I, Ian

Chapter Twelve

"You know, I never thought tht being a guy would actually be so...well, confusing yet simple all at once," Patrick, no longer the beautiful flaxen-haired femme-fatale named Pilar, remarked as he and his dad sat down. "Then again, this is what happens when you happen to offend a coffee-making voodoo prince who doesn't play any games."

"Well, your new life as well as that for Ian's will show you two what it's like on the other side," Tremaine commented. "And I assume that your parents have informed you of the rules that I already laid out for Ian to follow?"

Mr. Andrews snorted. "Your cousin put in an appearance last night after my wife, my daughter, and I took in my son's transformation," he remarked. "Antoine basically repeated the same rules while binding him with the magic that he did on Ian over here as well as made sure that no one would dare revoke the curse or do anything to have him change his gender. It's kind of mean, in a way, but it does make sense given the circumstances."

"True," Victor remarked as his husband rejoined them. "I mean, our sons did a lot of damage to the male population and the LGBTQ community back then. They showed little to no remorse for their radicalized homophobic comments and their disparaging comments and actions on men."

Ian bit back a sigh. "Call it ignorance on my part," he said. "Or you can say it was pure stupidity."

"I'd settle for the latter," Patrick piped up. "So, what does this all mean for us now?"

Tremaine stared at both transformed men intently. "It means, you two, that you will have no other choice but to start from the bottom and embrace all the aspects of manhood and your newfound sexual orientation- the benefits, trials, and everything in between," he said. "Things could've been worse if Antoine wasn't generous enough, as you already know. He might've had you all cursed with eternal bad luck or made you relive your worst fears. Instead, he changed you into the people you hated the most without any chances to have it all reversed. You all know that he's bound to his own oath as a voodoo witch, words being our family's choice of powers."

"That's definitely true," Mr. Andrews commented, pausing to sip on his glass of orange juice.

Ian and Patrick looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

"Hey," Victor said gently. "All we can ask of you two is to accept the present and your situation, boys. Yeah, it's all so confusing with how things are right now, but you can make the most of your situations. And with us, your mothers, your siblings, and even your ex-friends as well as the Deveraux, Montrose, and even Tremaine on hand to keep you accountable; the only way to go from here is forward."

"I'm just scared of how things will go," Ian admitted. "There's going to be a lot of questions after today, you know that? And I can only imagine how my former followers on social media will be like when...well, that's all irrelevant since those accounts got erased."

"Same for mine," Patrick said.

Tremaine shrugged his shoulders. "That can't be helped," he said. "When Antoine and his family erased all things regarding your old lives, they went all the way and then some. But at least you're going to be starting from the bottom where you won't be known. For all we know, you two will be new faces."

"Let's hope you're right," Patrick said. "I really hope so."

******************

After Victor and Joseph left for the afternoon with Mr. Andrews staying behind with Tremaine to talk, Ian and Patrick were on the backyard patio taking in the late-morning sun. "So what's really your opinion on this, Levine?" the latter asked. "How are you really feeling about all of this?"

Ian inhaled sharply. "Honestly? I feel not only empty from my old life as the 'diva of social media,' but out of place," he replied. "But maybe this wake-up call is what you and I needed to see the era of our ways, albeit permanently since our families were also bound by Antoine to not assist us to find a way to break the curse."

"Not that it matters since they won't do it, anyway. But yeah, man. Things aren't going to be the same for you and I since we've been rather reckless and assholes."

Ian turned to his friend. "Did you have any regrets for what you did, humiliating one of Deveraux's cousins when he was in town?" he asked.

Patrick closed his eyes. "I can't really say," he admitted. "I only thought that I was doing what was right, but never really thought about what might happened when I nearly pushed Ke'Andre Deveraux-LeBeau to end his life. Thankfully, he's getting the help he needs. Who knows what might've happened if Asha and her family hadn't intervened."

"She might've placed her own curse on us...and had Antoine and his clan join in."

"Exactly. Asha may have been our friend for the longest, but she doesn't play when it comes to her family. Unlike us, she values her family as if her life depends on us. Same thing for Candide, Mariah, and Ebony. They had every right to disown us for our crimes. We only have ourselves to blame for what we did to a lot of people, Patrick. More so for me since I was also homophobic."

Patrick turned to Ian. "But that's all because of your grandmother who taught you how to hate since her husband left her for a man," he said gently. "You were under her spell for the longest and you were dealing with your parents' divorce."

"But I spurned that on with my own path after I got older," Ian rebutted. "So, I have only myself to blame."

Ian sighed. "At the end of the day, we still have ourselves to blame for what we did back then," he said. "The only way to go from here is forward, Patrick. So we might as well get ready for a long road ahead of us."

"True, true."

Just then, Antoine arrived dressed in his coffee-barista garb with Asha following suit. "Ah, the neophytes," he crooned in his Creole accent. "Caught you two just in time."

"What's up?" Ian asked.

Asha stepped forward with two small envelopes in her hand. "Here," she said. "You're invited."

"To where?"

Antoine smirked. "Your coming-out party, of course," he drawled.

A coming-out party for Ian and Patrick?! Do tell, you say!

I do tell, and I will...with the party in question coming up next as Candide, Mariah, and Ebony taking in the boys' new identities! Stay tuned!

Media: "You" by Janet Jackson,

Vote.
Comment.
Share.
Follow.
Add.
FAN!