This is an original homocentric love story. If you are offended by homosexual relationships, do not read. All characters and situations are fictional and of my own creation. Any resemblance to real situations or people, living or dead, is completely coincidental. See chapter one for further warnings and copyright information.

I lifted his chin so I could look into those amazing green eyes of his and kissed them, his happy tears moistening my lips. Then, voice low, I asked, "Want to spend the night?"

His eyes went wide, his body stiffened, his face turned a deep brick red, and he started stuttering.

"What? That's what you want, isn't it?" I asked, surprised by his reaction.

He almost looked like a trapped animal - or more accurately, like a snake's prey caught by its eyes. He stared at me for a long moment, then his eyes darted to the items on the bedside table before returning back to me. I blushed. Those damned condoms were so embarrassing!

"Oh. I don't think I'm really ready for that yet either, Jer." I was lying like a rug. Flat out. But at the same time I was really nervous, and I thought I'd be more comfortable with the idea if we took our time and kinda built up to that.

Jeremy blushed, then tried to snuggle even closer and said, "Thank you, Tan. I love you." He then kissed my cheek, and started drawing away, before getting up and reluctantly heading for my bedroom door.

"Where are you going? You don't want to do anything? Not even cuddle with me for the night?" I teased.

"You mean - you still want me to stay?"

I pulled him back to me. "You'd better believe it, blondie!" I whispered. "That is, if you still want to stay?"

"YES!" he yelled enthusiastically.

I laughed. "Wow! Excited, much?"

He blushed. It was adorable. "I... I mean... Yeah. I'd like that," he said bashfully.

"Then lock the door and get those cute buns over here," I said, grinning as I pulled back the covers on the bed.

"But... Showers?"

I gave him my best evil leer. "Together?"

I could the flash of panic in his eyes. "No!" He paused. I saw the front of his pants stir. Something was interested. "Um... You want to?"

Despite my posturing, I wasn't all that sure I was ready for this. But if my mind wasn't sure, my body was. I'm sure I was blushing as much as Jer was, but I tried to bluff it out. "Sure. Why not?" As I got up and turned to my closet to get my bathrobe, my eyes fell on my alarm clock. "Shit! It's only five o'clock!" I couldn't believe I'd let myself get that carried away, that I'd even forget what part of the day it was.

Jeremy started laughing. "Okay, maybe later!"

"Laugh, you hyena." I said threateningly, with a grin. "You didn't notice either! But if you're going to be that way, my fingers are feeling a bit twitchy." I started eyeing him up and down. "Now... Ribs? Underarms? Feet?"

As I was saying all that, Jer's eyes were getting bigger, and bigger. He'd stopped laughing, but his grin showed that he wasn't really taking my threat seriously. Foolish boy. I leapt at him, but only caught a bit of his shirt, which ripped from my grasp as he dodged.

"Hah! You'll have to move faster than that!" he yelled, taunting me as he ran from the room.

I was hot on his heels, and tackled him before he'd gotten any further than the living room. I scrambled up his body as my fingers dug lightly into his sides. His screams of laughter brought both Mister and Mrs. G running, but they only stood and watched with grins of their own as I gave their son probably the worst tickle-torture of his life. Jer was tossing his body all over the place, pushing at me and shoving at the floor with his feet as he struggled to get away; laughing, threatening, and pleading with me.

"Gonna be good?" I asked him.

"No!" he yelled through his laughter.

Eventually he gave in, and I relented. I laid down next to him on the floor, and he gave me a token cuff on the shoulder before he cuddled into me. As he did, I kissed him on the forehead. "Love you," I murmured.

"Love you, too," he replied.

Two pair of shoes appeared next to us as Mister and Mrs. G came over and sat on the sofa. I tensed a bit. I had forgotten they were there. They kept saying they accepted my burgeoning relationship with Jeremy, but on an emotional level I hadn't quite accepted that. I knew they weren't comfortable with it, even as they did everything they could to make me feel at home.

"It's been a busy day. How about pizza?" Mister G suggested.

Jeremy and I both scrambled to a sitting position facing his parents as we vociferously voiced our approval. Hey, we're teenagers! Almost always ready to eat something, especially if it was greasy and tasty.

"Sounds great, Mister G!"

"Why're you still sitting there? I'm starving!" Jeremy exclaimed facetiously.

They laughed at our enthusiasm, but twenty minutes later we were sitting down at Jake's Pizza Emporium.

"So what'll it be, boys?" Mister G asked.

"It's Jeremy's birthday," I said, then turned to my boyfriend.

"What do you like, Jer?" I asked.

Jeremy looked pleased that I'd deferred to him. Then, looking at me, he turned thoughtful. "What do you like?"

I saw what he was angling to do; he'd find out my favorite, then order that. "Uh-uh. It's your birthday."

"Why don't you get a half-and-half?" Mrs. G suggested. "Then you both have what you like."

I shrugged. I really wanted this to be Jeremy's choice, but I knew he could be just as stubborn as I, so... "Everything but anchovies for me. Jeremy?"

Grinning at getting his way, at least partially, he declared, "Hawaiian with bacon for my half!"

Looking at his parents, I could see by their expressions that this wasn't unexpected. I hadn't heard of adding bacon to a canadian bacon and pineapple pizza before. I'd have to try a slice. "Bacon on a Hawaiian? Where'd you hear of that?"

"It was a manager's special at Tony's," Jer replied. "Pizza place back home; I mean, before we moved here," he added, when I questioned where that was.

Mister and Mrs. G ordered a medium pepperoni and green olive pizza for themselves, and we all wanted colas, so Mister G ordered a pitcher of Coke. Then Jeremy and I played a few video games while waiting for the pizza to arrive. Jeremy won a lot of them, but I wasn't a slouch, either. When the pizzas got to the table, Mister G called us over. Jeremy was so excited by the day, and maybe thinking of our upcoming night, he threw himself on me on the way back to the table. The place wasn't empty by any means, so thinking fast, I leaned my head back and laughed, and said, "Hey, little bro! Not so friendly!" Then I whispered to him, "Careful! There's kids here, and some may go to our school!"

"I don't care!" he whispered back fiercely, still grinning, but he backed off.

"You need to be more careful in public!" Mister G told Jeremy urgently in a low voice, after we'd seated ourselves.

"I'll try, but I hate this!" Jeremy replied in the same tone.

"You'd better do better than try!" his father replied. "In a perfect world-" He interrupted himself as a small group of people came by. "We'll talk about this later. Behave yourself!"

Jeremy was looking mutinous, but he nodded his head. I nudged him to get his attention, then gave him an evil grin I wasn't really feeling, and a wink, then flexed my fingers at him, threatening another tickle attack. He was fighting it, but I got a little grin out of him. "Eat!" I told him, grinning for real, now.

The pizza was good! The crust was crisp without being crunchy, the sauce was more than just tomato sauce with a bit of garlic powder (it was real stewed, chopped tomatoes with herbs and garlic that had been cooked down), and there was plenty of cheese and toppings. I stuffed myself, and Jeremy put away a lot, too. And that Hawaiian with bacon? Delicious! It added a nice smokiness to the flavor. I think I have a new favorite, now. There were only four or five slices left from the two pizzas, but Mrs. G had them box them up anyway. Said we'd probably finish them off later; meaning Jeremy and me.

On the way back home, Jeremy held my hand, rubbing it up and down his long, thick... Okay, I'm jerking your chain. That didn't really happen. His parents were in the front seat, for christ's sake! But we did hold hands.

We stopped at Silver Screen Video and picked up a movie. Jeremy wanted a horror flick, but the rest of us wanted nothing to do with possible nightmares, so he chose a fantasy action movie instead.

When we got back, the first thing Mister G did was set Jeremy and me down on the couch.

"Now: Jeremy," he said seriously, "about your behavior at the pizza parlor-"

"I know, Dad; but I hate having to hide!" Jeremy exclaimed, interrupting.

The look Mister G gave his son was compassionate, but stern. "I wish you didn't have to, but this isn't San Francisco. And even there you'd have to be careful where you show affection. As I started to say in the pizza parlor, in a perfect world, hatred and bigotry wouldn't exist. Unfortunately this isn't a perfect world, and this isn't San Francisco. Here, you could very well wind up in the hospital, beat to within an inch of your life! Even if you don't care so much for yourself, how would you feel if Ethan got beaten up because you were too demonstrative in public?"

"By the way, Ethan," he said, looking at me, "that was quick thinking back there. Thank you."

My face warmed a little, pleased with the praise, but I just nodded in acknowledgement that I'd heard him. I didn't want Jeremy to resent me.

Mister G turned his attention back to his son. "Do you really want to risk Ethan that way, Jeremy?"

Jeremy's face was beet red with mortification as he shook his head 'no'. I slipped an arm around his shoulders, to comfort him.

"You will be more careful from now on, won't you?" It wasn't a question.

Jeremy nodded.

"Good. Then let's watch that movie." He approached us, and as he got close and I saw his intentions, I dropped my arm from Jeremy's shoulder. Mister G gave his son a quick hug and a kiss to his temple, then went back and sat in his chair. The subject was dropped, and it wasn't brought up again.

The movie Jer had picked out was pretty good, and we soon relaxed and enjoyed it. It still had enough stressful moments in it that Jer was stuck to me like a second skin while we watched it. I think that's why he wanted the horror flick in the first place, the scheming brat. I was pretty sure he was faking fear and suspense to glom onto me, but I enjoyed it anyway. And Mrs. G was right; we finished up the leftover pizza in the last half-hour of the movie.

"Okay you two, time to get ready for bed."

I looked at the clock; it was just after nine. A little early, but... "C'mon, Jer."

He, too, looked at the clock, then at me. "This early?" he asked in surprise.

I raised my eyebrows at him and jerked my head towards the bedroom, trying to signal him - jumpstart his memory. "It's been a long day, Jer. I'm tired. Aren't you?" Okay, so it was about as subtle as a brick to the head. It worked.

"Oh - oh, yeah! Tired!" he exclaimed as he scrambled to his feet.

I rolled my eyes at him. I mean - I was bad, but this? I risked a peek at his parents. They were trying to suppress grins; at least Mister G was. Mrs. G was wearing a tiny, uncomfortable smile. I felt myself starting to blush. Oh, joy. I grabbed Jeremy's arm to hurry him up. "Come on, you. Could you be any more subtle?"

"Hold on a minute!" He freed himself from me, went back and gave each parent a hug and kiss goodnight. He came back to me, where I was standing trying not to squirm in my embarrassment, put his arm around my waist, then turned and waved to his parents with a grin. "'Night!"

I swear, with all the practice I'm getting, one of these days I really am going to learn how to sink through the floor! "Do you have to be so obvious?" I whispered. He just grinned at me and started dragging me to the bathroom. "Hold on, cowboy. We need pajama's and bathrobes."

"Cowboy?" he asked.

"Um... I'll explain later," I said, blushing again. "Let's get our stuff."

He looked at me a little strangely, but shrugged and made for his room, while I went to mine. I picked out a pair of pajamas which I had no intention of wearing (window dressing for Jeremy's parents), and my terry bathrobe, and went back to the bathroom. Jeremy was only seconds behind me.

Jer put his pajamas on the counter next to mine and hung his bathrobe on the hook over mine, then turned to me. I could see he was really nervous. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.

"I'm nervous too," I told him, pulling him into a loose hug. "We can take separate showers, if you'd prefer."

"No... No, that's all right," he said hesitantly.

He slowly reached for the hem of his shirt and started to pull it up. I stopped him, having just remembered my first shower in his house. "You have one more present to unwrap," I reminded him.

"Huh? Where?"

"You've forgotten?" I pretended to have hurt feelings. "My first shower here?"

He blushed a bright red. "That's all right."

"No, I insist."

"That's okay. I was just... "

I interrupted him. "I know what you were doing, love," I told him. "But now you're going to follow through on it."

"I'd rather not," he said, hesitantly.

Oh, this was good. He was so red I could feel the heat radiating off of him. Serves him right, spying on people. I was having fun with this. I let go of him and stepped back. "Jeremy Graves; you came in here and spied on me. Later, you told me you wanted me in charge. Well, this is your punishment. You wanted to see your 'birthday present' unwrapped, and you always unwrap your own birthday presents."

"Why are you doing this?" he whispered.

"So you won't be a liar," I told him. Then I decided to let him off the hook. "And I think it'd be sexy," I continued, with a grin. "I want to undress you, too."

But I might have pushed too far. His eyes were bright with unshed tears. I pulled him to me and just soothed him, then I tilted his face to mine and kissed him. When he'd relaxed, I reached for the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it up. I saw some concern in Jer's eyes, but he lifted his arms and let me pull it off him. I tossed it in the hamper, then pulled him to me again for more kissing, and stroking his bare back, shoulders, and arms. I pulled away a couple of inches so I could access his chest, and started paying some attention to that, including his nipples, then moved down his stomach and unbuttoned the top of his jeans, then unzipped them.

I was blessing Nifty Archives and that reading material Mister G had given us. I at least had an idea of what to do, even if I felt really awkward doing it. Jeremy seemed to really like it, though.

I pushed his jeans down, leaving his bulging briefs in place. "Hop up on the counter, Jer," I murmured in his ear. He turned his back to the counter and jumped up on it, then I pulled off his shoes, then his socks. He watched me with eyes slightly wider than usual. When I stood back up, I reached for his jeans. He put his hands over mine, stopping me. When I looked at him, he leaned forward, put his arms around my neck, and kissed me.

"Okay - now," he whispered, his voice a bit rough.

I smiled at him, slowly dragged his pants down until they bunched up, then grabbed the bottom of the pants legs and finished taking them off him, leaving my boyfriend sitting on the bathroom counter naked except for his briefs, which were now (and had been for awhile) very pointedly tenting out. My own cock was so hard it was hurting.

I ran my hands lightly up Jeremy's thighs, over his jockey-clad hips, and up his sides to just under his arms, causing him to shiver. I pulled him off the counter and he came willingly into my arms. I kissed him yet again. I just couldn't seem to get enough of the taste of his lips. Then I touched them lightly with my tongue, asking admittance.

He didn't get what I was doing right away until I became a bit more insistent, pressing my tongue between his lips, and then he opened his mouth. I snaked my tongue inside, tasting him, exploring his mouth, feeling the shape of his teeth, the strength of his own tongue as it gently caressed my own, before starting its exploration of my mouth. It was kind of awkward at first, since I hadn't done anything like that before. I could kinda tell Jeremy hadn't either, but we quickly got the hang of it. We had done lots of kissing this past week, but not with tongues involved.

Even breathing through our noses we quickly found we couldn't get enough oxygen to compensate for our excited bodies, so we eventually had to break off the kiss. I smiled at him, then rapidly stripped off my shirt, wanting to feel more of him against me, then reached for the fastener of my jeans. But Jeremy stopped me, then did it himself. He undressed me just as I had him, except he had me sit on the toilet stool to take off my shoes, socks, and jeans.

"Aren't you going to unwrap the rest of your present?" I asked him teasingly as I stood up. He blushed, but answered my dare by taking hold of my briefs, and sliding them down.

"Ouch! More careful with the merchandise, babe. It's your toy, after all." He hadn't taken into account that my underwear needed to be pulled over my erection, and it had been painfully pulled down with my jockeys before snapping back up and slapping my belly.

"My toy?"

"Unless you don't want it?" I teased, gently.

"Tan," he whined, complaining about my teasing. "Stop it."

I gave a low laugh and pulled him to me. He put his arms around my waist and laid his head in the crook of my shoulder. "You're mean," he complained.

I kissed his neck and slid my hands down his back and inside his underwear, cupping his ass. He shivered, and pressed himself more tightly against me.

"Gotta keep my hot boyfriend humble, you know," I teased. "As beautiful as he is, he might get a big head." With that I pushed his underwear down off his hips, than backed up a half step so I could push them down to a point where'd they'd fall off, making sure I didn't make the same mistake he'd made with my underwear. That left my face very near Jer's hard five inches. It was beautiful. The shaft was pale pink, smooth, and perfectly shaped, with a bright pink, heart-shaped head, a single dewey drop of pre-cum gracing the slit. I kissed it, and heard my boyfriend inhale sharply as it jerked.

"Wow. I just about lost it!" he told me.

I grinned at him as I stood back up. "Not out here. Wouldn't want to have to clean everything." I pulled him close to me, feeling his naked body next to mine for the first time, his cock pressed up next to mine; and then I felt his cock jerking, a hot wetness between us, and he made one single loud 'ah!' sound before he buried his head in my neck, muffling further outcries. His arms tightened around me and I had to hold him tighter as his knees threatened to buckle beneath him.

When he'd recovered somewhat, his face got as red as a beet and he started apologizing.

I was torn between teasing him unmercifully for it, and being flattered that he'd found me that stimulating. I went for the latter, and kissed him gently to shut him up. "Wow," I said softly. "I'm that sexy, huh?"

He hid his face against my chest. I just held him, and gave him little butterfly kisses wherever I could reach. After about half a minute, I said, "We still need to take a shower." I wanted to add 'now, more than ever', as I felt his come dripping down me, but I didn't.

I got the water started and adjusted, then started the shower and got in the tub, tugging on Jer's hand to pull him in after me. We washed our own hair, then I started soaping Jer up. He was hard again in no time. He made little noises as I hit certain spots, and I filed those away in memory for further exploration. He almost came unglued again when I started washing his pucker. His grip on me tightened and he whimpered, but he pulled through.

"You like that, huh?" I said as sexily as I could.

He blushed again, but nodded. "Yeah. I never knew my ass could be so... "

"Sensitive?" I said, guessing at what he wanted to say.

He nodded again. I decided I was going to try rimming him when we were more comfortable with each other - after a good shower, of course. If a finger could almost drive him up a wall... I found I didn't want to complete that sentence, even though I still wanted to try it. It was one thing in the abstract, but putting it into words made it sound so gross.

I turned us around and let him rinse off. Then he started washing me. His hands were so soft and gentle. It felt good to have him touch me. And in some places, the word 'good' just wasn't good enough. It was more like a low-level electric current combined with icy fire. I just hoped he was paying as much attention to my hot spots as I had to his. I was doing okay until he grasped my hard-on to wash that, and I shot - hard. When I recovered, I found I was on my knees, with an amused boyfriend trying to help me back up. Jeremy helped me stand, then I wrapped him in a fierce hug.

"Man, that was awesome!" I told him.

"So... You liked?" he quipped, with a small grin.

I laughed. "Yeah. I liked!" I said, giving him a firm kiss. Jer finished washing me (His fingers on my hole felt really good, but not as soul-shattering a feeling as his reaction would have led me to believe. Maybe he was just more sensitive), then we got out and dried ourselves. Jer reached for his pajama's. "Just put your robe on, Jer. No sense in putting on your pajama's when you won't even be wearing them for five minutes."

He blushed again, but not so fiercely this time. "Yeah; okay."

I shook my head. He could be so forward, and yet so shy. I was in new territory myself, so I wasn't the most confident person in the world, but I almost felt like an old pro, next to Jer. It helped that I'd done a lot more reading and studying on the subject than he had, of course. I didn't have any experience, but I had lots of 'book' knowledge. I still had to find out what Jer would like, though.

I peeked out the bathroom door. Finding the coast clear, we walked to 'my' room. Jer's room was further down the hall, but he had bunk beds in his room; for sleep-overs, he had told me at one time. They were a little wider than normal, but there still wasn't enough room for two randy boys to experiment with making love. Mine had a double-wide in it; a distinct advantage. I closed and locked the door. It wouldn't do to have Mister or Mrs. G forget and walk in on us.

Okay, so that wasn't likely to happen. You can't blame me for being a little paranoid about it, though.

I pulled back the covers on the bed, then turned to Jeremy. He didn't wait for me to pull him into a hug this time; he leaned into me, pulling my head to his for a kiss. Still, I could feel he was tense - nervous. "Sh... Relax, babe."

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

"For what?" I asked, confused.

"For being such a scaredy baby about this."

I couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound dumb, so I just untied his bathrobe, pushed it off his shoulders, and let it fall to the floor, then maneuvered him around and pushed him down on the bed. He sat.

"Climb in," I said, gently. He did. I took my robe off and let it fall, too (had to be fair about it, right?), turned out the lights, then made my way back across the floor to the bed. I almost tripped on our bathrobes that we'd just dropped on the floor, but I caught myself, found the bed, and carefully climbed in next to him. I cuddled up, pulling the covers up as well, and put my arms around him.

He was trembling, so I just held him and petted him. He was so 'hot to trot' until it came to laying it on the line. But that was okay, because it meant he wasn't casual. It meant something to him. It only made me love him more. Sure, I was a little frustrated, but we had relieved each other in the bathroom, so it wasn't too bad. He was just huddled into me at first, trusting me even while he was so scared, but it didn't take too long before he returned my embrace.

A couple of minutes later I could feel him bracing himself, then his hand started moving lower on my body. I caught his arm, arresting the movement when I found he was again trembling, even if ever so slightly.

"Let's just cuddle tonight, okay?" I whispered. I figured he was just trying to get sexy because he thought he needed to, for me.

"Don't you want to?" He sounded confused.

"Jeremy, with you, I always 'want to'. But we just got each other off a little while ago, so I don't need to - and I don't think you're as ready as you think you are. You're trembling!"

"But I-!"

I interrupted him. "Sh... Just cuddling tonight, okay? There's no rush." In my own mind I was calling myself all kinds of liar. I wanted to crawl on top of my Jeremy and hump on him so bad I could taste it; but I didn't want to scare him off, either. I wanted this to be more than a one-time thing, and if I pushed him too hard he might get scared and not want to do it again - at least, not for a long time. I sighed. Like my granddad used to say before he died, "Some things are better if you take time with them, boy. Sometimes, slower is faster." I didn't much understand it at the time, but I could see how that might apply, now.

Jeremy's arm came back up around me and he relaxed; a good indication that I'd made the right choice. Damn it. We kissed and cuddled, and explored each other's bodies for a while longer (except for the good parts, damn it). But it wasn't too long before the day's stress caught up with him, and he drifted off to sleep, leaving me with a six inch problem. Still, there wasn't much I could do about it without risking waking my boyfriend up, so I tried to ignore it. Soon I, too, drifted off.