Diary of a Teenage Taxidermist (3 page)

Robert switched on the camera and swallowed, staring at Ethan, increasingly unsure if that was such a good idea. Ethan looked much better than he did immediately after surgery, but that did not mean he looked well. “Maybe you’d like to wait till daytime?”

Ethan closed his eye, his jaw muscles twitching. “I look so shit that you don’t even want me to see it?”

“No, but you’re still bruised and stuff.” Rob swallowed hard. In the back of his mind, the blow job matter became a bit more prominent, the imagined cockhead poking his brain and begging for attention. He didn’t know what to think.

Even with the bruises, Ethan’s face was extremely attractive. As if Ethan were a drawing in all the wrong colors, but with the perfect lineart. A shapely, slightly rounded nose, one wide, dark eyebrow over the clear blue eye, and well-defined cheekbones, now slightly too sharp because of the weight loss. “Whatever. Not like seeing it will help anyway.”

Rob was spared the awkward conversation when Ethan’s parents stormed in, walking right past him. He backed away to the wall and watched the happy family reunion with his stomach sinking. Should he leave now, or wait for a moment longer to say his good-byes? Would Ethan even want him to show his face in the hospital again? A thousand bitter thoughts tumbled through his mind as he watched Ethan’s mom cry with joy. He was out of place here, yet he couldn’t just slip away without feeling like a coward. And what would Ethan think of him if he disappeared? Would he rat him out right away? And even if Ethan didn’t say a thing, would Rob be able to look himself in the eye if he fled?

All of a sudden, Ethan’s dad was by Rob and patted him on the back with a wide smile. His ever-tense face suddenly bright and relaxed, and even the graying hair at the temples seemed more youthful. “It’s so good that you were here.”

Robert’s eyes immediately went to meet Ethan’s icy gaze. “Y-yeah...”

Ethan’s mother looked back with a wide grin, stroking her son’s hand. “Yes! Exactly. Why didn’t you tell us about your friend before?” For such a petite woman, she had lots of energy now that she knew her son would be okay. It was strange just how much hope and joy changed their appearance. Ethan’s parents looked like... well, like the lawyers they were. Always dressed properly, rather stern, but now it all seemed to disperse. No wonder they lost it when they discovered the tattoo of rats dancing around their son’s mid-section.

“It’s… I… Well, you know now,” Ethan finally choked out, casting a glance to the blanket.

“He’s been here every day,” added Ethan’s dad, patting Robert’s back again. His eyes shone with joy. “He even remembers my coffee order.”

Robert wished he could crawl under a rock. He didn’t even want to imagine what Ethan was now thinking of him, the bully who befriended his victim’s parents to ensure his own safety. That was what this had to look like. He wanted to flee so bad.

“Robert is going to be helping me out with what I’ve missed at school, he’s promised already.” Ethan actually had a small smile on his face, and it suddenly occurred to Robert that it was an expression he’d rarely seen on his face.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Robert bit his lip, out of breath. “Maybe... you’d like some privacy?” he asked, trying not to let hope leak into his tone.

Ethan eyed him with that blue eye, which seemed to stare right into the depths of Robert’s dirty soul. “That’s a good idea. But come over again. Leave your number.”

Robert’s temples drummed. “I’ll come here after school, okay?”

Ethan nodded, his flat expression hard to read. “Can’t wait.”

Robert turned to the door and pushed it open, voicing his good-byes on the threshold, shaken. Only then he realized that his T-shirt was drenched with sweat. What was he to do now?

Chapter 3

Ethan couldn’t believe this was finally happening. Robert would come over and touch him. It mindboggled his damaged brain. The two weeks he’d spent in the hospital after waking up properly had seemed to extend into eternity. He had an awful scar where his left eye used to be, but most of the bruising was gone. Headaches came and went, but the most unexpected and disturbing problem was random lapses in memory. Only short-term. Sometimes they encompassed a few seconds, sometimes even a few minutes. It made Ethan nervous that something in his head was rotting from the inside like some mental gangrene that no one could cut out, even though the damage to the brain itself was supposedly minor. The doctors told them it could possibly get better with time, but there were no certainties for him, so he was set on grasping each hour, each day.

When he came back from the hospital, he had to clean up all the rats that rotted in the fridge in the basement, since his parents refused to enter his ‘den’, as they liked to call Ethan’s
workshop. Ethan went down there in hope that cleaning would help him ease his nerves before Rob's arrival later that day. The setup was perfect. His parents would be at work till late, so no one would disturb his first ever blow job. Organizing his workspace for future projects unfortunately left him with room for thinking. Some of it was imagining Rob naked and sucking him off with that intense gaze looking up at Ethan. But another part of him worried about the state his body was in. Ethan was still only gaining weight back after the hospital and missing one eye made his coordination shit. He’d actually fallen down the stairs to his workshop just today. It had him worried sick about his craft skills. What if he wasn’t as precise anymore?   

He scrubbed the metal table in arm length rubber gloves after he was done with the fridge. It wasn’t messy, but the vigorous, steady motion, and the smell of chemicals got his heartbeat steadier. The basement under the separate garage building was his kingdom, and he hated the dismissive tone his parents used whenever they talked about it. It was the same tone in which they’d call his passion for taxidermy ‘just a hobby’. Outsiders often thought Ethan’s parents were incredibly understanding, but they never witnessed any of the crap that was thrown Ethan’s way whenever his average grades dropped by even a bit. And as much as Ethan understood his mom and dad’s hearts were in the right place, he couldn’t stand that they were setting his passion up for failure. It was just so incredibly frustrating to have the one thing he believed could be a career he’d actually enjoy ripped to pieces and diminished during every conversation they’d had about it for the last two years. He couldn’t stand the constant fighting and lack of freedom, yet being a teenager kept him in his parents’ house, without hope for change anytime soon.  

The doorbell had Ethan jerking up his head and looking at the ceiling as uneasiness crawled into his stomach. One look at the clock revealed that he should still have over half an hour left to get ready for Robert. Was this a delivery man, or something of that sort?

He ran up the creaky stairs and pulled the plastic mask below his chin when he left the basement. Since coming back home, every time he had to use the stairs felt like climbing Mount Everest, though walking up wasn’t quite as bad as descending. All the things he previously took for granted now proved to be tricky with his depth perception screwed up. The doctors assured him that his brain would get used to it, and he would stop bumping into random things, or trying to grasp items that in reality were far from his reach, but right now he kept getting bruised or embarrassed.

All he could hope for was that Rob would not see him fall over like an idiot. It was his call, and Ethan wouldn’t be laughed at. He could still barely wrap his head around what he’d asked of Robert Hunter, but he supposed that someone who had just woken up from a coma was excused from adult responsibility.

Once upstairs, he ran up to the door and looked through the small window on the side wall of the garage, which faced the entrance of the house. It wasn’t the delivery man. Just the hottest piece of hunk this town had to offer, all tall and broad-shouldered. Ethan’s hair bristled when he saw that handsome profile. Robert had a strong, straight nose and sharp brow line. No wonder so many girls at school wanted him. But it was Ethan who’d get him. (Even if just once every Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.).

He went to the door, took a few deep breaths, and opened it. Rob turned on his heel, freezing with his eyes slightly wide. “Hi.”

“Hi, you’re… early.” Ethan stared at him, but then realized how silly he was being and started a slow pace that would hopefully save him the embarrassment of tripping over something halfway, which at this point in time happened to him even on flat asphalt. This wasn’t the entrance he wanted, but after Rob had seen him in the hospital, there was nothing that could possibly seem less dignified. Whatever happened, Ethan was on the way up. What he did not understand was why Robert reported at his door so early. Did he just want to have it over with as soon as possible?

Dressed in black jeans and a green hoodie that complemented his eyes, Robert looked like a model from a catalogue, even with the oddly stiff movements he was now presenting. “May I come in? I didn't know if you had any plans...”

“No, no, I was just cleaning my workspace.” Ethan stepped onto the porch, carefully sliding the tip of his leading foot up each of the three stairs to avoid tripping. When he stopped next to Robert, the rush of heat to his face was unavoidable, but he didn’t expect his knees to feel so funny when he realized just how tall Rob was, and how big in comparison to him. He rarely had the opportunity to be close enough to Rob for the contrast to be so sharp. He hated how this simple jock turned his usually eloquent self into a mess. It had to be the pheromones, and he could hardly blame
himself
for how amazing Rob smelled. The guy was so tall he had to tip his head when Ethan let him into the house. How could one not be attracted to that?

“Okay. Um... should I leave my shoes here?” Robert turned toward him, his eyes slightly wide.

Ethan had no idea. He never had guests over. Why didn’t he think this through? What did normal people do? As a weasel, he imagined this house to be his cage but he never wondered how it would be to invite a rat into his space. His mind drifted off into a vision of a black weasel and a white rat sleeping together in one of those ferret hammocks. It took a moment for him to remember what the question was.

“Yeah, just leave them here, we’ll go to my room anyway.” Did that sound predatory? Could he even
be
predatory? No, he was the one taming a predator. A predator who after this would never dare bully anyone else.

Robert cleared his throat and lowered himself to one knee to remove his sneakers. They hadn’t talked much since Ethan had woken up, even though Robert appeared in the hospital almost every day. Ethan had had high hopes that he’d get the promised blow job before he got out, but with his parents constantly present, the only thing Robert could possibly blow for him was a balloon.

“I got you some handouts,” uttered Rob, showing Ethan a generic folder stacked with paper.

Ethan swallowed and took off the plastic mask completely. “Thanks. I’ll be back at school next week, I’m gonna need it. And sorry I smell of chemicals, I’ll take a shower.”

Robert let out a shaky breath and got to his feet. He was towering over Ethan, but there was an awkwardness to his posture that took the intimidation away. “Sure. I can wait.”

“You could probably wait forever, right?” Ethan grumbled and led the way up the stairs to his room.

The whole house was in a state of suburban perfection, which made the illusion that their family was normal extremely convincing. Family photos on the walls? Check. Spotless corners? Check. An expensive but tasteful antique vase for decoration? Check.

Robert’s footsteps missed the rhythm behind Ethan when they reached the door at the top of the stairs. “Not really.”

“Let’s just make it civil, okay? It’s not like we have to talk for God-knows-how-long.” Ethan didn’t want to seem needy or desperate even if he was all that and more. Ethan turned around and opened the door to his kingdom.

Robert pushed his hands into his front pockets and shrugged, looking around. His face remained rather blank as he surveyed the attic room, probably looking for somewhere comfortable to sit. Ethan was nervous about what Rob would make of his personal space. He’d never had anyone but his parents here, though with the taxidermy decoration and dark brown walls, even they were never all that keen on coming in. Ethan just hoped Robert wouldn’t freak out over the chandelier made out of bird bones and skulls.

Ethan rushed over to the bed and patted the fluffy fur throw over it, feeling as awkward as ever. It was only dawning on him now that in a matter of minutes he’d have Robert Hunter’s lips on him.

“I’ll be back in a second, okay?” He couldn’t stop staring at how big Robert was. He still remembered how it felt to have that body on top of his own, sandwiched between hot muscle and fallen leaves in the darkness, where anything could happen. Only instead of spontaneous sex, he got a branch up his eye back then. Fun times.
Not.

Robert nodded, combing his fingers through the hair at the top of his head as he lowered himself to the bed. “No stress.”

Ethan asked himself if there was anything else he should say, but in the end he just rushed out to the adjoined bathroom and shut the door with his heart beating a lot too fast for his liking.
Fuck
. Robert Hunter was sitting in his bedroom, ready to fall to his knees and give him a blow job, and
now
he was getting stressed? What if he couldn’t get it up? No, he would definitely get it up.

Ethan took all his clothes off faster than ever and got under the shower. Sometimes, he thought that his life would be much easier without the oversexed fantasies that took his mind off the things that mattered, but since his hormones weren’t cooperating at all, he might as well get it out of his system with no strings attached. The warm water and soap felt like a caress on his skin, but he was in a hurry to claim his injury compensation. By a guy whose face he wanted to kiss all over. Not that it was gonna happen, but a guy could dream. Oh and dream Ethan did. Since the day Robert had accepted his offer, the image of Rob pulling Ethan close and sucking his cock was always somewhere at the back of his mind. Sometimes, Ethan imagined himself standing, sometimes on the bed, with Rob’s head between Ethan’s thighs, his hot mouth sucking, kissing all the way from the tip to the balls.

He stood in front of the mirror as he toweled himself off and put the eye patch back on. He briefly wondered whether it made sense to put the T-shirt back on, but it didn’t seem appropriate. What was he supposed to wear? He’d get naked anyway, right? It wouldn’t make sense to cover up his chest if he was gonna show Rob his dick. Or was it? Just the jeans? Just the pajama pants? No, that wouldn’t do. He took a deep breath. It was sink or swim.

He would go naked.

Ethan combed his hair, which he’d dyed black again since getting back from the hospital, and gave himself a once-over. Eye or not, he wasn’t bad looking. He was still regaining weight after the accident, but then again he’d never been the muscular type
.
Maybe a bit too pale, but that didn’t matter, since he wasn’t Rob’s target audience anyway.

He walked out with his hair still damp, naked as the day he was born, only to see Rob’s pale green eyes widen. Robert had taken off his hoodie and was now wearing just a plain long-sleeve which showcased his assets without putting them on display. It did nothing to hide the sudden movement of Rob’s chest when he looked up at Ethan’s face. His Adam’s apple bobbed when he shifted a bit, as if not sure how to act.

Ethan swallowed, suddenly self-conscious about the decision he’d made, but he wasn’t going to back down. He deserved something good in his life, and Rob deserved to be punished for being a stupid ass who nearly killed him. He hugged himself but took a step closer with his goose bumps on fire. “Yeah, so… I thought you’re gonna see it anyway.”

Rob was pulling on the fingers of his left hand, and the slight creaking sounds were like needles stabbing into the back of Ethan’s neck. “So, what do I do?”

Ethan stepped closer, hardly able to breathe at this point. “Just… you know, what you’d like a girl to do to you.”

Robert froze, slouched forward with his eyes transfixed on Ethan’s crotch, which reacted as predicted. Ethan couldn’t remember his cock ever filling so rapidly, and when he was ready to call out Rob on not keeping his word, Robert invited him over with a gesture.

So this was it. Ethan pushed some of his hair forward, to hide the flush that was no doubt all over his face when he stopped just inches away from Rob’s face, between his spread feet. “Don’t eye it like it’s dead chicken or something.”

Robert’s gaze darted to the window, and he scowled so hard it made Ethan uneasy. “God, don’t give me this mental image!” He pulled on his index finger, swallowing as he looked at the cock in front of him again. His face next to a penis was an image made in wet dreams.

Ethan frowned at him. “Oh, I’m sorry, are you feeling a bit intimidated? Well guess what, now you have to suck it up. Pun intended,” he groaned, sounding more aggressive than he would have liked. This guy and his friends kept intimidating
him
so he was refusing to feel sorry for him and take back his request. He deserved this.

Rob blinked at the cock, exhaling. Then in one quick lunge forward, he grabbed the base and put the other half in his mouth. It was a warm, moist sleeve that tightened around Ethan’s cock and started pulling him in like a vacuum.