The Sons of the Cupbearers
Part 1: James and Steve Have an Adult Dilemma
This is a sequel to "The Last Cupbearer", itself a sequel going back to an original story written by jd07201990 and extended in a relay by tamed-jock and joshslater. The characters of James, Steve, Tyler, Brittney, Derek, and Becky (and James's mother) were created originally by the earlier writers. The other characters are my own invention.
For "The Last Cupbearer", click here: https://www.tumblr.com/mulletpermsicantlookaway/778798866864717824/the-last-cupbearer-part-i-chase-tells-a-story
For the original story, click here: https://www.tumblr.com/mulletpermsicantlookaway/781050906974289920/tamed-jock-jd07201990-there-was-something
This is a long story, so if you're looking for a short read, try some of my caption posts.
James and Steve had a problem. The problem was one George O’Connor II, their son, named after Steve’s father. Young George called Steve “Dad” and James “Pop”, and he had been the light of his fathers’ lives ever since they had taken him home. But George had become increasingly unhappy since becoming a teen-ager. Now that he was nearing the end of his freshman year in high school, the crisis was coming to a point. They hated to see him suffer, but his fathers were struggling to help.
James did not mind that their son carried Steve’s family name, not really. Steve’s family had both money and traditions. Having an heir was important to them. And George was Steve’s biological son, although James was equally his legal parent; Steve and James had gone through all the necessary steps to make sure of that.
Steve’s family’s money had made the expense of in vitro fertilization and surrogacy easy. That had been their gift, although Steve and James could easily have afforded the expense on their own. James had plenty of his own money. Steve and James had both been football stars in high school and in college. James had gone on to a lucrative career in the NFL afterward, while Steve had gone to work in the family business that he would someday inherit. James, the son of a widowed mother who had struggled to make ends meet after the early death of James’s father, knew well how lucky he was. He also knew that his football career would not last forever; eventually his body would no longer be able to take the punishment. He did not want to squander what fortune and his athletic skills had given him, so he spent sparingly and invested wisely. His mother now lived with her son and son-in-law in their luxurious home and helped to raise her grandson, of whom she was as fiercely proud as she was of her son and son-in-law.
Now retired from the NFL, James could afford to do what he wanted. He had taken a modestly paid position as a biology teacher and athletic coach at a small, prestigious (and expensive) private school that George now attended.
From his biological father, George had inherited his blond hair, handsome looks, and sharp mind. He also shared both his jock fathers’ love of sports, particularly football. Unfortunately, George had always been small for his age: short, slight, and wafer-thin. It was baffling to James that poor George had inherited none of Steve’s athletic gifts. George longed to play football. However, not only was he not built for football, he had no talent for it or any other sport. George was a want-to-be jock trapped in the body of an underdeveloped nerd. When he was younger, Steve and James had been able to comfort him with the idea that he would get bigger eventually. Now that his peers’ physical developments were leaving George farther and farther behind, George had grown increasingly frustrated.
To their credit, neither Steve nor James cared a whit whether George could throw a football or shoot a basket. They did not even care if he ran like a girl. No, Steve and James had no need for a jock son to relive their past triumphs. They loved George dearly just as he was. But no matter how hard George practiced, how many weights he tried to lift, or how many protein shakes he downed, he was still a skinny – and clumsy – nerd.
James and Steve were now concerned enough about George’s mind that they were actively researching mental health professionals. James could not understand where he had failed. He was a professional coach, after all. If anyone should have been able to help George, it was George’s “Pop”. James had already molded scores of young men and women with seemingly no more potential than George had into successful athletes. He was a popular teacher. The jocks liked him, naturally, because he was a fellow jock. But James was equally popular with non-jocks. He excelled at overcoming the resentment of the kids who played sports not because they wanted to, but because their parents wanted them to. Even the nerds, geeks, and other unathletic types felt they had a friend in him because he was a good biology teacher, respected smart kids, and tolerated no bullying from anyone, least of all from his prized football players. Under his leadership, even the most athletically inept had no dread of PE class. Many of them ended up enjoying PE almost as much as the jocks did. But despite his successes with students in general, James had so far been powerless to help the most important student in his life. He had not yet given up, but he was rapidly running out of ideas for George.
The grass is always greener, James supposed. George excelled at everything he wanted to do except the one thing he wanted to do the most: play football.
“Maybe,” James mused, “my whole approach has been wrong. I’ve been coming at this like a coach. Maybe I need to think like a biology teacher.” Scientifically, he knew that there was no guarantee of which traits George would have inherited from Steve and which he would have inherited from his mother. It was basic biology. And yet he was missing something: something obvious, something important. What was it?
James and Steve had maintained ties with many of their jock friends from high school. A lot of them had raised or were raising families of their own. James’s good friend Becky, for instance, was a year ahead of James and Steve in school and had been valedictorian of her class. To the endless frustration of the cheerleading squad, she had captured the heart (and the not-overly-bright head) of Derek, the captain of the varsity football team. Becky and Derek had four boys, all big jocks like their father. Their youngest was now midway through his college football career. Fortunately, all four of their boys had inherited a good portion of their mother’s brains in addition to their father’s brawn.
Their boys might even have inherited some of their brains from Derek. Derek was not valedictorian material, but he was no dummy; dating Becky had inspired Derek to exercise his brains almost as much as his muscles. By contrast, James’s best bro, Tyler, whom he had known since kindergarten, had been a more typical jock. As James remembered it, Tyler had excelled at nothing in school except sports. After wrestling and playing football in college, Tyler had married his high school sweetheart, Brittney, a sweet, attractive, air-headed cheerleader. Together, the happy couple had raised their own six-man football squad. Tyler and Brittney still lived in town, and their boys had all played for their parents’ old high school. The youngest, Colton, was George’s age – and George’s best friend.
Between them, then, Derek, Becky, Tyler, and Brittney had raised ten boys – and no girls. When it came to the rest of their high school friends, the pattern became less clear. Jeremy and Chase were raising a girl, but she was not their child. She was their niece, left orphaned after Jeremy’s brother and wife had died in a car accident some years ago. If James remembered correctly, the girl was a few years younger than George – and just as well off, James suspected. Jeremy must have made a ton in the NBA. Jeremy and Chase had both played football with James and Steve in high school, but basketball was where Jeremy was a genius. College basketball scouts had practically salivated over the 7-foot-high school senior, and his college career had led him straight into the pros, where he started at a freakish seven feet four inches.
And while Jeremy was unfortunately dumb enough – and nice enough – that he could have fallen victim to all kinds of schemes to part him from his money, his husband Chase, a short, thickly-built college wrestling champion, had brilliantly managed Jeremy’s money and his career. James chuckled to himself thinking of the poor people who had had to negotiate with Chase. Likeable and easy-going, with a slow, goofy grin, Chase looked – and acted – like a big dumb jock and an easy mark. In fact, Chase was way too smart to let people know how smart he was. No one could take advantage of Jeremy while Chase watched over Jeremy’s best interests. Several teams’ owners were probably still trying to figure out how Chase had managed to screw them over on Jeremy’s contracts. Now that Jeremy had retired from basketball, Chase had gone back to his own favorite sport and was making a name for himself as a college wrestling coach. James and Steve suspected that Chase, like James, worked only because he wanted to. Jeremy made charitable appearances at things like basketball camps for disadvantaged children and otherwise was a stay-at-home uncle for his niece.
Ben and Devin, the other gay jock couple that James and Steve had stayed in touch with, had been happily running a bodybuilding gym in Chicago for many years. They had never had any children, but if James added George to his friends’ totals, that made three sets of parents with eleven boys between them, and all of them football jocks except for George, who wanted to be one. James the football coach could appreciate his friends’ good fortune, but James the biology teacher could not believe that all these jocks were mere coincidence. Sure, it was possible. Just not bloody likely. Why had he never thought about it before? Something was behind it. But what?
Just then, there was a knock on his office door. “Come in,” James said. The door opened and George walked in. James sighed. He could tell George was upset.
“You busy, Pop?” George asked.
“Not at all, Georgie. Sit down. What’s wrong?”
“Pop, honestly, can you quit calling me Georgie? I’m not a little kid anymore.”
“I’m sorry. I try. I really do, but to me you’ll always be my Georgie-Porgie.”
“Pop, seriously! I’m not in the mood, okay!”
“I’m sorry, George. You know I don’t do it to make fun of you. Your pop’s an old man. Old habits die hard. You’ll find that out yourself someday.”
“You’re not that old, Pop. You’re only, like, what, forty-five or something, right?”
“You make it sound so easy, big guy. Yeah, I’m only forty-five, but my body feels older, believe me. I’m paying the price for all those years playing football.”
“You don’t regret it, do you, Pop?”
“No. Not at all. I loved playing football. All I’m saying is that there are always consequences, whatever choices you make. Now out with it: what’s eating you? I could tell you were upset as soon as you walked in, and my calling you ‘Georgie’ had nothing to do with it. What’s really bothering you?”
It was George’s turn to sigh. “Chelsea,” he said at last. “Why do girls always go for big dumb brutes, Pop?” Tears started in George’s eyes. James got up, went over to George’s chair, and patted his son on the back.
“Oh, Georgie boy,” James said, “I’m so sorry. I don’t think girls themselves know why they do that. What happened?”
“I know Chelsea and I are just friends, but I, like, really like her, you know, and all she does is go on and on about hot she thinks Bryce is.”
Bryce was a junior on the varsity football team. James could see why the girls would drool over that one. Handsome, built – but not too much – and cocky as hell, Bryce rarely dated the same girl for long. James also suspected that Bryce’s sexual conquests weren’t limited to girls, but that was Bryce’s business, not his. In any case, Bryce was way out of the league of a freshman nerd girl like Chelsea. “George,” he said, “you don’t need to worry about Bryce. There’s no way someone like him is going to date a freshman. Your day will come. Lots of girls like you.”
“Yeah, Pop, they like me all right: as a friend. Or a brother. I might as well be gay.”
“But you’re not, and your dad and I can tell you that being gay just gives you a different set of problems. Look, I get it. It’s really hard when someone you like doesn’t see you as boyfriend material. I’m sorry. This is such a cliché, but you need to give it time. You’re just a freshman yourself. You’ve got a lot of growing to do, and so does she. You’ll know eventually whether you’ll be more than friends. A lot of things will change for you in the next couple of years.”
“When, Pop? When are things going to change for me? I could be a football star like Bryce. I know more about the game than that dumb SOB does. It’s so weird, Pop. I feel like a jock, you know, on the inside. And then I look in the mirror, and all I see is ‘nerd’. It’s not fair!”
George did start crying at that point. He tried to hide it at first. James let him have a good cry, then he said, “Come on, sport, stand up and give your pop a hug. You’re so young. Give it more time. You might be just on the verge of a growth spurt, you know.”
George stood up and held onto his pop until he was calmer. Then he said, “I’m the same age as Colton, Pop, but when people see us together, they think I’m his little brother.”
James said, “George, I know I’ve told you this before, but when boys hit puberty, they don’t all mature the same way or at the same time.”
“I know, Pop. And yeah, I’ve heard it all before. Why am I always the one that has to wait?” George sighed again. “Uncle Tyler and Aunt Brittney are sending Colton to some intensive football camp this summer, for nearly ten weeks. He wants me to go, too.”
“If you’re really interested, George, your dad and I can check this camp out. Colton’s kind of big for his age, you know.”
“Meaning I’m not. I know, Pop. Believe me, I know. But even Colt feels small compared to his older brothers and his dad. I think that’s why they’re sending him to that camp, you know, to beef him up a bit. But I don’t know what I’d do without Colt this summer. He’s the only real friend I’ve got. And he understands me. Just the other day, he said, ‘Hey, bro, don’t be down on yourself because people think you’re a nerd. They just don’t know any better. They only see what’s on the outside. I know you, and you’re like, a total jock, bro. I kid you not.’”
“That sounds like Colton, but he’s got a point, George. And you might want to take a look at our old high school yearbooks sometime. You’ll see that your dad and I weren’t always so big, either.”
Later that night, George was thumbing through his fathers’ high school yearbooks. “You know, Dad,” he said, “what Pop told me today was right. You two weren’t always such big guys. I mean, look at this picture of the chess team when you were sophomores. You look like a total nerd, Dad. Look at your hair! And here’s a picture of Pop and Uncle Tyler. Both of them look like total nerds, too.”
James and Steve looked at their pictures. “Just goes to show you,” said Steve, “that some guys hit their growth spurts late. I really don’t remember looking like that, but it was a long time ago. If you look in the yearbook from our junior year, I’m sure you’ll see us looking a lot bigger. I know I had a big growth spurt that year.”
James pulled out the yearbook from their junior year, and sure enough, there were pictures of Steve and James, as well as Tyler and their other friends on the football team, looking very different than the prior year. Steve was handsome, much taller, and had a solid athletic build. James and Tyler were heavily muscled and appeared to have gained a great deal of weight. Tyler was almost stocky. There was even another shot of Steve on the chess team, looking taller and more built than his football picture. James remembered that their chess team that year had really been just a bunch of jocks who liked playing chess. A lot of the chess players in the picture looked more like football players than chess nerds.
“Yeah,” James said, “this is how I remember your dad and Tyler when we were in high school.” But something was bothering him. Why weren’t there pictures of them and their friends playing football from their freshman or sophomore years? James remembered playing football with Tyler from their peewee days all the way through middle school, but there were no pictures to prove it. All that the yearbook pictures showed was that he and Tyler and Steve had undergone a dramatic physical transformation from skinny, nerdy-looking guys to buff jocks during or immediately before their junior year in high school.
Later that night, when both George and his grandmother had gone to bed, Steve and James looked over the information on the camp Colton was going to that summer. It billed itself as a kind of “boot camp” experience for football players at all levels. Drills, physical conditioning, diet, and weight training were all emphasized. More traditional camp activities such as swimming and hiking were featured as well. Then they noticed this curious statement: “Camp uniforms and practice clothing are provided for all campers throughout the length of their stay. Campers need no clothing other than what they are wearing on arrival. Because of the intensive training and diet, be aware that the clothing your camper wore when arriving may not fit by the end of his stay.
The campers in every picture seemed to be having a great time. They were also noticeably muscular and – unless wearing actual football gear – shirtless. Even in the shot of a meal in the dining hall, everyone was shirtless except the counselors. Their hair kept with the “boot camp” theme. Below a picture of incoming campers getting their hair buzzed off the caption read: “For the sake of hygiene and esprit de corps, campers’ hair is maintained in a military-style buzz cut during the length of their stay.” Steve and James looked at each other.
“This looks way intense, Jimbo,” said Steve, using the pet name for his husband that he had used since high school. “Does George seriously want to do this?”
“He wants to, Steve-o,” James said, responding in kind. “What I’m not so sure of is whether he wants it for himself or just because Colton is going. I don’t know that he’s ready for something like this. If it helps him, it’ll be worth it, but what if he can’t hack it? Won’t he end up feeling worse?”
“That’s what worries me, too,” Steve said. “Let’s think about it. We don’t have to give him an answer right away. This looks like a lot for even a jock like Colton to handle.”
“And yet they say that they take beginners who’ve never trained before. Look at this: ‘Even if your student is a hopeless nerd, we can make a jock out of him. We excel at motivation.’ That’s a pretty bold claim. These guys in the pictures all look as though they’re enjoying themselves.”
“As if they’re going to put pictures of unhappy kids in their advertising!” Steve snorted. “I’d love to get some more information from someone who’s gone there or sent his kids there. See what you can find out.”
The next day, James got a call at school. “Coach Evans?” the voice asked. The voice seemed vaguely familiar.
“Speaking,” James said. “What can I do for you?”
“This is Reg Sanders from your old high school. You remember me?”
“Coach Sanders? Yeah, I remember you. Been a while. A long while. Not to remind either of us how many years have gone by, but shouldn’t you be nearing retirement?”
Coach Sanders laughed. “I forgot how blunt you could be. Yeah, the upcoming school year will be my last. I was wondering if you’d autograph a game ball for our trophy case. Your friend Jeremy autographed a basketball for us, you know. It’s pretty amazing that we had two alums that went on to play professionally. We’d love to have a signed football from you.”
“You mean someone at Madison has actually heard of me?”
“Don’t be modest, Coach. James Evans is one of our most illustrious alumni.”
“Flattery from you, Coach? I’m shocked. But I’m game. You want me to drop by your office?”
“You know what? I don’t have a full load this year. I’m easing myself into retirement. Why don’t I drop by yours. Let me know when it would work for you.”
“I don’t have anything after school today, other than taking George home. And he’ll probably want to go over to Tyler’s. He’s over there all the time; he’s good friends with one of Tyler’s boys. I should be out of my last class and back to my office by 3:30.”
“George, that’s your son, right?”
“Yeah, mine and Steve’s. He’s a great kid.”
“I’d love to meet him. Chip off the old block?”
“Well, sort of,” James said. “You’ll see.”
When Coach Sanders reached James’s office, George was just arriving. “George, this is Coach Sanders, your dad’s old high school basketball coach. He just dropped by for me to autograph a football for Madison’s trophy case. If you don’t mind sticking around for a minute, I should be able to take you home in a few.”
“Don’t worry about it, Pop,” George said. “Brad has the car, and he and Colton are coming by to pick me up. Then I’m going to hang over at their place for a bit. Very nice to meet you, Coach Sanders.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too, George. You look a lot like your dad.”
“Coach, you must know Colton and Brad. They go to Madison,” said James. “You must know all of Tyler and Brittney’s boys. George, when Colton and Brad get here, tell them to come by my office. I’m sure Coach Sanders would like to say hi.”
“Definitely,” said Coach Sanders.
George’s friend and his older brother appeared shortly after James had finished his autograph. Colton was an athletic-looking young man, well-built and tall for his age. George did look younger (and more obviously nerdy) standing next to him. While muscular, Colton had none of his father’s and brothers’ bulk. Brad, who was only a year older, looked beefy in comparison. Brad reminded James strongly of how Tyler had looked in high school. Colton had his father’s light brown hair, carelessly styled in shaggy waves that covered his ears and fell over his collar. He was dressed jock style in baggy basketball shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt that showed off his shoulder and arm muscles to advantage. Colton had an open, innocent look, the personality of a friendly dog, and about as much intelligence. “Hey, uh, Uncle James – I mean Mr. Evans,” he said, “have you and Uncle Steve, I’m sorry, Mr. O’Connor decided on letting George go to football camp this summer? It’d be so cool having a friend there. I don’t want to be gone all summer, but I guess my dad and big bros think I’m too much of a runt.”
“I’m sorry, Colton. He and I looked over the information last night, but we haven’t decided yet. Don’t worry; we’ll talk it over tonight. Colton, Brad, I assume you already know Mr. Sanders. He was the basketball coach at Madison when your dad and I were there.”
Coach Sanders got solid handshakes from both of Tyler’s boys. “Nice to see you, Coach,” said Colton. “If you don’t need us, I’d like Brad to get us home. My main dude here,” he said, indicating George, “helps me with my homework, and I’ve got a ton of it tonight. I don’t know what I’d do without him. I wish I could be smart like George, but he’s super great at, like, explaining stuff to dumb bros like me.”
“I’m sure George inherited that trait from his fathers,” Coach Sanders said.
“Colton, don’t think of yourself as dumb,” said James. “You’ve got different strengths. Schoolwork’s just not as easy for you as it is for George. You’re a good kid,” James continued, roughing up Colton’s shaggy hair. “And believe me, you’re no runt. But you’re making it sound as though George does your work for you, and I know he doesn’t.”
“Oh, I know, Uncle James, I mean, Mr. Evans!” Colton said seriously. James tried not to smile. “It’d be so much easier if he did! But he keeps, like, trying to get me to learn stuff. It’s SO hard! I just want to, like, get it over with as soon as I can, you know?”
“Okay,” said James unable to hold back a chuckle, “I get it. We’ll let you young men get out of here.”
To be continued: https://www.tumblr.com/mulletpermsicantlookaway/809143146349035520/the-son-of-the-cupbearer