The Calf and Cow
Title: The Calf and Cow
Author: Concupid
Rating: R-ish
Warning: language, non-explicit sex, het references
Summary: The boys pass through Leeds.
Author's note: I tried to find out Julian's mother's name. I went to the hardcore fans and she remains a mystery, so I took a shot in the dark. Apologies the real Mrs. Julian's mom (for many reasons). Thank you Bluey and everyone who has been so supportive.
Jules told her not to make a fuss and not to waste her money, so Jackie only planned to pick up a few things for her son and his friends as they passed through Yorkshire. Of course, she'd have to pick up some fizzy drinks and sweets for Noel. She imagined Rich would probably like fizzy drinks as well, being American. She'd pick up some "Krispy Kreme" doughnuts in the morning. Company was a good excuse to buy something so absurdly unhealthy, and it might make Rich feel more at home. Julian and Noel made him sound like such a crazy character, but whenever she saw him, he was as quiet and polite as if he were in church. Jackie couldn't imagine being so far from home.
And there was the other Rich, the one who went to Cambridge. He'd been to the house once and had taken his tea without sugar. She believed it was because he had been raised posh and appreciated a good tea. Jules insisted it was because Richard hated to be a bother. She'd picked up a good Earl Grey, to be safe. She couldn't go by Jules' assessment; he was in his own little world and always had been. He could never see what was right in front of him. Poor Roger had hung on his every word for years before Jules realized they weren't just friends. Jackie had tried to talk to her son, but he couldn't be told. When he'd told his parents he and Roger were a couple, he'd opened with, "I don't need to hear, 'I told you so'..."
Jackie held her tongue. She rather hoped Jules would eventually settle down with a woman and give her grandchildren, but she had accepted long ago that she would never have any say. Jules was a wonderful son, but he was difficult at times.
He could never be told.
Now he came around with his comedy partner, and it was Roger all over again. Noel gazed at Jules as though he had hung the stars and the moon, but Jules insisted they were just friends. He pointed to Noel's girlfriend, as though that meant anything. Even Elton John had been married! Jackie well knew that a person could love more than one person at the same time. The fact that she couldn't live under the same roof with him didn't mean she loved her ex-husband any less. Sometimes things just didn't work out, and it had nothing to do with a lack of love.
Clearly Jules thought a lot of Noel, since he tolerated the nickname "Ju". Jules had been sixteen when he decided he wanted to be known only as Julian. Jackie still slipped and called him Jules, or occasionally caught herself mid-word and ended up saying Julesian. Jules said he didn't mind if she still called him Jules, but she could tell that he did.
xxx
Noel loved visiting Julian's family. They were so quiet and proper; it made Noel laugh to imagine a young "Jules" playing in a band called Satan's Hoof, rebelling against his sweetly indulgent parents. Julian always made himself out to be a bit of a loner and an outcast when he was young, but the photo albums told a very different story. Julian always seemed to be surrounded by friends and pretty girls. All his girlfriends were pretty but earthy. There were no glamour girls, no one who wore as much make-up as Noel. Low-maintenance girls for a boy who wrongly insisted he was low-maintenance as well.
When Julian fell asleep on the sofa, his mother brought out the baby pictures.
"People ask if I named him after Julian Pettifer!" Jackie announced, sounding scandalized. "Of course, I named him after John Lennon's son. I never gave the name a second thought until I heard John say it in his lovely voice."
Noel looked at Julian, curled up on his mum's couch. It seemed impossible that Julian could ever seem cold or unreachable.
Jackie leaned forward, like she was telling a secret. "The song 'Hey, Jude' came out when Jules was just tiny. I would sing, 'Hey, Jules' to him all the time. Of course, we didn't know back then that the song was written for Julian Lennon. We all thought it was about John. Even John thought it was about John."
Noel looked at Julian, and wondered what it would be like to have a child. He tried to imagine having a tiny little person he could hold in his arms and sing songs to. Someone he could name after an idol, or an idol's son. He tried to picture having a baby with Dee.
It was easier to picture having a child with Julian, but Noel wasn't ready for the stretch marks.
xxx
Julian practically had to carry Noel up the path. He didn't own a practical pair of shoes and slipped on the grass and tripped over every rock. Noel was insistent about getting the full tour of Julian's misspent youth, and the Calf and Cow were a big part of that. The Calf and Cow, infrequent sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll.
Julian gave up and threw Noel over his shoulder. It was just easier.
"Is this what you'd do with your girlfriends?" Noel asked, once he stopped giggling like a madman.
"No," Julian snapped, feigning an ire he did not feel. "My girlfriends were too smart to wear heels to go wandering across the moor."
"I feel like Cathy," Noel continued, ignoring Julian's statement, "and you're Heathcliff, except you're all broody and stroppy."
"Heathcliff was all broody and stroppy... have you never read 'Wuthering Heights'? I thought you said you did a project on it."
"I did! It was more of an interpretative piece than a traditional project..."
"Based solely on the Kate Bush song?"
"No! I also used pictures of Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon."
xxx
Noel had wanted acid or shrooms, but Julian felt a joint was more than sufficient to give Noel the proper Calf and Cow experience. Oddly enough, marijuana was one of the few things in life that didn't make Julian paranoid, but Noel was clinging to his side as though he were going to fall off their grassy knoll and go plunging headfirst into the great expanse of Yorkshire.
"So you'd be up here with your long hair, droppin' acid... snogging girls?" Noel asked, his voice muffled by Julian's shirt sleeve.
Julian chuckled. "I got my first blowie up here. Best 13 seconds of my life."
Julian tried to picture the girl, but his memory of his youth was a bit fuzzy. He was pretty sure she'd been blonde. He clearly remembered her spitting onto the ground and wiping her tongue with her hand.
"Did…?"
Julian gave Noel roughly a minute to finish his thought before prompting him: "Did... what?"
"What? Oh. Oh, um..."
Julian ruffled Noel's hair. He was cute when he got all paranoid and nervous.
"Did you ever...?" Noel went a deep shade of red. "Were there ever boys?"
He was very cute when he was nervous, and he was clinging to Julian like Julian was some big, strong protector.
"Sort of... no snogging, just..."
"Handjobs?" Noel's eyes were very wide. It had been weed that had prompted both those encounters. Maybe he should have gotten shrooms.
"And..."
Roger had been within arm's reach, losing his virginity to Julian's girlfriend's best friend. There had been a lot of substances involved, and Julian remembered how every time he'd tried to sneak a peek, Roger was staring straight at him.
"And what?" Noel asked. One hand had loosened its death grip on Julian's bicep and was running over Julian's stomach.
"Nothing." Even after ending things, there had been a few more encounters with Roger. It was hard to resist being wanted so badly.
He took a long pull and closed his eyes, holding it down until his lungs burned.
"Julian?"
He didn't dare look at Noel. Noel was desperately in love with a bad-ass girl in a rock band. Julian wanted to eventually settle down and have kids.
"Julian?"
Noel's hand had moved downwards, hovering right above Julian's erection like he was waiting for permission. Maybe he was.
Julian took another pull and stubbed the joint out before lying back on the grass. Noel's hands were shaking, but Julian let him do all the work of unbuckling his belt and unbuttoning his flares. Noel was leaving traces of lipstick as he moved his mouth up and down Julian's cock, and those pink streaks were too much for Julian to handle. He stared up at the cloudless sky and stroked Noel's hair, wishing the real world could be just a little more like the Calf and Cow.