Tenderness Ch. 06

He was done. That was the end of his story. He just shut up and leaned against my shoulder, shaking with suppressed sobs. I tried to comfort him. I felt so exposed, so afraid for him. He had just bared his soul to a roomful of straight men. I cupped the side of his head in my hand.

"Shh... Baby, do you want to leave?"

George leaned forward. "Please don't go. I know that this can be painful, and a lot of you might be afraid of judgement, but that isn't what we do here. Let's talk."

Aaron took another handful of tissues and nodded, unable to speak.

A man across from us, he had been molested by his uncle. He spoke first. "I know that this is hard, and um... this might be an insensitive question."

George interjected. "Then he doesn't have to answer it if he doesn't want to."

"Well, for a long time after what my uncle did to me, I thought that I must be gay. Because I, y'know... I got... aroused... by what he did to me." He was a younger guy. Only a little older then Aaron by the look of him. "I figured that since I got aroused, I had to be gay, so I tried to be gay. I didn't think... I didn't feel like I 'deserved' to have a girlfriend, or to be happy. Is that what happened to you?"

I felt Aaron stiffen under my arm. "I love Daniel. I am gay. I've never liked girls." I felt a little thrill at the first three words.

---

The meeting went on longer then we thought, until about seven thirty. But I never felt like I wanted to leave. It was stressful sometimes, but it was so intense. So interesting, for lack of a better word. Finally though, George got up and stretched. With that the spell was broken, everyone was quiet and uncommunicative again. Everyone got up, and a few went to scavenge the remnants of the cookies and coffee.

Aaron went up to talk to George, looking shy. When he came back, he was smiling. I asked him what they talked about on the way back to the car. He smiled up at me.

"I want to go next time, and I offered to make the refreshments."

I couldn't help it, I scooped him up in my arms and swung in a circle. "You are so cute!" I growled.

---

I went into his apartment with him. I wanted to talk. He had been pretty cheerful, but I could just sense how fragile he was feeling. I sat in his room with him, and he sat down next to me on his little bed.

"How are you, Punkin?" He smiled half-heartedly at the awful nickname, but the smile didn't have it's usual charm behind it.

"I've never told anyone that before." He whispered, leaning against me. I combed my fingers through his short soft hair, mussing it. "Not even you... I feel like I should have told you first."

"Hey... It's a pretty intense thing to share. I'm surprised that they managed to pry it out of you. They have weird voodoo there."

He giggled. "You noticed that? It was like they were all brainwashed! And they did it to me too!"

I kissed his ear, and then slid to right under his ear, that tender little spot that drove him purely crazy. I ran my tongue in little circles around that erogenous zone. He melted in my arms, letting out a little moan of excitement.

We both jumped when someone knocked on the door. Aaron froze in my arms. "Oh shit." He whispered. His eyes were getting wider and wider, shining with panic.

"It's my dad." He whispered. His voice was timid, and hollow. "I forgot."

I got up, feeling my erection shrivel as I did. His dad... I remembered how he had broken down on our first date. He loved his father, but his father had so much control over him.

"He doesn't know about you." Aaron whispered. His eyes were getting wet. He was so stressed out. The pounding came again. "He's gonna kill me Daniel."

I heaved Aaron to his feet. "I wont let him, I promise. We just have to go and meet him, okay? Why is he here anyway? Are you sure it's him?"

Aaron walked numbly with me. "He wanted to congratulate me on the job, and visit me before he went back home."

I sat on the couch just as the door thudded again. Aaron stood in front of the door, looking so unsure.

--------AARON--------

When I opened the door, Daniel looked nearly as tense as I felt. Dad was standing in the doorway, holding a bottle of red wine and a red envelope. He was smiling, he looked so happy.

"Hey Aaron, what's wro--" Then he saw Daniel sitting on the couch. Daniel was wearing his work clothes, slacks and a blue shirt and a red striped tie. His hair was pulled back in a businesslike ponytail. He was wearing his gold-colored watch, and his big dark hands were folded. How could I have forgotten my dad was coming? How could I subject Daniel to this?

"Um... Dad... This is Daniel."

Dad was standing in the doorway still, his face frozen. His hand clenched so tight on the neck of the bottle that I thought it would break. I saw his adam's apple bob as he swallowed.

"Hello." He said stiffly. I could see all of the cords in his neck sticking out. "Nice to meet you Daniel."

He walked in and put the wine and the envelope down on the table. "I can't do this right now Aaron. I'll come back later. I don't want to do something that I'll regret."

He was gone. The door was closing slowly behind him. He had set the bottle of wine down on it's side, and it rolled off the table, shattering on the linoleum floor. Wine washed all over the floor and soaked into the rug I kept in front of the fridge. The door clicked shut.

Daniel was there in a second, picking up the glass, throwing it in my little white bin, looking up at me. I still hadn't moved. I couldn't move.

He stopped picking up glass and came up behind me to hug me tight. I let him hold me and let my head fall back onto his chest. I could feel tears streaming from my eyes.

"Hey, Aaron. I love you. And he loves you too."

I turned around. I didn't sob aloud. I just buried my face in his chest and let him hold me.

---

Daniel promised to stay the night. He just had to go back to walk Noel and feed all of the animals. I called Dad. He answered on the first ring.

"Dad, I wanted to tell you about him." I blurted into the phone. "But... But I was scared."

I couldn't hear anything. The silence on the phone was more then I could bear. "Dad?" I whispered. "Please, say something."

"I'm trying Aaron. I just don't know what to say."

I sniffled. "Say, 'I love you'. Is that really so h-hard? I love you. After all of this, I still love you. Sometimes I wish I didn't, it would be easier."

"I don't know what to say because you lied to me, Aaron. Here I was, thinking that maybe after what happened that you would--"

"That I would, what? Come to my senses? Wake up? Realize that I have been living a life of sin? It doesn't work that way d-dad." I was trying so hard to keep my voice level, but it was starting to slip. "Do you want to know why I didn't tell y-you about Daniel? Do you?"

"Aaron..." I could hear him begging. I felt sick, but I also felt a vengeful sort of pleasure. The pleasure of being the one twisting the knife. It was undeniable.

"Because of my wall, that's why. I still have cracks on the w-wall from when I told you about Bryce. I don't trust you. I don't feel safe around you. I'm not safe around you."

"Aaron, I would never hurt you." He was miserable, but I didn't let up.

"D-Dad? Daniel made me better. He helped fix me up when I was broken. All you've done is break me more. Either learn to accept what I am, or don't come back." I let out a soft sob. "Because wh-what you're doing now? I just can't fucking handle it." I shut my phone.

I heard it ringing, but I didn't answer it. I was too busy muffling my screams inside a pillow.

--------DANIEL--------

Maybe it was some sort of karmic balancing. We had gone to a meeting where I had spoken to some of the least judging men I had ever seen. So then I had to see Aaron's father. He was a younger man then I had expected, almost handsome. The single look he gave me, it was full of hatred, but I was used to that. I had seen and dealt with homophobic people before. I had been afraid for my safety before, but this... it was personal.

Aaron's father looked at me like he blamed me for everything that happened to his son.

When I got back after feeding the crowd at my apartment, Aaron was sitting in the dark, hugging his knees. I had a bottle of wine to replace the broken one. I had changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt. Later, I reflected that that was just another thing I liked about Aaron. I could dress down. I hadn't been able to do that with Isaac or Nick.

I stepped up and nudged his shoulder with the bottle. "Wanna get drunk? Drown your troubles at the bottom of a coffee mug?"

"Yes please." He whispered.

---

I turned on the lights, and we sat on his bed, drinking wine from coffee mugs. I had flipped on the TV, but wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. All of my attention was focused on Aaron.

The bottle of wine was gone, and Aaron was lying back, staring at the ceiling, silent. I turned off the TV, and methodically stripped his clothes. I pulled up his pajama pants, digging for them in the bottom drawer. He called it the 'scrub drawer' it had all of his baggy holy shirts and slippers and sweat pants.

I stripped down to my boxers and slid in next to him on his tiny twin bed. He kissed me, slipping his tongue in my mouth, but I could tell he wasn't into it. I ended the kiss and pecked him on the nose, both eyelids, and the forehead.

"You don't have to just for me, trust me."

He kissed me again, this time just with the lips. "Thank you Daniel. I... I don't know what I would do without you."

We shifted until we were spooning. I rested my hand on his hip, and kissed the back of his neck. "Tomorrow? You're coming to my apartment, and we'll have a spa day." He giggled, and I couldn't help smiling. It was good to hear him laugh.

"Yup, a nice deep bath instead of your cruddy little shower... might even play geisha, give you a little rubdown..." He laughed harder, curling up. I curled mercilessly with him, I was going to snuggle him to death. "We'll do facials, drink margaritas, bitch about menopause, all of that good stuff."

He howled with laughter. I held him tight, keeping him together until he fell asleep.

---

I was startled awake by a hot wet mouth on a rather vulnerable part of my anatomy. I looked around, startled and blinking in the bright soft light that leaked through his window through the metal blinds. I looked down at the hump in the blankets, a hump that was tiger-striped by the shadows of the blinds. I lifted up the hem of the blanket and looked at the gently bobbing head of my boyfriend. My semi-hard cock was sliding in and out of his soft red lips. He looked up at me with his pale brown eyes, smiling around my cock.

"Someone's frisky." I gasped. I groaned and let my head fall back. Blood was rushing to my groin. My mouth tasted foul, my head was creaking, but by all accounts, it was still a pretty fantastic morning.

I made a sound halfway between a yelp and a moan. He was getting good. He flattened my cock so it lay against my stomach, and he ran his tongue down the length in slow flat licks. I moaned and shivered at the waves of sensation. I groaned as Aaron lowered his head on my cock, enveloping it in his sexy mouth. I reached down and rubbed his shoulders as he sucked, I curled my fingers to caress the back of his neck.

I could feel the sweat beading on my forehead, on the back of my neck. Aaron's skin was damp and soft. His mouth was slick and soft. I relaxed every muscle in my body to prolong the inevitable, to enjoy this sensation for as long as I could.

"Aaron..." I whispered, my eyes falling closed, my body tensing. "Aaron... I'm going to... I'm going to come Aaron!"

Aaron whimpered softly, his sexy body flexing and writhing under the sheet as he threw himself into the blowjob, his cheeks hollowing around my cock. The sight of the hollows in his soft cheeks, and my thick cock disappearing between his soft pink lips drove me crazy.

He rested his cheek on my hip, his lips still touching the base of my cock. He laid my cock on his cheek and stroked me, drawing his hand over my saliva-slick cock.

I groaned and every muscle in my body flexed. I was able to open my eyes in time to see come spurt from the tip of my cock and pool on his cheek. He smiled shyly up at me, resting on my thigh.

I flushed and reached at the side of the bed for the box of tissues, giving him one to clean his face with. He wiped his cheek and I sat up, drawing him into my lap and kissing him. I loved holding him in my lap, his shoulder under my chin, his soft neck against my cheek.

I reached around his waist and stroked his throbbing member. "You are so sexy." I purred into his ear. He just moaned, tilting his head back onto my shoulder in a way that was frankly erotic.

His beautiful swan-neck was exposed, I couldn't help it. I sucked gently on the skin, nibbling and biting. He moaned and his hips twitched, thrusting his cock further into my hand. He liked it, so I bit harder.

"Dan... Daniel!" He cried. I withdrew from his neck to watch his face as he came, the look that was almost like pain, but was all pleasure. The way his features relaxed after he was done. I felt his cock soften in my slick hand.

---

"Dammit Daniel!"

I jumped from where I was sitting on his bed, tying my shoes. I felt a jolt of panic, I didn't know what was wrong, but I was petrified anyway. "What?"

He came out of the bathroom in his jeans and sock-feet, rubbing the side of his neck and scowling. "You gave me a hickey, it's HUGE."

I started laughing, I couldn't help it. I laughed until tears streamed down from my eyes. His stern face broke into a reluctant grin and he cuddled up on my lap. I tweaked his soft little nipples in my fingers.

"Shoo, fly! I gotta brush my teeth. You too... you reek."

I put a wounded hangdog expression on my face, and tickled his soft flat stomach. He giggled and pulled away, strutting to the bathroom, sticking his tongue out at me.

I did the same, only I waggled mine. He rolled his eyes and disappeared into his bathroom.

--------AARON--------

I was pleased to say that Daniel wasn't entirely joking.

We had a quick shower that made us both crazy-horny, and after the shower he gave me a VERY thorough massage that ended with me squirming and coming into his mouth. When I turned to reciprocate, he grinned guiltily, and showed me his come-smeared hand. He had been so excited just from sucking my cock.

"I've never done that before." He murmured. He was snuggled behind me, we weren't exactly asleep, but resting. Completely naked and clean and warm. His skin felt so good.

"Lucky me." I murmured, kissing his hand. "That felt amazing."

He kissed the back of my neck. "I mean... I've never had the courage to do this sort of thing. I just feel so comfortable around you, y'know? I love you Aaron... You make me feel sexy."

I wiggled further into him, my heart imploding with love. "I love you Daniel."

There was really nothing else that needed to be said.

--

*One chapter left to go! Almost done with the last chapter of Alone at the End of the World... The third chapter is out, but one more is coming. I'd say I have five pages left to write (word, not literotica)