Robert and Johnny-The rest of the story Ch 36

Remember Nifty needs your help to keep this unique venue alive
Give generously by clicking the link below

http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html

Robert and Johnny
The rest of the story
(Part three of the trilogy began in My 11th Summer, then Tween to Teen) By: Kewl Dad

There was a lot to do as far as Zeke was concerned, and getting him enrolled into school in Tulsa was our first priority. He'd been attending Pryor Junior High since Christmas vacation had ended, and he had adjusted well and was making good grades. He'd even made a few friends in Pryor, away from the rumors and bullying he'd been subjected to back home, but for the most part he'd kept a low profile, not risking getting too close to anyone.

Unfortunately, Bill and Peter had both moved on to High School and wouldn't be joining Zeke at the new school. However, their school was close by and they rode the same bus.

I could tell Zeke was nervous, who wouldn't be? New school, new kids, new teachers, and even I had to admit I had some butterflies as I walked into that building with my new 'son' by my side.

The whole process was much easier than I'd expected, no doubt because I had all the necessary papers signed by Zeke's parents. Sadly, his dad had been eager to sign the papers, saying, 'The quicker we get rid of the queer, the better.' It was sad, but in a way I was glad he was willing to give up his rights to Zeke so easily so that Johnny and I could give him the family he deserved.

We had promised his mother that we would bring him to visit in the summer or that she could come here and visit, but I think deep in her heart she believed she would never see her son again. However, I am a man of my word, and was determined to make good on my promise.

After getting Zeke all settled in, I headed back home, having taken the day off, and went about my usual household tasks, just like any good house-husband should. I even baked a cake to celebrate Zeke's first day of school and planned a special dinner.

Johnny surprised me by coming home shortly after noon, saying his afternoon classes had been cancelled due to some sort of maintenance issue.

"How did it go?" he asked after giving me a kiss and a hug.

"Fine, but I think I was as nervous as Zeke," I chuckled, "we were lucky, you know, we went to school all those years surrounded by pretty much the same bunch of kids from grade school to high school..."

"Yeah, but he'll be okay. He'll adjust quickly."

"I know, hey...we still have a while till our boy gets home, how about a quick romp in the bedroom?"

"Funny you should suggest that, I was thinking about that on my way home," Johnny chuckled, "Now that we're not living alone, we need to take advantage of every moment we can."

Johnny was right of course, but I wasn't worried, we'd still find time to make love, and after all, it wasn't like Zeke didn't know we were a devoted couple and that we might be making whoopee sometimes.

We'd just finished making love and were contemplating a shower when the phone rang. I picked up the handset on the bedside phone on the third ring, and was surprised to hear mom's voice on the other end.

"Hi mom, yeah...everything went fine. Nervous, but I think he'll do okay. He's changed a lot since he's got here. He's more self assured and self reliant now."

I listened for a while then chuckled, "I bet, well tell Mikey he's still my favorite boy, and that we'll see him real soon. Zeke has a birthday coming up in March, and I was wondering. What do you think about having it there in Pryor, maybe even reserve the park shelter...if it's warm enough. We could invite everyone we know. We could make it the best Birthday Zeke has ever had. Great, I'll let you work out the details, just let us know what we need to do. Okay, mom...talk to you later then. Love ya, Johnny sends his love too, give dad and Mikey a hug and a kiss from us. All right, byeee."

"Let me guess, your mom," Johnny chuckled, "by the way, that's a great idea about Zeke's birthday party. And if it's not warm or it rains that day we can have it at mom and dad's house, and if the weather allows we can still use the park."

"Great idea, you should call them and get the ball rolling. Meanwhile, I'm gonna take a shower before our son gets home."

Son, what a wonderful word, I thought. He might not be our flesh and blood, a conceived-in-love son, but as far as I was concerned Johnny and I were his dads. I wondered how he felt about that? Being gay I knew he didn't have anything against the type of relationship Johnny and I had, and how neat must it be to have not one, but two male influences in your life?

I was drying off when Johnny breezed in , still naked and started the shower, "All done, mom was so excited. She's gonna call your mom and they're gonna work everything out. All we have to do is figure out what to get Zeke for a present, or should I say, presents?"

"A bike for one thing," I said spraying on some deodorant, "I heard him talking to Mikey about never having a bike, but always wanting one. Every kid should have a bike."

"Perfect, we'll get him one of those wicked ten-speeds and he can ride it even after he grows some."

"Yeah, it will be fun picking out stuff for him. We'll have to do it while he's at school though, or maybe we can leave him with Peter and Bill some evening and go shopping."

"Hey, we should buy the bike in Pryor and leave it at mom and dad's house. I bet Western Auto has some cool ones..."

And so we were still discussing possible presents for Zeke when we heard the front door open and our newly acquired son walked in, all smiles.

"I'm guessing today went well," I said grinning.

"Wow, just wow. Everyone was so nice, even the teachers, and I made a friend. His name is Larry Hobart, and he's really nice."

"Is he cute?" Johnny teased.

"Well, yeah..." Zeke said blushing, "but it's not like that, we're just friends. We have four classes together, including PE."

"Nice, so you'll get to see him naked in the shower," I teased.

"What, oh...I hadn't thought of that. Today we had an assembly that hour instead of PE."

"Are the gym clothes you have from Pryor okay for this school?"

"Yeah, they said shorts of any color were fine, and I have plenty of plain white tee shirts."

"And a jock?" Johnny asked seriously.

"Yeah," Zeke said blushing again, "I have two, actually."

"Good, well...you must be starved, sit down and I'll fix you a snack and you can tell us all about your day."

Zeke's enthusiasm was contagious, and Johnny and I were happy to see him so excited. Despite proclaiming that this new friend was just that, Zeke's eyes seemed to light up when he talked about him, and I wondered if he wasn't a bit smitten with him. I worried though, and considered warning Zeke to take it slow, but in the end I decided after all he'd been through that he would know to proceed with caution.

Bill and Peter came over later as Johnny and I were preparing dinner, and we sent the three into the back yard to burn off some energy while we finished up. While we cooked, we talked, and Johnny was in complete agreement when it came to Zeke's new friend. He knew that if he needed us we were there for him, but unless we saw him struggling we weren't going to butt in.

"You know, I'm surprised Bill and Peter haven't pulled Zeke into their sex play," Johnny said at last.

"Who knows? Maybe they have," I chuckled, "We don't know everything those three do. There are plenty of opportunities. Maybe they've tried and maybe Zeke's not ready for that yet."

"What horny teenage boy, especially a gay one, isn't ready for sex?" Johnny chuckled.

"Remember, Zeke's feelings about what happened back home are still fresh in his mind. I'm sure he doesn't want to risk messing things up here. I'd say he's taking things slow and being cautious, but I do think that eventually he will come around."

"Yeah, you're probably right. And Bill and Peter would be the perfect partners for him, because they are just so dang sweet, and sexy," Johnny said, then blushed, "can I say that? Is that too weird? Do I sound like one of those creepy old guys who hang out in the park looking for stray kids?"

"No," I said slapping at him playfully, "I know what you mean and it's not creepy. We can appreciate the boys for who they are, and what they are. Like observing a beautiful flower. Doesn't mean we have to pick the flower or even smell it, we can just look at it and know how lovely it is."

"That's...very deep," Johnny chuckled, "but I get what you mean. We were once that age, and if someone our age now had approached us about sex we would have probably freaked, but I'm sure there were guys who gazed upon our beauty and sexiness and went home and spanked the monkey."

We both laughed then and were still laughing when Zeke came through the sliding patio door.

"What's so funny?" he said grinning.

"Oh, just a private joke. What happened to your buds?"

"They had to go in, their mom said they had chores and homework. I guess she's kinda strict with them. They said they might be back after dinner."

"Hmm, that's new then," Johnny observed, "maybe she's decided to take parenting seriously and not let them run wild, like they used to."

"Yeah, let's face it, when we first met them, they pretty much had free rein, I don't think she ever said no once when we asked if the boys could go places with us.

"Well, that could be because we were such good influences, or because it got them out of her hair," Johnny chuckled.

"I'm gonna go do my homework now," Zeke said, probably feeling that he had nothing to add to this conversation, "if that's okay."

"Sure, buddy," I said offering him a one armed hug which he willingly accepted.

It had taken a while to break him in to our touchy feely kind of family, but he seemed to be enjoying the intimacy more with each passing day. I think Mikey had a lot to do with that, because Mikey is one little snuggle bug, and who could resist that?

"We'll call you for dinner," I said, "pork chops, smothered in mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans. And a surprise for dessert."

"Okay, thanks, see ya later," he said as he headed down the hall to his room.

"He's not the same frightened little boy we first met at Christmas time, is he?"

"No, thank God, but at times I can still see a little fear and uncertainty in his eyes when he faces new things, like at school today. I could almost hear his little heart beating in his chest as we walked through those doors. It must've brought back so many bad memories of his old school and the abuse he suffered there."

"Aww, poor kid. Well, at least he made a new friend, and I'm sure there will be more. Hey, we should encourage him to go out for baseball or football, that will help his popularity."

"He's strong enough and big enough, but I don't want to push him. We can encourage and support him in anything he wants to do, but I don't want him to feel obligated to do those things."

"Yeah, that's what I meant," Johnny said, "Heck, maybe he'd rather be in speech club or the drama club. Whatever he wants is fine by me, and I'll help him anyway I can."

"He seems very interested in your art, maybe you could sort of take him under your wing and teach him a few basics and see if he has any talent there."

"Yeah, I've noticed he seems to light up when we talk about art, and I've caught him a couple times standing in the doorway and watching me paint, but he always runs away before I can invite him in."

"I'll let you work that out. It can be your 'father-son' thing. Now I just have to figure out mine," I laughed.

***************************************

Dinner was a huge success, and when I brought forth that cake which said simply: 'GOOD LUCK IN SKOOL-ZEKE, LOVE, R&J', we all laughed.

Zeke cracked up laughing at my misspelling of school but I pretended I didn't know what he was talking about.

"Ha ha, I know you know how to spell," Zeke said poking me playfully, "you're a writer, and if you don't know how to spell a word you look it up in the dictionary."

"You got me, buddy," I said hugging him from behind as he stared at his cake.

"This is...the first cake I ever had," the boy said suddenly, sounding very emotional.

"Not even for your birthday?" I asked, keeping my arms around his neck as we talked.

"Nope," he said shaking his head gently, "pa said birthdays were a waste of money. Ma usually fixed whoever had a birthday their favorite food for supper, but that was all. No presents, no cake, no singin'."

"Well, you're gonna love your new family then, cause we believe in cakes, and singing, and presents, and all that stuff," I said kissing the top of his shaggy brown hair.

I think I surprised myself as much as I surprised him, but he didn't seem to mind my show of affection, in fact, he reached up and took my hands in his and pulled my arms tighter around him.

"We really do love you, Zeke," I whispered, "all of us, but especially me and Johnny."

"I...I love you too," the boy said in a husky voice, sounding ready to cry at any moment.

"But this is a happy occasion," Johnny reminded us, "so...are you gonna cut that cake? cause my mouth is watering for a piece of it."

The mood was lightened then, and Zeke was all smiles as he cut his first ever cake in his honor. I served it with ice cream, and after we'd eaten a huge piece, Zeke insisted that he take Bill and Peter a piece as well.

I cut four decent sized pieces and placed them on a plate for Zeke to deliver to our neighbors. While he was gone, Johnny and I cleaned up the supper mess and loaded the new-fangled dishwasher, which worked fairly well...as long as you scraped off the worst of the food.

Zeke was gone about 30 minutes and when he returned he wasn't alone.

"Hi guys," I said as Bill and Peter followed Zeke inside.

Bill immediately came up to me and gave me a hug, then looking up with his big brown eyes he said, "Thanks for the cake, Robbie, it was really good."

Bill and Mikey were the only two people who ever called me Robbie, but far from being offended, I felt very loved to have them give me a special pet name.

"You're welcome, buddy. Did your mom and sister enjoy theirs?"

"Yeah, we all did. I had chocolate ice cream with mine," Bill said enthusiastically.

"So, did you guys get your chores and homework done?"

"Yeah, and we can play now. If it's okay," Peter said looking at Johnny and me expectantly.

"Sure, as long as you keep the noise down to a reasonable level and don't burn the place down," I teased.

"Come on, guys," Zeke said, we can go to my room, "we can play a board game or something..."

Once the boys were gone, Johnny and I piled down on the couch and watched one of our favorite programs on our new Console TV, our house-warming gift from Johnny's parents. We learned later that they'd bought it at Caleb's shop, and though they didn't say so, I was sure Caleb gave them a good deal on it. Speaking of Caleb and Tony, though they hadn't been able to make it to the house-warming party, they'd visited us a few days before that and brought gifts, including an 8 piece Melamine dinnerware set, and a 12 piece glass set. Both very useful and thoughtful gifts considering our family was growing.

"What do you suppose those three are really doing?" Johnny said, his head in my lap as he stretched out on the couch.

"It is kind of quiet," I chuckled, "oh, to be a fly on the wall."

"Well, if we hear moaning, we might need to go see if they're all right," Johnny joked.

"Right, I'm sure they'd love that. Think about when we were that age and how much stuff we got away with right underneath our parent's noses."

"Ha, do you really think they were that clueless all the time?" Johnny laughed, "My folks so much as admitted that they had us figured out from the time we were 12 or so. At first, I guess they just thought it was normal boy stuff, but the longer it went on, the easier it was for them to see the truth, that we were in love."

"They told you this?" I asked incredulously.

"Not in so many words. You know how hard it is for my dad to talk about emotions and stuff, but mom did a pretty good job of spelling things out for me. Dad just grunted most of the time," Johnny laughed, "but he did say that at first it was hard to accept, but that he just couldn't be mad, because he loved you as much as he loved me, and right or wrong he accepted that we loved each other that way."

"Wow, that's a lot to digest, but I'm glad you told me this. How long have you known all this?"

"Remember that night I stayed over at my parents just before Christmas? We talked till way into the morning and we shared a lot. I dunno, maybe the wine had something to do with it," he chuckled, "but it was a good talk and I felt closer to both of them after that. I guess I didn't tell you right away because I still had a lot of thinking to do about what was said, and then Zeke came along..."

"Thanks for sharing that with me. I agree, it does take some thought. I've never had a real heart-to-heart like that with my parents, but I know they had us figured out long ago, and I bet they talked with your parents about it more than once."

"Oh, yeah, that was another thing mom and dad said, that the four of them talked about it several times and always came to the same conclusion, that as long as we were happy, they were happy too."

"Wow," I said running my fingers through Johnny's long brown hair, then leaning down to kiss his forehead.

About then the three boys walked in, and for a moment they just stood watching us, smiles on their faces.

"Oh, hi guys," I said once I noticed them.

"Bill and Peter gotta go," Zeke said, "I'm gonna walk em to their door."

"Sure, night guys," I said smiling at the two neighbor boys, both of whom I thought of as family now.

"Nite, Robbie. Nite, Johnny," Bill said, giving us a little wave and a goofy grin, "have fun, you two," then he giggled.

"Oh, we will," Johnny chuckled, "Night, you two."

When they were gone, Johnny laughed, "I'm betting they were only in there long enough for each of them to get their rocks off."

"Hmm, you may be right. The only question is: did they do it alone, or together?"

"What do you think? Why jerk your own when someone else can do it for you, and...you can jerk them back?"

"You and your dirty talk have me all horned up, mister," I said leaning down to engage him in an upside down kiss on the lips.

Zeke returned about then, took one look at us, grinned and excused himself to go take a shower.

"We're heading to bed, buddy," I said before he'd made it too far down the hall, "Night, see ya in the morning."

"Night," he said giving us a smile, "and...thanks again, really...I mean it."

"You're welcome buddy," I said, "I know you didn't come from a place where people demonstrated affection that often, but do you think we could have a goodnight hug? If that's too much just say so," I added quickly.

He hesitated only a moment, then he moved forward and met us as we stood by the couch. He seemed unsure what to do at first, but when I opened my arms he swarmed into them and hugged me fiercely. I could feel his body quivering and it took me a moment to realized he was sobbing quietly.

I held him tightly, but gently and let him get it all out, then I leaned down and kissed his hair. He smelled like a boy should, musky and spicy with a hint of shampoo still lingering in his long hair.

I passed him to Johnny, but he seemed less emotional now, hugging Johnny less fiercely and breaking away after only a few seconds.

"Night buddy, love ya," I said.

"Love ya too, you guys are the best," Zeke said with a smile, then he turned and disappeared down the hall.

"Well, he's coming around," Johnny declared, "next thing you know he'll be initiating the hugs."

"I can't wait for that day," I said smiling, "shall we head to bed, lover. I have a number of things I'd like to do to that sexy body of yours..."

"Oh, do tell, do tell...or better still...just do..." Johnny laughed, and we were off to our love chamber.