Mayfield Titans

CHAPTER 29

WINTER BREAK (2)

 

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21

 

<Aiden>

 

“That was so cool sleeping with you again,” Skip said as he and Aiden showered in the basement shower. “I just wish it was in your bed so you could have done it to me.”

“You gotta remember to be patient, Skip,” Aiden grinned as he washed his young friend’s back.

 

“Patient about what?” Nolan asked as he walked into the shower area with Grant trailing him in.

 

“About Aiden showing me how to do sex,” Skip said with naïve innocence.

 

Nolan looked at Aiden and rolled his eyes, his look saying that Aiden may have created a monster. “It’s a lot of fun doing it once you learn to get used to it,” Grant told him as if his one time as a bottom for Lance made him an expert.

 

“See, I told you we don’t have to wait,” Skip pointed out to Aiden.

 

“You’re ten and Grant is twelve,” Aiden reminded him.

 

“What’s it called when everybody says you can’t do stuff just because of how old you are?”

 

“Age discrimination,” Nolan responded. He and Grant were now under one of the other showerheads, busily washing themselves and each other.

 

“We’ll talk about it later,” Aiden told Skip. He wondered what kind of teacher Grant would be for the eager, horny little kid.

 

Aiden’s question may have been answered when Phil made the announcement that breakfast was ready. Grant was wearing underpants, Gordy was fully dressed—the rest of the boys were naked. Gordy was forgiven for being dressed since his parents would be picking him for Sunday School in a half hour. Grant showed Aiden that he didn’t have the confidence to be Skip’s mentor, especially since Skip pranced naked and hard around Larry, Phil, and the older boys as if he owned the place.

 

By noon, all the guests were gone except for Nolan and Skip. The three were in the basement enjoying the games room. They were no longer naked, Aiden and Nolan having donned t-shirts because the games room tended to be a little cooler than the rest of the house. Skip liked the thrill of being fully naked while the older boys weren’t. He called them old men, saying it wasn’t that cold in the basement.

 

As Aiden prepared to toss a dart at the dart board, Skip reached underneath Nolan’s t-shirt and stroked the young teen’s pubic hair. Skip had been enjoying the feel off and on for the past hour. Nolan jokingly accused Skip of molesting him to make him lose his concentration.

 

“Nuh, uh,” Skip responded. “I just like touching it. I haven’t been touching your boner, have I?”

 

“Well, not totally, but it’s weird how every time you reach in to comb my hairs your hand seems to touch my hardon.”

 

Skip was about to respond when Larry called down to tell him his mother was calling. Skip wondered why he hadn’t heard his phone until he remembered it was in the back room. He went there to grab his phone and call his mom. The gas fireplace was going, and he liked how warm it was in there. Maybe the old men have the right idea about wearing a shirt, he thought.   

 

“My mom is picking me up in fifteen minutes,” Skip announced when he returned to the games room. He was dressed and was carrying his coat and backpack. “Thanks for inviting me, Aiden. I had fun.”

 

“I was glad to have you here, Skip. You’re going to miss one of my dad’s famous toasted ham and cheese sandwiches.”

 

“Maybe next time. I better get upstairs and be ready. I was supposed to call my mom, like, and hour ago and she’s kinda mad. I thought my grandma was picking me up and I forgot about calling my mom.”

 

“Oops,” Nolan said. “Angry moms are not good things at all.”

 

“I wouldn’t know,” Aiden mumbled.

 

“Oh, sorry Aiden, I wasn’t thinking.”

 

“It’s cool. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

 

“Kiss and make up?” Nolan asked. Aiden answered by planting a long kiss on his boyfriend’s lips.

 

“That is so cool,” Skip grinned as he watched the two half-naked boyfriends lovingly end their minor misunderstanding.

After Skip left, Phil told Aiden and Nolan that their sandwiches were ready. The boys took them to the eating room and watched the last quarter of the Seahawks’ playoff game, which they lost 31-24, ending their season.

 

Nolan’s dad picked him up at three. Aiden kissed him goodbye with Paul Moyer looking on. He sat in the living room, admiring the Christmas tree and thinking about how he never had a real Christmas tree until he came to Mayfield as a little eight-year-old, although he was nine by the time Christmas arrived. While he thought that first one was the best Christmas tree ever, he thought the one standing by the front window was the best looking one of his four Christmases with his dads. He smiled thinking how he helped decorate it as well as the rec room. He surprised himself by bowing his head and giving a quick gratitude prayer. He wondered if maybe he believed all the talk about prayer and gratitude he’d been hearing from so many people more than he had thought.

 

Those were his last thoughts until he felt his Dad shaking him awake. “Wake up, sleepy, it’s dinner time,” Phil grinned.

 

“Wow, I fell asleep on the couch,” Aiden yawned.

 

“Great deduction, Sherlock. How about getting up and heading upstairs and washing up. You’re too big for me to be carrying you.”

 

“Weakling,” Aiden smirked as he shook the sleep out of his head.

 

“What I’d like to know is why you’re wearing a t-shirt but no pants?”

 

Aiden stood up and pulled down the shirt to cover his groin. He didn’t know why he did that since he had been naked most of the weekend. “You know that the games room doesn’t heat up all the way. Nolan, Skip, and me didn’t want to get cold.”

 

“Oh, so you keep your boobs warm but let your balls get cold? That sounds like a different tactic.”

 

“I should have you arrested by the bad joke police. You should be happy you aren’t seeing me naked for once.”

 

“You’re a good-looking kid with a nice body, so it’s not like I’m being punished,” Phil chuckled.

 

“Then why are you punishing me with your bad jokes?”

 

“At least I didn’t call you a wood elf.”

 

“Ohh, thank God for small miracles.” Aiden then stepped up to his Dad, wrapped his arms around him, and gave him a tight hug. “I love you Dad.”

 

“I love you, too, son. Now wash up my half-naked wood imp, so we can eat.”

 

“Dad, I just said…”

 

“I called you and imp, not an elf,” Phil laughed.

 

Aiden shook his head and started out of the living room. He stopped when he reached the entry way. He raised his t-shirt past his waist, bent over, parted his ass cheeks, and gave his Dad a full view of his white bubble butt. “Imp this, sucka.”  He took off for the bathroom, laughing all the way.

 

MONDAY, DECEMBER 22

 

<Mayfield Middle School Gym>

 

Basketball practice started at ten in the morning. It wasn’t a true practice, however. It was what Coach Randall called his first annual three-on-three double elimination tournament. With fifteen of the nineteen players on the varsity and JV teams available to practice, the numbers came out just right for five three-man teams. Coach Randall was pleased he didn’t have to form a team or two where the players would be rotated around after each possession. Three players were excused because of family conflicts. The coaches decided to have Scott sit out the tournament. They allowed him to shoot at the south end of the gym with his teammates who weren’t playing a game, but they didn’t want him to be in an intense competitive situation his first practice back from his ankle injury.

 

Coach Randall liked the three-on-three format. He felt that a basic offense was built around three-on-three basketball and had a three-on-three drill scheduled every practice. The tournament offered the players a chance to apply the offensive fundamentals they had been working on since mid-November.

 

The tournament started with a game at each side of the two side baskets on the north end of the gym. Coach Randall supervised one court and Coach Meeker the other. Each team would have an eighth-grade captain picked by the coaches. The rest of the team would be drawn out of a jar at the start of practice. Of the seven eighth graders, one was away on a trip, which meant one team would have two eighth graders. Since there was an odd number of teams, Team Five would get a first-round bye.

 

Aiden was on Team Two with Trent, who was the eighth-grade captain, and Lenny. The team consisted of a small forward (Trent), a seventh-grade guard (Aiden), and a sixth-grade guard (Lenny). What they gave up in size they made up for with their ferocious defense, quickness, and solid fundamentals.

 

“I wouldn’t bet against those little fiends,” Coach Randall confided to Coach Meeker after the teams were drawn.

 

Team Two’s first game was against Team One on the east court. Team One consisted of Tucker Kennedy, an eighth grade forward, Muddy, who, at 5’11 was the second tallest player in the program and was the biggest player physically. The third player was Tanner Howard, a 5’10 sixth grader. Tanner was the only black player on the team and one of the few in the entire school district. The team was big and slow and lacked a player with good ballhandling skills. If Randall was a betting man, he would have put his money on Team Two.

 

The games were played to nine points, with each basket counting as a point. The game was make it-take it, meaning if a team scored they kept possession of the ball. Defensive rebounds had to be brought back past the tape line laid down six feet above the head of the key before the rebounding team could attack the basket. The first team to nine was the winning team provided they had a two-point lead; otherwise the game would continue until somebody won by two. The tournament was a true double elimination and kept going until every team but one had lost two games.

 

Team two’s quickness and their fundamental ability to box their man off the boards made up for the height disadvantage and they took a surprisingly easy 9-4 win over Team One.

 

After their game the players raced to the two drinking fountains. “Wow, they were so much bigger I didn’t think we had a chance,” Lenny said to Aiden as they waited their turn.

 

“We were way quicker and they didn’t have anybody who could dribble very good,” Aiden responded.

 

The five teams battled furiously through nine games until Team Two was the only undefeated team left. Team Two defeated Four 9-6 to move into the championship bracket. Team Four would now Play Team Three, with the winner playing Team Two. 

 

Four had defeated Three in their first game. Since each team had a loss, the loser would be out. Everett, Blake, and Lance were the three players on Team Three, which gave them a good balance of height and quickness. Team four consisted of Max, Scott, and Barry—a very solid trio.

 

The players not playing could shoot at the other end of the court if they wished, but everyone was more interested in watching the matchup. The consensus of the team was that Team Three was better and Team Four was lucky to beat them in their first game. This time the “better” team won. Blake took advantage of his height to dominate the boards and score five points inside as Three battled to a hard fought 9-7 win.

 

Coach Randall gave the players a ten-minute break before rounding everyone up for the championship game. Even though everyone had watched Three defeat Four, they could have shot at the other end of the gym. This time all of the players were required to watch.

 

Aiden and Trent agreed that the best thing Trent could do against Blake would be deny him the ball as much as possible and box him off the boards. Their strategy wasn’t to stop Blake from scoring as to keep him from rebounding and giving his team second and third shots off misses.

 

If Team Two wins the game they would win the tournament. If they lose, then the two teams must play an “If” game to five points with the winner winning the tournament. An “if” game is played only if the team with no losses going into the final game loses to the team with one loss.

 

The “if” game wasn’t needed. Blake managed to score seven points inside off Trent.  Everett had a tough time getting open shots off Aiden but made good use of screens set by Blake to give Blake some good feeds off the pick-and-roll. Lance showed his shooting skills by forcing his brother, Lenny, to play him tight.

 

Aiden was the big scorer for his team. Everett and Blake concentrated their defensive efforts on Trent, who was Team Two’s biggest offensive threat. Trent would dump a pass off to Aiden often leaving Lance having to stop Aiden and Lenny in a two-on-one game. When Team Three abandoned their ill-advised strategy they were down 7-3, but came back to tie the score at eight. Aiden hit a 12-footer for a 9-8 lead, but Blake came back to get an easy layup onside to tie the score at 9-9.

 

At that point, the game became a back and forth battle. The nine players who had been eliminated cheered noisily for both teams. Aiden’s team, down 12-11, rebounded when Everett missed a contested shot. Aiden hit a lay-in off a give and go to tie the score at 12, Lenny scored from the L on a pass kicked out by Trent to make the score 13-12, and Trent scored when Blake gave up a baseline drive to him allowing him to dump the ball to Aiden, who laid it in for a 14-12 win.

 

It was a classic championship game. Aiden led the team with six points.  Trent scored five points and Lenny added three. 

 

Coach Randall turned to Coach Meeker after Aiden scored the winning basket and grinned. “I told you so.”

 

“I’m glad I didn’t bet against you,” Coach Meeker chuckled.

 

The three winning players each received a small, plastic basketball trophy. All the players got to raid an ice chest for a cold soda and grab sandwiches and chocolate brownies prepared by Phil, and Miles and Gordy’s mothers.

 

After eating and a meeting, the boys went to the locker room to shower, dress, and head home. No one was surprised to see boners popping up in the locker room. Max, Everett, Trent, Aiden, Blake, Mason, Miles, and Tanner were all afflicted with what Barry called “erectitis”.

 

“Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it captain Barry,” Max chuckled. “And yours looks like it’s working its way up.” Barry was fully hard within seconds.

 

Everett started seriously jerking off as Gordy and Grant entered the shower area together. Gordy shook his head and turned on one of the showers while Grant stood stock still, mouth agape. If Aiden didn’t know any better, he would have thought Grant had never seen a boy jerk off before.

 

“You’ve got a lot of hair for a sixth grader,” Max told Tanner.

 

“Yeah, it came in fast. I had, like, none back in July,” Tanner responded. While he wasn’t doing it as seriously as Everett, he was maintaining a steady stroke on his five-inch erection. “And my cock’s grown pretty fast, too.” Muddy was bigger and had more hair when he was in sixth grade, Mason thought, but he diplomatically kept his mouth shut.

 

“Have you turned twelve yet?”

 

“Yeah, I did back in October. Jerked off five times that day to celebrate.”

“I never knew you were such a horndog,” Miles said. He was now seriously jerking off as well.

 

“I thought only eighth graders did stuff like this in the showers,” Tanner said.

 

“I guess that’s changed,” Aiden giggled. The ongoing circle jerk was almost overwhelming to watch.

 

“You guys are gonna be in big trouble if the coaches come back here,” Gordy said as he started out of the shower area.

 

“Not if you yell out, ‘Hey Coach, the tournament was fun’ if you see one come out of his office and turn this way,” Aiden told him.

 

“I can do that.” Gordy left alone; Grant had finally stepped under a showerhead, his cocklet rock hard.

 

“You trust Gordy to do that?” Max asked. “I thought he was Mister Goody Goody.”

 

“Gordy might not usually do this kind of thing, but he doesn’t care if somebody else does it,” Aiden explained. “He’s my friend and our teammate and he’s on our side.”

 

At that point, everything changed in a hurry. First, Everett shot his wad onto the shower floor with some landing in his hand. Tanner came within seconds.

 

“Nice load, kid,” Max said with justified admiration.

 

And then Gordy’s voice came from the locker area. “Hey coach, that tournament was really fun.”

 

At that point Max, Grant, and Aiden turned off their showers and grabbed their nearby towels while Miles, Blake, and Trent quickly turned so they were facing the far wall. Everett did the same because his cock still hadn’t deflated; Tanner’s had, and he stood facing out while striking an innocent pose.

 

Mason, on the other hand, remained facing out, his hairless three-and-a-half-inch erection standing proudly. The other boys said nothing as they waited to hear what Coach Randall had to say.

 

“Hurry up boys, Coach Meeker and I want to lock up the gym and go home,” Coach Randall told them. And then, after a pregnant pause, he shook his head and said, “Cover that thing up, Mason, before you get arrested for carrying a deadly weapon.” He turned and left the shower area to the hoots, hollers, and laughs of Mason’s Titan teammates.

 

“Fuck, Mason,” Everett said. “Didn’t you hear what Aiden told Gordy about giving us a warning?”

 

“Sure I did, but I figured Coach Randall has seen a boner before in his life, so why should I go and get all freaked out over it.”

 

“Mason is the only kid I know who would do what he did and not even get embarrassed by it,” Aiden said. Aiden was thankful he had been able to grab his towel in time to hide his boner.

 

“Shit, he didn’t even get yelled at for it,” Everett pointed out. “But, damn, if Coach wanted to see a fucking deadly weapon, he should have checked this out.” Everett grabbed his now semi-hard penis and stretched it.

 

“Want me to suck it?” Mason asked.

 

“Are you joking with me?”

 

Mason shook his head while Miles said, “Mason you can get away with having a boner in the shower, everybody gets them. But giving somebody a blow job in here—I don’t think so.”

 

“What, you’re my mother now?” Mason asked.

 

“Mason, you mean you’re really offering to suck my cock?” Everett asked again.

 

“I am, but not here. No matter what Miles thinks, I’m not dumb.” When he saw Aiden shaking his head, he amended his comment by saying, “Well, not usually, anyway. Anyway, I was thinking if you wanted one, I’d reward you for cumming first by giving you one, but it will have to wait until after Christmas.”

 

“Warning, warning,” Aiden said using a robotic voice. “Mason collects blow jobs. I repeat, Mason collects blow jobs.”

 

“Mason does collect them and he’ll give you one of the best ones you ever had,” Miles interjected.

 

“What do you mean he collect blow jobs?” Everett asked.

 

“He loves sucking dick so much he keeps track of them and his are so good they’re hard to turn down.”

 

“Well, then, let’s see if we can set something up after one of next week’s practices.”

 

The story of Mason’s deadly weapon became a locker room legend, right up there with Marty’s jerk offs in the showers and on team bus trips, and boner rallies by one of Mayfield’s class of baseball players. All of them made for great erotic stories, but as the years passed by nobody was sure whether or not to believe them.

 

<Kalie>

 

Kalie and her cousin Gretchen were busily helping Kalie’s mother get the house prepared for Kalie’s party. Both girls were wearing long shirts covering their panties, and socks. Kalie’s brother, Travis, was working with Ian in the backhouse. Gretchen and Ian had arrived in Centralia from Eugene, Oregon, on the Amtrak Coast Starlight the evening before. Their parents, Kalie’s Aunt Pam and Uncle Mike, would drive up on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christmas. The family would drive home together on Sunday the 28^th.

 

Travis, who was nineteen, was home from college for the holidays. He had always enjoyed the company of his cousin Ian, who was fourteen, especially now that he was an unapologetic horn dog.

 

“Well, the floor is swept, the carpet has been vacuumed, the beds are made, and, just to make the girls happy, the pillows are fluffed,” Travis said.

 

“The perfect place for me to put my big pecker on display,” Ian said.

 

“How big is that monster of yours?”

 

“Over five and a half inches and growing. Kalie’s invited a lot of girls tonight and I’m sure one of them would be happy to sample it.”

 

“And if not?”

 

“Won’t happen because there will be one here that I’ve had a few times. Plus, I know there will be couple of boys with cute asses who will be here. And I know they are not virgins.”

 

“I know it’s not my virgin sister,” Travis chuckled.

 

“I can’t believe you haven’t fucked her.”

 

“Dude, I’m seven years older than her. Doing her would be wrong. She’s seen me jerk off, and even jerked me off, but even that isn’t really right. What I can’t believe is that YOU haven’t fucked her.”

 

“Hey, dude, it’s not because I haven’t tried. She knows I want to do it, but she wants her first time to be a friend, like her sexless boyfriend, Gordy. I think the dude she REALLY wants is Aiden, who has the sexy ass I want to sample. Who do you plan on messing around with tonight?”

 

“I’m going out with a couple of my old high school buddies. We’re going to do a movie in Centralia and I’ll be spending the night with Gary, who was my best buddy from grade school until graduation and probably enjoy a few beers together.”

 

“Were you bed buddies?”

 

“What do you think?” Travis smirked.

 

“I think somebody will find somebody to sleep with tonight. Too bad you’re not staying here cuz Kalie knows the hottest boys and girls in seventh grade. And my sister really wants to do it with you.”

 

“For real? Gretchen wants my body?”

 

“You better believe it. But, hey, there’s always tomorrow night. You and Gretchen and me and Kalie doing it next to each other on the big bed in that bedroom,” Ian said pointing to the big bedroom on the east side of the house.

 

Ian opened his pants, unzipped, and pulled them and his boxers down, revealing his throbbing erection. “There it is cuz, hungry for your mouth.”

 

“It’s about time for lunch, I think.”

 

“Dude, this would be lunch—a protein lunch.”

 

Travis started out the door while Ian pulled up his pants. He didn’t bother zipping up, leaving the head of his hard prick sticking out of the pee slit of his boxers. He was prepared to tuck it into his pants at the first hint that his Aunt was close by.

 

Only Kalie and Gretchen were in the kitchen when he walked in. He made a quick adjustment that exposed more of his erection.

 

“Hey, big brother, your zipper is open and you’re losing something,” Gretchen giggled.

 

Ian looked down at his protruding cock. “Well, shit, so I am. Thing’s so big I can’t keep in in my pants.”

 

“Your brother is just a wee bit horny,” Travis chuckled.

 

“Tell us about it,” Kalie said as she felt a stirring in her pussy.

 

The conversation was interrupted by Kalie’s mother “Kalie, are the cookies set out?”

 

“Yes, mom.”

 

Travis watched with amusement as Ian pushed his dick into his boxers and zipped his pants with one practiced motion. Ian had obviously been in this situation before.

 

The first two guests were Autumn and Brittany. Ian was certain he was going to get laid as soon as he saw Autumn. He knew what her reputation was and had come close to fucking her once before. He would love to fuck Brittany who had a way better personality, but knew she was picky about who she would have sex with. For some reason he couldn’t fathom, he wasn’t one of them.

 

Ten minutes later Aiden, Mason, and Gordy arrived. They said their hellos and then went directly to the plate loaded with chocolate chip cookies. Ian could see Kalie light up when she saw the two boys. He wondered if she was turned on by Gordy, Aiden, or both. He speculated it was both.

 

“Where are the oatmeal raisin cookies?” Gordy asked. “You made ccc’s for Aiden but no oatmeal raisins for me. What’s the deal?”

 

“He has a nicer butt than you do,” Ian smirked.

 

“Ian, behave!” Kalie shouted out.

 

“You wouldn’t know what to do with me if I behaved, cuz.” Ian then grabbed a couple of chocolate chip cookies and took a bite out of one. “Hey, you’ve got great taste in cookies, Aiden.”

 

“There are oatmeal raisin in the kitchen,” Gretchen said. “Kalie just wanted to see what Gordy would say when he saw only chocolate chips.”

 

“Well, I guess she knows now,” Gordy said grumpily.

 

The next to arrive were Trent and Miles. Both had become very horny after watching Everett masturbate after practice and seeing so many of their teammates boned up. Trent convinced Miles that taking care of their needs might be a good idea before going to Kalie’s party. “For one thing, we won’t have hair triggers when things start getting hot tonight,” Trent pointed out. Miles didn’t need much convincing. They went to Trent’s house and got naked. Miles had no problem being the bottom and enjoyed a hard fucking from the athletic thirteen-year-old.

 

 The group went to the backhouse and spent the next couple of hours playing games, watching television, finding out what was new in Gretchen and Ian’s lives, and keeping their clothes on. Ian almost behaved himself, but when he took a seat next to Autumn on one of the couches, his zipper once again found a way to work itself down leaving little to Autumn’s imagination.

 

Just before dinner, the last guest arrived. “Sorry to be so late,” Heather apologized. “Mom made me finish some chores before I could come. She can be such a bitch sometimes.”

 

When Aiden saw her come into the backhouse, he was ready to call one of his dads to get a ride home. While Aiden thought Autumn was annoying with her fixation on sex, he thought Heather was a total pain in the ass with her constant attempts to make him her boyfriend. He took a deep breath, told himself to pause, and remained in place. He wanted to have dinner with his friends and wasn’t going to let his resentments against Heather spoil that. On top of that, Kalie’s mother was an excellent cook. He could always leave after he ate.

 

After dinner, Aiden decided to stay. He had to call his dads between ten and eleven for a ride home and figured he could last that long—it wasn’t like he was going to end up in bed with Heather, or Autumn, or Kalie, or Brittany; he wasn’t sure about Gretchen though. The thought of seriously making out with Gretchen for the purpose of making Heather mad intrigued him.

 

While the subject of sex was mostly ignored before dinner, it was the first thing to come up when they returned to the backhouse. No one questioned that they were going to start making out. What they wondered was who was going to make out with whom and were they going to take their clothes off. They discussed the first question and came up with three answers. Gordy would be making out with Kalie, Trent would make out with Brittany, whom he had fucked a few months ago, and Heather would convince Aiden that he wasn’t gay and should make out with her.

 

As for the clothes, they were going to play a game to get them off. Kalie brought out a bowl with strips of paper in it. Each strip had a name on it. A name would be pulled out of the bowl and that person would point to somebody in the room and tell him or her what to take off. The game started off with Aiden’s name being picked and his telling Gordy to take off his left shoe.

 

And so the game went. As the clothes flew off and the comments and kidding got raunchier it became apparent that most of the kids were working hard to keep things even. Aiden had seen that as a possible issue with the game. Since it was really a game of chance except for whoever decided who was going to take off an item of clothing, they would probably all end up in just their underpants before something more came off.

 

Trent, Brittany, Ian, and Kalie were down their underwear when Aiden’s name was picked out of the bowl. Aiden decided it was time to quit putzing around and get somebody naked. “I call on Trent and it’s obvious what he has to do.”

 

Everyone giggled as Trent removed his boxers, revealing his five-inch erection. “I guess somebody had to be first,” Trent grinned.

 

That opened the floodgates. On the next draw Ian called out Kalie, who became the first naked girl, and everyone was naked within a couple of minutes.

 

At that point embarrassment set in. All of them but Heather had been naked with somebody of the opposite sex before. But this seemed different for some of them. Aiden was embarrassed about being naked in front of Heather and his pubescent cock was flaccid. Mason became more convinced that being naked with other boys was much sexier than being naked with a girl. He especially felt that way when he realized that his hairless cock and balls were the smallest among the boys. Like Aiden, his cock was flaccid.

 

Trent looked over at Brittany and wondered why he got carried away and fucked her. Brittany was even more embarrassed about being naked in front of a group of boys than Heather was. All Kalie wanted was to get into bed with Gordy while Miles hoped he could have sex with Brittany again. Autumn, Gretchen, and Ian paraded around like getting sexy as a group was what they were all supposed to be doing.

 

Heather sat next to Aiden, making him cringe. Both wished they had clothes on. In all of her daydreams of being naked, she got naked alone and not in a group. “Where is your boyfriend?” she asked.

 

“Some family thing,” Aiden lied. The truth was Nolan didn’t want to come. “Why would I want to get naked with a bunch of girls? I know some of them are your friends, but that’s not the case for me. I think I’ll pass on this one.” Aiden would have passed as well if Gordy hadn’t told him how much he would appreciate having Aiden with him at Kalie’s house for support.

 

“Gordy and I are going into the main bedroom for a bit,” Kalie said. “If you decide to come in, knock first and wait a few seconds. If we don’t stop you, then come on in and watch for a little while.”

 

Gordy gave Kalie a look that said, Where did THAT come from? But, he quietly acquiesced and followed Kalie into the bedroom, his cock at full mast.

 

“Me, Gretchen, and Autumn are going into the other bedroom,” Ian reported. “Same rules as theirs except nobody is gonna stop you from coming in to watch.” Autumn flashed a lustful grin and struck a sexy pose. The girls then followed Ian into the other bedroom. Ian was rock hard and dribbling precum. “Don’t worry, I got a condom,” Ian called back as he stepped through the door. “In fact I got two of them.”

 

“How come you don’t have any pubic hair yet?” Heather asked Aiden. Heather had wisps of pubic hair along with a pair of budding, lemon sized breasts.

 

“Because I told it not to grow,” Aiden responded, wondering if Heather had slept through sex education.

 

“You don’t have to get all snotty about it; I was just wondering. Can I touch your thingie?” The use of the word cinched it for Aiden; Heather had slept through sex education.

 

“I’d prefer you didn’t.”

 

Heather looked at the other boys in the room: Trent, Miles, and Mason. They were all sporting boners; Aiden was the only boy in the group whose penis was flaccid. “Why isn’t yours hard like theirs?” she asked.

 

Aiden wanted to make a smart-ass remark, along the lines of, “Maybe because you’re sitting next to me.” Instead he said, “I’m just not turned on right now.”

 

Aiden and Heather heard a moan from the other couch and quickly turned to see what it was. “What is Mason doing?” Heather screeched.

 

“He’s giving Trent a blow job,” Aiden grinned, feeling his first sexual surge since they played their striptease game.

 

“Blow job? He’s not blowing on Trent’s thingie at all. It’s more like he’s sucking on it.”

 

“That’s why it’s also called sucking cock or dick.”

 

“Then why does everybody call it a blow job?”

 

“Beats the fuck out of me. Maybe because it makes somebody blow their wad?”

 

“What does that mean?” Heather hadn’t taken her eyes from what Mason was doing since she’d first seen it. Then she saw Miles and Brittany squeezed into the easy chair, busily kissing each other and feeling each other up. Heather was feeling horny for the first time since the striptease game, as well.

 

“Do you want to do what Miles and Brittany are doing with me?” Heather asked Aiden.

 

“Nope.”

 

“Fine, be that way.”

 

Heather once again turned her attention to Mason and Trent. “Ohhhhhh, shit Mason, I’m cummmmmmmming,” Trent called out as he started unloading into Mason’s eager mouth. At the same time, a loud screech came from the back bedroom.

 

“What’s he doing?” Heather asked.

 

“Blowing his wad,” Aiden explained as if that was all Heather needed to know.

 

“Huh? I swear you’re the weirdest boyfriend, ever.”

 

“That’s not what Nolan thinks.”

 

“He doesn’t count. You can only be a boyfriend to a girl.”

 

For a couple of minutes Aiden thought Heather had gotten over her stupid crush on him, but now it seemed to be revving up again. He wondered if watching Miles and Brittany making out had anything to do with stirring her up again.

 

Before Aiden could say anything, the back bedroom door opened and Autumn stepped out grinning. “Ohhhhh, Ian is the best ever,” she cooed. “He needs to move here so we can start going out together.”

 

Ian came out behind her, sniffing the middle finger of his right hand while he held his cock and balls with his left. “Autumn ain’t bad either,” Ian smirked. “She needs to move to Eugene so she can be my girlfriend. Now, gotta take care of my sister who was mega-turned on by Autumn eating her out while we fucked.”

 

“I wonder what Gordy and Kalie are doing?” Autumn asked after Ian closed the door.

 

“You can always knock on the door and find out,” Miles said as he and Brittany broke a long, deep kiss. Both were surprised they had gotten so passionate. Brittany was afraid of where it might lead while Miles wasn’t worried since he had a tween sized condom Aiden had given him. Larry ordered the smaller condoms from Sweden, a country that discovered that giving condoms to adolescents of all ages had the remarkable result of reducing teen pregnancy.

 

Brittany’s issue was that she had gone all the way three times, once with Miles and twice with Trent, and sometimes found herself being hit by guilt feelings generated by losing her virginity before she was even thirteen. Once was to a boy who liked sex with boys better than with girls, and the other was to a boy a grade older who told her Diane North was his girlfriend before they had sex the first time. He broke up with Diane before their second time. Now, Brittany wanted to wait until she was in high school before she went all the way again.

 

Miles followed Autumn to the main bedroom door. She knocked and after no one told her not to open the door, she opened and stepped in. Miles looked around her where he saw Gordy and Kalie lying side-by-side.

 

“Happy now?” Gordy asked

 

“You could have said to stay out,” Miles reminded him.

 

“We were just talking,” Kalie said.

 

“You didn’t do anything?”

 

“We both had orgasms and how we did it is our business,” Kalie said. “Just like Autumn’s is her business and yours is your business.” As Aiden would learn later, Gordy and Kalie came during a sixty-nine, their first time doing it to orgasm.

 

“Looking at Miles’ dick, I bet he hasn’t done any business,” Gordy giggled.

 

“I’m so close,” Miles moaned.

 

“I can’t let one of my best friends come to Kalie’s house and only get close.” He jumped off the bed, approached Miles, got on his knees, and sucked him off to a quick orgasm.

 

“That’s what I was thinking of doing,” Autumn said.

 

Gordy swallowed Miles’ emission. “Best friends do more than think of helping, they get up and do it.”

 

That ended the sex for the evening. Phone calls were made to parents, clothes were donned and, except for those spending the night, they prepared to go home. Those spending the night with Kalie were Heather, Autumn, and of course, her cousins Gretchen and Ian.

 

The only ones not enjoying an orgasm at Kalie’s party were Aiden and Mason. Mason and Aiden had already arranged for Mason to overnight at Aiden’s house. A sixty-nine followed by Aiden topping Mason for the first time took care of any excess horniness the two tweens might have had.

 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25

 

<Aiden>

 

Most of the time between Kalie’s party and Christmas morning had been a blur for Aiden. The time was filled with shopping for and wrapping a couple of last-minute presents, keeping the decorations neat, jerking off, reading, watching TV, hot tubbing, getting his ass kicked by Larry in ping pong, talking or texting with friends, and the usual routines of life.

 

The time that left sharp memories was Tuesday afternoon to Christmas Eve morning. Marty treated Aiden and Nolan along with Gordy, Miles, and Grant to a session in the batting cage in Centralia.

 

Grant had always been afraid and shy when it came to participating in sports. But Larry’s keen eye saw that Grant was a coordinated boy with quick hands but lacking specific skills. Aiden had told Larry how Grant would often find reasons not to play in pickup games. More and more often, however, Aiden and his friends were able to talk him into playing with them. One thing Aiden could see was that Grant enjoyed watching and following sports, he was just afraid to play them. One thing that told Larry and Aiden that there was more to Grant than met the eye was his burgeoning skill level in ping pong. He was quick to the ball, learned great control of his paddle, and more often than not either won his game or was on the winning doubles team.

 

One Wednesday evening in early October, after the Fourth Dimension meeting was over, Aiden worked on talking Grant into turning out for basketball.

 

“But I never turned out for a sport,” Grant pointed out.

 

“So? You’ve started playing in the games at lunch recess and you look pretty good for somebody who never played. You dribble okay and you shoot okay. You just have a lot to learn is all,” Aiden told him.

 

“Yeah, I do things okay because you keep making me play when you play, and you help me some.”

 

With a bit of reluctance Grant tried out for basketball, mostly because of Aiden all but tying him up and dragging him to the first practice. After a couple of practices, Grant realized he just might be good enough to make the team and worked hard to use what Aiden, Larry, and others had been teaching him. He might have been the only person surprised when Coach Meeker told him he had made the JV team. He was pick number twenty of twenty and soon moved up to nineteen when Roger quit the team after five practices, complaining the coaches were making him work too hard. Roger was already on a path to be removed from the program for attending parties where alcohol was consumed. While he didn’t think he would be caught because it was unlikely that somebody at one of the parties would rat him out, there was still a chance of it happening. He decided it would look better overall if he complained about the coaches and quit than get kicked off for drinking. The first scenario would get him in less trouble with his parents.

 

But now it was Christmas morning. Since opening presents could require a lot of energy, Aiden felt it was his duty to cook up Christmas breakfast. His breakfast was pancakes, fried eggs, bacon, and cold orange juice. He let Phil take care of making the coffee since that was his Dads’ thing.

 

After eating breakfast and the post-breakfast cleanup, it was time for Aiden, Larry, and Phil to gather around the tree in the living room and open presents. One of his presents was a new telephoto zoom lens as well as a macro lens for his camera. Through no fault of his own, the telephoto lens he had wouldn’t auto focus and when taking pictures of fast-moving trains, manual focus meant lost opportunities. The camera shop said that brand of lens was notorious for having that issue arise. Larry and Phil did their homework diligently and purchased a high-end brand that was a huge upgrade from the lens he had.

 

The macro, which was a lens for taking closeups, was something Larry and Phil had been looking at for a Christmas present since the County Fair. It was going to be his only Christmas lens until the telephoto started failing him. The new macro excited Aiden because it would be opening a whole new world of photography for him.

 

“This is awesome. Thank you, guys.”

 

“You might as well chuck your old telephoto. I think the new one is a huge improvement. The camera shop will be conducting seminars on both lenses over the next couple of months, which will mean a couple of trips to Olympia. The macro isn’t any good for taking train pictures, but it will give you more versatility as a photographer, especially when you start your photography classes at school,” Phil pointed out.

 

“Hey, maybe I can use the macro for some shots on the model train table at Nolan’s.” Phil and Larry loved to see Aiden’s active mind busily at work.

 

Aiden next opened up an envelope with a gift card from Champion Sporting Goods in Centralia. Larry explained that the card was intended to be used for baseball. Aiden knew he would need new cleats and he also wanted a new glove, which he would have to start breaking in soon.

 

Aiden’s favorite present was two printed pages in a manila envelope. One page was the picture of a vintage vista-dome passenger car riding in the mountains. The other page was the itinerary of a ten-day train safari, which included seven days riding in that vintage car. The trip was scheduled for early August.

 

“Dads, we’re really going to be riding in that dome car?” Aiden asked just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming it.

 

“Yes, sir. This is the real thing,” Larry grinned. “Conveniently scheduled after baseball season ends, not only for you, but for a certain boyfriend and his family.”

 

“Nolan is going too?” Aiden shouted with glee.

 

“With his family,” Phil replied. “Your Pop and I have been working with Nolan’s parents to set up this double Christmas present. I have a feeling the two of you are going to be chatting on the phone forever real soon.”

 

“Unless Nolan and I are allowed on Skype a week early,” Aiden said.

 

“What do you think, Larry?” Phil asked trying to hide a grin.

 

“I think it’s doable,” Larry said. “Why wait until the New Year when you have something so very important to discuss on Christmas morning?”

 

Aiden scanned the smiles on the faces of both of his parents and shook his head. “You guys had this planned all along didn’t you?”

 

“Even we could figure out that waiting until the first of the year to start the privilege made little sense when it could be a Christmas present.”

 

“How did you talk Nolan’s mom into changing her mind?”

 

“She was in on it from the start. In fact, it was her idea. She thought yanking your chains was just punishment for the two of you constantly complaining about having to wait to start Skype. Anyway, the entire process was confusing, but we worked it out.”

 

“Well, it’s a good thing you haven’t opened all my presents.” Aiden grabbed a rectangular present from under the tree. “I think I’ll return this one to punish you.”  Before Aiden could react, Phil grabbed the present out of his hands and ripped the wrapping paper off. It was a book titled “The 300 Club”, the stories and careers of baseball’s 300-game winners.

 

“Wow, you’d better not take it back. This looks like an incredible read,” Larry said.

 

“I’ll be good and let you keep it if you promise to let me read it when you guys are done.”

 

“Deal, and Merry Christmas.”

 

“Merry Christmas, dads.” Aiden went from chair to chair to give each dad a long, loving hug. “I love you both so much. Thanks for becoming my dads—you’re the best dads on the planet, even if you have to learn not to listen to Nolan’s mom,” he giggled. “This has been the best Christmas ever.”

 

“You say that every Christmas,” Larry said.

 

“That’s because it’s true, every Christmas.”

 

Aiden’s Christmas wasn’t finished. First, he had saved his present from Nolan to open when they got on the phone. But now that he could be on Skype, Nolan could watch him unwrap it.

 

His next Christmas started at two-thirty when Grandpa Art and Grandma Jennifer, Larry’s parents, arrived in Centralia on the Amtrak Cascades to celebrate Christmas and for Christmas dinner. Christmas dinner would be at Gordy’s house. They would be staying in the guest room overnight.

 

The Christmas after that would be at the Miller house in Seattle. Aiden and his dads, along with his grandparents, would be taking the ten-thirty train northbound out of Centralia. Larry’s parents would disembark in Tacoma and Aiden and his dads would continue on to Seattle. Aiden and his dads would be staying overnight as would Drake. Keegan and Natalie decided that they preferred to sleep in their own bed. Drake would take the light rail home the next day.

 

Larry helped Aiden get Skype set up on his computer and his phone. He and Nolan connected at the appointed time. After Larry saw that everything was working properly, he left Aiden’s room and the two boyfriends chatted, showed off, opened each other’s presents, and, to properly christen their new online service, did everything they could to turn each other on and then watched each other jerk off.

 

Before logging out the boys criticized their parents’ planning for the day, and they weren’t referring to the Skype scam. They wondered why, if Aiden and his dads were going to Centralia to pick up Aiden’s grandparents, they couldn’t have added a stop at Nolan’s house to the itinerary. Larry told Aiden that it had to do with both families trying not to work too much into the day. The boys thought it was a lame excuse, but as they chatted about it on Skype, Aiden, who had learned a lot about logistics when he planned a lot of the Thanksgiving Feast could start to see where his dads were coming from.

 

“I’m not washing my cum off until tomorrow morning’s shower. Merry Christmas my sweet love.”

 

“Merry Christmas my sexy sweet Christmas elf.”

 

As Aiden’s afternoon and evening unfolded, he once again saw how tight their schedule really was. To add a side trip to Meadow Park, they would have had to time everything closely. He and Nolan would have had to wait to inaugurate Skype and after getting the news they could to it, they wanted it NOW!

 

Aiden got a phone call from Marty that evening. He told Marty he could now do Skype every time they talked. They switched over and enjoyed a forty-minute chat. Marty felt a little disappointed that Aiden was fully dressed, but he knew that would change in the future.

 

Before crawling into bed, Aiden said a long and heartfelt gratitude prayer. He couldn’t remember being happier and couldn’t imagine anything happening to disturb his happiness and gratitude. As the New Year unfolded, he would be reminded that life still had bumps to be negotiated.

 

<Marty>

 

Marty and Rich were enjoying Christmas with Rich’s parents, his brother Mikey, and Mikey’s fiancé, Peter. Peter was the general manager at Parker’s Steak House in Centralia.

 

Dinner would be an early afternoon meal. Rich’s mother, Nancy, was busily finishing her beef stroganoff, made from a recipe supplied by Phil Miller. The men in the crowd ran in and out to help as needed. Don, who was Rich and Mikey’s father, was on kitchen duty at the time.  Peter pointed out that even though he managed a top tier restaurant, he came up as a waiter and cooking was not his thing.

 

“Mikey is the head chef of our relationship,” Peter chuckled. “Nancy taught him well.”

 

“Rich and I both enjoy cooking,” Marty said.

 

“You have to watch out with Marty,” Rich leered. “He’s the experimenter in the kitchen.”

 

“Not to mention in bed,” Marty smirked.

 

“I didn’t see anything wrong with his experiments last night,” Peter said. Marty and Rich had spent Christmas Eve at Mikey and Peter’s apartment in Centralia. After enjoying Christmas Eve dinner at the Steak House, they enjoyed each other’s bodies in bed. Peter had wanted to have sex with Marty since he was a college student working as a waiter at Parker’s and Marty was a fourteen-year-old teen sexpot. Last night he finally got his wish, and it was well worth waiting for. Rich and Mikey had been enjoying sex together since Rich was in middle school. Of course, after round one they switched partners for a rollicking second round of sex as Peter enjoyed his fiancé’s brother and Marty had sex with Mikey for the first time since he and Rich had married.

 

"Oh, by the way, all this talk about last night reminds me I have something to show you," Marty said as he pulled up a text on his phone. "I got this little present this morning."

 

The text was from Marty’s teammate, Wade Whalen. There was a picture attached.  It read "Greetings and Merry Christmas.  This is me and Griffin.  Can't really use the word boyfriend yet but we've gotten VERY close.  Thanks for your help and hope to see you and Rich soon."

 

"Holy crap," Rich whispered. "Griffin's gorgeous."

 

"Yeah. Nowhere near as gorgeous as my husband, but not bad.”

 

"So, did you answer him yet?"

 

"Not yet.”

 

Rich, Mikey, and Peter stood behind Marty, looking at the picture on his phone. Wade and Griffin were both shirtless, wearing only Calvin Klein briefs.

 

“Fuck, how can you stand changing in the locker room with Wade?” Mikey drooled. Marty zoomed in on the picture for an endowment check.

 

“Oh shit, I think I’m gonna faint. Ask Wade when we can have a four-way,” Rich panted.

 

Rich, Marty, Mikey, and Peter were cracking up when Rich’s father came back into the living room.

 

Don Jones was not a dummy.  He knew those were four young gay men, not kids, sitting in his living room.  He could almost guess what they were leering at on the screen - he had heard the end of Rich's remark when he said "four way" and knew what it meant.

 

In the beginning, Don had been a bit disappointed that he and his wife had two gay sons. They had difficulty accepting the gay lifestyle. However, as his sons grew older, both he and Nancy became more and more proud of them, especially Mikey, who had pulled himself out of a life of drugs and alcohol.

 

Marty, Rich, Mikey, and Peter looked up from the screen of Marty's phone to see Don standing there with a huge grin on his face.

 

 "Would that be anything I might be interested in?"

 

"Oh, probably not, Dad," a red-faced Mikey said in a let's-change-the-subject-fast tone of voice. "Is dinner almost ready?"

 

"It is - I was just coming in here to tell you.  Although it looks like you might have already had your appetizer."

 

Nancy's beef stroganoff dinner was delicious, the dessert that Peter and Mikey brought was delicious and, as Marty whispered to the other three as they went to the living room to open gifts, the appetizer wasn't bad either.

 

<Mike, Ryan, and Justin>

 

Justin’s Christmas started with breakfast in the Woodward Retirement Home’s family dining room where Maggie had made reservations for them. Justin ordered pancakes and eggs and enjoyed being with his dads and Maggie. While there was a lot of adult talk going on, they made sure to keep Justin in the conversation. The two teachers knew the importance of keeping kids involved.

 

“Everybody here is old,” Justin observed.

 

“That’s because most people who retire are old,” Maggie reminded him.

 

“I know that. What I meant was there’s not a lot of kids like me here. Don’t all these old people have grandkids like you, Grans?”

 

“Well there are two families with kids sitting at the tables behind you, you know,” Mike told him. “Or did you walk in here with your eyes closed?”

 

“Oh, yeah. I got so busy eating my pancakes I forgot about them.”

 

“An understandable lapse,” Maggie said.

 

Justin turned and looked behind him. The family at the table behind him had teenagers. A couple of kids his own age were sitting at the next table over. He didn’t feel quite as out of place after seeing them.

 

After breakfast, they went to Mike and Ryan’s house. Justin rode with Maggie, who followed Mike and Ryan in her own car. “I am old, not old and infirm,” Maggie told Mike after he told her she could ride with them and he would drive her back after they celebrated Christmas. Mike had long ago learned that when Maggie made up her mind, it was made up.

 

Justin had been remarkably patient considering that a pile of presents was under the Christmas tree begging to be opened. Mike and Ryan had allowed him to open one present before they left for breakfast. They made sure that the present Justin had been begging for had not been brought out; they wanted Justin’s reaction when he opened the present to be part of the main celebration. While the present Justin picked to open wasn’t a glamorous one, it did please him. It was two packages of colored briefs, each package containing a different assortment of five briefs.

 

“These are cool. Thanks Daddy Donkey and Papa Dawg. Now Joey and me will both look really cool in our underwear.” Mike and Ryan decided not to dig into the meaning of that statement. “Can I put a pair on now?”

 

“Go right head, but only open one package. That way Grandma Maggie can see how stylish you’re going to be,” Ryan said.

 

Justin then surprised them by opening his Chinos and pulling them off. He then looked at the packages, saw what he wanted in one of them, and opened the package, pulling out a solid red pair of briefs.

 

“My favorites,” he grinned.

 

Mike and Ryan gave each other a grin that said, Is he going to change his briefs right in front of us? The answer was yes.

 

Justin pulled off his briefs. It wasn’t the first time they had seen Justin with no pants on, but the other two times had been glimpses of him going from his room to the bathroom to shower. This time they got to see his goods straight on. They were not surprised to see that he had the small cock, smooth, tight balls, and hairless groin of a normal pre-teen. They already knew he was cut because they had asked Maggie in case they might have to do some review on the care and upkeep of an uncut penis.

 

Mike noted that Justin didn’t seem at all embarrassed about being exposed in front of them. I guess that makes him a lot like Ry and me back when we were kids; we had no qualms about being nude in front of anybody.

 

Justin stepped into his new briefs and walked around the living room admiring himself. “I’ve got a lot of colors,” he told his dads. “I see some colors Joey doesn’t have. Also, mine are Fruits and his are Hanes, so we’ll both look cool but will still be different.”

 

Ryan wanted to say, But it’s just underpants, but once again kept his mouth closed. Mike was the one who brought Justin back to Earth. “Hey, Donkey Dawg, we’ve got to get going to breakfast.”

 

That was when Justin finally turned red with embarrassment. In his excitement he had put his dads out of his mind. He wasn’t embarrassed about them seeing him with his pants off; he figured they would see him without pants someday, so it might as well be now. What embarrassed him was getting caught going all gaga over a pair of underpants. He quickly put his pants on and they headed out to breakfast.

 

And now, he was going to be able to open everything. The big gift that was hidden away was a bicycle. Justin found it under the tree in the form of a certificate in a wrapped box informing him that the present could be found in the garage. There was no question what it was; Ryan had placed a picture of the bicycle in the background.

 

“Can I see it now?” Justin asked eagerly.

 

“Shouldn’t we open everything first?” Maggie suggested

 

“We have all morning and into the afternoon to open presents,” Ryan said. “Let’s go look at the shiny new bike.” Maggie could tell that the men were now in command of her grandson’s life. She saw that as a good thing, it meant she had chosen wisely, and Justin would be well-cared for.

 

Justin was out the door to the garage before anybody could move. By the time the three adults made it to the garage, Justin was literally drooling over the bicycle parked in the empty third car space of the garage. “Can I ride it? Please!”

 

“You can ride it today, but let’s finish up opening presents first,” Mike replied.

 

Maggie waited to see how Justin would react to his request being turned down. “Okay, let’s go back and get them done,” was all he said. Maggie nodded as she saw another example of who was in charge.

 

They returned to the living room where the next person to open a present was Maggie. Two presents later, Justin opened a large present from Maggie that turned out being a bicycle helmet.

 

“Cool, thanks Grans. I’ll be sure to wear it.”

 

Mike opened his mouth to say, There will be rules, but only the words “There will…” came out as Justin yelled out, “…be RULES!”

 

“You’re a smart boy, Justin,” Maggie said.

 

“I had rules from you and now I have rules from Daddy Donkey and Papa Dawg. But, they’re fair and they listen to me if I don’t think they are. I know they listen because they ask questions and sometimes they even change them.”

 

Another present Justin loved was the soccer video game he wanted. That had been his biggest wish; he had never considered asking for a bicycle, which was the reason he was so shocked by the unexpected present.

 

After the last present was opened it was decided they would have lunch and then check out the bike. “The temperature might hit 40 if we’re patient.” Justin was so happy with his Christmas and so hungry, he was willing to wait until after lunch to get on his new bike.

 

Justin’s father had taught Justin how to ride, but he had outgrown that bicycle. He now had one he could grow into, but he would have to get his bike balance back. Before he could do anything, the seat and handlebars had to be adjusted, which Ryan did. The bike had been delivered assembled. “Ain’t no way we’re getting a ‘some assembly required’ piece of machinery,” Mike had groused. Ryan agreed completely.

 

After riding back and forth along the block, Justin looked like he had his balance back. He wanted to go around the block. Ryan said that to be on the safe side he would accompany him on his own bike this time. The ride went well, so they decided to ride to the school and back.

 

Even though riders sixteen and over weren’t required to wear helmets, Ryan wore his, both for safety and to set the example for Justin. Justin would be getting a day after Christmas talk from his dads on what the rules and regulations for bike riding would be. The biggest rule would be if he ever failed to wear his helmet while riding, the first violation would ground him from riding for a month and the restrictions would escalate after that to three months. After that, his bike would go to the Goodwill to be sold to a boy who really wanted it. Justin had no intention of violating that rule.

 

When Justin went to bed that night he didn’t want to sleep alone, but he was afraid his dads wouldn’t want him to sleep with them. Like Aiden Miller, a boy he had yet to meet, Justin would miss his parents and feel completely empty inside. Grans would hug him to sleep when that happened. Dr. Shelley had said it would be okay for him to go to his dads’ bedroom if he ever got that empty feeling.

 

For Justin, Christmas had filled him up inside, but the giant thing missing from Christmas suddenly made him feel empty. He pulled back his covers, put on his red underpants and a t-shirt, and then walked to his dads’ bedroom, hoping they were asleep, and he could sneak into the bed.

They were awake and were prepared for the visit to happen at some time. They were surprised it had taken so long. Mike heard the door open, saw the hall light shine into the room, and then picked up the little figure at the door.

 

“Come on in Donkey Dawg,” said gently. “There’s plenty of room for you.”

 

Justin breathed for the first time in what seemed like forever. He clamored into the big King bed and sidled between the Donkey and the Dawg. Mike’s big arm wrapped around him and the boy’s Merry Christmas was complete.

 

Next: Miller Christmas