Diary of a Teenage Taxidermist (11 page)

“Only my parents know.” Ethan wished he could melt into Rob like he did after he gave Rob head. The guy had no qualms about hugging and lying together for a while, and it had felt so normal. “That’s why I can’t drive a car. If it happened on the road I’d be screwed, because it’s so disorienting.”

There was silence again and then, “Do you need a lift?”

Was that all Rob had in him? Ethan sighed. He didn’t want to continue the topic if Rob clearly didn’t want to talk about it. “It’s fine, my mom will pick me up soon.”

“Sure, I’ll wait with you.” Robert cleared his throat. “Does this happen frequently?” he eventually asked, playing with his fingers.

Ethan looked up into his eyes. This was all the hook he needed, not even a worm required for him to bite on it. “I haven’t found a pattern. It’s been so random. The longer ones I have maybe once a week, and the tiny ones every now and then. It’s not that bad if I’m just at the desk or something, but when I’m going somewhere, and then all of a sudden I’m just somewhere else, it’s really bad. Maybe I should just treat it as teleportation, huh?” He nudged Rob’s shoe again.

“Hope you won’t skip the blow job I’ll give you next time. That would be a waste.”

Ethan gasped and grabbed Rob’s arm. “No! Don’t say that. That would be the worst. Oh, my God.” Even thinking about it got his stomach to twist with anxiety.

Robert cleared his throat, pulling on his index finger in a way that made it crack. “I... uh... you wanna...?”

Ethan leaned closer. “Huh?”
Please Mom, don’t call now, stay late at work
.

Robert cleared his throat. “You know, we could... hang out in my car somewhere. I’d just have to take a quick shower.”

Ethan licked his lips. “That… oh wow, that sounds good,” he whispered, and in this moment he knew he’d never see Derek again if Rob asked him to.

Robert’s eyes darkened a bit. “Wait for me here?”

Ethan nodded, unable to choke anything out. He’d wait here forever if there was a blow job from Robert on the horizon.

Rob grinned at him and started running down the stairs, his butt and thighs so perfect Ethan wished he had a spyglass.

Ethan packed the sketchbook into his bag and waited. Even with the horrible memory lapse in class, this was turning out to be an amazing day. He got asked out to prom by a cute (if morally impaired) guy and was about to get head from Robert. And he didn’t even have to push for it. Robert was experimenting, and Ethan didn’t mind being his lab rat.

The blissful feeling was dispersed by the loud, unpleasant music that he used for his parents’ calls.

“No, no, no, no…” he whimpered and picked up the phone. “Hi Mom, what’s up?”

“Hi darling, I’m waiting for you in front of the school,” she said with a cheer in her voice.

“Mom, it’s fine, I was about to call you that Rob will take me home. We wanted to hang out a bit.”

There was a brief silence in the headset, and he already knew it wasn’t good. “Honey, you do have a lot to catch up on after missing so many weeks of school. You can’t play as much as you used to.”

“But Mom, I’ll make up for it tomorrow, or I’ll stay up at night. I already promised Rob.” His palms got damp with sweat.

“No, I’m sure he’ll understand that you have needs that have to be addressed.”

Ethan punched the bench in frustration. He did have needs that had to be addressed, and it wasn’t catching up with school. “I’ll be there in a moment,” he groaned.

“All right,” chirped his mom and hung up. This couldn’t be happening. And to make matters worse, Robert appeared at the bottom of the bleachers and gestured for Ethan to come down.

Ethan grabbed his bag and pulled it over his shoulder as he made his way down with so much resignation it was pulling his shoulders to the ground. Rob looked so fresh and handsome. So much taller, his hair still a bit wet, a white T-shirt under his letter jacket, and a perfect pair of jeans.

“What’s the long face?” asked Rob, pushing his hands into his pockets.

“My mom’s making me go home,” Ethan moaned, looking up at Rob and standing as close as it was possible while being socially acceptable.

Robert’s face froze, but he did kick the ground. “Oh. That’s a shame.”

Ethan made sure no one would see him from behind Robert and pinched his T-shirt. “You wanna go under the bleachers for a sec?”

Robert drew in a sharp breath and looked around. Even the cheerleaders were off by now so Robert’s nod didn’t come as that much of a surprise. He bit his lip and gestured for Ethan to go first.

Ethan rushed down the stairs and around the benches until he got to the shade below. He wanted at least a bit of touch before he’d be forced to go home. The crumbling of dirt and gravel under Rob’s shoes followed him like a ghost, each sound making his skin burn up.

As soon as Rob was in the shade, Ethan slid his arms under the green and yellow jacket and put his cheek on Rob’s chest with a deep exhale. Robert smelled so fresh and clean, killing off the smell of trash, piss, and whatever else was around them. He didn’t care as long as they could touch. The moment became perfect when those strong arms slid around him and held him tight. Then, Rob’s chin was on top of his head, gently pressing on his scalp.

“I want that blow job so bad,” Ethan whimpered into Rob’s chest and stroked his back. “My mom’s probably gonna call again any second now.”

“We should have done that instead of shoving food up our faces.” Rob’s chest shook with rumbly laughter, and Ethan closed his eye, listening to the strong beating of his heart.

Ethan kissed Rob’s pec. “I don’t want to finish in five seconds this time.”

“We’ll work on it,” whispered Robert into Ethan’s hair, his warm breath doing wonderful things to Ethan’s cock already.

“Oh, God, I’ve got to go or I’ll get hard.” Ethan gently scraped his teeth over Rob’s chest.

“Okay.” Slowly, Robert untangled himself from around Ethan and stepped back. He gave a small smile.

Ethan took a deep breath. “You shouldn’t be so agreeable,” he said and started walking back out. Rob’s body heat was still all over him.

“I’m not agreeable.”

“Bye, Rob!” Ethan chuckled and shook his head.

Chapter 8

Robert stopped his car in front of Ethan’s house and rushed for the door as soon as he was out. Every attempt at getting close to Ethan in the past week had been unsuccessful, mostly because of Ethan’s parents picking him up right after school. But this was the day.

Before he even touched the doorbell, Ethan opened the door for him with a wide smile. Rob bit his lip, noticing that Ethan was wearing the studded belt that kept digging into Robert’s flesh whenever they stole a minute or two alone, but they could get rid of it soon.

“I thought you’d never come.” Ethan pulled Robert in by the long-sleeve under his open jacket. It was as if sunshine itself grabbed him.

Rob grinned, walking in and shutting the door behind himself. He gathered Ethan in his arms with so much greed it surprised him, but he couldn’t wait to smell that smooth dark hair. “Sorry, got caught up at practice.”

Ethan was the perfect height to have his face buried in Rob’s neck. “That’s fine, I was doing stuff. I do have a life, you know,” Ethan whispered into his neck, his lips brushing the skin in a way that made Rob remember how they felt on his cock.

He cupped the warm head with his hand and hummed, absorbing the warmth Ethan was emitting. “So, what were you doing?” He wanted to know how Ethan managed to open the door so quickly if he couldn’t move around well yet.

“I was drawing. I’m slowly getting back to the right level. It’s not all that bad, I just need to adjust.” Ethan kissed Rob’s neck and backed away. He pointed to an armchair by the window, to an open sketchbook in the seat. “I was designing those weasel and rat characters.”

“Yeah? Show me.” Robert grinned, grasped the warm hand, and brushed his thumb over the inner side of the palm.

Ethan squeezed his hand and pulled him along to the armchair. He picked up the sketchbook and showed him a whole page of weasel drawings. They were just sketches, but very realistic and well drawn, with tiny touches of anthropomorphization. On one of them the weasel sat on a swing and on another pulled on a rat’s tail. Ethan must have studied the anatomy of the animals to achieve an effect this good.

Rob smiled and took the sketchbook, looking at all the lines that formed characters so unbelievably cute they belonged in a children’s cartoon. “Will you be going to art school?”

Ethan’s smile waned. “Nah, I’ll probably go into law or something.”

Rob stared at him, unsure what to say. “Why?” he eventually uttered. “You’ve got talent for that.”

“It’s lame. My parents say that it’s a good hobby, but that I should secure a proper job first.” Ethan sighed and started playing with the little bird-skull necklace on his chest. “It does make some kind of sense, but I really wish I could do more art instead.”

Robert looked at the cute rat staring straight at him from the page. “Won’t it be a waste of time to study law when you have talent like that? Seriously, if I had this kind of skill, I wouldn’t do anything else.”

Ethan rubbed his forehead. “What are
you
planning to do after graduation?”

Rob pursed his lips. “I’ll do pre-med.”

“See, you’re all serious too.” Ethan gave him a crooked smile. “If I could grow my business quicker I would just go into it. But it’s scary, ‘cause my parents say they won’t give me a penny if I don’t go to college. They’re not as nice as they seem to be around you.”

Rob frowned at that last comment. “I’m sure they mean well. And my talents aren’t as amazing as yours, so that’s why.”

“Oh yeah? That soup the other day was pure talent.” Ethan smiled and poked his stomach.

“Yeah, but I don’t want to work in a restaurant or anything like that.” Rob smiled.

“They do mean well.” Ethan looked down at his sketchbook, returning to the topic of his parents. “And they do support my hobby, but they don’t treat it seriously. Maybe they would if I could make more money off it.”

“How much are you making now?” Robert slowly made his way toward the kitchen. He was dying for something wet.

“That’s the problem. I earned a few hundred when I did a launch of these rat skull necklaces, but then a few months later, I had nothing, so it’s very unstable.” Ethan followed him and slid a finger into the back pocket of Rob’s jeans. It made Rob stiffen a bit, but it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. He chuckled and entered the kitchen, hoping he could get some juice or soda. Instead, a bottle of whiskey appeared on the table, and Robert felt his knees going a bit soft.

Ethan wiggled his eyebrows. “Want some?” He stood close and stroked Rob’s back.

Rob stepped back and grabbed the edge of the counter. Drinking in Ethan’s presence was the last thing he wanted. “I’ll be driving later.”

“Oh, yeah, right, sorry, I just kinda thought you’d want some… uh…” Ethan put the whiskey back into a cupboard and rubbed the top of his nose.

“A soft drink should be fine, thanks.” Rob smiled and petted the back of Ethan’s head, sliding his hand to his nape. It was so warm and fit his palm so well.

Ethan leaned closer, like a kitten, and got Rob some juice from the fridge. Rob imagined giving Ethan some milk in a bowl and watching him lick it all up. He took the juice and drank half of it in one swig.

“Why rats?”

Ethan wrapped his arms around Rob’s waist, hugging him like a giant plushie. “Oh, it’s an old story. I had three rats when I was a kid.” He got to his toes and kissed Rob’s collarbone, brushing the soft mane of his hair against the skin. “They got ill, and we had to put them down. I loved them, you know? They were so cute and smart. So I threw this horrible tantrum.” Ethan chuckled, stroking Rob’s back. “My dad said he’ll let me keep them if I wanted to. We went to a taxidermist, and he stuffed them for me. I didn’t participate in any of it, of course, that would have probably freaked me out at that age, but it sparked something. They were preserved forever. He posed them so that they look like they were all sleeping together and hugging.”

Robert brushed the stray hair away from Ethan’s face. “You still have them?”

“Yeah. They’re still super cute.” Ethan rubbed his forehead against Robert’s chin. “Rats are very intelligent.”

“So I’ve heard.” Robert chuckled and pressed a kiss to the top of Ethan’s head. “Show me?”

“Sure… I just need to sit down for a sec.” Ethan took a deep breath and pulled away from Robert.

Robert frowned. “What is it?”

“My head… fuck, not now…” Ethan hissed and started a wobbly walk out of the kitchen while holding the side of his head. With his back hunched, and the whole body crooked to one side, he looked like the picture of pain.

“Ethan?” Robert rushed to his side and hugged him, all worried. His mind was already offering him visions of Ethan bumping into a wall or breaking his nose in the haze he was in.

“It’s my head… I get these piercing headaches sometimes. It’s like getting stabbed in the brain. Fuck. This can’t be happening now,” Ethan mumbled, not stopping on his way toward the stairs. “I have pills in my room.”

Guilt washed over Robert like a cold shower. He offered his shoulder to Ethan and walked him all the way to the attic. “Where? I’ll get them.”

Ethan sat on the bed with his hand on the side of his head and his eye closed. “They’re on my desk,” he muttered, pointing to a pile of books and paper on top of the tabletop.

Robert found a small orange vial and a half-filled glass of water, and returned to the bed, watching tension grow around Ethan’s eye.

“I’m sorry…” Ethan whispered and took the pills without even opening his eye.

“What? It’s not your fault,” uttered Rob, slowly sitting down on the side of the bed and watching Ethan. He was powerless. There was nothing he could do to help Ethan but watch him curl into a ball of pain.

“But I wanted today to be great, and now I’m just wasting your time. Fuck, stupid head. Stop doing this to me,” Ethan whimpered, curling his fingers into fists.

Robert shook his head. He kicked off his shoes and slowly lowered himself to the bed. He couldn’t stop a silly grin from surfacing when the soft fur bedspread brushed his skin. He still remembered how it felt when he was getting his first blow job. “You’re not.”

“Will you wait?” Ethan whispered and inched closer to Robert. The tension on his face, the way his breathing sped up weren’t good signs.

“For what?” Robert pulled the pillow from underneath the throw and got it under Ethan’s head.

“Until I get better.” Ethan swallowed and slowly opened his eye, hair all over his face.

Robert hummed and rested his arm over Ethan’s stomach. In this position, with his head alongside Ethan’s, he could feel his warmth seeping into him like warm cocoa. Ethan was taking deep breaths, but leaned into the hug and entwined his fingers with Robert’s. Feeling the little scars on them made Rob realize he’d never gotten round to asking about them, but he assumed they had to be a result of all the crafty stuff Ethan was doing. The studded belt though was right there, like a porcupine, stopping Rob from being as close to Ethan as he would have liked. Freaking chastity belt.

He cleared his throat and gently nuzzled Ethan’s temple. “It’s fine. I hope you get better, but we could just talk if that’s all right with you.”

“Yeah, I’ll try and focus,” Ethan squeezed Rob’s hand harder. Ethan’s whole body had this nice sturdiness to it. Small, but not bony. Especially his arms had nice definition. He was wearing a tight-fitting grey long-sleeve today, so it really showed. “Can you help me take off the necklace? I don’t want to crush it.” He pushed some of his hair away from his neck.

Rob nodded and pulled on the chain to find the fastening. It was surprisingly hard to open, but he eventually succeeded and put the necklace away on the nightstand, a bit freaked out by the touch of bone.

“The doctor said it’s only going to get better,” Ethan uttered, turning to his back with a hand over his face.

“Should I turn off the light?” asked Robert, gently stroking Ethan’s chest.

“Yes, please. I should bounce back in half an hour.” Ethan’s lips trembled slightly.

Robert rolled off the bed and switched off the lamp. In the dark, the room looked like any other... at least before he spotted the shadows of taxidermy.
The Shadows of Taxidermy.
This would be a great movie title. When he lay back down next to Ethan, he got a great view of the sky through the window in the slanted rooftop. No wonder Ethan didn’t want to move out downstairs.

“You smell so good,” Ethan whispered, and Robert had to smile, pulling him close in the dark.

“You smell of orange and bergamot.”

“That’s very specific.” Ethan leaned in for a hug. “How does it feel to have everyone crush on you?”

Robert frowned and stared into the ceiling, letting his fingers roam through the silky waves of hair. “Okay, I guess.”

“Seriously? That’s it?” Ethan’s grip tensed on Rob’s forearm.

Rob groaned. “It’s nothing special. I suppose if I wanted to fuck around it would be more useful than it is.”

“Why don’t you, then? You could.” Ethan curled into Rob’s body with his eye closed.

Robert sighed, pushing his leg between Ethan’s, just for comfort. “No one really caught my attention that way.”

Ethan’s eye instantly opened. “What’s your type then?”

Robert wanted to howl. Those never ending questions. “I don’t really have a type. But I like long hair, big eyes and smooth skin.”
Like yours.

“That’s why I’m a good substitute?” Ethan pouted, never looking away from Robert in the darkness.

Robert’s stomach turned into ice. “Why are you saying that?”

“Because I want to get to know you better.” Ethan stroked Rob’s chest.

“That just didn’t sound right,” uttered Robert, gently gathering some of the hair in his hand. “It’s not like that. I’m not pretending you’re someone else.”

A slight smile appeared in the corners of Ethan’s lips. “I always thought you were really hot. I just thought you were an ass as well.”

Robert groaned, leaning in to lie nose to nose with Ethan. “Why?”

It melted his heart to feel Ethan’s hot breath on his skin. “You’re friends with Pat, and the other guys can’t be any better. You guys mocked me whenever I got into your line of sight. Do you not even remember?”

Robert groaned. He couldn’t feel ashamed of that. “It was just teasing. I don’t know, like the guys saying I’m a mommy’s boy because I always have proper food on me.”

Ethan smirked and slowly wrapped his arms around Rob’s neck. “It mostly stopped though. I think everyone’s afraid that I’m this precious piece of cracked porcelain now.”

Robert chuckled and pressed a kiss to Ethan’s forearm. “You’re Mr. Porcelain now.”

Ethan’s fingers stroked Rob’s nape. “I’m not useless.”

“It’s not like that. You’re just still adjusting after all this, so it’s only fair people give you more slack than they used to.”

“I like the slack you’re giving me.” Ethan’s smile widened, which had to mean his headache was fading.

Robert reached out and touched his nose with a grin. “Yeah, well, I’m enjoying it as well.”

“Rob?” Ethan slowly cupped Rob’s cheeks in his palms, watching him intently. “Are you bisexual?”