Chapter 4
Once the dinner was over (and the food was excellent) they cleared up together and then adjourned to the living room to sit on the couch. Misty twined around his ankles until John picked her up, then she settled down and purred loudly on his lap. He petted her absently as Dean turned on the t.v. and began to browse through the channels. “Mm, at least we have cable,” he said in satisfaction.
John laughed softly. “All, the wonders of civilization,” he said in amusement.
Dean grinned. “Hey, you got that right,” he replied impishly. “Cable t.v. and beer is the very apex of civilization.”
John snorted delicately. “Sure. If you say so.”
Dean stretched out his long limbs. “Anything you want to watch particularly?” he asked.
John thought about it. “Maybe a movie? Although something tells me we won’t exactly have the same taste in them.”
Dean chuckled. “What, you don’t want to watch a Bruce Lee film? Or maybe Easy Rider?”
“Only if it’s a gay porno,” the former teacher quipped, and then wondered if he should have made such a joke.
Dean glanced sideways at him. “Hmm…sounds like your taste in porn is pretty nasty,” he said in a low, rather sultry voice. John felt a shiver run through him. His fingers tightened on Misty’s coat for a moment as he tried to control his breathing.
“Uhh…” he began rather hoarsely.
The dark grey eyes smiled at him lazily. “Maybe someday you can show me some that you like,” he purred.
John felt his groin react sharply to those tones. He wanted to groan desperately. It was already so difficult living in this house alone with this total hunk that had attracted him right from the start. Because he was still sleeping in his bed by himself even though Dean was just down the hall. This sexually charged conversation was not making it any easier on him.
He heard the biker sigh beside him. “Sorry,” he remarked rather grimly. “I shouldn’t say things like that while we’re still getting to know each other. It’s just that…I haven’t been with anybody for a couple of months. I sort of had a dry spell there for a bit. So I’m kind of pent up, if you know what I mean.”
“I do,” John replied tiredly. “It’s been some time for me too. It’s so…hard…”
“Yes, it is,” the biker replied, and his tone of voice told the former teacher just what he was talking about.
Even as he felt heat rise up in his cheeks he also saw the funny side of the whole situation. He began to giggle a bit, making Dean glance at him. “I’m sorry, it’s just…I don’t know,” he tried to speak but lost the ability again. He began to laugh very hard, some of his tension just flowing away.
The biker eyed him, then shrugged and began to laugh himself. The kitten on John’s lap looked at them both like they were crazy, which made him laugh even harder. Both men felt some release from this, and John wiped at his eyes when he finally calmed down a bit. “Geez, I don’t know why I laughed that hard,” he remarked.
“You needed it,” Dean said, patting his shoulder lightly.
“Yes, I guess so,” he stroked the kitten. “I suppose we don’t have to look for a comedy to watch,” he added jokingly.
“Yeah, I think we’ve laughed enough for one night. We might explode or something if we watch a movie that’s too funny,” the biker replied. He began to sift through the channels some more. “How about an action movie? That’ll be a bit mindless.”
“Sounds good,” John said. “Your choice, I don’t really care.”
“Okay. Here we go – you can’t go wrong with Jackie Chan. Action and a bit of comedy in one package.”
They settled down to watch the movie together. The kitten fell asleep in his lap with her nose buried in her tail. John began to enjoy himself, for the movie was one he hadn’t seen before and it was actually pretty good. Jackie Chan was a master of physical comedy. It reminded him of a Buster Keaton movie – if Buster had studied martial arts for most of his life. He ended up with his feet resting on the coffee table right beside Dean’s. While he didn’t feel totally better, this form of normalcy was helping John to feel less stressed and bewildered. And he owed it all to Dean – God was he glad that he’d lied and told the FBI that the biker was his boyfriend of long standing.
After the movie was over Dean noticed that he was yawning. “You should go take a bath and get to bed,” he told John. “You’ve had a long day. You need to rest.”
“Okay,” he replied, getting slowly to his feet. He cradled Misty in his hands, the kitten blinking as she was disturbed.
He shuffled off to start a hot bath for himself, leaving Dean in the living room with a mumbled “Goodnight.”
The biker returned it, settling in to stay up until three a.m. or so to prepare himself for his new job. John carried the kitten into the laundry room briefly to show her the litter box, then took her into his bedroom and set her in the kitty bed. She promptly jumped out of it and followed him into the bathroom. “You wouldn’t like this, sweetheart,” he told her with a chuckle as he started the hot water running into the tub. “Kitties don’t generally like water.”
She meowed up at him as he began to remove his clothes. “Silly thing,” he chided her. “Here,” he picked up a washcloth and stepped into the tub. As he sank down into the luxuriant heat, he began to drag the cloth across the tile floor so that she could pounce on it. The kitten liked this, and began to chase the cloth across the floor happily.
John relaxed back against the tub, thinking to himself that he was really grateful that Dean had gotten the kitten. Much as he wouldn’t have thought of it himself (since he still missed his babies and was grieving for them), having a furry companion around to take care of and love was already helping him feel a bit better.
John awoke the next morning to find a small ball of fluff curled atop him purring. He smiled, not wanting to move and disturb the kitten. His fingers slid out from under the blanket to find the silky soft coat, and the purring intensified as he stroked Misty’s fur. He felt better this morning. Dean couldn’t have done a better thing than getting him this tiny adorable creature to take care of and love. He thanked any deity listening silently for his hunky housemate. Yes, it was kind of torturous to live with someone so sexy and not do anything with him; but he really couldn’t imagine having to live alone among strangers with no one at all to talk to. Not now, not in this situation. He wasn’t sure that he would have survived if he’d had to do that.
He glanced at his clock, sighing to see what time it was. He had to get up whether he liked it or not. Work called. He picked up the kitten and set her aside, making her meow in protest. “Sorry, sweetie, I’ve gotta go,” he remarked apologetically. “But I’ll bring you home a treat tonight,” he added, stroking a finger under her chin. “You just be good for Dean, okay?” he added, sitting up and putting his feet on the floor.
He went into the bathroom to take a shower, followed by Misty. The kitten pounced on the rug to make it move as he turned on the water. He chuckled at her antics as he slid out of the pajama bottoms that he’d worn to bed. “You are very silly,” he told her affectionately as he stepped into the shower. The warm water flowed over his skin, helping to wake him up.
He soaped himself up quickly, knowing that there wasn‘t time to take a long shower. That meant no masturbation this morning. Ah, well. He’d indulge himself tonight when he had the time. And he had perfect masturbation material in the gorgeous guy sleeping down the hall. All he had to do was remember the way that Dean had looked when he’d stepped into the communal shower at the gym. Damn! He shouldn’t have thought about that. Now he had a hard-on. He grimaced, getting out of the shower and toweling himself down. ‘Later for you,’ he thought at his outrageous dick. ‘I just don’t have time for you now, sorry.’
He got dressed and carried Misty into the kitchen to feed both her and himself. A breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast later, he left the house with a last petting of the kitten to go to work. Dean wasn’t up, of course; he’d be sleeping in from now on because of his bouncer job. Just as well, anyway, since it wouldn’t be good for his subsiding erection to have to see that hunk wandering around the house all sleepy and tousled. Dear God, what a thought. His poor libido needed a break, and not having to see Dean in the mornings was the best that he could do.
Dean strolled into the kitchen at noon, yawning and running a hand through his unbound hair. A mewping drew his attention to the grey-and-white feline padding along beside him. He chuckled and leaned down to scoop Misty up and set her on his shoulder. “Hey, baby. Did you get lonely because Daddy was gone and I was sleeping? I’ll try to make it up to you,” he told her, rubbing at her chin. She closed her eyes and went into a blissful purring session, displaying kitty ecstasy over his touches.
“Hmm. If I pet your Daddy like that, think he’ll purr too?” Dean mused aloud.
Misty obviously didn’t care about his question, she only flopped onto his shoulder like a kitty hand towel (she was way too small to be a blanket). He laughed. “You don’t care about your Daddy getting petted, do you sweetheart? Just as long as you get yours,” he chucked her one last time under the chin before he went to raid the fridge for something quick and handy.
He ate a bagel smeared with cream cheese, sharing a bit of it with Misty. She licked it off of his fingers happily as he wandered out into the living room and sat down on the couch. He clicked on the t.v. and surfed through the channels, stretching his bare feet out and setting them on the coffee table. The kitten crawled down his shirt and settled in his lap. He stroked her as he watched an afternoon talk show, letting his brain wake up.
He heard a knock on the front door, which surprised him. He rose to his feet and went to answer it, feeling more than a bit wary. They were in a dangerous situation, after all; a South American drug lord wanted to kill both of them. But when he looked through the peep hole he saw a friendly looking woman standing there holding some kind of Tupperware dish in her hands. Dean’s brows rose, but he swung the door open. “Hello?” he said carefully, still a bit wary. He knew that women could be assassins, too – and better ones, sometimes, because nobody expected them to be killers…
“Hi!” the woman chirped. “I’m Cindy Velhees, I live across the street from you,” she nodded at a pleasant looking red-and-white house across the way. “I just came over to say hello to my new neighbors. I brought you a casserole,” she went on, handing him the Tupperware dish.
“Uhh, thank you,” Dean said, feeling perplexed. The woman had taken in his tattoos and stray piercings, not to mention his long hair, and hadn’t turned a hair. Did biker types move in across from her every day? “I’m Dean Milford.”
“Its so nice to meet you!” she gushed. “I saw you both move in the day before yesterday, but I haven’t had a chance to come over until now. Your husband is nice-looking, too,” she said, making his jaw drop a little. She knew that a gay couple lived here, and she thought that was okay?
“Err…thank you,” he repeated; staring at her like she was some kind of species of alien fungi. “John’s at work right now, or I’d introduce you…”
“That’s all right! Carol and I will come over some other time when you’re both home,” she said cheerily. “If you don’t mind kids, we’ll bring them too. It is amazing to have another same-sex couple living in this neighborhood,” she added happily.
Oh. She was a lesbian. “That would be great,” he said cautiously, not quite meaning it. Her unrelenting cheeriness was a little hard to take. Made him wonder if she were on drugs or something.
“Great! How about Saturday afternoon? We could have a get-acquainted party,” Cindy Velhees said.
He felt more than a trace of horror at the very thought, but he knew that they had to blend into this neighborhood. “I’ll run it by John, but I’m sure that it’ll be okay,” he replied.
“Wonderful!” she beamed. “Oh, you have a kitty!”
Her exclamation coincided with the appearance of Misty, who meowed and wound around Dean’s ankles. He leaned over to scoop her up. “Yeah, her name’s Misty.”
Cindy reached out to pet the kitten. “She’s so cute! We have two kitties, Buster and Peaches. Maybe we could introduce them,” she said as she scritched around the kitten’s ears with her nails.
Visions of kitty tea parties danced through his head, and he had a hard time not laughing hard. “Sure, why not,” he said, his lips quivering a little.
“Okay! I’ll just get going now; I have a cake in the oven. But it was nice to meet you, Dean,” she said. “I’ll see you later!” she waved at him before moving away across the street.
He stared after her in bemusement. So even lesbians could turn into Stepford women? Scary. Dean shook his head as he shut the door behind him. “I don’t know about people, cutie pie,” he told the kitten.
John came home feeling a little less weary and wrung out that night. He’d had an easier time answering to his new name today, and he was starting to settle into his new job too. He stopped by the grocery store to buy some things for dinner and also to get the promised treat for Misty. Then he drove home, feeling as though it might actually be a home now instead of just a strange house. Well, he was starting to feel that way anyway. It would take time for him to settle in and get used to the place. He turned into the drive, getting out of the car and taking the bags of groceries out of the back. He carried them toward the house, awkwardly opening the front door.
The sight that greeted him stopped him in his tracks. His brain tried to implode as his mouth opened and a long string of drool formed there. He stood gaping in the doorway, the bags of groceries forgotten in his hands. Dean was standing in the middle of the living room, having obviously just come from a workout in the home gym. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and sweat glistened on his skin. The pair of sweat pants he was wearing were slightly baggy, but not enough that he couldn’t see the outline of that fine ass under them. Worse still, Dean was chugging a bottle of water, his head tilted back and his throat working. John felt his knees go weak, and something like a breathy moan escaped his mouth before he could stop it.
Dean turned at this sound, his dark grey eyes going almost black when he saw the former teacher standing in the doorway ogling him. “John,” he said throatily, and that rumbling sound almost finished him off altogether. “Welcome home.”
“Uhh…” he said, more of a groan than a coherent sound.
Dean smiled in a shark-like manner, turning around so that the former teacher could see the full glory of his naked, muscular chest. “How was your day?” he asked, still in that same throaty voice that promised sex in its very tones.
He made a gurgling sound, which made Dean’s smile widen. “I met one of our neighbors today,” he said silkily, and it took his brain a moment to process just what the other man was saying.
“Huh? What?” he said, blinking as he came back to reality a bit.
Dean chuckled. “I said I met one of our neighbors today. Would you believe that there’s a lesbian couple living across the street from us. Cindy and Carol. They’re coming over on Saturday to get to know us better.”
John’s mouth opened and closed as his mind fought to start working. It wasn’t easy when Dean was still standing there with his chest all bare and shining with sweat. “That’s good,” he said, not quite knowing what he was saying yet.
Dean grinned. “You might not say that after you meet them,” he murmured. “Anyway, I’ll go catch a shower and get dressed. Did you want to order out for dinner again?”
“Um, no,” he replied. “I thought I’d make dinner tonight. It will be a good way to unwind.”
“All right. See you in a bit,” Dean turned and moved toward the hallway, giving John a last glimpse of his magnificent bronzed back and the ass clad only in the rather loose grey sweats. Then he was gone, and the former teacher returned to reality completely. He shook his head a little to clear it, then carried the bags of groceries slowly into the kitchen.
Misty came to greet him, and he picked her up and petted her before giving her a few of the kitten treats that he’d bought for her. She gobbled them up happily. Then he filled her bowl with kitten food and moistened it before starting to cook dinner. He put in a couple of steaks to broil made some mashed potatoes and vegetables to go with them. A package of biscuits was the last touch. He found it soothing to bustle around making food while Misty ate her kitten food out of her bowl. The only difference from his old life was that he was now cooking for two. And he really liked that fact.
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