Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2004 18:03:42 -0500 From: rhaven Subject: Beyond the Pale Chapter Three This story contains Man/Boy situations. This is a work of pure fiction, words on a page, nothing more than fictional fancy. The phrase `Beyond the Pale' is used to describe people that live an unusual life... doesn't that depict us all? If you like this story please check out www.rhavenlore.com for more. Beyond the Pale By Rhaven CHAPTER THREE Mason won at Monopoly for the second time. "You lose... you lose ... you lose!" Mason laughed and did a victory dance around the board game. "I don't know how... but I think you're cheating." Victor said pretending to be angry. "You are just a sore loser!" Mason teased. "So you want to play again?" "No thank you, I know when to surrender." Victor said, throwing up his hand in defeat. "What time is it?" "I'll see!" Mason yelled and raced over to Victor's watch on the end table. "It's almost 9." Mason said proudly. "No wonder I'm hungry." Victor rubbed his stomach. "How about a frozen pizza?" "Fine with me, I could eat a horse!" Mason giggled and flopped down on the couch. Mason stared up at the ceiling, listening to Victor working in the kitchen. He hadn't learned anything more about the man, except that he loved being around him. Victor was so naive and truly wanted Mason to teach him about being weird. He tried to remember this was an investigation, which he was spying on Victor, but he was having too much fun to care. Mason smiled as he lay across the couch and kicked off his shoes. How could a place he'd only been in for a day feel more like home than his real home? "Pizzas ready... um Mason, would you mind if I ... had a little Vodka with my meal?" Victor asked grinning foolishly. "I don't care; I know a lot of people who drink." Mason said as he pulled off his socks. "I'm not sure I like how that sounded." Victor laughed laid Mason's plate of pizza on the boy's stomach. "There is a difference between having a drink and drinking. I only have a drink once in a while." Victor sat down in the chair and took a sip of his vodka. "You don't have to explain to me." Mason said with a mouthful of pizza. He knew that some people used alcohol to forget their pain, like Brenda Morgan. Mason didn't want to categorize Victory yet, he could just be having a drink for no other reason than to have a drink. "So tell me a little about yourself, Mason." Victor said putting his empty plate on the end table. "What do you want to know?" Mason crawled across the couch to put his plate with Victor's. "I don't know... why do you live with your grandfather?" Victor asked as he poured more vodka into his glass. Mason cringed, he hated this question. However, if he wanted to learn more about Victor, then he had to honest. "Two years ago..." Mason sat up and sighed before continuing. "My mom... she... I don't know why..." "I'm sorry Mason, I shouldn't have asked... it's all right you don't have to tell me." Victor said leaning forward to put a comforting hand on Mason's knee. "It's okay... I want to tell you." Mason swallowed hard. "My mom is in jail for killing ... for killing my dad." Victor poured himself another glass of vodka. Mason looked up towards Victor to see what kind of expression he had on his face. The few friends Mason had told got a certain look on their face, which let him know the friendship was over. Mason couldn't read Victor's expression and that scared him. "My mother committed suicide." Victor finally said. "The hardest part in all that wasn't losing my mother, but the way others started treating me. It was as if I was somehow defective for having a mother who killed herself." Mason nodded his understanding, still feeling miserable. "Here have a drink." Victor said holding out his glass for Mason. For a moment, Mason thought about refusing the offer, but he shrugged his shoulders and gulped down the clear liquid. "OH MY GOD!" Mason gagged. "That... stuff is so gross!" Mason grabbed his throat and coughed. "Horrible isn't it." Victor laughed. "But I've tasted worse." Victor said pouring himself some more. "Nothing can taste worse than that." Mason gagged some more. "Thanks Victor." Mason suddenly said sounding serious. "Thanks for what?" "Thanks for... for listening." Mason said shyly. "Anytime, Mason." Victor poured himself another glass full of vodka. "We adventurers have to stick together." Mason laughed, he didn't think of himself as an adventurer. He fell back on the comfortable couch and stared up at the ceiling again. "I can sleep here tonight, if that's all right." Victor spat vodka. "Sleep here? Wouldn't your grandfather miss you?" Mason laughed again. "He doesn't care where I am. I only see him on one day of the week, so he won't be missing me for a while. We could tell ghost stories... I know a few good ones." Victor shook his head and smiled. "All right, but if I get arrested for kidnapping, I will be very pissed." Victor pulled himself out of his chair and wobbled his way over to the candle. "If we're going to tell ghost stories, we need the right atmosphere." Mason switched off the rest of the lights and jumped back on the couch. Victor stopped at the end table and looked at his watch. "10:34 pm. You're going to miss your visit to the tree tonight." "I don't go every night." Mason informed, waiting for Victor to sit down so he could start his scary tale. "Hang on, I'm changing clothes first... it's hotter than Hell in here." Victor huffed and wiped his brow. "It's not hot." Mason moaned over the delay. He jumped off the couch and followed Victor down the hallway to the man's room. The bedroom was like the rest of the house, new furniture, with no personal items. What thrilled Mason the most was the exercise machine. Mason instantly sat down on the bench and studied the wires and springs. "This thing is really cool." He said trying to pull the left handle with no affect. Victor only shook his head as he pulled off his shirt. "Do you want something to sleep in?" Victor asked as he pulled off his pants. "I've got that shirt you gave back today... do you want that?" Mason climbed off weight bench and crawled on top of Victor's bed. "What else to you have that I can wear?" Victor screwed up his mouth and pointed to his dresser. "Whatever you want, don't think I have much that would fit a scrawny kid like you." He said with a chuckle. "Funny, coming from a guy in smiley face boxers." Mason said smirking. "Hey these are very popular right now." Victor said defensively, snapping the elastic band. Mason snickered and started rummaging through Victor's drawers. He found a pair of sweat pants with a tie string. "Can I wear these?" He held them out for Victor to see. "Knock yourself out." Victor said. With a silly giggle, Mason started pulling off his clothes until he was naked and slipped on the much too large sweat pants. He pulled with all his might the tie string, but nothing he did would keep the pants on his hips. "Good enough." Mason said hanging onto the sides of the sweat pants and he jumped back onto the bed. "You look ridicules." Victor laughed. "Maybe, but they feel good." Mason said rubbing the sweat pants. "I guess we're staying in here to tell ghost stories?" Victor said and sat down on the bed. "Turn off the light... turn off the light!" Mason ordered. Victor sighed and walked over to the light switch. "I'm leaving the bathroom light on or else we won't be able to see anything." "Whatever, just hurry up." Mason said patting the bed next to him. This was going to be his first sleepover and he was so excited he couldn't stand it. Finally, he was doing something normal, something fun. The excitement of all this made Mason wanted to sing. Victor crawled into bed next to Mason and smiled. "All right... scare me." Mason shared his ghost stories with Victor, who honestly seemed to enjoy them. He tried his best to make the stories scary, using his creepy voice, swinging his arms around to illustrate the monster's walk and made sound effects to enhance his story. Victor sat quietly and listened, showing expressions of shock or fear when the story called for it. Several times Mason had to stop and pull his sweat pants up, having jumped out of them, but he didn't care, Mason was enjoying himself too much to worry about his nudity. "Very good... now that was a scary story." Victor said once Mason had finished his last tale. "I read that one in a book... I think it's true because the book had photos of the house. I think I would freak out, if I ever saw a ghost." Mason said looking very serious. "It would be... unnerving." Victor said as he lay back on the bed. "I can barely watch a horror movie, seeing something like that in real life would kill me." "Come on... you're not scared of anything." Mason said inching closer to Victor. "That would be nice if it was true. But there are a lot of things that scare me." Mason frowned and moved closer, quickly pulling up the sweat pants as they inched down to his knees. "Are you really scared of things? You're so strong..." Mason looked over Victor's body. It was the body that Batman would have, how could Victor be scared of anything. "Only a fool has no fear." Victor said quietly, looking very sad. "There is one thing I'm not afraid of though..." Mason leaned closer. "What is that?" Victor shot his hands into Mason's armpits and starting tickling. "Sneak tickle attacks!" Victor laughed as he continued to tickle Mason. "Stop! Stop!" Mason screamed through his laughter. He collapsed across Victor and tried to kick his way to freedom, but Victor fought off the attack and continued. "I surrender... I surrender." Mason begged. Victor chuckled and released Mason. "Now that was fun." Victor shook his head with humor and pulled up Mason's sweat pants. "I don't know why you wanted to wear these, they keep trying to escape." "Man..." Mason huffed as he recovered from the tickle attack. "That wore me out." "It is late..." Victor said looking over at the alarm clock by his bed. "Come on; let's get the couch ready for you." "Okay." Mason said disappointedly. He jumped off the bed and tripped over the long sweat pants. "Dang it!" Angrily Mason kicked off the pants and marched into the living room. "Hello naked boy!" Victor said wide eyed as Mason fell onto the couch. "Um... Here's your pillow and I'll get you a blanket." "I don't need a blanket." Mason wrapped his arms around the pillow and stretched out across the couch. "All right then..." Victor stood over Mason, staring down at him. "I ... I guess I'll leave you be then." "Good night Victor." Mason yelled as the man disappeared down the hallway. He snuggled up to the pillow and listened to the silence. `Grasp the happy moments, Mason..." His grandmother had once told him. `Grasp the happy moments and never let them go. There's too much sadness in this world, they will drown you. Stay afloat by grasping the happy times.' There hadn't been a lot of happy times in Mason life, he had out of desperation used his comic books as his lifejacket. Mason rolled over on his side, so that he could see the hallway leading to Victor's room. There was his happy moment, sleeping away the night, oblivious to the inner smile he had created within Mason. Mason woke up, blinking with the shock that he had fallen asleep. He sat up and cocked his head towards Victor's room. The man was yelling at someone. Cautiously, Mason crept down the hallway, peeking his head into the bedroom. "Fuck you! No.... I won't do it!" Victor screamed as he thrashed around his bed, kicking the blanket off him. "I can't... no... no.... Please." Mason sat down on the floor and watched Victor play out his nightmare. His heart sank as he saw the pain in Victor's face. He didn't know what the dream was about, but it had to be horrible. Finally, Victor settled down, relaxing back into the bed, though his face was still twisted in pain. Mason tiptoed over to the bed and carefully ran his hand over the man's shoulder. "It's all right Victor... it's all right." Mason whispered gently as he stroked Victor's shoulder. Mason flinched as Victor's arm wrapped around him, pulling him closer. "Did ... did I wake you?" Victor whispered. "You were having a nightmare." Mason explained, finding it hard to get a breath as Victor's hand rubbed his back, stopping on his butt. The warmth of Victor's hand made Mason feel weak, almost bringing him to tears. He couldn't remember the last time someone touched him. "Don't cry." Victor said. "I'm sorry for scaring you." Mason nodded weakly, not wanting Victor to know the real reason for his tears. Victor smiled. "Come on, climb into bed." Mason obeyed and crawled into bed with Victor. The man pulled the blanket over him as Mason settled in with his back pressed into Victor's chest. "You know... they should warn you." Victor whispered into Mason's ear. "Life shouldn't be this hard, there shouldn't be this many problems." Mason didn't ask what Victor was talking about, it was hard for him to concentrate as Victor had one hand caressing his stomach and the other playing with his hair. Mason sighed heavily at the attention given to his body, the warmth of skin on skin. He suddenly gasped as he realized that he loved Victor. Not loved... but LOVED. He had fallen for a man, how crazy was that? However, Mason felt completely normal; maybe for the first time in his life, lying here with Victor was what he had always wanted. If only Batman could see him now. "If you want to go back to the couch..." Victor started to say. "I like it here!" Mason quickly said. "If that's okay?" "It's more than okay." Victor whispered and kissed Mason's shoulder. "Do you believe in fate, Mason?" "In fate?" Mason almost purred as Victor kissed his shoulder again. "Somehow, it was meant for us to meet..." Victor suddenly laughed. "Just ignore me, sometimes I think too much." Mason turned his head to look into Victor's eyes. "Grandma used to tell me I thought too hard on things. She told me that sometimes a butterfly is just a butterfly and nothing more." Victor stroked Mason's chest as he kissed the boy's neck. "I'd like to think that the butterfly was more than just a butterfly. Couldn't it be a tool of fate, destined to influence that moment we see it." "You mean, the butterfly is a tool... a tool to move us in another direction?" Mason questioned. "Exactly, think about that oak tree outside. You love that oak tree, that oak tree is outside my window. That oak tree is a tool to guide us to where we need to be, it is the reason we met." Victor kissed Mason's cheek. "I really love that oak tree." Mason giggled.