JOHN DARLING'S COMA
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
John's kind of giddy about that great fuck Gary laid on his ass fifteen minutes ago, and now Gary's suggestion that they take a bath together has John grinning from ear to ear, muttering, "Seriously? Yeah, sure."
Gary wouldn't have considered bathing with a boyfriend before hooking up with John Darling, and Gary was never as demonstrative about his feelings before John either. So, those two factors, combined with the missing thirty pounds of fat, result in a new and improved version of Gary Thomas. And the thing is, John was already infatuated with Gary before the new and improved version of him.
In the bathroom, John sees an unusually large bathtub and thinks, "That'll work."
Then, as Gary turns the water on, John stares at his thirty-pound-lighter boyfriend. Jesus, it's astonishing how much sexier Gary is now that he's thirty pounds lighter. The thought of thirty pounds of Gary just evaporating is hard to visualize, but the end result is impressive. John wants to embrace Gary and rub all over his slimmer body but knows better. Gary's being sweeter and more affectionate than ever before, so John doesn't want to do anything that might upset the apple cart, whatever the hell that has to do with anything.
Almost tongue-tied as to what to say, John mumbled, "Now that you're slimmer than me, if you ever decide to shave your short beard and expose your handsome face, you'll be so hot, I'll no longer be good enough for you. You'll dump me and replace me with a better boyfriend."
Grinning, Gary says, "Yeah, that's what I'd do alright, except there is no better boyfriend than you. As fabulously gorgeous as I'd be if I shaved every day, I'd still be stuck with you because there is no one better."
They're both as naked as the day they were born but with bigger penises. Gary's penis is on the short side, but even in its current flaccid state, it is absurdly fat, poking out of Gary's stiff pitch-black pubic hair. Finally, getting a good, detailed look at Gary's naked body, John can see it is still a little flabby but nothing like before. Gary wants to lose ten more pounds and then keep exercising and running to tighten his body into something that's even sexier.
John's opinion about a man's hairy chest has changed, and he now thinks Gary's dark chest hair is macho-sexy. And there is a new John Darling to look at, as well. John is no longer skinny. He now has a noticeable bulge around his waist that, if he does enough sit-ups, will hopefully turn into a six-pack belly. Right now, though, Gary considers John's pinkish/white, hairless, long-legged body to be lick-able.
Another change over the past couple of weeks: John's light blond hair looks goofy after being raggedly cut by two amateurs. The hair is short here and long in other places, like over his ears. Gary's pitch-black hair is evenly cut but is now too long for a flattop hairstyle, so he combs it over with a part on the left and a silly little pompadour in front.
Grinning, feeling happier than he's been since his last day with Gary, John says, "Aw, come on, Gary! You're not supposed to agree with me that I'd be unworthy of you."
Leaning over, putting his fingers in the bathtub's water to see how hot it is, Gary grins and says, "What are you complaining about now, pretty boy? Didn't you hear me say that there is no better boyfriend in the world than you?" He stands and adds, "C'mon over her," and John steps into Gary's arms, muttering, "You didn't mention the world." Gary snickers, and they're immediately into another sizzling hot make out, Gary's cum continuing to slowly run down the back of John's legs as the water level keeps rising in the bathtub.
Both their dicks get hard as Gary moves his mouth away, dragging their mixed saliva across John's cheek. Gary murmurs, "The way you make me feel can't be real," and he squeezes his arms tightly around John, who gets emotional, feeling his eyes stinging as he murmurs, "Yes, it can. It's real Gary," and he kisses Gary and sucks on his tongue.
Gary mutters, "Turn around, baby," and when John does that, Gary wraps his arms around John's chest and makes a gasping wet sound pushing his boner's head against John's anus. John's asshole hasn't had a chance to fully close from the fuck fifteen minutes ago. There's leftover jelly in John's rectum, plus a little of Gary's cum that hasn't run down the back of John's legs yet, so there is enough lubricant...
Both guys standing, John hunching down slightly to accommodate Gary being two to three-inch shorter, John groans, "Ahh, ow..." as Gary's fatty boner tightly slides inside John's asshole, then, "Ooh, that hurt a little, Gary... ahh, ahh, no, don't stop." One last thrust and Gary's crotch is tight against John's buttocks. John goes, "Oh, umm, yeah... feels good now, boyfriend..."
Gary grunts, pleasure sensations spreading out from the head of his boner until he gasps, "Oooh, God..." and starts thrusting two to three-inch fast hard thrusts, ''Slap, slap, slap," and, "Ah, ah, ah," from John as he pushes his ass back into Gary thrusts. It's hot in the bathroom, the hot water still running into the tub as Gary fucks John in a frenzy, sweat forming between their bodies, Gary's arms tight around John's chest, his face against the back of John's head, John's hands back, each one squeezing one of Gary's recently noticeably firmer butt cheeks.
John and Gary are so tightly together it's almost as if they're one entity fucking itself. Gary's much slimmer hips are smoothly firing back and forth like a piston hammering its rod in and out of the receptive, albeit very tight, opening, causing pleasure in both the rod and the very tight opening known as a rectum. It's a pleasure that can't be described other than to say there's an ecstasy sensation in both participants.
John's second climax in the last twenty minutes or so has been building to a crescendo of sexual pleasure, and then it blows, and John squeals like his dick got caught in a pickle slicer as he's blowing out a river of cum that, in fact, was less than an ounce of watery something that felt only like a river of cum. John's squeal startled Gary, although he should be used to it by now. His eyes were tightly closed, his face next to John's, slamming his fire-hydrant-boner inside John's rectum, then leaving it there, filling John's bowels with a pint of cum that was actually less than an ounce but felt like a pint coming out.
Both guys are staggering one foot to the right and then a foot to the left, each step slushing in hot water. His eyes blinking, Gary reluctantly takes his arms from around John, pulls his softening fire-hydrant-sized-cock from John's ass, and, looking down, sees a half inch of water on the bathroom floor, the water still pouring out the bathtub's faucet and over the rim of the bathtub. "What the fuck...?" he gasped.
John goes, "Oh, shit," and turns the water off, muttering, "It's hot!" stepping from one foot to the other. Gary is doing the dance, too, as he grabs thick cotton bathrobes off coat hangers and drops them on the floor, soaking up the hot water. He says, "Pull the plug, Johnny. We'll, um, get the bathroom dried out or whatever and take a bath later."
When the water in the tub drains enough, they drop the two soaked bathrobes in the tub and wipe the floor with big, fluffy towels that also go into the tub. Gary mutters, "Throw that little rug in the tub, too, pretty boy." Then, shrugging, Gary says, "Shit, we're sweaty, and you've got cum all over you. Ah, Jesus, we're a mess.
Gary nods toward the bedroom, "C'mon. We'll let everything drain out in the tub. Then start over." John follows Gary to the bedroom, whining, "How can we take a bath when there are no towels left?"
"Um, good point. I'm sorry, Johnny; it's my fault, and I'm going to take care of it. Put some clothes on. There, the clothes you had on before we got all sexy."
They both start getting dressed even though they're sweaty, and John has cum on his legs and ass. "Why are we getting dressed, Gary?"
"Because I'm calling housekeeping and telling them what happened. You know, confessing we got an emergency business call, and stupidly, you left the water running in the tub."
Nodding, "Oh, yeah! That's exactly what happened, alright. Stupid me."
Gary's chuckling as he dials housekeeping on the hotel room's phone. John's impressed with how well Gary's handling this disaster. No problem, a few lies, and they'll get new towels, new bathrobes, and even a new little bathroom mat to step on when getting out of the tub.
John stands close to Gary, who's sitting on the desk chair, lying his ass off, blaming everything on his little brother, who's autistic. Gary's grinning and saying to the housekeeping person, "I'm so sorry for causing this problem for you, but as I said, I was on the phone talking business, and blab, blah, blab, and God bless him; he tries his best, but him being autistic and all... huh, what'd you say? Oh, that would be wonderful. Thank you so much."
He hangs up smiling, "They'll send somebody right up with clean, dry, um, everything. Plus, they'll take away all the soaking wet stuff in the tub. When the person gets here, you need to act autistic."
John gets mad, "Hey, don't make fun of that! It's serious for some people. Have some compassion!"
Gary frowned and stood, putting an arm around John. "Okay. Jesus! I didn't mean anything by it. I just thought I had to have some reason you let the tub overflow. Who do you know who's autistic?"
"Me. I probably am... a little bit, at least. There are all levels of autism, ya know. Don't you know anything?"
Gary's like, "Jeez, I'm sorry! I already told you that, and..." The knock on the door cuts off what Gary was saying. He walks to the door, mumbling, "Don't lay that guilt trip on me, alright? Goddammit, now you've made me feel awful."
Opening the door, they see a heavy-set woman who appears to be Hispanic. She has a cart with her that she backs into the room with, quietly mumbling, "Sorry, please excuse. Here for a plumbing problem."
Without looking at them or saying more, she takes six towels, washcloths, a bath mat, and two fluffy cotton bathrobes from the cart. Putting them in the closet, then, keeping her head down, she goes into the bathroom and puts all the soggy items from the tub into the cart. Taking a mop from the cart, she mops the floor, ringing it out in the toilet, then mops some more and rings the mop out again. After flushing the toilet, she puts the mop in the cart and backs out of the bathroom with the cart, mumbling, "The bath works okay, so you can use..."
Gary says, "Um, it was an oversight leaving the water running," and he gives her a twenty-dollar bill, muttering, "Thank you very much." John says, "Wait a second," and he gives her another twenty dollars, muttering, "Thanks."
She never makes eye contact; still looking down and nodding, she quietly says, "Si, un-huh. Gracias..." and, with the two twenty-dollar bills in her hand around the cart's handle, she backs out of the room, pulling the cart. John ran over to hold the door for her, saying again, "Thank you so much."
The door closes, and Gary says, "She probably is a little autistic, don't ya think, Johnny?"
John's getting all the clean bathroom items from the closet, "I don't know, Gary," and, with his arms full, asks Gary, "Are you going to help me?"
Gary takes the two robes and the bath mat, and they go into the bathroom. Gary says, "Look, don't be mad at me for mentioning autism, okay? I didn't say anything wrong. Or did I step on some politically correct shit?"
"No, I guess not. I don't know what got into me. I don't even remember what started this. Seriously. I shouldn't have said anything. It ruined the wonderful mood you were in. What I should have done is I should have told you how stupendous those fucks were that you gave me. They were awesome, Gary!"
John goes over and leans against Gary, who automatically puts his arms around him, pinning John's arms to his sides. Kissing the side of John's face, Gary says, "I think it's honorable that you stood up for autistic people, but do you really think you're autistic?"
"I've often wondered, but I've never been diagnosed or anything. I probably am, um, a little bit. Ah, would you drop me if I am?"
"No! I'm never dropping you, Darling. You'll need to dump me if you don't want to be my boyfriend anymore because I'm never dropping you. You're way too good for me, and I'll never be able to attract anyone half as pretty as you."
"That's so not true!"
With sweat running off his forehead, they kiss, Gary says, "How about if we start the bath idea again from the beginning? I'll do it right this time."
"You're my leader, Gary. I wanna do what you wanna do."
Gary glances at his wristwatch and mutters, "Are you okay eating dinner at eight o'clock or so?"
"Yep, I had two lunches today, so I'm good until eight o'clock, but not too much later. I've developed quite an appetite."
Grinning and rubbing John's head, Gary says, "Goddamn, two lunches, huh? We're going to put you on a diet, Darling," and Gary hugs John, murmuring, "Damn, what have you done to me, Darling? I can't keep my hands off you! Jesus, you've got me wrapped around your little finger already."
"That's not even close to what the situation is. For reasons unknown, Gary, as we've both admitted, we're deeply infatuated with one another, and all I know is I only want to be with you and do what you say."
Gary laughs, "Oh, sure. Okay, let's pretend the disaster in the bathroom never happened. Get these sweaty clothes off for good this time, and I'll go in the bathroom to start running water for our bath. Is that okay with you?"
"You know it is, boss!"
Making a face and rolling his eyes again, Gary lets go of John, and they undress, looking at one another, trying to out-smirk the other; then they walk into the shiny and clean-looking bathroom. Gary turns on the bathtub water, saying, "Check the complimentary toiletry items in that plastic bag. Yesterday, the maid gave me extra stuff because I told her I had a special friend staying with me. Of course, I tipped her ten bucks every other day since I've been here, so she was happy to stick toiletry items in that bag."
Looking in the bag, John mutters, "She must have assumed you're expecting a special female friend as there's a tube of bubble bath, and," he picks up and reads the labels on small tubes and bottles, "Moisturizer, eye cream, hairspray, mascara, nail polish, and three other women's makeup shit, plus the normal shampoo, soap, and so forth you usually find in hotel rooms."
Gary nods and holds his hand out, "Give me the bubble bath and put the soap and shampoo on the bathtub shelf. I'm going to bathe you in a bubble bath and treat you like the prince you are, Darling. For the rest of your life, I'm going to treat you like royalty."
John mutters, "Well, it's only right that you do stuff like that for me," and Gary smacks John's ass, saying, "And bring over a couple of those nice thick fluffy towels that the nice autistic lady brought up for us."
"HEY! Don't say shit like that! What's wrong with you?" and they chuckle, John saying, "We're terrible."
Gary smacks John's bare ass again, saying, "Get in the tub now," and as John steps over the rim of the tub, he mutters, "Royalty such as myself does not get their ass smacked!"
The tub is half full of very warm water and getting deeper, and with this much water, the bubble bath has little effect. Gary mutters, "Shitty bubble bath," and gets in the tub behind John, facing the end with the faucet, the water still pouring out. He says, "We'll sit down, you sitting between my legs and lying back on my chest so I can protect you if an emergency happens; this way, we'll know when to turn off the water so it doesn't overflow again. It would be awkward if that happened, and we called housekeeping, and they sent the autis..."
"Gary! Don't say it!"
They're slowly sitting down in the water, saying, "Ow, it's hot!" Then, John sat in front of Gary and stretched his legs out until his feet touched the other end of the tub, with his knees out of the water. Gary murmurs, "Lean over and turn off the spigots, Darling; the water is almost at the rim with us sitting in it."
John does that and then lies back against Gary's chest and sighs, "Nice..." Gary's arms go around John, and John lies his head back on Gary's shoulder. They're quiet for a while until John all of a sudden senses Gary's body become slack, so he tries turning to see Gary, saying, "Gary, are you...? and Gary says, "Holy shit! I fell asleep. That's what you do to me. You make me so relaxed, feeling so good I doze off."
"Sure, that, plus the fact you've been awake since five o'clock this morning."
Gary murmurs, "We cannot get drunk or high tonight, Darling. In a weakened condition like that, I might be tempted to tell you embarrassing things about how much I've missed you, how special I think you are, and how lucky I was to meet you. The first second I met you, I felt electricity buzzing between us, and you weren't even looking at me. When I saw your big blue eyes, I almost came in my pants."
"You hid your feelings admirably."
"Well, yeah, I'm not a dork, for Christ's sake. And here's another thing: I'd never cared before that I was overweight, that I was fat until that moment of electricity, and I knew I needed to lose weight to have a chance of winning you."
"What?" John strains his neck, turning his head to see if Gary is smirking and joking. "Are you breaking my balls, Gary?"
Gary sighs, then asks, "And what part of what I just confessed to you sounded as if was breaking your balls? Huh?"
John's rustling around, the water forming waves that almost go over the edge of the tub as he completely turned around, facing Gary, sitting on Gary's thighs, John's knees up and out of the water on either side of Gary, who sputters, "What the fuck, Darling?"
John's arms go around Gary's neck, pulling his head forward so John can kiss his mouth. John then murmurs, "That was the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me, um, about me."
Squinting his eyes, Gary grins, "That's hard to believe. I would have imagined you'd hear someone gushing over you every couple of days. I love everything about you, and I cannot believe that nurse of yours so easily gave you up for redheaded, freckles aplenty, Dickie Marshall. Sure, Dickie was your best bud when you were kids, and he was my boyfriend for a few months, but as a boyfriend, Dickie isn't in the same stratosphere as you, my cuter-than-fuck new boyfriend."
Nodding, emotional tears forming, John murmurs, "Thank you, Gary. That is so sweet and special. I love you too."
"Um, not to put too fine a point on it, Darling, but I didn't say I was in love with you. I said I love everything about you, which I do. And, anyway, I don't want to cheat us out of the fun of maybe falling in love."
John asks, "Don't you care that you've almost made me cry?"
"I'm trying to ignore that, Johnny, hoping you'll get over it. I've been reminded about all the tough things you've been through by your best buddy and/or your nurse-slash-ex-boyfriend about ten times. Every time I've been critical of anything you do, one or the other of your bodyguards jumps down my throat about your accident, coma, amnesia, etc., etc."
John's trying not to smile, so he drops his head, his forehead on Gary's shoulder, smiling and murmuring, "I didn't notice Andy or Dickie doing that. Um, could you return to that speech about how you love everything about me?"
Andy snickers, "Well, I did say everything, but that's not totally true. You're a little chubbier than I normally like in a boyfriend, and you've got a shitty haircut, and, let's face it, you cry all the time like a cunt... just saying."
"What? I don't cry like a cunt! The other things can be fixed, and then we can move forward on the business of falling in love."
"Let go of me, Darling, and dip your head underwater, getting your hair wet. I'll shampoo your poorly cut, albeit beautiful, pale blond hair for you. You know it's not fair that you should be so pretty AND have beautiful hair."
John shows his perfect white teeth and says, "Plus, I've got perfect teeth. I've never been to the dentist for anything except for a cleaning, and the hygienists always say, 'Hey, your teeth are already perfectly clean and so white the glare hurts my eyes."
"That's nice bullshit, pretty boy. Now, duck your head under the water as I told you to do, or I'll do it for you."
Taking his arms from around Gary's neck, John does what he's told, coming up with water pouring off his head, his eyes tightly shut. Gary squeezes shampoo on John's head from a tube of women's shampoo, Paul Mitchell. At least he thinks that's a woman's shampoo, but what difference does it make if it isn't? Gary grins as he looks at John's cute face, his eyes still tightly closed as Gary's fingers run through John's hair, shampooing it and massaging his scalp.
Gary roughly justles John's head, massaging and shampooing at the same time, continuing to stare at John's face. He smiles as he pulls John's head over and kisses his mouth, then murmurs, "Put your head under water, Darling, and move it around, rinsing out the lady's shampoo, then turn back around, facing the other end of the tub."
Doing all that caused waves of bath water that almost went over the side of the tub but didn't. John lies back against Gary's chest and mumbles, "I get a hard-on when bossed around by you. It's so sexy being with you, Gary."
Gary hugs and kisses the side of John's neck, chuckling and pretending to boss John around, telling him to do this and that, all kinds of crazy things, which John ignores. They goof off like that for fifteen minutes without getting anything done bathing-wise except the shampoo. "Pull the plug on the tub's drain, Darling. We'll finish by taking a shower... baths blow."
When most of the water was drained from the tub, they stood; John closed the shower curtain and turned on the shower. Bumping against one another on purpose, they wash themselves and then rinse off really well, hugging one another but not talking. Finally, after rinsing off under the shower head for three or four times longer than necessary, Gary mumbled, "If we're not rinsed off sufficiently by now, fuck it. Turn off the water, pretty boy."
Stepping out of the tub, John shows Gary his fingers, "Look at my fingertips; they're wrinkly."
"Yeah, your nervous system instructs your blood vessels to shrink, which sometimes happens when being in water too long."
Grabbing one of the big fluffy towels, John mutters, "Gee, you know everything, Daddy."
John grins, "You're a lot of fun, Darling. Your cute 'toddler-act' is growing on me."
"Fuck that, Gary! I'm not acting like a toddler! I just mentioned my fucked-up fingertips, for Christ's sake..."
"Haha, we argue all the time, Darling. How will we ever fall in love if we're always arguing?"
John roughly rubs his head with the towel, muttering, "It's you who causes us to argue. I only mention something when something needs to be mentioned. I don't start anything." Dried and feeling good after the time in the water with Gary, John smiles and adds, "It's fun arguing with you, though, because you don't care if you win or lose the argument, so I swoop in and win each one."
Dropping the towel he used to dry himself with, Gary mutters, "I'm so sorry, but I wasn't listening to that. I was thinking about where we should eat and decided we'll eat here if that's okay with you."
John grinned and muttered, "Liar; you heard me. Um, by eating 'here,' did you mean our hotel room?"
"No, the restaurant's dining room. I've eaten there a few times, using room service the other nights, and it was okay. Not great and not horrible."
John takes Gary's hand and pulls it, getting Gary to put his arm across John's shoulders. John's arm going around Gary's waist at the back... all the way around to the other side. It was the first time his hand had ever reached the other side. He asked, "What's your waist now, Gary?"
"Thirty-two. I need new jeans, pants, underpants, everything."
"Oh, fuck! That's so cool. I also had to buy new pants because I jumped from a size thirty waist to a thirty-two like you. Omigod, we can wear each other's underpants."
Walking out of the bathroom, Gary laughs and says, "Didn't we already do that once, even though the sizes were wrong?"
Shrugging, "Maybe, Gary, but whatever, the sizes are right now. This is so cool. You're so cool!"
John insists that Gary wear one of the new khakis he bought yesterday, and he wears the new jeans he bought. He puts on Gary's black t-shirt that's too big, but he wears it anyway with a long-sleeved Polo pullover on top of it, saying, "I've been dressing preppy as hell lately. What do you think about that?"
Gary says, "I need to roll up the pant legs, Johnny. I'd rather wear my own jeans and pull the belt tight. I'll wear a sweater to hide the overlapping part of the waist." As he takes off John's new khakis, he mumbles, "And I'm not sure what you mean by preppy. That's something from our grandparents' generation. Something about Ivy League colleges, right?"
"Oh, come on, Gary! You don't know what preppy means? Seriously?" and they argue about what preppy is going down in the elevator to the lobby, where the entrance to the restaurant is. Walking up to the reception desk at eight-twenty, Gary says, "Table for two," and they get seated by a bored-acting woman about Gary's age.
She dropped two menus on the table for two, mumbling, "Enjoy..." and walked off.
John mutters, "Classy bitch," and Gary asks, "Was she preppy?" c "Um, definitely. Ah..." Remembering the Manhattan he had at Aunt Sonny's and Paul's apartment, he says, "Manhattan on the rocks."
Gary mutters, "That sounds good. I'll have that, too."
What do you think the waitress says next? Looking at John, "Do you have an ID, honey? Sorry to ask, but if I don't, I'll get fired."
John already had his wallet out. He shows the waitress his driver's license, and she smiles, "Oh my goodness, what a wonderful picture, John Darling Junior! It's very rare to see good driver's license pictures. Haha, this is, um..." Gary asks, "Do you need ID from me, too? I'm almost twenty-five."
Ignoring Gary as if she didn't hear him, she still looked at John's license and said, "Wow, you are so good-looking, John. I can't believe you're twenty-two, though. Your birthday was yesterday, and that's close enough to qualify for a free dessert."
John's excited, "Seriously? I hope it's cake."
The waitress is no longer interested in Gary, so he puts his wallet back as Tina looks at John's license again. She goes, "Wow," and hands the license back to him, saying, "The prime rib is awesome tonight. Just a suggestion, but you really should try it. In the meantime, two Manhattans coming up."
John nods and smiles, saying, "Thank you, Tina..." and she grins back at John and saunters away, no longer tired-looking.
Shaking his head, Gary says, "That was disgusting. It's so unfair and unprofessional the way she ignored me just because you're so good-looking." Then he does an exaggerated mimic of John, "I hope it's cake."
"Well, I do hope it's cake. White cake with white icing. I love that, um, with sprinkles."
Gary says, "I suppose you're getting the prime rib, too."
"Yep, that's exactly what I'm getting. Tina recommended it."
Gary mimics again, "Tina recommended it... Oh, God!"
John's grinning, watching Tina bring the drinks and set them on the table. She says to John, "No offense, but your gorgeous hair needs help." She gives him a business card: "My sister has a hair salon for both sexes, and if you tell her that you know me, she'll fix your hair beautifully for half the normal cost. She's a fantastic hairstylist."
John says, "That's so cool of you. What does she normally charge for a man's haircut?"
"Normally is seventy-five dollars and worth more."
Gary says, "Excuse me, Tina, but a man at the table near the door is desperately trying to get your attention."
Tiny winks at John, "Enjoy your cocktail, Hun."
Gary says, "Should I enjoy my cocktail too?" but she walks away before he starts to say that. John laughs, asking, "Feeling neglected, Gary?" Then, "When you shave your beard, and everyone can see how handsome you are, Tina would ignore me and cater to you."
"I'm so sure. Not!" and he drinks some of his Manhattan, mumbling, "Bourbon. I think Manhattans should be made with a whiskey like VO."
John tastes his drink shrugging, saying, "Aunt Sonny makes a better Manhattan, but I don't know if she used bourbon."
"Who is Aunt Sonny?"
John tells Gary the entire story of Paul Sullivan and his Aunt Sonny, including the trust he set up for Paul and his aunt, without mentioning how much the trust is worth.
Gary stares at John, his mouth opening a little bit in amazement. John says, "What?"
Shaking his head, Gary says, "Yeah, Dickie said something about you inheriting the house, but, um, how much money did you inherit?"
Before John can say anything, Gary says, "No, don't tell me. That was a rude question, but John, you did a wonderful thing for that kid and his aunt. I'm sort of flabbergasted."
"Oh, thanks, Gary. It felt so good to be able to help them."
Drinking some of his Manhattan, Gary says, "Ah, do you even need the job at Marshall's Auto? I thought I was doing you a favor, but..."
"Oh, I like working, especially sort of with you or at the same place you work, anyway."
Tina is back, "Have you boys decided on what you're having tonight?"
Neither guy looked at the menu, but John said, "I'm taking your recommendation. I'll have the prime rib."
She asks, "The bone-in cut or boneless?"
"Which one should I get, Tina?"
She grins and murmurs, "I could just eat you up, honey. Haha, um, the bone-in cut is best. Um, French fries or re-baked potato?" Then, "You want the re-baked, trust me."
John nods, "Yes," and she asks, "Asparagus or a salad?" Then, "I'm already writing salad," and John mumbles, "A mind reader."
Gary rolls his eyes again, waiting. Tina points a finger at John, like, 'See ya!' and is about to leave when, out of the corner of her eyes, she sees Gary and asks, "And you, sir? What have you decided upon?"
"The same as John, and thank you."
Tina smiles and leaves as John chuckles, "She almost left without asking what you wanted for dinner."
They joke about that, and then Gary says, "Goddamn, though, I can't get over that story about the kid and his aunt and, um, why do you want to work for hardly any money when you don't need the money, and you need to finish college. That's what you should be doing."
"What I need to do is whatever I want, and I want to be with you. And, I thought you had to work nights or be at the training facility nights, but you're here with me, so what's up with that?"
Gary finishes his drink, shrugs, and says, "Yeah, well, I told the instructor I was taking tonight off. I told her I NEEDED a night off, and the school is glad I wasn't another dropout, so they consider this an excused mental health period or whatever. I'll be there at seven tomorrow morning, though. You'll have all day to do what you want, and there's no training class Saturday night, and then Sunday is a half-day, so we'll have time together tomorrow starting at five-thirty."
John mutters, "Maybe I'll shop for your new jeans and khakis with a thirty-two waist and thirty-two length."
"No, please don't do that, Darling. I'll buy my own clothes, but listen," he says, putting his hand on the back of John's right hand. I'm so appreciative that you're here with me now. It's revitalizing me so I can finish this demanding, pain-in-the-ass training program. It's great being with you, Johnny. Really great!"
Nodding and looking away, John's eyes fill up, but he wills them not to overflow. Wiping at his eyes, he murmurs, "That's so nice of you to say, but I've been nagging for you to let me visit from the first week you were here, so I thank you for relenting and letting me come." Wiping his eyes again, still without an actual tear, he turns his hand over to hold Gary's hand and adds, "Gary, we're on our way to falling in love for real, and even though we don't understand how that can be, it makes me very happy that it's happening."
Gary seems a little emotional now, nodding and mumbling, "Uh-huh, well, you know, it'll be fun seeing what happens," and Tina shows up with their dinners.
As she puts their plates in front of them, she asks, "Are you brothers, or do you work together or what?"
John says, "We're boyfriends seeing if we'll eventually fall in love. Gary's going to a training school here, and I'm visiting him from Cheyenne, Wyoming for the weekend. I think I'm closer to being in love with him than one is with me, but then he's the more, much more mature one, so there's that."
Tina actually gulps and then says, "Enjoy your meals, and good luck with all, um, everything else."
She leaves, and John nods at his plate and says, "This looks excellent. Don'cha think, Gary?"
With a face as if he's heard something incredulous, Gary stares at John again, like he did after John told him about the trust fund for Paul Sullivan. John cuts a piece of medium-rare prime rib, chews it, and mutters, "Juicy and tender and..." Gary sees John's expression, mumbling his infamous one-word question, "What?"
Gary shrugs, then goes, "What? You ask me what? I mean, Jesus, you just told our life history to the waitress. How, um, why would you do that? She doesn't want to hear all that... she doesn't want to get involved in, you know, homosexual stuff..."
Chewing another piece of prime rib, John goes, "How do you know?"
Gary says, "Okay, fair enough. I don't know what she's interested in, but maybe it's me who doesn't want you telling strangers about us. It's awkward sitting here, and Jesus, John, do you feel alright about telling a stranger... I mean, oh fuck, I'm speechless."
John says, "I'm proud to be your gay boyfriend, Gary. Proud of it!"
Nodding, "God, I can't win a single fucking argument with you. You're right. There isn't any reason to hide, but you overdid it, baby. That's all I meant, but you're more right for doing it than I was to criticize you about it."
"Huh?" Chewing more prime rib, John mutters, "Eat your dinner before it gets cold," and snickers.
Gary grins, cuts a piece off his prime rib, and mutters, "Fuck you. I'm supposed to be the one who says shit like that to you."
John chews as he watches Gary eat, and after John swallows, he says, "Good, whew!"
Now it's Gary's turn to ask, "What?"
"Oh, it's just I'm relieved and so glad to see you eat with your mouth closed. Some people don't."
Gary laughs, "Omigod, the shit you say. Who doesn't close their mouth eating?"
"Lots of people, and my ex-nurse and ex-boyfriend, Andy, is one of them. Do you know that... blah, blah, blah. Gary laughed at John's crazy view of things and muttered, "No shit," a few times, then, "I hope you're making this shit up, Darling, because blah, blah, blah. They're having fun while eating a really good prime rib dinner.
John cleaned everything from his plate, and then Gary put his fork on his plate and pushed the plate away. John looks at that, then asks, "You're not done eating, are you Gary?" Gary bods, "Yeah, I'm full."
Nodding, John hesitates, then asks, "You're not going to finish that? Jesus Christ, you left more than half of everything on your plate."
"Do you want it?"
"Does the Pope live in a castle? Of course, I want it." They switch plates, and John goes to town, finishing Gary's dinner as Gary explains, "On the kind of diet I've been on, meaning an insane, overdone one, the stomach actually shrinks. Really, no bullshit. If I finished that plate, I'd get sick."
As John eats Gary's dinner, he says, "My job of putting on weight is so much better than yours of losing weight. Not even close." He burps and laughs, then happily eats the rest of Gary's dinner using Gary's knife and fork that he'd put on his plate.
Gary mumbles, "Good to know that you don't think I have any germs.
Tina, a lot less chatty with John now, is true to her word and brings out two big slices of chocolate cake with white frosting, a single candle in John's slice. "Happy birthday and many more," she said without much conviction.
She leaves the bill in a fake leather folder. John says, "I got that," and Gary says, "We'll split it, and that's that. No arguments because I'd win this one."
They both put a credit card in the fake leather folder, and Tina takes it, murmuring, "Thank you," and then brings back a check for both with half the charge in each.
"How much tip are you leaving, Gary?"
"Twenty percent. I stupidly always leave that no matter how bad the service. Tina did a good job, I thought."
John leaves the same tip, and then they both use the restroom, where John talks Gary into walking around outside so he can smoke a cigarette. They need to get their coats from the room. Both coats are Gary's, and then outside, they walk and smoke, talking silly stuff, laughing, and enjoying themselves. Gary kept his arm around John's neck so he could pull John's head over for a kiss every now and then, muttering, "I'm proud to be your boyfriend too, Darling."
John smokes two cigarettes, and they walk six blocks on a cold, breezy night until Gary begins yawning and apologizing, then yawning again. John's the one who finally says, "Let's go back and get in bed, boyfriend."
Gary yawns and says, "That was another thing I'm supposed to be the one who says that. I'm in charge, right?"
"Sometimes, yeah. We'll do some bathroom stuff and then sleep naked. I can hardly wait."
And that's what they do...
To be continued... donnymumford@outlook.com
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