***

Hudson drew one long breath after Otis’s footsteps in the hallway faded for good. What exactly was he doing? In all honesty, he had no idea how to teach Otis how to find the perfect man. He didn’t know how to find one for himself, so what good was he as a teacher? And the whole thing was completely nuts if he only took a damn moment to think about it.

Of course, there was always a way to rationalize his actions. He wanted to keep his neighbor safe. One way to do it was to keep him from dating the wrong men. Otis seemed the obedient type, so it hadn’t been difficult to fool him.

Hudson ran one hand over his face and groaned loudly. With all of the times in his life when he had been available to pursue someone he really liked, why was it happening now? He liked his cute neighbor, maybe a bit too much. His clumsy kisses were the best and made him feel alive like no one and nothing else had.

Yeah, Otis must have felt his erection. He hadn’t seemed put off by it. That meant that he was a red-blooded man and one with no hang-ups after all, and that was good news. For a while, Hudson had feared that Otis might have been the victim of some sort of sexual abuse or at least harassment in his past, but his desire had been real and natural, with nothing of the feverish need or its opposite, the revulsion that stemmed from the mere possibility of the act. Those were the two sides of the same coin he had noticed in people who had gone through such horrible events in their lives.

For now, things on that front would remain as they were. While he went about his investigation, he could keep his pretty neighbor from falling into the arms of the wrong man. In the meantime, Hudson would find a way to lecture him properly on the kind of man he was supposed to search for.

Damn, what a mess. He shook his head in mirth. Yet, somehow, it looked like the sort of mess that could keep him sane for a while. There was still good in the world, right? And good people.

***

Otis could hardly believe his luck. He felt so excited and in need of sharing with someone the news that he had kissed a man and gotten kissed back. All along with the promise of learning how to date properly. What else could he hope for? He had felt too shy to give grandma all the details during his daily recounting of events when he was talking to her, because there were too many things that made him blush in there.

However, there was someone who might want to hear about his foray into the world of proper dating advice, and that was his colleague, Missy. They were on break now, Missy vaping with a frown on her face from a small pink device and blowing scented mist into the air.

“Take my advice, Otis,” she said while shaking her tower of hair, “never smoke. I got into this,” she pointed at the thing in her hand, “and now I’m addicted to one more thing. Plus, I feel that I look like a douchebag, either way.”

“You don’t look like a douchebag,” Otis said promptly, and he really meant it.

Missy looked at him for a moment and laughed. “You’re such a good kid. Mr. Smith said we shouldn’t comment on it, but, between friends, how did you get that scar?” She pointed at her own temple, but Otis knew what she meant.

He just shook his head, the familiar buzzing in his ears growing louder. “It was a long time ago.”

“So sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,” she said sympathetically and patted his arm. “Consider I haven’t asked.”

That was a difficult thing to do, seeing how he knew she had, but there was nothing to be done to take it back. So, as his grandma used to say, he needed to let it slide because it was good to have Missy as a friend. She had just said that. She had said the words ‘between friends’.

He smiled.

“Anything good happen to you lately?” Missy asked. “You look pretty happy.”

“Oh, yes, and I wanted to tell a friend,” Otis declared.

Missy stared at him for a moment, smiling with her eyes. “Come on, tell me,” she said. “Or I’m not a friend?”

“You are,” Otis said hurriedly, deciding not to insult his coworker who was now his friend. “Well,” he began, realizing that he was finding it difficult to get the words out. “I kissed a man. A man kissed me.” The phrases shot out of him like a gun popping bullets.

“Wow,” Missy said and grinned. “Was it good?”

“I almost combusted because of it,” Otis admitted. “Is it always this good?”

Missy looked at him nonplussed for a moment. “Wait. Are you trying to tell me you didn’t kiss anyone until this guy?”

He couldn’t confess such a thing to Hudson, who was so experienced, but he could say it to Missy. “Not much. Not exactly. I mean, not at all.”

“Wow. So, gay guys can be blind, too.” Missy shook her head. “Okay, okay, just tell me about this guy. Is he hot?”

Otis revisited the image of Hudson he now carried with him in his head all the time. “He is this tall,” he explained by putting one hand up, “and he has many visible muscles, because his t-shirts tend to be tight. He has a great neck and a lot of tattoos.”

“Tattoos? Wow, did you get yourself a bad boy, Otis?” Missy nudged him playfully in the ribs. “Where did you find him?”

“In the elevator,” Otis supplied right away.

Missy laughed. “Naughty. Did he jump your bones, or was it the other way around?”

There was no point in dwelling on that first kiss. Otis had run away from it, and that was embarrassing to admit. “It was reciprocal, but I went first,” he explained.

“Get out of here,” Missy exclaimed and smacked him on the chest with the back of her hand. “No way!”

Otis straightened himself up. “I understand that it sounds incredible.”

“It sure does! I mean, you’re such a goody two shoes all the time. I suppose you’re actually a tiger, not a kitten.” Missy meowed like a cat and made her hand mimic a paw with claws, slashing through the air with her cherry red fingernails.

It was pretty funny, so he laughed. “Maybe I am.”

“Tell me more about those tattoos,” Missy said and looked at him with droopy eyes.

Otis began explaining. “He has these, up to here,” he pointed up to his elbow, “and then, he has these guns, here,” he added and angled both palms to make Missy understand.

His colleague’s eyes grew wide. “Double, no, triple wow, Otis. So you’ve seen him naked?”

“Just without a t-shirt,” Otis said dutifully.

“Good for you, anyway.” Missy nodded energetically. “However, my sweet boy, since I can tell you don’t have much experience as far as bad boys are concerned, let me give you some advice.”

It was so wonderful. Now Missy was giving him advice, too, although she was a girl and had a bad dating history. However, as grandma used to say, bad stuff could also teach you something.

Missy continued, oblivious to whatever was going on in his head. “These guys are really sexy, and I’m going to be the first to admit it. But trust me, most of them are frogs and remain frogs. Kiss them all you want, they won’t turn into princes.”

Otis nodded dutifully. He had no idea what Missy meant by that, except that he could tell that Hudson had nothing of a frog about him.

“Now,” Missy said, “this guy, if he’s like many I’ve met in my life, he’s going to want to get freaky with you. When that happens, make sure to be firm about protected sex. Nothing without the rubber, my friend. Are you with me?”

“Condoms, of course,” Otis replied. “Sex must always be safe.”

Missy sighed. “Yeah, too bad there are no condoms for your heart. Anyway, moving on. I’m not only talking about sex that involves, you know, penetration.” She looked around and her voice dropped to a whisper. Even though Missy was famous for her big mouth, she didn’t want to be heard talking about this. Maybe it was a big secret. “Now, listen to me. The guy says anything about you going down on him, refuse politely. Even better, point down at your best friend and say ‘dinner is served, sir’. If he says no, throw him back into the pond. Get it?”

Hmm, so he needed to start calling Hudson ‘sir’. Since he was his teacher and older, it was only polite. Good thing he had Missy to remind him of things like that.

“I’m talking about blow jobs, Otis,” Missy said slowly, emphasizing every word.

“Yes, yes,” he replied hurriedly.

“Good, I’m relieved that you understand. I don’t always know with you so, sorry about being blunt, but I had to make sure. Don’t suck his dick. That will give him too much power over you. Also, sucking on a condom is not that much fun, no matter what they say.” She looked toward the door as someone opened it. “Yeah, yeah, we’re coming,” she shouted.

“Thank you for all the advice, Missy,” Otis said politely.

She patted him on the shoulder and put her vaping device back in her pocket. “No problem. You deserve plenty of good in your life.”

TBC