Jay's Fantastical Sleepover Extravaganza

Benji said a silent prayer for Toni's poor heart and Higgy's blood pressure as he and his husband followed Jay through the empty halls. Those boys rarely let a dull day go by. It's why he's glad they came along! However horribly dinner ended up going, it would make a hilarious story for back home, and more importantly, one that Stanley could share.

In the living room, they saw Kenji's suitcase by the suspiciously locked door. The man himself was nowhere to be seen.

"I wonder where Kenji went." Stanley mused to no one in particular.

"I 'ad 'im supervise 'is bruvva and," Jay snapped his gloved fingers a few times, "Maxy! That's it. Those two are bringing a clothing rack downstairs.

"Whaddaya need that for?" asked Benji.

"It's for me room." Jay unlocked the door by Kenji's suitcase and swung it open with a flourish. "After you two, gentlemen."

Benji exchanged a raise of eyebrows with his husband. "You're lettin' us go in there? I figured this place was classified."

"Yeah, are you sure about this?" Stanley studied the door with care and caution.

"Yes, yes, be my guest." Jay bowed toward the door. "Benji's correct in that I prefer this area top secret, but I truly need your presence here, so consider yourselves VIPs for tonight, you two and Kenji."

"Well don't mind if I do!" Benji marched in. "Stan, you comin'?"

"Might as well." Normally, Stanley would be the one warning against him following squirrelly guys into dark corridors, but how could he say no to his beloved British boy? "Thanks, Jay."

"The pleasure's all mine." Jay shut the door behind him, cutting off all the light from the living room.

The first thing Benji noticed was the overwhelming stuffiness of the hall, and secondly, he saw a light coming from the last door on the left. Third, he saw a door on the back wall with a chain lock. He wished he had noticed the vacuum cord before tripping on it.

Dim, flickering light flooded the hall.

"Oh dear, please do be careful of the cord. Excuse me for a moment." Jay squeezed past him.

"Is that your laundry room?" Stanley motioned to a room on the left. The sound of rumbling machinery came from it.

"Yes, I'm washing me sheets right this moment." Jay pointed past Benji to the door across from it. "That's the washroom, and here," He opened up the door with light coming from underneath it and disappeared inside, "is our destination!"

Benji expected to step into a swanky little lounge room, one with a fancy couch, paintings, probably a few vases, something close enough to the rest of the mansion, but more lived in. The room he entered flipped those expectations on their head and dropped them off of a cliff.

"What the–??" On instinct, he held out a hand in front of his husband, who shrieked a little.

Stanley held a hand over his chest. "Boy, you nearly gave me a heart attack! What is this?"

A group of transparent snakes dangled from strings taped to the ceiling like twisted party streamers. In a cruel and unusual furniture placement, his snake's tank rested on the wooden dresser beside it where she had a front row seat from the tiny forest inside.

"These?" Jay motioned to them. "Gumbo sheds her skin every so often, so I keep the molts around as a little keepsake."

"From the ceiling?"

"It's better than stashing them under me sista's bed, judging by 'ow much less you screamed." Leave it to this kid to answer in a way that brought more questions.

Before Benji could ask them, though, the wooden box in the middle of the room took his attention span captive. Two pillows sat on top of the giant plastic bag filling up the inside corners along with a decorative glitter one. Behind the pillows, a headboard–more like a head shelf–contained a clock, a photo, and some books, among other things.

"Is this... your bed?"

Jay stopped adjusting the skins hanging from his ceiling. "Yep. Welcome to me room!"

Somehow this surprised Benji more than the snakes. "This is a lot smaller than I was expecting. I mean, it's a normal-sized bedroom for folks like us, but we passed much bigger rooms that were left empty."

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Benj'." Stanley gave the snakes a wide berth. "What made you settle down here?"

"Location, location, location!" Jay hustled over to the right of his bed, in front of a poster of someone lounging on their side. Benji recognized it from somewhere, but with Jay blocking the face, he couldn't quite place it. "I didn't want to 'ave to deal with pesky windows, so I 'ad this place converted into a room."

"What was it before?"

"A closet!"

"A closet..."

"A closet??" Benji couldn't believe his ears.

"Yep, they used to call this a walk-in closet, but it's more of a live-in closet now." Jay looked between him and Stanley. "You two are the first to ever see this room. Well, other than the furniture installers. But since I've decorated, no one's been allowed, not me parents, not me staff, not even Kamala."

"Kamala hasn't seen it?" Stanley blinked in surprise. "But you've said she's visited before."

"No, I spend time in 'er room when she visits, for old time's sake. Though she's certainly asked, haha~ Maybe I'll show 'er one of these days, but..." Jay clasped his hands together while he looked between the two. "You might be wondering why I brought you 'ere."

"Seems like a special occasion." Benji struggled to pry his eyes from the wall behind the bed. Half-painted in bright pink and abruptly ending in paint drips, it was a tall task. From the looks of it, the roller also hit his headboard. "Did'ja need us to finish that paint job back there?"

"Haha! Ahhh, very funny. No, I don't recommend painting in this room at all. I found out the 'ard way." The bed jiggled when Jay patted it. "Thankfully, this was 'ere to catch me when I passed out. But don't worry, it was only for a moment."

Stanley breathed out a few years of his lifespan. "I feel like I'm about to pass out. Anyway, what do you need us for?"

"I'm in the middle of tidying this place up." Jay's hand's twitched a little before he made a beeline for the vacuum cleaner by the snake skins. He moved its handle so it stood straight up. "But as you can no doubt tell Benji, I 'ave a terrible tendency to get caught up in the little things."

"And I'm guessing him bein' here doesn't help your nerves."

"What?" Benji held his hands out. "I won't mess anything up! I promise!"

"I wasn't talkin' about you. I was talkin' about him." With a smirk, Stanley pointed towards the wall Jay left behind.

Draped across a piano with his face resting in hand, backlit in angelic golden light, a young Kenji Kezwick smiled lovingly upon the room. He must've been roughly the same age as Jay when it was taken. What a funny thing for him to have.

"Nice poster." Benji tried to keep his thoughts to himself. "I forgot it came with that album I sent."

"Innit just lovely?" Behind Jay's sunglasses, he'd bet money that eyelashes were batting. "It's almost a shame to 'ave to cover it up, but I'm sure it'd be strange for Kenji to sleep next to 'imself." Apparently it wasn't strange for Jay. He cleared his throat. "But yes, I really want to make sure this room is suitable for 'im tonight, so I need your advice: 'Ow bad izzit?"

"You already mentioned covering up the poster." Stanley's eyes agonized over the room, "Sorry, I still can't get over the snake thing, and the paint job is not helping." He stepped forward to get a better look at the left side of the bed. "Is that a safe?"

"Yep!" The safe's handle extended like a suitcase when Jay grabbed it. "It goes wiv me wherever I go. And it's waterproof, so I don't 'ave to worry about it in the event of me bed leaking."

That explained why the shelf on the other side had nothing on its ground level. Music, music players, and knicknacks filled the rest. A fan sat on top, beside Kenji's face.

"The more I look at this place," Benji paced around, "it's not so bad! Aside from the botched paint job, the lack of windows, and the four chain locks on the door, it's a pretty normal room."

"Ohoho, you're just saying that, aren't you?" Jay waved away the compliment.

"I guess I can see what he means." Stanley begrudgingly admitted. "It's not dirty or messy. Most of what I can think of changing can't be done in one night. But the skins, Jay!" He shook his head. "And how do ya tell day from night in here?"

"Well, I normally leave that to the clock." Jay busied himself with a rainbow of gloves that hung next to the safe. "Do you think Kenji will mind Gumbo's molts that much?"

Stanley looked at him with those sweet eyes he always had. "I understand that you're sentimental about them–"

"Nahh, he'll be fine!" Benji cut in. "It's not like they're gonna come back to life, and they fall off naturally, right?"

"Yes," answered Jay, "though to be completely honest, I'm not as opposed to taking them down due to my attachment. I mostly don't feel like getting a stepladder."

"I feel ya on that. Besides, I dunno, I can get used to them. They're festive!"

"Finally, someone who understands me~" Jay spun around with a laugh.

Stanley chuckled, shaking his head. "I don't remember Kenji being squeamish about snakes. I do know that he'd probably rather suck it up than have you go through the trouble. So fine." He raised his hands. "You two win."

"Now I'm not sayin' I'd live here," Benji would lose his mind within a week, "but Kenji spent last night in a ratty motel room. His standards aren't that high! Trying out that bed is worth the stay," he made his way over to a small refrigerator by the dresser, "and it's got a mini-fridge!" He began to open it. "Who doesn't love a mini fri–?"

Jay noticed. "Wait, hold on, that's for–!"

"–Eeugh!" Benji had already committed to his mistake before the warning reached him. Mice. Bags upon bags of mice filled the mini-refrigerator. Needless to say, he shut it.

"I'm afraid those are Gumbo's snacks, haha." came Jay's meek little laugh. It turned into a bigger one, though Benji couldn't tell if it was genuine or just nerves. Maybe both? The more it went on, the more it seemed like he got a kick out of Benji's reaction.

A knock came from the hallway. This time, Jay shrieked.

"We got your clothes rack!" Maxy's voice came through loud and clear.

"Whew, excuse me for a moment while I go get that." Jay hurried out of the room. "Oh, I should take this too, since I'm done vac–'oovering." He doubled back to grab the vacuum cleaner.

Benji turned to his husband as soon as the other hallway door opened. "So. His accent..."

"Phonier than a two dollar bill." Stanley crossed his arms. "You see how jumpy he is. I don't have the heart to tell him."

Benji laughed. He couldn't imagine going so long without pointing it out, but that's what made Stanley Stanley.

"He keeps it together more on camera. I take him dropping it so often around me as a sign of trust."

"Aren't you a saint?"

"Maybe so." Stanley placed his hands on his freckled cheeks.

They shut up once Jay leaned back into the doorway, fingers tapping on the side.

"I'm thinking of leaving for a moment to return the 'oover wiv the lads, but I didn't want to just run off on you. Would you like to come out for a moment? You're free to stay 'ere if you want, but I imagine you'd rather not."

The other two looked at each other in deep consideration.

Stanley spoke first. "We don't mind."

"Yeah, you go on with the other boys." Benji waved him away.

"Thank you." With a bright smile, Jay left for the hall again.

"Look at him." Stanley looked toward the doorway wistfully. "He's so excited to be hanging out with the lads."

"It kinda felt like he was askin' us for permission to leave his own room."

"Yeah, he's like that."

Unable to hold back his curiosity any longer, Benji scrambled over to poke the bed. "Water mattresses. What'll they think of next?"

Stanley meandered over, chuckling as if he was oh so above it all before rapidly slapping it with his hands and giggling like a rascal.

"C'mon, let's sit on it!"

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other while thinking it over. "We can sit on it. Just until Jay gets back."

Benji tried to sit down, but fell flat on his back. "This thing has a lot more give than I was expecting."

"Cold as ice, too!" Stanley shivered.

"Eh, it's kinda stuffy in here, so it might balance out."

"And there's no ceiling fan to speak of." He helped Benji up. "Though I'd be worried this thing might pop while I'm in it."

On the way up, Benji spotted the Kenji poster. "We gotta talk about that poster."

"I knew you'd bring that up."

"Who hangs up a poster like that beside their bed if they're not a little smitten with the guy on it?"

"C'mon, Nicky has a poster of him above his bed!"

"Not of him laying on his side all dreamy-eyed. Not positioned where it looks like he's laying next to him." Benji adjusted his glasses. "You keep sayin' Jay's a hard read, but everything I've seen today seems crystal clear."

"You don't understand. He can be–naive isn't right. If anything, he's more clever than he lets on. He has blind spots though, socially. He puts on a good act professionally, but when he really likes someone, he has all the grace of a newborn puppy. Like I was tellin' Kenji earlier, his feelings are intense."

"Yeah, I remember you writing about how much he fawned over you, giving you gifts and whatnot." He also remembered the embarrassment of being outdone by some kid.

"Still does, but he's simmered down some. Same with his sister Kamala. When they're together, they're always on each other's arms like this." Stanley looped both of his arms around Benji's.

Benji leaned against him. "Aww, how sweet."

"And you already see how he is with Kenji." Stanley let go, but still kept an arm around him. "If he got you away from the boys long enough, I'm sure he'd be the same way with you. But that's three, four of us at most? That's not enough to establish a pattern."

"You sure about that?"

"What do ya mean?"

Benji looked around. "From where I'm sittin', I don't see any posters of you or his sister. A few photos on the headboard, but no posters."

"He told me he had one of me somewhere around the place. Maybe upstairs."

"Well, it's not here in his most secret of secret places, across from his bed."

"That's true. Still, he has a special reason for fixating on Kenji." Stanley continued with his excuses. "I could see him seeing this as a normal way to express his admiration."

"Okay." Benji nodded. "But let's just say he is bein' 'intense' as you call it." He gave air quotes. "Why hide this room from his sister and not us?"

Stanley's head snapped toward him.

"He's obviously hiding somethin'. But he didn't freak out too badly when I opened the fridge, he showed us the snake skins, and the rest of the stuff he's hiding is in a safe. The only other thing I can think of that's worth hiding is that poster." He leaned toward Stanley. "Pictures say a lot, Stan, and that one's tellin' me that he's Jay with a capital G."

"I don't know what to say..." Stanley's mouth hung open slightly.

"You said it yourself, you and his sister's all he got. He's not gonna risk half his social circle."

"That," he gulped, "that does make sense, but then why show us?"

Benji didn't say a word. The look of conflicted realization in Stanley's eyes told him all he needed to know.

Of course, Benji staying quiet never lasted for too long. He rubbed his husband's arm. "He's scared. Just like you. I know that boy is dear to your heart, and it'd crush you if he couldn't accept what we have." He gave a smile with all the warmth in his heart. "But I feel like it's pretty safe to say he does."

"I can't believe it." Stanley shook his head. "I-I knew there was always a chance, but I never thought I'd find out."

"A chance that he knew about us or a chance that he's–?"

"Either! Both? I dunno man, I never thought I'd see the day..." He stood up. "I wish I could take him away from all this. I mean, look at this room!"

"Snakes still botherin' you?"

"Those are creepy, but honestly, it's the least worrying part. The locks, the safe, the paparazzi in his front yard. He's a prisoner in his own home!"

"Yeah, it's no wonder he's cagey as all get out." Benji frowned. "Such a shame. He seems like a nice kid. I can see a sense of humor in him. He'd fit right in at The Bakery." He kicked his legs against the bed. "Maybe we should kidnap him!"

"What??" Stanley wheezed through a laugh.

"He'd be in on it, of course. We could scoop him up, take him back to Jiyukoku. Then he can mellow out and have that vacation he needs so badly."

He gave Benji a tired look. "I don't even know where to begin with how bad that plan is. We'd go to jail so quick–!" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Worse than Kenji's plan."

"Oh? What plan was he cookin'?"

"Earlier, he said I should instruct Jay from Jiyukoku, since he has the money to go back and forth. Wishful thinking, but... You know, it's bizarre how much you two sound alike today."

Benji sputtered a laugh. "That's something new! Since when have me and Kenj' ever sounded alike?"

"Yeah, he was wondering earlier if Jay knew about us." Stanley sighed. "What am I even gonna say to him now?"

"Jay?"

"Yeah." He paced around. "I don't know if you're in-the-know about the new lingo–"

"Please, I'm always hip!"

" –but 'in the closet' is used to talk about someone who might be gay and hiding it."

This actually stumped Benji. "Huh, never heard that one."

"Didn't think so. Not much need to use it in Jiyukoku." Stanley scratched his mustache. "When Jay was talkin' about what this room used to be, I thought to myself 'Man, if he is gay, this is really on the nose.'"

Benji laughed. "Subtlety doesn't seem like his strong suit." He doubled back to Stanley's earlier question. "If you need to buy some time, you could always go check on Higgy and Toni in the kitchen."

"Oh shoot, let me do that anyway once Jay comes back. I am not tryna starve tonight."

"Yeah, me eith–Huh? D'ya hear that thumping?"

"What thumping?"

Something fell off of the dresser as soon as Stanley asked. On the dresser itself, a tube of yellow slithered out from the tank's lid.

Benji hopped up from the bed. "Well I'll be. She's on the run!"

The hallway door opened. A few seconds later, Jay reentered the room, wheeling the clothes rack over to the Kenji poster. A sheet draped over it.

"Sorry for the long absence, I was just 'aving a conversation wiv–Gumbo, you naughty girl!" His voice jumped up an octave as he hustled over to the mini-refrigerator and picked up his pet. "I told you if you just waited patiently, I'd take you out soon."

"Hey, uh, Jay," Stanley waved him out of his playful scolding, "I gotta go check on something with Higgy. I'll be right back."

"Oh, well alrighty then." Jay turned to Benji once he left. "I suppose that leaves you and me, haha."

"I suppose it does."