Night Club Cat, part eight
This was supposed to be the end. I'd just finish this chapter and I'd be ready (after Valentine's Day) to start something else (or finish something), but no, Key refused to act out of character just to I wasn't still in my pajamas at 2:30.
Night Club Cat (now I wished I called it Anchored)
1.8k
Sexy walked Key back to his neighborhood. Key slowed as he neared his parents’ house. Sexy ran his fingers across Key’s lips. “You can do this.”
Key knew he could. He’d even talked himself into doing it today. Putting it off would just mean sleepless nights until he got it done. “I know.”
“They love you.”
Key covered his face. Knowing that just made the whole situation worse. “Will they ever forgive me?”
Sexy lifted Key’s chin. “Your actions were understandable. How would one of them do any different?”
“You’re not just saying that?”
“You’ll see.” Sexy took his hand and led him to the start of the walkway that ended in Mom and Dad’s porch. They were right inside the door trying not to seem to be looking out. They’d done this when Beck took Key out the first time to meet the neighborhood kids.
Key’s hand tightened on Sexy’s. “Walk with me? To the door?”
Sexy kissed to top of Key’s head. “As far as you want to go, I’m yours.”
Key rolled his eyes. Sexy laughed, which made Key laugh too. He took the first step onto the walk and Mom opened the door. “We thought you might prefer to meet on the porch.”
Dad came out the door with a heavily ladened tray, but Key couldn’t see what was on it. His eyes were too full of tears. “Mom. Dad.” He stumbled up the stairs and Mom’s arms were around him. “I’ve missed you so much.”
Tears came quicker. Mom and Dad were crying too. Mom kept wiping her face with a damp tissue. “Kit, you’re home.”
It took forever for everyone to sit down. Mom handed him a cup of tea, the tears bright in her eyes. “I don’t know how you take it.”
“I haven’t had tea in ages.” Key took the cup. He tasted it and decided on milk and a daub of honey.
Dad took a picture. “I’m sending this to Beckett.”
Key set down his cup. “He’s not coming?”
Mom and Dad looked at each other. Dad cleared his throat. “He thought…”
Key grasped Sexy’s hand. “Beck is the reason I’m here. Back in the neighborhood. One night I heard him crying.” Key took a deep breath. “In all the new homes I’ve ever had, all the groups and families I stayed with, Beck was the first to ask what he should call me. I told him Key and on that night years later I heard him call my name and I knew he meant me and…” Key took a deep breath. “And I remembered you and Beck and who I was.”
Mom licked her lips and glanced at Dad. “Beck blames himself for you leaving.”
Key shook his head. “He was a child, doing what he had been taught to do until he came to live with you.”
Dad handed Mom another tissue. “That’s what we told him. He picked an out of state school because he thought if he wasn’t here…” Dad clearer his throat. “You might come home.”
“I wanted to come home.” Key’s voice broke. He wiped his face on the offered tissue. “But at first I couldn’t remember.”
“A flawed suppression spell. I think it merely made you forget the possibility of shifting instead of also suppressing the act of shifting. So once you were in cat form, you forgot you’d ever been anything else.”
“Until I heard Beck call my name.”
“It must have been losing its strength unless you were in your former neighborhood entirely by accident. We may never know.” Sexy sipped his tea.
“And once I remembered and realized how long I’d been away, I was too scared to come home.”
Mom nodded. “Mrs. N took you in. She knew what you were, then who you were, but never told us.”
Key slumped into his seat. “She didn’t tell me she knew either. All this time I could have been sleeping in her guest room.”
Or home.
Mom licked her lips. “Do you suppose you were waiting for someone to say they knew?”
Dad patted her knee then reached for a cookie. “Easier than coming out, I suppose.”
Talking about coming out. “I am gay.”
Dad nodded. ‘We figured that out while you were with us. It took us longer to figure out Beckett was, with his history and all. He was devastated to find out that as your legally adopted brother he couldn’t also be your bride. Poor kid.”
“But,” Key cleared his throat. “You never formally adopted me. Did you?”
Dad sighed. “Everything pretty much halted after you disappeared. But please don’t get his hopes up. He’s been though enough.”
Mom looked from Key to Sexy with a smile. “No point in bringing it us now.”
But…
Sexy put a hand on his arm and followed Key to his feet. “Thank you for today. I’ll take Key for tonight. We can talk again tomorrow.”
The goodbyes were as tearful as the welcome, but Key couldn’t forget how they’d just dismissed Beck’s feelings. He just nodded each time they said “see you tomorrow” until he could get away.
Sexy took Key’s hand. “Here or my place?”
Key looked up.
“To talk.”
“What about my place?”
“And risk you parents sneaking in for a quick peek?”
Mom, at least, would now that she knew where he lived.
Sexy flashed a grin. “I might not want to be interrupted.”
Key cocked a brow. “What makes you think I’ll mind being interrupted?”
Sexy laughed. “My place? I’ll show you why I don’t bother with a car.”
Key narrowed his eyes at sexy, but took his offered hand. Then they just strolled down the sidewalk. Until suddenly they were walking beside a unfamiliar building. The air even smelled different. Sexy grinned. “My home. Dorm anyway. I could live with my parents, but I wanted a little freedom before I settled down.”
Key was just a fling. Was that better or worse than Sexy demanding he decide his future now when his life was so up in the air?
Sexy’s room was a single and on the top floor. Half the people in the halls were in cat form. This whole place felt comfortable and scary at the same time.
Sexy dropped his jacket on the back of a chair. “Make yourself at home.”
Key glared at the bed. “You expect me to sleep with you.”
Strings would be attached now that Key knew Sexy as more than just a face and body. Did Key want strings? Why was the thought of losing Sexy so painful? And what about Beck? Key needed time to think.
“Before I say just how many cats will fit of a bed that big, let me remind you that I have three fathers.” Sexy took Key’s hand and got on his knees, directly into Key’s line of sight. “I don’t know Beckett or how he feels, but I’d like to be with you tonight, even if you decide against forever.”
Tears came out of nowhere, Key couldn’t have stop them if he’d tried. Sexy brushed a tear away with his thumb. “May I comfort you?”
Key nodded. This sex was different than any he’d experienced. Both softer and deeper. He could feel it in his soul. Sexy was part of him and would be forever. Key snuggled against his warm body as his own cooled from the afterglow. “I’m not looking forward to tomorrow.”
Sexy ribbed his cheek against Key’s head. “Should we go see Beckett?”
Key sat up. “You know where he is?”
“I know the school. He won’t be hard to find.”
“But how will we get there?”
Sexy laughed. “Same way we got here. We are significantly farther from your place than your place is from Beckett’s college.”
“Beck. He prefers Beck. At least he used to.” Key slid back against Sexy’s welcoming side. “I… I hardly knew him before and I don’t know him now.”
Sexy kissed Key’s head. “You know he loves you, even if it’s not the in love kind. He wouldn’t still hurt if you’d meant nothing to him.”
“I don’t want him to hurt.”
Sexy’s heart beat steadily under Key’s ear. “He was your first crush?”
“My only crush.”
Sexy’s heart speed up. He wasn’t a robot after all. Key sat up again and looked down at his beautiful lover. “You aren’t a crush. I think I’m feeling something deeper for you.”
Sexy grinned. “Think?”
Key burrowed against his side. “It’ll take time to see how well we mesh.”
“How stuck we are together.”
Key looked up and glared. “It’s only stuck if it’s bad.”
Sexy turned them over. “Not what I meant at all. Snug. Tight. Anchored. Bonded like glue.”
“Anchored. Show me how we’ll get more tightly anchored together.”
Sexy stared at the wall over Key’s head. “Well, I could introduce you to my friends and my parents and start introducing you to my siblings and their families. That will take a while. I can show you the places I like to go and take you to my favorite places to eat.”
Food would be good. Later. “Why don’t you start with what we can do in bed.”
Sexy grinned. “Why don’t I?”
But those weren’t caresses. They were tickles. Two could play at that. Sexy, it turned out, was even more sensitive to tickles than Key. His laughter made Key laugh harder. When was the last he’d laughed at all? Key lay back and caught his breath. “You know, I like you.”
“Good.” Sexy grinned. “I like you too.”
“But.”
“But?” Sexy turned to Key.
“But just because I’ve only had casual sex in the past don’t mean that I think of all sex that way.”
Sexy licked his lips. “Understood.”
“So first I want to have you inside me.”
Sexy’s grin returned.
“Then I want us to turn into cats and groom each other.”
“And?”
“Then I want you to take me to your favorite place to eat, so I can stuff myself. Then we can go to sleep.”
“And tomorrow?”
“Sex. Breakfast. Find where Beck is. Then you keep me busy until we can see him. After that I’ll probably need to attention before I face my parents again.”
“I know just the kind of attention.” He ran a up Key’s arm. “Shall I get started?”
Key got him going with a kiss, but he was still to slow and tender. “Faster, Sexy, faster.”
Sexy laughed, which meant he wasn’t giving his all. “Impatient.”
“Hard. And. Fast,” Key panted.
“That’s all you know,” Sexy purred. “Let me give you a taste of a different flavor.”
“Tomorrow. Please, Sexy.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“Yes! Just please, Sexy.”
“Anything for you.” And then he gave Key exactly what he wanted.
Night Club Cat (now I wished I called it Anchored)
1.8k
Sexy walked Key back to his neighborhood. Key slowed as he neared his parents’ house. Sexy ran his fingers across Key’s lips. “You can do this.”
Key knew he could. He’d even talked himself into doing it today. Putting it off would just mean sleepless nights until he got it done. “I know.”
“They love you.”
Key covered his face. Knowing that just made the whole situation worse. “Will they ever forgive me?”
Sexy lifted Key’s chin. “Your actions were understandable. How would one of them do any different?”
“You’re not just saying that?”
“You’ll see.” Sexy took his hand and led him to the start of the walkway that ended in Mom and Dad’s porch. They were right inside the door trying not to seem to be looking out. They’d done this when Beck took Key out the first time to meet the neighborhood kids.
Key’s hand tightened on Sexy’s. “Walk with me? To the door?”
Sexy kissed to top of Key’s head. “As far as you want to go, I’m yours.”
Key rolled his eyes. Sexy laughed, which made Key laugh too. He took the first step onto the walk and Mom opened the door. “We thought you might prefer to meet on the porch.”
Dad came out the door with a heavily ladened tray, but Key couldn’t see what was on it. His eyes were too full of tears. “Mom. Dad.” He stumbled up the stairs and Mom’s arms were around him. “I’ve missed you so much.”
Tears came quicker. Mom and Dad were crying too. Mom kept wiping her face with a damp tissue. “Kit, you’re home.”
It took forever for everyone to sit down. Mom handed him a cup of tea, the tears bright in her eyes. “I don’t know how you take it.”
“I haven’t had tea in ages.” Key took the cup. He tasted it and decided on milk and a daub of honey.
Dad took a picture. “I’m sending this to Beckett.”
Key set down his cup. “He’s not coming?”
Mom and Dad looked at each other. Dad cleared his throat. “He thought…”
Key grasped Sexy’s hand. “Beck is the reason I’m here. Back in the neighborhood. One night I heard him crying.” Key took a deep breath. “In all the new homes I’ve ever had, all the groups and families I stayed with, Beck was the first to ask what he should call me. I told him Key and on that night years later I heard him call my name and I knew he meant me and…” Key took a deep breath. “And I remembered you and Beck and who I was.”
Mom licked her lips and glanced at Dad. “Beck blames himself for you leaving.”
Key shook his head. “He was a child, doing what he had been taught to do until he came to live with you.”
Dad handed Mom another tissue. “That’s what we told him. He picked an out of state school because he thought if he wasn’t here…” Dad clearer his throat. “You might come home.”
“I wanted to come home.” Key’s voice broke. He wiped his face on the offered tissue. “But at first I couldn’t remember.”
“A flawed suppression spell. I think it merely made you forget the possibility of shifting instead of also suppressing the act of shifting. So once you were in cat form, you forgot you’d ever been anything else.”
“Until I heard Beck call my name.”
“It must have been losing its strength unless you were in your former neighborhood entirely by accident. We may never know.” Sexy sipped his tea.
“And once I remembered and realized how long I’d been away, I was too scared to come home.”
Mom nodded. “Mrs. N took you in. She knew what you were, then who you were, but never told us.”
Key slumped into his seat. “She didn’t tell me she knew either. All this time I could have been sleeping in her guest room.”
Or home.
Mom licked her lips. “Do you suppose you were waiting for someone to say they knew?”
Dad patted her knee then reached for a cookie. “Easier than coming out, I suppose.”
Talking about coming out. “I am gay.”
Dad nodded. ‘We figured that out while you were with us. It took us longer to figure out Beckett was, with his history and all. He was devastated to find out that as your legally adopted brother he couldn’t also be your bride. Poor kid.”
“But,” Key cleared his throat. “You never formally adopted me. Did you?”
Dad sighed. “Everything pretty much halted after you disappeared. But please don’t get his hopes up. He’s been though enough.”
Mom looked from Key to Sexy with a smile. “No point in bringing it us now.”
But…
Sexy put a hand on his arm and followed Key to his feet. “Thank you for today. I’ll take Key for tonight. We can talk again tomorrow.”
The goodbyes were as tearful as the welcome, but Key couldn’t forget how they’d just dismissed Beck’s feelings. He just nodded each time they said “see you tomorrow” until he could get away.
Sexy took Key’s hand. “Here or my place?”
Key looked up.
“To talk.”
“What about my place?”
“And risk you parents sneaking in for a quick peek?”
Mom, at least, would now that she knew where he lived.
Sexy flashed a grin. “I might not want to be interrupted.”
Key cocked a brow. “What makes you think I’ll mind being interrupted?”
Sexy laughed. “My place? I’ll show you why I don’t bother with a car.”
Key narrowed his eyes at sexy, but took his offered hand. Then they just strolled down the sidewalk. Until suddenly they were walking beside a unfamiliar building. The air even smelled different. Sexy grinned. “My home. Dorm anyway. I could live with my parents, but I wanted a little freedom before I settled down.”
Key was just a fling. Was that better or worse than Sexy demanding he decide his future now when his life was so up in the air?
Sexy’s room was a single and on the top floor. Half the people in the halls were in cat form. This whole place felt comfortable and scary at the same time.
Sexy dropped his jacket on the back of a chair. “Make yourself at home.”
Key glared at the bed. “You expect me to sleep with you.”
Strings would be attached now that Key knew Sexy as more than just a face and body. Did Key want strings? Why was the thought of losing Sexy so painful? And what about Beck? Key needed time to think.
“Before I say just how many cats will fit of a bed that big, let me remind you that I have three fathers.” Sexy took Key’s hand and got on his knees, directly into Key’s line of sight. “I don’t know Beckett or how he feels, but I’d like to be with you tonight, even if you decide against forever.”
Tears came out of nowhere, Key couldn’t have stop them if he’d tried. Sexy brushed a tear away with his thumb. “May I comfort you?”
Key nodded. This sex was different than any he’d experienced. Both softer and deeper. He could feel it in his soul. Sexy was part of him and would be forever. Key snuggled against his warm body as his own cooled from the afterglow. “I’m not looking forward to tomorrow.”
Sexy ribbed his cheek against Key’s head. “Should we go see Beckett?”
Key sat up. “You know where he is?”
“I know the school. He won’t be hard to find.”
“But how will we get there?”
Sexy laughed. “Same way we got here. We are significantly farther from your place than your place is from Beckett’s college.”
“Beck. He prefers Beck. At least he used to.” Key slid back against Sexy’s welcoming side. “I… I hardly knew him before and I don’t know him now.”
Sexy kissed Key’s head. “You know he loves you, even if it’s not the in love kind. He wouldn’t still hurt if you’d meant nothing to him.”
“I don’t want him to hurt.”
Sexy’s heart beat steadily under Key’s ear. “He was your first crush?”
“My only crush.”
Sexy’s heart speed up. He wasn’t a robot after all. Key sat up again and looked down at his beautiful lover. “You aren’t a crush. I think I’m feeling something deeper for you.”
Sexy grinned. “Think?”
Key burrowed against his side. “It’ll take time to see how well we mesh.”
“How stuck we are together.”
Key looked up and glared. “It’s only stuck if it’s bad.”
Sexy turned them over. “Not what I meant at all. Snug. Tight. Anchored. Bonded like glue.”
“Anchored. Show me how we’ll get more tightly anchored together.”
Sexy stared at the wall over Key’s head. “Well, I could introduce you to my friends and my parents and start introducing you to my siblings and their families. That will take a while. I can show you the places I like to go and take you to my favorite places to eat.”
Food would be good. Later. “Why don’t you start with what we can do in bed.”
Sexy grinned. “Why don’t I?”
But those weren’t caresses. They were tickles. Two could play at that. Sexy, it turned out, was even more sensitive to tickles than Key. His laughter made Key laugh harder. When was the last he’d laughed at all? Key lay back and caught his breath. “You know, I like you.”
“Good.” Sexy grinned. “I like you too.”
“But.”
“But?” Sexy turned to Key.
“But just because I’ve only had casual sex in the past don’t mean that I think of all sex that way.”
Sexy licked his lips. “Understood.”
“So first I want to have you inside me.”
Sexy’s grin returned.
“Then I want us to turn into cats and groom each other.”
“And?”
“Then I want you to take me to your favorite place to eat, so I can stuff myself. Then we can go to sleep.”
“And tomorrow?”
“Sex. Breakfast. Find where Beck is. Then you keep me busy until we can see him. After that I’ll probably need to attention before I face my parents again.”
“I know just the kind of attention.” He ran a up Key’s arm. “Shall I get started?”
Key got him going with a kiss, but he was still to slow and tender. “Faster, Sexy, faster.”
Sexy laughed, which meant he wasn’t giving his all. “Impatient.”
“Hard. And. Fast,” Key panted.
“That’s all you know,” Sexy purred. “Let me give you a taste of a different flavor.”
“Tomorrow. Please, Sexy.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“Yes! Just please, Sexy.”
“Anything for you.” And then he gave Key exactly what he wanted.