Hopelessly Broken

24. Dan's House

5.19.20

5 weeks later

"Oh my God I'm finally free!" I was probably being over dramatic, but the food in there tasted like garbage. On top of that, I had missed seeing the sun. My friends had come to visit after school every day, and even though I had just been beat up, I couldn't be happier.

"We get it; the hospital sucked. Get over it!" Jack lightly shoved me into the black SUV, and I pushed him back. However, instead of just moving him a little bit, he landed right on the pavement. I swear I didn't hit him that hard... Maybe I'm super man!? "What was that? Did someone piss in your Cheerios this morning?"

"I wasn't trying to push you that hard, and I'm not allowed to have Cheerios in the hospital. All I had was that mysterious white glop they liked to call grits, grits, and more grits! I will pay someone a million dollars to never see that garbage again!"

"Whatever. Dan invited us to his house tonight, and I heard his papa can whip up some mean ass food!" I had gotten used to Daniel having two fathers almost as soon as he had told me since I was basically indifferent on the whole LGBT thingy. Whether or not I identify that way, sometimes one can choose to not be a dick. I had never met either of the men outside of that one time the scary one burst into my hospital room, so I was understandably excited.

"Do you think the black haired one doesn't like me? I mean, I was the reason his husband got all freaked out when Dan didn't come home."

"He doesn't seem like the type to like very many people, but I'm sure you are pretty low on the list of favorite people."

"Shoot!"

We both ended up as giggling messes in the back seat, and I could see Linc giving us the side eyes through the rearview mirror. "Why does this kid have to live so far away from the rest of the town. This forest is kind of creepy," Linc grumbled. Almost on cue, a really large house rose up in the distance. "Jesus how much money does this kid have?"

"I don't know," I breathed in wonder. As soon as the car parked, Dan ran up to the vehicle and began bundling us out as fast as humanly possible. As we were walking through the doors, I was getting a sort of side eye from one of the weird looking security guards. Just when I thought we were going to make it through the doors, one of the creepy men in black shouted, "Halt!"

My whole body froze up at the singular word, and I wondered how one person's speech could have so much effect on me. "What is it, Samuel," Dan snarled. It was kid of animalistic, and it was really, really freaky. I could see from his expression that he didn't appreciate this Samuel person too much.

"Who are these people?"

"My friends from school." Daniel's posture was totally rigid, and his jaw was clenched beyond the point of looking comfortable.

It was almost like Samuel's nose was twitching at me, and I backed up into Jack uncomfortably. "Fine, they can go in, but you need to hang back."

"Dev, Jack, go upstairs. First door on the left. Do. Not. Take. Any. Detours!"

I shuddered uncomfortably at his tone, but instead of going up the stairs, I lingered where I could still hear Dan's conversation. "Sir, your one friend smells funky."

I lifted my armpit to sniff myself, but I didn't think it was that horrible. "I know what you mean, but we can't let him know about it. It's his job to figure these things out for himself. What, I can't just walk up to him like, 'oh by the way you don't smell like a human.' It'll freak him out." Oh hell yeah it will!

I ran up the stairs before I could hear the rest, and I swiftly forced myself into the right bedroom. Jack looked at me strangely from where he sat on the king sized bed, but what I just heard was making me feel strangely. I could hear Dan running up the stairs even though they were a little while away, and I jumped onto the bed next to Jack just as the door pushed itself open. "Sorry I took so long, Samuel was just talking to me about some concerns he had."

I shakily nodded my head before allowing myself to look around the nice bedroom. There were a lot of bookshelves filled to the brim with books along all of the walls, and I had to wonder what they were doing there. "I didn't know you had such a thing for books."

"Oh, I don't. This was my papa's childhood room, and I just took it over when I turned 12." When I stood up to get a closer look at what was on the shelf, Dan quickly switched topics of conversation. "U-uhh... Dinner should be ready soon! We should go help set the table or something!"

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him, and his hesitant smile made me wonder what was really going on here. "Of course! We would love to!" Jack chirped.

Thus I ended up trailing after the group like a little lost puppy. I was shocked at the amount of people in the hallway, and I chose to call him out on it. "How many people live here?"

"Don't worry, it's just a couple more families. We don't afford this whole place by ourselves!" I could see the sweat dripping off of his forehead, but the sigh of relief from him when he pushed the dining room door open was way too much. "Hey papa, do you need any help setting the table?"

"That would be great! Are these your friends?" When the man who had previously been setting the table looked up, I noticed that Dan had his wide, emerald green eyes, but he also had his other father's hair. That's impossible! Two men can't have kids!

"Yes. Papa, this is Devon and Jack." As the man's eyes scanned over me, I saw them narrow in confusion.

"Awesome, sweety. Can you show them where the silverware is and put it down onto the table? I already have the plates set."

As I was passing the man in his mid-thirties, I saw his eyes follow me into the kitchen with a lot of questioning in his swirling irises. What is going on here!?

A pile of silverware was soon shoved into my arms, and I walked back through the door to find that Dan's fathers had been whispering while casting looks at the kitchen doorway. I awkwardly shuffled until I could set the forks onto the table, but I was soon stopped by the brown haired father. I watched as he switched the side of the plate that the forks were on before walking back to go somewhere else. Why is no one talking to me?

Finally, we sat down for dinner, and still no one had directly addressed me other than Jack and occasionally Dan. That is, until the dinner talk got a little bit more... Interesting.

First person to figure out exactly what's going on here gets a shout out.