David

Neal approached the bed, skittish as a young colt, shrugged and slid under the covers. "I need to talk to you, ask you some things."

"Okay."

"You, uh, it, uh, smells kind of funky in here. Did you just have sex in here?"

"No, but why do you wanna know?"

"Well, I didn't mean anything. I just, I mean I, I, I'm curious."

"About sex?"

"No, I've. . . I mean yes, but. . . Did you and Howard, uh, have sex?"

"Yes, Howard and I made love for quite a while."

"What did you do?"

"Woah, back off there buddy. That's a bit much."

"I just meant, you know. Oh hell, I'll just go."

"No, wait, David," Jeff said, grabbing Neal around the waist. "I hear ya. You need information."

"Why do you keep calling me David when my name is Neal?"

"Seriously? Stay right there!" Jeff hopped out of bed, forgetting he was naked and might scandalize Neal.

Seconds later he was standing beside the bed, large tome in his hands. "Here, look," he said,flipping the encyclopedia open to a marked page. "I found this book in Howard's library. Look. There!" Displayed on the page was an illustration of Michelangelo's beautiful masterpiece. "That looks just like you! Except maybe. . . I don't know, you wanna take off your shorts and let me see if the rest of you looks like, him." So far I had only a glimpse for a second." Jeff, standing naked beside the bed, hadn't noticed that the younger man was looking not at the illustration, but at Jeff's cock, long and slim; uncut and unwrinkled, half hard, dangling only inches from Neal's face.

"Oops, sorry," Jeff said, covering himself with his free hand, skipping around to slide back under the covers. "Well," he went on, as if nothing had happened, "doesn't it look just like you? That day, when I saw you by Buckingham Fountain, you zipped by on your bike, all covered, even had a helmet on, but that's what I saw, I saw David." Poking at the picture with a forefinger, "him!"

Neal did not respond, but Jeff wondered if the rest of his body was as red as his face and upper chest, all he could see. Sliding the book under the bed, he hooked a finger under Neal's chin, turning his head to face him. "You said you had some things you wanted to talk about."

"Yeah, but I. . ."

"Oh no you don't, you come in here at what, three in the morning, all 'I need to talk'. Now you got me all awake and interested. Talk!" Jeff softened his tone, held Neal's eyes. "Start by tellin' me why you threw yourself in the lake."

"I don't know, I just, I mean, you don't want to hear all this. I'll just go now."

"Oh no you don't! If I guess right, will you tell me then?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Maybe. Is it because you found out you are gay?"

"I'm not gay, I don't wanna be gay. I wanna be normal."

Jeff could see Neal was close to tears. "Listen, Neal, my David, I told you earlier. I am ambisexual, most people would say bi-sexual. I love women. And I love to have sex with men. To me it seems perfectly normal. Now. But it hasn't always been that way. I want to tell you more, to share more, but I want you to talk first. I want you to trust me. I pulled your pretty ass out of the lake, didn't I?"

"See, see what you did right there. That's what's wrong. All the. . ."

"Whoa, hey! Wait! What did I do? Did I say something?"

"You said, 'pretty'. You said my ass was pretty."

"Well, it is, you are."

"How come I can't be handsome? Good looking? Why do I have to be pretty?"

"I think it's genetics. I don't think you have much choice."

"Well this is why everyone thinks I am gay. I am little, and fair and okay, pretty."

"Well, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"About whether you are gay? Won't you tell me about why you tried to kill yourself. How could your young life be so terrible? So far to go, so much to do. Please tell me what is really wrong."

"Well, I , uh, It was Anice. . . Naw."

"Go on, talk to me." And now Jeff could hear an edge to Neal's voice. He seemed fragile, near to tears, ready to break. Jeff reached to lay his hand softly on Neal's shoulder.

"Don't touch me like that!" Neal said, softly, but with venom in his tone.

"Like what?" Jeffie says, "you don't like tenderness and affection?"

"Yeah, but not with two men, two men aren't s'posed to do that,"

"Seriously? I'll take affection from wherever it comes. Didn't your dad or your brothers ever kiss you or hold you?"

"Not in my family you'd better not!"

"Or what would happen?"

"Well, it wasn't like anyone would get violent about that one particular thing. Probab'ly every

man in the household would just tell you to quit or everyone would think you were 'queer'."

"I'll bet though," Jeff said, "that your old man found plenty of other reasons to be abusive."

"How did you. . . I mean he. . ."

Neal. I can tell because my family was that way too. Was there alcohol involved, too?"

"Neal let out a huge sigh. "I guess you do know. But how is it you can recognize it I me? You hardly know me."

"Later on sometime I'll take you to an Al-Anon meeting with me if you want."

"I'm not an alcoholic!"

"No, you got it wrong. Al-Anon is not for alcoholics, but for the family and friends of alcoholics, so we can share with each other how we have learned to cope with the disease in our loved ones. But forget about that for right now. Right now I have another question for you. Jeff took Neal's face in his hands, staring directly into his Aegean blue eyes. "If the conflict that lead you to try to drown yourself is over whether or not you are gay, why not just stay straight? You have done it so far? You said you had a girl, were about ready to settle down. Why couldn't you just keep doin' that?"

Embarrassment lit Neal's face like a crimson neon sign. "You know, it's cause. . . cause, I. . ."

"Cumon Neal, say it. It's okay. Just blurt it out."

Neal's admission came so softly as to be nearly inaudible.

"Because I couldn't stop thinking about, about. . ." He paused before continuing.

"Say it!"

"Okay, fine! I couldn't stop thinking about, looking at, cocks, other men's cocks. There I said it! Happy now?"

"Not quite. I want you to be honest with me. When you thought about cocks, when you think about cocks, what do you imagine?

Neal was frightened, threatened by Jeff's questions, yet a part of him now realized he would never be whole, well, unless and until he faced these issues. The caring kindness of these two older men had already initiated one profound change in Neal. He wanted to live.

"You know," Neal said, "when I crawled in here with you I didn't know you were naked."

"Does it matter?"

"It might."

"Are you finding it hard to restrain yourself?'

"Whatdya mean, I. . ."

"Whoa David, my beautiful David. That was a joke. Ha ha. Just a funny little joke.

"I suppose you are going to continue to call me David?"

"That is correct. To me you will always be that miraculous beautiful king, but only as portrayed

by Michelangelo. Forget all that giant killer and slingshot and Israelite stuff. I want to know about Alice, was it?"

"Anice," Neal answered without thinking. "She's, er was, my girl, my fiancee, until, oh god. . ." There was a definite quaver to Neal's voice.

This then was the key to Neal's suicide attempt, Jeff thought "Easy guy, easy. I promise you it is gonna be okay. Things are gonna start getting better for you right away. You'll see. Go on"

"Go on and what?"

"Go on and finish telling me about what happened with Anice."

"I told you most of it before. Some friends, no not friends, just some guys from my art classes, they uh, put some video out there, made sure Anice saw it, shared it with everyone. Then other guys started popping up, saying I was looking at them in the shower and stuff, back in high school. So I went to pick up Anice for our usual Friday night out. She meets me at the door with a huge attitude and a ton of questions. Hell, she was my fiancé. I hadda tell her the truth. That guy on my soccer team had that picture he showed all over, even Anice saw it."

"And what was the truth? What did you tell her."

Neal, flustered now, angry more than embarrassed. "I told her I wasn't sure what I was, what I liked. Since I had never had sex with anyone, I had no way of knowing whether I was gay or straight or twisted or whatever."

"So what did she say?"

"She took it first as if I were trying to get her to have sex with me, kind of like a mercy fuck or

something, then when she saw I was serious, she was all upset, she said something like: 'what do you mean you don't know?' How could I be with her, love her, whatever, and be unsure of my own sexuality."

"Well, one thing is sure, Jeff said. "She didn't love you."

"How can you know that?"

"Because I have been in love, David. When one loves, one wants only what is best for the one loved. She obviously didn't care about you. Seems to me she didn't make the first effort to understand you or help you solve your dilemma, or even just be there for you. You should be glad you broke up."

"You have a strange way of looking at things," Neal said, "kind of opposite the way anyone else would. It is interesting if nothing else."

Jeff reached out again, laid his palm on Neal's face. Even in the dim near darkness, Jeff could tell his David's reaction this time was different. Neal showed a tiny sign of affection, nuzzling his face very briefly against Jeff's warm hand.

"I hafta get some sleep," Jeff said. "I would like it very much if you would stay right here, sleep with me. And I mean sleep. No funny stuff," laughing, "though I can hardly control myself."

"That's it! I'm going!"

"No. stay!"

"I was just kiddin'. I'll stay. But one thing."

"What's that?"

"In the morning you have to tell me what you and Howard did tonight."

"Why is that so important. To you? It was actually very important thing for me. But what has that to do with you?"

"I'll tell you in the morning. Good night" Neal turns away, snuggling down in the luxurious bed. After about a minute, he feels Jeff throw one arm over him.

"That okay?" Jeff asked tentatively.

"No more!"

"Got it!"

Though Jeff is snoring lightly within minutes, Neal lies awake for a time, pondering the strange

and fateful events of the past few days. Was he really on a course to change his life forever? "Life is so confusing," he thought to himself. "And the most confusing part of life is love. How could I have been so wrong about Anice? Jeff was right though. At a time of the greatest crisis in my life, she had had no thought but for herself." He nodded off, snuggling under Jeff's arm, a bit comforted by his presence.Jeff woke in the night. Neal lay sleeping beside him, gently snoring, sheet and covers thrown back. Neal had slept in his tighty-whities, and though his dick was not large, its sleek outline was clearly visible. Since Neal had expressed extreme hostility to any gay behavior, Jeff had not made and would not make any move to seduce the beautiful young man. But he had tossed about in semi-sleep most of the night, kept awake by an aching erection. Even though he had cum only hours before, the presence of perfectly sculpted alabaster-skinned masterpiece in his bed aroused him deeply. He debated running to the bathroom for a quick jerk-off, but decided against it, rolled to his side and fought his way back to sleep.

Some time later, Neal also awakened. Had some dim hum of machinery reached through the silent darkness to rouse him? He was surprised to find he and Jeff's positions had been reversed. Jeff now lay curled away from him, butt cheeks hard against Neal. His own arm was thrown over Jeff's naked body and he had unknowingly pulled the older man tightly against his groin, where a painful erection now blossomed. He tried to tell himself that it meant nothing, just one in a series of nocturnal erections. Except he could not remember the last time his briefs had felt so tight. And snuggling against Jeff felt so right. Jeff was quite a guy. Quite a man. A man. Inwardly, Neal shook his head in an effort to dispel the confusion. He was attracted to Jeff, the reaction in his groin was proof positive. It was true then? He was gay. Queer. A cock sucker, a fudge packer? All the innuendos, the veiled assertions, even Anice's accusations, all true.

Inexplicably, his mind formed a picture. His cock, so near the sleeping man's ass, probing between his cheeks, with only the thin material of his briefs between, throbbed; he fought the

urge to drive sharply forward. He swallowed hard, eased from behind Jeff, careful not to wake him, and dashed for the bathroom. Sitting on the toilet, behind a locked bathroom door, had been the scene of nearly all Neal's sexual experience thus far. Tonight was no different as he clutched his hardness in his fist, pounding himself quickly to completion. One thing was different this time. As the fireworks exploded behind his eyes, a clear picture filled his brain, not Anice, not Bionce, but the thin dark, wrinkled, uncut cock that had momentarily dangled before his face a few hours before, Jeff's cock. He wiped his rapidly deflating cock with his underwear, returned to his own bed, tossed the soiled BVD's beneath the bed, then eased down to fall immediately into a fitful sleep.

In the dim light of morning, Jeff rolled on his stomach, his hands beneath him, cupping his growing hardness. His backside twinged, still a bit sore from last night's massive invasion. He had thought he was a "top", had always been the one eager to pierce and penetrate another, but now he knew the joy of surrendering to a massive force, greater, stronger than oneself. It was a revelation that left him shaken.

His mind flashed once more to the previous night. Certainly Howard was attractive enough, tall and broad and oh, so manly with his business long hair, his well groomed looks and his salt and pepper goatee, mustache and tickler. Jeff hadn't gotten a great look at Howard's naked body, in the dim glow of the fish tank, but he had reveled at the feel of those huge hands holding him, turning him, using him in the semi darkness. Had his body, or his brain, somehow known what wonders had awaited him, pressed under the heavy weight of Howard's hard body. He chalked up his growing erection to a 'piss hard on' and headed for the bathroom, relieved himself spraying slightly because of his erect state, cleaned up himself and the toilet, flushed, and trundled into the kitchen naked, rubbing his eyes. Howard was up early, whistling a Broadway tune to himself as he prepared a hearty breakfast for the three of them. Odors of savory sausage and maple bacon and Belgian waffles and fresh raspberries wafted down the hall to nudge the other young man awake.

"Good morning Jeff! Breakfast in five. Probably wanna get a robe or something on while we eat."

Jeff turned.

"Wait!" Howard called out!

Howard left his cooking long enough to kiss Jeff heartily, drawing him close and caressing his smooth ass, giving it a soft slap. "Go, get dressed, breakfast is ready. Thank you for last night. You were wonderful. Wake Neal and ask if he wants breakfast. Jeff nearly ran to his room. The smells were making him salivate like one of Pavlov's dogs. He slipped on the same fluffy robe Howard had provided the previous night, washed his hands and face and headed to Neal's room, wondering what had caused the younger man to leave Jeff's bed before morning. He entered without knocking, thinking the lad would be asleep. He was nearly correct. Neal, looking for all the world like a sleeping David, his small white uncut cock lying lightly against his thigh, apparently glued there by a dried droplet of cum, stirred; his snoring became intermittent. His face, his curly hair, his thin, perfect model's form, his awe-ful grace, struck Jeff like a blow. He stood watching in silence for a few moments, then approached. Reluctant to disturb an immortal work of art, he reached to shake Neal lightly on the shoulder. "Neal, Ne-al,"

"Huh Wha'?"

'Wake up! It's morning David! Howard has a wonderful breakfast prepared for us. You wanna get up?" He sat on the edge of the bed, restraining his fingers from traveling over Neal's fine form. Cumon buddy, get up. Cumon."

"Okay, okay, I'm up," Neal realized suddenly he was naked and crossed his arms, covering his crotch.

"I have finally gotten a good long look at the rest of you and the picture is complete. You are David. Now come to breakfast!" Jeff leaned to plant a quick kiss on Neal's lips, leaving before he could respond, but calling out from the hall, cumon get up, breakfast!"

Midway through their enormous breakfast, Neal spoke up, "Howard, how long is this going to go on? How long are you planning to keep us here? What do you want from us, from me? What's in it for you?"

"As I already explained twice, I have wasted my life accumulating wealth. I have nothing to show for it but money. I have no real friends, only business associates. I have only ex wives. I have one child with whom I am desperately seeking reconciliation for my past wrongs. I have no one and nothing in my life. I made up my mind one day to change my life. I flew to New York to talk with my daughter. Within one hour of my returning to Chicago, fate threw the three of us together. To ignore the confluence of our lives at this juncture would be foolish on my part. I think someone or something is trying to tell me something. So here we are. I plan to stay connected with the two of you, do all I can for you as long as I can and as long as you will let me. In fact I got a wonderful idea late last night, but something happened later that kind of messed up my plans. I have to re-consult my attorney. But If I can, and you both will let me, I'd like to adopt the two of you and make you my heirs."

"Huh?" both boys said at once. Jeff started to laugh.

"I am serious. Don't answer, don't argue yet. I haven't even known you one day, but I had the germ of an idea. Take some time to think about it. You would both become multimillionaires, if and when I die, and until then, you would have access to everything that is mine. Doors would open to you, and you would be free to pursue whatever careers or lifestyles you choose."

"But I already have a dad!"

"Me too!"

"Legally they would be affected, but in no other way. As your birth parents, they would still be entitled to benefits, access to records, hospital visits and all the rest. I would be taking nothing from them! If it doesn't work out, if you guys don't want it, There's still a lot I could do for you. For example, Jeff, I heard you say, I think, that you are a CPA?"

"Yeah, so?"

"In my various businesses I employ hundreds of accountants. I could probably offer you a much better job than you have now. Or I could steer some accounts to you, greatly increasing your importance at the firm where you currently work. Neal, you are a writer?"

"Well, sort of, you know, I. . ."

"Everyone knows that in the publishing business it's who you know that makes a difference. Well, now you know me. That could and probably already is making a difference in the publishing world. One word from me and certain publishers would be waiting with bated breath for your next novel. You know what I mean. I can help you. Why not let me? All I am offering you basically is the lucky breaks that I've had in my life."

"Howard," Jeff said tentatively. If you really mean what you say I'd be willing to stay, at least for a while. I can't promise forever or anything like that. And, well. . ."

"What, what is it, just say it Jeff. We try for one hundred percent honesty around here."

"Just to be sure, we are not talking about a relationship here, right?"