The Hathaway

Two years after the events of "Ancestral", Joey and Ben return, reviving the ruined brothel with a new vision and a new adventure.

Grand Opening

“The laundry room!We haven't done it there.”

“Yes we have,” I rolled my eyes.“Last week.Remember, you insisted that the washer had to be running while we were on top of it.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot.”Ben thought for a moment and looked around.“We did the kitchen, each of the bedrooms, the living room, the bathroom several times.What have I missed?”

“Nothing really,” I chuckled as I continued trying to get my tie into a perfect Windsor knot.“Just the hall, the stairwell, and all the closets.”I chuckled

“I refuse to have sex in the closet.Just not doing it.”He suddenly had a realization, “We haven't done it on the front steps.Come on!”

He tried to pull me toward the front door, but I resisted and pulled him into my arms.“The guests are scheduled to arrive in less than an hour, but the press will show up sooner to get set up.I will not have our official opening day compromised by them finding us going at it on the front steps.”I kissed him and said, “Of course, if you want to suck me off here in the boring old bedroom before they arrive, well, you'll have to be quick.”

“Fine.” He grabbed my crotch through my pants and gave my dick a quick squeeze.“I'll wait till later.That way I can take my time and get you to suck mine as well.”

“My pleasure.”I tweaked his nipples through his dress shirt hard enough to make him squirm.“Besides, you forgot about the study. We haven't done it there yet.”

His eyes got big.“Oooh, I had forgotten about the study”

I adjusted his tie and tried to smooth out the wrinkles I created in his shirt when I tweaked his nipples.“Here, put this on.”I handed him his one and only suit coat and stood back to admire the view.“You clean up nice for a lumberjack.”

“Yeah, well this lumberjack wishes he could wear some glitter lip gloss or something.I've never liked the traditional suit thing.”

“Sweetheart, we're opening an queer halfway house.You could wear your tiara and no one would bat an eyelash.”

He smiled, “I wouldn't want to upstage Miss McFiercesen.She'd never let me live it down.”

I kissed him again and we headed down to greet the guests.

I had bought the derelict Hathaway House a little over two years ago, and the renovations were just drawing to a close.I felt a connection to the old brothel because of my connection with Sylas, the ghost of the only call boy in their employ before the place was abandoned in the 1890's.I had run into him and his lover, Markus, while living in the old Foster Inn when I first arrived in town.By then the building had been renovated into a boarding house and was being run by Mr. Phipps, a.k.a. Miss McFiercesen.The ghosts resided in the basement and were primarily occupied with fucking each other until Ben and I, along with the rest of the residents of the place, managed to release them from a curse and set them free.

My first encounter with the Hathaway was traumatic, to say the least.I ended up in the hospital for a couple of days, but I was not deterred.The roof was almost gone and most of the interior had so much water damage that it had to be essentially gutted and rebuilt. But some of the details were salvageable, including two crystal chandeliers, and the central staircase.The brick structure was sound and once the roof was rebuilt and the windows replaced, the rest of the restoration could move forward.

The building was originally considered a hotel, but there were surprisingly few rooms that could be used for such purposes.It's primary attraction was the grand ballroom on the main floor, in which they held weekly dances.This, of course was a front for the real business at hand, which seemed to primarily take place on the lower level.Originally a rabbit warren of hallways and small rooms, the “dancing partners” provided extra services in these spaces, much to the delight of visitors and locals alike, and much to the chagrin of the more morally minded of the town.While I wanted to make my home in the space, I also recognized that it had much more space than I needed.I decided to turn the third floor into a private apartment, and began looking for ways to utilize the lower two floors.

A chance meeting brought the answer.After the events with the ghosts, I felt compelled to tell their stories, and wrote a book to document what I could.I thought it might generate some local interest in some of the historic buildings in town, but was shocked when it became as popular as it did.I was asked to do a number of book signings and guest lectures to promote the book, and because the ghosts were gay lovers, these talks were often based in LGBTQ organizations.Both of the ghosts had been driven from their families by prejudice and this theme consistently struck a chord with readers.At one of these talks I mentioned that I had bought the Hathaway and was considering how to best utilize it.At the meet and greet after, I met a woman who worked with displaced LGBTQ youth and she asked if we could talk.One thing led to another and soon we were looking into the viability of a safe house for queer youth.

As I worked to navigate the complexities of the various permissions and requirements, Sylvia, one of the other residents of the boarding house proved to be a natural at holding it all together and finding solutions.She was able to get us registered as a non-profit and identify various grants and endowments that would be willing to fund us once we were official.Needless to say, one of the first acts of the board was to hire her as our lead administrator and development officer.

And now, after two years of hard work, we were finally having our official opening.We already had five possible residents in the pipeline, and were working with local social service organizations to build a strong support team for them when they arrived.Ben and I had only been able to finally move into our apartment about two weeks ago, so we were also getting used to our new home.I had to admit that I missed the social nature of living in the boarding house, but expected that our new venture might offer another form of meaningful connection.

As I had predicted the press began to arrive early and we did our best to accommodate them.The opening was not an expensive affair. Sylvia was scheduled to give a ten minute speech outlining the vision and goals of the new Hathaway House, followed by questions and answers, and a ribbon cutting.A grand tour was then to be offered with lots of photo opportunities, and an informal reception in the side garden was to follow that.One of the more progressive local churches had offered to do the catering and we were thrilled to have them on board as allies.I smiled as I watched the church ladies, and a few men as well, bustle about making sure the food was in place and well presented.I remembered the experiences Sylas and Markus had had with the league of decency over a hundred years ago, and how religious moralism had essentially cost them their lives.

I was roused from my reverie by Miss McFiercesen.Since it was early afternoon, I had expected Mr. Phipps, but she said, “Sweety, this is a very special occasion, and you all deserve the best we have to offer.”She motioned to her dress.“You like?”

It was clearly a new dress bought just for today.“Fabulous doesn't begin to describe it.”I kissed her on the cheek and said, “I'm so glad you came.It wouldn't be an event if you weren't here.”

“Such a dear.Oh, this is for the both of you.I hope it fits.”She handed me a brightly wrapped box with a very flamboyant ribbon on top.“Congratulations.”This time she kissed me on the cheek.

“Ooh, what is it?”Ben had arrived unseen and grabbed the box from me. “Can I open it?”

Miss M. chuckled, “You could, but you might want to wait till you're alone.It's one of those remote controlled butt plugs.I thought you might like to be able to take turns sending each other coded messages.”

“Cool! I'm first!”

Before he could open it I grabbed it back and said, “You are not wearing a butt plug during this event.”

“How do you know I'm not already wearing one?”

“Because I watched you get out of the shower and get dressed.At no time did I see you shove any foreign objects up your ass.”

“Well, maybe,” he conceded.Then giving me an evil grin, “But do you know where I've been for the last ten minutes?”

Miss M. roared with laughter.“I've missed you boys.Why don't you come over for supper tonight?”

“We can't,” Ben insisted.“We have some important business we have to take care of in the study tonight.”

“Really?” She turned her own evil grin on him.“And who gets to be on top?”

It was his turn to laugh, “You know us way too well.”

“I know you well enough to hope you've had the third floor soundproofed,” she added.You boys can get awfully loud sometimes.”

Ben responded with his best fake innocent voice, “I don't know to what you could be referring.”

 At this point I caught sight of Sylvia, who was motioning for us to come to the front steps to begin.I leaned over to Miss M. and whispered, “We've missed you too.Count on us tonight.”