Date: Sat, 25 May 2002 16:56:27 +0000
From: Java Biscuit <javabiscuit@hotmail.com>
Subject: Babying Reuben, chapter 14

This is a story involving male/male graphic sex and it's
not intended for reading by minors. If you are underage,
or this type of material is illegal where you live, please
stop now, and go read something else! This is a fantasy
meant only for the purpose of pleasurable reading.

Other stories of mine may now be found in the
authors' index under Java Biscuit.

Feedback, always appreciated:
javabiscuit@hotmail.com


Babying Reuben ~ chapter fourteen

By Biscuit


Spring brought a lot of rain. But it also brought green
buds to the trees lining the sidewalks and Reuben loved
to see that. He loved the lengthening days. Even if the
light was gray when he emerged from school, at least, he
thought, it's light, and the overcast sky made the budding
greenery even more vivid.

On a Friday, near the end of term, he walked through a
mist-like rain toward the train station, wondering how
late Jean would be busy in the shop. Spring had brought
changes there too. The approaching tourist season in
the river front town meant he was busier, and the weekend
forays on buying trips were more of a necessity now than
a leisurely jaunt through the countryside.

"Reuben!" a laughing voice hailed him. He looked around
to see Benny hanging out the door of the cafe he'd just
passed. "You just sailed by," Benny said, "I was waving
at you like crazy. Come on, I'll buy you a coffee."

He hesitated for a second, seeing Marcel through the cafe
window. Marcel was the main reason he always passed the
place without stopping, even when he'd have liked the spark
of a cup of coffee to counteract the stupor of sleepy end of
the day classes.

So what, he thought, so it's Marcel. He hadn't seen Benny
in a long time and the boy's sunny smile was beckoning.

Benny led him through the maze of small tables crowded
with a blend of art students and shoppers, back packs and
shopping bags dotting the cafe floor.

Marcel was ensconced at the same corner table he always
favored, by the window. Reuben was aware that Benny
knew Marcel but still it surprised him to find them hanging
out together. The blond gave him an ironic look as they
approached, and Reuben wondered if it was such a good
idea, after all, to join them. But Marcel offered him a tight
smile and Reuben returned it.

"Nice to see you," Marcel said. Reuben didn't believe he
meant it but was relieved that he was going to at least
pretend to be friendly.

"You too," he said, about as sincerely.

"So," Benny said, unloading a small tray with three
frothy lattes. "Guess what, baby -- Marcel's going to fix
me up with somebody and I'm going to get fabulously
rich. Maybe even lucky, like you, and find a guy to take
care of me."

Is that what they think? Reuben wondered.

"Jean doesn't just take care of me," he said. Did they
honestly think he was with Jean for money?

"It's not an insult, baby," said Benny. "I'd give my right
arm to find somebody like him. Good looking, wealthy,
and he's so crazy about you. That's all I meant."

"God forbid you should imply he's a whore," Marcel
said, lifting his coffee, giving Reuben only a brief flash
of a glance.

The boy's voice was quiet but Reuben glanced around
quickly. Nobody at the adjoining tables seemed to be
paying them any attention. The cafe hummed with talk
and the rattle of cutlery.

"I just meant," Reuben said, "that it's not about money."

"I know sweetie," said Benny, "but I need some. I'm
making almost nothing at the shop where I work and for
me, I'm afraid it is about money. On the other hand, like
I said, I could get lucky and meet a nice guy."

He didn't like the thought of Benny getting involved with
Marcel's men, but felt it was none of his business. He
doubted very much that Benny would meet anyone like
Jean. There was no one like him and that he'd met him
through Marcel was, in his mind, just chance.

"So, as I was saying," Marcel broke in, "Dennis comes
here on business a few times a month. He'll be here this
Wednesday. Pretty straight forward, really. You'll meet
him at his hotel and if he likes you -- which he will -- you
spend the night and that's it. Of course, he'll think you're
seventeen, so don't say you're not."

"I can do seventeen, " Benny said, and Reuben felt him
nudge him with his knee under the table. "What do you
think, baby, can I get away with it?"

"Sure, but, you really want to do that? I thought you were
seeing Daniel again."

"I am, but it's not, you know, not serious. Daniel can't be
serious. And I don't want to be. He's not like Jean anyway,
Reuben. He doesn't get that look in his eyes when anyone
talks to me like Jean does around you. I'm surprised he lets
you out of the house without an armed guard," he teased.

Reuben felt Benny's hand on his knee, it stroked a little
ways up his thigh and pinched, sending a scurry of vague
pleasure up his leg to his crotch. He might have said or
done something to discourage Benny but the boy's hand
was gone quickly.

"I don't need an armed guard," said Reuben. "It's Jean
who needs one." As soon as he said it he wasn't sure that
he should have. Both Marcel and Benny were looking at
him expectantly.

"Who do you think Jean's looking at?" asked Marcel.

"It's not who he's looking at," Reuben sighed. "It's who's
looking at him."

"So they look, big deal," Marcel said. Reuben thought he
sounded disappointed.

"Believe me," said Benny, "Jean isn't interested in any
other guys, Reuben."

"I don't think he is," Reuben insisted, "but I think other
guys are interested in him -- like David."

"Oh that," said Marcel. "Old news. David just can't
resist trying. It's never worked for them. Every once in
a while David snags him but it doesn't mean anything. I
had the two of them together once."

Reuben's stomach lurched almost painfully. Marcel was
eyeing him and he made himself pick up his coffee as
casually as he could. Marcel's narrowed gaze was sharp
and speculative.

Benny's knee knocked him again under the table and he
looked up to see him smile.

"That's really ancient history," Benny assured him.

"I wasn't implying anything else," Marcel said. "I'm just
pointing out how David operates. He acted like he was
after me, but I got the feeling that it was Jean he really
was after -- when we got right down to it."

It struck Reuben as so true. Much as he hated to hear of
Marcel with his lover, he wanted to know more.

"What made you think so?" he asked, and could see Marcel
warm to the subject with encouragement. Leaning slightly
forward, the guarded look in his eyes gave way to pleasure
in telling a story. Reuben saw Marcel once again as the
irresistibly handsome boy he'd first been befriended by
at school. This was the way it had been with them, Marcel
dazzling him with stories in this cafe. Intriguing, exciting.
His descriptions of Jean had finally seduced Reuben to meet
with the man.

"Jean took me the The Raven for the Black Party. David
was there alone and he was at me constantly. I thought it
was weird because I'd been with him before. He was okay
but he was tight-fisted. He's got more money than Jean, but
he's the type that's insulted by paying for it. I liked him all
right, but not enough to wait for him to get more generous
down the line. Jean was much easier. He didn't have the ego
thing going that David did. He knew I needed money and he
gave it to me. With David that night, I figured he was
thinking he'd get a free ride. If Jean was paying, he didn't
have to. I said as much to him when Jean left us to get drinks.
I was shocked when he actually opened his wallet and waved
a few bills under my nose. He said it was mine if I convinced
Jean to do a threesome. I asked Jean to do it as a favor and
told him how much money David had offered me. God,
Jean was sweet. He agreed to it and I was in heaven, thinking
I was going home with the hottest guys in the place and
getting paid for it."

"But what David was paying for," Reuben cut in, "was Jean,
wasn't it."

He didn't want to hear any more of the story, afraid of the
outcome. Both of the others were looking at him.

"Basically," Marcel agreed. "That's what it came down to.
I could tell Jean was focused on me but David wasn't, not
really. I mean he was touching me, and acting like he wanted
to, you know. But then he was holding me for Jean, offering
me to him and when Jean was inside me, David fucked him."

"Oh God," Reuben groaned, beyond hiding how it made
him feel.

"Baby, don't," Benny said, reaching for Reuben's hand on
the table. "It doesn't mean anything. Jean doesn't want David,
he wants you."

"How can you be so sure," Reuben said, misery choking him.
"He never turns David away."

"They're friends," Benny said.

Reuben pulled his hand away, looking down into his coffee.

"They've been friends forever," he said. "No one comes
between them. And David's a man. What if Jean knew what
would happen that time you were with them. What if he
secretly wants that. David could give him so much that I
can't."

He felt sick. He hated for them to see his anguish, especially
Marcel whom he suspected enjoyed the pain that his story had
caused. But when he looked up he found that Marcel was
looking at him with sympathy, not spite.

"Reuben," he said, "we haven't been the best of friends. You
know I was jealous of you and Jean. I thought I could keep
Jean a little longer by giving you to him but I lost him, and
you at the same time." His gaze was level and open and Reuben
was shocked at the candid admission. He'd been in such turmoil
when things had started with Jean. Ashamed, excited. It never
occurred to him that Marcel was hurt by the loss of him as a
friend. Marcel was so flippant and dismissive it didn't seem to
Reuben like he meant much to him one way or another. He
didn't know what to say to Marcel now, but the boy went on.

"I have to agree with Benny," Marcel said. "You're looking
at this the wrong way. If David was what Jean wanted in a
partner, he'd be with him. He's not. He's with you." Marcel
sighed. "And that is the last time I reassure the luckiest boy
I know," he said, recovering his edge. "So don't be looking
for a shoulder to cry on here. You're torturing yourself for
nothing and I won't put up with it. Now drink your coffee
and lord it over us like you should be, that Jean worships the
ground you walk on."

Reuben wished he felt as certain as they did. He left the cafe
with a weight of worry about Jean but feeling better about
Marcel. That was something, he thought. He was ready to
have the boy as a friend; the ease of tension between them,
a relief. Reuben admitted that he'd distanced himself from
him, not just because of Jean, but because Marcel was so open
about being gay. He felt more at ease with himself now, he
realized, and it didn't seem so important that people at school
not associate him with Marcel.

Friends are important, he thought, gazing at Benny who'd
gotten onto the train with him, headed in the same direction
that Reuben was. In the crowded car they stood close to each
other, hands on the same pole.

"Want to come over?" Reuben asked on impulse. They were
nearing his stop. "Have dinner with me and Jean?" Benny's
face brightened and Reuben was glad he'd asked.

"Maybe a quick drink, anyway," Benny said. "I should call
Daniel."

Happy to have Benny's company and cheered by the light in
the sky, Reuben's spirits lifted as they walked toward the shop.
Definitely, Reuben thought, it's good to have friends, chiding
himself for relying on Jean for too much.

"Shop's still open," Benny said as they reached it. Jean was
talking to a pair of men who were looking at a small desk.
"Should we go in?" he asked Reuben.

With Benny in tow it wasn't as disappointing to find Jean still
working. He hesitated to go in, gazing through the window for
a moment. He longed to go in. He wanted Jean to see him and
acknowledge him, but didn't want to interrupt a sale. The urge
to go in echoed homecomings from school as a child. He'd been
well trained not to make a fuss in the shop when his mother and
father were working.

"No," Reuben said, "we'll go in the other way. He's busy."


-----------------


Jean saw Reuben and Benny just as they walked away from the
front of the shop. He was disappointed that they hadn't come
in but the small thread of concern he'd felt that it was past the
time when the boy usually got home from school, was quieted.

Benny and Reuben. He wondered where they'd met up as he
closed up the shop, glancing at the empty space left by the
sale of the small desk. I'll deal with it tomorrow, he thought,
wanting to get upstairs to see Reuben. He felt a momentary
annoyance that Benny was with him, but put the thought aside
as unreasonable. Really, it was good for Reuben to be spending
time with a friend, he told himself. Selfish to want to keep him
to himself every hour of the day. Still, he'd have liked to go
upstairs and be spoiled as ever by how eager Reuben was to be
made love to on a Friday afternoon.

Ah. well, he thought, later, and wondered again where the boys
had met up with each other. Benny and Reuben; an image teased
him of Benny trying to seduce his young lover. It sent a small
current of warmth to his groin. He wasn't sure if there was any
interest on Reuben's part but that Benny wanted it was certain.
Maybe, Jean thought as he climbed the stairs to the apartment, it
would be good to encourage it. That Reuben was getting more
aggressive in bed was undeniable. Jean liked it, and yet he was
far from comfortable with the notion of being topped by Reuben.
By anyone. 'You're some kind of control freak,' David had once
said. Maybe so, he'd admitted, but pointed out it was pretty much
the pot calling the kettle black, between him and David.

Benny, on the other hand, he was sure, would be more than
happy to let the young painter fuck him. Jean cautioned himself
not to get carried away, feeling his dick stirring, knowing he
might just be looking for an excuse to get his hands on Reuben
sooner rather than later by indulging in thinking about the two
boys together.