Neil And Rich

My arm got numb underneath Rich and I woke with the worst case of pins and needles. I didn't want to wake him though, so I started moving my fingers and clenching my fist to force the blood to circulate.

So many thoughts flew randomly around my skull. Having him hold me really felt great. It didn't matter whether he was fully clothed or completely naked, it just felt awesome. There were so many other times in our past where Rich held me or I held him. Having his support and understanding always felt good before. Then there were those other more rare hugs of gratitude, for birthdays or Christmas, or just to say thanks for listening. Feeling gratitude, support and understanding all at once before we nodded off was such a tremendous rush! I wondered, did he feel the same way?

A bit of fear clouded my thinking. Rich has always been my best friend. Now I had to think not only of him and what he might think, but there was also what others might think to worry about. Getting a bitter taste of Rich's assumption that everyone new he was gay, as if it were written all over him, made me cringe. I wanted everything to be the same as it always was between us, but there was no doubt that I enjoyed having sex with him. More of what we always had and more sex was what I wanted. Man oh man, he treated me so good! Never could I have imagined how good his moist, warm mouth felt around my cock.

Like a tidal wave, the truth of the matter washed over me. I had his hard cock in my mouth! Oh my God! And I liked it! It tasted, well... like skin, almost completely flavorless. But it sure smelled good down there. An aroma like nothing I'd ever experienced before, that made my heart race and my brain do whirlies in my skull.

Starting to daydream, I felt like I was on the witness stand in court. The imaginary district attorney said, "Your honor, before the court sits Neil Powell; a fourteen-year-old self-proclaimed bisexual boy that has just gone down on his best friend. He sucked a fat teenage cock and it erupted with force into his mouth."

I would protest, "I didn't suck all of it!"

"Ah, but you managed to get a few inches into your mouth didn't you?" the DA retorted.

Meekly, I would answer, "Yes."

"And you stroked his shaft while sucking the head of his circumcised penis with the intention of making him have an orgasm?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Powell, when Mr. Hamilton warned you that he was close, did you stop what you were doing?"

"No." I answered. The jury gasped in disbelief.

"And why not."

"Because he was so happy."

Drilling further, the DA loudly asked, "Is there anything else, Mr. Powell? There is more to your answer, isn't there?"

Moments passed while the courtroom filled with chatter before I answered, "YES! Making him happy made me happy and I wanted... no correction, I needed to taste his jizz. There! Happy?"

Nodding self-righteously, the DA strolled before the courtroom and the jury then turned and asked, "You liked that too, didn't you?"

Again, I'd make an excuse for myself, "I didn't swallow all of it, he was moving around too much!" The courtroom burst into giggles, laughter and more chatter. Slamming his gavel, the judge ordered silence then directed me to answer the question.

Defeated and forced to tell the honest to God truth, I whispered, "Yes, it was okay."

"When exactly is the last time you spoke with a female classmate, Mr. Powell."

"Just yesterday." I'd answer.

"What was the nature of this conversation?"

"Biology. She's one of my lab partners."

"It scared you too, didn't it?" the DA shouted.

"Yes."

Leaning far too close to me, the DA asked, "Tell us Mr. Powell, is there anything special you think about or do while masturbating?"

"I don't think so." I mumbled.

"Do you tickle your anus while masturbating?"

"Yes."

"Would you like Mr. Hamilton to insert his erection into your anus?"

"I'd like to try it."

"Only try it?"

"Yeah, well... I don't know what it feels like."

"If it felt good, you'd do it often?"

With tears in my eyes, I answered, "Yes," and the entire courtroom went berserk. With the judge banging his gavel for order in the court, my little daydream ended as the jury found me guilty of being in love with my best friend. This whole scene made me realize I was probably a bit more homosexual than bisexual, at least as far as Rich was concerned, and that my imagination is probably long overdue for a tune-up. It scared me a lot at first, but then Rich took a deep breath and shifted a little in his sleep. He appeared so peaceful while I lay there wondering about myself, about him and what we would become weeks, months or years down the road.

I wondered about school. We can't be holding hands and hugging there, not in a Northern New Jersey middle school. That would open us both up to so much harassment the idea was nauseating. I could barely cope with the crap I was getting from being so tall. Being labeled homo as well would be horrible, especially for Rich. Not many would push their luck with me since I towered over them, but Rich was average sized and would get mocked really bad. Then I'd definitely stick up for him and the shit would hit the fan. How are we going to deal with any of that?

I shouted at myself, what the hell am I saying? Rich never said he wanted to hold my hand! Then it dawned on me quickly, like a cartoon sunrise popping up from the horizon to the midday sky in a fraction of a second with a loud rubbery "boing". I guess I want to hold his hand though. Oh my God! The scale tipped a little bit further towards the homosexual side.

Our parents came to mind. My folks would cope pretty easily if I decided to tell them. But Rich's dad would definitely flip out and have him seeing a shrink or a priest, maybe both! Glancing at the clock, I realized his folks would be home within the hour. If they found us there, lying practically naked, wearing only socks and grins, then we would have a real big problem. We would need to sneak around to see each other for normal day to day stuff, never mind getting together for more sex. Rich and I had lots to talk about and it couldn't wait, so I started to wake him. Softly, I called his name a few times and he started to move.

His head slid off my chest and he smiled up at me warmly. "I guess it wasn't a dream," he said groggily.

"No dream, not this time. We gotta get movin' though, man, your folks will be home soon."

"Oh shit!" Rich said loudly, and started to shuffle off the bed, almost falling to the floor. Landing on his knees beside the bed, he scurried around, sorting his clothes and tossing mine at me while I lay on the bed giggling at him.

"This is not funny," he grumbled, and I laughed harder. Pausing for a second to look at the clock, Rich saw we still had plenty of time to get dressed. Grinning sarcastically, he whispered, "You bastard."

Sitting upright on the bed, I chuckled in my own defense, "I said they'd be home soon, not any second!"

Pulling up his underwear, he said, "Still, next time be a little more specific. I almost had a fuckin' heart attack."

Unable to help myself, I fell backwards on the bed, laughing my ass off, thinking that every time we had sex in his house it would be like hiding from the Pope. I was laughing so hard, I only felt the bed shake as he jumped up.

Rich sat on my stomach holding my shoulders down and chanting, "You think you're so funny?"

Another warped cartoon image of Rich wearing only underwear, sitting on top of me, totally naked on his bed, with his parents standing at the door all bug-eyed flashed into my mind. I laughed harder while Rich pushed on my shoulders repeatedly telling me to "get up". One problem was that he was pinning me down while I laughed heartily so that I couldn't get off the bed if I tried. The other problem was that one part of me was already "up". Finally, Rich got off of the bed and me.

"Look at yourself!" Rich giggled as I stood, "It's been maybe an hour and your ready again!"

Blushing a little and grinning a lot, I pulled him to me and hugged the stuffing out of him. What could I say? Blame it on the hormones? Partially that might've been true, but mostly it was the vision of Rich in plain white boxers sitting on top of me that got me hard. It made me feel even better holding him though. After about a minute, he squeezed me tight and looked up at me saying, "I like it when you hold me. We gotta get dressed though, bud."

Releasing him, I sighed and said, "Yeah, there's lots to talk about."

He pulled up his jeans, saying sadly, "I guess."

"Don't ya think we should talk?" I asked as I started to dress.

"What's there to talk about?" he said, "You're the only one that knows, Neil. I think I love you."

His expression was so sad, like his life would end if his secret were discovered. The first thing I thought of while pulling up my pants was to reassure him. "I'm not gonna tell anyone, Rich." I said. Realizing that he told me he loved me again warmed my heart. I told him that I loved him too. It was getting really easy to say.

"So I guess we'll just sneak around," He said.

I didn't like the sound of that. There were definitely times we would have to conceal our new relationship, but I couldn't see myself just ignoring this side of our friendship for very long. Rich stood there silently, watching me put my shirts back on. I continued thinking out loud, "We can't sneak around forever. Sooner or later, we'll get caught. That would be real embarrassing."

"I can't tell my folks, man," Rich almost cried out, "that would go over like a fart in hell. You know my dad would disown me."

That was probably true, but I wondered about his mom. "Could you tell your mom? I think you could," I suggested.

"Not yet. They've been fighting again. Dad came home from work wasted earlier in the week," He said, finishing with a sigh. "I think he suspects already dude."

"What? How?"

"I have no interest at all in girls; none - nada - zippo. When I see all those cute boys on TV, or in the park, oh jeez man, anywhere at all. I just get the feeling that he knows I'm looking at boys. Why else would he be drinking so much lately? He didn't used to."

He looked so disgusted with himself and the situation he was in. But he wasn't in it alone now. I've sure done my share of scoping out hot bodies on TV and everywhere else. "He might be thinking about something else. I think you're worrying about nothing," I said. "How could he know who you've been looking at in the park when he's not around? Hell, I was there and didn't even notice it! I wasn't looking for it either. You're not obvious, dude."

Rich glared at me with questioning eyes, as if searching for some hidden truth. Finding nothing, he relaxed and said, "Ya know, I really thought the whole world knew before I was even sure."

Shaking my head, I asked, "You ready to go, dude?"

"Where?"

"I was thinking of calling home; dinner at my house tonight. You could stay the night too, if ya want. It would give us a chance to ya know, talk about stuff."

Following Rich out of his room and back to the kitchen, he snidely asked, "Is talking all you'd like to do tonight, Mister Powell?"

Remembering my courtroom daydream, I giggled and said, "Oh jeez, man. Don't you start that mister shit! Yes, I'd like to talk, Mister Hamilton."

Playfully mocking me, he handed me the phone and joked, "Sure, sure. Ya give a guy a little bit and now we're engaged!"

While I dialed the phone, Rich leaned against me with his forehead resting on my chest. It was weird because no other part of him was touching me. His hands were in his pockets. He wasn't giggling, laughing, crying or shaking; he just leaned there quietly. Odder yet was that I liked it!

Where has my trusty rulebook gone? Oh yeah, ashes scattered to the winds. There must've been something in there about this that I missed. Even if it was wrong, it might've been interesting to read.

My little sister answered the phone, and as usual, she was already talking to her creepy little friend, giving me nothing but grief and hassle before letting me talk to my mom. All it took was one teensy reminder of the black lipstick and the battle was won. What the hell she thinks she's doing wearing any lipstick at twelve-years-old, I do not know.

When my mom heard I was at Rich's, she was obviously pleased. Since she was in such a good mood, I asked about dinner and spending the night. There was no argument. I hung up the phone and smiled down at my friend, still leaning against me like a stone pillar. "It's a happenin' deal, bud," I said. "Leave a note and lets get goin'." Rich quickly scribbled a note for his parents and we were on our way.

It's almost a mile walk up and down hilly country roads between our houses. Franklin is a real small town, maybe a mile wide and two miles long. Since it's so small it's both a blessing and a curse. All the trees and wooded areas with streams and ponds makes it a blessing, but heaven forbid there's a controversy and the whole town knows about it by the end of the day. That's another frightening part of our new relationship; if one word of this gets out then we'd both be ruined. Rich and I walked quietly down High Point Circle out of his neighborhood, and then he asked, "What kinda things did you want to talk about?"

"About us, dopey," I giggled. "You've got your own set of worries and so do I. Don't you think we need to bounce a few ideas around?"

"You're pissed, aren't you?" he asked.

I hadn't realized I was acting angry at all, since I did giggle when I called him dopey. Are we both going to be on alert for hidden meanings now, I wondered?

"Listen Neil, I could just go back home. You don't need..."

Interrupting, I grabbed his shoulders firmly, but not roughly and turned him to face me, saying, "The only thing that's pissing me off is you thinking that you're not worth it to me. Well, you are." Releasing him, we walked and I said, "Do you think that what I said earlier was just a quick way to get my dick sucked? It wasn't, dude. I said I love you and I mean that. I just don't have all the answers right now."

"What answers are you lookin' for?"

"Well, like how do you know for sure that you're gay. You've never done it, only with me. And what little bit we've done don't amount to much."

"To me that little bit means a lot. There's more than sex, Neil, isn't there?"

We walked onto the path through the woods that we always took as a shortcut and I pondered, "Well yeah, there is, but still... doesn't it scare you a little?"

"Scared? Of what? I'm scared of my parents and school, but you already know that. What else is there to be scared of?"

"Oh man, I'm not saying things right at all here. Umm... okay. I know pretty much what worries you, about your folks, and you know my parents won't have a major problem."

"Right, that's why I'm confused about what you're saying."

"What I'm saying is the only thing that scares me is the sex, man. I can deal with my folks; I could help you deal with your folks somehow. School isn't a major issue and soon we'll be out for the summer any way."

Rich shook his head in confusion saying, "I don't understand why sex scares you."

"Weren't you scared today? We never sucked dick before."

"Scared?" Rich asked himself and began shaking his head. "Curious yeah, anxious yeah, but not scared."

Remembering his fat cock head in my mouth and his first blast of warm semen splashing around, I said, "It scared me. I almost feel like, I dunno, maybe I wasn't good enough."

"That's just so much bull. You were great, Neil, honest. How much better could either of us have been for our first try? Jeez man, what do you expect?"

Showing my own confusion I replied, "I expect that at fourteen I should know, one way or the other, homo or hetero, which is it? But how can I choose when I have no experience?"

"I don't have any either, I just like boys and I like you a lot." Rich asked, "Did you like today?"

I nodded and whispered, "I liked it with you. Don't know if I would with any other guy. I wanna try other stuff too."

Silently, he considered my confession then innocently asked, "Other stuff? What? Buttfucking?"

I turned and looked at him, then busted up laughing, "Mr. Catholic goes to church every Sunday and gets straight A's! Could you have found another word in your vast vocabulary?"

Rich blushed and sniggered, "Umm... okay, anal sex? Intercourse? Is that what scares you?"

I jumped over the stream and waited for Rich. "Of course!" I hollered, "Don't it scare you?"

"Well yeah, but that's only one part of it." He said then got a few steps running start, leaped over and landed right beside me. "There's so much else that feels good to me, like the hugs. Those were really fine, 'specially the naked ones."

I nodded and said, "The kisses were pretty cool too."

Rich giggled, "I can't believe you sometimes. First you dream of me already naked and now you go from 'I love you' to lets fuck our brains out! Hahaa! What did you do, sleep during our personal relationships class?"

"I got a B in that class!" I said loudly.

"Very good, next time don't just look at the pictures!" He said, then laughed hysterically. I couldn't help laughing along, because he was right! Just before we stepped out of the woods, Rich stopped me, looked up at me and away quickly, saying "We'll try that someday, I want to, but for now I want some more of the other stuff."

'Other stuff.' Okay cool, I thought to myself and nodded. He wants what we've always had and more of what was just beginning. I was the one being impatient and rushing along. The need to know more was overpowering though. Hugging and jacking off your best friend is one thing. Kissing him and sucking his dick is a whole new field though. The rulebook said, 'rarely ever tell the truth, but if you must, then make it a joke'. Stupid rulebook! There should've been a few footnotes to that rule, a whole list of them; ranging from teenage friends, boyfriends, girlfriends and fiancées, all the way through to older women going through hot flashes. What do you say to your best bud while discussing the kinds of sex you want to have together? A cartoon cupid with a mallet that read, 'The Truth' flew over me and clubbed me one upside the head.

"I want to too," I softly admitted, and after a moment's silence starting to walk towards the street and home.

"Wait up!" Rich shouted, and jogged up beside me saying, "You do? How do you mean?"

"Umm... both ways."

"Really?"

I nodded and said, "We've both got the same equipment."

After a pause, I looked over at Rich and he looked up at me. Thoughts of how, when and why were probably bouncing around both our brains. "It must feel good or why would anyone ever do it?" he finally asked.

I nodded again, but said, "I can only imagine it hurting. If I were to ever hurt you, I'd damn well expect you to hurt me back."

"And then where would we be?"

"Dunno," I shrugged, "We'd probably be angry at ourselves and each other. That's why I'm scared. I don't want a repeat of this past week ever again. At the same time, it seems wrong somehow for us to go on like this without knowing for sure."

We walked silently down the side of the road for a few minutes then I said, "I'm gonna ask my mom to unlock the AVS on the computer."

"We just finished that class last quarter. What are you gonna say?"

Looking at him, I shrugged my shoulders then opened my front door. I honestly didn't know how to ask. If I had any smarts at all I would've looked up this stuff while I had the chance. But no, I just looked at pictures and spanked my monkey!

We said hi to my mom, and I asked, "When's dinner?" while I grabbed us some lemonade from the refrigerator.

"Your father should be home by six thirty," my mom answered, "around seven I suppose."

While pouring our lemonade, I said, "Cool, holler when you're ready."

I cringed when my mom said, "Oh sweetheart, could you do me a favor?" Anything prefaced with 'sweetheart' was bad news. "Your father and I would like to go to the movies tonight. Would you watch your sister and brother tonight?"

"Umm, sure." I said, handing Rich a glass. "We're not planning on going anywhere."

"Good," She said, "her friend Dawn will be here."

I moaned, "Ma, that kid is just too weird. You know I can't stand her. She looks like a vampire or somethin'."

My mom smiled and said, "She likes you though, I think."

Rich snickered while I shouted, "Argh! No way!"

"Yes, way." My mom said, still unable to wipe that "my little boy's growing up" smile off her face.

Unable to stop myself, I mumbled, "If that's the best I can do, I'd rather be gay," and Rich started gagging on a mouthful of lemonade. He looked at me like I was completely out of my mind while I patted his back.

Sternly, my mom said, "That's not very nice, Neil. Homosexuals are people with feelings too."

"I know ma, it's just that kid."

Turning back towards the small kitchen TV, she said, "I'll tell your sister that if there's any problems, Dawn will be taken home immediately after the movie. Will you watch them tonight?"

I sighed and said, "Okay." Rich gave me an elbow to the side, reminding me about the computer. "Umm... ma, can I... errr... would you... errrummm"

"What is it, Neil?" she asked, turning towards us again. Both Rich and I were like mosquitoes entranced by a flame, buzzing really close to the warm, bright light, but being careful so we wouldn't get burned.

Waiting for an answer, she watched us shuffle for almost a minute before a grin swept over her face. "A single word clue might be helpful." She said.

"Computer?" I mumbled.

"Unlock the computer?" She asked. We both nodded. "May I ask why?" she asked.

Rich and I looked at each other, trying to read words through silent eyes while we shuffled and stammered. "I can't lie to her." I told him silently.

The slightly panicked look on his face said, "Don't tell her the truth either, please Neil, not yet."

Turning back towards my mom, I said, "There's some stuff we've been talking about, ya know, from the class last quarter."

"Something you'd rather not discuss with me or your father?" she asked. I nodded and she looked at us both suspiciously before saying, "I'll trust you both to be adults. But I swear if I find one picture, one bookmark that I wouldn't approve of, you'll be twenty-one before I unlock that thing again. Understood?"

We both nodded. That was relatively easy, I thought as Rich and I went upstairs to my room. "We've still got a problem, actually two." I commented.

"Your sister and her friend?" Rich asked.

I went in my room and sat at my desk, saying, "Yeah, we gotta be twice as careful with them around."

"What about your brother?" Rich asked, closing the door behind him.

"He's five, he won't understand or care. But that evil little bitch Dawn has never had a nice word come out of her mouth. And my sister is trying to be the fifth grade gossip queen. I wish I had a phone line in my room. We could just bring it up here."

Rich sat down on the corner of my bed, saying, "It's cool, I couldn't have even asked permission. We'll just keep a lookout and activate the screen-saver."

At my desk, I pulled out a pile of paper and immediately started sketching those cartoon images I'd been having all afternoon. The first page was the rulebook, looking crisp and brand new. The second picture was the same rulebook opened up, the pages looking tattered and worn. Rich came over and looked over my shoulder as I was drawing the picture of a lit match held up to the rulebook. He started giggling as he looked at the other two pictures, then started to laugh out loud as I sketched out the fourth picture of the blazing rulebook. "What are you doing?" He laughed.

"That first one, that was as I walked into your house earlier," I explained. "By the time we were face to face in the kitchen it looked like the second picture 'cause I kept flipping the pages looking for what to do. When we were in your bedroom, the match was lit and then, well then it just burned up." Finally I drew the little pile of ashes and then the ashes being tossed out the window as Rich laughed continuously.

His face was right next to mine, looking over my shoulder, as it had been so many other times before while I was drawing, but this time, when I noticed him so close, my heart raced. This was the same guy, my best friend for ages and I recognized everything about him, yet he looked different somehow. I was still examining the difference when his smile faded then he leaned over and kissed me. After only a few seconds, he pulled back, but I could still smell the lemonade on his breath. Pulling him back again, I kissed him. First I sucked on his bottom lip. Then I tasted his top lip and then I opened my mouth wide. His tongue snaked its way inside my mouth and I couldn't believe the sensations. We held this kiss while I turned around a little and pulled Rich in front of me. Our hands started roaming as Rich sat on my left leg and continued to kiss me back. My mom shouted up the stairs, calling us for dinner and I started to break away, but Rich grabbed another quick kiss as he got up off my lap. I grabbed another quickie kiss before opening my bedroom door.

While eating dinner I thought, whoa, kissing Rich was great! French kissing is wild! My friggin' tongue is ticklish! There was nothing unnatural or wrong about it. He kissed me, I kissed him back, we swapped lemonade flavored spit for a while, and man oh man, was it fun! My dick got hard, and since we both wound up rearranging ourselves on the way out of my room, I knew Rich's dick got hard too. I liked him sitting on my lap, leaning against me and sleeping on me. All these new things we were trying and so far not a single one of them felt wrong.

I asked myself, just how bisexual are you, Neil? Had I asked myself that question yesterday, I would've said fifty-fifty; half the time over a girl or a female TV star, and the rest of the time was almost always Rich. Few young male celebrities do a thing for me, but JTT has always been worth watching. Rich was better looking to me, I noticed while glancing at him across the table. Nice face, cute freckles, light brown hair, the coolest deep blue eyes. Where my body was shaped much like a two-by-four plank, Rich had those awesome shoulders making a nice "V" shape. He doesn't have a perfect stomach, but it sure isn't flabby. During the course of one afternoon, I'd slipped a notch or two closer to being gay than straight.

Sports are fun, but some guys can get way too competitive over a game during gym class. That's what always made it a bummer. It was Rich that taught me how to be more competitive, but still not take it too seriously. Rich is a sports fanatic while I'm happy as a spectator. The better grades go to Rich while I struggle to maintain my mediocre grades. Teachers say I daydream a lot. Frankly, I don't know how they got that impression!

Immediately after dinner my mom unlocked the computer, then my folks left for the movies as planned. My sister and her friend disappeared into her room. Leaving Rich and I in the family room at the PC while my baby brother watched TV.

I asked Rich, "What should we search for?"

Rich leaned forward and typed "gay" then hit search. "Oh man, there's over a million different sites," He said, scanning the first page of results. Some of the site titles were just too funny and very obviously pornographic.

I took the keyboard and typed in the phrase "anal sex". Rich grinned at me and whispered, "That's only gonna show us more porn, ya know. What's the fascination anyway?"

"That's what I've got to know. If we can do that and still not hate each other, then I'm pretty sure I can deal with everything else." I answered while we waited for the page to finish loading.

We scanned the page noticing that every damned listing seemed pornographic and sure to get us in big trouble. Rich took the keyboard and tried the Excite search engine. He typed in "gay teen" and pressed enter. The first listing was entertainment, but the next three were all listed under "Lifestyle". Rich whispered, "Jackpot!" and clicked on the last entry since the first two didn't seem to apply to us. Only three resources were shown on the next page, but there were eleven total so we clicked to see more.

"Yes! Click on Gay Teen Resources," I instructed. For the next thirty minutes or so, we checked out the GTR.org site. When we hit the Coming Out Tips section, we looked at each other and cracked up after reading, "Coming out in drag is a bit much [unless you really have the right shoes...]". Looking back at the list, Rich got fidgety after reading about having cash and someplace to crash for the night. I scrolled back and pointed out, "come out to one person at a time. You told me. When you're ready, tell your mom. If you need a place to crash you know where."

We were going to hit the chat page next, but decided to check out the webrings instead. There we found six webrings dedicated to gay youth and we started browsing around the various sites. Hours flew by as we read a little bit here and there. I looked back at the couch and saw my little brother asleep. Each site offered something or some link to find out more. Eventually we landed on a site that pointed to a link especially for religious families and parents. We stayed there reading while I tried to get Rich psyched up, telling him that he could talk with his parents and not be left walking the streets.

He wasn't really responding though, more like thinking out loud. "Your really ready to tell, aren't you?" he whispered.

Hearing a car door slam outside, I said, "Yeah, I guess I am."

"I'm not ready." He said as he sent the browser back to our home page.

Having some fuel to argue, I said, "If we tell my mom just to start, we could..."

"No Neil, please?" He begged as he cleared the browser's history. The front door opened and my parents were coming in the house.

Disappointed and out of time, I got up, saying, "Okay, we'll talk about it later."

Quickly, we greeted my folks and my mom asked if we had found the information that we were looking for. "Mostly, and lots more to think about." I said.

"Were there any problems?" My dad asked as he hung up his coat.

"Nope. Everything was quiet," I answered, then Rich and I went back to my room. We started to undress, like we had hundreds of times before, but again this time I got nervous and excited. I wasn't even looking at him and had just taken my shirts off, but still I got an erection. It was embarrassing because I knew we had lots more to talk about. Turning away from him completely, I dropped my pants and tried to force my hard-on to go down while browsing through my dresser for shorts or sweatpants or something that would hide my condition. Rich and I took gym class together. How would I be able to get changed around him and fifty other guys?

Rich came over next to me and asked, "What're ya doin?"

"Lookin' for something to wear," I answered without turning towards him.

"Since when? We've been sleeping in only underwear for years." Rich said then started to giggle. That's when I knew I was caught. He rubbed my back and my cock tried to poke a hole through my underwear from the added stimulation. "It's okay," he whispered, "I'm hard too."

Tears started to burn my eyes. It's so unfair, I thought, if Rich had my parents, he could just come right out and tell them he was gay. Alternatively, I couldn't make up my mind, but felt I needed to tell my mom as soon as possible, just so we could have someplace safe and Rich could have the additional support. We learned so much about ourselves during the day and I couldn't help getting a little emotional about it. I sniffed and wiped my tears away. Forcing a smile, I looked at Rich. Without a word we wrapped our arms around each other and held on as if one of us would leave, never to return again. Neither of us was leaving though. Never before have I felt so attached to him. Feeling him return that loyalty, after all we'd said and done, dried my tears and put a real smile on my face. Love is such a scary thing, I think, because it makes you feel so many ways and the list constantly changes. Just when you think you've got all the bases covered something else happens to make you feel something more.

The cartoon factory in my mind created two more pictures. The first one was Rich leaning against me in his kitchen earlier. The second was me draped over him as I was at the moment. He needed my support then, now I needed some from him and he was giving it. Silent support. I didn't need to explain. He didn't need to do anything more than hold me to provide all the comfort I needed.

I wanted to tell him that I thought he was the greatest, but I didn't. To say I thought he was damn good looking didn't need to be communicated either. Rich would've only turned my words around, saying that I was the greatest and better looking. We had both spent hours browsing the Internet and learning the same things at the same time. Judging by our bulging briefs, there was only one more thing we needed to do. Leading Rich by the hand to my bed, we removed the last of our clothes and began exploring.

You've heard of Lewis and Clark? They mapped most of North America in the early eighteen hundreds. Those guys did nothing compared to Hamilton and Powell! The greatest part of our exploration is we wouldn't need the maps. Hell we didn't want them! Naturally, we did want some scale to our mental images so the cloth measuring tape was used. Not only were our dicks measured, but so were chests, waists, arms and legs, fingers and toes. To me, his body would always be new, uncharted territory and worthy of exploring another time.

By around three in the morning, we couldn't stop yawning. I pulled the blankets off my bed and we made ourselves comfortable. Still in awe of the days discoveries, we couldn't stop kissing and talking. Rich began stroking my bone gently then crawled around and seemed to swallow it a millimeter at a time. I rolled onto my side and took him into my mouth. Our very first sixty-nine didn't last but two or three minutes at most, the excitement quickly building to a frenzy of moans and slurps. Seeing his nuts rise and pull close to his body, I knew that Rich was getting close. Again, I knew I could back off and finish him by hand, but I didn't. Rich sucked me dry and I did my very best to return the favor. What little bit of cum escaped I greedily licked clean, causing Rich to giggle uncontrollably telling me that "it tickles!" and begging me to stop.

I crawled around and kissed him. Rich rested his head on my chest and held on to me as he fell asleep. Before I finally zonked out, I bid farewell to the rulebook and my sexuality scales. In my mind, I flipped that evil district attorney from my earlier daydream the bird. None of that mattered anymore. What mattered most was Rich. He was never angry with me or scared of me. We needed each other now more than ever.