Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2016 05:59:41 +0000 From: Douglas DD Subject: Aiden Chapter 20 Thanks for returning. Aiden gets involved in soccer intramurals and finds out that Larry has his back. This is a good time give to the Nifty Archive. Give yourself a little tax break and keep the stories flowing. CHAPTER 20 HALLOWEEN When Aiden awoke, he was surprised to be alone in the big king-size bed. He wondered how two big men like his dads could get out of bed without waking him up. It didn't occur to him that he was a very sound sleeper. He got up and headed for the bathroom. He had only been in the master bedroom bathroom a couple of times. As he peed, he admired the big walk-in shower and the Jacuzzi. He thought about how the big shower with its two showerheads would be a lot more fun for showering with his friends than the tub shower upstairs. After peeing, he wandered into the dining room where he smelled breakfast cooking. He entered the kitchen where Larry was busy at work. Larry greeted him with a smile. "Well, good morning and welcome to the world of the living." "You always say that when I sleep in," Aiden groused. "My, aren't we in a good mood this morning." "Well, it's true--you say it all the time." "Only because it is true." Aiden shrugged, his signal that he thought the conversation was stupid. "When are we eating breakfast?" he asked, as he came up with one of his quick topic changes. "As soon as Phil comes back from his run, which should be any minute now." "Why didn't you wake me up when you got up?" "Because you look way too cute when you're in dreamland." "How come you keep saying stupid stuff like that?" Larry wasn't sure what was eating his nephew. As he tried to come up with an answer to the boy's question, Phil entered the basement door and came up the stairs. He gave Larry a peck on the lips and ruffled Aiden's hair. "Good morning, young boss," he said, using the name Timothy, the deckhand, had given to Phillip in "The Cay". "Welcome to..." But, before he could say more, Aiden cut him off. "Don't say `Welcome to the world of the living,'" he said emphatically, all but stomping his bare foot on the floor. "Welcome to the wonderful, glorious, world of the living." Aiden grunted. "I said not to." "I didn't; I added the words wonderful and glorious." Aiden turned and stomped out of the room. "The young boss appears to be in a pissy mood this morning," Phil said. "Lack of sleep can't be an excuse," Larry said as he prepared the eggs for scrambling. "He must be practicing for puberty." "I was hoping it would wait until he was thirteen." "Given the life he's had, I'm surprised he how easy he has been to deal with, overall." Phil started for the master bedroom. "Quick shower." His shower was put on hold by Aiden showering in the master bathroom. Phil shook his head when he saw Aiden's briefs on the floor near the door. He heard the shower shut off and his nephew entered the bedroom within a couple of minutes, carrying a large brown towel. He was naked and made no attempt to cover anything up with the towel. "I thought you had a bathroom," Phil observed. "I slept in your bedroom, so I used your shower," Aiden told him as if that were a given. "Next time ask for permission." Phil looked at Aiden's damp hair. He was already in need of another haircut. "Give me your towel and I'll dry your hair." Aiden handed his uncle/dad his towel, turned his back, and allowed Phil to rub his hair with the towel. "You need a hair dryer--or shorter hair." "I don't want my hair short." "It was just an observation." "Whatever that means." Phil couldn't help but admire the splendor of his naked nephew. There was no doubt that he was going to be a very sexy beauty as he entered adolescence, if he wasn't already. His cousin Chase certainly seemed smitten by him. "Okay, son, it's at least dry. Be sure to run a comb through it." "If I feel like it," Aiden grumped. If he had to tell why he was so grumpy, he would say it was because he had to wake up alone in his dads' bed. Waking up alone was what his own bed was for--he expected some fathering when he woke up after sleeping with his dads. He didn't expect one of them to leave him alone and go jogging. Because real father and mother had abandoned him, abandonment issues often hit him in strange ways. Aiden started out of the door when Phil stopped him, pointing to the bathroom door. "Does that piece of white cloth on the floor belong to you?" "Yes." Aiden took one more step out of the bedroom when Phil raised his voice. "So, pick it up. I shouldn't have to tell you." Aiden glared at Phil, but he walked over to the bathroom door, picked up his underpants, and stomped out of the bedroom. When he got to his bedroom he noticed a plastic bottle lying on his unmade bed. He picked it up and saw that it was a bottle of skin lotion. The bottle brought an instant mood change. One of his dads had given him what he'd asked for. Plus, one of his dads had been getting breakfast ready. Maybe they were right, he thought. They didn't go away and leave him alone in their big bed. They had been doing things for him. Aiden put on a fresh pair of underpants. They were his tiger underpants--horizontal orange and black stripes except for the vertical stripes around the pee hole. He'd asked for the pair specially when he saw them on a recent shopping trip to Centralia. He pulled on a black t-shirt and a pair of orange socks, and padded downstairs for breakfast, feeling better about his dads. "Well, look at the orange and black fashion plate," Larry said as Aiden took his seat at the kitchen table. "You don't even need to get dressed to impress your legion of admirers." Aiden blushed and looked down at his plate, using his fork to play with his potatoes. "I'm sorry," he said without looking up. "Sorry for being a fashion plate?" Phil asked, hoping to entice his nephew to tell what it was he was apologizing for. "No." He continued to look down at his plate. "Aiden, look at us in the eye and tell us what you're sorry for." "For being a dork," he said, looking up at his uncles. He scooped up a mouthful of scrambled eggs. Larry and Phil sat patiently while he chewed. "I got scared." Phil and Larry nodded in unison. They wanted their nephew/son to tell things in his own way. While Aiden chewed his food, they thought how they needed to end the confusion over the whole uncle/dad and nephew/son business. "You weren't in the bed and I thought you didn't want me around this morning. Everybody always leaves me. Mom left me and my dad...my dad was hardly around and he left me and never said good-bye." "You wake up alone in your bed every morning," Phil pointed out. "That's different. Promise you'll never ever leave me. Please promise." Larry stuck out his hand and he and Aiden traded the secret family handshake they had taught him. "I promise I will never leave you." Phil gave Aiden the same handshake and promise. "And I promise if you are sleeping in our bed and Larry and I wake up at five in the morning we'll make sure to wake you up, too." Aiden gave him a quick, sulky glare, but when he saw the goofy grin on Phil's face he almost spat out his mouthful of potatoes as he fought back a fit of laughter. After breakfast and kitchen cleaning, Aiden read some while Larry and Phil straightened their bedroom, made their bed, and talked about the boy they hoped would become their son. Larry and Phil then sat with Aiden in the big multi-purpose room for the chat they'd promised him the night before. It was the first birds-and-bees talk for the nine-year-old. He listened, talked, asked questions, and even got a little turned on a couple of times. As they had in bed the night before, they went into the "am I gay?" issue and assured their nephew that playing around with boys did not make a statement. "Even kissing them isn't gay?" Aiden asked. "You have to learn somewhere." "I learned how to use the lotion you gave me," he said, knowing he was treading on unknown ground with his confession. "Good," Larry said. "It's something all boys should know, although most of them learn it when they're a little older than you are. And since I know you're going to ask, daddy Phil and I weren't much older than you when we started masturbating." Suddenly Larry wondered if he'd stuck his foot in his mouth when he realized Aiden hadn't said what it was he had learned. "So it's okay if I do it then?" "Yes, it's okay." They also answered his questions about fellatio, but they didn't bring up the topic of anal sex. They hoped that could be put off until Aiden was a bit older. They wondered if Chase might be pushing Aiden along faster than they would like, but decided that their nephew was a good kid. They knew that Troy was going to have his own talk with his son, which they hoped would slow down the sex education between the cousins some. "Any more questions?" Phil asked as they finished up. "Can I get a Halloween costume?" Aiden asked in yet another of his instant subject changes. Halloween was just three weeks away and they hadn't thought about discussing this important date with the nine-year-old. "Well, you could just trick-or-treat in what you're wearing now and say you're a tiger." "Or say I'm Tigger," Aiden grinned. A. A. Milne's Pooh books were among Aiden's favorites. "But I want to be in a real costume, not my underwear." "How about we go to the Halloween store in Centralia this afternoon and see what we can come up with?" Larry suggested. "Yippee," Aiden grinned. "Get dressed in your sweats or gym clothes," Larry instructed. "I thought we were going to get me a costume." "Just do it. More shall be revealed." As Aiden dashed up the stairs Phil gave Larry a confused look. "What are you plotting in your evil mind?" "Like I said--more shall be revealed." That afternoon at the Centralia costume store, Aiden kept to his orange and black theme for the day by picking a tiger costume. "I like tigers and Tiggers," he said simply. "Why a tiger costume over a Tigger costume?" "So I won't look like a little boy when wear it." After shopping they stopped at the batting cages. As Aiden started his first session at the cages, Larry told him that if he was going to be ready for baseball in the spring, the time to prepare was now. "Especially since you've never played the game," he pointed out. The session lasted a bit more than a half-hour. Larry and Phil agreed that was long enough for the first time. They'd be back a few more times before turnouts, making the sessions longer and a bit more intense each time. "Did I do good?" Aiden asked as they headed home on Highway 12. "You did great," Phil replied. "At the end you were hitting the ball with some authority." Aiden had started out by missing everything, but Phil and Larry showed him some simple mechanics which would make him a better hitter. "I started keeping my eye on the ball," the nine-year-old said proudly. "That was so much fun. I have baseball coaches for dads--is that awesome or what?" That night, Phil tucked Aiden in and read to him. "I was thinking that it was very strange for me, a boy from Virginia, to be lying beside this giant Negro out in the ocean," he read. Phillip was describing himself and Timothy, the deck hand. "And I guess maybe Timothy was thinking the same thing." "Once our bodies touched. We both drew back, but I drew back faster. In Virginia, I knew they'd always lived in their sections of town and we lived in ours." Phil read almost another two pages until he got to where Timothy told Phillip that he was from Charlotte Amalie where he was raised by an aunt. When Phillip asked Timothy how old he was, the old deckhand said, "Dat fact is very mysterious. Lil' more than sixty, `cause d' muscle in my legs b'speakin' to me, complain all d'time. But to be true, I do not know exact." Phillip was amazed that a man didn't know his own age. "'I'm almost twelve,'" Phillip told Timothy. "I wanted him to know I was almost twelve so he would stop treating me as though I were half that age." "I'm almost nine-and-a-half," Aiden informed Phil. Phil nodded. "Just a couple more months left," he said, even though Aiden's birthday had been just a little over a month before. Aiden yawned and said he was ready to fall asleep. He placed his bookmark in the book and laid the book on the desk. "Uncle Phil?" Aiden asked. "Yes, son?" "I never know whether to call you Uncle Phil or daddy Phil." "We'll work on that," Phil said softly. He made sure the boy's naked torso was covered and started for the door. "I wanted to ask you something." Phil surmised that Aiden's first question wasn't the question he wanted ask. "Go for it." "Phil is short for Phillip isn't it?" "Yes it is." Aiden smiled. "Cool," he said to himself as much as to Phil. As soon as Phil left his room, Aiden pushed away the covers, exposing himself and the bottle of skin lotion his uncle/dads had given him. He squeezed some onto his left hand and rubbed it over his flaccid cocklet. It felt cool and slick, just like it had when Chase had shown him how to masturbate. Aiden hesitated for a couple of seconds, hoping he didn't get Chase in trouble by confessing somebody had taught him about jerking off--masturbating, as the grownups put it. He quickly went back to work, pleased when his little dick grew to its full two, hard inches. He used his thumb and index finger and started to masturbate. He closed his eyes, loving the feelings his hand was producing. He was surprised at the thoughts that popped into his head while he jerked himself. He thought about Chase kissing him, he thought about him and Chase jerking each other off, he thought about wrestling naked with Gordon, and he thought about Sammy, along with Jeffrey and Nicky, jerking off at the pool during their skinny dip. His pace picked up, he rubbed the little head of his cock, he rubbed up and down his lotion lubricated shaft, and he soon could tell the good feeling was coming. His dick jerked, his body jerked, and he felt his cock contract, and a warm feeling rushed over him. He wondered if there was any better feeling in the world, not knowing that his little dry cum didn't come close to what he would be feeling as puberty hit. He turned on his desk light and put the lotion on the desk, and then grabbed a Kleenex and rubbed the remaining lotion off of himself. He smiled as he turned off the light and pulled the covers over himself. Jerking off was almost as good before sleeping as being tucked into bed and read to was--maybe even better. That ended Aiden's first solo masturbation session. It would be the first of countless more. As Halloween approached, the Bobcats played their last two soccer games. The first one was on the Wednesday after Aiden's stint in the batting cage. He told Gordon, Miles, and Muddy about it at school. Muddy, who was totally wedded to soccer, wondered how someone could have fun taking a bat and swinging and missing at a little ball. "I never miss a soccer ball when I kick it," he said. "I was hitting the ball pretty good at the end," Aiden reminded him. "Does the ball always go in the direction you kick it?" Miles asked Muddy. Muddy blushed a little when he answered. "Almost all the time the ball goes where I kick it." Miles and Gordon were excited about the cages and the three boys started to conspire to find a way they could all hit at the cages. Because of practice on Monday and a session with Dr. Kelly on Tuesday, Aiden didn't stay with Gordon after school until Wednesday. Gordon's mother didn't substitute that day and had lasagna prepared for the boys when they got home from school. "That should give you plenty of energy," she told them. The boys knew she was right because Aiden scored two goals and Gordon scored one as they won 6-1. Aiden was disappointed that he hadn't had a good chance to talk to Gordon about what had happened in his bedroom with Chase. That conversation didn't happen until the following Monday. He did tell Gordon about his tiger costume for Halloween, however. Gordon thought it was better than his Batman costume. "At least you get to roar or growl or something. I just get to stand around and just say `trick-or-treat'." The Bobcats played their last game on Saturday. Aiden didn't score, but they won 4-2. This time he knew better than to complain about not scoring. But, not scoring didn't seem quite as bad when your team won, Aiden thought. The win was especially big for the boys because it meant they were the unofficial league champions. In theory, nobody kept track of the standings, but in reality, everybody knew what they were--at least among the adults. The parents of the Bobcats made sure the news was shared with their sons. As a result, the boys knew what was at stake in their last game. After the game the team celebrated their unofficial championship at The Bear Pizza parlor. As far as they were concerned they had hit the big time with their championship. The pizza and soda was almost as good as a trophy in their minds. That night before he readied himself for bed, Aiden asked when Gordon could spend the night. He expected the standard adult answer of "soon", which to him was another way of saying "never". Instead Phil and Larry surprised him. "We've been talking to his parents about that," Phil said. "They have some busy family weekends happening, but said one of the first two weekends after Halloween should be good. They said they'd get back to me in the next couple of days, in fact." "Awesome," Aiden cooed. "But why didn't you tell me right away?" "Mostly because no news is good news. We got this news during the game today. As for Chase, it could be awhile because of the distance. Your Uncle Troy and I will work at it." At tuck in time, Larry read from the "The Cay". Aiden became frightened when Phillip became blind, apparently from the head injury incurred when he was hit by a falling board as the ship sank. He'd been suffering from headaches, but blindness had replaced them. Phillip was frightened and angry at Timothy for taking him on the raft and angry at his mother for leaving him in the water. He cried and took out his anger by pounding on Old Timothy. "If that will make you feel better, young bahss, den go ahead." "Phillip is blind and all alone except for Timothy," Aiden said. "That's really scary for Timothy. The book is getting really good. I wonder how long they will be stuck on the raft." "We'll just have to wait to find out," Larry said as he made sure Aiden was tucked in. Aiden was going to have his second ever solo jerk-off session, but sleep took over instead. It would be awhile before he became attacked by pubescent, "I gotta cum now before I can sleep," horniness. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Gordon sat down at the lunch table. Gordon usually purchased his lunch. His parents prepaid, which would have been a big help to Mason when Barry was running his little extortion ring. Aiden generally ate a lunch packed the night before by Phil. He enjoyed the tasty sandwiches his uncle/dad created, although he wished there was less fruit and more cookies and pastries in his lunch bag. "I brought it," Aiden said "Brought what?" Gordon asked. "My bottle of lotion," he whispered as Mudrak joined them at the table. He could tell right away he hadn't been quiet enough as the older fourth grader showed immediate interest in the conversation. "You have lotion for what?" Muddy asked. "Nothing, I just told Gordon I'd bring some and I brought it." Aiden couldn't come up with a good lie fast enough, so he said the first thing that came into his head. He knew he sounded lame, but he hoped his friend would accept it. "I know what for," Muddy grinned. For a ten-year-old, he was quite knowledgeable about sex. He had had two older brothers, some pubescent cousins, and an older sister who had no qualms about giving the "baby" of the family a solid grounding in sex education. Aiden and Gordon both blushed, realizing they'd been caught by their knowing friend. "I was just going to show him how it is used." "Boys with their skin don't need to use it when they get older, like my brothers." Muddy's sister was thirteen and his brothers were twelve and fifteen. "I have my skin," Gordon said. If he'd had any doubts about why Aiden had the lotion, Gordon's comment all but ended them. "Yeah, you'd be a skeleton if you didn't have any skin," Miles said as he and Mason sat at the table together. They had gone through the lunch line as well. "Shut up," Gordon grumped, wishing Aiden hadn't opened his mouth. "Someday, I join you, yes?" Muddy asked. Aiden nodded. His sexual curiosity had been ignited by Sammy and by his cousin, and he was not about to refuse his friend's offer. "Yeah, sure." "What are you guys talking about?" Mason asked. "Nothing you'd understand," Miles retorted cruelly. "I'm not stupid," Mason pouted. "You're supposed to be my friend." "I am your friend. It's just something you wouldn't understand. I don't know if I understand it." "So, tell me what it is." "Later, when we have time alone," Miles said as he started biting into his lunch. "Nailed," Aiden grinned. Everybody, but Mason, knew what he meant and they had knowing smiles as well. "You take care of nail after school, yes?" Muddy asked. Aiden knew there was no use denying what his friend knew. "Yes, after school." Then Gordon added something that pleased Muddy. "Maybe you can go with us after school sometime. I have to ask my mom first." He liked Muddy and hoped he could come over sometime soon. He also hoped the visit wouldn't be just about showing each other their "nails." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ When Aiden and Gordon arrived at Gordon's house they checked the kitchen for snacks. Aiden was pleased that Gordon's mom had left them some homemade oatmeal raisin cookies. There was also chocolate milk to drink. After they finished snacking they went upstairs to Gordon's bedroom. Aiden opened up his backpack and took out his bottle of skin lotion. "You want to do it?" he asked. He knew that Gordon could be up and down when it came to sexual things. "Don't we have math homework to do?" Gordon asked. "We can do that when your mom is home. We can't do this when your mom is home." "This means jerking off, right?" "Right." "What if I don't want to do it?" Aiden remembered what Larry and Phil had told him about not letting anybody make him do something he didn't want to do. He understood from what they had told him that the same applied to him--that he should never make anybody do what they didn't want to do. "Then don't do it," Aiden said. "But you're going to do it anyway, right?" "Not if you don't want me to. But, I'm nailed. Chase says that means I'm horny." Gordon shrugged. "We better do our homework." Aiden loved his friend, but there were times he just didn't understand him. He couldn't figure out why sometimes he was happy to get naked so they could show off their boners. He could remember wrestling naked with him and sleeping naked with him. Then there were days like today, where he just wasn't interested. Aiden had started to notice that the lack of interest seemed strongest when things went from just being naked to doing sex things. He shrugged and followed Gordon downstairs. They sat at the dining room table and got to work on their math. Gordon and Aiden were both solid students. It was no surprise that Gordon was a good student, after all both his parents were educators. Considering Aiden's chaotic upbringing, his love of reading and his successes in school were quite surprising. But, for all of her flaws, Aiden's mother tried to be a good parent. She pushed him to work hard in school, telling him that a good education would mean that someday he would have his own bed and his own bedroom instead of sleeping on a sofa in the living room. For his part, Aiden bought into it because he desperately wanted to get away from his often lonely, sometimes desperate existence. Their math assignment consisted of fifteen problems multiplying two-digit numbers by two-digit numbers. Since they knew their multiplication tables, solving the problems was a matter of getting the mechanics right and not making dumb mistakes. Aiden was on his last problem when Gordon called out, "Nailed." "Let me see," Aiden said. Gordon opened his pants and unzipped. Aiden saw that Gordon was wearing blue boxers with green squares and waited impatiently for his friend to fish out his "nail." He was rewarded when Gordon pulled out his three-inch erection along with his little ball sac. As always, Aiden was fascinated by his friend's junk. "Do you want to do it?" Aiden asked. "Do what?" Gordon asked even though he knew exactly what Aiden was referring to. "You know, jerk off." "I dunno--my mom will be home soon." "So, we can do it in your room. We won't get naked so all we have to do is pull up our pants." Aiden was unzipping as he talked and he quickly has his little erection on display. "Come on, Gordy, it's fun." He started to slowly masturbate himself. "I want to do it, but I get scared." "Scared of what?" "Everybody I see doing it gets crazy looks on their faces and moans and groans and they shiver and everything. I don't think I will like it." Gordon hadn't answered his question, so Aiden let it drop. He was an expert at changing topics. The boys finished their math with their boners sticking out of their underpants. Aiden wished he could take his pants and underpants off, but he respected Gordon's wishes. He wanted to do sex stuff with Gordon badly and wished Gordon wanted it too. Maybe he needed to do it with a different friend. He was still slowly rubbing himself when he thought of Muddy, who seemed to know a lot about sex. Maybe Muddy would jerk off with him. He was so ready to at least pull his pants down when he heard a car pull into the driveway. Gordon's mother was home. Two preteen cocks were quickly tucked into their lairs. She gave both boys big hugs after she entered the house. She knew the importance of motherly hugs for her son as well as for his new friend. "We finished our homework," Aiden told her proudly. "All we had was math," Gordon added. The talk soon turned to Halloween, which was exactly two weeks away. She asked Aiden if he had planned his trick-or-treating. "Kinda. Uncle Larry is going to take me and Uncle Phil is going to stay home and give out candy." What Larry had told Aiden was that because the houses were widely spaced along the lake and because there were no sidewalks on the road past their house, it would be easier for him to do his trick-or-treating in town. "Can my friends come with us?" Aiden had asked him. "Not a problem. And I promise to stay out of everybody's way. You don't need an adult holding your hand," Larry had told him. "Do you have a costume?" Flo Lansing asked. Aiden nodded and told her about his tiger costume. "It's a little big on me." "Getting Halloween costumes to fit is a specialty of mine, right kiddo?" Flo asked her son. "Yep." "Can Gordy trick-or-treat with me?" Aiden asked, hopefully. "I don't see why not. I'll call your Uncle Larry and get things all set up for the big night." "Thank you, Mrs. Lansing." He gave the lady a hug around her waist. "You're almost like my mom." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The week flew by for the boys. Boys' intramural soccer started on Wednesday. It was a co-ed league and there were enough players for five teams. Aiden was picked by Samantha O'Keefe to play on the Kickers. He thought it was weird that his captain was a girl, but he accepted it. Two of his close friends were on the Kickers: Muddy and Mason. Aiden's group of friends had worked hard to convince Mason to play. It was the first time he had tried playing any sports and his friends were proud of him. Mr. Richards and Mrs. Lollar were sharing the duties of running the league. Games would be played every day since there were five teams and because they would have to deal with weather delays. The Kickers played their first game on Friday, defeating the Sounders 4-2. Gordon and Muddy each scored a goal for the Kickers. Aiden went to Gordon's house after school every day. While they displayed boners a couple of times, Aiden didn't try to push Gordon into taking things further. Once again he remembered what Larry and Phil told him about pushing somebody to do something they really didn't want to do. For his part, Gordon was disappointed that Aiden was happy to keep their sexual play tame. He wanted to do more, but not enough to suggest it. What he wanted was for Aiden to talk him into jerking off, even if he wouldn't admit it. On Wednesday evening, Flo stopped off at Larry and Phil's house, bringing Gordon with her. Aiden had been dressed in nothing but his red briefs, but he quickly dashed upstairs and pulled on a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt when she pulled into the driveway. While she chatted with Larry and Phil, Aiden and Gordon disappeared into Aiden's bedroom. "What's your mom doing here?" Aiden asked. "She's going to see how your costume fits and then take it home and make it the right size." "I keep asking about us spending the night together," Aiden said. "Me, too. Mom and dad keep saying right after Halloween." "That's what my uncles say." "Are we going to sleep naked again when we have our overnight?" "If you want to." "Cool," Gordon said, stating his approval at while at the same time not saying he'd actually do it. Before they could chat any more, they were called downstairs. Flo had Aiden put on his tiger costume and made some marks on it. "It's a little big, but doesn't fit badly at all," she stated. "I'll have it fixed by Monday." She looked at the tiger boy and said, "And I know exactly what to do with your face." "My face?" Aiden yelped. "What do you want to do with my face?" "More shall be revealed," she grinned. That night Larry tucked Aiden in. He read some from "The Cay". Timothy thought he saw land and Phillip, even though he was blind, stood up to see and fell overboard. Timothy had to jump into the sea to save him as a pair of sharks closed in. Timothy had warned Phillip earlier about standing on the raft and about the presence of sharks. He was furious with Phillip while at the same time he was relieved the boy was safe. "When that shark bumped Phillip, I thought for sure he'd bite him or something," Aiden said as Larry closed the book. "I don't blame Timothy for being mad, but Phillip got excited. I bet that island will be their home." "It is a very small island," Larry said. "They are called cays--the Caribbean has a lot of them." "And that is the title of the book," Aiden grinned as Larry made sure Aiden was covered. Larry kissed Aiden on the forehead. "I love you, son." "I love you, Uncle Dad." Larry and Phillip had agreed to that the uncle/dad ambivalence would need to be solved after Halloween and before the big holidays arrived. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The week before Halloween was another routine one for Aiden, but, as with any week, a few interesting things happened. The Kickers played two soccer games, losing their second practice game 1-0 on Tuesday to the Panthers, and then beating the Timbers 3-0 in their first league game on Friday. Aiden scored two goals after being shut out on Tuesday. Things heated up for Aiden and Gordon after school on Tuesday. With nobody due home for at least an hour and with no homework to do, the boys discussed what they were going to do when they got to Gordon's house. They had come to no conclusion when they entered the house through the back door. They removed their shoes in the mudroom and placed them in Gordon's shoe box. They went to Gordon's room and removed their jackets. Aiden's pants followed. Gordon grinned and took his off as well as his shirt. Gordon followed suit and the boys were down to underpants and socks; Aiden wearing white briefs and Gordon in red and gray boxer briefs. "Now I feel like I'm home," Aiden giggled. They went to the kitchen for their afterschool snack, feeling naughty wearing only their underpants. This was how Aiden was normally dressed at home, with maybe a t-shirt now that the weather had cooled. But being half naked in the kitchen at Gordon's house was simply naughty. After eating they headed for the living room to see what was on TV. Gordon never made it to the remote because Aiden yanked his friend's boxers down to his knees, revealing his pert, white bubble butt. "Hey, that's not fair," Gordon said. He wasn't sure whether to pull his boxers back up or kick them off. "Why isn't it fair?" Aiden asked. "I wasn't looking." Aiden stepped up to Gordon and pulled his boxers all the way down to his ankles. "This time you were looking," he giggled. Gordon kicked off his boxers and Aiden stepped out of his briefs. Aiden brought Gordon down to the carpeted floor and a naked wrestling match was on. The boys had been flaccid, but it didn't take long for them to sprout little preteen erections. When Gordon rolled against the coffee table knocking a picture book on the floor, he suggested they go to his room. They grabbed their underpants and dashed to the bedroom. After a couple of minutes of rolling on the floor, Aiden was sitting on top of the bigger boy. He looked down at Gordon, knowing what he wanted. "Want to kiss?" he asked. "No way. That's for you and your cousin. Nobody puts their spit in my mouth." "I could spit on your face right now." "I dare you." Gordon knew right away that was a dumb thing to say. Aiden let a wad of spit form and then dripped it onto Gordon's chin and neck. "Eww, that's too gross," Gordon screeched. When Aiden relaxed and laughed, Gordon was able to get the advantage and was soon on top of Aiden. This time Aiden ended up with a wad of spit on his mouth and chin. He opened his mouth and licked up his friend's saliva. "Hmm, good." "Aiden Miller, you are the grossest guy I know." Gordon reached back and grabbed Aiden's boner. "Maybe I should spit on your nail." "Then it would be like Sammy's." Aiden liked the feel of Gordon's hand on his cock. He was about to suggest they get on Gordon's bed and masturbate when they heard the back door open and Flo Lansing calling out that she was home. The boys had their underpants, pants, and shirts on in an instant and went to the living room. The delay did cause Flo Lansing to wonder what the boys had been up to in Gordon's room. Aiden didn't keep his pants on for long. After Flo put her coat and purse away she came back with Aiden's costume. "I assume you're going to wear this with shorts on." Aiden nodded. "Then take off your pants and put on your costume." "But then I'll be in my underpants." "I've seen little boys in their underpants before, and I've had a glimpse of you in less." Aiden shrugged and stripped off his jeans. He was glad his boner had deflated; he would have kept his pants on otherwise. Everything fit fine. "What about my face?" he asked. "Have you ever had your face painted?" "Yeah, when I was little." "Well, you're going to have it painted again on Halloween. It will be orange and black." "Way cool," Aiden grinned. He took the costume off and put his pants back on. It had been decided his costume would be dropped off before the community party on Saturday. Larry would join them for an early dinner of macaroni and cheese. Then Aiden and Gordon would put their costumes on and hit the candy circuit with Larry watching over them. He planned on being as unobtrusive as possible. At Thursday lunch, Muddy announced he had a nail and offered to show it off. "We believe you," Aiden said. "We'll all get in trouble if you get caught." "I could show you in the bathroom," Muddy offered. "Then I'd have to show you the one I've got." While nothing came of the incident, the five boys at the lunch table didn't forget it. It left Aiden and his friends with the idea that Mudrak could be a sexual daredevil. Friday night was high school football night. Aiden sat with Gordon and Miles as the Mustangs lost 14-13 to Lakeshore in a tight game. It was their final game of the season. The loss put them into a tie for the last playoff spot with Monte, but the Mustangs had defeated Monte in their league game, giving them the playoff spot. On Saturday, Aiden and his friends all showed up at the community center in costume for the kids' Halloween party. Even Mason, who usually didn't get involved in any out-of-school events, was there. He was dressed in black and sporting vampire fangs. Gordon ended up not wearing his Batman costume--he had outgrown it. His mother quickly put together a pirate costume for him, which made him feel much better. He hated the Batman costume. Aiden had been clad in his orange t-shirt, orange and black briefs, and orange socks as Flo painted Aiden's face in orange and black stripes, except around his mouth and cheeks. Those stayed orange, except for black whiskers along his cheeks. "You look very tigerish in your underwear," Gordon's father told Aiden, who smiled proudly. He was one of the few boys Aaron Lansing knew who could stand proudly in his underpants. "Have you thought about making that your costume." Aiden laughed and said he had. "But nobody would know I was a tiger," he concluded. Everybody agreed that Aiden looked very cool. Nobody was surprised when he won the award for best fourth grade boy's costume. He was ready to go trick-or-treating on Monday. And on the cay, Timothy and Phillip had set up camp. Phillip becomes frightened when Timothy and Stew Cat, the ship's cat who had sailed with them on their raft, wandered off. Blind and alone, Phillip became very frightened. When Timothy returned, he implored Timothy never to leave him alone again. But Timothy was afraid they'd entered the Devil's Mouth--an area surrounded by cays and reefs that ships never entered. "I thought they'd be rescued when they got to an island," Aiden told Phil. "You've read enough books to know better than that, kiddo. For one thing, we're only half-way through the book." "I know, but I want Phillip to be safe. I keep wanting to pick up the book and finish it, but I want us all to do it together. I know you and Uncle Larry read what you missed, but I don't think you read ahead." "We don't. We're all in this together, young boss." Aiden grinned as Phil pulled his blankets up to his chin and kissed him on the forehead. Phil turned off the light and Aiden fell asleep, dreaming of Halloween. It was going to be his best one ever. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ School on Monday seemed to last forever. Aiden didn't even have an intramural soccer game to break up the monotony. He already felt like he was in costume--he was wearing his orange and black briefs, orange t-shirt, and orange socks, all of which had been washed Sunday afternoon. Aiden, Gordon, and Miles ended up going door-to-door together. Mason had told them on Saturday he'd go trick-or-treating with them, but he never showed and nobody answered the phone when Gordon called his house. Miles was dressed as a logger, which was appropriate in a community where logging was still important. Flo had painted a five o'clock shadow on Miles while Gordon had a moustache painted above his upper lip. The boys did quite well as they wandered through the neighborhood. They recognized some of their classmates, including Muddy, who was with his twelve-year-brother. Larry watched the boys from his car, which he parked across the street from the side the boys were on. He moved it up on occasion as they walked from house to house. Aiden had been excited about this night for the past two weeks. His chatter about being a trick-or-treating tiger was almost nonstop at times. Larry felt warm fatherly love as he watched his happy nephew with his friends. He didn't notice anything different about the three young teen boys who were strolling along the sidewalk across the street from him. But his interest awoke when they stopped Aiden and his friends. Aiden, Miles, and Gordon had just finished accepting Mounds bars that were dropped into each of their bags. The old couple who lived the house raved about their costumes, seeming to add an extra compliment for Aiden's Tiger. They thanked the couple and walked down the short walkway to the sidewalk discussing who would be trading what with Miles for his Mounds bar after he told them he didn't like anything with coconut. They passed through the gate and were stopped by the three teenagers. While each of them was wearing a mask, none of them were wearing a costume. Most of the teens liked going after treats without going through the bother of being burdened with a costume. "Hey, losers," the biggest of the three said, "we want our share of your candy." Gordon and Miles took a couple of steps back, but Aiden held his ground. He caught the strong smell of alcohol on the teen's breath, a smell he had become quite familiar with as he reached his ninth year. "It's our candy; everybody gave it to us and not to you," he said as if the boy was an idiot and didn't understand the rules of Halloween. "You don't understand, faggot--I live on this street. You have to pay a toll to use it and I'm the toll collector." The other two teens nodded as if that were the absolute truth. The elderly couple opened their front door as two four-year-olds with their mothers knocked and yelled, "Trick-or-treat." "I know who you are, you faggot, and you and your queer friends are going to pay me and maybe even my suck my dick. I get some of your candy and you get some of my cum. What do you think of that, losers?" "You're the loser," Aiden said. "We have the right to use this sidewalk." "I've got this little asshole," the teen told his friends, his words slurring some. "How about you take some toll from the other two." The teen went for Aiden's bag, but the little nine-year-old shifted it behind his back. He was frightened, but he wasn't about to give in to a big bully. The teen was angry because he hadn't intimidated the boy. He was ready to step things up. Since he was wearing a werewolf mask, he was acting with the certainty that nobody could identify him. While he wasn't drunk, he was thirteen and inexperienced with drinking alcohol. He had imbibed enough to give him a buzz and to impair his judgement. "You messed up my friend, Barry, you fucker," he screamed at Aiden. "You and your gay tiger costume. It's ugly and you're ugly and I hate you and I hate your fucking uncle or whoever he is." The teen reached his arms out to push the boy into the ground. Aiden caught a glimpse of the figure of a man crossing the street and lost his fear. The teen's two friends saw the same thing; they knew who he was. "Peter, don't say no more and don't touch the little kid," one of the teens warned. "That is very sound advice," Larry said as he stood behind the thirteen-year-old. "Shut up, old man. This is between me and this little fucker." "It's between you and me now. How about taking off that mask so I can see who I'm talking to." "Fuck you." "Peter, don't," the friend repeated. Before Peter's slow mind could figure out what to do next, Aiden reached up and pulled up the teen's werewolf mask, revealing the face of Mayfield Middle School's star athlete, Peter Astor. Having heard his name, Larry already knew who it was. The mask fell to the ground. "I want for you to turn around," Larry ordered forcefully. Instead, Peter took a couple of steps toward Aiden. Larry gestured to Aiden to step back, and he did so. "If you lay a finger on that boy, I'll see that you're charged with assault." "If you touch me, I'll tell the police you molested me, so, how are you gonna stop me?" Peter's two friends had been drinking as well, but they hadn't gotten as buzzed as Peter. They stepped in between him and Aiden. "What the fuck are you doing?" Peter yelled. "You better turn around." "And look at some piece of shit adult who can't mind his own business?" Peter didn't have to turn around, however, because Larry moved so that he was in front of Peter. "I'm sure you know who this piece of shit adult is now, don't you?" "Fuck," was all Peter could say as soon as he recognized Coach Sanders. Larry thought the look on the boy's face was priceless. "You tried to touch me. I got witnesses. You can't get me in trouble." "He never did a thing," the elderly man who lived in the house said. One of the mothers who'd just been at the house with her son concurred. "Give it up, Peter," his friend, Rodney, advised. Peter took a deep breath. "We were just playing around, coach. I was just kidding everybody, right Aiden?" "No way--you were serious." "You knew I was joking, right coach?" Peter tried again. "I smell alcohol on your breath," Larry said, which was his way of saying Peter was in very deep shit. "I'm fucked," he mumbled. "If you have your phone on you I want you to call home." "No, I don't have to do anything you say." "I don't have time to mess around with you, Peter. You've messed up my kid's Halloween and his friends' Halloween, and you'll have to pay sometime. Now is as good as ever." Larry pulled out his own phone and dialed 9-1-1. When Peter realized what Larry was doing, he turned and started to run away. His friends joined him. Larry watched them get to the end of the block when a police car showed up. Larry pointed to the boys turning the corner at the intersection. "He's right," Aiden said as he watched the policeman stop them, "he's fucked." Larry stifled a laugh and let Aiden's comment slide by. He couldn't think of a more appropriate way to describe Peter's situation. "Are you okay, kiddo?" Larry asked. "Yeah, I just got a little scared is all." Aiden planted a big hug on Larry. "You came and saved us." "How about we all head for home," Larry suggested. "Yeah, I'm done," Miles said. "We'll trade candy and stuff when you and Gordy spend the night," Aiden said. "Sounds like a plan," Gordon said in his best trying-to-sound-like-an-adult voice. "At least, that's what my dad calls a good idea." Over the past week, parental negotiations had set up a three-way weekend overnight the next weekend for Miles, Aiden, and Gordon. Larry and Phil volunteered to host it. "But only if we have permission to tie them up if they get out of line," Larry told Gordon's parents when he picked up Aiden on Friday. "Are you really going to tie us up?" Aiden asked as Larry drove him home. "Don't test us," Larry replied tersely. Aiden nodded. He'd had Halloween on his mind right then. He'd worry about the overnight after he'd taken care of the serious business of extorting candy. Next: Thanksgiving.