A Proposal

Roberto, please hear me out, for I have a proposal, one that would benefit both of us.

Thus, the conversation began.

Cody paced the living room, the light from the burning fireplace shifting and shadowing his tall wiry frame as he moved back and forth. Roberto sat on the sofa right in the middle, back straight, hands on knees bouncing up and down. Cody recognized the nervousness, saw it as soon as Roberto arrived at his place.

It wasn’t that late, only a little after seven, but it was early December and darkness arrived early, and outside the wind blew hard from the north pushing down the temperatures. By morning, it would be the low twenties if the forecasters were correct.

Cody stroked the fire, buying himself time as he kept trying to find the right words, the words that would sway Roberto to agree with the proposal he was about to make. It was also necessary for the old farmhouse would get cold during the night. He had the two gas heaters lit, but the uninsulated walls and floor made it nearly impossible to get the house warm. The only rooms that could be made comfortable were the small living room with its fireplace, and on the opposite side, another fireplace sharing the same chimney situated in the primary bedroom, one he now possessed as his own. But the fireplaces had to be kept stoked, the wood piled into them, to get the heat needed to push out the chilled air.

He looked around at Roberto and thought of the person. Older by four years, now twenty-three and a graduate of the state university with a degree in one of the Ag programs. He considered the physical aspects once again, things he remembered from grade school when Roberto was on the football and baseball teams. Five foot ten inches tall, and back in high school, one hundred fifty-three pounds, but looking at the more mature body, he knew Roberto was probably fifteen pounds heavier. It was hard to tell with the loose-fitting clothes Roberto wore in spring and summer and now that it was fall and getting colder, Roberto was in a turtleneck sweater that revealed nothing of the body within.

Then Cody thought of his crush on Roberto. When Roberto was a junior in high school, and he was in the seventh grade, he stared at the older boy whenever he saw him, filled with fantasies too embarrassing to ever discuss aloud with anyone. Then in eighth grade, those fantasies took on a new aspect that he’d die and go to his grave before revealing, for the change in Roberto from junior to senior had some quality to it that fueled his and many of the girls in eleventh and twelfth grades longing for him.

Then Roberto was gone, left the community to pursue a degree at the university. Cody knew Roberto came home from time to time for a weekend, and then during breaks between semesters and the summers, but in the rural community with Roberto’s family over in Garrison Springs and his in Franklin, they rarely crossed paths. When they did cross paths, it occurred in town at the fish camp or the bar-be-cue place north of the tracks. So, for four years Cody thought of Roberto as the one that got away. Someone who was never available. In his senior year, he had gone out with that boy from Sawyer Creek. It had held such a promise at first, but the boy got cold feet, dumped Cody after only three weeks with only a few kisses to show for it.

Before his graduation, life threw him a wicked curve. He knew their farm was small compared to others in the region, and his father struggled to make a real profit for it seemed like every four or five years the weather would take one crop from them, keeping them in debt. Then his older brother, living up in Florence, across the Tennessee River from Muscle Shoals, called telling their parents to pack up and move for he had a job for his father at the tractor dealership in town. In less than two months Cody watched his parents drive away in their old pickup and rental van containing their belongings.

There had been several big arguments, but eventually Cody talked them into letting him stay and work on the farm. They sold one field down near Hatton Creek to pay for his parents’ move and to help them get settled in Florence, and he kept the other three hundred acres in Franklin, and another one hundred and twenty in Jasper. Luckily his parents stayed long enough to get the soybeans planted and cultivated before heading north.

It had been hard, getting the beans harvested and to the grain elevator by himself, but he had managed to get it done before a storm blew through the area that ruined the fields of a few others in the region.

“Roberto, would you consider being my partner?”

The question hung in the air for far too long, until Cody knew Roberto wouldn’t answer, but he saw a change in posture, and he turned away, fearful of how Roberto would respond.

“You mean like a business partnership?” said Roberto.

Cody grimaced at the response but was not surprised by it. Of course, Roberto would think of something plutonic.

“No, something a bit different.”

“What?”

“Are you dating someone? I’ve not seen you out with anyone of late…in fact, I’ve not seen you date someone since high school.”

A change of subject and a feeling out of Roberto. Was he projecting onto him what he wanted to be the truth.

“No, I’ve not felt like it, with everything going on, trying to run the farm and all.”

Cody knew the story like everyone else in the region. Larry Samuels, Roberto’s father, had been in the military in Puerto Rico when he met Marie Rivera. She was four years older and a researcher for agricultural crops fresh out of college. Larry was able to lure her back to the states by helping her find a new research grant and the ability to carry it out on a parcel of the farm. For years she did her research, coordinating with the university’s ag department while raising two children, Carlos, who was in the military, and Roberto, who came back to work on the farm after college.

Then a year ago an offer came for Marie, a teaching position at the university with time for research within the laboratories on campus. It was too good of an offer, and Larry knew she had sacrificed a lot coming to the states and leaving Puerto Rico, so he agreed to turn the farm over to Roberto and move. Everything was official by the end of spring and the big move came early summer.

Cody went into the kitchen to get two more beers, buying himself time before venturing on with his proposal. He saw Roberto through the doorway fidgeting on the sofa, nervous like a cat he thought as he twisted off the tops and headed back to the living room.

“Another beer?” said Cody holding out a beer.

"Thanks,” Roberto replied, momentarily meeting Cody’s eyes, then looking down.

Maybe he did know what was meant by his proposal, Cody thought as he moved to the lounge chair.

“What kind of proposal are you talking about?”

Cody still wasn’t sure how to say it. To ask the thing no straight guy would want to hear, but he held out hope, that maybe, just maybe Roberto wasn’t so straight. Maybe he was bi-sexual. He hoped that was the case.

“Aren’t you lonely?” Cody stared at Roberto wanting to see his expression. He saw an acknowledgment of it.

“Yeah, but…”

“But what? Roberto, I work my ass off trying to keep the farm running, only to come home night after night to an empty house that no longer feels like home.”

Roberto looked sharply at Cody, an awareness of what was being asked dawning on him.

“You’re not suggesting we-“

“Yes, I am. I want to go out with you. I want to go on a date and see how we get along, to see if maybe you would look at me differently. I want you to look at me like someone you will want to spend your life with.”

“You want to…you’re…” Roberto was stammering, unable to finish anything he wanted to say.

“Have you never thought of it? Not once?”

“No. I mean, yeah, a few times in the hypothetical, but seriously.”

“Why not?”

"…”

“Roberto.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve had a crush on you since grade school.”

Cody felt his heart racing and was nearly breathless with the admission. Was it the one step too far that would cause Roberto to rush out, leaving him feeling defeated?

"Really?”

“Yes.”

"You’re gay?”

“It would seem so,” Cody replied, smiling nervously.

“Aren’t you afraid of what others will think?”

“Sometimes. But I’m not looking to hang flags off the porch and parade through town about being gay. I know this place, its live and let live attitude, and if we…I just keep going about life as normal, then no one will give a shit.”

“I’m not gay…and…and…it seems such a risk.”

Cody heard the anxiousness, but also realized there was not an outright rejection.

"Roberto, you admitted to thinking of it, but have you seriously considered it? Just once, doing it with another guy?”

The silence seemed to suck the air out of the room. Cody could barely breathe as he waited for Roberto to respond. Then Roberto sat back and seemed to relax for the first time that evening.

“Yeah, there was a couple of times. There was a guy in the dorm who was from Oklahoma and openly gay. He seemed such a contradiction of what I expected, and I found myself wondering what it would be like…and eventually wondered what it would be like to be with him.”

“But you never acted on it?”

“No.”

“Roberto, it’s Wednesday night. Go home and think about it and I’ll call you on Friday. I’d like to go out for dinner, maybe drive down to Mobile for seafood or something. I’d like it to be a date, but if you want, it can be just two guys out to grab dinner somewhere. Is that okay?”

The proposal hung between them, Cody waiting on Roberto to respond. He looked at him, seeing the way the genes of his mother and father created such an attractive man. Dark hair, now cut short, dark brown eyes, and a smooth dark skin tone.

“I don’t know, Cody. This is crazy…isn’t it?”

“I’ll call you Friday, okay?”

Roberto lifted the beer to his lips and drank heavily, Adam’s apple moving with each swallow, then he set the nearly empty bottle down and looked over at Cody, shaking his head.

Cody feared the worst, a rejection before any consideration.

“Okay, call me Friday,” said Roberto as he climbed to his feet. “I’m going home now.”

 

Cody watched the Tahoe turn around and drive around his house heading toward the road. He exhaled slowly, thinking the night had gone better than he expected. Roberto hadn’t rejected him, instead agreed to think about it. Now he just had to be patient and wait for Friday to arrive to see what Roberto would say in reply.

A Consideration

What the fuck.

That had been Roberto’s first reaction, what he thought when he realized what Cody Rutledge was proposing. He had been stunned at the proposal being laid out before him. He had arrived thinking it would be some sort of business proposal. He was prepared for that, even considering aspects of what one could look like between them.

But to develop a relationship with Rowan Cody Rutledge. That was unbelievable.

By the time he was pulling into his drive he was thinking about it. What it might be like to go out with a guy instead of a woman. He thought of Joshua, that Oklahoma farm boy, with his straw-blonde hair and playful nature and…the rugged good looks in a moment of honesty. He remembered thinking of it, sex with Josh, and what it might be like. Josh had made no secret of how he was top for most of the guys he went out with but there were those he had been on bottom too. Roberto considered what the positions meant in a fuck with Josh. In one he would be taking Josh’s cock, letting it penetrate his ass. It scared him a bit to think of it. Then he considered the other position, one where he was on top, sinking cock into Josh’s ass, and he had to tug on his cock.

Climbing out of the Tahoe, he eased the door shut and listened to the silence. It was almost unbearable. Only a rustling of the trees broke it, and that seemed to add to it, not detract from it. Moving to the back stoop to go inside, he wondered about Cody. Was he a top or was he bottom. Did Cody even know what he preferred?

Going through the dark house, not bothering to turn on a light until entering his bedroom, he considered it, this proposal from Cody. Cody had been just one of the farm boys of the region, someone he crossed paths with on occasion, but after tonight, he knew Cody would never be just one of the guys.

The confession by Cody, how he had liked him since grade school. And he had considered Cody just a little kid back then. What had he been when he was sixteen and seventeen? Twelve, then thirteen? Did a boy that young really think of it in such detail, then he remembered his own youth in seventh grade, that awakening when he viewed a couple of the girls in his class with desire.

Then he remembered David Fuller. A year ahead of him and looking twice as mature as any other boy their age, and he remembered how he considered David in a physical manner.

He lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling while thinking about the proposal. There were times he considered it himself, just for a moment, a fleeting notion wondering what it would be like to fuck around with a guy. He considered the physical nature of it, how two boys could wrestle around, rough house with each other, then take the physical jostling to the point of one sexual in nature.

“Fucking hell,” Roberto whispered, thinking he would wait until Friday then tell Cody he couldn’t do it. That it was going too far. He rolled to his side and stared into the corner of the room where his silhouette shadowed the wall, knowing what he would really say to Cody come Friday.

 

Friday arrived cold and windy. Roberto got up late, struggling to fall asleep the last three nights. He ate a couple of eggs with toast and had two cups of coffee, then went out to the barn to busy himself for the day wondering when Cody would call.

The Call

Cody spent the day in the barn, cleaning up the storage room, loading the trailer with junk that would go to the county’s drop-off site and the used cultivator sweeps and plow points to go to the recycling center. He stayed at it until his muscles ached and was dizzy with hunger.

A sandwich with a handful of chips and a cold soda, one in the glass bottle, he sat on his back porch and watched the leaves drift down out of the maple tree that shaded much of the yard near the house as he slowly ate. As one leaf fell after the next, he watched them while trying to work out what to say to Roberto. He knew he was pushing boundaries, but how far remained to be seen. A glance at his watch and he saw it was a quarter till one. He’d wait until about three before calling.

 

The clock hanging in the kitchen showed two thirty, and Cody watched the second hand move slowly around the clock face as he listened to the ringing from the phone. By the fourth ring he was about to end the call when a breathless voice came on.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Roberto, it’s Cody.”

“Yeah, I see now. I was raking leaves and…”

The voice trailed off and Cody heard the nervousness. He waited just a second, one that seemed far too long, the silence between them suffocating.

“I wanted to know if…well…do you want to go to Giovanni’s?”

“Giovanni’s?"

“It’s an Italian restaurant up in Greenville. Near the university.”

 “I’ve not been there.”

 “Well, would you go with me?”

 “…”

 “Roberto?”

 “Cody, I’m not sure about all of this…but…I’ll go.”

 Cody spun on his heels suppressing the desire to yell. He took a deep breath and let it out quickly so he could reply to Roberto and not give him a chance to back out.

 “I’ll pick you up at six.”

A First Step

 It was nearing nine as Cody maneuvered down 903, heading back to Roberto’s place. They had talked all through dinner about the logistics of combing their farms. The financial aspects to consider, the operation and how they would need help, and if they should create a single business identity, truly merge the two, or keep them separate. They talked about equipment, what was in good condition and what would need replacing in the near future. They talked about everything, but the thing Cody most wanted to discuss. The possibility of them dating, eventually forming a relationship if all went well. Any attempt to bring it up, Roberto would quickly change the subject.

On the drive home, they had ridden silently, Cody fearful Roberto will reject his advances. Roberto sat rigid in the passenger seat staring straight ahead where headlights lit up the asphalt ribbon of road. As they passed a convenience store in the middle of nowhere, the bright lights of the canopy over the fuel pumps harsh in the overall darkness, Roberto finally turned to him.

“Cody?”

“Yeah?”

"I don’t know what to say or…I mean…what if we try and I don’t like it?”

“It’d be no different than when you went out with a girl and realized she wasn’t the one. We’d stop dating and talk about a strictly business arrangement.”

“I’m nervous about it.”

“Me too.”

Roberto chuckled, then visibly relaxed. “I have thought about it. Sex with a guy, but not sure I can do it.”

“But you might be able to.”

“Yeah,” Roberto whispered in reply, turning to look out the side window into the darkness.

Cody stayed silent, focusing on driving back to La Verne. From the corner of his eye, he saw Roberto turn and look over at him.

“You want to stay at my house tonight?” Roberto uttered in a low nervous voice.

“Very much so.”

 

Cody followed Roberto through the backdoor, into a mudroom, then the kitchen.

“You want something to drink?” asked Roberto.

Cody heard the nervousness and wondered when he would have to become even braver and take the initiative with Roberto.

“No, I’m fine.”

Not waiting for Roberto, Cody went into the family room with its large flat screen television with a large sofa and two lounge chairs either side of it. It looked like any other family room he had been in. The same furniture style, the same cluster of family photographs on one wall, and knickknacks scattered around the room. It was obvious that Roberto had made no changes since his parents had left.

Moving around the nearest lounge chair, Cody moved toward the sofa hoping Roberto would follow him to it and not take one of the chairs. He sensed him behind him, silently following.

At the sofa, about to turn to sit, hands grabbed him by the upper arm, spinning him around. Pushed back on the sofa, Cody found himself under Roberto who was wide eyed, looking surprised at his own action.

Cody couldn’t wait any longer. He leaned up and gently kissed Roberto.

 

Awakening

Roberto closed his eyes as lips pressed against his own. A man’s lips. Cody’s lips. He pressed back, feeling their urgency, fueling his own. Hands moved around his waist and across his back until hugging them together.

He had been so confused by the proposal. A fear of what it could mean about his masculinity, worrying how others would see him. He had heard what some of the guys from the community said about gay guys. The derogatory references and cruel comments about how to treat someone who was gay. He didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it. In realizing this, he also realized how he considered himself, if not gay, at least bisexual.

He was enticed by Cody, drawn to him in ways physical, sexual in nature. He wanted to ignore this attraction, pretend it wasn’t real. But when they were riding back, just the two of them, he could think of nothing else.

You want to stay at my house tonight?

He had spoken the question aloud, gave it the burden of a truth to what he desired. Now he lay on the prone body feeling a knee push up between his legs until pressing against his cock. He pushed down on the knee feeling his cock stir. Then he leaned down until his lips were against Cody’s.

 

Hands moved over his body as he did the same to Cody. To feel its shape, especially the growing cock trapped in the jeans. He moved his fingers along the growing shaft until Cody moaned into his mouth.

He was almost desperate, gasping for breath as he struggled with buttons and zippers, then the tug and pull to get the garments pulled free. He had to stop to raise his arms letting Cody pull his shirt free, then Cody did the same for him. A hand touched his bare chest, rubbed across it until fingers were working a hardened nipple.

"Fuck,” he uttered breathlessly, then he put his hand on Cody’s stomach, feeling the undulation of heavy breathing. He moved his hand over the skin until fingers raked through pubic hair then around a very hard cock. He toyed with it, running fingers along its length. He rubbed the leaking head, then wrapped his fingers around it and stroked. Slowly, sensing every inch slide through his hand until Cody was pushing up.

“Roberto,” Cody exclaimed, suddenly moving beneath him. He was flipped to his back with Cody sitting on top of him. The move of ass over his cock and hands on his chest, fingers working each pec, stroked his desire and he pushed up against the ass feeling his cock flex with the pressure of it.

“Let me,” said Cody.

Roberto knew what he meant. He lay still, feeling a hand hold his cock. He saw it when Cody rose over it. Then he watched that ass ease down to it, pushing down on the head, then squeezing it with such a tightness he clutched at the bed. The tightness slid over the head, then with such an agonizingly slow movement, it moved down until Cody sat on his abdomen.

“Fuck…I have you,” Cody whispered, and Roberto heard the tone. One of surprise mixed with pleasure and accomplishment. Was Cody glad he could take his cock or was he glad for the opportunity to do so. As the tight ass moved upward, Roberto threw his head back and moaned, no longer caring which Cody had meant.

 

Roberto held the flexing thighs as Cody moved faster and faster, until bouncing on his abdomen. The sofa squeaked beneath them, and Cody’s hard cock flopped maddeningly before him. He reached for it, slipping his fingers around the thick shaft. His movements were awkward with Cody moving at such a furious pace, but he saw how Cody shuddered with his ministrations, then he saw the eyes open and looked down with pleasure. A smile just before Cody leaned back until resting on his hands.

Roberto held tightly to Cody’s ankles as he watched the ass move up and down. It was such a smooth movement on his cock until all he could sense was his growing arousal. He raised his head and watched Cody. With eyes glued on the flopping cock, the body flexed so tight it seemed very muscle was visible, and the tight ass that slid up and down his cock, he watched with such arousal he felt his increasing need for release.

Cody sat up and took his own cock in hand. Roberto watched the blur of the hand as it moved on it. He watched the head of the cock swell thicker, then the slit gap open. He heard the gasping for breath and the utterances. Then he gasped as cum spurt from the cock and rained down on him. It seemed hot on his skin and the scent of it filled his nose. He shoved upward, nearly rocking Cody off his cock, and came.

He shuddered and jerked with every ejaculation as he filled Cody’s ass. Then fell still, cock finally spent, and gasping for breath.

“Will you let me?” Cody asked as he felt him shift between his legs. He knew what Cody asked, and he raised each leg until a hand took them behind the knee.

 

Fulfillment

Cody couldn’t believe it. How suddenly Roberto had shifted from hesitancy to willingness. How it was Roberto who took the initiative. He shifted between the legs, held each behind the knee pushing forward until the ass lay spread out before him. His still hard cock, slimy with his first release, stuck straight out, and he raked it across the ass.

“You’re really going to let me?” he asked, looking down at the brown eyes looking back.

A hand took his cock and guided it to his target. It tugged him closer, pressing it against the tight opening.

“Go slow,” Roberto whispered.

Cody pushed through the tightness until the head of his cock was inside him. He held still, feeling hands on his thighs, their fingers digging into the muscle. When the hands relaxed their grip, he pushed. Slowly, inch after inch, he pushed into Roberto’s depths until nearly every inch was within the ass. Then he began to fuck.

Roberto moaned and urged him on, begging him to fuck harder, faster. And Cody increased his pace until his muscles burned and sweat cascaded down his face and chest. He felt how his own body moved, undulated with that primitive movement of a fuck. A good hard fuck. He lost himself to it as he thrust with determination and lust.

Fingers raked up his stomach and chest. Rubbed over hardened nipples. Then they pulled away and Cody looked down to see Roberto jacking his still hard cock. He saw the other hand clutching the bed, white knuckled with its grip. Then he saw the head turn upward and pleading eyes stare back.

“Fuck me, Cody. Fuck me.”

Cody pushed the knees over until tight to the chest, and he bore down on them as he shifted over Roberto. Cock buried in Roberto’s ass; he held still savoring the feel of it. Then he tugged outward, slowly, so they could sense every inch sliding through the loosened opening. Then he slowly plunged back into Roberto until pressed against the upturned ass. Over and over, he worked nearly the full length of his cock through Roberto’s opening until he struggled to breathe, and his cock ached for release. He was so close, so damn close, but the slow pace kept him from erupting inside Roberto, kept his cock right on the edge of release.

“Cody…please…”

A plea. An urging to climax. With hands still holding the legs behind the knees, he pushed upward until hovering over Roberto and fucked. Fucked hard, so fast the sound of flesh smacking flesh echoed in the room. The sofa squeaked, then rocked noisily across the floor. And Roberto moaned and grunted and pleaded with him to fuck harder.

Sweat rained down on Roberto as it cascaded down his body. It felt as if he were burning up, and every touch between them was magnified. Electric. Suddenly, Roberto cried out and shuddered beneath him, and he saw cum rope up the chest as Roberto came. It was too much, and he hammered Roberto’s ass until he too shuddered with release.

 

And Time Goes By

Roberto turned into the drive and pulled around to the garage, parking on the concrete apron. He entered the house through the garage, taking off his dirty boots before going in. He entered the mudroom to the smell of dinner cooking, something spicy and seafood base. Gumbo or jambalaya, which he would soon find out.

He entered the kitchen seeing Cody at the bar looking at his cellphone. On the range was a large pot with steam rising from it.

“You’ve been busy,” said Roberto when Cody looked up.

“Mr. Gibson got back from Pensacola with shrimp, and I bought a couple of pounds. I’ve invited Sharon and Ryan to come have dinner with us.”

“They get settled into your old place?”

Cody rented it to the newlyweds since it sat empty. Living with Roberto and trying to upkeep the house was too much, so he had Bill McKenzie renovate the interior, give the exterior a new coat of paint, then advertised it for rent. He felt good about his choice of renters when Sharon, whom he had gone through grade school, made a few supporting comments about Roberto and him. He knew Ryan had been standoffish at first, but once they came to know each other, even loaning them the grain truck to move their furniture, he soon became friendly, as much so as Sharon.

Roberto went to the range and looked at the simmer gumbo, sensing the flavors by the smell rising from it. He moved around the island and sat next to Cody who set his phone down and swiveled to face him.

“Did you finish planting the wheat?” said Cody.

Roberto had taken the last field by himself after the two of them got the two main fields planted during the week. The tractor and grain drill were at the end of the field where he had left it for them to go retrieve in the morning.

“Yes, we’re all set until spring.”

Cody smiled, then leaned over and kissed Roberto. “How’s my proposal working out?” he asked with a grin.

Roberto grabbed him by the back of the neck and kissed him back, passionately, then pulled back. “Perfectly.”

Cody slapped his knee. “Well, go get cleaned up before our guest gets here.”

“I’m going…but…do you want to come scrub my back?”