Thank you for returning for more of Aiden's young life. Aiden finds out what friends are about, and can't believe what he is experiencing.
"Is he okay?" Gordon asked with concern as Aiden sobbed on Marty's chest, his tears running in a rivulet down the belly of the college boy.
"He's fine," Marty said as he stroked Aiden's neck and back. "I think he's so happy about today it just kind of overwhelmed him." He lifted the young boy's face off of his chest. "Isn't that right, kid?"
"I feel so stupid crying on my birthday. Everybody is going to hate me for being a crybaby."
"Are you happy?"
Aiden wiped the tears away from his eyes. "It was my best birthday ever, but now all my new friends are going to laugh at me and not be my friends anymore." Losing friends was nothing new for Aiden.
"Well, you got me all wet, and I'm still your friend," Marty told him.
Gordon put his arm around Aiden's waist. "Happy Birthday, Aiden. I've cried when I was really happy. There's nothing wrong with it." He pulled his buddy closer to him and was happy to see Aiden smile between sniffles.
"Gordy's right," Miles added. "I've cried when I've been really happy, too, and I ain't no crybaby."
Marty put his arm around Aiden's bare shoulder. With Marty's strong arm on his shoulder and Gordy's skinny arm wrapped around his waist, Aiden never felt more loved.
"Hey cuz," Chase chimed in. He was sitting across the table, directly in front of Aiden.
"What?" Aiden asked, fearful of what his older cousin was about to say.
"I'm glad you're my cousin. I wouldn't want a cousin who can't let everybody know when he's happy."
Aiden was grinning again. As boys kicked in their support, Phil, Larry, Sue, and Troy busily cut the cake. They placed slices of cake on paper plates and passed them out along with scoops of ice cream. Things appeared to return to normal as the boys dug into the birthday dessert.
"No offense, Marty, but I can't eat with you hanging on me like that," Aiden grinned.
"So, do you want me to feed you?" Marty smirked.
"No, because then I would be a sissy."
Marty laughed and let go of his new young friend. Marty had wanted to tell Aiden about the number of times he'd cried himself to sleep as a high school student who made honor roll grades and starred on the school's athletic teams. But unlike Marty's tears, Aiden's tears had been out of happiness, even though he knew there was more to Aiden's outburst than being overwhelmed with happiness. That conversation would be a private one at some other time.
Aiden started scarfing his cake and ice cream. "Marty?" Aiden asked between bites.
"What can I do for you, sport?"
"Do you think my cousin and my friends can get your autograph?" Aiden liked how the words "my friends" flowed from him.
"Get me a marking pen and I'll sign anything they want," Marty grinned.
Aiden placed his right hand on Marty's left shoulder. His little hand almost got lost on the muscular shoulder of the ballplayer. "You're the best, Marty."
"No, that would be you, sport. I heard you asking for your friends, but not for yourself. That tells me a lot about you. Your friends had your back and now you have theirs...that's what friends are for." Aiden looked startled for a moment. "But don't worry," Marty added quickly, "you'll get an autograph, too."
Aiden's grinned returned and he went back to enjoying his birthday dessert.
The boys were told to let their stomachs settle before hopping into the pool. While they sat around impatiently, Marty announced he'd heard kids wanted autographs and he was ready to sign anything they wanted.
"Even my butt?" Chase asked, earning him a visual reproving from his mother.
Marty missed Sue's reproving look when he gave Chase his answer. "If that's where you want it," he laughed. "I guess you must think that's your prettiest part."
Soon Marty had a fine-tip marker and sheets of notepaper. All of the boys, except Sammy, stood in line. Since Marty lived at Sammy's house when he wasn't in college, Sammy didn't feel the need for an autograph. Aiden took off for his bedroom and came back with his Mariners' t-shirt for Marty to sign.
When Chase's turn came he looked over at his mother, who was busy working with Logan on a coloring project. As Marty signed Chase's paper, the eleven-year-old turned, pulled down his board shorts, and exposed his white ass cheeks. Marty laughed and quickly scratched his signature across the boy's left cheek.
Chase quickly pulled up his shorts and blushed when he saw his father looking down at him. As soon as he saw his father and Uncle Phil laughing hysterically he knew he wasn't in trouble.
"Now you can't take a shower for at least a week." Marty chuckled.
"The ink is supposed to be waterproof," Chase pointed out.
"Then don't wash your ass."
"I bet he never does anyway," Sammy said. "He doesn't have anybody to shower with and wash it for him like I do." Sammy wished he'd thought about getting his ass signed first since it had made Chase the center of attention.
"Well, I guess it's senseless for me to sign your ass."
"It would be cool to show it off in PE next week, but it would be gone by then because the ink isn't that waterproof."
"I'm here until Monday," Marty told him. "Maybe we can fix that before I go."
Chase returned to Logan, who smiled shyly. "Don't be afraid, ask him," Chase told his little brother.
"May I have an autograph, too?" the eight-year-old asked. Marty grinned and signed Logan's sheet of paper with a flourish.
Aiden had been standing in front of his cousin when he'd pulled down his shorts and had seen his junk. He was still thinking about the cut cock hanging down almost two inches and the ball sac that was starting to hang like Tim's had. Aiden noted that just like himself, Chase still had no pubic hair. He wondered when boys got pubes since Chase was eleven.
"What did Marty write on your shirt?" Gordon asked Aiden.
"I dunno, his name I guess."
"You weren't looking too close, because he wrote more than that."
Gordon was right. Not for the first time, Aiden had been admiring Marty's buff, athletic body and not paying attention to anything else. He looked at the back of his shirt. The script read, "For my friend Aiden. Marty Carlson, 3rd base." Aiden grinned when he read it. He was the friend of a baseball star--how could things get any better?
The boys were soon back in the pool playing catch with a rubber ball. The rules of whatever game they were playing changed frequently and the air was filled with the high pitched shouts and laughter of preteen boys. Jeffrey, Marty, and Rich joined them, only to be attacked by a pack of wild and crazy boys.
Chase and Sammy soon got into their own little wrestling and dunking match on the deep end. "Chase is grabbing my dick," Sammy announced, making sure his voice was quiet enough that the adults couldn't hear him.
"Sammy's got a boner," Chase declared.
"You sure like holding on to it," Sammy told him.
"Maybe it's fake."
"How could it be fake?" Aiden asked as he paddled over to the older boys.
"Maybe he put a stick or something in his shorts," Chase answered.
"It's real," Sammy assured him.
"Maybe I better make sure." Chase let go of Sammy and before the twelve-year-old could move, he shoved his hand inside of the older boy's shorts. "It's real, all right," he laughed.
Sammy yanked Chase's hand out of his shorts and went after the eleven-year-old's junk. Jeffrey noticed what was going on and was laughing his ass off at the hijinks of the two pubertal boys. Aiden was fascinated by what the older boys were doing. He couldn't watch for long, however, as Gordon snuck up behind him and dunked him. The erotic play of the two older boys was missed by the adults, who were sitting up on the deck. All they could make out was general horseplay, not that it would have surprised Phil, Larry, and Troy to have learned there was some serious grab ass going on.
Chase slithered away from Sammy, but his escape was short-lived. Sammy managed to grab the back of Chase's shorts and yank them down below his ass, revealing Marty's signature. Chase howled with laughter and tried to move out of Sammy's reach. All that he succeeded in doing was losing his shorts as Sammy got them all of the way off.
"Look at what I found," Sammy crowed as he held Chase's shorts over his head. Chase took advantage of Sammy leaving himself wide open and pushed his hand back inside his shorts, grabbing his now half-hard cock. The wrestling match was on again.
"Was that somebody's bare ass that just broke the surface?" Troy asked.
"It was," Phil laughed, "and I believe it belonged to your son. In fact, I think I saw some writing on it."
"Shit, I hope Lisa keeps Sue really occupied because she will disown Chase as her son right on the spot." Sue was casting glances at the craziness in the pool, but failed to notice her son's state of undress.
She couldn't fail to notice the shorts being tossed onto the pool deck, though. "Don't those belong to Chase?" she asked the men in general.
"Yep, but he didn't take them off," Troy chuckled.
"Well, he's your son. What do you plan on doing about it?" Troy was ready for that line. Chase always became his son exclusively when he behaved like a red-blooded young adolescent boy.
"What I've been doing," he said. "Laugh about it." Larry and Phil laughed at his answer.
"You men are nothing better than little boys yourselves."
"We might have to grow older, but we don't have to grow up," Phil pointed out.
"Oh, men. Logan shouldn't be watching this." She grabbed her younger son and his coloring book and started into the house.
"Logan has seen Chase bare-ass many times," Troy said. "They are both boys after all."
"But he hasn't seen his brother making a fool out of himself in a public setting." She and Logan went into the house.
"It's going to be a long ride home," Troy said. "Sue wants Logan to be more, how should I put it, civilized than his brother appears to be."
"Sorry about that," Phil told him.
"No worries. She'll calm down. This is nowhere near what happened the afternoon after school last spring when she caught him and Clayton Turner sitting naked in the rec room watching TV and rather innocently masturbating--if masturbation can be called innocent. Sue and I had a talk about boys being boys. Chase and I had a talk about what he and Clayton did being okay, but maybe getting a room would be appropriate, as in using Chase's bedroom." Troy laughed at the memory.
"What did he say?"
"He said the house was hot so they took off their clothes. He told me they weren't seriously jerking off; they were just playing with their boners. He said that if they were being serious they would have been on his bed jerking each other off."
"At least he's open about it with you."
"Yeah, we've worked hard at that. It's hard to believe he'd just turned eleven a few days before." Troy checked the time. "Shit, it's about time to get Chase out of the pool. We still have the long drive back to Seattle, and he isn't the quickest person to set in motion."
"We probably should get them all out before we end up with a group of prunes," Larry chuckled. "I think it's time to wind down the party."
He called down to the boys to leave the pool and get showered and changed. They received the expected protests as the boys started climbing out.
"I need my shorts," Chase said. "No way I'm getting out of the pool naked."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Sammy smirked. "I just felt your junk, and there was hardly anything there to see."
That led to Chase jumping on Sammy and a quick underwater wrestling match ensuing. The boys came up for air, facing each other and laughing. Even though their hands were underwater, there was no doubt where they were situated.
Marty tossed Chase's shorts his way, and Chase reluctantly took his hand out of Sammy's shorts and caught them. All six preteens were soon in the basement shower room. Marty sent Jeffrey in to supervise, feeling it would be more appropriate for the young teen to be around whatever sexual shenanigans broke out than for him as a twenty-one-year-old.
Aiden, Gordon, Chase, and Sammy had no problem getting naked to shower. Miles hesitated, then decided that what was good for Gordon and Aiden was good for him. Rusty kept his shorts on, but nobody seemed to mind.
There were two shower heads--Chase and Sammy shared one with Aiden and Gordon sharing the other. "Is the autograph still on my butt?" Chase asked.
Sammy ran his hand across Chase's left butt cheek. "I can't feel it."
"I know you can't feel it, dork, but can you see it?"
"Some of it. The ink's not as waterproof as they think."
Sammy ran his hand across Chase's right cheek. "Your butt cheeks feel the same and almost look the same."
"Too bad I live so far away or I'd get my butt signed before school just like you," Chase grumbled. Sammy continued to caress Chase's butt. Chase turned a bit to give Sammy better access.
"Chase has a boner again," Aiden giggled.
"You'd have one, too, if somebody was perving on your butt."
"I'm not perving on it, I'm feeling it," Sammy giggled.
"Same difference."
"Looks like my bro is boned up, too," Jeffrey laughed.
"So is Aiden," Miles said, pointing at Aiden in the shower. Aiden blushed, but made no attempt to hide his condition.
Chase wrapped his fingers around Sammy's four-inch preteen tool. "It's real, all right, even if it still doesn't have any hair."
"You don't either," Sammy pointed out.
"Yeah, but you're twelve and I'm eleven."
"So? We all hit puberty different, right Jeffrey?"
"You know it, bro," Sammy's big brother answered.
"Gordy's got a boner now, too."
Chase let go of Sammy's erection and wrapped his fingers around his own three-and-a-quarter-inch tool. He pushed out his hips, exposing himself fully. "I got a bigger boner here than anybody but Sammy," he informed the boys in the room.
"Jeffrey would have a bigger one if he was hard," Sammy said. "Want him to show you?"
"He doesn't count...he's a teenager," Chase responded. "But I'd like to see how big he is. Maybe he can make sperm for us."
"I can do that," Sammy said with pride. "That's why I gotta wear condoms when I get me some pussy. Go ahead and show everybody what you got Jeffrey and I will, too." Sammy's rock hard cock was twitching and jerking. The four nine-year-olds were fascinated by the what the older boys were saying and doing.
"It's moving on its own, like it's alive or something," Gordon gasped.
Sammy grabbed himself, his thumb and two fingers encircling his boy tool, and started pounding his pulsing four inches. "I am so horny I can't stand it." The younger boys stood transfixed as they watched the twelve-year-old's hand fly along his pride and joy. "Oh, fuck yeah, I'm cumming guys...watch closely." His hips moved into his hand and he let out a high-pitched wail as his pubescent cock shot out four clear drops that flew into the air and dropped to the floor.
There was a collective ohhhhhh from the four younger boys as they watched not only a wet orgasm for the first time--they watched any kind of orgasm for the first time.
"That must be what jerking off is," Aiden said knowingly.
"Whatever it is, that was totally cool," Miles said with the other three nine-year-olds nodding in agreement.
"Fuck, that felt really good," Sammy panted. "I hope you dudes liked the show."
Sammy's older brother, Jeffery, who was supposedly supervising, was now so hard inside of his shorts that his five-inch teen cock was aching. He remembered when Sammy was a quiet little boy who followed the rules and stayed out of trouble. Now he seemed possessed by demonic hormones.
"You gonna do it?" Sammy asked Chase, who was still naked and was very hard.
"Sure, why not." The younger boys gathered around Aiden's cousin ready to watch another show. Jeffrey was ready to pull off his shorts and join the fun.
But before things could go any further they heard the door at the top of the stairs open. "Hey everybody, hurry up," Rich yelled. "Chase's dad says it's time to go and Gordy's dad just got here."
The four naked boys, who were boned up, left the shower area. Rusty finally pulled off his shorts, but did his best to keep his privates covered. He and Miles shared one shower while Jeffrey rinsed off quickly in the other.
"You and me have to figure out how to spend the night together," Chase told Sammy as they dressed.
"That would be too cool," Sammy grinned. "We could mess around all night."
"Oh, hell yeah."
The four nine-year-olds listened with intense interest, even Rusty, the shy redhead. Gordon and Aiden were still sporting their thin little two-inch spikes as they pulled on their underpants.
"Maybe we can spend the night together sometimes, too" Gordon whispered to Aiden.
Aiden grinned and nodded his head enthusiastically. Neither boy had ever stayed overnight with a friend and the idea excited them. Ironically, as stimulating as seeing the two older boys with boners had been, their talk about messing around during an overnight didn't register with them. Sexual things were not on their minds when they thought about staying together--at least not at that moment.
After thank-yous were uttered and good-byes were said and fists were bumped, the house suddenly became very quiet. Aiden sat in his favorite recliner and looked out of the picture window at the lake. He realized that for the first time since he'd met his three uncles he didn't feel badly about not living with his Uncle Troy. He wasn't sure what he felt, but he was beginning to wonder if this was what feeling really happy was about. Not just kind of happy for a little while, or happy reading a book, or watching something funny on TV, or beating somebody in a game--but really happy--the kind of happy where he didn't want to be anywhere else.
After arriving at the Bednarzyk residence, Marty and Rich went to Marty's little apartment across the patio from the main house. Sammy and Jeffrey didn't argue when Marty told them that he and Rich wanted some alone time. They went into the main house, leaving the two college boyfriends to themselves.
Rich and Marty entered the apartment and sat next to each other on Marty's bed. Marty stared straight ahead across the room. Rich gently put his hand on Marty's cheek and turned his head so they were face to face.
"What's the matter, sweetie?"
"Oh, nothing I guess," Marty replied. "I was just thinking about whether you and I might someday tackle caring for a boy like Aiden."
Rich's blue eyes moistened a bit and he kissed his partner. "We've got a wedding and a lot of other stuff ahead of us first, you know."
Marty took a deep breath and nodded. "I know." He smiled, held his partner's hand tightly, and returned his kiss. "I love you so much."
"I love you, too."
It didn't take long for the two college boys to undress each other and make sweet love.
Phil entered the all-purpose room and sat in the loveseat next to the recliner. He and Larry had tacitly agreed long ago that the recliner was Phil's perch, but it seemed that in the last week the little blond urchin had laid claim to it. Phil didn't mind for now; the recliner was an issue that could be dealt with at another time, if ever.
"Did you have a good time, son?" Phil asked quietly.
"Yeah," Aiden answered.
Phil waited for him to say more, but that was all he got, so he probed a little more. "Was your birthday a happy one?"
This time Aiden opened up a little. "It was awesome, the best ever. Thank you, Uncle Phil."
"I'm happy that you're happy. Your Uncle Larry and I are very happy that you're here with us."
Aiden wanted to say that he was happy to be living with his uncles but stopped short. What if I change my mind tomorrow? he thought.
"I want to see what's in my boxes," he told Phil as he rose out of the chair. He'd been eyeing the boxes. There wasn't really a lot in them that he cared about--mostly clothes, some toys, and games. But there were things he wanted to see--his books, both read and unread, and Horace.
He started to pull things out of one of the boxes, but Phil stopped him. "Let's take the boxes up to your room, then you can unpack them and put everything away instead of making a mess down here."
Aiden nodded and picked up a box he could handle. Larry was sitting down on the patio. Phil opened the door to the deck and hollered down for him to come up and help move Aiden's boxes. There were seven of them, plus the laptop, to take upstairs. Phil picked up one of the heavier boxes and hauled it upstairs. They quickly had all seven boxes laid out in Aiden's bedroom.
After thanking his uncles Aiden started digging into the boxes. "Now it will be easy to unpack them."
"Would you like any help?" Phil asked.
"No, I can do it."
Phil and Larry left Aiden to fend for himself and he set eagerly to work, sorting what was in the boxes and figuring out where to put everything. When he got to the last box, he was worried. The box didn't look like it was big enough to hold what he was looking for as well as the clothes he saw as he opened the box.
Downstairs, Phil and Larry were chuckling about their nephew's independent nature when they heard a high pitched wail from upstairs. "What the fuck was that?" Phil asked. He didn't wait for an answer and dashed up the stairs. When he entered the room he could see that the boy was quite upset.
"Aiden, what's wrong?" Phil asked, his voice filled with concern.
"He's not here," Aiden cried.
"Who's not here?"
"Horace."
"And just who is Horace?"
"My stuffed donkey." The boy unsuccessfully fought back tears. "I knew he wouldn't be here--the boxes weren't big enough."
If Aiden had said he had a teddy bear, Phil wouldn't have been surprised, but a stuffed donkey was a whole new creature. Aiden sat on his bed and let the tears flow. Phil sat next to him and pulled the distraught boy against him as Larry entered the room.
"It's okay, Aiden," Phil said softly. "It will be okay. He just got misplaced when your boxes were placed in storage. I'm sure we'll get him back."
"You must think I'm a baby now."
"Nope, not at all. Every boy should have a stuffed animal to love."
"Did you have one?"
Phil nodded, not telling him that he'd abandoned it by the time he was nine. "Your Uncle Larry had one, too."
"Now my birthday is ruined. Horace is all alone." He looked into the almost empty box and saw a ray of hope. He took out the t-shirts that were packed in the top of the box, and then grasped a Mariners baseball cap and showed it to his uncles. "That's Horace's cap, he always wore it."
"That means your donkey is around somewhere."
"Nope, I know he's lost," Aiden said with an air of finality. He'd had the big gray donkey ever since he could remember. A couple of his mother's boyfriends made fun of it and one threatened to throw it away. His mother ended up kicking the boyfriend out after Aiden threw one of his all-time fits. The rare times his father showed up he laughed at Aiden's choice of stuffed animal. While the baseball cap had to be replaced once, the donkey remained clean and intact.
He was Aiden's constant sleeping companion on his couches. The donkey offered lasting comfort: he never yelled at him, never laughed at him, liked the same books he did, and kept him warm and safe when he slept. He was gray and soft and fluffy, sitting over a foot tall with droopy seven-inch ears. His mane was blue. His tail was gray but was almost more like a rabbit's tail than a donkey's tail.
Aiden didn't want to leave Horace behind when he went to his foster home, but the social worker insisted that there wouldn't be enough room for the stuffed animal. She assured Aiden that they would only be separated for a couple of weeks. Aiden cried when he watched his donkey being shoved into a box. He thought the social worker was lying, and now he was certain she was lying.
"I'll call the CPS office right away on Tuesday morning," Larry assured his nephew.
"How come you have to wait until Tuesday?" Aiden asked between sniffles.
"Because it's the Labor Day weekend and nobody will be there to answer the phone."
"You could try. Maybe somebody has to work or something."
Larry assured Aiden he would make a call right away. Aiden followed him downstairs to make sure he would. After Larry got the expected results, Aiden said he was going to bed.
"You will need to put your things away," Phil said.
"I will tomorrow."
"Okay, brush and floss and one of us will come tuck you in."
"I don't feel like brushing and flossing," the boy pouted.
"Look, Uncle Larry and I both feel for you, Aiden. But you're nine now and you keep telling us how grown up you are because you're nine."
"You mean I can't feel bad about Horace?"
"You can feel bad about your friend," Larry said. "But you can't let your missing friend keep you from doing the things you're expected to do."
Aiden was suddenly hit by a frightening thought. "Do you think I'm too old to have a stuffed animal?"
"Not at all." Phil placed his arm around the boy to assure and comfort him. "But I think you're too old not to take care of the things you need to do before you go to bed. The room can wait until tomorrow, but taking care of your teeth and washing your face are things you're expected to do every night." He squeezed Aiden even tighter. "Uncle Larry and I love you, Aiden."
Aiden wiggled away from his uncle. "I want you both to tuck me in." He went upstairs and five minutes later he called to them and they went up to his room.
He was on his bed, the lowered bedding leaving his torso exposed as was becoming his routine. Larry pulled the bedding up to Aiden's chin and kissed him on the forehead. Both of them caught the smell of toothpaste on the boy's breath. They were pleased that he had followed through and taken care of at least the brushing part of his new nightly routine.
"Do you want one of us to read to you?" That question had also become part of the routine.
"No." Aiden turned and faced the wall, his back to his two uncles. They left the room, with Phil turning out the lights.
"Uncle Phil," Aiden called without turning.
"Yes, son?"
"Can you and Uncle Larry pray for Horace?"
"Consider it done."
Phil quietly closed the door, fighting back tears of his own.
Next: New Brothers