoping to make something really sexy, scary, but more importantly inappropriately disturbing. Will you play my lead? Three thousand for the lead."

Miracle grinned. "So...you're breaking the rules?"

The guy nodded. "Pretty much, I want to. I just need that lead to do it...and that spark happened the moment I saw you."

"Give me your phone." Miracle's free hand was stuck out. When the guy handed his phone over, Miracle put himself in as a contact, listing himself as 'The Lead' and then handed the phone back over. "There you go, do me a favor though, find a better nick name." He turned around and started walking again.

He took his phone back and looked at the listing and laughed and looked off at Miracle. "Will try!" He shook his head and smiled.

Miracle drove down the road in Sterling's red 2003 Dodge Durango that he had let him borrow, though Miracle never gave him a reason why he needed it. One thing about Sterling, Miracle could get favors sometimes without explanations.

"Okay, I don't have a lot of time because I have a date soon, don't mess up the car either, it's a friends, I borrowed it because it was big enough for a crew. So we can film this scene." He looked over at the guy he had met for this project. "Did you come up with a better nick name yet? Or can I just have your real name?"

"It's Conner." The once named Dementia said. "Dementia becomes Conner." He laughed.

"Sounds better." Miracle said. "So, reading what you sent me of the script, this opening scene, I have to say is funny and it really misleads what kind of film it is. So that's a twisty way of working things. However, we can't use a dorm, especially if it's not a ground floor. First of all, you can't spy outside of a non ground level dorm, and a house is a better setting anyway."

"Where are we going to get a house?" Conner asked.

"I'm going to pull a string." Miracle grinned as he pulled up along side the street at a house. "Now I need you all to duck, if this guy sees a gang, he's not going to go for it." Miracle put the Durango into park and got out while everyone ducked forward in their seats.

Miracle walked up to the porch and knocked on the door and Wayne opened it, to his surprise he found Miracle there.

"Miracle?" He whispered and looked back, knowing his wife was off and away in the house. "What are you doing here?"

Miracle smiled at Wayne. "Lets just say, first of all...I've forgiven old wrongs. It's like that Dixie Chicks song...forgive and not forget." He laughed quietly. "I just wanted to quote it. Point is, by not forgetting, I remember you."

Wayne slowly nodded. "Okay, I see. Miracle, you know my wife doesn't know..."

"Right, and I'm not here to expose you. Listen, I just need to borrow your house for a little while. I have a date and...when I saw this place, obviously it's so much more impressive than mine." Miracle stepped closer. "If you could just...take your wife out to dinner?"

"Let you borrow my house?" Wayne almost laughed, he would of, if he didn't care about alerting his wife. "Why would I do that?"

"Look..." Miracle's hand trailed down Wayne's chest. "I promise, it'll look untouched, like a sparkle by the time you get back, I promise, and then...we can...work out a form of...payment. Your time, your spot, you call the shot." Miracle grinned.

"How about payment first and favor later?" Wayne grinned.

"Because my date is already on his way here. I know that's a little cocky...but I was really banking on your trust. I remember the way you told me you tipped me that fifty, how much you liked me. Only the really good ones tip that much." Miracle's eyebrows lifted, a desperate expression appeared. "Please?"

Wayne grinned and rubbed Miracle's cheek with the back of his hand. "Move your car, wait for us to leave. The spare key is under the mat. Once we're gone, I'll text when we're leaving the restaurant."

"Thanks, Wayne." Miracle smiled. "You're really sweet." Miracle stepped back and Wayne closed the door.

Conner watched the whole thing. "I think he's a con artist."

"So what? He's getting it done." One of the other guys said.

Miracle headed back to the car and got in. "Stay down." He said, noticing they had been peeking. He shut the door and turned the car on, driving down the street and turning around only to drive back up and parked across the street, by the road, one house down. He slouched in his seat, waiting for the couple to leave.

"Are you a con artist?" Conner asked.

"Uh...I consider con artists the type of people who do it habitually, I just...do it on condition. But since you bring it up, wouldn't be a bad side profession." Miracle grinned.

"There they go." Another guy said as he spotted Wayne and his wife walking out and shutting the door, locking it.

"He locked it." Conner muttered.

"The spare is under the mat." Miracle grinned, watching them get in Wayne's Porsche. He waited until they pulled out and drove off down the road. Once they were out of sight, he sat up and started the Durango and drove up and pulled into the drive way.

"Okay, so lets do the opening scene." Miracle said.

"Wait." Conner said. "How are you going to get this guy to keep leaving this house?"

Miracle's eyebrows lifted. "Oh...well I never intended to actually sleep with him." Miracle made a face. "Um...well, the main character moves."

"With no boxes in the background?" Conner asked.

"Special effects? Can't you put boxes stacked in the background?" Miracle looked at Conner. "Isn't it just as easy as editing photos? Or maybe a bunch of boxes are in a moving van and the parents are taking it to the new place when he comes over." Miracle pointed at one of Conner's friends. "Maybe they are moving the upstairs first."

Conner sighed. "Okay and then...I guess we can find a new home and do a brief scene moving boxes in."

"Okay, then lets go." Miracle got out and everyone followed after and Miracle grabbed the key from under the mat and unlocked the door and walked in and looked around.

"Okay, Chubby, get in position. Camera one on Chubby and Camera two on..." Conner looked at Miracle who had ventured inside. "Hey, I gave up my real name."

Miracle grinned and stopped before turning around. "Miracle, and no that is not a nick name, I have a drivers license to prove it, no I did not change my name to that, it's from birth, my mom had her reasons, and please don't comment on it. Actually using my movie name will be nice."

Conner grinned. "Camera two...on Miracle."

The second of the two guys walked in the house with Miracle.

"Okay, into positions!" Conner called out.

Miracle walked into the living room and pulled off his shoes and tossed them to the side before falling onto the couch, finding the remote control on the coffee table. He turned the television on.

"And action!" Conner called out, both camera's started filming.

Miracle sighed and began flipping through channels as the guy filmed from behind, filming the television and then moved around to film Miracle on the couch.

Conner waved his friend Chubby on and the second camera man aimed at him as he walked up to the steps and onto the porch, everyone else made sure they were out of the way of the shot as Chubby knocked on the door.

Miracle heard the knock on the door and sat up. "Not like there's anything on anyway." He tossed the remote to the side and then got up and walked to the door and opened it, both camera guys were careful to avoid catching each other.

Miracle's eyebrows lifted. "What do you want? Why are you here?"

"I want to talk to you." Chubby said.

"Well, I don't want to talk to you." Miracle started to swing the door shut and Chubby reached up and prevented it from shutting.

"What is this? Intervention? You know what? Hell with it, come in, entertain me." Miracle turned around and walked away, leaving the door open as Chubby walked in and followed him around the couch. Miracle stepped in front of the television and crossed his arms and Chubby sat on the couch.

"Well?" Miracle waited.

"I want to know why you don't talk to me." Chubby said.

Miracle laughed briefly. "Okay so you want to know why I don't talk to you by talking to you and telling you why I don't talk to you? That's kind of...breaking the point on yourself because by telling you why I don't talk to you, I would have to talk to you to tell you why I don't talk to you. In fact I'm talking to you now just to explain this to you, so why do you ask why I don't talk to you when clearly I do and I am talking to you?"

"You know what I mean..." Chubby said, appearing unamused.

"Okay, so you want to talk, I understand now." Miracle smiled and nodded as he looked off towards the ceiling. "Suddenly my mind is flooded with nostalgia." He looked at Chubby. "Do you still ever wonder why you never ever got to play on the swings in kindergarten? It's because my friend, my old friend from so long ago, Butch, always pushed you out of them so that I could have the swing. Then despite that, he'd push you out of every other swing you got onto and you never connected the dots because he could move just enough away before you turned around." Miracle shook his head. "Now Butch...he's your best friend, did he ever tell you that dark little secret?"

"Does it matter? That was kindergarten." Chubby shook his head.

"Why am I so important to you?" Miracle asked.

Chubby looked down. "Because, I like you." He mumbled for effect but spoke loud enough for it to be captured by the microphone that one of the crew held over head.

Miracle blinked and leaned forward. "Come again?"

"I said, because I like you." Chubby spoke aggressively and stood up. "You have no idea how much I just wanted to touch your face, to kiss you...just to spend one moment looking into your eyes and seeing compassion. But I never see that..."

Miracle's eyes widened and then he grinned. "Well...we still have all of junior year ahead of us, maybe if you get started on Weight Watchers, choke yourself on Slim fast, just come close, but not enough to OD on Stackers....maybe by senior prom, we can share that special moment."

"Do you ever get scared? How people shoot schools up because they get bullied? Do you ever wonder if that could happen to you?" Chubby asked.

"Should I?" Miracle asked.

"No." Chubby walked close to Miracle. "I would be much more personal, intimate." He grinned. "Maybe it's best you don't talk to me." He then backed up and out of camera view.

"Cut!" Conner screamed and filming stopped right there.

Miracle sighed. "Well that was fun, we should go now, make sure everything is where it was left." He even went as far as to grab the remote off the couch, turn off the television and then put it back on the coffee table, positioning it just as he remembered it to be before he touched it.

Miracle followed Conner out and looked around as he waited for the crew to come out and then he shut the door and locked it and then put the key back under the mat. He looked up at Conner again. "So what's the next scene? Refresh me so I know what kind of set to look for?"

"Shower scene, locker room." Conner said.

"Wait, why? Tell me my character is not athletic. I didn't even participate in gym. What's the reason? It has to be non athletic, sorry if I'm being a little obsessive compulsive there." Miracle said.

Conner looked thoughtful. "Uh...food spilling is cliche..."

"One of the top, plus it'd get on his clothes, not him, unless drink seeped through, like soda." Miracle scratched his head.

"Okay, nix that one then, seems little important. What's after that?" Miracle asked.

"I'd rather replace than nix." Conner said.

"School swimming pool, at night, extend the scene, make it sexual, an almost happen but then person leaves after setting the temptation?" Miracle asked. "Who is the person anyway?"

"The leader, actually that makes a good idea." Conner grinned.

"Where are we getting a school swimming pool?" Chubby asked.

"I have a friend and I have a feeling, he can get a key." Miracle grinned.

"Conning and connected, among many other things. I made a good pick!" Conner hugged Miracle with one arm as the gang headed for the car.

The red Durango pulled up in the driveway of a two story home, the outside made of vinyl siding and stone in some places for decorative touch and one of those round corners which Miracle knew meant rounded rooms, like the ones he had always wanted when he saw them as a kid. He parked in front of the two car garage, assuming that Cheston kept his car inside of the garage.

"I was right, he has a nice place. Better than Wayne's." He laughed. "God, what I'm going to make of this date...first I have to explain Jaemin...and then..." He looked down at the contract that he held in his lap.

Miracle got out of the car and shut the door and hugged the contract close to his chest as if to guard it from being seen and headed down the curved walk way to the steps, seeing that Cheston had lit torches that were attached to the railing of his porch and then saw a glass table with two tall candles and two chairs and two glasses of champagne and then the sound of the glass door caught his attention as Cheston stepped out.

"You're finally here." He smiled.

"You prepared...how did you know I wouldn't stand you up?" Miracle asked.

"I told you, I'm confident." He nodded for Miracle to come.

Miracle walked up and headed to the table and took a seat. "Change your mind about the swing?" He nodded to the porch swing off to the far side of the porch.

"Oh, no, we can move there when ever you want." He smiled and sat down. "So, about that kiss and...what you said. I don't mean to pressure but...I've been dying to know..."

Miracle nodded. "I know and...actually I got a couple of blows for you tonight." Miracle laid the contract face down and then kept his hand on top of it. "That's for later."

Cheston looked at the contract and then nodded. "Okay."

"Him...his name was Jaemin and I met him my junior year of high school. He saved me after...I...was beaten and...gang raped." Miracle took a breath. "That's out of order, but he scared them away, I was to drunk and out of it and upset to really, actually know that I was meeting him."

Cheston's mouth slightly fell open.

"Anyway, I kept it all secret for as long as I could and then it came out and my adoptive parents...they wanted to trap me in the house. They got so overprotective. I couldn't stand the thought of being without...my lovers. Jaemin and Sterling, either one. So...I took a bottle of pills and I went to Sterling and I got him to have sex with me, it used to take the pain away. He fell asleep and I went in the bathroom and tried to OD."

Cheston slowly nodded, frozen in place.

"I woke up in the hospital and Jaemin was there. He used to follow me and watch me and make sure that I was okay, watched me from afar. He lied and said Sterling never came to the hospital when really Jaemin kicked him down a flight of stairs and knocked him out. I didn't learn that until much later. Our bond began the moment I woke up and it never stopped."

"So what happened?" Cheston asked.

"My adoptive dad was FBI and he saved Jaemin two years prior from human trafficking. Turned out I had been in it too, I was sold to a man when I was eight...but they caught him and I was put into the legal system. Eric wanted revenge on my now step dad for taking Jaemin by taking one of his sons. He found out about me and because I..had sex with him before he knew who I was, he fixated on me, became obsessed. He plagued my life, put everyone I cared about in danger or killed them. So Jaemin and I left New York and we ran."

Cheston slowly nodded, his heart already breaking for Miracle.

"A senior year for a person, it's supposed to be special, for us, it was just about managing. We had been so in love, he protected me and took care of me and he became my life, all I could ever know. But when we ran, he became so focused on staying hidden and being careful and..I just wanted to rebel, sometimes I would do things to hurt him or piss him off, anything for a thrill. I lost myself because he lost himself because all I was, it was with him and we became strangers to ourselves and to each other. Love dies when that happens. Love is something that happens because it happens, not because you want it to happen or to be, and for us, it became just...a want, because it had always been for so long." Miracle took a deep breath.

"He left you? You left him?" Cheston asked.

Miracle closed his eyes and shook his head. "He left, went back to New York, but I wasn't long to follow, we wouldn't let go. He gave me this locket, and so we got back together. Thing is we brought a problem with us, or rather I did. While we were here, in Nevada, I involved myself with the gang, the hells angels. I told them about Eric, they realized they could cash in on me, for ransom. So it was set up, my kidnap and the meet. The leader of the group, he felt sympathy for me, Eric was killed, a friend and once lover was killed and then most of them left. One of the members, he stayed behind and tried to rape me and Jaemin got home and he tried to pull the guy off, I got the gun, my brothers gun, out of the night stand and I shot the guy in the face."

His eyes widened and he stared at Miracle.

"Jaemin walked out of the room and sat in the open front door, unresponsive, I cried myself to sleep next to him, when I woke up, I was by myself and I went and I found him in my old bed room, recording a video for me and then he took the gun...and he shot himself." Miracle looked down. "The moment I'm free...is the moment he had to live and die in at the same time, he said, in order to be truly free, to have a fresh new start, you have to lose every last thing you have, he said. So I walked out and went in front of a train and my birth parents had been hanging out by the tracks and were walking when they saw me and my dad saved me." He looked up at Cheston. "I was so...destroyed, I didn't have words." He reached up to wipe at watering eyes. "So that's the skeleton that I owed you, more than, actually."

Cheston let out a breath and sighed. "Wow, that is a horrible story. No wonder you haven't kissed someone in four years, you probably haven't even loved."

"When you experience that kind of love...and it's lost, the idea of it ever happening again, it's terrifying. I didn't know who to be or how to live without him. I'm just starting to try, really." Miracle reached across the table and took his hand. "I don't regret kissing you...and I'm sorry I ruined it with that, it just came out."

Cheston shook his head. "I'm glad it did, because now, if you'd let me, I would be so careful with you and I think you need that, someone who would understand and care to those special needs, given the circumstances."

"Well, tell me how you feel about this, part two of making this the most bizarre date." Miracle pulled his hand free and flipped the contract over. "I need a job, I have crap experience and I'm not doing fast food and customer service, so this was my next idea." He pushed the papers over to Cheston.

He glanced over the contract, it was rather short and brief and easily to the point. He flipped to the second page and gazed over that. "You realize this is limitless modeling? As in anywhere from fashion to nudity? Likely the latter, I mean the talent agent aspects sound good but the modeling will probably be sleazy."

"The modeling is my debate and this is another skeleton. I am well aware that it could be graphic, in fact when he used the word website as one of his sources of publicizing, it kind of really hit me." Miracle tensed up. "When I was sold from that illegal adoption agency, the man used to film me and photograph me for a website, to make money. That's not all." Miracle looked up. "He molested me, on the flip side, he loved me more than anything in the world, he would take me to the carnival, buy me toys, the zoo, all kinds of things. He would always tell me, he loved me and we would always be together, forever. It became a system, small things got small rewards and...big things got big rewards. He said to allow him to do what all he did and to follow everything he said, he told me that's what a person does for love, that if I loved him, I would do it. So I gave him his physical love and in return...I got emotional love. He got arrested, his forever promise, broken, and from then on, I looked for someone who could make it happen, Jaemin did...until..."

Cheston's mouth fell open even further. "That guy made you think it was love? And then essentially Jaemin became...the new promise? So that is why the attachment was so strong?"

"To the first question, yes, and to the others, that's what doctors tell me." Miracle nodded. "So that's a lot of dirt for me today."

"You shouldn't take this job, you'd subject yourself to it all over again." Cheston shook his head.

Miracle grinned. "He said that if I wanted it, I needed all revealing photos to start my portfolio, if I decided to do it, I was going to ask you to take them, I felt like you might be unbiased."

"I'm far from unbiased right now. I kinda want to shred this thing to pieces." He laid the paper down and reached out and grabbed Miracle's face in his hands and looked him in the eyes so intensely. "You deserve so much better than what this crap has to offer."

Miracle looked at Cheston and then shook his head away from his hands. "This is all I can do. I don't have all the requirements that most of the world asks for."

"Be my private assistant." Cheston said.

"Private assistant?" Miracle shook his head.

"Well, the way I'm thinking of, this is kind of made up, but I'll let you look over case files with me, go over strategies together." Cheston shrugged. "Why not?"

Miracle started to laugh and shook his head. "You don't get it! I can't!" He sat back. "Do you know where my head is? At the top of my head, I would be throwing random ideas at you like baseballs so you could bat them all out of the park. Jaemin did it all the time, they always have something wrong with them."

"Move in with me." Cheston suddenly said, out of no where.

"Move in with you? Why?" Miracle asked.

Cheston stared at Miracle. "I just...I want to reach you and pull you close...and protect you."

Miracle was near tears. "You know what I can never understand? Is that as many guys as there are that want to use me, there are many guys that want to take care of me after they hear my sad stories...and yet either I go for the guys that just want to use me or I turn the guys that want to take care of me away...or both. And I never knew or know why."

"Why? Is it because you don't want pity? This is not pity. I was attracted to you before I knew any of this. I'm sorry if the things you've told me sent things on a fast forward a little, but I liked you before this. Did you ever think that maybe guys just like to feel needed? Or that maybe they like people that are so honest as to bare their souls like that? Miracle, you discount yourself, you throw it all on pity or sympathy. I want to help you, I want to save you, I want...to be needed by you. The idea of those things can be rather appealing to a long time bachelor, not to say what happened to you is attractive, just that my reaction is not bad."

Miracle stared thoughtfully at Cheston. "Will I live with you?"