Hero
 by: Hankster

© 2017 by the author

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

hankster@tickiestories.us

Chapter 4

(The Vacation)

The school year was coming to an end.  Ethan had no plans for the summer hiatus, but Greg was going to teach a four week class in English as a Second Language, during the month of July.  The course would be over before August first.

One evening they were lying in bed, holding hands, and basking in a wondrous after-glow, when Greg said, “We haven’t had a real vacation in years, just quick weekend trips.  Let’s go away this August.”

“Not a bad idea, “Ethan said.  “Do you have any place special in mind?”

“There’s always Rome, London and Paris, but if you don’t want to do the standard European vacation, let’s go someplace exotic like Tahiti or Bali.”

“Good idea,” Ethan agreed, but even though I could fly us anywhere, it would be hard for me to take you and our luggage.  We’ll have to fly commercial and that’s damned expensive,”

“I’m too tired to think about it right now,” Greg said.  “Let’s talk about it in the morning, and he fell asleep.

**********

It seemed like the next morning, but it was actually two and a half months after the initial idea of taking a trip abroad, that it was finally happening.  Their luggage was examined, and checked.  With only carry-on bags, Ethan and Greg were getting ready to board the jumbo jet at JFK Airport.  It was headed non-stop to London, England.  First class passengers, passengers with children, and passengers with special needs were allowed to board first.

Ethan and Greg decided to board as late as possible in order to avoid the pushing and straining to get oversized bags in the overhead compartment.  As a result when they were at the gate, they were told that there was no more room in the overhead bin, and they would have to check their carry-ons.  The airline personnel did not buy their story that they would stow their bags under the seat. 

“They’re too big,” one of the flight attendants said.  “We have to keep the aisles clear.”  Reluctantly they gave up their bags.

In order to reach the coach cabin, they had to go through first class.  Ethan spotted a very handsome, thirty-something man, who looked very familiar.  He was nursing a pre-flight cocktail.  Ethan thought for a moment, and identified the man as a popular action hero in the movies.  In fact, he had once played Superman.  Ethan smiled to himself.  With two superheroes aboard, what could go wrong?  Lots of things.

They were all buckled up and seat backs were straight up, when Ethan heard it first, before the other passengers.  He heard the flight attendant telling one of the first class passengers to please put on his seat belt, raise his snack table, and straighten his seat back.  The passenger was quite drunk, and started to yell at the flight attendant.

“No fucking cunt is going to tell me what to do.” 

He grabbed the young woman’s arm and started to shake her whole body.  She started to scream.  The woman in the seat next to him yelled at him to stop and control himself, and he slapped her across the face.  The other first class attendant, a young man, ran over to help.  The passenger took a swing at him and knocked him out.  By now Ethan was on his way to the first class cabin. 

The drunk, unruly passenger was the movie star.  Ethan disengaged his hand from the flight attendant’s arm, pinched a nerve in the drunk’s neck and he passed out.  Immediately, the captain was alerted, and he delayed take off.  Security police came aboard and removed the offending passenger. 

Before the other passengers were asked once again to prepare for take-off, the two flight attendants from first class went back to coach to thank Ethan.  The young man informed him that if he wanted to he could occupy the seat just vacated by the unruly passenger.  Ethan thanked him, but said that he was travelling with a companion.  The young man winked at him, and said, “Actually we have two seats up front.  Why don’t you both come with me?”  The lady who had been slapped was delighted to move to a different seat, so the man who rescued her could sit with his travelling companion.  Ethan and Greg thanked everybody, and prepared for take-off.

When the plane reached cruising altitude, the lights in the cabin were extinguished.  Ethan asked for a blanket.  He covered both of them and they started to fondle each other under the blanket.  They somehow freed their cocks and got themselves off.  Greg whispered to Ethan, “We are now officially members of the mile high club.”

Ethan sneered and said, “No big deal.  We could have joined that club while I was flying you somewhere.”  That got them both laughing and a few “shushes” from some other passengers.

After that, the flight was pleasant, comfortable and uneventful until they reached customs and immigration.  They needed their passports, only to remember that they had placed them in their carry-on bags, which had then been taken away from them, and checked.  Ethan even produced the baggage claim ticket.  They explained what happened to the immigration officer.  He asked them to stand aside until he could get another officer to accompany them to the carousel.  They waited a half hour.

At last, an officer accompanied them to the carousel where the luggage from their flight had been unloaded.  The only luggage still going around and around, were their suitcases, but no carry-ons were anywhere to be seen.  By now Ethan was getting angry.  It is not wise to get a superhero’s ire up.  He was tempted to rip out the carousel.

He looked around the terminal, and spotted three carry-on bags on a carousel at the far end of baggage claim.  He picked up his suit case with one hand, and Greg’s with the other, and ran toward the carousel with the carry-on bags on it.  The officer was not about to lose a potential illegal, and he and Greg ran after Ethan as fast as they could.

Now Ethan was uncertain which of the three totes belonged to him and Greg.  They were all alike, so he used his x-ray vision.  He threw their two bags at Greg and the officer, and he yelled, “Clear the terminal.  There’s a bomb in the other bag.”

People began to run helter-skelter, but Ethan calmly opened the third bag, and defused the bomb.  Naturally, they were detained further to be questioned by the police.  Ethan suggested that the terrorist must work for the airline.  When he spotted their two identical carry-ons, he removed them, and placed them with the bomb, as a sort of camouflage.  When the police determined that the two Americans were innocent pawns, they commended Ethan for defusing the bomb, and finally released them. They then began to work on Ethan’s theory of an inside job. 

Sighing with relief, the two teachers hailed a taxi, and went to their hotel.  They had taken off late in the evening, and had landed early in the morning.  With the delay in taking off, and the exciting events of the morning, it was now early afternoon.  They decided to take a nap, and then have dinner, and go out on the town.  Taking a nap for these two guys was always preceded by making love.  They were not about to vary their ritual.  By the time they finally went to bed, they were totally exhausted. 

Just before falling asleep, Greg whispered, “I’ll have to add the incident on the plane, and how you found the bomb, to my journal.”  Ethan was too tired to answer.  He enveloped Greg’s cock in his hand, and fell fast asleep.

**********

The concierge recommended a moderately priced restaurant for dinner, and gave them directions to the theater district in London.  They didn’t have tickets to any shows in advance, but it wasn’t necessary.  Most people just queued up at the box office, like they would for a movie.  That way, during their stay in London, Ethan and Greg were able to see two musicals, which had not yet come to Broadway, and one which had its premiere on Broadway, but they could not afford to see at home.

They visited all the tourist spots, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Tate Museum, The British Museum, The Tower of London, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, and much more.  With the bomb scene at the airport behind them, Ethan and Greg were able to enjoy themselves as ordinary tourists.  Then it was on to Paris.  They made sure that they kept their passports with them and not in any carry-on luggage.

After the hospitality they experienced in London, Paris was a different story.  The people not only disliked Americans, they seemed to hate them.  Greg could not understand this.  After all, Americans had liberated them from the Nazis, and now American tourists were an important part of their economy.

Their very first day in Paris, they were standing at an open fruit kiosk.  The fresh fruit looked juicy and inviting, and they were discussing what to buy in English.  Suddenly, they heard a voice behind them say something in French.  Ethan didn’t understand, but Greg grew livid with anger.  What the man said, roughly translated to “Fucking Americans.”

Greg turned to the man, and began to tell him off in French.  The man was more than surprised, he was shocked.  “Excuse me,” he said in French.  “I thought you were Americans.” 

“We are Americans, dunderhead.  Now get lost.”

The tactless Parisian was not about to back off, and he began a staring contest with Greg.

“What did he say?” Ethan asked.

“He called us Fucking Americans.”

Ethan aimed his eyes at the man’s shoes, and they immediately caught fire.  The man screamed, and started stomping his feet in a vain attempt to put out the fire.

“Tell him that’s what he gets for disrespecting Americans,” Ethan requested of Greg.  Greg laughed, and conveyed Ethan’s message to the man.  He continued to dance around in pain while Greg purchased fresh fruit for him and Ethan.  They left with a bad taste for the people of Paris.

“I thought they’d be friendlier, since I speak French,” Greg mused.

They visited Notre Dame Cathedral, The Orsay Museum, and The Louvre, and decided to cut their stay in Paris short, and go on to Rome.  Their flight home left from Rome, so they would have a couple of extra days there.

They spent the first two days visiting many of the historical sites in Rome.  After dinner on the third day, they approached the concierge, and asked him if he could direct them to a little exciting night life.  The concierge winked at them, and said in perfect English, “I’m gay, and I can smell that you two are a couple.  Would you like to go to the gay section of Rome?”

“Now that sounds like fun,” Ethan said, and a few minutes later the concierge called a taxi to take them there.  The driver dropped them off in front of a gay bar, where the concierge had instructed him to take the two Americans.

Ethan and Greg were pleasantly surprised.  The bar looked like, and the patrons resembled, any place they had ever visited in Greenwich Village.  They approached the bar, and the bartender asked what he could do for them.  They didn’t understand him, but Greg ordered a scotch and soda for himself and an O’Doul’s for Ethan.

“I speak a little English,” the bartender said, “so next drink you can order in English.”  He smiled, and held out his hand to welcome the two tourists to his country.  They were definitely happy to be out of Paris.

The place was too crowded, and there was no place to sit, so they stood against a wall nursing their drinks.  They watched the guys dancing for a while, and Ethan propositioned Greg.  “After we finish our drinks, would you like to dance with me?”

“I’d love to,” Greg said, and he reached over to kiss Ethan.

While they were smooching, two exceptionally good looking Italians approached them.  They spoke very little English, but made it understood that they would like to spend the night with the two tourists.  Both Americans were tempted, but Ethan was also suspicious.  Reading minds required no linguistic talents.  Thoughts came through as pictures and ideas.  These two men were intending on robbing them.

Ethan put his index finger to his lips to indicate to Greg not to say anything, and to just follow his lead.

“Sure,” Ethan said.  “It sounds like fun.  Where can we go?”  Greg was shocked in a very unpleasant way.

“I live just a few streets from here.  Follow me,” one of them said.

As soon as they got outside, Ethan knocked their heads together, and they both passed out.  He took off both their trousers and used their belts to bind their legs and arms.  Inside the pockets, Ethan retrieved a total of four billfolds.  He took the trousers with the billfolds back into the bar, and spoke to the bartender.

“There are two hustlers tied up outside your front door.  They have no pants on.”  Ethan threw the pants on the counter and said.  “These belong to them and there are several stolen wallets in the pockets.  I suggest you call the police.”

Then, cool as a cucumber, without missing a beat, he took Greg’s hand and led him onto the dance floor.  After that incident, they enjoyed the rest of the evening.  When they finally left the bar, the streets were nearly deserted, so Ethan flew Greg and him back to the hotel.  “Beats trying to get a cab, this time of night,” he whispered in Greg’s ear. 

Greg whispered back, “You’re filling up my journal way too fast, big guy,” and he fell fast asleep in Ethan’s arms.

Of all the places they visited, they enjoyed Rome the most, because with the help of the concierge, they discovered a very swinging gay night life.  They spent every morning in bed, making love.  Greg’s ass was very sore, but he wouldn’t tell Ethan.  At night they partied in gay night clubs.

But the best part of travelling, as anyone will tell you, is coming home.  They were very happy to be home at last, and they couldn’t wait for the new semester to begin.  They also hoped that Ethan could take a vacation from being a superhero.

To be continued...

Posted: 09/22/17