Brian: Taking Courage - 19. Noah and parents

"Do you have a lot of demanding clients, this gentleman seems to be prepared to go to some length", Marina stared at them over her glass of white wine.

Brian and Gordon were sitting in Val and Marina's garden room which had a lovely view of their large but plain garden, thanks to a modern extension that was mainly glass and opened out onto a terrace. The room was tidy but rather not to Brian or Gordon's taste, being mainly shades of beige, though the magazine-inspired décor seemed to have acquired a layer of personal items, and there was an eclectic, not to say random, selection of photographs and landscape watercolours on the walls. Marina had already made a dry comment that they were lucky, the cleaner had been today.

Val looked up, "Darling, don't be so inquisitive, it's none of our business."

Brian laughed, "It's OK. And no, they are not. But for other clients we offer a range of standard services, but this is a new bespoke one."

"Bespoke, as in whatever the customer wants?"

"That sort of thing. Some have quite specific requirements, and we now offer a service where we can try and meet them."

"At a fee."

"Precisely. It's just that Russ Kahn is very, very keen."

Val smiled, "Russ Kahn, a man with a finger in lots of pies. Can we enquire what sort of special services he needs; I can hardly imagine he wants some sort of exotic security."

"It's more what the guys will look like than what they do."

Marina laughed, she turned out to be rather sharper and perceptive than first appeared, "You mean wearing rather more exotic outfits."

Gordon nodded, "Something like that."

She gave a peal of laughter, "If you've got the money then even the security guards will look like beef-cake."

Gordon laughed too, "Hardly that. After all, Brian and I will be there and some of the guys are built like the proverbial brick…"

Marina raised an eyebrow, "If it's not too delicate a matter. Is this just costuming or what?"

"Firmly look but don't touch. We're clear on that, and the guys will get the option to say yay or nay."

"Presumably yay means a substantial bonus."

Brian nodded, "Hugh, the guy that handles these details, plans to come up with a sliding scale, based on flesh revealed at each particular occasion."

"And on this occasion, you will be wearing, what?"

Brian looked at Gordon who shrugged, this certainly wasn't the conversation they'd expected but it definitely broke the ice. "Jock-straps and boots."

"Good Lord!”

“And is this a regular thing?” Marina looked curiously at them.

“Not at all. As I said, it’s all rather new. An experiment.”

Val stared at them, “Well, Kahn must be keen, if he’s arranged all this for Toby.”

“Dead keen. He insisted the meeting be an evening one, so…”

Val smiled, “You gave him a challenge.”

“Challenge accepted; it seems.”

Marina looked up from her phone, “It seems that Mr. Kahn is a major donor to the Wetlands Centre.”

“Lucky for us.”

Thankfully, the conversation moved on and the exact reasons for the evening meeting passed by. Marina went and brought some food to go with wine. She apologised, saying that it was simply stuff bought from the deli, but Brian admitted that their talents in the kitchen were limited too. The boys had been fed earlier, but Marina assured them that she had sent some more food up to them and they had all grinned.

“This wetlands thing is a real life-saver.”

“Because you are both busy?”

“Not that”, Val shook his head, “it’s not just the wetlands, but all Noah's interests. There never seems to be time to fit them in. Life, work, school, his Grandparents, we never seem to be able to find calmer moments. How do you find it?”

“Exhausting”, Brian laughed, “we have new jobs, a new life here and now Toby is living with us full time. We’re still learning.”

Gordon grinned, “Slowly.”

“We try to do other things, but as you say, there’s so much living stuff to fit in.”

By the time Val shouted for the boys to come down, the four of them had had a good moan about life. None of it particularly constructive, but it certainly felt helpful. Someone to moan to who understood. They left it that there would be repeat, and that Marina and Val would come over to them, which scared Brian and Gordon shitless. But Marina said that they had heard all about the jungle from Noah and were keen to see it.

Brian had a ludicrous vision of them squatting round Gordon’s Mum’s lurid picnic table. He’d have to mention it to Gordon.

---

Toby had had an interesting time of it. Noah’s parents were different and a bit scary, but Noah’s Mum kept them fed and left them to themselves rather than constantly making sure what they were doing. Toby thought that Noah got left on his own a lot more than Toby did, and Noah didn’t seem to like visiting either of his Grandmothers.

But it meant that they had time to themselves. They had talked about Noah's projects at school, and Toby's stuff at the science fair, as well as the latest news from the bug hotels and the possibilities of the bees.

What they'd done first by common consent, however, was to get naked. Things had gone a lot further this time, and both boys had enjoyed themselves. Noah was a good kisser, and Toby decided he liked kissing. They had experimented a bit and explored each other, but what had been amazing was giving each other blow jobs, more than once. The first time had been a bit crazy, and they'd laughed a lot. Toby liked that; Noah was fun even when they were doing stuff together.

There was more stuff he wanted to do, and Noah did too; Noah had more information than Toby. But Noah's Mum had provided more food, which needed eating, and they'd had to tidy themselves up and Noah's room, so it didn’t look like they'd been doing stuff.

That was the problem, Noah's parents didn't know he liked boys, and he didn't want them to know. He was worried what they might think, evidently one of his Grandmothers was very religious, which sucked.

"You have a good time, sport?"

"Yeah, great Dad. Noah's Mum didn't cook, she just bought a lasagna from the shop. It was OK, but not as good as the food that you and Gran cook."

Brian laughed, "I'm glad that I'm up with my Mother in the cooking stakes."

"Well, you know", Toby paused, "I don't think Noah's Mum cooks much."

"Well, she does have a busy job as does his Dad."

"Yeah, but well", Toby pulled a face.

"What is it?"

"Well, I don't think that they do things like we do. You both work and that, but we go out at weekends and in the evenings. Noah doesn't do that; he spends a lot of time at home." Even Toby’s Mum had made sure they did things together and visited places, and she'd sometimes let Toby choose where they would go, providing there were also shops and that.

"On his own?"

"Sort of. There's someone that pops in. Can we do other things with him?"

"If you want to, sport. But you can't make people do things, and Noah's parents might not like him being too busy. He does have school-work and his exams next year will be important."

What Toby wondered was whether he would be able to invite Noah over to sleep. Toby's bed was a double one so there'd be room for Noah and him. Would Noah want to do that? Toby thought so. But would his Dad let him? It was one thing asking his Dad about getting together with Noah, it was quite another admitting to his Dad that he and Noah did stuff together and that they wanted to do more, but that Noah was worried his parents would find out. It was a problem. But any thoughts of that were knocked out of his head, for the moment at least, by his Dad's news.

"We have a new client at work, an important one, and he wants a meeting during the evening."

"Does that mean that I'll have to go and stay with Gran?"

"Not this time, we thought that if this man wanted an evening meeting, then he ought to help us look after you."

"So you're getting someone to look after me", Toby pulled a face.

"Now, now, don't get ahead of yourself, sport. Let me tell the story, OK?"

"Sorry Dad."

"It turns out that he's a big donor to the Wetlands Centre and has pulled in a favour. Yes, there will be someone to look after you, someone from a proper firm that we trust, but you will be going to the Wetlands Centre after school and someone from their education team will take you on a tour."

"Won't it be closed, I thought you couldn't get in after 3 o'clock, 'cause Justin's Mum tried last year."

Brian grinned, "As I said, someone is doing us a favour, it's a private visit."

"Wow. So it'll be just me."

"Well, we've mentioned it to Noah's parents and he's around. Would you like him to join you?"

"Yes, cool. Thanks Dad. Will we…"

Brian held up his hand, "Sorry, I have no idea. You'll be met after school by a young woman from this firm, International Aunts, and she'll then collect Noah and you'll go to the Wetlands Centre. Afterwards there's a meal and then you'll come over and meet us at the businessman's headquarters building, where he has his offices on the top floor."

"Cool. That's amazing. Is the man very rich?"

Brian laughed, "Well, a lot richer than us, shall we say. And very busy, so we have to have meetings when he wants to."

"Will there be more?"

"Perhaps. But we can't guarantee a visit to the Wetlands Centre each time. This is by way of a special favour, and next time, if there is one, it might just be you at home with someone, or time at your Gran's or even with Drew and Evie. OK."

"OK, Dad. And thanks."

Toby couldn't wait to message Noah about the trip. His Dad was letting Noah's Mum know that it was on. That the baby-sitter was from a firm called International Aunts sounded as if it really sucked, but after all, it was about the trip. Both his Dad and Gordon were in a good mood and when Toby came back from the bathroom, now dressed in his pyjamas and ready for bed, they were cuddled up together. He decided to take advantage of the mood.

"Dad, could Noah come again?"

"Of course, we've said that. Any time, as long as his parents are OK with it."

"It's not just that. I thought it might be fun if he stayed. He could come on a Friday, so we didn't have school next day."

Brian stared at his son, trying to work out what the aim of this was, "And where would he sleep? I don't think it would be fair to make him stay on the sofa, it's not exactly designed for that sort of thing."

"Well, my bed's quite big so I thought he could sleep with me. There's plenty of space."

"And would Noah be comfortable with that?"

"I, er, don't know. We didn't talk about it, and I didn't want to say anything without checking with you."

"Right. This is what we'll do. I'll try and have a chat to Noah on Monday, OK? He's a big lad and will have his own opinions. If he's OK with sharing with you, then we can ask Val and Marina."

"Thanks!", Toby gave them a big grin.

"Now, don't get your hopes up too much. After all, he lives in a nice big house and might not fancy sharing with you in our flat." But Toby was pretty sure on that matter.

"Well?", Brian turned to Gordon with a smile.

"Looks like it. At least, Toby seems keen to get Noah into his bed."

"It might be innocent."

"Might. But unlikely. What does Noah think, I wonder?"

"Can't help feeling that something happened today, whilst the two were hidden away in Noah's room."

Gordon smiled, "You reckon they were having some nookie."

"Bit of experimentation. Maybe."