Brad and Skye

Brad, 46 and starting to go grey at the temples, but otherwise still an attractive middle aged white man, reluctantly follows his 20-something-liberal-college daughter into one of those hippie health food stores, his "Support Our Troops" ribbon prominantly displayed on his chest.

Skye, 45, lean as a beanpole with a whitish-blond ponytail and perpetually smiling face, greeted them at the door. The anti-war posters in the store were fading, but still prominently displayed. "Welcome to Grassroots."

"...thank you..." he mutters uncomfortably, not really looking at the person addressing him.

"Want some green tea while your young lady friend looks around?" Skye asked, heading to his counter where there was a hot kettle waiting for him. It was clear as day that this upstanding support our troops sort of man was not here to shop.

Somewhat warily, Brad takes a closer look at the man talking to him. Of course--it's a granola hippie peace freak. Why he's not talking to Karen is beyond him. "...that's my daughter," he says, rather awkwardly, not sure what the blond meant by his comment.

"I know Karen. Great kid." he smiled, handing him a cup of tea. "She'll be awhile finding what she needs, though. Likes to look." he took a sip of his own tea, sitting at his counter, surrounded with vegetarian food, local produce, handmade and homemade wares as well as books, stickers and pins all about peace, war and revolution. "I'm Skye."

"Ah. Thank you," he says, never sure what to say when someone compliments his daughter. Convinced that he won't go away, and seeing that the shop is otherwise empty, Brad offers a hand. "Brad."

"Nice to meet you, Brad." Skye's permanent smile brightens and he shakes the other man's hand with a surprisingly firm grip. "Are you from around here?"

Brad blinks in surprise--the man is surprisingly...manly. "Yes. I went to school here, stayed here after I...got back..." Brad frowns ever so slightly--he's also surprisingly easy to talk to.

"Ah, I moved here to go to college. Haven't left since. Good to come back home?" he asked.

"...yes..." he says, sitting on a stool a few down from Skye. "I meant, when I got back from service. I've lived here my whole life."

"I got that." he nodded. "But lots of men come back from ...service as different men." He seemed to think over the word that he'd paused on before deciding that it was an apt description.

Brad raises an eyebrow, bristling a little, then shrugs. He's seen it happen--the guy's certainly not talking about him. "Yeah. I guess. Um...what kind of tea?"

"Green. It's good for you." he watched him over the edge of his own cup as he took a sip.

"Sure." Brad grabs a cup and pours himself a bit of tea--at least then his hands will be busy and he'll have an excuse not to talk. "How's...business?" he asks.

"Business is great. Lots of young people now are pretty knowledgeable about health food and taking care of themselves, and this is really the only place in town to get lots of things." Skye shrugged. "And I like my work. Like the tea?"

"That's good. It's nice to...enjoy your work..." He takes a sip, blowing on it. "Actually, it's not bad..." he sounds surprised.

"I'm glad you like it. What sort of work do you do?" Skye asked, smiling at Brad's reaction to the tea.

"I work for my brother-in-law. He has a construction company." Brad smiles back, a little stiffly.

"That must be nice, lots of work outdoors?" He checked out Brad's muscle tone as subtly as he could.

"Uh, yeah, usually..." He misses being checked out, but realizes that *something* is going on. He crosses his legs uncomfortably, looking around for Karen. She's still wandering about. He sighs.

"That's the only thing this job is missing. Being outside." he chuckled.

"Mmm." Brad glances around, trying to find something to talk about. He sees an antiwar poster, and raises an eyebrow. "So. You're one of them. I should've guessed, I s'pose."

"One of them?" he barely managed to stop himself from making a moue. "A peace loving, tree hugging... hippy?"

"Well...yeah..." Brad looks at him oddly.

"Better that than a soldier, friend. But Karen seems to have found everything she was looking for." he smiled at Brad's daughter, taking the items from her and bagging them. "If you want to talk about war and my opinions on it, maybe we should talk after business hours." he laughed.

"Sure..." he finds himself agreeing. "When do you close?"

"I close at eight." Skye smiled, putting a tin of green tea into a paper bag and handing it to Brad. "Enjoy."

*****

Brad was distant and distracted all through dinner, wondering why he agreed to meet the man. However, he hasn't...talked to anyone for a good long while, so he drives back to meet him, taking the tea.

Skye was just closing up when he got there. He lit up when he saw him. "Evening, Brad. I'm glad you came." he opened the shop door for him, leading him into the upstairs of the shop where he lived. Part of the place looked like a greenhouse, but there was a fairly normal table and chairs that they sat at.

Brad nods noncomittally and sits, sliding the tea in the bag across the table to him. "Here, I think you gave me this by accident."

"No, it's yours." he leaves it there. "It's the same kind that we drank earlier."

Brad shrugs, then fishes the tin out of the bag, looking at the price on the bottom and then taking his wallet out.

"No, no, it's a gift." he chuckled. "No money required."

"...if you're sure...what did you mean when you said 'better that than a soldier' earlier?" he asks, getting right to the point, leaning forward a little.

"I believe that soldiers are the only ones that really pay the price of war. And their families, of course, but mostly the soldiers themselves."

"I...I don't think that we should start a war every time someone pisses us off, but we have to protect ourselves. Our families."

"War will never make peace." Skye shook his head.

"Why not? You don't see any more Nazis walking around."

"And yet the generation that fought them has no peace of their own. You can't be a soldier without losing your own peace of mind."

"I'm not saying it's the best solution. But it's all we've got. I'm proud to have served my country, to have done my part. Can you say the same? I lost people I...cared about. But I protected my family and my country."

"I don't think much of patriotism, but I am sorry you sacrificed so much." Skye touched his arm gently. "I'm proud of a lot of things people in this country have done, but they're just people. People are smarter alone than they are as a group or a country."

Brad pulls his arm back as casually but quickly as he can. "I'm not saying I did. No more than anyone else. I'm not complaining." He frowns for a second. "People by themselves don't get anything done."

Skye smiled, "True enough, more voices get more done. Still easier to be led astray that way. Thinking critically of any belief or cause is important."

"Do you?" he asks, with a bit of a smirk. His arm is tingling a little where it was touched. It's been so long since Mary made him feel that way--

"Do I think critically? I do my best. Do you?" Skye leaned his elbow on the table, resting his chin on his palm.

Brad leans back a little, leaning against the backrest of the chair. "I--I don't know. Look, thanks for the tea and everything. I probably shouldn't have come here tonight..." he looks like he might bolt.

"I'm glad you did. I know this might not be a favorite topic, but you're willing to talk about what you believe and that's important." Skye sat back a bit too, giving Brad a bit of space, trying not to make any sudden movements.

He sighs, relaxing minutely. He runs a hand through his hair, and it ends up on the back of his neck; he's looking down at the table. "I don't know..." he says softly. "I don't know if it's what I believe or if I just...have to..." he fiddles with the yellow ribbon. "If I had a son...I wouldn't want him joining. But I'd support him if he did."

"Why wouldn't you want him to join? No parent wants to see their child hurt, but is there another reason?" Skye smiled sympathetically.

Brad frowns. "No...what else would there be?"

"Maybe you wouldn't want him to lose close friends in battle or go through what you did? Maybe you don't believe our country would need your son to fight for it?" Skye got up to pour them both some green tea, sitting back down and passing Brad his cup.

"Oh. Well. I thought that was part of being hurt," he says quietly, clearly thinking hard. Brad takes the cup, sipping deliberately. "Why are you doing this?" he asks.

"Doing what?" Skye asks.

"Talking to me. Asking all these questions. I would've thought...I would've thought that...your kind of people...wouldn't much like talking to mine."

"Soldiers aren't the 'enemy' we're trying to combat. In fact, soldiers are the victims of war. It's the men who make the decisions to go to war and sacrifice nothing. It's the men who profit from the war. That's the sort of man we want to change."

"Mmm. I had a friend like you..."

"Before you went to war or after?"

"During? I signed up; he got drafted. He hated it, and wasn't afraid to tell anyone who would listen. Or wouldn't." He's smiling at the memory, if a little sadly.

Skye's smile fell, "I'm sorry." he reached out and took the other's hand, giving it a firm squeeze.

"Why?" He doesn't move his hand, but doesn't return the squeeze. He's still looking down, idly sliding his cup back and forth between his hands.

"That you lost someone you cared about." Skye's thumb rubbed gently over Brad's knuckles.

"Well, yeah...how'd you know?" His eyes close involuntarily, and he shivers a little. He feels his cock harden *just* enough to let him know it's there, and he flushes red, but doesn't move.

"Just the way you talk about him. You were close." Skye smiles a little as Brad's eyes close, secretly enjoying the effect he was having on the other man.

"But how did you know I...lost him?"

"You sounded hurt." Skye squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"Ah." He squeezes back this time, just a little. "Well, yeah. I did. The commanders got pretty pissed off about him always mouthing off, so they made sure he always happened to be on dangerous assignments. He just didn't happen to come back from one." He says it as blankly as he can.

Skye scootched his chair closer to Brad's and put an arm around him, pulling him into a hug.

Brad makes a little startled grunt, patting Skye on the back awkwardly. "Uh..."

"Sorry, would you rather I didn't?" Skye let go a little.

He shrugs, and doesn't pull away. He looks up at Skye's (very close) face, looking for any sign that he's mocking him or thinking that he's weak.

Skye just hugs him tighter, pulling the other man in.

Not seeing anything like that, Brad relaxes, slowly turning in his chair so that his back is against Skye's chest.

Skye wraps his arms around Brad's chest and shoulders, squeezing his upper arm gently. He just held him for a little while.

Brad is aware of a distant throbbing in his cock, but is still mostly in control. He leans back further, putting his head on the smaller man's shoulder. Impulsively, he gives him a light kiss along his jaw. Instantly, he sits bolt upright, bright red, holding his face in his hands. "Oh, my god. I'm so sorry. I don't know why--"

Skye's body was quickly reacting. He pulled down Brad's hands gently, lifted the other man's chin and kissed him full on the lips.

Brad feels his cock spring fully to attention, and he languidly kisses back, making soft little noises. He feels wetness on his cheeks, not realizing that they're his tears.

Skye's hand slides from Brad's jaw to his cheek, fingers softly brushing away his tears as they kissed. He slid forward from his chair to straddle Brad's legs in one smooth motion.

"Ahhh..." he gasps, tenderly wrapping his arms around Skye's body, looking up at him, pressing their bodies as close as they will go.

Skye starts to kiss down Brad's jaw and neck, hands sliding down the other man's muscular chest.

He moans, following Skye's hands on his chest with his own on the smaller man's back.

Skye starts to unbutton Brad's shirt, sucking on his skin a little, unable to keep from rubbing their groins together.

Brad's eyes are closed, and he's nodding without realizing it, angling his head and neck to give Skye access to preferred spots. "Yesss..."

Skye took his signals and sucked and nibbled more where Brad had exposed his skin. He undid the last of the buttons and started to slide the shirt off the other man's shoulders.

He groans from the bottom of himself, asking huskily, "...maybe somewhere...else?"

"Bedroom?" Skye managed between kisses, sounding out of breath. His hands had wandered over Brad's chest again, gently tracing over his nipples

"Yeah..." he gasps. He laughs as his nipples harden. "None of that...or we'll never make it." He stands, lifting Skye easily.

Skye's eyes widen and he allows Brad to hold him up, pointing mutely to the bedroom.

Brad nods, and carries him. He rolls his eyes only a little at the rainbow beaded curtain in the doorway, and brushes it aside, gently laying Skye on the 'bed'.

Skye sat up and stripped off his wool shirt, starting to undo his pants.

He awkwardly finishes undressing, tossing his clothes in a neatish heap.

Skye waited naked on the bed, holding out a hand for the other to join him. "Have you... done this before?"

"Not...really..." he says, taking the hand and leaning over to kiss/distract him.

"That wasn't a no..." Skye managed around numerous kisses, hands sliding down Brad's sides.

"No, it wasn't," he grins a little, gently running his hands over Skye's sides, exploring and hoping he won't talk anymore until they're done.

Skye moans, cock hardening and pressing up against his navel. He kisses Brad deeply, hand flailing over the side of the bed and grabbing a condom.

Brad doesn't notice the condom, just keeps petting and nuzzling into the kisses, pressing their cocks together.

Skye cries out, managing to unwrap the condom and sliding it onto Brad's cock. He then pushed himself down and took most of the other man's cock in his mouth, sucking.

Brad groans, blinking down at the condom, but not overly worried about it. His eyes are squeezed shut, and he frantically grabs at every part of Skye he can.

Skye's head bobs as he sucks and releases, going from head to base.

Brad groans his deep groan again, spasming. He's not sure Mary has -ever- done this, condom or not. "I'm...I'm not..." he gasps.

Skye stops for a second, looking up. "Not what?"

"...going to last long!"

"Ah." Skye's head went back down and he continued sucking, cupping Brad's balls gently, his free hand sliding up and down his thigh.

"Ahhhh!!!" he cries, tears rolling freely down his face, hands randomly tangling and stroking in Skye's hair as he cums.

Skye sucks for a few more seconds, letting Brad start to soften, then takes off the condom, tosses it out and squirms up to nestle into Brad's chest.

Having gone to the bar alone for a few hours after the conversation with his wife, Brad is at least stumbling drunk. He realizes that he's not far from Grassroots, so he just walks, not sure where else to go. Finding himself in front of the store, he bangs on the door a few times, peering inside, then realizes that it's closed. He goes around to the back, finding Skye's bedroom window and (none too gracefully) hucks small rocks at it.

After a few rocks, Skye's head appears at the window. His hair was lacking it's usual pony tail and was, for lack of a better word, everywhere. "Brad?" he opened the window. "Are you okay?"

"'m fine!" he says, rather too loudly. "You home?"

"Yes, I'm... home..." he looked down at him, brushing his hair back. "Are you drunk?"

"Yup!" he says, sounding rather pleased with himself.

"Ugh, come to the door, I'll be down in a second." Skye sucked his head back in, grabbing a pair of boxers as he headed downstairs, unlocking and opening the door.

Brad comes inside, mostly falling into Skye's arms with a suppressed laugh. "Hiiiii..."

"Oh, Brad." Skye helped him in, closing the door behind him. "Do you want to sleep it off, or should I get you some coffee?"

"Coffee," he slurs, following Skye submissively, looking at everything and trying veeeery hard not to bump anything.

"Okay. You sit here." Skye sat him down in a chair, putting on the coffee, puttering about the kitchen in his boxers.

Brad gives him a lazy salute, slumped in the chair. He wiggles a little. "Your chair is floppy."

Skye patted the other man's hand, sitting next to him. "Why have you been drinking?"

Brad's head lolls as he turns to look at him, with big, watery eyes. "I talked to m'wife..." He squishes the hand a little roughly without realizing it.

"Oh, Brad..." Skye hugged him tightly, stroking his head. "I'm sorry."

"Why you sorry? S'not your fault..." He leans into the hug, smelling Skye a little...overtly. "You smell nice..."

"Are you... separated now?"

"Yeah...I think so...I told her that I'd slept with a guy, and that I wasn't sure what to do, but I wanted to tell her, and she was real nice about it, and she said she'd kinda figured, but she thought it would be best if I found somewhere else to live...real nice...y'know..."

"Oh... well that's not as bad as it could have been." Skye stroked his back, "Though I do wish you'd come straight here instead of falling into every bar on the way."

Brad laughs, a little wildly. "Not *every* bar, ya big drama queen..." he laughs again to himself. "No...s'not bad at all...c'n I stay here with you? S'alright if you say no..." he leans into the pettings, eyes closed with happiness.

"Of course you can stay. For as long as you want." Skye kissed Brad's forehead, pulling away to make pour the coffee.

"Thanks, buddy..." he narrowly avoids toppling over when the smaller man moves away, grabbing the back of the chair to save himself. "Gotta fix these chairs, man..." He has big, adoring eyes.

"You can help me with that when you're sober." Skye laughed, handing him a cup of coffee.

"Suuuure..." he takes the coffee, blowing on it a little excessively and laughing to himself. "Mmmm...thanks...warm, like you..."

Skye chuckled, trying not to blush. "How much did you drink?"

"Dunno. Lots, why?"

"'cause you're pretty ...cute right now."

Brad does blush. "Awww...thanks...you too." He leans back against Skye's chest, nuzzling a little.

Skye smiled, stroking Brad's hair and face gently. "Finish your coffee and we'll go to bed, okay?"

"'k." He gulps his coffee, miraculously not scalding himself. "Bed?"

"Mhm, bed." Skye smiled.

"Yay. Like bed w'you..."

"Yes, bed with Skye. You like Skye."

"Yup!" He stands, wrapping his arms around the slimmer man's waist.

"Good. Now drink your coffee." he shook his head, laughing.

"Done."

"Okay, need help getting upstairs?" Skye asked, offering him an arm.

"Yes, please..." he snuggles against Skye, resting his head on his shoulder. "Walk!"

Skye helps his drunk friend upstairs, then started to help him undress before he collapsed in the bed.

"Thanks...you wanna...you know...?" He flops on the bed, trying to look seductive.

"Are you up for that?" he said teasingly, slowly sliding off his boxers.

"Yup..." he says, watching him strip with his mouth slightly agape. "Always am!" A second later, he's snoring loudly.

Skye sighed. Of course, now that he was hard Brad had passed out. He chuckled, laying down and nestling in with the other man.