Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 20:55:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: Evan Bradely <evanbradley33@yahoo.com>
Subject: Chapter 34 of "The Crew"

The following fictional story deals with sex among males.  If you are
offended by such material, are too young, or reside in a location where it is
not allowed, please depart. Though not observed in this story, care enough
about yourself and humankind to practice safe sex.

The author retains all rights.
EvanBradley33@Yahoo.com

Chapter 34
Transcendence
			Renegades Ballpark

After the Renegades' victory, Hal and Drew took their leave of Boyd and
Yuki.  Walking toward Hal's pickup in the dark parking lot, Drew slid his left
hand into Hal's left back pocket, pulling his hard body into Drew's side.
Drew felt heat begin to build in his dick as the flexing muscles in Hal's ass
cheek seemed to caress Drew's palm.  Hal's heart leapt.  His man expected -
wanted - some lovin'.  He looked down at Drew, smiling, carefully deciding
to allow Drew to take the lead, cupping his right hand over the cap of Drew's
right shoulder.  When they had traversed the parking lot, they reluctantly had
to relinquish their holds as they reached the pickup.  "Wanna drive?" Hal
asked Drew mischievously.

"That behemoth?" Drew asked in reference to Hal's big pickup.  "I may do
some driving tonight, and it may be a behemoth, but it's not going to have
'Ford' emblazoned on it," Drew answered in a butchy manner.

Hal laughed as they climbed into the pickup.  He was delighted that a sense of
play had returned to their relationship, one stronger than it had been before
Brett came along.  He knew it had to be a good sign about their restoring their
relationship.  "Does it have ANY brand on it?"

"Ask me when the night's over."

"Ou-u-u-u, Baby.  You sound hell bent for action tonight," Hal laughed,
relieved that they both wouldn't have to dance nervously around the issue of
making love on this special evening.

They settled into the pickup.  After they left the ballpark and entered the
Interstate, Drew scooted closer to Hal, placing his left hand on Hal's hard
thigh.	They rode in companionable silence for a while.  Drew broke the
silence:  "Wanna bet me Boyd and Yuki end up roommates at Max and Kenji's before
the month's out?"

"What makes you think so?" Hal asked, warily.  When Drew came on so strong, one
had best proceed with care.

"A combination of factors.  Kenji was hurting without Yuki nearby.  He won't
send him in pursuit of a new boyfriend if it will take him away from Max and
his company.  Max and Kenji will see what an awesome, stabilizing influence
Boyd will be in Yuki's life.  Yuki is hungry for someone to love HIM the way
Max loves Kenji.  And all of them would be Boyd's lifeline.  Boyd loved his
family's farm to the depths of his being.  But in a second his father took it
from him.  He'll never get that back.  Then he had to quit his college classes,
so he has no foundation on which to build a life to take the place of the one he
lost.  God forbid that he try to make a life out of a construction job!  We know
how that ruins guys." Drew exclaimed, orneriness dancing in his eyes.  But
instead of the effect Drew expected, Hal paled.  Drew knew why:  'Damn, I
thought Brett was at long last a ghost.'

"That's a joke," Drew said, offering reassurance. . . ."Look, Hal, if we're
really going to put . . ." Drew decided that he didn't even want to utter
Brett's name at that point, "the past behind us, we are going to have to quit
pussyfooting around with each other.  I don't know when the past will cease
to be touchy for both of us, but I welcome the day.  Let's hasten it by deciding
from here on out that, when we're together, we're present with each other, not
present with the past.	I choose to be with you now.  Okay?"

Hal smiled, liking the way Drew took charge of the moment to deflect what
could have had a chilling effect and to turn it back to the positive.  It made
him recall an idea he'd had earlier in the evening when Drew had
uncharacteristically pulled Hal into a kiss upon climbing into the pickup.
Drew taking charge.  He liked that.  He spent so much of his day trying to
corral time and circumstance, correct snafus, direct energies toward goals, and
make it work out for his people that it was finally nice "to sit back and ride."
He decided that instant where they were going.	Hal listened as Drew nattered
on about Boyd and Yuki.  Hal loved the warm tones beneath Drew's voice as he
talked about the young fellas, and glances every now and then allowed
him to catch the excitement in Drew's eyes.  Drew eventually shifted his
commentary to Rich, Wes and Carl, when he looked out the window, suddenly
fell silent, then asked, "Where are we going?"

"To a bower of love," Hal answered in a voice that even he realized had
suddenly become deeper.

Drew stared at him.  "And where might this bower of love be?  Not one of your
cat houses, I hope," Drew observed archly.

"You know better than that," Hal answered playfully.

"Not one of your dog houses then?" Drew pitched back.

"Hal smiled.  "I gave those up when I met you. . . . If you must know, we are
going to check up on my child."

"Oh, Jimmy.  Of course."

"Nope."

Drew looked puzzled.  Hal was enjoying this.  Drew was still in his usual "I-
hafta-be-on-top-of-things" mode, so Hal knew he was really wanting to know
where they were headed.  "Okay, D-A-D-D-Y," Drew intoned "how many little
mistakes and missteps have you seeded around Warford County?  How long a
line-up is this going to be?  Will we be finished before 1 a.m.?"

Hal laughed.  "Driving you crazy a little bit, isn't it, hot thang?  There may
be lots you don't know about me."

Drew's eyebrows arose with the smile on his lips.  He liked the play.  "Are
there enough of these little slips and blunders to fill a home for Hal Winston
clones?"

Hal had to laugh at the image Drew had projected.  "I was thinking of
partnering with you to add a few more," he said, a monster grin on his face as
he looked lovingly at Drew.  'Gotcha!' he exulted inwardly.  He'd caught
Drew off guard, indicated by a waver in his smile as he was seized by Hal's
words.

Regaining his smart-ass demeanor, Drew asked, "What makes you think you can
afford me?  I don't put out for just anyone, you know."

Hal was glad they'd had that little moment about Brett earlier.  If they hadn't,
Brett would have been right there in the middle of them, for Hal could have
taken Drew's words to imply that Hal DID put out for just anyone, Brett being
the evidence Drew would have meant.  Drew looked out the window.  "Hey!
We're going to my place!" he said as his head whipped around to check out
Hal's face.  Hal just grinned back.  "What child do you have at my place?"

"The autumn cool-down has started.  I want to check out my child that I
planted in your back yard."

Drew grinned.  He liked it that Hal claimed his sugar maple peace offering to
Drew as his child.  "Are we going to dance naked around it under the light of
a full moon and engage in unspeakable, carnal acts?  You could plant more
seeds in the backyard that way, you know?" Drew asked, rather excitedly, Hal
thought.

Hal's answer:  "Think you can crank it up enough to offer some of that spice
and fire you spoke of earlier this evening?" struggling not to grin as he
delivered his challenge.

It worked.  Drew's head cocked forward and down, his mouth set, his eyes
steeled blue, and he looked at Hal from under his lids - the classic Drew
challenge posture.  It always reminded Hal of a lineman staring at him when
he'd quarterbacked in high school, trying to shake him with the unspoken
message that his opponent was going to sack his ass if not steal the football.
Hal felt heat in his heart and crotch when Drew moved into this mode, though
he'd not seen it often.  Certainly not in bed, but that was his fault, not
Drew's.  When Drew took this tack, it announced that, despite his smaller size,
there was a formidable man inside who would leave his opponent "bloodied if not
bowed," figuratively speaking.

Hal was surprised at the little shudder that ran down his spine at the thought
of Drew vanquishing him.  He wanted it.  He knew it was the answer they had
been seeking.  It was the shift that would put them on dramatically different
but equal ground, the seedbed for the beginning of a new relationship, one
better than the old, he decided as his pickup glided into Drew's driveway.  As
Hal turned off the key and lights, Drew shot back, "Son, this man can crank up
so much spice and fire that he'll leave you a smokin' husk!"

Hal threw his head back and roared.  When he finally looked at his passenger,
he could see the delight in Drew's eyes in having met Hal's challenge.	"I dare
you," Hal said softly.	Drew's grin diminished as his head cocked to the side.

			      Drew's Home

"Dare me to do what?"

"To do me."  Drew stared back at Hal.  "Make love to me, claim me, subjugate me,
possess me, own me tonight.  Make me yours.  Breed me.	Fill me with your cum,
leave me a 'smokin husk.'"

Drew was clearly caught off guard.  Hal reached over, delivering a caress to
Drew's cheek.  "Climb on top of me . . . I want you in me. . . Make love to
me."

Perplexed, Drew exclaimed, "You never bottom!"	 Hal said nothing.  He just
smiled.  "What's that enigmatic smile supposed to mean?" Drew asked
impatiently. . . . "You're not the Mona Lisa.  I can't tell where your mind and
heart are if you smile at me like that."

Hal pulled Drew toward him as he brushed his lips across Drew's, who leaned
back only a little.  "Baby, heal us with your strength and your love," Hal
whispered.  "You've got the power.  You've always had it.  I healed you, but
then I lost you through my own foolishness.  You have to heal me now for us
to transcend the breach."  It seemed to Hal that his former lover withdrew
somewhere within himself to ponder the circumstances and Hal's words.  Still
super cautious Drew.  Still not ready to plant that foot until it landed on some
definable ground.  "Come on, Baby," Hal crooned softly to Drew; "let go of
your suspicion, your need for an absolute guarantee.  Give your heart by
trusting me first.  Learn how noble you can be by making yourself vulnerable to
me. . . I hurt you once.  Now that I have you back, I promise I'll
never hurt you again. . . . You see - that's why it has to begin with you."

After a few beats, Drew moved toward the pickup door.  "Come on in.  We
need a drink.  We need to talk."

It wasn't what Hal had expected.  What was Drew's hangup?

Drew clambered down from the pickup, fishing in his pocket for his keys.  As
he walked to the door, he looked back only once as Hal still sat in the pickup.
He waved him out as he walked to the front door, his head cast down.  'Oh
yeah!  He's thinking hard,' Hal decided.  He climbed out of the pickup,
locking it as he followed Drew to the front door, which Drew had entered by
now, leaving it standing ajar for Hal.

After closing and locking the front door, Hal found Drew in the kitchen mixing
drinks.  He was quiet but thoughtful.  "What's got you spooked about my
request?" Hal asked.

"I'm not spooked by it."  Drew looked up, moving into Hal's gaze.  "I admit
that I find it unsettling."

"Why?"

"If I don't satisfy you, then I've lost you again.  But this time, I won't have
a 'Brett' to blame."

"But you have satisfied me."  Drew's gaze hardened, and Hal knew why.
"Don't let my horrible mistake with Brett negate what you gave me.  I thought
I was reaching for something that had been missing for a long time in my life.
I stupidly didn't see that I had it all along in you."

"Hal  . . .," Drew started as Hal walked up to him, pulling him tightly against
his body, running his nose slowly through Drew's hair, reveling in the soft
shampoo smell mixed with Drew's scent.

Hal spoke softly:  "Give me the gift of a lifetime - the chance to prove to you
that I know I've found the man who delights me. . . excites me . . . challenges
me . . . fulfills me.  I made a mistake once.  I'll never make it again.  I have
to observe though that that mistake has led me to realize fully and completely
how important you are to my future happiness - as I am to yours.  That's why
I can assure you that you won't lose by giving me another chance, by claiming
me."

While speaking, at the same time Hal was nuzzling Drew's hair and ears and
neck.  Drew relaxed a bit.  "Please give me that chance," Hal continued to
plead his case, "give us that chance.  What we can give each other can be
deeper than just sexual pleasure.  We can fill the empty places and gaps in
each other's life."

They stood in an embrace for a beat or two.  Then Drew pulled back, turning to
their drinks.  "I want you so desperately . . . -" Drew paused, looking aside.
He always did that when his heart had carried him further than his head had
granted permission, when he'd left himself open, vulnerable.  Hal knew Drew was
regretting what he'd just said, but having gone that far, he decided to
continue " - that I don't want anything to mess up our chances."  He handed Hal
his drink.  They clinked their cocktail glasses in a silent toast and took a
long draw.  It was so long that both stopped and started giggling like boys.
They'd half emptied their glasses.

"I needed that," Drew commented.  "But more, Hal, my love, my Lover, I need
you back in my life.  I need to love you as hard as I can.  And I need that from
you.  The time I was with you was almost a taste of heaven.  I want it back.
But I want it strong and lasting this time."

"Me too," Hal echoed.

They stood apart, looking deeply into each other's eyes.  This was it:	the
penultimate moment.  The point at which the eternal die was cast for them.
Drew had meant what he'd just told Hal - he wanted Hal, the man of his
dreams, the man from whom he had fled upon their first speaking, the man
who'd impressed the crew into helping bag him, the man who fulfilled him to
the deepest recesses of his being as no one ever had.  The man who had once
loved him for what he was, not despising him for his shortcomings, the man
who seemed to have returned to that demeanor.  But he was also the man
who'd betrayed him, he suddenly remembered, casting his glance aside.

For Hal, this was the man who promised him a lifetime of solid, stable
fulfillment.  Hell!  For all he knew, eternal fulfillment.  Then he saw Drew's
eyes shift to the floor.  He intuited that Drew remembered that horrible night
when he and the crew had stumbled upon him with his dick planted in Brett's
ass.  For Drew, it was the ultimate betrayal.  Ironic that the penultimate
moment also evoked the ultimate betrayal - but that would make sense if the
two were evoked concurrently.  Hal guessed he could never understand what
that had felt like to Drew simply because he wasn't Drew.  He wasn't certain
that Brett's betrayal with Gwen was as bad for him.  He wished desperately
that he could delete his interlude with Brett from everyone's memory banks.  The
next best thing was to address the issue at this moment.  "I lost my claim to
you over Brett.  If we're to reunite, it must start with your claiming me," Hal
explained.  They stood silently, sipping their drinks and studying each other.

Hal continued:	"We won't end up where we would have if Brett hadn't come
along and I hadn't lost myself, but that doesn't mean we can't end up some
place just as good, just as satisfying - maybe better because now we won't
take it for granted.  Not just Brett but Richie Collins is out of the way.
I am 'certain sure, deep in my heart' that this is the way it has to start for
us. . . . Please, Drew . . . trust me.	If you think about it, you'll see the
truth and rightness of it."

Drew continued to look into Hal's eyes.  "The ground is yours, Drew, my
love - if you want to occupy it.  It's really up to you.  I'll be sad if you
decide to pass, but I won't say that I can't understand your choice."

No longer hesitating, Drew set his tumbler down and walked over to Hal, throwing
his arms around Hal's waist and pulling him in.  He felt Hal's arms move around
him.  Drew pushed his nose into Hal's chest, sniffing deeply of his lover's
scent, which brought his cock to wakefulness.  They stood like that for five
seconds when Drew pulled back, attacking the buckle to Hal's belt.  "Yes!" Hal
thought, rejoicing that Drew was going to save them, to initiate a new
relationship for them.

Having opened Hal's belt and unfastened the button of his shorts and lowered the
zipper, Drew slid his hand under the waistband and back onto Hal's warm ass
cheeks.  "Oh, Man!" Drew emoted.  "I'd forgotten how hard and good this ass
feels," Drew stated, letting his forehead rest on Hal's pecs as he pushed
against the muscle under his palms as though it were possible that he could make
a dent.

"That ass was formed by a construction job.  But I seem to remember
someone disparaging construction just this evening," Hal teased.

"The rotter!" Drew exclaimed, raising and turning his head, lowering his
mouth onto one of Hal's nipples and biting it hard through the cloth of his
shirt.	"Ow!" Hal exclaimed.

"Don't be sassy.  You're a bottom tonight, remember?"

"When did being a bottom ever keep you quiet?" Hal asked, again running his
nose through Drew's hair.

"It didn't," Drew smiled up mischievously.  "I'm above the usual rules.
Haven't you realized that yet?	And if you are going to talk, let me hear words
of love.  Maybe a little tribute to the man who's going to be topping you.  And
then you could toss in a little begging for my dick that's growing hard even as
we speak."  Hal ran his hand across the front of Drew's shorts, feeling a hard
tube there.  "And another thing - you have too many clothes on," Drew said
petulantly, making Hal's grin widen.  Drew was cute when he put on these
little acts.  Drew pushed Hal's shorts down.

"A thong?  I hope you're wearing that because you thought I was going to get
in your pants tonight?" Drew stated with some sass thrown in.

"Actually, I thought I'd drop you off at home and hit Jack's Sports Bar and
Grill tonight.	Find a little action there."

A warning gleam filled Drew's eyes.  He leaned in and chewed on Hal's other
nipple, evoking a yelp.  Hal grabbed Drew's ass, massaging his cheeks hard.
"Is this heading toward cannibalism?" Hal asked, smiling.

"I do have pagan rites in mind, and there will be eating and sucking, but not
that kind," Drew answered.  Drew knelt, pulling Hal's thong down and off as
Hal raised his feet one buy one.  Drew slid the palm of his hand softly under
and up the underside of Hal's hard dick, allowing his middle finger to pass
under Hal's balls and onto his perineum.  Drew lifted his hand so that the head
of Hal's cock touched his tongue, allowing him to lick Hal's dick.

"I've had so much love to give, but no one ever saw it - until you, Hal.  I
guess that's my fault although I don't quite know how.	Maybe fear of being
beaten if I offered my love in unwelcome quarter.  But you welcomed my
love.  Do you know how excited I was that you recognized it, acknowledged
it, and loved me back?"  Drew placed his lips just behind the corona of Hal's
substantial dick, pushing his hardened lips back and forth over ridge, speeding
up until Hal groaned.

Drew slid his mouth slowly down over Hal's dick, moaning and humming as
he did so, deep throating Hal, who started moaning himself.  Drew pushed his
face hard into Hal's solar plexus as the drove Hal's cock in and out of his
throat, pushing his thumb against Hal's pucker, eventually pushing it inside
and moving it in a circle.  At the same time, Drew monitored the muscles in
Hal's legs.  When he felt that Hal was about ready to blow, he backed entirely
off.

Hal was breathing heavily when he reached down, putting his hands under
Drew's arms and pulling him upright.  He wanted to raise him up until he was
eye level with Hal, but it would have violated the roles they had taken in
making love to each other.   While he loved lifting Drew up and holding him
like that, allowing Drew to clasp his legs around Hal's waist, it would have to
wait for another time.	Instead, he spread his legs, lowering his body, pulling
Drew into a passionate kiss, tasting his cock and precum in Drew's mouth and
smelling his own man smell on Drew's face.  "Now who's wearing too many
clothes?" Hal asked when he had broken the kiss.  He stood and began
divesting Drew of his clothes.

When Hal had completed his task, Drew exclaimed, "I know!" He grabbed
Hal's hand, pulling him into the family room in front of the wall of windows
affording them a view of Hal's sugar maple.  Drew shut off a table lamp there,
casting the room into near darkness, leaving only light from the kitchen to
faintly illumine the family room.  He flicked on a light over the garage, a
light which spilled onto the sugar maple.  Then he grabbed some pillows from
the sofa and dropped them on the floor, pushing Hal down and back so that he was
reclining.  Drew stood and ran into his bedroom, returning with a couple of
towels and some lube.  He dropped between Hal's legs, rapidly licking his
hard cock as though it were a lollipop.  He rubbed his thumb in circles on
Hal's perineum and then deep-throated him, blowing him until Hal started
trying to roll back and forth.	Drew pulled off, pushing Hal's legs back as he
attacked his aroused rosebud with his tongue.  Because Drew had always
loved Hal's smell, he almost pitched Hal into gales of laughter over the
snuffling noises Drew was making as he ate Hal out.

Drew pulled back, grabbing the tube and running a line of lube down his
middle finger, moving it to Hal's pucker, massaging the lube around the
brown circle with its hairy halo, shivering as the hair tickled the end of his
finger.  Before long, a second finger had joined the first, and then a third.
Drew moved them slowly in and out until Hal couldn't stand it any longer and
began shoving his ass back on the fingers at a faster rate.

Drew paused long enough to lube his hard dick, placing its head at Hal's
opening.  He punched through Hal's sphincter, eliciting a little grunt at first
followed by a long groan from his lover as Drew drove slowly into Hal's
chute.	When he bottomed out, he lowered his body onto Hal's, making little
micro pushes and pulls as he almost manically bathed Hal's pecs, nipples, and
pits with his tongue.  'He's a busy little beaver," Hal thought.  Then he
chuckled, remembering that he was the "beaver" this time.

Drew rose up.  "What's so funny?" he challenged, nipping Hal's nipples yet
again.

"Oh," Hal exclaimed.  "I'm just happy."  Drew leaned way up so that his face
was over Hal's, looking deeply into Hal's eyes.  Then he laid a monster kiss
on Hal's lips, which had Hal thinking Drew was going to suck his tongue out
of his mouth.  As they kissed, Drew speeded up fucking his hard cock into
Hal.  When Drew broke the kiss, leaving Hal and him panting, he shifted the
angle of his thrust, hitting Hal's prostate about every fourth pump.  Then it
was every third pump.  After a while every second pump.

Drew looked into Hal's eyes, drawing him into the depths of his own.  Hal
was astonished by the feral gleam in Drew's eyes.  "Give it to me," Drew
demanded in a hoarse whisper and he continued to plunge into Hal.  Hal
looked puzzled.  "Give it to me," Drew iterated with some vigor, his voice
broken by his exertions.  Hal shook his head, his eyes question marks,
indicating that he didn't understand.  "I asked you to give it to me," Drew
insisted, lowering his face to Hal's and not very gently biting Hal's bottom
lip, then laying a hot kiss on him.  All the while he pounded harder into Hal's
chute.	Finally, Hal began to hunch back onto Drew's dick with as much vigor
and force as Drew was exerting.  "That's it," Drew puffed.  "Give it to me
more!"	Now they were pounding each other and kissing hotly.  Drew began
moaning, which grew louder and louder.	He was rushing to climax.  Hal
joined him, whimpering.  Suddenly they jammed themselves into each other,
their moans and whimpers peaking as their orgasm seized them.  Drew's body
wrenched on top of Hal. Hal wondered if Drew wouldn't have thrown himself
off if Hal hadn't had his arms clasped tightly about his upper body.  Hal's ass
described a short, tight circle around Drew's dick and his cum shot out
between them in rapid bursts.  Gradually their exertions and calls of passion
cycled down.

As they lay exhausted in the afterglow of their love-making, Drew raked the
fingernails of his right hand slowly down Hal's arms, sides, and exposed sides
of his hips, pausing occasionally to nip at parts of Hal's body.  Hal groaned as
shivers moved up and down his spine.  It wasn't unlike claws being raked down
his body.  "I feel as though I've awakened the panther in you," Hal stated
softly.

"The panther beast you mean, but a loving beast as far as his mate is
concerned.  From now on, this beast guards and protects his own.  Poachers
should beware. . . We belong to each other now.  We're joined.	We're one."

"We're home again," Hal whispered, pulling Drew against him as their
tongues dueled.

The End

Much thanks to Drew Hunt, Rye Encoke, and Bob Packard for contributions of
ideas and language to this chapter.  Also to the Nifty Six (names and stories
below), whose constant presence, support and help are themselves a special
blessing.  Add to them John Yager and our special Johnnie N. and others who've
enjoyed this series enough to offer support and ideas and to e-mail their
appreciation.  I'm grateful to each and every one of you.

ASH BRADLEY
Ash and Dad   Incest   June 6, 2003
How Will I Go On?   Relationships   current

EVAN BRADLEY
Ambush	 High School   April 19, 2003
The Crew   Adult Friends
Rubbing My Face in Hawk   Adult Friends   May 31, 2003
Tyler's Take-Down   Adult Friends   May 18, 2003

TIM MEAD
Dr. Tim and the Boys/Tim and the Guys	College   current
Out of the Night   Adult Friends   last posting Jan 8, 2004
du Temps Perdu	 College  Jul 30, 2003
Beautiful Music   College   Mar 7, 2004
Billy Budd   College   June 2004

MICKEY S.
Billy and Danny   College   current
Sandy Hook   Authoritarian   Dec 4, 2003
All of the following were posted between late April and early July, 2002:
Encounters:
Tales from the Reservation
1.	Discovery
2.	Huge cock, poppers
3.	Almost Fuck
4.	Straight blowjob
5.	Black Stud (Friday afternoon)
6.	Ball Play
7.	Jumpsuit Boy
8.	Latin thong
9.	Group suck
Wet Mothers Day
Dude
Palm Springs Weekend
Twin Reality/Twin Fantasy
Rough Fuck
Fun at the Laundromat
Twin Fuck

Authoritarian:
Man in Black
Tony and Me

College:
No Longer a Virgin
The Wall
Discovery
Neighbor

TOM WYATT
TNT Files   Adult Friends   May 28, 2003
Slave to Love	Authoritarian	Jan 4, 2004

PATRICK YOUNG
Clay   Beginnings   July 22, 2003