Part 4-Johnny in Charge

A delicious smell permeated the apartment. Face stepped out of the shower and sniffed the air, inhaling the mouth-watering scent of coq-au-vin. Thank God! If Murdock's doing the cooking, then at least that's some compensation. Face, for all his many skills, wasn't exactly a whiz in the kitchen. The food looked all right, but it invariably tasted bland no matter what kind of spices he put in. Murdock lived on junk food, but the gods had seen fit to bless him with an almost scary level of culinary talent. He made things that sounded (and on occasion, looked) disgusting, but when you tasted them you were instantly transported to a place where everything tasted incredible.

"Hi, Faceman!" Murdock grinned when Face appeared in the kitchen doorway. "Great towel! It looks nice and soft and fluffy. And so do you."

Face cleared his throat. He wished now he'd bothered to dress. "Johnny?" he asked cautiously.

"Naw, it's me. Johnny Black doesn't cook, he gets other people to cook for him."

"It figures. Are you going to be around a while?"

"For a while...until this evening at least" Flushed with the heat, Murdock stirred a pan of vegetables on the stove. "While you were in the tub I ran down to this little market and got some fresh asparagus, and there's eggs in the fridge, so I can make you a good hollandaise."

"Sounds good."

"It's gonna be good, Faceman! So tell me, what'd you think of Johnny?"

"Uh..."

Murdock laughed. "I figured you might have that reaction. Let me explain-Johnny is a top."

"A top?"

"Someone who takes the dominant role in sex, particularly in S & M."

"Oh."

"You know what S & M is?"

"Of course I know!" Face snapped, annoyed to feel a totally unwarranted blush spreading over his cheeks. "Remember Mindy? She was into being tied up and spanked."

"Ah, but that was just the two of you having fun. Johnny Black is a serious practitioner of the art. He does more than just spanking, and he'll insist on your respect at all times."

"I kind of gathered that."

"Don't cross him. Not unless you want to land yourself in a situation that at the very least will make you pretty uncomfortable."

"I'm already uncomfortable."

"I know. For all your slick ways with the ladies, you're essentially a vanilla guy, Faceman. That's why I'm warning you not to mess with him. You'd be in way over your head."

"Yeah, I've already figured that out. Does he have to sleep with me?"

Murdock shrugged and took the steaming pot of asparagus off the burner. "Johnny Black never sleeps alone. You don't have to worry about that part of it, muchacho. He's a gentleman in his own way. The worst that'll happen is that he'll make you sleep across the foot of the bed. That's where his pets usually sleep. Don't argue with him and you shouldn't have any problem. Why don't you go on and get dressed. I'll have our chow on the table in a few minutes."

Dinner was every bit as delicious as its scent had promised. Face ate until he was almost uncomfortably full. Murdock regaled him with stories from the VA. It wasn't until he straigtened up and very deliberately set down his napkin that Face realized that the pilot was gone, back into the depths of his mind.

"Mr. Black?"

"Mr. Peck?" Murdock arched an eyebrow.

"May I take your plate?" Face kept his voice diffident as he held out his hand. Murdock handed him the plate. "What do you plan to do with it, Mr. Peck?"

"Wash it. I always do the dishes when Murdock cooks."

"That 's kind of you. He leaves a room the way a hurricane leaves a beachfront community."

Face was surprised to hear himself chuckle. "Yeah. I shouldn't be long. Fortuntely, I've cleaned up after him for years, so I know how to be efficient."

"Then you have my permission."

"Thanks."

"Thanks, what?"

It took all of Face's strength not to roll his eyes. "Thanks, Johnny."

Murdock waved him away. Once Face was in the kitchen, he expected to hear the TV click on. Instead, soft classical music filled the air. Huh, the conman thought as he busied himself with clearing the rest of the table. Johnny Black seems to be a man of refined taste. That's something, I suppose.

He finished the dishes quickly and scrubbed the counters down. There was no mop for the floor, so he had to content himself with a dustpan and brush he found under the kitchen sink. When he went into the living room, Murdock was sitting with his feet propped on the long leather ottoman in front of the couch. His eyes were closed and he smiled a little. The lights were low and the drapes pulled back; the city twinkled below. If he hadn't still been dressed in his usual clothes-leather jacket, short khakis, baseball cap and worn Converse sneakers, Face could almost believe he was seeing an entirely different man. Murdock's arms were stretched out along the back of the sofa, completely at rest. There was nothing of Murdock's usual frenetic movement. His fingers rubbed against the leather cushions slowly, like he's touching skin, stroking it. Face shook his head hard. Seeing it made him feel more than ever that he'd fallen into some kind of weird alternate universe. So far, so good, Face thought as he began to tiptoe out of the room.

"Where are you going, Mr. Peck?"

"To my room?" Face suggested nervously. He kept his feet moving backwards. "Is there anything you want?"

"Is there anything you want, Johnny. Say it."

"Is there anything you want, Johnny?" Face gritted his teeth. He was starting to understand what Murdock meant, but for Chrissake, this was too much! He wasn't a little kid, and he sure as hell wasn't in the Army anymore!

"Again, please. Without the sarcasm this time."

"Is there anything you want, Johnny?" this time, the conman arranged his face into a mask of politeness and kept his voice smooth.

"No thank you, Mr. Peck. I will not let you escape that easily. Come here."

With great reluctance, Face did as he was told. Murdock took his feet down off the ottoman and pushed it out from the sofa. "Sit down here, on the floor."

Face did so, wondering why the hell he wasn't screaming the house down in protest. One look at Murdock's face told him the answer. The pilot's dark eyes were fixed on his own. They did not blink; Murdock's habitual goofy grin did not appear. Instead, those huge eyes were completely focused on him. Had anyone ever looked at him that way before? Try as he might, Face could not think of a single instance.

"Lean back. Rest yourself against me."

"Is that necessary...Johnny?"

"Are you proposing to argue with me?"

"Ah, no! Not at all! It's just that I'm a little nervous," Face babbled. The pilot's unblinking stare was beginning to seriously freak him out.

"Understandable. Now lean back and relax, and let's see what's on TV."

Face did so, flinching at the close contact and the idea that his head would be dangerously near to Murdock's crotch. He leaned, but he couldn't relax. All his muscles had stiffened with discomfort. Fortunately, "Johnny" didn't seem to notice. He picked up a remote control and the radio switched off. Another touch of a button and the TV came on. "What would you like to see, Mr. Peck?"

"Huh?"

"What would you like to see? What strikes your fancy?"

"Well..." Face tried to gather his thoughts. "Dallas is on tonight. I like that Victoria Principal. What a babe!" Face flashed his patented con-man grin.

"Indeed." Murdock flicked the remote again and Larry Hagman's face filled the screen. Face tried to follow the story, but gave up when Murdock's fingers began to weave though his hair. "Johnny?"

"Yes?"

"I don't know what Murdock told you, but I'm not gay, and this is really making me uncomfortable." No more than the truth. Face's skin had broken out in goosebumps. His hair had always been one of his weak spots. He wondered how Murdock knew.

Murdock shrugged. "Neither am I."

"Really?" Face couldn't keep the doubt out of his voice.

"I find such classifications pedestrian and boring. Flesh is flesh and pleasure is pleasure."

"Okaaay, but we're supposed to be impersonating a gay couple."

Murdock traced his fingers down the side of Face's neck and the conman couldn't stop the shiver that went through his body. "Do you find anything wrong with my performance?"

"No, you're doing great," the conman forced a weak laugh.

"You, on the other hand are not. I can smell fear, Mr. Peck. You've never really looked into yourself, have you? Murdock gave me quite a bit of your history. The world's greatest con artist, a superlative liar, capable of converting the Pope to Hinduism, etc. Do you not realize that people who practice the Machiavellian arts run a very real risk of lying to themselves?"

"Johnny, if you're trying to imply that I'm gay and just don't know it, you're barking up the wrong tree. I love women! I love the way they walk and the way they smell and the sound of their voices. I like boobs! Boobs are one of Nature's finest creations!"

"I couldn't agree more."

"Then what-?"

"A person is a person, Mr. Peck. In the end, the equipment we're born with means very little. It is the soul of the person-who they truly are inside-that I respond to. Male, female, it doesn't matter."

"Well, it matters to me" Face said firmly. Murdock merely smiled and the smile was another jolt. It was downright sensual. Murdock's eyes had narrowed slightly, and he gazed at the conman from under his eyelashes. Face had never, not once with the hundreds of women he dated, seen such a come-hither expression. God, if some gorgeous chick looked at me like that, I'd follow her to the ends of the earth! Where in the hell did Murdock, of all people, learn to do that?!

"Do you know what a safe word is, Mr. Peck?"

Mutely, Face shook his head.

"It's a word that stops the scene. You use it whenever you hit your limit and need to drop out, or return to normal. You may choose one and if you say it to me, I'll stop."

"Um, okay. How about..." Face cast around in his mind for something suitable. "...Hanoi? I've got enough bad memories about that place that it should destroy the mood."

"Hanoi it is. What are your limits, Mr. Peck?"

"My limits?"

"Things that you absloutely will not do are your hard limits. Your soft limits are things you may be willing to do under the right circumstances."

"Oh. Okay. My hard limits are anal sex with men, oral sex with men, anything scatological and anything that causes serious pain. My soft limits are...handjobs, I guess" Face grimaced. "And maybe mouth kissing."

"Very well. It is of paramount importance that you feel completely safe, otherwise the relationship won't work. You may not believe this, Mr. Peck. but in play it is the bottom, the submissive, that controls the action."

"Uh-huh" Face's tone was skeptical. "So people ask you to treat them like slaves?"

"Certainly, if that's their thing." Murdock sounded surprised that Face would even ask such an elementary question "There's a good many people in this world-powerful, take-charge people-who long to be in a situation where they have no decisions to make, and where their every desire is attended to. A good dominant knows everything about his submissive's needs and does his best to fulfil them, with the understanding that the submissive always treats him with respect and obedience."

"I'm not very good at that. Obedience I mean."

"Then it's fortunate that I enjoy a challenge."

"What happens if the submissive disobeys?"

"If that happens, and the submissive doesn't use his or her safe word, the dominant assumes that what his sub needs is punishment. Some like physical pain, others prefer humiliation. Still others prefer to be tortured with pleasure."

"That's crazy!"

Murdock shrugged. "It's a strange world, Mr. Peck."

"You can say that again," Face mumbled. "Listen Mur-uh-Johnny, I'm kind of tired. Would you mind if I went to bed?"

"Not at all. Kiss me goodnight and you may go."

"Kiss you?! I just said--"

"On the cheek will do."

Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Face got up from the floor and leaned down to kiss Murdock's cheek. Murdock cupped his hand against the side of the conman's face and regarded him for several minutes. "You have the face of an angel, Mr. Peck. Murdock is a lucky man indeed."

"What?"

"Go to bed."

Face did. The last thing he wanted to hear was an explanation. Once he was in his pajamas he lay awake, wondering when "Johnny" was going to join him and what that would be like. He fell asleep still wondering.

When he woke the next morning, he was alone.