Shading is not my best, I just could not focus on what I wanted for my shadow placements, also not a huge fan of how the last panel turned out.

Also Eve looks like she trying to cheer Yula up by doing jazz hands so it was hard to work on her without smirking.

Other than that I am happy with it.

Wow… excuse me as I try to remember how to draw again…

It’s been such a long time since I’ve been able to work on this series, so my drawings are a tad bit rusty.

Made a few changes to the formatting. Made the text smaller and increased the spacing between sentences so hopefully the word bubbles are easier to read and look less cluttered.

For those who want an update on my health, want to make sure I’m doing okay. Well, the meds for the arthritis and joint pain are helping a lot, but still making me completely useless and ill the days that I take them (which is on Saturday, for those of you wondering why you can never seem to get in touch with / see me online much on Saturday, thank you medication for ruining my weekends) unfortunately though because my joint pain is getting less intense effects from the lupus are starting to show up, mainly the ‘hey lets be so fatigued that you sleep 24/7’ thing, which I do not like at all, and is actually proving very difficult for me to find a way to fight / work around. I just can’t seem to find a way to stay awake anymore or keep from dozing off, it’s actually very frustrating. I feel like Chase (those that read the novel will know who that is), and trust me no one want to be stuck sleeping as much as him. Aside from that mood swings and personality changes from hell, one day I’m trying to take on the world, next day I’m feeling sorry for myself and wanting to give up on life, day after I’m okay to talk to without me going on an over emotional rant, next day I can’t do anything but rant, next day I can’t stop talking about how much I like video games, day after I can’t stop talking about how much a HATE video games. Honestly I feel sorry for the people that contact me and have to put with this.

The funds for wheelchair ramp I have been saving up for / doing commissions for, is unfortunately getting dipped into, as I have to take my dog to the vet again. He’s old now and getting on in his years so he seems to be having visits like this more often, thankfully though it’s not a big issue like the glaucoma incident last year, just a broken tooth that needs removing… that copycat…

So yeah, that’s about all I have to say, wouldn’t want to ramble any more than I already have. Oh yeah, starting on a new project, no info on that yet though still working on details, putting it together and such, so be sure to be in the lookout for random things that may pop up related to that.

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The Newlyweds Next-door
Chapter 03

The sliding door to the back of Martin’s van opens and Noah hops inside, seating himself between the other members of his church’s youth group that had already been picked up by Martin.

Martin looks back to him before starting the car up once more, fixing his glasses as he questions Noah in a friendly manner. “So Noah, how was your first weeks of marriage? We missed you at church last weekend, but you were on your honeymoon so I guess it couldn’t be helped.”

Noah leans forward toward the driver’s seat as ne begins speaking to Martin in an annoyed tone of voice. “Why would you hook me up with an Atheist!?!?!”

Martin sighs as he shakes his head turning away from Noah. “Oh boy, I can already tell that this is going to be a fun car ride.” He waves his hand at Noah motioning for him to sit down as he prepares to leave. “Buckle up everyone we’re ready to go!”

Noah doesn’t do as he is asked, he still needing to rant with Martin. “I’m serious!! What the hel-… heck were you thinking!?”

Martin takes a moment to glance back at Noah. “I was thinking that he was a good guy and that the two of you would hit it off.”

Noah frowns. “You didn’t think that something like that would be important!?”

Martin shakes his head no. “No, and really it shouldn’t be. Now sit down and put your seat belt on.”

Noah frowns as he thinks over what Martin had said, he indeed right about that, people were different that’s all there was too it, being different shouldn’t be a deal breaker. Noah finally falls back, sitting down in his seat, he now beginning to buckle himself in.

Martin chuckles to himself as he begins to asses Noah’s situation. “I know what’s happening here. Marriage is a scary thing, you’re so worried that it’s going to be a horror story that you’re actively looking for things to actually turn it into one.”

Noah looks back to Martin his voice half panicked, it going to turn into just that. “David has kids!!”

Martin shrugs his shoulders, again he didn’t see the issue here. “Well, that’s a part of marriage too isn’t it?”

“Not when only a little more than a week in!!”

Martin stops at a red light quickly looking back to Noah when he realizes something. “How could you not know that David has kids? Honestly David talks about them all the time.”

Noah growls in annoyance, well aware of that, he just unaware that the ‘Tim’ and ‘Alex’ David was always talking about were actually his children. “He should have shown me pictures! Every parent shows off pictures of their kids to everyone! Then I wouldn’t have gotten confused!!”

Martin laughs as he turns his eyes back to the road ahead of him. “Everything’s going to be fine Noah. You can’t let every new thing being introduced to you freak you out the way it’s doing. You’re just going to end up making yourself a mess.” Noah grumbles to himself while Martin continues with the conversation. “So, how was the move into the new house?”

Noah crosses his arms, they not all that far along concerning that. “Well, we haven’t really gotten at it yet, we pretty much have everything of David’s sitting in a truck in front of the house… except the ugly furniture he used to have… I made sure that was dealt with before the truck arrived at our new house.”

Martin seems amazed by this information. “You actually convinced David to get rid of his old beat up furniture. I’ve been trying to get him to do it for ages but he’ll never listen to me,”

Noah shakes his head, he actually having to go through many very ‘top secret behind David’s back’ measures to be rid of David’s old garbage furniture. “No I didn’t actually convince him, but if he mentions anything tell him that it must have been lost in the move.”

The other youths in the car snicker at the comment, Martin just letting out another sigh. “Ok then… what about your things? How are you with moving your stuff in?”

Noah smiles all of that completely under control. “No worries about me, my things are on the way, moving is a pretty big thing so one thing at a time right?”

When I told pastor Martin one thing at a time, I meant it almost literally. You see I didn’t have a car, so that meant that I would be taking the bus, and the amount of things that I could fit on the bus were pretty much limited to a box big enough to fit in my lap. So that meant I would be taking a lot of back and forth trips from my old house to my new house, and come Monday, that’s exactly what I did.

Noah is sitting on a bus typing messages on his phone, his phone making a beep when he receives a message back.

-You know I don’t think this bus thing is going to work very well, you’re going to end up making over a hundred trips do you know that =O?-

Noah frowns, he beginning to text back to her. -I’m doing what I can alright >.>-

The girl I’m texting is Sally, me, her and her older brother Lenny have been friends since I can remember. We’re so close that we often joke that we’re related, and because we’re the same nationality a lot of people automatically assume that we are anyway, so I call her my big sister, and she calls me her little brother… even though I’m older then her by half a year…

Noah’s phone again beeps with one of Sally’s texts. - How do you expect to take your furniture over ?_? You can’t take that on the bus. =P-

Noah text: -Haven’t decided a plan for the furniture yet… but I’m working on it! Trust me it’s one of the things constantly on my mind. -

Sally text: -Do you know how much $$$ you’ll be handing over to those bus drivers? You’re new house isn’t exactly on a direct route to your old one. >.>-

Sally text: -It would be cheaper to rent a moving truck.=/-

Sally text: -I don’t understand why you don’t ask your brand new hubby to help you< it was already enough work for him to move his own stuff, besides he starts work again today.-

Me and David were planning to spend the long weekend moving everything into our new house, but the plane was double booked. So we and about forty-six other people didn’t get back into the city until late Saturday afternoon, so our unpacking was a little bit behind schedule, and David, being the ‘everything must fall into order and if it doesn’t it’s the end of the world’ type of person, already had enough on his plate stressing out about that, so I really didn’t want to bother him with my stuff and increase his stress.

He sighs looking out the window, suddenly letting out a loud yell as he quickly gets up pushing the button to stop the bus. “Wait, wait!! That was my stop!!”

The bus’s breaks lets out their hiss as the driver stops the bus and opens the door for Noah, he grumbling to himself as he watches him race out. “Damn kids and their phones.”

Noah runs off the bus quickly running up to another that is also about to leave and banging on its door to get the driver’s attention. “Wait! Wait!! I need to get on!!”

The door to the bus opens and Noah manages to get on the bus, he showing the bus driver his bus pass before sitting down with a relived sigh, that having been a close one.

He reaches into his pocket for his phone as to get back to texting his friend but finds it gone, Noah quickly jumping onto the seat he had been sitting on and looking out the window toward the ground where he had gotten off his last bus to see his phone laying on the road and then promptly get crushed by the tires of another bus coming in.

Noah stares with his jaw dropped in horror. “You have got to be kidding me…” He lets out a groan as he falls back into his seat holding his hands over his head. “Oh this is not good…”

Noah forces a smile as he tries not to let this get to him. “Calm down Noah, all you have to do is find the positive in this negative…” Noah lets out a very forced laugh, the other occupants of the bus turning toward him, he sounding a little bit insane right now. “Noah wanted to be independent and responsible. Not having a phone just makes you more independent.” He lets out another fake laugh, this one weaker than the first. “And it was an old phone… now you have an excuse to get a new one, that stupid thing didn’t even have blue-tooth…”

His laughing soon turns into a stressed whine, there no fooling himself.

As soon as I got home I started packing things as quickly as I could into a backpack, a bag and a box. I was still aiming to get this finished in as little trips as possible or else I would never be about to move all of my stuff in.

And that’s how my day went, I would go to my parents house and grab as much stuff as fast as I could before the bus going home came, take the bus back home… or well the general vicinity of home, then run home, dump everything off as quickly as possible and run back to the bus stop to catch the next bus.

Things were flying by perfectly, I managed to not miss a single bus… until somewhere around the fourth or fifth trip, right when I was in the middle of transferring from one bus to another it happened.

The next bus Noah is meant to catch stops for him, Noah reaching into his back pocket only to find it empty. “Where’s my bus pass?” He begins searching through all of his pockets, coming up empty with all of them, he giving the bus driver a sheepish grin as he takes several steps back from the bus, the doors closing as it continues on its way, Noah silently watching it leave.

It was a long walk home… me carrying a backpack, bag and box packed with as much of my things as possible didn’t help matters, nor did the fact that I had been so concentrated on getting my things over I had never once stopped long enough to get something to eat, but I couldn’t stay at the bus station, I didn’t have a phone to tell anyone where I was.

David has just gotten home from work, the door to his car opening as he gets out of it, his phone to his ear as he argues with the person on the line, he once again in a conversation with his ex-wife. “For the last time I’m not bribing him!”

The perturbed voice on the other end continues throwing accusations as him, David frowning as he shuts the car door behind him and locks it. “Maybe the reason he wants to move in with me so badly is because he likes his Father, did you ever think that might be a possibility?”

He sighs as he begins making his way to his house, the voice on the line once again going off, David interrupting her before she could keep going on. “Now will you give the phone back to Tim, it’s very rude to take the phone from him when he’s in the middle of a conversation with someone.”

He stops on the front porch, any annoyed look on his face when he hears her response, he arguing back with her. “I am telling you what to do right now because if I don’t you’ll never give the damn phone back to him! This has happened before remember!”

After a very angered reaction this is a pause, the phone finally being handed back to the person that had called David in the first place, David smiling when he finally hears his voice again. “Hi Timothy… don’t tell her I said this but your mother is somewhat of a pain.”

David unlocks the door to his house, opening the door and walking inside as he listens to Timothy talk, David calling out to the house unsure if Noah was there or not. “Noah you home?”

He walks forward tripping over a huge pile of Noah’s things that have been dumped off in the front entrance and crashing onto the ground, the phone that he had been talking on flying through the air and bouncing across the ground, the voice of the small boy on the other end worried. “Daddy… daddy what was that loud cracking noise? Daddy are you okay!?”

By the time Noah finally gets back home it’s already dark out, Noah coming to a stop on the front walk when he notices that there is a pink BMW car parked in the driveway behind David’s vehicle, Noah groaning at the sight of it. “Great… Nancy is here…”

In case you need a reminder, Nancy is the name of David’s very insane ex-wife, my arc nemesis.

Why do I say arc nemesis? Because she’s still crazy about David and is always trying to get him back… even though whenever she’s on the phone with him she’s always arguing at him. To make matters worse she is quite possibly one of the most gorgeous woman alive, which makes me feel… well below average looking. Honestly even I have to admit it, the two of them were an absolutely beautiful couple when David was married to her, as opposed to me… who is pretty much a copy and paste Asian.

Noah unlocks the front door to his house and goes inside, dropping everything he had been carrying home with him onto the rest of his pile of stuff. “David today has been one of the worst days of my life.”

David’s voice responds to him from the living room. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to phone you for hours but the calls won’t go through.”

Noah looks to the side, the reason for that rather apparent. “Yeah… my phone kinda… broke… to say the least, I’ll tell you all about it in a minute.” He takes his shoes off throwing them into to front closet. “I saw Nancy’s car in the driveway, is she in the living room with you or is she hiding in the shadows somewhere waiting to pounce and drink my blood?”

He turns around to find Nancy standing right behind him, Noah screaming in surprise, jumping in his shock and instinctively running away from him, running straight into the front closet and coming to a stop when he hits the back wall of it.

Nancy looks down at Noah with her arms crossed and an annoyed glare on her face. “I’ve been waiting for you to get home Doug.”

David calls out to Nancy from the living room. “His name’s Noah.”

Nancy’s expression remains unchanged. “Close enough!”

Noah pushes himself back to his feet, turning back to her and looking up at her as he speaks to her in a bitter tone. “You know I don’t like it when come over uninvited! I need time to get my rosary and holy water ready!”

Nancy frowns at the comment. “You’re Christian not Catholic, don’t think I don’t know the difference.”

David’s confused voice questions this. “Wait… what? How did you know he was Christian? I didn’t know.”

Nancy lets out a groan as she turns back towards the living room calling out to him. “It’s pretty obvious isn’t it? God men are so stupid.”

Noah walks past Nancy and enters the living room where David is, Noah letting out a gasp of shock when he see’s David. “David! What happened to you!!”

David is laying on the sofa with an ice pack on his head and his leg propped up on the coffee table in a cast, he looking back to Noah as he begins trying to reassure him. “It’s nothing to worry about, I just wasn’t watching where I was walking that’s all.”

Noah looks the broken leg over. “Did you get hit by a car?”

Nancy walks up behind Noah smacking him on the back of the head like it might knock some sense into him. “He tripped over a bunch of crap that some genius decided to drop off in the front entrance.”

Noah is horrified to hear this information. “What!? I did this to him!?” He immediately begins to try and apologize to David. “David I’m so sorry! I didn’t have time to really put it anywhere, if I wanted to catch the next bus I had to be in and out of here as quickly as possible!”

Nancy sighs as she watches Noah babble, she holding her hand out to him as she begins explaining to David. “See this is what I was explaining before David, you can’t have two men married and living together, it’s too much idiot in one place, you are going to end up dying in the most stupid and preventable manner possible I swear to god David.”

Noah snaps back at Nancy with a growl. “Lay off banshee!”

David looks over to Noah now not the time from him to start fighting with her, after all Noah really wouldn’t be able to defend himself right no seeing as the mess was his fault. “Noah don’t get her started, I’m begging you.”

Nancy turns to Noah, her hands on her hips as she speaks to him in a very stern tone of voice. “I suggest you have it cleaned up before you break someone else’s leg.”

She leaves the room in a huff, Noah cringing a little at the comment, it reminding him that he was completely responsible for this whole mess.

David notices the mood Noah has fallen into, he trying to cheer him up some. “Don’t let her get to you Noah, my things are all over the place too. We’re in the middle of unpacking remember?”

Noah turns back to David pretty upset about this. “I can’t believe that you’re not yelling at me for this, my mess broke your leg! David I’m so sorry, I’ll do anything to make up for it I promise.”

David smiles back at him. “I’m not yelling because I think you’ll already be facing enough punishment, there’s no way that I’m going to be able to unpack anything like this… so the rest of the unpacking and rearranging is going to have to be done by you.”

Noah quickly snaps back. “What!? I can’t… or…” He frowns when he both realizes that fighting the work wouldn’t work because there wasn’t much David could do with a broken leg anyway, and that this was all his fault. “Yeah, yeah I can do that, no problem honey.”

Nancy walks back into the living room after having just finished a look over of the entire house again. “You know David, I’ve been thinking this over since coming here, but I think I’m going to have to keep the kids this weekend, there’s no way that you’re going to be able to take care of them when you’re in this sorry state.”

David’s mood quickly changes, that not something he wanted to hear at all. “Come on Nancy, Noah is still able to do things just fine, he’ll have no problem helping me out with the kids.”

Nancy lets out a gasp of disbelief as she holds her hand out to Noah. “David! He just broke your leg! Do you think I’m going to leave my children with him?? No!”

She again leaves, this time heading toward the kitchen, ending the topic with that, there no reason for the two of them to fight over it when it was so obvious that David couldn’t argue back.

David watches her leave in disbelief while Noah quickly follows after her, though David may not be in the position to follow after her and continue the conversation he still could. “Woah… ok, wait a moment Nancy.” He follows her into the kitchen where she begins finishing up her work on a meal she had started earlier. “You can’t do this to him! He’s really been looking forward to having his kids come home.”

Nancy immediately stops her work, slamming her hands against the counter before turning back to Noah, her arms crosses as she leans back on the kitchen counter while talking to him. “Ok first off, this isn’t their home, they live with me. Second, I’ll tell you the same thing I tell David every time he brings it up. The only way he’ll ever get those kids back is if he gets his sorry mess of a life sorted out, and comes back to home to me and the boys where he belongs.”

Noah frowns as he points to his face with his thumb. “He’s married to me! He’s not going back!”

Nancy smirks at the comment. “You’re temporary. You were since day one and you still are now.” Noah frowns at the comment while Nancy continues. “You are just a random fling that will eventually pass by, a desperate attempt to handle stress in the life that isn’t exactly going the way that David has planned.”

She turns away from Noah, taking the two plates of food that she had been preparing and walking back to the living room. “And before you ask, no, I didn’t cook enough for you.”

Noah snaps back at her, he never going to eat anything from her anyway, she do doubt the type to poison or hot sauce his food if she did. “Yeah well I can cook my own food!”

Nancy calls back out to him, that going to be a problem. “Well there’s no cheese left, so you’re going to have to make something other than grilled cheese sandwiches.”

Noah watches her leave in silence with a frown on his face, he cursing himself as he talks between clenched teeth. “Damn it… she figured out that I can’t make anything else! When did knowledge become public!?” He picks up a phone and starts dialling out.

As I sat there eating my pizza, Nancy and David already finished their meals with Nancy finally getting ready to leave, I started to think over what Nancy had told me.

Noah frowns at the comment while Nancy continues. “You are just a random fling that will eventually pass by, a desperate attempt to handle stress in the life that isn’t exactly going the way that David has planned.”

What Nancy had said had bothered me… I was well aware that David was a meticulous planner, he was always thinking ahead, was always well prepared before something was to happen. And yeah, when things didn’t go his way, or how he had expected them to, or if there was a problem that was out of his hands he would get stressed and would sometimes do the most random things in an attempt to counter that stress.

With that on my mind I couldn’t help but think that what Nancy was saying was the truth.

Nancy gathers her things getting ready to leave, she having done all that she could at this point to make sure that David was taken care of. “Well David I’m headed home now, the babysitter shouldn’t work this late on weekdays, so as much as I would love to stick around and make sure Lance doesn’t kill you I really can’t.”

David and Noah both turn toward her, correcting her at the same time. “It’s Noah.”

Nancy rolls her eyes. “Close enough.”

The front door closes behind her as she finally leaves, Noah looking back towards David a very guilty look on his face. “David…?”

David just sits on the sofa silently, not looking to really be in the mood to talk.

See… this is the stress that I was so concerned about. I had unexpectedly broken his leg with my mess, and Nancy had taken the opportunity to become personally involved in his life again, and the biggest thing was that Nancy wasn’t going to let his kids come over on the weekend like they were first going to, not to mention David was probably going to have to take time off of work after finally getting back to it. Things were definitely out of his control and not going as planned.

And all of this was my fault…

Noah frowns, though David has seemed ok before as soon as Nancy had made that announcement about the kids his mood had completely turned around. “I’m really sorry Dave… about Nancy and the kids… I was planning to get home earlier and have my stuff moved out of the way… but things didn’t really go as planned for me today…” He pauses for a moment, though he knew this was probably one of the worst times to bring this up it still kind of needed to be mentioned. “… and I feel bad asking you this right now… but I need money for a new phone… and a bus pass… if that’s ok with you…”

David lets out a tired sigh, he not in the mood to deal with this right now. “Just… go to bed Noah, it’s late alright. We’ll talk about this tomorrow, I’m just really not in the mood for all of this right now.”

Noah looks toward the cast on David’s leg. “Ok… did you need me to help you get to bed?”

David shakes his head no. “No. I’ll sleep here tonight.”

Noah sighs to himself, he should have seen that one coming. “Right…” He gets to his feet leaving to go to bed. “I’ll talk to you about everything tomorrow then.”

I could take the hint, he was mad at me… really mad… and I couldn’t blame him.

We both had things not go our way today, I don’t know why I’m not as effected as he is when bad things happen, or if things don’t go as planned. I mean I still freak out I guess, but in general I have to say I don’t take things as hard as Dave does. Maybe it’s because I’m bad at planning or thinking ahead anyway, while David is pretty much the exact opposite, he’s just that kind of person I guess…

The Newlyweds Next-door
Chapter 02

There were two things that I mentioned before, the first being that marriage may have happened a little too fast for me and David, and two, whenever he talks on the phone it’s either to argue with his ex-wife or talk to his lawyer in concerns to his ex-wife.

David and Noah are still standing in front of their new home, David having just taken his jacket off and holding it in front of him to stare at the damage the paintball had done to it. He opens his mouth to say something to Noah but stops when the phone in his back pocket rings, David reaching back and pulling out a very old phone that was practically mummified in duct tape to answer it.

Only moments after answering the phone an annoyed look fills David’s face, he turning away from Noah and beginning to argue with the person on the other line, as if turning his back to Noah would make it so that he wouldn’t hear the argument, Noah frowning as he watches him, from the tone of voice David was using it was pretty clear to anyone who he was talking to.

I have to admit, I did not care for his ex-wife. She is in fact one of my two most arc nemeses, the evil bad guy in an RPG that is always making your adventure more difficult, and you never get the chance to try and kill them until the very end of the game, and if you do get the chance to fight them before the end it will always be in a mock battle that you can never win and just face humiliating defeat and agonizing pain.

But more importantly than that-

Noah quickly runs back into David’s line of vision, he unable to get sidetracked from the realization he had made only moments ago. “Wait, wait, WAIT!! You have kids!?”

David takes a moment to stop arguing with his ex-wife, he placing his hand over the phone as he looks back to Noah. “Noah why do you look so surprised? There’s no way you could not have known about this.” David turns away from Noah walking towards the house and returning to his conversation on the phone.

Noah follows after him, continuing to comment on this, he in fact NOT having known about kids. “Ok, I know that every time your ex-wife calls it usually concerning a custody battle, but I had thought that was something related more to a house, furniture or money. Not kids!” He continues to follow after David, this could not be happing to him. “David! Please tell me you’re joking!”

David stops talking on the phone for a moment as he looks back at Noah. “Nancy will you hold on for a moment, I’ll be right back with you.” David holds hand over the phone so that the person on the other end can’t easily hear them. “Please tell me that you’re the one who’s joking about this!”

Noah shakes his head. “I’m not!!”

Both David’s expression and tone of voice are confused. “How could you now know about Timothy and Alex? I talk about my boys all the time!”

Noah pauses when he hears the names of David’s kids, he thinking back, indeed recalling those names being mentioned before.

***

Noah is sitting on David’s sofa playing a Nintendo DS while David is in the kitchen cooking, Noah pausing his game for a moment and looking over the back of the sofa towards the kitchen. “Hey what are you making? It smells great.”

David calls out to him from in the kitchen. “Warming up some ravioli, I have a bunch left over from when Tim and Alex came over. Tim absolutely loves the stuff, if we don’t end up ordering out I end up making this stuff for him.”

***

Noah hops into the front seat of David’s car, crossing his arms and looking over to David with an annoyed expression. “You’re late…”

David nods his head aware of that, he explaining himself, being late not usually a normal thing for him. “Sorry about that, I had to drive Tim and Alex home before I could come pick you up.” He looks back toward the road but stops, he quickly turning back to Noah. “Watch out Tim was eating in the car and he’s kind of a messy eater.

Noah looks down at the seat he is sitting on, it full of crumbs, he growling to himself as he begins to brush them away from him. “Yeah great… thanks for telling me that after I sat down.”

***

Noah is laying on his bed, his phone against his ear, he having some free time and deciding to call David to see if he might want to do something, a happy look crossing his face when David answers the phone. “Hey David where are you?”

The voice on the other end quickly responds. “Sorry Noah I’m a little busy right now, I am at the doctor’s office right now. Alex’s been feeling under the weather as of late.

Noah frowns not sure why David would have to escort this Alex person to a place like that. “He couldn’t have taken himself there?

David laughs at the comment. “Good one Noah, I’ll call you when I get back home.”

David hangs up the phone, Noah holding the phone away from his ear and frowning at it in annoyance.

***

Mr. Princess is growling as he pulls on a toy that Noah is holding, the small dog having no luck in prying it from his hand. Noah dialing David’s number with his free hand and calling him up once again. “Hey David! My band canceled their practice for tonight, so I was thinking I could come over to your place for a while, you know, pass the time there.”

David seems reluctant with the idea. “Sounds great Noah, unfortunately today is not a good day… Tim and I are going to the hockey game tonight.”

Noah seems disappointed. “What? A hockey game? You don’t even like sports. Can’t you take a rain check?”

“ I can’t do that, you have any idea how mad Tim would be with me if I canceled on him?”

Noah tries to convince him, David not particularly enjoying sporting events anyway. “But David-”

David mind seems set, he still refusing to change his plans. “Another time Noah, you’ll have plenty more opportunities I’m sure.”

***

Noah inhales a very long and horrified gasp of air. David frowning as he looks down at him, Noah making this sound for a very long time now. “Noah…?”

Noah quickly turns to David blurting out what had been so horrifying to him. “I thought Timothy and Alex were friends of yours! Not your kids!” He turns away from David, his fingers clutched as he tries to calm himself down. “If I would have known they were your kids I wouldn’t have cried my heart when I called you and you told me that you couldn’t spend time with me that day because you were at a hockey game with Timothy!! I thought you were cheating on me!!”

David stares at Noah with his mouth hanging open, Noah continuing to confess, his speech growing quicker the more horrified and panicked that he got. “The only way Noah managed to get to sleep that night was from telling himself repeatedly in his head “They’re just friends, it’s okay if he hangs out with friends, they’re just friends, there’s nothing at all for you to worry about.”

David quickly approaches Noah, placing a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down. “Noah calm down, you’re talking in third person again.”

Noah continues unable to calm down at all. “Now that Noah knows that they’re your kids he now feels like a complete jerk!! What kind of person asks a dad to skip out on a hockey game with their kid!?”

“Noah calm down!”

Noah turns back to David half screaming in his panic. “Noah can’t calm down!!”

David pats him on the back when Noah begins to hyperventilate. “Look Noah, it’s okay. Alright so maybe there was some misunderstandings or miscommunications regarding this. But this really is not that big a deal, I mean you love kids, so you’ll have no problem adapting to these two.”

Noah shakes his head no, that not how the situation was at all. “David, Noah hates kids!”

David seems confused, having never thought that Noah could possibly hate kids. “How can you hate kids? You volunteer at a children’s camp.”

Noah quickly nods his head, that experience alone the reason why. “Ya! The volunteering is exactly the reason Noah hate kids as much as he does!!”

***

Noah lets out a tried groan and he stand in the middle of the camp’s craft hall, he currently surrounded my screaming and crying kids. “Can this day get any longer…?”

Noah lets out a scream and ducks for cover when blue paint suddenly starts to shoot and splash all over the room, all of the kids screaming and running for cover, Noah slowly getting back to his feet and looking back towards a little boy who is holding an empty container of paint with a huge smile on his face and paint all over his body. “Why would you throw the whole bucket of blue finger paint into the fan…?”

The kid laughs at him. “Because it’s fun!!”

He picks up another bucket winging brown paint from the container up into the fan, brown paint splashing all over the room and everyone in it. “Now it looks like everyone is covered in diarrhea!!” He begins to laugh, the situation all too funny to him.

Noah stares at the boy, as much as he wanted to throw the boy out the window he knew it was something he could not do. “I really hope that you have an allergic reaction to the camp food.”

The boy continues laughing, the whole ordeal so funny that he couldn’t stop.

***

Noah’s panicking does not lesson, thinking back to that even only making the situation worse. “Children are the reason that Noah will never have an intimate relationship with a woman!! … well… that and the whole liking men thing… but still!!”

David continues to try and get Noah to relax. “Noah calm down, it’s really not going to be as bad as you think.”

He stops when he hears some distorted yelling coming from his cell phone, reminding him that he was right now in the middle of a call. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to Nancy, she’s having some issues with the custody changes that have been made regarding the kids.”

Noah is on the verge of tears, getting married was one thing, but kids was a whole other completely life changing ordeal. “David I’m too young to have kids!!”

David doesn’t look back at him, still mostly engrossed in his phone conversation right now. “No you’re not, you’ll be turning twenty six this month, you’ll be just fine.”

A horrified look fills Noah’s face. “…oh… my god… he still thinks I’m twenty five…”

David is about to start talking on the phone again but stops as he quickly turns back to Noah. “Wait… what…?”

***

David is sitting across from Noah, their introduction having actually gone pretty smoothly. Marten even going home early so that they would feel like he might be intruding upon the conversation.

Noah is currently staring at David doe eyed while David is talking. “So far my experience with the whole same sex dating scene has been… well unenlightening. Relationships are more about sex, and so far it’s hard for me to find someone who interested in more than just a teenage sex-capade.”

Noah loses his dreamy gaze, that having snapped him back into reality. “What’s wrong with teenagers?”

David shrugs his shoulders. “Nothing, they’re just a little too young for my taste you know. I just don’t think a teenager quiet has the maturity level I am looking for.”

Noah seems disappointed to hear this. “… oh…”

David looks back to Noah with a smile. “So how old are you?”

Noah stares back at him, almost terrified to answer that, he was really enjoying his time with this guy, and if he found out that Noah happened to be under his preferred age range then that would be it!. “Me?? Oh… uh…” He clears his throat and sits up, positioning himself straight and being careful not to slouch as he tries to look more mature. “I’m, twenty five.”

David seems surprised to hear that Noah is that old. “Really…? You look younger.”

Noah nods his head as is quickly tries to think up an excuse to that. “That’s because I’m Asian… Asian’s always look young for their age.”

David shrugs his shoulders that very well a possibility, after all there was an Asian co-worker that look no older than seventeen but was actually twenty-eight. “Oh, okay.” He quickly does the math inside his head, the age difference between the two was still pretty noticeable. “Well that would make you seven years younger than me then. Quiet a gap… that’s okay though, you were a really fun person to get to know, and I had a great time talking to you. I’d love a second date.

***

Noah grinds his teeth and fiddles with his fingernails while looking away from David’s face, this indeed an awkward thing to bring up at the moment. “I kind of lied on our first date to make you think I was older… ‘cause you said you weren’t interested in teenagers… and I guess I never bothered to bring up again since then…”

David stares at Noah in silence, his thumb moving and hanging up the phone he had been talking to his ex-wife through, she not needing to know about this. “Please tell me that you are at least legal.”

Noah quickly looks back to David, it not THAT bad. “Of course!!”

David walks away with a horrified look on his face, Noah calling out to him with some positive news. “I’m turning twenty in three weeks if it makes you feel any better!”

David doesn’t answer, Noah growing nervous as he begins to follow David. “David… David I love you! David love has no boundaries be they gender, nationality or age!! David come back!!!”

Mr. Princess scurries after Noah following him and David into the house while Goliath lets out a large yawn and then falls asleep on the front lawn.

Needless to say… things got a little bit weird between us. I mean, these were rather awkward situations, both things were general information that you usually knew about someone before getting married, yet somehow happened to miss…

Noah is now in front of a mirror getting dressed in semi casual clothes, David standing behind him leaning against a pile of boxes that he had just taken out of the moving truck and into the house. “Why would you not tell me your age? I think it would have been nice to know before getting married.”

Noah glances back at him, not like he meant for David to find out like this. “Look it just never really came up again! And I completely forgot until now that I lied to you on our first date!”

David shakes his head, not sure how that could really be possible. “It never occurred to you that it might be important for me to know?”

Noah frowns as argues back with him. “I said I forgot! Come on, it’s not that big of a deal. So what if I’m actually twelve years younger than you.”

David cringes at the reminder. “Noah that’s over a decade’s worth of age difference!”

Noah turns back to David, it really not that bad, David was just over reacting. “Hey! It’s not like your old enough to be my father! That’s a good thing right?”

David tries to force a smile, even if that was a good thing it was still a rather creepy concept.

Noah smiles back at him. “Besides you still love me right? Because my age seems like petty grounds for a divorce.”

David waves his hand at that, that not where this conversation was leading at all. “No of course I still love you.”

Noah crosses his arms. “And you still would have married me if I would have told you my age beforehand right?”

David doesn’t answer, Noah growing impatient. “Right?”

David nods his head after thinking the question though, there no doubt about that, he after all still loved Noah very much. “Of course I would have… I’m just a little surprised that’s all.”

Noah sighs as he shakes his head, he hardly seeing the problem with this whole situation. “You know I don’t see why this is such a big deal.”

David is confused that Noah doesn’t seem to have an issue with him being twelve years older than him. “How is this not a problem for you? You don’t find dating… or being married to a guy over a decade older than you weird in anyway?

Noah shakes his head, that an easy answer. “No.”

“How is that possible?”

Noah shrugs his shoulders, it really not that complicated. “I find older men hot.”

David stares at him for a moment, he questioning what he had just heard. “You what…?”

Noah nods his head as he begins to explain. “Yes, anyone younger than me or less than six years older than me I do not find attractive.”

David still stares at him, he speaking up again to clarify. “… you like old men…?”

Noah frowns at him. “Well not really old men! More like men in the thirties to fifties… maybe even early sixties.”

David stares at him not really sure what to say, Noah nodding his head thinking that sixty would be about the age he wouldn’t want to go over. “I really don’t see me going out with anyone older…” He smiles to himself a blissful look on his face. “Except maybe Sean Connery… if he asked me out I would make an exception, no joke.”

“Sean Connery…”

Noah doesn’t answer David as he stares off into nowhere with a dreamy expression on his face, David slowly looking away. “O…k… then.”

Noah frowns as he looks back to David, his arms crossed. “Besides, if you think about it, this is exactly the same as you and the kids thing. I didn’t know about them before getting married to you, and if I had known about them I still would have married you, it’s just a little surprising… and a lot more trouble than a pesky little age difference!”

David smiles at Noah, it really not as bad as he seemed to think it was going to be. “Noah, everything is going to be fine. Next week you’ll get to meet them. You’ll love them I promise, and you’ll realize that all of this uneasiness you have right now would have been for nothing.”

Noah seems surprised to hear this. “I get to see them next week? You finished your custody battle?”

David gives a long sigh, that not the case at all. “Oh god I wish. No, they just spend every second weekend with me, remember?”

Noah looks from David and back to the mirror, he continuing to button up his shirt. “I’m going to tell you the honest truth, just because I hate lying to you-”

David interrupts him right there. “You lied to me about your age.”

Noah nods his head well aware of that. “Yeah! And we both saw how horribly that turned out! Never again David. Never again.”

Noah begins to fix the sleeves on his shirt as he continues. “Anyway, I’m telling you the honest truth here. I’m not looking forward to the whole kids thing. Children always bring unneeded drama into a relationship, kids don’t like ‘replacement parents’ they make movies about it you know!”

David chuckles at the comment. “I’m sure you’ll change your mind after getting a chance to meet them.”

Noah shakes his head, meeting them only possible of turning out bad. “Have you seen those movies where the kids bring hell on earth to their step-parents or their parents dates!?”

David sighs there no way that things would play out that way for Noah. “It’ll be nothing like those cheesy movies Noah, trust me, you’re going to be fine.”

Noah doesn’t easily believe him. “You say that now, but you’ll think differently when you find me drowning in a giant pecan pie with my hair dyed green and roller skates crazy glued on my feet!”

David takes a moment to think over what Noah said, a look of disbelief on his face when he realizes that Noah had said it in all seriousness. “I’m… pretty positive that something like that isn’t going to happen.”

Noah looks back to the mirror. “Whatever.” He finishes straitening his clothes out, Noah now ready to go.

David looks Noah over, Noah usually dressed in videogame themed t-shirts and jeans, very few times had David seen him in a dress shirt and pants, there obviously some sort of occasion for this. “By the way Noah, where are you running off to?”

Noah shakes his head not sure how David wouldn’t know. “It’s Sunday David. Where do you think I’m going?”

David shrugs his shoulders. “I’m… not sure.”

“Church David! How could you not know this?”

David lets out a sigh, this clearly another thing that had not been brought up between them. He not knowing until now that Noah went to a church. “You’re Catholic?”

Noah quickly snaps back at him. “No! Christian!! David you don’t mix the two up, they get angry when you do!”

“Oh… I didn’t know there was a difference.”

Noah seems confused. “What? How that’s possible, aren’t you Christian?”

David shakes his head no. “Noah… when did I say that? The Christian and Catholic religions are one of the most well known enemies of homosexuals everywhere! Why would I be either?”

Noah doesn’t understand. “But how can that be…? Martin introduced us! He’s the youth pastor at my church!! Why would the youth pastor of a church introduce me to someone that isn’t a Christian?”

David isn’t really sure of how to respond to that at first. “I don’t know… what confuses me more is the fact that a pastor would be hooking homosexuals up.”

Noah shakes his head, he having not really pictures David of being a part of any other religion. “If you’re not a Christian than what are you?”

David holds his hand to himself, though religion was clearly not something that had ever been brought up between the two of them before he knew where he stood. “I’m an Atheist.”

“… Atheist…” Noah turns away from David as he thinks the situation over, is heartbeat already starting to rise. “Ok, so you’re an Atheist. I can handle this… it’s no big deal…” He freaks out screamingly as loud as he could. “I am going to go to hell when I die!”

David sighs to himself as he watches Noah once again work himself up, it wouldn’t be long before he started talking in third person again. “I’m starting to think that the two of us have a few communication issues that need to be sorted through.”

“Eternal damnation!!”

David nods his head, there defiantly a few communication issues. “Well, fine, you go to church, I’ll start unpacking on my own.”

“Noah’s going to suffer for eternity in the pits of hell!!”

David frowns as he looks back to his young husband. “Noah we’re gay! In Christian terms, that means that we’re already going to hell!”

Noah screams at the top of his lungs while running past him, the comment clearly not helping matters.

Noah’s freak out session is interrupted by the sound of a car horn from outside the house, Noah looking out the living room window for a moment before looking back to David and pointing at him accusingly. “Oh you are lucky that the youth group carpool is here to pick me up!!”

David shakes his head, holding his hand over his head when he feels what might be a headache coming on.

Noah runs toward the front door of the house, turning back to David before leaving. “We are so finishing this when I get back!”

David is still holding his head. “Sweet Jesus he’s still in a youth group…”

Noah yells over at him from the front door. “Do not use the name of the son of God in vain!! Fire and brimstone David! FIRE and BRIMSTONE!”