Father And Son Episode Twenty-Eight: Lazy Days Living In Paradise
"Hey, it's Lars! After yesterday, dad seems really relived...I guess he really wanted to get that problem off his chest at work. He works hard to help that banks run like clockwork, so he should be allowed to do whatever he wants! Still....I feel kinda responsible for this...I would have toned myself down if he had wanted me to....He didn't have to risk his work for me....But since he's here, I'm going to enjoy him...
* * *
It was a bright and sunny morning and both James and Lars were pumping their muscles at the gym.
"You know dad, this is kinda nice..." Lars smiled. "We were both busy last week even if we were off, but with you out of work and me still on break, we can finally do stuff like this together." Lars shook his head. "Not that it's okay that you're out of the job at the moment, but still, this is nice."
"You're right Lars." James smiled at his son. "Now I can appreciate how well your muscles are coming in." James ran his hand along Lars' stomach. "Whoo, I can feel those abs growing in there!"
"Haha, cut it out dad..." Lars blushed at his father's compliments. "I still got a long way to go until I'm ultra-buff like you and grandaddy."
"Not that far." James nodded. "Your already really thick in just four short years kid. I was this thick when I was your age, but then I was always a stocky kid, so buffing up was easy." James patted Lars' chest. "You on the other hand were a twig before you joined the wrestling team. You've got a gift son. I don't think you'll have to wait that long to be ultra-buff like me if you keep doing what you're doing."
"You really think so dad?" Lars smiled widely, excited. "You think I've got a gift?"
"Haha, of course you do. Just look at your daddy here!" James lifted his shirt. His gut was almost completely gone, with only some slight pudge and rock hard abs remaining. "Just a month or two ago, my belly was twice this size."
"Fuck dad, I know I said I missed your belly, but I could get used to those abs!" Lars stared deeply at his father's buffness.
"Oh, hey James." Darius walked up to the two. "You aren't usually here this early.
"It's a long story, but basically I have a lot more time on my hands right now." James shrugged.
"Oh, I see. Well the gym is always here for you two if you need something to do. Think of it as a home away from home." Darius nodded and smiled.
"Thanks Darius." James gave Darius a thumbs-up. James was about to go back to pumping when they heard the front door of the gym slam closed. "The hell?"
"It's just Omar." Darius blushed a bit as Omar stepped in. Omar appeared to be tired and upset. "Hey Omar!"
"Frghafurmarbah...." Omar mumbled as he shuffled past.
"What's up with him?" Lars watched as Omar bumbled through the gym to his office.
"It's time to figure out the seasonal finances for the gym, so that we know how much to pay on bills and stuff for Autumn." Dariush shrugged. "Omar REALLY sucks at math, and I do too, so it's always a bit of a hastle." Darius shook his head. "I asked him to get a financial planner, but whenever he thinks about it, he tries to figure out how much it would cost on top of everything else and he ends up back at square one."
James thought it over a bit. "Hmm...I could probably help you with that."
"You COULD!?" Darius got on his knees in front of James, his tail wagging.
"Yeah. I've always been really good with numbers. I'm not exactly working right now, so I'm free to help out if you want me to-" James was cut off by Darius grabbing his arm and dragging him back to the office.
"Omar, our troubles are over!" Darius announced proudly.
"Wuahhh......" Omar was slumped over his desk, looking at papers and punching in numbers on a calculator.
"James says he can help us with our financial planning!" Darius pointed to James excitedly.
"FOR REAL!?" Omar popped his head up, his energy revived.
"Well, I don't know about the long run, but I can help you with this. I've got the time." James scratched behind his head, blushing slightly.
"OH MY GOD THANK YOU!" Omar jumped over the desk and tackled James with a bear hug. "I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER FOR DOING THIS JAMES! FOREVER!"
"Oof! I'm happy to help..." James struggled to sit up as Omar held hugged tightly.
* * *
"Shit James, you really did that?" Omar was gathering up all his files and folders for James.
"Hell yeah I did it. I wouldn't want to work for a bank where I'm forced to hide my relationship with Lars." James looked through the files Omar fed him. "That man in there is my everything and I want everyone to know it."
"Man, you sure are one cold blooded motherfucker James." Omar smirked at James. "I don't think I'd be able to do something that gutsy."
"Yeah well that's the Alexander blood in me." James nodded. "So anyway, you got a job for my boy?"
"Yeah. I was thinking Lars could be an Equipment Manager or something." Omar continued to feed James files. "It's a big chore to make sure all these machines are functioning right and don't smell like swamp-ass. I'd be willing to pay someone to clean the equipment off and write down what needs maintenance."
"Aah, good. That's a nice job." James nodded as he started to write things down. "If exercise equipment is anything like cooking equipment, Lars should have no problem keeping it clean." James chuckled. "And I know Lars loves that raunchy sweaty exercise smell."
"Really? How do you know?" Omar cocked an eyebrow.
"Hehe, that kid can't keep his hands off me after a hard workout." James smirked. "All that testosterone and musk drives that boy wild."
"That is one kinky-ass kid. No offense, but sheesh, he's a little freak!"
"Hehe, a chip off the old block." James chuckled. "Okay, you sure this is all of your expenses?"
"Yeah James. It's all there. I always make sure to keep all my receipts and stuff in order whenever I get them just so I don't make any mistakes."
"Alright then. Now it's just a matter of digging through them and adding them all up." James cracked his knuckles. "I would leave me alone right now if I were you. That is, unless you want a crash course in speed-mathematics."
"Going and gone man!" Omar laughed as he stepped out. "And James...thanks again...really...Darius doesn't like to hear me talking like this, but I'm...not that smart...so I appreciate you picking up the slack for my stupidity."
"Hey, it's no problem." James nodded. "Not everyone is book smart, Don't beat yourself up over it. You've got a great business going here and you clearly know your shit when it comes to bodybuilding and wrestling." James gave Omar a deadpan look. "Now, if you would, get the fuck out."
"Alright, alright." Omar stepped out the door. ". . . Darius said the same thing to me that you did James. . ."
* * *
"Alright Lars, Sunflower....." Darius and Lars were in the wrestling room. New Age music was playing from a stereo and Darius and Lars were making slow, steady poses while looking at an instruction booklet. "Good.....Now we go into Moonflower...." The two moved shakily from one pose to the next. "And hold....."
"What exactly are you two doing? Constipation stretches?" Omar stepped into the room and sat down on the side of the mats to observe.
"It's Yoga Omar. I told you that starting next semester, I'm going to be the Yoga instructor. I've got to get the basic routines down before I think of teaching it to people."
"I hear that doing Yoga can help improve your bodily control, so I'm joining in." Lars nodded. "It's pretty cool."
"Alright, Warrior's Stance Lars." Darius and Lars changed positions.
"It looks like sissified muscle stretching..." Omar shrugged at the two.
"Is that so Omar?" Darius chuckled. "Maybe you just can't handle it."
"What, some prissy little poses?" Omar scoffed at Darius. "Puh-lease!"
"Why don't you put your money where your mouth is then?" Darius challenged Omar.
"You're not going to rope me into doing this like last time." Omar wagged his finger at Darius.
"Last time?" Lars raised an eyebrow.
"When we were kids, I tried to get us into a gymnastics programs so we could learn how to do complex wrestling moves-Oh, now we go back to Sunflower." Darius and Lars slowly moved into position.
"Darius tried to pressure me into going on the balance beam the first day." Omar shuddered. "Ugh....Horrible."
Lars shrugged. "What's so bad about that?"
"Hehehe, Omar's feet slipped and he smashed his nuts on the beam." Darius tried hard to hold in his laughter.
"It's NOT funny Darius!" Omar growled. "I was in so much pain, I had to stay home from school for the rest of the week!"
"He's just posturing Lars. He was back to normal by dinner." Darius smirked at Lars. "Okaaay....and back to Moonflower and hold..." Lars and Darius slowly moved back into the pose and held it. "Three....two....one....Deep healing breath.....And we're done with the routine." Darius breathed in deep and let it out slowly. "That's not too hard."
Lars took a deep breath in and let it out slowly just as Darius did. "Not hard at all!" Lars flexed his muscles a bit. "I feel all loose and flexible now...."
"I'm kinda hungry. Omar, you hungr-EEH!?" Darius froze as he saw Omar glaring at him.
"It's NOT funny! I was mortified when that happened!" Omar let out a deep growl.
"We were kids back then Omar. I don't mean to sound dismissive, but you should probably get over it."
"Get over it!?" Omar cupped his balls. "Let's see how quickly you get over having your nuts smashed like that!"
"Poor baby..." Darius turned up the sarcasm as he stepped over and held Omar's hand that was holding his balls. "Want me to kiss them and make it all better?"
"It would help." Omar pouted a bit.
"Come on Omar..." Darius hugged Omar from the side. "It's ancient history by now, so please stop getting upset over it?" Darius kissed Omar on the cheek. "I'll buy you lunch...."
"Hmph......Fine...." Omar rolled his eyes. "But I'm going all out!"
"Oh, I should go tell dad!" Lars ran off to the office. "Hey dad!"
"Kinda busy Lars." James was deep into working now.
"We're headed out for lunch. You want to come with?"
"I don't think I can kid. I'm trying to get this done as soon as possible." James barely looked up from his work.
"Okay dad....I'll get you something...." Lars nodded and slowly stepped out.
"Hey Lars." James called Lars back.
"Hmm?" Lars peeked back into the office.
"Have a good time." James looked up from his work and smiled warmly at Lars.
"Thanks dad!" Lars nodded.
"I love you kid." James blew Lars a kiss before returning to his work.
"I love you too dad." Lars caught the kiss and put it in his pocket. "Hehe, you're an incredible man, you know that dad?"
"What's so incredible about me?" James furiously scribbled down numbers while punching in numbers on a calculator.
"Even when you have nothing to do, you find work. If you aren't getting paid, then you're doing it for free..." Lars nodded as he stepped out. "That's one of the things I love about you dad..." Lars finally closed the door to the office to leave James to his work.
"Hehe.....I didn't even notice....Thanks kid...." James smiled as he continued to work
* * *
Darius was driving Omar and Lars around in his truck, looking for a place to eat.
"Omar, you aren't milking Red Lobster out of me over a nut shot from over ten years ago!"
"But what about my pain and suffering!? What if that shot had messed up my junk!?"
"If last night was any indication, your balls are working just fine Omar." Darius rolled his eyes at Omar. "Honestly, I swear to god this is the last time I'm letting you pull this shit on me Omar." Darius noticed that Lars was sitting silently in thought. "...Hey Lars, what's up?"
"It's nothing. I'm just thinking about dad..." Lars continued. "Something about him doing all that for me....Risking his job...It doesn't seem right to me...." Lars shook his head. "It was okay when we were fighting off his brother or when we were facing people who didn't know us, but he's been at that bank for EIGHTEEN years! I just....I don't want him to throw that away for me..."
"Lars, where's your pride?" Omar smacked Lars on the chest. "Your daddy is stepping up to the plate for you because he loves you and more importantly, he's proud of you. You should hear that man talk, the stories he tells me about all the shit you two have gone through sound like the figment of some guy's imagination." Omar put an arm around Lars' shoulder. "He's always telling me about how much pride he has in you, how much you put on the line for your relationship without giving a single damn about the consequences. He's only trying to match your level of pride and dedication Lars." Omar poked Lars on the cheek. "You and that dad of yours are some of the most hardcore motherfuckers I've ever met. After beating up your own family for that man, don't you dare start getting second thoughts because he shakes up his workplace for your rights." Omar gave Lars a noogie. "Or I'll knock the sense right back into you."
"Wow....That....actually helped a bit..." Lars nodded. "Thanks Omar!"
"No problem kid." Omar gave Lars a tight hug.
"Nice talking Omar." Darius smiled widely at Omar.
"Hey, if there's one thing I know well, it's having pride. Even when I wasn't out about us, I still had pride in our relationship Darius." Omar nodded. "We're the inseparable, unstoppable Alpha Muscle Gym Leaders. And James and Lars here have a bond even closer then THAT!" Omar shook his head. "If you don't have pride in THAT, then you just shouldn't have pride at all."
"Thank you Omar...I'm still kinda afraid of how this is going to turn out...but I shouldn't shy away from it. It's like me and dad agreed on last week: It would be a really shitty ending to our love story if I just pussied out in the end!" Lars pumped his fist.
"Damn straight!" Darius pumped his fist in agreement.
"Hey, if you're Darius' little bro, then that makes you my little bro, too. And I take care of my own." Omar ruffled Lars' hair. "So stop moping around about this or I'll pop you one!"
"Alright, alright!" Lars finally smiled again. "Being upset is no fun anyway..."
Omar thought deeply for a second. "Hmm.....Hey Darius..."
Darius nodded. "Yeah Omar?"
Omar leaned over and kissed Darius on the cheek. "I'm...sorry for running that accident into the ground. You're right, it happened when we were little kids. That's the past...and we have to live in the present..." Omar nuzzled Darius' cheek. "You don't have to do anything special for me...You've already done so much..."
"Aww, Omar...You big goof..." Darius hugged Omar with one arm. "It's alright. I did feel really bad about the accident when it happened, but like you said, it's in the past now..." Darius smiled widely. "I love you Omar..."
"I love you too Darius." Omar kissed Darius on the cheek again.
"Alright, alright, you guys made up. You love each other." Lars broke the two up, having been sitting between them. "Now can we please decide on something to eat? I'm starving!"
"Fine Lars." Darius returned to driving.
"Way to kill my buzz Lars..." Omar rolled his eyes at Lars.
"Hey, a hungry alligator isn't anything to mess with." Lars smirked back at Omar.
* * *
Later that evening, Darius, Omar and Lars were watching a wrestling match on a TV in the wrestling room when they heard the door being pushed open.
"It took me all day, but your finances have been calculated!" James stood proudly in the door, beaming with pride. "And I even re-organized all the receipts and files for you."
"WAHOOOOO!" Omar bounced up and launched at James with a diving glomp. "YOU ARE UNREAL JAMES! YOU ARE INCREDIBLE! YOU ROCK!" Omar snuggled James. "THANK YOU THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES THANK YOU!!!!"
"Is it really that big of a deal?" James chuckled as Omar showed him with appreciation.
"Hehe, it is." Darius blushed a bit. "We usually take a week or so to go through that stuff..." Darius walked over and patted James on the shoulder. "Thanks James. You saved us from a lot of torture."
"It's no problem guys, seriously." James blushed a bit. "If you want, I can do it next month, too."
"I would love that..." Omar hugged onto James' leg like a small child. "I would love that so much...."
* * *
Later that night, James and Lars stepped into the house, just getting back fromt he gym.
"Phew, that was one hell of a day!" James cracked his knuckles and went to get a beer.
"We didn't really get that much exercise done, though..." Lars shrugged and plopped down on the couch.
"I got to exercise my mind, though." James smiled and tossed Lars a soda. "Man, it felt good to just clock out and do some numbers again. I haven't done any actual calculating since I was an an accountant grunt years ago."
"Then what exactly were you doing as a Productivity Manager?" Lars chuckled at James as he caught the soda and cracked it open.
"Mostly schedules and shit. And arranging for different events and meetings" James sat down on the couch next to Lars. "I raised up through the ranks because of my natural charisma and how quickly I get shit done." James draped an arm around Lars. "The higher I got, the less numbers I had to do for my position, there were more and more people below me to do the numbers for me and I never really had the time."
"It must be dull at the top." Lars took a swig of his soda.
"It really really is. I like helping the kids, though." James nodded. "I was one of those kids once, so I want to guide them into the working world..."
"Your such a great man dad..." Lars kissed his father on the cheek.
"Hehe, thanks Lars." James blushed a bit. "So, what you want to do tomorrow? We've got all week..." James held Lars close.
"Hehehe..." Lars could only let an evil grin slowly form on his face.
"I should have suspected as much." James chuckled. "You want to fuck all day? We can fuck all day." James let out a hearty laugh. "Hell, it's not like someone's going to bust in here and take you away from me-" Lars quickly covered James' mouth.
"DAD! Don't say things like that! With the kind of luck we've been having recently, that could probably happen!" Lars looked around shiftily.
James pulled Lars' arm away. "You're entirely too jumpy kid..." James scooped up Lars in his arms and started for the bedroom. "A goodnights sleep will help you feel better."
"You think so dad?" Lars slowly calmed down in his father's arms.
"Yup...Especially when you have me to snuggle with." James kissed Lars on the cheek.
"I'm sorry dad...I've just been having this...weird...feeling of dread...like something's going to happen...something bad..." Lars shuddered a bit.
"I'm sure it's nothing Lars." James set Lars down softly on his bed, slowly undressing himself and his son. "Like I said, it'll probably pass after you get some rest."
"Fine dad..." Lars let out a relived sigh as he lay on his father's bed, naked.
"You know kid...you're really beautiful..." James smiled down at his son as he got into bed.
"Dad..." Lars blushed and smiled warmly at his father as he started to feel tired.
"I'm right here Lars." James snuggled up with his son, holding him close and kissing him up and down his neck. "I love you Lars..."
"I love you too dad..." Lars finally gave in to his tiredness and fell asleep.
* * *
"Hey guys...I love dad more and more day by day. When he's not working, he's working for free....He always knows the right thing to say and he knows just the right thing to do to make me feel all warm and fuzzy....But I still can't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen....I wonder what it is...Or maybe I'm just being overly-antsy like dad said...Whatever...see you guys later!
