I watched Mark leave. I couldn’t stop crying, and Aunt Lil came in, took me to my room, and put me into bed.

“Josh, don’t shut him out. Don’t shut out love. I did and look at me, a lonely spinster. I guess you’re of the age to know, and, you have trusted me, so I’ll trust you - I’m a lesbian. I was totally in love once. I shut love out, because, I was scared of what my friends and family would think. Too late, I realized that it wouldn’t, and, didn’t, make any difference, to those who really cared for me.”

“It was your dad, who, finally helped me to see how stupid I had been. Last night, he was bawling his eyes out, because he can’t seem to convince you that you, and, your happiness, means everything to him. Don’t shut him out. Talk to him, Josh. Let him know how you feel about Mark, and how scared you are.”

I nodded my head. Sleep and exhaustion took over my body.

Saturday morning, I woke to the smell of coffee. I lay in bed and thought about Mark saying he’d never give up. I thought about what Aunt Lil had told me, about herself, and about love. Had I shut out my dad? Yes. We had always been pals until a couple of years ago when I realized I was gay. I had made myself the worse son I could be.

I got up. I knew he’d be in the kitchen with his coffee. He had to have his coffee, and then he would cook breakfast. I walked into the kitchen. Yep! There he was, sitting at the table, with his coffee. He looked tired and sad. I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down next to him.

“I love you,” he said.

“Dad, when Jerry Walsh died I heard you talking to mom. You said that if I were gay you didn’t know what you would do. – Why?”

“I knew Tom Walsh, not well, but we’ve had a few drinks together. He loved his son. It nearly killed him when Jerry died. He never suspected his son was gay. It made me think about you, and the rest of that conversation with your mom was if you died, how could I live. You see I love you. You own half of my heart and your mom owns the other half a person can’t live with half a heart.”

“So you love a boy. That’s okay. It determines nothing important about you. That you love is important. Don’t shut out love. When you were little I loved you, now you’re big I still love you.”

“Dad, is love worth fighting for?”

“Most definitely, especially when the one you love feels the same.” He smiled.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing,” he said in his voice that says there’s something.

“Dad,” I whined.

“I’ll tell you in a minute,” he laughed.

“Dad, tell me now,” I whined again.

“Okay, but first, you have to tell me if there is someone special that you like or love.”

“That’s not fair!”

“Yes it is!”

“Snot!”

“Is. Come on, tell me.”

I sighed, “Okay, there is. Now tell me.”

“Who is he?”

“How do you know it’s a he?”

“You’re gay. Now out with it.”

“Okay,” I giggled, “His name is Mark. Mark Hathaway.”

“Hmm, red hair, really beautiful eyes. Really cute?”

“You knew!”

“Of course! Do you love him?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

“Tell you in a sec. First, I want to know if the love you have for Mark - is a love you’d fight to keep?”

“Dad, I’m really scared about being outed. I know, though, it will happen – I don’t want to be hurt but, more than that, I don’t want Mark to be hurt. I don’t want what happened, to Jerry, to happen to us. But, I would fight, to my last breath.”

“Josh, what happened to Jerry won’t happen. Are you going to desert Mark if you are outed?”

“I could never do that!”

“Do you think Mark would desert you?”

I thought for a moment. “No. He said he would never give up.”

“In that case, you’ll never end up like Jerry. Josh, you and Mark have the love and support of your family. No doubt in my mind, you and Mark will have the support of his family, and then there is your Aunt Lil.”

“You’re right dad. Dad – I love you so much.” We hugged.

“Now to answer your question about how I know about Mark.”

“Yes, tell me. Aunt Lil told you right?”

“Well, she did mention him, but this morning, on the way to the kitchen, I saw this red headed teenager sitting in a car in front of the house. We had a long chat. I really like him. So – could you pour a cup of coffee for your mom, and one for Mark too? I told him he could wait in the living room until you came to your senses.“

I dashed to the living room. Mark was sitting reading a book. He looked at me and blushed. I realized I was standing in only my whity-tighties. I blushed. “Oops! Don’t leave.” I started to leave then I stopped and turned to him again. “I love you.”

He smile, “I love you too. I’ll be in the kitchen helping your dad.”

I ran up to my room. I sniffed my underarms. I had to take a shower, brush my teeth, and get dressed in something appropriate – white Dockers and black fitted t-shirt. I was combing my hair when Mark appeared at my door.

“Come in. I stank – I had to take a shower.”

“You look good,” he said standing in front of me, “So good.” He had his arms around me. He brushed his lips against mine. He did it again. My arms and hands wrapped around him. Our lips touched again and we kissed properly. When we broke the kiss several minutes later we were both hard.

“I guess we better cool off a bit before we go down,” I said.

He blushed. I giggled and blushed.

“My parents are here. Your dad invited them over. My parents kept teasing me, and well, you know I blush so easily. I had to seek sanctuary here. Aunt Lil is here to. She said now that I am part of the family too, I have to call her Aunt Lil.”

I rolled my eyes. “Maybe we should just stay up here?” I suggested, “Wanna see my computers?”

“Yeah!”

“This is my Linux server. This is my pc running XP Pro and this is my baby, Power Mac G5 dual 2GHz processors 23” monitor! I love it. This was what I used for that picture. Want to see some of my photos?”

“Sure!”

I showed him my online photo album. We played around with a couple of music programs. He loved them. We move over to the Linux box, and I showed him one of my programs. We started debugging one program and we were really into it, when his friends, Mandy and Malcolm, showed up. Can you believe it; soon all of us were working on the program.

A black girl came into my room, “Oh! You are the cutest couple! Not you Malcolm, Mark and Josh!”

I blushed. If I blush, Mark really blushes.

“Oh, look! Matching blushes! They are so sweet!” she said, making me blush even more.

“Delsine!” Malcolm snapped.

“Oh, Malcolm. Mark knows I’m kidding and anyway I’m just telling it like it is – they are cute. How come all the really cute boys are gay?”

She bent over and kissed me on the cheek. I smiled, “I’m Malcolm’s sister. Mark, you are so lucky. So what are you guys programming?”

Mandy and Delsine got engaged in a conversation, about makeup or something, while Mark, Malcolm and I worked on my program. Mark rested his head on my shoulder. It felt so nice, so wonderful. I had a boyfriend.

Eventually, we had breakfast at eleven.

I couldn’t believe it - Mark and I walked into the dining room, holding hands, and giggling about something silly. Nobody complained, so I didn’t let go of his hand.

I liked Mark’s parents, and they liked me. They were like best friends with my parents, and they’d only met today.

After brunch the adults elected us to clean the kitchen. It’s taking a little time to get used to talking and goofing around, but these guys are so cool and patient in getting me out of my shell.

Delsine was teasing Malcolm. He threw a wet dishcloth at her. Splat! She was pissed, and threw it back, but missed Malcolm, and hit Mandy. Mark started laughing. He has the most beautiful laugh of anyone.

Then Mandy slops Mark in the face with the dishcloth. The look on his face was funny, and Malcolm starts laughing. Mark drops the dishcloth in the water, takes it out, and throws it at Malcolm, and splat right in my face!

I am laughing so hard, I’m about to pee in my pants. “Right!” I laugh, “This is war!” I look like I’m aiming at Mark, but at the last second, I throw the wet cloth, and bull’s-eye, I get Malcolm. I’m doubled over laughing, we’re all screaming and laughing, when Dad walks in, and splat right in his face.

The room goes silent, but then, I burst out laughing – I just couldn’t keep it in.

Splat! Right in the face! My face! Everyone starts laughing including Dad. Then he said, “People - you are supposed to be cleaning the kitchen, not flooding it! Anyway, I thought it would be nice if we all went to the movies.”

We finished the kitchen, and then Delsine, Malcolm and Mandy went home to change. I loaned Mark a shirt.

Thirty minutes later, us teenagers piled into Malcolm’s car. Mark had to sit on my lap. I was a little embarrassed, but got over it. Thank God, I didn’t get a hard on - thanks to Delsine. She kept me laughing by telling jokes.

When we got into the theater Delsine bought our tickets told us to take the back row. She had chosen the movie – I had already seen it. Once she got us seated with popcorn she said, “I’ll be back.” And left.

“I’ve seen this movie,” I said.

“Me too,” said Mark, “She knows it too. It was boring.”

“Yeah.” I looked around and we were the only people in the show. “Oh, my God!” I laughed.

“What?”

“We are the only ones in here.”

“She did that on purpose.”

“Yeah,” I giggled.

“You want to stay?” Mark asked.

“Kinda, but if you want to go”

“No, I’m happy just being with you.”

I wanted to kiss him. I quickly glanced around and we were alone. “Mark, I love you.” I leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips.

The movie started and so did we. I never knew kissing someone else could be so fantastic. I didn’t want it to stop. How come this movie was so short? The first time I saw it, I thought it would never end. This time, it seemed only a few minutes had passed. We both had to wait before we left, cuz we were both hard. We giggled about it.

“So, how was the movie?” asked Delsine.

“Well, it was okay,” said Mark.

“I popped in for a sec, and I would say you were really enjoying it!” she laughed.

We both blushed. She laughed.

As we were walking to the car Delsine grabbed my arm. “I hope you don’t mind the teasing. I know Mark and he knows that it’s all in fun. I really love him. I’ve never seen him so happy.”

I blushed a bit. After a few seconds I said, “I don’t mind the teasing, as long as it’s not in public. I’m not out to the world - only with you guys and it scares me. It scares me because I don’t ever want him hurt - even slightly. I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love him. Oh,” I smiled, “thanks for the movie it was great!”

“If you ever go straight – you’re mine!”

“Don’t hold your breath. Cuz as long as he loves me I’m bent,” I laughed. She kissed me on the cheek. I kissed her back.

We ended up at Mark’s house. His house was neat. Some mobster had built it in the 1920’s or 30’s. In his room there was a trap door that led to a tunnel, which led to the garage. His computer system was decent.

“Nothing like yours,” said Mark.

“Hey, it’s not the size. It’s how you use it,” Delsine laughed.

“Absolutely,” I laughed.

“Hey come on let’s go down into the tunnel,” I said.

“It’s a bit scary,” said Delsine.

Mark opened the trapdoor, and down he and I went followed by Malcolm, Mandy and Delsine.

“This is awesome, dirty and creepy, but awesome,” I said. “Where’s the tunnel?”

“Through that door,” snickered Malcolm.

I knew something was up.

“Lead the way, Sherlock,” said Delsine.

I reached for the door then paused, “Maybe you should lead the way,” I said to Malcolm.

“No, guests first.”

“Well, if politeness is the word of the day – Delsine, Mandy ladies first.”

“Honey, forget the protocol open the door. This place gives me the heebie-jeebies.”

I reached for the doorknob again was about to turn the knob, “What’s heebie-jeebies?”

“Just open the door,” said Malcolm.

I knew something was going on. So, I turned to face Mark and at the same time open the door. My back was to the door. The reflection in Malcolm’s glasses showed a skeleton dangling.

I turned looked at the skeleton and said, “Cute. You should feed him a bit more cuz he’s all bones.” Then brushed the skeleton aside and walked on.

“Damn!” said Malcolm, “You were supposed to jump!”

I laughed. We got to the end of the tunnel and went up into the garage. There was nothing particularly exciting. We end up back at the house watching a movie on the big screen TV. I got bored with the movie. Mandy and Malcolm were cuddling. I saw Delsine out of the corner of my eye. She was making signs to Mark that we should be doing the same. Mark blushed heavily. I got up and left the room.

The rents were in the kitchen talking so I didn’t want to go in there. Mark came out of the family room.

“Delsine really irritates me sometimes. I wanted to cuddle with you but not with her watching,” Mark said.

“Me too.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. I’m movied out. Maybe we could just go somewhere and talk,” I said.

He took my hand and we walked to his room. We lay down on his bed.