Date: Fri, 24 Dec 2010 13:19:49 -0800 (PST)
From: John Gerald <connectwriter@yahoo.com>
Subject: Peter's Story 12

"I think hear someone coming in downstairs," Peter exclaimed as he looked
up at Marty, who was straddling his body.  They both had most of their
clothes still on, but didn't plan on being that way for long

"Hey you can hear pretty good!," Marty replied as he stared back down at
him, "I could barely hear that!"

Peter accepted the encouragement, but knew better than to credit it to his
ears. "Well, I actually barely heard it, but I could feel the house vibrate
from that big front door.  The whole place shakes when you close it,
especially in the Winter when everyone practically slams it shut to keep
out the cold."

"Well, I still think you heard more than I did," Marty replied, smiling and
giving him a big wet kiss on his cheek..

"So, do you want to see who it is or does this stud want to have just a
little more fun," he whispered directly into Peter's ear as he lowered his
head again and gently kissed him on the lips before slowly, deliberately,
methodically nibbling and licking his way down Peter's neck, tonguing every
visible muscle on the lean, taut skin.

Peter's body archest up. "Oh jeeze, Marty, I want it so friggin' bad.  God,
I've been going nuts doing my `healing,' as you call it," he pleaded, "But
it's probably Robert and Bik and the crew and my bros will be pounding on
the door in a flash if they think we're up here `doing it," he said with a
laugh.

Marty chuckled.  "Yea, you're right, we should go there. But here's
something to look forward to when we return," he said as he quickly bent
down further and placed his mouth over Pete's right nipple, practically
pulling it through his shirt.  He could imagine Peter's eye's practically
rolling to the back of his head as he continued to tease the hard nub, then
abruptly pulled back.

"Continued later," he said, grinning, as he jumped up off of the bed
reached behind the door for his sweater.

 "Can't wait!" Peter replied as he pushed his foot into Marty's crotch.

As they both got to the bottom of the stairs, Bik and Robert, along with
their Dad, were coming in with the final pieces of luggage as Laura and
Robert's wife Ronda were standing next to the photography wall removing
their snow-covered boots.  And the dogs were all over everyone, yapping and
jumping and licking until Peter shouted out a loud, "Down!".

While Marty stood at the bottom of the stairs, a little overwhelmed with
all the people and commotion, Peter jumped into the fray and got the usual
round of very physical Kovar greetings. Then his big moment came

"Laura, Bik, Robert, this is Marty. Marty, this is...well, you know who
they all are," he said to laughs all around.

He stepped off the stairs and started greeting them all one-by-one.  "I
guess I should be careful," Marty said before returning Laura's hug, seeing
how she was just starting to show her pregnancy.

"Oh, I'm OK, at least right now," she replied, "but I don't think we should
try it in 6 months."

"Hey, bud!"  Bik called out to him.  Like when he first met Peter's dads,
Marty was enveloped in another tight grip.

Bik wrapped his arms around him and squeezed tight, almost picking the
equally-sized Marty up off the ground, as he whispered in his ear, "I hear
that he lets you call him Pete," and then gave him an unexpected a kiss on
the cheek. "That name probably means more than you think," he added.

Marty could only return a shy smile as he noted the family resemblance
between Peter, Bik, Robert and their Dads, even though the sources of the
genes were all mixed up.  Different hair and different heights, but same
facial features and, he could tell right away by all the loud voices
talking at once, the same outgoing personalities.

After Marty finished similar greetings with all the new arrivals, Peter
pulled him close.  He was worried that Marty might react from all the tight
pressure of the hugs, but he seemed to come through it OK. Still, sensing a
bit of anxiety, he gently wrapped his arm around Marty's waist before
affectionately tugging on this belt. "OK?" he asked with his eyes.

Marty returned a subtle nod to reassure him.

"Where's your sister that we've heard so much about?" Laura asked, "Is she
around?"

"No, she's out with Todd, I think he took her out to do some Christmas
shopping, or at least window shopping," Marty replied.

None of them made any comments, even though they had all heard about the
budding relationship with "Todd. No one wanted to embarrass Marty. And they
didn't want to jinx it.

"Well, I know that you all just got in, but you're probably hungry and
dinner is about ready. So if you guys help them up with their stuff your
Pop and I will go and finish dinner," his Dad said.

"By the way, I'm not sure we have the ideal accommodations for everyone,
but we'll manage. Peter and Marty are in the big room, Laura and Bik, you
can take Gramma and Grandpa's apartment, what with 2 ½ of you," he joked,
"and Robert and Ronda, you all can take Bik's old room, which is a little
bigger than your old one, Robert. Is that OK with everyone?

"Sure, we'll be fine. The apartment is kind of cool. We can share the
bathroom if people need to," Bik replied.

"No problem with us," Robert said. "Normally I'd assert my older brother's
rights to the bigger room,, but we'll be leaving to see Ronda's family a
couple days after Christmas, so I'll indulge you boys," Robert said.

"Eternal gratitude, oh elder one!" Peter answered back as feigned a bow
before his brother.

				                     ***

After all of the tumult over his illness and recovery, Peter noticed that
they were finally settling into a daily pattern that was much like the one
they had at school. They had their own activities during the day, coming
and going, doing whatever they needed or wanted to do, like shopping, going
to the gym, helping out Peter's dads or whatever.  But no matter what
happened during the day, they were always together in the evenings.

Peter thought it was cool that Marty was spending a lot of the cold winter
mornings helping his Pop out in the garage woodshop. Not only did he like
it that they seemed to get along, but it was always good to have someone in
the wood shop with his Pop, in case he had a seizure or anything happened
around the woodworking equipment.

`He must be getting pretty good, too,' Peter thought, since after a few
days his Pop was OK with him out there on his own. He wasn't protective
about the space so much as always concerned about safety, so Marty must
have really proved himself reliable.

And Peter himself?  Though he had a clean bill of health from the doctor,
Marty still enforced naps after lunch, every day. Besides that, taking care
of the dogs and reading, helping his Dad in the kitchen and sometimes
accompanying Marty and his Dad or pop to the gym there were plenty of
things to fill his day.

						***

Along with Peter's cousins and Aunt and Uncle, who always came for the
Christmas Eve, the whole family had retired to the living room after
dinner.  It was a special time each year for all of them to be together and
to enjoy the tree, food and each others company.  Everyone usually
contributed something unique to the desert `cart,' as his Dad called the
large coffee table in the center of the room.  And with Marty the Baker now
around, there was and additional reason to look forward to it from Peter.

Marty made what he called a `Coconut Christmas Cake,' which was a layer
cake of coconut crème and white cake, with white chocolate chips mixed in
and red and green sprinkles on top.  He knew that Peter liked both
chocolate and coconut, but wanted to give it a twist.

The guys were seated on the floor between the `cart' and the big
upholstered brown couch across from the tree, with Tony leaning into Marty,
and Radar laying his head on Pete's lap. And in front of them was Marty's
big cake.

Pass me the some of that cake, will you? Bik called across the room to
Peter.  "It looks pretty good."

"Sure, bro," he answered.  "Hey Angela or whoever is behind me, will you
pass this around the room to Bik over there," Peter said as he raised a
piece over his head, along with plates and forks..  "And take some for
yourself while you're at it."

"OK, got it!" he heard Angela answer, as he saw her delicate hands take the
cake, then a pair of much larger male hands, Todd's, take everything else.

 "By the way guess who made it?"Peter asked as he replaced the nearly empty
platter back on the table.

"Let me taste it first!" Bik replied.  First, he poked into the frosting,
which was very flat and had clearly been very carefully applied.  Then, he
loudly counted the number of alternating layers of coconut crème and white
cake. "One...two...three..."

"Just eat it!" Peter cried out.

"Hey, I'm just checking the details before I dive in.  I want the chef to
know that I appreciate his, or her, attention to all the detail here," he
said before continuing.  "...Seven ...Eight...wow eight layers, each with
some little white chocolate chips, too.  All and all, very complex. And
probably very rich.  But we'll find that out now!" he announced as he
raised the first piece to his mouth.

He left it there for a few moments, studying and savoring, the different
flavors."

"Well?" Laura asked?

"Yes, let's hear it!" Todd cut in from his seat on the other side of the
room.

He dove in for another piece before replying. "Well, I don't know who made
it...it's not Dad's style, he's never made coconut before, at least that I
know... so it's not him...But it's really good. Really really good!"

Peter turned and put his arms around Marty's shoulder. "Here he is, the new
Kovar family pastry chef!" he proclaimed with a huge amount of pride as he
leaned over and kissed Marty on the cheek.

Marty turned deep red, embarrassed at the attention, but at the same time
pleased that he seemed to have made a good impression.  "Well, I wouldn't
go that far. I just like to bake, and kind of play around at it. Actually,
your Dad gave me a hand and also had plenty of cake pans, so that made it a
lot easier. I could get the sized that I wanted."

"I'm glad to outsource that part of Christmas," his Dad joked, "the more
people we have here, the more dinner there is to prepare, so the help is
great."

"But I'm not complaining!" he hastened to add as he raised his glass "The
more people, the better!"

Bik smiled, then turned and fed Laura a piece, who also gushed with
enthusiasm.  "Marty, you're welcome cater one of my baby showers, if you do
that kind of thing!" she declared.

"I'll consider that for a project,' he said, "maybe next summer," as he got
up to pass plates of the other desserts around the room.

"Hey Bik!" Robert called out as he took a huge chocolate chip cookie
offered by Marty. "Are you all going to ever tell your kids some of the
nasty stories about yourself?"

As nonplussed as ever, Bik simply continued eating his cake, savoring the
last morsels before he felt it necessary to answer his brother's
provocation.  "I'm not sure what you're talking about, Robert."

"Well, if you'd like me to introduce the real Bik to Marty and Angela, I'd
be happy to do the honors, but..."

Bik interrupted from his perch on the arm of Laura's overstuffed lounge
chair. " I think I should tell this as, of course, as I was there, at least
for the best parts," he said, an impish smile coming on his face," though
most of it came from my Sandy, my lesbian spy at the girls slumber
parties."

"Are you sure?" Robert added.  "We need this one raw, you know.  No holding
back."

"Of course, nothing but the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth[C. M.1]," Bik responded.  "But wait one a minute before we start," he
said before he got up and took his and Laura's and anyone else's empty
plates into the kitchen before starting his story.  It was one of his
favorite tales of his high school exploits, so he used the time to figure
out exactly how to tell it.

As he stepped back into the room, he started.

"Well, as Sandy tells it..."

Nearly a dozen senior girls had gathered at the house of one of the
football cheerleaders for a post-game sleepover.  It was the middle of the
season, the team was still undefeated, and it was a Friday night, so the
girls were all in a great mood.  Most of them were cheerleaders or their
pals except for Sandy. She definitely wasn't one of the cheerleader types,
but lived next door to the host, and got in with a sort of neighborhood
special admission.

One of the more amply endowed girls and another equally buxom classmate
enjoyed talking about their conquests in the school, with the first one
particularly proud of her claim that she could sleep with any guy she
wanted.  She seemed to always have ways of turning the conversation to sex
or her liaisons.

Carefully taking one potato chip at a time from the huge party bowl, she
started her typical ten minutes of nibbling at its corner as she shouted
out to the crowd, "Guess which one of our studs is no longer a virgin?"

Though she had a reputation for braggadocio, it still got everyone's
attention as the girls starting throwing out names.

"Josh, right? Someone had to nail that hunky quarterback, sooner or later,"
one of them yelled.

"Him," she laughed.  "He's old new. Who hasn't had him?"

There were about 150 guys in the senior class, but only a few that they all
seemed to consider `prime cuts.'  A few more names were called out, getting
a continuous series of `No's' until one of them said, "Hey, what about the
hottie Bik Kovar!"

"Bingo!" she replied, pointing the only half-eaten potato chip at the
winner.

"I wasn't even sure he was straight," one girl said, "I mean he's the guy
with the gay Dads, and of course, since he's so cute, he must be gay,
right?" She asked, which got a roll of the eyes from Sandra.

"Well, he may have thought he was gay, too. Until he ran into me!" the
Queen Bee declared.

The questions then came rapid fire, one after another. "How did you do it?
Did you seduce him? Is his bod as hard as it looks?"

"Well, if you must know she replied," putting down the potato chip rather
than finishing it as she pulled her hair up, "I actually just took
advantage of a situation,"

"I came out of the girls gym after practice a couple weeks ago and saw this
guy, it turned out to be Bik, kind of sulking in the corner.  It looked
like he might be crying. Not that I give a shit if I hear some guy
whimpering or boo-hooing about something. But I do know an opportunity when
I see it."

There were giggles from a few of the girls.  The rest didn't quite know how
to react but were still on the edge of their seats, wanting to hear more.

"Anyway I went up to him with my best Mother Teresa manner and asked what
was wrong.

"He told me that he thought he might be gay, and was worried about it,
especially since he had gay dads. He said, he had nothing against gays, and
loved his dads, but he didn't want to be gay because of all the shit the
saw that they had to go through, blah blah blah.

"So what did you do?"

"As I said, I was in my best Mother Teresa mode, so I just told him that
I'd be there for him, all that crap, then I asked him how he knew if he was
gay. Had he ever even touched a woman before?"

"God, he looked like a scared rabbit. I didn't know such a simple question
could get such a reaction.  He said `Oh, gosh no. I couldn't do that, it's
wrong, and all, and I'm not sure I'd even like it any way."

"So I asked him if he'd like to feel my tits," she said. "How do you know
if you don't like girls if you've never touched one before?

"'Gosh, `I've never done that, you're sure it's allowed,' he said to me.
Wow, he was so naïve!"

"And he still looked like a deer in headlights, and asked, `are you sure?"
she continued.

"So I says `yes, you can do it. It's late, no ones around here right now,
and, of course, `I won't tell" she said, to a few snickers and winks from
around he room, though, surprisingly, a few of the girls suddenly became
silent.

"Well, I won't go into all the gory details here," she said, as she picked
her potato chip back up, "but suffice to say that I think that he
discovered that he likes girls instead of guys."

A few were of the girls were still laughing, but a couple of others, the
newly quiet ones, just gave here a blank stare.

Noticing their restraint, she looked straight at one of them and said,
"What, aren't you impressed? Or are you just jealous."

"No, I'm not jealous!" the other girl replied, "but..."

"But what?" the Queen replied in her most imperious manner.

"He told me the same thing!" she said, indignation in her voice.

"Bullshit" she replied, biting through the whole chip.

"He did so! It was also outside of the girls gym. I had to finish off some
paperwork one night and he was in the same place that you said he was."

She looked at one of the other brooding girls.  "And you? I you saw him in
the same place" she asked, venom now dripping from her voice.

The girl hung her head down, not be able to look any one in the eye,
"Um...yea.  And one of my girlfriends, she told me she saw him, like, he
was crying out in the parking lot after the girls swim meet...that he
wasn't sure if he was gay or not, same story, and that if he could just
touch her breast that maybe he could figure it..."

"Ha!" Robert cried out as Bik finished the story. "I remember that next
day, you had that big red mark on your cheek!  I think half the girls in
the senior class slapped you!"

Laura was bent over, her hands covering her face, "Every time I hear this
story I wonder why I let him be the father of my child," she said, barely
able to talk through her own laughter as Bik reached over to rub her
shoulders.

"That old Bik was a randy one, wasn't he?" he asked.

"Old Bik?" she asked, looking up at him, then rubbing her stomach, as
everyone laughed around the room.

Marty's jaw was open.  "I can't believe...I mean..."

"Oh yea, it's true," Robert chimed in. "Our Dads, they weren't very happy
when they heard, but our Grandpa, oh man, I never saw him laugh so
hard. And our Grandma...I remember her saying, with here accent, "how
stupid can someone be!"


						***


They began to exchange presents after finishing desert, as family tradition
held. When the boys were small, there were lots of presents, including many
colorful wooden toys, still around the house, made by their Pop in his
woodshop. But as they got older, their dads made the present giving a
smaller and smaller part of the evening as the food and family camaraderie
element grew larger and larger.

They did continue to exchange a few presents, however, and Peter in
particular took advantage of it.  Though Marty was always neatly dressed,
Peter had realized that a lot of his things were getting old and
threadbare, so he bought him two nice sweaters and two button down collar
shirts.

Marty leaned over to him after opening all the boxes and gave him a kiss.
"Thank you!" he said, clearly touched by the gifts, thought it probably
didn't matter whatever Peter got him.

"Now open yours," Marty said, moving a large wrapped box from under the
tree.

"What could this be?" Peter asked, first straining to shake it, then
tapping on it, then putting it up to his ear, acting as if he was turning
up the volume on his hearing aid to ultra-high.


"Open it already!" Bik cried out, to further demands from Robert and Todd
as they all laughed.  Todd even got up to help him move the box to a more
open area at the side of the tree.

"OK already!" Like Bik's cake, I just wanted to savor it!" he replied as he
began to carefully unwrap it, fist taking off the paper then removing the
makeshift cardboard box that hid the contents.

As soon as Peter pulled down the sides he gasped.

"Oh my God!" when did you do this?  How?" he asked, the questions running
one after another.

It was a modern, custom-made wooden chair, a perfect match for the desk and
aquarium holder that his Pop had made for his college room.

Marty just smiled. "Your Pop is a good teacher, and has a lot of equipment
and wood. After working in there a bit, I though it wouldn't be too
complicated, if he could help me. Your chair at school is pretty good, but
it's not a good match for the cabinet..  So, um...I thought you might like
this.

"He's a very faster learner," his Pop chimed in. "I only helped him a
little bit, it's really all him."

"Well, he helped me a lot, I have to admit," Marty said,

"but it was your idea, and, frankly, you did all the heavy lifting.  Once I
explained the different ways that you could put it together, you were on
you own. And it turned out great!

Peter just stared at it and wiped his eye, trying to not look too
emotional.  "Thanks," he said, as he leaned over to Marty and gave him a
return kisss.

"Hey you know what?" he then asked, getting his enthusiasm back while
trying at the same time to also mask his rapidly blinking eyes," I want our
picture around this,"

"But how are we going to do that? Marty asked, "It's just a single seat."

Peter thought for a moment and then said, "ah ha!"

A few moments later, Radar was in the seat of the chair and Tony was in
front, with Peter and Marty on either side of the chair, smiling at their
Pop and his camera only a few feet away.

"Smile!"

Click!



After most of his cousins and and his Aunt and Uncle had gone home, Todd
had managed to linger for a few minutes longer, most of it spent with
Angela.  But his excuses began to run out, so he eventually began to slowly
collect his jacket and muffler and make his way to the front door.

Angela followed him, her hands folded in front of herself to prepare for
the cold blast of air at the front door.  She didn't put on another sweater
and just looked like she was going to come back into the living room to
join the rest of the Kovars after he left.

But Peter was now seated in such a way as to be able to see them out the
corner of his eye.  Todd, who had on his jacket, hat and gloves, had just
said a very polite but retrained goodbye.  As he pulled open the heavy
door, sending a `whoosh' sound through the vestibule, it appeared that
Angela said something to him. Then he seemed to abruptly turn himself
toward her even though he was already halfway out the door.

In spite of all the conversation and noise around him, Peter strained to
see what was happening between Todd and Angela. They both just stood there,
looking at each other. Like neither knew what to do.

Then he saw her hands go out to his.  He came in from the half open door,
and they continued to look at each other.  With a noticeable lump forming
in Todd's neck as he attempted to swallow, she got up on her tip-toes and
gave him a kiss as he wrapped his arms around her.


						***

"Do you know how to put this in the DVD player, Pete?"  Marty was baffled
by the complicated control panel of the Kovar entertainment center and
thought it looked like the instrument panel of a jet airplane.

"Yup, just put it in that slot there and away we go!" Peter replied.  After
the long days of recuperation, Marty had finally allowed him to stay up
late on Christmas night and he could hardly wait to take advantage of it.
With a good movie on the DVR and Marty on the couch next to him, it was the
perfect night.

The room had a lot of glass along the walls, including a pair of French
doors which led out to a patio.  It was great for hot summer weather when
he could throw open all the doors and windows, but it wasn't the warmest
room in the house when things got cold, even with all the double pane glass
that his Pop had installed. But Peter loved to watch movies on the big
screen that dominated the room, so Marty brought down a blanket in case it
got too cold.

"Here's the popcorn that you ordered, gentlemen. Will there be anything
else?" his Dad asked as he brought a bowl full of hot crunchy snacks into
the room, placing it on the coffee table in front of the guys.

"Oh, thanks, you didn't need to do that, Mr. Kovar.  You've already done a
ton of stuff for us today." Marty replied.

"This was my idea," Peter piped in.  "What's movie without Popcorn, plus I
know he likes it, too, don't you dad?"

"I've already taken my share," he replied with a laugh.  "Anyway, enjoy
yourselves; I'm going upstairs to join Pop in bed."

"Oh, and by the way, do you want the dogs down here with you guys? Brad
asked, as he noticed that the pooches had both curled up around the legs of
Peter and Marty.  "I could take them upstairs with me."

"I don't think they'll cause trouble down there, do you," Marty asked as he
looked down at them before stroking Radar's head.

"Gluttons for attention," Peter added.  "But they can stay, unless you'd
like them with you all upstairs."

"Nope, they're all yours.  Well, good night, all." Brad said, turning down
the light at he left the room.

As the movie started, Peter snuggled under the blanket with Marty as the
screen credits began to roll.

"I like this," Peter said.

"Like what?"

"You here.  Angela here. Everyone here.  You know, after all, I think I
have to admit that I don't care so much about the Christmas itself in
particular. It's just having everyone around. I really like it."

"Especially with Todd and Angela." Marty replied. "I'm the happiest guy in
the world right now, he said, his finger rubbing Pete's hair.

"Me too," Peter replied.  "Though I think the Todd would put himself up
there with us, too."


						***

When Brad got up to his room, he sat on the edge of the bed as Mike reached
up and lightly rubbed his back through the cotton night shirt that Brad
usually at night..

"They doing OK down there?" he asked.

"I think so. It's a good place for them, big TV and all. I'm not sure if
Marty will be able to stay awake with him, he might conk out before the
movie is over. I hope he's prepared."

"Gosh, yea.  Peter can stay up practically all night. Even when he's sick,
he still can't sleep. At least he got a nap today." Mike said.  "I think
that Marty even camped out in their room after lunch until Peter went to
sleep, then he put the finishing touches on Peter's chair after he came
down."

"Peter will cover him up or something, I'm sure," Mike said sat up and
moved closer to Brad, now massaging his back and shoulders with both hands.

Brad barely moved as the stroking continued, it's ulterior motives clear
with every stroke. He reached back, stroking Mike's hand has it continued
to massage his wide shoulders.

"Ahh... that feels soooo good!" Brad replied before he turned around in the
bed to take Mike's face in his hands as he pressed his lean body back on
the bed.

							***

Brad didn't know what time it was when he woke up until he glanced at the
luminescent red numbers on the alarm clock next to his bed.

`2:34 a.m.' it read.

`Gosh, I thought it would be later,' he said to himself. He remembered
going to sleep with his arms around Mike.  They were no longer wrapped
around each other, but Brad still had that typical feeling of Mike
unconsciously pressing himself into his back as he slept soundly beside
him.

Remembering the guys downstairs, he decided to go down and check on them.
Although Peter was usually still up, he would sometimes drift off and need
to be covered up or even helped back upstairs.

Glancing over at Mike to make sure he was still asleep, Brad slowly and
carefully lifted the covers off himself as he quietly slid out of the
bed. He was about to grab his robe off the door hook when he heard a
stirring behind him.

"Going downstairs?" he heard in a groggy voice.

"Yea, pup. I'll be just a second. I just woke up so thought that I might go
check on the guys. I guess I don't need to watch Peter anymore, but force
of habit, I guess. Anyway, I'll be back in a second," he said as he reached
over to the dim figure in the bed, stroking his head. "Get some more sleep,
OK?" he asked.

"OK, thanks..." Mike replied as he reached up and squeezed Brad's arm.

Mike was almost asleep again when he heard Brad come back up the stairs.
Expecting the door to their room to open at any moment, he sat up pulled
the covers over for him.  But Brad didn't come back in.  Instead, Mike
heard the door of the linen closet open and close, and then heard the
slight creak of the stairs again as Brad appeared to be headed back down.

He thought it was a little odd, now knowing why Brad had done this quick
and-and-down, but he didn't sound rushed or panicked or anything like
that. So Mike just laid back down, returned the cover to Brad's side to
maintain the warmth of the bed, and waited for his return.

A few minutes later, he heard the same footsteps but this time he also got
the expected click of their bedroom door.

"Hey," Mike said, still groggy. "Everything OK? I heard you come up and
then go back down."

Brad came over and sat on the edge of the bed, but instead of immediately
crawling back in, he sat motionless, his hands folded in front of him.

"Everything OK," Mike asked again, now sitting up himself, thinking that
perhaps something in fact was wrong.

Brad quickly reached back to reassure him, not saying anything but gently
pressing him back into his sleeping position.  "Yes, it's all fine. No
problems, none at all."

"What did you get out of the linen closet?"

Brad smiled to himself for a moment, then turned back around and stroked
Mike's hair before he answered.

"I got a blanket," he replied."

"For Marty?"

"Yes," he answered. But not how I expected."

"What do you mean?"

Brad let out a breath of air, sighing, but not in a despairing way.  "When
I got down there, I could see that the TV was off, and thought I'd find the
guys awake. Or at least Peter, maybe talking, or, maybe...um fooling
around," he said, laughing quietly.  "But it wasn't any of those things."

"What was it?"

Shaking his head, he answered.  "When I got to the back of the couch I
could see Peter's head on Marty's shoulder, but Marty was the one still
awake.  The blanket that I left them was wrapped completely around Peter;
Marty had nothing but his clothes on and his arm around him.

"I asked Marty, `What happened?'"

"He said that Peter had fallen asleep within 15 minutes of the movie
starting.  He didn't seem surprised, but I was shocked!  Peter never used
to get to sleep this fast, and now he just conks out!"

"What happened with the blanket? I thought they'd share it?"

"So did I.  But Marty was worried that Peter might get cold, so after he
fell asleep he must have given it all to him.  He even had his feet
covered, God knows how seeing as he didn't move around enough to wake him
up."

"And you came back up to get Marty his own blanket, right?"

"Yea, he was snuggled close to Peter, the old Boy Scout lesson of
conserving body heat by sharing warmth.  But he was giving it all to Peter
and not keeping any for himself.  I could tell the way that he had his body
that he was cold and all, but he didn't want to move off the couch for fear
of waking him up."

"So that's when I came up here and got a blanket for him, and wrapped him
up as best I could."

In spite of Brad's intentions for him to go back to sleep, Mike now sat up
in bed and moved next to him.  He leaned his head on Brad's shoulder and in
the soft light from the clock radio he drew a deep breath himself, inhaling
the familiar smell of his partner of these many years.

"You know," Brad said, "everyone thinks Peter is such a `golden boy.' They
say he's so good-looking, has a great personality, all that stuff.  But
they don't have any idea how hard this kid has had it, what he's had to go
through, and what he still has ahead of him."

Mike could feel the tension in the shoulders as he began to massage them.
"What makes you think about this now," he asked. In spite of his own
tiredness, he put as much power as he could into his fingers as they moved
into to the creases of Brad's muscles.

Reaching back to feel his hand once again, Brad gave out another sigh.  "I
was always worried that he might not find a guy, or the right guy. Someone
who just accepts Peter for who he is.

"But he has.  And I never thought I'd say this, but I don't think we have
to worry about him anymore."