The Light in Your Eyes
By Tinnean
Author’s Note: The reference to Nat 'King' Cole's
'butter-rich' baritone was found at this site: http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/6811055/a/World+Of+Nat+King+Cole.htm
As much as I would like to claim it as mine, it
isn't.
Wills looked at his wristwatch.
"Is it time to go?" I asked. We'd agreed
to leave at
"Yeah. Are you sure you don't want
to stay? You're having a good time."
"Because I'm here with
you.
Let's get our goody bags and go say goodnight to Le Roi."
We went back to our table and gathered our bags and
my cape, which I'd removed when I'd found it made dancing difficult.
The Prince of Darkness was in earnest conversation
with the Archangel Michael. He glanced around. "You're not leaving
already?"
"We have to go. The Lone Ranger has to be up
bright and early in the morning catching bad guys." I didn't think it was
that funny, but Wills bit back a snicker.
Charlemagne ran his eyes over Wills again, and I
wanted to pull out my sword and run him through. "Are you sure I can't
interest you in a trick or treat, little boy?"
"I've got my treat, thanks." His arm came
around my waist. "It was nice meeting you, your majesty. Sir." He nodded to the man dressed as the
"Bright blessings upon
you, William.
And you also, Teodore."
"Uh… thanks. Goodnight." That was odd. But
then Wills wound his fingers in mine, and I forgot about it.
The doorman hailed us a cab, and we got in and gave
the driver our address. It seemed almost no time before the cab was pulling up
in front of our building. We got out, and Wills paid him. There hadn't been a
single wrinkle or bulge in his costume – except for his package, and I wondered
where he'd kept his wallet.
We climbed the stairs, and I let us into the
apartment. "Did you have a good time, babe?" I yawned, tipped my hat
back off my head so that it hung from its thong around my neck, and removed my
mask. Wills did the same.
"Yeah. Like I said, I haven't been
to a Halloween party since college. This was a blast. What's in the goody bags?
Candy?"
"Not exactly." I pulled out the items one
by one. "Whoever is Le Roi has them put
together. Condoms, flavored lube, cock rings, butt plugs… "
His lashes hid his eyes for a
moment, and he blushed. Would he consider wearing one? Oh, not to work.
He was too professional for that, but maybe around the apartment… "… gift
certificates for massages or to a hair stylist or restaurant or… "
"A tie clip?" Wills had taken a small
jeweler's box out of his bag and opened it to reveal a black cat arched and
hissing above words marked out in diamond chips. '87th annual Halloween Ball.
"Charlemagne always was a show-off."
"Wow. Eighty-seven years? Who'd have thought
they'd be going on for so long?"
"Nothing stopped them, from what I was led to
understand, not even the First or Second World Wars, although attendance was sparse
during those years."
"Makes sense." He closed the box and put
it back in his bag. "Are we gonna go again next
year?"
"You'd want to go?"
"Yeah. I mean, I know it's
supposed to be for escorts, but it was fun, and if you don't have a problem
with it… "
"No problem." No, definitely no problem.
It never failed to amaze and surprise, and yes, thrill me – he was looking to
the future. I pulled him against me and rubbed my groin against his. "Trick or treat, little boy?"
****
Thanksgiving was just around the corner. Vince had
been able to get Wills that day off, but not the day after,
so we wouldn't be able to spend the holiday with either of our families.
"Want to invite the ladies from downstairs to
join us?"
"Why?"
"Because it's
Thanksgiving?"
I sighed. "Okay, babe."
I didn't want him to know I was reluctant to have those man-eaters around him.
Plus there was Sable, who was French, and a Cordon Bleu-trained cook.
"Cool. I'll go down and ask them."
"I'll go with you." I followed him out of
the apartment.
He gave me an amused smile. "Think I can't
protect myself?"
"It was a good thing you weren't wearing those
501 jeans of yours when you were fixing the drain. I saw the way Layla was looking at you."
"Oh, yeah? And how was that?"
"Like you were Red Riding Hood and she was the
Big Bad Wolf."
"I can take care of myself, babe."
"Yeah, yeah."
We could hear a good deal of bustle going on in the
apartment on the 2nd floor. Wills pressed the doorbell. Unlike our
chimes, it was an ordinary 'ding dong.'
Layla answered the door.
"I'm sorry, didn't you get the message? We're not… Oh, hi, guys. Hey,
girls, it's our landlord and his cutie!"
"Well, tell them we said hi and get back here
and finish packing!" I wasn't sure which lady that was, but there was
impatience in her words.
"I am finished!" Layla called back, saccharine laced with strychnine. She
fluttered her lashes at Wills. "What can we do for you, sugar?"
He smiled at her, and I cleared my throat, folded my
arms across my chest, and tapped my foot.
He turned his smile on me. "We just wanted to
invite you up for dinner on Thursday." He didn't notice her blank look,
but I did.
"It's Thanksgiving," I informed her.
"Already? My, this year has
flown."
"Yeah, it's really zipped by."
Wills sent an admonishing look my way, then turned
back to her. "Would you like to join us?"
"Thank you; that's really nice of you, but
we're going up to Killington for the week."
"I've skied there." Wills skied? In the snow? I shivered at the thought of him flying over
moguls and curving around downhill turns. "Beautiful place to spend the
holiday."
"It isn't a holiday. Not for us anyway. We'll
be working." She smiled faintly. "We're supposed to sit by the
fireplace in the lodge and look delectable."
"That shouldn't be too difficult a job."
"Oh, well, too bad." I frowned at Wills.
"They have plans, Wills."
"You're so sweet. I'd ask you and Sweetcheeks to come in for a… drink… "
She fluttered her lashes more. Jesus, was she trying to stir up a
windstorm? "… but… "
Wills' easy-going smile vanished. "Theo,"
he corrected shortly.
"Of course." She sighed, and her
expression became a combination of wry and wistful. "Well, our ride will
be here any minute now."
"We'll just be going… "
I started to turn away.
"Happy Thanksgiving,
boys."
"You too."
Wills trotted up the stairs, and I took the time
following him to admire his ass. He paused at the top of the stairs, turned,
and caught me staring. That grin curled his lips.
"You're glad we'll be spending the day alone
together, aren't you?"
"Busted. Are you disappointed in
me?"
"Why?"
"Because I'm selfish when it comes to
you?"
"Never. Inviting the ladies
downstairs was the right
thing to do, Theo, and you were willing to go along with that
because I asked you." He pulled me against him, his hands warm on my back,
and rubbed his lips back and forth over mine. "I'll tell you a secret,
babe. Well, maybe not really a secret. I'm glad they turned us down. I'm glad
we'll be alone too."
****
Although we wouldn't be able to see our families, we
called them, and while Wills spent more than an hour on the phone, settled on
the couch with the phone under his ear, grinning at the ceiling and talking to
each member of his family, my call home was relatively brief and stilted
"Hullo, Teodore."
"Hi, Poppa. Happy
Thanksgiving."
"Yes, happy Thanksgiving." A long moment of silence while we both searched for something more
to say.
"Uh… how has the fishing been going?"
"Is well. We won't starve.'
"That's good. Um…
"
"How is weather?"
"It's the usual for November."
"That is good." He didn't ask what the
usual was. "I put your Momma on."
I sighed in relief.
"Teo. Happy
Thanksgiving."
"The same to you,
Ma."
"I am disappointed you cannot come to spend the
weekend with us. Will you be seeing William's family?"
"No, Wills has work tomorrow. He just called
his family."
"And you have tomorrow off?"
"Yeah, Ma. I'm my own boss. I can make
my own holidays."
"Humph. You have enough food?"
"We have plenty. We won't starve. Is… uh… Is
Casey there? I'd like to… "
"Acacia is spending the afternoon with her
boyfriend's family. They will come back here for dinner."
"Okay. Well, I'd better go now. I have to baste
the turkey. Tell Casey I said hi."
"One moment, please. I wish to speak to your
young man."
"Uh, Momma… " I
sent a panic-stricken look Wills' way. If I had a hard time talking to her,
what would my lover find to say?
"What's up, babe?"
I covered the receiver. "Ma wants to talk to
you."
He smiled and took the phone. "Hi,
Mrs. Bascopolis. Happy
Thanksgiving." He glanced at me and made a shooing motion. "I
thought you had to go baste the turkey?"
I scowled, but he knew I wasn't serious, and he
laughed at me. I went into the kitchen, took care of the turkey and found some
other things to keep me busy. After about ten minutes, when Wills didn't come
in, I went back to the living room.
He was still on the phone. "That's right,"
he was saying. "He was the best looking Zorro I've ever seen. Yes, even
handsomer than Antonio Banderas. No, no one gave us a hard time, Mrs. B. Don't
you think I can take care of my guy?"
Well, damn. His conversation was going as smoothly
as if he was talking to his own family. And then I forgot that as I realized
he'd called me his guy. I liked that.
"No, I'm afraid we won't be able to come down
for Christmas. The company I work for is a slave driver, Mrs. B; I only have
the day off. When I get my vacation, I promise we'll fly down. Oh, Theo's here.
Would you like to talk to him again? Okay. It was nice talking to you too. Have
a good day. Hmmm? Oh, I can promise you that. Our
kitchen looks like Theo's ready to feed an army! Bye, now." He handed the
phone back to me.
"Ma?"
"Your William is a wonderful boy, Teo. You make sure you treat him well, you hear me?"
"Yes, Ma."
"I
must go now. The turkey is not done, but Poppa wants to sample it. It will give
him worms."
"Okay. Bye… "
"Teo, I love
you."
"I… I love you too, Momma."
"Goodbye, my son."
I could barely whisper, "Bye."
Wills took the phone from me and hung up. "You
okay, babe?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good." I
sniffed hard. "I… uh… I gotta… Dinner… "
"Come on." He slung his arm over my
shoulders, tipped my chin up, and kissed me.
I held onto him for a minute, then ran my fingers
down his arm and twined them with his fingers, and we went into the
kitchen.
"What can I do to help?"
"Peel and slice the sweet potatoes."
"How thick do you want the slices?"
"Doesn't matter. I'll be putting them
through the ricer once I'm done boiling them."
"Aye, aye, skipper." He threw me a salute
and picked up the peeler and the first sweet potato.
I made a traditional dinner – turkey, stuffing,
cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, biscuits, salad, corn, green beans,
and three different kinds of pies for dessert, apple crumb, pumpkin, and
coconut custard.
Wills had brought home a White Zinfandel, and he
kept me company while I worked in the kitchen, fetching the ingredients I
called for, husking the corn, snapping the ends off the beans, and sipping the
wine and stealing occasional kisses.
"Time to set the table,
babe."
"Got it." He snatched another kiss
and strolled out of the room, humming softly under his breath.
He did a great job with the table. The Irish lace tablecloth, the good china and flatware, water
goblets and wine glasses, and a centerpiece of autumn leaves, gourds, and mums.
We ate until we were stuffed, then spent the rest of
the afternoon nuzzling on the couch and watching football. That evening,
instead of having dinner, we had each other.
****
Because Thanksgiving had been so late this year, it
was only a few days later that I brought up the subject of Christmas cards.
"Isn't it a little early?" Wills asked.
"Not really." I hated waiting until the
last minute, something Tim had encouraged. He had insisted I had the nicest
handwriting of all the boys, and the job of signing the cards for our clients, 'Happy Holidays from your friends at 3F
Corporation!' had fallen to me. Tim felt 3F, which stood for Fun, Fun, Fun,
was innocuous enough that it wouldn't upset any of their families if they
should find the cards. '3F? Oh, a company I do business with on occasion, dear.
Surely I mentioned them?' The cards themselves had been white with gold trim,
graced by a simple winter scene, suitable no matter what the religious
persuasion of our clients. "Besides, I'll be swamped with getting the
place ready for Christmas… "
"Aren't I going to help you?"
"If you like, babe, but I would have thought
you'd want to spend your evenings doing… " I
waggled my eyebrows. "… other things."
"Always. But I was looking forward
to picking out a tree with you and … We are gonna
have a live tree, aren't we?"
"Of course." Even if that hadn't been my
original intention, I'd have indulged his request.
"Great. And we'll decorate it together too. I
haven't been able to have a tree since I moved out."
"How come?" Even at our lowest time,
that first Christmas I'd been with the boys, Tim had made sure we had a tree,
even though it was only a few branches we'd scrounged from a lot after hours
when no one was around to see, and stuffed into a milk carton. I knew Wills had
never been in a situation like that.
"Too busy with
work."
He shrugged. "What kind of decorations are you putting up?"
I let him change the subject. "Holly." I
hummed a few bars of 'A Holly, Jolly,
Christmas', and he grinned. "Pine garlands and pine
cones, mistletoe, poinsettias. I usually stencil reindeer, Santas, and Christmas trees on the windows every year
too."
"I wish you'd let me help." He sounded so
wistful.
I went to him and put my arms around him. "Sure, babe. Whatever you want."
He leaned into me. "It's too bad we don't have
a fireplace."
"A fireplace,
hmmm?"
That was an interesting idea. The living room had originally been a bedroom,
and behind one of the walls was a bricked-up fireplace. It couldn't be that
difficult to get it unbricked, and what a great
Christmas gift that would be!
I'd already gotten him most of his gifts, a
cloisonné globe and stand for the corner of his office, some games for his
computer, a new case for his laptop, an Armani tuxedo that appeared to be black
– until the light struck it just right, and then it became obvious that it was
actually midnight blue – along with a traditional white, five-pleat dress shirt,
tie, and cummerbund. Wills had a narrow waist and long legs. Hopefully the tux wouldn't need too much in the way
of alterations.
Now, how would I be able to get the fireplace opened
without him knowing? He'd be bound to notice the dust.
"It would be neat to hang stockings from it. We
did that back home. Marti and Jar would get so excited, pulling out all sorts
of surprises. That was the most fun to watch, them being so much younger than
me. I got to fill the stockings." He was lost in the memories, and it was
easy to see they were very happy ones. "Jill would film it with the
camcorder." He laughed softly. "You're lucky, babe. You didn't have
to sit through fifteen years worth of Christmas movies."
"I wouldn't have minded."
"You say that now. We're talking hours and hours worth!"
I still wouldn't have minded. "Did you roast
chestnuts in the fireplace?"
"Yeah. Just like
in the song." Wills nuzzled a patch of skin below my ear.
"We're a very Norman Rockwell kind of family." He let me go. "I
think I'll give Dad a call and see if he and Jill would mind sending my
ornaments here."
"Your ornaments?"
"My Mom gave me one every year before she died.
Even the year she died there was one, although I didn't get it until the
following year. It was a little boy pulling a smaller
boy on a sled. She'd had it made especially for me. 'Merry Christmas to the new big brother.'"
"She was pregnant at the time of the
accident?" Wills had never spoken of her, beyond telling me that she'd
been killed in a car accident when he was five.
His expression was so sad. "Yeah.
Mom and Dad had just found out. No one else ever knew. We moved back home… " He saw my confusion. "Dad was so broken up he
asked my grandparents if we could stay with them, and then I overheard him
telling Grandpa to sell our house. That was almost worse than Mom dying. I
could pretend she was coming back, but the house… It would be there, but it
wouldn't be ours."
My heart went out to that poor little boy, not only
losing his mother but his home as well.
"Grandpa never did put the house up for sale. After… Well, after some time had passed, things got better
and we moved back home. Dad was going through some things in the attic, and he
found a cache of Christmas presents from the year before. Mom always liked to
start her shopping early." He shook off his sadness and smiled at me.
"She'd have loved you, babe." I liked to get my shopping done early
too. "So okay. If you want to spend the day
writing out Christmas cards, we'll spend the day writing Christmas cards."
"Why don't you call your Dad, and I'll get the
boxes of cards." I went into my office, where I'd put them in the closet
after I'd bought them the day after Christmas last year: best time, best
prices. There was a wide variety – religious, secular, humorous, serious, with
big-eyed kids, with Santas, with animals, with winter
scenes of picturesque villages, and it took me a few trips to bring them into
the living room.
Wills blinked when he saw all the boxes. "Um…
"
"I
like to be prepared." I grinned at him. "What do you want to hear, babe?"
"Excuse
me?"
"I
always listen to Christmas music when I write out my cards. I've got Nat King
Cole, Boyz II Men, Elvis, the WODS-FM Boston Ultimate
Christmas Album..." After I had called Jill to find out what kind of
Christmas music he liked and she'd told me of the radio station he'd listened
to when he was living at home, I'd gone online and bought the whole series.
"Surprise
me."
I
loaded the CDs into the player, and Nat King Cole's butter-rich baritone came
out of the speakers. 'Chestnuts roasting on an open fire… ' I made myself comfortable by the coffee table and glanced
over at my lover. He was sprawled out on the rug, wearing those 501 jeans and a
cable knit sweater that belonged to me. The sleeves were pushed up, and he
looked for all the world like a teenager doing his
homework. That was, until he looked up and saw me watching him. His mouth
curled in that half grin and his tongue peeked out between his lips.
"Want
to put this off for now? We could… " He rolled
onto his back and rocked his hips slightly.
"I
thought you were the one who believed in delayed gratification?"
"Damn.
Hoist with my own petard."
"Serves you right. Now, to work."
"Well,
it was worth a try."
"The
cards now, babe, but if you get them done fast enough, we'll have plenty of
time for… " I let my gaze rake over his body,
lingering on his groin.
"What
are we waiting for, then? I'm halfway done!"
I
settled down to write out my cards. Although my list wasn't as extensive as the previous
year – I no longer had to send cards to all our clients – there was still Paul
and Spike, Tim and Cris, the brothers Tom and Mike
out in LA, various other boys who I kept in touch with, Vince, my lawyer, the
accountant who was letting me work with him until I could build my own
clientele, and of course, family.
I gnawed on the end of the fountain pen Tim had
given me years before. "Should I put anything in the card I'm sending my family?" I'd been
able to send Ma and Acacia cards, knowing they would get the mail long before
Poppa came home from work, but this was the first time in twelve years that I'd
be able to include Poppa in the greeting.
Wills
was scribbling away industriously. Beside him was a small stack of completed
cards. "Beyond 'Love, Theo and Wills'?"
I
couldn't catch my breath. Sure we were a couple, but somehow signing a card
that way made us seem more of a couple.
Wills
mistook my silence. "I'm sorry, Theo, scratch that. Of course you don't
want to sign the card like that."
I
could move fast when I wanted to. I pounced on him, pushed him back onto the
rug, and straddled him. "You'd really be okay with me signing the card
like that?"
"Theo,
have you suddenly gone mental on me?" His expression was exasperated.
"Of course I'm okay with that. How do you think I signed the cards to my
family?" He saw a future for us. He really saw…
"I
thought… I thought … "
"Ah,
babe, you think too much. You know something, Theo?" He sighed as I rubbed
my palms over his chest. "You really rock my trousers!"
"Well,
you cause serious trouser-rockage in mine too."
I was pleased to find his nipples like pebbles.
"If
we had a fireplace," he murmured, "we could be doing this on a faux
fur rug, and you'd know my nipples were hard because of you, and not because
it's so freaking cold in here!" I knew he was teasing me. It was always
warm in the house. "Hey!"
I
stripped off his jeans, shoved mine down off my hips, and rolled on a condom. A
couple of slicked fingers to prepare him, and I was in him before he could do
more than gasp out his readiness to be taken.
He
gripped my waist with his knees and rocked up to meet each of my thrusts,
panting heavily, his lips parted as moans spilled from them. It had been a long
time since he'd made any effort to muffle the sounds he made.
And
god, he felt so good under me, so right. I balanced my weight on my knees,
brushed the hair off his forehead, and framed his face. His eyes were like dark
chocolate.
"I…
Wills, I… " I couldn't get the words past my
lips, but it didn't seem to matter.
"I
know, Theo. I love you too."
After we'd both come and were lying there trying to
get our breathing under control, he shifted under me.
"Am I too heavy for you, babe?"
"Never. But this floor is freaking
hard."
I rolled off him, knotting the condom and tossing it
aside.
"Hey, I didn't want you to move!"
"Come on, tough guy." I kicked off my
jeans, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to his feet. "We can continue this
on the couch."
Something else went on my list for him. A thick, plush, faux fur rug for right in front of his fireplace.
This was going to be an awesome Christmas.
****
The
next day he came home from work to tell me he had to go out of town again.
"I'm sorry, Theo. You'll have to get the tree without me."
"Where
do you have to go this time?" So far he'd been to
"
"
"Huntingdon
has an affiliate in
"They're
sending in the first string." I was proud that he was going, in spite of
the fact that I hated he was going.
He
gave me that smile and hunched a shoulder, and pulled out his suitcase and a
garment bag. While he went to the closet to get his suits, I pulled out his
thermal underwear. I'd had a john who'd been from
"Will
you be back for Christmas?" I did my brave little soldier act. I was
pretty proud of myself for hiding how much I hated it when he went out of town.
I knew he wouldn't cheat on me… well I was fairly certain he wouldn't, but he
was used to having sex every night, and there were just so many fucking
temptations out there…
"I
should only be gone about a week. I'll be back, babe."
And
maybe I wasn't as good as hiding my feelings as I'd thought. He spent the night
making love to me, and as a result we overslept.
"Mr.
Vincent is gonna be so pissed… "
He scrambled into his shirt and pants, stepped into his shoes, and sat
on the bed to tie them.
"I'll
get you to Dulles on time." I pulled on sweats and a hoodie.
"Get your suitcase; I'll get the garment bag and the keys to the Corvair."
He
held his hand out. "I'll drive."
"Babe…
"
"Theo."
"Okay."
He actually was a better driver than I was.
I
didn't know how he did it, but he made every single light, although some just
barely. He pulled up at Departures, brushed a kiss across my mouth, and got
out. I slid over to the driver's seat and buckled up, then rolled down the
window to offer some last minute advice.
"Eat
your veggies. Don't get your feet wet. Get to bed early… "
"I promise I'll take good care of myself." He took