His meetings had gone well, Bean (one of his favorite employees) was closing up the store, and Harrison felt as though all of the stress in his body had left in sweat form when he worked his body to the grind at the gym. He had sprayed on more deodorant and tossed the can in his bag as he left. His truck waited patiently in the parking lot, the green paint covered in a layer of dust, grime, and splatters of mud. The hubcaps were almost black, the windshield was nearly opaque and to top it all off, his tires were all in need of air. He really needed to wash it.

He tossed his bag into the cab and climbed in behind it. The green beast purred to life with the turn of the key. ‘Performance over appearance’, that was his motto. Well, only in the case of vehicles. The ride home was smooth and uneventful, a fact that Harrison fully appreciated after his tension-filled day.

When he got to Preston and Leslie’s house, Jacob’s car was in the driveway. He grinned. He nephew was in his second year in college and did not come home often so Harrison did not get to see him very much. He hurried inside.

As soon as he entered, Leslie hit him with a questioning glare, “Where have you been? It’s almost eleven!”

Harrison shrugged, “I was at the gym, hitting the weight machines and stuff. I do that a lot.”

She rolled her eyes, “Well you smell absolutely awful. Go say hi to your nephew and take a shower. He’s been asking about you. He was really excited when we told him you were staying with us.”

This put a smile on Harrison’s face. Jacob was really one of his best friends in a way. He had been able to be there for Jacob the way Preston had always been there for him. When Jacob would get drunk at parties, he would call Harrison to give him a ride home. When he had gotten a $400 cell phone bill, he’d gone to Harrison for help. When his girlfriend had broken up with him, he had gone to Harrison for an open shoulder to cry on. Jacob was extremely important to him.

So he ran up the stairs to Jacob’s room and knocked on the door. Jacob called back in reply and Harrison entered the room, finding his nephew laying stomach-down on his bed.

“What’s up?” Harrison asked, leaning against the doorframe with his hands in his jean pockets, an almost James Dean-esque pose.

Jacob smiled, shrugging, “Not much. Haven’t seen you around in a while.”

Laughing, Harrison smiled back, “You know what, you’re one to talk! How’s school going?”

“Good,” Jacob replied, flipping idly through the magazine he had in front of him, “I like my classes, I have some really great profs, and I’ve applied for a couple of jobs this summer that actually apply to my major.”

Harrison nodded, “That’s pretty cool. Well, I was just checking in. We’ll talk some more in the morning, ok?”

Jacob grinned as his uncle left the room, shutting the door and walking down the hall to the bathroom. He pulled his ear buds to his ipod out of his pocket and hit play, letting the music of ‘Mindless Self-Indulgence’ fill his ears as he entered the bathroom and started stripping.

The bathroom was separated into two rooms, a room with two sinks and a linen closet, then a door leading to the toilet and shower/tub. He maneuvered his shirt off (a tricky thing to do without removing his ear buds) and tossed it into the laundry basket kept in the linen closet. He was in the process of taking off his pants when the door from the shower section opened.

So there stood Harrison, pants and boxers round his ankles, and there in front of him stood absolute perfection.

He was tall and thin, but shorter than Harrison. He was very, very thin with smooth, caramel colored skin. His muscles were in perfect proportional knots under his flesh, which was sprinkled with water droplets that Harrison felt the distinct urge to lick off of him, one by one.

Harrison slowly looked up at his face and at that moment felt he could die happy. Wide, startled eyes looked back at him, a dazzling shade of lime green. His hair was a pale blonde and it got darker closer to the root. It hung in his face, almost blocking those stunning eyes and tickling his cute button nose. His mouth hung slightly open, perfect pink looking so plump and kissable that Harrison wanted to scream with need.

“Um,” Harrison grated out when his voice grudgingly started working again, “Sorry.” He tried to casually, slowly run away and nearly tripped on his pants on his way out. He pulled his boxers on and just left his pants on the floor in his rushed escape attempt.

Harrison hurried to his room and shut the door. From Jacob’s room, he heard the embodiment of beauty say to his nephew, “Dude, what is a naked, muscular Orlando Bloom doing in your bathroom?”

Another stunning display of intelligence by Harrison Maverick, ladies and gentlemen. Please, hold your applause.

Harrison tossed his ipod on his bed, angry that it had covered up the sounds of the other boy in the shower and hurried to the bathroom, locking the door behind him before grabbing a towel.

The entire time he showered, he pondered the possibility of getting that demigod currently in his nephew’s room into his bed. Then he realized what he was thinking and suddenly felt incredibly sick to his stomach. But the thoughts just kept assaulting his mind and he eventually had to take care of the ‘effects’ of those thoughts.

He felt somewhat more relaxed after that, but he just knew that his sheets were going to be sticky in the morning. The thought disgusted him and he quickly finished his shower, shutting off the water and wrapping the towel around his waist.

Harrison hurried back to his room and pulled on a pair of boxers and a t-shirt before he headed downstairs. Leslie and Melanie had already gone to bed, but Preston always stayed up to watch Leno.

He plopped down next to Preston and muttered, “Hey.”

“Yo,” he replied shortly.

“Who’s the kid with Jacob?” asked Harrison. Preston eyed him curiously.

He chuckled, “That’s his friend Brody. His parents kicked him out for some reason that he doesn’t want to talk about.” Preston paused and gave Harrison a sad look, “The poor kid is staying with us for breaks and holidays for a while.”

Brody. A gorgeous name, absolutely gorgeous and perfect. Perfect name, just like Brody himself. Harrison played with the name and it gave him a warm feeling in his stomach.

“Brody,” he sighed, liking the feel of the name exiting his lips, “How much longer till Leno starts?”

Preston sighed, “It should be starting soon once the news finishes up.”

“I thought you used to prefer Letterman,” Harrison commented.

“I got sick of him saying ass all of the time. It’s like he can’t go five minutes without saying ass at least once. It’s very redundant. Plus Conan’s on after Leno.”

“Hey, Dad,” Jacob said as he entered the living room and plunked down on the couch next to me, “Hey, Uncle Harrison.”

Brody entered behind him, now wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of red track pants with three white stripes going down the legs. His wet hair glistened and droplets kept rolling down his neck.

Harrison wanted to rape him.

“Brody, this is Harrison, my uncle,” said Jacob. Brody stuck his hand out toward Harrison who simply nodded at him. Slowly Brody took his untouched hand back and sat in the chair next to the couch.

He wanted to touch him, wanted to kiss him. He wanted to rip off all of his clothes and molest him. He wanted to be inside of him.

He had to get away from him.

“I’m going to go get something to eat,” he gasped and all but sprinted to the kitchen. He got a bag of popcorn out of the pantry and put in the microwave. He glanced in the refrigerator and found no decent drinks so he went out to the garage and looked through the second fridge where he grabbed a bottle of Mountain Dew Code Red. He returned to the kitchen where Brody was looking through the pantry.

Gorgeous…

Brody turned and saw Harrison, making him jump. Then he smiled and laughed a little, “You keep sneaking up on me.”

“Technically you snuck up on me that first time,” Harrison replied nervously, getting a bowl out of the cabinet to put the popcorn in.

“Jacob says you own your own store,” said Brody, sounding oh so beautifully interested.

“Yeah,” answered Harrison, trying not to sound as breathless as he felt, “It’s this kind of CD/movie/snack store called Turtle. I’m working on opening a second store called Puffin.”

He laughed a rich, beautiful laugh, “Why ‘Puffin’?”

Harrison shrugged, “I like puffins.”

Brody had the most gorgeous, striking smile on the planet covering his face, “You’re a very interesting person.” He went out to the garage and returned with two cans of Sprite as the microwave went off. He returned to the living room with the drinks and a bag of chips under his arm while Harrison emptied the popcorn into the bowl.

He wanted to make love to him until he died.

Harrison went out and handed the soda and popcorn to Preston then went upstairs to his room. Everything would be better in the morning, he decided. He could wake up and go to work, doing what he loved, selling music and making people happy. He could just kick Brody out of his mind; stop the inappropriate thoughts about his nephew’s friend.

He would not think of his silken caramel skin that shined when wet, his straight golden hair that glowed like a halo and fell over vibrant lime colored eyes, his lean body that he wanted to kiss everywhere…

…He was so pathetic.