BEAU - 5. Chapter 5

I had just finished lunch on the second Saturday in January when Beau arrived unexpectedly. I greeted him, “Hi, what’s up?”

Nothing It’s just the baby shower. All those women talking babies and loading Skye up with baby clothes and stuff. Skye doesn’t want me there and I wouldn’t be able to cope anyway.”

I laughed. “Have you had lunch? Would you like a coffee?”

“I grabbed a burger on the way over here. I’d actually like a shower.”

“Am I missing something? It seems every time you turn up here you want a shower.”

He smiled. “Look at me. I’ve been working all morning on a dirty construction site. I need to clean up.”

“Yeah, now you mention it, you do look as if you’ve been wrestling in the rubbish. Do you have clean clothes?”

He pointed to the backpack slung over one shoulder and headed for the bathroom. He looked back. “Come on I need my back washed.”

Showering with Beau was now feeling normal. I washed his back all the way down to include his arse crack and washed his hair. He then washed my back the same and then told me to turn around. “Now we can wash each other’s front.” This caught me by surprise, but Beau was already soaping the hair on my chest. I got some gel and did the same to Beau.

We washed down until we reached pubes. I was half hard and Beau glanced down. “You enjoying this?” His soapy hands cupped and washed my cock and balls. Beau was already half hard, so I did the same to him. We were both hard.

“Nothing sexual, remember.” I reminded him.

“It would only be sexual if we continued.” I wasn’t sure about his logic. We rinsed and turned off the water.

As we were drying, I commented, “Andre said you refused to shower with him once you started growing pubes.”

Beau stopped. “When did he tell you that?”

“The morning of your wedding.” He nodded that he understood. “What’s changed?” I asked.

“Let’s lie on your bed and talk.” I knew and had accepted that naked on my bed Beau felt comfortable to talk about things that concerned him. We settled, lying on our backs naked with our bodies touching from shoulder to foot.

He looked at the ceiling and exhaled a deep breath. “Andre’s right. We used to always shower together, and then . . . Andre’s two years older than me but we both started growing pubes maybe six months apart. I was fascinated when he started and I liked looking at this body, and then he started throwing boners. I liked seeing him in the shower with a boner. Then my pubes started growing and I started throwing boners.”

“That’s all normal.”

“I know but at that time it scared the shit out of me. I couldn’t understand my feelings or my reactions. In a sense I fled. I told Andre we couldn’t shower together and made up some crap about needing privacy at our age.”

“How did Andre react?”

He chuckled, “well, really well I suppose. All he said was ‘do you want first or second shower in the morning?’. It was all weird because we shared the same bedroom.”

“So what was it? You started to be concerned about being around naked guys?”

“Sort of, but no not really. I didn’t have any problems with change rooms or open showers after sport. It was proximity. Body and skin contact like touching in the shower or hugging, that really scared me.”

“So you avoided things like hugs. Were you worried about your sexuality?”

“No! Well . . . maybe. I don’t know. I knew I was sexually attracted to girls and not to boys, but I suppose I was worried that if I got too close to guys, like hugging, that could change.”

“And now?”

“Well that’s where you come in.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You know Skye and I were having a bad time when you crashed into our lives.”

I mocked indignation. “I think ‘crashed’ is exaggerating what happened in the Imperial Centre carpark.”

Beau laughed loudly. “Fair enough but that did bring us together. I thought I might see what some male sex was like and thought I could sort of blackmail you into a head job. Well attempting to blackmail you, really went to plan, didn’t it.”

I laughed at his sarcasm. “Well, you still got what you wanted.”

He shook his head. “Oh, I got so much more than I wanted that afternoon. I got back Skye. I got my BFF and I got to feel comfortable in my own skin. You taught me that it was OK for guys to touch each other and that it can be sexual or not sexual and the difference is choice.”

“I think ‘sensual’ is the word for the not sexual physical contact. So me sucking you off didn’t appeal to you.”

He pulled my face so we were eyeballing each other. “Don’t get me wrong. That blow job was absolutely incredible. I can still remember all of it. But the best bit is that in the end you were more interested in me than the sex. I could relax with you, enjoy the naked man to man contact and talk more than I ever had before. You know, since then I’ve felt totally comfortable hugging other guys and skin contact.”

“Yeah, I do. Skye’s told me. How about the shower with Andre on your wedding day?”

“Oh that. Well that’s you fault.”

Slightly offended. “What do you mean my fault?”

“You showed me how comfortable and enjoyable showering with a male friend can be. I wanted to show Andre that that’s how I feel now.” There was a pause. “What did he say to you?”

“That he loves you like this.”

“Something else I can relax about. You know I love Andre almost as much as I love you. Three brothers together.”

“So you’re comfortable showering with male friends. Do you shower with Skye?”

He paused. “Well yeah since meeting you, we do but we have to have plenty of time.”

Already knowing the answer, I asked, “Why do you need plenty of time?”

Another pause. “Well when we shower together we sort of get over excited.”

I tried not to laugh. “You mean you end up having long and passionate sex in the shower.”

He blushed. So cute. “Yes. Chris, for God’s sake don’t tell anyone. Skye would kill me.”

“You don’t think she’s told her lady friends?”

“Nah, not really.” Another brief thoughtful pause, “but Kyle did say his wife is wanting them to shower together.”

We shared a laugh. Beau looked at me. “Anyway, how about you?”

I was curious where this was going. “What about me?”

“I’ve noticed an Uber parked in your drive some mornings. The Asian guy?”

I was curious. “Are you checking on me?”

“A bit but only when I’ve got jobs over this way.”

“Yes, it is Calvin, the Asian guy, but we know it’s not going to work out.”

“Oh, why?”

“That would be too much information for a young innocent like yourself to understand.” He knew I wasn’t being serious.

He feigned upset. “Aw shucks and here I thought I was all growed up.” And then seriously. “You know I have to vet anyone you’re serious about.”

I was incredulous. “You what!”

“Only the best can date my BFF. I’m not going to let any riff raff date you.”

I shook my head. “In that case, I think I’m safe. Finished?”

“Yeah finished.”

“Coffee?”

“Sure.”

As I set our coffee on the table, Beau sent a text to Skye. He read the reply and smiled happily. “It seems the ladies are just about finished. It should be safe to go home in about half an hour.”

Like all babies his smile was infectious. You couldn’t help but love him. His parents’ smiles were even broader. It was easy to see how much they loved him and each other. Beau had been present for the birth. He had stood by Skye and held her hand throughout. They had shared the experience. It wasn’t long before mum and bubs were out of hospital and home organising a christening.

Christenings don’t attract as many attendees as wedding, so it was a caring group of family and very close friends who gathered around the church font. Skye’s brother and his wife were the godparents. Skye and Beau had decided to give their son three names. He was christened William Lachlan Christopher. Yes, after Skye’s father, Beau’s father and me! I had not been consulted or told. I was of course surprised and delighted. Much to everyone’s surprise he accepted being christened without crying. The proud grandparents beamed even more than the parents.

We adjourned to Beau and Skye’s apartment to celebrate and to “wet the baby’s head”. Everybody was happy and young William was passed around and cuddled until he needed feeding and sleep. Skye breast feed him and then Beau changed him and put him in his cot. He was soon sound asleep.

Of course, Andre was there. As soon as he came up to me with two drinks and handed me one, I knew what he was going to talk about.

“Well their baby’s been born and christened, are you admitting defeat on getting me hitched?”

“I didn’t say you’d be hitched by now, I said I’d work on it after the birth.”

“At this rate it could go on forever.”

I was happy with this friendly banter. “OK. How about you come for dinner at my place on Friday and we’ll finalise it.”

He grinned, “I accept, but only because everyone says you’re a good cook.”

Skye walked up to us. “What are you two up to? Nothing bad I hope.”

I turned and hugged her, glanced at Andre and smiled. “No, everything’s good.” And then directly to Skye. “I’m honoured to be included in his names. It was such a surprise. Thank you for that.”

Still hugging she replied, “you deserve it. You’re family and we love you.” Skye then lent in and kissed me.

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop making out with my wife” came from beside us. Beau was laughing and after a friendly punch to my shoulder pulled us into a hug.

Nobody wanted to disturb William, so the party became very quiet but still fun.

Friday night I had food prepared ready to be cooked when Andre arrived with a six pack and a medium backpack.

I pointed to the backpack. “So you’re expecting to stay the night?”

“We may drink too much and put me over the limit, so I thought I should be prepared.”

“Well you know there’s one bed and the couch converts to a bed. Where do you want to put your backpack?”

He walked into the bedroom and towards the bed. I was enjoying this. “You realise if you choose the bed, you’ll need more than an overnight?”

He turned back to me. “I’ve got another bag in my car.” He was also enjoying this. “I thought I’d see how one night went first.”

This was going really well. “You know if you put that backpack on the bed, I want this to be permanent?”

Andre looked into my eyes and deliberately dropped the backpack on the bed. “That’s what I want as well.”

We moved towards each other and embraced and kissed, and kissed, and kissed; each time with more passion. I broke to take a breath. We looked at each other and simultaneously said, “I love you.”

“Do you want to eat now or later?”

“If you’re thinking what I’m thinking. Food later.”

“Good choice. You know Beau’s going to vet you to make sure you’re right for me?”

“What the fuck . . . .‘?”

I put my finger on his lips to stop him and pushed him onto the bed. “Oh, you’ll pass with flying colours.”