Balancing the Equation
Part 2 - Too many free variables.
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
Don didn’t come over for dinner that night, which wasn’t
that unusual. He was probably working on
a case. But it made Charlie
avoiding him? He couldn’t go to the FBI
office. David would be there.
yet. He gave in and called Don.
“Yeah, Charlie?”
mind obviously busy elsewhere.
“I had a breakthrough on the statistical analysis of network
flow patterns for the Mason case.”
“Good!” Don said. “Bring them by.”
“It’s late,” Charlie hedged.
“I’m heading to bed.”
“Charlie, I could really use a break on this one.
come to the office?”
“Yes,” Charlie mumbled.
“Because of … this morning?”
“Yes.”
“Charlie …” Don said with exasperation.
“How can I not?”
Charlie demanded.
“Oh, Charlie …” Don sighed.
“Okay. I’ll come by the house in
about an hour and pick up that analysis.”
“And maybe we could talk?”
Don groaned.
It was actually closer to three hours before Don showed up
and Charlie had fallen asleep in front of the TV.
Don came in and quietly shut the door behind him.
face.
“Over here,” Charlie said.
He pulled the file off of the side table and held it in his hand.
Don walked over and slumped in a chair across from
Charlie. “What have you got for me?”
“Hello to you too.”
Don rolled his eyes.
“Hello, how was your day, nice weather lately.
Looking down at the rather elegant analysis that he’d put
together, Charlie for once had no interest in talking
about the math. “How long have you
…” Charlie glanced towards the stairs
to make sure his father hadn’t heard the front door and come down.
Don sighed, staring at the file in Charlie’s hand.
“Yes, we do,” Charlie responded.
“It’s been a long day, can’t you just give me the analysis
and we’ll talk some other time?”
“No, because you’ll never be willing to
talk about it.” Charlie gripped the
file tighter. “Not unless I have
something you want.”
Don dropped his head against the back of the chair.
He stared up at the ceiling, as if not looking at Charlie made it
easier. “I told you this morning that
the first time was that week in Watson.”
“The first time with David?”
“The first time with anyone,” Don snapped.
“Why … did you?”
Don gave a tired laugh.
“Because he asked me?
lonely, and horny?”
Charlie swallowed against a dry throat.
asked.”
“Yes,” Don smiled to himself.
“And C-Colby?”
“David had already … persuaded him a month or so earlier.”
Charlie shook his head in incomprehension.
“Yeah, like I have a girlfriend now.”
“You could if you wanted to.”
“Maybe.”
“You always got all the girls,” Charlie blurted. “Why do you
have to get all the guys too?”
Don stared at him, then began to
laugh. “You’re jealous.”
Charlie flushed. “I
am not.”
“Yes, you are,” Don said, still laughing.
Charlie felt his face grow hot.
“There’s nothing to understand,” Don said, laughter still in
his eyes. “It’s just recreational fun,
like golf.”
“Like golf,” Charlie said flatly.
“Okay, maybe not golf how you play
it,” Don teased. “But like really good golf.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
“Not easy,” Don said, suddenly serious.
do. I have to work with David and Colby every
day. Don’t think that’s easy.
mistake I’ve ever made.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah,” Don continued.
“We’d kept it completely separate from the office and regular life until
last night. It had only been two times –
in Watson, and on that weekend we were tracking the train robber through the
mountains.” A smile played around Don’s
lips. “Outdoor sex, wow, that’s just—
himself. “Both were far away from
here. David and I shouldn’t have … in my
apartment. I’m gonna have to work that
one through.”
“You regret it?”
“I regret like hell you walking in on it.”
“Sorry about that,” Charlie mumbled.
Don shrugged and gave Charlie his familiar smile. “It’s
okay, buddy. Just don’t tell anyone.”
“I told Larry.”
“Larry?” Don groaned
then tilted his head. “What did he say?”
“Something about human sexuality being more varied than we
think and that you are still my brother.”
“Both true,” Don nodded.
“Larry won’t … tell anyone, right?”
“Absolutely.
“Good man, Larry,” Don said.
“You’ve talked to me now. Are we
… okay now?”
“I don’t know,” Charlie said honestly.
“Then it’s a good thing that you’ve got a big brain,” Don
teased.
Charlie gave him a weak smile.
“Now, can I have that analysis?”
Feeling silly for holding it hostage, Charlie handed over
the folder. “Oh,” he added, “I’ve also
found some interesting patterns in that cold racketeering case you gave me.”
Don perked up.
great!” He examined Charlie as he said,
“Drop it by the office tomorrow?”
Charlie grimaced.
“You never gonna come to the office again?”
“What if David needs to come to your place to pick up some work?
Charlie took a mental grip on himself.
Charlie could deal as well. He wasn’t a
13-year-old anymore, he could be mature about it.
“Okay,” Charlie said at last.
Much later that night, after Charlie had explained to Don his
analysis for the Mason case in satisfactory detail,
falling asleep with a sense of a job well done.
As it often did, on the cusp of sleep the solution to his
problem became clear. To balance the
equation, to put him back on equal footing with Don, to understand -- he was
going to have to have sex with David himself.
Pleased with the logic of it, he fell asleep.