Date: Sat, 25 May 2002 16:56:27 +0000 From: Java Biscuit Subject: Babying Reuben, chapter 14 This is a story involving male/male graphic sex and it's not intended for reading by minors. If you are underage, or this type of material is illegal where you live, please stop now, and go read something else! This is a fantasy meant only for the purpose of pleasurable reading. Other stories of mine may now be found in the authors' index under Java Biscuit. Feedback, always appreciated: javabiscuit@hotmail.com Babying Reuben ~ chapter fourteen By Biscuit Spring brought a lot of rain. But it also brought green buds to the trees lining the sidewalks and Reuben loved to see that. He loved the lengthening days. Even if the light was gray when he emerged from school, at least, he thought, it's light, and the overcast sky made the budding greenery even more vivid. On a Friday, near the end of term, he walked through a mist-like rain toward the train station, wondering how late Jean would be busy in the shop. Spring had brought changes there too. The approaching tourist season in the river front town meant he was busier, and the weekend forays on buying trips were more of a necessity now than a leisurely jaunt through the countryside. "Reuben!" a laughing voice hailed him. He looked around to see Benny hanging out the door of the cafe he'd just passed. "You just sailed by," Benny said, "I was waving at you like crazy. Come on, I'll buy you a coffee." He hesitated for a second, seeing Marcel through the cafe window. Marcel was the main reason he always passed the place without stopping, even when he'd have liked the spark of a cup of coffee to counteract the stupor of sleepy end of the day classes. So what, he thought, so it's Marcel. He hadn't seen Benny in a long time and the boy's sunny smile was beckoning. Benny led him through the maze of small tables crowded with a blend of art students and shoppers, back packs and shopping bags dotting the cafe floor. Marcel was ensconced at the same corner table he always favored, by the window. Reuben was aware that Benny knew Marcel but still it surprised him to find them hanging out together. The blond gave him an ironic look as they approached, and Reuben wondered if it was such a good idea, after all, to join them. But Marcel offered him a tight smile and Reuben returned it. "Nice to see you," Marcel said. Reuben didn't believe he meant it but was relieved that he was going to at least pretend to be friendly. "You too," he said, about as sincerely. "So," Benny said, unloading a small tray with three frothy lattes. "Guess what, baby -- Marcel's going to fix me up with somebody and I'm going to get fabulously rich. Maybe even lucky, like you, and find a guy to take care of me." Is that what they think? Reuben wondered. "Jean doesn't just take care of me," he said. Did they honestly think he was with Jean for money? "It's not an insult, baby," said Benny. "I'd give my right arm to find somebody like him. Good looking, wealthy, and he's so crazy about you. That's all I meant." "God forbid you should imply he's a whore," Marcel said, lifting his coffee, giving Reuben only a brief flash of a glance. The boy's voice was quiet but Reuben glanced around quickly. Nobody at the adjoining tables seemed to be paying them any attention. The cafe hummed with talk and the rattle of cutlery. "I just meant," Reuben said, "that it's not about money." "I know sweetie," said Benny, "but I need some. I'm making almost nothing at the shop where I work and for me, I'm afraid it is about money. On the other hand, like I said, I could get lucky and meet a nice guy." He didn't like the thought of Benny getting involved with Marcel's men, but felt it was none of his business. He doubted very much that Benny would meet anyone like Jean. There was no one like him and that he'd met him through Marcel was, in his mind, just chance. "So, as I was saying," Marcel broke in, "Dennis comes here on business a few times a month. He'll be here this Wednesday. Pretty straight forward, really. You'll meet him at his hotel and if he likes you -- which he will -- you spend the night and that's it. Of course, he'll think you're seventeen, so don't say you're not." "I can do seventeen, " Benny said, and Reuben felt him nudge him with his knee under the table. "What do you think, baby, can I get away with it?" "Sure, but, you really want to do that? I thought you were seeing Daniel again." "I am, but it's not, you know, not serious. Daniel can't be serious. And I don't want to be. He's not like Jean anyway, Reuben. He doesn't get that look in his eyes when anyone talks to me like Jean does around you. I'm surprised he lets you out of the house without an armed guard," he teased. Reuben felt Benny's hand on his knee, it stroked a little ways up his thigh and pinched, sending a scurry of vague pleasure up his leg to his crotch. He might have said or done something to discourage Benny but the boy's hand was gone quickly. "I don't need an armed guard," said Reuben. "It's Jean who needs one." As soon as he said it he wasn't sure that he should have. Both Marcel and Benny were looking at him expectantly. "Who do you think Jean's looking at?" asked Marcel. "It's not who he's looking at," Reuben sighed. "It's who's looking at him." "So they look, big deal," Marcel said. Reuben thought he sounded disappointed. "Believe me," said Benny, "Jean isn't interested in any other guys, Reuben." "I don't think he is," Reuben insisted, "but I think other guys are interested in him -- like David." "Oh that," said Marcel. "Old news. David just can't resist trying. It's never worked for them. Every once in a while David snags him but it doesn't mean anything. I had the two of them together once." Reuben's stomach lurched almost painfully. Marcel was eyeing him and he made himself pick up his coffee as casually as he could. Marcel's narrowed gaze was sharp and speculative. Benny's knee knocked him again under the table and he looked up to see him smile. "That's really ancient history," Benny assured him. "I wasn't implying anything else," Marcel said. "I'm just pointing out how David operates. He acted like he was after me, but I got the feeling that it was Jean he really was after -- when we got right down to it." It struck Reuben as so true. Much as he hated to hear of Marcel with his lover, he wanted to know more. "What made you think so?" he asked, and could see Marcel warm to the subject with encouragement. Leaning slightly forward, the guarded look in his eyes gave way to pleasure in telling a story. Reuben saw Marcel once again as the irresistibly handsome boy he'd first been befriended by at school. This was the way it had been with them, Marcel dazzling him with stories in this cafe. Intriguing, exciting. His descriptions of Jean had finally seduced Reuben to meet with the man. "Jean took me the The Raven for the Black Party. David was there alone and he was at me constantly. I thought it was weird because I'd been with him before. He was okay but he was tight-fisted. He's got more money than Jean, but he's the type that's insulted by paying for it. I liked him all right, but not enough to wait for him to get more generous down the line. Jean was much easier. He didn't have the ego thing going that David did. He knew I needed money and he gave it to me. With David that night, I figured he was thinking he'd get a free ride. If Jean was paying, he didn't have to. I said as much to him when Jean left us to get drinks. I was shocked when he actually opened his wallet and waved a few bills under my nose. He said it was mine if I convinced Jean to do a threesome. I asked Jean to do it as a favor and told him how much money David had offered me. God, Jean was sweet. He agreed to it and I was in heaven, thinking I was going home with the hottest guys in the place and getting paid for it." "But what David was paying for," Reuben cut in, "was Jean, wasn't it." He didn't want to hear any more of the story, afraid of the outcome. Both of the others were looking at him. "Basically," Marcel agreed. "That's what it came down to. I could tell Jean was focused on me but David wasn't, not really. I mean he was touching me, and acting like he wanted to, you know. But then he was holding me for Jean, offering me to him and when Jean was inside me, David fucked him." "Oh God," Reuben groaned, beyond hiding how it made him feel. "Baby, don't," Benny said, reaching for Reuben's hand on the table. "It doesn't mean anything. Jean doesn't want David, he wants you." "How can you be so sure," Reuben said, misery choking him. "He never turns David away." "They're friends," Benny said. Reuben pulled his hand away, looking down into his coffee. "They've been friends forever," he said. "No one comes between them. And David's a man. What if Jean knew what would happen that time you were with them. What if he secretly wants that. David could give him so much that I can't." He felt sick. He hated for them to see his anguish, especially Marcel whom he suspected enjoyed the pain that his story had caused. But when he looked up he found that Marcel was looking at him with sympathy, not spite. "Reuben," he said, "we haven't been the best of friends. You know I was jealous of you and Jean. I thought I could keep Jean a little longer by giving you to him but I lost him, and you at the same time." His gaze was level and open and Reuben was shocked at the candid admission. He'd been in such turmoil when things had started with Jean. Ashamed, excited. It never occurred to him that Marcel was hurt by the loss of him as a friend. Marcel was so flippant and dismissive it didn't seem to Reuben like he meant much to him one way or another. He didn't know what to say to Marcel now, but the boy went on. "I have to agree with Benny," Marcel said. "You're looking at this the wrong way. If David was what Jean wanted in a partner, he'd be with him. He's not. He's with you." Marcel sighed. "And that is the last time I reassure the luckiest boy I know," he said, recovering his edge. "So don't be looking for a shoulder to cry on here. You're torturing yourself for nothing and I won't put up with it. Now drink your coffee and lord it over us like you should be, that Jean worships the ground you walk on." Reuben wished he felt as certain as they did. He left the cafe with a weight of worry about Jean but feeling better about Marcel. That was something, he thought. He was ready to have the boy as a friend; the ease of tension between them, a relief. Reuben admitted that he'd distanced himself from him, not just because of Jean, but because Marcel was so open about being gay. He felt more at ease with himself now, he realized, and it didn't seem so important that people at school not associate him with Marcel. Friends are important, he thought, gazing at Benny who'd gotten onto the train with him, headed in the same direction that Reuben was. In the crowded car they stood close to each other, hands on the same pole. "Want to come over?" Reuben asked on impulse. They were nearing his stop. "Have dinner with me and Jean?" Benny's face brightened and Reuben was glad he'd asked. "Maybe a quick drink, anyway," Benny said. "I should call Daniel." Happy to have Benny's company and cheered by the light in the sky, Reuben's spirits lifted as they walked toward the shop. Definitely, Reuben thought, it's good to have friends, chiding himself for relying on Jean for too much. "Shop's still open," Benny said as they reached it. Jean was talking to a pair of men who were looking at a small desk. "Should we go in?" he asked Reuben. With Benny in tow it wasn't as disappointing to find Jean still working. He hesitated to go in, gazing through the window for a moment. He longed to go in. He wanted Jean to see him and acknowledge him, but didn't want to interrupt a sale. The urge to go in echoed homecomings from school as a child. He'd been well trained not to make a fuss in the shop when his mother and father were working. "No," Reuben said, "we'll go in the other way. He's busy." ----------------- Jean saw Reuben and Benny just as they walked away from the front of the shop. He was disappointed that they hadn't come in but the small thread of concern he'd felt that it was past the time when the boy usually got home from school, was quieted. Benny and Reuben. He wondered where they'd met up as he closed up the shop, glancing at the empty space left by the sale of the small desk. I'll deal with it tomorrow, he thought, wanting to get upstairs to see Reuben. He felt a momentary annoyance that Benny was with him, but put the thought aside as unreasonable. Really, it was good for Reuben to be spending time with a friend, he told himself. Selfish to want to keep him to himself every hour of the day. Still, he'd have liked to go upstairs and be spoiled as ever by how eager Reuben was to be made love to on a Friday afternoon. Ah. well, he thought, later, and wondered again where the boys had met up with each other. Benny and Reuben; an image teased him of Benny trying to seduce his young lover. It sent a small current of warmth to his groin. He wasn't sure if there was any interest on Reuben's part but that Benny wanted it was certain. Maybe, Jean thought as he climbed the stairs to the apartment, it would be good to encourage it. That Reuben was getting more aggressive in bed was undeniable. Jean liked it, and yet he was far from comfortable with the notion of being topped by Reuben. By anyone. 'You're some kind of control freak,' David had once said. Maybe so, he'd admitted, but pointed out it was pretty much the pot calling the kettle black, between him and David. Benny, on the other hand, he was sure, would be more than happy to let the young painter fuck him. Jean cautioned himself not to get carried away, feeling his dick stirring, knowing he might just be looking for an excuse to get his hands on Reuben sooner rather than later by indulging in thinking about the two boys together.