Emerald City Boys

Chapter 8-Birthdays

                   
 
CHAPTER 8
BIRTHDAYS
 
MONDAY, APRIL 27
 
<Justin>
 
Justin and Marco walked to Marco’s house after school. They had baseball practice at four-thirty, which gave them an hour to play around before Marco’s mom took them to the ballfield for practice. The Donkey had his own baseball practice at Madison Middle School, where he was the head baseball coach and Dawg worked until five. Since Justin was too young to be left alone at home after school (he had to wait until he was ten) his afterschool routine was to go to Marco’s house. On Mondays and Thursdays, they had baseball practice. This was their second week of turnouts—Coach Wood had told the players and their parents that practice times could vary, but the days would stay the same. Last Thursday he gave everyone a printed practice schedule.
 
Joey had planned to join them but had to go directly home since he was on restriction. He would be allowed to attend practice but had to skip the after-school time with his friends until the following week. Sassing his mother on Saturday did not pay off and a one-day restriction for not cleaning his room when asked had turned into a one-week restriction.
 
Justin settled on Marco’s bed while Marco changed from his school clothes to his practice garb—t-shirt, sweatshirt, and sweats. “Aren’t you going to change?” Marco asked.
 
“I want to watch you change first,” Justin replied.
 
“I’m not getting naked; I’m just changing clothes.” Marco wondered why Justin would find that interesting. He grabbed his jock and cup and pulled them on over his briefs and then stepped into his sweats.
 
Since what little of the show was over, Justin undressed down to his underpants. He reached into his equipment bag and pulled out basically the same practice garb Marco had just donned; t-shirt, sweatshirt, sweats, as well as his jock and cup.
 
Justin had brought his equipment bag to Marco’s house after last Thursday’s practice.  His dads and Marco’s mother had arranged for Justin to leave his equipment at Marco’s house; Marco’s mother would wash his gear along with Marco’s after each practice. Mike and Ryan felt as blessed to have a friend like Marne DeLuca as Justin felt to have a friend like her son Marco.
 
“Joey’s mother is weird sometimes,” Marco observed.
 
“She’s weird more than sometimes,” Justin said, “she’s weird almost all the time. I hope she doesn’t change her mind and not let Joey go to practice, because if he starts missing practice, he might not make the team.”
 
“Joey is one of our best friends and baseball wouldn’t be as much fun without him.”
 
The boys were happy to see Joey at practice. He was waiting on the sidelines for the team using the field to finish their practice. Marco and Justin each gave Joey a hug and told them how happy they were that he was able to come. Sure, they had seen him at school, but he was supposed to be at school. Baseball was an entirely different matter. Marco and Justin didn’t trust Joey’s mother and weren’t sure he was going to be at practice until they actually saw him there.
 
This was the third practice for the Lake City Jammers. Three new boys showed up with their paperwork and there were now twenty-two boys turning out for the team. Coach Wood could keep fifteen players on his roster. He planned to make the cuts at the end of the following week. The parents of the boys who did not make the team would receive a pamphlet with information about the North Seattle recreation program. While the boys would be playing softball instead of baseball, it was a no-cut program—every boy who signed up made a team and played. There would be practices involving two or three teams at a time where the players would be taught the fundamentals of the game. Joey, Marco, and Justin were all in agreement that they wanted to play baseball and be on a real baseball team. They were determined to work harder than anybody to show how serious they were.
 
“That was another fun practice,” Joey said after Coach Wood ended practice and dismissed the players.
 
“And I can’t believe how much more I learned,” Justin said.
 
“I’m scared I won’t make the team,” Marco said apprehensively. “Everybody here is bigger and better than me.”
 
“Hey, they might be bigger than you, but that don’t mean they’re better than you,” Joey told him.
 
“Yep, it’s like my Daddy Donkey keeps telling me—it’s ain’t the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog,” Justin added. “You work harder than anybody and you’re learning tons and you’re going to make the team. So there.”
 
“I’ll be sure to fight hard in Thursday’s practice,” Marco promised.
 
“Yep, they need all three of us to be the best team around.”
 
“I see my mom,” Joey said. “I better go before she gets mad because I made her wait too long.”
 
Before Joey could move, DK Dansby, the assistant coach walked up to them. “Great job, gentlemen,” he said in his deep, rumbling voice. “I like how hard you three work and how you work together as team. Keep it up.”
 
Joey’s mom walked up to the group. “Is there something wrong, coach?” she asked.
 
“You’re Joey’s mom, right?” DK asked.
 
“Yes. Maria Rizzo.”
 
DK stuck out his hand and Mrs. Rizzo took it and gave him a tepid handshake. DK was careful to take a lot off his usual crushing clasp. “Nothing was wrong—I was just telling the boys I was impressed by how hard they worked and by their attitudes in practice.”
 
“I just wanted to check. Joey can be a handful at times.”
 
“He and his friends have done everything we’ve asked of them and more.”
 
“Nice to hear.” She looked down at her son and said, “And that’s what I want to hear from your coaches all the time, okay?”
 
“Yes, ma’am,” Joey said, careful to be as good as possible.
 
After Joey left with his mom, Justin and Marco ran over to where Marco’s mom was standing just as Ryan showed up from work. “Papa Dawg!” Justin grinned. He dropped his equipment bag on the ground and ran up to Ryan, giving him a big hug.
 
“What do I do with my bag?” Justin asked. “My school clothes are at Marco’s house and I’m supposed to leave my bag there after practice.”
 
“Then why don’t we stop by Marco’s house first. You can make a quick change and leave your baseball gear behind. I know you can move fast when you put your mind to it—I’ve seen you do it on the baseball field.”
 
“How come you got off work early?”
 
“I didn’t. Your practice was later than your others, remember?”
 
“Oh, yeah. Okay, I’ll be the fastest clothes changer in the history of the world.”
 
While Justin was changing in Marco’s room, Ryan and Marne discussed a strategy for taking care of Justin’s equipment and school clothes should Ryan arrive home from work before practice ended. It was decided that Marne would take the boys to her house, Justin would change, and she would then take him home. As a result, Ryan would have time to prepare dinner.
 
“You are much too good to us,” Ryan told Marne.
 
“It’s what friends are for. I think the system we agreed to will work, so why make things complicated. Unless something out of the ordinary happens, we will use the same routine on practice days.”
 
Justin came bounding into the living room carrying his backpack. “Was I fast enough?” he asked.
 
“That was perfect, Donkey Dawg.” Ryan told him. “And I just got a text that your Daddy Donkey is home, so let’s pick him up and eat dinner out tonight.”
 
“At Luigi’s?”
 
Ryan looked over to Marne, who was thinking the same thing he was. “That’s a long drive for you hungry folk—I would not be hurt if you ate local and close to home. I understand families,” she said. “Just pick a favorite place.”
 
“How about Manny’s Place?” Justin asked eagerly. “They’ve the best mac and cheese around. Or their fish and chips are really good, and their BLT is good, too, and…”
“Manny’s place is good,” Ryan smiled. “Would you and your boys like to join us?” he asked Marne.
 
“Manny’s is a great choice, but as you can smell, I’ve got dinner cooking with a little help from Tony. We’d be happy to join you after practice some other time.”
 
“Thanks again for all your help,” Ryan said. “Come on, Justin, I know the Donkey is pacing the house right now wondering what’s going to happen for dinner.”
 
After getting a text from Ryan, Mike was waiting at the front door and hopped into the front seat of the car. The family enjoyed a great meal at Manny’s, a place with funny signs on the wall and great meals. For the record, Justin had macaroni and cheese with hamburger cooked in it.
 
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29
 
<The Miller Brothers>
 
Logan, Eddie, and Curt came home from baseball practice together. All three boys had finished practice. Logan played for the Blaine Middle School JV team, while Eddie and Curt were swing players who moved back and forth from JV to varsity from game to game.  Chase, who was playing for the Ballard High School freshman team, usually came home a half-hour after his brothers.
 
The first thing they did was go into the kitchen to check for the availability of snacks. Eddie found a plate of oatmeal raisin cookies sitting on the counter.
 
“Hey, bros, I think these must be for us,” Eddie said.
 
“And if they aren’t, they should be,” Logan said.
 
“Ooh, is Logan talking like a bad boy?”
 
“No, I’m talking like a hungry boy.”
 
“Let’s quit talking and get out of our dirty practice shit.” Eddie picked up a cookie and took a bite of it. “Yummy, these are worth coming back for.”  
 
The three boys raced to their rooms to change out of their practice gear. As if by prior agreement, when they returned to the kitchen all three were wearing only t-shirts, underpants, and socks. “We all seem to have the same tailor,” Curt grinned.
 
“Not quite,” Eddie countered. “None of you can match my purple and gold boxer briefs.”
 
“Red and blue checked boxers aren’t bad looking though,” Curt said.
 
“And then there’s Logan in his white FTL briefs.”
 
“Hey, the tight fit makes my wang feel good,” Logan told them. “Plus, Tony and I both think tighty whiteys are sexy.”
 
“Are you sure the two of you aren’t boyfriends?” Curt asked.
 
“The only thing he’s sure of is that him and his bed buddy aren’t telling anybody what they are,” Eddie smirked.
 
“Who isn’t telling anybody what?” a teen voice asked.
 
“Hey, Chase, how did you sneak in so quiet?”
 
“Years of experience,” Chase replied. “Who’s got a secret?”
 
“Nobody. We were just talking,” Logan said.
 
Chase grabbed a cookie and paused to chew a big bite. “I guess that means Logan has the secret, and his secret is about Tony and him. Come on bro, it’s not like you two                                have done any kind of job of keeping it secret.”
 
“It’s just like Eddie said. We’re bed buddies,” Logan protested.
 
“Does this mean, you don’t trust your brothers? Come on, you two have done everything but say, ‘Tony and I are boyfriends,’ right?”
 
Logan finally realized he had to give in. After all, he hadn’t really been keeping the relationship a secret, he just hadn’t come out and said they were boyfriends. “Right.”
 
Curt handed Logan a cookie. “These are good. Eat it and don’t look so glum.”
 
Logan accepted the cookie and took a bite. “I screwed up,” he said after swallowing.
 
“How did you screw up? Did you think we were going to blab your secret to the world?” Chase asked.
 
“No, I screwed up by not completely trusting my brothers. I thought just giving you hints would be good enough.”
 
“Well, you told us now and it’s almost cool,” Chase said.
 
“What do you mean almost cool?”
 
“What I mean is you and Tony sit down with Curt, Eddie, and me and tell us as a pair. You guys have admitted being boyfriends to each other, right?”
 
“Yep, we have.”
 
“I think it’s so great that you have a real boyfriend. You guys tell us and you’ll feel even better about it, like Dillon and I do.”
 
“What about telling mom and dad?” Logan asked.
 
“The answer to that is totally up to you two.”
 
“Thanks, Chase. You’re a great big brother. And thanks Curt and Eddie for being great brothers, too.”
 
“There are three cookies left, and four of us,” Eddie pointed out.
 
Before anybody could react, Susan entered the kitchen through the back door. “Leave those cookies be,” she said. “Your dad and I might want an after-dinner snack.”
 
“Hi mom,” the four boys blurted out, close to in unison.
 
“How is it that the oldest one of you is the only one dressed?”
 
“We’re dressed,” Curt objected. “Our underwear is our clothes.”
 
“Curt is right,” Chase grinned. “And the only reason I still have my practice stuff on is because I get home later and we were all helping solve a problem so I stayed and helped my bros.”
 
“Did you solve the problem?” Sue asked.
 
“We did,” Logan grinned. Chase gave his little brother a thumbs up.
 
“Now, I need to strip down for dinner,” Chase said.
 
“You boys are impossible,” Sue said shaking her head as she pulled pre-roasted chicken out of the refrigerator to heat up.

“And you know you love us for it,” Eddie said as the four boys headed out of the kitchen to free their mom to cook dinner.
 
The four boys followed Chase into his room.
 
“Does watching me undress turn you guys on?” Chase asked.
 
“We just want to say something about your underwear fashion,” Curt said.
 
“And see your big dick, birthday bro,” Eddie smirked. Chase’s fifteenth birthday was Friday.
 
“Mom says you invited some girls to your birthday party,” Curt said.
 
“Hey bro, I might be gay, but that doesn’t mean I can’t like girls as friends,” Chase said as he stripped off his dark blue boxer shorts. “Donna, Kelsey, and Barb are three great friends and Carla is almost like a boy—she is playing baseball on the freshman team after all. And like I told you and Eddie, your girl friends can come if they want.” He held his teen cock out in his hand. “Is this what you came to see?”
 
“It looks better when it’s hard,” Logan said.
 
“So, step over and help me out.”
 
“Why can our girlfriends come to your birthday party on Saturday but not to the cousins party Memorial Day weekend?” Curt asked.
 
“Because, Curt, we all agreed that the cousins party was all guys—our cousins and one guy friend for each,” Eddie reminded Curt. The cousins party was Eddie’s pet project.
 
Chase pulled off his t-shirt while the chatter went on and was now naked except for his socks. His cock had quickly become fully erect.
 
“How about we have a brothers’ meeting just to be sure we have everything straight,” Eddie suggested. “The big blowout is just four weeks away.”
 
“Boys come out and help set the dinner table,” Sue called out.
 
“I dare you to go out naked,” Logan said.
 
“Only if we all do it,” Chase responded.
 
“Underwear is good enough,” Curt said.
 
Chase put on a fresh t-shirt and a pair of gray sweats and followed his brothers out to the dining room where they started setting the table. The brothers had their own routine. When something happened to change the routine, Curt took charge. Dinner table setting was Curt’s domain. Clearing the table after dinner was their dad’s domain. He usually picked two helpers for that, often dependent on who had the least homework or other tasks to deal with.
 
“Well, I your see older brother sets the sartorial example again,” Sue said when she noticed he was the only boy dressed in more than his underwear. 
 
“Well, I was dared by he who I shall not name to do dinner in my birthday suit, but in honor of that good-smelling roasted chicken I elected to dress in my finest.”
 
“And I am proud of how you resisted temptation.”
 
The only reason my big brother is dressed was because he didn’t want to set the table showing off his almost six-inch hardon, Logan smiled to himself. Curt and Eddie were entertaining similar thoughts.
 
After dinner, the four brothers met downstairs in the rec room. Chase went from the only boy dressed to the only one part naked when he yanked his sweats down to his ankles and started massaging his now flaccid teen cock into an erection. Logan pulled down his briefs and did the same with his smaller tween cock. 
 
“So, where do we stand now on the big cousin blowout?” Chase asked Eddie.
 
“It looks like there will be twelve of us,” Eddie replied. “Me and Darnell, Chase and Dillon, Drake and Pierce, Logan and Tony, Aiden and Nolan, and Curt and Andrew.”
 
“Count Andrew out,” Curt said. “I got a text from him this morning saying he can’t make it because his family is going out of town.”
 
“Do you know somebody else who you think can come?”
 
“Not well enough to invite to something like the cousin blowout. We all know there’s going to be sex.”
 
“I think I might know somebody,” Logan said.
 
“Who?” Eddie asked.
 
“A kid on my baseball team and in a couple of my classes. Madison Baker. We’ve groped each other a couple of times and flashed each other when I ate at his house last week.”
 
“Are you going to ask him?” Eddie inquired.
 
“It can’t hurt. I’ll ask him tomorrow.”
 
“Isn’t he the guy with the wild red hair?” Curt asked.
 
“Yeah, except for when it was green for a while around St. Patrick’s Day.”
 
“He sounds like our kind of guy,” Chase said.
 
“When I ask him if he wants to come, I’ll be sure to warn him we like to mess around some,” Logan said.
 
“What do you mean mess around some? We love to mess around all the time,” Chase chuckled as he continued to slowly stroke himself.
 
The boys then went on to discuss food arrangements, sleeping arrangements for the two nights, organized games, movies to watch, and how to keep their parents out of their hair. The food part was easy. Mom, with help, was making breakfast, Dad would grill burgers for lunch, and dinner would come from Luigi’s.
 
The blowout would be scheduled to start with lunch on Friday, and officially end with breakfast on Monday. They thought Friday would be a great day to start since everybody except Pierce and Drake had no school on Friday which made Memorial Day a four-day weekend. Pierce and Drake were sure they would make it to the blowout by dinner on Friday.
 
“Drake said Pierce wants to have the group to his house for lunch on Saturday,” Chase said.
 
“When did he say that?” Eddie asked.
 
“Texted me about it this morning. He said it would a really big deal. A barbeque cooked by a catering company on the big outdoor stove. Pierce’s dad is rich and since he doesn’t live that far from here it should work great.”
 
“Their house is amazing,” Logan said. “I mean ours is nice and all, but theirs has a huge yard and a view and…well, we’ve all seen it so you know what I mean. I’d go there for lunch. But there is one thing being planned and it’s probably gonna happen on Saturday night,” Logan reminded Eddie.
 
Eddie looked confused for a moment and then grinned. “Oh, yeah, that. How about you tell them, Logan?”
 
“Aiden texted me today and told me that Marty is looking to get us free tickets to Sunday afternoon’s game,” Logan said. “He’ll know for sure on Saturday, but he said that Marty told him he had like an eighty percent chance of getting them.”
 
“That will totally kick ass,” Eddie said. “This is gonna be the best cousin blowout in the history of the world.”
 
“Or at least in the history of Seattle,” Chase chuckled.  
 
“Okay, after Drake or Pierce talks to Chase, after Marty talks to Aiden, and after Logan talks to Madison, I’ll email everybody about the schedule and tell them to be ready to eat lots of pizza and pasta—and it looks like some barbeque along with hot dogs at the game.” Eddie looked at Chase and Logan. “Are you guys going to get serious and jerk off or just sit around playing with yourselves?” he asked.
 
“If we get serious then we probably should go to a bedroom in case of a parental invasion,” Chase replied. He yanked his sweats up and then rose from the couch. “Before we go up and take care of nature’s urges, do you have any questions about my party on Saturday?”
 
“It sounds like a regular birthday party with pizza, birthday cake, and ice cream,” Curt said. “And as mom would say, it sounds very fattening,” he giggled.
 
“Then let’s go up to Eddie’s room and blow our wads,” Chase said. Logan pulled up his briefs and the brothers went upstairs to Eddie’s bedroom.
 
“My wank is going to be a quicky. I have math homework to finish,” Curt said as he and Eddie plopped down on Eddie’s bed.
 
“I’ve got English to do,” Logan added. He took off his t-shirt and briefs and parked himself next to his brothers. Chase sat on the old, overstuffed chair crammed between Eddie’s desk and the front wall of the bedroom.
 
“We all have work to do, so let’s race to the finish,” Chase said. “I’m so horny I can’t think straight.”
 
“Since when does a gay boy think straight?” Curt asked.
 
“Good point,” Chase said as he stripped naked. Curt and Eddie quickly followed up and the brothers went to work on their own cocks. The four knew that if their parents weren’t home, they would be masturbating each other, humping, sucking, and doing whatever else was needed to get each other off.
 
Chase came first, squirting his thick teen cum from his neck down to his pubes. Eddie followed two minutes later, leaving a trail of clearer, lighter cum on his chest and belly. Logan was next by thirty seconds, shooting two clear drops on his belly, and Curt followed a couple of seconds later, his first shot winning the distance award by landing on his chin.
 
“Well, now that we’ve had a little brotherly fun, it’s homework time,” Curt announced. None of the boys bothered to dress since it was a short distance from Eddie’s room to their own bedrooms.
 
The first thing Logan did after he entered his bedroom was call Madison Baker.
 
“Hey, Logan, this is a nice surprise,” Madison said when he answered the phone. “Wazzup?”
 
Logan explained the upcoming Cousin Blowout to Madison and why they were inviting him. “Damn, you’re talking like the whole four-day weekend,” Madison said. “I know Curt from baseball and he’s really cool. I won’t mind hanging with him.”
 
Logan told him what the plans were, warning him that they wouldn’t know for sure about Sunday’s schedule for at least a couple more days. 
 
“I think this might work because the ‘rents want to go away for the weekend and were talking about pawning me off on my grandparents who are really great grandparents but staying with them is always kind of boring. Let me go ask her about going to this party. Go do whatever and I’ll call you back when I’m done.”
Logan got out his homework and started on his math. He was halfway done with his problems when his phone rang—it was Madison.
 
“Hey, Madison, what did they say?”
 
“My mom was, like, being my mom and not trusting anybody. She’s like, there’s not going to be alcohol and drugs is there and I’m like, Mom, I’m talking about Logan Miller and do you know who his dad is? I mean, he’d probably kill anybody who had that shit at the party.”
 
“Did you really say shit to her?” Logan asked.
 
“Oh, hell yeah, since that’s what she calls it. So, then she’s like, ‘I’m gonna call Logan’s mom,’ and I go, ‘how do you know her number?’”
 
Logan answered the question. “I know my mom is on the baseball parents’ call list.”
 
“Bingo! So anyway, my mom calls your mom, and it’s all cool. My mom didn’t know who your dad is and she was like, all impressed. I’ll just have to get the schedule from you, so she knows what’s going on and I’m good to go.”
 
“Give me your email and I’ll get the schedule to you. We hope everything is set by Monday.”
 
“Can I ask you one quick question?” Madison said.
 
“Go for it.”
 
“Okay, I know the party is going to be clean, but do you or your cousins or whatever drink and use? You don’t have to answer, but I’m kinda like curious.”
 
“I don’t mind,” Logan told him. Madison’s question had made him a bit leery. After all, anybody willing to dye his hair wild colors probably drinks and at least smokes pot. Well, let’s see what happens when I ask him the same question. “None of us use and most of us have never even tried it. What about yourself?”
 
“I’m just like you. I never have. I’m asking because I don’t want to, like, hang with guys who use that shit.”
 
Well, that was good to hear, Logan thought. He really liked Madison, even if he was a chatterbox. Logan wanted to be just like Chase and hang with the clean dudes and he was happy Madison was one of them.  “That’s great, dude. You do need to know one thing before you totally say yes, but I think you’ll be cool with it.”
 
“What?” Madison asked with a hint of concern. The thought hit him that maybe this party sounded too good to be true.
 
“Well, my brothers, my cousins, and our friends all like to mess around like you and me have in your bedroom.”
 
There was a brief pause before Madison said, “Does that mean, like, groping each other and jerking off together and jerking each other off and cool shit like that?”
 
“That and more.”
 
“You mean like giving each other blow jobs? That kind of more?”
 
“Exactly.”
 
Logan could feel the excitement in Madison’s voice when he said, “I’m there dude!”
 
“Awesome. I’ll see you in school tomorrow.”
“Thanks for the invite. I’ll thank Curt when I see him in school or like before baseball practice.
 
THURSDAY, APRIL 30        
 
<Madison and Curt>
 
Because of their grade difference, Madison didn’t see Curt until they came across each other on their way to baseball practice. “Hey, Curt, wait up a sec,” Madison said when he saw Curt ahead of him.
 
Curt turned to see who was calling him. When he saw the flaming red hair, he knew it was Madison. “Hey, Madison.”
 
“Hey, Curt,” Madison said as he caught up with Curt. “Thanks for asking me to be your substitute friend at your big party.”
 
“You’re more than a substitute friend, you’re my baseball teammate, which makes you a real friend.” Madison beamed when he heard the older boy’s comment.  “Thanks for volunteering to be my friend at the cousin blowout.”
 
“Logan made it sound like a lot of fun. But I’m sorry your friend couldn’t make it. That has to be kind of like a real bummer.” Madison could tell that Curt was a really cute guy but being up close to him talking to him made him realize that Curt was more than cute, he was hot.
 
“You know how it is, you go where your parents go, except Logan said your parents were happy that you have a place to stay.”
 
“Well, I had a place, but I was kind of bummed out I couldn’t go because I love my grandparents, but they can be, like, boring sometimes,” Madison explained. “But our summer league coach is talking about having a practice on the weekend and we’re all saying to have it on, like, Monday afternoon so it doesn’t fuck up our weekend. Logan and me are both hoping he agrees to having it Monday.”
 
“The summer league coach Eddie and I are playing for is already good with Monday afternoon,” Curt said as they reached the locker room.
 
“I hope your coach talks to my coach. Hey, before we change and go out on the field, what color hair do you want me to have for the weekend?”
 
“Is that a serious question?”
 
“Totally. My regular hair color is what my mom calls dirty brown and I think it’s, like boring beyond belief. That’s why I like to make it different colors.”
 
“So just having your natural hair isn’t an option, I take it.”
 
“Not for a big party,” Madison said, leaving room for him to be asked about it some other time.
 
“Blue is my favorite color. How does that work?”
 
“I haven’t done blue yet, so it’s perfect.”
 
The boys’ lockers were in different rows of the locker room, so they broke up and went their own ways.
 
<Justin and Marco>
 
Justin and Marco had enjoyed another practice. The two nine-year-olds hustled over to present their practice report to Marco’s mother, who was waiting next to the bleachers. The first thing Marne had to do was slow the two hyper boys down as they babbled over each other rapid fire. Once she got them under control, she learned that practice was a blast, that they would scrimmage each other on Monday, that their first game was on Saturday, May 16, and that both boys were starving. Joey had to make a beeline directly to his mother’s car, or Marne would have had to deal with three-way chaos.
 
The date of the first game and the fact that the boys were starving were old news; Coach Wood had emailed parents the May schedule on Saturday, which included the team’s first games, and the boys were always starving at the end of practice. Of course, the boys had to make the final roster next week, but Mike had told her that unless Coach Wood was coaching with his head buried in the infield dirt Marco, Joey, and Justin should easily make the final roster. Mike was proud of himself that he had said Coach Wood might have his head in the dirt and not up his ass.
 
The two boys continued to jabber on their ride home. Marne was still amazed as to how Marco had opened up since becoming friends with Justin. She couldn’t help but grin when she recalled how Mike sometimes wished some of Marco’s quiet reserve had rubbed off on Justin.
 
After arriving at the DeLuca residence, the boys bounded up to Marco’s room where they instantly stripped naked. They rolled up their practice gear the way Marne wanted it and took it all down to the utility room for Marne to wash. The two naked boys found her in the kitchen and told her they had taken care of the gear.
 
“Remember boys, as soon as you turn ten you will be responsible for washing your own gear,” Marne reminded them.
 
“We could do it now,” Marco insisted.
 
“We’ve had that discussion. Now go take your showers.” Marne was happy for now that the boys sorted and folded their gear the way she wanted. Her experience with Tony told her that the rest could wait until the two imps were in upper elementary school. She had also decided that the nudity battle was not worth fighting, but that there would be rules as to when it was appropriate and when it was absolutely not appropriate.
 
Even though they were at Marco’s house, Justin had become the designated water temperature setter for the shower. As soon as he had it the way he and Marco liked it, the two preteens stepped inside, pressed their bodies together, and exchanged a long kiss. As soon as their little dicks were hard, they went to work washing themselves and each other. Justin enjoyed washing Marco’s cocklet and his ass, especially his crack, and made sure it was all properly washed. Marco then returned the favor. The boys loved the after-practice showers almost as much as they did the practice itself.
 
“Tony said last night that the showers will get even more fun when we get older and can do the cumming stuff,” Marco told Justin as the two buddies dried themselves (and each other) after their shower.
 
“Aiden says being sexy in the shower kicks ass,” Justin grinned.
 
“Yep, it’s fragiflaxing good,” Marco agreed.
 
When the two naked boys stepped out of the bathroom they ran into Tony, who had just come home from middle school baseball practice. “Did you two homos have a nice shower?” Tony smirked.
 
“Who are you calling homos?” Justin asked. “You told us that you and Logan suck each other’s dicks and are boyfriends.”
 
“And I bet you and Marco do the same thing. Look at you, you both got boners.”
 
Marco draped his towel over his left shoulder, folded his arms, and glared at his older brother. “Me and Justin are not boyfriends, and we don’t do that with each other.”
 
“Justin told us he sucked a boy in Mayfield once,” Tony reminded his brother.
 
“That was just an experiment,” Justin said defensively. He wished he had never told Tony about learning about blow jobs from Skip in Mayfield.
 
“Whatever. If you guys aren’t boyfriends, then what are you?”
 
“We’re the bestest fragiflaxing friends in the whole world,” Marco asserted.
 
“That works for me,” Tony said. He wasn’t a pushy person and realized he had gone a little too far with kidding. The last thing he wanted to do was piss off his brother, whom he loved very much.
 
“You need to get dressed, Justin. Your Dawg is here,” Marne shouted from the end of the hall.
 
“Tell him I’ll be right there,” Justin responded. “Are you still spending the night tomorrow?” Justin asked Marco.
 
“Yeah, but not Saturday because we’re having Tony’s birthday party. And you’re coming to that, right?”
 
“Yep.”
 
“Good. It means there will somebody there the same age as me and who is my very bestest friend and that makes it better yet.”
 
Justin quickly dressed, hugged and kissed Marco goodbye, picked up his backpack and met his Papa Dawg in the living room. He wondered what had Tony all riled up, since he usually wasn’t like that. He decided he wasn’t going to worry about it and talked about baseball with his Papa on the short drive home.
 
<FRIDAY, MAY 1>
 
<Chase>
 
Chase had gone to bed Thursday night as a child of fourteen and woke up Friday morning a super-teen of fifteen. At least that’s how it played out in his adolescent mind.
 
Logan had slept with him that night, letting his older brother have his birthday sex with him a few hours early. After planning different kinds of sexual scenarios, the one that worked the best in Chase’s mind was sex with his youngest brother Thursday, an exclusive night with Dillon on Friday, and letting the sexual chips fall where they may on Saturday. Since Logan would be spending the weekend at Tony’s house as part of his new boyfriend’s twelfth birthday celebration, Friday and Saturday nights were out as far as Chase doing anything sexual with Logan.
 
Thursday worked out fine. The brothers were experienced enough in their sexual play with each other that they could plan what to do without going late into the night and waking up tired the next morning. They did go about twenty minutes overtime when Chase became so enamored with Logan’s tight ass that he had to fuck it twice. Logan had no objection and the brothers fell into a fully satisfied sleep in Chase’s bed.
 
When they showered together in the morning, Logan said he didn’t want to get involved in piss play in the shower. “Maybe some regular weekend morning when we got nothing going on and lots of time to get totally dirty and nasty,” Logan said. Logan remained ambivalent  about piss play and hoped that the morning he described would never come while at the same time he hoped it would.
 
Chase enjoyed the “Happy Birthday” greetings from his mother and father and two adopted brothers. He opened the cards and grinned at the humor and the love he found.
 
“Are you okay with present opening being after dinner tonight?” Troy asked his oldest son. “You can do it without rushing.”
 
“I’m okay with it, but Logan is going to miss it since he’s going to be spending the night with Tony,” Chase replied.
 
Logan felt a warm glow, feeling that his brother’s concern was indictive of his love. “I won’t be missing a thing,” Logan said. “My schedule after school is baseball game, home, dinner at Luigi’s complete with present opening, and then going to Tony’s house with him and his mom.”
 
“Wow listen to Mr. Organized,” Eddie chuckled.
 
“Hey it all works. Think about it. All four of us have baseball tomorrow afternoon and Tony has baseball. We should all be done playing, home, showered, and at Luigi’s by seven, where we eat, and Chase opens his presents.”
 
“Unless my team goes crazy and decides to play umpteen extra innings,” Chase said. Chase played on the Ballard High School fresham team, Logan played on the Blaine Middle School JV team, and Curt and Eddie swung between the varsity and JV teams for Blaine. Tony was a JV player on the Jane Addams JV team.
 
“Never mind that I said that. I’m not going to let it go extras,” Chase grinned.
 
Chase had a great day at school, reveling in happy birthday hugs, pats on the back, and fist bumps from friends and teammates. He also received some birthday cards. Most of the teachers said nothing about Chase’s birthday since they held the somewhat misguided idea that recognizing students’ birthdays in class was a tradition best left behind in elementary or middle school.
 
The Ballard Beavers enjoyed a 5-4 win over the Garfield Bulldogs. As if being fifteen had suddenly made him omniscient, Chase singled the winning run home with two outs in the seventh to keep the well-played game from going extra innings.
 
Dillon was not a good athlete, but he loved sports, especially when Chase was playing. He was also smart, organized, and hard working—the perfect requirements for being a team equipment manager. Dillon filled the role ably and loved it because it not only let him be involved with a team, but it also kept him close to his lover. Troy had taken the afternoon off from work so he could watch his oldest son play baseball on his birthday. After the game, Dillon and Chase rode to the Miller house with him. Chase took a quick shower while Dillon discussed the good start by the Seattle Mariners with Troy.
 
The afternoon had been a good one for the Miller family. The Blaine Middle School varsity won 4-0 on the road and the JV team picked up a 9-4 win at home. When the Miller family arrived at Luigi’s, Logan was sad to learn that Tony’s team had been clobbered 10-2. Tony left the game on the field, however, and was determined to have a good time with the Millers.
 
Keegan showed up with Drake and Lincoln just as Chase came out of his bedroom. “Hey, Uncle Keegan, I see you brought my smartest and cutest cousin,” Chase grinned.
 
“Please accept my one-finger salute times five,” Drake told Chase. But as he held his right hand up, palm out. “I would give you the real one, but not in front of somebody as sweet and innocent as my little brother.”
 
“My bet says that by the time Lincoln starts Kindergarten his big brother Drake will have made sure he knows all about that one-finger salute.” Chase walked over to where Keegan was standing with Lincoln in a baby carrier. He tickled the baby under his chin, bringing a gurgling smile to his face. “Hey, little cousin, you really are cuter than your big brother, but I’ll give him credit for being smarter…at least for now.”
 
“He’s probably noisier, too,” Keegan said. “I’m going to check his diaper before we head out to dinner.”
 
“Thanks for bringing him, Uncle Keegan. That was really special. I would have loved to see Aunt Natalie, too, but I guess she earned an evening off.”
 
“And then some,” Keegan grinned. “Natalie told me I could get his bottle warmed at the restaurant.”
 
“I checked with Marne after she asked me,” Susan said. “Marne said it would not be a problem as long as she could feed the lad.”
 
“Better her than me,” Chase said. “I’d probably end up dropping either the bottle or the baby or both.”
 
“Just pretend Lincoln is a football you’re carrying to the end zone. There’s no way on Earth you would drop him then,” Drake said. After the baby was taken care of, the Miller clan headed to the restaurant in the SUV and Keegan’s car.
 
Chase’s birthday dinner was delicious, of course, with plenty to eat. Chase loved his presents, especially the printed document from his father. It had a picture of the family SUV on top and a signed promise from Troy and Susan to pay for Chase’s driver education after he turned fifteen and a half as well as the promise to pay his first year of car insurance after he turned sixteen. There was a caveat to both promises—he had to maintain his place on the honor roll. Chase smiled when he read the requirement since he knew that would not be a problem.
 
That night, Chase hammered Dillon’s ass hard and deep. Their passion was such that they thought one time was all they needed.
 
“Happy Birthday,” Dillon told his boyfriend after Chase filled his ass and sent him shooting his cum over himself. He casually spread his emission over his chest and belly, stopping a couple of times to hold out his fingers for Chase lick.
 
“Thanks, love. You were awesomely sexy tonight,” Chase purred.
 
“That’s the hardest you ever pounded me. You almost rammed me though the wall.”
 
“Yeah, pretty sick, huh?”
 
“Totally.”
 
“Dillon?”
 
“Yeah?”
 
“I’m so you didn’t move. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love having you here in my bed right now as my boyfriend—or how much I absolutely love you.”
 
“Sometimes I still can’t believe how a stud like you can love me like you do. But I know you do, and I love you even more.”
 
“I love you like I do because you’re so special, and beautiful, and smart, and, oh shit---here’s how much I love you.” He placed his lips against Dillon’s and gave him a hard, deep, and very wet kiss.
 
“Wow, I guess that says it all,” Dillon said when they finally came up for air. “Does this mean you want seconds?”
 
“I thought I didn’t have two times in me after that first orgasm.”
 
“And?”
 
“I was wrong.”
 
“Who would have ever thought when I followed your lead and jerked off with you in social studies class in middle school that it would end up like this—the nerd and the jock becoming boyfriends?”
 
“Not me. Especially since you were just a kid sitting next to me in class who traded BS with me sometimes until that day. I think by the time we blasted in our pants I had a crush on you and before I knew it I was in love with you.”
 
“Hell, I had a crush on you the first time I laid eyes on your studly self.”
 
“I love you, Dillon.”
 
“I love you, Chase.”
 
“Okay, dude, now that we know where we stand, let’s FUCK!”
 
They agreed the next morning that the second time was better than the first.
 
<Logan and Tony>
 
“Chase didn’t have very many people at his birthday party,” Tony observed as he and Tony watched TV in the rec room.
 
“That’s because he didn’t want many people there,” Logan responded.
 
After the dinner party ended, Keegan drove Logan and Tony to Tony’s house. Tony thought Lincoln was cute for a little baby and was happy he didn’t have to deal with a baby brother. After dropping the boys off, Keegan drove home.
 
Pierce had walked to Luigi’s from his house. He and Drake walked back to Pierce’s house after the dinner. Drake would be spending the night with Pierce.
 
The first thing Logan and Tony did after entering the DeLuca house was go to Tony’s room and strip naked. Marco was spending the night at Justin’s and Tony’s mom and dad wouldn’t be coming home until after the restaurant was shut down for the night. So, why not be naked?
 
After stripping they went to the rec room and turned on the Mariner game. They didn’t pay much attention to it, however. They were more into each other than into baseball. The two declared boyfriends kissed, hugged, rubbed each other’s smooth skin, and rubbed each other’s hard tween cocks. Making out naked on the couch made them feel very grown up.
 
They became totally lost in each other. Somehow, Logan ended up on his back with Tony on top of him, his erection rubbing against Logan’s. Logan’s right hand found Tony’s ass crack and he rubbed his index finger along it, bringing moans of pleasure from Tony. When the finger started making its way into Tony’s ass, Tony squeaked in surprise but kept humping.
 
Logan hadn’t planned on finger fucking his boyfriend, but that was what he realized he was doing during a lucid moment. When the finger found Tony’s button and rubbed it, Logan wondered how many blocks Tony’s scream carried. Logan knew instantly what the effect of his ministrations were when he felt the warm fluid escaping Tony’s cock as Tony pounded his body. The effect on Logan was what one would expect as he mixed shots of his immature cum to Tony’s. Tony collapsed on top of Logan and the boys lay quietly on the couch trying to bring their breathing to normal.
 
“That was the best cum ever,” Tony finally said. “That, like, blew away the time you did it to me in the shower.”
 
“I wasn’t planning on doing it, it just happened,” Logan told him.
 
“Do you want to know what I think?”
 
“You know I do.”
 
“I think what we did in the shower that time was messing around, and what just happened was, like, real sex—kinda like what boyfriends would do together.”
 
“I think it’s exactly what boyfriends would do and I’m so awesomely happy you like it.”
 
“Liked it? I loved it.”
 
Logan put his arms around Tony’s neck to hold it in place, raised his head, and kissed Tony on his lips to show how he felt about it.  
 
Tony finally moved off Logan and the two friends sat up on the couch. They inspected each other to see how much cum they had on their bellies. Then they kissed again.
 
“Do you think we’ll ever do butt sex?” Tony asked.
 
“You know that means we’d be fucking each other’s asses, right?”
 
“I know. Do you think we’ll ever do it?” Tony repeated.
 
“Yeah, I bet someday we will.” Logan was sensing that his relationship with Tony had just shifted to another level.
 
“Like, tonight?”
 
“No, we’ve gotta work up to it.”
 
“How?”
 
“Like doing the kind of stuff we did tonight.”
 
“Does that mean I’d be sticking my finger up your butt?”
 
“It would be a start.”
 
“Cool.” Tony glanced at the TV. “Oh, the Mariners are ahead.”
 
Like a switch had been flipped, the two tweens turned their brains from sex to baseball. But they made sure they were touching each other’s naked bodies and trading kisses. Logan had sensed correctly—Tony was moving from unsure experimenting to the brink of real sex. Logan saw the change in his boyfriend and knew there was no turning back. He was really loving this boyfriend business and was certain in his tween mind that he loved Tony DeLuca.
 
<Justin and Marco>
 
Unlike Tony and Logan, Marco and Justin were not on the cusp of puberty. And they certainly were not trying to find out if they were really boyfriends. They already knew they were “fragiflaxing bestest of friends”—what else did they need to know?
 
However, like Tony and Logan, they were naked on a couch watching the Mariners on television. The difference was they were not supporting pubescent hardons, they weren’t kissing, nor were they feeling each other up. They were sitting close enough to each other so that their shoulders, hips, and legs touched, which they thought felt good. Justin had his left arm around Marco’s shoulder, which Marco thought was the best feeling in the world.  They were also in the company of adults, which may have prevented them from doing more than they were doing, but it was unlikely they would have done more than what they were currently doing even if the parents weren’t around, except for some sporadic kissing.
 
Mike and Ryan thought the two nine-year-olds hugging on the couch was cute, although Ryan wondered if they were allowing the boys to be a bit too intimate for their age. The way Mike saw it was that while their bodies were touching and Justin was hugging Marco, they really were doing nothing overt. Then Mike thought of something overt they could do which would change everything on the couch.
 
“Who’s for some freshly baked cupcakes?” Mike grinned.
 
“Me!” “Me!” came the high-pitched concurrent shouts from the two prepubescent boys. The boys rose instantly from the couch and followed Mike to the kitchen. Justin thought it was awesome that his Daddy Donkey loved food more than anything. Mike placed a strawberry cupcake on a dessert plate for each boy. The cupcakes had been created by the Dawg and had come out of the oven a half-hour earlier. Papa Dawg Ryan entered the kitchen, took some fresh whipped cream out of the refrigerator, and slapped a big spoonful on each cupcake. Each boy took a messy taste and was convinced this must be what heaven was like.
 
<Friday Night Beds>
 
The beds of the Miller clan, along with Justin and Marco, who were looked upon as honorary Millers by Logan and Chase, were well used that Friday. Chase and Dillon celebrated Chase’s birthday with Chase’s double dip.
 
Logan and Tony went to bed not long after Marne and Luigi came home from the restaurant. The boys had dressed in underpants and t-shirts about fifteen minutes before Tony predicted his parents would come home. His prediction was off by only four minutes.
 
Luigi thought the boys should at least be wearing pajamas to bed but said nothing. After letting Marco and Justin parade around the house naked the day before, as well as a few times before that, Marne felt she had nothing to say on the matter. She did think that while Justin and Marco not being ashamed about their bodies was sweet, she didn’t feel the same about Logan and Tony, since the two boys were hitting puberty. What Logan and Tony didn’t know was that if Tony’s parents had come home and found the boys naked in the living room, they both would have disapproved and suggested the boys put something on, but there would have been no consequences. Marne couldn’t say much without sounding hypocritical and Luigi was willing to let Marne set the tone for their boys’ sudden interest in nudity—at least for now.
 
But once the boys were in Tony’s bedroom and ready to get into bed, they climbed into Tony’s bed and started kissing passionately. “What do you want to do?” Logan asked when they came up for air. Logan wanted to fuck Tony, but as much as it sounded like a great idea, now wasn’t the time to do it. As he had told Tony, Logan was experienced enough to realize that Tony needed to learn some things before the real sex began. He left the night’s sex up to his boyfriend.
 
“Let’s suck,” Tony responded.
 
“Sixty-nine?”
 
“That will be the first round,” Tony grinned.
 
That ended up being what they did both times, with Tony cumming first (but not by much) on both occasions. The naked tweens slept with their bodies wrapped together wondering if this was what love was like and if it was, when they were going to confess their love to each other.
 
<Pierce and Drake>
 
Pierce and Drake enjoyed watching a Netflix movie with Walker. The teens started out sitting naked on the couch while Walker sat on the recliner wearing a net shirt and pair of flower themed lounge pants. About twenty minutes after the movie began, Pierce grabbed a wool blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over Drake and himself.
 
“You aren’t embarrassed by your nudity now, are you Pierce?” Walker asked after putting the movie on pause.
 
Drake answered for him. “No worries, Walker, he’s being a pussy because the room temperature is not warm enough for nudity and he’s too lazy to go up to his room and get something to wear.”
 
“You know, Duck, I seem to recall you being the one who whispered to me about being cold,” Pierce said.
 
“Same difference, Pooka. You would have said it first if I hadn’t beat you to the punch.” Pierce punched Drake playfully on his shoulder.
 
“As long as we’re paused how does popcorn sound?” Walker asked. “You can’t have a movie without it.”
 
“It sounds like a good plan, dad.”
 
“And next week you turn sweet sixteen?” Walker asked Drake.
 
“Well, technically it’s the week after next since my birthday is Monday, but the party is next weekend.” Drake’s sixteenth birthday was Monday, May 11, but his party would be Saturday the ninth at Roundtable Pizza.
 
“Walker and I will be there, but you know my one condition,” Pierce said.
 
Pierce’s condition was that he be the only one other than his parents and brother to kiss Drake that weekend. He told Drake that since his party was Saturday while his birthday was Monday his kisses would carry Drake into his sixteenth birthday and ensure that Drake would wake up Monday morning sweet sixteen and having been birthday kissed by his boyfriend.
 
Walker went to the kitchen to take care of the popcorn. He couldn’t help but be amused by the kidding and joking between the boys. Every day he reminded himself how grateful he was that Pierce had Drake in his life not just as his best friend but as his boyfriend.
 
Pierce and Drake followed Walker into the kitchen and helped get the drinks and the bowls for the popcorn. The teens were once again stark naked. “What happened to your blanket?” Walker asked.
 
“We’re moving around and that keeps us warm,” Pierce replied.
 
“Whatever you say,” Walker grinned.
 
After the movie, the boyfriends enjoyed some hot sweaty sex on Pierce’s bed with Pierce fucking Drake hard and deep and lovingly.
 
The boys were sleeping soundly when suddenly Pierce began to cry and scream, “No! No! No!”
Drake had never slept with anyone who had had a bad dream, let alone the boy he loved, and he reacted instinctively.
“Pooka! Sweetie! It’s ok! It’s ok!” Drake grabbed for Pierce’s hand and held it tightly.
Pierce had awakened and was gasping a bit. “Oh. Oh. I love you.”
“I love you, too. You ok?”
Pierce sniffled a bit and kissed his boyfriend. “Yeah, I’m ok. Oh, damn. I had a bad dream. Somebody was whipping and beating your dog. I don’t know who it was. You never do that to a dog! It was terrible!”
“I’m sorry.” Drake squeezed Pierce’s hand again. His boyfriend had tears in his eyes. “You want to sit up for a little while?”
“Yeah. I just need to relax and catch my breath. That was horrible. You never do that to a dog.”
“That’s for sure.” Drake was still somewhat at a loss for words. He just wanted to comfort and reassure Pierce as much as he could.
After about a minute, Pierce took a deep breath, lay back down, and snuggled close to Drake. “I’ll be ok now. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
<Eddie and Curt>
 
Eddie invited Curt to sleep with him.
 
“Will sleeping with you include sex?” Curt asked.
 
“If you want.” Eddie knew that at times Curt would all but beg for sex and at other times he seemed indifferent. Even if Curt ended up not wanting sex, Eddie wanted his brother to sleep with him because he loved Curt the most of his three brothers. Susan had told him once how Curt’s life being turned upside down had left pain that Curt was still recovering from. Eddie and Curt were both seeing a child psychologist, although not at the same time.
 
Even though Curt was smart, athletic, and popular in school, Eddie felt protective of the boy he first met in the homeless camp. He wasn’t sure how Curt felt about him, but he knew he loved Curt and wanted to be the best brother he could be to him.
 
“Yeah, sex is good. I guess I must be horny,” Curt said.
 
“What do you want to do?”
 
“I’ll do whatever you want.”
 
That was not the answer Eddie had expected. Usually, Curt set the limits on what he wanted to do sexually. Eddie knew what he wanted to do—he wanted to pound Curt’s tight ass. But he also knew he didn’t want to take advantage of Curt’s open invitation.
 
The result, after making out on the bed, licking each other’s cocks, and playing with each other’s butts, was Curt fucking Eddie, which was a rare occurrence. After their orgasms, Curt snuggled up to Eddie and whispered into his ear, “I love you, Eddie. You’re my most awesome brother.” The boys fell asleep, warmed by their brother’s naked bodies and by their feelings for each other.
 
<Marco and Justin>
 
Marco and Justin no longer tried to hide the fact they slept naked with each other from Mike and Ryan. Justin said they did so because it felt warm and special to touch each other’s skin.
 
After Mike and Ryan had finished tucking them in and left the room, the two preteens kissed and snuggled and sprouted little boners until they pooped out and fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. Marco had asked Justin when they were prepping for bed if they would ever suck each other like Justin had done with Skip.
 
“I don’t know,” Justin answered honestly. “I like hugging you and touching you better. I don’t think it’s as great as all the big kids say it is—it’s like sucking a big thumb.”
 
“Maybe it will be different when we get older,” Marco said.
 
“All I know is I want to snuggle nakey with you tonight.”
 
“That’s what I want to do, too.”
 
And so, after making out for a bit, that’s what they ended up doing and it felt just right for both of them.
 
SATURDAY, MARCH 2
 
<Chase>
 
Chase’s party was scheduled for one o’clock. It would include family and friends but was supposed to be more for Chase’s friends. The big family affair had been the night before.
 
Chase had invited his best friends from school and from the school baseball team. The invite list included three girls. When Logan wondered why his big brother invited girls when he was gay, Chase simply said, “Just because I don’t think girls are sexy doesn’t mean I can’t be friends with them. I mean think about it, straight boys think girls are sexy, but all of them are friends with guys.”
 
“I guess I never thought about it that way,” Logan had replied.
 
Keegan was the earliest to arrive, carrying Lincoln in a bassinette.  “One more afternoon off for Natalie,” Keegan told Troy. He had arrived early to give him some time to chat with his older brother before the thundering herd arrived for the birthday party. “Natalie is enjoying her brief time off. Today it’s lunch with a group of lady friends. Then I’m away driving from tomorrow through Friday, with tomorrow and Thursday nights away from home.”
 
“How are you enjoying being a father right from the beginning?” Troy asked.
 
“I am loving it.” Keegan looked down at his infant son and stroked his smooth cheek. “I didn’t realize it was possible to love another living being so completely and so unconditionally. I have to thank AA for giving me the sobriety to become a real father. Otherwise, there’s a good chance I would have simply fathered another Aiden and left him. This is my son all the way from dirty diapers to ornery teen hood.”
 
“Drake has to be giving you some good lessons in raising a teenager,” Troy chuckled.
 
“I can’t believe how well that has worked out. Think about it—it wasn’t that long ago that we’d be sitting in Natalie’s old apartment getting drunk and stoned together. I am blessed that the program has shown both of us how to start truly living life.” Keegan made no mention of his mystery daughter and Troy didn’t ask.
 
“I hope you realize how much you have grown as a man the last couple of years. I can’t believe you’re the same brother I used to despise.” Troy gave his younger brother a hug. “I love you bro.”
 
“I love you, Troy. And, for the record, you and Phil are the only two people Natalie will allow me to have sex with, not that Phil is interested. I guess she loves brotherly love.”
 
“Yeah, I won’t forget the night we had in the Mayfield Inn.”
 
“You were still as wild and sexy as you were back when we were teens,” Keegan smirked.
 
“But I probably was a bit slower.”
 
“Hey, dude, everything still works, and I’m sure Susan would attest to that.”
 
“Maybe someday we’ll have round two.”
 
Lincoln started to get fussy, which ended the conversation. Susan entered the living room as soon as she heard the baby fuss. Her mother instincts were still in full swing.
 
“Do you mind if I take care of him, Keegan?” she asked her brother-in-law.
 
“Be my guest. I think he’d love being pampered by his Aunt Susan.”
 
“Once a mom always a mom, right dear?” Troy asked.
 
“Without a doubt, even when she has to run a household with five adolescent males,” she replied.
 
“Five? I can only account for four.”
 
“Oh, there are a lot of times you have no problem qualifying, sweetheart, and that would make a total of five.” She gave her husband a quick peck on the lips and then lifted Lincoln out of his bassinette, causing the baby to fuss a little more.
 
“It’s okay, you cute boy, it’s time to let your Aunt Susan spoil you.” She carried him off to the master bathroom.
 
Drake and Pierce were the next to arrive. “Hi again, Uncle Troy and good to see you Dad,” Drake said.  He saw the empty bassinette and asked where Lincoln was. Keegan simply nodded and Pierce said hello to Troy and Keegan.
 
“Chase and company are down in the basement,” Troy told the boys.
 
“I’ll be down in a sec,” Drake told Pierce. “I want to talk with my dad for a minute.” Pierce nodded and headed downstairs.
 
“Hey Dad,” Drake said. “Can we talk for a sec? I got a question.”
Keegan felt good that his son had come to him with a question. “Sure. Let’s go outside and sit at the table on the patio.” Father and son walked outside and sat at the wooden table in the center. Of the patio. “What’s up?”
“Last night Pierce and I were sleeping when all of a sudden he started crying and screaming “No! No! No!”
“A nightmare?”
“Yeah. He said that somebody was whipping and beating Fido. I didn’t know what to do. I held his hand and kissed him and kept saying ‘It’s okay’. We sat up for a few minutes and talked and then he said he was okay and we went back to sleep.”
“What’s the question?”
“What would you have done, Dad? I love him so much and I felt bad that I just wasn’t sure what to say or do.”
“I’d have done exactly what you did, Drake. I think you did the right thing. There’s not much more you could have done.”
“Thanks, Dad. It was just kind of scary.”
“I understand. A nightmare like that can be pretty wicked.” Keegan reached across the table and lightly fingered the scruff growing on Drake’s chin. “You need to get yourself a razor pretty soon, buddy.”
Drake and Keegan came back inside. Drake quickly ran down to the basement to be with his cousins Chase, Curt, Eddie, and Chase’s boyfriend, Dillon. Drake noted the birthday decorations on the walls and hanging from the ceiling.
 
Before saying anything, Drake felt his cheeks with the back of his hands. He felt just the slightest hint of peach fuzz. He had more hair on his upper lip but thought it made him look sophisticated and was going to keep it unless Pierce said something about it. For now he saw no need for him to get a razor.
 
“I guess the second littlest dude must be at Tony’s for his birthday party,” Drake surmised, referring to Logan.
 
“Yep, his b…bed buddy is turning twelve.” Chase had almost let the word “boyfriend” slip out.
 
Drake wasn’t fooled. “So, the little dude has a boyfriend now, does he?”
 
“Bed buddies,” Chase repeated. “They can’t be boyfriends--they’re just little kids.”
 
“Tell that to our twelve-year-old cousin, Aiden,” Drake reminded him.
 
“You’re getting to be way too smart,” Chase chuckled.
 
“You know it. I’m smart enough to be here for a birthday party and plenty of free food.”
 
“And I am happy you are.”
 
Fortunately, there was plenty of food. With twelve hungry teens, not counting the Millers and Dillon, the spaghetti and meat sauce, cake and ice cream, and sundry snacks had to feed many bottomless stomachs. When it was over, Chase thanked everyone for coming. He thanked his parents for putting on a great party.
 
“And thanks for bringing my big, manly cousin, Lincoln, Uncle Keegan.”
 
“I’m sure he can’t wait until Cousin Chase changes his diaper for the first time,” Keegan grinned.
 
“I’ll do it only if it makes me his favorite cousin.”
 
“Truth be told, whoever changes his diaper or feeds him becomes his favorite person.”
“Then I’ll pick feeding him.”
 
“Hey, Chase, if I can change a diaper, I’m sure you can,” Drake said. “And just to keep the pressure on you, Aiden has agreed to give diaper changing a try next time he sees Lincoln. You wouldn’t want Aiden to become Linc’s favorite cousin now, would you?”
 
“You know you’ve become a real hard ass since you got adopted,” Chase said.
 
“Just like my old man,” Drake said, eliciting a chuckle from Keegan.
 
All the partiers except Dillon left by seven o’clock. Dillon spent another night in Chase’s bed. This time Dillon was the top as the teen boyfriends enjoyed another fruitful night in bed.
 
<Logan and Tony>
 
Tony’s party was at his parents’ restaurant, of course. Logan didn’t know any of Tony’s friends, but that soon changed as Logan and Tony’s friends got to know each other. Fourteen of Tony’s friends attended the party, eleven boys and three girls. Justin, Marco, and Joey were also there making for nineteen kids in all when factoring in Tony and Logan.
 
When Tony’s friends asked Logan and Tony how guys who went to Blaine and Jane Addams Middle Schools became friends, Logan and Tony gave them their preplanned answer. “We met when I was helping at the restaurant and Logan came for dinner with his family,” Tony explained. “Then we saw each other there a couple more times and we just liked each other.” The reply, which was pretty much the truth, satisfied everyone.
 
Pizza was the meal of the party, and there was more than enough to supply everyone. It didn’t hurt that Tony’s parents owned the restaurant and had no problem whipping up plenty of food. The cake came from the Petit Pierre Bakery which, like Luigi’s restaurant, was situated in Magnolia Village.
 
After the party, Marne drove Logan, Tony, Justin, Marco, and Joey to their Lake City neighborhood. She dropped Joey off at his house. Joey was happy to finally get to do something with his friends, but an overnight was still out of the question. She then dropped Justin and Marco off at Justin’s house and went home with Logan and Tony.
 
The boys stripped down to their underpants and t-shirts, pulled on a pair of sweats, and went out to the living room wearing their “Marne is home” togs. The Mariners were playing the Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis and were losing 5-3 in the sixth inning after jumping to a 3-0 lead early in the game.
 
As he and Tony watched the game, Logan sat as close to Tony as he dared. He spent almost as much time looking at his boyfriend as he did watching the game. Tony would officially be twelve on Monday. Logan thought it would be awesome if Tony was no longer a virgin on his official birthday. He had to remind himself that as awesome as taking Tony’s virginity would be for himself, he knew more about sex on his eleventh birthday than Tony did two days away from his twelfth. Logan was certain he would eventually take Tony’s cherry, but the time wasn’t right yet. The major question bugging Logan was, how would he know when Tony was ready?
 
The Mariners ended up losing 7-4. Logan and Tony received good night hugs from Marne after the game ended. Short of kissing each other good night, their night had less sex than they had anticipated. After kissing, they snuggled, their naked bodies sending waves of warmth through them. Logan was about to ask Tony if he wanted to mess around before they fell asleep when he realized his boyfriend had already fallen asleep.
 
That was quick, Logan thought. He closed his eyes, taking in the warmth of Tony’s body and quickly joined him in sleep.
 
Marco and Justin were asleep the moment they hit Justin’s bed. What had promised to be a sexy birthday weekend for Logan, Tony, Marco, and Justin was more a weekend of good friends enjoying each other’s company. When bedtime arrives, young boys often think they are full of energy even though they are very tired. This was one of those nights for all four boys.
 
Next: Jammers