Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2012 22:37:31 -0700
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Big Time  Chapter 33

Welcome back. This chapter is very much about Noah and Eric, both in the
high school story line and the middle school story line. In both instances
Eric and Noah become closer to each other although at different ages and
in different ways. In between those two story lines, Hunter learns more
about his own sexuality as Kraig once again pushes him beyond his
previous boundaries.
This story is mine. Please, donate to Nifty. You must be 18 and be aware
that there are sexual situations here. Be safe and thanks for reading.

CHAPTER 33
PAIRINGS-2

<Junior year-Noah's House, June 5>

I could tell on the walk to Noah's house from the high school, where we'd
just had practice, that Noah was in one of his moods. He said little during
the walk or while we ate the late dinner his mom had warmed up for us.

"I just want some time alone," Noah said when we finally got to his
bedroom to do some studying. For the moment, studying had been put
aside. "That really isn't that much to ask is it?"

"You can get pretty testy at times you know." I was trying hard not to show
my frustration.

"I don't intend to be. Sometimes I just need to be alone to think."

"It's today's date isn't it?"

"I can't deny it, since you guessed that's what the problem is."

Noah's demon had once again stopped by to pay him a visit.

"Look, because of the date I'll give you this one. But there is another date
coming up before our senior year starts and when that date comes we're
going to go through this whole thing again, and then we go through it again
whenever something else comes up to trigger your demon."

"Why do you keep talking about my demon?"

"Because that's what it is. It changes you, it makes you behave different."

"You sound like mother's stupid shrink friend."

"Maybe, but I am different in a very important way."

"How?" Noah asked, although I think he knew exactly what I was about to
say.

"Because I love you. Good enough?"

"More than good enough."

"There is nothing I wouldn't trust you with. Nothing! Now it's time for you to
return the favor."

The long silence in the room would make a lot of people nervous, but not
Noah and me. We've had a lot of silent moments together, and we've spent
a lot of time meditating together. I knew that Noah's wheels were turning
and I would just need to sit patiently until all of the gears clicked into place.
This was the first time in all of the years I've observed Noah's bouts with
his demon that he's actually taken the time to think about what I've said.

"Okay," he said.

"Okay, what?"

"I think I know what to do. Maybe I should have suggested this long ago,
but I was too into myself to even contemplate it. I let my...um...er...demon
do my talking and my thinking."

I felt a sudden release of tension, as the one barrier between us looked as
if it may finally come down. "And what is this fabulous idea of yours?"

"I don't know if it's so fabulous. It's just an idea, and maybe I never thought
about it because it needed to happen..."

"...in it's own time. I know how that goes. Now don't go getting all
philosophical on me and tell me what the idea is."

Noah looked at me with the patient look in his eyes that said, "I know you're
not that dumb, so I will forgive you for saying something dumb because I
love you so much." As usual I had no idea what I'd said this time to bring on
that look.

"I think my getting all metaphysical on you would be more appropriate than
my getting all philosophical would be," Noah said.

"Whatever. Now you're getting all hair-splitting on me." That comment
elicited Noah's first smile of the evening.

"I love you so much Eric.'

"Oh, so now you're getting all romantic on me, too."

"That's as far as the romance goes tonight. I'm sorry my love, but I really do
want the time alone tonight. I mean you did say you were giving me one
last freebie."

I had that deep sense of disappointment flow back into me as I sensed the
demon regaining his hold. "Yeah, I did say that."

I am sure Noah sensed my mood; he always does. "And I told you I had an
idea. I need a few days to mull it over, but I think it is an excellent one. If it
works it might even put that old demon you say I have to rest—and if it
doesn't work, well then you and I can fight the bastard together from now
on."

"I'm holding you to that."

"As well you should."

I stood up to leave. I knew it was time. I gave Noah a chaste kiss on the
cheek and told him I'd see him in school tomorrow. I really did need to get
some studying in, with or without Noah.

Noah's dad offered me a ride home, which I accepted. I knew that the
subject of Noah would come up and it did.

"He's in another one of his moods I see," Seth said.

"He is."

"I'm glad he doesn't get them often, although this past month seems to
have been a little different."

"It's been an emotional time."

"I thought he'd be over all of this more by now. It's been, what, four years?"

"Noah needs to do things in his own way and in his own time. And
sometimes he can just plain outthink himself, which is what I think has been
happening recently."

Seth shook his head in agreement.

"But I think maybe he's figuring things out, or at least he's finally gotten
tired of me being on his ass every time his demon gets to him." Seth and I
have had this chat before and he knew what I meant by Noah's demon. "He
says he needs to do some more thinking." I saw Seth's reaction to that and
said, "Yeah, I know, that sounds so like Noah. Anyway, maybe he figures
it's time to move on."

"He's lucky to have you as his boyfriend. Hell, I'm lucky he has you as his
boyfriend. You're a special kid...no, a special person, and I've thought so
since those sixth grade days when you decided to act on your dream. I'm
proud to be able to call you one of the family." He laughed out loud as we
pulled up to my house. "Now, if Shane ends up as successful at finding a
girl as my two gay sons have been in finding a boy as a partner, I will be a
very happy man indeed. And of course, I still have Lisa to deal with as
well."

"And what about Nicky?"

"I guess Nicky needs to figure himself out first," he said with another laugh.

I thanked Seth for the ride and went into the house. After greeting my
parents I went upstairs to do some studying. First I checked my phone,
which had been off since before practice. I had three messages: one from
Scott, a recent one from Noah, and one from Hurricane Jeffrey.

I checked Noah's message first. "I just wanted to say that I loved you, and
don't stay up too late."

Scott had a question about our U.S. Government class, but when I called
him he said he figured it out. That left Hurricane Jeffrey.

I was not surprised at the content of his message or its high energy level.
"Hey, it's me, Hurricane Jeffrey, Jeff, J.J, or whatever storm you want. I
was wondering when you were gonna show me stuff. Call me up so I can
come watch you do it."

I decided I needed to call the Donkey for some advice. When Scott and I
asked for help back in sixth grade we were two kids who knew what we
wanted to try and who were infatuated with each other, but who had no
idea of how to go about things. I guess you could call us a bit naïve.
Jeffrey, or Jeff, or whatever he wanted to be called at the moment, had a
best friend in Nicky who had experience as far as anal sex went and could
probably show Jeff whatever he wanted to know. It seemed to me that Jeff
was just looking for an excuse to get sexually involved with an older boy,
especially since Marty wouldn't cross a certain line. There was nothing
naïve or inquisitive about Jeff; he was pure and simple just a horny twelve
year old boy.

Still, I was hoping the Donkey could give some of his accumulated wisdom.
He was a college student after all. I know he and the Dawg would be home
for the summer this weekend. I now had a reason to contact them right
away, not that I needed an excuse. They were, after all, two of my closest
friends.

I called Jeff back, forgetting how late it was. I got his voice mail. I told it I
got the message and I'd talk to J.J about it after the weekend. Of course I
didn't say how long after the weekend it would be.

++++++++++

<Seventh grade-Monday, August 20 to Monday, September 3>

***Kraig and Hunter***

"I know it sounds weird," Hunter said, "but I can't wait for school to start.
There are some fine girls who are wanting me bad."

"Mary Alice isn't one of them," Kraig said, wishing as soon as he said it that
he'd kept his mouth shut.

But Hunter didn't seem offended, prattling on as if Kraig hadn't said
anything. "Cindy Cameron." He said her name as if it was a complete
sentence that summed up all there was to know about her. "I know she's
been talking about me. Even Mary Alice said she was."

Kraig grunted. He knew that Hunter's movie date with Mary Alice hadn't
gone well. It certainly turned out differently than the practice scenario on
Hunter's couch. What he didn't know was the details, and while he truly
wanted to know the details he wasn't sure how to ask Hunter to reveal
them. Kevin would probably find out everything if he were doing the
questioning, Kraig thought, but I don't know how to do it without making
Hunter mad at me.

"I wouldn't mind Vicky either, but I guess she lost her cherry at Steve's
party back when school was out."

"Are you saying you'll only go out with a virgin?" Kraig asked.

"No, but dang, she lost it drunk at a party and I guess more than one guy
got her. But she did look pretty good there when we saw her almost naked
and shit."

Kraig remembered their short visit to Steve's party and their seeing Vicki
drunk and wearing nothing but a pair of panties. He also remembered that
he and Hunter didn't stick around at the party and that they eventually did
some sex things together that night.

"You should have half the girls in the seventh grade after you and I bet a
bunch of sixth grade girls are gonna want your ass, too. Maybe even some
eighth grade girls." Kraig knew he wasn't just buttering up Hunter—almost
all of what he was saying was true.

"All I want is to get laid before I get to eighth grade," Hunter said.

All I want to do is fuck you before I get to eighth grade, is what went
through Kraig's mind.

"Let's go in back and throw the football around," Hunter said. The two boys
were sitting in the family room. They'd just lunched on some peanut butter
and jelly sandwiches and the bright early afternoon sunshine was
beckoning them outdoors.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Kraig said. Both boys were dressed for play;
Kraig was wearing a t-shirt and board shorts while Hunter had one of his
old basketball jerseys on and a pair of basketball shorts. The jersey was a
tight fit on Hunter's well-shaped athletic torso and Kraig thought it looked
very sexy on his friend. Like his twin brother, Kraig had no problem thinking
of a boy as looking sexy.

Hunter had a big backyard and the boys had plenty of room to throw
passes to each other. Hunter planned on turning out for the middle school
football team when school started, but Kraig was into soccer and had
already started practices with his select soccer team. He knew he could
play both sports, but he didn't want the hassle and conflicts that went with
it. Well, maybe that could be phrased that his parents didn't want the
hassle and conflicts that went with playing both sports and told Kraig he
needed to make a choice. Since they had paid a lot of money to send him
to soccer camp they strongly suggested soccer, but it wasn't a hard sell.
Kraig liked playing soccer as much as he liked playing baseball.

Besides, Eric and Noah would both be on the soccer team. He knew Noah
was a good soccer player, even for somebody as little and young as he
was, but he didn't know how good Eric was since he'd never seen him play
on a team. But when they'd messed around with a soccer ball he got some
pretty good hints about Eric's soccer playing talents.

Hunter was hoping to get a chance to play quarterback, but he knew it
would be hard to play quarterback ahead of an eighth grader, especially
one as good as Rodney. Kraig liked running out for Hunter's passes which
were almost always right on the money. Football really gave Hunter a
chance to show off his athleticism.

The boys were working up a good sweat and they soon had their shirts off.
Kraig wondered what it would be like to throw a pass to Hunter naked, or to
run a pass route naked. But Hunter's backyard, while big, wasn't private.
Neighbors could look in which put a damper on being a nude football
player. Kraig's thoughts about he and Hunter playing naked football in the
yard affected his concentration and he dropped two straight tosses from
Hunter.

"It's a good thing you play soccer and not wide-receiver," Hunter said. He
then overthrew Kraig on his next pass.

"If you're going to throw balls I can't catch then let me throw some," Kraig
said.

"Oh. Like it's all my fault."

The two boys switched roles and Kraig managed to hit Hunter with only one
of his first four passes. "You throw like a soccer player, too," Hunter said.

"That's it; I'm going to show you how a soccer player tackles." Kraig spiked
the football and took off after a giggling Hunter. The two boys feinted and
dodged and ran and laughed and finally Kraig caught up to Hunter and
tackled him on to the lawn.

"Gotcha now," Kraig said as he sat on Hunter's chest, "and I'm not letting
you up." Hunter grunted and struggled. Even though he was the stronger of
the two, Kraig had the leverage. "This is fun. I wonder what I should do to
you? Hmmmm, tickle you maybe."

Kraig got his fingers into Hunter's ribs, keeping Hunter's arms pinned with
his legs. Hunter started laughing uncontrollably, struggled even harder to
get away. Kraig had worked up a boner sitting on top of his friend.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Hunter screamed. "If you don't stop I'm gonna piss my
pants."

"Very cool," Kraig said. "Do it."

"Noooooo!"

Kraig shifted his position so he could dig his fingers into Hunter's abdomen.
That turned out to be a mistake as his right leg slipped off of Hunter's arm.
Before he could recover his position Hunter made a desperation move and
was able to turn his body enough to knock Kraig off-balance. By the time
Kraig knew what had happened Hunter was on top of him. Their positions
had reversed almost instantly.

Hunter was now sitting on Kraig and he had his arms pinned to the ground.
He brought his face close to Kraig's and issued a loud belch. "That's for
tickling me."

"That is totally gross."

"Not as gross as you trying to tickle me until I pissed my pants."

"Nothing gross about that. Everybody pisses."

"You are the grossest person I know."

"I don't belch in people's faces."

"No, you just piss in your pants like that one time."

"Hey, I had to do it somewhere."

"A toilet works." Hunter looked down at Kraig and let a wad of saliva drop
out of his mouth and onto Kraig's bare chest.

"Fuck, Hunter. I got nothing on you for grossness. At least I pissed in my
pants and not on you, cuz I so wanted to piss while you were on top of me."

"You mean me being on top of you like I am now?"

"Yeah."

Hunter dribbled more saliva on Kraig's chest. "How about if I piss on you
first?"

"You wouldn't dare."

Hunter gave Kraig an evil grin before dribbling saliva down onto Kraig's
nose and cheek.

"Oh, fucking asshole. That is grosser than piss."

"Okay, if you say so." Kraig watched Hunter unbutton and unzip his shorts
with his right hand, leaving Kraig's left hand free. Hunter was sure Kraig
wouldn't try to unseat him with his now freed hand and he was right.  Kraig
wondered what his friend was going to do to him and decided to stay
underneath him to find out.

He worked his boner out of his boxers and within seconds he let his urine
flow over Kraig's chest and belly. Kraig felt the warmth of the liquid on his
belly as Hunter emptied out his bladder while sitting on top of Kraig. Kraig
was now so turned on he couldn't stand it as he felt Hunter's urine flow
down his sides and dampen his board shorts. He gave a grunt and let his
piss flow out of his boner, mixing his urine with Hunter's and getting the
back of his friend's shorts soaked. Hunter had thought for a moment about
peeing on Kraig's face, but he decided spitting on it was gross enough.

After both boys voided their bladders they maintained their positions. "I
can't believe you did that," Kraig whispered. He truly could not figure his
friend out or predict what he would or wouldn't do next.

"That makes two of us," Hunter said. "But you had me so close to pissing in
my pants when you tickled me I figured I'd go teach you a lesson."

"I'm all covered with piss."

"I know it's not the first time," Hunter said, which was a true enough
statement. Hunter got off of Kraig and stood over him, his foot on his
friend's piss covered belly, his wet shorts dripping some of Kraig's piss
back down on him, his boner sticking out of the front and straight at the sky.
"Hunter rules again."

"Hunter rules at grossness, you mean."

"You know it. Too bad I don't gotta piss now or your face would be so wet."

Kraig yanked down the front of his soaked board shorts, exposing his piss
slickened boner. He started jerking off and was so turned on he blew his
wad after a half-dozen strokes. His light boy cum mixed with the urine on
his torso. Hunter jerked off as his foot stayed on top of Kraig and soon after
he came too, his cum landing in Kraig's hair and on his face. "Fuck, if I'd
pissed on your face you'd have a triple play. My spit and cum and piss all in
one."

As he stepped away from Kraig, Hunter said," Guess we gotta wash
clothes again."

"And shower."

"Not you. You're so gross you should have pee on you the rest of the day."

"No way, Jose."

"Just kidding. Come on let's go in and get undressed and shower."

The boys stuffed their clothes into the washing machine and headed to the
shower. Both of them were still hard as they showered and washed each
other's rears, Kraig working on Hunter's much more carefully than Hunter
worked on his.

"What happened with Mary Alice?" Kraig asked as Hunter washed his ass.
He decided that since Hunter was in one of his weird moods this might be a
good time to ask.

"She's such a bitch. At the movies I tried putting my arm around her. That's
it; just put my arm around her shoulder. I didn't try to touch a boob or kiss
her or nothing like that and she says she's not into that yet and just wanted
to be on a date. But that's not the worst."

"What was the worst?" Kraig asked. He was now washing Hunter's back.

"After the movie she said could see why Tama got mad at me in the shower
because I want to do sex things too fast. I said I wasn't doing sex things, I
was just trying to put my arm around her shoulder. Fuck, I can't get
nowhere with girls."

The boys shut off the shower and dried themselves. Hunter turned the
washing machine on and they went up to his room, still naked.

"I don't know why I did that," Hunter said. "Pissing on you like that I mean.
Sometimes I do stupid things when I get really turned on."

"So you were really turned on when we wrestled?"

"Yeah."

"By me?"

"No, dork, by wrestling. And me spitting on you turned me on and then it
was like I quit thinking."

"I like it when you quit thinking."

"That's because you're the grossest thing on Earth."

"I thought you were the king of grossness."

Hunter didn't answer. Instead he took Kraig's dick in his hand and started
jerking him off. "I'm the king of jerking off."

"Maybe we should practice for your next date," Kraig said.

"No way, that didn't work at all."

"But you liked it when we practiced, I could tell."

Once again Hunter didn't answer. He just kept jerking Kraig's boner.
"You're getting more hair," Hunter said.

"Not as much as you."

"Let's just shut up and jerk each other off."

"Good idea."

By the time the two of them finished making each other cum their clothes
were ready for the dryer and their bodies once again had cum drying on
them. As usual, Kraig wanted to do more than what he and Hunter did
together, but he was also happy to get what it was he got. He was hoping
Hunter would ask him to spend the night, but it didn't happen. What Kraig
didn't know was that after his second orgasm Hunter was once again
wondering what the fuck he was doing with Kraig and why he liked it so
much.

***Eric and Noah***

It was the Monday before school was scheduled to start and Eric absolutely
did not want to get out of bed. He was usually a morning person and an
early riser for a twelve year old. But this was one of those mornings when
he simply did not want to get up.

He turned to face Scott whose light breathing was almost hypnotic. He put
his arm around Scott's smooth torso and thought about how lucky he was
to have a friend like Scott—who was not only a best friend, but a boyfriend.
They had known each other for almost eight months now and had been
boyfriends for close to five of those. He gently rubbed Scott's arm and
closed his eyes. Within seconds his rubbing stopped and he fell back to
sleep.

Scott woke up close to an hour later, enjoying the feel of Eric's arm draped
over him. He had a morning hard-on and he needed to pee. He tried to get
out of the bed without waking up Eric, but was not successful.

"Hey, good morning," Eric said.

"Good morning to you, too. Not very often I wake up before you do."

"I was awake, but I decided to cuddle with you and I fell back to sleep."

Scott got out of bed making sure Eric could see his morning wood. The two
of them always slept naked. Eric admired Scott's boner and tight athletic
ass as his friend headed for the bathroom to pee. He thought about last
night and about how Scott had fucked him hard. He had asked, like he
always did, if he could be the top, but Scott, as he usually did, turned him
down. Eric thought that maybe they could make a deal that he would be the
top on his bed and Scott could be the top on his own bed and if they fucked
someplace else, which they rarely did, they could flip a coin. But he was
afraid that Scott would just want to have them sleep at his house.

Eric didn't quite comprehend yet that while Scott had done a lot to return
Eric's self-confidence back to him after his move to Mayfield, his
assertiveness in the sexual part of their relationship often pecked away at
that self-confidence. Eric was used to being the assertive one, the leader,
but all he wanted was an equal role. But Scott's resistance to being the
bottom was a bit of thorn in their relationship.

Scott, for his part, was afraid that being a bottom would cause him to be
like a girl, or to get a limp wrist, or to fulfill some other stereotype he had of
gays. If he had a girlfriend and if he had sex he certainly wouldn't have to
worry about her wanting to fuck him. But Eric's constant harping about
being the top and doing the fucking was beginning to bug him. As he
finished his piss he wondered what it would be like having a girl's arm
draped around him instead of Eric's—a real girl, that is, not his sister.

His sister had come to his bed two more times since he'd lost his cherry to
her, but they'd only fucked once more since then. The other time he wanted
to, but after running around with his friends all day he was tired and fell
asleep in his sister's arms.

Both of Eric's parents were at work, so the two boys were naked when they
went to the kitchen to get breakfast.

"Are you ready for your first football practice?" Eric asked.

"More than ready...I'm totally psyched." The middle school was allowed to
start football turnouts the week before school started and today was the
first day. They would not be allowed to wear pads until after school started,
but that didn't take away from the excitement of the season starting. Eric
had already started club soccer practice and would start playing games
soon.

"So, you gotta be there at noon?"

"No, practice starts at noon. I gotta be there in time to get into my practice
clothes. Pretty much all that happens today is getting our helmets and
doing exercises and listening to the coaches and whatever."

Eric was wondering how he would fill his day. He thought about calling
Kraig and Noah and seeing if they wanted to kick a soccer ball around at
the rec center.

The boys showered, together of course, and got dressed. Scott was
watching television as Eric called Kraig at his home phone. It was Kevin,
however, who answered the phone.

"Hey, dude, I was just going to call you. I got some news for you. Well, two
pieces of news, but one is just for you."

"So tell me."

"Well, one is Lars's parents got the news that they can move into their
house in three weeks." Lars would be moving into a house just a couple of
blocks away from Kevin, not that anything within the Mayfield town limits
was very far away.

"So that means he'll be staying with you when school starts?"

"No. We were hoping, but his mom's gonna drive him and Ann and Aaron
here to Mayfield every day until they move in." Ann was fourteen and
starting at Mayfield High as a freshman and Aaron was six and would be
starting first grade. "We did a lot of begging, too, but I guess the `rents
figured we would end up never sleeping. We even promised to not sleep in
the same bedroom. But at least I get to see him in school every day and
he's going to be here all this week so he can go to football practice, so it's
still cool. But still, him living here for three whole weeks would've totally
kicked ass."

"Is Lars there now?" Eric asked.

"No, his mom is bringing him to practice today then he's coming home with
me."

"What was the other thing you said you had? The thing for me?"

"You're gonna love this."

"Great, what is it I'm gonna love?"

"Remember Mark the umpire?"

"Of course."

"Well, I know how you were all jealous and stuff after me and Lars got the
cab ride in the locomotive. And remember I said I'd tell him how much you
liked trains and see what happens?"

"Yeah, I remember all of that." Eric was still incredibly jealous of Kevin's
locomotive cab ride.

"Well, I got a phone call from him and he says for me to give you his phone
number. He says if you can do it he can get you and your friend a ride from
Centralia to Mayfield on Friday. He meant Scott as your friend. I don't think
he wanted to say boyfriend." That got Kevin to giggling.

"Are you serious, or are you laughing because you just juked me?"

"No, I'm serious. Here's the number. He says he's off all day and call him
any time."

"Wow, thanks, Kevin, you're the best."

"I know and I'm glad the new kids in town know it too."

Eric then talked to Kraig who was more than willing to play some soccer at
the rec center. Kraig said he'd call a couple of other kids and Eric said he'd
call Noah and then he hung up. He told Scott about the cab ride, but Scott
reminded him that he had football practice at that time. That gave Eric a
moment of panic when he thought he might have soccer practice, but he
remembered that it was a Friday and they didn't practice on Fridays.

Well, if Scott couldn't go Eric knew who he would ask to go with him and
that would be Noah, who liked trains as much as he did. He called Noah
not only to see if he wanted to join him playing soccer, but to see if he
would want to go for the cab ride. Noah was good with meeting for soccer
and said he would bring Bobby with him. He was very excited about the
possibility of the cab ride, but, like Eric, he would need to talk to his parents
first.

Talking to their parents is what both boys did that evening. Both sets of
parents gave permission for the ride, contingent on their talking to Mark
first. The parents called Mark later and made arrangements for getting the
necessary paperwork to sign and said they would have the boys at Mark's
apartment at twelve-thirty on Friday.

When the appointed time arrived two of the most excited boys in the state
of Washington were dropped off by Eric's mother. Mark wanted to meet at
his apartment so he could take the boys to lunch and get to know them a
little before they took the train ride. He also had the equipment the boys
needed at his apartment, a hard hat and a reflective vest for each of the
boys.

They ate at "The Iron Horse", the same place Mark had taken Kevin and
Lars. Noah had eaten there before, but it was Eric's first meal there, and he
fell instantly in love with the restaurant.

"Kevin says you guys like trains," Mark said.  Just looking at the boys told
Mark that was dumb statement, but he wanted to get the conversation
rolling.

"We love them," Noah replied. "Eric and I collect train paraphernalia, at
least what we can find and afford, and we take pictures, too. We have a lot
of your trains going through Mayfield, but most of them aren't that good.
But we're learning."

Mark had noted that both boys had cameras with them. He also saw that
Noah was wearing an "Empire Builder" shirt with a picture of the old Great
Northern domed train on it. Eric had on a shirt with the Southern Pacific
4449 Daylight Locomotive. Both boys wore BNSF baseball caps. The
BNSF was the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the big Class 1 railroad that
owned the mainline from Seattle to Portland that ran through Centralia.

Mark and the boys spent their lunch talking about trains and baseball. Both
Eric and Noah thanked Mark frequently for setting up the cab ride for them.

"Both of our dads are totally jealous," Noah said. "But Eric and I both told
them it was time for us to do things they haven't done. It's called growing
up."

"My dad said that me growing up meant he was getting old," Eric chimed in.
"I said that's what happens when you have kids."

Mark was amazed at the intelligence and sophistication of the two boys and
at the knowledge they had of railroading. He was not at all surprised to find
out that both Eric and Noah were straight A students or that Noah had
actually skipped fifth grade. They were a different breed from Kevin and
Lars, who, while obviously smart kids, were without a doubt all-boy, the
kind who loved sports, got good enough grades, but would never dream of
getting straight A's. Not that these two weren't totally boyish, but they had a
kind of mental maturity that made them seem older even though their
bodies looked as if they weren't as far into puberty as Kevin and Lars. Mark
saw them as "geek jocks".

After eating they went to Mark's apartment. He told them that even though
he lived with his new wife in a townhouse outside of the city he was
keeping the apartment until the lease ran out. It was a handy place to crash
when he had to work a late night, but it was also pretty expensive to keep
two residences.

Mark went into his bedroom and brought the two boys their hard hats and
vests. They had been instructed to wear long pants, so they both had jeans
on even though it was a warm summer day. They also wore dress shoes
that had harder toes than their trainers. Mark's supervisor had told Mark
these two boys needed to be better dressed for railroading than Kevin and
Lars had been.

Another thing Mark noted was that the boys' demeanor was much different
than that of Kevin and Lars. While the latter two were polite and well
behaved, Noah and Eric were polite almost to a fault. Also, the atmosphere
was not sexually charged like it had been with Kevin and Lars. He
assumed, wrongly, that the two boys were boyfriends since he had
forgotten what Kevin had told him about who was paired with whom. All of
the excitement and energy of the two boys were focused on their upcoming
ride, not on sexual things. As much as he liked Kevin and Lars, Mark felt
much more at ease being with these two. He knew he hadn't been that far
from letting things happen in his apartment that he would have regretted
later.

They rode out to the C&CP yard, which was on the north end of Centralia.
A locomotive with 25 freight cars and a green caboose coupled behind it
was idling outside of the yard office. Mark had the boys wait outside and
went into the office. He came out with a man who was carrying two
baseball hats.

"Hi boys, my name is Graham, and I run the show here. Mark tells me you
both have a BNSF hat in your backpacks. I think you both need something
much more local." He handed them each a baseball hat that had a
locomotive and mountain logo of the Centralia & Clark Pass, but had the
letters CCP&P were stenciled on them. The hats themselves were dark
green.

"Hey, there's an extra P on here," Eric said. "What's with that?"

"Mark told me he thought you would notice that. These just arrived today
and you got the first two out of the box, something new to add to your
collection. It won't be made public until October, but since we took over the
branch to the harbor a couple of years ago we've been thinking of adding
Pacific to the name. That will make us the Centralia, Clark Pass & Pacific."

"That makes you like a yoyo," Noah said. "You go east to Clark Pass, then
west back to Centralia, and then more west to the Pacific. It should be like
Clark Pass, Centralia & Pacific."

Graham smiled and said that they didn't want to change their name
entirely.

"Besides," Eric said, "think how often railroad names have nothing to do
with where they go—like the Frisco."

"The Frisco?" Mark asked. While Mark knew railroading he wasn't up on
railroad history like the two boys were.

"The St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad," Eric said. "It started in St.Louis
but it never got close to San Francisco. It made it to like Oklahoma City. It's
part of the BNSF now."

"Yeah," Noah said, "and the Missouri Pacific never made it to the Pacific
and the Texas and Pacific never made it there..."

"And the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific never got closer to the Pacific
than Denver and Tucumcari," Eric added. Mark not only didn't know these
snippets of history, he had no clue as to where Tucumcari was.

"I see you boys do know your history," Graham said. The fact that all of
those railroads were now defunct had him even more impressed with the
boy's knowledge. "I think Jerry is ready to have you guys climb aboard."

"So does this mean we can't wear our new caps until October?" Noah
asked. "I was kinda hoping to show mine off when I got home."

"Well, I would prefer you didn't, but hang on a sec." Graham hustled back
into the office and returned with two more hats, almost identical to the first
two he brought out, only with C&CP as the lettering instead of CCP&P.
"Will these work?" he asked.

"Cool! Thank you so much for the hat and for the other hats and for the
ride. This is one of my greatest days ever," Noah burbled.

"Yes, thanks from me, too." Eric shook hands with Graham, another
surprise from the railroad man.

"Oh, will your reporting mark still be CCP?" Noah asked.

"You guys are amazing," Graham said. "And the answer is yes." The
reporting mark was the three or four letters that went on a railroad car to
indicate who the owner was.

The boys finally got on board and Mark introduced them to Jerry and
showed them where to sit.  Unlike Kevin and Lars, who sat awestruck in a
piece of machinery that was totally foreign to them, Eric and Noah both
knew what a lot of the controls were for. After all, they often played with
Noah's train simulator computer program.

Jerry quickly found himself answering a slew of questions, not asked from
ignorance, but asked from a surprising knowledge base as both boys
worked to increase what they knew about the operation of a locomotive.

The high point, of course, was being able to blow the whistle for grade
crossings, giving a precise two longs, one short, and one long blast at each
grade crossing, making sure to hold the final blast until the locomotive was
actually crossing the road.

The trip came to an end all too soon as the train entered Mayfield. Jerry
stopped the train at the feed mart, just like he had with Kevin and Lars. The
boys detrained with Mark, handed him their hard hats and vests, thanked
him profusely, yelled another thanks to Jerry and waved to him, shook
Mark's hand and then saw Noah's dad standing along the side of the tracks
with an amused look on his face.

Noah and Eric had both left their marks on Graham, Mark, and Jerry with
their politeness, deportment, and maturity, none of which masked their
unbridled boyish enthusiasm at having a dream come true. Even though it
wasn't the intent of the cab ride, when the time came for the Back to State
Team to ask the CCP&P for sponsorship money, they were now listened to
and received a generous donation each year. It was also not the last time
Noah and Eric received some personal perks from the railroad.

Both boys had already learned what many boys never learn, even into
adulthood; by presenting the best image possible they could often open up
new doors of opportunity.

While Eric and Noah had both become best of friends, they had never
spent a day together like this one. Even the two times they'd had sex
together didn't match what they had experienced on this day. They had
bonded in a very special way and the friendship between them became
even closer and tighter. While they weren't in love with one another like
they were with their boyfriends, there was no doubt that they had loved
each other as more than just best friends.

Next: Labor Day Weekend.