Lessons in Love

by Jerry Cole

  The boys froze as soon as they heard Victor speak their names. "Y-you wouldn't," Jason said nervously.

  "I will," Victor replied. "You're behaving very badly and I think your teachers and parents ought to know."

  Elias tugged Jason's sleeve. "Let's just go so he won't call our parents," Elias muttered.

  Jason still looked defiant, but was backing down. "Fine, we're going. Funny saying you'll call the school if we don't go. Blackmail what Mom calls that!"

  "No, I won't call the school 'if you don't go.' I'm calling them period," Victor said with a smile. "I don't do blackmail, I teach lessons."

  The kids both paled. "You can't do that!" Jason exclaimed.

  Victor shrugged. "I can. But the more you say, the more stuff I'll have to tell them about."

  Nate had put his little brother down, and both were observing Victor with the same awe that Nate had displayed when Victor sent the pizza guy away. Neither knew how to stand up for themselves. It must be a family trait.

  "I bet if I say you were mean to me, say you beat me, you won't be a teacher anymore!" Jason said, suddenly emboldened.

  Victor realized that clearly this kid had done something similar in the past, made an accusation against an adult, either legitimate or a lie, and it had worked for him. But Victor knew all about this. Victor knew that kids like this didn't get away with crying “wolf” all too often, so he wasn't too bothered. "That sounds dumb," Victor finally said. "Who would believe such an obvious lie?"

  Jason hesitated. "I'll make it a really good lie."

  "Well, you can feel free to make things worse for yourself by threatening like that, but I'm sure your dad over there won't be happy," Victor added, spotting Mr. Smith walking over.

  The boys froze, looked over their shoulders to make sure, then ran over to where Jason's father was, eagerly encouraging him in the opposite direction, nervously glancing back at Victor, the demon who had appeared to ruin their day of fun tormenting another kid.

  It was times like this when Victor realized how far he had come as a teacher. There was no way in his earlier days he would have been able to resolve this without making use of detention in some way, which was impossible outside his own class.

  In a chorus of grumbles, nervous glances, and a few tears, the boys vanished into the crowd with their father.

  Nate's brother looked up in awe at Victor as the bullies walked off in a sulk. He tugged his brother's sleeve, and as Nate leaned down, whispered into his ear. Nate whispered back to Jack, who then turned to face Victor again. "Thank you Mr. Walker," he said with a wide grin.

  Victor shook his head. "You can call me Victor, I like my first name better than Mr. Walker," he replied. "What's your name?"

  "I'm Jack. I'm Nate's little brother," the boy replied with a smile. "How do you know my brother?"

  "I work with him," Victor replied. "And we see each other a bit too."

  "Oh, like friends?" Jack asked.

  Without thinking, Victor felt the words slip out. "Boyfriends."

  Jack froze. "Nate has a boyfriend?" he asked, furrowing his brow and looking back at his brother, seeming even more confused than before. He clearly wasn't sure about the idea of a man having a boyfriend. "Nate? Do men have boyfriends?"

  "S-sometimes?" Nate replied.

  Jack paused and stared at his brother a few more seconds. "No joke?"

  "No joke. Some men have boyfriends. Some women have girlfriends," Nate said, flushing and shaking a little.

  "Do... do men have husbands?" Jack asked, his world being slowly shaken. "Do women have wives?"

  "Sometimes," Nate said.

  "And do they have kids?" Jack asked. "Who's the mommy and who's the daddy?"

  "The men are daddies and the women are mommies," Nate said, looking up at Victor desperately.

  From the look in Nate's eyes, Victor realized he had fucked up yet again. Did Nate's family not know? Or was it only his little brother who was clueless? Jack followed Nate's eyes to Victor and squinted.

  "So if you got married and had babies you would both be daddies?" Jack asked.

  Victor smiled and nodded as confidently as he could manage. How were little kids so intimidatingly straightforward? "Yeah, we would both be daddies. And that means that the babies would have two daddies and no mommy."

  "No mommy at all?" Jack asked, looking a little alarmed.

  "But two daddies," Victor reaffirmed. "Double the daddies."

  Jack thought it through some more. Nate looked down as his little brother's brow furrowed in extreme focus for a few seconds.

  "Do you mind that I have a boyfriend?" Nate finally asked his little brother in a low and meek voice.

  "No, I don't mind," Jack said with a smile. "I love my brother, no matter who he wants to go out with or kiss. Or who he wants to have babies with."

  "And you think two daddies are okay?" Victor asked.

  Jack nodded, then his face fell. "Daddies sometimes go away, though."

  "Nate and I wouldn't," Victor reassured. He knew it would be too scary to introduce such a young kid to the idea that mothers could leave their children too. No, it was easier to feed into his idealism concerning his brother.

  Jack seemed reassured. "You would make very good daddies," he said. "Have you seen my prize? It's a car."

  As Jack proudly showed off his remote control car and rosette, Nate seemed relieved and sighed. "Thanks for helping," he whispered to Victor with a smile. "I was stuck again. I'm useless at standing up for myself."

  "That isn't standing up for yourself, though, it's just explaining stuff," Victor said. "You do that every day in class."

  Jack unpacked the car and began driving it nervously forward, completely absorbed in the task at hand.

  "Not that," Nate replied. "That was weird, but okay. Those boys. I couldn't get them to go away. I didn't know what to say. I guess kids know a total wimp when they see one, and they didn't listen to me at all."

  Victor slipped his hand into Nate's. "Nah, we all have our own way of dealing with these things. I'll always be here for you."

  "But you won't," Nate said flatly. "You have your own life, your own things to do. I can't rely on you forever, can I? What happens when you go and see your family, or when you're busy with work?"

  "I guess you have a point. I'm not going to always be there," Victor acknowledged. "That was a stupid thing to say."

  "How are you so confident?" Nate asked.

  "I would have asked you the same thing a while ago. I'm not. I'm always panicked," Victor admitted. "I thought you looked so confident all the time, so happy. But I guess we all have our weaknesses."

  "I need to learn to stand up for myself better," Nate replied, squeezing Victor's hand. "Can you teach me how to?"

  "Sure, if you can teach me how to be a bit more positive," Victor replied. "I always admired that in you, how no matter what's happening, no matter how hard life gets, how bad things can be, you always seem happy."

  "I always am happy, I can't teach happy," Nate said, blushing. "It's just who I am."

  "But you can tell me what the world looks like through your eyes, so maybe I can feel happy about what makes you happy," Victor explained.

  Before Nate could answer, something caught his eye and he waved at someone in the crowd.

  It was the same woman from earlier. The realization seemed to hit them both at the same time as they looked into each other's eyes. Nate had younger siblings. The lady had a young gay son who she was struggling to support. Victor had a black, gay boyfriend. The woman from earlier was Mrs. Thompson.

  Nate looked back and forth between them, as they stood face to face, a little stunned. Then, it dawned on him too. "Have you already met?"

  "Just now, at the funnel cake stand," Mrs. Thompson replied. "I didn't guess that he was the man you talked about. Although I suppose I should have, with him being an oddball dating a black man."

  Victor blushed, feeling suddenly very uncomfortable. "I hope nothing I said left
a bad impression of me," he said.

  "Not at all. You're a fine young man, and I'd been wanting to meet you," she said with a laugh. "I didn't know I just had. How are your parents? Are they healing well?"

  Victor nodded. "Yeah, they have someone in to take care of them and I will be seeing them next weekend. It was a lot of small injuries, nothing big. I don't know how much Nate told you, to be honest. But yeah, they're well, thank you for asking."

  "I haven't said too much," Nate said hastily. "Just, like, the essentials, I think. I'm not a gossip or anything like that, but, you know, she's my mom and—"

  He was interrupted by a scoff that made him blush brighter than Victor had ever seen.

  "I have been listening to Nate's first job drama for the past few weeks," Mrs. Thompson said. "It's good to finally get to know the famous Mr. Walker."

  Victor nodded. "He hasn't said much about you, to be honest. I know he looks up to you. I think that is probably why he doesn't go around talking about you all the time. Because he respects your privacy." He smiled toward Nate to let him know it was in jest, but Nate was still flustered.

  "I respect you too, but she's my mom. It's just different, that's all. I wanted her to know about what was happening to me," Nate insisted. "I wanted her to know about all the stuff that was going on and you did try and get me fired for basically no reason. I think I had a right to complain."

  "I'd rather not be known for that, though," Victor said, feeling his cheeks flushing hot. "I am a lot more than someone who tried to get your son fired."

  Both men seemed to be getting more and more embarrassed as they realized just how bad their original meeting had been. It was something both of them were overlooking, but now they were having to face it and explain it to someone again all the shame was coming back. They had both acted like idiots and it was too soon for them to pretend they had been "young and dumb back then".

  "I'm sorry I tried to get your son fired and I hope that doesn't reflect badly on me either," Victor said.

  "No, it's nice to finally meet one of his boyfriends. A serious boyfriend," she said. "And, all drama aside, you seem like a nice young man."

  Victor smiled a little. Not so long ago, he wasn't sure anyone would have called him a nice young man. Not even his own mother. She hadn't called him that since he was eleven or twelve. Nate's positivism, Victor realized, was not something you learned. It was infectious, and he was already infected. He felt pretty proud about it. Yes, he was a nice young man. At least now he was.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Lying in Victor's bed again, Nate sighed as he cuddled up close to his boyfriend. His boyfriend. A real boyfriend. It just wasn't wearing off. This was the happiest Nate had been in... ever. And the fact his family loved Victor was a huge part of it. His life felt so complete now he could see that his mother loved his boyfriend, that his sisters were happy to spend time with Victor, and that his brother looked up to this new male presence.

  Nate still tried to remind himself that life didn't always work out perfectly, but this was so damn perfect so far, it was hard not to believe it would be eternal. He was sure this was that true love that everyone talked about.

  "I love you," he said, planting a kiss on Victor's cheek. "I think you're the first boyfriend I've ever actually truly, deeply loved."

  Victor smiled. Nate ran his hands over Victor's head, blond hair currently totally gel-free after last night's shower. He was so handsome, even when he wasn't dressed up like a punk rocker. It was nice to see the softer, warmer guy underneath it all. Nate kissed Victor's forehead too and sighed, sinking back into the bed.

  "I love you too," Victor said. "Lots and lots and lots..." He carried on, kissing Nate gently each time he repeated himself as a sort of punctuation.

  Victor kissed all over Nate's chest and neck, lightly biting and licking as he went, pinning Nate down by his wrists as he did so. Nate already knew where this was going, but he wasn't about to complain. He was more than ready. He seemed to be ready more often than usual lately, as if his body were trying to catch up with Victor's crazy sex drive.

  Nate just lay back and enjoyed it, each gentle kiss sending shivers throughout his whole body, making him desperate for more. He ran his fingers through Victor's soft blond hair again, feeling how silky and feather-light it was, how long it actually was, all things he had never realized when it was so thickly covered in the cement-like hair gel which Victor preferred.

  "I want to taste you again," Victor whispered as he made his way down Nate's taut stomach, following the happy trail of hair to the edge of his boxers. Nate sighed softly, feeling himself already beginning to swell for Victor, ready for his warm, wet mouth.

  Victor kissed up and down Nate's happy trail, around his thighs, basically tracing every inch around the edge of Nate's boxers, teasing him softly. Then, Victor moved up and through the fabric he planted a kiss on Nate's throbbing erection, pressing his lips down hard and holding them there. The pressure was delightful, and yet Nate wanted even more. He reached down to try and slip out of his boxers, but once again Victor grabbed Nate's wrists and held them in place. As Victor teasingly kissed Nate through his boxers, Nate fell back in temporary surrender, thinking of how he would best be able to retaliate.

  Nate still wasn't entirely sure where Victor got his sex drive from or how it even worked, but he wasn't about to complain. Something about seeing Victor horny made Nate horny too. And if that was more or less how it worked for Victor and they would both feed one another's horniness until one of them got too bored or tired for sex, then Nate had no problem at all with that.

  As soon as Victor slipped Nate's boxers off, Nate realized how drawn out this was going to be. Victor instantly moved his mouth away from Nate's needy cock, smirking, obviously pleased at how much he was tormenting Nate.

  Nate groaned as Victor teased him, kissing and licking his inner thighs, hand brushing his crotch lightly, letting him know what was to come. Nate just hoped it would be him. Although, it was kind of nice to just let Victor go crazy building up the anticipation. Nate wondered if he could cum having his cock barely touched at all. He wasn't sure if that was pure torture or some sort of a challenge. He wasn't sure if he wanted it or not. Victor's teasingly light touches and evasive kisses were starting to stop Nate being able to think straight, and, although he was trying to fight it, trying to think of how he would have his revenge, he knew that Victor was an expert at this, and there would be no escape.

  Just as Nate thought he was regaining some control, he felt his cock wrapped in Victor's hot, wet, soft mouth, his tongue pressing hard into the underside of Nate's cock, bringing the satisfaction he so desperately needed.

  As Victor engulfed him, Nate sighed in relief, running his fingers through Victor's gel-free blond hair, messing up the soft tangles even more, pushing Victor's head down hard, bucking his own hips up, feeling himself completely buried in Victor's throat, so wet, tight, and delightful. A spark of mischief flashed through Nate's mind and he held Victor there, not allowing him to come up for air, seeing how long he could possibly last.

  Victor gagged, but Nate held him there until he regained control, gently releasing him. Their eyes met and both grinned. There was a single tear in the corner of Victor's eye from the pressure of being held down so harshly, but he had loved it. Victor took Nate into his throat again, this time willingly holding himself there, eyes looking up at Nate's face, wide and almost pleading, begging for domination, to be controlled.

  Nate was happy to oblige. He pushed Victor's head right down, holding him in place, as Victor gagged on Nate's throbbing cock, eyes glimmering in delight as he savored the experience of Nate using him, although with his own consent. Nate found himself overwhelmed with lust for Victor as he looked into those soft brown eyes, begging for his power.

  Nate released, but rather than just let go all at once and give Victor some control, Nate actively pulled Victor back up. The push and pull, the competition for domination, was as thrillin
g as the sex itself. He felt Victor pause at the top, but didn't even wait a second before pushing Victor back down. Victor moaned around Nate's cock, thoroughly enjoying the sensation of gagging, desperate for air, yet still so hungry for Nate's strong hands and hard, juicy, throbbing member.

  Even when Nate finally let go, Victor stayed there a moment, enjoying the sensation of Nate's cock in his throat, pleasure and pain intermixing in that way which Nate found so confusing, but Victor seemed to adore.

  Before Nate realized what was happening, Victor was on top of him again, kissing him gently, rubbing their crotches together just enough to tease, but not enough to relieve. Nate wasn't sure what Victor was going for. All he knew was that Victor wanted to regain some control, and that was why he was climbing up, teasing Nate, trying to get him to cede.

  Nate did not cede. He ran his fingers lovingly through Victor's hair before harshly grabbing it, pulling hard. Victor gasped and moaned all at once, pushing down, rubbing his hard cock against Nate's hard and wet one, relishing the experience. Nate bit onto Victor's lip piercing and tugged at it a little, feeling Victor squirm more, relishing the soft, sweet moans that escaped his lips.

  Still loving this gentle but firm domination, Nate pushed his tongue into Victor's mouth, bucking up to increase the pressure, hearing Victor moan in pleasure, feeling him press down even harder. Even on top, even as he vied for control, Victor couldn't help but submit and yield when Nate put even a little pressure on him. Victor was still so full of surprises, so full of delights. Nate was glad he had someone who was so willing to play around with their roles. It excited him.

  Victor paused, looking into Nate's eyes. Nate could see that Victor's own eyes were cloudy with lust, that his body was completely surrendering to Nate's control. It was beautiful to see such a bold, aggressive looking man turn to something so soft and angelic. Victor was lost in himself. Nate reached down, gently toying with the piercing that ran through Victor's cock. It was all it took.

  Nate felt Victor's cock throbbing hard against his own, pulsing with each rope of thick cum that spurted forth, covering both their abdomens. Victor was biting his own lip, moaning deeply as he shot his load, unable to control himself any more. After all that teasing, all that denial, it turns out that Victor was the one who was finally forced to submit to his own tricks. Nate grinned, taking great delight in seeing how well he had turned the tables.