Bill W

Son of a Preacher Man

Chapter 1
In the Beginning

I guess I was the quintessential 'son of a preacher man' as I was growing up; at least that's what everyone else thought. For me, I felt I already had three strikes against me, even though I hadn't even started the game yet. First of all, there was my name. My father, being a Pentecostal minister, selected a biblical name for me, hence I was stuck with the handle Zachariah Ezekiel Handy (I'd even be willing to bet you've never seen two z's in the same name before), but I was called Zach for short. The second strike was that not only was my father a minister, but his congregation was in a small town in the Missouri Ozarks - the heart of the Bible belt. The third strike, and possibly the most fatal flaw, was that I was gay.

God must have been in his comedic mode on the day he created me, because why else would he have stuck me with a name like this, made me part of a religious family and then topped it off by making me gay to boot. I guess this had to be one of his most malicious of ironies. In spite of this, I learned to live with my name and didn't mind the religious upbringing or the fact that I spent more time in church in a month than many people did in a lifetime. What I had trouble dealing with was the fact that it was utterly cruel and heartless for God to have put me in a situation where I had to sit through sermon after sermon listening to my father quoting scripture about the sin of homosexuality.

During a large percentage of those diatribes, I felt my father was preaching directly to me and warning me about my sinful ways. Of course, I didn't interpret the scriptures the same way he, his colleagues and parishioners did. To me, the Biblical warnings against men loving men were merely made at a time when such prohibitions were necessary to preserve the species. Let's face it, with a population in the hundreds of thousands at the time, it could have meant the end of mankind if men had learned about the joys of man to man sex and ceased to procreate.

As I saw it, the Old Testament sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were not that men wanted to have sex with other men, but that they wanted to force non-consensual sex, or sex without love, upon another person. I believed it was that act, the attempt to force sex upon an unwilling individual, which comprised the sin mentioned in the Biblical story. The men in question wanted to force themselves upon the angels, who were probably far more beautiful than anyone they'd ever seen before, but the question of forced sex was not the only sin committed in those two cities. The inhabitants also didn't offer hospitality to strangers nor were they willing to take care of the beggars in their midst, which were both required by Jewish law and tradition. The residents were also blasphemous, so the destruction of those cities had multiple causes, not just the one that is generally cited.

The New Testament also differed dramatically in its portrayal of God and emphasis of what he stood for, as compared to how he was viewed in the Old Testament. The God of the Old Testament was a vengeful, spiteful and vindictive God, the originator of the concept of an eye for an eye and who often instructed the Jews to kill all men, woman and children, along with the animals, of their defeated enemies. In the New Testament Jesus came to preach about the love and forgiveness of his father. Although the older scriptures were still an important part of the overall religious teachings, it was Jesus' current message that was to take precedence.

Even the few mentions against homosexuality that are in the New Testament, none are directly attributed to Jesus and they don't appear in the gospels. They are, for the most part, attributed to the writings of Paul and might possibly have a different basis for being there. First of all, it is important to remember that Paul was a Jew who aggressively persecuted Christians, when he was known as Saul, and his conversion didn't erase his previous training. As a Jew, Paul was extremely familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures and the prohibition against homosexuality, so his few references about this in his writings might have merely been a throwback to his earlier Judaic foundation and not a necessarily a teaching Jesus felt was important. Otherwise, why didn't Jesus ever say anything about it?

We also know how the church has taken part in twisting truths or standing by positions, even some they knew were probably incorrect, and persecuting others in order to protect their own interests. This was what happened to Galileo, who was declared a heretic because his theory went against church doctrine. The church felt the scriptures proved the earth was the center of the universe and condemned Galileo, yet his concept that the sun was the center of the universe was later vindicated.

Another group that was easily vilified and which the church played a significant role in persecuting were those they claimed to be involved with witchcraft and working with the devil. Since there was a longstanding belief in witches and wizards, even in pagan societies, it was easy to blame the ills of society upon those supposedly working with the devil. Who knows how many innocent people were condemned to death for this supposed crime by the Inquisition and other religious groups.

Another example might be how the church has tried to downplay the role and even tried to portray a particular New Testament figure in less than favorable light. This person was a woman, Mary Magdalene, who played a very important role in the early Christian movement, possibly even greater than the early church was willing to admit. She was one of Jesus' most dedicated and ardent followers and the leader of the women traveling with Jesus, and some would even claim she was one of his disciples. Mary was also there when Jesus was crucified, unlike the male disciples who had fled, and part of the group that interred his body immediately afterward. Later, she was one of the first to discover his empty tomb, but she was also the first to whom Christ appeared after his resurrection and told her to tell the others about this fact.

Not only that, but there were other gospels in the early church that weren't included in the standardized version of the Bible, but which painted Mary in a much different light. One of these was a gospel directly attributed to Mary, which in itself indicated her importance in the early church, and the Gospel of Phillip. In his gospel, Phillip referred to Mary as Jesus' companion and partner, but it also said that Jesus loved her more than his other disciples. Plus he said that Jesus kissed her often on the, but the last word had been obliterated on the copy, so we'll never know where for certain he kissed her. The point, however, is that by blocking these gospels from inclusion in the approved text, it helped to relegate Mary's importance to a lesser role.

The other issue is that Mary has been inaccurately referred to as a prostitute, and whether this was done intentionally or not is in question. Some feel this was a deliberate misinterpretation of the scripture meant to slant the accepted view of her role and done to maintain male superiority and dominance within the church hierarchy and relegate woman to a lesser role. This is an area of contention the church is still dealing with today, the role of women in the church.

If early Christian leaders were able to slant the scriptures to suit their purposes on these issues, then why couldn't they have done the same thing with other issues, such as homosexuality? Might this just be another of those hotly accepted issues with popular support that the church has decided to adhere to, but might it also one day be acknowledged as being misguided?

Knowing these things, I found it hard to believe that God would create me gay and then tell me I wasn't permitted to act upon those urges. That wouldn't fit with the image of the loving and forgiving God of the New Testament, at least it wasn't the way I saw things. This left me with only one problem, and that was how to deal with everyone else's perceptions of what God was telling us. I knew this was going to be much more difficult to deal with and overcome.

As I grew and matured, I found my sexual feelings even more difficult to control. Seeing the church also frowned upon even occasional and harmless adolescent nudity, this made it more difficult for me to learn about the beauty and joys of the young male body. It also failed to provide me with visual material I needed to generate the escapist fantasies that I would use as an outlet. There was only one place where I could sate my curiosity and gaze at what I desired. That was the one notable exception to this prohibition on nudity, and that was the communal bathing of prepubescent children.

It was a fairly common practice in our community, since it was something the church didn't frowned upon, to allow young children of the same sex to take baths together. When I was younger, I took full advantage of this fact and used these baths with neighbor boys to fulfill my voyeuristic tendencies when one of our mothers or an older boy was bathing us. It didn't bother me when a woman was doing this, because I would be too busy checking out each of the other boys with whom I being bathed. During my youth, I eventually took baths with the sons of a great many members of my father's congregation. Since bathing boys and girls together was pretty much forbidden, I also never got to learn about the true nature of the difference between the sexes.

When I became too old to join in these bath time pleasures myself, I would find excuses to be around during these times to help out, so I'd be able to see whatever I could. When I became old enough that I was permitted to help out, I even accepted the responsibility of bathing the male children myself and enjoyed the nightly bath time rituals when they occurred. Even though the boys I got to see were younger than I desired, I could at least look at and memorize the differences of the young male form.

Finally, my prayers were answered with my entrance into junior high school, after I was promotion to the 7th grade, because of the requirement to take group showers after PE class. PRAISE BE TO GOD. These occurrences were a time of great joy for me, but in the same vein, they were also a time of great fear. The joy came from seeing all of the young male bodies parading around the locker room, with their boy meat swaying to and fro, and then watching them soap up those beautiful bodies and rinse them off in full view. Many of these young males were not members of my father's puritanical order and were less inhibited about being naked in front of others, as compared to those raised in our faith. For that reason, I was able to catch many lengthy glances at their nude bodies, from both near and far, to temporarily satisfy my sense of curiosity and fulfill my desires.

Even though I enjoyed these sessions, it was also a time to be feared, because I was constantly afraid of becoming aroused by seeing all of this bare flesh. Whenever I became too stimulated, my penis would stiffen and this clearly indicated my feelings to everyone else. It was due to this fear that I would masturbate, another mortal sin, several times on gym days. I would do it before I went to sleep the night before and once or twice before I went to school, but I would also slip into the boys' room to do it again during lunch hour, prior to my afternoon gym class. This didn't always ensure a stiffy wouldn't happen, but it did lower the odds of such a thing occurring.

During the school year, I would also pretend to be straight by talking to girls and hanging around them at various church functions, which were usually really boring to begin with. In part, this was due to the fact that movies and dances were frowned upon too, so these functions basically revolved around Bible studies. Anyway, I did my best to give my family and the congregation the appearance of being a wholesome, God-fearing young man, although I felt as if I was betraying myself. Even though doing this was personally painful, I was very successful with this ruse of heterosexuality and no one ever suspected a thing. As far as anyone else was concerned, I was the perfect 'son of a preacher man.'

The summer between my 8th and 9th grade years proved to be an interesting one. As soon as school let out, I went to work for a neighboring farmer during the day, so I could earn some money to put away for my post-high school education. Even though my family was expecting me to attend Bible College and become a minister, just like my father, unless I was able to help out with the expenses there wouldn't be enough money to cover this small luxury. It was during my initial experience of working on a farm that I also had my very first sexual encounter.

It all started when Ryan was hired to work on the same farm as I was. We were the same age and I casually knew him from school, since we had some classes together, but he didn't go to my father's church. After we ate our lunch, but before we went back to work after our midday break, Ryan and I would go out to the barn and fool around in the hayloft for a while. At first, this was all purely innocent fun and we would merely jump from the loft into the hay below, or we might run around the barn while playing tag or hide-and-seek. That all changed one afternoon after Ryan led me up to the loft, because instead of jumping into the hay below, he started asking me a whole bunch of different questions.

"Zach, how often do you beat your meat?" he asked quite frankly.

I pretended I didn't know what he was talking about, because I was too embarrassed to own up to the fact that I did it. In my father's church, this was not something one would admit to or talk about openly.

"What do you mean?" I countered, trying to deflect his question.

"You know, choke the chicken, flog the donkey or visit Rosie Palm 3; YOU know, play with your dick," he blurted out in response.

I continued to act shocked, hoping he'd drop the issue, but that didn't happen. When I saw he was still staring at me and waiting for my answer, I finally spoke.

"Why would you ask me that?" I wondered.

"Well, its fun and I just wanted to see if you did it as much as I do," he reasoned, with a grin.

"I don't know. How often do you do it?" I countered, since I didn't want to be the first to admit to this.

Ryan blushed a little before he answered, which showed me he wasn't totally comfortable discussing this either.

"Once or twice a day," he confessed. "Now, how about you?"

"I do it once in a while, but I'm not sure how often," I admitted, reluctantly.

"Have you ever done it with another guy?" he followed, shocking me even more.

Since I didn't really what to answer this question, I feigned embarrassment and shock, but I knew I really wanted to pursue this question further. Did this possibly mean that he wanted to do it with me?

"What do you mean when you say with another guy?" I asked, hoping he'd let me know exactly what he was getting at.

"You know, like watching each other do it, or even better, actually doing it TO each other," he replied.

I must have gone beet red when he uttered that last statement, because this was the stuff of my dreams.

"Have 3; uh 3; have you uh 3; have you ever done it, with another boy I mean?" I stuttered, nervously.

"Yeah, both ways," he admitted boldly, maybe even boastfully.

"Really? With whom?" I wondered.

"With my best friend," he readily answered. "We get together once in while and jerk off for fun. Sometimes we do it to ourselves, usually in one of our bedrooms, but other times we do it to each other."

"What's it like, touching another boy's uh 3; um 3; thing?" I mumbled, nervously.

"You mean his cock?" Ryan clarified, while chuckling at my uneasiness with the terminology and topic. "It's fun and it feels a lot better than when you do it to yourself. You want to try it?"

I didn't want to rush to answer this, but hell YES, I did want to try it. Even though I was really eager, I just stood there, unsure about how I should respond. I had seen Ryan in the showers at school before and I always thought he was gorgeous and had a nice body. He was about 5' 5" [1.65 cm], light blond hair and sky blue eyes, but he also had a real firm, muscular body with nice pecs and the start of a six-pack on his abdomen. He had wide shoulders, for his age, which tapered down to his narrow hips, and smooth, muscular legs, topped by a cute bubble butt and supported by oversized feet. Hidden in his pants, he had the start of a blond patch of silky smooth pubic hair and a 4.5" [11½ cm] circumcised penis that dangled over a smooth ball sack, which contained his two small nuggets.

We were about the same size and I had a pretty firm body myself, but I had a 5" [12½ cm] uncut penis sticking out of my mound of brown sex hair. I was always fascinated whenever I saw a circumcised dick, so I wanted so badly to touch his. I guess that I must have hesitated for too long, because Ryan started to explain more, as he tried to put me more at ease with the idea.

"Hey, if it bothers you that my prick is cut and yours isn't, then you don't have to worry about it," he offered. "I think it's kind of cool that yours is natural. I've seen it in the locker room before and have always wondered what it would be like to play with that extra skin."

"That's foreskin," I corrected, surprising myself by doing so. "I'm not afraid. It's just that I'm just not sure if it's right."

"I know your dad's a preacher and all," he said reassuringly, "but I know you'll like it if you want to give it a try. Come on, just do it this once. If you don't like it, then you won't ever have to do it again. Promise."

I lowered my head, looked at the ground, and played shy. Even though I was dying on the inside for the chance to wrap my hand around Ryan's penis, I didn't want to give him the impression of being too eager to proceed. After an appropriate pause, I gave him my answer.

"Ok," I said weakly.

"Great!" Ryan screamed, almost too loudly. Catching himself, he spoke more quietly when he continued. "Drop your pants."

We both fumbled around, as we unbuckled our belts and then lowered our jeans and briefs. For a moment we just stood there and stared at each other's penis, before Ryan decided to give me more instructions.

"Look, seeing I've done this before, I'll do you first, so you can see what it's like. Is that all right with you?" he wondered.

To my surprise, he didn't wait for my answer and just bent down in front of me and slowly reached his hand out toward my flaccid penis. Gently, he played with the loose skin that hung beyond the bulbous red glans, but he had a strange look on his face as he did so. He continued to pinch and roll the foreskin around in his fingers, but then he would also try to slip his finger into the opening in my sheath. While he was playing with my foreskin with his left hand, he reached his right hand out for my sac and tenderly squeezed and tugged on my balls. After receiving so much attention, my cock continued to firm up and twitched a couple of times, until it was as hard as granite. Ryan then looked up at me with a big, shit-eating grin on his face.

"Looks like you're beginning to like this, huh?" he observed.

I just nodded my head in agreement and Ryan went back to work pulling the skin back and forth over the end of my penis. He would draw it back until my deep-red colored head would pop out and then he would push the skin back over it, until the head disappeared again.

"Wow, that's neat," he squealed, similar to a kid playing with a new toy at Christmas."

As he continued playing with the foreskin, my penis began to throb, so Ryan moved slightly to my left side, as his left hand slowly began to stroke my erect member. The more he did this, the faster his hand moved up and down my shaft, but then he reached his right hand between my legs to started to massage my testicles too. Instinctively, I spread my legs as far apart as I could for him, with my pants currently around my ankles, and I became delirious from the pleasure I was receiving from my friend's hand. I started to hear moans and groans coming from my throat, which gained me another cute smile from Ryan.

"Feels great, doesn't it?" he offered. "Wait until you finally shoot. You'll love it."

I knew from my past experiences that I was almost there, since I could feel that pressure building up in my groin. My knees were also beginning to buckle, as I awaited the anticipated release. I was beginning to feel almost too weak to stand when I began to speak.

"I'm going to shoot. I'm 3; arrrgh 3; mmm 3; cumming," I warned him.

After I'd said that, a rope of my young, creamy juices jettisoned from the tip of my penis, as I released my first explosive burst. Then, it was followed by a second, third and even a fourth burst of my hot boy spunk. Each spurt was slightly less powerful than the one before it, until finally the rest of my cum merely trickled out over Ryan's thumb and index finger, as he continued to milk my slowly deflating member. Once he thought he had drained every last drop from my softening dick, he stood up and smiled at me, while he continued to help me to remain standing.

"Easy, Zach. You'll be all right soon," he offered, as he helped to support my body. "Try to take deep breaths to get your strength back."

He stood next to me and braced me up, while he waited for me to tell him what I thought about what we'd just done. Once I was sufficiently recovered, he began his verbal interrogation.

"Well, what did you think?" he wanted to know.

"I've 3; I've never 3; I've never felt anything that good before," I admitted, in breathless gasps.

"Yeah, I told you it was great," he countered. "Do think you're ready to do the same thing to me now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine and I'll do you now," I agreed, while trying not to sound too eager.

"You know what to do now. Right?" Ryan asked to make sure I was ok with this. "Just do everything I did to you and you'll do fine."

"I know and I'm ready to do it now," I verified.

With that, Ryan moved in front of me and thrust out his hips in my direction. The same way he had done to me, I first knelt down in front of him, so I could examine his prick more closely. I loved to look at that circumcised cock and its nice pink crown, but I also examined the scar left by the operation and traced my fingers around the ridge of his glans. Then, I followed the veins up his shaft with my fingertips, before I gently took his organ in my hand and held it like it was a delicate piece of crystal that might shatter if I squeezed it too tightly.

Slowly I started to stroke his stiffening member and could feel Ryan's body begin to jerk spasmodically in my hand. I tightened my grip slightly and picked up the pace, but I was really enjoying finally being able to touch another boy like this and didn't want it to ever end. At this point, I also heard Ryan start to moan, so I knew I must be doing a fairly good job and he was getting close. Seeing I wanted to bring him as much pleasure as possible, I forgot about my own thoughts and concentrated on pleasing my new friend.

Suddenly I remembered something else and reached my left hand between his legs, so I could stroke his testicles, as my right hand continued to slide even faster over the surface of his boyhood. Involuntarily, Ryan's body began to shudder as his testicles started to be sucked upward, as they were pulled closer to his body, while at the same time I could feel his cock swell in my hand. Suddenly, his first fluid rope rocketed from his dick and shot across the floor. Ryan whimpered as the second, third, and fourth shots erupted from his cock and reached out for my shoulder to help steady his wobbly frame. I continued stroking his penis until the final drop emerged from the tip and then I looked at Ryan for approval.

"Was it ok?" I asked, hopefully.

Ryan didn't answer right away, but when he finally came back to his senses, he gave me a resounding answer.

"Damn straight, it was," he stated, grinning broadly. "You learn pretty quick, so thanks."

Once he was able to stand on his own again, both of us reached down and pulled our pants back up, before zipping up and buckling our belts. Then, we just stood looking at each other, wondering what the other was thinking.

"Do you think you might want to do this again sometime?" Ryan asked, and I could see the expectation in his eyes.

"Yeah, that would be great," I agreed. "You were right, it was a lot better than when I do it by myself."

"Cool. I liked doing it better with you than with my best friend, because I think your prick is neat," Ryan admitted, while looking at me to gauge my reaction.

"Thanks. I really like yours, too," I concurred.

"Come on, we've got to get back before these rest of them go out to fields to work again," Ryan suggested. "I don't want anyone coming in here and finding us, because they might get suspicious with all of this cum on the floor." After saying this, Ryan pointed toward the streaks and puddles of cum on the loft floor. "I'll come back after we finish work for the day and clean it up and then next time you can do it. All right"

"Yeah, that'll be fine," I agreed.

With that said, we left the barn, smiling from ear to ear, as we continued to revel in the wonderful feelings that still tingled deep in our loins. I was especially happy, knowing that Ryan was willing to do this with me again. After years of hoping, I'd finally found a partner in crime and was savoring the memories of every delicious second of what we'd done, while replaying it over and over again in my mind.

That night at home, after I cleaned up from the long, hard day of work, I lie on my bed and dreamed about the possibilities that still lay ahead with Ryan. The summer was still young and we had many weeks of working side-by-side still ahead of us. I fell asleep that night dreaming about Ryan and me playing endless sexual games and shooting load after load of boy spunk. When I awoke the next morning, I realized that part of my dreams had come true, because I had shot load after load into my underwear during the wet dreams I experienced during my slumber.

Ryan and I were able to find a couple of other opportunities to meet in the barn during that week for our mutual masturbation sessions and it all went off without a hitch. We were thoroughly enjoying the throes of our sexual passion and youthful releases, as we eagerly looked forward to our next chance to repeat this activity. In fact, the following week when we were able to do it again, Ryan asked me another question.

"Hey, Zach. Have you ever had a blowjob?" he wondered, which left me totally dumbfounded.

Since I was inexperienced and didn't having many resources to use that would to increase my sexual knowledge or answer my myriad of questions, I was unaware of what he was referring to. After standing with my mouth hanging open for a few seconds, I finally found my tongue and responded.

"What's that?" I wondered, while awaiting his explanation.

"It's when someone puts their mouth over another person's dick and sucks on it," he explained, which immediately caused an involuntary reaction on my part.

"Ewww. That sounds really gross," I shot back, before I took time to think about it fully.

"I've never tried it, but I've heard it's really neat and feels incredible," Ryan added. "I'd be willing to do it to you, if you'd do it to me afterward. What do you think? Deal?"

I looked at Ryan's face and discovered his eyes were pleading with me to give in and try this.

"I know you were right the first time, about doing what we did," I conceded, "but you'd done it before with another guy. You've never done this, so I'm not sure about trying it."

"Look, what if I do it to you first, and if I don't like it, then you won't have to try it on me. Deal?" he offered, while hoping to find a chink in my reluctance.

I considered his suggestion for a few seconds, while thinking I'd really like to see what it was like to have him do it to me, but I took a while before I responded. Ryan noticed my hesitation and I could tell by the look on his face that he was silently praying for me to give in, so I finally responded.

"Ok. It's a deal." I agreed.

Ryan nearly jumped out of the loft with excitement, when he began leaping about and pumping his fist in the air. Once he calmed down, he came over and hugged me.

"Thanks, Zach. I really appreciate you doing this for me," he confessed. "I'll try to make sure I do the best job I can so you'll enjoy it."

"Thanks, and I'll try to do the same," I agreed.

Ryan started jumping around again after hearing my concession that I'd be willing to try it on him too, no matter what. While I was lowering my pants, Ryan continued his little victory dance and I had to chuckle at how cute he looked, wiggling around the loft. When he saw I was ready, he stopped, walked over in front of me and dropped to his knees. Then, he grabbed my boyhood in his hand and lifted it up.

Slowly, he began stroking my rod and balls, as he brought my cock to life. Once I became hard, Ryan pulled the foreskin all the way back, tentatively sniffed around my bulbous helmet and then started to lick around the dark-red head of my member. I felt a wonderful tickling sensation as he did this and my penis bounced around on his tongue. This seemed to excite Ryan even more and he eagerly began to lick up and down the entire shaft. While he continued giving me a tongue bath, he reached under my penis and started to massage my scrotum, which sent even more tingling sensations racing up and down my spine.

After he finished licking it, Ryan wrapped his mouth over the head of my dick and slowly slid down its length. Eventually, I felt his nose brushing against my pubes and my entire erection was enveloped in a moist heat. Once he had it entirely in his mouth, his head started to bob up and down on my shaft, while his tongue continued to whip around, as it went back and forth at the same time. The pleasure I received from his sucking action started to send my body into spasms and I almost lost control of my muscles, as my torso began to twitch and jerk with each of his movements. When I looked down, I could see his blond head of hair frantically sliding up and down the length of my meat, as he greedily sucked on it like a starving infant.

The pressure in my testicles was rapidly building, so I knew it wouldn't take much more of this action before it sent me over the top. I tried to open my mouth to warn Ryan, but only a small squeak came out. When that didn't work, I tried to push his head off of my throbbing prick, but I believe he thought I was merely urging him to speed up his efforts. All that came past my slack jaw and parted lips were some low, guttural moans, as I shot my load into Ryan's unsuspecting orifice.

"Ahhh. Mmm. Ughhh," I moaned as the juices flowed out of my penis and into Ryan's mouth.

Bright lights and colors were suddenly flashing in my brain, as the ecstasy of the moment consumed every fiber in my being. When I was finally able to regain my senses again, I looked down in fear, because I expected Ryan to explode in anger over releasing my load into his mouth.

"Ryan, I'm 3; I'm sooo sorry," I apologized. "I tried to warn you, but I couldn't speak. I tried to push you off, but I couldn't move you. Please, please don't hate me."

To my surprise, Ryan looked up and flashed me his patented grin.

"Don't sweat it, dude. I didn't mind," he assured me. "In fact, it tasted pretty good, a little salty, but not bad at all."

Relieved, I hesitantly spoke again.

"Well, what else did you think? Was it something you might be willing to do again?" I wondered, since I knew I'd definitely enjoyed what we'd just done.

"Sure. It was fun and it really made me hot," he confirmed. "I think my dick is as hard now as it's ever been. You're still going to do it for me, aren't you?"

"Yes, I told you I would," I concurred. "Just give me a minute."

I took a few seconds to catch my breath, which I did as I pulled my pants up and fastened them again. When I glanced over at Ryan to see what he was up to, he'd already lowered his pants and was waiting, somewhat impatiently, for me to begin. His penis was sticking straight out and looked like a tiny, blunt arrow pointing in my direction, but it was also visibly twitching in anticipation of what was to come. It was just so cute and tempting that I couldn't resist it any longer.

I slowly lowered myself in front of him and licked the head of his penis, including the piss slit. His penis began twitching even more as my tongue came into contact with it and then I swirled my oral muscle completely around his corona, so I could taste his full flavor. When I remembered what Ryan had done to me, I started running my tongue up and around the entire length of his shaft, as I delicately lapped at it from crown to base. After doing this for a few minutes, I opened my mouth and swallowed his entire organ, as I slowly lowered my head toward his crotch. I was thoroughly enjoying the sweet masculine smell emanating from his body, as I started to pull back.

"Hey, watch your teeth," Ryan squealed, while sounding as if he was in pain.

I pulled off quickly, so I could apologize.

"Sorry, I'll try to do better," I promised.

"Just open your mouth a little wider and just use your lips," he offered. "You'll do all right then."

I quickly swallowed his rigid rod again and began to bounce up and down on it. I let my tongue eagerly dance around his stiff member, as I pumped on it faster and faster with my lips. I could feel his body began to shake, as his balls lifted in their sac, so I braced myself for the torrent I knew was going to follow.

"Here it comes 3;" he squealed, in a real high pitched voice. "Uuummm."

The first squirt hit the back of my throat and almost gagged me, but I was able to swallow it, just before the other bursts started to follow in rapid succession. I was surprised at how sweet, yet slightly salty it tasted, and even though I originally thought it might disgust me, I was somewhat pleased with its flavor. I continued to suckle on Ryan's boy meat until it was totally flaccid again and then I let it slip from my mouth.

I continued to stay on my knees, because Ryan was leaning forward, with his arms pressing against my shoulders, in order to maintain his balance. While he was doing that, I savored every detail of the experience I had just been part of. I remained like this and allowed Ryan a chance to continue to use me for support until he finally came down from his sexual high.

"Oh, dude. Thank you sooo much for that," he cooed. "It was awesome. I'm so glad you were willing to do it for me too. I loved every second of it."

"Me too, Ryan, and I'm glad you suggested it," I confirmed. "I guess we both know I'll be willing to do this with you again sometime."

Ryan looked down and flashed me that wicked smile of his before he spoke.

"How would you like to come over and spend the weekend at my house?" he offered. "My parents are going out of town to a wedding and they agreed to either let me stay home alone or have a friend over. They're leaving Friday after work and won't be back until Sunday evening, so what do you say?"

"I'm willing to check with my father to see if he'll let me do it, but I won't tell him that your parents won't be there," I agreed. "He's met you before, when he picked me up at the farm, so I think I'll be able to talk him into it. Just give me your phone number and I'll call you later to let you know."

"Fuc 3; I mean, fantastic," Ryan uttered.

He'd quickly caught his near slip in front of the minister's son, since he didn't wish to offend me. Even though he knew what we'd been doing wouldn't be considered acceptable behavior either, he felt he should at least try not to swear when we were together.

"Don't forget to ask, because it means a lot to me," he pressed. "We can do these things all weekend long, if you're up for it."

"Why else do you think I want to come over?" I replied, while trying to mimic one of Ryan's evil grins.

He laughed at my effort and then we heard our boss calling for us to get down from the loft and return to work. Like a couple of frisky pups, we jumped into the hay and then sprinted for the door, ready to earn our paychecks.

It took quite a bit of convincing to get my father to agree to the sleepover and I even had to promise him that Ryan and I would both show up for Sunday services. I had no problem doing this, because I knew Ryan would be willing to do whatever it took to make the sleepover happen. I then phoned Ryan to tell him what the deal was and could almost picture him jumping around his house, the phone receiver still in his hand, after I told him I'd be able to come over. He sure was an excitable kid.

Ryan quickly relented about going with me to Sunday services, as I expected, but we also decided I should take my things with me to the farm on Friday, so I could go to his house directly after work. The next few days seemed to pass by slowly, with the exception of the lunch hours, but as soon as the workday ended Friday afternoon, I was on my way over to my new friend's house.

Ryan lived in an older home, but it was clean and well cared for, and he immediately introduced me to his parents. They shook my hand in greeting and then we talked briefly, as we got to know each other better. After a while, they thanked me for staying over and keeping Ryan company over the weekend, so I began to wonder if they would be quite this pleased if they knew what we had planned. Ryan and I then helped load the final few items into their car and waved at them as they drove away.

"So, what do you want to do first?" my blond-haired lover hurriedly asked me.

"I think we should clean up first, because we both smell a little raunchy from work," I suggested.

"Yeah, come on. We can shower together upstairs," he quickly offered.

Oh, how I loved the sound of those words and thought it was an excellent idea. I grabbed my things and took them up to Ryan's bedroom, where we both pulled our fastest strip routines and then raced down the hallway to the bathroom, totally naked. Ryan immediately pulled back the shower curtain and adjusted the temperature of the water until he thought it was just right, and then he stepped in first. Once he was set, I got in and stood in front of him, as Ryan grabbed the soap and started to wash my body.

"You don't mind, do you?" he asked, after he had already started to do this.

"Not at all," I replied, since I enjoyed the feel of his hands gliding over my bare skin.

Slowly, he ran his hands over my body, as he spread the soap across my chest and down my arms. Then he moved down and washed my calves and feet, before turning me around so he could wash my back and slowly stroke my ass cheeks. He also let his finger slide between those two smooth mounds and I whimpered slightly as it stroked my rosebud. When he heard this, he pushed his soapy finger against the opening, but I resisted his initial efforts and looked at him with a questioning expression on my face.

"Relax. It's something else I've read about and think it's worth trying. Trust me?" he explained.

I looked at his cute face and realized I trusted him implicitly, especially after what we'd done together so far. In fact, I found myself falling in love with him. When we first started, these were merely simple sexual exploits, but now I felt they were becoming acts of love, although I wasn't convinced I should express my feelings about this just yet. After thinking it over for another few seconds, I decided we hadn't kept anything else from each other, at least thus far, so why start now.

"Sure, I trust you. In fact, I think I love you," I admitted. "Do whatever you want."

It took a second for my words to register in his brain, but then Ryan leaped up in front of me. When I saw him do this, I became scared, because I was afraid I had said too much, way too soon, and he was going to attack me. Ryan quickly allayed my fears though, when he threw his arms around my neck and hugged me to the point where he was just short of choking me.

"You do? You really do?" he asked, while looking longingly into my eyes.

"Yes, I do," I confirmed. "I guess I just came to that realization, but yes, Ryan, I truly do love you."

"Me too 3; I mean 3; I love you too," he confessed. "I've wanted to tell you that for a while now, but I was afraid you'd think it was too much and then you'd want to stop what we were doing. I didn't 3; no, I couldn't risk losing you and the enjoyment I got when I was with you, so I took the coward's way out. I know it was dumb, but I felt I would rather keep what we had than risk losing you altogether. Do you forgive me?"

"Nothing to forgive," I answered. "If I'd have taken the time to think about it first, then I might have chickened out too. I don't know, but for some reason I just felt I had to say it."

"I'm glad you did," Ryan concurred.

Having said that, Ryan brought his beautiful, full lips next to mine and gently rubbed them back and forth over my own trembling mouth. After a few seconds of doing this, I felt him start to press more firmly against me and then his lips opened, so I instinctively parted mine in response. Before long, I felt the pressure of Ryan's tongue pushing toward my own muscle, so I flicked it out to meet his. Gradually, we dueled for position and then I started to suck on his stiff, muscular protrusion, just like I had done to his penis before. When I did that, he began to moan in response.

"I love you, Zach, I really, really love you," he hissed, after we pulled apart. "Do you still trust me?"

"Without reservation," I replied.

Hearing my response, he slid back down behind me and soaped up his hand again. Then, he slowly rubbed circles around my two butt cheeks and eventually slid his hand between them, until his finger was pressed against my hole. He quickly looked up at me and smiled broadly, as he tried to ease whatever doubts I might still be experiencing, before he eased his finger past my tight sphincter muscle. I let out a slight gasp when it entered me, which caused him to immediately pause, as he checked to make certain I was all right. When he saw I wasn't protesting, he continued to slide his finger in farther, until it was entirely within my hole.

Rhythmically, Ryan began to slide his finger in and out of my backside, but occasionally it would brush against something in there that really felt good. I moaned whenever this happened, due to the pleasure it was giving me, because I never realized so much ecstasy could come from that part of my body. Ryan hesitated briefly when he heard me moan again, but then he immediately continued what he'd been doing, after he concluded I wasn't in pain. He did this for a few minutes more and then removed his finger and moved to my front, so he could wash my genitals next. Tenderly, he soaped up my privates and then pulled back my foreskin, so he could clean around the sensitive head. When he finished, he allowed me to shampoo my hair and rinse off my body, before I turned my attention to him.

Gingerly, I began to soap up Ryan's body, as he had done to mine, and sweetly caressed every inch of his flesh, as I lathered and stroked every part within reach. When I'd finished washing his most private parts, I dropped down on my knees and took his penis into my mouth. He released a little groan when I unexpectedly did this and tenderly began to nod up and down its entire length. As soon as he realized what I was doing, he relaxed and began to enjoy every loving movement I made on him.

I continued to suck on Ryan's penis, like a starving piglet on its mother's teat, until he exploded in a mind-blowing orgasm and shot his wad into my mouth. I sucked every ounce of cum from his body, and possibly even some of his strength, because Ryan suddenly had to lean against the wall in an effort to keep from collapsing into the tub. When I saw him do this, I reached out to help steady him with my arms and held on to his hips, as I slowly let his penis slide from my mouth.

"Thanks again, dude," he sighed, as soon as he'd recovered. "I didn't expect that one and never thought about doing more than washing and rubbing you while we were in here. Good move, but now I owe you. Maybe that's why I love you."

Ryan quickly dropped down on his knees and gave me the best blowjob I've had up to this point, as he lovingly brought me to a crashing orgasm. This caused me to have to steady myself against the shower walls too, as I mimicked the same thing he had done, in order to keep from falling on top of him. Once he made certain I was all right, he stood up so he could hug and kiss me tenderly with his sweet, cum-covered lips. After many minutes of doing this, we left the shower, dried each other off and went to his room, where we collapsed on the bed.

"You know," Ryan began, "I have many more things planned for this weekend."

"I'll bet you do. Anything new?" I wondered.

"Absolutely. Remember when I slid my finger up your butt?" he asked, which raised my level of curiosity.

"Of course I do," I confirmed. "How could I forget that?"

"Well, later I'm going to shove something else up there," he warned me.

I must have had a startled look on my face after he said this, because Ryan started to roll around on the bed laughing. Once he settled down, he tried to alleviate my fears.

"Don't worry, dude. I've read up about this on the Internet and I know how to stretch you out so it won't hurt," he assured me. "Remember, you said you trusted me and know I would never do anything to harm you. I love you too damn much 3;. sorry, darn much to hurt or lose you, but I want to give you every wonderful feeling of love that I can. I've read that this is one of the best and most loving things you can do with your boyfriend."

"I trust you, Ryan, it's just that you startled me when you said it," I confessed. "I know you wouldn't hurt me, any more than I would hurt you, so as I told you earlier, I will do anything you want and I definitely mean anything. I love you, Ryan Anderson, and neither heaven nor earth will stop me from letting you fuck me, if that's what you want to do."

There was a sudden intake of air, as Ryan gasped and then started coughing, after he heard me say the word 'fuck.' I pounded on his back and watched over him until he started breathing normally again, but then he looked up at me with that shocked little-boy expression on his face as he spoke.

"Damn, and I was trying to stop swearing in front of you," he wheezed. "I didn't think you talked like that, being a preacher's son."

"I don't normally and I appreciate your thoughtfulness in trying to control your swearing in front of me," I agreed. "It was just that I wanted to make this point perfectly clear."

"Don't worry, you did," he informed me, with a sly grin.

Having said that, we slid under the covers on Ryan's bed and he pulled me close to him. Then, he slid an arm under my neck, so I placed my head on his chest and draped my upper leg over his leg that was closest to me. Our breathing gradually slowed down, as we began to relax and drifted off to sleep. We spent the entire night wrapped up in each other's loving embrace and it was the most wonderful night's sleep I'd ever enjoyed.

I woke up Saturday morning, wrapped in Ryan's arms. He was still asleep, so I just lifted my head and watched him lying there for a while. He was so beautiful that I found it hard to believe how fortunate I was. I mean, how lucky was it that I happened to take a job on the same farm he worked at and where the two of us would mess around and fall in love? He looked so innocent and peaceful lying next to me, as I watched his smooth chest rise and fall with each fragile breath he took, so I began to think my assumption about God had been correct. I knew he wouldn't have made me gay and then left me to suffer through life alone. Instead, he sent me this adorable young lover to fulfill my needs, and while I was staring at Ryan, his eyes fluttered open and he noticed me watching him.

"What's the matter, Zach?" he wondered in a groggy voice.

"Nothing's the matter. I just love looking at you 3; you're so damn handsome," I replied, while continuing to stare at him and Ryan blushed.

"You're not so bad yourself," he quickly shot back, as an evil grin began to spread across his face. "You ready for a little action, Studly?"

"Yeah, but can't we at least eat first?" I countered, as I felt my stomach growl.

"It's right here, bud," he teased, while stroking the sheet over his groin.

"No! I meant breakfast. You know, like cereal," I whined. "I don't eat meat for breakfast."

"That's too bad. You'll never know what you're missing then," he teased, with that evil sneer still on his lips.

We laughed, hopped out of bed and headed downstairs to the kitchen to fill our bellies. We were still naked, but Ryan didn't have any close neighbors, so we didn't worry about it. We each had a bowl of cereal, along with some toast with jelly, and I was just about finished when Ryan came over and smeared my chest with the fruity spread. I was shocked, but I slid my hand into the jelly jar and then did the same thing to him. He laughed, loaded up his fingers with more jelly and then covered my face and dick with the sticky substance. Of course, I had to return the favor, so when we had finished our childish antics, we both looked at each other and began to laugh hysterically.

"I think we should go clean up," I offered, as I briefly broke the merriment.

"And I've got just the idea about how we're going to do it." Ryan announced.

He then took my hand, as an ear-to-ear grin spread across his face, and dragged me back to his bedroom.

"I thought we were going to shower," I said, as he pushed me onto his bed.

"Nah, I've got a better way," he countered.

With that, Ryan straddled my body and started licking the jelly off of my face. After he finished with my face, he moved down to my chest and then to my penis. He licked every trace of jelly from my body and then looked into my eyes.

"Your turn now, champ," he offered, with a silly grin.

We switched positions and I used the same technique to remove the jelly from his boyish frame that he had just used on mine. When I finished with his cock, I slipped it into my mouth and started to give him a hummer.

"Whoa there, partner. Hold your horses and round up them ponies," he chortled. "I've got something else planned for today."

"You mean what you said in the shower?" I challenged, skeptically.

"Give the prize to the kid with the shitty grin," he shot back, while looking me over. "Do you think you're ready to receive your prize?"

"Uh, I think we need to work up to this," I countered. "I don't think I'm ready to take your cock up my butt just yet."

"I wasn't just going to just shove it up your hole, Zach," he explained. "I'm going to loosen you up first and get you ready for that. So, are you ready to trust me?"

Sheepishly, I looked into his face before I spoke. Even though I trusted him, I still wasn't certain if I was ready to do this. After thinking about it some more, I finally relented.

"I'll trust that you won't hurt me," I said in a barely audible voice. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Just lie back and pull your knees up to your chest." Ryan added, as he grasped my ankles and began to lift my legs up, at the same time as I started to pull them toward my chest. "Just hold them like that and I'll get you ready."

Ryan quickly ran over to the other side of the room and grabbed something off of his dresser. By the time he returned to the bed, he had taken the lid off the jar of Vaseline and scooped out a big glob with his finger. He then bent down, near my ass, and began to coat my pucker with the petroleum jelly. After he finished doing that, he put his finger up to my hole and pushed it gently into my rectum. I moaned slightly, as he carefully started to move his finger in and out, while also twisting it around at the same time. I was getting hotter and hotter under his probing and started to squirm on the bed, which caused Ryan to look up at me and smile.

"You like it, don't you?" he asked, and I merely nodded my head in confirmation. "Well, it's going to get even better, so just relax and enjoy."

He then withdrew his finger from my ass, so he could stick his index and middle fingers into the Vaseline jar next. Once they were adequately coated, he inserted both of them into my anus and stretched my rosebud a little more. It made me jump a little when he first did this, but gradually my body adjusted to the thickness and I started to enjoy the increased sensation. Ryan continued this for a little while longer, before he pulled those fingers out of my hole again.

"How did that feel? Are you still ok?" he asked, while studying my face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It just made my intestines feel full, like I had to take a crap, but I liked how it made me tingle too," I confessed.

"Great. I've still got a little more stretching to do, but you're almost ready," he assured me. "Just hang in there."

Ryan then reached back into the jar, but this time he greased up the first three fingers on his hand, so he could insert them into me. Once again it made me squirm when he first did this, but he went slowly and let my sphincter muscles have time to adjust to the added thickness. Then, he worked them around in my butt again, but this time I was a lot more comfortable doing it than when we'd first started. Carefully, I watched his concentration and felt his gentleness as he got me ready, when he suddenly looked up at my face.

"Are you still ok with this?" he inquired and I nodded my head in agreement. "I think you're ready for the main event, but I just have to prepare myself first."

Having said that, he reached his fingers back into the jar and then started rubbing the lubricant over his rapidly expanding member. Once he was all greased up, he looked up at me and smiled.

"The things I've read about doing this said you should begin pushing out with your butt muscles when I start to enter you. You know, like you're trying to take a dump, but not quite so hard," he urged. "That will expand your opening and make it easier for me to get in. Are you ready?"

"Yes, I am," I confirmed, although I was still harboring a little trepidation. "Just take it easy, ok?"

"Sure, pal. You know I wouldn't hurt you," he added, as he gave me a reassuring smile.

After saying this, he moved forward and placed his stiff dick against my rosebud and pushed gently against it. The head slipped right in, with very little resistance, but I still gasped as he entered me, even though there was no pain. Ryan looked at my face for approval to continue and I nodded, to let him know I was fine with it. Then, he started to push his boy meat up my tunnel, inch by inch, while constantly checking with me to make sure I wasn't in any pain. Since he didn't notice any problems, he kept going until I felt his pubes brushing the cheeks of my ass, which let me know he was all the way in.

I couldn't quite describe the feeling this first time, but it didn't hurt. I felt a little bloated though, but I could also feel his hot boyhood pulsing in my tight virgin hole. It actually made me feel that we could never be any closer to each other than we were at this moment. When I glanced at Ryan, I gave him a slight nod, to let him know I was ready, but I was instantly enthralled by the look of pure pleasure that was radiating across his gorgeous face. Ryan eventually started to pull his youthful meat out of me slowly, and when the head was the only part still in me, he pushed it back in. He gently kept up his pumping action, which sent a tingling sensation coursing throughout my entire body. Although I didn't know it at the time, this happened whenever his penis brushed against my prostate.

"Ahhh. Ohhh. Mmm." I groaned, as he worked on me, but he could tell I wasn't in pain.

Ryan continued to pick up his pace, but I wasn't sure if he was reacting to my pleasure or if he'd discovered some urgency of his own. My cock was also rigid and reacting to his chest brushing up against it with every stroke, because he was leaning over me at the time, as he drove his penis in and out of my hole. Once again, he quickened his pace, so I had a feeling it wouldn't be long before both of us erupted in pure bliss.

Ryan began to gasp, as I felt his prick expand in my hole, and then a few moments later, he arched his head and chest slightly backward, as I felt the first warm, blast from his engorged rifle fire into me. Over the next few seconds, a few more shots filled my intestines, as my own penis jerked and erupted all over us. Our bodies were now covered, from nose to navel, with hot boy spunk.

When his penis had deposited its last squirt into my hole, Ryan literally collapsed onto my chest. My juices formed a sticky seal between us, as I ground my body against his as a thank-you for the rapture I'd just felt. Then, I wrapped my arms around his chest, as I gave him an affectionate hug, before I raised my right hand up to his head, so I could let my fingers run through his hair and stroke his head. We lay there like this for quite a few minutes, before either of us could speak.

"Thank you, Ryan, that was wonderful," I gasped, fulfilled. "I loved what we did and I love you."

Wearily, Ryan lifted his head, studied my face and then responded.

"This afternoon, after we've rested up for a while, then you can do the same thing to me," he offered. "Agreed?"

"Agreed," I eagerly confirmed. "I can't wait to please you like this, because it was fantastic. What do you say about taking that shower now though?"

"Great idea," he concurred.

We went into the shower to wash, as we carefully scrubbed every square inch of young flesh on each other's body. When we finished, we agreed to go downstairs and watch some TV next, until we felt rested. We settled on some cartoons first, followed by a baseball game, and only took a brief break for lunch. After the baseball game ended, we went upstairs again, so I could give Ryan the same loving attention that he had shown to me earlier.

I grabbed the Vaseline and began to lube him up, while following the same procedure he had used on me. I started by first using one finger, then two and finally three, and when I finished doing that, I moved into position and put the head of my penis against his opening. Ryan told me he was ready, so I gently pushed my way in. I slipped in fairly easily, since I had stretched him out pretty well beforehand, and it felt wonderful with my cock completely enveloped by his tight, silky smooth, hot lining.

The feeling was incredible and I almost blew my load as soon as I entered him, just from feeling the incredible joy of being inside his hole. After I calmed down a little, I looked at Ryan to make sure he was all right and saw him smile back at me, with one of those special grins he gave me at times like this. Instinctively, I knew this was my signal to continue, so I pulled most of the way out and then rammed my dick back into him. Man, doing this filled me with a truly awesome feeling and my body began to react on its own, as I pulled out again, before slamming my meat home one more time.

I kept this same routine up for the next couple of minutes and could feel the pressure building within my loins, as those same electrical impulses began pulsing in my groin and started to spread throughout my body, in all directions. It was the most fantastic feeling I'd ever experienced and I never wanted it to end, but I could tell from the pressure in my scrotum that this wasn't to be. I was going at Ryan the same way I had seen dogs doing it out in the yard, and he was moaning and panting beneath me, which let me know he was enjoying this nearly as much as I was.

It took only a few minutes more before I pushed into him as far as I could go and my penis began to erupt like a fire hose that had been opened full blast. I felt light-headed and giddy from the release, and once I was drained, I collapsed on top of Ryan's heaving chest. We were now complete, since our two bodies and souls had merged into one, because we knew we would never again be completely happy without the other one in our life.

Later, we had a pizza delivered for dinner and then I felt I had to speak to Ryan. I needed clarification about something, before we went any further.

"Do you remember that we have do go to my father's church tomorrow?" I asked, and he nodded. "And you're good with that, right?" He nodded again. "Great. We'll have to leave about 9:30, because Sunday school starts at 10:00 and regular services begin at 11:00. Dad should finish between noon and 12:30, depending on how much he gets into his sermon. Then, we'll be able to come back here for a couple of hours before I'll have to go home for evening services."

"I know and I told you I'd go with you, so I will, as long as I'm able to be with you," he confirmed. "Church is church and I'm fine with it, so quit your worrying and enjoy the rest of the night."

"All churches are not the same and you'd better be prepared for a fire-and-brimstone sermon," I warned him. "I don't remember dad's topic for tomorrow, but last week's sermon was kind of mild, so I expect this one's going to be a scorcher. If you don't like it, just try to tune him out, but we've got to be real careful about not touching in church. I don't want to start any rumors or have any problems."

"Gotcha, so don't worry," he agreed. "I'll be cool."

We didn't have any more sex for the rest of the day, since we were kind of tired out. Instead, we spent the night watching TV and playing Ryan's Play Station games. It was seldom that I got to watch a television program and Ryan was just starting to teach me how to play the video games, so I wasn't very good at doing it, but we still had a lot of fun. Eventually, we just decided to go up to his bedroom and go to sleep. We slept together in Ryan's bed, cuddled up against each other again, just like we had done the night before, as we enjoyed each other's company and warm body, as our hot flesh pressed together.

The next morning, we woke up early and got ready to attend services. We showered together and then dressed in slacks, ties and sport coats, before we began to make our way over to my dad's church. When we got there, I was greeted by many of the members of the congregation, the same way I was greeted by them each week, but I also introduced Ryan as a close friend whom I was getting acquainted with our church. Everyone seemed pleased that I had brought a guest and we went in to take our seats for the Sunday school session.

Of course, Ryan sat next to me in the teen class and today the teacher told us the story of Abraham's devotion to God and his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac, at God's request. As it turned out, Abraham didn't actually have to kill his son, because God stopped him before the deed was done. God was merely testing the depth of Abraham's love and devotion and was pleased that he was willing to sacrifice so much to him. As a reward for Abraham's faith and love, God spared Isaac's life.

After class, I led Ryan into the main part of the church, where we slid into one of the pews about halfway down the aisle. My warning to Ryan the night before was right on target, because I could tell this was going to be one of my father's fire-breathing sermons. Unfortunately for us, it was his sermon on 'The Sins of the Flesh,' so I guess this wasn't really such great timing on my part.

As the sermon progressed, I felt really horrible for Ryan. It was bad enough that I was forced to constantly feel guilty about my orientation, but now Ryan was about to experience the heat from the same blast furnace in which I lived. Dad started off talking about adultery and prostitution, so Ryan seemed to be taking it in stride, but I knew that wasn't going to last. When I felt my father approaching the subject of homosexuality, however, I looked over at Ryan's face and cringed, because I knew what was about to follow. As my dad began his tirade on this topic, I saw Ryan's face first drain of blood and then he went completely flush. At this point, I was beginning to feel badly that I had dragged him along today.

What was even worse was that this wasn't the short version of the sermon either. Instead, my father covered each and every verse in the Bible that dealt with homosexuality and went over every passage, in detail, as he described what it meant and its implications for eternal salvation. I felt Ryan held up fairly well under this assault, even better than I would have, if I'd been in his shoes, so I was pleased by his performance. Near the end of the service though, my father made a surprise announcement to the congregation.

"What I have to tell you now, I do with an extremely heavy heart, because I have come to think of all of you as family," he started and then paused, so he could scan the various faces in the room before resuming. "I reluctantly must inform you that I am being transferred to another parish and will be leaving here by the middle of August."

My mouth suddenly dropped to the floor, because I had no prior knowledge about this, as the rest of the congregation released a collective groan. After the news had sunk in, Ryan turned toward me with an expression of horror etched upon his cute boy face, as my father started speaking again.

"My mother lives outside of Albany, N.Y.," he continued, "and has not been doing very well, so I'd asked for a transfer to put me closer to her. I was recently informed that a position has opened up, so I'll be moving my family to a church just east of Syracuse, N.Y. and will take over as their pastor at the beginning of September. I will miss each and every one of you and will keep you in my prayers, while wishing you all the very best. Your new minister will arrive by late August, so there shouldn't be any interruption to the church as a whole."

I waited for my father outside after the service ended, with Ryan by my side. I was furious with my dad for not telling me about this before he told the congregation, but even more so for not even letting me know this was a possibility. It took every ounce of self-restraint I had to give him time to conclude bidding his farewells to the members of the church first, so we could have a little more privacy. Once he finished speaking with the last of the parishioners, I approached him.

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" I screamed, and he looked at me in horror and dismay.

"Now, son, calm down. I didn't tell you about it, because I didn't learn it was official until yesterday," he assured me. "You were off with your friend at the time and I didn't want to spoil your visit, so I figured you might as well just hear about it with everyone else. I didn't expect you to take it like this."

"What did you expect?" I demanded. "You must have asked for this a long time ago, so you could have at least told me what you were planning when you did that."

"I didn't want to tell you until it was definite, since I didn't know if they'd be able to find me a congregation closer to where your grandmother lives," he reasoned. "I might have been turned down for the transfer, so nothing was certain. If this hadn't come about, then we still would have been here and I wouldn't have had to trouble you with the information or caused you to worry."

"Well it did go through and I don't want to go!" I complained. "No, I'm not going to go!"

"Son, calm down," he urged. "You know you're too young to stay here on your own, so you'll have to come with the family. You'll be fine and you'll make new friends there."

"It won't be fine and I'm not going," I repeated.

After I'd said that, I turned around and raced away from the church. Ryan chased after me, as he tried hard to catch up, but I was nearly at his house before I felt his hand resting on my shoulder.

"Easy, man. We've gotta talk about this," he reasoned, both winded and concerned.

"Ryan, I'm not going with him. I'll stay here with you," I stated, while hoping he'd agree with me. "I can't leave you 3; I'll never leave you 3; I'll 3;"

Before I finished my thought, however, I broke down and started to sob uncontrollably. Ryan caressed me to his chest and just held me, as I wept into his shirt.

"Zach, calm down and we'll discuss this," Ryan urged. "I don't want you to go either, so maybe I can talk my parents into letting you live with us. We'll think of something, bro, so don't worry."

"Do you really think your parents would take me in, Ryan?" I asked, while feeling slightly hopeful. "I'll keep my job at the farm through the school year, so I can pay for my own food and clothes. I'll do anything, but I can't leave you, Ryan."

"Don't worry about it, Zach," he reiterated. "I'll talk to my mom and dad when they get home and we'll work something out, but just don't cry. I hate to see you cry."

After saying this, Ryan wrapped his arms around my body and clung to me, as he also stroked my hair and covered my face in soft, little kisses. This only made me love him even more, as he showed his deep concern and did all the little things he could think of in an effort to make me feel better. At the same time, my head was spinning round and round; because I just couldn't believe this was happening.

Maybe I was wrong this morning and God isn't as loving and forgiving as I thought then, and maybe this is his way of punishing me for loving another boy. Perhaps my father's sermon wasn't just a coincidence today and he was actually guided by God to choose that topic, in order to show Ryan and me the errors of our way. This might be all God's doing, and if it was, then I think I might hate him.

When Ryan's parents got home, he raced outside and barely let them get out of the car before he started relaying my story. I just watched from the living room window, since I figured they needed some time alone. Besides, I didn't want them to feel I was pressuring them into accepting me into their family. I'd let Ryan do all of the talking, because I knew he'd tell me everything that was said later.

Ryan started out by advising his parents all about my dad's unexpected announcement, before he explained that he didn't want to lose his best friend. Then, he added that I was inside the house and didn't want to leave either, before he mentioned my offer about paying my own way. His parents merely looked at him and then calmly stated there was still plenty of time to talk about this, so they didn't have to decide everything tonight. When they came inside, his parents informed me that whatever was decided, they couldn't and wouldn't do anything without my parents' consent. Then, they suggested I should go home and discuss this idea with my mom and dad next, before we went any further.

After I agreed it was a good idea, Ryan and I helped them unload the car and took their things inside, before Ryan's dad gave me a ride home. When we got there, Ryan and I took a minute to hug each other before I got out, but he also whispered in my ear that he'd pray for us tonight. Seeing I didn't believe Ryan was an overtly religious person who said his prayers regularly, this helped to prove how important it was to him as well, since everyone seems to resort to prayer when the going gets rough.

When I walked into the house, both of my parents turned to look in my direction. When I realized my father was already there, I was actually surprised he hadn't come over to Ryan's house to get me earlier. After thinking about it for a moment, I concluded he might not have known exactly where Ryan lived, but I quickly discovered that was not the reason.

"Have you controlled yourself enough to talk about this in a rational manner," my father began, "because we need to discuss this issue."

"Yes, and I'm sorry for blowing up at you at church, but I was just so shocked." I apologized.

Ryan had suggested I try to take a more diplomatic tone, if I hoped to convince my parents to let me stay with him. As he so aptly pointed out, 'you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.'

"It was just that I've finally found a best friend and now you tell me we're going to move and I have to leave him," I explained. "It's just not fair and it's like I don't count. I'm finally happy, but now I'm basically being told I've got to go back to being lonely again."

"You'll make new friends," my mom interjected. "You're older now and you've developed some people skills, so that will help you make new acquaintances."

"No, I won't. The only reason I met Ryan is because we worked together on the farm and he kept after me to be his friend. I'm just too shy to do that on my own and most people don't react well when they find out my dad is a minister. For those reasons, it's really hard for me to make friends, so I don't even try any more. That's why I want to stay here and live with Ryan and his family instead."

"Dear, you're not even sure they'd agree to do that, and besides, we want you with us," my mother answered.

"They'll take me in, I know they will, and I'll keep working at the farm to pay for my food and clothing," I insisted. "Please, just let me stay here for the coming school year and then Ryan and I will travel there next summer to check it out. Please? What do you say?"

"I say absolutely not," my father barked back. "You're our son and a part of this family, so you will come with us and that is final."

"But 3;" I began, and he cut me off.

"No buts. You will come with us and there will be no further discussion. Do I make myself clear?" he barked, but all I could do was glare at him to show my defiance.

When that didn't seem to be working, I ran to my room, slammed the door and began to cry. I didn't even go down to dinner later or attend evening services with them, but neither of my parents tried to make me do those things or even complained when I didn't join them. I guess they felt if they just ignored me then I'd get over it. If that's what they were expecting, then it wasn't going to work.

I ended up crying myself to sleep that night, so it wasn't a restful slumber. My dreams were filled with visions of some god-awful town, filled with mean, vicious people and I was more miserable than I'd ever been here. In fact, I was so despondent living there that I was nearly ready to commit suicide and end my life, rather than to continue putting up with what I was going through.

When I woke up the next morning, it was early, I was covered in a cold sweat and my bed sheets were drenched and messed up after a fitful and horrifying slumber. I hadn't left my room at all, except to use the toilet, because I didn't want to chance running into my parents, but a short time later my mother tapped on my bedroom door. When I didn't respond, she opened the door anyway and came into my room.

"Are you ok, dear?" she asked timidly.

"No, I'm not, so just go away and leave me alone," I huffed in anger.

"I know you're upset, but you are too young to have a say in this matter," she pointed out. "Your father is a determined man and I don't think he'll discuss this further."

"Fine. I'm too young to decide, so I'll just run away," I shot back.

"Please don't talk like that, dear," she urged, and I could read the pained expression on her face. "You know you don't mean it."

"I do mean it and I'm not leaving with you," I reiterated. "If I can't stay with Ryan's family, then I'll just run away and live on my own, because I don't want to move with you and Dad."

My mother looked at me and then began to weep. I already realized I had gone too far with my threats, but I needed them to realize I was serious. The problem was, I couldn't stand seeing my mother cry, so I moved closer and put my arm around her shoulder, before I kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you, Mom, but I AM old enough to have a say in this," I reasoned, defiantly. "You and Dad still treat me as if I'm a baby, and even though I may not be an adult yet, I'm not a little kid any longer either. I should be able to have some say about my life and which direction it will go. I'm sorry if hearing me say this hurts your feelings, but you've both hurt mine. I'm sorry 3;"

I couldn't continue, because I was beginning to choke up and had to stop. When I did, she looked at me through those pained eyes, which seemed to reach into my soul. I knew I'd break if I stayed there any longer, so I quickly made my escape.

"Look, I've got to go to the farm 3; I'm late already," I pointed out, as I grabbed my cap and headed out the bedroom door.

I hurriedly made my way to the front door and left the house, because I didn't want to give either of my parents a chance to stop me. When I got to the farm, everyone was just coming out of the barn, ready to head out to the fields, so my boss walked over and asked me why I was late. I told him I hadn't been feeling well when I first woke up, but I was feeling better now, so I was ready to work. He nodded and said to hurry up and join the others then, but when he turned around to go, I saw Ryan waiting behind him. He immediately ran over and began asking questions.

"So what happened last night?" he wanted to know.

"I had a fight with my parents," I answered, as we walked to catch up with the others. "My dad won't let me stay, so I told my mom I'd just run away then. What did your parents say?"

"They said you could stay with us, as long as your parents agreed it was ok," he responded. "They won't do it unless your parents say it's all right."

"Great. Well, I guess I'm on my own then," I moaned.

"No! If that's the case, then WE'RE on our own, because I'll run away with you," Ryan countered. "I don't want to stick around here without you either, so we'll do this together."

"No. I'm not going to ruin your life too," I countered. "You get along well with your folks and I'm not going to be the one to mess that up. I'll just do this on my own, because I'm not going to involve anyone else."

"Zach, I love you and don't want to be without you," he replied, but in a hushed tone so no one else would hear. "Whatever you do, then I'm going to do it with you."

Now, I knew I was backed into a corner. I wasn't going to be responsible for estranging Ryan from his family just because mine was moving. If that was what was going to happen, then it looked as if I'd just have to give in to my parents for now and then try to figure something else out later. The problem was, I didn't want to tell Ryan this and upset him before he finished the workday, so I decided I'd wait and tell him on the way home.

We spent the morning out in the field and worked really hard, but the time went by quickly and we were soon on our way back in for the noonday meal. Once we finished eating, Ryan and I went out to the barn, but since we were still bummed out and worried about what was going to happen next, we merely went through the motions this time. Even though we both got off, there wasn't much enjoyment from it today, so it didn't help us get ready for the second half of the day, as it usually did. Once we finished, we went back to the front porch and waited for the others to come out and then went with them to work in the fields again. As soon as we came back in at the end of the day, Ryan and I quickly left the farm and started walking to his place, just in case my father was planning to show up to give me a ride.

"Ryan, I have something to tell you, but I don't want you to be mad," I began, but when I looked over at him, I could see a trace of fear in his eyes and knew questions were forming in his mind. "I'm not going to cause problems for you too and I know my dad isn't going to give in, so I've decided to go with my parents until I can find a way to get back to you. This won't be permanent, I promise, and I'll figure something out just as quickly as I can. At worst, I'll leave and be on my own when I turn sixteen and then I'll come back here to be with you."

I hadn't dared look at Ryan while I was telling him this, at least not after seeing his initial reaction, because I was just too afraid I wouldn't be able to find the courage to tell him the things I needed to say. Now, I looked at Ryan's face, only to see tears streaming down his cheeks and his chest heaving with the sobs he was trying to keep in.

"If you leave, then you won't come back," he sobbed. "You'll find somebody new and I won't ever see you again. I couldn't handle that, because I know I won't be able to stand being away from you. If you won't stay here, then I'll just have to come with you."

"Ryan, you know your parents won't agree to that any more than mine were willing to go along with it. I promise I WON'T find somebody new, because I don't WANT anyone new. I'll work on getting my parents to let me come visit you over Christmas vacation and then again next summer. I'll even get a job and buy my own plane tickets, so they can't refuse or say there isn't enough money for me to do that. I won't give up on us, Ryan, but I'll have to go with them now, because they aren't giving me a choice. I'll talk to my mom about my idea tonight and then let her talk to my dad, because she'll probably have a better chance of convincing him than I would, so I'll let you know how things work out tomorrow."

"Why don't you come over to my house for a while first, before you go home?" Ryan pleaded with those big, sorrowful eyes of his.

"I'd love to, but I need to go home and talk to my mom about this in private first," I answered. "I'm pretty sure my dad will still be at the church, because he generally stays later on Monday to prepare for the rest of the week. He uses the day to get Tuesday night's bible study planned, finishes work on Wednesday's prayer meeting sermon, lines up the songs for Thursday's choir practice, figures out what he'll do for teen night on Friday and then starts working Sunday's sermons, both morning and evening. If I hurry, then I should get home before he does, so I can talk to my mom alone first, and then she can talk to my dad after dinner. Even though I'd loved to spend time with you, this is just too important, Ryan, so I have to go home. I'll see you tomorrow and let you know how everything turns out."

Once Ryan realized how important this was, we hugged and then I had to pry myself free from his grasp, because he didn't want to let me go. Once I got him to release me, I walked home and along the way I planned the strategy I was going to use when talking to my mother. I pretty much had things worked out in my mind as to what I was going to say by the time I arrived there.

When I entered the house, I immediately located my mother and began telling her about my plan, to see how she was going to react to it. I could tell she wasn't thrilled about the idea, but she agreed to talk it over with my father later and then let me know what he said. I think the little discussion we had that morning, about me having some say in what happened, had made her more willing to listen to my proposal. Now, I just had to pray she could convince my father to go along with it.

Dinner was very quiet and hardly anything was said, so when it ended and I was excused, I went to my room and sprawled out on my bed, while I waited for the verdict. A couple of hours later, my mom knocked on my bedroom door and then peeked her head inside.

"Can we talk?" she asked.

"Sure," I said, while hoping she had some good news for me.

"I presented your idea to your father and this is what we agreed to," she began, and I held my breath in anticipation of what my mother was going to say. "Your father said that if you worked and bought your own airline ticket, then you could come back here over Christmas break, from the day after Christmas until New Year's Day."

I suddenly couldn't restrain myself any longer and leaped from the bed, as I started jumping around the room in pure joy. I then lifted my mother off the floor in a bear hug and began to swing her around. When I finally stopped and put her down again, I looked at her and asked my next question.

"What about next summer?" I pressed, hoping for a similar response.

"Once again, you'll have to buy your own ticket, but if you can still work on the farm for your current boss, Mr. Johnson, and Ryan's parents will let you stay with them, then your father will agree to that as well."

I was thrilled and hugged my mom again, as soon as I stopped jumping around, and then I raced downstairs to hug and thank my dad too. I also apologized for my previous outbursts and he told me he understood, but hoped I'd be less emotional about things in the future. He explained that after talking this over with my mother, he realized he needed to make this as easy for me as he could, since I'd been left out of the decision loop.

After he told me this, he also assured me that he loved me too and then gave me a hug, before kissing me on the forehead. That was the first time I could remember my father actually giving me a kiss since I was a little boy. I knew his hesitation wasn't because he didn't love me, but was due to the fact that my father has always been uncomfortable making contact with other males, other than exchanging handshakes. At least for the time being, his love for me had overcome his other phobias.

Once I was done talking to my dad, I basically floated up the stairs, while wishing I could tell Ryan the good news that very instant. Since I didn't want to do it over the phone, I opted to leave for the farm early the next morning, so I could share my good news with him in person. Therefore, I went to bed in a very good mood and remaining hopeful about getting as much rest as possible.

I slept pretty well that night, which made up for the less than refreshing slumber I'd endured the previous evening, so I was at the farm a half-hour earlier than normal the next morning. Ryan showed up ten minutes later, since he was also eager to find me, because he wanted to hear my news. As soon as we hugged, I told him what my parents had decided and saw him smile for the first time in two days. It wasn't exactly what we wanted, but it was better than what we had yesterday, and we also understood it would be best not to press our luck further. At least this way we wouldn't be totally separated, so our noon break turned out to be a lot more enjoyable today and then we flew through the rest of the afternoon.

I went over to Ryan's house after work, so we could see if his parents would let me stay there when I came back to visit, both times. Ryan and I managed some private time alone in his room first, while we waited for his parents to arrive home from work. As soon as I informed them about what my parents had agreed to, Ryan's father announced that I'd be welcome to stay there anytime and for as long as my parents would allow. I then called my mom to ask if I could spend the night with Ryan and she said yes, so I told her I'd be home early the next morning to change for work. I also informed her that Ryan would let me borrow something to wear tonight, so she didn't have to worry about me running around all night in dirty, smelly clothes.

After dinner, Ryan and I raced upstairs and goofed around in his room for a while first, although we didn't do anything sexual, and then we spent the rest of the night wrapped up in each other's arms. When the alarm went off the next morning, we were in the best spirits we'd been in since Sunday.

The rest of the time before we moved went by quickly. Ryan and I worked on the farm during the day and then spent time at each other's house at night and on the weekends. We still had to be careful about what we did and where we did it, but we stole as many passionate minutes together as we could manage. On weekends at my house, Ryan would help me pack up my things and get ready to move, although doing it took its toll on both of us. By the time the day for us to leave finally arrived, he and I could hardly speak, because we were both so choked up and holding back tears. Instead, we opted to just hug each other, because neither of us wanted to break down in front of my parents, but we didn't want to let go of each other either. By the time we finally broke our embrace, I got into the car and sat beside my mom.

My dad was driving the rental truck, which was loaded up with nearly all of our belongings, except for what was in the trailer my mom was towing with the car. The backseat of the car was also filled with boxes, so it was tough to see anything, except out of the front windows, although mom also had her side mirrors. She followed the truck as we made our way to our new home, since Dad said he knew how to get there.

It took us three days travel time, so we ended up spending two nights in motel rooms. The ride was pretty nice, because the weather was good and there was lots of beautiful scenery. In fact, when we finally reached Syracuse, I thought it looked a lot like the area where we used to live, except there were a lot more people living in the area. We still had some distance to go in order to reach our new home though, because we were going to be living halfway between Syracuse and Albany. When we finally arrived at our destination, we went directly to the church, because we were supposed to meet with one of the deacons.

After showing us around the church, he took us across the street and gave us a tour of the parsonage next, or the house the church provided for our family. It was a fairly nice house and pretty big, so my parents had a full bath in the master bedroom; which meant the other bathroom on the second floor was all mine. I figured this was good, because I'd probably be in there a lot, since Ryan wasn't going to be around to help me take care of my needs.

We spent the next few days unpacking and getting settled, but then my father took us for a ride around the surrounding cities, towns and villages, so we could get a feel for our new locale. It looked interesting and the people seemed fairly nice, but I still felt totally alone here. Besides just driving around, we also checked out a couple of malls, browsed a bunch of stores and ate at some of the local restaurants. I was beginning to feel a little better about the move, even though I still was torn about leaving Ryan behind.

We'd been at our new place a little over a week when my mom took me to the local school and enrolled me for classes. We'd brought my old school records with us, in a sealed envelope, but we were also asked to fill out a few forms. Then, one of the secretaries gave us a tour of the building and pointed out most of the places I would need to know. It was a fairly modern facility, unlike the depression-era school I had attended back home, and I was giddy when she pointed out the computer lab. I hadn't been able to learn more than the basics back home, since the school district had limited resources and I didn't have my own computer, so I was thrilled when the secretary informed me there were open periods during the day when the students could use the computers. She also explained the lab was available after school as well, so things kept looking better all the time. In fact it would be perfect, if only Ryan was here with me.

Saturday morning, we drove to Albany to visit my grandmother and the trip took about an hour. It was nice to see her again and Dad had been right, she didn't look well at all. She appeared very feeble as she moved about the house and Dad told her that we'd be visiting a lot, now that we lived closer. He also told her to start making a list of the things she needed us to do to help out, after which she thanked us. She really seemed pleased that we'd be around to assist her and I'd never spent so much time with her before, because we lived so far away and didn't have a lot of money, so we hadn't visited since I was quite little.

It was sort of nice that I'd finally get to know her better, because the way she looked now I wasn't sure how long she might be around. We didn't return home until very late that night and all I could think about was that summer was coming to an end. Next Tuesday, I would have to go to school for orientation with the other new kids, and then classes were scheduled to start on Wednesday. I looked forward to it, with some minor trepidation, since I wondered if I would be able to make any new friends here.

After we got out of church Sunday afternoon, I spent quite a bit of time writing Ryan a letter. I told him what our new home was like and gave him some details about the area, the school I'd be attending and about visiting my grandmother. I even told him that I'd already applied to a couple of local stores to do odd jobs on the weekends, but I hadn't heard anything yet. I advised him not to worry though, because I'd kept the money from my last three paychecks back home, so I already had enough money to pay for my plane ticket over Christmas.

After that, I told him I'd probably get my mom to help me pick it up before Halloween, so the flight wouldn't get totally booked before I had a chance to buy my ticket. I also sent him all of my love, told him how much I missed him and then assured him that I'd see him at Christmas. I also stated many times that I missed being with him, longed to hear the sound of his voice and wanted to be in his arms, so no matter what else happened, he would always be my soulmate and nothing would ever change that fact. All I had to do now was to survive until Christmas vacation.

I was just finishing up my letter to Ryan when I heard the phone ring downstairs. Then, after my mother answered it, she yelled up to tell me I had a phone call. I couldn't imagine who would be calling, although I hoped it might be Ryan, because I certainly didn't know anyone around here yet. I raced down the steps to take the call, hoping to hear my lover's voice.

"Hello."

"Hello. Am I speaking to Zachariah Handy?"

This bothered me, because hardly anyone ever used my proper name, unless of course I was in trouble.

"Yes, this is him," I confirmed.

"Zachariah, this is Mr. Farrell. I manage the grocery store on Front Street and currently have an opening for a bag-boy, so I was wondering if you would be willing to come to the store tomorrow afternoon for an interview."

"Yes. Yes, I would," I responded. "And would you please just call me Zach?"

"Certainly. Well then, Zach, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon at 2:00, if that will be alright with you."

"Yes, sir. That would be fine," I agreed.

"Great, I'll see you then," he stated. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, sir," I added, to be polite.

I was ecstatic, so I was jumping up and down when my mom entered the room. Seeing my reaction, she asked who had been on the phone and what was going on. Excitedly, I told her I had an interview for a job at the grocery store and she hugged me.

"Good for you, Zach. See, we told you it wouldn't be so bad here," she added, in an effort to make me feel better about the move.

"I know, but this will give me the extra money I need so I can see Ryan next summer too," I pointed out. "I don't remember if I thanked you for talking Dad into letting me go back to visit him, so if I didn't, I am now. I love you a lot, Mom, and thanks for everything you did for me."

After I went back to my room, I quickly added a postscript on my letter to Ryan. Once I did that, I sealed the envelope, affixed a stamp to it and placed it where one of my parents would mail it tomorrow. When everything was all set, I glanced up, toward heaven, and gave a word of thanks, but I also added a postscript to God too.

"Dear God, I didn't really mean it when I said I thought I hated you," I conceded.

The next morning when I awoke, all I could think about was my interview for the job at the grocery store. Getting hired was very important to me, because it would provide the funds I needed to make future trips to see Ryan. Maybe I didn't need the money for Christmas, but I would definitely need it to be able to spend time with Ryan next summer. Seeing he was the most important part of my life and I didn't want to place our time together in jeopardy, I cleaned up, got dressed in my church clothes and set out for the store.

I walked in and told one of the other employees that I was there to see Mr. Farrell. She led me over to the office door, knocked on it and then told the individual on the other side I had arrived. Once that person responded, she led me inside and introduced the portly, balding man inside as the store manager. We shook hands and he told me to sit down, before he began asking me a series of questions about a variety of different topics. He wanted to know about my work history, my family, how I did in school and how I was planning to get to and from work, and then he told me about the neighborhood and what the job entailed.

He seemed like a very nice man, although I was able to tell he could also be quite demanding as well, but my father was like that too, so I didn't have a problem with it. Judging from his reactions to my answers, he seemed to be fairly pleased with everything I told him, so before I left, he advised me I could start work as a bag-boy/stock clerk the following Saturday, if I was willing. I assured him that I was and thanked him for the opportunity. He then handed me some paperwork to fill out and have my parents sign, so I took everything with me, left the store and ran home, delirious. Life was good.

Once I arrived home, I was so excited that I was unable to stand still as I told my mother about the good news. I darted around the room, still giddy about my good fortune, as I handed her the papers that needed to be signed. When she tried to hug me, our heads accidentally collided with each other, because I couldn't stop bouncing around in joy. Unfortunately, that little incident gave her a bloody lip, so I apologized profusely and hugged her to make amends, but she merely chuckled at my actions.

"Don't worry about it, dear," she urged. "It's not a big deal and I'm just pleased to see you this happy again, seeing you've been so morose since we first told you we were moving. Here, I'll sign the forms for you now and then you can have your father sign them after dinner. Congratulations and remember to do a good job."

"Oh, I will," I promised. "I know I'm going to need the money, so I won't do anything to risk losing this job."

"I don't think you understand, dear. It's not enough that you don't do things that could cost you your job," she corrected. "If a job is worth having, then it's also worth your best effort. I expect you to do your best every minute you are working and give it your all. If you do that, then it could lead to promotions and even more money later."

"You're right, so thanks, Mom. I love you," I agreed.

"I love you too, dear," she concurred. "Now, how would you like to go with me this afternoon, so we can do some shopping for the things you'll need for school? I hope you remember that you have to go to orientation tomorrow."

"Yes, I remember and going shopping together would be nice," I confirmed. "Am I going to get some new clothes for school, too?"

"Yes, dear. We're going to buy you a few new things to start out the school year," she answered. "Now, run upstairs and change out of your church clothes and we'll be on our way."

I raced up to my room and changed, before Mom and I got in the car and set out for the mall. We had a nice afternoon together and I got some new clothes, along with a few school supplies, before we headed back. When we returned home, Dad was there, so I told him about the job too. He congratulated me and signed the papers, but then he actually gave me a hug too. That's two hugs and a kiss since we've been here, so I guess maybe he does still love me.

After dinner, I laid out my clothes for the next day and put the rest of the things away, before I went to bed. I turned in early because I wanted to be well rested for the orientation tomorrow morning, so I guess I was actually a little excited about going there. My dreams that night kept changing and moved from one situation to another. First, I would dream about the new school and meeting other students, but then my dream would shift to me being with Ryan again, when I went back to visit him. There were no bad dreams, but some of them were very interesting, if you know what I mean. I woke up in the morning raring to go, but still slightly aroused, because of the dreams about Ryan.

The orientation took place in the auditorium and there were a lot of other kids in there with me. Some of them were moving up from the middle school to the high school, but there were also a handful of others like me who were new to the district. Here the ninth grade was in the high school and not in the junior high, like it was at my old school district. There, grades K-6 were all in the elementary school and there was no middle school. Grades 7-9 made up the junior high school and only grades 10-12 were in the high school, so this would take some getting used to. I was expecting to be part of the oldest group of students this year, but now I was back at the bottom of the ladder again.

I didn't meet anyone especially interesting, but I was introduced to the school rules, got to meet some of the faculty and staff, and was taken on another tour of the school, but most important of all, I got my class schedule. Some of the other new students wanted to see if we had any classes together, but we were pretty much on our own. In my old school district, there were possibly two or three sections at each grade level, but here there must have been twice as many as that, maybe even more. This was something else I'd have to get used to, which was having so many others in my grade level.

Once I left the orientation, I spent the rest of the day studying my schedule, trying on the rest of my new clothes and getting everything ready for the next morning. I was sort of excited about this, because I kept thinking about that computer lab and hoped some more students would introduce themselves to me, not just the couple of other transfer students I got to meet today. I know I should be brave enough to introduce myself, but that just wasn't my style, so I understood I would have to depend on the courage of others. I just hoped there were some students in my class who were braver than me.

The first few days of school were quite uneventful, but I was able to find time to get to the computer lab. It worked out that I happened to have a study hall that coincided with one of the lab's open periods, so I signed out and went there instead. There were only a couple of people in the lab at the time, in addition to the aide who was assigned to work there. I explained to her that I didn't know very much about computers, since I didn't have one of my own and my old school district didn't have very many available for the students to use. After she heard my story, she sat down and began to teach me some of the basics.

When we were done, I thanked her and asked if she would also be there after school. She then explained that she worked in the lab from the time it opened in the morning and until it closed down for the day, except for when another aide covered for her during her lunch hour. When I heard that, I told her I'd be back, so by the end of the first week I had gone there many times. I went to the lab during my study hall, over the lunch period and then again after school, and she and the other aide helped me a lot. I now knew how to use various search engines to look up information and how to use MS Word, to write any future papers I might be assigned.

When Saturday rolled around, I went to the grocery store to start my training. After I arrived, I discovered another boy, named Peter, was there to start too. Mr. Farrell came out to greet us and gave us a brief tour and a basic rundown of what the job entailed, but then he assigned another employee to instruct us about the different things we were going to do. This person started out by showing us where things were located in the aisles and where the excess stock was kept, and then he taught us the correct way to bag groceries. After that, he had us practice for a while working behind one of the cashiers while he watched us. After we'd each bagged up several orders, he critiqued our efforts and then told us to take a fifteen-minute break.

During the break, Peter came up to me and started talking. He asked what grade I was in and where I had gone to school before coming here, and it turned out we were in the same grade and even in the same biology class. I guess we must not have noticed each other in it, because it was such a large class, but it seemed nice that we had something else in common beside work. Once the fifteen minutes were up, we went back to work and finished out the rest of our shift.

I didn't give much thought about our conversation after that, but as we were leaving the store after work, Peter asked me where I lived. When I told him, he said he lived in the opposite direction and then we compared our next week's schedule for work. Mr. Farrell had given them to us just before we left and we noticed we were both working Friday after school, as well as Saturday. Peter suggested we could walk from school to work together on Friday and I agreed. We said our goodbyes and then turned in opposite directions to head home.

I was pleased when Peter spoke to me in school the next week, because it meant I was friendly with at least one other person. Peter seemed like a nice guy and was easy on the eyes, but I didn't think he gorgeous, at least not like Ryan was. Peter was an inch or two taller than me, had brown hair and hazel eyes, and looked a little stocky. I wouldn't call him fat, but I didn't think the added girth was from being overly muscular either. It didn't matter though, because he had the courage to speak to me, so I'd definitely make the best of this opportunity.

When classes started on Monday, I made sure to say hi to Peter when I got to biology class. He said hi back and smiled, but that was it. After school I went to the computer lab again and told the aide that I would be there every night after school, except for Friday. She said that would be fine and I thanked her, once more, for all of the extra help.

Tuesday went about the same and Peter and I swapped hellos in biology class again. When school ended for the day, I went back to the computer lab and started working with the aide. After a few minutes, I noticed Peter come in, but he passed by without speaking and went to a computer in the back corner of the lab. I guess he must not have seen me, so when I finished what I was working on, I went back to speak with him. When he saw me, he got very nervous.

"Hi, Peter. What are you doing?" I offered, trying to break the ice.

"Oh, nothing. Just reading some articles on the web," he replied.

"Articles about what?" I followed, merely trying to keep the conversation going.

"Uh, just some stuff I was interested in," he responded, cryptically.

"Do you mind showing me?" I asked. "I'm just learning most of this stuff, since I've never had a chance to work on computers before, so I'd just like to see what other people are doing too."

"Well, uh, you probably wouldn't be, um, interested in this stuff," he stuttered. "It's kind of far out."

"I like far out things sometimes, so let me see," I urged. "Maybe I'll like this."

"Well, uh, this stuff is really far out and besides I'm done," he quickly added.

Just after saying this, he signed off of his computer and left the lab, but not before telling me he'd see me on Friday. I thought the whole thing was kind of bizarre and wondered what it was that he didn't want me to see, but maybe he'd show me some other time. Possibly he was just trying to let me know he valued his privacy, but he wasn't upset with me. I guess I'd find out for sure eventually.

The next several weeks went about the same and I would occasionally see Peter in the computer lab, but he was always fairly secretive about what he was up to. I was learning a great deal and getting pretty good at doing things on the computer, so I decided maybe I might be able to find some information about being gay online. Possibly, I could find an address for a local gay youth group or maybe even find some information that would help me when Ryan and I got back together. If I could find out more about these types of things while still remaining anonymous, then I wouldn't have to worry about what anyone else might think or say. I also wouldn't have to worry about any of this getting back to my parents either. This was great and the Internet was wonderful for me.

In a very short time, I began to find a great deal of information that I could use. I wasn't able to get into any of the picture sites, but I found all kinds of sites with reference information and links to other sites, but I also discovered there were story sites I could go to as well. Some of these stories also had sex scenes in them too and gave basic information you would need to know to participate in such activities. Damn! It sure would have been nice to have this around when I was experimenting with Ryan, but maybe that's where he learned everything.

After being on those sites, I began to realize I wasn't alone in what I was going through and there were a whole bunch of other gay people out there too, of all different ages. I discovered there were a fairly large number of other young gays who were not only seeking to be accepted, but some were also being bullied and harassed. There were a few of them who were even questioning their faith and wondering if they could continue to believe in a God that despised them.

I read a bunch of these stories, at least the ones that dealt with characters around my age, and if I really like the story then I would even email the author. I would not only tell him that I enjoyed what he wrote, but I would also explain why it was so important he had done this and what it meant for me. I would often tell the author that I was learning a great deal about being gay from what he described in his story, but I was learning even more from what the various authors wrote back to me in their emails.

I saw Peter in the computer lab at least once or twice a week, but we never really talked very much when we were there, because we were both too involved in the things we were doing on the computer. Each Friday, Peter and I would meet and walk to the store together, since we were usually both scheduled to work then, and we'd chat about our classes and families as we went along. I liked Peter as a friend, but we weren't very close and didn't seem to have very much in common, other than work and school. I don't know why, but I noticed he didn't appear to have any other friends either, although there were a few individuals he spoke to in the halls, lunchroom or in class, but there was no one in particular that he spent time with. From what I had seen, he seemed to hang around with me more than anyone else, other than his parents.

The fall semester was going by quite quickly and I was doing really well in my classes. I also liked my job and things were going great at home, and by mid-October Mom helped me buy my plane ticket for Christmas. I did have one minor problem at work, though, and that had to do with working on Sundays. I finally got my father to agree to let me work from two until closing, at six, which would allow me to attend church services and still make Mr. Farrell happy by working at least part of the day. I also volunteered to work on my days off from school and during the other holidays, so I could earn even more money. By doing this, Mr. Farrell was willing to let me take the time between Christmas and New Year's Day off without losing my job.

It was now the week before Christmas and I was getting excited about going on my trip to see Ryan. There were only a few days of school left before the holiday recess began and I was in the computer lab again. I went there nearly every day to read gay stories online, since I was hoping to find new ideas about things Ryan I might be able to try while we were together. I was glad both of his parents worked during the day, because that would allow us a chance to be alone. I happened to be really into one particular story at the time, when I heard a voice behind me.

"You read gay stories?" the voice asked, so I wheeled around to see who had caught me.

When I looked up, I saw Peter staring at me with a shocked expression plastered across his face. There was nothing I could do, because I had been caught! I was terrified and expected he would tell others what he saw me doing, so eventually everyone in school, whether they knew me personally or not, would know I was gay. I spun back toward the monitor, so I could close the window and sign off the computer, before I stood up, grabbed my belongings and raced out of the room.

As I flew through the door, I heard Peter call after me, but I just wasn't ready to face him or answer his questions. I didn't know what to say and wasn't sure if I wanted to find out how he was going to react. I just wanted to crawl into a corner and die. For some unknown reason, instead of leaving the building, I chose to run down the stairs to the basement instead and hid in the darkened, triangular opening under the stairway. I hoped I'd be able to hide there until Peter went home and then I'd leave the building unobserved. Unfortunately, Peter must have seen where I went, because the next thing I knew he was standing in front of me and watching me cower in the semi-darkness. As I looked up at him, I was trying very hard not to cry.

"Just get out of here and leave me alone," I stated, but without screaming at him. "Now, you know about me. I'm gay and there's nothing I can do about it. So just get out of here and have a good laugh about it when you tell your friends about me. Maybe my Dad will let me move away from here and go back to my old school now."

"Zach. I'm not going to tell anyone," he responded.

I immediately noticed his voice was soft and gentle, so it caused me to look up and wonder why he was being so understanding and nice.

"Why not?" I challenged. "Nobody likes fags, so you can probably score points by telling everyone else about me."

He merely continued to stare at me, until he finally formed his response.

"There is one group that doesn't hate fags," he began, "and that's other gays."

I wasn't sure what he meant by this, but I wasn't certain if I wanted to know either.

"Yeah, like I have a lot of them around to stand beside me," I scoffed.

"How about just one then?" he asked, which caused my mouth to drop open.

"You 3; you mean 3; you're gay too?" I stammered, not quite sure if I should believe him or not.

He merely nodded his head in response and then waited for me to make the next move. When I remained where I was, since I was too dumbfounded to speak or move, he crept toward me and slowly inched his way even closer to where I was huddled under the stairs.

"Do you remember the day you came over to me in the computer lab and wanted to know what I was doing?" he asked, and I nodded in response. "Well, I was reading gay stories then and tried my best to keep you from finding out."

"No way!" I exclaimed, still dubious.

"Yes. I was, and I was scared to death that you had discovered what I was doing, because I was afraid you'd seen enough to possibly figure it out. I wasn't sure how I should act around you after that, but then you didn't seem any different and didn't act like anything was wrong. For that reason, I decided you must not have realized what I was doing, but I was a lot more careful afterward and always erased the history. I couldn't do this at home, because my parents have a tracking system hooked into our Internet."

After saying this, Ryan knelt down, moved even closer to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Why don't you come out of there, so we can go outside and talk?" he offered. "You know, where it's more private."

I nodded and slithered out of the confined area, and then I walked back to the first floor with Peter and followed him outside. We quickly found a quiet place where we could talk alone and then we stopped.

"Peter? How long have you known you were gay?" I wanted to know, basically to satisfy my own curiosity.

"I guess I've always known, but I finally admitted it to myself about two years ago. How about you?" he asked in return.

"I've known since I was about seven or eight," I admitted. "At first, I just liked to look at other boys' bodies, but I knew girls didn't interest me at all."

"Have you ever, you know, done stuff with anyone, Zach?" he asked next.

I immediately wondered how open I should be with him and almost wished he hadn't gone down this road. I could tell he really wanted me to answer this question, because his eyes were pleading with me to respond. After thinking about it for a short time, I decided I should try to be honest, if only to repay him for how supportive he'd been to me.

"Yes, with my best friend from where I used to live," I told him. "How about you?"

"I've never done anything," he admitted. "I've always been too scared to suggest doing something with the people I knew and I'm not aware of anyone who is openly gay. I was just afraid that if I said something to the wrong person, then he'd start calling me names and tell everyone else about me. Besides. I don't have any 'real' friends either, because most people think I'm kind of weird, since I don't like the same types of things they do. Do you think that maybe you might be willing to do something with me sometime?"

"Maybe, but I'll have to think about it first," I offered. "I think maybe I should also ask Ryan if he'd mind."

"Is Ryan your boyfriend?" Peter wanted to know.

I nodded my head in response, but only because he didn't know Ryan. I would never have admitted this to anyone that Ryan and I both knew, even if they had figured out I was gay, because I'd do whatever it took to protect him.

"Yes, I guess he is and he's the one I've tried some stuff with," I confirmed. "I wouldn't do anything unless I checked with him first, otherwise I'd feel like I was cheating on him and I don't think I could live with that. I mean if he agrees to let me show you some things, it will be as a friend and not as a boyfriend. Would that be all right with you?"

"Yeah. It's definitely better than not knowing what it is like or not being able to do anything at all," Peter agreed. "I probably wouldn't have asked you, Zach, if I'd known you already had a boyfriend. I do like you and would appreciate your help though, so whatever you agree to will be fine."

"I understand and think Ryan probably will too," I conceded.

"Do you really think so?" he shot back. "Maybe if you called him soon, then we could get together over Christmas and try some things."

"Maybe after Christmas," I offered. "I'm going to fly back to visit Ryan over Christmas break and spend the week with him."

"Oh, I didn't know. I'm sorry," he apologized meekly.

"You don't have to be sorry, Peter," I replied. "We're friends, and now that we know about each other, we can be even better friends and help each other survive and keep our sanity. I'm glad you found out about me, because it was driving me crazy that I no longer had anyone I could talk to about things like this. Do your parents know?"

"Not yet," he answered. "I think my folks would handle it all right, but I haven't been able to work up the courage to tell them. How about yours?"

"No way!" I almost screamed. "My father's a minister and considers homosexuality a sin. He'd totally flip out if he ever discovered my secret. I'm not really sure about how my mom would react, but I don't think she'd handle it very well either."

"Zach, have you ever seen any pictures of guys doing things?" Peter followed, which caught me totally off guard.

"No. I've never seen any of the gay magazines or any of the sites on the Internet," I responded. "From what I can tell, they all seem to require a credit card."

"Not all of them, because I've seen some stuff online," he confessed.

"You have?" I gasped. "What have you seen?"

"I've seen pictures of guys actually doing it," he confirmed. "They were even good looking young guys too."

"How did you get to see it?" I wondered.

"There are some free sites online where you can see different clips," he told me. "Some of vids were put there by the pay sites, as a way to get people to join, but others were posted by amateurs who recorded what they were doing with a webcam. Do you want to go back to the computer lab and check some of them out?"

"Is it safe to do it?" I wondered, since it certainly didn't sound safe.

"Yeah, I've done it in there before, but I only do it on this one computer back in the corner of the lab and then delete the history afterward. We still have to keep our eyes open though, just in case someone heads back our way."

"If you think we can do it without getting caught, then lets give it a try," I rapidly agreed.

We immediately headed back to the lab and I got to watch some vids and looked at a few pictures. This gave me a better idea if I had been doing anything wrong, but I also got to see if there was anything new I wanted to try with Ryan, before I left on my trip.

I got off the plane in St. Louis, collected my baggage and then walked to the main section of the terminal. From there, I took a cab to the bus station and caught the bus to the town where I used to live. When I got there, Ryan and his parents were waiting for me and Ryan raced over when he spotted me and we hugged each other energetically, like two old friends. We both wanted to do more than that, but it was a very public place and Ryan's parents were also there. We then loaded my suitcase into their car and set off for their house. Ryan and I sat in the backseat together and held hands, although we kept it very low-key and made sure his parents couldn't see anything, but it was great just being together again.

We had dinner at their house, shortly after I arrived, and then I explained to Ryan's parents that I was very tired from my trip and wanted to turn in for the evening. Ryan and I both said goodnight to his folks and headed up to his room. We cleaned up, went into Ryan's bedroom and Ryan locked the door behind us. We then quickly stripped down to our underclothes and started kissing one another, like two men possessed. Our hands began roaming wildly over each other's bodies, as we tried to reacquaint ourselves with our lover's flesh and sensitive areas. We continued groping and kissing until we fell onto his bed, where we greedily attempted to make up for lost time.

I lifted Ryan's t-shirt over his head, so we briefly had to break our kiss, and then he did the same thing to me, so now all we had on were our underpants. At this point, I hopped onto my knees, so I could lift his briefs over his already engorged cock and pull them down his legs. I was barely able to contain myself until it popped free, but then I hesitated for a moment, so I could just admire his naked body. As I was doing this, I noticed his faint tan line, since he'd continued to work shirtless on the farm until late fall, but there was something else that stuck out even more than that. Not only had his pubic patch grown thicker, but his beautiful boyhood had also grown a little bigger since I'd last seen him.

When I paused to admire his crotch more thoroughly, Ryan rolled toward me and reached out, so he could yank my briefs down to my knees. Once he did that, we both took a moment to remove our underwear completely, and then I bent over my gorgeous blond haired stud and started kissing his mouth again. After I did that for a short time, I worked my way down to his neck, so I could lick and kiss the entire area around where his jaw and neck came together. From there, I moved down to his nipples and flicked my tongue over the left one first, which caused the tiny nub to get rigid, ant then I worked my way across his chest to the other one next. Then, I ran my tongue down the center of his chest to his navel and let my tongue dart in and out that depression for a while, as I swirled my tongue up and around the opening and paid homage to that small indentation on his body.

Once I finished there, I moved down to his right thigh and nibbled at the meaty flesh, while also bathing his skin with my saliva. I then moved over to his left thigh and repeated the same routine, until I felt it was time to work my way up to his genitalia. When I got there, I licked his scrotum and took one of his balls into my mouth, so I could swish it around, from side to side, and hum on it softly, which sent pleasurable vibrations racing through his testicle. After repeating this effort on his other watery nugget, I started to lick my way up his rigid shaft.

Lovingly, I let my tongue roam over his silky flesh and followed the path of his veins higher, until I reached the top of his pole. When I got to the tip, I ran my tongue all around his sensitive glans and then I flicked it into the small slit in the middle, which was pulsing open and shut with each beat of his heart. Now that I had Ryan squirming in delight below me, I parted my lips and wrapped my mouth around his woody, as I slowly slid down the length of his blood filled organ. Once I reached the base, I began to bob up and down on it a few times and then I pulled off.

"Why did you stop?" Ryan demanded, as he gawked at me.

"I want to try something I read about on the Internet," I explained. "It's called a sixty-nine. I'm going to swing around and dangle my meat over your head and then we can do each other at the same time."

"Yeah, I've heard about that, but I've never understood why they call it a sixty-nine?" he mused.

"Well, think about the numbers. The 6 and 9 are basically the same, only they're oriented in opposite directions. That's what we're going to be doing now. We'll be bent over each other and facing in opposite directions, just like the two crooked numbers, but we'll be doing it so we can give each other pleasure at the same time."

Since he seemed pleased with my answer, I swung around and we began to attack each other's penis. It had been so long since either of us had been able to satisfy someone or be satisfied ourselves, we started sucking on one another like a blind calf that had finally located its mother's teat. Due to the urgency we were doing this, It wasn't long before we exploded into each other's mouth and savored every droplet until it was gone.

After we gradually recovered from our post orgasmic bliss, we put our underwear back on, crawled under the bedding and then snuggled together for the rest of the night. As we were getting comfortable, we exchanged one last, passionate kiss and then fell into an extremely blissful slumber. It would seem that we were both tired from the lack of sleep the previous night, which had been caused by the anticipation of what we were going to do, once we were back together again.

The following morning when we awoke, we decided to stay in bed and savor the warmth and tenderness of our lingering embrace. After a few additional minutes had passed, Ryan decided to begin a discussion.

"So, Zach, have you made any friends at your new school?" he wanted to know.

"Actually, I guess you can say I have made one friend," I offered, although I didn't give him any details.

"Male or female? Young or old?" he wondered next.

"It's actually a boy, about our age," I replied, although I watched his reaction carefully.

"Really? Is he good looking?" Ryan pressed.

Although I couldn't tell what he was thinking, I felt there might be something more behind Ryan's last question. This made me determined to find out what was on his mind.

"He's not bad looking, but I also discovered he's gay. That just happened before I came here," I advised him.

"Oh, he's gay, is he?" he stated, and I could hear the sarcasm in his voice, but then he paused briefly, in order to gather his thoughts. "Have you done anything with him?"

This convinced me about what he was thinking and where this discussion was heading. Although I was troubled by his lack of trust, I was a bit amused by the fact that this was bothering him.

"Am I detecting a hint of jealousy?" I asked, point blank.

He paused and looked directly into my eyes. I think he was trying to judge whether he could detect my feelings about this other boy by watching my demeanor.

"Maybe," he confessed. "So have you?"

"I'm flattered that you care so much about me, but you don't have to worry," I answered. "He's just a friend and nothing more. Even though he's gay, it doesn't mean I'm going to attack him or vice versa. You, of all people, should know more than anyone else that he'd need a friend, someone he can confide in. Don't you remember what it was like before we met and there was no one you could turn to for support? If you were like me, then you must have wished to find someone you could just talk to about your feelings and emotions?"

"Yes, I remember, so I'm sorry," he apologized, although I questioned his sincerity. "I know I should trust you, but you're so far away and I was worried you'd find someone new."

"Well, don't. I love you and no one else could ever compare or replace you in any way," I offered, while hoping this would be enough to reassure him.

Ryan blushed after hearing my comment and I felt he was slightly embarrassed by how I'd built him up.

"And you don't have to worry either," he assured me, although he didn't need to.

"I know, but that's just another reason why I love you," I replied.

After I'd said that, Ryan wrapped his arms around my neck, moved his head closer to mine and snaked his tongue between my lips, as he sought my own tongue out in return. After a minute or so of allowing those muscles to duel and giving our lips time to savor the other's unique taste, Ryan broke the kiss and resumed our previous conversation.

"How did you find out he was gay?" he inquired next.

"Actually, he found out about me," I confessed. "It all started when I began using the school's computer lab and discovered some sites on the Internet that had gay stories. I was reading one of them when he came up from behind, without me noticing, because I guess I must have been too absorbed in what I was reading at the time. Anyway, when he asked if I was reading a gay story, my heart jumped into my throat, because I thought I had been outted.

"I was scared to death," I continued, "and bolted from there, but he must have watched where I went. When I saw he'd followed me, I really thought he did it to beat me up, so I was ready to be physically attacked or at least called a bunch of names. He didn't do that though, which shocked me, especially when he told me not to be scared. That when he admitted he was gay too."

"Wow, that must have been scary," Ryan stated, while appearing totally shocked.

"Yeah, it was," I concurred. "Peter, that's his name, said I was the only other person he knew that was gay or who knew he was gay."

"I guess he must have been glad when he saw what you were doing then," Ryan observed.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," I agreed. "Anyway, we talked for a while and he asked if I'd ever actually done anything, so I told him a little bit about us."

When he heard this, I could see the blood rushing to Ryan's face, but I wasn't sure why it was happening, since I hadn't told anyone we both knew. Could this possibly be jealousy again or was he just mad that I told someone else about us. Maybe his red face merely indicated he was actually turned on by that fact that I'd told this other boy I already had a boyfriend and we'd had sex, but the blood ended up going to the wrong head. Whatever the reason, I continued my story.

"Peter also told me I was lucky that I'd found someone I could be intimate with and then asked if I might be willing to do some things with him too," I confessed, and Ryan immediately responded to what I'd told him.

"He asked you WHAT?" he screamed. "You told him NO, didn't you?"

I could see that Ryan was very agitated by this revelation, so I felt I had to get him to calm down.

"At first I told him I wasn't interested, because I had you," I explained, "but after he kept pursuing the idea, I told him I couldn't do anything unless you approved of it."

"Why did you tell him that? Why didn't you just tell him no?" he demanded.

"Ryan, think about it. We have each other and this kid has no one," I pointed out. "If he has to wait until he finally meets someone, then who knows how long it might take. Not only that, but by the time he finally meets someone later, he might be so desperate and at such a severe disadvantage that the other person might be able to take advantage of him. He needs to learn some of the things that we've learned with each other and it's important that he finds someone to show him it's ok, so he can experience how good it can feel. If you agree to let me do anything with him, it won't be because I love him, not like I love you. It would only be to help a friend grow and learn about himself."

"Yeah and I know which part of him will be growing," Ryan scoffed. "You can help him if you want, but then it will be over for us."

"Then I won't do it and Peter will just have to understand," I responded.

"You won't do it if I say no?" Ryan asked, in amazement.

"No, absolutely not," I answered. "I won't do anything that would cost me having you in my life."

Ryan gazed into my face and then started weeping. As the tears began to stream down his face, I tried desperately to determine if he was crying tears of sorrow or joy. He answered that question when he leaned over and hugged me.

"You know, you could have done anything you wanted to with him and I would never have known," he pointed out.

"I know, but I would have known and I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I ever cheated on you or hurt you in any way," I explained.

"Then you didn't really want to?" Ryan followed, both amazed and uncertain.

"Not for me," I confirmed. "I just considered helping Peter is all, because he asked and had no one else to turn to."

"Now I'm beginning to feel guilty," Ryan stated, while making a strange face.

"What do you mean?" I asked, since I was slightly confused.

"Well, you're only thinking of helping Peter and I'm only thinking about myself," he reasoned. "I'm beginning to feel selfish now."

"Look, let's drop it," I suggested. "I told you I wouldn't do it if you didn't agree to it and that's what I told Peter. You've said no, so it's no longer an option."

"That's what I mean," he confessed. "I was worried I might lose you, and because of my fear, Peter loses out instead. I can't hurt him just because I'm insecure."

I reflected on Ryan's last comment and decided to try to find an alternative that would leave no one feeling bad or guilty. After a short deliberation, I came up with a possible solution.

"I've got an idea," I said, as I grinned at my soulmate. "What if I were to tell Peter that he could come here with me next summer, as long as he bought his own ticket, and then we could both teach him about being gay. That way you'll be with us and can make sure things don't get out of hand and he'll have two of us to confide in and to teach him what he needs to know."

"It's a nice idea, but I doubt he'll want to come here for the entire summer," Ryan pointed out. "Look, I trust you, Zach. You didn't have to tell me about Peter or ask me if you could help him, but you did. If that doesn't prove that I can trust you, then I don't know what would. If Peter can't wait that long, then you have my permission to teach him whatever you think is necessary and I won't question what you do. Whether or not you actually do anything with him between now and then is up to the two of you, and regardless of what happens, you can still bring Peter next summer, if he wants to join us. If he does, just let me know and I'll clear it with my parents. Seem fair to you?"

"More than fair. I love you, Rye," I told him, as I wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him a really big, sloppy kiss.

"I love you, too," he agreed, once I released him.

After that, Ryan and I went downstairs to have breakfast and then we returned to his room. It worked out great that his parents were at work, because now we'd had all the time we'd need. That was because I had something else I wanted to teach him, something new that I'd found on the Internet while doing research for this visit.

"Ryan. Where's your lube?" I asked, while getting things prepared.

"It's in my dresser. Hang on and I'll get it," he offered, as he ran over and retrieved the jar and then returned to the bed, so he could hand it to me. "What do you want me to do now?"

"Just lie in the middle of the bed and I'll take care of everything else," I advised him.

Ryan was now lying on the bed, so I moved over next to him and we started kissing. Diligently, I worked my way down his body, as I'd done on so many previous occasions, but I also scooped some lubricant out of the jar as we were doing this, so Ryan couldn't see what I was doing. While we were kissing, I started to work the Vaseline into my rectum, as I greased and stretched it at the same time.

I managed to do all of this without Ryan catching on to what I was up to, so by the time I worked my way down to his adorable 6" [15 cm] cut cock, I took it in my mouth and made sure he was totally aroused. When I was convinced he was ready, I took another glob of petroleum jelly and smeared it up and down Ryan's shaft, and once he was sufficiently lubricated, I straddled his chest and started kissing him once more.

"Ryan, I've wanted to do this for you since I first read about it," I explained. "So just lie back and enjoy, while I do all of the work."

Ryan nodded, as I backed up a little and lifted my butt over his erect member. I reached behind my butt and grabbed his prick with my right hand, so I could line it up my chute and slowly impaled myself upon it. There was a little resistance from my body at first, as Ryan's dark-red helmet pressed against my sphincter. It had been a while since we'd done anything like this and I wasn't as loose as I'd been previously, but he'd also grown some in that area, so it was a little more difficult than I'd expected. Once the dickhead entered my rectum, the rest of his shaft slid in fairly easily.

Ryan moaned as his penis slipped into my love canal and I could feel the intense heat from his throbbing member. I started with a nice, slow rhythm, as I raised and lowered my body up and down on his shaft, while slowly rotating my hips at the same time. I felt a strong tingling sensation each time Ryan's dick brushed against my prostate, as it sent waves of pleasure washing over my entire body.

I also attempted to concentrate on tightening my rectal muscles on every upward motion, to increase the friction on Ryan's fleshy tool and then relaxed again as I was lowering myself. We were both doing a lot of moaning and groaning while this was going on, as I gradually began to increase the rapidity of my movements. Ryan was now beginning to whimper, like a small puppy that wanted something, and this definitely let me know I was pleasing him.

While I had been riding my lover in this fashion, I had also been stroking my own turgid member and could feel the pressure building deep within my loins. I realized my own release was imminent, so I hastened my humping movement on Ryan once more, because I wanted to bring us off at as close to the same time as possible.

When I felt his boyhood swell deep inside of my bowels, I realized he was nearly ready as well, so it only took a few more thrusts on his prick before I felt him rocket his first blast into my love tunnel. This was followed closely behind by five more waves of semen, but as his third blast was coating my intestines, my own tool twitched and jettisoned its first creamy strand, which flew over Ryan's head. This was quickly followed by four more powerful bursts, so there was a long trail of boy jizz running from about a foot above Ryan's head on the headboard and running from there down to his navel.

I was totally spent from the 'sexercise' and tumbled onto the bed beside my satisfied lover. Once his chest stopped heaving, Ryan looked over and flashed me his patented grin.

"That was the best sex yet," he confirmed. "I've never felt such incredible pressure on my dick, nor have I ever shot such a huge load. Zach, you're awesome and I love you so much."

"Thanks, Rye. It was one of those things I read about and knew I just had to try it with you, I explained. "I figured you'd probably like it."

"Yeah, you really know me, don't you?" he shot back.

We continued to lie there in the afterglow of our orgasms for about another half an hour, before we cleaned up the mess and then showered together. Later that afternoon, we gave each other a hand job and then we exchanged blowjobs before we went to sleep. I guess the old saying is true and absence does make the hard-on grow fonder, or something like that.

Ryan and I had a great time over the next few days and we cummed a minimum of four times each day. Everything was great and I was starting to regret that I'd have to leave behind again, when Ryan pulled off the biggest surprise of the trip. He had planned our own personal New Year's Eve celebration. He knew his parents had been invited out to attend a bash being thrown by some of their friends that evening, so he felt it would be the perfect opportunity for us to do something special too.

Ryan's parents left a little after 6:00 on New Year's Eve and said they wouldn't be back until two or three the next morning. Once they were gone, he talked me into dressing up for dinner and then led me downstairs. I don't know when he managed to set up their dining room for a romantic candlelight dinner for two, but it was all ready when the take out dinner from one of the nicest restaurants in town was delivered. He had ordered us both a Caesar salad, filet mignon, baked potato with sour cream, broccoli in a cheese sauce and chocolate mousse for dessert. He even had a bottle of sweet wine, which he had talked his father into purchasing for us for the evening, so we could also celebrate the New Year. In fact, it was my first taste of wine, since my father's church used grape juice for communion.

I couldn't believe Ryan had gone to all of this trouble, as well as this much expense just for me. After dinner, we watched a movie next and then I led Ryan to the bedroom for my farewell present. Before we even got to the bed, I placed both of my hands on the sides of his face and slowly moved my lips to meet his. I opened mine slightly, to allow my tongue to run across his two, luscious, ruby-red lips, and when a thin slit formed between them, I let my tongue slip inside. I then used it to explore his teeth, tongue and the lining of his oral cavity, before Ryan began sucking on that probing muscle, the same way he had done on another organ so many times before. Once he stopped doing that, our tongues began to parry in pure lust.

I was groaning quite loudly at this point, while he worked on that moist projectile, but I was also busy unbuttoning his shirt. As soon as I'd unfastened the last button, I removed his shirt from his body and pulled his t-shirt out of his waistband. I then lifted it up and over his head and only broke our kiss long enough to perform this simple task. After we resumed kissing, I unbuckled and unsnapped his trousers, as I allowed my hands wander up and down his back, until they slid under the elastic band of his briefs. I then cupped his ass checks and pulled him tightly against me, as his dress pants slid off his hips and fell toward the floor.

Now, it was Ryan's turn to undress me and he proceeded to do it exactly the same way I had done it to him. We were now clad only in our briefs, while caressing and trying to suck out each other's tonsils. Eventually, we removed our undershorts as well and then I led my lover over to the bed. After placing a large bath towel over the sheet, I arranged him with his head and chest on a pillow, while his butt was sticking up in the air. I then moved around and positioned myself behind him, since I planned on giving him his first ever rim job.

When I initially stuck my tongue out and let it run it up and down Ryan's ass crack, he jumped and quickly looked back at me. I offered him a quick explanation about what I was doing and told him to relax and enjoy it, as I stuck my tongue straight out and pressed it against his cute, pink pucker. Over the next couple of minutes, I allowed my wet muscle swirl all around every smooth centimeter of the area, and once it was completely wet, I gently forced my tongue into his chute, before flicking it in and out in rapid succession.

Ryan gasped when my tongue first entered him, but then he relaxed and enjoyed the sensation, as I twirled my tongue all around the velvety lining of his hole. I made certain to give him as much pleasure as possible this way, while lubing him up with my saliva, and when I felt he was sufficiently prepared, I grabbed the Vaseline jar and greased up my tool, in preparation to enter him. I then lined my stiffy up with his opening and began to gently push against his rosebud.

When the head of my penis popped into him, Ryan moaned, but it was not a moan of pain, but one of pleasure. Once he also gave me his verbal assurance that he was fine, I continued plunging my hot rod, inch by inch, into him until my pubic hairs brushed against his ass cheeks. Now that I was completely embedded in his hole, I gave him some time to adjust, before I slowly started sliding my penis in and out of his wonderfully tight orifice.

I pulled it back until only the head remained inside him and then tenderly pushed it back again, as I attempted to give us both the most satisfaction as possible. While I was doing this, I also reached my right hand around his side and grasped his rigid prick, so I could stroke him at the same pace I was assaulting his ass with my cock. I did my best to maintain the same steady rhythm on both, while gradually increasing my pace, as we neared our joint climax. We brought in the New Year by releasing our loads simultaneously, mine up his ass and his all over his chest and the towel I had placed on his bed.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR, RYAN! I LOVE YOU, MAN!"

My New Year's Day plane ride back to Syracuse was spent reminiscing about the past few glorious days. I had just spent the better part of a week reveling in the special joy that only my lover could bring to me and now I would just have to languish through six more months until we could be together again. Our first separation had been for less than four months, but now I would have to wait six more before we could be together again. This was going to test my patience more than Job's had been tested by God.

My parents met me at the airport and seemed quite pleased that I was back. My mom kissed me and my father gave me a bear hug, before he carried my luggage to the car. During the ride home, they asked me about my trip and inquired about how Ryan and his parents were doing. I told them as much as I could without letting them know that Ryan and I were lovers, and I felt honored that they actually seemed interested. It was also nice to see that they cared if I'd enjoyed myself.

After reaching the house about an hour later, I had a quick bite to eat and then dragged my suitcase up to my room to unpack. I wanted to get everything taken care of tonight, because I was starting back to school tomorrow. I was still unpacking when I heard the phone ring and my mother yelled up that it was for me. I raced down the stairs to take it, because I thought it might be Ryan calling to make sure that I had arrived home safely.

"Hello."

"Hello, Zach, it's me, Peter. So, how was your trip?" he asked, mildly startling me. I hadn't expected him to call.

"Great. I had a really nice time," I answered, as soon as I got over my initial shock.

"Did you and your boyfriend get it on?" he wanted to know.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," I answered, since I couldn't say much with my parents in hearing range.

"Man! You're such a lucky devil," he acknowledged, but I could detect a hint of envy in his voice.

"Yeah 3; yes, I am. So, how was your Christmas?" I countered, changing the subject.

"That's why I called you. My parents bought me a laptop for Christmas, so I don't have to use the family computer any longer," he offered. "Now, you can come over to my house to look at things on the Internet and we won't have to worry about getting caught by someone else in the lab."

"Wow, you got you own laptop!" I exclaimed. "I wish I had one."

"You can share mine," he offered. "How about coming over tomorrow after school, for a while? Do you think you can?"

"I'll check with my parents, but I don't think it will be a problem," I answered.

"Great, I'll see you in school tomorrow then. Bye," he replied, and he sounded nearly as excited as I was.

I was quite surprised that Peter hadn't inquired about whether I'd asked Ryan if I could help him in his quest for knowledge and thought this more than a little strange. It had seemed extremely important to him before I left on my trip, yet he didn't mention it at all. I guess the new computer must have been occupying his thoughts and activities more than his raging hormones, so I was determined not to mention that Ryan and I discussed it, unless Peter brought it up first. Then, I decided what I was going to do when the situation finally arose, before I asked my parents if they would mind if I went over to Peter's house for a while after school tomorrow. They quickly agreed it would be fine, so I kissed them both goodnight and went to bed to rest up for school.

By the time I saw Peter in biology class, he was dying to make sure I was coming over. When I told him my parents said it would be all right, the air escaped from his lungs and sounded as if he'd been holding it in since we talked on the phone the previous evening. He said he'd meet me by the computer lab at the end of the day and then we'd leave from there. I agreed and went off to suffer through my last few classes.

Peter was already waiting for me when I arrived and then we walked to his house together. I had never been there before, so I tried to memorize the route as we went, in case I had to make my way back on my own. Peter lived in a nice neighborhood and his house was more modern than my own. After seeing it, I decided his father must have a pretty good job, especially since they'd also bought Peter his own laptop as a Christmas present. I knew my father couldn't do that on what he got paid as a minister, or at least that's what I've always been told.

Once we went inside, he gave me a quick tour of the house, before we went to his room. I was surprised by how large his bedroom was, because it was as large as my parents' master bedroom. He had a queen-size bed in the middle of it, a dresser and a chest of drawers, a desk (with the laptop sitting on it) and a scattering of other items in various locations. There were some pictures and posters on the wall and I was attracted to a poster with five young men on it when he spoke.

"Do you like One Direction, too?" he inquired.

"Who?" I responded, since I had no idea what he was talking about.

"One Direction, the boy band," he clarified. "That's a poster with all of them on it."

"Sorry, I don't know anything about who they are," I replied. "My dad and his church don't allow us to listen to that kind of music, but the boys are kind of cute though."

"Yeah, that's why I have their poster hanging on my wall," Peter confessed. "I look at it sometimes when I'm stroking off."

"I'll bet," I said, because I could see why he would do that.

"Come on. It's time to get on the computer," he urged.

Agreeing with his suggestion, we went over to his desk and he lifted the top and turned it on. It was a wireless connection, which I hadn't seen before, so I checked it over. Not only did he have his own laptop, but his parents had also given him a printer as well, so he could print off his reports for school after he wrote them.

"It's really nice, Peter. You're pretty lucky," I told him.

"Not as lucky as you. You've got something I'd trade all of this for," I was slightly confused at first, but then I quickly figured out he was referring to Ryan.

"Yes, I'm certainly glad I have him, but I don't get to see him nearly as often as I'd like," I admitted.

"At least you have him, even if he does live far away," he offered. "Did you ask him what we talked about?"

I hesitated briefly before I answered him, so I could mentally prepare for how I planned to handle this.

"Yes, I did," I answered, simply.

"Well? What did he say?" Peter asked, showing both his curiosity and impatience.

"He said he'd trust me to do whatever I thought was right and necessary," I responded, while again only giving him the minimal answer.

"Great!" Peter shouted, as he leapt out of his chair. "That's really decent of him."

"We also decided to invite you to come with me when I go back to spend the summer there, so we can all be together," I added, while studying Peter's expression. "You'd have to pay for your own plane and bus tickets though, but Ryan will see if you can also work with us on the farm, so you won't be alone while we're working and can make some of the money back that you'll be spending. I don't expect you to decide about this right away, but if you want to work on the farm with us, I should let Ryan know no later than March, so he can talk to the boss about it."

"It sounds really great, so I'll discuss the idea with my folks tonight," he said gleefully. "They're usually pretty cool about these sorts of things, so I don't think it will be a problem. Now, let me show you this new site I found."

Ryan quickly turned back to his computer and punched up this new site. While he was doing it, I asked him where the mouse was, so he showed me how it was different on a laptop than the computers in the lab. Once I understood that, he went to the site. It was a free site that had a bunch of links to all kinds of vids showing guys doing all kinds of stuff and a lot of the boys were uncut like me. As we watched a few of the videos, Peter told me the types of things he wanted to be able to do too. I was intrigued watching these guys doing many of the same things Ryan and I had done and it made me feel good to see them in action. It was kind of a confirmation that we'd been doing things correctly.

Peter and I looked at the site for about an hour before Peter spoke. "Do you think you might be able to teach me some of those things now?" he pleaded.

"What did you have in mind?" I responded, since I wanted to be clear as to what he was hoping for.

"Anything. I've never done any of this stuff with someone else, so you decide what we should do first."

"Ok. We'll start the same way that Ryan and I started then, by jerking each other off," I suggested. "Will that be all right with you?"

"Of course, I've never had anyone touch my 3; you know 3; my dick before," Peter replied, shyly.

"Just relax and you'll be fine," I offered. "Why don't you get undressed and I'll do the same."

Peter nodded, so we both undressed quickly, after I made sure Peter had locked his bedroom door. Once we were both naked, we spent the next few moments just staring at each other's body. Peter had same type of build as a football wide receiver and there was a patch of brown, curly pubes above his 7" [17½ cm] circumcised cock, which was bigger than either Ryan's or mine, and he had a nice set of low hanging balls. I looked at Peter's face as he was checking me out as well and saw that he seemed to be having trouble breathing. I finally figured out it was because he was so excited about what was to follow, but I wanted to be sure.

"Are you all right?" I asked him.

"Yeah, it's just that I've never been this close to another guy's cock before and this is the first time I've seen an uncircumcised penis up close. I've seen them in pictures and in the videos, but never up close or in person."

"Well, you'll be able to check it out when it's your turn, if you want," I offered. "Right now, come over to the bed and lie down, and I'll do you first."

He agreed without saying another word and got comfortable on one side of the bed. I immediately spit into my hand and rubbed it in with my other hand, so it wouldn't be dry when I gripped his meat and began to stroke him. He was only semi-erect when I grasped his tool, but it soon sprang completely to life under my touch. As I started to stroke his beautiful boyhood, I also began playing with his scrotum with my other hand.

Peter started to squirm from the pleasure he was now receiving and I continued to stroke his fully engorged rod, while feeling it pulse with each of his heartbeats. I made certain to stroke the entire length of his sizeable tool, to maximize his enjoyment, and sped up my motions when I noticed his nuts beginning to draw closer to his body, as his orgasm grew closer. Suddenly, his weapon swelled in my hand and he arched his back, just before his penis erupted.

"Zach, I'm 3; I'm 3; ahhh 3; ughhh 3; cumming," he screamed, as his first volley shot skyward.

The first blast traveled at least a foot and a half [50 cm] into the air, and landed, with a plop, on his chest. Then, a series of lesser aftershocks leapt from his mighty weapon and landed in various other places on his body. As the explosions subsided, I milked the last of his cream from his now wilting penis and let the last of his baby-seed run over the skin on my hand, as it oozed from his penis. Peter lay panting on the bed, gasping for air after his discharge, while swooning in the warm glow of his orgasm.

"That was awesome!" he exclaimed in a hoarse whisper. "It never felt that good when I did it to myself."

"No. It's definitely more enjoyable when someone else does it for you," I confirmed.

"Man, you've got magic fingers," he gushed. "I've never shot that much or been that hard before."

Peter took several more minutes to enjoy the awesome feelings he'd received from his first experience with another person and then he sat up and looked at me.

"Do want me to do that for you now?" he wondered

"Only if you want to. I'm doing this for you, not for me," I explained.

"I definitely want to do it, because I want to make you feel as good as you made me feel," he gushed. "Besides, I've never touched another boy's dick before and want to see what it feels like."

"If that's what you want, then we'll do it," I agreed. "Just wet your hand down with your saliva first, before you start. It lets your hand glide up and down easier."

Peter nodded, so I expected to see him spit into his palm, but instead, Peter held his hand in front of his face and started to lick his palm and fingers. Once they were nice and moist, he reached out and brought his hand down toward my waiting organ. At first, he just let his fingers roam around and play with my genitals, as he explored this newly found delight for texture and firmness, but then he began to explore my foreskin.

He started off by sliding the prepuce down, so he exposed my blushing head, before he lifted it back up. Then, he took a second to pinch the loose skin that extended past the tip, as he experimented with it. He then drew the skin down again, but this time after he exposed the head, he pinched the glans between his thumb and index finger. He didn't do this hard enough to hurt me, but hard enough so he could feel the sponginess of my helmet. He then traced an imaginary line around the ridge of my corona, before he tentatively fingered the slit. He seemed to be having so much fun checking everything out that I wasn't sure if he was actually planning to get down to business. He toyed with it for a little while longer, but then he flushed before looking at me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to 3; you know 3; take so long," he apologized, once he realized he might have gotten carried away.

"Don't worry about it, Peter," I responded. "Take your time and enjoy."

"You don't mind then? You know, my pinching and squeezing it and all," he asked amazed.

"No. The first time Ryan and I did it, we had to check out all of those things too," I pointed out. "This is your first time, so do whatever you want or think you should do. I don't mind."

"Thanks, Zach. You're the best, but I think I'll jack you off now," he offered, since I assumed he'd done everything he had hoped to.

At this point, he re-gripped my penis and started to stroke it up and down. He experimented with various grips and speeds, as he tried to decide which worked the best. When he finally determined how he wanted to proceed, he began stroking my dick in earnest and was quickly bringing me to the brink. His hand was making a machine gun assault on my magic wand when the first volley launched into the air and landed on my chest. The second, third, and fourth spurts followed rapidly after that and then the remainder just dribbled from the tip and over Peter's hand. He looked at my semen, which was running over the back of his hand, and it even appeared as if he might want to taste it. After considering it for a few seconds, he opted to wipe it off with a tissue. Maybe he'll try it next time.

"Well? How'd I do?" he wanted to know.

"You did fine, Peter. Just fine," I assured him. "What did you think of it?"

"It was fun and it felt great holding someone else's dick in my hand," he confirmed. "I mean, it was just like holding my own, only it was different. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"Yes, Peter, I do," I concurred. "I know exactly what you mean."

This was just the first of many similar experiences with Peter and I getting together for a joint masturbation session. He seemed to be satisfied with this, but I knew eventually he would want to do something more. I wasn't going to push him into it or make the suggestion, so we wouldn't do more than this unless Peter initiated the change. About the middle of March, Peter made his next move.

"Zach, do you think we could do something more than just pulling on each other's pud?" he asked.

Even though he'd used a term I'd never heard before, I easily understood what he meant.

"I don't know. What did you have in mind?" I countered, since I needed him to decide what he wanted to do next.

"Well, I'd kinda like to find out what a blowjob is like, if you wouldn't mind," he hinted, meekly.

"Giving or receiving?" I asked back.

"Both, really. Do you think you would be willing to do that with me?" he pressed.

"Peter, if that's what you want to experience, then we'll do it," I offered. "I've told you before that I'm doing this so you can learn, so all you have to do is to let me know exactly what you want. I'm game, if you are."

"Thanks, Zach, you're a pal," he replied. "So what do I do next?"

"Undress!" I teased.

"I know that. I mean, what do I do after that?" he wondered, after he giggled.

"Which do YOU want to do first?" I asked, for clarification.

"I've seen it done, but I'm not really sure if I know everything I need to do, so I think you should do it to me first, if you don't mind," he replied. "That way I can learn from watching and feeling you do it to me. Is that ok with you?"

"It's fine," I confirmed. "Just take your clothes off and then lie down on the bed."

Peter did as he was told and I moved next to him to give him his first experience with oral sex, but there would be no kissing or foreplay, such as I would do with Ryan. This was just a lesson in school, a sex school, and Peter was the student. He was not my lover and I didn't have the same strong feelings or desires for him that I had for Ryan. He was just my friend and I was only helping him learn what it meant to be gay. As I bent over and started licking his scrotum, I also took each of his balls into my mouth, so I could suck and hum on them, to see how he'd react. The hairs on his sac gave me a new experience as well, because Ryan's scrotum was basically hairless, so this was a first for me too.

Peter started to moan as I worked on his nut sac and his head began swaying from side to side, which indicated the pleasure he was receiving from this experience. Feeling encouraged, I started to lick my way up his woody and paid particular attention to his swollen, reddened glans. This would also be a new experience for me, since Peter's penis was much longer and thicker than Ryan's boy meat. This meant I would have to expand my jaws and relax my throat muscles more, in order to satisfy Peter's bigger tool, so I started to make mental notes about what I would have to do. Finally, I opened my mouth as wide as possible and lowered it over his dickhead.

My mouth felt very full, as I slowly lowered my head and began to slide down his shaft, as I made my way toward his crotch. Gradually, I inched my way lower on his pole, until I was about three-quarters of the way down, when I started to feel his sex hairs tickling my lips and nose. This was my signal to start pulling my head back up again, before letting it sink back down once more. I glided over his moist meat and let my tongue move against it in that confined space, but I also used my right hand on the base of his cock to give him added pleasure.

Peter was slowly getting into the action now and beginning to thrust his hips upward each time my head moved downward. Instinctively, he started fucking my face, as well as making all sorts of little noises at the same time. He was very much into his first oral encounter and after several minutes of this intense effort, Peter's tool expanded even more and forced my jaws slightly wider. Shortly after that happened, his first creamy bolt rifled against the back of my throat, but I kept sliding up and down on his cannon, while taking shot after shot of his load. Once I felt the last of his cum trickle onto my tongue, he relaxed and lay limp on the bed, having spent both his last drops of liquid and sexual energy.

Once I pulled my lips off of his dick, I rolled the remainder of his semen around in my mouth, to examine its taste. It didn't take me long to decide the taste of his spunk was slightly saltier and more bitter than Ryan's honey glazed jizz. It wasn't bad, only different. After I made that determination, I looked down at Peter's face and noticed that his eyes were only partially opened and his eyeballs appeared to be rolled back in his head. His mouth was also hanging wide open and his chest flexed up and down with his breathing, as he continued to savor the last of the sensations from his climactic release. I gave him plenty of time to come back down from his orgasmic high and eventually he regained his senses and turned toward me.

"Thanks, Zack. That was incredible," he wheezed, still slightly breathless. "I didn't realize it would feel quite like that, so I'm sure glad I got you to show me the ropes. Are you ready for me to return the favor?"

"Whenever you are, bud, but are you sure you still want to?" I asked, offering him a way out if he wanted it.

"I definitely am," he confirmed. "I want to see what it tastes like and how it will feel in my mouth."

"Ok, then. I'm ready too," I agreed.

Peter quickly moved into position, looked at my stiff cock and then greedily attacked it. He nipped the overlapping skin with his teeth first and then he stuck his tongue between the fleshy covering and allowed it to work its way inside. Seeing this was his first time, he forgot all about my testicles and just wrapped his lips around my penis, as he began his effort. He looked as if he was bobbing for apples while he serviced me and I had to warn him once about his teeth scraping the sensitive outer covering of skin.

As I neared my release, I warned him, just in case he wanted to pull off, but he was determined to experience it all. When I couldn't hold out any longer, I unleashed my seed into his mouth and enjoyed the sensations washing throughout my body. Only a little of my seed escaped from his lips and dribbled down his chin, but Peter was able to swallow the majority of my cum.

"It was sweeter than I expected," he said, while wiping off his chin. "A little salty, but still sweeter than I thought it would be. I've tasted my own cum a couple of times, but mine tastes more sour."

"Yeah, they say your diet and a bunch of other factors, like smoking and alcohol, can affect the taste of your semen," I explained. "I noticed earlier how much different yours tasted than Ryan's, so I guess everyone's must be slightly different."

"You're probably right," Peter agreed, as he leaned over and gave me a big hug. "Thanks, man, I'm sure glad I've got a special friend like you."

"And I'm glad I've got a special friend like you," I concurred. "I'm also glad I could help you out."

"Zach, I've talked to my parents and they've agreed to let me go with you this summer," he announced. "I want to meet your boyfriend and be able to get together with both of you. Would you mind calling him and letting him know?"

"Not at all and I think he'll be happy to hear you're coming too," I confessed. "I think he'd like to meet you and get to know more about you as well."

After we chatted some more, I left for home. It was a good thing I paid attention as we made our way there or I might have gotten lost. Anyway, as I walked along the streets, I was thinking about how glad I was that Peter would be joining Ryan and me for summer vacation, because maybe that would make Ryan feel better about this too, since he'd know him as well. I also began to wonder how much longer it would be before Peter decided he was ready to move up to the next level of activity. I wasn't going to pressure or encourage him to go on, but I'd be there for him when he finally decided what he wanted.

I called Ryan after I got home and advised him of Peter's decision. He said he was glad to hear Peter would be coming and his parents had already agreed to let him stay with us, if he decided to come. Ryan didn't inquire as to whether we had done anything yet or, if so, what we'd done, so I was pleased to think that Ryan trusted me enough to not worry about what might be taking place. Ryan also said he'd talk to Mr. Johnson and see if Peter could work on the farm with us too. After that, he told me how much he missed me and I told him I felt the same way and advised him I'd talk to him a couple of more times before summer and then we said goodbye.

Once I hung up, I was beside myself with excitement, because I realized I'd be with my two best friends for most of the summer. I had already warned Peter that Ryan and I would need some time to ourselves as well, but that there would be other times when all three of us could mess around together. He said he understood and he'd make sure to give us as much time alone as we needed. Seeing that was settled, I was really looking forward to our summer vacation.

After that had been taken care of, everything else was going really well. Even though we were only able to get together once or twice a week, Peter seemed content through March and April with our oral sex lessons. When May rolled around, however, he was more than ready to try something new.

"Zach? Do you think I'm ready to try butt fucking?" he asked as soon to the door on his room had closed.

"That's for you to decide, Pete, because I don't think there are any special requirements before you begin," I advised him. "It's not like you're applying for a job and have to meet certain minimum requirements in order to be considered. On the other hand, if there were I think your qualifications, those hanging between your legs, would be more than adequate." Peter chuckled at my observation.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he agreed, and then without waiting to catch his breath again, he continued. "Would you fuck me then? I want to see what it feels like to have a dick up my ass."

"I'll do it, if that's what you want," I confirmed. "Do you have any Vaseline or baby oil?"

"There's some in the bathroom," he answered. "Wait here and I'll go get it."

Peter then ran out of his bedroom, grabbed what we needed to use as lube and then raced back and handed it to me. We both undressed and Peter looked me in the eye.

"What position do you want me in to do this?" he wondered.

"Pete, have you ever had anything at all up your chute before?" I needed to know first.

"Sometimes I stick one or two of my fingers up there when I'm jerking off," he confessed.

"Well, I'll loosen you up first then, but you've got a choice on which position we use. You can do it doggy style, on all fours, or we can do it with you lying on your belly. If you don't want to do it either of those ways, you can lie on your back and pull up your knees up to your chest or I can lie on my back and you can sit on my dick and then bounce up and down."

"Which way is the best?" he followed, while giving me a questioning look.

"Each way has it advantages and disadvantages," I replied. "I think we should either do doggy style or with you on your back and your legs pulled up for the first time."

"Well, I've seen videos of boys doing it doggy style, so let's try it that way," he suggested.

After Peter got into position, I lubed up my fingers and started stretching his virgin entrance. I put my index finger up to his hole first and it slid right in, so I pumped it in and out a few times, before I added a second finger. There was no resistance when I did this either, so I pumped that duo back and forth and twisted them around in his rectum, as I continued to stretch it even more. Finally, I inserted a third finger into the mix, but this time Peter let out a slight gasp. After making certain he was all right before I continued, I began working the triple digits around as one and moved them in and out, as well as rotating them. I even made sure to brush against his prostate once or twice, just to let him experience that sensation as well.

When I was satisfied he was sufficiently loosened, I lubed up my cock and positioned myself to get down to business. I pulled back the foreskin, pointed my rod at his sphincter and then effortlessly pushed the head of my dick into his chaste opening. Peter moaned when this happened, but I recognized it as a moan of pleasure, not of pain. Seeing he was doing fine, I slid the rest of my prick in, a little at a time, and finally my meat rested within the confines of his untouched tunnel.

I quickly asked if he was ready to begin and he told me to go ahead, so I began my assault on this virgin territory. Slowly, I pulled my dick back as far as I could and then forcefully pushed it back in until my ball sac slapped against his inner thighs. I continued to piston in and out of his backside, while adding slightly more force and gradually increasing my pace as we went along. I was also simultaneously stroking Peter's rigid tool and using the same rhythm, so he would get off too. When I began to feel my juices starting to boil deep in my loins, I knew I was nearing the brink, so I picked up the pace on Pete's weapon. A short time later, I felt his penis expand in my hand, just before he spewed his seed all over himself and the sheets.

When Peter's orgasm hit, his ass muscles contracted around my penis and increased the sensations I was feeling, which caused me to blow my load up his chute. The first blasts scalded the silky lining of his tender tube and the following shots filled his tunnel and caused it to begin leaking out and running down his perineum. Completely spent, Peter collapsed on the bed, taking me along, with my now softening prick still plugging his ass.

"Is it always that good?" he barely gasped out a few seconds later.

"Yes, I'd have to say it is," I answered. "So I take it you liked doing it then?"

"At first it kinda felt like I was taking a shit in reverse, but then I started to tingle all over, especially when your dick kept rubbing against something inside of me," he confessed. "I thought it was great when I shot my wad, but when you started filling me with yours, I was in heaven."

"My cock was rubbing against your prostate," I pointed out. "I'm really glad you liked it."

"Do you want me to do you the same way?" he eagerly inquired

"I'm not sure you'd be able to so soon after you also blasted off, so why don't you rest for a few minutes and then I'll ride you?" I countered. "That way you can just lie on your back and enjoy it, without having to worry about what you're doing."

"Yeah, ok. Whatever you think it best," he agreed. "I'm willing to do whatever you say."

While giving Peter a chance to enjoy the afterglow from his latest encounter, we took a short breather to get a drink and talk a little more about his experience. We also discussed our upcoming summer plans and then we went back to his bedroom. After stripping down again, we got on the bed and I got ready to give him his second lesson of the day.

I began by lubing up my hole and inserted one finger at a time, until I had three fingers in. Then, I started rotating them around my rectum and stretching it out as much as possible, because I knew Peter's penis was bigger than anything I'd taken before. When I looked over at him and determined he was ready for the next step, I bent down and took his dick in my mouth, to bring him back to life. Once I had him aroused and fully erect again, I let his penis slip from my between my lips and began to grease it up for his next session. As soon as I had him sufficiently prepared, I poised my body above Peter's joystick and slowly lowered myself down on his slippery pole.

Peter drew in a sharp intake of air as my anus swallowed the head of his cock and he enjoyed the feeling of the satiny warmth of my love tunnel for the first time. As I slid down his rod, I was also allowing my body time to adjust to his unusual thickness, until my ass cheeks were being tickled by his wiry pubes. Once I felt that, I knew it was time to give my friend the ride of his life.

Slowly, I hoisted my butt up in the air and almost let his dick slide out of my tunnel, before I rapidly dropped back down on it, until I was once again resting on his groin. I kept repeating this motion and watched Peter writhe beneath me and gasp for air as he savored the tingling in his loins. Faster and faster, I raised and lowered my body on his swollen member until I took him to the edge of nirvana. Eventually, Peter leaped over the cliff and rammed his cock up to meet my descent, as he released wave after wave of his hot juices up my butt. I continued to lift up and down a few more times, until his penis began to get soft and reluctantly slipped from my ass.

"Wow. That was wonderful," Peter hissed, as his body started to come down from the sexual high. "It was fantastic! I knew it would be good, but I wasn't ready for it to feel so incredible."

"Yeah, it's really great, isn't it?" I concurred.

"Yes, it is, so thanks again, Zach," he offered. "You're one hell of a friend and I'm really glad you're MY friend."

"Thanks, Pete, and I'm glad you're my friend too," I confirmed.

After this session was over, Peter and I got back together several more times and enjoyed a variety of sexual events with each encounter. We weren't able to meet frequently, but when we did we tried to enjoy a couple of different activities with each encounter. We were rapidly approaching the end of the school year and would soon be leaving to spend a large part of the summer with Ryan. We'd already purchased our plane tickets and began to pack our work clothes and other items for the trip, so we were both quite excited and looking forward to this opportunity.

"Pete, my parents are going to be going to a wedding out of town this Saturday, so I'm going to be home all day by myself. Do you think you'd like to come over and spend the night?" I offered. "It will give us a chance to do a few more things alone before we leave for the summer, because I want you to feel confident when you do any of this with Ryan too. Besides, he and I will probably be spending a good deal of out time alone for the first couple of weeks, so I want to make sure you're taken care of before that happens. I don't want you to feel sexually frustrated and disappointed that we're not including you right away."

I didn't usually initiate the encounters with Peter, since I was only his guide on his journey into sexual awareness, but I wanted to make sure his needs were met before we left. Ryan and I would need some quality time alone once we got there and I didn't want Peter's lust to be unfulfilled until we invited him to join us. This would be the last weekend at home before we caught our flight on Thursday, so it should help to satisfy him for at least a while.

"Yeah, sounds great," he agreed. "If I'm able to get enough sexercise this weekend, then I could probably last a couple of weeks before I would need to bother you two love birds. In fact, I think it's a great idea and will benefit all of us. Thanks, Zach, I'll be at your place around noon then, since we are done working at the store until the fall."

"Wait. Why don't you spend Friday night too, because my parents will be leaving early," I suggested. "That way, we'll have the place to ourselves and can utilize every minute of the weekend to satisfy your needs."

"Ok, that sounds even better," he concurred. "I'll check with my folks and then call you later. See you, Zach."

"See you, Peter, but remember that everything is off limits until my parents leave. Ok?" I reminded him.

"Sure. No problem," he agreed. "I think I can spend one night with you without getting all horny, so don't worry, bud. I won't blow our cover, because I'd rather wait and blow something else."

"Get out of here and I'll talk to you later," I teased, while giving him a playful shove.

Peter got permission and we walked home from school together on Friday. My parents had no problem with the idea, since they had met Peter before, but they still pumped him with the usual social questions about his health, his family, how he was doing in school and what extracurricular activities he participated in. We had a pleasant evening with my mom and dad, and both of them thanked Peter for coming over so I didn't have to be alone. They told him that he must be a very good friend to be willing to give up his weekend just to keep me company and Peter and I somehow managed to stifle our giggles, so we didn't give anything away. Once we were alone though, Peter and I had a good laugh over my parents' comment.

The next morning, Peter and I were just waking up when my mother came in to tell us they were leaving. She gave me a verbal list of things we shouldn't do, repeated the instruction from the previous night as to an emergency number, meals, etc., and then she kissed me good bye. Peter and I stood in the doorway, waving farewell, as my parents began their trip.

"What do you say to a quickie before breakfast?" Peter asked, as soon as my parents were out of sight.

"Man, you sure don't like to waste any time, do you?" I quipped.

"I try not to," he chuckled. "I just have to drop a load before my balls explode."

"Yeah, come to think of it, I could stand to bust a nut too," I agreed. "Come on, we'll do it in my room."

We went upstairs and decided we'd do a quick sixty-nine; that way we'd both get off at the same time. We undressed, hopped on the bed, arranged ourselves so our genitals where pointing at the other's face and almost in unison began flicking our tongues at the other's dickhead. It didn't take long for Peter's dick to become inflated, so I took it into my mouth, with him following quickly following suit. I slowly began to work on his ample member and we had just begun to work ourselves into an enjoyable rhythm when I heard the door to my room open.

"Zach, have you seen where I put 3;" the voice began, only to stop abruptly.

It was my mother and she froze when she saw Peter and me on the bed. I watched as the blood gradually drained from her body, when she realized what we were up to.

"Oh, dear," she muttered, as she slowly eased her way out of the room.

I jumped out of bed, grabbed my shorts, yanked them on, and raced out the door after my mother. She was still standing at the foot of the stairs, regaining her composure.

"Mom, it wasn't 3; well it wasn't 3; what it looked like," I offered, lamely.

"I think it was exactly what it looked like," she countered, still looking flustered.

"Mom, please let me explain," I urged, but she held up her hand to stop me from going further.

"Zach, I can't talk about this right now. I've got to go," she said, as she moved toward the door.

"Mom, please don't tell Dad," I pleaded, because I feared the worst if he knew about this.

"Zach, you know I have to," she answered. "I can't keep this from him."

"Mom, pleeeeeeeze?" I begged, nearly in tears, since I was well aware of how this most likely going to turn out.

"Zach, dear. I won't tell him until we're on our way home tonight, because I don't want to spoil the day for him," she compromised. "But I do have to tell him, because he's your father and has a right to know what's going on here."

"But, Mom? He'll kill me," I whined. "He'll throw me out of the house and tell me that I'm no longer his son. Please, Mom, don't do this to us."

"Your father will probably be upset, but I doubt he'll resort to violence," she responded, although I didn't quite agree.

"But he'll send me away somewhere. I just know he will," I pleaded.

"I don't think he'll go to that extreme either, but he will probably want to speak to you after Sunday services," she pointed out. "I suggest that either Peter goes home or you two refrain from further conduct of that nature, though. I've got to go, dear, your father is probably stewing out in the car and wondering what's keeping me. We'll deal with this tomorrow. I sincerely suggest that you spend your time thinking about how you want to talk about this with your father."

With that said, she turned and left, as I watched the car drive off again. I suddenly felt my emotional dam burst and started to bawl like a baby. Peter must have heard me weeping, because he crept down the stairs, clad only in his underwear, as he tried to ease my pain.

"They're going to kill me when they get back and they'll probably tell your parents too," I warned him.

"I don't care, Zach," he quickly countered. "I'll face my parents if I have to, because I'd have to tell them some time. Come on, let's go back upstairs and I'll try to make you feel better."

"Damn it, Peter. Can't you see I'm in big trouble here?" I shot back. "My dad hates queers and thinks the things they do are abominations. To him, I'm a major, major sinner now and he won't want me in his house. I'm in deep shit here, so I've got to figure out what to do."

"Look, if he throws you out, then you can come and live with me," Peter offered. "I think my parents will be cool about this, because they're pretty liberal and usually are willing to accept almost anything, as long as it doesn't hurt someone else."

"But my parents aren't going to want anything to do with me and I don't know if I can handle that," I confessed. "They're going to hate me, but I still love them, so I don't know if I'll be able to handle it if that actually happens."

"Come on, dude. Relax," Peter urged. "Things will work out, so don't worry. Come on. Let's go upstairs so I can make you feel better and then I'll help you plan your strategy. We'll talk about what you're going to say to your dad and make a backup plan, just in case the first one doesn't work. Don't worry, bud. I'm not going to let you go through this alone. You wouldn't be in this mess if you weren't trying to help me, so come on and give me your hand."

Hesitantly, I extended my arm toward Peter and he pulled me back to my bedroom with him. He did make me feel a little better and I decided to continue on with our previous plan, to satiate Peter's sexual needs. We talked long and hard about what had happened in between our sexual forays and I agreed I would stay with him, if my parents threw me out. I would then remain with Peter until we went to be with Ryan for the summer and then the three of us could decide what my next move should be.

Peter left shortly after he awoke the following morning, due to a couple of reasons. First, he knew we'd be going to church and didn't feel my mom and dad would look favorably on him joining us, especially after what we'd been caught doing. Second, he felt my parents wouldn't want him around during our discussion afterward either, since they probably held him at least partially to blame for what had taken place. Even if they didn't blame him, he felt totally responsible for us having been caught, since it had been his suggestion to start doing things right away and that had led to our discovery. For those reasons, he felt it would be better for me if he disappeared as quickly as possible.

We heard my mom and dad arrive home shortly after midnight, since Peter and I were finding it difficult to fall asleep, but they went directly to their room for the night. I believe they did this because they were tired from the long day, but I also think they felt it would be best if this discussion was held when we were all more rested. I didn't, however, feel it would be the case for me, since I had a rather fitful slumber filled with unsettling dreams, but I was still preparing to attend Sunday services with them. At the same time, I was dreading the fact that I would have to face my father when we returned home later.

The church service seemed to last longer than usual, but I could tell my dad's heart wasn't into what he was doing. Although he apologized to the congregation and explained he was tired from his trip to the wedding and asked for their indulgence with his less than stellar performance, I knew the real reason he was off his game. No one seemed to mind, however, and many even told him so when they spoke to him following the service. Once everyone was gone, Dad closed up the building and we rode home in total silence. When we pulled up in front of the house, my dad turned to me and spoke.

"Zachariah. I want you to go upstairs and get out of your church clothes," he began, "and then meet me in my study. There are some things we need to discuss."

I nodded my understanding and swallowed hard. I could tell I was in big trouble, because my father only used my proper first name when he was upset with me. Although I knew the moment I dreaded had arrived, I still wasn't ready to endure what was to come. Reluctantly, I summoned enough willpower to slink up to my room to change, as I'd been instructed. When I finished, I dragged myself back down the stairs and went into the study to face the music. My father was already there and seated in his favorite armchair when I entered. When he looked up, I could have sworn he was looking into the depth of my soul.

"Zachariah, your mother told me what she saw yesterday 3;" he began, but I interrupted.

"Dad, I can explain,.." I offered, but he cut me off as well. "Zach, please don't interrupt me," he stated, very calmly. "You may have your say after I finish."

I was actually surprised that he seemed quite relaxed and unemotional when speaking, so I assumed my mother had warned him about how I thought he was going to react.

"You have to know the things you were doing were wrong," he continued, "and you obviously must know how I and the church stand on this issue. That sort of behavior is totally unacceptable and sinful. I cannot and will not condone or allow such behavior under my roof. I know we all yield to temptation, on occasion, and you are no exception to that rule. I must have your word, however, that you will never be a part of such behavior again."

This was not what I was expecting to hear from my dad, because I had been prepared for him to rant and rave, quote scripture and threaten me with the fire and brimstone of hell. Instead, and to my total amazement, my father remained calm and thoughtful, while apparently attempting to provide me a chance to repent. Even though I appreciated his offer, I knew I couldn't accept the terms he was laying down.

"I can't make that promise, Dad," I responded. "I'm gay and that's just how we love each other."

"Son, you're not listening to me," my father replied, but this time his voice was harsher and slightly louder. "I'm not giving you a choice. If you want to continue living under my roof, then you will have to abandon that lifestyle."

"Dad, I can't give up what you call a lifestyle," I reiterated. "It's not something I chose, but it is who I am."

"Zachariah, you're still a minor and I'm your father," he stated. "Therefore, you will obey me."

"Dad, you don't understand. This isn't something I can merely slip on and off, like putting on my church clothes." I challenged, even though I knew it would most likely draw his ire. "Do you think I actually chose to be gay? Do you think I would willingly open myself up to public ridicule and rejection if I could easily avoid it? Do you think I would risk potential humiliation and beatings if it was possible for me to be what you, and everyone else, expects me to be instead?"

"I'm not sure what you chose, but that's not important," he countered, while glaring at me sternly. "What's important is that you will honor my wishes and obey me."

"Dad, are you even listening to me?" I shot back, exasperated. "I didn't plan or choose to be gay. I was born gay. If the situation were reversed, do you think you could have given up loving Mom or another woman, just so you could start loving a man?"

"That's not a realistic analogy and it's not relevant," my father objected.

"It is realistic and it is relevant," I demanded. "That's what I'm trying to tell you. I can't change who I am, any more than a lion could become a lamb. The lion didn't choose to be a lion, any more than I chose to be gay. It's who I am and that's how I was born."

"Don't be ridiculous, Zachariah," he scoffed. "You could easily learn to be normal."

"No, I can't!" I screamed back. "Girls do absolutely nothing for me. I'm not attracted to them and they certainly don't arouse me sexually. It would be pretty hard for a guy to have sex with a girl if she doesn't cause him to become aroused. It's guys that do that for me and it's how I know I'm definitely gay. There is nothing you can do or say that will change that fact."

"Then you won't obey me?" he asked, unable to comprehend my resistance.

"I wish I could, but I can't," I answered, meekly.

"Then you're saying you're going to turn your back on me, on God and on the teachings of the church?" he followed.

"No. I'm not turning my back on any of that stuff," I disagreed. "I'm turning my back on how man interprets what God wants. I'm turning my back on the religious institutions whose narrow-minded interpretations of scripture would condemn someone for being different from them. I'm turning my back on the ministers and evangelists who have affairs outside of marriage, breaking a commandment, not just a few verses of scripture, and then have the nerve to preach about sexual morality. I'm turning my back on priests who have sex contrary to their vows or even molest children, while at the same time condemning man-to-man love.

"Yes, I'm turning my back on those things," I continued, "and instead I'm putting my faith in the loving and forgiving God that I've heard you preach about so often. I'm putting my faith in the God who said 'Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.' He also told us, 'He that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone 3;' Yes, that's the God I place my faith in, the very same God that made me gay, because I'm confident he wouldn't turn his back on me or try to prevent me from fulfilling the needs he instilled in me at birth."

"Zach, it doesn't work that way," my dad countered. "He is a forgiving God and will forgive the occasional infraction, if you repent. He won't, however, forgive repeated offenses of things that you know are wrong."

"That's the problem," I shot back. "I don't think God considers it wrong if two people truly love each other and agree it is right for them, regardless of their sex. I do believe, however, that God would think that forcing someone into that type of relationship, without consent, would be wrong. No matter how strongly you disagree, I don't believe God would create me this way and then not allow me to follow my heart, any more than he would give us hunger and then not allow us to eat."

"Zach, why do you keep insisting that God created you this way?" my father challenged.

"It's because I didn't have a choice in the matter," I answered. "I didn't just wake up one morning and say I think I'm going to be gay, so I can endure homophobic attitudes and spend my days dodging gay-bashers. Hell, no one would decide to live with that if they truly had a choice. I didn't just have a miraculous vision that I needed to go out and suck some cock 3;"

"Zachariah, watch your language," my father shouted, as his face turned red.

"I'm sorry if it bothers you, but it still doesn't change the fact that I'm gay," I countered. "I've known that I'm only attracted to other boys for almost as long as I can remember. That's why I offered to help out and bathe the younger boys. I'm sorry if it offends your sense of morality, but I can't alter the fact that it's who I am."

"Then I can't allow you to remain under my roof," he stated, in a calm, rational voice. "I'm sorry, Zach, but I won't compromise my principles, beliefs or faith and allow fornicators or the act of fornication to be allowed in my home."

"Fine, then I'll leave and take my chances with God on Judgment Day," I replied, with a tinge of venom in my voice.

I immediately raced upstairs and packed my things, but it didn't take very long to get everything I needed, since most of it was already packed for the trip to Ryan's. For that reason, I was out of there much faster than my parents expected and stormed out of the house. I heard my mother call my name before the door closed behind me, but I have a feeling my father prevented her from doing any more than that.

Since I had quite a bit with me and it was fairly heavy to tote very far, I stopped at one of the few pay phones still in use and called Peter. He said he'd already mentioned to his parents that I might need to stay there until Thursday, when we left for Missouri, and they had no problem with it. He hadn't, however, told them what had happened and was hoping we'd be out of town before they found out, if they ever found out.

Once that had been cleared up, he asked me where I was and then told me to remain there and he'd have his dad drive over to get me. Fortunately, he understood I couldn't carry everything I had with me all the way to his house and was worried I might injure myself in the process, due to the bulkiness and weight of my belongings. I thanked him for his concern and told him that I'd see him shortly. It was only about twenty minutes later when they pulled up, with Peter sitting in the front seat next to his dad.

They helped me load my things into the trunk and then I got into the back seat. Peter's father asked why I hadn't just waited for them at my house, so I told him my parents had invited some of the congregants over after services and I decided it would be best if they didn't get invited in for introductions. Besides, it wasn't difficult for me to walk some of the way and shorten their trip a little. He seemed confused by my answer, but accepted it and we drove away.

I shared Peter's room with him until we left to catch our flight on Thursday. I also took care of Peter's needs, while his parents were at work, but I wasn't in the mood for him to return the favor. Peter didn't push me into doing anything I didn't want to and tried to comfort me in other ways. He was a good listener, but he also attempted to distract me by talking about a great many other things. He was more than consoling and took good care of me until we arrived in Missouri. When we got off the bus, after we reached the town where Ryan lived, Ryan ran up to greet us. I introduced him to Peter and then he turned and stared at me.

"Zach. What's wrong?" he demanded.

"Nothing," I lied, because I wasn't ready to explain the situation to him yet.

"You can't fool me," he shot back. "Remember, it's me, Ryan, your best friend, and I know you inside and out."

I guess he really did at that. Seeing his father wasn't around, since he had offered to wait in the car in the loading area when they couldn't find a parking space, I reluctantly offered a brief explanation.

"My mom caught me and Peter fooling around and then my dad threw me out of his house," I confessed, while giving him the briefest version of the story.

"Oh, Zach," he whined, as he hugged me, "I'm so sorry. You must feel awful. Come on and we'll go to my house, where we can discuss this in private."

After a brief pause, while he was hugging me some more, he suddenly remembered that Peter was there too. Hurriedly, he broke our embrace, turned toward Peter and spoke.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you," he apologized. "Come on and we'll go out and load your things into our car."

Ryan then led us to where he'd left his father and we introduced him to Peter. Then, they helped us load of luggage into the trunk of their car, so we could set out for their house, where we'd be able to talk this out with Ryan. Upon our arrival, we stopped to say hello to Ryan's mother and introduced her to Peter too, and then the three of us went to Ryan's room. Once we got comfortable, we started to explain to Ryan what had happened before we left and then I told him everything that happened, from the time we were caught and up to when we arrived here.

"So, you don't think your dad will change his mind?" Ryan asked, since he thought my father wouldn't maintain his stance forever.

"No way. You know how he always sticks to his guns," I shot back, since I was convinced my father would stand his ground.

"Yeah, I remember, but I thought he might have changed," Ryan offered, "You're welcome to stay here, because I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind."

"Thanks, I really appreciate that," I replied. "Peter said his parents would probably be willing to make the same offer, after we explained to them about us being gay, but I don't want him to take the risk that they might react badly to the news as well. I'd actually just prefer to find some way to get my parents 3; well I guess just get my dad to change his mind. I still love my mom and dad and don't think I'd be able to live knowing they hate my guts."

"Look, we've got the summer to figure something out, so there's no reason to keep dwelling on it now," Ryan reasoned. "Either way, you'll have somewhere to live and then we can apply to the same colleges, so we'll still be together."

"I'll apply to the same colleges too," Peter added. "Zach, I won't abandon you, since you're only in this mess because you tried to help me, and promise I won't let you deal with this alone. You don't mind, do you, Ryan?"

"Heck, no. I think it's great that Zach's got another good friend too," he agreed.

Slowly, things started to get back to normal, at least as normal as they could be under the circumstances, but I was determined to put this behind me while I was here. I wasn't about to let my family problems destroy my time with Ryan or interfere with our plans to jointly help Peter, so I felt it would be best to get him acclimated to the area as quickly as we could. We started out by taking him over to show him the farm and checking in with Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Johnson seemed glad to see me again and also welcomed Peter to the crew. We wouldn't start working there until Monday, so we'd have time to get adjusted to the different time zone, but we also gave Peter a quick tour of the place and showed him some of the things we'd be doing. When we returned to Ryan's house, Peter said he was going to take a walk outdoors, so it would give Ryan and me a little time to be alone and enjoy each other again, like we used to do.

Although it didn't take us long to get reacquainted to each other's body, I wasn't exactly in the mood to do very much. I was still depressed about what had happened at home and kept trying to figure out if there was anything I might be able to do or say to get my parents to relent. Unfortunately, our first time being alone again didn't go quite as well as Ryan had hoped.

After spending the weekend with Ryan and his parents, we all went to work on the farm Monday morning. It went pretty much as expected and we used the noon break to introduce Peter to the hayloft. At first, we only performed mutual masturbation on each other, but over time we advanced to performing oral sex too. After a couple of weeks, we finally got a chance to expand our sexual repertoire.

This happened when Ryan's parents left early one Saturday morning to go visit relatives who lived a couple hundred miles away. They were going to be spending the night with them, since it was quite a lengthy and exhausting drive, so they wouldn't be returning until late afternoon on Sunday. This meant the three of us would have the house to ourselves for more than a day. After waiting an hour after his parents drove off, since I didn't want a repeat of what had happened with my parents, Ryan made an announcement.

"Let the games begin," he shouted, to let us know our boredom was about to come to an end.

It was also our cue that we were going to try our first three-way together. We hurriedly got undressed and started off with a little oral action. Peter lay on his side and Ryan moved into position to suck him off. I moved in to take Ryan into my mouth and then I moved my waist over so Peter could work on me. This meant our bodies were now in a triangular arrangement.

I always enjoyed working on Ryan's boy cock, since he was my first, but he was also my lover. I started licking his thighs and testicles, which caused the blood to rush into Rye's gorgeous tool. I took each of his testicles into my mouth and ran my tongue over and around the nearly hairless pair, while humming softly as I went. I knew the vibrations from my humming were amplified through those watery nuggets and sending waves of pleasure throughout his body, because I wanted to give him as much pleasure as possible.

Before I advanced to his shaft, I looked over to briefly watch my lover working on Peter's sizable weapon and see how he was handling it. I could tell he was having some difficulty with its larger girth, but he'd worked on it a couple of times in the barn before this, so I knew he'd be alright. In the meantime, I gave Ryan the best tongue bath I could offer and licked the entire length of his member, while at the same time swirling my tongue over and around the entire circumference. I also worked on the tiny slit with my tongue for a little while first, before I swallowed it.

I then bobbed along the length of Ryan's penis in much the same way that a child might slide his lips up and down on a Popsicle. Unlike that youngster, however, I also whipped my tongue around it at the same time and swallowed constantly to increase his pleasure. As my lips and tongue willingly stroked Ryan's boyhood, I used my right hand to knead and massage his scrotum, as I tugged on and tickled his delicate sperm factories.

Ryan was the first to relinquish his load and soaked my throat with his hot cum, and then I quickly followed suit, as I released my seed into Peter's mouth. Peter was the last one to climax, probably because Ryan had been having a slight bit of trouble handling his larger tool, but after we'd all orgasmed, the three of us collapsed in a tangle of body parts. We were each relishing the afterglow of our first multi-partner orgy and stayed this way for the next several minutes, until we eventually moved apart to discuss what we were going to do next event.

After talking this over for several minutes, we decided that one of us would get fucked from both ends at the same time. I ended up getting the sympathy vote, since the other two were trying to make me forget about the situation at home, so I was going to be in the middle position. Before that happened, however, we took a reasonably appropriate break, to regain our strength and get something to eat and drink.

When we returned to Ryan's bedroom, my lover got to ram me up the butt, because I'd already given him a blowjob, so Peter moved to my head. I decided that this time, however, I would give Peter a little more than just oral sex, because I felt he had been denied the other enjoyments for long enough. I also didn't think Ryan would question what I was doing, as long as he was present when it happened, so while Ryan bent behind me and started rimming my little rosebud, I gave Peter a lip-lock he wouldn't soon forget and kissed him for all I was worth.

At first, Peter shied away slightly, since he'd never done this with either of us before, but he quickly relaxed and allowed me to caress and enter his mouth. I licked his lips and slid my tongue into that inviting portal, so I could explore and enjoy every object and sensation that lay within. Peter began to joust with me and our tongues battled for supremacy, but I willingly surrendered and let his muscle enter my mouth next.

After permitting him work his way around my oral orifice for a brief time, I started to suck on his tongue, and when we broke our kiss, I worked my way down and around the surface of his neck. Once I felt I'd spent enough time doing that, I slid lower and paid attention to his quarter-sized brown nipples. I flicked my tongue over the first and caused it to become erect almost instantly, and then I sucked on it like a breast-feeding baby. When I felt I had given sufficient attention to that nub, I slid across his chest and performed the same ritual on the other side. Once I finished doing that, I began to work my tongue down his abdomen until I reached his navel, and then I cleaned every square inch in and around his little outie mound.

Peter seemed to enjoy my little tongue exploration, because he sighed and panted as my journey progressed. During this time, Ryan had completely worked me over with his tongue and was using his fingers to probe and prepare me, just as I reached Peter's rigid pole. I bathed his entire genitalia with my saliva and then repeated my humming technique on his balls, before I worked my mouth over his rock hard prick. I then began to nod up and down his stiff rod and I'm sure my movements appeared very similar to how a chicken's head moved as it pecked corn kernels off of the ground. At the same time, I reached out with my right hand and began to tug and massage his hairy nut sac.

When I started to suck on Peter's boyhood, Ryan had slipped his own into me and began ravaging my asshole. While he was doing this, he also reached around my waist and gripped my throbbing penis, so he could stroke it with the same vigor that he attacked my butt. My body was slowly being overpowered by the sensations from three separate regions of my body at the same time and I felt as if I my mind might explode.

As I felt the first signs of my orgasm approaching, I slid my right hand from Peter's crotch and slipped the first index finger into my mouth, to wet it. Then, I inserted my hand between Peter's legs and poised my finger at his anal opening and applied enough pressure to breech his sphincter. Once the entire digit had been inserted, I worked it around Peter's velvety cavity and brushed it against his prostate whenever possible.

My mouth was the first to get its reward, when several volleys of Peter's seed entered my throat, and then my body gave in next, as I spasmodically began spraying my boy juice all over the floor and my body. Shortly after that happened, Ryan reached the point of no return too and began pumping load after load of his hot cream deep into my quivering chute. Once again, we were momentarily weakened from our explosive releases and took a few seconds to recuperate.

Over the course of the evening and next day, we continued to change positions and explored each other from every possible position. By the time Ryan's parents returned home, we were all totally exhausted and eager to take an extended break from our sexual activities. Ryan greeted his mom and dad and we all helped unload the car, but then Peter and I went up to Ryan's room, so Ryan could talk to his parents alone. Several minutes later, Ryan entered the room and walked directly toward me.

"Zach. When you first came here for the summer, my mother sensed something was wrong and kept questioning me about it. She wanted to know what was the matter, so I finally told her you had had a fight with your parents before you left. I didn't tell her what it was over, but now she figures you're worried about what it's going to be like when you return. She just gave me a CD she wants you to listen to, which she told me to tell you is by her favorite singer, but she also asked me to let you know the first song might help you to deal with your feelings. Why don't you pop it in her CD player, which I brought with me, and give it a listen?"

He then handed me both items, so I walked over to plug the CD player in and loaded it up. While I was doing that, Ryan must have signaled Peter, because they both quietly slipped out of the room. This left me alone to listen, in solitude, to The Rose, by Bette Midler.

Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor that leaves the soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower and you its only seed

It's a heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes a chance
It's the one who won't be taken who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong
Just remember, in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow
Lies a seed that with the sun's love in the spring becomes the rose."

The next morning I ran into Peter's mother and she asked if we could talk. When I agreed, she took me into the living room, where we could have a conversation in private.

"Zach, did you get a chance to listen to the song I sent up with Ryan?" she began.

"Yes, ma'am. I listened to it, over and over last night," I told her, hoping my admission would make her happy.

"And what did you think of it?" she followed, while studying my face closely.

"It was a very nice song," I stated, since I wasn't exactly sure what she wanted from me.

"But what do you think the words of the song were saying?" she pressed, so I thought for a minute before responding.

"I think it means that love can be many things," I replied. "It can be a feeling, but it can also be longing or a desire. It can even be hurtful, just as easily as it can be wonderful, but there's much more to it than just that. I think it also means that when you give or receive love, you have to work at it, nurture it and trust the ones you love to make your love grow."

"I'd say that's a pretty fair synopsis of the song," she agreed. "Do you know what it means for you?"

"It think it means I should talk to my dad and try to work things out with him, but I've already done that and it didn't work," I explained. "My dad won't give in and I can't make the kind of promise he wants me to give him. I have felt the joys from a father-son type of love, but now I'm suffering the pain from it too. I only hope my dad and I live long enough to discover a common ground, so we can end our disagreement, because I want us to enjoy that same type of love again. I think we can, but I'm afraid that time isn't now."

"Just don't give up and I'm certain you'll be able to work things out," she announced, as she started to leave the room, but then she stopped in the doorway and turned toward me once again. "I just need to tell you one more thing before I leave, Zach. I want to assure you that your parents love you very much, so given some time I'm positive you'll find a suitable compromise that each of you can live with. Remember, Zach, time heals all wounds, so eventually you and your parents will either come to grips with this problem or you'll forget about whatever it was that caused this pain in the first place. Trust in the Lord and seek his guidance and in time the solution will present itself to you. Have faith and you'll eventually find the answer you seek."

"Thanks, Mrs. Anderson, you've been a big help," I told her, and I meant every word of it. "I only hope my dad and I will get to the point you're talking about, because it's just too hard to keep going when I know my father is upset with me. I still want his love and I think he wants mine too, so I'll keep trying to talk to him. Maybe someday it will happen like you say and we'll be able to get things back to normal."

Mrs. Anderson kissed me on the forehead and gave me a hug, but I don't think she'll ever realize how much her gift and pep talk had done to lift my spirits. Whether she knows it or not, she gave me hope that the fences that had been broken between my parents and me might still have a chance to be mended. That evening, I began to pray to God that he would show me a way I could be reunited with my parents and they'd accept me for who I am.

In the meantime, the three of us buddies went back to work on the farm and spent our free time engaged in a variety of leisure activities, including sex. I got to see my first movie in a theater, since that was something my father's church frowned upon, but I also started to listen to some of Ryan's music with him and Peter, which was another prohibited activity according to the church. Suddenly, a whole new world was opened up to me and I realized how much I had missed out on because of my father's restrictions.

The more I learned from Ryan and Peter, the more I discovered how suffocating my father's protective love had been. He never gave me the opportunity to grow up on my own or participate in any decisions concerning my life. Everything I did, thought or was allowed to participate in had been dictated by my father's moral and spiritual code. This was fine while I was little and it gave me the basis for making my own decisions, so once I had reached the point where I could think and rationalize for myself, I should have been given some voice in matters that concerned me. This never happened, so now I was estranged from the two people I had always loved.

I was willing to make some concessions to my parents' beliefs, but the only choices my father was giving me with was to either become celibate or be separated from my family. Unfortunately, I realized there was no way I'd be able to control my emotions and inhibit my sexual desires, especially if I was going to be around other young men. The only way I knew to accomplish what my father requested would be to isolate myself completely, which included physically, mentally and emotionally from all other males.

Subconsciously, I determined I would rather have Ryan and Peter's love and the sexual gratification that came with it, rather than give in to my parents' demands, so I accepted my share of the blame for not being able to resolve this dilemma. Since I was willing to forgo my parents' acceptance, which might also mean forging a bright future, I decided that from this moment forward I was going to make my own choices. I would make choices that would lead me into the world of adulthood, so now I just had one final decision to make.

There were only three more weeks until the end of summer and I still had to decide whether I would go back and live with Peter's family, so I could remain physically near my parents, or stay with Ryan's family and remain with my heart's desire. Either way, I would have to work and earn my own keep, so I talked to both of them and discussed my options and the consequences of each decision. I was still agonizing over the alternatives and the summer was nearly over, but I still hadn't made my final choice.

After grappling with these possibilities for weeks, I finally made up my mind and decided to stay with Ryan. Since I didn't want either of them to be hurt, I called them together and explained my decision to them at the same time and then waited for their reactions. Peter hugged me and told me how much he'd miss me, but he said he understood my reasons for making this choice. He admitted he probably would have done the same thing, since he could see how much I loved Ryan. He also told us that he would continue to save his money, so he could buy tickets to return over Christmas and the following summer, when we'd all be reunited again, if only briefly.

I was thrilled that Peter was so understanding about this and still wanted to remain friends. Ryan was thrilled too, so we promised to email him regularly, so we could keep updated on what was going on and remain part of each other's lives. We also agreed to let him know what colleges we were leaning toward and asked him to do the same, so we could agree on which ones we would all apply to. It was a very emotional evening, but we all felt relieved that the decision had been made and that the tension caused by my having to decide was now behind us.

We spent our last few days working at the farm, but during our free time we attempted to load Peter up with enough sexual attention so he'd remain satisfied until Christmas. There were only two days left before his return trip home when we arrived back from work and discovered a surprise.

"Dad! What are you doing here?" I asked, totally shocked.

"Zachariah, I would like to speak with you in private, if you don't mind?" he responded, while sounding quite serious.

"Sure, let's go for a walk," I offered, since I felt I needed to get away from the house to do this.

My heart was racing, as I tried to determine what had brought my dad all the way here and what possibilities it might suggest. I could feel and hear my heart beating in my eardrums, since that vital organ had seemed to switch into overdrive and was excitedly pumping blood throughout my body. As we walked, I silently prayed this nightmare might be coming to an end, but then again my father might have just come here to give me another ultimatum. My dad and I walked for quite a while down the road in total silence, before he finally spoke.

"Zachariah, I have spent the entire summer rehashing our final discussion, including each of the arguments you presented to me before you left," he explained.

'Oh, no,' I thought when he started. He was using my proper name again and he'd done it twice since he'd been here, so I felt this was a bad omen.

"I have considered the various points you made that day," he continued, "and I've done some research on the matter. After putting all of that together, I have made some decisions and came to make you an offer."

My heart leaped into my throat when he said this. What kind of offer was he going to make and was it one I could live with? Was he willing to take me back or was he going to tell me about some research or a program that would make me straight? My mind was racing over the possibilities, so I had to force myself to focus on his words.

"Zach, I have looked into the psychological studies concerning the origins of homosexual preferences," he announced. "After much reading, I'm beginning to agree with your assumption that you had no choice in being gay, and if that is true, then it may also be true that God made you this way. I'm not going to say I understand why he might have done this, but if God made you like this, then maybe you're correct in you assumption that he wouldn't automatically despise you because of it. After thinking this matter over and talking to your mother about it, I'm willing to live with the fact that you're a homosexual."

I stopped dead in my tracks, turned toward my father and threw my arms around his neck. I believed he was definitely making the first move toward taking me back, so my emotions were overtaking me. Tears were streaming down my cheeks and I was trying to control my irregular breathing, in an effort to keep myself from hyperventilating.

"Zach, there's more," he added, ending my euphoria.

Suddenly, my heart stopped beating again and I began to fear what else he had to say. My mind immediately raced to the idea that he'd accept me being gay, as long as I didn't act upon it.

"I said I would agree that you didn't have a choice about being gay," he clarified, "but I still cannot accept the behavior involved with that life style, at least not in my house."

'Then why had he come here?' I wondered, but I didn't say it aloud.

Just accepting the fact that I was gay didn't change anything, especially if he was telling me the only way he'd accept me was if I remained celibate. As my mind struggled to understand the meaning of his words, my father's voice snapped me back to consider what he was currently saying.

"Zach. Zach! You've got to pay attention," he urged, when he saw that my mind was wandering.

"I'm sorry, Dad," I apologized. "I was just considering what you had just said."

"I understand, but I need you to listen carefully," my dad emphasized.

"I will, so go ahead and continue," I promised.

"As I was saying, I understand you probably didn't have any choice about being gay and I am willing to concede that you are also old enough to make some of your own choices," he added, which totally floored me. "You know my views about what the scriptures says, but since I know you have accepted Jesus as your savior, I don't view this in the same light that I might with someone else. You're well aware of what I consider will be the consequences for such behavior, but you are the one who will have to pay the price for those choices, if God deems there should be any penalties on Judgment Day. Therefore, I will not question your sexual orientation further."

"Thank you, Dad. That means a lot to me," I told him, as I wrapped my arms around his chest and started to cry again,

As my mind was racing over the possibilities, I suddenly came to another conclusion. Maybe God had answered my prayers and was offering the solution I had prayed for. While I was considering this, my father placed his hands on either side of my face and lifted my head, so we were looking into each other's eyes.

"Zach. I am willing to let you come back home, but if you do, then you will need to make me one small promise."

'Oh, no! Not the promise, again,' I thought, as I began to back away from him. 'He knows I won't promise to remain celibate, so why was he bringing up the promise again? It seems like a such a total waste to have come this far, just to end up back at square one again.'

"Zachariah! Will you please pay attention?" my father nearly shouted, while yanking me back to the present.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I will," I apologized again.

"It's not what you're thinking," he continued. "I'm not going to ask you to make the same promise I asked of you before."

Suddenly, I began to feel better and air started to fill my lungs once more, since I was now able to breathe normally again. This pronouncement had helped me shed the one fear I dreaded the most, which was that he was going to tell me I couldn't act upon my desires. I'd never be able to bear the loneliness and misery that would accompany such a choice, so if that had been what he needed to heal our estrangement, then it wasn't going to happen.

"What I want you to promise me is this, son," my dad explained. "If I let you return to our home, I want you to promise that you'll honor your mother's and my feelings by not doing those things under our roof. What you do outside of our home is entirely your decision, so if you'll just make this one concession, then you are welcome to return home and live with your mother and me for as long as you desire."

"But what will you do if I find someone that I love and want to be with?" I challenged. "Will you allow me to bring him home, as long as we promise not to do anything of a sexual nature while he's there?"

"Your mother and I will do our best to make him feel welcome into our home," he conceded, "as long as you refrain from doing anything of that nature while you are there."

I was so overwhelmed by my father's sudden change of heart that my legs momentarily turned to jelly and I dropped to my knees. When my dad saw this, he rushed to my side and offered assistance, but all I could do was to weep, uncontrollably. Being visibly shaken by my reaction, my dad pulled me toward him and kissed me on the forehead, while cradling my body in his soothing arms. He continued doing this until I regained my composure and hissed a breathless reply.

"I promise, Dad. I promise," I agreed. "Thank you. Thank you. I love you so very much."

"I love you too, son," he replied, which meant a great deal to me, since he didn't say this often.

Now that we had reached an agreement, we returned to Ryan's house and announced our reconciliation. Everyone seemed genuinely happy and relieved by our announcement, so they all hugged us and offered their congratulations. Mrs. Anderson also winked at me and I knew she was thinking back to our prior conversation.

Once things began to settle down, I took Ryan and Peter aside, so we could discuss the implications of this turnabout.

"Rye, you know I still love you and this won't change a thing for us," I began, "but I'm going to go back and live with my parents again."

"I know, Zach, and I'm happy for you," he confessed. "We can continue on and do as we originally planned now."

"Yes, but Peter and I will still keep in touch, so we can line up our college choices trilaterally," I offered. "We're still going to visit over both Christmas and the summer, and we're all going to remain close as we prepare for the rest of our lives. Being gay, I don't think anyone will try to pressure me into going to Bible College now, so I'll be able to choose a new goal. We'll write and call to keep in touch, so you will always be part of our lives. You will be my last thought before I go to sleep each evening and my first thought when I wake up."

"Same here and I love you, Zach," Ryan responded. "I'm sooo happy that things worked out for you."

The three of us shared a group hug and cried heartfelt tears of joy. After many weeks of pain and heartache, my ordeal was nearly at an end. My father stayed with us during the last two days of our time here and chose to return home with Peter and me. Dad actually spent quite a bit of time talking to Peter and treated him even been than he did before Mom had caught us together in that compromising position.

On our final day there, Peter and I went over to the farm to pick up our final wages and thanked Mr. Johnson for letting us work there for the summer. When we got back to Ryan's house, we packed up the last of our belongings and then Ryan's parents drove us to the bus terminal. After saying our final goodbyes to each of them, we hopped on the bus to St. Louis and then took a cab to the airport. Our flight back was quite enjoyable and we had many pleasant conversations during the return trip. After landing, Dad retrieved his car from the long-term parking garage and drove us all home. We dropped Peter off at his house first and then continued on to ours.

When we arrived home, Mom came rushing out to greet us. She raced over to the passenger's door first, as I was getting out of the car, and grabbed me in a tremendous embrace. We spent the next few minutes crying and kissing each other, while also exchanging assurances that everything was fine and back to normal. It was an emotional evening, with lots of tears, hugs and kisses, because we were once again a family. We were also safe in both the knowledge and comfort of each other's love.

My father was true to his word and not only accepted me, but he also welcomed my friends into our home. This included Peter, even though he knew what we had done there before, but my mother had a bit of trouble looking Peter in the eye, since she had previously seen him naked. It didn't seem to bother Peter as much as it did my mother, because her puritanical mores were too strong for her to fight against. This merely helped to remind me that I was still the son of a preacher man and his wife.

The End