Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 09:20:18 +0100
From: Drew Hunt <drew.hunt@blueyonder.co.uk>
Subject: The Ties That Bind 3

Disclaimer - The following story contains scenes of incest and
homosexuality.  If you do not like reading about such things, then a quick
press of the back button on your Internet browser may be a good move.

If you shouldn't be reading this story due to your being too young, or it
being illegal to access such things in your community, then you should
leave too.

The following story is fiction; it takes place in a fictional town in
Lancashire in the north of England.  Any resemblance to real persons or
places is purely coincidental.

This story is copyright.  It is assigned to the Nifty Archives under the
terms of their submission agreement and it may not be posted to any other
website without the prior written consent of the author.

As previously stated this story is incestuous in nature, with a few more
surprises along the way.  Whilst the story does contain some descriptions
of sexual activity, the overwhelming emphasis in this story is about love
and commitment.  I hope you enjoy it.

A big hug goes to John for his editorial assistance.

Please drop me a line at drew.hunt@blueyonder.co.uk and let me know what
you think.

Chapter 3

Two weeks had passed at Foster's glass works with no news of redundancies.
Danny, along with his fellow workmates began to breathe a little more
easily.

Wednesday morning saw Danny walking into the section of the factory where
he normally worked. His foreman, a rather oily little man in his mid
fifties told Danny that there was a meeting starting in ten minutes in the
staff canteen, and Danny's presence was requested.  Danny's insides
immediately turned to water.  He made a dash for the toilets, getting there
just in time to project his breakfast cereal into the pan.  Danny began to
shiver.  His job wasn't much.  It didn't provide a very large wage packet
at the end of the working week, but it gave Danny a sense of pride and of
dignity too.  Danny had managed, despite all the odds to find himself
gainful employment.  He felt that because of his job, he was able to hold
his head up high when he walked down the street.  Few of his neighbours in
his block of bed-sitters had ever known what it was to have a job.

Danny cleaned himself up as best he could, and made his way to the
canteen. As expected the axe fell.  The personnel lady had tried to sugar
coat the pill, but it still tasted rather bitter.  Danny was handed a
months wages in lieu of notice, had his hand shaken, and then he was shown
the door.

Danny was in a fog; he couldn't remember anything of his bus ride back to
the run down Council estate, which he called home.  Seeing an off licence
that was open for business, he pushed open the door, and picked up a couple
of bottles of cheap Vodka, and plonked them down on the counter.  The
disinterested Woman behind the till couldn't have cared less that Danny was
under-age.  He handed over the cash, she put the bottles in a carrier bag,
and handed him his change.

Danny was no drinker.  He'd seen too many of the so-called 'care-workers'
at the Children's homes in an inebriated condition as they assaulted him,
to want to drink himself.  Danny just wanted, needed to forget for a while.
He had to anaesthetise himself from the cruel realities of the outside
world.  Unscrewing the cap FROM one of the bottles, he took a long swig of
the burning liquid right there out on the street corner.  He slowly made
his way back to his cold and unwelcoming bed-sitter.  Collapsing in one of
the two mismatched armchairs, he slowly but steadily drank himself into
what he hoped was oblivion.

* * * * *

"Has anyone seen Danny today?"  Chris asked as he prepared to start the
Wednesday night practice at the rugby club.

His brother Scott looked on with pride as his elder sibling confidently
gathered his teammates around him.  The other players were used to seeing
Scott attend their practices and matches.  Many of them treated him like a
younger brother.

"No sorry skip, but did you know that Foster's let go a load of it's
worker's this morning?"  Glen a hulking second rower in his early twenties
spoke up.

"Ah no I didn't."  Chris admitted.

Chris began to worry about little Danny.  He'd always been the first to
arrive at practice, and one of the last to leave.  Chris was almost certain
that Danny had a very large crush on him, Although Chris felt flattered by
the attention, he never lead the youth on.  Trying to push his growing
worries to one side, he got on with the practice.  The team were about to
enter the first round of a local knock-out competition, and Chris wanted
his troops to be as prepared as possible to face Boroughton Rovers, a team
from the other side of the county.  The rovers would provide a stiff test
for Chris's team, and he wanted his men to be psyched up for the encounter.

The practice proceeded as usual, though Chris could have done with Danny's
running skills on the field that night.  Despite his best efforts, Chris's
mind kept going back to Danny's face in the changing room that afternoon
when he'd told Chris of his fears about his probable unemployment.  Chris
decided that he and Scott would make a detour on their way home to check up
on Danny.  Things must have been bad for Danny not to show up at practice
Chris mused.

"Okay gang, we might as well call it quits."  Chris said as he ran off the
field into the changing rooms.  He'd ended the practice about 15 minutes
early, but his mind just wasn't on the job.  A few of the other players had
wondered to themselves what had been eating at Chris.  Normally he was such
a focused team leader, spurring on his men to ever-greater achievements,
but they witnessed a rather lackadaisical performance from their skipper
that night.

Scott was also worried.  He rather liked Danny.  Although a year ahead of
him at school, Danny was one of the few people who took note of Scott, and
who didn't make fun of him because of his stuttering.  The two usually
managed to find somewhere quiet to sit during the lunch break, when they'd
discuss the state of the Lancashire County Cricket team, as well as rugby
of course.  Scott could relax in Danny's company, and he usually found that
his words flowed fairly smoothly.  Scott also felt a little sorry for the
slightly older boy, as he didn't seem to get much of a packed lunch from
the children's home.  Scott would always give him one of his sandwiches,
and he'd make sure his mum had put in an extra apple or banana into his
lunchbox too, so he could give one to Danny.

Scott no longer needed to sneak looks at all the hunky rugby players as
they showered and changed that night.  He had the hunkiest one all to
himself.

Once the last member of the team had departed, Scott and Chris went round
the room double-checking to ensure no one had left any valuables behind.

Chris picked up his duffle bag, which contained his dirty kit, then he
locked up the changing room, throwing his bag into the car boot.

Unbeknown to Chris, Scott had frequently sneaked Chris's dirty kit out of
the laundry basket and taken it into the bathroom to model himself in it in
front of the mirror.  He'd even wanked himself off in Chris's shorts a
number of times too; Scott had passed on this rather sensitive bit of
information to Chris earlier that week.  As 'punishment' for being so sly,
Chris made Scott suck him off as Chris stood there in full rugby kit.
Scott thought he'd died and gone to heaven.

Chris pointed his aging though still reliable Datsun in the direction of
Danny's place.  Chris had a list of all the team players addresses, though
he rarely had to go and visit them.  Danny had only moved into his
bed-sitter a few months earlier, because once Danny reached seventeen, the
care system had washed their hands of him.

"Oh God, how can anyone live in such a place?"  Scott asked as he and Chris
began to climb the six flights of stairs to Danny's bed-sitter.  The lift
of course was out of order.  That was nothing new.  The smell of stale
urine was rather pungent, but it got a little less oppressive the higher
they climbed.  The walls of the stairwell were none too prettily decorated
with spray painted graffiti.  Other smells of a more exotic and illegal
nature were also in evidence.  The whole depressing scene was accompanied
by the thump-thump of a heavy metal track being played at a loud volume.

"Bloody hell what a place."  Chris said as they waited outside Danny's door
to be admitted.

Chris had to bang on the door several times, he and Scott were about to
leave when they heard a bolt being drawn back, to reveal a very dishevelled
Danny peaking round the door.

"Oh hi."  Danny slurred.

"God Danny what have you been up to?"  Chris asked.

"Trying to forget."  Danny replied, laughing at his own weak joke.

"Let us in will you?"  Chris asked.

"Sure, why not."  Danny closed the door again to release the security
chain.  He then flung the door wide open.

"Welcome to my humble abode."  Danny said waving his arm across the shabby,
though surprisingly clean interior.  The movement of his arm caused him to
lose his balance however, and he fell drunkenly against the wall.

"Jesus Danny."  Chris said moving to prevent the younger man from falling
over.  In Danny's sozzled state, he misinterpreted Chris's actions, and
Danny flung his arms around his skipper, laying a large wet tongue filled
kiss right on a surprised Chris's lips.

"Oh God skip, I've wanted to do that for months."  Danny said with an
accompanying hick-up.

"Danny your drunk."  Chris said.

"I know, I'd never have the bottle to do it if I were sober.  Chris I love
you, I've always loved you ever since the first time I laid my eyes on your
gorgeous body."  Danny moved in for a second smooch, but Chris put his hand
over Danny's mouth and turned Danny's face to the side.

"Spoil sport."  Danny said, hiccupping again.  Danny then spotted Scott who
had up to this point looked rather bemusedly on the whole scene.  "Scottie!
Oh the second most studliest Blake, Oh I am a lucky lad tonight."

"Come on Danny let's get you sat down and get some black coffee into you."
Chris said trying to manoeuvre the uncooperative scrum half into one of the
armchairs.  Scott came to his big brother's assistance, and they moved
Danny into a chair.

"Sorry there's no coffee."  Danny said laughing.  "Can't stand the stuff."

"Okay, we'll have to think of something else then."  Chris was starting to
get a bit annoyed at Danny's uncooperative attitude.

"Lion, can I have a word with you for a minute?"  Scott said pointing to
the still open hallway door.

Ever since that first night, the affectionate terms of endearment of Lion
and Cub had seemed to stick.  They used it when they were alone, Chris was
a bit surprised that Scott had used it in front of Danny, though it seemed
unlikely that he'd remember this, or anything else from this encounter once
he'd sobered up.

"Okay Cub."  Chris said leading the way outside again.

"Listen, we can't leave him in this hell hole in his condition.  He could
choke on his own vomit or something."

"Where will we take him then?"

"Home with us of course."

"Cub, are you sure?"

"Totally.  Look Lion I'm the one who's supposed to have the warm, caring
humane type things covered in our relationship.  So I'm asserting them
now."

"Your serious aren't you."

"Do you honestly want to leave him here?"

Chris thought for a moment.  He shook his head.  "Cub, I wouldn't leave a
dog in this place."

"Good, so we'll gather some of his stuff together and take him home with
us."

"Okay, you're the boss."

"Yes Lion for once I am."

Chris gave the back of Scott's neck an affectionate squeeze.

The two men re-entered the bed-sitter.  Chris took inventory of the scene.
Danny was now unconsciously snoring away slumped in the green armchair.
The other chair, which was covered in a red diamond pattern, had a three
quarters empty bottle of vodka in it, as well as an unopened bottle too.
Chris's gaze also took in the bare and peeling whitewashed walls, the clean
though threadbare carpet, a small sink stood in one corner, with a dirty
cereal bowl and mug still in the bowl.  An open box of cornflakes stood on
a tiny worktop, and next to this was a dual ringed Baby Belling cooker.
The kitchen area also had a tiny freezer, whose growling motor could just
be discerned above the heavy metal music, which thankfully was somewhat
muted on this side of the building.

Along the opposite wall was Danny's neatly made bed, the bedspread, like
the carpet was clean, but threadbare.  Danny had even neatly folded a pair
of jeans over the back of a wooden chair, which stood next to the bed and
must have acted as Danny's bedside table.  A small chest of drawers, an
unmatched wardrobe plus a portable TV on a rickety card table completed the
drab interior, which comprised Danny's world.  Chris's heart went out to
the young man snoring softly in the chair.  Secretly he was glad that Scott
had insisted on taking Danny home with them, because Chris doubted that he
could have left the youth in this place.

Scott was busy putting underpants, socks, a clean T Shirt, jumper and the
folded pair of jeans into a carrier bag.  Going through the only other door
in the room, Scott emerged carrying Danny's toothbrush and safety razor.

"I can't find a pair of pyjamas Lion."

"Well perhaps he doesn't wear them."

"Oh goodie, I'll be sharing a bed with two naked hunky rugby players.  I'll
be the envy of half the gay men in Lancashire tonight."  Scott giggled.

"Do you want him to share our bed too?"

"Lion he can't sleep by himself, it isn't safe given the amount he's
drunk."  Scott said pointing at the Vodka bottles.  "I think we should take
it in turns to stay awake tonight and make sure nothing bad happens to
him."

"Okay Cub, you're the one with the caring end of things sorted."

"Absolutely.  I think I've got everything he'll need for a couple of days."

"A couple of days?"  Chris asked in surprise.

"Well you never know."  Scott added 'our luck' under his breath.

"Okay, so how are we going to get sleeping beauty over there down into the
car?"  Chris asked.

"You'll have to carry him I reckon."

"What down six flights of stairs?"

"Aww, isn't my big bad brave Lion up to it then?"

"Just shut up and get the door keys, so we at least leave this flea pit
secure."

They made their way down the stairs, as quickly as Danny's dead weight
would permit.  Scott had the duty of opening and closing the doors.

As Chris cradled the unconscious youth in his arms, he began to realise how
much he truly cared for, and would relish the prospect of continuing to
protect, the precious and vulnerable soul lying peacefully in his arms.
Chris wasn't quite sure how he would achieve his desires; he certainly
didn't want to upset Scott by verbalising his feelings.

"I think I better sit next to him Lion.  I don't want him to fall over or
anything."  Scott said once Danny had been belted into the back seat.

"Okay Cub."

It only took about ten minutes to drive to the Blake house.  Danny had
started waking up, so he was able to assist somewhat in getting himself up
the stairs.

"Danny, do you want to use the toilet?"  Chris asked.

"Yeah I think I should.  Chris?"

"Yeah Danny?"

"Erm could you like hold me up as I pee?"

"Sure mate."

Chris got Danny into the bathroom, whilst Scott had to explain to Penny why
they had brought a drunken youth home with them.  Once Scott had described
Danny's living arrangements, and the fact that he was an orphan, and he'd
just lost his job, Penny was more than happy for Danny to stay for as long
as he wanted.  Scott smiled inwardly at her words.

"I better go and help Chris undress him, he'll have to sleep with us
tonight."

"Urm, Scott?"  Penny asked tentatively. "Does Danny know that he'll be
sleeping with two gay men?  I mean normally it shouldn't matter, but some
people might object."

"Oh I don't think Danny will mind." Scott smiled to himself again.

"Yes okay Scott, thanks for filling me in about Danny.  Look make sure you
have a jug of water by the bed, he'll need to drink lots of it to
re-hydrate his system, and have a bucket close by too, you probably won't
have time to get him to the bathroom if he starts feeling sick."

"Oh yeah, good idea."

"And take that bottle of aspirin upstairs as well, but don't let Danny see
the pills, in his condition he won't be able to remember if he's taken
some, and we don't want him to take too many."  Penny didn't add that Danny
might have suicidal tendencies.

"Okay mum thanks."

Meanwhile in the bathroom, Chris had Danny sat on the toilet.  Danny wasn't
coordinated enough to pull down his own trousers, so Chris had to do it for
him.  Chris couldn't help but admire Danny's equipment as it emerged from
its cotton covering.  Chris decided to be 'helpful' and push Danny's dick
downwards, so it pointed into the pan.  'Just to prevent him from peeing on
the toilet seat of course' Chris tried to convince himself.

"Okay Danny, open the floodgates."

"Huh?"

"Piss Danny, start peeing."

"Oh right thanks."

Danny let go a real stream of water.  Despite the situation, Chris found
the noise of another man urinating rather erotic, and his dick began to
plump up.

"Okay Danny, I think we ought to try and get you in the bath, you do smell
a bit my friend."

"Yeah, I do don't I."  Danny said trying to rise from the toilet, but he
almost fell over.

"No mate just sit there till I've run the water, then Scott and I will help
you bathe."

"Thanks Chris, you're being very kind."

Scott entered the room.  "How's it going?"

"I think we ought to bath him.  He smells a bit don't you think?"

"Yeah it's the alcohol coming out of his pores.  Best not make the water
too hot, otherwise it'll make him sweat."

"Okay, I'll run the water, and you make sure he doesn't fall over."

Danny just sat on the toilet; he made a rather pathetic figure sitting
there with his trousers and underpants spread around his ankles.  Though
Danny was feeling no pain, he sat there with a lazy smile on his face as he
watched his gorgeous rugby captain bend over as he filled the tub.

"Lion don't forget to put in some foam bath too."  Scott instructed.  To
Danny Scott asked, "Danny do you think you could drink some water for me?"

"I'll try Scott."

"Good, because it'll help you in the morning if you can."

Scott reached over to the sink, and filled a tooth mug from the tap,
handing it over to Danny he said, "Drink as much of it as you can."

"Thanks," Danny dribbled a bit of it onto his jumper, but he managed to
swallow most of it.

"Good boy."  Scott encouraged.

"Okay folks, let's get this show on the road."  Chris said, once he'd shut
off the water.

Scott undressed Danny's top half, he couldn't help admiring Danny's
muscular chest and arms.  He certainly wasn't as built as his Lion, but he
was still rather hunky.

Scott then knelt on the floor and removed Danny's shoes and socks, and then
he pulled off his trousers and underpants.  He folded the clothes and put
them on the vanity unit.  Then with Chris's assistance, he guided Danny
into the waiting tub.

"Oh this is nice."  Danny said with a stupid grin on his face.  Danny began
to splash his hands around in the water. "Have you got any quack-quacks for
me to play with?"

Scott laughed.  "No Danny, sorry we haven't.  Oh boy are we going to be
able to tease you when you sober up."

Chris chuckled at the thought too.

"I always wondered what it would be like to have a toy duck in the bath
with me.  They never had any in the children's home."  Danny said sadly.

"Come on Cub, we better get him out of here."  Chris said once Danny had
received a thorough washing.  Scott had particularly enjoyed lathering up
Danny's short spiky hair.  He thought that a good conditioner would really
soften it wonderfully.

"Okay Lion, I'll let the water out, then you can stand behind him and lift
him out."

Once this had been accomplished, Scott and Chris spent a little more time
than was strictly necessary in drying Danny's body.

"Danny, do you think you can drink some more water for me my friend?"

"I'll try Scottie."

Scott hated being called that normally, but it was kind of cute when Danny
said it, so he didn't mind overmuch.

Before he drank the water, Scott put a couple of aspirins into his mouth.
"They might help to reduce the headache that you're going to get in the
morning."  Scott told him.

Danny managed about half a mug of water, before he told Scott that he'd had
enough.

"Okay, let's get you into bed then."  Chris guided a still very wobbly
Danny into their bedroom.  "Cub, can you look after him for a bit whilst I
take a shower?"  Chris asked once Danny had been set down in the middle of
their bed.

"Yeah of course Lion, no problem."

Scott gazed down at his slightly older friend.  He began to stroke Danny's
hair.  Scott started to examine his feelings for Danny.  'Yes', there was
certainly a sexual attraction there, but Scott felt something much deeper
too.  Scott had always been such a caring person; his heart went out to the
troubled young man sleeping before him.

During their frequent lunchtime discussions at school, Danny had let slip a
little of his life in the Children's home.  Danny told an incredulous Scott
that in such places you had to be tough in order to survive.  Scott knew
that if he'd been in Danny's position, he wouldn't have made it.  Danny
said the main reason why he'd begun playing rugby and working out was to
build up his strength so he could defend himself against the bigger boys in
the home.

Scott continued to look down on the now peacefully sleeping form.  "We'll
look after you Danny, please don't worry.  We're your family now.  Lion and
I won't let anymore bad things happen to you.  We'll protect you, we'll
wrap you in our love and keep you safe."  Scott ran his hand over Danny's
cheek; he bent down and kissed the lightly snoring Danny on his forehead.

Chris had witnessed this touching scene, and it warmed his heart to see his
brother say such kind and tender things to someone whom Chris too had
pretty strong feelings for.

Chris gave a slight cough.  "Do you want to use the bathroom now Cub?"

"Oh sorry, yeah thanks."  Scott was brought out of his musings by Chris's
words.  "He's sleeping peacefully now, but if he needs it there's a bucket
down here at my side of the bed, if he wakes, try and encourage him to
drink some water."

"Don't worry Cub, I'll look after him."

Scott got up and gave his big brother a kiss on the lips as he passed.
"Lion, we've made the right decision to bring him here.  He really will
need an awful lot of looking after."

"I know sweet one.  We'll do it together."

Scott went into the bathroom and took his own shower.

 * * * * * *

"Jesus, where am I?  God my head hurts!"  Danny croaked when he awoke the
next morning.  "Chris?  What are you doing here?"

"Good morning Danny, have you got a hang over?"

"Bloody have.  Oh shit I want to be sick!"

Chris quickly reached over and put the bucket under Danny's chin.

"Thanks, I feel a bit better now." Danny said once he'd offloaded some of
his stomach contents.  "But why are you here?"

"Take a look around Danny."  Chris said softly, not wanting to add to
Danny's headache.  "You're not in you're own bed, you're in mine."  He
didn't add that the bed housed Scott too.

"Erm how, why?"  Then memories of the previous evenings events began to
slowly filter back to him.  He remembered embracing Chris; he also recalled
his declaration of love to him as well. "Oh shit, I think I made a bit of a
fool of myself last night didn't I?"  Danny then retched into the bucket
once more.

"It's alright Danny.  Trust me my friend it's alright."

"But skip I, I, oh hell, did I really tell you that I loved you?"

Chris's face broke out into a wide grin.  "Yeah and how."

"Oh I want to die."

"Well Danny, if Scott and I hadn't found you last night you just might have
gotten your wish, but truly Danny, it's okay I'm so glad we found you in
time.  Please you must believe me."

"But skip I made a total fool of myself."

"Danny, it doesn't matter, honestly it doesn't."

"Thank you, you're very kind.  What time is it?"

"A little after ten o-clock in the morning."

"Shit I should be at work!"  Then reality struck and Danny began to cry at
the memory of being made redundant.

Chris knew what had brought on Danny's tears.  He took the bucket from
Danny's grasp and placed it on the floor.  He then wrapped his arms around
the sobbing teenager.  Danny rested his head on Chris's broad shoulder.
Chris stroked the distressed man's hair.  "Danny it's alright.  Just let it
all go.  You're among friends now, Scott and I love you very much, just let
all the bad things out."

Danny did precisely that.  He cried his heart out to the slightly older
man.  He cried for all the nights he'd gone to bed alone, he cried for the
lost dreams of finding someone to love him.  He cried for all the pain both
emotional and physical that he'd suffered in the children's homes.  Danny
also cried because this was the first time that someone truly kind and
strong had offered him a shoulder to cry on.  Danny must have poured out
his long pent up pain for a full ten minutes.  Eventually the tears
subsided.

"Okay, now give your nose a good blow."  Chris said handing him a couple of
Kleenex.

"Thanks skip."

"Listen, Scott said there was some Alka-Seltzer in the bathroom cabinet.
I'll make you up a glass of it, okay?"

"Thanks Chris."

Chris then got out of bed and padded to the bathroom taking Danny's sick
bucket with him.  He was still totally naked.  It startled Danny that he'd
been held in Chris's loving embrace, and he'd not even noticed that Chris
had been naked.  Of course Danny had seen his skipper without his clothes
on many times before.

Chris soon came back with a glass full of frothing liquid.  "Try and drink
it all down."

Danny consumed the mixture, and promptly burped.  "Sorry."

"That's quite alright.  That stuff should help your upset tummy as well."

Chris got back into the bed and pulled an unresisting Danny back onto his
chest.  Danny tried to position himself so his erection wasn't pressing on
Chris, but Chris felt it nonetheless.  Chris resumed stroking Danny's hair.
Neither of them said anything for the next ten minutes or so.

Danny, despite his pounding head had never felt such an overwhelming sense
of peace and security before.  He snuggled into Chris's broad chest; he
even felt brave enough to put an arm around him.

"Comfy?"  Chris asked breaking the silence.

"Yeah very."  Danny thrilled at the vibrations in Chris's chest as the
larger man spoke.

Chris bent his head forward and kissed the top of Danny's head.  Danny
thought he'd died and gone to heaven.  The feelings of safety and security
just kept building and building.  However, so did the pressure on Danny's
bladder.  Danny had resisted his urge to pee for as long as he could, but
the pressure became too painful.

"Sorry got to go and pee."  Danny got up and ran to the bathroom.  He hoped
Chris hadn't seen his pee-woody.

Alone in the bed, Chris began to review the events of the previous night.
He and Scott had taken it in turns to sit up and watch over the unconscious
seventeen-year-old.  Chris had agreed to take the morning off work, Scott
had a couple of classes that he had to attend at the sixth-form college,
but he said he could miss his final lecture of the day as they were only
due to review some previously covered material.  So Chris had rung up the
Benefits Agency to arrange the morning off work, 'to deal with a family
emergency'.

Just before Scott left that morning, he asked Chris to go onto the landing
so they could have a talk.  Penny was on the early shift that week, so
she'd already left the house.

"Lion, I want Danny to stay with us."

"Well I'm sure he will for a day or two, but then he'll need to get back to
his own place I guess."

"No Lion, I want him to come and live here.  I'm sure once mum knows where
he's living, she'll agree with me.  In fact she said he could stay for as
long as he wanted to"

"That's quite a big step Cub.  Danny might not want to come live here."

"Surely he can't want to stay in that hell hole?"

"No, it may not be much, but it's his."

"He could make this place his too surely?"

"Cub think for a minute.  Would Danny feel comfortable living here? You
heard what he thinks about me.  If you loved someone totally, but saw them
being intimate with someone else, wouldn't that make life rather unpleasant
for you?"

"Yeah I guess so.  Lion, I think I could grow to love him too.  Maybe not
quite as much as I love you, but pretty damn close, and I think he feels
something for me."

"All this is very complicated Cub.  You can't just decide on something like
this overnight."

"Yeah I know, but..."

"Look, we'll talk about it more tonight.  I'll see if Eric and Larry are
free, we can go and discuss it with them."

"Yeah, I guess your right.  I just can't stand the idea of him going back
to that place alone.  I don't think I could sleep at night knowing he was
there."

"Well he's lived there for a few months."

"Yeah, look I'll have to go now.  Give Eric and Larry a ring then."

"Okay, see you at lunchtime."

Scott gave Chris a brief kiss on the lips, and then he went downstairs
grabbing a banana before he left the house.

Chris went back into the bedroom and laid himself down next to a still
sleeping Danny.  "Oh God, life is just so complicated."  He said to
himself.

* * * * *

"You want to do what?"  Larry asked once Chris and Scott had gotten
themselves sat down in Larry and Eric's flat.  Chris had just asked Larry's
opinion on how to go about forming a three-way relationship.  "Bloody hell
Chris, first you fall in love with your brother, and now you want to add a
third person to the mix.  Are you trying to send your fathers into an early
grave?"

"Sorry dad Larry, but it's very important to Scott and me."

"Yes Chris we can see it is." Eric said.  "You know such arrangements are
fraught with pitfalls at every stage."

"Yeah that's why we came to see you two.  We thought you might help guide
us round some of them."  Scott put in.

"Well neither of us has ever been involved in such a thing.  We used to
have a third person share our bed occasionally, but when the whole AIDS
thing blew up, we decided it was safer to stay monogamous.  But we weren't
in love with anyone who shared our bed.  It was made clear from the start
that it was just sex."

"Yeah sorry to land this on you.  I seem to make a habit of dropping
bombshells don't I?"

"Too right.  I don't think Dr Spock's book 'On Parenting' can help us here
Eric."  Larry said shaking his head.

"We don't have a copy anyway."  Eric pointed out.

"I'm glad we saved our money then."

"He's from Yorkshire originally, their all 'careful with their brass' over
there."  Eric said.  This caused the group to laugh.

"Look seriously.  Are you sure you want to do this?"  Larry asked.

"Yes very."  Chris said.  He told them all about Danny, and how they felt
about him.

"Please make sure you are doing this for the right reasons."  Eric said.
"Chris I know you always think things out before you act, that's one of
your major strengths.  Please don't do this because you feel sad for Danny,
because if you are, in the long run you'll end up hurting him very badly,
and you would probably lose him as a friend too."

"I know dad Eric.  I couldn't hurt Danny, he's too precious to me, and to
Scott too."

The four of them spent a couple of hours going through many of the possible
problems that could arise if they embarked on such an unusual relationship.
It seemed that jealousy and a sense of being left out of the loop were the
main things to watch out for.

"Now this is critical.  Danny must love, or be prepared to work at being in
love with you too Scott.  From what you've said, he's already in love with
you Chris, it's vital he doesn't enter the relationship thinking he can
just have you Chris, he has to share you with Scott, Oh bloody hell I'm not
cut out for this."  Larry said throwing his hands up in the air.

"It's alright dear," Eric said coming over to his frustrated partner. "It's
almost time for your medication."

The two burst out laughing, Chris and Scott soon joining them.

"Okay dads, we better get back home.  We left mum looking after Danny.
She's probably feeding him up as we speak.  We better rescue him before he
explodes from eating all her cooking."

"Okay boys.  Listen you can bring Danny round here anytime you want for a
chat."

"Thanks dads."  Scott said.  Even he had got into the habit of calling
Larry and Eric dad.  This pleased the older couple no end.

"Oh we might have a third son soon."  Eric said once 'their' boys had left.

"Yeah, but I can't help worrying that it'll all end in tears."

"Our Chris has his head screwed on pretty well.  He'll deal with it."

"I guess you're right."

* * * * *

To be continued.