Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2018 19:26:50 +0000
From: Douglas DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: Aiden II  Chapter 5

Welcome back. I'm grateful to have all of you as readers. You have stuck
with Aiden and me for a long time to get here. Now you can see what Aiden
has to be grateful for.

Please remember, this story is mine. Please do not copy without my
expressed permission.

To help keep the stories coming, Nifty needs your money. Please donate to
the Nifty Archive.

CHAPTER 5
GRATITUDE

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6

When Aiden boarded the school bus after school he was greeted with a warm
smile from Mrs. Emerson, the driver. "Well, it certainly is a relief seeing
you, Aiden Miller. I missed you this morning."

Aiden moved out of the aisle and stood in front of the first seats on the
right side in order to stay out of the way of other boarding students. "Did
you think I moved or something?"

"No, I thought you might have gotten your driver's license and would be
driving to school. I thought I'd never see one of my favorite riders again,
although it is a surprise to see you on the bus after school."  The year
before Aiden had usually gone to Gordy's house after school because his
dads said he was too young to stay at home by himself. But now that he was
ten they were ramping up his privileges, telling him he had been showing
himself to be able to handle increasing responsibility.

"You're silly, Mrs. Emerson," Aiden chuckled. "I'm too young to drive a
car." Then his face turned serious. "But I would ride my bike to school if
my dads would let me."

"Well, good for them for not letting you," Mrs. Emerson clucked. "They're
doing what they can to keep you warm and safe."

"You're as mean as they are."

"Oh, my. Well, thank you for the compliment, Aiden."

Aiden knew when he was outgunned, so he walked to the back of the
bus—the traditional bus rider pecking order gave the fifth graders first
crack at the back seats. He sat in a seat a couple of rows from the
rear. He looked out of the window trying to come up with some good comeback
lines for the next time Mrs. Emerson said something about him riding his
bike to school.

Since none of his friends rode the bus out to the Mayfield Lake area and
since there were more seats available than riders, Aiden usually sat
alone. He cherished the quiet time the bus ride gave him.

He didn't get his quiet time on this ride, however. He saw Kalie Carter,
one of the girl guides, board the bus, but didn't give it much thought. The
year before, he and Kalie didn't ride the same bus and had spoken to each
other in school a half-dozen times at most. Aiden was surprised when Kalie
stopped at his seat.

"Can I sit with you?" the lanky blond girl asked. At four foot four, she
was four inches taller than Aiden.

"Yeah, I guess," Aiden said. The last thing he wanted was to sit next to a
girl, especially one who was a friend of Autumn. But, at least she asked to
sit next to him instead of just plopping her butt down in the empty seat
next to him.

Kalie sat next to Aiden and remarked how nice it was that Aiden was one of
the guides. "I think you're one of the nicest boys in the fifth grade,"
Kalie said as Aiden looked around desperately for a button that would eject
Kalie from her seat. Since there was no such button, he thanked her without
feeling.

They were both in the same class, so Kalie asked him how he liked
Mrs. Riley.

"She's okay, I guess," he replied.

"I saw they gave you the Hazen twins to show around."

"How did you know their name?"

"I showed their sister Brenda and one other girl around. Brenda's in third
grade. They were supposed to ride this bus, but I don't see them. I hope
they don't miss it."

Aiden realized to his horror that he had never asked the twins if they rode
one of the buses. There were two buses that carried Lakeview students. He
felt dumb since he knew Evergreen Park was east of Mayfield Lake and that
his bus was the one that took the students east who lived far enough from
the school to be eligible to ride a bus. His first thought was that the
trailer park was still inside of the town limits and that the Hazens would
either be within walking distance or on the other bus, which carried most
of the in-town riders.

"The twins seem pretty smart," Aiden said. "They should get on the right
bus."

"But, we're supposed to help them with stuff like that."

Aiden shrugged since there was nothing he could say or do about bus riding
now. Mrs. Emerson closed the door of the bus and started the engine. Nobody
from the Hazen family was on the bus.

"That boy that Gordon guided is big," Kalie remarked.

Aiden had thought the same thing. He looked like he was even bigger than
Muddy, which would make him the biggest boy in the fifth grade. Aiden
thought he looked real cute, too, but quickly stifled that thought. "His
name is Ed," Aiden said. He didn't remember seeing Ed at lunch, but then he
wasn't looking for him. He wondered if the new kid played soccer or
baseball. He'd have to find out if Gordy learned anything about him.

"Did you see who he had lunch with?" Kalie asked.

"Nope." He knew that Ed hadn't eaten with Gordy, his guide, but that was
all he knew.

"He sat with Autumn Kellogg."

Now that was news. It looked like Autumn had gone from chasing after him,
to chasing after Gordy, to chasing after the new kid. Her interest in Gordy
hadn't even lasted a week, he noted.

Aiden felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that
it was a text from Marty. It said, "Hope you had a good first day. Call me
when you can." Aiden would call him as soon as he stepped off of the bus
since talking on the phone was not allowed while riding the bus—texting
was okay.

The bus crossed Highway 12 and stopped a block away from the intersection
where Mrs. Emerson let out three students: a third grade boy and his first
grade sister along with a fifth grade boy in Mr. Jones's room. The mother
of the two younger children was waiting at the stop and waved at the driver
as her children stepped off. The older boy walked around the bar that
stretched out in front of the bus, checked both ways, and crossed the
street. Unless there were new students who had to get off before they
reached the dam, the bus would cross the dam, roll past the state park, and
then stop to let Aiden off. The ride from the first bus stop to Aiden's
house ended up being nonstop.

Kalie got out of her seat to let Aiden out. "Thanks for letting me sit with
you Aiden."

"No worries," Aiden said, even though he knew his dads hated hearing that
along with "No problem" in place of a simple "You're welcome."

As he stepped down to exit the bus, he heard Mrs. Emerson say, "Did you get
yourself a girlfriend, Aiden?" Aiden didn't answer her. He walked from the
bus up the walkway to the house feeling furious at either Kalie or
Mrs. Emerson or both.

As soon as he entered the house, Aiden took off his clothes and sat on his
recliner in the recreational multi-purpose room. He knew his daddy would be
home within an hour, since that was the maximum they were allowing him to
stay by himself. He also knew that he would still be spending most of his
afterschool time with Gordy or other friends, but he wanted to test out his
new freedom on the first day of school. He felt very grown up.

Before pulling off his pants he had removed his phone. As he adjusted his
junk for comfort he returned Marty's phone call. Marty was home in Mayfield
and staying with his husband Rich at the Bednarzyk home where he had his
own apartment in the "mother-in-law" house on the other side of the patio
from the main house.

Aiden made sure to let Marty know he was allowed to be home alone sometimes
and that he was sitting naked in the big rec room. "Nice," Marty
replied. "I am naked on my bed, so we have something in common."

"Where is Rich?" Aiden asked.

"At his family's house. I'm heading over there for dinner. Before you make
a smart ass remark, yes I do intend to dress before I leave my apartment."

Aiden was idly playing with his little boy cock as he talked to his
idol. "I'm naked because I'm comfortable and I like being naked," he
said. "Why are you naked?"

"For the same reason."

"Not because you want to jerk off?"

There was a brief, but ominous, silence before Marty said, "Aiden, what did
we agree on regarding people's privacy? I mean do you want me asking you
that question right now?" Aiden didn't mind if Marty asked him, but he knew
what Marty wanted to hear. He didn't think he was actually masturbating; he
was simply playing with himself. After all, he didn't even have a boner.

He decided not to answer Marty's questions directly. "Oh yeah, sorry. I
forgot. I haven't seen you in so long."

"Don't bullshit me, sport. You knew exactly what you were doing."

Aiden knew he couldn't pull anything over on Marty, but it didn't stop him
from trying. "I'm sorry again," he said contritely.

"Apology accepted.  What do you have going on Saturday?"

"Soccer practice at ten."

"Check with your dads and see if it's okay if I take you to lunch on
Saturday after practice."

Aiden's mood quickly lightened up. "I'll ask them tonight. Where are we
going?"

"How about the Centerville Café?"

"Why are we going all the way there?"

"I am less likely to be recognized there," Marty laughed.

They chatted briefly about baseball and soccer and Aiden's first day of
school and his guide job before Aiden hung up. He now had a boner and
thought about lying back in the chair and jerking off. He moved his hand up
and down a couple of times but decided he would go up to his room to get
some lotion—he could take his clothes upstairs at the same time.

Before he could move, Larry surprised him by coming into the house through
the front door. Aiden thought he'd hear the garage door open, which would
give him plenty of warning that his daddy was home, but he never heard a
thing.

"Well, what do we have here?" Larry asked, trying to hide his
amusement. "It looks like a mess on the floor and a naked boy sitting in a
comfortable chair sporting an erection."

"I was just going to take my clothes upstairs," Aiden said lamely. While he
didn't usually have a problem being naked in front of his dads, he found
himself somewhat embarrassed to have his daddy look at him sporting a boner
which made it obvious what he was going to do while sitting on the
recliner. Fortunately, his uncomfortable situation had his hard little
penis becoming almost instantly flaccid.

"I believe you. I deduced that you decided to take them off right away and
take them upstairs later, like when you heard the garage door open.  How
about taking your clothes and your nude little self upstairs and get
dressed? We're meeting your dad for dinner at the Steak House, which is why
I came in through the front door."

"So, you weren't trying to sneak up on me and get me in trouble?"

"Aiden, I am disappointed in you for even thinking that."

"Sorry." Aiden found himself using that word a lot the last hour. He
grabbed his clothes and dashed up the stairs leaving his daddy watching his
son's rear end as he thought about the boy's shenanigans.

At dinner, Aiden ordered the kids' menu steak for the first time, deciding
that at age ten he should be able to handle it. After all, he was allowed
to stay at home alone now, plus he was a student guide at school. Big boys
like him should be able to eat steak in a restaurant. Following the lead of
his dads, he ordered his medium-rare.

"It would appear that young master Aiden is growing up," Peter, their
favorite waiter, said as he took Aiden's order. "The boy is ordering steak
and knows how it should be served."

"I'm ten now," Aiden said proudly.

"As I said, the lad is growing up," Peter grinned.

Although the idea of digging into a bloody piece of meat didn't really
appeal to Aiden, once he started eating he realized why his dads ordered
their steaks that way—it was really juicy and flavorful.

Aiden told his dads about his first job as a student guide, about what he
thought of Mrs. Riley, and about his talk with Marty and his invitation for
lunch.

"So, Marty wants to avoid all of his fans does he?" Larry laughed. "He'd
better remember where his home town is."

"He will," Aiden assured his daddy. "He just wants for us not to be bugged
by people when we eat."

"In other words, he's doing this for you," Phil stated.

Aiden nodded and bit into another piece of steak.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7

The second day of school went well for Aiden. On the bus, he made sure
Mrs. Emerson noticed that he was not sitting with Kalie Carter. He saw the
twins before school started and found out that Kalie had been wrong about
which bus they rode. Aiden wondered why Kalie got the buses mixed up since
she'd ridden the bus to school yesterday and could easily figure out that
it didn't stop at Evergreen Park.

The twins asked Aiden about how to go about signing up for a soccer
team. Aiden explained the school's intramural sports program to them and
said if they wanted to play in the park program, their mother could call
the park office to find out about getting them placed on a team.

He also came to the conclusion that Mrs. Riley was a mean old lady after
she ripped Mikey Ratko a new rear end, not that he didn't deserve it. Mikey
Ratko had a way of getting into mischief and obviously Mrs. Riley didn't
put up with shit. She went right into middle school teacher mode after
catching Ratko shooting a spit wad. Aiden and the rest of the class had
never heard of anybody earning two hours of detention for one
offense—they weren't even sure if that was legal. But they were all on
their best behavior for the rest of the day.

Aiden didn't ride the bus home after school. He and Mason were going to
spend the next hour or so at Gordy's house. As he and Kalie grabbed their
books after school, he asked her how she got the buses mixed up. "Well,
just like you, I didn't ride the bus to school because we had to be at
school early," she reminded Aiden, who felt silly about missing that
fact. "I rode the B bus last year and it stops at Evergreen Park. This year
my house is on the A bus route. I just got mixed up is all. Good thing the
twins and Brenda knew what was going on."

"Now you can't give me a hard time about not telling the twins about which
bus to take."

Kalie surprised him by sticking out her hand. He shook it as she said,
"Deal."

On the walk to Gordy's house, Mason asked Aiden if Kalie was his
girlfriend. If Mason hadn't been one of his best friends, he would have
been tempted to flatten the little brat with the big mouth.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

As always, Aiden was early for soccer practice. As he chatted with friends
and teammates and put his pads on, he was surprised to see the twins show
up. He was even more surprised to see that they had the equipment they
needed—he thought they were poor. He found out later that they had
played soccer when they lived in Bremerton, so they still had all of their
gear, at least until they started growing.

Once practice started it was apparent that the twins were excellent soccer
players. They quickly won over their new teammates with their hustle and
outgoing natures. Aiden was pleased by how quickly his first day of school
charges were fitting in with his friends and teammates, even if most of
them were fifth graders.

Marty showed up about half-way through practice. He found a place at the
top of the bleachers. Since he realized that most of the boys on the field
knew who he was, he tried to be as unobtrusive as he could. He knew Aiden
had seen him and was pleased that his little bro didn't make an issue out
of it. As he watched practice, Marty could see that Aiden was one of the
most talented athletes on the field. His soccer fundamentals were sketchy
at times, but his talent was obvious.

Marty remained successfully hidden until about five minutes before practice
was scheduled to end. It was then that Mason caught sight of him. "Look,
it's Marty!" he called out to his teammates.

Everything stopped as the young boys looked around to see who Mason was
talking about. Mason stood and pointed up to the bleachers—over half of
the boys then knew exactly who Mason was talking about. The disciplined
practice broke down in a hurry as some of the boys headed to the
bleachers. Marty stood up and shooed them back onto the field.

Coach Bill knew it was time to quit and blew his whistle. He called the
boys for a quick meeting, reminding them they had practice again on
Wednesday and their first game on Saturday. He would talk to them about
dealing with distractions at their next practice.

The players gathered around Marty behind the bleachers once Coach Bill
dismissed them. The boys who didn't know who Marty was quickly found out,
which raised the level of excitement. Marty signed a few shirts, a back or
two, a couple arms, and even slips of paper a couple of boys managed to
conjure up. They were disappointed when he told them he had to go, and were
envious when Aiden got into Marty's new Toyota 4Runner.


When they arrived at the Miller house Marty was going to chat with his old
coaches while Aiden changed and showered, but his little bro ended up
almost dragging him up the stairs to his room. Marty sat on Aiden's bed as
Aiden pulled off his practice shirt. Aiden grabbed a notebook off of the
second shelf on his desk and handed it to his big bro. Aiden had mud
splattered on his legs and soccer shorts—there was no doubt he needed to
shower.

"This is my Marty stat book," Aiden said. "I print off your stats and put
them in here." He handed Marty a photo album. "This has all of the pictures
and articles that I've found in newspapers and that I print from my
computer. I even have some pictures of you playing at Everett."

What Marty was seeing was unabashed hero worship. Not for the first time he
resolved to do everything he could to live up to his own high standards and
to not disappoint Aiden as a person. Aiden asked Marty to sign the front
page of each book to make them "official".  As Marty signed, Aiden
stripped. He wanted Marty to see him naked, which was one of many reasons
he dragged his big bro upstairs. Marty shook his head in amusement as he
watched the ten-year-old's delicious looking ass zip out of the door and
across the hall to the bathroom. In a different world he and I could easily
be lovers, Marty mused. At the same time, Aiden had caught himself staring
at Marty's substantial package and wondered briefly if he would ever get a
chance to see his big bro naked.  Marty leafed through Aiden's books while
the boy showered. He was impressed by the effort that had been put into
them. He expressed his gratitude for having the boy placed into his
life. He hoped that when he and Rich adopted in a few years they would be
able to raise somebody as special as Aiden Miller was.

When Aiden returned he was clean and still naked. He posed in front of
Marty. "Do you think I have a nice looking body?" he asked.

"It's beautiful. The body of a healthy, athletic boy. Now get dressed so we
can go to lunch. We have a reservation for a batting cage after lunch."

"We do? Yippee." Aiden was dressed in an instant.

As they said their good-byes to Larry and Phil, Aiden threw everybody a
curveball by asking if he could spend the night with Marty. While he
received the expected trio of no's, they did leave an opening for him.

"I have a lot to do before I head down to Arizona," Marty told Aiden. "But,
I plan to be in Mayfield over Christmas. How about if I promise you an
overnight at my place then? Would that work?"

Aiden's grin threated to split his face wide open. His enthusiastic,
"Yesss!!!" said everything.

Marty and Aiden enjoyed each other's company on the drive to Centralia and
during lunch. Aiden told Marty about his becoming a guide for new students
and how he had been the guide for the twins he saw at practice.

"They look like pretty good soccer players," Marty said. "They are very
quick and were well coached wherever they'd played before."

Marty answered Aiden's questions about playing professional baseball. He
told Aiden some stories about his successes and failures on the field.

After one confession Aiden said with sincerity, "I can't believe you struck
out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to lose the game."
Aiden was referring to one of the games he saw Marty play in Everett.

Marty gave Aiden a serious stare and then said, "I'm disappointed in you,
sport. I didn't lose the game, just like if I'd knocked in the winning runs
I wouldn't be the person who won the game."

Aiden bit into his toasted cheese sandwich and thought about what Marty had
told him. He swallowed and said, "I know, it's all about the team. I didn't
mean for it to sound like it was all your fault." He gave Marty a sad,
puppy dog look. "You're not mad at me are you?"

Marty ruffled Aiden's unruly blond mop. "I am not mad at you. Learning to
say what you mean comes with maturity and practice."

"Were your teammates mad at you?"

"Not that I know of. In pro baseball you don't have time to be mad about
your failures—you have to be ready to come back and play the next day."

"You should never be mad about failing, anyway," Aiden said. "Like you told
me, baseball is a game of failure."

"You remember your lessons well, Sport. It's nice to have a little bro as
smart as you."

Aiden took his next bite with a grin on his face.

They got to the batting cages right on time. Aiden was totally mesmerized
by Marty's line drives into the netting off of the pitching machine. Marty
was equally impressed by Aiden, as well.

"Damn, bro, you're hitting nothing but ropes," Marty gushed. While hitting
off the machine was much different than off of live pitching, Marty had no
doubt that Aiden was an incredibly talented hitter.

"You were hitting rockets," Aiden said.

After they hit for a half-hour, Marty took Aiden into the artificial-turfed
arena and hit him grounders. He was impressed by his little bro's quickness
to the ball and by his overall fundamentals.

"Your dads taught you well," Marty said as Aiden went to his left to field
a hard-hit grounder.

"So did Coach Hallion," Aiden replied as he tossed the ball back to
Marty. "He said he didn't know much about baseball, but daddy says that he
knew more than he thought and learned even more all season." Aiden got into
position for his next grounder. "Just like we did," he added.

Marty hit a half-dozen more grounders when the proprietor walked out into
the arena. "It was a pleasure having you in my little complex, Marty." He
looked down at Aiden. "And it's great seeing you back, too."

"My dads said we'll be coming here a lot of weekends," Aiden told him.

"You're going to be a good little ballplayer. You're lucky to have great
coaches for dads and one of the greatest baseball players in the history of
Lewis County as a friend. I am expecting great things from you."

"I just try to do my best every practice and every game," Aiden said
modestly.

"You've obviously been taught well."

Marty ruffled Aiden's hair and gave him a smile that said, "I'm proud of
you, bro."

On the drive home Marty asked Aiden what he was grateful for.

"Huh?" Aiden asked.

"Maybe I should make my question more specific—what are you grateful
for, today?"

Aiden looked lost in thought for a while. He wanted to say, "I dunno," but
by now he knew Marty well enough to understand that answer wouldn't fly. "I
guess I'm grateful for being able to be with you all day."

"You guess, or you know?"

"I know! I am grateful for spending the day with my big bro, Marty
Carlson," he said in his high-pitched yet confident voice.

"Thank you. That makes me feel very loved by a special young boy. I have
something I want you to start doing for me."

"What?"

"Every night before you get into bed, I want you to kneel next to your bed,
close your eyes, and say at least one thing you are grateful for that day."

"Tell who?"

"You can tell anybody you want, even if it's just the mattress."

"Or Horace. I'll say it out loud so Horace can hear me." He looked over at
Marty. "Is this like a prayer or something?"

"It's whatever you want it to be."

"So why do you want me to do it?"

"Because if you can come up with one thing to be grateful for every night,
you'll always get into your bed with a good feeling."

"What if I have a crappy day and I have nothing to be grateful for? Do I
still have to do it?"

"You do it every night no matter what. No matter how crappy your day ends
up being, there is always something to be grateful for."

"Can I be grateful for more than one thing?"

"Absolutely."

"Do you do it every night?"

"Yes, I do."

"Even the night you struck out with the bases loaded in the ninth?"

"Even then."

"Wow. What were you grateful for that day?"

"I was grateful to have the talent and the opportunity to do something I
love, even if it doesn't always come out the way I want it to."

"Who do you tell it to?"

"I tell it to anybody that will listen."

Aiden didn't say anything for quite a while. Marty could feel the wheels
turning in the ten-year-old's head as he digested what he had just been
told.

Aiden finally broke his silence. "Why do you want me to do it?"

Marty let the reasons flow through his head and wondered which of them he
should reveal to a boy as young as Aiden. Then he decided not to go into
self-censorship and simply tell him the unvarnished truth. "When I was ten,
I never thought about being grateful for anything. By the time I was eleven
I was a very angry little boy and it never occurred to me that by being
grateful for what I had I wouldn't feel so shitty all the time about what I
didn't have. Instead of humbly getting on my knees every night and being
grateful, I pulled beers out of the refrigerator. By the time I was twelve
I was buzzed almost every night, and some nights I was drunk. I drank away
my anger and I drank away my gratitude. I drank away my feelings, both bad
and good. And I tried to drink away the things I love, like Rich, and
baseball, and my new family."

Marty had shared some of his story before with Aiden, but never with that
much depth. "But why does it mean I should be grateful every night? I don't
drink alcohol."

"So you won't be like me, an unhappy, ungrateful kid who was all about
himself. So that every night you go to bed knowing there was something good
in your day and every night you have to get out of yourself and your ego by
being humble and giving thanks for that goodness you had."

Aiden wasn't sure he understood. Once again he became lost in his
thoughts. He decided that Marty meant he could make things better for
himself by being thankful for something, while being angry would only make
his life worse. Aiden trusted Marty with all of his heart. If Marty said
getting on his knees and being thankful would help him, then he would do
it.

As they crossed the dam at Mayfield Lake, Aiden finally broke his
silence. "Okay, I'll do it, every night, no matter what, even if I'm on a
sleepover. I might say it to myself on a sleepover, though."

"Whatever works." Marty turned into the Miller's driveway.

Aiden hesitated before opening the door. "Thanks for lunch and for taking
me to the batting cages and everything."

"You're more than welcome, little bro."

Aiden opened the door, and then hesitated again. "I love you, Marty." He
exited the car, closed the door, and ran up the steps to the front door of
the house. Larry met Aiden at the door and gave Marty a wave. Marty
returned the wave and backed out of the driveway, hoping his old coach
didn't notice the tears dripping down his cheeks.

After brushing his teeth that night, Aiden walked out onto the landing and
called for a tuck-in. He got into the bed and scooted his naked torso under
the covers. Phil tucked him in and read from "Then Again, Maybe I Won't" by
Judy Blume. Aiden was enjoying the story about Tony, an eleven-year-old boy
a lot like himself.

After Phil ruffled his son's hair, kissed him on the forehead, and pulled
his covers to his chin, he turned out the lights and left the room. Aiden
pulled back the covers and left the bed. He got on his knees and leaned
against his mattress. He closed his eyes and said, "I am grateful for
Marty, and for dad and daddy." He was about to rise when he said, "And I'm
grateful for Horace." He couldn't leave out his beloved stuffed donkey.

He got back into bed, but his head was spinning with too many thoughts. He
didn't like how his first gratitude night worked. He wondered if maybe he
could fake being on his knees and just say what he was grateful for, or do
it all before calling his dads. He wasn't going to do it the same way he
had that night; it just didn't feel right. He'd have to ask Marty about it.

When Aiden heard the downstairs bedroom door close, he pulled his
underpants out of the laundry hamper and slipped them on. He took Horace
down from his perch, and headed for the landing. He hadn't slept with his
dads for a long time, and tonight seemed like a good time. When he couldn't
get to sleep, his dads always made him feel better. He didn't know feeling
grateful could be so complicated and wondered if he really wanted to say
thank you every night.

Phil got into bed next to his husband. He checked that his alarm was set
for 5:15 and was turned on. There was no reason why it shouldn't be set for
the right time or turned on, but he suffered from alarm clock paranoia, a
common affliction among early risers. They turned out the lights and
snuggled close to each other.

"We haven't had Aiden come down for some comforting in a while," Larry
said. "Do you think now that he's ten he feels he's outgrown that?"

"It started when he was so close to ten he might as well have been ten. We
should be happy, it shows he's growing up and also overcoming his
insecurities."

"I know, but some nights I miss the little imp."

"Really? You even miss the kicks?"

Before Larry could answer they heard a knock at the door. "It's like
somebody read our minds," Larry whispered. "Come in, Horace," he called
out.

Aiden entered the bedroom saying, "Look who Horace brought with him—ME!"
He placed Horace on Larry's nightstand and then got into the bed between
his dads. Since Phil had tucked him in that night, he gave his dad the
first hug. "I love you, dad and I am grateful for you."

"I love you, too, son." The line about gratitude is a certainly a new one,
Phil thought. He wondered if that was Marty's influence.

Aiden flipped over and hugged Larry. "I love you, daddy, and I am grateful
for you."

"I love you and am grateful you are in my life."

Aiden gave his dad another tight hug, loving the feel of his well-toned
body. Aiden thought about the three men in his life: Marty, Larry, and
Phil, and at that moment understood exactly what gratitude meant.  Before
he could think of anything else, he was asleep.

Next: Friends of Different Ages

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