Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2018 18:15:38 +0000 From: Douglas DD Subject: Aiden II Chapter 11 Welcome back. In this chapter, Aiden learns a lot about Lenny and Lance as they spend a night at his house. It is also time for trick-or-treating and for Thanksgiving. Please give to the Nifty Archive. They need your donations to keep the stories coming. I love getting your email. Douglas thehakaanen@hotmail.com CHAPTER 11 LENNY AND LANCE SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28 The game ended with the referee's whistle. The Mayfield Kings had a hard-fought 3-2 win over Kentburg, giving them not only the Park League ten-and-under championship, but also an undefeated season. The Mayfield boys cheered and hugged and jumped on each other. There was even more to cheer about since the boys knew that win or lose they would be enjoying a pizza fest at The Bear Pizza. It wasn't long before the boys were scarfing down pizza, gulping down sodas, and sharing stories about the game. The spotlight was on the Hazen twins, Lenny and Lance, who each scored a goal, as well as Aiden who kicked in the winning goal with two minutes left to play in the game. Another star was Percy Gardner, a fifth grader at Parkwood School, who did a stellar job as the goalkeeper. The game had been the perfect way to end the season. "Okay boys, and parents, remember that our team banquet will be in two weeks, at the Mayfield Cafe," Coach Bill reminded everybody. The day wasn't completely over for many of the boys. While there wasn't one big overnight, since no parent was brave enough to host one, there were quite a few smaller overnights scheduled to happen. Among Aiden's friends, Brody would be spending the night at Gordy's, Mason would be staying with Miles, and Rusty would be hosting Kenny Gray, his best friend at Parkwood. This was the first year Kenny had played soccer, or any sport, on an organized team. Like Mason and Brody, what he lacked in talent he made up for in enthusiasm and hard work. Unlike Mason and Brody, he wasn't a skinny little kid. He had a big build and a possible future in football. The kids on the Kings nicknamed him "Moose", a name he enjoyed. Aiden was going to play host to the Hazen twins. The twins had never done an overnight. They had been making friends with fellow fourth graders, including the ones playing on the Kings, but their mother and the mothers of their friends felt their boys were still too young for an overnight. Even though he was a fifth grader, Aiden had become their best friend. The twins' mother was a little concerned about her sons staying overnight with a boy a grade up from her sons. She had no problem at all with the gay parent thing. But at the school the twins attended in Seattle, she had seen older boys take advantage of younger boys and wondered if that would be the case with Aiden and the twins. Leslie Hazen had a tendency to hover over her three children. "There are kids like that everywhere," Larry told her, thinking of Peter Astor, Russell, Roger, and Barry, to name a few. Aiden had not yet made him aware of Edward Schaefer. "But, for the most part, the kids in this town are pretty solid kids. And I think you have observed Aiden and his core group of friends during the soccer season; they are all great kids." "Yes, they look like good kids. The twins loved playing on that team. Plus, they really love how Aiden made them feel so welcome at their new school and became their friend. Okay, I'll allow them to sleep over with Aiden, even though I think they are a bit young." "When do they turn ten?" Larry asked. "January," Leslie answered vaguely. "That means there is only about four months' difference in chronological age. We allowed Aiden to have a couple of sleepovers when he was nine. He appeared none the worse for wear." Larry decided not to go into some of the things they were certain the boys got involved in at night during their sleepovers when they weren't exactly sleeping. On that subject, he trusted his son to do the right thing. Lenny and Lance had everything they thought they needed in their mother's car. As soon as the team was finished with the pizza feed, the boys grabbed their gear, placed it in the back of the Odyssey, and rode with Aiden and his dads to Aiden's house. The remainder of the afternoon was spent chatting, playing games, and engaging in the kind of rowdy kidding and horseplay that preteens used as part of their bonding process. Aiden invited either Larry or Phil to play Monopoly with them. The dads flipped a coin with Larry winning the flip, meaning he could choose his fate. Of course, he elected to play. He was impressed by the twins' friendliness, their deportment, and their intelligence. "Which one of you is older?" Larry asked as Aiden rolled his dice. "I am," Lenny replied. "I'm a year older than Lance." "Oh, really?" Larry asked with an amused smile. Aiden stopped his turn and gave Lenny a skeptical look. It was the first time he'd heard either one of the twins say something totally off-the-wall. He was used to it from his other friends, but this was different since it hadn't happened before. Lenny knew what the looks on the faces of Larry and Aiden meant; he'd seen it before. "It's true, right Lance?" His younger twin nodded dutifully. "I thought you were identical twins," Aiden said. "How could one of you be a year older?" Larry's mental wheels were turning quickly, however. "Your mother told me that you were born in January, but the way she said it made me wonder." Lenny gave Larry a look that said he'd just been caught in the act. "Were you both born in January?" Lenny shook his head. "I was born at 11:54 PM on December 31st..." "...and I was born at 12:08 AM on January 1st," Lance finished. "I was the last baby born in the hospital that year..." "...and I was the first baby born in all of Seattle for the next year. I got my name in the paper." "Since we're identical twins, they should have said we were born together." "But, they said I was first. It wasn't my fault you were born early." "But, we both got all of the prizes that the first babies of the year get, and I got my picture with Lance, so it was okay, since I am a year older than my twin brother." Both of the boys started giggling. This was an old joke for them, one that never failed to amuse them. Aiden joined them in the laughter. In his mind, the story gave the twins a special status since their story was truly unique. Larry had worked with four sets of twins as an educator and coach. Two of the sets were identical. The Corcoran twins, Kevin and Kraing, were the ones he knew best. He'd coached them from their days as middle school baseball players in sixth grade through their senior year in high school when they played on their second straight Class A State Championship team. The Corcoran twins were founding members of the then Go to State Club. Their younger brother, Korey, played on Larry's third state championship team. None of those twins had a story anywhere in the neighborhood of the twins sitting at the table in the game room. The thought of the identical twins being born in two different years deeply tickled his sense of humor. Lance ended up winning the game after Larry rolled a six that landed him right on Lance's Pacific Avenue and its hotel rent. Larry half expected Lance to strut around a little after winning. Instead, he shook Larry's hand, congratulating him on a nice game, then shook Aiden's hand. He and Lenny fist-bumped but said nothing. Their physical communication had Larry wondering if the twins had their own private language like the Corcoran twins had. Aiden's increasing maturity led him to being more aware of those around him. His world was becoming less about himself and more about others. As a result, he didn't bring up the idea to the twins of all of them hanging around in their underwear. Aiden wore a t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts while the twins wore soccer shorts instead of gym shorts. Based on the things the twins had told him, Aiden felt they wouldn't be comfortable walking around his house in their underwear. The three boys managed to blow off some steam playing ping pong in the big room in the basement. The ping pong table had been moved indoors around the middle of September as the weather started to cool off and the cloudy days increased. Lenny and Lance had brought a pair of sleeping bags. As bedtime approached the debate was about where the three of them would sleep—in Aiden's bedroom or in the basement. "Your bedroom is bigger than our living room," Lenny pointed out to Aiden, "so there is plenty of room for us to sleep on the floor there." "His bathroom is almost bigger than our bedroom," Lance giggled. "We could just all sleep in my bed," Aiden said. "No use us sleeping on the hard floor." "Lance and I sleep together every night and our bed is only half as big as yours." Aiden had a king-size bed, compared to the full that the twins slept in. Aiden was realizing very quickly how different the lifestyle of the twins was from his. "We had our own beds in our old house and a room almost as big as yours," Lenny said. "But we liked sleeping together..." "...but we didn't do it every night," Lance finished. "We think sleeping with you would be..." "...very cool." Aiden felt like he was watching and listening to a ping pong match the way the twins' conversation bounced back and forth. "My bed it is then. What do you guys wear to bed?" Aiden asked, knowing he wasn't going to be sleeping naked that night. "We wear our pajama tops," Lance said. "But we don't wear nothing underneath," Lenny added. "But don't worry, we'll wear underpants when we sleep with you." "If you sleep that way it's cool with me," Aiden told them. "I'm just going to wear my underpants if that's okay with you guys." "We wear our PJ tops because it's been getting cold in our room at night since mom turns off the heat," Lenny said. "But it feels better to have nothing on underneath, and we sleep better that way," Lance concluded. "I sleep naked when I sleep alone," Aiden confessed. He decided to not confess to sleeping naked with his friends most of the time. "You can sleep naked with us if you want," Lenny said. "Yeah, we don't care." While Aiden was sorely tempted, he declined. "It's better if I at least wear my undies." He wanted badly to take them off, but common sense took over, another indication that he was not the same as the nine-year-old who would already have had his underpants off, or the young adolescent coming soon who would be stripping naked even faster. The boys took care of brushing, cleaning, and pissing. The twins did their toilet together and Aiden followed after they finished. When Aiden was finished he went out on the landing and called his dads upstairs. Larry and Phil entered the room. Phil said goodnight and ruffled the hair of all three boys. Larry did the tucking honors. Considering that the twins had brought their own sleeping bags Larry and Phil were both surprised, and maybe a little not surprised, that they ended up in Aiden's bed. Larry gave each boy a kiss on the forehead and bid the boys goodnight. He noted that the twins were wearing pajama tops and that Aiden's shoulders were bare. He trusted Aiden and elected not to make an issue of who was sleeping where and what they were wearing. He also noted that while the twins were virtually on top of each other, there was a better than one-foot gap between them and Aiden. After the lights went out, the three boys weren't ready to sleep yet. The twins were curious about some things and being in bed with the older boy inspired them to talk about what was on their minds. "You guys sure talk about sex things a lot at lunchtime," Lance said, referring to the fifth graders at their lunch table. "I guess it's because we're older," Aiden told him. "Do you jerk off like everybody talks about?" Lenny asked. "Sometimes." "Is it fun?" Aiden hadn't expected the twins to talk about sexual matters, but he was willing to follow their lead. "Whenever I do it, it feels really good." "I play with my wiener sometimes and it feels good," Lance said. "Sometimes when me and Lance are in bed we hold each other's wieners," Lenny added. "Yep. And that feels really, really good." "But we never have the really good feeling you guys talk about sometimes." The surprising subject matter had given Aiden an erection, which he almost expected to happen when the twins decided to sleep with him. He was getting them more often at lunch when the subject was about sex. Most of the time they talked sports, but sex as a subject was always lurking in the background. "You guys will get the good feeling, especially if you keep playing with each other's cocks. It's called an orgasm and is the best feeling in the world." "Is it true that older boys shoot stuff out that makes babies, or are you just making that up?" Lance asked. "It's true, and you'll learn about it in health class in the spring." "Do you shoot it out?" Lenny asked. "The only guy at our table who does is Muddy. He might be the only guy in the whole fifth grade to do it, but I bet somebody else does, too." "Maybe next time we spend the night we can all sleep naked," Lenny said. "Or, we could all sleep naked...," Lance pointed out. "...and do it tonight," Lenny added. "No, I don't want to do it yet." "Yeah, you're right." Aiden noted how quickly Lance changed the course of his thinking and agreed with his older twin. At the same time, Lenny rolled over and wrapped his arms around Aiden's naked torso. In his mind, the best way to get used to sleeping with Aiden was to touch him, just like he always touched his brother in some way when they slept together. They didn't always fondle each other before sleeping, but they always touched each other. It was just after four in the morning when Aiden awoke with Lenny draped over him. Aiden was lying on his belly. Lenny's left leg was between Aiden's legs; his pajama shirt had pulled up over his belly and Aiden could feel the nine-year-old's soft cocklet against his right leg. Aiden scooted out from under Lenny. He had just enough space to move away without falling out of his bed. It would be nice to sleep naked with Lenny, he thought. He considered pulling off Lenny's shirt. Instead, his sleepy brain told him to pull off his own briefs, which he did. He threw them onto the floor and then drifted back to sleep. When Aiden woke up again he was facing Lenny and could feel the younger boy's sweet breath against his face. He turned to look at his clock; it read eight-fifteen. Aiden had to pee, so he got out of bed, pulling the covers back. He was surprised to see Lenny's bare shoulders. He shifted the covers more and saw that Lenny was naked. He then saw Lenny's pajama shirt at the end of the bed. Lance was still wearing his shirt. It was then that Aiden looked down at his bare groin and realized that he was naked as well. He remembered waking up with Lenny draped over him, and remembered feeling his new friend's dick touching him, but he had no memory of taking off his briefs. Aiden wasn't certain if Lenny's getting naked meant anything. It could have been just like what he had done with his underpants, something he did in his sleep. Or maybe he just got too warm; the three bodies had warmed up the bed during the night. Aiden saw his briefs on the floor and quickly picked them up and pulled them on. As he stood at the toilet and started peeing Lenny walked into the bathroom. "Shit," Aiden thought, "I forgot to close the door." Since Aiden generally had the upper floor of the house to himself, he rarely bothered to close the bathroom door. "Sorry, I didn't know you were in here peeing," Lenny lied. "I gotta pee bad, but I'll wait outside until you finish." "Just come stand next to me and pee." Aiden saw that Lenny had donned his pajama top. Aiden scooted over and gave the nine-year-old room to stand. Lenny was the same height as Aiden, but a little thinner. He pulled up his pajama top, exposing his genitals and cut loose, showing no embarrassment. "Me and Lance pee together all the time." Lenny was trying to justify his lack of discomfiture as he stood at a toilet peeing with another boy. "You got naked last night. So did I after I saw you take off your undies." Aiden was finding out a lot about the twins. The two preteens checked each other out. Aiden liked what he saw. Lenny's little cut penis and tight balls looked almost perfect to him. "Is Lance the same as you down there?" he asked. "We're twins," Lenny said, figuring that explained everything. Aiden washed his hands and the two boys returned to Aiden's bedroom. Aiden grabbed a fresh t-shirt and put it on. "You and Lance can shower if you want. I'm going down to fix breakfast." "You're making breakfast?" "Yep. I'm making French Toast ala Aiden with sausage links." "Yummy." "My dads taught me how to make it. This is my first time making it for company." Lenny and Lance showered together, something they did every morning. Bathing together and then, when they got older, showering together, was a simple fact of life for them. They still bathed together on occasion. Aiden's breakfast ended up being a huge success. He had been afraid of messing it up, but he calmed his nerves the same way he did in sports, and quickly put his experience to good use. It was the biggest breakfast he had ever made, but the fundamentals were the same; he just had to do the math to get everything right. Phil and Larry tried to leave Aiden to his own devices, but they made themselves readily available. When they came into the kitchen it was to get the breakfast table set up, but it was also to make sure their son wasn't over his head. He wasn't, and it showed right from the start. They thought Aiden looked delightfully cute in his apron and cook's hat. "Wow, this is a great breakfast," Lance gushed as he bit into his French Toast. "Best French Toast I ever had," Lenny said. "Except maybe for mom's," Lance added diplomatically. "Yeah, except for mom's." Larry and Phil both fought off smiles as they listened to the twins' banter. They found Aiden's new friends to be an interesting and amusing pair of boys and hoped they would come back. After breakfast was eaten and the cleanup was finished, Aiden went upstairs to shower and the twins retired to the TV room. It didn't take long for Aiden to join them. The twins were wearing jeans and collared shirts; their mother would be picking them up soon for Sunday school and church. Aiden was wearing a t-shirt and sweats. "What are you guys doing for Halloween?" Aiden asked the twins. The twins and Aiden had gone to the costume party at the Mayfield Community Center the night before, but they hadn't mingled much. Lenny and Lance hung out with a couple of fourth graders whom they had become friends with. Aiden hung out with the usual suspects: Miles, Gordy, Mason, Trent, and Brody. Kalie chatted with the group for a while and played a couple of games with them. Even though she was a girl, nobody seemed bothered by her presence. Muddy didn't attend the party saying it was for little kids. But going to a party was different than making trick-or-treat plans. "Mom said we could trick-or-treat in the trailer park." Lenny sounded disappointed. "But I think there won't be much candy there or other kids to go around with," Lance complained. "We're going to go trick-or-treating in town," Aiden told the twins. Right then, Larry entered the room. "Daddy, can we take Lenny and Lance with us when we trick-or-treat?" "I'll have to see what their mom thinks," Larry replied. That was the answer Aiden was hoping for. He knew the answer wouldn't be a yes, but a quick no would not have been acceptable. "What about Thanksgiving?" Aiden asked. He wasn't trying to pry, he just wanted to learn more about his new friends. In essence, he was prying, however. "We were gonna go to my Uncle Jeff and Aunt Helen's," Lance told Aiden. "She's my mom's sister," Lenny added. "She's got two kids. They're our cousins." "Yeah, a boy who is almost nine just like we're almost ten." "And a girl who is twelve." "But, we aren't going to go," Lance said. "Mom is worried there's gonna be lots of traffic." "Mom said we probably will go to a restaurant or something," Lenny finished. "What about you?" he asked Aiden. Aiden was going to tell them that his Thanksgiving was going to be a humungous dinner, but stopped himself just before he opened his mouth. He decided that would sound too much like bragging. Before he could think of what to say, the doorbell rang—the twins' mother had arrived. Phil greeted Leslie Hazen and her eight-year-old daughter, Brenda, at the front door. Larry came into the foyer from the multi-purpose room. "May I talk to you for a moment?" Larry asked Leslie. "Did my boys do something wrong?" she asked, instantly expecting the worst. She had been worried that the twins' behavior would be carefully monitored by the teacher. She knew they were good boys, but they were boys staying with another boy and they could easily have become a little rambunctious. "Nope, your boys were great. Very sweet and very polite," Larry assured her. "I just wanted to ask you something in private." He showed Leslie the living room and invited her to sit wherever she wanted. Larry then turned to Phil and quickly told him what he had in mind. Phil grinned and nodded his approval. Both men went into the living room and sat on the sectional sofa. Leslie had taken a seat in an overstuffed chair. "We overheard your boys telling Aiden that you had no firm plans for Thanksgiving. Forgive me if we're overstepping our bounds here, Mrs. Hazen, but Phil and I would like to invite you and your children to our house for Thanksgiving dinner." "You can call me Leslie," Leslie Hazen told them. "And we certainly don't want to be an imposition." "You won't be at all. This is going to be a house full of family and friends with lots of kids. Two families are preparing turkeys and others are bringing side dishes and desserts. We'd love to have you and the twins and your daughter." "Okay, I'm good with that if the kids are. And I have a feeling they will be. What would you like me to bring?" "Bring your kids and some patience," Phil laughed. "Seriously, I'd like to contribute." "How are you at baking pies?" Larry asked. "I've been told I bake a pretty good pie." "We have two pies coming for what will be 21 people, so we certainly could use more." "I'll bake two," Leslie said. "Much more economical than baking one and it sounds like we're going to need every slice and then some. To be economical, I think three will work even better," she grinned. Larry asked about the twins trick-or-treating with Aiden and his friends Gordy and Miles. She approved of that as well. She then thanked Phil and Larry profusely, saying she had made the right move in coming to Mayfield. "I've met so many wonderful people here. I never expected our first Thanksgiving here to be like this. But, that is a lot of people." "It's a big house," Larry said. "There will be nine children in the group. We can always hide them in the basement." Leslie then surprised Larry and then Phil by giving them each a sincere, emotional hug. "Time for us to get to church. Thank you again, so very much." After the twins heard the news about Halloween and Thanksgiving their moods shot up. They were chattering a mile a minute as they led their mother and sister to the car. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31 Aiden climbed into the middle seat of the Odyssey. He was dressed as a railroad engineer, complete with an engineer cap, a red bandana tied around his neck, and a flannel shirt covered by a pair of black and white striped overalls. It was the same costume he had worn to the Halloween party and was designed by Gordy's mother. Larry backed the van out of the driveway and headed for the Evergreen Trailer Park. Aiden had ridden past it a few times, but had never been in it. Even in the dark it didn't look like a pleasant place to live. The Hazen's trailer had a neat little yard with a freshly mowed patch of grass. As soon as Lenny and Lance saw the Odyssey they dashed out of the house along with their sister, Brenda. After giving it some thought, their mother felt that Brenda should enjoy the same trick-or-treating privileges as her big brothers. She called Larry to let him know, and he was in full agreement. The twins were wearing pirate costumes, complete with cardboard cutlasses, while Brenda was a fairy. Gordy's mother made the costumes. She was aware of the family's financial situation and knew the twins had become friends of Gordy and his group. She told Leslie Hazen that she would make costumes for the boys and for Brenda. Leslie gratefully accepted, offering to pay the costs of the material. Lenny, Lance, and Aiden were a little upset at losing their independence until they found out that Phil would be taking Brenda door-to-door while Larry shadowed the boys. After the incident with Peter Astor the year before, Larry and Phil didn't feel comfortable letting the boys be totally on their own. They told Aiden they would review the situation the next year when he would be a middle school student. Larry parked in front of Gordy's house and the van unloaded. Phil took Brenda a couple of houses down the street where they met with Vicky, a girl in Brenda's class, and Vicky's mother. Leslie had met Vicky's mother at the Halloween party and even before she knew about the twins going out with Aiden to trick-or-treat she started the wheels rolling for Brenda. Things had worked out wonderfully. Even the weather had cooperated—after almost a week of rain the day had been sunny, if a little chilly. Except for what was essentially a non-incident, trick-or-treating went smoothly. The non-incident involved Peter Astor. After what had happened the previous Halloween, it was almost preordained that Peter would be involved in this one in some way. Peter was trick-or-treating with a couple of other high school freshmen along with Roger Clauson, a sixth grader at the middle school, and Ed Schaefer, who were certain they had hit the big time because they were allowed to hang out with the big boys. Roger, and his friend Barry, had hung out with Peter the year before, but Barry was now forbidden by his parents to be around the high school boy. Roger was as well, but he was ignoring his parents' directives more and more while the tight leash on Barry had been successful in improving his deportment. Ed had moved in a few houses down the street from Roger, and the two were becoming tight friends. In the short time he'd lived in Mayfield, Ed had received a bit of a sexual education. Roger had given him his first blow job a week ago, and Autumn had gotten naked with him more than once and let him feel her boobs and pussy as well as French kiss her. Now that he knew about blow jobs, Ed wanted Autumn to give him one, too. Peter invited the two boys to go with him and his buddies because Roger had given him and his two buddies blow jobs the night before. Peter was hoping to add Ed to his stable of younger boys who did sexual favors for him. The previous year Roger and Barry extorted money from younger or weaker boys for Peter, but this year they backed away from that because Barry had been caught. What Peter was hoping for was another younger boy willing to suck his dick, or even take it up his tight little ass, something Roger and Barry had both done. As Aiden and his group exited a yard Peter and his gang were coming up the sidewalk. Peter's costume consisted of a black shirt, black jeans, a long cape and vampire teeth. Nothing fancy, but enough to garner him a share of the treats being doled out. "Well, look at who we have here," Peter grinned when he recognized Aiden. "Hey there, Aiden." Unlike the year before when he had been a bit intimidated by Peter, Aiden stood his ground. The fact that he was surrounded by his friends helped, but they all knew they would be no match for the high school kids with Peter. They weren't concerned about Roger, whom they considered a wuss and they were certain Ed wasn't going to leap into the fray. "If you try anything I'll kick you in your nuts," was Aiden's reply to Peter's greeting. "Hey, dude, don't worry, that was last year. I ain't gonna mess with your dads." Peter was arguably the best athlete in the freshman class. As much as he and his father despised Larry and Phil, Peter knew that if he wanted to play baseball at Mayfield High, he couldn't cross Aiden's dads, at least not seriously. While Peter pushed the envelope at school on occasion, he knew if he touched the coaches' son his ass was toast, not only as far as baseball went, but probably for winter sports as well. "Good, now let us get by," Aiden growled. Peter nodded to his two friends and they all stepped aside. "Me and Ed want to kick your ass," Roger bragged, his bravado fueled by the high school boys he was with. Roger was too dense to understand the dynamics of what was going on around him. "Fuck you, Roger," Aiden snarled. "You're an ass wipe." He walked right past Roger and Ed. Ed had no idea what all of this was about. Aiden's friends followed, with Lenny bringing up the rear. He stopped and glared at the older boy. "Yeah, you're a big ass wipe." Roger clenched his fists and started toward Lenny when Peter stepped in front of him. "He ain't worth it." "He called me an ass wipe." "Live with it." Roger was furious, but he knew there was nothing he could do right then. He stood in the middle of the sidewalk, humiliated in front of Peter's friends, in front of Ed, and even worse, in front of Aiden and his gang. He was determined not to forget what had just happened. Peter then spotted Larry across the street and knew he had made the right decision not to harass Aiden. He gave Larry a little wave that he thought would confuse his coach. He knew that Larry Sanders hated him as much as he hated Larry Sanders, so he was very surprised when Larry gave him a smile and a big wave in return. Larry had spotted Peter before Aiden had. While he stayed in the shadows, he was ready to step into the fray if need be. Larry was pleased to note that while Peter showed his usual arrogance, he had not harassed Aiden or his friends, and had even stepped in when Roger got out of line. While Larry knew that a lot of Peter's motivation was self-preservation, it was not that long ago that Peter would have shown no common sense and would have bullied the younger boys. To Larry, that was significant progress for Peter Astor. After the kids finished trick-or-treating, they gathered at Gordy's house and split up the spoils. Even Brenda got to take part in the ritual of trading candy and treats that weren't liked much for favorites. While it all looked chaotic, it worked out fairly well. Larry took the twins and Brenda to the trailer court and then drove home with Aiden. "Did you have fun, son?" Larry asked. "It was a lot of fun," Aiden grinned. "Between most of the houses, I was the engineer of my train and everybody followed behind me like they were cars on the train. Lenny liked being the caboose." "Did Peter Astor give you much trouble?" "No, he was pretty nice to us, but Roger was a pecker head. He wanted to beat somebody up." "Well, you know to watch out for him. Let me know if he gets out of line." "Roger is a wuss. He can't do nothing...anything...without somebody being with him. I'm not afraid of him." "Remember what we've talked about before. Don't try to take care of trouble on your own." "Sometimes, you just have to or it won't stop." Aiden and his dads had had this conversation many times before. Larry hoped that some of what he and Phil expected was sinking into the head of his often too independent son. That night, Aiden took Horace downstairs and slept with his dads. While he didn't sleep with them nearly as much he had before he turned ten, there were still nights when being surrounded by their love was something Aiden knew deep inside that he needed. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17 After school ended on Friday, Aiden hung around at the bus loading area with Gordy, Miles, and Mason for as long as they could. His three friends were walkers. On the days Aiden rode the bus home, chatting in the loading area until the bus was about to leave had become a regular occurrence for boys in the group. The twins had chatted briefly, but quickly boarded their bus. They didn't have Aiden's early warning system, which was Mrs. Emerson, his bus driver, giving him a quick wave. "You could board your bus when Mrs. Emerson waves," Aiden had told the twins more than once. "Our bus leaves first..." Lenny said. "...and it might leave before your bus driver waves..." Lance added. "...and then we would miss the bus," Lenny finished in case Aiden couldn't figure that out. Aiden could see their logic. He wondered if there was a way to get Mr. Adams, the driver of bus #1 to wave for them. They would change their gathering place to see him wave and the twins would be assured of not missing their bus. Aiden's bus #2 always left behind #1. But, Mr. Adams wasn't nearly as friendly as Mrs. Emerson and the twins were reluctant to bother him. When Aiden saw the wave, he traded fist bumps with his three friends and boarded the bus. "Thanks for the wave, Mrs. Emerson," Aiden said as he walked past the driver. "I am always willing to help my favorite riders," she grinned. Aiden sat next to Kalie and bumped fists with her just like he did with his guy friends. Kalie wished he could get on the bus earlier rather than talk with his friends until the last minute, but she was also happy that at least he now sat next to her whenever he rode the bus. "What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" Aiden asked. "My Uncle Charlie and Aunt Sherry are coming with my two cousins. Gretchen is ten and Ian is twelve. I like them a lot." "Where do they live?" "They live in Eugene, Oregon. They're coming on Tuesday night and are staying until Saturday. We have a really big house." Kalie lived on a farm in a large, two-story, five-bedroom house. "I know, I've seen it." "We're going to go horseback riding and do all kinds of stuff. We can't swim in the pond, but we do it in the summer when they come. What about you?" "Let's see, there's going to be a huge crowd at my house. My Uncle Troy and Aunt Susan, with my cousins Chase and Logan. Chase is twelve and Logan is nine. My dad's father and his husband are coming and my Grandpa Art and Grandma Sandy are coming. They're my daddy's parents. The Bednarzyks are coming—the whole family. And the twins and their mom and sister are coming. So is my friend Darnell and his dad. That's 21 people." "That many people will barely fit in my house and it's bigger than yours. And you're going to need a ton of food." "Maybe, if you don't count the basement." "I didn't know you had a basement." "You can't tell from the street because it's, like, underground on that side. People are bringing all kinds of food and Mrs. Bednarzyk is cooking a turkey, so we're going to have two of them." Aiden and Kalie felt the bus slow down for the stop at Aiden's house. "Bye, Kalie." They traded fist bumps again. "See you Monday. Only two days of school next week." "I can't wait for Thanksgiving," Kalie said to Aiden's back. Aiden gave her an over-the-shoulder wave, stepped off of the bus and dashed to the side door of the garage. As the bus pulled away, Kallie watched as Aiden went around the garage—she simply couldn't take her eyes off of him. Kalie was afflicted with a serious crush and the tomboy knew it. That night after Aiden did his gratitude routine, he thought about his day. Kalie was confusing him. He really liked her because she acted more like a boy than like a girl, but sometimes she looked at him weirdly. He needed to talk to somebody about her. He wondered if his dads could help him, even if they were gay. Marty would be coming come home a couple of weeks before Christmas. Maybe he could help me, Aiden thought. He knew Marty was gay, too, but he actually had some experience with girls. Aiden's thoughts suddenly took a different tack as he thought about Marty coming home. What if Mayfield wasn't home anymore? What if he quit coming back? For Aiden, those were too many questions for his mind to handle. He got out of bed, pulled on the briefs he'd tossed into the hamper, grabbed Horace, and went downstairs. His dads might not have the answers he wanted right then, but they had the love and comfort he needed. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21 Aiden was sitting in his observation chair at the front window of the living room. Grandpa Al would be arriving soon with his husband Tony, whom Aiden decided had to be his grandpa, too. They were driving up from Portland in a rental car. Horace was sitting on Aiden's lap to relax him. He had never met Grandpa Al or Tony, although he had talked to Grandpa Al on the phone, and he was very nervous. "What time is Grandpa Al supposed to be here?" Aiden called out to his dads for the umpteenth time. "They are supposed to be here when they get here," Larry shouted back. He was sitting in the TV room. School had let out two hours early for the holidays. Aiden had been home for a little over two hours and had spent the last hour sitting on his chair. It was close to four-thirty and was almost dark. "You're no help at all." "I could keep saying it will be sometime between four and five, but that apparently is too detailed an answer to figure out, so I like my second one better." Aiden scowled in the direction of the back room when a car came up the road, signaled a right turn, and then turned into the driveway. "It's the time they're supposed to be here," Aiden shouted as he set Horace down on the chair and headed for the front door. When Al saw Aiden standing at the open door, a gigantic grin split his face and he wrapped his arms around his grandson. Tears filled his eyes as he pulled the little body tightly to him. "You don't know how long I have waited for this moment," he whispered in a shaky voice. "Hi, grandpa," was all Aiden could think to say, and that was enough. Through his grandpa's tight hug Aiden could feel the love of yet another man in his life, the good feelings causing him to shiver. "Hi, dad," Phil said as he came to the door. He had taken the afternoon off of work in order to be home to greet his father and his father-in-law. Father and son traded hugs. Back when he was a boy and his father abandoned the family, Phil had sworn that he would never forgive him. The thought of trading hugs with his father had been foreign to him. But through the years he had learned to forgive his father. Al had done the best a man ruled by alcohol could do, just like today he was doing the best a man living in sobriety could do. Aiden didn't know the details of his dad's relationship with his father. He knew his grandfather had moved out, just like his own father had moved out. He knew that there was a divorce involved, and that pretty much covered his knowledge of the situation. What he did know was that he liked his Grandpa Al and was happy he had come all the way from Texas for Thanksgiving. Aiden and Al bonded quickly. It didn't take long for Aiden to break his bank at Monopoly or for the Scrabble board to come out. Al warned everyone that Tony was a Scrabble whiz, which turned out to be true. Even so, everyone had a good time playing. Al told Aiden he was impressed by his word skills. "That's because I read a lot," Aiden said. "My mom was always buying me books, and my dads buy me books, and I like going to the library. I like books." Al ruffled Aiden's hair. "It shows. You're a very smart boy." "Just like my uncle and my dad, right?" "Yes, your Uncle Troy and Phil are both quite intelligent, but so is your father, Keegan." "He is? I didn't think he was smart at all." Aiden didn't care who he offended by saying what he said, because he knew it was the truth. "Your father is an example of how people can lose their way when they become addicted to drugs and alcohol." "But people can quit and become better, right? Like my bro Marty." It never occurred to Aiden that his grandfather had been just like his father, nor did it occur to him that his dad and his Uncle Troy had problems when they were teenagers. Both of them went to AA and got sober before they left high school, which is what Marty had done as well. "Who is Marty?" Al asked. "He's my big bro. He plays baseball and he's the best baseball player ever from Mayfield High School." "And how did he become your big brother?" "I dunno, it just happened." Larry explained who Marty was and how he and Aiden had bonded. He mentioned him as a baseball player, as a married gay man, and as a member of AA. "I assume I will be hearing good things about him as he moves up the ladder in the minor leagues." Aiden shook his head. "Nope, you're going to hear great things about him. Marty is going to be an All-Star player because he's that good." Nobody disputed him. That night at nine-thirty Aiden was signed onto his chat program for his prearranged chat with Marty. Aiden liked the news that Marty would be home in a little over two weeks. He liked the news that Marty was playing well in the scrimmages at the rookie camp. He didn't like the news that Marty would be playing in Venezuela for most of January. "I don't know anything about Venezuela," Aiden told his bro. "I guess I better find out stuff, huh?" "That would be a good idea. Just don't let the place scare you," Marty told him. "You mean it's a scary place?" "It can be if you're not careful, but I plan on being careful. The biggest problem for me will be how different it is and that I will be away from Rich for a long time and I won't be able to chat much with you either." Aiden went into subject changing mode. "I still get to spend a night with you when you come home, right?" "I promised you that, and I will keep that promise." "And I get to sleep with you in your bed, right?" "Bro, you will be plopped down on my comfortable couch." "Aw Maaan," Aiden drew out the a, "I want to sleep with you. I sleep with my dads, so I should be able to sleep with you." "We'll see what happens." Aiden grinned at the computer monitor. He had just won a little battle with his big bro. There was no doubt in his mind that he would win the war. Before he logged off, Aiden told Marty that he had a friend who was a girl. "You have a girlfriend?" Marty asked incredulously. "No, she's a girl who is my friend." "What the difference?" Marty knew what the difference was in a boy's world, but he felt obligated to give his little bro a hard time. "Everything. Girlfriends think they own you. I've seen it, like with Autumn. Kalie is just a friend and we like to talk. But, I don't like standing next to her because she's taller than me by a lot." Kalie was close to four inches taller than Aiden, which was unusual that age. Even though Aiden knew it, he still didn't like it. Aiden and Marty finally logged out, both of them eager to meet face-to-face in a couple of weeks. Nobody was surprised when Al and Tony were asked by Aiden to do tuck-in duty. Tony did the reading. Tony was an outstanding speaker and reader. Aiden fell in love with his Grampa Tony's oral reading. Al saw Horace on Aiden's desk. He hadn't noticed the donkey when he entered the house—there was too much going on right then. "Who is the donkey?" Al asked when he noticed the stuffed animal on the desk. "That's Horace. He's my very special friend." "I can imagine. He certainly looks like he is a special friend," Al said. "You can never be too old for a special friend like Horace. Even Marty has a teddy bear. His name is Mortimer and he is special, too." "I have to say that you are a very special grandson, Aiden. Thank you for allowing me to come into your life." Aiden wasn't quite sure how to respond to what Al had said, since he didn't recall inviting his grandpa in. So, he smiled, nodded, and thanked Al and Tony for coming upstairs to tuck him in. After the tucking, Aiden got out of bed and on his knees to say what he was grateful for as he did almost every night. "I am grateful that Grandpa Al and Grandpa Tony are in my life, just like they said they were." Horace sat impassively on the desk, a look of approval on his face and in his plastic eyes. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22 Wednesday was the big incoming day. Aiden was in his chair watching for the arrival of his Uncle Troy, Aunt Sue, and the gang that was accompanying them. That gang consisted of Chase, Logan, Tyson Carr, and his son Darnell. Since their arrival wasn't a new experience, he didn't get into his chair until a half-hour before their expected arrival, accompanied by Horace. The SUV arrived ten minutes before Troy's ETA and Aiden was at the door to greet his relatives as well as his friend Darnell. The greetings were noisy and full of hugs, fist bumps, tears, cheers, laughs, and introductions, depending on who was greeting whom. Chase and Logan had met Grandpa Al and Grandpa Tony before, but they were happy to see their grandpas again. Of course, Grandpas Al and Tony commented on how much the boys had grown, especially Chase who was starting to hit a growth spurt. Art and Sandy, who were Larry's parents, arrived not long after the Miller gang. Once again, introductions were in order, this time between the two sets of grandparents. Dinner was at the Mayfield Café. The family took over an entire corner. Part of the conversation was Larry and Phil reminding everyone where they would be sleeping. Al and Tony were already settled into the guest room. Art and Sandy had insisted on staying at the Mayfield Inn knowing the house would be full overnight. Tyson was going to sleep in Aiden's bed while the four boys would be sleeping in the basement. That night the four grandparents and Tyson came down into the basement as a team and tucked the four boys into their sleeping bags. After the adults left, the boys talked for a while. Their underpants came flying out of the sleeping bags and landing on the floor, except for Logan's briefs which somehow landed on Aiden's face. Aiden wasn't sure why he did it, but he sniffed them, and then stuffed them inside of his sleeping bag. He wondered if they were going mess around that night, but that didn't happen. The boys were tired while at the same time they were amped up. They couldn't get to sleep, but they wanted to get to sleep. Chase was the one to put things into perspective. "I know you guys want to mess around," he announced. While the idea was in their minds, none of the boys wanted to act on it. "Tomorrow we're going to be stuffed with food. I read that sex is good exercise. It will be a good way to work off the food." "For real?" Logan asked. He was pleased to be included in his brother's little discourse, even if it wasn't directly. He badly wanted to learn things from his brother, but even after the jerk off incident in Aiden's basement, his brother had kept his distance as far as sex went. "Yes, for real. If you guys want to. I want to tonight, but, I dunno, I don't want to. But, tomorrow night, anybody can come into my sleeping bag just like you are tonight." "You mean naked?" Darnell asked. "Well, yeah. I mean I saw all the underpants flying off, even in the dark." Aiden's cocklet was suddenly rock hard. He hoped everybody was as serious about messing around the next night as they said they were. Aiden was very horny. He hadn't gotten this horny often and was pleased he felt that way. Maybe that mysterious thing called puberty was getting close. Next: The Big Thanksgiving.