"What a sad state of affairs. But I can't say that I haven't seen it before. My own parents and the Jesuit seminary threw me out once I opened up about my predilections." sighed Andre.
Father Abel and Aaron were sitting in Andre's newly furnished office, he had just been promoted to full partner at Esposito-Javier-Collins LLP, a law firm specializing in software licenses and intellectual property.
"You are a practitioner of BDSM?" asked Aaron, eagerness creeping into his voice.
"Sure am. Abel here helped me realize that what I was feeling wasn't evil, even if my family and superiors insisted it was." said Andre.
"I only wish I could have educated Ivan at least" sighed Father Abel.
"You may be a psychologist Abel, but even I could see from my brief encounter, that Ivan caves in to henpecking." said Andre.
"Yeah well I thought he'd show more backbone for his own son." grumbled Father Abel.
"Well what's done is done, I had known something like this might happen sooner or later. Can you emancipate me Mr. Esposito?" asked Aaron.
"Yes. I'll draw up the emancipation papers and serve them to your parents. However, you have more pressing matters such as finding a place to stay and a means to support yourself. I have recently bought a loft here in the city. Would you like to move in with me?" asked Andre.
He had been very impressed with the game Aaron had created and felt a strong sense of sympathy and kinship to Aaron, who had been disowned at 14 while he himself had suffered that ordeal at the age of 19.
"Yes please. I have about 2000 right now in my own bank account. How much do you want as a deposit?" asked Aaron.
Andre waived his hand dismissively. "You may be emancipated, but there is no way in hell I'm letting you pay rent until you turn 18." he said firmly.
"Very well." said Aaron.
"Now, some conditions for moving in. You must complete your education. I will home school you the best I can on my days off, but you will have to study, clear the SAT and go to college. Agreed?" asked Andre.
"Yes sir." said Aaron.
"Now as for your financial situation, you may work no more than 14 hours a week while you are studying. Agreed?" asked Andre again.
"No. I intend to pay for my own tuition in college, so I will be working longer than that" said Aaron, his cold eyes boring into Andre's brown eyes.
"Very well, but I insist that you prioritize your studies and having fun over working. Agreed?" asked Andre his tone clear that his insistence was more of an order.
"Yes sir." said Aaron.
------
The emancipation process went quite smoothly. Annette was almost too eager to get rid of Aaron, while Ivan deeply regretted his actions but accepted the fact that Aaron was independent now.
Father Abel's heart went out to the man, he deeply loved his son, but was unable leave a pregnant Annette.
"I know that this has been a terrible ordeal for you. However, Aaron will be safe, taken care of and given the love and support he needs. I urge you to focus on your wife and daughter now and not bear any resentment to them." was Father Abel's final advice to Ivan.
Ivan had insisted that he help Aaron move into Andre's new loft. This gave him a final chance to make his peace with Aaron.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't strong enough for you Aaron. Please don't hate me" said Ivan as he hugged Aaron tightly.
"I love you Dad. Please take care of my sister. I know that this was not easy for you." said Aaron tenderly, returning the hug.
With that, Ivan left, knowing that it would be the last time he saw Aaron.
As Aaron settled into his new life with Andre, he felt more alive than he had ever felt before.
Andre taught him the basics of BDSM techniques and contracts in addition to his excellent tutoring in physics, chemistry, math and electronics, subjects Aaron was weak in and needed help.
Aaron purged his GitHub account and erased as much of his online presence as he could. He moved his game to a self-hosted GitLab server on a new desktop computer that Andre had gifted him for Christmas, he revised the plot and scenes of the game making it more authentic with the new insight that he now had. He also branched out his fields of study to computer security and networking.
By the time summer arrived, so did Aaron's SAT score. Aaron was working on his game, when Andre burst into his room clutching the letter that contained the SAT score.
"When the hell did you take the SAT?" demanded Andre slamming the letter onto the desk.
"About a week ago." replied Aaron, turning away from his laptop and looking at Andre's half impressed, half exasperated expression.
Andre shook his head in disbelief. Aaron was moving exceptionally quickly in his education, he seemed almost impatient to finish it.
"Well lets see how you've done" he grumbled ripping open the envelope.
"Damn! 1440, that's pretty good!" said Andre as he scanned the letter.
"It should be enough to get me a computer science course at Bunker Hill Community College." said Aaron, looking over the score.
"You don't want to go to MIT?" asked Andre in surprise.
"I'd rather not cause further embarrassment to Ivan." said Aaron as he opened the web browser to apply to Bunker Hill Community College.
Andre frowned at Aaron's decision to go to a small community college instead of MIT, but didn't object.
"Very well, but I don't think you've saved enough for the tuition." he said.
"That can be remedied over the summer, I intend to apply for a full-time summer job." said Aaron.
"I anticipated that, and so have got you a job as a system administrator for our firm. It pays quite well. You interested?" chuckled Andre.
"Yes." said Aaron.
-----
Students stared curiously at Aaron as he sat in the cafeteria of Bunker Hill Community college in his black leather business suit. Besides his edgy clothing, Aaron was exceptionally young at 15.
A tall young man approached Aaron carrying a tray laden with a Hamburger and fries. "Hello. Are you new here? I'm Harry Smith, a civil engineering freshman." he introduced himself.
"I'm Aaron Zakhrov, a computer science major, also in the first year" replied Aaron in a clipped tone as Harry sat next to him.
"So what brings you here instead of some fancy Ivy League place?" asked Harry as he tucked into his lunch.
"Accentuating circumstances" said Aaron coldly.
"Relax, I'm just trying to be friendly" chuckled Harry through a mouthful of his burger. He swallowed and looked at Aaron seriously.
"Listen, I was a senior at St. Ignatius, so I know a little about you, but if you don't want to talk about it, I understand" he said.
Aaron looked at Harry coldly. "Lets just say that I was expelled for being a thorn in Senator Clarke's side" he said.
"Damn! Well consider yourself lucky, things went downhill pretty quickly after you left. They relaxed the uniform code, cut out catechism and ethics class in favor of a gender studies program, and my final semester was basically a long ass lecture by some blue-haired overweight woman about how masculinity is the root cause of evil." grumbled Harry.
"Sounds like something she would implement" said Aaron with a hint of amusement.
"So what exactly did you do to get on her bad side if you don't mind my asking?" asked Harry.
"I helped a fellow student escape the bullying and harassment of her daughter, and was foolish enough to develop a BDSM themed Visual Novel on a private GitHub repository. Hence, I was expelled for possession of material harmful to women." said Aaron. He wondered why he was dropping his guard around Harry, but he felt that Harry was trustworthy.
Harry whistled softly. "Damn. That's rough. So you're a game developer?" he asked.
"I have the code and the plot, I don't have any artwork, because I suck at drawing." said Aaron.
Harry leaned forward with interest. "How about we collaborate. I'll draw the artwork for you" he suggested.
"I'd rather not get expelled on my first day here Harry, so I'll have to pass on that." said Aaron coldly.
Harry held up his hands. "Wait, wait don't dismiss me so easily, here take a look at some of my work" he said pulling out his laptop from his backpack.
Aaron stared at Harry's laptop screen. The art that Harry had shown him was an anime girl, chained to a post, getting whipped by an anime style man. A look of pain and ecstasy on her face.
"Interested? As you can see, I'm a fellow admirer of BDSM" chuckled Harry.
"Very well, what is your commission fee?" asked Aaron.
"50% of the profits on the sale of the game." said Harry promptly.
"40% though I'm not entirely sure that we can sell it." said Aaron.
"Alright how about this. I'll look over the script of the game, and then we decide?" asked Harry.
"Very well, come by to my place after class. I refuse to bring the game out of the house." said Aaron as the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch break.
"Wow! Nice crib!" exclaimed Harry as he and Aaron entered the loft.
"Mr. Andre Esposito was kind enough to let me stay with him after my parents disowned me for being a filthy degenerate." said Aaron nonchalantly as he booted up the desktop computer where the game code was stored.
Harry marveled at the size, complexity and graphic detail of the game. "Damn, this is good!" he gasped.
"That maybe so, but I'm fairly certain that Valve Software will disagree with you." said Aaron.
"Well, we can sanitize it for Steam and then add all the extreme stuff as part of an externally provided DLC." said Harry.
"Very well, I'll rework the game into a sanitized base game and an extreme DLC. You provide the artwork, I'll get Mr. Esposito to draw up a contract." said Aaron.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa a contract?" asked Harry as Andre entered the loft.
"Yes a contract. This game already got me expelled and abandoned by my parents. I will not be blindsided again." said Aaron coldly.
"And what are you gentlemen discussing?" asked Andre looking between Aaron and Harry.
"Mr. Harry Smith here, has offered his services to create artwork for my game on the condition that we sell it, and he gets a portion of the profits. I want a contract in place that he will share responsibility if the sale of this game results in any punitive action." said Aaron.
"I see" said Andre. He smiled at Harry.
"Don't think too badly of Aaron, he's become quite cynical about the goodness in peoples hearts. I'll make sure the contract is fair to you both" he assured Harry.
"Well OK" said Harry nervously. He knew Aaron was intelligent for his age, but this was some next-level paranoia.
"Alright, how do you want to split this?" asked Andre as they sat in his home office.
"Register the company as Sirius Software. I want full control and veto power over any and all decisions." said Aaron coldly.
"Wait just a minute! I thought we were going to be partners!" protested Harry.
"This game is mine. I have invested too many emotions and sacrificed too much for it already. I like your artwork Harry, and I'm glad I've found a fellow BDSM enthusiast so close to my age, but those are my terms. You have a say in the art direction of course, and you will get 40% of all the profits that we make, but these are my terms. Take it or leave it" said Aaron, his tone firm and commanding.
"Damn dude, you don't pull any punches" said Harry, awed by Aaron's fierce resolve. He took a deep breath.
"Alright, but I want to be a free agent, not some employee that you can fire. Deal?" he asked glad that his father had taught him the importance of negotiating deals.
"Deal" said Aaron.
Andre nodded seriously. "Very well, I shall draw up the articles of incorporation and the commission contract" he told them.
"And Harry, one more thing. Any art that you make for the game stays here. I don't want anything leaking out of this house" said Aaron, his blue eyes boring into Harry's hazel eyes.
"Fine" gulped Harry. What he thought would be a fun project, had suddenly turned into a very serious affair.