Broadway Love Story

"I wasn't a kid, or anything."

"How old?" her tone was no nonsense.

He met her eyes, "Eighteen," he said sadly.

"A boy."

He shook his head, but she stopped him again, "That's a boy, Ty. Maybe not a child, but certainly not a man."

"Is he a friend of yours?" Tony asked carefully.

"No, he's staying with my neighbors, they met on a cruise last year," much to Tony's shock she passed Gemma into his arms," and he's leaving. Now."

Ty wiped his eyes again so he could focus on her, and was dismayed to see her cheeks wet, despite her hard, hot eyes.

"Sarah, please don't cry."

She knelt in front of him and placed a hand to his torso, just below his heart, "There's nothing I can say," she began.

She was shaking, and Ty was shocked to realize it was rage. Rage for him.

"I want to tear it out of you, Ty. I want to rip it away, so it never happened," her hand fisted on his shirt.

He gently uncurled her fingers and brought them to his lips, "That's the perfect thing to say," he told her.

She smiled slightly and then pushed up, "You both stay here."

"Sarah, let me go," Tony tried.

"If you go down there we'll be hiding a body," she said, "You both wait here."

Sarah reached briefly into a cupboard and passed Ty a disposable toothbrush and tiny hotel tube of paste, then she left.

The fury emanating from her had stopped either Tony, or Ty from arguing further, and caused Gemma to grizzle a little.

"She's scary when she's mad," Tony admitted, as he watched Ty clean his teeth.

Ty spat into the sink and eyed Tony inexpertly bouncing the sniveling baby, "You're gonna make her sea-sick."

"You take her then."

"Okay," to Tony's surprise, Ty plucked the baby out of his arms and nestled her against his chest, swaying slightly. Gemma snuggled in and settled.

"Whoa, you're a secret baby whisperer!"

Ty moved into the bedroom, now he could see all the baby paraphernalia that he had missed on his dash into the room.

He perched on the edge of the bed, Tony sat next to him, watching him carefully, and waiting.

"She's innocent," Ty said eventually, as he breathed in the baby for comfort, "Can we please stop anything bad ever happening to her?"

Tony kissed his cheek, "I'm so sorry, Ty."

Then he took his lips, until Ty sighed into his mouth.

Tony pulled back and smiled at Gemma, "Bad stuff will happen to her," he said, "but she'll have her Uncle Ty and Uncle Tony to sort it out for her and help guide her through."

Ty considered this for a while.

"Okay," he agreed eventually, "but nothing too bad."

"It's a deal," Tony said, then grinned, "She looks like you when she sleeps."

"How so?"

"She's dribbling on your shirt!"

"I don't dribble!" Ty exclaimed, offended.

"You do when you've got my cock in your mouth."

Ty laughed, it felt a little rusty, "That's because you always insist on shoving it down my throat."

Tony moved forward, talking quietly into Ty's ear, "You fucking love it when I choke you with my cock, Babe. Admit it."

Ty was breathless, "I don't think this is an appropriate conversation to have in front of the baby."

Tony snorted and bit his ear just hard enough to make Ty gasp, "You think we are going to corrupt her with our filth," he kissed the sting, "she can't understand us."

"Even so."

They both turned when Sarah came back in, followed by Gene.

She smiled at Ty and gave him a quick thumbs up before taking Gemma, "She'll stay out cold for a while. I'll put her down."

She put the baby down, saying quietly to Ty, "He's gone," as she tucked her daughter in.

Ty turned and saw Gene watching him, "Oh, Hell," he said in disgust.

He had known Gene longer even than he had known Tony and they had worked together a few times.

Including one notorious Rocky Horror inspired Broadway Bares number when they had been paired together in the background and someone had asked them afterwards if they had actually been fucking.

Gene's answer had been, "It would take more than three minutes, darlin," which had made Ty breathless with laughter.

Now the man was stood there awkwardly with sorrow and uncertainty clear in his eyes.

"Gene," Ty begged, "Please don't go weird on me."

"I don't know what to do, I don't know what to say to you, Ty."

"Sarah already said the perfect thing, and you are like two heads on the same body so that's covered. What do you want to do?"

"I just wanna hug you, Man."

Tony didn't think he had ever been prouder of Ty than watching him walk into Gene's arm's that day.

He knew he was feeling raw, and didn't want to be touched, but he pushed through that for his friend.

He gave Sarah a watery smile as they watched Gene enfold Ty and pull him close.

Music started up outside as Gene released Ty.

"My neighbor asked if we could keep the party going and be subtle about this," she explained as she handed Gene the baby monitor, "So their guest is being called away for an emergency, and you aren't feeling well. Is that okay with you?"

"Yea, of course," Ty nodded, "We'll slip away."

"No," Sarah told him, "I'm driving you back to the city. You gonna be okay on baby duty?" she asked Gene as he clipped the monitor to his belt.

"Yea, you changed her right?"

"Yes," Sarah confirmed, laughing at his look of relief.

"We can take the train, Sarah," Tony said, "It's over an hour each way."

"I'm driving you," she insisted, "you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to," she told Ty, cupping and kissing his cheek.

"And she doesn't have to tell me anything you tell her," Gene advised him, "but bear in mind what she does for a living. You don't have to deal with a shock like this alone."

"What am I? Invisible," Tony asked, fake offended.

"You know what I mean," Gene laughed, "You're a dancer, not a shrink."

Gene walked them down to the car and was waiting to wave them off, when one of the kids ran around the corner, "Ty, Ty, are you not coming back to jump? You were going to show me how to somersault."

"Can I take a rain check kid? I'm not feeling too good, sorry."

"Ty will be back another day," Sarah told him, "I'll give your Mom a call and she can send you over."

"Okay, thanks. Mom's just gone home now with Dad to help Mr and Mrs Waters pack. They gotta problem at home."

Ty stiffened against Tony, "Mr Waters is staying at your house?" he asked before he could stop himself. Tony squeezed his waist.

"Yea," the kid shrugged, "but Mom said I could go back on the trampoline as long as there was a grown up around, and wait for her here," he looked at Gene hopefully.

"Not sure I qualify as grown up, Sam, but we can go find you an adult to supervise."

Tony felt Ty shaking, "Do you like Mr and Mrs Waters?" he asked, "Are you sorry to see them go?"

Sam shrugged again, "I don't really know them," he told Tony, "I've just got back from camp this morning, so I just met them today."

Tony hugged harder as he felt Ty go limp with relief, "That's okay then. Was camp fun?"

"Yes Sir, it was good," he eyed Tony and Ty speculatively, "Is Ty your boyfriend?"

"Um," Tony looked to Sarah for guidance, she gave him a small nod, "Yea."

Sam nodded, "Yea? Cool. I think I'm gay, but I'm only eight so for now I'm just waiting to see. I told my Mom and Dad, and they agree that's probably best."

Tony couldn't help but laugh, "Sounds sensible."

"Mom says I have an old head on young shoulders, which doesn't make sense, but Moms are like that sometimes."

"They sure are."

Gene locked an arm around Sam's neck and made him laugh by rubbing his knuckles on his head, "Let's go kid, find you a jumping supervisor."

"Okay, Bye," Gene and Sam waved and disappeared back down the side of the house.

-X

Sarah drove an oversized, gas-guzzling SUV, and Ty found himself on the roomy front seat, strapped in between Tony and Sarah.

"Is he always like that?" he asked, meaning Sam.

Sarah laughed, "He thinks it, he says it," she agreed, "I'll talk with his Mom, but I doubt she'll need my input, she's pretty great."

She backed out carefully and then glanced at him but didn't say anything.

Ty leant against Tony, who was holding him loosely, his thumbs slowly rubbing Ty's forearms.

They drove in silence for a couple of miles as Ty settled, enjoying the gentle reassurance.

Then Ty spoke, "I'd like to tell you Sarah, maybe talk to you some in the future. I never thought I would have to think about this again."

"I'm sorry Ty, but stuff like this often come back to us at times. Not always quite so 'in your face' but it's a hard thing to move completely past," she paused as she negotiated a junction, "You tell me what you want to, and you can talk to me anytime. Friends rates."

"Zilch right?" Ty asked, amused.

"You got it."

"Thanks, Sarah."

She just nodded and waited.

Tony pressed a soft kiss to Ty's hair. He didn't say anything.

"The town I grew up in, I never officially came out," Ty began.

"People knew I was gay, some of the kids were awful, I got beat up plenty, teased about going to dance class, but I never actually admitted it. You know my grandparents raised me right?"

Sarah nodded, "Yea, I knew that."

"When I was fourteen, we had a discussion about my plans. Wanting to come to New York and dance. They wanted me to finish my SAT's before, and they asked me," Ty paused to think how to explain.

"They didn't directly ask me not to come out, but they asked me to be discreet and to remember that they would be living in that community after I had gone."

Sarah didn't say anything, but he caught the quick frown.

"It's not that they're homophobic, they're not at all, but it's a small town. They had already walked away from one community, when they decided to leave the reservation and raise my Dad away from there. It left them insecure. They just wanted to fit in."

"Can I ask, Ty? Do you know why your grandparents left the reservation?"

Ty shook his head, "No. Neither of them would ever talk about it, and it's not a community I know much about, so I've never pushed. My community is the theater."

She smiled and nodded, understanding that completely.

"My Grandpa played golf and I used to caddy for him. I knew I wanted to go to dance school in New York, everyone knew. I did some odd jobs to save money. One day Mr Waters approached us on the course and asked if I would caddy for him some time. Grandpa agreed as long as it didn't cut into my study time."

He sighed, "I wasn't popular in that town. Too different. Most people didn't ask me, so I jumped at the chance for extra cash."

"How old were you at this point?"

Ty thought about context, "He asked me about four weeks after my eighteenth birthday, which he knew about because the party was at the golf club. So just under a year before we first met."

"Oh yea," Sarah grinned, "I remember Gene introducing you. You turned nineteen a couple of weeks later. I swear you weren't even shaving back then!"

"Really?" Tony couldn't help but ask.

"I was a late starter," Ty admitted, "and it was another year before I met you."

Tony smiled a little and twisting further in the seat, wrapped his arms around Ty's waist. He knew the story was about to get harder.

Ty pressed Tony's hands against his midriff and took a deep breath.

"A couple of weeks later I was on the course with Mr Waters. He had told Grandpa that he may want to stay after his game and do some more practice. Said he would get me home by 10pm."

"That's late for golf?"

"We assumed he meant practice in the all-weather swing nets, that's what they were for."

She nodded.

"The game finished, and we went back on the course alone for him to practice more. It was getting pretty dark, but he was paying me so what did I care. Then he hit the ball into a little wooded area. I went in for it."

Ty's voice broke a little and he took some breaths, Tony held him even closer.

"He followed me into the woods, and he hit me. I think I was stunned more from the shock than the force of it, but then I was on the ground and he was pinning me down. He was going to make a man out of me, that's what he said. Then he was inside me, and the pain was indescribable," he faltered.

Sarah passed him some water, "Take a moment, take a breath."

Ty sipped, unembarrassed by the tears flowing down his cheeks. Sarah was crying as well, and his shirt was wet at the back from Tony's tears.

He took another deep breath, "Then he left me, hurt, bleeding, crying, alone in those woods. He left."

Another sip, "But not before telling me that no one would believe me, because everyone knew that gays were always up for it. They would blame me."

Sarah didn't even bother cursing, "The same way people assume that Gene's bi-sexual. He can't possibly be straight and a dancer."

"You and Gemma are his beards, right?" Ty gave a watery laugh.

"You got it."

"Prettiest beards ever," Tony told her.

She flashed him a smile, "Ah, thanks. Give me a second."

Sarah pulled off the road, grabbed some cold soda from the back and passed them out, "I don't think I want to be driving while you tell me the rest."

Ty drank thirstily from the can. His tears were dried up now, he felt exhausted.

"He planned it," Sarah said, "He knew you were technically an adult, and he planned it."

Ty nodded, "Yea, he planned it," he agreed quietly, "and he knew the town well. They did blame me."

Sarah just looked at him, her eyes wide with shock.

Ty had never been so grateful for Tony's arms around him, "Three weeks after the investigation started, the chief of police and the local pastor came to see us. The chief told me he was dropping the case and he wouldn't charge me with unsolicited advances to an upstanding member of the community if I let the pastor help me."

The look on Sarah's face was so deeply shocked at this point, Ty surprised himself by having to push back a laugh, "Then the pastor very kindly told me that homosexuality can be cured, but like alcoholism I had to be ready to help myself."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Sarah yelled and pushed out the car, pacing and cursing.

"Oh Boy, she's mad. You go, I'm too scared," Tony told him.

Ty did laugh now and slipped out of the car, with Tony cautiously following.

Sarah spun on her heel, "I'm sorry, Ty, this is so unprofessional," then she stopped and glared at him, "Why the fuck are you grinning at me?"

"Because this is the best reaction ever, and exactly what I needed," he told her and opened his arms for a hug.

She came in and squeezed him hard. He rubbed her back while she calmed down a little.

Eventually she let him go and they leaned against the car finishing their drinks, "I'm so sorry, Ty. Your experience couldn't have been any worse. I wish you had come to me before."

"Honestly, I didn't think of it. I hardly think of him, or about Fucksville. It's my past. I never expected it to crash into my life again," he frowned, "but he could. I never thought. He can find me anytime," he looked at Sarah, his eyes dark and worried.

"I think it's unlikely, as I explained to him exactly what I would do to him if he ever approached you again," she gave them a wicked grin, and before they could ask, "You don't want to know."

"But," she continued, "Yes. We can work on that, exactly that. Anyone from Fucksville could turn up at the stage door one day. So we will work on that."

Ty nodded, "I tried to ignore it, but that's not the way."

"Remember this though, in the meantime. You're not a slender boy anymore. You're a strapping, fit young man and it would be hard for anyone to overpower you. Plus, the nature of your work means you are always with people. Surrounded by a tightknit community that have your back. Just like you did for Gene yesterday."

She stepped forward and rubbed his arm, "You were vulnerable, isolated, and innocent in Fucksville. You're none of those things now."

"Sure as hell not innocent," Tony murmured, making Ty snort out a laugh.

Reassured he squeezed Sarah's hand, "You're right," he said, "Sarah, thanks, because you are right."

Tony disposed of their cans, "You okay to drive?"

"Yea," they pulled back out into the traffic, "So, how did you get from there to here?"

"My Grandparents were awesome," Ty told her, laughing a little at Sarah's doubtful look, "No, really. They really aren't homophobic at all. They love Tony. From the first time they met him."

"Oh yea," Tony agreed, "Your Grandma loves me. I think she was trying to kill me. When we went down to Florida that first time. I put on thirty pounds in four days."

Ty laughed for real now, "Maybe a few pounds. He was like a baby bird. Every time he opened his mouth Grandma shoved a cookie in. He couldn't help himself."

"They're so gooooood," Tony moaned orgasmically.

"And you're too thin. He's too thin," Ty said, in an accurate impression of his Grandma's voice.

Sarah laughed, then gasped, "Wait! Are those the same cookies that you had at the theater last time I was in. Quadruple chocolate gooey heaven."

Tony nodded, "I have to share them out. I can't keep them in the apartment, it's too dangerous."

Ty looked at him, confused, "Where are you getting cookies?"

"From my care package."

"You've been getting my care packages?"

"No, Ty," Tony clarified, "I've been getting MY care packages. Every week since you left on tour. I know she sends you one as well."

Ty just stared at him.

"Didn't I tell you?" Tony asked.

"No, you didn't. Why didn't you?"

"I thought I had, sorry."

"Does she send you the cake as well?" Ty asked Tony who nodded. "What did you think of that?" he asked Sarah.

"I didn't see any cake."

"No," Tony explained, "I keep the cake, it's healthy. I only bring the cookies to the theater so I can't eat them all."

"Wait," Sarah held up a hand, "Healthy cake?"

Ty sat and grinned as Tony enthusiastically justified the cake.

"She calls it 'Dancer's Cake' she made the recipe for Ty. It's fruit, veg, nuts and good energy. She took out the fat and sugar and crap and put in all this extra goodness and sort of binds it together into this delicious healthy cake."

He stopped as Ty burst out laughing, "What?"

"Tony, what do you think she uses to bind all that good stuff together?"

"I dunno?"

"Fat and sugar," he grinned at Tony's horrified look, "It's CAKE, Tony! Is this why your ass is all lardy since I went on tour?"

"My ass is not lardy!"

"Maybe a bit."

"I'm gonna put my ass on your face when we get home, then we'll see how lardy it is!"

"Boys!" Sarah laughed, "Please stop, too much information."

Ty cracked up as Tony stuck his tongue out and waggled at him.

"Maybe if you're good," he mouthed back.

"Anyway," Ty continued with his story, not feeling so nauseous now, "my grandparents threw the chief and the pastor out of the house and put it up for sale the next day. I told them I could come to New York alone, but they made it clear they would not stay there."

He rubbed at his tired eyes, "We were in New York a month later. I did my SAT's here. Did summer dance school, my Grandpa thought keeping busy would be a good thing. That's where I met Gene, he was assisting that summer."

"I remember," Sarah agreed.

"My grandparents stayed for six months, before they moved down to Florida. They would have stayed longer, but Grandma was terrified of New York. She hates it!"

"Are they happy in Florida?"

"Happier than they've ever been," Ty told her, "You had just started dating Gene when we both got parts in 'Easy Time', I thought I would be studying and working bar for years, but suddenly I had a job, and a mentor."

He paused, "To be honest I always thought maybe Gene knew. That Grandpa had told him something."

Sarah shook his head, "He never knew, Ty. He just likes you."