A Fluffy Tale 2: Warm & Fuzzy (22 page)

“You don’t have any idea what that even
means,” Daniel said, resolutely ignoring the teasing, even though his face was
heating up again.

“I do. I had to watch you two kissing all
day. Smooching.” He made an exaggerated kissing sound until Daniel swatted at
him to stop.

“And I missed it,” Dee said, sighing
dramatically.

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Spen, do you want
to go out for supper?”

“Oh toughen up, kid.” Alex hooted with
laughter, until Spen smacked him on the arse. “And you knock it off too, brat.
Leave your brother alone. We don’t exist for your amusement.”

“Well, what good
are
you?”

Dee put her hands on her hips. “Alex, do
you want to eat on your own? Beans on toast?”

Daniel and Spen looked at her in surprise.
Alex wrinkled his nose. “You can’t make me, duh.”

“No, but I can ask Daniel and Spen to not
give you any of this
lovely
meal
they’re making, and we can all go out over to his place and eat it there.
Right, Spen?”

“Absolutely. In a
heartbeat. In fact, Danny, we should pack it all up. Mum won’t mind.”

Daniel pretended that he was indeed going
to do this. Alex wailed, “But I’m hungry!”

“Then you better choose. Food or fun,” Spen
said.

“Food!”

“Dee? What’s your decision?”

“Going to behave, Alex?”

“I was only teasing,” he muttered. “Okay.”

“Fine, then we can keep on cooking,” Daniel
said. But then he hugged Alex. “We’re only teasing you too,” he whispered, before
kissing his brother’s head. “Just lay off Spen a little, for me, okay?”

Alex nodded. Dee continued her tea-making
as if nothing had interrupted her at all, and by the time she set out mugs and
a couple of biscuits apiece for everyone, Alex was back to normal, and Spen
chatted to him cheerfully as he had done all afternoon.

The food met with everyone’s approval, and
there was enough for a second meal, which was a nice bonus. After supper, they
sat on the floor in the living room, while Alex hauled out one of his
interactive games for them all to play on the TV. It was now sadly outdated,
with no prospect of newer ones to replace it until Christmas, but Spen declared
it to be one he hadn’t played before, so he and Dee took one side, Daniel and
Alex took the other. Daniel didn’t really like computer games much, but he
found himself getting into this one. The two teams ended up being fairly evenly
matched, Daniel and Alex losing the first three rounds, until finding their
stride and running away with the game in the end. He gave Alex a high five and
grinned at Spen and Dee. “Looks like brains beats beauty every time.”

Dee launched herself at him, knocking him
over. “Grrrr, are you calling me dumb, brother of mine?”

“Well, compared to me and Alex.... Ow, you
little...Spen, help!”

“What’s that? Alex, did you hear
something?”

“No, don’t think so.”

“Alex, help me or I’ll tell her what you
said this morning.”

Alex grabbed Dee around the waist and
hauled her off. “Careful, Dee, he’s the only Daniel we’ve got.”

“So he’s got the goods on you, huh? Men.”
She stood up and dusted herself off. “Took two of you to beat me.”

“Only because I didn’t want to hurt a
girl
,” Alex said.

“Ooops,” Spen murmured.

“Better start running, Alex.” Daniel
grinned as Dee chased him into the kitchen. “Don’t suppose you could make us a
cup of tea while you’re up?” he called after them. “Don’t kill each other!” No
reply. “Oh well.”

“They’ll be fine.” Spen crooked a finger at
him. “Hey, come here.”

Daniel raised his eyebrows but obeyed.
“What?”

“Haven’t kissed you in
ages
.”

“Oh. Well, get on with it.”

Spen tasted like apples and pork and cider
and cheesy toast. Daniel liked it. “Mmmm, yummy.”

“So are you. How are you doing?” He pulled
Daniel against him, arm around him possessively as they leaned against the
sofa.

“I’m...happy. I’ve had a wonderful day,
thank you. Supper was lovely.”

“You bought it and made it. I just helped.
I had a great day too.” He kissed Daniel’s temple. “Think you’ll sleep all
right tonight?”

“If you’re with me, I will. Don’t know
about when I’m alone.”

“We’ll have to see how it goes. No reason I
can’t be with you whenever you need me, at least in the short term.”

What did he mean by that? “Are you going to
stop coming over?”

“No, Danny. I just meant, sometimes I might
not be able to come over, or you’re busy or whatever. We don’t have to live in
each other’s pockets. Not that your pockets aren’t a lot of fun,” he added,
tickling Daniel a little and making him squirm. “I’ll be here as much or as
little as you need me. As you
want
me. Okay?”

“Okay.” They kissed again, Daniel running
his hand lightly over the back of Spen’s head, enjoying the feel of hair so
very different from his own. “Things have gone awfully quiet in there.”

Spen sniffed the air. “No blood, no smoke.
It’s always possible they’ve strangled each other....”

“At least that’s quiet. Spen, don’t let me
take up all your time. I don’t want to be one of those clingy boyfriends.”

“I thought you didn’t know about
boyfriends.”

“I said I hadn’t
had
one before. I’ve seen plenty of people with them, girls and
boys. Some guys are dopey.”

Spen laughed. “Yes, they are. I promise
I’ll tell you if I have something else I need to do, or even if I just need to
be alone for a bit—so long as you promise not to take that as a hint that
I’m trying to break up with you. If I feel I don’t want to be with you, I’ll
tell you to your face. I want you to do the same. I don’t do messing about or
passive-aggressive bullshit. Can’t stand that kind of thing.”

“I’ll try to be straight with you.”

“Not too straight,” Spen said deadpan.
Daniel poked him for the terrible joke. Spen had hundreds of them, and he
wasn’t afraid to use them.

Spen stayed the rest of the weekend, though they all came over to the Reardons’
house for supper at Mrs Reardon’s invitation. Despite all the advice she’d had,
and despite Daniel’s reassurances, Dee had worked herself up into a bit of a
state by four on Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, Mrs Reardon had raised three
sons through the stress of exams, and had dealt with hundreds of students, so
she knew exactly what to do, taking Dee in hand, distracting her, and giving
her tired, overloaded brain a chance to refresh and rest.

Spen came over every night that week too,
eating with them, sometimes cooking, sometimes bearing a dish he’d made at
home. Daniel couldn’t believe how quickly they fell into an easy, relaxed
routine, and how readily he became part of their evenings. It helped Dee,
having someone to take her mind off the pressure she was facing, and Alex
calmed down too. Their little brother was worried about Dee, and about Daniel’s
job, but Spen had a way of putting things that made it all seem reasonable and
bearable.

Each night they climbed into Daniel’s bed
and held each other. Things hadn’t gone any further than that, and cuddling,
and kissing. Daniel didn’t want any more yet. He worried sometimes that Spen
wanted more than he was getting, but Spen gave him not the slightest hint that
he did, and seemed to be perfectly content as they were. Kani and Myko were the
biggest clues that Daniel didn’t need to fret—they settled down together
every night at the head of the bed, curled around each other in a tight furry
ball, and every morning they jumped on their humans to wake them up in good
time to get on with the day. He had no doubt the hints if Spen weren’t happy
would be as unsubtle as kem hints tended to be.

And then it all changed, because it was
suddenly time for Alex and Dee to fly away to their aunt. Spen took the morning
off to drive them to the airport, though Daniel had said it wasn’t necessary,
and then waited with him until it was time for the kids to head through
security. Dee was crying. “I’m going to miss you, and be so homesick.”

“For about a
day
,” Daniel joked, though his eyes were full too. “Then you’ll be
having such a great time, you’ll forget about us completely.”

She threw her arms around him. “Never
ever,” she insisted. “I’d never forget you.”

“That’s good, DeeDee,” he murmured in her
ear. “Now wipe your face and cheer up, for Alex. I’m counting on you,
remember.”

“Won’t let you down, I promise.” She
scrubbed her face on her sleeve, and tugged on Alex’s shirt. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” Alex launched himself at Daniel.
“You won’t die while we’re gone, will you?”

“No, squirt. I promise. Spen’ll look after
me.”

“He better or I’ll...I’ll hurt him!”

Daniel squeezed him. “None of that, Alex.
You have a good time, look after Dee, and I expect an email once a week.”

“Once a day!”

“We’ll see. Now, off you go. Have a
wonderful time.”

Spen hugged Dee and ruffled Alex’s hair.
“I’ll watch him for you, kids, don’t worry. He’ll be here in one piece when you
get home.”

“Promise?” Dee said.

“Cross my heart and hope to be reborn a
tapeworm if I’m lying.”

Dee laughed, and that allowed Daniel to
gently nudge her and Alex towards the security line. “Go on. Give my love to
Aunt Lisa and Uncle George, and the cousins.”

“Bye, Daniel. Bye, Spen.”

Daniel and Spen watched until they passed
through the metal detector, and were swept along by the crowds of waiting
passengers behind them. Then Daniel wiped his eyes, and blew his nose. “God,
I’m going to miss them.”

Spen hugged him. “Yes, but it’s not
forever. We better get going if you’re to have time to change and come back
into town with me.”

Today was the day when one of the several
pending boots in Daniel’s life finally dropped. Mr Stern had called the
previous week to talk to him about his employment, but on learning that Zachary
was acting as Daniel’s legal advisor, the situation became much more formal.
Letters and emails had been exchanged between Zachary and the company’s
solicitors, and today was the meeting, at the company’s solicitors’ office,
where Daniel’s future would be decided. He knew what had been offered, what had
been counter-offered, and most of what had been rejected. What he didn’t know
was what was the final offer on the table. He’d find that out today.

He and Spen had a quick early lunch at the
house, then Daniel changed into a suit, and they dropped the car back at Spen’s
place before catching the bus into town. Daniel was grateful the meeting wasn’t
to be at the company’s offices. He could imagine how nasty the gossip had
become there since the report in the papers the week before about one Anthony
Winton Noble, aged forty-nine, office manager, being charged with a range of
offences including sexual assault and rape. Though Daniel’s name had been kept
out of the reports as promised, the office rumourmongers would be able to piece
things together without much help. Spen refused to confirm or deny what he’d
heard. He said Daniel was well out of that situation and what a bunch of
small-minded idiots thought, no longer mattered. He was right, of course, and
on one level, Daniel didn’t care. On another, he hated that people who didn’t know
him and didn’t like him, were making free with his private life, as if they had
any business with it. It felt more violating in some ways than what Tony had
done to him.

The meeting was at two. Zachary met him in
the foyer. As usual he looked cool, superior and gorgeous. Daniel felt rumpled
and gauche next to him. “Your brother and sister departed safely?”

“Yes, thank you. Uh, is this going to be
awful?”

Zachary gave him one of his enigmatic
smiles. “Have more faith in my abilities, Daniel. Why is Kani not out?”

Linis was, as he nearly always was, draped regally across Zachary’s
shoulders. “I thought he might, uh, give the wrong impression.”

“On the contrary. Not showing your kem
indicates insecurity and fear.”

“Then that’s accurate.”

“Come now, Daniel. You’re in a position of
strength if only you’d realise it. Call Kani out, and let him ease your
nerves.”

Daniel did as he suggested, and damn the
man, he was right. Kani’s presence on his shoulder, the gentle encouraging
chirps in his ear, did help. “Are we ready?” he said after he gave Kani a
prolonged petting and cuddle to apologise for misreading things so badly.

“Of course. I’m always ready. This way.”

Julian was a lucky man, Daniel thought. But
Daniel was luckier.

~~~~~~~~

Daniel was already in the pub when Spen
arrived at five. The kid was nursing a half pint of bitter, although he’d
barely touched it. Did the alcohol mean things had gone badly, or did the fact
that he hadn’t drunk much mean it was just cover? Kani sat on Daniel’s
shoulder, but Spen couldn’t read anything from the little kem’s posture, and
Myko’s greeting didn’t indicate anything either.

Spen slid in on the seat beside him. “Hi.”
Myko hopped down onto the table and Kani joined him to be groomed. Still no sign of distress. Had to be a good sign, right?

Daniel smiled tiredly. “Hi. Why don’t you
get yourself a drink?”

“In a minute. Well?”

“It’s good. Really good.
Get your drink and then I can tell you.”

Spen waited impatiently for his pint to be
poured, then came and sat next to Daniel again. “Spill.”

“Oh, before I start, Zachary says we’re to
go over to his place for supper. I gather it’s more of a command than an
invitation.”

“He just tends to put things like that.
Julian called. It’s okay with me—you?” Daniel nodded. “Right, no more
delays. Tell me.”

“Well, the company were being bastards
until Zachary started making serious noises about a sexual harassment
suit—and he’s working with Jan to seek compensation too, did you know?
Anyway, once he started talking about the figures he’d be seeking on my behalf,
their solicitors got worried. So the upshot is that I get a favourable agreed
reference, four months’ salary and pension contributions, plus fifteen thousand
as compensation for the ‘pain and suffering’,”—he made the quotes with
his fingers while rolling his eyes—“Zachary’s legal fees to be paid, and
all medical and counselling costs to be covered, no matter when they come up.”
He took a long slurp from his beer while watching Spen over the rim of his
glass.