There wasn't' much room to sit in the floor, since between the already intrusive bed and Mike's sprawled out body it was a tight fit. But Brad squeezed himself over to the desk underneath the dormer and planted himself, waiting for some motion from Mike, some sign that he was coming awake.
Seeing the habitual stretch that he knew to be first signs of life, he moved down next to him on the floor, kneeling down, his face just inches from Mikes. And then the eyes came open.
"Hey" Mike breathed out, barely audible.
"Morning, pup. How'd you sleep?"
"Good. Got up here a little late, but I conked out right away. I must have been really tired."
"Yea, we'll talk later about you being up so late. I see what you do when I'm not watching," he said, gently poking Mike's exposed stomach as he playfully admonished him for staying up so far beyond his usual bedtime. It was probably the least convincing scolding possible, as an instant erection immediately tented his shorts.
Mike just smiled as he noticed Brad's hard-on. And his own.
"um, have you been downstairs yet?" Mike asked.
"Yup."
Mike just started to sit up when Brad swung his own leg over Mike's prone body, putting his hand on either side of Mike as he stared down at him.
"I'm not sure we got everything put away, babe. We put a couple of boxes in the basement, and the bed...." Before he could get another word out, Brad's lips were glued onto Mike's as he gently lowered himself onto his partner. Mike was obviously startled, but quickly responded by wrapping his arms around Brad, gently rubbing their bodies together. Out of deference toward the Kovars, and Hana's snoopy ears, they had decided to be as quiet as possible whenever the kissed or made love at the Kovars, deferring the wrestling for more solitary locations.
Undoing the lip lock, Brad got back on his knees, still straddling Mikes body. He saw bowed his head down, took a deep breath, and then raised it back up as he looked into Mike's eyes. "Thanks for everything, pup. I saw the pictures and trophies, what you all did with them"
Mike could tell that he was about to get emotional so put his finger up to Brad's mouth.
"You don't owe anyone a `thank you' Mike said. "Your part of this family, and everyone feels this way." He knew that Brad was too polite of a person not to want to show his gratitude, but Mike didn't want him to feel like there was anything extraordinary about it. There was enough emotion from yesterday already.
"Besides," Mike continued, "You should probably realize that you've given up custody of those pictures, now that my mom has them. I wouldn't' t try to move them an inch if I were you," he said as he smiled up at Brad.
Brad held back the tears, but only with great effort. It was an odd twilight zone, on one hand he was emotional about the wonderful gesture of the Kovars, on the other hand he was getting incredibly horny in his crouched position over Mike. His wood had gone done momentarily, but it wouldn't take long for it to sprout back up again. Mike just looked too delicious down there.
"I'll do `thank you' later, then" he said giving Mike a quick peck on the cheek. But now, let's take care of some other business." Before Mike could wiggle away, Brad's tongue was on his neck.
"Remember....quiet, OK?" Mike said, through giggles. "We don't want to have an audience."
"Uh huh, whatever you say," Mike heard, as Brad continued the gentle assault of his tongue on the smooth, veined neck, starting to work his way slowly down Mike's body. For Mikes' part, he was just desperately trying to suppress whatever sounds wanted to jump from his mouth.
But Brad loved it! He knew he could keep himself quiet, he had that kind of control, but Mike still had things to learn. He saw Mike's cheeks blow up wide, struggling to hold in the breath from a laugh or a moan or some other kind of bestial, guttural utterance.
"You...fucking....prick.." Mike barely got the words out, between laughing and drawing in deep breaths."
Just the kind of resistance Brad wanted to hear, as he redoubled his efforts. He raised Mike's tee shirt up to give the smooth chest the same attention. At the same time as Mike was trying to push him off, he was raising up his torso, inviting Brad to do as he pleased in spite of himself. But he couldn't go on like this much longer, at least not now. He was getting horny as hell himself, but later would be better for both of them.
For just a moment, Mike stopped the resistance, letting Brad think that he could continue to have his way with him -- until Brad felt something tightly grab a hold of his balls.
"Uh...no...you, shit...Oh god, let go...please!" Brad cried out, but practically convulsing with laughter.
Have Brad literally by the balls, he continued to gently but firmly roll them in his hand as Brad released his mouth and pulled off, arching back in only slightly mock agony.
"We can have the patience to wait until later, can't we babe." Mike teased "you know, when no one is here, or we're back at school where we can go all out. Don't you feel that way too?" He asked rhetorically with an evil smile, at the some time moving his free hand to Brad's own chest, tweaking his left nipple to emphasize the point.
"Um....uh...maybe..uh, I mean yes, later is better, much better..." Brad pleaded, but with an unmistakable grin on his contorted face, as he continued pleading, "and can I have my balls back now, please?"
Mike was struggling like crazy with himself, too, but really did think that they should wait until later when it would be even more fun. Besides, this delay would have Brad even more wound-up for when they finally did it.
"We've got every night this week, OK, babe." He said as the released the gently worked over nuts.
Brad rolled his head back, reaching down and rubbing himself. "OK, but don't expect any mercy at all when we get back!"
Mike gave him an evil grin. "Not expecting any? I sure hope not!" He laughed.
Moving himself over to Mike's side, Brad reached over, stroking Mikes hair and pulling himself even closer. For a few moments they both just quietly layed next to each other until Brad broke the silence.
"Pup, one more thing."
"uh huh?" Mike answered, now sitting up.
Brad looked over at the window, than back down at his boy. He was neither smiling nor frowning, a kind of in-between countenance that Mike couldn't really read. Then he let out a deep breath.
"I really do need to thank you for yesterday," he said, looking straight into Mike's eyes. "I..." he started to falter, then picked up his thought again. "I don't think that I could have made it without you. I want you to know that."
Mike just looked over at him and smiled, pulling Brad's head toward him and rubbing his cheeks into that curly black hair. "I love you so much, babe," he said, "I'll always be there for you. Remember that."
"We'll be there for each other," His partner replied as he pulled them both close into a long, deep kiss.
For Brad, it seemed like he had come out of a nightmare into a dream. Where only the day before he had been thrown out of the only home that the ever knew, he had now been welcomed into a better one than he ever could have imagined, with a partner who was more than he could have ever dreamed of.
When he and Mike finally untangled themselves from each other and got downstairs, Mr. Kovar was waiting in his customary chair at the breakfast table, slowly drinking a cup of coffee. Eyeing Brad as he came in the room, he barely looked up from his coffee.
"Good Morning, Bradley,"
"'Morning Mr. Kovar." He replied, then quickly began to say thank you before Mr. Kovar kindly cut him off.
"You know, Bradley, I bought some shitake mushrooms yesterday, they're in the refrigerator. I was wondering all night how they would taste in an omelet. I've never had them before, but heard that they taste good." He said, continuing to stir his coffee, finally looking up and smiling at Brad.
Brad just smiled back. "Yes, sir. Coming right up!" he began his preparations as Mike bent over and whispered in Czech to his Dad, something to the effect of `This is the right thing to do for him now, but don't push it, Old Man,' His Dad just chuckled.
Moving back over to Brad, Mike asked what he could do to help, but Brad gently motioned him away. He thought the chopping and cutting and cooking would be really good therapy for him, so asked Mike if he could just set the table and take care of all the other arrangements so that everyone could eat. He had already noticed noise coming from Hana's part of the house, and expected Mrs. Kovar to be up any minute, also.
When Hanna and Mrs. Kovar finally made it into the kitchen Brad was just in the middle of the first omelet, so the timing was perfect. Not wanting to get himself too emotional again, he greeted both of them as they got themselves some coffee.
Hanna, of course, couldn't let the calm routine of the morning continue without at least some verbal sparring.
"Brad, I was looking closer at some of your pictures last night when we got them on the wall. It seems like you used to be better looking - what happened?
Mrs. Kovar rolled her eyes. "Hanka!"
Hanna just gave her usual sly grin, thinking that she had scored a few points.
"Oh, that's probably because some of my pictures are next to yours. Maybe being near you just makes my pictures look that much better. I'm so sorry!"
The rest of the Kovars just laughed, but Hanna just sat down at the table, nonplussed. "We'll see if you've kept up the cooking standard, too, while we're at it."
As breakfast ended and Mike was cleaning up the dishes, Brad approached the rest of the Kovars at the table. He didn't want to make too big of a deal out of everything, if for no other reason that, in spite of his enthusiasm about being welcomed into their home, he really did have to admit to himself that he was getting emotionally exhausted. He just wanted to formally say thanks to all of them.
Brad sat down at the table, next to Mrs. Kovar and was just about to say thank you, when, suddenly, he couldn't speak. He wanted to express himself, not just about how they welcomed him into their home, but really took him into their family. The emotions, the feelings and the stress of the last few days just all came together at once. Instead of words coming out of his mouth, he was just mute. Empty. A single tear came out of his eye.
Mrs. Kovar pulled him close, pulling his head down and resting it on her shoulder as Mike came over to put his arms around his friend.
"Bradley, it's OK. Go ahead." Mrs. Kovar said as she reached up and stroked his side, while Mike held him. "You need to do this. Let it out, go ahead."
No words came out of his mouth, just a hollow sounds, as Mike pulled him up and into an embrace. Earlier he tried to play things down with Brad, trying to minimize the emotional impact of the trauma of yesterday, knowing that sooner or later the pain would come out. But also knowing that he would heal, too.
Mike just held him, whispering things in his ear that the others could only imagine. Gently rocking him, he made the embrace as tight and firm as he could, giving him the feel of warmth and protection that, more than anything else, Brad needed at that moment. He didn't make a noise, but he shook as the tears poured out of his eyes.
When he felt that Brad had finally recovered, Mike gently pushed him away so that he could look at his face.
"You OK, babe?"
Brad just sniffled for a moment. "yea, I'll be OK. Sorry stuff just came over me for a second, I'll.."
"No worries..." Mike replied as he pulled Brad into another embrace, rubbing his back again as he nuzzled their cheeks together. "sure you're OK? He asked again.
"Yea, I'll be fine" he said as he finally pushed himself away under his own power. Turning toward the Kovar family still at the table, he continued where he had left off.
"Hey all, I just wanted to say thank you," he was finally able to say. "You've been nicer to me than I've could have ever imagined. It's really wonderful being here, not just with Mike, or Mirek," he chuckled, " but with you all. I really feel like I this is what a home and a family is supposed to be like."
Mrs. Kovar got up and supplemented Mike's welcome. "You do have a home here, Bradley. And it's not just because of Mirek, but we all care about you very much just because of who you are. You're a magnificent addition to this family and we hope to see a lot more of you," she whispered in his ear as he tentatively returned her hug.
"Yea, and if you keep cooking like this, you can live here for free, forever," Hana chimed in, as she went back to finishing the last scraps of her omelet.
"I agree," concurred, Mr. Kovar, "especially if there are second helpings. Any chance of that. You know, my first one was kind of small." He said as he winked at Brad, holding up his plate, which was eagerly refilled a few minutes later.
After breakfast, they guys spent the rest of the morning putting away the boxes of Brad's that would be for long-term storage, like old school records and also the many other pictures of him growing up. Included in these were some pictures of deceased relatives, including a young female cousin whom he never knew. His mom seemed to have had no use for them, so they became Brad's. He had thought in the past that maybe someday he would try to put together some kind of family tree, another one of his family building efforts. He still thought that there must be some ancestor that would be worth finding out about, so he decided to hang onto all the stuff that he had.
While the guys were reassembling Brad's bed upstairs, Mike got a surprise phone call from Todd Metz, who was in the area with his brother. They were headed to a baseball game at the stadium and wanted to see if the guys wanted to join them.
"Babe, it's Todd. He and his brother want to know if we want to go to the game with them today. Free tickets, I guess a couple of their friends bailed on them. What do you think?"
"Gosh, that would be great, but we've got a lot to do, too. If we just go in and come back right away, maybe we could to it. What do you think?"
In fact, he was rarin' to go -- a ballgame would be just the kind of diversion that he and Mike needed after the stresses of yesterday. Responsibility could come later. Plus it would be great to see Todd again, his eyes-and-ears on Mike when he wasn't around.
"Well, if you'd like to, I'm up for it.. Of course, you're the big baseball fan, but it would be fun to be with Todd, and I've never met his brother. But they'll be here in 15 minutes. We can put this bed put together by then, so heck, why not? I'll tell him `yes!"
Mike gave Todd directions and they were soon pulling up to the Kovar house. Having also had to cancel lunch with their friends, they were still way early for the game, so Mike invited them into meet his family.
"Take off our shoes, right?" Todd said as he and his brother were about to step into the house.
"Yup. Wow, so culturally sensitive. I'm impressed." Mike replied. "Come on in."
As was usual with visitor, Tony jumped up on Todd as he came in the door, surprising him for a moment. But Todd knew how to handle dogs, getting down and giving him the rough belly rub that Tony craved.
He was followed right behind by his younger brother, Kurt, who Mike had only heard about. Kurt was a little shorter than his brother, and his blond hair was more brown. No one got a good look at his face when he first came in, as he quickly had joined his elder brother in getting down and giving Tony a good scratching. They both clearly loved dogs.
But when the Metz brothers finally stood together and greeted everyone the family resemblance was unmistakable. Both had a small, nose, wide cheekbones and blondish hair. Like his brother, Kurt was a really good looking guy. He was also clearly more athletic, as he definitely had filled our his brothers slimmer frame with some muscles.
Since it was his first introduction to the virtually everyone, he deferred to his brother in greeting people and making conversation. Though by no means a wallflower, he was also was a more guarded person than the outgoing Todd. This was probably a product of the fact that he had taken their mother's death even worse than his brother.
"What are you studying in school, Kurt. Not architecture like your brother, no?" Mrs. Kovar asked as they continued to stand by the door, chatting.
"Biochemistry. I really love it, and would like to go into medical research some day." What he didn't tell her was that he wanted to research Epilepsy, and it had already become his life's mission.
"That's wonderful. Mr. Kovar does research also, so maybe some day you could talk with him." She replied. Mr. Kovar, who thought research was a great calling in life, nodded in agreement. He wasn't sure if he'd really see much of Todd again, but definitely approved of the career choice.
"Thanks, Mrs. Kovar. That would be great."
While Hanna was in the other room, Mike mentioned to his parent's how he knew Todd from school and also mentioning that he was part Slovak. He didn't get a chance to explain that Todd and his brother also spoke Slovak when Hanna barged finally barged in, making her usual dramatic entrance.
Mike could tell she was a bit stunned at first, taking a good look at their visitors. She thought both of them were really cute, but especially the shorter one. But her opinion of most good looking, jockish guys was of that they were mostly dimwits and morons.
She was more drawn to intellectuals, and never missed an opportunity to emasculate a pretty boy, especially if he made a play for her. In her opinion, it was part of trying to make life fair.
Mike knew her m.o., but only had time to warn here off about Todd. "Todd's on my team, so don't waste your time there, he whispered in Czech. It was the only thing he had time to tell her. Neither Mike or Hanna noticed, but Kurt glanced over at them as Mike spoke.
Mrs. Kovar invited them into the kitchen, since they hadn't had lunch yet, but Hanna was able to buttonhole Kurt before he was able to follow them. Knowing what his sister might be up to was up to, Mike gave her a dirty look, clearly a warning to be on her best behavior, but she was usually one to ignore warnings, even ones that were good for her.
Even Brad gave her strong eye contact as he followed everyone else into the kitchen. Todd was his eyes-and-ears on Mike when he was at school, which made him, and his brother, golden in Brad's eyes.
"So Kurt, where are you in school at...." She half expected the kind of leering, dreamy, lustful glances that she was used to from besotted straight guys. But right away, when she was just one-on-one with Kurt, she sensed something different. As he answered her small talk, his blue eyes burned into her as she spoke. It even took her aback.
"Maybe he's a little tougher than I thought," she mused to herself, `We'll see how tough he is.'
Mr. Kovar offered refreshments and his wife's kolachy around the room, and his hospitality was eagerly taken up by all of the guys, visitor and residents alike.
"I don't know if Kurt's going to make it in here before we leave, so can I grab some for him, too?" Todd asked Mrs. Kovar. Mike and Brad were both getting a little demonstration of how close the Metz boys were.
"Of course." She answered with enthusiasm. "In fact, let me pack some away for you also, you could have them when you drive back home tonight." She smacked her husbands hand away from the plate as she reached over to put an uncut roll into a plastic bag.
"You can have more when I've served the guests!" she said to her husband, as he just smiled with his full mouth.
As the others were munching on Kolachy in the kitchen, the quiet discussion that they only dimly paid attention to in the other room was clearly getting a little more contentious, at least from Hanna's side.
"I disagree with how you think that about King Lear," Kurt proclaimed, forcefully but calmly, "Number one, he was betrayed by his daughter, Number Two...." Like the way that Hana and Mike had been trained by their Dad, Kurt also spoke logically and factually, but unlike Hanna, did not get carried away by his emotions.
As the others became aware of the `conversation,' their own chat quieted down. It was more interesting listening to the living room as the two went at it. Much to his chagrin, her Dad had often listened to her subtly belittle guys who she didn't consider her intellectual match. But this guy was different. He was clearly a powerful thinker and continually challenged here to prove herself, as she did him. He was finally pleased, both that she'd finally met her match, and that she could give as good as she got when she at last had met an equal mind.
Listening to this exchange, Brad himself was embarrassingly brought back to that first dinner with Mike, when he asked some leading questions just to test him, and found himself on the defensive. He just smiled to himself.
Todd was also feeling pretty good. He and his brother were as close as two siblings could be, but thought that Kurt's occasional self-righteousness needed to be put in it's place every once in a while.
Anxious to get to the ball game and also wanting to bring some closure to the slowly escalating battle in living room, Brad started to put on his jacket and ball cap. He also handed Mike's to him as a broad hint that they needed to get going. Todd also realized this, and moved the rest of the group into the living room to separate Kurt and Hana before they had their hands on each others throats.
"OK, you two, time for Kurt to go!" Todd ordered as he put a kolachy in his brothers pocket. "You can continue this later." He then grabbed his brother by the shoulders and started marching him out of the house.
Just when the Metz brothers were going out the door, Hana told her mother, in Czech, how obstinate she thought Kurt was. Unfortunately Kurt was still within earshot, and he turned around and said, `A vy' (and you!) to her in Slovak. It wasn't exactly what a fluent speaker would have said, but the message was clear.
She just stood there with her mouth open, unable to respond with a comeback. This tongue-tied Hana was a first for both her parents as they could barely hold their laughter.
"You OK, bro?" Kurt asked when the brothers finally got outside, ahead of everyone else.
"Yea, me, I'm fine, thanks, Kick." Kick was their family nickname for Todd. "You know, she's really impossible. Totally pigheaded and self righteous. I don't believe her!" he proclaimed, then had other thoughts about what had happened.
"um... we didn't make a scene, did we?" he then asked his brother, slightly embarrassed.
"No, well, not much, anyway," Todd answered smiling.
Brad had overheard the Metz brothers talking and wanted to reassure Kurt. "No harm done, guy." He said, also putting his hand on Kurt's shoulder. "She needs that kind of treatment every once and a while, keep her in her place." Kurt smiled to himself, as he recalled his own thoughts of just moments ago.
Kurt was sitting next to Mike during the game, but seemed like he was in another world. He was actually extremely friendly to Mike when they were engaged in conversation, but he was definitely distracted.
During the 7th inning stretch, when Kurt had gone to the concession stand to bring everyone some drinks and food, Todd leaned over and asked Mike and Brad, "you know, guys, Kurt's not usually this spaced-out. Something is on his mind, and I think I know what it is."
Mike just smiled. "before we left, I glanced over at Hanka. It was the weirdest look," he said," "it was like half fire-breathing anger and half wistful goodbye. Oh yea, and total embarrasement, too," he said laughing, recalling how she got caught flatfooted with Kurt's retort in Slovak. 'I've never seen he like this, though." Brad shook his head in agreement.
"Actually," Brad said as he looked over at Todd, "I hadn't met Kurt before tonight, of course, but he's been really great here, a lot of fun. But even I could tell that he sometimes drifted off, was thinking about something else."
As the game was ending and they were heading back to the car, Mike whispered to Brad, "Kurt told Todd that he left his jacket at our house, and needs to go inside to pick it up."
Brad just laughed. "He's even more transparent than you, pup! he replied as he threw his arm around Mike's shoulder.