Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 20:04:22 EST
From: Dakotajoe2000@cs.com
Subject: Hanging By A Moment chapter eleven

	This story is copyrighted and the sole possession of the author. No
duplication is permitted without the express written consent of the author.
It will contain graphic description of consensual male to male sex and may
be offensive to some. If this is not something you wish to read, please
look elsewhere. Certain events in the story are based loosely on real
events so the names of the characters, with the exception of mine, have
been changed to reflect that. Hanging By A Moment is the title of a song by
Lifehouse. Constructive email can be sent to Dakotajoe2000@cs.com

	Chapter Eleven

	"Jason!"  I was shocked.  My boyfriend was standing in front of me
in his work clothes, covered nearly from head to toe in pizza sauce.  He
even had flecks of dried sauce in his hair.
	"That's not happiness to see me, is it?"
	I stepped back a bit and away from the door so that he could come
in.  I've never really thought it was funny to quote movies, but I wasn't
about to say anything.  We had just started a relationship and I wasn't
about to nitpick with him.  At least he wasn't butchering the movie like
Dawson had done.  I went with the flow.
	"Try surprised."
	"I had an unexpected hole in my schedule and I thought a late
evening visit with my boyfriend was appropriate, but I see you have other
plans."
	"What makes you say that?"
	"You seemed in such a hurry."
	That was where it fell apart.  I don't think he was thinking
quickly enough to realize that I was at home and wasn't in a hurry to go
anywhere.  I started to laugh.  Faith was just sitting there mesmerized.
Jason leaned in for a kiss on my cheek and whispered `I missed you' into my
ear.  I pulled back from him and smiled.  I looked over to Faith when she
started clapping.
	"And the oscar goes to...."
	I grinned at her.
	"We're not that good.  I was just going with the flow anyway.
Speaking of which, I'm very impressed dear."
	"Yeah?  Well, you're not so bad yourself.  I wasn't sure if you'd
pick up on that anyway.  I guess the `happiness to see me' worked though.
Can you believe I thought about that all the way over here?"
	I leaned in for a quick kiss and then proceeded with the
introductions.  Faith was equally as pleased to meet him, as he was with
her.  She told him how cute he was and he blushed.  She also told him that
he had a keeper and I blushed.  She stood up and pinched both of our
cheeks.  We both blushed.  She left shortly after, saying that we needed
some private time.  Jason said she was welcome to stay but I did my best to
hurry her off.  She knew, and was okay with it.
	"So, really, why are you home?  Don't you have to work tomorrow?"
	He took off his apron and looked at the kitchen.
	"I was scheduled, yes.  Pete said that I was driving him nuts.  `If
you're this bad tomorrow, I may shoot myself' he said.  I guess I was
chattering an awful lot, so he gave me the day off."
	"Chattering?  Why?"  I leaned in to his clean undershirt and
inhaled.  He smelled good.  It was a mix of pizza and musky young man.  It
was wonderful.
	"I dunno.  I think I was just excited to be back in town."
	"Hmm."  I took his apron from him and motioned for him to take off
his shirt.  That was the nice thing about this apartment...it had a washer
and dryer hookup.  My parents bought me a whole setup when I moved into my
last apartment.  It really saved a lot of time, and frankly, quite a bit of
money too.  Jason wasn't too quick with my motioning, so I had to help him
with the shirt.  He seemed to like that.
	I tossed his outfit into the wash, along with some of the rags I
had been using for the cleaning.  A stiff odor of chlorine made me scrunch
my nose as I poured the bleach into the wash.  The bottle says that it's
rain fresh scent, but I've never been anywhere that the rain smelled like
that.  Jason crept up behind me, his chest still exposed, and wrapped his
arms around me.  I melted back into his grasp and rested my neck on his
shoulder.  He started to rub my chest over my shirt and it wasn't long
before I was excited.  That's when I cut it.
	"C'mon.  Let's get you dressed for bed."
	Jason grinned at me.  "How about undressed for bed?"
	"As much as you know I would like that, I don't think we're ready
dear.  Shoot, I'll take all the credit for that one.  I'm not ready yet."
	"We would just be sleeping...."
	I didn't let him finish.
	"Jason?  When was the last time you slept naked with a boy and
didn't do anything but sleep?  It's fine to do that in a committed
relationship, but we both know we aren't there yet."
	He sighed.  I wanted to hug him but I held back.  I needed to be
firm on this point.  I peeled off my shirt and then the pants I had been
using while cleaning, revealing nothing but a pair of Structure boxers.  I
had moved the mattress back into the bedroom earlier in the day and decided
that I would let us sleep in there with the room unfinished as a
consolation.  I took Jason by the hand and led him into the bedroom.  He
squeezed my hand as we walked through the frame.  I guess he understood
that this was my way of making him feel a little better.  I was giving
something back to him, something I didn't really want to give up.  It was a
big step.  I know he'd much rather have slept naked though.  He gave me a
gentle squeeze as we lay in bed and drifted off into sleep.

************************************************************************

	The trees off to my right seemed to bend harder with every gust of
wind.  The storm was moving in quickly and I wondered if I was going to get
home in time to beat the rain.  It didn't look likely.  The undersides of
the leaves had turned and the forest gave itself a bright, silvery hue.  If
I hadn't been absolutely scared to death, I might have stopped to admire
it.  A gust of wind blew sharply behind me and up my now untucked shirt.  A
chill went up and down my spine.  I shivered.  The cows that were often in
the field just ahead had taken off, probably for the shelter of the barn.
Storm season is the only time you'll ever see a cow in a hurry to do
anything.  I slung the loose strap of my backpack up on my free shoulder
and started to run.  Home was less than a quarter of a mile now and I was
determined not to get wet.  I shivered again.  The clouds swirled angrily
around me.  Large drops of water began to pelt the hot dust that had
settled onto the road.  Another shiver rattled my body and I began to...
	"Ouch!"
	Jason was laying at the end of the bed smiling at me.  He had his
chin inches from my ankle and my toes were a little wet, so I knew what he
had been doing.  I didn't really know much about what Jason was into, it
hadn't come up, but this wasn't something I would complain about.  I just
didn't want him biting me.
	"Good morning," he cooed.
	"What'd you bite me for?"
	"It was an accident.  I wasn't meaning to do it.  You started
jerking around and it just kind of happened.  I'm sorry."  He scooted up to
the top of the bed and put his arms around my neck and lifted me up so I
was in a sitting position.  He tried to lean in for a kiss, but I blocked
it.
	"What?" he asked.
	"You've just had my toes in your mouth....no kiss until you brush.
I've got morning breath, so I may as well brush too."
	Jason scooted off the edge of the bed and held up my robe for me.
I slipped it on and we both traipsed off to the bathroom.  I was in the
middle of brushing my teeth when the questions started.  I don't know if he
was doing that on purpose or he just wasn't thinking that I had my mouth
full of toothpaste.
	"So, what are we going to do today?
		You know that I'm off work, right?
	Do you have to work today?
		Are there any nice places around here to eat?
	Hey, why don't we go take a walk or something?"

	I was about ready to flip out, so I stopped my brushing, held my
index finger up for him to see and then placed it across his lips.  He
stood there impatiently, as if he had something urgent he needed to do.  I
spat and rinsed, and then rinsed again one more time just for effect.
Teasing can be appropriate at times, don't you think?
	We both traipsed off into the kitchen.  He tried to get me to sit
down while he made me breakfast, but I was about to have none of that.  I
had just finished setting up a kitchen that I would have to live with and I
wasn't going to have him rooting around in it looking for things.  He
pouted a little, but gave in to me.  I promised him that he would get
something in reward if he'd let me take care of the cooking, for today at
least.  He agreed.  Breakfast was eaten in silence, something I had not yet
experienced in this house.  I was happy.
	Once breakfast was over we had to decide what we were going to
do....at the very least, I knew I needed a shower.  That was where the
compromise came in to play.  My boyfriend had come home from work a day
early to see me.  He had wanted to sleep naked with me that night and I
backed down.  He also wanted to do something special for me this morning in
making me breakfast, and I had selfish motives.  This was something that I
needed to do, to make him happy.  I motioned for him to follow me which he
happily did.  I stood in front of the mirror as he held me from behind and
I admired the man that I had grown close to in such a short period of time.
I turned to face him and began to tug at his tee-shirt.
	"What are you doing?" he asked.
	"Lift," was all I said.  He raised his arms above his head in
obedience.  He started to giggle a bit when the shirt grazed his nipples.
I kissed the left one gingerly.  He took my chin in his hand and raised our
eyes to meet each other.
	"What are you doing?" he asked, in a more serious tone.
	"If we're going anywhere this afternoon, you're going to need a
shower."
	I took his hand from my chin and led it to the sash that was
holding my robe up on my waist.  He swallowed hard.  I nodded my head for
him in a signal that it was okay to continue.  The terry cloth slipped off
my waist and onto the floor.  He wasn't sure if he should look or not.  He
continued to stare into my eyes with a deep question.  I brought one of my
hands up to softly touch his cheek, the other going to the waistband of his
shorts.  They dropped off his waist as easily as mine had done, but before
they hit the floor, we were both locked in a tender kiss.  I broke our
stance and reached to turn on the water.  Once it was warm enough to the
touch, I took Jason's hand in mine and led him into the shower.  He
swallowed hard again.
	The entire shower was gentile.  Neither of us touched the other in
any place that was inappropriate.  He shampooed my hair for me and I for
him.  He rolled his hands softly over my back and I arched my neck back to
lean against him.  I could feel him pressing into my lower back, definitely
hard, but with no sexual intentions behind it.  He didn't want to risk
anything.  He understood that I had given him this and he was addressing it
with every caution as could be expected.  We toweled each other off, with
several pecks to the lips in between.

	"Nick, I think we need to talk."
	I was padding softly around the room, still using my damp towel to
dry my hair.  Jason was sitting on the bed in a pair of running shorts and
a well worn Budweiser frogs tee.  He looked beautiful.  I grabbed a shirt
from my dresser drawer and went to sit next to him on the bed.
	"Yeah bud?  What's up?"
	"Well, let's start with the shower.  What brought that on?"
	"I needed to do something for you.  I know that you're okay with us
not sleeping naked together.  I know it bothers you, but you give in
because you know it bothers me.  I know you wanted to do something special
for me this morning.  You wanted to express your affection to me and I
blocked it.  This was my way of letting you know that I care.  Jason, I
want to be with you and this was a first step for me."
	"You know you didn't have to do that."
	"Of course I know that.  I wanted to.  I know this will bring us
closer."

	There was an awkward silence in the room for a minute and I felt I
needed to do something to break it.  I scooted up to the top of the bed and
motioned for him to do the same.  I positioned the pillows so that he'd be
comfortable and then encouraged him to lay his head on my lap.  I took my
right hand and gently stroked his hair with it.  He looked up at me from
his resting position and smiled at me.
	"Earlier, when I was brushing my teeth, you asked what we would do
today.  Well, for starters, I think we should just lay here and talk for a
while."
	"That sounds good to me."  If a boy could purr, I'd bet the farm
that he was doing it at that moment.  We lay there in each other's arms for
what seemed an eternity.  In reality, it couldn't have been much more than
three hours because I started to get hungry again.  I rolled him off of my
lap.  We quickly dressed, each sharing a quick kiss with the other and then
we were off to take care of our hunger.

************************************************************************

Thanks for putting up with my nearly four month delay in getting this out.
I've had some major problems in my life and I've been trying to cope with
them.  Writing has always been my therapy and I'm ashamed that I let it get
away from me.  Hope you enjoyed this chapter.  The next should be along
soon.....I plan on writing some more yet this evening.....my hot chocolate
and Bailey's is still warm.

Any creative or constructive comments can be sent to Dakotajoe2000@cs.com