Chapter 8: House Hunting

I lifted my left arm up and looked at my watch: 6:35 a.m. Well, I tried to sleep in... I set my arm back down and looked at the fuzzy, brown haired head lying on my chest. I wasn't sure at what point in the night it happened , but we always went to sleep with me spooned up behind him, holding him, but we always seem to wake up with his head on my chest. At the moment I couldn't really think of a better way to wake up every morning. I'd told him I wasn't a morning person, and I'm really not, but this time now, these few minutes before he wakes up is starting to turn me into one. I loved looking down at his head, feeling his breathing, feeling the pressure of him on my chest...  There are lots of mornings I'd wake up holding my pillow the exact same way; it was comforting to know I was Jake's hug pillow.

And like the mornings preceding this one I reached up and started rubbing the fur on his head. It always felt so soft and comforting to me. I loved the texture of his hair, maybe just because it was so short. I had also noticed a small scar on his head a couple days ago and I was running my finger over it now. I wonder how he got it. Probably in basic training; I've heard it was basically thirteen weeks of living hell; especially in the Corps. I went back to running my fingers around his fuzzy head, listening to him breathe. I noticed a change in his breathing about six or seven minutes into my hair massage and then his head moved a little. I just kept working my fingers around. Another minute and he was starting to come around. He turned his face into my chest and kissed it.

He didn't move and he didn't look up at me, he just quietly said, "Good morning."

"Good morning, lover."

He brought his left arm in a little tighter and just held me. This was bliss; this was as good as last night.

"Mmmm... that feels good for some reason. I like having you run your fingers through my hair."

"Good, because I'm enjoying doing it and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon." I just kept right on doing it.

"Be my guest. I'm not going anywhere."

We just laid there for about thirty minutes or so, me running my fingers around his head, then down the side of his face touching his cheek, then back up again, and him murmuring and kissing my chest occasionally.

"Mmmm, Michael, this is how I wish I could wake up every morning."

"Baby, this is how you wake up every morning; just not usually for this long."

"No it's not. Well, OK, since I've been sleeping with you. But usually I have Sean or Kevin, or both, banging on my door yelling out, `hey fuck stick, drop your dick and answer the fuckin' door!'."

"Well, do you usually have your dick in your hand when they knock? Maybe you should think about changing your morning routine."

"No...! I don't have my dick in my hand... And I have changed my morning routine; it's this."

"That works great for me; fits right into my plans, I wanna do this every morning for the rest of my life."

"Good. I like the way you think."

He lifted his head off my chest, laid on his back, made an entire performance out of stretching, then laid up on my side, threw his arm over me and nuzzled up to my neck. He looked like a bear waking up from hibernation.

"Michael? Do we have to go anywhere today? I wanna stay just like this all day. I've never done this before; it's really, really nice."

"No, baby, we don't have to leave this bed except to piss and eat if you don't want to. I love doing this too."

I felt him smile on my neck and then he kissed it, sighed and murmured again. Yeah, I thought to myself, I could do this all day.

We just stayed that way and he fell back asleep. I think I dozed off too, because the next thing I knew I heard a knock on the door. I don't know how long the knocking had been going on, but then I heard the door open in the outer room and a female speaking German say, "Maid." Followed shortly after by, "what a mess." Crap, I thought, I didn't put the "do not disturb" card on the door. I lifted my head up and called out in German asking her to come back later. The only problem was she was standing in the doorway of the bedroom by then, getting an eyeful. Jake took this moment to wake up, lifted his head up, looked at her, smiled and called out good morning to her. I'm sure I was crimson, but he didn't seem to mind at all. She started apologizing profusely, backing out of the room and made for the front door. Jake looked down at me, still smiling.

"She seemed nice."

I just looked up at him, like `what the fuck?' and he started giggling.

"She is nice. She helped me look for your button the other day."

"You should leave her a nice tip; just look at the mess you left for her to clean up." Then he started giggling again.

"Shut up, fuck stick. You contributed to that mess."

He laughed out loud at me calling him fuck stick. Then he began to defend himself.

"I did not!! I didn't touch a single piece of clothing last night; that was all you, ass muncher."

"Yeah, OK, what about the load of jizz that flew over your head and landed on the couch? That came from you."

"And you caused it!" He giggled again and then looked down at me smiling. "Give it up, dude, you can't win this one; the evidence is all against you."

"Bullshit, what about the dish –"

He cut me off. "Yada yada yada. Case closed, dude! You lost, move on. You can't sidestep your way outta this. Give it up!" He leered down at me.

I thought about it for a minute, deciding he may be right, so I flipped my body over on to his, pinned him down while sitting on his crotch and just started tickling the shit out of him. He started squirming, screaming and laughing, trying to grab my hands; he wasn't having much luck. I discovered his ribs were really ticklish so I concentrated my efforts there, keeping my hands constantly moving all over him, trying to stay out of his grasp, but always coming back to his ribs. He was howling with laughter and then started bucking up into me trying to throw me off. I only had him by five pounds, so it was a tough ride, but I stayed on. He finally yelled Uncle claiming he was going to start pissing if I didn't stop. I sat up straight on his crotch and looked down at him, laughing, trying to catch my breath.

"You give!?"

"Yeah, Mikey, I give, I give! I can't take any more, I'm gonna pee if you keep that up." He was panting and laughing and just looked so damn cute and sexy.

"I win, right?" I said leering down at him.

"You win, Mikey, you win! Fuck, I can't take anymore, you win!"

"Good! I'll teach you yet to fuck with the old man."

I fell to my left side back onto the bed and looked over at him. He had the biggest smile I'd ever seen on his face. I smiled back at him.

"Goddamn, you fight dirty; just like the other night. I gotta stop letting my guard down around you. But yeah, old man, you won this one. We're now tied, but never underestimate a determined Marine."

He grinned at me then hopped out of bed to go relieve his bladder. I got up after he'd made it into the bathroom and walked over to the door and looked at the mess we'd, or I'd, left behind. I heard the toilet flush and five seconds later he walked up behind me, wiped his wet dick on my ass and put his arms around me, his head right next to mine.

"Surveying your mess?"

"Yeah, drippy dick. Thanks; I needed a wet spot on my ass."

"Part of the service. You want some help cleaning up YOUR mess, or you just gonna leave it for that nice lady?"

"Well since most of the mess is our clothes I guess we'd better pick them up. We might want to get dressed sometime today."

"I don't. But I will help you." He kissed the side of my face.

"Thanks, baby."

He stepped back from me, grabbed my hips and pushed me into the other room. We managed to get the entire mess cleaned up, the dishes on the tray and our clothes back into the bedroom, sort of neatly folded, and I got the cum-stain out of the couch. I spotted the tube of lube down between the cushions, felt that it was basically empty and chucked it in the trash can. Fifteen minutes later, we both stood in the middle of the room, still stark naked with our arms around each other's waist, surveying our work.

"Nice job!" I said.

"You too."

We looked at each other, kissed and he headed to the door, grabbed the do not disturb card, opened the door wide open, hung the card on the door handle, stuck his head out to look, then closed the door while turning to me and leering at me. I rolled my eyes and he laughed. He walked back to me, grabbed my hand and led me back to bed. We resumed our original positions and just laid there cuddling for about an hour. Neither of us went back to sleep, we just explored each other's bodies with our fingers and enjoyed the time together.

A little after nine the phone started ringing. Jake answered it and handed it to me. It was my new business partner, telling me that the paperwork and the lawyers were ready, and could I meet them at eleven at the lawyer's office. He gave me the address and I told him I'd be there and he hung up. I handed the phone back to Jake.

"We have a business meeting to go to at eleven."

"What `we'? I don't know anything about business."

"Like I said, we learn something new every day." I said grinning at him. "Besides, you and I are `us', so why shouldn't `we' go to this meeting?"

"Do I have to wear a suit? Because I don't own one; never have."

"No, you don't have t wear a suit; I do, but you don't. You don't really have to go, baby, it's just I thought we'd go to lunch after, and I'm sure not going to leave you sitting in the car like a dog."

He laughed. "Ruff! I guess... It might be kinda fun to see you in action; although you'll all be speaking German so I won't have a clue what's being said; but yeah, OK."

"You saw me in action last night." He threw an evil grin at me. "Get up! We have to get showered and prettied up, and I have a feeling this shower might take a while."

"Hell Yeah!" With that he jumped out of bed and headed to the bathroom.

After our forty minute long shower, with both of us leaving a treat in the other's mouth, we were out and getting dressed. He was standing naked in the middle of the room again. It made me wish I had a camera with me.

"What should I wear?"

"A jock strap and a smile."

He laughed and then stuck his tongue out at me. "Nice! But I don't think it'd help your negotiations any."

"Hell, they might just give me the company after seeing you in nothing but a jock strap." I leered back at him.

"Shut up! Really though; do you think jeans and a t-shirt would be OK? It's either that or cammos."

"Jeans and a t-shirt are fine. Don't worry about it."

We both found what we were going to wear and got dressed. When we were done he looked at me and whistled.

"Damn baby... You're one of the few guys I've seen that can pull off looking so incredibly sexy in a suit."

I turned red. "Thank you, baby..."

"Don't get embarrassed! Like you told me, just accept it. I think you're fuckin' hot and I'm gonna tell you so."

"Thank you."

I smiled at him and he winked at me. That was a first, and I got a big grin on my face. It was only a few minutes before ten so we had another forty minutes or so to kill before we had to leave. We decided to pick out a couple of houses that we'd like to see after lunch. We got three picked out and I called the estate agent and made an appointment for 1:30 p.m. After the call I grabbed my briefcase and asked him if he was ready.

"As ready as I'll ever be. Let's roll." He walked up to me, kissed me sweetly on the mouth and headed for the door.

We got to the attorney at 10:53 a.m. and headed upstairs. Jake looked nervous as hell by the time we got to the top of the steps.

"Relax, baby. This isn't the dentist's office; it's just a bunch of lawyers trying to get as much money from me as they can. More like a proctologist's office."

He laughed and relaxed a little. We walked in the conference room and I introduced him as my partner; not specifying professional or personal. Everyone shook hands and we got down to business. The whole thing took less than thirty minutes with me about twelve million poorer by the time we left. We got back out to the car and after buckling up Jake turned to look at me with a weird look on his face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to look at what you were signing, but I did and I saw some huge numbers on there. What was that in real money?" He looked at me kind of nervously.

"A little over twelve million dollars."

"Fuck! You're telling me you have twelve million bucks in the bank?" He asked incredulously.

"Not that much, no, baby. I wish I did. Business transactions like that are all done through loans most of the time. My company basically took a loan to cover the cost. The company we bought, when we get it back on track, will make enough to repay the loans, pay its employees and suppliers and still make a profit. Hopefully in about a year that company will be worth much more than the loan."

"Oh, OK. So basically you're just now in debt for twelve million."

"Well the company is, but yeah, basically."

"And this is what you do? Buy and sell companies?"

"No, not at all; but like I told you, they are one of our suppliers and were going down the drain fast so I had to do something to keep them in business. Even with the buy-out it's still better than having to find a new supplier and start all over. Plus, we're our own supplier now, so we no longer have to buy the product. It's kind of a win-win."

"I'm sorry I'm asking so many questions. It's really none of my business; I'm sorry."

"Don't say that. It is your business now; ask any questions you want. I'll tell you whatever you want to know." I reached over and ran my hand up his arm.

"OK... So what DO you do? What does the company do that these guys supply shit to you?"

"We're a relatively small industrial robotics firm. We build the robots that build other shit basically."

"Cool!" Pause. "So let me get this straight. You build robots but you can't figure out how to use a smart phone..."

I started laughing my ass off. When I calmed down I looked at him. "Pretty much. Believe it or not, a smart phone is actually smarter than a robot. A robot only has a few simple tasks it performs thousands of times a day; simple programming. A phone has to do all kinds of stuff, and interact with millions of different users, while being relatively simple to use."

He had a huge grin on his face. "Okie dokie... Good `nuff. Take me to lunch, robot man."

We found a nice beer garden not too far from the attorney's office and had a great lunch. We left and headed to the estate agent's office. We were about thirty minutes early, but I was hoping she could see us. She was on the phone when we walked in, looked at us and smiled, and pointed to the two chairs in front of her desk. We both took a seat and waited for her to finish her call. Two minutes later she hung up and stood up, reaching her hand out. Jake and I jumped out of our chairs and shook hands with her.

In fluent English she said, "So this is the young man that makes you smile so much. It's a pleasure to meet you, Jacob. I didn't expect to meet you until the week-end."

He blushed a little. "It's a pleasure to meet you too. I got a 24-hour pass so we decided to look at some houses." She smiled at Jake and nodded.

I apologized to her for being so early and brought my brief case up to my lap and pulled out the three listings Jake and I had agreed on and handed them to her.

"We'd like to see these three properties if possible."

"Let me make a couple of phone calls. These two are empty, but this one still has a tenant. Let me call my associate and see if he's showing any of them."

She made the calls and five minutes later we were walking out of her office. When we stopped, we were standing next to a fairly new E-Class Benz. Jake smirked and she turned to look at him. He turned red and looked at me.

I tried to come to his rescue. "It's kind of an inside joke between us. No offense was intended. It's a long story, but basically we had a rental one of these and nicknamed it the Kia Benz."

She chuckled. "I don't know if that's good or bad... Should I know?" She smiled at Jake.

He blushed again. "Probably not. We can go now. Please."

She laughed and opened her door. Jake jumped for the back door. I don't think he wanted to sit next to her now; he was embarrassed. I jumped in front and we pulled out and headed for the first house. We drove about ten minutes out of town, on the same road that lead to his Marine base, just in the opposite direction. When we pulled in the drive Jake let out a low "Damn..." The agent looked at me and smiled, then parked the car. We got out and walked around the outside of the entire property before heading inside. The house was what I would classify as `old school German', kind of rustic cottage looking. The paper said it was built in 1970. This must've been one of the empty ones; I didn't see any signs of life.

When we walked in the front door we were standing in the German version of the `great room' and Jake let out another "Damn... It's huge!" I was starting to wonder just how small of a house he'd grown up in. According to the listing this place was just a shade over 1,900 square feet Maybe I was just used to bigger; my house in the States was 3,800 square feet. We walked around the entire house, Jake ooing and ahing at various things, finishing up in the kitchen. Jake looked at the refrigerator and then looked at me.

"What happened to it? It's tiny."

I smirked. "That's the European way, Jake; they don't buy $1000 worth of groceries at Sam's Club every month. They typically prefer to keep just a couple days' worth on hand and then go to the market and get fresh food."

"Well that's just a beer fridge; we need a bigger one. I could clear that out just having lunch."

He gave me a lopsided grin and the agent laughed. After having watched him eating I had no doubt he could.

"We can get a bigger fridge, baby; it's not a big deal." I really hadn't been overly impressed with the house, but I looked at Jake and asked for his take. "So other than the fridge, what do you think of this place?"

"I really like the yard, but the inside seems kind of chopped up once you get passed the living room. And the bedrooms are cool, but those two on the end were tiny. Where would you put your office?"

"I was kind of wondering the same thing. The master bedroom is fine. The master bath is a little cramped, but not bad. But yeah, those other two rooms are a little too small to be used for anything but a bed and small wardrobe." I looked over at the agent. "I guess on to the next one." She smiled and nodded.

We got back to the road and headed north towards the base, but when we got to the turn-off leading toward town, we turned right instead and headed east about two miles, then turned right into a gravel drive. I looked at the paper in my lap and read it. This one was built in 2004 and had a little over a half-acre of property with it. It was 2,400 square feet, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It also had a huge back patio with what looked to me like sort of a glass wall looking out on it. It was still traditional looking but had much more modern touches. I liked it immediately. We got out of the car and did the same thing, looking around the property before heading inside. I think Jake fell in love with the patio; we almost had to drag him off of it. Once inside we got another appreciative "Damn..." from Jake. The agent and I both laughed and then watched Jake turn a little pink.

We did the walk-through just like before and again finished in the kitchen. The one huge advantage to this one was an attached two-car garage. We were standing in the kitchen and of course Jake was looking at the fridge. It was bigger than the last, but still not up to American walk-in standards. He just looked at me, rolled his eyes and then shook his head slowly side to side. The agent saw him and chuckled.

"OK, we know you don't like the fridge, Jake, but what did you think of the house?" I asked him.

"It's fuckin' awesome!" Then he looked sheepishly at the agent. "Sorry."

She smiled at him. "Don't worry about it, Jake; I think it's pretty fuckin' awesome too. If I were in the market for a new home I'd buy this one."

Jake looked at me. "So, what about you; what do you think of it?"

"Honestly, I think it's perfect for us. I love the yard and the patio. I liked the size of the rooms, and having a garage is a huge plus. The kitchen's not exactly how I'd like it, but that can be fixed easily enough, although I love that huge fire place at the end of it. Overall I'd say I think we found a definite possible. Can you see yourself living here?"

"Hell yeah. I would love to live here; it's amazing."

I looked at the agent. "I'm assuming the heating, plumbing, mechanical stuff is all original. So it's only eight years old; shouldn't be any big headaches looming too soon."

She said they were and that no, we shouldn't have too many issues anytime in the near future.

"How long has this place been on the market?" I asked.

"A week. It was part of an estate and has been empty for about six months during all the legal stuff. The title is now free and clear. The estates' attorney is actually the one selling the home. I can tell you that they are very firm on the price; and I'm sure we both know attorney's; they don't budge much when money is involved."

"No they don't. We were just at an attorney's office a few hours ago. What's the asking?"

"The attorney's are asking 370 Euro."

I turned to Jake. "What do you think? You want to take it, or would you rather look around some more? This one is sweet; it might not be here in a few days."

"What did you mean 370; three hundred seventy thousand!?"

"Yep."

"Holy shitball! That's a lot of money."

I smiled at him. "It's real estate, Jake. Three hundred seventy actually isn't too bad. No such thing as a cheap house anymore, baby."

"I guess not... Damn!"

He just looked at me, unsure. The agent touched me on the shoulder and said she'd let us talk in private and went outside. I pulled Jake to me and turned him around, facing the glass wall and put my arms around him and just held him.

"Think of it, sexy man. Us standing here looking out that window watching it snow, a fire blazing in that fireplace... Sounds pretty good to me; but I want to know what you really think. And don't just go with it because you think I want to. Be brutally honest with me and tell me what's going on in that fuzzy head of yours."

I could feel him smile against my face. "I don't know what to tell you. I'm just a little overwhelmed; I've never been in this position before. I love the house, I really do, and I am picturing us standing right here watching it snow. It's just so... real now, I guess. When we were looking at the papers, they were just pictures of houses and a bunch of words. Standing here, actually being in the house, thinking about buying it and moving here is just...overwhelming."

"It is that. It's kinda scary and exciting at the same time, huh?" He nodded yes. "I want you to be happy, my love. I want you to feel good about this. I know you; you're thinking about the damn money. Don't. Don't think about the money; it doesn't matter. Think about everything else and tell me what you want to do."

"I am thinking about the money. It's a fuckin' lot of money, dude."

"Don't, baby. The money's not the real issue. That's what mortgages are for. Just like the business deal today; we get a loan. We make the payments, with you writing the checks, and the house just increases in value over time. That's the nice thing about real estate; it's not only a home for us but an investment too. So take the money out of the equation and tell me what's in your heart."

He paused for several seconds before replying. "I love the house, Mikey. I can picture in my head us living here."

"Is that your final answer?" I asked and smiled.

"Final answer."

"Then go outside and tell that lady that we'll take it." He turned his head and looked at me like I was sending him to battle. "Go! She doesn't bite; at least I don't think she would bite you." I released him from my hug and turned him toward the front door. "Go. Do this. Do this because it makes you an equal stakeholder in this. Go!"

I swatted him on the butt and sent him forward. He walked to the door, opened it and went outside when he spotted her. I stood in the kitchen watching him; the most incredible feeling of warmth in my body, knowing I was standing in the room that was going to be the beginning of so many incredible memories. I smiled to myself, looked around the room and headed outside.

When we left the real estate agent's office it was almost four o'clock. Jake kept looking at me with a little terror on his face as we walked to the car. I stopped him when we got to the car and held him by his arms, his back against the passenger door. I smiled at him.

"Talk to me. Why do you look terrified? I thought you'd be happy."

"I am happy. But I'm a little scared too. This is fuckin' huge for me."

"Well it's pretty big for me too; this is only the second house I've ever purchased, but I couldn't be any happier about it. This will be our home, baby! Our Home! Think of the possibilities, and the memories we'll create together!" I bent forward and laid a wet kiss on his mouth. I pulled back and he smiled. "Just think, baby, in about three weeks we'll be out of that fucking hotel and in our very own house! It's fucking awesome, dude!"

He got a huge grin on his face and kissed me back. I pulled him into a fierce hug, then pulled back from him and reached behind him to open the door. I closed the door once he sat in the car and walked around, with a huge smile on my face and got in the car. We drove back to the hotel.

Thanks for reading. Any questions, comments or concerns can be directed to: 

Jeff

raudiv8q@aim.com