Chapter 5
Dean came into the kitchen wearing a shirt and a pair of jeans, making a faint trace of disappointment go through him. “Smells good,” he said, sniffing at the air.
“What were you saying about us having lesbian neighbors?” John asked as he mashed the potatoes in a mixing bowl.
The biker sat down at the kitchen table and proceeded to tell him all about the visit of their new neighbor. John listened in fascination, laughing at Dean’s description of Cindy’s gushing manner. “So they’re all descending on us Saturday. I thought we could have a barbeque or something. There’s a really nice stainless steel barbeque in the back yard with all the bells and whistles. We might as well get some use out of it.”
“Have you ever barbequed before?” John asked curiously.
A snort. “Hell, no. I was hoping that you knew something about it,” the biker replied promptly.
“Well, being a gay man I’m not exactly a wiz at it. But my Dad used to have weekends barbeques, so I’ve seen it done. We’ll muddle through somehow,” he added as he put heavy whipping cream and butter into the mashed potatoes.
Dean laughed. “I never thought that I’d be living in the heart of suburbia planning a weekend barbeque,” he said drolly. “This is like some kind of weird dream.”
“Especially considering the fact that we’re gay men,” John agreed as he removed the steaks from the oven.
“Oh, they think we’re married by the way. Cindy called you my husband,” Dean told him.
He got a peculiar sensation in the pit of his stomach at this thought. “Oh. Will it be okay that we don’t wear rings or anything?” he asked.
A chuckle. “Here, this is for you,” Dean said. He turned around and saw the biker holding out a gold ring. “I found a matched set for us in my file today. Apparently they want us to pose as a ‘married’ couple. I tried mine on,” he held up his hand, displaying a gold ring on his finger, “And it fits perfectly. Here,” he handed the ring to John, who felt that weird squirmy sensation again as he took it. Never mind that it was the government and not Dean who was giving it to him – the intimacy of it took his breath away. He slid the ring onto his left hand and found that his fit perfectly as well.
“Nice,” Dean remarked as he looked at his hand. “It looks good on you, hubby.”
John flashed a look up at him, and his stomach did flip-flops when he saw the sensual smile on the other man’s face. Dean rose slowly to his feet and walked over to him, and the former teacher felt breathless as Dean closed in on him. “I think I need to give you a kiss to welcome you home, since you ARE my husband,” he said teasingly. His hands reached out and settled on John’s upper arms, taking his breath away completely.
Then he was being drawn forward, and his head titled a bit even as his mouth opened in anticipation. When Dean’s lips touched his, he wound his arms around the taller man’s neck and hung on for dear life. Then he was being kissed hungrily, his mouth plundered, and he could only return it with eagerness as he received the best ‘welcome home’ gesture that he’d ever gotten.
Their mouths finally parted. John looked up into Dean’s eyes, his own glassy. “Argle,” he managed to get out.
Dean chuckled, patting him lightly under his chin with his fingers. “Eloquent,” he teased. “I thought,” He continued musingly, “That we should just accept the fact that we’re going to end up in bed together eventually. So we should start working up to it. What do you think?”
“I think my legs don’t work,” John replied breathily.
Dean laughed. “Just lean on me then,” he said easily.
That sounded great to John. He leaned against Dean’s strong chest happily, as the other man’s hands caressed idly down his back. “So what do you think of my idea?” he asked after a moment.
“I think it’s a terrible idea,” John said as severely as he could. “It’s the equivalent of torture. Do you really want us to torture ourselves?”
Dean considered this. “You might have a point,” he remarked. “But the alternative is keeping our hands off of each other completely. And not only will that be totally impossible, our neighbors are going to wonder why two happily married men don’t even touch each other or kiss during the backyard barbeque Saturday. Won’t it look really odd?”
John sighed. “You’re right,” he said glumly. “It’s damned if we do, damned if we don’t. But we COULD just have sex and get it over with,” he pointed out hopefully.
Dean grinned and patted his cheek. “Nice try, honey. Much as I’d love to jump your bones right here and now on the kitchen table…” his eyes gleamed as John gasped and practically fell over at his words, “We still have the same old problem. Just consider this our dating period, hmm? Unless you’re the type to put out on the first date,” he added with a knowing grin.
The former teacher glared at him. “Are you intimating that I’m a slut?” he demanded angrily.
Laughing openly at his ruffled feathers, Dean shook his head. “Actually, no. But if you’re NOT a slut, which I’m sure you’re not, you won’t want to just jump into bed with me during this ‘getting to know each other’ period. Right?”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re evil and heartless?” John pouted, pulling away from him at last.
“Often,” Dean replied blandly. “What’s for dinner?” he added, sniffing at the air appreciatively.
“Your head sautéed and served with carrots and mushrooms,” John sniped.
“Ooo, sounds good,” Dean remarked cheekily, leaning over to scoop up Misty and put her on his shoulder. The kitten instantly began to purr as he scritched her with his fingers.
“Look at it this way, John,” he told the former teacher. “When we finally do get horizontal, it’ll be the best you’ve ever had. Delayed gratification and all that.”
A snort of disbelief came out of the man removing the steaks from the oven, which made Dean’s grin widen. He liked teasing John. The other man was very cute when he got all worked up. That boded well for their eventual tumble into the sack. All that energy would be very pleasant. Mmm, maybe when he finally decided to drag John off to his bed, he should make the other man mad first…
John busily loaded the table with food while Dean relaxed back in his chair and petted the kitten kneading his shoulder through his shirt. He’d offered to help, but the former teacher had turned him down. Obviously he liked to do things himself, and since he was so used to living alone he wouldn’t be used to having help anyway. Dean had given in because he suspected that it would be a very bad idea for them both to be moving around in the somewhat tight space in the kitchen together. They were sure to end up rubbing against each other, which would make his resolve to get to know John better before bedding him go flying right out the window. And he still believed that giving the former teacher some space right now was a good idea; after all, it had only been a few days since the poor thing had lost everything he’d ever known. To have sex with him now would be sort of taking advantage of his fragile mental state, or at least that’s how it would feel to him anyway. If they slept together and then decided that they didn’t really like each other after all, they’d still be stuck living together anyway. And boy, could that get ugly!
But the real reason he wanted to delay them having sex was the fact that Dean strongly suspected that he could fall head-over-heels in love with this man. Having casual sex with John before that happened might impede their burgeoning relationship rather than helping it along. He wanted their first time together to be something special, something that counted. Not like any of his other casual trysts at all. John deserved that and much more.
He smiled lazily at the other man as John turned around with the bowl of mashed potatoes held in hot pads in his hands. “About that barbeque,” he began. “We’ll need to buy stuff for it before Saturday. And by ‘we’ I mostly mean ‘you’, since I wouldn’t know a good cut of steak from dog food.”
John set the bowl on the table. “I’ll go shopping for it Friday night after I get off of work,” he remarked.
Dean nodded. “Give me a call on your cell and I’ll come and help you. I can carry bags if nothing else.”
“Okay,” He turned back for the biscuits, then sat down in the empty chair.
Dean leaned over to set the kitten on the floor. “Go and get something to eat, sweetheart,” he told her.
They talked as they ate, both starting to feel comfortable with each other. John told Dean all about his day at work, about the people he was working with and the clients he’d dealt with. The biker in turn talked about some of the things he’d seen on the news today when he was watching t.v. When they were finished eating they cleaned up the kitchen together(John actually let Dean help him this time) and went into the living room to watch t.v. and relax. Misty prowled the couch from one lap to the other, getting petting from both of them.
John went to bed that night feeling relaxed. He masturbated in the bath tub, thinking about that kiss in the kitchen. But while he sighed over the fact that Dean was still sleeping in his own bed, he did understand where the biker was coming from. It was frustrating to live with a gorgeous sexy guy and not get any, but he knew that wouldn’t be forever. Dean had said that they both knew that they were going to end up in bed together eventually, which was true. So all he had to do was be a little patient and he’d get what he wanted. Which was more than he could say about his life for the last few months before this, when all he’d had were his cats for company at home.
He snuggled under his covers and smiled as Misty crawled over the top of him mewping. She finally burrowed in next to him, a small warm purring lump that kept him company while he slept.
Friday after work, John and Dean went to the grocery store and bought supplies for the barbeque. Not being the world’s best cook, the former teacher purchases large tubs of pre-made potato salad, coleslaw, and a gelatin dessert. Since they didn’t know how many kids the lesbian neighbor couple had, they bought an even dozen steaks as well as hot dogs and ground hamburger. They could always freeze what they didn’t use for later. Bags of chips, 2 liters of soda, and fresh fruit(to try to give the kids at least SOME healthy alternatives) also made their way into the cart.
“Are we all set?” Dean asked as they pushed the cart up to the front to check out.
“I hope so,” John sighed.
A chuckle. “Don’t worry so much, John. These people are just our neighbors, it’s not like they’re a group you really, really need to impress,” he paused, then added impishly: “This isn’t an invasion of the Parent-Teacher Association.”
To his delight, John actually laughed. It showed that the other man was starting to come out of his depression over the loss of his old life, if he could laugh at something from it. “That’s true,” he sighed. “I always hated it when the parents came to take a tour of my classroom and talk to me. They all thought that I was a goodie-two shoes, and it wasn’t easy to keep up that façade.”
Dean laughed, shaking his head. “Boy, did you have them fooled,” he teased. “Since I know at heart that you’re a bad, bad, boy,” he added in a low tone of voice accompanied by a faintly sultry look.
John gasped and glared at him. “That wasn’t nice,” he hissed, leaning over the cart handle.
“Sorry,” Dean said contritely.
“Sure,” he replied sardonically.
“Well, I am. It isn’t nice of me to tease you when I can’t follow up yet. I promise not to do it again,” he added seriously.
“All right. Thank you. It isn’t easy as is…”
“I agree,” the biker said ruefully. “But it won’t be too much longer, I promise.”
John liked the sound of that. Anticipation filled him as he paid for the groceries and Dean helped the bag boy load the food back into the cart. It made a pleasant fluttering start up in his stomach. While getting laid wasn’t the answer to all of his problems, it was definite good start…
Saturday morning Dean carried a bag of charcoal and some lighter fluid out back to set up the barbeque. It took him awhile to figure it out, much to John’s well concealed amusement. He could hear cursing going on from the back yard, and his lips twitched as he put potato salad, coleslaw, and chips into serving bowls and covered everything with foil. Dean wasn’t a very domestic sort of person, which actually rather suited him. Who wouldn’t want to live with a hunky guy with tattoos and piercings and long hair just made to run your fingers through? Especially when said guy was actually a totally nice person who had taken care of him while he recovered somewhat from his emotional turmoil.
Dean came back into the kitchen at last with a bit of smut on one cheekbone. “I got it lit,” he told John. “At last. Damn thing had the directions on the side, did you know that?”
John couldn’t help it – he began to giggle. Dean gave him a dark look. “Yeah, it’s really funny,” he growled. “See if I help you the next time the car breaks down. You can fix it yourself.”
“I’m sorry,” he gasped. “I couldn’t help it. You were cursing out there like the father in A Christmas Story. Have you ever seen that?”
Dean grinned. “Yeah, I’ve seen it. It’s pretty funny. Well, anyway, it’s ready to go whenever our neighbors come over. I’ll go and throw on different clothes,” he left the kitchen and went down the hallway to his bedroom.
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