Doctor's New Boy [1] ( Manxman bdsm) 18+

Fifty

Ollie walked into the kitchen and I followed him silently, waiting for my brain to catch up with the days events. He opened the fridge and took out a carton of orange juice, then started looking through the cabinets. He was a lot more familiar with them than I was though because he found a sports bottle in the second one he opened. "You okay Chris? Is this the first time you've seen him like this?"

"I... first time.... yeah. Um, what the FUCK is going on in there?"

He stopped pouring and looked up at me. "What do you mean?"

I couldn't form words. My mouth hung open and I just sort of waved my arm in the general direction of his room before staring at Ollie again. I watched recognition sweep over his face.

"You don't know?" I didn't answer, I still couldn't. "He always tells his subs, it's a rule. He didn't tell you? You don't know that he's... oh. Um, let me ask Master first, I don't know if I can tell you." He finished filling the bottle and put the cap on as if my life weren't hanging in the balance. "Don't worry."

"Don't worry?" I managed to croak out.

"He'll be fine in a little while." That was good, I guess. I still wasn't really sure I would be though. "Let me run this in and I'll try to ask about telling you. It depends on how Sir's doing though, I may not be able to speak. Hold on, okay?"

There was an answer and I felt like I should have figured this out. Greg was odd, I knew that. Little things all along had made me wonder. I'd felt like I just didn't understand him but it was deeper than that, that much was obvious. This wasn't hard and I chastised myself for not being able to solve the riddle.

"Master wants to explain it to you but he'll be a few more minutes, okay? Would you like a drink or something to eat?"

I shook my head 'no' and started wandering through the house, trailing my fingers along the walls. I walked past his bedroom, then the playroom and turned, then came back up towards the kitchen. The door on my left had a white knob and I opened it. I couldn't handle any more secrets. It was an office with bookshelves lining two walls. Perfectly normal.

I almost closed the door but my curiosity got the best of me. One shelf was fiction, then there was a huge section that looked to be medical manuals. Of course an ENT doctor would have more books about tonsils and eardrums than I even knew existed. The next section though took me by surprise. At least 20 or 30 books dealing with Aspergers Syndrome. One, titled 'Aspergers: Thriving in Today's Society' was very dog-eared and had obviously been read many times. I scanned the rest: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adult Asperger Syndrome, Asperger's From the Inside Out: A Supportive and Practical Guide for Anyone with Asperger's Syndrome, they went on and on. I grabbed one and ran towards the kitchen. "Does he have this?"

Ollie looked at me and then shook his head 'yes'.

"What the hell is it?"

"Autism."

"Autism." I sat, although it more closely resembled a controlled crash landing, in one of the bar stools. "Oh. But he's not like that, I mean he's... he's a doctor for Pete's sake."

"He does pretty well. It's a spectrum and some people with autism aren't even able to live on their own or care for themselves. But Aspergers is different, although it varies a ton too. Think of it maybe as the difference between always having a headache and having full-time migraines."

I heard a door open and Kevin walked towards us. "He's coming down now, he just needs some rest. Chris, we need to talk."

"Yeah, yeah we do." I waved the book in front of him like a flag.

"He went into his study Master. I didn't know if I should try to stop him" Ollie explained.

"I guess I can't be too upset with you about that Chris; he certainly hasn't followed the rules today although that's partly my fault. I should have seen it coming when he said you weren't really a sub."

"Huh?"

"The rule is that he has to inform his subs but he didn't tell you and thought that was okay because of your relationship. I'm sorry. I'll clarify that rule with him as soon as he's feeling better."

"Explain this to me, all of it, please." I must have looked absolutely pathetic because Ollie looked like he was about to cry and Kevin wasn't much happier.

"He has Aspergers Syndrome. That's an antiquated diagnosis, it's no longer used but it's now common vernacular.  It's why he is the way he is. I'm sure you've noticed things, right? His stimming---"

"His what?"

"The hand thing? His thumb?" he explained, mimicking Greg's movements.

"Oh yeah, I've seen that."

"Watching only the news, his need of structure and his rules. They help him be able to function, to know what's expected of him. Chris, I wanted to talk to you after last weekend but now that I realize... Look, he didn't mean to hurt or upset you that night. He doesn't read emotions well so when you said you didn't need to stop, he took it at face value. He can't comprehend... I'm sorry."

"That night at the club he asked if I was crashing."

"He can't really read people Chris. He can't read emotions, especially when he doesn't know the person well."

"It's why he asked you if he was being himself or something, in the car that night, right?"

"Yeah. I act as his conscience sometimes, just help him understand the world a little bit."

"He didn't know that I was scared when he... I see." I sipped from the glass of water Ollie put in front of me even though I wasn't really thirsty. "He once told me that he didn't understand my curiosity about Eli. I thought he was being haughty and pretentious."

"No, he truly doesn't understand."

"So what was that? In there? The 'meltdown' as you so aptly called it."

"Chris, he doesn't do emotions like we do. He doesn't bond with people as quickly and sometimes doesn't feel things in the same ways. But that doesn't mean that things don't affect him and today just pushed him over the edge. I was worried about him when I found out about Eli and we've been talking a lot but he seemed to be handling it. He doesn't do well when his routine is changed because he needs to feel in control of things. I'm sure you've noticed."

He waited for a response so I just nodded.

"I don't know what was happening just before his meltdown but I'm sure that it wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself. It's a build-up of everything, probably starting at least a week ago. Today he just snapped. He gets so overwhelmed that the only way for him to move on and let the emotions go is to melt down. Does that make sense?"

I stood up and went over to the couch to grab my bag. "Thanks for helping me. I need to go."

"Alright Chris. Let me give you my number in case you have any questions" Kevin offered.

"No, no. I'm... no thank you. Good-bye Ollie, thanks for everything." I tossed my bag in the car and backed out of the driveway, opening my damn windows because my stupid air conditioning had given out the day before. The breeze felt nice though, in a smoggy, smelly sort of way. I needed to be home and the sooner that happened, the better.