Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 16:06:58 -0800 (PST)
From: John <traveller_1141@yahoo.com>
Subject: gay/beginnings/james/james-9

Hey, readers!  Finally finished this part... sorry it's taken so long, but
with school being the way it has been this semester I don't regret a bit.
With all the assignment writing I had to do it was difficult to get
motivated to come back to the story.  I didn't want to do a half-assed job,
so I waited until I could put everything into the story, and here it is.  I
expect to have part ten up soon, hopefully within the next two weeks.  I
hope you all enjoy this.  Part 9 is written in the point of view of our
lovable James.  I figured it was finally time to give him a voice.

Thanks to everyone who writes in.  Special thanks to Chris, Wes, Derek, and
everyone else who gets to listen to me bitch about my story. :-) You guys
are all special to me.  Happy holidays!


Dedicated to Alex, always the number one fan in my book... and to all of
you who appreciate a good story.  My eternal thanks.


Part IX

James POV

	I reached down and tried the knob to Dave's apartment.  As usual,
the man never remembered to leave his door unlocked for me when he got
home, so I had to knock and wait for him.  I had another key to my
apartment that I had given Dave, but he and Matt had the only two keys to
their apartment, and they had to have permission from their landlord to get
another, so I was shafted.  That's what I get for falling for a jock, I
thought.  All muscles, no brains.  I laughed.  Yeah, right.  David Collins,
Mr. Dean's List Poster Boy inside.
	The door opened to a shirtless Dave holding his cordless phone to
his ear.  "Uh-huh," he said as he rolled his eyes.  He motioned me in and I
followed through the short entry hall.  My eyes wandered over the big
muscles of his shoulders and back as he walked on into the living room.  I
could never get tired of looking at the muscular perfection of Dave's body.
My cock stirred in my khakis as I skated into the living room.
	Dave continued making exasperated and impatient motions with his
hands while he talked.  I figured he was talking to his mom, since she had
the tendency to ramble on and on.  I plopped down on the couch and watched
Dave pace across the room.  "Uh-huh... mm-hmm... sure,
Mom... right...yes..." he continued.  It was all I could do not to burst
into laughter.
	I figured a good way to pass the time was to mentally undress Dave
the rest of the way, which was one of my favorite pastimes.  Dave had a big
tattoo on his left shoulder of a ram, his old high school mascot, with his
number 22 under it.  Dave was really attached to his old high school coach.
He was the first person that Dave came out to other than his family.  Dave
had told him the night of his graduation from high school.  The coach had
been awesome and understanding of his former all-state player and this made
the coach even more of a hero to Dave.  I was hoping that sometime we would
meet.
	I followed his massive shoulders down to his pecs.  Just like you
would expect on a linebacker, he had big pectoral muscles, covered in dark
hair.  Yummy, I thought as I zeroed in on his dark nipples.  I had recently
gotten my other nipple pierced, and I thought Dave would look good with his
done as well, but he had backed off, shaking his head and yelling, "No!
That would hurt, dude!"  For a guy who got through college by ramming into
other guys at top speed, Dave could be a big pain wuss.
	I let my gaze fall down to his stomach.  Dave didn't have a
six-pack, but his stomach was flat as hell.  I think he just had too much
body fat to be defined.  Not that I would complain.  I would rather eat
bugs than for Dave to change anything on his body.
	As I watched Dave pace, I thought back to that night during the
summer when I saw him for the first time.  I had been sitting at the bar
talking to Todd, and his lover Barry had popped up out of nowhere.  "All
right, hot stuff, you hitting on my man?"
	I laughed.  "No sir, wouldn't dream of it."
	Barry smiled.  "All right, as long as we have that covered."  He
leaned in to the smiling hunk on the other side of the bar.  "Evening,
sweetie."  They kissed.  No, check that; they made out.  Those two can't be
content with just kissing; they have to check each other's tonsils and
dental work.
	I chuckled and turned around, sipping my rum and coke.  That was
when I spotted him.  He was just sitting down at a table on the other side
of the room, wearing a tight white t-shirt and 501s.  My God, he was
beautiful.  A perfect expression of the male beast, just waiting to be
unleashed.  I growled a little in my throat as I looked at the masculine
animal across the room.  Dark brown hair, tan skin, what looked like
day-old beard stubble, and a huge, muscular body.  I could feel my knees
going weak.  My eyes dropped to the fly of his jeans, and I got a good look
at a mouth-watering package stuffed behind those buttons.  I closed my
eyes.  What a hunk!
	"Hello?  Earth to cute guy?!  Are ya in there?"
	My eyes snapped open.  I turned to see Todd and Barry staring at
me, Todd with bemusement, Barry with concern. "Umm... what'd I miss?"  I
asked.
	Todd laughed.  "Barry was asking your name, man."
	I put my glass down and extended my hand, with my eyes still
straying to the hunk in the corner.  "Ummm, Kennedy, J.P. Kennedy."
	Barry shook it and looked at Todd with an expression that looked
suspiciously like, okay, this kid's a total wacko!  I put my glass down on
the bar and pointed at the hunk.  "Who is that, dude?"
	Todd and Barry both followed my hand.  Barry burst out laughing.
"Him?  You familiar with college football?"
	I shook my head.  "Nah, not really.  Lost track of it when I went
to college."
	Barry grinned.  "Well, that is David Collins, former defensive
player of the year for his conference.  About three, four years ago."
	My eyebrows lifted.  "Wow, impressive.  Linebacker?"
	Barry grinned bigger.  "Yup.  Pretty cute, huh?"
	I whistled.  "Understatement, dude.  What's his story?"
	Someone called to Todd and he excused himself.  Barry hopped up on
a stool next to me.  "Oh, you name it, cutie, it's happened to him.  Poor
guy.  He came out a few months after graduating from college, and has had
the worst luck with men.  You wouldn't believe it.  Guy's been shit on so
many times it's not even funny."
	I looked back at the guy, then at Barry.  "What's happened?"
	Barry shook his head.  "Guy's had 3 serious boyfriends.  Every
single one has cheated on him.  Repeatedly.  Now, I don't know how you feel
about monogamy or open relationships, but Dave's a one-man kind of guy."
	I grinned.  "I hear that, man."
	Barry cocked his head and got a thoughtful look on his face.  "Hmm.
Interested?  In him?"
	I looked at the hunk and felt my stomach lurch again.  "Oh, yeah.
Definitely."
	Barry looked in my eyes.  "Well, let me tell you.  Dave's a little
gun shy right now, needless to say.  He has some of the best walls man ever
made guarding what's inside.  You think you can get through?"
	I smiled.  "Oh yeah.  Just watch me."
	Barry smiled.  "Come over here and tell me about yourself.  We'll
see."
	Barry and I had gone to a table to talk when Todd joined us.  I
told them some of my story, leaving a few parts out.  I could tell why
Barry was a good lawyer; he saw right through me and knew I was hiding
something.  So, I told them my whole past, from being kicked out to
stripping to fucking guys for money.  I had already figured that Barry saw
himself as Dave's protector and that once he heard about my "escorting," he
would tell me to hit the trail.  Instead, he was very compassionate and
sympathetic.
	"You know, you've got a soul, kid," he said to me.  "I think you
might have a good effect on ol' Dave over there."
	I smiled.  "I hope so.  I want a chance."  Barry looked down,
thinking.
	"Well, J.P., if you went over there now, you'd probably get nothing
but a curt hello and some small talk, and it would end right there," Todd
said grimly.  "You'll have to figure something to get his attention long
enough to get inside."  Barry just nodded, still looking at the table, deep
in thought.
	I grinned.  "I have just the thing."  So, I outlined my plan.
Sometime soon, I would come over on a busy night when lots of guys were
there.  Dave just had to be there, nothing special.  But, on cue, Todd
would start playing a song I had stripped to before, and I would
"entertain" my way over to Dave by dancing.  Then, once I got to him, I
would strip for him.  "What do you think guys?  Will that keep him guessing
long enough for me to get a foot in the door?"
	Barry laughed.  "Oh yeah!  It's perfect!"  We spent the rest of the
night and a few nights afterwards setting it up.  It wasn't for two and a
half more weeks before we could put it in motion, though.  Dave's last
relationship had self-destructed pretty spectacularly, and he wasn't in any
mood to go out.  I was getting pretty desperate.  Ever since I had laid
eyes on him, I hadn't been able to get him off my mind.  He was all I
talked about.  Finally, Todd called me and told me Barry had gone to drag
Dave out.  He said Barry and Dave's roommate, Matt, were both in on it.  I
should hurry and come on over.  I had dressed pretty quickly and made my
way over.  Soon enough, Dave arrived, looking depressed as ever.  My heart
ached for the guy.  Time to go to work, I thought.
	I snapped out of my memories as Dave paced in front of me.  I
followed him with my eyes as he walked from one end of the room to another,
listening to his mother gab.  I laughed again.  Poor guy, he was so sweet,
he just couldn't cut his mom off for anything.  Best plan I ever had, I
thought to myself.  I had landed the most awesome guy ever created.  Big,
gorgeous, sweet, and loving.
	Right now, though, my attention was being constantly diverted by
his awesome body.  Dave wasn't a ripped guy with really defined muscles.
There was some definition, but most of all he was just big.  I could
imagine being an opponent on the football field and seeing him run at me.
Honestly, it would be a toss up whether I would run like hell or bend over
and beg him to take me right there on the field.  I've seen pictures of
Dave when he was playing and he would get this look on his face when he was
hot on the trail of some quarterback and it was so arousing that I got hard
looking at the pics.  If I had been on the receiving end of that look, I
probably would have shot a load in my jock.  He gets a variant of that
grimace on his face when he's in bed, and it's hot as hell.  I briefly
imagined playing football with him and being able to feel him up every time
he tackled me.  Might be worth it, I thought.
	My cock stirred more in my pants as I imagined how he was in bed.
I looked down at his feet, encased in worn-out tennis shoes.  I followed
his jeans up his big muscular legs to the bulge at the button fly.  I
wondered how he got those jeans on, since they seemed to be painted on his
legs.  I followed the thin line of hair up his stomach and across his chest
to his face again, which was scrunched up in thought.  Probably thinking
how to get rid of his mom, I thought and chuckled.  He reached up and
scratched his head, making the big muscles of his arms pop out.  I felt a
drop of precum ooze out of the head of my cock, and I reached down and
rubbed it a little.  I looked at Dave's handsome, rugged face and his dark
blue eyes were wide and his mouth had dropped open.  Score!  I loved
catching him off guard.
	He jerked a little.  "Yeah, Mom, I'm listening.  Uh-huh," he said
but his eyes never left my crotch.  I grinned and began rubbing myself a
little more seductively.  His mouth closed and he swallowed nervously.  A
faint sheen of sweat broke out on his face and chest as he watched me.  I
pulled off my roller blades and stood up and stretched.  I snuck a glance
at his fly and it was definitely bulging out with his beer can dick.
	I grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head and
stretched again.  His hand went to his fly and he began rubbing himself.  I
smiled and licked my lips as I walked over to him.  I got behind him and
began kissing and licking his shoulders and neck.  Dave was trembling under
my fingers as he tried to concentrate on whatever his mother was saying.
"Uh, yeah, Mom, James is here... he just got in."
	I leaned up next to the phone.  "Hi Mrs. Collins," I said toward
the phone right before I stuck my tongue in his ear.  He jerked.
	"Umm, Mom, I need to go.  Can I call you tomorrow?  Yeah, sure,
I'll ask him.  Don't worry.  No, I won't forget.  Okay, Mom.  Okay.  Okay!
All right.  Bye!"  He hit the off button and dropped the phone on the couch
before he grabbed he and pulled me to his tight body.  He buried his face
in the crook of my neck and shoulder and growled as he nibbled on my skin.
Dave was turning into a real animal, and I loved watching him emerge from
his shell.
	I shivered in delight as Dave ran his hands down my back into the
waist of my pants and then cupped my ass cheeks.  I licked his ear again.
Damn, Dave had the cutest little ears.  "So what did your mom want?"  Dave
kept chewing on my skin.  "Dave."  Lick, chew.  "Dave."  Lick, chew again.
"Dave!"
	"Mmm?  What?" he mumbled as he licked up to my ear.
	I groaned.  "What did your mom want?"
	Dave licked his way down to my chest as his fingers flipped the
rings in my nipples.  I lurched as lightning bolts went right to both my
brain and my cock.  I inhaled deeply in pleasure.  "...Thanksgiving," Dave
finished.
	I shook my head.  "Huh?  What?"
	Dave laughed and tongued his way down my abs.  "She wants me to
bring you home for Thanksgiving."
	I shook my head again to clear my hormonal haze.  "Really?  She
wants me to come with you?"  God, what a space cadet, I thought.  State the
obvious a little more, James.
	Dave laughed again as his hands snaked between my legs and rubbed
my bulging crotch as he tongued my navel.  "Yep," he said between licks.
"I told her I would ask."
	I reached down and ran my fingers through his short hair.  Dave's
hair had grown out a lot from when he had shaved it, but he was keeping it
in a short buzz cut.  Dave rubbed his head against my hand.  "Mmm," he
said.  "Feels nice."
	He stood up and embraced me, pulling me tight against him.  I felt
his chest hair rub my sensitive nipples, and another jolt went right to my
cock.  I groaned.  He leaned back and grinned, then leaned in to kiss me.
"So?" he asked.
	Did he ask me a question?  I was too busy concentrating on his
chest hair rubbing against the smooth skin of my chest... what?  Oh, would
I go to his parents' house.  "Umm, sure, no problem," I said before I let
out another moan as his left hand slipped back down the waist of my khakis.
I reached down and started unbuttoning his fly.
	"Mmm," he moaned.  "You sure you want to do this?"
	I slipped my tongue in his ear.  "Oh yeah, or I wouldn't have
started it."
	Dave chuckled.  "No, I mean my folks.  Thanksgiving."
	I reached inside his now-open fly and began palming and rubbing his
bulging crotch through the tight boxer-briefs.  "Mmm, sure.  Fine with me."
	"Well, we can be a handful."
	I grinned.  "You sure are."  With that I sank to the floor and
pulled down his jeans and boxer-briefs in one motion, then took him to the
root.


	"Mmm," I groaned as I snuggled back into Dave's warm chest.  "That
was fun."
	Dave chuckled.  I wriggled as the warm rumbles vibrated into my
back.  "I hope you enjoyed it, because I'm not sure how much more we'll get
this weekend."
	I rolled over and started tracing his jawline.  "Oh, come on.  Does
that mean I won't get another chance at that beautiful bod while we're at
Casa Collins?"
	Dave grinned.  "Nope.  Mom and Dad may be cool about me being gay,
but loud sex under their roof isn't the best way to introduce them to you.
Not even my brothers do that."
	I grinned back.  "That just means we'll have to be quiet.  I'm sure
your brothers aren't celibate when they visit."
	Dave looked thoughtful.  "I guess," he mused.  "But I think..."
	I put my finger on his mouth to shush him.  "No thinking, Dave.
Let's play it by ear.  If they assign us separate bedrooms, then that's a
signal.  If they put us in the same one, I say we don't worry."
	Dave nodded and then smiled at me.  "You're too cool, James."
	I laughed.  "Yeah, I know."  We leaned in and kissed lightly, then
again deeply.  I turned around and snuggled into his warm chest.  Dave
wrapped his big arms around me and hugged me.
	He kissed my neck and then tightened his arms before speaking, "I
have a question."
	I sighed.  "Shoot."
	"How come you never bottomed when you escorted?"
	I smiled ruefully.  After our first conversation about my past, I
had expected some questions from Dave, but he never said anything.  Now he
was wondering.  "Well, I figured it was an exercise in denial, a way of
keeping my head straight.  I knew what I wanted sexually, and by denying it
to myself, I would keep from getting immersed in escorting and would be
able to let it go."
	I could sense the frown in his voice.  "You mean nobody ever asked
you to bottom?"
	"Oh sure, plenty asked, but I always said no."
	Silence.  Then, "So how come you like bottoming?  I would figure
that with the equipment you have, you would be the king of tops."
	I laughed.  "That's a natural conclusion, I guess, but you've been
around long enough to know that things aren't always what they seem.  Some
nelly guys are total tops, while the butchest guy may be a pig bottom.  You
never can tell.
	"I knew from the first time I thought I might be gay that I wanted
to be a bottom.  I fantasized of being fucked from day one, and when it
happened I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  I topped for the first
time shortly thereafter, and while it felt good to me, I knew it wasn't
what I wanted."
	"But how do you know?"
	"You just do, is all I can say.  I see a nice ass and I like it,
but the idea of topping the guy really doesn't do much for me.  When I
would get hired out, it usually took some fantasizing to get into it.  My
ass gets this itch in it when I meet a hot guy, and it needs to be
`scratched,' so to speak."
	"I always figured some submission or stuff like that was involved,"
Dave mused.
	"Nah, not that.  We've been together for a few months.  Would you
call me submissive?"
	Dave chuckled.  "No, I would say not, given some of the scratches
you've made on my back or all the hickeys."
	I grinned.  "There you go.  Aggressive bottom, that's me.  I don't
know why I like being like that, I just do.  Have you ever wanted to be
bottom?"  My question was greeted with silence.  "Dave?"
	"Umm," he muttered.  "Yeah, once or twice.  Not because it was some
itch or anything, just to kind of return the favor.  Just reciprocation,
not a real desire."
	"So have you done it?" I asked.
	"Only once," he said.
	I waited for a few minutes before I pressed on.  I knew from Dave's
reaction that there was a story here.  "So?" I asked.  "What happened?"
	"Well," he began, "It was with my first steady boyfriend.  I was in
my senior year of college, a few months away from graduating.  Football was
over for me, so I figure it was okay to take my first few steps out of the
closet.
	"The guy was cute.  I met him at a club and we went out a few
times.  We had sex on the fifth date, and it was hot.  I topped him that
night.
	"We went out again the next night, and we had sex again.
Afterwards, he told me he wanted to top me.  Well, I didn't really care
either way, so I said all right.  Dude, you have no idea how bad it hurt!
He stuck one finger up me for about a minute, then he jammed a little lube
in, and then he stuck his dick in.  The whole time he kept saying shit
like, `I can't believe I'm going to fuck Dave Collins.'  Asshole," Dave
muttered.
	I shook my head in disbelief.  "Jeez, this guy must not have picked
up any cues.  If you treated him even halfway like you've treated me in
bed, then he should have know some way of how to prepare a guy."
	Dave snorted.  "Yeah, well, I wasn't quite as thorough then, but I
knew enough not to stick one finger in, rub in about a quarter-sized bit of
lube, and then shove my dick up someone's ass whose never bottomed before!
Man, I thought I was going to die.  I couldn't even make a sound for a long
time, but when I did, I told him to stop.  He kept going, and finally I had
to physically throw him off me."  I whistled as Dave went on.  "I jumped up
and ran for the bathroom.  I felt like I had to take a huge crap and so I
did.  Guess what was in the toilet when I got up?"
	"Blood?" I asked.
	"You got it.  Well, I stuck some tissue up there to stop the flow,
and I went back and showed him.  He just kind of shrugged, so I threw him
out."
	I chuckled.  "I would have found a way to get him back."
	I could feel Dave smile.  "Oh, I did that.  I used my growing
connections to spread a rumor or two about him.  Last time I heard, he
hadn't dated in about 2 years."
	I smacked his wrist.  "Bad, bad Dave."  I could stop my laughter
though.
	"But, anyway," he continued, "that was my first and last foray into
bottoming.  I haven't felt the desire to do that again."
	I nodded.  "I can understand that."  I was quiet for a few minutes
as I thought how to phrase my next question.  "So... ever thought about us
reversing?"
	Dave was quiet.  "You mean you fucking me?"
	"Yeah."
	The silence stretched out.  I could almost hear the wheels clicking
in Dave's brain.  "I would be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it.
But I can't say I really want to.  Do you?"
	I laughed.  "Dave, I could be happy for the rest of my life getting
filled up by that thing.  I just figured maybe sometime we could try it,
just to be a change of pace.  Not like we would start doing it regularly."
	Dave sighed.  "I need to think about it, James.  I don't know if I
can get past what happened."  Then Dave smacked his forehead.  "Shit.  I
can't believe I just said that, to you especially!"
	I smiled, a little ruefully.  I knew exactly what he was talking
about.  Here he was, saying he didn't know if he would ever want to bottom
again because he had a little bad experience, and here I had been
gang-raped and was pretty well-adjusted.  "Dave, don't worry," I said.  "I
won't say I am totally over it.  I don't think a person can ever get over
something like that.  You just have to cope."
	Dave's arms tightened around me as I went on.  "It took a while for
me to open up sexually, you know?  I mean, it was tough to force myself to
even get up and face the world at first.  But life gave me a swift kick in
the ass to get moving, in the form of unsupportive parents and a need to
support myself.  That's another reason I never bottomed when I started
escorting.  But when I met a guy who was nice, sweet, and had a hell of a
lot of patience, I was able to bend over and get what I liked once again."
	Dave laughed incredulously.  "I can't believe you sometimes,
sweetie."  He kissed the side of my neck.
	I pulled his arms tighter again.  "It's true!  I lost my virginity
to my cousin's roommate when he came him from college.  I was 15.  Man, he
wore me out that night.  But the itch started and never went away.  That's
the best way I can describe it."
	"Tell me more."
	"Hmm... well, his name was Ron.  He was about five-ten, average
build.  Nothing much to speak of, but he had the most amazing brown eyes.
I swear, it was like they pulled you in.  I couldn't take my eyes off him
the night my cousin brought him over to see the horses.  The next day, Ron
came out, saying he wanted a tour of the farm.  Said my cousin was out
fucking his girlfriend, who was still in high school.  I walked him around
for a little while.
	"When we got to the barn, he grabbed me by the waist and started
feeling me up right there.  I didn't even think, I just kissed him.  I
swear, we were naked in the hay in about thirty seconds.  I won't bore you
with the details, but we didn't come out for about three hours, and I was
walking funny.  I never saw Ron again, but I had good memories, some
jackoff fantasies, and an itch up my ass that requires a cock to scratch it
every now and again."
	Dave was quiet for a while.  Sometimes I think I surprise him with
my candor about some stuff, but I don't believe in holding my feelings in.
"So you never gave another thought to being a bottom?"
	"No sir.  I just went on my merry way.  I got my first dildo when I
was sixteen.  Didn't have sex again `till I was seventeen, a junior in high
school.  I won't say I was oversexed, seeing as how I was a closeted gay
boy in a redneck Kentucky town.  But I was pretty happy.  When I got my
first car I managed to get into a gay bar for the first time, and had a lot
of fun.  Everyone in there thought of me as a raging top man.  I obliged a
few, and learned for sure what I liked."
	I thought for a minute.  "I guess I had formed my sexual identity
pretty quickly.  I didn't really question myself.  Once I figured stuff
out, I went right on with it.  The rape didn't change a lot.  It made me
timid around some guys for a while, but I had to grow up again really fast
if I was going to survive.  I guess I'm lucky I didn't get hard and cynical
because of it.  Some stubborn part of me wouldn't let some stuff go."
	Dave kissed my neck again.  "And I am very glad for that," he said.
He turned me over so that we were facing each other.  "So very glad."  He
leaned in and we kissed again.  "I have one other question for you, and
it's been nagging me for months now."
	I laughed.  "What?" I asked as I pecked his mouth.
	"Why is it you tell everyone else to call you J.P., but you told me
to call you James the night we met?"
	I smiled at my lover.  "I was wondering how long you would sit on
that one.  It started when I left home.  I figured I would sort of start
over, in a sense.  I had been called `James' or `Jamie' by everyone in my
family and back home, so I thought if I called myself something else, it
would help.  So I told everyone I met to call me by my initials, J.P.  It
actually worked.  Since then, nobody has called me James until I met you.
For some reason, I wanted you to call me by my name."
	Dave smiled.  "That's cool, James."  We kissed again for a few
minutes, and then just held each other.  I rubbed his shoulders for a
minute and then turned and got out of bed.  "I guess we'd better start
getting prepared for the weekend.  When were you planning on going?"
	Dave threw his arm over his eyes and groaned.  "Man, you just love
forcing me to think when I least want to... I guess we'll leave Wednesday.
It's only a few hours away to my house.  You want me to drive?"
	I picked up a pair of my sweatpants that I had left behind out of
the dresser and pulled them on.  "Yeah, I think your car will handle the
trip better.  Not that mine is in bad shape, but yours is newer."
	Dave got out of bed and stretched.  My mouth watered as I ran my
eyes over his hot hairy body.  "When is your last class on Wednesday?" he
asked.
	I sat down on the floor and started stretching.  "Ten," I answered
as I stretched my hamstrings.
	"Cool," Dave said as he pulled on his underwear.  "My last one is
at two, but I think I'll cancel it.  It's one of my European history
classes."
	"Cool," I answered back with a grin.  I kept doing various
stretches, and my eyes never left Dave's.  Dave loved to watch me stretch
out.  His dick stayed half-hard the entire time.
	Finally, I finished my last one and bounced to my feet.  I walked
over to Dave and straddled his legs, sitting in his lap.  I leaned in and
kissed him.  "I love you," I said.
	He wrapped those huge arms around me.  "I love you, too."
	I stood up and walked over to the dresser again, this time pulling
a worn garment from one of Dave's drawers.  I pulled it on and turned back
to Dave.  "What do you think?"
	Dave's eyes widened and his dick popped to full erection.  I had
pulled out his old college football jersey.  It was loose on me, but it
draped and caressed my muscles in all the right places.  He swallowed
nervously and stood up.  "Jeez, that's hot," he rasped.  He got to me and
put his hands inside the waist of my pants and slid them down to cup my
cheeks.  "Damn hot."  He leaned in and kissed my neck just as his hands
pushed the material down.  Score one for me, I thought as his hand reached
for my meat.


	I stared out the window as house after suburban house flashed by.
Dave looked over at me and squeezed my hand, which rested on his right
thigh.  "Nervous?" he asked with a smile.
	I squeezed back and smiled.  "A little," I admitted.  "I guess it's
always a little tough meeting the boyfriend's family."
	"Have you ever met any of you previous boyfriends' families?" he
asked as we pulled into a four-way stop.
	I laughed heartily.  "Hell no... never had one serious enough to do
that before you."
	Dave turned to me, and his eyes sparkled.  "Same here."
	We shared a look and then Dave started the car moving again.  "I
guess that pretty much sums up how serious we are getting," Dave said.
	"Yep," I answered as I looked out the window.  Serious didn't even
begin to describe what I was feeling for this total sweetheart of a hunk
sitting next to me.  It was getting to the point where I needed him as much
as I needed oxygen or water to live.  I turned back to study his profile.
Dave met every need I had.  Physical, emotional... he was the only man for
me.  I faced the window again and tried to imagine my life without him.
The thought was enough to draw tears to my eyes as I faced utter emptiness.
I knew then that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.
	Now how to convince the big lug, I thought to myself with a grin.
I couldn't exactly strip and dance myself into this one.  Dave had one
semester left on his PhD, and then the great job search began.  Dave wasn't
talking about his plans after graduation, but I knew it had to be bothering
him.  The history professor job market was pretty saturated, and the odds
of him finding a job teaching right off were pretty slim.
	He had talked about research, working for a museum, but I was
wondering if he would even be able to do that.  I knew how much Dave wanted
to teach.  As frustrating is it was sometimes, he really enjoyed it as much
as I did.  I had another three semesters left on my masters before I
finished, but I had plenty of money in the bank should it be necessary.  I
didn't think Dave would be willing to even tap that.  The boy was proud to
a fault.
	My thoughts were broken by another squeeze from Dave.  "What are
you thinking?"
	I smiled.  "About you."
	He grinned big.  "So do you think you're ready for my family?"
	I groaned.  "I don't know.  Run me down the list again."
	Dave laughed.  "All right.  I think we'll be the first to arrive,
so we'll go over the parents first."  I nodded.  "Okay... first is my mom.
Her name is Charlotte, and she's an interior designer.  She won`t tell you
her age, so I`ll save that for some other time."  I smiled.  "She likes to
cook a lot, and you'll be ready to burst when she's finished.  She also
loves sports, which you would figure."
	"Check... next?"
	"Okay, then there's dad.  Larry, engineer.  Was in the Army for
about fifteen years.  Also loves sports.  He likes to build things at home.
In fact, he did our kitchen cabinets and some of the furniture."
	"Check," I said.
	"Also, when they leave a room together giggling, you might want to
move to a different end of the house.  Dad and Mom still get kind of frisky
even after 32 years of marriage, and occasionally they get loud."
	I let out a huge guffaw.  "I'll be sure to remember... next?"
	"Okay, my oldest brother is Tanner.  He's thirty-one.  Inherited
the family love of sports also.  He works in construction.  You'll be able
to see that big-time when you meet him.  His wife's name is Dana.  She's a
sweetie.  One of the most loving, energetic women you'll ever meet in your
life, and she needs to be to keep up with Tanner and their son, Trent.
He's four, and she's pregnant again."
	"Sounds like the boys may have inherited something from pop," I
observed.  Dave turned red.
	"Umm, right.  Well, then there's Joe.  Army, all the way.  Went to
West Point, actually.  Dad was so proud of him the day he graduated.  Joe
is so easygoing you'd never guess how mean he could be.  Actually, all of
us can be mean, but Mom's the meanest of all of us."
	I looked at Dave and he grinned and winked.  "You may think I'm
kidding, but I'm not.  Just watch.  Anybody gets in her way or threatens
one of her boys, and watch out.  Even Dad is afraid of her when she gets in
those moods."
	I thought for a minute.  "Okay, I have a question for you."
	Dave grinned.  "Shoot."
	I laughed at his perfect impression of me.  "It's kind of a serious
one."
	Dave just nodded.  "Go on."
	"Well, you said both your dad and brother are in the Army, and
you've told me a lot about how you all were into sports and all that
masculine stuff.  I was just wondering how your family can be so accepting
of you being gay."
	Dave smiled.  "Yeah, I have to admit that their supportiveness
surprises even me sometimes.  I don't know... Dad was really quiet when I
told him back when I was sixteen.  It took a few weeks before we could talk
about it.  From what he's told me, he and mom had quite a few long talks
about it, and he also spent a lot of time at church praying about the right
thing to do.  He said that more than anything he got the impression that
what I needed more than anything was his love and support."
	My eyebrows must have been in my hair with my surprise.  "You mean
your dad got that from going to church?"
	Dave nodded.  "Yeah.  He can't explain it, but somehow he just got
a conviction that it was the right thing to do, and it grew stronger every
day.  So he decided to put aside everything he thought about homosexuality
and move on.  He and Mom have been awesome.  They gave me the whole `we
want you to be happy' and `be sure to be safe' speeches, but they have
never looked down on me or anything I have done.  When I first told them
about having a boyfriend, it kind of hit them again, but I guess it's
natural.  Kind of the `no turning back' thing, when your son has a
boyfriend.  They went to some PFLAG meetings and everything.  Mom always
said she had a feeling, but I don`t know.  They say mothers always know."
	I shook my head in amazement.  "Wow.  So what about your brothers?"
	Dave laughed.  "Believe it or not, Joe took it the best.  He was
home on leave and I was home from college, and I told him we needed to
talk.  We went for a walk and I told him I was gay.  He just stood there
staring at me, then he started laughing.  I was shaking, I didn't know what
was going on.  He finally just turned to me and said, `You know, Runt,
that's probably the worst kept secret in the house.  You honestly think I
didn't know?  Come on, give me some credit.'"
	I burst out laughing.  "Runt?  He called you Runt?"
	Dave blushed.  "Yeah, sort of.  He and Tanner called me that when I
was a kid because I was shorter than them.  I made up for it when I hit my
growth spurt, but it just stuck."
	I chuckled some more.  "So what about your older brother?"
	"Well, when I was coming out to Joe, I asked him that.  I said if
he knew, what about Tanner?  He said that he knew because he had been home
more often than Tanner had, so there was a possibility Tanner didn't know.
Well, I found out the week of my parents' anniversary.  Joe couldn't get
leave, but Tanner was there with Dana; they had just gotten engaged.  He
came in, told us the news, and then he asked me if I had some `hot chick'
in the wings at school.  I sucked it up and told him we needed to talk.
	"I basically told him the same things I had told Joe, that I didn't
ask for it or choose it, that I was happy, and all that.  He didn't even
say a word.  He got up and left the room.  We didn't say one word to each
other the whole rest of the week.
	"Dana came in to my room one night a few days later.  I always
liked her, she is so cool.  She sat down and hugged me, and told me Tanner
was having a hard time dealing with this.  It wasn't that he had a problem
with gays in general, he just didn't know any personally and it was tough
learning that your little brother is gay.  She was so nice to me.  I asked
her if she ever thought Tanner would come around, and she said that I
should give him time, but to not just give up on him."
	I whistled.  "So what happened?"
	"Well, Tanner went back to work the next week, and I didn't talk to
him when he called.  I figured that when he wanted to talk, he would talk.
Granted, that flew in the face of every instinct I had.  A few times I
demanded that Mom or Dad give me the phone so we could talk, but they
always refused, saying that he needed more time.  A few times I also
thought of calling him up, but somehow better sense took over.
	"One weekend I stayed at school working on a project.  I got a
phone call saying I had a visitor in the lobby of my dorm, so I went down,
and there stood my big brother, looking nervous as hell.  I walked up to
him and shook his hand, and he asked if we could talk.  We left the dorm
and went to get some food.  While we were there, he apologized for not
talking, and that he just needed to understand.  I told him it was cool.
We made up, and he's been just as awesome as everyone else has ever since.
I honestly didn't expect for my family to be so great about it, it just
happened.  I give thanks for it every chance I get."
	I nodded and turned back to the window.  A few tears stung my eyes
as I remembered my father, the man I respected above all others, asking my
mom what he did to deserve a pussy for a son.  I remembered the look in my
brother's eyes as I walked in from the hospital, a look of hurt and
disgust.  Then I thought about what Deanna had said to me when she came to
visit.  Could it be possible that my family had changed?  Could they
actually accept me as a gay man?
	I felt a squeeze on my hand.  "It'll be okay," Dave said.  I just
smiled.
	We turned into the driveway of a very nice one-story brick house at
the end of a tree-lined driveway.  The neighborhood looked to be pretty
affluent.  The yard was landscaped, and the drive ended at a three-car
garage.  Very nice.  I put my thoughts aside and began smoothing my
clothes.  Dave turned the car off and turned to me.  "Ready for this?" he
asked.
	I took a deep breath.  "Yup.  Let's go."
	Dave jumped out of the car and walked around and opened the door
for me.  Wow, what a gentleman, I thought.  I got out and stretched,
humming to myself.  The place was nice.  Yard neatly raked, a back porch
with a swing, it all looked great.
	The back door opened and two people came out.  The woman was about
five-seven, with dark brown hair and dark blue eyes.  She was very pretty.
I could see where Dave got his expressive eyes.  She smiled at her youngest
son and rushed up to give him a big hug.  He leaned down and gave her a
kiss on the cheek.  "My baby boy is home," she said and patted his cheek.
Then she turned to me.  In that instant I sized this woman up.  She had
such a look of love in her eyes, I knew I would never have to worry about
acceptance here.  I felt such a rush of warmth from her.  "And who is this,
David?  Is this the famous James I keep hearing about?"
	Dave grinned.  "Yep.  James Kennedy, Charlotte Collins."
	I reached out my hand.  "Pleased to meet you, ma'am."
	She smiled at me.  "None of that," she said as she brushed aside my
hand.  She leaned in and gave me a big hug.  "It's wonderful to meet you.
You are very welcome here."  Then she stepped aside.
	I turned slightly to see probably the most imposing man I had ever
met.  There was something that emanated from this man that commanded
respect.  I felt like snapping to attention and saluting.  He was right at
Dave's height, about five-eleven, but somehow he seemed to be even taller
than me.  His graying brown hair was cut short and he was clean-shaven,
showing a lantern jaw.  Wow, I thought to myself.  His body was lean and
taut, he obviously kept in great shape.  I looked from his wife and back to
him.  It was obvious that Dave came from great genes and got their best
attributes.
	Dave came up next to me.  "This is my dad, Lawrence Collins."
	I swallowed hard and stuck my hand out again.  "Sir," I said.  He
looked me up and down, sizing me up.  I felt like shrinking down into the
brick of the patio, wondering if I met his approval as a suitable man for
his youngest son.
	Then the man's hard face broke into a smile.  It had a tremendous
effect.  His pale blue eyes softened with the deep laugh lines.  This was a
man who laughed a lot and enjoyed life, I could tell.  From the tender look
he gave to his wife and his son, I could tell he loved them very much.  He
also ignored my hand and pulled me into a huge hug.  I lost my breath for a
moment as he squeezed me.  He let me go and then slapped me on the
shoulder.  "Pleased to meet you, young man," he said in a loud voice.  I
felt myself grinning big.
	"Likewise," I said.  "You have a beautiful home."
	Charlotte Collins beamed.  "You haven't even seen the inside yet.
David, don't just stand there.  Take the boy inside and show him the
house!"
	Dave smiled.  "Yes ma'am!"  He hugged her again and then hugged his
dad.  I could see this was a family with a lot of love in it, and I was
just happy to bask in the warmth.  A pang of sadness struck me again as I
thought of my own family and the past few years I hadn't seen them.  I
pushed it down as Dave grabbed my hand.  "Come on!" he said and pulled me
to the door.
	"Don't worry son, we'll take care of your things!" his dad yelled
as we went inside.  As we passed through the door I caught a shared look of
approval from the two of them.

End of part IX

More to come... hopefully before New Years!  Thanks again, and WRITE ME!  I
LOVE EMAIL!!!