Chapter 7: The Reluctant Dom(s)

Howie took Jeff off to his place. The Head brothers thanked us for including them and headed of to wherever.

Tony and I headed over to my place. Finding no one home yet, (and not expecting them for a few hours, ) we stripped and showered together. We shared some nice caresses, but we were, frankly, fairly well fucked out for the day, not to mention the day’s emotional stress. We lay down together, naked, covered up, made out for a little while, kissing and cuddling, and we fell asleep in each other’s arms.

Some time later, I found myself spooned up against Tony, and hearing a quiet cough from the direction of the door. I looked up, and saw that Mom was standing in the doorway, watching us.

“This is the new boy?” she asked, quietly.

I just nodded my assent, attempting not to wake Tony.

“The one you had the fight with?” she continued.

“You could say that we’ve come to an understanding,” I replied.

“Is that what you kids are calling it there days?” she said. “Can I expect to see more of him around here?”

“You can, if I have anything to say about it,” I replied. “Neither one of us is really sure what this is, but he’s becoming ... Important to me.” I could feel Tony stir awake and tense up as he discovered that we were observed. I steadied him with a kiss behind his ear and a quiet “shh, nothing to worry about.”

Tony relaxed and snuggled in to me. I tightened the hug I held him in, and he made a small, contented noise.

Mom gave us a small, sad smile, sighed and said: “At least you two won’t be giving me any unexpected grandchildren.” She perked up and said, “Dinner’s almost ready. There’s plenty for your friend, if he wants to stay. Just let me know. She left and closed the door behind her.

I nibbled on Tony’s earlobe a bit, then gave him a pat and said, “C’mon. The world is calling. You need to call your folks and let them know that you’re having dinner over here.”

He snuggled in a bit more and softly complained, “ ... comfortable...”

“Yes,” I agreed, “This is nice, and we can do more later. Right now, I’m getting hungry and unless I miss my guess,” right on cue his belly gave a rumble, “so are you. Let’s get up, get dressed, and be sociable.”

As we were suiting actions to words, Tony asked, “If it’s not too personal, what was that bit she said about ‘unexpected grandchildren’?”

“Not really a huge deal, but it is pretty private. I suppose that I can trust you with some family secrets, though.

“A few months ago, Sis turned up with a bellyful.”

“You mean...?” he stammered.

Yep! Full-blown case of the nine-month flu.” I replied.

“Who...?” he asked, quietly.

“Don’t know. Don’t really care. It caused a lot of tension in the house. A lot of yelling, some screaming, an unscheduled visit to the gynecologist, and a few days off school. She’s calmed down some since, though. They both have, really.”

“I’d always wondered what it would be like to have siblings,” Tony mused, “I guess that’s part of it.”

We fixed up the bed, straightened up each other’s clothing, shared a nice kiss, and left my room hand in hand. I directed Tony over to the phone to call his folks.

Mom was puttering in the kitchen, Sis was doing homework at the table. I cleared my throat and said, “Mom, Sis, This is Tony. If things go as planned, you’ll be seeing a lot more of him around here.”

Mom smirked and said, “You two make a cute couple.” Reluctantly, though.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “We do, don’t we?”

“Are you going to keep up with that?” She asked.

“It’s starting to look like I almost have to.” I replied. “Besides, like I said earlier, he’s starting to become Important to me.”

She nodded, knowingly. “Is that going to cause you two problems?”

I smirked and shook my head. “It hasn’t yet.” I said. “but it’s still early days. We put a Stop-Gap in place today. It’ll either give folks something else to talk and think about, or I’m about to have a ... Harem? Is that the right word? Anyway, we’ll wait and see.”

Tony came back from his call about then. He said, “Dad doesn’t mind if I stay, but he wouldn’t, would he?”

Mom gave both of us a suspicious look. “Why do I think that there’s a lot to unpack in both of those statements? Go! Wash up!” Mom wasn’t dumb. I knew we’d have a light interrogation over dinner.

We washed up, and sat down to a dinner of ‘Arroz con Pollo’ A casserole of chicken, chiles, vegetables, and aciote rice baked in a savory sauce. It was a pretty standard meal around our place. Tasty and filling, even if three of us were hungry teens.

After we’d served up, Mom started in. “Okay, let’s get some explanations. ‘Stop Gap?’ ‘Harem?’”

Sis looked up in some surprise. Apparently she had some, but by no means all of the story. She said, “Something happened out by the bike racks. Nobody I’ve talked to seems to know what, or, at least, no one is talking.” She looked disgusted at the failure of her gossip network.

“So,” Mom said, “spill! What happened? Am I going to get calls from the school again? I’m just asking so that I know what to cover for.”

“What I got from the girls,” Sis said, “was that you two and some other kid nobody knows were out at the bike racks. Jeff Spicoli and the Head brothers came running over, and everybody else scattered. There was some yelling, and later you all came out. But nobody knows what really happened.”

“All true, as far as it goes, and surprisingly accurate for news from the gossip chain.” I said.

Tony looked thoughtful for a moment and nodded.

“So. There was yelling,” Mom said.

“Yes, Jeff was rather upset at the beginning.” I said. “We never raised our voices, though. He had some views on our activities that he presented at rather high volume. We entered into communications, and I presented him with some evidence that he hadn’t considered before, or, at least, not in the way that I presented my argument. We finished our discussion, and Jeff left with his new friend. End of story, really.” I finished with a shrug.

“I know you. That can’t be the whole story!” Mom said with a glare.

Tony was head-down in his plate, keeping his mouth full and trying desperately not to make eye contact or attract other attention. It was cute, but, as I could have told him, ultimately doomed.

“Tony,” she asked, with THAT tone in her voice, “Is that what really happened?”

Tony went wide-eyed, gulped, and took a drink of water to steady his nerves. “Ma’am, everything that Norm just told you is true.”

“Just not the whole truth, was it?” she asked. “Oh, don’t bother. I know my son. This won’t be the first shenanigans he’s pulled.

“You’ve admitted that Jeff was yelling. Then he wasn’t. How many times did you have to hit him to make that happen?”

Damn. I was trying to avoid this. I might bend the truth, some, but I didn’t actually lie to Mom. The consequences of that were unthinkable. “Three. Four if you count the trip-block, and you probably do. Five if you count him hitting the ground, but he was out by then.”

“Did he strike you first? She asked, calmly. (That was a bad sign... )

“No, but he was charging in, and it was really obvious that he wanted to do some serious damage.” I replied.

She gave me a sharp-eyed look at that answer, but appeared to accept it. For now. “The other boys there...” she led, looking for answers.

“Howard Cantor, Howie to his friends. You’ll be seeing him around before too much longer, I’m pretty sure.”

Sis looked up, surprised. “Little guy? Big Coat?” she asked.

“The very one,” I replied.

“His sister, Chrissie, tells the craziest story about him...”

I held my hands up about a foot apart and said in my best Madeline Kahn / Lilly von Schtupp voice: “It’s twoo! It’s Twoo!”

Sis’s eyes got big, and I could see her start to scheme.

“You probably won’t be able to verify that, though.” I continued.

Mom looked both amused and disapproving at the exchange. “You said that there were a couple of other boys there?” she asked.

“I don’t know their real names. I just call them the Head brothers. Chuckle Head and Knuckle Head. No idea if they’re even related. Jeff brought them for muscle, but I succeeded in talking them down before hostilities began, though. I thought that I had some information that helped there, but they may have come expecting what happened ... Interesting. I didn’t think about that at the time...”

Mom’s eyebrows raised, and she glared pointedly at Tony. I nodded and continued.

“As I said, I presented Jeff with some information that I thought that he may not have considered before, in a form he may not have had it presented before.” She glared over at Tony again. I shrugged and nodded.

She just shook her head, and asked, “You said this Jeff and Howie went off together. Why?”

“I asked Howie to provide some after-care. I thought it might form a bond between them.” I said.

“Again, Why?” she repeated.

“Howie wanted us to use him as a boy-toy.” I said. “Even before I knew about his ... gift, I thought better about him. I thought that I could use Howie’s giant dick to break Jeff, then hook him on it. That way, Tony and I could concentrate on our relationship, and Howie and Jeff could concentrate on theirs! Happy?” I finished in frustration.

“Now, we’re getting somewhere,” she said. “‘Relationship?’ Is he your Boyfriend?”

“We haven’t been using that term,” I said, “and while we had what I thought were good reasons, those reasons are proving less and less valid as the days pass.”

I turned to Tony and said, “You’re becoming more and more important to me, the more time we spend together. That said, I still don’t think we’re ready for that particular label. Understand: I want that relationship with you. When you’re ready to stand beside me, and for us to take that journey together, as equals, as the other’s other half. I want that. Desperately.

“But we deal with the world, not as we’d like it to be, but as we find it. So, I provide structure to your new life, guidance, and a certain amount of discipline. Phil and Howie use terms like ‘Dom’, “Master’, and ‘Owner.’ While I have to recognize the limited truth in those labels, I don’t believe that they describe the actual relationship that I want to have with you, and I’m not sure how to get from where we are to where I want us to be.

“I don’t want to hold you down. I want us to lift each other up. I don’t want to weaken or belittle you. I need my Tony as big and strong as I can get him.”

He stood, came around the table, and knelt next to my chair. He put his arms around me and laid his head on my chest. I put a finger under his chin, lifted his face to me, and kissed him.

Mom and Sis both made sympathetic sounds. Tony looked up at them with embarrassment and pride warring across his face. He didn’t let go, though.

“So, that’s what you want, too?” I asked him.

He burrowed his head into my chest and nodded.

I kissed his forehead and said, “Awesome. Let’s work on that.” I gave his butt a pat and said, “Go. Finish your dinner. Then call your Dad and tell him that you’ll be at least late tonight. You even may stay over if things develop as I think they will. If I decide that things have gone too late, you’ll call him again and let him know.”

He nodded his understanding and sat back down.

I looked a question at Mom. She looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. I mouthed a quick “Thank You!” and she nodded again.

I was rather expecting it, so when the phone rang a few minutes later I picked it up. Howie was calling, saying that he and Jeff wanted to come by. I said that was fine, made sure he had my address, and told them to meet us in my backyard shed.

After finishing dinner and helping to clean up, I gave my sister some instructions and Tony and I went out to the shed. It was a simple 12’ x 12’ garden shed. I’d fitted it with lights and electrical service from the house, a workbench with a couple of chairs, shelves, and an old hide-a-bed convertible sofa. This was my sanctum, and the site of any number of teenage misadventures.

Tony looked around and expressed his appreciation for the space. We sat on the couch and made out for fifteen minutes or so until Sis guided Howie and Jeff back to us. She was giving Howie speculative looks, but since he had on his oversized coat, his ‘talents’ weren’t visible. I thought that I might have to put them together at some point, just to see what happened. (‘There once was a Queen from Rangoon / Who took a Bull Dyke to his room. / They argued all night, / Had a terrible fight, / ‘Bout who did what, and with which, and to whom.’) That wouldn’t be happening tonight, though. I thanked her, gave her a small head shake, and sent her back to the house.

I sat Howie on the couch, between Tony and I, and directed Jeff to an unpadded, rickety chair facing us. (Nothing like putting them in their place straight away!) I turned to Howie and said, “Take off the coat. You’ve got to be burning up, and there’s no one here that you need to hide from.” He did, and I put my arm around him and continued: “Now, there was something that you came over here to talk about. How can I help you?”

Jeff piped up, “I...”

I interrupted him, “When I want something out of your mouth, I’ll shove it up your ass first. You’re here at his,” I indicated Howie, “sufferance. You are his bitch. In fact, until further notice, that’s your name to all of us. Bitch. Learn it, Bitch. Respond to it. Failure will be punished.” I kept my tone low and even, channeling my best Joe Friday ‘Just the facts.’ His eyes got big and he shut up.