Mercy (MxM) (COMPLETED)

Chapter Twenty Seven- Morning With the Grayson’s

Note: Read chapters 21-23 of Challenge before this

Chapter Twenty Seven-

Teagan

I'm still not quite used to the chaos of monday mornings at this house. Always one of the kids has to miss their alarm. Always someone argues over eating what we cooked for breakfast. Always Julian doesn't want to take his pills. It's a lot to handle, but I've got them all awake and dressed. The younger kids have eaten and the older few are getting their things together for school. Sawyer is taking a shower.

"Hey, T. Can you take Alistair? I wanted to go for a run- f**k! Ow." Candace yelps. She's wearing leggings and a sports bra, but Alistair has a bad habit of trying to bite n*****s when he's hungry. He doesn't have teeth just yet, but it can still hurt.

"Yeah, I can take him." I agree, reaching out to hold him in my arms. I'm glad that Sawyer is letting me raise this one with him. I can tell that he's not comfortable letting me really boss around the rest of his siblings just yet, and I know that it's because he feels bad about me taking care of them.

This one though, Alistair is like our son. I get to raise him just as much as Sawyer does.

"Wait, Candace!" Cameron says, getting a paper out of his backpack. "I know you're probably going to be busy or something, but Caster and I have a special day at school for Mother's Day and everyone is bringing their moms and we wanted you to come if you can since you're like our mom."

Candace takes the paper and gives them a little smile, her eyes starting to tear up. She reads the page and nods. "I'll make time. Thank you for inviting me."

She crouches down to lift him up on her hip and kiss him all over his face. He whines and pulls away saying something about how only his girlfriend can kiss him like that. She gives Carter a kiss as well before waving and heading out the front door.

Noel stayed with Dax last night, so we don't have to worry about him.

"What did you make, Teagan?" Frankie asks, coming to sit at the table with an expectant look. I usually make their plates, but I want answers before I give him anything.

"Blueberry pancakes and bacon. Your boyfriend didn't want any?"

Frankie blushes and shrugs. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"He was here last night. Did he leave?"

Frankie sighs, and reaches out to take the plate I made. "He has football practice in the mornings and afternoons. He climbed out of my window."

"Is that how he got in?"

"You're not gonna board it up or anything, right?"

"Your brother and I aren't your parents, you know? If you want to have your boyfriend stay over, then it's fine, but we need to make sure that his parents know so they don't accuse us of kidnapping." I explain, and Frankie just nods in agreement before starting to scarf down his food.

Cameron, Carter, and Lottie head upstairs when they're finished to get dressed. Julian comes down the steps soon after, holding a small duck to his chest which makes Frankie groan.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's Goat."

"What?"

"His name. It's Goat."

"Are you an i***t? Why would you name a duck Goat?"

"Because he turns his head when I say it." Julian answers, sitting at the table to eat, picking the berries out of his pancake to feed it to the duck.

"Why don't you just feed him the whole pancake?"

"Bread is bad for them. I googled it." Julian answers, eating the naked pancake when the duck finishes its blueberries. Julian takes his pills before walking to the pot of coffee and reaching up to grab a mug.

"Absolutely not. No coffee with your meds." I tell him, making him glare at me.

"Why not?"

"Because you take a stimulant drug and taking it with coffee will cause high blood pressure."

"Fine." He huffs, stomping up the stairs, passing Will and his friend as they come down.

"Was that a duck?" Will asks.

"No. A Goat." Frankie answers, making me laugh a bit. William ignores him, and walks over to get a cup of coffee, handing it to his friend Theo before pouring one for himself.

"Leave some for your brother." I tell them, and will just nods before sitting at the table and stealing a piece of bacon off of Frankies plate.

"Bitch." Frankie mumbles.

"Dick."

"Asshole."

"Loser."

"Retard."

"Faggot."

"Enough, you two." I interrupt when Frankie actually looks hurt. He stands up from the table and goes upstairs, making me sigh. "Will, you know better than that."

"Don't mom me, Teagan. If he's going to insult me, the least he can do is accept what I have to say back. He's the one who said the r word."

"That wasn't okay either, but considering most of the grown ups in your family are gay, you can't go around saying faggot like it doesn't mean anything. If someone said that to him at school, you'd beat their ass so what on earth makes you think it's okay for you to say it?"

"I didn't mean it like that. I just wanted to hurt his feelings and I knew how to do it, so I-"

"You're the older one, Will. I know it sucks, but you don't get to be stupid and insensitive like the younger kids do. I expect you to apologize when you finish eating."

"What did he do?" Sawyer asks, drying his long hair with a towel as he comes into the kitchen.

"Called Frankie a faggot." I admit.

Sawyer frowns and raises a brow at Will. "What does that make me?"

"I didn't mean it-"

"Then don't f*****g say it. You probably don't even know why gay people are called faggots."

"In British private schools boys did this thing called fagging where the younger ones would do favors for the older ones and they weren't exactly innocent if you get what I'm saying. The younger ones were called fags."

Sawyer shakes his head. "The term faggot wasn't used for that. Just fag. A faggot is a bundle of sticks used in Europe to burn people at the stake. Anyone who went against the church was a heretic and they were forced to wear outfits with a symbol of a bundle of sticks signifying that they'd be put to death. They're called faggots because that's what they were tied to when they were burned alive."

"Well I didn't know that it was that deep."

"Don't talk about things you don't understand and don't throw words around without knowing the origin. Words themselves don't matter, but a lot of words come from a violent past, which is why we respect people enough not to use them. Teagan's right. You need to apologize to Frankie when you finish."

"Alright fine. Can you take them to school? I wanted to ride with Theo."

Sawyer turns to smile at Theo, seemingly just now noticing him. "Oh hi, Theo. Did you come over this morning?"

"No. I stayed the night."

"Oh. Where did you sleep?" Sawyer asks, tilting his head.

"In my room. What are you grilling him for?" Will interrupts.

Sawyer looks at them for a moment before his eyes widen a bit and he turns to me. Theo stays over all the time so I'm not sure why he's shocked.

Though last night Will did have a girl in his room, but if Theo was there then he couldn't have... oh.

"Will, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?" Sawyer tells him, and Will groans.

"Ugh not this 'cool parent' bullshit. If you have something to say then just say it."

"Did you lose your virginity?" Sawyer asks.

"Yes. 2 months ago at Jake Dylan's birthday party. The girl's name is Harper and she slept with pretty much all of the guys in our grade, but I used a condom so it's no big deal."

"Are you bi?"

"No. I'm straight."

"Who did you have s*x with last night then?"

Will falters for a moment before forcing a straight face. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Despite Will's poker face, Theo's cheeks are now as red as a strawberry in summer.

"I was even going to buy you a plan B pill to give to the girl, but I guess I don't need to since Theo can't get pregnant."

"Liking Theo doesn't make me gay. He's just a really close friend. It's normal to like people that you're really close to." Will insists, huffing like he's mad at us for it.

Theo is still just sitting awkwardly next to Will, but Sawyer pays him no mind. "It's normal to like the people that you get close to, but it's definitely not normal to have s*x with someone you're not sexually attracted to. If you're sexually attracted to Theo, and Theo is not a girl, then you are not straight."

"Look, it's none of your business anyway. Just because everyone else in this house is fruitier than a smoothie doesn't mean that I am. Who cares if I f**k Theo or not. It doesn't mean anything, and we're just friends." Will snaps.

It's almost not noticeable how Theo slumps a bit and looks off to the side like he wishes that Will hadn't said that. Part of me feels bad for him. It sucks when you like someone who doesn't like you back. Especially if they string you along for s*x.

"Go get your s**t and take the kids to school. I'm done with this conversation." Sawyer grumbles, crossing his arms and pouting childishly.

Will huffs softly and rolls his eyes before turning to Theo. "I'll see you at school. We can meet outside the cafeteria."

Theo nods and stands up to grab his backpack and overnight bag. "Thanks for having me." He tells us before leaving.

After a moment Will sighs. "Is he still allowed to come spend the night? I swear we're just friends."

"If he tells his parents that he's sexually active and they still agree then that's fine, but I can't let you guys do that stuff without telling his parents." Sawyer says, making Will sigh again.

"Fine. We'll figure it out."

"I'm trying not to yell at you, but I can't believe you'd do something so stupid, Will. He's your best friend. You really jeopardized that just to experiment with guys. You could've picked anyone. You're popular and-"

"I don't want to f**k guys, Sawyer! I wasn't experimenting. He told me he loves me, and I was trying to love him back. He's my best friend, and I didn't want to hurt him, and I thought maybe I'd feel something if I just tried harder."

"That's not how love works, Will."

"I know. Is it so wrong for me to want that though? He's a great guy. He's the sweetest person ever and his little face is so adorable and he always has my back, but I just..." Will sighs again. "It's not like the s*x was bad or anything. It was actually kinda good, but I didn't feel anything."

"You can't try to fall in love though. The whole point of falling in love is that it always happens by accident. If you don't know what you feel yet then just give it time. Things will make sense eventually." Sawyer suggests, kissing his forehead.

"Right. Well we have to go if we don't want to be late. Love ya."

"Love you too."

Once all the kids leave for school, we're left with just Carson in the living room watching Looney Tunes, Alistair in my arms and Sawyer next to me. He reaches his hands out, and I don't hesitate to hand him the baby. He yelps when Alistair bites his n****e, and I laugh.

"You like it when I do that."

"When you do it, you're not trying to breastfeed. I took him to the pediatrician yesterday while you were at work because he hasn't been eating much, and the doctor told me to consider having the mother breastfeed, and then when I told him that were gay, he suggested finding a mother that would be willing to do that for us. I just don't know how I feel about him breastfeeding from some stranger."

"We could ask Candace to do it?"

"She doesn't lactate, Teagan."

"There's medication she can take that causes lactation. Alistair bites her all the time, so I'm sure he'd be fine breastfeeding from her."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because she's my sister and I said no, Teagan! We'll keep trying with the formula and find someone who can pump for us if it doesn't work." He answers.

My hands are itching to bend him over my lap, but I know it's not my place. I can't argue with him because he's right. Candace is his sister and I can't punish him for disagreeing with me. Though, I still think we should ask her. Maybe he's just worried that she'll say no.

"Alright. Well when Candace gets home we can ask her to watch the kids so we can head to the club. Dax is going to have us move into a smaller playroom now that Elliot is with Hayes, and they've got the new threesome joining."

"Right. The painting and stuff is all done how you like it?"

"Yeah. All we have to do is move our stuff and hopefully keep it organized."

"Okay." Sawyer frowns for a second before looking up at me. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. I was being overdramatic."

"It's fine, baby. I love you."

"I love you too."