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You are here: Home > Story Shelf > All Authors > Geron Kees > A Charmed Life | The Charm of His Company | Geron Kees

A Charmed Life

by Geron Kees

The Charm of His Company

The eighth day of summer vacation began with a dream. The long night had been full of them - some gentle and funny, some hard and disturbing. All of them had contained the same cast of characters, and all of them had ended with a simple shift to another, newer dream. Dreams did that, because they were written with the heart as much as the mind, with no clear administrator standing between, no dividing lines to keep the two halves from mingling.

This last dream, the one that Jesse woke with, had also contained the same cast: Jesse himself; and his boyfriend, Marty; and the two Devlin brothers, Greg and Rafie - the visitors from New York. The scene was the fort, and the action had been troubling, because the dream was not a fiction but a fact - a remembrance of the last time that Jesse had seen the two Devlins. They had been getting dressed and getting ready to go, after receiving a call from their grandmother requesting their return.

The boy's parents, away on a second honeymoon in Aruba, had had another of their frequent falling-outs and returned early, and their mother was coming to pick them up. Jesse could plainly see the hurt and confusion on the two boy's faces, and the return to vacancy in the expressions of Rafie, the brother with the ASD spectrum disorder. Rafie had trouble revealing his thoughts and emotions in his expressions and voice, but his misery at leaving was plain to be seen. He had developed a crush on Jesse - a fondness born at first sight, one neither reasonable nor considered, but just there. That crush had matured a bit during their evening together, and Jesse and Rafie had made friendly love in the cot in the fort, even as Marty and Greg played fondly on the sleeping bag on the floor below.

It had been a very odd evening, one of attraction and exploration, and newfound friendship. There was much to be gained in the sharing of secrets and passions, for secrets - by their nature - are seldom shared; and passions - also by their nature - can be difficult to exercise. Being able to let both out to roam free - even for a day - had worked wonders for the visitor's senses of inner peace.

Greg and Rafie had been overjoyed to find two others with similar thoughts and dreams, with whom they could relax and just be themselves. In the short period the two visitors had been there they had left markers in Jesse's and Marty's hearts - warm and sticky reminders of times shared and things done. To have the two Devlins leave so quickly had had a shattering aspect about it - a breaking of ties only recently forged, that had been distressing for the four of them, and particularly so for Rafie and Jesse. Rafie's instant fondness for Jesse and the speed with which things had moved had not allowed either of them to imagine ahead to their eventual parting, leaving the actual event, when it arrived, with a sharp edge of newness that was cutting for them all.

It was the sound of the garage door going down as his dad left for work that awakened Jesse, and which caused the bubble containing that last dream to break, allowing the contents to seep away like water into sand. Jesse opened his eyes, looked around the softly-lit room, and felt again the sadness of the previous day.

After the two Devlins had left and Rafie had made a final call to say goodbye, Jesse and Marty had kind of knocked around together in the fort for awhile, not really doing much of anything. Marty had sensed Jesse's hurt, which was a larger reflection of his own, and had done his best to stay close to Jesse and make him feel loved. It had worked, for the most part; and as Jesse had laid in the cot, wrapped in the reassuring safety of Marty's arms, he had at least felt that the most important aspect of his world had remained unchanged: Marty was still there, and still his.

As the day had wound on their humor had improved, as both boys had reasoned out that things were never as bad as they could seem, and that Greg and Rafie would call and that the communication would maintain. A friendship had been born, the birth recorded, and a future laid down that provided for contact and support. The idea had been cheering, and by lunch the two boys were able to smile and laugh again, and Jesse had felt that the morning's parting was not an end, just a change in direction. The sense of gone evaporated, and Greg and Rafie settled into the less bleak land of just away.

If anything, their shared distress at the way the Devlins had left them had bound Jesse and Marty even more tightly together. Jesse had found himself staring at his best friend at times, just in love with the look of him, until Marty had seen his gaze, and smiled, and kissed him for his attention. That Jesse was in love with Marty was pretty plain now, and that Marty returned the emotion, equally visible. How it could have happened so quickly ceased to be a worry to either of them as the fact of its presence became the centerpiece to their thoughts.

The rest of the day had been pleasant, with a little naked wrestling in the cot in the fort turning into a mad dash in just their shorts to the swimming hole at the creek, a cool skinny-dip in the clear waters, and then a round of love-making on the bank in the sun-speckled carpet of old leaves. A healing day, one that had actually worked.

The topic of their next sleep-out in the fort had come up, and both boys had agreed to give it a day, to let the leaving of Greg and Rafie cool a bit before trying to do that. The fort was a place of memories, and the ghosts of others, now away, would always be found there. First Nate, and now Greg and Rafie. Not gone, not forgotten; but not close, either. The fond dust raised by their passing needed time to settle.

Jesse had invited Marty to dinner, and Marty had managed to get himself in even deeper with Jesse's parents, who seemed to like the boy's openness and sense of humor; and by the later evening, Marty was almost as much an accepted family-member as Jesse himself. Well, almost.

They'd spent the rest of the evening lying on their bellies on Jesse's bed, watching new Star Trek movies on Jesse's TV. They'd kept the bedroom door open and the games down to an occasional feel and a quick kiss or three, and by the time it grew late enough for Jesse's parents to come upstairs, Jesse was grabbing his LED lantern to walk Marty back to his house. The woods were dark by then, and the footing unsure to anyone not really familiar with it.

"Lock the door when you come back in," his mom had said, smiling and squeezing Marty's arm. "We enjoyed having you over, Marty."

Marty had given her one of his best smiles, and told her how much he had enjoyed being there. His mom's smile had been one of her better ones, too, and Jesse had let go a nice, inward sigh at knowing that his parents liked his new friend - even though they didn't know that Marty was his boyfriend. Marty had a way with people, Jesse had to admit, and especially adults, who seemed startled and then pleased to find a kid with manners and an engaging and cheerful personality.

"You oughta run for office," Jesse had told the other boy, as they had walked the path to the fort. The lantern had encircled them in a soft glow that illuminated the ground and pointed the way, and danced in and out of the surrounding groundcover in playful fashion as they moved along.

Jesse had grinned. "I mean, you'll probably take over the place someday, anyway. Might as well get yourself elected to the job."

Marty had given him a gentle push. "I don't wanna run stuff. I just want to play with it."

Jesse had laughed. That, in a nutshell, described his best friend. Marty's playfulness was one of the things that Jesse loved about him.

When they'd arrived at the gazebo in Marty's backyard they had stepped inside and Jesse had turned off the lantern, and they had stood in each other's arms and kissed for a while before separating.

"Sleep in the fort tomorrow night?" Marty had asked, giving Jesse the eye. Marty's sparkly eyes were visible even in the dark, helped along just a bit by stray rays from the back porch light.

"Damn right. I'm gonna hold you all night long."

Marty had pulled him closer, and Jesse had basked in the warmth of the other boy's touch. Jesse was horny, and Marty was, too, if the bulge in the front of his shorts had been any indicator.

"I wish we had more time," Marty had said softly.

"We do," Jesse had returned, "just not now."

They had kissed, and held each other tightly, aware that they were going to part for the night.

"Call me when you get home," Marty had said. Jesse had felt the other boy's face expand into a grin against his cheek. "We can have some phone sex."

Jesse had laughed, and agreed, and they had reluctantly parted.

The rest of the evening had been fun. They had used the cameras on their phones to record and share themselves, and things had gotten pretty kinky. Jesse and Marty had discussed Skyping between their two laptops for a more real-time adventure; but Jesse was still leery of just using the phone for such things, and Marty had not been able to convince him of the privacy of sharing online.

Right, Jesse had thought, just what I need, to send pictures of me naked all over the Internet!

In the end, they had talked a long time about a lot of things, and even started to fall asleep together. Finally, just after midnight, they had agreed to see each other the next morning, and gone to bed.

And now, another day was here. Jesse found he could smile, mostly at the memory of how Marty had been the day before; but also at the Devlin boys, who had difficult lives, to be sure, but whose sweetness indicated that they were not lives without love and protection. Even parents that fought, it seemed, could still love their children, if not always each other.

Jesse rolled over and flipped himself out of his bed. A warm shower now would feel good - but not too warm, as the day was already feeling a little muggy, and too hot a shower would lead to an instant sweat. He padded into the bathroom and took a piss, started the shower and set the flow to just warm.

As an afterthought, he smiled, and went and got his phone. He remembered now that Marty wanted a picture to start his day.

He left the bathroom door open so that it wouldn't get too steamy, propped the phone up against a can of talcum powder on the sink with the camera lens pointed at the shower, started the motion capture, and got in. It meant leaving the frosted glass door open, but there was no other way to get video.

He got into the shower, aimed the shower head so that the flow hit the back wall of the stall, and started through his new ritual of thoroughly cleaning himself in the back. Then he lathered up and cleaned everything else. He did his best to keep the streams of water from bouncing out onto the tiled floor, but saw that he was still going to have a little bit of a clean up afterwards. He also remembered to address the camera, front and back, and to smile and wave a few times. As an afterthought he flipped the camera the bird, grinned, and prodded his almost stiff pecker and offered it to the camera.

After, he got out of the shower feeling a little dumb. Marty was as likely to get a laugh out of the video as he was to get horny. But what was done was done, and now it was too late to reconsider.

Jesse dried himself and then the floor around the shower door, and then got another towel and dried his hair more thoroughly. Then he brushed it, then ran a comb through it, and inspected himself in the mirror.

Shit. His hair was getting long again - which didn't bother Jesse a bit - but which was sure to eventually prompt his parents to start using the word haircut. He curled his lip at his reflection in the mirror: he hated haircuts.

But, another look at himself in the mirror brought a smile. His tan was getting dark on every portion of his body not normally covered by shorts. The warmer it got outside, the less Jesse was inclined to wear in the way of clothing. It was already hot enough to forego a shirt and just wear shorts and flip flops, and his skin was turning golden brown everywhere the sun could touch. By midsummer his daily attire would consist of a bathing suit, and maybe something on his feet, and a smile.

He was losing his winter "fat", too - the couple of extra pounds he always picked up over the colder months each year. His shoulders and chest were nicely defined, and his abs were starting to show - not a full six-pack, but the suggestion of one, which was all he ever really got. Marty was lean already - lean and sexy - and Jesse was pleased to see that he was going to be appealing to the other boy, if the mirror was any indicator.

He finished drying and retrieved his phone, went back and sat on his bed and reviewed the video he'd recorded. It brought a smile to his face; he looked silly about half the time, but sexy the rest. He chose a few of the sexy images, one of the humorous, and sent them all to Marty's number. Marty could see the full video later. Then Jesse shut off his phone and lay back against the pillow.

Out in the hallway, there was a chime. That sound was followed immediately by a light tap at the door. Jesse sat up, grabbed his shorts from the floor where he'd dropped them the night before, pulled them on, and went to unlock the door, expecting his mom.

He opened it, and there stood Marty. He had his phone out, and he was grinning. "Great pictures. Can I see more?"

Jesse blinked. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was still a little worried about you moping over Rafie, so I thought you could use some company. Your mom said she heard you up, and told me to come on upstairs and see." He smiled again, and waved his hands. "Ta da. And here I am."

Jesse reached out, pulled Marty into the room. The other boy was dressed in a tee-shirt and shorts and flip-flops, and looked just sexy as shit. Jesse closed the door, locked it, and pulled his friend over by the bed.

He took Marty's phone from him, laid it on the nightstand, and began to undress him, and Marty just grinned and allowed it, lifting arms and legs to assist as needed. Jesse had the other boy naked in less then fifteen seconds, and then dropped his own shorts to the floor. He put his arms around Marty, pulled him closer to the bed, and then just fell over into it, taking his friend with him.

"I love whirlwind romances, but isn't this a little quick?" Marty said, laughing.

Jesse rolled until he could get on top of Marty, pinned him down, and pushed his face right up close. "Shut up. I want to kiss you."

Marty just grinned, and then puckered-up, closing his eyes. Jesse dropped his head and laid his face against Marty's and inhaled the sweet-musky scent of his skin, then found the other boy's lips and ran the tip of his tongue over them gently before pushing it between them and tasting inside. Marty's mouth was sweet with the taste of apples, and fresh with the taste of mint from his toothpaste. Jesse dove deep with his tongue, seeking tonsils, but satisfied himself with tongue and teeth.

"You missed my stomach," Marty said, grinning, after Jesse raised his head. He brought a hand around and gently smoothed Jesse's eyebrows with a fingertip.

Jesse laughed. "What was my mom doing when you came in?"

"She was starting to go veggie in front of her laptop. Why?"

Jesse's mom was a graphic designer, and when she got going in front of her computer, her focus on the rest of the planet simply vanished.

"I was wondering if we could get away with laying in my bed naked for a little while," Jesse said. "If she's already started working, maybe we can."

"Shit, I'm game," Marty said, pushing the tip of his nose against Jesse's. "If we get caught we can just tell her we tripped and fell in bed together."

Jesse rolled his eyes. "Uh huh. And what happened to our clothes?"

"Damn windy in this room," Marty said, looking about in mock fear, as if a tornado was passing. "Ripped our stuff right off of us."

Jesse grinned, looked into the depths of Marty's blue eyes, saw the sparkles there that he loved so much. He dropped his face, kissed the other boy, then laid their cheeks together and whispered into his ear, "I love you, Marty."

Marty sighed - a happy one, Jesse felt - and tightened his arms around Jesse's middle. "I know you do. I can feel it. It's warm, like the sun on my skin. "He squeezed again. "You make me happy, Jesse. Happier than I've ever been. I love you, too."

Jesse pressed his face against Marty's, kissed him again; and then they lay together quietly. Marty rubbed Jesse's back, a slow and very reassuring touch that told Jesse he was protected, and cared for, and important. Jesse had never felt a touch like Marty's, one that gave so much, and it was overwhelming at times.

He was conscious again of the scent of Marty's skin, the smell of his hair. It made him horny, always, and especially now, somehow. His dick pressed against the other boy almost painfully, and he could feel the same urgent pressure coming from Marty down low. Marty's hips flexed slowly as he rubbed himself against Jesse, and Jesse could almost feel his pulse accelerating with each gentle thrust.

He wanted it all. Jesse wanted to sample every inch of Marty's body, all at one time, were it possible. Marty's warmth was fire against his skin, the firmness of his muscles softened by flesh that felt as gentle as velvet against Jesse's. It was amazing to sense - to feel - someone so closely, so intimately, and know this shared physical thing also came with an emotional package as satisfying as any that Jesse might feel in his entire life.

"You're not gonna cry on me, are ya?" Marty asked quietly, looking up at him.

Jesse smiled, and then noticed the traces of moisture in the corners of Marty's eyes. "I won't, if you won't."

Marty laughed, pulled a hand from Jesse's back long enough to wipe his eyes with a length of finger. "You're turnin' me into a girl, you know."

Jesse put an expression of horror on his face. "Oh, no! I don't wanna girl. I wanna boy like you - that just acts like a girl."

Marty laughed, squeezing his eyes shut a moment, and then rolled onto his side, taking Jesse with him. He bent his upper leg at the knee and pushed it between Jesse's two, and pulled their bodies into a clench that laid their hard dicks against the other's thigh. Marty flexed his hips harder this time, rubbing his pecker forcefully against Jesse's thigh. "I'm so horny I could spunk right now." He grinned at Jesse. "I'd love to stick my pecker in you," he said softly.

Jesse felt a thrill at the idea of being fucked in his own bed. But doing that with his mom just downstairs was a little frightening, too. "I don't want to risk that with my mom here," he decided. "If we got caught, they might not let me see you again. " He gave Marty a squeeze. "That would kill me, Marty."

Marty nodded. "Yeah. Me, too. Okay. How about showing me the rest of that shower video?"

Jesse laughed, but disentangled himself from Marty and rolled over to the nightstand to retrieve his phone. Marty got up and crawled to the head of the bed, took Jesse's two pillows and placed them one atop the other, then laid onto his back with his head on one side of the stack. Jesse crawled over next to him and laid down, snuggled up closely to Marty, and held up the phone.

"I love a good movie," Marty said, grinning and giving Jesse a gentle prod with his elbow. "And this one has my favorite movie star, too."

Jesse grinned back as he found the file and ran it. He held the phone between them so that they could both see. Marty laughed as the action unfolded, made appreciative noises as the clip progressed, and laughed again as it ended with Jesse flipping off the camera and offering his dick to the viewer.

"Now that's an idea," Marty said, smiling. He leaned close as Jesse shut off the phone and laid it beside him. "I could just suck that pretty pony you were selling in the video."

Jesse turned on his side, and Marty turned to face him. Marty's eyes were just inches away, and full of the affection he felt for Jesse. It was so plain to see that it made Jesse's heart hurt with the force of it. He closed his eyes, pressed his face against Marty's. Marty sensed the moment, gently nuzzled Jesse's face with his own.

Jesse reached down, rubbed Marty's dick, felt it's fullness, knew it needed attention as much as did his own. Marty made Jesse so horny it was just hard to take, and he saw now that to lay here, this close to the other boy, to feel his warmth, the touch of his skin, and to do nothing about it --

Jesse couldn't do it.

He listened a moment, to see if he could hear his mom moving around downstairs. If she was up and doing things, it would be just too risky to attempt to have any kind of sex. They would get involved, stop paying attention to anything but each other, and Jesse's mom could be at the door before they were aware she was coming. To have her suspect they were doing something would be almost as bad as actually being caught doing it. It would open a door that Jesse wanted to remain closed just now - to remain closed until he was ready to open it. The possible consequences were too involved for him to even ponder at this time.

But as the moment lengthened and the house remained quiet, he realized that his mom was off in her own little world, busy creating her electronic artworks, and that she would likely be there for some time.

He kissed Marty, then got up out of the bed. Marty watched him with interest as Jesse went around to the end. Jesse leaned over, took Marty by the ankles, and dragged him down until his feet were at the end of the bed.

"That was fun," Marty said, laughing. "But the trip was too short. There's more, right?"

Jesse smiled, came back to the side of the bed and crawled in. He went to Marty, straddled his head facing the other boy's feet, and looked down at him. "Like the view?"

He could see Marty inspecting the underside of Jesse's stiff dick, his balls, his taint - maybe even his pucker.

Marty gave his head a faint shake. "Oh, wow. Is this ever pretty to look at."

Jesse grinned, went forward onto his hands, and was looking at Marty's pecker, straight and hard and demanding attention, and just mere inches away. Marty's nutsack was full and round, with the shapes of his two nuts visible within.

Jesse sighed. He hadn't even had breakfast yet and he was already contemplating lunch. Mmm.

Marty reached up and took hold of Jesse's dick, gave it a gentle tug downward. Jesse let his legs spread a little, lowering his hips, and then felt Marty's tongue as he tasted the head of Jesse's dick.

Sighing, Jesse lowered his head, touched his tongue to the slit in the end of Marty's dick, gave it a little swipe, tasted the barest hint of pre-come. That was fast. He went down to his left elbow and brought his right hand up and gently squeezed the shaft of Marty's dick from the base upwards, was rewarded with a tiny glistening drop that hesitantly emerged from the slit. Jesse lowered his face a little farther, let the tip of Marty's dick enter between his lips, then embraced it between them and used the tip of his tongue to taste the droplet.

It was sweet and delicious, different so much from the spicy flavor of Marty's spunk, but a taste that Jesse just loved. Nature certainly had some wonderful recipes for the things she made. He savored the taste a moment, then let his tongue flex slowly against the head of Marty's dick.

Marty had wrapped his fingers around Jesse's dick and was rhythmically masturbating him, the end of Jesse's dick in his mouth, the tip of which was being treated to an oh-so-nice swirly. Jesse felt a momentary weakness in his legs, the nerves there a little dazed by all the nice impulses they were receiving through the shared pipeline.

Jesse wanted to reciprocate, but in a different fashion. He let his head down more, pushing Marty's dick deeper into his mouth, and began his own motion, up and down, rolling his head in a circular motion as he did it, using his tongue to place a brand on Marty's pretty pony that he hoped the other boy would enjoy.

He apparently did. Marty's knees bent as his legs drew up, and Jesse pushed his free hand underneath one leg and used his fingers to caress and rub Marty's nuts. All the while he was inhaling the wonderful scent of Marty's body, the sweet musk of his skin, the warm scent of his dick.

Jesse's hips began a motion of their own, an up and down thrust in time with Marty's hand and mouth. At the same time, Marty's legs continued to rise and spread, until his thighs hit Jesse's shoulders. Marty's feet hung to either side out in front of Jesse's face, and he had to stifle a grin as he watched Marty's toes flex in time to what the rest of him was feeling.

Time faded away, and it was just about what they were feeling. Jesse knew Marty's body so well by now that he could sense the tightening of the muscles beneath him, and then the slow thrust upwards of the other boy's hips as his orgasm approached.

When it arrived, it was forceful. Marty made a noise around Jesse's dick, but didn't stop what he was doing to it. Jesse felt the other boy's dick flex, and then the warm and spicy jets of his spunk as they painted the inside of his mouth. Here was another recipe that Jesse loved; he moved his tongue about inside his mouth, collecting the streams while also continuing to massage the tip of Marty's dick.

Jesse let some saliva into his mouth, mixed it with what was there, drank it all down. Then he took his free hand and gently squeezed the remainder of the spunk out of Marty's dick, tasted it joyfully a moment, and then swallowed it, too. Marty's legs slowly came back down, until his feet touched the mattress again, and then his legs just sagged open, as if he hadn't the energy to keep them upright.

Jesse's own orgasm was creeping up his legs, making them even less steady than before. He had an urge to squat a bit, thrusting his dick downwards, and Marty simply took it in deeper and compressed it a little harder. The sensation crept up from Jesse's taint to his balls, and then up the shaft of his dick, and then he was shooting his own spunk into Marty's mouth, and fighting with his legs to keep him from just flopping down onto Marty's face.

Oh. The feeling was powerful and wonderful, and Jesse released Marty's dick from his mouth and dropped his head down between Marty's spread open legs, and let his face burrow into the soft flesh to one side of Marty's dick. He breathed in the wonderful scent that was there, felt the softness and warmth of Marty's body, and just closed his eyes and thought about how lucky he was to have Marty with him.

He felt Marty milk out the last of the come, and then Marty took Jesse's dick and kissed it lovingly, rubbing it gently with his fingers.

It took a few moments for Jesse's pulse to quiet, his breathing to relax. He pushed himself upright, turned carefully about, and lowered himself onto Marty's body, pushing his face into the hollow between Marty's cheek and his shoulder. Marty nuzzled him with his jaw, put his arms around Jesse, and gave him a squeeze before relaxing and letting his hands go back to performing a gentle massage on Jesse's back.

Jesse let his eyes stay closed, aware that this was a slightly magic moment, and not wanting it to end. Here was Marty in Jesse's bed, and they had just loved each other in a special way. Jesse was aware that the room had changed since Marty had started coming over, that this was no longer just his own private place. Marty shared it now, and Jesse had let the boy into all of his private and special places - the ones that existed both in the real world and the ones that existed only within his heart and mind.

When it had been just Jesse and Nate, Jesse had been dimly aware of the idea that that was where they had been heading, too. Nate had been a friend for so long, loved as a friend and understood as a friend; and then they had been making the transition to something else - something closer. It had never fully materialized before Nate had left. But now, with Marty, it finally and really had happened.

Jesse fully understood now that his life was being shared with someone else. And that he was sharing someone else's life. He could never have imagined what it would be like before it actually happened, and now that he had it for real, the plain and simple fact of it - the strength of it - was just a little bit shocking.

But in a good way. Having Marty in his life had vastly improved it, made it stronger, made it better, and made it a heck of a lot more fun. And having him naked in Jesse's bed made the room much nicer, too. Certainly, far prettier than it had been. He smiled at the thought.

Marty felt the smile. "What are you grinnin' about?" he asked, giving Jesse a fond squeeze.

Jesse lifted his head and smiled at his friend. "I was just thinking how much having you here improves the look of the room."

Marty laughed, a pleasing, sweet sound in Jesse's ears. "Are you callin' me wallpaper?'

Jesse kissed Marty's cheek. "The best I ever had." He dropped his face back against Marty's jaw, felt the other boy sigh and squeeze him.

"What are we gonna do today?" Marty sounded like he was trying not to be emotional.

Jesse just smiled again. He wasn't the only crier in the room.

"I don't know. It feels like it's gonna be hot already. Some swimming will have to be in there someplace."

"Oh, hell, yeah." Marty nuzzled Jesse with his jaw. "I've gotten real fond of that damn swimmin' hole, you know that?"

Jesse lifted his head again. "We'll make a country boy outta you yet."

Marty smiled, and his eyes just sparkled. "I've had worse shit happen to me."

Jesse stuck his tongue out, touched it to the tip of Marty's chin. "Yeah? Like what?"

Marty moved his head, stuck his own tongue out, touched it to Jesse's. "Mmm. You taste good."

Jesse laughed. "Stop changin' the subject. What's worse than being a country boy?"

Marty sighed. "Being a country boy without a boyfriend."

Jesse blinked. Well, Marty certainly had him on that one.

The other boy saw his reaction, and smiled. "Like when I got here, Jesse. All of a sudden I was here in the boonies, all by myself, with Keith left back at my old neighborhood. I really felt like crap that day. And then I saw the fort down in the woods, and I came down - and I met you."

Jesse grinned. "I was there, remember?"

"Yeah. I do. I remember the first time I saw you, when you spooked me in the fort. The cot broke down and dumped me, and I looked up, and there you were, lookin' down at me."

Jesse was interested now. He raised his head and gazed down at the other boy. "Uh huh. What did you think?"

Marty laughed. "Well, my very first thought was just what the fuck? Because you startled the shit out of me." Marty sighed. "But when I looked up at you, and saw your face, I thought, Whoa. Who's this pretty motherfucker?"

Jesse felt delight creep up his body. "Really? I looked at you and just thought you were cute as shit."

Marty gave him a little squeeze. "I saw you checkin' me out, remember? Just like Keith used to do. I thought, wow, this guy is my kind of guy. I thought right off you and me might like to do stuff."

Jesse thought back to that day, to their first meeting. The memory was startlingly clear - a vivid snapshot with a border woven of myriad thoughts and impulses. Jesse had not known then that it was a life-changing moment - neither of them had known. But that it was somehow different than meeting just another guy had been clear.

And by the end of that day, Jesse had been absolutely certain of it.

Jesse looked down into Marty's blue eyes, saw the way they looked back at him, saw the way they moved over his face, how what he saw made Marty smile. To be looked at in such a fashion was brand new. To be the source of love in someone else was brand new. And to love someone like Jesse felt he now loved Marty was brand new.

"You make me so happy," Jesse said quietly.

Marty looked up at him, nodded slowly. "Yeah. Sometimes I don't believe I'm with you, Jesse. I don't believe how all this happened." He raised his head, gave Jesse's lips a small kiss. "Sometimes I don't believe how lucky I was to find you."

Jesse nodded, dropped his face against Marty's, breathed in the scent of him, loved the warmth of his skin. Jesse didn't understand this kind of affection. It was a new thing, and he was still learning the way of it. But that he had it now, when he had never had it before, was one of the most satisfying feelings he had ever had.

Marty's face moved gently against his. Marty was also breathing in, tasting the unique flavor of Jesse's skin - something Jesse lived with every day and couldn't experience in the same way that Marty could. Jesse wondered if he smelled even half as good to Marty as Marty did to him. The idea that he might pleased him, for Marty's skin smelled truly wonderful, a scent Jesse was certain he would remember forever.

Downstairs, a toilet flushed. Jesse started - that meant his mom was up and around. Aware again of how close they were walking to the edge of a possibly very deep hole, he pulled his face away from Marty's and looked down at him. "We should get up and get dressed."

Marty nodded. "I heard it." He lifted his head and pushed his lips against Jesse's, and they had themselves a last round of fencing with their tongues before Marty pulled his head back and grinned at him. "Fuckin' heart thief."

Jesse grinned, rolling away. "You're getting better," he kidded. "You can almost keep up with me now."

Marty sat up, his grin covering his whole face now. "You keep teachin' me and I'm gonna surprise you one day."

They got up and dressed - none too soon, as it turned out. Jesse was just stuffing his phone into his pocket when he heard his mom call his name. She sounded to be at the bottom of the steps, and Jesse really didn't want her to come up. The room had a faint smell of sex about it, and that was something Jesse was not ready for his mom to experience.

He stepped lightly to the bedroom door, unlocked it quietly, opened it.

"Yeah, mom?" His voice would be clear, and it would be obvious to his mom that the door was open.

"I just wondered if you were going to come down and eat something," she returned. "Marty is welcome to join you, if he hasn't already eaten."

"Okay," Jesse called back. "We'll be down in a second."

Jesse was aware that his mom had no cause to suspect a thing. But parent's minds run on weird tracks - they have the experience of their own childhoods in there somewhere, with links to things that Jesse could hardly imagine. That his parents sometimes made these weird intuitive leaps had always amazed him - like they sometimes knew what he was thinking about or doing, no matter how careful he was to keep it private. So he suspected that his mom could be aware in her mind someplace that boys sometimes fooled around, and that if certain clues manifested themselves, it was time to be suspicious. And he wanted her to not even get to suspicious.

"Come on," he told Marty. "Did you eat yet?"

"Couple of apples," Marty returned. "That's usually all I eat for breakfast anyway."

Jesse pulled the door the rest of the way open, turned around suddenly as Marty came up behind him, stretched out and kissed him quickly. Marty grinned, but made sure to press his lips back firmly. "What was that for?" he whispered.

Jesse grinned. "Just so you'll know."

Marty didn't need any further explanation. He grinned as he followed Jesse down the hallway to the steps.

---

After they had something to eat, they walked down the wooded path towards the fort. It was hot and humid already, but there was a nice breeze, and the trees waved and shushed with the voices of billions of leaves moving in the air. The breeze vibrated against their skin as they walked, its tiny, invisible fingers wafting away the sweat from their bodies even as the droplets took form. It was cooling and refreshing, and Jesse didn't even mind that his hair was being blown all over the place.

It wasn't like he brushed it more than once a day, anyway. Well, maybe twice.

Marty's hair wasn't as long as Jesse's yet, but did seem to be moving in that direction.

"I don't know what all the bullshit is about," Marty said, when Jesse commented on it. "It's just hair. Who cares how long it is?"

Jesse grinned. "Parents do, and they have a way of making us miserable about it until we get it cut."

Marty grinned at him. "I never used to let mine get long, so I didn't know that. I don't know if my folks will say anything or not. I'm just doing it now because yours looks so cool." He leaned a little closer and lowered his voice. "And sexy."

It was Jesse's turn to grin. "Yeah? That's what I'll tell my mom, then. I have to let my hair get long, because Marty thinks it's really sexy."

"I dare you to," Marty said, reaching over and giving him a gentle push. "You tell your mom that, and I'll come over and agree with you right to her face."

Jesse rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I don't think so, Marty."

Marty stopped, reached out a hand and drew Jesse to a stop. He moved closer, letting his hands slide around Jesse's waist. "I really do think you're sexy, Jesse."

Jesse felt torn. They were out in the open in the woods, even though they weren't in sight of either house. The idea of having Marty hold him like this outside, in broad daylight, this close to home, was scary - but it was also a little thrilling. This wasn't like the swimming hole, which was quite a bit more remote. Here they were close enough to their houses that a stray parent could materialize completely without notice. Common sense told him to pull away; every other sense told him to go with it.

He grinned. "Somebody has their arms around me."

"That would be me. Does it scare you?"

"A little. Someone could see."

Marty laughed. "Who? Bigfoot? This really is the boonies, Jesse. Even Bigfoot wouldn't come way out here."

Jesse let his eyes go wide and stared over Marty's shoulder. "Shit! Parker...!"

Marty let go of him so fast it was startling, and danced jerkily backwards two whole steps, like a crazy marionette bouncing on its strings. His face bore an expression of horror that was comical to see. Jesse threw his head back and howled, and when he brought it back down it was to see Marty looking at him in surprise.

"You suck!" Marty yelled, laughing, and launched himself at Jesse. They grabbed each other on impact, danced around in a circle, wrestling, and careened off the path and fell in a tangle in the undergrowth. Somehow their lips came together, and somehow the wrestling match turned into a kissing match. It was one of those very mysterious things that could happen; but both boys went with it, and both boys enjoyed it immensely.

"You turd," Marty said softly, finally pulling back. "You scared the shit out of me, making me think my sister was behind us."

Jesse grinned. "You win some, you lose some. And sometimes you just look funny as shit doing it."

"Yeah?" Marty looked mischievously at Jesse another moment, then grinned and dived his face into Jesse's belly.

Oh, god, not there!

Jesse simply lost it, erupting into shrieks of laughter as Marty pushed and turned his face in Jesse's tickle zone. Jesse pushed and pulled at Marty's head, but his fingers lacked any strength, even Jesse's will to fight sapped away by his laughter.

Marty turned his face to the side for a second, but kept pressure on Jesse's belly. "Are you sorry?"

"Not a bit!" Jesse managed, then went right back to howling as Marty redoubled his efforts, snatching Jesse's shirt up and pushing his nose straight into Jesse's belly button. One of Marty's hands snaked up inside the leg of Jesse's shorts, and Jesse suddenly felt fingers tickling his balls; and at that point the world went away, and nothing was left but an eternity of uncontrollable laughter.

Jesse could hardly think, and his body reacted on instinct, squirming and twitching. His legs flailed and his feet danced, throwing his flip-flops back onto the path to the fort, while his fingers flexed against Marty's head, unable to do anything but tangle themselves helplessly in his hair.

This went on for several minutes, until Jesse began to gasp for air; at which point Marty suddenly slowed his efforts. The turning, twisting motion of Marty's face subsided, and the tickling fingers against Jesse's nuts turned to gentle massagers. In just a few moments Marty was unmoving, his face still pressed into Jesse's bellybutton, but now delivering soft kisses that were pleasant instead of inciting.

Jesse took a huge breath and tried to control his breathing, finding himself able to think again, and realized that he had a raging boner, and that Marty was rubbing it gently with a finger.

Jesse gasped. "That was mean," he said slowly, but couldn't help smiling.

Marty kissed his navel again, then raised his face and smiled up at Jesse. "No, that was fun. You're ticklish."

Jesse was finally able to pick up his head, and did his best to glare at Marty. It must not quite have come off, because Marty's grin only expanded.

"You think?" Jesse said.

"I didn't know," Marty returned. He grinned devilishly. "Now I do."

Shit. That was all Jesse needed. Having Marty know his weakness now was like handing a double-barreled shotgun to a guy who had previously hunted with a small pocket knife. This could be bad for future disputes between them - very bad. Jesse saw that the possibility existed that he'd never win another argument with the other boy ever again.

Marty slid his fingers up from Jesse's nuts and gently squeezed his boner. "What's this?"

"It's called a penis," Jesse said, trying to look mad like he meant it. "You should get one."

Marty smiled a moment, then pouted at him. "You're not really mad at me, are you?"

Jesse wasn't, but felt he'd have no bargaining chips at all if he didn't act a little like he was. "What would you have done if I'd pissed my pants?"

Marty looked astounded at the idea - and then delighted. "Could that have happened?"

Maybe that hadn't been the best thing to say. Jesse pouted himself for a moment. "You think it'd be funny if I pissed myself?"

Marty watched him a moment, then withdrew his hand from Jesse's shorts and crawled up to lay his face against Jesse's. "Not if you don't want me to think it's funny."

Jesse had to smile at that. "What are you, some kind of freak? You'd want me to piss myself?"

Marty made a little face. "Well...no. Not with your clothes on, anyway."

Jesse raised his head and looked at Marty. "With my clothes off?"

Marty grinned. "I'd watch you do anything with your clothes off, Jesse."

Jesse suddenly recalled something he'd seen online - something he'd thought gross at the time. Two guys making out in a shower, and one had backed up and simply pissed on the other. No 'hey, ya want me to piss on your wang?' first, or anything. The guy had simply backed up, grabbed his dick, and fired away at the other one.

And the other guy had laughed.

So here was more of the kind of stuff that the word kinky went with.

Jesse looked at Marty. "How about if I pissed on you?"

Marty grinned. "How about if you did?"

Jesse's mouth dropped open. "Is there anything else about you I should know about?"

Marty sighed, came up on one elbow and looked down at Jesse. "I'm crazy about you, Jesse. If you puked on me, I could live with it."

Jesse could see then that Marty meant exactly what he said. Nothing that is part of you is too gross for me.

Jesse grinned, just a little mischievously. "You'd watch me take a dump? From the back?"

Marty smiled. "Any day of the week."

Jesse moved his face closer. "You'd taste my piss?"

"Any day of the week. I drink your spunk already."

That was true.

Jesse still had the boner, and all this other talk was just making it harder. He raised his head the last few inches and kissed Marty, circling his hand behind the other boy's neck and pulling their faces together. It was a long kiss, full of the energy of lightning bolts, and Jesse felt tingly things running along the hidden pathways inside his body.

Finally, their faces separated.

"I thought you were mad at me," Marty said softly. "You were kidding me again, huh? That's twice now."

Jesse kissed him again. "Does that make up for it?"

Marty looked like he was considering, then smiled. "Maybe one more?"

Jesse went at it with a will, rolling on top of Marty and letting him have it, until Marty finally gasped and turned his head to one side, "Damn it, Jesse. I thought I was catching up with you. Now I have to start practicing all over again."

Jesse laughed, capturing Marty's bottom lip between his two and compressing it slightly while running his tongue over it. Marty giggled. "That tickles."

"You did it to me, now I'm doing it to you. It's only fair." Jesse smiled. "Remind me to do it to your dick tonight, okay?"

Marty's face expanded into a big grin. "Okay."

"That's if you're able to come and sleep out tonight," Jesse continued solemnly. "Because that looks like poison ivy you're laying in."

Marty managed to sit up, even with Jesse's weight upon him. "What...?" The look of horror on Marty's face lasted all of three seconds before he blinked, shook his head, and then looked astounded. "You just got me again, didn't you?"

"Yup," Jesse agreed, climbing to his feet. "Country boy three, city boy zero. Another great day at Coonskin Park, folks."

Marty looked up at him, trying to look annoyed; but Jesse could see the fondness behind his eyes anyway. He reached down, offered a hand, and Marty pretended to frown, but grabbed it. Jesse pulled the other boy to his feet.

They looked at each other a moment, and then it was Jesse stepping forward and putting his hands around Marty's waist. He laid his cheek against Marty's, blew a soft breath into his ear. "No hard feelings?"

"Just this one, poking me." Marty reached down and rubbed Jesse's boner.

Jesse smiled. "Okay. Not mad?"

Marty sighed, wrapped Jesse in his arms, hugged him. "Nah. But I will get even. Watch your back, Jesse."

Jesse grinned. "Okay. That's fair. Just so it doesn't hurt."

Marty made a little face, but then smiled. "I'd never hurt you, dummy."

Jesse ran his hand up the back of Marty's head, felt the new growth there. "Your hair is getting long." He grinned. "I'd love to see you with a little ponytail."

Marty grinned. "Yeah? Maybe I'll just do that for you."

Jesse nodded, gave the other boy another kiss. "Come on. I'd like to get to the fort before lunch."

Jesse rounded up his flip-flops, and they continued on down the path. The woods continued to move all around them, driven by the breeze, which was laced with the sounds of birds singing somewhere above. Blobs and lines of sunlight bobbed and weaved ahead of them, filtered through the swaying treetops.

This was the kind of summer day that Jesse loved - one that moved, had energy, showed spirit and daring. Much better to experience than the hot, stiff, lazy summer days, where the air was so thick it was stifling. Those were the kind of days where it was hard to get going, where time stood still between sunup and sundown.

Fortunately, in the woods, those kind of summer days were few and far between.

As they neared the fort, Marty began to pick up the pace. Jesse walked faster, too; and in a flash they were both running. They came up to the wall of the fort even-up, and crashed into it with their hands extended to slow them.

"Tie," Marty said, grinning. "I'd a won, but my flip flop nearly came off."

Jesse grinned. "Yeah, right. That was bullshit running down your leg you felt."

Marty laughed. "Are we going in? Or do you want to go swimming?"

"What do you wanna do?"

"I asked you first."

Jesse laughed, gave Marty a fond poke, which Marty promptly returned.

"I don't know,"Jesse finally said. "We cleaned the place up pretty good yesterday. I guess we could fix the leak in the roof. My dad still has what's left of the roll of tar paper he bought. It's in our garage."

Marty looked like he had a sudden thought, and grinned. "You must have given some to Nate, because there's a little rolled-up piece of that stuff in our garage, too."

Jesse frowned a second, then shrugged. "It was probably left over from when we did the roof. Nate hated to waste stuff - he probably took it home."

"Let's get it," Marty said. He smiled. "That way we can check the mail, too."

Jesse looked at him quizzically. "You expecting something?"

Marty eyes suddenly twinkled, and he looked like he was trying hard to suppress a big grin. "A surprise."

"Yeah? What kind of surprise?"

Marty simply shrugged, but his eyes showed his excitement. "It's for us."

Jesse watched his friend a moment, realized he wasn't going to get anything else in the way of an answer. Heck, if it was a surprise, it was a surprise. Jesse didn't want to ruin it by trying to pry it out of Marty. That the other boy was excited about it was clue enough.

It was going to be something fun.

"Okay," Jesse said, grinning. "Let's go get the tar paper."

They started up the hill to Marty's house, and it became another joint sprint, which ended with them laughing in front of the garage. "At least I get a lot of exercise with you," Marty said, taking a couple of breaths to catch up.

Jesse looked around to make sure they were alone, then gently poked Marty in the ribs. "I like the other kind of exercise we get a lot better."

Marty grinned. "Yeah, no shit. Tonight, huh?" He suddenly turned and looked down the driveway towards the mailbox by the street. "Or maybe sooner." He turned back to Jesse, still grinning. "Let's check the mail first."

They headed down the driveway to where the big aluminum mailbox stood atop an upended railroad tie sunk into the earth. Marty grabbed the handle on the door, looked at Jesse, grinning. "Cross your fingers."

Jesse, caught up in the mystery of the proceedings, grinned and crossed his fingers.

Marty took a breath and opened the door, peered inside.

His grin got bigger.

Marty reached into the box, withdrew a long, bulky padded envelope. He held it in both hands a moment, reading the address label, then smiled at Jesse. He jiggled the package in his hands gently before reaching back into the mailbox and withdrawing some envelopes and flyers. "Man, they weren't kidding when they said express mail."

"You gonna tell me what it is?" Jesse asked, now feeling a little excited himself.

Marty handed him the big padded envelope, closed the door of the mailbox. He pointed at Jesse and gave him a look. "Don't open that until we are ready. I gotta take the rest of this stuff inside. Promise me, Jesse."

Jesse smiled. "Okay, I promise."

They walked back to the house and went into the garage. Just before they went into the house, Marty stopped and pulled Jesse up. "Um...actually, maybe we'd better leave that package on the workbench there, okay? We'll get it on the way back out."

Jesse shrugged, but put the padded envelope on the bench between two little metal cabinets full of little clear-faced drawers.

They went into the kitchen. Marty's mom was over by the counter, reading something in a book. "Oh, hi guys. Is that the mail?"

Marty suddenly looked a little too innocent, and smiled as he placed the mail on the countertop. "Yup. That's all of it."

Mrs. Anderson went to look through the small pile of envelopes and flyers, and Marty motioned to Jesse that they should go.

They'd scarcely turned to leave when another person came around through the doorway into the kitchen. "Hi, Jesse."

Jesse turned to look back, already knowing who it was. "Parker. How are you?"

"Not bad."

Marty had turned as well, and was watching his sister with a blank expression on his face.

"Oh, is that the mail?" Parker looked at the pile of stuff her mom was looking through, then turned back to Marty, and grinned at him. "Anything interesting come today?"

Marty glared, pointed at their mother, raised a fist at his sister. Parker shrugged, but her grin didn't go away. "Just asking."

Marty gave her a big, exaggerated nod, and mouthed the word yes. Then he drew his fingers across his mouth as if closing a zipper, and pointed at his sister.

Mrs. Anderson became aware of the byplay behind her somehow, and without looking back said," Stop all that waving. If you have a secret, take it outside."

Parker squeezed her eyes shut and laughed silently, and Marty just grabbed Jesse's arm and hustled him through the door into the garage.

What the fuck is going on? Jesse wondered.

Marty grabbed the package off the workbench, but before they could get out of the garage Parker came out from the kitchen. "Wait a second."

Marty almost cringed, but stopped. So did Jesse.

Parker came up to them, pointed at the package. "Is that it?"

Marty turned to face her. "Yeah. Why do you have to be such a jerk in front of mom, Park? You promised, remember?"

Parker's smile turned into a frown. "Oh, come on. I stuck my neck out a little for you, baby brother. I was just having a little fun. Relax. Mom doesn't know anything."

Jesse was looking back and forth between brother and sister. "Someone want to let me in on this?"

Parker looked surprised; and then she gave Marty an incredulous look. "He doesn't know?"

Marty's face fell, and fell so far that Jesse's heart went out to him. Something was wrong here. Seeing that kind of upset in Marty's face was hurtful. Instinctively, he moved over closer to Marty, offering support the only way he knew how.

He glared at Parker. "What's wrong with you? Marty's your brother. Why are you so mean?"

Parker seemed surprised. "I'm not being mean. Marty and I always kid around like this."

Jesse shook his head. "This isn't funny. Can't you see how he looks?"

Parker looked at Marty, who was still looking at the floor.

"I always wanted a brother or sister because I thought it would be so cool," Jesse went on. "Now I'm glad I don't have one."

Parker looked hurt. "I was only kidding around." She cocked her head at Jesse. "You really don't know what's going on, do you?"

Jesse shrugged. "Does it matter? Mean is mean any time."

Marty put a hand out and touched Jesse's arm. "She knows, Jesse."

Jesse blinked. "She knows? She knows what?"

But even as he said it a horrible suspicion overcame him. He looked back at Parker, who was looking at him now with interest.

Marty looked at him. His upset had only deepened. "She knows about us. I told her."

Jesse simply gaped. For a moment he was shocked, and then he was angry. "What -?"

And then he just stopped. He suddenly understood the reason for Marty's upset. Marty had told Parker about their relationship, but he had not told Jesse that he had told her. And now Marty was afraid that Jesse would be so angry that it might damage their friendship.

Jesse looked into Marty's eyes. They were wide open, without any kind of guards in place, and Jesse saw deeply - perhaps more deeply into the other boy than he had ever seen before, right down to the works that ran things. There were only two things to be seen: love, and sadness. Love for Jesse, and sadness that Marty might have just lost his ability to share it with him. The feeling there was so deep that Jesse could not fail to feel the force of it.

He looked back at Parker. Marty would not possibly have told her if he felt his sister would not keep the secret, and the more Jesse thought about it, the more he decided that Marty's judgment in this area was superior to his own. Parker was Marty's sister - only he could know if it was safe to let her in on the private side of his life. She already knew he was gay, and, well, it just wasn't a huge leap to assume that Marty's best friend who he spent all his time with might be gay, too.

Jesse was a little surprised at his own calmness now. To be outed was one of his greatest fears; but somehow that had always been connected with his parents finding out, or other adults, or kids at school. Not here, in his own backyard, so to speak. Parker was older; but really, she was just a kid, too. And, she was Marty's sister. It seemed obvious that Marty's mom didn't know about them, which meant Parker had been keeping the secret.

It was a lot to consider, and he was surprised at how quickly his mind sifted through everything and reached a decision.

He moved closer to Marty, reached out and closed a hand gently around his wrist. "It's okay."

Marty's face lit so beautifully that Jesse just wanted to hug him right there. But he wasn't quite ready for that - hugging Marty in front of someone - but it made him feel warm, and filled him with happiness to see.

Marty closed his eyes a moment, and when he opened them again Jesse could see the affection inside the other boy - a fluttery cloud of tiny sparkles, like bees swarming around a honeypot. It glowed and it pulsed, and it was all for Jesse. He did the only thing he could do - he smiled.

"Wow," Parker said softly. She was looking at them now with a new expression, one maybe a little wondrous. "That was pretty awesome."

Marty put the package in one hand and moved over and put his other arm around Jesse's shoulders, and squeezed him fondly. "Told ya he was incredible."

Jesse tensed - then just sighed. So much for worrying about doing things in front of people.

Parker nodded. "I'm sorry I upset you. I didn't mean to do that. I guess I see now it was kind of mean of me to kid around like that when you didn't know I was playing."

Marty nodded. "I didn't get a chance to tell Jesse." He looked at Jesse. "I'm sorry. But I had to tell her."

Now, that Jesse didn't understand. "Why?"

Marty frowned. "Well, the other day when you were over here, Parker was kidding us. She didn't know, but she suspected. We talked about that, remember?"

Jesse nodded.

Marty looked at Parker, who now looked a little embarrassed. "When I got home that night she came into my room and was kidding me again." He looked at Jesse. "I was so worried, Jesse, that my parents would just hear us kidding like that one time and figure shit out. So I closed my bedroom door and I told her straight up. And I told her how important you were to me, and I told her she couldn't mess this up."

"And I promised I wouldn't," Parker added. She came closer to them. "Let's go out to the gazebo for a minute."

The three of them walked out back to the little white structure and went inside. Parker sat in one of the chairs and looked up at them, her eyes touching first on Jesse, then going to Marty, then coming back to Jesse. "You love my little brother?"

Marty glared again. "Come on, Parker."

She waved a hand at him, looked back at Jesse. "Do you?"

The cat was out of the bag. It might as well meow, too. Jesse nodded. "Yes."

Parker smiled. "Well, so do I."

Jesse smiled because he couldn't help it. "Kinda hard to tell sometimes."

Parker nodded, but she smiled, too. "Oh, I love to rag on him, no doubt. And he rags on me. That's what having a brother or sister is about, Jesse. You love them, but you like to get on them a little, too. It's family." She laughed.

Jesse stared at her, suddenly seeing a lot of Marty's playful personality in Parker, and realizing that the two of them were much the same in their view of the world. Their pretty eyes and pretty smiles were apparently not all they shared.

What had Marty said, when Jesse had told him that Marty might one day take over the world?

I don't want to run shit. I just want to play with it.

"I see." He looked at Marty. "So what's in the package?"

Marty tried hard not to grin like crazy, but couldn't totally suppress it. "It's a surprise, I told you."

Parker laughed. "It sure as hell will be, when you see it." Her eyes twinkled a little like Marty's often did. "It was Marty's idea, but I helped get it. My mom lets me use her credit card to order clothes online, and I sneaked that in with my last order." She looked at Marty. "You owe me something for that."

Marty sighed. "Yeah, yeah. What have you got in mind?"

Parker grinned, brought up a hand and rubbed her jaw. "Well - I'd like to see you two kiss, for one thing."

It was a toss-up who looked more shocked - Marty or Jesse.

"No way," Marty said immediately. "You think I'm gonna let you make fun of us --"

Jesse still had hold of Marty's wrist; now he squeezed it, causing the other boy to go silent.

"Why do you want to see that?" Jesse asked quietly.

Parker gave a little shrug. "Well...two reasons. One, just to make absolutely sure this is real and not some huge bullshit move on Marty's part --"

Marty raised a hand and opened his mouth, but Jesse stopped him from speaking.

"And the other reason?" he asked.

Parker licked her lips. "Well...because it's kind of cool to see two guys go at it."

Jesse smiled. Here comes that word again. "So in other words, you're kinky."

Parker's eyebrows went up, and her mouth dropped open.

Marty started laughing. "She is." He looked over at Jesse, his eyes alight with laughter. "She's kinky, Jesse."

Parker's face actually reddened. "I am not."

Jesse smiled. "There's no reason to be ashamed. Marty's kinky as shit. It probably runs in the family."

Both Andersons gaped at him.

Jesse put his hands on his hips and stared Marty down. "Tell me I'm lying and you're not kinky."

Marty looked like he wanted to talk, but that his mouth wouldn't work. He stared at Jesse a few moments longer; and then a big grin crept onto his face. He looked at Parker. "Uh - I am pretty kinky, Park."

Parker laughed. "Yeah - that's what I wanted to hear." She looked at Jesse, and he thought he detected a little respect in her eyes. "Okay - I'm a little kinky. So kiss my brother."

"Think I won't?" Jesse was feeling his nerve now. No girl was going to push him into a corner!

He turned to Marty, smiled at him. Marty still looked a little shocked, but held his ground as Jesse came up to him and carefully put his arms around him. Jesse leaned in, rubbed his face gently against Marty's, then kissed him.

Kissed him good.

Marty swayed a little, and then his arms came up and encircled Jesse, and Jesse felt the mysterious package against his back.

But then his attention went to the kiss, and he made it last a whole minute.

When they stepped apart. Marty was all smiles. "Shit. That was worth almost anything."

Jesse looked at Parker. She wore a small smile, and her eyes looked soft. She sighed. "That was so cute."

Jesse and Marty both laughed.

"Convinced?" Jesse asked her.

She nodded. "No way that was fake. I could almost feel that one myself."

Marty grinned, gave Jesse a little push. "He's a monster kisser, Park. Wanna try?"

Jesse felt his jaw drop, and it was his turn to look at Marty with shock.

Marty just grinned at him. "Told you I'd get you back. Country boy three, city boy one."

Jesse snorted, rolled his eyes. Damn. "Okay, okay. You got me."

Both boys looked at Parker. There was something in her eyes...Jesse realized with a shock what it was. He grinned. "Made you horny, huh?"

Parker's eyes got very large, and she would have looked mad if she hadn't looked so embarrassed.

Marty held up the package. "You wanna use this when we're done?"

Parker jumped up from the chair, took two steps out of the doorway of the gazebo...then stopped, and turned and looked back at them, smiling. "Ow. You guys are nasty together." The smile widened into a grin. "I like that."

She came back, stood before them. "Okay, I'm totally convinced. You two really are sweethearts."

She watched them a few seconds - and then her face softened. She leaned forward, kissed Marty gently on the cheek. Marty seemed surprised, but stood there and allowed it.

Parker backed away. "You're lucky to have each other. I wish I had someone I could be with."

Marty licked his lips. "Someone will come along, Park. You'll see."

She nodded. "Maybe. But probably not until after school starts. There's nobody around here but the squirrels." She watched them another few seconds, then grinned and pointed at the package in Marty's hand. "Have fun."

Marty took Jesse by the arm and started to leave the gazebo.

"Marty?"

They both turned back to look at Parker. She grinned, a little evilly. "If you want to talk - you can tell me about it later."

Marty and Jesse looked at each other, trying not to laugh. Jesse took Marty by the arm this time and pulled him out into the grass. They headed for the path down to the fort. Jesse looked back once, and Parker was standing in the doorway of the gazebo, watching them. She saw him look, and waved. He paused, smiled, waved back.

And then they were out of sight.

"She won't follow us, will she?" Jesse asked.

"No," Marty assured him. "I already told you once she won't spy on us."

"Good. I guess I can take kissing you in front of her, but ain't no way she's gonna watch us fool around."

Marty snorted and then laughed, but didn't say anything more.

Jesse stopped suddenly. "We forgot the tar paper."

Marty turned and looked at him. "You really want to go back?"

Jesse had to smile. "Nope. I guess not."

They got to the fort and went inside, and Jesse bent down and closed the door. When he straightened and turned around, Marty was right behind him. The other boy looked right into his eyes, and smiled. "I was sure you were gonna explode when you found out I told Parker."

Jesse sighed, let Marty wrap him in his arms and kiss him. "I was a little upset," he admitted.

Marty hugged him. "Yeah, but you didn't go off."

Jesse smiled, leaned forward and laid his face against Marty's cheek. "I felt what it was like when I thought you were gone one time before. I ain't doing that again."

Marty closed his eyes, hugged Jesse close. They stood together, wrapped in each other's arms, until Jesse pushed Marty back. "Okay, what's in that damn package? I'm getting tired of being the only one that doesn't know."

Marty had dropped it on the bunk. They went and sat on either side of it, and both of them stared at it. Marty looked up, grinning. "I found it online a while back. But I didn't have any way to get it. After I told Parker about us, she was kinda nice about it all, and asked if she could do anything to help me. I asked her to help me get this stuff."

Marty picked up the package, ripped open the end of it. He peered inside, then reached in and pulled something out.

It was a plastic bottle with a rounded cap and a glitzy label. Jesse simply looked at it, unable to believe that this was the cause of all the ruckus.

He stared at Marty. "All that shit over that? What the hell is it?"

Marty grinned, looking at the bottle's label. "It's sex lube. Better than that K-Y stuff. This is the real deal, Jesse."

Jesse started laughing. Well, that was actually something they could use; but - all that crap over a bottle of slippery fuck stuff? It seemed ridiculous.

Marty reached into the package again and pulled out another bottle the same size as the first one, but with a different label.

"Now what's that?" Jesse asked. "More lube?"

"No. It's a special cleaner."

Marty set the two bottles down on the bed. "It goes with this." He reached back into the package and withdrew a long, narrow box. Marty dropped the now empty shipping package on the mattress and pulled at the end of the box. Jesse sat forward, interested despite himself. Maybe this was what all the ruckus was about.

Marty got the end of the box open, upended it, and something slid out into his hand.

Jesse blinked, leaned forward...holy shit!

The thing was maybe an inch thick, and every bit of seven inches long, if not more. It had veins visible in it, and the head was as perfectly formed as any Jesse had ever seen. Marty grinned as he held the thing out for Jesse to inspect, and Jesse reached a hand out...but at the last minute stopped short of taking it.

It was a pecker. A rubber dick, looking just like the real thing, with little nubby balls at the end of it, and what looked for all the world like a suction cup behind the balls.

And, it was purple. Bright purple.

Jesse looked at Marty. "What is it?"

Marty looked like he was trying not to laugh. "It's called a dildo."

Jesse had seen the word but never heard it spoken; and now he realized he had seen things like this before, too, on the Internet, in porn videos. Guys would take them, and...and...

His mouth dropped open. Marty nodded. "You know what it's for now?"

Jesse sat back, horrified. "You're not stuffing that thing up my butt!"

Marty pulled the pecker away and looked at it more closely. He smiled, then looked at Jesse. "I heard it feels really good, Jesse."

Jesse looked at his friend like he was nuts. "It's too long, Marty. You'd knock my teeth out with that thing."

Marty laughed. "Dummy. You only stick in as far as you need to. Just enough to rub your button."

Jesse opened his mouth...but then closed it again. His button? Ooh. He already knew how wonderful that felt. He looked at the dildo again. It was a little greater in diameter than either of their own peckers - but the length was just scary.

Marty leaned forward. "Imagine you put lube on it and make it all slick. Then you lay back with your legs apart, and someone puts this in your butt, and moves it in and out, and rubs your button...while they're sucking your dick.

Jesse licked his lips, imagining. Shit.

Marty shrugged. "I don't have to use it on you. You can use it on me. I'd love to have my button rubbed while you're sucking my dick." He took the dildo and acted like he was going to put it back in the box.

"Um...wait a minute," Jesse said, reaching out his hand. Marty grinned, laid the thing in Jesse's palm.

Jesse examined the dildo, feeling it's texture between his fingers. It was velvety soft, almost like skin, and the little surface features like veins and ridges were also soft. The head was almost as pliant and soft as his own real one, and the shaft was solid but flexible, just like a real, hard dick. He imagined having Marty stick a few inches of this thing up his butt, all slippery with lube, and rub his insides with it while giving Jesse a nice blowjob.

Down in his shorts, he felt a rush, and then movement as his dick began to stiffen.

Jesse sighed. Oh well. The expert had spoken. "Okay."

Marty tossed his head back and started laughing. "That was quick."

Jesse felt a little stupid, but just nodded. "My imagination kicked in."

Marty laughed a second or two longer, and then quieted down. "No shit. That's what happened to me when I first saw it online. My imagination kicked in."

Jesse was about to hand the dildo back to Marty when an impulse popped up in the back of his mind. But it didn't stay there for long. He raised the dildo, pointed the head at his eyes, looked down its length. Fuckin' thing looked like a real dick, except for being purple.

He brought it closer, stuck out his tongue, tasted the head of it. It had very little taste, and what was there was just kind of neutral. So he went ahead and pushed a couple of inches of it into his mouth - and there it kind of failed. It wasn't warm like a real dick, and it only felt vaguely like a real dick on his tongue. But it was still an interesting experience.

He became aware that Marty was looking at him, his eyes huge, and that the front of Marty's shorts was tenting up quite fast. Jesse pulled the dildo out of his mouth and laughed, using the toy to point at the other boy's crotch. "Make you horny to see me sucking on it?"

"Damn right," Marty said, taking the front of his shorts and waving it to make room for his expanded pecker.

Jesse looked at the dildo a last time, then handed it back. "Wanna go swimming?" He smiled. "And take that with us?"

Marty nodded. "Yeah. You and me and the snake. Let's go." Marty's eyes filled with blue sparkles, and Jesse just loved him.

---

They left their shirts and flip-flops at the fort. The intermittent sun leaking through the forest canopy overhead felt good on Jesse's back as they made their way to the creek. It was already hot enough for a swim, and Jesse was looking forward to the cool and clear water.

They'd evicted Jesse's binoculars from its carrying case and were using it to transport the lube and cleaner and the rubber pecker, and a folded up mass of paper towels for the cleaner. Not that they expected to see anyone else - but walking around with a big purple pecker in hand seemed too much like advertising one's sins for Jesse to be comfortable with the idea. All they needed was to run into Mr. Devlin poking around on his property, and they would have one tough piece of explaining to do.

What's that you've got there, boys?

Um...

Jesse still couldn't quite get used to the term dildo. What idiot thought up that? It sounded like something you'd find growing on the bottom of your nutsack, that needed a doctor with something unpleasantly sharp to remove. Still, there was this little thrill growing inside of Jesse at the idea of having that slick thing pushed up inside of him while Marty sucked his dick. It made Jesse a little hard just to think about it, and as they walked he kept adjusting the front of his shorts to make room for the growing volume of his equipment.

Marty looked over at him and grinned. "Are you playing with yourself?"

Jesse laughed. "I'm thinking about that rubber pecker up my butt."

"You wanna go first? I don't mind. I'm kind lookin' forward to playing with that thing in your butt."

Jesse smiled, looking over at his friend. He was about to add something else when a thought struck him, and he laughed again, a little harder.

"What?" Marty smiled, looking interested.

Jesse reached out and put a hand on the other boy's arm. "I just realized you asked Parker if she wanted to use the pecker later."

Marty nodded, his eyes bright. "Oh, yeah. She was horny. She can use it, too, as far as I'm concerned."

The idea was a little startling. "You mean in her pussy?"

"Sure. We can all use it. Everybody's just gotta remember to wash it with the special cleaner after they're done. That way everyone stays safe."

Jesse looked at him. "Come on - you think she'll really use it, when she knows it's been up our butts?"

Marty sighed. "Yeah, she'll use it. I know she ordered it for me, but she was thinkin' about usin' it herself, too."

Jesse was silent a moment. "I'm kinda amazed she knows about us. I was scared of that happening, and now all of a sudden it's done and it doesn't bother me at all."

Marty nodded. "I told ya: she's my sister. She'll look out for us, and she probably won't kid us so much now that you ragged her on it." He grinned. "Well, at least she won't do it around my parents anymore."

They arrived at the swimming hole and sat the case with the dildo and bottles on the stump seat. Marty immediately came up to Jesse and put his arms around him. "You see the suction cup on the back of the dildo?"

Jesse nodded. "That's what it really is? What do you need that for?"

"It's so you can stick it to a smooth surface and back up on it. You know, make it go in and out that way."

Jesse stared. "Get out."

Marty nodded. "Yup. You have to be careful doing it, though, or the suction will pull your dick in from the other side. You'll wind up with two inches instead of what you have now."

Jesse stared at him. Marty looked absolutely serious, and nodded. "Yup. I read about it online with the warnings."

Jesse shook his head vehemently. "Well, then you aren't sticking that thing in me. I need all my four and a little inches."

Marty suddenly grinned and started laughing. Jesse immediately realized he'd been had, and squeezed the other boy tightly. But the feeling of Marty laughing in his arms was just so nice that Jesse could only grin.

"Funny," he said, a little sourly, but couldn't hide his good spirits. "I guess it's country boy four, city boy two now. Laugh while you can. I'll get you back."

Marty sighed. "You always think about revenge? That's just nasty."

Jesse snorted. "Oh, yeah? But it's okay when you do it?"

Marty grinned. "Well, yeah. I'm behind, dummy. If I'm gonna catch up I have to think revenge a little."

Jesse crossed his arms. "So I'm not the only nasty one around here."

Marty shook his head, but grinned and gave Jesse a quick kiss. "Let's call a truce, okay? I just want to have some fun with you now."

Jesse nodded. "Okay. There's always time later for more revenge."

Marty brightened. "Uh huh. And I'm gonna be really creative next time."

Jesse smiled at the look on Marty's face, but then wagged a finger at the other boy as a thought came to mind. "No joking around while we're fooling around, though, okay?" Jesse followed the finger wag with a stern look. "I will be a little pissed if I think I'm getting ready to have a slippery rubber pecker slid up my butt and then I feel a pine cone between my buns. You get me?"

Marty frowned. "I'd never do that to you, Jesse. I promise. No jokes while we're doing stuff together."

"I promise, too," Jesse said.

They smiled at each other, and Jesse tightened his grip around the other boy again. "Can I get a kiss?"

Marty simply leaned in, re-circled his arms around Jesse, and let him have the kiss he wanted. It was a very nice kiss, too.

Jesse leaned his head back and smiled at his friend. "I have a pair of swim trunks I'm about ready to start wearing every day. You'll like them. They don't go down to my knees like my other trunks do. They just go down a little - about to here." He touched Marty's thigh, about two inches down below his nuts.

Marty grinned. "Really? Shit, that ain't a Speedo, but it's close enough for me."

Jesse nodded. "That's pretty much all I wear all summer, once it gets hot. That's 'cause I swim every day and hang out at the fort. My mom likes me to wear a shirt for meals, and that's about the only time I do. Outside, it's just the trunks. I like to be tanned - " he leaned closer to Marty, smiled into his eyes " - and I want to look sexy for you," he ended in a whisper.

Marty grinned, hugged him again. "Jesse, I got news for you: you'd look sexy to me any way you were dressed."

Jesse smiled, feeling the same way about Marty. Sexy wasn't just about showing skin. There was sexy in the way you moved, and the way you looked at people; it was in your smile, and how you treated others. But mostly a person's sexiness was located somewhere else - in the eyes of the person that loved them.

Jesse tucked his thumbs into the waistband of Marty's shorts, getting them inside his boxers, too. "Ready to get naked?"

Marty grinned. "Yeah. You?"

Jesse just nodded.

Thing about wanting something is, you can usually make it happen. Jesse settled to his haunches, taking Marty's clothing with him. Marty put a hand on Jesse's shoulder to balance himself while Jesse lifted each of Marty's feet and pulled his clothing off of him. Jesse sank forward to his knees, on an eye level now with Marty's stiff dick. He looked at it, smiling.

For real, no purple piece of rubber could ever take the place of one of these. Jesse loved the way Marty's dick looked, loved the way it felt in his hand and his mouth - and in his butt. Marty's balls were round and tight, and Jesse simply wanted to kiss them - so he did. Marty giggled a little while he did it, too, smiling down at him, and dropping a hand onto Jesse's head to finger his hair.

Jesse took each nut inside his mouth in turn, gently rubbed it with his tongue, feeling it's shape and it's softness. Then he backed off, took Marty's pecker in his hand, rubbed the tip of it gently against his nose and his lips, across his cheeks and along his jaw, and then kissed it. He tasted the end of it, kissed it one last time, then stood.

Marty was smiling, his eyes bright. His hands went to Jesse's shorts, and they came off the same way the Marty's had done. And then it was Jesse's turn to look down and watch and feel as Marty touched him, rubbed him, sampled him, kissed him.

Marty returned to standing, pulled Jesse close to him, and sighed mightily. "I think I'm seeing fireworks again," he said, giving Jesse a kiss.

Jesse sighed, and pressed his face against the other boy's. He was seeing them, too. The sky of his mind was full of them: bright, colorful, eternal sparkles, like the blue ones that lived inside Marty's eyes.

Jesse was conscious of the fact that these new, special moments were there only because he was with Marty. That the two of them had a special bond between them was something he knew now - as sure and as strong a thing as anything Jesse had ever felt or touched with anyone. The world had smiled and given him a gift, a truly wondrous and special one, and then it had stood back and given him room to explore it.

Jesse put an arm around Marty's neck and nuzzled him with his face, just to let him know that there was nothing in the world right now that he would rather be doing. He could feel Marty's body move as muscles adjusted his stance and balance. He could feel Marty's chest move against him as the boy breathed, could feel the warm air he exhaled against his cheek. He could feel the soft touch of Marty's skin against his, and the warmth of him - a beautiful and special warmth, so different from the warmth of the summer day.

It was the warmth of life - he could feel Marty's life.

And Jesse so loved that life, too. Marty had brought him a sense of new things, and a way of feeling about them he had never known before. It was a thing begun with Nate - explored and touched just at the beginning; but what he had now with Marty had grown, and left behind those very first steps. It was as if, when he held Marty close, that he got a glimpse of another universe, one decorated and furnished by another creator than the universe that Jesse knew. There were beautiful and mysterious things there, some that made him gasp in amazement, some that made him smile with joy. All of them things he had found he loved.

"What are you thinking about?" Marty asked, giving him a squeeze.

"You," Jesse said softly, keeping his face pressed against Marty's. "Just how special you are."

Marty gave him another squeeze, one that needed no words to communicate that Marty felt the same way about Jesse.

"Are we gonna swim, or are we gonna cry?"

Jesse pulled back his head and looked at Marty. Once again, the other boy's eyes looked moist. Jesse felt his own eyes sting a little - and he smiled.

"I won't cry, if you won't cry."

Marty laughed. "We're gettin' to be a couple of girls."

Jesse grinned, looked over his shoulder at the creek, began moving that way, taking Marty with him. "Can't have that."

"Oh, I love this ride," Marty said, grinning. "I always get wet at the end."

Jesse laughed. "It's about to happen again."

They got to the edge of the creek and Jesse simply leaned over, taking Marty with him. They crashed into the surface of the water, sending spray skywards. They bounced back to the surface, both laughing.

"Hey, it's not as cold today," Marty observed, taking a hand and tossing a little water at Jesse.

Jesse grinned. "It's the same as it always is. You're just getting used to it now." He took his hand and tossed some water back at Marty.

That did it. In an instant they were using their arms, skidding them across the surface of the water, throwing huge torrents of spray at each other, both of them laughing and squealing. Jesse blinked water out of his eyes as fast as it entered them, keeping his sights on Marty, waiting until the other boy closed his eyes for a second.

Eventually it happened. Marty got an especially large face full of water, closed his eyes instinctively. Jesse dived under the water, quickly circled the other boy, came up behind him. Marty had his hands up, as if to still defend himself from spray that was no longer being directed at him.

Jesse took a finger, moved closer, and stuck it into Marty's buttcrack.

Bullseye. Marty jumped and hooted, and turned around, pulling away. His eyes were wide, and he seemed astonished to find Jesse behind him. But he wasted only a second looking before diving at Jesse, a huge grin on his face, going low, grabbing Jesse in a bear hug around the thighs, and lifting him skyward.

Jesse howled with laughter as Marty stuck his face into Jesse's belly and moved it rapidly side to side, tickling.

"Stop!" Jesse yelled, putting his hands on Marty's shoulders and weakly trying to push away. But the tickle overcame him, and he threw his head back and laughed, helpless to resist. Some sense remained - enough to prod him to lean backwards in an attempt to break Marty's grip or upset the two of them; but Marty managed to keep his balance.

Jesse's pecker, subdued by the cool water, tried to get fully hard again, but only managed a halfhearted attempt against the pressure of Marty's chest. Jesse's ability to think came and went between torrents of laughter - but he managed to retain enough sense this time to think of something to say.

"I'm gonna piss on you!" he breathed through clenched teeth, gripping Marty's shoulders tightly.

Marty suddenly stopped moving and drew his head back. "For real?"

Jesse managed to get a full breath, and tilted his head forward and looked down into Marty's eyes. "Put me down."

Marty grinned. "I thought you were gonna piss on me."

Jesse laughed, a little desperately. "Put me down, or you'll find out the hard way."

But Marty didn't release him. Instead, he tilted Jesse back a little, and quickly brought a hand around and pulled Jesse's dick upward, so that it pointed up at the bottom of Marty's chin. Then he threw the other hand back into the bear hug, pulling Jesse hard against him. Jesse's dick was squeezed, with only the head still sticking out between them.

Jesse had missed his opportunity to escape. He was still a little breathless and unfocused. Damn.

Marty grinned at him. "Go ahead and piss."

"You're crazy!" Jesse said, trying not to grin. Marty was really wound up - Jesse could see it in the other boy's eyes. When Marty got excited like this he wasn't always thinking straight, and was liable to say or do anything.

Marty leaned forward, stuck his nose into Jesse's belly, and gave it a short, fierce tickle. Jesse's whole body clenched, and he had to use every bit of control he could muster in order not to laugh.

"Stop it!" Jesse tried to sound serious, but couldn't manage to keep the stupid grin off his face. As much as he usually hated to be tickled, he loved that Marty was holding him so, and that the other boy was being so intimate with him. It was impossible for him not to convey at least some of the enjoyment he was feeling at Marty holding him close.

"I'm not putting you down," Marty said, grinning up at him.

Jesse began to squirm again; Marty plunged his nose back into Jesse's belly and went at it. Jesse screamed with laughter at the new assault and it was everything he could do to hold on. Thing was, he really could take a piss now, if he wanted to. His bladder was sending a signal that the tickling was stirring things up, and that maybe it might be a good idea to go find a tree and play doggie.

"You better stop...or else!" Jesse managed to get out. But that only made Marty redouble his efforts.

And then Jesse understood - really understood. Marty wanted for Jesse to piss on him. Jesse had pissed in the creek numerous times while swimming here, knowing the flow of water around them would carry the stuff away pretty quickly. He and Nate had even stood on the bank by the dam, naked, and had pissing battles, shooting streams into the water on the other side of the dam, and lashing them together like two sword fighters in a duel.

But never had Jesse ever pissed on someone - not ever.

Marty pressed his nose in and gave Jesse an especially powerful tickle, and that was what decided Jesse on what to do next.

Thing was, he was half hard, and his bladder had very good control. His piss muscle - the one that kept piss in - was in a knot and wouldn't let him go. Jesse pounded weakly a last time on Marty's shoulders, then bent his head forward towards Marty's. "Okay!"

Marty stopped, looked up at him. "For real?"

Jesse looked at him. "You really want me to piss on you?"

Marty grinned. "What do you think?"

Jesse shook his head. "Why didn't you just ask?"

Marty opened his mouth to reply just as Jesse found his control. A geyser erupted upwards out of the water between them, impacted on Marty's chin, and splattered away on both sides into the creek.

Marty looked shocked as the warm stream hit him, and Jesse just had to laugh at the look on the other boy's face. Marty wasted a second staring up at Jesse; then he closed his mouth, closed his eyes, and turned his face downward into the stream. The piss splattered against Marty's lips and nose, and everywhere else as Marty slowly moved his face around in a circle.

Jesse was a little shocked. It made the flow hesitate - but only for a second; then it was spurting upwards again, until Jesse's bladder was completely empty.

He simply stared downward at his friend as the last little spurts bubbled under the surface; and then he was done.

Marty rolled his head back, tilted his face upwards, and opened his eyes. He looked up at Jesse, and then licked his lips. "Hmm. Kinda good, actually."

Jesse rolled his eyes towards the sky, unable to believe that Marty had really tasted his piss. "Yuck."

Slowly, Marty relaxed his grip and let Jesse slide down into his embrace. Jesse looked at Marty as their faces came even - there was really no trace of what had just happened.

Marty grinned at him. "That was wild."

Jesse frowned. "You really are nuts."

Marty looked a little hurt; but then he smiled. "It came out of you, Jesse. How could it be bad?"

Jesse tried not to smile, but couldn't quite manage it. Despite everything, he was a little touched by Marty's apparent reverence for the experience.

"It's yucky," Jesse repeated. "It's piss."

Marty gave him a little shrug. "You know how many guys would puke if they had to drink another guy's spunk?"

That was food for thought. Jesse loved Marty's spunk - it was warm and spicy and full of love. It came out of Marty's nuts and his dick, both parts of Marty that Jesse loved. That someone else might find it disgusting was a thought that really made Jesse think. He looked at Marty again, gave him a little smile.

"What was it like?"

Marty shrugged. "Kinda has no taste. Maybe a little salty, maybe a little sweet. Hard to describe. Not bad at all." He grinned. "I only licked the taste off my lips, Jesse. It's not like I drank your piss or anything."

Jesse looked into Marty's eyes, couldn't help smiling. "Nut."

Marty squeezed Jesse closer. "I love all of you, Jesse. Is that wrong?"

Jesse took a big breath, let it out slowly. "No. I love all of you, too." He shrugged. "I just don't know if I could taste your piss as easy as you just did with mine."

Marty grinned. "Well, you could let me piss on you and find out."

Jesse couldn't help but to laugh. "We're getting awful weird, aren't we?"

Marty shrugged. "So what?"

Again, Jesse had to think about that. Were there rules to this stuff? Were there things that he and Marty shouldn't do? Jesse knew about safe sex. He had done nothing but read about it online since he had discovered his own sexuality. He knew there were all sorts of illnesses that could be transferred through sex, and that, for real, if you were going to stick your dick in someone's butt - or let someone stick their dick in yours - the one doing the sticking should wear a rubber.

But Jesse also knew that he had simply never been with anyone but Marty. And Marty had only been with Keith, and they had only ever been with each other. A pretty small circle from which to draw worry about getting something. From what Jesse had read online, a simple truth had emerged: if you didn't have anything to give, no one was going to get anything from you during sex. And, the reverse was also a truth.

What was it called, the way he and Marty did sex? Penetration. And they did that in a way guys online called barebacked - which meant with no condom. It was only for two people who didn't mess with anybody else, and knew that the other was safe. No stuff to pass along.

Jesse had also seen online some of the huge variety of things guys did together in the name of making love to each other. Some of it - like tying the other guy up and spanking him - was kind of stupid, but harmless - unless carried to extremes. Like spanking them until they yelled, or until their skin was red and obviously damaged. He'd seen a few videos where guys were tied up and blindfolded and acted like they didn't want to do what was happening to them. He'd eventually understood it was acting - a kind of sexplay he didn't really get at all. How could you hurt - or even pretend to hurt - somebody you loved?

He'd also seen guys put whipped cream or chocolate syrup on each other and lick it off, eat strawberries out of each other's bellybuttons - shit; Jesse had seen one porn video where a guy spunked in his boyfriend's butt, and then used his finger to dip it back out and eat it. Right in front of the camera!

And Jesse had seen a lot of other weird stuff, too.

He looked at Marty. Jesse loved the other boy - everything about him. Loved him plain and simple. So was there a limit to things they did together, as long as they both enjoyed it? Or even, if one of them enjoyed it, and the other didn't really mind, because the love was more important?

And that was the answer. No. There was no recognizable line - no limit. What mattered was the love. That was what was important.

Jesse smiled. "Got any piss in you?"

Marty's eyes got big. "What the heck were you just thinking about?"

Jesse leaned forward, kissed Marty. "Just thinking about what was important. Come here."

Jesse turned and walked over to the bank, then followed it along to the part that was waist high from the floor of the creek. When he got there, he turned, and hopped up onto the bank to be seated on his butt. He waved at Marty to hurry up.

Marty grinned and hopped through the water to stand in front of Jesse. Jesse spread his legs and motioned for Marty to come stand between them. As Marty got close, Jesse reached out and took the other boy's half-hard dick, guided it so that it pointed upwards as their bodies came together. Jesse kept his hand over the head of Marty's dick, rubbed it gently as he looked into the other boy's eyes. "You gotta piss? Go ahead."

Marty grinned. "Really?"

"Yeah. I just said so, didn't I?"

He watched as Marty seemed to concentrate. Then the other boy laughed. "I can't. I'm too hard."

Jesse stopped rubbing the head of Marty's dick and just kept his hand over it. He didn't want Marty to spray piss into his face - not the first time, anyway. Jesse needed to see if he could tolerate the experience at all, first.

Jesse reached out his other hand, rubbed it gently down Marty's side. "Relax. I love you."

Marty grinned, leaned forward and pressed his lips to Jesse's. They set about tasting the entire insides of each other's mouths, which was quite enjoyable in itself. But about midway through, Jesse suddenly felt warm liquid spray through his fingers, and gasped as the stuff covered his chest. It was very warm - body temperature - and it actually felt quite good as it spread across the front of his body and ran down to his crotch and thighs. Marty's piss. Jesse found that, instead of being revolting, it was simply a warm and pleasant experience. Knowing that the stuff came out of the inside of Marty was a little stimulating, too, and Jesse felt his dick start to get much harder, very fast.

He pulled back from Marty, looked up into his eyes. Marty was smiling - an anxious smile, maybe, as he watched to see how Jesse would react. They gazed into each other's eyes for all of the ten seconds it took for Marty to empty his bladder; then it was over. Jesse looked down, feeling his skin began to cool immediately now that it was no longer being soaked.

Marty continued to watch him. Jesse gave the head of Marty's dick a last fond rub, then brought his hand up and looked at it. Still the same - all the fingers right where they belonged. He brought it to his nose, smelled it, detected the very faintest of not unpleasant odors. He gave a little sigh, stuck his tongue out, and licked a finger.

Marty was right. There was very little taste at all. Jesse could just barely detect a salty reaction on his tongue, and maybe a sweet one, too. Nothing else to comment upon.

He looked up at Marty. "I just tasted your piss."

Marty grinned. "I saw. Kinky bastard."

Jesse grinned back. "Look who's talking."

Marty leaned forward, pushed Jesse back into the carpet of old leaves, crawled out of the water and on top of him, and began to kiss every square inch of Jesse's face. And with great gusto, too.

Jesse endured it at first, smiling; and then he loved it, smiling even more, until he started laughing at Marty's sheer exuberance. "Hey! You're gonna take my nose off."

Marty grinned. "Oh, I don't think that'll happen. But I am ready for some other stuff." He looked over at the stump bench, to where the binocular case rested.

Jesse felt a small thrill. "Okay."

Marty got up carefully, trotted over to the bench, returned with the case. He stopped, looked at the way Jesse was laying, with his legs still dangling in the water, and smiled. "This should be interesting."

He set the case down next to Jesse and slid back into the water, stepped into the place between Jesse's legs. Jesse sat up, and Marty took him into his arms and kissed him. They looked at each other, and then hugged silently for a moment. Jesse closed his eyes, just happy. This was the best summer vacation ever.

Marty leaned forward, pushing Jesse back down, and applied more kisses to Jesse's face. Jesse smiled, then laughed as Marty used his tongue to tickle his chin and his cheeks. Finally, Marty pulled back and smiled at him. "It's so much fun playing with you, Jesse," he said, sighing. "You want to try everything, don't you?"

Jesse looked at his friend a moment before replying. "Only because it's with you," he said at last. "That's what makes it special."

Marty nodded. "For me, too." He looked at Jesse a moment longer, still smiling, then waggled his eyebrows. "Ready?"

Jesse nodded. He watched as Marty opened the case and withdrew the rubber pecker. They both looked at it a moment, and Jesse smiled as he realized they were both thinking the same thing: wonder what this'll feel like?

Marty took the folded up paper towels, separated one and opened it. He picked up the bottle of cleaner, squeezed some stuff out onto the paper towel, and then wiped the rubber pecker down carefully. Then he repeated the process with the lube, wiping the first four inches or so of the thing with slick stuff, until it glistened. Then he handed it to Jesse to hold, making sure to allow him to get it by the nubby balls-end so that it would stay clean and slippery.

Jesse looked at the slicked-up pecker, smiling in anticipation.

Marty took the bottle of lube and squirted some onto a fingertip, reached his hand down and carefully pushed his finger into Jesse's pucker. "Pull your legs up some."

Jesse complied, raising his legs until his feet came out of the water. Marty rubbed his fingertip slowly around Jesse's pucker, then just as carefully pushed it inside. Jesse's body clenched at the feel, and his dick went to super hard in an instant. Mmm.

Marty grinned, squeezed a little more lube onto his fingertip, then repeated the process. Then he closed the cap on the bottle and wiped his finger on another paper towel.

He reached out and carefully transferred the dildo from Jesse's hand to his own. Then, using his other hand, he indicated to Jesse to pull his legs up higher. Jesse complied, bringing his knees back to his chest.

"This hurts you tell me right away," Marty said, giving him a look. "I 'm not sure how to do this, so I'm just going to do it like it's my own dick going in, okay?"

Jesse nodded.

Marty lowered the dildo, and Jesse suddenly felt the tip of it against the center of his pucker. He willed the muscles there to cooperate, to let the purple pecker gain entry. Marty pushed a little, and it felt just like Marty's pecker there, asking to come in. Jesse smiled, trying to relax even more. He'd done this before, and he wanted to do it again.

The rubber pecker began to go in, feeling just like Marty's dick did the last time. It hurt a little, and it felt weird - but it also felt good. The feeling of fullness came over his butt, and things down there seemed both excited and a little distressed at the same time.

What the fuck is this?

I dunno. But it was fun last time - let it in!

"Wow," Marty said softly. "That went in easy. You're getting really good at this, Jesse."

Jesse just nodded, his eyes squeezed shut, feeling the strangeness of having the thing up his butt; but also the conflicting good-hurt magic of it, too. "Move it some," he breathed, trying to control his breathing, which was trying to speed up. Jesse's whole body was feeling excited, and he knew it would only get better.

He felt movement, and the rubber pecker began to move in and out. It was almost exactly like having Marty's dick up his butt, with just some subtle thing he couldn't even name to tell him it wasn't identical.

Marty slid the pecker in and out, and slowly the pain went away, and it just felt good. Each inward thrust touched Jesse's button, sending that little bolt of lightning throughout his gut; fire and ice and tickly fingers, all rolled into one. It was good - very good - and Jesse's dick felt like old iron standing between his legs.

He felt Marty crouch down, push Jesse's legs apart; and the in-out movement paused while Marty used his other hand to pick up Jesse's dick. He touched his tongue to it, and Jesse felt the urge to moan - so he did. He heard Marty give a tiny laugh; and then the other boy was sinking down the shaft of Jesse's dick, slowly. The in and out motion of the rubber pecker resumed, and Jesse felt his middle crawl with the dual sensation.

He slapped his open hands against the ground and opened his eyes, and let another noise out. It might have been a moan - Jesse wasn't sure. He turned his eyes up into the green canopy overhead, watched in an abstract sense as the leaves waved in the trees and the sun danced in and out among the branches, and felt his body tremble as fire mites cavorted on his groin. Marty was going up and down on Jesse's dick in time to the thrusting motions of the dildo, and the joint movement had such a pleasing rhythm that Jesse could hardly resist the urge to roll his hips in time. He did finally, unable not to do it; and all three motions combined to spirit away his inner sense and leave behind only that part of his mind in tune with his body - the part that felt his body.

His hands gripped and ungripped in the dry leaves, his toes flexed and his feet moved in time with his body. All one motion, all one feel.

He pulled his gaze down from the trees, looked at Marty. The other boy's eyes were fixed on him, and he wore a small smile as he worked on Jesse's dick. Jesse tried to grin back, wasn't sure if it came off. But Marty looked pleased at his reaction, and Jesse felt Marty's thumb rub against his full nutsack - just one more pleasure in a land full of them right now.

Slowly, Jesse felt the urge inside build, a tightening of things, a spring being wound up to its utmost limit. Jesse's thighs felt almost numb at the top; he tried to reach them with his hands, but, oddly, didn't seem to know exactly where they were. He settled for laying his palms on his belly and rubbing that, which made Marty smile even more, and Jesse smiled back.

His breathing was fast now, and each exhaled breath was going out as a little ah, just whispered, not even really sound. Jesse squeezed his eyes shut again, felt the urge in his nuts, and then in his taint, and then working up the shaft of his gloriously happy pecker. Some evil part of his mind made him sit on the urge, to let it build, until Jesse thought something awful would happen if he didn't let it escape.

His hips rose slowly and his thighs - there they were - clenched; and then his dick was firing off a chain of volleys into the warmth of Marty's mouth. Marty closed his eyes, the thrusts of the dildo continued, Marty's tongue wrestled with the flexing of Jesse's dick; and Jesse gripped small piles of old leaves on either side of him so fiercely that they were turned to dust. His mind wandered away, and he lost track of where he was...

Once upon a time there was a boy, and his name was Jesse. Jesse had within his heart a love - a very special love - for another boy, whose name was Marty. Jesse and Marty did things together - wonderful things, that made each of them excited, happy, and pleased. On special days when the summer breezes blew through the leaves of the trees and the warm sun shone overhead, they would go to their special place by the water and love each other in magical ways. Each time they did these things together it seemed new and freshly born, even if they had shared them together before. Such was the feeling between them that those moments were caught in time and nearly stilled, nearly brought to eternity in length; until, again magically, the power of them would seep back into the ground and the sky and the world all around, to be stored behind sunshine and rainbows until the next moment they were summoned forth...

Jesse opened his eyes and smiled. It was done, and it had been some kind of good. He had just had probably the most intense orgasm of his life. It had been so strong it was hard to describe, and Jesse had the memory of a funny little dream that went with it - what was it? He couldn't remember it now. But it had been wonderfully pleasant, whatever it was, and the warm echo of it was still there inside his mind. He smiled, because he felt he wanted to, and that he should.

Marty gently squeezed Jesse's dick, milking out the last of Jesse's spunk. Then he gently withdrew the purple pecker - the great purple pecker, as Jesse was now thinking of it - and laid it carefully onto the paper towel beside them. He pulled Jesse's legs down, let them dangle back in the water. Then he climbed slowly out of the creek and laid down on top of Jesse, and Jesse's body tingled anew at the cool water that Marty's skin traded to his.

"How was it?" Marty asked, smiling down into Jesse's eyes.

Jesse put his arms around the other boy and pulled him close, raised his head and kissed him. Marty went with it, lowering his own head until Jesse's rested back in the leaves again. Jesse wanted to taste Marty, just to keep swirling their tongues together, keep their lips pressed tight; Marty seemed as equally captured by the moment, and gave back as good as he got. Briefly, Jesse smiled inside at how wonderful a kisser Marty was becoming. Just the other day the boy had been a rank amateur, unable to keep up with Jesse's most basic moves. But today - he was a god.

"I love you," Jesse whispered, into Marty's open mouth.

Marty laughed, and when he pulled back his eyes were full of sparkles. "I guess it was pretty damn good, huh?"

"Hmm?" Jesse seemed to find it hard to concentrate. "Yeah, it was amazing."

Marty's face expanded into just this huge grin, and his eyes glowed with affection. "You should see yourself, Jesse. You look like you just woke up after the word's best dream."

Jesse smiled and nodded. "It was kinda like that. It was...I dunno. It was amazing, like I said. I never felt anything like it."

"So it was good?"

"Yeah, it was good." Jesse's concentration was returning, and he was trying not to smile at the way that Marty was looking at him. "What? Why are you grinning like that?"

Marty laughed. "I wish I had a mirror - I'd show you. Your hair is all wild and full of leaves, and you have this goofy grin on your face - you look like you just got your nuts sucked out by your favorite vacuum cleaner."

Jesse reached up, found the leaves in his hair and pulled them out, smoothed his hair down as well as was possible. "Better?"

Marty leaned back and kissed him. "Yeah. But just not as cute."

Jesse smiled at that. "Wait until you get the great purple pecker up your butt. You'll know how I'm feeling."

Marty laughed. "The great purple pecker?"

Jesse felt embarrassed, but nodded. "Yeah. You'll know what I mean, when it happens to you."

Marty smiled at him a little longer, then kissed him again. "I just love you, Jesse. There's nobody else like you."

Jesse nodded, and pulled Marty close again so he wouldn't see the tears in his eyes.

Marty seemed perfectly content to be held and rubbed, and Jesse just closed his eyes and went with it.

All these feelings were kind of messing him up. Jesse wasn't the type to just cry, or to feel all sorts of gooey stuff all the time. Marty just seemed to bring it out of the dusty corners of Jesse's soul. The other boy had a powerful hold over Jesse's emotions, one that cropped up at the least expected moments. Or maybe they weren't unexpected. Just inconvenient?

Well, for real, there were no really convenient times to get stupid. Crying and shit like that was for girls - wasn't it?

But...Marty made Jesse feel just so...so...what was the word? Jesse wasn't even sure. He knew that Marty loved him. He'd know that even if the other boy didn't say it. It was in Marty's pretty blue eyes when he looked at Jesse, and in his skin when he touched Jesse. It was in the way he held onto Jesse, and - most definitely - in the way that Marty kissed him.

Who knew? Who knew this could happen in just a few short days of life?

"What'cha thinkin'?" Marty asked, without pulling his head back.

Jesse sighed, squeezed the other boy tightly. "Nothing. I don't wanna cry again."

Marty lifted his head and smiled. "Yeah...you're a girl."

Jesse grinned. "I've seen some wet in your eyes before."

Marty nodded. "Stuff gets in my eyes."

Jesse smiled, deciding not to argue the point. He knew what it was that got into Marty's eyes sometimes.

"You ready for your turn?" he asked Marty.

Marty shook his head. "I was just thinkin' about that. If we both go now then there won't be any extra fun for the sleep out tonight. So you can give me my turn then, okay?"

Jesse was a little disappointed. "Well, can I suck your dick now? I was lookin' forward to that."

Marty grinned, raised himself, moved forward and squatted down on Jesse's chest. He took his dick in one hand, edged himself forward a little more, and rubbed the head of it against Jesse's lips. "This good enough?"

In answer, Jesse opened his mouth and gobbled Marty down. Marty laughed, his eyes getting big at Jesse's energetic attack. Jesse brought a hand up and used it to thrust Marty's dick in and out of his mouth. Marty closed his eyes and tilted his head back, and Jesse looked up across the smooth beauty of Marty's body, noting the hard little points his nipples had become, the gooseflesh on the other boy's chest.

Marty was enjoying.

Jesse sighed inwardly. He loved the feel of Marty in his mouth this way, loved the touch of tongue to such a special part of the other boy. He knew Marty's dick fairly well now - knew what it liked and what it didn't, knew what gave it that extra special good feel. Jesse did his best because it was important that Marty enjoy himself as much as Jesse - more, if Jesse could make it so.

Marty slowly leaned forward onto his hands, and looked down at Jesse. Their eyes locked and talked; already Jesse was understanding how much he could read in the other boy just from his eyes. He watched as Marty looked at him, smiled at him; and he watched as Marty's eyes sank to slits like he was falling asleep; and Jesse knew he was putting the other boy into a special place - a feeling place. He worked even harder to make it better, and was satisfied down deep when Marty started to make small sounds of pleasure and gently rocked himself in time with Jesse's thrusting.

Jesse was watching as Marty's body slowly tensed, could see in the other boy's face the slow approach to orgasm.

When it arrived, Jesse was there, too. Marty opened his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut more tightly, and let out just the tiniest of sounds; and then his dick was shooting his spicy spunk into Jesse's mouth. Jesse continued to pull and squeeze with his hand, continued to work with his tongue, continued to suck - and turn his head - until the last throb of Marty's dick.

Marty let out a huge exhalation, blew a little air through his lips, and opened his eyes. Only then did Jesse completely stop his motions. He milked out the remainder of Marty's spunk, trapped it on the tip of his tongue and pushed his tongue to the roof of his mouth to get the ultimate taste experience. Shit. This stuff was awesome.

Marty grinned down at him. "What are you doing, you nut?"

Jesse grinned. "No - it's your nut that I'm enjoying. Mmm. You taste like a Mexican soft drink."

Marty laughed. "I wonder why I taste like that to you?"

Jesse shrugged. "Something you eat. Spices, or something. I read about that online. What you eat can make your spunk taste a certain way." He grinned. "I just know I don't want you to change your diet. Ever."

Marty scooted back and lay down on Jesse, brought his face close, kissed him. "That was really excellent, Jesse."

Jesse squeezed him close. "Any time. How about another one in five minutes?"

Marty laughed. "I don't think I'll be recharged by then. The one I just did was a megaspunk. I think it drained the barrel."

It was Jesse's turn to laugh. "Okay. There's always later." He pulled Marty closer. "There's always tonight."

"I can't wait," Marty whispered, kissing him.

---

They cleaned up after that, using a fresh paper towel and the dildo cleaner to rub the great purple pecker to a fine shine. Then they wrapped it in a clean paper towel and put it and the two bottles back in the binocular case. Marty went and put the case back on the stump bench while Jesse stood by the side of the creek.

"Come on," he said, as Marty turned to some back. "Let's get a quick swim to get clean."

They did that, splashing around in the creek, tossing water at each other and laughing, until Jesse noticed the skin on his fingers had puckered like prunes. That - and the sun high overhead - told him it was lunch time, and Jesse could feel the tiny but growing pocket of emptiness in his middle.

"I'm hungry. What about you?"

Marty nodded. "Yeah. Wanna go to my house for lunch?"

They got out, sat on the stump bench to dry off before getting dressed. Jesse dug his cell out of his shorts and called his mom, told her they'd been swimming and now were going to Marty's house for lunch. She told him not to overdo it in the heat, seemed pleased that he was enjoying his day, and then told him to call her if they decided to go any place farther away.

"Your mom's just like mine," Marty said, when Jesse had shut off the phone. Marty had heard Jesse's side of the conversation, which was enough to give him the gist of what had been exchanged.

"Is that good or bad?" Jesse asked.

"Oh, it's cool. I'd much rather have a mom that cared about me than one that didn't give a shit where I was or what I did."

Jesse nodded at that. "My mom is cool. So is my dad." He looked at Marty more closely. "After seeing the parents that Greg and Rafie got, I've been really feeling kinda lucky."

Marty frowned. "Me, too." He looked at Jesse. "I wonder how those guys are doing?"

"Yeah. If they haven't called by this evening, let's call them."

Marty grinned. "Okay."

They stopped at the fort and got their shirts and flip-flops, and dropped off the binocular case. Then they headed up the hill to Marty's house.

When they got to the kitchen, Marty's mom was just getting herself a cup of coffee. "Hi, guys. What are you up to?"

"Hi, mom," Marty said. "We're hungry. What have we got to eat?"

She smiled. "There's a frozen pizza in the fridge. It's a supreme. Want me to put it in for you?"

Marty looked at Jesse, who grinned and nodded. Pizza? Heck, yes.

Mrs. Anderson went to the freezer and pulled out the flat box. She sat it on the counter and set the oven to pre-heat. "This is going to be almost a half hour, what with the oven heating, and then cooking this thing," Mrs. Anderson decided. She smiled at Marty. "You guys want to go watch TV in your room until it's done? I'll call you."

Marty grinned. "Thanks, mom. Guess we won't be trading you in after all."

Mrs. Anderson smiled. "I'm so glad. Now I'll be here to clean up after you and wash your clothes."

Jesse laughed, and gave Marty a push. "You deserved that."

Mrs. Anderson smiled again. "At least you have nice friends, Martin."

Jesse's eyes got big, and he grinned at Marty, who cringed. "Let's go upstairs, Martin."

Marty pouted at his mom, who reached out and patted him on the shoulder. "I'll call you when it's burned...I mean, when it's done. Okay?"

Jesse was doing everything he could not to laugh. Marty's mom was not someone to mess with, obviously. And that Marty had inherited at least in part his humor and playful nature from his mom now seemed obvious.

They went around to the steps and headed up to the second floor. Marty led the way. They went down the hall and entered Marty's room.

"Your mom - " Jesse began, intending to say that she was funny.

But Marty grabbed him then, whipped him around, threw him on the bed, and piled on top of him. "Don't ever call me Martin again."

Jesse looked up into Marty's bright eyes, immediately saw that he was playing. "What will you do if I do?"

Marty bent low, pressed his nose to Jesse's. "I will strip you naked, duct tape you to the wall, and tickle you until you pee."

Jesse laughed. "Ooh. That kinda sounds like fun."

Marty grinned, lowered his face, whispered into Jesse's ear, "Please don't call me Martin again, for real. I hate it."

He withdrew a bit, stared down at Jesse.

Jesse nodded. "I won't." He grinned. "Unless you get me really mad by tickling me when I don't want you to."

Marty made a face, but nodded. "Okay."

"Shouldn't you shut the door if you're going to do this?" someone asked.

Parker.

Marty looked back, rolled off of Jesse and sat up. "Jesse called me Martin."

Jesse sat up, grinning. "Only because your mom did."

Parker was standing in the doorway, smiling. "You two are so cute together."

Marty sighed. "Come on, Park. Lay off."

"What? You guys really are cute together." Marty's sister came in and closed the door. "Well? How was the thing?"

Jesse and Marty looked at each other.

"What thing?" Marty asked.

Parker rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid, Martin. You know what thing I mean."

Marty winced, but nodded. "It was okay. It looks just like the picture did online."

Parker nodded. "Yeah, but did it work okay?"

Jesse and Marty looked at each other, and then Marty looked back at his sister. "What...you want details?"

Parker's mouth compressed a little, but her eyes sparkled in just the way that Marty's often did. "Isn't that what it's all about? Details?"

Marty looked at Jesse. "We made a monster here."

Jesse decided he was going to make up his mind right then about how he was going to be handling Parker in their affairs in the future. It wasn't Jesse's nature to play a lot of dumb word games with people - well, unless it was Marty. He smiled. Some of those games were fun.

But Parker was a new quantity, still somewhat unknown. They could spend all day dancing around with her, or just lay the facts on the line. The second choice seemed the easiest, actually. That Parker would keep anything they said to herself now seemed obvious. So Jesse steeled himself, made the decision, then smiled.

"Marty stuck the great purple pecker up my butt while he was sucking me off, and I had the spunk of all ages and saw angels."

Parker took a startled breath and her mouth just sagged open, her eyes literally bulging outwards. Marty looked at Jesse in shock; then his head fell backwards and he howled with laughter.

Jesse grinned, too. Parker looked for once like she had gotten a whole lot more than she had bargained for.

Marty clutched his belly and his head came back forward, and his eyes settled on Jesse, just amazingly blue and full of affection. Marty put a hand out and closed his fingers around Jesse's wrist, and squeezed. Jesse grinned at him, and then they both turned to look at Parker.

Her face was red, and she wore a totally embarrassed smile. Jesse laughed. "You asked. I told."

Parker nodded, a little excessively. "Uh huh. I see I'm going to have to watch out for you, Jesse. You play rough."

Jesse rubbed his hand over Marty's fingers, which still circled his wrist. "I have a good coach." He looked into Marty's eyes. Marty looked back a second, then leaned forward and kissed Jesse on the cheek. "You make me look good, Jesse."

Parker sighed. "You two are making me jealous. You certain you don't have an older brother at home, Jesse?"

"Not the last time I looked. I'll look again, if you want."

Parker shook her head. "No." She smiled at him. "Sure wish you were a couple of years older."

Marty made a sound. "Hey. Lay off, Park. This one's mine."

Jesse nodded. "Girls are okay to talk to, but Marty is way better in bed than any girl will ever be."

Marty started laughing again, his eyes shining with delight. "Man, when you get rolling, you really get rolling."

Jesse shrugged. "Call 'em like I see 'em."

Parker grinned at him. "You have a really neat little mean streak, Jesse. I'll bet you're a lot of fun to hang around with."

"He is," Marty said emphatically. "Just don't get any ideas."

Parker sighed. "I'm not. I'm just having fun with this." She eyed them a moment. "I don't guess you two would kiss for me again, huh?"

Marty rolled his eyes. "Do we look like circus performers? Don't you get --"

Jesse grabbed Marty and pushed him back onto his back and climbed on top of him. Marty grunted in surprise, but Jesse cut off anything the other boy had to say by stuffing his tongue into Marty's mouth. Marty stiffened for a second, but then immediately relaxed and went with it. It was a nice kiss, somehow made even nicer by the fact that they were being watched. Jesse felt a stirring in his shorts, and then his dick was on the rise.

He was in good company. In only a moment he was feeling Marty's hard dick pressing against him down low. Jesse giggled into Marty's mouth, and Marty giggled right back.

This was fun.

Jesse rolled onto his side, and now his inner feelings were plainly advertised by the tent in the front of his shorts. Marty, too was standing tall.

Jesse looked over at Parker, who was just staring. Jesse grinned, reached over and gave Marty's pecker a nice rub through his shorts.

"Okay, okay," Parker said, holding a hand up between them and looking the other way. "I get the message. I'm leaving."

She turned and opened the door, and said without looking back, "Make sure you shut this door in the future." Then she left, closing the door softly behind her.

Jesse and Marty both started laughing.

"You see her face?" Marty said, his eyes nearly closed his smile was so huge.

"Yep. I've never seen a girl turn so red before." Jesse laughed. "I'll bet she won't ask so much stuff again in a hurry."

Marty grinned at him. "Jesse, that was bad as shit. You're a monster, you know that?"

Jesse could only grin. "I try."

Marty looked at him a moment longer, grinning; then suddenly rolled over and stuck his face close to Jesse's. "I'm not sharing you, not with anyone, ever," he whispered. "You're mine, Jesse. You know that?"

Jesse nodded. "As long as you stay with me, I'll be just yours."

Marty's eyes sparkled with energy as he stared into Jesse's. "I love you. I'm never leaving."

Never was a long time. But Jesse nodded. "I love you, Marty, an' I always will."

Marty nodded, closed his eyes and laid his cheek against Jesse's. Jesse mimicked the other boy, closing his eyes, inhaling the scent of Marty's skin, and knowing that this was probably as happy as life would ever get.

It took a few minutes, but their feelings wound down, along with their peckers. Jesse was getting used to the strange zig zags of life with Marty: moments of wonderful craziness, followed by moments of unbelievable lust, followed by yet other moments of achingly intense feelings. Being with Marty was a roller coaster ride, for real; and one with a track that went everywhere under the sun, and then some.

They heard Marty's mom call for Marty, and they jumped up off the bed. Marty went to the door and opened it. "Yeah?"

"Come get your pizza."

Marty smiled at Jesse, wagged his head towards the door. "Come on. I'm hungry."

They went and sat at the island in the kitchen and ate the pizza. Parker came in, and Jesse gave her one of his pieces, and she sat with them and they laughed at dumb stuff while they ate. Jesse was getting used to Marty's sister now and finding out that she was really pretty cool. He remembered how nervous she had made him initially, and had to smile at that. You just never know what someone is like until you get to know them.

Marty's mom went out onto the back deck to sit in the sun for awhile, and the three of them were left alone.

"You guys having fun today?" Parker asked, between mouthfuls of pizza.

"Yep." Marty grinned. "I'm kinda likin' summer here, Park. It's pretty cool bein' in the woods and stuff."

Parker smiled. "It is better than I thought it was going to be. I wish there were some people my age, though."

Jesse had a sudden thought. "Hey --" He looked at Marty. "There's a family in that little neighborhood across the Devlin's cow field that has a girl Parker's age." He frowned at Parker. "Well, I think she's about your age."

Marty and Parker both stopped in mid-chew and looked at him.

"Seriously?" Parker asked, eying him.

"Yeah. I wouldn't kid you about something like that." He shrugged. "I know how it is around here with no one to hang out with."

Parker smiled at him. "How far away is this place?'

Jesse frowned. "You know - those houses you pass when you drive in, back up around the curve. There's six of them. Used to be part of old man Devlin's cow field. Through the woods it's about a fifteen minute walk. You can walk the road around, and it might be a little faster."

"You know this girl?" Parker had stopped eating, her slice of pizza in her hand, waiting.

Jesse made a face. "Well - not really. Her name is Kim. She rides the school bus with me so I've seen her. I think I did talk to her once. She's pretty nice."

Parker looked thoughtful. "I wonder how I can meet her?"

Jesse laughed. "Walk around to her house and knock on her door."

Parker blinked. Then she smiled. "That easy, huh? You want to go with me?"

Jesse looked at Marty, who smiled and nodded. Jesse sighed. Now - this was family.

Jesse grinned. "Right after we finish this pizza too soon?"

Parker finished her slice, licked her fingers, and got up and came around the island. "I might just have to kiss you, Jesse."

Marty held up a hand. "Just not on the lips. That's mine."

Jesse just laughed.

Parker grinned, came up to Jesse, and leaned down and kissed him on top of his head. "Thanks, Jesse."

Jesse shrugged. "Don't thank me yet. Kim may be cranky and nasty when she's not on the bus."

Marty laughed, and Parker grinned. Then she just stood there, watching.

"What are you doing?" Jesse said, feeling it unnerving to have someone peer at him while he ate.

"Just waiting."

Jesse took another bite - then sighed. He picked up one of the two slices of pizza still on his plate and offered it to Parker. "Here. Help me and it'll go faster."

Parker took the pizza, grinned. "You're okay, for a boy."

Jesse and Marty looked at each other, and their eyes smiled.

---

Parker got her purse, and then they went outside to tell Mrs. Anderson where they were going, and why. Marty's mom was kicked back in a lawn chair in the sun, a paperback mystery novel in one hand, and a glass of iced tea in the other. She raised her sunglasses and looked up at them as they talked, then nodded. "Hey, that'd be great to find someone your age, Parker." She looked at Jesse. "You're really nice to have around."

Jesse felt his face warm; compliments from adults were not that common.

Mrs. Anderson looked at Parker. "I'll run you around in the car if you want."

"That'd be great, mom. You don't mind?"

Mrs. Anderson laughed. "No, I don't mind. I'd be great if you got yourself some company. Maybe it will give you something to do besides spend money."

Everyone grinned except Parker, who made a little huff and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, mom."

Mrs. Anderson got up and dropped her book on the chair. "Shouldn't take long to run you over. I can get back to my book later." She smiled. "I'm at a good spot. Poirot nearly has the bad guy pinned."

That went completely over Jesse's head - Marty's, too, by the look on his face. They just nodded, followed as Mrs. Anderson took Parker by the arm and started moving her back towards the garage. Mrs. Anderson ducked inside to get her purse, and met them at the SUV. They piled in, and then they were off.

Jesse called his mom once they got moving, and let her know where he was going and that he was with Marty's mom. Jesse's mom said it was fine, but to let her know where he went after that, if anyplace.

Mrs. Anderson smiled at him in the rear view mirror. "Your mom keeps a good eye on you, huh?"

Jesse smiled. "Don't want her to worry. She has enough to do."

Marty gave him a gentle dig in the ribs, as if to say you're making me look bad. Jesse grinned at him, was pleased at the smile Marty returned. The but I still love you was there to be seen.

It just took a few minutes to get to the little neighborhood up the road. These were smaller houses than the ones that Jesse and Marty lived in, and arrayed three on each side of the road on a small cul-de-sac off the road that serviced Jesse's neighborhood. Jesse had heard his dad say that each house sat on slightly less than an acre, and you could see it in how relatively close the houses sat to each other.

Because the land had been pasture before becoming residential, there were no trees but what had been planted at construction, and there wasn't a one of them over about twenty feet in height. And they were few and widely-set - and it just didn't feel like home to Jesse. Briefly, he felt a pang of regret for these people. All he had ever known was life in the woods, surrounded by a thick shield of oaks and maples - some of the former as much as eighty feet in height. These folks had never known the peace and security of the woods, nor the magic of sharing life with trees.

"I'm pretty sure it's the first house on the right," Jesse said, pointing. "At least, that's where I saw Kim heading after she got off the bus."

Mrs. Anderson gave an approving look. "Pretty house. I love colonials. But we'll just try them all if we have to."

They pulled into the driveway, and Jesse and Marty and Parker got out, while Mrs. Anderson waited inside the SUV. The three of them went up the front walk from the drive, and Jesse was first to mount the flagstone stoop. He was presented with a glass storm door, with the ornate wooden front door of the home standing open behind it. Inside, he could see a small entryway with a pretty, dark brown cabinet along the wall, and the end of a flight of steps to the second floor.

A lighted push button was set in the door frame slightly above the storm door's handle; Jesse gave it a push.

He heard the sound of footfalls within, and then a woman was looking at them through the glass. She gave a little look of surprise that she didn't know them, but smiled and pushed the storm door open.

"Hi. Can I help you with something?"

Jesse grinned. "I'm Jesse. I ride the school bus with Kim. Is she home?"

The woman's smile broadened. "Oh. Yes, she is. Can you wait here a second? I'd ask you in, but our dog is loose in here and she's a barker. I'd just as soon not get her stirred up."

"That's okay," Jesse said. "We'll sit on the step and wait."

They turned as a group and found seats on the edge of the stoop. Parker looked past Marty at Jesse and smiled. "Her mom seems cool. If Kim is like her, I like her already."

Jesse just laughed.

In only a moment they heard the door open again behind them, and they all stood and turned around. Kim was standing there, looking uncertain. But then her eyes landed on Jesse, and she smiled. "Oh, it's you. When my mom said Jesse was here, I couldn't think who it was."

Jesse nodded. "I just wanted to introduce you to my friend Marty, and his sister Parker. They just moved into Nate Peak's old house. You remember Nate - the guy that always sat with me on the bus?"

Kim nodded. "Sure. I heard they moved. Hi, Marty." She looked at Parker, and Jesse couldn't help but to notice the light of excitement that crept into Kim's eyes. "You moved in there?"

Parker nodded. "Uh huh. Jesse just told me he knew someone up here that was close to my age. I guess you already know how slow it is around here for friends. I have to say I was getting a little bored with the place - you know?"

Kim came out and stepped off the stoop, and extended a hand to Parker. "Boy, am I glad to meet you. The thought of another summer banging around in this house was already driving me a little crazy."

Parker laughed, and the two gave each other a little bit of a girl shake of the hand.

"Can you stay a little?" Kim asked, and Jesse was sharp enough to know that what Kim really meant was that could Parker stay - but that she was willing to take them all if need be.

Jesse laughed. "Me'n Marty have stuff to do, but maybe Parker can stay."

Parker looked at Jesse, and for a second Jesse thought he could see a measure of fondness in her eyes. But then she turned, and took Kim by the wrist like they were old friends. "Can you come meet my mom? She drove us over."

The two girls headed over to the SUV, and Jesse and Marty watched them go.

Marty turned and gave Jesse a soft little poke. "I haven't seen my sister that happy since we moved in. Jesse, you're a damn wizard, you know that?"

Jesse grinned. "I didn't do anything but remember that Kim lived here." He stared at the two girls as they talked to Marty's mom. "They do both look kinda happy, don't they?"

"Yeah. I guess so. Parker was probably feeling like I did before I met you." Marty gave him another little poke. "Pretty lonely."

Jesse looked at him; Marty's eyes were bright. "You'd better not be feeling lonely now," Jesse said.

Marty shook his head. "I'm not."

Jesse turned back to watch the girls, grinning. They stood at the window of the SUV for several minutes, talking; but then they were on their way back.

"Mom says come on and she'll drive you back," Parker said, when they had returned. "Thanks again, Jesse."

Kim nodded and smiled, too. "Yeah. Thanks, Jesse."

Jesse nodded, feeling good, and he and Marty went back to the SUV.

They were about to climb in when Jesse had an idea. "Let's walk back. Across the cow field. We can hit the creek and do some more swimming."

"Cool." Marty opened the door of the SUV. His mom looked over at them questioningly. "Are you getting in?"

"Mom, is it okay if we walk back? We're gonna go across the field and go swimming in the creek. It's hot."

Mrs. Anderson looked at them a moment, then twisted around to look at the pasture that began at the end of the cul-de-sac, and the sharp fence of trees that signaled the start of the woods beyond.

"I guess that's okay. I don't think it will be faster than driving, though."

Marty laughed. "I know. But it'll be more fun, mom."

Mrs. Anderson grinned. She had never been a boy, but she definitely knew all about them. "Okay by me. How about you call me when you get there, just so I know you manged it without any trouble."

Marty nodded. "Okay. But what kind of trouble could we get into just walkin'?"

Mrs. Anderson's expression narrowed. Yeah - she knew about boys, alright. "Call me, okay?"

"Sure, mom." Marty grinned. "Thanks for the ride. You sure made Parker happy."

Mrs. Anderson turned for a moment to look at the house before looking back. "Somebody did, anyway." She smiled at Jesse then, and Jesse smiled back. "Okay, see you guys later."

Jesse waved, and he and Marty stepped back.

"I really like your mom," Jesse said, as the SUV drove off.

Marty nodded. "You bring out the best in her, Jesse."

Jesse gave the other boy a little push, and they started up to the cul-de-sac together.

It was hot. Here was another reason to feel a little sorry for the people that lived on the little street. The houses stood out in the sun, and the yards had little shade. Jesse could hear the hum of air conditioning running at a few of the houses as they passed; no doubt all of them would be closed up tight to the summer by the end of the next week or so. Jesse's parents liked to wait until summer was upon them in force before turning on the air at Jesse's house, partly because it would have an immediate effect on the electric bill; but also because both of Jesse's parents also loved the woods, and hated to shut them out. That the house was shaded by oaks and resistant to the sun helped a lot, and gave them the extra time to enjoy the outdoors just on the other side of a screen.

There was a railed fence at the start of the pasture, and they boosted themselves over it. Marty looked at Jesse as they walked into the tall grass, and waved a hand at the distant trees. "I sure hope you know where to go, because I'd never find that little path by myself."

Jesse nodded. "We'll be okay. I've been this way before."

The grass got taller as they progressed, and soon was up to their knees. The walking was easy enough, though, and the grass felt cool and damp as it brushed past their legs.

"Gotta check ourselves when we get to the creek," Jesse said, pointing downward. "Ticks in the grass, sometimes. You don't want 'em on you, believe me."

Marty made a face. "Yeah, I know about them. Nasty fuckers. The only thing I want sucking on me is you."

Jesse laughed, squeezing his eyes shut. "You're a nutball, you know that?"

Marty grinned. "Call 'em like I see 'em."

Jesse laughed. He loved Marty's different little sayings.

Marty grinned back, and picked up the pace. Jesse sped up, too - and then they were running.

Not fast - a light jog. Jesse looked over at Marty, grinned at the easy way the other boy moved, and at the way his hair flowed in the breeze. It was just starting to tip over into longish in length, and Marty wore it beautifully. He'd look great with a little ponytail - great, and sexy.

Not that he wasn't sexy now. Jesse sighed, sped up a little more, drew ahead for a moment - but Marty was back beside him in seconds.

"I'll be ready for a swim after this," Marty said, a little breathlessly. "This is --" He stopped speaking suddenly and nearly stumbled, looking like he'd slipped in the grass; and Jesse immediately drew up.

"What the hell --?" Marty was looking down.

Jesse went over beside him and looked down - and started laughing. "You stepped in a cowpie."

Marty looked up at him, astonished. "You mean cow turd?" He took a couple of sniffs and made a face. "Ew."

Jesse couldn't help but to laugh. "It's mostly grass. But it'll stink, believe me. You can wash your foot off when we get to the creek." He smiled at Marty.

Marty looked at his foot a moment longer. The cowpie was, unfortunately, a fairly fresh one, and the goop had curled up around the sole of Marty's flip-flop and caked the side of his foot. He stepped out of the flip-flop and wiped his foot in the grass, removing most of the crud, and then daintily picked up the footwear by a clean edge and wiped it in the grass, too.

"You'll live," Jesse stated. "It just stinks. I've stepped in them a couple of times, too."

They could hear now, far off, the occasional sounds of cows talking. Wherever Mr. Devlin's seven cows were now, it wasn't close to where they stood. Jesse knew the animals had free-roam over the place during most of the day, and, amazingly, responded to a little horn that Mr. Devlin blew in the late afternoon, and would take themselves home when it sounded.

Jesse smiled. Figures. Probably one cowpie between them and the woods, and Marty had to find it and step in it. He gazed at the other boy fondly, until Marty noticed and smiled back. "What?"

"Nothing. Let's get going. The sooner we get to the creek, the quicker you can get that shit off your foot."

Marty grinned, gave him a little poke, dropped his flip-flop and stuck his foot back in it. On they went.

The treeline grew fairly quickly. They walked now, talking and watching the ground ahead; but Jesse had been right: they saw no more cowpies before they got to the trees.

They drew up, and Jesse shaded his eyes and looked down the long, straight wall of timber and undergrowth. He was pretty sure he knew where they were, even though the wall of trees looked pretty much the same everywhere along its length.

"Come on," he told Marty, walking along the edge. "We gotta go more this way."

Jesse watched the edge of the woods, and in just a few minutes saw a familiar indentation, a lessening of the undergrowth there. "That's where I came out after crossing the log bridge when Greg and Rafie were here," he said. "So it's not much farther to the path to the dam."

Marty nodded, but shrugged. "All looks the same to me."

Jesse grinned at him. "That's because you're a city boy."

Marty snorted. "Shit. You gotta be what's-his-name to see stuff like you're talking about. Um - David Boone."

Jesse stopped, squeezed his eyes shut. "You mean Daniel Boone?"

Marty grinned. "I didn't know David had a brother."

Jesse looked at the other boy, at the little sparkles in his blue eyes, at the grin he wore on his face. "You're teasin' me, aren't you?"

Marty looked about, came over and leaned gently against Jesse so that their faces came together. "Maybe a little."

Jesse leaned closer himself, feeling the other boy's warmth. "I coulda teased you about the cowpie, but I didn't."

Marty gave him a little kiss. "That's because you're better'n me. And you're also ahead in the score for tricks."

"Uh huh. Plus, you're standing in another cowpie right now."

Marty laughed. "Nice try. But I'm getting to see the way you operate, slicky-boy."

Jesse stepped back, pointed down at the ground. "Nope. I don't think you are."

Despite himself, Marty looked down. And then he looked shocked.

He was standing in another cowpie, albeit an old, dried one. His weight had mostly crushed it to powder - a powder which had settled onto his flip-flop and foot.

"Country boy five, city boy two," Jesse said, grinning. "We'd better find the creek soon, before you're completely covered in cow shit."

"Aww." Marty picked up his foot and moved away from the pile of dried shit, stamped his foot against the ground, sending up a small cloud of sun-dried poop-dust.

He looked disgusted, and shook his head. "The woods are cool, but this field is just crappy."

Jesse laughed, and moved on down the treeline. "Yup. That's why we call it the cow field."

Marty followed, stamping his foot on the ground a few times as he walked.

Jesse found the start of the little path that led in to the forked tree by the creek. They soon heard the sound of water going over the dam, and then they were at the bank. Marty took out his phone and gave his mom a quick call to tell her they were at the dam. Jesse called his mom, too, and said where he was. After, they grinned at each other.

"Mothers," Marty said, though not unkindly.

They quickly checked each other for ticks, found nothing. Jesse had to stop Marty from looking in his pants, saying that he doubted any of the creatures had found their way into boxers.

"But there's other good shit there," Marty complained, pretending to look hurt.

Jesse laughed, turned right and took them down to the shallow crossing below the dam, and they walked through the shallow water so that Marty could clean his foot and flip-flop.

"Damn cow turds," Marty said, disgustedly.

Jesse crossed the creek to the other bank and turned back, grinning. "Hey - you just stepped in a couple. One time me and Nate were running across that field, and he fell on top of a cowpie."

Marty paused in swirling his foot in the cool water. "For real?"

Jesse nodded. "He landed on it right here." He patted his chest between his nipples. "Another few inches and he'd a been eating it."

Marty made a face. "Was it fresh?"

Jesse laughed. "The cow was still standing about twenty feet away."

Marty squeezed his eyes shut and made a face, rolling his head back and forth. "Oh, yuck."

Jesse nodded. "We came straight here, and he washed it off right about where you're standing."

Marty's eyes opened and he looked down, and reflexively yanked his foot out of the water.

Jesse laughed. "That was a year ago, ya knucklehead. There's nothing there now."

Marty grinned, and lunged out of the water at Jesse. Jesse saw him coming and took off up the bank towards the dam. Marty gave chase, but Jesse had a small lead. When he got up to where the bank rose by the dam he kicked off his flip-flops and yanked off his shirt, and yanked down his shorts and just managed to step out of them as Marty caught up to him. Jesse spun away, laughing, as Marty's hands nearly closed upon him, and Marty wasted a couple of seconds flinging his own clothing off before resuming the chase.

As Jesse got to the edge of the swimming hole he slowed and turned to look back, just as Marty flung himself forward in a flying tackle. His arms closed around Jesse's waist and they catapulted into the water together, laughing.

"Caught you!" Marty said, as they came up for air.

"I let you, you mean," Jesse said, grinning.

"Tell me another one, David Boone."

Jesse laughed, flung himself at Marty. Marty caught him, yanked him close, and kissed him. Jesse closed his eyes, reveling in being held and kissed, and poured a little steam into his return kiss. Marty gasped, struggled, fought back. Jesse felt a little wonder at how good the other boy was getting at kissing.

Finally, they stopped kissing and went to nuzzling, and then just held their faces together with their eyes closed.

"You're something special, country boy," Marty said softly.

Jesse smiled, kissed Marty. "Yup. 'Cause I got you. That makes me special."

Jesse's dick was hard, and he was horny as hell, but he didn't want to do anything right then. It was the middle of the afternoon, edging towards dinnertime. He wanted to save everything he had for the sleep out with Marty. He said as much, and Marty nodded.

"Yeah. I can't wait to be with you tonight, Jesse. I can't wait to sleep with you."

Jesse took a breath, feeling the thrill himself. Sleeping was a special thing, not shared lightly, or with just anyone. The times that Jesse and Nate had slept in each other's arms were engraved like fine art hanging on the walls of Jesse's memory - times so special that no other artwork hung near. He wanted to add to that collection that night with Marty.

They talked a bit more, swam in circles around the swimming hole, and finally crawled out, retrieved their clothing, and went and sat on the stump bench to dry.

"What time you think it is?" Marty asked, looking up into the trees.

Jesse gazed upwards, too. "About three-thirty."

Marty dug his cell out of his shorts and looked at the screen. "Three-forty-one. Shit. You really are a David Boone."

Jesse closed his eyes briefly and laughed. Then he looked over at Marty, saw the twinkle in his eyes. "You are just nuts."

Marty grinned. "I like to be entertaining. But I could just sit here and bore you, if you want."

Jesse shook his head. "Nah. Don't change anything. I like you just the way you are."

Marty grinned. "What should we do now?"

Jesse considered. "We could get the tar paper and fix the roof of the fort like we wanted to earlier."

Marty nodded. "Okay. I don't think it's gonna rain anytime soon, but at least that will be done."

They put on their shorts but left their shirts off, and carried their flip-flops. The carpet of dried leaves felt good underfoot, and Jesse didn't drop his flip-flops and step into them until they got back to the fort.

They went up to Marty's garage and retrieved the sheet of rolled-up tar paper, and returned to the fort. Jesse kept a hammer, several kinds of nails and brads, a screwdriver and several kinds of screws, in a box in the fort. They lugged that out, and Marty boosted Jesse up to the roof.

"I see what happened," Jesse said immediately. "The tar paper is torn in the corner here, and there's a big dent in the plywood." He gazed upwards into the branches of the big oak that the fort hugged up to. "I'll bet a big branch fell here and bounced, and that's what tore everything up." He looked off to the side of the fort in the weeds, and actually saw several likely candidates.

"Can you fix it?"

Jesse nodded. "I have to get the edge of this other sheet of tar paper up so I can get the edge of the new one under it."

He managed to do that, all the way across the roof of the fort, by pulling out the string of little flat-headed nails used to hold the seams together. "Can you reach the edge and pull that sheet out?" he asked Marty.

Marty's fingers appeared at the edge of the roof, and he pulled carefully on the edge of the sheet. "It's stuck."

Jesse nodded. Tar paper adhered after a while. He'd need to pull it up from his side, too. He lifted the edge of the sheet he sat upon, and walked on his knees across the width of the roof, pulling the edge of the old sheet out from underneath the other one. When it was all free, he slowly peeled the damaged sheet upwards from his side. It was only lightly adhered; it couldn't be slid, but it lifted easily enough from the plywood sheet beneath. He separated it all the way across, then rolled his edge over to where Marty could grab it.

"Now give me that new piece," Jesse said.

Marty tossed up the roll, and Jesse unrolled it across the roof, hoping it would be long enough, because if it wasn't he'd have to run to his own garage and get some of what was there.

It was long enough. Unrolled, it hung over the edge of the roof about four inches on each side. Shit. He wouldn't even have to trim it.

Jesse carefully lifted the sheet of tar paper he was on and tucked the edge of the new sheet underneath, all the way across the roof. He got it straight, and then tacked it down with the little flat-headed roofing nails he'd brought up with him. Then he handed down the hammer and box of nails to Marty, and jumped down.

"Good as new. We'll look after the next rain, just to be sure."

After that, they went over the exterior of the fort carefully, looking for any other damage, but found nothing of note. They went inside and returned the box of tools to its spot in one corner, and went and sat on the cot next to each other.

"Want me to bring my laptop tonight?" Jesse asked. "We can watch a movie, or at least listen to some music."

"Sure. My dad said I could use his big battery lantern, and that's brighter than those little lanterns you have. It'll make it easier to use the great purple pecker if we can see what we're doing."

Jesse smiled at Marty's addition of great to the new name of the dildo, but decided not to say anything about it.

"Some chips and some drinks will help," Jesse said. "I can bring some."

"I'll see what we have, too." Marty offered. He looked at Jesse and smiled. "But I can do without all that stuff just as long as I have you here."

Jesse found the other boy's hand, gave it a fond squeeze. "I'm a little excited to be sleeping out with you, Marty."

"Yeah. Me, too." Marty grinned. "Hell, we got all summer. I want to do this a lot."

"Me'n Nate slept out here three or four nights a week, once summer got rolling," Jesse offered. "My folks are cool with it, like I said. As long as your folks are good, we can do this a lot."

Marty grinned and closed his eyes. "Man. I never knew how much fun it was going to be knowing you, that first day I met you. Living here is gonna be awesome."

Jesse was touched, and pleased that Marty was enjoying himself. "Well, it's a lot of fun in the spring, summer, and fall. The winter ain't so great, though."

Marty just shrugged. "We'll make-do. I don't even wanna worry about that right now."

They sat together quietly for a moment, before Jesse had a thought. He dug out his phone, checked the time. "It's almost four thirty. Wanna call Greg and Rafie?"

Marty sat up straighter. "That is a good idea."

Jesse grinned, found the number, placed the call. He heard it ring a few times, then a voice. "Jesse! Hi!"

"Greg?"

"Yeah. Hi! Man, it's good to hear you. Is Marty with you?"

Jesse placed his phone on speaker and held it between Marty and himself.

"Hi, Greg!" Marty said, grinning. "This is Marty."

Greg laughed, and his voice momentarily grew distant. "Rafie! Come here! It's Marty and Jesse!" His voice came back stronger. "Aw, man. it's good you called. My phone got fucked up and I lost your numbers."

Jesse and Marty looked at each other. "What happened to your phone?" Jesse asked.

"Aw, man. When we got back to the apartment building the elevator going up was full. My mom got in, but that was it. The guy that runs it said he'd be right back for us, but me and Rafie said we'd walk up the steps. It's twelve floors, because we live on top. I had my phone in my hand and when I stopped for a rest and looked down the center well it slipped out of my hand and fell six floors. It's kinda toast now.

"So how are we talking?" Marty asked.

"My mom took me back out to the phone store and I got a new phone and transferred the number. But I couldn't get to my stored numbers on the old one."

"I'm glad we called, then," Marty said. "So...uh...how's everything there?"

Greg sounded a little excited. "Well, after my mom picked us up, me and Rafie were kinda messed up. You know, my parents fighting and all. My mom was quiet all the way home, and me and Rafie were kind of scared to ask what happened. Usually, she won't talk about it, anyway. But - guess what happened when we got home?"

"What?" Jesse and Marty asked together.

"My dad was here! And he and my mom just hugged and kissed and made up like crazy." Greg sighed. "They're like a couple of little kids, the way they fight."

Marty grinned at Jesse. "So they're back together?"

"Yeah. And we've all been doing stuff together ever since. It's actually been kinda fun to see them laughing and stuff."

"Jesse?" said another voice.

Jesse grinned. "Rafie? Hi!"

Jesse could hear the delight in the other boy's voice.

"Jesse!"

Greg laughed. "You should see my brother's face, Jesse. He's doing that smile you taught him."

Jesse blinked in surprise. "I taught him?"

"Yeah. Well, he's been doing it ever since he met you. My mom nearly freaked when she saw it."

Marty leaned closer and threw his arm around Jesse's shoulder.

"So what are you guys doing?" Greg asked.

"We're sitting on the cot in the fort," Jesse said.

"We're sleeping out tonight," Marty added, giving Jesse a squeeze.

"Aw, you lucky fuckers. Man, I wish me and Rafie were there. We had a blast the other night, you know?"

"Jesse," Rafie's voice said, and Greg laughed.

"Rafie wishes we were there, too," he explained.

"Maybe you guys can come back for a visit before the summer is over," Jesse suggested.

"I don't see why not," Greg said. His voice faded a little. "Rafie, you want to go back and see Jesse and Marty sometime?"

They heard Rafi's hooting laugh over the phone, and both Jesse and Marty laughed.

"Sounds like a yes to me, guys," Greg said. "Um - listen. We're getting ready to go out to dinner and a movie with our folks. Can I call you guys back tomorrow?"

"Sure," Marty said. "Let us give you our numbers for your new phone."

There was a pause, then: "I just captured Jesse's number. You can give me yours, Marty. I'm gonna write both of them down so I have them."

Marty recited his number. Greg read them both back, and they confirmed them.

"Aw, man, you don't know how relieved I was when you called. I thought we might never get to talk to you guys again."

Marty's bottom lip thrust out a bit. "What - you just thought we'd forget about you?" Marty grinned. "I still remember sleeping on the floor next to someone."

Greg laughed. "Yeah, me, too. That was cool as shit, Marty. We really loved being with you guys."

Jesse had a thought. "How's Brendan?"

Greg laughed. "Good. He was over this morning, and somebody kissed the hell out of him."

Jesse laughed. "Anybody we know?"

"Yeah. It was me." Greg sounded embarrassed, but happy. "I owe you guys for showing me how important a few things really are."

In the background, they heard a woman's voice calling Greg.

"I guess we're ready to go," Greg said. "We'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Bye, Jesse," Rafie's voice said. "Bye, Mar-tee."

Greg laughed. "He's getting pretty sharp, huh? Bye. Talk to you tomorrow."

"Bye, Rafie. Bye, Greg," Jesse said quickly.

"Bye, you guys," Marty said. "Be good."

The connection ended.

Jesse stuffed the phone back in his pocket, and turned to Marty just as the other boy leaned over and hugged him. "Man, I'm so glad those guys are okay. How about their dad being there when they got home?"

"I think it's cool," Jesse said, hugging Marty back. "I just hope he stays there."

Marty rocked back a little and smiled. "I'm really going to have fun tonight, knowing those two are okay."

Jesse nodded. "Yeah." He smiled, leaned forward and kissed Marty. The other boy sighed, and kissed him back.

They just sat together for a moment, and then Marty leaned back. "You're making me horny as shit. We should do something else before I lose control."

Jesse laughed, feeling pretty much the same way. "Like what?"

Marty frowned, then brightened. "I know. Let's go over to your house and find a movie to watch tonight."

"Okay." But then Jesse smiled. "Are we really going to watch a movie tonight?"

Marty gave him a look. "I think we should. I wanna save the fun for when it gets dark." He grinned. "I've never had sex by lantern light."

They pushed apart, got up and left the fort. It was still sticky out, though even now the sun had moved to a point high in the west where its direct rays could no longer navigate the trees. A uniform kind of shade had filled the woods as the sun no longer touched the ground, with a bright and clear blue sky overhead that seemed oddly out of place with the quieter, evening-feel at ground level. A certain silence filled the woods, as though the birds and squirrels had paused for a moment to watch the first changes from day to evening. Even the breezes seemed to have momentarily taken a breath.

Marty stopped, looked around them at the trees. "This place really is awesome."

Jesse grabbed at the other boy's hand and pulled him along, grinning. "You live here now. You'll get used to it."

Marty jogged a second to catch up. "Spoil sport. Just when I stop to admire the place you wanna hustle me up."

Jesse let go of the other boy's arm and laughed at him. "I was serious. You live here now, Marty. It's going to take you a while to get used to this. But I think once you do, you're gonna love it as much as I do."

"I got news for you, Jesse. I love it pretty much now. Cowpies and all."

Jesse grinned. "Yeah? Wait until you're walking through the underbrush in the woods one day, making a new path to somewhere, and you step in a nest of yellow jackets."

Marty looked at him in surprise. "You mean bees?"

"Yeah, I mean bees. I did that once. I was lucky it was still early spring and a little chilly. I had sweatpants on. I was stomping through the woods, and I looked down, and my sweatpants were covered in bees. About a hundred of them. Yellow jackets."

Marty gaped. "Man. Those are some mean fuckers, too. How many times did you get stung?"

"Not once. I took off running, and I mean I was running. They blew off, or flew off, or whatever, and soon they were all gone. I didn't get stung one time." Jesse nodded. "Scared the livin' shit out of me, though."

Marty stopped and stared at Jesse. Jesse stopped and turned to look back at his friend. "What?"

Marty squinted. "You didn't get stung a single time? Man, you're blessed or something, dude."

Jesse shrugged. "I was running faster than I'd ever run in my life. When the bees got off of me they got left behind."

Marty grinned, started walking again. He leaned close to Jesse as he came even with him and whispered into his ear: "They were after you 'cause you're sweet as honey."

Jesse laughed, reached out and gave Marty a push, and then just as quickly grabbed him and pulled him back close. He put his arm around the other boy's shoulders, and squeezed him as they went on up the path to Jesse's house.

---

"I love Raiders of the Lost Ark," Marty said. "But I've seen it like fifty times."

Jesse had to agree. That whole series was among his dad's favorites, and they had seen the films a number of times.

"Something like that, then?" Jesse suggested. "I want some adventure tonight."

Marty laughed. "There ain't nothing like those movies." His eyes sparkled. "And you're gettin' some adventure tonight, no matter what movie we pick."

Jesse had to smile. He couldn't wait! Then he remembered something. "Hey. My dad brought home a copy of Spectre. How about that?"

Marty frowned. "What's that?"

Jesse's eyes widened. "You know - Bond. James Bond. Double-oh-seven, to you, Moneypenny."

Marty grinned and snapped his fingers. "Now you're talking. Man, they blow up half the planet in those movies." Then he frowned. "Did you just call me a girl?"

Jesse grinned. "I didn't think you caught that."

Marty looked towards the open bedroom door, then stuck his face against Jesse's cheek and smooched him. "Ohhhh, James."

They both laughed.

Jesse nodded. "Okay, that's the movie. I already have a lot of good music on my laptop. Anything you want special, tell me now, and we can download it."

"Nah. I think I trust you on the music." Marty looked around the room. "Your room is nice, Jesse. Looks like the kind of room a cool dude like you would have."

Jesse smiled. "You wanna sleep over one night? I'll show you how cool it is here."

Marty looked at him, a little surprised. "Could I?"

Jesse nodded. "Shit, yeah. Nate did. My folks won't mind." He leaned closer to Marty. "Kids do that shit. In another year or two I might not be able to get away with it. But now - no sweat."

Marty looked over at the bed, smiled, then leaned closer to Jesse. "Man, I'd fuckin' love to sleep in your bed with you. That would be killer, Jesse."

The idea made Jesse warm, too. "Maybe we can even sneak in a shower together before bed."

Marty looked at the open door to the hallway again, then bent over and kissed Jesse's cheek. "Stop. You're making me so horny I'm not going to be able to wait until tonight."

Jesse grinned. "Horndog."

Marty just smiled.

Jesse's dad came home from work, and it was getting towards dinner time. Jesse walked Marty back to the fort, and they stood outside the door in the cooling air and hugged.

"I should be back by six-thirty," Marty said, rubbing his nose against Jesse's. "We're gonna have a blast tonight, Jesse."

"Yup. Marty?"

The other boy smiled. "What?"

"Everything I do with you is a blast. This has really been a fun day."

"It's not done yet." Marty kissed him. "There's still the night."

Jesse nodded. "Thanks. Thanks for being with me."

Marty's face compressed a little, and he pushed it against Jesse's. "Dummy," he said softly. "I love being with you."

Jesse nodded, but couldn't find anything to say. So he just stood and felt Marty's face against his, Marty's body against his.

Marty's life against his.

Marty pulled back, wiped at his eyes. "You gotta stop doing this to me, Jesse. I'm gonna wind up with a pussy, and then I won't be any fun anymore."

Jesse laughed, sniffed, and rubbed at his own eyes.

Marty stepped away, but took Jesse's wrist in his hand and squeezed it. "See you after dinner. I'll call you first in case you need help carrying stuff. Okay?"

Jesse nodded. "Okay."

And then he watched Marty until he disappeared at the top of the hill. And then Jesse went home to eat.

---

"Can I take Spectre to the fort to watch tonight, dad?"

"Sure." Jesse's dad smiled at him. "Now, that is a great movie to be watching on a sleep out. You guys are going to have fun."

Jesse grinned, took another mouthful of peas.

His mom looked at him. "You and Marty have really hit it off. I'm so glad, Jesse. It would have been a hard summer for you, now that Nate is gone."

"They're doing okay, by the way," Jesse's dad said, looking at Jesse's mom. "Mitch called me this afternoon. He said their new house is a little smaller than the old one, and he says he misses the trees. But otherwise, they're good." He looked at Jesse. "He told me that Nate found a new friend already, too."

Jesse felt glad. He'd been feeling guilty about not calling Nate since he'd met Marty. But Nate had not called him, either. He knew it was because it was painful to talk to someone who was gone - but he still should call him. He smiled. And Nate had a new friend? He wondered if Nate had been anywhere near as lucky as Jesse had been with what he'd gotten in the way of a new friend.

"I'm gonna call Nate soon. He should know I miss him."

"I'm sure he does," his mom said.

Jesse looked at his mother. "Can I ask Marty to sleep over one night? That way we can play video games together. It'll be cool."

His mom nodded. "Sure. Tell him to have his mom call me just so I know she's okay with it."

"You don't do that when he sleeps in the fort."

"It's a little different when he's at our house, honey." She smiled. "I'm sure his mom won't mind. She seems very nice."

Jesse grinned. "She's cool, mom. Like you."

His mother eyed him. "Hmm. I guess you want that other big bag of Doritos I have in the pantry, for tonight, huh?"

Jesse was surprised. How did she do stuff like that?

"Well - it would be fun to have some munchies for the movie. Maybe a couple of drinks, too?"

Jesse's dad laughed. "Come on, honey. You can't watch Bond without some goodies to eat."

"Okay. You can have them." She smiled. "I wouldn't want Mr. Bond to be angry with me."

Yeah. Jesse's parents were cool.

---

After dinner, Jesse took a quick shower and changed into fresh clothing. He brushed his hair, and then combed it until it was almost neat. Almost.

Some things could be overdone, if you weren't careful about it.

He got his laptop ready, and went and got the DVD of Spectre from his dad. His dad was in his den, working at his own laptop. He smiled as he gave Jesse the disc. "Have fun, Jesse. It's really good to see you smiling again."

Jesse looked at his dad, and remembered for a moment Greg and Rafie. Parents are not things to be selected. You get what you get in life, and it's the luck of the draw. That Jesse had been lucky was something he now understood.

He went to his dad and hugged him. "Love you, dad."

His dad was a little surprised, but gave him a nice hug back. "I love you, too, Jesse. You have a fun night with Marty, okay?"

"I will, dad. Thanks for the movie."

His dad nodded, smiling again. "Any time."

Jesse went back to his room, collected his laptop, then went down to the kitchen. His mom had laid the big bag of Doritos on the table, and was busy pouring ice into the little cooler. Four drinks were inside.

Jesse smiled at his mom, too, and gave her a hug. She also seemed surprised, but pleased. "I take it you feel like you're in for a fun night, huh?" she asked. "I'm glad your spirits have returned to their normal healthy level of hyperactivity."

Jesse laughed. "It's just really cool to have a friend again, mom."

She nodded. "I know. I like Marty, too. You got lucky to have someone nice move in right behind us again." She considered that. "That's the third friend you've had in that house, Jesse. I'm starting to think it's a lucky house for you."

Jesse agreed. Although his mom didn't know what kind of friendship he and Marty had, it was all the same at the end. The house in back had three times offered Jesse a friend. For no other reason than that, it should be called a special place.

Jesse's cell rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket. "Q here. Is that you, Bond?"

Marty laughed. "Yeah, it's me. You need help with anything?"

Jesse considered. Laptop, cooler, chips. The LED lanterns were already at the fort. "I think I'm okay. Where are you?"

"I'm still at home. As soon as I get my stuff together, I'll see you at the fort."

"Okay. I'm leaving soon, too. See ya."

Hmm. Getting to the fort first just might be fun. The possibilities to extend his lead in the trick contest were many.

Jesse gathered everything up, and his mom opened the door for him to go out. He paused, kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks, mom. For everything."

"Have fun, honey. See you in the morning."

Jesse went out into the evening light. The air had cooled somewhat, and was now almost comfortable. The sky above was red tinged with gold, and the woods shushed again in a renewed evening breeze.

Jesse made his way down the path, considering what he might do to get another point up on Marty. The little kidding game they were playing was fun - but whatever Jesse thought of, it had to be something that wouldn't hurt - either physically or emotionally. A game was a game, but Marty was Marty. The last thing he wanted in the world was to hurt him.

He came up to the fort - and stopped. The vent flap was down. Did he put it down before he'd left? Jesse tried to think back - but all he could see was the moment with Marty outside the door.

He must have put it down. It was second nature now, and sometimes he did it so automatically he didn't recall doing it.

No matter.

Jesse went around the fort and squeezed carefully through the door so as not to hit his laptop on anything. Inside, the fort was full of shadows, but he could still see well enough to do what he needed to do. He set the cooler on the floor and the laptop and the chips on the crate table. He went around and made to step up on the cot to open the vent flap - when he heard a sound.

It was an eerie sound, like the scratching of small feet running about the floor. He turned, looked around the fort's interior. The corners were full of shadows, and he peered into them. Nothing...

But wait. One corner was full of darkness, an unusual blackness that seemed more than shadow. Jesse peered a little closer, wondering at the intensity of the inky bit of night there - and so he was looking at it when it moved.

What the fuck? Jesse took a step back, felt the back of his knees come up against the edge of the cot. The small scratching noise came again, even eerier this time. The darkness in the corner seemed to flow, to undulate. Jesse's imagination kicked in, and the creepiness of what was happening made his heart speed up and his breath get short. He looked at the door; but to get to it he would have to get closer to that weird, moving dark.

A suspicion came upon him. "Marty?"

The scratching sound came again, and the blackness moved even more. Jesse swallowed. "Come on, Marty. I know it's you."

He licked his lips and stepped forward. Shit. It's not like there really were monsters or anything. He took another step, and the weird scratching noise came again.

"Come on, Marty. This isn't funny."

He took another step - and the blackness moved towards him. Jesse took an involuntary step back - and then the darkness erupted upwards at him, while a hideous screeching filled the fort. Jesse yelled and stepped backwards quickly, came up against the cot, sat down hard on it. The bad latch pin popped out underneath and the end of the cot collapsed, dropping him to the floor.

The darkness suddenly dropped away, and there was Marty, laughing like a fiend. "Scared the shit outta you, boy!"

Jesse didn't know whether to be mad or happy. He clutched at his chest, feeling his heart pounding, realizing he actually had been scared.

He looked at Marty. The other boy's grin was slipping, and now he looked concerned. "You okay, Jesse?"

Jesse saw he could milk this, make it look like he was dying of fright or something - but that was no way to start their evening. The look of concern Marty wore was real, and it touched him. The trick had been creative, and Marty had pulled it off well - he deserved to enjoy it. And it really had been a good scare.

Jesse sighed, feeling his pulse slowing. "Country boy five, city boy three. Not bad."

Marty grinned, and reached down to help Jesse up. "You kinda scared me there for a second. I thought maybe I'd given you a heart attack or somethin'."

Jesse let Marty circle his arms around him and hug him.

"How'd you do that?" Jesse asked. "It was really creepy as shit."

Marty grinned. "It's a black cape. My dad has a costume it goes to. He does magic tricks at Halloween sometimes. He's pretty good, actually."

Jesse saw then. "You hid under it?"

"Yup. I was just hoping that shutting the vent flap didn't warn you first."

"I noticed that," Jesse said. "But I'm just so used to closing it when I leave the fort I thought I didn't remember doing it."

Marty sighed, hugging Jesse closer. "Truce, okay? I don't wanna spoil our night with dumb stuff."

Jesse nodded, smiling. "Okay. Truce."

Jesse climbed up on the cot and pushed open the vent flap, sat it on the hinged rod that held it open. When he turned around the interior of the fort was well-lit and cheery again, with the shadows exorcised from the corners. Better.

Jesse stepped down - right into Marty's arms.

"What?" Jesse asked, smiling. "You can't keep your hands off me or something?"

"Nope." Marty pulled him close and hugged him. Jesse looked into Marty's eyes, saw the evening light scattered by the blue sparkles that lived there.

"You got the prettiest eyes," Jesse said, sighing. "I could look in 'em forever."

Marty smiled. "You know what you see when you look in my eyes, Jesse?"

"Yeah. Sparkles."

Marty nodded. "They're only there for you, Jesse. That's love you're seein' there."

That was sweet, and it made Jesse feel a little emotional. Shit. Nothing like cryin' like a girl to start the evening off.

Jesse smiled. "What do you see in my eyes, Marty?"

Marty looked, and it was a real inspection. Jesse smiled at the way the other boy's face looked as he searched Jesse's eyes: intense, concentrating, biting his bottom lip; and Jesse wanted to hug him.

"Damn," Marty said, squinting. "I see a little, tiny sign inside your eyes."

Jesse laughed. "Yeah? What does it say?"

"It says...it's so tiny...it says...oh." Marty grinned. "It says Vacancy."

Jesse squinted, pretending to be annoyed. "Sure you read that right?"

Marty looked at him, couldn't quite hide his smile. "Maybe I'd better clean my specs." He made a show of rubbing his eyes, then squinted into Jesse's eyes again. "Well, ain't I just the stupid one. It says something completely different." He smiled at Jesse, and his eyes sparkled. "It says I Love You, Marty."

Jesse nodded. "Yup. That's the right sign. I guess you didn't see the other one."

Marty pulled back and smiled. "What's the other one say?"

Jesse leaned forward. "It says Kiss Me."

"Oh. I love that sign." Marty kissed him, and Jesse just let him, enjoying the taste of Marty's mouth and the feel of Marty's body against him.

Jesse dick was hard, and he could feel Marty's pushing against him. "We want to wait a little, don't we?" Jesse asked softly. "Until it's nice and dark?"

Marty sighed, let go of Jesse, and stepped back. "Yeah. Shit, that reminds me."

He turned, went over and ducked out the door of the fort, and returned a moment later, carrying a lantern and a small cooler. He grinned, setting the stuff by the crate table. "I got some goodies for the movie, too. And my dad's lantern - wait until you see how much light that thing makes."

They set about getting ready for the movie, sliding the crate table over in front of the cot and setting up the laptop on it. Jesse plumped the cot's two pillows and leaned them against the wall so that they could sit comfortably. He smiled, and made sure the pillows were close together.

Although it had cooled some as the evening came on, the humidity was still uncomfortable, and Jesse skinned out of his tee-shirt and dropped it on the floor, and kicked his flip-flops over by the wall. Marty was right behind him, and as they settled together on the cot, shoulder-to-shoulder, Jesse felt a sense of contentment come over him.

"I've been waiting for this," he said, picking up Marty's hand and squeezing it.

The other boy nodded. "I know. Me, too." He leaned a little against Jesse, and let his head loll over so that their cheeks touched. "You love me, Jesse?"

Jesse smiled. "You know I do."

"Yeah. I do. It's just so nice to hear it. Keith used to say it, too, but it kinda wasn't the same somehow. I think now he was scared of it. Loving, I mean. I'd tell him I loved him, and he'd say it back kinda like he was telling me I was standing on his foot or something." Marty smiled. "When you say it, I feel it."

Jesse leaned a little more against Marty, rubbed his head against the other boy's. "'Cause I do mean it. I think back to just a few days ago and I didn't even know you, and it's like I can't believe it was even me then. Like it was somebody else." He turned his head and kissed Marty. "I never want to go back to that, Marty. I want to know you forever."

Marty turned his head, returned the kiss. He sighed. "I know. I guess you know that we won't really be together forever though - right?"

Jesse nodded. "I guess. We're just kids. I don't even know what I'll be doing in a few years. For all I know I might not even be living here."

Marty was silent a moment. "I guess that means we should have the best time we can, while we can, huh?" he finally said.

Jesse sighed, and pushed his face against Marty's cheek.

Marty smiled. "My Jesse. You're my Jesse, you know that?"

"Yup. And you're my Marty." Jesse grinned. "I never had a Marty before. I didn't know they needed so much upkeep."

Marty laughed. "What? I'm easy to take care of. You already do all the right stuff to make me happy. It ain't that hard, is it?"

Jesse thought about it, realized that Marty was absolutely right. Taking care of Marty was a joy. "You're okay, I guess. Easier than taking care of a dog, anyway." Jesse smiled inwardly - best not to let Marty know just how much Jesse loved looking after him.

Marty sighed, but he smiled, too. "Woof, woof. Don't stand still, Jesse. I might pee on your leg."

That reminded Jesse of what they had done earlier in the day. "Yeah, how about us peeing on each other? Wasn't that kinky as shit?"

Marty laughed. "You really like that word, don't you?"

"Kinky?" Jesse smiled. "It's a cool word. It makes me imagine all sorts of weird shit." He looked at his friend. "We do some kinky stuff - don't we?"

Marty seemed to consider it. "I guess. I've seen some really bizarre shit online, Jesse. We haven't done anything really kinky." He looked at Jesse and grinned. "Yet."

"Yeah? You gonna build a banana split in my buttcrack and lick it out?"

Marty blinked, and then grinned, and Jesse gaped at him. "I was kidding, Marty."

Marty shrugged. "Oh, well. I was just thinkin' what a great fuckin' dessert that would be."

Jesse laughed, pushed gently against the other boy. "You're a little nuts, you know that?"

Marty looked at him, and his blue eyes sparkled. "You really think so?"

Jesse watched him a moment, then shook his head. "No. I think you're really very creative, and you got a great sense of humor." He nuzzled Marty, and smiled. "I love being around you."

"You bring out the best in me, Jesse."

Jesse sighed, just feeling happy. Summer vacation sure was a great time to be alive.

Marty nudged him. "You ever worry about your folks findin' out about us?"

"Some." Jesse had been thinking about it on and off lately. "I don't know whether to worry more about my dad finding out, or my mom."

"I worry more about my dad." Marty said. "I'm his son, not his daughter. He kinda has a right to expect like I'm gonna act like a son."

Jesse looked at his friend. "Marty, you can't help the way you are, any more'n I can. I never just got up one day and decided, 'Man, I think I wanna suck some dick today.' It just happened."

"Yeah. I know." Marty smiled. "The first time I looked at a boy and realized I wanted to see him naked was sixth grade. Guy named Alex. He was just cute as shit, you know? Had curly gold hair and blue eyes, and he smiled all the time, and when he did I wanted to kiss him."

"Did ya ever get to do it?"

Marty sighed. "Nope. I just got to hang out with him some and watch from a distance. I was scared to make a move."

Jesse laughed. "Come on - you were scared? I don't think I believe it."

"Yeah, I was." Marty looked at Jesse, lifted a hand and rubbed his fingertips along Jesse's jawline. "I was a little scared of you when we met. If you hadn't been lookin' at me like you wanted to undress me, we might not be sittin' here now."

Jesse felt his face get warm. "I didn't know it was all showin' on my face like that. Good thing you weren't some straight guy with an attitude, or I might have been in trouble, huh?"

Marty considered that. "Maybe not. You might not have acted the way you did if I had been some straight dude. I think I was lookin' at you like I wanted to undress you, and you picked up on it. Shit like that happens, Jesse. I remember when me and Keith started hanging around, I just knew he wanted to play. And if he hadn't wanted to play, I would have seen that , too.

Jesse nodded. "I read about that. Two people who like each other a little special send signals."

"Did you see me sending signals?"

Jesse shook his head. "Nope. I just noticed when you jumped up and down and waved your hands and yelled, 'Kiss me!'"

Marty laughed. "I did kind of do that."

"You did. But I wanted to kiss you. I think we kinda told on ourselves." Jesse smiled at the memory.

"You sure did, Jesse. You weren't hidin' anything. I could see you wonderin' what it would be like to take my pants off."

Jesse snorted. "I wondered what it would be like to kiss you, first. It was three or four minutes before I wanted to take your pants off."

Marty grinned, put his arm around Jesse's shoulders and squeezed him. Jesse could only smile; he was feeling pretty good. Being with Marty, with the whole night - and the whole summer - ahead of them, was a wonderful feeling. Jesse closed his eyes, leaned his cheek against Marty's lips, felt the other boy kiss him and nuzzle him.

Outside, the crickets and toads had begun their nightly vigil, watching over the world of the woods, commenting, arguing, and wondering about the things coming in the night. The moon was still only a little better than quarter in phase, and low in the sky, and the woods would be dark and close once the sun went away around the curve of the earth. But here in the fort there would be light for as long as they needed it, and the closeness they shared, and the special bond that let them enjoy life on a slightly higher level than all those in the world who awaited the coming night alone.

"Oh - Parker said to give you something," Marty said, smiling. He kissed Jesse, a warm and special thing.

"What is it?" Jesse asked, turning his head to look into Marty's eyes. He wanted first to see if Marty was hiding a joke; even though they had called a truce, it was best to check when the subject of Marty's big sister arose.

"I just gave it to you, dummy," Marty said, laughing. "The kiss. It was from Parker."

Jesse was surprised. "What? What'd I do to deserve that?"

Marty sighed. "You hooked her up with Kim. They hit it off like crazy, and now Parker is smiling all the time." He gently nudged Jesse with his elbow. "Don't be surprised if Kim wants to kiss you, too."

Jesse laughed. "You tell her to give it to you to give me, okay?"

"Mmm. That'd be okay with me, but it might be like tellin' her I like to kiss you."

Jesse shrugged. "You do, don't you?"

"Yup."

"Well?"

Marty looked into Jesse's eyes. "I'll tell her, if you really want me to."

Jesse sensed the dare there, and thought that Marty just might be crazy enough to follow through. No use starting a fire when a simple warm blanket would do the trick. "Nope. Better not. She might get jealous or somethin'."

"You're a real artist, Jesse."

"Yeah? How so?"

"You sling crap as well as any bullshit artist I ever met."

Jesse laughed. "Well, at least I don't plan to take over the planet when I grow up."

"I told you I don't want to run it. I just want to play with it."

"What do you wanna do when you get older, Marty?"

The other boy frowned a second, then shrugged. "Hell, I don't know. I haven't thought about it that much. I kind of like the way shit is right now. Why should I get all worried about what I'm gonna do in ten years or something?"

Jesse shrugged. "You won't laugh if I tell you something, will you?"

Marty's eyes smiled. "I'll try not to. It's hard sometimes with you, Jesse."

Jesse grinned. Fair enough. "When I was little, I wanted to fly in space and go to Mars."

Marty's face worked like he had just been given a gift and couldn't resist praising it. "After all the trouble it took you to get here, why would you wanna go back?"

Jesse blinked, and realized he'd just been called an alien freak. Well, kinda.

He launched himself at Marty, pinned him to the bunk and started tickling him. Marty wasn't ticklish in the belly like Jesse was, and Jesse went exploring, rubbing and prodding, while Marty giggled and only tried half-heartedly to dissuade him.

"You won't get me like I can get you --"

Marty cut off as Jesse's fingers worked into the little valley between Marty's dick and the top of his thigh and dug. Marty suddenly threw his head back and shrieked, his hands immediately going to his groin, trying to pry Jesse's away. Jesse, realizing he'd struck gold, bore down, until Marty flopped helplessly back into the thin mattress, waving his arms, his head back, his face scrunched up, and his eyes squashed shut as he went helpless, unable to resist, unable to fight back. Jesse watched the other boy laugh helplessly and grinned.

Yup. No more worries about Marty hunting with a shotgun. His friend had just gone back to small pocket knife status, and likely would stay there for the foreseeable future.

Jesse was not without compassion. He loved watching Marty laugh; but he didn't want Marty to feel helpless like Jesse had felt during the awful moment when Marty had discovered Jesse's weakness.

So he eased off, and then lay down against Marty and rubbed him and kissed him. "See how you make me feel when you tickle me?" he asked, waiting for Marty to open his eyes.

They finally popped open, and Jesse was amused to see the astonishment in them.

"I'm ticklish," Marty said, like he couldn't believe it.

"I'd say that's a yes." Jesse laughed. "You didn't know?"

"Fuck, no. This is terrible." Suddenly, he smiled. "Jesse. Buddy. Pal. My best friend. You wouldn't use what you just found out to make my life hard, would ya?"

Jesse placed an absolutely serious look on his face. "Oh, hell no - buddy. Not any more than you would use me being ticklish - right?"

Marty looked at him a moment, then smiled. "Fuckin' little badass heart thief." He sighed - just a small one. "Okay - deal. No more tickling unless it's an emergency."

Jesse looked at him. "An emergency? I never heard of a tickle emergency."

Marty leaned closer, pushed his nose against Jesse's. "Sometimes, I just love to see you laugh so much, my heart's gonna break if I don't. That's an emergency."

Jesse was touched. "I kinda feel the same way about seeing you laugh."

Marty considered that, then smiled and nodded. "Okay. No tickling - except every now and then, when we really need to see something special."

Jesse nodded, and smiled back, understanding that they'd just created yet another loopy, slightly stupid rule under which he and Marty were to live together. There were getting to be a number of them - but Jesse wouldn't have it any other way. That's what made life with Marty special.

Jesse looked into the other boy's eyes for what felt like a year, then leaned in and gently kissed him. "I love you. You make my world special."

Marty closed his eyes, turned his face gently against Jesse's. "Aw, I love you, too, Jesse. I can't imagine being without you anymore."

Jesse closed his eyes, too, and breathed in the wonderful scent of Marty's skin. Shit. This was going to be the best night ever.

"We gonna watch the movie?" Jesse finally dared to ask, feeling that if he didn't, they just might lay there together forever.

"Yeah." Marty gave Jesse a last kiss and sat up. "I'm ready."

They managed to get themselves together, opened the chips, got drinks, and started the movie going.

It was everything that Jesse's dad said it was. From the opening scenes to the end, the film kept both boys hopping with excitement and cheering with amazement. Definitely, the best kind of entertainment for a warm summer night in the woods, in the dark, with the very best friend there ever was cuddled close.

Afterwards, they fired up Marty's dad's lantern, which filled the fort with light. They cleaned up the dropped chips, finished off their drinks, and chucked the rest of their clothing on the floor and wrestled and kissed naked in the cot. Night had come on while they watched the movie, the darkness rolling out its secret and private thoughts, and Jesse felt it was time for some special things. He was hard and eager, but he knew it was Marty's turn to feel some magic, and so when he got the great purple pecker out of its new case and held it up before Marty, it was with barely-restrained delight.

Marty grinned. "Man, I've been lookin' forward to this."

"You need preparing first," Jesse said, grinning. "So how about rolling over for me?"

Marty laughed, and flipped himself onto his belly.

"Mmm," Jesse said, eying the other boy's sun-bronzed back, the soft curves of his butt, the pleasantly-toned muscles of his thighs. "I'm gonna get me some pucker."

He laid down on his belly on the cot beside Marty, hitched himself a little bit onto his back, and stuck his face in the hair on the back of Marty's head and inhaled deeply. Jesse's nose was filled with a dual delight - the wonderful, sweet-musky scent of Marty's skin, and the clean aroma of his hair. Jesse nuzzled the back of Marty's head with his lips and nose, laid kisses there among the soft strands of his hair.

He came down the back of Marty's neck, still kissing, danced sideways and back across each shoulder, and then worked his way down the boy's spine, licking and kissing. Marty made little appreciative noises, and giggled occasionally as Jesse licked or touched something extra-sensitive. Marty tasted wonderful, just like his skin smelled, and Jesse just couldn't get enough of it.

He reached Marty's butt, tasted his buns, pressed his face into each soft curve at the bottom. Marty smelled just as wonderful here, and it was all Jesse could do to control himself as he sampled the soft and inviting skin.

He finally levered himself over Marty's leg and pressed his face firmly into Marty's buttcrack, and inhaled again the wonderful, sexy aroma of the other boy's skin. This was a magic scent for Jesse, one that seemed to seep into his entire body and fill him with both lust and joy.

He wiggled his nose down inside Marty's butt, stuck his tongue out, and tasted the edge of Marty's pucker. Somehow both the scent and taste of Marty's skin was concentrated in this space, and it made Jesse so horny that he simply dived his tongue into Marty's pucker and licked away with a will that bordered on greed.

Marty squirmed a little, laughed, rolled his head back and forth in enjoyment. That Marty's body felt good to him now was extra special to Jesse, and he did his best to satisfy both Marty's need to be worked up to excitement for the use of the dildo, and is own need to experience intimately the sweet flavors of the other boy's body.

Finally, Jesse was sated on pucker. He wanted to taste dick now - he wanted Marty in his mouth. He wanted to excite and thrill Marty, and to drink down his spicy spunk.

Jesse sat back and helped Marty turn over, had him draw up his legs; and then he cleaned and lubed up the great purple pecker. He rubbed some lube into Marty's pucker, slid his finger inside to make sure everything was slippery, and then got down on his belly in the magic spot and aimed the great purple pecker at Marty's back door.

"Ready?"

"Shit, yeah." Marty's face was worked into one of his magic smiles, and Jesse couldn't help smiling his own smile to share.

Jesse lowered the great purple pecker, pushed the head gently against the center of Marty's pucker. It started in immediately, and Jesse was amazed at how easy it was. That new lube was really some great stuff, he decided.

Marty huffed and puffed and grinned like mad, and Jesse carefully began working the dildo in and out of Marty's butt. Marty closed his eyes and his hands gently grasped the sheet that covered the cot. Jesse watched him for a minute, saw he was ready, and lowered his head. He circled his free hand around Marty's thigh, grasped the other boy's hard dick, and pulled it back a bit so that he could get it into his mouth.

Marty shuddered at the new contact, and his hands gripped and ungripped the sheet.

Jesse quickly found that it took some art to master the dual movements of mouth and tongue along with moving hand; but he soon arrived at a combined, synchronous motion that had Marty rolling his head side to side and moaning with delight. Jesse kept his eyes open as he worked, watched Marty's face as his body slid up the scale into a heightened state.

Marty now grasped Jesse's sides with his feet, and Jesse could feel the other boy's toes flexing against his waist. It was somehow very exciting, very personal, and Jesse's own dick called and begged for some loving of its own.

But this was Marty's time. Jesse continued to work his motions, to move the great purple pecker in and out. He continued to suck and to move his tongue, continued to watch the joy spread across his best friend's face - continued to love the boy in the most special way he knew.

Marty's hips began to flex, and then to move in small circular motions in time with Jesse's movements. Jesse could see the rapid up and down movement of Marty's belly as the air moved in and out of him, as he worked his way towards orgasm.

Marty's head started to go back and his hips to push upwards, and with a final gasp he began jetting his warm and spicy spunk into Jesse's mouth. Jesse continued his motions unabated, automatically collecting the streams of spunk with his tongue even as he continued stroking the head of Marty's dick with it.

Marty gasped, pounded his hands on the mattress, and then grinned as the very last of his spunk mixed with spit inside Jesse's mouth.

When it was over, Jesse didn't stop immediately, waiting until Marty's dick reached super-sensitivity and Marty gasped for him to stop.

Jesse laughed without opening his mouth, gave the spunk-spit mix a last squirt through his teeth, and swallowed it. Mmm.

He drew back, milked the last of Marty's spunk from his dick, and laid it down against Marty's pubes. He gently withdrew the purple pecker and sat it down on its suction cup on the floor, where it balanced effortlessly, its tip thrust upwards at the end of its slightly curved shaft. Jesse smiled at it a moment; who'd ever thought that a third dick would come in so handy?

Marty opened his eyes and smiled at him. "Fuckin' awesome, Jesse." He sat up, his eyes bright, and before Jesse knew it Marty was pushing him off of the bunk, down to the floor of the fort, and was down on his pecker, sucking. The energy of the move was stunning; after Jesse had had the purple pecker up his butt he'd felt relaxed and dreamy. But Marty was fired up, and he worked with a will on Jesse's dick, quickly bringing him to climax.

Jesse gasped and squirt what felt like a huge amount of spunk into Marty's mouth; no doubt it was just the normal amount, but it felt like so much more somehow, likely due to the magic of how it was obtained. Jesse squeezed his eyes shut as his dick pumped, and then gasped and relaxed as it ended. He felt Marty squeeze out the last bit; and then the other boy was swarming up him. Jesse felt Marty's tongue tuck itself between his lips, and then he was sharing the taste of his own spunk.

Jesse sighed and relaxed, and Marty went over Jesse's face, kissing everything in sight, until he suddenly seemed to run out of energy. He laid his cheek against Jesse's, and they lay together in silence, just feeling the closeness of skin and energy and life.

Marty took a breath and kissed Jesse again. "Man, that was amazing. Jesse, that was the best you ever gave me, and that's a shitload. I never felt so much good stuff at one time, ever."

Jesse nodded, smiling. "It's awesome, isn't it?"

Marty raised his head and smiled down at him. "The great purple pecker. Now I see what you mean."

Jesse nodded. "Knew you would."

They got up, laid together in the bunk and snuggled close, trading kisses and touches and feelings. Finally, Jesse reached back behind him and extinguished the big electric lantern, and reached down and pulled the sheet up over them to their waists. It was still warm, still muggy; but even on summer nights there was a time, about an hour before sunup, when the night air sometimes got a little chilly, and Jesse wanted to be able to just reach down and pull the sheet higher over them if need be.

And, here he was, in the cot in the fort, in the dark, with Marty naked in his arms; close, warm, soft, and very loved. Jesse's mind walked all around the moment, gathering sensations, motions, feelings; and Jesse knew that here was a memory he would have forever. He rubbed Marty's skin, felt all the small tingles that went with that; he kissed the other boy, felt them returned.

"I had a really great day," Marty said at last. "Jesse, you wore me out."

Jesse laughed. "In a good way?"

"Shit, yeah, in a good way. What a day." He gave Jesse a soft kiss. "I can't believe I can have more days like this one, all summer long."

"Nights like this, too," Jesse whispered, squeezing Marty close.

"Yeah. I'm so glad we moved here, Jesse. I didn't know I wasn't living until I came here and met you."

Jesse was touched by that. Briefly, he remembered Nate, was saddened that the comparatively few memories he'd forged with Marty in a few days time now overshadowed somehow the years that Jesse and Nate had spent together. It seemed wrong; but there was nothing to be done about it. Jesse and Marty were somehow special, somehow made by the universe to be together. Jesse felt that Marty was a part of him - a part missing until now, one made especially to complete Jesse and make him happier than he had ever been before.

"I love you," he whispered, trying not to let tears into his eyes.

He felt Marty nod. "I love you, too, Jesse. And now I get to sleep with you - just you. I'm gonna hold you all night long."

They lay together, wrapped in each other's arms, and talked, and listened to night sounds, and talked some more; until Jesse's eyelids grew heavy and Marty's voice trailed off, and Jesse knew that sleep was coming.

He started awake, not sure if he had really dozed, not sure what had awakened him if he had. Marty's breathing seemed deep and slow, heavy with sleep.

Then - he felt it. Something high on his back, between his shoulder blades. It felt like something clinging to his skin. He flexed his shoulders, felt a light touch against him, like feathery-light wings.

His imagination screamed awake, and Jesse saw in his mind a huge skeeter - or even a small bat - perched on his back, slipping the blood form his sleeping body. He sat bolt upright, turned and scrabbled in the dark for the switch to the lantern.

As the light came on the twisting of his shoulders produced a slight flutter behind him, and something white sailed out into the light and landed on the floor next to the bunk. He looked down, dumbfounded. It was a small, white square, perhaps four inches on a side. He looked at it a moment longer before bending down to pick it up.

It was a single sheet of toilet tissue, with a tiny piece of scotch tape clinging to one edge. He looked at it, unable to comprehend how it had become attached to his back. He turned it in his hand - then turned the sheet over.

Written on the back side in large letters, in pencil, was a single word: "Gotcha!"

Jesse felt movement behind him, and then Marty's voice came quietly into the night. "Country boy five, city boy four. Looks like a comeback game, folks."

Jesse looked up at the ceiling, but couldn't be mad. He started laughing, and turned to face the other boy. "How the hell'd you do that without waking me up?"

Marty grinned at him in the light from the lantern. "Stuck it to the top rail of the bunk when I got here tonight. I just grabbed it after you fell asleep and stuck it on your back. Simple."

Jesse shook his head, tossed the sheet of tissue on the crate table and switched off the light. He laid back down, turned and rolled into Marty, wrapped him in his arms and drew him close. "You know this is war, right? Tomorrow, you'd better watch your back."

"Why? Is somebody gonna stick toilet paper on it?"

Jesse dug his fingers gently into Marty's belly and the other boy squeaked once in delight before laughing. "You're a good sport, Jesse."

"I have to be, around you," Jesse said, in mock complaint - but he drew Marty close and kissed him. "Not bad, for a city boy."

He felt Marty grin in the dark, and then they were laying close again, rubbing and kissing.

This was it - this was what Jesse had been waiting for. He was sleeping with Marty, and he was gonna hold him close all night long.

They talked a little while longer, and then Jesse felt drowsy again, and soon he heard a slowness in Marty's breathing that sounded for real this time.

He pushed his face against Marty's, gave him a last, gentle kiss. Tomorrow would be here soon enough.

Jesse couldn't wait.

He grinned at the prospect, at all the things that would come with that. Being with Marty was magic - it filled Jesse with new things, and had made him appreciate that a life without love was just a life placed on hold. Marty was the energy that drove Jesse now, a new and powerful force that pushed his imagination, and made him see the world through brand new eyes.

It was a wonderful place, the world, when shared, and Jesse saw now that this summer - this summer vacation - was surely going to be the best ever.

Jesse listened to Marty breathe, felt the small movements of his body as his slightly crazy mind dealt with the far off unknowns of the world of sleep. Yup. This was what it was all about.

Jesse closed his eyes, heard the sounds of the night, felt the warmth and closeness of his very best friend, and smiled.

And then, he went to sleep.

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We support Ukraine — Мы поддерживаем Украину — Ми підтримуємо Україну
We support Ukraine — Мы поддерживаем Украину — Ми підтримуємо Україну