Chapter Text
(Ryan's Perspective)
My father was a strict military man who raised my brother Robert and me by a strict set of rules. He had rules for everything - eating, sleeping, walking, you name it. I remember calling him 'dad' once, only to discover that it was a breach of a rule.
And the rules were drilled into my brother's and my head since we were young. We lost our mother at a young age and all we had were father's rules. I think the rules helped him deal with the loneliness and the lack of another parent to raise us.
I too found the rules comforting. They set a clear path before me and reduced my anxieties whenever I was at a loss for what to do.
But Robert hated them. He HATED them with a passion. Robert was always looking to find loopholes, to exploit technicalities. Maybe it was in the nature of the older child to be rebellious, because he chafed against the rules loudly.
However, I must give him his due - he never, ever completely broke a rule.
There were numerous times when he was in high school that I thought he would. Girls always paid him a lot of attention, likely because he had inherited our father's height and broad chest. His lust for hot teenage ass caused most of the arguments between him and our father. But he still didn't break the rules of having sex that our father had set for us.
Lacking both their height and their muscular build, I never had to contend with that issue.
When he got married, he stayed faithful to his wife. When he had his son, Harry, he taught the boy all the rules as well. As Harry grew up, Robert's marriage deteriorated quickly. He could have left. But the rules demanded he be there for his wife and child. He tried his best to keep the charm on and stay fully committed. Until his wife ran away, leaving him to raise Harry alone.
I don't know if I was more or less lucky than Robert. It seems our family's marriages may be cursed, because my own wife passed away during childbirth, leaving me to take care of Jeremy, our boy.
For 18 years, I raised my boy alone. And then he left for college.
I say he left, but the college was in another part of our city. He left my house to move in with his uncle and cousin because they lived closer to his college. Well, technically, father - now retired Sergeant William Green - lived closest. But that studio apartment was meant for only one person to live in it, as it was tiny and with a single bed that could barely contain my father's form.
So Jeremy went to live with his uncle Robert and his cousin Harry. In the two years since, I had seen him on many weekends, but I missed the closeness of living with my boy.
The last time when Robert and I were having drinks at his place while the boys were playing video games, I asked Robert how much of a pain it was to live with two young adult boys instead of just one.
Robert chuckled and said that it was fine. "They are good boys. Very good boys. Rules-following boys, even. It's nice having them around while they are around." He gazed fondly at them from the distance.
"And soon they'll get married and leave us both," I said, a bit maudlin.
Robert nodded, "Soon they'll get married." Then he turned to me and said, "Okay, pop quiz. What are father's rules about sex and marriage?"
Even with the alcohol, the rules rose to the tip of my tongue immediately.
"1. No sex unless you are married.
2. No sex with anyone except your wife.
3. No ejaculation of any kind except inside your wife.
3. No condoms."
"Right. You know what those rules never mention?"
"What?" I asked suspiciously, knowing this was going to be a classic Robert-finding-a-loophole moment.
"It doesn't say how many partners you can be married to!" he said, slamming his palm down on the table, looking proud of his brainwave.
I shook my head with a chuckle. "Wasn't one wife bad enough for you? Would you rather have had two of her?"
He rolled his eyes and took another swig of his beer. "I'm just saying. If you can find the right people, then..."
"Sure. Let's tell Harry and Jeremy that this loophole exists, so they'll have lots of polygamous sex." I said sarcastically.
Robert shook his head, saying, "Nah, I've tried hinting it to them already. But they don't get it." And then he turned to look at me with eyebrows raised to add, "Yet."
I chuckled but continued to drink.
And then, much later, I learned that there was something else that the rules never mentioned.
About seven months passed after that evening at Robert's, and the boys came to visit me. My place was on the opposite end of town, so I was quite curious why the two boys were coming over.
I prepared some snacks and drinks. When they came inside, they seemed full of energy.
"Lovely to see you again, Uncle!" Harry exclaimed, giving me a tight hug.
Harry, my nephew, was tall like his father and grandfather but with a slender, swimmer's build. He shared that build with me and my son, though both of us were on the shorter side.
My son Jeremy followed behind, with an uncertain smile on his face but with a pep in his step.
I calmed them down enough to sit them down and give them the snacks and drinks.
The boys sat, their hands clasped. Jeremy looked much more shy and self-conscious than I had ever seen him. Harry waited for him to say something and when he didn't, Harry spoke up.
"Uncle Ryan, we have good news for you. You know Grandfather's rules for sex and marriage?"
I nodded with a snort, "Know them? I lived them, buddy."
Harry laughed and continued, "Well, uncle, it turns out that there are somethings the rules do not mention. There's a loophole! And both dad and grandfather agree with the loophole."
My eyebrows knitted together, suspiciously. Harry was sounding a lot like Robert. "What's this loophole?" I asked with trepidation.
"The loophole, uncle, is that the rules do not say who you can marry. Nothing in the rules prevents us from marrying a man," I sat up straight in my chair as he continued, "and nothing in the rules stops us from marrying within the family." My jaw dropped.
The two of them held out their left hands, a diamond ring glittering on each of their ring fingers.
"We are getting married!" they said in excited unison.