Orchids in the Sun, Chapter 10

Orchids in the Sun

© by The Lavender Quill, 2003

Warning: the following story contains graphic descriptions of male/male sex between consenting adults. If that sort of thing bothers you, or you are a minor, or it is illegal for you to read this type of content under the laws of your area, don’t read any further.

This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people or events is purely coincidental.

Setting: Present. Maui, Hawaii.

Chapter 10.

After a long busy day at the Nursery—Saturdays are always busiest in the retail store—Nick and I went right home. Kenji had left earlier since we had no one to look after Masashi.

I sat down with my guitar next to Masashi in the living room and started to play for him. Nick started on his homework, while Kenji made dinner. I played a quiet happy melody, which suited my mood, and seemed to work for everyone else too.

All four of us had dinner together, and Masashi excused himself and went to bed almost as soon as we’d finished eating. He thanked me with a small bow for playing the guitar.

Nick went back to his homework.

“We goin’ through lotta food,” said Kenji as he and I cleaned up.

We sat down and made a grocery list. Then we walked in to the living room where Nick was.

“Nick,” said Kenji. “I goin’ out for groceries. You want anything?”

“Yeah, POG,” said Nick, grinning.

I shook my head. POG is a drink containing Passion fruit, Orange, and Guava juice. Actually, it was mostly sugar water with a little juice thrown in to give it credibility. I thought it tasted like Kool-Aid, and preferred real fruit instead.

“You such a tourist, Nick,” I teased.

He laughed and took the list from Kenji. He looked it over and added a couple more things with his pencil, then handed it back to Kenji. Kenji turned to go.

“Want me to go with you?” I asked.

“Nah,” said Kenji. “I got it.”

Kenji left, and I put the clothes I’d brought with me from my father’s apartment in the laundry room with the others I’d left there before. I decided if all three of us were going to live together here, we would have to figure out some way to store all our stuff. As Nick had pointed out, this was a small two-bedroom house, and would be overcrowded with four living here, even by my minimalist standards.

When I finished putting my things away, I went into the kitchen and cut up a papaya. I was determined to convert Nick to eating real fruit. There was such an abundance of it in Hawaii, and it was cheap. I didn’t understand why he drank that artificial crap. In truth, I’d drank a lot of POG as a kid, but I’d outgrown it by the time I hit high school.

I walked into the living room with a plate of papaya, but Nick wasn’t there. His books were closed. I wandered back toward the bedroom, but found him in the bathroom, soaking in the bathtub. He smiled at me.

“Join me,” he said, holding out his hand.

I thought it over for a second. Normally, I’m quite utilitarian when it comes to bathing. I spend so much time in the sea that my blond hair is a stiff unkempt spray. I keep it relatively short so I don’t have to mess with it much. Showers for me are a five-minute affair. Less if I’m just rinsing off the sand and salt water after surfing. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d actually run a real bath and soaked. I didn’t think too long.

“Okay,” I said.

I set the plate of papaya on the edge of the tub, and slipped out of my tee shirt and shorts. I stepped into the tub and started to sit down at the other end, facing Nick.

“Uh, uh,” he said. “Turn around.”

I did as he requested and turned. I sat down, and Nick grabbed my hips, guiding me into the water in front of him. The water was just slightly warm, refreshing after the day in the heat at the nursery. I leaned back and rested my back against Nick’s bare chest. I could feel his cock against my lower back. He wasn’t hard, but it was still a substantial package.

“You just like looking at my ass,” I teased.

“Don’t laugh. It’s true. You have a, a magnificent ass, Trevor.”

He wrapped his arms around my chest, hugging me from behind.

“We gonna have a hard time explaining this if Masashi come walking in here to take a piss,” I said.

Nick laughed. “He doesn’t usually do that, does he?”

“No,” I admitted.

We weren’t really taking much of a risk, I knew. Masashi slept a lot, which was actually good for us, giving us a little privacy. He occasionally got up early in the morning to use the bathroom before going back to bed, but never late in the evening.

I handed a slice of papaya back to Nick, and ate one myself. I set the rind back on the plate. I leaned back and rested my head on Nick’s shoulder. I was very comfortable resting in his arms.

“Nick,” I said. “Tell me this ain’t just about sex.” I absently played with one of his fingers. “I mean, the sex is awesome. You and Kenji are any gay boy’s wet dream. Well, mine anyway. But what about later when we’re old and bald and fat?”

“Kenji probably won’t go bald. How often do you see bald Asian guys?”

“I’m serious, Nick.”

He squeezed me and kissed my neck.

“I know, dude,” he said. “No, this isn’t just about sex. I mean, sex is part of it. For sure. But I was in love with you guys long before last week.” He kissed my neck again. “I think we’ve been more than just friends for a while now. Don’t you?”

I thought about it. Nick was right. We each had other friends, but it wasn’t the same. I couldn’t talk with my other friends in the same way I could with Nick and Kenji. Didn’t feel like I could go to them with problems. Didn’t feel like I could count on them in the same way. I remembered when William died. All of Kenji’s friends gave him their sympathies and best wishes, but it was Nick and me that he turned to in his deepest grief. And Nick, despite all his exploits, never committed to anyone, waiting for the right time with us, perhaps even unknowingly.

“Yeah, I guess,” I admitted.

I heard the side door open, and close a minute later. Kenji was home with the groceries. Nick scooped up some water and splashed it on my chest. Scooped up some more and rubbed it over my shoulders and back.

“I think maybe you’re just feeling a little insecure ’cause this is so weird. We have nothing to model after.”

That was it exactly, I realized. I loved them, loved the relationship we were developing, but it did feel very strange. So completely different from my previous expectations. I arched my head around and kissed him.

“I think you right,” I said. “Thanks Nick.”

Kenji walked into the bathroom then.

“Hey, guys,” he said.

“Hey,” I said.

“Wanna join us?” Nick asked.

“Uh, I don’t think so. I think be little too crowded with three, like.”

He sat down on the toilet lid and slipped his bare feet in the tub between my legs. We couldn’t all fit in the tub, but at least there was room for him to dunk his feet so he wasn’t left out completely. I dribbled some water on his knees.

“Trevor was just worried that I’m gonna dump him when he gets old and his ass starts to sag,” said Nick, ever subtle.

“No way, brah,” said Kenji, laughing. “When he sixty, he gonna have the best ass of any sixty year old on the island.”

“If I go bald,” said Nick, “I can always get a toupee.”

“A blond toupee,” said Kenji. “Then you can look just like Trevor.”

“Okay, okay. Stop it already,” I said.

They smirked. I picked up Kenji’s foot nearest me and pulled it to my lap. I began to massage the bottom of it. I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just started rubbing at the arch, and worked my way up to his toes. I knew I was doing something right when he moaned.

“Oh, man, Trevor. That feel so good,” said Kenji. “Will you marry me?”

“I thought I already said ‘yes’,” I said.

“Oh, yeah. You did.” He smiled at me. “I glad.”

I set his foot down and reached for the other one. I started rubbing it as I had the other.

“Oh, dat good,” said Kenji. “That almost mo’ betta than sex. That what we gonna do when you get old and you ass sag and Nick go bald.”

“And you get fat,” added Nick.

“I neva’ get fat,” said Kenji. “I eat healthy food, not that POG crap like you.”

“You mean, like poi?” Nick asked, sarcastically. He mock shuddered. “Eww.”

Kenji and I locked eyes. Then we both smiled a knowing smile. Nick noticed.

“What?” asked Nick.

I put Kenji’s foot down.

“We sorta found a fun new use for poi,” I said.

“Yeah? Like what?”

“I don’t think we can show you when Masashi home,” said Kenji.

“You two are bad.”

Kenji and I grinned at each other again. Nick released me.

“Lean forward a little,” said Nick.

I did as he asked and Nick soaped my back and began to massage my shoulders and neck. They were a little sore from surfing in the morning since I had gone a while without. I don’t know where Nick picked up the skill, but he seemed quite talented. It felt really good.

“Mmmm,” I moaned. “Marry me, Nick.”

“I proposed to you first,” Nick chuckled. “You already said ‘yes’.”

“Oh yeah, I did, didn’t I. I must be pretty smart.”

“Good, smart guy. You can finish my homework for me tomorrow.”

“Careful what you ask for,” I said. “Prolly wouldn’t do you grade much good if I tried it.”

We fell into silence as Nick worked his fingers down my back.

“How’s that?” Nick asked when he was done.

“I gonna hafta climb in’a bath with you more often,” I said with complete sincerity. “And not just for the massage, either. Thanks Nick.”

I turned and gave him a light kiss.

“No problem, surfer dude. You ready to get out?”

“In a sec. Kenji, hand me a towel.”

He leaned over, pulled a towel off the bar and handed it to me. Careful not to dunk it in the bath, I lifted and meticulously dried each of Kenji’s feet, massaging them a little more in the process, and setting them on the edge of the tub. Then I stood up.

“Okay,” I said.

I flipped the drain lever and turned to Nick. He stood too, and I noticed that he was half erect. I was too. I smiled at him and started to dry him off as the water drained. Kenji got into the game and started drying my back with another towel. I made a little circle motion with my finger, and Nick turned around. I dried his back and kissed him between the shoulder blades. Kenji turned me around so he could do my front. Nick and I both did a little dance as we dried our feet and hopped out. The small bathroom was pretty crowded with all of us in there.

Nick and Kenji headed for the bedroom, and I wrapped a towel around my waist and went around the house making sure the doors were locked and all the lights out. When I got to the bedroom Nick was lying naked on his stomach in the middle of the bed. Kenji had stripped too, and was sitting astride Nick’s ass, massaging his shoulders.

I closed the door, dropped my towel, and climbed on the bed with them. When Kenji finished massaging Nick’s back, he rolled off to the side opposite. Nick’s turn in the middle tonight. Between the bath, and their reassurances, and the massages, I was very sleepy. I felt very loved, and my eyes closed almost immediately.

I woke once in the night. Nick was crawling over me. He rolled me over into the middle, kissed me, and went back to sleep. I smiled and went back to sleep too. It was looking like I was going to get the middle in bed every night, and that suited me just fine.

* * * * *

In the morning, I woke feeling invigorated and alive. Nick was still out cold, but Kenji was waking. He rolled to face me. I ran my hand down his side and over his bare hip. I kissed him.

“Morning,” I whispered.

He smiled at me and kissed me. Then he wrapped his arm around me and rolled onto his back, pulling me on top of him. Our lips met in a kiss again, this time long and slow and loving—Kenji’s specialty. I closed my eyes and his hands gently roamed my back and my ass. We were both getting hard. I don’t know how long we would have stayed there kissing, but we heard the bathroom door close out in the hallway, and broke our kiss.

Masashi was up.

“Damn,” I whispered.

I rested my forehead on Kenji’s shoulder, frustrated. I wanted to continue, but knew we couldn’t now. I sighed and rolled off him. He took my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of it.

“Sorry, brah,” he whispered.

“S’okay,” I said. “I understand.”

Kenji got out of bed and I watched with a smile as he stepped naked over to the dresser to find a pair of boxers, his boner leading the way. It looked like I wasn’t the only frustrated one.

As soon as he was out of the way, I got up too. I was wide-awake by then, and starting something with Nick would have resulted in far more noise than had Kenji and I stayed in bed. I dressed and went into the kitchen to help with breakfast.

“Good morning Masashi,” I said, bowing slightly.

“Good morning Trevor.” He bowed, not quite as low as me, which was correct given his seniority.

“You go surf today?” Masashi asked.

I looked over at Kenji. I knew he needed to get to the nursery earlier today. He had to get Zan’s run ready for Monday, and Monday was our biggest shipping day, from mail and Internet orders that came in over the weekend. Nick and I would be busy in the retail shop, so Kenji had to do most all of it.

“Not today,” I said. “I went yesterday. It was very nice.”

“Ah,” said Masashi, bobbing his head.

We sat down to eat. When we finished, Masashi took his newspaper out to the patio.

“Sorry you gotta miss surfing again, brah,” said Kenji.

“S’okay,” I said. “I had really nice day yesterday. Nick went with me surfing. Things went great with my dad. I loved last night. I can hang in there for a while. Waikini start Wednesday. I go back surfing after that.”

Nick wandered into the kitchen then.

“Morning sleepy head,” I said.

Nick was not a morning person. He scratched his face, which he hadn’t shaved yet.

“Morning,” said Nick in a dead monotone. He gave us a wan smile. “Need POG. Must have POG.”

He poured himself a glass and plunked down at the table.

“You going surfing again this morning?” Nick asked.

“No,” I said. “Kenji gotta get everything ready for tomorrow, so I stay to watch Masashi.”

“Why?” asked Nick. “I can watch him.”

I looked at him.

“I was just going to study this morning. We both don’t gotta stay here.”

“You sure?” I said.

“Yeah. If I’m going to live here, I can help watch him sometimes too. You don’t have to do it all the time.”

“Thanks Nick. Weekends are the only time I get to surf with my dad.”

“Masashi seem pretty okay this morning,” said Kenji.

“Shouldn’t be a problem then,” said Nick.

Nick finished his POG. He was looking more alert. He got up and poured himself some cereal, and then came back to the table. He looked at Kenji and I looked over too. Kenji was staring off at nothing.

“Earth to Kenji,” I said.

His eyes snapped back into focus and he looked at us sheepishly.

“I just thinking… be nice if we had a bigger tub.”

I smiled at him and he smiled back. It was a nice thought.

“I already ordered a bigger bed,” said Nick. “I don’t think a bigger tub would fit in that little bathroom.” He took on a more serious look. “I hate to be the one to say it, but I don’t think this place is going to work in the long run. I’m glad we’re together, and I know we have to take care of Masashi, but this place is just too damn small for all four of us.”

He was right. Even with my clothes on a shelf in the laundry room, Kenji’s room was getting full, and we hadn’t even put the new bigger bed in yet. Plus Nick still had lots of stuff at home. I had my surfboards out back, but all my dive stuff was still at my father’s apartment.

“Could we move to a bigger house?” I suggested. “We could rent this out and use the money toward renting something with more room.”

“I don’t know,” said Kenji. “It’d be nice, but Masashi live in this house for almost 50 years. With his Alzheimer’s, moving might confuse him pretty bad.”

“We could ask him,” said Nick.

“We should prolly ask his doctor,” I said.

“I call him tomorrow. See what he say,” said Kenji. He smiled at me. “A bigger place a nice idea, Trevor. Some place with a big huge master bedroom with a big bathtub.”

I grinned at him.

“Maybe we could sell this place,” I said, getting in to the fantasy. “Use the money to build our own dream house on Masashi’s land. Way deep, up on the hill. Nobody even know we there.”

“A house on stilts,” Nick pitched in. “With a huge balcony and a view of the ocean. We can watch the sun rise.”

“Ha,” snorted Kenji with a laugh. “Like you get up in time to watch the sun rise.”

“We wouldn’t have to get up,” I said. “We could have our bedroom face the ocean, with big bay windows out to the balcony. We can just watch it from bed if we want. The balcony will be covered, so we can sit out there even when it rains. We could have big French doors, so we could pull the bed out and sleep on the balcony if we want.”

“Masashi’s room be on other end of house,” said Kenji. “Soundproof, so Nick can make all da noise he want.”

We both grinned at Nick.

“And a bathtub big enough for three,” said Nick.

“And an outdoor garden shower,” I said. “And orchids everywhere, all over the house.”

“Cool idea, Trevor,” said Nick. “See what I meant when I said you were creative.”

“Trevor get to design the house,” said Kenji. Then he sighed wistfully. “Prolly cost a bunch.”

“It could be done,” said Nick. “This house is small, but it’s worth a lot because it isn’t on leased land. And the new house would have to be bigger than this, but it wouldn’t have to be a mansion or anything.”

“Yeah,” I said. “It still only need to be two bedrooms. Just one a lot bigger than what we got now. And a second bathroom. We could build a storage shed down at the back of the nursery to store dive gear and my surfboards and stuff. Don’t need bigger house for that.”

Kenji sighed again, a dreamy look on his face. “Maybe some day,” he said.

“What’re we really gonna do if doctor say we shouldn’t move Masashi?” I asked.

“We could still build a storage shed out at the nursery for surfboards and dive gear,” said Nick.

“Yeah. That a good idea,” said Kenji. “I call Walaka. See if he build it for us.”

Walaka had been in the same grade as Nick, a year ahead of Kenji and me. He had been in the same gay student group as we were in. A big guy on the football team. He was of mixed race, like many kids in our school, but mostly islander by his features and dark skin and hair. When he’d finished high school, he’d gone to work for a construction company. On weekends he sometimes did maintenance projects for us at the nursery to make a little extra money.

“I wonder if we could add on to this place,” said Nick. “Make it a little bigger, but leave most of the house the way it is now so Masashi don’t get confused.”

“With our bedroom at the other end of the house,” Kenji joked.

I thought about it. I pictured the house in my mind, and couldn’t see how it could be done. Masashi’s house was a compact, efficient design, not easily suitable for expansion.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Be pretty hard to do.”

“Maybe we make the garage into bedroom and bathroom for us,” said Kenji. “Fix it up. Make it bigger.”

“No good,” said Nick. “Masashi would come wandering into our bedroom looking for his car.”

“Ugh,” said Kenji. “Don’t remind me about car.”

Nick ate, and we sat quietly for a moment, contemplating what to do about our living situation.

I heard a paper rustle behind me, and we turned to see Masashi standing in the doorway to the patio, folding his newspaper. I wondered how long he’d been standing there, and what he might have overheard. I looked at Kenji, and I could tell he was wondering the same thing.

Nick stood and gave a little bow.

“Good morning Masashi,” he said.

Nick was still learning the subtleties of older Japanese tradition, but he tried to be respectful when he could.

“Good morning Nick,” said Masashi. “Sit, sit.”

There was no indication that he had heard anything. Then again, he could have been listening for a half an hour and would still have worn an inscrutable look.

“We decided Trevor should go surfing with his dad,” said Nick. “I’m going to study here this morning, if that’s okay.”

“Yes, yes,” said Masashi. He turned to me. “It is good to spend time with your father, no?”

“Yes,” I said.

“You good boy, Trevor.”

I nodded to him, acknowledging the compliment. He didn’t know my father well—they had only met a couple of times. But he knew my father and I were very close. This earned me respect in his view. Though he never spoke of it, I knew it was a source of great displeasure for him that Kenji was not at all close to his parents. In his view, they had abandoned him. The fact that Masashi had put Kenji in charge of the Hitohana Hinata Orchid Garden at such a young age, and basically willed everything to him, spoke volumes. It was clear that Masashi blamed Kenji’s parents for leaving. Masashi had barely spoken to or of them since they’d moved to Oahu.

In reality, Kenji could have moved to Oahu with them, but we all knew that he would have been very unhappy. Being separated from his friends, and having to be closeted in a household of newly converted Mormons would have been a nightmare, I thought.

Our minor issues of overcrowding suddenly seemed less important. At least we had a place to live, we had the nursery, and we had each other.

“I am just fortunate to have such a good father,” I said. “And such good friends.”

Masashi nodded to me, acknowledging my modesty.

* * * * *

I did go surfing with my father. I was starting to feel normal again with two days in a row in the water. My father and I talked a little more. I explained that the three of us were going to be living at Masashi’s house, at least until we could find a better solution. Since Masashi’s house was paid off and didn’t cost anything, I told my father I’d continue to pay part of the rent for the apartment, since it was still half full of my dive gear and other stuff. We both knew that at some point he would have to move, though. He wasn’t bothered by it at all.

Nick and I drove to the nursery together in his car after we’d made sure Masashi had lunch. The retail shop was getting busy, so we took turns going back to greet Kenji, just as we had before.

Kenji left mid-afternoon again to go watch over Masashi. He had finished packaging all the orders ready to ship, and had most of Zan’s stuff ready to go. During slow periods in the afternoon, I managed to finish the rest.

Marlene was happy when she left at the end of the day. She had the next two days off. I went around closing everything up, while Nick balanced out the cash registers in the office. He was still working when I got back, so I rubbed his shoulders while he finished entering the final figures in the computer.

He turned to me and stood after he’d shut the computer down. He pulled me in to a hug.

“How’s biz?” I asked.

I was becoming slightly more curious about our monetary situation, since we were talking about building a storage shed. Anything else we might do to improve our space issues would likely cost money as well.

“Good. Getting better,” said Nick. “Masashi knew orchids. He was quite a botanist. But he was never the best businessman. He mostly ran the business by himself, you know. And marketing and promoting your business are contrary to his modest nature, I think. We’ll never make millions, but I think in another year or two, we’ll be making out just fine. There’ll be plenty of money in this business to support all of us.”

That was all I needed to hear. Details of the business would be lost on me. If Nick thought it was enough money, then that was fine by me. I was used to living far more modestly than he was.

Nick lifted my chin and kissed me. His kiss quickly turned passionate. I responded as I usually do, which is to say go wobbly in the knees, sag in to him, and let him have his way with me.

He pulled my tee shirt off and his kiss grew even more passionate. He was kneading my ass, lifting me up a little, crushing our groins together. I was hard, and I could feel through our shorts that his big cock was hard too.

He was so damned hot, but I thought he was getting a little carried away. I thought it would be better to continue at home. He wasn’t ready to stop, though. He undid my shorts and jammed his hand down the back, under my boxers. His fingers caressed my skin and he leaned into me and started to suck on my neck.

“Nick…” I moaned.

His finger found my rosebud, and he started to work on it, rubbing and prodding.

“God, Trevor,” Nick sighed. “You’re so hot.”

He gently but firmly inserted his finger, driving me up another notch.

“Nick…”

He started to push my shorts down with the other hand.

“I want to fuck you, dude. I’m so horny, and we never seem to get a chance.”

I could sympathize. He hadn’t actually fucked me since our night in the grotto, and I really wanted him inside me again. He was so wild.

I almost gave in.

“Nick… Nick, stop.”

“Please?”

His voice was almost choking with desire. Again, I almost changed my mind.

“Nick, I want to too, but I don’t think we should. Not with Kenji at home.”

He withdrew his finger, and part of me wished he’d put it back. I was having a serious conflict of desires. He nuzzled my neck.

“But we can’t do it there. Not with Masashi at home.”

“I know. I’m sorry. It just doesn’t feel right.”

He stopped kissing on my neck. He rested his forehead against mine. He was breathing heavy, and rubbing my shoulders. He was making an effort to control himself.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I feel like we’d be cheating on Kenji, like. He should be with us.”

“I wish he was here, too, but he ain’t. I don’t think he’d mind.”

I refastened my shorts.

“Maybe, but we don’t know that,” I said. “And even if he said he didn’t mind, I think I do.”

“Okay, Trevor.”

He backed off and turned away. I could tell he was unhappy. My resolve was slipping, but I pulled my tee shirt on anyway.

“Look, can we talk about this at home. All three of us?”

“Sure,” he said, unable to hide his exasperation.

“Nick…”

He ran his hand through his hair.

“Lets go, okay?” Nick said sternly.

We drove to Masashi’s in icy silence.

(To be continued.)

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