Traditions (Chapter 8)

Chapter Eight

The sound of my phone ringing jolted me awake, and as I opened my eyes in a dim room, with somebody beside me, it once again took me a few moments to realise exactly where I was.

'Are you going to get that?' I heard Charlie ask me, which quickly snapped me back to the present.

'Yeah. I guess I had better.'

I heard him chuckle, but when I glanced his way he just grinned at me. Sitting up on the side of the bed I reached for my pants, in the pocket of which my phone was still ringing.

‘Hello, mum,’ I said once I checked the screen and pressed the button to answer it.

‘It’s getting late. Are you boys still coming around?’ she asked.

‘Yes, of course. It has been a long day, so we’ve just been taking a nap. We’ll be there in a few minutes,’ I promised.

‘Alright then. Don’t dawdle,’ she replied, before disconnecting.

I looked across at Charlie and said, ‘I just got told not to dawdle.’

‘Well, we had best get dressed and get a move on.’

‘Yeah, I guess we had better.’

A few minutes later we were heading out the door and climbing into Charlie’s car, then setting off for my parent’s house. It was still light outside, but the sun had dipped behind the mountains and the next hour or so we would be bathed in that mysterious summer twilight that some days just seemed to last forever.

‘I was meaning to ask you,’ Charlie asked. ‘Was it just me, or did Toby seem quiet to you today?’

‘Oh, that was just Tobes being Tobes,’ I replied. ‘He tends to be like that when there are a lot of people around. He kind of goes into his shell a bit. You might have noticed when he was off playing with Stuart he was still his usual boisterous self, but when close by the whole family he kind of likes to take a back seat.’

‘I hadn’t really noticed that before, but I can kind of understand it.’

‘I guess we’re all just used to it now. It’s when he goes quiet around us that we know something is bothering him, and then it can take a little bit to get to the bottom of things with him.’

‘He’s no trouble though, is he?’

‘Oh no, he’s actually a great kid. Puberty and trying to explain things to him has been something of a challenge though. Luckily he’s got a big brother to answer his questions, because sure as hell our parents weren’t much help.’

‘Oh?’

We were just pulling up outside the house, so I just shot him a grin and said, ‘Remind me to tell you about it sometime.’

Just as soon as we had pulled to a stop the front door burst open and Toby came running out to greet us.

‘What kept you guys?’ he asked. ‘Tea is on the table!’

‘We were having a nap, so now we better eat then!’ I replied.

‘Finally!’ Toby said, sounding exasperated.

Our parents were just sitting down when we made it inside, with mum greeting us with, ‘And about time. We were going to start without you!’

‘Well, we’re here now, mum, so what’s for dinner?’

The look I received was a reproachful one, while my father simply smiled. I think my old man was starting to loosen up a little now that he finally had his eldest son figured out and we no longer had to pussyfoot around each other.

They were sitting in the same seats they’d sat in at lunch time, and Toby quickly assumed his same seat also, so Charlie and I took the two seats on the long side opposite Toby.

Before we could begin, Charlie cleared his throat and said, ‘Would you mind if I just said something before we start?’

All eyes turned his way, and it was my father who said, ‘Of course you can, Charlie.’

‘Thank you. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate you making me feel so welcome here today. Growing up with just me and mum, I’ve never experienced a Christmas quite like this one and I’m truly grateful for everything you have done.’

For a few moments there was silence, as my parents glanced at each other. I had no idea what they were thinking, but it was my father who turned back to face us first.

‘Actually, Charlie,’ dad began, ‘it is us who are grateful for what you have brought our family.

‘You, and Kieran of course, have opened our eyes to something that we have tried to deny for so long. We grew up in a time when certain things that happen in the world around us should never be spoken of, but we know now how wrong that is.’

I think I was staring at my parents with my mouth open, but when I felt Charlie’s hand reach out for mine I was quickly brought back to the present.

‘The world has changed,’ my father continued, ‘and we need to change with it, or risk losing touch with what is happening around us. I meant what I said today, about family being all that matters, so we’re both just as happy for the two of you as we can be . . .’

‘And we want you to know that we are here for you both,’ my mother added. ‘It may not be easy being . . . well, gay, around here . . . this town has a history, as you would know . . .’

‘Yes, growing up it was never something that we could totally ignore,’ I said. ‘Even if it has always kind of been kept quiet.’

‘Well, we always tried to shield you from that as best we could, but that is sometimes easier said than done,’ my father said.

‘If you’re worried that my, or our, being gay is somehow related to that, then don’t be. We might have known what goes on around here, but we’ve never had anything to do with that . . . scene,’ I replied.

‘There were Thompson guys at school, but we always stayed well clear of them,’ Charlie added. ‘Even amongst them I don’t think they ever spoke about it much. People knew, of course, but we also knew well enough to leave it alone.’

Another glance passed between my parents. It was obvious that there was something on their mind.

‘So you boys were never . . .’ my mother started to say, but then seemed to get lost in her words, unable to complete the sentence.

I quickly realised that I had a good idea about what was on her mind.

‘Mum, are you asking if we were ever approached by them, or molested by any of them?’ I asked her directly.

‘Yes, dear. That’s exactly what I’m asking. It would kill me to know that might have happened.’

‘No. Nothing like that ever happened to either of us,’ I responded. ‘Yes, we know what goes on around here, and yes, we might have been just a bit curious . . .’

‘But we . . . errr . . . figured things out for ourselves,’ Charlie said, finishing my sentence for me, while at the same time giving my hand a gentle squeeze.

I looked at him and smiled. We both knew that we were here for each other. And it was a great feeling knowing that not only did we have each other’s back, but we could be open about our feelings for each other and no longer have to hide anything.

And it was into the silence that followed that Toby eventually said, ‘Have you guys finished talking yet? Can we eat now?’

‘Yes, Tobes. We can eat now,’ dad answered, before offering us a knowing smile. ‘You better get some ham before Kieran eats it all on you.’

The remainder of our evening was a pleasant one, consuming more of the cold meats and salads and desserts we had enjoyed during our lunch. Once we had finished and cleared away the table, that was followed by some chilling out in the lounge room, watching a replay of some Christmas movie we had seen it a dozen times before, where Santa fell off the roof of the house and the house owner had to step in save the day. Or should that be night?

Either way, we were all soon struggling to keep our attention on the screen and were soon either swapping idle chat or being in danger of nodding off altogether. In the end Toby disappeared, heading to his bedroom, and I turned to Charlie to ask if he wanted to stay around or head back to his place.

‘I’m beat,’ he replied. ‘How about we head home? We’ve got more of the same tomorrow, don’t we?’

I rolled my eyes at him and just grinned, then said to my father that we were going to call it a night and head off. I noticed that mum had already seemed to have nodded off herself.

‘Alright then. I guess we’ll see you tomorrow?’ he replied.

‘Yeah, we’ll be there for more of the same,’ I replied, while getting to my feet. ‘Looks like mum is out to it already. We’ll just say goodnight to Toby and head off.’

‘Alright, boys. Goodnight then.’

‘Goodnight,’ I replied.

We found Toby in his room, lying on his bed and reading a comic, while listening to something through his headphones that was playing on his MP3 player. When I grabbed him by the toe he squealed and jumped up.

‘Kieran!’ he scolded me.

‘We’re heading off now, bro,’ I said to him. ‘We’ll see you tomorrow, eh?’

‘Yeah, cricket match! Got to hit ‘em for six!’

‘That’s it, mate. We’re gonna woop ‘em! Right?’

‘Right on, brother!’

‘Alright then, you get some sleep! We want you fighting fit tomorrow if we’re going to woop their arses!’

‘You betcha!’ Toby replied. ‘Woop! Woop! Woop their arses!’

Charlie and I both laughed and I ruffled up his hair a bit, before he lunged at me and gave me a hug, then quickly did the same for Charlie.

‘See you guys! Merry Christmas!’ he said to us, in an enthusiastic manner, before jumping back on his bed and picking up his comic again. We left him then and let ourselves out of the house and climbed into the car for the short journey back to Charlie’s.

‘Toby’s certainly a character,’ Charlie said to me on the short drive home.

‘That’s one way of putting it.’

‘I think it’s pretty amazing what you two have. I never quite realised it before this. It must be nice having a brother.’

I looked across at him and tried to study his face in the darkness, illuminated only by the dash lights and the occasional streetlight outside as we passed beneath them.

When he glanced my way he noticed me staring.

‘What?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know. I guess I never realised just how much you missed out on while we were growing up,’ I said.

‘It is what it is,’ he replied, offering a shrug as he did so. ‘I didn’t miss out on much, really. It’s just that growing up was different to what it was like for you and our other friends during school.’

‘You don’t feel like you’ve missed out?’

‘Sometimes. But at the same time I think I had a closer relationship with my mother than a lot of other kids did.’

‘Yeah, I guess . . .’ I said, while thinking of the sometimes strained relationship I’d always had with my own parents.

‘I’ve had an amazing day, Kieran. So, thank you,’ Charlie said, just as he slowed and pulled into his driveway. ‘It feels great to be involved in a family environment and I’m never going to forget this day, no matter what.’

‘I’m glad you had a good day,’ I said to him. ‘And I think there will be plenty more good days ahead for both of us now that . . . well, we don’t have secrets hanging over us. We can just be ourselves and not have to worry about what everyone else thinks.’

‘Everyone?’

‘Well, everyone who cares about us.’

‘True. But I still worry about everyone else . . . the people out there,’ he said, while pointing out into the darkness.

‘Yeah, I hear you. Things might not always be easy for us, and sometimes there may be folks who want to get in our way, but let’s cross that bridge when we get to it, eh? For now, all I want to do is curl up beside you in bed, hold you in my arms and go to sleep.’

‘I can handle that,’ he replied, before leaning over and giving me a quick kiss.

When I woke the following morning it was to a strange sensation; a feeling of dampness and warmth, of gentle pressure and tingling limbs. For the briefest of moments I was confused, but only for the briefest of moments.

I had felt this very feeling often enough beforehand and knew exactly what it was, and as my mind focused I heard the quiet sounds that accompanied what was happening; a wet slurping kind of sound, a quiet moan, a quick snort – an intake of air through a nose – it all added up to just one thing, and it brought a smile to my face.

Looking down at what Charlie was doing I could see that he was concentrating hard, so I brought my hand up and rested it on his head, allowing my fingers to become intertwined with his hair. He stopped immediately and glanced up at me, his lips and one hand still wrapped around my rigid shaft, but with his eyes smiling.

‘You hungry this morning, or something?’ I gently teased.

‘I seem to recall we have unfinished business,’ he said, once he let my hardness slip from his warm, moist mouth.

‘So you’re still keen?’

‘Absolutely!’ he reassured me, while shimmying up beside me on the bed. ‘Are you still keen?’

‘Of course I am! I want nothing more than to fulfil your every fantasy, but I want you to be sure, and I want you to be ready, if that’s what you really want, okay?’

‘Okay,’ he replied. ‘So, what’s next?’

I reached out with my hand and cupped his beautiful face, then as I gently pulled him towards me, I leaned in, with our lips soon meeting, connecting, and hungry for each other.

After a few moments I broke away and looked at Charlie, with what I was sure was an odd expression on my face.

‘What?’ he asked.

‘You taste a bit funky,’ I replied, trying to stifle a laugh as I did so.

‘You do know where that mouth just was, don’t you?’ he said with a chuckle.

‘Yeah. I do,’ I replied. ‘Shower first then?’

‘That works for me.’

We both jumped off the bed, and while Charlie headed straight for the shower, I reached for my carryall.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked me.

‘You’ll see,’ I said, then a few moments later I joined him in the bathroom, where he already had the water running.

I noticed him frown slightly when I set a black toiletry bag down on the counter beside the hand basin, then unzipped the top of it.

‘What's that?’ he asked. I simply smiled then allowed the contents to spill across the laminated countertop.

‘Behold, my bag of tricks,’ I said to him.

There was no mistaking what the various items were, some of which were cylindrical in shape and still rolling around. Charlie's mouth fell open as he stepped back out of the shower and cautiously approached the cabinet.

He flicked aside the loose condoms – from a packet I had bought once when I was living in hope, but which had so far gone unused – and the small tubes of lube, ignored the three butt plugs of various sizes and marked with camouflage-like colours of green and brown, then went straight for the main prize.

I called it Big John. It was the pride and joy of my sex toy collection – a nine-inch, black dildo! It was also the reason why I’d had no difficulty taking all that Charlie could offer me yesterday morning.

‘You can’t be serious,’ I heard him say, as he fondled the massive silicone weapon. He tried wrapping his fingers around its circumference, but the tip of his thumb and index finger couldn’t even touch.

‘I’d like you to meet, Big John,’ I said to him.

‘Fuck. I think I’ve heard it all now!’ he chortled. ‘And you can actually take that thing? I didn’t ever think you’d be a BBC kind of guy!’

‘Oh, I’m just full of surprises. How else do you think I could take you so easily?’ I replied. ‘All it takes is practice. And yes, they all have names.’

Taking the silicone tool from his hands I set it down on the benchtop, standing it upright, then arranged the three butt plugs beside it, all upright as well, from the largest down to the smallest.

‘What do you think? I may not have ever had real sex before . . . at least not until yesterday, but my friends here, Baby Bear, Mama Bear and Papa Bear – and believe it or not, that was on their packaging when I bought them online – have certainly helped me out over the past few years. And like I said, it all just takes practice, starting with the smallest and working our way up.’

‘Unbelievable! And now what? You want to use those things on me?’ as he tried to contain his laughter.

‘Well, unless you really have a thing for pain?’

‘Fuck no!’ he exclaimed.

I picked up the smallest of the butt plugs and held it up in front of him, while also holding up the index finger of my other hand beside it.

‘We just start with Baby Bear and work our way up. This one isn’t much thicker than my index finger,’ I said. ‘You don’t even need to think about trying Big John . . . unless someday you really want to. The biggest of these butt plugs is still bigger than I am when I’m fully hard, so even just these first two should have you ready to handle me in no time.’

‘You mean . . . like today?’

‘If that’s what you want. How about we have a hot shower, and you can think about where we go from here? I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with, okay?’

‘Okay,’ Charlie replied. ‘I trust you.’

We crossed the floor and both stepped into the shower, then I pulled the curtain across behind me. The water was running hot, which I knew would be good, as it would help to relax and loosen us up a little.

Charlie turned and faced me, placing his hands on my chest and moving them in a circular motion, while I placed my hands on his hips and pulled him close, so that our cocks were rubbing against each other. Almost instantly I felt the growing excitement that this moment was giving both of us, before Charlie reached out for the soap.

I still held Baby Bear in my hand but decided to sit it on the shelf that contained the shampoo and other shower items for the moment, before concentrating on the body in front of me. As the steam began to rise, our hands roamed over each other, spreading the soap and lather around that Charlie had begun to work up, washing and caressing each other.

For the next few minutes we went through the motions of cleansing each other’s bodies, turning around and paying attention to every inch, every crevice, in ways we had never thought of before. Finally, I found myself behind Charlie as I ran my hands over his smooth shoulders and down his back, until finally I was kneading the luscious globes of his arse.

I allowed my fingers to slip between those two mounds of flesh, sinking into the cleft between them, and running from the top, all the way down to his perineum, brushing over his tender rosebud as I did so, and then returning shortly afterwards, this time allowing my fingers to linger.

I heard a sharp intake of breath as I gently teased his hole, before he collapsed forward against the tiled wall with his cheek pressed hard against it, then another louder gasp as I pushed the tip of my index finger inside him, which was quickly lost in the heat of his body

‘Damn, Kieran. That feels sooooo good,’ he cooed.

‘You ever had anything in there before this?’ I whispered into his ear as I moved my finger around a little.

‘Only my own fingers,’ he answered through gritted teeth.

‘Do you want more?’

‘P-pl-eeease!’

I pushed my finger in deeper and began moving it around a little more, then I withdrew and tried for a second. I felt his body shudder and a sound like a whimper come from his lips as I entered him once more, so I stopped moving my hand and simply rested against him.

‘I’m just going to let you get used to that,’ I whispered.

‘And then what?’

‘I’ll start moving my hand again, then once you’re used to it and we’ve stretched you out just a little more, we’ll try Baby Bear, then Mama Bear . . .’

‘And then?’

‘First things first, babe,’ I replied, as I kissed his cheek.

By the time we left the bathroom a short time later, all clean and dried, though still naked, Charlie was not only ready for more, he was wanting more.

He was walking a little strangely as he moved ahead of me, but the grin on his face when he glanced back over his shoulder at me said it all. I knew from experience what the feeling was like to walk around with one of these inserted, and I could tell that he was totally loving having Mama Bear inside him and was eager for the next step in his education.

Climbing onto the bed he lay face down, using two pillows under his hips, just as I had instructed him to do. Even though I had never done this before, the dreamy expression on his face told me all I needed to know. He was ready for me.

I moved onto the bed behind him and ran my hands over that luscious arse once more. The handle of the butt plug was protruding from his body and so I took hold of it and moved it about slightly, back and forth and twisting it around and a little.

A moan once again slipped from his lips. ‘That feels so fucking good,’ Charlie uttered.

I pulled it out just a little, with the wider part of the plug stretching him out, and while I held it there I squirted some more lube on the plug, then pushed it back it. I started working it back and forth, stretching him a little more each time, before it eventually slipped out altogether.

‘Put it back!’ he demanded as I looked down at the gaping hole, so I did what he asked. This soothed the savage beast, but there was more to come yet. While teasing him some more it was time to lube myself up, so quickly I squeezed some of the slimy, cold liquid over my own manhood and used my hand to spread it along my shaft.

It was time to remove the plug once more, only this time, before he could even protest I pushed the head of my shaft against him.

‘Oh my god, is that?’ he started to ask, but this was soon replaced with a loud groan as the head of my cock pushed passed his sphincter.

I held myself there, as he became used to the feeling, then when he finally seemed to relax I began to push forward.

‘Fuck, you’re bigger than Mama Bear,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘But please don’t stop!’

To be continued . . .