Chapter 8
CHAPTER
EIGHT
MULTIPLE MAN
Hey, when do you get into New York again?
I land at JFK at 6pm on Friday. Your time, that is.
How long does it takes me to get from there into Manhattan proper, I don’t really know?
Ah, it’s not too bad.
Do you want me to meet you at the airport? I could guide you through the MTA and get you settled at your hotel.
Oh you don’t have to do all that, I couldn’t ask that of you
Lol you didn’t, I offered.
Well, if you’re sure, I’d appreciate it!
But only if it’s not too much hassle
No hassle at all. Would be great to meet you in person finally!
We could maybe go for a drink, get you settled into New York in style? I know a great bar, the one I work at. They’ll be having a cabaret night and viewing party for the latest episode of Drag Race
Let’s put a pin in that? I would want to say yes, because that sounds like fun, but I am also aware I might be totally exhausted
Ha, totally.
No worries. Well, I’ll meet you at arrivals at JFK on friday then!
Sure thing! Thanks again!
T he week is zooming by me, and it’s about all I can manage to keep up with it all.
The project is going well, from what I can tell, and what I can figure out is a lot more than usual this time. Seems I’m being kept in the loop a whole lot more than I have on any project before this, probably because I’m being tasked with making sure Arran Wilson commits to it. So I’ve been seeing a lot more of the early art that’s been coming in for some of the other shorts that we have locked in.
The press release team have also been prepping images for the slides we’ll use at New York Comic Con to make the big announcement, which will also be the main images we’ll use for posts on social media and the company website. I look at the list of names, and it’s already really cool to see so many LGBTQ+ comic creators involved, and some great names, but I’m drawn to the TBD placeholder on there. To Be Determined.
A lot is riding on me getting Arran locked in. I’m pretty confident I can, or that’s what I’ve been telling myself.
Hank has been…hovering. I’ve seen him around the office a lot more lately, and I’m aware that now he’s noticing me. I don’t think I could ever tell he was before, but I’ve definitely caught him looking over at me a few times. And I’m not sure how I feel about that.
I know what Anna said. I know the warning, and his behaviour may be nothing to worry about. It may be nothing. There is a lot riding on me getting this creator nailed down, and not just for this comic, but it feels like maybe for my career, or my standing at Excelsior.
If he is also interested…I guess I’ve suddenly realized that I think he’s actually kinda attractive. Maybe? I’ve never looked at him that way before. Hell, I don’t really tend to go for guys that much older than me, so I wouldn’t say I’ve ever appreciated someone more his age being interested before. But Hank is actually a pretty good looking guy. He has more of a dad bod, sure, but it’s clear he keeps himself in shape. I’ve noticed him coming in with a gym bag most days, so I figure he must do something in the mornings before coming into the office. And he has strong looking shoulders, and that slight stubble that is always etched on his squared off chin is kinda… daddy .
Oof, no, shake that off. I have too much on my hands as it is.
When I haven’t been running from the bottom floor to the top and back again at Excelsior all week, I’ve been plotting out with Arran when and where to meet him at JFK on Friday. I figure I’ll pick him up, take him to his hotel room, giving him the authentic New Yorker experience, so he can drop off his bag, then if he’s not too jet lagged, take him out to a good bar. Maybe not JoyBox, with the viewing party there won’t be much chance to talk.
Maybe to Stonewall? It’s a piece of gay history, he’ll have never been there before, and he likes and respects queer history, so it might be a really good choice for a first night in New York.
But as well as that, I’ve had to pull a couple last shifts at JoyBox this week. A couple of the nights were quiet ones, just a standard, with our regulars, but then Thursday night happened. Thursday night where something really unexpected happened.
It started like any other night. The usuals were in, I was behind the bar (in a lot more clothes this time), and it was a busy Thursday. We often have a busy midweek night, but it’s not some crazy party: instead, one of the queens will run a quiz, we’ll have prizes for winners of rounds and the quiz as a whole. Then we’ll just free up the dance floor until close.
I guess a lot of people like to break up their work week and let off a little steam, so we’re usually busy and this Thursday was no exception.
Among the usual faces I see and serve as I tend bar, I do notice a few new ones. We usually get a few each week, so that wasn’t the unexpected part. However, what was a bit odd was how I kept catching eyes from one table off towards the back.
There’s three really cute guys who are sitting together, smiling and laughing. But every now and then, I swear I catch them looking over towards me.
Now, something maybe you haven’t understood about me yet, is I am not great at noticing signs of interest. I’m usually either too busy, or just too blind to them. I guess I’m so positive that no one would want to spend that kind of time with me. Which is fine. I guess I’m kind of used to being alone.
My parents work in publishing, have my whole life. We started in a small apartment in the city, up until I was about five years old. I don’t remember much about it. But I guess things were picking up for my parents in their jobs, and we moved out to the suburbs in Queens for a while, in a much bigger house. I loved that place. For a while, we really got to play the whole happy family routine, me at school, Mom working from home while Dad commuted into the city and sometimes further afield.
But then one of Mom’s clients blew up, and became a global bestseller, if I remember correctly. I was still maybe around ten or eleven years old at the time. But I remember Mom couldn’t work from home anymore, and she had to relocate her office into the city and was often on international trips too. Dad spent a little more time at home, but he couldn’t do much more. His office kept him super busy too, and I was getting the occasional stay from my grandparents, or one of my aunts, until it became too difficult to keep it up.
Next thing I remember is we’re moving back into the city. Or rather, it felt like I did. My parents still couldn’t spend as much time there themselves, but with it being more central to their offices, it did make it easier. But we had a much bigger apartment this time, right in the heart of Manhattan. And it meant we had a doorman, and a building management team, and so I often had people to call on if Mom and Dad weren’t around and I needed to. Not that I often did. I guess I became pretty self-sufficient pretty early.
I don’t want to make it sound like I was neglected or anything. I wasn’t. Everything Mom and Dad did wasn’t just for their clients, or their love of books and literature. No, it was also for me. To give me the best start in life I could get, and when they were back home, it was always happy and amazing and I loved it.
I think I just kinda wished it could be like that more , that’s all.
So yeah, I guess I got kind of used to being on my own. I had friends, sure, but not that many. Little hard when you keep moving about and having to change schools and all. There was a time I had a really good friend, and that was great too, but that didn’t work out.
But family always felt like this distant thing, you know? Something I heard a lot about, and wanted, but wasn’t sure I had. At least not in the same way other people did.
Anyway, my folks cared. They still do. Hell, the apartment I share with Amanda? It’s their old place back in Harlem, where I was born. They bought it on a whim, said it had a lot of memories and they figured they could keep it going as a side-hustle, not that they were needing the money. So when I came back to the city after college and wanted to go for the Excelsior internship, they just told me to move in there. I insisted on paying some rent, obviously. Self-sufficient to a fault maybe, but I didn’t want to feel like I was getting handouts.
But yeah, all of this to say, I guess I have these blinders on when it comes to anyone trying to get close to me. Like, even when they’re just wanting to sleep with me, I can’t read the signs. It’s why I prefer the apps so much to ‘real world’ reading the situation. But on this night I could definitely tell I was being looked at.
It was a little hard to work these three out. There’s a tall, well-built, muscular guy with dark hair and hawkish features, and really stunning blue eyes. Like if Henry Cavill was a little narrower in the face. He’s sat with a scotch, holding hands on the table with a thin, tall but a smidge shorter than him guy wearing a loose, silk top that draped down their frame. They have painted nails, and vivid blue hair, artfully cropped and shaved into a fade into his warm, tanned skin. And then there’s the third guy, shorter, more boyish features, but with trimmed stubble, a mustache and a single bright silver earring dangling down, narrowly missing his shoulder. He’s wearing a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, the cut-off running down his torso, revealing the briefest hint of his top surgery scars. His arms are thin but muscled, and he looks a little punky compared to the other two. He’s the one whose eyes I keep catching on me more.
But then the drapey top came to order at the bar, and I noticed just over their shoulder that muscles and punky got really close, their lips almost meeting over the table, as they shared some sort of deep joke or secret, before flinging a glance my way. Just what is going on with these three?
“Busy night,” says drapey. I startle, and I must look at them with a confused expression, as they continue, “The quiz night. Seems pretty popular. I don’t think me and my boys have much of a chance.”
“Oh, don’t say that,” I laugh, hoping it hides my curiosity. ‘My boys’? “The game’s still early, you could come roaring back and steal the whole thing.”
“Honey, if it isn’t about art history, I don’t imagine I’ll be much use to anyone here. I am that boring type who is all about their profession and singular interest, believe me.”
I offered a grin as I gave them their drinks. “Oh, I dunno. You don’t seem that boring to me. You look fabulous,” I say, meaning it.
They smile back. “Hm, I can see what Seth sees in you. Do you like art too?”
“You could say that,” I add, offering more about myself than I tend to and I don’t know why. “I’m an intern at Excelsior Comics, so art makes up most of my life. A kind of art, I guess.”
“Oh honey, it’s all art. Very fun,” they reach their hand out to me. “I’m Perry. Muscles back there is Tom and the cute little pixie who cannot hide his attraction to you is Seth. My boyfriends.”
I shook their hand as I felt the flush run up my cheeks. “Boyfriends? As in plural?”
Perry just smiled. “Mmhmm, honey,” they leaned in, drawing me towards them. “And there’s always room for more…”
They bite their lip as they let me go, picked up the drinks and gave me a little wink before they twirled around and headed back to the table. Seth is clearly eagerly wondering about what was said, the way he practically leapt on Perry when they returned. Tom just smiled, and gave me a little wave with two fingers, almost more of a salute really.
It was only then that I realized Perry had said ‘attraction’…towards me.
For the rest of the night, each of the throuple took it in turns to come up and get drinks from the bar, and in that moment, chat with me. Starting with Seth.
“Sorry about Perry. They like to play the whole ethereal, otherworldly, mysterious being card, especially with guys they want to get to know,” Seth said, after we made our introductions. “I think it’s the ArtPop fairy in them.”
We giggle and joke for a bit while the quiz takes a break in between rounds. The throuple (under the team name of ‘Play Well with Others’) are doing terribly, which Seth doesn’t mind at all. “I’m just here for the vibes, man. I heard JoyBox was fun on a Thursday night, and Agatha Fistee is an old friend of mine from during my own brief stint in drag, before I transitioned,” he told me, smiling and fixing me with those twinkling eyes of his. There’s something hypnotically alluring about Seth, and I couldn’t help but be drawn in.
“You used to do drag?” I ask, flicking a glance over to our guest hostess this week, the aforementioned Ms. Fistee.
“Yeah, before I transitioned. I was a drag king, but I realized the euphoria I got in drag was something I’d been wanting to feel all the time. Took a little soul searching, but I realized drag was just a stepping stone for me. I wasn’t someone pretending to be a man for dollars and attention, I was a man all along, you know,” Seth told me about growing up feeling like something was off with his world, initially thinking it was the world around him before he turned that light on himself and realized it was him. He wasn’t being himself, and through drag and the friends he made along the way, many of whom are trans, he was able to put it right. “It’s how me and Perry met, actually. They were hosting a gallery night for trans artists and I had a couple pieces in there. We got talking, and before you knew it…”
“You’re an artist too?” I ask, pouring scotch over ice for Tom’s drink.
“Eh, like the drag, I dabble. I still do some of the activism, but I tend to be more of a fixer behind the scenes these days. Helping with promotion, admin, making the calls that need to be made, that kind of thing, you know?”
He leans forward, resting his cute little face on his hand, his elbow on the bar. He has these dreamy dark features, from his asymmetrically copped hairstyle, flowing down into his perfectly trimmed facial hair, a stubble that grows longer in just the right places. His mustache he’s grown out, and it almost covers his top lip, but his bottom lip is thick and soft, and inviting.
I get pulled out of staring when I accidentally pour some liquor on my hand. “Oh shit,” I jerk back, shaking it off as Seth tries to mask his amusement.
“So what about you? I’m getting a creative vibe from you too,” he asks.
“I’m an intern at Excelsior Comics by day,” I say, but he just keeps looking at me with an eyebrow raised, inviting me to tell him more. “But I’m actually looking to be a comic book writer. I always loved those stories, and would love to tell my own someday, you know.” I start putting the drinks order on a tray for him. “So, you met Perry first. And then Tom?”
Seth smiles, handing me some cash to pay for the drinks. “Yeah. Perry and Tom were already dating when I met them, and we all started hanging out a lot. Wasn’t long before I was besotted with the both of them, and now, well, here we are.”
I blow out air in a mock show of being exhausted. “Whew, I can’t even manage to get one boyfriend, and here you are taking two great catches!”
Suddenly, Agatha calls out the next round about to begin. Before leaving, Seth turned to me and just said, “Well, maybe by the end of the night, you’ll have three.” He stalks off, carrying the drinks, leaving me dumbfounded.
After the picture round is over, Tom was next to come up to the bar and flirt. With me. For some reason I’ll never understand.
Tom was the really mysterious of the three. Quieter, but not timid, he portrayed a cool confidence that was just as alluring as Perry’s otherworldliness and Seth’s boyish energy.
“I’ve just always felt like there was a lot more love to give then can really be handled by one person. I used to think I was bad, for having crushes and feelings of attraction for other people while I was already in a relationship, but with me and Perry, we talked about it early on and realized monogamy wasn’t for us. At least, not sexually, initially.
“It wasn’t until Seth that we both realized we felt so much for him beyond physical attraction. We talked to him too. Thankfully the feeling was mutual and now, we’re all living together happily.”
I blink. “Wait, so you all live together too?”
“Sure. I mean, me and Perry have been dating for five years. Seth for just coming up on two now. It made sense for us all to live together. And the townhouse is big enough, so why not.” He smiled coolly at my clear surprise. “There’s even room for more, I’d say.”
I gulped hard. “I’m…I’m not really hooking up right now…” I stammer out. It’s hard not to feel intimidated by Tom’s stature and presence. Not in a bad way, but like, feeling as though you’re in the presence of a demigod and you can’t figure out why.
“Well, good thing we’re all interested in getting to know you more than just how you look naked. A lot more,” he sipped his scotch, and then ran his tongue over his lip, never once looking away from me. “Not that I don’t want to know that too. I don’t know, I just think we’re open to exploring where these feelings can take us,” he turns around as the last round of the quiz is called, and waves Perry and Seth over to join us.
For the last round, they spent it at the bar, but I’d say they definitely weren’t playing the game anymore. Instead, they were talking to me, in between me serving customers.
The rest of the night went like this, with me getting to know each of them more and more. Seth is a bit of a comic geek himself, and we talked for a bit about Excelsior Comics and Marvel and DC. Perry showed me some of the artwork they’ve exhibited, both those of others and their own. Theirs is stunning, and often included stunning nude portraiture. Self -portraiture. Tom told me a bit about his work in finance, and I had to admit it went over my head. He just laughed and admitted it does for Perry and Seth too, but he loves them for more than being able to understand his work.
When last orders are called at the bar, the three invite me over to their townhouse, to keep the night going.
“I would love to, but I really can’t,” I told them. “It’s crunch time at work, what with New York Comic Con next week. I have a lot of work to do to get ready for one of our guests arriving on Friday.” It’s the truth, but what I don’t tell them is how much I really am considering it and wondering what if this is the right path to take. Hard to be alone ever with three boyfriends, right?
“I totally get it. Well, don’t be a stranger. We’d love to have you over sometime, get to know you a bit better,” Tom says, presenting me with a card with his phone number and email address on. He leans in, breathing the words into my ear, “Hopefully, we all like what we find as we get closer.” His lips brush my ear, and then Perry takes my hand and puts it to their lips.
“Hey, come around the bar for a sec?” Seth asks. I smiled, and obliged. He threw his arms around me, drawing him close to me, so that barely a millimeter was between us. He squeezed and then leaned back, but stopped, his lips just before mine. Smiling, he planted them on me in a kiss, before flicking his tongue into my mouth.
“Hope to see you soon, Jesse.” He let me go, dumbfounded where I stood, and slapped my butt as he walked past. The three of them walked into the New York night as I watched the door swing closed behind them, still holding Tom’s card.
“Good thing Julio wasn’t here, huh?” Andy calls out from behind the bar, wiping it down as he looks at me.
“Yeah,” I breathed, before I shook my head and turned to him. “I mean, me and Julio aren’t dating dating, we’re just…seeing how things go? I think?”
“Do you think you’re going to call them?” Andy says, throwing me a broom.
I twist my hands as I grip the handle.
“I think I might wanna, yeah.”