Kevin muted the TV and sighed, shifting on his pillows to lean against the headboard. "You're not interrupting anything."

Robert scoffed. "I am. What am I interrupting?"

"Nothing. I was going over the Harrison report, but it's putting me to sleep, so you're honestly not interrupting."

"What were you watching?"

Kevin started to answer then stopped. "Are you drunk or just interrogating me?"

"Does it have to be an either/or situation?"

"With you? No."

Robert laughed and Kevin could hear the soft clink of ice on glass. "I am drunk. I just got done being yelled at by Kitty."

"And you called me to make you feel better? You do know how perverse that is, right?"

"Your sister is impossible."

"Can you blame her?"

"No." There was a slight pause and then a soft grunt. "Yes, actually, I can. She knew what she was getting into when this whole thing started. Politician, President, Senator, Governor. Whatever, it is what it is, it is what I am, and she's supposed to understand that."

"She wants you to be around, she wants to have a family."

"I will. Hell, as Governor, I'll be around more than as Senator. Fewer trips to foreign countries, to DC. She should be happy."

"If you thought she'd be happy, you would have told her straight up." Kevin took a sip of his own drink. "You know she's pissed at me too."

"Yeah. Well." Robert was quiet for a long time. "What are you watching?"

"Discovery channel."

"Why? There's porn."

"First of all, Robert, I think discussing porn on the phone is a bad idea. Second, discussing porn with me is a dubious proposition at best. Third, it's all either girls and guys or girl on girl. I checked."

"So that doesn't do anything for you?"

"Girl on girl? Is there some part of me being gay that's confusing to you?"

"No, I mean…girls and guys."

Kevin shifted the phone and picked up the remote, flipping silently through channels. "Not really. I mean, most of the focus is on the girl, and despite a few memorable moments of sheer terror and embarrassment in high school, I tend to not include girls in anything that involves nakedness and sex."

"Huh." Robert was quiet for another moment, the sound of his drink soft in Kevin's ear. "Turn to channel 87."

"Robert…"

"Just do it. I'm your boss. You have to listen to me."

"I'm pretty sure that somewhere in our agreement or in the state laws on sexual harassment, there's a clause or something that says we're not supposed to be talking about porn and you're not supposed to tell me to…oh. My."

"So you like that?"

"It's not a question of…holy…you think that's real?"

"Oh, come on. I know about Jeff Stryker. Don't tell me that's something shocking to you."

"How do you know about Jeff Stryker?"

"My brother? You've met him? The gay one?"

"You and Jason talk about gay porn?"

"Well, not regularly, but I'm not entirely closed minded. If I was, I wouldn't have hired you."

"And my sister wouldn't hate me."

"Yeah, well, if it makes you feel better, I got a serious lecture from Jason after I hired you. Family loyalty and solidarity and guilt. He's good at that. Should have stayed Catholic."

"Except for that whole part where he would have had to have pretended like he wasn't gay."

"Yeah. Except that. Good point." Robert was quiet and Kevin chewed his lower lip, staring at the movie, mostly unseeing, trying to figure out what was actually going on. "So you think he's hot?"

"He's okay. I mean he's not…Why are we having this conversation?"

"I just want to know. You know, what you like in a man."

"You've met Scotty."

"Yeah, but I've also met Jason, and they're complete opposites in a lot of ways, so I'm trying to figure you out."

"By judging whether or not I like this guy's dick size and technique with women?" Kevin reached over and poured more scotch in his glass, fairly convinced it was the only possible answer to the situation. "I'm not sure that's going to help you."

"So you do like his dick size?"

"It's…I don't think I can answer that question."

"Huh. I'll take that as a yes." Robert took another drink and Kevin closed his eyes, considering pinching himself to make sure this was all actually happening. He could hear the faint sound of Robert's TV, the noises matching perfectly with his own television. "So you've had sex with women?"

"Once."

"And it was bad?"

"Not bad. Just…not right." Kevin sighed and took another drink, shifting on the bed to get more comfortable. Apparently Robert had no intention of giving up his questions. "What about you? Ever have sex with a man?"

"What? No. Why would you ask that?"

"Well-" Kevin sipped his scotch and then refilled it. "Straight people never think twice about asking gay people if they've tried it straight. People I don't even know will come up to me and tell me that if I'd just have sex with a woman, I'd get it. But no one ever thinks to ask all the straight people the same thing, to suggest that, if they'd just have sex with a girl or a guy, in your case, they'd realize what we've got."

"Huh…that's true. I never thought about it."

"Why would you?"

"Well, because Jason's usually pretty good about giving me a hard time for making heteronormative assumptions, and I don't think he's ever brought that one up. Of course, I know he's slept with women." There was another silence and Kevin fingered the remote, considering changing the channel when Robert sighed. "Is gay porn just as bad?"

"You mean are we secretly keeping the well-made porn to ourselves? Full of nuanced stories and soft lighting and Merchant and Ivory film quality?" He laughed. "I wish I could say it was true, but it's not. If anything, we're less creative. Instead of 'The Flintbones' and 'Muffy the Vampire Layer' and 'The DaVinci Load' we get 'Rear Entrance 1-17, now with more anal'."

"Huh. You'd think they'd at least do something with 'Rear Window'. I mean, come on, it's by Hitchcock."

Kevin choked on his scotch. "That's…um…" He pressed his hand to his mouth to keep from laughing.

"Not bad for a straight guy, huh?"

"No," Kevin stated without hesitation. "You're not bad for a straight guy." He took another sip of his scotch in the ensuing silence, something shifted and slightly uncomfortable. "I should get back to this report."

"Are you still watching the TV?"

Kevin nodded and then cleared his throat. "Yeah."

"I've seen this one, you know. In Tampa when we were there for that conference." Robert's voice was thick with alcohol and something else Kevin tried hard not to think about. "This next one takes place in his office. He calls his assistant in and bends her over his desk."

"D-" Kevin stopped, his voice threatening to break. "Does he?"

"Pushes everything off and bends her over it and takes her from behind." There was a low rumble in Robert's voice, a hint of something that sounded far too much like promise to Kevin's ears. "He's on the phone during the entire thing, talking to her boyfriend or husband, I'm a little unclear on that part, and he's jerking off hearing about it."

"Oh." Kevin bit his lower lip and set his scotch down, letting his hand settle on his thigh. "You have even more plot than we do."

"You ever done that?"

"What? Pinned someone down to my desk?"

"Talked to someone on the phone while jerking off."

Kevin closed his eyes and swallowed hard, forcing them open just in time to see the female assistant walk into the room on his television, dressed in a pair of slacks and a suit jacket with nothing underneath. "N-no."

"No?"

Kevin swallowed again, suppressing the noise that threatened at the back of his throat, and rubbed his hand over his crotch, feeling the length of his cock hardening beneath his palm. "No."

Robert laughed, voice thick and husky. "I don't believe you."

"Why would I lie?"

"Are you touching yourself, Kevin?" His voice had dropped even lower, practically a purr in Kevin's ear. "Getting hard?"

"R-Robert."

Suddenly, his voice was harder, and Kevin nearly groaned at the rough demand he was used to from Robert in the office. "Are you?"

"Y-yes." Kevin caught his breath, his entire body shivering. "Yes."

"Is this one of your fantasies, Kevin?" Robert's voice didn't change from the stern, demanding tone. "Coming to work only to get bent over the desk? Having your boss inform you very clearly what your position in the company is?"

"R-R-" Kevin swallowed hard, his hand freeing his cock from his boxers and wrapping around it, giving up the pretense of doing anything else. "Robert."

"Is that the position you like, Kevin? Bent over and held down? Or do you like it another way? On your knees?"

"H-how do…how d'you want me?"

Robert groaned softly, the sound hot in Kevin's ear. "Kevin."

"C'm-c'mon, Robert. Play f-fair. How do you want me?" There was nothing but the sound of rushed, heavy breathing for a moment and Kevin closed his eyes, picturing the possible sight on the other end of the phone. Robert sprawled on his bed, touching himself at the thought of Kevin bent over before him. Kevin stifled a moan, his hand tightening around his erection. "Tell me."

"Knees," Robert half-gasped, half-groaned the word. "Yeah?"

"O-oh. Yes." Kevin squeezed his eyes shut tighter, his hand sliding rapidly around the ridge of the head of his cock. "My mouth…"

"Yes," Robert agreed, rushed and hurried. "Your mouth…K-Kev-." He broke off, his breath coming in sudden staccato gasps. Kevin shuddered and felt the heat of his orgasm against his palm and fingers as he slumped back against the pillows, his own breath heavy in his chest. Silence seemed to grow, taking on a life of its own, even the noise from Robert's TV dimmed to nothing. "Um…The Harrison report."

Kevin sucked his lower lip into his mouth, his teeth sinking into the tender flesh as he struggled for his voice. "I'll have the notes tomorrow."

"Yes. That would be…thank you. Yes."

Kevin nodded at the dial tone, listening to the monotonous buzz for a long time before he hung up.

Kevin set his notepad on the table between them, turning his attention to his coffee while Robert finished reading the report and Kevin's notes. "This is good. You really think we can get this going?"

"I do. Yes." He took a drink of his coffee and grimaced, wondering when he'd put sugar in it. "This is what Gutierrez is looking for in her bill, and if we approach her with it, I think we can get it included, getting us what we want."

"Excellent. Get to work with Claire on this." Robert finished his toast and took a drink of his coffee. "Anything else?"

"I was thinking that we should…discuss last night."

"What about last night?"

"Well…we…um…" Kevin flushed and took a drink of his coffee, grimacing again at the sugar. "What happened."

"Nothing happened, Kevin." Robert's face was impassive and neutral, his eyes holding Kevin's steadily.

"But we…"

"Discussed the report over the phone."

"That's not all we discussed."

"It's the only thing of consequence." Robert took another drink then set his cup down. "I know you're new to the political arena, Kevin, but…"

"If this is venturing into the vicinity of blue dresses and come stains, I think you should just stop right there."

"Actually, that's not where we're going." Robert's voice hardened. "Nothing happened, Kevin. We had a conversation."

"About…"

"About nothing. We were shooting the shit. We were relaxing after a long day of work and campaigning and that's all. We're not discussing this."

"I don't think I can live with that."

"You can. You will." Robert continued holding Kevin's gaze. "It's that simple."

"Robert."

"Kevin." His tone brooked no argument. "You can."

Kevin took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. He nodded once, not looking away from Robert at all. "I can."

"You will."

He nodded again. "I will."

"Good." Robert signaled for more coffee and smiled at the waitress. "Would you please get him another cup. He doesn't like it with sugar."

Kevin felt his face flush, his breakfast churning in his stomach. "The sugar's fine."

"And you're arguing just to argue." Robert pushed Kevin's cup away. "It's not a bad thing that I know what you like, Kevin. It makes working together…easier."

"For whom?"