Deviations: Submission (35 page)

Noah nodded, knowing Phan meant that very sincerely.

"Take care of yourself, too," Noah replied, and not being fond of lingering exits, he turned and headed out of the restaurant.

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Deviations: Submission

by Jodi Payne, Chris Owen

Chapter 29

Tobias was not fretting. He wasn't worried. At all.

Noah and Phan could have a dinner together without either of them getting hurt, he knew it.

Mostly.

Tobias had every light on in the apartment and the stereo was playing early Bowie. He suspected he was in a mood, and he didn't know how to break out of it, aside from calling Noah to check up on him. He looked at the clock again and wondered how long a dinner would last between those two.

With a grimace he realized it would either be very fast or far too long. Middle ground with Phan and Noah seemed unlikely at best.

At nine-thirty he had the phone in his hand and refused to dial. At nine forty-five he called himself an idiot and put the phone down. At ten, he called.

The phone rang, and rang again. Tobias considered hanging up, but Noah answered on the third ring. "Everything went fine, sir," he said, instead of "hello, sir" or whatever else Tobias might have been expecting. His boy was on to him.

Tobias snorted. "I loathe Caller-ID."

"I'm sorry, sir. Let me try that again," Noah cleared his throat, and Tobias could hear him chuckle as he said, "Hello?"

"Hello, brat." He rolled his eyes, safe in the knowledge that Noah couldn't see him. "I trust you didn't damage each other?"

"You thought we'd have a cat fight?" Noah laughed. "No, no ... we had one or two moments in the beginning where I 317

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was nervous and defensive and he was ... I don't know, having a mood swing or something, maybe he was a little apprehensive, too. But we worked that out, and then we ended up having a very nice, adult, enlightening conversation. I like him. I see why you like him. And up close like that, oh man, those eyes..."

Tobias wasn't really sure where to start with that. "How enlightening? And that wasn't a mood swing, that was Phan being Phan. His eyes are lovely, yes." He sat down, hard. He was fairly sure he should have been on the couch before he even dialed.

"Enlightening, but we talked mostly about him, sir. I think it started when he asked me why I didn't drink. I told him, and then I asked him in return. He told me about his alcoholism and detox-that was heavy personal stuff and I was able to sympathize a bit. He told me how you came for him and took him home with you and looked after him. He told me about the lengths the two of you went to try to make things work, getting Bradford's help and then finally the slavery contract."

Noah sighed and went on. "Phan gave me a real gift, sir.

He helped me to understand why your connection is so strong, and to see that your ties go way beyond friendship.

He's a remarkable person. He owes you a great deal and he knows it. He credits you with saving his life, and I think he's right about that. He loves you very much. He just wants you to be happy, and I promised him I'd do my best."

Tobias sank back on the couch and closed his eyes. "Phan talks too much," he said, not surprised that his voice was 318

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thick. "It ... I'm glad you two were able to talk to each other about such ... personal things."

"Sir," Noah said; he must have picked up something.

"Phan was very discreet. He wanted me to understand, but he didn't give me a lot of detail. Also, he chose not to tell me anything about how the two of you ended things, just what I know already from you." Noah's voice was soft and reassuring. "I didn't push for more, sir. If you want me to know or need to talk about it, I trust that you will. Until then, there is no reason for me to know, it's none of my business."

"No, no. I..." Tobias sighed. "I'm sorry, pet. I'm a little thrown, I guess. I had more or less supposed that you two would talk about more general things and not get right into the deep end. And I don't want you to think I'm hiding anything from you, because I'm not; I'm just not ... ready to talk about what happened at the end."

"It's okay. I know that, he knew it, and we just didn't go there. I respect that, sir. We probably would have just skimmed the surface of everything else if we hadn't ended up with the not-drinking thing in common." Noah sighed into the phone again, and Tobias could hear him rummaging around on his end. "Sir, are you all right? Would you like me to come by? We don't have to talk about anything but maybe you don't want to be alone. I could run you a bath, get you some tea ... I've got lots of sick time, I'm not worried about not getting enough sleep."

He thought about it for a moment and rather deliberately set aside any guilt he'd have about dragging Noah all over 319

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town on a weeknight. A bath and tea, a warm body to sleep with ... it sounded lovely.

"I'm fine, sweetheart," he assured Noah. "But the offer of tea is impossible to resist, to be honest. I'll send the car around-pack a bag and be ready in about fifteen minutes."

"I'll be ready, sir," Noah replied, sounding a bit relieved.

"Good. See you soon." Tobias disconnected, knowing Noah wouldn't hang up first, and then dialed his garage. In short order he'd arranged for someone to pick up Noah and for another driver to be ready in the morning to deliver him to either his home or the station house.

Given the time of night he assumed Noah would arrive within half an hour, traffic being light, so he called the building's security desk and let them know he was expecting a guest, and then he tried to fill his time. Looking out at the lights wasn't the distraction it usually was, and he resorted to the television, flipping channels automatically until he found something less annoying than the reality-based shows.

When the house phone buzzed to let him know Noah was on the way up he felt himself relax a little. Opening the hall door, he told himself he wasn't hovering, he was merely avoiding making Noah wait.

Noah arrived in what he'd presumably worn to dinner, a black turtleneck sweater and jeans, and he had a duffel bag over one shoulder. He smiled and caught Tobias' eyes briefly as he stepped off the elevator, lowering them appropriately as he got closer.

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"That is the way to travel, I must say," he joked while still in the hallway, then kissed Tobias and slipped past him into his apartment. "And this is a great building. Wow."

Tobias smiled and set the alarm. "I like it. You're getting attached to the car, pet. Or is it the driver?" he teased.

"Jorge? He's cute, but, no, it's definitely the wheels." Noah wandered a bit, poking his nose into the living room. "Oh, look at the view." He made his way over to the window.

"Fifteen minutes ago I was right ... there." Noah stuck his finger on the window to point out the spot, squinting one eye.

Tobias walked up behind him and fitted his body along Noah's. "Where?" he asked, slipping his arms around Noah's waist.

"Where exactly?" Noah asked, hugging Tobias' arms to him. "Well, this is Lincoln, right? So, one, two, three, four, five ... six lights down, see that purple billboard?"

"Yes," Tobias answered.

"Okay, well go right from there and you'll see a yellow neon blinking light? That's the Sun Club, you know where that is? I'm about two blocks south of there. It's farther than it looks from here. Phan and I are practically neighbors. He lives a few blocks east." Noah leaned into Tobias. "But you don't really care about that, do you? You want me to put a kettle on," he teased.

"Tea would be lovely." He didn't let go. "I know where Phan lives, but I didn't realize you were so close. You two really did talk about a lot of things, didn't you?"

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"The food was spicy, we couldn't eat too quickly," Noah turned in Tobias' arms and rested his head against Tobias'

shoulder. "It was a great little place, he has good taste."

"Do you think so?" Tobias held his boy close, enjoying the feel of him, the scent of his hair and the warmth of his body.

"I'm glad it went well, Noah. Thank you."

"Thank you for suggesting it, sir. It made a difference, really. And we agreed we should meet up again sometime.

Oh, Phan asked me to say hello for him, and also that he'll still lick your boots if you'll let him," Noah laughed. "He misses you."

Tobias snorted. "He just misses the boots," he said, not meaning it. Feeling a little raw and unexpectedly emotional, he pulled back a bit and kissed Noah's forehead. "All right.

Enough about Phan for now, boy. I believe I was promised tea and a bath."

Noah was apparently perceptive enough to know when to let something go. "You were, indeed. Where's the bathroom?"

Tobias pointed Noah in the right direction and in short order Noah was voluntarily naked and Tobias was in a hot bath. He could hear Noah humming something he didn't recognize, and his voice echoed a bit in the large kitchen.

Moments later the kettle started to whistle.

He smiled as he listened to Noah moving around, opening and closing cupboard doors. He heard cutlery rattle, presumably as Noah got a spoon, and then a brief silence.

They were homey sounds, and it had been a long time since he'd heard anything like it in the apartment. Eyes closed, he soaked it in along with the heat of the bath.

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When he opened his eyes again there was a cup of tea on the counter and Noah was kneeling, silent and still, beside the tub, eyes also closed. Tobias wondered if he'd dozed off, and if so, how long Noah had been kneeling there waiting on him.

"Sweetheart? Are you okay?" he asked softly.

Noah opened his eyes. "Yes, sir, just didn't want to wake you up," he said softly. "Would you like your tea?" He got up and took the cup off of the counter, sitting on the edge of the tub to hand it over to Tobias.

"Is it still hot? How long was I out?" Tobias sat up slightly, water sloshing gently around him.

"Oh, not that long, still feels hot to me." Noah said handing him the cup. Once it was safely in Tobias' hand he leaned over to let out some of the cooling water and added more hot to the tub. "If it's not hot enough I'll go refresh it for you, sir."

Tobias sipped. "It's fine, pet. Thank you." He leaned back again and let his eyes drift to half closed. "So what were you thinking about?"

"Well, it started with wondering what scene you would have in mind for the weekend and that reminded me that I needed to call Mrs. M and ask her to pick up a few things at the market for me, which reminded me that Allison is coming over tomorrow night and she told me to make sure I had flour

... hm ... Oh, and then I was thinking that I might try to make a pumpkin pie but I didn't know if you liked pumpkin..."

Noah stopped talking and glanced up enough that he could read the expression on Tobias' face without meeting his eyes.

"Well? You asked."

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Tobias chuckled. "You never get bored, do you? And yes, I like pumpkin. Does she know you call her Mrs. M? I think she'd get a kick out of it. She calls you 'the darling.'"

"Well, I left her a note the first weekend that I stayed with you, remember? And I addressed it, Dear Mrs. M. So then when I talked to her later on the phone she said "My darling, it's a very good thing I'm the only Mrs. M in the house" or something like that, teasing me, and she's been 'Mrs. M' ever since. I can't call her Elizabeth, she's old enough to be my grandmother. It just feels ... disrespectful." Noah smiled and tested the water, then reached for the loofah. "If you sit forward, I'll do your back, sir."

Tobias nodded and finished his tea, thankful that it had cooled a little while he'd slept. He sat up and leaned forward, saying, "I've never called her Elizabeth-she's just always been Mrs. Miller. When I was fourteen, I think I tried to call her Bessy, which is what Mr. Miller called her. That went over like a lead balloon."

Noah laughed. "Well, she seems to like Mrs. M, and if she likes it, it works for me. I know whose house it really is."

Tobias bent forward a bit further as Noah started in on his back with the loofah and a citrus-scented bath gel.

"Oh, there's little doubt about that," he agreed. "God, that feels good." Tobias closed his eyes and rested his head on his arms. "I'm so glad I dragged you across town," he said, hiding his smile.

"I am, too," Noah answered in a low, husky voice that seemed to come right from his chest. He turned the loofah and scrubbed gently over Tobias' shoulders.

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Tobias' smile grew. "Are you, now? Tell me, pet. Just how glad are you to be here washing my back?"

"I would rather be here scrubbing your back than anywhere else I can imagine, sir." Noah said easily, in that same seductive tone.

Tobias purred. He'd hoped to make it more of a growl, but he was too warm and too contented to pull it off. "Keep it up, boy. You're doing fine."

"Yes, sir." Noah scrubbed a bit longer, then set the loofah aside and rinsed Tobias' back. With a sigh he slid his wet fingers over Tobias' shoulders and began to rub them firmly.

"Your back is a lovely pink now, sir," he teased.

"I can make your bottom match," Tobias said evenly, though his smile grew. With a groan he shifted one arm and let Noah work out a knot. "God, that's good. I didn't notice that I was even tense."

"You sounded stressed on the phone, sir," Noah told him honestly. "I know you said you were all right, but I really am glad that you let me come over to help you relax."

Tobias nodded and let Noah finish with his shoulders before sitting back. "Okay, sweetheart. I've had my bath, had my tea, and it's got to be close to midnight. Time for bed, I think."