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m_d_hAugust 16, 2059
Chris sent a car to pick up Matt, so Tate could ride back home with Matt together; it's normally a three-hour drive (without emergency clearance). Earlier this summer, as the summer began, Chris and Matt had planned a 3-day BDSM hookup that went horribly awry because of technical difficulties, and then Tate had surprisingly decided to go home with Matt -- a man he barely knew! Apparently because he was fed up with working as a houseboy for Chris, a job that required Tate to remain blind, although who can know the mind of a 16-year-old, blind-from-birth, gay teen whose drug-abusing mother is in jail for the alleged murder of his grandfather ...
Now Tate is 17, his mother still awaits trial, and he's recovering from the weeklong ordeal of supporting Marco through Marco's Wild Week, as parts of Vancouver are still on fire.
-----
Early in Matt's ride over, Chris called him.
"Hey," answered a worried-sounding Matt.
"Hey Matt, how are you?" Chris sounded concerned as well.
"I'm OK, had been a little worried about Tate, although I knew he was in good hands with you, but all this 'emergency' and 'life-and-death' and then 'top secret' ... and now the first nuclear weapon explosion in over a century ..."
"Yeah ... I'm sorry about the lack of details on Tate's assignment. But Tate was never in any danger, not in any more danger than anybody is these days. The nuke didn't land on top of us, and he was in the sub-basement anyway."
"What the hell with Tate working on 'top-secret' stuff -- how does a 17-year old have that kind of clearance?" Matt sounded more angry than worried now.
"Yeah ... well, one thing about top-secret assignments is we don't talk about the details of how people get clearance for top-secret assignments. He shouldn't even have told you it was top-secret, but he's young, and it was his first."
"Then, I'll have to assume his emergency assignment had nothing to do with a nuclear explosion going off 100 miles from your house."
"That would be best, Matt."
They were quiet for a while.
"Matt," Chris started, gently, "Tate is having a lot of guilty feelings about what he did this week. He might tell you about some of it, although he's not supposed to. I would ask that you be supportive in whatever way he needs, don't condemn him no matter what he says happened. He's a hero, and part of him realizes this, but another part of him feels like he betrayed you."
Matt sighed, "Well, yeah, he disappeared in the middle of the night, to return to a job he'd quit, and wouldn't tell me any details, so ..."
Chris continued, "It's not just that. He had to make some adult decisions, in the moment, and feels extremely conflicted about his behavior and his role. Ideally he won't talk with you about it, but he probably will, he probably needs to, and I want you to be ready to listen and to forgive."
Matt barked back, "Of course! All I do is support him!" Then he pulled back, "I'm sorry. I realize you're trying to help, that you're Tate's foster parent, whereas I'm just a billionaire playboy who plucked him out from under you."
Chris couldn't help but laugh, "Matt, I don't think about you that way! Something horrible happened to you on my watch, and I think Tate's natural caregiver tendencies led him to follow you out the door, and that's OK. He's old enough to start making his own decisions. And you were thoroughly vetted before you ever stepped foot into that bar where we met, of course."
"And," Chris kept going, "Tate thinks the world of you. And his Ma likes you also. I'm just asking you to ... not react in the moment. No matter what Tate tells you, if he tells you anything, because he's not supposed to."
"Got it. My new young lover went through something traumatic, isn't supposed to talk about it, so I need to take care of him for a while."
"Thanks, Matt. I've gotta go, but I'll greet you when you get here, and no need for a blindfold this time."
"See you soon, Chris."
-----
During the rest of the ride, Matt worked on his special update episode about Vancouver -- he'd been publishing a podcast series about the history of the Free City of Vancouver for a couple years, and now Vancouver was THE ONLY NEWS STORY IN THE WORLD, so his podcast was hitting #1 on the charts in several English-speaking countries, and he'd just signed a contract for translations into French, Mandarin, etc. Not that he needed the money, the price of gold had doubled since the explosion, and most of his billions were invested in gold-denominated bonds. He wondered whether the explosion had been engineered by the gold mining industry. He thinks he should sell half of them while people are panicking, but, what to buy instead?
Yet, "Top-Secret" Tate! The day before Tate left the house he'd been an emotional wreck about teenage social media drama, now he's some secret agent flying around Chris's galaxy of world-class hackers and multinational intelligence agencies.
OK, don't prejudge, allow Tate to be who he is, to make his own choices. Let him grow into an adult. Maybe he wants to become a secret agent and live the Top-Secret Lifestyle. It's just very strange.
Matt always figures Tate's maturation process will inevitably mean Tate leaves him. He's just too young, this is all too soon, and Matt was his first boyfriend, his first fully voluntary sexual experience, and Tate jumped into Matt's life without knowing anything about him. Except that Chris approved.
-----
Their reunion was joyful, tearful even, hugs all around, kisses, even hugs and kisses for Chris. Tate looked exhausted, and instead of bombarding Matt with guilty details, or any details, he quickly fell asleep in Matt's arms once they were underway in the car. Poor kid. My poor kid. My sexy poor kid. Sex can wait, of course. Tate can sleep all he wants, and then re-engage with his life, and decide whether to get the vision implants.
He'd thought Tate was thoroughly asleep, and then Tate half-mumbled, half-shouted, "Oh, with my bonus from this week I can pay for Mom's bail!"
"That's great! She'll be thrilled!"
But Tate may not be aware he'd said that, because two seconds later he resumed snoring into Matt's chest.
After about 90 minutes, halfway home, Tate woke and started petting Matt, sort of like you'd pet a puppy dog. Tate loves being physical, but in strange ways! Then he wanted a kiss. Then he said softly, "I'm sorry."
"Shhhh, it's OK, Chris kept me posted, sort of, that you were safe, but busy, and not-to-worry."
"I'm still sorry."
"Shhhh, I love you. Go back to sleep."
Chris sent a car to pick up Matt, so Tate could ride back home with Matt together; it's normally a three-hour drive (without emergency clearance). Earlier this summer, as the summer began, Chris and Matt had planned a 3-day BDSM hookup that went horribly awry because of technical difficulties, and then Tate had surprisingly decided to go home with Matt -- a man he barely knew! Apparently because he was fed up with working as a houseboy for Chris, a job that required Tate to remain blind, although who can know the mind of a 16-year-old, blind-from-birth, gay teen whose drug-abusing mother is in jail for the alleged murder of his grandfather ...
Now Tate is 17, his mother still awaits trial, and he's recovering from the weeklong ordeal of supporting Marco through Marco's Wild Week, as parts of Vancouver are still on fire.
-----
Early in Matt's ride over, Chris called him.
"Hey," answered a worried-sounding Matt.
"Hey Matt, how are you?" Chris sounded concerned as well.
"I'm OK, had been a little worried about Tate, although I knew he was in good hands with you, but all this 'emergency' and 'life-and-death' and then 'top secret' ... and now the first nuclear weapon explosion in over a century ..."
"Yeah ... I'm sorry about the lack of details on Tate's assignment. But Tate was never in any danger, not in any more danger than anybody is these days. The nuke didn't land on top of us, and he was in the sub-basement anyway."
"What the hell with Tate working on 'top-secret' stuff -- how does a 17-year old have that kind of clearance?" Matt sounded more angry than worried now.
"Yeah ... well, one thing about top-secret assignments is we don't talk about the details of how people get clearance for top-secret assignments. He shouldn't even have told you it was top-secret, but he's young, and it was his first."
"Then, I'll have to assume his emergency assignment had nothing to do with a nuclear explosion going off 100 miles from your house."
"That would be best, Matt."
They were quiet for a while.
"Matt," Chris started, gently, "Tate is having a lot of guilty feelings about what he did this week. He might tell you about some of it, although he's not supposed to. I would ask that you be supportive in whatever way he needs, don't condemn him no matter what he says happened. He's a hero, and part of him realizes this, but another part of him feels like he betrayed you."
Matt sighed, "Well, yeah, he disappeared in the middle of the night, to return to a job he'd quit, and wouldn't tell me any details, so ..."
Chris continued, "It's not just that. He had to make some adult decisions, in the moment, and feels extremely conflicted about his behavior and his role. Ideally he won't talk with you about it, but he probably will, he probably needs to, and I want you to be ready to listen and to forgive."
Matt barked back, "Of course! All I do is support him!" Then he pulled back, "I'm sorry. I realize you're trying to help, that you're Tate's foster parent, whereas I'm just a billionaire playboy who plucked him out from under you."
Chris couldn't help but laugh, "Matt, I don't think about you that way! Something horrible happened to you on my watch, and I think Tate's natural caregiver tendencies led him to follow you out the door, and that's OK. He's old enough to start making his own decisions. And you were thoroughly vetted before you ever stepped foot into that bar where we met, of course."
"And," Chris kept going, "Tate thinks the world of you. And his Ma likes you also. I'm just asking you to ... not react in the moment. No matter what Tate tells you, if he tells you anything, because he's not supposed to."
"Got it. My new young lover went through something traumatic, isn't supposed to talk about it, so I need to take care of him for a while."
"Thanks, Matt. I've gotta go, but I'll greet you when you get here, and no need for a blindfold this time."
"See you soon, Chris."
-----
During the rest of the ride, Matt worked on his special update episode about Vancouver -- he'd been publishing a podcast series about the history of the Free City of Vancouver for a couple years, and now Vancouver was THE ONLY NEWS STORY IN THE WORLD, so his podcast was hitting #1 on the charts in several English-speaking countries, and he'd just signed a contract for translations into French, Mandarin, etc. Not that he needed the money, the price of gold had doubled since the explosion, and most of his billions were invested in gold-denominated bonds. He wondered whether the explosion had been engineered by the gold mining industry. He thinks he should sell half of them while people are panicking, but, what to buy instead?
Yet, "Top-Secret" Tate! The day before Tate left the house he'd been an emotional wreck about teenage social media drama, now he's some secret agent flying around Chris's galaxy of world-class hackers and multinational intelligence agencies.
OK, don't prejudge, allow Tate to be who he is, to make his own choices. Let him grow into an adult. Maybe he wants to become a secret agent and live the Top-Secret Lifestyle. It's just very strange.
Matt always figures Tate's maturation process will inevitably mean Tate leaves him. He's just too young, this is all too soon, and Matt was his first boyfriend, his first fully voluntary sexual experience, and Tate jumped into Matt's life without knowing anything about him. Except that Chris approved.
-----
Their reunion was joyful, tearful even, hugs all around, kisses, even hugs and kisses for Chris. Tate looked exhausted, and instead of bombarding Matt with guilty details, or any details, he quickly fell asleep in Matt's arms once they were underway in the car. Poor kid. My poor kid. My sexy poor kid. Sex can wait, of course. Tate can sleep all he wants, and then re-engage with his life, and decide whether to get the vision implants.
He'd thought Tate was thoroughly asleep, and then Tate half-mumbled, half-shouted, "Oh, with my bonus from this week I can pay for Mom's bail!"
"That's great! She'll be thrilled!"
But Tate may not be aware he'd said that, because two seconds later he resumed snoring into Matt's chest.
After about 90 minutes, halfway home, Tate woke and started petting Matt, sort of like you'd pet a puppy dog. Tate loves being physical, but in strange ways! Then he wanted a kiss. Then he said softly, "I'm sorry."
"Shhhh, it's OK, Chris kept me posted, sort of, that you were safe, but busy, and not-to-worry."
"I'm still sorry."
"Shhhh, I love you. Go back to sleep."