by T C Heffer
"Do I still call you Daddy when we're inside?" his boy asks, nibbling on his bottom lip. Even though the action is born of nervousness, Jeremy can't help but find it adorable.
"It's up to you, baby," Jeremy answers. "The rule was that you only have to call me Daddy if we're alone. Since we'll be around others, I don't mind if you call me Jeremy until we get back home."
"What if…what if people stare?"
"People are probably going to stare anyway, just because of the age difference," Jeremy reminds him, putting a hand on Pete's thigh. He wishes he could reassure his boy that everything will go smoothly forever, but he never wants to lie to him. Even without being Daddy and boy, their relationship—should it keep progressing like Jeremy wants it to—will be anything but easy.
"It's up to you," he says simply. "Okay?"
Pete takes a moment and then releases Jeremy's arm. "Okay," he echoes.
Jeremy gets out of the Porsche and walks around to the passenger side just in time to open his boy's door for him. Pete looks up from beneath his eyelashes as he exits the car too, pleased with the considerate treatment. Good thing too, because Jeremy plans on always treating Pete like his little prince—unless he's been naughty, of course. He barely refrains from grinning, just imagining the next time his boy misbehaves and earns a spanking.
After readjusting himself in his jeans, Jeremy takes Pete's hand in his own and leads the way toward the entrance of the diner.
Pushing open the door, he steps inside and is greeted by the smell of grease and sugar. It makes his mouth water. The building is one big rectangle, with the entrance right in the middle and black-and-white chequered floors throughout. Immediately in front is a long counter with red stools along it like something out of the fifties. Against the windows are booths with red padded seats, old-school tables and metal napkin dispensers. An ancient jukebox resides on the left side of the room, from which oldies play on a constant loop from vinyl records. To complete the atmosphere, the two waitresses wear old-style uniforms made of light-pink fabric with white cuffs, collars and aprons.
"It looks better inside," Pete observes, sounding surprised.
Jeremy shoots him a smirk and tugs lightly on his arm. "I told you to trust me. It's rough around the edges but care is taken where it really counts. You'll see."
Pete rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah…"
Just then, the woman behind the counter sees Jeremy. She's around fifty, and the tag pinned to the left side of her chest reveals her name to be Cindy, which Jeremy already knew. "Oh, it's you again," she says with a feigned sneer. "What? Didn't get enough of me last time?"
Jeremy plays along. "You just know how to keep me coming back for more."
"I have my ways." Cindy laughs, her blonde ponytail swinging at the back of her head. She notices Pete. "And you actually have company this time!"
Pete tenses at Jeremy's side, so Jeremy squeezes his hand to let him know everything's alright. "Yup."
Cindy winks. "Lucky man. I'm jealous."
Jeremy snorts. "Get your own."
"Believe me, I'm trying. Anyway, you know the drill. Sit anywhere you like. I'll be right over."
"Sure thing. Thanks, Cindy."
The woman waves Jeremy off and walks through the door behind her that leads into the kitchen, leaving Jeremy to select one of the booths. He takes Pete past several that are already occupied until he reaches an empty one right in the corner, which will give them some semblance of privacy. He stops Pete by the side of the booth that faces away from the rest of the place. "Sit here," he says.
Pete obediently slides into his side, which leaves Jeremy to sit opposite him. True to her word, as soon as they're seated, Cindy approaches them and hands them both menus.
"I'll be back to take your orders in a minute," she says before vanishing again.
"Choose anything you want," Jeremy tells Pete.
The boy nods. "Okay."
Silence descends once more as they each peruse the menus. Because Jeremy has been here several times before, he's already decided exactly what he's going to order, but he keeps up the act because he'd hate to make Pete feel pressured into choosing something quickly. It takes several minutes, but it's worth it when Pete lowers his menu and shyly announces that he'd like to have a double cheeseburger with a side of fries and a strawberry milkshake.
Jeremy is impressed. "You're really a boy after my heart, aren't you?"
Pete blinks confusedly. "Huh?"
"I was going to order the same thing, just with a chocolate shake instead." Jeremy reaches across the table and takes Pete's hand. "A match made in heaven, I guess you could say."
Pete ducks his head, but not in time to hide his smile.
When Cindy has come and gone again, taking their orders and the menus with her, Pete starts a conversation.
"How did you discover this place?" he asks. "It's very…retro. Not that that's a bad thing."
"It was word of mouth, really," Jeremy responds. "I overheard a few people in Leraine talking about it one day and thought it sounded interesting, so I checked it out the next time I was over this way. I'm glad I did. It makes me feel nostalgic."
Pete tilts his head to the side. "How? Aren't you only like, forty or something?"
"Forty-one," Jeremy corrects.
"My point exactly. You weren't alive back in the fifties, so…"
Humming, Jeremy strokes his thumb over the back of Pete's hand. It's more to keep himself centred than anything else. "I wasn't alive back then, you're right about that, but it still reminds me of my childhood," he says, his eyes on the tabletop between them. "When I was younger, maybe six or seven, my Dad and I would sit together in the family room nearly every week and he'd show me his favourite movies. The feel of this diner reminds me of some of the places I saw in those movies, so coming here every now and then makes me feel close to my Dad again."
Glancing up, Jeremy finds Pete regarding him with understanding and sympathy.
"From how you talked about him, I guess that your Dad's…" The boy trails off.
Jeremy sighs. "Dead? Yeah, he is. Both my parents have been dead for—" He takes a moment to think. "Twenty-five years now. Damn, has it really been that long?"
"You would've been sixteen," Pete murmurs sadly, doing the math in his head.
Jeremy nods and swallows tightly. "I was. It was awful, but I still had Jess, my older sister. She was only two years older, but she stepped up and looked after me."
Pete doesn't say anything else for a while, seemingly lost in thought. Then, once he's done with that, he opens and closes his mouth a few times, possibly debating whether or not he should say the words he's thought of. Jeremy squeezes his hand again, which urges him to just come out with it.
"Am I allowed to ask how it happened?" the boy enquires.
"A break-in at our old house," Jeremy explains. "Our parents, our Aunt Lily and her husband, and our younger sister Julia were all killed that night. Jess and I were each the only family the other had left."
"Please tell me she's still alive, at least," Pete entreaties.
"She is," Jeremy confirms. "I don't see her very often, though. She lives in New York with her husband."
There's the sympathy again, but Pete doesn't leave it there. He takes his hand out from beneath Jeremy's and shuffles out of his side of the booth. Jeremy is at first concerned that something he just said has spooked the boy off, that maybe the conversation got too personal too soon. But then Pete walks around to his side of the booth, sits down right next to him and hugs him tightly, skinny arms wound around his neck and hot breath on the shell of his ear.
Jeremy is too stunned to reciprocate the embrace right away, but when he gets his shit together, he wraps his muscular arms around his boy and smiles faintly, his sadness mostly eradicated by such a display of affection.
And in public too.
"I'm sorry, Daddy," Pete whispers, so quietly that there's no chance anyone else in the diner could hear.
"
It's okay, baby," Jeremy says, turning his head to kiss his boy's temple. "It was a long time ago."
"Still sucks, though."
Jeremy knows that Pete must be able to empathise at least a little because of his mother. Adam told him what happened to Vanessa Campbell shortly after he moved back to Leraine a few years ago and they became friends. He doesn't bring it up. Pete can tell him about that in his own time.
Over Pete's shoulder, Jeremy catches the eye of another patron in the diner and is dismayed to note the judgment on her face. He glares at her, daring her to actually say something about him and Pete, and that's thankfully all it takes to get her to look away again. While he's a good person, generally nice, he knows very well how to act if he doesn't want to interact with people. His sister used to refer to his eyebrows as the Eyebrows of Doom because, when he was filled with angst and grief in his late teens and early twenties, he became extremely skilled at using them to make people think twice about even coming close to him. It's good to discover that he's still got it.
"What's with the face?" Pete asks him nervously, pulling back before Jeremy can school his features again.
"It's nothing, baby. I'm fine."
"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have brought your family up… I was just curious."
Jeremy silences him with a chaste kiss. "Honestly, baby, you did nothing wrong. If I didn't want to tell you about them, I wouldn't have."
Pete calms instantly. "Oh. Alright then."
When the boy unwinds his arms from around Jeremy's neck, Jeremy assumes that he's going to go back to the other side of the booth, but he doesn't. He stays right where he is, their thighs pressed together.
"Aww, aren't you two just the sweetest!" Cindy coos as she stops by their booth again, a large tray balanced expertly on her palm. She sets it on the edge of the table and unloads two frosty milkshakes and two plates with their cheeseburgers and fries on them. "If it wouldn't be an invasion of privacy, I'd snap a picture of you two, you're so damned cute!"
Jeremy remains outwardly stolid, but inside he thinks that he and Pete are indeed very cute together. But that's mainly Pete's doing, not his.
"Uh…thank you, ma'am," said boy replies bashfully.
"Hey now, none of that ma'am nonsense," Cindy chastises with a wag of her index finger. "I'm not old enough to be a ma'am yet."
"Oh. Sorry?"
"That's alright. Just call me Cindy."
"Sure…C-Cindy," Pete stammers, the name not rolling off his tongue right away.
The woman smiles at the effort. She tells them to enjoy their food and wanders off again, mumbling to herself about how cute men will be the death of her.
"She's a character," Pete says, watching her go.
"She is."
Pete lowers his voice and brings their heads close like they're sharing gossip. "Does she know? That you're a Daddy, I mean."
Jeremy shakes his head. "She doesn't, just that I'm a semi-regular around here."
"Really?" Pete was obviously anticipating a different response. "It didn't seem like she was shocked to see you with me."
"While there will be a lot of people who won't understand right off the bat or even at all," Jeremy says, glancing at the other diner who'd been staring at them earlier, "there'll also be some who won't judge. Turns out that Cindy's one of the open-minded ones."
"Well, that's good. I'd hate to've made you uncomfortable coming back here again, seeing as you said you like it so much."
Jeremy bumps their shoulders together. "If Cindy had been judgmental, it would've been her who ruined this place for me, baby. Not you."
Pete just shrugs.
"Anyway, our food's getting cold," Jeremy says, thinking it best that they dispense with serious topics for now.
"Oh right!" Pete turns his attention to their burgers. "It all smells really good."
"Just wait until you taste it. Their burger sauce is amazing."
Jeremy waits for Pete to tuck in first before he picks up his own burger. He's both glad and slightly aroused when his boy takes his first bite and moans pornographically. "Good, huh?" he asks.
"So good!" Pete exclaims before he's even swallowed.
"Don't talk with your mouth full, baby," Jeremy says before taking the first bite of his burger as well.
Pete swallows. "You're the one who asked me a question while I was in the middle of chewing," he points out. The sass has Jeremy thinking that his boy has fully relaxed now.
"Cheeky," he says, arching an eyebrow at him.
Pete just giggles, enjoying himself.
All in all, Jeremy would say that their first date is turning out to be a raging success.
— CHAPTER NINE —
- Saturday, November 30th, 2013 -
When they arrive back at Jeremy's house, the first thing that Jeremy does is take the toothbrush Pete brought with him and put it in his en suite bathroom for later. He puts it in the holder right next to his and just looks at it for a moment, his mind running away with him. It's a crazy idea to have so soon, but Jeremy is helpless to stop it. Something about seeing Pete's toothbrush next to his fills him with joy and a sense of rightness he has never had with one of his boys before, and he really looks forward to the day they make it real and permanent.
"First date, remember? Don't get ahead of yourself," he whispers to his reflection.
Back downstairs, Jeremy tracks Pete down in the living room. His boy is stretched out along the sofa, hands on his stomach.
"God, I'm so full!" Pete says, hearing Jeremy's footsteps.
"It was a lot of food," Jeremy agrees, feeling pretty damn full himself. He gets Pete to move for a moment, and then he sits down with his boy's head in his lap and the TV remote in hand. "What d'you feel like watching while our dinner settles?"
"I dunno."
"How about I flick through the channels and you just tell me if something catches your eye?"
Pete turns over onto his side so that he's facing the TV. "I can do that."
Jeremy goes through about thirty channels before Pete speaks up again on a marathon of some animated show called Rick & Morty. Jeremy has never seen it before, but he puts down the remote and starts running his fingers through Pete's hair as they watch. He doesn't really get a lot of the jokes or the humour in general, but the show isn't bad. The fact that it makes Pete laugh a lot earns it some points.
After three episodes, Pete sits up with a yawn. "Are we still gonna fool around?"
Jeremy frowns. "That was the plan, but if you're tired, we don't have to. We can just go to bed and cuddle."
Pete shakes his head ardently, waking himself up. "No, I still wanna do stuff."
"Are you sure?"
"Mmhmm." Pete skates his fingers up the inside of Jeremy's thigh. "Aren't you?"
His cock immediately filling with blood, Jeremy grabs Pete's hand before he can go any higher and pulls them both up from the sofa. "Oh, I am."
Pete flutters his eyelashes. "What're you gonna do to me, Daddy?"
"You're about to find out."
Leading his boy upstairs, Jeremy enters the master bedroom and makes short work of getting them both naked. He draws Pete close and kisses him passionately, their hard cocks pressed together between their stomachs. He gets lost in the kiss and the feeling of his boy in his arms. They fit so well together, Pete's svelte body against his more muscular one.
"Daddy," Pete whines against his lips.
"Yeah, baby? Is my boy feeling needy?" Jeremy teases.
"Y-yeah…need you."
Jeremy resumes the kiss, slipping his tongue into Pete's mouth as he works a hand between them and wraps it around both of their erections. He strokes them slowly, pre-cum already easing the way because both of them are so turned on. Pete soon fucks up into his fist, so Jeremy lets him do the work for now, enjoying the way Pete's six-inch erection rubs against the underside of his. The three inches Jeremy has on him make it even better, Pete's circumcised head repeatedly bumping into Jeremy's glans, making his
toes curl on the hardwood floor.
When his orgasm gets perilously close, Jeremy regretfully removes his hand and pulls away. "Get on the bed, baby. Hands and knees, facing the headboard."
"Okay, Daddy."
Pete walks over to the bed with a seductive wiggle in his hips. Once he's in position, Jeremy retrieves the lube and a condom from his bedside drawer and kneels behind his boy.
"You've got such a nice ass, baby," he compliments.
Pete shakes it at him, pale cheeks jiggling. "Thank you, Daddy."
Jeremy drops the lube atop the bed next to him and smacks both cheeks at the same time, the more dominant side of his personality coming out. "Who's in control here, boy?"
Pete inhales sharply and every trace of playfulness recedes. "Y-you are, Daddy…"
"That's right. Now, you stay nice and still while I have my fun, okay?"
Pete visibly shudders. "Yes, Daddy."
Satisfied, Jeremy leans down, kisses both of Pete's ass cheeks right over his red handprints to soothe the sting, and then he spreads them apart to get at his boy's little hole. It's so tight again, almost like Jeremy hadn't wrecked it last weekend. Well, Jeremy thinks gleefully, he's about to wreck it all over again.
He forms his lips into an O and blows gently over Pete's hole, his amusement growing when Pete whimpers and his hole clenches up even tighter. He does this another few times and enjoys how it makes Pete more and more desperate, but the boy doesn't break. He keeps holding his position, and Jeremy is so proud of him that he moves on to the next part of his plan. He brings his face closer to Pete's ass and licks once up the crack, all the way from Pete's perineum to the base of his spine. Pete nearly shoots off the bed, finally cracking.
"Daddy!" he squeals, turning his head to look at Jeremy over his shoulder, his eyes wide.
"What's the matter, baby?" Jeremy asks innocently.
Pete pouts and says nothing else, returning his gaze to the pillows in front of him. Jeremy grins and licks his boy again, stopping for a second to swirl his tongue around Pete's furled rim.
"Taste so good, baby boy," he says huskily. "Did you know your ass was so sweet?"
Pete whimpers again. "No, Daddy…"