Chapter 2
Travis toted their luggage upstairs with Jeremy at his heels. The librarian had been grateful to escape the prison…err…KITCHEN to go and unpack his stuff. Those kids had been spooking him, not to mention the fact that both Gina and Mary were interrogators who made those CIA agents who’d waterboarded those guys at Guantanamo look like amateurs in comparison. The two women had wanted to know everything about his relationship with Travis. It wasn’t as though they’d been mean about it; clearly they were just being eaten up by curiosity. But he’d begun to sweat heavily, since he didn’t want to tell the two women about the way he’d treated Travis when the art student had first blackmailed Jeremy into going out with him.
They might not appreciate someone they loved being insulted and treated like dirt - even though it had only been because of Travis’s insistence that he wanted to keep going out with Jeremy that had made the librarian act that way toward him. He’d simply been trying to drive the artist away, but the persistent Travis had refused to be driven no matter how terrible Jeremy acted toward him. It had paid off for him in the end; Jeremy had finally given in (out of sheer exhaustion, partly) and accepted him. But he didn’t think that Travis’s mother and sister-in-law would like the way he’d been toward the art student before he’d finally given way to Travis’s stubborn determination. So he’d had to tap dance around their friendly but direct questions, and had finally begun to feel like a man up on a tightrope with no net underneath him and a Charlie horse cramp starting in both legs…
Fortunately for him Travis had appeared in the kitchen with their luggage in his hands and had asked his mom if he could borrow Jeremy for a few minutes so that they could unpack. The librarian had jumped up off his stool, and never had he been happier to see his boyfriend than just then. Now he followed Travis down the hallway to the third door on the left. “This is my old room,” he explained over his shoulder to Jeremy. “We’ll be sleeping in my old bed.”
“Kinky,” Jeremy replied. “I like it.”
Travis smiled that lazy smile of his and set down the luggage so that he could open the door. Then he toted their cases inside with Jeremy trailing after him. He looked around curiously. He saw bookshelves full of the usual eclectic collection of books; a computer desk and chair; and a twin-sized bed neatly made up with a dark blue bedspread. There were posters on the wall, although they were mostly of artwork rather than the normal bands and singers that most guys had. Travis walked over to the dresser and set their luggage down once more. “So what do you think, Jeremy?” he asked as he turned to look at his lover.
The librarian finished looking around. “It looks pretty normal,” he noted dryly. He eyed his boyfriend. “Are you sure that this is your room?” he asked.
Travis chuckled a little. “I keep all of my alien artifacts under the bed,” he replied.
Jeremy snorted. He went to sit on the side of the bed. Bouncing on it a little, he looked up at his lover. “So what should we do after we finish unpacking?” he asked in a sultry tone of voice.
Travis drew in a sharp breath, but shook his head as he bent over to open a suitcase. “That wouldn’t be a good idea, Jeremy,” he told his boyfriend apologetically. “The lock on the door is kind of broken, and it’s easy to get it open with a just a little jiggling. And the kids will be barging in here at any time to see me. I don’t want them to come running in and find us…errr…trying out the bed.”
Jeremy felt disappointed. He pouted a little as Travis began to take his clothing out of the suitcase and put it in the drawers of the dresser. This week was going to be even worse than he’d thought! All he wanted to do was make up for his lack of a sex life during finals, but any hope of that was rapidly dimming. Lord, why had he ever agreed to come to Wisconsin for Christmas? Obviously he was insane. Although…if he hadn’t agreed to come then he would have been totally without Travis during the holidays. His only other option would have been going ‘home’ to his mother’s house. Ah, great fun…watch Mom get drunk and fall into the Christmas tree for the fourth year in a row! Or make out with one of her many ‘special friends’, the men he’d been forced to call ‘uncle’ when he was younger. No thank you. He could handle a family that was too happy and touchy-feely and drank cocoa while watching It’s a Wonderful Life way better than that. He hoped anyway.
“Jeremy?”
“Yeah?” he glanced over at his boyfriend, who’d finished unpacking and putting away his clothes and was starting on the librarian’s.
“Everybody’s going caroling later. Did you want to come?”
Jeremy’s jaw dropped. Go out in iceberg central and stand around annoying people by singing to them?! Were these people for real?! He could just imagine himself in a pork pie hat and a long striped scarf, singing ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’ while simultaneously trying to smile and maintain and air of holiday cheer. Fuck, he’d rather stick a fork in a light socket for fun! Seeing his expression, Travis sighed. “Okay, I guess not,” he said. “It was just a thought.”
“A bad thought,” Jeremy muttered. “Stretch, honestly, can you see me actually doing that? Not to mention the fact that I’d probably freeze into a Jeremy-sized ice statue before we were done.”
The arts student looked startled, then apologetic. “Oh, I forgot about that. I’m sorry, Jeremy.”
He shrugged. “That’s okay. I’ll be happy to stay in the warm house and watch t.v. Even It’s a Wonderful Life. Anything but go out there into the Arctic for any length of time.”
“You could watch the kids while we’re gone,” Travis suggested. “Gina and Molly would appreciate it.”
Jeremy looked horrified. Him, babysit those little terrors who seemed to want to spend all their time running around yelling or asking him embarrassing questions? Freezing would be preferable. Then he saw the faint twinkle in the black eyes, and realized that he’d been played. The art student actually had a rather sly sense of humor when he wanted to. He pulled a horrible face and flipped his lover the finger. “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too,” he growled.
Travis smiled lazily. “I couldn’t resist,” he said. “The kids are going to make a snowman outside then go sledding. You won’t have to watch them. You’ll probably have the whole house to yourself in fact.”
That sounded great to him. “Okay. I guess you should introduce me to the rest of them then? I’ve only met Paul and Gina so far. And the kids, of course,” he added with a grimace.
Travis nodded, closing the top drawer of the dresser. “Come on. Everybody else should be here by now.”
He led the way back downstairs, where they found everyone gathered in the living room drinking egg nog. Jeremy was happy to accept a cup, because he happened to like egg nog. Although he would have preferred that there were some rum in it, of course…then he was introduced to the rest of Travis’s siblings. There was his brother Ryan, Ryan’s wife Molly, his sisters Kate, Veronica, and Suzy as well as Kate’s husband Brian and Veronica’s boyfriend Jamie. Much to Jeremy’s surprise, Suzy had brought her live-in girlfriend with her. Just more proof that it was genetic, he thought as he watched the pretty dark-haired girl holding hands with the petite blonde. And since Suzy was older than Travis, it would have been less of a shock for the family to have another gay person in it after that first inoculation.
All of them greeted him in a friendly manner, although Veronica (being the youngest she had more leeway) teased Travis about meaning to steal such a cutie away from him. Her boyfriend merely rolled his eyes, but Jeremy eyed her warily and stepped closer to Travis. She reminded him more than a bit of his friend Jessa. And since Jessa often did surprising and/or irritating things to him, he was going to be extra wary around a girl who reminded him of her…
Travis put the wrapped presents he’d brought under the tree, which was overflowing with gifts already. There were five stockings no the mantel for the kinds, each one with their name written on it in silver or gold fabric paint. At least he’d be able to remember their names by looking at the stockings, Jeremy thought dryly. Although that still wouldn’t help him put names to faces. He’d forgotten them almost the minute each child had been introduced to him in the kitchen. Except that some were boys and some girls, they all kinda looked the same to him.
Jeremy and Travis took a seat on the only free chairs in the room. Mary smiled at him. “Are you going to come caroling with us, Jeremy?” she asked.
“He can’t, Mom. He’s not acclimatized to our weather. He almost froze to death outside the airport,” Travis told her.
“Oh, dear,” she said in concern. “No caroling for you then. You’ll stay inside where it’s warm,” she said sternly to Jeremy.
He wasn’t sure what to make of her mothering tone. His own mother had never talked to him like that. “Err, okay,” he replied, as though that wasn’t what he’d intended to do anyway. She looked satisfied.
“I hope you won’t be bored since everyone’s going out,” she continued. “You’re free to watch the television all you want. We have a satellite dish, so I’m sure you can find something you like. And help yourself to anything in the refrigerator, too.”
“Thanks,” he replied. The afternoon was looking up. He’d be blissfully alone with cable t.v. and a fridge full of munchies. Life was good.
Everybody began to chatter away, and Jeremy was disconcerted when they kept including him in their conversations. He didn’t WANT to talk to them – because he found it far too hard to try to remain polite and friendly for any length of time. It didn’t help that they were all just so god damn NICE! He should have expected this, having dated Travis for almost three months; but a whole room full of them was a bit much to take. He felt a great urge to flee again. He simply didn’t belong here. ‘I come in peace, a visitor to your strange planet,’ he thought to himself as he answered a question that Suzy had asked him. ‘This world called Wisconsin is very new to me; I shall have to learn its customs and ways…’
He almost giggled at this thought, and had to lock his teeth together to keep it from escaping. Finally Travis’s parents decided that it was time to go caroling, and a relieved Jeremy stood and saw the family out the door. Travis surreptitiously kissed him under the mistletoe when no one else was looking…or so he thought. Just as they pulled apart he heard a light giggle. Looking around, he saw the girl who’d been grilling him before about watching him and Travis under the mistletoe spying on them from the doorway of the kitchen. She grinned cheekily at him before disappearing back into the room. He wanted to groan and slap a hand to his forehead as Travis smiled at him. “I’ll be back soon, Jeremy,” he drawled before walking out the front door after the rest of the adults in his family.
Jeremy stood in the front hall for a moment, and then turned back toward the living room and the tempting television. He saw a stream of coat and hat clad little figures going out the side door as the kids made a dash for freedom. A last spate of laughter floated back to his ears as the door closed behind them. Then…blessed silence fell. Jeremy sighed in appreciation and walked into the living room. He found the remote and sat down on the couch, clicking on the t.v. He needed to see images from the real world to combat this strange universe that he found himself in.
He dismissed the news channels and the ones playing various Christmas specials. He’d already had a bit too much Christmas, and it wasn’t even Christmas Eve yet. Finally he settled on ESPN, not because he liked sports but because he loved to watch large, muscular men sweat and grunt as they did symbolic battle against one another. It was almost as good as porn. He rubbed idly at his cock as he gazed at the swim meet that was currently being shown. Mmm, shaved, muscular guys wearing only Speedos! Merry fucking Christmas indeed! Now if only he could have one of them wrapped up in a big red bow…
Hmm, this was getting him all hot and bothered. Hopefully Travis wouldn’t take too long in returning. Then he’d drag that sexy, freakishly tall creature upstairs and jam a chair up against the doorknob so that no one could get in the room. Then he’d fuck his boyfriend’s brains out over and over until they were both exhausted. Maybe he’d sneak some of that egg nog upstairs with him and pour it all over Travis’s body before he licked it back off…
Shit, he was going to explode. Jeremy considered just getting himself out of his jeans, but knowing that those horrible little munchkins were just outside (and would be bound to walk in on him just as he whipped out his dick, he was sure of that), he refrained only with a great effort. He gritted his teeth as he pushed his palm down hard on the bulge in his jeans. He also changed the channel hurriedly, because if he had to look at the hunky swimmers anymore he was going to have an embarrassing accident in his jeans. He SO did not need a large whitish stain on the fabric for all to see when they came home form caroling. Or if he did change his pants, he didn’t need them wondering why he’d had to.
Geez this sucked. Surrounded by spying little yaoi freaks, adults that were so nice he kept thinking that they were Stepford people, and so many Christmas decorations that it hurt his eyes just to look around the house. Ho fucking ho. Now all he needed was a miniature Santa to appear and wish him into the cornfield.
Jeremy clicked through the channels looking for something else to watch. To his horror, he stumbled upon an It’s a Wonderful Life marathon on one channel. He hurriedly changed the channel with a mumbled imprecation. Just what was it that people liked about that movie?! It was horrible and treacly. Hell, he generally liked Jimmy Stewart but simply couldn’t tolerate this particular movie of his.
Finally his channel surfing paid off. He found another marathon – this time of A Christmas Story. One of the few tolerable Christmas movies in his opinion, funny and wry with just enough of a touch of sweetness without falling over into the sappy. He loved the parts about the Red Rider BB gun and the “You’ll shoot your eye out!”, as well as the “It was…it was… (Dramatic pause) soap poisoning!” He settled down to watch this holiday fare in peace, rather liking having the empty house all to himself.
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Travis toted their luggage upstairs with Jeremy at his heels. The librarian had been grateful to escape the prison…err…KITCHEN to go and unpack his stuff. Those kids had been spooking him, not to mention the fact that both Gina and Mary were interrogators who made those CIA agents who’d waterboarded those guys at Guantanamo look like amateurs in comparison. The two women had wanted to know everything about his relationship with Travis. It wasn’t as though they’d been mean about it; clearly they were just being eaten up by curiosity. But he’d begun to sweat heavily, since he didn’t want to tell the two women about the way he’d treated Travis when the art student had first blackmailed Jeremy into going out with him.
They might not appreciate someone they loved being insulted and treated like dirt - even though it had only been because of Travis’s insistence that he wanted to keep going out with Jeremy that had made the librarian act that way toward him. He’d simply been trying to drive the artist away, but the persistent Travis had refused to be driven no matter how terrible Jeremy acted toward him. It had paid off for him in the end; Jeremy had finally given in (out of sheer exhaustion, partly) and accepted him. But he didn’t think that Travis’s mother and sister-in-law would like the way he’d been toward the art student before he’d finally given way to Travis’s stubborn determination. So he’d had to tap dance around their friendly but direct questions, and had finally begun to feel like a man up on a tightrope with no net underneath him and a Charlie horse cramp starting in both legs…
Fortunately for him Travis had appeared in the kitchen with their luggage in his hands and had asked his mom if he could borrow Jeremy for a few minutes so that they could unpack. The librarian had jumped up off his stool, and never had he been happier to see his boyfriend than just then. Now he followed Travis down the hallway to the third door on the left. “This is my old room,” he explained over his shoulder to Jeremy. “We’ll be sleeping in my old bed.”
“Kinky,” Jeremy replied. “I like it.”
Travis smiled that lazy smile of his and set down the luggage so that he could open the door. Then he toted their cases inside with Jeremy trailing after him. He looked around curiously. He saw bookshelves full of the usual eclectic collection of books; a computer desk and chair; and a twin-sized bed neatly made up with a dark blue bedspread. There were posters on the wall, although they were mostly of artwork rather than the normal bands and singers that most guys had. Travis walked over to the dresser and set their luggage down once more. “So what do you think, Jeremy?” he asked as he turned to look at his lover.
The librarian finished looking around. “It looks pretty normal,” he noted dryly. He eyed his boyfriend. “Are you sure that this is your room?” he asked.
Travis chuckled a little. “I keep all of my alien artifacts under the bed,” he replied.
Jeremy snorted. He went to sit on the side of the bed. Bouncing on it a little, he looked up at his lover. “So what should we do after we finish unpacking?” he asked in a sultry tone of voice.
Travis drew in a sharp breath, but shook his head as he bent over to open a suitcase. “That wouldn’t be a good idea, Jeremy,” he told his boyfriend apologetically. “The lock on the door is kind of broken, and it’s easy to get it open with a just a little jiggling. And the kids will be barging in here at any time to see me. I don’t want them to come running in and find us…errr…trying out the bed.”
Jeremy felt disappointed. He pouted a little as Travis began to take his clothing out of the suitcase and put it in the drawers of the dresser. This week was going to be even worse than he’d thought! All he wanted to do was make up for his lack of a sex life during finals, but any hope of that was rapidly dimming. Lord, why had he ever agreed to come to Wisconsin for Christmas? Obviously he was insane. Although…if he hadn’t agreed to come then he would have been totally without Travis during the holidays. His only other option would have been going ‘home’ to his mother’s house. Ah, great fun…watch Mom get drunk and fall into the Christmas tree for the fourth year in a row! Or make out with one of her many ‘special friends’, the men he’d been forced to call ‘uncle’ when he was younger. No thank you. He could handle a family that was too happy and touchy-feely and drank cocoa while watching It’s a Wonderful Life way better than that. He hoped anyway.
“Jeremy?”
“Yeah?” he glanced over at his boyfriend, who’d finished unpacking and putting away his clothes and was starting on the librarian’s.
“Everybody’s going caroling later. Did you want to come?”
Jeremy’s jaw dropped. Go out in iceberg central and stand around annoying people by singing to them?! Were these people for real?! He could just imagine himself in a pork pie hat and a long striped scarf, singing ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’ while simultaneously trying to smile and maintain and air of holiday cheer. Fuck, he’d rather stick a fork in a light socket for fun! Seeing his expression, Travis sighed. “Okay, I guess not,” he said. “It was just a thought.”
“A bad thought,” Jeremy muttered. “Stretch, honestly, can you see me actually doing that? Not to mention the fact that I’d probably freeze into a Jeremy-sized ice statue before we were done.”
The arts student looked startled, then apologetic. “Oh, I forgot about that. I’m sorry, Jeremy.”
He shrugged. “That’s okay. I’ll be happy to stay in the warm house and watch t.v. Even It’s a Wonderful Life. Anything but go out there into the Arctic for any length of time.”
“You could watch the kids while we’re gone,” Travis suggested. “Gina and Molly would appreciate it.”
Jeremy looked horrified. Him, babysit those little terrors who seemed to want to spend all their time running around yelling or asking him embarrassing questions? Freezing would be preferable. Then he saw the faint twinkle in the black eyes, and realized that he’d been played. The art student actually had a rather sly sense of humor when he wanted to. He pulled a horrible face and flipped his lover the finger. “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too,” he growled.
Travis smiled lazily. “I couldn’t resist,” he said. “The kids are going to make a snowman outside then go sledding. You won’t have to watch them. You’ll probably have the whole house to yourself in fact.”
That sounded great to him. “Okay. I guess you should introduce me to the rest of them then? I’ve only met Paul and Gina so far. And the kids, of course,” he added with a grimace.
Travis nodded, closing the top drawer of the dresser. “Come on. Everybody else should be here by now.”
He led the way back downstairs, where they found everyone gathered in the living room drinking egg nog. Jeremy was happy to accept a cup, because he happened to like egg nog. Although he would have preferred that there were some rum in it, of course…then he was introduced to the rest of Travis’s siblings. There was his brother Ryan, Ryan’s wife Molly, his sisters Kate, Veronica, and Suzy as well as Kate’s husband Brian and Veronica’s boyfriend Jamie. Much to Jeremy’s surprise, Suzy had brought her live-in girlfriend with her. Just more proof that it was genetic, he thought as he watched the pretty dark-haired girl holding hands with the petite blonde. And since Suzy was older than Travis, it would have been less of a shock for the family to have another gay person in it after that first inoculation.
All of them greeted him in a friendly manner, although Veronica (being the youngest she had more leeway) teased Travis about meaning to steal such a cutie away from him. Her boyfriend merely rolled his eyes, but Jeremy eyed her warily and stepped closer to Travis. She reminded him more than a bit of his friend Jessa. And since Jessa often did surprising and/or irritating things to him, he was going to be extra wary around a girl who reminded him of her…
Travis put the wrapped presents he’d brought under the tree, which was overflowing with gifts already. There were five stockings no the mantel for the kinds, each one with their name written on it in silver or gold fabric paint. At least he’d be able to remember their names by looking at the stockings, Jeremy thought dryly. Although that still wouldn’t help him put names to faces. He’d forgotten them almost the minute each child had been introduced to him in the kitchen. Except that some were boys and some girls, they all kinda looked the same to him.
Jeremy and Travis took a seat on the only free chairs in the room. Mary smiled at him. “Are you going to come caroling with us, Jeremy?” she asked.
“He can’t, Mom. He’s not acclimatized to our weather. He almost froze to death outside the airport,” Travis told her.
“Oh, dear,” she said in concern. “No caroling for you then. You’ll stay inside where it’s warm,” she said sternly to Jeremy.
He wasn’t sure what to make of her mothering tone. His own mother had never talked to him like that. “Err, okay,” he replied, as though that wasn’t what he’d intended to do anyway. She looked satisfied.
“I hope you won’t be bored since everyone’s going out,” she continued. “You’re free to watch the television all you want. We have a satellite dish, so I’m sure you can find something you like. And help yourself to anything in the refrigerator, too.”
“Thanks,” he replied. The afternoon was looking up. He’d be blissfully alone with cable t.v. and a fridge full of munchies. Life was good.
Everybody began to chatter away, and Jeremy was disconcerted when they kept including him in their conversations. He didn’t WANT to talk to them – because he found it far too hard to try to remain polite and friendly for any length of time. It didn’t help that they were all just so god damn NICE! He should have expected this, having dated Travis for almost three months; but a whole room full of them was a bit much to take. He felt a great urge to flee again. He simply didn’t belong here. ‘I come in peace, a visitor to your strange planet,’ he thought to himself as he answered a question that Suzy had asked him. ‘This world called Wisconsin is very new to me; I shall have to learn its customs and ways…’
He almost giggled at this thought, and had to lock his teeth together to keep it from escaping. Finally Travis’s parents decided that it was time to go caroling, and a relieved Jeremy stood and saw the family out the door. Travis surreptitiously kissed him under the mistletoe when no one else was looking…or so he thought. Just as they pulled apart he heard a light giggle. Looking around, he saw the girl who’d been grilling him before about watching him and Travis under the mistletoe spying on them from the doorway of the kitchen. She grinned cheekily at him before disappearing back into the room. He wanted to groan and slap a hand to his forehead as Travis smiled at him. “I’ll be back soon, Jeremy,” he drawled before walking out the front door after the rest of the adults in his family.
Jeremy stood in the front hall for a moment, and then turned back toward the living room and the tempting television. He saw a stream of coat and hat clad little figures going out the side door as the kids made a dash for freedom. A last spate of laughter floated back to his ears as the door closed behind them. Then…blessed silence fell. Jeremy sighed in appreciation and walked into the living room. He found the remote and sat down on the couch, clicking on the t.v. He needed to see images from the real world to combat this strange universe that he found himself in.
He dismissed the news channels and the ones playing various Christmas specials. He’d already had a bit too much Christmas, and it wasn’t even Christmas Eve yet. Finally he settled on ESPN, not because he liked sports but because he loved to watch large, muscular men sweat and grunt as they did symbolic battle against one another. It was almost as good as porn. He rubbed idly at his cock as he gazed at the swim meet that was currently being shown. Mmm, shaved, muscular guys wearing only Speedos! Merry fucking Christmas indeed! Now if only he could have one of them wrapped up in a big red bow…
Hmm, this was getting him all hot and bothered. Hopefully Travis wouldn’t take too long in returning. Then he’d drag that sexy, freakishly tall creature upstairs and jam a chair up against the doorknob so that no one could get in the room. Then he’d fuck his boyfriend’s brains out over and over until they were both exhausted. Maybe he’d sneak some of that egg nog upstairs with him and pour it all over Travis’s body before he licked it back off…
Shit, he was going to explode. Jeremy considered just getting himself out of his jeans, but knowing that those horrible little munchkins were just outside (and would be bound to walk in on him just as he whipped out his dick, he was sure of that), he refrained only with a great effort. He gritted his teeth as he pushed his palm down hard on the bulge in his jeans. He also changed the channel hurriedly, because if he had to look at the hunky swimmers anymore he was going to have an embarrassing accident in his jeans. He SO did not need a large whitish stain on the fabric for all to see when they came home form caroling. Or if he did change his pants, he didn’t need them wondering why he’d had to.
Geez this sucked. Surrounded by spying little yaoi freaks, adults that were so nice he kept thinking that they were Stepford people, and so many Christmas decorations that it hurt his eyes just to look around the house. Ho fucking ho. Now all he needed was a miniature Santa to appear and wish him into the cornfield.
Jeremy clicked through the channels looking for something else to watch. To his horror, he stumbled upon an It’s a Wonderful Life marathon on one channel. He hurriedly changed the channel with a mumbled imprecation. Just what was it that people liked about that movie?! It was horrible and treacly. Hell, he generally liked Jimmy Stewart but simply couldn’t tolerate this particular movie of his.
Finally his channel surfing paid off. He found another marathon – this time of A Christmas Story. One of the few tolerable Christmas movies in his opinion, funny and wry with just enough of a touch of sweetness without falling over into the sappy. He loved the parts about the Red Rider BB gun and the “You’ll shoot your eye out!”, as well as the “It was…it was… (Dramatic pause) soap poisoning!” He settled down to watch this holiday fare in peace, rather liking having the empty house all to himself.
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