Mile High

Mile High

Part 2-4

"Tell me why we're doing this again?" Christopher managed to squeak out through his clenched jaw. The leg straps of the harness he was hanging from left little room for much else and far too little room for what he held most dear.

"Like I told ya before..." Kelvin tried to hide his smile as he watched his love's long legs struggle to find a comfortable position, jeans pulled tight by the harness and dirty hightops a foot above the concrete. "My dad wants me and those I take up with me to start wearing those chutes he bought."

"Yeah, I know but...." Chris just shook his head at Kel's words and the deep west Texas twang he spoke with and moved his arms back up to the risers over his head. That was something he'd really missed while living with his mom in Houston, every word sounding like it had at least two syllables.

"But nothing." Kel smirked silently and quietly pulled on the crotch of his own jeans to check how much space he could free up when his turn came in a few minutes. "I know that nothing will probably happen but if it does, my dad wants us to have the option."

"OK, how's it hangin'?" The slim woman laughed quietly as she reentered the small wooden hangar to survey her latest victims...er...students.

"Fine...." Chris' answer trailed into a pained sigh.

"Good." The lady, who'd introduced herself as Alexis early that cool cloudless Sunday morning, smiled quietly, then launched herself towards the surprised teen. She quickly spun her target as her voice grew. "It's a streamer! No chute! No chute! Quick, quick, hurry! Do something, do something! What? What?"

"Shit!" Chris grunted between his teeth and stared dumbly at the cord held tightly between both hands as he finally stopped spinning and felt Alexis' hands bring him back around, taking the tension off his shoulders and the risers.

"Well, you know what they say?" Alexis gave her former target a wink and a thumbs up before retrieving the ripcord and threading it back into place.

"Yeah! First he says it..." Kel murmured behind his hand, "...then he does it."

"Not yet, smartass!" Chris snarled back to a new round of laughter that broke through all efforts to suppress it the others were making. "OK, yeah, right, keep laughing.... I'll see how much you can laugh when I...." Chris felt his pounding heartbeat spread through his face and smiled back at Kel, giving him the single finger salute.

"Awww," Kelvin continued to chuckle."And here I was thinking about getting one of these for home. I like how you're ha... ah... never mind."

"No, Christopher.... Keep your legs straight, you can't sit.... OK, that's better." Alexis chose to ignore the riposte between the two boys, smiled broadly, and marked down her initials in the boy's logbook and then hit the button to lower him back towards the ground. Gawd! These two were young but both their dads had cleared them for the training and she knew that she'd give her best to all her students regardless but had to make doubly sure with these two and so far she couldn't fault them in any way. Hell, the short kid hadn't even batted an eye when told about the accelerated free fall training his dad had paid for. Blondy sure had though, but he'd agreed and stuck with it unfailingly. She quickly stepped in to help loosen the parachute harness from around the tall, skinny blond boy and winked at his short, brown, curly haired friend. She couldn't help sighing again, quietly. The short kid couldn't have more than an inch length of hair on his head and yet it was still tightly curled. He seemed to have all the luck his genes gave him, she thought. "OK, go take a break for a few while I get Short Stuff here...er...I mean Mr. Stuart, hooked up. Then we'll all do some more jump practice and work on the plane exit." She had to stop and let her laugh resume at the look she got from both boys.

"You're gon'a love it." Chris sighed in relief at Kel and pulled at his own crotch selfconciously, giving his tender parts the room they'd seriously lacked for the last ten minutes or so. "I knew I should'a worn looser clothes today.... What was it Mr. Goldman said about... when you told him about this?"

"Oh, it was something about the airborne back when he was in the air corps...." Kelvin swallowed his nervousness and felt the straps around his arms and chest before he fastened the leg straps around each one and cinched them tight under supervision, his own family jewels completely filling the pouch he managed to pull out front before nodding his readiness. "He called them devils in baggy paaaaannnts."

"I think I can understand the part about baggy pants." Chris glanced from his boyfriend to their torturer and back again.

"So can I." Kel's voice strained a little as he quickly wiped the sudden sweat that sprang above his brow.

"OK, looking good so far.... That's it, keep those legs straight." Alexis nodded her own head and smiled again. Boys! It didn't matter if they were college kids or these boys, they all acted so hurt the first time hanging like that but then quickly forgot it all after they landed.... But these two were dressed more for ranch or farm work than they were for this. "Tell ya what, you keep doing well and I'll see if we can borrow some coveralls for ya both to wear this afternoon when we actually jump.... Let me see you reach for the reserve."

It was time to put the boy through his paces again just like she had his friend. Friend? Ha! She thought to herself. More than once that day she'd wished she was younger again, both of these boys were just too cute together but then again they seemed to be more 'together' than most guys she'd jumped with or taught. So, anyway, she'd probably be out of the picture even if she was their age again.... Oh well, she'd live without but she also secretly hoped that they'd enjoy the sport enough to stay with it. They'd both be fun friends to be around regardless, even if she'd almost screamed at them to kiss each other already! She'd long ago decided that even if she'd never be attractive to either of her students, at least they really seemed to belong to each other. Besides, she verbally sighed, she might be wrong about them but prided herself in seldom being wrong about those she taught. She had to be right about her students long before she'd ever let them jump.

"OK, Chuck, you ready for this?" James Stuart smiled away his own nervousness as he guided the big Suburban along Interstate 20 towards Sweetwater and the old former 'Webb' air force base, where their two sixteen-year-olds were or should be training at that same moment.

"Yeah, sure...." Charles Bauchamp let his own voice cover his nervousness. "I just wish I'd taught Chris better than to jump out'a a perfectly good airplane, but if your youngest is going then you can bet that my 'only' will be there right along with him."

"I think we're all nuts." Janice Stuart glared at both men in front of her. "Me for going along with it.... Charles for agreeing and you for paying for this idiocy."

"Oh, com'on, Jan, it's...." James' eyes pleaded with his wife in the rearview mirror.

"Perfectly safe," she finished for him as her eyes met his for a brief space before he resumed his forward stare. "I know I'm being 'the mother'.... It's my job after all."

"OhhhKayyyy." James let his smile broaden a little. He knew better than to argue the points again this close to the actual event. It wouldn't do any good anyway, at least until their sons were back safely on the ground again. Better to change the subject. "Chuck, have you been able to talk to Christopher any more about college plans yet?"

"Not much," Charles breathed out quietly. "You know he loves y'all too and he values your accepting him as much as you do Kelvin, but he just flat won't accept any more from y'all. I told him that I probably couldn't afford the tuition or housing alone but he just comes back with his plan to work full-time for at least a year before going anywhere.... Hell, the only thing that could've kept him away from this jump with Kelvin would've been if he'd been told that James was paying for all of it."

"Has he told Kel that yet?" James cast a warning around the inside of the truck. "All he can talk about is his plans to go for his aerospace engineering degree.... I'll be honest with ya, I'm worried about both our kids now... I mean, I can understand Chris' point of view about working and making his own way.... Hell, Kel will probably be out in the oil fields this summer, now that he's sixteen and old enough...." He gave a furtive glance at the back seat. "Oh, com'on, Jan... I worked as a rig gofer before I was his age, Jimmy did when he turned sixteen and so did Brian. Dowell is looking for some help with their rig logging teams and we've both already talked to our sons about it....Kel said yes and James didn't know yet. He might be up at summer camp for armor."

"Ah, I see," Charles chuckled. "The fly boy's oldest and namesake is gon'a be a treadhead.... How did you stand the shame?"

"Watch it, wrench head," James snarled playfully at his old friend and the mechanic that kept his toys flying. One more glance at the back seat soured his mood again.

Jan just let her scowl speak for her. She couldn't help remembering her youngest at fourteen coming back with his dad and talking about that 'wrench that was bigger than he was!' and she knew that it probably still was.

"Shit, Chuck, I could probably get a job for Chris too, once school is out." James smiled wistfully back at the silence he got from his wife. "But what really concerns me about Christopher is I don't think he really understands just how hard it'll be on Kel... hell, on both of them, when they realize that their best buddy.... Shit! OK, I'll call it what it is.... When the one they love won't be with them any more."

"I agree," Jan added her opinion after shaking her head in wonder. It seemed the least dangerous topic and the one she felt most comfortable handling was her youngest son's being gay and his lover. Now if she could just convince both of them that it was OK being gay and in love without jumping out of an airplane at god knows how high.... or working in and around heavy machinery and poisonous fluids under enough pressure, that a leak could literally cut both of the boys in half. "After Brian died, I never thought I'd see my baby ever smile or laugh again. I for one was so thankful that Chris was there. He helped more than anyone, even he, knows."

"So was I," James nodded his assent.

"And me." Charles glanced mischievously at the shocked looks he received. "OK, OK, it took a little getting used to, and I'm the first to admit that I handled it badly at first, but don't try to tell me that it hasn't been hard on y'all too."

"Yeah, it had its moments," James whispered to no one in particular and let his next comment flow with the pride he felt. "But, both our boys have handled everything thrown at them and still turned into true 'men', not bitter or hate driven cowards like we've all faced."

"Yep, I can't argue that. " Charles found his latest memories supporting his own gushing pride he felt now. "Not that a few things kind'a took some years off my life, but I...."

"Some years?" Jan could only shake her head in disbelief; "I thought you were skipping old age and going right for the nearest rest home when you heard that Chris had been shot! Ha! Now don't you two think you should pass along some more of this pride? I mean, before your boys go flying through the air without a plane?"

"He knows how I feel," Charles whispered defensively, his nagging guilt still simmering quietly. He quickly glanced at the sharp look he received from the back seat. "OK, I know I don't always say what I should but I hope I've shown him.... Yeah, I need to tell him, don't I?"

"Good." Jan smiled as the man meekly capitulated. She then turned her attention towards her husband with an evil glint and a smooth drawl. "And will the colonel be trying to spread the wonder too?"

"Maybe," James replied thoughtfully. "Yeah, I will, but only after the jump. I don't want them thinking about anything but what they're supposed to be."

"Arghh!" Jan growled quietly and slumped back into her seat and gazed silently at the two packages next to her as an old joke ran through her mind. 'Why did God make men? Because an electric vibrator can't mow the lawn!'

"Kel, turn around." Chris hid his smile as they both stripped out of their jeans in the hangar office, leaving them both in white boxer briefs and their T-shirts.

"Huh?" Kelvin twisted his body both directions before turning to regain his balance. "What?"

"OK." Chris couldn't hold his chuckle. "They're still clean."

"Ha, ha, smartass!" Kel smirked back at his continuing tormenter-lover and reached for the borrowed coveralls they'd both been loaned. "I stopped shitting my pants a whole lotta years ago, unlike someone we know."

"Hey! I was sick as a dog back then!" Chris felt his face go red and voice harsh as he suddenly remembered being the ten year old who was puking so hard he couldn't control his bowels when that part won out over his stomach for the toilet's attention. The embarrassing cleanup followed by the stay in the hospital as his diabetes was discovered and brought under control, wasn't a very fond memory.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to...." Kel's smile waned into nervousness. "Damnit, I was thinking of Mike, not you."

"Naw, it's OK." Chris waved his hand and finished slipping his legs into the garment he was given. He glanced back at his short boyfriend and began chuckling again. "Gawd! Shorty, got enough room?"

"Shit!" Kel quickly looked at his covered arms and legs. The arms weren't too bad but the legs of the jumpsuit covered his feet and he felt like he had a foot of space between the crotches. "Well, at least no one I know will see me in this. How's yours?"

"Could be worse, I guess." Chris finished zipping up and turned his body experimentally. It all seemed to fit except for the damned thirty inch inseam it had. His was a thirty four, so, "It'll work.... Wouldn't want any friends to see me in it though.... Looks like I'm trying to wade through water."

"What else is new?" Kel smirked and sat to start rolling up his cuffs.

"Y'all boys decent?" Charles peeked into the office, cutting off his son's rejoinder, before opening the door fully so he and Kelvin's parents could enter.

'Flash' "Mom! don't you dare!" Kel stood and looked for someplace to hide as his mom snapped another picture.

'Flash' "Awwww, you are still a cute boy and I love you anyway...." Janice grinned broadly at her youngest in his oversized suit and continued snapping away. "Though you both need a new tailor."

"Here, guys, try these on instead." James quickly checked the names and threw a package at each. He became alert at the eyes and lack of color Chris presented him with before the tall kid, that even James had to look up at, bent down to retrieve the package that'd bounced off him. 'It can't be the pictures?' He quickly thought through Chris' reaction to their entrance. He knew that Chris didn't want his picture ever taken, but from even his unofficial family? He quickly covered his puzzlement with a renewed grin. "I think you'll like those better."

Both boys quietly peeled their plastic open and and gently pulled out bright red jumpsuits with equally matching multicolored strips down each sleeve and leg.

"Wow, this is great, Dad." Kelvin beamed broadly and held it up to admire. "Thank you so much... Kewl!"

"Dad?" Chris questioned Charles with his eyes and felt a lump grow in the pit of his stomach at the unsaid answer. "Mr. and Mrs. Stuart, Thank you very much for this but I can't take it."

"Chris?" Kel slowly forced his mouth to work again. "Why?"

"I...I...." Christopher turned away from all the faces.

"It's OK, Chris." James waved his son quiet with a 'go slow' hand sign. "Kelvin tells me that you've been doing a drawing of my Mustang in flight. He goes on and on about it, so I figured that maybe we could trade the jumpsuit for it?"

"It's really not that good," Chris mumbled quietly, annoyed that they wouldn't just let it go.

"Well, regardless, wear the suit I bought and then we can work out a trade later." James sighed quietly and pushed the tall boy's laden arms back towards him. "I can always use someone to wash down the planes properly and that won't take any time away from your work."

"OK, sir." Chris gently held the garment in his off hand and extended his other to seal the deal.

James swallowed another sigh and returned Chris' firm grasp before turning to usher his gang of older folks back out.

"Dad?" Christopher got his father's attention again.

"Who? ...I mean what about all of this?" He absently waved his arms towards the outside.

"Chris, I told you that I'd pay for your training and jump today....and I did." Charles' own eyes and voice practically snarled in embarrassed frustration. "So, if you don't wan'a jump then don't but don't try to blame me or James for it... whatever you decide.... OK?"

"Yes, sir." Chris looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry.... I promise I'll do well."

"I already know that, Son." Charles smiled then and pulled his son into his embrace. "I know you'll do just fine but it's more important to me that you enjoy this. I don't know if you'll ever believe me but I am so proud of everything you've become, and I mean everything!"

Kelvin suddenly had to dry his eyes as he found himself pulled into the embrace by the older man's rough hewn hands. Just when he thought he could pigeonhole Chris' father again, he goes and throws everybody for a loop. Kelvin silently decided he needed to rethink some people all over again.

"OK, y'all two get dressed." Charles let his embrace linger a bit as they disengaged. "We'll be waiting outside to take some pics of ya before y'all take off and we leave for the landing field.... and no bitching about it, Son! Just smile for us."

"We will," Kel smiled as he moved back and watched his parents step outside. He noticed his father give him the 'slow' signal again and sighed before turning back to change clothes again. He silently glanced at Chris' back as they both redressed quietly and smiled like he always felt like doing whenever he saw his love's graceful form and hard muscles moving beneath what he knew to be smooth and warm skin. He just wished that if something was really bothering Chris, that he'd be more open about it. "You ready for this?"

"Huh?" Chris smiled back disarmingly and finished zipping himself up before struggling back into his sneakers. "OK, Yeah, let's do it!"

"God, I can't believe we did that!" Jan closed her eyes briefly, blocking out the caliche dirt road that seemed to never end as they followed Alexis and three other pickups out into the west Texas fields. In her mind she could still see 'her' two youngest sons standing and smiling along with the six others who'd be jumping with them. Kel and Chris had both waved as they'd boarded the twin engine turboprop after getting into the chute packs, helmets and goggles. Both of them had looked so calm and ready at that moment, then she'd turned around to see both fathers make a bee-line straight for Kelvin's yellow Jeep. "We should all be ashamed of ourselves.... I'm a pervert stuck with a couple of old reprobates."

"Hey! Charles even warned you to not look at the rest of Chris' sketchbook." James grinned back at his wife. She'd done a quick thumb through the pages and replaced it, blushing as he and Charles had oohed and ahed over the drawing on the loose sheet of paper carefully sandwiched between Chris' books within the case. "But I'll tell you this, Charles, your son has incredible talent. That drawing even had the right oil stains and I didn't even have to count to know that even the rivets and all will be right there on the real plane.... Oh my God, what attention to detail he's got!"

"Yes, I did." Charles was also grinning. "I've never looked myself.... Not my place and besides, I do trust him... and his getting the details right."

"OK, enough." Jan grimaced, then began chuckling at herself. God knew that she sure hadn't seen Kelvin like that drawing since he was three and she had to admit her son sure looked healthy. From the top of his reclined head to the fine shape of his muscles and.... She felt her face burn hotly again. What was going to bother her the most though, would be keeping a proper demeanor the next time she saw Mike or Steve or any of her son's friends on the school's track team. If she did anything, she might teach Chris to change some faces the next time he was bored and drawing his memories to keep busy, either that or find something other than the school's athletic showers to draw. No, that wasn't fair, he'd drawn a lot of different things besides. If anything, she was the one obsessing over those three sketches. She sighed again as they finally drew to a stop and proceeded to get out to watch this absurd rite of passage for two guys who sure didn't have much left to prove, in her opinion.

"Are you three gon'a be OK?" Alexis smiled broadly as she motioned the witnesses over to her. "What about you, mom?"

"Yes, we'll all be fine," Jan smiled back while her brain wanted to scream 'No!'.

"Good." Alexis turned around, quickly picking up on the drone overhead and the walkie talkie in her hand. "I'm sorry I didn't have time to go into much detail back at base but anyway.... Chris will be going first, they drew cards for that, followed by Kelvin. With each you'll see two instructors holding on to them. One on the primary side and the other on the reserve...."

"From how high again?" Janice glanced at Charles, who looked like he was losing a few more years right then

"Fifteen thousand feet AGL." Alexis continued her focus on the approaching aircraft far overhead. "Sorry, AGL means...."

"Above Ground Level," James spoke hastily and blushed/ "My turn to say sorry. I'm a pilot."

"OK." Alexis filed that away before continuing. "Well, anyway, both instructors will remain in contact with the student and go through some drills on the way down while the fourth jumper videotapes it.... When the student hits thirty six hundred feet AGL, either he or the primary instructor will pull the cord, then the primary instructor lets go. The reserve guy stays until either the chute opening pulls him away from the student or he has to pull the reserve chute before they pass twenty six hundred feet."

"OK," James whispered as he also watched the aircraft intently in the slowly fading light of the late afternoon, giving half an ear to this woman's brief contacts with the pilot above them.

"Looks good from here," Alexis spoke calmly to the radio she held/ "Winds calm."

Janice quickly reminded herself to breathe until she saw the four dots appear just below and behind the plane she'd been unable to tear her eyes from. Then she felt like she had to tell her heart to keep beating as she furiously kept her sight moving from the plane to the dots that she knew included Christopher.

"First group out and clear."

Kelvin felt his heart pounding harder than the engine and wind noise as he stared at the empty door. Chris' last look back with his silly shit eating grin and thumbs up had also burned through his soul. He just chalked up another reason for his love and held it tightly. In that goofy grin and moment he figured he could've died right there and they'd never be able to remove his own answering grin. God knew he loved the sex parts but this was even more in a way. This was not only living but most importantly it was sharing that life with the one he loved and Chris also sharing his life with him.

"Kelvin?" the older man to his left yelled over the noise.

"Yes, sir! I mean Bob!" Kel quickly pushed all other thoughts aside for the moment, but not his grin, and focused quickly like he did while piloting.

"Just finished the turn back!" Robert quickly glanced at his co-instructor for this jump and returned to the eager, nervous youngster. "You ready?"

"Yes!" Kel replied before the three stood and made their way to the door with the fourth of their group, who leaned further out to catch the exit before following.

"OK, Just like we practiced all afternoon!" Robert grinned himself then as he tightened his grips on the shoulder and leg straps of his short charge, "You arch and hold it!"

"OK!" Kel returned confidently but was suddenly glad he'd had a light lunch, "Hey! Has Chris landed yet?"

"No, not yet!" Robert and the other instructor chuckled through the noise. "He will be just opening his chute about the time we go! Shit, we promise close to a three minute fall here! ...OK get ready, on three!"

"One...two...three!"

James watched the blossom of color suddenly appear above Chris and breathed in a delayed gulp of air as the last instructor fell away from the boy to open his own chute. He surrendered any further breathing when he glanced back at the plane in time to see the next batch of dots fall away from it.

"Second group out and clear." Alexis quickly glanced back at the three 'family' behind her to make sure she hadn't lost any yet and hid her growing grin. She also did a quick check to see that her husband, Johnathan, had radio in hand to help the first student steer and land if needed. She turned her own to the second frequency as she followed the second's progress down.

"Gawdamn." Charles smiled crookedly at James before his eyes returned to his son drifting slowly above and the figures hurtling above him.

James smiled nervously back and flinched as his wife's hard grip on his arm tightened even further, but then he figured if he had given up on breathing for this event then she probably needed such a grip to remain standing.

"Good! Again!" Kel felt like the words whipped past his ear, even though he knew it came from the earpiece in the helmet he was wearing. He forced his eyes back to the shallowing horizon, then to each instructor, and finally to the altimeter on his chest, it read just over nine thousand feet. He moved his eyes back to forward and moved his arms together like they'd practiced. Right arm towards his chest and left arched over his head to keep from spinning. This time there wasn't the sickening lurch when he did it and when he moved them back.

Robert let the rushing air catch his grin and remained silent for a few, thrilled at his new throat mike and letting the kid just enjoy the feelings and the view as well. He was even happier to see the boy's bright green eyes remain so and Kelvin's face mirror his own. But he still owed 'his' kid the instructive time too.

"Again!"

"Looking great.... Remember, eat the carrot." Chris started slightly at the voice in his ear and quickly glanced again at the parachute over his head and shook his head to stay clear, before picking out the limp orange windsock still seemingly far below his feet, "Left just a little.... OK, good...."

"Yes!" Chris whispered to no one. There wasn't anyone close but himself anyway, he realized as he blushed his silliness. God! His heart felt like it had been ready to burst through his chest ever since he'd climbed into the plane but now it was even more so as he followed the instructions while still feeling the incredible flight through the sky he'd just about finished. He wanted to scream and yell his joy so the whole world could hear but still remembered that he wasn't done yet. A laugh finally won the partial battle. He could only laugh at his sudden, brief memory of his friend Raf back in Houston. God! He'd just been and was feeling higher than any of the pot Raf had offered could ever hope to make him feel.

"OK, good." Johnathan was smiling himself and waved a quick thumbs up at his wife as his glance showed him the four additional chutes opening up just as expected but never totally counted on. He quickly resumed his watch and requested one last correction before the student touched down. "Legs together, knees bent.... Flare, flare, flare...."

Chris felt the impact on his feet, then legs, hip, side and shoulders as he rolled through the 'banana' landing, as it was called. He wanted to lie there and just relive it all again and again but he still wasn't finished. He quickly regained his feet and began gathering the chute up into his arms as his eyes caught and stayed with his love drifting down.

"Chris?" Johnathan jogged over to Chris standing in the dirt and motioned at the first group's primary instructor to help him; "Stan, let's help get the boy out of our gear."

"Look at the kid's face, John." Stan didn't try to hold his laughter. "Now he thinks we don't trust him to take proper care of it.... I helped teach and just jumped with him. I trust him.... He knows what to do, John.... Leave him be."

"Thanks," Chris finished his gathering and turned to walk towards the club's trucks when he felt three sets of arms around him.

"You did great, Christopher," Stan spoke up as he released his student and the rest of his group and reached out to squeeze Chris' hand in an abbreviated handshake. "We'll review and talk when we all get back, I'll answer any questions then. Now, hurry up! Your buddy will be here soon enough for the celebration.... Oh, I hope you loved it enough to do it again sometime?"

"I did," Chris nodded before jogging to where he'd been pointed and started unstrapping himself from the harness. He cast a quick glance at where his father was and allowed a brief guilty wave. He knew that he was expected to enjoy the moment with his dad and thank him again for the chance to do all he'd done that day but Kel's folks were there too so he knew he wouldn't, no, couldn't, go over to them until Kel was at his side and they celebrated together. He just hoped that Kel's landing was as good as his had been.

"Where you going, you old goat?" James mockingly snarled as he forced an instant glance at Charles. "Chris'll be over here as soon as Kelvin is with him.... Can't you see that they're both in this together?"

"Yeah." Charles stopped and looked from his son to James, chuckling. "You're right again.... This is a lot like when they both decided to paint kill markings on the side of...."

"Well, they were all of eleven back then." James gently squeezed his wife's hand as he heard her amused sigh. "But yes, that time and the time with the eggs...or them making it snow baby powder. Not that those two would ever cause that kind of trouble again."

"Right...." Charles' grin exploded across his face. "Nope, those two have found a lot of other things to get in trouble with together."

"Together...." Janice whispered, deep in thought. "That has a nice ring to it." She sighed thoughtfully this time. "I know there are no guarantees for the future and I sure wished that both of them had turned out different but they are what they are and they sure seem happiest and at their best with each other around."

She cringed and found herself flinching as she watched her youngest slam into the ground and roll, but he did get right up and even she could see the expression he was beaming. Her tone resolved when they saw Chris reach her son and the two ended up as a joyous, scarlet pile with arms and legs going every which way. "Our boys could do a lot worse than each other and I, for one, am going to give them the best chance to stay together.... And if Chris doesn't like it, you can both take your stubborn streaks and bite my ass!"

"Oh gawd," Kelvin drawled lazily and stretched out to his full five and a half feet of length, and stared up at the swath of stars over the heads of him and his love. He figured they'd both probably have to be pried out of their jump suits when they finally got used to the feelings the day had instilled. Either that or when the smell got too bad. "I so missed doing this with you.... Just you and me alone again."

"Me too," Chris smiled before leaning over and kissing Kel's forehead and cheek, his arm seeming to form the perfect cradle for Kel's head. He glanced around them once more before leaning back and accepting the warmth grudgingly given up by the Spanish styled roof tiles. He and Kel had spent a lot of their childhood up on the roof of Kelvin's house just enjoying each other's company or planning this or some other outlandish scheme that had almost always landed one or both of them on somebody's shit list. "I'm just glad your dad didn't cut that old tree down... and I can't believe we didn't head north before now."

"Shit," Kelvin chuckled slightly at their old reference to the roof as 'heading north'. His smile grew into a blazing grin. "Yeah, right.... I'm gon'a like say 'hey! let's climb onto my roof like we used to' to my cool, former big city boyfriend and look like a complete lame-o?"

"Hell, what does that make me then?" Chris huffed as his cheeks suddenly burned. He was glad that the only light was of the Milky Way variety and that Kel couldn't see the red course through his face. "I guess I'm pretty...."

"Great!" Kelvin jumped in before the usual self cut down could emerge. "You are my true friend and my boyfriend. You are great and I deserve you, all of you... and I'm thrilled you asked first. I was too busy being a chickenshit."

"So was...." Chris looked away to wipe a tear that made an unwelcome appearance along with a lump in his throat. He had to tell Kelvin about his plans for after graduation the next year but couldn't. Each of his carefully thought out plans all ended the same way. Kel would delay fulfilling his dreams, which was something Chris would never do to the person he loved so hard it hurt, or the telling would put an ending date to their love that they could count down to. Then Kelvin would go one way into his future and Chris would go another.

"Nope! Not gon'a let ya say it." Kelvin smirked at cutting off another of his boyfriend's rendering comments. He studied the side of Chris' face, silhouetted against the dark, starlit sky and noticed the hand brushing away the moisture under his love's eye. "Chris, I'm sorry."

"You don't have anything to be sorry about," Chris whispered and choked. He tried to force a smile back onto his features and cursed himself mentally again. Here he was, having done the most incredible thing anyone could do and shared it with the most incredible boy and friend in his world and yet he was still lying that everything would work out just fine, that they'd stay together forever, and slowly failing at that lie too. "If anyone has anything to be sorry about, I do."

"Chris?" Kelvin rolled over and grabbed his boyfriend tightly around his taut belly. "Why? I don't know what's going on in your head and I need to. I love you and will, no matter what.... So tell me what's going on?"

Chris opened his mouth but the sound just wouldn't come for a moment as he floundered into gulping air. He finally forced his breathing back to something closer to normal even though his heart was still pounding so hard he was sure he could see his jumpsuit jumping in time over his chest. "I...I don't think I...I won't be able to go with you to college."

Kel remained quiet for a minute or two and let his own heart lurch through his ribs. He'd suspected as much ever since the comments Chris had made at the school's dance and it had grown as he'd watched his love's confident attitude come and go with ever increasing speed. What Chris had just said really didn't surprise or shock him but the finality in which he'd said it had come as the real blow. He didn't know why Chris was so adamant about not accepting outside help, financial or otherwise, but it was becoming obvious that his attitude had closed off any and all options along those lines. He'd nodded dumbly whenever loans or scholarships were ever mentioned around him and then would give the speaker nothing more than a weak 'whatever'.

"I guess I'd better get home," Chris croaked sadly and turned away in shame, trying to get to his feet off the slanted roof. He cringed and tried to prepare himself for the explosion from Kelvin when he felt Kel's arms tighten further around his body. This was it. He'd just announced the date of their breakup and the ending of even their close friendship. He just knew that he wouldn't have to wait a year for it now. It would happen in the next few minutes and there was nothing he could do to stop it or the pain when both of their hearts crumbled and fell heavily onto his shoulders.

"Nope!" Kel held on tight until Chris stopped trying to move and seemed to wither in resignation. "Next year is next year. I need ya now.... I need you to tell me why?"

"Why what?" Chris felt his edge start to crumble in the face of Kel's warmth and back rubbing. The self scripted explosion hadn't happened according to all his fears and worries. His expectations fell into confusion as he tried to reorganize his thoughts to skirt that one haunting episode of his past in that fancy Houston hotel room again. This time it wasn't working as his mind kept returning to the memories he had and how he'd covered it before.

"Why?" Kel asked his question forcefully again to keep his own voice from cracking. He felt like he was a drowning boy holding onto another drowning boy but couldn't let him go until he knew that even if his feelings were shattered, that his friend would at least try to fight whatever it was that had started this increasing roller coaster ride his moods were taking. "Only you know but I'm here.... I mean, why all the shit with my folks today and what about your dad? Damnit! We've both got birthdays coming up soon and I'm scared to even try to get ya anything."

"Shit, Kel." Chris turned his head away and had to wipe a hand under both eyes and took a deep shuddering breath until the tightness relaxed enough to keep speaking. "I love you...not the stuff you or your mom and dad can get or do for me. I don't...I don't want them to...to get me anything...I...."

"But why?" Kelvin finally was able to get the eye contact Chris had been trying to deny him. The rising moonlight made him shudder at the glassy darkness that seemed to overwhelm those, normally, light blue irises he'd fallen for both literally and figuratively last year. "I love you too and they lo...."

"It makes me feel like a whore!" Chris shook as his heated, unthinking words just spilled. His carefully constructed walls had finally crumbled to release the shit he felt he really was. It had come very close to happening when Sharon had that damned picture from somewhere on the Net. Until now, he'd thought it was forever forgotten and far in the past. "Like I'm being bought for you."

"It ain't like that." Kel released his hold and pulled himself up into a ball, never taking his eyes off of his one-time best friend and now boyfriend. He was totally out of his depth with this revelation. He needed help but who? Their folks were ruled out just because they were their folks and he didn't think Chris would be open with them if it had taken this long for him to finally be honest with his boyfriend. But he needed something now. He could almost feel the two of them drifting further apart and continued trying to think of something to say that would put things right again.

"I'm sorry..." Chris' head dropped between his crossed arms as the anger fell back down into his deeply hidden but never completely covered self loathing. "...I guess I'd better go now...I didn't...."

"Like hell you will!" Both boys jumped at the familiar voice from just below their feet and glanced over at where the upstairs windows were. Kel let out a sigh of relief when Mike stuck his head back out of the one in the upstairs bathroom and grinned sheepishly. "Ah, guys? How do I get up there?"

"Come out back and I'll show ya," Kel grinned back. Maybe he had a chance now. His small group of friends from school all had one rule to live by. When one of them had a problem, gang up! Steve as his team captain had been much simpler in his joking advice. 'You got a problem? Tell us before we have to beat it out'a ya.' That had been a joke until their first meet and Chris had crossed the finish line after his mile run in fourth place and everybody knew that his time was way off. They all knew that something was wrong then but Steve had just looked at Chris and shook his head as Mike whispered in his ear. He heard the screen door open and slam shut and peered around his boyfriend's hidden head. "OK, over to the left is an old tree...."

"Gawdamn, boys." Mike finished his climb and scurried along the roof edge and settled in next to them. "I knew y'all liked to be high all the time but some of us don't."

"Oh, shut up." Steve snarled nervously and made the last leap to the roof, then crawled on all fours to join the group. He couldn't help it if he liked his feet firmly planted on the earth. "If this is where my friends are, then where else would I be?"

"Probably in bed fuckin' Jenny again." Mike winked and humped into the space between his open hands. That got a chuckle out of Kel and a dirty look of promised revenge from Steve. "Just like you did all last week."

"I did a lot more than that last week," Steve kept his pained smile on his friend's in front of him. "Like saving the life of that asshole friend of yours.... but I think we need to get on with what's going on here. We'll all have time to tell our stories later. Besides, I think your folks are still playing those tapes over and over."

"How much did you hear?" Chris whispered from between his arms and winced, not really welcoming the answer or any part of this conversation. Every time he tried to move his head, he felt like his heart would explode out of his chest. 'Ha.' he thought 'I wouldn't be that lucky.'

"Enough." Mike let his smile linger unseen and decided to push into the subject while Chris was still fresh on it and might still listen. He'd met enough kids in his therapy sessions in Ft. Worth closed down inside. "Now, why are you talking like that about Kelvin's folks? Hell, even I can see that they love you too."

"I can't talk about it." Chris finally braved a glance up at the cold looking stars before hanging his head again. "I don't know why. I just do."

"Is all this about that picture Sharon found?" Mike's face grew serious as he picked his next words very carefully. His father had advised him not to say anything to Chris and let Chris come to him first, not wanting the boy to feel even worse but Mike could feel something in Chris' earlier words to his boyfriend and Chris' reaction to his question, or lack of it, told him he might be right and that the time might be right. He just hoped that Steve could hold both of them up after he caught Chris if he decided to take the quick way off the roof. "Chris, I might be wrong and if I am just tell me...but we are all your friends here. Hell, you're more like our brother than just a friend, so I'll tell you everything I know but you've got to do the same."

"Fine!" Chris' eyes blazed through his tears as he blinked furiously, trying to keep them clear. "I'm a fuckin' whore then! You happy now?"

"Whoa there, pardner." Mike raised a hand in a quieting motion to keep Kelvin quiet and smiled to himself at the way the short member of their little group pulled his tall boyfriend into a hug that probably would have made breathing difficult for a horse, "Why don't you start at the beginning. We've got all night, fuck school, and we'll still be here after too.... I wasn't kidding, you're our brother and Kel's best."

"Damn right," Steve almost snarled as if challenging whatever in the world might threaten them. He held his own shame at how he'd reacted to Mike's own coming out but after that and his talks with Mr. Goldman, he'd only reinforced his value for his friendships. Just as he fell tightly in love with Jenny, he also was just as firmly attached to his friends. Of course, one of the main reasons he'd asked her to be his wife and why she'd accepted was that when he'd started to pull away from his friends to devote all his time to her, she'd smiled at him but told him in no uncertain terms that what she loved most about him was the way he was there for everybody he knew and how that had better not change. He and Mike had planned the rest of their spring break trip that night.

"Fuck," Chris whispered quietly and sucked in another gasping breath, hanging his head again as this latest flash of temper passed. He could feel the warmth of Kel's arm across his chest and on his chin. He didn't know if he'd survive losing that warmth but all he had left was the truth. He'd already hurt Kelvin and everybody he had as a friend here a lot more than any of them deserved. He quietly thought back to his first flight with James and what he'd said about taking control, so, "I went ice skating at the Galeria.... It's a big shopping mall and Marriot hotel...."

Kelvin listened closely to the rambling story his love told in a halting manner, one ear fixed on the choked up voice and the other to the vibration and rapid heartbeats through Chris' back. A couple of times he wanted to scream or cry out as his own body felt his shock and anger but some sense just kept him quiet as the heat from Chris' back seemed to radiate through his body and soul. He couldn't help what he was feeling but regardless it was still Chris and that was who he loved.

"I don't know why I went up to his room," Chris sighed as the memories hammered their way through the remains of all his lies and walls. "I mean, shit, it was this big fancy place and we were just shooting the shit about school and crap to see in the city.... I mean this guy says he works for some college somewhere, so I was asking a lot of questions too.... Anyway, when we got there, I asked if I could use the bathroom while he checked for his messages or whatever else.... he said yes so I went.... I mean, shit, what the fuck did I know. Hell, I'd only even been driving for a month...."

Mike nodded calmly through the roundabout way the story was unfolding and through the building anger. His need to find and lash out at the cause, as the pain was finally laid out for them to finally see was hard not to do. He could feel the same through Steve's quiet but tense body and the pain through his hand tightly clutching Chris' shoulder as he tried to continue. He remembered the picture all too well with his teammate and friend's hard cock being jerked by some unknown male hand and the almost fearful look in his eyes despite the smile. As he heard the story, he knew the fear was real and the smile wasn't.

"I...I..." Chris couldn't help the sob that escaped his tightly drawn lips. His last lie about this had just been proven. His lie to Kelvin, he hadn't fought off anyone that day. Whatever it was that the guy had slipped into his drink had done its job all too well; "I...woke up...and...and...there were...there were three guys there...."

"I'm here," Kelvin whispered quietly and used a fold in Chris' jumpsuit to wipe his own eyes. He wasn't going to let go now for any reason. They were in this together. So if Chris did decide to jump off the roof, he'd have to drag all of them with him to do it.

"I was...I was na...naked on the bed...." Chris shuddered again and fought to get his voice under control but the anger, fear, self loathing and shame made that a lost cause. Kel's choking voice in his ear brought him back. They were together still. "They...they...said what a...a...a great...a great fu...fuck...I was.... I...I...I, shit! There were rub...rubbers...and...and I hurt....Then...then they said...they said they'd put...they'd put the pictures up...up at my school...every...everyone would know, unless I...I let them take more aa...and...and took...took care...took care of their friends in the fu...future."

"And did you?" Mike couldn't stay silent through his seething anger but did barely manage to ask in a calm voice. If he had given vent to his feelings he was sure that there would be three very dead men in a hotel room. He was glad for one thing. If anything else good came of this night, then maybe if his dad's friends ever caught the bastards, Chris just might make a witness after all. Though Mike was pretty sure that he wasn't going to tell Chris that he'd taken that picture to his dad.

"No. but...but I found some mo...money and a n...note in my p...pocket.... I...I wanted to throw it out but...but...but I...I didn't." Chris sobbed out his relief that had also been kept locked away so tightly but his shame returned. He was relieved that those expected calls or e-mails hadn't come but his safety was bought with his mom's imprisonment. "My...my mom got arrested a couple'a weeks later and I moved out here."

"Let it go, buddy." Mike smiled wistfully then and hoped his friends could see it. "You ain't a whore. And I don't care how big or tall you are.... You were drugged and raped."

"I...I should'a known...known better!" Chris' eyes flared again as he threw a hard punch into his own leg. He almost welcomed the sharp physical pain but the other wasn't dented yet.

"Why? How?" Mike snarled back his challenge and waited quietly.

"I don't know..." Chris snarled back his frustration; "...but I should've."

"Now, even I know that's bullshit," Steve spoke up from where he'd been listening and thinking hard as his friend struggled with what he didn't know and hopefully would never know but somehow the old 'it'll never happen to me' thinking just wouldn't hold up with someone he knew as a great friend. Hell, as far as he was concerned, if it happened to Chris, it might as well have happened to him too. "Look, I don't know what that must've been like and living with it like you have but I do know one thing. You are still our friend. That hasn't changed any."

"God, I love you so much," Kelvin whispered again though he wanted to shout it out, his own challenge to the world. The world had thrown them both another challenge and Kel so much as told himself and the others that the world was gon'a lose. "You're my boyfriend and will be.... Nobody could buy how I feel about you."

"I...I'm sorry." Chris glanced from face to face in the moonlight, finally settling on his boyfriend. Kel's own cheeks sparkled with the moisture leaking from his eyes but Chris felt he was ready for the honor of all time loser when a stricken look crossed his boyfriend's face. "Shit! I hurt you again.... Fuck! God, I love you and all I bring is shit!"

"Chris!" Kelvin turned up his lip into a crooked little smile. "Shut up! We've got each other now and I ain't that easy to get rid of! So get it through that thick skull of yours.... I love you, my folks love you, our friends love you, OK so maybe Steve and the others just like ya but still...."

"Bite me, short stuff," Steve glanced nervously from one boy to the other, from one wicked smile to the other unreadable and hidden face.

"Ask Mike to. Kel's mine," Chris grumbled seriously, his hands grabbing and squeezing the arms that never left their tight circle around his chest. "And I'm his."

"We know." Steve cast a glance at Mike's darkened face, expecting something. He wasn't sure what, but Mike had been through something like this before in his groups and he hadn't. Steve sighed into continuing silence and leaned back onto the warm tiles, surprisingly content. If any of his friends or family needed any help he could provide, he'd vowed to try his best to be there. He knew he was where he needed to be. "Thanks for telling us, Chris.... For trusting us, I mean. I knew you had guts but now it's for real that you do and don't let anyone tell you different."

"Shit!" Chris felt his heart give another lurch in his chest. "Please don't tell anyone else about this! Please?"

"I won't," Steve replied seriously then let a smile leak through as he directed his eyes back up to the stars. "I sure as hell ain't gon'a tell anybody about this.... You think I'm gon'a tell my folks that after driving fourteen hours to get home I spent the night on Kel's roof? Yeah, right."

"Speaking of which..." Mike whispered quietly through the round of chuckles that circulated through the four friends. He was thankful to see that even Chris had responded to their running gags at Steve's very real fear of heights. He was also thankful that his own promise to keep silent hadn't been given or asked for. "...I think I need to get you home...and me too."

"Boys, I think y'all should come down now.... All of you!" James' command reverberated from the dark room where his wife had dried her eyes in self defense as she'd also heard enough to know that another cruel attack had happened to her sons, both of them up on the roof. He held his steady gaze and grinned up into his biological son's startled eyes. "How else did you think we knew what you two were up to all these years?" >>

"OK, boys. Y'all take a seat, any seat." James glared harshly at the four nervous teens as they arranged themselves in almost predictable order on the two couches in the family room. He almost smiled at his son and Chris, their current size and stature betrayed by the 'oh shit, dad found out' looks he remembered from four years ago. They were together then and now. He set his cordless phone down, then thinking twice as he looked at Steve, picked it up again. "Here, Steve. call your folks and let 'em know that you'll be staying here tonight.... Mike, we called your dad, he'll be over here shortly....Now, Christopher. I want you to..." he shook his head and knelt in front of Chris, giving him as warm a smile as he could and placing his hands on the tall young man's shoulders. It was pointless to try to tell the boy to relax right now anyway. "Hell, forget I said that...but your dad is coming over too"

"No!" Chris' face finished draining of any remaining color as he felt his body shudder. "N...not my dad, please! He...he'll...no...."

"Chris?" James absently rubbed the boy's shoulder and smiled reassuringly into the fearful eyes. "What you've said doesn't change how proud my wife and I are in you and Kel and what you've been able to do...and if I know Kelvin, he isn't going to let you go right now anyway. So...."

"But you don't understand," Chris almost wailed. "He'll think...he'll think that's why I'm what I am! That I'm...."

"That you're what?" James almost snarled in his anger at what he'd heard his unofficial son saying up on the roof. "Listen to me and give us some credit here. I said we were proud of the both of you and we are.... If we've made any mistakes here, they are our mistakes. You've handled things so well this far that I think we forgot that you're still only sixteen years old. You got trapped into something you had to face alone. So what if you're gay. I don't think those men could've cared less what you were or are. All they cared about was what they wanted from you and chances are they got from other boys too. I don't think that this incident makes you any less the person we've grown to love and respect like one of our own. Let me ask you something. Do you love Kel? ...I'm not talking about what he can do for you or not. I mean do you love 'him'?"

"Yes, sir," Chris whispered but the conviction and passion went deeply though his whole voice. "Those men didn't make me anything. I just hope my father will believe that."

"Then that's all that matters." James let his mouth curl into a tighter grin and looked at his youngest son as he started to breathe again. He figured that last question had been much harder on Kel than almost everyone in the room. James' knowing eyes continued to twinkle as he caught Chris' eyes again. "If you remember anything else from tonight, remember this. Those men tried to steal 'you' but they failed.... You've faced it all and lived through it and remained the special young man in all our lives. So face up to this next challenge and know that you're not alone here. My wife and I are here, Your dad will be with you, your friends are here and Kelvin couldn't be pried from your side with a bulldozer."

"Yes, sir," Chris whispered again and continued to pull in whatever strength he could from his boyfriend's arms and fought off his need to run. That really wasn't an option any more. "I...I will."

"I know you will, Christopher." James let his smile emerge and linger as a gentle reinforcement of his words. The doorbell made them all jump. "Steven? Could you get the door? It's time to get this out and done with."

"God, I love you," Kelvin sighed and wiggled closer to Chris' quiet body. The jumpsuits hadn't stayed on them as long as he'd thought they would as he reveled in the bare skin to skin contact and the contact with the roof tiles again. He couldn't help his grin as he thought about what his dad would say about the both of them climbing back up in their underwear and nothing else but he knew they had unfinished business up there that remaining night. Mike and Steve were both half crashed across the couches and the living room floor and his parents had also finally found rest for the night while Charles took the guest bed offered. He finally let his eyes wander back up to the wide swath of stars again. The coldness was gone, replaced by their warmth, seeming to mirror his feelings and love. His heart had swollen with a pride in Christopher that he knew could never be challenged successfully.

"I love you too." Chris turned and let his hand fall into a gentle caress across Kel's chest and rippled stomach. He was rewarded with a returning stroke that traced his own tight muscles before descending to grasp him under the slight cotton covering he wore.

"That is something else that'll never change for me." Kelvin smiled and danced his fingers up to Chris' smaller head on top of the hard shaft he was so familiar with. He sucked in a moan through his teeth when Chris' hand made its own similar journey, squeezing out the fluid that never seemed to make an appearance until a hand other than his own was pumping the source. "I'm so glad it's you."

"Huh?" Chris cast a quizzical glance at his boyfriend's barely seen face before he trailed his fingers through the slippery fluid and grasped harder.

"Never mind," Kelvin panted back and returned the favor. He moved his legs around and bent his head down. "Gawd, Chris."

"Shit, Kel. Be careful." Chris smiled and reaffirmed his grasp on Kelvin's conveniently presented handle. "I want you too but shit.... I ain't gon'a explain to your folks how we both fell off the roof."

"Chris? Shut up," Kelvin whispered as he finally got his middle somewhere near Chris' head and felt his underwear descending to his knees while he did the same to his boyfriend. He stopped for a moment just to take in the sight again offered from the 'V' of Chris' torso and legs before he finally slipped his tongue under and around the substantial foreskin and felt the wet heat engulf him as well. He almost hummed his contentment. They were together still. Wanted each other in every way. Of that he was certain as they both reaffirmed their need, love, and commitments and what better witnesses than the billions of stars and worlds smiling down at them.

My sincere thanks to Ed for his kind and patient help with editing my work.

It's been a long time coming for me to get back into telling my stories (and liking what I was writing). For those who advised I return to my oldest characters (and in this case, friends) I thank you for helping me make telling a story fun again.

WillyB. (willyb184@aol.com)