Emerald City Boys

 

                                        

 

CHAPTER 1

SPRING

 

SATURDAY, MARCH 28

 

Aiden Miller met young Justin Boyer because Justin’s new fathers knew Aiden’s fathers. Aiden’s father, Larry, taught math and coached baseball at Mayfield Middle School when Mike the Donkey and Ryan the Dawg attended the school and played baseball there.

 

Aiden had become an honorary big brother to Justin and was invited to Justin’s birthday party. He feared he would be unable to attend because he had a Saturday morning baseball practice, but because practice was rained out, Aiden’s fathers were able to drive him to Seattle so he could attend his “little bro’s” party.

 

<Justin and Aiden>

 

It was raining solidly when Aiden and his dads left Mayfield for Seattle and Justin’s party. Cancelling practice had obviously been a good call and Aiden was grateful that Coach Ecklund didn’t think an indoor practice was necessary. As Aiden saw it, the team had its necessary ten practices in and wasn’t going to get a great deal out of messing around with plastic balls in the gym. Even his Pop, who had a good setup in the high school gym, didn’t call a practice.

 

Aiden had also received a good piece of news from his dads before going to bed the night before. They would not be returning home after Justin’s birthday dinner—instead, he and his dads would be staying overnight in Seattle at the Miller house. Aiden would probably sleep with Logan and his dads would sleep in the guest room in the basement. The Miller house had undergone a great deal of remodeling since Eddie and Curt had become part of the family, but Troy and Susan insisted they were happy with how it finally turned out.

 

Larry and Phil stopped to drop Aiden off at Justin’s house a half-hour before party time. They went inside to say hello to the new fathers. Justin ran up to his big bro and gave him a hug followed by a kiss on his cheek. “You coming is going to make this my best birthday ever,” Justin shrieked in delight.

 

Aiden was amused by Justin’s wording as he remembered how often he said the same thing. Justin was going to lead Aiden to his bedroom when the doorbell rang. Justin answered the door and greeted Marco, Joey, and Tony. Things were starting to heat up in a hurry.

 

Logan was the next to come. Justin figured that if Marco was coming, Tony should be invited, and if Tony was invited then Logan should be invited since Marco had told him that Tony and Logan were best friends.

 

Neal and his friend Dayton came next. Justin had been excited to learn that Dayton played baseball and they might end up being teammates. Since they started becoming friends, Dayton had told Justin a lot about how turning out for baseball worked. Dayton was impressed that Justin knew Marty Carlson.

 

Aiden’s dad told Aiden they were leaving. They instructed him to ride home with Logan and his dad.

 

As Larry and Phil were leaving, Bryan and Freddy, who had been Justin’s best friends at his previous school, were dropped off. Everyone who had been invited to the party was there. Bryan was a redhead and Freddy was black—the two were good friends. The two of them plus Justin had been a tight group. Both boys were pleased that Justin wanted them at his party.

 

The phone rang as the games started. Mike answered and grinned when he found out it was his old high school buddy Marty.

 

“Good to hear your voice, Mike. I want to wish your boy happy birthday and I need to be kinda quick,” Marty said.

 

“No problem,” Mike told him.

 

Justin became an even bigger hero when he took the phone from his Donkey Dad. “Hi, Justin, it’s Marty.”

 

“MARTY!!! MARTY CARLSON!!!! He called to wish me Happy Birthday. Hi Marty, thanks for   calling. This is the baddest party ever and I wish you were here so you can have some cake and spaghetti.”

 

“Sorry I have to miss it, but from all the noise I hear, you must be having a great party.”

 

“Yep, it’s the best. And my big bro who is your little bro is here and we’re all having fun especially since you called.”

 

“I gotta go get ready for today’s game,” Marty said. “Again, Happy Birthday.”

 

“Good-bye Marty and thanks for calling and go Mariners.”

 

Justin was so excited he could barely talk. He was now a bigger hero than ever—a real live Major League player had called to wish him happy birthday.

 

Aiden had been worried that he would be beyond bored at a party with little kids, but the presence of two middle school boys, his cousin Logan, who he loved like a brother, and Tony, made things tolerable. The three older boys participated in the games and fun and hung out together when nothing special was happening. Aiden liked Tony and made a note of finding out just how close Tony and Logan’s friendship was.

 

One thing Aiden noted was that there were no sexual overtones to the party. He remembered his ninth birthday party. It happened just after he had moved in with his then uncles, and now dads, in Mayfield. Some of the older kids there, like Jeffrey and Sammy, got carried away to the point where a couple of years later, Sammy made amends for his behavior.

 

Aiden thought about the dare he and his boyfriend Nolan had made. Nolan was visiting his cousin Shelby for the weekend. Nolan had dared Nolan to fondle Shelby’s crotch in the museum their families planned to visit. In return, Nolan dared Aiden to grab Justin’s crotch at the party.

 

The party had so much going on that he hadn’t had time to ask Justin about it. He looked at the fun everyone was having. He observed the happy smile on Justin’s face. It was obvious that the birthday boy was having the time of his life. He heard his little bro’s beautiful laughter as he scored a point in charades. Aiden could see that Justin’s birthday party was something altogether different from his own birthday parties and the dare to grab each other’s crotch had no business here. Big bro’s job at this party was to be the best game playing, laughing, cake and ice cream eating big bro he could possibly be. He had learned a lesson from Sammy. Even if he might received Justin’s permission, there were times when he had no business even asking for it. Crotch grabbing could wait for another time and place.

 

Speaking of cake, Justin ordered chocolate cake as his birthday cake. The frosting was thick and chocolaty and the cake itself was chocolate with chocolate chips baked into the dough. Ryan had baked it the night before. Vanilla ice cream offered a contrast to the cake. Justin thought it was the best birthday cake ever made. He blew out all nine candles after making his wish.

 

Dinner was special. Ryan, who was a superb cook, used a recipe given to him by Marco and Tony’s mother, Marne, for spaghetti sauce. Marne told Ryan it was a special recipe going back at least to her grandmother.

 

“It’s better than the restaurant’s spaghetti,” Tony told everyone, “and the spaghetti at the restaurant is really good.”

 

Marco, Aiden, Logan, and Tony were invited to stay for the dinner. Tony stayed because he was Marco’s brother and Logan received an invitation because he was Aiden’s ride home. Everyone agreed that Ryan’s spaghetti was outstanding. “He makes it as good as my mother,” Marco announced after his first couple of bites.

 

The four boys helped with the cleanup after dinner. They raved about the spaghetti as they cleaned and grabbed small slices of leftover cake to nibble on. The four small slices took care of what little was left of Justin’s birthday cake.

 

Marne dropped by to pick up Tony after dinner. He and Logan got her okay for an overnight the next weekend. After Tony left, Logan called home for a ride for Aiden and himself.

 

After watching a movie with Justin’s dads, Marco and Justin went to Justin’s room. Justin knew what Marco planned to do, since he had mentioned during the party that he had a special present for Justin. When Justin asked what it was, Marco leaned in close to Justin and whispered his answer.

 

And now Justin got to sit on his bed and watch Marco strip naked. Justin grinned all the way through Marco’s little striptease. Once his friend was naked, Justin had Marco turn in a circle, admiring his cute uncut cocklet, his flat stomach with barely a hint of leftover baby fat, and his nicely shaped ass. Justin didn’t think of his friend’s butt as sexy; he just thought the smooth mounds looked pretty.

 

“Now I have a thank-you present for you,” Justin told his friend. He then proceeded to present his own striptease. He turned a few circles so Marco could admire all of him like he admired Marco. The friends admitted they liked seeing each other naked.

 

“Do you want to sleep naked?” Justin asked.

 

“Yeah, as long as we don’t get caught.”

 

“When my daddies tuck us in, they will just think we aren’t wearing shirts. Donkeys and Dawgs don’t have x-ray vision, so they won’t know we’re nakey,” Justin assured Marco.

 

After brushing their teeth, the boys clamored into Justin’s bed and called for the daddies. They received good-night kisses on their foreheads and little shoulder rubs as part of their tuck in. After Mike and Ryan left the room, Ryan asked Mike if he thought the boys were sleeping naked.

 

“I know they are,” Mike chuckled. “I saw underpants on the chairs with the rest of their clothes.”

 

“Dang they do that stuff young,” Ryan said.

 

“They’re the same age we were when we were nine,” Mike reminded his husband. “They do need to learn how to be sneaky, though,” he chuckled.

 

“Good point. But at least we waited until we were getting a little closer to being ten.”

 

“By the time those two are ten, they’ll have all the answers to their questions about sleeping naked.”

 

The two boys snuggled close to each other on Justin’s queen bed. “I like touching like this when we’re nakey,” Justin said.

 

“Me too. It makes my wiener get hard. Tony told me that’s called a boner.”

 

“I got one too from snuggling with you.”

 

That was as far as things got as the tired boys fell asleep cuddled together. They now had two questions that needed answering. Why did snuggling naked make them get boners?  And what should they do about it? They had an inkling they knew what the answers were, and both thought the ones who knew the real answers were their big brothers: Tony and Aiden.

 

<Aiden and Logan>

 

[Logan is Aiden’s cousin. Logan’s father, Troy, and Aiden’s father, Phil, are brothers.]

 

Aiden and Logan weren’t plagued by questions they couldn’t answer. They were only two or three years older than Justin and Marco, but at their ages those years made a huge difference. Once they settled into Logan’s room their questions were much more concrete—they had to do with what kind of sexual activities they wanted to perform together.

 

They quickly found out they were on the same page. Now the only question was who was going to bottom. “If you’ll lick my butt, I’ll be the bottom,” Logan offered.

 

“I thought the younger cousin was automatically the bottom,” Aiden responded.

 

“Only if he is in the older cousin’s bedroom.”

 

“Oh, I’ll have to be sure to remember that when you’re in my bedroom. Okay, then, I’ll lick your butt, but that’s one more thing I’ll be remembering.”

 

Chase and Dillon often licked Logan’s ass, often doing it back-to-back mixing their saliva. Logan loved every bit of it. Aiden wasn’t into rimming all that much. He would do it under certain conditions, but he only initiated it with Nolan.

 

“I guess step one is to take our clothes off,” Logan said.

 

“It’s about time you figured that out.”

 

Logan gave Aiden the finger and then proceeded to strip naked. Aiden followed his cousin’s lead and was naked seconds after. The boys sat next to each other and started kissing—hard kisses, deep kisses, kisses wet with saliva and dueling tongues. They were kisses that were the specialty of horny pubescent boys.

 

Soon Logan was lying prone and Aiden had his face buried in the eleven-year-old’s crack. He licked and sucked Logan’s pucker while rubbing his smooth, athletic ass. Aiden slipped his tongue a notch into Logan’s hole, although he didn’t go deep. He was soon ready for the next step in the night’s performance.

 

He lubed his cock and Logan’s ass, shoving his finger in deep. Logan positioned himself on his back, his legs raised and his ass exposed. They exchanged more tongue and then Logan moaned with pleasure as he felt Aiden’s cock slide inside his ass. From there it was Aiden fucking Logan hard and harder until Logan emitted a partially muffled screech as he shot two clear drops on his belly. It was the first time Aiden had seen Logan cum wet and the sight sent him over the edge. He shot his more plentiful cum into his younger cousin’s ass.

 

“I do believe I heard some kind of noise from Logan’s bedroom,” Chase said to Dillon as they stopped making out to try to hear more. “Cousins! Get them alone together and all they want to do is fuck.”

 

“They’re almost as bad as boyfriends,” Dillon said.

 

“The key thing is that boyfriends are badder, I don’t care how sexy-cute the cousins are.”   

 

“And Logan and Aiden have got to be the sexiest cute cousins around.”

 

“And we’re the baddest boyfriends, so let’s see how good a bottom you are tonight.”

 

Curt and Eddie had their fun in Eddie’s room. Eddie had spent part of the evening making out with Maria Mendoza on her living room couch. Eddie got stripped down to his t-shirt and boxers while Maria kept her bra and panties on. They estimated they had an hour to mess around and did as much as Maria felt comfortable with. Eddie wanted to see Maria naked, but the most he was able to see was Maria’s bare breasts for maybe five minutes.

 

Neither teen had an orgasm on their date. When Eddie arrived home, he had a severe case of blue balls, something that had rarely been a problem when he made out with boys. Curt’s friend Andrew Ellis spent the afternoon at the Miller house. It was their first time visiting and playing together. Nothing remotely sexual happened, but Curt thought Andrew was a nice kid, not to mention cute, and being around him made Curt horny.

 

As a result the two brothers were ready for the romp in bed that took place in Eddie’s bedroom. It was the first time in three weeks they had messed around together and neither one held back. They went at each other until they enjoyed ferocious orgasms within a minute of each other.

 

Troy’s instincts told him that the six boys in the house enjoyed adolescent sexual relief at least once. The thought of what they were doing made him an especially good lover for Susan that night. The Miller residence had unquestionably led the Magnolia District homes in total orgasms that night.

 

SUNDAY, MARCH 29

 

<Justin>

 

Justin was enjoying lunch with his dads when he decided to ask them the question that had bothered him when he fell asleep and again when he woke up. In the brief time he had lived with Mike and Ryan he had learned he could trust the two men and that no matter what, they would never laugh at him. Sure, they loved to laugh with him, but he was positive they would never laugh at him.

 

“Can I ask you guys a question?” Justin asked after downing a mouthful of mac and cheese.

 

“The answer is six,” Mike grinned.

 

“Donkey dad, you don’t even know the question, which is why you’re not even close.”

 

“I thought for sure that was the right answer. Didn’t you, Dawg?” he asked Ryan.

 

“Why don’t we listen to what our little Donkey Dawg has to say.”

 

“Good idea,” Mike nodded. “Forgive your excitable Daddy Donkey and continue.”

 

“Well you and Papa Dawg told me why we get boners—like to make babies and have sex when we get older. But why do me and Marco get them when we sleep together?”

 

Mike looked over to Ryan, hoping his husband would rescue him. He had no such luck. “Because boys and men get them when things touch their penis and make them feel good. And sometimes, when boys get to puberty, they get boners because boys that age often get them for no reason until the body doesn’t go hormone crazy.”

 

“Okay, you told me about hormones and that I don’t get much because I’m only nine. But I was eight when you told me. Does that make any difference?”

 

“Not really. Maybe when you get past ten, but usually when you hit eleven or twelve.”

 

Justin mulled this over as he took another bite of mac and cheese. After he swallowed, he said, “Marco says Tony gets them a lot and he’s almost twelve.”

 

“It sounds like you’re starting to get this figured out.”

 

“Is it bad for Marco and I to get boners together?”

 

“Nope. As long as you’re both okay with it, it’s all good. And you should have said bad for Marco and me.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I’ll explain later.”

 

Ryan finally joined the discussion in order to get it back on topic. “Were you guys sleeping naked together?” Even though he already knew the answer, he didn’t want his son to know he knew the answer.

 

“Yep. It that bad?”

 

“Not if you’re both okay with it. But that might be why you got erections. Did you cuddle up close?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“Even when you’re only nine, sleeping like that with a friend will often give you an erection.”

 

“And erection is the grown-up word for boner, right?”

 

“It’s the proper term, but saying boner with your friends is okay,” Mike said.

 

“Should Marco and I quit sleeping naked together?”

 

“That’s up to you guys. Your Papa Dawg and I and don’t have any problem with it.”

 

After another bite of lunch, Justin said, “Cool, because I kinda like it. And now since you told me why it happens, I think I’m gonna like it even more.”

 

FLASHBACK TO MID-MARCH

 

<Logan, Eddie, and Curt>

 

Logan, Eddie, and Curt had all turned out for baseball at Blaine Middle School. Logan, who was a sixth grader, would be playing on the JV squad.

 

Curt had played a lot of baseball before tragedy entered his life. The Blaine coach liked Curt’s skills and attitude. He told him he wanted to see him in a couple of game situations and if he looked confident in his play, he would be playing a lot of varsity.

 

Eddie had played some ball, but not for a couple years. When the coach told him he showed some good ability but had a lot of work to do on fundamentals and would most likely play JV for the entire season, Eddie was not surprised. He was disappointed, but he also knew the coach was right. Just a few months ago, Eddie would have blown up in a similar situation, but he had learned a lot living in the Miller house as well as working with his counselor.

 

The Blaine Middle School Stingers were playing their first game of the season. Their opponent was the Oakwood Middle School Falcons on the road. Since the game was scheduled at a sports complex, the JV and Varsity squads could play in the same location.

 

Logan was scheduled to be the starting pitcher for the Stingers JV. He was a very good pitcher, but as a sixth grader he did not yet have the power of some of the older seventh graders. What he did have was good control, pitches that moved, and a great deal of poise and confidence on the mound. While Logan was a somewhat shy boy, he lost all his shyness when playing sports.

 

Before the game, a couple of the Blaine players said the Oakwood team should be the Acorns rather than the Falcons, but Eddie said he wouldn’t want to have anybody throwing acorns at him since they would sting worse than a baseball if he got hit.

 

The big surprise for most of Eddie’s family, not to mention his friends at school, was when he answered the JV coach’s plea for a catcher. Bud Graham, who was a sixth grader, caught in Little League and would probably start the season as the Stingers’ starting catcher, but Coach Harkness knew he would need more than one catcher. He asked the team as a whole for volunteers. When nobody raised his hand, he spent the next two days talking to the players he thought were best suited to the position, both physically and mentally, to try the position and encouraging them to try out.  Nobody was eager to don “the tools of ignorance”.

 

When asked, Curt said he’d tried the position in a summer program and didn’t like it. The coach didn’t ask Logan because he was a slightly built sixth grader plus he was a lights out pitcher. It wasn’t unusual in youth and school baseball for a player to both catch and pitch, but Coach Harkness didn’t want Logan in that role, at least not in his sixth-grade season.

 

Eddie’s brothers saw something in Eddie that he didn’t see himself. “You’ve got to try it,” Curt had told him two nights after the start of turnouts. “You’re big, you’ve played baseball, and you don’t mind saying what’s on your mind.”

 

Eddie and Curt had just enjoyed humping each other in Eddie’s bed and were still naked and snuggled together. “But a catcher’s got to be a leader,” Eddie protested. “All I ever did was lead guys into trouble.”

 

“Maybe this is your chance to be a positive leader,” Curt pointed out.

 

“You know what? You’ve been smarter than me ever since we met. Logan would laugh at me if I started catching.”

 

“No, he wouldn’t. This was his idea. When he found out we were gonna mess around he asked me to talk to you about being catcher if I had the chance. Well, right now was my chance.”

 

The next morning Logan gave Eddie his thoughts during breakfast and that evening Chase encouraged Eddie to give catching a try. Their dad totally agreed when the four brothers ganged up on him to get his opinion. When Eddie talked to Coach Harkness, the coach told Eddie his catching career would start during that afternoon’s practice. 

 

It turned out that Eddie was a natural behind the plate. He found that he loved catching and was willing to put in extra time to do after practice drills with Coach Harkness and Coach Meadows, the varsity coach. He also worked with Coach Meadows on the Saturday before the Stingers’ first game.

 

Troy called his brother Phil Sunday evening. The brothers enjoyed talking every week or two. “I’ve never seen Eddie so enthused about something as he is about catching,” Troy told Phil during a phone chat. Phil knew Eddie, mostly by reputation, from when the boy was growing up in Mayfield.

 

“He always had a ton of potential,” Phil said. “Most of his time was wasted in finding ways to get into trouble and on drugs and booze. You’ve done great work with him, Troy.”

 

“I’ve had plenty of help. His brothers, along with Susan, all help keep him in line. And the boys, especially Curt, all worked hard to talk him into trying catching. If he could bring his catcher’s gear home, he would probably want to sleep in it. And now, he’s worked his way to being the starting catcher in tomorrow’s opener. Logan will be pitching, giving the team a battery of Miller and Miller.”

 

“Are you going to be there?” Phil asked.

 

“I have to be in court tomorrow,” Troy replied. Troy was the King County Prosecutor. His deputies handled most of the trial work, but there were times Troy had to be on hand for a trial or a hearing. “I’ve got a few days when the boys will be playing blacked out on my calendar, but not tomorrow. Susan will be on hand, however.”

 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1

 

“It’s so awesome that I’ll be pitching to you,” Logan told Eddie as they changed into their uniforms in the locker room. The team had been dismissed from class early in order to dress in their uniforms and then take the fifteen-minute bus trip to the sports complex for the game.

 

“Well, it won’t be every game. Coach Hawthorne said that Bud would be starting some games, too. I just think it’s cool that I’m starting the opening game of our season.”

 

“JV ball is all about everybody playing and learning the game, is what the coaches keep telling us,” Curt reminded him. Curt’s locker was in the same alcove as his brothers’ lockers, something they had arranged beforehand.

 

It was a cold spring day, with occasional drizzle—a typical early spring day in Seattle. As far as the players were concerned, the weather was perfect since it wasn’t raining and they were going to play baseball.

 

Logan pitched the first five innings for the Stingers, who were the visitors. The Stingers were ahead 6-2 at the end of his stint. Eddie stayed in the game to catch Cole Grainger, a hard throwing seventh grader. Eddie had caught Cole in practice and was happy for the extra padding on a catcher’s mitt. He caught both of Cole’s innings as the Stingers won their opening game 8-2. Eddie had a single and scored a run, Logan singled twice in three at bats, and Curt, who played third base, hit a bases loaded double in the first inning that cleared the bases and doubled in another run in the fifth. It was a good game for the Miller clan.

 

After dinner that evening, Chase congratulated his brothers for their big win. He was playing on the JV team for Ballard High School as a freshman. The high school season started earlier than the middle school season and the Ballard Beavers had already played three games along with one rainout and had a 2-1 record.

 

Susan had made a couple of videos of the middle school game on her phone and Chase downloaded them into the TV in the downstairs theater room. While the time of the video was only twenty minutes, the family watched it like it was Game Seven of the World Series.

 

“Great block,” Troy called out when Eddie blocked a pitch in the dirt from Logan preventing the runner on first from advancing. Curt’s second double was also shown amid cheers and applause as was Logan’s strikeout of a Falcon batter in the fourth with a runner on second and two outs.

 

That night Logan slept with his big brother Chase. They slept naked. Usually when the brothers slept together, they had sex before falling asleep. But that night Logan just wanted to feel the warmth and strength of his big brother’s body. The happy but tired eleven-year-old quickly fell asleep with his brother’s strong arms wrapped around his bare torso.

 

SATURDAY, APRIL 4

 

<Justin, Marco, and Joey>

 

Justin’s ninth birthday party had been last Saturday at his house. This Saturday was Joey’s ninth birthday, and it was his turn to have a party. Along with his best friends Justin, Neil, and Marco, Joey had invited seven other classmates and three cousins. It was a big party, but there was enough room in his house to squeeze everyone in, and more than enough hot dogs, cake, and ice cream to keep everyone happy.

 

Joey did not have an overnight. His mother was certain that Joey and whomever he invited to spend the night would be so hyper that nobody would get to sleep all night. She could tell by the noise at the party that she had made the right decision. While the children were all well-behaved, they were also noisy and full of movement.

 

“But mom, Justin had an overnight for his party. Marco stayed overnight with him and Justin was going to spend the night with me on my birthday,” Joey protested when his mother told him the bad news.

 

“It looks like somebody forgot that he needed to ask for permission to have somebody spend the night when he invited his friend.”

 

“I’m sorry, I forgot to ask. So, can Justin spend the night?”

 

“Sorry, son, but the answer is still no. But I promise that he and Marco can spend a night during spring break.”

 

“Both on the same night?”

 

Joey’s mother, Maria, wanted to say no, but Marco and Justin were both good kids so she agreed to Joey’s request. And since Marco was shy and quiet, he would help balance out Justin, who could easily get noisy.  While Joey was disappointed in not being able to have an overnight on his birthday, he was placated by the promise to have both of his best friends spend the night during spring break.

 

Marco and Justin did stay a little over an hour after the party ended, however. They quickly retired to Joey’s room. Joey apologized for at least the tenth time for not having an overnight. Instead of blaming his mother, which is what he really wanted to do, he gave them the news he had been holding in. He hadn’t mentioned his mother’s promise because he wanted to wait to make his friends happy before they left. If his friends were happy, he figured he would be happy, too.

 

“Mom said I can have both of you here overnight at the same time during spring break,” he announced with a smile.

 

His news produced the reaction he had been hoping for as Marco and Justin jumped on Joey together causing everyone to become unbalanced. The three fell to the floor with a thump, which brought an immediate response from Joey’s mother.

 

She opened the door, looked at the three giggling boys sprawled on the floor, and shook her head. “Boys, no wrestling. I thought we were having an earthquake.”

 

“We weren’t wrestling, mom, we were celebrating,” Joey explained.

 

“Okay, then no celebration wrestling and no more earthquakes,” Maria said sternly.

 

“Yes, mother. We’re sorry,” Joey said, hoping that would be enough to send his mother on her way.

 

“You’re all good boys,” she assured the trio before leaving the room.

 

“We can wrestle at my house,” Justin said.

 

“Mine, too,” Marco added.

 

“We can wrestle here as long as we don’t make noise,” Joey giggled.

 

“Are we all going to sleep in the same bed?” Justin decided it was time to return their discussion to the original topic, the upcoming sleepover.

 

“There’s enough room for us. If we were, like, big boys then probably not, but I think we’ll all fit,” Joey replied.

 

“I think Joey is right,” Marco agreed. “Are we going to sleep naked?”

 

“Do you guys want to?” Joey grinned. “I know you slept naked after Justin’s birthday party, but that was just two of you.” Justin and Marco had told Joey everything that they had done that night.

 

“If we all sleep together then sleeping naked would be extra fun,” Justin said.

 

“And maybe we’ll all get boners when we do it,” Marco added.

 

“Even more fun.”

 

“You guys are nasty guys,” Joey said.

 

“We don’t have to be naked,” Justin said quickly.

 

“I just said you were nasty. Being nasty isn’t bad. Me and Justin have been naked. Marco and Justin have been naked. Marco, Justin, and Joey being naked is the best. We just can’t make noise and we won’t get caught.”

 

Justin unbuckled his belt, opened his pants, and pulled them and his orange with blue trim briefs down to his knees. Joey and Marco stared at Justin’s rock hard two-and-a-half-inch erection.

 

“Cool,” Joey gasped. “Can I touch it?”

 

Justin nodded and Joey placed his thumb and index finger around it. As he fondled Justin’s little boy junk, quiet, shy Marco pulled down his jeans and white briefs, showing off a little boner of his own. “We should be able to see yours,” Marco told Joey.

 

Joey agreed and let go of Justin’s cock. He pulled down his pants and boxers, displaying his nub of a soft penis.

 

“You don’t have a boner,” Justin said, stating the obvious.

 

“I bet I would if you guys touched it,” Joey speculated.

 

Marco was quicker than Justin and placed his thumb and index finger on Joey’s penis. He rubbed it the way his older brother Tony had shown him, and Joey started getting hard. It didn’t take long for all three nine-year-olds to be showing off their under three inch mini-erections.

 

Justin rubbed Marco so that all three of them had a chance to be touched. He remembered what Aiden had told him about asking for permission but figured that since they were touching each other’s boners, him touching Marco should be okay. Later, when he asked Aiden about it, he learned that was exactly how messing around with friends worked.

 

Maria knocked on the bedroom door, causing three panicky boys to pull up their pants. “What?” Joey asked as he and his friends zipped up.

 

“Time to end your game and for Marco and Justin to get rides home,” Joey’s mother said. Joey was thankful that his mother usually didn’t come into his room when his friends were there unless they were making too much noise.

 

As they straightened out their shirts and made sure they were all zipped up, they agreed that spring break and their sleepover couldn’t come fast enough.

 

MONDAY, APRIL 6

 

<Justin>

 

Justin sat at the dinner table with his dads enjoying a meal of beef enchiladas prepared by his Papa Dawg, who was an outstanding cook. Justin was wearing a Mariners t-shirt with Carlson and number 14 on the back and a pair of Mariner sweats. Marty Carlson was the Mariners rookie third baseman and Justin’s favorite Mariner player.

 

He had met Marty Carlson when he was visiting Aiden and had received an autographed baseball and an autograph book from him. Marty had written in his book, ““For my friend Justin. Always play your hardest and be sure to get your uniform dirty. Love, your friend, Marty Carlson.” Marty Carlson was his friend, so how could he not be Justin’s favorite player? The icing on the cake was that Marty hit a home run on opening day for the Mariners and was hitting .350 in their first five games. Plus, the Mariners were four and one after those five games.

 

“I received two interesting emails today,” Daddy Donkey Mike said. “One that our little Donkey Dawg will find very interesting.”

 

“What was they about?” Justin asked eagerly.

 

“About baseball, of course.”

 

“About Marty?”

 

“No, it was about you.”

 

“Me? You mean about me playing baseball?”

 

“That is exactly what I mean,” Mike nodded. “It was from the Seattle Parks Baseball Program and from Coach Wood, who is coaching the ten-and-under team in this area.”

 

“When do we start?” Justin was barely able to sit still.

 

“The first turnout will be April 20, two weeks from today. And practice will be held at the Lake City baseball park which is just a couple of blocks from your school.”

 

“Then you and Papa Dawg need to play lots more catch with me to make sure my new glove is all broken in. I can’t wait until it starts, and I hope I make the team. That’s going to be hard because I’m just nine and haven’t played with real pitchers, but Marco and Joey will be there plus some other friends and it will be fun.”

 

“Whoa, slow down, and eat. Your dinner is getting cold, and baseball players need to eat plenty of hot meals,” Mike said. The Donkey’s key to life was that good eating was the key to good living.

 

“There’s enough light to get some throwing done in the backyard, so eat up and let’s play catch,” Ryan said.

 

Twenty minutes later, Justin was in the backyard fielding grounders hit to him by Mike and throwing the ball with Ryan. Mike, who was the baseball coach at Seattle’s Madison Middle School, had been working hard on Justin’s fundamentals. His private analysis of his young son was that he was a talented athlete who worked hard to improve but had some distance to go to be a proficient baseball player. He thought Justin was an outgoing, excitable boy, who had the makings of a fierce competitor. Mike and Ryan both saw that competitor in the spirited games they played with him.

 

Justin was in heaven. His dads were playing catch and fielding grounders with him so he would be ready for practice in two weeks. Life simply didn’t get much better.

 

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