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And that’s how you make a dental dam,” Dad said at the end of a twenty-six-minute demonstration where he took scissors and cut multiple ziplock bags into large squares. Martha and Bob Gray sat on a couch in their living room, watching Dad with no small amount of interest. “I learned about it shortly after Nick came out and was saving it for a moment like this.” He jerked his head toward Nick and Seth, who were sitting in kitchen chairs they’d dragged out to the living room with the pace of prisoners in a gulag. Nick didn’t know what Seth was doing because his own mouth had dropped open, tiny sounds of pain pouring out.
Bob Gray—a barrel of a man with a devious twinkle in his eye and perpetual grime under his fingernails from his job as a super—leaned forward. “Dental dam, you say? And what’s it used for?”
“No,” Nick whispered. “No, no, no.” Seth grabbed his hand, holding on tightly.
“Protection during oral sex,” Dad said. “But not for penises. This is strictly for cunnilingus and anilingus.” He frowned, stretching one of the squares in his hands. “Or, as the kids call it these days, rimming.”
“Oh my,” Martha said, picking up one of the squares. Normally a kindly older woman with fluffy white hair and a quick wit, she’d obviously decided in the past weeks that her mission in life was to make teenagers more miserable than they already were. “Rimming. So, you just … what, put this over the genitals and it makes it safer?” She lifted the plastic square up to her face, and Seth made a sound like his intestines were being removed through his nostrils.
“These will do in a pinch,” Dad explained, as if he weren’truining his only son’s life. “Even cutting open a condom would work. But it’s better to use dental dams made for that express purpose. They’re usually latex or polyurethane. I don’t know if you can buy them at the grocery store, but they’re sold online.”
“Or,” Martha said, glancing at Bob, “we could shop local and support the community. There’s that one shop down on Ninth. You know the one—it’s always playing loud music and has those mannequins in the window with the fun little red balls that go in mouths and attach to the head with black straps. I bet they’d have all kinds of dental dams.”
Nick had never seen a soul depart a body before, but it looked like that was exactly what was going on with Seth.
So, naturally, Bob decided to make it worse. Or better; Nick wasn’t quite sure. Bob said, “Isn’t Seth’s Pyro Storm costume made of some sort of latex? If it comes down to it, he can put that on before he and Nick … you know.”
Nick, forgetting where he was and who he was with, whispered, “Yes. That. For safety.”
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.”
“RobertGray,” 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 cameto 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 Sethisan 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 fromanywhere?” 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 youtalkingabout?” 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 sheeraudacityof 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 elasticityof 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 havingsex!” 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’renothaving 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 saidgood 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.”
