THE GENTLEMEN'S CLUB
Jared

Written by Lady Poetess
egiggles at moose-mail.com
/~bbp

Please do not reproduce on any website without permission. This
story has no resemblance to anyone dead or alive.

PROLOGUE

The tall, young man stepped into the renovated garage-converted-
into-a-den. He was, apart from his imposing height, a rather boy-
next-door kind of guy. While not too boyish, he didn't look his
age (eighteen) either. Just a gangly, average if rather cute guy
people wouldn't notice in a crowd if he weren't so tall.

He had eyes for the young man sprawled lazily on the couch,
reading a political journal. This young man was dark where the
tall man was light, in the sense that the twenty-three-year old
young man was dark-haired, almost black, and dark-eyed. His face
also radiated sobriety and severity where the other man seemed
more ready to burst into a grin at any moment. At five feet eight,
he was shorter than the other man, but he compensated that with
his intimidating serious air.

"Topher," the tall young man said.

"Jared." Topher looked up and tossed his magazine aside.

Jared had already had his shirt off, revealing a slim, rangy body
whose muscles were only starting to gain bulk and definition from
his recent gym sessions with his uncle. Topher had only time to
sit up before Jared was all over him. Jared was laughing as he
pressed his long, nude form over Topher's still clothed form,
their groins pressed so close it was as if they were joined beyond
body; body and soul.

"I missed you," Jared whispered in as he pulled open Topher's
shirt.

"And it has been, how long, a day since we last met?" Topher
teased.

"I love you," Jared said.

Topher froze. And that was the precise moment when everything went
down the drain.



ONE

The Blucas clan all married young, every one of them (except for a
few rare exceptions of course). Marc Blucas was explaining this to
his nephew Jared Padalecki as he prepared them breakfast. Marc's
partner Brian had long left for work, he having a five o' clock in
the morning shift at the hospice where he worked as a nurse. Thus
it was just Jared and Marc. Despite their mere eleven years age
gap, Marc had been more of a father to Jared than his real father
ever had been since Jared fled his parents' house two years ago.

Jared's coming out hit his religious Presbyterian family hard, and
it was for his own sanity that he fled his home for Marc's more
welcoming one. Marc was gay, and Marc had been in Jared's shoes
when the man was around Jared's age. Jared was in awe of his uncle
the way one would be of a superstar. Marc had defied his father to
be with Brian Krause. Jared thought it was cool and romantic. Only
Marc would have told him that it was far from cool and romantic.
The man wouldn't wish what he and Brian went through on anybody.

On this particular day, Marc was talking about the inexplicable
tendency for his relatives - he himself included - to settle down
early in life and marrying well and long. "It's like a curse or
something," Marc said, "My father married my mother when they were
both nineteen, and he mourned her even today, after thirty-three
years of marriage. So I heard." The last was said in some
bitterness, as Marc and his father had never spoken since Marc
left. Brian had tried to bring about a reconciliation, but the old
man wouldn't accept Brian and Marc would settle for nothing less.
"I met Brian when I was seventeen, and it just took one look and
wham." Marc flipped the pancake. "He got me from the start."

Jared couldn't imagine a twelve-year relationship like Marc's with
Brian. "I can't imagine sticking to one fellow when I am still
young," he said, despite he himself having only been in two
relationships, none serious, in his eighteen years of life. "With
the same person every day." He looked at Marc - tall, strapping
Marc whose easy grin and boyish wholesome looks made him look like
a god in Jared's eyes. "Don't you ever get tempted? People come on
to you all the time."

"They do?" Marc turned to look at Jared, puzzled.

"Brian and I always have a laugh over you. Sure they do, you just
don't seem to notice them. That salesgirl we met last week when we
bought you some new shirts? When you grinned at her we were sure
she would melt into a puddle at the floor."

"Gee, I never noticed," Marc said.

"So I noticed," Jared said wryly.

"Back to your question, I'll be lying if I say I'm never tempted.
But I won't screw up what I have with Brian just for some
momentary diversion. It helps, I guess, that I'm not the kind of
guy who plays the field at all. I've slept with only two people in
my life."

"Oh man, I don't believe this," Jared exclaimed, incredulous. His
awesome, superhero uncle, whom Jared assumed was a super stud.
slept with only two people in his life? Man, oh man.

"Yeah, two. An older woman taught me almost everything about sex,
and Brian taught me the rest. That's all there are to the notches
in my bedpost."

"Doesn't it get boring?"

"Boring's my middle name."

"You're really not joking, Marc," Jared said. At Marc's shake of
head, he sighed. "And I thought you were such a cool gay guy.
You're spoiling all my illusions."

"Hey, I have no idea where you get the idea. Or where most people
get the idea," Marc confessed. "Don't look so smug, Jared. I'm
pretty sure the Padalecki side tends to lean towards early
monogamy too. Except for your Aunt Sarah, but everyone is sure
that she is changed at birth. Your turn may be next."

"No way," Jared protested. "I'm going to get laid a lot. I just
don't understand the appeal of sticking to one guy."

"Hey, I get laid a lot, but it's with the same guy, yeah. Nothing
wrong with that." Marc placed two pancakes onto Jared's plate.

"Doesn't it get boring?"

"Yes, but that's why we improvise, I guess." Marc picked at his
scrambled eggs. "We'll do some crazy shit once in a while, like
that time Brian." He coughed self-consciously. "I mean, yeah, we
do some new stuff now and then," he finished lamely. He caught
Jared's look and made an exaggerated sigh of long-suffering
resignation. "You'll bite the dust next, nephew. And then we'll
see who will have the last laugh. You're going to end up just like
your boring uncle Marc."

"No way," Jared said, laughing, even as a face flashed in his
mind. Christopher "Topher" Grace. "I'm too young to settle down,"
he said with only a hint of uncertainty.

"Big talk, young man. We'll see. You thought about what I said
about college?"

"I'm still thinking about it," Jared said.

"Don't think too long. A college degree can go a long way in
giving you more choices in life. Brian and I learned that the hard
way. damn, I have to go. I'm going to be late."

"Go, go," Jared said. "I'll clean up after you."

"Thanks." Marc quickly downed his coffee. "Look, you're right.
You're young and you should live a little. Just don't go making
false promises and keep your screwing around with those who want
the same thing as you, okay?"

Jared nodded amicably. "Got it, dad."

"Oh, shut up," Marc said, grabbing his briefcase. "If Brian comes
back before me, tell him to take out the trash this evening -
remind him it's his turn. And you, it's your turn to do the
laundry today."



Topher Grace met Jared Padalecki at the local bookstore. He knew
Jared was either gay or curious because Jared was reading Glory
Hole Gangbang. Topher looked down at his copy of political science
textbook and wondered what the hell modern literature was coming
to. Still, Topher couldn't take his eyes away from Jared. Five
feet away from the tall, delicious specimen of manhood, Topher
found his feet anchored to the ground, his brain experiencing a
meltdown from the overload of incoherent fascination and desire.

The first thing Topher noticed was Jared's height. And the clean-
cut handsome face was attractive, intoxicating on Topher's senses
that he could stare himself into a drunken high. If Jared was
tall, he seemed even taller with his rangy body and legs that
seemed to go on forever. And talking about legs. Topher hated to
admit it but his eyes had to focus on right there - the thick
bulge in the man's crotch. Jared was obviously enjoying Glory Hole
Gangbang.

Hmm. the bulge thickened under Topher's stare, the thick,
noticeable outline of that penis distending the fabric of the
jeans as it lay against Jared's groin, pointing towards the
diagonal upper left of Jared's waist. And was that a faint but
fast spreading wet spot at the tip of that cock?

"I do that when a hot guy stares at my package the way you are
doing right now," Jared said quietly, putting the book back on the
shelf.

Eli's face burned as he quickly looked up at Jared's bemused face.
The man didn't seem offended, in fact, he was smiling. Only those
eyes were burning Topher with more than laughter - they were
scorching Topher with intense, fast-burning desire.

"Name's Jared," the young man said.

Topher swallowed. "Christopher. Call me Topher. No, call me
yours." Until today, he had no idea what gave him the courage to
say that. In fact, wait, he couldn't believe he said that,
although Jared kept reminding him that he in fact did just that.



Topher threw his head back and let loose a wild, exuberant "Yeah,
man, this is fucking crazy! Woo!" as his entire body trembled in
spasms of pleasure. Pure, potent, unadulterated ecstasy, that was
what he was feeling as waves of sensations coursed through him in
perfect sync with the hot scorching spurts of masculine fluids
flooding his insides.

Jared's low, animalistic groans were music to Topher's ears. His
last boyfriend called him frigid and lousy in bed. Yeah? Well,
Jared loved it just fine, in fact, he howled and went wild when
Topher rode his monster cock like a pro. And Jared moaned,
babbled, begged, and pleaded when Topher teased him with his cum-
stained ass, until Topher took pity and let Jared bury his face
between Topher's ass cheeks and commence an orgy of licking and
sucking. And Jared was definitely approving when Topher tightened
his legs around Jared's torso, when he ground his ass to the base
of Jared's cock, and when he clenched his ass walls on Jared and
milked the man until he came like never before.

Topher Grace - professional good fuck. Yeah, that was he alright.

Jared collapsed beside Topher, out of breath. Until he finally
regained his ability to speak, and told Topher, "Now that was
amazing. Oh, wow. You're fucking hot, man, the way you screw your
ass and clamp down on my cock like that. oh man, oh fucking
Jesus."

Topher let his hand ran down Jared's sweat-slicked chest. "Well,
wanna do it again?"

Jared rolled over to mount Topher immediately. "You bet," he said.

"This is the start of a beautiful friendship," Topher said. He
wanted to say something more, maybe a wise-ass wisecrack, but all
was forgotten when Jared gave one hard thrust, burying himself
completely in Topher's quivering depths, and Topher could only
throw his head back again and gave a cry of delight.

Man, this was indeed the start of a fucking beautiful friendship,
he decided. Just fucking beautiful.




TWO

Jared's scratch-mark riddled back became a subject of much ribald
joking among the mechanics whom he started working with. At first,
he became very self-conscious and kept his shirt on even when the
workshop became intolerably hot. Yet Kevin Richardson, the guy
everyone other than the boss considered the real boss of the
workshop, took newcomer Jared aside and told him that the guys and
gals were just playing. "I won't let them tease you too far,"
Kevin promised, and Jared soon got into the mood to play along.
Hell, he was quite proud of those scars. He gave it good to Topher
to deserve them.

The man who was responsible for adding fresh marks when the old
ones healed started coming over the workshop the second day after
they first started seeing each other. Topher bought everyone lunch
and hanged out with Jared during the lunch break. In a way, Jared
was pleased because Topher seemed willing to carry their
relationship outside Topher's bedroom. The sex was great, but
this, the company, was just as great. Of course, lunch wasn't
anything much to read into, but Jared realized he was just as
stupidly optimistic as his uncle Marc in this area. He decided
that he was serious and Topher and he, even if Topher was here on
a three-week break from Princeton and would leave for Jersey soon.

Hey, what could he say? He was a Padalecki.



"So you're going to be the first gay President of the United
States," Jared said to Topher that Saturday late morning. Marc and
Brian were at work, and Jared took his day off just for this -
wild, wild sex with Topher in Marc's place. Since Jared's bed was
more suited for one, Topher suggested they moved here, into Marc's
bedroom. Jared hoped his guilt at soiling Marc's bed wouldn't
hinder his hard-on and performance.

Topher looked up from his studying the titles of the books on the
bookshelf. "I don't know. Presidency is still far away from where
I stand. Maybe I'll be an intern for a candidate, and move up the
party ranks while learning the ropes."

"I'll vote for you. I'll be the first of the Padalecki family to
vote for a Democrat."

"I'm not sure if I want to be a Democrat."

"Why not? It seems like a logical choice for a gay politician."

Topher lay down on the bed beside Jared. "I'm not sure if I want
to be known as a gay activist. It seems like a contradiction to
capitalize on my sexuality alone while fighting for gays to be
seen as human beings beyond the sexual pigeonholes they were
trapped in. I'm not even in close agreement with most gay
activists on the campus. They keep playing the martyr card,
portraying all gay people as some saintly Andrew Shepard figure,
which I find offensive as a gay man. I argue that we are in fact
alienating everyone by emphasizing our sexuality to the exclusion
of everything else, you know what I mean?"

"Sort of," Jared confessed.

"And I don't even like the way these people try to dictate how I,
as a gay man, should behave or not. I don't like to party, I think
gay parades are nothing more than flimsy excuses to be
irresponsible and behave like hooligans, and I loathe the way gay
activists use their sexuality as an excuse to make bigoted remarks
against Catholics in particular. Sorry," Topher said. "I'm
preaching."

"No, that's okay. You sound like the illegitimate offspring of
Andrew Sullivan and Camile Paglia, and I find that fascinating,"
Jared said. "Actually I don't follow GLBT politics much. They
don't seem to relate to my life more often than not."

"Exactly," Topher declared passionately. "They are so cooped up in
their ivory towers, practicing their self-loathing thinly
masqueraded as activism, declaring that gays are saints even as
they cruised straight bars at night looking for tricks. It's
stupid. It makes me feel ashamed to be gay sometimes."

"Hey, that's taking it too extremely, Topher," Jared said.

"No, I just don't understand why we want to pass ourselves off as
something we're not?" Topher swallowed. It was obvious to Jared
that Topher had had this argument going for a long time now.
"Anyway, I don't want to run on the GLBT platform. If I have to
remain in the closet, I will. I just won't pander to. Jared, you
look pale."

"Nothing." Jared shook his head weakly, not wanting to let Topher
know how the young man's remark about being the closet hurt him.
"I just think it's rather hypocritical how you can choose to deny
such important part of yourself. But that's just how I feel."

"And I respect that. You think I'm homophobic like everyone else?"

"No," Jared said honestly.

Topher studied Jared, but probably seeing no condemnation from the
young man, turned away to lay his head on Jared's chest. "They all
call me a traitor to GLBT issues. I think their fancy term is
`internalized self-loathing'. Maybe I do loathe myself. Maybe I'm
confused."

"I know," Jared told him.

"In a way, I'm envious of you. You're so secure in your sexuality,
you make your way around with an upbeat view of life. Now like me
and every queer academia I know, bitter and... oh, fuck it, damn
it."

"I'm confused sometimes," Jared confessed. "Did I tell you about
my parents who can't accept me as I am? But I'm lucky than most,
in that I have Marc who understands and takes me in. And Brian who
befriends me without reservations."

Topher sighed. "Thanks, Jared," he whispered as his hand moved up
under Jared's shirt to feel bare skin.

"Hmmm. whatever for?"

"For not judging me. And for listening. I'm surprised you know who
Sullivan and Paglia are. Thought you don't follow politics much."

"I started after I met you. It makes a nice change from cars and
bikes."

"Don't be like me, Jared. Stay the way you are, because bitter
fucked-up queers like me can never be happy." Topher closed his
eyes. "We won't let ourselves be happy, because we are so afraid
that it is all a lie like we keep saying it is, and we are scared
of getting hurt. We're cowards, Jared, we think ourselves above it
all, but we are just scared, hiding ourselves in a box. we mock
people like you, but we envy you, truly."

"Don't say such things, love," Jared said, distressed that Topher
was putting himself down like this. "You just need to sort
yourself out." When he received no answer, he asked gently,
"Topher?"

Topher was asleep. Jared sighed, only slightly disappointed that
they weren't going to have sex. He stared at the ceiling, and
wondered if Topher liked him as much as he liked Topher. And then
he remembered what Marc said about the curse. Only it didn't seem
much like a curse anymore. He even wondered if. if. Jared forgot
what he was thinking as Topher moved to make himself comfortable
on Jared.

His eyes closed a few seconds later.



Marc scowled at the two sleeping forms on his bed. His shirt was
completely unbuttoned and his cock was at half-mast - and fast
wilting - from his pulled down zipper. Brian Krause, whose shirt
was on the floor downstairs and whose pants were just as undone,
just chuckled.

"I'm supposed to have sex on my bed," Marc whispered. "What the
fuck are they doing? I'm going to have to tan that nephew of
mine's ass."

"Well, they're just sleeping, I don't think they had sex. Jared's
bed was too small to accommodate two," Brian pointed out as he
zipped up his pants.

Marc sighed and fastened his pants. "Good. My nephew having sex.
What is the world coming to?"

"Ahem, coming from one who lost his virginity when he was
fourteen, you have the nerve to talk," Brian said. "Come on, you
can yell at them later. They do look sweet like that, all huddled
up."

"It's pretty sweet," Marc admitted. "You think the Blucas family
curse has struck again?"

"Curse?" Brian asked dryly.

"Figuratively speaking. You know I never feel cursed," Marc said
smoothly.

"Come on, let's go get a motel room. I don't want to waste my day
off like this."

Marc grinned most lasciviously. "So, Mr Krause, you're up for some
torrid buggery today?"

"Always when you are, husband."

Marc chuckled, pleased as always with the answer.



Topher opened his eyes fully when the adults were gone. "Your
uncle is hot," he said. "Fucking hot. Too bad he zipped up his
pants when I woke up. Too bad his voice is a bit on the high side.
Yours is lower and sexier."

"Yeah? Focus on my voice then, because there's no way you can get
Marc," Jared answered good-naturedly. "Others more experienced
than you have tried and failed miserably. Brian so owns him."

"You ever saw him naked? How big is he?"

"I don't see him naked. Jesus, Topher, he's my uncle. But if he's
lucky he'll come close to being as big as I am."

Topher laughed, and his hands reached down for Jared's trousers.
"Big, huh?"

"And getting bigger," Jared said, then gasped when Topher's mouth
enveloped his throbbing cock. "Oh, yeah, that's it, that's fucking
good. shit!"

It was a good thing Marc and Brian staggered home late that night,
allowing Jared and Topher time to change the stained bed sheets.
Marc gave Topher a half-hearted scolding and Jared nodded meekly
as he promised not to do that again. He didn't have to. Marc had
bought Jared a bigger bed, and it would arrive tomorrow.

"Don't let it be said that I don't treat you well," Marc grumbled
as he left Jared's bedroom.

"Hey, I know Brian put you up to buying that bed," Jared said.
"But Marc? Thanks, man. You're the best."

"Hey, it's all I can do for a sorry bastard who'd caught the
curse."

"I didn't!" Jared said in mock indignation, but Marc's knowing
laughter told him that neither of them was buying that for a
second.




THREE

"I love you."

Topher froze at Jared's words. But not for long. "You're shitting
me."

"I'm not," Jared protested.

"You don't know me. You just screwed me, and you think this is
love? I thought you are smarter than that!"

"Calm down, Topher. It's true we only knew each other for a short
while, but I have this feeling that - "

"Feeling? Now that's rich. It's lust, pure and simple."

"You said you wanted to stop being afraid of being happy," Jared
pointed out. "So don't fight me in this, okay?"

"Don't throw my words back at me!" Topher snapped. He gave a
hysterical sob. "I don't have a place for you in my life. I have a
career in politics to consider. I have my own life to live. You
don't fit in at all, so take your so-called love elsewhere."

"Where are you going?" Jared asked.

"I'm leaving."

"This is your room."

"Then you leave," Topher snapped. "Out!"

"I love you."

"No, you don't," Topher said quickly. "So stop saying that."

"Don't you think you are overreacting? I love you - fine, it's
just me. That means I have more cause than you to be bitter and
angry. It's okay if you don't love me now, I'm sure we can work
things out. You want time and space? I can give you that, I - "

"Out!" Topher pushed Jared towards the door.

"Hey, cut it out! Stop being such a jerk, damn it," Jared shouted
back, furious now. "Don't push me again, you got that? I love you,
and I respect you, so I deserve respect back from you at least."

Topher didn't answer. He stared mulishly at his feet.

"Fucking hell. Fine. I'll leave. You know, you're stupid," Jared
said hotly. "I can be the best thing that happened to you, but you
don't even want to give me a chance. A chance, Topher! I'm not
asking for your life. Just a chance for me to make you happy the
way you made me so happy these recent weeks. You made me forget
how angry I was with my parents or how guilty I felt because my
being gay screwed things up between me and them. With you, I
stopped feeling all these fucked-up feelings. How can I not? You
make it all seem so right."

"Are you done?" Topher asked softly.

"Yeah, I'm done," Jared said coldly. He hesitated, because he knew
if he walked out the door, he would never Topher again. Topher
would flee back to Princeton. And his own heart couldn't accept
that. Yet.

Still, he walked out nonetheless. He should be proud. He didn't
break down or anything, until he got home and Brian asked him,
"Anything wrong?" Then he lost the last vestiges of his raw
control and broke down in the man's arms.



Topher studied the rifle in his hands. He was in the room his
father kept his hunting guns and trophies. Stuffed deer heads hung
from the high walls and at a corner, a stuffed bear reigned.
Topher hated this room, and he welcomed the sound of the door's
opening and closing.

"Topher, what are you doing here?" his father asked as he opened
his cigar case.

"Remember the last time you took me hunting? Back in '97? And I
missed the deer?"

"Yeah, and I still say you could have shot that creature. It
wasn't moving much, and it was so close I could hit it with a
stone," his father answered, taking the seat across from Topher.

"I know. I let you believe it's because I can't shoot. But it's
because I couldn't kill it. I didn't have the heart. I looked at
it, and I just couldn't shoot it. And I was scared to admit to you
that I did it because of compassion on my part. Let me finish,
Dad. All my life I lived for your approval, and this means I have
to try so hard to be the son you want me to be. This means
sometimes I have to pretend to be who I'm not.

"I can't do it anymore. I'm almost twenty-four now, and I have my
own convictions and values. I can't compromise anymore because I
just can't. And I've hurt someone because of my fear of rejection.
So dad, listen. He says I should be honest about myself, so I'll
come clean here."

"What are you talking about?" his father asked, puzzled.

"I'm in love with this smart, handsome, sensitive, and kind man.
Yes, I'm gay. And he's right, this is a part of myself that I
should accept. I'm sorry if this hurts you, and I'm sorry I'm not
the son you wish me to be. I know my words won't compensate, but I
love you dad. And I love him too, and I have to go to him now. I'm
sorry."

Choking back his tears, Topher fled the room before his father
could speak.



Marc glowered at him. "I shouldn't let you in."

"I need to explain to him, I want to tell him I'm sorry," Topher
said simply. "And I won't hurt him again if I can help it."

"I'll hold you to that," Marc said, reluctantly stepping aside to
let Topher walk past. "And when you're done with him, tell him to
come down for dinner."



"Jared," Topher said, "Open the door."

And Jared did. "Topher," he said. "So you're here to say goodbye
or ask me to let you come in?" He sighed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to
be snappish. I'm glad you came here to say goodbye to me face-to-
face. Thank you."

"I can't walk away. I - fuck." Topher buried his face in Jared's
chest, trying not to break down. "I am an emotional wreck. I'm not
usually like this. But I love you, Jared. It's crazy, but when you
said you love me, my heart welled up with this joy and I just lost
it because I was so afraid, and."

"Hush. I understand."

"No. I don't deserve such understanding from you," Topher said.
"Jared, will you ever forgive me?"

"Sure. I love you. I know I keep saying this but we Padalecki
people are like that, sad soppy mush. I love you."

"Stop hiding behind your family curse rubbish. Don't deny this
aspect of yourself. I learned that from someone." Topher tried to
laugh, but he hiccupped instead. "And I love you back."

Jared tightened his embrace around Topher and kissed the man's
cheek tenderly. Then Topher was kissing him in the lips, and Jared
didn't care for anything else in the world.



Marc was about to pound on the door to ask them both to come down
for dinner when he heard the sounds of the squeaking bed and the
low moans that could only mean one thing.

"Told you I'm better than Marc," he heard Jared say.

"My crush is over. You're the real thing," Topher said, laughing.

Marc, his face burning, fled down the stairs. He was happy those
two made up. Now, if Jared would move in with Topher. Marc loved
Jared, but damn, he missed the old days when he could screw Brian
everywhere in the house without worrying about Jared walking in on
them. He missed sex on the dining table, the living room couch
(and wall and floor). especially the dining table. Damn, just the
memory of that episode made him as randy as a dog in heat.

"Hey, let's go get a motel room," was the first thing he said the
moment he walked into the dining room.