The Love of Winter Storm by Jason D. Karl
The Love of Winter Storm
by Jason D. Karl
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction that includes gay sex between consenting adults and discussion of recovery from drug addiction. This is intended for an adult audience only.
I was born at home on New Year's Day during a blizzard. That's why my wannabe hippie parents named me Winter Storm. Yes, they actually named me Winter Storm Ashton. I go by "Win."
I say "wannabe" because they were about 20 years too young to count as actual hippies. But to them, the old saying "Tune in, turn on, and drop out" was sacred. That's the world I was born into. And I wound up being a drug addict. What a surprise. Who could've seen that coming? I mean, there was only a home video where I was smoking a joint with my dad before I was in kindergarten. That's normal, right? Guess not.
I doubt marijuana is a gateway drug, but that doesn't matter because I grew up seeing my parents do the heavy shit. My mom taught me how to shoot up, and I was an addict by the time I hit puberty. Then my parents got caught dealing and went to prison when I was 15. When the police found out I was an addict, they tacked on felony child abuse charges. I wound up in court-ordered rehab, and then I got put into foster care. That's how I met Tobias, who was the natural-born son of my foster parents, Jerry and Leslie Anderson.
The Andersons were decent enough. Leslie was a drug counselor (that's why I was placed with them), and she really did help me when the cravings hit. They even gave me permission to smoke, figuring that would help keep me off the "bad stuff." I told them I couldn't stand the stench of cigarettes, but did like the way cigars smelled. That's why Jerry started giving me drags off his cigars. He would even let me have a whole cigar for myself when I "needed" it.
But Tobias (don't you dare call him Toby) was special. I didn't see that at first though. He was good-looking enough, with wavy light brown hair and a 100% all-natural perma-tan. Contrast that with my jet black hair and Wednesday-Addams pallor. Tobias was two years ahead of me in school and had a girlfriend he was crazy about. He didn't smoke or drink or go to wild parties or do any of that teenager crap. To sum it up, I guess you could say he struck me as a goody two shoes. We got along, but weren't close.
That is, until one day about six months after I'd been placed there. I came home to find Tobias smoking a cigarette behind his parents' house. It was as stunning as seeing the Surgeon General snort a line of cocaine. From the way he was coughing, I was pretty sure it was his first.
I was about to say something when he blurted out, "Sherry's pregnant."
What! Wasn't this Mr. Perfect? I couldn't believe it. "How the fuck did that happen? Didn't you use protection?"
He tried to take a deep drag but coughed too much. "It's not mine."
"Don't all teen fathers say that?"
Tobias looked at me as if about to admit to something worse than having knocked up his girlfriend. "I'm a virgin."
"Seriously? Not even once?" I took the cigarette out of his hand and put it out.
"I guess I just didn't feel ready," he said.
"So she cheated on you?"
He nodded and started crying.
Neither of us said anything for a while. Finally, I half asked, half suggested, "You going to break up with her?"
"I already did."
"You deserve someone better. If I was your boyfriend, I wouldn't cheat on you. But you're hopelessly hetero, so that's not going to happen."
Tobias looked up at me with a surprised expression. "Win, are you--"
"Gay?" I filled in the blank for him. "Yeah. Didn't you know?"
"No, I had no idea."
I was surprised by this. "I didn't think I actually needed to come out. Not saying I'm a stereotype, but isn't it kind of obvious?"
He said he'd never have guessed.
In time, he got over Sherry. He went on to become a radiologist. I went to work at the construction company his dad owned, and I eventually got licensed as a contractor. And, despite being so different, Tobias and I became friends.
As far as I know, he never smoked another cigarette. He didn't even join us on those special occasions when his dad would offer us both a cigar. But I found that a cigar helped on those days when the cravings were bad. So that became my crutch, and I smoked a couple a week.
However, addiction is forever. "Just once won't hurt," I would lie to myself. But "just once" is a myth when you're an addict. I learned that the hard way over the next eleven years, which saw me back in rehab not once, but twice. The only reason I didn't lose my job was because Jerry owned the company. And even then, he gave me an ultimatum. I listened. For my two-year sobriety anniversary, he bought me a box of expensive cigars. I've stayed clean since then.
§§§
It was Christmas Day, exactly one week before I turned 30. An arctic blast had hit, so it was bitterly cold outside. We'd all been banned from the kitchen. Not by Leslie, though. She'd been banned too because her brother, the chef, had commandeered it to prepare whatever he was making for Christmas dinner.
Without any children in their immediate family, it was an adult Christmas. That's why the eggnog was heavy on the brandy. Which meant I couldn't partake. But what I could partake of was the subject of conversation. Jerry and I were extolling the virtues of having a premium cigar after a holiday feast and jokingly trying to entice Tobias to have one with us.
Jerry said, "Son, I don't think you'll lose that medical license of yours if you have one little puff."
Tobias, once again, declined. "I think I'll stick to the eggnog."
"You wouldn't want to get nicotine stains on that halo," I teased.
He just gave me the finger and everybody laughed.
And then Jerry's work phone rang. Shit. That could only mean one thing. When you're a contractor who does emergency HVAC repairs, you actually have to go out whenever the calls come in. Even on Christmas. We broke the bad news to Jerry's family, then I was off to repair a furnace. And then another. Furnaces are rather fond of breaking down when it's brutally cold, especially on holidays. It was so late by the time I was done that I just went home to my apartment.
The next day was worse. Call after call, repair after repair. On and on it went. I was fucking exhausted. And then the snow hit. There were whiteout conditions by the time I got finished with the call I was on, so I didn't think I could safely drive to my apartment across town. But I wasn't far from Tobias's house, so I texted him to see if I could crash there.
He texted back: Yeah, pls come! Mom went crazy with Xmas leftovers, got more than I can gobble. 🦃 😂 LOL.
Freezing rain was starting to mix with the snow by the time I got to his place; so, as bad as it already was, I managed to miss the worst of what was to come.
Tobias answered the door in a thick flannel robe and messy hair. He was definitely in the holiday don't-have-to-work mode. "Good, you made it. I better let Dad know. He texted me that some of the guys are stuck at the shop with him, and they're going to have to spend the night there."
I was so covered in snow and ice that Tobias wound up taking my coat and boots and putting them in the bathtub so they wouldn't get the floors wet. When he got back, he said, "Pants too."
He was not wrong; they really would have made a mess when the snow melted. He brought me a pair of his sweatpants. I put them on and plopped down on his couch. The next thing I knew it was dark. I really had been that exhausted.
I found Tobias in his home office. He had it set up so that the hospital could send him feeds of medical scans instead of requiring him to go there in person. He was clearly agitated. After typing something and turning off his display, he growled. "Fucking bureaucracy! Do they really need me to diagnose a broken ulna! I'm mean, can't the damn ER doctor say, 'Hey that's a broken ulna,' and just set it? Oh, no! The insurance says it has to be a radiologist." He paused a moment. "Sorry, Win. It just pisses me off when they send me stupid shit that they don't actually need a specialist for. I mean, I'm trained to find tumors at the earliest stages and diagnose diseases nobody's even heard of. And yet they send me crap that even a nurse practitioner could handle."
We nuked some leftovers and found something to binge-watch on one of the streaming media services. Tobias gathered the dishes when we were done and dropped them in the kitchen sink. He peeked out the window. "Looks like you're stuck here for a while."
I'd already concluded that, so instead I just said, "I wonder if it was like this when I was born."
"What?"
"My birth parents named me 'Winter Storm' because they were snowed in at home when I was born." (I'd just assumed Tobias knew that--but since I avoided mentioning my parents, maybe I hadn't actually told him.)
"Wow. They were messed up. Have you seen them since they got released?"
I shook my head. "They went right back to their old ways. My dad got caught selling heroin so he's back in. I guess my mom's still out, for now. But, no, I can't have them in my life. Too much temptation."
"You still clean?"
"Yeah. Almost four years now. I don't even touch caffeine anymore. The only thing I allow myself is the cigars."
"You want one?"
I was stunned. "Why the fuck do you have cigars? Have you been keeping secrets?"
"No, I've never had one. I just keep a few for when Dad comes over. I grew up smelling them, and I guess I like it."
He handed me one. I toasted it and lit it. "If you like them so much, why not have one every now and then?"
"A doctor who smokes? Not a good image, but you'd be surprised how many do."
He watched me as I smoked; but then he seemed to tense up, as if trying to pluck up the nerve to say something. I thought he was going to ask to take a drag. Instead, he said, "Win, can I talk to you about something?"
I nodded.
He looked at his hands. "I've only ever dated women, but I do think about men sometimes."
"What? I always thought you were straight. So you're bisexual?" I asked.
"I think I'm more of a demisexual."
"I don't know that one. What is it?"
"Most people feel lust first, love later. With a demisexual it's the other way around. We need a romantic attachment before we can feel sexual desire for someone."
Okay, so I didn't know that was a thing. "Don't you ever just look at someone hot and think, 'I want a piece of that '?"
To my astonishment Tobias said, "No. Not even once. Hell, I was 21 by the time I finally slept with a woman, and that was after we'd been going out for five months."
This was so different from the way I felt. While I've never had the slightest interest in a female, I am hot for guys all the time. So I was baffled by this "demisexual" thing. However, what I actually asked next was, "So where do guys come in?"
"In med school, there was a guy I got a major crush on. I never acted on it or anything, but I did want to sleep with him. Then he announced his wife was expecting, so that kind of ended that. There's another guy I like, but I've been afraid to say anything."
I took a puff off the cigar and ashed it. "So, when it comes to guys, you're a virgin? You've not done anything with this guy you're interested in?"
"No, I'm not seeing anyone at all right now. How about you?"
"Not for a while. I'm an addict, so I can't go clubbing. That's how I fucked up before. And the apps are mostly for hookups. I'm about to hit 30, and I'm tired of that scene."
Then he said, "Do you remember that time when you caught me smoking?"
"Yeah, you'd just broken up with what's-her-name."
"After I told you what she'd done, you said that you wouldn't cheat on me if you were my boyfriend."
I'd forgotten about that. "Hmm, I guess I did say that. I thought you were perfect, so what she did just pissed me off."
"Well, is that offer still open?"
"Me? You want me?"
He nodded. "Yeah. That other guy is you. I know it's weird, but I think it might work between us."
I needed to know just what he meant. "So are you asking me to take your gay virginity or to be your boyfriend?"
"Both."
I took another drag off the cigar. "I'd love that. But the trouble is that I'll always be an addict. I have to fight day by day to stay clean. You have to understand going in that I might fall off the wagon."
He composed himself a little before answering. "I am a doctor. I know the difference between delta and mu opioid receptors. So, yes, I do know what I'm signing up for. Friend or boyfriend, as long as you're trying, I'll be there for you." Then he got up and held out his hand.
"You mean tonight?"
Tobias said, "Why not? We're snowed in. If we both want to, now's a good time."
I set the cigar in the ashtray and took his hand. "Lead the way."
"Are you okay with being the top?"
I thought that might be a bit much for his initiation into man sex. "Not tonight. A first-time bottom needs to stretch himself with a butt plug. It hurts like a motherfucker if he doesn't. So, unless you've been doing that, I'll be the bottom for tonight."
"I've put a finger up there but nothing more."
"Okay. I'll just have to prepare. By any chance, do you have an enema?"
Tobias blinked. "An enema?"
"Yeah. It gets pretty nasty if the bottom isn't clean."
"Oh that. Yes, I have one. It might be a little old, but it should still be okay."
So I went into the bathroom and did the thing bottoms need to do. When I came out, Tobias was in bed wearing just his BVDs. I crawled in bed with him. We lay side by side and looked at each other. He was nervous, so I just gave him a soft little kiss.
Then he pulled me in, and we kissed for real. We were grown men, but this felt like losing my virginity all over again. And for him, in the gay sense, that actually was the case.
Our mouths opened, but we didn't use our tongues right away. It was just a very nice, very wet kiss. The best I'd ever had. Not in passion or technique, but in its meaning.
There was a chill in the air, so I pulled the covers over us. Then Tobias slipped off his underwear. I pulled him on top of me to let him know I wanted him to take charge. He bent down and gave me an actual sexy kiss. His tongue explored my mouth like he was trying to taste it all. I still had the cigar flavor in my mouth, so maybe that was driving him.
He was definitely nervous as he worked his way down my body. I said, "It's okay, just do whatever feels right."
He took my cock into his mouth. I can't say he did a fantastic job, but he did try. I resisted the urge to give him instructions. Instead, I just moaned when he got it right. I think it was the thrill of its being Tobias rather than any skill that sent me over the edge so fast I couldn't give him a warning. He held it in his mouth and gave me a cummy kiss. We snowballed it. Let me just say that if you don't know the flavor of cum mixed with the aftertaste of a premium cigar, you're missing out. Put it on your bucket list or something.
After I came down from my orgasmic high, I asked him if he had lube. Tobias looked at me with an expression that said he hadn't thought of that. "I don't have any sexual lube, but I've got some Surgilube."
"What the fuck is Surgilube?"
"It's doctor's lube. You know, vaginal exams, sticking cameras up your butt--that kind of thing."
"Well, I guess if it's good enough for putting machinery up your butt, it ought to work for a cock."
Tobias laughed and dashed to his home office. I could hear him rummaging around. A moment later, he emerged with the tube of doctor's lube, an ashtray, a lighter, and the half-finished cigar. "Would you mind finishing this while we're... uh?"
I took the cigar and put the ashtray on the nightstand. "It might be a fire hazard once we get going. But, if it's doctor's orders, I could smoke a little while you're getting me ready." I relit it and blew some smoke in Tobias's direction. The way his cock twitched let me know he was trying to reconcile being a doctor with having a cigar fetish.
Tobias lubed his fingers and started stretching me. "You've done this before," I said.
"Well, it's usually a tech who does it, but you can't get out of med school without knowing how to put a probe up someone's butt."
I smoked while he kind of overdid the prepping thing. "I think I'm ready. But I haven't bottomed in a couple of years, so just take it slow." Then I put the cigar in the ashtray.
Tobias nodded. "Okay." He went to his bedside table, pulled out a condom and put it on. He was gentle as he pushed in just the tip, paused, then went in a little deeper, and then a little more until he was all the way in. He waited. I nodded when I was adjusted enough.
He began to move. Slowly at first. I could feel the stretch. I'd forgotten just how much I loved getting fucked. Was it great, porn-worthy sex? No. It was kind of clumsy. Only this wasn't fucking: it was making love.
Tobias was too eager to last long. All too soon, we were cuddled together. I relit the cigar once again and took a few drags. Then I had an idea. "I know you don't smoke, but would you be willing to shotgun?"
"What's shotgunning?"
"I take a big puff and instead of blowing it out, we kiss. Then some of the smoke gets in your mouth."
Tobias shrugged. "Okay. Just don't tell anybody. I'm a doctor and all."
I took a deep drag of the cigar and held it. Then we kissed. Instead of blowing it into his mouth the usual way shotgunning works, I just let the smoke drift where it would while we kissed. But then he breathed in through his nose and coughed.
"Maybe it's not your thing," I said and then put the cigar out.
Tobias grinned. "It was okay, but maybe we should save it for special occasions."
"You're such a goody two shoes." I laughed and pulled him closer, and we both eventually dozed off.
The next morning, we found out just how bad the storm had been. There were maybe 18 inches of snow with a couple of inches of solid ice on top. It looked like my work truck would have to be chiseled out. Tobias's car was in his garage, but it was clear there would be no going anywhere.
We made love twice more that day. The first time was more like the night before. He was gentle and sweet. The second time I rode him in the cowboy position and showed him the meaning of "power bottom."
"Jesus, Win," he said in wonderment, "where did you learn to do that?"
"I haven't been a virgin for quite a long time."
That night, around 8:30, my phone rang. It was Jerry. "Hey, Win, do you think you can get in to the shop tomorrow?"
"Fuck, Jerry," I said. "I'm at Tobias's house, and my truck's buried in ice."
"I've got the snowplow attached to my pickup. I'll plow my way over there in the morning. Then we'll see what we can do about that truck of yours."
That's what he did. But my truck wasn't going anywhere any time soon. So I wound up having to hitch a ride with Jerry and using a different truck. And we did emergency furnace repairs until we dropped. We got a reprieve on December 30 when temperatures got enough above freezing that ice started melting. I was able to retrieve my truck from Tobias's house, but he was back at work.
So it was New Year's Eve before Tobias and I could get back together. And we were kissing frantically as soon as I got through his door, winter slush melting on the carpet be damned.
It occurred to me that in the three times we'd made love, I had somehow overlooked sucking his cock. I dropped to my knees: oversight rectified, prize claimed. He had a wonderful uncut cock, girthy but not too long. I wish I could say that getting his first gay blow job lasted half an hour wherein I showcased my cock-sucking repertoire, but it was not to be. It was more like a minute and a half, though he did pump out a mouthful of savory cum. We snowballed it.
That calmed us down enough to gather our wits. I stripped out of my wet clothes, and he put some towels down over the damp spot on the carpet. He had me lounge on the sofa while he made me a hot mug of nonalcoholic apple cider with a cinnamon stick. It really hit the spot, though I wished the taste of his cum could linger a little bit longer.
He got kind of serious. "Win, I've been thinking about it. We've known each other half our lives, so we can skip the whole awkward dating phase and just be together. So my New Year's resolution is to persuade you to move in with me."
"I want to, but your house is not exactly 'clean'." We both knew that I wasn't talking about tidiness.
"I told you I knew what I was signing up for. I've been preparing." He took my hand and led me into the kitchen. His wine rack was gone. His coffee maker was gone. "I know you have multiple addictions, so I got rid of everything that might cause a problem. Right down to the vanilla extract and the headache pills with caffeine."
"Wow," I said. "I can't believe you'd do that. The wine's one thing, but most people don't take caffeine addiction seriously."
"I know it's not as destructive as alcohol or opiates, but caffeine addiction can totally dominate people's lives. There are even counselors trained in dealing with it."
"I don't know what to say."
Tobias took my hand. "Say that you'll move in with me."
I found I very much wanted to. "Okay, but the one vice I'm not giving up is cigars, and I won't go out back to smoke them."
He nodded. "Like I said, I do like the smell. And if it gets to be too much, you can put in one of the ventilation things like Dad has in his den."
"And you promise you won't get all 'doctory' on my ass about it?"
"You don't need me to tell you the risks. And the way I look at it, if you need a crutch, cigars are the lesser 'evil'."
"Okay, I'll move in. My lease is up at the end of February. I'll give notice that I won't be renewing it."
He broke into a grin. "February it is. Oh, BTW, do you have any New Year's resolutions?"
I chose to be honest. "Just the one I make every single day. 'I won't use today.' On bad days, sometimes it's 'I won't use in the next thirty minutes '." I thought for a moment and then added, "But I suppose I could make a new goal: I solemnly vow to tap your ass."
He laughed. "Now that's a resolution I can get 'behind'."
I groaned at the pun.
The impish look was quite out of place on Tobias's goody-two-shoes face. "I had some butt plugs overnighted. I'm stretched and ready to go."
"You're wearing a butt plug right now?"
He nodded with a naughty grin.
"I'm surprised that I didn't notice it."
"I think you were so focused on my nail that you didn't pay any attention to my hole."
I couldn't help but laugh. And that's why, instead of counting in the New Year, I spent the night nailing his virgin hole. And we both kept our resolutions.
My birthday is on New Year's Day, and I'd just turned 30. I wasn't expecting anything, but Tobias had gotten me a box of Opus X Double Coronas. They're not the most expensive cigars in the world, but they're way out of my price range. More importantly, I understood that it was Tobias's way of telling me that he accepted me exactly the way I am. Best birthday present ever (and I don't mean the cigars).
We decided not to tell his parents about us right away because we wanted to see if there really could be an "us" before we said anything. But by February, it was clear that we were definitely going to make a go of it. So we told his parents about us on Valentine's Day. They were shocked and a little weird about it, but they did accept it.
I think what finally won them over was when I had to have a root canal that April and refused to use narcotics. Of course, there wasn't any possible way to avoid it entirely. So I asked Leslie to help me get through it and make sure I didn't abuse again. It was a rough few days, but I pulled through it. I've stayed clean, no drugs whatsoever. Well, except for cigars. They remain my crutch, but I only have a couple a week. And as much as I suspected that Tobias might start having the occasional cigar, he didn't. And we only shotgun once every couple of months.
We got married three years later. It's a real marriage, a real relationship, not some romance-novel HEA. We have our ups and downs. We both work too many hours, especially since Jerry retired and handed the contractor business over to me. But Tobias and I are solid.
Oh, one more thing before I go. Tobias will deny it, but he did have a cigar on our honeymoon. Just that one time. I guess he's not a goody two shoes after all. But that's alright. We love each other.
The End
Thank you for reading my story. Comments are welcome. JasonDKarl@proton.me
Here are links to my other stories on Nifty:
A Hankering for Pecker is a comedy series about a 19-year-old who comes out to his hillbilly father and winds up doing a porn show with him. https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/incest/a-hankering-for-pecker/
Perfectly Wicked is a dark and twisted series about a gay rent boy who is a vigilante killer with vampire-like abilities. https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/perfectly-wicked/
The Boys Who Loved is a stand-alone story. It is a sweet fairytale about two boys who fall in love at a tender age and how their parents deal with it. https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/young-friends/the-boys-who-loved.html
My stories may also be found at Scribble Hub. It has different rules from Nifty, so some stories may only be found on one of the sites. You may leave comments or likes there: Jason D. Karl on Scribble Hub.
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