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Chapter 8 - PC Problems.
“You brought HIM?” Michael questioned as soon as Brian’s Jeep pulled up in front of the piece of sidewalk where he was waiting.
“Why not? It’s not like J’s got anything better to do, right?” Brian teased, smiling at the still voiceless PC. “Now shut the fuck up and get in, Mikey. I wanna go meet my Sonny Boy.”
Michael shook his head but jumped in the back and Brian zoomed away. Ten minutes later they were piling out of the vehicle, racing through the parking lot and tumbling through the front doors of Allegheny General Hospital, where they were promptly shushed by the staff. A slightly less rowdy, but still excited, trio was directed upstairs to the maternity ward. One last dash through the hallways got the three of them to the door of the room wherein Brian’s offspring was waiting.
Michael, who happened to be in the lead at the moment, pushed open the door. The room was teaming with a horde of lesbians, who reluctantly parted so that a corridor was opened from the bed to the door where Brian and his entourage were standing, allowing the newcomers a glimpse of the stud’s progeny. Two women were lying together on the large hospital bed - one disheveled blonde dressed in pajamas and one brunette in her street clothes looking very proud and protective. In the blonde’s arms was a squirming bundle wrapped in a blue blanket. Brian froze in place at the sight.
“Shit!” was all he could think of to say.
“Say hello to your son,” the blonde invited, with an elated smile.
Brian continued to just stand there, looking overwhelmed until Michael reached out and pulled him further into the room. “Well, go on.”
Brian slowly padded over to the bed, the stunned look never quite leaving his face. His blond shadow followed a few steps behind, a curious look breaking through the usual blankness on the pale visage. As they neared the group of waiting friends, J327 hung back a bit further, uncomfortable around so many strangers. He managed to find himself a corner that was out of the way and hid himself there with Michael standing in front as a sort of shield.
“Shit!” Brian pronounced again when he reached the side of the big bed, staring down at the baby with an awestruck expression.
“He looks just like you,” the blonde offered with a smile.
“Well, I guess he MUST be mine then, Lindz,” Brian rejoined proudly.
“Wanna hold him?” the mother asked, holding the baby up slightly so Brian could get his hands under the wiggling bundle.
Brian bent down, taking the small body in his two big hands, a beatific smile gracing his face as he hefted the inconsequential weight.
“Don’t drop him,” the loud brunette warned, extending her own hands as if to catch the baby.
“That’s JUST what I planned to do, Mel,” Brian shot her a look that quelled the pushy woman for a moment. “Give me some credit. I’m not a total putz.” Brian straightened up, the baby now securely settled in his grip, and examined this prize. “Hey there, Sonny Boy. How’s your first night on Earth?”
“So far, he’s being a little angel,” Lindsey replied on the baby’s behalf. “Of course, he’s only had a couple hours to figure out how to be naughty. Give him a few days and I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it.”
“Especially considering he’s got your genes,” Mel quipped snarkily, eliciting a facetious smile from Brian but no comment.
“We’ve been talking about names,” the blonde woman interjected before her friend and her wife got started on their usual insult trading games. “Mel wants to call him ‘Abraham’ after her grandfather . . .” She looked up at Brian with a pleading look in her eyes. “But I like ‘Gus’,” she added with a little nod and a wink so that Brian knew which was the right answer to give.
“More naming things?” Brian huffed a disgruntled sigh. “Why the hell does everyone want me to name things all the time these days.” He admired the tiny morsel of humanity in his hands for another minute, but then looked over at the mute blond hiding in the corner for support. “What do you think, J? You like ‘Abraham’?”
J327’s mouth scrunched up as if the name was a bit distasteful and shook his head the tiniest bit from side to side.
“I think I agree with you. He wouldn’t survive a day at school being named ‘Abraham’,” Brian interpreted the gesture for those who didn’t speak Mute PC. “What do you think about, ‘Gus’?”
The boy shrugged but added in a meager little nod.
“Yeah. You’re right. I guess ‘Gus’ would be okay,” Brian confirmed, beaming down at his son. “Gus . . . it’s a good butch name. Say hello to your daddy, Gus?” The boy gurgled up at his father agreeably for a moment or two before Brian walked over the few steps needed to hand the baby off to his new companion. “Here, J. You named him, so you should get to hold him next.”
The cautious PC took the baby into his arms with such gentleness. Brian beamed down at the beautiful pair. He rather liked seeing both of his boys together and happy. He thought the older of the pair even smiled a little while he was gazing down at the infant in his arms.
“And who the hell is this kid to decide MY son’s name?” Mel snarled with a glare directed to the blond boy in the corner. “It’s not bad enough that you brought a fucking trick with you to meet your son for the first time, but you’re going to let him name him too, Brian?”
“Well, Smelly Melly, since I knew there’d be wall-to-wall carpet munchers here, I figured I needed to bring my own entertainment,” Brian snarked back. “But, you’re wrong about J being a trick. He’s actually my new PC.”
Brian threw out that little zinger, knowing that it was bound to get a pretty big reaction. He probably hadn’t counted on the reaction he actually did get though. Or the fallout that came later.
The first reaction was a stunned silence that fell over the hospital room. That part was par for the course, and Brian wasn’t overly concerned about it. Then came the questions and censure.
“What the hell, Brian?” Mel squawked. “You bought a PC? What happened? Did you finally make your way through every single fuckable guy in the city of Pittsburgh and have to resort to buying it? Even so, I can’t believe you would stoop that low. I mean, a PC? Really, Brian!”
“Really, Mel. But no, I didn’t have to resort to buying it. If you must know, J was sort of an accident. I didn’t exactly PLAN on buying a PC. It just sorta happened.”
“Buying a PC doesn’t just HAPPEN, you asshole . . .” Mel sounded like she was about to lay into Brian with both barrels, but then, out of the blue, the other mother interrupted.
“I’d like Gus back now, please,” Lindsey demanded, holding her arms out to Brian with a disapproving glare. Brian sighed but took the child back from J327 and brought him to his mother. “Thank you, Brian. Now, I’m feeling a bit tired, so . . . If you don’t mind, I think it’s probably time for you and your companions to leave.” Lindsey said snippily, cradling the baby in her arms and focusing all her attention on him to the exclusion of the others in the room.
“What? I just got here, Lindz. I’d like to spend a little more time getting to know my son, if you don’t mind.” Brian didn’t understand why his friend’s tone had become so icy all of the sudden, but he didn’t like it at all.
“Actually, I DO mind, Brian. I think it’s time for you to leave,” Lindsey reiterated unsympathetically, looking up at Brian with evident disdain. “If you want to spend some more time with Gus, we can arrange it for later . . . provided you don’t bring HIM along with you.”
“What the fuck, Lindsey? What the hell is your problem?” Brian growled.
“My problem, Brian, is that you were callous enough to have brought that piece of TRASH with you to see your son for the first time,” Lindsey snarled angrily. “I mean, I know you don’t care about anyone but yourself, but I didn’t think you’d stoop so low as to expose our son to that kind of thing. He’s barely a couple hours old and you’re already letting filth like THAT near him? How could you, Brian?”
“Fuck you, Lindz. You’re completely fucking out of line,” Brian hissed back at the irrational woman. “J isn’t some piece of trash. He’s just a kid. He didn’t ask to be a PC - his father’s the one who contracted him out. But even if he had been the one to do it, I think you’re totally fucking overreacting,” Brian insisted, moving away from the bed and positioning himself so that he was physically standing between Lindsey and J. “Besides, haven’t you always been APC? I wouldn’t expect someone like you to attack him like this.”
“Of course I’m APC. I HATE PCs. I think Personal Companions are absolutely abhorrent,” Lindsey spat, shooting disgusted looks at the cowering blond boy over Brian’s shoulder. “If you ask me, they’re worse than street prostitutes - at least prostitutes sometimes move beyond that life. PCs, on the other hand, have no purpose other than to act the whore. I’d be thrilled to see the practice totally banned. That doesn’t mean I want one of them near my child.” Brian was so stunned by this vindictive diatribe that he couldn’t think of anything to say. “And if you insist on associating with this kind of . . . of refuse, Brian . . . Well, then, maybe I need to rethink whether or not you should continue as a presence in Gus’ life.”
Brian huffed sharply, too overcome with fury to even form words at first. He couldn’t believe that Lindsey, of all people, was acting like this. She had always been the most liberal person he’d ever met. She was the kind of politically correct, activist lesbian that made the stereotype look tame. The Lindsey that Brian thought he knew would never attack or judge anyone for WHO they were, only for how they acted. But that Lindsey seemed MIA. The woman who’d just condemned Brian’s PC without any justification and without even knowing him was a stranger to him. A scary, prejudiced, stranger. And not someone he wanted to know anymore.
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about Lindsey,” Brian finally found his voice. “You don’t know J or what he’s been through. He can’t help it that he was contracted out. He didn’t choose to be a PC. And I can’t believe that you would attack him for it without even giving us a chance to tell you his story. But, if that’s how you want it, then fine. For better or for worse, J’s going to be part of my life for the foreseeable future. And if you can’t handle that, then I guess you can’t handle me either.” Brian turned, grabbed hold of J’s hand and began walking towards the door. “Have a nice life, Lindz.” The sound of the door shutting behind him seemed to signal the finality of the moment.
Brian led J down the hall, their sedate pace quite a contrast to the happy, mad rush of their entrance. A minute later, Michael too came out of the hospital room and loped along until he caught up with them. Michael squeezed Brian’s shoulder and smiled supportively. Brian didn’t stop walking.
“Brian. Brian, wait,” Mel’s voice echoed through the sparsely furnished hallway, halting them just before they reached the elevator. “I’m sorry about that, Brian,” she said when she’d caught up to them. “I know Lindsey sounded rather harsh back there . . .”
“Harsh? I think that was a little more than harsh, Mel,” Brian growled. “It was fucking rude and nasty and you apologizing for her, isn’t going to do shit.” He turned his back on the woman, pressing the elevator call button with a misplaced vigor.
“You’re right. It was rude. And I’m not apologizing for her. But, you have to understand where she’s coming from,” Mel said placatingly. “Lindsey grew up with money. Everyone in her circle had PCs. Even her father. Which, as you can imagine, didn’t go over well with her mother. From what I understand, the PC in their household was a major source of contention and family upheaval. Lindsey’s just venting because of all the havoc she had to live through with that going on in the house when she was a child. It has nothing to do with your PC, of course, but she can’t help her bias.”
“Actually, she can, Mel,” Brian asserted. “And until she does, Lindsey won’t be seeing much of me or my ‘piece of trash’ PC.”
“Brian, please. I know she was out of line, but she’s in there crying her eyes out,” Mel explained. “Not that I care, myself, but Lindsey will be devastated if she loses your friendship over this.”
“Well, that’s up to her, now, isn’t it, Mel.” Brian wasn’t going to relent on this point. “You know, I understand that there’s a lot of prejudice out there against PCs, but I never thought any of MY friends would be among the haters marching around and spouting a bunch of bigoted nonsense. If you’re going to hate J just because he’s a PC, what’s next? Hating Mikey because he’s a Wop or me because I’m a poor Mick from the wrong side of the tracks? And how is that any different than those people who hate all of us because we’re homosexuals?” Nobody answered him, of course. “Exactly. It’s not. And when Lindsey’s figured that out, she can come and apologize to J directly. But, until then, don’t bother.”
The elevator doors opened right then, and Brian hustled himself and J aboard, not even looking in Mel’s direction while the doors slid shut.
“She’ll come around, Brian. She just needs to cool off a bit,” Michael offered.
“Maybe.” Brian still hadn’t released J’s hand, his fingers now playing with the small knuckles as the elevator carried them down.
“You’re going to have to make up with her eventually, Brian,” Michael maintained. “I mean, you have to, or you’ll never see Gus again.”
Brian took a deep breath, squeezing the hand he was holding even tighter, but remained as mute as his PC for the rest of the trip back to the loft.
********
Brian’s alarm went off far too early the next morning - or at least it felt that way. At least this time, though, he wasn’t hungover as well as tired. As per his usual routine, he rolled out of bed, plodded to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee brewing before his eyes were even completely open. While he was waiting for that, he trudged back up the stairs to the bathroom and took a nice long piss. His brain only just barely acknowledged the still slumbering lump with the mussy blond top that was just peeking out from under the duvet. Apparently his new PC was not a morning person.
By the time he made it back to the kitchen there was coffee. Instead of bothering with a cup, he just pulled the entire carafe out, dumped in most of the sugar bowl, and called it good. With this life-saving elixir in hand, he shuffled back upstairs and climbed into the warm bed again.
This was the point in his morning when Brian would start to think through what he needed to do over the course of the rest of his day. Today was a little different, however, because this was the first workday since Brian had obtained the blond-topped lump waiting next to him in his bed. Which meant that he had to worry about more than just what appointments he had scheduled for work.
So, what did one do with a PC when his or her particular services weren’t needed. From what he’d overheard at the auction the other night, big PC owners like Bellweather had whole harems of the creatures, so presumably they weren’t all ‘engaged’ at any one time. Which meant they had to be able to do something other than follow their owners around all day taking up space. For the life of him, though, Brian couldn’t think what that would be. Especially not with all those fucking regulations about what PCs couldn’t do.
Conceivably, Brian could just leave the kid here at the loft while he went off to work. J had to be able to entertain himself for that long, right? Worst case scenario, the boy could stare at the walls here, all alone, if that’s all he was allowed to do according to his damned PC training. At least then Brian wouldn’t be distracted by his staring, wondering if he should be doing something other than letting the kid stare at the walls.
But, since they hadn’t managed to brave the grocery store the day before, there still wasn’t any food in the loft. He couldn’t just leave the kid here all day without feeding him. The Starving Boys and Houseplants Protection Society - led by one Debbie Novotny - would hunt Brian down and castrate him if he did that. And, if he was going to haul the kid as far as the Diner in order to feed him, he might as well just take him with to the office afterwards. Only, what would he do with the kid once they got there?
Brian quickly came to the conclusion that he wasn’t awake enough to come up with a solution to this particular problem. He’d just have to wing it and hope for the best. He finished off the rest of his carafe of coffee, set the empty container on the side table and started to think about the next most important item of business - what he wanted to wear that day.
He’d just settled on the grey Armani pinstripe paired with a dark plum Ralph Lauren silk shirt and a matching tie, a la page, but was still waffling between two shoe options, when the warm lump of boy next to him purred in his sleep and rolled closer. Next, to Brian's amusement, the Don’t-Touch-Me Boy proceeded to wrap his entire body around Brian, his arms cinched around the older man’s waist, their legs intertwined, the blond head snugged up tight under Brian's chin and pretty much every other centimeter of skin along their frames from shoulder to toes touching in some way. This maneuver was accompanied by a happy little murmur of pleasure, which just so happened to be the loudest noise Brian had heard the kid make outside the time he'd caught The Sapp torturing him with that Enforcer device. And, to his even greater amusement, Brian found that he actually didn’t mind being used as a body pillow by the boy.
Brian Kinney had never been known to snuggle. With anyone. His parents had been at best cold and at worst abusive. He’d never had a teddy bear. His first real friend in life had been Michael Novotny, who he hadn’t met until he was in high school, and therefore well past the age of friendly snuggling. He’d assiduously avoided anything close to a relationship throughout his first twenty-nine years of life. Add to that the fact that the guys he liked to fuck most often were big. well-toned, muscle-queen types, and snuggling with one of THEM would have been like having a two hundred pound, sweaty, cum-smeared whale glomming on you. So you see why there really hadn’t been any call for Brian to snuggle prior to this exact moment in time?
Brian had never even thought to try snuggling with a sweet, little, blond twink. Generally speaking, he didn’t do twinks, blond or otherwise. But now that he’d been introduced to the experience, he found it rather enjoyable. Before he knew it, one of his arms had even wrapped itself around the twink’s back and was pulling the boy in closer. The enjoyment level was ramped up a few additional notches after he noticed that the snuggly boy came complete with a very respectable quantity of morning wood, which the twink was unconsciously pressing against Brian’s thigh. This development gave Brian all SORTS of ideas about where he could take the snuggling . . . if only the snuggly boy was agreeable.
Alas, almost as soon as Brian reached down and took the snuggly boy’s luscious big boner into his hand, the snuggliness of the morning evaporated and Don’t-Touch-Me boy was back.
J327 awoke with a start. He instantly realized where he was and also where Brian’s hand was. In less than a heartbeat, that perfect pecker completely deflated and the PC morphed into a paralyzed ball of panic.
So much for the snuggling, Brian thought with a momentary whiff of regret.
“Morning, J,” Brian said as he slowly and deliberately moved his hand away from the boy’s crotch, noting the way the tense body next to him relaxed incrementally. “You about ready to get moving? I need to get you fed again and then head to the office for another day of advertising fun. And - lucky you - you get to come with.” Even though he wasn't expecting a verbal answer, Brian thought the boy would start to get up, move around or something, but he just stayed where he was, still acting scared. “Hey . . . It's okay, you know. I promised I wouldn't do anything you weren't ready for.” Still no reaction at all. “Fine,” Brian added, twisting his neck to leave a kiss on the top of the blond head before disentangling the arms from around his waist. “You take a minute or two to pull yourself together and then come join me in the shower.”
Brian, who was still affected himself by the morning’s experiences, took himself and his own boner off to the shower, giving the kid a bit of privacy. He didn't see any reason to waste a perfectly good erection though, so as soon as he was in the shower, he soaped up his good right hand and went to work. Fueled by visions of snugly warm blond boy, he was already halfway there when the shower door clicked open and his vision appeared in the flesh - a little disconcerted by what he found hidden in the steamy shower, of course. Brian only had enough presence of mind left to order J327 to come in and close the door so all the nice warm steam wouldn't escape, before he returned his focus to stroking himself. The shocked and confused PC just stood there and watched until, not more than a couple minutes later, Brian moaned out a tortured ‘fuck, yeah’ and shot his morning load all over the shower wall.
“Ahhh! That's MUCH better,” Brian sighed, refreshed for the moment. He picked up the bar of soap, quickly cleaned himself off and then handed it off to his silent shower mate. “Hurry up, J. We've got places to go and people to do. You don't have time to stand around ogling my gorgeous cock all morning, even though I know it's probably tempting.”
Brian chuckled at the slight flush of pink that colored the kid’s cheeks before the blond head dropped further and he could no longer see the embarrassed expression. Teasing his bashful PC was almost as enjoyable as the snuggling had been, Brian decided. If this was indicative of how mornings were going to be from then on, it might not be too bad. Even Brian, who'd never contemplated living with another man before, could probably handle it as long as his mornings were this amusing.