by Leta Blake
The awkward moments dragged for a few seconds after Doug released Carter, until he said, “Putting all of that aside, I think that you owe Mr. Danvers an apology. Complaining to the principal has put his job at risk.”
“But she’s his mom,” Carter said in confusion. “I just wanted her to make it stop.”
“Well, Mr. Danvers is an adult, and his mother can’t tell him who he can and can’t date,” Mom said. “I suppose, if she thought Aaron was giving you special treatment because of his relationship with RJ, then she might have some cause for concern. But as it is, it’s put Mr. Danvers in an awkward position, especially since he’s closeted at school.”
“Mr. Danvers isn’t closeted,” Carter said, bewilderment warring with embarrassment on his face. “Everyone knows he’s gay.”
“Well, he doesn’t realize that.”
“He doesn’t? But he’s so…” Carter shifted around uneasily. “Gay.”
“What’s that even mean?” Mom asked.
“I mean, he’s gay,” Carter said, rolling his eyes.
“He doesn’t flit his hands around or have any particular way of speaking,” Doug said. He met RJ’s eyes then. “I mean, I know that doesn’t mean anything and that’s stereotyping, but—”
Could this family conversation get any more awkward? RJ didn’t think so, but then he wasn’t sure he’d want to bet on it, either.
“No,” Carter cut him off, annoyed. “He just…” Carter waved his hands around and squirmed. “Makes me feel…” He groaned. “Can we just stop? This is embarrassing enough.”
“Well, if you have a crush on Mr. Danvers too, I get that,” RJ said with a grin. “I mean, I had a crush when he was my teacher.”
“You did?” Carter asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Oh, great. We maybe didn’t need to let that cat out of the bag,” Mom said. “Surely you can bond over something else.”
“His dimples when he smiles?” RJ said with a wink. “Am I right?”
Carter flushed deeply and nodded quickly, shooting his eyes to the side. “You’re right. And his…his…” He motioned in a way that indicated his butt.
“Nope, nope, nope,” Mom said. “This discussion of Aaron’s attributes isn’t appropriate. For any reason. Even gay male bonding reasons.”
“But Mom, his dimples are adorable.”
“They are,” she agreed. “But goodness, this has all been ridiculously frank.” She pushed her hair off her face and took a deep breath. “Fuck me, let’s stop talking about it before we’re all required to seek therapy. Not that there’s anything wrong with therapy. In fact, I should make a few with the family counselor we were seeing awhile back. I think we could stand a few sessions. Just to brush up on our communication skills”—here she looked pointedly at Doug—“and to work on how to have healthy, appropriate conversations about these issues going forward.”
“That’s a good idea,” Doug agreed.
Carter shrugged, ambivalent, but not against the idea.
RJ said, “Well, I’ll be on the road, so…”
“You can FaceTime in,” Doug said.
RJ nodded. “I can do that.”
“Wait, you like guys?” Carter asked his dad suddenly, as though it had taken all this time for those words to sink in. Then he cast a skeptical look at Mom. “But she’s not…”
Mom said, “I think your father likes men and women.”
“So are you gonna get a boyfriend?” Carter asked his dad. “Like, on the side?”
“No!” Doug said, startled. “Why would I do that? I love Betsy.”
“Because she’s not a man?”
“I’m a monogamous person,” Doug said seriously. “And I feel like we’ve had enough difficult discussions for one day. We can discuss polyamory and such another time. Like at counseling, like we were just discussing. Suffice it to say that Betsy makes me very happy. I have no need for more.”
“If you say so,” Carter said, still clearly skeptical.
RJ couldn’t help but think it was the skepticism of a very gay boy who couldn’t fathom a future without dick. “So, with this all out in the open, I hope we can be friends,” RJ said to Carter earnestly. “I came home for the holidays because I wanted to get to know my family. And that includes you.”
Carter flushed but nodded. “We could play Overwatch sometime if you want.”
“Sure. I’ll suck at it. But that’s okay with me, if it’s okay with you.”
“Yeah.” Carter stood up, pulling free of his dad’s embrace. “I’m going upstairs now.” He paused and turned back. “I’m sorry if I caused Mr. Danvers any problems. What should I do?”
“Just apologize when you see him,” Mom said. “That should be more than enough.”
Carter nodded and turned to go again. “He won’t lose his job, will he?” he asked as he reached the foot of the stairs.
“I’m not sure, buddy,” Doug said. “I hope not.”
“There’s a lot going on between Aaron and his mom that has nothing to do with you,” RJ offered. “If Aaron doesn’t stay on as a teacher, Carter, it won’t be your fault. It will be hers, okay?”
Carter nodded and dashed up the stairs to his room. The door shut hard, the eager bam of a kid who was dying to get away from an awkward situation.
“Well, that sucked,” RJ said. “Note to self: never have kids.”
“Does Aaron want kids?” Mom asked.
“Hell if I know, but I’m not having any.” Though the idea of a little Aaron in the world was pretty cute. But no. No way. He wasn’t going to start down that mental path. One of the great things about being gay was that his relationships could crash and burn, and only he and the other guy went through the fallout. No kids left behind. Although he supposed some gay people did have kids.
“I feel like it’s not quite over yet,” Doug said. “But we at least have it all out in the open.”
“And I’ll try to stop being hot,” RJ said, nodding to himself.
His mother slapped his arm. “You’re an asshole.”
RJ laughed. “Merry Christmas, Mom. It’s the messed-up family you always wanted.”
“It is, actually,” she said, joining Doug on the sofa. “Though maybe Doug’s having doubts.”
“Never.” He threw his arm around her, dragging her close for a kiss.
“And now it’s my turn to go up to my room,” RJ said. “I have some presents to wrap.”
Back in his apartment, Aaron was on the sofa when he finished the last of his end-of-semester grading and set aside his laptop. He still hadn’t heard from his mother, but his father had texted earlier in the day.
Dinner will be at 6 on Christmas Eve but come spend the whole day. Bring that boy. Don’t let yourself down. Just bring him.
Aaron fiddled with his phone, reading the last message from his mother before their big blowup. You can be in charge of the sweet potato casserole for our Christmas Day luncheon this year. I’m trusting you not to mess it up. And then switching back to his dad’s message. Such different people. No wonder they hadn’t lasted.
Not sure what possessed him, he thumbed his father’s name on his phone, and the call went through. Too late to hang up. His dad would see his name on the caller ID and just call him right back.
“Cracker! What’s going on, son?”
“Just wanted to hear your voice.”
“Oh, yeah? Why’s that? Something wrong?”
“Mom and I fought.”
A low hum of understanding slipped through the phone, and Aaron wanted to wrap himself up in it like a blanket. “Must’ve been a doozy. You wouldn’t be calling me if it weren’t.”
“Yeah. We fought a few days ago. We haven’t spoken since.”
Dad sighed. “She’s a hard one, your mother. But it’s not like you to be so tough on her. What’s it about? That boy of yours?”
Aaron wanted to deny it, but of course he couldn’t. He slid his fingers through Constance’s soft, black fur and was gratified by
her soft purrs. “Yeah. She’s always said if I want to work in her school, then I have to stay in the closet.”
His father was silent, and Aaron’s hair stood on end. Somehow, he sensed his father’s rage.
Rushing on, Aaron clarified, “Not that I ever fought her on it. I agreed. I didn’t want the complications of being out as a teacher. What if… What if parents didn’t like it?”
“Then fuck ’em.”
Aaron laughed. “Yeah. I’m coming to see it that way. But Mom… She’s never going to be okay with me being gay, is she?”
“You’ll have to ask her, son. I’d like to think she’ll come around, but she never came around on me being a farmer, even though that’s what I was when she found me.” Dad sighed heavily. “But I wasn’t her son. You are. After the divorce, you became her primary relationship in the world. It wasn’t healthy on a lot of levels, but what was I supposed to do about it? I think once she accepts she can’t run your life, she’ll come around to some sort of relationship with you. She won’t cut you out. Not like she did me.”
“I don’t know.” Aaron smoothed Constance’s fur. “I think she might.”
“I’m here for you. The family’s here for you. You won’t be alone in this world. But I know everyone needs their mama. I needed mine until her dying day.”
“I miss Grandma. She was wonderful.”
“She put up with a lot of hooey from us kids, and from Dad.” He chuckled. “Listen to me. Bring that boy out for Christmas Eve, and if you haven’t made it up with your mother by Christmas Day, bring him over again to watch your cousins’ kids open their presents.”
“RJ has his own family, Dad.”
“Well, come out alone. We’re always happy to have you.”
“I know. I love you, Dad.”
“Love you, too, Cracker. Hang in there. It’s the season of miracles.”
“So I’ve heard.”
After disconnecting the call, Aaron considered reading a book in bed until he grew sleepy enough to drift off. But once he was beneath the covers, everything felt all wrong. His ass was tender from the braided belt, and he’d had to apply cream to it twice over the course of the day. He felt unsettled, like he needed something more. A spanking. A fuck. A simple kiss.
Was he allowed to ask for what he needed? He’d never been allowed to before.
Picking up his phone again, he opened the text thread with RJ. They’d exchanged something simple earlier when RJ had reassured Aaron that things were going to be okay with Carter, and they’d agreed that a night apart would be for the best. To allow your ass to heal, and to allow me some time to convince my stepbrother that I’m a troll.
At the time, Aaron had agreed readily enough. He’d had grading to do and he was tired after several sleepless nights. Plus, he’d realized that having RJ around was a distraction from thinking about his mother, and he owed it to himself to figure out what he wanted to do about her. But now, reading over the texts again, he couldn’t help but wonder…
Girding himself for humiliation, he typed in a question and sent it.
If I didn’t want to fuck you anymore, would you still want to spend time with me?
The Read message appeared. There was a long delay and then bubbles, then no bubbles, and then bubbles again.
I’m calling you.
The phone started to ring as soon as the message came through and Aaron shivered as he picked it up. “Hey.”
“Did I hurt you? Are you okay?”
“You hurt me, but I liked it, remember?”
“I know, but…” RJ let out a frustrated growl. “What did you mean by that message?”
“I don’t know.” God, he felt like an idiot now. An adolescent idiot, even though he was coming up on thirty and was older than RJ. “I just got worried.”
“About what?”
“That you just like me for my ass.”
RJ barked out a laugh. “Baby, I like you for so much more than your ass. Though I admit it was the first thing that got my attention way back when…” He cleared his throat and grew serious. “Is this because I suggested not getting together tonight?”
“Maybe.”
“Mmm. How about I come over there and prove to you how much I don’t need your ass to enjoy being with you?”
“I thought you needed to stay home with your family?”
“They’ve all gone to bed. Give me twenty minutes.”
“You don’t have to—”
“Be ready, Mr. Danvers. I’m going to show you just how good it can be to not get fucked.”
Aaron shivered as the call was disconnected. He wondered if he should do something to prepare, like clean Constance’s litter box, or shower, but in the end, he simply lay in bed staring at the ceiling with a half-hard cock and a lot of ideas of what RJ might do to him when he arrived.
Which he did, exactly twenty-four minutes later.
Aaron shuffled down the hall in his pajama bottoms to let him in. Constance, asleep in the kitchen sink, woke enough to yowl and storm into the bathroom to scratch at her scratching pad.
“Hey,” RJ said, coming in from outside smelling of snow, which had started to drift down again. Aaron wondered if it would stick. “You look good, Mr. Danvers.” He tweaked Aaron’s nipples with cold fingers. “Let me get out of these clothes and then we’ll get on with the not-fucking, all right?”
Aaron chuckled, helping RJ off with his coat and smiling as RJ kicked his shoes off by the rack at the door. Then he took RJ’s hand and led him back toward the bedroom, with RJ losing his shirt, socks, and pants along the way. He wore no underwear at all, and his cock was half-hard too.
Aaron brought him to a halt by the bed, his heart hammering and his dick rising slowly up. RJ took it in hand and held it loosely. He bent low and kissed Aaron’s neck. “Sorry, baby. But this isn’t going to get you anywhere.”
Confused, Aaron let RJ push him down on the bed. “Get under the covers. It’s late. We need our sleep.”
“What are you doing?” Aaron asked as RJ went around to the other side of the bed and got in.
“Not fucking you.”
“But… There are other things we could do?”
“There are. And I love doing them. But not tonight,” RJ said with a smile. “I wouldn’t want you to think I’m into you only for your body. I mean, the orgasms are impressive—best I’ve ever had—but I wouldn’t want you to feel used, Mr. Danvers.”
“I don’t feel used,” Aaron gasped, sliding up next to RJ and pressing their naked bodies together. He reached down to touch RJ’s cock and was relieved to find it hard.
“Uh-uh-uh,” RJ tutted. “That’s a no. No sex tonight.”
“Did you come here to torture me?” Aaron asked, his cock throbbing now that he was being denied relief.
“I came here to love you,” RJ whispered. “Come here.” He opened his arms and drew Aaron close, pressing Aaron’s head to his chest and wrapping their legs together. He gripped Aaron harder with his thigh when Aaron tried to hump against him. “My mother says that trust is love. What do you think of that?”
“I don’t know,” Aaron said breathlessly. “I hadn’t ever thought about it before.”
“I don’t think you could love someone you didn’t trust,” RJ said thoughtfully, his fingers skimming up and down Aaron’s back, making him shiver and ache. “But could you trust someone you didn’t love?”
“I don’t know. It seems likely that if you trusted someone, truly trusted them, then you’d feel some affection for them,” Aaron said, thinking of his mother and how much he didn’t trust her. Did that mean he didn’t love her, either? “Please let me touch your cock.”
“No,” RJ said firmly. “Roll over and turn the lamp out. We should sleep.”
“I don’t want to sleep. I want you to help me feel better.”
RJ rolled over on top of Aaron, pushing his hard cock against Aaron’s stomach and shoving Aaron’s hands into the mattress. “I’m in charge here, and you’l
l come when I tell you to come. That won’t be tonight.”
Aaron shuddered hard. He nearly came right then, submissive pleasure coiling tight in his balls and cock, but he didn’t. It was close, but not quite enough to send him over.
“Oh, you like that,” RJ said, laughing and nuzzling at Aaron’s neck again. “Maybe I’ll get you a chastity device. Make you wear it while I tour. Keep the key with me, until I get back from going around the world. Let you come only for me.”
“Fuuuuuuck,” Aaron hissed, and just like that he did come. A sweet, rolling, throbbing orgasm pumped through him, and jizz spurted out in hot pulses between their bellies.
RJ laughed. “Holy shit, Mr. Danvers. Look at you. Such a dirty, naughty boy.” He laughed again, lifting up to see the sticky mess between them. “I’m afraid I’ll have to punish you for that.”
Aaron shivered and quaked, his nipples tingling as he came down from the shock of orgasm. “H-h-how?” he asked, a flare of greedy hope in his chest. Maybe he’d spank him again. Or otherwise give him a jolt of pain.
“You’ll see.”
Aaron panted and shivered as RJ rolled out of bed, found a washcloth in the bathroom, and cleaned Aaron up. RJ’s cock was still hard, but he didn’t put it in Aaron’s mouth or let him touch it.
“What’s my punishment?” Aaron asked as RJ slipped into bed again.
“Sleeping here beside me,” RJ said, tugging him close and shoving his hard cock against Aaron’s hip.
“Let me help you,” Aaron whispered, reaching for RJ’s dick.
“No,” RJ said, pushing his hand away. “Only good boys get my come. You, Mr. Danvers, were a very bad boy who didn’t obey me. When you can show me obedience again, I’ll let you have my come—in your mouth or in your ass—but until then, you’ll have to live with the knowledge that you’re on my naughty list, Mr. Danvers.” He kissed Aaron’s cheek before stretching out on his back, his cock tenting the sheets a little.
“You aren’t going to jerk off?”
“No.”
“But I won’t be able to sleep,” Aaron said softly. “I’ll feel guilty that I came and you’re still hard.”
“Oh, you’ll sleep,” RJ said, turning onto his side and touching Aaron’s cheek. “For the record, I think maybe it’s you who only likes me for my body. After all, I was able to resist the temptation, and you weren’t.”
