A/N: Hey! Sorry for the long break. Had to deal with life and such. Hopefully, we can get back on schedule. Enjoy and leave a comment.

"Did I really have sex with Pond?"

Eli thought. It really was a confusing time for him after all. On one hand, he still doesn't like Pind. Hell, he basically kidnapped him! But on the other hand, well, what they did was something he never felt before. The power held in that moment. The way he could make the boy do whatever he wanted was almost intoxicating. 

It scared him in a way. Like a bad memory from a time he long pushed down .

"Eli! You're going to drop the gel!" His daddy snapped him from his daydream.

"Sorry." He mumbled in reply.

Rhys sighs. "What have you so spaced out cub? You've been in your head ever since you sat down." 

Eli shrugs. "Nothing. Just thinking."

Rhys taps his cheek with a comb. "Care to share?"

"Not really. It's personal daddy. Just need to think for a moment." Eli replied.

Rhys hums. "Alright. But try to tell me before you try to break that Pond boy's nose."

Eli tensed up at the mention of the boy's name. Rhys clocks it and is about to pursue more when Malik walks in. He was dressed in his underwear. His skin freshly lotioned and facial hair groomed. He looks like a man getting ready for a night on the town. 

He would.

He would not have the grim expression on his face and an overfill bowl of fruit loops in his hands. Eli thanks whatever God's above for this distraction. 

"Malik…you have been getting ready since I began to retwist Eli's hair. You have to be there in thirty minutes." Rhys chastised.

"Don't wanna." 

"Don't give that "don't wanna" again. You "don't wanna" the last five events. " Rhys said, pointing the comb at him. "Your agents are not hounding me again about why you were not there."

"You know m'dont like those parties." Malik reasoned.

Rhys sighs. "I know you don't, love. But, you got to go and mingle. You know, publicize yourself. Market your brand."

"Didn't want a brand."

"Well, it wasn't up to you. Or me. Turns out people really love the silent and mysterious type. "

Malik smiles and wraps an arm around Rhys' waist. "You one of those people?"

Rhys pushed him off but there was little strength behind it. "Don't cuddle up to me. I'm not easily swayed. Now get dressed."

"Can't I say you gone into labor." 

"Ay! Don't call wolf." Rhys warned. 

Malik sighs. "I'll get dressed." He said. "I'm too old to party this late."

"You're twenty seven?" Rhys replied.

"With two kids, another on the way and a mortgage. I'll be in bed by ten." Malik said before walking back to the bedrooms.

Rhys laughs to himself. "Isn't your dad a character."

Eli nods. "I never really thought about that much. Your ages and all. Dad's twenty six and you're what? Twenty eight?"

Rhys falls quiet for a moment. Eli turns his head to look up at him. 

"Something wrong Daddy?" Eli asked.

Rhys shakes his head. "No, nothings wrong. Just. I guess like you, I never thought about that much." He gives a dry chuckle. "Has it really been ten years? That long already?" 

Ten years. Thinking back in the past isn't something Eli enjoys doing with much gusto. What he means is, he never had a pleasant reason to. If it wasn't from before he met his daddy to those awful two years in an RV. The past haunts him to this day. 

"Hmm, good thing I started your hair from the front this time." Rhys said.

Eli tilts his head.

"I'm going to have to finish your hair another time." Rhys continued with a breathy voice.

"Is something…oh" Eli pauses himself. His eyes become glued to the growing puddle surrounding his daddy's feet.

"Tell your dad that the wolf came." 

~

Anthony 'Ant ' Jackson was born on the 30th November at a healthy 8 pounds and 6 ounces.  Eli was actually asked to give him his nickname, much to Ming's displeasure. 

"Why Ant?" Paris asked him as they jogged the field during P.E. 

Eli shrugged. "Tony was too played out. And he reminded me of an ant."

"Really?" 

"Yeah, remember I sent you a picture." 

"Oh yeah!" Paris smiled. "Is he still so pale?"

"Nah. It took like three days for his texture pack to load in. Surprised the red hair and freckles stayed though. " Eli jokes.

Paris laughed along to his silly joke. They both finished their final lap and joined the other students around the coach. It seems like the coach was looking for him since he was immediately called upon to come to the front. He doesn't know how they couldn't find him since this school is whiter than a country club. 

"Eli! I want to speak to you! The rest of you. Get ready for some relays. Two teams!" Coach Tucker said.

The man was about forty but carried himself well with his age. Meaning he still got his hair and decent body. 

"Listen son, I understand that you have a new sibling, congratulations by the way, but you can't , as co-captain,  keep missing so much practice." He said.

Eli rubs the back of his neck. "Sorry coach. Just had a lot going on. Been busy."

Busy thinking of the captain.

"Look. Just come to practice today and don't let this continue again. You are good Eli. No need to spoil that." He concluded. He pats Eli on his shoulder ushering him back to class. 

Paris gives him a probing look up and down. 

“So? What did he say?”

Eli smiled. “He offered me ten dollars to suck his dick.” 

Paris punched him in the arm. “Eli! Be serious. You know he pays Tiffany Marsh triple that.” She said, “I thought you knew better than to low ball yourself.”

The two erupted in infantile laughter. Paris gripped the others forearm and bracing herself against the much taller frame. Eli made Paris look small in comparison because she is small. If you ask Paris, she blames her mother’s tiny indian genes. However, Paris would endlessly argue that her size attracted the girls much better than being tall. But, what does Eli know about attracting girls, he’s gay.

Paris stills her laughter and looks up at Eli. “You know, you still haven’t told me why you went AWOL two weeks ago. I have been patient but there is only so much a girl can take!” Eli shook his head. His ever persistent friend. You can’t get anything past her. Unless she allows it. Eli looks around the field. It’s not like anyone wanted to pay attention to their conversation. 

Eli drops his voice low. It makes Paris’ bushy eyebrow furrow at the tone. “I had a….” Eli trails off. What would he call what he and Pond shared? A kidnapping for sure but yet, to phrase it that way brought up many unpleasant memories. Instead, he goes for a different approach.

“Had a run in with Pond that they, after the meeting.” Eli says. 

Paris’ eyes narrowed. “That fucker, did he do something to you? Because I would shove his football cleats so far up his prissy a-” Eli covers up Paris’ mouth. She stares at him in an unimpressed look.

“Shit Paris, it wasn’t like that.” Eli said.

Because he loves lying to himself thinking that it was not.

“Then what was it? Couldn’t have been anything good?” Paris said after she shoved away his palm. “Don’t tell me he touched you. Cause I saw some marks and-”

“Paris! Listen!” Eli demanded.

Paris pursed her pink lips and crossed her arms. “Okay. I’m listening. It better be the truth.”

Now Eli was left thinking of what to say. The truth would be easier. But the truth itself complicates itself around his mind like a cobra. He doesn’t even know what to make of it. But one thing for sure and two things for certain, he did something that can’t bring himself to be disgusted by.

“I had sex with Pond.” Eli said.

Paris’ mouth fell and hand went to her chest. “Not you hooking up with the body of water.”

Eli’s eyes narrowed. “I’m serious. You wanted the truth so I gave.”

“Am I not serious?” She chuckled. “ I am dead serious. Why wouldn’t I be? It’s not like my best friend shacked up with his arch nemesis, the water body.”

“It was a stupid decision.” 

“You bet! No wonder you havent been practice.” Paris pulls her hair back. “At least you wore protection, right? I can’t be a rich aunt without the rich sugar mummy.”

Eli groans. “We didn’t go that far.”

“Yet?” Paris smiled.

“You're sickening.”

Paris blew a kiss. “Thank you darling.”

~

Eli was surprised to find that he arrived before Pond did. He expected to find the asian boy waiting for him with a twisted smile on his face. But, instead, he was greeted with the other players warming up before him. He joined them and quickly fell into routine with the others. As everyone was wrapping up, Eli continuously looked at the entrance trying to spot when the tall male would make his presence known.

“Hey Eli, looking for your daddy to come home with the milk?” a boy, Jason said with a smile. Eli had to will his eyes not roll in the back of his head and his mouth not spill what he internally wanted to say. The stumpy brunette had the confidence of someone 10x his looks and the body odor of someone whose version of a shower is to ‘let the water do the work’. Eli would tell him about his cheating whore of a mother but his daddy is real tight with the school’s admin and it’s not worth the headache.

“What could you want from me Jason?” Eli said, picking up a fallen cone. 

“You know I missed seeing your ass at practice.” Jason smirked. “A sight for sore eyes.”

“You cannot and will never be able to afford me Jason.” Eli replied. “Maybe your daddy but not you.”

Jason huffed and looked away clearly trying to hide his embarrassment. “Whatever. Where’s coach Chin at? He is not coming?” He asks.

Eli takes a deep breath to ignore another of Jason’s famous racial stereotypes. “I don’t know where Coach Pond is. I suggest you look for him yourself.”

Eli could feel the twisted boy’s eyes racking themselves over his body. It was as if he could feel every dirty and twisted thought the poor excuse for a boy had. “Why look for him? Got something better to look at.”

Eli walks up to the grinning boy and pushes the rest of the multicolored cones into his hands. “Put these down will you? Coach’s orders.” He said before walking away to the supply closest. Eli’s fist itched to connect with that foul mouthed boy but he would have to sterilize his whole arm if he did.

The storage closet was narrow and was packed tightly with numerous sports equipment. It was hard to do much movement besides a short turn and most people try to avoid going in there. Eli didn’t mind as much. His slender body could fit easily within the enclosure. So when Eli entered the room, he did not expect to be forcefully pulled inside by an unknown force. His back was soon pressed against a tall shelf leaving him unable to move. Eli’s shocked expression soon narrowed as he glared at his captor.

“What the fuck Pond?”