The following story is completely fictional, as are most places and every character.

I assume you know what kind of page you are in so I won't warn you about sexual contents.

If you want to contact me, write to `tatostories@hotmail.com'. Feedback is always appreciated and I'll try to answer everything.

Did you ever wonder why we had to run for shelter when the
promise of a brave new world unfurled beneath a clear blue sky?
-Pink Floyd

IV

               I woke up in sheer bliss. As I inhaled the morning air another scent came to my senses. It actually took me some time to realize that Alex was wrapped in my arms, facing me in his sleep. I opened my eyes only to find his perfect face inches away from mine.

               I took time to carefully explore his face. My eyes wondered, from the freckle-covered forehead to the delightfully shaped nose, thin and straight finishing in a slightly round tip. Then my eyes found his thin, pink lips. They were so sexy, enticing. I slowly examined the lines his jaw created, leading to the chin. He was like an ancient Greek statue, only he was real and was lying in bed with me.

               He looked completely peaceful there, almost ethereal. I could feel his pulse and listen to his heartbeats, which, combined with his slow breathing, was music to my ears. Then again, any sound coming from him was.

               I looked around my room and noticed that the door was closed. I went cold at the mere sight of it. I played last night's events in my mind with the hope that I was missing something, but definitely, closing the door had not been part of the act.

               I pondered my options before acting. My mother had come back to the house last night, had found me and Alex lying in my bed spooning and had closed the door. Now she knew about me. I felt the uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty cursing through my body.

               Very slowly, and with extreme care, I released the red hair buried in my arms. He stirred, adjusted himself and went back to sleep, undisturbed. I put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before opening the door. I stepped out of my room only to find an empty hallway. I felt shivers running down my spine as I stepped into this new world. Even the hallway itself looked different. For a moment I felt dizzy, my vision went dark for a moment and I had to rely on the wall for support.

               When I was able to trust my feet again I walked up to the kitchen and saw my mom there. She didn't notice me. I was scared to death, not knowing if I could deal with this. It was one thing that the people in school knew about me, and a completely different one that now my mother knew. My mother. With a few exceptions, I didn't care about the people in school, but my mother I did care about. As I studied her, she looked normal, not altered to the least bit.

               When she turned her head and saw me she immediately went for my eyes. To say that I felt naked standing there would be the understatement of the year. She could see directly into my soul, and she was making good use of that ability for the time being. After what felt like hours, she smiled at me.

               Then I knew that everything would be alright. I literally felt like I was weightless, without a burden I had been creeping under for a while now. I approached her and she hugged me dismissively.

               "So... having sleepovers are we?"

               "You despicable woman, how dare you call yourself my mother." We both erupted in laughter. Yes I know it may seem like we were both fucked up. But my mother and I had developed quite a sense of humor ourselves lately. I guess it was a way to relieve the tension when we felt like we were being swallowed by it.

               Anyway, just being able to joke around with my mother made me feel safe.

               "I think I'll go back to sleep then" I said, standing up.

               "Alright. One thing Peter dear, make sure you actually close the door this time. I have a meeting with some of the artists working for the magazine today and I believe most of them are gay. Now, we wouldn't want them feasting their eyes on that boyfriend of yours cuddling there with you now would we?"

               "Point well gotten."

               "Good, just make sure I know when he is staying next time. That way I can avoid undesired mental images."

               "Ok, ok you bloody win. There is no need to chew me out like that."

               She smiled at me lovingly before I left the room and walked to mine. When I came in I closed the door and put the lock, just in case any of my mother's gay friends decided to wander around.

               I undressed and got in the bed again. I snuggled as close to Alex as possible and threw my right arm around him. The warmth took over instantly and I fell asleep. I remember some sort of dream where Alex wakes up, kisses me softly on the lips and then gets up from the bed, our bed. Puts on a boxer and walks for the door, I remain hesitant on the bed.

               WAIT A MINUTE. It wasn't a dream! Bloody kid.

               "ALEX? Where are you." No response.

               I get up, put on a short as fast as I can and run to the living room's door, as I approach it I see Alex open it and freeze at the sight in front of him: ten or so people, almost all men, openly staring at his sculptural body. I run faster until I reach him, smash the door and take a startled red haired mess to my room.

               Then he looks at me, guilt screaming out of his eyes.

               "I'm sorry, I forgot we were not alone here. I guess I fucked it up."

               "Don't worry baby, my mother found out about us a few hours ago, when she closed this door I forgot to take care of last night."

               "And, is she fine with it?"

               "Absolutely."

               "What about you?"

               "Well, facing her this morning was hard, but I'll survive."

               He leans forward and kisses me on the lips. And at that moment, right out of the corner of my eye, I noticed one of my mother's guests spying on us through the opening in my curtains.

               "I think we are on the air." I whisper into my lover's ear.

               "Huh?"

               Kiss, tongues wrestled, passion coursing through our bodies. I ran my hands all over his sides.

               "Someone's looking through our window. I think he's enjoying this."

               "He?" Alex stopped, and with a rather amused look turned towards the window. And sure enough, he saw the guy, who immediately disappeared. "Does your mother know that some of her friends are gay? I mean, the way some of them looked at me when I went into the living room was short of obvious."

               "She warned me, but I forgot to tell you."

               "Alright, so... what are we going to do about us today? Tomorrow there is graduation"

               "hmmm... do your parents, I mean, Jeff's parents know that you are here?"

               "Yes"

               "Good, then I assume they are OK with you being gay right?"

               "I don't know, I should probably go and talk to them, after all, I just left a note behind."

               "Alright, want me to be there?"

               "Would you like to?"

               "Not really, but I'll be there if you want me to."

               "I want you to be there with me, please." I could hear the nervousness in his voice.

               "That's set, I'll be there." I hugged him tightly before gently kissing him in that spot of his. His stand-by switch.

               "Fancy a shower golden boy?"

               "As long as you come with the combo."

               "Well, your wishes are my commands. I'm so much better than a combo though... I don't deserve to be generalized" I wiggled my eyebrows at him.

               "We'll se about... mphhh"

               After that we went into the bathroom and I adjusted the water to the desired temperature. When Alex started to get undressed I took a hold of his hands and looked in his eyes with a smile creeping to my lips.

               "Allow me." With that I started to slowly undress him, it was almost ritual-like. First the t-shirt, my hands making sure that there were no remains of cotton whatsoever in his skin before moving on to his shorts, that proved very handy for such event, sliding effortlessly over his thighs. Leaving him stark naked in front of a very dressed version of me.

               Alex, with all the love that could possibly be contained in a sponsored strip-tease gave me the same treatment. Surprisingly, neither of us was really aroused by then. I think that what we were doing then was exempt of sexual interests; we were just taking care of each other with tender gestures. We both got in the shower and washed ourselves carefully, taking our time exploring tender flesh.

               Eventually, it became sexual, and I started kissing his lower back, dangerously close to his perfectly round arse. I covered those globes in kisses before I ran my tongue all the way up his neck and started turning him around, not able to resist another second without direct physical contact with the tender skin on his lips. We kissed slowly, knowing that we had time to ourselves, to love each other slowly. By now we were grinding our erections against the other in an attempt to get more flesh in contact.

               And just as soon and unpredictably as it all started it stopped. In unspoken agreement we went out of the shower and grabbed two towels, carefully drying each other, making sure to run the towel over every inch of skin, and paying special attention to certain areas.  Nothing else mattered to me at the moment. Just to be with Alex was perfect, it just seemed so right. I intently admired his perfectly shaped ivory body, everything fell into proportion. I knew he was doing the same to me.

               As they went out of the shower both boys carefully examined each other's body. Alex was impressed with his lover's body. The raven haired beauty standing in front of him, with his dark green eyes and a nicely tanned skin that showed a strong swimmer's body, not too buffed, not too skinny, just perfectly shaped. Every muscle in his lover's body seemed to ad a line here or some curve there that made him look... powerful, as if it was Michelangelo's David, only that this one had strait messy black hair, and was real.

               Both boys took their time getting ready; they both dressed with Peter's clothing and went out of the room. This time fully dressed.  When they entered the living room only one of Elizabeth's friends was still there. Peter knew him well, he was the magazine art division's vice-president, and his mother's best friend, he also happened to be gay.

               "Hello," said Peter.

               "I believe we met already this morning, but hello to you two boys," came the answer.

               Peter smiled at the man; he had always been nice with him. Christopher had always treated him well, almost like an uncle. They had always gotten along pretty well. At the moment however, the man was giving appraising looks to both teenagers. As if considering some possibility. Peter caught up with his thought right away.

               "Isn't he hot?" Peter asked the man while motioning with his head towards the red hair. A smile crept to Elizabeth's lips; she knew where his son was going, it should prove entertaining. Unconsciously she fixed her gaze in Alex's face, which sure enough was quite red by now. She had some trouble maintaining her straight face.

               "Oh dear! I never had any clues abut you, how could I have missed it?" said Christopher.

               Peter smiled. "Well Chris, some of us know how to keep something out of the obvious levels."

               "And to think that I felt guilty thinking about you..."

               "Don't you go there you brat!" said Elizabeth, in a half joking half `I kill you if you do' way.

               "Okay okay, don't eat me alive while you are at it!"

               "Mom, I'll leave Alex in his house, we might stay there for a while."

               "Ok, remember about open doors though..."

               "Get over it will you. Look, you made him blush... again."

               Alex had turned some shade of purple by then, he was paralyzed. They were strikingly open in this family. And he wasn't quite expecting it.

               "I'm sorry dear, it's nice to meet you, I'm Elizabeth Galbraith." She said while extending her hand towards Alex, who was short of paralyzed at the moment. It took him two seconds to react.

               "I... I'm Alexander Gray, it is nice to meet you too."

               "I'm sorry for the display; it must have taken you by surprise. Blame your boyfriend here, who seems to be enjoying all of your blushing."

               And right she was, Peter had his trademark smirk on the face, showing clearly how much he was enjoying it. Alex narrowed his eyes at him for a moment before he turned towards his now mother-in-law.

               "It's okay, I'll be ready for it the next time you two happen to be together."

               At that Peter's mother laughed sincerely. "Alright, you caught us, you two better be on your way." She hugged them both and they were off to the garage, where Peter's uncle, Leigh, was just parking a flaming new Ferrari F430, testarossa red.

               Alex was astonished.

               "Uncle! My memory is a bit blurry, but didn't you HATE Italian cars?"

               "I still do, what do you think about it?"

               "I love it, but you know that much. Why did you buy it?"

               "Well I got it as part of a payment."

               Peter immediately got inside the car, he was marveled with it. This was one of the many cars in his dreams. He religiously put his hand on the wheel and felt it, running his fingers through the F1 type gearshift pallets behind it. He noticed that the odometer declared no more than 50 Km. No one had ever used it before his uncle, that, plus the black SUV from the security company parked outside, made him a little suspicious but he decided to leave it for another time. He did give his uncle a questioning look though. Leigh silently told him to wait till later.

               "Would you like to borrow it Peter?"

               "W... What?"

               "You heard me, plus, I don't like to be seen driving that Italian scum. I prefer the Aston Martin and you know it."

               "Right... Oh, do please forgive me Leigh, this is Alexander Gray"

               Alex snapped back to reality just in time to shake Leigh Galbraith's hand. He sure was a good-looking guy in his early thirties.

               Alex knew something about his love's family, but he didn't know they were that wealthy though... they were full of surprises apparently he thought. He didn't know how right he just was. In that moment Leigh gave Peter the keys.

               "I have never seen you hanging around with this young lad before my dear nephew, is there something I'm missing?"

               His tone might sound like normal to almost everybody, but Peter was not everybody. He knew instantly that his uncle had already heard about the past days' incidents.

               Peter spoke in a cold tone now, "Spare me the detective part Leigh. You probably heard already, yes it is true."

               "Indeed."

               "That's it?" Peter had been expecting something more.

               "Yes, although I must say it wasn't quite what I expected, you actually took me by surprise. It doesn't mean that I don't think of you as my son anyway."

               Peter was back to warm and caring mode in seconds he smiled as he spoke, "thank you, I really needed to hear that."

               "Alright, you two take care. And Alex, count on me as a friend from now on, if Peter loves you then you certainly are friend material for me."

               "Thank you..." with that Leigh disappeared into the house, "I... guess?" Peter laughed at that.

               "He likes you. But don't get me wrong, he likes your personality."

               "Your family is weird, too weird."

               "I know, I wouldn't have it any other way."

               "And you are like them you knew that right?"

               "Yes." He had a puzzled look in his face.

               Then I kissed him fully on the lips before getting in the car. I must say I was thrilled. I had never driven a Ferrari before, even though I had driven all of my uncle's cars. That meant a wide variety, including Porsches and even a race version of a Mercedes SLR. He was a speed freak, among others, and he had passed that passion to me, along with the driving skills of course. I couldn't believe it; there I was sitting in the driver's seat of the newest berlinetta made by Ferrari, with a V8 engine capable of 490hp. It was a dream come true. Although I knew I had to go easy on it because it was brand new. Then I remembered my suspicions and let my mind wonder for a while.

               "Hellooo, Earth calling Peter here, are you going to start it or what?"

               "Of course, in a minute. But first, please open the compartment and tell me what's inside."

               "Let me see. There's a big black box, an envelope and a little carnet."

               "Interesting, can you tell me what the carnet is?"

               "Whoa! It's the registration thing, and it has your name on it, the car is registered as yours."

               "Well that explains it."

               "What?"

               "I'll tell you in a second, hand me the envelope."

               He handed me the envelope and I opened it. What I saw didn't surprise me all that much now. There where the ownership papers of the car, and they where registered under my name, the car was technically mine. As I read those, something fell from the envelope. A small paper with a note in it. I picked it up and read.

               Dear Peter,

               Finally, your eighteenth birthday present has arrived. I had to wait till you turned eighteen in order to have it transferred to your name. I hope you enjoy it.

                              PS: I suppose you know what's in the black box already, be wise.

               I handed Alex the note and he read it like three times.

               "You lucky bastard, you just got a Ferrari as a fucking birthday present!" he blurted.

               Then his expression changed, "And what's exactly in the black box in there?"

               "I have a pretty good idea of what may be in there," I turned to look at him with a serious expression now, "and I highly doubt you would like to see it at the moment."

               "Ok, if you say so. Anyway, hot guy, where are you planning on taking me with your fancy ride?"

               "I thought about Jeff's house for instance."

               As I said this he turned just a little nervous, like he dreaded what was to come.

               "Baby, the sooner you do this the sooner it will be over, then we can think about anything we want to do."

               "I know, but it still makes me nervous."

               "It's alright, I'm sure you will survive golden boy, everybody loves you remember?"

               At least my joke seemed to put him at ease with the thing for now. I started the car and quietly drove to Jeff's house. When we got there I saw Jeff's dad going out of the garage. He stopped the car when he saw the Ferrari, but when we came out, the open window revealed a scowl in his face. He slammed the gas pedal and was off.

               THAT BLOODY MOROON. How could he be such a prat to Alex? He will have to explain some things to me later. But now I could see the nervous wreck Alex had turned to after that coward showed him his acceptance. I just hugged him tight, trying to scare the thoughts running through his mind.

               At that moment Jeff's mother came out of the house and saw us, she looked seriously concerned, and she even turned pale when she saw that her concerns where not mistaken. She ran to where we where and gave me a pleading look, as if asking me for permission. Now that surprised me. I hesitantly let go of Alex and then she came and gave him a motherly hug.

               "I'm so sorry dear," she said. She gently pushed Alex away from her and looked at him, "he's just a little shaken at the moment, but he'll be fine with it by tomorrow, trust me."

               Alex just looked at her for a while before bursting into tears. She just held him there. I couldn't stop myself; I gave her a smile and a grateful nod. Then Jeff came out of the house, apparently he had been looking at us from the entrance.

               "Can you believe my father? He's such an asshole."

               My eyebrows darted upwards at that. Had Jeff just insulted his father in front of me? I was too shocked to speak, so when Ms Cooper finally let go of my baby I just grabbed his hand and pulled him to me.

               "It'll be alright, you will see," I whispered in his ear. If I could only get my hands on this guy, god I'd give a lot of money to have him standing in front of me right now.