Date: Tue, 6 Apr 1999 00:50:56 +0100
From: Dean Lidster <dean@deans-domain.nu>
Subject: The Exchange - part SIX

                                                T H E   E X C H A N G E
                                                        by Dean Lidster
=======================================================================

                                  PART SIX
                    (Chapters twenty-four to twenty-seven)

DISCLAIMER
~~~~~~~~~~

This story contains sexual acts between boys. If this is not to your
tastes, then why in God's name are you reading this in the first place,
huh? If you're curious, then that's fine by me - just remember: an open
mind and an open heart is the secret to a good and happy life. If you
are UNDER the age of concent for state / geographical location / planet
that you're in / on etc, please leave now (unless you want to be
educated and have an open mind that is!)

I spose this story is copyrighted. By this, I mean that I wrote it and
would not particularly want anyone to subtly alter it and pretend it
is their own. However, you MAY post it to any newsgroups, archives
etc, print it, give it to friends without my prior permission PROVIDED
THAT I STAY ACCREDITED AS THE AUTHOR AND YOU DO NOT CHARGE FOR DOING
SO. Easy :-)

The story is fiction, and whilst there are references to real live
people in here, none of this took place outside of my hormone-driven
mind...

If you like this story, mail me at dean@deans-domain.nu. If you don't
like it, mail me anyway and tell me why!

The latest version of this saga may be found at my web site:
http://www.deans-domain.nu/ourplace/stories

Cheers,
Dean




               Dedicated to Lee - I will love you forever.






                   Chapter Twenty-Four

  "Dean? DEAN!?"
  "Yes  Mum?" I answered, looking up through the stairs to  the  floor
above.
  "Do you want these mittens packing?"
  "Mittens?!"  blurted out Zac just before bursting out into  fits  of
laughter. "What kind of a dumb question is that?!"
  Tay  twatted Zac round the head with the atlas that was sat  on  the
table in front of us.
  "Zac  Hanson, IF you ever have kids of your own, you'll soon realise
that these 'dumb questions' are very important to a worried parent."
  "Sorry mommy," giggled Zac.
  I  heard  my mum walk from the landing into my room, then walk  back
out again and proceed down the stairs, armed with my SuperSoaker.
  "Run."
  "Huh?"
  "Better  do  what she says, Zac," I smiled. I had been subjected  to
this routine many times before.
  Zac  cautiously  pulled his chair back and edged towards  the  front
door.
  "Five."
  "Umm, Mrs. Lidster..."
  "That's Fran to you. Four."
  "I was just joking!"
  "Not funny. Three."
  "Can we talk about this?" asked Zac, getting distinctly nervous.  An
adult with a SuperSoaker simply didn't add up in his mind. Surely  she
wasn't serious...
  "Too late. Two."
  "Sorry?" said Zac in desperation.
  "Better run... One."
  My  mum  raised the gun to eye level and took aim. Having  had  many
years  of  practice at getting me out of bed on a Sunday morning  with
that blasted thing, Zac would be no problem at all. He opened the door
and dashed through it, a jet of water narrowly missing his head.
  Problem  is,  my mum ain't a quitter either. In a calm,  Terminator-
like fashion, she walked to the door and jogged up the path after Zac.
  "Will she really do it?" asked Tay.
  "Oh  yeah. Even if it takes her all day to catch him, he'll  get  it
good and proper."
  I  turned  my  attention back to the map in front of me.  There  was
Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mile upon mile of grid like streets, all intersecting
at  regular intervals at a near precise ninety degrees. Roads  (sorry,
streets)  that ended in boulevard, highways with perfectly symmetrical
flyovers... This street layout put our roads to shame...
  The  only  thing  that  upset  the  geometrical  precision  was  the
Arkansas  river, meandering aimlessly down the left hand side  of  the
city,  surrounded  by  a large band of greenery  that  seemed  like  a
blissful oasis compared to the urban jungle so close to it.
  It  was just so different, so far away - AND WE'D BE THERE TOMORROW!
It was almost unbelievable!
  "You'd  better  believe it!" grinned Tay as if  he'd  just  read  my
thoughts.
  "So where do you live, then?"
  "That'd bet telling!"
  "TAYLOR!"
  "No  -  not until we get there. If I told you now, I'd have to  kill
you!"
  We  heard the back door open and my mum walked through, nonchalantly
handing  me an empty SuperSoaker. "Taylor, Isaac: Your little  brother
may  need  a towel - would you go and fetch one for him so he  doesn't
drip all over my carpets."
  We  all  looked  at each other. "How wet can you get with  a  single
SuperSoaker?" asked Ike.
  "Who says it was JUST the SuperSoaker she used?" I grinned back.
  The  back door opened for a second time, and we all crowded from the
dining room into the kitchen.
  The  monster from the black lagoon had just walked through the door.
It was dripping light brown water in copious quantities over the tiles
and came complete with pond weed accessories.
  "SHE  SHOT  ME  IN COLD BLOOD! I tried to reason with her,  but  she
just didn't listen!"
  "So what's with the vegetation?"
  "I  stopped  in front of the pond, and when she shot me,  I  stepped
back and, uh, fell into it..."
  "Your mom rules, Dean!"

                 ______________________


  "And BE GOOD!"
  "Mrs. Lidster, he'll be with me!"
  "That's  exactly  what I'm worried about, Taylor," she  smiled  and,
true to form, grabbed me and smacked a huge kiss on my cheek.
  "MUM!"
  "You love it really," She was absolutely right.
  I  buckled and hugged her, then hugged my dad. "I'll see  you  in  a
fortnight, then,"
  "Keep in touch,"
  "I will, don't worry!"
  "Dean, it's in our job description! Have fun you lot!"
  "We will!" Chorused Gareth, Spider and I.
  "Hey,  is  that  Kevin? KEVIN!" I yelled over  the  British  Midland
foyer. As ever, Kev looked up and loafed over to us.
  "Ey  Dean!  They're not kidnapping you are they? You  got  to  watch
this wun," he grinned, shooting a glance at Tay.
  Tay  smiled  and unclipped his phone from his belt,  the  other  two
Hansons doing the same and relinquishing them to Kevin.
  "They  don't  work in the states, so Kev looks after them  for  us,"
Tay explained.
  "Do  you  have  our tickets?" I asked, realising I was  stood  here,
ready  to  go, passport in hand, but had seen absolutely  no  evidence
that we had passage booked on any flight to anywhere.
  "Yeah, Kevin does."
  Once  again,  I was gobsmacked. Kev produced from his inside  pocket
six  white glossy ticket booklets, the word "Concorde" printed in  red
next  to the British Airways logo. As Kev handed them out, Gareth  and
Spider also fell silent.
  "This is a joke, right?"
  "What?"
  "THIS!"  I  said,  running my finger repeatedly under  the  embossed
lettering.
  "Oh,  no - we decided we'd never been on Concorde before, so now  is
as good a time as any!"
  I was not going to argue!

                 ______________________


  Leather  seats. COMFY leather seats. WIDE comfy leather  seats  WITH
LEGROOM! This was not a plane - it was a flying Rolls Royce!
  I  couldn't  help  but  grin inanely at  Tay  as  I  sunk  into  the
capacious  sofa  that called itself a seat. I leaned over  and  kissed
him.
  "What was that for?"
  "Just for being you," I smiled.
  We  somehow had managed to get an entire sixteen-seat compartment to
ourselves,  complete with multi-channel video suite and all  the  toys
distinctly   lacking   on  "standard"  planes.   My   excitement   was
unbelievable and boy did it show - I couldn't sit still!
  The  video  screens  then flickered into life as  the  safety  video
began  to play, and the standard issue gay steward ponsed his  way  to
the  front of our cabin, armed with an unattached seatbelt,  a  safety
instruction card and a life jacket.
  It   there  it  is  one  thing  that  makes  me  laugh,  it  is  the
stereotypical gay male. Effeminate, delicate, lispy speech and an  oh-
so-perfect  hair  do.  HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!  I  looked  over  at  Tay,  and
immediately decided he was thinking the same thing. We watched, almost
entranced, as he waved his hands around in a wildly exaggerated manner
indicating our nearest exits and the position of the lifejackets under
our seats. It was all we could do not to crack up.
  The  video finished and he cordially smiled at us for behaving  like
good little boys, and walked back down the aisle - past Zac. Bad move.
Quick  as  a flash, he had tugged the red pull on the life jacket  and
with  the  hissing  of escaping compressed air, the  red  life  jacket
inflated, the little strobe light doing its best to attract attention.
  The  steward  stopped  momentarily,  uttered  a  feeble  "huh!"  and
strutted off down the aisle.
  "That was cruel, Zac,"
  "What can I say? It needed yanking!"
  "I wouldn't say that too loudly or someone may get the wrong idea!"
  A  look  of panic flashed across Zac's face as he imagined a thirty-
five year old stuard... well, we'll just leave it there...
  A  couple  of  minutes  later, we taxied out  onto  the  runway  and
stopped as we waited for authorisation for take off. I looked over  at
Tay and he seemed distinctly uncomfortable, He suddenly realised I was
looking and grinned sheepishly at me.
  "It  doesn't  matter how many times I do this," he  said,  "but  the
take-off's and landing's still scare the crap outta me..."
  I  reached over and took his hand in mine and squeezed it tight, him
squeezing back. A second later, the engines fired up, then opened full
throttle  and catapulted the plane along the runway, forcing  us  back
into  the  seats. Having never flown before, I was astonished  by  the
ferocity of the acceleration, having imagined that plane just lumbered
up  into  the  air. Instead, it felt as it we had been loaded  into  a
slingshot and quite literally thrown heavenwards. As our speed  picked
up,  the nose suddenly lifted off the ground and the noise halved, the
wheels no longer touching the runway. We were flying.
  I  looked  out of the window and saw the East Midlands international
airport rapidly vanishing beneath us. This was SERIOUSLY good fun!
  "Tay? Taylor?"
  "Are we flying yet?"
  "Umm, yeah, you can open your eyes now!"
  "PUSSY!" yelled Zac from behind us.
  "SHUT UP, DILWEED!"
  "Taylor's  scared  of fly-ing, Taylor's scared of fly-ing,"  chanted
Zac.
  "You are so fucking dead it's unfunny!"
  "OOOOOOOoooooooooh! I'm really scared,"
  Then  the  seatbelt lights went out. Tay got out of  his  seat,  and
calmly walked back to Zac.
  "Shame you're not a big boy, Zac..."
  "Huh?"
  "If  you  were,  this  may actually hurt some!"  Tay  grabbed  Zac's
boxers and tugged them as hard upwards as he could
  "ARRGH!  You cunt!" yelled Zac as he tried to lever the  cotton  out
of his arse crack.
  "Champagne?"  The  stuard was back, pushing his  little  trolley  in
front  of him. We all grabbed a glass, and Tay was just about  to  sip
his when I stopped him.
  "I  saw  this on a film once," I explained, and linked my  arm  with
his. "Cheers!"

                 ______________________


  "Dean,  I  feel  so shitty about having to ask you  this,  but  when
we're  out  in  public, do you think we could just  act  like  regular
friends? Man I feel so guilty askin' you to do that..."
  "Don't  worry - as long as you make up for it at night  I'm  sure  I
can behave..."
  "Oh and Dean?"
  "Mmm?"
  "Brace yourself."
  We  stepped out on to the boarding passage and began the short  walk
into  the  terminal.  About  half way down,  the  guy  who  was  quite
obviously Kevin's stateside counterpart met us. However, whereas Kevin
gave  you  the  "I'm  friendly  but if  you  even  THINK  of  messin'"
impression,  this bloke looked more like the "you think  it  and  I'll
drop  you  where you stand. Period." type. In short, he was a  man  in
black,  complete  with ray-bans and sidearm. I could've  sworn  I  saw
Chris Carter and a film crew just round the corner...
  "Ike, Tay, Zac, welcome home," he droned.
  "Hey Will! How's it hangin', man?"
  "I  am  fine, thankyou. Stay close, there's already a crowed formed.
Dean, Gareth, Tony - that goes for you too. You are now celebrities."
  "How do..."
  "Best just to do and not ask," grinned Tay. I shrugged and got  next
to  Tay as Will turned round and strode back up the gantry. We cleared
customs  and were hurriedly ushered to the front exit. Parked  in  the
red  zone was a dark blue Chrysler minivan, three sides of which  were
surrounded  by a small army of Hansonites. The moment we  cleared  the
doors,  all  hell broke loose. Tay, Ike and Zac, being used  to  this,
dived  for the van leaving us three looking rather overwhelmed by  the
whole   situation.  My  ears  were  being  battered  by  an  incessant
"TAYLORILOVEYOUOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!" from all sides and, much to  my
horror, I suddenly realised I was being grabbed at. Tay swooped to the
rescue  and  dragged  us into the van, isolating us  from  the  bedlam
outside with a pronounced slam of the sliding door.
  "Welcome to Oklahoma," he grinned.




                   Chapter Twenty-Five

  We  turned left out of the airport onto interstate eleven, and  then
right  onto the Keystone expressway, skirting the top of the city  and
heading east out of Tulsa itself into the surrounding countryside.  At
first,  I  could  not  understand what didn't  feel  right  about  the
journey,  and felt distinctly uncomfortable until I realised  we  were
driving on the wrong side of the road! I smiled to myself and  put  my
arm  around Tay. He smiled back and hugged me to him, obviously  happy
to be back home.
  In  a  relaxed  silence, we traveled the ten  or  so  miles  to  the
Hanson's  abode,  eventually pulling off the  expressway  and  into  a
sleepy little green suburb.
  "Well,  here  we are," announced Tay as we pulled into the  driveway
of  the  houses. I guess I knew what to expect, but even so the  house
seemed surprisingly, well, ordinary...
  As  we  stepped  out of the car, a group of kids rode  by  on  their
biked, happily chatting to each other as they went. I'm not quite sure
what  it  was,  but that combined with the car and the  style  of  the
housing suddenly summed up everything I considered as American - films
like "Stand By Me" suddenly taking on a new depth as I tasted for  the
first time the environment they were set in.
  "Are  you  coming, or do you intend to stay out on the pavement  all
day?"
  "Huh? Oh," Tay grabbed my hand and pulled me into the house.
  "...And  of  course,  Dean," smiled Diane as the  six  of  us  filed
through the door, Gareth and Tony making their introductions to  their
boyfriends' mum. "How's my fifth son?" she smiled, giving me  a  tight
hug.
  "He's very well, thankyou," I smiled back.
  "Now  guys,  I really don't know where you're all gonna  sleep,  but
we'll manage... It's a squash enough as it is."
  "I'm  sure  we'll manage," smiled Zac, shooting a glance  at  Gareth
who was still in the "meeting parent" mode, smiling sweetly and acting
the good boy.
  "Well,  Jessie's sleeping over at a friends across town  for  a  few
days,  so  if  I can persuade Mackie to sleep in Jessie's bed,  that'd
free up Mack's room... Ike, would you and..."
  "Tony,"
  "Tony, like to sleep in his room, then the rest of you can sleep  in
the bomb site. It'll be a squash, but it'll have to do."
  "That'd be great, Mrs. Hanson,"
  "Dean  -  you're practically family! Would you quit  with  the  Mrs.
Hanson thing already? Makes me feel old..."
  "But you are old, mom," grinned Zac, then legged it off towards  the
garage with Gareth in tow.
  "I  think you need to have a word with Dean's mom, mom - she came up
with a rather cool method of Zac control... I may as well give you the
ten  dollar  tour,  Dean - c'mon..." he smiled,  taking  my  hand  and
pulling me into the family room.
  I  suddenly  had  the feeling I had been here before,  and  then  it
clicked. "Wow - you really filmed the MMMBop video here?"
  "Yeah  -  we couldn't think of anywhere better - the garage would've
been  good, but its too dark down there. Kitchen's through here, den's
just  over  there," he continued, aimlessly waving  in  their  general
direction. We reached the stairs and he legged it up them in  the  way
he  had  obviously done for many years. "And up here, we have mom  and
dad's  room, Jessie and Avie are through there next to them,  Mackie's
there on the other side, and we got the bombsite down the hall."
  He  wasn't  kidding.  Posters,  bedclothes,  underwear,  a  pack  of
assorted  felt  tip pens, CDs, a gameboy and God knows what  else  was
randomly  strewn across the room. "Mom's actually scared of coming  in
here I think," he smiled, shoving a pile of clothes and a baseball bat
off  his bunk and onto the floor then casually back-heeling them under
the bed. "Zac's on top and Ike gets the single."
  I  sat  down  next to him and, even though I knew in my  heart  that
they were just "regular kids" as he'd put it the miraculous sight of a
bedroom  in  a worse condition than mine brought the realisation  well
and  truly  home. I pounced on Tay, pushing him back and  pinning  him
with  the weight of my body. I brushed the stray hair out of his eyes,
and  gently  moved  my  lips  towards his.  Tay  closed  his  eyes  in
anticipation of the seemingly inevitable kiss that was to follow,  but
as  soon  as  he did, I dived for his neck and gave him  a  hickey  he
wasn't  likely to forget, biting hard at his delicate skin. Tay howled
and  arched  his back and hugged me to him with every available  limb,
determined  to get a couple more square inches of contact surface  out
of  the  embrace,  both our hearts beating like it was  going  out  of
fashion.
  "Taylor  you wannabe hippie where the hell ar..." said a voice  that
I  did not recognise as it walked into the room and saw the two of  us
wrapped in each other.
  I  released Tay's neck from my mouth and whispered into his ear  "Do
I get off you or do I just hope that I'm invisible?"
  "Can't you knock, Kieran?"
  "I...  uh...  sorry, man... I'll come back in a  while  when  you're
through..."
  "Stay RIGHT where you are! Kieran, this is Dean Lidster, Dean,  meet
Kieran  Haynes, long time friend, next-door neighbor and homo-sceptic!
Do you actually BELIEVE me now?"
  I  rolled  off  Tay and looked up into the face of a tall  lad  with
brown  hair  that was trimmed at ear length and centre-parted.  As  my
eyes  traveled down his torso, I suddenly realised just how well built
he  was  -  he wasn't exactly square jawed, but the lines to his  face
were  very  pronounced giving what's best described as  a  streamlined
look. Moving on down, his shoulders had broadened in correlation  with
his  deep baritone voice, and the sweater he was wearing just  lightly
hinted  at  the  immense set of pectoral muscles that  were  concealed
behind  it. Just peaking from below the sweater was the bottom of  his
basket encased in tight blue denim that, if my mental extrapolation of
the  curve was accurate, meant most of the stallions in the local stud
farm  would've  been put to shame. The tight jeans continued  down  an
appropriately powerful pair of legs to his CAT boots. Woah...
  "I  guess  so... Man, you really dig that queer shit don't you?"  he
said, looking at the damp bulge in Tay's trousers.
  "Well  what did you expect, Einstein? I am queer, ergo I like 'queer
shit'! See Dean - typical jock: Strong as an ox but twice as thick..."
  "Pleased  to  meet  you,"  I  grinned,  extending  my  hand.  Kieran
tentatively grasped it, and was visibly shocked by the pressure of  my
grip. "Just 'coz I'm gay doesn't mean I'm a wuss,"
  "I, uh, guess not,"
  "So whatcha want K?"
  "Just to say hullo,"
  Tay  and  I  looked at each other. "HELLO!" we both  yelled,  waving
violently at him.
  "Sit  down, Kieran. I told you that I was gay like ages ago -  don't
look so shocked!"
  "I  guess I didn't want to believe it, man," he said, slumping  down
on  the edge of Ike's bed, not maintaining eye contact with either  of
us for more than a couple of seconds at a go.
  "Why not?"
  "I dunno... It's... I dunno... Tay?"
  "Yeah?"
  "I'm sorry."
  "What for?"
  "Freakin'  out like that - I guess you guys just took me off  guard,
that's  all.  I'll be OK. Oh, and you might want to  get  that  looked
at..."
  "Huh?"
  "Your neck - looks like some wild animal's been at it!"
  "It has," I grinned.

                 ______________________


  We  chatted  on  for a bit and Kieran became progressively  more  at
ease  with  us  until  he  became what I  assumed  was  his  ordinary,
exuberant  self. By this time, the conversation had turned  to  sport,
and  the time-honored 'Football vs. Rugby' debate. In this case, I was
hopelessly  outnumbered, and was forced to resign  to  the  fact  that
Football was by far the most superior, vicious and enjoyable  sport  -
"period."
  Having  lost  on that count, I decided to suggest something  that  I
was  half-decent at - Football. I got a strange look from both Tay and
Kieran,  and  hastily corrected the suggestion to Soccer.  Jesus  this
could  get  confusing. As you may or may not know, all of the  Hansons
are  quite  keen  soccer  players, Football  being  a  little  on  the
dangerous side for their insurer's liking!
  Tay  suggested we go and have a kick around for a while, so  off  we
set towards the back yard (I'd have called it a garden, but what do  I
know?)  and found Ike, Zac, Tony and Gareth already knocking the  ball
about.  Tay,  Kieran  and I joined in, and inevitably  the  game  very
quickly turned to United States versus United Kingdom.
  There  was no denying that the States were good, but we were better,
all  three  players  on  the UK team being in  the  appropriate  First
football team.
  As  the  twelfth  UK  goal ricocheted off the  back  of  the  garage
marking  a convincing five goal lead, Diane yelled for us to  come  in
and  eat.  Having  been late for the plane this morning,  we  had  all
completely  forgotten  about  the  small  issue  of  food,  and  as  a
consequence we were all ravenous. As we walked back into the house, an
exquisite  smell  of  freshly cooked food  wafted  into  my  nostrils,
causing my mouth to water uncontrollably. This is where the fact I was
now in an American household really came home: never in my entire life
had I seen such a gargantuan breakfast laid out - melon, orange juice,
coffee by the gallon, toast, hash browns, breakfast sausage, scrambled
eggs,  pancakes and maple syrup, the infamous Eggo waffles and various
cereals.
  Zac's  eyes  visibly widened and he dived for a chair  and  promptly
began stacking his plate with anything he could balance on it.
  "Didn't  they feed you over there?" asked Diane, perpetually  amazed
by  the  sheer volume of food #3 son could shovel into his mouth,  and
then ask for more.
  "Kinda,  but  not  properly,"  he  mumbled,  sending  a  shower   of
partially chewed waffle over the tabletop.
  Diane  shook  her  head and suggested that we all had  better  start
eating before the "garbage disposal on legs" ate it all.
  The  conversation took the form of the typical "getting to know you"
style, each of us having been talked about, but Diane never having had
much of a chance to talk back to us. Diane had had very mixed feelings
when  Taylor came out to her. She wasn't disappointed - far from it  -
she  was just slightly concerned that perhaps she and Walker had  done
something  wrong  in  his  upbringing...  Had  they  paid  him  enough
attention?  Had they paid him too much attention even...  However,  as
Tay  talked to her, she soon realised that this was no snap  decision,
and he had obviously been thinking about it long and hard.
  It had been difficult for all of the kids to lead a 'normal' life  -
if  there  was  such a thing - in their younger years: Living  in  the
middle  of nowhere with nothing but a record player for company really
couldn't  be healthy. The decision to home-school came from  necessity
rather  than  choice, as there really were no schools in the  area  to
speak  of. As it turned out, when they moved back to Tulsa, the  level
of  their schooling was ahead of their peers and, not wanting to throw
that advantage away, decided to continue.
  The  thing  that  most  concerned Diane about her  son's  choice  of
lifestyle  were the dangers - homosexuals weren't renowned  for  being
treated  well  in general and as one, he would be in the highest  risk
category  for STDs. However, Tay had assured her that he was  all  too
aware  of the dangers that he may well be faced with, and had  already
considered as many consequences as he could think of.
  An  hour  or  so later, we were all feeling terribly  full,  bar  of
course Zac who was still happily packing away the calories.
  Gareth,  Tony and myself cordially thanked Diane for the  meal,  and
were  told  not to be silly - just eat and enjoy. Zac was collared  to
help with the washing up, and the rest of us decided to get out of the
way  before  some other menial task was allocated to us. Gareth  being
the  loyal friend he was dutifully stayed behind with Zac and  offered
to  help  with  the washing up. Ike and Spider bounded  off  into  the
garden again, Leaving Tay, Kieran and myself.
  "So,  whaddya wanna do?" Asked Tay, swinging my hand back and  forth
between us.
  "Well,  seeing  as I know absolutely jack all about  the  States  in
general, why don't you take me to one of your 'malls' then?"
  "That'd  be  cool  -  I  need to get some shit anyway,"  chipped  in
Kieran,  glancing uneasily at us holding hands every once in a  while.
"You know what'll happen if you're seen in public like that," he said,
glancing down at our joined limbs.
  "I  know," said Tay, looking exceedingly annoyed. "Why can't I  just
go out and be myself?"
  "Because  you'll  go and break the hearts of a few hundred  thousand
adoring girls, cutiepie," he laughed, pinching Tay's cheek.
  Tay laughed and batted his hand away. "Fuck you!"
  "TAYLOR!" yelled Diane from the kitchen.
  "Sorry, mom!"
  "You'd  better be, young man. I won't have that kind of language  in
this house, you hear me?"
  "Yes, ma'am,"
  Kieran suggested we go over to his house, as his folks were out  for
the day. We all agreed, as the last thing Tay wanted to happen was  to
be  grounded  while  I  was over. Kieran was on a  roll,  though,  and
continued his taunting.
  "Just  think, Tay - every night I bet there are thousands of  little
girls pumping themselves and yelling your name..."
  "You're gonna have your ass kicked so badly in a minute..."
  "'Oh  Taylor, unnngh, Taylor, TAYLORRRRR'!" he screamed  in  a  high
pitch voice, throwing his head back in a feigned orgasm.
  "You're  so  freakin'  dead!!" he yelled,  lunging  for  Kieran  who
skillfully maneuvered himself out of the way, and legged off down  the
pavement - sorry, sidewalk - with Tay in hot pursuit.

                 ______________________


  The  reason  Tay was so annoyed by Kieran's taunting was  that  from
personal  experience, he knew that what he was saying was  just  about
spot on. Some of the slogans and quotes on the banners that were waved
at him he couldn't believe were actually saying what they were saying,
never mind being brandished by twelve-year-old girls. Then again,  Zac
was  twelve  and  he  was more perverted that  Dean  and  himself  put
together...
  Hayley  was just such a girl, but at fourteen had a far more defined
idea  of what she wanted to do with Tay WHEN she got her hands on him.
There was no if. She WOULD have him. After all, she had managed to get
everything  else she wanted one way or another, so why not the  object
of all her fantasies?
  Ordinarily,  such  thinking could be dismissed as sheer  teen  lust,
however  Hayley  had a very distinct advantage over the  rest  of  the
Hanson  fans in the world: She lived in the same street. In fact,  she
knew  Tay  rather  well - one may go so far as to say personally,  Tay
always shooting her his killer smile and giving her a courteous  -  if
indifferent - "Hi Haley" whenever they passed. She was ACKNOWLEDGED by
him.  This  was far more than any of her friends could claim,  and  it
just  made her fantasies stronger; so strong, in fact, that she  would
often  experience a small orgasm if she got within twenty feet of  the
guy.
  Hayley  was  unquestionably and unhealthaly obsessed. She  knew  and
even acknowledged the fact, but she was also blinded to reason by this
obsession and so whenever she had the chance, she would tail him.  Not
obviously,  oh no: To do so would reveal her true motives to  Tay  and
spoil  her  plan  - she was far more subtle than that.  She  was  just
waiting for the right moment to get him exactly where she wanted  him:
trapped in her bedroom. It sounded stupid and corny, but none of  that
mattered  to  her.  As far as she was concerned, if she  could  manage
that, the rest would just follow naturally.
  She  had  heard  from her parents that the Hanson boys  were  coming
back  today,  so she decided to go and check for herself. She  checked
herself over ensuring that all the right bits were showing in just the
right places, and confidently walked out of the front door.

                 ______________________


  I  watched  as Tay and Kieran slipped off the sidewalk  and  started
leapfrogging over the picket fences that surrounded the front yards on
either  side of the street. By this time, Kieran had a good two-front-
yard  lead  on  Tay, him having stumbled on the third  fence.  He  was
determined to kick the bastard's arse, though, so he was going  to  be
sure that escape was not an option for him. As he cleared fence number
nine,  someone  walked straight out of the door into the  front  yard,
directly into Tay's path.
  By  the time I had yelled it, I was way too late. I had to do it  on
principle though. "WHATCH OUT, TAY!"
  Tay's  "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"  and Hayley's  rather  impressive  scream
echoed down the empty street, and I legged it up towards them.
  Taylor's  and  Hayley's  trajectories  intersected  at  a  text-book
perfect  ninety  degree  angle, the now combined  mass  having  enough
momentum  to carry both of them a good four feet in the direction  Tay
had been running in.
  I  arrived  a couple of moments later, and couldn't help  but  burst
out  laughing. There was Tay, flat on top of a girl about my age  with
her  legs wrapped right around him, a look of utter bliss on her face.
Groggily Tay opened his eyes, and found himself staring straight  into
Hayley's eyes, which now possessed that all too familiar misty, vacant
look.
  Tay hastily decided to get up, but soon found himself restrained  by
the very girl he had just creamed.
  "Er, Hayley - I'd like to stand up now, if that's OK with you..."
  It  wasn't  OK  with  Hayley. This wasn't quite  in  her  plan,  but
nonetheless Taylor Hanson was in exactly the place she had  wanted  to
get  him for the last couple of years: On top of her with her legs and
arms  wrapped tightly around him. The thing that got to  her  was  the
things she hadn't even thought about like his smell and, perhaps  more
importantly,  the unbelievably good feeling of the bulge  between  his
legs pressing hard into her.
  The  realisation  of what it was that was making her  feel  so  good
down  there sent her over the edge. She squeezed herself even  tighter
against  him  and  shuddered  as wave after  wave  of  orgasmic  bliss
traveled from her crotch, bounced off the top of her head and traveled
all the way back to where it came from.
  I  very nearly pissed myself with laughter. It was more than obvious
as  to  what was happening, and the mixed look of revulsion and abject
horror  on  poor  Tay's face was all that was needed  to  express  his
opinion.
  By  this  time, Kieran had noticed the absence of his  persuer,  and
jogged  back  to  find out where he'd got to, and soon  joined  me  in
laughing his bollocks off
  Tay  pushed his arms inside of Hayley's and levered apart her  vice-
like grip, allowing him to breathe again.
  "I  need  a  little help here, Dean," he appealed as he  could  only
hold  one pair of limbs apart at a go. Still laughing my arse  off,  I
grabbed Hayley's sneaker-clad feet and dragged them apart, so allowing
Tay to scramble clear.
  The  realisation that Tay had escaped brought Hayley back  to  earth
with  a thud, and she shot me a death-stare that Russell would've been
proud  of.  Then  again,  she was a girl, and that  feature  comes  as
standard across the model range...
  Tay  hurriedly walked round to me and stood almost half  behind  me,
as  if  trying to hide from Medusa's stare which I have to  admit  did
seem rather potent.
  Methodically,   Hayley  picked  herself  up  and  straightened   her
clothing,  suddenly  becoming a little self-conscious  when  her  hand
encountered the small wet spot at the front of her cut-off's.
  "Uh,  s...  sorry,"  said Tay, swallowing hard.  I  just  looked  at
Kieran.
  "Seems  like I was right," he grinned, causing us both to  crack  up
again.
  Tay subtly kicked Kieran in the shins and jabbed me in the ribs,  us
both  biting  our  lips  to stop us from bursting  out  into  fits  of
laughter again.
  "Oh,  Taylor, you're bleeding!" exclaimed Hayley as she did her best
to  eye  Tay up and down. I turned to look at him and indeed, Tay  had
managed  to gash his right knee on the rocks at the edge of  the  path
when  he  fell. Without saying a word, Hayley grabbed Tay's  hand  and
dragged  him towards the house, his protests going completely unheard.
In  fact, the look on his face was not too dissimilar to that of a man
sunk up to his neck in quicksand...




                   Chapter Twenty-Six

  Kieran  and  I  ambled after Tay into the recesses of Hayley's  den,
fully expecting to find the discarded corpses of Aaron Carter and  the
Moffatts  littering  the  hall, but all was surprisingly  well  looked
after. Not even a trace of teeth marks on any of the furniture  -  her
parents must've been cleaning up after her...
  Tay  was frog-marched up the stairs and into what can only be called
an American-sized bathroom, complete with Jacuzzi etc.
  Hayley  pirched him on the edge of said Jacuzzi and told him to  sit
still.  Tay  looked  plaintively at Kieran and I,  but  we  both  just
grinned  inanely  and  shrugged our shoulders. Tay  mouthed  something
along  the lines of "Thanks a bunch, guys!" before he was set upon  by
Hayley,  now armed with a wad of cotton wool and a family-size  bottle
of TCP.
  "I  can't do anything with these pants in the way," she stated,  not
having even tried. Kieran simply doubled up with laughter. Hayley spun
round  and strode towards us, which had a surprisingly sobering effect
on him.
  "Look  at you, laughing at his misfortune," she scolded. "Just  grow
up." and with that, she slammed the door in our faces.
  Kieran pushed his sleeve back and examined his watch. "Ten...  Five,
four, three, two, o..."
  There  was  the unmistakable thump of the weight of a  body  falling
against  the door, then the door knob being violently fought  with  as
Tay  desperately  tried  to escape from Hayley's  clutches.  A  moment
later,  the  door  was  wrenched  open  and  a  panic-stricken  Taylor
practically hurled himself down the stairs and out into the street.  A
very disappointed-looking Hayley raced out onto the landing after him,
but he was long gone.
  "I  guess  we'll be going then," spluttered Kieran, still not  quite
believing  the ludicracy of the situation. We walked out of the  house
and looked round for Tay, spotting him just slowing from his sprint at
about the mid-point between his house and Hayley's.
  "You  guys  are a pair of jerks," he grinned. "I can't  believe  you
let me go through that! ESPECIALLY you, Dean," he said, grabbing me in
a headlock and giving me a noogie.
  "Well, we didn't want to interrupt the fun,"
  "THE BITCH CAME! She had a fucking orgasm over me!"
  "Well, can you blame her?" I smiled.
  "But... But it's just not... well... polite! You don't just walk  up
to someone, hug 'em and say 'hold still so I can cum' do ya?"
  "Oh,  I  dunno,"  I said, grabbing him from behind and  kissing  his
neck.
  "Yeah,  but when you do it it FEELS right, Dean... Besides,  I  know
you!  I  hardly  know  Hayley at all! Whoever I meet  ALWAYS  has  the
advantage 'cause they get whatever they wanna know about us  from  the
'Net! It pisses me off!"
  "Umm, guys, esslay of the issingkay in ublicpay..."
  "Huh?"
  For  some  reason,  Pig Latin seemed to stop just  south  of  Essex,
never   really  reaching  the  midlands.  Tay  did  the  courtesy   of
translating.
  "He said we'd better quit the kissing thing,"
  "Oh shit, yeah... Kinda automatic, ya know..."
  "C'mon,  loverboy,  we'd  better get you cleaned  up  before  Hayley
decides  to  start round two! AND you can take your pants  off  at  my
place  without being attacked! Oh, then again..." he grinned,  smiling
at me.

                 ______________________


  Although  similar in size to Hayley's house, Kieran's felt  a  whole
lot more lived in, attention being paid to functionality as opposed to
style.  We  drudged up to the bathroom and Kieran chucked  me  a  near
identical bottle of TCP and a wad of cotton wool.
  "Uh, this brings back scary memories, guys!" grinned Tay.
  "Well,  wouldn't you know it, looks like I will have  to  take  your
trousers off after all! Now there's a shame,"
  I  grasped  his zip between my thumb and first finger, allowing  the
other  three  to gently press into his bollocks as I pulled  it  down.
Tay's  reaction  couldn't  have been more  inverted  to  the  previous
scenario, his eyes shutting tightly and his breathing stopping for  an
instant.
  Gently,  I  undid the buckle of his belt and dragged the jeans  from
round  that gorgeous arse of his until they were left in a pile  round
his  ankles. While Tay had his eyes closed, I carefully undid the  top
of  the TCP bottle with my left hand, placed the cotton wool on top of
it  and  tipped  it  upside-down a couple of times,  ensuring  that  a
generous  quantity of the evil smelling polyamine had soaked into  it.
Tay's  'excitement'  was  quite visibly  growing,  so  to  ensure  his
continued distraction from my true objective, I started gently chewing
on  the  bulge, causing appropriate moans of delight from  my  willing
captive.
  Just  as  he  started  to  try and push more of  his  cotton-encased
tackle  into  my  nibbling  mouth, I  ran  the  swab  of  cotton  wool
vigorously over the graze on his leg.
  "HmmmmmmmaaaAAAAARRRGH!!!!!!" yelled Tay as the  exquisite  feelings
from his groin were suddenly and discourteously displaced by those  of
the TCP seeping into the damaged flesh.
  "SHIIIIT! FUCK THAT KILLS! You asshole!"
  "Well,  it's all done now. Wasn't that better than the wicked  bitch
of the west?"
  "I guess so," he said, peering down at his grazed leg.
  "So - you still up for this trip to the mall?"
  Hell  yeah. Kieran, you still coming?" Yelled Tay to Kieran who  had
shyly retired out of sight. He soon reappeared at the doorway.
  "Well  who  else  is  going  to drive you little  kids  around?"  he
teased.
  "Kieran,  if you weren't so much bigger than me you'd have your  ass
kicked on a far more regular basis."
  "And that's to say you've actually managed to kick my ass at all?"
  We  ambled  down  to  the garage and piled onto the  bench  seat  of
Kieran's vintage (that's probably being a bit kind) truck. It was  one
of  those  seriously  old Chevy ones that looked like  an  upside-down
rowing  boat. I'd have guessed at one time that it had been blue,  but
the paint was so faded and the rust so prevalent that describing it as
being  a single colour couldn't be justified. This mattered not a  jot
to Kieran - it ran, and it was all HIS.
  I suddenly realised that I had a steering column in front of me.
  "OK,  which bastard put the steering wheel on the wrong side,  huh?"
I  grinned  as I slid into the centre of the seat and out of  Kieran's
way.  He  turned the key and the geriatric vehicle hauled itself  from
its  resting place, backing out onto the road, then chugged  off  back
towards Tulsa.

                 ______________________


  "CATCH!"  Yelled  Zac as he hurled yet another of what  looked  like
Diane's  best  plates not quite directly at Gareth,  who  was  leaping
around like a soccer goalie.
  "I  will  drop one of these in a minute," he threatened, not wanting
to be yelled at by his host's mother within hours of stepping into the
house.
  "I wouldn't - mom'll kill you!"
  "You can be such a shit sometimes,"
  Zac  looked  round  to make sure no one was watching,  then  replied
"Yeah, but can a shit do this?" and planted his lips on Gareth's,  his
hands groping anything that was gropable.
  "Uh, I don't reckon so,"
  "C'mon  -  we're  almost  through:  After  this  I  wanna  show  you
something..."
  Intrigued,  Gareth caught the next two plates that  were  hurled  at
him,  dried  them  and stowed them back in the appropriate  cupboards.
Even before he had a chance to dry his hands properly, Zac grabbed him
and  dragged him out of the back door, through the garden and out into
the  fields behind the houses. Both boys being so full of energy, they
ran for a good six minutes before slowing to a walk, just grinning for
no reason at all.
  "Wh... Where are we... we going?" panted Gareth.
  "It's a surprise! Just past these trees..."
  Zac  took  Gareth's hand and led him round the only just  noticeable
path  that skirted the spinney until they were on the far side of  it,
now  insulated from all signs of life bar a single line of pylons that
set  off  into  the distance. Zac led Gareth about ten feet  into  the
trees, and told him to look up.
  Above  them was a platform about ten feet square that had been built
round the trunk of one of the larger trees, the majority of its weight
being  supported  by a large bough and a couple of  scaffolding  poles
that  had  been driven right through the tree's trunk,  but  had  long
since been adopted by the tree as its own limbs.
  "Woah  -  cool!"  said Gareth as images of Robin Hood  -  Prince  of
Thieves came flooding back to his mind.
  "Neat, huh? C'mon,"
  Zac took Gareth's and again and began to scramble up the trees in  a
well-practised routine that he had obviously done thousands  of  times
before.  Gareth  managed to find enough grip points to facilitate  the
climb,  but it was nowhere near as graceful as Zac's ascent.  As  they
reached  the bottom of the structure, Zac pushed open a trap  door  in
its  floor and then hauled himself through it, turning round a  second
later and helping Gareth up.
  Gareth  was,  to say the least, astounded. How could something  this
cool  exist  outside  of his mind? As he walked round  the  trunk,  he
spotted  a  pair of beanbags, a pile of comics, a pair of CB  handsets
and  a whole load of other nick knacks that Zac had obviously spent  a
fair while collecting.
  "SHIT!  This is so fucking cool, Zac! How long did it take to build,
man?"
  "Uh,  I  didn't build it - my dad helped Ike build it  when  he  was
eleven,  then  Tay kinda took it over, and then I guess he  signed  it
over  to me last summer," he grinned. "We still use it a lot - we come
up here to do the songs and shit like that, but Ike and Tay have kinda
lost interest in it. I still think it's cool, though..."
  "Cool?  THIS  IS AMAZING!!" Said Gareth, practically bouncing  round
the treehouse, pressing his face up at each Perspex window in turn.
  "And ya know what's best about it?"
  "What?"  he asked, doodling in the patch of condensation his  breath
had caused.
  Zac  walked  up behind him and slid his hands under Gareth's  shirt,
feeling his taught stomach. "My folks never come up here."
  Those  words sent a shiver of excitement through Gareth. In all  the
time  he  had  been with Zac, They had never managed to be  completely
alone  together: In their trailer at the NEC, Dean and Tay were there.
At  school,  practically the entire first and second year were  around
them. At the Hansons' house, there was always someone around, but  out
here  they  were  isolated - away from the prying  eyes  of  siblings,
parents, friends and society as a whole. Here, they could do  as  they
wished.

                 ______________________


  Tony  was astonished. He was lounging around in the garage with Ike,
and  could  not believe how easy Ike made it look to play the  guitar.
His  fingers of his left hand glided up and down the fretboard without
effort,  the  fingers of his right delicately plucking at  the  nylon,
injecting emotion and character like none he had experienced before.
  He  wasn't playing any tune in particular, just shaping the sound to
the  whim of his mind - gentle riffs, sequences of chords and solitary
notes  fusing to create a unique, individual piece of music  that  had
never been heard before, and would never be heard in exactly the  same
way again.
  Ike  suddenly  realised  that Tony was  watching  him  intently,  so
decided  to do something a little more focused. He changed to a  lower
key,  and started the fingerplay of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car,  a  song
that  matched  Ike's voice rather well as ironically his  and  Tracy's
weren't too dissimilar!

                 "You've got a fast car
               I want a ticket to anywhere
                Maybe we can make a deal
          Maybe together we can get somewhere"

  Tony  recognised  the song, and quietly started to sing  along  with
Ike, their eyes suddenly locking together.

                  "Any place is better:
         Starting from zero got nothin' to loose
               Maybe we'll make something
          Me myself: I've got nothin' to prove"

  Without  another  word being sung, Ike put his  guitar  down,  moved
over to Tony and passionately kissed him on the lips. To Tony, he felt
as  if  he  were drunk, the same out of control / in control  illusion
making him go weak. Ike held the quaking Tony in his strong arms,  and
gradually  lowered  them  both onto one of the head-wreckingly  bright
coloured bean bags.
  Tony  felt  Ike's  weight come to rest on him  and  simply  couldn't
believe   that  these  kind  of  feelings  were  possible.  He'd   had
girlfriends before, but now he realised that the feeling wasn't  there
simply  because his heart wasn't there either. He was doing  what  was
"expected" of him, and so all the emotions and feelings he showed were
fabricated. Somewhere it felt good, sure, but deep down he  knew  that
it was false.
  The  way he felt for guy on top of him certainly was not fabricated,
the  testament to that being the fact it he felt that it was going  to
happen  to him wheather he wanted it to or not. The idea of not  being
able  to  control it scared the hell out of him, yet it also  provided
that guarantee that what he felt was right for him. Everything he  was
wanted  this - needed this - and it was telling him so in no uncertain
terms.
  An  image  of his father crossed Tony's mind, making him  think  how
ashemed  he would be to find out that his son was bisexual. He  looked
up  to  and respected his Father, but over the last fortnight  he  had
experienced  a  liberty of his soul that seemed to give  life  purpose
once more. That the circumstances of that liberty were frowned upon by
his  family did bother him, but what bothered him more was that if  he
lived  his life like he had been doing, he would end up such a bitter,
closed, miserable person he could not justify his existance.
  Tony  was not a selfish person, but felt that it was unfair  of  his
parents  to deny him such a fundamental necessity. If they  hated  him
for  what the core of his being was, then so be it. He had tasted love
and  there  was  no  way he was going to close himself  off  from  the
avenues it offered to him.
  He  reached  up  and  wrapped  his arms around  Ike,  simultaneously
forcing his tongue back into Ike's mouth. This is what felt right  for
him. It was who he was.

                 ______________________


  "Go the scenic route, K..."
  "The scenic route? That's like a four mile detour!"
  "So?"
  "Fuck  it," reasoned Kieran, and cancelled his signal so  we  stayed
on  High  97.  We crossed over the Arkansas River for the second  time
that  day, then did a leisurely double back on ourselves onto  a  road
that traveled parallel to the river itself. When we had first set out,
I  was  very  conscious  of  the  lack  of  seatbelts  and  felt  very
vulnerable,  but somehow the traffic on the roads seemed more  relaxed
than in the UK - any traffic we met, that is...
  Soon,  we could see central Tulsa, and crossed the river once again,
quickly being immersed in the city centre. We pulled into a car  park,
and  I  had to be practically dragged through the streets to the  Mall
sue  to the sheer volume of ooohing and ahhhhing I was doing, much  to
Kieran and Tay's amusement.

                 ______________________


  In  a  surprisingly gentle way, Zac took Gareth's hand and  led  him
over  to the beanbags. They both lay down side by side and for  a  few
moments  just stared at each other in wonder. Zac was horny no  doubt,
but  there  was  something in Gareth that was  special,  something  he
thought about other than his unbelievably sexy body. It made him  feel
good  to  be around him, he made him laugh. He was shy sometimes,  but
that  just endeared him more to Zac, who found his shyness cute. True,
he  wasn't  the  cleverest guy in the world (Zac  continually  helping
Gareth  in his Maths classes back in England) but he certainly  wasn't
dumb either.
  Either  way,  Zac couldn't give a shit. Gareth's whole persona  made
him  feel  good, and from the way he acted, the feeling was  well  and
truly reciprocated.
  Slowly,  the  two  boys drew together and embraced a  tight  embrace
that came from the heart. Ironically, now that they were in a position
to  do  whatever they wanted to do, all they wanted right now  was  be
close  to  each  other  and  strengthen  their  friendship  with  that
closeness.
  As  much as Zac had taken the piss out of Tay for falling head  over
heals  in love with me, it was only now he realised why Tay acted  the
way  he  did: Why we seemed to be able to sit together for  hours  and
never  say  a word, yet speak volumes about our thoughts and feelings,
our fears and desires.
  Now he was beginning to comprehend the full scale of love. Sure,  he
had seen it at the movies a thousand times - guy meets girl, guy falls
in love with girl, guy will do anything for girl. He always thought it
was  kinda  dumb  to  resign your life to  something  as  pissy  as  a
relationship,  yet  here he was seeing and, more importantly,  feeling
the 'logic' behind those emotions.
  His  mind  replayed the last couple of weeks, and he  winced  as  he
tried  to  imagine how Gareth must have felt when he and Jon Peitzmann
had  got  it  on  together. How could he have done such  a  thing?  He
desperately wanted to blame Jon for the whole escapade, but he knew it
was all due to his stupidity. He could have ruined all that he had now
over  that  single hour, and that thought made him feel  sick  to  his
soul. He started to cry.
  "Zac?  You  OK?"  asked a concerned Gareth as the  boy  he  held  so
dearly to him broke down into uncontrollable sobs.
  "I'm so sorry," he wailed. "I can't believe I did that to you,"
  "Did what, Zac?"
  "Betrayed  you  like that, man... I... Shit Gareth  I  love  you  so
much..."
  A  tidal  wave  of  emotion welled up inside Gareth,  a  mixture  of
compassion and elation. He had reasoned that he may as well enjoy  the
feelings while they were there, but never really thought that Zac  was
the  type  to get emotionally attached. It was the physical sensations
that  mattered,  not the foundation of love beneath  it.  Up  until  a
couple  of  moments  ago, his concept was not too  far  off,  but  the
revelation that Zac now felt the same way was almost too much for him.
  He  gently  grasped Zac's head and pulled it away  from  him  so  he
could  look at him. The tear-laden eyes and quivering bottom lip  were
just  too genuine. Gareth re-opened his heart to the emotions  he  had
been desperately trying to suppress about Zac, the release of pressure
making him feel like he wanted to proclaim his love of this boy to the
whole world.
  He  pulled  Zac's lips to his and forced his tongue into  his  mouth
with  such  severity it nearly scared Zac, but in a  split  second  he
understood the magnitude of the passion behind the reaction, and began
to  kiss  back with equal vigor. Zac recognised the same good feelings
he  had  before, but they were now supported by a concept that  turned
the whole situation around.
  No  longer  was  he  kissing to get pleasure himself,  but  to  give
Gareth  as  much pleasure as he possibly could, the good feelings  now
coming  from the knowledge that he was helping make the one  he  loved
the  most in this mortal coil experience what he knew he himself liked
to experience.
  Then  he realised that Gareth was doing exactly the same to him  for
the  same  reasons. This realisation - the concept of giving all  that
you  have  and  expecting nothing in return - completed the  equation,
culminating  in  feelings  of a magnitude  hitherto  unencountered  by
either boy.
  In  a  friensied  way,  Gareth and Zac  pulled  their  trousers  and
rearranged  themselves  into a classic 69 position,  the  exhilarating
feeling  of the other's lips sucking at the physical manifestation  of
their love for the other being too much to comprehend. The orgasm that
resulted  from  this coupling would be etched in their minds  for  the
rest of their lives. Due to the enormity of it, it seemed almost alien
to  both  of them yet strangely familiar, the action of them  shooting
their   cum  down  each  other's  throats  almost  symbolic  of  their
willingness to sacrifice everything they held dear to one another.
  They had fallen in love.




                  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Taking  me  shopping is usually an expensive venture  and,  although
this time it had nothing to do with me (honestly!) a lot of money  was
spent. Quite an astronomical sum, in fact. Very subtly, Tay steered me
into  one of the jewelers in the mall, and greeted the guy behind  the
counter  in  a way that could only mean that Tay was a fairly  regular
patron to this place.
  "Hi Paul, are they ready?"
  "Yes,  Mr.  Hanson  -  one  moment,  please."  and  with  that,   he
disappeared into the back of the shop.
  "Tay, what are you up to?"
  "Nothin'," he said, grinning his mischievous grin.
  A  moment  later,  the guy re-appeared carrying a  tray  with  three
small, black velved-lined boxes, and set them on the counter.
  "Thanks, Paul. Can you charge them to the account?"
  "Of course, sir."
  Tay turned and grinned at me, beckoning me over with his finger.
  "If  you're gonna be my boyfriend, I guess we'd better make it kinda
official."  He  opened the boxes to reveal three solid silver  chokers
with leather cords, similar to the ones he was wearing: A crucifix,  a
football and a tiny compact disc.
  "Tay,  I...  I  can't accept... I mean how much do...  I  mean  they
must..."
  Tay  grabbed  my  shoulders and spun me round a hundred  and  eighty
degrees, removing the band holding my hair back and chucking  it  over
in  front  of  my  face to give him access to my  neck.  He  took  the
football and laced the leather cord through the eye in the top of  it,
then  laid  it around my neck, deftly securing it with a tight  double
knot.
  The  sensation of having something tied around my neck was a  little
disconcerting at first, only ever having had things that hung  before,
but  just  like wearing a watch, I reasoned that I'd get  used  to  it
pretty  quick. Next came the crucifix, being tied in a slightly  lower
position  than  the football. Before he adorned me  with  the  CD,  he
handed  it to me for inspection. Around the circumference of the  disc
in  miniscule engraved letters was the inscription "from the Middle of
my Heart - Tay".
  It  was  a simple inscription, but I swear I nearly broke down  into
tears  then  and there. I wanted to hug and kiss him so badly,  but  I
knew  I couldn't. From the look of frustration from Tay, I'd have said
he  was thinking exactly the same. Gently, he took the CD choker  from
me,  and carefully tied it round my neck. He dragged my hair back into
place,  tieing  it back again, then picked up a hand mirror  from  the
counter and leant over my shoulder so we could both check the results.
  The  results were amazing: I thought these choker things were  soooo
cool!  Thing  was, I had always thought them as Tay's  trademark,  and
hence just admired them on him. Now we matched.
  "There  ya  go," he whispered into my ear, sending shivers  down  my
spine. "You look half-trendy now!"
  The  joke  slipped right past me as I gazed into the mirror  at  the
three  silver ornaments, twinkling as the pulse in my neck moved  them
ever so slightly.
  My  gaze moved from the chokers to Tay as he looked over my shoulder
into  the mirror with me, and I then realised it wasn't the things  he
had  bought me he was staring at, it was me myself! Man did I want  to
kiss  him  bad.  He  was  just  so  perfect  -  everything  about  his
complection being completely flawless in my mind. His personality  too
was  just  so  spot on - his off-beat sense of humor, his subdued-yet-
extroverted  approach to people, his morals... They were all  so  well
founded  and  balanced in a way that accentuated them all,  no  single
element of his character overshadowing another.
  "Well  don't you two look a picture," grinned Kieran. "Are we  gonna
stay here all day while you two gawk at each other?"
  I grinned. "I guess we can't, much as I'd like to..."
  We  both  took  a  deep breath and decided to have  another  meander
around the mall.

                 ______________________


  It  was  at about this time that Hayley, as she slid back  from  the
jeweler's window, decided that I was the devil incarnate. Who was I to
come waltzing over from England and suddenly be a whole lot closer  to
Tay than she had ever been! Taylor must've spent the best part of four
hundred dollars on me without even thinking about it, and the most  he
had ever given her was... well - jack shit, actually.
  What  was  so  special about this Dean character that Taylor  -  her
Taylor - doted over him so damn much, huh? Then and there, she made  a
resolution that she would get to the bottom of this no matter how long
it  took her, or how devious she had to be to find out what was  going
on.

                 ______________________


  'Circles  within  circles,' thought the freelance journalist  as  he
squeezed off another few frames, once again capturing Hayley on  film,
this time peeping round the window frame of the jewelers. He smiled to
himself   and  stowed  the  camera  back  in  his  bag,   and   walked
nonschoulantly back to the parking lot.

                 ______________________


  Tay,  Kieran  and I spilled out of the jewelers back into  the  mall
and  with  a "You're it!" from Tay, began a movie-style chase  through
the  crowded  thoroughfare, punctuated by "'Scuse me!"s and  "Sorry!"s
left,  right and centre. Within seventy feet, the inevitable  happened
and  Taylor  managed to cream a bloke with a fairly large  bag  draped
over his shoulder.
  The  man was livid, getting up and grabbing Tay by his T-shirt. When
he saw who it was, he seemed to loose pace momentarily, then continued
with the retribution.
  "Why  don't you look where you're going, ya punk? What if I  was  an
old guy, huh? You coulda killed me! Just watch out." and with that, he
roughly swept Tay aside with his arm, sending him backing into another
couple, who he courteously apologised to.
  "You OK, Tay? I asked, gently straightening out his T-shirt.
  "Yeah man, I'm fine... Jeez that guy was a grouch"
  "I  could swear I've seen that dude somewhere before," said  Kieran,
frowning as he tried to put a temporal reference to the vague  memory.
It  didn't  seem  important, though, so he just  shook  his  head  and
carried on walking up the mall with us.
  After  five  minutes or so, I started to get a rather  uncomfortable
feeling. The feeling you get when you know you're alone, but you  have
this  little itch at the back of your mind that someone is in the room
with  you,  or  that you're being watched. As subtly  as  I  could,  I
pretended to be half-interested in a shop, so allowing my head to turn
round as we walked by it. Quickly, I scanned behind us, but as far  as
I  could  see,  nothing  seemed out of the ordinary,  so  I  tried  to
convince myself it was just my imagination.

                 ______________________

  An  hour  or so later, we were back in Kieran's truck, rattling  our
way back to the outer suburbs of Tulsa. I could not help but smile  as
I  let  my fingers trace round the chokers Tay had given me, and  kept
drifting off into my own little world as I basked in the pool of  love
that he provided me with. So much so in fact that both Kieran and  Tay
had  de-bussed  back at Kieran's drive before I even  noticed  we  had
stopped  moving. Much to the others' amusement, I shook  my  head  and
climbed  out after Tay, almost falling into him as my brain  scrambled
to remember how to operate my less-than-cooperative body.
  We  said  temporary  farewells as Kieran had  decided  to  wash  his
'car',  and  from Tay's past experience, being within twenty  feet  of
this spectacle was not advisable.
  "OK, Dean - you gotta do it: Come sign our wall!"
  "Huh?"
  "The  garage  wall! You HAVE to draw a cartoon and sign  it  -  it's
part of Hanson law now."
  "Umm...  Tay, I can't draw for shit! I'd just mess the  whole  thing
up..."
  "Quit moaning already and get your ass down there, Lidster!"
  "Sir!" I grinned.
  We  both  rattled down the thin plywood steps into the  cavern  that
could  once feasibly have been a garage, although it had been used  so
damn much that life's little luxuries such as carpet, decent lighting,
insulation (acoustic as well as thermal!) and a sofa that looked as if
it  had  been used as a plaything by that three-headed dog that guards
the  entrance to Hades (although I was later informed most of  it  was
attributable to Zac) had been moved in.
  Scattered  around were a quite astonishing number of  beanbags  that
made  it  look as if someone had dropped a handful of giant  Skittles,
and  interspersed with them were assorted bits of music kit  including
Tay's   Wurlitzer,  a  couple  of  guitars,  what  looked   like   the
conglomeration of two-and-a-half drum kits and a load of recording and
mixing gear that, although looking very well used, had obviously  been
cared for well.
  In  the far corner, having what could only be called pride of place,
was  the  dirty great sunflower from the MMMBop video and a couple  of
feet  away was an equally imposing 50" widescreen rear-projection  TV,
surrounded by what could best be described as a branch of Dixons.
  The  thing  that  amazed me most, though, I could not  see  properly
from  where I was. I walked over to the centre of the room, and slowly
did  a  360-degree turn on the spot, that being the only way to  truly
appreciate the enormity of the all-encompassing panoramic cartoon that
adorned  the walls. It was as if Ike, Tay and Zac's entire  minds  had
been  laid  down  here  in pictoral form, the abstract  yet  strangely
organised layout being testament to that. The larger-than-life, bouncy
doodles  depicted  everything  from the Man  from  Milwaukee's  flying
saucer  to  the small wood that I could see from their back yard,  and
wherever  there was a physical fixture in the way, it was commandeered
to  become part of the cartoon. Tay, Ike and Zac appeared all over the
place  in  assorted scenarios along with a flying Eskimo, superheroes,
buildings,  open  land,  a toothpaste-powered passenger  train  and  a
couple of small solar systems. It was amazing.
  Tay  took  me by the hand and led me over to a section of  the  wall
that  had  been coloured a deep, iridescent blue and in the centre  of
that patch was a stylised map of the UK. I couldn't help but stare  in
wonder  as  I  recognised the huge twin yellow loops of Alton  Towers'
Corkscrew  and beneath it stood characatures of both Tay  and  myself,
hand in hand.
  I  couldn't believe I'd been immortalised on the garage wall in this
way:  Only  the most important things to Ike, Tay or Zac got scribbled
here  irrespective of how petty or stupid they might  have  seemed  to
adult minds, and it somehow seemed to be the ultimate memorial of  our
love when we were apart.
  Tay  looked  at me and, then and there, I lost it. I jumped  at  him
and sent us both flying back onto a pile of beanbags in a whirlwind of
arms, legs and hair, us both loving the stupidity of it all. Tay  made
a  break for it and legged it towards the door end of the huge  garage
and thumped a switch, causing the tired motor that opened the door  to
chug  into  life.  Like  a  scene from  a  sci-fi  movie,  Taylor  was
silhouetted  against  the comparatively bright sunlight  as  the  door
gradually would up into the roof, the slight through draft causing his
thin hair to wisp around, the sun highlighting its every move.
  Just  as suddenly as it started, the motor stopped its whining  with
a clunk as the door had been fully raised.
  Tay  stood  there for a moment, his taught, curvaceous body  looking
good enough to eat - hell I was even drooling!
  He  stayed like that only for a matter of seconds before he  uttered
the  immortal words: "Catch me if you can!" and nimbly leapt over  the
small  boarder onto the garden path. I pegged it after him, determined
to  catch  my  "prize", and followed the trajectory I assumed  he  had
taken. It was because of this I was surprised when Tay leapt from  his
flat-against-the-garage-wall position  and  tackled  me  from  behind,
sending  us crashing down onto the lawn. We rolled over each  other  a
few times until Tay picked himself up and stood over me. I was treated
with a stunning view of his lightly muscled stomach and the prominent,
soft bulge the family jewels made in his jeans. He smiled down at  me,
then the smile turned to that scheming grin that could mean any one of
a thousand things.
  "Do you trust me?" he smiled.
  "Now  that  depends," I countered, not wanting to commit myself  too
early  to  the scheme he was quite obviously cooking up in his  genius
mind.
  "If you trust me, you won't move a muscle."
  Without  giving me time to think of much else apart  from  'Uh  oh',
Tay moved his arms together and pointed his fingers as if he was about
to  dive into a swimming pool, and leant forward, gravity very quickly
accelerating him towards me. As if in slow motion, I watched the  tips
of his fingers hurtle towards my face and I was about to close my eyes
when his own eyes caught mine. In them was a look that immediately put
me  at rest and I immediately felt bad for doubting him, even for that
brief  instant. I felt his hands as they quickly diverged in front  of
my  face  to  land with a heavy thud on either side of  my  head.  The
muscles  in his arms tensed as they absorbed the energy of the impact,
slowing  him so that he came to rest exquisitely gently on  my  chest,
our  faces  just an inch or two apart. Throughout this, our  eyes  had
stayed  locked  together and remained so until our lips  met.  Moments
later,  our  tongues  broke through our lips and  invaded  the  others
mouth, wrestling for who got access to which mouth.

                 ______________________


  Diane  frowned out of the kitchen window as she saw her son  rolling
around on the lawn with his boyfriend: Secretly, she wished that  this
would  just be a passing phase, but by the way that he looked at Dean,
and  the  way  Dean gazed back, she knew this was a very  unreasonable
assumption.  She then felt very guilty, selfish even, for wishing  her
son  to be something he was not, then smiled at the realisation of how
Taylor felt, reasoning that it must be similar to the way she fell for
Walker those many moons ago. She sighed happily, and continued busying
around the house.

                 ______________________


  Hayley  was frowning too. How could he? First he 'pushes her out  of
his house' by taking this Dean guy and making him his best friend over
her,  and  then he goes and damn well slams the door in  her  face  by
renouncing  the sexual orientation she assumed he had.  Now  THAT  was
rejection. Still not believing what she had seen, she put her eye back
to  the  viewfinder of her father's camcorder, tracking the motion  of
Tay  and  myself  as we rolled around the garden,  locked  in  a  deep
embrace.
  Rejected,  repulsed and demoralised by what she had  witnessed,  she
stopped the camcorder and picked it up complete with tripod and  slung
it  over her shoulder. In a way, she felt as guilty as sin for  spying
on Tay through the hedge at the back of his yard, but she had to know.
Now she did, however, she wished she didn't. Actually, she didn't know
what she thought: If only there was some way she could get Taylor back
for  what  he had done to her - HOW COULD HE? At that moment in  time,
revenge sounded very, very sweet to her.

                 ______________________


  "Now  THAT  is sad," grinned Zac, breaking the pleasant  silence  he
and Gareth had shared as they walked back towards the house from their
woodland abode.
  "Huh? What is?"
  "That!"  he  said,  standing behind Gareth  and  pointing  over  his
shoulder so he could more accurately follow Zac's gaze.
  "Who's that?"
  "Our  next-door  nightmare  -  I mean neighbour  -  Hayley.  She  is
obsessed with Tay: You ought to see the way she drools over him..."
  "Yeah, but you drool like that over me."
  "You wish! You're as ugly as pig-shit with an IQ to match!"
  "You're  dead!"  he yelled, lunging after Zac. They  both  ran  back
down to the house laughing.
  Zac  careered through the gate practically knocking the  latch  from
its  fixings,  and promptly tripped over Tay and myself as  we  rolled
around  on  the grass. Gareth soon followed and, seeing  three  of  us
already  in a pile, decided that it looked like a damn good  idea  and
threw himself on top of us, producing a unanimous "Oof!" from the pile
as he landed.
  "Gareth or Zac?" whispered Tay into my ear.
  "I'm up for a challenge - you have Gareth..."
  "Three, two, one..."
  We  simultaneously  sprung up from our spread-eagled  positions  and
leapt for the designated targets. Zac literally shrieked with pleasure
as I landed on him, the tips of my fingers seeking each corrugation in
his  rib cage. To try and subdue the wild flailing, I sat on his lower
chest. This had limited success in that his body was subdued, but  the
four  free  limbs that were still free took advantage of the situation
and flailed harder to make up for the restricted torso.
  Getting  nowhere fast, I decided to cheat. I took some of my  weight
off  Zac and shifted it to my knees, allowing me to rock forward. When
my  feet had sufficient clearance, I allowed one of them to drop  back
into the 'V' created by Zac's legs, then brought the toe of my foot up
fairly  sharply - not enough to cripple by any means, but certainly  a
good attention-getter. Zac drew breath sharply and half sat up in  the
well-known  reflex  "must protect my nads at all costs"  reaction,  so
allowing me to grab the bottom of his T-shirt and drag it up so it was
still  around his neck, but inside out, covering his arms.  Before  he
had  time to recover, I hopped off him, undid his belt and dragged his
trousers  round  his ankles doing an equally fine job of  immobilising
his lower half.
  Now  a  far  more workable sight was presented to me: A twelve-year-
old effectively bound and blindfold, with no clothing on his body save
a  rather  small, faded pair of boxers that had obviously been  handed
down from brother to brother.
  "Wou  bathtard!"  came Zac's muffled complaint from somewhere  under
the  T-shirt. I couldn't resist it: I leant forward, licking my  lips,
and blew the biggest raspberry my lips and lungs could muster on Zac's
tummy. His whole body tensed then convulsed in fits of laughter as  he
desperately tried to disentangle himself from his inside-out  clothing
to  escape from my rapidly vibrating lips. It was no use, though  -  I
just continued my onslaught, allowing my lips to wonder further up his
body.  As  I  reached  his  left nipple,  his  protestations  suddenly
stopped,  a  deathly silence falling upon the back yard.  Meekly,  Zac
asked "Please, Dean - don't do it, man," as if I were holding a gun to
his head.
  I  extended my tongue and gently played it over the now very aroused
tip  of  his nipple causing him to moan ever so slightly and  try  and
push his chest towards my mouth.
  "That's  enough  of  that, you horny little sod,"  I  grinned,  drew
breath,  and  felt myself go dizzy with the pressure I created  in  my
lungs in blowing the raspberry of all raspberries on his nipple.
  Zac  shrieked once again and his arched back suddenly flexed into  a
curved  one, trying to shield as much of his front as he could  a  bit
like  a hedgehog. Unfortunately for him, he only succeeded in trapping
my head in position.
  Meanwhile,  Tay  was  having a damn good  go  at  Gareth,  the  only
difference  being his T-shirt was completely off and  tied  round  his
wrists. Tay was manically tickling Gareth by running the tips  of  his
fingers  all  over his frame, concentrating mainly on  his  sides  and
armpits - areas which Gareth obviously now wished he didn't possess.
  In  another moment of simultaneous thought, Tay and I looked at each
other,  smiled a knowing smile and on the count of three, dragged  Zac
and  Gareth's  boxers to their knees, revealing a  pair  of  throbbing
hardons.  Tay and I laughed, then in good form, ran off  back  to  the
house,  leaving the two as good as naked, bound, and rolling round  on
the lawn.