The Long Way - 13. Revelations

You gotta love the drive in. Although, these days they don’t seem anything like the old movies would lead you to believe. At least this particular theater wasn’t.

There were more families there than lust driven teenagers. Not including myself, of course. There were even a few older couples out with blankets and lawn chairs. It was another cold night, but not freezing, and something about the smell of popcorn laced with fresh air, an open sky and a huge glowing screen as your scenery does something to warm the spirits. Of course, having the hottest guy you know with you as company doesn’t exactly hurt matters either.

When Aiden and I got there, I had a difficult time deciding where I wanted to park. The place wasn’t exactly crowded, but I didn’t want to park right in the middle of the lot. I was looking for privacy. It wasn’t that I planned on becoming an exobitionist, but it would be nice to be able to kiss Aiden somewhere where I didn’t have to keep looking around to make sure no one saw us. After all, this was a public place, and I wasn’t prepared to deal with any bad reactions that night.

It was Aiden who pointed out the perfect spot. It was towards the back of the lot, and dark enough because one of the lights had gone out. At least the place was secluded enough for us to concentrate on each other and not everyone else around us.

I parked so that the bed of my truck was facing the screen, and while Aiden set up the speakers I rolled out the sleeping bags I had brought, hoping to bring a little added comfort.

"This was a good idea." Aiden commented, as he walked around the truck to where I had the tailgate down, "Where did you come up with it anyways? I don’t think I’ve been to one of these things since I was eight. My family used to come here on weekends."

"Tony actually suggested it." I explained, "We used to come here too." I reached down and took Aiden’s hand, helping him up into the truck bed with me.

"That’s funny," he shook his head. "If you think about it, we could have been here at the same time. Maybe we’ve even seen each other before."

I smiled at the thoughtful expression on his face and pulled him to me, resting my forehead against his.

"I think I would have remembered you." I smirked.

Aiden ginned and wrapped his arms around my waist. We stood there for a second just looking at each other. We were in the middle of one of those awkward moments. You know the ones, when someone says something corny, like I just had, and no one really knows what to say after it. But then we burst out laughing and Aiden grabbed my hand, pulling away to sit down. He tugged me along next to him and together we pulled one of the sleeping bags over us to keep a little warmer.

I bunched up one of the bags behind our heads and we settled back, comfortably enough, and when Aiden snuggled up to me it felt so familiar, almost like it did when he ended up in my bed at night. I had to remind myself that it was all right to touch him, but his semi stiff member wedged up against my thigh was enough encouragement to make me comfortable.

For the next forty-five minutes or so we just talked about silly, random things, favorite colors, favorite foods, and any other little things that we thought we should get to know about each other. I think both of us were just trying to feel more comfortable with our newly discovered relationship. The first feature had started, but we had the sound on the speakers turned down low, and to be honest I don’t think either of us could have told you what movie was actually playing.

We even talked about the last few weeks, how Aiden was annoyed with me for coming to his rescue with Dennis Gordon, and I told him the real reason why I did it. Considering Aiden had already come to the conclusion that my dad wasn’t up for father of the year, I felt comfortable telling him my story. I even told him how I used to date girls as a cover and how I’d feel sick every time I’d agree with my father that someone he didn’t like was a ‘pansy assed faggot.’ Aiden didn’t ask too many questions; he just listened and let me tell him what I was comfortable with at the time. When I told him about the night in the family kitchen, I left out the reason why I had decided to come out to my parents. I wasn’t really in the mood to get into a conversation about Dan.

But, I did tell him how my father reacted. I gave him the short version of the beating and my mother’s strangely calm reaction to it. I told him how I ended up in the hospital and how I was reunited with my brothers.

Aiden didn’t have the pitiful reaction to my story the way that Adam did, and he didn’t get angry like Chris. What he did do was snuggle closer to me, offering his silent support and asking unobtrusive questions every once in a while.

After that, our conversations turned to lighter topics as we discussed how we both felt about each other; Aiden’s botched attempts to ‘seduce’ me, and my ignorance in the matter. Aiden seemed to think that this was all a lot more amusing than I did.

"I think I was attracted to you when I first saw you at school." Aiden admitted, "I didn’t have the guts to introduce myself, though. I probably would have if I had known you were the mysterious Dovan brother."

"Mysterious?" I laughed.

"Yeah. Everyone wanted to meet you a lot sooner." Aiden replied, "But Tony and Chris both mentioned that you were going through some stuff, and they were so happy to have you back that no one wanted to intrude. We were all curious though. I think Ryan even mentioned that he knew who you were once, because you guys had gym together. But, no one believed him when he said that you were just as hot as Tony and Chris. I mean, every family has at least one questionable member. We just assumed that you must be the ugly brother. It’s not like we could tell. All of the pictures Tony and Chris had of you were older. You were a cute kid then…but you never know."

"Hey!" I laughed, ticking his ribs.

"I didn’t say that we weren’t wrong." Aiden giggled, "Which we were, by the way. Ryan was definitely right about you."

I was going to have to get used to Aiden making me blush, but in the meantime I just smiled and closed my eyes as he leaned forward and kissed me. I felt his tongue brush against my lips and I parted them, smiling to myself as Aiden’s tongue swept in and I pulled him closer, more firmly against my chest and lifted my knee, trapping one of Aiden’s legs between my thighs.

It would be pointless to deny the raging hard on between my legs from being in such close contact to him for so long, but at the moment I was just enjoying the closeness. His nose felt cold as it brushed against my cheek and I lifted my arm, pulling the sleeping bag up until we were practically buried beneath it and using the warmth of out own bodies to fight off the chill.

When our lips parted I closed my eyes, not really feeling tired but feeling content enough to fall asleep right there with him. Aiden’s soft kisses on my neck and his thigh pushing up between my legs and pressing against my erection was what pushed all ideas of a quick nap out of my mind.

I placed my hands on his back and slowly rubbed up and down, lifting the back of his shirt to reach his warm skin. He shivered a bit when the cold air hit him, but when I pulled him closer against me he pressed his own inflated cock against my thigh and settled down again.

"Aiden?" I said after a moment, "Can I ask you something about Ryan?"

Aiden lifted his head from my shoulder and looked up at me, and I immediately missed his warm breath on my neck. He was giving me a knowing look, as if he could guess what I was going to ask, and he smiled.

"It’s just that you mentioned before…" I sighed, "That you’ve shared the same bed. And if he said that about me…"

"He’s not gay." Aiden smirked, "Ryan just says what he thinks, but you’ve probably already noticed that."

"Then the two of you have never…"

"No." Aiden replied, "What I said before was true. His house gets cold at night, that’s all. We kissed once, but that’s it."

"You kissed him?" I asked incredulously.

"Jealous?" Aiden raised his eyebrow.

"As a matter of fact." I grinned, and then kissed his forehead. "I guess I’m just curious."

"Well, with Ryan it’s complicated." Aiden shrugged, "I mean, I met him around the same time that he found out Leo was gay, and he already knew Ben was gay… and then he found out that I was gay."

"He didn’t take it well?" I asked.

"I wouldn’t say that." Aiden shrugged, "I think he was just curious, I mean, finding out that three of your best friends are gay doesn’t exactly happen every day. He said that he couldn’t figure out why none of us were attracted to girls, and wondered if he was missing something. Anyways, we were hanging out over at his place one day after school and Ryan asked me to kiss him because he wanted to know if it was any different with a guy."

"And?" I asked.

"I kissed him." Aiden replied, "It wasn’t too bad, he was really nervous, and then afterwards he told me I was a good kisser but he liked kissing girls better. That was the end of it."

"Hmm." I hummed my response, thinking to myself and wondering who else Aiden had kissed.

"What?" he asked, when I didn’t say anything else.

"Oh," I smiled, "Sorry. I guess I was just thinking. You said you’ve been with other people and if it wasn’t Ryan…"

"You thought Ryan was one of them?" Aiden laughed.

"I don’t know." I admitted, "I mean, up until this week I had convinced myself that there was no way you could be interested in other guys, let alone me. Now I’m just curious, I think."

"Well…Ryan and I had that one kiss, but I don’t think that counted. There were four guys I would count though, we did more than kissing. See, I met quite a few people through Ben and Leo. As soon as they came out at school, they made a point to get to know the gay community, you know? Anyways, they’d have these parties. The first guy I met actually goes to our school, but I can’t give his name. We hooked up a few times and did some experimenting. I think that it was more of a good time than anything, because we were both young, horny virgins." He said matter of factly.

"Okay." I laughed.

"The next guy was one of Ben’s friends." Aiden continued, "We were actually a couple for a while, but that lasted a whole three weeks before I realized that he was coupling with someone else."

"Sorry." I grimaced, wondering how anyone could want more than just Aiden.

"It’s fine," Aiden shrugged. "I was only fifteen then anyways, and to be honest I was just getting used to being around other people like me. Leo and Ben were really the first gay couple I had ever met. Before them, it was just Tony…. It was just around the time that I met your brothers when I began to deal with the feelings I was having for other guys. When I found out that Tony was just like me, it made it so much easier. Chris was even helpful with some things; if it wasn’t for him, I never would have thought that so many people out there could accept me for who I am."

"I’m glad they were there for you, Aiden."

Aiden pulled back a little and gave me a sympathetic look.

"I wish they could have been there for you, too." He said.

I seemed to be getting that a lot. Every time someone said it, I felt so alone. It was ridiculous, because I wasn’t alone anymore. And even when I was alone, I had had Dan. But still, when someone said it like that, I felt like I had been completely alone. I decided not to dwell on it and I smiled at Aiden again.

"Forget it." I insisted, "Now come on, you still have two more of these guys to tell me about."

"Okay." Aiden smiled, "The next one was Aaron. I met him at school too. But, he was so afraid of what his parents would think if he found out, that we were always sneaking around wherever we could. He ended up moving away a few months later and I never heard from him again. And then, there was Mike…"

I glanced down at Aiden and in the little light we had, I noticed a far off look in his eyes. It wasn’t necessarily a sad look, but he was definitely remembering something.

"Someone special?" I asked, wondering if Aiden had a ‘Dan’ of his own.

"Something like that." Aiden sighed, "I met Mike last summer. He was older than me, nineteen. It was always weird with him though, I mean, I learned a lot, and the sex was great…I guess I just didn’t like the relationship that much, you know? He was out of high school and I was hardly a junior. We just didn’t get along. I got sick of him treating me like his little brother and I think he wanted someone with more, experience."

Aiden looked like he was annoyed with his own memories for a moment, but then he smiled at me again and suddenly rolled over. I turned onto my back and adjusted as he settled his weight over me, bracing his hands next to my shoulders. I slid my legs apart and let his weight fall between them so that I could feel the bulge in his pants right next to mine.

"And then there’s you…" he said.

"Me?" I smiled, "And how did that work out?"

"I’ll let you know."

I cupped the side of his face as he leaned down and kissed me. I didn’t waste any time parting my lips and when Aiden’s closed over mine I thrust my tongue up into his mouth. He released an audible sigh as his tongue pushed back against mine and I moved my hand up through his hair, releasing his ponytail and when his hair fell down and tickled my face I closed my eyes.

Aiden pressed his hips forward and the bulge in his pants suddenly felt larger than it had been before. My own erection had gone from hardly awake to dripping in a matter of minutes.

He pressed forward again, tightly trapping my cock in my jeans. I ran my hands down Aiden’s back, gripping his ass and pulled him down and forward again, grinding up into him and lifting my knees, trapping his body between my legs.

Aiden responded by kissing me harder, pushing back my tongue and assaulting my mouth with his until I was forced to tilt my head back just to inhale air through my nostrils. But air didn’t exactly feel like the most important thing at the moment.

I felt like I couldn’t get enough of Aiden. I couldn’t get enough of his tongue in my mouth, tasting, probing, or the faint scent of soap mixed with the unique, natural scent of Aiden, and his weight, resting on me, nearly cutting off my breathing and his cock pressing against mine.

It was painful through two layers of denim but I still felt like it wasn’t enough, so when Aiden suddenly broke the kiss and lifted himself off of me I was left lying there, my lips still parted and my hands gripping into the globes of his ass, my eyes silently begging for more.

He blew a stand of hair out of his face as he looked down for a moment, regarding me in a way that I couldn’t read. My eyes traveled from his face, down his chest to his very tented pants. For some reason I found myself randomly wondering if Aiden was wearing underwear.

And then I thought I should find out.

I moved my hands around in front of him, grazing his erection with my knuckles as I reached for his jeans, but once I got them unbuttoned Aiden gently pushed my hands away and leaned down to kiss me again, softer this time, the urgency from before seemed to have faded.

Not that I was complaining. I loved kissing him. It didn’t matter how; soft, hard, fast, slow. I just loved kissing him. But that was the second time this week he’d pushed me away when I’d reached for him. And, I’ve gotta tell you, it was enough to give a guy a complex.

I decided to go with what he wanted though. I ran my hands down his back, over his ass and pulled his body closer to mine, but when I deepened the kiss Aiden pulled back again. I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong, but when I tilted my head back and looked at him, he was smiling. It wasn’t just a smile though, more like a smirk.

He was teasing me.

I grinned up at him and relaxed, and this time as he leaned down, I was the one who pulled back. Aiden softly chuckled against my mouth as more of his weight sank down on me. He licked my bottom lip before gently tugging with his teeth, and then I lifted my head, attacking his mouth with mine again.

I worked one of my hands between our bodies and he lifted his hips a little as I reached his zipper and carefully tugged it down. I moved my hands back to his back, moving down until my fingers slipped into the back of his pants and I discovered that he was in fact, not wearing underwear.

The idea of Aiden in his underwear turned me on. I think you can guess what the idea of Aiden in no underwear did to me. I pushed his pants down over his butt and squeezed the round globes as he sighed against me, and when I moved my hand around and wrapped my fingers around his long, hard shaft, Aiden gasped and thrust his hips forward. I stroked downwards and cupped his balls, but then he pulled his hips back again and nipped my ear.

"Wait." He whispered.

"Uh-uh." I absently shook my head as he pulled my earlobe into his mouth, his tongue fluttering against it, his breath sending a shiver down my spine. "Let me touch you."

Aiden laughed at the pathetically desperate sound in my voice and then brought his mouth back to mine, peppering my lips with soft kisses as he lifted his body and reached for my pants. I arched up towards him as he one handedly unbuttoned my jeans and pulled down my zipper. I kept my hips lifted as he tugged my jeans and boxers down, freeing my cock beneath the sleeping bag. He shifted as I kicked my jeans down my legs, and then he brought his hips down, his erection lightly pressing up against mine.

I arched my hips up, pressing harder against him, my body jolting under the gentle contact of his erection grinding into mine. But it wasn’t enough. It was definitely your normal teenage lust I was feeling. I wanted more. I loved the way the softer contact felt but my mind was still on Tuesday morning, when his warm mouth was wrapped around my member, and the craving in my gut to take his into my mouth. I wanted to feel him that way, taste him.

But Aiden was over me, and for the most part controlling our actions, slowly rotating his hips forward, letting me feel the soft skin covering his hard cock, the sticky wetness of our dripping pre-come smearing together and the heat of his erection gliding against mine in the torturous, slow but effective way.

I wrapped my arms around Aiden and thrust my hips upwards again, less than subtly demanding more contact. He grunted as my erection slid up alongside his, or bodies pressing them together before the head of my cock pushed hard against his stomach.

Aiden sealed his lips over mine in response, his tongue thrusting down into my mouth, pushing against my own. His hands moved down to my waist, his fingers feeling sweaty despite the cold, digging into my hips as he held me down and thrust his cock firmly against mine again, arching his back slightly and bringing our balls into contact.

I slid my hands up the back of his shirt and held onto him more tightly as he continued to move, hips rotating, grinding. His speed was still slow but his movements were harder, more deliberate. My legs seemed to spread wider on their own accord, as far as they could with my jeans trapping my ankles. Aiden’s hand moved down over my hip, cupping my right butt cheek and pulling me upwards, more firmly against him.

It occurred to me that I had never felt so open with someone before. But then again the only person I had to compare Aiden to was Dan, and although Dan was my first, real, sexual awakening, I never would have ended up pinned under him, feeling vulnerable, with my legs spread and my body exposed. Maybe the reason for that was because Dan probably would have taken advantage of the situation.

I felt safe with Aiden. He was moving slow and everything he did felt right. It felt so right that I was left craving more, but with all of the grinding and the kissing I was left breathless and the physical jolts moving through my body left me less than capable of expressing my more physical desires in a articulate, verbal way.

When Aiden broke away from the kiss he left me practically panting as he nudged at my chin with his nose, guiding me tilt my head back as his tongue swirled over my throat and his hands pushed up my sweater, his thumbs brushing back and forth over my nipples.

My body felt so warm, but the cold air I was breathing in stung my lungs as the physical sensations overwhelming my body became almost too intense. I began to wriggle beneath him, bringing my hands down to his ass again, gripping hard and pulling him down against me. Aiden grunted and covered my mouth with his, smothering my moans as my body arched up and I spent myself wetly between our bodies.

Once I recovered from the lightheaded feeling that I always seemed to be prone to after a good orgasm, I realized that that was the second time in a week that Aiden had made me come. Before that night, I never would have thought that just grinding could be so intense, but he’d obviously proven me wrong.

But while my cock was deflating, I was still far from sated. I doubt I would have been completely satisfied as long as Aiden’s organ was still hot and hard, slowly sliding against my sticky ejaculation that seemed to have gotten everywhere.

I let the sudden post orgasmic shot of adrenaline take over as Aiden kissed me and I inhaled his breath. I cupped the back of his head with one hand and placed the other firmly on his lower back before I suddenly flipped him over onto his back. It was no easy task considering that we both had pants tangled around our ankles and he grunted as he landed hard on his back, with me straddling him.

I took a brief moment to pull the previously thrown sleeping bag back over us, shutting out the sudden rush of cool air before I lowered my mouth to his, meeting his eager tongue for a moment before I made a quick work of kissing my way down his neck. I bypassed his shirt but my mouth met his flat stomach where it had ridden up and as my breath hit his abs I felt him tremble.

I nibbled and licked his skin, moving through my own smeared come on his body as his hands moved to my head and his fingers tangled in my hair. As his body arched up the head of his cock brushed against the bottom of my chin and I turned my head down, closing my lips over the thick head.

I worked my mouth down his long shaft, pushing my tongue up against it, trying to take as much as I could as I cupped his balls, rolling them against my fingers. I felt my jaw stretching as I took more of him, the head of his erection against opening of my throat before I pulled off and then sank down again.

With one hand on the back of my head and fingers pulling my hair, Aiden lifted his arm, pulling the sleeping bag over his head, closing us completely in with his soft whimpers and bit back moans.

I felt both of his hands, closing around the back of my head, pushing me down and encouraging me on. I couldn’t take all of him, not at the angle, and not with Aiden. And it wasn’t for lack of trying; he was simply larger than what I was used to. But, when his body arched and his ass lifted, his erection thrusting up into my mouth I forced myself lower down his shaft, my throat contracting around him as I fought off my gag reflex while he came in a slow stream.

I pulled back a little and held his deflating cock in my mouth for a few more moments before I released it. I could taste Aiden, and a little of myself on my tongue as I crawled back up, stretching out next to him. I couldn’t see him under the darkness of the blanket, but when he turned into me, I didn’t have to see him.

I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him to me, paying no attention to the way that our bodies were sticking together in various places. I felt his lips on my face and moved my mouth to him, proceeding to participate in slow, wet kisses.

By the time we came up for air, the theater was half way through the second feature. We both voted that it was time to re-hydrate ourselves, so I volunteered to go get the sodas. I gave Aiden another kiss and then walked through the mess of cars towards the refreshment area, I’m sure with a ridiculous grin plastered to my face, but when I reached the small building and began to open the glass door I froze in my tracks.

Inside the building there was a guy my age, waiting on popcorn. He was the same height as me, his dark brown hair was cut shorter than I remembered and his smile of white teeth lit up the room as he spoke to the girl behind the counter.

When he began to turn towards the door with his popcorn, I quickly retreated, up against the shadow of the wall to avoid being seen. My heart felt like it had suddenly lurched into my throat and all of my senses were tingling in the beginning of a potential panic attack.

What the hell was Nicky Davis doing here? I guess it wasn’t that impossible; the theater was between my old town and my new one. I had never thought of running into someone I new, let alone Nicky Davis. My best friend.

No.

My former best friend.

As he exited without noticing me and made his way back to wherever he came from with the popcorn, I was torn between calling out to him or remaining in the shadows. I opted for the latter. I was suddenly feeling a mix of anger and sadness. I had not given myself time to imagine what it would be like to see Nicky again, not when I never thought it would happen.

He had lied to me. He said he’d always be my friend, no matter what. I had confided in him. He knew my secret. Maybe it wasn’t his fault that Anna had overheard our conversation and told my father I was gay. And it wasn’t even his fault that word got out at school.

But he had abandoned me.

He never even came to see me in the hospital. He was probably too afraid to let anyone know that he was going to visit a queer. Guilt by association, and all that. God, it hurt to think about it. I wanted to hate him for abandoning me, but I still felt love for him.

When he was out of sight I collected myself the best I could and went inside to collect the sodas. I didn’t want to think about Nicky Davis. I wanted to think about Aiden Knightly, the wonderful guy I was with. We had just shared one of the best experiences of my life and I wanted to concentrate on that. I wanted to get back to him. Back to Aiden.

But it was Nicky Davis I was thinking about when I walked out with the sodas, but I guess that probably had to do with the fact that he was standing five feet in front of me, coming back towards the building.

In the few minutes it had taken to collect the sodas, a crowd had gathered around the building and the connected restrooms. Nicky was navigating his way through them with an empty soda cup, but he stopped in his tracks when our eyes locked.

I watched as recognition crossed his face and his eyes widened. His lips moved, mouthing my name, but I didn’t hear his voice, and when he started moving forward, I panicked.

I quickly turned into the crowd of people and pushed my way through, getting as far away from Nicky as I could. I succeeded in loosing him, but by the time I got back to Aiden I was a wreck. I wordlessly climbed back into the bed of the truck and handed him his soda before putting mine aside.

"Hey," Aiden smiled, "I was beginning to think you got lost." When I didn’t respond he put his arm around me, "Owen? Are you okay?"

I looked up and saw that he actually looked concerned, so I quickly forced a smile and nodded.

"Yeah, great." I insisted.

Aiden didn’t look convinced. I thought he might press the issue, but instead he leaned back against the blankets again and held his hand out for me.

"Hey." He smiled, "Come here."

I let out a breath and dutifully took his hand, stretching out next to him and getting comfortable as my head rested on his shoulder and his hand rested on my back. I felt some of the tension fade out of me as his lips brushed the top of my head and I closed my eyes and snuggled closer, my thoughts back on Aiden, exactly where they were supposed to be.

………….

It was past two in the morning by the time we got back home. I had all but forgotten my encounter with Nicky, not that it wouldn’t haunt me later, but at the moment I couldn’t stop smiling at Aiden as we walked towards our building. I was practically floating on air and I hated to say goodbye to him.

As we neared the bottom of the stairs he reached for me, and I leaned into his side as he wrapped his arm around waist. It felt so perfect there with him, so completely safe. We looked at each other, not quite needing to say anything, and I leaned forward to kiss him, not really caring who might see us at two in the morning.

But before our lips even touched we were both torn apart by the sound of a door slamming. Startled, we looked up and saw that it had been Aiden’s door. His mother, who I had met only once, was standing there with a tear stained face, wearing nothing but a flimsy nightshirt that did nothing to keep out the cold.

"What the fuck are you doing?" she screamed at Aiden. My heart seemed to catch in my throat. Had she seen us? I couldn’t even think, it was like a sudden fear, paralyzing me to the spot. I did not handle angry parents well. "Where have you been?" she continued, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

I heard Aiden curse under his breath before he stalked up to his mother. I was surprised that he didn’t look frightened at all. Actually, he looked pissed off as he pointed to the door behind her.

"Get back inside before you catch a cold." He ordered her.

She advanced on him, irately waving her finger in his face.

"Don’t you dare talk to me like that! I am your mother! You can’t come home at all hours of the night! You didn’t even tell me that you were leaving; do you have any idea how worried I was? Do you not care about me? Is that it? You’re worse than your father!"

"Don’t talk about dad!" I was surprised at the way Aiden raised his voice, "And I did tell you that I was going out, even if it was none of your damned business!"

"Don’t you dare talk…"

"Shut up!" Aiden screamed, "I’m so sick of this! You have no right to come out here acting like the concerned mother! You’re not one! You don’t care about me, you don’t care about anything except for what you’re going to do when the god damned bottle is empty!"

All of the screaming was suddenly brought to end from the cutting sound of flesh hitting flesh when Karen Knightly raised her hand and slapped her son in the face. The action snapped me out of my shock and I became angry. How dare she hit him? But Aiden didn’t even flinch, he just stared her down with no emotion on his face whatsoever. It was almost frightening, the void expression on his face. His beautiful face, which had been smiling only minutes before.

Just when I decided to interfere before Karen could hit Aiden again, the woman broke down sobbing, clawing at Aiden, who had to grab her wrists to keep her away.

"I’m so sorry," she sobbed, "I love you Aiden. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I love you!"

"Stop it." Aiden said calmly as she continued to paw at him, trying to get close. "Stop it!" he said more forcefully.

"I love you." she sobbed again, "Please don’t hate me. You’re my baby. You have to love me Aiden, you have to!" she released another huge sob and hung her head.

I couldn’t help thinking of Dan, and the memory almost tore me apart. The circumstance was different, but Karen Knightly reminded me so much of Dan in that moment, begging Aiden to love her, that I couldn’t help feeling for Aiden, what this must be doing to him.

I noticed that Aiden was holding her up now so she wouldn’t fall over. And then her body seemed to convulse and she groaned. Aiden had her turned around and her hair pulled back just in time, as she began to vomit all over the sidewalk.

Aiden looked little more than annoyed as he helped his mother, but then he suddenly looked at me again. He seemed surprised to see me, like he had forgotten that I was even there. I wanted to say something to him, but then I saw something else on his face. Shame. I realized that this was probably something he didn’t want me to see. But it was too late now.

Aiden pulled his eyes away from mine and concentrated on Karen as she finished puking, but once she finished, she turned her attention back to Aiden, gripping his shirt again.

"You can’t hate me Aiden!" she was crying again. "I’m your mother! I’m your mother!"

He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the door.

"We’re going inside." he told her, but she suddenly jerked away from him and pointed her finger at his face again.

"No! Not until you listen to me!"

Aiden reached for her arm but she eluded him and began to scream more bouts of nonsense while I stood there stupidly, wondering if I should be doing something to help, and if so, what? I practically jumped into the air when a hand came down on my shoulder and I spun around to see Chris. It looked like he had just come home from work, and he looked mad. Really mad. I felt like I needed to rush to explain.

"Chris, we were just coming back from the movies and…"

He held up a hand to stop me and then gave me a reassuring nod.

"Owe, get Aiden and take him upstairs."

I looked at him incredulously. How the hell was I supposed to do that? Aiden was already pissed off; I didn’t need him mad at me too.

"Just make sure he stays up there tonight." Chris sounded a lot more confident than I was at the moment. But I followed him anyways, surprised when he went directly to Karen, took her arm and pulled her away from Aiden, who didn’t look very surprised to see Chris, more relived. But Karen just looked annoyed as she turned to face Chris.

"Let me go Tony, I’m talking to my son!"

"It’s Chris, Karen, and I think you’ve done enough talking." He retorted, "How much have you had to drink?"

I took this time to touch Aiden’s shoulder. He glared back at me, but as soon as his eyes settled on mine, his face softened.

"Come on." I insisted, "Let’s go."

Aiden looked like he was about to argue, but Chris looked at him and firmly said, "Aiden, go with Owen."

"No!" Karen whined, "I’m talking to him…I…"

"Aiden, go!" Chris said a little more forcefully before he turned to Karen and they began to argue about whether or not she had been drinking while Chris led her towards her door.

Aiden looked like he was feeling helpless as he stared back and forth between Chris and his mom, so finally, I placed a gentle hand on his arm and slid down to take his hand, giving him a gentle tug as I headed up the stairs. Aiden glanced at me again before lowering his eyes and he dejectedly followed along.

The lights were on when we got in so I looked around as I closed the door, leaving it unlocked for Chris.

"Tony? Are you home?" I called.

When I didn’t get a response I turned back to Aiden, who was still standing silently at the door.

"Do you want something to drink?" I asked, not sure what to say.

I watched as Aiden took in a breath and silently composed himself before meeting my eyes and flashing a smile that was a little more than forced.

"Um, no. I’m okay. Thanks. I think…I’m just sort of tired, okay?"

I nodded, wondering if I should take him to my room or ask if he’d be more comfortable on the couch tonight.

Then I thought about how ridiculous that was and nodded, leading the way down the hall and he followed me.

As he began to strip off his shirt I moved back down the hall and returned with a clean towel. I knew that I was feeling a little grimy from the evening’s activities, and I was sure that Aiden was feeling the same way, so when he looked at me I smiled and handed him the towel.

"You can use the shower first." I offered.

Aiden gave me a small smile and, "Thanks." He leaned in and lightly kissed my cheek as he passed by, and while he was in the shower I decided to use the one in Tony’s room, considering that he wasn’t home and wouldn’t mind.

When I returned to my room the light was already off and Aiden was in bed, under the covers. I dropped my towel and climbed in with him, thinking that he was already asleep, so I spooned against his back, wrapping my arm around him and snuggling up to his naked body.

But then he turned so that we were facing, his eyes were open and in the dim light I could at least see that he seemed tired. I kissed his forehead and then slowly started moving the palm of my hand up and down his back, hoping that he’d be able to relax and get some rest. I had a feeling that he was going to need it.

"Owen?" he said after a moment.

"Hmm?"

He was silent for a full minute before he continued.

"Why don’t you ever ask me why I end up here every other night?"

I froze at the question. I was surprised that he would even bring it up. I guess it never occurred to me before that Aiden would want to talk about it with me. Maybe he really didn’t want me to mention it before, but now that our relationship had changed, he felt more comfortable bringing it up with me. Either way, I thought that this might be the best opportunity to satisfy a few of my curiosities about Aiden Knightly.

"Do you want to tell me?" I asked.

Aiden took a deep breath and then brought his hand up to rest on the back of my neck, massaging lightly until I leaned forward and rested my forehead against his.

"My mom’s a drunk, Owen." He said it as he released a long breath, and his voice was already cracking. "What you saw tonight, that’s nothing. She’s like that all the time. It’s so fucking embarrassing. I mean, god, I can’t even invite people over when I know she’s there because I never know when she’s going to freak out on me."

I wasn’t sure what to say. Somehow, I’m sorry, just didn’t seem right. It seemed like he needed to talk about this, and I was more than willing to listen, so I decide that maybe the best thing to do was to keep him talking.

"How long as it been like that?" I asked.

"It started when I was twelve." He sighed, "It wasn’t too bad at first because she’d be out at the bars, and then she’d just come home to pass out. But then she discovered it was cheaper to drink at home, and I guess easier, because I was there to get her refills and clean up after her. It just kept getting worse. But, when I was fourteen…that’s when I met your brothers. They’re really great, you know?"

"I know." I smiled to myself. I really did luck out in the big brother department.

"Well, Chris and Tony sort of figured my mom out. They even got her into treatment a few times. She’d be cool for a while…but it never lasts. They’re always there when it gets bad though. And my mom, you know, when she’s not wasted, she really likes them too. When she found out that Tony was gay, she even started sending me over here when she wasn’t trashed so I would have a good gay role model."

I lifted my head.

"Your mom knows your gay?" I’m not sure why that surprised me. Aiden said that everyone who mattered already knew. I guess that group should include his mom, even if she was a drunk.

"Oh yeah, she knows." Aiden chucked a little bitterly. "And she’s completely cool with it. I think she might have suspected before I actually told her because when I did, she jumped right on the gay bandwagon. She’s been nothing but supportive when it comes to that. It’s being a mother in general that she seems to have the problem with."

I couldn’t help thinking of my own mother. Sure, she had been cold with me even before she discovered that I was gay, but she had never had any problems with drinking or anything like that, and she still took care of me the way a mother would. It seemed completely unfair that Aiden’s mother could be so supportive of him, yet disappoint him over and over again.

"Aiden…where’s your dad?" I asked after a moment.

He was silent for a long time, and just when I thought that he wasn’t going to answer me, he started to speak again.

"You know that picture, in my room?"

"Yeah, with your family."

"I was eleven years old when that was taken. Two months before my parents got divorced. My dad was into real estate; he owned a few houses and some apartment buildings. He’d turn run down places into livable ones, and he was also a contractor, so he did most of the work himself. My mom was always complaining that he wasn’t home enough. She got the idea in her head that he was having an affair."

"Was he?" I asked cautiously.

"No," Aiden laughed at the idea, "My dad loved my mom too much for that. But, she didn’t believe him and went out to get even…the sad thing is, if she would have just had a normal affair, he probably would have forgiven her, but she picked one of his friends and somehow convinced the guy that they were already getting a divorce. Well, a divorce is exactly what she got when my dad found out."

"I’m sorry. I have no idea what that would have been like. Is your brother with your dad now?" it would explain why Aiden didn’t have a twin walking around.

"Yes." I noticed that Aiden’s voice cracked when he said it and I lifted myself onto my elbow to better see him, surprised that his eyes were glistening, like he was ready to cry. I found myself reaching out to stroke his cheek.

"Don’t you ever see them, Aiden?"

"Not since I was twelve, Owen. That’s when they died."

That, I had not been expecting. I suddenly felt stupid, not knowing what to say. Fortunately, Aiden continued talking before the silence became too deafening.

"My dad moved in with my grandma." He explained, "He got custody of me and Asher on the weekends. He liked four-wheeling, so we went a lot on the trails behind my grandmother’s house. But, this one weekend, we were out there right after it rained, the trails were muddy, a few trees were down…

"I was on the dirt bike, but Asher was driving the four wheeler with my dad on back. I led the way up one of the trails, but, the path was blocked, this huge tree was down. I was able to stop in time, but Asher…he would have hit me, so he swerved off the path and onto the main road…

"The guy who hit them never could have stopped the truck. They came out right in front of him…my mom still blames my dad because Asher died too. She started drinking the day of the funeral."

I felt something wet fall on my thumb where I was touching his cheek and realized that the tears were falling, if only silently. And there was nothing I could say. Or do.

I had lost my parents too, but not in the same way, and even when I lost my brothers, it wasn’t because they were dead. I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like if something happened to Tony or Chris. And then I thought about how Chris or Tony would feel, if something happened to one of them. Aiden had lost a twin. Knowing the bond between my twin brothers somehow made Aiden’s situation seem worse than if he had just lost a brother.

I cuddled up to his side again and just held him until he turned into me again and buried his face in my neck. When he spoke his words were muffled, but I could still hear him

"I love Tony and Chris, Owen. But sometimes, it’s hard to be around them. They remind me so much of me and Asher, the way they read each other…no one could tell us apart either, you know."

"I couldn’t." I whispered. I felt him sigh against my neck.

"Since you showed up," he continued, "I don’t feel so alone when I come by here. I’m glad you found your way here, Owen."

So was I, for more than one reason. In fact, I think I was finding more reasons every day.

I ran my fingers through Aiden’s shower damp hair and tightened my grip around him. We stayed that way, silently, for a long time. I could feel his breathing evening out as he began to drift off into sleep.

"I’m glad I found you, Aiden." I sighed as I closed my eyes, hoping that good dreams would come to us both that night. I think we needed them.