Mr. Sandman-2

They had been together for a year, partners in the CI5, watching each other's backs. ("And Gladden has a gorgeous one," Matthews thought but he meant the backside, not the upper portion although that was beautiful too.) Gladden's conquests of females were still notorious. Matthews pretended but while Gladden was getting it on with a bird, chatting them up with fancy words and dark looks, Matthews simply sat and talked. Women didn't understand him but they soon accepted the fact that he wasn't going to bed them.

"Hello, Sunshine," Gladden said as he got into Matthews's car.
"Hello, yourself." Matthews waited until his partner buckled up.
Their assignment that day was at an old farmhouse where they were joining a security man who was guarding a teacher. She had seen a murder of a government official, someone in Thatcher's council, and had caught sight of the murderer, and it was the job of CI5 to make sure she wasn't murder number two. Two men waited in the house with her and...

Gladden and Matthews waited on the hill top, lying on the ground, watching the house.
"Well, at least it's a nice time for being mum for the day," Gladden murmured and turned over onto his back. He put his hands behind his head. "I wouldn't mind a cuppa right now." He sighed. "I don't suppose you've got one caught up under your sleeve?"
"No." Matthews looked up into the summer sky and agreed. The air smelled fresh and full of flowers. A bee hovered close by. Birds sang in the tree tops. He glimpsed down at Gladden and almost smiled. The promise hadn't come true and Matthews was beginning to wonder if it ever would. Perhaps that magic medallion hadn't been so magic after all. Maybe it had been simply his loneliness that had produced that dream. He turned his eyes back to the farmhouse and hummed, "Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream..." The dream was here beside him, it just hadn't taken fruit yet. Would it ever? Gladden was so straight, he could have been used a measuring stick.
"What are you humming, Matthews?"
"An American song from years ago." His eyes met the blue ones again. His face lit up with his inner beauty. Gladden stared at him, unable to speak for a moment.
"Well?" Gladden finally whispered.
"Well what?"
"Give us a kiss, love."
"What?" Matthews asked. His eyes revealed his mild case of shock.
"Aren't you going to kiss me?" Gladden asked softly.
An incredible joy fluttered with Matthews's face only to instantly vanish. "Stop fooling around. We're here to do a job." And to prove that point, his eyes went back to the farmhouse.
"I'm not fooling around."
"It's not funny, Gladden."
"It wasn't meant as a joke, Ray."
It was time to be up front with his partner. If Gladden left, then so be it. Matthews felt it in his gut. "I'm gay, Gladden."
"I know that, Sunshine. I figured that out months ago."
"Then don't tease. I'm gay but I still have feelings."
"I hope so." Gladden reached up and caressed his partner's face. "I want you to kiss me."
Matthews's head moved away from the hand. "Gladden...:"

"Well?"
"Why?"
"Why?"
"Why are you doing this?"
"I was curious."
"Ah."
Gladden looked flustered. "Do I have to have a reason?"
"I'm not someone to play around with when you're bored."
"That's not what I'm doing."
"Isn't it? This isn't exactly a plum assignment. And don't tell me you're not bored out of your mind."
"No, I won't tell you that, but that isn't why...." Gladden sat up. He gently crushed the dark curls. "Ray..."
"Let go." Gladden did, instantly. Matthews looked away.
"Ray..." He let his hand shift to the slim shoulder. 
"You like birds, tall ones, skinny ones, thin ones, fat ones, just as long as they have jutters!" It was not an accusation...not quite.
"Yeah, but..." Gladden stopped, unsure of everything.
"You're straight."

"I know, but..." Gladden lay back down. Nothing made any sense. What was it about this man that drew his very soul from his body? His lips ached to touch his. His hands wanted to... they wanted to... What did they want? Gladden sighed in contentment. He wanted to touch and explore, to caress and be caressed. He gently touched the other's man arm. "Kiss me."
"Gladden, stop!" Anger was turning into annoyance and mild rage. Matthews got up and walked away. Gladden rose and followed him. Gladden gently pushed him against a tree. Matthews glared at him, now very angry. "Gladden, I'm not ashamed of being gay."
"Why should you be?"
"Don't taunt me. You have no right."
"That's not what I'm doing." He tried to kiss Matthews and Matthews popped him, sending the other man down on the ground, making him land hard on his arse. "What was that for?" he demanded, his face red.
"I'm a human being and I don't like you baiting me."
"I'm not ragging you!"
"Then what was that?"
"Well, you wouldn't kiss me."
"Gladden, I swear..."
"Fine! If you don't want to dally with me, then don't." Gladden turned over onto his stomach and lay stiff, staring at the farmhouse. "I got along just fine without you before you came into my life, and I keep doing it."
"Stop mucking around, Gladden."
"I am not mucking around." His tone was stiff, precise.
Matthews sat back down. His body was stiff too.
Silence surrounded them, a deep, dark silence that was too horrible to contemplate.
"Why did I do that?" Matthews asked himself. "So what if he was fooling around? Why didn't I just kiss him?" He cursed himself for being an idiot for he had wanted to kiss him even as he was arguing with his friend. His imagination soared–him naked, Gladden naked, getting it on. He could feel his shaft reacting to his thoughts.

"Did you ever think I could be bi?" Gladden asked quietly.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"You have never shown signs of being half and half."
"It never occurred to me that I might be."
"You're not."
Gladden pulled up a blade of grass and chewed it. "I dream about you."
Matthews's heart stopped. "What?"
Gladden turned to him. He repeated, "You heard me."
Matthews looked away. "This isn't funny."
"I'm not trying to be funny." His hand reached out towards the other man. "Sunshine..."
"Gladden?"
"We'll never know, will we, if we don't try?"
Groaning, Matthews went to his friend - his partner - his...what? Soon to be lover? He didn't know. He did know, however, he was going to take advantage of the situation. If Gladden were pranking around, so what? He wasn't. He kissed Gladden. Gladden's mouth opened. Matthews moved until he was on top of the other man. The kiss deepened. He could feel his penis becoming erect. He listed his head and looked down into the blue eyes.
"See, Sunshine?" Gladden whispered and pulled the other man back to his lips.
Someone screamed and they broke apart.
"Shit!" Gladden muttered. They ran to the farmhouse.

After it was all over and the mess had been cleaned up, Gladden took Matthews's wrist. "Well, Sunshine?" It was dark. They stood outside the CI5 office. Traffic streamed past them but they paid no attention to it.
After it was all over and the mess had been cleaned up, Gladden took Matthews's wrist. "Well, Sunshine?" It was dark. They stood outside the CI5 office. Traffic streamed past them but they paid no attention to it.
"It's your move, Gladden." Matthews's eyes were cool, without emotion but his heart was rapidly beating; his breathing was unsettled. What he wanted to do was throw the man down in the street and take him, right there on the sidewalk, hard and fast and without sanity to tell him he mustn't. He wanted to make Gladden squirm and scream in sheer animal wantonness.
"Come back with me to my flat." His eyes begged the slimmer man. "Please."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I am."
"Gladden, I don't want a one night stand."
"I can't make any promises. I wish I could."
"It's just one day at a time, then?"
"Yeah, Sunshine, just one day at a time."
Matthews remembered his wish, his dream. Suddenly, everything felt right to him. "All right." The look of incredible joy came to Gladden's face. Matthews took that short journey back into the other man's arms. And that song repeated itself:
Please turn on your magic beam
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream.

Maybe that medallion hadn't been such a counterfeit after all.