Those Left Behind - 2. Not too freaked out?

Ludo had told Arthur all about the Thursday’s events when they’d messaged each other the previous evening, so Ludo was somewhat surprised to get a call from Arthur on Friday afternoon to discuss it further. “Sorry to bother you, mate, but I’ve had an idea about that thing with Damian. The gardener yesterday.”

“We go and beat the shit out of the guy?”

Arthur laughed, “Not my style.”

Neither of their styles really. Arthur was slight, whilst Ludo was tall and lanky; neither was bouncer material.

“Make it nothing special.”

“What?” Ludo was puzzled, Arthur wasn’t making sense.

“It’s warm today, I’ll set up the sprinkler on the lawn. When you come over, the boys get naked and enjoy themselves, and so do we. Nothing kinky, just good ordinary fun.”

“You sound like an advert for ‘Health & Efficiency’.”

“What the fuck’s that?”

“Naturist magazine, circa 1960s”

“You know the oddest of things. So?”

Getting naked with Arthur and the boys? Bloody hell. If he said no, it made him seem a bit too uptight and fuddy-duddy, didn’t it? And it was all harmless, wasn’t it. Wasn’t it? What would Jackie say? She’d manage to think there was something strange, certainly. Ludo smiled to himself and shrugged. “OK.”

“Right, see you later.”

Was it him or what? The idea of Arthur naked…

The guy wasn’t even an Adonis, just personable, blond, balding, slight, yet fit. Naked blokes cropping up in Ludo’s thoughts, twice in two days. As Ludo usually did with troubling thoughts, he packed these ideas into a box, firmly shut the lid and put it away for later. Much later.

Sex and relationships all led back to Jackie, to Damian. If Ludo rocked the boat, he’d lose custody of Damian and he couldn’t risk that. He’d get shared access, at best, and with all her talk of the firm’s Strasbourg office, the Frankfurt office (where she’d done a project last year) and such, Ludo had visions of Jackie, perfectly legally, taking Damian abroad. That couldn’t happen, so sex was on hold. Or was it?

Arthur and Adam lived in a bungalow with a single room (Adam’s bedroom) in the roof. Damian thought that it was great, Adam had a floor to himself and a bedroom with lots of strange angles and a cool dormer window (Ludo failed to understand quite how a dormer window was cool, but still). Jackie and Ludo’s place veered between stylish minimalism and chaos, as family life tended to overlay the initial decorating impulse. Arthur, on the other hand, had had a far smaller decorating budget and had created a home that was quite ordinary, but warm, personal, and homely.

Getting to Arthur’s house, the sprinkler was already going, and a naked Adam was cavorting. Arthur answered the door was wearing a pair of shorts, looking very pale and very smooth. Sunbathing clearly wasn’t on Arthur’s menu, a man after Ludo’s own heart. Checking with his Dad for agreement and pausing briefly to thank Arthur, a now naked Damian ran off to join his friend.

Arthur looked at Ludo, a bit abashed, “You up for it?”

“Shit, why not? He’s seen me naked plenty of times at the baths.”

A wry grin from Arthur, “Bit different when it’s in your own back-yard isn’t it?”

“Yeah. OK, let’s go for it.”

Ludo started to remove his shirt; Arthur put his hands to the waist of his shorts, pushed them down till his pubes showed. Figured; the guy was going commando.

“You told Jackie about this?”

“No chance, she’s working all hours and too tired to focus on trivia.”

“Like naked gardeners?”

Ludo pulled a face, “Yeah, that was no big deal, evidently.”

Ludo was down to his briefs now, with a quick gesture he was naked, and Arthur followed suit. There was an exclamation from the boys, and Damian shouted were they going to join them? So, they did.

A lot of wet, horsing-about broke the ice, and suddenly, being naked like that wasn’t such a big deal. Ludo looked over at Arthur, who gave him a nervous grin as if he’d been thinking the same thing. Arthur’s garden was smaller than Ludo and Jackie’s; attractive and well laid out, it was rather bare however, as Arthur wasn’t much of a gardener. He’d once commented ‘Better no plants than dead ones’, insisting that whatever he did, the plants died. Arthur and Ludo quickly tired of the sprinkler, so, the two men sat on the paved area by the house and watched the boys.

They were still naked, dry though and with a welcome beer. But now, Ludo was much more conscious of his dick, of being naked and exposed. It felt odd yet exciting to be sitting there like that. Almost to take his mind off it, he brought up Jackie.

“You reckon she’s having an affair?”

Ludo shrugged, “Her behaviour suggests it. No-one works that long hours, do they?”

Arthur smiled, “Search me, I’m a part-timer at best.”

A legacy from an uncle had enabled Arthur to work part-time and so be able to look after Adam largely without needing a minder.

Arthur continued, “What’s the German like? The bloke she’s working with at the moment.”

Ludo frowned, “Andreas? I’ve only met him once. 50’s, grey and portly, so he looks older. He’s clearly never been an Adonis and now…”

Arthur laughed, “Not boyfriend material?”

“He’s not particularly well off, she earns as much as him, or so I gather, and he’s not young and fit. So, no, not boyfriend material. Which means your guess is as good as mine?”

“Would it matter?”

“If she was having an affair? Not as such. I like to think I’d cope, it’s just…”, and he rehashed the worries over divorce.

The boys finally tired, and went to shower, dry and dress. Arthur began to talk about making dinner. He bent over to pick up the boys’ discarded clothes. It was an unconscious, automatic gesture but it gave Ludo a perfect view of a taut, perfectly hairless bum with a neat, pink hole. And all Ludo could think of was the things he could do with that bum. Correction, the things he’d read about, but never really tried.

Then Arthur stood up, caught Ludo’s glance, probably noticed Ludo’s incipient erection and the two stared at each other, transfixed. Arthur’s eyes had opened wide in surprise. The kiss was awkward, Ludo was most conscious of the feel of Arthur’s body, the tautness of the muscles. The hardness. There. The feeling of…

Oh, shit.

Without any other stimulation Ludo came, creating a warm, sticky mess between them.

“Wow. I’ve never had that effect on people before.”

“Fuck. I’m sorry. Fuck.”

Arthur smiled, “That might be a bit ambitious given the boys are around. How about we clean up and continue this later?” He raised an eyebrow.

Ludo gave a rueful grin, “Later!”

By the time the boys reappeared, looking neat and clean, though Ludo bet that the bathroom would be a disaster zone, the meal was underway. Ludo and Arthur were dressed, and no-one was the wiser.

Except.

Both men were rather distracted, Ludo was unable to concentrate, and Arthur kept giving him nervous glances. The boys hardly noticed; well, they did, but simply put it down to parents being weird. AGAIN. At one point Arthur’s hand brushed Ludo’s and he was hyper-sensitively aware of the contact. They managed to keep conversation going during the meal then the boys were allowed to go upstairs and play whilst Ludo and Arthur cleared up. Then they must go, there wasn’t going to be time to mess about, at least not tonight.

“Sorry about earlier, I’ve never done that before.”

Arthur misunderstood, “It’s rather flattering, not so much premature as excess enthusiasm.”

“No, I meant I’ve never kissed a bloke before, touched like that and you know…” Ludo ground to a halt as Arthur stared at him, the dishes forgotten.

“Not at all?”

Ludo went pink, “I never even messed around at school. I was a bit of a late developer and, well, the stuff with Jackie meant I just pretended the feelings didn’t exist. Till...”

“Till?”

“I saw your bum, bent over, and thought of all the things I could be doing.”

“Ah, so you know what to do?”

Ludo smiled back, “I’ve seen pictures.”

They stared inanely at each other, kissed and all thought of washing up was forgotten. It was fast, urgent, both men aware of the boys upstairs, the danger that they might come hurtling down at any moment.

“You, OK? You’re not too freaked out?”

“I’m OK. Freaked out in a good way. I can’t quite believe this happened.”

“Me neither. I’ve dreamed about it but didn’t think.”

“Dreamed about it?”

Arthur gave Ludo an impish grin, “Of course. Impure thoughts about Adam’s mate Damian’s Dad. Married Ludo. Straight Ludo.” Then, in a smaller, quieter, less assured voice, “Was this a one-off, or can we do it again?”

Ludo’s large hand gripped one of the globes of Arthur’s bum, now firmly enclosed in denim, “I still want to explore all those things we could do with your bum!”

Arthur grinned, “And yours!”

The thundering of the boys’ feet on the stairs brought the kiss to an end. Damian wanted to walk home, the long way and Ludo was happy to do so.

“That was ace, and Adam’s Dad is nice, isn’t he Dad?”

Ludo nodded, “He’s very nice. That was fun. But special occasion fun. No running about like that at home, OK?”

Damian gave a theatrical sigh, but said OK easily enough, then a sideways look at his Dad, “And we don’t tell Mum?”

“Best not. She’s got plenty to worry about at work at the moment.”

“Does she have to work so hard?”

“It’s an important job, and if you want all those treats then someone’s got to pay for them.”

“Mmm. Adam’s Dad doesn’t work as much as Mum.”

“Adam’s Dad has what is called a private income, his uncle left him money which he uses instead of a salary.”

“So, he’s rich?”

“Not rich. Comfortably off.”

“You like him?”

They were back to that again, as if the boy had antennae. It could have been worse, he supposed. At least they hadn’t had to have a repeat of the ‘all men’s dicks are different’ conversation. Damian knew not to stare and was well behaved at the baths in the changing room, and he’d done well tonight.

“You were good, no staring.”

Damian grinned, “I sneaked a look but tried not to stare. Adam’s Dad is nice looking isn’t he, he’s not flabby like some of the men at the baths.” Flabby was a relatively new word, and Damian still delighted in using it.

“No, Arthur is very trim. I think he makes an effort.”

Jesus, were they going to spend the whole journey talking about Arthur? Then the house hove into view and Ludo’s heart sank. Jackie’s car was in the drive. As if the boy was echoing his thoughts, Damian said in a small voice, “Mum’s home.”