Brody could not look Kelsey in the eye, the rest of May. Sluffed her off, dodged her calls. He'd been sitting in his father's lap for "weekly instalments" of the promised ten grand – which seemed to arrive only one grand at a time. He was still living in the same horrid place, with the same horrid people. He had only traded one abuser for another, each with their own rotten apology. Brincosa and her burgers were left to sog on the counter for Krinjec and his ill-gambled gains. Brody was so sore underneath, in both holes, he could no longer sit without pain. He sat in bed, doomscrolling and planning his next purchases... as well as hunting for apartments. None of them would take him without a record of employment, nor at all until he was eighteen. It was looking hopeless, even if he had the money. He decided to pretend he had none yet, so Beelza would be surprised to get her payment – that way, she couldn't extort him for more while they still shared a roof. That, and he didn't want to explain where he was getting it. He decided that, after everything, he might as well just move in with Kelsey. Her family had two spare rooms, and he could shrink himself down for a year or two just to finish high-school and get working. Their neighborhood had more local shops as well, where he was more likely to be hired by those that weren't connected to La Corrento.
"Bossmen talk", his manager used to say.
Brody hoped that wasn't true of all of them.
In the meantime, Kelsey had been seeing Tina, Nate, and on one occasion, Stode – all of whom had asked about Brody, and seemed to miss him while he was gone. Brody felt that all they cared about was his 'secret', and that without it, he held little value to them at all... but maybe he was just being bitter, because he never expected to have so many friends; with, or without benefits. He had at some point tried asking both Jerlo and Alech if they wanted to have sex, and both of them had turned him down. Alech had, in fact, tried asking the same years ago, and Brody had shot him down... Brody wondered, then, if that was only fair. But compared to his new friends, Jerlo was a duff (dumb and ineffectual), and Alech was a schlub (schmucky and blobful). So maybe, then, it was fortune. If he could only be done with his needy, yet blazingly distant father, he could get back to his life and enjoy it.
Brody had a coffee, this time with Himiko on her break. She was shocked and appalled to learn what he'd been through, and who her idol really was.
She told him, "If I were you, I'd take what you have, and run. Invest a thousand or so, wait for some returns. I'll tell you which stocks are good. Honestly, I hate to say it... but sometimes, I feel like I know the market better than he does."
"You just might," Brody laughed. "And thanks for not telling anyone."
Himiko shrugged, with a smile. "It's fine. My dad fucks me too, he just didn't make it a pimping thing. He was my first crush, and I was pretty devastated when he tried to stop. I don't even have a boyfriend anymore, I just stick with him."
Brody was shocked yet again. "Damn. And your mom?"
Himiko looked away. "She thinks we're 'immoral'. I tried to eat her out once, she kicked me in the face. Everyone's family is different, I think."
"But you think I should get away from mine?"
Himiko nodded, eyebrows raised. "Dude, your family SUCKS. All of them. Especially your dad. He might be more fuckable, but he's even shittier than your grandma and your chubby aunt. At least she lets you stay for free, even if she lets her daughter heckle you and try to shake you down. Honestly, I'd rather you fucked my dad than your own."
A damning review.
Brody sighed. "I'll take a rain check on that."
"I'd be present, of course." She had a mischevious look on her face, like she knew Brody couldn't resist.
"Yeah, of course. Some time soon. I'd better go, though. Thanks for the talk."
"You're welcome!" she said with melody.

Brody found himself at Jerlo's place, for a smoke and toke. Just as Jerlo was finished telling his latest monkeyface tokens, or whatever.
He said, "One day, this silly-lookin' thing is gonna make me a millionaire."
Brody had bought enough lottery tickets for old Bedishi to know that probably wasn't true. But he needed a crash-course in how to start investing, and both Alech and Jerlo were already well-versed. Especially Alech, who'd started when he was only fourteen. By the time Jerlo was finished explaining how currency conversion worked, he had lost fifteen-thousand theoretical dollars.
"Hey, what the fuck?!" he huffed, in a cold panic.
The stock market, according to the charts, had crashed. Alech had lost little, because he'd already converted his stocks back into broad-market currency (ie. real money) – because fungible, bankable, and broadly-spendable were not all the same thing. He'd foreseen the whole thing as an experimental bubble, and knew to play it safe. But Jerlo had not, believing that crypcoin was going to replace the global economy. True to its name, it had instead crippled his wallet in a mysterious, cryptic fashion. Jerlo was at risk of losing his apartment, and his entire life.
"I can barely afford my student loans," he cried. "I'm already paying out the ass."
Alech offered some reassurance, which he knew was empty upon saying it. "Maybe it'll shoot back up. Don't freak out, overreacting is what everyone else is gonna do. That's what causes the crash. Just wait it out, don't sell until you know it's safe to buy."
Whatever that meant.
"I'm gonna... yeah. I'm gonna wait it out. Ohffff, fuck."
Brody shook his head, and grew annoyed. He sent Jerlo seven-hundred dollars for rent, and left in his dad's car, which was parked outside a half hour later.
"You see the crash?" Krinjec panicked.
Brody nodded. "You gonna be alright?"
"Y-yeah." Krinjec swallowed a dry lump in his throat.
It was times like these Brody was jealous of his aunts. Their father, a black-haired, black-bearded railroader named Sapert, had been abusive as well – but in a more platonic, and violent way. When the work ran out, he grew obese from drinks and desserts, and crashed the relationship with his wife on purpose so he could hook up with someone else. Then, Bedishi married an old Hawaiian man named Wa'ele, but who asked everyone to call him 'Old Wally'. He was the type who'd never so much lay a hand on anyone younger than him, unless it was on their shoulders, to encourage them. He wasn't perfect, and for every coffee order and video game he'd brought home, he would also yell at them and accuse them of colluding against him to drive him away from their mother. Which wasn't actually true – they just couldn't stand him butting into their lives under the pretense of 'family bonding'. Over time, it became clear that Bedishi was falling out of love, and began cheating on him with her boss. She let him know by 'accident', leaving her hotel card key on the table where she knew he'd find it. He, in a fit of rage, cut it in half with a pair of scissors and left. They divorced, a year later. Yet he stayed in the family, to watch over Brin's children. He had trouble with boundaries at times, but he'd never so much as given them a reason to suspect his intentions. He did, however, used to date his own cousins back home, on the island. Brody asked him once, what he made of family with family.
He laughed. Then he said, in a big, low voice, "As long as no one's getting hurt. But why the hell are you askin' me that kinda shit?"
Brody laughed back, nervously. "No reason." Then, Brody's pocket vibrated. It was his phone, again.

That night, Brody had just finished off the Crypto King, and was still in a daze when he decided to check the news on TV. Immediately, Brody was met with a disorienting flash of Aurson Wumpet's big, stupid-looking, orange-painted, toupéed mug, in bright, high-contrast, migraine-searing 4K.
"Ugh, turn that off, dad. I see enough of him on my porn-account's scrollfeed."
Krinjec snapped Brody's bra strap, and Brody was forced to adjust his lingerie to make the sting go away from his sensitive skin. It was red, and laced.
"Why the hell would you be whackin' it to Don Wumpet?" Krinjec laughed.
Brody grew irate. "I'm not. It's just no matter where you look, he's always there. I wouldn't be surprised if half the internet has accidentally nutted to his face, just for scrolling a little too far."
"Dude's omnipresent, huh? Just like your old man."
Brody blushed, but not in a warm, cozy way. He felt condescended to.
Krinjec just shook his head wistfully. "That's how it is, for us kings. We're everywhere you look, whether you want us there or not." Then he coughed out loud. "Get on your knees between me and the table, I'm hard again. I'd get you in my lap, but I wanna see if the stocks on crypcoin are up again."
So Brody did, putting his hands and knees onto the carpet before the coffee table. His dad took the fuzzy blanket off his lap, reminding Brody that he'd been naked this entire time. Brody faced the TV while his father crammed his cock inside, and took Brody's womanhood from behind. Over and over, Brody was met with thrust after thrust, sensitive as he'd ever been, head on fire with ache, filled with lust and shame, and stuck staring at Aurson Wumpet's wrinkly, stretch-smiled face. WHAP, WHAP, WHAP, WHAP, WHAP. And then Aurson grinned, and told the reporters that tariffs would fix the nation. That the planes had crashed because of the liberals before him. That the deaths in the California wildfire had been the fault of a shoddy fire department. That his good buddy Manued Tusker had completely fixed the social security network, by ripping its roots from the ground as if they begrudged the giving of the tree. WHAP, WHAP, WHAP, WHAP. Krinjec took Brody's arms straight back, and held his wrists as he pounded his son. Brody arched his back, and watched as a felon elect lied and conned his way through yet another press meeting, barely conscious of his own words but of effortless breath to deceive even himself. Grinning with shit as he promised to deliver that which he'd already stolen for himself: prosperity, safety, and solutions. Peace. A good night's rest. All at America's expense. The president before him was interested in the possibility of Universal Basic Income, which would have seen Brody in college by next year. Brody was instead getting fucked by his father, for rent. Krinjec pulled out before he came, needing a break – his stamina was lacking, for all the order-in waffle breakfasts he'd treated himself to. Brody turned around and sat in his father's lap before his breath was caught, if for no other reason than to stop seeing the news, and that awful orange face. Then he started to hate himself as he pounded away onto his father's cock of his own volition, and thought to himself: 'I'd do this for free. I love my dad. I never get to see him.' And it shook his very mind. Then Brody kissed his father, and made a decision. As Krinjec climaxed inside of him, Brody grinded it out in his lap, and then ejaculated onto his father's hair-trimmed, six-figure abs. A product of diet and exercise courses he, the Crypto King, had been suckered into by another grifter online – which he could have had for far less than five thousand dollars a month. Krinjec groaned, but Brody was dead silent, and it freaked him out.
"What's wrong, sport? You seem pissed." Krinjec asked.
Brody declared, "I'm transitioning. I'm gonna present as a woman, from now on. I don't need much to do it, just laser hair removal. And from now on, Brody is a girl's name. Got it?"
Krinjec cooed, "Ooh, female empowerment. Daddy like, that's my girl. Now suck your daddy's nuts."
Brody sneered, "Wash them, first."
Krinjec had thought this was roleplay, but now he was disturbed. "Aren't you... did you forget which one of us needs the money? Cause I can cancel our deal."
Brody sighed. "Fine. But I want double. It needs to cover the procedure, too."
Krinjec got nervous. "I uh... can't do that. But I uh... just finish blowing dad, and I'll see what I can do."
Brody slipped back to the floor again, still facing his father. He grabbed the remote behind him without looking, and turned off the TV so he could shut up that orange muppet and his ass-handlers. Then he crushed his dad's balls, just a bit, and asked, "What about now?"
Krinjec yelped, and smacked Brody in the face. Brody crushed harder in response, and Krinjec punched her. Brody only stared, and started sucking.
Then Krinjec sighed. "Fine. I'll give you a thousand and five-hundred, up to fifteen grand total. Just don't tell anyone about all this, alright? Or how you got it. I don't want anyone knowing, people look down on... this."
"Do they?" Brody asked, and started licking his father's shaft until it got hard again. Brody knew from experience it was harder to cum the second time, and that he was putting the man in some degree of pain.
"Ye-yeeaaahh. Ohh. Yeah. They do. But it's normal, right? Everyone gets their first time at home, that's what they say back in Koldestab. Well, almost everyone. Your mother did, and I did. But not you."
"Not until now," Brody moaned.
After a while, Krinjec jizzed again, but much less, and with more of a whimper. Brody swallowed it. Then Krinjec made Brody sleep on the couch, under a thin sheet, like he always did. Brody was cold from the air, the whole night – he craved warmth, and found himself wanting it from his father. But he learned that day that the man only gave it with some anger, and a desire to watch him suffer. If he was ever to enjoy himself, like he'd just done, the bastard would grow frigid. He preferred it when his partners hated what they were being made to do.