*** !!WARNING!! *** Gay fiction about to begin!
If you're not old enough please come back when you are. If you're not allowed to see this wherever you're accessing it from don't! You should go now at a run-if not, it's your neck and don't say I didn't warn you to leave. And last but not least-if you are offended by the thought of homosexuality then you're in the wrong place. Please go back the way you came in or you will be offended.
Also, these characters come from my imagination. I know of no one like them in real life. Any one who sees himself or anyone they know should mark it down as a coincidence.
Now that you've been properly warned the story continues.
Ian looked at his watch. It read nine fifteen. Disappointed, he sighed. It looked like he was going to have to paint the office himself. He picked up a screwdriver and reached for the can of paint on his desk. The desk had been cleared and then covered with a plastic drop cloth obviously to keep paint from dripping on it.
In fact, the whole room was prepared for painting. The filing cabinets where the records were stored had been pulled out from the wall so that the wall behind them could be painted. They were covered like all the other furniture in the room. There was heavy plastic covering the hardwood floor to protect it from dripping. The chairs in front of and behind his desk were covered in plastic as well as the black leather sofa. There were two trees in the room that had been removed because they could not be covered to protect them. They stood out in the hallway on either side of the door and would remain there until the work was done.
As Ian placed the screwdriver under the lip of the lid he yawned. He felt tired because he did not sleep well the night before. He even knew why he could not sleep. He had been kept awake by thoughts of Jeremy. He found he was looking forward to seeing the kid in his office painting. He even decided to help him to make the work go faster.
For whatever reason Ian felt attracted to the youth. He was disappointed that Jeremy had not shown up. Ian mentally chided himself; it's better this way. You have nothing in common with this kid, and if nothing else you're too old for him. Marcus was still too fresh in his mind.
Jeremy ran down the street cursing himself for oversleeping. He should have never accepted that last client the night before. Hey, he had told himself, a seventy-five dollar blow job was seventy-five bucks he didn't have before. He had not counted on the client taking so long to orgasm.
He rounded the corner and saw a clock. The amber display read nine fourteen. Damn, he was later than he thought.
He honestly could not figure out how he had gotten himself in to this mess. When Jeremy pointed out the bad publicity that calling the police would cause the restaurant owner should have backed down. The last one had been more than willing to take the loss. Jeremy knew of plenty of other restaurants his clients could take him to, but here he was running down the street trying to work off a bill that should not have been his.
Jeremy had thought about it and was hoping that he could persuade the owner to take out the bill in trade. He would have offered that night but the restaurant manager had been there as well. And the owner did not seem the type to discuss things in front of the help.
It was strange, but Jeremy hoped the owner would agree to being blown or something as payment instead of painting the walls of an office. Jeremy was surprised at the reaction of his body when he thought about doing something to the restaurant's owner.
Jeremy could see the restaurant's sign just up ahead. He kept going until he reached the door. He came to a stop stamping his feet on the ground to brake his forward momentum. Grabbing the door handle he opened it and went inside.
Ian had the lid off the paint can and was stirring the contents when he heard the knocking on his office door.
"Yeah?" He called.
The door opened and Owen stuck his head in, "The kid is here."
Ian nodded getting control of his emotions. He was pleased that the boy had finally shown up. He could not let the boy or Owen see that.
"About time." Ian frowned. "Send him back."
Owen nodded and stepped out of the way. Almost immediately the boy entered the room.
Ian looked over to see him breathing hard like he had been running. There was perspiration running down the boy's forehead and his T-shirt was peppered with wet spots. Ian realized the boy must have been running for quite a ways to get to the restaurant. It was all he could do not to feel sympathy for the kid.
"Ready to paint?" Ian asked. "There's a pair of coveralls over on the sofa. Might be a little big, but they should keep the paint off your clothes."
Jeremy pushed the door closed behind him. He walked over and picked up the coveralls from the covered couch. He checked the size and then opened them up.
Jeremy was waiting until he could talk without sounding breathless. He exercised knowing his clients would not go for an out of shape slob. His breathing grew normal quickly.
"You know." Jeremy said as though thinking. "I'm not a painter by trade."
Ian nodded, "That's all right, neither am I."
"Yeah, you play piano. And you're good at it too," Jeremy said as casually as he could. Jeremy hoped if he stroked the guy's ego maybe he could get out of painting the office.
Ian smiled, "Thank you."
"You know I'm a lot better at other things than I am at painting." Jeremy said as he unzipped the coveralls slowly.
"I bet you are." Ian said nonchalantly. He ignored the sound of the slow moving zipper.
"You sure I couldn't persuade you to take a different form of payment for the bill?" Jeremy asked slowly.
Ian's first thought was to say no. Then he decided `what the hell' he would play along.
"What type of payment did you have in mind?" Ian asked looking over at the youth.
"I don't know." Jeremy shrugged. "I was like thinking of an exchange of services."
Ian looked back down at the paint can. "I'm not saying yes, but I'm curious what you'd be willing to offer."
Jeremy shrugged, "Well, I don't know if you're into guys or not, but I'm pretty good with my hands."
Ian shook his head, "No thanks, I could do that myself if I wanted to."
Jeremy added, "Well, I could start with my hands, or if you wanted I could use my mouth."
Ian laughed, "Oral sex. Now that's something I can't do for myself."
"Hey," Jeremy shrugged. "If you liked guys there's a few other things I could offer."
"Huh," Ian said the corners of his mouth pulled down and his lower lip stuck out. "For the sake of argument, what else would you offer if I liked guys?"
"Oh, if you like to watch I could get off for you." Jeremy said. "Or you could do it yourself."
A bemused smirk showed on Ian's face, "I could get you off, eh? How?"
"Your hands." Jeremy replied very non-committal. "Or your mouth."
"Just my hands or mouth?" Ian asked with a smirk. He had stopped stirring the paint.
"Well," Jeremy said. "Anything more would cost you."
"I see." Ian said politely. "I take it buying sex is expensive."
"Sure is." Jeremy replied sliding his right leg into the tan coveralls.
Ian looked over at Jeremy quietly for a moment.
"Since your clients are men I assume you're gay." Ian said looking back down at the paint. The liquid was uniformly colored and the right consistency.
"I am." Jeremy said. "Are you gay or straight?"
"I'm gay." Ian replied calmly.
"You got a boyfriend?" Jeremy was surprised by the candor of his own question.
"Not now." Ian said. "I broke it off a couple of months ago. He was stealing money from me."
"That's pretty low." Jeremy observed as he lifted his left leg to slip it into the other coverall leg. "How did you find out?"
"It was an audit my accountant was doing. He found some things didn't quite add up. There were only two people it could be; the manager or me. I knew I wasn't doing it so it had to be my manager." Ian explained calmly.
"You mean you were dating your manager?" Jeremy asked as he put his arms into the coveralls.
"Should've known better." Ian said. "They say you should never date the hired help."
"So what did you do?" Jeremy's voice sounded interested.
"I fired him and kicked him out of my apartment." Ian shrugged. "Then I had all the locks changed."
"You love the guy?" Jeremy asked zipping up the coveralls.
"Yeah, it was rough for a while." Ian said. "While I was involved with him I let him redecorate the restaurant. That's how he stole the money. He turned in fake expenses. Anyway, after I fired him I decided to decorate the place the way I wanted it."
"And get rid of any reminders of him, right?" Jeremy asked.
Ian nodded.
"So what about you?" Ian asked. "You seeing anyone who's not a client?"
"No," Jeremy said.
When the youth didn't say anything else Ian asked, "Why not? You're a good-looking guy. Don't tell me you can't find a date."
"Oh, I've had dates." Jeremy said. He was still standing by the sofa. "But so far, none of them want anything to do with me after they find out how I make a living."
"They afraid of the AIDS thing?" Ian asked.
"Yeah, that's part of it." Jeremy nodded. "Then they don't think I can be faithful to them."
"Can you?" Ian asked.
"Sure." Jeremy said firmly. "I may be young, but even I know the difference between fucking for money and making love."
Ian smiled approvingly, "Good for you."
Jeremy sighed, "I just can't find anyone who's willing to go out with me after they find out I have sex for money."
"How do they usually find out?" Ian asked.
"I tell them." Jeremy said. "These days you have to know your date's sexual history before you go to bed for the first time."
"So you're honest with them." Ian noted.
"Yeah, that's when the date ends." Jeremy said sullenly.
Ian looked at Jeremy for a minute. He had heard pain in Jeremy's voice. He also heard loneliness. Ian's heart went out to the young man. He wondered what else had gone wrong in the young man's life. Ian found himself wanting to take care of Jeremy.
Ian sat down the stir stick and walked toward the young man.
Jeremy had no idea what was going to happen as Ian walked toward him, but he stood his ground. Ian kept walking and Jeremy finally tried to take a step back but ended up sitting down on the couch. Jeremy looked up as Ian leaned over him. Ian turned his head and kissed Jeremy lightly on the lips.
Surprised, Jeremy found himself looking in to Ian's brown eyes. Their faces were only inches away.
"I'd love to take you out on a date." Ian said quietly.
"You'd go out with me?" Jeremy was surprised. "Even knowing what I am?"
"I'd go out with Jeremy the man anytime." Ian said. "Afterward, we could go back to your place or mine. We could have a glass of wine, or a bottle of beer-doesn't matter. If we end up in bed together that would be fine with me. But I have never had to pay a man to be with me. As handsome as I think you are, I'm not about to start paying even you to be with me. If we ended up in bed together it would be because you want to be with me, not because I'm paying you to be there."
Jeremy swallowed hard. He had never expected this. Had he just been offered a relationship?
Ian sighed, "Now, I'm going to paint this office. If you want to stay and help me you can. Either way, your bill is canceled and I won't have the staff refuse you or your clients."
Jeremy sat there dumbfounded for a moment. Then he reached up and pulled Ian's face toward him. Jeremy kissed him and after a moment, Ian kissed back.
The kiss felt so different to Jeremy. He could not describe it, but no one since Toby had kissed him like this.
When their lips finally parted Jeremy looked into Ian's eyes.
Jeremy smiled, "Shall we paint?"
Ian smiled back and offered the young man on the sofa his hand. Jeremy took it and Ian pulled helping Jeremy to his feet.
Turning around, Ian saw the last person he wanted to see standing in the open doorway of the office.
Marcus chuckled, "What's the matter, Ian? Going after boys `cause you can't handle a real man?"