Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 16:18:40 -0800 (PST)
From: John Gerald <connectwriter@yahoo.com>
Subject: Connections 16

It was late, almost 10:00 at night, by the time Brad had gotten back from
his interview.  On the way back he had stopped at the Kovar's house to pick
up a CARE package for them from Mike's mom, and this combined with rush
hour traffic and a late interview start meant he was much tardier than he
had hoped.  He had spoken to Mike briefly on the phone, relaying his
initial impression that the interview seemed to have gone well but that he
didn't want to make any predictions.

Before he had met Mike, late evening returns like this meant an exhausted
Brad coming home to an empty apartment, having to fend for himself.  If he
was lucky, he would have had the foresight to prepare something, which he
often did. But many times the cupboard was bare and the welcoming committee
non-existent.

But that was before.  As soon as he walked in the door there was something
warm and tight and firm wrapped around him, before he could even get his
jacket off.  There weren't even words exchanged, just the most incredible
embrace. Being exhausted from long day, he barely had the strength to
return the favor.  Knowing Brad's condition, Mike made sure that his grip
was more than enough for both of them.

Feeling a strong grip to his shoulders, he was then guided to his seat in
the kitchen.  Waiting was a warm, albeit re-heated meal.  No one would
argue that Brad's cooking skills had rubbed off on Mike yet.  In fact, they
seemed to positively avoid him.  But he did learn to at least pay attention
to reheating things properly and the meal before Brad smelled as good as if
he himself had reheated it.  Who says that he wasn't a good mentor?

"Pup, thanks, how'd your day go?  Did you get..."

"Eat, babe!"  I'll tell you soon as you tell me what you want to drink."
Mike ordered.  "As you know, we have a wide selection of tap water and
milk, with a cold beer available after the meal.  Could I take your order
now?"

Taking his cue to eat first, and being completely famished anyway, Brad
dove into the veggie lasagna.  The first big mouthful prevented a quick
answer, but he finally got out a "milk, please" to complete the order.

"OK, but I'll tell you about my day first while you're eating, then tell me
more about the interview.  But you have to keep eating, OK?"  Mike poured
him a tall glass of milk and placed it in front of him on the table.

"No problem there, I'm starving."  Brad took a swig of the milk, then put
the glass down and continued slicing up the lasagna.

"I got a call from GPF.  They want me to come back for a second interview
and meet some other..." As Mike spoke, Brad was swallowing a big bite of the
lasagna but getting out of his chair at the same time.

"Sit!  Finish your meal, babe!  You need to eat, you can give
congratulations later, OK?"  Mike had quickly moved behind Brad, putting
his hands on his shoulders as he gently pushed him back into his chair.

After getting assurances that Brad was back into the eating mode again, he
continued on about the firm.  "They want me to start right after school
ends.  The money isn't' great, less that the big corporate place, but I
don't care.  I'm just really happy to have a chance to work there."

"I feel so lucky that they called today.  There was only one more day left
of my "finessed" answer to that other place. I guess neither was a bad
choice, but I'm really glad this worked out.  Well, at least I'm glad now.
I hope it's the right choice."

Brad put down his fork and wiped stray tomato sauce off of his face.  "Can
I get up now? I'm done.  I've cleaned my plate.  Look!"  Then he gave Mike
his best impish smile, holding his the empty dish out for inspection.

Mike took the plate and examined it closely, putting it up toward the
light, turning it over, rubbing his finger against it, like the white glove
test, totally focused on the plate, until it was Mike's time to feel Brad's
grip, when two strong arms wrapped around his waist.

"Did I pass?"  Brad's cheek rubbed his ear.

"Yes, ummm....."  he was about to continue when be felt a hand on his
crotch.

"Here's that congratulations I wanted to give you."  Brad said.

Gently removing the wandering fingers with one hand, Mike reached back and
scratched the head behind him.

"Thanks, Babe, but tell me more about the interview, first. OK?"

Brad laughed, and, parting with a big lick to Mike's neck, poured himself
more milk and took his seat back at the table.  "Well, it was about as I
expected, in terms of the job description.  Really an administrative job,
helping to check-in people, take care of records, orient wanderers, general
stuff like that.  I might have even have a chance to help out in the
Emergency Room itself."

Gesturing at Brad for a last chance at more lasagna, Mike proceeded to
start cleaning up and putting things away.  "Do you want that?  I mean, do
you think that you can deal with the stuff that goes on in the ER if you
get assigned there?"

"I've thought about that."  He said this with a slight hesitation in his
voice, betraying some doubt that he had.  Jeeze, I've probably thought more
about that than the part of the job that I'm much more likely to do.  I
guess my answer is `I don't know.'  I think it could be really fascinating,
but I hope I don't wimp out when I see blood. But I don't think I will."

Mike was not a stranger to emergency rooms.  Because of his early history
of seizures, he had seen his share of them as he grew up so he knew what
Brad might be in for. And without his partner even saying it, he also knew
that Brad liked to help and take care of people.  Mike had no doubt that if
Brad could deal with the scene that he would be great there.

Brad continued his musing.  "I wonder if there could be other kinds of
problems there, too.  For example what if some hunky doctor tries to take
advantage of me.  I mean, you know, impose himself on me, a young, naïve
college student.  He'd have power over me, you know. I could be helpless."

Mike didn't react.  Getting things ready for tomorrows, dinner, he pulled a
salami out of the refrigerator.  "Did you want to make this for tomorrow,
babe.?"

Taken a little by surprise at Mike's seeming lack of appreciation for his
joke, he just shook his head and acknowledged him. "Yea, sure, that will be
OK."

Make sat back down and placed the flaccid meat on a small plate between
them. Brad just kind of looked at Mike, a bit perplexed as to why Mike had
suddenly focused on tomorrow's dinner and placed the meat onto the table.
He should have left it in the fridge.

"You know, " Mike started, "imagine that this was a guy's penis.  Maybe a
boyfriends penis, for example."  He started to stroke the meat gently as he
continued. "you can treat it real nice, if he's good, but if he's not good,
bad things could happen to it.  Especially if he's not careful."

The light stroking of the meat was becoming rougher, pushing it around the
plate, rolling it tightly between his fingers.  "This would probably be a
bit uncomfortable, no?  Of course, if he's real bad, it could even get a
tad worse."  Mike moved his hand to the end, gently but firmly peeling open
the resistant casing.  "Do you think this would hurt?"  He asked
innocently, but with a sly edge to his voice.

Brad's mouth was getting dry as he stared at the abuse Mike was heaping on
the meat.  "um..." He gave a meek smile. "uh....yeah, uh that would hurt
bad.  I can't even imagine what some guy would do to deserve that
um....uh....well.."

"Think, babe," Mike said as the continued to roughly poke at the meat,
after he had stripped the casing completely off.  "I could never mention
the kind of unspeakable behavior that would lead to this, but I think you
know what I mean."  He looked up at Brad with his most mischievous grin.

"Um...OK...it's a Catholic hospital...maybe I'll only speak to the nuns."

It took a week for the hiring officer to get back to Brad, which was
lightning speed for a bureaucracy like a large hospital, but they finally
offered him the job. The guys were ecstatic -- they had both lined up the
jobs that they wanted for the summer, and were anxious to start a life
together outside of school.  Though the pay wasn't great and they'd have to
be careful about money, they each knew that it was the best situation that
they could have hoped for.

By mid-July, both of the guys were exhausted after a grueling finals week.
For Brad, his transcripts were a critical issue, and he was anxious about
keeping up his grades for law school. As was typical for him, he expressed
guarded confidence but wouldn't speculate about the results until he
actually saw them.

As for Mike, he had shared his hopes for Grad school with a couple of
faculty members who he'd hoped for recommendations from.  He felt some
relief as they generally supported his strategy, that he should focus his
effort on his portfolio of work rather than his grades.  This wasn't to say
he would blow off his grades -- he was just a natural solid student.  He
just didn't put his extra focus there.



During their first weekend living together at the Kovar house, Brad had
decided that Mike needed to go to his first gay club.  Outside of their
friends and activities at school, the guys were a closed system unto
themselves.  It was fuck, sleep, school, gym, study, intramurals (for
Brad,) the woodshop (for Mike,) dinner, more studying, more fucking and
then back to sleep.  Both of the guys had met each other's straight
friends, like Pete and Kate, but except for Todd and one friend of Brad's,
Mike knew no other gay people nor anything of the gay world.

"Pup, you ready?"

Mike was just pulling a yellow tee shirt over his head.  "yea, I think so.
How do I look? Think I can snag anything with this."  He teased Brad.  His
newly developed pecs clearly showed through the fabric.

"Yes, of course.  But remember, they're just for show."  Mike was just
wearing jeans, sneakers and the tee shirt, with his brown hair combed
carefully with a part on the side.  Just standing there he practically had
Brad salivating.  Not able to resist the temptation to playfully `keep his
boy in line,' he reached over and gave a tweak to the right nipple. Mike
giggled as he recoiled from the slightly aggressive touch, but Brad didn't
release him yet.

"OK...yup.  I get the picture. Now let it go or none for you tonight!"  Mike
declared.  Brad reeled his hand in fast.

Primping for these nights out used to be almost a day long affair for Brad.
He liked to work out and get his muscles pumped, especially his chest and
arms; made sure he took a nap so that he could stay awake late and fuss and
fuss over his clothes.  Now, he couldn't care less how he looked, as long
as he looked good for Mike.

Brad knew most of the clubs in town pretty well, but since the Mike era
arrived he had been completely out of circulation.  Making Mike's
sensitivity to flashing lights his primary criteria, he chose a club,
luckily one of the best, which didn't have a fancy light show.

It was a new world for Mike.  He'd never seen so many gays in one place, at
least not in person.  He hardly even knew so many gay guys existed They
came in all shapes and sizes and colors, just like everyone else in the
`real' world, but they were gay!  They're were even a few that he thought
he recognized from high school, or his college, which gave it a bit of a
familiar feel.  Brad watched his boy's amazement.  While Mike was blown
away by just being with other gay people, for Brad it was all too familiar.
He used to just hunt for one night stand sex at these places, but that
seemed like another lifetime ago.  What was really special was being here
with Mike.  And he couldn't be happier.

Brad nodded over at the corner of the lobby as the entered.  "johns over
there.  But enter at your peril. The cruising is the worst in there.  Your
big meat will be very popular."

"I think that my meat, big or not, is already spoken for. But thanks for
the warning."

For the newly initiated Mike, it seemed like one big wild party, and who
wouldn't like that?  Guys were dancing, hugging, kissing, drinking, and
generally carrying on.  A lot of cuties, too, though none could compare to
Brad.

But some things about it were a bit of a rude awakening as to the status of
the gay world.  As large and populated and animated as the crowd was, the
venue itself was really a dive, and in a crummy part of town.  The low
lighting and dark paint was supposed to give the place a cool and trendy
underground atmosphere, but neither could mask what was essentially a wreck
of an old warehouse building, especially to a budding architect like Mike.
It practically screamed `fire trap' to him.  Something seemed unfair about
it.

Straight people had dives, too, but they also had nice places, and Mike
knew that if they were straight Brad would take him to the best place in
town for their first formal night out.  It didn't diminish the fun they
were having, but being the person he was, contrasts like this didn't just
float by, unnoticed.

Looking at the crowd, one other thing struck him about his own feelings in
this new world.  It was that it didn't seem remarkable that it was just
guys.  It seemed like it should have seemed weird and strange but it
didn't.  He had spent practically his whole lifetime doing couples dancing
with Jules, and he thought that he should have found it odd here.  But he
didn't.  It just felt right.

With the volume of the music at dialed up to maximum intensity before aural
damage would result, Brad brought Mike's head close to his face to speak.
"Dance?"

Mike just leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.  "I'd be honored."  He
replied, actually leading the way and pulling Brad out onto the floor.

Though it would have been more like the rest of the crowd to dance apart,
the guys danced together, Mike leaning his head on Brad's shoulder.  The
lights changed only slowly here, and it wasn't a danger for him, so he just
reveled in the deep beat of the music and the embrace of Brad.  Life could
hardly get better.

They started off just holding each other, rocking to the beat of the music,
just lost in each other's arms.  But as the music beat on their intensity
gradually increased.  They kissed and probed and writhed their bodies
together, at first gently, almost flirtatiously.

The action built slowly, gradually. But as the beat progressed they were
like the pokey milk run that becomes the runaway train, the passion took
control as they came to claw at each other with utter abandon, oblivious to
everything around them.  Brad pulled their heads together in almost violent
kisses, while Mike's hands were practically pulling Brad's ass apart.  It
was almost like having sex vertically, Mike thought.  The heat of the other
bodies and thunder of the music was intoxicating to both of them.

At the end of the music, with one last deep tongue kiss, the guys
separated, looking into each others eyes in the dim light. They were both
breathing deeply, the sweat beads dripping from the tip of Brad's nose onto
his half-soaked shirt.  Mike was about to reach up to touch that beautiful
face when suddenly some big guy got roughly in between them.

Momentarily, he was shocked.  Some jerk, he couldn't tell much about him
except that he was pretty well built, was pushing Brad back.  He'd shove
him, then yell, then shove again.

"Oh my God!' Mike thought.  `What is happening?  Who the hell is this guy?'
It reminded him of that first night, back at that company party, only this
time Brad might be the one in trouble.  He was about to grab at the guys
shirtless, sweaty back when he noticed that Brad was laughing and smiling
each time the guy pushed.  And as the reverberations of the loud music were
finally dying down in his ears, he could make out what he was yelling.

"He's not gay,! he's my friend!"  Then a shove.  "How could you think he's
gay.  I only put my tongue half-way down his throat!" the voice said, as
the hands gave Brad another playful shove . Whoever it was obviously being
sarcastic. It was a familiar voice.

Then the big guy turned around to face Mike.  It was Archie, the guy from
that night at the restaurant, the guy who had outed Brad.

"And you! Little Miss Straight Boy!  He shouted at Mike, wagging his
finger, then gave Mike the same mocking treatment..  "I don't put my hands
up the crack of any guys ass.  He has to be special, a gentleman, since I'm
not gay."  Even in the dark, Mike thought that the whole place could see
him blush.

Anxious to put a stop to this public humiliation, Brad put his hand on
Archie's' shoulder as he moved the group off of the dance floor into a more
quiet area. Archie had in the meantime wrapped his arms around Mike's
shoulder, subtly feeling up his muscles in the way lecherous old queens do
when they have naïve, fresh meat at hand.  Brad noticed.

Pulling Arch close as the group cruised off the floor, he calmly spoke
directly into his ear, "If you don't stop fondling him I'm going to break
that arm."  The tone was not harsh, but the message was clear.

Arch just looked back at Brad and smiled as he slowly released the grip on
Mike.  But not without a final squeeze of his newly developed bicep.
"You're pathetic, Brad North."

They guys found a rare empty seating area in a quiet corner and settled
in. But Archie wasn't through with Brad yet.  He turned toward Mike.  "Do
you know that when you went to the john in that restaurant that this big,
predatory queer was staring at your ass?"  Then Arch just sat back in his
chair, letting the thought just sink in.

Mike hardly knew what to see, he just gave a slight laugh.  "I didn't think
about that.  I just had to pee."  He was about to tease Brad, but caught
himself. One thing that his parents had taught him was that a couple might
argue with each other, or tease each other privately, or with close family,
but never embarrass the other in public.  He just blandly acknowledged the
incident for now.  Brad would get his grief later.

"North, I knew you were in trouble that night."  Archie started.  "You
didn't even notice me, the guy who was your conscience in being a good,
decent, law-abiding queer.  I never let you get mixed up with that bad
element.  But here you were, totally gaga over this guy.  And I had never
even met him to give my approval.  Is that the kind of thanks I get?"

"Why do you say that, how could you tell?" Brad said. He thought that he
was being oh-so-subtle that night, that there was no way that anyone could
have possibly known that he was gay.  Or how attracted he was to Mike. No
way.  He was way too clever to betray himself like that, he thought.

"You didn't take your eyes off of him all night."  Arch said blandly,
calling Brad's bluff.  Then, turning to Mike, he said, "and you, too.  The
way that you guys talked and looked and focused on each other. You were in
your own world.  I'd just assumed that you all had been screwing for a long
time.  And to think that you didn't tell me, North!"  he said as he turned
toward Brad.

"Huh. Interesting that you thought that, Arch. Believe it our not, that was
our first time doing something together. And it was just as friends.  And I
wasn't even out to him until you so kindly intervened."

Arch look incredulous and burst out laughing.  "What?  First time out?  Oh
man, my boy. You really are in big trouble!"  He wrapped his arms around
Brad and put him into the big sloppy hug that he gave to all of this good
friends.  Of course, he also took is as an opportunity to cop a feel of
Brad's hard body, too, as he strategically put his big hand on Brad's right
pec to push him away after the release.  Brad just rolled his eyes.  Arch
would always be Arch.

Nonetheless, he did like Archie a lot and wanted to see what he had been up
to, also.  Brad had met him at another dance spot like this two years
before, and they'd hung out together for a while, at least when Brad came
into town to go clubbing.  But they hadn't spoken at all since that
infamous night in the restaurant.

"So Arch, what have you been up to?  What have you been doing with that
sorry ass of yours?  Brad asked playfully.  Mike looked intently at Arch,
also, signaling his own eager interest to know more about him.

He addressed his answer to Mike.  "Just working, you know, the usual stuff.
In case your boyfriend hasn't told you anything about that big queen who
outed him," Arch said as he nudged a smiling Brad, "I'm a lab assistant at
the University here.  I get to work with scientists, which is fun, but also
get to use the gym, where I can cruise the young grad students."  He got a
smile from Mike about this.  "I've been there a couple years, after I
graduated with an education degree."

"Education? And you didn't go into teaching?"  Mike asked.

"Naw.  It was actually going to teach science to junior high kids, but when
I did student teaching I realized that I didn't like being in schools so
much.  The kids were OK, I just didn't like the other teachers.  Especially
the faculty meetings. Yuk," He said with a grin.

"Someone not let you in their pants?  Bitter?"  Brad asked, giving Arch a
raised eyebrow.

"Ha!  I'll have you know that I was the one desperately trying to keeping
my honor in that snake pit, Mr. North.  But I guess you wouldn't know what
her honor means to a girl, would you?"  Arch reached over and made a grab
for Brad's hard stomach, only at the last second being playfully batted
away by a grinning Brad.


As they walked to their car afterwards, Mike's desire to tease Brad melted
away.  The first few times that he had actually done things with Brad he
knew that he got a weird feeling around him, but didn't understand exactly
what it was.  Like Brad, he was completely shocked that he'd been so
obvious that night in the restaurant.  How could he have been?  He didn't
even know that Brad was gay until the very end of the evening!

`Damn, what this guy does to me!' he thought.