Under New Management

"All I have." I said. "Obviously we both know I can buy more but I promise I'm really trying to chill ok? So I wanted you to hold on to it. Maybe we can smoke together a couple of times a week or whatever." Leo looked up at me, wide eyed. "I felt really fucking dumb today." I admitted under my breath. "I thought you might need some reassurance that I'm actually taking this seriously since, you know, I don't take anything seriously." I kept my eyes on the pasta. I felt Leo's hand on my arm and I glanced up in spite of myself.

"Andy. I really appreciate this." I grunted and looked back to the table. I didn't like being serious with Leo. I didn't like being serious with anyone. It's why Leo and I spark off each other- he keeps me grounded and I can lift him up. He sat in silence with me as we devoured his creation. I started tidying up after dinner- I'm still a slob but I like Leo to know I appreciate him, so we do the dishes together. He clasped my hands behind my back as I finished and whispered in my ear.

"You've been so good tonight. I guess you think that means I've forgotten about punishing you?" I grinned as I let out a moan against him. So he wasn't really mad anymore.

"No, ariki."

"Good. Bend over." He held my hands behind me as I bent over the dining room table. "E noho." He ordered as he disappeared. Stay. His way of teaching me Maori certainly managed to keep me engaged.

He returned and tied my hands together before kicking my legs uncomfortably wide.

"He tama pai koe." He crooned, stroking my back. I sighed and let myself melt under his touch. He's such a fucking daddy. And I am absolutely his good boy.

"Kia ora, ariki."

"Taku tama pai."

"Ae, ariki. To tama." He rubbed his hands possessively over my ass and reached around to start taking my trousers off. He slowly peeled them down under my ass and cupped my cheeks. I lay passively as he jiggled them. He loves my ass. I think if I were reduced to just two cheeks and a hole he would be equally as happy as having a whole boyfriend. Sometimes he'll just play with my ass for ages while my dick gets hard and I leak precum everywhere.

"Purotu." He sighed, slapping me.

"Tena koe." He slid a finger down my crack- oh. He'd lubed it up already. I shuddered as he started to finger me.

"Fucking karihika" He chuckled as I whined beneath him. I rolled my eyes, flushing red. He likes how vocal I am but he always teases me about it. I felt him undo his own pants and he removed his finger, replacing it with his dick between my cheeks. He slid up and down, teasing me.

"Fuck Leo, fuck me."

"E hokaka ana koe ki tenei?"

"Ae, koa." He gripped my hair and pulled hard. I gasped.

"Tama pai." He slipped in and I groaned and fell against the bench as he fucked me. He was so good. He held me by my hair and continued to assault my ass with slaps and gropes as he grunted against me. "Fuck." He grunted as he pounded my ass, seeking his own high. I always fell apart for him. My legs were shaking and I was breathing in short little gasps.

"Gonna cum." He grunted.

"Kua rite ahau, ariki." He chuckled, and stroked my hair as he started to thrust deeper and harder. He came with a grunt and I moaned against him. I didnt cum, but he would take care of that, he always did.

"Kua ako koe?" He made me stay there, with my hands tied behind my back as he grabbed some tissues for us. I moved to look at him.

"I guess I've been practising a little. There's not a lot of porn out there in Maori did you know?" He laughed.

"We should make some." I smiled at him and bit my lip.

"You're too shy. I thought about it. An onlyfans."

"Fuck off. No." I started to right myself- maybe he wasn't going to finish me off today. That's ok. He unbound my hands and kissed them. "Don't you dare." He said, noticing I wasn't quite meeting his eye.

"I won't!" Damn. The extra income would have been nice. But I would never do anything Leo didn't want me to... and anyway he's obviously right. Its a stupid idea. He kissed me.

"Good. I'm your only fan." I pulled up my trousers and moved to waddle to the bathroom. He stopped me and picked me up. I sighed, pretending I didn't absolutely love it when he manhandled me. He threw me on the couch and started to pull my trousers down again- I had to stop him, laughing.

"Italian leather and your cum dripping out of my arse don't mix." He conceded that was true and took me to his bed, where he spread me out.

"You are so beautiful." He said. "Ko koe humarire."

"Roke."

"Shut that filthy mouth."

"Make me." He kissed me, removing my pants again, removing my top, touching everything he could.

"What do you want? Want me to suck you off? Want me to breed you again? Want me to edge you with my hand all night?" Oh god it all sounded good.

"I want-"

"Te Reo." He interrupted. I sighed.

"I don't think this is exactly what mum had in mind when she told me I needed to learn Te Reo." He laughed.

"Ok. English. You're making me worry the whakapapa will be watching."

"Suck my dick please, ariki."

"Ugh, that has to be so disrespectful. I can't look my dad in the eye."

"What would you prefer? Sir? Daddy?" He grunted as he spread my legs and gently started kissing my thighs. "Master? Boss?" I continued to tease him. He looked up at me with fire in his eyes and grabbed my chin.

"Ko ahau to papa. Ko ahau to rangatira. Ko wai ahau ki a koe?"

"Ariki."

"Tama pai."

--

He's on at me about meeting mum and dad and my friends, seeing my flat, all of that. I mentioned I'm cagey. I guess after 3 years it's starting to look really fucking suspicious.

"You don't have another boyfriend do you?" We were hanging out at work doing a stocktake. I looked at him.

"Yeah I see him after work at 5 before I get to yours around 6 most nights. Also I don't actually make jewellery, I just bang him. Those runs I go for in the morning? He usually just wanks me off near your garage." Leo rolled his eyes.

"I take your point." He pulled out a giant box of whiskey. "I've never seen your place."

"I'm in between places." Laura had moved in with her girlfriend and I was back to the floor of my studio.

"You're always in between places."

"And you wonder why you've never been over?" He stopped what he was doing and looked me over.

"Andy. You're a good liar, but I know you way too well. What are you hiding?"

"Nothing. I'm couch surfing so you cant come over unless you want to fuck in someone else's living room." I looked at him. "Any reason you needed me in particular for this stocktake?" That distracted him. He grinned at me and shrugged.

"I wanted the best."

"Well. You got that right." He watched me as I took off my apron and let it fall to the ground. He frowned.

"Whakairi hia." He snapped at it. I didn't know that word but I picked the apron up with a dramatic sigh. "Hang it up." He gestured. I rolled my eyes but complied. "He aho te korero?"

"Ae, ariki."

"Tama pai."

"I'm not going to be able to have a conversation with anyone without getting horny." I complained. Leo didn't seem to care. He clicked me over to his side and wrapped his hands in my hair at the nape of my neck, pulling down a little.

He looked me over.

"Shirt off."

"That door is locked right?"

"You questioning your superior?" I was torn between really wanting to check that door and really wanting to get fucked.

"No, ariki."

"Good." I pulled away from him and peeled off my t-shirt, rolling my eyes as I folded it pointedly. He grinned. "Haere mai."

I obediently returned to him and he started playing with my nipples, watching me blush and struggle not to moan.

"So controlled." He growled. He traced his fingers down my chest and to my dick. He gripped me through my trousers. "You're so fucking hard." I nodded and he stroked me. "Pull your trousers down." He directed, shuffling down his own. He moved behind me and bent me over when the door handle moved.

I've never moved faster in my life. But not fast enough. Leo pulled his trousers up and I jumped away from him- but I was still shirtless, and neither of us were looking particularly together.

"Seymour said you were down here doing stocktake." Carl said, looking between us. Total dick, but not stupid. "Nice." He said to Leo sarcastically. "Really good look for our director, buggering younger men when they're meant to be on the clock."

"It was my fault." I lied. "I came on to him, he's not... there's nothing here I just..."

"Why?" Carl was unconvinced.

"Because I'm this close to being fired and I thought if Leo was on my side I might get a few more months." Carl looked almost ready to believe me, but Leo took my hand.

"I've never met anyone so full of shit." He said. "We've been dating since we met. He spent lockdown with me." He sighed. "We'll discuss my resignation."

"My resignation." I interrupted. "Leo you made this place. I'll find somewhere else."

"Andy's right." Carl said. "We can't lose you. Get back on the floor, Andy, and don't fucking say a word."

"Got it."

I put my shirt on and zipped myself up and grabbed my apron. I told Seymour that Carl had replaced me doing stock and jumped back in on table service. I can play it cool, so no worries.

Like I said, Leo can't. He and Carl really did finish the stocktake and they obviously decided what to do about me because he acted super weird on the way out. Ok. Needed to polish up the CV. Or the Tinder bio- wasn't sure yet.

"Why's Leo acting like that?" Seymour said.

"He's the big man on campus isn't he? He can act how he wants." Seymour rolled his eyes.

"You always act like you can't stand him but you're clearly in love with him." I blushed. Seymour noticed. "Oh I knew it." He said.

"You don't know anything." I corrected him. "I mean he's clearly hot, I'm not blind."

"So are you."

"Whatever."

"He wears your jewellery all the time." Seymour said slowly.

"He's nice like that." Seymour raised his eyebrows.

"Or he likes you too."

"He's 35." I was acutely aware of the age gap.

"So? Never stopped you before."

"He's my boss."

"Oh, you get off on that." I slapped Seymour playfully and stopped chatting, because I was only digging the hole deeper.

—-

I didn't wait to find out if I was fired, I just started applying for other places. When that got exhausting I played around with a Toroa. I wanted him to be a ring, his wings wrapping around your finger. I finally checked my phone to see it was late and Leo had been trying to call. Oops.

I tried to call him back but there was a knock on my studio door before he picked up. I immediately tensed up. It was way too late for that to be anything good.

"Andy?" Leo. I opened the door a sliver.

"Sorry I missed your calls. I was working."

"I was so worried. Let me in." I glanced around the studio. It looked like shit. Shit everywhere. Tea cups, ash trays, piles of books. Not to mention my sleeping bag. But I couldn't leave Leo on the doorstep. I sighed.

"If I knew you were coming I'd have tidied up." He looked around. His face was unreadable. He smiled at the piece I'd been working on and the smile dropped as he saw the clothes, the fridge, the little gas stove...

"Couch surfing huh?" I shrugged.

"In between places."

"Don't you dare say no to moving in with me." I looked at him and shook my head. He sighed. "It's not taking care of you. It's loving you. You can't fucking live like this."

"I'll find somewhere."

"You have somewhere. We already did it for six weeks, you didn't mind."

"You forced me."

Sort of. I kept my lockdown plans very vague because they were. Leo saw through that immediately and made me bring a bunch of tools over to his so I could work a bit and we lived together. It had actually been bliss, although I did get annoyed when I didn't have the right equipment. Leo wouldn't let me break lockdown to visit the studio, even though it was totally isolated. He said that wasn't the point. I loved being near him and we functioned well- he let some of my natural laziness go and in turn I worked hard to not be a total shit and take care of laundry and dishes when I remembered. I'd even, albeit briefly, introduced him to my mother on FaceTime. She naturally loved him, probably more than me.

"Andrew Kahurangi Walters." Leo folded his arms. "Move in with me or this is over. He raru tenei."

"You're giving me an ultimatum?"

"Yeah. But I've made it real easy. Say yes. Yes, thank you." I bit my tongue and looked away. As if I could say no.

"Kei te pai." I gestured to the studio. "Kei te koa ahau i konei." Leo sighed and took me in his arms- he always did go easier on me if I tried Te Reo.

"Kaore koe e koa." He kissed my nose. "He tangata teka koe." I laughed. He was right, I was lying and it seemed that even in Te Reo Leo could see through my bullshit.

He won the argument- discussion, he would have said, naturally. We didn't take all my stuff that night but he insisted I wouldn't be sleeping in the studio again. I can't deny that I was incredibly grateful. My back was almost always in pain and I hadn't woken up warm unless I was at Leo's since Summer.

--

I gave him my letter of resignation and he held it, looking thoughtful.

"Carl actually doesn't want you to resign." He said. "But there was a bit of me that thought maybe it would be good to have more time to work on your jewellery."

"What? Carl's wanted me to resign since he got there."

"No." Leo looked over his shoulder at me as he boiled the jug. "Carl has wanted you to take a bit of pride in your work since he got there. Which you know you don't." I shrugged.

"So am I leaving or not?"

"Do you want to leave?"

"No."

"Really? I have a theory that you do want to leave but you don't have the guts to do it properly so you act up, hoping someone will snap and fire you so you can be indignant and do what you do best- wallow in self pity and alcohol and cigarettes. Am I close?"

I stared at Leo. Ouch. He wasn't wrong. He never was. I just didn't want to hear it. He saw the look in my eye and sighed.

"That was not an invitation to march out on me, or to start drinking. Have some tea. Talk to me."

My fingers curled around the temuka as he handed it to me.

"If I leave I'm out of excuses with the jewellery. I'll have to set it up as a business, a real one. I'll have to do emails and talk to shops... I'm such a flake Leo. I can't do any of that."

"You're not a flake you're just fucking stubborn."' He sighed. "I'll help with all that."

"You have your own job."

"You help with that all the time." I rolled my eyes. "You put me in touch with the artists for the new crockery. You got me talking to Dan about natural wine. You helped me handle that situation with Kelly when she snapped at Moana. You mentor the young dudes when they fuck up. The least I can do is help get your business off the ground."

I tapped my fingers against the mug.

"What if you went to two days a week?" He said. "I'll put you on the weekends, that should just about cover your studio rent." I looked up. He'd really thought about this huh?

"We can try." I said slowly. My mind was already sparkling with the idea of working in the studio five days a week before cycling over to Leo's and curling up on the couch reading together. He would run out of fingers for all the rings I was going to make him.

"You need to accept my help though."

"I do!" I protested, knowing I was lying. Leo rolled his eyes and started rubbing his leg against mine.

"Carl thinks we should just tell people." He said. I wrinkled my nose and Leo caught my hand.

"You ashamed of me?" He teased.

"Ugh. The opposite. Everyone's gonna think I only have a job because I'm fucking you." He laughed and shook his head.

"You're so stupid for a smart guy. I won't say anything if you don't want me to. I gave myself a warning for inappropriate behaviour and Carl says the ball is in my court. Which means your court." I looked at him and pursed my lips.

——

"I fucking knew it." Seymour ambushed me. "How long?" I continued folding napkins with a sigh.

"Does it matter?"

"He started wearing that necklace you made the second week. Since then?" I looked at him over the pile of napkins.

"Alright Sherlock, calm down."

"I only noticed because I'd been on at you to make me one forever."

"And I did." I looked at Seymour's necklace. Seymour was from Western Australia and I'd dug out some opal I got in Alice Springs last time I was there. I used it as the centre of a Huia nest made of no. 8 wire. I'll admit it took me a while to make it for him- he asked me for months before I made Leo's, I just never had the inspiration. Eventually I had a sudden rush of gratification for him after a particularly bad shift at work and finally started on it.

"Yeah, we met before he started." I said. "Didn't know he was going to be my new boss obviously. He wouldn't let me quit, and he wouldn't let me stop seeing him." I shrugged. "Not that I minded."

"Yeah he'd be a moron to lose you. In all senses." I rolled my eyes.

"I think he got very unlucky myself."

—-

We picked up some of my stuff from the studio and I tidied it up a bit. Leo sat on a bench looking around.

"I want to take photos of you working." He said.

"Fine, I won't talk to you though. I get carried away." I grabbed the bags I was taking and took my bike inside.

—-

He didn't usually show up without warning, I wasn't particularly good company if I was working anyway, so it was a surprise to all of us when he turned up with a bunch of camera equipment and Mum and Dad were there. The drugs and the cigarettes were neatly tucked away obviously.

"Aroha mai!" He called from the doorway- his equipment was leading the way. I looked up in surprise and over to my parents. "I hiahia ahau ki tei haere mai..." He trailed off as he saw Mum and Dad standing either side of me. "Oh." He looked at me with a tiny smile. He was always banging on about meeting my parents. "Tena koutou- Hi."

"Tena koe." Mum said, beaming. "He pai ki te titaki ki a koe. Leo?" Leo dropped his equipment and bounded over to shake mum's hand.

"Leo." He confirmed.

"Ko Frank ahau." Dad said, leaning over. His accent was atrocious but he was more capable than I was so I couldn't really say anything. "To hoa rangatira?" He asked me.

"Yeah, Leo's the guy who made me move in with him." I sighed. "Kawhe? Dad, ask Leo about fishing. Mum, Leo's been helping me with Te Reo." I let them hit it off, as I knew they all would, while I made coffee. Leo was beaming. Mum gave me a little smile over her shoulder. I poured us all a coffee and half listened to them talking- the weird half English half Te Reo mix I'd heard so often growing up. I smiled to myself.

--

"I haven't seen this one?" I jumped. I'd forgotten Leo was picking me up today to take me to dinner with the family. I glanced over where he was looking and snatched it out of his hand.

"You aren't meant to see that one." I grumbled. It was a simple design. Plain silver band with a black diamond in the centre. Engraved on the inside. Aroha nui. It had been finished for a couple of weeks now but I wasn't ready. Leo snatched it back.

"Stop being so precious." He rolled his eyes, and started to examine it. I sighed. Well this wasn't exactly how I'd planned it. I could see him starting to blush as he looked at it properly. He glanced at me. "Oh." he said slowly. I sighed and folded my arms.

"Leo. I told you you aren't meant to see that." He turned it slowly over in his hands.

"Well." He said eventually. "I have seen it. So..." I sighed and threw my hands up. I took the ring off him and shook my head as I knelt in front of him.