Home - 3. Part 3

In the morning I woke up to an empty bed. I figured Troy was taking care of Lucky, but when he wasn't back about ten minutes later I got dressed and went downstairs to look for him. I found him in the living room with the boys. He was completely wrapped in toilet paper for some reason and Lucky was busy ripping it to shreds at his legs.

"Good morning," I said and the three of them greeted me. "What's going on?"

"I'm a mummy," Troy answered.

"A nice mummy," Dylan said.

"Do you really think that's the best use of our very limited supply of toilet paper?" I asked.

"You mean wiping our butts with it is a better use than having fun?" Michael replied challengingly.

"I guess not."

"Don't worry, Dylan will roll it back up when we're done playing," Troy said.

"Whaaat? Uh-uuh," Dylan replied and then giggled.

"I'll do it," Michael said.

"Oh? Can I help? Please please please."

"Sure, if you want," Michael answered, grinning, and gave his brother a kiss on the head.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" I asked.

"No, we were waiting for you," Troy answered.

"Oh, thanks. I'll get the oranges… No, wait, I just thought of something. We still have cookies. Do you want some?"

Dylan's eyes widened and he looked at his brother, who whispered something in his ear. Dylan nodded forcefully and then turned to me again.

"How much cookies do you have?" he asked.

"Maybe ten, why?" I answered.

"Can you save them for later?"

"Sure."

"That's good."

"So oranges it is then."

"Bring the coffee too," Troy said. He got up and headed to the kitchen. Lucky raced after him and threw himself on the trailing toilet paper. I went to the RV and when I came back we all sat down at the table together.

"We're going to look for the camp after breakfast. Could you watch Lucky for us?" I asked while we were eating.

"Sure, but don't forget to leave the keys for the RV," Michael answered.

"We won't get killed Michael," I said.

"Yes, you will."

"I think you underestimate us. We can be pretty sneaky if we want to be, you know?"

"Trust me, if you find the camp it won't take long before you'll feel really stupid about saying that."

"We'll see."

We finished our oranges in silence and after the boys had unwrapped Troy we headed out to look for the camp. Troy insisted on carrying me, so I got on his back and we went down to the river, followed it for maybe forty-five minutes and then searched the area around it. About two hours later we still hadn't found anything and Troy was starting to get tired, so he put me down.

"Maybe they moved," I said.

"Or they're just very well hidden."

"This could take all day, you know?"

"Yeah, but it's nice out here, so who cares, right?"

"I guess."

Suddenly I felt something clicking under my left foot and stopped dead in my tracks, completely terrified.

"Troy?" I said shakily.

"Yes?" he asked and turned around. He frowned very deeply when he saw my expression.

"I think I just stepped on a mine."

"Jesus, no! Are you sure?!" he said anxiously and I started to cry.

"I don't want to die Troy," I whimpered.

"No! I won't let you! I'll put my foot on the mine and then you run like hell, alright?!"

"No! You run! Right now!"

"NO!" he yelled and rushed over to me, forced my foot off the mine with his and then pushed me away from him really hard. "RUN!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, but I quickly wrapped my arms around him and held on to him for dear life. "CODY! LET GO!"

"YOU DIE I DIE!" I screamed back at him.

"Cody, I will knock you out and throw you if I have to!"

I closed my eyes.

"I love you Troy!" I whimpered and pushed him off the mine.

Suddenly something dropped down from a tree in front of us and then there was an unbelievably loud and bright explosion. I was deaf and blind in an instant and so dizzy that when I covered my aching ears I lost my balance and fell on the ground. A minute or two later someone grabbed me, violently tied my hands behind my back, and gagged me and then I was dragged away. I wanted to call for Troy, but figured that he wouldn't be able to hear me anyway, so I saved my energy. Next I was thrown into a car and we drove for about five minutes. Then nothing happened for a while and when my hearing and vision returned I could see Troy lying next to me. He seemed fine, but his eyes were filled with rage. The door opened and an older looking guy with a moustache and short, greyish hair dragged us outside one by one and made us kneel. Finally a tall and very thin middle-aged woman appeared with another, younger guy. He and the older one both had assault rifles that they were pointing at our heads.

"Hello. My name is Terrie," the tall woman said with an eerily calm voice. She had short, very intricately braided black hair and striking dark eyes. "I'm afraid you were trespassing and we're very cautious people, so now you have two options. You can either tell us where the rest of you are and we will grant you a quick and painless death, or you refuse to cooperate and we will torture you in front of each other until you change your minds. Now what will it be?"

The guys ungagged us.

"Go to hell, you fucking cunt!" Troy yelled furiously.

"No, Troy! It's only us ma'am, I swear," I said anxiously.

"Your clothes are clean, so is your hair and you're well fed, which means you must have a camp with supplies somewhere," Terrie replied.

"No, we have a RV, but we're on our own," I said.

"Where is it?"

I didn't know what to answer and I was so scared that I started to cry.

"He's lying!" Troy said. "There are over fifty more guys at our camp, all armed to the teeth, and if we're not back soon they'll come looking for us!"

"I think you're both lying, so let's continue this conversation after you've been tortured for a couple of hours," Terrie replied.

"FUCK YOU!" Troy screamed and spat on her.

Suddenly I saw Michael and Dylan walking out of the thicket about a hundred yards from us, followed by yet another guy with a rifle.

"Jesus! Alright, here's the deal. We do have a RV and lots of supplies. Just let the boys go and I'll tell you where it is, I swear to God," Troy said with panic in his voice.

"Gag them," Terrie ordered the guys and they did.

What happened next really shocked me. The boys smiled and waved at Terrie, who waved back at them.

"Hi Terrie," Michael said cheerfully.

"Hello you two, how nice to see you," Terrie replied. She hugged Michael and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then did the same to Dylan, who was holding Lucky in his arms. "What a beautiful kitten you have there. It's almost as adorable as you," she said to Dylan, which made him giggle.

"He belongs to them, but they let me play with him," he answered and pointed at us.

"You know those two?" Terrie asked, surprised.

"Mm-hmm. We're all living together and yesterday they brought me a giraffe and hundreds of thousands of toys."

"Do you trust them?" she asked Michael.

"I guess," he replied.

"I should let them go then?"

"Cody, the blond one, is nice, but you can shoot the other guy if you want."

My eyes widened.

"Is that so?" Terrie asked, grinning.

"No, I'm just kidding."

"Free them," she ordered the guys and they ungagged and untied us.

"Get away from her, she's bad!" Troy immediately yelled.

"No she's not," Michael said.

"She wanted to torture and kill us!"

"I was only trying to scare you. For all we knew you could've been a danger to our group, so excuse us for not treating you with kid gloves," Terrie replied.

"Fuck you!... Come on, let's get the hell out of here!" Troy said.

"Not so fast. I'm afraid we need to run a few test before we can let you leave, to make sure the boys are safe with you," Terrie said.

"Test this, cunt!" Troy barked and grabbed his crotch.

"No, Troy, let's just do what they want, ok? They didn't harm the boys, so they can't be that bad. Please?" I said.

"How long will this take?!" Troy asked.

"No longer than five minutes. And we'll wait for you right here," Terrie answered.

"What about our weapons?"

"We'll return them to you when you leave."

"Fine, let's get this over with."

The two guys led us to an army tent that was filled with all kinds of technical equipment and there was a woman with long, wavy black hair sitting at a desk, who was about forty years old.

"Go get Beverly," the older guy said and the younger one left. "Zarah, could you test these two please?" he asked.

The woman nodded and walked over to us. Suddenly she drew a knife and without warning or hesitation she cut me on my arm.

"Oww," I cried out and quickly covered the wound.

"You fucking bitch, what the fuck is wrong with you?! Hurt him again and I'll fucking kill you!" Troy yelled angrily.

"The blade was sterile," she said matter-of-factly, looked at Troy with an annoyed expression and then licked the blood off the knife.

"Jesus! She's fucking nuts!"

Zarah ignored him, took a cloth out of her pocket, cleaned the blade with it and then cut Troy on his arm.

"Oh my God! I will fucking break your face bitch!"

"Are you a man?" she asked, completely unfazed.

"What? Yes!"

"Then act like one!" she said firmly and then licked the blood off the knife again.

"I'm gonna fucking lose it!"

"Troy, please calm down, it's not her fault, she's obviously insane," I said.

"Actually, I am not," Zarah replied. "I was simply testing the viral concentration in your blood, to determine if you are in danger of changing."

"You can taste that?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes, the virus has a very distinct flavor."

"What if we had been infected, wouldn't you get infected too by licking the blood?"

"No."

"Just no?"

"Yes. Goodbye," she said and went back to her desk.

About a minute later the younger guy returned with a woman. She was maybe in her fifties, had shortish dark-red hair and a very friendly face.

"Hello, I'm Beverly, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said to us, smiling.

"Hi, I'm Cody, that's Troy," I replied and we shook hands with her.

"Now, I will show you two photos and I want you to tell me very quickly how they make you feel in one word, ok?" she said and we both nodded. "Troy, would you like to go first?" she asked and opened a blue folder.

"Sure, whatever," Troy answered indifferently, so she showed him a photo. "Normal," he said.

She frowned for a second and then let me see it next. It was a dead monster.

"Scary," I said.

"Both of you didn't react very strongly, which is irregular, but it's possible that you're just desensitized," Beverly said.

"Yeah, no shit," Troy replied, annoyed, and she showed him another photo. "Horny," he said.

Beverly frowned deeply this time. She gave the two guys a signal and they immediately held their rifles to our heads.

"He was lying. There were clear signs in his eyes and facial expression that he was repulsed to some degree, and given the nature of the photo that could indicate psychopathic tendencies," Beverly said.

"Show it to me," I said, so she did. It was a young naked woman in a pornographic pose, which made me giggle.

"He seemed to be even more repulsed," Beverly said, slightly alarmed.

"Yes, but not because I'm a psychopath," I replied, grinning.

"Would you care to explain?"

"We're gay."

Beverly raised her eyebrows.

"Would you mind touching him please?" she asked me, so I took Troy's hand. "It's true. And you two are in love, aren't you?"

"Yes, extremely," I answered and smiled.

"I'm sorry, I should've thought of that right away, but I was pulled out of a pretty intense session with a patient, so I'm a little distracted," Beverly said.

"It's ok," I replied.

"They're not dangerous," she said to the guys and they lowered their rifles.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," Troy said.

"I hope we'll meet again, under more pleasant circumstances. Have a nice day," Beverly said.

"Thanks, you too. Bye," I answered, we shook hands again and then we headed back to the boys.

On the way there we suddenly heard a loud whistle coming from their direction and a few seconds later a big golden retriever bolted past us. He ran straight to them and they immediately started to pet him.

"What's going on here?" Troy asked when we reached them.

"I just wanted to introduce them to the newest member of our group, Barklay," Terrie answered.

"He's so beautiful," Dylan said, amazed.

That's when Barklay noticed Lucky and curiously sniffed him.

"Why don't you put him down, so they can get to know each other?" Terrie asked.

"No! He'll hurt him!" Troy said, alarmed.

"He won't, trust me," Terrie replied.

"If he does, I'll fucking kill you."

"Fair enough."

Dylan carefully put Lucky on the ground, but the second he saw the dog he hissed, arched his back and raised his tail. When Barklay came closer to sniff him Lucky batted him right in the snout with his paw. The dog lay down in front of him, lowered his head and whimpered. It seemed to appease Lucky, because he walked up to him and gently put his paw on Barklay's nose. They dog licked him across the head and then lay down on his side. Lucky started to inspect him and sniffed him in various places. When he reached the back and saw the whacking tail he threw himself on it. Barklay didn't seem to mind at all.

"Looks like they'll be friends for life," Terrie said, smiling.

"Yeah, that's great, now let's go boys," Troy replied.

"We'll have a celebration in three days from now. You're all welcome to join us."

"Fuck yourself, cunt!"

"No, wait. Will there be beer?" I asked.

"Yes, plenty, and all kinds of other alcoholic beverages too," Terrie answered.

"And we're still invited, aren't we? I mean, you have to excuse Troy, he's just a little grumpy right now, but when he doesn't get stunned by a grenade, brutally tied up and gagged, and then threatened to be tortured and killed, he's a really lovely person, you know?"

"I completely understand and of course you are still invited. I'm sorry for the mix-up."

"It's ok and we'd love to come to your celebration."

"What?! You better be fucking kidding!" Troy said sharply.

"Let's talk about this at home," I replied.

"Fine."

"Are you coming boys?"

"Actually, we'll meet you at the house in a couple of hours. Could we leave Lucky with you though?" Michael said.

"Sure, but you should be in bed, resting, you know?"

"I'm feeling great, so don't worry."

"Ok, see you later."

They left, so I wanted to get Lucky, who was rubbing himself against Barklay's head, but the second I picked him up he meowed and the dog jumped to his feet and barked at me. I tried to walk away from him, but Barklay kept following us.

"Come here boy," Terrie said, but the dog didn't listen.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"Looks like they want to stay together. Would you mind taking him with you? I can give you plenty of dog food, you just have to feed him two times a day, that's it."

"Of course, gladly. Right Troy?"

"No, we talked about this, we can't have a dog, because they bark, which could get us killed," Troy answered.

"Oh no, I forgot," I said disappointedly.

"Are you worried that he might attract the hosts?" Terrie asked. "Because in that case I can assure you that that's not going to happen. There aren't any hosts around in a twenty miles radius, so it's perfectly safe and he doesn't even bark that much."

"Why aren't there any freaks around?" Troy replied.

"I can't tell you, I'm sorry. And I realize that you have no reason to trust me yet, but I swear to you, we care about the boys a great deal and we would never put them in harm's way, so if the dog would pose a risk we wouldn't let you take him with you."

"I don't know," Troy said, frowning deeply.

"I believe her, ok? And I really want the dog. Please?" I said and looked at him with pleading eyes, which made his expression soften.

"Fine," he sighed. I smiled, walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the mouth.

"I love you," I said happily.

"Yeah, me too," he replied, pretending to be annoyed, but had to grin a little.

"Excellent, I'll be back in a minute," Terrie said.

She walked off and soon returned with a giant bag of dog food. She handed it to Troy and then we finally headed home. The younger guy escorted us and told us to pay attention to the path we were taking, so we could avoid triggering a trap in case we wanted to visit the camp again. After about a mile he gave Troy our guns and then we parted ways.

Barklay stayed glued to my side and every couple of minutes Lucky meowed and the dog responded by barking, to let him know that he was still there.

Troy was really quiet though and he hadn't looked at me in a while, which I thought was odd.

"Troy, are you ok?" I asked.

"I guess."

"So you're not sure?"

"No."

"What's wrong then?"

He stopped and turned to me.

"If that would've been a mine we'd both be dead right now," he said.

"But it wasn't."

"That's not the point. You pushed me off of it."

"Yes, you forced me to do that when you threated to knock me out and throw me away from you."

"Why? You could've just let me save you."

"No, because then I would've been alone, instead of in heaven, with you."

"What if I'm not going to heaven? I mean, I've killed people."

"Then I will kick the guy at the pearly gates in the testicles as hard as I can so he has to send me down to you."

"You really love me that much?"

"I love you even more than that. I'd kick God Almighty himself in the testicles to be with you."

He laughed.

"Yeah, me too," he said and we both smiled at each other.

After maybe two hours we arrived at home. Inside I put Lucky on the floor and he immediately rubbed himself against Barklay, who lovingly licked the kitten's head in return. When he meowed at him the dog plopped down with his rear end pushed up and then ran away. Lucky raced after him and started to chase him around the house.

Troy and I decided to have lunch, so I made some soup for us.

"Have you calmed down yet?" I asked while we were eating at the table.

"More or less."

"So, we're going to the celebration, right?"

"No fucking way!"

"But they'll have beer, remember?"

"I don't care, I don't trust them."

"The boys apparently do."

"Well, they weren't almost tortured and killed, or cut with a knife."

"They were just being cautious, which is understandable, don't you think?"

"Still, there was something about them that felt off. That Terrie-chick for example, she was so fucking creepy. I mean Jesus."

"Oh my God, Troy, that's really racist!"

He laughed.

"How the fuck is that racist?" he asked.

"You know, because she's a woman of color."

"I couldn't give less of a fuck about that. But you just assumed that I think she's creepy cause she's black. That makes you the fucking racist."

"That's not true, I love all people of color!"

"That statement right there, that's a form of racism too."

"What?! No! How?"

"You don't love all white people, right? Cause that would be crazy. But you love all black people? So you must think they're not only better than white people, but that they're all loveable, which is a generalization and it means that you're biased towards them. That's called prejudice against a race and it's pretty much the definition of racism."

"No, you're just trying to mess with me. You're a jerk!"

"Did you even know any black people personally before the apocalypse?"

"Well, there were a couple of boys and girls of color at my school and I heard that they were all very nice."

"What about Zarah, do you love her too?"

"Why would I?"

"Cause her skin is slightly darker."

"I didn't even notice," I said innocently and Troy laughed really hard.

"You're adorable. But you know, if you don't like someone who's black that doesn't make you a bad person."

"Stop calling them b-l-a-c-k, that's offensive."

He laughed again.

"Why? Black people call us white, not people without color or something, right?"

"Still."

"I love you," he said, smiling, and gave me a kiss on the mouth.

"I love you too," I replied, grinning.

When we had finished our soup I fed Lucky and then we made ourselves comfortable in each other's arms on the couch. Soon the kitten and his new best friend joined us and we watched them. Lucky was lying in front of Barklay, between his legs, and was cleaning himself, but then the dog yawned. Lucky curiously looked up into his wide-open snout and after a second he gently touched Barklay's tongue with his paw. The dog didn't seem to mind and started to lick the kitten, who turned on his back and purred happily.

"Isn't that the sweetest thing you have ever seen?" I asked.

"Besides you, yeah."

"Can you think of any way for us to be more blessed and happy? I mean, we have each other, the boys, Lucky, now the dog, and apparently more than enough food. We have it all."

"Absolutely. When I was working at the farm there was this one evening I'll never forget. The sun was going down, but it was still warm and I was sitting on the porch, drinking a cold beer. And then the farmer's cat walked by, so I picked it up, put it on my lap and carefully petted it. After a while it started to purr and in that moment I felt really contented, which was very rare for me, and I was completely convinced that it was as good as life would ever get. But now, everything we have, it's unbelievable and it totally blows my mind."

"I feel the same way. I had dreams about the future, but this makes them look like nightmares."

"That's right."

"You know what we should do? What would be the appropriate thing to do?"

"No, what?"

"Celebrate."

"Come on Cody, just let this go already, we're never going anywhere near that place again, alright?"

"We'll see about that… What do you think they're celebrating anyway?"

"Maybe that they've found two young, well fed guys that they can eat. The celebration is probably just a pretense to lure us back there so they can drug us, kill us, stuff an apple in our mouths and then roast us like pigs."

"Aww, now I really want an apple," I said and giggled.

"You're way too happy. I should water-board some sense into you."

"Hey, why don't you?"

"Why don't I what?"

"Water-board me. I've never understood why it's supposed to be so horrible. I mean, it's only water, right? Come on, let's try it."

"Has the explosion damaged your brain or something?" he asked, grinning, and shook his head.

"Well, I might be a little love-drunk, but I'm serious, I want you to do it."

"I'm not gonna fucking water-board you Cody. Jesus."

"Please, just once. Please?" I said and looked at him puppy-dog-eyed.

"Fine, but only if you do it to me first."

"No way. What if I accidentally traumatize you? I'd never forgive my… Oh, wait, I see your point now… Sorry," I said sheepishly.

Suddenly Barklay jumped up, ran to the door, with Lucky right behind him, scratched it and then barked at us.

"I'll let him out," I said.

"But watch Lucky, I don't want them to run off together."

"Ok."

I walked over to them, opened the door and followed them outside. Barklay relieved himself on the side of the house and after watching him curiously for a few seconds Lucky did the same. When they were done they hurried back inside and made themselves comfortable on the carpet in the living room. Apparently Lucky was tired, because he clung to Barklay, who curled up in a ball around him, and closed his eyes.

"Aww, is it crazy that I'm kind of jealous of them," I asked.

"Yes," Troy answered dryly and we both laughed.

"Come on, let's take a little nap too, ok?" I said.

"In the middle of the day? For no reason?"

"Yeah, why not? It's not like we have anything better to do, or at least nothing that can't wait."

"Still. I mean think about it, the boys are out there right now working hard to put food on the table and we're at home, sleeping, like a bunch of deadbeats? That's totally fucked up and backwards if you ask me."

"Yeah, we should help them somehow. Poor kids. We'll talk to them when they come back, ok? But now I really need to be held. You don't have to fall asleep if you don't want to. Please?"

"Fine, but tomorrow we'll do something useful, alright?"

"Deal."

I cuddled myself against Troy, who put his arms around me, and soon I was sound asleep.

I was woken by Barklay barking and Lucky meowing, so I lifted my head and saw the boys coming in.

"Hi," I said somewhat drowsily and they both greeted us.

"Have you two been sleeping all day?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, sorry, Cody made me," Troy answered.

"It's true," I said. "But we've been talking. How about you show us where your garden is and we'll take care of it from now on, so you have more time to play and have fun?"

"That's ok, we don't mind doing it," Michael replied.

"How many plants do you have?" I asked.

"I don't know. Hundreds?"

"Taking care of such a huge garden must be really hard work."

"It's not that hard. We have this watering system. We only need to work a pump for maybe fifteen minutes every couple of days and all the plants get watered automatically. And using the pump is easy, DJ even thinks it's fun."

"So fun," Dylan added cheerfully.

"Weeding is kind of annoying, but we do it together. And DJ loves to pick pests off the plants and give them a new home outside the garden. Snails are his favorite. Whenever he finds one he puts it on his little shovel, says 'Hold on, snail,' and then carries it to safety."
"That's adorable," I said. "But I can't believe how much you have managed to accomplish all on your own. I mean, you're just two little boys. It really blows my mind."

"Hey," Dylan replied, "I'm not that little and he's already a man. Show them your pubes Mikey!"

"Remember what I told you about letting grown-ups see us naked?" Michael asked.

"Oh no, I forgot. I'm sorry Mikey. Are you mad?" Dylan said wide-eyed.

"Of course not," Michael replied and gave his brother a kiss on the head, which made him smile.

"So, you really don't want us to help you?" I asked.

"No, but you could make dinner. We brought green beans and potatoes," Michael answered.

"Sure, gladly."

"Oh, and we also brought this," Michael said and pulled a bottle out of his backpack that was filled with a white liquid.

"What's that?"

"Milk. For the cookies."

"Where did you get milk?" I asked, surprised.

"Aimee gave it to us. She's really nice," Dylan answered.

"Who's Aimee?"

"Our friend. She lives in the mountains."

"There's another camp in the mountains?"

"She's a goat," Michael said, grinning.

"You've tamed a wild goat?" Troy asked incredulously.

"Yes. It took us months," Michael answered.

"She's beautiful," Dylan said. "Her fur is white and her eyes are brown and she has a little tail and four legs and hooves and two horns and a long mouth. Do you think she looks like an Aimee?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen her," I answered.

"I just described her to you," Dylan said matter-of-factly and frowned at me.

"Oh, yeah, she totally does."

He smiled.

"She likes it when I hug her," Dylan said.

"Who wouldn't?" I replied and he giggled.

"Hey, why didn't you tell us that you knew the people at the camp?" Troy asked.

"Because we didn't want to encourage you to go there," Michael answered.

"Why not?"

"So you wouldn't get killed."

"Cause they're dangerous, right?"

"No, they're not, but they are very protective of their group and you insisted on taking your guns, which I figured would give them the wrong idea, so I was worried that they might shoot you."

"How well do you know them?"

"We visit them from time to time. They're all very nice, especially Wyett, we like him the best."

"Who's Wyett?"

"The guy with the moustache?"

"Oh, right… And what about the others? That Terrie-chick for example, what's up with her?"

"She's sort of their leader. I don't know her that well, because she rarely talks about herself, but we like her too."

"And you've never seen anything fishy going on while you were there?"

"They eat meat, all of the time," Dylan answered.

"That's why DJ doesn't like to go there," Michael said.

"Human meat?" Troy asked.

"No! What's wrong with you?" Michael replied, frowning.

"Sorry."

"So you trust them?" I asked.

"Sure," Michael answered.

"Troy doesn't."

"Just do yourself a favor and go there. You'll change your mind after you've met everyone."

"No thanks," Troy replied.

"We're going tomorrow," I said.

"No we're not!" Troy said.

"Let's talk about it after I've made dinner, ok?" I said, and got up.

"Could we take a shower in the RV while you're gone tomorrow?" Michael asked.

"You can take one right now if you want," I answered.

"No, not with Captain Pervert creeping around."

"Tomorrow then."

"You're not even defending me?" Troy asked indignantly.

"Oh, yes, sorry… He's not a pervert, ok boys?" I said.

"Yeah, but you have to say that, so it means nothing coming from you," Michael replied.

"Fair enough."

"Thanks, that really made a difference," Troy said sarcastically.

"How about this?" I asked and gave him a loving kiss on the mouth.

"Just go already," he answered, but had to grin.

I went to the kitchen with their backpack and started to prepare dinner. Dylan decided to build a city out of LEGOs and while he was busy assembling houses Troy and Michael were competing over who could solve a Rubik's Cube first. About an hour later the four of us were sitting at the table and enjoying a delicious meal. For dessert we had warm milk with cookies, which was amazing. Afterwards I fed Lucky and Barklay and then we helped Dylan work on his city. Since we had taken all of the LEGO stuff from the store we had multiples of most sets, so Troy and Michael both tried to build a fire station faster than the other. Michael won and got to smash Troy's almost finished one. Troy whimpered jokingly and we all laughed. When the sun began to set Troy and I lay down in each other's arms on the couch and watched it.

"Do you want to make love to me tonight?" I whispered in Troy's ear. His eyebrows went up and he nodded forcefully, which made me giggle. "Boys?" I said. "Would you mind sleeping in the RV today? The lock is reinforced, so it's really safe."

"I guess, but why?" Michael asked.

"Well, we'd like to spend some grown-up-time together, you know?"

"Oh… Sure, no problem."

"Thanks. We'll take a quick shower and make everything ready for you."

"Ok."

I showered first and Troy changed the linen for the boys in the meantime. Then, while Troy was getting clean, I decorated our room with candles, lit them and lay down in bed naked. When Troy came in and saw me he looked a little flustered for a moment, but quickly snapped out of it, undressed and joined me.

"Jesus you're beautiful," he said, amazed.

"I love you," I replied and we kissed tenderly. A few seconds later he started to stroke my chest and stomach, but not my private parts, which was driving me crazy, because I wanted him to really badly. After a while he turned me on my side and pressed himself against me. Next he let the head of his penis slide down between my butt cheeks and then gently massaged my anus with it.

"Do it now please," I said lustfully.

"Are you sure?"

"100%."

"Alright."

He took the lube from the nightstand and I lay down on my back again. He kneeled in front of me and lifted my legs, then he put some lube on his fingers, breathed on it to warm it up, which I really appreciated, and finally applied it to my anus, first on the outside and then he entered me with his finger to spread it around on the inside too. When he was done he lubricated his erection, scooted closer and laid my legs on his shoulders.

"Ready?" Troy asked and I nodded.

I felt the head of his penis pressing against my anus, so I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. The pressure increased, but then Troy suddenly stopped pushing.

"It won't go in. I think you're too tense. Are you scared? Cause we don't have to do this, you know? Not today anyway," he said.

"No, I am a little nervous, but I really want this, I swear. Just push harder, ok?"

"I won't wanna hurt you. Maybe we should wait till you're more relaxed."

"I don't see how waiting would help."

"Let me try something," he said and kissed my left thigh.

"Ok," I answered and when I closed my eyes he started to gently caress my testicles with the back of his fingers. After a couple of seconds he took a hold of my erection, stroked it very lightly and massaged my anus at the same time. Soon I was totally lost in the pleasure he was giving me and barely felt nervous anymore.

"Troy, I think this is as relaxed as I'll ever get, so please do it now, ok?" I said.

"Alright."

He tried again, but it still didn't work.

"Just push as hard as you can, I'm sure it'll be fine. I mean, for all we know that's what you're supposed to do," I said.

"No, if I push any harder I won't be able to control how fast it'll go in and I'll hurt you for sure."

"It probably has to hurt at first, so I don't care, it'll be worth it. Now come on, please?"

"No, nothing is worth hurting you."

"So you don't want to do this anymore?"

"No, I don't. I'm sorry."

"Oh. Ok," I said disappointedly.

Troy wiped off the lube and then we put some clothes on, blew out the candles and after we had made ourselves comfortable in each other's arms we just lay there and didn't talk for a while.

"Troy? Are you mad at me?" I finally asked insecurely.

"Why would I be mad at you?" he replied, surprised

"Because you couldn't make love to me."

"But I was the one who didn't wanna go through with it."

"Yes, but only because my stupid butthole is too small," I said sadly.

"No, Cody, this wasn't your fault. If anything my dick is too big, alright?"

"It's not that big or at least not abnormally, so it should easily fit into a regular sized butthole, but it doesn't fit into mine, which means it's too small… I'm really sorry Troy."

"No, Cody, there's nothing wrong with you, you're perfect, everything about you is perfect, including your asshole."

"You're just trying to comfort me."

"I'm not… Well, I am, but I do think you're perfect, I swear to God."

"Don't you wish you had a boyfriend you could make love to?"

"Do you wish you had a boyfriend who could blow you?"

"No, of course not, that doesn't matter to me at all."

"And this doesn't matter to me."

"But anal sex is a bigger deal than oral sex, so that's not really a fair comparison."

"Are you saying that my mouth is less desirable than your asshole? Cause I might get a little offended by that," he said, smirking.

"No, but anal sex is more intimate. You know?"

"I guess, but we wouldn't have done it as often, so blowing you would've amounted to at least as much intimacy as making love, which means it is a fair comparison."

"Fine, but I still feel like I let you down."

"No, don't you see, this is a good thing, cause this whole time I felt like shit about not being able to blow you, but now we could just agree that we're even and neither of us has to feel bad anymore. "

"So you do think it's my fault?"

"No, your asshole just isn't compatible with my dick, but that isn't your fault."

"I don't know."

"Please, let's just make the best out of this and move on, alright?"

"Ok."

"Promise me you won't feel bad anymore."

"I promise."

"Great."

"Are we ever going to try it again?"

"I don't think so, I mean, what would be the point?"

"Maybe there's a way to widen my butthole somehow. For example, I could put stuff in there, walk around with it for a day or two and then use something bigger till eventually a cucumber as big as your penis will fit."

"That's a horrible idea. What if you wear out your sphincter and start shitting yourself?"

"Eww, you're probably right. But there must be a solution for this."

"I can't think of anything."

"Hey, what if there are gay people at the camp who could help us?"

"How would you even bring that up in a conversation? You can't just ask 'Oh, by the way, do you have a small asshole?'"

I giggled.

"No, but I could tell them that mine's too small."

"Yeah, that's much better, not awkward at all."

"Well, that wouldn't be the first thing I'd say to them of course."

We both laughed.

"Be honest, how important is making love to you? Do you feel like you're missing out on a lot?" Troy said.

"No, not really. I kind of have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I think it might be amazing, but on the other hand I'm scared that it would be painful and just horrible, so I honestly wouldn't mind if we'll never try it. Besides, compared to everything else we have together making love is just a tiny drop in a giant bucket that's already overflowing with water, you know?"

"Yeah, I feel the same way."

"I love you," I said and stroked his chest.

"I love you too, so fucking much."

I lifted my head and gave Troy a tender kiss on the mouth.

"I still hope we'll meet some gay people at the camp, preferably older ones who can teach us stuff we've never even heard of."

"Well, we won't."

"Why not?"

"Cause we're not going to that fucking place."

"But Michael said it's safe and that they're all nice."

"I don't care."

"Come on Troy, please?"

"No and that's final."

"Oh really? Guess what then, I am going there tomorrow, with or without you."

"Fine, have fun."

"I will. And you don't have to worry about me, I'm sure I'll be ok. I mean, I can't really remember how to get to the camp safely anymore, so I'll probably be blasted by grenades a couple of times. And if they are bad they'll want to know where you are and I won't tell them, so they'll torture me all day. Of course, if I come across a monster on the way I might not even make it there alive. Oh well."

"Jesus!... Alright, I'm coming with you… You're a dick, you know that?"

"I only know that I love you very much," I said innocently.

"Whatever. You'll pay for this, trust me."

"I could pay for it with lots of little kisses if you want," I said. I lifted my head again and started to kiss Troy all over his face. He finally laughed and pushed me away.

"Let's just go to sleep, alright?"

"Ok. Good night."

"Good night."

I closed my eyes and thought about everything that had happened that day till I eventually fell asleep.