Perfect Can't Endure - 5. Wednesday

I woke up to Asher kissing my forehead, and I tilted my head to kiss him back.

“I have to go to the dentist today,” he said sadly. “I’m getting my wisdom teeth pulled.”

I kissed him again. “Want me to come?” I asked.

He looked surprised, and as he thought about it more he looked happy. “Sure,” he said. “That sounds good.”

I grinned, glad that I’d cheered him up, and we got dressed and canoed back to the cottage, where we immediately got onto the dirt bike and left for Martha and Bernie’s. We arrived, and they told us Asher’s appointment was at eight thirty, and that it was fine if I came. It was seven fifteen now, so Asher and I had showers and I borrowed some of his clothes. When we were done, we all piled into Bernie’s car and left. The drive was only fifteen minutes, and the dentist was ready early, so they took him in as soon as we got there, telling us he wouldn’t be too long. Martha, Bernie, and I sat in the waiting room until Asher finally came out. He gave me a sleepy smile when he saw me, and walked over to sit beside me.

“Are you OK?” I asked him, but he only smiled. “That’s a yes, right?” I asked, and he leaned into me, resting his head on my shoulders. We stayed like that while the dentist answered Martha and Bernie’s questions, and finally they came to fill me in.

“The procedure went well,” Martha said, grinning, “But he’ll be high on those drugs for two hours at least.”

I nodded, relieved. I looked down at Asher, and saw him staring at a wall. His eyes slowly followed something only he could see, and Bernie laughed as he noticed too.

“Oh yeah,” he said, grinning. “He’ll be hallucinating the whole two hours, too.”

“Hopefully you’ll decide to fill us in on what you see,” I said to Asher, and he smiled at me again, still not talking. I put my arm around his shoulders to help get him to the car, since he seemed likely to wander off. He never tried to, though, instead wrapping his arm around my waist and walking into the car. He sat down and put his own seatbelt on, and I sat in the back with him. He held my hand the whole car ride, but never said anything, just watched whatever his mind was telling him was on the street. When we got home, he seemed less subdued, and he got out of the car and wandered inside. I followed closely after, wanting to make sure he didn’t try anything dangerous, but he just walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, smiling happy as he watched me sit beside him. Martha and Bernie sat down too, across from us, and each picked up a book and began reading, glancing up occasionally to make sure Asher was OK. It wasn’t long before he turned and lay down on the couch, resting his head and shoulders on my lap.

“Asher, don’t put your shoes on the couch,” Martha said, grinning.

“Sorry Mr. President,” Asher said, taking off both of his shoes and one of his socks before going back to how he’d been.

We all laughed, except Asher, who kept watching Martha as if he was wondering what she was doing in the living room. Eventually, he lost interest, and looked up at me. I wondered who he thought I was, but apparently it was still me. He reached up and touched my lips, smiling when I kissed his hand.

“I want to see you in your boxers again,” he told me. “You’re my boyfriend, so I can do that, right?”

I looked over at Martha and Bernie, blushing, but they were laughing.

“Not in my living room,” Martha said, and Asher turned back to her.

“Shouldn’t you be doing president things?” He asked, annoyed, and we all laughed.

Asher looked confused. “Why are you even in Canada?” He asked.

“I live here,” Martha said, grinning.

“No you don’t,” Asher said. “We have a prime minister, not a president.”

“I’m not the president,” Martha told him, trying not to laugh.

Asher turned back to me. “You’re still Ben, right?” he asked anxiously.

I smiled reassuringly. “Yeah,” I told him. “I’m still Ben.”

“Good,” he replied softly, settling down again before noticing my arm. He gently grabbed my arm, and examined it. “You have a nice elbow,” he complimented me, smiling happily up at me.

“Thanks,” I laughed, softly stroking his hair in gratitude.

Asher looked around the room, seeming confused. “Why do all these shapes keep appearing and disappearing?” he asked, reaching up to swat something imaginary away from my head. “Stupid triangles,” he muttered.

Martha, Bernie, and I couldn’t stop laughing, but Asher looked totally serious.

“You won’t disappear, right?” he asked, grabbing onto my arm again.

“No,” I told him. “I promise.”

He nodded, reassured. “I really like your elbow,” he told me.

I continued running my fingers through his hair, and he thought for a minute.

“Can I have it?” he asked.

“You want me to cut it off?” I asked, pretending to be taken aback.

He shook his head vehemently. “No,” He said. “It needs to be attached to you.”

“OK,” I agreed, amused. “You can have it.”

“Thank you,” he said, giving it a kiss. “Now you’re not allowed to hurt it,” he told me happily.

“I’ll try not to,” I promised, feeling even more protective of him.

Asher looked around a bit more, but his attention returned to me pretty quickly.

“Can we go sit on the jetski?” he asked.

I smiled patiently. “The jetskis are all at Tommy’s,” I told him. “We brought the dirt bike here.”

Asher opened his mouth, but I silenced him with a kiss. “We shouldn’t go anywhere,” I told him. Martha and Bernie wanted us here in case something went wrong.

“We don’t need to go anywhere,” he told me, as if I’d missed something obvious. “I just like how you put your arms around me when we’re on the ATV.”

I smoothed one of his eyebrows, flattered enough that I didn’t correct him about the dirt bike again. I kicked off my shoes, earning a nod of approval from Martha, and spun so Asher was sitting in between my legs, his back against my chest and my arms around his stomach.

Asher smiled at me. “I don’t understand you,” he told me, out of nowhere. “You’re like a three dimensional shape in my two dimensional world.”

I blinked, thinking about that, but Asher continued.

“You’re like that first stick,” he said softly, snuggling closer to me. “The forked one.”

“What forked stick?” I asked, amused.

“The one in a teepee,” he told me, surprised I hadn’t understood.

I got some time to think about that while Asher watched the ceiling.

“You’re like an astronaut,” he said, sounding reverent.

“What?” I laughed, confused. I could understand his other metaphors, but I couldn’t find any sense in this one.

He reached up, seeming surprised that he could touch my cheek.

“Good,” he said. “Your helmet isn’t real.”

“No, it’s not,” I agreed, smiling.

“That means you’re staying here, right?” he asked, looking at me again for reassurance.

I nodded seriously. “I’ll be right here,” I told him. “I won’t leave.”

“You can leave if you want,” Asher told me absently, looking at the roof again. “I don’t mind, as long as you take me with you.”

I grinned, and he turned to look at Martha and Bernie, who’d set down their books to watch us.

“Hi grandma,” he said. “Hi grandpa. I want you to meet somebody really special,” he told them, grinning happily at me. “This is Benjamin. He’s an astronaut.”

Martha and Bernie laughed, and Asher turned back to me. “I know your name isn’t really Benjamin,” he said. “It’s just a better astronaut name.”

I laughed, and he looked back at the ceiling, watching something else. He lay there for a while, and Martha decided to go make cookies for when he was lucid again. Bernie followed her out, and I watched Asher.

“I want to kiss you, but I can’t reach,” he told me. “Will you kiss me?”

I grinned, and leaned down to give him a gentle upside-down kiss.

He smiled. “Benjamin, my sexy space explorer boyfriend,” he said happily.

I grinned, and he started watching the wall intently. After a minute, he lost his focus and began looking around the room for something interesting.

“I used to be really lonely,” he told me matter-of-factly, snuggling closer. “But now I have an astronaut’s elbow, and I’ll never be alone again.”

“No,” I promised, feeling my eyes mist over. “You won’t.” I leaned down to kiss him again, but this time he held the back of my head, prolonging our kiss. We only stopped when Bernie cleared his throat, and I jumped, realizing I didn’t know how long he’d been there for. Asher gave me another quick kiss before letting me go, and I smiled down at him.

“Don’t be sad,” he said, reaching up to gently wipe the moisture from my eyes. “I’m right here.”

I smiled at him again, and he dropped his hand to my thigh.

“I want to see you in your boxers again,” he repeated, “But the president doesn’t want me to do it here. Maybe in the kitchen?” He asked me hopefully.

I laughed. “Not in the kitchen,” I told him, glancing awkwardly at Bernie, who was trying not to laugh. “The president wouldn’t like that either.”

Asher frowned. “Where can I see you in your boxers, then?” he asked.

I glanced nervously at Bernie again, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“Maybe in your bedroom,” I told him. “When we go to sleep.”

“That sounds good,” he told me, holding back a yawn. “Can we go to my bedroom, then?”

I looked at Bernie, and he nodded, telling me it’d be OK.

I helped a grinning Asher up, and we walked to his room, where he closed the door and sat on the bed.

“OK Mr. Astronaut,” he said, grinning happily. “Now I get to see you in your boxers, right?”

I laughed. “If you want,” I told him.

He nodded enthusiastically. “You’re so sexy in your boxers,” he said, standing up. “Can I help you take off your clothes?”

I swallowed, but nodded shyly. He smiled happily and stepped closer, taking hold of my shirt. He slowly pulled it over my head, and then admired my chest, grinning. I stepped out of my shoes and kicked off my socks, and he crouched down in front of me, carefully taking the waistband of my shorts in his hands and pulling them down, grinning as more and more of my legs came into view.

“You’re so perfect,” he told me. “Can I touch your butt again, before we go to sleep?”

I nodded, not wanting to deny him anything. “First we have to get you ready for bed,” I told him, pulling his shirt over his head. I could feel myself hardening as I saw the tanned, muscular expanse of his chest, so I moved on to his shorts quickly. His legs were just as arousing, and as he kicked off his one remaining sock, I looked him up and down appreciatively.

“I like it when you look at me like that,” he told me, grinning.

I blushed as he stepped closer, giving me a kiss and running his hands down my back to my ass. He squeezed my ass gently, our kiss getting more passionate, and let go before we became uncomfortable.

He looked down, and I followed his gaze to see two pairs of tented boxers. I blushed and covered mine with my hands, jumping into bed and getting under the covers. Asher grinned and got into bed after me.

“I think I’m going to be embarrassed about that when I can think straight again,” Asher said. “I think I’m going to be embarrassed about a lot of things I’ve said, too.”

I smiled. “Don’t worry,” I told him. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I think it was cute.”

Asher smiled again, and started to close his eyes. He stopped halfway through, and looked at me.

“If I close my eyes now, will you still be here when I open them?” he asked, nervous.

I nodded. “I’ll stay here,” I told him. “I might wake you up when the cookies are ready, though.”

Asher grinned. “Good,” he said, closing his eyes. “I like cookies.”

I smiled, even though he couldn’t see it, and watched him as he lay there. I could hear in his breathing that he still wasn’t asleep, so I snuggled closer to him and gave him a kiss. He smiled, and soon his breathing deepened, telling me he was sleeping. I wanted to go talk to Martha and Bernie about what Asher had said, because I was still feeling amused, and I considered trying to get up. I’d promised Asher that I’d be there when he opened his eyes, not that I’d stay with him the whole time. I decided not to, because I didn’t want to risk Asher waking up and finding me gone. He’d seemed genuinely afraid that I’d leave him for some reason, and I didn’t want to make him panic. There were other reasons that I’d stay, of course, and at the top of the list was how cute Asher looked as he slept. I could happily watch him for the next hour or two.

I’d been right, and an hour passed as we lay there before I heard the door open slowly. I looked up, away from Asher, and saw Martha and Bernie standing there. They smiled at us, and Martha tapped her watch and held up her hands to indicate fifteen minutes. I nodded, telling them I understood, and they closed the door again.

Fifteen minutes later, the scent of cookies began wafting through the house. I kissed Asher awake, and his eyes shot open when he took a breath.

“Mmm,” he said. “Those smell good.”

I grinned, and we hopped out of bed, putting on our clothes again. Before I opened the door, Asher turned to me.

“Is there anything I should be aware of before I go out there?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Most of what you said was pretty harmless,” I told him. “You don’t have much to be embarrassed about.”

He nodded, relieved, and we walked to the kitchen to get some cookies.

“Hey Asher,” Martha said, grinning. “Do you remember anything that you did?”

He shook his head. “Ben told me I didn’t do anything too embarrassing, though,” he said.

“You’re calling him ‘Ben’ again?” Bernie asked, pretending to be surprised. “What happened to ‘my sexy space explorer boyfriend’?”

Asher blushed. “I didn’t, did I?” he asked me, mortified.

I grinned. “You did,” I told him, putting my arm around his shoulders. He hid his face against my neck, and I laughed. “Personally, I thought it was cute,” I said, mock glaring at Bernie. He laughed, and Martha handed out cookies. Asher demanded that I tell him everything that had been said, word for word, and I regretted letting him know about my memory. I told him, but I had to stop when I got to the part where he’d told Martha to go back to doing ‘president things’, because we were all laughing too hard to continue. When we stopped laughing, I continued, but I stopped when we got to the part where he told me he’d always been lonely.

“What?” he asked, worried about what he’d said.

“I don’t think I should repeat this next part,” I said. “It wasn’t anything funny.” I didn’t think he’d want Martha or Bernie to know something private like that, even though I was pretty sure Bernie had been there, because he’d known about the ‘sexy space explorer boyfriend’ part.

Asher nodded, so I skipped it, giving him a kiss as a promise that I’d tell him later.

Both of us blushed as I repeated what he’d said about wanting to see me in my boxers, and we laughed about his idea that it’d be OK in the kitchen. I decided not to share anything that he’d said in the bedroom, since that was between him and me. I’d tell him later, when Martha and Bernie weren’t around. We all laughed about what Asher had said, and we tried to pick our favorite parts. Martha’s was when he’d thought she was the president, and taken off one of his socks, and Bernie’s was when he’d told Martha to go back to doing ‘president things’. Asher’s was when he’d tried to protect me from a triangle, but I couldn’t pick one.

“You can’t just not have a favorite,” he said. “How boring is that?”

I laughed. “I liked all of it,” I told him truthfully.

“Well then just pick a random one,” he said.

“OK,” I said, giving in. “I guess my favorite part was when you introduced me to your grandparents as an astronaut,” I said, grinning as I remembered.

Asher laughed. “I thought you’d like the part where I made you give me your elbow,” he said.

“I do,” I said, grinning. “That was really funny.”

“I wasn’t kidding, and you agreed to it,” Asher said seriously, grabbing my arm. “This is my elbow now.”

“It was the other one,” I laughed.

“Can I have this one too?” he joked. “I can’t believe I thought that meant you couldn’t get hurt,” he said, letting go of my arm to grab another cookie.

“I can’t believe you thought Martha was the president!” I laughed.

“What?” Martha said. “You don’t think I look like the president?”

We all laughed, but I could tell that Asher wanted to go do something. From his viewpoint, he’d had a really boring day. He’d gone to the dentist, and then woke up in bed and came down for cookies.

“Are you two going to be sleeping at Tommy’s cottage?” Martha asked.

Asher and I looked at each other, and nodded. “Bear would never forgive us if we made him sleep alone,” Asher said.

“OK,” Martha said. “I’ll pack up some cookies for you to share with Tommy when you get there.”

“Thanks,” we told her, tracking down Asher’s socks and shoes while she did that. Asher left them in the room, instead wearing flip-flops, and we headed back down to the kitchen. We grabbed the box of cookies, and thanked Martha and Bernie before getting on the dirt bike and driving home. We met Tommy in the kitchen, and we opened the box, sharing the cookies with him.

“How’d the procedure go?” Tommy asked Asher.

Asher looked at me. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t remember anything.”

“The dentist said it went really well,” I said.

Tommy nodded. “That’s good,” he said, and then grinned. “Did he say anything interesting afterwards?”

I grinned back. “Plenty,” I told him, while Asher blushed.

We told him the funniest bits, and Tommy tried to get me to add ‘sexy space explorer’ to my resume, but eventually we escaped downstairs to find Bear. We brought him upstairs, and introduced him to Tommy. As I’d expected, Tommy loved him, and said it would be fine if we wanted him to stay with us.

We decided to jog over to Martha and Bernie’s, to get some exercise and give Bear some time to explore before we asked them if he could stay. It took us half an hour, but it wasn’t boring. There was always something entertaining to watch, whether it was Bear chasing something or Asher’s ass as he ran. When we arrived, we stopped outside the house for a minute to take a breather. We rested for about thirty seconds before we started kissing, and that was when the door opened.

“You could have knocked,” Bernie laughed, entertained by our blushes.

“We were trying to catch our breath,” Asher said. “We just got distracted.”

Bernie laughed. “So what did you want to ask us?”

I’d never get used to how they always knew what was on our minds.

“Tommy’s OK with us keeping Bear at his cottage,” Asher explained. “Can he stay there all summer?”

“No,” Bernie said apologetically. “We don’t want to crowd him.”

Asher and I both laughed. “That won’t be a problem,” I said. “Tommy gave us our own floor. The only time he’d even see Bear is if he’s on the main floor, and he loves Bear anyway.”

Bernie shrugged. “If he’s sure it won’t be a problem, then you can keep him,” he said.

“Thanks!” we told him happily.

“Do you guys want to come over for dinner tonight?” I asked spontaneously. “We can all play cards, and you can see why Bear won’t be a problem for yourselves.”

“Does Tommy know about this?” Bernie laughed.

I grinned. “No, but he’ll be happy about it. He feels guilty if he leaves his work on his own, but if we drag him away he’ll have fun.”

Bernie laughed. “OK,” he agreed. “We’ll come.”

Asher and I grinned happily. “Awesome,” Asher said. “See you then!”

“I guess I don’t even have to ask if Asher will be sleeping at your place,” Bernie said, grinning.

I laughed. “We need to,” I said. “Bear doesn’t like being left alone, so we can’t leave him two consecutive nights.”

“Where were you last night?” Bernie asked, surprised.

“In our house,” Asher said proudly, grinning at the look on Bernie’s face.

“You have a house?” Bernie asked.

We nodded. “We built it,” I explained.

“Tommy gave us an island,” Asher added.

“Really?” Bernie asked, doubtful.

Asher laughed. “We’ll show you tomorrow. You’ll have to come over in the boat anyway. See you then!”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me away, laughing as Bernie yelled for us to come back.

We jogged back to Tommy’s, and this time I paid less attention to Bear and more to Asher’s beautiful ass. It’s not that Bear wasn’t interesting, it’s just that Asher was running. And I could watch. It’s funny how that one fact made me so happy. My smile only got wider when we got home and Tommy told us the laser had been delivered. We ran down to the water, and found it in the boathouse.

“It’s awesome,” I said, admiring it. It wasn’t a real laser, since neither of us had the skill to use one, but it was better. It was a small sailboat, just big enough for the two of us and Bear. We jumped in and took it out on a joyride, but it wasn’t very windy and we never got going fast. It was fun anyway, but Bear looked like he wasn’t having as much fun as we were, so we stopped at the island and beached it. We made him stay close to us in case the deer were back, but the food was gone and they were nowhere to be seen. We spread some more, and brought Bear inside. He had to sniff everything, of course, and we laughed as he decided that the house met his approval, and lay down on the bed.

“Not yet, Bear,” I joked. “We’re going swimming!”

Bear’s ears perked up, and we laughed again.

“Do you know that word?” I asked, in baby talk, and Bear barked. “OK then, let’s go!” I told him, opening the door. He jumped off the bed and raced out, and Asher and I ran after him.

“Go around!” Asher told him, pointing to the beach, and stripped off his shirt and jumped off the cliff. Bear started running to the beach, barking wildly, and I smiled and copied Asher, enjoying the shock as I hit the water. I floated back up to the surface, and saw that Bear had just reached the beach.

“Come on, Bear!” Asher called encouragingly, making Bear lunge into the water and swim towards us. He paddled towards us valiantly, the look on his face intent, and we couldn’t control our laughter.

“He’s so obedient!” I exclaimed, amazed.

Asher laughed. “It’s nothing that we did. He’s always been obedient.”

I shook my head in amazement, and Bear finally reached us. We swam around for a while, and then got back in the sailboat and went to the cottage. We called Martha and Bernie, and they said they’d head over now. We told Tommy, and ran down to the jetskis. We met Martha and Bernie on their boat halfway between our houses, and they followed past the island so they could see our house. We parked at the dock on the mainland, and they tied the boat up behind us.

“You two built that?” Bernie asked, impressed.

We nodded, and Martha laughed. “We’ll call you if we ever need something built,” she said, smiling at us.

I laughed. “This is how Tommy’s company started out,” I warned Asher. “If we’re not careful, we’ll end up as millionaires.”

Asher laughed, and we led Martha and Bernie up to the house. We gave them a tour, and they were amazed. We showed them the pizza oven, and Martha told us she understood why Asher hadn’t stayed at their house for a while. We all laughed, except Asher.

“She’s right, you know,” he said, making us laugh again. “I only like you for your pizza,” he told me, trying not to laugh.

“That’s OK,” I joked, fighting down a smile. “I’m really only dating you so I can be with Bear more often.”

Bernie snorted at how ridiculous we sounded, and we all laughed. Tommy came downstairs then, and we all made pizzas. We played a quick game of ‘Go Fish’ while the pizzas cooked, and after we ate we taught Tommy ‘Old Maid’. We all had fun until Martha and Bernie had to go home and get to bed, and Asher and I accompanied them on the jetskis. They got there OK, so we headed back to the cottage to meet Bear. We went down into my floor, and saw that Tommy had put the printer in the empty room. Asher watched patiently as I got all the pictures I wanted ready, and we left the printer to do its thing. We headed into my room, and Asher collapsed into my bed with all his clothes on. He mumbled something into the mattress, sounding tired.

“I have no idea what you just said,” I informed him, taking off his flip flops.

He turned his head to the side. “I’m so tired,” he repeated, his eyes closed.

“I’ll get you ready for bed,” I said, delighted at the opportunity.

“Thanks,” he said. “How come you’re never tired?”

I laughed. “I don’t know,” I told him, stripping to my boxers.

“You’re sexy,” he told me, and I saw he’d cracked one eye open to watch me.

I rolled my eyes and knelt next to him. I pulled his shirt off carefully, and he kissed my thigh as I leaned over him to toss it into the laundry basket. I grabbed the waistband of his shorts, and they soon joined the rest of our clothes in the basket.

“There,” I said, rubbing his back.

 

He groaned in thanks, too tired to use words, and I noticed how he liked my hand on his back. I smiled to myself and straddled his hips, sitting on his ass. I rubbed his back, and he moaned as I started to give him a massage. I kept massaging his back until he fell asleep, and then I rolled off him and gave him a kiss as I snugged against him. He mumbled something, but I couldn’t hear, and I didn’t ask, since his breathing told me he’d fallen asleep. I felt sleep claim me soon after, and I smiled happily to myself as I realized that no matter how good my dreams were, they’d never be as perfect as reality.