Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:20:33 -0400 From: J K Subject: Funny things happen part 24 As always comments welcome at imawriter123@gmail.com As Josh and I walked up to the restaurant, he stopped me before we went in and said to me, "Dad, I know that we just took a huge step and made a major change in life, you going to be OK facing Mark right now?" I looked at him and he had such caring eyes, so genuine and heartfelt, that just like everything else it just melted me. Drove me nuts that he had that power over me but it didn't matter, and I said to him, "Yea, I'll be fine. It's not as if this moment hasn't been anticipated for more years than you can count. You know he had me and quite honestly you pegged for a long time and our wants for each other. Tell me something, has it been that obvious all along?" He just looked at me, didn't say anything for a few minutes and then finally said, "Well I'm not sure how long or if I've ever been transparent about things but, you, even I knew from very early on that you were in love with me. But before you even shoot back at me that was a good thing- it helped me through more than you could ever imagine-yes including my stupidity. But we can discuss that later. Let's go and have dinner first OK?" I just looked at him smiled and nodded. He didn't have to say it but I knew what he meant. Which was basically shut up and forget it, doesn't matter anymore.' And who was I to argue with it? He was right, but even with all that said, walking into that restaurant was still daunting to say the least. But all that said I walked into the restaurant and saw a man with a huge smile on his face. It was such an odd situation. I had the man I had been lusting after for so many years, standing next to me not just as my son but finally as my lover. And in front of me I have a man that I have loved for 7 years, who has stood behind and next and in front of me without thinking twice, knows what is going on, and yet still greets me with a loving smile. What a sick world I lived in. As we walked over to the table Mark jumped out of his chair went over to Josh gave him a big hug and kiss on the head and told him how proud of him he was, and then turned to me, came over to me first took my hand and started to shake it and then pulled me into a great big tight hug, licked and nibbled on my ear and said, "I want you to know how happy I am for you. And how much I've been hoping that this would finally happen for you, you deserve it every bit of it." I just hugged him back even tighter and said, "Thank you Mark. Thank you so much for understanding and being who you are. I don't know what I would do without you." He just chuckled and said, "Simple, you have the man of your dreams now, and he will be there for you just as you will be for him. And you are a lucky enough man that you will even have me as well. I may not be in bed with the two of you, but you can't get rid of me either. I'll always be around if you need me." Just as he finished saying that, Josh made his little noise to signal the fact that we were somewhat ignoring him and interjected, "Shall I leave the two of you alone? Or can we eat dinner now?" He was such a smart ass and yet, as I've always said too damn smart for his own good. But, as it was, Mark and I separated and sat down and it went back to a standard dinner between the 3 of us. Josh was talking a mile a minute about what how he felt that things ended and what it is that he actually did at the school that he just happened not to say anything to either of us about, and I finally piped up and said, "Um, you know I do have a question for you. Just why is it that you chose not to say anything about you being valedictorian? I mean it is one thing to surprise people with things, but that's a little more than a surprise don't you think?" He just looked at me and simply said, "Because I know you, and I didn't want you making a whole big thing out of it. It happened that's what I was/am and that's it. And before you even ask, yes I have been in contact with my mother over the past years. And no I didn't tell you because I honestly didn't think that it was necessary to bring her up. She was more than a problem to you and didn't need to be any more of a problem than she was to begin with. You put her out of your life and rightly so, and my guess is you won't ever see her again. And that's that." It was said so simply, and so definitively that there was no response to it, so I just nodded my head in agreement and left it alone. After that we finished up dinner and now I came to an interesting cross road here, who do I go home with? Back with Josh till we leave or back with Mark till we leave? In the midst of that I felt a hand on mine and then heard, "Dad, I'm going out to meet some friends for drinks before I drive home tomorrow. I'm having everything shipped back down no sense in going home getting the truck and coming back. So you guys can go and do what you want tonight and then catch the plane down tomorrow.." but I didn't even give him a chance to finish that sentence, looked straight into his eyes and said, "You go and have fun tonight and don't get too drunk, and we'll see you at 7am tomorrow morning for breakfast." He nodded, came over pulled me into a tight hug, kissed me and whispered, "I love you, and thanks." He then went over to Mark, gave him a big hug again and then ran off. As Mark and I were left standing there, we just looked at each other in a strange way almost as if we didn't know each other anymore. But he walked over to me, took my hand in his and took me with him as we walked down the street back to the motel. Neither one of us said anything as we were walking, I wasn't really sure there was anything to say at this point. He then stopped, turned to me and said, "David, I love you. I've loved you from the day that I lay eyes on you. You are the most beautiful, caring, loving and sweetest man that I know. I can't explain to you how happy I am for you that this has finally worked out between the two of you. I can see the glow in your face and in his, and you deserve each other, were made for each other, and can now complete each other." I just looked at him, didn't know what to say. What could you say to that? Nothing. I just took his hand in mine, nodded and we walked back to the hotel. Normally the minute we got into the room he would have ripped my clothes off thrown me onto the bed and fucked me till there was no tomorrow. But tonight was different we both knew that, that part of our relationship was over. We wouldn't be having sex anymore, hell after tonight we wouldn't be sleeping in the same bed anymore. And truth be told, I actually felt weird getting into bed with him tonight, even after 7 years, getting into bed with Mark tonight was strange and felt wrong – as if I didn't know this person anymore. But on the same token, I needed to curl up with him for the last time to make the last night special. After I finished packing everything and came out of the bathroom, he was already laying in bed under the covers and lifted them up for me to get in under with him. And as I crawled in, with my back against his chest, he wrapped his arms around and whispered into my ear, "You are a very special man David, and I love you, I always will love you. And I want you to know that I hold absolutely NO grudge, no unhappiness, no anger towards you or Josh at all. I knew walking in to this that it was always a possibility, and after a while I hoped and prayed that it would become a reality for you. And over the past 7 years I've had the pleasure and privilege of being with you and with him. And I want you to know, that no matter what happens, where I am, what I'm doing if you ever need anything all you have to call and I'll be there. And I said the same to Josh." I had tears in my eyes, and turned around and said to him, "I love you too Mark with all my heart, and thank you so much for everything, and for being you. I could not have lived the past years without you. And the same you say to me, if you ever need anything all you have to do is call and I'll be there, no matter what." He smiled at me nodded his head and then closed his eyes. I shifted myself to face the other way again and fell asleep with a smile on my face knowing just how lucky of a man I was. The following morning I was laying in bed staring at the ceiling waiting for Mark to get out of the shower so that we could check out and go over and meet Josh and thinking about what really did transpire over the past 7 years and how incredible it really was, and chuckled over the fact that if someone told me this story I'd never believe it. But it was true, it did happen, and now, it was going to happen even further. As I was sitting there thinking I didn't even hear Mark come out of the shower or start talking to me until he tapped me on the shoulder and said, "You are going to drive back down with Josh today right?" I just looked at him with one of those faces that said `now isn't that the dumbest question you've ever asked'. But just smiled and said, "Yup, it will be somewhat of a memorial trip since this is about the same time we drove out from Florida over to San Diego." That actually had hit me until I said it. It was eight years ago this week that Josh and I left Miami on our road trip to a `new life'. And here we were doing it again. Except this time, we were doing it as lovers. And Mark just looked at me and said, "Good. I know that the two of you have a lot to talk about, and I won't worry if you don't make it home tonight." And he just winked at me, scary how someone can know you so well, then again, I suppose that factor was probably obvious. So Mark and I checkout jumped in the rental car and went over to meet Josh for breakfast and then to set off going home. I assumed Josh would figure I was driving home with him, so I wasn't going to say anything at breakfast, and if I was wrong I'd make it a `surprise'. As we showed up by Josh's dorm, he was putting the last of his things into his car (at least what would fit in it) and he looked up, saw us and one of those signature smile broke on his face. And it just melted me like it has for so many years, and he just dropped everything and ran over to me and gave me a deep passionate kiss and said, "Morning lover boy, I missed you." I had to hold back my tears, how long I had wanted to hear those words come out of his mouth. The feelings I had right then were indescribable. I just nibbled on his ear lobe and said, "I missed you too baby." This all just felt so right, his arms around me, his hot breath on my neck. It was right, and this was the way it was supposed to be. Finally we separated and saw Mark just sitting on the hood of the car watching us and smiling and he said, "You know the two of you look perfect together if I didn't know better I'd say you were of the same blood!" And then we just all burst out laughing. Cause we were all of those things, perfect and of blood. So Josh walked over to Mark put his arms around him kissed his cheek and said, "Thank you." Mark just looked back at him, smiled and said, "You're welcome." And then in his usual way, Josh jumped up and said, "OK we need to get you 2 to the airport, to catch your flight back down and I'm going to get my ass on the road to make it down there by tonight." I turned, looked at Mark and then back at Josh and said, "Well actually WE are going to get our ass on the road, I couldn't imagine that you would think that I would let you drive home alone now would you?" He paused, just looked at me and then broke into one of the biggest smiles ran over and fell into me again and kissing and licking my neck and saying over and over, "I love you, I love you, I love you." What could I respond to that other than, "I love you too baby, so let's get going." And gave his ass a slap and pinch at the same time that he sucked and nibbled on my ear and then gave a pinch of nipple, and said, "Better be careful buddy or you're going to be in big trouble!" I just laughed and nodded, but truth be told, I wanted nothing more than to be in the biggest trouble possible. That said, Josh ran over to mark gave him a kiss and hug good bye and then jumped in the car. Before getting into the car myself, I walked over to Mark looked into his eyes like I had done so many times, and said, "I love you too, thank you so much. And have a safe trip back." He looked back into my eyes with nothing but a smile on his face and said, "You're welcome and I couldn't be happier for you. Drive safe and I'll see you back in San Diego either tonight or tomorrow." Winked at me and then got into the rental car and drove off to the airport. And then I turned and got into the car with Josh myself. We just looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity, we both knew that we were embarking on a new chapter in our lives and were both excited about it. He took my hand in his and said, "Should we say happy anniversary? Or something else, since we were sitting like this quite a few years ago ready to do the same thing, starting a new and exciting life." He remembered too! While I wasn't really surprised, I was glad that he did. And I smiled and said, "Why don't we call it our maiden voyage?" He looked at me smiled and then leaned over and kissed me and said, "Sounds good to me!" Sat back in his seat, turned the car on, and hit the accelerator and we sped off heading south for San Diego, this time hand in hand. As we jumped on the highway, just like the first time so many years ago, Josh was talking a mile a minute about so many different things, that I lost track after a while. But it didn't really matter because I was listening to his voice, not to what he was saying. The sound of it just made me melt, as did everything else about him. He was just the most beautiful person, that I couldn't imagine how I managed to be separated from him for such a long time. In the midst of that thought he squeezed my hand and said, "Hey earth to dad!" I quickly blinked my eyes and said, "Yes lover boy?" He smiled at me and then said, "We do have to talk about something." All of a sudden I got nervous, because this really was like a repeat. And I slowly said, "What is it?" He quickly looked at me and then back on the road and said, "Mark. What do we do about Mark now? I know you love him, I love him he's a second father to me. I couldn't bear for him to just disappear from our lives. That just can't happen." I knew this was going to come up, didn't know when but it was going to, and I just said, "He's not going to disappear. He loves you as his own son just as much as you love him as a father. As you can see he's good with what we have and how things turned out for us, in fact he's happy about it. Even more so, pushed me to make it happen faster, at times I was just too stubborn to listen. In any event, we'll figure out the living arrangements in due time. Obviously you'll be moving into my room and he'll take one of the other 3 bedrooms to choose from and we'll go from there. It'll be fine don't worry about it. Even if he's not living with us, he's not going to disappear. OK?" I could see the smile on his face and he said, "Good cause I still need a person trainer, and someone to bitch to about you when I need to! And from what I saw yesterday , it appears someone else hasn't been working out lately either." I laughed and said, "You're damned lucky that you're driving because if you weren't you'd get punched for that last comment!" He just laughed and said, "Oh yea? You think you'd get off that easy tubby?" Now, he was just looking for trouble, I just chuckled to myself and said, "Yup!" Right after I said that, I realized that I shouldn't have. That was just fuel to his fire and of course he could beat me at any physical contest and he knew it too. He was already getting to be comparable to Mark's size, but what was said was said. And then before I had even realized it, he had pull the car off the road parked and said, "Out of the car old man!" At first I thought he was kidding, but quickly realized that he wasn't. But his seatbelt was already off and he was out of the car. He came around opened my door and said, "Let's go buddy! I'll show you who will win now!" And in 30 seconds I was out of the car and on pinned down on the ground. God, he really was as strong as Mark, was scary actually I didn't realize how big he had gotten. Even with fucking in the woods yesterday, I guess I was too busy with everything else to realize it. And while I knew it was just being playful, I considered fighting back, but then decided against it figured if he wanted to play like this it was going to be at home and in bed. So I surrendered saying, "OK, OK, you win." He looked at me and smirked. (He immediately knew what I was doing, and I hoped he would go along with it.) And he said, "Good but I'm no fool. Tonight, in bed you're mine!" I looked back at him deep into his eyes and said, "We don't have to spar for that, I already am yours now and forever. Nothing will ever change that." The devil look left his face and returned with an expression of deep love and affection, and he leaned down kissed me and said, "I know and I'm yours now and forever as well, and nothing makes me happier than to be able to say that. Now come on let's get back in the car and go home." As we got back into the car, we both sat for a minute and just looked at each other. I'm not exactly sure why it was or how it was, but there was this odd vibe that had formed between us. It wasn't bad (at least I didn't think so), it was just `different'. And then he smiled and said, "Ready?" I nodded and we sped off. For the next 5 or 6 hours there was a very eerie silence in the car- literally just as it had been 8 years ago. I think we had come to a point that neither of us knew what to say. We were getting closer and closer to home where that turn in road would really happen. After we walk in that door, nothing will ever be the same. I guess that is an eerie feeling to do deal with, but at least in my eyes, a good one. As we pulled into the garage and into Josh's parking spot between mine and Mark's. Josh turned the engine off and we both just sat there, staring at the wall in front of us and then at each other. Then both nodded our heads and got out of the car. As we walked around the car, we met each other, looked into each others eyes, he took my hand in his and I gently stroked the side of his cheek and then leaned in and kissed him, licked his ear and whispered, "I love you." He smiled kissed me back and nodded his head, and took me by the hand and walked us out of the garage and into our building. As the elevator opened onto our floor we stepped out and walked to our door, and with a shaky hand, I put the key in unlocked the door and opened it, took his hand and walked inside. As he slowly closed the door behind him, he turned and looked into my eyes and I back into his and I softly said, "Welcome home sweetie." And I saw tears start to fall from his eyes, and then he just fell into me wrapping his arms around and squeezing me as tightly as he could, before pulling back to look at me. I wiped the tears off his face with my thumb as he smiled and said, "It's good to be home." As we turned around to walk out of the foyer and into the living room we found Mark standing there staring at us with a big smile on his face and with a chuckle he said, "Welcome back love birds. I wasn't sure whether you'd make it home tonight or not." We both smiled and I said, "Well what would be the point, just puts off being where we wanted to be any way. So lead foot here sped our asses down the highway and here we are." He smiled nodded, and said, "Good, then go sit down and we can celebrate the two of you stubborn lovers finally getting together." And with that he turned and walked into the kitchen as Josh and I looked at each other a little strangely but walked into the living room hand in hand. And just as I sat down on the couch, and Josh plopped himself down right next to me and put my arm around him and lay his head on my chest, Mark walked back in with the ice bucket a bottle of champagne and 3 flutes and then looked at us and said, "Jeez, haven't the 2 of you been sitting long enough? Get up I want to make a toast, and then you can go and do what you want to." So we both stood up, were handed our glasses of champagne and listened to Mark as he said, "To the two people that I love most in the world, may you spend the rest of your lives in happiness and bliss. No more hurt, nor hardship, no more waiting or question. You deserve every bit of this and I hope that you cherish and love each other forever." Josh and I looked at each other, both with tears flowing down our faces and then back at Mark clinked our glasses and then both went over and kissed Mark on each side of the face and I said, "Thank you. Thank you so much for being you, and what you've done. I could have never survived without you." And then Josh quickly added in, "Nor could I. I, we love ya." He blushed and smiled. We all took a sip of the champagne, and then Mark looked at his watch and said, "Well it's almost 8 and I figure the two of you want to relax. So I'm going to go and catch a movie and see you 2 love birds later tonight or in the morning." He handed me the ice bucket and bottle of champagne, winked at me and headed out. Josh and I looked at each other again a little strangely. I mean we both knew what he meant and were grateful for it. Though not that it really mattered, even if he stayed home and watched TV no one would know the difference you couldn't hear anything from upstairs anyway. But the odd part about it, was that he didn't just leave the ice bucket on the table, he handed it to me and walked out. And I figured fuck it, why not just take it upstairs, it's always good to have after making love. So Josh took the 2 glasses and we walked upstairs to our bedroom. As we opened the door, our mouths just fell to the floor. Crazy man that he is, Mark had turned the room into a room of romance. It was lit with candles and there were 2 roses on the center of the bed with a little card. I put the bucket down and went over to read the card, "David & Josh congratulations on the beginning of a new chapter in life. Love and cherish each other for as long as you both shall live. All my love, Mark." Josh and I just stood there holding each other and staring at the note and then at each other, Josh smiled and said, "He's a wonderful man and we'll deal with him later. Right now, I have to make love to you." I looked at him and into his soul and said, "I couldn't agree more." I leaned and gently kissed him, then harder and deeper, with a passion that had been waiting and begging to get out. I tore his shirt off, unbuttoned and slid his jeans off, and lay him down on the bed and began my tongues exploration of his body. There would not be a square inch untouched. I licked and lathered every piece of him, licked and sucked his nipples toes, fingers ears, anything that I could touch and feel. The moans that escaped him were only fuel to my fire, as I finally came back atop him and looked directly into his soul and said, "Make love to me."