Chapter Four

Raging Rivers

"Which one is it, again?" Mom asked, leaning forward in the driver seat. She pushed the small pair of glasses up on her nose, as if it would help her spot Nico's house that I had not yet described nor pointed out to her, and squinted at the houses in the distance.

"Just keep going," I said, rubbing my sweaty palms against my swim shorts. The apprehension of my secret boyfriend's looming introduction to my mom overtook my initial enthusiasm about our upcoming day at the water park. I was nervous that Nico might accidentally give us away, especially with his tendency towards carelessness. It was up to me to tame the tiny, tan beast.

Mom finally pulled up to the sidewalk of the house I pointed out. The morning sun had just begun warming up the cool air. We walked together up to the porch, and she pressed the doorbell which echoed through their large home.

Shortly, the large white door cracked open, and Nico peeked his head out, with his fluffy blonde hair looking nice and presentable. He pulled the door the rest of the way open, and that's when I groaned internally. If his goal was to look as kiddish as possible, he'd certainly succeeded. He was wearing an incredibly small pair of red polyester swim shorts, and a green short-sleeve shirt that also was a little too small for him, very much looking like a little boy headed to the water park. He must have better fitting shorts, I thought.

Smiling, he stepped out onto the porch, his flip-flops slapping against the wood. "Hi Logan! And Mrs. Lake!"

"Hey, buddy," I said, feeling suddenly cognizant of the discrepancy between his squeaky voice and my far deeper one.

"Hi Nico," Mom said through her smile. He giggled boyishly in response, dimples protruding. She hugged him. "I'm so happy to finally meet you. Logan would always talk about how much fun he had with you and your mother."

"We had a lot of fun that summer! I loved visiting your store because Logan was always super nice to me."

"Darling," Mom said, brushing a lock of hair behind his ear, and he blushed at the contact.

Grace appeared in the doorway in just a pink bathrobe and stepped out to join us, introducing herself to Mom. "Thanks again for taking him today. As you can see, I'm ready for my day free from chaos," she said, gesturing to her clothing.

"Hey, I'm not that bad," he whined, and looked to me. "Right?"

I put a hand on the back of my neck and smiled weakly at him, to which he made a fist at me.

"We're so happy to have him join us," Mom said. "My nephew will be pleased to have someone around his own age for once. He's the only youngster in the family right now," she explained.

"Well, Nico could always use more friends," Grace said, draping her arms over Nico's shoulders. "It would appear he's determined to make enemies with just about every kid at the beach."

He shoved his way out of her grasp. "Am not!" he protested, and his face burned with embarrassment. "They're the ones always picking on me!"

"Poor kid," I said, shaking my head.

Grace and Mom got along very well. Too well, in fact, and our quick stop for Nico turned into a full-on chit-chat between the two. It reminded me of the times growing up when my mom would come to pick me up from a friend's house, and our moms would end up talking for what seemed like hours. Thankfully we'd left home early, so we had plenty of time to spare before we had to meet my aunt at the park. Nico was pacing around me, groaning, waiting for the adults to finish up so we could start heading to his dream destination.

"Cool outfit," I said to him. "You look like a watermelon, though."

He pretended to scowl and continued pacing around me.

Grace noticed his boredom. "Nico, did you feed Logan today?" she asked him, and Mom's expression was one of pure bewilderment.

"I didn't mumma, but I will now before we leave," he assured her, eyeing me with a hint of impishness. "Wanna help?"

I followed him inside where he took me by the wrist, pulling me through the entryway, and laughed to myself as I overheard Grace explaining the guinea pig's name to my mom.

"Last night was so super awesome," he said as he dragged me up the stairs. "I've been wanting to see you really bad since."

"Yeah," I replied dizzily, mesmerized by the outline of his butt, clearly visible through the tight swimwear.

He pulled me into his bedroom and locked the door. It was much messier than my prior visit, with bed sheets unmade, and clothing—mostly swim shorts—strewn about the floor.

I held up a pair to inspect. "So you do have swim shorts that properly fit," I said, my suspicions confirmed. "Why those then?"

"Hm?" he replied, feigning innocence while he walked over to his desk.

"Those swim shorts are tiny, man. I can swear I remember that pair from two summers ago!"

"You don't like them?" he asked, picking up a small bag of food pellets from the corner of the desk.

"Oh, I like them very much, they're just... a little... formfitting..." I said, my eyes focused on his petite form as he grinned. He wiggled his butt as he shook a few pellets from the bag into the guinea pig's food bowl. Fat little Logan crawled out of his shelter and began gnawing at the food.

"Well, shorts are supposed to be short. That's why they're called shorts."

"Oh, I see," I said, walking over to him. "I wasn't aware why they were called that." I reached out and tickled his sides. He gave a delighted yelp and backed away, dropping the bag down on the corner of the desk.

"And, my mom says they still look good on me," he added, trying to convince me of his perfectly non-sinful clothing choice.

I advanced towards him. "Is that all?" I breathed into his ear, and I felt him tremble beneath me.

"And, maybe, I sorta wanted you to, um... touch my ass, like, right now," he finally squeaked in a young voice bursting with lust.

Our moms were busy outside, and we'd have easily been able to hear them come into the house; all things considered, I determined we were in a good position for some quick fun. I slipped my hands down over his swim shorts and wrapped them around both perfectly-sized cheeks, scantily covered by the thin polyester, and he pressed his butt further outwards for me. I felt the warmth from his body heat, and as I kneaded his cheeks, a satisfied groan escaped his parted lips.

He turned around to look at me seriously, pressed up against me and the desk. "You said I could see it for real... next time," he said. "It's next time now. Can I? Please?"

His pleading eyes ripped effortlessly through my inhibitions, and without a second thought I gave in to his request. "Yeah."

His eyes widened further. "Awesome," he muttered, and knelt down to pull at the strings on my own swim shorts. Having untied them, he inhaled with eagerness, then pulled them all the way down. They caught momentarily on the base of my half-flaccid cock, but with another tug the entirety popped out before him. He gasped audibly, and I looked down to see only the top of his sandy blonde hair as he inspected it.

"It's way bigger in person," he whispered to himself. He reached his hand forward, but stopped himself. "Can I?" he asked, tilting his head up towards mine. I hesitated, then nodded.

His small fingers wrapped slowly around the shaft, and the butterflies that were already fluttering in my stomach went wild. His soft touch caused tingles throughout my body, the most amazing feeling ever. Eyes wide in amazement, he continued his exploration downward towards my balls, gently placing his hand on them and gripping them in his fingers. My dick started to harden, unfolding upward, and I watched his eyes follow its journey. He moved his other hand upward and ran his fingers through my dark pubes, fascinated, and brushed the side of my engorged shaft with his knuckles. I was as engrossed in the moment as he seemed to be. It was as if time moved in slow motion.

"So effing awesome," he whispered, and I felt his hot breath on my stiffened cock. Then, he delicately took his hand and wrapped it fully around my erection. Even with his reserved touch, it felt incredible, and my head was spinning in anticipation of whatever he chose to do next. He dragged his hand up and down once very slowly, pulling the skin as far down as it would go, completely transfixed at the sight. A dot of precum leaked from out, and his focus immediately snapped to it.

"Nico!" a distant voice shouted, instantly pulling us both out of the moment and away from each other. I jolted back, racing to pull my shorts back up. He watched me as I put my shorts back on, utterly unashamed of the stiff lump pressing against the inside of his own.

"I can't wait to make you feel good like you did for me," he said huskily.

I chuckled at his eagerness, and tied the string of my shorts. "Later for sure," I promised.

We were about halfway through our drive, and Nico had already breathlessly filled in my Mom on basically everything that happened two summers ago, from the first moment we met to the countless days he and Grace would spend in the shop with me. He recounted moments and conversations that had long since slipped from my memory, and mentioned the occasional freebie toy I'd slip him to her, to which she narrowed her eyes at me, but remained quiet.

We stopped by a fast-food drive-thru for a quick breakfast. She got a coffee for herself, a hamburger for me, and after Nico informed her he was vegan, just french fries for him.

I was busy eating my burger when I heard little whimpers of pleasure, and I turned around, worried that I'd find him masturbating or something, to instead find him shoveling fries into his mouth, eyes closed in a state of bliss. He opened his eyes and noticed me smirking at him, giving me a muffled "What?" with his mouth full of food.

"Oh, nothing," I said, grinning. "Enjoying those?"

He nodded his head. "These are soooo good," he moaned, stuffing a few more into his mouth and licking the salt off his fingers. I had to laugh.

Mom looked back briefly to witness his expression, and also laughed. "Never had fries before?" she asked. He shook his head, but she was no longer looking, so I told her he hadn't.

"Bro, can I have one?" I asked, turning back and reaching a hand out. He growled and pulled away from my reach, before dumping the rest into his open mouth, staring at me the whole time.

The parking lot was a huge expanse of asphalt, and with clear blue skies and an amazing weather forecast for the day, I expected the place to be completely packed, but it didn't look bad at all, with plenty of open parking spaces. Mom was on the phone coordinating with her sister, and eventually we drove by them in the lot. It seemed her husband decided not to join them, so she and Parker stood by themselves outside their minivan, gathering towels and other supplies from the trunk.

Parker was the first to notice us pulling up, turning to give us a small wave. Their family all had very pale skin with contrasting dark brown hair, but oddly, Parker was the only one in the family with freckles. He had a white and blue rash guard on, something I noted would surely help his skin retain its bright complexion. Mom pulled the car into a spot nearby, and we got out.

After the initial greetings, I introduced Nico to them. "This is my buddy, Nico. He and his mom used to come by the toy shop every week."

Lucy introduced herself, fanning her face with her hands, then pushed Parker forward for his turn.

"Hey. I'm Parker," he said to Nico with a slight smile.

"Hi Parker," Nico waved. "Cool robot leg," he said, staring in amazement at his prosthetic right leg that was colored red and gold in the theme of Iron Man.

I mentally facepalmed, and Parker's smile quickly vanished. "It's a prosthetic," he said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, okay."

They were quiet as we made our way across the parking lot to the ticketing area, where Lucy bought us all tickets and a cabana rental, and I grabbed a map for later use. Parker kept glancing at Nico's outfit, and I got the feeling he thought Nico was bizarre for wearing such small swim shorts.

The park was massive, and so divided into several zones, each with a distinct purpose. In the middle was the lazy river, where you could simply relax as the river brought you to where you wanted to be. As was tradition with our family, we first headed for the cabana zone, where we could settle into our "home base" before heading off to have fun. Nico walked beside me with his jaw dropped, taking in the sights of the towering slides and hundreds of wet people running around.

Parker was quick to notice his amazement. "Have you never been here before?" he asked him, watching him wander around like he was in a fantasy world.

"I've never been to a water park at all before!" Nico exclaimed, glancing up at an incredibly tall slide.

We made it to our rented cabana, which was just a small, shaded tent with a couple of lounge chairs and a picnic table. It had an obnoxious blue and white stripe pattern like some sort of rejected circus tent. Mom set her big bag down on the table and immediately began fishing out sunscreen. After developing skin cancer in her teen years, she was always incredibly strict about everyone applying and reapplying the stuff during our outings. I began to put on my own, while my lucky mom took care of Nico.

I took my shirt off, and watched as Nico lifted his arms so Mom could pull his shirt off over his head. It was funny seeing the ghostly-skinned Parker next to the colorful Nico, who was left in just his scanty little swim shorts and sandals. Boy, was he a handsome sight. I noticed he was wearing a seashell necklace, something I hadn't seen him wear before.

Lucy told us we were free to go have fun, but to be sure to return in the late afternoon. They would be staying at the cabana, and with the ability to order food and drinks with an app, there was really no reason for them to leave. Mom offered me to stay and relax, but of course I much preferred to go have a fun time with Nico and Parker. We dumped our phones into Mom's bag, and headed into the park.

Parker actively chatted with me about the old times we spent at the park as we passed by familiar landmarks. Nico stayed mostly quiet, which was somewhat unusual for him, but he looked preoccupied, taking in his surroundings.

After walking for a while, I realized I had no idea where I was leading us, and proposed we find a spot to rest and look at the map. Parker pointed out a nice shaded bench, and we all went to sit down. The two sat on either side of me, and I took the map out of my waterproof pocket. After unfolding the huge thing, I held it out in front of me so they could both take a look. There really were a ton of slides in the park, from kiddie slides to huge vertical drops of pure doom.

Nico gasped when he saw the artistic rendering of one of the tallest-looking slides in the park. "Whoa! What the heck is that?" he asked, jabbing the map with his finger.

"No way am I getting on that thing," Parker said.

"White Water Plummet," I read. "Come test your limits on this ninety-foot drop—the largest in the park."

"That's freaking huge!" Nico squealed in excitement.

"What about that?" Parker said, pointing at another ride.

"The Hurricane. A six-hundred foot long exhilarating flume on a raft for two to five riders. That sounds about perfect for us."

Nico shifted around on the bench. "But I wanna go on the White Water Plummet."

"Well, we can go on it eventually," I said, "but why don't we start on something less extreme first? Work our way up to it."

He thought about it for a moment, resting a finger on his chin, before responding, "That's not fair! Why does he get to pick the rides?"

Parker grinned smugly.

"He doesn't, we're going to figure out what we want to do together. I think it would be more fun to work up to a big one like that, not just jump right in."

"I like jumping in," Nico mumbled quietly.

"It's 'cause I'm older," Parker said.

"What? No, Parker—" I started to say, turning to him.

"Oh, psh, barely! How old are you?" Nico asked him, sounding irritated.

"Older than you," Parker replied, looking him over.

I held up the map to separate them. "Hey! Guys! Let's just focus and pick somewhere to go, okay?"

"And I'm taller," Parker added, getting up from the bench.

"What does that matter?" asked Nico, also standing up. "You're only taller because of your stupid robot leg."

Parker scowled. "Wow, screw you! I didn't know you were such a dickhead." He went to sit down, but instead went off on Nico. "What the hell are you even wearing anyways? You look like a little kid in a little kid swimsuit."

Nico clenched his fist, and as I stood up to calm him down, he turned away.

"What the fuck, guys? Chill out! We're at a water park, let's have some fun. Here, we'll go on this slide right here," I said, standing up and gesturing to the large slide beside us.

Parker shook his head. "Whatever."

I looked over at Nico, and as he turned back to us I saw fire in his eyes.

"It's not a fucking little kid's fucking swimsuit!" he shouted.

"Yeah, it is! It's tiny."

"They're shorts! They're supposed to be short!"

"Then, it looks kinda gay, all I'm sayin'."

"Maybe I am fucking gay, so fucking what?" He slammed himself down on the bench, arms crossed, and started angrily at the ground.

"Parker!" I snapped.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it as anything bad," Parker said. The two were quiet for a moment. "You're really gay?"

"Come on, guys," I said, taking them both by the wrist and pulling Nico up off the bench. Parker ripped his arm away, so I walked holding Nico's arm, while Parker followed at a short distance.

We entered the line located on a big winding staircase, and stood behind two very large men. I was pissed at both of them; I just wanted to have a nice, peaceful day at the water park, but Nico's stubbornness and Parker's snarkiness were disrupting things. I expected them to become good friends considering how easygoing Parker normally was, and how sweet Nico could be, but something was going on and I wasn't sure why they were acting so hostile towards each other.

We stood in line for nearly twenty minutes, and both of them said nothing, instead opting to sulk on either side of me. After growing tired of them using me as a barrier, I finally decided to try and lighten the mood.

"Hey Parker, Nico plays the guitar really well." He didn't respond. "Do you still play the piano?"

Parker glared at me for a second before replying. "Yeah, I do," he said, and after catching on that I was trying to get them talking, continued. "I play the piano, violin, and recorder," he said to Nico, and bit his lip. "When did you start playing the guitar?"

"A year ago," Nico responded without looking at him, his voice faint and emotionless.

"What songs can you play?" Parker asked, I think genuinely curious.

Nico seemed to perk up a little, lifting his head. "Minecraft music, mostly." I think he was hoping Parker was interested, but Parker just chuckled. "What?" he asked, scowling.

"On the piano I can play 'Clair de Lune', 'Ode to Joy', 'Für Elise', 'Gymnopédie No. 1', and that's just the start. On the violin I know—"

"That's fine, you can stop, I don't care," Nico snapped.

Parker exhaled loudly. "Okay, whatever. So... you like Imagine Dragons?"

Nico turned to him. "Sorry, I only like good bands," he said.

"Screw it," Parker said, throwing his arms up and turning away. "I tried."

"Nico," I said, touching his shoulder, "take it easy. Can we just try to get along?"

"I'm not the one trying to show off," Nico said.

"I'm not showing off, I'm just telling you what songs I can play," Parker said from behind me.

I pulled Nico aside and took him by the hands. "Just, please, do it for me?" I said quietly, rubbing the back of his palms with my thumbs.

He sighed and looked down, blonde hair falling over his furrowed eyebrows, then looked back up into my eyes. "Okay," he finally said, his expression softening. I smiled at him, and he gave a weak one back. "I'll try."

He walked back over to Parker. "I don't like Imagine Dragons. I'm sorry for being rude. I like Ariana Grande, Troye Sivan, Ed Sheeran—"

Parker looked over. "Who's Troye Sivan?"

Nico stopped listing names and rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about it," he said.

Little more was said while we ascended the huge tower. Upon reaching the top, it seemed Nico's mood had improved, as he shook with anticipation. Parker was standing quietly, gripping his elbows with his hands.

"Doing alright?" I asked him.

"Yeah..." he said shakily, looking over the side. "It's just kinda high up."

"Nothing we haven't done here before, remember?"

"I guess. It's just been a while."

"Wimp," Nico whispered to me, and I shook my head at him.

Since it was single rider, Nico went first, stepping into the dark tube. It was one of those slides that was completely covered, which I found to be pretty fun. He crossed his arms over his chest, then slid off into the darkness, and an excited squeal echoed back to us. Parker looked over at me.

"Let's go, Parker," I said, pushing him ahead. "It's not scary."

He carefully walked over to the tube and climbed in slowly, crossing his arms. He took a deep breath, then disappeared. I soon followed, and after a thrilling ride through mostly pitch-black wetness, I was ejected from the slide into a swimming pool. Wiping my eyes, I saw Nico swimming around under the water, while Parker stood hugging the railing at the edge of the pool.

My heart was beating, and I was full of adrenaline. "Man, how I missed this place!" I shouted.

Parker smiled. Nico emerged from the water, his golden hair made darker from being soaked. He spotted me and swam over. "That was so awesome!" he cried, splashing around excitedly. "Let's go again!"

"Let's try some other ones, maybe you'll find another that you like more."

"Woohoo!" Nico shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

We went on a few more slides with significantly less drama this time, and while the boys didn't bother to get along, they were definitely tolerating each other, and Parker's anxiousness was faring a lot better with each new slide.

We passed a dual-raft collection area, and I turned my head to find Nico looking at me. It would have been a perfect couples' activity, but I didn't want to make things awkward with Parker around, as we'd be forced to leave him out.

As we walked around the park we came across a water playground—basically a typical kids' park playground, but with water pouring down from above, and giant sprinklers everywhere. Nico's jaw just about hit the ground when he noticed it, and before he could say anything to me, I nodded, and he charged off.

"Don't run!" I called after him. Wanting to take a short rest, I pointed out some nearby benches to Parker and told him that's where I would be. He nodded, then headed to the playground to join Nico.

My legs were still a little sore from the hike the previous day, so it felt amazing to sit down for a bit. I watched them play on the playground with a smile, kids just having fun. Nico was going around commandeering the mounted water cannons to spray the other kids, and laughing heartily when they came back for revenge. I became worried when he splattered Parker, but Parker took cover and found his own cannon, and I was delighted to see them start playing together, spraying each other. It seemed the water had cooled things down between them.

I was resting my eyes when Parker came over to where I was lounging in my chair. His rash guard was soaking, and wet hair clung to his forehead.

"Sup?" I said. "Having fun?"

"Yeah. Can we get lunch soon?" he asked hopefully.

"Oh. Yeah, totally. I'm not your parent, man, you don't need my permission." I looked around. "Can you grab Nico?"

He hesitated before responding. "Can you?" I was disappointed to find their apparent treaty was over.

"What's the deal with you two?"

He sighed and sat down next to me on the bench. "It's not me! You saw. He's just immature and totally mean. Why'd you even want him to come?" He looked down at the ground, swinging his legs. "I kinda wanted it to be just us... like the good old days."

I put my arm around him. "These still are the good old days," I said. "You just have to put in the effort to make them good."

He scoffed, but giggled. "That's pretty cheesy."

I giggled too, and stood up. "Come on, let's go get your nemesis, and then some food."

Getting to Nico was a challenge. He spotted us walking over and took aim, firing some warning shots, and so we had to dash out of his line of sight until we found a good entry point onto the playground. Unfortunately, it seemed he had recruited minions to man the cannons, turning the whole area into a secure fortress. Parker and I circled the playground, looking for a way up until we found it.

We made a run for a spiraling slide, which was the only spot out of the gunners' line of sight. Climbing it proved difficult at first, it and us being wet and all. Parker eventually gave up, citing his prosthetic, and told me to go on ahead. Reaching the top of the slide, I spotted Nico at the other end of the playground, patrolling the perimeter for us, totally unaware of my presence.

Stealthily, I snuck up behind him and grabbed him around the stomach. He yelped in surprise, and I lifted him into the air, limbs kicking all over the place. We were both laughing hysterically while I dragged us back to the slide and dropped onto it, still holding onto him. He wriggled around, trying to break free, but it was futile. Together we slid down to the bottom, where I dropped him into the shallow water. Parker stood nearby, giving us a weird look.

"Lunch time!" I announced, and they both cheered.

"Burger... chicken fingers... pork nachos? Hot dogs, pizza... bleh, I can't eat any of this crap!" Nico complained. "They don't even have any salads!"

"Hmmm." My eyes scoured the big plastic menu posted on the wall again. The options were very limited, for him at least. "Would you maybe eat french fries again?" I asked hopefully.

"Heck no!" he shouted. "I mean, they're good, yeah, but I need some real food!"

"What if I shove them in your mouth for you this time?" I offered, and he glared at me.

"Lemme guess—you're vegan," Parker said, rolling his eyes.

"I am," Nico said, turning to him. "So?"

"Nothing, nothing." Parker held up his hands defensively. "Just not surprised."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't worry about it," Parker replied mockingly, and went to look over the menu again. "I'm gonna get the chicken fingers," he said, rubbing his hands together.

Nico turned to me. "I can't eat here. We have to go somewhere else," he pleaded.

"Maybe you can't eat here, but me and Logan are," Parker said snottily. "Right, Logan?"

"Nope, Logan's coming with me to find a better restaurant," Nico said, grabbing me by the arm. I sighed.

"He barely even knows you, dude," Parker said.

Nico stood by me, staring at him. "You're wrong," he said softly.

Parker continued, raising his voice, "Why would he pick you over me? I'm his cousin! I've known him since I was a baby! Who even are you?!"

"I'm his boyfriend!" Nico shouted, blazing with indignation.

I froze, and Nico did too, his eyes slowly widening in realization of his admission. I didn't even want to look at Parker for his reaction, so I just stared ahead, wishing for some easy way out of the situation.

Nico let go of my arm. I was pissed at him for revealing the one thing I told him to keep secret, pissed at Parker for pushing him to this point, and upset with myself for getting into this situation.

I tried to imagine the many ways Parker might react in my head. He could be furious at me for "taking advantage of" Nico. He could run back to our moms, and tell them. Quickly, I began to worry for my safety, and for Nico's well-being if things were to go south. I could hear my own breaths as the seconds ticked by, once again feeling the extreme pressure brought by the mandatory secrecy of our relationship.

"I'm..." Nico trailed off, staring down at his feet.

"What did you say?" I heard Parker say, and looked up to see his eyes wide open, mouth slightly agape.

"He's kidding, Parker," I lied, knowing in my head that it was too late to even bother.

"Yeah right," he said, and I could tell he was thinking things over.

I opened my mouth to say something, but realized I didn't know what to say. I gave Nico a look to show my displeasure with him, and he looked down at the ground. The three of us were quiet for a few long moments, and I went back to being alone in my head, with a fearful tightness in my chest.

Finally finding the courage to look up at Parker, I found him just staring blankly ahead, and instantly assumed the worst.

"Can we talk about it?" I blurted out, mainly to keep him from thinking about it too hard by himself.

Parker shook his head, not in disagreement but in bewilderment. "It just... doesn't make sense. Why him?" he asked, pointing to Nico and crinkling his nose.

"Hey!" Nico whined, then sighed. "It's my fault. I was kinda crushing on him for years."

"Why?"

"Well—" Nico started.

"It's a long story," I finished for him, attempting to close the book.

Parker glanced between us. "Tell me."

I looked over at Nico, who just shrugged. After a moment, I nodded at him, deciding that if we had to tell him about it, Nico would be best to.

"We met at Seaside, two years ago," Nico began, "when he was working there. My mom was getting me magic stuff, and Logan was really nice to me and let me hang out with him and sometimes gave me cool gifts. I got really happy whenever I saw him, but felt really sad when I didn't. When he left I didn't see him again for a long time... until last week. And when I saw him again, I thought he looked so hot."

I cringed at his explanation, but Parker was listening intently. "Okay, enough," I said, embarrassed.

"Alright, so you are the perv," Parker said to Nico, then turned to me. "But here's what I don't get. I thought you were straight, Logan. You had a girlfriend the last time I saw you!" He leaned against the wall and folded his arms, probably trying to make sense of it all.

"What?" It was Nico's turn to be surprised. "You had a girlfriend?"

"Uh, yeah, in high school I had a few," I admitted. He looked away and didn't inquire further. It never occurred to me before that it might bother him. I turned to Parker. "Look, it's complicated, man. Let's get some lunch, and we can talk it over while we eat."

"Alright, I guess."

I gave him my credit card and sent him inside with my order, then took Nico with me to find something he could buy with the cash his mom gave him. We walked together along the row of small restaurants. His shoulders were slumped, and he was being quiet again.

"So..." I said to break the silence. "What did you want to get for lunch?"

He shrugged without looking up.

"What's up?" I pressed.

He was staring into the distance, but grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into a small alley between two of the restaurants. "Are you, um, straight?"

I stopped walking and he did too. "I... I don't know, Nico."

"So, do you really like me or are you just pretending to like me?"

"Hey, where's this coming from?" I asked, kneeling down.

"I dunno." He paused to inhale before continuing. "Parker just made me feel like a little kid compared to him. I was thinking about stuff like, how I'm kinda small for my age, and not really that cool, and I just always have problems with other kids, and... and..." He was tearing up, and I immediately knelt down to hug him, placing his head over my shoulder, "and I always mess things up and you keep getting mad at me for it!"

"Aw, Nico," I said, holding his quivering body, trying not to tear up myself. "You're an amazing boy. We've been over this before, but I do like you, a lot. More than you know. Just because things haven't been going too well with you and Parker today, doesn't mean anything, and it doesn't change anything about us. You're perfect to me, even if you sometimes make mistakes. Everyone does." I felt tears dropping against my naked shoulder, and I pulled him in tighter. 

"You're so fucking cool that no other kids stand a chance against you," I continued. "I never thought anything like this could happen in my life, but you made it happen. It's special. We are special." We stayed hugging for a long time before he finally pulled away. "Yeah, I had girlfriends in high school, but they've never made me feel remotely the way you make me feel. I still don't know what it means, but... I'm happy to find out with you."

He sniffled, and wiped his hand across his face. "Thanks, Logan. I'm just sorry for ruining the day. I'll try to be better—"

"Nico, you didn't ruin the day. Don't be silly. We're lucky Parker seems to be cool with it and isn't pissed off or anything like that. Just, please, really be careful in the future. I don't want to get us in trouble."

He smiled, the area around his eyes still red from crying. "Can I kiss you? It would make me feel better."

I chuckled. "I'll owe you a kiss, how about? Let's go get you some lunch."

"Okay," he sniffled, and we both stepped out of the alley.

Parker was sitting at a picnic table I told him to meet us at with a big tray of chicken fingers, and the two hot dogs I requested him to get for me. He watched us sit down, drumming his fingers, as Nico placed his salad on the table. Ready to finally eat, we talked about random stuff for a while before Parker finally wrapped us back to the relationship topic.

"What'd you say to him?" he asked Nico, clasping his hands together.

"What do you mean?"

"You said you saw him last week, and then you guys became boyfriends. It's not magic. So what happened?"

Nico's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah! So, I went to see him at the store. When everyone else left, I went over to—"

"Nico," I cautioned, pressing my fingers to my forehead.

"He can tell me. I'm not gonna judge," Parker said, dipping a chicken finger into some ketchup.

"Okay, well I'd prefer he didn't," I said firmly, looking at Nico.

Parker giggled, shifting in his seat. "Oh man, it's spicy, isn't it?"

"Oh, God," I groaned into my hands. "Parker, I need to ask you first not to say anything about this stuff to anyone? We really can't have anyone knowing; it's incredibly, incredibly private. Nico shouldn't have said anything in the first place."

"I'm sorry," Nico whispered to me.

"I won't say anything, I can respect that," Parker said. "But you have to tell me the story. Or let Nico. That's fair, right?"

Feeling trapped, I exhaled, anxiety building in my chest. "Okay, fine."

"So, you guys actually did something? What, did he jump on you and start smooching you?" he asked, and giggled at the thought.

I shushed him and looked around, making sure nobody was close to us or listening in. "Why are you so curious anyways?" I asked him, trying to put off delving into the details as long as possible.

"I'm not curious," he said with a minor voice crack, "I just want to know what my cousin's been up to. What happened, Nico?" he said, turning his attention to him. "What'd you say?" He picked up another piece of chicken.

Nico sat up, and, sitting on his knees, leaned into the table. He was actually smiling in anticipation of sharing the story. Parker also leaned in, grinning conspiratorially. I couldn't believe what was happening, ready to talk about our relationship like school gossip.

"As I was saying, everyone else in the store left, so I went over to see Logan. I cut myself and wanted him to see it, so we went into a back room." Nico smiled, remembering the moment.

"Cut yourself how?" Parker mumbled, mouth full of chicken.

"He literally cut himself, with a knife," I answered for him.

"What the heck?" Parker exclaimed, and swallowed. "Why would you do that?!" he asked, wincing.

"Well, I was really horny because I hadn't jacked off for like two days," Nico explained.

Parker laughed, and covered his reddening face. "What?!" he managed to shout in between snorts. I hid my own face in my hands, super uncomfortable with Nico sharing this stuff with my little cousin. Nico kept a flat expression and raised an eyebrow at his laughter.

"Yeah, I didn't jack off for like two days, so I really wanted to do it, and I wanted to do it with Logan."

Parker was laughing hysterically, gasping for breath.

"My God Nico, have you no shame?" I groaned.

"But I felt weird," he went on, "like, it was the moment I was waiting for for years. It made me super nervous."

Parker was wheezing, and took a moment to gather himself. "Wait, wait, wait... hold on. You know how to..." he trailed off, making the masturbation motion with his hand. Poor Parker wasn't ready for the rest of the story.

"Yeah," Nico said, sounding offended.

"But you're like ten!" Parker said and burst into laughter again.

Nico narrowed his eyebrows. "I'm twelve!" he said flatly, lowering the pitch of his voice, then his expression softened. "But also a ten," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Parker ignored his quip. "You look like a little kid though, you're barely developed," he told him. "You don't even have any hair under your arms!"

I watched Nico slowly slide his hands under his armpits, looking sheepish. Parker continued laughing.

"Parker—" I started to say.

"Sorry, sorry. That was mean," Parker said, and cleared his throat. "Keep going."

"I don't know if we should be sharing this with you," I said nervously.

"No! Please! I mean, I wanna know what happened. I'll stay quiet."

I grimaced. "I dunno, man, still..."

"Hey, come on! I can go tell my mom," he said.

"Parker!" I snapped, getting up and standing over him. "This isn't a game. This is serious shit, and I really don't appreciate the blackmail."

He thought for a second. "Yeah, you're right, sorry I said that," he said with sincerity. "But come on Logan, like I said I'm not gonna judge, just tell me."

I just sighed and sat back down. "Nico?" I said.

He was sitting quietly, still absentmindedly rubbing under his armpits, and saw me motioning for him to continue. "Um, yeah, right," he said looking up. "Anyways, the cut was on my thigh, so Logan took my pants off. He was so gentle and kind," he smiled. "I remember I wanted it really bad. Ahhh, just thinking about it makes me feel all tingly." He reached into his swim shorts to adjust himself. Parker blushed and turned away. "But, yeah. Logan jacked me off and I cummed on myself."

That set Parker off in hysterics again. "Wow!" he said between laughs. "You really are a perv! An ultra perv!"

"Thought you said you weren't gonna judge," Nico said, rolling his eyes at him.

"I'm not, it's just a fact. I had to say it."

"So, after that," Nico continued, "I just knew I wanted to be his boyfriend and, some day, marry him."

"You actually think you're gonna get married to him?" he asked Nico.

"I really want to," Nico replied, his sparkling eyes peering up at mine.

"Huh. That's kinda..." Parker started, then coughed. "And what do you think about that, Logan?"

I shuffled in my seat. "It's, well, a long way off. I dunno."

"Wow. This is so nuts. I had no idea! And here I was thinking you brought some random brat because his mom wanted you to or somethin'," he said, running his hands through his dark hair. Nico looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't.

"So what now?"

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"I mean, what do we do now?"

"Well, I don't know. I guess we'll finish lunch, and then go on some more slides. You know, have a normal day."

"Hm. Alright," he said. I tried to read his expression, but couldn't.

We went back to eating our lunches, and I finally started on my hot dogs which by that point were warm dogs. Nico quietly ate his salad and I saw Parker glancing at him periodically. Parker wasn't finished though, it seemed, and had more questions for us.

"Did you guys kiss?" he asked.

I sighed, tired of dealing with his questioning, but answered him anyway. "Yeah, we have."

"More than once?"

"A lot," Nico answered.

"Have you guys... done it?" he asked, making the sexual penetrative gesture with his fingers.

"No!" I replied emphatically.

"Are you gonna?" He turned to me. "Do you want to?"

"No," I repeated. Truthfully, until then, I had not thought about actual sex with Nico at all.

My answer seemed to upset Nico. "Really?" he said, sounding surprised.

I turned to him, narrowing my eyebrows. "Nico, you're way too young for that kind of thing."

"Am not!" he huffed. "There's kids in my grade who have already done it."

"Yeah, maybe with other kids. I'm an adult. It's completely off-limits."

 "Wait, that's so unfair!" he pouted. "We've already done other stuff..."

"That other stuff is completely different. I don't want to talk about this anymore, okay?"

"Have you done it with someone yet Logan?" Parker asked, studying me. I glared at him. "He has," he finally said. "Look at him, he's blushing."

"Enough, guys," I said sharply.

"Nooo," Nico moaned. "I wanted to be your first!"

Parker laughed. "Aw, that's adorable Logan. Guess you let him down, huh?"

"Seriously, shut up!" I barked. They looked at me with wide eyes and quieted down, returning to their lunches. "Let's just talk about anything else. What about you, Parker? You got a girlfriend yet?"

"Nope," he responded, lazily chewing his food.

Thankfully for me, the discussion cooled down after that, and we went back to eating and idly chatting. I was very uncomfortable discussing that kind of stuff with them, especially with my cousin. After finishing our lunches, we returned to the cabanas for more sunscreen, then headed back out into the park, on the hunt for our next slide.

We spotted a really fun-looking one that utilized a three-man raft, which Nico called the "fidget spinner raft" because of its shape (basically three intertwined inner-tubes). We had to carry the huge raft all the way up the line, which took the combined effort of all three of us. Nico had his arms lifted to carry his portion, which confirmed he really did have absolutely no hair under his arms. I wondered how long that would last, as puberty was definitely already creeping up on him, if the amount of semen he was able to produce was any indication.

After getting through the long line, we hoisted the raft onto the slide, and took our positions in the three holes, sitting across from each other. Because it was pretty compact, we ended up with all our legs tangled together, of course resulting in Nico affectionately rubbing his leg against mine, but also yelling at Parker to stop battering him with his "robot leg". Thankfully, Parker seemed to find the nickname funny this time, and responded by smacking his prosthetic against Nico's exposed thigh, making him yelp and splash him back with water.

It was the most fun slide so far, and we all cried out in delight whenever we hit a turn. We were spit out at the end into another little pool, at which point Parker disappeared down underneath our raft and flipped the whole thing over in his exuberance, throwing Nico and I underwater. When I emerged, I saw him and Parker play wrestling in the water. The sight made me overjoyed, really happy that they were getting along again.

I got out of the pool and stood by the railing, calling for Parker to bring the raft over so we could return it. Still horsing around with Nico, he broke away from the fun and went to pull the raft to where I was. He and I lifted it up, and turned to find Nico still swimming around in the pool.

"Hey slacker, help us out!" Parker shouted to him.

Nico swam over to the shallow end, but stayed submerged in the water. "I can't," he said.

"Uh huh, come on buddy, you're not getting out of this," I said, waving him over.

"Got a stiffy," he told us. Parker grinned and turned away. "Just gimme a minute." He continued wading around, waiting for it to go down.

"What a pervert," Parker whispered to me.

"Yeah, you've said that before."

"Do you think he's wearing that skimpy bathing suit for you?"

I sighed, wishing I was past his questioning. "Yeah, probably."

He giggled. "Do you like it?"

"Man, don't tease me!" I complained. "You know I wouldn't do that to you."

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed.

Nico was finally able to join us, and we all carried the raft to the collection zone. We went on several more fun slides, and even enjoyed the fidget spinner raft slide twice more. The boys continued to get along splendidly, and I was thrilled to be done with the arguing for the rest of the day.

As we neared the end of the day, Nico kept clamoring about going on the White Water Plummet. We reached the start of the line when Parker suddenly froze. I turned around and saw him staring straight up the huge tower.

"I don't think I wanna do this," he said with a gulp. With all the high drops we'd already done, I was surprised that Parker wanted to sit this one out.

"You sure, Parker?" I asked him. "It looks really fun, but I guess it is really, really high up." Guiltily, I was hoping he'd want to take a break, so I could have some alone time with Nico.

"Yeah, no way I'm going on that. You guys go," he said.

"Well, let's take you back to the cabana first. I think we'll pretty much be done for the day after it."

"No way!" Nico exclaimed, surprising us both. "You're really gonna let me down like that?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna let you go down... without me," Parker said, looking up at the drop again.

Nico frowned. "But we went on so many other slides that were super high up! Why are you scared now?"

"Hey, I'm not scared alright? It's just dangerous," he said, looking up. "And, it probably hurts. It's like, straight vertical," he added.

"You're scared," Nico whispered to him, cracking a smile.

"I'm not scared, Nico," he stressed. "Go ahead, go get a huge rash. I'll be sleeping peacefully tonight."

"Scared," Nico repeated with a smirk.

Parker crossed his arms. "At this point I'm just glad I don't have to go on it with you."

"Come on dickhead, don't be a bummer. I'm gonna need your love and support."

"Pretty sure you can get all that from Logan."

"It's different with him," Nico said, batting his eyelashes, and I suppressed a laugh.

"Gross," Parker said.

"So, are we taking you back?" I asked him, tired of listening to them argue.

"Yeah," he giggled. "Get me away from him!"

"No!" Nico shouted. "I really, seriously want you to go on it with us. C'mon, Parker! Parker! Parker!" he chanted.

"No. Chance."

"He doesn't want to go, Nico," I said. "Let's take him back to the cabana, and then we can go."

Nico searched around frantically. "But... but look at her!" he said, pointing to a little girl at the back of the line, maybe about nine or ten years old. "Are you telling me you're scared, but that tiny little girl's not?"

Parker shook his head. "I'm not scared."

"And what about all these people that are in line? Do you think they think it's dangerous?" He motioned to the exit. "What about everyone who's gone already and are completely fine? They wouldn't make slides like this if they were dangerous. You're freaked out for no reason. Come onnnn."

"I don't know."

"It's literally going to be the most fun thing we're gonna do in this whole place, and instead you're gonna be sitting and crying in your dumb little tent, saying 'why didn't I go with Nico and Logan on the most fun thing in the whole park' for the rest of your life until you die of prostate cancer at age eighty-seven."

Parker cracked a smile, then forced a serious expression. "Maybe," he said simply.

Nico pumped his fist. "Yesss," he whispered. He sure was good at convincing people, I knew it to be a talent of his. He took me and Parker by our arms and led us to the back of the line.

I could tell Parker was antsy. He was being very quiet, and kept grimacing as he peered over the railing, to which Nico would grab his head and pull it away. I wasn't sure how he was going to make it to the end, but he did. After a long wait, we were next in line, and by then he had totally frozen up.

I placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be fine, man. It's really not as bad as you think it is. I'll go first," I said, and stepped up to the slide.

The view was actually pretty intimidating, as you could see most of the park, and it was a pretty steep drop. Not wanting to hesitate for too long in front of him, I quickly slid off, plunging straight down for what felt like an eternity. I closed my eyes and let the thrill overtake me as I heard the wind whistling in my ears and water spraying out either side of me. I finally reached the end of the slide which devolved into a less-shallow trough of water to curb your speed.

Dizzily stepping out and off to the side, I turned back to watch the boys go down. There was a brief delay before the next rider, but to my surprise I saw Parker in his distinctive rash guard step up and take the plunge without hesitation. As he reached the end, an ocean of water sprayed out the side, completely drenching me. I cheered, and as he stumbled out of the trough, he looked up at me and his lips curved into a small smile.

Shortly after, Nico came zipping down, spraying us both, shouting excitedly in an adrenaline-fueled frenzy. His eyes were wide open as was his mouth, and as he clumsily staggered out completely soaked, I gave him a thumbs up. He responded with two of his own, before rushing over and embracing my side, and then Parker, who held his arms up in surprise.

After that, I took them to get popsicles. They eagerly retold the story over and over to each other all the way back to the cabana, and when we arrived they retold it yet again to my mom and Lucy, who grinned at each other through the whole tale.

"While you guys kinda suck," Parker said to Nico and I, "thanks for convincing me. I've never felt so alive."

"You're welcome. You gotta live life on the edge, or not at all!" Nico yelled out, pumping a fist.

Parker smiled. "You're pretty cool, for a ten-year-old."

Nico playfully punched him in the arm. "You're pretty awesome, too!" He paused. "For a cyborg."

Parker laughed and kicked at him, and the two fell into a wrestling match on one of the lounge chairs, both belly laughing as they tried to overpower each other. The parents and I watched them play, delighted with their budding friendship.

In the parking lot, the two exchanged phone numbers and said their goodbyes.

Nico climbed into the back of the car and dumped his shirt onto the other seat. He was jittery, I think still smitten by the exhilaration of the final slide. The two waved at each other as we drove off.

"Did you enjoy the park, Nico?" my mom asked.

He took a short breath before breaking into a long, rambling speech. "That was the most fun I ever had! I want to go back already! I know I already told you Mrs. Lake, but the White Water Plummet—oh my God, that was the funnest thing ever, I can't believe they had a slide that big, and the playground was so cool and there were so many kids, and I was like the king of the whole thing at one point." He gasped. Mom and I looked at each other and chuckled to ourselves as he bombarded us with his passionate recollection. He spoke so quickly, he was stumbling over his words and had to take deep breaths in between sentences.

"There were so many slides we didn't go on, Logan! We should have stayed longer, I wanted to do the fidget-spinner slide a few more times because that one was the best! I mean, besides White Water Plummet. Oh, and Parker was actually really cool too. At first, he was kind of mean, but then he started to be cool. Really cool. Um, yeah, so I had a lot of fun and thanks so much for bringing me Mrs. Lake! I'll never forget today."

"So, it was good?" Mom responded with a smirk, and after I started laughing, they both joined in.

As we drove up Nico's street, I felt bummed to have to leave him so soon. While the day was quite awesome, the events in the morning had me riled up for some more alone time with him. When we pulled up next to his driveway, he dejectedly collected his shirt from the seat next to him and sat up behind the center console.

"It was fun, man. I'm glad you had a great first time at the park," I said.

"Thanks, Logan," he said, leaning forward to hug me. I gave him an awkward one-armed hug from the front seat, tracing my fingers delicately along his naked back. "And thank you for taking me," he said to my mom.

"Aw, honey," she said and hugged him too. "You're such a nice boy, I hope we get to see you again soon."

He gave her a dimple-laden smile. "I hope so, too."

"Goodbye, darling," she said.

"I'll see you later, amigo," I said.

"Bye Logan, and Mrs. Lake!" he called back as he hopped out of the car, skipping merrily up his driveway. Mom watched him, making sure he made it inside before heading towards the end of the cul-de-sac to turn the car around.

"So polite," she said. "I see why you've enjoyed his company so much."

"He is very polite, right? And so energetic. Bet you like him more than some of my other friends."

She laughed. "You'd be right about that."

As we were driving past their house again, the front door opened and Nico raced out, waving his hands madly at us. I happened to catch a glimpse and signaled my mom, who pulled over on the side of the street. She rolled down the window as he dashed across the street towards our car.

"You forget something, honey?" she asked him, starting to turn around to check the back seat.

"No, actually, um," he stammered. "My mom said she wanted to invite you over for some tea."

Mom smiled and looked at me. I just shrugged. "I've got no plans tonight," I assured her.

Nico grinned, showing his teeth. "Mom says you can park in the driveway."

Mom looked at me and smirked. We parked and followed him inside, kicking off our shoes in the doorway. Grace was in the kitchen, but came over when she saw us.

"Oh good, he caught you. I wanted to show my gratitude to you both," she said, then whispered quite loudly. "Having him out of the house was amazing."

"Mom, no!" he pouted, and turned to my mom. "I'm fun, right?" Grace laughed and pulled him to her side, stroking his hair and still-shirtless back.

"I'm so glad he had a good time, he's needed it," she continued.

"Nico was so wonderful to have with us. He was awfully well-mannered, and such a pleasure," mom told her, smiling at him. "He's welcome any time."

He blushed and looked down, twisting his foot on the carpet. A kettle started screeching from the kitchen, and Grace excused herself. Nico followed her over and gathered some teacups, then took us outside to the patio table. Grace followed him out with the kettle and tea bags.

"Green tea," she informed us, filling our teacups, "infused with CBD. It's good for your brain, your skin, and your heart. I can give you some to take home if you'd like. You'll feel like a new person within a week."

"Thanks, Grace," I said.

"That sounds just wonderful," Mom said, gazing into her teacup.

While we sipped our tea in the cooling evening air, Nico talked animatedly about his favorite parts of Raging Rivers and his new friendship with Parker. He seemed incredibly happy to have made a new friend, and I was glad for him, and Parker.

Mom discovered that Grace worked at the clothing store near the toy shop, and they got into a spirited discussion about the whole area. Nico wanted to know about my history with Parker, and the other times we spent at Raging Rivers. Soon afterwards, while he showed me a recreation of his house he built in Minecraft on his phone, we played footsie under the table, each little touch sending a warm, happy feeling resonating throughout my body.

It was such a pleasant evening, the four of us unwinding and sipping tea in the warm evening air, and I was so glad my mom seemed to take to their family the way I did. The tea had a relaxing effect on me, and seemed to for Nico as well. He yawned, stretching his arms up over his head, and smacked his lips while his gaze shifted onto me. I recognized the look in his eyes; it was a hungry, naughty look. We both pivoted to see how the parents were faring, and it appeared they were getting on well, busy chatting about school or some crap.

"I've finished my tea, mama," Nico said, jiggling his empty teacup.

Grace looked at him, then to her own cup. "Take these to the kitchen, would you sweetheart?" she asked, holding out her and Mom's cups. As he stood to gather them, she kissed him on the head, and he recoiled from her, groaning. The mothers laughed, and he rolled his eyes, tapping my shoulder as he walked by me. I got up to follow him into the kitchen.

"We're gonna go upstairs..." he said, but Grace was back to being fully engaged by my mom and didn't reply, so we continued on into the house and placed the cups into the sink. He turned around to face me, his tanned body inadequately covered by only the little red shorts, and peered upwards to find my gaze focused on them.

His lips curved into a thin smile. "I've been waiting all day."

"Me too. I'm just glad you could contain yourself at the park," I said, poking a finger into his belly. He giggled and leaned forward into me, turning his head and pressing a cheek into my shirt.

"I want to cash in on my kiss," he said.

"Oh, right. Of course."

I took his head in my hands, feeling his soft hair in my fingers, and kissed the top of his head, like how Grace had. Instead of recoiling, though, he shuddered with pleasure.

Letting go, I said, "How about we take this upstairs?" I knew Mom could talk to people for hours, so I was sure we'd have a little bit of time to mess around. We walked together to the staircase, one hand wrapped around his side. I stopped and lifted him up in my arms, holding him like a cat. He was kind of heavy, and I had to adjust my grip, holding onto his barely clad butt. My hands brushed against his exposed skin, and he just felt so good and smooth to touch. He giggled impishly, and as I steadily brought us up the staircase, he lay mostly still, staring up at my face.

I made it through the long hallway and into his bedroom, where I dumped him onto the bed, secretly relieved to be finished with the effort of carrying him. I walked back to lock the door, then turned around.

He was lying on his stomach, but got up and flipped around on his back. He stretched out on the bed, making a starfish pose like on the beach the prior day. Looking up at me, his eyes half closed, he smiled seductively.

I watched him lie on the bed and devoured him with my eyes, from his small feet, up his sinewy legs and exposed thighs, to the tiny red cloth that barely separated me from his most pleasurable location. His chest rose and fell with each breath, tiny little nipples that were nearly the same tone as the rest of him.

"I don't even care that our parents are just downstairs, I can't resist you this time," I told him, and reached for his ankles, climbing forward onto the bed. I ran my hands all the way up his bald legs, into the bottoms of his shorts, rubbing against the very tops of his thighs and the underside of his butt.

He shivered and moaned. "What are you gonna do to me?" he asked, with a cheeky grin.

I withdrew my hands and climbed on top of him, pinning his wrists. Face to face, I whispered to him, "Whatever you want me to do," and kissed him tenderly on the lips.

His eyes shut, and he kissed back, electricity flowing between our bodies. He broke from my hold on his wrists and grabbed my arms, flipping us over so he was on top, then also broke the kiss, and withdrew his head. A shy smile formed on his face as he sat on my chest, legs bent and placed on either side of me. He leaned forward to kiss me again, and began grinding his body against my shirt. Soft breaths escaped him as he pushed himself against me, and his seashell necklace jiggled back and forth. I simply laid back and allowed him to elicit his pleasure.

After a few seconds he stopped, flustered, and inched down to place himself above my board shorts. He eagerly opened them as he did earlier in the morning, but this time it was my already-stiff cock that emerged. He shuddered and repositioned himself, so he could pull off his shorts, sliding them down his skinny legs and dropping them off the side of the bed. Looking down the bed, I viewed him in nude perfection, bathed in the warm glow of the sun's final hours.

Returning to his previous position over my dick, I saw his tensed erection protruding from between his legs, with a pair of loose nuts hanging below. The tip peeked precociously out of his foreskin, thirsty for action. He noticed me observing him, and smiled up at me, before gripping my dick with both his hands. His feathery touch felt unbelievably good as he played with it, sliding his hands across, and giving it an occasional tweak.

Suddenly, he stopped and stared. "It's really big," he said.

I gave him a look. "Did you want it to be smaller?"

He looked down at his own twitching dick. "No."

He slid his way up my body back to kiss me again, and his warm, naked form lay on top of me. After kissing, he lay sleepily with his head cuddled into my neck. He smelled a little bit like chlorine, but the rest like pure Nico. He humped against me again, and this time I really felt his hard penis pressing against my stomach. I reached between us and grasped it, giving the hot, hard thing a nice squeeze, eliciting a single sharp grunt. As I held onto him, he thrust himself against my hand a couple times, and I felt a stickiness wipe against my fingers.

He relaxed his thrusting, and after I let go of him he crawled back down to my dick that was leaking its own fluids. With a smile, he took it again in his hands, and licked his tongue happily over the tip, before slipping the whole head into his warm mouth. I couldn't help but groan in pure bliss and lock my eyes shut as he sloppily swiped his tongue all around the head of my cock.

"Oh, Nico... holy shit... uhnnn..." I said to him, lost in the feelings.

He made a slurping sound before popping his mouth off, and started to spin himself around on top of me. "Come on," he said in his raspy voice, "sixty-nine."

Once again he took me in his mouth, and the pleasure continued. He lifted his body to help provide me access to his penis, but the rigid thing barely came up to my neck.

"Don't think I can reach," I told him, then noticed his ass. Not because it was beautiful, because it was, but something strange caught my eye. "Nico," I said in confusion, "what is this?" I pulled his cheeks apart to get a better view of the strange red jewel—shaped like a heart—that covered his butthole.

He giggled as I prodded it with a finger. "Tickles good," he said.

"No, seriously. What is this?" I was seriously confused at why or how this jewel was there.

"A toy," he said, looking back at me over his shoulder. I stared quizzically at him, and he spun around on me. "It's my toy," he said again, then kissed my lips.

"Why... I mean, how, who..." I started to say, but he slid down again to take my throbbing cock into his mouth. This time, though, he went past the head, swirling his tongue all over. I gasped and closed my eyes as he began expertly sucking my dick, teeth long since tucked away, tongue dancing across whatever it could find.

His warm mouth felt too good to be real. I placed my hands on his shoulders as he worked his magic, and opened my eyes to find him gracefully jerking himself off as he bobbed up and down on me. He moaned with his mouth still on me, sending dangerously good vibrations all over my cock, and continued his muffled moaning which certainly exceeded the maximum amount of pleasure I had ever received.

"That's it Nico, I'm gonna cum," I told him.

He pulled off for a second. "Do it in my mouth," he demanded, then quickly returned to his vigorous sucking.

"No—" I cried, but it was completely ineffective on him. Powerless, I felt my orgasm begin. I grabbed onto his head and began to squirt into his hungry mouth, groaning noisily, and he clung to me with equal force as he sucked harder and harder, still jerking his little dick and moaning. After the last few shots coated the inside of his mouth, my hips dropped and I wearily opened my eyes to find him swallow with purpose, and lick his lips, looking like he was in heaven.

His hand was a blur, and he sat up between my legs, shutting his eyes and masturbating himself. His breathing became quicker and more intense before he leaned slightly forward and shuddered. His eyelids twitched, and he began firing out hot jets of clear, thin semen onto his comforter, some of it splattering onto my balls.

"Aaauuuhhh," he cried out, and I watched him as the pleasure coursed through his body and ejected through the skinny nozzle of his thrashing penis. He let himself fall forward, collapsing onto me. We were both panting, and I held his naked back to me as we recovered.

"That... was... the... best..." he whispered drowsily.

As my awareness drifted back, I felt ashamed for having came in his mouth, and uneasy about the "toy" in his butt. His nakedness was sprawled over me, my deflating cock pressed up on his side. After catching his breath, he rolled off of me and stood up, picking his swim shorts up off the floor. He fished his phone out of the pocket, and turned back to me with his softening dick dangling in the air, the tip glistening with the remnant of his seed. Dropping the shorts back to the floor, he sat on the edge of the bed, using his phone.

"You shouldn't have let me do that, in your mouth," I said seriously.

"Uh huh," he nodded, captivated by the phone, his face scarcely lit by the glow of the screen.

"And we should talk about what's in your butt, Nico. You're too young for that sort of thing." The soft sound of typing clicked from his phone. "You're not listening," I said. "I want to know where you got that... plug... and who bought it for you."

He continued typing away, clearly not hearing me. I got up and shuffled over to him to peek at his screen, and he tilted away from me.

"Are you texting someone?" I asked him.

"Yep, Parker," he said and paused, smiling. "Telling him what we did."

"Oh, Nico, no—" I began to protest.

We heard the front door loudly open, and the two women chatting merrily as they came into the house. I got up off the bed to pull my shorts up, but Nico continued sitting on the bed naked, texting Parker.

"Get dressed," I said to him.

Reluctantly he set the phone down on his bed, and got up to pull his shorts back on. I looked around the room for any lingering signs of our misconduct. He had swallowed my evidence, but I spotted the dark wet patch of his on the comforter.

"You got tissue?" I asked him.

"No," he said, sounding confused by my request.

"A towel? Something?"

He noticed what I was worried about, and shook his head. "Doesn't matter, it'll dry up."

I stood staring at him in bewilderment. He seemed unconcerned, finishing pulling up his shorts.

"Come on," I said, taking him by the wrist and leading us out of his room. I asked him where the bathroom was, and he took us to it. The bathroom was really nice and modern, with two sinks, a toilet, and a shower/bath combination. I had him wash his face in the sink, and I did the same. After I convinced myself we looked inconspicuous enough, I took us downstairs, running into the moms on the way down.

"Hey guys," Mom said, barely bothering to look us over, "Grace was just showing me around. You've got a lovely home, Nico."

"It's really great," he agreed.

We joined them for the house tour, and I got to see the backyard which I hadn't previously. The back door opened into a cozy covered patio with a fire pit, surrounded by chairs. After the tour, mom thanked them for having us over, and Nico went to give her another farewell hug. He then came over to me, and wrapped his arms around my side, holding me for several moments. Trying to act less conspicuous, I gave him a simple, small hug back. The moms thought it was cute. We left, and the two waved to us from the porch as we walked to the car.

Mom kept glancing at me as we drove home, and as she kept doing it I gave her a confused look.

"What?" I finally asked.

She chuckled. "Grace told me Nico has a crush on you."

"Uh... she did?" I tried not to look as uncomfortable as I was. It kind of didn't surprise me that Grace would tell her, but I was still annoyed that she had.

"Yes. Isn't that funny? And I can see why. You know you're very handsome."

"Mom," I giggled, blushing and lightly shoving her arm.

"I'm still waiting for my grandkids. Any progress?"

"No, and there won't be any if you keep being weird about it."

She laughed, then went quiet for a second. "He seems to look up to you."

"Nico?"

She nodded. "I hope you were a good role model for him today."

I peered out the window. "I hope so, too. I didn't get the chance to tell you, but he and Parker didn't get along well for the first few hours."

"Oh?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. They were fighting a bunch. I don't really know why. But we talked it out over lunch and it seemed to fix everything."

"Oh, good. They seemed like they had a lot of fun with you." She was quiet again. "I remember when you were about his age, and you had a crush on that girl."

"Yeah, Alice. Don't remind me."

"Why not? It was cute. You asked your father how to talk to her." She smirked. "He didn't know, because I was the one who went after him."

"Right. He was useless," I said, and she laughed.

"And you never did talk to her."

"Wasn't really my choice. She left the school after the stuff went down."

"Stuff?"

"Well, it was a rumor. But everyone was saying her dad was... you know, abusing her. She left the school a year after the rumors were going around. Never did find out if it was true, or what happened to her afterwards."

"Oh, I didn't know about any of that. That's terrible," she said. "Poor girl."

"Mhm."

The rest of the drive was calm and quiet. I thought back to my younger years, when I was always so anxious and shy, though it's not like much had changed. Nico was such an incredibly different person than I was at his age, and even now. There was something special about how different we were, though, like two connecting pieces in a puzzle. I smiled at the thought.

Back at home, my dad was actually around for once, so we had dinner as a family. It was not something we shared very often those days, with all of us usually doing our own thing, and it was pleasant.

I spent some time outside sitting on the patio, thinking about everything that transpired over the day. While everything turned out alright, I felt a little concerned about having to worry about Parker knowing our secret now, too. Nico had apparently told him what we got up to earlier, which was also very uncomfortable. Well, if my little cousin had to know that I came in my twelve-year-old boyfriend's mouth, I hope Nico at least explained that I didn't force it on him.

There was also the matter of Nico's buttplug. It was on my mind since I noticed it, and I wondered who could have possibly bought it for him, and why. Was I not Nico's first adult friend? I didn't want to stress about it too much, and left it to discuss with him later.

Later that night, as I crawled into bed, I was hit by a wave of exhaustion. A lot had happened over the weekend, and so I wasn't thrilled to be going back to my regular life at work in the morning. I was pretty surprised that I didn't get any texts from Nico the entire evening, but thought he must have been busy. Plugging the charger into my phone, I noticed a new message notification, and excitedly opened it, hoping it was him.

Unknown: Hey

Me: Who's this?

Unknown: This is the police

Unknown: Come out with your hands up

I had a brief moment of panic before I realized that it was completely absurd. I didn't have to think very hard to recognize who it was.

Me: Oh

Me: Parker?

Unknown: Lololol 😂😂

Unknown: Yes, it's me

Me: Did you get my number from Nico?

Unknown: Yeah, I did

I stared at the screen, and got to thinking about how he felt about my relationship with Nico. We didn't really get to talk about it one-on-one. I added him as a contact, and decided to check in with him.

Me: Sorry things got weird at the park

Me: Hope it didn't upset you or anything

Parker: It didn't

Parker: It's kinda cool, actually

Me: You think it's cool?

Parker: I don't know

Parker: I'm tireddd lol ignore me plz 🤣

Parker had been a total enigma during the day, and these texts continued the trend. He didn't reply further, so I set my phone down on the nightstand, and tried to get some sleep. After a few minutes, however, my phone dinged again.

Parker: Did you have a good time with him after you left?

Me: Had some tea at his place afterwards

Parker: Ah

Parker: Anything else?

He was being coy, but I didn't have time for his games, and called him out on it.

Me: I know he told you

Parker: Oh

Parker: Lol

Parker: Did you like it?

Me: Don't really want to talk about this

Parker: Fine

About a minute passed before his next message came.

Parker: Does he have hair on his thing?

His question felt invasive to me. Why did he want to know that anyway? Ammunition for teasing Nico with? Weird, teenage body curiosity? I'd have bet he was just wanting to compare, after all, puberty is a very vulnerable period for kids. It all felt pretty invasive regardless. The adult thing to do seemed to be to put my foot down.

Me: I don't think he'd want me telling you

Me: You can ask him yourself

Me: I need to go to sleep man I've got work

Parker: Ok gnight

Put off by the weird conversation, I set my phone down again. I thought about Nico, and his beautiful hairless crotch, before drifting off to sleep.