Chapter Text
Learning, Leather and Love: No More Masks
by Scribe
William woke up and blinked sleepily. He was seeing everything through a very faint pink haze. *Did I get romantic last night and pull that Sensual Woman, 'drape a lamp with a colored scarf for romantic lighting' bit?* There was a snuffling beside his ear, and he smiled. *Oh, yeah--Chase.* Chase was lying face down on top of him, chin resting on his shoulder, with his still faintly pink hair falling across William's eyes. His left arm was beneath Chase's body, and William curved it up and over, embracing the young man. Chase made a sleepy, purring sound, and William smiled again. Yes, he'd done something romantic last night.
William turned his head slightly and whispered into the pink fluff. "Sweetheart, when my arm goes to sleep, it doesn't get rested."
"Hmm... sorry," Chase murmured. He wasn't quite ready to give up his position, though. Eyes still closed, he shifted slightly, so that only his head was lying on William's arm. Then he yawned, daintily covering his mouth. William snickered, and Chase knew what had amused him. Voice faintly stern he said, "My mother does not allow yawning, farting, or burping with impunity. She sees them as rude rather than manly, and I darn sure better do the Emily Post thing when they happen."
"I think our mothers would have liked each other," said William.
"You don't mention your parents much," said Chase. "Was that because you were being mysterious about your actual state in life, or do you have unpleasant memories?" Chase opened sleepy blue eyes, regarding him seriously, without a hint of amusement. "Tell me to fuck off if I'm out of line, but I'm interested in you. I'd like to hear whatever you're willing to tell me."
William hugged Chase. "You're a people person, Chaser." He sighed. "If by unpleasant you mean 'dysfunctional'--no, not really. I didn't see as much of my dad while I was growing up as I'd have liked. He was busy building the empire, and we didn't have him at home much except for weekends and holidays. He was good about that, though. He never missed a major holiday, and I know that it cost him a little in business. And he came to a lot of my important events, too. Athletic meets, plays, recitals..."
"Recitals?" Now playfulness peeked through. "Dance or music?"
"Oh, lord. I shouldn't have mentioned that. Now I'll never hear the end of it. I took voice and piano lessons till I left for college."
"Ooo, you've been hiding your talent," Chase crooned. "You know what this means, don't you?"
"I'm afraid to guess."
"Karaoke."
"Take me now, lord."
Chase slapped his chest, smiling. "I can make you love it. Now, don't use that as an excuse. You were telling me about your family."
"Okay. Like I said, Dad wasn't exactly absentee. He was with us every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, and he almost never missed my birthday. The great thing was that he really listened to me when he was with me. I don't think he ever gave me one of those gifts that everyone thinks you should want, but doesn't mean a thing to you. You know what I mean, right?"
"Yes. It would be sort of like giving a woman who'd just joined PETA a mink coat."
William laughed. "Not quite that bad, but you know what I mean. On graduation from highschool most of my friends got brand new sports or luxury cars. Dad surprised me with the Thunderbird--in it's original condition. I worked all through college to get it restored, and it means more to me because of that. He... He got it, you know?"
Chase turned his head, studying William's face, and asked quietly, "Did he understand about the gay thing, too?"
William sighed. "Understood-yes. Accepted? He never stopped hoping that I was bisexual instead of gay, and some day I'd meet the right woman, get married, and provide heirs. I told you before that I kept getting introduced to girls from the country club..."
Chase's eyes widened. "Yes, you did say that, and I didn't catch the hint. How many people of my financial status are ever at country clubs except as staff or to attend a rich friend's wedding?"
"Mom was a little better. She never wanted to discuss that side of my life, but she didn't keep trying to set me up with her friend's daughters, either. I think she just decided to pretend that I was prepubescent, and hadn't developed a sexual side yet." He shrugged. "A lot of mothers are like that, even with their straight kids. That's pretty much it. Both Mom and Dad were only children, so I never had the aunts, uncles, and cousins thing."
"Too bad. Relatives can be a hoot."
"I've got that impression from listening to you. I want to meet your uncle Mortimer some day."
"Yes, he'd like you." Chase squinted up at the ceiling and started reciting. "Okay, I'll list the blood relatives first, then the spouses. Uncle Mortimer and Aunt Deedee, cousins Regal, Angelo, Joshua, Cherry, and Billie. Uncle Clark and Aunt Deborah and cousin Bryant. Aunt Cecily and Uncle Ruggle, and cousins Maggie and Taffy. Uncle Willie and Aunt Markie, cousins Sarah, Duo, and Trinity. And Aunt Jocelyn and cousin Philbert."
"No uncle in the last family?"
"Nope. No death, she just wanted a kid and went out and had one. Never has told us who the daddy was, but we have a few guesses. Two or three local men either turn green when they see her and Philbert, and occasionally checks and birthday or holiday presents turn up in the mail. I have a feeling that if Philbert ever gets really good at sports, he's going to find several proud potential daddies. Should make the family reunions even more interesting."
"That's some family."
"You have no idea. When I was growing up I couldn't remember everyone unless I sat down with a paper and pencil. They're a terrific bunch. All of them except Uncle Ruggle-he's an asshole, but he's not blood, and he's decent to the girls." Chase sighed. "Well, there has to be one in every large family, I suppose. Considering the odds, we've done quite well." Chase snuggled his face against William's neck. "If you're around me long enough, you're going to hear a lot of family anecdotes."
"Fine by me. What do you want for breakfast?"
"Whatever I can find in your kitchen."
"I thought I'd fix it."
Chase turned, planted his hands on William's chest, and did a half-push up, so that he was looking down at his lover. "You think that, do you? Honey, I've practically been itching all over to get a chance to work in that room. Tell me-are you expecting Mrs. Fieldstone any time soon?"
William glanced at the clock on his bedside table. "It's not quite eight. She said she'd be in late. That means she won't show up till ten o'clock."
"Good. I'd hate to give that nice lady a shock, but I'm feeling a bit seventies-ish today."
"Seventies-ish?"
"Streaking." Chase hopped out of bed and trotted out of the bedroom before William could react.
William clapped a hand over his eyes, laughing, and called, "She'd probably applaud, once she stopped gaping." William wasn't quite as casual as Chase, so he got into a pair of sweats before he followed the young man out to the kitchen. By the time he got there Chase was mixing a bowl full of creamy looking batter, and there was a griddle heating on the stovetop.
William entered and peered over Chase's should. "I think that the batter Mrs. Fieldstone fixes is more yellow than that."
"That's because she uses what's in that box I found in your pantry. This..." he pointed to an open canister, milk jug, and two egg shells, "is from many containers."
"Chase, are you sure you should be doing that naked?"
"Does it bother you for sanitary, or other reasons?"
"I'm just worried that you might hurt yourself."
"Dear, I'm not built along the lines to put anything significant into danger." He squatted slightly and wiggled his behind, making his genitals bounce and swing.
That made William laugh, but he said, "I'm serious, babe. Should you be doing that?"
"How many times have you gotten anything but your hands close enough to the flame to feel heat?"
William thought about it. "You know, I can't think of any."
"If I was frying bacon, that would be another matter entirely. Make yourself useful and clean that up, please."
"Yes, sir."
William threw away trash, put away packages, and took a damp cloth to the counters while Chase ran a couple of pats of butter over the griddle. It hissed and melted as Chase said, "A long central burner specifically for heating griddles. Can I live in this room?"
"You're easy to please, and I'm glad you told me that. I had no idea what that thing in the middle was for."
Chase ladled spoonfuls of batter onto the griddle, spreading it thin. "Poor, ignorant sweetie. I'll get you educated eventually about all things culinary."
William came up behind him, put his hands on Chase's waist, and squeezed. "Looks like I'm getting the best of this relationship. All this..." he squeezed Chase's ass, "and an education, too."
Chase tipped him a coy look over his shoulder. "It works out. You've opened up a whole new field of learning for me, too, you know."
"Have I?" He bit Chase lightly on the shoulder.
"Stop that. If you get me distracted, I might burn our breakfast. I could always cook more, but I have a feeling that you have a smoke alarm hooked right into the fire station, and I don't want a lot of big, sweaty, uniformed men seeing me naked." He gave a mock gasp. "What am I SAYING? No, acutally, Will, you ARE teaching me. You know that, don't you? Before I've been mainstream, if you can call someone who's gay that. I've been GAY mainstream. I only ever caught glimpses of your scene. I've been intrigued..." he neatly flipped the pancakes over. "You should see me with a non-stick omlette pan. I can flip them like I should be working in a logging camp. Oo, big sweaty men in FLANNEL! As I was saying... Put those plates over here. As I was saying, I was intrigued, but I never got up the never to actually explore."
William had moved the butter dish over to the small kitchen table, and was getting maple syrup and honey from the cabinet. "I'm glad. I wouldn't want you to miss anything, babe-but I'm glad that I'm getting to be your guide."
Chase had piled the last pancake on a plate. Now he picked up both of the laden dishes and carried them to the table, pausing to stand on tip-toe before William. Smiling, William bent his head, and Chase stretched up, kissing him on the nose. "Me, too. Now, while a cold pancake can be delicious in it's own way, these are meant to be eaten while hot." He set the plates down so that he and William would be sitting around the corner from each other.
"Sit down and I'll get us something to drink. Milk?" said William.
"Yes, please. One thing my mother taught me-orange juice with maple syrup tastes bitter. It's the contrast of the acid, I think. And you know, as much as I like citrus, it took me a long time to get to where I could with confidence eat anything I knew contained citric acid." He wrinkled his nose. "I paid too much attention in chemistry class to be comfortable with ingesting anything called 'acid'."
William had poured two glasses of milk, and now he brought them over. "You're a strange boy, Chaser-I love that in you."
"Thank you." William sat down and without consulting they both folded their hands and bowed their heads for a quick grace. When it was done Chase picked up his fork, saying, "This is cozy. Aren't we just an almost Ozzie and Harriet vision of domestic bliss." William leaned over, pointedly scoping Chase's naked crotch. "Besides that, silly. And you never know what they got up to. They had two kids, didn't they?"
William started eating. "I was just wondering. Do you feel a little... off? I mean, saying grace while you're... um..."
"While I'm exactly as God made me? Why should I? He's seen me like this more often than anyone else in this world. And let me tell you, honey, there are quite a few times when a person needs to pray while they're naked. We won't go into that, though." He batted his eyelashes at William. "Not breakfast conversation, not even by my standards."
end part 1