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  [colpse]Tales from the Basement: Partnership2023 October 14thSaturdayThe new guy shrugs and says, “Hey, if they’re stupid enough to click every random link they see, then maybe they deserve to pay for my help.”

  Joe gives him a nasty look and walks over to the other three guys.

  Fucking Joe. He thinks he’s so much better than the rest of them. Like he’s the main character in some fucked up story about torturing boys in a dormitory basement. Well, somebody ought to welcome the new guy.

  Ethan faces him and says, “Tyler, right? I’m Ethan.”

  “Uh, hi. So there’s a bunch of us, huh?”

  “Six, yeah. Maria says you’re the st one, though. She’s my, uh, sponsor.”

  “Paige is mine, then. You heard why they got me, right? What did they grab you for?”

  Damn it. Already? The st time Ethan said what he did, he was ostracized for it. He thought it might help if he pyed it off like it wasn’t a big deal, but then Joe accused him of bragging and turned the others against him.

  The thing is, Ethan’s not an idiot. He knows what he did to his exes was fucked up. But what they did to him was fucked up, too. The reminders of what he needed to be doing. The ways they’d hold him like he couldn’t take care of himself. The fucking pet names. All in front of the other guys. God, being coddled like that makes him feel so… so…

  Emascuted. And angry. You don’t do that to a guy. So he’d get into an argument and lose his temper and end up doing something stupid.

  Fuck. May as well get it over with.

  “I hit some of my exes,” Ethan says. “It was stupid, but what’s done is done.”

  Tyler looks at him for a moment, and then gives a low whistle.

  “Damn,” Tyler says. “That’s harsh.”

  “So want? You’re going to run off to the others now?”

  “No, you must have seen how that asshole looked at me before he went to sit with them. Fuck ‘em. I’ll stick with you.”

  “Ha. Yeah, fuck ‘em.”

  2023 November 13Monday“Alright, kids. Everybody find a seat facing the television, because it’s time for css.”

  Ethan lets out a loud groan. It’s no surprise. Ethan hates the women here funting their authority over him. Hell, a couple weeks ago, he even opted for a tasing instead of following the instructions of that nurse they managed to bring in. It’s surprising he didn’t try to attack her given how short his temper can be.

  Of course, Tyler isn’t a fan, either. Not that he has the nerve to say anything to their faces. He’s never had the nerve to assert himself, especially over something important. But maybe he can say something discreetly to elicit a ugh from his friend.

  He leans in close to Ethan and quietly says, “If we’re going to be treated like school children, at least we get a hot teacher, right?”

  Ethan lets out a snort but immediately sits up straight and puts on a neutral expression like he’s pretending Tyler didn’t say anything.

  Paige looks at them and says, “Pay attention you two.”

  It’s honestly really annoying how much Ethan cares about looking strong in front of everybody else. If they’re going to be yelled at anyway, the guy should at least enjoy himself a little.

  “May as well get right to it,” Ames says. “Would anybody like to try answering the question?”

  “Sure,” says Joe. “Feminism is the notion that men deserve fewer rights to make up for the perceived inequalities between the two sexes.”

  What a fucking idiot.

  2023 December 9Saturday“Are you reading that trash voluntarily?” Ethan asks. “Maria locks me in my room until I’ve read enough to make her happy, but you’re sitting out here with the rest of us and reading it anyway. Are you thinking of siding with the bitches holding us here?”

  Joe stands up like he’s trying to act tough and says, “I’m reading it, because there’s literally nothing else worth doing around here. Except talking to a woman beating loser I guess.”

  How fucking dare he?! Ethan squares his shoulders and makes a show of stretching out his fingers. Consequences be damned. Nothing matters right now except for teaching this asshole some fucking respect.

  “Would you like to say that again?” Ethan asks.

  Joe takes a defensive stance. Ethan prepares to throw a punch, but he’s interrupted by a loud, “Ethan!” from across the room. Ethan pauses for a moment as Tyler runs up beside him and reaches for his shoulder. Tyler has a stern expression on his face unlike anything Ethan has seen before. Beth and Maria both have their taser pointed at Ethan.

  Tyler touches Ethan’s shoulder and says, “It’s not worth it, man. You want to get tased again?”

  Tyler shouldn’t be touching him like this. It’s not alright. He’s correcting Ethan in front of everyone just like his exes used to, and it’s not alright!

  But… but it’s Tyler. He’s the only friend Ethan has left. Ethan tries taking some calming breaths like Maria tried to show him before. Not that he paid very close attention. In, out, in, out… OK… It’s… OK. Now he just needs to remove himself from the situation.

  “Whatever,” Ethan says

  He brings Tyler with him to another table as far from Joe as they can be.

  As soon as they sit down, the expression on Tyler’s face turns to one of pure exhaustion. Stopping Ethan like he did must have taken a lot out of him.

  “I can’t believe I actually did that,” Tyler says. “And I’m sorry man. I know you hate being undermined like that, but I could tell it was going to end poorly for you. Please don’t…”

  Ethan interrupts, “No, it’s… alright. I almost got carried away again, and you stopped it.”

  He should do something to show his appreciation, right? If Tyler can do something he finds that difficult, then so can Ethan.

  Ethan pauses a moment and looks around to check that nobody else is listening.

  “Hey,” he says. “I don’t want to admit it to any of the others, but I don’t really hate having someone look after me like that. It’s just… hard for me to accept it, you know?”

  God, now he’s exhausted, also.

  “Happy to, man,” Tyler says. “We’ve got to stick together if we’re going to survive this pce. Like partners or something.”

  Tyler puts on a soft smile as he talks. Was his smile always this nice?

  “Yeah,” Ethan says. “Like partners.”

  2023 December 18Monday“As I alluded to,” Tabby says. “We have data going back two decades showing another attempt to rehabilitate you as males would be to abandon you. And so this year, we are going to rehabilitate you as women.”

  Jesus Christ, this is worse than anything Tyler could have imagined.

  The programme was bad enough already. Paige had been emphasizing recently how’s Tyler’s crimes partly stemmed from his inability to advocate for himself with anybody that could actually reject him. In response, and after an embarrassing amount of hyping himself up, he asked Paige if he could leave the basement, at least for a little while. Paige responded with a smile, a heartfelt congratutions, and a firm, “No.”

  “We still have a lot of important things to work on before I can agree to a request like that,” she said, “but I’m still proud of you for making it.”

  It looks like losing his manhood is one of those things.

  Tabby starts talking about some of Joe’s past incidents. It’s surprising to see the sponsors kicking their new pet. Appropriate, though, seeing how they’re pnning to neuter him, too.

  It only takes a few minutes of Tabby detailing every bad thing Joe has ever done for Tyler to lose focus. He starts to look around to see how the others are receiving the news, and he finally notices. Ethan is not handling this well. He looks like he’s on the verge of a full-blown panic attack, but he’s purposefully looking away from Maria, and Tabby is too busy talking about Joe to notice.

  Tyler and Ethan lock eyes. Ethan needs help right now. He’ll never ask for it, and he may get upset ter, but it’s something he needs and it’s something Tyler wants to offer his friend.

  But there’s that too-familiar fear of rejection. What if Tyler can’t help? What if he tries to but it just makes Ethan upset, leaving them both worse off than they would have been otherwise?

  Tears start building up in the corner of Ethan’s eyes. Tyler has to do something. He uses his right hand to grab Ethan’s left, and he squeezes tight. Ethan’s looks shocked for a second, but then he rexes and offers a quick squeeze of his own in return.

  There’s a yell and a crash, but none of that matters right now. Tyler is busy comforting his partner.

  * * *

  Ethan sits at his computer pying Stardew Valley. He lets out a groan. His character is running low on ore and needs to do a dive into the mines. It’s not that fighting in the mines is difficult. It’s just tedious. Ethan would much rather tend to his farm a bit, appreciate how his extensive irrigation system practically takes care of the worst parts of farming for him, and have his character hang out with the townspeople. Comfy.

  Before long, Ethan’s character faints in the mines, and one of the townspeople apparently helps himself to a small fee for dragging the character’s ass back to the farm. Ethan is just too distracted by this morning’s announcement to focus on the game. And not just by the sponsors’ fucked up pn, but by how he couldn’t keep a straight face when they were announcing it. He almost did, but Tyler noticed his panic. Because of course Tyler did.

  And of course it’s stupid to worry so much about how others perceive his reactions, especially when something so much bigger is going on. Ethan has even admitted how dumb his worries are to Maria once or twice!

  But what’s even more stupid is having to worry so much about how he’s perceived. But he does have to. Otherwise, the other guys pick up on your weakness, and then even your best friend ends up turning against you to side with the others.

  But that was before. Tyler wouldn’t do that, would he? Ethan even feels s—like he can open up to Tyler. Some.

  There’s a knock on his door. Ethan opens it and finds Tyler standing on the other side. Ethan takes a seat on his bed. He offers Tyler the computer chair, but Tyler doesn’t sit down right away.

  “Hey, man,” Tyler says. “I just… I wanted to say sorry for grabbing your hand earlier. I know that sort of stuff makes you feel uncomfortable.”

  Deep breaths. It’s OK to open up to him.

  “No, it’s fine. I probably would have reacted even worse if you hadn’t. So… thanks.”

  “Of course. Partners, right?”

  “Right.”

  That smile again. Fuck. And it always comes with that feeling of sa—Tyler suddenly drops the smile and starts to look concerned.

  Tyler says, “Hey, I should… head to bed. You have a good night, alright?”

  “Um, sure. You too.”

  Tyler steps out, and Ethan’s door closes.

  Damn it! Obviously Tyler saw something weird in Ethan’s expression and got freaked out. This is exactly the reason Ethan can’t ever let his guard down.

  He wants to fucking throw something against the wall. To scream until the sponsors have to check on him. Instead, he settles for punching his pillow a couple times and stepping out for a piss.

  Ethan opens his bedroom door and nearly runs into Tyler standing on the other side.

  “I thought you were heading to bed,” Ethan says.

  “Yeah, I just…”

  Tyler takes a deep breath and says, “I need to talk to you about something.”

  They both head back into Ethan’s bedroom. This time, Tyler does sit in the computer chair.

  Tyler says, “Look. Every once in a while, when I manage to put myself out there for you and you manage to let your guard down enough to accept it, I see this look on your face. And maybe I’m misinterpreting it, but I think I know what that look means.”

  Where could Tyler be going with this?

  Tyler closes his eyes, and he takes a couple deep breaths. He clenches his hands so hard that his nails start to dig into his palms.

  “Ethan, I’d like to kiss you. If that’s alright.”

  Tyler isn’t smiling this time. Instead, he looks… determined. Determined to put himself out there. For Ethan.

  But to receive a proposition like that? And from another guy? Not that anybody here would care. Hell, Joe himself would probably celebrate such a thing at this point. And besides, if the sponsors get their way, it’s not like Tyler will be a guy for much longer. It’s just that…

  He’s still looking intensely at Ethan, but Tyler appears to be growing increasingly nervous. He really does want Ethan, doesn’t he? God, it feels so good to be wanted like that.

  Oh.

  “I think I’d like that,” Ethan admits.

  Ethan has given plenty of kisses before, and that’s been fine until now. He’s never truly allowed himself to receive one, though. The difference is like night and day.

  2024 June 11Tuesday“We’re really doing this?”

  “I don’t think we can put it off any longer, sweetie.”

  “Sure, but it’s a big step. And I have been thinking about it, but what if it doesn’t fit?”

  “I’m sure both of ours will fit just fine.”

  “OK, I trust you, but can you go first?”

  “Sure… I was thinking Morgan.”

  “Well, you certainly enchant me.”

  “God, you’re such a dork sometimes. So, what were you thinking?”

  “Um… Sadie. It can… mean princess.”

  “Does that mean you want to be my princess?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “And, you’re adorable. Well, that’s names figured out. Now for everything else.”

  “Maria promises me we’ll do fine, but it’s still scary, you know?”

  “I know, and I’m scared, too. But we’ll get through it together. Right, partner?”

  “Right. I love you, Morgan.”

  “I love you too, Sadie.”