Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2023 15:50:35 +0000
From: DJ Warner <djwarner1984@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Inheritance Clause-5

This story contains descriptions of graphic sex between males.
If that kind of thing does not appeal to you, stop reading now.

This story is pure fiction. If this resembles something that happened to
you, it must have been an incredible experience. But it's simply a
coincidence.

All comments are welcome: djwarner1984@hotmail.com
Please donate to Nifty: https://donate.nifty.org/

-DJ

==========

The Inheritance Clause - 5

Dawson and Adam sat quietly for a while, sipping their drinks under the
shade of the round table's umbrella.

"Do you know when your granddad bought this property?" Dawson asked,
breaking the silence.

"Not exactly. My grandmother's family owned a piece of land that bordered
the other side of the lake. There wasn't a house or anything on the
land. They couldn't afford it. When my grandmother was younger, they used
to go there, stay in tents, and swim in the lake," Adam said.

Dawson sat up and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, as he
listened to Adam.

"After she and my granddad met, she took him up here. He fell in love with
the area. After they got married, my granddad bought all the rest of the
land that makes up the property now," Adam continued.

"Wow," Dawson said softly.

"My grandmother designed the lake house and granddad had it built. She did
all of the interior and exterior design of the lake house herself. Most of
it is still the original decor that she selected. At some point, she
inherited Rosemary's Point. That's what my grandmother's family parcel was
called. It was named after my mother's grandmother, who originally
purchased the land. When my grandmother inherited Rosemary's Point, that
completed the property as it is today," said Adam.

"Hmm," Dawson said, "I've always liked the openness of the lake house
rooms. And the flow of this area, the terrace, into the pool area, down
into the patio, then flowing into the gardens, and toward the lake
front. It's all separate yet connected."

"Mmm, yeah, I know. It's so unique. I think about my grandmother a lot when
I'm out here. Granddad did, too. He always brought her up in conversation
when he was on the terrace or at the pool," Adam said.

The boys remained quiet as they basked in the beauty of the land and the
lake. Dawson wasn't going to say anything, but he couldn't help himself.

"Adam," he said softly.

He waited for Adam to look at him. Adam looked up.

"I couldn't live with myself if you and Vickie don't take the lake
house. It belongs in your family. It belongs to you," Dawson said quietly
with a firm tone.

Adam leaned his head back and closed his eyes. The bucket hat tilted up
when he did.

"Dawson..." Adam said.

He paused. He finally opened his eyes and leaned forward. He looked at
Dawson. Dawson took off the sunglasses. They locked eyes.

"Vickie hates it here," Adam said softly.

Then he looked at the ground. Dawson's lips parted with a soft exhale of
air, not quite a gasp, but close. He watched Adam.

"She came here with me twice. The first time, there was the incident with
Elvis. Later that night, granddad and I came out on the terrace with our
creme liqueurs. She stayed in the living room. She didn't like creme
liqueur and she said it was too cold outside. Granddad offered to light the
fire pit, but she didn't want to come out. The other time she came,
granddad wanted to grill dinner on the terrace and eat outside. She didn't
want to do that. So granddad grilled, but we all ate inside," Adam
explained.

Dawson listened to Adam intently. He could see Adam's disappointment.

"After the second time, she told me she didn't like the lake house. She was
just not a fan of being outdoors. It didn't really bother me at the
time. We simply disagreed. Couples disagree all the time. Besides, it was
granddad's place. The thought of us living here never crossed my mind. I
didn't think it was a big deal. But now..." Adam said with sadness, "I
forgot how much I love this place," Adam said softly.

Neither of them spoke for a few moments. Dawson felt himself well up with
emotions. He wanted to go over and hug Adam. It took all his energy to stop
himself.

"So...that's why I keep saying we don't need to commit to anything yet. I
just don't know what I'm going to do," Adam said.

"I'm sorry...I'll stop bringing it up. We can thumb wrestle for it after
the six months is up," Dawson said dryly.

Adam and Dawson softly chuckled.

"C'mon, let's go get changed and start looking at some artwork," said
Dawson, trying to bring Adam out of his lament.

Adam took the lifeline Dawson threw to him and stood up. He adjusted the
bucket hat he was wearing and picked up his lemonade glass. Dawson stood
up. He put the sunglasses back on and grabbed his iced tea glass. They
grabbed their shirts and put on their sandals. They tossed the towels into
the towel bin. They made their way back to the terrace. They noticed Niven
had cleaned up from their luncheon. Adam grabbed the other bucket hat and
sailed it toward Dawson. He caught it and lazily tossed the grey bucket hat
onto his head. Adam put on the other sunglasses.

"Hey, how's your cheese wound? Is it all gouda?" Adam said, as his
lightheartedness returned.

"Uugghh! That was an awful pun," Dawson groaned as he rubbed the spot where
the cheese hit him.

The boys placed their drink glasses on the service tray as they entered the
house.

"Hey, ricotta do what ricotta do," Adam punned.

Dawson tried to stifle his laugh but couldn't.

"Stop it," Dawson said as he laughed.

He gently shoved Adam. Adam pushed back playfully. They both
laughed. Dawson was glad Adam wasn't feeling down anymore. When they got to
the second floor, they both entered Dawson's room. They both went right
into the bathroom, into their toilets, and peed. The boys laughed as they
heard each other peeing. They washed their hands and separated into their
bedrooms.

The boys noticed that Krantz had filled their closets and bureaus. Dawson
was amazed at how many pieces of clothing in so many styles were in one
place. He scanned the variety of shoes now displayed across his shoe
tree. It wasn't lost on Dawson that he was now living in a different world,
a world where you needed endless amounts of clothing to suit more occasions
than he could imagine.

Dawson stood looking around his walk-in closet. He picked out a maroon polo
shirt and a pair of khaki slacks. He got dressed and slipped on a
comfortable pair of loafers.

Adam appeared in the doorway and Dawson heard him laughing. He turned
around and saw why. Adam was wearing a similar maroon polo shirt only with
grey slacks. And he was wearing his loafers.

"Great minds think alike," said Dawson.

"You know it," said Adam.

Adam used the communicator to contact Niven while Dawson primped his
hair. She told them to meet her in the library. When Dawson was done, they
went downstairs. Niven was in the library at an oval table with some papers
strewn across them.

"Did you see Elvis?" Niven asked.

"Yeah, he looks great," Adam's face lit up as he spoke.

"Good. You always seem in better spirits after you visit him," Niven said.

Dawson smiled as he looked at Adam who appeared to be a bit embarrassed.

"Did he try to scare the bejeezus out of you?" Niven asked Dawson.

"Oh, yeah. He did," Dawson said.

Niven chuckled.

"Such beautiful animals..." Niven said softly.

Dawson was leaning over the papers on the oval table and started to scan
them.

"Ok...last year, I put all of the inventory onto the electronic tablet,"
Niven started as she held up the tablet. "So as you're going through each
piece, you can make sure I entered it correctly."

The boys moved in as she opened the tablet.

"Each piece has the name, artist, and location. There's a small barcode on
the bottom left back of each frame. If you swipe the barcode, it will bring
up the record," Niven said.

She went over to one of the smaller pieces and pulled it off the wall. She
showed the boys as she swiped the camera lens across the barcode on the
back. The tablet beeped and the record opened.

"See here, this says Library 6. It also has the size, type of frame, and
some other information if you need it," Niven showed them.

The boys nodded acknowledgment. She hung the picture back up and went to
the table.

"These are the floor plans for the lake house. Each location where a piece
can be displayed is marked on them. See, there are 8 pieces in the
library. That was piece number 6, right here," Niven said as she pointed on
the floor plans.

The boys nodded as they looked at the plans. Dawson looked around at some
of the pieces on the wall and then found their location on the floor plan.

"I'll show you the storage. All of the slots are numbered in the storage
area, so those numbers are not on the floor plans," Niven said.

The boys nodded. Adam and Dawson looked at the floor plans to figure out
where they might start. Dawson pointed at the third floor rooms.

"Niven, how come your room and Krantz's room don't have any artwork?"
Dawson asked as he pointed at the blank space on the floor plan. Niven
paused as she looked at Dawson. Then she looked at Adam before going back
to Dawson again.

"Mr. Jameson kept the traditional separation of the staff from the
family. He would never think to put any artwork in our rooms," Niven said.

The boys looked at each other.

"Well, what if we don't keep that traditional separation. What if we want
you to pick out some pieces for your room? Krantz, too," Adam said as he
glanced at Dawson to confirm.

"And what if we weren't receptive to any arguments about it," Dawson said
in solidarity.

Niven pursed her lips. She looked back and forth between the boys gauging
that they were serious.

"It is, of course, your choice. I will inform Krantz, who I suspect will
have a lot to say about it," Niven said and then changed the subject. "Any
other questions before I take you to the storage room?" Niven asked.

"Can we write on this?" asked Dawson, gesturing toward the floor plans.

"Yes, I have other copies," Niven said.

"Hey, Niven," Adam said, "this is granddad's office, isn't it? How come
there's no artwork in there?"

Niven looked down on the floor plans where Adam was pointing. There was one
room that had no artwork numbers in it.

"Oh, right. Yes, that's Mr. Jameson's private office. He never put any
artwork in there," Niven paused as she was explaining. "Neither Krantz nor
I were ever allowed in there. Krantz and I thought there might be some
instructions for what we should do with that room. But we didn't get any,"
Niven added.

"I guess we can go in there. We both own it now. Maybe there's some clue as
to why he left everything to the both of us in there," Dawson said.

Adam had a hopeful look on his face.

"We'll have to break in. It's locked and we don't have the key. And it
isn't anywhere to be found," said Niven.

"Hmm," said Dawson as he got a thoughtful look on his face.

"Dawson will find it," Adam said as he patted him on the shoulder.

"I will?" Dawson said with confusion.

"Yes, you will, Henry Fonda," said Adam.

"Oh, stop it," said Dawson with a laugh.

Niven just stood there looking confused.

"Niven, can you take us to the storage area?" Dawson said, shaking his
head.

"Follow me," Niven said.

Dawson rolled up the floor plans. Adam picked up the tablet. They followed
Niven. She led them to the west side of the house. There was a door that
led to the basement. They started down the stairs.

"I've only been down here a few times when I was younger, with Krantz, when
he would get wine from the wine cellar," Adam commented.

"I'll show you what's down here before we get to the art storage," Niven
said.

When they reached the basement, Dawson could see a long hallway that ran
the length of the house. Adam pointed to the other end of the hallway.

"That comes out on the other side of the ballroom," Adam told Dawson.

"Ah," Dawson uttered.

Niven led them down the hallway. The right-side wall of the hallway had
several doors.

"All these rooms on the right are for general storage. I assume, at some
point, you will get a task with instructions to go through everything in
them," Niven said.

She opened the first door and turned on the light. The boys poked their
heads inside. There was a huge room with lots of shelves along the
walls. Every shelf was full of stuff. Dawson saw some old bicycles, an
apple cider press, an old typewriter, and some rolled up canvas before he
stepped back into the hallway. Niven shut the lights and the door.

On the left side of the hallway was a temperature-controlled wine storage
room. Its walls were glass.

"Obviously, this is the wine cellar," Niven pointed out, "it's temperature
controlled."

There was a dim light that emanated from behind the wine racks, so you
could just make out what was inside. Dawson guessed there were at least 500
bottles of wine in the room.

The glass wall ended and a regular wall began. Then there was a door. Niven
opened the door and stepped aside. She turned on the light.

"This is the pantry storage," Niven said, "it's temperature controlled, so
the door needs to be closed at all times."

The boys looked inside and could see all kinds of canned and dried foods,
extra pots and pans, and some cooking supplies. Niven shut the light and
closed the door. She turned to a door on the opposite wall. She opened it
to reveal a stairway.

"This leads to the basement access on the first floor, next to the bathroom
across from the main staircase," Niven said.

Dawson nodded. Next to that was the elevator. It had stops on every floor
and went up to the third floor, where Niven and Krantz's rooms were. Niven
kept walking. They came to another glass enclosed room. They could see
slots where paintings were stored along the far wall. There were folded
easels leaning in the corner, a couple piles of padded cloths, and a couple
large tables in there as well.

"And here is the art storage. It's also temperature controlled," Niven
said.

They opened the door and went in. The lights in the room came on
automatically. Dawson walked along the storage racks, touching the various
sized frames wrapped in padded cloths as he went by. There was an upper row
and lower row of storage. Dawson thought you could store maybe 500 pieces
there.

"Wow, this is wild," said Dawson.

"Mmm," said Adam as he stood next to one of the tables with the tablet.

Adam tapped and swiped on the tablet with his finger. He looked at the
number on the tablet and matched it to the number on the storage racks. He
put the tablet on the table, found the storage number he was looking for,
and pulled the painting out. He lay it on the table and unwrapped the
padded cloth. It was a painting of a ballet dancer doing a pirouette in
front of a mirror.

"Wow," said Adam as Dawson looked over his shoulder.

Adam wrapped the painting back up and put it back into the storage slot.

"This is going to take us some time..." Dawson said.

"Yeah...maybe we should take a couple hours every day to tackle it. What do
you think?" Adam said.

"Yup, unless we get pulled into some other task. That should be the plan,"
Dawson said, still looking around the storage area.

"Is there anything else you need?" Niven asked.

The boys looked at each other. Dawson had a look on his face.

"What?" Adam said.

"Niven, can you take us to Clayton's private office? I just want to have a
look," Dawson said.

"See? I told you. He's already figured something out," Adam said with
satisfaction.

"No...no, I haven't. I'm just curious," Dawson said.

"It's the room before the master bedroom," said Niven.

Dawson rolled up the floor plan. Adam picked up the tablet. They followed
Niven as she led them upstairs. They got to the main floor. Adam was right,
the basement stairs came up on the other side of the ballroom. They passed
the ballroom to get to the main staircase. They went to the second
floor. Instead of going toward their bedrooms, they turned in the other
direction. This was the second floor west wing.

Along the wall, there were several pieces of artwork all down the
hallway. On the left, there were several sets of double doors, all down the
hallway. Dawson remembered seeing on the floor plans they were storage
closets.

Along the right side of the hallway, there were rooms. The first two doors
led to two bedrooms, with a shared bathroom between them, like the rooms
the boys were in. Then there was a door to another bedroom. The next door
led to Clayton's private office. At the end of the hall was the door to the
master bedroom, Clayton's room. They all stopped in front of the door to
the private office. It looked like all the other doors.

Dawson tried the door handle. It was locked. Niven pursed her lips. Adam
sighed with exasperation.

"Well, I had to try," Dawson said.

He stepped back and looked at the door.

"It's locked and you can't find the key..." Dawson said under his
breath. "Did you try all the keys you have? Sometimes, there can be two
locks with the same key."

"Krantz thought of that. We tried every key he has, every key I have, and
all of Mr. Jameson's keys," Niven said.

"Hmm," said Dawson.

Dawson looked at the door from different angles as he moved around. He
reached up and swiped his hand over the door jamb.

"I tried that," said Niven.

"Maybe he locked it with the key inside?" Dawson mused out loud.

He stood there thinking for a good couple of minutes.

"It's in my head now. It will rattle around in there until I figure it
out," Dawson finally said.

"Krantz thinks we should just get a locksmith," Niven said.

"Let's make that plan B for now. Let me think on it for a couple days..."
Dawson said.

Niven nodded.

"Unless you need me for anything else, I have dinner to prepare," Niven
said.

"No, we're good. Thank you, Niven," said Adam.

Niven left to go downstairs.

"Want to start in the master bedroom, seeing as we're already here?" Dawson
asked.

"Sure," said Adam.

They moved toward the master bedroom and Dawson opened the door. They
stepped in and went to the center of the room. It was a spacious room and
everything was tidy. Dawson and Adam moved to a couch, two chairs and some
small tables arranged in a sitting area in front of sliding glass
doors. The slider led out to a balcony overlooking the lake. They put down
the tablet and the floor plan.

Dawson turned and went to the large armoire. As he slowly moved, he touched
a few of Clayton's personal items placed on top - his watch, his keys, his
wallet, some coins... Dawson picked up the keys and looked at them before
putting them back down. There were some small ceramic figurines of
different animals. He picked up the tiger figurine and looked at it. He put
it down and moved to the vanity table with a mirror. He began to tear up as
memories of Clayton came back to him. He could feel himself on the verge of
crying as he looked at Clayton's comb and then touched a bottle of his
cologne. He turned toward the king-sized four poster bed.

Adam was standing there, at the side of the bed. It was stripped of all
linens, with just a bare mattress. He was staring at the spot where his
granddad slept and where he died. Adam turned to look at Dawson. There were
tears streaming down his cheeks. Dawson couldn't hold his emotions in and
he began to cry, too. He didn't think. He just reacted. He moved in and
embraced Adam, who began sobbing loudly as he melted against Dawson. Dawson
wrapped his arms around him. Adam hung onto his back. Dawson began rubbing
Adam's back and shoulders as he sobbed uncontrollably.

"It's ok...let it out...I'm here for you...I got you..." Dawson was
whispering to him in between Adam's sobs as he caressed his back.

"I miss him so much..." Adam managed to get out and then he cried harder
and squeezed Dawson tighter.

"I know...I know...I'm here...it's ok..." Dawson kept whispering as he
focused on Adam.

Dawson held Adam in his arms and Adam clung to him, crying, for a few
minutes. When Adam stopped sobbing, Dawson continued to rub his back,
whispering to him. Adam was sniffling now as he pulled Dawson in
tighter. Adam's breathing began to return to normal. Adam finally released
his tight hold but kept clinging to Dawson's back. Dawson still held Adam,
but turned his head so he could see his face.

"Do you need a tissue?" Dawson said softly.

"Yeah," Adam's muffled response came from between them.

Dawson pulled away and looked around. He saw a tissue box on the
armoire. He grabbed it and brought it to Adam. Adam took a couple tissues
from the box and blew his nose. He took a couple more and began wiping his
eyes. Dawson took one and wiped his eyes and nose as he sniffled. Dawson
found a trash bin, tossed his used tissue into it, and held it out for
Adam. He tossed the used tissues into it. Dawson put the bin down and kept
holding out the tissue box.

"I'm sorry. I feel like such an idiot," Adam said.

"Hey," Dawson said as he rubbed Adam's bicep, "remember how we met? I know
how you feel. You're not an idiot."

Adam sighed and wiped his eyes a final time. He leaned into Dawson
unexpectedly. Dawson wrapped his arms around him, still holding the tissue
box. Adam brought his hands up behind Dawson and gripped his shoulders and
back.

"Would it be weird if you just held me like this for a minute? It's just
that I..." Adam said as his voice trailed off.

Adam didn't wait for a response. He just nestled into Dawson.

"I don't think it's weird..." Dawson said in shock.

He was so stunned by Adam's actions that he was lucky the words that came
out of his mouth made sense. Dawson could smell Adam as he closed his eyes
and embraced him.

"Hmmm," Adam sighed.

They stood like that for several minutes. Their breathing patterns slowed
and synchronized. Dawson reveled in Adam's aroma. They both found comfort
in each other. Finally Adam started to move.

"Thank you, I feel better now," Adam said as he pulled away gently.

Dawson opened his eyes as he released Adam from his embrace.

"Any time you need a hug, I'm here for you," Dawson said softly.

Adam and Dawson separated. Adam looked at Dawson. Dawson cleared his
throat.

"Do you need to take some time? We can come back to this room if you
want..." Dawson said.

"No...we should just do it now..." Adam replied.

Adam looked around at the artwork on the walls. Dawson, trying to create
some normalcy again, unrolled the floor plans on the bare mattress. He
compared the number of pieces to the number of slots on the floor
plan. Adam and Dawson then went picture by picture and confirmed what was
in the room with the inventory. They did all of this in silence, sensing
and anticipating what the other was doing. Finally, Adam spoke.

"I had a thought," Adam said as he put his hands on his hips and looked
around.

Dawson stopped and looked at Adam with anticipation.

"What if, for each room, we figure out what kind of theme we want - like
flowers or landscapes or animals. And what kind of tone we want - like dark
or light colors, modern vs. traditional. Then, when we see the rest of the
inventory, some of the art may jump out to us as being a good match for a
particular room," Adam said.

"I like it," said Dawson, "What are you thinking for this room?" Dawson
said as he started tapping the tablet.

"Well, I think we need thinner curtains and a lighter color, like tan. And
if we lighten the walls, maybe a subtle blue, we could go with an ocean or
lake theme," Adam said without taking a breath.

Dawson was listening to him as he found a notes app on the tablet. He took
down everything Adam described.

"Floor?" Dawson asked, "keep the hardwood? It will go well with your light
and airy theme."

"Yes! Oh, yes... Except for here. We should have one of those hand-knotted
rugs for the sitting area," Adam said as he looked around. "Oh yeah, the
light from the evening sun will hit the hardwood floor just right," Adam
added.

Adam put his hand under his chin and fingered the divot of his chin dimple
as he looked around.

"Hmm... the furniture all works, but it needs something. Maybe a rocking
chair? Here? With a floor lamp for reading?" Adam said, as he contemplated,
"it will need to be the same wood as these pieces. And we'll need to
refinish everything, so it brings new life to them."

Dawson recorded everything. Then he turned to Adam.

"Have you done this before? Because you're good at it..." Dawson said.

"No, I'm just going on gut feeling," Adam said.

Dawson smiled at Adam as Adam looked around again. His eyes darted around
as he tried to imagine the changes. Dawson poked his head into Clayton's
bathroom. There were a couple of small pieces of art in there. Adam
followed and looked around.

"Oh, wow. I love the way this is designed. And the colors are perfect. We
can replace the fixtures, upgrade the walls and floor with the same color
scheme, refinish the cabinets, just refresh everything," Adam said as he
looked around.

Dawson took notes. Then they scanned the art pieces in the bathroom to make
sure they were inventoried properly.

"Oh, wait," Dawson said as he looked at the tablet and was swiping his
finger on the screen.

Adam leaned in to look. He came right up to Dawson, touching his chest up
against Dawson's arm, which was holding the tablet. Dawson swiped his
finger.

"You can search by title, artist, location...all of it. And..." Dawson said
as he held the tablet up in the air.

Dawson pressed the button and took a picture of one of the pieces on the
wall. He tapped and swiped a couple times and then held the tablet up for
Adam to see.

"I just added the picture of the artwork to the record on the tablet. When
we've gone through all of the artwork, we can page through it on the tablet
to make decisions of where we want to place everything," Dawson said
proudly.

Adam slipped his hand onto Dawson's shoulder as he leaned in closely. He
squeezed Dawson's shoulder.

"Brilliant!" Adam said and then patted Dawson's shoulder.

"I'll get pics of all of these pieces entered in the tablet before we go to
the next room," Dawson said.

Adam patted Dawson's shoulder in acknowledgement. He then slowly swiped his
hand down Dawson's back as he pulled away. He lingered a bit on Dawson's
back as he did. Dawson noticed the somewhat intimate way Adam touched him
but didn't say anything.

Dawson began taking pictures of the pieces in the bathroom and
bedroom. Adam began opening some of the drawers and looking. Adam opened
Clayton's walk-in closet. There was a stale smell to the closet, like it
hadn't been opened in a while. There were clothes crammed on hangers. There
were more shoes than would fit on the shoe trees. And his granddad had more
neckties than Adam had seen in one place. He slipped his fingers through
some of the ties as he looked around. Dawson finished taking the pictures
and he joined Adam in the walk-in closet.

"Wow," Dawson said, looking around, "it looks like he never threw anything
away."

"Yeah," Adam said as he put his hands on his hips, "it's gonna take us a
while to go through this stuff."

"Mmm," Dawson said, "I'm not sure six months is gonna be enough," he joked.

Adam chuckled. He brushed Dawson's arm with his hand in an intimate way
before walking back into the bedroom. Dawson paused for a couple seconds,
contemplating what was happening with Adam, before turning and following
him.

The boys left the master bedroom and walked by the door to Clayton's
private study. Dawson turned his head and scanned the doorway as they
passed. He stopped.

"Hey, wait," Dawson said as he squatted down to look at the doorknob.

Adam swung around.

"What?" he said hopefully.

"This doorknob is different than all the others," Dawson said as he slid
his finger on the metal.

"It is?" asked Adam.

"Yeah, see? The keyhole is a bit higher up. And the design around the edges
of the metal plate is close, but not exactly the same. Go look at the one
on the master bedroom door, then look at this one," Dawson said.

Dawson stayed squatting as he examined the doorknob. He felt around the
metal of the knob, the keyhole, and the plate, hoping he would detect
something. Adam came back and squatted down next to Dawson and looked at
the doorknob.

"Yeah, you're right. It's really close, but this one is different," Adam
agreed, "I wonder why?"

"Mmm, don't know," said Dawson as he stood back up, "something to think
about."

Adam stood up, too. He looked at the doorknob one last time and then turned
to Dawson.

"Let's keep going," Adam said.

Dawson nodded and they went to the next door. Adam opened it. It was one of
the guest rooms on the west wing of the house. They went in and Dawson felt
deja vu. The room looked exactly like Adam's bedroom. There was a walk-in
closet to the right and a bathroom to the left. The only difference was in
the bathroom. There was only one toilet and one sink. There was no pass
through to Clayton's office on the other side of the wall. Instead, there
was a floor length mirror on the wall.

The boys worked quietly in tandem, again, not needing to speak as they
anticipated the other's actions. Dawson began taking pictures, to capture
the images. Adam confirmed the numbers on the floor plan. When they were
done, Dawson sat on the bed and recorded Adam's thoughts on how he wanted
to decorate the room. Dawson kept looking at Adam in awe as he seemed to be
in his element.

The boys moved to the next set of guest rooms on the west wing. The rooms
were exactly like the boys' rooms, with a shared bathroom in between
them. They confirmed and took pictures of the artwork. Dawson also took
down the design thoughts as Adam paced around the rooms, describing his
ideas.

They finished there and went out to the hallway. They went through all of
the art pieces in the west hallway. Adam walked up and down the hall
thinking, as his fingers played with the dimple on his chin. When Dawson
was ready for his notes, Adam excitedly described what he wanted to do in
the hallway.

As Dawson finished taking notes, he saw Krantz coming toward them. Adam
turned to look as he heard him approaching.

"Dinner will be ready in 30 minutes, if you want to freshen up," Krantz
said.

"Ok," Dawson said as he closed the tablet.

"Thank you, Krantz," Adam said.

"There is something I'd like to discuss with the two of you, if you don't
mind," Krantz said.

"Of course, what is it, Krantz?" Adam said.

"Well, I was hesitant to say something. After all, you are both now the
head of the household and you have every right to decide how you want this
house to be run. So, it's not my place to say if..." Krantz began.

"Krantz," Dawson interrupted, "Just tell us what the problem is."

"Well, it's not a problem, per se..." Krantz continued to ramble.

"Krantz!" Adam said rather loudly in frustration.

"Yes, well, Niven told me you wanted to put artwork in our rooms. And while
I do appreciate the sentiment, it does raise an issue. Maintaining a
separation between the master of the house and the staff preserves a
certain decorum," Krantz began explaining.

The boys simply looked at Krantz as he began, surprised at what they were
hearing him say.

"You see, when you asked me to call you by your first names, I
acquiesced. I didn't think it would be harmful. After all, we are in
isolation here, and it will only be six months. And then when you didn't
dress for dinner, I thought I should say something. Mr. Jameson always
dressed for dinner. I understand that you two have a different style. And I
should have said something then. But now... now that you want to put
artwork in our rooms, as if we were part of the family... Again, while I do
appreciate the sentiment, I feel I need to say something. I think we're on
a path we don't want to venture down," Krantz said.

Dawson looked at Krantz with amusement.

"When you said you had a sense of humor, Krantz, I didn't realize..."
Dawson said.

"I assure you. I'm not joking. If I were, you'd be laughing right now,"
Krantz said with a self-satisfied grin.

Dawson smiled and shook his head.

"Wait... You have to explain to us why these are all bad things." Adam
said.

"As I said, it's not a problem, per se, but it does raise some issues you
will need to deal with in the future. When this is all over, the two of you
will be among the wealthiest individuals in the world. The circle of people
you will need to travel in will be quite different than you are used
to. They will have certain expectations about how you should behave. It's
my duty to prepare you for that world. Up to now, I have not done a fair
job of that. I'm trying to correct this now," Krantz said with a serious
tone.

The boys looked at each other. It hadn't really occurred to Dawson how much
his life had changed. He didn't have to deal with the money yet, so it
hadn't hit him. But he knew the details of Clayton's real estate
holdings. He knew what was going to be expected of him. In a way, he felt
Krantz was right.

And Adam had seen his granddad in action, dressing for dinner, never
allowing the staff to call him anything other than sir or Mr. Jameson. It
had always stuck out as odd to him because he didn't live that way. And now
Krantz was making him realize there was going to be expectations when the
six months was up. But Adam didn't care.

"Thank you, Krantz. First of all, if you have any concerns about how we're
behaving in the future, I expect you to speak your mind. Please promise me
you'll do that," Adam said.

Dawson was nodding as Adam spoke. Krantz looked relieved.

"Of course," Krantz acknowledged.

"Second, and I think I speak for Dawson as well," Adam said as he glanced
at Dawson to confirm, "You are right. It is our decision as the heads of
this household how we run the house. Continue to call us by our first
names. We will not be dressing formally for dinner, although we will appear
in acceptable attire. And I want you to have artwork in your room. Nivens,
too."

Adam paused as he let Krantz absorb what he was saying.

"You see Krantz, the relationship you had with my granddad is not the same
relationship you and I have. I've known you my whole life. You ARE family
to me. And Niven, too," Adam said.

Dawson moved to signal we wanted to say something. As he spoke he looked at
Adam to confirm he agreed with him.

"But we do appreciate your concerns. So how about this? In our last month
of captivity, you take the lead. Call us sir, make us dress up, help us
learn what we need to know, so we'll be prepared. How does that sound?"
Dawson said.

Adam nodded once as he watched Dawson talk and then he turned toward
Krantz.

"That sounds like a suitable arrangement," Krantz replied.

"Good," Adam said with satisfaction, "Could you please pass on what we just
talked about to Niven?"

"Of course," Krantz said.

With that settled, Dawson had another matter on the top of his mind.

"Krantz... Do you know why the doorknob to Clayton's study is different
than the others on this floor?" Dawson asked.

"It is?" Krantz said, "I never noticed."

"And you tried all the keys on Clayton's key chain to open it?" Dawson
asked.

"Of course," Krantz said.

"Ok, thanks, Krantz."

Krantz nodded, turned, and started downstairs.

Adam and Dawson looked at each other as Krantz left. Dawson raised his
eyebrows as if to say, 'I can't believe we just had that conversation.'
Adam sighed as a way of trying to process what had just happened. He was
facing the storage doors.

"I wonder if the games are all still here..." Adam said.

He opened one of the sets of double doors. There were shelves and shelves
of games, toys, and books. Adam's eyes lit up. He touched some of the games
and looked around from shelf to shelf.

"Oh my god! I loved this book!" Adam said as he grabbed a small, paperback
book titled, "Book of 1000 Puns."

Adam flipped to a random page.

"Which country's capital has the fastest-growing population?" Adam read.

He looked up at Dawson but didn't give him a chance to respond.

"Ireland. Every day it's Dublin," Adam said as he practically giggled.

"Ugh," Dawson groaned.

"What do you call a bee that can't make up its mind?" Adam read with glee.

"A may-bee. Get it? Maybe?" he said as he laughed.

"Give me that," Dawson said, playfully, as he tried to grab it.

"No!" Adam said loudly and pulled the book away.

Adam started to back away. Dawson tried to corner him. The boys started
laughing. Adam dodged and just barely got away from Dawson. Adam ran down
the hall giggling and slipped into Dawson's room and shut the door. Dawson
ran right by his room and went into Adam's bedroom. He got to the bathroom
door before Adam could close it.

"Ahhhh!" Adam screamed and started laughing loudly.

Dawson laughed and pushed through the door. He cornered Adam near one of
the beds. Adam climbed on the bed and tried to get away. Dawson swept his
arm toward him and got a hold of him. Adam fell onto the bed laughing.

"No! No! It's my book!" Adam screamed, laughing.

"Give it to me!" Dawson laughed as he jumped on top of him.

Adam tried to squirm away. Dawson began tickling him.

"Ahhh! No! No!" Adam started to uncontrollably laugh as Dawson tickled him.

Adam tried to turn and Dawson's chest ended up leaning into Adam's
hip. Adam was laughing and laughing as Dawson tickled his sides.

"Ok! Ok! Please! Stop! Stop!" Adam could barely get out as he laughed.

In the scuffle, Adam had turned so he was on his back. Dawson straddled
Adam as he finally grabbed the book and tossed it onto the other bed. The
boys were both breathing heavily. Dawson looked down on Adam, trapped
underneath him. Dawson had put his hands on the bed on either side of Adam
and held himself up, looking over him. Adam looked up at Dawson. They were
both breathing heavily into each other's faces. Dawson's crotch was
pressing into Adam's. They both had erections and they could feel the
hardness of the others' boner. The boys just looked at each other. They
stayed like that for a few moments, looking into each other's eyes. Dawson
felt the urge to grind into him, but he fought it off. He tried to pretend
there was nothing unusual happening.

"If I let you up," Dawson asked softly as he gasped for breath, "are you
going to stop with the puns?"

"Why? Are you gonna *pun*-ish me?" Adam said grinning and breathing
heavily.

Dawson smiled and laughed.

"You asked for it," Dawson said.

He buckled his elbows and his whole body pressed into Adam's. His face came
down, their cheeks met. They could now feel the others breath in their
ears. Dawson started tickling him again. Adam bucked his legs as he
screamed with laughter and tried to push Dawson off of him. Dawson pressed
into him. It felt so good. Dawson couldn't help himself. He began grinding
into Adam. Adam could feel Dawson's boner rubbing against his own hard
cock. He was turned on by the feeling. He couldn't help himself
either. Adam began pushing his crotch up, to enhance the feeling. Their
crotches kept rubbing together.

After a half dozen thrusts, Dawson's feelings began to overwhelm him. He
started to panic when he realized what he was doing. He stopped grinding
into Adam and got off of him. He turned away, sitting on the edge of the
bed, to hide his erection.

Adam, still laughing uncontrollably, covered up his crotch with his
hands. He rolled away from Dawson, hiding his boner.

==========

Adam and Dawson will be back in mid-January, after the holidays.

If you liked this story, tell me: djwarner1984@hotmail.com
And then donate to Nifty: https://donate.nifty.org/

-DJ