Tristan's killer is caught and Ben gets a voicemail that will change his relationship with Charlie in week 5 of BOYSTOWN Volume 7! Catch the launch of Volume 8 on Monday, May 6 with guest writers writing the first week!

CHAPTER 21 - BORING
Hunter was on the couch playing that new superhero fighting game that took up most of his free time when Charlie got home from school.

"Hey," Hunter said.

"Hey," Charlie said.

"You about to go out with Ben?"

"Nah, he's on rounds tonight. Fitz?"

"On patrol."

"Ah. Well, I'm gonna open a bottle of wine, probably order some Mark's. You want in?"

"Sure," Hunter said, as Tyler came in from Haven.

"Hey," said Tyler.

"Hey," said Charlie and Hunter.

"Brad coming over?" asked Hunter.

"Nah, trying to slow that down a bit. I mean, we're both new, right? We shouldn't be like tied down or whatever."

"There are no ‘should's' just ‘what is'," said Charlie.

"Word," said Hunter.

"Well, anyway, we're not hanging tonight."

"Grab a controller dude," Hunter said.

"I'm getting Chinese, you want in?"

"Sure," said Tyler.

"Oh god," Charlie groaned suddenly. "It's happened."

"What?" asked Tyler and Hunter.

"The three of us... have gotten coupled up and now we're... BORING!"

*

"We are so not boring," Hunter said, taking the last piece of crab Rangoon. "So stop worrying about it."

"We are though," said Charlie. "All we talk about are our boyfriends. All we do is hang out with our boyfriends."

"We've got lots of interesting stuff going on," Tyler said. "Didn't you just have a school scandal?"

"Yeah and Tyler dated a high schooler," Hunter said.

"Shut up!" protested Tyler.

"Tyler's breaking up marriages," Hunter said.

"And don't you have a vengeful and crazy drag queen brother?" Tyler asked Hunter.

"See! We're not boring!"

"Yeah," Charlie said, picking at his sweet and sour pork. "Maybe I'm just... not used to things going so well, you know? Maybe because I'm not busy waiting for the other shoe to drop, maybe I'm finding problems that aren't there."

"Having a boyfriend or whatever doesn't make you boring. It just... I dunno, focuses you, I guess. It's nice that we're all relatively happy at the same time. Right?"

"Yeah, I just feel like I never see you guys anymore."

"How about this," Tyler said. "What if we planned one night a week that was roomie night? That was just us and no one else."

"I'd be down for that," Hunter said.

"Yeah, that sounds nice," Charlie said. "And we can start it tonight. No boyfriend or whatever talk. Just us."

In the other room, a text message alert sounded. And they all three bolted to see if it was their phone.

CHAPTER 22 - TROLLING
Alex waited with anticipation as his phone chirped with the chime of Grindr. A message from a hot Abercrombie guy lit up. When it rains it pours, Alex thought.

"Alex, what are you doing on here?" messaged hot Abercrombie.

"Who is this?" Alex messaged back.

"It's Officer Fitzgerald."

"Gross. Why you trolling?"

"I'm not trolling."

"That picture is not you."

"Fine. I'm trolling. But I'm undercover, for an investigation."

"Whatever. I'm not interested."

"I'm serious. You shouldn't be playing on this app. It's dangerous."

"I can take care of myself, Officer Fitzgerald."

"I don't think you understand."

And Alex blocked him. He put his phone away for a moment when finally the message he'd been waiting for chirped in.

"Sup," messaged JacksonMaxium.

"Hey handsome,"

"You still wanna meet up tomorrow?"

"For sure. I'll see you after I get out of school."

"Hawt."

##

CHAPTER 23 - APRIL SNOW
"I thought it was great," Steve hailing a cab as they left the theatre.

"It's because you haven't seen the movie," Edward said.

They rode in contemplative silence as the cab sped towards Lakeshore Drive. The melting April snow fell outside the window and Steve watched it dance as it landed on the Lake. The Lake made him think of the river that served as a metaphor for the separation of the musical's father and son.

"It just really got me," Steve said. "The way the father and son connected at the end, it was... man. I wish my dad and I had that connection."

"His son hated him his whole life. It wasn't until the father was dying that they could reach any sort of understanding."

"I guess that's what I mean. I never had that with my dad. He lived angry. He died angry. We never had that moment of understanding."

"I can empathize with that. It's like the moments at the end, when the son is passing on his dad's legacy to his own kid. It's like how my dad raised me."

"At least you get to pass it on, to your kids at Haven."

"Speaking of which... " Edward said as the cab passed Haven. He asked the cab driver to pull over and wait as Edward got out.

"Everything ok?" Steve asked.

"It's snowing."

"That's Chicago. You'd think that spring would stick around... "

"No, honey, there's a kid sleeping at the doorstep. And it's freezing. They've locked up for the night."

"Oh no! Can you let him in?"

"I can try," Edward said as they approached. "I hope they're not out of beds."

"Hey kid," Steve said, shaking the kid awake gently. The kid peeked his face dirty with dried blood from under his hood. "Oh my god. It's Charlie's student."

##

CHAPTER 24 - BLOCK
Alex waited by the dumpsters behind the school like they'd planned. He was getting anxious, worried that JacksonMaxium was going to flake. He nervously got on his phone and checked his Grindr. JacksonMaxium was close. "Eta?" he messaged eagerly. The sound of footsteps approaching made him look up with a start.

"Seriously, do I have to take out a restraining order?" Alex asked as Officer Fitzgerald approached out of uniform.

"I just wanted to talk to you. Charlie said he saw you go out this way."

"I told you," Alex said messaging on his phone again. "So not interested." The door burst open and a handsome jock with mean eyes awkwardly looked out.

"You too, Steven? Talk about cock block," Alex said as he hit send on the message.

The alert from Grindr chirped from the phone in Steven's hand.

"Oh my fucking god," Alex groaned. "Seriously, you're JacksonMaxium?"

"What?!" Fitz said.

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, faggot," Steven said.

"Kid, let me see your phone," Fitz said, pulling out his badge. Steven's eyes widened at the sight of it and he immediately made a run for it. Alex chased after and tackled him. Steven struggled to get away but Alex kept him held down with the full weight of his body.

"I can't believe you fucking wasted my time," Alex said. Fitz stooped down to pick up the phone and started looking through it. There was the Grindr profile for JacksonMaxium. He started searching the photos.

"Look Officer Fitzgerald," Alex said, craning his neck to see the phone. "There's the picture of Mr. Parker and Robbie. I told you it was this guy who took it. Now you can take it to the lab where your people can CSI it or whatever and clear my good name." As Fitz swiped through the rest of Steven's pictures, one made him stop gasp in horror.

"What's wrong?" Alex said, craning his neck to look over.

"You shouldn't see this," Fitz said, putting the phone away. But it was too late: Alex had already seen the picture of Tristan lying in a pool of his own blood on Steven's phone.

##

CHAPTER 25 - ONE OF THE RARE ONES
Charlie lay in Ben's arms unable to sleep.

"You think you know someone," Charlie said.

"Hmmm?" Ben murmured.

"It's just... sure Steven was kind of a jerk. But I didn't think he was capable of killing someone."

"You never know what people are capable of, babe."

"I guess that's true," Charlie said, kissing Ben lightly on the lips. The moonlight struck the hazel green of Ben's eyes and Charlie was captivated by them. Lost in them. Charlie lay there a moment, drinking in the moment. This man who'd stood by him, who did everything in his power to find him. Ben was one of the rare ones.

"I love you," Charlie said.

Ben smiled and kissed Charlie's head. "See... you never know what people are capable of."

*

Charlie had already left for school when Ben woke up. He lounged in bed for a moment, filled with three little words he'd been waiting to hear for months. He lazily checked his phone. There was a voicemail from a number he didn't recognize.

"This message is for Benjamin Finn," the woman on the voicemail said. "This is Karen from Doctors Without Borders. It is my pleasure to inform you that your application has been approved... "

##

##
We'll be back for Volume 8 on 5/6, with guest writers writing the first week!

Just joining us? Catch up here:

Volume 1 -
Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, Week Five

Volume 2 -
Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, Week Five

Volume 3 -
Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, Week Five

Volume 4 -
Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, Week Five

Volume 5 -
Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, Week Five

Volume 6 -
Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, Week Five



###