Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 15:17:57 -0700 (PDT) From: rimpigfl Subject: SUBIC SURRENDER 21 DISCLAIMER: I don't fucking care how old you are. If you like the idea of two hunky young Marine's getting it on with each other then read on! By the way, no Marine's were injured or killed in the writing of this story but that's not true of what's going on in the Middle East or other foreign places. I would ask your prayers, good thoughts or whatever for all the Marines serving our country (that's us guys!) around the world. This is dedicated to every one who has ever served in the USMC - Semper Fi! SUBIC SURRENDER - Part 21 MICHAEL'S STORY - Part 6 by RimPig (c) 2003 It was a hot afternoon in late May. School was almost over for the year and Matt and I were looking forward to the summer. We would be working full time for the construction company and we'd be making a lot of money, money we wanted to put away so that, at the end of the summer, we could spend two weeks alone together at a hotel in Key West. I was putting my books away in my locker, getting ready to go home when Steve Rhinegold came up to me. I knew Steve from both football and wrestling. We weren't exactly friends. He and Bart were seniors and both almost 18. I was surprised to see him alone. He was always with his best friend Bart Williams. You never saw Steve without Bart. I was surprised. "Hey, Mike, could I maybe talk to you before you go home?" Steve said. "Well...sure. Why don't we walk out to the parking lot. We can talk there. Is that okay?" I said. "Yeah, that would be great. Tell you want, I gotta ditch my books, how 'bout I meet you at your truck." he asked. "Sure. That's fine. See you there." I said and Steve walked off down the hall. As I watched him, wondering what this was all about, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around. It was Matt. "Hey! You making time with another guy?" he grinned. "Should I be jealous?" "Oh, fuck! You've caught me! Steve and I have been having this hot affair for months and now you've found us out!" I laughed. "So what is up with Steve?" he asked. "I don't have the faintest fucking idea! He came up and said he needed to talk to me but didn't say what about. Seemed to be really important to him. I was shocked to see him without Bart." I said. "Yeah, I know! I think it's the first time I've ever seen him without Bart ever!" Matt said. "I'm going to have a talk with him before I come home." I said. "Okay?" "Sure. We're at your house tonight, right?" he asked. "Yep." I said. This was the deal that our Dad's had worked out. They really did understand how we felt. They decided that we would spend every other night and alternate weekends at each other's house. We got to sleep together every night and our Dads still got to see us regularly. While it had its drawbacks, it did give us what we wanted - to be able to sleep in each other's arms every night. "Okay, see you at home." he said. I walked out to the parking lot and saw Steve leaning against my truck. "So what's up?" I asked. "I don't know who else to talk to this about. If you don't feel like it, I'll understand, but I could really use your help." Steve said. "Sure. I'll be glad to help if I can." I said. "Okay. Look, I don't know how to say this, except just come right out and say it. I know that you and Matt are lovers." he said. My stomach sank into my shoes! Oh, fuck! What the fuck were Matt and I going to do! If Steve told anybody this, we'd be dead meat! I had to deny this. "What the fuck are you talking about? You're way off base!" I was getting very angry. "Whoa! Hold on! I'm not trying to come down on you. Bart and I are lovers, too." he said quickly. I was stunned! I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. I didn't know what to say. More importantly, I had no fucking idea that Steve and Bart were gay! "We've been best friends forever. We tried to fight our feelings for almost as long. It was last year that we finally ended up making love for the first time and admitting how we felt about each other." he said. "How long have you and Matt been lovers?" I hesitated. This would be the first time, outside the family that I'd told anyone about my relationship with Matt. Worse, Matt wasn't around so I was putting us both at risk without being able to ask him how he felt about it. I could see that Steve was serious and that something was really bothering him. I had to take the chance. "Four years now." I said. "Almost from the first time we met." "Fuck, you guys were only 12 or 13, right?" Steve said. "Twelve." I said. "Fuck! And you guys knew then?" he asked. "Yes, even then." I said. "I guess you don't get any hassle from your parents." he said quietly. "No. No hassle. I guess you figured out that our Dad's are lovers, too." I said. "Yeah. That's always been the rumor. I didn't know for sure, but I figured there was a possibility." Steve said. "So what's the problem, Steve? You didn't want to talk about my family, did you?" I asked. "No. Bart and I are having problems." he said quietly. "I noticed he wasn't around. I've never seen you without him." I said. "Yeah, I know." he said. "Did you two have a fight?" I asked. "Yeah. I fucked up. Bad." he said. "What happened?" I asked. "I got into this thing about being afraid of being gay. I tried to tell myself I wasn't really. I told myself that it was Bart that had 'led me astray' and that I still liked girls." Steve said hanging his head. "So, what happened?" I asked. "I went out on a date with Debbie Winston." he said. "Oh, fuck!" I breathed. Even I knew about Debbie Winston! The slut of the Junior Class! The word was that Debbie would fuck just about anybody. "Yeah, fuck is right. I fucked her. Worse, Bart found out." he said. "So, did you like it?" I asked. "Fuck no! I had to think of Bart to keep it up and get off!" Steve said. "So what about Bart." I asked. "He won't see me. He won't talk to me. He says he doesn't want anything to do with me again." Steve said and I could hear the pain in his voice. "Shit. So what are you going to do?" I asked. "I don't know! That's why I wanted to talk to you. Did you and Matt ever go through anything like this?" he asked. "No. We haven't. We both knew from the very beginning that we were in love and both of us already had figured out that we were Gay." I said. "Shit!" he said. "I was so hoping you could help! I don't know what I'm going to do." I could see the misery that he was in, and it was then that I got a brilliant idea. From what I knew about Mike and Rick's relationship, they went through something like this or, at least, Rick did at the beginning. Maybe they could help Steve! "Look, Steve, I can't help you, but I think I knew somebody who can. Will you trust me?" I asked. "Man, I'm desperate! Sure, I'll trust you. I've trusted you by telling you this! I've never told anyone what's going on between me and Bart." he said. "And outside the family, you're the only one I've ever told about Matt and me." I said. He looked shocked at this. "Thanks, man." he said. "Okay, tell you what. Follow me home. I know just who you can talk to about this." I said. "Who?" he asked. "My Dads." I said. "You're kidding!" he almost screamed. "No, I'm not kidding. My Dads went through something like this when they were young. It's them you need to talk to." I said. Steve seemed to be resistant to this idea for a minute as I watched him standing there thinking about it. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders. "Okay. What have I got to lose?" he said. "What you've got is a lot to gain. Maybe a way to get Bart back." I said. "I'd give anything for that, man! Anything!" he said and I believed him. When we got home, the only one there was Matt. He was a little surprised when I brought Steve home with me. I told him that Steve knew about us. Matt was a more than a bit upset when he found out. "Why did you tell him? You didn't even ask me!" Matt accused me. "Matt, he didn't need to tell me." Steve said. "What do you mean?" Matt said, turning to him. "Man, I could see how much you two love each other! Loving Bart the way I do, and seeing those looks coming from him, there was no way I could miss it, dude!" Steve said. "You and Bart are lovers?" Matt said, shocked. "Yeah. Well...at least we were." Steve said miserably. Matt seemed to forget any upset he had looking at Steve's face, completely marked by pain. "What happened?" Matt asked softly, putting his hand on Steve's arm. Steve stood there and I could see tears slowly coursing down his cheeks. He finally told Matt all about what had happened. Then he told him about coming to me for help and how I thought that who he needed to talk to was Mike and Rick. Matt nodded. "Michael is right. I think you need to talk to them, too. Steve, I'm really sorry. Michael and I will do anything to help you get Bart back." Matt said, reaching out and taking my hand. I squeezed his hand. I was relieved. That was the closest we had ever come to having a fight in our entire time together. "Steve, do you feel like talking?" Matt asked. Steve nodded. Steve then told us the whole story of his relationship with Bart. "There really isn't a lot to tell. We met when we were in first grade. It was like we were instantly best friends. I always wanted to be with Bart more than anybody. We grew up together. We spent so much time at each other's houses it was like having two sets of parents. When we started to grow up and I went through puberty, I suddenly started to notice Bart differently. Not just him, but his body as well. I got a thrill anytime I got to see him even half naked - and I got to see him naked a lot, spending as much time together as we did." Steve said. "So when did you realize what your true feelings for him were?" Matt asked. "I guess that was freshman year. We still slept over at each others houses all the time and it was really difficult at times because I would get so horny just being near him, but I couldn't jack off with him around. Finally, one night when we were spending the night at my house, Bart and I got into bed naked. There was nothing unusual about that. We'd slept naked since we were little. I noticed, though, that Bart had a hardon. It was so beautiful! I really love his cock." Steve blushed. "I understand. I love Michael's." Matt said quietly. That really blew me away! He'd never told me that! "Yeah, well, I saw Bart's cock and I immediately threw wood. Bart must have noticed cause he said that it looked like we were both horned. I told him 'yeah' and that I hadn't jacked off in a while. That was a complete lie, of course. I'd been jacking off so much over him that I thought I would pull my fuckin' cock right off! Jeez! I can't believe I'm tellin' you all this! I've never told anybody this stuff!" Steve said, blushing furiously and not able to meet either one of our eyes. "Steve, it's okay. We understand. We've both been there." I said. "So anyway, Bart says why don't we just jack off together. That it was no big deal. Lots of guys did it. I wanted to believe that right then. I didn't know if it was true or not. But I didn't care! I wanted to see Bart jack off and somehow I wanted him to see me. So we did. I sat there, pounding away on my cock, hardly able to tear my eyes away from him doing the same thing. I did look up a couple of times and saw that he was lookin' at my cock just as hard as I was lookin' at his. When we came, I came more than I ever had in my whole life! Bart later told me that was true for him, too." Steve said as he got up and walked over to the window. He seemed to be more comfortable telling this without looking at us. I sat down next to Matt and put my arm around him. He put his hand on my thigh and the warmth of it started to get me boned. "We didn't do anything to each other for a couple of months. We were both so scared of what the other one would think. But every time we were together, we'd jack off. Finally, one night, we were poundin' away when Bart reached over and took hold of my cock. Oh, Jesus! It was the most incredible thing I'd ever felt in my life! I sat there just watching him stroke my cock. I didn't know what the fuck to do and then it hit me what a dumbass I was being! I reached over and took hold of his. It was so beautiful! It was so warm in my hand. I started jacking him and we came, holding onto each other's cocks." Steve said, his head down, the memories were flowing through him. "We just grinned at each other and wiped off the cum on an old t-shirt of Bart's and then we went to sleep. We never talked about it but the next time we were together, we did it again. We kept doing it until one night, we were at my house. I always kept a small towel by my bed as a cum rag but I'd put it in the laundry that morning and hadn't replaced it. I didn't even think about it. Bart and I went to bed like always and started jacking each other off. It was when we came that I realized I didn't have anything to wipe it up with. That's when Bart really shocked me. He took his handful of my jizz and started licking it off - eating my cum and swallowing it! I just sat there watching and then I did the same thing. We kind of looked down and there was still cum all over our bellies. Bart just leaned over and started licking that up, too! I was in heaven, feeling his tongue licking me! In two seconds, I was hard again! There was still wet cum on my cock from blowing my load and I was already hard again!" he said, shaking his head like this was some kind of strange event for a horny 14 year old. "He didn't even stop. He just kept licking, lower and lower until he was licking my jizz out of my pubic hair. I figured he's stop there. But he didn't. The next thing I knew, I watched as he took my cock into his mouth and started suckin' the jizz off of it! Here I was, my best buddy givin' me a blow job! It only took a couple minutes of his mouth around my dick and I knew I was gonna blow another load. I told him I was gonna cum but it was like that just made him suck harder. I blew my second load down his throat and he swallowed every drop. Then he rose up and grinned at me. I looked down, and he was as hard as a rock and his cock was still covered in his jizz. I couldn't stop myself. It was the most erotic thing I'd ever seen in my life. I bent over and took his cock in my mouth, tasting jizz for the first time in my life and finding out that I loved it! I could also smell his crotch. The odors that were coming from it were getting to me as well. I started sucking his cock like I had been a cocksucker for years! And before I knew it, he was unloading in my mouth as well." Steve said and walked over to the window looking out. He didn't say anything for the longest time. I motioned for Matt to just be quiet and wait him out. I knew he had to take his time with this. "We started sucking each other's dicks any fuckin' chance we got. We eventually learned how to 69 and over the next couple of years we must have swallowed at least 20 gallons of each other cum. One night, I don't know what got into me....fuck that, yes I do. I've always been into the smells of Bart's body. They really drive me fuckin' nuts - especially when we've been in a really rough workout and he's all sweaty. You remember that game we played with Coral Springs last year and their fuckin' plumbing was fucked up and we had to take showers at home, don't you?" he asked. "Yeah! I remember it." I said. "Yeah! I do, too! Michael didn't get a shower, he got a tongue bath." Matt said grinning. "Yeah. That's what happened to Bart. I sat next to him in my mom's car, smelling him all the way home. By the time we got there, I just wanted to eat him alive! I think I practically dragged him to my room and stripped him. Then I started in. I licked everywhere on his body! And I mean everywhere! I got so into it that I ended up licking his fuckin' ass! And loving every fuckin' minute of it! We'd never even touched each others asses before and here I was, lickin' his fuckin' butt! I even worked my tongue up his fuckin' hole! Jesus! And he was lovin' it. He was lovin' it so much, he started beggin' me to fuck him!" Steve said. "So did you?" I asked. "Yeah. I did. It was hard on him at first. I'm kinda big. But by the time I shot my load in him, he had cum twice! Just with me fuckin' him! That night I gave him my ass. It hurt like a motherfucker at first but then all of a sudden it started feelin' so good, I just couldn't believe it! I got off just on him fuckin' me. That's when everything changed." he said. "How do you mean?" asked Matt. "While he was fuckin' me, he had me on my back. I was lookin' up into his face, watching him fuck me and all of a sudden I realized that this was what I had always wanted. I wanted to be this close to him. I wanted to feel him inside of me. I wanted him to make love to me and me make love to him. It wasn't just horniness. We weren't just doin' it because we were horny and not gettin' laid. Fuck! We never even tried to get laid! Then, he leaned over and started kissin' me. That was it. I lost it completely. I was hangin' onto him and cryin' and shit! It was like this great, huge part of me suddenly came alive. I knew I was in love with him and I didn't know what the fuck to do about it." he said and I could see tears coursing down his face again. He turned away again from us and I could hear him softly sobbing. I got up and got some tissues from the bedside and handed them to him. He wiped his eyes and blew his nose and then looked at me. "Thanks." he said softly. "You don't have to tell us any more if you don't want to." I said. "No. I might as well get this all out once and for all." he said. "We slept in each other's arms that night for the first time. Can you believe it? All those years we'd slept together in the same bed - even when we were having sex with each other and we'd never slept in each other's arms. But we still didn't talk about anything! The next day, I woke up scared as shit! I didn't know how Bart was going to react to all of this. I mean it's one thing when a guy's horny but, the next morning, I was afraid he'd hate me for what we'd done." Steve said. "But he'd done it, too! He was the one who begged you to fuck him!" Matt said. "I know. But that's fuckin' logical. Guy's ain't logical about this." Steve said. "At any rate, the next morning we wake up and, son of a bitch, we go right back at it, just as hot and heavy as the night before. Only this time, afterward, we finally started talking. It was really hard at first. We finally did admit that we were in love with each other and probably always had been. So now, not only did I realize I was queer but I was in love with my best buddy on top of it!" "It's not the worst thing that could happen." I said, squeezing Matt to me. "Maybe not in your family, but in mine it is! I've got three older brothers - all married with kids! My parents expect me to follow the same route! And that goes for Bart's family, too! Neither one of them is ever gonna accept this!" Steve moaned. "Is that how all this happened? You being scared of your family?" I asked. "Yeah. You know the Senior Prom is next week. I've been getting major grief from my mother because I don't have a date. Fuck! I don't want to go to the damned thing - queer or not! I'm not interested in shit like that! Anyway, she's been on my ass for weeks now and lately she's been into asking me if I even like girls. What the fuck was I gonna say?! I figured if they actually saw me go out with one, maybe they'd leave me the fuck alone. Then, I got to thinking about it. How did I know I wouldn't like it? I'd never tried it. I should have known better, but fuck! I was so fuckin' confused and scared by that point, I figured 'What the hell!' and I went for it." he said. "Why didn't you talk to Bart about it?" Matt asked. "Why didn't you tell him what was goin' on at home?" "I tried to, but he was goin' through the same fuckin' thing with his folks. I didn't feel like I could dump on him." Steve said miserably. "Sounds to me like you guys have one thing very wrong in your relationship. You don't talk. How in the hell are you ever going to know what the other one is feeling if you don't?" I asked him. "Yeah. I know. I see that now. I just don't know what to do! I want to talk to Bart but he won't have any fuckin' thing to do with me now." Steve said. I heard the front door open and I heard Mike and Rick's voices at that point. I told Steve to stay in my room with Matt and let me talk to my Dads first. I went out to the living room and they both greeted me. It was Rick that noticed that something was bothering me. "What's the matter?" he said, taking my shoulders in his hands and looking into my face. "It's not me. It's a friend of mine." I said. "Okay, what's up?" Mike asked. "How about we get a cup of coffee and talk about this?" Rick suggested. We all thought that was a good idea. We went into the kitchen and sat around the table. I basically filled them in on the situation with Steve and Bart. I told them that I felt like Steve really needed to talk to someone who knew more about things than I did and asked them if they would talk to him. "Well, sure. If you think we can help." Mike said. "Why don't you invite him over." "I already did." I said. The both looked at me. "He's in my room with Matt. I didn't know what to do. I'm not used to guys cryin'." I said. Mike kind of grinned. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I don't know too well how to deal with it either." he said, looking over at Rick. "Hey! It was just one time! And I thought you handled it pretty well." he said smiling. "Okay, son. Go get your friend. Are you and Matt going to sit in on this?" he asked. "I hadn't thought about it? What do you think?" I asked. "I'd bet that he would feel a lot more comfortable if you did. You told us he's told you everything about him and this Bart. There isn't anything left to hide from you. He might feel better with you and Matt here as well." Mike said. "Okay. Let me go get him and Matt." I agreed. I went back to my room and Steve looked up at me expectantly. "They're willing to talk to you. It's up to you if you want Matt and I there or not." I said to him. "Yeah, please! I think it would be easier." he said. "Okay, come on then." I said and led the way back to the kitchen. "Mike, Rick, this is Steve." I said. They both said hello to the big senior and Steve said hello, but it was obvious he didn't know what to call them. "I'm Mike, Steve, and this is Rick. You don't need to call us 'mister' anything." Mike grinned, putting Steve at ease. "Thanks." he said. "Okay, so why don't you tell us what it is that's bothering you." Rick said. Steve sat down but there was only one other seat at the table. Matt and I looked at each other and I had what was, for once, a brilliant idea! I sat down and pulled Matt down until he was sitting on my lap with our arms around each other. That was really nice! Steve told Mike and Rick an abbreviated version of what he'd already told us. He had a little trouble at first talking about sex to a couple of adults but he quickly got over it. Mike and Rick listened, asking a few questions during Steve's story but basically just letting him talk. "So that's the story. What can I do?" Steve finally said. "How long ago did this happen?" Mike asked. "Three days ago." Steve said. "And Bart hasn't spoken to you since?" Rick said. "Not a word. Every time I call him, he hangs up on me. He's avoided me at school. I don't know what to do!" Steve said. "What do you want to do?" Mike asked. "I want to tell him how sorry I am. I want to tell him I'll never do it again! I want to tell him that there's nobody else but him that I love!" Steve said. "Well...If Bart really loves you, I think that those are the right things to say but, he's obviously very hurt and angry. He feels betrayed by you. That's a horrible feeling." Mike said. "And I ought to know. It happened to me a couple of times." "I kind of know what you're going through, Steve. I'd never been with another guy until I met Mike. When I discovered that I was in love with him, I freaked, too." Rick said. "You did?" Steve asked. "Yes, I did." Rick said and looked over at Mike. The looks that they were giving each other told me that something was going on between them but I didn't know what. Finally, Mike nodded to Rick and he looked back at Steve. "This is a story that nobody knows. I guess neither Mike or I would have ever told it but maybe it will help you understand your feelings a bit more." Rick said. Then he sat there and told us the story of what happened in Subic Bay all those years ago. I was surprised at how it happened, what with the girl and all. It gave me some deep insights into Mike and Rick and why their relationship was a strong as it was. They had to go through a lot more than Matt and I did, coming to terms with being lovers. Realizing how easy that they had made it for us to be together, I was filled with such love and gratitude for them. When Rick finished the story, Steve had a look of awe on his face. "You guys were Marines and fell in love with each other?! Fuck! - Oh, sorry!" he reddened. "It's okay, son. It's not like we've never heard the fuckin' word." Mike laughed. "Yeah, we were Marines. And we fell in love. And trust me, we aren't the first or the last Marines that it's happened to." "So what do I do?" Steve asked. "I want Bart back so bad!" "Well, I think the first thing you need to do is talk to him." Rick said. "I want to! He won't talk to me!" Steve moaned. "Wait a minute!" I said, having my second brilliant thought of the day. "He won't talk to you, but would he talk to me?" "Well...I guess he would...he doesn't hate you. And we've talked a few times about you and Matt. Like I said, we figured that you guys were lovers like us." Steve said. "Except we talk to each other." I said. "Do you really think that's a good idea, son?" Mike asked me. "You shouldn't get involved in other people's relationships." "How else are we going to get Bart to talk to Steve?" Matt asked. "Well, there is that." Mike admitted. "Let me call him. Let me see if I can get him to at least talk to you." I said to Steve. "Okay. Anything is worth a try." Steve said. "Let's go in my room and call him from there." I said. "We'll all wait here." Rick said. Matt got up off my lap and Steve and I walked back to the bedroom. He gave me the number to Bart's private line in his bedroom. I dialed it and it rang twice before it was answered. "Hello." Bart's voice came over the line. I was relieved. I didn't want to talk to anyone else. "Bart this is Michael Copeland. From school." I said. "Hi. Hey, how did you get my number?" he asked. "I got it from somebody. Look, there's something I've got to talk to you about. It's really important. Just hear me out, okay?" I said. "Sure. Okay." he said. "Steve came to talk to me today about what's happened between you two guys. He said that you both knew that Matt and I are lovers." I said. "Yeah..." he said hesitantly. "Bart, he's really tore up. He been crying. He wants to talk to you, to tell you how sorry he is." I said. "And what the fuck does he think I've been doing!" Bart said and I could hear the pain in his voice. "He doesn't know. He says you won't talk to him. That you hang up on him." I said. There was silence for a while on the other end of the phone. "I didn't want to talk to him. Just the sound of his voice tore me apart." Bart said quietly. "I can only imagine. I know how I'd feel if Matt did something like that. I don't know what I'd do. But I do know this...I wouldn't stop loving him. And I'd give him a chance to explain." I said. Silence again. It was like I could hear Bart thinking. Finally he spoke. "Yeah. I guess I owe him that. I guess I do still love him, but I'm so mad at him for betraying me that way." he said. "I can understand, but you're hurting, he's hurting and nothing is going to make the hurt end until you both face each other." I said. Again, a long pause. "I guess you're right. Maybe I'll call him." Bart said. "He's here with Matt and me, at my house." I said. "Okay. So where do you live. I don't want to talk to him over the phone." Bart said. "Okay." I said and gave him the address. "I'll be there in about twenty minutes." Bart said and then hung up the phone. "What did he say?" Steve looked stricken as I hung up the phone and he hadn't talked to Bart. "He's on his way over. He said he'd be here in about twenty minutes. He said he didn't want to talk to you over the phone." I said. "Oh, fuck! Maybe he wants to beat the shit outa me! Not that I don't deserve it." Steve said miserably. "He didn't sound like that at all." I said. "He sounded more hurt than angry." I went out to the kitchen to tell Mike, Rick and Matt what happened. Mike and Rick looked at each other. "So what's going to happen now?" Mike asked. "I don't know. I thought that we could just let them talk in my room and hope that they can straighten things out." I said. "Well...I hope so too." Rick said. We were all sitting at the table again when there was a knock at the door. I got up to answer it with Steve on my heels. I opened the door and there stood Bart. He looked at me and then he looked past me at Steve. I could see the hurt in his eyes as he looked at his wayward lover, but I could see that there was a lot of love there as well. "I don't know why you're doing this, Michael. But thank you." he said. "I just don't like seeing guys in pain. Especially not when they love each other." I said. I introduced Bart to my Dads and then I showed him and Steve back to my room. I closed the door and went back to the kitchen. "Well...I guess we'll know soon." I said. "Yeah, when we hear furniture breaking!" Mike laughed. "Those two are awfully big!" We sat there talking and drinking coffee. At first, we didn't hear much sound coming from my room. Then, after a while, we heard Bart's voice, loud and angry, and Steve's voice, pleading and placating. We couldn't hear words, just the tone. Things quieted down quickly though and there weren't any more sounds for a long while. Then we heard the door open and could hear the two of them walking down the hall. When they walked into the kitchen, they were holding hands and it was evident that they'd both been crying. Bart looked at me. "I don't know how I will ever thank you for this." Bart said to me. "Yeah, dude! We really owe you big-time!" Steve said. "And you and Rick, too." Steve said, addressing Mike. "We were glad to help." Rick said. "We're going to go home now and get out of your guy's hair. We'll see you in school tomorrow." Bart said to Matt and me. "Yeah. See you in school." Matt said. The two of them walked out of the cottage and I saw Steve put his arm around Bart as they walked out the gate. I was standing at the door when I felt Matt's arms slip around my waist and his head rest against my shoulder. "You're a real hero, you know that, babe?" he said softly. "Nah! I just don't like seeing guys hurt each other." I said, turning around and putting my arms around him. "No, what you did was really wonderful." Matt said. "And you deserve a reward." "Oh, and what did you have in mind?" I grinned. "Why don't you come with me and find out!" Matt said pulling out of my arms and then grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the bedroom. THE END of Part 21 of SUBIC SURRENDER. MICHAEL'S STORY - Part 6 If you like the story, write me at rimpigfl@yahoo.com. I have a lot of other stories on NIFTY. If you want a complete list, write me and I'll be glad to send it to you. RimPig