This work is copyright. I have given permission for a copy of this story to be placed on the Nifty Archives under the terms of their submission agreement. But This work may not be copied or archived onto any other website or newsgroup without the prior written permission of the author.
This story is fiction, it didn't happen, to the best of the author's knowledge no one in the story exists in real life.
If you have a problem with reading stories of a homosexual nature, then bugger off. Also you shouldn't read on if you are below the age of consent, or you have the misfortune to reside in an area where reading and downloading this kind of material is against the law.
Thank you Lars and Tom W for your editorial help.
Chapter 11
It took Robbie some time to fully awaken; the sleeping pills he had taken weren't going to loosen their grip without a fight. He remembered, or thought he remembered, talking to Carl the previous evening. He kept his eyes shut for a moment, trying to sort out if his memories had been real, or if he had just dreamt them. Also by keeping his eyes closed, he could delay finding out if the bed was empty or not. However the pressure on his bladder became too uncomfortable, so he was forced to open his eyes. The bed was empty. "It was only a dream," Robbie said quietly. "Thought so." He didn't cry, he'd already expended enough tears on Carl. "If he doesn't love me, then I'll just have to try and move on."
Getting out of the large four-poster bed, a ridiculous extravagance in which one of his forefathers had indulged, Robbie moved towards the bathroom. He opened the door and stopped dead in his tracks. Carl was standing at the sink shaving, naked.
Robbie remained perfectly still. He wasn't sure if he was still dreaming, he didn't think so; it was bloody realistic if it was a dream. Carl was turned away from him, looking in the mirror, scraping his razor down his face.
"Carl?" Robbie said softly, hoping the vision wouldn't dematerialise in front of him.
Carl turned round, half his face still coated in foam. "Hello babe," Carl said cautiously; he wanted to run up to his man, go down on his knees and beg for forgiveness. He was unsure as to how effusive he dared be though. He knew that he'd treated Robbie very badly over the past week, and there was still that horrible night with that woman to bring up.
"You're really here? I'm not dreaming this?" Robbie said.
After washing the remainder of the soap from his face, Carl advanced on Robbie. He hugged him close, and planted a passionate lip lock on him. "Does that answer your question, love?"
Robbie nodded, he didn't think he could speak.
"I'm so sorry for last week, love, I just, well I, well I got scared," Carl said lamely.
"It's okay, Car, I understand."
"But Rob, I was awful to you. I could see in your eyes that me keeping my distance was hurting you."
"Yes, love, it hurt a lot. But I think I understand. Carl, I've got to ask, what happens now? Are you back, have you worked things out in your head?"
"I'm back Rob, please my love, understand that, I'm not going to leave you hanging again like that. I'm not sure I've sorted my head out yet though."
"Thanks for being honest. I know you'll need time, love. We can go at whatever speed you need to, but so long as I know that you still want to be with me, I can cope with anything."
Carl gave Robbie an extra tight squeeze. "Oh, I want to be with you, love, I'm sure about that."
Robbie then remembered why he'd entered the bathroom. "Got to pee, quick."
Carl let go of him. Robbie approached the pan, but he could feel Carl watching him, and he wasn't able to start his stream.
"I thought you wanted to go?"
"I'm pee shy," Robbie admitted in a small voice.
Carl went over to his lover and rubbed his back. "Relax, sweetheart. It'll start in a minute." Carl reached over to the sink and turned on the cold tap. The noise of the falling water, plus Carl's hand on his back, enabled Robbie's bladder sphincter muscle to relax. Though if Carl kept up his massaging much longer, he'd soon start to bone up, and that would put an end to his urinating.
After Robbie had finished peeing, he returned to the bedroom to dress. However after he glanced at his bedside clock, he walked back into the bathroom again. Carl had resumed his shave. "Shouldn't you be at work? It's almost ten."
"I'm having the day off, you're more important to me than a load of skirting board in a half-finished house."
"Thanks, love." Robbie kissed Carl's shoulder and returned to the bedroom.
Breakfast was interesting to say the least. Ben had eaten earlier, but remained at the table. He wanted to know how things were going, but he managed by a supreme effort to hold in his questions. Though the silly grins the two adults kept exchanging were a fair indication to him that things were back on track. Sarah kept shooting looks at Carl as if to say, 'One wrong move, and your head and my large frying pan will become intimately acquainted.'
Ben giggled softly when he saw Sarah being so protective towards Robbie. This caused Sarah to stare at him, too, though she wasn't able to maintain the harshness; she loved that little lad so much. 'The cheeky little sod.'
Though Carl was absolutely sure of his feelings towards Robbie, he still had that terrible guilty secret to impart. He again wondered if he shouldn't try and forget about it, after all he was drunk, he didn't know what he'd done and 'Oh shit, no.' He couldn't keep silent. The longer he left it, the harder it would be to confess, and the more hurt Robbie would be when he found out. Thinking that he ought to spill the beans well out of striking range of Sarah, Carl suggested going for a walk.
"I went down the other side of the hill yesterday," Robbie said, setting down his knife and fork. He'd managed to eat the whole meal. He hadn't had much of an appetite recently, but Carl's re-declaration of his love for him had restored his appetite, much to Sarah's relief. "You remember when we'd go down there as kids, and you'd force me to jump over the stream?"
"I never forced you to do anything," Carl defended.
"I know you didn't, love. I was just pulling your leg."
""Well, why don't we go down there again? If it's still there we can use the footbridge if you like?"
"Actually I jumped it yesterday. I don't think it's as broad as it used to be. Why don't we go and have a look?"
Carl smiled. "Yeah, let's do that." Carl hoped he'd have the courage to come clean whilst they were out, because he wasn't sure that he could hold in the secret much longer.
As they descended the hill, Carl took a good look round, he couldn't see anyone about, so he reached for and held onto Robbie's hand. The fact that he'd done so without any prompting caused Robbie's heart to swell a little.
They walked slowly, hand in hand, neither of them saying anything. Robbie was just so glad to be sharing this pleasant experience with his lover. Meanwhile, Carl was trying to work out how he could phrase his words in order to cause the least damage to Robbie's feelings.
"See, I'm sure it's shrunk," Robbie said once they'd stopped at the side of the fast-flowing stream. "It used to be much broader than this, didn't it?"
Carl didn't reply.
"Carl?" Robbie looked over at his partner. He saw a mask of misery etched into what was usually such a beautiful face. "Carl, love, whatever's the matter?"
Carl began to shake. "Rob, I, I, oh shit, you're going to hate me."
Robbie cupped Carl's face in his hands. "I couldn't ever do that, love. Now what's got you so upset?"
"I was, I was, Rob, I was unfaithful to you last Friday night."
It took a second or two for Carl's words to penetrate. Robbie dropped his hands from Carl's face and turned away. Carl put a hand on Robbie's shoulder and turned him to face him again.
Carl got down on his knees, took hold of Robbie's hands in his own and looked pleadingly up at him. "I'm sorry Rob, there's no excuse, and I won't try and give you one. I was drunk."
"I thought you weren't going to give me excuses?" Robbie couldn't help the edge in his voice.
"Sorry, love, you don't know how sorry I am."
"Was it with a man or a woman?" Robbie didn't really know why he'd asked that question, betrayal was betrayal.
"A woman. I don't even know her name."
"Jesus, do you make a habit of picking up women when you're drunk?"
"I've only ever slept with three people in my lifetime. That woman, Maureen and you."
Robbie was a little surprised. "So since you and Maureen split up, you've been alone apart from us, and last Friday?"
"Yeah. Rob, it was a mistake, a horrible and dreadful mistake. I don't know if I was trying to convince myself that I needed to sleep with a woman, to prove that I was wholly straight."
"And are you?"
"I came back to you, didn't I?"
"That doesn't really answer the question," Robbie snapped.
"I know, sweetheart." Carl got up from his knees; brushed the dirt from his trouser legs and looked at the water as it swirled its way past the stones in the riverbed. "That's one of the things I've been trying to work out in my head. Whether I'm gay, bi or whatever. I don't know yet, Rob. But one thing I am absolutely certain of is that I love you. I honestly do." He said the latter whilst staring right into Robbie's eyes.
"Obviously you don't love me enough to remain faithful."
"I'm sorry."
The two didn't say anything for the next couple of minutes. Robbie had always placed a huge importance on fidelity. Patrick had impressed upon him the benefits of sticking with one partner. It minimised the risk of passing on sexually transmitted diseases. Back in London he knew of a number of gay men who believed that because they were unable to marry, or have a partnership legally recognised, they thought they had the right to sleep around with as many men as they could. Robbie couldn't accept their lifestyle at all. He'd had one scare, which had caused him to go to the STD clinic where fortunately he'd been given a clean bill of health. That, along with his other beliefs of fidelity and loyalty had shaped his thinking.
Robbie sat himself on the bank, Carl joining him. "What happened?" Robbie said, breaking the silence.
"Well some of the lads were planning a trip down one of the pubs, it's a bit of a tradition on a Friday night after work to go and sink a few pints. I don't often go with them, but because I was feeling so mixed up, I thought I'd go.
"The blokes who lived nearby either walked home or got lifts. A couple of us who didn't live near hired rooms. Well, I'd had a few drinks, I was trying to work out my feelings towards you."
"I don't suppose drowning them in alcohol helped you sort out your head, did it?" Robbie had lost the anger from his voice.
"No. I was stupid, so bloody stupid."
"Go on."
"Are you sure you want the details?"
"Yes, I need to know it all." Robbie braced himself for the worst.
"Well, I got chatting to this woman, as I said, I don't even remember asking her name. I bought her a few drinks, we got talking, we, erm, well, we kissed and..."
"Okay, yeah, I get the picture." Robbie wasn't sure if he wanted to hear of someone else kissing his lover.
"I remember taking her up to my room, but nothing else until the next morning. I was pretty wasted, you know."
"So you only slept together then, you didn't actually have sex?" Robbie asked hopefully.
For a second Carl considered answering 'yes' to the question, but he knew he wouldn't get any peace unless he unburdened himself completely. "When I woke up the next morning, she told me that we'd actually done it. Honestly, Rob, I've no memory of it, none at all."
Robbie winced. "I see."
The two lapsed into silence again.
"If it's any consolation, apparently I called out your name when I came, and I kept mumbling it through the night. Well that's what the woman said, anyway."
For a reason Robbie couldn't identify, he began to chuckle, which soon grew into a full-blown belly laugh. Tears began to run down his face. Carl just looked at him strangely.
Once he'd gotten a hold of himself again, Robbie kissed Carl. "Oh bloody hell, love, I don't know why I find it funny, but I do. You go to bed with a woman, but you actually think you're sleeping with me. Oh Carl, you're hopeless."
Carl wasn't sure if Robbie was beginning to forgive him, or had he flipped his lid? "I'm sorry, Rob. It shouldn't have happened. I was weak, and stupid and so bloody mixed up."
Robbie looked closely at Carl's face and asked, "Will you do it again?"
"I can't, love. I've died a thousand deaths over doing it this once. I couldn't survive all this again. I've promised my heart to you, and unless you don't want to be with me anymore, then I'm yours, love. There's still a load of stuff I'm not sure of, but one thing I'm certain of, is that I love you, and you're the only one I want."
Robbie continued to look into Carl's face. Though he saw regret and sorrow reflected in Carl's eyes, he could see total sincerity, too. "Okay. Though I wish it'd never happened, I can appreciate on some level that you needed to explore where you were in the scheme of things." Robbie was careful not to label Carl as holding any particular sexual preference. "So long as you've, well, erm, got it out of your system, and you know who you really love, then I think it'll be alright."
"You sure?" Carl said hopefully.
"Carl, it'd be a lot harder for me to forgive you if you did it a second time, but because you've been so honest, and because I can see how much the encounter has affected you, well, I want to draw a line under the whole mess. Carl, I love you, I'm sure I always will."
Carl leaned over and kissed Robbie passionately on the lips. Withdrawing he said, "God I don't deserve you, Rob. I honestly don't. I thought I'd lose you because of this, and just after I'd gotten you back, too."
"You won't ever lose me, Car, you're too woven into my heart."
Carl pulled Robbie to him and hugged him fiercely. "I'm so lucky, just so lucky to have you."
"I'm the lucky one," Robbie said under his breath, he wasn't sure if Carl caught his words, though.
The two rolled around on the bank, kissing, rubbing themselves against one another, and generally getting aroused. When Carl was on top, he asked, "Rob, look, erm, could we not say anything about Friday night to Ben or Sarah? I know Ben wouldn't understand, I'm not sure I do really, and Sarah, well, erm..."
Robbie looked up from his position on the ground and chuckled. He got an image in his mind of Sarah chasing Carl round the house yielding her rolling pin. "No love, we won't ever mention it again, not even to each other. It's over with now, in the past, done and dusted."
As he looked down at the man for whom he would now gladly lay down his life, Carl's eyes grew tender. Bending forward he kissed Robbie chastely on the lips. "Rob, will you do something for me?"
"Of course, sweetheart."
Carl swallowed. "Erm, Rob, will you fuck me?"
Robbie's eyebrows shot up; he was stunned by the request. "Carl, oh heck, I'm not sure if you're ready to go that far yet."
"I am," he said simply.
"Let me up, love."
Carl moved himself from atop Robbie; the latter sat up and began to run his fingers through his hair. Carl, who knew Robbie's body language very well, was aware that his lover was thinking. Robbie always ran his hands through his hair when he was trying to work something out in his head. He'd seen him do it countless times when the two had been schoolboys, though Carl hadn't seen Robbie do it since they had got back together.
"Car, I've got to ask you why you want to do this, because it'll probably hurt the first time, probably the first couple of times, actually. Do you want to do it because you feel you need to show me how much I mean to you? Because I already know the answer."
"No, I just want to feel, oh heck, I'm no good at this." Carl remembered that he wasn't much better when discussing sex with Maureen either, but he thought it best to keep that bit of information to himself. "I want to feel belonged to."
"You sure you wouldn't rather be on top?"
"I want to try both positions really but, well, I think I want you to go first. I'm not really sure of the names for things in gay sex. I think I understand about top and bottom, though."
"I kind of assumed that you'd mostly want to take the role of the top."
"Well, I won't know that until I've experienced both, will I?"
"Guess not."
"I want, sorry, I hope to be an equal partner with you. I love you so much and I want to share it all."
"Thanks, love. It's what I want, too, but I'd have always played the bottom for you if that's what you'd have wanted."
"No, love, that's not right. I think I understand that in a same sex relationship, no one takes the role of the man or the woman."
"Yeah. I thought I'd have to teach you all about that sort of thing."
Carl chuckled.
"What is it?" Robbie wasn't sure what had caused Carl's mirth.
"It's something Ben said yesterday." Carl went on to tell Robbie about the conversation the two had had up in Ben's room about Robbie being Carl's teacher.
"God, what a kid," Robbie said once Carl had finished.
"Yeah, he never stops surprising me." Carl said with obvious pride.
"Well, getting back to your original question. Okay, I'll fuck you, though I actually don't like that term. Carl, I love you, and therefore I'll be making love to you. To me fucking makes it sound nasty, dirty and sordid. I don't want to keep harking back to you and Maureen, it's a bit uncomfortable for us both, but she's a part of your past, we can't get away from that. The point I'm making here is that did you ever describe what you did with her as fucking?"
"I see what you mean. No, I didn't. Though as we grew apart, we didn't often, well, um, have relations that often anyway."
Robbie smiled at the terminology Carl was using.
"Well, we'll need to go shopping, you know, for condoms and lube." Robbie hoped he wouldn't have to go into details as to why when indulging in anal sex, it was preferable to use a lubricant.
"Do we need the condoms?"
"Okay, we might as well begin with the first lesson in gay sex. So, are you sitting comfortably?"
Carl laughed again.
Robbie looked at his lover strangely. "What's funny this time?"
"That's what I say to Ben when I read him a bedtime story. It's from Listen with Mother isn't it?"
"Yeah, though I was still pretty small when they took the programme off the radio."
"Amazing how it's stuck in the public's mind, though."
"Yeah right, well, back to condoms. Now, I'm assuming you've never been tested for any sexually transmitted diseases?"
"You mean AIDS?"
"Well, HIV is just one thing you've got to watch out for."
"Well I can't have HIV because I've never had sex with a man before."
Robbie stared at him. "Carl, you don't just get exposed to the HIV virus from male to male sex, you know. It's transmitted through regular male female sex, too, as well as through intravenous drug use."
"Erm, yeah sorry, I should have known that."
"Look, I've been tested, and I'm clean. Patrick, my previous partner, was HIV positive."
"Really? You've never mentioned him before, what happened to him?"
Robbie's voice dropped. "He died six years ago."
"Oh mate, I'm sorry." Thinking for a moment. "You remember a few weeks back we were sat in the drawing room? I'd asked you about if you'd managed to find anyone to love. I remember you breaking down, that was because you were thinking of Patrick, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, and also about you, too."
"Me?"
"Well, it was the way you'd phrased the question. I'd lost your love, too."
Carl leant forward and gave Robbie another hug. "Oh Rob, I've got a lot of ground to make up, all those years lost."
"Let's not go there, Car. We're together now, let's just look forward to our shared future."
"Thanks."
"Well." Robbie said gathering his thoughts, "I've been tested for HIV and other stuff and I'm clean, but you haven't. It's very unlikely that you picked anything up from your relationship with Maureen, I don't know, and really don't want to know what went on with her."
"I understand."
"Well, then there was what happened on Friday, I know we said we wouldn't mention it again, but did you use a condom?"
"Erm, well, as I was picking my clothes up Saturday morning, there was a used rubber on the floor. It wasn't there when I went up there earlier."
"Okay, well at least your companion was playing it safe. But honestly, Carl, for both our sakes we ought to use condoms."
"Okay."
"Are you honestly sure you want to do this so soon? You know quite a few gay couples never have anal sex at all."
"Well, I want to make love with you in every way I can. Because I love you and I need to show you that I do."
"Thanks love. I feel the same way about you, too."
The two stood up, took one another's hands and ascended the hill together.
"I'll stay here while you go in," Carl said in a voice little higher than a whisper. The two were standing outside Boot's the chemist.
"I think you ought to come in Car, then you'd know the sort of things that we'd need, you know, for future reference?"
"Oh, alright then," Carl said reluctantly.
The two entered the shop, Carl trailing along behind, hoping that this wouldn't take long. He didn't enjoy shopping at the best of times.
"Won't this do?" Carl said the moment they'd arrived at the shelves. He'd spied a jar of Vaseline and had picked it up. He hoped that getting that would be the end of it.
Robbie who had been busy looking at the other lubes, looked over. "No, that's oil based, we need something water based."
Carl wasn't sure why Vaseline wouldn't be okay; he'd used it loads of times on his legs when he'd run cross-country, but he didn't want to debate the point in the middle of the busy store. He was just hoping that no one he knew would see him.
"These will do, I guess," Robbie said. He'd had much more of a choice when he'd purchased such items in London. He picked out a couple of large boxes of KY, thinking they might as well stock up whilst they were there.
"Right, good, let's go then," Carl said.
"Not so fast, buster. We've still got to get the condoms."
"Hurry up, then."
"Here, hold these a minute whilst I go and have a look at what they've got."
Carl very reluctantly took hold of the lube. He could feel his hands beginning to sweat. He tried to focus his interest on a display of multi-vitamin pills.
Robbie walked down the aisle a couple of paces hoping to find something a little different.
"Hello, Mr Powers, I haven't seen you about much recently?" The voice came from behind Carl. He spun round; it was his next-door neighbour.
"Oh hello, Mrs Davidson." Carl's heart began to pound; he just knew something like this would happen. Carl then realised that the lube was on full view. He'd been trying to hold the boxes with the minimum of contact, somehow fearing that the items were contaminated. Carl shot his hands behind his back. "I've been working over in Boroughton recently, on a new estate of houses."
"Oh, that's nice, dear. I saw your mother in here the other day waiting on a prescription for your dad. Such a shame." Carl soon realised that Mrs D was settling in for a long chat. "...My Bert's piles have been playing him up something dreadful, and I finally got him to go to the doctors. What is it with you men and not liking to go to the doctors?" She didn't pause long enough for Carl to offer a reply to her question, before launching into another topic.
Carl was still holding the offensive items behind him. He backed up against a shelf, hoping to discretely off-load them. Unfortunately he couldn't find space. His attempts to discard the lube foiled, he put both boxes into one hand, gesticulating with the other to Robbie, who was still standing a couple of paces away, to take the bloody things from him. He did all this whilst trying to maintain an outward façade of calmness and rapt attention to Mrs D's seemingly endless narrative.
Mrs Davidson loved nothing more than discussing her own, her family's and anyone else's medical ailments at great length. Carl prayed that she wouldn't look round to see what he was holding. She was a nosey old bird who normally missed nothing. Carl gave yet another frantic signal to Robbie with his free hand.
Robbie hadn't been watching the interplay between his frantically gesturing partner and his neighbour because he was trying to find some flavoured condoms. Believing that such items might spice things up a little, Robbie examined what was on offer. Banana flavour; Robbie knew, wouldn't work, as Carl wasn't all that fond of that particular fruit, although Robbie had heard somewhere that the banana was classified as a herb. Robbie always took great delight in pondering over such intellectual conundrums. He eventually settled on raspberry. Looking up, he finally saw Carl who was doing something rather strange with his left hand. Cottoning on quickly, Robbie stepped behind Carl and took the lube from him.
Carl sighed with relief. "Yes, I know it's absolutely shameful isn't it, Mrs Davidson." He'd no idea what she was going on about. In his efforts to rid himself of the sodding lube, Carl hadn't been able to concentrate at all on her monologue, but his words seemed to have struck the right note anyway.
"Yes, I agree. Well, I can't stand here chatting all day. I told our Bert I'd only be gone an hour."
"Nice seeing you again, Mrs Davidson." Carl watched her walk away, he spun on his heal to remonstrate with Robbie for not taking the bloody things from him earlier. Seeing an impish smile on his lover's face, all traces of Carl's anger immediately drained away. "Just you wait till I get you back to the house."
"Can't wait," Robbie beamed.
Carl was relieved that Robbie had held onto their purchases as the two approached the checkout. He had an urge to step away from him; he didn't want the woman at the till to know that the items were destined to be used by them. Though Carl realised that distancing himself could quite easily hurt Robbie's feelings, something he just couldn't do again.
Robbie put the items on the conveyer belt, and the checkout woman began to scan them into the till. Carl had a momentary panic when the apparatus rejected the KY. He had visions of the woman pressing a bell or whatever, holding aloft the thing and shouting, "I need a price for a large lubricant!" Fortunately the laser read the barcode on its second pass; the other purchases went through without incident. She told Robbie the final total, he handed over a twenty-pound note, she gave him his change, the stuff was put into a carrier bag, and Carl with some relief left the shop.
"Thank God that's over with!" Carl said, mopping his brow once they were standing outside.
"It's all part of the rich tapestry of gay life, lover." Though out of practice, Robbie had grown rather used to going into shops and buying condoms and lube.
Carl had always been a bit squeamish about buying items of an intimate nature. He remembered one Christmas trying to get Maureen a few pairs of sexy knickers, thinking it might spice up their flagging sex life. Carl had carefully approached the racks of lace undergarments. He really felt uncomfortable, believing that everyone's eyes were on him. He hadn't been sure of Maureen's size, so hoping no one was looking; he gingerly picked up one of the scant articles and tried to picture them against his wife's body. Carl remembered hearing someone clearing their throat next to him. He immediately came to the conclusion that the man thought him to be a cross dresser, so he dropped the garment and fled the shop with as much dignity as he could muster. Maureen ended up receiving a bottle of perfume that Christmas.
"I'm sorry, babe," Robbie said as the two drove home from town. "I should have been a bit more sensitive to your feelings."
"Yeah. It was like I had a battle going on inside me. I didn't want anyone to know that I was going to have sex with another man, but on the other hand I wanted to shout from the rooftops that this wonderful man loves me."
Robbie took a hand from the steering wheel and gave Carl's knee a squeeze. "I understand, love. Not that many people know about me here in Greenville. It's a bit different in London, being gay is a bit more accepted down there."
Carl had never ridden in Robbie's car before; he thought the plush interior was great, though it also demonstrated to him the differences in their earnings. His van was apt to give out strange rattles as it went along; the long journeys across the county weren't doing it much good, either. Carl really needed a new van, but at the moment his finances wouldn't stretch to it. Due to a poor credit rating, caused by Carl having to default on a loan a couple of years back, he was unable to raise sufficient funds to buy even a second hand vehicle.
"I was thinking of trading the car in," Robbie said, breaking Carl's train of thought.
"Oh, why? It's a nice car."
"Yeah, it's fine for London, but it's a bit flashy. Don't you think something with four-wheel drive might be better? I don't fancy attempting to get up this incline when the snow comes."
"Yeah, maybe," Carl said.
Robbie reached his driveway; he noticed the 'Primrose Pools' van was parked up. 'They must have come a day earlier than normal to do the maintenance,' he said to himself. Robbie drove his car past the van and went round to the back of the house, reversing the BMW into the garage.
Stepping out of the car, Robbie asked, "Look, at the weekend, would you go round some car dealers with me? I don't know that much about cars, really."
"Erm, okay, then." Carl thought that even if he couldn't afford a new vehicle of his own, it might be fun to go and look at some for Robbie.
"Great, we could take Ben and maybe make a day of it?"
"Yeah, he'd like that."
"That's settled then. We'll go on Saturday morning, if that's okay?"
"Can't see why not." Then, remembering something, Carl said, "Oh, I might have to work. Having today off won't have put the bosses in a good mood."
"Yeah, okay. We can always go another time, there's no hurry." Robbie wasn't all that bothered about looking at cars. He'd miss being able to go out as a family with Carl and Ben, though. 'Still, can't be helped,' Robbie told himself.
As the pair had eaten breakfast rather late, they decided to go for a swim before having lunch.
Entering the house through the back door, Robbie turned to Carl and said, "Okay love, I've got a bit of paperwork to deal with that the software company back in London has sent me. So you go and start your swim now, and I'll come and join you in about fifteen minutes, okay?"
"No problem." Carl kissed Robbie before heading down to the pool room whistling. Carl was happy, happier than he felt he had a right to expect.
Robbie made his way to the study and began pouring over the revised employment contract which had arrived in the mail that morning. As was usual with him, he began to examine the small print; he'd show it to Samuel Parker, his solicitor, before he signed it, but on the surface, Robbie was pretty happy with the agreement. He didn't want a 9 to 5 existence anymore, preferring a more leisurely pace which would give him more time to pursue other interests.
"Rob!" Carl walked into the study, looking rather white-faced.
Starting to panic at Carl's expression, Robbie rose to his feet. "What's wrong?"
"Erm, well, erm, there're two men in the pump room, I heard a noise coming from there and, well, when I looked in, they were, erm, well, one was sucking the other off." Carl's previously white face went a deep shade of red.
"Ralph and Ian," Robbie said sinking back into his chair, relieved that it was nothing serious.
"Huh?"
"Sit down a minute, love," Robbie said with a chuckle. "I'd forgotten to tell you. You saw that van parked by the front door when we drove up?"
"Yeah."
"Well, that's Ralph and Ian's van. They're two guys that come round once a week to do pool maintenance, and well, they're, well, they like to, um, play around with one another whenever they get the opportunity. I've almost caught them once or twice myself. They're harmless really. I don't think they get that much chance to be alone, they live with Ian's dad, I think."
"Oh, right. You don't mind then?"
"Well, at first I was a bit shocked, but they're good blokes really."
"But Ben could have walked in and seen them," Carl said.
Robbie realised that Carl was right, he should have said something about their behavior earlier. "Okay Car, I'll have a word with them and ask them if they could well, erm, tone it down a bit."
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in?" Robbie said.
"Erm, Mr Foster, sir." Ralph entered the room looking supremely uncomfortable, he began to babble. "Look, oh heck, I don't know what to say, I'm very sorry, sir, me and Ian, well, we are, well, we're together like, and, oh dear." Ralph looked as though he was going to burst into tears. "I've told the young un time and time again that we oughtn't to play around when we're in other folks' places, but, well, erm, sir, I don't wanna lose 'im and, well, I'm sorry but I love 'im and oh 'eck."
"Come and sit down, Ralph," Robbie said cutting the man off from his rambling. "Please, just excuse us for a minute, we'll go and fetch Ian, too."
"You won't 'urt 'im mister, please," Ralph said rising from his chair.
"Settle down, Ralph, it'll be okay," Robbie said soothingly.
Robbie wanted a couple of moments alone with Carl. Once they had stepped out of the study Robbie asked, "Car, would it be alright if we both came out to them, as a couple, I mean? I don't think that they know that many gay people, and well, when it comes down to it, we don't either."
Although he was uncomfortable about revealing his sexuality to others, Carl realised that it would be safe enough telling Ralph and Ian. After all they were gay, too. "Okay, love."
"Thanks, sweetheart. I know it wasn't an easy decision for you to make, but it'll help our two friends, I think."
Carl nodded.
After they'd retrieved Ian from the pump room, the group made its way to the Drawing room via the study to collect Ralph.
Once they were all sitting down, Robbie started. "Look guys, please, I'm not angry about what you did. I've known for a little while that you two, well, erm, do what you do in the pump room."
Ralph's face was a mixture of shock and surprise.
"Look, you've probably seen Ben knocking about the place. He's only twelve years old, and his dad and I don't want him to see things like that, you see where I'm coming from?"
"Sorry mister, it's just me and Ralph, well at home, my dad's okay about us, but, well, we don't..."
Robbie held up his hand. "It's okay Ian. Look, guys, Carl and I are also a gay couple, so we kind of understand where you're coming from. But please, could you not do what you've been doing in the future, for Ben's sake?"
"We're sorry," Ralph said. He'd had no idea that Mr Foster was like them. He just knew that they'd get caught sometime, but he was relieved that Robbie wasn't angry.
"Yeah, mister, it won't happen again," Ian said. He'd had his suspicions about Robbie being gay. 'Loads of them toffs who had gone to public school were queer.'
The four chatted for a while longer. Both Carl and Robbie felt a little sorry for the pair; they didn't have any friends who were gay. They'd been to a couple of nightclubs, but Ralph wasn't exactly a disco animal, and Ian wasn't all that bothered about the 'gay scene', either.
When Ralph and Ian had gone back to finish up, Robbie asked Carl if it would be okay if he invited the guys to come over on Saturday afternoon for a swim and another talk.
Carl quite liked the pair. They were a little rough around the edges; Ian had a roguish charm to him that appealed to Carl's sense of humour, so he said that he had no objections.
Robbie then walked into the pool room to make the invite. "But Ben will be with us, so although there'd be no problem about you two kissing one another, well, that's really as much as Carl and I do in front of him, okay?"
"Thanks mister, we'd love to come over, don't get that many chances to kind of be relaxed around each other," Ian said, going over to Ralph and treating him to a soppy kiss.
"Give over!" Ralph said going red. He was delighted that it had all worked out okay; he thought that when they'd got caught, they'd lose the job, and there weren't that many private swimming pool owners about.
"Okay, about three o'clock on Saturday, then? And plan on stopping for tea," Robbie said.
"My lover is developing a bit of a spare tyre, methinks," Robbie said patting Carl's midriff. There was barely a bulge there; Robbie just wanted to take the opportunity to touch his lover's exquisite body.
"Rubbish, I can still get into the same size trousers as I could when I was 18. Hard physical exercise, and I plan on getting plenty more of that later this evening," Carl said waggling his eyebrows. The pair were standing at the shallow end of the pool. Ben, who was with them, couldn't fail to hear what they were up to.
"Carl!" Robbie jerked his head in Ben's direction.
"Oh, don't mind me." Ben was delighted that his dad was looking and acting so much freer than he had been of late.
Robbie was a little shocked. He'd have taken his relationship with Carl as slowly as the latter had needed, but it was great to see Carl unbend and lark about so much. If he were honest, Robbie had mixed emotions about the evening to come. Of course he'd wanted to share the sex act with Carl for years, but he feared Carl might regret his actions once he'd done it. Robbie still had difficulty in accepting that Carl loved him.
The three enjoyed a lively game of Frisbee before Sarah announced that lunch was ready.
Getting out of the pool first, Carl held his hand out to Robbie. "Come into the changing room with me and let me shower the chlorine off of you."
"Sounds like an offer I can't refuse," Robbie said, giggling as Carl lead him to a changing room.
Closing the door, Carl launched himself at Robbie. "I don't know why, because I've never felt like this before, but I just want to touch you all the time. I want to run my hands all over you," Carl said pressing his lips firmly against Robbie's.
"Wow!" Robbie said taken aback a little. Carl hadn't been this demonstrative before.
Carl positioned Robbie under the shower and treated his lover to a sensual cleansing. He worked the shower gel into a lather and massaged it onto Robbie's flesh, paying particular attention to his nipples, which were pretty sensitive. Robbie groaned at the wonderful feelings that he was experiencing. He looked over at his lover as he worked. The tip of Carl's tongue was peeking out from between his lips. Robbie remembered that when the two used to study together as teenagers, whenever Carl was concentrating on something, out would come the tongue.
Reaching for a bottle of shampoo, Carl proceeded to work a generous quantity of the detergent into Robbie's ample head of curly brown hair. Though Carl had never considered it much before, he'd always liked Robbie's hair. Its colour, its fullness, and best of all, its smell when newly washed. Carl now revelled in the fact that he could touch it unashamedly.
"Time to rinse off, babe," Carl said once he'd been working for a couple of minutes.
Robbie had always enjoyed having his hair played with. He would often sit on the floor with Patrick sitting in a chair behind him. They'd remain like that for hours, the latter running his fingers through Robbie's hair.
"Can I do you now?" Robbie asked once Carl had finished his work.
"Doubt if we'll have time. Sarah's probably wondering where we are. We've been in here for about ten minutes already."
"Well, the next time you get washed, I'm gonna be doing the washing."
Carl smiled broadly. "Look forward to it."
To be continued.