A Helping Hand

By: DL
(Copyright 2007 by the Author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...
dl@tickiestories.us
 

Chapter 13

Juan clung to Julian and sobbed his heart out for nearly twenty minutes despite Julian's efforts to console and comfort him. Eventually his sobbing died down and the tears ceased; Julian had ceaselessly hugged Juan to him and caressed him during this and tried consoling him with words; nothing worked.

I left them early on and went and made myself a coffee; I figured that Julian might be more able to effect a breakthrough to Juan if he wasn't constrained by my presence. I did take the opportunity to ransack my alcoholic stockpile – I may have been teetotal but it was from medical advice not any beliefs, religious or otherwise – I thought that maybe the boys might appreciate a shot of alcohol.

Anyway, I returned to the lounge with a second coffee [I'd drunk the first in the kitchen], on a tray along with some glasses, a bottle of Teacher's whisky and a couple of cartons of orange juice - I was covering all the bases! – and sat through the last ten minutes of Julian comforting Juan. Eventually, Juan was restored to a state of calm; and Julian looked over at me and I pointed toward the table and the bottle and he smiled and nodded his head. I poured two generous shots and handed them to Julian saying "This is a one off; I think you might need fortifying."

Julian handed one of the drinks to Juan and I sat down on the other side of Juan with my Diet Coke. The boys sipped at their drinks and it was obvious that Julian had prior experience of alcohol whilst Juan hadn't. Still they both drank their drinks and it passed the time while Juan recovered himself; I felt so sorry for him, and had no idea what had happened to start him off this time.

Juan was the last to finish his drink predictably enough and I took his glass from him along with Julian's and put them down on the bureau beside me. "So, are you OK now?" I asked Juan, though it was Julian who answered, as he hugged Juan "Yeah; he's got over it. Javier just said 'I love you, Juan' and his dad must have put his hand on the cradle as the line went dead; and that's when Juan lost it."

I reached out towards Juan and Julian let him go; as I hugged him and said "I'm sorry, Juan; but at least it looks likely that you'll be able to see Javier in about ten days." Juan looked up at me and tentatively said "Do you think he'll let me?" Looking again at his tear-stained face, I again felt saddened at the turmoil the kid was going through. "I think so, yes; he listened this time and I think by now he knows that Javier's unhappy as well. If things went really well, maybe you and Javier would be able to see each other every so often. But I don't want to get your hopes up, so we'll have to wait and see. I told your dad I would phone him after you had seen Dr Derek again next Thursday – hopefully most of the bruising, at least that's visible, will have gone by then as well."

After this exchange I let Juan go and Julian quickly reclaimed him, cuddling him close with his left arm wrapped round Juan's shoulders. I'd switched on the TV and idly channel-hopped in search of something worth watching without any luck. By this time – eating, talking to Juan's dad and consoling Juan had helped pass a couple of hours – as the 9 o'clock news on the BBC was approaching, I left the TV on BBC1 and we sat and watched the national news and then the local news segment that followed.

After these had finished I switched the TV off and said to the boys "Well, are you pair ready for bed?" Julian looked at Juan and then me with a grin as he replied "Yeah, I'll help Juan with his bath."

I didn't let the unspoken implication pass, as I said "OK, but you realise that I meant what I said the other night don't you? I won't have you sleeping with Juan, and until Monday and the beds arrive you'll have to sleep out here in the lounge with me." Julian groaned as I said this, and I said sharply, "Careful Julian, its not too late for me to run you home." That did the trick as a panic-stricken look flashed onto Julian's face "You wouldn't do that?" I replied that if he didn't understand the limitations I expected them to obey in my house I most certainly would run him home. Julian continued to mutter about how stupid it all was when there was a perfectly good double bed he could share with Juan. I kept quiet and let him fulminate, waiting for him to get it out of his system.

Finally Juan prodded Julian in the ribs with his elbow, saying "Don't be stupid; at least you'll be here; if Dave takes you home he may not pick you up again and then where will I be?" Julian stopped whinging long enough to take Juan's point on board and then he ruefully looked at me and said "I'm sorry, Dave, you did make the position clear yesterday. But you don't blame me for trying do you?" I smiled and said, "No, just so long as you learn from your mistakes and don't repeat them. I made my thoughts on you and Juan perfectly clear and I don't think I was unreasonable – and as long as Juan stays here I expect you both to respect my wishes."

Both boys glanced at each other, and I said: "Well, do we have an agreement? You won't sleep together until you're both eighteen – and yes, I do expect the pair of you to behave yourselves and not indulge in any overt sexual activity before then." They both looked at me: Juan glumly and Julian with more than a trace of annoyance on his face.

Taking the bull by the horns, I said "Julian I was almost willing to extend you an offer of using the other guest bedroom once the furniture was delivered, but if you have that kind of attitude and I can't trust you to behave then I'm afraid you will be less welcome here."

Julian started, as if taken aback, but Juan was much quicker in recovering: "You mean that if we behave you would allow Julian to have the other bedroom?" I nodded and replied, "Yes, and before you get uptight Julian, I would even happily take you to and from work. As for the long term, once Juan has recovered, settled down and has become an adult; if the pair of you wish to have a relationship – even a sexual one – I would not stand in your way and would permit you to stay here. But just so neither of you misunderstand, I would insist that Juan has to see a psychologist – I'll get Dr Derek to recommend one – and satisfy him that he's coping with life's ups and downs before you shared a room – I may not be able to prevent you from doing anything you like together, but I can and will decide who lives here and where they sleep."

Juan didn't like this at all and protested vigorously: "That's not fair; I don't want to see a psychologist and you can't make me. I won't do it and that's all there is to it." I looked at him steadily and replied, "You are entitled to make that decision once you're an adult and I can't – and won't – force you to do otherwise whilst you're legally a child, but I can and will decide, as I said, who stays here and where they sleep. If you're not willing to go along with my request then I'm not inclined to help further your love life by making it easy for you and any boyfriend – even Julian – so don't be too quick to make hasty decisions."

At this Julian grabbed Juan and said, "Dave's right and you need a bath before bed time, so let's go!" It was as much as I could do to stop myself laughing at Julian's pronouncement, but I managed till they were through the door into the hall and I quickly scurried through into the kitchen where I could contain myself no longer and burst out laughing at the thought of Julian leading Juan off for a bath and putting him to bed like a spoilt little child.

There was one unfortunate, unforeseen side effect of this: I had overlooked the fact that the kitchen was built out from the left of the bungalow as was the bathroom; but they were separated by the patio between them. The unforeseen part was that both the kitchen and bathroom top windows were open and the boys had clearly heard me laughing as Juan was helped into the bath by Julian – they had also guessed the likely cause of my amusement.

I realised that something was amiss when half an hour later I went down and knocked on the bedroom door; Julian said it was OK and I opened the door and entered. I was faced by a dressed and clearly quite amused Julian who had a scowling Juan's head resting in his lap (he was in bed).

I stopped inside the door and surveyed the duo quizzically. Juan didn't say anything at first, but after thirty seconds or so, blurted out "So you thought it was funny that I should be treated like a little boy?" I couldn't help myself and burst out laughing at this and whilst Juan flared a bright red in the face at my mocking laughter, Julian also burst out laughing – even though he was clearly trying hard to stiffle it!

Juan looked up at him and rounded on him viciously – he raised his head and lumped it down hard on Julian's lap with entirely predictable results: Julian stopped laughing and doubled over grabbing for his groin while Juan started laughing and then obviously realising that he'd hurt Julian rolled over, off his lap and started to cry. Several minutes passed and Julian manfully pulled himself together and reached out to Juan and grabbed him, pulling him back round to face him. He groaned as he sank to the floor – obviously still more than a little discomfitted – and once at Juan's level, kissed him and said "That was a bloody stupid thing to do and it should be me crying not you!" Juan had stopped crying and wiped his eyes after Julian kissed him and he looked very shamefaced as he said "I'm sorry, that was really bad of me, I know that getting hit in the balls really hurts. It was just you laughing at me with Dave made me lose my temper."

Julian cradled his head in his arms as he replied "Well, it was you that made the comment about being treated like a little boy, not Dave; and I laughed because you were exactly right – I did treat you like a little boy, but I think that Dave would support me by agreeing that the way you behaved deserved nothing more. You need to think things through properly before getting in a strop and going ballistic."

At this Juan looked at Julian with a distinctly questioning look. Julian saw it and correctly interpreted it as he replied "Dave may have a point about you needing someone independent to oversee your recovery and pronounce on when you're over it. I'm not going to disagree with Dave and I guess if we are to have a future together I'll have to side with Dave on this."

Juan said "What do you mean? It's my life and my decision to make!" To which Julian replied "That's true, but its Dave's house and if we are ever to have a relationship that would mean you and I sharing our lives. And that means that what affects you also affects me; can't you see that?"

Juan just lay there looking at him and sensing that things weren't going to get any better any time soon I said "Well Julian I think we'd better let Juan get some sleep." Julian looked down at Juan and then got up and said "Yeah, I guess you're right; night Juan" the last part was said as he moved away, past me and without looking back. I said goodnight to Juan and closing the door, followed Julian down to the lounge where he had sat dejectedly on the end of the settee.

I got a drink for myself [Diet Coke] and poured Julian another [small] shot of whisky which he accepted and drank without really paying attention.

"Come on, help me get this thing unfolded and you can sleep in it as well for now." Julian looked up at me as I said this, flushing, and I laughed as I said "Don't worry, I promise that your virginity is safe with me!" which brought a deeper crimson flush to Julian's features.

We unfolded the bed and I got sheets and a duvet from the airing cupboard; Julian and I got undressed and I let Julian get in the bed first and slide over to the wall side in his boxers [he hadn't brought any pyjamas or asked if he could borrow any] and then I turned out the lights and climbed in the bed beside him – there was plenty of room between us!

Both of us lay quietly for some time and I think Julian drifted off to sleep before me, but I can't be sure. What I can vividly remember was a feeling of being pushed and then as I groggily came back to wakefulness, I realised that sitting on the edge of the bed beside me was a clearly angry Juan.

To be continued . . .

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Posted: 05/25/07