Catering With Benefits (3) - An Appetite for More - 14. Plans, Probes, Producers and Princes

As Thomas walked down the hallway of their home he heard Jared on the phone say “I’ve got to go now, my partner’s home. I’ll call again.”

“No need to cut your call short, for me.”

“That’s ok, I was finished anyway.”

“Didn’t sound like that.”

“I said I was finished. Leave it, will you.”

“Ok, no need to be so touchy. Got another man, have you?”

“NO! And stop quizzing me.” demanded Jared.

“Ouch.”

“Sorry, give me a kiss.”

“That’s better.” After their embrace, Thomas asked “Can you give me a hand fetching the groceries from the car?”

“Sure, love to. Buy anything exciting?”

“No, just the same old usual lobster, prawns and a couple of Balmain bugs.”

“Really, what’s the special occasion?”

“I thought we might have a little celebration dinner for our new jobs. I’ve given up waiting for Jonathan to spring for a slap up meal at his club, as promised, but not yet delivered.”

“You’re right, I forgot about that.”

“And it’s also worth celebrating me having exclusive use of your body, now I don’t have to share you with Mrs P.”

“You know it was a buzz for a while, being a stud, but I’m relieved it’s over.”

“Good, I’ve been waiting to hear that. Now about these groceries.”

“After we do that, let’s shower together, see what happens, and cook later.”

<>

As he left the bathroom and walked into their bedroom, Thomas noticed Jared’s phone blinking and took a quick look as he passed by. “You’ve got a missed call from someone called ‘Fixer’. Who’s that?”

“Oh, just an old army mate.”

“How did he get a name like that?”

“We all had nicknames in our unit. He was always tinkering with broken things, instead of just requisitioning new stuff.”

“That’s a bit boring. I thought it might be more exotic, something like a guy who arranges for difficult things to be done. Not always according to the rules. That would seem more likely when you’re in exotic places.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Just a feeling.”

“Speaking of feelings, how would you like to feel this inside you?”

Thomas turned, expecting to see Jared gesturing towards his erection. But he was holding some sort of metal rod with wires extending from one end.

“Fuck, what’s that?”

“My...that is our...new sex toy.”

“It looks more like something out of Desmond workshop. Not made by your fixer friend is it?”

“No, It’s a multi-use stimulator. On low it gives you pleasurable stimulation. But when you up the voltage, pleasure turns to pain, as much as you want.”

“How interesting, but I might pass for now. Your dick is electrifying enough for me and all I want is the pleasure of you inside me. Just fill me with your man meat.”

“I can do that, but this is not an arse probe. It’s a deep penis sounding rod with optional electro stimulation.”

“I’m not with you, sounding rod?”

“Yes, surely you’ve heard of penis sounding.”

“No, when did that become a thing?”

“Lots of guys are into it now.”

“I’m not saying I’m interested, but tell me about it.”

“Well, forgetting the electro bit for now. You get a strong erection and then you slip the rod into your penis. You can go shallow or deep according to taste.”

“How deep?”

“You start off with just the length of your dick. You can slide the rod in and out to stimulate your urethra.”

“You want me to poke a stick down my penis?” asked Thomas.

“That’s the general idea. Then if you want to go further, you can go into the prostate and stimulate that. Then, if you’re really into it, right into your bladder.”

“You’re not winning me over.”

“Here let me show you some guys doing it on my phone.” Jared brought up the appropriate video and showed Thomas.

“Look, he put the rod in a little and then it just dropped in by itself.”

“Yeah, that’s a custom made unit with a knob on the end. The extra weight helps it drop in.”

“Now he’s wanking. Looks like he’s about to come. Will the rod stop him from coming?”

“Just watch what happens next.”

“Bugger me, the rod’s bobbing up and down as he orgasms. Wait...there’s his cum running down his dick. That looks hot. “What else have you got there?”

Jared pulled up another video for Thomas.

“Fuck! That guy’s poking a chopstick down there and he doesn’t even look Chinese.”

“You can use whatever you like, but best if it’s smooth and certainly not sharp.”

“And now it’s gone in deeper than the length of his penis. Fuck, he’s put the whole thing in. Now he’s putting in a second chopstick ....and now he’s wanking.”

“Are you ready to give it a try?”

“You show me first.”

“Wait, I’ve got a regular sounding rod. You’re probably not ready for the elctro model yet.”

“I’m not ready for anything yet.”

“Ok, here it is. I’ll lube it up and then you can insert it for me.”

“You want me to poke this down your dick?”

“Sure, it’ll be ok if you do it slowly. Go on.”

Thomas did as requested, and when it was in to the length of his penis Jared said “Now move it in and out so it massages my urethra.”

“Ok.”

As Thomas slowly did as asked, Jared said “Oh yes, that’s good. You know the inside of your urethra is quite sensitive to stimulation.”

“Does it really feel good?”

“You won’t know till you try. Open the side table drawer, I bought you your own. It even has your initials engraved.”

Thomas retrieved the rod, lie on his back and let Jared insert the rod into him.

***

Edward wasted no time getting on with his plans to leave his job and move in a new direction. He lodged his application for a retrenchment package and also enrolled in a TAFE college to do a Certificate IV Celebrancy course. He was disappointed when he found it would take him twelve months to get his qualification, but went ahead with the enrolment and looked for other opportunities he could exploit during that year.

***

To support their friends business ventures, Poppy’s and Deans became the group’s regular hangouts. Wednesday night became their unofficial get-together night as it was the restaurants quiet night and Craig and Justin always took that night off.

Over drinks, Justin asked Tristan about his dance project he was working on.

“I’ve pretty much finished the choreography, the music will be all existing songs I will seek the right to use and I’m working on the stage design, but that will depend on the venue. I don’t plan to have it in a traditional theatre that will be too expensive. I have a few venues in mind and at present my favourite is a bath house I know of in south Sydney. Unlike most bath houses, it has open space, a pool and above the pool a glass ceiling that is the floor of the upper level. I think it presents fabulous opportunities for staging.”

“I think I know the one you mean.” said Raj “I used to go there. In fact that’s where I met Rom....oh never mind. You were saying Tristan.”

“Um...yeah. The audience will not be seated, they will be able to move around the venue. In fact they will have to move around to follow the dancers. We will take advantage of the pool and the glass floor. The audience will be able to see the dance from different perspectives.

“Have you secured the venue yet?”

“I’ve had one meeting with them and they’re very excited about the project. Some areas are too small for an audience, such as the private rooms, sling room and such. The dancers will perform different acts as solos, duos or threesomes and the audience can pop in and out of each room or area during those sequences. During this act the music will be heard throughout the venue. So the audience experience will not be uninterrupted.”

“You mentioned using the pool. How do you dance in a pool?”

“I’ve contacted the gay synchronised swimming team and the water polo team. They are willing to come on board to either teach my dancers or perform themselves. It’s going to be like nothing ever done before in this country.”

“It certainly sounds very different and exciting. Are there going to be any sex scenes?”

“Of course there will be simulated sex in an artistic way. I have not choreographed actual sex, but if the dancers get carried away, who knows what might happen.”

“Is that what they call improvisation.” asked Jeremy.

“Or seriously straying off script.” added Andy.

“So when do you plan to stage this sextravaganza.” asked Dean as he took the opportunity to join the conversation during a quiet moment in his bar duties.

“Initial plans are to have it play during Mardi Gras month, but I was thinking it might be a good idea to have previews before that, if I can find a venue.”

Edward’s ears pricked up and you could almost hear the wheels turning in his head, but he said nothing at this point.

Looking at Dean, Jeremy asked “How’s the bar business going?”

“Andy and I are happy with it so far, but we intend to build up the turnover. As the bar was just part of the restaurant when we took over, the prices were a bit steep. Traditionally, bars attached to restaurants generally only serve customers one or two drinks before they are called to their table so they get away with high prices. We want to make this a regular for groups, such as you guys. To attract that sort of crowd we’ve lowered the prices to near pub prices.”

“While on that subject.” added Andy “I want to thank you guys for making this your regular hangout. It means a lot to us, to have your support.”

“On behalf of the group, I want to say you are doing a great job here Dean and why wouldn’t we support our mates.” said Thomas “Right guys?”

“Sure” they replied enthusiastically.

“So Edward” asked Craig “What’s this I hear about you retiring; you’re a bit young for that?”

“I’m not retiring completely, just taking a redundancy from Telstra and using the payout to finance me into other ventures.”

“Tell us more.” asked Raj.

“Well I wasn’t going to mention it yet, but as long as we are in this venue and you’re all so keen to hear, I’ll share some of my ideas with you.”

“Sounds exciting already.” replied Brett.

“Firstly, I’ve started my training to get qualified to be a marriage celebrant. That will take about a year, so in the meantime I’m going to mentor Juanito. Did he tell you he can sing and looks great in my old evening gowns?”

“You mean he’s going to do drag?” asked Brett, with a twinkle in his eye.

“Yes, and the best part is, he can actually sing. No lip syncing for my protégée. I will produce his shows as well as teaching him.”

“Where are you going to do these shows?” asked Justin.

“Glad you asked. I was thinking of a venue very near here.”

“The Flinders pub?”

“No even closer.”

“Wait!” said Craig “You don’t mean here?”

“Not in the bar, but there’s a perfectly good function room out the back that doesn’t seem to get much use.”

“Have you spoken to Prentice?”

“Not yet, I was hoping you’d introduce us and I’ll see what sort of deal we can put together.”

“It will be my pleasure and will be great to see it get some use.”

“And also extra business for you and the bar.” added Thomas. “Everybody gets a piece of the action.”

“Edward, I’ve got an idea.” said Tristan

“I know what you’re going to ask. I was going to suggest it to you myself.”

“Would you consider coming on board as a producer for my show?”

“Hell, I was just going to suggest using the function room for your previews. I’ll have to think about the producer role, but I am flattered and I’ve thought about it. Yes!”

***

Over the next few days Romel and Edward spoke to Raj and Juanito respectively about Edward’s idea of them writing to each other about their feelings.

“So you say, Romel is asking Raj to do the same.” Juanito said to Edward.

“Yes, it seems he confided in Romel as you did with me. Then Romel and I discussed you both and came up with this idea. I know it’s not what you young people normally do, that is why I thought it might work better than texts and all the modern stuff.”

“But how does he feel about me. Why should I write to him if he’s not interested?”

“I not going to convey messages between you two, but think of it this way. You have confided in me that you still have feelings for Raj, so you should tell him. If Raj writes to you then you will know how he feels. Just the action of writing to you is an indication of his interest.”

“You know how I hate people trying to run my life for me and you’re doing it again.”

“I’m not trying to run your life, you approached me about this matter and I’m giving you a suggestion.”

“After you discussed it with Romel.”

“If I hadn’t we wouldn’t know about Raj. So come on, forget all this, you’re interfering in my life, nonsense and give it a go. You have nothing to lose but the love of a sensitive man to gain.”

“Edward, you would have made a great father, the way you explain things.”

“Thank you, high praise indeed from you.”

***

“What if he doesn’t want to write to me?” asked Raj

“Then you’ll know he doesn’t want to pursue the relationship.”

“I mean if I write and he doesn’t, it’ll seem like I’m begging for him to come back and I’ll feel even worse than I do now, having expressed my feelings and getting no response.”

“How about this? You write to him and give the letter to me. If he doesn’t give Edward a letter for you then I won’t pass on your letter to him. If he does then we’ll exchange the letters for you and then it’s up to you two from then on. Sound fair?”

“I wish I could discuss these things with my parents as I do with you Romel, but they just don’t get it. They don’t interfere but I know they don’t approve of my lifestyle either.”

“Many Filipino parents are like that also. You have to count the blessings you have and they are, as you have said, they don’t interfere and they haven’t cut you off or thrown you out of your home. Furthermore, once you have a regular relationship they may come around to acceptance. Didn’t you say they welcomed Juanito into your home for Christmas and did not object to you two staying together at your neighbour’s house?”

“I suppose that was a big step for them.”

“And I suspect, their way of showing acceptance without putting it into words.”

“Ok Romel, I’ll do it and thanks for your understanding and helping me understand about my parents.”

***

Letters were exchanged, texts followed and then phone calls. One of those calls resulted in arranging a dinner date for two, at Poppy’s.

<>

Later that night, when Edward went to bed he left his bedroom door ajar, so he could hear Juanito coming home. It was one time that he was glad he was a light sleeper. He heard the front door open and close, but that was all he heard until “Shushhhhh”.

He immediately woke Romel, “What do you want, I was sound asleep”

“They’re here.”

“Who’s here, intruders?”

“No Juanito and I think Raj.”

“Did you hear them talking?”

“No, I just heard a shush.”

“What does that prove?”

“You don’t shush yourself, so there must be someone else with him. If it’s not Raj, this queen will not be amused.”

“Fine, now leave the princes to it and let your duke get some sleep.”

<>

The following morning all four breakfasted together and all was right in Edward’s world.