Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2016 23:06:16 +0000
From: Douglas DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: Aiden  Chapter 3

Welcome back. Aiden has a lot to learn about his uncles. On the flip side,
his uncles learn that they have a lot to learn about Aiden.

A word on the parking garage in the last chapter. The parking garage at
University Village in Seattle has the animal sounds on each floor. The only
difference is on the fourth floor; the sound is a dog's barking instead of a
donkey's braying. The reason for making the change will become apparent
later in the story. And yes, the A floor had the sound of an aardvark. I
confess to riding the elevator to the A floor see if my guess as to the sound
was correct. It was indeed correct—the sound is of an aardvark slurping up
ants

The availability of umbrellas is also true, and they come in very handy.

Please give to the Nifty Archive and keep the aardvarks slurping among
other fun things to read about.

CHAPTER 3
MOVING IN

Larry walked over to where Aiden was sitting and observed his new
nephew. The little blond looked lost in thought as he stared out of the
window at the lake and the rainy landscape. "Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Not really," the boy muttered. He continued to look impassively out of the
window.

"It's been awhile since lunch." It was approaching seven in the evening.
Larry and Phil preferred to eat earlier, but with their work and coaching
schedules that was often not possible. During the spring and summer when
baseball took up a lot of their time they normally ate later than that.

"You're not cooking anything," Aiden observed. "Are we eating microwave
food? That's what mom cooked a lot."

"It's been a long day—no time for cooking. Besides, it's Saturday. How
does going out for pizza sound?"

Aiden's face lit up. "Yippee!" he squealed.

Larry, Phil, and Aiden quickly piled into the Honda and headed for town.
When they drove over the bridge Aiden gave the scene a careful look.
"There's a dam over there," he said, pointing to their left.

"That's what makes the lake," Phil told him.

Aiden nodded and kept his eyes on the dam until it passed out of sight. He
wondered how he missed it when they crossed the bridge earlier, but then
remembered that all he did then was stare out of the windshield.

"What kind of pizza do you like?" Larry asked Aiden.

"Pepperoni is my favorite." Larry gave Phil a look that said that was our
favorite, too, when we were kids.

"So for tonight we'll have pepperoni. But, we're going to have to expand
your tastes in pizza."

The Bear Pizza was in downtown Mayfield, if the small business district
could be called a downtown. Larry parked in the small parking lot behind
the building and guided Aiden around to the front door.

Gary Miller, the owner of The Bear, saw them enter and walked over.
"Hello, and welcome, coaches." He looked down at Aiden. "And this good-
looking young gentleman must be Aiden." As happened so often, Phil and
Larry received a lesson as to how quickly news travels around a small
town.

Aiden looked shyly at the floor.

"No need to be shy and quiet," Gary said. "I don't bite and my pizzas are
the best in town."

"Only because they're the only ones in town," Phil reminded him with a
chuckle.

"Everybody knows it would be futile to try to compete with the gourmet
pizzas at The Bear."

Gary gave the three customers menus after they took over a booth. As they
perused the menu, the front door opened and four more customers
entered—the Bednarzyk family. As soon as the two boys in the family saw
Phil and Larry, they scooted over to their booth.

"Hey, Coach Sanders," Jeffrey said with a wide smile. Jeffrey was fifteen
and would be starting his sophomore year at Mayfield high. His brother,
Sammy, was twelve and would be entering seventh grade. Both of them
were baseball and soccer players. Sammy also played basketball. "This
little dude must be Aiden."

"How come everybody knows my name?"  Aiden asked.

"It's life in a small town," Phil told him.

"I'm Jeffrey, your babysitter." Jeffrey stuck out his hand.

Aiden stared at the young teen, who stood at an athletic 5'10.

"Aren't you going to be polite and shake his hand?" Phil asked.

Aiden still didn't move. "I have a babysitter?"

"Trust me, it's news to us, too."

Jeffrey grabbed Aiden's hand, gave it a squeeze, and shook. "Everybody
calls me the Hurricane," the teen said. "So if you're bad when I babysit, be
ready for a big storm."

"You're so full if it," Sammy told his brother.

 Larry and Phil could see that things were starting to get out of hand, which
wasn't unusual where Hurricane Jeffrey was concerned.

"Sammy, watch your mouth," his father, George, chided. Sammy gave his
dad an expert eye roll. "Remember when he used to be so quiet and
demure," George asked the two coaches. "Puberty," he sighed, "you can't
live with it and you can't live with it, if you get my drift."

That led to eye rolls from both Jeffrey and Sammy, who quickly rocketed for
the booth their mother had taken up.

"Nice to meet you, Aiden," George said, holding out his hand. This time,
Aiden took the hand and gave it a limp shake. He'd never had people want
to shake his hand before. George walked away and Aiden looked at his
uncles for guidance.

"Don't let Jeffrey throw you," Larry said. "I will verify that he is a Hurricane.
But, the only person who has appointed him babysitter is him."

Phil concluded Larry's statement. "Which he had been doing since the day
he heard we were taking you in as our foster son."

Aiden looked at his right hand, as if checking to see if it was still attached to
his wrist. "Nobody ever wanted to shake my hand before."

"It looks like one of the lessons we will need to give you will be on the fine
art of shaking hands," Larry grinned. Larry gave him a quick rundown on
how to properly shake a hand and introduce himself.

A few minutes later Jerry Curtis, who was a senior at the high school,
sauntered over to the booth. He worked Saturday nights for Gary Miller,
who was his mother's cousin. "Hi, Mr. Sanders," Jerry said, being sure to
give the teacher top billing. "Are you guys ready to order?" he asked.

"Tell Jerry what we're having," Phil told Aiden.

"You must be the new kid I heard about," Jerry said to Aiden.

Aiden quickly stuck out his hand. Jerry gave him a surprised look, but
quickly took the hand and shook it. He was more used to the world of fist
bumps than handshakes. "MynameisAidenandI'mpleasedtomeetyou."
Aiden gushed out, making the entire introduction sound like one word.

Phil and Larry managed to successfully stifle their laughs as Aiden
proceeded to place their pizza order. "Can we have family pepperoni? And
I want a Coke and Uncle Phil and Uncle Larry want lemonade." Jerry took
their order and left to place it with the kitchen.

"He didn't know who I was," Aiden said.

"I'm certain he does now," Phil chuckled.

"Did I do good ordering?"

"You got the order placed and we should get what we want. Jerry is a smart
boy and knows you meant a family sized pizza." Aiden's faced flushed with
embarrassment. "Hey, it all worked out, kid." Larry ruffled the boy's mop of
blond hair.

"We will need to work on the `P' word, though. I noticed that at lunch, too,"
Phil said.

"The `P' word?"

"Please," Phil and Larry told him in unison.

After a moment, Aiden said, "Am I in trouble for not saying it?"

"Nope. Just something you will learn as you live with us." Phil looked over
at Larry. "After all, you do live with a teacher."

The Bear was filling rapidly as the evening Saturday night crowd came in.
Many of the adults, young adults, teen, and younger kids greeted Larry and
Phil. All of them knew who they were—some of them knew who Aiden was,
but most didn't.

The pizza and drinks arrived and they quickly went to work devouring their
pie. Aiden was obviously enjoying his pizza as he munched down four
slices. He stopped once to comment on how delicious a pizza made out of
pepper bear was.

"Pepper bear?" Larry asked.

"Yep. This is the Bear Pizza place, so they must make their pizza out of
bear meat. That makes it a pepper bear pizza instead of pepperoni," he
said between bites.

Phil wanted to tell Aiden not to talk with his mouthful, but decided they'd
had enough lessons on etiquette for the day. He was pleased to note that
Larry must have had the same feelings.

Right now, Aiden is feeling relaxed with us, Phil thought. We've already
seen how quickly he could plunge into a mood of sullen quiet, so it's nice to
see him being perky. After all, it was his first day with them—there would
be plenty of time to teach him the ways of their household.

As the trio left the restaurant, Jeffery met them at the door. "Remember, I
babysit cheap," he reminded him. "Plus, I'm good."

"Ah, so you're an experience BOY sitter are you?" Larry asked him with an
amused smile.

"A person who can...BOY...sit Sammy and handle anybody, especially
somebody who is," he glanced down at Aiden, "going to be nine in a few
days."

"I thought Sammy was quiet and well behaved," Phil mused.

"Hah, think again. You heard what my dad said—Sammy's got everybody
fooled." He laughed, and then looked seriously at Aiden. "You take good
care of those two coaches. They need somebody smart to make sure they
do things right, and you look like a smart dude to me." Jeffrey held out his
fist.

Aiden knew what to do with a closed fist, and he bumped it with a pleased
look on his face. On the ride home he decided he really liked Jeffrey and
hoped that the teen would be his baby—BOY—sitter.

The rain had eased up while they were eating dinner. The clouds were still
thick and gray, however, and it was getting dark. After they entered the
house, Aiden returned to his perch at the window, watching the darkening
sky and the lights of the houses across the lake. He liked the peace and
quiet. He liked that strange men wouldn't be showing up, tromping on his
privacy. He missed his mother.

Phil sat on the couch by the window, but said nothing. He let Aiden be
alone with his thoughts, but hoped his presence would assure the boy that
he and Larry were there for him. He wasn't surprised when the little blond
drifted off to sleep.

He beckoned Larry, who smiled when he saw Aiden snoozing on the big
easy chair. It looked as if the chair was about to devour him. Phil picked the
boy up, being careful not to wake him. He carried him to his bedroom with
Larry following.

Phil set Aiden down on his bed. Larry removed his shoes while Phil took off
his t-shirt. "We'll have to tell him it's okay for him to take his shoes off in the
house. In fact, it's preferable," Larry said.

"We usually take more off than that," Phil reminded him.

"I know, and we've already agreed that our tastes in minimal dress will
have to take a back seat to Aiden's needs for now."

"True, but eventually we'll need to let him discover that comfortable is
comfortable."

"I understand, but eventually might be a long way off."

Phil unbuttoned and unzipped Aiden's cargo shorts and removed them,
leaving the boy wearing nothing but white socks and a pair of tight fitting
white briefs.

"Are there any pajamas in his boxes?" Phil asked.

Larry went through the clothes and books in Aiden's two boxes and shook
his head. "Strange, I would think he had pajamas at the foster home. He
doesn't have much in the way of clothes, either," Larry said.

"I wonder if we left a box behind?" Phil asked.

"Looks like we'll be going clothes shopping Monday, not to mention
birthday present shopping."

"I think it would be a good idea if we did the old wake up and go to sleep
routine," Larry suggested. "He probably should take a pee and get his teeth
brushed."

Phil agreed and they woke up the sleeping boy. "Hey, sleepyhead, it's time
for bed."

Aiden yawned and tried to get his bearings. "Where am I?" he asked.

"You're in your bedroom."

He looked at himself and saw that he was half naked. "How come I'm only
wearing my underpants?" he asked. He suddenly wondered if his uncles
were going to try to do stuff just like Parker said they would.

"You fell asleep and we decided to not wake you up and tuck you into bed.
So, we undressed you, and then changed our minds and decided to wake
you. You need to brush your teeth and wash up."

"I need to pee, too," Aiden told them, not knowing that was one of his
uncles' other reasons for waking him up.

"We need a few more days to learn this being a dad routine," Larry
chuckled. "Your Uncle Phil and I are still kind of new to it."

"Don't you have any pajamas?" Phil asked.

"Luke made me put them in one of the boxes. I never wear them, though. I
like sleeping in my undies, so when he wasn't looking I took them out and
threw them in the garbage."

"Well, your bathroom is right across the hall. You're a big boy, so I'm sure
you can pee and brush and floss and wash your face on your own."

"Floss?" Aiden asked.

"Um, that will be for tomorrow," Larry told him, surprised that the boy knew
nothing about flossing.

"I need my toothbrush."

"I didn't see one in the boxes. Are you sure you only had three boxes?"

"And I have my bag," Aiden told them, pointing to the tote bag in the corner.
"I put it in there."

Larry and Phil felt silly about not noticing the tote bag. Aiden left for the
bathroom, but returned a couple of minutes later. "I'm done peeing. Can
one of you stay with me while I brush my teeth and wash my face?"

Phil volunteered. He sat on the toilet as Aiden took his toothbrush and a
small tube of toothpaste out of a plastic baggie.

"Whoa, hang on there, son, that toothbrush looks a bit tattered. That will do
your teeth no good at all." He opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out a
new toothbrush, which he proceeded to unwrap. "While we're at it, a nice
large tube of toothpaste for you as well. We'll be showing you all about
flossing soon, too."

"Thank you for the toothbrush," Aiden said. "It looks like I'm going to learn
all kinds of new things." One of the new things he learned that night was
proper brushing technique. Phil made a mental note to take Aiden to their
dentist for a checkup.

Larry was sitting on one of the chairs when Phil and Aiden returned to the
bedroom. "I found out that Aiden prefers showers, because Luke told him
they were faster and used less water and were what big boys took," Phil
told Larry.

"Does he prefer morning or before bed?" Larry asked.

"Morning," Aiden stated emphatically. He didn't like having his uncles
talking around him instead of to him. It was what his mother's boyfriends
and his father did. They would talk to his mother about him just like he
wasn't there, and she would ignore his presence and answer them until he
threw a temper tantrum to get everybody's attention.

"Looks like it's a good thing we installed that fast recovery water heater,"
Larry grinned.

"Is morning okay?" Aiden asked, concerned that he was going to do
something his uncles didn't like.

"It's perfect."

Phil sat next to Aiden on the bed and ruffled the long strands of his unruly
blond hair that hung across his forehead in front and down to his ears on
the side. "Aiden, there is one thing Uncle Larry and I want you to know. We
love you and are happy you are here with us. That is something you should
never forget."

"For real?"

Larry and Phil nodded their heads. "For real," Larry said.

Phil kissed Aiden on his forehead and Larry followed suit. They turned out
the lights and left the room.

The only kisses Aiden remembered getting that counted were from his
mother. His mother always said she loved him, so maybe his uncles really
loved him too. With that thought he fell into a deep slumber in his big, new
bed.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

While their new charge slept, Larry and Phil lay in bed discussing the boy
down the hall.

"We're definitely going to have to be more careful about sex," Larry said.

"Definitely," Phil agreed.

This was not the first time that topic had been broached between the two
husbands, but having Aiden actually living in the house had turned their
speculation into reality.

"Too bad all of the bedrooms are on the second level," Larry said.

"We could always turn the garage into a bedroom," Phil grinned.

"Or we could just go into the garage and fuck in the back seat of the car."

"Seriously, you will have to keep your moaning to a minimum."

"Hey, I am not the loud one between us."

The two men had a couple more laughs before turning their conversation
back to Aiden. They talked about getting him new clothes, about decorating
his bedroom, about what to get him for his birthday. About who to invite
whom they hadn't already invited. It was going to be a small party and
would be held in their backyard. Phil was a great cook, and would take care
of the side dishes while Larry would barbeque the hamburgers. He was
passable in the kitchen, but was reasonably talented around a barbeque
grill. They had decided that they would take Aiden out to the Steak House
in Centralia on Thursday, his actual birthday.

"What about sports?" Phil asked. "We never talked to him about playing
sports."

"We didn't even ask him if he likes sports," Larry reminded him.

"Well, hell, we do have a lot to learn about our foster son."

"I thought he was pretty good today, all things considered."

"I thought he was great," Phil said. "Now, all we have to do is work to make
him greater. "

"For all of her flaws, his mother seems to have done a halfway decent job
of raising him. I mean, he is an avid reader, reasonably polite, and seems
to sulk less than half the time—at least today."

"I am not saying this because he is my blood nephew, but when his smile
and mood are on the boy seems to light up a room, which puts him light
years ahead of his father."

"But his quick mood changes..."

Phil nodded. "...do remind me of Keegan," Phil finished.

"We have our work cut out for us," Larry said.

"And I have a feeling we're going to enjoy almost every minute of it."

"I think we made the right choice in taking Aiden in—I truly do."

Phil rolled over on his side and planted a long, deep kiss on his husband.
When the need for air finally forced them to break, Phil took a big breath
and said, "I think I already love the boy. I'm looking forward to calling him
son because he is our son."

"And I look forward to him moving us from uncles to dads."

"That day would be special indeed. Very special."

"If it ever comes to that," Larry said.

"True. But let's stick with our original plan."

"Got it," Larry agreed. "Raise him a day at a time, and give him our love
and support every minute we're with him."

That netted another deep kiss. This time when the two men broke they
quietly fell asleep, hoping they weren't in over their heads.

Next: Getting to Know You