Sea Change

Sea Change, Pt 46a

I wish to retain all rights to this story. However, I am delighted to grant permission to any person to publish this story as long as there is no charge to the reader and as long as no changes are made to the story.

Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved.

SEA CHANGE

CHAPTER 46a — Elephant Men

I woke when Dan got up and went into the bathroom. He had been sleeping, spooned behind me all night, and when he pulled away, I felt a chill. I rolled to my back, to the warmth he had left in the sheets. Light streamed in around the curtains. I checked my watch; ten AM.

Stretching, I scratched my balls. My hand naturally slid up to my morning wood, and I remembered that Dan had been hard against my butt before he got up. I climbed from bed and joined him in the bathroom.

He stroked the last couple of drops from his still-stiff cock and then stepped from the toilet to let me step up.

“Don’t lose that hard-on,” I told him as I tried to relax enough to let loose my stream. I leaned way forward over the toilet, resting my hand on the wall behind it so that I could aim my stiffy down into the water.

Dan chuckled, amused. Stepping up behind, he grabbed me by the hips and rubbed his cock up and down my crack as I pissed. “You’re really hard this morning, huh?” he said. He bent over me, kissing between my shoulder blades. “Is it a feed-me hard-on?” he asked.

“I’ll let you know when I’m done,” I said. “The signs are good.”

He laughed, wrapping his arms around my waist and pressing his cock into the length of my crack. He hugged me and kissed the back of my neck, resting on me until I finished.

I turned and wrapped my arms over his shoulders. He straightened up and I pressed my hardness to his. “Yep,” I said. “Definitely a feed-me hard-on.”

“How’s the knee?” he asked.

“Why?” I asked with a grin.

“Because,” he said, squeezing my butt with both hands, “I intend to get frisky.”

“Oh?” I said, pushing back.

“Yeah,” he answered with a playfully menacing look.

I backed out toward the bed and Daniel came after me, crouched and ready to spring. He tackled me onto the bed and we rolled into a tangle of legs and hard cocks.

We hadn’t wrestled like that in a long time. It felt good. I felt good. My knee was OK, I’d slept hard, and I was with Dan for the whole weekend.

We rolled back and forth, rubbing hard cocks on bellies, legs, and butts. He pinned my arms on the bed and kissed me hard while rubbing his cock on my hip. I squirmed under him and bucked him off, rolling onto him; pinning his hands.

We wrestled back and forth until I moved the wrong way and he was able to force me onto my stomach, pinning me with the length of his body. That was OK; it suited my mood. I quit struggling. Dan stretched his body over mine, his arms over the back of my outstretched arms; and he chewed on the side of my neck.

I wiggled my ass under him, rubbing it against his hardness. He reached for lube and I reached for a pillow, stuffing it under my cock to have something to hump. That raised my butt for Dan and put me into a position we had liked before.

The lube felt cool on his fingers as he carefully rubbed them in my crack, finding my hole, working in the lube. I moved under his hand, grinding the pillow and trying to make him even hornier with my butt.

Dan straddled my legs and fell forward over me onto one hand, guiding himself in. We ground our hips; him into me and me into the pillow. Dan’s mouth was all over the back of my neck, and he wrapped his arms under me. I reached behind for his sides and butt.

It was pure, randy, morning sex. I was so hard I almost hurt.

Dan pushed up onto his hands and I knew he was watching where we were joined. So I moved as sensuously as I felt.

It was like a dance as we stayed matched in our rhythm. Then Dan moved up my body an inch and found us a better angle.

“Oh, that’s good,” I said, gasping.

“How close are you?” he asked.

“Close.”

“Wait for me,” he said.

I slowed my movements and let Dan do all the thrusting and grinding.

He pounded several strokes, and then he laid back down on me, wrapping his arms under my chest. “OK, now,” he mumbled behind my ear.

I hardened my back muscles under him and bucked my butt up into him, pulling my knees up on either side, lowering our union to pressure the rapid sliding of his cock against my prostate. He held on, grinding hard. My toes curled when he hit the right spot. Then I held my butt still for him to pound into until he brought us both off.

Even after we came, he stayed pressed deep inside me until the last echoes of our passion faded like the passing of a storm. We collapsed in a heap, and I sighted contentedly because Dan was still in me and his body rested on the back of mine.

Dan moaned softly. “I think I’m in love,” he mumbled.

“That’s good,” I said. “Because I think I’m pregnant.”

. . . . .

A front had moved through during the night and it had rained. But like many autumn cool fronts in South Texas, it did little more than wash the air and lower the humidity. The sky was deeply blue and all the leaves on the roadside trees glistened in the sunlight.

Lenny was waiting at Wendy’s, sitting behind the wheel of an older Chevy pickup. The back of the pickup was full of plants, and behind the pickup was a backhoe on a trailer. Already fitted onto the rear of the backhoe was a jackhammer. On the trailer, next to the backhoe, was a second attachment – a corkscrew hole digger.

I greeted Lenny with a hug, as did Dan.

“Where did you get the truck?” I asked.

“It’s my neighbor’s,” he said. “I’m thinking about buying it.”

“Probably a good move if you’re going to be landscaping,” I said.

“Get a cover for the back and you could put a mattress in there,” Dan said.

“One track mind,” I said with a groan.

“You love it,” both Lenny and Dan said in unison, and laughed.

Inside, we sat on three sides of a small table and I played footsie with the two of them.

“Your friend Peter has really gotten into this,” Lenny said between bites of his hamburger. “He’s called four times, making sure he’s got everything.”

“You shouldn’t be spending money to feed everybody,” Dan said.

Lenny shrugged. “I’m getting a discount. At least that’s what Peter promised.”

“You could always dock the cost of our meals from our pay,” I suggested.

“I thought I wasn’t paying you,” Lenny said with a grin.

. . . . .

The afternoon had warmed by the time we pulled the Bronco to a stop alongside Lenny’s pickup, close to the Stuebing’s pool and close to the bluff. The trees and pastures of the valley below were bright shades of green after the rain. The hills beyond the valley were just a little less bluish than normal, and the sky was absolutely clear.

More landscaping materials had been delivered since we were last there, along with a number of trees and shrubs in pots.

“What’s all this?” I asked, waving my hand at all the materials and plants.

“Gotta make the most of the backhoe and all the help while I have it,” Lenny said. “Gotta make your friends earn their pay.”

“Well,” I said, pulling off my shirt, “might as well get started or you’ll be paying us nothing… oh, wait… you are paying us nothing.”

Dan laughed and pulled off his shirt as well. Lenny grinned, looking us up and down.

“Hey,” I said. “We’re a gay work crew. Even with shorts, we’re overdressing.”

“Won’t be tomorrow,” Dan said under his breath.

Lenny winked and pulled off his shirt too, so that all of us were in shorts and shoes only. He pulled his silky black hair back into a high ponytail and fastened it with a band.

“Do you have another one of those?” Dan asked.

I was surprised. I hadn’t seen him in a tail before, but his fine, blond hair was long enough. Lenny retrieved another band for him from inside the truck and when Dan fumbled with it, Lenny pulled Dan’s hair back and put it in a tail for him.

Dan looked cool. His face looked a little narrower, a little longer, but I liked it. Somehow, he looked more masculine.

I pulled at my hair, testing to see if it might be long enough to pull back.

“Nah,” Dan said. “Leave it.”

“It’s gotten long enough,” I said.

“You look better with your hair like it is,” Lenny said. “Thick and wavy.”

“And hot,” I mumbled. “I’m going to sweat.”

“Hold on a sec,” Dan said. He ran to the Bronco, rummaged in his bag and came back with a black sweatband, still in its package. “I was saving these for the initiation,” he said, as he opened the package.

“Initiation?” Lenny asked.

“Into the Elephant Men,” Dan replied with a grin. “We’re going to initiate everyone in the morning. But since you, me, and Sean are the founding members, I figured I’d go ahead and give him his.” Dan smiled at me. “You don’t mind that I picked black for you, do you? It’ll look sexy on you.”

“Sexy’s fine,” I said with a wink at Lenny.

Dan spread the sweatband on his fingers and lowered it onto my head. He was close enough; I held his hips while he did and kissed his belly with mine.

Dan smiled, gave me a peck, and then stepped back looking my head over. “Now that looks hot. Don’t you think?” he asked Lenny.

“Yeah,” he said. “Makes him look really young.”

I started to reach for the sweatband to take it off, but Dan caught my arm. “I like it,” he said, meeting my eye.

“You look good, baby,” Lenny said, patting my butt. “Most gay guys wished they looked younger.”

“Well if anyone else says anything,” I warned, “I’m wearing it in a different place.”

We worked the backhoe off the trailer and were trying to figure out how everything worked when Aaron and Jorge pulled up in their pickup. It had barely rolled to a stop before they jumped out and strode toward us wearing broad smiles.

Aaron came right at me and picked me up in a huge bear hug, swinging me in a full circle. “Damn, Sullivan! It’s great to see you,” he said, just before he planted his mouth on mine and virtually sucked my breath out.

I was vaguely aware of Jorge greeting Dan with a much milder kiss.

Aaron’s big kiss broke up into little ones. With a smile, he let me go and pulled Dan into a hug. Jorge stepped around him and gave me a hug and kiss. We introduced the two of them to Lenny, who looked Aaron over appreciatively.

“You found us,” I said, pleased.

“The sign you left on the road made it easy,” Jorge said.

Aaron slapped the side of the backhoe. “You’ve got a backhoe,” he said approvingly. “Excellent. We’ll get a lot done.”

“You know how to work one of these?” Lenny asked hopefully.

“Sure,” Aaron said, pulling off his shirt. “Tell me what you want done.” Lenny’s eyes locked onto Aaron’s muscular torso, and I was afraid Lenny might do just that.

Jorge pulled off his shirt. “Guess we’re getting started,” he said. Jorge was as slender and lean as always, though his skin looked a little lighter, as though he had been getting less sun. His tiny nipples looked even darker in contrast.

Lenny glanced at him appreciatively, then at Jorge’s hair. It had grown as long as Dan’s and almost as long as Lenny’s. “You want a band for your hair?” Lenny asked. “I think I have one more.”

“Sure,” Jorge said, but he was eyeing my sweatband. “I’m gonna get me a sweatband like Sean’s. Looks cool.”

I would have traded for longer hair. Looking at the three of them with their hair high in tails, I thought that they looked sexy as hell.

While Lenny gave directions at the fire pit to Aaron, who was on the backhoe, Dan, Jorge, and I worked on clearing a path for what would be a decomposed granite walkway. As we cleared it, we laid down a liner and edged the walkway with rocks. Before long, Peter pulled up in another pickup; this one packed with ice chests and boxes of groceries, and behind the pickup was a large barbeque grill on a trailer.

Peter climbed out in a western hat, sleeveless T, skin-tight jeans (with a full, little package), boots, and blond hair down to his shoulders. He sauntered casually, almost shyly toward us. I laid down my shovel and pulled him into a hug and gave him a kiss.

Dan also gave him a kiss and Peter relaxed, visibly. He threw an arm over each of our shoulders, and with a huge smile, hugged our necks.

“This has got to go,” I told him, pulling his shirttail from his jeans. Daniel pulled up the other side. “This is a gay work crew,” I told him. “You’re overdressed.”

He laughed and took off his shirt. Under it, he had a rancher’s tan… white everywhere his shirt covered. In daylight, he had better definition than I remembered, with nice abs, fine little pecs, and deltoids like small shoulder pads. He looked damn cute shirtless, wearing only jeans, boots and hat.

We introduced Peter around. Everybody hugged him, and I suspected it wasn’t simple Texas hospitality. His hair was long enough to put into a tail, but he seemed happy in his western hat.

Peter was especially pleased to meet Lenny.

“I brought everything,” Peter told him. “When you’re ready, I’ll start supper.”

With a surprised smile, Lenny put an arm around Peter’s shoulders. “Sean, Baby, I’m really glad you invited this guy.”

Peter beamed.

Reggie was the final arrival, getting there just after Peter. We hugged him too, and introduced him around before pulling off his shirt. Seeing his naked torso, in proximity to Aaron, confirmed my impression from when I first met him; he was just a little stronger looking and just a little bigger than Aaron. Aaron was muscular. Reggie was chiseled.

Neither of them was stocky, of course. Both had narrow hips and waists. They were just bigger guys than us, and stronger.

Reggie joined Dan, Jorge, and me, working on the walkway. Before long, his black skin had a sheen of sweat just as ours did.

Jorge did most of the talking while we worked, but that was partly because Dan and I kept pumping him for information from back home. We didn’t have to prompt much when we asked him how things were going between Aaron and him.

“You wouldn’t believe that guy,” Jorge said with a grin as he shoveled. Last week I went to Corpus to see my cousin. Aaron called me Saturday morning, wanting me to come back. He said he’s gotten so used to us sleeping together that he can’t sleep worth shit when I’m gone.”

“That’s sorta nice,” I said, surprised a little at how domesticated Aaron, of all people, was becoming.

Jorge grinned. “Truth is, I had trouble sleeping without him. We sleep all tangled up. I drove home Saturday.”

We laughed, but I envied Jorge. He was able to sleep with his lover every night. I glanced at Dan and found him watching me. He grinned, having read my mind.

“Of course,” Jorge added, “that doesn’t mean that Aaron doesn’t still have the hots for you, Sean.”

“Oh? That’s probably only fair,” I said, poking Jorge’s ass with the end of my shovel handle. “I bet you still have the hots for Daniel.”

Jorge grinned, looking slightly embarrassed. He shot a glance at Dan and nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

“Somebody can have the hots for me,” Reggie said, speaking up.

“Reggie, my man,” Dan said, laying his hand in the middle of Reggie’s bent-over back, “you inspire nothing but pure lust. We all have the hots for you.”

Some more than others, I thought. Oh, I thought Reggie was hot myself, but I knew Dan really liked the idea of getting it on with him.

Reggie stood up, giving Dan a grin, and I could see mutual interest pass between their eyes.

If I had been any less confident of Dan’s love and his commitment to me, it’d be easy to freak at times like this. But one of the things we had going for us; maybe something a straight couple could never have, was how we both understood what it was like to be turned on by another guy; what it was like to feel that urge, that drive to ‘mate’ with them.

Sure we wanted to settle down to just us. I had no doubt that Dan looked forward to that as much as me. But we would have to conquer some demons to do that, and that would be difficult until we lived together and could satisfy our primal desires… in love.

So we adjusted. We went with the flow. Dan fell in love with no one else, and I fell in love with everyone. We both got horny and had other ‘outlets.’ But we belonged to each other, and someday it would be nice to belong only to each other… even in a group of seven, shirtless, hot guys.

Dan caught my look, stepped close, and gave me a kiss and a pat on the butt.

Peter walked past. “I just locked the gate,” he told us. “Lenny says no one gets out Sunday unless we’ve finished everything,” he added with a grin. “He sounded like he meant it.”

We paused to watch Peter’s little, jean-clad butt as he headed toward where Lenny and Aaron were working the backhoe, then returned to our work.

“I’m from Corpus, Jorge” Reggie volunteered as he bent back over his shovel.

“No kidding?” Jorge asked. They exchanged opinions and experiences of places around Corpus. Then, when we discovered that Reggie liked fishing, Dan and I got back into the conversation.

We worked together for over an hour before Aaron drove up on the backhoe with Lenny hanging on the side. Peter followed behind with four water bottles, which he handed to us. Around his neck was a camera, and he took pictures of us as we drank.

“Hang on to the bottles,” Peter said. “I’ve got plenty, but we might want to reuse them.”

“Oh, and hold on to all your trash, guys,” I said. “We need to leave this place in great shape.”

Lenny asked Reg, Dan, and me to work on the fire pit, while Aaron took Jorge with him. It seemed natural that Aaron would want Jorge to help him because the two of them were used to working together.

Reggie led the way for us. Dan and I followed; Dan’s arm over my shoulder. I slipped my arm behind his waist. “You have any idea how sexy you are when you’re only wearing shorts and you’re all sweaty?” I asked him.

Dan grinned. “Depends how horny you are,” he said.

“I’m getting there,” I said, patting his butt.

Reggie wiggled his ass ahead of us. “Dangerous,” Dan warned. “Sean was just saying he’s horny.”

“I heard,” Reggie called back over his shoulder.

“That is a nice butt,” I said to Dan, nodding at Reggie.

“Yep… fine ass,” Dan said, grabbing mine.

Reggie wiggled his again.

“Somebody’s going to go after that thing if you keep it up,” I said.

Reggie stopped and wiggled while circling one complete time.

At the fire pit, we had to clear out all the broken stone left by the backhoe. Next we laid a base of decomposed granite. And then a foundation of firestone that Lenny provided. We joked and chatted as we worked on hands and knees, and we learned a lot about Reggie as well as the crowd in San Marcos.

“Were any of the other guys at the ball gay?” I asked.

“Don’t know,” Reggie said. “I’ve wondered about Spider; from some of the looks he’s given me.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember him,” Dan said. “Seany had the hots for him.”

“I did not,” I told him. “I just wondered if a guy with arms that long would be hung.”

“He’s hung,” Reggie said with a grin. “I’ve seen him with a girl. I think he wanted me to see him. He’s long and thin.”

“That had to be interesting,” Dan said.

“Long and thin can be fun,” I ventured.

“You’re a bottom?” Reggie asked.

“Best all around; I like it all,” I said, bumping Reggie’s butt with mine while setting a new stone in place.

“You like cocksucking?” Reggie asked, bumping me back.

“Sure, sometimes,” I said.

“What’s your favorite thing?” he asked.

“Honestly?” I said. “Anything with Dan… sounds corny, huh? But it’s true. I’m sorta in love with him.”

“With my body,” Dan said, leaning over to kiss my bare shoulder blade.

“Well that too,” I agreed. “What about you, Reg, what’s your favorite? You like cocksucking?”

He shrugged. “I like it all too.”

“Nah, nah,” Dan said as he tapped a stone in place. “You asked Sean his favorite; you must have one. What do you really like?”

Reggie sat back on his haunches and wiped his brow. “Well,” he said. “What I really like,” he stopped, hesitating.

“Come on now, Reg,” I encouraged. “Fess up; what is it?”

“Well,” he said, bending over to continue working. “I used to mess around with a buddy when we were kids and just getting our ‘equipment’… you know, when we were like twelve or thirteen. I’d suck him until he came — well once he could come — and then he’d let me fuck him. I still like that.”

I grinned. “In that order?”

“Well… yeah.”

“So you do like cock sucking?” I asked, grabbing my next stone.

Reggie smiled. “When I watched you guys dancing naked at the ball, I couldn’t decide which I wanted to do more, suck your cocks or fuck your butts.”

“Whoa,” I said, bumping his ass again with mine. “You wanna fuck a butt, you gotta take turns.”

Reg frowned.

“Not into that, huh?” I asked.

He shrugged and tapped a stone into place. “After the ball,” he said. “I did some thinking. I mean, you guys said flat out that you were gay. That really impressed me; especially since you’re not… well, you don’t act gay.”

He grabbed another stone. “I mean… I’ve always liked guys, but I always thought that if you were really gay, you were like… you know… prissy… like a girl. But not you guys. You’re real guy’s guys. And you’re laid-back about being gay.”

“So,” Dan said. “Now you’re willing to admit that you’re gay?”

“Mostly gay,” Reggie said.

“Mostly?” Dan asked with a raised eyebrow and a grin.

“So does mostly not include your butt?” I asked.

Reggie sat back and scratched the side of his head, which left a light colored streak of dust in his dark, tightly-curled hair. “Well,” he said. “I’ve only let a guy cornhole me a couple of times because, well, I figured that if I did that too much, I’d wind up acting… sorta like a girl.”

“Especially if you like getting cornholed,” I said in a simpering lisp. Dan shoved my butt and I fell to my side, laughing.

“Let Danny fuck you,” I said, still laughing, and deciding to promote the cause. “He’ll make a real woman out of you, but be careful. He’s been trying to make me pregnant.”

Reggie gave me a cockeyed grin and glanced at Dan who wriggled his eyebrows.

“You guys need more water yet?” Peter asked from the edge of the pit. He held water bottles and we took them, standing and stretching.

“I’ve got red pop too, Sean,” Peter said, snapping a photo of us. “Lenny said to bring plenty for you.”

“Red pop?” Reggie said, brightening.

“A guy after my own heart,” I told him, swatting his butt. “Damn,” I said, holding up my hand in surprise. “That’s a hard butt.”

“Hey,” Dan said. “There’s ice in the water bottles. That’s cool!”

“I thought you guys would like your water cold,” Peter said.

“Excellent!” I told him.

“Thanks!” Reggie said, lifting his water bottle in salute.

We got back to work, but I’ve always found it hard to behave when I had ice and a full pair of shorts in close proximity. Daniel was working behind me, but Reggie’s butt was right beside me and it kept moving as he worked. Quietly, I popped off my water bottle cap. Since I had drunk most of the water, it wasn’t hard to fish out a good-sized piece of ice.

Dan poked my butt and I glanced back to see him grinning. I put a finger to my lips, signaling him to be quiet. Then I knelt up, bent over Reggie’s butt, poised with my left hand above the back of his shorts and my right with the ice.

In one swift movement, I pulled out the back of Reggie’s shorts and shoved in the ice. His reflexes were instantaneous. I hadn’t even managed to pat the back of his shorts down before Reggie wheeled on me with a yelp.

In a flash, I was on my back with Reggie straddling my waist and pinning my arms above my head. His face was right over mine.

Delighted with his reaction, I was laughing as he bent over me. At first, his eyes, so white in his dark face, were playfully angry which made me even happier. But then his face changed. He almost looked surprised, as if someone had hit him in the gut when he hadn’t expected it.

His mouth went slack and his eyes went soft; his pupils dilating dramatically. He swallowed hard and gazed down into my eyes as if he saw a whole world inside them.

I almost laughed out loud; what he was doing looked like a scene right out of a movie, where somebody suddenly falls for someone else. But I didn’t laugh because he didn’t look like he was kidding.

I decided I liked ol’ Reggie. Any guy who had that kind of reaction to me because I was on my back, laughing happily, had to be a great guy. My smile for Reggie widened.

For a moment, he hovered over me, and I half expected him to kiss me. Then he swallowed again and sat back. When he did, his eyes went wide and he yelped again.

Dan and I both laughed as Reggie fished in the back of his shorts for the ice. He pulled out his hand and with a wicked grin, leaned over me.

I quit laughing.

He made a move as if he was going to shove what was left of the ice at my mouth.

“No, Dude!” I cried, trying to wriggle out from under him. “That’s been in your butt.”

Now it was Reggie who laughed.

Dan handed more ice to him, right over my head.

“Traitor!” I howled.

Reggie backed up, but pushed me back down when I tried to sit. Like lightning, he pulled the front of my pants out and shoved the ice in. Then he sat down on me, right over where he had shoved the ice.

“Aayee!” I cried, as much as part of the game as anything. The ice was cold, but felt good.

Reggie ground his butt into me and I made the appropriate howls.

When he got up from me, I had a wet fly.

“I’ll get you later,” I promised, looking back at Dan.

He wriggled his eyebrows and I pointed a threatening finger at him.

I turned back to find Reggie looking over my body.

We finished with the fire pit floor and eyed the large rocks we still needed to set in place for two rows of seating. I glanced up at the sky. “Think we can finish before dark?”

“Sure,” Reggie said. “It’s just a few rocks.”

I shot him a sideways, famous-last-words glance.

“So, Reg,” Dan asked, standing beside the first rock. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Reggie shook his head, moving to the other side of the rock. “Nah. I only know a couple of gay guys at school, and they aren’t really my type.”

“Have you done either one of them?” Dan asked, as I joined them on a third side of the rock.

“Nope,” Reg answered.

“Who have you done then?” I asked.

We lifted the rock, and Reggie waited until we set it down in place before giving his answer. He dusted his hands off on the back of his shorts and considered the question. “I used to do stuff with a couple of buddies,” he said.

“That’s it?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I’ve got one friend back in Corpus that I go out drinking with. When we were juniors in high school, he got real drunk and let me suck his cock. And after that, when he wasn’t going with a girl, or sometimes when he was, we’d go drinking and then do stuff.”

“Does he return the favor?” Dan asked as we gathered around the next rock.

“You mean does he suck my cock? No. But he let’s me cornhole him after I suck him off.”

“At least that’s what you like,” I observed.

“Yeah. It’s OK.”

“Is he cute?” Dan asked as we squatted down to lift the next rock.

Reggie grinned. “His face is… well, not cute. But he’s got a nice body. Sorta like you guys – long and skinny.”

“Who are you calling skinny?” I asked, frowning playfully. “Just because you’re built like a stallion doesn’t mean normal guys like us are skinny.”

“You are long, Seany,” Dan said. “And you certainly aren’t normal.”

I gave him a heavy-browed frown.

“You white boys don’t know ‘long,’” Reggie said as we each found a good grip on the rock.

“Oh?” Dan said, winking at me. “You haven’t see us in the right light.”

We lifted the next rock and carried it into place, and then squared it up.

“Anybody else?” Dan asked. “That you get it on with?”

Reggie frowned. “You gotta understand, there’s not a lot of… opportunities in San Marcos. There’s a park there, when I get really desperate. And I’ve gone to Austin. I hit a couple of adult bookstores there, and I’ve used fake ID to get into a gay bar there.”

“To hell with bookstores,” Dan said, as we bent down for the next rock. “There’s me and other gay guys I can get you together with… what gay bar?”

“The Palace,” he said.

“I’ve heard of it,” Dan said. “Seany and I have talked about getting fake IDs.”

“I know how you can,” Reggie said.

We carried the next rock and put it into place. Dan and I had talked about getting fake IDs before, but never really pursued it. Neither of us was that anxious to have the other trying to pick up guys at gay bars, and when we were together, who needed a gay bar?

By the time we had the first row of rocks in place, the aroma of a charcoal fire drifted across the bluff.

We worked faster. But we could only go so fast. Each rock took all three of us to move.

“Couldn’t that backhoe do this?” Reggie asked.

“Not really,” I told him. “Let the slave laborers do it.”

We had two rocks to go when the sound of a dinner triangle rang out over the bluff. “Come on, guys,” I said. “Almost done.”

“Almost done in,” Dan said as he squatted to lift at the other side of the next rock. “How’s the knee?”

“Sore,” I acknowledged.

Dan frowned. “You need to stay off this kind of work,” he said.

“Too late,” I murmured, and with Reggie’s help, we lifted the rock.

Lenny came over as we were laying the last rock in place, and his eyes lit up. “Perfect. This is great!” he exclaimed, looking over the fire pit and the surrounding view. The low sun cast us all in pale gold while much of the valley was darkening in the shadows of the hills.

Lenny sat on various sides of the fire pit, checking out the view of the valley below, of the pool house and pool, and of where the house would be when it was built.

“Perfect,” he said again, quietly.

I sat down beside him and rubbed his bare back. It was sticky from seat. “It’s really OK?” I asked.

“What do you think?” he asked with a grin.

“I like it,” I told him.

“Me too,” Dan and Reg echoed.

“Tomorrow we can gather some wood,” Dan suggested. “And build a fire in it tomorrow night.”

“That’d be cool,” Reggie said as his eyes swept the valley below. “Really cool.”

Dan put his arm behind my waist as I began to follow Lenny and Reggie toward the grill. He pulled me back into his arms and under an oak tree. Our dusty, sweaty bellies pressed together and Dan touched his nose to mine. He slid his hands into the back of my shorts, and I draped my arms over his shoulders.

He smiled and I smiled back.

He kissed me. “So how are you, Seany? How’s the knee?”

“Only a little sore,” I said, slipping my right leg between his. “You can kiss it tonight and make it well.”

The low sun and light breeze filled Dan’s pulled-back hair with strands of fire and made his blue eyes shine. But they shone with more than sunlight; they shone with love for me.

I brushed his lips with mine. “I love it when you look at me like that,” I whispered.

He smiled and stroked my hair. “Your hair turns dark red when the sun’s behind it,” he said. And then, as his eyes met mine, a brief wave of hunger passed through them. He kissed me hard and I opened my mouth to him.

Our embrace tightened and our legs interlaced. We moaned into each other’s mouths and then pressed our cheeks together. “How about a quick touchdown?” he whispered and backed me toward the rock seats of the fire pit.

I lay down and held open my arms and legs for him.

“It’s not a touchdown if we’ve got clothes on,” Dan said, shaking his head.

I glanced across to the grill and pool area. Only Lenny and Peter were in view, barely, and they were facing in the other direction.

With a grin, I shoved down my shorts and briefs, slipping them off one foot. Dan slipped out of his shorts and briefs and knelt between my legs.

We were both hard, and when he lowered himself onto me, the press of our balls and cocks drove a warm current of electricity up the inside of my gut. I grabbed his butt and looped my legs over the back of his. He planted his elbows on either side of my neck and wrapped his arms over the top of my head, and then he smiled down into my eyes.

“You love me, Seany?” he asked.

His ponytail hung down alongside our faces. I smoothed it back over his shoulder. “With all my heart… beloved,” I said.

Very slowly, he lowered his lips to mine and kissed me lightly… and then again… and then again.

His eyes went back and forth between mine, and he looked so fond of me…

My dad wasn’t normally preachy. Maybe that’s why I remembered things that he’d said. And in that moment on the rock with Dan, I remembered him saying, “feelings come and feelings go.”

I was maybe twelve years old. Dad and I were fishing and I made some crack about Mom being so hardheaded. Dad grinned and looked down his nose at me.

“What?” I asked.

He shook his head. “You’re as stubborn and hardheaded as your mom.”

“Am not,” I said, offended he would even think so.

Dad laid his big hand on my shoulder and turned me to face him. “Son,” he said, smiling kindly. “That’s a very good thing. People like you and your mom are the backbone of this world… well, at least when you’re being stubborn about important things.” He smiled.

“But the important things,” he said, now growing serious, “aren’t always things. It’s more important to stick to people than to ideas.”

He smiled. “And people are hard to stick to. Feelings get hurt. Even good friends can hurt you. But feelings come and feelings go. You hang in there with your friends – be faithful to them — and the feelings will always come back. If you can be as tenacious about people as you and your mom are about ideas, Sean, your life will be rich with friends.”

I needed to look no farther than Daniel’s eyes to feel as rich as it was possible to feel. I wasn’t sure what feelings had passed over Reggie when he gave me that lovesick look earlier. But there were years of difference between his look and the one Dan now gave me.

Dan and I had stuck to each other, even when the feelings left. And each time the feelings came back, they came back stronger. Now the feelings were back; oh, how the feelings were back!

I swallowed hard. “Stick to me, Dan,” I whispered. “No matter what.”

He smiled. “No matter what,” he said. He stroked back my hair. “I’ve already promised you, Seany, and at Christmas, we’ll do it up right.” He lowered his lips to my ear. “Beloved.”

A puff of breeze rolled the aroma of grilled meat across the bluff. I smelled it and my stomach growled.

We both chuckled.

“You hungry?” he asked.

“Yeah, and tired.”

“Cum first?” he asked, circling his hips, teasingly.

“I don’t know,” I said, smoothing the hair back on either side of his head with my palms. “We don’t have to. It’s not exactly that kind of moment.”

“No,” he agreed, shaking his head. “It’s good being naked, like this,” and he wiggled his hips. “Just to be close.” Then he smiled. “We going to rescue Reggie?”

“After all the flirting and teasing we did, it’d be cruel not to,” I said.

Dan chuckled. “We don’t want to be cruel.”

“No,” I said, smiling. “Can’t be cruel.”

He nodded. Then he leaned down for another long, grinding kiss.

“You wanna just stay here all night?” I asked.

“I could handle it.”

“We might starve,” I said.

“And die very happy,” he replied. But then he knelt up and held out his hand to help me up.

As we pulled up our pants, I looked out across the valley. Lights were already coming on below. “You remember Mount Olympus?” I asked.

Daniel grinned. “Garner; of course.”

“We belong on mountain tops,” I said, pulling him to me and laying my head on his shoulder. “On mountain tops or in the clouds.”

He stroked my hair and kissed the top of my head. “We’ll make our own mountain tops Seany.”

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