Snow and Shadow
Chapter 2



“Read me a story?” Gus requested.  He was sitting on the sofa in the chalet while Justin was setting the table for dinner.  Brian had successfully gotten the fire started in the fireplace, and it blazed cheerily.

“It’s not bedtime.  We haven’t even had dinner,” Brian told his son.  He remembered that Gus’ mothers had said he needed to be read to before bed.

“I know, but I like stories all the time,” Gus declared.

“Have we got time?” Brian asked Justin.

“Dinner should be ready in about twenty minutes.”

“Then a story it is, Sonny Boy,” Brian said ruffling his son’s hair.

“Yay!” Gus yelled running to his backpack and pulling out all the books.  He finally selected one that he handed to his father.

“Winnie the Pooh?” Brian asked.

“Yep.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

“Okay.”  Brian wasn’t at all sure about Gus’ choice, but he thought he might as well give it a try.  He opened the book and sat down on the sofa.  Gus curled up against him and stared at the first page.

“Ready, Daddy,” Gus said when Brian didn’t start to read.

Brian began to read about the first adventure of the plodding little bear.  He enjoyed saying, “Oh, bother” whenever it came up.  Using a soft but exaggerated voice, he spoke the words as he imagined Winnie would say them.  Gus giggled at his efforts.  That encouraged Brian to do more.  He squealed like Piglet and sounded slow and poky as Eeyore.  Gus giggled more as Brian read about the Hundred Acre Wood.  Justin came over and sat down on the sofa to listen too.

When Brian got to the end of the first little adventure, he was greeted with enthusiastic applause from his audience.  He smiled and bowed his head in acknowledgement.

“You did good, Daddy,” Gus told his father.  Brian basked in his son’s approval, even while he tried to appear totally nonchalant about his efforts.

“I should get you to read to me,” Justin declared with a chuckle.

“I think you’re old enough to read for yourself.”

“But it’s much more entertaining when you do it,” Justin laughed.  “Dinner should be ready soon,” he said, just before the timer on the oven started binging.

Sitting around the table in the chalet, the little family chatted about the trip and what they wanted to do.  They enjoyed Justin’s chicken and veggies.  Gus ate everything on his plate.

“Justin, are we going snowboarding tomorrow?” Gus asked.

“I don’t know, Gus.  That was the plan, but with all this snow, we may be stuck here.”

Gus pouted.  “I want to learn to snowboard.”

“Gus, no whining,” Brian said.  “We will do what we can, and if we can’t go snowboarding then we’ll find something else to do.  Okay?”

“Yes, Daddy.  Sorry.”

“Good.  Now I think we should unpack and get ourselves organized,” Brian suggested.

“I want to sleep up there,” Gus said pointing to the open loft above them.

“Are you sure?” Brian asked with a frown.  “You won’t walk in your sleep?”

“I don’t do that,” Gus protested.

“Okay, but you better not fall down those stairs or your mothers will skin me alive.”

Gus giggled.  “They couldn’t skin you, Daddy.  You’re bigger than they are.”

“That may be true, but there’s two of them, and one of them is Melanie.”

“Oh!” Gus said with a frown and a worried look.

“Don’t worry, Gus.  Just don’t fall down the stairs,” Brian said, seeing the look on his son’s face.  “Let’s go upstairs and get you into your pajamas.”

“We were apposed to call mommy,” Gus said, remembering what his mother had said.

“Shit!” Justin gasped.

“Fuck!” Brian added.

“Call right now, Brian.  They’ll be having a fit,” Justin warned.

“I will,” Brian replied taking out his cell phone.  “Fuck!  I can’t get a signal here.”

“There’s a land line over there,” Justin said pointing to a phone next to the sofa.

Brian picked up the receiver and tried to dial the familiar number.  Justin carried Gus’ bag up to the loft.

“They must have long distance calls blocked on this phone,” Brian griped.  “Where is my fucking phone card?”

“Hurry up, Daddy, I don’t want Mama to be mad,” Gus said with a worried expression.

“I’m sure she already is,” Brian muttered.

Finally he punched in all the numbers and was connected.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Brian said into the phone.  “I know…We got here fine…We had dinner…The snow’s heavy…Can hardly see outside…Gus is fine…Do you want to talk to him?  Gus,” Brian said holding the phone out to his son.

The look of relief on his face was palpable to Justin as he came down the stairs.  Brian had escaped talking to Melanie.

Gus took the phone from his father.  “Hi, Mommy…We’re here…It’s a nice place, and Justin made us dinner.  Okay…Hi, Mama…Love you too…We haven’t seen much but the chalet is good and Daddy read me a story…Okay, Mama.”  Gus held the phone out to Brian.  “She wants to talk to you.”

Brian grimaced and looked like he was about to refuse to talk on the offending instrument.  Finally he sighed and took the phone.  He knew she was going to ream his ass for not calling sooner, and he was totally right about that as Melanie lit into him.  He didn’t even bother to object; he just let her rant, holding the phone away from his ear.

“We’ll call you tomorrow,” Brian said when she finally stopped screeching at him.  He promptly hung up.  He rubbed his hand over his face.  That woman was such a bitch.

“She was mad?” Justin asked gently.

Brian raised an eyebrow.  “You need to ask?”

“Sleepy, Daddy,” Gus said sitting on the sofa.

“Right, we were going to get you into your pajamas.”

“Need a bath,” Gus said finding it hard to keep his eyes open.

“How about we do that in the morning?” Brian asked.  “We wouldn’t want you to fall asleep in the tub.”

“’Kay, daddy,” Gus agreed.  “Read me some more Winnie?” Gus asked as Brian took his hand and led his son up the stairs to the loft.

Justin smiled as he watched them disappear into the loft.  Then he went to clean up the kitchen.  He could hear Brian start to read the story, doing the voices of the characters once again.  Justin thought maybe this trip was the best thing they had done for quite awhile.

Not long after, Brian came back down the stairs.

“Is he asleep?” Justin asked.

“Barely got into the story and he was out like a light.”

“He had an exciting day,” Justin said with a smile.  “He’s a great kid.”

“Yeah,” Brian agreed.  Justin noted how Brian’s face changed, became softer and gentler when he thought about Gus.  “Are you ready for bed?” Brian asked.

“Bed?  It’s only eight o’clock.  I’m not sleepy.”

“Who said anything about sleeping?” Brian asked with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Justin laughed.  “In that case…”


*****


“Oh yeah!  Right there!” Justin groaned as Brian pounded into him.  “Gonna come!”

“Go for it,” Brian gasped as he felt his own orgasm overtake him.  He collapsed atop his partner, both of them breathing heavily.  He kissed Justin’s shoulder before pulling out as gently as he could.

“We should fuck in a snowstorm more often,” Justin managed to say as Brian rolled away.

“You think snow made a difference?”

“Something did.”

Brian frowned.  “Are you saying we’re getting … predictable?”

Justin chuckled as he turned onto his back.  “No, I’m just saying that new experiences create … new experiences.”

“How profound, Einstein!”  Brian tossed the condom into the wastebasket.

“Did you hear something?”

“Sounds like the wind,” Brian said sitting up.

“But it doesn’t sound right.”

“Yeah,” Brian replied.  “I’m going to check on Gus.”  He got up and pulled on some sweatpants.  Unlocking the bedroom door, he disappeared into the main part of the chalet.

A few seconds later, Justin heard a “Fuck!”  He immediately leapt out of bed, pulled on some clothes and ran after Brian.  “What is it?” he called.

“The patio door is open,” Brian said looking at a mound of snow on the living room floor.  “You don’t suppose…  Gus!” he yelled out into the storm.  “Gus!”  The wind and snow forced his words back at him.  If Gus was out there, he probably wouldn’t hear anything.

“Oh my God,” Justin gasped.  “He wouldn’t…”

“Gus!” Brian screamed at the top of his lungs.  Panic was evident in his voice.  Brian didn’t know whether to charge out into the storm in his bare feet, or go get dressed first.  He had to find Gus.  “Gus!” he yelled one more time.

“I’m up here, Daddy,” a little voice said.

Brian looked up and saw Gus staring back at him from between the spindles of the railing across the loft.

“Gus!” Brian shouted and ran up the stairs at breakneck speed.  “Fuck, Gus,” he moaned as he fell to his knees and pulled his son into a fierce hug.  “Are you okay?  Why didn’t you answer me?”

“I’m fine, Daddy,” Gus whispered.

“Brian…” Justin said gently.  “Don’t crush him.”

Brian released his hold – a little.  “Gus, do you know how the door got open down there?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“Tell me.”

Just then a little cry was heard from the bed.  Justin walked over and found a little gray kitten curled up under the covers Gus had thrown back when he got out of bed.

“I think this may explain why Gus opened the door.”  Justin picked up the kitten and held it near his cheek.  The kitten reached over and licked his face.

“It could be rabid,” Brian said.  “Did it bite you or scratch you?” Brian asked Gus checking him over.

“No, Daddy, Shadow was cold out there.  He was crying, so I let him in,” Gus said.

“Shadow?”

“I named him Shadow ‘cause he’s gray.”

“You shouldn’t have opened that door.  That cat might have been wild or sick or he might have hurt you,” Brian said forcefully.

“But he didn’t, Daddy.  Shadow’s only little.  He was scared and cold.”

“He must be someone’s pet, Brian,” Justin said.  “He’s very friendly.”  Shadow was lying on Justin’s shoulder licking his paw.

“I couldn’t get the door closed, Daddy,” Gus explained.  “It got snow all in the way.”

“I saw that.”

“I managed to shove the snow out of the way,” Justin noted.  “The door is closed now.”

“Thanks,” Brian said with a sigh of relief.  His heart rate was returning to normal.  He had imagined Gus lost in the blizzard with no way to find him.  He had never been so scared in all his life.  Well, maybe one other time, when that bat was swinging towards Justin’s head and there was no way he could stop it.  He shuddered.  “Don’t ever open that door again unless we’re with you.  Do you understand?”

“Yes, Daddy, but if the house was on fire, I would open it to get out,” Gus explained.

“Well, yeah, in that case.”

“And if you broke your leg and needed help, I would open it to get help.”

“Well, maybe…”

“And if…”

“Okay, okay,” Brian interrupted before Gus could present another disaster scenario.  “Only in emergencies.”

“’Kay, Daddy.”

“What are we going to do with Shadow?” Brian asked, wanting to put the animal back outside, but knowing that was not going to happen.

“He can sleep with me,” Gus volunteered.

“He might have fleas,” Brian posited.

“I think he’s someone’s pet,” Justin said.  “And he’s not scratching like he has fleas.”  Justin still held the kitten in his arms.

“Shadow’s good, Daddy.”

Brian shook his head.  He really didn’t want to have to deal with a kitten, but he knew they couldn’t put the animal back out in the storm.  “Okay,” he said.  “We keep … Shadow here tonight and he can sleep with you, Gus.”

“Yay!”

Brian smiled at his son’s reaction.  “But tomorrow we try to find out who he belongs to and return him to … his family.”

“Okay, daddy,” Gus replied with a big smile.  He took the kitten from Justin and jumped up on the bed.  “Tuck me and Shadow in,” he ordered.

The two men looked at each other and smiled, before they did as instructed.