Kyle - Part 2 (#4)

Chapter 1

       I went up to the second floor of our new house the Monday morning after the Thanksgiving weekend to make sure Justin and Brian were up, and their rooms were empty. That was really strange to me, since they hadn't asked for permission to spend the night somewhere else. It was early, but they had to get up to go to work and to school. Tim and Kyle, who were often at our house, had spent the night at Tim's house. George Murphy, Tim's dad, had wanted to spend time with them alone, so Tim and Kyle had spent the night at George's house.
       Then I remembered the third floor. Jus and Bri had moved up there to accommodate my family for the holiday weekend. I had assumed they had moved back to their own rooms, but maybe they hadn't.
       I went up to the third floor, and all the doors were closed. I really didn't know which room they might be in. I knocked on the door of the first of the two bedrooms, and there was no response. I tried the second door.
       "Who is it," Justin said.
       "It's me, Bubba. Get up. Is Brian in there with you?"
       "Yeah. Come on in," he said.
       I didn't really want to go in there. There wasn't a whole lot of time to spare in the morning, and Rick would have breakfast on the table in fifteen minutes.
       "Come in, Kevin," Justin said insistently.
       I opened the door. They were both in bed. Brian was covered up to his neck, but Jus was sitting up, naked and uncovered.
       "What's up, guys," I asked.
       "Brian and I have been sleeping together," Jus said. Brian looked a little embarrassed, but it didn't seem to bother Jus.
       "I know."
       "Is it okay," Jus asked.
       "You know the rules about sex in this house, Jus," I said.
       "Yes, sir, I do," he said. "And I've never broken one of them. I swear to God."
       "I believe you, son," I said.
       "Does that mean it's okay," Brian asked.
       "As long as neither one of you ever does anything the other one doesn't want to do, and as long as you keep sex private, it's okay," I said. "I take it you broke up with Jason."
       "Well, he actually broke up with me. Saturday afternoon, right at the start of the party. We're still going to be friends, though," Jus said.
       "Well, that worked out pretty well, didn't it," I said.
       "It worked out great. Brian and I are boyfriends now," Justin said.
       "Congratulations. You're lucky to have one another," I said. "When do you have to go back to the doctor," I asked.
       "I don't have to. I went last week. I'm clean. Three tests, and he said I didn't have to come back."
       "Did you talk to him about using condoms," I asked.
       "Yeah. He said it was a good idea to keep using them. He said that if I got myself into a relationship like you and Rick, or Tim and Kyle, I wouldn't have to use them, but he still said it was a good idea. But we ain't going to do what I need to use them for."
       "A lot of gay couples never have anal sex, so that's not unusual. Then again, you might want to some day. That's your responsibility, Jus." I really didn't know how far to push it. Justin had, after all, been the one who initiated the HIV screening when he first met Jason, so I knew he was aware of HIV and other diseases and the need to protect against them.
       "Kevin?"
       I could tell Justin wanted to say something that was difficult for him.
       "What, Bubba?"
       "Jason and I only did it once. He wanted to see what it was like for me to be in him. I don't like doing it. Even thinking about it hurts my ass. Please don't tell Kyle and Tim, okay?"
       "It's nothing to be ashamed of," I said very gently. "How do you feel about anal sex, Brian?"
       "I don't want to do it, either. At least, not the full thing, you know? Not if Justin doesn't want to."
       "Like I said, boys, some couples live long and happy lives together without having anal intercourse. Rick and I didn't do it for a long time, and we don't do it very often now. It's loving each other, caring about each other, making each other feel good by sharing yourself with the other one that's important. There are tons of things you can do sexually to share yourself with each other."
       "You're not going to tell Tim and Kyle, are you," Justin asked.
       "Of course not, Bubba, but I'm sure they wouldn't care. They're your brothers, boys. They love you two."
       "I know, but I know they do it."
       "Look, just like I'm not going to talk to them about your sex life, let's don't talk about theirs, okay? Now you guys need to get up. It's getting late," I said.
       "We already took our showers. We just need to get dressed," Brian said.
       "Okay, well, let's get going."
       "Kevin?"
       "Yes, Jus," I said. I was starting to get a little impatient.
       "Thanks for talking to us. I love you."
       My heart melted. "You're welcome, Bubba. And I love you, too."
       I had just enough time to tell Rick about our talk before they came into the breakfast room.
       "Unbelievable," was all he said.

       We had been able to get the house presentable for my family for Thanksgiving, but there was still a lot that had to be done before it was "finished." Rick and I had an appointment with the curtain lady that first Monday afternoon after Thanksgiving. She came with a huge assortment of samples and with a young male assistant who did the measuring. The boy was probably twenty or so, and he was pretty good looking. He wasn't effeminate, but my gaydar, which I had finally begun to develop, was buzzing.
       The lady was all business. After we had picked out the curtain material we liked, she said she could have the first-floor rooms done by February 1st. The rest would take longer. We had bought some cheap, make-do curtains for the living room and dining room in preparation for Thanksgiving. We had blinds in our bedroom and sitting room, which had come with the house, and the downstairs bathrooms were taken care of, too. Her time line would have to do.
       We agreed to the price, which was really a lot more than I thought it would be, and she said she'd have a contract to us in a day or two. Rick and I shook hands with her and with her assistant, and they were gone.
       "Goddamn! Did you think it was going to be that much," Rick asked me as soon as they were gone.
       "I had figured five thousand bucks, not eight thousand," I said. "It'll look great, though."
       "Oh, I know. I just don't ever really notice curtains, I guess. I will from now on, though; that's for damn sure."
       "I know. Me, too. Babe, did you think that boy who was with her was gay?"
       "I did, actually," he said. "That's not really like me, either. I've started doing that more and more lately."
       "Yeah, so have I. I guess we're getting sharper as we get older."
       "We also know a lot more gay guys now, too. That might have something to do with it," he said.
       "True. Would you like some coffee?"
       "Yeah, that sounds good," Rick said. We moved to the kitchen, and Rick made a pot of coffee.
       While we were sitting at the breakfast room table having coffee, it occurred to me that Christmas was right around the corner.
       "Now that Thanksgiving's behind us, we really ought to make some Christmas plans, don't you think," I asked.
       "You're right. What would you like for Christmas?"
       "Just you," I said.
       "No. Come on Kevin. Give me some help. And God, what are we going to get the boys? I know," he said, "we can give 'em each a carton of cigarettes and a pack of condoms. That's what Jus said he got last Christmas, remember?"
       "Yes, I remember that very well. You teared up, as I recall," I said.
       "I don't remember doing that, but I probably did."
       "I've been thinking about this a little bit. Seriously, you and I have absolutely everything we want, right? Tim and Kyle do, too. If they don't, they can just go to the warehouse and get it."
       "I know. That's quite an arrangement, isn't it? How would you have liked to have had that set up when you were a kid?"
       "I know. But they don't abuse it. In fact, Kyle has surprisingly little stuff for somebody with the kind of money the Goodsons have, don't you think?"
       "Yeah. Really, you're right. And he really appreciates what people give him. He loves that camera George gave him, and the cowboy boots and hat. That really surprised me that he would like that stuff that much. I think he's worn those boots every day since he got them," Rick said.
       "He told me he likes it that they make him six feet tall," I said. "That, plus the fact that Justin gave them to him."
       "Justin and Jason," Rick said.
       "No, it was just Justin. Jason didn't contribute anything to that present, and Kyle knows it."
       "That does put the boots into a different light," Rick said.
       "Yeah. And Justin loves the fact that Kyle loves the boots."
       "Did Dave contribute to the hat, or was that all Brian's doing," he asked.
       "Well, actually, Dave put up ten dollars, Brian put up twenty, and you and I put up a hundred and twenty," I said.
       "Jesus Christ! That damn hat cost a hundred and fifty bucks?"
       "Yep, pardner, it did," I said in a fake cowboy accent.
       "How much did the fucking boots cost," Rick asked.
       "Three fifty," I said.
       "Holy shit! I can't believe those prices. Justin paid the full amount himself?"
       "He sure did. I offered to help him, but he didn't want me to," I said.
       "How much do you think that boat cost," Rick asked.
       "I would say, probably, $25,000. There's a trailer, too. He has to take his car in to have the trailer hitch installed."
       "Wow! I thought our gift was borderline extravagant, but I guess it wasn't, compared to all of that," Rick said.
       "I knew he was going to get a lot of nice things. And remember, the trip to New York is for Kyle and Tim."
       "Well, they're worth it, and I'm just glad we had the money to do that. But what about Christmas?"
       "Here's what I've been thinking. Let's get a pool table for the cabana. It can be for all the boys, and, of course, us and our friends will enjoy it, too."
       "That's a great idea. I like that." He was thinking. "Hey, we can get us all matching shirts to have something to open Christmas morning. What do you think?"
       "Yeah. Very good. We can get a long-sleeve polo and a short-sleeve polo for everybody, and we can have them embroidered with something like 'Crew of The Clay.'"
       "That is so cool, Babe. I love that idea," Rick said. "This is fun."
       "Here's what else. We tell the boys they can't give us anything."
       "Absolutely. There's too much difference between the haves and have-nots in that crowd. Kyle's not going to like that, though."
       "Right. But what they can do, see, is contribute what they would spend on us to the Empty Stocking Fund. That way, if Brian would spend ten dollars on each of us, he gives the Empty Stocking Fund twenty bucks. If Kyle would spend two hundred, he gives four hundred, and nobody has to be embarrassed because his present wasn't as nice as somebody else's."
       "And they need to do the same thing for each other, too. I can see Kyle going hog-ass wild and buying Tim a fucking condo, or something," Rick said.
       I laughed.
       "Seriously, Babe. Kyle could and would do that without blinking an eye if Tim wanted one. I was in the accounting department today, and I was being nosey. I took a look at his file. He's a millionaire several times over, like ten million. That's in trust. But he could probably put his hands on a half million tomorrow morning in cash, if he wanted to. The kid is rich!"
       "Do you think he knows about all of that," I asked. I hadn't known about my own much smaller trust until I turned twenty-one.
       "Yeah, I actually think he does. Probably not details and specifics, but his signature is all over the place. On the early documents he just signed 'Kyle,' and somebody else wrote in his last name. How cute is that?"
       I laughed, and Rick laughed with me.
       "He inherited all of Clay's money, too. I'm telling you, that boy is rich. In his own right. There's no telling how much he'll eventually inherit from Gene and Rita."
       "Well, it's a real tribute to them that he's not some stuck-up snob, don't you think," I asked.
       "I can no more imagine Kyle being stuck up than I can imagine me being Pope," he said.
       Another laugh.
       "But we've got two sets of boyfriends here, remember? They're going to want to give their boyfriends something," I said.
       "And they can do that Christmas morning, but let's tell them it can't be more than fifty dollars. And we live with that, too, for each other," he said. "They can do the Empty Stocking Fund thing for non-boyfriends."
       "Let's write this stuff down so we don't forget it." I got a pad and a pen.
       "Okay," Rick said. "Pool table for all the boys and us. Then two shirts for each of us, embroidered with 'Crew of The Clay.'"
       "You know, the shirt idea can go a long way. We're going to have to get something for all the friends. Why not shirts?"
       "Kevin, that's perfect, man. Let's figure out how many we're going to need," Rick said.
       I got ready to write down names.
       "Kevin, Rick, Tim, Kyle, Justin, Brian, Jeff, George, Terry, Monte, Philip, Ryan, Jerry, Pat, Sam, Fred, Chad, Gage, Gene, and Rita. Who am I leaving out?"
       I counted the names. "That's twenty people. Do you want to do the same thing with my parents and Craig and Cherie?"
       "Definitely. And my mom and her husband, too," Rick said.
       "That's twenty-six people. Let's order thirty. We'll have a few extra, but you know somebody is going to lose a shirt somewhere along the line," I said.
       "What color should we get," Rick asked.
       I knew he was going to order them, so we needed to work that out.
       "What colors are on the boat," I asked.
       "It's white, with maroon trim. Do you like white shirts with maroon writing, or maroon shirts with white writing?"
       "Let's do both. White short-sleeve shirts, maroon long-sleeve shirts," I said.
       "Perfect," he said. "I love it. Extra-large for the men, medium for the women?"
       "Yep. That's it," I said.
       "That was pretty easy. I'll order the shirts tomorrow morning. And I'll order the pool table, too."
       "Let me order the pool table through one of the hotels. We can get a much better one that way," I said.
       "Good thinking. Make sure it's a big one, though, okay?"
       "Oh, I know. I'm going to call Gene and tell him what we're doing, just to make sure it's okay to use business accounts to order this stuff."
       "Yeah, do that," Rick said.
       Gene was still at the office when I called. I explained to him what we were thinking, and he thought it was a terrific idea.
       "Isn't there an exercise room in that cabana," Gene asked.
       "Yeah. It's a nice one, too," I said. "It's pretty big."
       "I thought I remembered that there was. Is there any equipment in it," Gene asked.
       "Not yet," I said.
       "Rita and I are going to fill that room as our Christmas gift to y'all and the boys," he said.
       "Gene, you don't have to do that," I said.
       "I know it. And y'all don't have to buy 'em a pool table, either. But we both want to, don't we," he said.
       "Yeah, I guess we do."
       "I'd love to be there Christmas morning when y'all take 'em out there to see all that stuff," he said.
       "Why don't you and Rita spend Christmas Eve night with us? And Christmas Day, too," I said.
       "God, I was hoping you'd say that. Thank you. Rita and I want to be with Kyle and Tim and Jeff so bad, but I know they'll want to be with you all. I've been thinking about Christmas morning a while, and this is the perfect solution. George and I had lunch together today, and we talked about Christmas. We both said we hoped you would invite us," Gene said.
       "Hell, you should have said something, man," I said.
       "I would have, if you hadn't brought it up."
       He and I both laughed.
       "This is going to be a real family Christmas with the whole family," I said.
       "Well, almost," he said. There was sadness in his voice, and I suddenly felt like a fool.
       "Gene, I'm so sorry, I ...."
       "Forget about it, Kevin. It was just a slip of the tongue," Gene said.
       "How are you and Rita going to do," I asked.
       "Being there with y'all will make it possible, I think. Otherwise, I didn't know," he said.
       "Well, it's all set now, right?"
       "Right, Kevin. So right," Gene said.
       "Gene, Rick and I need to go to New Orleans a few days before Christmas. We've always done that. My parents have a big party on December 23rd, and we need to be there for that. We'd like to take the boys."
       "And...?"
       "And is that okay with you and Rita?"
       "God, almighty, Kevin. You know it's okay."
       "I thought it would be, but I just wanted to check, you know?"
       "When are y'all going to leave?"
       "Well, they have a half day on December 19th. We thought we could leave right after they got out of school. Jeff will be here by then. In fact, he's coming home week after next."
       "God, that sounds great. I wish Rita and I could go, too," Gene said.
       "You can, Gene. Why can't you," I asked.
       "Because we weren't invited," he said.
       "Well, you are now. You and Rita better be there, man. I'm calling my parents as soon as we hang up."
       "Thank you, Kevin. I was worried about how we were going to make it through the holidays, but now I see how. Y'all are going to keep us busy, and God knows we need that." Pause. "Oh, did you know George has a date tonight?"
       "A date? George?"
       "Yes, sir. She's a beautiful lady, too. An orthodontist. They'll probably talk about teeth all night."
       I laughed.
       "Gene, how did you find that out," I asked.
       "I'm George's best friend, Kevin. That's how. He's mine, too. We see each other or talk every day."
       "I knew you guys were friends, but I didn't know you were that close," I said.
       "Oh, yeah. We are. He's gotten me through many a hard day since Clay died. He talked to Father Jerry today, too, and Jerry told him his annulment from his first marriage should be a piece of cake. I don't really understand all that Catholic mumbo-jumbo, but George was happy with it."
       "I understand it, Gene, and I'm happy for George. Tim was his life, you know, but now Tim has somebody else," I said.
       Gene laughed. "Yeah, and Tim's got the best one, too."
       "Absolutely. No question about that, Gene. No question at all."
       We said good night after a few more pleasantries, and we hung up.
       "Did you listen to what I was saying," I asked Rick after I hung up.
       "Yeah. Man, I'm so glad you thought fast. Since we really didn't know Clay all that well, I don't think about him very much. I've got to learn to be more sensitive about things like that," Rick said.
       "Well, thank God it came up. I felt like shit for not remembering Clay when I said it would be a Christmas with the whole family."
       "Yeah, but you're not shit. That was just a brain fart. Hell, I wouldn't have thought of him, either," my partner said.
       "Well, let me call my parents."
       I called my parents and told them I would like to bring the five boys, plus Gene and Rita, to their house for Christmas.
       "How many people are we talking about, exactly," my mom asked.
       "Well, nine, actually," I said.
       "Hmmmm. Let me think. You and Rick, that's one room. Craig and Cherie, that's two. Rita and Gene, that's three. Five boys in two rooms? Will that work?"
       "Wait a minute," my dad said. "You forgot George."
       "The five boys will do fine in two rooms," I said. "Can't Craig and Cherie go home? Why do they have to spend the night?"
       "You're right, Kevin. They don't have to. In fact, I'm sure they would prefer not to," my dad said. He was looking out for his buddy, George.
       "Rick and I will drive them home so they won't have to worry about drinking," I said.
       "That'll work nicely," Mom said.
       After some small talk, we said goodbye.
       "Well, that's all set," I said to Rick. "I volunteered you to drive Craig and Cherie home after the party so they won't take up a bedroom. I forgot about George until my dad brought him up."
       "Duh! Me, too. You know what? We can't give the New Orleans crowd shirts. Everybody will see them, and that'll spoil the surprise Christmas morning," he said.
       "Good thinking. Let's forget about shirts for them. What do you think about the Empty Stocking Fund idea for them, too?"
       "Oh, that's too good not to explore. Call Craig and see what he thinks about it."
       I dialed Craig's office number, but his secretary said he was already gone for the day. Then I dialed their home number, and Cherie answered.
       "Hi, sweetheart," I said, right after she answered.
       "Hi. We were going to call you guys later. Is Rick there? Put the call on speaker, if he is."
       I activated the speaker.
       "Hi, Cherie," Rick said.
       "Hi, Rick. Guys, your ears must have burned like fire all day Sunday. We talked about you nonstop all the way home. It was the best holiday weekend any of us ever had. Thank you so much."
       "It was good, wasn't it," I said.
       "It was the best. Your brother has not shut up one minute about those kids. It wouldn't surprise me if y'all turned up uncles pretty soon," she said.
       "Well, that would just be the best," I said.
       "You've got our support, for sure, sister," Rick said.
       "We've been making Christmas plans. Is Craig there?"
       "He just opened the back door. Let me turn the speaker on."
       We could hear him kissing her hello.
       "Guys, what a weekend! That was the best Thanksgiving I ever had in my life. Probably the best holiday of any kind. Thanks for everything, fellas."
       "We had a great time, too, Bubba," Rick said. "We're making Christmas plans, and we want to run something by the two of you."
       I explained our idea about donating to a charity instead of spending money on one another, and they loved the idea.
       "I have relatives who have done that for years, Kev," Cherie said. "I know your parents will go along with it. Do you want me to talk to them?"
       "Yeah, if you would," I said. "We just got off the phone with them, but we didn't think of it while we still had them." I told them about our plans for the party trip and about what we had decided to do with our family.
       "When we were there I thought you guys needed a pool table," Craig said. "And a basketball goal, too."
       "We didn't really have room for a pool table in the other house, but we've got room now. I hadn't thought about a basketball goal, but that's a good idea."
       "I know just where we can put the basketball goal, too, so we'll be able to use it during pool parties," Rick said.
       "Well, we'll let y'all get busy with dinner," Cherie said. "Thanks again, guys, for everything."
       After a couple more pleasantries we hung up.
       "I'm glad Craig mentioned the basketball goal," Rick said. "We can add that in, can't we? And a couple of basketballs?"
       "Oh, of course," I said.
       Then he said, "Where are the kids?" It was four o'clock, and they weren't home yet.
       "They had to stay after school for tryouts for the play. Tim and Kyle both want to be in it, and I guess Brian stayed there with them."
       "Cool."
       Justin was the first one home.
       "You're home early," I said after telling him hello.
       "I don't have to go on Monday nights anymore. I'm finished all my math," he said.
       "How can you be finished math? The semester isn't over yet," Rick said.
       "I know, but we do it individually, on the computers. I'm finished everything but American history, in fact," he said.
       Justin pulled at his crotch, and I saw that there was a much bigger bulge there than usual.
       "What's the matter," Rick asked him to tease him.
       "It's been like this all day. My underwear is soaked," he said.
       "What? You got a little leak going on there, buddy," Rick asked.
       "I've been thinking about Brian all day," he grinned bashfully.
       "That's cute, Jus," Rick said.
       "Are you making fun of me? You are, aren't you?"
       "No, I do think it's cute. I think about Kevin, too, you know. I leak pre-cum sometimes. Sit down and talk to us, man. We don't get much time with just you."
       He sat down, and I could tell he really liked having our undivided attention.
       "Where is Brian, anyway," Jus asked.
       "Tim and Kyle had to stay after school to try out for a play. Brian must have stayed with them," I said.
       "Oh, yeah. That's right. He wants to be in the play, too," he said. "Kevin, did you tell him what we talked about this morning?"
       "Yeah. Before you came downstairs this morning, in fact," I said.
       "I changed my mind. You can tell Tim and Kyle, if it ever comes up. I don't care," Jus said.
       "Okay, Jus, but we really don't talk to them about your sex life, any more than we talk to you about theirs," I said.
       "Okay. I talked to Jason today. He told me he's going to miss you guys. I told him he was still my friend and that he was welcome here. Did I do the right thing?"
       "Of course you did. He better get his scrawny ass around here to see us," Rick said.
       "Well, he's got a new boy, you know?"
       "Are you surprised," I asked.
       "No. I figured that was what his wanting to break up was all about. Besides, I got me a new one, too. Brian's something, isn't he? He's so gentle and nice. And I think he's beautiful. Do y'all?"
       "Yeah, he is beautiful, Jus, but so are you," Rick said.
       "Get out of here, Rick. Don't try to bullshit a bullshitter," Jus said.
       "I'm serious, Justin. I'm not teasing you. You were great this weekend. You pitched in without having to be asked, you were funny, you talked to everybody, you were just perfect. To me, that's beautiful."
       "To me, too, Jus," I said.
       "Well, it's all thanks to you guys, that's for sure. Y'all remember what a prick I was at first?"
       "We figured you were just scared," Rick said.
       "I can't even tell you how scared I was at first. Rick, all my life I was dirt poor. I mean dirt poor. I didn't have anything. Then to come here with all of this. I was scared to death I'd break something, or something would go missing and y'all would think I had stolen it. My table manners were shit. The words 'please' and 'thank you' weren't even in my vocabulary. Y'all never made fun of me or mocked me or got down on my case. Now I know y'all love me."
       "Do you remember when the turning point was? When you realized we really were serious about you," I asked.
       "Yes, sir. I remember the exact second. It hasn't been that long, either."
       "Do you mind telling us when it was, Bubba," Rick asked.
       "It was in North Carolina. We were all in the hot tub the last night. I asked if you thought I'd ever be able to go back there. Rick, I think it was you who said it. You said, 'You don't get it, do you? You really are part of this family, and you'll always be welcome here and in our house at home.' Those might not be the exact words, but that's pretty close."
       "It makes us feel so good to hear you say that, Jus," I said.
       "It makes me feel pretty good to say it, too," he said.
       "Justin, I just realized something. We've been talking for thirty minutes, and you have not made a single grammar mistake. Were you aware of that," I asked.
       His grin covered his face, and I could tell he was delighted I had noticed that.
       "I've been working on it," he said. "I still say ain't and he don't and stuff like that when I talk to the other boys, but I don't want to sound like a dumbass hick. Y'all don't talk like that on a regular basis."
       "This is just another reason for us to be proud of you, man," Rick said. "You didn't have to change like that, but you're going to find it will open more doors for you in the future."
       "I know it. Is there any coffee," he asked.
       "Yeah, and it should still be pretty fresh. Make another pot if it isn't, though," I said.
       He got up and came back with his coffee in a few seconds.
       "Kevin, your mom's the nicest lady I ever met in my life," he said.
       "Thank you, Jus," I said. "She was really taken with all five of you guys, but I think she was a little sweeter on you and Brian than on the others."
       "Brian slipped and called her grandma a few times. She really ate that up, too," he said.
       "Oh, I'm sure she did. We talked to Cherie a few minutes ago, and she said they talked about us all the way home. She said Craig hasn't shut up about you guys for one minute since they've been home," I said.
       "That Cherie is really something. She's the second nicest lady I ever met. Ole Jeff was wishing he was straight and she was single, too. Hell, so was I, a little bit," he said.
       "We haven't really talked to you much about being gay. How do you feel about it," I asked.
       Jus lit up a smoke to have with his coffee.
       "I used to hate being gay. There was never any doubt in my mind that I was, but in my head to me being gay meant being hurt. That's another thing I learned from y'all. Now, being gay just seems being normal. I think that's why guys like Chad and Gage turn me off so much. Don't get me wrong. I like both of those boys, and I'd fight any son of a bitch who tried to do them wrong, but it just doesn't seem normal."
       "We've talked about this before. You can't help the way you feel, but you can help the way you treat them. And you've treated them great. And we're proud of you for that, too," I said. "They really like you, Jus. You're a pretty macho guy, and for you to like them and treat them nice has got to mean a lot to them."
       "I like them, too," he said. "I guess I've learned to be a little more tolerant. And all that dancing? Man that's the best. We wouldn't be doing it without the two of them."
       "Speaking of that makes me think of something Kevin and I were talking about before. How did you know Kyle was going to love his boots as much as he does," Rick asked.
       "I didn't know it. I sort of took a chance. He had admired my boots, of course, but he had never asked to borrow them or anything. I figured they'd look good on him, so I went ahead and got them for him," Jus said.
       "As far as I can tell, he's worn them every day since you gave them to him," Rick said. "I think he'd even wear them to sleep, if Tim would let him."
       Justin chuckled.
       "He wears them more than I wear mine. It really makes me happy that I could give him something he likes that much," he said.
       "He and Tim really love you, you know," I said.
       "I know, and I love them, too. Sam was saying one time that we were the first friends that Chad ever had. The fact of the matter is, y'all are the first friends that I've ever had, too. And I don't even wear makeup."
       That cracked us up, and we were still laughing as Tim, Kyle, and Brian came in.
       "What's so funny," Kyle asked.
       "You truly had to be there," I said.
       Brian stood right behind Jus, and he put his hands on his shoulders.
       "Kiss him hello, if you want to," Kyle said. "I know you want to."
       Brian smiled a cute, shy smile, and he leaned over and gave Jus a peck on the lips.
       "Let's all get a snack and go in the den. We have something to talk about," Rick said.
       We ran out of leftovers from Thanksgiving on Saturday, so we all got regular food. Rick got two apples and a banana, I got out some cheese and crackers for me and for anybody else who wanted some. Kyle opened a can of chili for hotdogs for the boys. We took our food to the den to talk about Christmas.

Chapter 2

       When everybody was in place in the den with their snacks, I started the ball rolling.
       "First, I want to say that you all were wonderful during the weekend. My parents and Craig and Cherie just couldn't say enough about how much fun they had, how much they liked all of you, and everything. Thank you for being great kids."
       "We all had a great time, Kev," Kyle said.
       "I know I did," Jus said.
       "Me, too. I even got me a boyfriend out of that weekend," Brian said.
       "The two of you," Tim asked, surprised, pointing back and forth between Jus and Bri.
       Justin and Brian grinned and nodded.
       "That's what the kiss was all about," he said. "How did you know, and why didn't you tell me," Tim demanded of Kyle.
       "I didn't tell you because I thought you knew, Babe," Kyle said. "I'm sorry."
       "That's all right. At least I know now. Brian's a lot better than Jason," Tim said.
       "I'm glad you're happy, Tim, but we're not going to trash Jason. He's a very nice boy, and he's still our friend, even if he and Jus aren't dating anymore," Rick said.
       "He wasn't going to trash Jason. Don't pick on Tim," Kyle said.
       Here we go, I thought.
       "Two things, Kyle. First, I knew you were going to say those exact words before they were out of your mouth, and I'm not picking on Tim. Second, one day, if you decide to, you'll graduate from law school and be qualified to argue other people's cases for them."
       "So I guess it's really me you're picking on," Kyle said with a grin.
       "Yeah, right," Rick said.
       "Nobody's picking on anybody. The second thing I want to talk about, if I can get a word in between the two Ricks, is Justin. Jus, give us a report on your progress in school."
       "Huh?"
       "Tell them what you told Rick and me about math," I said.
       "Oh. Well, I'm just about finished with adult school," he said. "I only have to go there a couple more times, and I'll be all done."
       "Cool, bro," Kyle said.
       Justin lapped up Kyle's approval.
       "When do you take your test," Kyle asked.
       "I'm supposed to take it January 8th," Jus said. "If I pass it, I'll get my GED, and I'll be able to go to college."
       "Will you be able to start college in January," I asked.
       "No, sir. Maybe I could start late or something, but I want to work full time until it starts when they go back to school. I talked to my counselor about it, and she said she thought that was a good idea," he said.
       "Well, that way, too, you might be able to pay off your truck," I said.
       "I paid that off last month," he said quietly.
       "You did?! Man, that's wonderful. Why didn't you tell us," Rick asked.
       "I don't know. It just never came up," he said.
       "Well, that's reason number sixteen for us to be proud of you, Bubba," Rick said.
       Everybody, led by Kyle, of course, applauded, and Justin turned beet red.
       "Okay," I said, when everybody settled down, "the third thing we want us to talk about is Christmas. It's only three weeks away, plus a little more. Rick suggested we give each of you a carton of cigarettes and a pack of condoms. Does that suit you," I asked.
       Justin almost fell off the chair he was on, he was laughing so hard. I explained to the others why he was laughing, and they laughed, too, but only out of politeness.
       "No, here's what we have in mind, guys. Rick and I want to get something sort of big for all of you. All of us, really, and our friends, too. That will be everybody's major gift. Then, Rick and I are going to give each of you, and each other, too, the same gift. It won't be terribly expensive, but it'll be something we can unwrap Christmas morning."
       I paused for reactions, but there really weren't any.
       "Okay, here's the next part. Instead of giving Rick and me gifts, you donate what you would have spent on us to the Empty Stocking Fund. That's something the newspaper and businesses around town do every year at Christmas to help needy children have Christmas presents. You just give the money in someone's name, but you don't tell the person how much. That simplifies things a lot. First, you don't have to shop. Second, we won't get stuff that we may or may not want. Third, some needy kids get help. Fourth, nobody's embarrassed because their gift costs less than somebody else's gift. How does that sound?"
       "Yeah, I like that except for one thing," Kyle said.
       "What," I asked.
       "Well, you and Rick get to give us presents, but we don't get to give you one. Can't we say no more than one present for each of you?"
       "He does have a point, Babe," Rick said.
       "If Tim and Brian don't have money, don't you think Justin and I will take care of that," Kyle asked.
       "Would you be satisfied if we said only one gift from each of you, and no more than $25," I asked.
       "Yeah, I can live with that," Kyle said. "I know your rules make sense, Kev, but, damn it, we love you guys."
       "Okay, there's another part. Boyfriends can give each other gifts to open Christmas morning, but the gifts can't cost more than fifty dollars, total. Brian, you can give Jus a gift, but nobody else. Understand? If you want to give Tim or Kyle or Jeff a gift, you make a donation to the Empty Stocking Fund. Is that clear with everybody?"
       "You and Rick figured this out together, or did you do it by yourself," Jus asked.
       "We did it together, Jus," I said.
       "This is good. It was probably your idea, Kevin," Jus said.
       "Ouch," Rick said. We all laughed.
       "What about my parents, your parents, Cherie, Craig, the friends? All of them," Kyle asked.
       "Rick and I are giving everybody the same thing we're giving you guys," I said. "I talked to Cherie tonight about the charity donation, and she and Craig loved the idea. They're going to talk to my parents. Rick will tell his mom the same thing."
       "So basically we buy just one present, for our boyfriend, is that right," Tim asked.
       "That's right, Tim. Kevin and I won't spend more than fifty dollars on each other, either. If we want to give more, we give it to charity," Rick said.
       "I'm sorry to be a pain about this," Kyle said, "but I really want to give all those people something. It's the way we do it, man."
       "How do you boys feel about it," I asked.
       "Kevin, I'm sort of with Kyle on this," Jus said. "I mean, your mother is a very special lady to me. How can I not let her know that means something to me, man?"
       "Maybe I was trying to be too frugal," I said. "I had no idea you guys would feel this way. How about the one-gift idea for them, too?"
       "Okay, that's better," Justin said.
       "Y'all, my parents are not going to want to do this, I know. They're going to want to give each one of us several gifts," Kyle said.
       "You're wrong there, Bubba," Rick said. "We've already checked with your dad, and he loved the idea. He said he and your mom are also going to give one big gift to us and you guys, and I guarantee you it's going to be a good one."
       "You see what I mean? Are you going to have something for Philip and Ryan, too," Kyle asked.
       "Absolutely," Rick said. "Their names are on the list. They get what you guys get."
       "Do I still get a carton of cigarettes and a pack of condoms," Justin asked in his usual dry way.
       "You're going to find them under your pillow when you wake up Christmas morning, Bubba. You mark that down," Kyle said.
       We laughed at the both of them.
       "What about stockings," Kyle asked.
       "Do y'all always do stockings," I asked him.
       "Yeah. We don't have to, if you don't want to," he said.
       "What do you want to do, guys?"
       "Stockings!" They said it in unison.
       "How does this rule sound," Tim asked. "Only one gift per stocking from each of us, and it can't cost more than a dollar."
       There was general agreement from everybody.
       "Can't we make it five dollars," Kyle asked.
       "Let's compromise on two dollars. That'll force you to get creative," I said. "Or, you can also make a gift, if you want to."
       They all agreed to that. I wrote myself a note to tell the others about the stockings and about the changes to the original rules.
       Kyle was quiet. Everybody knew he was thinking, and they were waiting for his verdict on the matter. Finally he spoke.
       "I want to give Jeff something from my brother," Kyle said. His voice was quiet and subdued.
       Everybody was silent, and there wasn't any moving around.
       "Do you know what it is yet, Babe," Tim asked gently.
       "I have Clay's Boy Scout ring. I wore it until it got too small for me. I'm going to give that to Jeff. I'm going to have it mounted in a frame, along with his Eagle badge and his merit badges and his picture. Do you think Jeff would like that?" Kyle was very close to tears.
       "He'll love it," Brian said, his own eyes close to brimming over.
       "I hope he does," Kyle said.
       "Come here to me," Rick said, his voice thick with emotion. Kyle got up and walked to Rick. Rick grabbed him in a huge hug, and he made Kyle sit next to him on the sofa. Rick put his arm over Kyle's shoulder.
       "I knew this was going to get weepy, and it's too damn early for ice cream," Jus said.
       That made everybody laugh, and it restored our earlier mood.
       "There's more we have to talk about. Every year for the last umpteen years, my parents have had a big Christmas party on December 23rd. Rick and I have always gone to it, and last year we said our wedding vows publicly the next day in their house. This year, everybody's going," I said.
       "Y'all are taking us to New Orleans," Kyle asked.
       "Yes; hell, yes," I said. "Everybody. George, Rita, and Gene, and all five of you."
       They got excited over that.
       "When do we go," Tim asked.
       "You have a half day of school on December 19th. We'll leave as soon as you get home," I said.
       "Hell, we can skip that day," Kyle said.
       "No, you can't. You have exams that day," I said. "I checked."
       "Shit," Kyle said. "School fucks up everything."
       "We'll be in New Orleans by five that night," Rick said.
       "Can we all fit in Rick's truck," Kyle asked.
       "No. We'll need to take two cars. Mine and your dad's. George and Jeff can ride with your parents, Kyle," Rick said. "Or Jeff can ride with us. Whatever he wants to do."
       "All right. That's good. My mom has to pee a lot on trips. We can make better time than they can," Kyle said.
       "We'll work out those details later, okay," I said. "Another thing, when we get back home, Rita, Gene, and George are spending the night here Christmas Eve. We'll all be together when we open gifts Christmas morning."
       "Whose idea was that, Kevin? Yours," Kyle asked.
       "Yeah, I guess. Mine, Rick's, all of us, I guess," I said.
       "Well, whoever's idea it was, thank you. My parents would have been basket cases Christmas morning, even if I was there with them, which I would have had to be," Kyle said. "This way, we can keep them so busy they won't have time to be sad. Jeff either."
       "What is there to do in New Orleans," Justin asked.
       "Absolutely everything," I said.
       "I'd like to go to a hockey game," Kyle said. "I've never seen hockey in person. Only on TV. Ain't their team the Brass?"
       "We can go to a hockey game, if the team is in town," I said.
       "I want to go where you can catch beads," Tim said.
       "That's at Mardi Gras, Tim, not at Christmas," Rick said.
       "We saw some sites on the Internet where guys were showing their dicks in the street, and guys on a balcony were throwing them beads, Rick. I know they do it at Mardi Gras, but I think they do it all the time," Kyle said.
       "You guys would do that," Rick asked, knowing full well that they would.
       "Hell, yeah. Wouldn't you," Kyle said.
       "Would you show your dick for beads, Jus," I asked.
       "Depends on if the beads went with my outfit," Jus said, deadpan.
       We all laughed hard at him.
       "You guys get on the Web and do some research to see what you want to do while we're there," I said. "Rick and I have pretty much done it all, so it doesn't matter to us," I said.
       "Do you think we could do some gay stuff there," Kyle asked.
       "Like what," I asked.
       "Like maybe go to a gay club? I'd like to see what that's all about," Kyle said.
       "They wouldn't let y'all in, Bub," Rick said. "You're too young."
       "Yeah, they'd probably let them in. They wouldn't serve them alcohol without ID, but they'd let them in," I said. "Would the rest of you like to go to something like that?"
       They all said they would, even Brian.
       "Let us think about that, okay," I said.
       "Did you guys really see pictures of guys showing their dicks on the Internet," Jus asked.
       "Yeah. You haven't seen any of those sites," Tim asked.
       "I haven't fooled around with the Internet much yet," Jus said.
       "Come on. We'll show you," Kyle said. All four boys went upstairs.
       After they were gone, Rick said, "Kyle is so wonderful, but he pushes, doesn't he?"
       "What do you mean," I asked.
       "Oh, that business about me picking on Tim. I wasn't picking on Tim. Tim knew that. I just wanted to make the point that Jason is a good kid, and he's still our friend, even if he and Jus aren't boyfriends anymore. Every time I correct Tim, Kyle always has to get on me," Rick said.
       "If somebody said something to me that implied I wasn't doing the right thing and you thought you knew better, would you come to my defense," I asked.
       "How can you ask that? You know I would," he said.
       "Yes, I do know you would. Because you love me. Because I'm yours."
       "And Tim is Kyle's, isn't he?" Rick thought for a few seconds. "I need to keep that in mind, don't I? Just like I wouldn't let anybody get on you, he won't let anybody get on Tim, will he?"
       "That's right, but there's a difference. He loves you, probably more than he loves anyone but Tim, and he doesn't want to cross you, Babe," I said. "Not only that, Kyle is fair minded. If Tim says or does something wrong, Kyle won't cross you. You were right in saying what you said tonight, though. That could have easily degenerated into a trash Jason session, and you cut that off."
       "God, it's complicated being a parent," he said.
       "Yeah, and we've got some pretty complicated kids."

(Kyle's Perspective)
       I thought that stuff that Justin told us about finishing school was awesome. That boy had come a long, long way since we first met him, and I loved him a lot. I had never wanted Jus sexually, like I always wanted Tim, but, damn, he was a good guy. And that little Brian boy was so cute and nice and pretty! Man, I was so happy for him and Jus.
       I knew I shouldn't have spoken up to Rick when he got on Tim about trashing Jason. I liked Jason a lot, and I know Tim did, too. I think that's what got to me. Rick didn't know what Tim thinks about Jason, but I did. I knew Tim wasn't trashing Jay; he was just complimenting Brian. I guess I'll have to try harder next time.
       The Christmas plans sounded really great. I had been thinking about Christmas a lot, and about how my parents were going to deal with not having their boy anymore. I was hoping and praying Kevin and Rick would save us, and they did. I thought the whole gift thing was pretty cool, especially after we worked out the kinks in it. I knew Brian had next to no money. In fact, I was going to take his ass down to the warehouse, and we were going to shop till he dropped. I wouldn't have to do that now. I was going to put Brian to work during Spring Break, and that coming summer, too. A boy needs money, especially a boy who has a boyfriend.
       We went up to Justin's bedroom, which I guessed would now be their bedroom. Anyway, that was where his computer was. That house had been fully wired for cable TV and modem, and I had personally hooked Justin's system up when we moved in. I knew he was connected. Tim sat down at the keyboard, and he went to that page with all the links. He found some Mardi Gras sites. The rest of us sat on the bed.
       I had bought a gay adult-site password, and Tim used it to get to one of the sites that had the guys showing their dicks.
       "I didn't know this stuff was on here. Did you," Jus asked Brian.
       "Yeah, I knew," Bri said.
       "Damn. Look at that," Jus said. We were looking at a picture of a guy getting his cock sucked in a bar.
       "That's where we're going," I said.
       "No, shit! Man, I can't believe they do it in the open like that," Jus said.
       "The picture don't lie, Jus," I said.
       "I know."
       "I could never do that," Tim said.
       I looked at him like I'd kill him if he did, and he started laughing.
       "Have you never looked at this stuff on here before, man," I asked Jus.
       "No. I haven't really used it that much," he said. "It looks like I'm going to have to start, though."
       Tim browsed on over to some hardcore pages of young guys. Twinks, they called 'em. I reckoned the four of us were twinks. A lot of those boys were handsome, and all of them had really big dicks, it seemed like.
       "Do y'all want to watch some movies of guys like that," I asked.
       "Yeah," they all said.
       "Have you got some," Jus asked.
       "Yeah. At least I think I do," I said.
       "Where'd you get 'em," he asked.
       "Off my brother's computer. We went over to their apartment and got his stuff. I saw the movies on there, and I burned 'em on some CD's," I said.
       "Why ain't you showed 'em to us before," Jus asked.
       "'Cause I forgot I had 'em till just now," I said. "I ain't watched but a couple, but I've got about ten CD's of 'em."
       "Are they here," Tim asked.
       "Yes, Babe, I think so," I said. "Let me get 'em."
       I went to our room to get the CD's. I decided to get comfortable, so I stripped down to my briefs. My feet were pretty stinky from my boots, so I washed them before I went back.
       When I got back in the room, Tim and Brian were gone.
       "Where are Tim and Brian," I asked.
       "They went to make some popcorn and get some other snacks. You can't watch movies without snacks," Jus said. "I believe you've got the right idea," referring to how I was dressed. He took his clothes off down to his briefs.
       I didn't want sex with Justin, but, damn, he was sexy to me. He had worked out a lot in his life, and he had the build to show for it. I was a sucker for blonds, anyway, and he had the kind of body I wanted for myself. I wasn't too bad off, but I had only worked out in fits and starts, mostly during the last summer on the beach. Surfing had built me up some, but I knew I was going to have to get serious if I was ever going to look like him.
       "Have I told you how much I like my boots, Bubba," I asked.
       "You ain't told me in words, but you sure told me in how much you wear 'em," he said. He was smiling.
       "I love 'em, Jus. I just love 'em, man. Thank you for gettin' 'em for me. Jason didn't pay any for them, did he?"
       "Naw. He didn't have the money," Jus said.
       "Well, thank you, again."
       "I'm just glad you like 'em," he said. "I'm going to change my underwear. These have been half wet all day. Don't peek."
       "Yeah, right. Like I ain't seen it a million times. Even touched it a few times, too," I said. "What's making you leak so bad, Bubba? Brian?"
       "What the hell do you think? Of course it's Brian. Do you ever do that? For Tim, I mean?"
       "Not more than, say, every day," I said. He laughed.
       "You reckon we can learn from those movies," he asked.
       "Probably. Tim and I learned from a few that we downloaded. I guess you know we're probably all going to be rock hard from the movies, don't you," I said.
       "I can handle that," he said.
       "Do you think Brian can handle fooling around like we used to do sometimes with Jay," I asked.
       "I think so. We'll just see," he said. Then, "Kyle, don't laugh at me, okay? I want you to know something. I've been thinking about it off an on all day. Brian and I ain't going to do no butt fucking."
       He was so serious. I thought at first he might be making a joke, but I could tell he wasn't.
       "What y'all do is your business, Bubba. You know that," I said. "Why the hell would I laugh at you for that? Huh?"
       "Well, there's no reason to laugh, but I thought you might," he said. "I just can't do it, Kyle. And Brian doesn't want to do it, either, or so he says."
       "Those guys were mean to you, weren't they, Bubba," I asked.
       "You don't even want to know. I thought we were having sex, but it wasn't sex. It was brutality. Sure, a few of them were nice enough to me after, but they all hurt me. Even the nice ones."
       "It's a shame they did that. Butt sex feels good to me and Tim, but we ain't rough with it," I said.
       "Jay and I did butt stuff. You know, rubbing our cheeks, that kind of stuff. I like that, and he loved for me to do it to him. Brian and I will do that, I reckon. I just don't want anymore dicks up my butt."
       I wondered if maybe Jus had been injured.
       "Does it ever hurt when you shit or anything," I asked.
       "Yeah, every time. And sometimes it bleeds, too. I've never told anybody that before."
       "Have you ever had a doctor check you out, man? You might have an injury or something," I said.
       "I probably need to get it checked out. How do you say something like that to a doc, though," he asked.
       "I don't know, but I'll go with you if you want me to. I'll be there with you," I said.
       "Let me think about it. Maybe after I get done with school," he said.
       "Okay. Let me know, though," I said.
       Brian and Tim came back in, loaded down with cokes and popcorn and candy. I thought of them as the little boys and me and Justin as the big boys, although Tim was as big as I was.
       "Come on, Brian. Let's get casual like them," Tim said.
       He and Bri got down to their underwear.
       "Are these movies going to give us boners," Tim asked. He was probably wondering how much we should do with Jus and Brian.
       "I hope so," Brian answered. That's all it took for us to know he was ready.
       The first movie was of a guy jerking off. He was naked on a bed, and there wasn't any sound. It kind of looked homemade. He was uncut, and he kept pulling his skin all the way forward and pinching it with his fingers.
       "Can you do that, Tim," Jus asked.
       "Yeah," Tim said.
       "Does it feel good," Bri asked.
       Tim shrugged. "It's nothing special to me."
       The guy shot his load in just a few minutes.
       "Wow. Look at him shoot," Jus said.
       "Have you ever seen porno before," I asked.
       "No. That was pretty awesome. Play the next one."
       The next one started with a guy in what looked like a hallway. He had his pants down, and he was jerking his dick. Then, the scene changed to a room with four guys. Two were fucking the other two.
       "Why are they making all that noise," Bri asked.
       "'Cause it fucking hurts, that's why," Jus said.
       "I think it's supposed to be moans of pleasure," I said. "They just ain't good actors."
       Tim was next to me on the bed. He got up and fast forwarded it through about three minutes of fucking to the scene where one guy, one of the ones being fucked, shoots his cum without touching himself or being touched by the other guy.
       "Damn, that looks pretty hot," Bri said. "Do you guys do that?"
       "Usually," I said.
       Then the guy fucking him pulls out. He isn't wearing a condom, and he shoots onto his partner's butt cheeks without jerking himself. In a second, the other two guys do the same as the first two. It ended showing the guy in the hall again. He was peeping in on them. I thought they were going to show him coming, but they didn't.
       By then, all four of us were big and hard. Justin was next to me on one side, and he put his hand on my dick. Brian looked over at Tim to see his reaction, but Tim didn't say or do anything. In a second, Tim started sucking my nipple.
       We watched a few more movies, but we paid less and less attention to what was on the monitor and more and more to the guys next to us. Brian and Jus were kissing. Then Brian crawled down Jus and took his cock into his mouth. Whoa, I thought. We had never done that before with Justin and Jason. Next thing I knew, my cock was in Tim's mouth. Justin didn't last very long at all, and I was pretty close behind him.
       We kept that up for a couple more rounds each. It was like we were playing with Jus and Brian, but we were only really playing with our own boyfriends. Eventually, that ended, though. Tim and I went back to our room for some more intense one-on-one. I felt sure Justin and Brian hadn't had enough, either.

(Kevin's Perspective)
       Rick and I were on the sofa watching TV. We had our shirts off, and I was holding him. We had missed our usual Sunday morning love time the day before because my family had had to be tended to. We hadn't had time for anything that morning, either, and we were both feeling a little horny.
       Tim and Brian came scurrying downstairs and across the den to the kitchen. In a few minutes we heard popcorn popping in the microwave. Rick referred to them as the "little boys" and to Kyle and Justin as the "big boys." There wasn't much difference in the ages of all four of them, but the little boy-big boy division seemed apt, given their personalities. Rick had said Tim and Brian were like me and that Kyle and Justin were like him, and the more I thought about it, the more I thought he was right.
       In a few minutes the boys came back through the den headed upstairs. I wondered why they hadn't used the back stairs, which were closer to where they had been. They had two bags of popcorn, a bag of bite-size Snickers, and four cokes. They told us "hi," but they didn't stop to chat.
       "God, that popcorn smells good," Rick said.
       "I know. You want some?"
       "Yeah, but I'll make it."
       Rick got up to make the popcorn. It wasn't at all cold in the house, but I got a slight chill when the warmth of his body left mine. He came back in a few minutes with popcorn, soft drinks, and Snickers for us. He and I both loved the combined taste of popcorn and chocolate. He got back into position, his back against my chest.
       "What do you think is going on up there," he asked.
       "Probably a little 'brotherly bonding,'" I said. He chuckled.
       "Brotherly bonding" was a code term for us that meant they were doing something sexual. A few months before, he and I had come home unexpectedly on a Saturday afternoon. We didn't go into the house, but we looked in through a window of the den. Tim and Kyle, and Jus and Jason, were naked on the floor and in a heavy make-out session. They each had a hand on a dick, but it wasn't their own. We beat a hasty retreat.
       Rick and I talked about whether we should say anything to them about it. For one thing, there was the privacy issue that we stressed so hard. In talking, though, we realized that for them it was private, or at least as private as they wanted it. We had come home a full two hours before we had told them we would be home, and that wasn't their fault. Quite clearly, nobody was doing anything that the other one didn't want to do, so we didn't have a case there, either.
       "Haven't you been to parties where straight couples were making out all over the place," he asked.
       "Yeah, since eighth grade, and a whole lot in high school and college," I said.
       "Me, too. Have you ever seen people have orgasms doing that?"
       "Oh, a bunch of times. Guys and girls," I said.
       "Me, too. If our boys did that at a party, they'd probably be beaten up or even killed," he said.
       "I see where you're going with this. I guess we just pretend we never saw anything."
       "Babe, all we saw was just a little brotherly bonding," Rick said.
       I chuckled. "But they're not really brothers."
       "That's just a technicality." We both laughed.
       We munched popcorn. Now and then we'd toss a bite-size candy bar into our mouths.
       "Can you believe Jus paid off his truck, and we didn't even know it," Rick asked.
       "I know. I felt kind of bad about not knowing, but, frankly, I had forgotten he still owed money on it, until tonight."
       "Me, too, until tonight, and I'm the one who co-signed the loan. Evidently he didn't forget, though."
       "We need to spend more time with him like we did this afternoon, don't you think, Babe," I said.
       "Yeah. And can you believe he's almost through with school? We haven't been very good about keeping up with that, either, have we," Rick said.
       "He just kind of faded into the background, you know? All that stuff with the storm, then with Clay, then Kyle's birthday, and Thanksgiving. We've kind of taken Justin for granted, but he's been there all along, plugging away, doing exactly what we said we expected of him."
       "I know. We're still new at this parenting thing, Babe. We're still learning," Rick said.
       He and I went to bed just then and did some "brotherly bonding" of our own.

       "Shit! We overslept," Kyle said, as he and Tim and Brian burst into the kitchen. It was 7:15, but I hadn't noticed. They had to be at school by 7:30. They grabbed cold toaster pastries to eat on the way, and they were off.
       Ordinarily, Rick and I would have gone back to bed just then, but we didn't for two reasons. Justin was still in the house and might want to talk again like we had the previous afternoon, and we had worn each other out the night before and needed a respite.
       In about ten minutes Jus came into the kitchen. He was naked, which was very unusual, but he was also extremely pale. He seemed to be trembling.
       "What's up with this, man," Rick said.
       "I'm sorry, Rick, but I'm sick. Bad sick, I think."
       We made him sit down, and Rick got him a cup of coffee. I handed him my cigarettes, and he took one. He lit it and coughed when he inhaled. Then he put it out. The look of pain on his face was excruciating.
       "What happened? What's going on," I demanded.
       "I'm bleeding, and it hurts so bad," he said.
       "Where, Bubba," Rick asked.
       "My ass."
       I looked down at his legs, and blood was running down the back side of both of them. It was pooling at his feet.
       "What the hell happened," Rick asked. He was almost screaming.
       Justin took a series of very deep breaths. Then he spoke.
       "I was hurting really bad this morning when I woke up. Sometimes, when that happens, it feels better when I take a shit. So that's what I did. Or tried to do. Straining to get it out just made it hurt more, so I stopped. I wiped myself, and I pulled back a handful of blood. I usually bleed some, but it never had been as much as today. Then it wouldn't stop, and I started feeling weak."
       "Have you had anything up there," Rick asked.
       Jus shook his head "no." "Not even a finger."
       "We need to get you to an emergency room," I said.
       "Okay," he whimpered.
       "Does Brian know what happened," Rick asked.
       "No. I didn't let him see it. Please don't tell him, Rick. Please don't."
       "We'll keep it quiet as best we can, Jus, but we can't promise that," Rick said.
       Rick ran upstairs and got jeans for Jus to put on. It looked like the bleeding had more or less stopped when we finally got him in them. Rick and I were just in underwear, so we hurriedly put on jeans, tee shirts, and shoes. We took the Bronco, and Rick drove. Justin and I were in the middle seat, and I held him and petted him and soothed him all the way to the hospital.
       Apparently, Tuesday mornings at that hospital emergency room weren't crisis times. There was a lady with a little kid who was screaming his head off, probably from a long-neglected ear infection. There was a wino who had a pretty angry cut on his shin, and there was us.
       Rick took care of the admissions paperwork at the desk, and I sat with Jus. I was a little surprised he could even sit at all. We weren't there more than ten minutes when we were called back. Rick joined us as soon as he could.
       The doctor was an Asian American woman. She had obviously been in the country for most of her life, if not all of it, by her speech. Rick and I told her who we were, and we filled her in on Justin's complaint. We pulled her aside and told her his history.
       "I've seen this before," she said. "I did my residency in New York City. I can't believe what people do to kids."
       She examined Jus, and the image that came to my mine was of a fisting video segment I had once downloaded from the Internet. She was very gentle, and a sexual experience for Jus it definitely wasn't.
       "I want him to see a proctologist," she said when she was finished. "I'm not a specialist in this area, but it wouldn't surprise me if he needed surgery. There's a tear in his rectum about four inches up, and it needs to be repaired."
       "Can he see somebody here," I asked.
       "Oh, yes. There's only one proctologist in town, but he's very good. You wait here with him, and let me get him on the phone."
       "Am I going to be all right," Jus asked.
       "Totally and absolutely," I said.
       "Kevin, can you call your mother. I'd like to talk to her," he said.
       I whipped out my cell phone and dialed her cell number. She answered immediately, and I gave the phone to Jus. They exchanged pleasantries, and then Jus told her what had happened in vivid detail. In a few minutes, he handed the phone back to me.
       "I'm coming," she said to me. "I'll be there this afternoon, one way or the other."
       "Mom, you don't have to do that. We have it under control. There are good doctors here, too, you know."
       "I'm not coming because I'm a doctor. I'm coming because he's my grandson, and he needs me, Kevin," she said.
       "But your being a doctor won't hurt, will it," I said.
       "Not a bit," she said, and I could almost hear her grinning.

       Justin saw the proctologist later that morning, and the verdict was that he did need surgery. It would be through his ass, though, so it would be done on what they called an out-patient basis. My mom arrived around three that afternoon, having flown from New Orleans to Atlanta to us. She was there in time to be present at the surgery, which happened at five that afternoon. Jus didn't have to be put to sleep for it; an epidural did just fine. At home, the next day, the assisting physician waited on him hand and foot, like any grandma would. She was on the phone a lot with my dad, who evidently wanted to be here with us, too.
       Rick and I talked to Kyle by phone from the hospital about the event, and he assured us he and Tim could settle Brian down if need be. Jus missed three days of work over that thing, but he got his last two days of school in that week. Our Christmas plans proceeded apace after that like nothing had happened.

Chapter 3

(Justin's Perspective)
       I had a great talk with Kevin and Rick when I got home after work on the Monday after Thanksgiving. I hadn't really been around the house as much as the other guys because of Jason, but that was going to change. They seemed real proud of me for doing so well in school, and them being proud of me made me happy.
       I had a lot to be happy about right then. We had had a great Thanksgiving, and I thought I was falling in love with Brian. I had thought about him all that day, and I had stayed at least half hard. My pre-cum flooded out of me all day. Around ten that morning my underwear was so wet I went into the restroom at work and stuffed toilet paper in my briefs to keep them dry. I had to change the paper a couple of times as the day wore on, and I'm sure I looked like some kind of humongous stud with a big ole bulge in my jeans. A couple of times I started to just jerk off and give myself some relief, but it felt good being half aroused all day, too.
       We talked about the plans for Christmas that night, and we all got excited. I pretty much knew Brian didn't have any money except for the allowance they gave him, and he needed that money to just live on. I had already decided I would help him out with his Christmas presents, and I figured Kyle would chip in, too, just like he would for Tim. After that discussion, though, I didn't think I'd have to give him as much.
       We got to talking about going to New Orleans, and Kyle took the words right out of my mouth when he asked if we could go to a few gay places to see what they were all about. Kevin and Rick were always a lot of fun, but they definitely weren't party animals. They had gone out three or four times to clubs with their friends since I had been there, but they always went to straight places. There were only two or three gay clubs in town and on the beach, so there wasn't a lot to choose from, but when they went out they didn't go to those. Mostly what they liked to do was party with the family and our friends. They didn't do a thing to hide the fact that they were a gay couple, and you would have thought it would be more comfortable for them in a gay place.
       Timmy said he wanted to go someplace to catch beads in New Orleans, and that brought up the idea of checking out places on the Internet that had pictures of guys showing their dicks to get beads. The four boys went upstairs to check it out on my computer. Kyle and Tim had given it to me for my birthday, but I hadn't spent much time fooling with it. I had to use a computer at work sometimes, and just about everything I did at school was on a computer. I just hadn't felt much like using the computer at home, too.
       Kyle asked if we wanted to see some horny movies of guys having sex, so he got some he had gotten from his brother. We were all sitting on my bed in just our underwear. I was holding Brian, and he and I were both already hard before the first movie started.
       I didn't really like the movie of the guys fucking. It brought back too many bad memories for me, but seeing their cum shoot out without anybody jerking their dicks was pretty hot. One movie showed a guy rimming another boy.
       "Have you ever done that," Brian asked.
       "Yeah," I said.
       "Did you like it," he asked.
       "Yeah. I like doing it, and I like having it done to me," I said. I didn't want him to think I was putting pressure on him, but I wouldn't mind having his tongue up my ass, if he was willing.
       "We do that all the time," Tim said. "Sometimes I make my stud muffin come doing that to him. Don't I, Baby?" Tim was being real playful and cute. I didn't think of Tim as being a real hot guy, but Kyle had told me he was awesome in bed. Of course, to Kyle, Tim's shit didn't stink, so I had to keep what he said in perspective, so to speak.
       Then the boy in the movie started fingering the other boy's hole. Then he stuck his longest finger inside him.
       "Oh, that's the best," Kyle said. "I love to be on the receiving end of that."
       "Does it feel good," Brian asked.
       "It feels wonderful. He's rubbing that boy's sweet spot in there. That's what feels so damn good," Kyle said.
       "I guess you guys must do that," Brian said.
       "Yeah. All the time," Tim said.
       "I noticed in most of these movies, the guys either play with their own nipples or the other guy plays with them," Brian said.
       "Oh, yeah. That's good, too, Bri," Kyle said. "Ours are real sensitive since we got these rings in them. I know for a fact that Rick's are real sensitive, too, and Kevin sometimes makes him come just by playing with them."
       "How do you know that?"
       "They told us," Tim said. "They won't ever do any sex with us, Bri, but they're both real honest if you ask them questions. They told us one time that we have a right to know about sex and our bodies."
       "They are so cool," Bri said.
       "The best," me, Kyle, and Tim said all at the same time.
       We didn't talk much after that. I slipped off my briefs, and Brian took his off, too. Tim and Kyle weren't far behind in doing that, either. They looked over at Brian. They had never seen him hard before, and I knew they were curious, which is only natural. Brian's dick was beautiful, and it stood up straight parallel to his body. It was a little smaller than the rest of ours but not much. Plus, I think the two of them had unusually large dicks. Brian's was probably about five and a half inches, hard.
       Brian and I started making out, and Tim and Kyle did, too. Kyle was next to me on the bed, and I touched his dick. Brian wasn't jealous, but I guess he thought Tim might be. I knew better.
       Brian was the big horn dog that night. He sucked my dick right there in front of Tim and Kyle. They didn't mind, though, and Tim went down on Kyle right after Brian went down on me. It was a pretty heavy suck-fest after that. We finally had enough, though. Tim and Kyle left, and Brian and I went to sleep.

       The next morning I woke up with the worst pain in my ass I had ever had. It hurt me a lot, most of the time, but that morning was the worst. I woke Brian up and told him to get a shower for school. We didn't talk much. He was rushed, and I hurt so bad I couldn't talk much. When I had had bad pain in the morning before, it usually meant I needed to take a shit. That usually made it better.
       After Brian left for school, I got up to shit. I didn't really feel like I had to go, but I strained to get it out of me. That must have been the wrong thing to do. The pain got even worse, and then a ton of blood came out of me. I used to bleed all the time, but that day it was a whole lot more than usual. Sitting on the toilet, I got to feeling real weak. Then I started sweating and trembling with chills at the same time. I had heard of people going into shock, and I wondered if that was happening to me. I grabbed a wad of toilet paper and cleaned myself up as best I could. Then, without dressing, I made it downstairs to the kitchen.
       Kevin and Rick were in there in their underwear, as usual. They were a little surprised that I was naked. I told them I was bad sick, and they took over like two damn firemen or something. They had my ass to a hospital in about thirty minutes, and a lady doctor was putting her hand up my butt. That hurt so bad I screamed and almost fainted. Kevin was holding me and trying to keep me under control. When Rick came in, he looked like he was looking death in the face. He got right pretty quick, though, and he and Kevin did everything they could to make me feel better.
       The lady said she wanted me to see another doctor, and she called him. He couldn't come right away. I reckon he had other patients. I made Kevin call Beth, his mom, and I told her what was going on.
       "I'll be there this afternoon, baby," she said.
       That made me feel much better. I knew she would take care of me. I knew Kevin and Rick would do everything they could for me, but I needed Beth.
       The lady gave me two or three shots, and in a few minutes the pain started to go away. I thought I was cured. I wasn't, though. It just made me go to sleep, but at least I wasn't hurting any more. The man doctor came later in the day. He didn't really hurt me, but I could feel his hand up my butt. He was talking to Kevin and Rick when Beth came in. She came over to me and kissed me. I was so out of it I don't think I said much to her. I don't remember it, if I did.
       The four of them were talking. Then Beth started raising her voice. I don't think she was mad, exactly, but she was pretty forceful. The man doctor seemed to give in to her. I went back to sleep then.
       The next thing I knew they were giving me more shots in my back. Beth was right there, holding me. I started waking up, but the bottom half of my body seemed like it was gone.
       "You have to have surgery, Justin, but it's going to make it all better. For the rest of your life. All the pain will be gone when it's over. Do you trust me?"
       "Yes, ma'am, I trust you. Thank you for coming here," I said.
       "I needed to be here, baby. I needed it for me, and, as it turns out, I needed it for you and for Kevin and Rick, too. You have a good doctor, and I'm going to be in there with you, okay? I can't really do anything but hold you, but I'll be there with you."
       "Thanks. What's wrong with me," I asked.
       "There is a lesion in your rectum. It's been there for a while, and there is scar tissue around it. He's going to repair the lesion, cut away the scar tissue, and you'll be good as new," she said.
       "What's a lesion," I asked.
       "It's a tear in the tissue. It happened a while back, and it has never healed properly. Every time you had a bowel movement, it opened it a little. You must have had bleeding for a long time. Am I right?"
       "Yes, ma'am, just about every day for about a year," I said. "And it hurt, too."
       "I'm sure. But it's not going to hurt after this, Jus. You're going to be fine," she said. "Why didn't you say something to Kevin or Rick about it, son?"
       I sort of panicked right then. Tears came to my eyes, and they spilled over. "I was embarrassed."
       She kissed me on the forehead.
       "I can certainly understand that, baby," she said. "But after today, it's going to be fine."
       The doc didn't have to cut me open, which was good. I don't know the details of what he did, but I know my ass was sore as hell when I woke up the next morning. I had spent the night in the hospital, but they got me out of there and home early the next morning. I couldn't walk too good because it hurt, but it wasn't the same kind of hurt as before. It wasn't deep inside me.
       They wouldn't let me eat much, even though I was hungry, and they made me take some pills to soften up my shit. When I did shit for the first time, it was runny, but it didn't hurt at all. Beth cleaned me out with a disinfectant or something. That was totally embarrassing because I got hard. She just laughed and said it was a good sign because it meant that I was still all boy. All boy or not, I just wanted to die when that happened.

       When Kyle came home Wednesday after school, he did something he had never done before. I was in bed. I had been napping off and on all day, but I was awake then. He came in and sat on the bed next to me.
       "You scared the shit out of me," he said. "I'm so glad you're better."
       "Thanks, Bubba. I don't have any pain, except where they stretched my ass to get their hands in me. Even that's better now, though," I said.
       "I couldn't take having somebody else I love die on me," he said.
       That sort of touched me. He put his hand under the cover and found my dick. I hadn't had a hard-on all day, until he did that, that is. His hand felt really good on me. He worked it back and forth, rubbing me to make me hard. He kept at it for a while, and then he made me come.
       I thought I should at least offer to do it to him, but he wouldn't let me.
       "That was just a little welcome home present," he said.
       "Thanks, dude," I said. Kyle and I had gotten pretty close in the last few weeks, but I never expected that.
       "Don't mention it. To anybody," he said, with one of those grins that turns your stomach to water. Then he left.
       Brian, Tim, and Kyle treated me like I was a snowflake in a warm room, or something. They slept in my room on the floor Wednesday night, my first night home, and none of 'em wanted to go to school on Thursday. I was feeling much, much better by then, though, and they made them go.
       I got up and took a shower and shaved Thursday morning for the first time in a few days. I'm not going to say I didn't jerk off in the shower because that would be a lie, and I thought about Brian when I did it. I thought about what Kyle had done, too.
       I went to school Thursday afternoon earlier than I usually got there since I didn't go to work that day, and I finished almost all of my American history work. I went to work Friday morning, and I went to school again that afternoon and finished everything. Beth left while I was at work, but not before she cuddled me and kissed me and did all the mother stuff that I never did know about before that morning. I loved her so much.

(Kyle's Perspective)
       I was worried to death about Justin. We got home around five o'clock from play practice, and the house was empty. That wasn't such a big surprise. They usually got home a little after five, but sometimes they had meetings that ran late, or they went to work out, and stuff like that. By seven o'clock, though, I was beginning to get worried.
       I called Rick's cell number, and he answered right away.
       "Where are you," I said, right after he said hello.
       "He's fine, Kyle. He'll be home tomorrow," Rick said.
       "Who's fine? Who'll be home tomorrow? Is something wrong with Kevin?"
       "Oh, sorry, Bubba. I forgot you don't know. It's Justin. He's in the hospital, and he just came out of surgery. Beth's here."
       "What?!! What happened to him? Was he in a wreck?"
       "No." Then he told me about him bleeding from the butt and the surgery to fix it and Beth being there.
       "Rick, you're not going to believe this. I told him last night he needed to see a doc about his butt. It hurts him a lot, man. It's from what those fucking bastards did to him."
       "I know," Rick said. "We'll be home later tonight after he goes to sleep. Can you tell Brian and Tim, and make them know he's all right now?"
       "Of course. I think I'll take them shopping," I said.
       "Good idea. Listen, I need to go. We're about to go eat."
       "Okay," I said.
       "You know what, Kyle?"
       "What?"
       "I love you. And Kevin loves you. And Beth loves you. And Justin loves you."
       I almost started crying happy tears right then.
       "I love you, too, but you still ain't getting my Bud Lite," I said.
       He laughed hard, and we hung up.
       I told Brian and Tim what had happened, and they started crying. There I was, sitting on that sofa hugging both of them, trying to comfort them. And what did I do? I got hard as a damn rock. I am so fucking queer, I thought.
       "Let's go do some Christmas shopping," I said. "We don't have much time."
       "Can't we go see him," Brian asked.
       I thought for a few seconds. "No. They're trying to get him to go to sleep. We'll just fuck that up if we show up there. He'll be home tomorrow morning."
       "How serious is it, Babe," Tim asked.
       "He'll be home tomorrow morning. How serious can that be?"
       They didn't say anything to that.
       "Come on, guys. Let's all wash faces and go shopping, okay," I said.
       They did what I said, and we went shopping.
       They were all home when we got back around ten. Brian moved in on Beth like a locust, and she petted him and hugged him like she hadn't seen him in months, instead of two days.
       Brian wanted to sleep with us that night. Once we were in bed, I thought about the last time we had slept with him and how he had wanted to do something. Tim must have been thinking about that, too, because we both put our hands on his chest at the same time, from opposite sides of the bed.
       He moaned a little bit, so I knew he would be into a little masturbation therapy that night. He let Tim suck his nipples, and he let me stroke him off. It didn't take long. Of course, Tim and I were pretty hot by then, so he and Brian changed places in the bed so Tim could be next to me. We rubbed against one another until we shot off. It wasn't everything that we usually did when we made love, but it was the most we had ever done with somebody else in bed with us.
       The next day I went up to Jus's room when I got home from school. I stroked him off like I had done Brian, just as a way of saying welcome home. He wanted to suck my cock, I think, but I wouldn't let him. That belonged to Tim.

       We had a good time doing our Christmas shopping. Finding something that was fun to have and that cost only two bucks was challenging, but they did it. You could also make a stocking gift, as long as it cost less than two dollars. I decided to make a CD of pictures for everybody.
       I ended up working pretty hard on that project, but Tim helped me with it. I had been taking a lot of digital pictures of everybody with the camera Doc had given me for my birthday, so I made a kind of family photo album. I tailor made them for everyone. On the ones for my mom and dad, I made sure there were lots of pictures of me and Jeff. I dug out some old pictures of Clay, and I had a folder of pictures of him that I scanned from the old ones. I put that on the CD for Jeff, too.
       All the gay guys got several folders of pictures from the Internet that...well, that straight guys probably wouldn't be interested in, let's just say. I also copied several of the movies from the CD's I had gotten from Clay for them, too. I tried to match the XXX pictures and the movies with the guy. Tim helped a lot with that, only we had to stop working from time to time to take care of something that kept coming up (grin). One of the movies that I put on the CD for both Kevin and Rick was called "Sunday Morning." It had two unbelievably good looking young German guys around their age. They wake up in bed on what I guess is a Sunday morning, and they make slow love. And it really looked like they were making love, not just having sex. They both got real hard-ons just from touching each other, like Tim and I did. In some of those movies, one guy sucks the other one for ten minutes or more, and he never really gets hard. Not those two boys. No, sir. It reminded me of what I thought Kev and Rick must look like making love.
       While we were at it, we went ahead and made up a generic CD with pictures of us and all of our friends. I put several folders of XXX pictures and movies on that one, too, but we didn't try to match the pictures with the guys. I figured we could give those to the guys the next time we saw them.
       I must have had photos on the brain or something because what I decided to give Tim was a picture of me taken in a studio. I called to make an appointment at the studio, but I got an answering machine instead of a person. I left my cell number for a call-back. They called me back while Tim and I were running errands in my car. I had bought gas and had gone into the store to pay for it, and my phone was in the car. Tim answered it. That's how he found out what was up. We decided to go ahead and have our picture taken together. We would give each other a picture of the two of us as our Christmas present to each other.
       When we went to pick out the one we wanted, the guy who waited on us was more flaming than Chad or Gage ever hoped to be. The pictures came out great. There were two pictures that we both loved, and we couldn't decide between them. We asked the price for both, and the guy said that two copies of the two of them would be $125. I decided to take a chance and tell him what our deal was about not paying more than $50 for a gift for our boyfriend. He got all excited when we told him we were a gay couple, and he cut the price for both to $75. He threw in a bunch of wallet-size ones for that, too. I decided we'd donate the $25 difference to the Stocking Fund in his name. It turned out he and the photographer had been partners for twenty years. Then I decided my parents, Doc, Kevin and Rick, Ed and Beth, and Craig and Cherie might like a picture of us, too. I negotiated more with the guy, and I could tell he really liked us. He ended up giving us a huge package of pictures for only $300.00. I couldn't remember if that was against the rules, but they'd just have to kick our asses if it was. We stopped at a frame place and bought frames for them, and we framed them ourselves.
       He told us that his partner had fallen in love with our pictures. He asked if we would consider posing for some more. Right away my antenna went up.
       "What kind of pictures," I asked.
       "Oh, perfectly tasteful and legal ones," he said.
       He showed us a scrapbook with some pictures of male couples the partner had taken, and all the guys were either dressed in pants or shorts, were wearing underwear or Speedos, or were posing in such a way that you couldn't see their equipment. I recognized two guys I knew. They weren't a couple, though. They were each with different guys. I had been reading up on photography since I had gotten my camera, and I knew enough to know that that guy was good.
       "Let us think about it, okay," I said. "How much does it cost?"
       "Oh, he pays you," the guy said.
       "You're shitting me, right," I said.
       "I shit you not," the guy said. "You'll be working as models. We pay models $75 an hour."
       "How does he make money," I asked.
       The guy took us over to a computer and opened a Web page. It was a really nice one of many of the photos they had in the book, plus a lot more.
       "We sell them through this Web site," he said. "There are collectors of tasteful male art photography all over the world, and Jim has a knack for producing what his customers want. A couple of his photographs are in museums in Europe." He showed us the ones that were in museums, and they were really nice.
       "Can we think about it," I asked.
       "Sure. Here's our card. He'll probably want some of you by yourself, too," he said.
       "Humph," I said. "Okay, thanks for everything, man," I said, and we left.
       In the car Tim asked, "Would you like to do that?"
       "I don't know. Would you?"
       "Yeah. I'd like to do it a lot," he said.
       "Let's talk to our dads about it. And to Kevin and Rick, too," I said. "If they think it's okay, I'll do it. But I bet they're going to say we have to wait until we're eighteen."

(Kevin's Perspective)
       The weeks before Christmas were pretty hectic. Rick and I were invited to a bunch of Christmas parties, and it seemed that every major vendor we did business with wanted to take us out to dinner during the three weeks before Christmas. We accepted a few of those invitations at first, but we quickly decided that family time was being sacrificed for meals we didn't want to eat, with people we didn't especially care about.
       We got a ton of gifts, too. Usually it was either a basket of fruit, a box of nice candy, or liquor. We had a pile of fruit in the fruit bowl in our kitchen that was so big it would go bad before even our voracious brood could eat it all. Then we started sending it to a homeless shelter on the bea