Anonymous Guest

At this point they were interrupted by the doorbell; their food had arrived.

Dale kept an eye on Travis as they ate, and after dinner he said: "You look exhausted. I'm putting you to bed. In the morning, we'll call your boss to tell him you're taking some sick time."

"What do you mean you're putting me to bed, I'm not a toddler. And I'm not used to being ordered around."

"Well get used to it, at least for the next few weeks; you took care of me, now I'm taking care of you. You'll need help buttoning your shirt and tying your shoes and doing all the other things that require those sidelined fingers. I'm keeping you here until you're fully recovered."

Travis began to protest. Dale cut him off. "When we call your boss tomorrow, give him my phone number and tell him you'll be staying with me."

Dale again tried to object and again was interrupted: "Just shut up and do as you're told, or I'll squeeze those fingers."

Travis chuckled. "Looks like I'd better not get on your bad side."

"Damn right. Now get that cute ass of yours into the bathroom and brush your teeth, or whatever it is you do at bedtime."

Travis had to admit to himself that a bit of pampering actually sounded good. He rose wearily and went to wash up.

Entering the bedroom after he had stripped, he found Dale already there. Dale ran his eyes over Travis's nude body. "Damn it, you're tantalizing. I'll keep my distance though; you need sleep." He pointed to a pair of pajamas he had placed on a chair. "Now put those on and then it's into bed with you."

"I'm much too tired to bother with pajamas" Travis replied as he crawled under the covers. "I'll sleep naked."

Dale walked to the bed and adjusted the blankets around him. Travis grinned. "You really are babying me."

"Only in some ways" Dale said with a smirk, starting to undress. "I'm about to join you."

"Is this your typical bedtime?"

"If you're in my bed, that's where I want to be." Dale opened a drawer and took out a pair of pajamas.

Travis was watching. "Please don't wear those."

Dale gave him an inquiring look.

"I don't want anything between us."

Dale's penis, which had begun to harden and rise at the sight of Travis's naked body, rose higher. "I'd love that." He got in under the covers but made no move, waiting for Travis to decide what he should do, and when.

Travis had already decided. "Can I sleep in your arms?"

Dale beamed. "Nothing would make me happier." He moved over and put his arms around Travis, who cuddled up and was soon asleep.

***********

Early in the morning, Dale awoke when he felt Travis move. He opened his eyes and saw his bed companion gazing at him. "Good morning" he said. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not long. I didn't mean to disturb you."

"It's ok, this is more sleep than I usually get. And having you in my arms" he added, hugging Travis more tightly and giving him a quick kiss, "was marvelous."

Travis looked thoughtful; Dale's mention of adequate sleep reminded him of something: "Have you had any seizures since that zone-out two days ago?"

"Come to think of it, no."

Travis smiled. "Dale, that's another sign of progress."

"Yeah, it is. How about we celebrate with a big, fancy breakfast?"

"Sounds good. How about we make that the second part of the celebration ... after I make love to you?"

"Are you up for that?"

"You have to ask if I'm up? Can't you feel what's pushing against you?"

Dale laughed. "I'll have to try never to say anything you could take as a straight-line. I meant isn't it too soon, after what you went through yesterday."

"I knew what you meant. It will be therapy for me. And this time I want to be looking at your gorgeous face."

Dale gave him a quick kiss. "If that's what you want, that's what you shall have." He took the tube of lubricant and the condoms from a drawer in the bedside table, where he had transferred them two days earlier. He handed them to Travis and rolled onto his back. "Have you been tested?"

"Six months ago, two spaced tests for maximum confidence. And I haven't been with anyone since my breakup two years ago."

"Then forget the condom. I want you to have the full ride. I called my primary care doctor yesterday and told him about my current memory problem. I asked him whether I've been tested and he told me that whenever I'm seeing anyone I come in every three months to make sure I'm negative. My last test was a year ago."

"You did that for me? You're awesome!" Travis said, and moved downward. He was about to take Dale's penis into his mouth when Dale said "Don't. I'm close just from the thought of what we're about to do."

"In that case ..." Travis got up on his knees, took Dale's ankles and raised them high in the air. Looking down at the cheeks now made visible and soon to be parted, he commented: "Just as enticing from this angle" and pulled Dale's legs over his shoulders.

Dale hooked his ankles together.

Travis greased two fingers, pushed them between those enticing cheeks, and smeared the lubrication around, forcing a glob into Dale's puckered hole. Then he entered.

Dale opened to him and he quickly pushed all the way in, sighing blissfully. He paused for a few moments and then began to move with rapturous slowness, only gradually quickening his pace. When he had reached full speed and was pumping away, he leaned down and accompanied his thrusts with passionate kisses. He found Dale's prostate and concentrated on making him squeal with pleasure.

As Travis approached climax, he put a hand on Dale's quivering shaft. That light touch sent Dale over the brink: he came, powerfully and profusely. One of the spurts went all the way to his forehead.

After Travis too had climaxed, sending jets of semen deep into Dale, he pulled out and they lay facing each other, getting their breaths back.

Dale took gentle hold of Travis's injured hand. "Your poor fingers" he said, kissing each one. "Do they still hurt?"

"A little, but they're getting better. The doctor said the nails will grow in again."

"You know" Dale began, smirking craftily, "you're not supposed to get these bandages wet so you shouldn't try to wash yourself. It would be best if I give you sponge baths."

"Ok, that would be..." Travis mumbled, grinning languidly as his eyes closed and he drifted back to sleep.

Dale had almost fallen asleep as well, when the bedside phone rang. He muttered an annoyed profanity and reached for the phone, hoping to stop the noise before it woke Travis.

After a fairly long conversation, he hung up and lay back down.

"Who was it?" Travis asked, his eyes still closed.

"It did wake you. I'm sorry. That was my contact at the agency. One of the gang members sang. He gave up the rest, including the leader and the one who mugged me. The mugger wasn't there when you were rescued, but the songbird told them where he lives; they're on their way to get him. And we have answers."

Travis opened his eyes. "So they know who those guys are?"

"Yes. Everything was masterminded by the one who kept demanding the password from you, if the term 'masterminded' even applies here. He's a cultural attaché at the Russian Embassy and his first name is Dimitri; I wouldn't even attempt to pronounce his last name. When I heard his title I assumed it was a cover and that he was with the FSB, that's the successor to the KGB. The Russians are not the only ones who do that kind of thing, everybody does, including us. There are people in many of our own embassies who we claim are diplomatic functionaries but in reality they're doing clandestine work. My contact said this guy is the real thing, though, and as an attaché he has diplomatic immunity, so all Washington can do is throw him out of the country and lodge a protest with the Russian government. Violence was involved here, so this protest won't be a standard one."

"Why did he think the computer was mine?"

"He thought you were me; that was only one of his many screw-ups: To begin with, this would-be super-spy's idea of sophisticated espionage was to have my computer stolen, never thinking that a cyber-security expert's machine would be protected by passwords, or that it would be trackable. When he couldn't get it started he sent some goons to grab me. They only had my address, because Dimitri the Dimwit hadn't bothered to get his one picture of me back from the mugger and give it to them. When they saw you come out of my apartment they assumed it was me."

"Why didn't Dimitri recognize that I wasn't you?"

"The federal guys asked him that. He said he had never taken a good look at the picture before giving it to the mugger. It's amazing how ineptly the whole thing was set up. My guess is that he was trying to make a name for himself by showing that he could get something their FSB couldn't, and that he could do it on the cheap. He didn't know that spying takes expertise and smarts. Obviously he has neither. I expect he won't be treated very well when he gets back to the mother country."

"If all he wanted was the computer, why were your wallet and cell phone taken?"

"Probably to make it seem like an ordinary mugging." He looked at Travis's bandaged fingers. "It's too bad we don't have eye-for-an-eye law in the United States. Those guys ought to suffer the same thing they put you through. I'd be happy to watch. Better yet I'd like to do it myself."

They lay quietly for a while. Then Dale mused: "If they had gotten me, there would have been no one to figure out what happened and notify the right people. I'm sure I wouldn't last long under torture; by now Dimitri would have all my software and my designs."

"But you could come up with new ones, couldn't you?"

"When? You think they would let me go? Not a chance. My body would eventually have washed up on some shore, if it were ever found at all."

"Then it's a good thing I was the one they grabbed."

"What you went through was a good thing because it benefitted me? You would feel that way you wonderful, selfless man."

After another period of quiet, Travis asked: "What if my boss wants to know why I'm taking sick time?"

"Tell him to read the newspaper."

"It will be in the newspaper?" That possibility had not crossed Travis's mind.

"Of course it will. The exposure of a foreign spy and the rescue of a hostage, that's big news. It will be on front pages all over the country."

"But the story won't mention me specifically, will it?"

No reply. Travis had an unpleasant vision of being hounded by reporters. "Dale, will it identify me?"

"I couldn't keep your name out even if I wanted to. Don't look so horrified, they'll be trampling each other to get an exclusive interview. Hold out for a good price, see if you can instigate a bidding war."

Only now did Travis begin to grasp the importance of what had happened, and the fact that he was going to be a celebrity. "I'll be famous. What a change that will be." He was starting to like the idea.

Dale let him savor the thought for a while. Then he said: "Travis, look at me. There's something I want to tell you."

Travis turned to him.

"When I saw you carried out of that building tonight and you were so still, I was sure you were dead. I don't know which was worse, thinking that I had lost you or knowing that your death was my fault. Then you waved. And you smiled at me! I never thought I could feel such joy. I tried to run to you, I wanted to scoop you up and never let go."

Travis's eyes began to fill with tears. "You really do..."

Dale stopped him with a kiss. "Yes, I really do love you. Why are you crying?"

"These are tears of happiness."

Dale tenderly kissed the rivulets of tears and said: "I never believed in love at first sight; after all, it had never happened to me. But the moment I looked up that day to see who had spoken so kindly to me and my eyes met yours, it did happen. I tried to deny it, even though the more time I spent with you the more the feeling grew. Then, outside that building tonight, confronted by the thought that I had lost you, my denial evaporated. You said you don't want any new entanglements, and I accept that. I just want you to know that I love you more than I can say. I can't forgive myself for the fact that you almost lost your life because you stopped to help me. Maybe Dorothy Parker was right when she wrote that no good deed goes unpunished."

Travis seemed to ponder the matter. "Well, let's see: Until a few days ago I was creeping through life, afraid of the slightest change and doing my best to avoid significant human contact. Then I stopped to help you. As a result, I went through some severe pain and what I fervently hope will turn out to be the worst scare I'll ever have. That's the negative side. On the positive side, I'm no longer a slave to a daily routine, I'm going to be famous, I found that I could fall in love again, and best of all the man I've fallen in love with just told me that he's in love with me. Some punishment."

"That's not what I was talking about."

"I know. What I'm saying is that on balance it seems to me I've come out of this way ahead. And speaking of balance, you saved my life today. That more than cancels any debt you thought you owed me."

"Au contraire, mon amour, you wouldn't have been in such danger if not for me. I owe you more than ... wait a minute, did you just say you're in love with me?"

"Duh. If you didn't know that, maybe your recovery isn't as far along as I thought." A sly smile crept across his face. "Tell you what: Since you're convinced that you still owe me, how about paying off the debt by having me in your bed every night until it's fully paid, would that be acceptable?"

"Oh yeah."

"I should warn you, there's no telling how long it will take, maybe forever."

"I can be very patient" Dale said, running a loving hand lightly over Travis's face.

Travis sighed happily. "That's good. Patience is a virtue."

Dale kissed him. "In fact, since I want you in my bed, it shouldn't count against the debt at all."

Travis reached around and smacked Dale on his bare bottom. "Oh be quiet and kiss me again."

END

Addenda

In case some readers have avoided all exposure to French:

'Au contraire, mon amour' means 'On the contrary, my love'.

And for those unfamiliar with the work of Dorothy Parker:

Ms. Parker was a writer, most famous for her wit.