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"Reunited"
Title: Reunited
Author: Gondorbunny
Pairing: Peter Tork/Stephen Stills
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Graphic m/m sex, naughty language, some het references
Summary: Just as one chapter in Peter life closes, another one (re) opens.
I’ll come around to see you once in a while
Or if I ever need a reason to smile
And spend the night if you think I should
-Todd Rundgren
August 1969
Peter often wondered why he didn’t get out here. The place was just too damned large and too full of empty rooms and memories.
He sighed, looking around the Pad. Over three years of his life had been spent in this place. Not a long stretch in the grand scheme of things, perhaps, but long enough.
He had been happy here, for the most part…and for at least two of those three years he had been very happy. The happiest he could recall being in a long time, in fact.
No, don’t think about that, he berated himself. It had been close to six months now since he and Micky had finally decided to call it quits, but Peter didn’t like to dwell on it too much. It still hurt. A lot.
At least they had parted amicably, which is more than Peter could say about the split with Mike. In the end he and Mike had at least managed to be civil to one another, but there was no question of there being no hard feelings between them. There were hard feelings, all right. Lots of them.
But not with Micky. Yes, the breakup had been hard. Tears were liberally shed on both sides, but in the end they both knew it was over. Peter could feel the distance slowly increasing between him and Micky over the last couple of months before the actual split. They were simply growing up and growing away from one another. It happened all the time, but Peter noticed that when it happened to other people it didn’t hurt quite so badly…
They were still friends though, and Micky had moved into a house not too far away, so they still ran into each other from time to time. Kind of cool.
So here he was, on his own. Davy had been the last to go, maybe out of a sense of duty to his friend and former bandmate, Peter wasn’t sure. Maybe after Micky left Davy felt Peter needed looking after. It would be just like Davy to think that way. He had always been the one to worry about the rest of them.
Finally, though, just about two months ago, Davy apparently decided that Peter wasn’t going to try to hang himself from the upstairs banister, and had decided to move on too.
And I’m still here, Peter thought, sighing again, and I don’t even understand why.
Determined to shake himself out of the funk that he had descended into, Peter had been filling his past few weeks with Amelia, a girl that he had met one night while taking in some new bands at the Troubadour. She was tall and pretty and curvaceous with a quick smile and a sweet, engaging personality. Peter had felt instantly attracted to her, had taken her home with him that very evening…and then she had never left.
Now Peter was in a bit in a quandary. He still liked her a lot, and she sure helped his loneliness, but he was starting to feel a bit restricted by her almost constant presence. He knew in his heart she wasn’t “the one”. Yes, they had a great time hanging out, smoking dope, seeing bands, and having sex whenever the mood struck them, but he didn’t love her and he was pretty sure that she felt the same way about him. Peter needed more than this. He was too much of a gentleman to just tell her to leave, though. That wouldn’t be right.
So she remained, and the days passed by.
Then, one day, Peter was sitting alone in the living room reading a book when there was a knock on the door. His head turned toward the sound, a faint frown creasing his brow. Possibilities of who it could be jumped into his mind and were just as quickly rejected as he moved across the room and peered through the peephole in the door.
Two very familiar figures were standing on the front stoop, one of which in particular caused his heart to literally skip a beat. Oh my god! Peter thought, feeling the old, familiar excitement light up his belly at the mere sight of him.
He almost missed the door handle in his rush to open it. Meanwhile, Amelia had just emerged from the bedroom, her eyes bright and curious. “Who’s here?” she asked.
Peter turned his head to smile at her. “You just wait and see,” he said as he pulled the door open.
Amelia stepped forward, peering at the two men before her. One tall with very dark hair, the other shorter with blonde hair.
Peter put an arm around Amelia’s shoulders as he said with a slight flourish, “Amelia, allow me to introduce two geniuses of the music industry…Neil Young and Stephen Stills.”
“Wow,” Amelia breathed, her eyes eating up her face. She seemed incapable of uttering any more at this point.
“Hey Pete,” Stephen said, smiling as he took a last drag off the stub of a cigarette he was holding, dropping the butt to the ground and crushing it out under his dark leather cowboy boot. “Geniuses, huh? You should get a job doing PR, man.”
Peter returned the smile, stepping aside to invite his two guests inside. “I have to say I’m a more than a little surprised that you‘re here,” he commented as he closed the door and faced them. “I thought you were still on tour.”
“We are,” Stephen said. “But after Woodstock we finally got around to touring back in California again, so we thought we’d drop in on some old friends.” He smiled again, adding, “I hope you don’t mind us coming by without calling.”
Peter’s eyes grew soft and thoughtful as he said quietly, “I don‘t mind at all.” His smile widened as he added, “Especially since I don’t even have a phone right now. Man, I wish I could have been at Woodstock with you guys. That must have been far out.”
“It was!” Stephen said, his eyes lighting up with the memory. “I’ve never seen such a huge fucking crowd in my life, man. It was a bit scary, to tell the truth. The vibe was just amazing, though. Great atmosphere for playing some tunes.”
Peter stood gazing at Stephen as he spoke, and noting all of the familiar facial expressions and gestures that Peter remembered about Stephen, even though it had been two years since their paths last crossed…shortly after the Monterey Pop Festival.
A wave of affection suddenly swept through Peter, and impulsively he moved forward to embrace Stephen in a brief, warm hug. “I missed you, man. It’s been a long time.”
“It sure has,” Stephen agreed, seeming to slightly melt into Peter for a brief couple of seconds before stepping back again. His blue eyes were reflective, however, much as Peter’s eyes had been only seconds before.
Peter reached over to shake hands with Neil before formally introducing Amelia to them both. Immediately he noticed that Neil’s eyes kept moving back to Amelia, and her eyes just as often seemed to shift back to him. You could almost see the spark between them, though Neil was doing his best to try to hide it. Not a good enough job to escape Peter’s detection, however, and Peter smiled internally as an idea began to form in his mind.
************************************************
As the afternoon progressed into evening, they all sat together on the large Oriental rug in the middle of the living room floor. They had all circulated a joint between them before indulging in Chinese food straight from the cardboard containers and wine and plenty of talk. Now the three men got into a jam session on their guitars while Amelia sat at ease between Peter and Neil, watching and listening.
Actually, she was doing a bit more watching than listening. Specifically, watching Neil. She kept finding her attention drawn to him. She had been rather star-struck when he had first arrived. Of course, like Peter, she had been an avid fan of Buffalo Springfield and then of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Now seeing him in person, she found him to be quite attractive, with the most amazing green eyes she had ever seen. She also liked his personality. He was obviously very intelligent and confident, but at the same time he had an endearing quiet shyness to his manner that intrigued her.
She was shaken out of her latest surreptitious appraisal of him by the music suddenly coming to a halt. Peter laid his guitar aside for a moment, stretching, and then said, “How about we take a break for a minute, guys?”
With that, he suddenly scooped Amelia up into his embrace, bestowing a long, deep kiss to her lips. She sighed, leaning into him, returning his kiss fully, surprised by his sudden display of affection.
Meanwhile, Neil had been scrutinizing her in much the same way she had been doing to him. Physically, she was exactly the type of woman he went for. Tall with lots of curves, and what looked to be an absolutely delectable pair of breasts. He had never gone for the string-bean girls that some of his friends enjoyed. He liked his women to look like women, not like a girl’s head stuck on the body of a pre-pubescent boy.
Now, as he watched Peter kiss her, he happened to notice that the way he had pulled her to him left one of her legs stretched out to the side over the floor, and the hem of her already-short dress had ridden up almost all the way to the top of her thigh. Unable to resist, Neil reached over to run his hand slowly along that smooth, white leg.
Peter noted this right away, and if his mouth hadn’t been so occupied, he would have smiled. This was going perfectly. Now for the final touch.
Breaking his kiss with Amelia, Peter now turned her around and, with a smile, murmured in her ear loudly enough for Neil to hear, “I think it’s time you gave our guest some attention. Don’t you think so?” With that, he gently pushed her straight into Neil’s arms.
The two of them stared at one another in stunned silence for a minute, as if trying to grasp the reality of what had just happened. Then, nature took its course as they came together in a tentative first kiss. Peter sat back against the bottom of the couch, arms folded, watching with approval as the tentativeness quickly wore off, and soon they were going at each other like a couple of horny teenagers in the back of a car.
Stephen had sat silently watching throughout this entire scene. He almost chuckled as he saw how easily Peter had manipulated things. Ah, if only Neil knew Peter as well as Stephen did…He might have seen this coming.
Neil, however, did not seem to mind being at the center of one of Peter’s plots. His hands were now boldly moving over Amelia’s torso, thrilling as he realized her breasts were as large as he’d hoped they would be. No padded bra here. In fact, no bra at all; which only increased his desire and had his cock hard and raging in the tight confines of his jeans in no time flat.
Waiting until the pair came up for air again, Peter slowly slid over to Neil and murmured something in his ear while nodding across the room. Neil’s eyes lit up and he immediately stood, pulling Amelia to her feet as well. Without hesitation, he was taking her by the hand and leading her to the downstairs bedroom, closing the door firmly behind them.
“Well, that takes care of that,” Peter said brightly, dusting his hands together theatrically.
Stephen smiled, shaking his head. “Damn, Peter. If I’d have known you were going to be giving away girls today, I would have put in the first bid.”
Peter’s face fell a little bit. “Oh…Did you want her, man? I wasn’t even thinking…”
“Hey,” Stephen said, his voice dropping to a husky murmur, cocking his head slightly at his friend. “Come on, Peter. You know better than that. You know who I really came here to see.”
Peter swallowed hard, looking relieved and sheepish and a bit sad all at once as he said, “I should have known, yeah.” He paused, raising his eyes to Stephen’s as he added, “but you’ve been away for so long, I wasn’t really sure if…”
With a brief glance at the closed bedroom door, Stephen quickly moved across the rug, closing the distance between him and Peter, before embracing his friend and kissing him with barely restrained passion.
Peter exhaled breath through his nose with a soft whimper as his arms came around Stephen’s body, clutching handfuls of the back of the flannel shirt he was wearing. His head swam as the surge of excitement ignited once again in the pit of his stomach, causing his cock to immediately respond and stir to life.
Stephen gently broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against Peter’s. “Now are you sure?” he asked in a low purr.
A smile spread over Peter’s face again. “Yeah, you’ve convinced me…Yet again.” Then he sat back a bit, his tone mildly frustrated as he said, “It’s always so long in between times, though.”
Stephen shrugged. “Life just gets in the way, man. It would be great if we could just lay around and fuck all the time, but we’ve gotta eat too…which means we’ve gotta work.” Then he paused, his expression sobering a bit as he added, “And besides, you haven’t exactly been wanting for action these past couple of years, now have you?”
Now it was Peter’s turn to shrug, a little defensively. “Yeah, I suppose not. Micky did keep me very happy for a long time, but…”
“But what?” Stephen prodded.
“It sounds horrible to say this, because I loved Micky…I still love him to a certain extent, in fact…but I have to be honest.” Peter sighed, unable to meet his friend’s gaze right now, but merely looking down at the floor as he said slowly, “I still thought about you, Stephen. About our times together.”
Stephen slipped his hand beneath Peter’s chin, encouraging him to look at him. Slowly he leaned in to press another kiss to Peter’s mouth, short and sweet before pulling back again, his eyes holding fast to Peter‘s own as he spoke again.
“That doesn’t sound horrible at all. At least not to me. But then I’ve never judged you, Peter. And you’ve never judged me. That’s why we keep coming back around to this, I think. We understand each other in a way that no one else does. We always have, ever since we met back in the Village.”
These words made Peter’s face light up in a way that made it impossible for Stephen to not kiss him again…and then again…each subsequent kiss getting progressively more aggressive; more charged with rampant male hormones.
With obvious effort, Stephen tore his mouth away from Peter’s, breathing heavily. “Wait,” he said. “We need to be careful. Let’s just cool it for a little bit until we’re sure that Neil and your lady friend are well occupied in there.” He paused, letting one hand trail up Peter’s thigh as he added, “Because as you said, it’s been too long…and I sure as hell don’t want this to be interrupted.”
A delicious shiver worked its way up Peter’s spine at his friend’s words, and he felt his cock twitch in anticipation. Every particle of his body was demanding physical contact right now. Not since some of his last trysts with Micky had he felt this sexually charged.
But Stephen was right…It was best to wait and make sure that Neil was fully into Amelia…no pun intended…before they started anything. Immediately Peter reached over to grab up his guitar again, the one thing that could possibly hope to distract him from the steadily growing inferno within him.
Immediately Stephen picked up on his lead, and soon the two of them were jamming again. Stephen glanced up at one point, watching Peter as his long fingers deftly moved up and down the neck of his guitar, his eyes closed in concentration, his sandy brown hair tumbling over his forehead.
Still as beautiful as ever, Stephen thought randomly. Can’t wait to be with you again. Then he went back to focusing his full attention on the music…for now.
************************************************
As it turned out, it was about a half hour later before they seemed to reach a silent mutual decision that they had waited long enough.
Peter had laid his guitar aside with a decisive expression, and had stood up and moved wordlessly to the bathroom, emerging with a small jar of Vaseline which he placed on the coffee table. His eyes had moved to meet Stephen’s with unmistakable intention.
That had instantly put Stephen into motion. He stood as well, walking slowly over to where Peter stood passively, waiting for him. With a swift motion, Stephen had grasped the bottom of Peter’s loose paisley tunic and had whisked it off over his head. His hands swept up the back of Peter’s neck, plunging into his hair as he pulled him into a hot, tongue-tangling whirlwind of a kiss; A kiss that told Peter in no uncertain terms that his friend absolutely meant business this time.
Peter moaned softly into the confines of Stephen’s mouth, his own hands sliding over firmly muscled shoulders covered in soft flannel, then smoothing over his back, alternately stroking and clutching.
“Mmm…Damn, I’ve missed you,” Stephen growled softly as his mouth slid wetly over Peter’s throat, forcing his head back as Peter whimpered softly from a combination of the sensations and Stephen’s words. His mouth sought out Stephen’s again, hungrily, as he scrabbled blindly at the buttons keeping Stephen’s shirt closed. He managed to undo enough of them for Stephen to shed the garment off over his head.
A loud sigh escaped Peter’s throat as he pressed his upper body firmly against Stephen’s, thrilling at the feel of his skin against his own. Peter’s mind and body were both delightfully addled with physical and mental stimulation the likes of which he had not experienced in much too long of a time.
It got even better as Stephen’s hands slid down to Peter’s slender waist, pushing down the elastic waistband of the thin cotton lounge pants that Peter was wearing. Reaching around, Stephen molded his palms around the beautifully rounded curves of Peter’s backside.
“You have still got the most incredible ass I have ever seen,” Stephen murmured huskily against Peter’s cheek. He nipped gently with his teeth at Peter’s jaw line as he added, “You don’t know how many nights I have spent jacking off imagining myself fucking you, Peter. I’m serious.” Stephen’s voice was getting deeper and rougher the longer he talked. He was turning himself on as much with his words as he was turning on Peter.
“Shit, I can’t fucking wait,” Stephen now burst out, shuddering slightly as he squeezed Peter’s buttocks firmly, making Peter moan against his neck. “I want you so fucking bad, Peter. We have to do it right here. Right now.”
“God, yes,” Peter agreed eagerly, feeling almost drugged with arousal. Quickly he pulled apart the belt that Stephen wore, then made short work of opening his jeans.
“Mm…Down on the floor. Now.” Stephen ordered roughly, shoving his jeans down his legs with hurried motions; His head swimming, his balls throbbing, his eyes dilated with arousal as they watched Peter sink down to the rug again, shedding his own pants as he did so before lying flat on his back.
Stephen knelt on the floor next to Peter’s outstretched legs, sitting back on his heels as he reached for the Vaseline on the table. His hands trembled so badly with excitement and anticipation that he almost dropped the jar twice, but he still managed to thoroughly slick up his rock-hard erection with the gooey substance. He could hardly keep his eyes off the delectable sight of Peter’s tanned, naked body lying there beside him, like a great feast that had been prepared for him alone. He could see similar feelings reflected in the brightness of Peter’s caramel-colored eyes as Peter waited and watched.
Peter gasped as Stephen abruptly seized both of his legs by the backs of his knees, dragging him forward so that his ass was resting on Stephen’s slightly parted thighs. Stephen then lifted Peter’s legs up over his shoulders.
“Oh my god,” Peter whimpered, almost vibrating with expectation now as Stephen guided his cock to Peter’s entrance and began to lean into him, slowly breaching that tight ring of muscle.
Peter clenched his teeth hard to keep in the cry that wanted to erupt from him. The pain mixed with the pleasure was a little worse than expected. It had, after all, been several months since he last had sex with a man, and Peter could not completely hold in his initial discomfort.
“You going to be okay, man?” Stephen asked, looking almost desperately at Peter. “Do you need me to stop?“ Of course if Peter was in too much pain, Stephen would most certainly pull out, but oh, how he hoped he wouldn’t have to do that. Peter’s ass was exquisitely tight, almost torturously so. It was taking all of Stephen’s considerable control not to come right away.
Peter’s eyes had been closed in an effort to relax, but now they opened and looked up at Stephen, a slow smile spreading over his face as he said, “Don’t you dare stop.” He took a deep breath and then let it out slowly between pursed lips, his eyes fluttering closed again.
Relieved, Stephen resumed his long, slow inward slide. Once his hips were pressed completely against Peter’s buttocks, he knelt up off his heels, supporting Peter’s lower back in his hands. He began a series of short thrusts that reached deeply into Peter’s body, stimulating his most sensitive areas right away.
“Ohhhhh….” Peter groaned as quietly as he could, levering his upper body up on his elbows in order to deepen Stephen’s penetration all the more. “Oh Stephen…Oh god, man…That’s so fucking good…”
Stephen knew he couldn’t last long. The heat, the tightness, and Peter’s enthusiasm were just too much. Added to that the fact that he had been wanting to be with Peter again like this for over two years. It had been much too long to wait.
“Peter,” Stephen panted, his hips pistoning faster. “I’m sorry, man. I can’t…Oh fuck, I have to come, man….I’m sorry…”
“Do it,” Peter urged, his tawny eyes dark with desire, his face sheened with perspiration as he kept his gaze locked on his gorgeous blonde lover. “Come for me, Stephen. I want it, babe. Fill me up.”
Stephen’s eyes fluttered closed, his fingers curling into Peter’s flesh, his hips bucking hard as his orgasm was reached. A breathless half-shout was barely restrained during the initial burst of pleasure, mellowing out to a deep throaty moan as he pumped Peter full of his essences.
Despite now being thoroughly drained and close to exhaustion, Stephen was also a considerate lover. After carefully withdrawing from Peter’s body and slowly lowering his legs to the floor, Stephen stretched out full length on the rug between Peter’s thighs and tenderly but voraciously took as much of Peter’s massive erection into his mouth as he could.
“Oh shit,” Peter moaned softly, his teeth gnawed restlessly at his lower lip as he kept his eyes glued to the action before him. This was not something that Stephen did to him often, but that by no means meant that he was an amateur at it. Peter could not recall any woman he had ever been with that could give head as well as Stephen did. Of course, as they said, men know best what other men like.
So was the case here, and this was no ordinary man, but one who had spent many intimate moments with Peter, and knew better than almost any other what sensations would most drive Peter wild. Stephen exploited all of those tricks now as he hungrily devoured Peter’s cock, loving the feel of him within his mouth; the taste of him; and Peter’s own heated reactions. Stephen purred in delight at the heady combination.
“Oh yeah, Stephen…Yeah, baby…Oh shit, please don’t stop….” Peter begged hoarsely, fighting to keep his eyes open and attentive. The visual was just adding to the pleasure of it all. When Stephen’s pale blue eyes flickered up to meet his, Peter suddenly felt himself rocketing toward the edge as a surge of excitement flared in his lower belly.
“Yeah…yeah, baby…Oh yeah…I’m coming…”
Stephen was not fully prepared for the fire hose that suddenly went off within his constricting throat, but he recovered quickly and managed to swallow all of Peter’s offering without gagging, secretly congratulating himself for doing so. He continued his ministrations until he was sure that Peter was completely and thoroughly drained.
Overwhelmed, Peter flopped down flat on his back, a low moan and an inward hiss of breath escaping from him as Stephen continued to stimulate his over-sensitized cock, finally showing him mercy and letting the softening organ slip from between his lips.
Stephen slowly crawled up the length of Peter’s body, softly kissing his abdomen, his stomach, his chest, then licking a soft trail up his neck to his mouth, which he met with his own in a long, sensual kiss.
“Fuck, that was so worth waiting for,” Stephen murmured after they separated.
“Mmm-hmm,” Peter agreed lazily, looping his arms around Stephen’s neck and pulling him down for another slow kiss. Then he raised his eyes to the couch that was looming just over their heads. “Grab those blankets that are up there, would you?”
Stephen raised himself up enough to seize the three large brightly-patterned throws that had been decorating the couch, and also grabbed a few of the various-sized pillows as well. For a few minutes they spread everything around and made it as comfortable as they could before bundling together beneath the blankets, facing each other.
Silence held between them for a little while, and then Peter asked the question that he had been wanting to ask, but was dreading asking at the same time.
“So how long can you stay?”
A look of combined regret and guilt passed over Stephen’s face. “We have to be out of here by late morning. We’re meeting with David and Graham to play a festival at Big Sur tomorrow.” Then, as he watched Peter’s face cloud with disappointment, inspiration suddenly struck. “Why don’t you drive up with us? We’re going to be staying in Joni’s rental house up there. There’s plenty of room.”
Immediately the clouds in Peter’s expression cleared away, and the bright sunshine of his smile burst forth. Stephen smiled himself to see it. He couldn’t help it. Peter’s smile was just infectious.
“Groovy, man! Absolutely I’ll go!” Peter said enthusiastically. Then in a quieter voice he added, “It will be great to get out this house for a while.”
Stephen could detect the slight sadness in Peter’s voice and felt for him. He could only guess at the loneliness that Peter must have been dealing with since his split with Micky.
Reaching out, he gathered Peter into his embrace, holding him close and loving the way that Peter sighed in utter contentment against him. They simply lay together, not speaking, until they both eventually fell into a deep sleep.
************************************************
When Peter awoke, the first thing he realized was that it was morning already. The light was pouring through the sliding glass doors that led to the back deck. He blinked in the brightness for a moment, bringing up one hand to absently brush his hair away from his eyes.
The second thing he realized was that he was on the living room floor. Memory immediately flooded back in, and he immediately turned his head to the right.
Stephen was lying on his side, still sleeping deeply, the blankets pooled around his waist. A small, secret smile curled the corners of Peter’s mouth and his stomach briefly erupted with the tickling flutter of butterflies as he looked at his friend. Stephen’s face was a picture of serenity; his lips slightly parted, a thin lock of straw-colored hair lying against his cheek. Impulsively, Peter leaned in to press the lightest of light kisses to Stephen’s forehead. Stephen did not stir.
Then a soft sound caught Peter’s attention. He turned his head in the other direction, and that’s when he caught sight of the two figures seated on the leather chaise nearby, both of them wrapped up in towels from a recent shower. Neil and Amelia. Watching them.
“Oh!” Peter exclaimed, flushing slightly as the full extent of what they were seeing came through to him. Quickly he sat up, gathering the blanket tightly around his waist as he did so. “Hey guys,” he said in a low voice.
“Good morning!“ Amelia said brightly, her expression one of amusement. Of course nothing Peter did was much of a surprise to her. Neil, on the other hand, looked absolutely stunned. Of course he had known that Peter’s sexual tastes walked both sides of the fence, but he had absolutely no inkling whatsoever that Stephen’s tended in that direction.
However, Peter noticed with relief that Neil’s expression held more honest bemusement and curiosity than any sort of disgust or disapproval. Still, Peter was a bit worried about how Stephen would react to realizing that Neil knew about them…
No sense in delaying the inevitable, Peter thought, leaning over and laying a hand on Stephen’s shoulder, shaking him gently.
“Hey…Wake up, man.” Peter murmured softly.
“Hmmm?” Stephen said, lifting his head and looking around blearily. “What time‘s it?”
Peter chuckled slightly as he replied, “A little later than we’d intended, I think.”
“Huh?” Stephen asked, levering himself up on his arms, the blanket tumbling to the floor around him as he rubbed his eyes. Then, staring around, he finally caught his first glimpse of their audience.
His eyes locked with Neil’s for a brief moment, and then Stephen’s widened in horror.
“Oh shit!” Stephen exclaimed, snatching the blanket up and quickly covering his exposed lower half with it. His crossed his arms in a defensive posture, his head down, his eyes trained on the floor. “What the hell are you guys doing out here?” he demanded weakly. “You were supposed to still be asleep!”
Now for the first time, a small smile appeared on Neil’s face. The discomfort and obvious embarrassment of his bandmate suddenly seeming very endearing to him. “Well, I guess our activities last night just weren’t quite as exhausting as yours,” Neil said, as Amelia snickered under her breath.
“Fuck you, Neil,” Stephen said in a surly tone, and Neil’s smirk turned into a full-on grin. Even Peter could not help smiling, despite his obvious sympathy for Stephen’s predicament.
With a determined air, Stephen suddenly stood up, wrapping the blanket around himself toga-like as he moved purposely toward the bathroom. “I’m taking a shower,” he announced, closing the door behind him before anyone could say a word in response.
Peter shook his head slowly. He knew Stephen would be all right, especially since Neil seemed to be taking this so in stride, but he knew the initial discovery on both sides was a bit eye-opening, to say the least.
With a sigh, Peter carefully rose to his feet, gathering the blanket around him as he did so. He immediately headed toward the chaise, where Amelia sat comfortably leaned back against Neil’s chest, his arms encircling her waist. With a smile, Peter leaned in to press a brief, warm kiss to Amelia’s mouth. “Coffee?” he asked, to which she nodded, smiling.
Peter smiled back, and headed to the kitchen to start the coffee. As he did so, Neil called after him in a voice that was purposely louder than it needed to be. “Looks like I’m the only one in this house that won’t be getting a good morning kiss from you, huh Peter?”
“Fuck you, Neil!” Stephen voice called out from behind the closed bathroom door, sending Neil into a brief fit of laughter.
The sound of the water turning on in the shower with a sudden roar was evidence that Stephen had heard all he cared to hear for the time being.
As it turned out, Neil revealed to Peter that he had asked Amelia to accompany them up to Big Sur as well. Amelia looked thrilled by the prospect even as Neil spoke of it again, and then, smiling sweetly, she said to Peter, “Under the circumstances, I’m going to assume you were invited up too?”
Peter could not help the shy smile that rose to his lips, or the flush that colored his cheeks again as he admitted that, yes, Stephen had asked him and that he would be joining them.
There was brief silence between the three of them, and then Neil, noticing that the shower was still running, felt safe to ask, “So this…this thing between you and Stephen…Is this something that just happened or…?”
Peter shook his head. “No. We’ve had an on-and-off relationship with each other for a long time. Ever since we were in Greenwich Village together back in sixty-four. We were sharing an apartment back then to just to get by. The coffee houses we played didn’t pay much.” He paused, smiling a bit nostalgically. “Anyway, we got a bit curious one night, and things just sort of developed from there.”
Neil was surprised. “Wow, man…I never would have guessed. You guys have definitely kept that secret well.” He paused, thinking, then said almost reflectively, “Five years…Wow. That’s really cool.”
Peter felt heartened by Neil’s words, knowing that his easy acceptance of the situation would be a great relief to Stephen, once he got over his initial discomfort.
“As you can tell, he’s not that comfortable yet with people knowing about it,” Peter said, a bit sadly. “It’s not that he’s ashamed of it, but I think he would rather break the news to certain people himself in his own time.“ He paused, adding, “Especially you, Neil. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but Stephen thinks a hell of a lot of you.”
Neil nodded slowly, his expression soft and reflective. “I know,” he said quietly. “The same goes both ways.”
As if on cue, the sound of the shower now ceased, effectively ending the conversation in the living room on that subject. A couple of minutes later the door opened and a rather subdued-looking Stephen emerged, a towel wrapped around his waist. His wet hair was combed back off his forehead, and water droplets still gleamed over his shoulders as he moved slowly into the room.
Almost instinctively, Neil rose from the chaise, giving Amelia a brief squeeze before he did so. He walked over to where Stephen stood and the two men faced each other silently for a few moments. Peter watched intently, mildly apprehensive about what might be said.
Stephen’s expression was both shy and wary as he asked, “You won’t tell David and Graham, will you?”
“No way,” Neil said, firmly but softly. He reached out to place a comforting hand on Stephen’s shoulder. “I kid because I care, man. It’s cool.”
The first smile of the morning touched Stephen’s face as an obvious expression of relief passed over it. Simultaneously a similar expression passed over Peter’s face. The apprehension melted away, and in its place was nothing but excited anticipation for what the future might bring.