The following is a work of fiction: Any resemblance to persons living or deceased is purely coincidental. It depicts sexual situations between males of various ages and, may include incest as well. if reading such is illegal where you reside or you are not at least 18 years of age, please read at your own risk. This work is the property of the author Kewl Dad and should not be reposted or reproduced without his permission.

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Tween to Teen
(sequel to My 11th Summer)
By: Kewl Dad


Chapter Fourteen
   What he said

I expected Johnny to come down early the next day but by ten he still hadn't shown up. We'd gotten back to the city kind of last the night before and by the time we'd dropped off Gerald and Donnie I was dead tired.

I'd skipped my shower that night and went straight to bed and didn't stir till morning, but the first thing on my mind when I woke the next morning was my boyfriend Johnny and how much I'd missed him this last week.

I had breakfast with my mom and puttered around the house for awhile, but I think mom knew what was on my mind.

"Are you going to go down to Johnny's today?" she asked trying to sound casual.

"I was hoping he'd come see me," I confessed, "but if he doesn't show up pretty soon I guess I should go down there."

"Well, you could call him...just to make sure he's home."

"Where would he be?" I asked trying not to sound as worried as I was.

"Nowhere I guess," mom said reassuringly, "but he does have other friends. He might be with one of them."

"Yeah, well...if you don't care I kind of want to ride my bike anyway and I could just ride by his house. If he's home I might stay for a while and  he might come back with me."

"Okay dear, but be home by dinner time either way. Johnny's welcome to stay for dinner if he comes back with you. I'm making meatloaf."

"Okay, mom," I said giving her a  hug, "I love your meatloaf...and you," I added giggling.

I grabbed my ball cap and jumped on my bike and rode off down the street, the wind in my face and the sun overhead, and marveled at how good it felt to be alive. I knew I was luckier than some kids and I tried not to take things for granted, but I guess like most kids my age I was sort of self centered.

The temperature was warm, but not  hot yet and the wind helped. By the time I reached Graham Avenue I was working up a sweat, but the cool breeze was drying it as fast as I produced it. As I rode past Larry's house I noticed a strange car in their driveway but no one was outside and since Larry had a girlfriend he really didn't hang out with us much any more.

I passed by Chrissy and Evelyn's house, but I guessed they weren't home yet and so I rode on toward Johnny's house. 

I had a lump in my throat and butterflies in my stomach as his house came into view, but he was nowhere to be seen. As I rode up to his porch I noticed his dad's pickup was in the driveway and I wondered why he was home on a Monday.

I was almost shaking as I tapped gently on the door and when it suddenly swung open it was Johnny's dad and not Johnny standing there.

"Hi Robert, did you have a good time at your Uncle Joe's farm?"

"Yes sir, a really good time. We went to Tulsa too and to Bell's. It was a lot of fun."

"That's good. I guess you're looking for Johnny. Well, he's not here right now. He went to the movies with some girl." 

If he had punched me in the nose and knocked me off the porch he couldn't have done more damage to me than those words had.

"A...movie?" I stuttered, "Uh, at the Allred?"

He laughed then, "Yeah, only theater in town. They're having some kind of morning matinee till school starts."

"Oh, uh...yeah. I knew that. Well, uh, do you know when he'll be back?"

"Oh, probably sometime this afternoon. I'll tell him you came by...okay?"

"Yes sir, thank you," I said numbly barely aware of anything except the ache in my heart.

A girl, I thought as I hopped on my bike and slowly rode off. I couldn't go home now, my mom would see that I was  upset and eventually worm the truth out of me, and anyway there was nothing for me there.

Instead I rode to the small park near the school and parked my bike and found a spot in the shade and sat down to think. What girls did Johnny even know? I wondered. Was it someone from school, or that neighborhood? Was she younger or older, was she pretty, would she kiss him or worse?

What if  he decided he liked girls now and he didn't want to be my boyfriend anymore? Could we still be friends if that happened? For a while now Johnny had been my whole world and now my world was about to crumble.  

"Hey, kid...you okay?"

"Huh," I said looking up, but the sun was in my eyes and I couldn't see who was standing before me. I'd been so lost in my thoughts that I hadn't even seen him approach and now here he was right there in front of me.

"You look kind of lost, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said shielding my eyes and looking into the face of a teenage boy I'd never seen before.

"Okay, cool. Just wanted to make sure," the kid said but he didn't seem in any hurry to go.

"Just thinking," I said hoping he'd take the hint and go away.

"Yeah, me too," he said looking away for a moment, "can I sit with ya'?"

What could I say? It would be rude to say no and then I'd have that to think about on top of the deal with Johnny.

"Sure, I'm Robert," I said shrugging.

"I'm Lonnie," the kid said sitting down and folding his long skinny legs beneath him. 

Without being to obvious I looked him over and I think he was looking me over too. He was red haired with green eyes, and not as freckled as most gingers I'd seen, but his skin still had that pink color that was typical of those kind of kids. He was kind of cute and he had a nice smile when he finally smiled, but I wasn't really that interested in how he looked at the moment.

"Do you live around here?" I asked curiously.

"Naw, visiting my grandma and grandpa, but I got bored and walked over here. They live over there at the end of the street. It's my dad's folks and he hasn't seen them in a couple of years cause we were livin' in California."

"Oh, well...I live here...in town," I said dumbly, "I used to go to school over there, but I'm in Junior High now."

"Yeah, I'm in high school," he said leaning back on his hands, "I'm 16, how old are  you?"

"13, almost 14next year and in 9th next year." Of course first I'd have to finish 8th grade which would be starting soon, but I didn't want to sound too young.

Lonnie grabbed a blade of grass and began chewing on it and didn't say anything for a long time, then sighing he said, "What do you do around here...for fun I mean?"

I shrugged, what he considered fun might not be what we considered fun. "Well, my friends and I hang out over by the train tracks a lot, or play baseball, and there's a movie theater in town," I said then my heart sank when I thought that at that very moment Johnny was in that movie theater with some unknown girl.

"Yeah, got a bowling alley?"

"Yeah, but I never been bowling," I admitted, "Is it fun?"

"Yeah, I like it. I'm on a league back home in Tulsa.

"You live in Tulsa?" I said perking up, "I was there last week. My uncle took us to Bell's and to the new mall there."

"Yeah, that's cool. Tulsa is pretty nice. There's lots to do. My dad's a mechanic and he got a job at a big car dealership there and we moved there just before school started this year."

"I wish I lived in a big city like that, but we have fun here too and it's nice to visit places like that."

"Wanna go get a drink? I saw a fountain over by the bathroom."

"Yeah, sure," I said hopping up and walking my bike over with Lonnie by my side.

After we got a drink Lonnie looked at me and wiped his mouth with back of his hand and said, "I need to take a leak, come on with me."

I was used to going to the bathroom with my buddies and especially Johnny so I didn't' think there was anything weird about it so I followed him inside the mens room even though I didn't need to go myself.

He looked around and sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose then laughed and walked over to the urinal trough and unzipped his fly. I admit I was a little curious about what his pecker looked like, how big it was, and if it was cut or uncut, but I didn't want to get caught looking. This kid was way bigger than me and could do me some damage if he didn't like my peeking at his pecker.

"Don't ya' have to go?" he asked sounding disappointed.

"Maybe," I said making a decision to at least try to pee and maybe get a peek a the same time.

I walked over and stood beside him, not quite touching, but so close I swear I could feel the heat coming off his lanky body and smell his exciting teenage odor. I unzipped my cut off shorts and pulled out my pecker and managed to get a stream started pretty quickly. Once the water was flowing I let my eyes wander over to his side of the trough for just a minute and got a quick peek at his pecker.

It was larger than mine, which I pretty much expected, circumcised and slender, and bright red, which was in direct contrast to his pale skin. I flicked my eyes back quickly so it wouldn't look like I was staring, but Lonnie didn't seem to be concerned at all and in fact was out right staring at my pecker.

"You got your skin," he said sounding interested, "I wish I had mine, but my folks had me cut when I was born."

"Yeah, some of my friends are cut, but some of em' are like me and Johnny." I said without thinking.

"Johnny, is that your brother or something?"

"Naw, he's my best friend, but we've known each other almost since we were born."

"That's cool. I had a best friend back in California like that. His name was Eddie," then squinting his eyes and staring directly at my pecker  he asked, "Do you have hair?"

"Huh, yeah...a little," then feeling bold I added, "I've been shooting since I was 11 though."

"Wow, really...I was 13 before I got hair and could shoot."

"Yeah, most of my friends didn't get hair or shoot till they were older."

"Do you beat off a lot?"

"Huh, well...what's a lot? I guess I do it about as much as most of my friends do...maybe a little more."

"Way to go, I beat off like three times a day usually. Sometimes more if I'm really horny."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," I said grinning, but I doubted we got horny over the same things.

"Do you ever beat off with your buddies?" he asked suddenly.

"Well, yeah. I guess that's pretty normal," I said shrugging.

"Yeah, anything else? Every jack each other or suck dick?"

I blushed bright red but Lonnie didn't wait for an answer before continuing,"My friend Eddie used to suck my dick, it was the best feeling ever. Almost as good as fucking a chick."

"Have you fucked a girl?" I asked trying to hide my excitement.

"Once, she was younger than me. I was 14 and she was 12. She had a nice twat though and some little titties and she didn't have her period yet so she couldn't get pregnant so I didn't have to use a rubber."

"Oh nice," I said suddenly at a loss for words.

"Yeah, but it's hard to find girls who put out now cause they're all afraid they'll get preggers and they want to save themselves for marriage. Huh, who wants a virgin on their wedding night anyway, right?"

I shrugged, "Yeah, girls are weird," I said then blushed.

All that time we'd been standing there holding our stiffening dicks long after the pee had dried up and suddenly Lonnie began stroking his until it got fully hard. I guess I was sort of stroking mine too because suddenly it began to feel really good.

"Want to jack off with me?" Lonnie said sounding far away. 

I almost laughed, wasn't that what we were doing already. For one minute I was tempted to tell him no, that it was wrong or some bullshit, just to see what he'd do, but instead I squeaked out a yeah and never missed a stroke.

I was surprised that touching his pecker never crossed my mind, but then he didn't seem interested in touching mine either. I finally decided that he was just horny, and that this was one of his three times a day that  he jacked off.

We were done fairly quickly and other than uttering "nice" when my sperm hit the back of the urinal trough he was silent. Quickly stowing our now deflating peckers we walked out into the warm sunshine and I grabbed my bike.

I didn't know if we were done and Lonnie would be leaving or what, but then he moved up beside me and put his hand on the other handlebar as I walked back to where I'd been earlier. We sat back down in the shade and for a long time neither of us said anything, but it was Lonnie who spoke first.

"You got somethin' on ur' mind, don't ya'?"

I shrugged, was I that obvious? "Yeah, but it's kind of private."

We sat in silence for a while longer then I said so softly, "My best friend, Johnny...the one I told you about...it's about him. We got us a sort of problem."

Lonnie nodded and pulled another blade of grass and began shredding it, "You mad at each other or somethin'?"

"Naw, nothing like that. We just...well, we just sort of have this disagreement." Only it really wasn't that either and the more I thought about it, so far the only one with a problem was me. Johnny was doing just fine, thank you, and probly' holding hands or touching some girl's private parts at this very moment.

"Ummm...I see. Is there a girl involved?" he chuckled. 

How could he know? I wondered, Were girls the problem with most things in the world and I just hadn't noticed it before?

"Sort of," I muttered.

"Thought so. Bitch coming between you two?"

I looked at him with new appreciation. It was almost like he was reading my mind.

"Something like that."

"Want to tell me about it?" he asked looking out across the park and spitting into the grass at his feet.

"It's kind of silly really," I admitted. I mean when I thought about it, it really was.

Lonnie leaned back on his arms and sighed, "Usually is, but it still matters to you, so it's important. This kid, Johnny, he more than a friend?"

God, how did he know? How could a complete stranger have figured me out so quickly?

"We've know each other pretty much all our lives. We're closer than brothers I guess."

"He one of the guys you jack off with...maybe more?"

"Yeah," I confessed, afraid to say more.

"He got a girlfriend now...that the problem?"

I turned to give Lonnie an astonished look and he smiled, "I ain't stupid you know?"

"I never thought that...." I stammered.

"Look, I can't tell you what to do...or what to say, but if you guys are really that close it will all work out. He can have a girlfriend and be your best bud too. And if she's like most girls he'll still need his bud to jerk off with...and more, cause girls are cock teasers for sure."

"It's more than that," I blurted out before I could stop myself.

He looked at me with those green eyes and smiled, "Thought so, you like him that way...don't ya?"

"What way?" I said trying to sound outraged, but failing.

"You know. I don't have to tell ya'. It's okay though, I ain't got nothin' again' you for that."

I sighed. I felt as if my whole soul had been bared before this strange boy.

"He feel the same...or used to?"

I nodded, afraid to speak.

"Maybe he still does. Maybe he just needs to see...you know, if he likes girls too."

I stared into his green eyes and for the first time he blushed, "How do you know all this?"

He laughed softly, "I just do, that's all. That's all you need to know."

I nodded, "You had someone too...didn't ya'?"

He sighed and sort of shrank into himself as if he was trying to escape, "Everyone does at one time or another. Just some of us don't know it till it's too late."

I laid my hand on his leg. I don't know how I knew to do that, or if he'd even been receptive to my touch, but he seemed to relax a little and he leaned back once more and smiled sadly.

"Just don't give up on him...okay. That's the worst thing. If it's real it will work out, if it's not...you'll know sooner or later and then...then move on and learn how to deal with it."

"I don't want to move on," I said studying my feet with interest as if they held the secret to my happiness.

"No one ever does, but sometimes you have to."

"Did you?" I asked looking into his eyes. Was he crying?

He shrugged, it was obvious he couldn't speak at the moment, but his face and body language said it all.

"I'm sorry. I'll shut up," I sighed.

We were quiet for a while again as Lonnie regained his composure and then he suddenly stood up leaving me to stare up at him in surprise.

"I should get back."

"Oh...okay," I said hopping up and brushing off my butt.

"Will you walk me to the edge of the park?"

"Sure," I said grabbing my bike again, "thanks for talking to me. It was...uh, nice meeting you."

"Yeah, you too," then stopping he grabbed my bike and stopped me in my tracks,"I ain't queer if that's what you're thinkin'."

"I never thought that..." I stuttered.

"I know, just makin' sure. I like girls just fine, but they don't always put out...you know? And a guy has to get off once in a while."

"Yeah, absolutely," I said nodding.

"But I ain't got nothin' against queers...you know?"

"Me either," I said lamely, I mean after all, I was a queer myself.

"Just keep your head up, okay? Don't let this stuff get to ya'," he said finally letting go of my bike and starting off. 

I quickly caught up with him and we resumed our slow walk to the edge of the park.

"Uh...one thing...how did you know?" I finally said before it was too late.

He laughed, "For me to know, and you to find out," he laughed.

We reached the edge of the park by then and we stopped there, just looking at the ground and not saying anything for a few minutes.

"Well, I should head back. My dad will be sending the dogs out for me pretty soon," he laughed.

"Oh...okay. Thanks for the talk. I...ummm, guess I have a lot to think about now."

"Yeah, me too," he said almost to himself.

We said goodbye and then I watched him walk up the street till he was out of sight. It was the only time I ever saw him. It's funny how people sometimes come into our life when we need them most and then they're gone leaving us to wonder about the scheme of things. 

I walked my bike over to the monkey bars and leaned it against the bottom rungs and climbed up for what seemed like the millionth time in my life. It seemed like when I had a problem I always wound up here, usually with Johnny, but this time alone.

I sat there on the top looking out at the familiar landscape of the park and beyond it the school and thought about my life. All I'd known in my 13 years was this town, this park, this school, the same friends, the same scenery and I wondered if this was the only life I'd ever know. Would I graduate and find a job in town or would mom and dad send me away to college? We'd never really talked about stuff like that and I was getting to the age that I probably should be planning my future. The truth was though, I didn't really want to grow up, move away, and be an adult with responsibilities and problems.

I had turned around and was facing the row of houses directly in front of the park now. I knew a couple of the kids I went to school with lived in that direction, but none of them were close and it wasn't like I had ever been at their houses. 

I was so consumed in my thoughts that I didn't notice I had a visitor until he started climbing up the monkey bars. Spinning around I came face to face with Johnny who was grinning like a mad man.

"Here you are. I went to your house, but your mom said you were out riding your bike."

"Oh, yeah...well, I was, but I got tired," I said lamely.

"So, how was it...at the farm? Was it a real blast like last time?"

"Yeah, I'll tell ya all about it sometime, but  not now."

"I went by my house," he said looking nervous, "my old man said you came by."

"Yeah," I said avoiding eye contact.

"He told ya...uh, where I was." It wasn't a question, "I can explain."

"Nothing to explain," I said coldly.

"It's not what you think..."

"What do I think?" I said looking him in the eye for the first time.

"That I was on a date with some girl, well it's not like that."

"Then you weren't with a girl?" I asked in confusion.

"Well...yeah, but it wasn't a date. I just went with her cause she asked me too."

"Sounds like a date to me," I said trying not to laugh.

"I mean it wasn't like we made out or held hands or anything," he said blushing.

"Then why are you blushing?"

"What, no...I'm not..."

"Just tell me the truth Johnny. Do you like this girl?"

"What, no...I mean yeah...she's nice and all, but it's not like that."

"Who is she? Do I know her? Is she pretty...does she had big boobs?" I asked the last part with a smirk.

"Her  name is Edith, she's a friend of my cousin. I guess she's pretty...I never really thought too much about it."

I rolled my eyes, "You never noticed? All that talk about girls and you didn't notice if she was pretty or not?"

"Why are you so mad," he almost pleaded.

"I'm not mad," I lied. I was mad, but mostly hurt and scared.

"Then calm down and talk to me about this. It doesn't mean anything. We're still together. Nothing has changed."

I felt a little better hearing that, but I still wanted to know what was going on with Johnny and this girl. I soon found out more than I wanted to know.

"Remember when I told you that most of my cousins were girls? Well, when I went to the reunion I spent a lot of time with my cousin Sue. She's older than me by a little over a year, but she don't act like a girl most of the time. I think she's a tomboy or something. Anyway she told me about this girlfriend of hers who lives here in town and asked me to take her this package and a letter. Well, I took it and we sort of got to talking and we like...became friends I guess."

"You guess," I snorted.

"Why are you being like this? Just hear me out." he said sounding hurt and upset.

"Okay, okay...I won't say nothin' again."

He gave me a pained look then began again. "Her mom works at the Allred and she gets free tickets to the movies all the time and she asked me to go with her, but her brother went too...so it wasn't just her and me."

"How old is he?"

"Uh...six or seven...why?"

"Just wondering. So he probly' didn't care what you two did."

"Robert, we didn't do anything," he said finally sounding annoyed or at least frustrated.

"I have to get home," I said starting to climb down. I couldn't really explain why I was being so unreasonable, but isn't that the way it is sometimes? Our emotions get the better of us, and even though we may feel like a jerk later, we just go with them in the moment and make fools of ourselves.

"I'll go with you," he said meekly.

"Naw, that's okay. We...uh, have plans tonight...me and my folks."

He knew that was bullshit. Even if that was the case he'd have been welcome to join in most of my families plans.

He just sat there staring down at me the whole time I was climbing down and I knew I should say something and fix things, but I was too stubborn, or too hurt, or too scared, and instead I just jumped on my bike and rode off like he didn't mean anything to me.

I was aware of tears stinging my eyes and I knew I couldn't go home, not  yet. My mom would see right through me and eventually dig the truth out of me and I could not let that happen. Instead I rode on up First Street until I reached the tracks then turned down them and rode up the ramp to the top of the loading platform there and then down to the boxcar filled with sand.

I leaned my bike against the side of the building and went inside the boxcar and fell down in the sand and cried my eyes out for the next half hour. Fortunately no one came along and by the time I finally pulled myself together it was getting late in the afternoon. I grabbed my bike and rode back down the platform and considered going home, but I still had a couple of hours before I had to be home and I really didn't feel like being around anyone at the moment.

I rode downtown, but I didn't stop at any of the stores, just made a circuit, from Mill to Elliott then down the other side and across the tracks and finally headed on home. I was almost there when I saw someone sitting on the curb in front of my house and when I got a little closer, too close to turn back, I realized it was Johnny.

I guess I should have known he'd come. He knew me better than anyone and he'd seen right through my bullshit and now he was there to confront me and try to fix things.

I rode up the drive ignoring him and then parked my bike by the front porch. He was up and moving my way by then and as I turned to him I saw the hurt in his eyes and I felt like a complete ass.

"Hi,"  I said as if that one little word could fix everything.

"Hey, been watin' for ya' for a while now."

"Did you come straight here from the park?" I asked frowning.

"Naw, not right away," he said blushing.

"I'm sorry," I said simply.

"Me too. Can we forget this and go back to how things were?"

"I don't know? I asked locking eyes with him. God I loved his eyes, warm, brown pools of chocolate that sometimes looked amber in the right light. They just pulled you in and made you feel right at home, so comfy, so warm, so...so loved.

"Why not?" he said calmly, "Nothing has changed as far as I'm concerned."

"Are you sure?" I asked stubbornly.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Why are you being this way?"

"I guess cause I'm an idiot," I said evenly, "or because I know you so well...and well, I know things aren't exactly the same as they were."

"What? Cause I said that stuff about girls and because I went to a stupid movie with a girl...a girl that I don't even know that well?"

"Can you spend the night?" I asked suddenly taking him completely off guard.

"What? Yeah...I'm sure I can," he said looking confused.

"Come on, I'll ask my folks and you can call yours."

He followed me inside without saying another word until we got inside, and then he put on a happy face and said hello to my mom. I asked her about Johnny spending the night and of course the answer was  yes. 

Johnny called his house and talked to his mom and even though it took a little longer to convince her, she eventually gave in. 

"Come on, let's go to my room," I said once mom was out of earshot.

Once we were in my room I turned on the box fan in the window and fell down on my bed. With nowhere else to sit Johnny soon joined me, but I couldn't help notice he kept his distance.

"You can borrow some of my clothes," I said stating the obvious. It was how we almost always did things. We never packed a bag, we just borrowed clean underwear or wore the dirty ones and the same clothes we wore there.

"Are you gonna treat me like this all night? Is this my punishment?"

"Do you deserve punishment?" I smirked.

He looked away then and it took him a long time to answer, "I don't know. If having the wrong feelings is something to be guilty about and need punishing, then maybe I do."

"What wrong feelings?" I asked curiously.

"I don't know," he whined, "apparently I must have some or you wouldn't be mad at me."

"I'm not mad," I lied again.

"Oh, well...cause you sure act like it."

"I'm sorry," I said again, "I guess I'm not as good at controlling my feelings.

"And I am?" he asked sounding helpless.

"So what was the movie?" I asked taking him off guard again.

"Uh, some cartoons...and The Three Stooges. It was pretty lame though."

I didn't reply for a while, then I sat up and looked at him with my most serious face, "If you like girls, that's okay," I said surprised that I actually meant those words, "Just be honest with me. If you want to date a girl, just tell me. I won't get mad. We can still be friends...right?"

I could tell he was shocked and it took him a moment to answer. Maybe he thought it was a test or something and so he considered his answer carefully before speaking.

"There isn't a girl right now that I'd like to date, but..." he said watching me closely for my reaction, "If there ever is I promise I will tell you. I love you...I'm not just saying that...I really do, but I'm gonna be honest, I don't know if that's enough sometimes."

"What do you mean?" I asked feeling a little panicky.

He sighed and turned to face me bringing one leg around and folding it under him, "I've loved you since I first met you, but it's different now, and it's new and confusing. Boys aren't supposed to feel this way about each other, but we do. I don't know what that means, do you?" he said looking at me almost defiantly.

"All I know is how I feel. I don't need to love anyone else to know that you're the only one I will ever love this way," I said trying to keep from crying, "I know it's not how most boys feel, and some people would hate us and maybe even hurt us or try to keep us apart, but that doesn't change how I feel. You might like girls, but I'm pretty sure I never will. If you get with a girl and fall in love...then that leaves me...well, I'm not gonna say anything crazy like I can't go on or anything, but it will hurt and it will take me a long time to get over it. But I can't control how you feel. Maybe I'm the only one who is like this...queer or whatever, but I know you love me too...maybe not the same way, but the way you treat me and the look in your eyes and the kissing and the (whispered) sex make me feel like I'm the luckiest boy in the world."

He reached out and took my hand and as always my heart sped up and I felt those butterflies in my tummy and that tingling feeling all over. If that wasn't love I didn't know what was.

"I'm not going anywhere. I love you and I like those things too, but you have to trust me. I'm not slipping around behind your back and doing stuff and I would never do anything to hurt you on purpose."

"I know," I said as I got lost in those beautiful brown eyes of his, "I'm sorry, I really am. Now I have something to tell you."

"You mean about that boy in the park?" he said grinning.

"You saw?"

"I knew you'd wind up there...eventually, and I was almost there when I saw you and him go into the bathroom."

"We didn't do anything, at least not to each other. We just jacked off, that's all...I swear," I said blushing.

"I believe you, but even if you had done something, you'd tell me and I'd be okay with it cause I don't own you Robert. I know you still love me and that stuff like that doesn't mean anything to you, it's just fun...right?"

I nodded, "But this time it wasn't really like that," I said then I started at the beginning and told him the whole story. When I finished he gave me a curious look.

"He never told you how he knew what you were feeling?"

"Nope, but I think he had someone like you once and that...and that he did the wrong thing and lost them...and God, I don't want to make that mistake and lose you too," I said finally letting the tears flow.

He pulled me into a hug and kissed my face gently, "That's not gonna happen. I will always be here for you, some way somehow. We just have to trust each other and be honest and let things work out however they will."

"I know, I'm sorry," I sniffed, "I promise I will talk to you next time and not be such an idiot."

"Good, now...let's get out of this hot room and go outside. I am cooking in my own juice," he giggled.

We stripped off our shirt and shoes and walked out into the backyard and found a shade tree to sit under. It was late August and in the 90's and the sun was hot as blazes. 

"Wanna cool off in the hose?" I asked after a while.

"Okay. Got a bucket?" he said grinning.

We grabbed the hose and a bucket and took turns filing it and dumping it on each other's head, giggling like little kids and in the process our wounds of the heart began to heal. I knew I had a long way to go before I was the kind of boy I wanted to be, but Johnny always seemed to pull me back from my madness and set me straight when I messed up.

Eventually we went inside and changed and by then dad was home and when he saw us he just smiled and didn't say a word at first. Then he gave mom that look that they shared and it was as if they were able to communicate what they were thinking with just that look.

"Hi Johnny, did you miss your brother while he was gone?" he laughed.

"I sure did," Johnny said draping his arm around me pulling me down playfully into a wrestling hold, "I didn't have anyone to fight with," he laughed.

"Well, save it for outside," Mom scolded, "Dinner will be in twenty minutes, go wash your hands and get ready please."

"Mom, we just got out of the hose," I reminded her, but she gave me the evil eye and we scampered off to wash up without further objection.

Dinner was always pleasant at our house, especially when Johnny was there, and we talked and laughed and shared our love with each other. I know now that not all families were like mine and looking back on my childhood I thank God that he put me where he did.

Johnny and I helped mom clean up and then we all went into the living room and watched TV for a while. Mom and dad sat on the couch sharing Mikey and looking very happy while Johnny and I lay at their feet watching the flickering images on the screen. It was as if we were just one big happy family, my folks and their three boys, only two of their boys were sleeping together later and having sex. Thinking about it made me want to giggle, but I was able to suppress my laughter and just enjoy the moment.

Mom eventually got up to feed Mikey and put him to bed and dad soon said goodnight and left us on our own. We watched the rest of the program we'd been watching and headed to the bathroom to pee and brush our teeth.

In my room we stripped down to our underwear and climbed into bed and just laid there for a while letting the fan blow across us and listening to the crickets outside my window. It had been a good summer but it would soon be coming to an end. It had been a summer of discovery and new feelings, joys and pain, but laying there that night I knew I wouldn't have changed any of it if I could. I loved my life, I loved my parents and my baby brother, and most of all I loved Johnny, and I was looking forward to what the future held for us.

We eventually began to kiss and then make out and as we came together in love, our fears and worries flew out the window and into the night. We were only 13, but looking back I think we loved as hard if not harder than any adult and I can still smell, and feel, and taste the sweetness of the love we shared during that special time of our life.

Sweaty and sated we lay there entwined and thought our separate thoughts then Johnny broke the silence with his sweet voice.

"I will always love you," he said sounding near tears, "even if we are a thousand miles apart."

"Me too," I said squeezing his hand tightly, "but I hope we are never that far apart."

He sighed, "Who knows what life has in store for us. We're just kids and there's a whole big world out there just waiting for us."

"As long as we're together I can face anything."

"You're strong, you'll be okay no matter what."

"I know, but you're stronger and I need you."

He rolled over and kissed me and we fell silent once more. There were no words good enough to express what we felt at that moment, for one another and about our lives, and so we just lay there feeling each other's warmth and breathing in each other's scent and eventually we fell asleep that way.

The rest of the summer passed too quickly. We slept over at each others houses at least twice a week and spent almost every waking moment together or with our other friends. We played ball, we swam, we walked the tracks and talked about our summer and what lay ahead in the new school year. 

We'd be starting 8th right after Labor Day and meeting new kids, new teachers and learning new things. It wasn't quite as traumatic as going into 7th grade had been, but it would still be a new experience for us, just one of many that year.

Mom had dragged me downtown to shop for school clothes that week after I came back from Uncle Joe's farm and I had everything I needed when the day finally arrived.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was cool that first morning of 8th grade and for some reason I was actually more nervous than I'd been that first morning a year ago when I'd moved up from grade school to Junior High.

We'd decided we were getting too old to ride bikes to school so we planned on walking the four blocks that morning and Johnny showed up before I even finished my breakfast. He slid into the chair next to me and mom offered him some oatmeal, but he said he's eaten corn flakes earlier and wasn't hungry.

I finished quickly, brushed my teeth and we were off. I had asked Donnie about walking to school with us, but he said he was going to ride with brother Larry this  year and so we were on our own. I suppose we could have asked to ride along with them, but for some reason we wanted to walk, by ourselves.

We  hardly ever saw the other Larry, the one with the girlfriend, and so we didn't even ask him about walking to school with  us, so we were really surprised when he showed up that day. Just as we were crossing Mill and starting up the alley that led to the school we heard someone yell at us, and turning we saw Larry running toward us.

"Hey guys, wait up!"

We both swung around and there was Larry hauling ass toward us dodging traffic and pretty soon he was standing breathless in front of us.

"Hi," he said panting, "Mind if I walk with ya'?"

"Heck no, the more the merrier," I said feeling happy to see my old friend.

"So where's the old ball and chain?" Johnny joked.

"Who...oh...her, well...we split up. She was a bitch and I'm done with girls for a while."

Johnny laughed, "Ouch, she bite your pecker or something?"

"I wish, bitch wouldn't even touch it. I got the worst case of blue balls just bein' around her."

I laughed then. A year ago I'd have had no idea what he was talking about, but now I could relate to what he was saying. He wasn't getting any action since he'd quit messing with us boys and switched to girls and now he was frustrated and maybe looking for some help.

"Well, there's always your hand," I said grinning.

He groaned, "Bout' wore my damn arm out. I need someone else's hand for a change." 

"Well, I'm sure we can help out, right Robert?" Johnny said looking a little excited.

"Look, guys...I'm really sorry for...you know...ignoring you guys all that time, but she had me wrapped around her little finger."

"No problem, but I bet you find another girl soon. After all now that we're 8th graders you have all those Freshman girls to choose from too." 

"Yeah, well...I ain't in no hurry," he said frowning.

The first day was hectic, running around finding our lockers and our classes, but fortunately Johnny and I had three of those classes together, Algebra, English, and PE. PE was the last class of the day and in the gym at the high school which was right next door on the same campus.

By lunch we were starting to feel better about the new year, and when Donnie and Larry and Gerald joined us at our table we compared notes. Larry had already had Algebra and he said the teacher Mr. Phillips was actually pretty fun for a teacher. He was balding and pot-bellied and rumor had it that he had been a POW during the war and still had some of the scars from being tortured.

We'd all heard about the English teacher we'd all yet to have, her name was Mrs. Knight and she was ancient looking and very prim and proper. She also expected her students to use proper English when speaking and graded harshly on tests and reports.

I worried about Johnny, but I was pretty confident that I would do okay in her class. After all, someday I wanted to be a writer and I needed to learn what she  had to teach me.

I hadn't seen Gerald since the weekend before school started and after we caught up on what had been going on he seemed sort of down that day. I couldn't just come right out and ask him what was going on, but I decided that if I got a chance later to be alone with him I'd see if I could help.

I felt sorry for Gerald, I knew his mom didn't have much money and his clothes looked used and were probably hand me downs from his brother, but they were clean and he smelled as if he bathed and he fit in as well as most of the kids there. Still I felt a little guilty sitting there in my brand new clothes and shoes and I guess I wished I could do something to help.

We finished eating and still had plenty of time to spare so we all went outside and hung around. It had warmed up a lot since morning and we didn't even need our jackets. It was like that in Oklahoma in the fall. Cool nights and mornings and after the sun was up a while it warmed up and the temp was just right.

Johnny and Larry and Donnie had wandered off and were talking to some boys I didn't know and I finally had a chance to talk to Gerald.

"Hey, is everything okay?" I asked softly looking into his eyes.

He shrugged, "I guess, it's my brother. Him and my mom got into a big fight and he left and he ain't been back since. That was last Friday and we don't know where he is. I'm really worried bout' him."

"Does he have any friends he could be staying with?"

He shook his head, "We already thought of that and ain't none of em seen him."

"I'm scared he's done got himself killed and he's layin' somewhere rotting," Gerald said looking sad.

"Naw, not in a town like this. Someone would've found him by now. He's probably just fine and I bet he'll come back soon."

"I sure hope so, even my mom is worried. She keeps sayin' if he comes back she will never argue with him again."

The bell rang about then and we split up once again to go off to class, but at least the next class I had with Johnny. As we filed into Mrs. Knight's English class she stood by her desk and looked us over carefully. It was  hard to read the look on her face, but I did see her give Johnny a sort of frown when she say him and that made me mad for some reason. When she looked at me, however she seemed to perk up a little and I wondered what it was that had sparked her interest in me.

We'd all just taken random seats when we'd entered but as soon as everyone was present she whipped out a seating chart and arranged us alphabetically, fortunately since both our names began with a W, we were sitting together anyway. Johnny was right in front of me, which I liked, cause now I could look at him without having to turn around.

She took roll then and told us these were our permanent desks and we were expected to sit there everyday unless she told us differently. She was very strict and didn't allow any talking and if you wanted to sharpen your pencil or go to the bathroom or whatever you had to raise you hand and wait for her to acknowledge you, and even then it wasn't guaranteed you'd get to do whatever it was you wanted.

I started disliking her right away, but it's funny how things turned out, cause before the year was over she became one of my favorite teachers. Unfortunately Johnny didn't feel the same way, and with good reason. I won't say she picked on Johnny, but she did seem to enjoy calling him out and embarrassing him every chance she got and until I finally figured her out and got closer to her his life was a living hell. But eventually when I got into her good graces some of that rubbed off on Johnny.

PE was the last class of the day and our teacher was also one of the Football coaches, Mr. Thompson. He was tall and muscled and looked like he had hair on every inch of his body, protruding from his collar, and even around his sleeve, and I'd heard that at one time he was a college football player in Texas.

He seemed like an okay kind of guy, but he didn't really seem that interested in teaching us anything. Mostly he just got us started on stuff then went to his office and left  us to do it on our own or to goof around, which is what most of the boys did. 

We had fun though and when it came time for the showers, we were sweaty and ready to go. I'd lost all body modesty when I'd started messing around with my buddies, but there were still a few boys who were shy about undressing in front of a bunch of rowdy boys, even if they were around the same age.

I never failed to be surprised at the variety and levels of maturity that boys our age showed. Some were still smooth and had small peckers, while some were hairy and had big dangling peckers that made my mouth water. A boy named Walter was one of those with a big pecker and he was obviously very proud of it as he strutted around letting everyone get a good look at it.

He was about six inches taller than most of us and about 30 lbs heavier, but it wasn't fat. The boy was all muscle. He had dark hair and a brooding smile, but his eyes sparkled with mischievousness even though he was actually a pretty friendly guy once we got to know him. He'd transferred in from some small town nearby and lived on the southside near the big IGA store and I'd seen him once or twice there when I went shopping with my mom.

His pecker was uncut and had a lot of skin on it, so much that it hung down at the end looking like a little nozzle. His balls were big too, and hairy, unlike most of the rest of us boys who were still smooth on the nut sack and ass. Speaking of asses, Walter's ass was a nice one, but kind of hairy, and I wasn't sure if I liked that or not. Not that I was sizing him up for sex or anything, but you know, I was interested in him because he was so different than what I was used to.

On the walk home Johnny brought up Walter and caused me and Larry to laugh.

"Did you see that hairy ape, Walter? He has more hair on his ass than I do on my whole body."

"Yeah, and did you see the size of  his pecker? I bet it's a foot long when it's hard," Larry added.

"He's nice though," I said then blushed when the other two gave me a look at once, "I mean he's not scary or mean like I figured someone that big would be."

"I heard he got put back a year and that's he's almost 15. That's why he's so much more developed than us," Larry offered.'

"Or...his daddy was an ape," Johnny howled causing us all to crack up.

After that I began to notice little things about Walter that maybe the others didn't see. Like for instance how kind and patient he was with the smaller boys when we were working out or playing ball or something. He never yelled, and when he did speak it was polite and encouraging and he smiled a lot...not that I noticed...he he.

I guess it was his personality that finally won me over and so finally one day I decided to talk to him and try to get to know him better. Johnny was over in the corner with Gerald doing sit-ups and they were taking turns holding each other's feet, something I usually did and I was paired up with Walter for the first time.

"You ready to do some serious stuff?" Walter asked grinning at me and throwing  me off guard.

What serious stuff, I wondered, then I realized he was talking about our workout, not sex. I guess that's where my mind was mostly these days and I knew I  had to quit thinking that way. Not everyone was a sex crazed maniac like me and my friends were, or were they?

"Yeah, but take it easy. I'm not as...um, strong as you," I said blushing.

"Or as big," he chuckled, "but you got some muscles there," he said prodding my chest and stomach and causing me to blush. For one heart-stopping moment I almost giggled, but I managed to suck it back in at the last second and avoid being embarrassed more than I already was.

"I guess I play pretty hard," I said lamely, "but I don't really work out or anything."

"Well, if you ever want to...uh, work out, I got some free weights and a bench I built in my old man's garage."

"Uh, thanks...I might...uh, would it be okay if I brought a friend with me?"

"Sure Johnny can come too," he said grinning and I blushed bright red. I guess everyone sort of knew Johnny and I were close, though I'm sure only a few knew how close.

"Okay, thanks." Now I could have just left things alone and gone on and done our exercises and kept my mouth shut, but I was curious about this kid and what he knew and thought, and so I let my mouth have free run, "Uh...how did you know I was talking about Johnny?" I said as I sat on my knees holding Walter's big feet as he did sit ups.

"Oh, I don't know..." he grunted, "maybe cause you two are almost always together. In fact this is the first time I can remember you not being partnered with him in gym class. I see you together at lunch, I see you walking to class together. You walk to school together each morning and home each evening. At first I thought you two were brothers or something," he said pausing for a moment, "then I finally figured it out."

And? I wanted to scream, What did you figure out? But he just went back to his sit ups and didn't say another word.

Finally I couldn't stand it any longer and I looking up at his sweaty determined face as he puffed out the last of his 50 set ups I said, "We've known each other since we were little kids and our folks are friends and well...we're like best friends, that's all."

"Yeah, that's what I figured," he said sounding sort of amused, "Your turn, swap places."

I topped out around 30 sit ups and Walter didn't push me, he just complimented my stamina and said it would get easier the more I worked out. Afterwards we did squats and toe touches and jumping jacks and by the time we took a water break I was pretty winded. I mean I was in pretty good shape and young and  healthy, but I wasn't used to a dedicated work out of any kind and there was no way I could keep up with Walter.

The last half of the period we played dodge ball and even though sometimes that could get a little rough, it was a lot of fun. I did notice that Walter sort of watched out for the smaller guys and made sure none of the bigger guys picked on them or hurt them and my respect for him was growing by the day. I wasn't really attracted to him physically, but I was really starting to like him as a person.

When we  headed for the showers that day this time Walter took a spot near me and Johnny and talked to us the whole time we showered. By now we'd grown used to his grown up looking body and we didn't stare quite so much and we were a lot more comfortable around him now.

We laughed and talked about all the things that boys our age were interested in and once again Walter invited me over to workout only this time he included Johnny. Johnny, who was way more developed than me, seemed really interested and before I knew what was happening Johnny had made plans for us to go over to Walter's after school on Friday.

That night I cleared it with my folks and though it was quite a long bike ride they agreed to let us ride over there as long as we were back before dark. I knew Johnny wouldn't have any trouble getting permission cause his folks were way more permissive than mine were and when I saw him the next day he said everything was set.

We told Walter the good news that day in gym and he gave us the address and told us how to get there. We knew the area pretty well and figured we wouldn't have any trouble finding the house which was just one street over from the IGA. As it turned out though, we didn't need his address cause we wound up riding home with him that day.

The rest of the week was pretty lame, we only saw Walter in gym class but when we did we always gravitated toward him and even Johnny seemed to be warming up to him.

That Friday, for the first time since we started 8th grade, we rode our bikes to school so we could ride to Walter's and save time. Surprisingly Walter always rode his bike, a big Schwinn with hand brakes, and I was pretty sure no one made fun of him for it, even though it was considered beneath the dignity of kids our age to still be riding a bike to school.

We zipped through the big park and past the swimming pool, then looped around Jefferson Elementary which had a one way street all the way around it, and eventually we  came to his street and half way up the block was his house.

As far as houses go it was plain, but nice, with an attached garage and a big fenced in back yard with trees and a little shed. 

Walter led us up onto the small front porch and using a key he had around his neck on a chain he unlocked the door and led us inside. The furniture, what little there was, looked used but neat and clean, and the hardwood floor shined with cleanliness as if it had just been waxed or something.

"In here is my room," Walter said leading us down a short hallway past a the dining room and beyond it I could see a kitchen as clean as the living room had been.

His was the last bedroom along the front wall and just across from it was his folks room and next to that the bathroom. A third bedroom occupied the other side of the hallway next to Walter's room and he said his mom used it for a sewing room, whatever that was.

His room was small, but somehow he had managed to find room for a full size bed, a dresser, two bookcases and a chair. There were model airplanes hanging from the ceiling and a few model cars on top of the bookcases, but mostly the bookcases held books. 

Books of all kinds, paperbacks, hardbacks, magazines, and even a set of encyclopedia Britannica.

To say the least I as impressed. I knew encyclopedias were expensive and now I knew someone who had a set, I was already thinking ahead to the times I might need to do research for a school paper.

"Wow, cool planes," Johnny said zeroing in on them and not the books.

"Yeah, some of them belonged to my brother Mike, he's in the Air Force now and he left all them for me."

"Cool,  I build model cars," I said admiring his collection, "but no planes or anything, just cars and trucks."

"Those are some I built, I like cars a lot. I can't wait till I'm 16 and can drive and get a car of my own."

Which would be next year, and again I thought about how knowing Walter could benefit me. It would be great to have a friend with a car.

"Did you guys bring your shorts? For working out in?"

"Uh...I guess we sort of didn't think about that," I groaned. We could very easily have grabbed our gym shorts or simply left them on under our clothes, but we were too excited to think about that.

"No problem, I have some extra pairs that I outgrew," he said grinning, "my mom says I'm growing faster than she can keep up with."

He pulled out two pair of royal blue gym shorts, just like the ones we wore in PE, and handed them to us. They looked to be just about the same size I wore and I knew Johnny wore pretty much the same size even if they fit him a little better.

Then without saying a word Walter pulled out a larger pair of shorts and  began to undress right there in front of us. I mean it was no big deal, we did it in the locker room every day in PE, but this was different somehow. We were in a strange boy's bedroom and watching him undress. How far would he go? Did he plan on wearing his underwear too or just the shorts he held in his hand?

Johnny didn't seem as phased as I did and by the time I got my wits about me he was already down to his undies. I managed to get moving then, trying not to stare at Walter who was also down to his undies, and  when he started to pull on his shorts over his undies I relaxed and managed to finish dressing.

Wearing our white tee shirts and blue gym shorts Walter led us through a side door of the kitchen and into the coolness of the garage. It was musty smelling in there, a combination of dust and maybe Walter's sweat, because I was sure he'd produced a lot of it there as buff as he was.

The bench he had built was made of two by fours and some steel pipe and had padding with vinyl over it in the places where it was needed. He said his mom had done that part and the way he smiled when he mentioned his mom gave me the feeling him and his mom were very close.

The free weights looked used and most of the paint had been worn off of them, but he also had a barbell and a set of weights that looked pretty new. As he excitedly explained all the different types of exercises he did, we stood and watched him with interest, and suddenly his excitement began to wear off on us.

We started slow, doing some warm up exercise to make sure we didn't strain anything, then Walter laid down on the bench and did some crunches and when he was finished Johnny took his place. Meanwhile Walter and I did some free weights, him more than me of course, and then I took my turn doing the crunches.

Eventually Walter loaded up the barbell with weights and while Johnny and I spotted him he laid on the bench and did overhead lifts. I don't know how much help we'd have been if he had dropped that thing, but between the two of us maybe we could have saved him a broken neck.

We'd been at it about an hour when a slender lady who looked a little older than my mom poked her head out the door leading to the kitchen.

"Oh, there you are. I see you have company. Would you boys like some lemonade?"

"Please ma," Walter said grinning. Then he introduced us and we all went inside.

Walter's mom was one of those mom's that loved kids and you could just see it in her eyes. It was obvious she loved Walter and doted on him and I guess she figured any friend of her son's was a friend of hers. I felt very comfortable around her and after a while we were joking around and laughing just like with my folks. 

After we finished our lemonade, which was excellent, we went outside and did a little running around the yard to loosen up then we went back in the garage and did some push-ups on the linoleum covered floor and finally some toe touches and jumping jacks. In some ways it was like gym class, only more fun since it was just us three and we called the shots.

Around five  thirty we decided it was time to head home and we went back to Walter's room to change.

"Just keep those shorts, but remember to bring em' next time we work out, okay?"

We thanked him and just slipped our pants on over the shorts to save time and to keep the heat in a little better since it was getting chillier as it got later. Walter walked us to the front door and waved as we rode away and by the time we got to my house it was starting to get a little dark out.

"Think  you could spend the night?" I said as we sat straddling our bikes in front of my house.

"Do chickens have thighs?" he giggled.

"Yeah, but I'm a breast man myself," I giggled back.

"I like legs too," he said running a finger up mine for effect, "and what's between them."

"Mine or some girl's?" I smirked. I swear I was just trying to be funny, but when I saw the look on Johnny's face I knew I'd messed up.

"You just won't let that go will ya," he said sounding angry and maybe a little hurt.

"I was kidding," I said laying a hand on his arm to reassure him.

"I don't know if I wanna stay the night now," he sulked.

"Aww...pweeze," I begged giving him my puppy dog eyes.

He shook his head comically and sighed, "Okay, but no more girl jokes, okay?"

"Scout's honor," I said making the sign, "Let's go call your mommy and see if you can sleep with me."

"Just sleep?"

"Nope, you're not gonna get much sleep tonight," I said laughing maniacally.

Later, after showering, we had supper with my folks and told them about the work out at Walter's and my dad acted really interested. 

"Is this kid...Walter one of those muscle men?" he joked.

"He could be," I said enthusiastically, "he's way bigger than us and already got more muscles and stuff."

"And hair," Johnny laughed, "He's as hairy as a baboon."

"Are you jealous," dad joked causing me to laugh and Johnny to blush.

"I got enough hair," Johnny said peeking down into his shirt and goofing, "especially down there," he said causing all of us to burst out laughing. I was sure not too many parents could joke about stuff like that with their kids, but that was the way it was at my house.

After dinner we watched Mikey while mom cleaned up the kitchen and dad watched TV. Mikey was growing so fast and he was really a lot of fun now, not to mention as cute as a basket of puppies and twice as snuggly.

I could see the love in Johnny's eyes when my little brother reached out for him and he dissolved into a mass of baby talk and smooches. I wondered what it would be like to be a dad, to have a kid of my own to love and protect and teach about life. 

As far as I was concerned my dad was about the best dad in the whole world and if I could be half as good at him, I'd be happy. But there was of course that one thing that would always get in the way of my being as close to my dad as I wanted to. The more I thought about how he'd react to my maybe being gay, the sicker I felt inside and the more determined I was to keep my secret.

Of course there was always the slim chance I'd meet a girl and forget all about boys, but I really didn't think that would ever happen, no sir, because I had it pretty bad for Johnny and I just couldn't see that changing anytime soon. Even if Johnny stopped feeling the same way.

We watched TV for a while then went to my room to goof around till bedtime. We talked about the workout with Walter and what a nice guy he was.

"Think old Walter plays with this pecker?" Johnny laughed.

"Well, yeah...I mean who could resist playing that big old thing."

"OH, so you'd like to play with it?"

"No, I mean...maybe, but I bet you would too," I said popping him on the shoulder and giggling.

"Well...it is pretty big and I bet it's fun to play with."

"I think we should just try to be regular friends with him though," I said watching him for his reaction.

"Fine by me," Johnny said shrugging, "might be easier...it will give us more time to work out. Hey, know what we should do?"

"What?"

"We should buy one of those muscle building mags and see if there are any tips on what exercises to do and stuff."

"Yeah, yeah...we could do that. Maybe tomorrow...we could walk down to the Rexall and see if we can find one."

"I wonder if Walter has any or if he just figured this stuff out himself?"

"I don't know but it looks like it's working," I said thinking about Walter's hard beefy body.

"Yeah, I wonder if we can ever be that...that, muscled?"

"Naw, we're not tall enough and big enough yet, but maybe someday."

"Those airplanes he had were cool too..."

"Yeah, speaking of models...how bout if we finish that one we been working on?"

So for the next hour or so we worked on a model of a '63 Chevy Nova. We'd already painted all the parts and all we had to do was assemble it. Johnny put the engine on the frame while I put the passenger compartment and seats in the upper shell. By the time we had the wheels on all we had to do was snap the upper body and the frame together. 

Afterwards we went in to wash the dried up glue off of our fingers and brush our teeth. Once back in my room we stripped off our clothes and piled into my bed naked. As we lay there in my bed that night I thought about a lot of things.

I wondered what we'd look like a year from now, two years? Would we still enjoy the same things we did now? Would we make new friends, boys and girls? And most importantly would we still feel the same way about each other that we did right now.

"What're you thinkin'?" Johnny said picking up on my mood.

"Oh, nothin' really, just thinkin' about things."

"About us?"

"That some too."

"Are you still upset over that girl...?" he asked sounding defensive.

"Nope, I guess I was actin' kind of silly bout' that."

"Naw, it's okay I understand," he said rolling onto his side and snuggling up me, throwing his arm over my chest and hugging me tight, "what do I need with a dumb old girl when I got you?" he chuckled.

"I don't have tits," I giggled, "or a pussy."

"Nope, but you kiss real good and you got a nice butt," he said grinning.

"Johnny..."

"Whatie?"

"I'm scared sometimes," I said baring my heart to him, "I like what we have and I'm afraid that as we get older it will just...I don't know, change or something. I'm afraid we won't feel this way or worse that I still will and you won't."

"Why do you always have to be worrying about the future? If anything happens it will be slow and we'll adjust to it as we go. It's not like one of us or both of us is just gonna' wake up someday and say, "Hey, I'm tired of this stuff...time to move on." He chuckled at the last to try to relieve some of the tension.

"I guess, but will you promise me one thing?"

"Yes, whatever you want," Johnny said rubbing my tummy playfully.

"If you...if you ever stop feeling that way about me will you tell me right away and not leave me hanging?"

"Not gonna  happen, but if in another universe it ever did....yeah, I promise I'd tell ya'."

"Okay, thanks," I said smiling at him. 

He was so beautiful, so sexy and I couldn't resist him if I tried and before long we were kissing and making out passionately and then we made love, slowly and well into the night. When we finally fell asleep, a tangle of arms and legs, stuck together with our sweat and boy juices, we slept the sleep of the righteous, not stirring till morning wood and our aching bladders drove us out of bed.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

We continued to workout with Walter every chance we got and by Halloween we'd begun to see the fruits of our labor. We'd both had a little growth spurt and were a little taller and I'd put on 5 pounds, all of it muscle. No longer was I a skinny 95 lb weakling, now I weighed a hundred pounds and my body had begun to fill out and it was all thanks to Walter.

But it wasn't just me, Johnny had always been way better developed than me, and now he looked almost as muscled as Walter did. Before long our friends started to notice, especially the ones who saw us naked like Donnie and Gerald, and we gave Walter all the credit.

Both Donnie and Gerald seemed interested in learning what Walter was teaching us, so one sunny Saturday afternoon in late October, the four of us wound up in Walter's garage. He's opened the big fold up door to let some air in and after explaining everything to the newcomers we started our work out.

Gerald got winded easily, but Donnie, who had always been very active and fit, took to the workout like a pro. After about an hour or so we took a break and went into the kitchen to get a drink. There was no Gatorade or anything like that back then, but Walter's mom's lemonade sure hit the spot and after a while we were refreshed and ready to finish our workout.

Someone suggested that we take a walk to cool down after we did the last set of exercises and we headed off toward the big park which was only about a half mile from Walter's house. There was a sort of trail there but we really didn't stick to it, we just walked all around the park pond, stopping to watch the ducks, then over to the side of the park by the pool where we wound up resting on the little bridge that crossed the big drainage ditch that ran across the park.

"You guys goin' trick or treatin'?" Walter asked as he leaned against the railing then let go of a spitball into the dirty water below.

"Well, sure...aren't you?" I said frowning. Who wouldn't want free candy?

"I don't know yet. See problem is I'm so big and all, some folks don't wanna give me any candy. They think trick or treatin' is for little kids."

"Well, heck...you're not that much older than we are," I reasoned, "Hey, how bout' you come with us? Folks know us and they always give us good stuff, and if you're with us they'll know you're okay."

"I might, if you guys don't mind."

No one minded, in fact everyone had accepted Walter from the start and now he was..well, just one of us. We walked over to the park fountain and all got a drink then we  headed back to Walter's house and talked about Halloween some more.

Back then the selection of costumes was pretty lame and so I usually had my mom make me a costume and this Halloween I was going to be a Pirate, complete with plastic sword and eye patch. Johnny was going as Hobo with baggy clothes and blacking on his face and an old beat up hat, but the others hadn't decided yet or at least wouldn't say what they were dressing up as.

Walter seemed troubled by being put on the spot for a costume, but I had the perfect solution.

"Why don't you go as the strongman from the circus. You got the muscles, all you need is like some kind of off the shoulder thing and maybe a fake barbell to carry around."

"Hey, that's a great idea," Johnny said excitedly. "I bet we could make a paper mache` barbell for ya, and maybe your mom could sew you up a costume."

"Yeah, that sounds pretty easy, but...I don't know if I want that much of my body showing," he said grinning, "Some girl might attack me."

"Nothing wrong with that," Gerald laughed, "Just don't give her all your candy."

We all laughed at that and pretty soon it was time for the four of us to head home. Walter seemed a little sad when we announced that we were leaving and I wondered if we were the only friends he had so far. He was big and I guess a lot of kids thought he might be mean or a bully, but Walter was anything but that. He was kind and gentle and genuinely seemed to care about helping me and Johnny build up our bodies.

"Come with us," Johnny said simply and I wondered why I hadn't thought of that myself. One more was always welcome at our house and Gerald and Donnie were going on home anyway. Gerald's brother had returned and Gerald was spending more time with him and his mom lately and Donnie was going somewhere with his dad.

"Really, you mean it?" Walter asked sounding a little unsure of himself.

"Sure, I mean if your mom don't care. We can  hang out and stuff, maybe Robert's mom can help you with your costume too. She loves to sew and makes all our stuff."

"Well, if you're sure...."

"Come on," I said smiling warmly, "Go on...ask your mom."

He was back in a few minutes and he was grinning so I guessed the answer was yes. He'd changed into jeans and tee shirt and was slipping on a worn jean jacket. It wasn't that cold out yet, but I guess he was planning ahead, or if his mom was like mine, she'd probably made him take a jacket.

"I have to be back by six or call if I'm gonna be later, but I figure you'll be tired of me by then," he teased.

"Well, just behave yourself," I teased back, "and don't make no trouble and you'll be fine." Then we all cracked up laughing.

The four of us had rode our bikes and Walter grabbed his and we rode side by side everywhere we could, moving over for cars as needed, and before long we were crossing the tracks and headed toward my house. Gerald had left us at 1st Street to ride to his house on the Northside and Donnie left us when we got to my street.

Now it was just the three of us and as we rode up into my front yard we saw my mom and dad and Mikey were outside enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. Dad was showing Mikey the leaves and he was giggling but when he saw us ride up he got all crazy and started whooping and trying squirm out of Dad's hands.

I parked my bike and ran over and scooped Mikey up and he hugged my neck and kissed my face and squealed with delight. I noticed Walter watching us with interest and a shy smile on  his face so I walked over and introduced him to my baby brother.

Mikey was not what you would call a shy child, in fact he didn't know what a stranger was, and as soon as he saw Walter he reached his little arms out and wanted to be held. Walter seemed surprised, but he recovered quickly and looking at me to make sure it was okay he reached out and took Mikey.

I stayed close just to make sure he didn't drop him or anything, but it was obvious Walter had held a baby before and he was as gentle as a lamb.

"Hi there big boy," he cooed, "I'm Walter, what's you name?"

What is it about babies and toddlers that cause us to loose our minds and become babbling idiots? Well, that was how it was with Walter as he held Mikey. Here was this big muscled guy holding a little infant and he looked perfectly at ease. This was a side of Walter I sure hadn't seen before.

I introduced Walter to mom and dad and they seemed to take to him as quickly as the rest of the gang had and Mikey sure liked him so he was in as far as my folks were concerned. They'd heard us talk about Walter and knew we'd been working out with him, but this was their first time to actually meet him and things couldn't have worked out better.

We played with Mikey in the front yard while my folks sat on the porch and watched us and talked quietly. I wondered what they were talking about, but the smiles on their face said everything was good in their world.

Eventually Mikey got tired and mom took him in and it was just us guys. Dad seemed interested in Walter and they talked about body building and stuff for a while, with Johnny and I jumping in every now and then.

I was surprised to learn that my dad had been into body building when he was in high school and was quite the athlete. He said he used to buy those muscle mags and dream about being as beefy as those guys, but he never got quite that far.

Dad eventually excused himself and left us three boys alone and I showed Walter around. He seemed impressed with the treehouse and although he looked sort of out of place in there, he insisted on climbing up and seeing the inside.

"This is so neat, do you guys ever sleep up here?"

"Yeah, lots...especially in the summer. It's pretty tight, but it does leak a little when it rains. One time it came a storm in the middle of the night and me and Johnny go wet so we had to run inside and finish the night in my room."

"Yeah, we were soaked, but after that we patched up some of the cracks and now it's pretty water proof," Johnny added.

"I used to have a treehouse, back at my old house, but it wasn't as neat as this one. Mostly just a platform, but I liked to go up there and just sit and think about things...you know?"

"Yeah, I do that sometimes," I said wondering what kind of things Walter thought about.

"I used to have this friend, Billy and he'd sleep over and we'd hang out all day," he said with a faraway look in his eyes.

"Why'd you guys move?" Johnny asked suddenly.

"Oh, well...my folks just wanted to move, that's all," he said sort of curtly.

"Yeah, that's rough. We gotta do what our folks say," Johnny sighed, "I had to go live with my grandma for a while when my mom and dad were having trouble...after my sister died."

Walter seemed to sober immediately and the look of concern and compassion in his eyes surprised me. Then he slowly drew the story out of Johnny until he had related all the details of his sister's death and what had happened because of it. 

It was amazing watching Walter coax the story out of him and again I was seeing a whole new side of Walter. It was obvious he really cared about other people and their feelings and I found myself wanting to get to know him better.

Johnny finally finished his tale and though he managed not to cry, he did look a little drained and instinctively I draped my arm around his shoulder without thinking how it might look to Walter. If Walter was surprised or offended it didn't show, in fact he seemed to be watching us with new interest, as if he had figured something out about us.

"Good thing you had Robert to take care of you," he said smiling, "Good friends are important when stuff like that happens."

"We've known each other since we were little kids," I repeated, hoping that explained my sudden intimacy, "we're like brothers and my folks treat Johnny just like he's their son and his folks feel the same about me."

"That's nice, it wasn't quite like that with me and Billy, but we were close. Actually my folks didn't like him at all, and his dad hated both of us," he laughed sadly.

I knew there was a story here and that it would explain a lot about Walter, but I didn't feel like he was ready to share it yet and I wasn't going to ask. Instead I would treat him in a way that let him know I cared and that when he trusted me enough I would be there for him, and Johnny too.

We finally climbed down and we went inside and got a drink and some cookies then I suggested we walk over to the railroad tracks and show Walter all our favorite haunts. We got there just as a train had passed and the tracks were still warm and Walter fell down on his knees and put his ear to the tracks to feel the vibration of the train.

"Ouch, it's  hot," he said laughing, "too bad we got here late. I like trains."

"So do we," I offered, we throw rocks and try to land them in the open door of boxcars sometimes," I said hoping that didn't sound to childish or lame.

"Yeah, and sometimes there are bums in the boxcars. I almost nailed one one time," Johnny laughed.

"I bet I could put a rock in every time," Walter said picking up a rock and throwing it as far and as fast as he could. It was no surprise that it flew high and far and with such speed that I was quite sure anyone on the receiving end of it would be dog meat.

We showed him the loading platform and the open boxcar full of sand and he poked around a little and looked at us questioningly.

"What's the sand for?"

I'd heard it was for the brakes on the trains and when I told him that he just shrugged, "Bet you guys had a lot of fun in here," he said grinning, but I wasn't sure what kind of fun he meant so I didn't answer.

Johnny however is not shy and wasn't about to let that go without commenting, "Yeah, if this sand could only talk." Johnny joked. 

I laughed nervously and Walter gave us both an appraising look, then shook his head, "I bet," then looking around some more he added, "I gotta take a leak, is it okay if I go in here?"

"Uh, sure we do it all the time," I said blushing, "it just runs down into the sand and it don't stink or anything."

He climbed the nearest sand pile and then stood in the corner, his back to us as we both watched with interest, maybe a little too much interest. Soon a stream of  yellow piss began hitting the wall and running down into the sand and Walter let a contented sigh.

When he was finished he turned around and zipped up, but not before we got a quick glimpse of his semi erect pecker. Was he flashing us? I wondered. But it wasn't like we hadn't seen it everyday in gym class.

Afterwards we walked on up the tracks and toward the gin mill. No tour of our favorite spots was complete without that particular place and Walter seemed to be as interested in it as he had been the sand car.

"Wow, talk about private," he said poking around, "Just tell me...between one guy and another, have you ever beat off in here?"

I was surprised, but not shocked by Walter's question. After all we were all boys and well, boys beat off all the time and it was only logical that when we found a truly private place we'd take advantage of that privacy.

"A million times," Johnny answered for us, laughing and raising his eyebrows comically.

"Damn, both of you...together or just by yourself?" he asked blushing a little.

"What do you think?" Johnny said grinning.

Walter just grinned back and didn't answer. Instead he poked around a bit more and finally sat down on one of the hay bales scattered around the floor. Johnny and I walked over and sat down on either side of him and for a few minutes we just sat there in silence. 

I could tell Walter had something on his mind, but I didn't want to push him to talk. It had to be on his own terms, but Johnny wasn't quite as patient.

"Did you and that friend of yours...Billy, ever beat off together?" Johnny asked grinning.

"What? Oh, yeah...course we did. We were best friends, we sort of discovered that stuff together,"  he said evenly. 

"Yeah, it was sort of like that with us too," Johnny said giving me a wink, "and a few of our other buddies."

Walter looked up at Johnny and then me and smiled, "It's what guys do," he said simply, "that's all," he added then dropping his head he was quiet again.

I could feel the tension in the air and I didn't  understand what was happening, but Johnny, who was more outspoken and less sensitive, plowed on ahead.

"Yeah, this friend of ours...Roger, he taught us a bunch of stuff. That was two years ago, but then he moved a year ago and well...we sort of taught it to some of our other friends." 

"What sort of stuff?" Walter asked looking interested.

"Oh, you know...sex stuff. Practicin' for when we find a girl," Johnny said looking worried now.

If Walter didn't like queers he could beat both of us up and then ruin us at school. I was terrified for a minute then Walter spoke and put both our minds at ease.

"How's that working out for you. Have you found a girl  yet?" he asked looking amused.

"Naw, not really. Well, our friend Larry did, but he said she was a cock teaser and didn't put out so he dumped her."

"Yeah, girls are like that," he said looking far away all of a sudden, "You guys ready to go?" he said standing suddenly and surprising us.

"Yeah, want to walk downtown and get an Icee or something, I got money?" I said in an attempt to change the subject.

"I got money," Walter said, "but yeah...let's go. You guys can show me around. I've only been downtown a couple times since I moved here."

So we walked back up the tracks and up Graham Avenue, pointing out all the stores as we went, and eventually we came to McCrory's and went inside and looked around before we finally got our Icee. 

"Hey, we can go over to Cherokee Drugs and see if they have any of those muscle books," I suggested.

"I got lots of those, if you want to borrow some you can," Walter suggested, "no need to spend any money on them."

"Oh, okay...next time we come over maybe we can each borrow one."

"Sure, hey...wanna go to the Library with me? I need to see if they have a certain book?"

The Library was on the other side of the street and about a block further east and we crossed at the light and headed that way. We knew we couldn't take our drinks in with us so we sat on the grassy lawn out front and drank our Icees and talked. 

I was learning a lot about Walter, but there was still a lot I didn't know and I felt like there was a sadness inside him and it kept showing up from time to time. I wondered if it had anything to do with his friend Billy or the fact that his folks had suddenly decided to move him here, but I didn't know how to find out without being too nosy.

We finished our Icees and disposed of the cups in the trashcan by the door and went into the Library. It was small as far as Library's go but I always had this feeling of reverence when I walked in to the place. Over the years I had spent a lot of time there, browsing the shelves and finding new and exciting books to read, and the place had a very special place in my heart.

Walter went to the card catalog and began pawing through it and soon he wrote down a number and title and headed off to the non fiction area with us right behind him. He found what he was looking for and thumbed through it then closed the book and headed to the check out desk.

"Hello Walter," the librarian said surprising the heck out of me. 

How did she know his name? I wondered, when did Walter have time to hang out in the library enough to be recognized?

"Hi aunt Trudy," he said explaining it all. The head Librarian was Mrs. Meadows to us, Aunt Trudy to him.

When we were outside I mentioned the fact that his aunt worked there and  he laughed, "Yeah, my aunt and uncle live here and my dad is working for my uncle now. Aunt Trudy and Uncle Elmer used to visit us all the time. I think they talked mom and dad into moving here after...well, when things got messed up back there."

The mystery was deepening, but it was obvious Walter didn't want to talk about it just yet. I was confident that eventually he would, when he figured out what nice guys we were, but for now I'd just have to be patient.

We walked down the other side of the street this time and we pointed out the other stores of interest to us and The Cherokee Drugstore where we liked to get cherry limeades and buy our comic books. At Mill street we crossed and were back at the tracks again and this time we were just in time for a train.

We could hear it's whistle blowing long before we cleared the big building on the corner and there it was flying through the crossing. We ran to the tracks and found some rocks and waited  till a boxcar with an open door came along and all three of us threw one at the same time.

I aimed too far back and mine bounced off the side of the car, and Johnny's barely cleared the door and tumbled inside, but Walter's rock not only went in dead center, but it also went all the way through and out the open door on the other side.

"Did you see that?"  Johnny said excitedly, "Walter's rock went all the way through."

Even as we were praising Walter we were taking aim for the next boxcar and this time we all three scored, Walter's hitting the closed door on the other side and bouncing around before the boxcar whizzed past us.

We continued to throw, Johnny and I occasionally scoring, but Walter only missed one time and just barely.

"Do you play ball?" I asked after the caboose had passed, "You could throw strikes every time."

"Naw, well...I used to...when I was younger, but not on a team or anything...just at school and stuff." 

I couldn't help but notice that Walter seemed a little uncomfortable talking about this and he quickly changed the subject. Either Johnny didn't notice or he was just waiting him out like I was, because he jumped right in with what Walter was talking about.

Eventually we wound up back at my house and we went inside and got a drink. Mom was sitting at the kitchen table sewing a button back on one of my shirts and I thought this might be a good time to ask for her help with Walter's costume.

She listened with interest as I outlined what we'd dreamed up and I could see the lights go on in her head.

"I have the perfect material. Its a leopard print that I bought to cover a chair with, but after I got it home I decided it was too loud, but it's perfect for what you have in mind."

She jumped up and returned with the material and we looked it over. It was heavier than most material and looked almost like a real animal skin. Mom grabbed a tape measure and asked Walter if she could take a few measurements and he nodded, but he was blushing the whole time. 

It wasn't like she was measuring his inseam or anything, something I hated the guy at the clothing store doing, or touching his junk or anything and pretty soon she wrote some stuff down on a pad and that was that.

"It won't take much to sew this up, but it will leave quite a bit of your upper body and your legs uncovered, so you might want to consider wearing a long sleeve pullover and some sweat pants or something."

"Yes, ma'am, if it's cold that night, but usually the cold don't bother me that much."

We went off to my room then and I showed Walter my models and he seemed genuinely impressed. We sat down on my bed and talked about how to make his barbells and came up with what I thought was a pretty good idea. We'd use an old mop handle and blow up two balloons and then put paper mache over them and paint it all black.

Walter seemed to be excited at the idea of dressing up and going with us on Halloween and I have to admit I was looking forward to it myself. Not only would I feel safer with Walter along, I felt like it would be good for him to get out and meet some new people.

Around 5:30 Walter said he should probably be going and we walked him to the street. I considered asking him to spend the night, but Johnny was already staying over and we sort of had some plans...he he. Anyway Walter didn't seem to expect that and seemed fine with leaving. He thanked us again, and we thanked him and told him we'd see him on Monday then watched him till he turned the corner and we lost sight of him.

Monday was cloudy and cool, but at least it didn't rain, which was a good thing since it was Halloween. Mom had finished our costumes and Walter had ridden his bike over on Sunday and tried his on and it fit perfectly. The barbells we'd made looked ever better than we'd hoped thanks to dad's help and Walter looked like he was sort of choked up by all the work we'd put into his costume.

It had been a busy weekend, but fortunately mom had most of mine and Johnny's costumes already finished and we only had to put the finishing touches on them. We tried our costumes on while Walter was there and mom insisted on taking a few pictures with her Brownie camera.

After showering  that day at school we headed to my house on foot, and discussed our route for the evenings outing. Last year Gerald had gone with us, but this year he was going with some kids from his neighborhood and his older brother and that worked out well for all of us. Donnie and Larry were going together and though we figured we'd see them along the way, we weren't actually staying together as a group or anything. 

We'd invited Walter to go home with us and  have dinner and  though he seemed a little reluctant at first, he finally agreed that it made more sense than going all the way home and then coming back. He seemed really shy when we first sat down at the table, but my folks had a way of drawing out shy kids and pretty soon he was joking and talking with us like he belonged there.

After dinner we went to my room to put our costumes on and as we were undressing I studied Walter's body, trying not to be too obvious. He didn't seem to have a shy bone in his body when it came to undressing around other guys and he was friendly enough around other kids, but he seemed to be holding back somehow, like he was afraid to get too close to them. I'd noticed it with Johnny and me first, but it seemed like he was starting to trust us more and more as the days went by and I figured it was just a matter of time till he told us everything.

Walter had decided on wearing thermal underwear under his leopard print which was a little disappointing, but he still looked pretty sexy. Johnny's hobo outfit was anything but sexy, but with Johnny inside it I still got a little tingly feeling inside when I looked at him.

My pirate outfit was pretty good too but I have to admit the patch over my eye was kind of annoying. I had my sword and all I needed was a parrot on my shoulder and I'd have been the perfect pirate.

We left my house just as the sun was going down, hitting all the good houses on my street first then working our way south and eventually crossing the tracks and the highway and heading for the nice part of town where we knew we'd get the best candy.

Walter attracted a lot of attention at every house we stopped at and a couple of the moms gave him looks that said they wouldn't have minded feeling those muscles up close. I had to admit Walter was sexy and looked more like a man than a boy, even if he was only a year older than us.

We stopped in the big park to check out our goodies and rest a minute before hitting the big houses that surrounded the park and as we were sitting on a picnic table suddenly we heard voices and when we turned around there were three older boys headed our way.

"Well, well, well...what have we here?" One of them smirked, "Captain hook, a bum and  a cave man."

"He's a muscle builder," Johnny said sounding annoyed.

"Nice outfit," the boy said, "but you look a little old to be trick or treating, you should be out egging houses or something, right boys?" he said turning to his two cronies.

"Yeah, we got Principal Burdick's house real good," one of the two said laughing, "We tp'd the hell out of his yard and threw eggs all over the place."

"Well, we're not into that stuff," I said boldly, "we just want to get some candy, not mess things up."

"I thought pirates were tough," the first boy said, "you sound like a momma's boy to me."

"Yeah, a momma's boy," his buddies singsonged.

"Shut up about him,"  Johnny said sliding down off the table, "at least he's not a greasy little hood like you."

"Whoa, that's big words from a little turd like you. You wanna back them up you dirty little bum?"

"I can, if I have to," Johnny said balling up his fists.

I knew Johnny could hold his own, but against three older boys I was afraid he'd get creamed.

"Johnny," I said laying my hand on his arm.

"Aww, is your girlfriend going to save you?" the bully said laughing.

"He's not my girlfriend, you ape. He's my best friend, but I bet you wouldn't know what that's like..cause I bet you don't have any real friends, just these two toadies."

"OH, you are sooo dead," the kid said stepping forward, then suddenly he was on his back and Walter was standing over him.

It had happened so fast I couldn't even begin to tell you what happened. One minute the guy was walking toward Johnny and the next minute he was flat on his back and gasping for air.

"Stay there," Walter demanded, "Don't move till we're out of the park or I'll have to hurt you so bad your mother will cry when she sees you."

The kid just nodded and the other two were backing up looking like they were ready to run at any moment.

Walter nodded and grabbed his sack of candy and turned to us, "C'mon guys, this place stinks let's go find some more candy and let these losers lick their wounds."

We were laughing by the time we got to the edge of the park and I had a whole new respect for Walter. Not only was he good guy, but he was tough and with him around no one would be giving us shit any more.

"What the hell just happened," Johnny said once the laughing stopped.

"It's just a little trick my uncle taught me, you hit the guy right here," Walter said pausing to lay his hand on Johnny's chest just below his throat,"and he's down for the count."

"That's really neat, you have to teach me that move," Johnny said, "cause you may not always be around when idiots like that come after us."

"I'll teach you that and some more stuff I know, next time we work out, but for now...let's just get some more candy. I need the sugar."

The houses around the park were expensive homes and of course you'd expect the best from those houses. A few of them really put out, but of course a few of the families living there were cheapskates and didn't give us all that much candy. But in the end it evened out and by the time we moved on to the neighborhoods beyond our sacks were much heavier.

We hit the neighborhood in Walter's area, but avoided his street altogether, then headed south to a newer neighborhood which turned out to be one of the most generous ones of the night. By 8 o'clock our bags were three quarters full and we were starting to get tired so we headed back.

Our return street took us past a lot of older homes, but we did okay there too and by the time we finally made it back to my house we had all the candy we could carry. As we came in the front door mom looked at us and our bags and smiled.

"Well, looks like you boys hit pay dirt."

"If you mean we got a lot of candy, then yeah, we did," I said proudly.

"Well, all I ask is that you don't eat it all at once."

My dad breezed in next and took one look at my bag of candy and I swear his mouth was watering.

"Any peanut butter kisses in there?" he asked sounding hungry.

"Sure dad, you know I hate those thing, so they're all yours."

We went to my room and changed out of our costumes and emptied out our bags and sorted our candy. Between us we had over a dozen of the peanut butter kisses dad loved so much and we pooled them together to give to him. 

"I wish it was  Friday or Saturday or something," I said sighing, "then we could have a sleepover and stay up late, instead we have to go to dumb old school tomorrow."

"Hey, I was wondering..." Walter said sounding nervous, "would you guys ever want to sleepover at my place, my mom said it would be fine...but if you don't want to that's fine."

I looked at Johnny and he smiled, "Hey, we'd love to. Just say when, but we gotta warn ya', we're pretty horny guys and we might embarrass you."

Walter blushed but he smiled, "That's okay. I think I can handle it."

We made plans for the following Friday night and decided if we got approval we'd just ride our bikes to school and then to Walter's after school to save time. That way we'd have our bikes if we wanted to ride on Saturday.

Walter was excited as some little kid at Christmas and I was happy for him. I wondered if he really knew what Johnny was saying, or if he cared, but by now I was pretty sure Walter wouldn't be bothered by a little show of affection between me and Johnny.

Dad volunteered to drive Walter home and the three of us rode in the back seat and cut up the whole way there, but dad didn't seem to mind, that was just how my dad was, he loved us kids and sometimes I think he envied us. I knew he loved his life and his family, but sometimes he got this far away look in his eyes when we watched us and I figured maybe he was remembering how it was when he was our age. 

We walked Walter to his door and told him we'd see him tomorrow then both crowded in the front seat with my dad and he drove Johnny home. By the time dad and I got home I was exhausted and I skipped my usual shower and headed straight to bed.

End of Chapter 14

Walter has a secret and Robert is determined to find out what it is. Why did Walter and his family suddenly move and what part did Billy play in it? Meanwhile Walter is teaching the boys a few new things about their bodies and playing the part of body guard. Robert has pushed his worries about Johnny and girls into the back part of his brain, but who knows when they'd spring back out and cause conflict again?

    Thanks once again for your support over the years and I value your emails and your input. Please address all emails to kewl_dad1@hotmail.com I promise to answer all of them in a timely fashion.

11-07-17

I have updated my story list if you see any missing please let me know.

Other stories by Kewl Dad

* Denotes Series, rest are short stories

1. A Christmas for Joey 

2. Accidental Dad*

3. Adolescent

4. Alex and Aidan*

5. Andy Tastes Like Candy

6. At the Dike*

7. Black Cock

8. Boy Glory Hole

9. Bullied

10. Christmas Boy

11. CL Cock Sucker

12. Cory*

13. Corey's Scent

14. Dirt Bikes and Blowjobs

15. DMV Boy

16. Dougie's Story #Part 3 of a series

17. The Family*

18. The Ginger and the Chub

19. Hair Salon Boys

20. I Heart You

21. Little Brother's Feet*

22. Lost in Fear*

23. Mars

24. McChicken

25. My Best Friend's Dad *Related story to My Son's Best Friends

26. My Not so Miserable Life

27. My Little Runaway #Part 1 of a series

28. My Son's Best Friends *Related series to My Best Friend's Dad

29. My Little Runaway

30. My 11th Summer*

31. One Night

32. Poindexter Files*

33. Rabbit: A Christmas Story

34. Second Chance for Love

35. Six Black Boys*

36. Skateboard Boy*

37. Skateboard Christmas

38. Sudden Family*

39. Taking a Chance on Love

40. The Year I Learned to Love my Brother (TYILTLMB)*

41. The Reynolds Twins*

42. Tommy Boy #Part two of a series

43. To the Max

44. Tracy*

45. Trick or Treet Dress Up

46. Tween to Teen*

47. What a Dollar Will Buy

48. It's Amazing What Sex Can do for a Guy (as smoothoperator52)