Taxi Journey (Patreon)

This was a story commission for one of the top tier patrons - hope you all enjoy!

Connor was looking forward to getting back to his boyfriend and enjoying some more time together. They had been apart for a few weeks as each of them filmed their individual film and television projects and with Valentine’s Day still recent memory they were hoping to catch up with a whirlwind weekend full of romance. 

The last remaining obstacle though was the travel but thankfully it was almost over. All Connor needed to do was take a taxi across the city and then he could be reunited with his handsome boyfriend.

With his attention captured by his cell phone and all the cute messages his boyfriend was sending him, Connor hardly noticed anything at all about the man in the front of the taxi. A gruff voice asked, “Where to, kid?” and Connor casually noted that the man was older – probably in his fifties – with tired features and thinning hair. Once Connor had given his reply though the man’s appearance was all but forgotten though as he busied himself in replying to his boyfriend’s latest message.

After a few minutes of quiet driving, the taxi driver spoke up again: “Someone’s all smiles back there. Textin’ your girl?” Connor glanced up sheepishly from his phone and chuckled awkwardly.

“Uh, no. Boyfriend, actually,” he replied weakly, preparing himself for either a ridiculing comment or a flat-out demand that he exit the cab. Instead he was merely met with a grunt and a nod before the driver focused back on the road.

Not long after though and a voice drifted from the front of the vehicle again, another question. “He good looking then?” the driver’s deep voice queried.

As Connor thought about the handsome guy he’d been lucky enough to score a date with, he couldn’t help but blush. “Definitely,” he replied, unable to hide the smile from his face. “Strong, too. His biceps are to die for, he can pin me down easily.” As soon as the words had left his mouth, he’d regretted them. Way to overshare. The taxi driver just chuckled and nodded in approval though, rather than seeming outraged by the overshare as Connor had expected.

“What does he do?” came the next question. Anticipating that the conversation was going to continue, Connor reluctantly tucked his phone into the pocket of his jeans so he didn’t come across as impolite.

“He’s an actor,” the younger man replied, “Well, we both are, we just don’t work on the same shows.”

The taxi driver’s eyebrows raised. “Will I have seen him in anything?”

“Probably not. We both do stuff aimed at younger people,” Connor responded without even thinking, wincing at the implication of his words as soon as he realized. “Not to say that you’re old or anything—”

His words were cut off by the taxi driver’s laughter. “Don’t worry about it, kid. I’m well aware that I’m no spring chicken anymore. Coming up on fifty-seven this year!” the other announced, although the smile on his face appeared somewhat forced. “Your young love sure does sound cute though.”

“Are you married?” Connor couldn’t help but ask. He supposed that it was only polite for him to show an interest the way the older man had in him.

“No, no,” the driver huffed, this time visibly displaying his internal disappointment, “It’s just me, myself and I. Never was all that lucky in love. Didn’t even realize I liked men until I was forty-two and I’m nowhere near reach enough to be anyone’s sugar daddy.” The laugh that followed the words was undeniably bitter.

“Oh.” Connor remained silent, wondering exactly what he could say in response to ease the sudden awkward tension that lingered between them. “I’m sorry?” Then, carefully: “That must have been tough for you.”

Another sharp bark of a laugh came from the driver’s seat. “You could say that, kid,” he mumbled. “Treasure what you’ve got, kid. You never know when you might lose it.” A shiver ran down Connor’s spine in response to those words; there was something strangely ominous about them that had him feeling very cold all of a sudden.

Moments later and the journey took them into a tunnel – one that seemed impossibly dark considering it was the middle of the day. Bright lights flashed in Connor’s eyes and the young actor was completely disoriented for several moments. The next thing he knew the car was swerving out of the lane and he had to suddenly jerk the wheel back to the left to return to a straight path. Glancing up at the mirror to check on his young passenger in the backseat, he cleared his throat and mumbled a gruff apology.

“Dunno what came over me there,” he murmured, using his free hand to rub at his eyes. Something felt weird but he couldn’t quite work out what it was. His eyes kept getting drawn back to the mirror that showed him the passenger in the back but much to his disappointment the young man had fished his cell phone out of his pocket again and was back to texting his boyfriend. Konnor couldn’t help but feel resentful, wishing he had the bright future ahead of him and the caring boyfriend that his passenger evidently did.

The rest of the drive was completed in silence until finally Konnar was pulling up outside of an apartment complex that was only vaguely familiar, although he couldn’t quite place why. His passenger leant forward from the back seat and handed over a fifty dollar note. “I don’t have enough change for this,” he remarked, frowning at the dollar bill that was more than twice the cost of the journey. As he glanced back at his passenger though, the pretty young man just smiled at him.

“I can afford it,” the young actor replied, “Keep the change. Hope your luck turns around soon, man. I’m sure there’s someone out there for you!”

Konnar just snorted and shook his head but before he could say anything his passenger was out of the door and disappearing into that fancy building, off to keep living his perfect carefree life. Konrad only allowed himself another minute to resent the other’s luck and how perfect his life was before pulling out of the drop-off area in search of his next passenger. His bills weren’t going to pay themselves after all and the life of a taxi driver wasn’t an easy one, not that some lucky Hollywood kid would ever understand…