Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2017 21:38:47 +0000 From: Douglas DD Subject: Aiden Chapter 31 Thanks for returning. In this chapter, Aiden's coach managed to quash the enthusiasm of Aiden and others had for playing the game of baseball. I love getting emails. Contact me at thehakaanen@hotmail.com Please give to the Nifty Archive to keep the stories flowing. CHAPTER 31 TAKE A WALK Aiden was beyond excited about his first baseball practice. He drove his dads and Mr. Knox crazy talking about it. If he had still been seeing Dr. Kelly, he would have driven him nuts as well. "It's going to be more fun than soccer," he told everybody. He didn't drive his friends crazy, since they were all as excited as he was, especially Mason. Mason had worried about kids making fun of him because he wasn't very good, but Larry assured him that there would be other kids who would be learning just like him. "Remember, Aiden has never played baseball, either." "You know what rule number one is when it comes to playing sports?" "That you need to be good?" "Nope. Rule number one is to have fun." "Daddy is right," Aiden added. "You and me are going to have lots of fun." "I will remember rule number one," Mason promised with a grin. "Have fun." Phil took off work early on Tuesday. He picked up Aiden and Mason at school. Practice was scheduled to start at five. Because of where they lived, Aiden would have to stay with somebody after school and then get to practice. But, for the first practice, Larry and Phil agreed it would be a good idea for one of them to take Aiden to practice and meet the coach. He took Mason as well, so he wouldn't have to go to his first practice alone. Mason and Aiden finished what little homework they had and ate a light dinner that Phil set out for them. They only had a little over an hour to take care of their afterschool business. Phil had the boys at the Park Department youth baseball complex at a quarter to five. "If you show up to practice on time," Phil and Larry had told Aiden since his first soccer practice, "then you're showing up late." The complex had three baseball fields. They had dirt infields so that any level of baseball or softball could be played on them. Aiden's practice was on Field One. The other ten-and-under team was getting ready to practice on Field Two. A twelve-and-under girls' softball team was finishing up practice on Field Three while a twelve-and-under boys' recreation team was waiting to take the field. Miles and Muddy were already at the field, standing by themselves. Aiden knew that only five fourth graders were signed up for the Knights: Miles, Muddy, Mason, himself, and a Parkwood student named Doyle. The Dodgers had four fourth graders who were all from Parkwood. Gordon, Rusty, and Matthew, a Parkwood student, were turning out for the travel team. The rest of the fourth graders playing baseball would be on coach pitch teams. Larry thought Mason would be best served by playing coach pitch, but Mason was determined to play with his friends, especially Aiden. Phil saw a man who was obviously the coach, and took Aiden and Mason to meet him. "Hi, coach. Phil Miller," he said, putting out his hand. Coach Estes gave him a clammy, limp handshake in return, but said nothing. "This is my son Aiden and his friend Mason. They'll be playing for you." "They're not very big," Coach Estes grunted. Phil was kind of put off by the coach's attitude. "They have big hearts and will work hard for you." "I'm not used to kids this little." He looked down at the two nine-year-olds. "Go grab a ball out of the bucket and start warming up. Tell the guys waiting around picking their noses to warm up, too." Aiden's first impression of his new coach was that he did not like the man. Mason and Phil had the same impression. Aiden and Mason hustled off to where the ball bucket was and grabbed a ball. "Coach says to start warming up," Aiden yelled out. "Where?" Trent, a fifth grader who attended Parkwood, asked. "I don't know; coach didn't say." The boys gathered up balls and walked off to the outfield to warm up. All of them, except Mason, Aiden, and Muddy had played baseball before and had an idea of how to line up for warmups. Aiden knew what to do from helping at the high school practices. Phil was surprised that Coach Estes hadn't introduced himself to the boys or given them any instruction. He acted like he didn't want to be at the field. Phil didn't like how he had addressed Aiden and Mason. The looks on their faces when he complained about how small they were said it all; they looked like somebody had popped their party balloons. "I suppose I better get the brats organized," Coach Estes said. "It doesn't look like they have a clue about what's going on out there." "It looks like you could use an assistant," Phil said. "Are you volunteering?" "I coach a fourteen-and-under team," Phil told him, "although we don't start turnouts until May." "Do you mean you coach for that horseshit club that the kids run?" "If you mean the Go to State Club, yes, I do." "How does it feel to have a bunch of snot nosed kids telling you how to coach." "I don't know, it's never happened. The kids run the organization. The coaches run the teams." "But they hire you, right? Sounds like communism or something to me." "It's complicated, but there is an adult board of directors. They need that to be a legal organization." Ned Estes snorted in disgust. "I'll tell you this much. Those assholes will have some competition next year." He turned and walked away, yelling for the kids to line up side-by-side. While Ned Estes was undoubtedly an asshole, he was an organized coach and he did know his stuff. After introducing himself and having the kids introduce themselves, he started putting them through various drills with mixed success. He seemed to be having trouble getting his points across at times. Finally, he stopped them and had them line up on the first base line. "How many of you guys have never played any baseball before?" Aiden, Mudrak, Mason, and four other boys raised their hands. "How many of you have played against a live pitcher, instead of having a coach pitch to you?" Only two boys, Trent and Patrick, another fifth grader, raised their hands. "Has anyone here ever pitched in a game?" The hand raising was down to one: Trent. "Well, boys, I guess we have our hands full. So, let's take some batting practice." Ned had to admit that Phil was right—he did need an assistant. He could tell already that the thirteen ten-and-under live wires were going to be a handful. He gave each boy ten swings against his lobs from the 45-foot pitching rubber. He saw plenty of swings and misses. Trent was obviously the best player among the fifth graders. But, the boys who hit the most fair balls were Aiden, Miles, and Mudrak, who were all fourth graders. They had the best hitting fundamentals of anyone and had obviously been coached by somebody. He found it hard to believe that Aiden and Mudrak had never played a game of baseball. He already had hitting drills set up in his mind for the next practice. He could see they had a lot to learn about hitting in the eight practices allotted to them before their first game. Fielding practice didn't go any better. He knew there would be problems when he saw that most of the boys had no idea how to track even a simple popup, and grounders scooted through almost everybody's legs. I should have had fielding practice before batting practice, he thought. Estes had the boys line up at the three bases. He showed them the basics, from the proper stance to making gator jaws with their hands when catching a ball. He was once again impressed with Aiden, who already had the basics down. There was no doubt that Phil had been coaching his son. He thought Phil Miller and Aiden Miller were father and son, not yet knowing their real relationship, or how Larry Sanders, the head coach at the high school fit into the relationship. Larry arrived to pick up Aiden and Mason as practice ended – Miles and Muddy were going to walk home together. He climbed out of the car and walked over to introduce himself to Coach Estes – Estes acted like he wasn't very impressed with the practice. As Larry and the two boys walked back to the car, he wasn't sure about the practice but he couldn't help feeling unimpressed with Coach Estes. "How did practice go?" Larry asked as they left for home. "Other than cold, that is." He knew how cold March practices could be. "Cold," Aiden giggled. "But, I don't like the coach." "Oh?" "He called Mason and me little." "Um, well you were the smallest boys I saw out there on the field." The car was approaching Mason's house. "But, he wasn't nice about it. Plus, he treated us like we were stupid." The car stopped in front of Mason's house, but Mason made no attempt to get out. He wanted to hear what Aiden had to say. So far he was agreeing with everything his friend was telling Coach Larry. "I doubt it was that strong," Larry said. "You are all beginners and have a lot to learn. Your dad and I have given you a lot of coaching. Most boys don't have that advantage." "That's not now how it is. When we do something new in math nobody knows nothing...I mean, anything. But Mr. Knox explains what we're going to do and never makes us feel like we're dumb. Coach Estes treats us like we're stupid, not like we don't know stuff." Aiden stopped for a moment. "Does that make sense?" "Yes, it does. How do you feel about it Mason?" "Aiden is right. Today wasn't fun." "Well hang in there, guys. Give Coach Estes a chance to get to know you and give yourselves a chance to get to know him." Aiden agreed to give things time. "And if we do that, then pretty soon we have fun, right daddy?" "You have it figured out," Larry smiled as Mason got out of the car. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ When Monday came around, the Knights had had another practice. It had been on Saturday morning. Tuesday's practice had been restricted to an hour and a half because another team would be using the field. They would be practicing under the lights. Teams that had practice on Saturday were able to use the field for two hours. The Park Department complex was in its second year of use. Mayfield voters had approved the money in September after the Mustangs won their second straight State A Championship. The baseball fields had become somewhat shoddy, except for the middle school and high school fields. The town was proud of their new complex, and having it lighted was the equivalent of adding three more fields. Saturday's practice had been better than their first one. Coach Estes was in a somewhat better mood. The practice and drills moved quickly. The parents had already appointed a team mother. It was Mrs. Gomez, Miles' mother, who all but volunteered for the position. Two mothers had water and oranges ready for the ten-minute mid-practice break. Aiden and his friends were sitting at their usual table for Monday lunch. Of course, their chat was about baseball. "You guys are lucky," Gordon said. "We don't start our practices until next week. One of our coaches called and said no matter what we heard, nobody was going to be cut. They had exactly enough players." Two former Mayfield Mustang players, Scott and Connor, were coaching the MayKent Roofing Pirates. While this would be their first time running their own team, they had helped coach the previous spring at the Park League level. Plus, they had worked at the Park League baseball day camp since they were in high school. And if they needed advice, they knew Coach Sanders and Coach Miller were available to help them. What Gordon didn't know was that the fourteen players picked for the Pirates had actually been picked in advance. Scott and Connor had consulted with the Park League coaches as well as the coach of last year's ten-and-under travel team. He had moved to Olympia, but was more than willing to help. They also used their own experience from the previous summer's day camp. "That sounds weird," Aiden said. "It's like they already knew who they were keeping." He didn't realize that he had been right on the mark. He also didn't realize that if his dads had allowed him to turn out for the Pirates, he would have been one of the keepers. But, there was always the chance that someone wouldn't pan out, which is why there was a place kept on the Park League teams for anybody who either didn't make the team or ended up not wanting to step up a level of play. "I don't like the coach," Mason said. "He's not nice to people." "Lots of coaches aren't nice to people." Miles stated as if he were an expert on the subject of coaches. "My dads are," Aiden pointed out. "Everybody says your dads are the best coaches in the town," Gordon said. "Although my daddy Larry yells sometimes. Me and Gordon have both heard him when somebody doesn't hustle or something." Aiden was paying less attention to his grammar around his friends. Larry had told him to relax around his friends and work seriously on his grammar around adults. Aiden liked that idea at first, but now, every time he said something wrong, like he just had, it jarred him. He kept remembering what Marty had told him about working on his spoken grammar. "It's just like playing sports, bro. You have to practice it all of the time or you'll never get it right all of the time." Aiden made the excuse that Marty was in high school when he worked on his speaking, while he was only in fourth grade; but, that was starting to sound like a lame excuse. "Coach Estes yells at me for everything," Mason whined. "Then you just have to work to get better," Miles told him. Everybody except Aiden was of the opinion that Mason should have turned out for a coach- pitch team. The subject changed in a hurry when Muddy yelled out, "Nailed!" "Dang, Muddy, you should be yelling out `Soft!' since you always seem to have a nail," Aiden giggled. "You want to see Mudrak's nail?" "Not here," Gordon said. "Somebody will see it and we'll all get in trouble." The truth was they all wanted to see it and secretly wished Muddy would pull his erection out of his pants. But, they all knew that what Gordon said was correct and didn't want to risk it. Lately, this scene had been playing out two-three times a week with the same result—nothing. "We all go to the boys' room to see," Muddy suggested. Muddy always made that suggestion. "Some nerdy kid will come in and squeal to a teacher or somebody," Miles said. Miles always made that objection. "Not me," Mason said. "I want to see it," Mason had never said that before. Aiden, Miles, Gordon, and Muddy all stared at Mason. "For real?" Aiden asked. Mason nodded. "We gotta all meet at somebody's house on spring break," Gordon said. "We can all get nails together and look at them." Gordon had never been quite that bold. The five boys agreed it was time to set something up. Spring break started on Saturday and the time to get things going was now. The boys rose to leave the lunch table. If anyone had looked carefully at Aiden, they would have seen a slight bulge in his jeans. Aiden's cocklet had become "nailed" as well. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ When Friday came, the Knights had had two more practices. Aiden tried hard to have fun, but it wasn't easy. Coach Estes kept yelling at the team. He yelled at kids for letting ground balls go by, he yelled at them for not being in proper position, he yelled at them for swinging and missing at "fat pitches down the middle," he yelled at the kids he picked to pitch for not throwing strikes, and he yelled for anything else he could think of to yell about. Mason was ready to quit. Larry sat down with Mason and his mother after Thursday's practice to suggest Mason stepping down and playing coach- pitch ball. But Mason was adamant about playing with Aiden and Mudrak. "Nobody makes fun of me at practice," Mason said. "Only one guy tried, and Aiden said next time somebody makes fun of me he and Muddy will do more than talk to him. Everybody cheers for everybody, even me. Only Coach Estes yells at me for being bad, and when he does somebody always says, `Good job, Mason, you're getting better all the time,' or something like that and makes coach mad." Mason had to stop to catch his breath—he felt like he had just run a marathon. "My Mason never talks that much," his mother said. "If he wants to stay with that team, he stays, but I'm about ready to give that coach a piece of my mind. He doesn't know how to handle kids." Larry wanted to agree with her, but he wasn't going to criticize a fellow coach in front of his players. Like Madeline Johnson, though, he was ready to have a chat with Coach Estes. Four practices into the season, things weren't going well. Aiden's group sat at their usual table. All five had worked on getting their parents to allow them to have a get together. They had included Rusty in their plans. Even though he attended the other elementary school, he was a part of their group. Between the parents and the six boys, a plan had been hatched. The Knights had baseball practice on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, so those days were out. But Wednesday was in. Wednesday was the day of the annual Nooner baseball game when the Mustang varsity team played a non-league game starting at noon. It was a big deal in Mayfield, with many businesses closing and quite a few Mayfield citizens developing mysterious headaches that caused them to miss work. The boys would attend the Nooner and then help put away equipment following the game. After that, they would all pile into the new Honda Odyssey and give the minivan its first real test. "What if Sammy wants to come?" Aiden wondered as the boys sat down to lunch. "Let him," Miles said with his usual bluntness. "Sammy gets bigger nails than anybody." "He won't want to mess around with a bunch of little kids like us," Gordon said. "He might if he finds out we're going to try messing around together," Aiden speculated. "I will show Sammy how to mess around," Muddy smirked. "I say he can come if he wants." "But, we don't invite him," Gordon said. "He has to ask to come. I'm afraid he might mess things up." Gordon was being his conservative self. He was starting to become looser around his friends, but he was still nervous about an older boy seeing him naked or with a boner. Plus, the memory of Jeffrey sucking Sammy was still sharp in his mind. "Too bad we can't all spend the night," Miles said. "My dads said when we're fifth graders he'll think about letting us spend the night together at my house if all the parents are okay about it," Aiden reminded him. "And we're going to be fifth graders in June as soon as school is out," Miles grinned. "Will we be able to go swimming?" Mason asked. "No, my dads said they don't get the pool ready until May," Aiden replied. Before they could say anything else, the fifth grade busybody, Shana Masters, passed by with her empty tray. Autumn Kellogg, a fourth grade girl in Aiden's class, was following her like a puppy dog. Shana turned to Autumn. "Those boys are going to get nasty, you just watch," she said knowingly. "I don't know why anybody would want to be friends with them." She and her younger shadow walked off in a huff. "I don't know why anybody would want to be friends with THEM," Miles growled. As he spoke, a little piece of cookie flew out of his mouth and landed on the table. Miles was really embarrassed but he knew he couldn't let that show in front of his friends. "Dang, Miles," Gordon said with a laugh. "Nothing like bein' a slob!" "Chill, dude," Miles retorted as he retrieved the piece of cookie and put it on his tray. "It was an accident." "They think they're so special," Aiden said. "Girls like them are a big reason I don't like girls." That brought a wave of agreement, even from Gordon who kind of liked the way Autumn's walk made her butt move. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ At Tuesday practice, Coach Estes was getting frustrated when none of the fifth graders outside of Trent seemed to be able to throw two strikes in a row. The players were frustrated, too, since it was hard to have a scrimmage when everybody was walking. James Hallion, Trent's father, was acting as an assistant coach. He didn't know very much about baseball, but he'd done volunteer work with kids' organizations and felt he could help supervise. Trent's father could see that Coach Estes knew his stuff when it came to baseball fundamentals, but he was not impressed by the way the coach treated his young charges. After Taylor Dillon walked four batters in a row without throwing a strike, Aiden mentioned to Trent's father that he knew how to pitch. He'd already told Coach Estes the week before, but the coach glared at him and said he wasn't interested in having little nine year olds pitch. "You should tell Coach Ned," Coach Hallion said. "I did. He said I was too young." "Have you ever pitched before?" "Only to my friends, but my daddy has been teaching me how to pitch." Unlike Ned Estes, James Hallion knew who Aiden was living with. He couldn't imagine any boy in Mayfield getting better teaching than Aiden would be getting from Coach Larry Sanders. "Let's go to the bullpen area and you can show me what you can do," James said. "I'm going to borrow Trent, Aiden, and Mudrak for a minute," he called out to Coach Estes. Trent was waiting for his turn to bat and Muddy was switching off playing first base. "Fine," Coach Estes said, "but don't be long." The bullpen areas were behind chain link fences and ran parallel to the two baselines. James had Muddy put his catcher's gear on. He was wearing the gear that Larry and Phil had purchased, not the gear that the Park Department had assigned to the team. Aiden and Mudrak played catch for a couple of minutes and then James had Aiden toe the pitching rubber. James knew enough about baseball to recognize that the little kid could pitch. He threw hard for his size, but the real key was that he threw strikes. He stopped Aiden after twenty pitches. "Thank you, Aiden. Good job," the coach said. "Did I do good?" Aiden asked eagerly. "You did great." Aiden remembered Marty telling him not to ask to play third base, or any other position. The way he saw it, he hadn't asked to pitch, he'd merely said he knew how to pitch. While Coach Hallion had said he'd done a good job, Aiden had a feeling that Coach Estes still wouldn't want him to pitch. The young boy had the feeling that Coach Estes didn't like him. Aiden wasn't too far off track. Ned Estes had asked people at work about Phil Miller after meeting him at the first practice. He learned that not only was Phil a good coach, he was also the husband of Larry Sanders, whose coaching successes had made him a baseball legend in the small town of Mayfield. While Coach Estes didn't dislike Aiden, he did resent the fact that the boy was on his team. He couldn't help but feel that the boy's existence meant there would be two experienced coaches constantly looking over his shoulder. The best way to end that problem was to make things difficult for Aiden without being overt about it, with the hope that he would quit the team. At the end of practice, Coach Hallion told Coach Estes what he'd seen in the bullpen. Instead of being praised for his discovery, he was chewed out for taking things into his own hands. Estes said he would abide by his no fourth graders pitching rule, no matter how good they might be. Coach Hallion was quickly discovering that the head coach didn't understand that the Knights were playing in a recreation league. They did not play the kind of competitive baseball that Estes had been used to coaching. Ned Estes was obviously fixated on winning, and yet he seemed to be making politics and personalities even more important. Now Hallion had to decide what to do about it. Aiden was disappointed, but not surprised, that Coach Estes didn't talk to him about pitching during the rest of practice, or after it. He was also disappointed that he wasn't being given any chance to play in the infield. He had been relegated to the outfield. After Thursday's practice, things would get worse. While his baseball problems bothered him, he didn't share his misgivings with his dad. As he did so often, Aiden wanted to solve his problems for himself. After being tucked in by Phil, Aiden had problems falling asleep. What was supposed to be one of the most fun things of his life was starting to turn into a nightmare. He didn't let his problems ruin his Wednesday fun with his friends at the Nooner, however. Aiden got to the high school ballpark early with Larry. Sammy was already there and Gordon showed up soon after Aiden arrived. The three boys helped get the dugout set up. When they finished, Aiden and Gordon went into the stands, where Mason, Rusty, Miles, and Muddy were waiting for them. They sat behind the Mustang dugout, where they yelled, cheered, groaned, ate hot dogs, and drank soda throughout the Mustangs 6-4 win over the Valley View Greyhounds. After the game they helped with cleanup. "So, you guys are all going to Aiden's house after we're done?" Sammy asked. "Yep. We'll have lots of fun," Miles replied. "You spending the night?" "Just Gordon," Aiden told him. His dads had allowed him another draw. Mason's mother wouldn't let him spend the night, and everybody agreed that Miles wouldn't be in the draw since he had won the first draw. That left Gordon, Mudrak, and Rusty in the draw. Gordon's name was picked which pleased Aiden. As much as he liked Muddy and Rusty, Gordy was his best friend. "Maybe I can join you sometime," Sammy said, "but somebody wants to hang out with me for a while before my parents get home." He pointed to Susan Fielding, who was sitting in the stands behind the dugout. "Marty's bed is gonna see some bouncing," he grinned. "She is so fine, but damn is she sexy when she's naked." "That means you're going to make out?" Mason asked somewhat naively. "Duh. The only thing we haven't done is fuck, but I'm working on it. I mean, it's really weird that I've fucked a lot of girls, but I haven't fucked my girlfriend." He looked at the five fourth graders who were obviously impressed with his sexual prowess. "Maybe I can get one of my friends to get naked for you guys some time. I mean, you haven't grown up until you've at least seen a naked girl." The boys nodded in unison, as if they'd never heard a better idea in their lives. "How many of you have seen a naked girl before?" Sammy asked. Muddy was the only boy to raise his hand. "Fuck, you guys need some education. I mean you've got to see one before you turn ten." "I already am ten," Miles said. "Then we can't waste any time." He looked around, shoved his hand inside his jeans, and massaged his obvious erection. "I am already boned up and totally horny." He jerked his hand out when he saw his brother Jeffrey entering the field with Larry and Phil. "Time for me to make Suzie happy." "Ready to go guys?" Larry asked. The fourth graders all said they were and started for the parking lot. "I take it you have other plans," Larry said to Sammy. "Yep, I got me a date." He pointed to Susan. "No practice tomorrow, right?" "Not until Saturday morning." Sammy gave Larry a wave and ran over to Susan Fielding. Larry was certain there would be some clothes shed somewhere in the couple of hours they had before parents would be coming home from work. The Honda Odyssey was packed with noisy boys, but everybody had room. Larry and Phil were pleased with the purchase and knew their new vehicle was going to get a lot of use. Phil had taken the day off for the Nooner and now he was going to be in charge of the boys while Larry did his duty as a coach. Larry drove his car to the Mayfield Inn, which was on Highway 12 just outside of town. It was the only facility in the Mayfield area with a banquet room. Larry knew he was expected to meet with the boosters and businessmen for a late lunch after the Nooner. It was an appearance that was good for the program. When Phil got the boys to his house, they asked about the construction work going on across the street. "That is going to be the new bike trail to the east end of the lake," Aiden told them. "My dad sometimes gets to stay home late in the morning to see how the work is going on it." "That means my mom and dad might let me ride my bike out to your house," Gordon gushed. "I just wish I had a bike to ride anywhere," Aiden lamented. The boys went into the house and tossed whatever backpacks and other belongings they had in Aiden's bedroom. "I got a big nail when Sammy started talking about naked girls," Rusty said as he closed the bedroom door. "I wish he could've come and told us more, cuz he gave me a nail, too," Gordon said. "Mudrak still has a nail." He grabbed his crotch, showing off his bulge in case nobody had noticed. Mason pulled off his pants and underpants, showing off his one-and-a-half inches of stiff boyhood. Mason's boldness, when it came to exposing himself, surprised and entertained his friends. "That's my nail, and I bet it's harder than anybody's," he boasted. He took off his shirt and was now all but naked. Muddy started to join him by pulling down his pants and boxers, exposing the four inches that continued to impress his friends. He sat on the bed so he could take his pants off when they heard Phil's voice. "Boys, the weather is nice right now, so how about heading outside," Phil yelled from the bottom of the landing. "Shit," Mason moaned. "Mason, you cussed," Gordon stated. "I never heard you cuss before." Mason grinned. "You seen me naked so you can hear me cuss." Muddy pulled his pants back up and Mason quickly got dressed. Aiden was seeing so much more to his friend than the shy boy who had been so easily picked on by Barry and Roger just a few months ago. Then Aiden had the thought that anybody who could stand in front of an audience and sing the way Mason sang couldn't be totally shy. The weather was beautiful for a mid-April day. The boys were active in the backyard. They played catch, kicked the soccer ball around, and played whiffle ball. Dinner was pizza. Larry, who had returned from his lunch, phoned in the order and left to pick it up. As soon as Larry left, the boys came inside to clean up. By the time they had washed their arms, hands, and faces, Larry returned with the pizzas. There wasn't much they could do about their dirty clothes—that would be for their parents to deal with. After eating and helping with cleanup, the boys retreated to Aiden's room. "The Mariners are on TV," Phil bellowed as they scurried upstairs. "We can watch it on my TV," Aiden yelled back. "Me thinks they have other interests than baseball," Larry chuckled. "They are only nine, at least all except Muddy and Miles. I know, I had a couple of sexual encounters when I was nine, but I didn't dwell on sexual things like those guys do." "You just didn't have the right friends," Larry chuckled. "Maybe if you'd had guys like Quinn, Perry, and me in your life you would've been a nine-year- old horn dog, too. "Besides, I think Sammy got them a little riled up. I know that he had a hand inside his pants when Jeffrey and I walked onto the field. I think Sammy embarrassed his big brother, and one has to work hard to embarrass the Hurricane." "You're sure your dads won't bother us up here right?" Miles asked as he closed the door to the bedroom. "I'm positive," Aiden assured him. That was all Mason needed to hear, and he had his clothes off almost instantly. Aiden thought that Mason was into sexual things as much as Muddy and Chase, who were older and had bigger cocks. "I like being naked," Mason giggled. "My mom won't let me be naked except when I take a bath." Aiden thought that Mason was getting a little weird, but didn't say anything. He liked Mason's weirdness. He wondered what it would be like to suck on a little dick like Mason's. He thought it would be like sucking his thumb—he could easily get the entire thing in his mouth, which was hard to do with Chase's and probably Muddy's. Miles had fit pretty nicely, and it was almost twice as long as Mason's tiny thing. As Aiden thought about Mason, Muddy had taken off all of his clothes as well. His hard four inches made Mason's little boner look like it hardly existed. Aiden had a boner of his own and while the eagerness of his friends to get naked and mess around excited him, his brain was not yet so driven by hormones that it lost most of its rationality. "Hey, guys, we can mess around a little, but we better keep our clothes on," Aiden instructed his friends. "I thought your dads never bothered you in your room," Miles said. He had his pants and underpants down to his ankles, his two-and-a-half-inch pole poking proudly up. "They don't, but we don't have a lot of time before you guys gotta go home." Like Aiden, his friends still had governors on their sexual urges. The exceptions were Muddy, who was entering puberty, and Mason who was overcome with the idea of being naughty and nasty. "Aiden is right," said Gordon, who was most conservative of the boys. "I will put my pants back on if Aiden puts my nail in his mouth," Muddy said with an impish grin. Muddy sat on Aiden's bed and spread his legs to allow access to his treasures. Figuring that there was time for at least a little bit of fun, Aiden dropped to his knees and sidled up to the big ten-year-old. He looked at Muddy's uncut four-inch erection and almost drooled. He didn't know why the idea of putting cocks in his mouth appealed to him so much, but he wasn't going to fight the urge. Aiden dropped his head and placed the top third of Muddy's cock into his mouth. Muddy's glans was covered by his skin, but neither boy seemed to care. "Ewww, that is so gross," Miles said. As Aiden bobbed his head he couldn't help but wonder about his friend's comment since not that long ago they'd exchanged blow jobs. On top of that, Miles sucked his big brother and one of his friends. Aiden wasn't enough of a student of psychology yet to realize that Miles was simply covering his ass. "Let me try," Mason said eagerly. Aiden, who was still fully dressed except for his boner sticking out of his open zipper, backed away, while the naked little nine-year-old replaced him. Like Aiden, he took in about a third, but he didn't bob his head—he simply sucked the cock with his lips. After about thirty seconds, he released his prize, a string of spit still connecting him with Muddy. "That was fun," Mason grinned. "Anybody else want me to do theirs?" "You can do mine," Rusty said as he dropped onto the bed next to Muddy. Unlike Gordon, Rusty was shedding his earlier reservations about messing around with his friends. Rusty was naked from the waist down. Mason switched boys readily and started sucking on Rusty's two-and-a-half inches. Muddy and Miles were both stroking their boners, but Muddy was doing it with much more fervor. He was thoroughly turned on and wanted to cum before it was too late. When Muddy started groaning, everybody turned their attention away from Mason and Rusty and watched Muddy's hand fly along his boy cock. Mason stopped sucking and watched as well. "Ahhhhhhhh, it comes," Muddy moaned, and then said a few foreign words as he lifted his ass up off of the bed. The other boys were transfixed as two squirts of clear liquid shot out of his cock and a couple inches into the air. "Unnng, feels very good," Muddy panted as he fell back onto the bed. "Did he pee?" Mason asked, his voice filled with awe. "No, that's cum," Aiden said. "You get that when you go into puberty." "That felt really good?" Mason asked Muddy. "Feels the best," Muddy replied. "You and Aiden make Mudrak feel good too. Best is sucking until you cum in mouth." "Ewww," Miles screeched again, even though he'd sucked and swallowed more than once in his young life. "I can't wait to hit publicly," Mason said. "It's puberty," Aiden corrected. Aiden was stroking himself slowly. He wanted to wait to jack off so he could slather his nail with lotion. "Mason made me feel good, too," Rusty declared. Muddy started getting dressed. Aiden wasn't the only one to note that his friend hadn't bothered to clean the drops of cum off of his bare pubic region. Mason dutifully followed Muddy's lead. Since none of the boys knew what they were looking for, they had no clue that Mason was developing a huge boy crush on Mudrak. As if on cue, Larry called the boys just as the last cocklet was safely zipped up. "Time to go home guys," he shouted. "We were ready just in the nick of time," Miles whispered with a grin. The boys grabbed their stuff and clambered downstairs and into the van. Aiden wanted to be with his friends when they were dropped off and hopped into the van along with Gordon, who was spending the night. Everybody agreed they had fun and couldn't wait to do it again. "And maybe all of us can spend the night," Miles hinted as he exited the van in front of his house. After getting back to Aiden's house, they watched the last two innings of the Mariner game on TV. The Mariners won 5-3, which made everyone happy, even if the team wasn't going anywhere. "Go take care of your business and we'll come up and tuck you guys in," Phil said as he turned off the game. "You and daddy are both coming up?" Aiden asked. "Well, there are two of you to tuck in, you know." "But, we're going to be in the same bed," Aiden pointed out. "So, you're not going to use your sleeping bag either?" Phil asked Gordon. Gordon looked over at Aiden. "You mean Miles didn't use his either?" "No," Aiden replied, "but we told you guys that." "I guess I wasn't paying attention," Gordon grinned. Phil couldn't follow all of the nuances of the conversation, which made him realize that somewhere in his life he'd started to lose contact with the secret life of boys. Ten minutes later Phil and Larry gave Aiden and Gordon quick hugs. "Don't stay up talking too late," Larry told the boys. "How do you know we're not going right to sleep?" Aiden asked. "I was a boy once," Larry reminded them. After his dads left the two boys giggled. "They didn't know we were naked," Aiden said in a we-sure-pulled-the-wool-over-their-eyes type of voice. "That's because we remembered not to leave our undies on the floor," Gordon said. "They just thought we had our shirts off." Aiden reached over and turned his desk light on. He peeled back the covers, exposing his smooth, slender body. His rigid little cock was pulsing above his satin smooth pubic mound. "I want to jerk off," Aiden stated. "I was going to when everybody was here but we didn't have any time." He noticed that Gordy was covering his privates with his hands. Gordy nodded. "You can do it now. I don't care as long as I can watch." "You gotta watch since we're in the same bed." "You could turn off the light." "Let me see your dick," Aiden pleaded. Gordy nodded again and removed his hands, exposing his own smooth body and pubic region. His body was that of a prepubescent boy, but was a bit more defined than Aiden's. His cock was a half-inch longer and maybe a quarter inch more in diameter. His smooth scrotum was descended a bit, but its precious stones were still the size of marbles. Like Aiden, there was no sign of a hair on his body outside of what was on his head. "Why did you cover it up? It's not like I never seen you with a boner before." Aiden asked as he took his bottle of lotion out of his desk. His dads never questioned him when he asked for more, so he never worried about running out. He slathered some on his cocklet. Gordy watched his friend's preparations before answering his question. "I dunno, I just wanted to, but now I don't want to." "You want to do it with me?" Gordy answered him by grabbing the lotion and putting some on his three inches of boyhood. Aiden started his hand going. Gordy watched what his friend was doing and followed suit. Aiden was pleased that Gordy was going to finally do something sexy; he'd waited a long time for that to happen. "I'll do yours if you want," Aiden offered as he remembered how nice it had been when Chase helped him his first time. "It's okay. I'll just do what you're doing." Aiden shrugged and the two boys went to work masturbating. They watched each other as Aiden used his left hand on himself. Gordy was right-handed like Aiden, but he was jerking off with his right hand instead of following Aiden's lead. "This feels good," Gordy rasped. "You know it. Go faster Gordy." Aiden picked up his speed. The mini-orgy in his room earlier had made him as horny as a prepubescent boy could get. He wanted an orgasm badly and he wanted it now. He was getting that feeling in his groin—the feeling that hooked him on masturbation. "Fuck, I'm cumming, Gordy. Shit." Chase had told Aiden that big boys cussed when they had orgasms, which was good enough for Aiden. After all, he was almost ten. There was a shiver, a shake, a rise of the hips, a bit more cursing, and the quiver of a cock trying to shoot something his balls were not mature enough to produce. Aiden settled back on his bed, his heart racing as he tried to get his breathing under control. "That was so good. Now you gotta get yours to do it, Gordy." Gordy kept jerking himself off. It felt good, but he didn't sense anything great happening. This was just like every other time he tried jerking off. It felt good, but it was nothing special. Lying face down on his bed humping the mattress felt just as good as far as he was concerned. "I'm quitting. I can't make nothing happen." Then something did happen—something that moved his young life into a direction he'd never dreamed of. Aiden's hand had somehow replaced his. It was now Aiden's fingers rubbing up and down his hard pecker as his own hands sat idly on his belly. Aiden slapped some more lotion on his friend's boner with his other hand and then started whacking his friend's pud in earnest. The way Aiden saw it, his cousin Chase had given him his first orgasm, and he was now returning the favor—passing it on, as Mr. Knox liked to say. The feelings that Gordy felt were beyond anything he'd ever experienced. It didn't take long for the inevitable to happen, both because of his best friend's ministrations and because of his own efforts leading up to it. There was a high pitched squeak, followed by a couple of convulsions, and the quiver of a hard little pecker doing something for the first time in its existence. Gordy pushed Aiden's hand away as his cocklet became exceedingly sensitive. "What happened?" Gordy gasped as he came back to his senses. "You had an orgasm," Aiden giggled. "That is what an orgasm is like?" "Yep." "Then I want more of them. You gotta show me how to do it to myself." "You were doing fine before I helped you. You just have to do it longer and not give up." "Is this what you and Miles did?" Aiden found himself rubbing his friend's bare chest with his lotion soaked hand. "Kinda." That was the best Aiden could do without lying. He hoped Gordy would accept that because he didn't want to mention kissing and sixty-nining, which he couldn't do because he knew Miles wouldn't like it. "I gotta wash this lotion off my dick. And now you got it all over my chest." The boys got out of bed, cleaned up in the bathroom, got back into bed and under the covers and were asleep within minutes of Aiden turning out the light. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "Do you figure the boys will go right to sleep?" Larry asked Phil after they tucked Aiden and Gordon into bed. "What do you think?" Phil chuckled. "Probably not." "Do you think they got a little bit naughty upstairs?" "Probably did," Larry said as he stroked the fuzz on his husband's chest. "You have a dirty mind." "I do. Want me to prove it?" "Go for it." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Gordon spent the next day at Aiden's house. The plan was for Larry to take them to the baseball complex for 5:30 practice. The boys said little of what they had done the night before. Other than taking their morning shower together and getting into a naked wrestling match for a few minutes (something that would have them dry humping each other in a couple of years), there was nothing remotely sexual about their day. They played catch, kicked a soccer ball around until it started to drizzle, and then read books and watched TV. They had sandwiches prepared by Phil for lunch, and leftover beef stew for an early dinner. At 4:30 they went up to Aiden's room to get his gear for practice. Gordy didn't have practice until Saturday. He planned on riding to the complex with Aiden and watching his practice. "You'll see why nobody likes Coach Estes," Aiden griped as he picked up his bat bag. "Somebody must like him," Gordy said. "There are even kids who like Miss Adams." Miss Adams was a generally disliked third grade teacher who was in her second year of teaching. Gordy had been in her class the year before. "Probably girls who raise their hands for everything and help clean up the room. They always like teachers and teachers always like them." "Brownies." "Yep. I don't like them. Shana Masters and Autumn Kellogg are brownies. They go walking around thinking they're so perfect all the time." "Aiden, did you and Miles suck on each other when he spent the night with you?" Gordy asked suddenly. "I can't tell you." "That means you did, but I know you can't say. Everybody knows he sucks his big brother, so why won't he say you and him did it?" Gordy and Aiden both knew the answer. Sucking your big brother was okay because big brothers were intimidating, but sucking your best friends wasn't okay because they were, well, your best friends. Even after watching Aiden and Mason suck Muddy, Miles still couldn't bring himself to admit he did it with Aiden. Aiden didn't care if Gordy knew he sucked Miles. After all, he had put Muddy's dick in his mouth and he had told Gordy he'd put Chase's dick in his mouth, but hadn't really sucked him. Like Phil, Aiden and Gordon were still working on figuring out the secret world of boys, deciding it would all make sense when they hit the mysterious state of puberty. When Aiden got to practice, Coach Estes called him and Mason over for a talk. Aiden felt a great deal of trepidation as he walked over to the coach, thinking he'd done something wrong. Then he thought that maybe the coach was going to let him be a pitcher. What he found out was almost the opposite of that—Coach Estes didn't want him to be a hitter. "You and Mason are the two smallest boys on the team. I want you both not to swing the bats when you are at bat during a game. I want you to stand at the plate and take walks," he informed the boys. "But, I hit the ball good," Aiden protested. "Why can't I bat?" Mason stood mute, not understanding that his coach was belittling him. "Because you're not as good as you think you are!" "I'm a better hitter than most of the fifth graders on the team." "Then you're either fooling yourself, or your uncles are feeding you a lot of horseshit." Aiden and Mason were both surprised by the coach's cussing. They did not expect that from a coach. "But what if I, like, have two strikes on me?" Aiden asked. "Take the pitch. You're small and have a little strike zone. I'll show you how to crouch to make it smaller." "That's no fun and it's not fair." Coach Estes took a deep breath and glared at the defiant little boy standing in front of him. "Look, I'm not going to argue with you. You're going to do exactly what I tell you to do if you want to be on my team. And I don't care who the fuck your uncles are, this is my team not their team. Mason hasn't said a word—he knows this is right, don't you Mason?" "I guess," Mason said uncertainly. He didn't like his best friend being yelled at for doing nothing wrong. "But I want to hit," Aiden complained. "And I want you to take a walk. So, shut up and go see Coach Hallion." Coach Hallion was running pregame warmups and had no idea what Coach Estes had discussed with the boys. All he knew was that they looked upset, especially Aiden who looked ready to rip somebody's head off. Take a walk, Aiden thought angrily to himself as he grabbed a baseball so he could warm up with Mason. I'll show him who's gonna be taking walks and it ain't gonna be me. I'm going to hit. Ned Estes stood behind home plate with his arms folded. The one way to not have Phil Miller and Larry Sanders looking over his shoulder, he thought, was to subtly force Aiden to quit the team. Mason was terrible and he would have had the boy taking walks only. But Aiden actually was better than many of the more experienced ten-year- olds. Yep, little Mr. Miller, you're going to be taking a walk alright—you're going to be taking a walk right off of this team. Next: Their Real Son.