Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 20:17:14 EDT
From: Seaview99@aol.com
Subject: Weekend Warriors: A Thing about His Hair

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the
property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are
the property of the author.  The author is in no way associated with the
owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise.  No copyright
infringement is intended.


They had known each other since junior high.  Josh had been new to the
school.  Craig had seen him in the hallway, and noticed him on occasion.
For some reason, he had been intrigued by him.  Yes, even a bit taken by
him.  Within a few weeks of his starting there, Craig noticed that Josh
seemed to draw people to him.  When Craig passed him in the hallway, he was
often amongst a crowd of people, who appeared to be drawn to him, laughing
with whatever he was saying.  I guess that's charisma, thought Craig, a bit
wistfully.  On top of looks.  Must be nice...

Not that Craig didn't have his own friends.  But he didn't have near the
popularity that Josh seemed to have.  He might have been jealous, if he
hadn't admired Josh from afar.

In addition to his other interests, Craig was passionate about wrestling.
He first thought about going out for it on entering the seventh grade, and
a guidance counselor encouraged him.  A bit hesitantly he went for tryouts,
and Coach Brown was impressed enough that afterwards, he took Craig aside.

"I'd like you for the team," Coach Brown said.  Craig looked at him, barely
able to hide his delight in hearing the words.

"Wow," Craig replied.  "I'd love to be on it."

"We'll just need a parental consent form.  I can give you one.  In my
office."

"Sounds great," said Craig.

For the remainder of the seventh grade, Craig slowly honed his wrestling
skills, and accompanied the team to regional finals at the end of the year,
where they won their tournament, helped by Craig's contribution.  Craig
liked the camaraderie he found on the team.


Returning to school in the eighth grade, Craig looked forward to continuing
with the team.  At the first team meeting, the boys lined up in two rows,
sitting on the gym floor, waiting for Coach Brown to assemble them for
practice.

"Dang!" said someone behind Craig.  He looked around, to see Josh sitting
behind him.  He had never actually met Josh, and was surprised to see him.
He hadn't known he had joined the team.

"What's wrong?" asked Craig.

Josh glanced up at Craig, with a bit of a grin.  "I was just trying to tie
my sneakers.  Think I pulled a finger muscle.  It's not serious, but it
makes it hard to tie them.  Give me a hand?  Just put a finger on top
there," Josh said, indicating the top of the sneaker, where the bow would
be.

"Sure," said Craig, placing his finger.

Josh proceeded to tie his sneaker.  Afterwards, Craig pulled his finger
away, and looked back up at Josh, who smiled.

"I don't think we've met," said Josh, grinning.  "I'm Josh."

Craig couldn't help but notice Josh's nice smile, and blue eyes.

"I'm Craig.  Nice to meet you," he said.

"Likewise."

At that point, Coach Brown came up to start the practice.

"First," said Coach Brown, "we'll assign everyone to weight classes.  Since
we don't have many on the team this year, each class will be kind of small,
and you'll get a lot of practice with the guys in your class."

Coach Brown proceeded to distribute the guys into classes.  Josh and Craig
ended up in the same class.  For that practice, and the few subsequent
ones, they got several practice matches together, along with some with
other team members.  During this time, Coach Brown observed the group
dynamics, and who seemed to `click' with whom.

At the end of the third practice, Coach Brown talked to some of the guys.
Before everyone hit the locker room, he came up to Craig.  "Hey, Josh," he
called, as Josh had also been on his way to the locker room.  Josh came
back.

Looking at the two of them, Coach Brown said, "From the first few
practices, I've noticed that you two seem to hit it off."

Craig and Josh looked at each other, a bit bashfully.  "Yeah, I guess,"
they said.

"Since you two are in the same weight class," the coach continued, "I'd
like to encourage you two to practice the moves on off time.  You both have
good technique.  With some practice, we could really win the state
championship."  He looked at them.  "How about it?"

Craig and Josh looked at each other again.  "Fine by me," said Josh.  "I'm
sure I can find some time."

"Me, too," returned Craig.

"OK, great," said the coach.  Then Craig and Josh hit the locker room.


For the remainder of the eighth grade, in addition to their respective
circles of friends, they began to spend more time together with each other,
bonding easily after practices.  Their team won the state championship at
the end of the year.  The friendship continued as they began, and continued
through high school.  During the last week of school of junior year of high
school, Josh came up to Craig in the hallway.

"I don't think I told you," said Josh.  "I'm taking the summer in the
vineyard."

"No," said Craig, just a bit disappointed. "You hadn't."

"Yeah," continued Josh.  "Sue's parents were able to get me a job at a
resort there.  Since they'll be spending a lot of time there, it sounded
like a great situation."

Sue was Josh's girlfriend.  They had been going out since the beginning of
junior year.  Craig had known Sue for several years, and found her to be
really nice.  She like him as well.

"Well, have a great summer," said Craig, with a smile.

"You, too," said Josh, with a wink.  He pointed at him.  "I'll be looking
for you, first week of September."


The summer passed uneventfully.  Craig spent time with his other friends,
but missed seeing Josh.  He looked forward to seeing him again, as Labor
Day weekend rolled around.


On the evening before the first day of school, the phone rang in Craig's
house.  His mother answered it.  She yelled up to Craig's room.

"Craig!  Phone's for you!"

Craig raced downstairs.

"Who is it?" he asked, as he took the phone from his mother.

"I don't know," she replied, with a bit of a puzzled look.  "Didn't
recognize the voice, and he didn't say."

"Hello?" said Craig into the receiver.

"Hope you haven't slacked the summer off."

He didn't recognize the voice.  It was deeper than that of most of his
friends.

"Who is this?" asked Craig.

"Uh, your no. 1 wrestling partner, maybe?"

"Josh?"

"Bingo!"

"Hey, I didn't recognize your voice.  Are you OK?"

"Yeah, fine.  Think the culprit may be ...puberty."

"Aha..." said Craig.

Josh hesitated.  "As it turns out, I'm going to be missing the first week
of school.  A family emergency came up, so to speak.  And, I was going to
ask.  My parents are going to be out of town this weekend.  They're
celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary.  I know it's a bit of an
imposition, but do you think I could stay at your place?  Sue will be out
of town with her parents, too."

Josh had had several overnighters at Craig's home in the past, so this was
nothing new.

"I don't think my parents will mind," replied Craig.  "I think my Mom will
be out of town visiting her sister, but I think my Dad will be fine with
it.  Let me ask."

"Mom," said Craig, covering the receiver.  "Josh's parents will be out of
town this weekend.  Can he stay here?"

His mother thought for a moment.  "Sure," she said.  "I don't think that
should be a problem.  Check with your father, but I don't think he'll
mind."

"Josh," said Craig, returning to the phone.  "My Mom says it's OK.  I'll
have to double check with my Dad, but I don't think there will be any
problem.

"Great," replied Josh.  "OK if my Dad drops me off at your house around 5
Friday afternoon, on their way out of town?"

"Sounds good," said Craig.  "Looking forward to seeing you."

"Me, too."


On Friday afternoon, around 5 o'clock, Josh's father's car pulled up
outside Craig's house.  Josh got out, and got out a duffel bag, and garment
bag.  He closed the car door, and his father pulled the car away, as Josh
proceeded up towards Craig's house.  Craig had come out of the house, and
waited on the porch for Josh to come up.

Craig almost didn't recognize Josh.  He was more muscular, especially in
the upper arms and chest, with broader shoulders than he had had the
previous year.

On the porch now, Josh sat his duffel bag and garment bag down.  They
looked at each other, hesitated a bit, and then gave each other a close,
tight hug for several seconds.  Josh loosened his grip to pull away.  As he
pulled away, Craig noticed that his eyebrows seemed a bit darker, and his
masculine scent was noticeable.  His dark brown hair was longer than it had
been the previous year, too.  It had always been silky and straight, but
now it seemed even shinier, mostly covering his ears on the side.  With
just a suggestion of a part on the left, it had a full look, falling just
above his eyes in gentle wisps over his eyebrows.

"Wow," Craig said, pulling back.  "Almost didn't recognize you.  Puberty's
been good to you," he said, in spite of himself.

"Yeah," replied Josh, with a small cough.  "It happens," he said with a
grin.  "So, are your ready for the team again this year?"

"Sure thing."

"Let's go!  Whoopee!" exclaimed Josh, playfully giving Craig's dark blonde
head of hair a healthy tousle.  Craig, laughing, instinctively jumped back
a bit, and then picked up the garment bag, as Josh picked up his duffel
bag.  They proceeded inside.


Craig's mother had already left to visit her sister, so only his father and
sister Becky were home for the weekend.  Becky was seven years old.  The
ten year age difference between Craig and Becky made it apparent that Becky
might have been an `accident.'  But as she grew, she easily fit into the
household, as a precocious member, very much loved by everyone.

Craig's father entered the living room from the kitchen.  Josh looked up to
see him, and smiled.

"Mr. J!"  Josh exclaimed.  "Thanks for having me."

"No problem," said Craig's father, coming up to Josh, extending his hand,
which Josh shook.  "Great to have you again.  Why don't you boys put Josh's
stuff upstairs?  Dinner's almost ready.  I'll give a yell."

The boys proceeded up to Craig's room, which was converted from the attic.
It had lots of room.  As they walked inside, Josh noticed the wrestling
mats in one corner.

"Wow," Josh said, noticing the mats.  "You didn't tell me about this!"

"Yeah," replied Craig.  "They were a gift for my seventeenth birthday.
Look kind of nice don't they?"

"Super!"

They put Josh's duffel bag on the floor, and his garment bag in a closet.
Craig sat on the lower bunk of his bed, while Josh laid out nearby on one
of the mats.  They talked some about how their respective summers had been.
Now and then, Josh ran some fingers through his hair, causing a wisp to
fall over his eye.  He noted a bit of distraction on Craig's part when he
did this.


"Boys!" shouted Craig's father, about fifteen minutes later.  "Dinner's
on!"

They got up, and came down the stairs to the dining room, where Becky had
set a nice table.  Craig and Josh sat at adjacent seats.  Becky came in and
sat in a seat adjacent to Josh, across from Craig.  With most of the dishes
on the table already, Craig's father brought the main dish in with him, and
he sat in the remaining chair.

They started eating, with conversation along the lines of catching up with
everyone's summers.  After a pause, Becky pondered a bit.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" she asked Josh.  Her innocence at this question
was endearing.

"Becky!" said Craig's father, with a laugh. "That's a bit personal," he
said looking at her, and then smiling at Josh.

"That's OK," said Josh, blushing a bit.  "As a matter of fact, yes.  Sue,
one of Craig's and my classmates, and I have been going out for about a
year now.  We're pretty `tight'," he continued, winking at Becky.

"Well," continued Becky, thinking a bit more.  "If you ever were to break
up, I'm available."  At that the others cracked up.

"Becky!" said Craig's father, in a mock scolding manner.

"That's OK," said Josh, in a mock exasperation tone of voice.  "If we ever
do break up," he said, smiling at Becky, "I'll keep you in mind."  He
couldn't help but feel touched by the obvious crush on him that Becky had
just expressed.

Becky looked at Josh again.

"Something wrong?" asked Josh, looking at Becky.

"Your hair is nice," observed Becky.  "It's longer.  I like it."

"Becky," muttered Mr. Johnson.  "It isn't polite to talk about Josh's
hair."

"Why not?" asked Becky, looking at her father.

"I don't know," said Mr. Johnson, trying to think of a reason.  "It's
just..., not...  I don't know why, but it isn't."  Then he glanced at Josh.
"Although he does have nice looking hair," he admitted.  Everyone laughed
at that, the three men blushing a bit.  "Your parents let you wear it that
long?"

Josh paused.  "Yeah, actually, my girlfriend Sue prefers it longer.  My
parents haven't hassled me much about it, so I've let it grow longer.  They
say, as long as I keep it nicely combed, it's OK."

"Yes, it is nicely combed, too," concluded Mr. Johnson, appearing to admire
it a bit.  Craig and Josh looked at each other, as the former gave a hint
of a roll of his eyes.


The rest of the dinner conversation continued along more conventional
lines.  When they were finished, everyone helped clear the table, and Becky
helped her father with the dishes in the kitchen.

The boys spent the evening watching TV, and playing video games.  Around
ten, they proceeded upstairs to Craig's room.

"Well," said Josh, looking at the mats.  "Want to give these a workout
tonight, or wait until tomorrow?"

Craig looked at Josh.  "I don't know.  If you're game..."

Josh smiled back at Craig.  "I'm game."

Craig stripped down to gym shorts, sans t-shirt, while Josh did the same.
They flipped a coin, to see who got the choice of upper and lower position.
Josh won the coin toss, choosing upper position.  They got into starting
position, Josh putting one hand on Craig's lower wrist, and his other arm
under Craig's torso, snugly and gently.  They did several sets, alternating
starting position, each pinning the other roughly the same amount of times.

Craig noticed something that unsettled him a bit during the matches.  He
had always found Josh to be an attractive guy, but had rarely mentioned it,
except for that time, last school year.  Tonight, as Josh's hand was
brushing across different parts of his body as they went through different
holds, he found himself getting a bit aroused.  Looking over his shoulder
or plainly at Josh at different points from close-up or back a bit, he
couldn't help but notice Josh's hair, falling down into his eyes.  During a
match, you wouldn't bother moving a hand up to clear hair out of your eyes,
when the hand would be more useful or even critical somewhere else.  But as
he noticed Josh's shiny hair in his eyes, or layers of hair flopping back
and forth around his head as it bopped around during the match, and felt
his hands, after firmly in position for one hold, continually brush, ever
so gently, over parts of his body, to get to the next hold position, he
couldn't help but feel more and more excited.  He sure hoped Josh wasn't
noticing.  At the end of one set, Craig pulled back and got up.

"Got to take a break," he said to Josh.  "I'm going to get some water.  Be
right back," he said, going to the bathroom, off the bedroom.

"Take your time," said Josh, getting up, and sitting on his knees.

A few minutes later, Craig came back into the room.  "OK if we call it a
night for wrestling?"

"Sure.  I'm kind of tired, anyway," replied Josh, yawning and stretching.
"Mind if I take a shower tonight?  Kind of smelly after today, and this,"
he said, indicating the mats.

"Be my guest," said Craig with a smile, indicating the bathroom.

Josh proceeded to take a shower.  Following the shower, Craig heard his
hair dryer going for a few minutes.  Afterwards, Josh came out of the
bathroom in full length pajama bottoms, again sans shirt.  His hair, almost
dry, again had a nice shine from its natural oils, and a full look.  Craig,
who had been at his window, looking through a telescope, glanced up at
Josh, and couldn't help admiring his hair a bit as Josh crossed the room.
It looked obvious that, in addition to drying it, Josh had also run a comb
through it.

"Always give your hair a once over before bed?" teased Craig softly, as
Josh walked up to him.

Josh smirked at Craig.  "Yeah, if I don't, it tends to be a `bad hair' day
the next day.  Not sure why.  What are you looking at?" he asked softly,
looking over Craig's shoulder, at the outside sky.

"Saturn," Craig replied.  "The rings look really nice tonight."

"Have a look?" asked Josh.

"Sure, let me get it a bit more in focus."

After Craig had taken about a minute, Josh came up more closely, and gently
put a hand on Craig's shoulder.  "Come on," said Josh softly.  "Let me
see."  Like Josh, Craig was dressed in full length pajama bottoms, sans
shirt.  The feel of Josh's hand on his shoulder made Craig shiver just a
bit.

"You OK?" said Josh, noticing the shiver.

"Yeah, fine."

Josh proceeded up to the telescope, as Craig pulled away.  As Josh put his
eye to the telescope lens, a wisp of hair fell into his eyes.  He slowly
brought up a hand, and ran his fingers through his hair, in an attempt to
get it out of his eyes, to no avail.

"Wow," whispered Josh, as he looked through the telescope.  "Cool!"

He pulled away, and smiled at Craig.  "Nice!"

"Well," said Craig, looking toward his bunk beds.  "Ready for bed?"

"Yeah," said Josh.  "Long day."

"You can have the top, as usual," said Craig.

"Fine," said Josh, climbing the ladder to the top bed.

When they were both settled in their respective beds, Craig turned out the
bed side lamp by his bed.  With his window curtains open, the lights from
the street lit up the room quite a bit.  After a few minutes, Josh spoke
softly.

"Craig?  You awake?"

"Yeah."

Josh hesitated, and then snickered a bit.  "Some weird dinner conversation
tonight, huh?"

Craig also hesitated.  "Yeah."  Craig waited, hoping for Josh to continue.

"Never knew Becky had a crush on me."

"Yeah, I don't ever remember her mentioning it."

Josh hesitated again.  "And that talk about my hair!  Sheesh!"

"Yeah.  Sorry if it embarrassed you."

"Nah.  Just found it kind of amusing."  Josh paused for a moment.  "Sounded
like both Becky and your dad might have had a thing about it."

Craig, though a bit concerned about where the conversation was headed, was
vaguely intrigued; he wasn't sure what to say.

"It does seem shinier than it was last year," said Craig.

"I think that may have something to do with puberty.  It's always been kind
of silky and shiny, but I think with puberty, there's some kind of increase
in skin oils or something.  So if there's an increase in oils on the scalp,
that would make hair shinier, I guess.

"That makes sense."  Craig hesitated again.  "And for whatever it's worth,
I think it looks nice, too."

"So you like it, too."

Craig didn't know what to say.  "No, I'm just saying..." he stammered, not
knowing what to say.

Josh laughed a bit.  "I'm just having fun with you..."

There was no talk for several seconds.

"Craig?"

"Yeah?"

Josh hesitated again.  "Mind if I come down there?"

"Come down here?"

"Sleep down there."

"Uh, sure.  I can go up there."  Craig was puzzled.  "Something wrong with
the top bunk?  You always sleep there."

"No, I meant, can I join you down there?"

Craig was really puzzled.  He didn't know what to say.

"We're not going to do anything.  I just thought..." continued Josh.

"There's not much room."

A pause.  "A bit snug, but we could probably both fit," said Josh.

"Well, OK, sure," said Craig, after a moment.

After a few seconds, Josh got up, climbed down the ladder on the side of
the bed, and crawled in over Craig, to be on the side of the bed nearer the
wall.

"Hope you're not a covers hog," quipped Craig softly, with a grin.

"No," said Josh, a bit indignantly.  "Try not to snore too much," he
replied with a wink.

Josh turned to face the wall, lying on his side.  Craig faced in the same
direction, lying parallel to Josh against him.  In the moonlight through
the window, Craig looked at the hair on the back of Josh's head, shiny with
the moonlight.  His face just inches from the back of Josh's head, he got a
faint smell of his hair, with a hint of the shampoo.  He brought up his
free hand, and ran some fingers through it for several seconds.

"I guess you do like my hair," said Josh softly.

Embarrassed a bit, Craig replied, "I guess..."  Then he threw that arm over
the top of Josh's torso, and gave a gentle squeeze of the upper part of his
body.  Josh brought up his hand and put it over Craig's.

"'night," said Josh softly.

"'night," replied Craig.


The next morning, at dawn, some outside birds' chirping gently woke Craig.
He was lying on his side, facing the room.  Josh was behind Craig, with his
arm around Craig's waist.  His soft snoring indicated he was still asleep.
Craig slowly adjusted, to lie on his back.  His body's movement wakened
Josh, who brought his hand up to rub his eyes as he yawned.

"'morning, sleepy head," said Craig, turning over onto his other side, to
face Josh, who now turned to lie on his back.

"'morning, yourself," said Josh sleepily, with a grin.

"Sleep OK?" asked Craig, propping his head against his right hand, as he
put his left hand on Josh's chest.

"Yeah, great," replied Josh, putting his hands behind the back of his head,
as he lay on his back, and looked up at the bottom of the top bunk.  They
both lay there for a few minutes, as they drifted in and out between sleep
and consciousness.  Eventually, they heard Becky get up downstairs, and
start to run around, and wake her father up.  The two of them went to the
kitchen to start breakfast.  This noise fully waked Craig and Josh, who
continued to lie as they were in bed.

"Any idea of what you'd like to do today?" asked Craig, looking into Josh's
blue eyes.  He then brought his left hand up, and ran some fingers deeply
through the layers of hair on the side of Josh's head for a couple minutes.
Then he ran some fingers through the wisps of hair running over his
eyebrows, causing them to fall into his eyes.  He gently brushed the wisps
out of Josh's eyes after they would fall into them.  He did this repeatedly
for a few minutes.

"You really do like my hair," said Josh, with a laugh.

"Yeah, I guess so," said Craig.

"Any idea why?"

"Why what?"

"Why you like it so much?"

"No," said Craig.  "Guess I just do."  He paused and chuckled.  "There's
just something about it, the hair running between my fingers, and covering
your eyes.  I don't know..."

Josh looked at Craig, with a bit of a curious look.  "Does it excite you?"
he asked.

Craig looked back at Josh, with a bit of a shrug.  He didn't answer.

Josh chuckled.  "You're nuts."  He paused, and then looked back above.  "I
was thinking.  Maybe hit the science museum today?  There was an optical
exhibit I wanted to see.  What do you think?"

"Sounds good."

Now they could hear Becky and Craig's dad more noticeably, downstairs.

"Maybe you'd better get back in the upper bed," said Craig.  "My dad might
get weird if he comes up, and we're in the same bed."

"Good point," said Josh, putting his hand gently on Craig's chest, and
climbing over him to get out of the bed.  He proceeded up the ladder, to
get into the top bunk bed.  As if on cue, they then heard Craig's father
climbing the stairs, and then knock softly on the door.

"Come in," said Craig.

Mr. Johnson opened the door, and poked his head around door.

"Morning, boys," he said.  "Pancakes sound good?"

"Great!" they said, simultaneously.

"OK, why don't you shower, and be down in 15 minutes?"

"Thanks, Dad," said Craig.

"You bet," said Mr. Johnson, as he closed the door, and went back down
stairs.

The boys proceeded to shower and dress.  They both dressed in jeans, Craig
wearing a favorite t-shirt, with Josh wearing a polo shirt.  Josh's
muscular arms and torso were evident beneath his shirt.  They proceeded
downstairs, where Becky had set the table.

"So, where are you two off to, today?" asked Mr. Johnson, towards the end
of breakfast.

Craig and Josh looked at each other.  "We thought we'd hit the science
museum," said Craig.  "Josh says there's an optical exhibit.  It sounds
cool."

"Yes," said Mr. Johnson.  "I think I read about it.  It's supposed to be
really good."  He paused.  "Craig, I don't think the paper came today.
Think you could drive down to get one before you head out?  Maybe Josh
could help with the dishes?  Earn his keep?"  He gave Josh a wink.

Again, Craig and Josh looked at each other.  "Yeah, sure," they said.
Craig looked a bit puzzled.  He couldn't remember a day when the paper
hadn't been delivered.

Becky proceeded to clear the table, while Craig left to get the paper.

Afterwards, Josh followed Mr. Johnson into the kitchen to help with the
dishes.

"Any preference?" asked Mr. Johnson, indicating whether Josh preferred to
wash or dry.

"How about, I'll wash, you dry?" asked Josh.

"You bet," said Mr. Johnson, as they started.  They washed and dried for a
few minutes before anyone said anything.

"You know," said Mr. Johnson finally, "I'm glad you and Craig are friends.
You two seem to hit it off really well."

Vaguely, Josh seemed to feel just a bit of discomfort at Mr. Johnson's
remark.  He couldn't tell why, right offhand.

"Craig's a cool guy," replied Josh, with a shrug, and grin towards
Mr. Johnson.  "Not a bad wrestler either."

They went on washing and drying for a few minutes, talking about everyday
topics, and then falling silent for a few minutes.  Looking down towards
the sink as he did the dishes, Josh's hair seemed to constantly fall over
his eyes, as it already was over his ears on the side, and collar in the
back.  He occasionally gave a toss of his head, in an attempt to get the
hair out of his eyes, with no apparent success...  After a few minutes,
Mr. Johnson looked at Josh, noticing his physique under his polo shirt.

"I remember having to work out a lot to keep in shape when I was in high
school wrestling," said Mr. Johnson.

"Yeah, it's kind of a pain, but you have to do it," replied Josh.

Mr. Johnson looked at Josh.  "Looks like you've been good at it.  You do
have a good build."

"I don't know," replied Josh, a bit bashfully.

"No really, you have a good physique, good muscle tone."

Josh felt a bit uncomfortable, though he couldn't say why.

Mr. Johnson looked at Josh's hair.  "Looks like you have a thread in your
hair."

Josh looked at Mr. Johnson.  "Really?" he asked, taking off a rubber glove
to run some fingers through his hair, in an attempt to get it out.  Looking
at his hand, he couldn't see anything on it.

There hadn't been any thread in Josh's hair.  Mr. Johnson saw a thread on
his own pant leg.  Nonchalantly, he picked the thread up on his fingers.

"Yeah, you just missed it," said Mr. Johnson, looking at Josh's silky hair.
He hesitated.  "May I?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, I guess," said Josh, looking at Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Johnson brought his fingers up to Josh's head, careful to hide the
thread behind his fingers as he did so.  He proceeded to slowly run his
fingers through Josh's hair a few times.  At first, he ran them through
close to the surface.  Then he ran them through much more deeply.  After
running them through deeply a few times, he left the thread in Josh's hair.

"Here it is," Mr. Johnson said softly, gently pulling the thread back out
with his fingers.

Josh looked at it, as Mr. Johnson held it in his fingers.  "Hmm," said
Josh. "Who knows where that came from," he said with a small smile.

"Who knows?" said Mr. Johnson.  He looked back at Josh's hair.  "Think I
mussed your hair a bit when I got the thread.  Here," he said, as he
brought his hand back up to where he had pulled the thread out, and ran a
few fingers slowly through again, in an attempt to smooth the hair back to
its original look.  "You do have nice shiny hair," he said as he moved his
hand to Josh's forehead, using a few fingers to brush a wisp out over his
eyebrows.  He could see that the words and gesture had made Josh a bit
uncomfortable.  "Sorry," he continued, "I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"No, that's OK," said Josh, shrugging him off.

They proceeded to finish washing the dishes.  When they were finished, and
Josh had taken off the rubber gloves again, Mr. Johnson looked at Josh.

"Thanks, Josh, and have a good time with Craig today."  He gave Josh's
shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

"No problem, and thanks, Mr. J," replied Josh with a smile.  They then
heard Craig pulling back into the driveway.


Craig came back into the house, to find them coming into the living room.
Tossing the newspaper onto the coffee table, he said, "Mission
accomplished.  Ready for the science museum?"

"Yeah, let's go!" beamed Josh.

They left, and headed over to the science museum, where they spent the day
browsing the many exhibits.  As they left, Josh exclaimed, "Boy am I
hungry!  I could eat a horse.  You want to go to that restaurant on Maple
Drive?  Maybe catch a movie afterwards?"

"Uh, yeah, that sounds great," replied Craig.  "Let me just call my dad,"
he said, pulling out his cell phone.  "Let him know what we're doing."
Craig stepped away for a few minutes, and then came back.  "He said fine,
have fun, and that he wouldn't wait up.  I told him we'd be back by 11
tonight.  He did say not to get back too late, just so we'd be awake for
church."

"Super!"  Then a pause.  "Oh, yeah..., church."

Craig drove them over to the restaurant Josh had referred to, where they
had a nice dinner.  They then went to a current movie both had wanted to
see.  As they came out, Josh gave another yawn and stretch.

"Wow!  What a day.  This has been fun," he said, grinning at Craig.  "What
did you think of the movie?"

"I liked it," said Craig, thinking for a moment.  "A bit sappy in places,
but good overall."

"Yeah," replied Josh.  "Good acting, too."

They got back to Craig's car, and drove home.  When they were coming into
the house, they took care to be quiet, so as not to wake Becky, or Craig's
father.  They tiptoed up to the attic, where they undressed for bed, with
similar night attire to the night before.

Craig wasn't sure what Josh wanted to do for sleeping arrangements now.  As
Craig went to the lower bunk, and pulled down the covers, Josh followed
him, and sat down on the end of the lower bunk.  He mumbled, glancing at
Craig, "Join you again tonight?"

Craig glanced back at Josh.  "Uh, sure."

Craig stepped aside, while Josh got into the bed before him, again lying
nearer the wall.  Craig got into bed beside him.  Josh lay on his back, and
put his hands behind his head.  He appeared to be lost in thought for a
moment.  Craig looked at him.

"Penny."

"What?" asked Josh, looking at Craig.

"Penny for your thoughts."

"Oh, yeah," said Josh with a laugh.  He looked a bit troubled then.  "It's
funny."

"What's funny?" asked Craig, turning on his side towards Josh, propping his
head on this right hand, his left head on Josh's chest.

"I think your whole family is hung up on my hair," replied Josh.  "At least
the men and Becky."

Craig looked at Josh.  "What.  What happened?  Did something happen with my
dad?"

"Well, yeah, kind of," replied Josh.  "When you went out to get the paper
this morning, I was doing the dishes with your dad.  We got to talking
about everyday stuff, but he also mentioned how he was glad we were
friends, and how we seemed to hit it off.  I guess that wasn't so weird.
But then, he complimented me on my build and physique.  Maybe that was ok,
but after that, he said there was something, a thread, in my hair.  I felt
for it, but there wasn't anything there.  So he brought his hand up, and
ran his fingers through my hair."  Josh paused.  "Actually, he took his
time doing it, and ran his fingers through pretty deeply, too.  Then he
pulled a thread out.  I really think he might have `planted' a thread in
there right then, just to be able to run his fingers through, and pull it
out.  After that, he commented about how shiny my hair was, and brought his
hand up again, to run some fingers through the hair on my forehead."  Josh
looked at Craig.  "Finally, he squeezed by shoulder, and told me to have a
good time with you today.  I don't know what to make of it.  Maybe
nothing."

Craig looked at Josh.  "He might have just been trying to be friendly.  But
yeah, it is kind of weird."  Craig paused, and then looked at Josh again.
"Did you mind it, when he was doing it?  I mean, running his fingers
through your hair."

That's the funny thing," said Josh.  "It felt kind of good, his running his
fingers through.  Not like when Sue does it.  It was just different.  Has
he ever done that with you?"

"He certainly gets playful and physical sometimes, but I think he is just
comfortable around guys, having wrestled in high school himself.  He's
tousled my hair now and then, but never run his fingers through, that I can
remember."  Craig looked concerned.  "I hope you won't say anything.  I
mean, not to your parents.  I'm sure my Dad is straight as they come."

"Nah," said Josh.  "I'm sure he was just trying to be friendly.  I've known
him all these years.  I guess the guys in your family just have a thing
about hair," he concluded, with a wink at Craig.  "'night," he said,
turning on his side, lying towards the wall.

"'night," replied Craig, turning on his side to face Josh's back, and
throwing his arm over him, as he had the night before.

**********

Craig was standing in the local sporting goods store, admiring the
wrestling mats which he had gotten for his seventeenth birthday.  Not bad,
he thought, as he looked at them.  They looked even better in his room at
home.

"I think these look better than the ones you have," someone said jokingly,
with a cocky tone of voice, over his shoulder.  He looked over his shoulder
to see Josh.  He hadn't been aware that he was there.  Then he noticed that
Josh was dressed in just his gym shorts and sneakers, as he himself was.
With the post-pubescent look Craig had observed the night before, he was
also incredibly handsome, even more so than he had previously noticed.  A
far off fan blew a warm gentle breeze in their direction.  Josh's hair was
even silkier and shinier than Craig had remembered it from the night
before, the breeze blowing through layers of it on the sides of his head,
and wisps of it from his eyebrows, into his eyes.  As the breeze got
stronger, it blew his hair around more and more, going completely over his
eyes.  Josh didn't bother to try to clear it away.  Craig just looked at
him, apparently mesmerized.  "Like my hair, huh?" he asked, with a grin at
Craig.  As he felt the warm breeze getting gradually stronger, Craig began
to get a pleasurable weak feeling.  What the heck, he thought.  What's
going on here?  Then he began to wonder.  Is this a dream?

"Last one back to the car's a rotten egg," said Josh, tapping his shoulder,
as he started sprinting towards the store's entrance.  Craig, a foot in
front of him, instantly started sprinting in the same direction.  Being in
front of Josh, he shouldn't have had any problem beating him out of the
store.  But as soon as he started running, he found he couldn't run fast.
Actually, he found he was only able to run in slow motion, and felt as if
he were running against a big headwind, the warm breeze from the fan which
they were running towards, having become much stronger in just moments.
With each step, he found himself to be feeling much weaker.  Now he really
wondered what was going on.  As he tried to run, he also began to have a
really pleasurable feeling.

Within a few steps, as he continued to helplessly slow down, he could feel
Josh's arms coming around his waist from behind.  "Josh," he moaned softly.
"I feel so ...weak."  "It's OK, I've got you," Josh whispered softly back
into his ear, his arms wrapped around the front of Craig's upper body in a
sensual, caressing hug now, his warm breath on Craig's neck.

As the strength drained out of Craig's body, he slowly began to fall,
despite Josh's arms, which seemed to be wrapped almost loosely, back around
his waist now.  Surely Josh was strong enough to support him.  Was he
intentionally letting him fall, just distracted by something, or just
trying to gently ease him down to the floor?  Whatever the case, the gentle
friction across his body as he slowly slid down through Josh's loose grasp,
his fingers slowly sliding up from Craig's waist over his torso, was more
than Craig could take, giving him an incredibly pleasurable feeling.
"Feels so good...," whispered Craig as he went completely limp, putting his
own hands gently over Josh's hands as they slid over his body.  Craig gave
an audible moan, as he felt an extremely pleasurable release.


He awoke with a start, to find himself lying partly on his side and partly
against Josh, facing the center of the room.  Josh was facing him from
behind, against him, as he had been against Josh, when they fell asleep.
Josh's arms were also wrapped gently around Craig's stomach, with Craig's
hands on top of Josh's, as it had been in the dream.  Craig could feel
Josh's breath on his neck, just as in the dream.  At Craig's start, Josh
also stirred.

"What," he asked softly.  "Bad dream?"

Craig noticed he was wet.  Then he began to realize, he had just had a
dream, and it had been a wet dream.  Finally, it dawned on him.  Oh no, he
thought.  It was about Josh.  Then he noticed that both his and Josh's
arms, wrapped around him, were also slimy.

"Sheesh!" said Craig, with mild disgust, looking down at his and Josh's
arms.  "I'm sorry."

Josh looked down over Craig's shoulder to see the mess on their arms and
hands.  "Hey, don't worry, it happens," he said softly, with a smile.  "We
better clean up."

They got out of bed, and Craig went into the bathroom first and washed off.
When he came back into the room, he got a new pair of pajama bottoms out of
his dresser drawers, and put them on, as Josh went into the bathroom to
wash off himself.

When Josh came out of the bathroom, they got back into bed; Craig was
obviously bothered by what had just happened.  He lay on his back and
looked up at the bottom of the top bunk

Josh chuckled.  "Was she hot, at least?"

Craig seemed really bothered now, eyes trained above.

"What," said Josh.

Craig look at Josh, then looked back above.

"It was about you," he said finally.

Josh thought for several seconds, before he spoke.

"Come on," he said finally, thinking somewhat carefully about his words.
"You know lots of guys have wet dreams about other guys when they're
younger.  It doesn't mean anything.  Don't worry about it."

"Yeah, right," said Craig, a bit derisively, turning back on his side,
facing the room and away from Josh.  He jerked his shoulder away from Josh
slightly.  "Sorry to have woken you.  See you in the morning."

Josh hesitated.  "Yeah, see you in the morning."  He could tell Craig was
upset.  He put his hand gently on Craig's shoulder, as he lay on this side
facing him.  Several minutes later, they both gradually drifted back to
sleep.


The next morning, Craig woke up before Josh.  He was still in the same
position, lying on his left side, facing the room, with Josh facing his
back.  Josh was still asleep when Craig turned over on his back to look up
at the bunk bed above.  As Craig turned over, Josh stirred, but did not
awaken.  He continued to sleep, snoring softly, as Craig dozed off and on,
for several minutes.  Finally, sounds from downstairs woke both of them up.

"You'd probably better get back up into the top bed," said Craig.

"Yeah," said Josh, yawning and stretching.  He gently put his arm on
Craig's chest again, as he crawled over him to get out of bed.  He climbed
the ladder, and got into the top bed.  Again, as if on cue, they heard
footsteps on the stairs, followed by a soft knock on the door.

"Come in," said Craig.

The door opened, and Mr. Johnson poked his head around it.

"You boys better get up and at `em," he said.  "You know the drill.  Get
dressed for church.  We'll leave in an hour.  We'll have breakfast here
afterwards."

"Right, Dad," replied Craig.  "We'll be down.  Thanks for the wake-up
call."

"You bet," said Mr. Johnson.  He closed the door, and went downstairs.

Craig was silent, remembering the dream from the night before.  Following
his lead, Josh didn't say anything either, at first.

"You want the first shower?" said Craig, finally.

"Yeah, sure," replied Josh, getting up, and coming down the ladder.  He
went to his duffel bag, to get some things, and went into the bathroom.

About fifteen minutes later, after the shower had finished running, along
with Craig's hair dryer, Josh came out of the bathroom, dressed just in
shorts.  His hair had its usual full look, with silky shine, combed out
over his ears on the side and collar in the back, and over and across his
eyebrows in front, almost covering his eyes.

"Do you ever have a bad hair day?" asked Craig, just a bit derisively.  For
a moment, he wondered why Josh had combed his hair that morning as he had,
with it almost covering his eyes, after Craig had mentioned his
fascination, not only with Josh's hair, but also his hair in his eyes.  And
after the wet dream he'd told Josh about the night before...  Was Josh
`playing' with him?  Who knows, he thought, maybe he couldn't help it;
maybe his hair was just trained that way...

"Now and then," replied Josh, with a small smile and flick of his eyebrow.

Craig went into the bathroom to take his shower.  When he came out about
fifteen minutes later, he saw that Josh had started dressing in the suit he
had brought in his garment bag.  He had pants, shirt and shoes on, and was
in the middle of tying his tie.  Craig started to get dressed himself.
They had a little small talk about everyday things, thoughts about the
school year to come, and so on.  By the time Craig had finished getting on
his pants, shoes, and shirt, and tying his tie, he noticed that Josh was
finished dressing, just short of jacket.  He glanced at Josh.

"You're looking handsome," he said casually, not wanting to make a big deal
out of it.

"You're looking pretty spiffy yourself," replied Josh with a grin, looking
back at Craig.  He noticed that Craig's tie, which Craig had apparently
finished tying, was a bit off center.  "Your tie looks a little off, but
otherwise..."

"What," replied Craig, looking in the mirror.

"Here," said Josh, coming up behind Craig, as he looked into the mirror.
Josh put his right hand gently on Craig's shoulder, as he adjusted the tie
for several seconds with his left hand.  Just inches apart, Craig tilted
his head a bit towards Josh, as they both looked into the mirror at Craig's
tie.  As Josh finished adjusting Craig's tie, and gave him a casual pat on
the chest with his left hand, Craig felt himself getting a bit aroused.  He
was relieved that Josh was finished adjusting his tie.  Josh winked as he
said, "Wouldn't want your offset tie embarrassing me in church."

"Eh, get out of here," replied Craig, playfully.  He was able to hide the
concern he was feeling over the arousal he had felt moments before.  They
proceeded to put on their jackets, with a final check in the mirror.  Josh
then went up to Craig, and gave his lapels a final small adjustment with
both hands, as he gave him a barely susceptible nod of approval.

"Let's get out of here!" exclaimed Josh, as they went out the door and down
the stairs to join Mr. Johnson and Becky.


When Josh, Craig, Becky and Mr. Johnson got to church, it was more than
half full, a bustling crowd moving relatively quickly towards pews, as
small groups and couples greeted friends they saw.  The four of them stood
momentarily in the back, trying to search out a section where the four of
them could sit together.  The minister walked somewhat briskly down the
center aisle when he saw them come in.  He beamed as he came up to them.

"Ah, the Johnson family!  Great to see you!  No Mrs. Johnson this week?"
the minister asked.

"No, she's visiting her sister, but sends her best.  She'll be back next
week," replied Mr. Johnson.

"Ah, yes," replied the minister.  "I seem to remember her mentioning that
last week."  Then he looked at Josh, and smiled.  "And I see Josh is back,"
he said, smiling, and looking into Josh's eyes, lingering just a bit, as he
shook Josh's hand with both of his, again lingering just a bit.  "Good to
see you."  He glanced back and forth at Craig and Josh.  "I hope Craig will
bring you back more often."  Craig and Josh looked at each other and
blushed, Josh giving a small toss of his head, to get some hair out of his
eyes.  "Oh, I'm sorry," replied the minister, as he observed their awkward
glance at each other.  "I didn't mean to embarrass you boys."

"That's OK," replied Josh and Craig, almost in unison, as they glanced back
at each other.  "No big deal."

"Well, I better get back up there.  See you later," replied the minister,
as he left the four of them, and started walking towards the front of the
church.

"I think I see some free seats up there," said Mr. Johnson, looking towards
the front of the church, and moving in that direction with Becky.

Josh glanced back towards the rear of the church.  "I'm a bit thirsty.  I
think I get a drink of water before the service starts," he said to Craig,
putting his hand on his shoulder.  "Save me a seat?"

"You got it," replied Craig.  We'll be up there," he said, indicating the
direction his father and Becky had started walking in.

"I'll look for you," replied Josh.

Mr. Johnson, Becky and Craig walked up to some seats towards the front, on
the side, and took them, Craig on the outside.  Josh came up to them a few
minutes later, sitting down next to Craig.  The service was beginning.

"Looks like we don't have enough hymnals," whispered Mr. Johnson.  "Think
you boys can share?"

"Sure," said Craig, as Josh nodded.

The service began, and went through its usual paces.  When the minister was
in the middle of his sermon, Craig glanced over to see Josh occasionally
nodding, and jerking his head up, as he tried to fight off drowsiness.
Craig gave him a barely detectible jab in the ribs, as he glanced over at
him with a grin.  Josh looked back and smiled, with a small cough, as he
came fully awake.

When the minister finished his sermon, he went back to his seat on the
pulpit for a few minutes, before coming back up to the lectern.

"Our final hymn will be psalm 15.  All please rise," he said.

The congregation rose.  Craig took the hymnal near him, and opened it so
Josh could also look on.  After Josh's visits to the church, he was
familiar with it, and joined in as it was sung.  Standing near him, Craig
could hear that he had a nice, rich baritone voice, deeper now, but very
beautiful.  As Josh periodically looked down at the hymnal to refresh
himself on the words to hymn, hair fell over his eyes; he gave his head a
small toss in an attempt to flick it away.  As the song finished, Josh put
his hands down in front of him, folded over each other.  The minister gave
his final benediction, and the service was over.  The congregation filed
out of the church, and after a brief social mingling period, people went
home.


After breakfast at home, the boys played video games for the afternoon,
before Josh's parents stopped by to pick him up on their way back into
town.  Shortly before they came, Josh and Craig had gone back up to Craig's
room, so Josh could pack his things.  They both came down in time for
Josh's departure as his parents arrived.

Josh looked at Craig.  "Thanks for having me," he said, giving Craig a
quick hug.  "See you at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you."

"And thank your dad for me, too."

"Sure, will do," replied Craig.


That night, in the Johnson household, after dinner, Becky and Mr. Johnson
were preparing to do the dishes.

"Craig?  Could you tie up the week's newspapers, and put them on the curb?"
asked Mr. Johnson.

"Sure, Dad."

Craig got up from the sofa, where he had been looking at Saturday's paper,
after looking at the Sunday paper.  He went outside to the piles of neatly
stacked previous week's papers.  His father was a stickler for neatness, he
thought with a chuckle.  As he looked down at the stack of papers to be
tied, he looked puzzled.  Wasn't I just looking at Saturday's paper, he
thought, in the living room?  He knew he had been, but there it was,
another copy sitting on top of the papers to be tied.  Hmmm, he thought.
He then proceeded to tie up the stack of papers, and took it out to the
curb, as his father had asked.


The next day, at school, right after lunch, Craig was walking down the
hallway, when he saw Josh at his locker.  He went up to him.  Josh saw him,
and grinned.

"Nice wrestling mats you had there," he said.  "They should pay off."

Craig looked concerned.

"What," said Josh.

"Not sure how to tell you this," said Craig.  He hesitated.  "When I was
tying up the week's newspapers at home last night, I noticed, after
glancing at the Saturday paper in the living room, I saw it again on the
stack of papers outside, ready to be tied."  He looked at Josh.  "I don't
know..."

"Yeah," replied Josh, a bit quizzically, after seeing Craig's reaction, and
thinking about it.  "See you at practice later?" he asked after a pause,
with a glance at Craig, as he closed his locker.

"Yeah, see you then," replied Craig.


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