Master and the Mate
By: Deep Diver
(Copyright 2006 - 2007 by the Author)
Editor: David L

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...
deepdiver_pr@yahoo.com

Chapter 51
Emotionally adrift

The next day Kyle had an early class and set off before the rest had even gotten out of bed. Mark had volunteered to make breakfast and soon the aroma of freshly brewed coffee was wafting through the house; Mark was almost done frying up the loaf of wholewheat white bread following what he had learned from watching Kyle make breakfast – but the kitchen looked like a cyclone had passed through it! Periodically Mark added a spoon full of butter to the oil for flavoring, knowing that if he only used butter, the egg-soaked bread would burn.

Manny was next to awaken and Ryan wasn't far behind, soon all three were ready to eat, but there was still no sign of Alex.

"Do me a favor and go and check on Alex, please Manny." Ryan asked politely.

Manny was off in a flash imitating the Superman figure he carried in his hand. He knocked on Alex's door and got no response. So, pretending to be stronger than a locomotive, he pushed it open and seeing Alex still stretched out in Mark's bed, Manny jumped on him and began to tickle him.

At first Alex responded like any normal child would, but then he remembered where he was and pushed Manny off him, swatting the Superman figure from his hand as he did so, sending it flying into the opposite wall and breaking it apart.

"You didn't have to break it!" Manny sobbed, almost in tears, "that was the last toy my mother gave me," he said, mournfully, gathering up the pieces.

"Well, you shouldn't have come in here and bothered me." Alex said, attempting to justify his actions.

"For your information, Dad sent me to tell you that breakfast is ready." Manny left, clutching his broken action figure.

When Manny returned to the kitchen, it was Mark who noticed the broken toy after taking one look at Manny's sullen face.

"Did that bastard do that?" Mark asked irately.

The unusually strong word in Mark's explicative got Ryan's attention and he began to assess the situation grabbing Mark by the arm as he was about to go for Alex.

"Hold on. You're angry, and that's no way to deal with any situation. Calm down and let's think this through." Ryan said, pulling Mark into himself at the table and putting his arms around Mark's waist.

"I warned him not to mess with Manny." Mark said, trying to justify his reaction.

"Manny what happened?" Ryan asked.

"Nothing. I dropped it coming down the stairs." Manny lied. "Mark, why is Alex sleeping in your bed?" He asked, trying to change the subject.

"Alex is sleeping in your bed?" Ryan asked Mark.

"Yeah, he couldn't get comfortable in Manny's so we traded." Mark also lied.

Alex was on the opposite side of the swinging door and heard both boys cover for him. At first he thought that they were real wimps, but then it occurred to him that they were in fact covering for him so that he wouldn't get into trouble. He began to feel like a heel. Then he pushed the door open, greeted everyone with a cheery 'good morning' and sat like a perfect little angel. When he realized that Mark had cooked the french toast, he wanted to pass, but since Mark had just stuck his head out for him, he figured it wouldn't hurt him to try a slice; to his surprise he thought it was delicious and he found himself asking for an extra helping.

"Manny, what happened to your action figure? If we have some airplane glue, I bet I could fix it." Alex said, to everyone's surprise. "What's everyone looking at?" he continued as he realised that all eyes were on him, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Mark, I'm going to give Alex a reading lesson after we do the dishes, could you give him a lesson this afternoon when you get back from school?" Ryan enquired.

"Dad, today we have religious ed class after supper and I have to do my homework when I get home. Maybe tomorrow night I could help?" Mark responded.

"I could help," Manny said, "my friend can't come over after school today, because he has an appointment with the dentist."

"That reminds me, Alex, what kind of shape are your teeth in?" Ryan interjected.

"I sure as hell ain't going to no dentist." Alex responded instinctively without thinking.

"Oh, it ain't anything. It even feels good." Manny assured Alex as he handed him his Superman figure and a tube of airplane glue he had dug out of a drawer containing assorted items.

"You sure about not seeing a dentist Alex? There's nothing worse than a sore tooth in the middle of the night when there are no dentists available." Ryan affirmed as he finished drying the dishes. "I'll see you in the living-room in ten minutes." Ryan continued, directing his words to Alex.

"Mark can you take some of this wonderful french toast up to Edwin?" Ryan asked as he turned to leave the kitchen.

"Sure, Dad. Manny, please pour me another glass of OJ for Uncle Edwin."

* * *

When Alex joined Ryan in the living-room he looked glum.

"OK, what's bothering you?" Ryan asked.

"You didn't have to tell Mark and Manny that I can't read." Alex complained. "Now they're going to make fun of me and think that I am some kind of a retard or something."

"Well, first of all, I did not tell them that you cannot read. Second, I think that instead of feeling ashamed about what you don't know you should take pride in what you learned yesterday and make an equal effort to learn as much today, if not more. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir." Alex responded with his head fallen.

"Alex, look at me. Let me see your handsome face. Alex, you are a smart kid, your only problem is that you don't believe in yourself. You don't try because you expect to fail, but when you put your mind to something, like one of your little schemes, you carry it out to perfection. That takes brains."

"Yeah, right, what do you know about it?" Alex snorted.

"Oh, there's that negative attitude again. That is just what I am talking about. You think I don't see through you? You're trying very hard to make us not like you. You have your failure here all planned out just like you did so many times before. Inside, you are dying to be loved, but you are so afraid of rejection that you won't give us a chance. Those two brothers of yours were both like you, alone, frightened and hurting; but now they're happy. They both accepted each other as brothers and they would love for you to be their brother too. But you keep pushing them away, every chance you get. You stayed here to give us a chance, but you haven't given any of us a chance to like you, much less love you. If you just opened your heart the smallest bit to Manny, he would become your life-long friend; Mark reaches out to you and you just snap at him. Why don't you cut the crap and just let us touch your heart?"

"I'm scared." Alex said. "It hurts too much when I get put out like the trash."

Ryan moved toward him, but Alex pulled back. "Alex, take a step towards me, and let me embrace you." Ryan asked.

"I can't." Alex said, with tears now filling his eyes.

"Yes you can, don't lie to yourself. You can, you want to, so take the risk; I will not to reject you." Ryan promised.

The boy very slowly moved into Ryan's arms, falling into his embrace and releasing all his pent up emotions. Ryan just moved his hand up and down the boy's back as he sobbed and sobbed out the years of feeling worthless, alone and rejected.

Then Ryan planted a kiss on his neck, but Alex misunderstanding the gesture, reached down toward Ryan's genitals. It was now Ryan that pulled back and he noticed that Alex was excited sexually. As Ryan pulled away from him, Alex got scared again and the feelings of rejection took hold of him once more: he wanted to disappear. Alex turned on his heel and went up to Mark and Manny's room and threw himself on the bed and continued to cry, feeling a total failure.

Ryan followed him upstairs and tapped on the door, waiting for a response.

"Go away! I'm no good." Alex sobbed with his face buried in the pillows of Mark's bed.

Ryan went in anyway and sat on the edge of Mark's bed, placing a hand on Alex's shoulder and turning him toward himself, before kissing Alex's forehead.

"Alex, I rejected your sexual come-on, I wasn't rejecting you. What you did there was simply to make a mistake and mistakes are forgivable. You took my affection to mean that I wanted you sexually. That's a normal reaction for someone who is affection-starved. Your brain just got its wires crossed, just like when the lights go out and then come back on suddenly. It can cause a lot of short circuits. Your brain short-circuited that's all. You just have to learn that in this family we give a lot of affection, but we do not have sex with each other. Understood? You're not perverted or sick. Now let me give you some more affection. Take off your shirt and turn over face down."

Ryan found some skin cream on Mark's dresser and prepared to give Alex a nice back massage. He moved his hands gingerly over the boy's back coating him with the balm. "Now Alex, there are two ways to give a massage." He moved his fingertips lightly and sensually over the boy's youthful taut skin. "There is a sexy, stimulating way. I won't give you that type of massage; that type of massage is for you and a future lover." Then Ryan gave him a vigorous workout working his muscles hard to relax them. "This is more like a massage that athletes get. You see I'm touching you in a loving way. Nothing is more important right now than making you feel relaxed and happy." Ryan finished the massage only sporadically describing how his movements helped Alex's muscles. "Feeling better now?"

"Yeah." Alex sighed.

"Good, would you like to thank me for the nice massage?"

"Yes."

"Then say 'thanks, Dad!' or even just a 'thank you' would do." Ryan said.

Alex jumped up and embraced Ryan with all his strength, saying "Thanks ... d–a–d!" And began sobbing again.

Ryan slapped his butt, saying, "you have five minutes to get downstairs to do your lesson. Move it!"

* * *

Mark knocked on Edwin's door and then just let himself in.

"Oh, thanks Mark, you didn't have to bring it up to me. I was just about ready to get up and come down stairs."

"No problem, just don't expect room service every day." Mark teased Edwin. "So how long have you known dad?"

"Your dad? Oh yeah, sure, sure. Your dad! That's nice, I'm glad you feel that way towards Ry. He is a good man." Edwin affirmed.

"Nope, he is not just a good man, he is the best! You know he saved my life? And not just mine, but others too. So how long have you known him?" Mark returned to his original question.

"We go back, let's see now, like fifteen or more years." Edwin estimated.

"So you know him really well?" Mark continued his quest to understand the relationship between Edwin and Ryan.

"I think I know him like the back of my hand." Edwin said, wondering what Mark was seeking to know.

"Do you love him?" Mark queried.

"With all my heart." Edwin replied.

"Do you believe in him?" Mark pushed the envelope. "I trust Ry implicitly." Edwin responded positively.

"So Ry is like a god to you?" Mark stated rather than asking.

"Yeah, I guess you could say so, if I believed in God." Edwin said and began coughing.

Mark got him the box of Kleenex off the dresser and handed it to him. "Well you just said that you trust him and that you love him and now that you are in need you came to him. That sounds to me like he is your god."

"I guess you're right, Mark. I have no problem thinking of Ry as my god."

"That's great, but your god can't save you, the man you believe in implicitly believes that Jesus is God and only he can save you!"

"Slow down, you just took one big leap there." Edwin laughed at what he now saw was a carefully thought-out plan to argue him into believing. "Nice try, Mark, but I really don't believe that Ry is god nor do I believe in his God. If there was a God, why would he allow your parents to die, why am I dying of AIDS, why are some people so mean like that Alex kid? No, I can't believe in a God that would allow so much misery in the world." Edwin said, using the same argument he always used to discount faith in God and any god talk.

"I see you run from God just like you ran away from Dad. You're afraid to face the real issues." Mark asserted.

"I don't want to talk about it." Edwin declared.

"I suggest you overcome your fear and you start talking about it, your time to come back to God as you came back to Ry isn't going to be very long." Mark said frankly. "And I think it is easier to come back to God than it was to come home to us. Besides, have you any idea of what kind of hell you will put Ryan through if you die unrepentant? You attack God for the suffering in the world, but you have made Ryan suffer for years and now you are setting him up for a worse pain."

* * *

After Alex's class with Ryan they both went up to Edwin's room for Alex's second hour of class.

"Feel up to giving Alex a session?" Ryan asked.

"Just a short one. I just had a session with Mark. He is really something. Ry, you must be very proud of him."

"We are very proud of all of our boys," Ryan said, putting his arm around Alex and pulling him close. "Even this handsome newbie." Ryan stated while Alex's face ran through a rainbow of shades of red.

"Mark just tried to convert me and I must say he was very convincing." Edwin said. "Well, if Mark is out to save your soul, you might as well stop resisting. He always gets what he goes after." Ryan said, knowingly, and with hope in his voice. "I had better leave you too; I have to get to my office and attend a few of my remaining clients. If you can wait until I return for lunch, I'll take you down to Dominics."

* * *

After dealing with his clients, Ryan called home to check on Edwin, but Alex told him that Edwin didn't feel up to going out to eat, so Ryan stopped at Dominic's for some take out, finding Dominic beavering away in his kitchen. "Dominic, I have some news for you." Ryan said as he came up behind an unsuspecting Dominic.

"I can tell by your face that its good news." Dominic said as he turned toward Ryan.

"Well, partly yes. First, you are an 'uncle' again! We took in another boy." Ryan said, smiling.

"Already? You and Kyle are some pair of rabbits!" Dominic said jokingly. "So what's the not so good news, is he straight too?"

"Edwin is back." Ryan stated and then started to tear.

"He came back after all this time? But what about you and Kyle?" Dominic asked, worried about his friend's new-found life.

"No there is no problem with Kyle and I. Its..." and Ryan choked up again. "Its ... Edwin is very sick ... he's dying."

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph," Dominic cried, signing himself with the cross. "Ry you go home, I'll prepare something light for him and bring the lunch over. I want to see him." Dominic said, sending Ryan off with a pat on the shoulder before hurrying off to find his wife and tell her the news.

* * *

Alex practiced reading backwards as Ryan had instructed. Edwin had a hard time concentrating; maybe the method would work, but it sure was boring listening to Alex prolong his vowel sounds. At least he had the distraction of watching Alex's young lithe body go through the motions.

"I heard Ryan tell the others that you're dying of AIDS." Alex interrupted his exercise.

"Yeah, well, its true. I'll be checking out soon enough. But what about you – you seem to be wasting your life going around angry at the world." Edwin observed.

"Yeah, but its dog eat dog out there. I've just decided that I'm going to eat them before they can eat me." Alex declared.

"I have no argument about defending yourself. But we all need friends and you have fallen into the hands of one of the best friends a man can have. Don't blow it, life is too short." Edwin said.

"So how come you're here. Don't you have any family?" Alex asked.

"I have a sister and she lives with my mom." Edwin answered.

"So why are you here?" Alex interrogated Edwin.

"Well, they don't know that I'm gay..." Edwin tried to explain. "And I don't want to hurt them."

"And you don't think that they are going to be hurt when they find out you didn't want to see them before you died?" Alex wondered out loud. "I don't understand ... but then I have no family and don't know what having one is like."

"You have a family now, if you just accept us, we will accept you." Edwin said before going into another coughing fit. "I'm sorry, I'm too tired to talk now, I need to rest."

Alex had noticed that Edwin had broken out into a sweat, so he went to the bathroom and found a pan and brought it back with cool water and put a wet face cloth on Edwin's forehead. Edwin gripped Alex's wrist and just held onto him as his body went through some minor spasms. Afterward Edwin fell asleep and Alex wiped his face with the cool water and dried him as best he could.

About an hour later Ryan arrived home with Kyle who he had picked up from school.

"How's Edwin doing?" Ryan asked Alex.

"He had a rough spell of coughing and then went into being chilled and sweating, but I wiped him down the best I could." Alex worriedly responded.

Kyle was surprised to hear that Alex had taken care of Edwin and was pleased to learn that Alex was beginning to find his niche.

* * *

It wasn't long after Ryan and Kyle got home before Dominic arrived and fell on Alex as if they were long-time friends. Alex had no time to escape before he found himself engulfed in hugs from Dominic and kisses from Teresa. Then Dominic unpacked the lunch, consisting of egg plant parmesan and cheese ravioli – he also brought some homemade chicken soup for Edwin, which Teresa took into the kitchen to heat up in the microwave.

Alex took Dominic up to Edwin's room while Ryan and Kyle watched and marveled at how easily Alex connected with Dominic's uncomplicated affections.

"That man has a charisma to be envied." Kyle observed; Ryan hugged his lover and said, "let's set the table."

Upstairs, Dominic grabbed Edwin's hand and just caressed it as he scolded him for disappearing and not keeping in touch. Edwin was comforted by Dominic's attention, as he had always been a sort of father figure to him since Ryan introduced them.

Teresa soon entered and started to spoon feed Edwin and showered him with maternal concern until he was able to finish the small bowl of hot soup. Edwin, energized by his old friends and the soup began to rest more comfortably.

When Manny and Mark arrived back from school, they dived into the food that Dominic had brought over. Mark was particularly happy to find a box of cannolies in the frig and introduced them to Alex ['Hey, guys, this is Alex!' – Ed.]. Alex handed Manny his mended Superman action figure, apologized for breaking it and told Manny he was welcome to come into his room and tickle him anytime.

* * *

That night, Kyle and Ryan showered together and savored the moment as one of the few that they could be both alone and sexual. Kyle washed Ryan from head to toe and then Ryan returned the favor, paying particular attention to Kyle's testicles which he massaged and fondled lovingly.

"Kyle, you're eager to watch the DVD tonight, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah, but more eager for what we do afterwards." Kyle responded eagerly.

"Can I ask you a favor?" Ryan said while he delighted in the feel of Kyle's manhood, which was at full mast. He could feel the smooth outer skin and the spongy inner shaft.

"Ry, that feels so good, please don't stop. What favor?" Kyle moaned.

"Do you mind if we sacrifice ourselves again tonight and invite Alex to sleep with us?"

"What? You want a three-way – and with a minor?" Kyle said, losing his hard-on.

"No, of course not, you know me better than that. Its just that I had a break through with him today and I think he is affection-starved. If he could sleep between us I am sure it will make up for years of loneliness and lack of affection." Ryan tried explaining to Kyle.

"Damn, I think Manny is going to see the end of the saga before us?" Kyle bemoaned.

"What do you mean - Manny will see it before us?"

"The other day, when I came home, I found the DVD outside its case, someone had been snooping in our room." Kyle shared his discovery.

"Oh, I see. We need to be more careful. That kind of thing could be misconstrued as corrupting youth." Ryan said, now working harder on Kyle's body, trying to stimulate him to make up for the chaste night ahead. Ryan went down on his knees and toyed with the tip of Kyle's penis with his tongue. True to his youthfulness, Kyle quickly responded and boned up firmly and began fucking Ryan's mouth and throat. Ryan's fingers explored Kyle's cheeks and butt-hole bringing Kyle to a powerful explosion which flooded down into Ryan's hungry stomach. Kyle's body was in spasms as he savored Ryan's servicing of his sexual needs.

To be continued

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