We found the bus station without a problem. The city was strange: it was a fairly big city, so there were still plenty of lights and such on, but nonetheless it felt dead, like we were wandering through a ghost town. It started to rain a little bit, just a drizzle. It was pretty creepy; I was glad Nick was there. I would have been completely lost without him.

The bus ride was uneventful. For the first half hour there was a man in a suit and with a briefcase sitting across from us. I sat next to Nick and stared at the dark houses going by. I wondered how many of them had boys about my age: probably a bunch. I wondered how many of them were gay, or even vaguely curious about other guys. Probably a few. Then I wondered how many of them were in love with boys four years older than they were. None, I bet. I wondered how many would, well, elope with a boy, any boy. None, was my guess again. None of them.

And yet Nick's uncle's newphew did. Someone I was connected to through only three people had. And now that person, him and his boyfriend, would be connected directly to me, because I was going to live with them. I remembered that weird idea that everyone is connected to everyone else through only six degrees of separation; six people away. It was pretty much true, right? Well, here were me and Nick, bringing that connection even closer.

I wondered if that could be true. Hell, Victor — that was his name, right? — Victor was still four people away from me, for a few more hours. Right? Me to Nick to his uncle to Riley to Victor. No, wait, that was only three. Well, anyway. Could I really be connected to everyone on Earth with just three more steps? Someone in Tibet? Well, my aunt was from Shanghai, so probably. What about, I don't know, Tierra del Fuego? Maybe.

The man got off the bus. I watched him run from the station to a parked car; it was raining harder now. We pulled away.

I put my head on Nick's lap and drifted in and out of sleep for the next hour, hour and a half. I woked up eventually to hear Nick talking on his cell phone.

"Yeah, we just passed a sign that says Harwich. That's pretty close, right? ... Okay. See you soon."

When Nick went to put the phone away, I sat up, so as to give him easier access to his pockets. "Sorry, did I wake you?"

"Don't worry about it," I replied, then put my head on his shoulder. He rubbed my thigh gently, and I closed my eyes again.

Suddenly the bus was stopped, and Nick was shaking my shoulder gently. "Time to get up, babe," he whispered.

I yawned and said, "Sorry." He smiled at me, grabbed his bag, and we went to got off the bus.

The driver said something to us as we got off. I didn't catch it, so I didn't say anything in return. Neither did Nick. I was still waking up, so it took me pretty much until I had stepped into it that the rain had gotten much harder. It was pouring.

There was a dark minivan waiting nearby. Nick and I ran for it, and a side door slid open for us.

There were boys in each of the middle two seats, a woman in the driver's seat and a man in the passenger's. Nick got in first and shook hands with each of them as he went to the back seat. I did the same.

The boy who had opened his door was Riley. He had black hair that was a little longer than most guys', but just enough that the bangs were about down to his eyes. He had a small, round nose and brown eyes; he seemed a few inches taller than me, though it was hard to tell with him sitting. His grip was firm, a lot firmer than mine.

The other kid was, of course, Victor. It looked like he was maybe two inches or so taller than Riley, so maybe five or six taller than me, but still another four or five short of Nick's six-one. His hair was brown and his eyes were gray.

I didn't take much notice of how Mr. and Mrs. Hendersen looked, not only because I didn't care that much but also because they were sitting in the front seats. They told use we should probably call them Paul and Michelle. After the preliminary introductions and Nick and I were buckled up in the back, the car started off.

Some pretty standard conversation started. It was conveyed around the car that I was twelve and would be entering seventh grade in September, that Nick was sixteen and would be going into his junior year of high school, that Riley and Victor were both fourteen-year-old freshmen-to-be. Mr. Hendersen was a sculptor, and Mrs. Hendersen was an elementary school teacher. Mrs. Henderson...well, Michelle...asked us what kinds of things we were interested in.

"Well, I'm pretty into soccer," I said.

Nick added, "Cody's actually pretty much a soccer prodigy." I blushed, but said nothing. It was one of those awkward moments where there's really nothing appropriate to say: if you refute it, not only will you be lying but belittling yourself; if you agree, you sound like an arrogant asshole. So I kept my mouth shut.

"Really?" Victor asked. "I'm not bad at soccer myself."

"I bet my soccer prodigy could beat yours," Riley said in Nick's direction.

"We'll see," I said. I was actually looking forward to this. Some competition at home would be good...well, yeah. At home. At the place that had until five hours ago been my home, I had to go pretty far to get to any kids as good at soccer as I was. If, of course, Victor was actually any good at soccer. That remained to be seen.

"I swim," Riley added, "but I'm not anywhere near as good at it as this kid is at soccer. And I started the Ultimate Frisbee team at our school."

"Cool," Nick put in. "I like Ultimate a lot, but my school didn't have a team or enough kids interested."

"Awesome," Riley responded. "We need some more kids playing."

Aparently the bus station wasn't very far from their house, because on that note we pulled into a gravel driveway.

My first impression of the house was that it was big. There were three stories of windows and a porch coming off of each level. The house was on top of a hill that went down to a tiny little beach, with two terraces and some plants growing along them on the way down. It looked like the beach was on a pond, but there was a bridge not too far off and what looked like it was probably another pond or maybe the ocean. I asked, and Paul replied that it was an old mill pond, which connected to a harbor.

Down by the pond were a couple of kayaks, an inflatable dinghy, and some lawn chairs. I could make out a lot of motorboats and a few sailboats out in the pond; I wondered if any of them were the Hendersens', but didn't ask. There were a lot of houses arond the pond, but there were some fairly high bushes between the Hendersens' house and their neighbors; high enough that I couldn't see their yards. I noted, with disappointment, that there wasn't really any flat ground to play soccer on, though I was sure there would be some not too far away.

Michelle opened the door and shepherded us inside. We walked into the kitchen, which was, I don't know, nice. I'm not too interested in kitchens. It was attached to a dining room with a big rectangular table. One entire wall of the dining room, which was the same room as the living room, was curtained — which I assumed meant there were windows — except for a big glass door. I could see a swing on the porch, one of those bench swings with cushions and all.

Like I said, the dining room was connected straight into the living room, which wrapped around the stairs and little hall in the middle of the house. The part of the living room closer to the pond was just three couches and some chairs around a table which was kinda cool — it was a glass sheet held up by metal carvings of animals. The other half of the living room had a green leather couch facing a big flatscreen TV. I saw hooked up to it an Xbox, a PS2, a Tivo, and a big machine that looked like a DVD switcher. There was also a nice-looking surround-sound system. As if the size and location hadn't, this confirmed that the Hendersens were rich, at least compared to my own family — and we were by no means poor.

In the corner was a big cabinet that Victor demonstrated held their massive library of DVDs and games, not to mention CDs. There was a Powerbook set up on the table next to the cabinet. "All of the CDs, and a bunch more, are on here. This is hooked up to the TV and to the speakers here, in the kitchen, on the porch, and upstairs. I'll show you how it works later."

Noting the bathroom and the stairs down to the garage in the little center section, we followed the party upstairs. The second floor had a little room with two computers set up in it, Riley and Victor's bedroom — which had a double bed, two dressers, a desk with yet another computer, posters for Anchorman, Ocean's 11, and Boondock Saints, and a curtained-off glass door to the porch. This porch had another swing hanging from the floor of the porch above and a couple chairs. Then we went into the bedroom that was going to be ours.

It was basically the same as Victor and Riley's, without the posters or computer on the desk. The bed was made. This room only had one dresser, but unlike theirs, it had a closet with the normal closetary features.

"The third floor is ours," Paul said. "It's just a bedroom and a bath, nothing especially interesting."

Michelle yawned. "Well, I'm going to bed. Do you boys need anything?"

I looked around; nothing really came to mind, except: "Nick here didn't really warn me that we were leaving at a time when I could get ready, so I don't have anything at all, not even a toothbrush."

Nick smiled and said, "That was one of the precious few thing I brought."

Riley walked off, then shouted from down the hall a minute later, "The red one in here is yours. You have one, Nick?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"Thanks," I said as Riley walked back.

"Is that all?" Paul asked.

"Well, for now, I guess," I said. "I'm gonna need some clothes eventually."

"We'll go buy you some tomorrow."

"I'll pay," Nick offered.

"Don't worry about it," Michelle said. Nick didn't reply, so I thanked her.

"Okay. Goodnight, boys. Don't stay up too late," Paul said. There was a chorus of reply as they walked up the stairs.

I yawned loudly and flopped across the bed. "Well, I'm about ready to sleep."

Nick laughed, "You've been sleeping on my lap for the last three hours."

"Yeah, well, you're not very comfortable," I said. "What time is it, anyway?"

Victor pointed out the clock on the wall and said, "Three-fifty."

"Way past my bedtime."

Riley smiled and said, "Okay, one thing that you guys need to know. I don't know exactly how intimate you guys are, and I don't expecially want to find out, so lock your door when you're doing stuff like that, and keep it down. When Paul and Michelle're around, you should probably keep it at no more than this."

With that, he turned and wrapped an arm around Victor, then kissed him on the cheek. A smile spread across Victor's face.

"When we're the only ones around, I don't mind if you go as far as this."

Riley pressed himself into Victor and kissed him passionately. Their hands went around asses and under the backs of shirts. They continued like that for a minute.

Then they broke off and Riley said breathlessly, "Anything more than that requires what we're about to do." He grabbed Victor's hand and dragged the very-willing boy into thier room, shutting the door behind them. "Hear that click? That's the lock."

I laughed, and so did Nick. Then he headed into the bathoom. I followed a moment later, and we brushed our teeth. I used my brand new red toothbrush. Exciting. The bathroom was pretty orthodox, though large: sink, toilet, bath / shower, tiled floor.

Nick finished first. I finished up, washed my face and took a piss real quick, then followed him into our room. He was just getting into bed, wearing only his boxers. I tossed my clothes into a pile a little ways away from his pile, clicked off the light and shut the door.

"Should I lock it?"

"You want more?" he asked, pretending to be shocked.

I smiled. "Of course."

He sighed in mock exasperation. "If you must."

I turned the lock — unlike my old room, you didn't need a key to work the lock from the inside — and walked over to bed. As soon as my eyes were adjusted enough to see clearly, I pounced onto Nick and bit at his earlobe. He giggled.

Nick grabbed me around the waist and flipped me onto my back, next to him. I bounced a little on the bed as he stepped over onto me, kissing my neck. He worked his way down to my nipple, then played with that for a while. I knew where this was going — this was almost exactly what he had done four hours ago — but had no complaints. As expected, Nick worked his way down and popped my dick, which was of course already rock hard, into his mouth.

He bobbed his head up and down, getting pretty fast but topping off before long. His neck was apparently not that strong. That was okay; it'd get plenty of regular exercise, I was sure.

I realized that I was gripping the posts of the headstand behind me. Consciously, I unclenched my hands and put one of them onto the back of Nick's neck, the other onto his shoulder, and stroked him while he sucked me. It wasn't any time at all before I felt the now-familiar tingling of an orgasm coming on, and then I exploded into Nick's mouth. Well, it felt to me like I was exploding, anyway. I knew there weren't more than a few drops. But I loved it.

I sighed and closed my eyes, still stroking Nick's neck. I was surprised when he grabbed me around the waist and rolled me onto my stomach. He laid his dick along the crack of my butt; it was hot against my skin. His balls were resting against my thighs; the head of his dick was pressed against my lower back. He was lying on top of me above that, his chin about level with the top of my head, his stomach and chest hot along my back. I flexed and clenched my butt, to wrap tighter around his dick. He started to thrust himself forward and back, slowly, with little motions. I clenched and unclenched in the same rhythm as his thrusting.

He sped up, and before long, he was really pounding along my ass. His breathing quickened, his strokes shortened, and then after one big thrust that left his balls smacking against my legs, he exploded onto me. I said that I exploded before; it felt like it, but I really didn't, I just kinda leaked. Nick exploded. He shot out more cum, even though I had sucked him off just a few hours ago, than I had made in my life so far. It went up my back, cooler than his body was pressed against me. Nick sighed, contentedly, and let his body collapse onto me. I reveled in his touch, even though I was pretty much trapped under him. There wasn't enough weight on me to hurt, but no way could I move.

I wondered what it would be like to do the real thing — to have Nick inside of me. I wasn't sure I wanted to — well, I did, because I loved him and I wanted that connection, to have him inside of me, more so than when I sucked him. Plus, I knew that he would love it. But, almost more than I wanted that, I was afraid it would hurt. He was just so big.

I clenched my butt again around his softening dick. Nick sighed again and then rolled off my back. I nestled into my favorite position, and Nick was quick to comply. I laid my head in the crook of his arm, loving the feeling of him around me, loving him.