Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2012 17:12:28 -0700
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Big Time  Chapter 20

Greetings and welcome back. This is mine, be 18, and all of that
good stuff.

This chapter follows the fate of the fly ball to right field and the first
part of Eric's Go to State dream. With the seventh graders Hunter
gets lessons from Kraig on how to deal with taking a girl to the
movies for the first time. And the boys from the Go to State Team find
out that getting money to finance that dream is not all that easy.

You can always email me at thehakaanen@hotmail.com. Please take
the time to let me know your thoughts on "The Big Game".

State Championship Game Mayfield Mustang Seventh Inning Lineup

1. Jerome-Center Field (Senior)
2.  Eric-Second Base (Junior)
3. Rich-Pitcher (Senior)
4. Marty-Third Base (Senior)
5. Scott-Designated Hitter (Junior) Hitting for Hunter-Left Field
(Junior)
6. Connor-First base (Senior)
7. Kevin-Catcher (Junior)
8. Lars-Right Field (Junior)
9. Justin-Shortstop (Sophomore)


CHAPTER 20
THE GO TO STATE TEAM

<Junior year, Pasco, State A Championship Game>

I will never forget the feelings in me as I turned and watched that fly
ball head for right field. I realized I still had to run out and be the relay
man to keep the batter from advancing too far if we didn't get him out,
but in reality no matter what happened to that ball there was nothing
for me to do on the field. If the ball is caught we win, if it isn't caught
the game is tied, and if it clears the fence we would have blown a
three run lead in the seventh and last inning and lost the State
Championship game.

I had thoughts of doom run through me along with thoughts of victory
and thoughts of being ready to make the play and they all shot
through me one after another. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be
excited or crushed, so I stood where I was supposed to be to receive
the relay throw to second or third and watched Lars instead of the
ball. As I've said before, the ball always seems to find the new guy
and in this case it was finding Lars for his only play of the weekend.

The play seemed to develop in ultra slow motion, starting with the
crack of the bat and Lars turning on the ball, running to the padded
wall, turning around and looking up into the bright sky to pick it up, his
sunglasses hiding his eyes. Coach Sanders didn't allow us to park
our sunglasses on top of our caps when we were in the field. He said
that sunglasses were not a fashion statement, but were for helping us
battle the bright sun. Lars had obviously learned his lesson from
Hunter's mistake yesterday, a mistake Coach Sanders had not been
happy about.

It looked like the ball was going to hit off the fence just above Lars.
Lars bent his lanky body slightly and jumped like a basketball player
at center court. His body rose up along the tall fence, his glove
stretched out over his long arm and the ball nestled into the webbing
at the same time his body hit the wall.

I was ready to jump up and yell when I saw that the collision had
jarred the ball loose from his glove and my elation quickly changed to
an "oh shit" feeling. Lars reached for the ball with his bare hand as his
feet hit the ground. It bounced up off of his hand and he grasped at it
again, his long fingers barely wrapping around the elusive sphere. He
had no balance at all and fell face first to the ground, but he jabbed
his hand into the air, his fingers still clutching the ball. The ump
charged with making the call waited and waited, looking to see if Lars
had regained control of the ball before it touched the ground. Lars
stuck the ball into the pocket of his glove and stood up with both arms
raised and the umpire lifted his right fist and yelled, "That a good out!"

I looked at the scoreboard to make sure I wasn't dreaming---it still
read Mustangs 5, Loggers 4. That was it; it quickly sank in that we
were indeed the state champions. I was already on the run before the
significance of the final score really set in. I was ready to jump on
Lars and give him the hug of his life. My teammates were right behind
me, and suddenly what had seemed to move so slowly was moving
faster than I could keep track of as there were hugs, tackles, dog
piles, dances, kisses, even tears (I admit to being one of those who
had them). All of the work, the ups, the downs, the pain, the worry,
the wonder, all of it came together inside of each of us as we looked
around for somebody else to hug.

As we ran back to the dugout I looked up in the stands. I swear I
could see my dad and Noah's dad and Hunter's dad and Mr.
Bednarzyck, a friend and team sponsor, slapping high fives and
sharing hugs just like they were kids.

We made it back to the dugout in time to have the obligatory
handshake with our opponents who had to have gone through the
same ups and downs on that last play as we did. A lot of things had
to go right for us on that last play and the same was true for them.

It happened to work out for us, however. The ball was just a couple of
feet shy of clearing the fence, we had Lars in the field who was as
good as anybody short of Jerome at going back on a fly ball, who had
the extra long arms and the extra reach over Kraig, who played
hoops and had some jumping ability, who knew he would be killed by
our coaches if he went out into the field on a sunny day without his
sunglasses sitting on his nose, and who had long, slim fingers and
strong hands to give him the last second grasp of the ball, keeping it
from hitting the ground. I love Kraig, as a friend, a teammate, as a
brother, but if Coach Sanders had put Kraig in right instead of Lars,
we would be looking at a tie score right now.

After the handshakes, we waved at the parents, friends, faculty and
students lined in the stands along the fence. We knew they would be
waiting for us when we got to the parking lot.

I saw Coach Sanders come down the steps into the dugout after
saying some words to the Logger coach. I held back from entering
the tunnel to the dressing room. I stood in front of him, then took a
step and gave him a deep sincere hug; it was a tight hug, a
meaningful hug, an emotional hug that transcended a player merely
celebrating a win with his coach. Coach Sanders was the second
most influential man in my life next to my father and I felt a great deal
of love and admiration for the man and for what he stood for.

"Thanks, coach," was all I could say as I fought back tears that were
tears of joy.

He broke the hug and looked down at me. I wasn't the little eleven
year old who first had to look a long way up to the six foot tall man,
but I was still a couple of inches short of doing so. "It should be me
thanking you, Eric. Sometimes dreams come true if you work your
ass off for them, and even then it isn't guaranteed. I guess we had
one of those dreams come true today. I know for sure that you did."

That was high praise coming from him. "I guess it's okay to dream
about next year now," I said.

"It's even better to start working toward next year." I could see the
humor in his eyes when he said, "But let's take a couple of days off to
celebrate first."  Then I could see the tears starting to well up and I
turned away to let them fall in private.

We stood in the dugout knowing our team would be called out soon.
A table with trophies and a pair of microphones were set up . Coach
Sanders came back out with the team, all still in uniform, even if
some shirts were untucked and some caps were missing. Our team
captain looked ready to pose for a picture and he was the one who
counted.

The Logger captains and coaches accepted the second place trophy.
I have to say that the Loggers were a class act; a team that played
hard and well, and kept their mouths shut. While that part of the
ceremony was taking place, Marty told me to tuck in my shirt. I gave
him a questioning look but his face said, "Do it!" and so I did.

When we were announced as Class A Champions the Mayfield side
of the stands, right behind our dugout, erupted into an explosion of
noise. Coach Sanders started out of the dugout and Marty grabbed
my hand, dragging me out with him. "This is yours as much as
anybody's," he said. "It wouldn't be right without you out there and
everybody in that dugout agrees." He let go of my hand, but he could
have held it all the way to the table as far as I was concerned. I was
once again overwhelmed by emotion. The trophy for the school was
handed to Marty. It would be engraved later. Coach Sanders received
the rotating trophy which had been in the Loggers' trophy case. It
would also be engraved later. We would receive our individual
trophies at the upcoming school assembly. The rest of the team came
out of the dugout and escorted the three of us back.  We returned to
the dugout, riding high from receiving the trophies.

The awarding of the Most Valuable Player would finish up the
ceremony. There was no doubt in my mind who that should be, not
only for his bat and his glove in key situations, but for his leadership
and his love, things important to us Mustangs, but probably not
noticed by whoever did the voting. Whatever it was the voters saw,
however, was the same thing the rest of us saw. Marty's face was a
torrent of emotion as he heard his name announced. His walk to the
table was one of humble confidence, not the swagger of someone
who thought he stood above everyone else. It was Marty at his best,
the star player, the senior leader, the boy who literally dragged
himself out of the gutter, accepting the trophy not only for himself,
but, as he told me later, for all of us who stood by him as his friend.

The team playing the next game was in the dugout. They offered their
congratulations as we cleared out, but I knew their minds were on
winning their own first place trophy. We went through the tunnel into
the dressing room, ran ourselves quickly through the showers, and
were soon dressed and out in the parking lot. Chandler and Korey
had worked with the assistant coaches to get our gear out to the bus.

In the parking lot chaos reigned again as I sought out my mom and
dad. They found me first and there were more kisses and hugs. A
couple of years ago those kisses and hugs in public would have
embarrassed me no matter what the reason for them. But now I was
proud to be the son of my parents and proud to receive their love in
front of everybody. I made sure to be one of the many players to give
Coach Miller a hug. He had been a huge part of us getting here.

I also found the Dawg and Donkey, or they found me, I'm not sure
which. All I know is that when you get hugged by a Donkey you've
received a major hug; he was a big, strong dude.

"A big Donkey congratulations," Mike the Donkey said. "You guys
were awesome all weekend. It's so fucking great to see Mayfield
baseball back at the top." He was obviously overcome with emotion,
but that was true of almost everybody in that crowd.

"Come over to the Donkey stall when we get back from school in a
couple of weeks. I think I can show you a good way to celebrate.
Bring your little boy friend, too."

"I think that can be arranged," I said. The Donkey was sure to know
how to celebrate in his bed.

I gave him another hug, hugged the Dawg as well, and started for the
bus. I was pleased that Marty, Kevin, Kraig, Scott, and Noah gave the
two of them hugs as well. The Dawg and Donkey meant a lot to us.

I watched what some of my teammates were doing in the parking lot.
Noah hugged his parents and his brother and sister, the twins, who
were seniors. He hugged Nick, who had become an incredibly sexy
looking 13 year old who was just finishing seventh grade. His last
hugs were for the McGowans, an elderly couple who were special
friends of both of us as well as a middle-aged woman who was with
them. I walked over to them and gave them my love as well. The
three adults had tear filled eyes, happy for all of us but also sad that
someone we all loved was missing.

I also watched Marty as he hugged his mother and his brother. I had
heard that his dad had come to Pasco for the tournament, but I didn't
see him in the crowd. That didn't surprise me, nor did the emotional
hug that Marty gave to a distinguished gray-haired man, Mr.
Bednarzyck and to his cute twelve year old son whose grin seemed
to stretch the length of the parking lot. I could see the tears in the
eyes of all three of them. I knew what that man meant to Marty and
why and I knew how special the boy was to Marty as well. Marty had
given his trophy to Chandler to hold while he gave out his hugs and
he took it back from the freshman after wiping his eyes.

I got on the bus with Noah. The policy of Coach Sanders was that we
needed a note from our parents to ride home with them, not that any
of us asked for one. I knew that three hour bus ride home was going
to be exciting and interesting. All of us were ready to celebrate
reaching our dream—after we stopped to eat, of course.

++++++++++

<Seventh grade, the twins' bedroom, Sunday morning, July 29>

Kraig woke up with the naked body of a ten year old boy wrapped
around him. The boy's breath, amazingly sweet for early morning
breath, and his smooth, velvet soft skin, made waking up extra
special. He smiled as he recalled the night before when he fucked the
son of the man who would be his history teacher this coming school
year and who was also the head baseball coach at his school. It
wasn't the first time they'd had sex, but, considering who the boy
was, it always seemed extra naughty to do it with him.

Kraig had morning wood and also needed to pee. He started to move
so he could get out of bed without waking up Chandler, the boy who
was sharing his bed. However, as he moved Chandler held on to him,
refusing to let go of his twelve year old friend, at least not until
whatever dream was spinning through his head was finished. Kraig
finally managed to wiggle himself free and get out of bed. He looked
at the clock radio and saw that it was almost nine-thirty.

Even with the curtains closed the morning sun had the room lit up. He
looked at his twin brother, Kevin, and their little ten year old brother
Korey tucked into bed together, as intertwined as he and Chandler
had been. Yeah, it had been a fun night alright, what with the two
younger boys taking turns sucking him and his twin brother, followed
by the two ten year olds doing a 69 while he and Kevin jerked off
watching them, and finally fucking the two of them side-by-side on
Kevin's bed. Those two little dudes are such horn dogs now, he
thought, I don't even want to think what they'll be doing when they're
in middle school.

Since he didn't plan on going back to bed he decided to shower, and
since his dick was still stiff with morning wood he decided to pee in
the shower, something he probably would have done anyway. He set
the water, stepped into the tub, closed the door, and then lay on his
back with the water cascading over him. Without holding his rock
hard cock he relaxed himself as much as he could and got the pee to
blast out of his four plus inch cock, the first part of the fountain hitting
him square in the face.

He and Kevin had been peeing on each other since they were nine
and they had gotten Korey to do it with them, even though it didn't
interest him quite as much and he didn't always like doing water
sports with them. Chandler wasn't interested at all and Kraig's
attempt to entice Hunter in Hunter's backyard had fallen flat.

As the stream of piss hit his face he opened his mouth to try to catch
some. He didn't like the taste of urine, but for some reason catching
some in his mouth turned him on anyway. He and Kevin had both
peed into each other's mouth a few times, but he didn't care much for
being on the receiving end as much as Kevin did. The stream died
down, covering him from his neck to his sparse collection of pubic
hair. The urine was washed off by the shower water as fast as it hit
him.

Kraig remembered when he and Kevin tried to get Chandler involved
on Friday. They were playing in the backyard when Kevin announced
he had to go in and pee. Kraig said he had to pee, too, so why go
inside when they could just pee in the yard. But it ended up being
Korey who pulled out his cock and started peeing on the lawn. Kevin
looked at Kraig and Kraig looked at Kevin and they stepped up to
each other until their bodies were touching from shoulder to groin.
They placed their hands on each other's shoulders and stared to piss
into their shorts. This wasn't something they planned, it was just one
of those things which, as twins, they seemed to be able execute
without ever talking to each other.

Korey and Chandler looked at the two twelve year olds with their
mouths agape as their shorts darkened with the piss that was filling
the space, but soon started leaking out the front and down their legs,
the urine of the two boys mixing into one flow. Korey still had his dick
hanging out of his zipper, but it was starting to get hard as he
watched his brothers' naughty act.

"Ewww, that's NASTY!" Chandler said, but his hand reaching for his
crotch and grabbed the hard cock inside his shorts, belying what his
true feelings might be about what he saw.

The twins broke their embrace and looked at each other's soaked
shorts and wet legs. "Now, that's how you take a piss," Kevin said
with a leer. Kraig had hoped to see Chandler take his little cock out
and pee as well, but it was not to be.

Kraig and Kevin played for maybe fifteen minutes in their pee soaked
undies and shorts until they decided it was time to toss their clothes
into the wash and get cleaned up and changed. Just as they stepped
onto the patio to take off their clothes in a part of the backyard that
was a bit more private their fourteen year old brother Keith stepped
out and saw the results of his brother's latest foray into naughtiness.

"You two just might be the grossest pair of boys in this whole town,"
he commented without malice. "And to think I have to claim you as
brothers." Kraig said nothing; instead he threw his wet briefs right at
his brother's face. Keith caught them in self-protection and took off
chasing Kraig, who was now buck naked, into the yard, finally tackling
him onto the grass. Kevin took Kraig's piss soaked briefs and
smeared and rubbed the briefs all over his brother's face, declaring
his life to be forfeit at some future date.

As the memory of that piece of fun filled Kraig's head he was madly
jerking his cock, fantasizing about peeing all over Chandler's fully
clothed body. He came with an intense orgasm, his sweet clear cum
shooting on his belly where minutes before his pee had been falling.

Kraig quickly got up from the tub and washed, not wanting to run out
of hot water. The morning had gotten off to a most satisfactory start.

He dried himself and went downstairs, not bothering to get dressed.
His parents had no problem with their four sons being naked in the
house, although they had certain rules attached. They weren't nudists
and were rarely naked in front of the boys, but they felt that letting the
boys be comfortable with their bodies in the confines of their house
was healthy.

He entered the kitchen looking for something to eat and saw his
mother busily preparing breakfast.

"Hi, mom."

"Good morning, Kraig," Like mothers of twins everywhere, she knew
one from the other, something the twin's father wasn't as successful
with. She made no comment about Kraig's lack of clothing. "Is Kevin
up yet?"

"I don't think so and I don't think Korey and Chandler are either." In
fact he knew they were still asleep.

"Well, it's past ten. Could you wake them and tell them breakfast will
be ready in fifteen minutes."

"Will do." He grabbed a banana off the counter and went up to wake
everyone.

After the sleep was rubbed out of everyone's eyes and morning
pisses were taken, the three brothers donned t-shirts and underpants,
knowing that one of the rules of the house was they needed to be
dressed when eating at the table, even if it was just in their
underwear. Chandler followed suit and they went down to eat.

After breakfast their mother polled her three youngest sons to see
what they had planned. Keith and his father had left early in the
morning to go fishing, so she already knew their plans.

Kevin reminded her that Lars would be over in the early afternoon as
his parents took a last look at the two houses they were interested in.
It was looking more and more that they would end up buying the one
that was just a couple of blocks away from where the twins lived.

Korey said that he was going back to Chandler's. The two of them
pretty much lived together all summer, merely trading off houses
between them or sometimes staying with other friends. Mikey and
Drew were going over to Chandler's house and they planned on
swimming.

 Mikey was Rich's younger brother and Kraig and Kevin knew who he
was. He was a cute ten year old, though not as cute as Korey or
Chandler, as far as the twins were concerned. The twins didn't know
Drew except for the fact that he was another fifth grader and friend of
their brother and that he was a bit chubby with baby fat, but had one
very fine ass.

As for Kraig, he had no plans and figured he'd end up hanging with
Lars and Kevin. He didn't like doing that since it was very apparent to
him what was happening between his brother and Lars. He often felt
that he was on the outside looking in. He thought about maybe calling
Eric and Scott to see if they wanted to hang with him for the
afternoon. They were always fun to be around. He thought they could
ride their bikes to the park or something.

What he really wanted to do was call Hunter, but he never knew what
Hunter's moods were like and he didn't really want to deal with being
rejected. If Hunter's family had plans or something, that was one
thing, but all too often he just got a "I got things to do" brush-off from
his friend. Their relationship was a fragile one.

He went up to his bedroom deciding to call Eric, when he saw he had
a text message. "do u want 2 spnd the nite" was all it said and it was
from Hunter and was sent about 15 minutes ago. He quickly texted
back "yes call me" and waited.

His wait was brief. "Can you come over now?" Hunter asked without
even bothering to say hello. Hunter was obviously in one of his good
moods.

"I'll ask my mom and call you back." After all the proper arrangements
were made Kraig loaded his backpack, took his bike out of the
garage, and peddled to Hunter's house. This was turning into an
excellent day after all.

When Kraig arrived at Hunter's house he was met by Hunter. "My
parents are both working at the store today, so I thought maybe we
could hang out."

"Sounds good to me," Kraig said. He didn't mention that he was about
to start making calls to find somebody to hang out with and that
Hunter wasn't at the top of the list because he never could be sure
where Hunter was coming from.

Hunter led Kraig into the living room where the Mariners were on TV.
They were playing the Twins in Minneapolis. "You guys from the Go
to State thingie are meeting with my dad tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, at seven-thirty. Can you believe that? I mean who gets up for
a meeting that early in the summer? Your dad said that's the only
time he could meet with us this week."

"That's my dad all right. That's probably bullshit, but from what he told
mom he figured you all weren't serious enough to meet that early,
and if you did all show up that might tell him something. He's always
testing people, especially me."

Kraig had mastered the trick of changing the topic when Hunter
started grousing about his father, so he went right into something
different. "We're now the Go to State Team, I guess. Didn't you see
Eric's text about maybe finding us a coach?"

"Yeah, but I forgot what he said. The coach is like a friend of Coach
Sanders, I remember that."

"Yeah, I don't know him, but I guess he's going to come to one of our
meetings to be interviewed by us."

The boys had settled on the couch and watched the game which was
in the third inning. Because Minneapolis was on Central Time, the
game had started at eleven in Washington State.

"That is so totally weird," Hunter said. "I mean since when do kids
interview somebody to be their coach. I thought somebody like my
dad, who's the sponsor, goes finding coaches and they go pick the
team."

"I'm finding out real quick that Eric doesn't do things in the usual
way."

"That's for sure."

The boys watched the game and chatted some. Felix Hernandez was
pitching for the Mariners, which always made the game more
interesting. King Felix was about all the Seattle team had for anybody
to cheer about. Kraig wished he could scoot over closer on the couch
and maybe have his leg or arm or something touch Hunter, but a
large pillow was in the space between them.

 "I got a call from a girl yesterday," Hunter said quietly. He seemed to
be almost embarrassed by it.

"Oh?" Kraig felt a slight wave of depression pass through him at the
news, but Hunter was his friend and he knew that he had to act
interested.

"It was Mary Alice. She wondered if I wanted to go out with her."

"Wow, you mean she asked you? Like without a million notes being
given to half the girls in the school to give to you saying, `ohhh, Mary
Alice wants to go out with you.' Not to mention a zillion posts on
Facebook."

"Yeah, it surprised me, too. But Mary Alice never does things the way
everybody else does."

"Like getting a four point grade average almost every report card.
Isn't she a friend of Tama?"

"They're best friends. They, like, sleep over together all the time type
friends." Kraig wondered if girls messed around on sleepovers like
boys did. He thought that they must since they seemed to get horny
all the time just like boys did. "I heard she had a big crush on Noah."

Hunter nodded. "She did, but I heard from Gavin that since everybody
says Noah is gay and is going out with Bobby that she was looking
for somebody else to try to go out with. He told me couple of days
ago."

"Did you agree to go out with her?"

"I said I'd have to think about it. But she asked me to go to a movie
her on Wednesday."

The only theaters in the area were in Centralia. Kraig wondered how
Mary Alice planned on pulling that off. "Like a matinee or something?"
he asked.

"Yeah. Her mom would take us and then go shopping and then pick
us up after. That's what she told me."

"You gonna go?"

"I said I would, but that it didn't mean we were going out or nothing."

Kraig's depression seemed to get a little bit deeper, but he kept on
with his inquiry. "Have you ever gone to a movie with a girl before? I
mean all alone like that?"

"Nope. It's kinda scary."

"Why is it scary?"

"Well, what if she wants to hold hands or something. Or even wants
me to make out with her?"

"You've been naked with a girl before, why should holding hands be
scary?"

"That was different, you know." Hunter said. "We just got, like, naked
and went into the shower and touched each other a little bit. We
didn't, like, kiss and make out. What if she wants to make out and I
do it all wrong?"

"How can you do it wrong? All you gotta do is kiss her and maybe feel
her boobs or something. It can't be that hard to figure out." Kraig was
talking like he was an expert around girls, when in fact he'd never
even held hands with one.

"It's too bad there isn't some way to practice," Hunter said. "You
know, like a class in school all about how to make out with a girl."

Kraig saw the opening and he decided instantly to jump right through
it before it closed. "Maybe you can practice," he said.

"Huh? How?"

"You can practice on me."

"That is so lame, You're not a girl."

"Duh, I know that, and you know that. But I can pretend I'm a girl with
you at the movie and you want to make out with me and we can talk
about what you should do."

Hunter looked over at his friend as he mulled over the proposal. Well,
he thought, it's not like me and Kraig haven't messed around before.
More than that, the thought of practicing on Kraig made his dick
quickly become tumescent in his shorts. He picked up the remote and
turned off the TV. "I guess it can't hurt to give it a try."

While Kraig had never as much as held hands with a girl, he was still
much more experienced at things sexual than Hunter was and he
was able to quickly get his imagination into gear.

"Okay, so here we are in the theater. We both have cokes and we're
sharing a bucket of popcorn," Kraig said.

"Okay." For the moment Hunter was going to play a passive role and
see what his friend had in mind.

"There is nobody else in our row and the theater is dark. You put your
coke in the holder on the arm rest on your right, she puts hers in the
one on her left, and the popcorn goes in the middle. She reaches for
you and touches your hand." Kraig reached his right hand around the
pillow in the middle and touched Hunter's hand. He was pleased
when Hunter wrapped his fingers around his hand. It looked like
Hunter was going to get really interested in his little game.

"We sit and watch the movie holding hands. The popcorn bucket is
between us, but all we want to do is hold hands," Kraig went on, "but
then you think the popcorn bucket between you is in the way, so what
do you do?"

"I raise it up," Hunter says. He lifted the big pillow that was between
them and placed it on the floor.

"Good." Both boys now had boners straining inside their shorts. "But
now you want to see if she wants to do more than hold hands. You
want to know if she wants to be even closer to you." Kraig was
thinking of what he wanted with Hunter and rightfully figured that was
exactly what a girl would want. "What do you do to find out how close
she wants to be?"

Hunter thought for a moment and then said, "I move over a little bit.
Then I let go of her hand and put my arm around her shoulder, like
this." He put his arm around Kraig's shoulder and gave him a little
squeeze. Kraig scooted over so that his body was now touching
Hunter's.

"I let you know that I like what you did...um...," he tried to figure out
how Mary Alice would let him know. He'd watched enough movies
and made out with his brothers enough to figure it out. "I put my head
on your shoulder," which is what he did.

"Cool," Hunter said. "Then I squeeze you even more tight," which is
what he did.

"I want you to make me feel warm inside, so you do...what?"

Hunter had already started doing it when he said, "I rub your
shoulder."

Kraig was feeling so good he was lightly humming. "I look up at your
face and you know what I want to do now."

"Um...you, like, want me to kiss you."

"Yeah," Kraig whispered.

"Do I have to?" Hunter asked, breaking character.

"We need to make sure this is, like, totally real," Kraig said.

"It's just practice. It's not like it means anything, right?"

"Exactly, it doesn't mean a thing."

Hunter leaned over toward Kraig and gave his friend what Kraig had
been wanting for weeks, a kiss on the lips. Kraig wondered if it would
be just a quick peck or if Hunter would hold it. Hunter kept his lips on
Kraig's, so Kraig surprised Hunter by opening them slightly and
pushing his tongue into the closed space between Hunter's lips.

"That's like, Frenching," Hunter said as he pulled back.

"Yeah. It's just like actors in the movies. It don't mean nothing. It's all
practice." But for Kraig it meant everything.

Hunter put his lips back on Kraig's and they kissed again. Kraig's
tongue entered Hunter's mouth and he started battling the tongue of
his twelve year old friend. Hunter let his tongue push against Kraig's
and soon it was inside of Kraig's waiting mouth. Hunter's boxers were
becoming damp with precum.

As the boys kissed they kneaded each other's shoulders, becoming
lost in the act and momentarily forgetting about the role playing game
they were playing. Hunter finally broke the kiss, if for no other reason
than he needed to breathe. The two were now beyond horny. They
looked into each other's face with Hunter looking away first.

"Now you want to see if she'll go farther," Kraig said almost
breathlessly, returning to the role play they were doing. "What do you
do now?"

"I touch her boob?" Hunter asked, not entirely sure if this should be
his next step.

Kraig uttered a quiet, "Yeah." Hunter's left hand squeezed Kraig's flat
boy chest through his t-shirt and then rubbed the spot where his
nipple should be.

"Oh, yes, Hunter," Kraig said in a falsetto that was higher pitched than
his own slowly deepening twelve year old voice, "that feels so good."
He guided Hunter's hand to the bottom of his shirt and guided it
slightly in.

Hunter moved his hand up Kraig's belly and to his left nipple, rubbing
it and squeezing it lightly. "You don't got a bra on," Hunter said as he
went back to being practical. "She'll have a bra on. How do I get my
hand inside?"

"I dunno. If she wants she can show you how."

"Yeah, I guess." Hunter came in for another kiss and the two boys
went back to some heavy kissing as Hunter rubbed Kraig's nipple
with his hand under his friend's shirt. Kraig let out an involuntary
moan. "She might want me to feel good, too," Hunter said, as he once
again broke the kiss.

"She would," Kraig muttered. "She would probably do this so you'd
feel good." He put his hand right where he saw Hunter's boner
pushing up on his shorts and stared rubbing through the cloth of the
cargo pants.

"Yeah, she'd do that for sure," Hunter said. "I know she would." This
time it was his turn to moan as Kraig rubbed his junk through his
shorts.

"She might even do this," Kraig said hoarsely as he opened Hunter's
shorts and pulled down the zipper. His hand could feel the moistness
in Hunter's boxers as he slid the zipper down. His hand went right
through the slit of the boxers and pulled Hunter's maturing boner out.
It was just under five inches, long and thick, with a patch of downy
pubic hair at the base that Kraig could feel with his fingers. He started
stroking Hunter's rock hard pubescent cock. Hunter rested his head
against the back of the couch as he reveled in the feelings that
Kraig's expert hand was giving him. Kraig might never have done any
of the stuff they were practicing with a girl, but he'd made with a boy
more times than he could count.

"She might want you to make her feel really good, too," Kraig said.
"Then you gotta make her feel good like she's making you feel good."

Hunter knew exactly where Kraig was going and he undid the button
in Kraig's shorts. Kraig was wearing red briefs with white trim that
were bulging with his almost four plus inch tool. There was just a hint
of precum dampness as Kraig was not yet making it in the quantities
that Hunter did. Kraig raised his hips off the couch and let Hunter pull
down his shorts and underpants to mid-thigh.

The two boys once again put their faces together and kissed, this
time with a passion that went far beyond role playing. They kissed
and masturbated each other until Hunter gently pushed Kraig down to
the couch. He pulled his own undies and shorts down to his ankles
and then got on top of Kraig, kissing and dry humping his friend right
on the family room couch.

The couch groaned as their thrusting became wild, the boys groaned
louder than the couch, as the humping grew almost out of control,
their cocks rubbing hard, lubricated by Hunter's copious precum.
They were moaning and kissing and clawing, two young rutting bucks
who wanted to bite and hammer on each other and be rough. Hunter
stopped for just a moment, a move that at first frightened Kraig until
he saw that his friend had stopped to pull off his t-shirt, exposing his
hard belly, his chest with its developing pecs, his underarms, each
with a tuft of dark hair. Kraig yanked his shirt off, too, his totally
hairless torso glistening with a sheen of sweat.

Hunter dropped back on top of Kraig, hammering his dick into him
madly, his wet torso sticking to Kraig's, their kissing becoming deep,
wilder, more passionate, until Hunter's mouth ended up on Kraig's
neck, biting, and licking until he let out the growl of a crazed animal.
Kraig wished Hunter would fuck him, that Hunter would pound all of
that energy into his ass. Hunter went from a low growl up to a
prolonged squeal as he suddenly shot out floods of thick pre-teen
cum over the torso of the boy under him on the couch.

Kraig raised his hips up as much as he could against the heavier boy
on top of him and blew out one of the most satisfying orgasms of his
young life. Hunter dropped on top of Kraig, both boys breathing hard,
glued together by the combination of sweat and boy cum.

"Oh my gawd," Kraig finally whispered. "That was fucking awesome."
Then he let out a nervous giggle.

"What's so funny?" Hunter asked.

"If you did that to Mary Alice in the theater you'd get your ass kicked
out for sure."

Hunter giggled as well. Kraig's timing was good as his bit of humor
helped assuage some of the guilt that Hunter was beginning to feel.
"That was just practice, right?" Hunter still had to ask.

"Yeah, just practice," but Kraig couldn't help but think it was much
more than practice. He wondered if Hunter had the same feeling and
just didn't want to say it.

As Hunter got off the couch and pulled up his pants, he couldn't help
but wonder if what had happened might be much more than just
practice. The boys quickly headed to the bathroom to clean the cum
of their bodies.

That night the two of them shared Hunter's bed. As usual, Kraig let
Hunter set the pace, and when Hunter crawled into bed wearing his
underpants Kraig did the same. They had a little bit of pillow talk
before falling asleep.

"Dad won't agree to sponsor you guys, you know," Hunter said.

"Maybe he will. Even if you think he won't, we still have to ask."

"Like I told you before, if he says yes than I'm not playing with you
guys."

"I know, but I got almost a year to get you to change your mind."

"Won't happen."

"You never know." Kraig thought how Hunter might have felt that the
wild sex on the couch that afternoon would never happen, but it did.
Kraig might be willing to let Hunter get his way on the little things, but
he couldn't help but think that when it came to the big things Hunter
needed help to see what it was he really wanted.

Hunter looked down at Kraig before turning off the light. "I think you're
gonna get a hickey," he said.

"Good," Kraig said. The light went out and Kraig quickly fell asleep
with a satisfied smile.

It took Hunter a little bit longer. His twelve year old mind had a lot of
conflicting thoughts that needed sorting out.

<Hunter's house, the next morning>

Eric was pleased that the entire committee had shown up for the
meeting with Hunter's dad. The seven-thirty time hadn't sat well with
anybody. Rich was there as the committee chair. The committee
consisted of Danny, Jerome, Connor, and Kraig. They all looked
bleary eyed, but they were all there and dressed in their best clothes,
even Kraig, who had carefully folded a good shirt and pants into his
backpack when he'd come over yesterday afternoon. Eric was happy
that Connor was wearing a neat button down shirt and a pair of
slacks after threatening to show up in a t-shirt and shorts. What Eric
didn't know is that Connor had talked his father into buying the slacks
that weekend just for this meeting. Hunter lingered in the background.
He was not a part of the committee, but he dressed to fit the occasion
with a blue polo shirt and a pair of tan Dockers.

It had been decided in an earlier meeting that Eric and Rich had with
Seth the day before that Seth wouldn't attend the preliminary
meetings with potential sponsors. The boys were simply going to give
the prospective sponsors information on their Team and their
presentation might be more impressive if the boys did it on their own.
But he gave Eric enough of his business cards to distribute to the
businessmen they had appointments with over the next two days.
Since Mayfield was a small town, he knew all of them, of course, but
the business card added an air of professionalism to the affair. Seth
would come into the picture when they started talking serious dollars.

Allen Hawks, Hunter's father, sat at his desk in the room that served
as his den and office. He had set up three extra chairs for the
meeting to go with the two leather chairs normally in the room. He
was surprised to see each of them occupied by a boy. Danny was
sitting on the floor. He instructed Hunter to retrieve another chair.
Allen had not expected any of the boys to show up, let alone a group
of six, all of whom were dressed like they were going to church. He
knew some of the boys and he doubted that some of them dressed
up this nicely more than a couple of times a year, or, in the case of
somebody like Connor, ever. He was impressed in spite of himself.

As soon as they were all settled in he looked down at the boys over
his three-quarters reading glasses. "So, you boys are looking for a
sponsor for a baseball team next year. May I ask why it is you're out
beating the bushes for a sponsor for a non-existent team instead of
waiting to turn out for teams that are already in existence?"

Eric had rehearsed his talk all weekend, and it paid off as he gave Mr.
Hawkins a polished description of what the Go to State Team was all
about and what it aimed to accomplish. He also presented Mr.
Hawkins with a copy of the budget he, Rich, and Noah, the group
treasurer, had put together yesterday with the help of Seth. Seth had
done the bulk of the real work, but the boys got an excellent lesson
on how budgets are formulated.

"Next baseball season is a long way off," Allen said. "Why start so
soon?"

"Because we don't want this to be a last minute thing, sir. We want
everything in place and ready when summer leagues start in May."

"I see you picked an advisor for your group. I must say that your
choice is an excellent one. Seth is a good businessman and very
community oriented. But I assume you have a coach who got this all
started to begin with."

This time Rich chimed in. "No, sir. This all started with an idea from
Eric and he recruited all of us to be a part of it."

"So this is something you as a group of kids started? This isn't the
idea of some coach? Hunter told me the same thing, but frankly,
gentlemen, I have a problem believing it."

"It's true, sir. This is all our idea," Eric said. Allen noticed the use of
the plural pronoun "our" instead of the singular "my".

"How do you propose finding a coach, by putting a request on Craig's
List?" Mr. Hawkins asked with a touch of sarcasm. Hunter wanted to
hide in embarrassment from the way his father was treating his
friends.

"We think we may have found one, sir," Eric said. "We had an ad hoc
group interview him on Saturday and we plan to have the full Team
interview him before school starts." He thought Mr. Hawkins would be
impressed with his use of the term ad hoc.

Instead Allen Hawkins let out a roar of laughter. "Wait, wait, you boys
mean to tell me that you, as children, plan to interview for your own
coach? No offense, but that is just ludicrous." Hunter was now going
beyond embarrassment to anger.

Eric kept his cool, however. "This is our team and our dream."

"A bunch of preteens go out and get their own coach? You are going
to go out and run roughshod over him and have a grand old time
supposedly playing baseball. That is not the kind of operation I wish
to get involved in or put my money into."

"We have already told the coach we wish to hire that we are looking
for somebody who knows baseball fundamentals and who will be
strict with us. Like we told you, our goal is to go to the State
Tournament in high school and, we hope, win it back-to-back. We
can't do that without a good coach telling us how to do that, because
we sure don't know how. He went to State when he played in high
school, which will be something we can learn from."

Allen was taken aback by how calm and articulate Eric was. If only
Hunter had half his poise, he thought. "And who is this coach you
have in mind?"

Rich answered that question, with an answer the group had agreed to
in advance. "We can't say until he becomes our coach. But we can
say who it is if you agree to sponsor us."

After a long pause, which included looking over the proposed budget
that Eric had handed him, Allen Hawkins cleared his throat and said
what they were afraid he would say, "Boys, I'm sorry to disappoint
you, but the economy is tough and I am already sponsoring two youth
teams in Centralia." He didn't mention that he planned on dropping
one of the teams because it was "an undisciplined rabble", as he put
it to his wife. He had no intention of sponsoring another team whose
attitude from the coach down towards their opponents, the umpires,
and the game, was unacceptable, and he suspected that was exactly
what would happen with this group. "I wish you all good luck, but I
would want to get involved with something more organized and
something operated by adults."

"We will be operated by adults," Eric said. "We just have to find the
ones we want."

"Exactly, you want adults who will let you do things the way you want
to do them. Like I said, that's not something I wish to get involved in."
Allen took off his glasses and set down the budget sheet, his signal
that the meeting was over. The boys stood up and he prepared
himself for some kind of adolescent tantrum. He was about to get
one, but not from the source he expected.

Eric shook his hand saying, "Thank you for your time Mr. Hawkins.
We all appreciate your meeting with us and we hope that after you
think about what we said you might change your mind. You can call
Mr. McCall if you have any questions. And my number is written on
his card." Mr. McCall was Seth, Noah's father.

Then a voice in the corner of the room yelled out, "This is total
bullshit! You don't care about them; you didn't even listen to them.
You totally wasted their time when you knew you didn't want to do
anything for them or for Mayfield or for me or for anybody. You were
a total asshole and I hate you!" And with that Hunter stomped out of
the room leaving everybody in stunned silence.

Next: State Champions