My Mafia Host Family

Pazhar had finished the rest of the evening with some jogging and other exercises. He had slept well, and in the morning, Silvano had come to their room to get him for breakfast. There were no high class clothes in his wardrobe, but he had a shirt and a pair of black slacks. That'd have to do for the first meeting at the college.

When he arrived by the breakfast table, he saw the two parents already there. With a smile, he sat down by the free plate. "Good morning." He directed the words at Anita, then let his eyes wander onto the pancakes and scrambled eggs. Was that what they had for breakfast around here? Well, he didn't mind. It looked tasty.

Anita smiled warmly at him. Her plate was already full. She motioned to a pitcher full of red juice. "Help yourself to anything, That's grape and cherry juice, but if you prefer, I can have them bring in milk or water instead. So how did you sleep?"

"Eliseo didn't give you a hard time, I hope," Manuel added with a frown.

Still that expectation of problems from his sons... Pazhar smiled and shook his head. "No, he didn't." He said, then sighed and looked over at Anita. "I slept well, thanks!" He reached over to pour himself some juice. Something refreshing was just what he needed right now.

Silvano walked over and gave his mother a brief hug before sitting down next to her. He started dishing out eggs into his plate and then looked curiously at Pazhar. "That's too bad. After that long flight of yours, if I were you, I'd have been itching for a real hard time."

"This," Manuel whined to his wife, "is how I raised my son to talk at the breakfast table? What have I done to deserve this?" Though, there was a hint of a grin on his face despite his complaints.

Getting food onto his table, Pazhar gazed suggestively over at Silvano with a grin. "I wonder why Eliseo didn't offer that..."

"My dear older brother doesn't know the meaning of hospitality. You'd think he'd have the decency to show our guest a good time instead of running off last night to whore himself out to some random cokehead!" Silvano paused when he caught sight of the frown on his mother's face. "If he can call me a slut, I can call him a whore..."

The Fendarian had decided already the day before not to worry about his parents hearing about his sexuality from what happened around this house, but as much as he wanted to ask Silvano about places to search, he'd wait until the parents weren't around. He munched thoughtfully on a pancake, and after swallowing, he looked over at Manuel. They were probably too rich to use the bus, but it didn't hurt to ask. "Do you have the bus schedule somewhere? I'm having my first meeting at the college today."

Silvano waved his hand as if dismissing the idea. "I'll drive you there. It's on my way to work anyway. I wouldn't hear of letting you use public transportation when my father wouldn't let me host you in my bedroom. I've got to get you alone sometime, don't I?"

"Thanks, that's nice of you." Pazhar smiled gratefully. He'd have to get someone to tell him how to get back by bus later on, but there was no rush. He could ask during the car ride to have something to bring up before he started asking about where to find gay bottoms. Now what to ask to keep the conversation away from sexual practices? "Do you know somewhere nearby with real height basket hoops?"

The two other men looked at each other blankly and shrugged. It was Anita who eventually responded. "They're hopeless. If you talk sports with these fools, you might as well be speaking aramaic. We can have one installed in the back, if you want, but otherwise, there's a small court down the street with bigger hoops."

Well, that was surprising. A girl interested in sports? He hadn't seen a lot of that in Fendaril or Sollas. But perhaps things were different here. With another smile, the black-haired youngster nodded. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, it'd be very nice of you to put one up here..." These people could easily put up a million hoops and still not notice it on their bank accounts, so it wasn't hard to accept that offer.

"Certainly," She smiled and took a sip of her own juice. "I had that one installed about ten years ago when Eliseo used to play with me still, but it's about time it gets an upgrade."

~~~~~~~~

It was so easy to show off with that foreigner. All it took was an expensive car. Silvano had been a little surprised at Pazhar's reaction to seeing his yellow Lotus Elise. It was cute how excited the guy had gotten about a hunk of metal. Frankly, Silvano didn't even know what the big thing was about cars. All he knew was that it looked good, and that was all that mattered.

They were on their way to the college, and Silvano had the radio playing softly so that they could still talk without having trouble hearing each other. He glanced over at Pazhar while he stopped at a red light. "You will need a ride back, right? How about I give you my number and you can call when you're done here?"

The Fendarian gazed curiously at him, then shook his head with a smirk. "Wouldn't want to disturb you while you're working. Just let me know how to find my way back with a bus..."

"No, don't worry about it! I'm always happy to have a reason to unload my work on someone else. Besides, getting to know you better is more than worth it." Silvano winked and then started driving again.

"I like basketball, fast, expensive cars and bottoms who like to be done hard and often... anything else you want to know?" Pazhar chuckled, turning to watch the buildings they drove past.

Now that was amusing. Silvano grinned and nodded. "I'd like to know where I sign up for that."

Pazhar grazed his cheek, turning around and smirking. "That's funny... I didn't think you were into basketball."

Maybe he did have a chance with this guy, after all. He hadn't expected this newcomer to be an actual possibility, but it was quickly becoming obvious that not only did he swing that way, but he might have actually been interested too! "Oh I don't." He chuckled. "But fast, expensive, hard, and often is totally my speed."

There were a few seconds in silence as the Fendarian gave his body a thorough once-over and then a twice-over. "I see... so you're a bottom, then?" He asked curiously.

Silvano nodded and sped up the car a little. That was an easy question. Even with women, he tended to go toward the more aggressive ones. "Yep. Does that mean I am eligible?"

Gazing up at the ceiling, Pazhar considered that for a while. "Hmmm... maybe. A bit early to say." He smirked again, then shrugged. "Tell me more about yourself..."

"I'm a collections manager at the museum my family owns. I play the piano and paint, and I'm really into sexy, strong tops. Oh, and I come with the car." Silvano flashed a brief smirk in Pazhar's direction before turning his attention back on the road.

~~~~~

It was nice to get a drive to the college, but Pazhar wasn't quite sure about the bit about hooking up with someone who was primarily interested in arts. If the only thing they'd share would be sex, then that wouldn't be a very meaningful relationship. However, he had been careful not to burn any bridges unnecessarily. Had to see what other options he had, then decide. When lovelife was involved, the Fendarian had never appreciated going without for long.

The college appeared rather classy, but he had subconsciously expected that since he came to the Ferrara estate. He could have been wrong, but the main entrance and the hallways had been big, tidy and decorated. Whether anything actually was expensive wasn't a question Pazhar could answer - or cared to answer. There was something else that bothered him, and it took a while to figure out what it was.

The whole place and the implied authority reminded him of the war he had escaped from. The ones who had taken power seemed to have a liking of big stone buildings, just like the one the college was located in. Pazhar had been to 'questioning' a few times, but nothing nearly as bad as other people he knew. Still, feelings of being taken to questioning were impossible to shake off.

His meeting memories were more or less a blur. He remembered getting quite a bit freaked out by being let in precisely the arranged time - on the second - and from there, he had only sparse recollection. Judging by the time, he hadn't been there for a long time, but he had a schedule, a list of phone numbers on his notepad and a student ID.

One thing he remembered clearly, though, was the man saying they didn't have a basket section. In fact, there wasn't as much as a hoop on the college grounds. It was a basketball scholarship because it was the local basket club who paid for his scholarship. The man even seemed to think it was ridiculous that Pazhar thought he was going to play basket at college.

To make matters worse, he had been given a list and told to choose in an impatient voice. He already had some college maths and physics, so he had picked the mathematics, assuming it'd be manageable. However, only on the way out had he discovered that it was a heavy masters degree. That would take some studying to pass...

At least there were no school uniforms. If there was something he hated in the way of clothing, it was those pesky light grey shirts everyone had to wear at school after the war. There might not be a basket hoop at college, but they'd damn well be ready to see him wearing his silver basket uniform!

After checking where the classroom was now that there was no time pressure, he left the school premises, going to check out where the local team played their games. Hopefully there would be nothing to make him freak out again. Between living in a prison filled with armed guards and going to school in a chilly, impersonal stone building, it was going to be hard enough on his sanity as it was.

~~~~~

Thanks to everyone for reading, commenting and rating. It gets a lot more motivational to work on something when it's appreciated :)

WallFlower: Devastating all their defenses... ;) Vestige? Glad to hear he's got a fan. He'll be around a lot!

linika: Glad to know there's at least some originality to it. I hope you'll have fun reading!

Midnightsscream: Back in Fendaril, Pazhar learned to respect his elders, so expect him to lapse back and forth a bit on the shyness/openness... he's really an easy-going and friendly fellow, but sometimes he gets a bit caught up in trying to be polite. He doesn't want to leave a bad impression, you know! :)

Aleks: Thanks! More delivered and even more coming!