Fostering Billy

The foster care system is a wonderful thing, full of true heroes making the lives of many young people better every day. There are, however, those that abuse the system to the disadvantage of the kids in their care. This story touches both ends of the spectrum. For those that follow me (and those that don't), relax, I still only do happy endings.

Please note that all characters are 18 at the time of any sexual activity.

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"Joe, honey, he'll be here any minute. Come on down so we can all greet him properly."

"Be right there, mom."

It was always the same. My parents had been taking in foster kids for as long as I could remember. Some stayed only a few months and a few, like Sarah, had become a part of the family. She had left for college last August and was doing amazing; I had two older brothers that were the same way, one a defense attorney and the other a cop. Christmas had been interesting this year when Jeff and Henry started talking shop. I was my parent's only biological child but had become an expert in making my foster brothers and sisters feel welcome.

This one's name was Billy and from what I had heard, his last home had been rough, Mom and dad had given me a short version, Billy was having to repeat his senior year for reasons I didn't need to know and since he was already 18, had 'placed out' of the states foster program. The counselors had tried to extend him for as long as they could, giving him a few extra months, but his sponsor family didn't want him anymore, and they cut him loose. Since he was 18, they weren't getting paid.

From the way my dad talked about him, I got the feeling that he could be here for a while.

Setting my status to AFK, or 'away from keyboard', I set my headphones on my desk and headed downstairs.

Billy looked like a scared cat, small, about six inches shorter than me with shaggy blonde hair, jeans that had been patched one too many times, a t-shirt stained with god knows what, and sneakers that looked like he had dug them out of the trash.

"My good clothes are in here," he held out a battered suitcase. "Mama Eve said I shouldn't wear them because they might get dirty. And you'd get mad." his eyes went to his feet.

I wanted to have a serious talk with his last family. I understood why Billy was here. The poor guy didn't know what a family was supposed to be.

My mom wrapped him in a big hug. He flinched, but once he realized she was sincere, wrapped his arms around her and almost wouldn't let go. I was pretty sure it was his first hug in a very long time.

"I'm Joe. You and I are going to be brothers now." I held out my hand. He didn't take it, but I didn't let that bother me. From what I could tell, he had had it pretty tough. "Say, do you play Dungeon Raiders? My friends and me are starting a new campaign and you can join us if you like."

Billy looked at me like he didn't understand. "Um, I've heard about it, but my last family didn't believe in computers."

"Well, come on, I got a new one for Christmas and my old one will be perfect for you to start on." Billy looked like he had landed on an alien planet. He followed me upstairs anyway. My mom smiled at me.

It only took about ten minutes before he was up and running. He changed into his 'good' clothes, which weren't much of an improvement. I saw a long trip to Target in his near future. I got him logged into our Discord channel and introduced him to Travis and Lee. We all chipped in on suggestions as he built his avatar, which turned out to be a beautiful Elven female. He opted to be our healer, which was great because Travis, our tank, had a nasty habit of attacking first and asking questions later, while Lee, our Mage, and me, a ranged DPS, did as much damage as we could from as far away as possible.

Billy fit into the group like a lost puzzle piece. He had a slightly quirky sense of humor and a laugh that made us all feel better. We all liked him immediately, and I decided no one was going to mess with my new brother, no one. He picked up on the game quickly and soon we were all laughing and yelling at each other, mostly screaming at Travis to slow down. Billy looked like a different person.

When my mom called us down for dinner, I couldn't get him to shut up. He went on and on about this fight and that monster. It was great.

"So, where's Billy?" My dad's big voice filled the kitchen, and Billy grabbed my arm and hid behind me. I could feel him tremble.

"Billy, it's ok, he's a nice guy, but watch out, he's a bigger hugger than mom. Trust me, it's ok, nobody here is going to hurt you."

Billy stepped out and walked over to my dad. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Miller." He said it in almost a whisper.

My dad got down on one knee. "Billy, listen, the agency told us what you've been through. That's why we wanted you here. The real world is not like that, and we want you to know it. If you'll trust us a little, I think you'll see that."

Billy cried, and my dad wrapped him in his powerful arms. I knew that hug. It was magic what it could do for your soul.

We sat down to dinner, and I started bragging about how good Billy was at Dungeon Raiders, making a few mistakes in my stories, so he would have to correct me. Once the gate opened, the flood followed. We got full emersion Billy. He really was something special. His smile and his laugh lit up the entire room. I couldn't tell you why, but I couldn't stop looking at him.

After dinner was a family meeting. We talked about house rules, and everyone's expected chores. We went over what was going to happen when school started back up. Billy would transfer to my school and, since we were both seniors, might even have a class or two with me; I had turned eighteen just before Halloween. His birthday was in March. He would be nineteen. I even threw in that Travis and Lee went to the same school. That brought a smile to his face.

Mom confirmed she was taking him shopping tomorrow and dad joked he should hurry and buy some more stock in Target. Billy looked confused, and I laughed.

We got in another hour of Dungeon Raiders before my mom forced us off our computers, suggesting maybe a movie to relax before we had to get to bed. Billy admitted he hadn't seen any of the Avengers movies, so we started with Iron Man. As the end credits rolled, I realized he had fallen asleep next to me with his head on my shoulder.

Not having a better idea, I picked him up and carried him upstairs. Since my room was the first one at the top of the stairs and he was getting heavy, I dropped him in my bed, pulled off his shoes, got undressed and climbed in next to him.

Just like the sleepovers I had had when I was younger, I thought to myself.

Waking up next to Billy was interesting. The last time I had had a sleepover, Travis and I were in Middle School, and we had done everything we could to not touch each other as we slept.

Billy had nestled against me, his head on my shoulder, his arm across my chest, and his legs tangled in mine. During the night, he had removed his pants.

I could feel his morning wood pressing into my thigh. One of my hands rested against the small of his back under his shirt, the other held his in place on my chest.

Subconsciously, I was enjoying this, consciously, it wasn't bad either.

"Oh, hey," Billy lifted himself off me, blushing a bright red.

"Um yeah," I just smiled as I felt my face turning the same shade. I watched and smiled as he drifted across the room to the bathroom. When he bent over to grab his jeans, I could see his briefs just below his t-shirt, they looked like tighty-whitey's except they weren't white, they were a pale blue and I could have sworn they had small flowers on them and left part of his butt cheeks exposed. "Was he wearing panties?"

"Whatever," I thought to myself, remembering the lesson I had learned so many times before. Judging others was never a good idea since I didn't know what they had been through. Besides, his ass was kind of cute in the flimsy blue whatever they were. I shook my head, trying to get the thought out of my mind.

I took my turn in the bathroom, coming out to find Billy sitting on my freshly made bed, my mom would love that, he was looking nervously across the room at me, "Um, about last night and this morning, I'm not sure what to say," he started.

"It's no big deal. Don't worry about it," I tried to play it off.

"Yeah, but I was..., and you were...'"

"Look, you've been through a lot. It's none of my business what that was, but you and I kind of hit it off yesterday. I think we're going to be good friends. Maybe you just felt safe and I'm glad I could do that for you, but really, let's not make a bigger deal out of this than is there, ok?"

He nodded, and I smiled, reaching into my dresser for a clean t-shirt.

"Joe?"

"Yeah, Billy?"

"You should know, I kind of really liked it, waking up like that."

I sat down next to him. "I guess I kind of did, too." We sat just looking at each other for a few minutes.

"We better get downstairs for breakfast before there's nothing left." I pushed him back on the bed and ran for the door. He jumped up and raced after me, both of us sliding to a stop as soon as we got to the kitchen and saw the disapproving look on my mom's face.

I had all morning to think about it and didn't get any closer to understanding what I was feeling for Billy. I made the time to clear off the top bunk of my bed just in case it was a twin on top and a double on the bottom.

When he and my mom got back from shopping, I helped carry all the bags in. Billy and I dumped them unceremoniously on the floor of my room so we could get online with Travis and Lee to continue our adventure, the events of this morning lost in all the carnage in our wake.

My mom cut us some slack and unpacked Billy into the guest room, leaving Sarah's room for her when she came home from college. If Jeff or Henry came home to visit, we would have to shift things around.

Waking up in Billy's arms faded to nothing more than a vague memory as life moved forward. School started, which meant Billy finally met Travis and Lee. They took to him just like I had. The four of us had lunch every day and played Dungeon Raiders every weekend. It turned out that Billy was super smart, Advance Placement classes across the board and the grades to go with it. He even helped me with my Algebra II when I needed it. Whatever had happened that forced him to repeat his senior year, it wasn't his smarts.

With 20 of the 21 Avengers movies unseen, we spent a lot of nights after dinner and homework, next to each other on the couch, getting Billy caught up.

For his birthday, my dad treated him and me and Travis and Lee to Laser Tag. The four of us owned any competition we faced. For the last round, we were the only players, so it was me and Billy against Travis and Lee.

We knew Travis was going to come in heavy and that Lee was going to be hiding somewhere to snipe us so we found a corner we could defend and just waited, Travis, true to his nature came around the corner gun blazing, screaming like a madman, Billy, and I both lit him up. Billy saw Lee first. Up on the catwalk above us, we slipped underneath him into another cubbyhole under the stairs and waited again. When the five-minute alarm went off, he had to come find us. He got to the landing, and we opened up. His vest looked like a Christmas tree.

I gave Billy a high-five and hugged him. As we pulled apart, I saw the outline of his face in the darkness. I felt the warmth of his body close to mine, his hot breath on my neck. Something came over me I couldn't explain. Cupping his face in my hand, I leaned in and kissed him. He didn't object.

"We better go," I whispered. "Dad will be waiting."

The ride home was a cacophony of voices as we all tried to talk over each other, discussing the events of the night. Billy and I bragged over and over about how we had owned Travis and Lee. The four of us changed into shorts and t-shirts and set up camp in the game room. My mom made a huge amount of popcorn and we stayed up way too late watching Infinity War and Endgame. We had finally caught Billy up.

I woke up the next morning smiling at the carnage, popcorn everywhere. We had a bit of a war of our own during the final battle sequence. Travis and Lee had passed out over by our computer desks, each in his own space. Billy nestled in my arms just as he had the first night he had stayed here. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, carefully rolling Billy over and finding his shorts stuck to my thigh where his crotch had met my leg, smiling at the thought of what that meant.

I made sure Travis and Lee were still asleep before I laid a gentle kiss on Billy's lips. Leaving him there, I got up and made my way to the bathroom before I headed downstairs to help my mom fix breakfast.

"I promise we will clean it up before anyone leaves, ok?" I was pretty sure my mom didn't even want to know what I was talking about and to be honest, it had been far worse; the ice cream mess had been epic. It had taken three months of my allowance to pay to get the carpet cleaned.

Billy was next. He didn't say a word, he just smiled at me and walked up to mom and gave her an enormous hug. She smiled and hugged him back. Lee was next, "Morning Mrs. Miller."

And then Travis, "I smell pancakes."

We ate like kings, my mom dumping more and more pancakes onto the platter in the middle of the table until none of us could eat another bite.

When my dad decided it was safe to get a few pancakes for himself, Billy got up and hugged him, too. "Best birthday ever!" He exclaimed. "Thank you all so much."

Billy started crying. "I'm sorry. I just never had a family like this or friends."

His eyes scanned the room, looking at each of us looking at me last, our eyes locking onto each other. I wanted so badly to wrap him in my arms and kiss him like I had last night, but knew it couldn't happen, not here and now, anyway. I gave him a wink and a smile instead.

It didn't take as long as I thought to clean up the mess in the game room. Vacuum cleaners are such wonderful things. Travis and Lee packed up their stuff and their parents picked them up. Just after lunch, the four of us were on our computers ravaging a myriad of foes in yet another quest, laughing and shouting and trying to get Travis to slow down. He never did.

I really needed to talk to Billy about what had happened at Laser Tag, but the opportunity never seemed to come up. School was definitely the wrong place and afterwards was homework and mom and dad were there. On weekends we played Dungeon Raiders, so that was out. If I tried to catch him alone, it was almost like he was hiding something from me, but not really. When we watched a movie, he nestled as close as he could get. I was so confused I didn't know what to think. Maybe he was just as confused as I was, and I was very confused.

I knew I liked girls. The magazines I hid in the back of my closet were a testament to that, and I never looked at guys in that way. I had seen plenty in the showers at school after P.E., but Billy was different. I wanted to be as close to him as I could, and I didn't even know why. His cute butt, those pale blue panties, the kiss, his big blue eyes with those long lashes, and the mess he had made on my leg ran through my mind over and over. All the mixed messages were driving me crazy.

Easter was going to be my chance; everybody was coming home for the holiday and to meet Billy. Jeff was bringing his new fiancé, Angela, so he was going to get Billy's room and Henry would get the couch. That meant Billy would bunk in my room. I had difficulty deciding what I was more excited about, seeing my brothers and sister, meeting my soon-to-be new sister-in-law, or the possibility of waking up in Billy's arms again.

Friday came and while Billy and I were out of school, we spent the day on last-minute details getting ready for a house full of people. Sarah got home first and told us all about everything at school. She had met a guy and it might be serious. Dad insisted he get to meet him before it went too far, and Sarah giggled.

Henry, Jeff, and Angela all showed up at the same time. Jeff and Henry were in deep discussion about something, probably the inability of the courts to keep the criminals Jeff arrested off the streets. That's what it usually was, anyway. Angela just smiled and did her best to ignore them; she was going to fit right in.

"So, where's my new little brother?" Henry finally shouted. He was hiding behind me, holding onto my arm for dear life.

"Just give him a minute. You guys can be a bit much, especially all at once." I looked straight at Henry, everybody laughed, and that seemed to break the ice.

Every one of them except Angela had been in his shoes at one point, so they took turns introducing themselves, telling just a little about their story; they had all been through some tough stuff. As Billy listened, he realized they would understand probably more than anybody how he felt. Before long, the funny quirky boy I cared so much for was the center of attention, his brothers and sister hanging on every word he said. I went and stood next to my dad. He put his arm around me and the unspoken "'this' is why we do this" rang loud and clear.

By the time we collapsed into bed, we were exhausted. It had been a long day. He was on the top bunk. I laid there underneath him wondering what was going through his mind, curious if he was thinking about me like I was thinking about him and hoping that he was.

"Billy, I need to..."

"Joe, I need to..."

We spoke at the same time. His head came over the edge of his bed and he laughed and smiled at me. "Can I come down?"

"I'd like that." I smiled back. Opening the covers for him to slide in next to me, my heart beating so fast I thought it was going to burst right out of my chest.

"You go first." He said as he nestled into my arms, resting his head on my shoulder.

"I, I just need to know that you and me are ok, is all. I mean, after I kissed you at Laser Tag, things got kind of weird. Then you, well, you kind of made a mess on my leg. Now we're here, like this and I really like it. I just don't know what we're doing."

"Me either, sometimes, like now, it's really nice and others, I get scared. I mean, I've got enough problems without giving them all to you. You don't deserve it."

"But those people are all behind you. You're here now, part of our family, for as long as it takes." I rolled toward him, locking my eyes onto his.

"So, are you going to kiss me again?" he smiled. "I'd kind of like it if you did."

"You are changing the subject."

"So, sue me, your brother's a lawyer."

"He's your brother now, too." I closed my eyes and reached out with my lips. Billy met me halfway. Charges of electric energy coursed through my body and tremors of something I couldn't describe ran up and down my spine. My crotch was hot with desire as my hardness grew between us. We just held each other in that magical moment for what felt like forever.

"Wow," Billy finally broke from our embrace.

"I think you'd better tell me what's bothering you, because that was, well that was, well yeah, that was...," I let out a massive sigh, "that was amazing."

"I just have some trust issues, I think. Like I said, sometimes I get scared that none of this is real, that you are all just setting me up. But when I let my guard down, like now, it's nice, very nice. But it's also hard. I mean, I want it to be like this all the time, but I don't think we can have that. Then I think maybe I shouldn't have it at all, and then you kiss me and I, I knew you felt the same way." Billy rolled onto his back. "Joe, what are we going to do? What if someone finds out about us?"