Same Job, Different Time and Place [R-18] - Part 4

Arthur tensed somewhat but shook his head, putting on a front.

“No, of course not. You’re always welcome, Mary.” He smiled warmly at her, because at least that part was true. He liked Mary, she was always friendly and had been good to Arthur. He fetched her a glass of water and set it down on the counter before looking across at the reunion of mother and son. Arthur noted that Alfred was still a little flushed and his lips swollen. He couldn’t help but smirk a little, folding his arms over his chest as he watched.

Alfred just hugged Mary tightly and he smiled at her, not really knowing how flushed he still looked. At least it didn't seem as if his mother really could tell the difference.

Though at the same time, she might have just been quiet about her suspicions.

A part of him thought it was the latter.

Alfred soon glanced back at Arthur and he gave him a smile. Mary soon pulled away from her son and she seemed to think for a moment before turning towards her son's fiancé.

"Oh I can't believe I almost forgot!"

She soon hurried towards Arthur and gave him a tight hug. "I can't forget to hug my future son-in-law!"

Arthur’s expression softened slightly as Alfred met his gaze, his look became less smug and more loving. But then Mary was hurtling towards him to give him a hug. Oh God. He wasn’t prepared for this. Arthur wasn’t very good at hugs with people who weren’t Alfred.

He let her pull her into a hug nonetheless, knowing it would be impolite to decline. He awkwardly patted her back, smiling uneasily as she hugged him. He hoped to God that she couldn’t feel his dying erection like he could feel her breast smushed against him.

Mary just smiled at Arthur and she soon leant up to kiss his cheek again.

"You're such a sweetheart."

She soon pulled away, turning towards Alfred.

"I hope I'm not bothering you two. I got a hotel here for a few days just so I wouldn't be too much of a nuisance!"

Alfred just shook his head and smiled.

"Don't worry about it, ma. We're fine. I'm just glad you took the time to come over here. I'm sure Arthur is glad to see you again also."

Arthur blushed a little as she kissed his cheek and stared confusedly at her back when she turned to talk to her son. Why was he a sweetheart? Last night he’d been pushing her son around and Alfred had just had his cock down his throat because she knocked at the door. Arthur really didn’t think of himself as a sweetheart.

“Yes, it’s a pleasure to see you.”

Mary just chuckled at that, her eyes bright as she soon took the glass of water and started to slowly drink it.

No matter what they did, she would always think of these two boys as her sweethearts. She loved them with all of her heart. Arthur was a kind man and she trusted Alfred to know about wether he was the right man to marry.

"I got to see that engagement ring also! Can I see it, dear?" She asked Arthur, quickly grabbing his hand though she hesitated when she saw bandages on one of the hands.

"Oh dear...are you alright?"

Arthur hesitated at her question and had been about to give her his hand but she grabbed it anyway. He could see a lot of similarities between Alfred and his mother. They were both quite impatient. Arthur fumbled over his words and blushed.

“It’s, um, kind of a long story,” he cleared his throat. “I was half-asleep last night and I dropped a glass, and tried to clear it up. Heh… guess the morphine hadn’t quite worn off. Thankfully I had Alfred to help me.”

Mary hesitated at that and she just touched his hand gingerly before looking up at him and smiling.

"Ah, I see."

She was glad that at least Alfred was making himself to be a useful man and was so caring! Though a part of her also wanted to catch up with Arthur, especially after remembering that he came back from the hospital. She had plenty of time to catch up with Alfred.

"Oh no! I forgot to get the refills for my medicine!"

Alfred perked up at that and he frowned.

"Ah, it's fine ma! I can get you some refills at Walmart right now." He gave her a smile and Mary smiled gratefully.

"You're such a sweetheart." She soon grabbed the prescription note, handing it to Alfred. "Thank you so much."

Plan successful.

Fucking hero complex. Arthur wanted to swear. Unlike Alfred, he wasn’t so dim. He could tell that Mary wanted to get him alone to ask him questions and he wasn’t sure if he was game for that. He glanced at Alfred, hoping to change his mind but he knew that it would be no good.

Arthur tried to smile.

“If that’s the case, then Alfred, come with me for a second, I think we need a few things. We won’t be a moment, Mary.” He grabbed Alfred’s hand and all but dragged him into the bedroom. He breathed a sigh.

Alfred looked at Arthur with some confusion but soon enough he followed his lover into the bedroom.

"Is everything alright? What few things do we need?" He asked curiously, looking around the bedroom.

He soon ran a hand through his hair. He could hear his mother humming in the living room, seeming to shift through her bag.

Arthur raised an eyebrow, expression hard before he lost it just laughed a bit, his expression crumbling. He cupped Alfred’s face between his hands and kissed him for a few, long moments.

“She’s booked a hotel, so later on, please may we finish what we left off?” he kissed him again. “In which case, I think we need more lubrication.” He pulled away. “And I need to put some pants on, I feel weird being in front of your mother without anything supporting my bollocks.” He knew it was crude but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“And you’re also an idiot because your mother blatantly has ulterior motives.”

Alfred was a bit confused when he saw how hard Arthur's expression was though soon he heard laughter and he couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, of course." He kissed him again for a long moment. "I'll make sure to buy some lubricant also and maybe a few extra things."

He gave him a teasing grin though he hesitated, obviously looking confused.

Soon his cheeks reddened and he quickly got on the defensive.

"I'm not an idiot!" He barked out though he was more confused than angry.

"...Wait what do you mean by ulterior motives?"

Arthur chuckled and rolled his eyes before he shushed him, silencing him with another quick kiss.

“Yes, you are, my love.” He then pulled away to quickly change into some clothes, including a fresh pair of boxer-briefs. “Your mother is not as dim as you. I think she wants to talk to me. Wish me luck… a kiss for the road?”

Alfred just smiled and he rolled his eyes.

"...Or maybe you're just a bit too attentive." He hummed though soon enough he nodded, leaning forward to kiss him again.

"There's your good luck kiss."

He soon pulled away again and he made sure to change into something nicer before finally stretching out.

"Good luck!"

And with that he headed out of the bedroom and soon out of the house.

Arthur pouted somewhat at how short the kiss was but he supposed that was what he got for calling him an idiot. He was a loveable idiot. A loveable, clever idiot… this was beginning to make sense. He went through into the main room to greet Mary once he’d put on a clean shirt.

“Sorry about that,” he smiled a little sheepishly. Hopefully she would understand that they were both still in that sort of ‘honeymoon’ phase of wanting to kiss all the time, despite the long length of time they’d been together.

Mary just smiled at Arthur and she simply laughed a bit to herself.

"It's fine, dear. I remember when I was young! I was so in love and we just couldn't keep our hands off each other."

She looked a bit sad at the past memories but she shook her head, looking back at Arthur.

"I hope you've been alright though. I heard you were in the hospital for a few weeks."

Arthur breathed out a laugh, smiling warmly. He hoped he didn’t resurface too many painful memories. He invited her to sit on the sofa with him.

“Can I get you any coffee or tea?” he offered, still trying to be polite and hopefully put off the oncoming talk.

He pursed his lips for a few moments before he nodded once.

“Yes, I was.”

Mary just shook her head and smiled kindly at him.

"No thank you." Though soon he sat down on the sofa with him. She looked a bit concerned soon and she soon reached forward to rest her hand over Arthur's hand.

"Are you certain you're alright?" She asked, looking at him with her kind blue eyes.

"You're so much thinner than you were last time and it's obvious you're a lot more fatigue. Has everything been alright emotionally?"

Arthur looked at her worriedly. He’d never really been faced with kindness like this. His mother had never been like this with him, and so it was somewhat confusing and difficult for him to cope with someone else’s mother taking an interest in him. He didn’t really know if he should tell her the truth or not. Would she suddenly dislike him and judge him? Perhaps she wouldn’t want Alfred to marry him anymore.

He exhaled heavily, closing his eyes.

“It’s a long story,” he whispered somewhat shamefully. “I don’t know if it’s a story you’ll want to hear.”

Mary was starting to look a bit concerned now and she held her future son-in-law's hand more tenderly with both of her hands.

"Arthur, dear. I'm going to be your future mother-in-law. I'm not forcing you to tell me but I love you as much as I love my own two sons. That's not going to change."

She gave him an encouraging smile.

"I just want you to be alright."

Arthur felt very strange at that development. He felt all weird and warm inside. She cared about him? His own mother had never said that to him once. And that hurt him a lot to admit that. Mary was so kind and caring and Alfred had always had someone that told him that they loved him. Arthur hadn’t, it was partly why he struggled so much with women now because his mother had never given him any affection. Arthur felt suddenly quite emotional and tried to keep himself together for the sake of his dignity.

He tried to smile, though it was a little teary.

“You’re a lot kinder than my own mother, Mary…” he paused for a few moments. “I… I do want to talk about it but I don’t know where to start. I don’t think Alfred’s old enough to understand.”

Mary just chuckled and she nodded.

"He's still so young. Even if you're both marrying soon, he's only twenty-five and he's lived a rather sheltered life. He's a kind man but sometimes it takes him a while to truly understand."

She looked at him fondly.

"Start from wherever you need to start, Arthur. You can't stop a mother like me from worrying about you."

Arthur took a deep breath and gave her hand a squeeze. He would be honest with her.

“Yeah… um…” he shivered a little and cleared his throat. “I think… okay. Well, my family is very complicated but to cut a long story short, my grandfather used to beat me and my father would occasionally hit me, as well. My mother has never really cared for me. She never wanted children. I was sent to a boarding school as a teenager and I never really fit in. I never even came out to my parents. I think my father guessed but my mother met my first boyfriend when I was seventeen. His name was Gabriel… needless to say, it didn’t go well and she refused to speak to me for the best part of a year.” He gulped.

“I wanted to be a writer all the way through my education but my parents forced me into a degree that would ‘make me money’… at university, I met a French art student called Francis and fell face-first in love with him. Being an artist, Francis would dabble in cannabis sometimes,” he paused to see her reaction. “I got involved in that and unfortunately it progressed. I started to take cocaine and it destroyed me as a person, at the time and my relationship with Francis. I did a lot of things I now regret… I stopped eating and eventually I overdosed on cocaine and went into a coma. When I woke up, I found out Francis had cheated on me but I was willing to forgive it if he’d still be with me. But it was too hard for us and I almost fell into it again but my uncle stepped in. I went into rehab and only came out to sit my exams. I even managed to quit smoking for a while. I was given a job at the financial section of his corporation, which I managed to sort out the finances of. I then went on to work for Chouchoute, which is obviously where I met Alfred, the love of my life.”

He was looking down at his feet, only hoping that she wouldn’t hate him.

“We have a good relationship, we really do but Alfred moving down to Florida threw me into a funk. I went to a friend’s party in February and was re-introduced to drugs.” He cringed. “It got bad again and I almost… let’s just say that I ended up in hospital again, having almost died from a chemical produced in my body by cocaine and alcohol. I’m recovering now… I love Alfred with every fibre of my being and I want to be a good husband, a good life partner. Mary, I really love Alfred. It’s… it’s been very difficult for me and we had somewhat of a mishap last night because I’m suffering from withdrawal symptoms so… we haven’t been quite meeting in the middle because Alfred is trying his best but it’s not enough and,” he smiled bitterly, “I can be a bit of a bastard sometimes... that's just about everything, I think.”

Mary just listened intently and made sure not to say everything as Arthur revealed his past. It hurt her to hear everything and to see how much he had been through but to be quite honest, she had somewhat suspected it. Just looking at Arthur the very first time, she could tell that he had a hard time in life.

She was always rather attentive to the people around her.

"And he loves you just as much, Arthur. Remember you're not here alone and that you shouldn't handle this burden by yourself. You need to let him know that he should not act like a martyr in this case and that he shouldn't be blaming himself for this. He will properly be able to give you the support you need once he gets over these emotional blocks."

She gave a gentle and loving smile.

"He's an emotional man and sometimes he gets too caught up."

She reached up to brush Arthur's bangs out of his face.

"And please don't blame yourself for how Alfred deals with this. There's not much I can do personally and I can't make up for what has happened in the past but Arthur, I consider you as my own now. We've had some mishaps in the past but you have a mother here in the United States who cares and loves you and that you have a family here who are here that will be here by your side every minute."

The corners of her eyes crinkled as she looked as Arthur fondly.

"You have to be open with us. We're not going to hate you. We all love you and we just want the best for you."

Arthur listened silently as she gave him advice and just nodded every so often to show that he was listening. Though he wasn’t quite able to steel himself enough to hide the fact that he was very close to tears.

“You’re right… it sounds much less scary now you’ve put it into context,” he murmured as he tried desperately not to let his voice waver.

He blinked owlishly at her as she brushed his hair from his face, feeling incredibly childlike for the first time in a very, very long time. He hadn’t ever looked at the face of a maternal figure who had looked back at him with such love. He felt his lower lip tremble and he looked away as his expression crumbled. He hiccupped as he started to cry, feeling embarrassed for doing so. He wiped at his eyes.

“Sorry, I’m sorry… I,” he choked somewhat, “I don’t understand why my mother couldn’t be like you. You’re a wonderful lady,” he sobbed.