They all either ignored him or didn’t hear him. Either way, it was for the best. “I suppose,” Martha said. “Regardless, it’s good knowledge to have. And you’re not wrong, Aaron. It’s a big step to take, and they both need to realize it’s not something that can be taken back.” She glanced at Nick and Seth and smiled warmly. “We get that your relationship is new and wonderful, but you need to think with your heads and not your bits.”
“Easier said than done,” Bob said, folding his hands over his stomach. “I remember being sixteen. I wanted to put myself in pretty much anything that would have me—men, women, didn’t matter to me.”
“Robert Gray,” Martha said with a huff. “Honestly. We have company.”
“Speaking of Seth’s costume,” Dad said.
Nick panicked. “Dad, no.”
“Dad, yes,” he said sternly. “I’m not talking about using the costume for … that.” He shook his head as he set the mangled plastic bags on the coffee table before him. “Bob, Martha, when I came to you after what happened last year on the bridge, I told you I was happy for our kids. Seth seemed to know what he was getting involved with, so I’m not worried about that part, though I did question his judgment a little bit.”
“Wow,” Nick said loudly. “It’s not like I’m sitting right here or anything.”
Dad didn’t react, almost as if he were used to having a child who could be irate about pretty much anything. “But Seth is an Extraordinary. He can do things most of us can’t even begin to imagine, what with all the fire and the flying. And he told me he wasn’t sure he still wanted to be Pyro Storm, not after everything that happened. I get that. I really do. I won’t say I understand the weight of such a thing, but I know what it means to feel like you have a responsibility to protect those you care about.”
Okay, maybe Dad wasn’t so bad. Even if he was literally the most embarrassing person Nick had ever known, this was sort of sweet, in a way. He loved his kid, and Nick loved him too. Then he ruined it. “But if Seth and Nick take their relationship to the next level, how can we be sure that Seth won’t burn him if he gets too … excited? Do we even know where the fire comes from? Could it come from anywhere?” He glanced pointedly down at his own crotch.
The silence that followed was absolute, and it was in this moment that Nick planned to find an attorney and file for emancipation.
He yelped, “Dad, what are you talking about?” just as Martha said, “Oh my, I never thought about that,” just as Bob said, “We never tested that, for obvious reasons,” all while Seth jerked his hand from Nick’s grasp and groaned so loudly Nick thought he was dying. They all began to speak over one another, Nick louder than the rest because he knew that volume was the leading factor in winning arguments. He shouted about fire dicks and the sheer audacity of his father. Martha went on about the making of the costume and how she hadn’t had plans in mind for it to be used as protection for anilingus. Bob picked up one of the discarded plastic squares and held it inches from his face, wondering aloud about elasticity of plastic and the human body. Dad said that while he didn’t believe Seth’s genitals could shoot fire, he wanted to make sure it was brought up because if that was the case, they needed to see if there was a flame-resistant material that could be used for condoms.
It wasn’t until Seth shouted, “We’re not having sex!” that they all shut their traps.
Everyone turned to look at him, including Nick. It was the first time Seth had spoken since Dad had begun ruining Nick’s life with assistance from the elder Grays. In solidarity, Nick reached over and grabbed Seth’s hand again. They were in this together. If they were going down, it’d be the both of them—just, apparently, not on each other.
“We’re not,” Seth said in a strangled voice. His face was red, his unicorn-print bow tie so askew it was almost vertical. He swallowed thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “We …” He looked at Nick with wide eyes, begging silently for help.
Nick wasn’t an Extraordinary, but he’d mostly accepted his lot in life as the sidekick/love interest to the hero. It wasn’t ideal, but he made do because Seth needed someone like him.
Which is why Nick squared his shoulders, held his head high, and said, “Yes. We’re not having sex. We like to make out and rub against each other without penetration of any kind. I haven’t even stuck my hand down his pants, so you don’t need to worry about that. Today was the first day I’ve even seen his belly button since we started dating. But if it makes you feel any better, should we decide to bone down, it’s a decision we’ll make together when we’re both ready. And to be safe, we can get a fire extinguisher for my room and his in case he can orgasm fire. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I’m going to take my boyfriend down to the basement so we can spar because he needs to keep up with his training and I’m still trying to see if I’m capable of getting an abdominal muscle. Father, I shall see myself home by curfew. I bid you good day.” With that, he stood, pulling Seth up with him.
“But—”
Nick turned slowly, eyes narrowed. “I said good day.”
Dad rolled his eyes fondly. “So you did. Funny how you think that means we won’t be talking about this again, and in great detail.”
Seth came willingly enough, only stopping when Nick did at the entryway to the living room. Nick looked back over his shoulder at his father, who watched him with a quiet smile. “Dad?”
“Yeah, kid?”
“I love you.
His smile widened. “Hey, I know. I love—”
“But you’ll rue the day you decided to make dental dams in Bob and Martha’s living room. Do you hear me? Rue.” And with that, he pulled his boyfriend toward the stairs that led down to the basement.
Last autumn, Nick had knocked on the door to the Gray household and politely demanded to be let into the secret lair of the Extraordinary known as Pyro Storm. Nick was still reeling from his father lying injured in the hospital, his sort-of ex-boyfriend revealing himself to be Shadow Star—the supposed savior of Nova City—who’d offered Nick the powers he’d always dreamed about for the low, low price of getting addicted to mysterious pills. And then there was his best friend/potential love of his life turning out to be Pyro Storm, the villain who wasn’t actually a villain, but was portrayed as such by said ex-boyfriend, Owen Burke, with help from a reporter whose very name spoken aloud caused children and small animals to flee in terror.
Nicholas Bell’s life was extremely complicated.
In the intervening months since the Battle at McManus Bridge (something the news reports tended to capitalize to show the importance; Nick had no problem with this), not much had changed in the secret lair, much to Nick’s displeasure. There were only two real differences that Nick could see: first, the pocket door now had a small sign hanging from it that read TEAM PYRO STORM in red letters with smoke rising off the top of them. He’d ordered it online.
Second was a gift from Nick’s father: a police scanner, something he’d apparently stolen from work—all while telling his son that stealing was illegal, to which Nick had replied that Dad needed to work on his messaging. It had only been turned on a couple of times since Gibby had figured out how to make an app that did the same thing on their phones. Not only could people download a simpler version of the app to report situations in progress, but the app also acted as a tracker to show the others on Team Pyro Storm where Seth was when acting as Pyro Storm, just to be safe. Instead of sitting in the basement listening to the scanner or flying around the city looking for problems to solve, an alert would pop up on his phone for serious wrongdoings that might need Pyro Storm. They’d all downloaded it: Martha, Bob, and Dad included, even though Nick had wanted to keep it on the down low. How embarrassing would it be if Dad looked at the app and saw Seth in Nick’s room when he wasn’t supposed to be? Seth had looked horrified when Nick voiced this worry aloud, and they’d agreed to turn it off unless Seth was in costume.