Part XIV - 5: Moving In Pains

"HEY TIM!" Eric called from the first floor while I was helping the plumber with installing the second hot water heater.

"WHAT!" I answered.

"The furnace people and some of the cleaning people are here," Eric said from behind me.

"Shit. Tell the cleaning people there's no water yet, so they might as well just come back tomorrow."

"Okay. You want the heating guys to go ahead and start though, right?"

"You bet I do. I'm tired of wearing this coat while I'm working. How's the refrigerator doin'?"

"Fine as far as we can tell," he said, stomping back up the steps. "The light comes on, so I guess it works. We won't know for sure until it warms up in here enough that it has to run."

"Okay, that's got it," Ken, the plumber, said. "You can let go now."

"Whew! After you get this one hooked up, how long does it take before we have hot water?"

"Well, the manuals on these bitches says three to five hours, but since the water coming in is ice cold, I'd imagine it would be closer to the five hours. It's a good thing you're only gonna have the three of ya living here."

"Huh? Why is that?"

"Well, a 40 gallon tank is plenty of hot water for a kitchen and a couple of baths, and theoretically two should be plenty for five and a half baths plus a kitchen. But I remember when they first built this place, we installed two 40 gallon water heaters just like these. Problem was they had twenty girls livin' here, and after just three months of cold showers, they had us replace this one with a 65 gallon one that heated faster."

"Why didn't you mention this to me earlier?" I moaned.

"Well sir? To tell you the truth, I didn't think of it until now. I wouldn't concern yourself about it. This one will do just fine for the three of ya."

"But I don't know if it will always be just the three of us. How hard would it be to get a 65er?"

"Don't know. I'll have to call it in to find out. Good thing all's we did was secure it down. We'd be in a fine mess if I had connected her up and started fillin' her."

I followed him halfway up the stairs before we had to turn around and go back down in a hurry as the heating people carried one of the furnaces in.

"Before you guys carry down the other one, are you sure these two will be enough to heat this place good?" I asked the three men.

"Son, you got enough BTUs in these things to heat a place three times as large," the one with the "PAUL" label on his coat said.

"That's good," I said, starting back up the stairs.

"Now the AC is another matter," he continued.

"Huh?" I said with moan.

"Just tell your poppa to come down here so we can talk business stuff."

"Whose name authorized the work order?" I asked after coolly going back down the stairs again.

"Let's see... The name be Timothy J. Brandton. That your poppa?"

"That be me," I said, flipping my wallet open to my drivers license and giving them a good long look. "And this be my credit card that is paying for this stuff. So, what's with the AC, boys."

"Well howdy!" 'RICK' said, giving 'PAUL' a powerful backslap. "We gots ourselves a rich kid shootin' the shots. Ain't that right, Dave."

"Yep," the smallest of the three said.

"Sorry, kid. Didn't mean anything by the poppa bit. What you got here is the top of the line furnace with the top of the line fan and top of the line thermostat. But the AC units out back are worthless pieces of shit. Even the people who cleared this place out knew better than to bother with them."

"So what do you suggest?"

"Well, seeing you ain't in that great of need for air conditioning at this moment of time, I'd say we just hook up the heatin, and leave the coolin disconnected until we can get something more fitting for a place like this. No sense on chargin' the lines if we're just gonna have to redo them again later."

"Okay... That sounds reasonable," I said, turning to climb up the stairs again.

"There's just one other thing," he said.

"What?" I groaned.

"Ya can't turn the gas on until we get both units hooked up."

"You mean... "

"Yep. And from the looks of things, I'd plan on sleepin' somewhere else tonight."

"Great. Thanks."

Eric met me at the door of the stairs, and said, "Hey. The cleaning people said they can't come back tomorrow. This was the only day they had open this week."

"Shit. Nothing's working right today."

"What do you mean?"

"We don't have the right hot water heater, the air conditioners out back are pieces of shit, and now they tell me they don't think they'll have the furnaces hooked up by tonight, and we can't even turn on the gas for the one hot water heater until the furnaces are hooked up to the gas too. We have to find someplace to stay tonight, and then we won't have any help cleaning the place up tomorrow."

"Well, at least the refrigerator works. I think."

Ken found me just then, and said, "Welp, we have a 65er out in Sanford, brand new, and still in the box. But we can't get it here until tomorrow. Do ya want me to cap the lines so you can use the one today?"

"Na. The furnace guys said they won't be done until tomorrow, so we'll just have to stay at a motel tonight anyway. You want help carrying the other one up?"

"Nah. I'll have another guy with me tomorrow and we can take care of it then. I'll just finish up the one then, and then scadadle[SWB8] out of here until tomorrow, alrightly?"

"Alrighty," I said, mirroring his grin.

After Ken went back down stairs, Eric said, "I like him. He's cool."

"Yeah. He's a nice guy, all right."

"Oh. Get this. James is outside talking to this girl who wanted to know how we got this place. He's trying to see if she's a lesbian or not."

"Why?"

"Cause she has one of those pins on her jacket."

"What pins?"

"You know... The double female symbol pins," he said, doing something with his fingers to show me.

I went outside to see what he was talking about, and found there were now five girls talking to James.

As I walked up to them, someone from the street yelled, "Hey! Hey limo kid!"

I stared at the young woman's face as she jogged up towards me, but didn't recognize her until her face stopped bouncing up and down with her steps.

"Hey... It's Nicky, right?" I said, having a flash back to when she was in my limo with her hands stuck up her girlfriend's pussy and ass.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I don't remember... "

"Tim. Tim Brandton. I forgot you two went here. You and... Lisa?"

"Wow. You have a good memory. Lisa's back at the apartment trying to get some sleep. She had to drive all night to get here."

"I take it you two finally got someplace private, huh?"

"Yeah, right. It's not any better than the dorms. But at least we sleep in the same bed together."

"TIM!" Eric called from the door. "PHONE!"

"I'll be right back," I said, turning to run inside.

"You mean you live here?" she said, following me in.

"Yeah. I bought it Saturday. Why?"

"You bought it? How? From who? We spent months trying to find the owners, and never could. How the hell... "

"We? Who's we?" I said before taking the phone and finding no one there.

"Eric, who was it?"

"The furniture guys. They said they would deliver the stuff Wednesday morning at nine, but could have the beds here tonight if we needed them bad enough."

"Oh. I guess we don't need them now."

"Why not?" Nicky asked.

"Because the hot water and heating won't be ready until tomorrow. Shit. This sucks. There's no way we can clean this place up by ourselves before Wednesday."

"How many of you are there?" Nick asked.

"Just the three of us," Eric replied. "You're gay too, aren't you," he added, noticing her pin.

"And proud of it," she said with confidence. "So don't give me any lip, got it kid?"

"Why would I?" Eric said.

"Eric and James are just as bent as you, Nicky. Maybe even more," I said giving Eric a evil grin.

"Really? Well good for you. But next time you see someone wearing one of these," she said, fingering her pin, "make sure you say, 'I'm gay and proud of it.'"

"Uhm, okay."

"Tim, are you planning to rent out any of the other rooms?" Nicky asked urgently.

"I hadn't really thought about it. Why? You wanna room?"

"Not just me. There are twelve of us who have been trying to buy this place for almost a year now. We only need seven rooms, and we have the money... "

"I'll make a deal with you. You let us crash at your place tonight, and I'll let you have eight rooms and four baths for free as long as I'm here."

"I bet between the fifteen of us, we could get this place cleaned up before your furniture arrived... OH this is so perfect! Let me go tell the others," Nicky said excitedly.

"Tim... " Eric whined. "I don't want a bunch of girls living with us... "

I picked Eric up and kissed him on the lips energetically, then said, "Please?"

Eric sighed "Okay... " happily as he melted in my arms. I knew how to push his buttons too.

But James wasn't as easily convinced.

"But what do you want with a bunch of gay women? You're a guy. They don't like guys," he said while we gathered our stuff to take over to Nicky's apartment.

"So? Who says I want that kind of relationship with them. I like women, James. I don't have to have sex with them to like them. Think of it this way. They're not competing with you, so you're not losing anything. And now we'll have all the help we need keeping this place cleaned up."

"I think it will be kind of fun," Eric offered.

"Fun? Instead of having two girls having to avoid, we'll have twelve," he said exasperated.

"Why would you have to avoid them?" I asked.

"Like we want a bunch of women watching us," he said.

"James, they won't want to watch you any more than you want to watch them."

"Nu-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Nu-uh."

Eric put his hand over my mouth then said, "James... They know all the guys who are gay around here."

"They do? Oh yeah... Okay... They can stay."

Eric just gave me a superior grin that turned into a happy one when I kissed him on the top of the head.

"Oh, and now the three of us have to share the same bathroom. That's even better," James said, giving me the once over with his eyes.

"Hey!" Eric said, stepping up to him. "I thought I was your shower buddy."

"You are. But there's always room for one more," he said, putting his face up to Eric's.

"Yeah, I guess so... " Eric said before kissing him.

"Cool it guys. You can do that later. Right now I just want to get somewhere warm."

James pulled himself away, then said, "Yeah, Eric. Somewhere nice and warm, and private."

"I bet you a blow job I'll be ready before you are," Eric dared.

"You got a deal."

"Okay. Well, I'm ready."

"So am I."

"Well, I'm not, and I'm not giving anyone a blow job," I said frustrated.

"That's okay. We'll give you one," James said slyly, ducking when Eric swung to punch him in the shoulder.

A little less than an hour later, we were outside Nicky's apartment, waiting for Lisa to undo the deadbolts and chain to let us in. The stairs we had come up had creaked like mad, making me wonder how anyone could sleep though a racket like that. The fact that there wasn't a light for the stairs only made it that much more of a shock to find the handrail abruptly ended about halfway up too.

When Lisa finally opened the door sleepily, Nicky said, "Guess who just bought the Orlin house?"

"Who," Lisa said as she closed the door to undo the chain.

"Me," I said when she reopened the door, standing where Nicky had been the moment before.

"Who are you?" she said as the four of us hustled by her.

"It's the kid with the limo," Nicky said, pulling her gloves and coat off. "Remember?"

"Oh yeah... OH! Oh yeah!" Lisa said, snapping awake.

"Tim," I said, when I saw her struggling to remember it.

"Right... Tim. I'm sorry. Did she say you bought the Orlin house?"

"Yep. Uhm, this is Eric, and that's James. They're stayin' with me for a couple of months."

"But tonight, they're staying with us," Nicky announced, taking our coats into another room.

"With us?" Lisa said, not pleased.

"Yep. Maybe tomorrow night too," I said, keeping her in suspense.

"Excuse me," Lisa said, hustling into the room where Nicky had gone in.

"What a dump," James announced, looking over the place.

"Shhh," Eric said while agreeing with him.

There was a couch, a overstuffed chair, a coffee table and a little black and white TV sitting on a couple of cardboard boxes. The kitchen table had a book under one leg, and while there were four chairs, they were being held together by some twine rope wrapped around all four legs.

But the small kitchen was clean and tidy, and I had noticed the bedrooms both had beds in them which was reassuring.

"Hey Eric," James said with his hand stuck under the cushions of the couch. "This couch has a handle on it. Does it have a bed inside it too?"

"It sure does," I said before thinking to myself, "Thank God. At least I don't have to sleep with these two tonight."

My dick snapped to attention when Nicky and Lisa returned to the living space, my eyes catching glimpse of Lisa's hard nipples trying to poke through her T-shirt. I tried to recall what her breasts had looked like in the limo, but all I could recall was the larger than average nipples and Nicky's hands inside her front and back doors.

"We really appreciate you helping us," Lisa said sitting down next to me as Nicky started some coffee. "You don't know how bad we wanted to get that place."

"How long have you been living here?" I asked.

"Since last semester," Lisa said before saying to James, "And you're right. It is a dump. A cheap dump. We've been trying to save up to help the others buy something we can all live in."

"Do you want anything?" Nicky asked. "Soda? Coffee? Water?"

"Coke?" James and Eric both asked.

"Tim?"

"Same here."

"Lisa, Tim offered us to stay for free for a while... " Nicky began.

"You don't have to do that," Lisa said. "We can pay you rent, especially now that we don't have to be putting money aside."

"Well, the way I figure it, I already bought the place. Having you stay there wouldn't cost me anything except the utilities, and helping us clean up the place by Wednesday would solve a lot of problems. Besides, if I remember right, someone offered to share a dream or two with me," I said without looking over at Nicky.

"Nicky?" Lisa said, shocked.

"What?"

"Did you offer to share a dream with him?"

"I what? Oh. I guess I did," she said, slapping my can of soda against my chest rather roughly. "I didn't mean anything by it."

"What are you talking about?" Eric asked, smiling at James's array of burps.

"I'll show you two later," I said with a grin.

"What?" James said, just tuning in.

I ignored him, but after Eric whispered in his ear, James blurted out, "Why would he want to do that?"

The four of us looked at him like he was nuts, but this time it was James' turn to ignore the rest of us.

After we talked for a while, James got very bored. When he couldn't get Eric to pay attention to him, he finally got fed up and said, "Hey, does the TV work in this dump?"

"James, can I talk to you for a minute?" I said standing up and walking towards the other bedroom without waiting for a response.

He followed me in with a dark expression on his face, then looked at me with a defiant look in his eyes after I closed the door.

"Come 'ere," I said, sitting down on the bed.

He stood in front of me, and I couldn't help notice what he was hoping I had in mind.

"Sit down, please?" I said, patting the spot next to me.

His hopes crashed to the floor, but he sat down like I had asked anyway.

"I'm not going to yell at you, or lecture you," I said, putting my arm around his shoulders. "I want to show you something. Close your eyes and don't get scared. You'll like this, I promise."

After he gave me an excited look, he closed his eyes tight and sat very still, tensing almost every muscle in his body.

I sighed, then told him to relax as I rubbed his back with just a little bit of my magic touch set to soothe. Once his shoulders went limp, I started feeling out the others in the next room.

James gasped when I connected his mind to feel the thoughts of the Eric, Lisa, and Nicky. Eric was worrying about what I was saying to James, hoping I wouldn't upset James too much. Lisa and Nicky both felt excited about living in the Orlin house, but they were both also increasingly hoping I would let them share another dream with each other.

When Nicky momentarily thought about James, I felt James getting embarrassed for how he had acted around her. Nicky considered him to be a child, someone who simply didn't know better, while Eric seemed more mature. What she didn't know was James was actually three months older than Eric, and it made James feel bad that he didn't know how to act around others nicely like Eric did.

Lisa had a different opinion of him, finding him simply a selfish brat like her younger brother. That didn't bother James, however. He had gotten used to Eric's older sister feeling that way about him.

But what hurt him the most was finding that Eric had been embarrassed several times by James' self-centered attitude. Eric would never have told him so, but he sometimes wished James would just grow up a little more than he was.

Then Eric's attention was momentarily diverted by Nicky asking if James was his lover. Eric remembered her earlier words about being proud to be gay, and replied with a confident voice, "Yes. James is my lover."

The surge of emotional thoughts which followed made James feel good all over, and was so overwhelmed by it that I had to gently disconnect to give James a chance to recover.

"Thank you," he said softly before looking up at me. "I'll try not to embarrass you or Eric any more."