Assmunch

I feel that when you put an emotional aspect in the story, the readers really understand what makes the characters live and act the way they do. But stories are also good without that if what they want isn't emotional. Some people just want the sex stuff, and that's okay too. Thanks for letting me know my story moved you. I like that.

Thanks! I am truly glad you like it! The story still continues and I will write more. There’s still a lot of life to go for the Bravos. There’s quite a bit I plan to write.

Oh man, I was not expecting the Sam/Alden angle, but it is wonderful! Alden doesn’t seem to have many friends. When I first started reading Life of the Spare, I did not think Alden would be a good brother, or anything other than a an entitled Prince. I am so happy he is completely different than what I first thought. And it’s definitely time Max stepped out as Alex’s boyfriend.

Thanks bud.

Oh man, I’m glad you felt that… Many of the guys reading my story are in love with Zeus (Hell, I am too…I’d crawl on my hands and knees over broken glass to worship him if he were real) and it was killing me to keep his secret.

ASSMUNCH “Damn it! It was supposed to stun him.” Major Collins gasped. He was holding his right ribs with his hand. “I think he cracked my ribs with that shot.” I’d darted in along with Lamont when Zeus collapsed and was kneeling over him. “I don’t know why he took the opening, he had to know it wasn’t going to end well.” I said. Only a few seconds had passed before Zeus came to with a small groan. “There he is.” Lamont commented. “Zeus, you okay?” I asked. Zeus looked at me. “Hi Andrew.” I chuckled. Anyone else would probably have asked what happened. Zeus just said ‘hi’ in the same tone you’d use to greet someone while walking into a party, like he was glad to see me and couldn’t wait to catch up on what was going on with me. “Yeah, you’re fine buddy. Come on, let’s get you vertical.” I patted him on his shoulder. “How’s your jaw? Does it hurt any?” Zeus stood up. “It’s okay. That was amazing!” He said to Major Collins. The Marine laughed, and instantly regretted it with a wince of pain. “Kid, we both underestimated the other. I knew you would hit hard, but I wasn’t expecting that.” Zeus smiled. “You hit me really hard too! That was fun!” I shot a look of incredulity at Lamont. He rolled his eyes. “You should have been a Marine, Private. But only trade shots with your opponent when you know you can stay on your feet.” Collins returned. Zeus just shrugged. “You were going to get me soon anyway, and I wanted to know what you were going to do.” Zeus said. “I didn’t have a lot of options. I needed get you stunned. Head shot seemed like my best bet. Not sure a kidney or diaphragm hit would have done it, not on you. I think maybe a nerve cluster could have worked, but you cover so well I couldn’t find the opportunity.” Collins said. “Good job, soldier. But if we’d been fighting for real I would have had no choice but to put you down.” “Are you sure you’re alright, Sir? We have a Corpsman in our group if you want him to check out those ribs.” I offered. “I’ll be fine. Not the first cracked rib I’ve had. It’s not bad, just tender. Let’s get these matches going.” He said. “Let him do his thing anyway. Besides, I think two of yours also want to say hi.” I waved over Lance Corporal Potter and Private Battles, and Navy Corpsman Lenger. “Major Collins, this is Lance Corporal Potter and Private Battles.” I said, introducing the two Marines. “This is Corpsman Petty Officer Lenger. Lenger, the Major thinks he may have a cracked rib, Zeus got him pretty good. Check him out while we start the matches if you wouldn’t mind.” “Sure thing. Major, let’s lift your shirt and take a look.” I did not expect this turn of events, but I knew after that exhibition the guys would do their absolute best. Watching Zeus and the Major fight was inspiring to say the least and I could almost feel the testosterone thrumming in the air. “Lamont, your pick.” I said. “Hmmm, weak or strong…?” He mused. “I think we need to continue the momentum, keep everyone primed. I’m going with Urich.” Urich stepped forward. I’d seen him in action many times when we’d gone head to head with the Charlies. He was good two on two or one on one. Urich loved using his opponents’ weakness against them. He was a bouncy fuck, had this way of springing on the balls of his feet in random directions while he fought. He liked attacking from the side. He had brown hair, brown eyes, stood at 5’10” and wasn’t overly burdened with muscle but wasn’t skinny either. The guy could move. I didn’t want to waste Troll right out of the gate, nor Sleeper. I think Demon could handle him. Puta could take this guy too, but Puta was really tested by Lamont’s guy Valentino which always made for an exciting match so I was going to save him for that. “Demon.” I looked over at the Major who was still paying attention. The Corpsman was feeling along the Marine’s rib bones with tactile examination one slow inch at a time. Zeus was sitting next to the Major, with Sleeper right beside him. Those two seemed joined at the hip these days. That made me happy. I bent in to whisper in Demon’s ear. “I don’t want you to show off, don’t get flashy. And don’t play with him. Take him out fast.” “Well you’re no fun.” Demon replied. “I want to dominate. I don’t want there to be any question that the Bravos are the best.” I explained. “Got it. He won’t know what hit him.” Demon said. We let them shake hands as they squared off then they backed off to opposite edges of the spectator ring. People were calling out encouragement from the sidelines. Urich was bouncing up and down, focusing on staying in motion. “Start!” I called out. Demon leapt forward towards the center and Urich hunched down in a flexed knee fighter’s crouch while he moved forward in a guarded half-step. I leaned into Lamont. “He always keeps his left foot in front.” I pointed out. Lamont nodded. “He knows he’s strongest with his right arm. I’ve tried getting him to change it up but he says it throws him off. He relies too much on his speed to dodge.” Demon’s move was a thing of beauty. While Urich approached cautiously expecting a head to head, Demon sprung left then immediately went back right, juked in a fake and fell to his knees where he swept Urich’s left leg clean out from under him. Urich did exactly what Demon wanted: he tried to hop back away from the low move towards his legs leaving him open for a sweep. Demon was on his back almost before he hit the mat and Urich was tied up in a bow with Demon’s forearm pushing down on his shoulders and his other hand grabbing one of Urich’s feet and bending his leg backwards. Urich smacked the mat with an open palm. Demon released him with a pat, and helped him up. “Should have seen that coming.” Urich said, not at all embarrassed that he was taken out so quickly. Demon shrugged. “You put too much of your weight on your left leg. I wasn’t going to wrestle you and I didn’t want to give you a chance to use that right hook you had ready.” Our little tournament went back and forth with wins and losses demonstrating how evenly matched our two groups were. Of course Puta and Valentino put on an excellent show but Valentino eventually lost. After Zeus and the Major we made it clear that fist strikes were off the table, it had to be all open hand. For those matches that didn’t have a clear submission, Major Collins made the call of who won. Sleeper of course won his match with ease. And when I say ‘with ease’ it looked like he was treating his opponent gently as if the guy wasn’t even trying to fight back because Sleeper controlled everything the guy tried. The guy Weeble fought, Endauer, didn’t know what hit him. There was no power in Weeble, just a frantic messy scramble that reminded me of two blue jays fighting, or maybe cats. Fast, crazy, confusing and intense. Weeble finally scissor locked Endauer’s head while pulling his arm at full extension twisting his wrist and squeezing the guy’s hand. Everyone always underestimated Weeble. After his win, the Bravos hooted and slapped him on the back with congratulations while he stood looking embarrassed at the praise. So it was down to me and Lamont. Lamont could tie it up if he won. Size-wise, we were very similar and I knew from past experience Lamont would be a challenge. He wasn’t flashy and didn’t go for big moves. He was patient, deliberate and could adjust his attack in mid-move depending upon his opponent’s defense. I had to be clever and deceptive to beat him. With a practiced ease I closed off every emotion. Cold calculation was necessary and the hard curtain of calm blanketed my mind like an old friend. It was how I’d dealt with thoughts of Kevin for the last year but now it was a useful tool for battle. Gutter, the Ranger Instructor, was right. Lamont was an obstacle. It wasn’t personal. I couldn’t care about winning or losing. I already didn’t want to hurt him or put him in pain but I also couldn’t care about NOT causing him hurt or pain. The only thing I should care about was my attack and taking him out. Pain, any injury I might cause was inconsequential. The state of mind I fell into elicited an immediately suppressed shock. I was in two places at once, both focused and present but also mentally standing a step back from myself as an observer. If you’ve ever been thrust into a crisis, something happening too fast for you to control, you know the feeling of being outside yourself. I thought I knew my own head, my reactions, my thoughts. I was familiar with my automatic brain that sometimes betrayed me while I watched…and sometimes distracted me from what it was doing so I WOULDN’T watch and wasn’t aware. But this… this refined that state of awareness and distilled it down into its purest form. I was in the place where there was no Me only I wasn’t gone, I was split in two. My conscious observer brain saw details with a detached clarity while my automatic brain absorbed the unfiltered information without judgment. I was a team of two fighters in symbiosis. I, the *me* that watched floating behind myself, trusted the automatic me like a trained attack dog. He knew what to do. The closest I approached to any emotion was interest and curiosity at how this contest could be dissected and boiled down into moves and counters, effectiveness of my strikes and recognizing opportunities and possible next moves. I didn’t have to make myself perform the conclusions I reached, Automatic Me handled all that. My body moved with Lamont’s offense and defense to perfection. I saw every attack a split second after he positioned himself to execute it, every counter he threw before he even knew he had to. This was an exquisite dance that wasted no physical movement as our feet repeatedly found the exact position necessary to mold our bodies into the spaces we needed to drive this into an artistic performance. No external stimuli intruded. For all my mind cared, Lamont and I were alone. I evaluated his reactions. Doing that I understood how Zeus and the Major had known when the other had been holding back. I saw it in Lamont’s body, his unwillingness to commit fully, the way he controlled his strength, his refusal to go all out. He believed he had to conserve his strength probably because he doubted his own endurance if the match went on too long. Observer me was dryly amused that by doing so Lamont was going to fulfill his own feared prophecy. Drawing out a fight because you were afraid the fight would be drawn out was a self defeat. I could have used his own doubt to beat him, toy with him until his strength left him at which time he might realize what he’d done to himself and accept the approaching loss with disappointed resignation. But that was no way to win. Had I been in any danger my Automatic Brain may have chosen that as a wise course of action - just let him beat himself without putting me in any danger. Lamont was not a threat though, not when I was in this mental state. Zeus or the Major may have been a threat, but not Lamont. Automatic Brain forced Lamont to choose. It was a good course of action, I agreed. I wanted him desperate and needed him to let go, to test me and push me to make an effort. “Fuck, Assmunch.” Lamont breathed heavily. “How much have you been training? I thought I at least stood a chance. I can’t even get a simple hold.” I had no true idea of how long our fight had been going on at this point. Whatever look Automatic Brain gave him appeared to cause him concern. ‘You’re not dealing with me, bud’ Observer Me thought. Holy fuck I liked this! I’d never felt this in control, this calm certainty of a perfect world I could handle without any effort. And that was what shattered it all, that one simple thought of exhilaration. I crashed back into myself and back into the physical world. The first thing that assaulted me was the noise of the spectators who were screaming and shouting both encouragement and roars of excitement at watching a good fight. The second thing that assaulted me was Lamont. It was my own fault, I wasn’t ready and Automatic Brain had pushed him into throwing all his hopes into one last desperate move. He had me off my feet before I even felt his contact with my chest. How had he gotten inside? I swear I heard the noise level double. I wasted a precious single second trying to recognize my position and knew I was helpless until I hit the mat. Lamont’s strength which before wasn’t even a consideration worth my concern now forced me to evaluate what I needed to do when I regained leverage. My back would hit first. Could I roll? Only if my bounce jolted his hold. I didn’t think he’d let that happen. But he was going to feel it too when we hit. I grabbed him tight and braced myself for what I knew was going to be a rough landing. I couldn’t afford to have the breath knocked out of me. * * * * * * * * SLEEPER Assmunch was handing Lamont his lunch and showing him out the door. Fuck, I doubted I could take him myself, my friend looked like a primal beast evolved for one purpose - to attack and dismantle his prey. Not a single sloppy move and he didn’t even appear to be working that hard. His handsome face bore a cold, blank stare with his wide lips held closed but absolutely relaxed as if he wasn’t locked in an intense physical battle. “He knows. He found it.” Major Collins remarked from beside Zeus. I wanted to ask what he meant, but I was too riveted by the sleek and deadly way Assmunch’s fit body moved. It was somehow erotic this perfect balance between tension in his limbs and core and the effortless flow between moves. It looked like sex and violence, passion and control. It was like Andrew had this entire fight all planned out before hand the way his moves just blended together looking like a single orchestrated pattern. So smooth it was almost gentle the way he moved. I’d seen this before. On TV, some documentary about martial arts masters. “Shaolin monks”. I said out loud when I made the connection. “Not yet, but he could.” Major Collins replied. “He’s still clumsy compared to them. But he has found the key. Only the first most basic step on the path.” It was the way Andrew’s eyes didn’t even seem to look at Lamont, half the time his head wasn’t even facing his opponent and yet he stepped gracefully aside at just the right moment, not too soon and not too far but just enough to avoid the attack. His feet slid and his hips and knees poured… that was the only word for it, he just poured his body like liquid where he needed it to be and he never stopped moving. I swear it was like watching a sheet on a clothesline waving lazily in a gentle breeze and fuck if it wasn’t giving me a fucking boner. “Jesus Christ” I let out. The crowd that had gathered increased their shouts and encouragement around us. The Major gave a chuckle. “It’s something to watch, isn’t it? You should see the Shaolin Masters fight. Speed this up by 10 until you aren’t even sure they are touching each other at all. But the flow is the same and it’s all about conservation of effort and eliminating everything but the movement from your mind. Does Private Brickmann meditate much? Seems like he wouldn’t have the time.” Still not taking my eyes from the incredible creature my best friend had become, I answered. “I don’t think so. I’ve never seen him meditate, and we’re together just about every second of the day since I met him. He’s never said anything.” “Hmmmmm” The Marine hummed, as if considering some puzzle. “You’re in Tower Week right now, aren’t you?” he asked. “Yes, Sir. Just started today.” “Doing well?” “I think so. The Bravos haven’t lost anyone, and we don’t seem to need as much hands on or instruction from the Black Hats. All the brothers seem to love it.” I answered. “And the little guy… he didn’t have any problems? He’s almost too small to reach the static line and clip in. And with everything he needs on his harness for a jump he must struggle.” “Weeble? Nah, never less than maximum effort from him.” Major Collins let out a snort. “You don’t call him Weeble, do you? Really?” I laughed along with him. “Yeah, but it’s not mean. Andrew…Private Brickmann, would never let it be mean. It’s not about his size. The commercial… you know… Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down? That’s Weeble. Every time he gets knocked down he gets back up and tries harder. He won’t quit, doesn’t stop, and doesn’t let his size get in his way. We should all have his attitude. He never loses belief in himself and takes everything with a happy smile. Weeble doesn’t fall down. And he brings us up with him.” “You seem like a close knit unit. How’d you come to Jump School together? That’s not exactly standard. Unless your Occupational Specialty requires it?” He asked. I shrugged. “Mine doesn’t, but we’re all different Specialties. I don’t know why they sent us here, but it goes with my plan to be a Ranger and be assigned to the 75th. Andrew and Zeus too. We requested it. I don’t know about the rest but I don’t think they did.” “Hmmmm” The Major intoned. “Ah, he just lost his focus. Not a bad run. You’ve never seen him fight like that?” “Never” I said quickly, seeing the same thing the Major saw. All of a sudden Andrew wasn’t flowing, he seemed… normal. When Lamont went for a full tackle, something that shouldn’t have worked on a bad day, the crowd erupted with a roar. The Bravos screaming for Andrew to fight harder, the Charlies exuberant that Lamont had finally gotten a good lick in, and the rest of the crowd because the fight wasn’t one sided anymore and the top dawg might get taken down. If Andrew wasn’t in danger of losing I would feel like busting out in unrestrained laughter at how military guys loved a good hard fight, watching one, being in one, it didn’t matter. It got our blood pumping. The energy here in the corner of the otherwise empty hangar sized gym building was fucking supercharged. Assmunch and Lamont were right… this was just what we needed, what everyone needed. The randoms didn’t know what they were missing. The crowd outside the core group had found various things from around the gym to stand on so they could see the fight action. This had turned into a Main Event, and I fucking loved it. One of the brothers started a chant “BRAVOS! BRAVOS! BRAVOS!” And we all joined in. Soon the Charlies were fighting us with their own chant as we watched Andrew and Lamont leaving nothing behind on the mat. Andrew was the reddest I’d ever seen him, his entire body was damn near purple, holy shit. He was giving it everything he had, and Lamont wasn’t going to let him win if there was any ounce of hope he could somehow pull out a win by submission. He had to know he’d lose in a decision. Even Zeus and the Major’s fight seemed tame next to this. After Andrew got knocked to the mat it was like they both agreed to finish the fight off their feet. I could see the exhaustion in both of them but they weren’t slowing down. “Is that color normal?” The Major asked in concern, referring to Andrew’s full body flush. “Yeah,” waved his concern away. “We used to call him Scarlett because he just turns all sorts of colors depending on how he feels, you don’t even need to embarrass him. It’s kind of funny. But he’s like the best guy you’ll ever meet. He keeps all of us grounded, watches out for us and fixes things before they become a problem. He keeps our heads straight.” “Used to? What do you call him now?” I froze. I didn’t think Andrew would appreciate his nickname being passed around. “Assmunch”. Zeus replied, like there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. I was also surprised. Zeus usually only referred to Assmunch by his nickname when he was with him, and called him Andrew otherwise when he wasn’t around. Ah, maybe it was just because the Major asked. Zeus really didn’t like cuss words. The Major looked at Zeus with raised eyebrows. “Do I even want to know why?” “No, Sir. And we can’t tell you anyway. Not until Andrew says.” Zeus answered, not even bothered or fazed that he just told a Major that it was up to a Private whether he got information or not. Zeus said the Major wasn’t entitled to the information, and that was that. Fucking Zeus being Zeus. “Well you boys just continue to impress. I like you Bravos. Who are the Charlies to you?” He asked. “Rival Platoon from our special training.” I answered this one. I’d lost count of the number of times that considering look had crossed the Major’s face during our conversation. “I think I know better than to ask. The Charlies aren’t a disappointment either. It seems the Army chose well for what they intend for you.” So he thought so too? Good to know we weren’t just imagining things. Wait…huh? Did the Major know something? Andrew and Lamont had to be on their last legs but neither of them was giving up. They grunted and growled with the intense effort they were expending. It was to the point where they were spending more time holding each other than moving. I knew from how their faces pressed against their opponent’s body. When you’re that weak, when it takes every ounce of strength you have left, you start trying to use your head to provide the leverage your body can’t. I’d been there so many times in my wrestling matches. Before I could ask what Major Collins meant, he stood up, holding his sore side. “Break! Match over!” He called out, stepping into the space. To everyone’s credit, no one grumbled. We didn’t because he was a Marine Major, and the Charlies and Bravos agreed that he would call the matches. But the rest of the spectators instantly fell silent. I guess the Major carried weight. Andrew lay on top of Lamont, both of them breathing hard, but relaxed and no longer struggling with each other. It looked like they had just got done fucking. Andrew’s head was just laying on Lamont’s heaving chest. Yeah, they had nothing left. Lamont wrapped his arms around Andrew and gave him a hug, then rubbed his head. “Man, I’m so done.” Lamont said. Andrew started laughing. “Me too, fuck you fight hard!” Andrew rolled off of Lamont and they both lay there chuckling and breathing. Everyone was waiting for Major Collins’ judgment. “It was close, Brickmann started out completely dominating.” He began. “But on the mats Lamont controlled the action. Match goes to Brickmann.” Andrew raised his tired arm while the Brothers jumped and yelled in celebration. “Yeah, you deserve it. That style you were using in the beginning was incredible, brother.” Lamont said to Andrew, holding out his hand. Andrew shook his hand and sat up. Zeus and I went to help him and Lamont up, but a couple of the Charlies, Cook and Lopez, got to Lamont first. “That was an intense competition.” I said. “Fuck yeah it was!” Cook said. “Charlies need to train more. We can’t let you Bravos live up there at the top.” I laughed. “Well come on then. Actually, we should train more too. A few of those matches we didn’t have to lose.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Major Collins had pulled Lamont and Andrew aside and was speaking to them alone. I liked the Major, he seemed like a really laid back guy for a Marine and an officer. ************* PUTA Julio snuck away from the matches not long after he beat his opponent from the Charlies. Almost everyone in the big hangar sized gym was riveted on the battles and no one noticed him leaving. He’d had fun grappling Valentino, the 6 foot tall blonde with the beautiful ass. Or rather groping. Julio didn’t mind that Valentino didn’t really fight back as hard as he probably could have after his first takedown when Julio pressed his jockstrap encased erection into Valentino’s ass and whispered in his ear “Quiero tu sabroso culo.” The pretty blonde didn’t reply, but Julio soon knew he’d gotten the message even if he didn’t understand Spanish. Still, Julio was surprised. He didn’t expect Valentino to actually LIKE it. He’d done it more for a little fun and to throw his opponent off than in any serious attempt to fuck the guy. But as their match went on he got more aroused as Valentino waited longer than necessary to break away, or move out of Julio’s grasp. Julio made sure his hands found that enticing round ass at every opportunity. He pushed his fabric covered hard cock against Valentino’s face, his ass, and even let him grope it. No, he wasn’t imagining it. The pretty boy was willing. He thought at one point he felt Valentino’s mouth gnaw briefly on his cock. Never one to waste an opportunity, when Julio decided the match had gone on long enough, he pinned Valentino and whispered to him with their faces pressed together in struggle, “Submit Guapo. I give you what you want in da showers.” In less than two seconds, his opponent smacked the mat and Lamont called the match. With the matches drawing so much attention, almost no one was in the locker room. Julio didn’t wait for Valentino to follow him. He either would, or not. But Julio knew he would. He knew the hunt, knew the look of desire hidden in the eyes that stayed too long. And if that wasn’t enough, Valentino’s equally hard cock would drag him wherever Julio wanted him to be. That was how it was supposed to be: they came to him. They always came to him. All he had to do was entice them with sufficient encouragement. Julio was standing naked in front of his shower cubicle, the last one in the back when he saw Valentino come into the locker room out of the corner of his eye. There was only one other person in the locker room and he looked to be putting his things in his workout bag to leave. Julio shot Valentino his suave grin, licked his lips before biting one gently in his teeth, turned slightly to give the blonde a quick look at what would soon be buried 8 hard inches deep inside him, then stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed. It was all part of the hunt. The lure. The tease before the love-making. Only rarely was it necessary to get it done quickly, like with Wanker that night in the snow shelter in Germany. It was better, so much better, to inflame the passions and boil the blood. It would not take a lot, much of their foreplay had occurred on the mat in front of onlookers, which to Julio made it even more exciting. Valentino was already his eager plaything. Even so, the pretty soldier deserved to be treated like the treasure he was. In little more than a minute, the shower curtain moved and Valentino darted hurriedly inside. He was very nervous. That would not do. “Hola guapo.” Julio greeted him with a slight grin, half-lidded eyes, and a quiet voice, one he knew was especially sexy. Valentino smiled nervously. “Are you sure this is okay?” Valentino whispered. “Jess, my beautiful. Is okay. I no let anything happen to you.” Valentino learned very young how to soothe his conquests with sugary words and his gentle confident voice. He reached up to stroke Valentino’s face. “No one is here.” He moved his hand down to grab Valentino’s hand and place it on his hard slightly upwardly curved cock. “Is what you want, no?” Valentino stroked him slowly. “Jess, is all for you, guapo. You have made me this way.” He leaned into Valentino and kissed him softly. Julio played his tongue along Valentino’s lovely mouth until he parted his lips to let Julio inside while guiding his hand with his own on his engorged flesh. Valentino moaned. Julio moved his other hand around to rub and knead Valentino’s enticing ass while he kissed him. Valentino lifted his leg, wrapping it around Julio’s waist to give him clear access to his sweet hole. Valentino moved his lips to the side, kissing Julio’s face, then his neck. “I need you to fuck me.” He said, running his tongue up Julio’s smooth brown skin. “Jess, Papi will make love to you, Chico. You no worry.” Julio took his hand from where he had been guiding Valentino’s stroking and placed it on his head. “You show me now how much you want me, Jess?” Pushing gently, he guided more than forced Valentino’s head lower until he was directly in front his thick carajo where he wasted no time before taking it into his mouth. Valentino was good, very good. In no time he was fully buried in the warm, accommodating mouth of this beautiful man. Julio had always been more excited by eagerness than reluctance. He’d had many men who believed they were straight, and virgins, most when he had been a boy in his teens. While he loved the hunt, it was far better when the prey cooperated solely because they couldn’t resist their own desire. That is what he liked the most: a man’s inability to deny himself Julio’s multitude of charms, to watch them melt into pliable desperate vessels for his gratification and enjoyment which in turn drove them to sexual abandon. He had no stomach for rape, or force. He was all about love and passion, desire and enjoyment so that the heights of pleasure could bring him together completely with his partner. And he always left them infatuated with him and wanting more. And how could he deny his love to others by staying with just one? No, he must show as many men as he had opportunity for how passion and pleasure were life’s reward for being men. He controlled Valentino’s suction on his throbbing gift, keeping it slow and gentle. He knew this man’s weakness, it was written all over him. Valentino would not be brought to the heights of release by roughness or violent sex. He needed to feel love, he was empty in his heart and Julio would fill that emptiness with his passion and his cock. He could stay like this, slowly driving his thick cock deep into Valentino’s wet, warm throat for hours, but he knew he only had a certain amount of time. He knelt in front of Valentino in the hot shower spray and kissed him lovingly while stroking his face. “So beautiful. You are an angel, te quiero mucho mi tesoro. I must taste you.” Julio didn’t lie, he loved every one of the men he made love to, he felt such joy for them that it became more than satisfying a crude sexual urge. He stood Valentino up and turned him around to face the wall, kissing his neck, running his hands over his sides to wrap around his chest and stroke his nipples. Julio kissed and licked his way down Valentino’s sculpted back, ending at that perky butt he’d already explored thoroughly with his hands. He would not rush this even if he wanted nothing more than to push his tongue into Valentino’s hole and suck the puckered rim with his lips. He took his time, licking and alternating nibbles with kisses as he worked his way over each individual cheek from top to bottom and in between while his hands roamed his legs, hips and back. Valentino’s skin was incredibly smooth and creamy here. The sun had never touched him in this perfect place. He pulled the blonde’s hips back slightly before spreading his cheeks to gaze at Valentino’s sweet pink hole. Julio could tell that God had made Valentino for one purpose - to receive pleasure through his ass. It sounds sacrilegious and irreverent but there could be no other reason for Valentino’s soft moan and arched back, or his widening stance and spasming pucker as Julio lazily rotated his tongue over his delicious pink center of love. Yes, his lips enjoyed the taste of this man, his eyes enjoyed the feast as well of this young, hard body, his hands wandered playfully over the firm muscles, and his ears loved every quiet whimpering moan from Valentino’s mouth. This was what it meant to make love. The pleasure received from giving pleasure, trading it back and forth and losing yourself to the beautiful intimacy that only two men could share. It took so much more for a man to expose his vulnerability to another man that the sacrifice became a resplendent display of the purest tenderness. Valentino’s hole no longer fought him, loosening perfectly to allow his tongue inside, and then his fingers. He traded them back and forth his fingers, tongue and lips. The blonde was no stranger to the love of men, Julio could tell. Tight or loose, it did not matter. There was no such thing as a disappointing ass on a man. Once you pushed inside, it all hugged your cock perfectly. And his beautiful chico had amazing control over his hole, squeezing and pushing as Julio ate him ravenously. Julio eased off with tiny kisses at the cardinal points as if performing the sigh of the Cross on Valentino’s sacred edifice, a vestibule of love. God did not mind, these were acts of men and giving thanks to him for his most precious creation was only right. Julio climbed just as slowly to his feet as he had descended, licking and kissing his way up Valentino’s back until his hard cock found its way between his lover’s cheeks. “Please put it inside me.” Valentino begged. “Que bonito, precioso. Yo también lo necesito.” He whispered in the blonde soldier’s ear. “I make you cum now.” Using only the lubricant of the saliva he had left on his lover’s hole and what was dripping from his own cock, he pushed against the beautiful man until Valentino allowed him inside. Just as he had wanted, Valentino pushed back against him until he was buried fully inside his lover. It was not hurried or careless, but it was desperate with a need for the both of them. He licked and kissed the blonde’s neck and found his cock with his hand. As he rocked slowly in and out, he used his hand to explore the entire area of Valentino’s cock, balls, and pubic region. There was no need to stroke his lover’s dick and force his pleasure prematurely. Touch and love were the things that would bring them to the brink together. He pulled and squeezed Valentino’s tender orbs, allowing one finger to reach between his legs and find his wet hole that stretched around his solid pole. “Oh, fuck. Julio, I’m close. You’re going to make me cum.” Valentino moaned, fortunately keeping his voice down. “Jess, both soon, guapo.” Julio told him in between kisses on his shoulder. He only increased the speed of his motion slightly while pushing deeper with every stroke. “Oh God…You’re so good. Fuck me just like that. Your cock is so amazing.” The blonde panted. “You like it, jess?” Julio believed in making love with his entire body and while he was inside a man he pressed himself up against him from head to toe while using his hands to rub the often neglected places that a man found most sensitive: the front of his hips just above his thighs; his neck where his shoulder and collarbone connected; under his arms, behind his ears, the soft vulnerable point beneath his chin and above his Adam’s apple. As he drove deeper inside Valentino he was almost lifting him up off the ground, forcing the blonde to raise and lower himself on his toes. He heard his lover’s breathing grow more rapid and shallow. He would wait until Valentino released his leche to orgasm himself. Julio loved the feel of being inside a man so much he could cum anytime from first entry to 30 minutes later or more. He was never far away from orgasm and timing their release so they came together was the most passionate way to celebrate the shared pleasure. “I make you cum now, guapo.” And he gently cupped Valentino’s hard cock and retracted balls and gave the barest squeeze. When he felt the first twitch that signaled the blonde’s release, he opened his own floodgates to allow his milk to shoot deep inside his lover. He felt Valentino’s milk dripping down his hand with every spurt from his own cock. Valentino pressed his forehead against the tiled wall, gasping with every spasm. “Si, hermano. We cum together. Is beautiful, no?” Julio whispered as the last drops of his cum joined his ample load now resting inside his lover. They rested in silence for a few moments, bodies pressed together with their heavy breathing synchronized. “Jesus Christ that was hot. You are so sexy, Julio.” Valentino said as he came down from his powerful orgasm. “Gracias, Chico. You are sexy for me too.” His hands had not stopped roaming over Valentino’s beautiful smooth body. “We can’t stay like this.” The blonde said as he pulled himself off Julio’s still rigid cock. Julio turned him around. “I know this, but I must kiss you once more.” And he leaned in to tenderly kiss Valentino’s receptive lips. “I must make love to you again soon. You like this, jess?” He asked. “Oh fuck yes.” His lover responded, still slightly out of breath. Julio reached between Valentino’s legs to slide two fingers inside his ass, feeling the wetness of his cum around and inside his hole. “My cock will ache for you now, guapo. We will do this again.” He removed his fingers and brought them to Valentino’s lips then kissed him once more to share their combined taste. “Ay, que bonito. What you do to me.” He breathed. “I leave now, you wait, jess? I tell you when it good to come out.” Giving Valentino one last caress on his face, Julio turned off the water and opened the shower curtain only enough to exit the cubicle. Thankfully, the locker room was still empty. The matches must not be over yet. “We are alone, Valentino.” He said as he went to the shelf that held a stack of white towels. He got two and handed one to Valentino after he’d gotten out of the shower. They dried themselves in silence, frequently sharing smiles and looks of appreciation. The dressed back into their workout clothes and rejoined the crowd over by the mats.

Yes!!!!!!! Tom gets promoted to valet, Artem is officially Alex and Max’s secretary. It’s nice that the King and Queen recognize that Alex needs people his age around him to be his confidants. And I like that Nick seems to have met someone he can’t help himself with, who flusters him. Asa sounds hot with his long curly hair. Thanks @losolent, for continuing to provide a beautiful story.

Thanks man! I’m glad the truth about Zeus is finally out. This was a pivotal chapter that was waiting to be revealed. I was chomping at the bit to get here, but everything had to be set up. Zeus is one of the keys to so many developments and now the brothers can put him back together. More importantly, Zeus will allow it.

I’m so happy that Max is weathering the adjustment so well. It’s going to be a big change for him, but I think helping Max through the emergence into the world of royalty will also help Alex figure out where his contribution to his family and his country lie. Look, I’m already planning their amazing life together and can’t wait until they have children.

THE WEEKEND I figured Zeus and Sleeper had gone off for some private time, but was happy to see them return. I didn’t think either one of them would be careless but I couldn’t help the worry taking up a small space in the back of my mind. They returned subdued and I wondered what had happened because Sleeper wasn’t walking with his usual swagger. “What’s going on, guys?” I asked. Sleeper looked at Zeus and although he remained expressionless there was a deep undercurrent of uncertainty and sadness that radiated from his posture. “We need to talk to you, buddy.” Sleeper replied. I nodded. If Sleeper wanted to talk, this wasn’t something minor. My best friend wasn’t someone who found it difficult to sort out his own head. “Somewhere private then. We don’t have a lot of time. How about outside on the benches? Less chance our voices will carry.” Walking out the door the brothers all glanced at us. I made a motion with my hand to let them know I’d handle it. I could tell they’d noticed Zeus and Sleeper’s odd behavior and wanted to help. I selected a spot far enough away from the group of smokers getting their final cigarette of the night. Until Airborne it hadn’t occurred to me that the Bravos didn’t have a single smoker which I found curious. That defied the odds. After sitting down, I asked Zeus first. “Buddy, what’s wrong?” Zeus’s broad shoulders sank, his eyes refused to stray from the ground in front of him. The uncharacteristically quiet night was chilly. “I’m being bad again.” The fog from our breathing seemed to linger longer than it should as if it held the weight of our feelings. Sleeper shook his head and an angry look crossed his face. It passed quickly. He reached out and put his hand on Zeus’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Gabriel. This is my fault. We shouldn’t have taken our walk.” Of course I was curious. But I didn’t need to know the particulars to understand that Zeus’s issue wasn’t what happened on the walk, it was deeper. I read the signs: Sleeper was upset on behalf of Zeus, not because of him. Zeus was dealing with something that he would never blame Sleeper for and it sounded like he was blaming himself. “Gabriel, look at me, please.” I said. When Zeus looked up, his eyes glistened with unshed tears. This giant, capable soldier looked like a lost little boy and I couldn’t understand how someone who was so much larger than life could shrink himself down to appear so pitiful. “You aren’t bad, Gabriel. What do you want? What does your heart tell you?” Zeus shifted his gaze to Sleeper, and tears fell silently from his eyes. I had to force myself to breathe through the overwhelming wave of sadness that bordered on despair that hit me. “You love Sleeper.” I said and sighed. I knew this was coming. I didn’t think Sleeper would break this gentle man’s heart, but I hadn’t had a chance to have that talk with my best friend like I wanted. I studied Sleeper’s face, his body language. He wasn’t holding back from Zeus, in fact his hand had moved up to stroke Zeus’s handsome broken face, his thumb wiping the tears that fell. No, Sleeper hadn’t broken Zeus’s heart. He cared deeply about Zeus. “And you, Sleeper? What are you thinking?” Sleeper shrugged, his eyes never leaving Zeus’s face. “I love him back. I figured that out tonight. I’d do anything for him, but I don’t know how to fix this.” He said softly. I tilted my head. “Fix what? Nothing needs to be fixed. You love each other.” “Assmunch, the Army -“ Sleeper started. “So what?” I interrupted him. “Do you think you’re the only ones who have to hide? This isn’t about a stupid policy. Look, at some point there’s always going to be a conflict with what the Army wants and what you want. My dad had to face that decision more than once. Sometimes he chose the Army. Sometimes he had to choose his family. That’s something you figure out when it comes up. This… this is about something else for Zeus.” Sleeper took a breath. “It won’t work, Andrew. And Gabriel doesn’t want to break the rules.” Maybe it was my recent reconciliation with Kevin, maybe it was because I was still basically a kid, but I felt they shouldn’t just give up. A wiser, older me may have agreed with Sleeper’s assessment. Yeah, Sleeper was just Sleeper about it, rolling with the punches and recognizing when he was out matched. In sports you learned to accept defeat without internalizing it and used it as a lesson to correct your mistakes so that you could come back and fight better the next time. But Zeus didn’t seem to have learned any of that. In fact, Zeus appeared to give up the fight before he even stepped on the mat. “Zeus, why do you have scars all over you?” I asked him. Zeus looked down at his big hands which were gripping his thighs. “I was bad. I had to be punished.” That much I figured out already. The real question was why… and who. “What did you do?” It didn’t seem possible, but Zeus shrunk down even further until he looked small and helpless. I could swear he was a child in that moment, no older than 12, weak, uncertain, his voice was no longer broad and deep, no rumbling vibration caressed my body when he spoke about growing up and his brother. Sleeper and I exchanged frequent alarmed stares as we listened to what had been done to our friend. He quoted Bible verses often as a way to explain, but the worst part was the slow progression of how his spirit had been torn apart and crushed which he related without understanding what had been stolen from him by his brother’s ever increasing cruelty. Zeus remembered every strapping. They began with legitimate but minor infractions (still not worthy of being whipped by a thin leather rein, even so). Then gradually they occurred for things Zeus couldn’t help or had no control over. After a few years Ezekiel began whipping him for things that weren’t mistakes or misbehavior and it became apparent Zeus was simply a target on which Ezekiel could express his anger and cruelty. “I wasn’t supposed to…” “A man should always…” “The Bible says…” “It was my fault….” “I didn’t listen…” “It was his job to teach me…” “I had to learn…” With every repetition it became clearer and clearer that Zeus’s brother Ezekiel was an angry, bitter, cruel man who didn’t actually care about Zeus at all, in spite of his insistence that it was for Zeus’s own good. The events Zeus described were ordinary kid things, not a single one of them were actually bad or malicious. Not closing the screen door all the way… or letting it slam… Zeus got ten straps for that. He interrupted his brother’s work when he was 12 to tell him he’d gotten an award for being the fastest to complete his math tables in the contest that day for his class, so excited and happy that Ezekiel would be proud he’d done so well. He’d gotten 15 straps for stopping Ezekiel’s work, and for not immediately getting to his own chores when he got home. He got whipped for giving his favorite horse a half a carrot one day. He got whipped for not wanting to be whipped. Holy. FUCKING. HELL. I don’t know how Zeus had survived all that without being completely broken. I wanted to kill. I’d always wondered if the time came when I saw real combat if I had it in me to actually kill another human being. Some soldiers don’t, you know. Some soldiers never fire a single round in combat. Others will fire, but deliberately miss. Look it up, it’s a common battlefield problem. But now, I had no uncertainty. Oh, I fucking had it in me, I could absolutely put a fucking bullet right through the center of Ezekiel’s skull. I’d gladly watch his black, oily, evil brain splatter as the round exited the back of his worthless head. A bullet was too good for him, though. The words of Gutter, the Army Ranger who’d instructed us for that week in Germany came back to me. “Your kill should be cold, it shouldn’t be personal. Your enemy is an obstacle, that’s all. If you’re angry, if you want him to suffer, you care about him too much.” I couldn’t be cold about this. I felt like throwing up. What kind of person could whip a little kid until he bled? Sleeper was furious, and tears were coming out of his eyes at the same time. His breath was coming in deep, shaky, heaving snorts like the whuff of a bull about to charge. I felt that tingling flush across my body as I finally put the last piece of Zeus’s puzzle together in my head. If I had admired Zeus before, now I felt what I can only describe as a righteous, protective love that raged through me like a violent thunderstorm mixed with an intense pride at the strength it must have taken to come out the other side as probably the most upright, decent man I’d ever met. That he could still feel anything good was a miracle and it only emphasized that Zeus was greater than us all. He’d endured years of abuse that was worse than torture. I understood how Puppy Dog Zeus could share this massive body with serious, quiet, masterful Zeus. What had been done to him froze a part of his mind at a child’s age before it formed adult thoughts, the happy part before the pain. There was no happiness for Zeus after his father died and Ezekiel took over. Every piece of happy in him was a child’s version of happy. In spite of his brother’s insistence that he become a man, Ezekiel’s actions ensured Zeus would never fully become one. Zeus was faking it all, doing what he’d been told without understanding why men acted like men. Knowing the rules, and knowing WHY there were rules were two very different things. The former you followed blindly, the latter you reasoned through so you could judge when the rules were appropriate and necessary, and when they didn’t serve the situation. This wasn’t about being good, and being bad. Zeus would never truly know the difference until he saw it from a different perspective than he’d been brainwashed through torture to learn. “Gabriel. Do you love Addison?” I asked him, struggling to keep my anger hidden from my voice. Zeus nodded. “If Addison did something bad…something truly bad, like stealing, would you give him a strapping to teach him a lesson?” Zeus looked up in fright. Then he looked at Sleeper. Shaking his head fast, he said “No, I could never hurt Addison. Never.” “What about me? Would you give me a strapping if you caught me stealing?” Zeus didn’t answer as fast, which was good. I needed him to think about it. I watched his eyes roam off. I wanted to actually chuckle because I could see his face screw up like a kid’s when they tried to think their way through something difficult. Ah, it was good to find some joy in all this darkness. Puppy Dog Zeus was just that - pure joy. It just made me love this big man more. So many of us lose the habits and mannerisms of youth, or learn to suppress them. I saw it happening in my little brother Tim. I felt another wave of understanding come to me about my parents and my Dad in particular. How you want your kids to grow up, but have to watch the exuberant joy of youth gradually fade, and how it becomes a battle inside you between wanting that joy to stay around as long as possible and resigning yourself to teaching them to bury it or hide it so the harsh realities of life won’t hurt them too badly. You have to walk a razor thin line balancing your love of who they are with what you want them to become. Once again, I found myself thanking my Dad for the lessons he taught me while letting me decide how to manage and control my youthful impulses. And through it all I knew my Mom and Dad loved me, even when they were angry at what I’d done. That time when we’d first moved to Texas and were in base housing and I’d accidentally put a hole in my bedroom wall play wrestling with Tim. Dad was angry, that would cost us money and this was Army property. You didn’t damage someone else’s property with carelessness. We fixed it, together. Dad made me do most of the work which seemed like a lot when I was 10, but I understood now it wasn’t really that difficult. The funny thing was it ended up being one of my favorite memories of Dad and I working together. And he told me when the paint was drying how proud he was of me, how I’d done an excellent job. “No, Andrew. I wouldn’t strap you even though you know stealing is bad.” Zeus finally replied. I wanted to ask him why, but it wasn’t time for him to see that yet. “Okay, but I did a bad thing. Would you let someone else give me a strapping?” Zeus scowled. “No. But I would make you give it back and I would tell you not to do it again.” “So, you wouldn’t strap Sleeper for doing something bad, and you wouldn’t strap me, and you won’t let someone else do it. Is strapping someone a good thing?” I asked. “I mean, hitting people is bad, right?” Zeus screwed up his face again. “You shouldn’t hit people, unless they deserve it.” Ah, good, I thought. Zeus COULD distinguish subtleties. “So, if Sleeper and I did something REALLY bad, REALLY deserved it… then you would give us a strapping?” “Andrew, no. You and Sleeper are good. I really like you. I couldn’t hurt you like that, even if you were really bad.” And my giant God sighed. Now. Maybe. “Gabriel. I don’t think Ezekiel liked you at all. If he loved you, like you love us, he wouldn’t have been able to do that to you, even if you were really bad. What Ezekiel did was bad, Gabriel. It was very bad.” “But…” Zeus trailed off. “Sleeper and I would never, NEVER give you a strapping no matter how bad you were, Gabriel. No one deserves that. Especially a child. You could do the worst thing you could possibly imagine, and we wouldn’t do it. Because we love you. You don’t hurt someone you love. When you love them, you do everything you can NOT to hurt them. Was your brother ever nice to you? Was he ever kind? Did he tell you he loved you?” Again, Zeus was lost in silent thought. His face became more and more troubled. He began blinking rapidly, and I saw his chest start to heave with short, shallow breaths. I think he was starting to panic. Thank God, Sleeper saw it too, and he immediately straddled the bench and pulled Zeus into a tight hug. “I love you, buddy.” I heard Sleeper whisper to him, nuzzling his face into Zeus’s head. “You’re a good man. A very good man.” And Sleeper kept whispering to him, in gentle soothing tones, much of which I couldn’t hear. At possibly the worst time, I heard the crunch of boots on gravel. “Hey boys!” Lance Corporal Potter announced. Something about the Marine’s complete obliviousness to what was happening irritated me. Refusing to read the situation was unforgivable. I shot up and spun around. Private Battles was with him. “No.” I said, staring them down. “Go inside.” “Corporal. Go inside, please, Corporal, I think you meant to say.” I looked at him, letting my eyes blink slowly. What a fucking dickhead. I gave Lance Corporal Dickhead, who could probably pick me up and break my back over his knee, a half grin. “Interesting. I don’t see a uniform. I don’t see a rank insignia. I could check my watch, but I’m going to take a guess and point out we aren’t on duty and it’s after duty hours. Which means if he isn’t in my chain of command I can tell a Marine Lance Corporal anything I want. With respect, Potter, this is Bravo business. Go inside… please.” I gave him credit for letting it go, even though I’d given him the out he still had the presence and grace to take it rather than puffing up. Maybe he was only half a dickhead. A baby dickhead. Like a nub. Lance Corporal Nub. Fuck yeah, he might never know his nickname but I was entertaining the thought of making sure the brothers knew it. He darted a look at Sleeper and Zeus. I thought I read a brief puzzled look of concern cross his face. “Okay. Let us know if you need our help. I don’t know what happened, but it doesn’t look good. If you need us, we’ll be with you.” I reluctantly gave him credit for finally reading the situation and actually being a brother about it. Dammit all to fucking hell. I wanted someone to hate right now, someone closer than Zeus’s brother Ezekiel. Potter and Battles could take it, wouldn’t bother them at all if I was to be a dick right back. But then Corporal Nub had to go and be a decent human. I was still going with the nickname, I decided. I’d keep it to myself, but his pathetic attempt to pull rank… a Corporal pulling rank… seriously? That earned him the honor of keeping his nickname. Maybe it was the Lance grade in front of his Corporal, maybe it was that Marine blood. I wasn’t going to waste brain energy trying to figure it out. “Thanks, much appreciated. Zeus is going to be okay. We got his back.” “You know Brickmann, I didn’t get it before, why they’d choose you to be the leader. I think I do now.” And he nodded his head to Battles then went inside the barracks. Battles hung back a moment longer, staring at me with a considering look that reminded me of Kevin taking me apart. I think Battles had the same gears in his head. Hmmm, smart Marines. How unexpected. I think I liked them just a little bit more. I turned around and found Zeus and Sleeper in the same position. Zeus appeared a little less small, less shrunken in on himself. Sleeper was still nuzzled up against his ear with his eyes closed, his legs sandwiching Zeus’s larger hips and thighs. I unbuttoned my uniform shirt and took a quick look around, marking the building, the corners, the roofline, the other tables which were empty. A look behind me indicated no one was coming up the path. “All clear, Sleeper. Go ahead.” And I raised my arms in a big stretching yawn which opened up my shirt and covered three quarters of the view as I stood above them. The kiss I saw almost made me cry. ********** It was a couple minutes to bed check when we got inside. I bobbed my head in a nod to the Bravos at the unspoken question in their looks. They all immediately relaxed and if they weren’t already in their bunks under the blankets they quickly climbed in. I noticed Potter and Battles down the bay and gave them a nod of thanks. Nub and Gears. Maybe I’d let them in on it if we bonded during this course. I was pretty sure they would see the humor in it. Zeus seemed more himself as he walked to his rack. For the first time since I’d known him, Zeus undressed by his rack, hung his uniform in his locker, stripped off his undershirt and pulled out his pajamas. He stood there in just his white boxers. Again, the entire bay came to a stillness. I refused to look away from Zeus’s magnificent body, but if I did I knew I’d see everyone staring eagerly with looks that varied from complete adoration to lust. Just the way his muscles rippled and bunched when he moved was like a siren song that called to you and urged you to sink beneath the waves of his masculine strength. I felt like he was pulling me towards him yet I wasn’t moving, I couldn’t move if I wanted to, not until he told me to. Zeus pulled out his puppy dog pajamas, the ones his mother had sent him. I felt a smile come to my face. Now that I knew a bit more about how Zeus grew up, it was obvious that at least his mother loved him and that she probably hadn’t bought those pajamas for him. She’d probably made them, sewed them herself, which solved the mystery of how you get German Shepard puppy dog pajamas for a beast like Zeus. I’d never seen him put them on before, only ever seen him wear them, but somehow I felt this time was different for him. He paused for a moment and looked at them. He put a hand on one of the puppies that frolicked, stroking it with a couple fingers. He smiled, like a little boy on Christmas Day, lost in some memory of happiness. I had held myself together until then spurred on by anger and determination for my friend. All that left me suddenly as my tears started to fall. I couldn’t help but think that little boy was free now to become a man. We’d have to guide him there, teach him the things that his brother SHOULD have taught him instead of crushing his spirit but this was something the Bravos could do for our God. I knew I would have to stay on my toes. Some of the brothers had some stupid idiot ideas about what men should do. After Zeus dressed he climbed into his bunk. The duty Sergeant had done a bed check and turned out the main lights before leaving. I was almost asleep when Zeus’s voice echoed through the bay. “Good night everyone.” We didn’t say good night in the Army. Not like that, not to everyone. It felt weird, but then I questioned why. There’s nothing wrong with being nice. But then I remembered, if this wasn’t Jump School, we’d have a Sergeant screaming from the end of the bay to shut the fuck up and knock ourselves out or he’d come do it for us. That made me chuckle. “Good night Zeus, go to sleep.” I said back. “Good night John Boy.” Demon called out. Some smart ass from the randoms called out. “Good night Mary Ellen.” Which made everyone laugh. Yeah, like we were The Waltons. Zeus and Holler probably came the closest to being a Walton. Everyone laughed again when Zeus asked “Who’s Mary Ellen?” ******* TOWER WEEK The second week of the Army Basic Airborne Course was Tower Week. Everyone in the Bravos had made it through Ground Week. That’s not to say it was easy, we were just at the top of our game. Four of the randoms either dropped or cycled out for one reason or another - injury, unconquerable fear of heights, or lack of physical fitness were the most common reasons for soldiers to fail Ground Week but I couldn’t believe some of the failures were the result of lack of preparation and studying. Part of the course was knowing your equipment and procedure and the Black Hats constantly evaluated your proficiency and knowledge. Where were your hands? What was this part of the harness called? Were you paying attention to your Jumpmaster? We ran everywhere back and forth, barracks, chow, classroom, field. The 34 foot tower was no joke because it was high enough to put the thought in your head that if your equipment failed you’d plummet to your death. Stepping out that door the first time was a moment of faith. The first lesson of the day after our PT run of 3 miles (up from the 2 &1/2 miles during Ground Week) and breakfast was the Suspended Harness and Swing Landing Trainer, or the SLT. On the Suspended Harness were were clipped in to mock parachute riser slips, those two straps that came down from your parachute canopy that you used to guide your movement in the air. Our group and one other, about a hundred troops were all lined up under an open sided metal roofed building that contained overhead lines and hanging lift assemblies from which descended the mock riser slips that we were taught how to attach to our harnesses. Our Black Hats explained where to put our hands, how to grip, how to position our bodies and once again the repetition of keeping our knees and feet together and keeping our head down chin to chest. Frequently and repeatedly we pulled ourselves up from the ground using our grip on the riser slips to hand suspended using only the strength of our arms while the instructor pointed out corrections or what we should focus on. And while it wasn’t exactly groping, no body part was safe from a Black Hat’s hands so you got used to being touched everywhere. The Swing Landing Trainer was next. This was an apparatus similar to the Suspended Harness only with movement. From an eight foot high platform we individually stepped off to swing suspended as we moved horizontally down a zip line that was maybe 20 feet long. Again, we were reminded to keep our feet and knees together. You’d be surprised how easy that was to forget when you had five other things to focus on. That was deliberate, we were told. It had to be ingrained, unconscious, automatic. Feet and knees together was what kept you from a stupid avoidable injury during landing. And we practiced that PLF, the Parachute Landing Fall, again on the SLT but it was different because this time were were actually moving sideways rather than just falling vertically. It was kind of cool, I thought, because you hung swinging back and forth four feet off the gravel pit while the Black Hat called instructions to you and you had no idea when the drop would come. You had to be ready the entire time to execute your PLF. Everything was geared toward muscle memory and being able to do it in your sleep. And trust me, you dreamed about it at night. Over and over again we moved through the line to jump off that platform. By lunch time my groin hurt from the harness straps, and my hips ached. You didn’t always roll when you hit even though you tried. About half the time your feet hit and instead of rolling calves to knees to hips to shoulders you just went feet to hips. We were definitely doing massages again tonight. But after a while I was looking forward to stepping off that platform even though I hadn’t yet been able to ignore the jolt to my groin I knew was coming. Some of the guys were leaning forward to go off instead of a lean and step so they wouldn’t have to experience that jerk at the bottom. Of course they were corrected by the ever watchful Black Hat. We were taught how to detach ourselves from our canopy after laying on the ground. The rest of the morning was ground practice for the mock door mass exit, which thankfully gave our abused bodies a break from the punishment of harness chafe and hip and shoulder beating from the PLF. Fucking hell. The mass exit training involved attaching your static line clip to the anchor line, internalizing the timing of the Airborne Shuffle (that interval of shuffling that your entire line moved at towards the door) which was one second for each soldier, do not rush the door, do not pause at the door. The mock door was just three feet off the ground and it was a free standing actual C-130 door we’d eventually be jumping out of if we made it to Jump Week. The mock door was at the end of a 10 foot long wooden platform with steps and that was where we lined up. It started to feel real. We practiced handing off our static line to the Jumpmaster which was the strap that pulled our parachute out of our packs after we left the aircraft. Lean, step, feet together knees together, hit the ground with both feet, knees and feet together, no PLF, hop away keeping your feet and knees together. Did I mention keep your feet and knees together? Yeah, you should keep your feet and knees together. One of the big lessons was how to hold our static line and position of our arms while doing so. In class we were told a few horror stories of jumpers who got tangled in their static line and it wasn’t pretty. And we finally had our combat gear, our rucks, clipped to our harness below our reserve chute. “You will not pause at the door.” The Black Hat said to the group gathered by the platform. “Move forward in a smooth controlled shuffle. Follow the instructions of the Jumpmaster exactly and watch for his go. Your secondary Jumpmaster will control you with his hands towards the exit door.” The Jumpmaster was the Instructor who manned the exit door. There were actually two, one at the door to grab your static line and a secondary three steps away to do a final visual equipment check and verify you were clipped onto the anchor line properly with your arm in the right position and keep you moving. “It helps if you keep time in your head as the soldiers in front of you move - shuffle, step, exit. Shuffle, step, exit. Shuffle, step, exit. Do NOT touch or adjust your equipment as you move towards the exit. Keep your left hand firmly on your static line until the Jumpmaster pulls it from your hand. RELEASE your static line when he grabs it, NOT BEFORE. Your combat gear will feel unbalanced and awkward where it hangs from your harness down in front of you as you climb the steps but YOU ARE NOT TO LIFT IT OR MOVE IT IN ANY WAY. By this time you should know not to talk as you move toward your jump.” This would be the first time we practiced with our rucks clipped to the front of our harnesses and they hung in front of our thighs down just below our knees. The taller you were, the fewer problems you had, so Weeble was going to have a tough time of it. Between his helmet, main chute pack, his reserve and his ruck you almost couldn’t see a soldier. We were positioned in line in no specific order. I was in the rear of our group, not dead last but five men away. The morning was cold but it had warmed up to 42 degrees and it was grey and overcast. Everyone seemed eager for this. This was the last piece of the process of jumping. We’d been trained and practiced landing, moving, and exiting. After this we’d put it all together for mass exit training from the 34 foot tower. And after lunch, that was the rest of our day until 1600 hrs when we had to inspect then secure our gear and equipment and return it to the building where we’d pick it up again the next day. In spite of the amount of time we spent standing around waiting to practice our exit, we were all pretty exhausted. In the Airborne course we were of course free and at liberty after evening chow and some of the students went off for various fun or activities on the base. We’d all learned the first week that timing was important. The base gym was busiest just after 1700 hours, up until 1900 hours. So the Bravos tended to barracks duties until then. Our two Marines and the Navy Corpsman attached themselves to the brotherhood and had started to become unofficial members of the Bravos. Even though we were dragging ass, we still ran the mile and a half distance to the gym in our workout clothes. Half of the Bravos were focused on keeping up their general fitness and endurance, like Bootlicker, Wanker, Holler, Demon and Shark. They played half court basketball, did full body exercises on the mats along with pushups and sit-ups. The rest of us did weight training to build size and strength. We all started with some deep stretching using the buddy system to really push to full extension. Currently, I knelt behind Dumbo hugging him to twist his torso while he sat on the mat, holding the stretch. “Breathe, Dumbo.” I reminded him as I pulled him around just a little bit more. “Slow three count in…three count out. Okay, other way.” I let him rotate around to his left, grabbed him again and pulled. “Hold it, breathe…there you go. A little more… good.” I moved my hands to his ribs. “Left arm up, cross it behind your head to your right shoulder.” I grabbed his elbow with one hand, kept my other on his ribs. I pulled him over. “Ooooooohhhhh, yeah…”. He groaned as his sore muscles stretched. “Breathe.” I reminded him. While I was manipulating his body, I saw the Charlies walk in. I had a strange feeling come over me seeing the Charlies, like I was in two places at once. The time before we pulled our mutiny and thought the Charlies were all jackasses, and my recognition now that they were like an extension of the Bravos for me, my brothers. It was hard to reconcile. I wondered how much of our initial aversion to the Alphas, Charlies and Deltas was deliberately imposed competitiveness spurred on by the Sergeants. No, it was something else. Yeah, they definitely pitted us against each other. The Charlies were our main pain, Sarge letting us know every time the Charlies beat us in some qualification or task. We traded top rank with them over and over again, the Alphas and Deltas fighting it out for 3rd and 4th. The Charlies would take the lead, then we’d seize it back, then they’d outdo us, but we’d crush them again. We ran faster to beat the Charlies. We disassembled our various weapons and reassembled lightning quick to knock them back down to sniff our asses in second place. They’d never beaten us once in marksmanship. Navigation was always back and forth. We were champs at Comms and Intel because of Wanker and Bootlicker. We felt short in recon and mechanical. Strategy was a toss up, always, but I think that was because the Sarges got together to fuck with us, they loved fucking with us. It made the Bravos stronger, made everything an Us vs. Them situation. I got that tingling flush again. When you had an enemy, competition, doing well was not enough. You had to win. I had an idea. “Lamont!” I called to him. We didn’t have a chance to talk after we met up the evening of our first day. I hadn’t actually seen them during our training every day, and every evening I had the Bravos studying or doing barracks business. This past weekend would have been the first opportunity, but again I had a ton of shit to do. Thank God Sleeper and Zeus did my laundry waiting their turn in line. Who knows what the randoms did, most of them left the barracks to run amok on the base and enjoy themselves. I hoped the Bravos wouldn’t lose their focus like that. Time enough for fun and games after we accomplished whatever little game the higher ups in Command had in store for us. I knew there was a plan, you couldn’t miss the signs of our special training, keeping us as a group. I still wasn’t sure how we’d been selected or why, only that we were selected as individual soldiers from a diverse occupational background. We might never know. Lamont and the Charlies came to the mats. “How’d Ground Week go? Did everyone get through?” I asked him. “Hey Assmunch. Yeah, of course. Didn’t seem that hard. Hell, after Graf and Sergeant Horvath driving us to near collapse I’m not sure anything could take one of us out. How’d the Bravos do?” “Same, brother. Every now and then I give them a taste of our Sarge so they don’t get complacent.” I replied. Lamont chuckled. He leaned in and whispered. “Me too. I’ll never forget that hairy bastard.” “Want to stretch with us? I have a proposition.” I told him. “I’m intrigued. Sure.” “Sleeper,” I called to my best friend. “Go get the Bravos. We’re going to have a competition with our brothers, the Charlies.” I helped Lamont do his stretches, outlining my plan. “What are the stakes?” He asked. “I’d like to make it Platoon stakes, but can’t think of a prize we can all do easily as a group. So what about individual stakes? Match by match?” I offered. “Yeah, I think the guys would go for it. Good workout, too.” He responded. “Okay, you and I will choose the match ups, try to keep things even. Laundry service next weekend is the prize. Whoever loses has to do their winner’s laundry.” “Perfect. You go talk to your guys, I’ll talk to mine.” I went over to the Bravos and told them the plan. They were seriously hyped up. I figured they would be, it was the Charlies. Just then an older soldier, maybe in his late 30’s, came up to us. He was wearing marine silkies that showed his thick powerful bare thighs. “You guys done with the mats?” He asked. “Uh, not exactly. We were just about to start some hand to hand matches between our two groups.” I explained. “We can wait a bit if you need to use them, or give you some space. We only need a little for the matches.” “Actually,” he said looking around and taking us all in. He lingered just a little longer on Zeus and Sleeper. “I think I’d like to see this. Need a ref?” That was a relief. It was better to have an outside ref, otherwise Lamont and I would have to argue. “Absolutely!” I agreed. “Glad to have you. Private Brickmann, Airborne Course. Army.” I stuck my hand out. “Major Collins. Marines.” He shook my hand. Now, you might think because we were out of uniform, at the gym, outside of duty hours it would be first names and casual. And it would have been if our rank had been anywhere close. He wasn’t being a dick, and I certainly wasn’t bragging about being an Army Private. But you avoided mistakes if everyone knew where they stood. He didn’t want to hide his rank because there were certain things he HAD to report if he saw them, and he wanted me to know. I needed to let him know I was a trainee at Jump School. “A pleasure, Sir.” I said. “You ever do one of these?” I asked him. “Oh, here and there.” He said evasively. I chuckled. “Lamont, come meet the Major”. I called. Lamont came right over and stuck out his hand. “Private Lamont, Airborne Course. Army.” “My pleasure Private.” Major Collins said. “Lamont, Major Collins has offered to ref for us. Major, we usually do submission rules. Is that satisfactory?” “You’ve matched before?” He asked. “Yes, Sir. Many times. We don’t mess around, and everyone knows when to call it. You won’t have any idiots holding out too long here.” “Good, let’s keep it fun, but intense. Don’t want anyone to get dropped because of some off duty injury. ” “That’s the plan, Sir. My guys are the Bravos. Lamonts are the Charlies. Lamont, let’s get Zeus out of the way first. It’s never fair, no matter who you select to go against him.” “Yeah, it’s just sad to watch. I may as well send my weakest, Kilpatrick. Maybe he’ll just hug the big guy to death. I swear he’s got a crush on him.” I laughed. “We all have a crush on Zeus, bro.” Major Collins broke in. “Zeus is the big guy over there?” “Yeah.” I answered. “No one can even give him a challenge. He sits out most of the time.” “How about you two? Will you participate?” The Major asked. “We weren’t going to because we had to ref. But if you’re doing it, I’d like to. This is the first time we wouldn’t match in a Platoon challenge.” “Good. You guys go last then, against each other.” He suggested. “Give your guys one last chance to get some payback no matter which side has more losses. Seeing their leaders go head to head is good for them. And if you’re throwing away the match with Zeus, maybe I can start this off with some excitement.” He grinned and raised an eyebrow. Now Major Collins was absolutely in prime physical shape. Six feet tall, just slightly taller than me. He had to be 230, definitely knew his way around the weight room. His thighs alone could probably crush a man’s skull. The Major’s experience and Marine training would negate most of Zeus’s advantages of height and strength, which meant Zeus would have to be smart. “I think you might find it harder than you’re expecting, Sir. He’s a beast.” I warned him. “Outstanding.” The Major grunted. Just like a Marine to think getting the piss beaten out of him was a fun night out. Oh fuck, this was going to be good. “Zeus! You’re up first.” I called. “Sweats off, Zeus. This is going to be a real challenge. The Major respectfully requests that you don’t hold anything back.” Zeus took off his sweatpants and sweatshirt and stood there in his tee shirt and PT shorts. “Well fuck me.” Major Collins mumbled. “You get used to it.” I said. “Mostly.” “Submission rules, just like before. Let’s give them some room, brothers.” “I’m fighting a Major, Andrew?” Zeus questioned. “I’m not a Major in the ring, soldier. I’m your enemy. If you hold anything back I will crush you.” Major Collins said. He gave Zeus an intense stare. Zeus blinked, then looked at me. I nodded. Sleeper clapped him on the back and whispered something to him. Suddenly Zeus’s eyes changed, and I could swear I saw a predator sizing up his prey as he looked at the Marine Officer. “Start!” Lamont called out. Right out of the fucking gate Zeus took three steps and went into a grapple with Collins. Without a pause Zeus dropped his left shoulder suddenly, slipping free of the Major’s grip and drove his shoulder into Collins’ midsection, wrapped his arm around his waist to lift him off the ground and then arched back to throw the Major to the mat behind him. Zeus immediately flipped over and dove to try to pin the Major, but Collins wasn’t having any of it. He rolled away and was on his feet in less than two seconds. Zeus had sprung to his own feet right after failing to get Collins under him. “Nice move. It won’t work again.” Collins taunted. “I don’t need it to.” Zeus said calmly. Dangerously. Collins moved fast, way too fast. He was inside Zeus’s defense too fast for Zeus to grab him or hit him, and he got his left leg behind Zeus’s knee just as his forearm struck Zeus’s chest. Zeus began to tilt back in a fall. If Collins got him down it might end because I was pretty sure the Major knew about 50 ways to immobilize an opponent on the ground. But Zeus wasn’t a pushover… literally or figuratively. He twisted his torso opposite Collins’ position while grabbing the arm that struck him, using his own backwards momentum and body weight to drag the Major off his feet and over his body to throw him to the mat. Zeus learned his lesson from the first throw and this time he didn’t let the Major go from his grip. By now, our large group on the mats had drawn some attention, and others from the gym were coming over to watch. “Is that the Major?” I heard someone say. The Major had wisely flung his legs away when he was pulled over and he kicked his feet on the mat to flip himself back over on top of Zeus. Now they were face to face with the Marine on top. “Mount! Don’t let him inside, Zeus!” Sleeper called out. “Guard! Guard!” Zeus’s feet were planted on the mat and he managed to bring his right elbow in before Collins could wedge his head and shoulder. Zeus lifted his hips while forcing the Marine’s chest away with his right elbow. At the same time Collins was attempting to lock Zeus’s legs with his own. Zeus thrust up and forced Collins to disengage and they both scrambled back to their feet. Collins immediately tried for a head strike but Zeus turned into the attempted blow, brushed it aside with his forearm, spun and delivered an elbow to the Marine’s midsection. Collins was too savvy to let him get full contact and he danced back, abandoning his try to wrap Zeus’s chest with his other arm and bringing his knee up for a kidney shot which Zeus easily deflected with the arm that was in position from his elbow shot. The action happening was so rapid it seemed like each of them knew the other’s move before it happened, like a choreographed dance. I felt my pulse racing. I’d never seen Zeus go full out like this. They separated, studying each other. Neither was even breathing hard. Without an indication or warning, the Marine spun and kicked high towards Zeus’s head and my stomach clenched. It happened in the blink of an eye and I knew Zeus was going to get slammed. Fuck the Major was fast. Zeus’s right hand shot up just as the Major’s heel got within a foot of his head and the Marine’s ankle smacked into Zeus’s hand. The force of the kick had to be incredible but Zeus’s hand barely moved from the impact. Zeus’s huge hand gripped the Major’s ankle, Zeus ducked, twisted under Collins’ leg yanking his foot around and he pulled, hard. The Major was flung spinning face down to the mat and Zeus was already falling, his fist still wrapped around his opponent’s ankle. It was going to be a pin. Before Zeus made it down Collins flipped onto his back using Zeus’s hold on his leg to pull his knees in. If Zeus hit, Collins was going to deliver a double knee right to Zeus’s stomach. Zeus dive rolled, releasing the Major’s ankle, and somersaulted to his feet, facing away. Collins didn’t waste the opportunity having rolled to his knees he dived towards the back of Zeus’s legs but Zeus was already moving, dancing away. He allowed Collins to get to his feet. “I thought someone like you might be more accustomed to offensive moves and neglect defense, but you grab offensive opportunity from your defensive moves.” Collins said to Zeus. “You’re very fast, Sir.” Zeus replied. “But you’re not strong enough.” “I don’t need to be stronger than you, soldier.” Collins replied mysteriously. Their match had drawn a large crowd, and I think just about everyone that was in the gym had come to watch. Even the Charlies were cheering Zeus on, and the rest of the gym crowd was cheering on the Marine Major. “Then you should probably start fighting for real, Sir.” Zeus said. Huh? I didn’t see the Major holding back at all. Every attempted move or strike seemed intended to disable Zeus completely. Collins smiled at Zeus. “I’ll give you the same advice. You won’t hurt me too badly, and if I land anything on you you’ll have to cycle back through the course because you won’t be able to move for the next few days. So it’s up to you. Take me out in the next five moves or you lose your place in the course. I have nothing to lose. You have everything to lose.” The worried look on Zeus’s face when he heard the Marine’s words was quickly replaced by determination. The crowd had gone silent, most likely thinking the same thing I was thinking - they hadn’t been fighting all out? They’d just been toying with each other? And then the blows started, too fast to figure out, each movement, spin, punch, knee, kick, turn, dodge and block became another move, another attack. Blows were landed but neither of them allowed the full force of the blow to be absorbed. A turn to the side to avoid a head shot became a return knee to the midsection, which was blocked and became an attempt to grab the knee or waist, which opened up the opponent’s neck and shoulders for a drop elbow. Kicks were flung, blocked, countered and leveraged for opportunity to seize, twist or make a strike to a joint. Now both Zeus and the Major were grunting and sweat was pouring. I looked at my watch, this had gone on for 10 full minutes. Each of them had been knocked to the mat where the other tried for a submission, but neither could immobilize the other. Hell, I was sweating just watching this. It stopped being fun and easy and seemed like they were seriously trying to hurt each other. I nudged Lamont. “Should we stop this?” I whispered to him. “I think they are both loving the hell out of this, Assmunch. Let’s just trust them to know where to draw the line.” He answered. That was fine for him to say, it wasn’t his soldier at risk. The last thing I wanted was for Zeus to be cycled because he got hurt sparring. I’d give it another minute or so. It didn’t last that long. Collins began with a series of moves that seemed designed to flow into each other, and elicit specific defensive moves from Zeus. Zeus did not disappoint, but I got the distinct feeling I was watching a chess match. I knew a sacrifice was coming up, one designed to create an opening. Collins was leading Zeus, moving him exactly where he wanted him. Zeus was doing well, predicting every one of the Major’s moves. A puzzled look crossed Zeus’s face. I think he was figuring it out, but I didn’t think it would be in time. Collins would make his move soon, I could feel it, see his body getting ready. He was going to let Zeus hit him with everything, leave Zeus an opening he couldn’t refuse, but it would leave Zeus open to some trick or counter that would put an end to him. Just what the fuck was the Major planning to do? I almost couldn’t take it. I’d started out figuring the Major would win, but over the course of the match it looked like Zeus stood a chance. But now I was tense. I was back to concluding Zeus would lose but I feared the loss would be something brutal. Anything less and the Major would fail to submit him. Suddenly, it was there. Collins left his right side exposed, daring Zeus to take a shot. I begged him silently to miss it. I saw a resigned grin flash on Zeus’s face and he took the shot. Which allowed the left side of Zeus head to be open. Collins’ fist was already halfway to Zeus’s face when Zeus’s fist made contact with the Major’s ribs. I gave the Marine credit, he never flinched. He was committed to his plan. A half second after Zeus rocked him in the ribs, he was struck in the jaw by the Major’s knuckles. Zeus went down like a demolished building.

I love all your little twists and unexpected situations. Not only does it keep the characters scrambling and moving, but it keeps me on edge and wondering how things will work out. I find that from chapter to chapter I gravitate toward different characters. I’ve always loved Alex, but had a brief fling with Tom, who I think is just perfect, and of course Liam who is that forbidden fruit, and Marty really made me cheer him on with his impertinence and supreme confidence. Keep it up!

ZEUS He was eleven the first time Ezekiel punished him. After his father died it fell to his oldest brother Ezekiel to dole out any punishment required and he seemed to enjoy doing so finding the smallest excuse to give Gabriel a strapping. At eleven, Gabriel was considered ‘almost a man’ according to his brother. Gradually over the next year, he learned not to cry. The year after that he learned not to beg for mercy or make what Ezekiel call ‘empty promises to be good’. When he was sixteen he finally learned it enraged his brother further if he showed any indication he was being strapped and that he was the cause of his own punishment. He didn’t complete his chores fast enough. He didn’t do them well enough. He didn’t rush home after school. His grades weren’t high enough. He was too sullen, or too happy, too talkative, too noticeable, not helpful, disrespectful, lazy, reluctant, clumsy, inconvenient. He was strapped if he got blood on his clothes when the cuts caused by the leather rein broke open when he did his chores. Even his skin was bad for it refused to stay together and bled, his sweat stinging his wounds causing a continuous torturous reminder of his failure as a man. Ezekiel didn’t care that Gabriel wasn’t yet full grown, he was still expected to do everything his older, bigger brothers did on the farm. At 18 he joined the Army and didn’t tell his family. He waited for the day they would take him off to be sworn in. Gabriel knew that was a bad thing for him to do, abandon them without telling them. The others in his family would have to work harder to make up for his absence. Ezekiel was right: he had badness all the way through him. With other things he truly didn’t want to be bad but his desire to leave was something he actually wanted so strongly he thought of nothing else until the day they would put him on a bus to Milwaukee. He could not ignore that he wanted to do this bad thing. Ezekiel was right. He wanted to be bad. Gabriel didn’t make friends. He had no time for friends, it wasn’t permitted. His childhood friend George stopped coming to the farm and asking for him before he turned 12. It made Gabriel sad to see him in school because he loved George but Ezekiel would surely strap him if he allowed his attention to wander from lessons and schoolwork. George had grown up into a beautiful young man and Gabriel would often stare at his former friend longingly, remembering their closeness, the laughter they shared, his sparkling eyes and boundless energy. He often wished he could just go up to George and hug him like they were friends again, but that was bad. He was bad for just thinking it. He watched George get picked on for being small but he could do nothing for his former friend. In spite of it, George never lost his smile or his optimism. By 17, Gabriel was already quite big and could have helped George many times, protecting him. But getting into an altercation would surely earn him another strapping. Soon after the strappings started, he learned it did no good to go to his mother, or his other brothers and sisters for help. Involving them meant Ezekiel strapped him harder for trying to have them interfere. A man did not depend upon others to intercede. A man did not ask his family to save him from the consequences of his own bad actions. It wasn’t until he finished Basic and went to AIT that he discovered he would not be given tasks to complete after duty hours. Which left him time to notice the soldiers around him. And he felt intense shame when he understood he only watched the men. He was bad. But the men he saw were so beautiful. They had a happiness that made them shine larger than their fragile perfect bodies. They possessed an intensity of youth, eagerness, they were so bold and confident he fell quietly in love with what they were, what they had, their potential was limitless if they only knew how to apply themselves. But he did not speak to them. He did not trust himself to get close to them, neither physically nor emotionally. He had to resist his bad nature. He must refuse to entertain his deficiency. That was what he thought until the Army sent him to Germany and he became a Bravo. At first it was just another posting, another task to complete. He didn’t know why he was sent there and he didn’t care. He would do everything they asked without question. That was how you were good. He saw how the Platoon grew closer and became a brotherhood over the course of the first four months. They helped each other become better and stronger until they seemed to know exactly how to tackle any obstacle they were given. He began to relax when he realized that even though he didn’t participate in their games, their fun, their conversations or their planning, they still took him into consideration and watched out for him. When they understood he wouldn’t shower with them, they silently left him alone to shower by himself without interruption. They took turns offering to put his laundry in with theirs. They spoke to him as if he were one of them without expecting him to speak back. They made him feel as if he belonged as one of them and that he wasn’t alone like he’d been since he was 11. It wasn’t until Andrew drew him into that conversation in the barracks that Gabriel thought maybe they wanted him to be their friend and that maybe he could be their friend at least a little. He’d been watching Andrew and noticed how he treated everyone. Andrew was good, a good man. He cared about his men, doing things right, completing tasks, and cared about the Army. Gabriel knew soon after meeting him that no one else in the Platoon would have been as perfect for Platoon Leader as Andrew. Andrew found the best in people, he tried to understand them and lifted them up in the ways they needed to be their best. He let others shine in the areas they excelled, stepping back to allow them to take the lead depending on the situation. He corrected and guided rather than punished. That Saturday night in the bay alone with Andrew was a turning point for him and Andrew had worked his special magic making Gabriel feel safe enough to open up just a little. Andrew just knew the right things to say. He’d even almost told Andrew about his feelings for Sleeper but he was able to stop himself before revealing too much. At that point he wasn’t even sure what exactly he felt about Addison Montelongo he only knew Addison was the most beautiful man he’d ever seen and he couldn’t stop thinking about him or staring at his always near naked body when they were in the barracks. He noticed that the other Bravos weren’t shy about letting their eyes roam over Addison’s well muscled tall body and that Addison didn’t mind in the least that he was looked at which allowed Gabriel to feel it wasn’t bad to appreciate what he was seeing. Addison’s confidence without vanity, his kindness, competence, playful basic nature and easy smile did something inside Gabriel that both frightened him and inflamed him. Addison didn’t speak to him very much, but when he did it was with respect, kindness, and a desire to make him feel at ease. It was as if Addison supplicated to him. Gabriel often thought it should be the other way around. He wanted Addison to be his friend but he couldn’t bring himself to broach the subject and open up too much. To do so felt dangerous and willful. That couldn’t be allowed and sometimes that made him sad. “Hey Zeus,”. Addison called from his bunk, interrupting Gabriel’s thoughts. “Want to take a walk? I want to get out of here, get some air.” That’s what Sleeper did, he asked. He could have told Gabriel to go with him and Gabriel would do it, but instead he requested it like it was up to Gabriel whether they would go or not. He was more comfortable being told but the guys always asked him. He liked it when Addison asked, it made him feel like he was important, that what he wanted was important. “Okay.” He answered. If it meant spending time alone with his boyfriend, he would do anything. Well, anything except breaking the rules. They didn’t have to be asleep in their bunks for another hour. Addison smiled. It felt like it was a smile just for him and he flushed with warmth. “C’mon buddy.” Gabriel fell in behind Sleeper and they went outside. They walked for a bit, not saying anything for a few minutes. Then Addison spoke up. “Zeus, you looked lost in thought in there. What were you thinking about?” “You. The Bravos. My brother a little bit.” Gabriel answered truthfully. He didn’t have to hide anything from Addison. Sleeper didn’t say anything right away. “You have a brother?” He finally said. Gabriel shrugged. “I have seven brothers and four sisters.” “That’s a lot. Wow.” Addison exclaimed. “Are you the oldest?” He grinned. “We had the biggest family in town. And I’m the youngest boy, I have just one sister who is younger. She should be graduating high school this year.” “That must have been cool, having all those brothers and sisters to hang out with growing up. My parents didn’t have any other kids, I’m the only one.” Gabriel shrugged again. “We didn’t have a lot of time to do anything except chores and work on the farm. Especially after my father died. We went to school, came home, did our work, ate dinner, did our homework then went to bed.” “Sounds like no fun.” Addison observed. “What else did you do? What did you do when you weren’t doing all that?” “What do you mean? There was nothing else.” “Nothing? Ever?” Addison seemed surprised. “No.” There was no bitterness in the statement. He knew other kids had fun, played in the woods, did things like sports and going to the one public swimming pool in town. He knew most of the boys at school, and some of the girls, went hunting during season. Gabriel’s brothers never took him hunting. But for him it was more important to do the never ending work having a farm required. And he had no money anyway to do anything that needed to be paid for. You did not shirk your work. Hard work made you a man. Doing it without complaint made you a better man. Doing it well and perfectly made you a good man. And Gabriel really wanted to be a good man even though he wasn’t. Even though he did all those things, he was still bad, still lazy, still clumsy and neglectful. He would just have to do better. “Fuck, bro. Your childhood must have sucked.” Addison whistled in shock. He didn’t know how to respond to that. He’d stopped wishing for his life to be different a long time ago. Besides, his true childhood, when he wasn’t a man before he turned 11, was pretty good. He got to play and he and George had fun. But as Ezekiel had told him he was no longer a child at 11 and would not do what he had done before. It was time to grow up and be a man. “Come on, over here.” Addison said, pulling Gabriel’s arm and leading him to the side of a building they had been walking past. Built off the back was a roofless brick enclosure that held the large heating and cooling units for the building. Addison made quick work of the padlock on the gate which any of the Bravos could have done without a thought. Padlocks were easy, you didn’t even have to pick the tumblers. Just insert something thin down the round shaft of the post to push the internal spring catch away from the notched end of the post. He led Gabriel inside. “What are we doing here, Addison?” He was confused. The equipment was almost roaring. The enclosure was maybe twelve by twelve, and a foot and a half perimeter surrounded the eight foot tall heating and cooling unit. “This.” Addison said, before reaching for Gabriel’s head and pulling him in for a kiss. “I couldn’t wait anymore.” He said between deep tonguing motions of his mouth. “MMMMMMMM”. Gabriel found himself moaning into his boyfriend’s lips. He was glad Addison decided it was okay to kiss because he loved kissing him. Gabriel grabbed his beautiful boyfriend and crushed him in his arms. Addison didn’t complain that Gabriel was hurting him, or he was too strong. Addison was tough, he could take everything Gabriel did. “Oh fuck, you feel so good, buddy.” Addison panted. “I can’t believe you do this to me.” Gabriel thought it was the other way around. Addison could make him do unwise things. They shouldn’t be doing this, shouldn’t have broken in to a secure area but he couldn’t say no to Addison, and found himself wanting whatever his boyfriend wanted. Addison broke off the kiss. “I want to try something.” He said, fumbling with the slip catch on Gabriel’s woven belt. “What Addison?” he asked, puzzled. The night was cold, but not too cold for Gabriel. He’d grown up in Wisconsin. If Addison wanted to undress him, he wasn’t sure why. “Shhhh, just let me do this.” “Okay.” And Addison squatted down in front of him and pulled his erect penis out from his pants. He watched Addison look at his large member and stick out his tongue to take a fast swipe as if he wanted to taste it. “Gabriel, I’ve never done this. It probably won’t be any good, but I’m going to try.” Gabriel took a surprised breath. “Are you going to put my penis in your mouth, Addison?” “Yeah, buddy, I am. Hold on to your socks. Here goes.” And Addison took a deep breath, then opened his sexy lips to take the head of his penis inside. Oh good gracious, his mouth was warm. Addison stopped moving, waited very still for a few seconds while Gabriel looked down at him. His penis seemed really big in comparison to Addison’s face. He seemed to be hesitating, or waiting for something. That was okay, this felt really good and if Addison wanted to stay just like this it was fine with him. He’d never had anyone put his penis in their mouth. He’d done it to Addison because Andrew asked him if he wanted to, but before he was asked he had never thought of putting his penis in anyone’s mouth. He knew other people did it, the guys talked about it a lot. But when Andrew asked him if he wanted to do it to Addison back in November, he suddenly knew he wanted Addison’s penis in his mouth, and it was the most wonderful thing he had every experienced. He hoped Addison thought it was wonderful too. *********************** SLEEPER The reality was so much different than the thought he’d had when he decided he wanted to do this for Gabriel. Sleeper had more than his fair share of blowjobs from the girls he had sex with and they were fucking amazing. There really was only a couple things better in life than someone sucking on your dick, feeling their lips pressing against your hard shaft, your head pressing into the back of their mouth, hearing the slurping sounds, how the pressure changed from moment to moment, that tongue moving all around. If you were lucky, the chick played with your balls, that was guaranteed to start the cum flowing. So of course he wanted to show the same pleasure to Gabriel, but never in his life had he ever been remotely interested in having another dude’s dick anywhere near his face. It was just fucking gross. He absolutely had to get past that. This was Gabriel, and he deserved his best effort. This would be Zeus’s first blowjob, and he knew he was probably going to fuck it up royally. Shit, he should have gotten Wanker to do this, but fuck if he was going to let anyone else suck Gabriel’s dick the first time. Maybe he should have asked Wanker to give him a lesson. How the fuck did girls do this? He couldn’t even think about getting more in his mouth than the head right now. His mouth had filled with saliva immediately, that gush that signaled a puke coming on, and he absolutely could not do that. He had to get past this. It was a dude’s fucking dick touching the inside of his mouth… he was fighting the revulsion. That wasn’t the only issue. Zeus’s cock was at least 9 inches, and he had a foreskin, and he was dripping pre-cum. it almost seemed too thick for his mouth, both the dick and the pre-cum. How was he going to do this? He had to move. Zeus was patient, he just stood there looking down at Sleeper holding his dickhead in his lips. ‘Don’t think about it’ he told himself. ‘Pussy, just think about eating pussy, it’s just skin, like licking Zeus’s forearm, or his chest.’ That wasn’t so bad. The air he had been holding in his lungs came out through his nose, and he closed his eyes before trying to take a little more of his cock. He had to stop once again when a stomach spasm threatened to send his dinner back up. He came off Zeus’s dick with his eyes watering. “Sorry buddy, I’m trying.” He said, breathing hard. Zeus smiled down at him. “It feels really good, Addison.” Thank fucking God Zeus had never had a real blowjob. He had nothing to compare this pathetic attempt with. Sleeper grabbed Zeus’s thick heavy pole and peeled the foreskin back and down the shaft, exposing the head. He wasn’t sure if that was better because now he could see all the features that made a dick a dick.. the head, the piss slit…it seemed so alive up close like this. He stroked the cock in his hand slowly, staring at it. That was actually kind of hot, watching Zeus’s throbbing dick as he stroked it, seeing the foreskin slide up and back. Zeus did have an amazing dick. Then, on every fifth stroke Sleeper darted in and wrapped his mouth around just the first couple inches then pulled off. Soon he was stroking and following his hand with his mouth for multiple strokes. That’s it, just a little mouth action he didn’t need to do more, just enough to vary the sensation, keep his mind off what he was actually doing. Before he knew it, he was staying on Zeus’s dick while his hand moved and it wasn’t bothering him, it wasn’t gross. He started to get into it and began going lower with every plunge. He discovered if he pressed his mouth to his hand while he was stroking the shaft, it seemed easier. Zeus was making pleased noises, so he must be doing something right. And right then his brain clicked over and he suddenly understood how it worked because Zeus was getting into it and that drove him to try harder. He felt his own dick start to get hard with every moan that Zeus made. He was past the taste, past the thought of this being a man’s dick sliding over his tongue. Now it was the key to making Zeus feel good and that’s the only thing that mattered. He took more until half of the shaft went in, his jaw opened wide but he kept his lips covering his teeth. He tried for more but gagged when it hit the back of his throat and he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to take any more. But he wasn’t having any more problems diving down on his buddy’s beautiful dick. ‘Beautiful? Where the fuck had that come from?’ But he couldn’t deny it, Zeus’s cock was beautiful, just like the rest of him. A real man’s dick, thick and long, heavy and warm, and now that he wasn’t focused on suppressing all thoughts of what he was doing, he began to notice other details. Zeus’s soft blonde pubes that surrounded the base. His big heavy balls pushed out by his thick meaty thighs, suspended by the waistband of his briefs. The scent of healthy musk like a locker room but also Zeus’s specific smell which was fresh, clean, and soothing like the outdoors in summer. He found he wanted to breathe it in because it was making his pulse race and sending warm waves of pleasure throughout his body. It felt like a drug, if Sleeper had ever done any drugs, which he hadn’t. But it seemed like what a couple of his high school buddies had described. Your mind got lighter, your body relaxed, you felt really good and easy. The heat from Zeus’s legs felt good in the cold air as it radiated against his face, arms, and chest. He moaned. Fuck! He was sucking cock and liking it. Damn, he had to get more in his mouth. Now, the spit his saliva glands released was the salivation of enjoyment. He knew he was drooling the excess and didn’t care. He moved his head eagerly and left his right hand motionless to squeeze the base while he slurped up and down what was left, fully six inches of thick hard throbbing God meat. He pulled Zeus’s foreskin with his lips and played with the loose skin. The taste of the fluid leaking from the slit was amazing. There was no longer a single thing about it that wasn’t driving him into ever increasing gratification. And he recognized that his brain had clicked over again. This all began with doing something he found repulsive, having to force himself. Then it switched to focusing on how much it was pleasing his buddy which made him feel good. Now, he knew he was doing it because it was something he wanted…no he NEEDED to get this beautiful cock in his mouth. He didn’t even care if he made Zeus bust his nut, he could just suck on his hard cock for hours, breathe in his incredible scent, taste his juices, absorb the heat coming off his body. He forced the solid cockhead all the way to the back of his throat and choked himself on it. Fuck yes. ‘I’m gonna choke myself on this dick. I fuckin’ want it.’ He thought. Yeah, he wanted it now, wanted all of it. Zeus was really moaning now, and Sleeper was grateful for the roaring of the equipment behind him. “Addison…”. Zeus groaned. Sleeper felt Zeus’s hands grab his head, and that turned him on even more. Up until now, the big man had been passive. He felt pressure on his head as his buddy forced him further down until the head pushed past the back of his throat just slightly. He choked again, but not as violently as the first time. Now, Zeus was actively pulling him off, then pulling him back, fucking Sleeper’s head back and forth on his stationary dick. Sleeper moved his hand from the base of Zeus’s cock and reached under to grab his large nutsack. Holy fuck, he wanted to be face fucked by this raging beast. The more forceful Zeus became, the higher Sleeper’s pleasure soared. He quickly fumbled with his belt and pants. He had to get his dick out before he came in his pants. Thank God he had the presence of mind to do that, he could blast at any moment, all it was going to take was for Zeus to lose all control and start doing the fucking himself. The thought of being used like this put him right on the edge. Zeus did not disappoint him. His hips began thrusting as he also pulled Sleeper’s head towards him. Sleeper felt his throat get punished, and every few strokes resulted in this big cock slipping past the resistance there and forcing its way further in. Oh fuck, that was going to make him cum. He felt his balls pull up and he reached down to help his orgasm along wanting to pull the cum from his balls with his hand. He still gagged every few strokes and that only added to his excitement. “Oh! Oh fudge!” Zeus called out. Sleeper lost it, felt his hot cum shooting out of his dick in thick spurts as Zeus tensed up and pulled his mouth all the way down to the base of his dick as he let out a deep grunt. Sleeper couldn’t think about anything but being lost in his own orgasm and feeling his balls literally spilling every drop of cum he had in him. He knew on some level he was choking. It was painful, and pleasurable at the same time, it was a hard cum, the kind that seizes your entire body. He didn’t care what Zeus was doing to his mouth, he only cared about this feeling and making it last as long as possible, drowning himself in waves of ecstasy. He felt six heavy spurts fly up and out of his dick, a second apart. He felt the hot load slide down his fist as more and more pumped out. He was spasming as the end neared, jolts of tension jerking his body as it tried to pump out smaller and smaller amounts of cum. He was literally pushing his forehead into Zeus’s stomach and he suddenly realized he had almost swallowed Zeus’s entire cock and how much his jaw was hurting. And that he couldn’t breathe. He jerked back off and felt his buddy’s dick slide past his tongue and lips. It flopped out, covered with saliva. He saw the head release a few slow dribbles of cum that stretched out before falling to the ground between his knees. His chin had Zeus’s cum that he’d choked up dripping off of it. He darted forward and lapped up the next glob that formed on his piss slit. Zeus’s cum…most of which now swam around in his stomach he was sure. He hadn’t been paying attention to whether Zeus had cum or not, but seeing the remnants oozing out his piss slit he knew he’d been inseminated and just the thought of Zeus fucking his load into his throat forced a groan from his throat. “Fuck. Holy Shit. Fuck. That was…”. Sleeper couldn’t find the right words. Zeus’s chest was heaving with gasping breaths. “Addison..”. The giant panted. “I have never felt anything like that. That was amazing. You are the best at blowjobs. Is blowjob a bad word? I don’t think it’s a bad word. I think it’s okay to say blowjob.” Zeus gasped between almost every word. “I want more blowjobs.” Sleeper had to laugh, looking up at Zeus’s beautiful face. “Yeah buddy, we all do. I’m glad you liked it. I was worried I wasn’t going to do a good job. It definitely took some getting used to, but I get it now. I think I know why some chicks and gay dudes love to do it. It’s fucking intense.” Sleeper swiped the mixture of cum and spit off his chin. Zeus reached down and pulled Sleeper to his feet. Then he pulled him into a hug and leaned in to kiss him. Fuck, just a couple months ago Sleeper would have never touched another dude’s dick, or let another dude slide his tongue in his mouth. Somehow though, Zeus made him want to forget all that. Then Sleeper realized anything Zeus wanted, he would do for him. Everything had changed. He knew Zeus referred to him as his boyfriend, which was fine with Sleeper, he didn’t mind because it wasn’t like everyone knew. But until now, he himself hadn’t thought of Zeus that way. They were having fun, Sleeper could separate what he did for Zeus as making Zeus happy. Sure, he got a little something out of it too, but mostly it was for Zeus. It felt good to see a smile on his massive buddy’s face. Zeus didn’t smile enough, he seemed far too serious and withdrawn most of the time. Sleeper knew he and Andrew were the whole reason Zeus had started coming out of his shell. Andrew said they could help Zeus be an absolute beast, and they had to bring who he was meant to be out of him slowly and gently. Andrew thought the real Zeus was hiding, that he was never meant to be a silent, gentle giant, and that he was protecting himself from something. Maybe it was that he was gay, but Andrew didn’t think that was all of it. “Addison…”. Zeus said while he held Sleeper in a very comfortable hug. Sleeper could fall asleep like this, being held by this big man. Zeus made him feel safe, and loved. Women had loved him, sure. Friends had loved him. That felt good, knowing he had their attention, that they wanted to make him happy. This felt different. He felt that Zeus loved him just to love him, just because Zeus wanted to. It was a warm love. And it’s different when you know the person loving you could protect you and was even more capable, competent, and proficient than you were. Sleeper had always been the best. His parents demanded it. They also provided everything he needed to reach his potential. He graduated private high school 3rd in his class, no small feat. He was state wrestling champ in his weight class. He could sing, and play piano, really well if his teachers weren’t lying. He’d never tell the brothers that though. His parents wanted him to accept one of the several scholarships he’d been offered to go to universities, but Sleeper had to figure out what he wanted for himself out of life first. The scholarships weren’t important, his family had plenty of money for when he decided to go to college. And they weren’t happy he’d joined the Army, it was seen as beneath them to be an enlisted soldier. They would much rather he went in as an officer if he wanted a military career. He’d always excelled which meant everyone else he met or was friends with looked up to HIM, expected him to take the lead, make the decisions, be the first to make a move or start something. Zeus… he could trust Zeus to do all that. Zeus was strong. His stoicism was awe inspiring while at the same time his innocence was endearing. It didn’t hurt that Zeus was so big. Sleeper hadn’t encountered many guys that were bigger than himself, most of the ones he did had some kind of attitude or chip on their shoulder. They were easy to dismiss. They relied on their physical size to determine their personality as if they had nothing else to offer. He found that type boring and frankly a little disgusting. Challenge them in any way and they puffed up like a gorilla and Sleeper couldn’t help but believe that described their mental capabilities as well. Zeus was completely different. It was as if Zeus didn’t see himself as bigger than everyone else. In fact, he seemed to think he was smaller, less than average. He never used his size to gain advantage, or intimidate, not that he needed to. All he had to do was let that serious look come over his face and stand just so, and you had no doubt he could kill you before your realized your head was flying from your neck. With Zeus he didn’t have to be Addison Christoper Augurius Montelongo. Yes, THAT Saint Augurius, Spanish martyr burned alive by the Romans in 259. Sleeper thought his parents chose that one because he was from Tarragona, Spain, as were Sleeper’s distant ancestors. He didn’t have to be that Addison with any of the Brotherhood. Zeus didn’t ask him for anything while at the same time was always there for anything Sleeper needed. It felt good to have someone who liked you who didn’t expect anything from you, and even better if that someone could take care of themselves. And when you added that it was Zeus who had the ability to make you feel wonderful, or turn you on your head Sleeper was finding himself in a very uncomfortable situation. He was sure he wasn’t gay, so why did he want to have sex and do things like this with Zeus? It had something to do with the kind of guy Zeus was and that he was just better than just about everyone else. It was easy to feel a little hero worship. The truth was Sleeper had grown tired of being a leader. Until he met Assmunch. And then Zeus. “Addison, I need to tell you something.” Zeus’s voice rumbled as Sleeper relaxed his head against Zeus’s chest. Sleeper looked up. “What, buddy?” “I love you. I didn’t want to, but I do.” Zeus continued. “And I don’t know what to do.” Sleeper sighed. He just snuggled back against his friend. “I figured that out, Gabriel. I think I love you too. Fuck, it feels weird saying that. You know we are in the wrong job for this, right?” He felt Zeus’s arms tighten around him. It felt so good. So safe and protected. Then Zeus shrugged. “I know. We aren’t supposed to. I don’t want to be bad, Addison.” Zeus sounded sad. Sleeper was already a little sad thinking about it, about the impossibility of it all, of even entertaining a relationship with a guy never mind the Army added in on top of it all. His parents would never have it, never allow it. And then there was the heartbreak they were inviting. The odds were that he and Gabriel would be stationed far apart and never see each other. Maybe that would be for the best, allow both of them to retain their honor. This sneaking around doing something forbidden made Sleeper feel a bit queasy. And he wasn’t stupid, it would happen again. Where Zeus was concerned he couldn’t control what he felt. Plus, he already recognized a pattern. First, getting off with Andrew. That was just getting off… a little dirty fun with his best friend eating his asshole like a pussy. The depravity of the act added to the thrill. He had a guy tonguing his shitter. How twisted was that? Fuck, the loads he pumped out because of that, he’d never cum that hard before in his life. But then, he’d been unexpectedly penetrated by Andrew’s dick. He didn’t know what Andrew had been thinking but it was probably pretty close to what he was thinking himself - how fucking dirty, twisted, and gay it was to get off with your best friend playing with your asshole like you were a nasty whore. And when Andrew just jammed his cock in while Sleeper was just beginning to cum, it was like an explosion went off in his nuts. The excruciating pain threatened to stop his ejaculation and he was so hell bent on shooting by that point he had to commit to pumping his seed out in spite of being speared. He first thought he had to choose: Pain or pleasure. But on Andrew’s second thrust it became apparent there was no choosing, it was both, at the same time and holy fuck! He thought he had cum hard before from getting his asshole chewed on… this had to be twice the feeling. Being completely helpless as your nut was fucked out of you from the inside was an orgasm in a category so many levels above fucking one out into a chick. It was hard to wrap his head around how he’d previously believed cumming inside a chick’s wet pussy, just fucking filling her up with hot jizz while she moaned beneath you was the best sex a guy could have. He’d been so wrong. Then he’d agreed to let Zeus fuck him. Some of it was wanting that feeling again, but most of it was to see if it had been a fluke, a product of the circumstances or the surprise of it happening. He’d already been fucked, there was no going back so taking another dick wouldn’t be anything special if it was Zeus’s dick and he HAD to know if that incredible feeling happened every time. And it fucking had. So far. To be fair, he’d only been fucked five times total, but each time was the same, he couldn’t stop himself from spewing cum everywhere when Zeus’s dick was jammed up his hole. It didn’t matter if it was a slow fuck, a hard fuck, a steady fuck, whether it was quick or passionate, rough or gentle, once that dick forced its way up inside him his balls started churning and the only thing that kept him from shooting almost immediately was that he had to make the feeling last as long as he could. And tonight, he crossed another line: he sucked dick. Not only did he suck that dick, he started to love it. But it was because it was Zeus’s dick. That’s where his head was right now. He wasn’t an idiot though. That was how he felt when Andrew and he first began fucking around. It felt good to get his asshole eaten out because it was Andrew doing the deed. That changed with Zeus, and Sleeper knew yeah, whose dick or tongue it was did made a difference, but not a whole lot. It was just going to feel good regardless. So, while right now the very thought of putting anyone else’s dick in his mouth truly disgusted him, he knew that disgust would eventually go away and grow smaller each time he sucked Zeus. Hell, he was already halfway wondering if Andrew’s dick would be the same. Fucking Hell, as Andrew would say. It was a pattern that led to one conclusion - being Zeus’s boyfriend… his gay fucking boyfriend. And that he’d live the rest of his life knowing he liked dick. That didn’t mean he didn’t like chicks, and pussy anymore. He just knew dick gave him something a little better…and that was something that was going to be with him for the rest of his life. “We need to talk to Andrew, Gabriel.” He said. “Let’s go, we need to get back.” He reluctantly extricated himself from Zeus’s arms. *************** PRIVATE BATTLES AND LANCE CORPORAL POTTER “What do you think they’re doing in there?” Battles asked him. Potter chuckled. “Maybe they’re doing what we were going to do.” It hadn’t been that long since they’d seen Zeus and Sleeper enter the brick enclosure. “Doesn’t take a genius to figure out, Battles. Hidden spot, privacy, two guys.” And Potter knew you couldn’t judge who was fucking around by how they looked. Neither Zeus nor Sleeper gave off any sign they were into dudes but that wasn’t any indication. You didn’t have to be gay to shoot a load off with a buddy. Both he and Potter had girls back home but TDY and deployment held a different set of rules. Besides, they’d gotten used to their arrangement in Iraq and they both liked the availability of getting some easy no-strings strange every now and then. They’d seen Sleeper and Zeus leave the barracks and figured they’d see where they were heading before finding a secluded spot themselves to fuck out some tension on each other. When they’d deployed to Iraq for the Gulf War in ‘91 it hadn’t taken long for the need to overcome their better sense. All sorts of things happened on deployment and when you found a battle buddy nature took its course. It wasn’t something normally done, but it did happen. He and Battles started trading fucks a month in. It wasn’t complicated, hell they never even undressed, just unzipped and pounded one out on the other’s ass, always fast and concealed. It was quick and efficient. Bending over for your buddy wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t love, even if you did love your brother in another way. It was better to eliminate the distraction of being horny than chance not being 100% focused in a fight, but also there was the sheer exhaustion when the adrenaline left and resulted in boredom when coming back from patrol or operation. You were tired, exhausted, but being able to relax didn’t come easy. Add to that the mixed feelings of a high from racking up a kill while mentally dancing away from the fact you’d splattered some human body into a lifeless chunk of meat and what you got was a reckless fuck-it-all state of mind. It was both a celebration and a need to empty yourself of feeling. Emotionlessly fucking out a load into an equally emotionless buddy helped. Well, there was SOME aggression there, a need to get something back. That was why another Marine was the key. You knew your buddy was going to take a fuck from you without having it be anything more than pounding out some relief from the stupidity of it all. There were few women to go around and competition was stiff, no pun intended. No one expected an entire war would only last 6 months. The Marines were ready for a real fight, and instead they got a completely unprepared enemy who seemed like cowardly toy soldiers. It had hardly been an effort to get the Iraqi’s to completely surrender. The clean-up took longer than the actual fighting. The worst part, other than losing a brother, (which thankfully their Regiment hadn’t lost a single man, but 24 Marines were KIA in the Gulf War) the worst part of the the entire thing was the sand, and the oily smoke from the burning oil fields everywhere. It was a fucking pit filled with suck, the whole fucking country. Potter could still smell it. Hell, firing up a diesel transport immediately threw him back there in his head - that black cloud and the smell. But the sand… it got everywhere, in everything. It really didn’t matter how tightly you thought you’d sealed something up. And God help you if the wind was blowing or a sandstorm blew in. Have you ever heard that gritty crunch inside your skull when your teeth bit down on grains of sand while you were just fucking trying to eat a goddamn sandwich, just trying to enjoy some small comfort of a hot meal? If you haven’t, you don’t want to. You learn not to chew very hard and just swallow smaller bites. Took a couple months after getting back before you trusted your teeth again. There was one smell though that he’d always feel comfortable about - the smell you could never get out of your Kevlar helmet, your eye protection goggles, and any equipment or gear you couldn’t wash that got soaked with your sweat. Take a gym locker room and multiply that by a hundred. That was the smell of men giving it everything they had. It was the smell of your brothers in the fight. It was victory, adrenaline, exhaustion, survival, and brotherhood. It pervaded your TEMPER because you and your gear and everyone else’s were stripped off and piled up beside your cot so you could collapse. And there wasn’t a single smell on the face of the earth that was better than that, or that meant more to him than that smell. To this day he could pull his helmet down over his eyes and nose and immediately fall into a deep, relaxing sleep. The gate was opening, and the really big guy and the other big guy came out. Sleeper reset the padlock, neat trick whatever it was. Marines were trained to just break the lock or bust the door off its hinges with force or small explosives. Potter checked his watch, it was close to lock down so he and Battles needed to get back soon too. There was more than one way to gain entry. “Come on, let’s bust one out real fast. Over the wall.” They ran up and Potter threw his back against the brick and cupped his hands, Battle hadn’t even paused they’d done this so many times for real and in training. Boot up, shoulder step, grab the top, pull up, get a leg over, reach down, your buddy jumped, grabbed, and climbed over you. In less than 10 seconds they were in. They wasted no time, Battles yanked his sweat pants down his ass and bent over, hands against the wall. Potter had his dick out and spat in his hand, swiped up Battles crack and stuck a finger in. No time to be gentle about it, and it didn’t matter anyway. Another glob of spit greased his dick, and he shoved it in. Battles grunted, but otherwise gave no indication. Potter tore off in rapid fire right away, starting by holding Battles by the hips and punching into him. After about 30 seconds, he felt his nut begin to boil and he hunched over Battles’ back, grabbed his shoulders and pressed his forehead between his buddy’s shoulder blades. “Fuck yeah. Fire in the hole, Marine!” Potter grunted as he felt his jizz shoot out into his buddy’s hot hole. “Hoo - rah!” Battles grunted out. After a couple more spasms, Potter pulled out as fast as he went in, and traded spots with Battles. “Get you sum, buddy.” He said, pushing his ass out. “More than ready, Potter.” Battles said, performing the same lube up procedure. His dick was bigger than Potter’s, nothing huge, but he couldn’t just bury it like Potter did. There’s a huge difference between a solid 6 inch cock of less than average thickness like Potter’s and his own seven and half inches of decently fat sausage. He didn’t need Potter walking funny tonight or tomorrow. So he eased it in. He preferred the slow grip of Potter’s hole anyway, that first slide in always felt so fucking good. But once he got in and took a couple slow strokes, he let loose and bucked up into his buddy with everything he had. Potter couldn’t keep quiet like he’d been, and grunted out with every thrust. He hammered away, thinking about that Sergeant with the nice tits in the chow line. He’d love to titty fuck that bitch and spray his cum all over her face. He buried his shooting cock balls deep and let his cum flood his buddy’s guts as he came. He let the pulses stop, and pulled out. They put themselves together and repeated their motions to exit. Potter glanced at his watch when they were back over the wall. Nice. Less than five minutes. “Fuck, I needed that. Feel better already.” “Me too, wish there was some real pussy here though.” Battles replied. “You’re telling me. Never gonna happen here until we complete the course. We may get liberty here, but we aren’t free to do as we please. Better not to risk it. It’s straight, clear fraternization as students in a course. No wiggle room there. Let’s get back.” Fucking out a load with your buddy wasn’t exactly SOP either, but your buddy wasn’t going to report you and neither would anyone else if you were careful about it. They ran back at a jog. Nothing but two Marines out for some evening PT before rack time.

Thanks man! I’m fighting hard not to jump ahead in the plot with certain characters so the others get their moment to shine.

ASSMUNCH “Mom! We have to go. I can’t show up late!” I yelled. She emerged from her bedroom walking like there was no emergency. “Settle down, sweetheart. It takes 15 minutes. You’re so much like your father.” “Bye bro!” Tim flew down the stairs to fling himself into my arms. “Thanks for everything. You better tell us where they’re sending you.” “Don’t wrinkle my uniform!” I didn’t put much force into it though. “Even if I forget, do you think Mom would give Dad’s Commander a moment’s peace until he tracked me down? He probably already knows where they’re sending me anyway. I love you, Tim. Be good for Mom, okay?” I hugged him back tightly.. He let me go. “Where’s Kevin? Is he out front?” I sighed. “He thought it would be too hard to say goodbye today.” I lied. “He went home last night.” “That sucks! I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.” He scowled. Me either, little brother, I thought to myself. But it was okay. It wasn’t goodbye anyway, not in my heart. Instead, I told him “He’ll be back this summer probably. Maybe he’ll hang out with you. You should work out with him. It’s good to cross train, even if you aren’t in track. He’s going for the decathalon. He’s a beast. Indoor nationals are in March and I wish I could watch him compete but who knows where I’ll be.” Mom had her purse and keys. “Let’s go, Mr. Impatient.” I grabbed my backpack from in front of the door and held the door open for her. Tim was now driving my old Trans Am to school but the old girl was not doing well and he shot out the door right after Mom. Maybe my old classic would keep going for him until the end of the school year. I made sure the front door was locked then walked out to the driveway and heard a cheer from Tim. Maybe Mom said he could go to school late and he got to ride with us to Ft. Hood. I reached the corner of the garage and stopped. There was Kevin standing next to Mom’s Toyota Celica talking to her. My heart beat faster and I felt my face flush. He looked at me and I saw that big smile. The relief that hit me caught me unprepared and it was really fucking hard to smile when I almost burst out in tears. He looked so good, like I hadn’t just seen him 12 hours ago and he was wearing the Wranglers. “What?” He called out. “You didn’t want to see me today? Okay, I’ll go.” He joked, turning around. Maybe he did that to flash his gorgeous jeans-encased ass. “Don’t move, you pain in the ass.” I yelled back. I grabbed him in a hug and whispered in his ear “I love you, there’s nothing for me to figure out. Got it?” “Yes, SIR!” He stepped back and tried to execute the absolute worst salute, I half thought it was on purpose it was so bad. Kevin’s dad wasn’t in the Army, he was a civilian contractor that worked in maintenance. I think he was a GS-7… he might actually be a 9 now, who knows? Kevin didn’t talk about his family much. “Don’t call me Sir, and don’t salute me, dumbass. I work for a living. You live in a fucking Army town for Christ’s sake, you should know that.” “Language, Tom!” Mom corrected. “Agh! Sorry Mom. It slipped.” I apologized. “Your hat looks good on you.” Kevin said with a smirk. Now he was just fucking with me throwing out that reminder of Tuesday afternoon. I’d put it on as a matter of habit even though I was just walking to the car and we weren’t on post. Everything Army was just automatic for me at this point. “You should see me with my patrol cap. They’re called caps, or cover, not ‘hats’. Are you coming with us?” I asked him, hoping he’d say yes. “Yeah, if you want. Your mom said it was okay.” He raised his eyebrows. “I want.” I replied. “Say goodbye to Tim, we’ve got to get going.” Kevin gave Tim a body swallowing hug. “See ya brat!” “Can I have your shirt?” Tim asked. “What shirt?” Kevin asked. “That cowboy shirt with the ripped sleeves. You left it in Tom’s room.” Tim explained. “Uh, sure. It doesn’t fit me anyway.” Kevin smirked at me. I shrugged. “It served it’s purpose.” “YES!” Tim shouted. He immediately threw his backpack down and stripped off his sweatshirt. He was wearing the shirt. It was big on him, but he’d fill it out soon. “Tim, dude, you need to wash it first.” I said, a little stunned. I was pretty sure there was at least a little of my dried cum on it. Tim grinned and shook his head. “Nope. Smells like Kevin. It’s perfect. Later, bators!” He climbed in the Trans Am and tore off down the street. “What’s a ‘bator’?” Mom asked. I rolled my eyes. “You don’t want to know, Mom.” Kevin never lost his smirk. I was beginning to think Tim loved Kevin more than he loved me and that made me feel really good. How’d I get so lucky to have this great family? Even if my kid brother was a peeping Tom pervert who liked watching and listening to us fuck, then loved wearing a cum stained shirt to school. We climbed in the Celica, Kevin riding bitch in back behind Mom because of the additional leg room. I was both excited and reluctant to report in. I was so happy Kevin decided to come see me off. Last night was cold in my bed without him even though I understood why he had to leave. It was just easier for him to keep himself in check if we were apart and he needed to get himself right in the head also so that he could deal with being apart from me for who knows how many months. 15 minutes later we were waved through the gate by the MP who executed a disciplined open hand gesture with his elbow at a precise 90 degree angle. He must be either new or dedicated. The sticker on the windshield identified us as military with my dad’s rank and I wondered if the guard got bored of making the same movement for the hundreds of cars that passed through at this time. Cars with an officer’s sticker received a salute which broke up the monotony, I supposed. I had no time for long goodbyes and I was thankful for that. Of course Mom was used to that as well as the no-hug, no lipstick kiss rule for full dress. But I gave her both anyway. Kevin gave me a folded up piece of paper and a handshake, but his eyes gave me the kiss and hug we couldn’t have here on base. Sure, we could try for a casual ‘just bros’ hug but I knew we wouldn’t be able to stop ourselves there and it may turn into the kind of hug you wouldn’t want the Army to see. “Call me when you know where you’re going, okay? And if you aren’t on a flight today, I’ll come pick you up.” Mom said. “There’s a few phone numbers on that paper, as well as my Spring class schedule. But you should always be able to get a message to me through the Engineering department. Just make sure you leave a number where I can call you back.” Kevin added. “Okay. Wish me luck. Mom…”. I didn’t know the words to say. “I’ll be okay, sweetheart. It hurts, it does. Nights and waking up are the hardest part right now. We thought we’d have more time. Don’t wait to do what makes you happy.” She said with glistening eyes, shifting her eyes to Kevin for a brief moment. “Life is shorter than you think.” Her eyes grew distant. “Whatever you have to do, sweetheart, if Kevin is the one.” “I’m trying.” I told her, then looked at Kevin with a smile. “I’m happy right now. We’re trying to be smart about this.” Mom and I had a really good talk Wednesday night after dinner about what was ahead, about Kevin, life, and relationships in general. I knew if Dad was still alive he would have given me his advice too. I had to go. I waved at them one more time just before I walked through the door to my future. ***************** I was on a commercial flight to Atlanta and it was packed because it was Friday and they’d had to shift over so many passengers from cancelled flights from the storm in the Northeast earlier in the week. I didn’t mind. Being in uniform after the Gulf War meant there were perq’s. I was upgraded to first class. Well, it may not have been the uniform, but it certainly didn’t hurt. The gate agent took it upon herself to come bring me to the desk to switch my seat with a smile and an appreciative look. Yeah, Kevin was probably right. I got my share of attention just like he did. I didn’t mind his jealousy, he had nothing to worry about. The flight was unremarkable, and in just a few hours I was checking in with the USO office at the Atlanta Airport. “We’ve got a ride for you that will take you to MEPS downtown. They’ll get you to Ft. Benning.” The volunteer told me, consulting a stapled group of papers he’d found in a pile. I wasn’t the only soldier in the office. It was mid afternoon, eastern time. “Sorry, but they are waiting on you. If you haven’t eaten, grab a donut or a cookie over there. You probably won’t get to eat until you get to your post.” “I had a sandwich on the flight, so I’m good.” I replied. I took the forms he handed me along with my military I.D. I’d given him when I checked in. “Go out door 2 from Baggage Claim. Your transportation is waiting there. Safe journey, Private.” “Thanks.” I didn’t see much of Atlanta on the drive, it only took 15 minutes to get from the airport to the Military Entrance Processing Station downtown, where they in-processed new enlistees before shipping them off to Basic or Boot Camp. It was so similar to a hundred other government buildings I’d been in that it felt like home. Flags (we love our flags here in the United States) lined the lobby: one from every military branch, of course the Stars and Stripes, the the 10th Battalion Training Command Flag, the flag of Georgia, and two others I couldn’t identify. The floor was that basic flecked white linoleum floor that hid dirt and was waxed every single day by maintenance, acoustic drop ceiling tiles that probably should have been in a dumpster five years ago stained with years of cigarette smoke and a couple water marks near the AC vents, bulletin boards with photos of the Commander and his minions and notices of change in procedure and emergency instructions, plus a special place for Outstanding Soldier Staff Sergeant Wilcox who apparently still believed in smiling which bucked the trend of scowling Sergeants. It made me think Staff Sergeant Wilcox probably had an easy job funneling new enlistees through their oaths. Staff Sergeant Wilcox was Outstanding Soldier for the month of November 1992, three months ago. Maybe no one had challenged him for the title since then. They put me in a chair off the lobby to wait for an hour, bored with my cap in my lap and my backpack by my feet. Obviously it wasn’t intake season because the place was empty and it looked like the minimal staff here matched my bored mood. Hurry up and wait. I hated that I’d been wearing my dress uniform all day and now it was showing evidence of travel. It felt extremely uncomfortable to be in a uniform that wasn’t inspection ready. When duty forced your BDUs into disarray that was one thing, but Class A’s should never appear this abused. Sure, it was only a few wrinkles… well, more than a few, but it felt disrespectful. I tried to let my discomfort go while I chastised myself for being unprepared. I should have planned ahead instead of thinking I could just wear my civvies back and forth. I could probably change because there was no expectation I would show up at Ft. Benning like this. Hell, I wasn’t reporting for duty, actually just checking in not even formally reporting, but even so not showing up for a parade. I was debating whether to ask for a place to change into my civilian clothes when a Corporal came into the lobby. “Private Brickmann, come with me.” He ordered. I grabbed my backpack and followed him, eager to finally get to my post. I was prepared for the two hour ride to Ft. Benning. I was not prepared for Friday afternoon rush hour traffic out of downtown Atlanta. Growing up in Texas, our towns and cities were on basic grid systems. Atlanta was not. If you wanted to go south, you had to go east first, then only slightly south before heading west, navigating one way streets between towering hotels, government and office buildings, working your way through a maze that I could swear put us back just a block over from the parking lot we pulled out of 20 minutes before. Somehow, this took you to the Interstate which finally pointed you south. Straight line travel in Atlanta was impossible. Bootlicker could probably tell me why. After we got through the traffic lights, the 15 turns, and finally got on I-85 South the day of travel hit me and I was passed out in the passenger seat, probably drooling on my already trashed uniform. But I dreamed of Kevin running across the school lawn towards me while I waited for him holding the door. The moment my heart stopped being mine. ******************** AIRBORNE - GROUND WEEK I’m not going to lie, it felt good to be back in my BDUs, and even better to be back with my brothers. Fuck, I missed these crazy assholes. I even missed Puta a little bit. But most of all, it felt right to be back where I had a goal, a target, orders, and an established structure of where to be, how to act, and what to do every minute of my day. Over the last week I’d been getting more and more antsy, finding it difficult to just relax and do nothing. It seemed pointless, empty, wasteful. The absence of purpose lingered just behind my conscious thought so that there was no peace I could enjoy. I had a gut wrenching moment in which I suddenly understood my Dad’s constant insistence that Tim and I had what seemed to be a never ending list of chores and tasks while growing up. If we were sitting idle, Dad found something for us to do. We got used to it, but it didn’t mean we liked it. I now knew why my Dad couldn’t allow us to sit around, why play and leisure wasn’t an option until you finished your list or took care of some necessary task. Those who weren’t raised in a military family would never understand. No, we weren’t raised as some kind of junior military unit, Dad left that stuff on post. But discipline and efficiency, cleanliness and respect… those we learned from a very young age. I’m sure everyone undergoes those flashes of insight when they see their parents’ decisions and actions in clearer focus, but this one hit me hard because I’d always thought of my father as a hard ass that was too serious. I was appreciative of how I’d been raised, don’t get me wrong. But only now did I understand why Dad couldn’t raise us any other way because HE couldn’t live any other way and I almost lost control of my emotions when the gratefulness and love for understanding my Dad hit me. I wanted to call him and say thank you. I loved the time with Kevin and my family but I needed my Army. I belonged here, I felt it in my bones. “Thank you, Dad.” I whispered. “You were the best. You did good.” I let the warm feeling of ultimate acceptance dry the threatening tears before turning my mind back to the present. Somehow being in the Army helped me feel that Dad was still with me a little, that we still had a connection because I was serving just like him. Fuck, I missed him though. Way back when he was drafted for the Vietnam War (which he always thought was a good thing for him) the Army was a different beast. And although he shared much of his military experience with me, he never talked about the war much. The friendships he’d made back then still lasted to this day, and he told me the bond between brothers became stronger with every shared hardship. Up until this last six months in Germany his words were simply esoteric, sort of like the words ‘freedom isn’t free’ felt before I joined the Army. Now… I understood completely how these men and I felt something more for each other than simple co-workers. I’d take a bullet for any one of them. We shared a strength that surpassed individual limits and with them beside me or behind me I felt I could achieve a greatness I could never reach on my own. I looked at my brothers with pride. I still couldn’t believe we were doing this together. It was Sunday and we’d just gotten back from the PX to get the items on the required list they’d given us. It wasn’t much, but we were responsible for our own towels and washcloths, and most of us wanted new socks. After six months at Graf, we were kids in a candy store at a PX that had EVERYTHING. Those who weren’t in the military would never understand the feeling of exploring the AAFES Post Exchange as a young soldier. We looked, but didn’t buy. About half the brothers were on the verge of getting the new walkman, but Bootlicker pointed out no one had any cassette tapes and they’d have to buy those too. There was no point, this wasn’t our permanent posting and we had no where to put anything. Once again, we were billeted in an open bay barracks. The Bravos were quartered with 20 other random soldiers and it immediately drew a dividing line between the groups that I thought would cause problems, so I called the squad leaders over, as well as Zeus. “Look guys, we aren’t technically a unit anymore. We can’t keep to ourselves. We got too used to that at Graf. Tell the guys to loosen up, talk a little. We should meet the others.” I told them. “Just feels weird, Assmunch.” Shark pointed out. “I mean, look at them. Most of them look like they don’t know what to do, or how to act, like this is some adventure or game. Or a vacation. It looks to me like too many of them like the idea of Jump School, and want the jump wings to make their uniform look good. There’s only a few over there that look like they’re here to get shit done and fly. The rest… I don’t think it would be in our best interest to get too close to them. ” I noticed the portion of the bay we’d left to the randoms appeared to be chaotic. Shark had a point. The Bravos had already put away all their gear and uniforms in the lockers we were provided, our bunks were made, inspection ready in every detail. The randoms were taking their time, behaving as if they didn’t remember basic or how to live in a barracks. For most, it appeared, it had been a while. I saw drinks and snacks, unmade bunks with half dressed soldiers napping, pieces of uniforms hung on open locker doors or thrown over foot rails, boots and socks tossed haphazardly. Shark wasn’t wrong. “They know what to do, they just don’t think they have to do it.” I answered. “Well we aren’t them. Get your squads ready for inspection. Cellblock, do you want to do the honors?” Cellblock smiled. “Oh, I’m going to love this. You want full on Sarge, or should I take it a little less serious?” “Set the bar, brother.” I smiled back. “BRAVOS!” He yelled. “HUP!” my brothers and I grunted loudly back, all standing and immediately stopping whatever they were in the middle of. The randoms got suddenly quiet, and I knew they’d also stopped what they were doing to stare. “INSPECTION!” Cellblock stepped into the middle of the bay, facing us. We all leapt to the end of our bunks. Cellblock took his time going down the row. He had a scowl that would make Sarge proud. He found problems that didn’t exist, a blanket corner slightly off, a boot that wasn’t lined up, a piece of paper that was no bigger than a fingernail peeking out from under a locker. “Idiots.” We heard one guy say to some of the others. “We aren’t in basic, dumbasses.” He received some laughs. Yeah, this might be a bit over the top, but it was what we spent the last 6 months doing, we were used to it, and we did it for ourselves. None of the Bravos moved or responded to the dig. Cellblock continued with his examination of the brothers’ themselves. “Trim those ears, Bootlicker.” Cellblock commented. Our hair had grown out since the total shave, and a few of the guys had put off seeing the barber. He stopped in front of Zeus. He raised an eyebrow. “You gotta do it, Zeus. We’re not going to get privacy here.” He said. “Sleeper, go with Zeus to shave.” “Yes, Private!” Sleeper called out and stepped forward before coming to Zeus. Zeus went to his locker and got his toiletries, then followed Sleeper to the latrines. “Look at the big dumb one. Needs a keeper.” Someone said. Zeus stopped immediately. All of a sudden he seemed to grow in presence. I didn’t see him change his posture but he seemed larger, more deadly and serious. You could feel a threat hanging in the air. He was displeased, and it was impossible to ignore. He raked his cold gaze over the randoms, looking for whoever said that. Sleeper just waited, as if bored. “Who said that?” Zeus’ calm, clear deep voice carried through the entire bay and all movement, all the uncomfortable fidgeting came to a halt. His head never stopped moving, he was drilling into every set of eyes that dared to look at him. And not many dared. “Jesus, he’s going to kill you, Teglovic.” Someone said in a low voice. “Did you hear that Sleeper? I’m a big dumb one and you’re my keeper.” Zeus said. “Yep, Zeus. Are you going to rip his head off?” Sleeper replied as if discussing a menu. “I’m too tired to rip anyone’s head off today, Sleeper.” “Do you want me to rip his head off?” “You can’t do it Sleeper, you have to go with me to shave. Let’s just wait until he’s asleep and beat him with our boots in the dark.” “if that’s what you want, boss man.” Sleeper drawled. “Couple socks in his mouth, no one will hear a thing.” “That’s what I want, Sleeper. Let’s go.” Zeus and Sleeper didn’t rush, and actually took longer than necessary to reach the door at the end of the bay to go to the latrines. No one said a word or moved the entire time. Well fuck me, this was a different Zeus. What the hell happened when I was gone? I’m not sure how well my plan to mix and mingle was going to go over, not after that. I think I needed to know everything I missed. We all waited patiently for Cellblock to complete inspection, then set to correcting the things he’d pointed out, except for the haircuts which would have to wait. Zeus came back freshly shaved, with Sleeper casually behind him walking in step. I walked over to them. “I guess a few things changed while I was gone?” I opened. Zeus smiled, and of course I just melted. Damn him, he could make you feel so good when he smiled at you like that, it made you want to smile back. So I did. Zeus leaned in to whisper very quietly in my ear. “Sleeper’s my boyfriend now.” His breath on the hairs of my neck sent a shiver down my back and goosebumps popped up. With him came the scent of … something knee weakening that I couldn’t identify. It was the familiar smell of a fresh laundered uniform, a clean shave, an earthy musk. It spoke of healthy strength. It suggested power, control, and thrilling danger. It pulled at me spinning my head in a whirlpool that almost brought me to touch him, lay my face against his shoulder and surrender. Fuck it was almost better than what Kevin did to me. He pulled back and smiled even bigger, so of course I smiled bigger. It wasn’t for any particular reason, just because Zeus was so happy that he was making me happy. Hell, I wasn’t in control of anything happening to my body right now. Apparently I’d lost some of my immunity to Zeus’ effect, but I found that odd. It didn’t feel like I’d lost it… more like he was throwing out more of whatever it was. It was actually a bit disconcerting to be this close to him, like I was being sucked in…and fuck I wanted to be. I wanted to hug him really bad I was so happy for him. And I think I wanted him to hug me back… really bad. Fuck….Me….Backwards. And then a small thought intruded… Sleeper. Was Sleeper an active participant in this boyfriend fantasy? Ten full seconds had passed while I basked in Zeus’ happiness, without a single thought for my best friend. Sleeper put a hand on Zeus’ shoulder. “Pull it back a little bro… he can’t think. You know what it does when you let it out like that.” Sleeper was smiling too. And suddenly it was gone. Well, most of it. I still felt incredibly happy. “I’m just really happy, Addison.” Zeus said with a grin. “I couldn’t wait to tell him.” “Why don’t we three go get something to eat, it’s just about chow time anyway, and catch Assmunch up on everything that happened while he was gone?” Sleeper suggested. “Let’s do that.” I said. “Cellblock, we’re going to go grab something to eat. Anyone else?” Wanker stepped forward and started to walk towards us, and stopped with a look from Cellblock. “Nah, Assmunch. You three go ahead. We’ll be behind you in a bit.” God I loved Cellblock. He could read a situation without even trying, and knew exactly the right way to handle it. He was super smart. I’m not sure how I became Platoon leader instead of him. He was way smarter than me. We were just out the door when a Black Hat Sergeant came up the sidewalk. “Back inside, Privates.” He didn’t yell at us, or growl. He spoke to us like we were humans. “Yes Sergeant.” And we turned around and went back inside. That’s how it worked. He followed us in as we went to stand by our bunks. I noticed a couple of the randoms had come over to our part of the bay and were talking with a few of the guys. My brothers stopped talking and immediately went and stood by their bunks, watching the Sergeant look around. We weren’t sure what was expected here, how relaxed the rules were, so we made sure we followed the Army manual in everything. We all stared straight ahead. The randoms… I felt embarrassed. From the corner of my eye I saw various action and inaction… as in they just carried on with whatever activity they were engaged in like the Sergeant wasn’t even here. There was no need for this kind of disrespect. Look, every single one of the Bravos had received a permanent duty station after basic and AIT. We’d all been in the general ranks where when you were outside duty hours you weren’t expected to be so rigid. You NEVER forgot address, but other than that when you were off duty you just had to show respect. Some unfortunates even had to learn that the hard way. But we were at Airborne School, in training, and we hadn’t yet been given the run-down on how we were expected to behave but we did know one thing - we were in a barracks and you kept your barracks clean and tidy and if a Superior showed up you paid attention. And we weren’t going to start off by doing anything but our best. Sarge would have our balls if we hadn’t learned at least that in the previous 6 months. Hell, Sleeper hadn’t even gotten naked, so that should tell you how seriously we were taking this. “Listen up!” The Black Hat yelled. The randoms quieted down. “If you are here because your MOS requires this training, fall in on the right.” About eight of the randoms lined up. There were two who went over to the other side and stood. “That’s MY right! It’s always MY right!” The two scrambled over to the others. “If you are here for ANY OTHER REASON, fall in to the left.” The Brotherhood lined up on the Sergeant’s left followed by the leftover randoms. “You will eat only at mealtimes, and you will be escorted by a training instructor to every meal. You will remain together until you are returned to your barracks. Once you exit the barracks, form double file ranks and you will march double file to the dining facility. You must have the meal card issued upon your intake, you must show your meal card in the meal line. You will have 25 minutes to get your food and eat. You are not the only class in the Basic Airborne Course and you will clear the way for other groups as soon as you get your food. You will return your empty trays before forming up outside the dining facility at the location which I will point out to you when we arrive. All students are required to eat at the dining facility. In case you forgot you are in the United States Military YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL, and will receive no special treatment with the exception of serious food allergies of which you will inform the mess crew when you are served your food. And I don’t know where you think you’re staying, but this is NOT a Holiday Inn and you WILL maintain barracks cleanliness AT ALL TIMES. If we find food or drink in the bay again you will receive disciplinary action. If we find your personal area in disarray you will receive disciplinary action. While I would love to find these barracks in the condition you see here -“ he gestured to the Bravos. “We do not expect you to match this, but you will make your bunks properly, all personal effects will be stowed unless in use, and all uniforms that are not on your person will be properly stored. You will do this even during non-duty hours. We are here to train you, not babysit. You will babysit yourselves or you will be processed out to recycle. You are soldiers, not civilians. Act like it.” I felt ashamed for the randoms, that they had to be lectured like that when they all knew better. And like all Sergeants, I knew this one had taken note of the slackers and the exceptions. I would later learn it didn’t make a difference. Jump School was an assembly line for a single purpose: teach troops how to parachute out of an airplane and hit the ground. “Form up outside. This group goes first today.” He gestured to the Brotherhood. So our discipline got us into the chow line first, which meant we had more time to eat. Let me tell you it sucks rocks to be at the back of the line when you only have 25 minutes total. We immediately took off in step to form a double column outside. My talk with Zeus and Sleeper would have to wait until after we returned. The next morning at 0330 (Yeah, an HOUR earlier than usual for us on top of the time difference from Germany) another instructor, a Lieutenant this time, came to escort us to our first day - beginning with the physical fitness assessment. We were in our PT sweats, with our knit caps. It was dark and cold outside. As a group we performed our pushups and our sit-ups in a large well lit gravel pit that also held all the other groups starting their Ground Week today. I looked around and saw the Charlies two groups over. Holy fucking hell. I wondered if the Alphas and Deltas were here too. Lamont was looking around at the same time and our eyes met. I smiled and lifted my chin. He did the same. We weren’t permitted to leave our group, but I’d try to signal him to meet after duty tonight. I flashed him a quick succession of hand signals: meet, 8, barracks 7. He signaled received. None of the brothers had any problems and easily accomplished more than 70 pushups and sit-ups in the two minutes, and of course Wanker put us all to shame, hitting 83 pushups. We knew he could have done more except for the required slight pause at the top that ate up time. Holler was king of the sit-ups, probably because the skinny fuck hardly had anything in his middle to interfere with curling his abdomen and having almost no weight to his upper body that he had to drag up off the ground. I’m sure he could suck his own dick if he tried. I put a mental note to ask him when and if we got an opportunity to have a little fun here. A few of the randoms had problems, either not maintaining form or being unable to complete their two minutes. There were two Marines and one Navy Corpsman from the randoms who kept up with us. They were three of the ones who had taken their bunk area seriously. I think the Bravos were the youngest in our group. There were many groups of soldiers like us spread around the field conducting their physical fitness assessment under the watchful eye of the Black Hats. After our two mile run (Bootlicker once again way out front, but I couldn’t help thinking Kevin could probably run him into the ground) we were led to another area with a pull up bar. “You must execute a flex hang. Your arms must be fully extended at the bottom of the exercise, and your chin must be above the bar at the top of the exercise. You will begin by hanging from the bar for ten seconds. When ten seconds have elapsed, you will be given the command to begin your pull up. At the top you will hold your chin above the bar for 20 seconds. If you cannot reach the bar a step will be provided for you. This simulates the strength and endurance you will need to control your parachute upon descent.” One thing became very clear - although our instructors were serious and efficient, they were not Drill Instructors. We did not get screamed at, belittled, insulted or treated like children. Jump School was a lot like our classroom and field training at Graf, where the instructors made sure we were absorbing their instruction not just blindly following orders. We were taught. We learned body position, we learned every strap, hook, latch, buckle and connection on our jump harness. We learned every part and piece of a parachute, including the different types of canopy. We got into and out of our harnesses many times. We learned how to control our parachutes and navigate using the slips which were the straps that connected your parachute to your harness. We ran everywhere in a ground eating jog. We jumped out of a mock door wearing our harnesses first to get used to keeping our chin to our chests, our arms in, our hands gripping our reserve chute located on our stomachs. We learned the specific order to don the harness with a buddy’s help, what safety checks to perform, where to tighten, how to tighten, and how to release. I can sum up Ground Week real easy for you: Pain. Hurry up and wait, fall, and do it again until you’re numb from the pain. Tuck your chin. Knees together, feet together. Fall. Roll. Get up. Wait. Tuck your chin. Knees together, feet together. Fall. Roll. Get up. Wait. Repeat. I think the shorter you were, the easier you had it, but everyone felt the pain at the end of every day. Your knees hurt, your hips hurt, your neck hurt, your ankles hurt, your thighs and ass hurt, your shoulders hurt. Did I mention the harness? Yeah, your crotch hurt from repeatedly jumping from the platform to hang off the line with your harness yanking up every single time. And then you were given the gracious opportunity to PLF again while hanging from a lateral drift line. That’s the Parachute Landing Fall we’d practiced about fifty thousand times every day. But the repetition worked as intended to ingrain the proper landing fall so that you avoided injury. Knees to the left, roll to the right, five points of contact. My body hurt constantly and I felt like I was going to die which was such a comfortable feeling for me I felt stupidly good about it. We eat pain for breakfast. And boy, breakfast at Jump School filled our stomachs. We ran up the steps on the 34 foot tower. It was rigorous and the repeated unfamiliar movements beat your joints and muscles in a completely different way than working out at the gym or PT. Airborne was not for the weak. We relaxed our barracks discipline slightly as that first week continued, finally understanding no superior was going to throw a fit about anything minor and that except for no food in the bay and keeping it generally tidy, we didn’t have to worry about Inspection level standards. That didn’t mean the brothers got lazy. It didn’t matter whether anyone was checking up on us, we kept a standard because of pride. I didn’t even have to tell them, we all just made sure nothing was out of place every single morning before our Instructor came to get us. And look, I’ve got nothing against the Air Force, honestly… but five of those fuckers just refused to try to keep their area up to standard. I don’t think they cared. I mean, they weren’t sloppy, and they made SOME effort but everyone else got their shit together after Sunday night’s Sergeant visit and the bay looked good. Except for those five bunk areas. I made sure to write to Kevin and Mom and Tim every night about what I did that day, so that I could send the letter on Saturday. I couldn’t wait for Sunday when I could call using the long distance card Mom had given me. Thank God it was no longer an overseas call. Those were ridiculously expensive, and there was that two second transmission delay that made it difficult to have a smooth conversation. One ten minute International long distance call could double your regular phone bill, made even worse by my having to call collect. Supposedly the telecoms were shifting over to fiber optic technology which was like tiny glass threads that allowed data to flow so much faster but they had yet to lay the last transatlantic cable and get the new system fully operational. We’d learned all about fiber optics as well as the new satellites that were going up every year in the two weeks of communications we’d gone through at Graf. Fiber optics sent data using light pulses, which I thought was cool as shit. Wanker could bore you to tears with how modern day communications worked and could probably make a radio out of a cookie sheet, a few wires and a circuit board he ripped out of a battery operated robot toy. After evening chow, we were free to do as we pleased which was a new feeling for us. The randoms had no issues enjoying the free time. The two Marines and the Corpsman started hanging around with us after day one and we all got to know each other but they gravitated towards Sleeper and Zeus more than the rest of us. That didn’t surprise me, but a few of the brothers felt a little put out because they saw Zeus as belonging to us. No one said anything, but I could see the disgruntled looks when the three outsiders got Zeus to smile or relax. Zeus was OUR God and we were unexpectedly possessive of him. To see him interact with outsiders instead of us in such an enthusiastic way caused reactions of jealousy and proprietary selfishness. No one was going to say anything though, Zeus could do as he pleased. That didn’t mean we didn’t want him to bestow his attention on us exclusively. On the second night a rare event took place regarding Zeus. The Marines, Private First Class Battles and Lance Corporal Potter were massaging Zeus’ sore muscles, nothing different than what was happening with the brotherhood. When I said we hurt and were sore, I wasn’t kidding. We’d paired off to work out the worst of the pain from each others’ bodies. The Navy Medical Corpsman Haggert was working on Sleeper, who was laying on his stomach, naked of course with his amazing ass on display. Zeus had his Army sweatpants and tan undershirt on. “Zeus, just strip down, it’ll be easier.” Potter said, working Zeus’ massive upper back while Battles tackled his thick legs. “Zeus doesn’t get undressed in front of people.” Sleeper mumbled, obviously enjoying what the Corpsman was doing. “Why not?” Battles asked. “Don’t know. He doesn’t want to.” Sleeper replied. “It’s okay, Sleeper. I should get used to it.” Zeus said. It turned out it wasn’t him who needed to get used to him being undressed. “Good, let’s get this off.” Potter grabbed the hem of Zeus’ undershirt. “No, I’ll do it.” Zeus’ voice shot out as he rolled off his bunk and stood up, and the tension in his voice put every Bravo on sudden alert, including me and all activity stopped as all eyes of the Brotherhood focused on Zeus. If he needed us, we were ready. Potter and Battles stepped away quickly. “Okay, brother.” was all Potter said. If Zeus was tense, we were all tense. Chunk had stopped kneading my muscles, his hands remained stationary on my ass and I felt his fingers tighten in a grip. “Everyone just breathe… Zeus is fine.” I said, trying to relax the room. Zeus sighed loudly. “Sorry guys. I’ll relax.” And he did, which meant we did right after. “Fuuuuuuuuccckkkk”. Potter groaned. Sleeper laughed. “You’ll get used to it. You like Zeus, right?” “Yeah, he’s great.” Battles answered. “I mean, look at him. I wish I looked like that.” “We all do. But see, the reason you like Zeus isn’t really up to you, it’s up to him. He likes you. Which means you don’t have a choice. That’s Zeus. All of us are extremely grateful we’ve never seen Zeus angry. I don’t know whether we’d collapse in fear, get angry too, or want to kill whatever made him angry but I guarantee none of us would like it at all. He’s a God. We just keep him happy. We absolutely DO NOT like it when Zeus is not happy. Mostly he’s just quiet and does his thing. And he does his thing better than any of us.” “Addison… don’t say that.” Zeus shook his head. “And he doesn’t like being called a God. Sorry bro.” Sleeper apologized. Zeus pulled off his sweat pants, then paused before lifting his undershirt off his huge upper body. The gasps from Potter and Battles caused me to turn to look. I fully admit I popped an instant boner and it wasn’t voluntary. Fuck, Sleeper looked like dog shit compared to Zeus. I couldn’t wrap my head around what I was looking at, or the fact that something this impossible could be so effectively hidden by clothes. We all knew Zeus was built and big, but shit… seeing the exact size and shape of his body parts stunned to confusion. I didn’t even know a man’s thighs could look like that. How were his shoulders so round, his traps that far up his neck or that big and thick above his collarbone? His fucking rib cage was enormous, expanded further by his triangle shaped lats, and his pecs so mounded they seemed partially horizontal. The valley between them half of the width of my hand, at least and I could swear they went around the side under his arms. I made the mistake of looking at his nipples and found my mouth watering at the thought of nursing on them. His abdomen was divided up into eleven very distinct sections: the eight abdominals, the adonis belt created by his two prominent obliques, and whatever the fuck that was just above his crotch, some muscle I’d never seen anyone have before. I’d seen his biceps and arms, but had never seen how they met his big round delts. Zeus was at that body fat level where you couldn’t see his actual muscle fibers, but you could see every cut between the different muscles, and see them clearly. Thank fucking God he wore loose boxers. I’m not sure we could have survived seeing him naked or even in tight briefs. We were all moths and he was a bright flaming beacon. I knew if he asked I would have to leave Kevin for him. It would break me into pieces but I wouldn’t be able to refuse, not for lust but to worship. Maybe Zeus would take both of us, I’m sure Kevin wouldn’t mind. Zeus wasn’t bodybuilding huge, not puffed out where every muscle appeared to swallow the guy wearing them. It’s hard to explain, but he CONTAINED his muscles, they grew on his frame perfectly to the exact proportion required to make the adjacent muscle and body part look even better, appear even bigger, formed just that much more perfectly. For God’s sake, his goddamn ankles made me want to kneel and pray for just the slightest chance I might be permitted to touch them with the tip of my little finger. Every single eye in the bay was spellbound. None of the brothers had any idea we had been allowed to live with this God for 6 months and I know I for one was so incredibly grateful. With a jolt, I suddenly came to know the true meaning of adoration. That feeling of rapture when you gaze upon a deity and the joy of being given the opportunity to touch him with your eyes can make you weep. Magnificence was a word inferior to Gabriel Gunnerson. He was Awe. He was Brilliance. He was Expansive and Magnetic. Glorious. Gabriel, like his namesake the Archangel, Strength of God. You could not look upon him and believe he was a man. It saddened me that I would have to ask him not to get undressed in front of us again. If he did, it would eventually destroy us. Our God stood there with his head lowered, still holding onto his undershirt bunched up in his fists. The bulging muscles of his larger than life body were criss-crossed with long white scars. I could only see his front, but the back had to look the same or worse. “Assmunch,” Chunk whispered. “You see that?” “Yeah, buddy.” I answered. “Don’t stare, it’s obvious he is uncomfortable letting anyone see that.” Like we could do anything except stare. “What happened to you, Zeus?” Potter asked. I cringed a little, but was impressed that the Marine had the fortitude to speak directly to his revealed God. If Zeus didn’t want anyone looking, he most certainly wouldn’t want anyone asking. “I was bad.” Were the only words Zeus gave in explanation as he lay back down on his bunk to allow Potter and Battles to continue to work his sore muscles. It took them a half a minute to pull themselves together and reach out to touch him, but their hands were shaking, I saw. I also didn’t miss the erections they both had in their underwear, but honestly I think every one of us had a boner for Zeus. It wasn’t their fault. I can’t imagine what it felt like to touch him like they were doing. I didn’t believe for a second that Zeus had been bad. A man that perfect couldn’t be bad, ever. I wondered who did that to him and how they could manage to bring themselves to harm a beautiful God. He’d never said much in general, much less tell us about his life before the Army so none of us had any clue where the scars had come from. I glanced over at Sleeper to see that my best friend was watching Zeus closely with concern and worry. All of us, the Brothers that is, understood if Zeus wanted us to know how he got the scars he would tell us when he was ready. Until then, we should pretend they didn’t exist. I made a mental note to let everyone know Sleeper would handle it which should let them ignore it sufficiently that it wouldn’t change how they treated Zeus. Besides, we weren’t really in any position to do anything to help him except for doing everything we could to demonstrate he was still the same Zeus for us. “My turn.” Chunk said, having finished with my muscles. I was still sore, but knew I’d be functional tomorrow. I stood up. “Switch up Bravos”. I called to the brothers, some of whom grumbled because they wanted their turns to continue. I noticed more than a few jealous looks coming from the randoms so I addressed them. “If any of you want the kinks worked out, I’ll get volunteers to help you out after we’re done with each other.” “I want that Zeus guy!” One Air Force guy called out. I looked over at him. “First, his name is Gabriel, or you can call him Gunnerson.” I said calmly. “You get to call him Zeus when he says you can call him Zeus. Second, he’s spoken for.” I already knew the only reason it wasn’t Sleeper giving Zeus his massage was because the giant really liked the two tough and built Marines. Potter had an ass and legs that almost rivaled Sleeper’s, as well as a clear serious face that was unnervingly handsome. Like, can’t-stop-staring-at-him, how the fuck were his eyes that blue handsome. Never mind that straight, wide nose, the square forehead that perfectly matched his heavy square jaw, eyes that were angles rather than curved or round, and dark hair cut and shaved in a high and tight that looked like it was created just to accentuate his male model good looks. Still, for all his attractiveness, he fell in a distant second to Sleeper who was just better proportioned, taller, and seductively beautiful with his pale skin, deep pink lips and smoky dark eyes. Battles was damn near Potter’s opposite. Tall and lean, but still muscular, Private Battles had light blonde hair the color of sunshine cut in a similar high and tight. His face was long and thin with a matching nose, wide thin lips and a cleft chin. His green eyes had that washed out quality that begged you to identify their exact color. You know the kind: where you questioned whether you saw green, blue, gray, or some blend. The Marine couldn’t have had more than 4% body fat, and it looked like his skin was just a flesh colored cloth covering his exposed musculature. Zeus could probably wrap his massive hands around Battles’ waist. Somehow, for being tall and thin, he didn’t look small or weak. His chest wasn’t thick or deep, but it was wide, as were his squared off shoulders. And in spite of his lack of mass, his butt still curved out and filled his underwear. I grinned when I concluded Zeus must be an ass man. He definitely seemed to have a type. I made sure to hit Chunk’s soft muscle meat in all the right spots that had been punished repeatedly yesterday and today. He moaned beneath me in relief. I didn’t neglect his feet driving my thumbs up from the heel across his arch to the pads, flexing his ankles, squeezing each foot with twists and pressure. “Ahhh, fuck Assmunch, you can do that for an hour.” Chunk mumbled. Across the bay various groans of pleasure came from the brothers, and I chuckled at the thought we sounded like a whorehouse. “Roll over, time for your front buddy.” I gave him a weak slap on his big ass. Chunk grunted as he repositioned to his back. “Awww, little Chunk’s happy.” I said, grabbing his noticeably erect cock through his underwear. “Careful, he’s cocked and loaded, brother.” He replied but remained fully relaxed. “ We wouldn’t want an accidental discharge and it’s been so long it won’t take much.” Chunk chuckled. “I wouldn’t say no to a handjob, but we have the randoms watching.” I laughed. “You wish I would give you a handjob, brother.” I teased him with one last rub along his frenulum at the head of his leaking dick. “Fuck dude, stop…” he whispered. “I’m about to bust, seriously.” “Why didn’t you have Wanker take care of it?” I asked. I’d finally gotten a chance to have that talk with Sleeper and Zeus and received an in depth report of everything that happened that last week when I was gone. I felt a bit disappointed that I didn’t share that experience with them. Not the Wanker part, but handling the shelter and that last operation. Like everything we went through together, it made the Brotherhood stronger and brought us all closer. I would have liked to have been a part of that. I admired how Sleeper had handled the Wanker issue, and how my brothers had responded. “Nah man, I don’t need all that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so horny it was tempting and I might take him for a test drive at some point, but I’m not comfortable enough with it yet. It’s still a dude, you know?” “I know bud. I wouldn’t have either, for different reasons. But it’s cool he’s good with handling that for the brothers, and that everyone seems cool with it too.” I focused on Chunk’s delts while I talked, keeping my voice down. “Still, you guys are awesome for not making a big deal about it.” “Well, Wanker and Puta are still our brothers. Who cares what they want to do with other dudes? They pull their weight.” He said. That pretty much summed up how it was for us. It didn’t matter what you had going on, if you did your part and helped us be better and succeed, other shit didn’t matter. Weeble was our smallest brother, and sometimes struggled with doing some stuff, but he worked twice as hard as anyone else and never quit. His determination spurred the rest of us to do better, and he couldn’t wait to volunteer for the things he could tackle with ease. If he needed a hand with anything, we didn’t make a big deal of it and just helped him out. The most frequent thing out of Weeble’s mouth was ‘I’ll do it.’ After a good thirty minutes, I called an end to our massages and asked the guys to go take care of the randoms who wanted or needed it. I let them know it wouldn’t be a nightly thing and maybe they could pair up amongst themselves to help each other out. I could suggest, but it was up to them to figure it out. The Brotherhood didn’t have an issue with putting our hands on each other, but those other soldiers really didn’t know each other and it would be difficult for them to get beyond the reluctance to allow another man to touch you so intimately. Of course Zeus and Sleeper just stuck with each other, letting the Marines and the Corpsman get their turn by Troll, Puta and Cellblock. Zeus did Sleeper first and really had Sleeper groaning and drooling. Zeus wore a pleased grin the entire time. I needed to have a talk with Sleeper about what he thought about Zeus going forward. If this was Sleeper just having a little fun he needed to know Zeus was all-in and it wouldn’t be right not to be honest with him. Sleeper wasn’t usually careless with someone’s feelings, but I wanted to be sure mostly because this was brand new territory for them both and maybe Sleeper didn’t realize Zeus had fallen for him hard. I could see it in every look the giant gave my best friend. And damn, I was just a little jealous that they got to share what we did with each other. I would have given anything to have Kevin here doing Jump School with me.

ASSMUNCH I woke up snuggled against Kevin like usual with my morning wood crushed into his ass. Would this fascination and peaceful satisfaction happen every time I woke up with him in my arms, I wondered? I didn’t want to ever grow bored with this, with his big healthy body, with the smell of him, his heat that was better than any blanket. I sighed in contentment. Carol had come in during the night to wake us to say goodbye with a lingering kiss for each of us before she snuck out. She said her flight was at nine out of Austin so we wouldn’t see her before she left. My Army clock in my head told me it was a little after 0200. We didn’t ask what she’d done with Tim but I’d make sure my little brother’s head was screwed on right about it all so he didn’t get attached. Carol wasn’t for him but maybe I was underestimating him and not giving Carol enough credit for keeping him in the right lane. I trusted her not to break my brother’s heart. After all, she knew how to handle me to perfection when we were together. Still, I needed to be sure. It turns out I didn’t need to worry at all. Tim was fine. A bit cocky and acting like he was now a full grown man after losing his virginity to a college girl, but fine. “She was incredible.” He said to me when I asked. “I can’t believe you aren’t still with her. If she was my girlfriend I’d never let her go.” “It’s not letting go when you both know it’s time to move on, bud.” I explained to him. “I still love her, of course. She’ll always be my first, and I’ll always love how we taught each other to be unashamed to push ourselves to be the best we could be with each other. And…” “And what?” He asked impatiently before I could articulate after my pause. “And she’s responsible for Kevin and me finding each other. Not our friendship, but she brought Kevin and I together completely. She’s the one who suggested I let Kevin get what he wanted so that maybe he could get over his crush on me and find a boyfriend of his own.” I laughed a little. “We couldn’t have been more wrong about how that worked out, but she’s pretty amazing. She was actually happy and excited to pull Kevin into our relationship. So tell me… did she eat your ass?” I asked him. “Oh fuck yes… that tongue of hers. Are your balls supposed to hurt every time after sex?” He gushed. I chuckled because I knew exactly what he was talking about. “Only when you cum hard, and over and over again. Wait until tomorrow when your whole body is sore from the workout she put you through.” He reached down to his abdomen, then his thighs, then his ass. “Tomorrow? I’m fucking punished right now!” “It’ll get worse, you haven’t even begun to feel the full effects. Maybe if you’re not an asshole today, Kev and I will give you a rubdown before bed.” He smiled. Then scowled. “Don’t get any ideas, I’m straight. It’s confirmed now.” I hugged him. “Yeah, uh huh. Me too. Totally straight.” I let him stew on that for a minute. “Don’t worry bud, we don’t want to molest you. But you’ll appreciate a massage by tonight when you have trouble climbing up the stairs. I’ll let you call it though.” He sheepishly came to my room after we all went to bed Sunday night and asked for that massage. Kevin and I worked him over good while we got specific details about what happened with Carol. We just ignored his throbbing boner as he relived his first full sexual experience. Carol didn’t just fuck him, she took hours to teach him how to do it right. He said she finally got him to be an ‘pretty good’ kisser. He proudly told us she’d said he had a wonderful dick. “Wow.” I said, after he told us she was okay with him shooting his load inside her. “I never got to do that.” I admitted. “She’s on the pill, she said.” He explained. “But she told me never to do that with just anyone. You can never know when it might get a girl pregnant, and there are some girls who WANT to get pregnant by a guy so I have to be careful. And she said there are diseases, even though I know all that. But she did say a person doesn’t always know they’ve got it.” He trailed off, and I knew he was thinking about something. “Say it bud, go ahead and ask whatever it is you want to ask.” I said. “Are you…” he stopped. “Are you and Kevin… you know… worried about AIDS? If you’re gay, you could get it, right? You guys don’t use condoms.” I had to admit, that caught me off guard. And it was something that did weigh heavily on me. The military only ran an AIDS test on intake, and did a full screening for everything at our periodic mandatory physicals. In fact, I should have one coming up before I reported to my next duty station. But I was pretty safe and insulated in the military. I was more worried about Kevin. And I was caught off guard again with the spike of jealousy that seized my heart at the thought he might, in a moment of weakness when we were so far apart, have sex with another man. I put that thought in the queue of things to discuss with Kevin when we had the chance. “You know straight people can get AIDS too, right?” I asked him. “Yeah, from sharing needles, or like that kid Ryan White who had a blood transfusion.” He answered. “Dude! Straight people get it from unprotected sex too. You think Magic Johnson was a junkie? Fuck this stupid ass backwoods Texas town and their fucking dumb ass School Board. They should be teaching you this stuff in health class. If they aren’t teaching you about it in Health, where are you getting this information?” Even the Army told us the bare minimum about it when recruits got the ‘talk’ about STD’s. He shrugged. “My friends. I mean, we don’t talk about it much but the news says it’s mostly gay dudes that get it.” It was hard to blame him, I didn’t know a whole lot about it either. It just wasn’t on my radar. I had to admit I thought the same thing Tim did when I was in high school. My friends and I would joke around about it because it wasn’t actually real to us. It was something that happened to other people. None of us knew anyone that had gotten AIDS. This whole conversation was making me really uncomfortable. In 1993, we were still calling it AIDS. “Look Tim. Kevin and I don’t get around, and we don’t plan to.” I said, speaking for Kevin. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about. But until you’re with someone in a relationship you should always be careful. And even then, don’t get her pregnant. Cum in her mouth, or in her ass or shoot it all over her tits.” “I will.” He said. I wasn’t sure I believed him though. I knew what teenage boy hormones did to a guy and how sometimes your head went crazy and stupid when you were so horny you couldn’t think of anything but sex. I’d tried to explain it to Carol once, but she couldn’t understand how your brain couldn’t focus on anything rational when your body was in that state and how when you were so horny your dick wouldn’t stop bugging you and you got crazy ideas of all the things you just HAD to do with it. Of course Tim went to school on Monday so he could strut around as a no longer virgin stud and tell all his buddies about his night with Carol. I called the ROTC teacher, MSGT Rivas to see about coming to talk with the kids in the high school cadet program about the Army. He thought it was a great idea. I wish I’d brought my battle dress uniform, my BDU’s. I loved my Class A Dress Uniform, and was really proud to wear it, but really wanted to look more tough for the other part of the plan that involved Tim’s bullies. Class A’s were pretty, but I needed tough and battle ready. I needed sleeves rolled, pants bloused in boots ready to kick ass. I wished Carol was still here, she’d be up for a little PDA with Tim to bolster his reputation. On Tuesday morning we got ready to head to the school. “I hate you.” Kevin said, looking at himself in the mirror. Kevin was the other part of my plan. He had a rockin’ body and I had to admit he was way sexier and more masculine looking than me. Don’t get me wrong, I felt I had a strong He-Man game goin’ on and a serious deadly soldier persona I could project. I was no Arnold or Van Damme but Kevin said the way I moved was like a stalking predator. Still, Kevin’s mass and confidence were levels above me. Like I said, he was Viking Tarzan and I needed him, no … Tim needed him to put on a good show to shut the bullies up. I knew their type, hell my former best friend in high school was exactly that type. So, Monday I took him shopping to get some clothes that would really play up how he was all man and I was impressed with the results. He was not. “Shirt’s too tight.” He mumbled. “My ass looks too big in these jeans.” He muttered. “Cowboy boots?” He murmured. “My bulge is ridiculous” He grunted in disgust. “I’m not wearing a fucking hat, I’m drawing the line.” I smiled. “Yes, yes, yes and yes. Now do your hair in that warrior’s knot. Remember this is for Tim.” He glared at me. Glared. “That’s the only reason I’m doing it, and you’re going to pay for doing this to me.” ‘Fuck I hope so.’ I thought. Yeah, this look wasn’t Kevin at all, but man he looked FINE! Those Wrangler jeans were so tight I could see his thigh muscles flex when he walked. His meaty ass stuck out proudly as the stretched fabric supported the weight of his large glutes, further enhanced by the heel of the Justin boots he wore. Even his track honed calves pushed the boot cut jeans to their limits. The western shirt I bought a size too small strained at every seam without a single loose thread. Grey, like his intense, beautiful eyes. “I’m not a Kicker” he complained. Kicker was the term we used in Texas to describe a country redneck, those guys and girls who were in Future Farmers of America, who were all about farms and pickup trucks and two steppin’, huntin’, monster truck expo’s, tobacco dip in the lip, boots and Wranglers, oversized rodeo belt buckles and everything Country. It was it’s own culture here in Texas and was revered above all things. “No, and I don’t want you to be. But you can pretend for one day.” And maybe later during…other activities. I thought. You know, as I thought about it, I realized Kevin was the type of guy who could wear anything and look good. It must be his dark, brooding looks. The plan went better than expected. We got stares and whispers walking through the school. Escorting Tim to a couple of his classes, eating the awful cafeteria food with him at his lunch table which I admitted was just slightly better than an MRE, and running into his group of bullies in the hall. Kevin was in a suitable bad mood about ‘being dressed up like a clown’ so the pissed off look on his face played into the plan perfectly. And so did Roger Kendall when he bounced off Kevin’s shoulder thinking he could muscle his way through the three of us without stepping aside. I have no idea what he was thinking trying to shoulder Kevin like that but it backfired spectacularly. Kevin looked like he hadn’t even felt it. “Watch where you’re going, asshole.” Kevin spat at him. Roger’s friends seemed smarter than him and stepped back to avoid a confrontation with the Army soldier and the jacked up kicker. Roger was not so smart. “You fuckin’ watch it.” Roger sneered after he regained his balance from nearly falling. Kevin snorted. “Watch what? Watch you nearly fall on your ass? Let’s do that.” And Kevin took a step forward. Roger back stepped and finally his moronic brain took an assessment of what he faced. I could swear he looked ready to shit his pants. I did my best Zeus impression to give him that look that said I could dismember him with hardly any effort at all because he was so far beneath me I almost felt sorry for him. And if he hadn’t been such a pest to my little brother I probably would have felt sorry for him. This was the type of guy who had one trick - small town football jock. He wasn’t smart, had a shit personality, and was frankly less than average in the looks and body department. I suddenly realized he’d be stuck in this town for the rest of his life. His stupidity, arrogance and meanness would give him few options unless he changed. Oh, he might try to leave home and dive into a bigger pool, but he’d soon find out being the big fish in a small pond got him jack shit out in the real world so he’d come limping back with his tail between his legs to relive his high school days of the local football star and for the rest of his life he would suck on the sour reminder that he wasn’t truly anyone special. But fuck him. Killeen, Texas was littered with dumb cow turds like him who never grew past their high school popularity and spent the rest of their lives stuck in the regret that high school was the time when they peaked. “C’mon, Kevin. This little high school boy isn’t worth your time.” I said, stressing the word ‘boy’, hoping he felt as insignificant as I thought he was. “You’re right, Tom.” Kevin answered. “He’s just a dumb jock. They aren’t bright enough to walk in anything but a straight line.” Roger’s eyes got wide. “You’re Kevin and Tom? You’re the fa— uh.. the…uh..” “The what? Who are you?” I knew exactly who he was, and knew the word he was about to use but couldn’t when faced with the reality that we weren’t the little fag bitches he thought we were, but I needed to send the message that he was a nobody to us. “Uh… Roger.” He said. God his speech was worse than the village idiot’s. “Hmm. Yeah, don’t give a shit. Come on Tim, you have Mrs. Finlayson next, right?” “Yeah.” Tim answered. And when Kevin went to put his arm around Tim’s shoulder and walk away, his now hard muscles ripped his too tight shirt under the arm. It couldn’t have gone more perfectly. He’d hardly moved and was busting out of his clothes. Tim wasn’t going to have any more problems with Roger or his buddies. “You know that guy?” I asked Tim, making my voice loud enough for Roger to hear. Tim caught on quick. “Yeah, I’ll tell you all about him when we get home.” He said just as loud. “Uh, Hey Tim!” Roger called as we walked away. Tim turned his head to look over Kevins big meaty arm. “What?” “Uh, be cool, man. Let’s hang out sometime.” I nearly laughed when I saw the desperate look in Roger’s eyes. Yeah, Tim wasn’t going to have any more problems. We left Tim after fifth period. I’d had a great time today. The ROTC kids were good kids, and Master Sergeant Rivas’ constant scowl kept them well behaved. Do you think they teach that scowl in whatever Sergeant’s School they sent them to, or are all Sergeants just in a permanently pissed off mood? I hadn’t met a single one yet that hadn’t mastered that look. Hell, the man was retired and teaching now, but I guess the Army never leaves you. Or he didn’t want to let it go, hard to tell which. Kevin, however, was still grumbling as we drove home. “Worse than a jock strap.” He muttered about the tight Wranglers I made him wear. “My dick’s gotta be able to move.” I smiled at him and that only darkened the storm clouds in his eyes. “Babe, you look fucking fine as shit.” I told him. “I know you don’t like being dressed up like that, but holy fucking cow… I just want to stop at the grocery store to parade you around and watch all the women drop their panties. I don’t even care that they wouldn’t spare a glance at me. You have no idea how hot you look.” “Don’t you fucking dare! You’re taking me home and I’m getting out of this garbage as fast as I can. I think these fucking things are buried in my ass. And these boots suck. How do guys wear this shit? And my pits are hanging out now that I’ve ripped both sleeves. You couldn’t buy me a bigger shirt?” I smiled again. “Well, once you break ‘em in they’re super comfortable. Both the boots and the Wranglers. The shirt? Nah, that was all for me.” He hauled off and slugged me HARD in the arm. Then he reached up and ripped his left sleeve off the rest of the way, then the right, sighing with relief as his arms were finally freed. “Sorry about the shirt.” He said sarcastically. I laughed. “Don’t be sorry… that’s even hotter.” Did I detect a patented Kevin smirk? “But we do need to stop, sorry.” I mean, we didn’t HAVE to stop but I figured why not? I’d seen a commercial about KY lubricant, for HER, it said, and I was fascinated to try it with Kevin. So far, we’d only ever used spit or hand lotion, which was fine but I thought something really slippery might be exciting. As long as it wasn’t greasy like Vaseline… fuck… never again. Not only did it smell, but you literally couldn’t wash that shit off you. That one time I had to endure greasybutt all day at school after Kevin railed me was enough. I wondered if gay guys had some secret stuff they used for fucking. They had to. I just had no way to find out, and wasn’t sure if I would be brave enough to go where ever they sold it. My mind imagined all sorts of sordid and unsavory places. So we did stop at the grocery store where they sold the KY FOR HER in the personal hygiene aisle near the condoms. Kevin, usually oblivious to the people around him, finally whispered to me. “What are they staring at? I look stupid. Fuck you, Tom, for doing this to me.” I chuckled. “They’re staring because you’re the best looking guy they’ve seen all week. Dude, do you ever look at yourself in a mirror?” I couldn’t believe he had no idea. He looked like he walked out of a Chippendales Calendar, his ripped sleeveless cowboy shirt, those painted on jeans, all of it barely held in by cotton fabric that I knew everyone in here would have traded places with in a minute. His shoulders protruded round and full from the jagged holes in his shirt, his biceps and triceps in a war of which were bigger, which wasn’t helped by his obvious tension that forced them to flex unconsciously. His big meaty pecs and wide chest pulled the button holes sideways on the buttons that I swear were going to pop off any minute, I actually couldn’t believe they had lasted this long. His chest hair showed through the V of the undone top two buttons. And his bulge was ridiculous, I agreed. That was an unintended side effect. God help everyone if he got hard in those jeans, just soft and crushed it was too noticeable. Even the guys were lingering a bit too long with their looks. I caught two gawking at Kevin’s ass bouncing as he strutted down the aisle. That’s the thing about cowboy boots. If you had a naturally long stride, like Kevin, they made your ass move. And somehow joining the track team at MIT gave him that same walk every fit jock possessed. It was a sauntering ride on a precisely measured pace. Short steps were on the balls of the foot. Long steps heel to toe. His ass bounced regardless. Our checkout girl flirted with him shamelessly, smiling brightly at our purchase of the lubricant, probably thinking there was some lucky girl who was going to ride this cowboy and I saw her wink at him. I knew that signal. It screamed ‘I put out, come find out’. All of this amused me to no end, but the best part was how oblivious he was and still in his own little gear turning world in his head thinking just the opposite. When we got home I didn’t even have the door closed before Kevin threw me up against the wall. “If I didn’t love you I’d kick your ass!” He grunted. I grinned. “Oh good, you boys are home. How’d it go at school?” Mom asked from the kitchen around the corner. “We’re not done, mommy saved you for now.” He whispered the threat. “Fine Mrs. Brickmann. It was good to see my old teachers, and hanging out with Tim was great.” He called to her in a perfectly normal, happy voice. He released me physically, but held me with his storm cloud filled eyes. I felt my dick swell. God, the things he did to me. I was a trained soldier, commanded a Platoon of some of the toughest guys I’d ever met, was willing to rush into battle and kill for my country, but Kevin made me feel like a soft little puppy. “That’s good. I’m glad you’re back, I need to run to the grocery store, I forgot the beans.” Kevin allowed me to slide past him, turning his glare to follow me as I went to the kitchen to give mom and hug and a kiss. “We were just there, I wish I’d known. But we can go back.” I heard Kevin growl behind me. “No sweetheart, you’ve been out all day. Relax, go change.” She said, turning around from the counter and smiling. “You look so much like your father in his uniform, Tom.” Her eyes glistened a bit. “Kevin, what happened to your shirt?” She asked. “It ripped. Tom didn’t buy the right size.” He muttered. Mom looked at me and I grinned. Mom wasn’t stupid. “You look very rugged and handsome.” She said. “I’ll be back. I’ll probably be gone an hour, but if Tim gets home before I do make sure he gets his homework done before any TV.” “I will Mom.” She walked out through the garage and as soon as she left Kevin punched me in the chest. And not lightly. I staggered back on one foot. “Oh, is the little soldier hurt?” He mocked me. “No. If that’s all you got I don’t have to worry about getting hurt.” I goaded him. I think I only got to the word ‘worry’ before he slung me over his shoulder and ran up the stairs carrying me to my room. “You want to play games?” He said roughly. He threw me on the bed and in the same motion grabbed my ankles, tore off my dress shoes, smearing their shine with his greasy paws, but I didn’t care. Then he flipped me on my stomach, grabbed me by the belt and pulled me so I was hanging off the bed, bent over. Then he laid into me with a huge whack of his hand and my ass stung like fire. “Oh shit! Fuck that hurt!” I yelled at him. “I thought the little soldier boy wasn’t worried about getting hurt? Shut the fuck up and take your punishment.” I swear he whacked me harder the second time. “Stay there, don’t you fucking move an inch.” He commanded in a throaty growl. I didn’t move while I heard him run downstairs then back up. He returned with my cover that I’d removed from my head after entering and put on the breakfast bar. He threw it at me. “Put it on.” He ordered in a commanding voice that sent thrills running through my entire body, centering on my ass. I wasn’t going to argue with him about wearing your cover indoors, I just did as he told me. He flipped me back over onto my back and snatched at my belt, undoing it and unbuttoning my trousers. Then he violently flipped me back onto my stomach and yanked them and my underwear down my ass. He didn’t care that my now hard dick was twisted painfully before it sprung free. He gave me two more hard swats which made me break into a sudden sweat and scream. Except for jumping when his hand made contact, I still hadn’t moved. “Have you learned your lesson?” He grunted. I hesitated. I was caught between not wanting another smack and wanting him to tear loose on my ass. “That’s a no.” And he hit me again. You’d think it would go numb, but it hurt worse with every smack. Then I felt something cold on the crack of my ass just before his fingers roughly slid in between my cheeks to rub my asshole. I thought he would put a finger or two inside me but then his hand disappeared and then a couple moments later I felt his huge thick cock forcing itself into me. “Oh fuck…shit!” I cried as I felt the familiar burn of being torn open all at once. “Yeah, you fucking love that dick don’t you soldier?” He hadn’t even paused for me to get used to the girth. “I fucking love it.” And I did. The pain was incredible, and I was so turned on. He smacked me on my head, knocking my cover off. “Put your hat back on, Private.” Oh shit, I loved this Kevin. I scrambled to re-cover while he thrust into me hard and deep. I wasn’t going to tell him it wasn’t called a hat. “That’s one.” He said, not breaking stride but letting out a groaning grunt. And I knew he’d shot his first load. He picked up steam and started really laying into me, then unexpectedly he fucked me up onto the bed using long lifting strokes, his cock and hips doing all the work to move my entire body a few inches at a time. I swear to God he was stretching my hole in ways I’d never felt before. “Fuck yes, make it hurt, babe. Fuck my cunt.” For that, I got another smack, knocking my cover off AGAIN. “Put your fucking hat back on!” He growled. “Walking around all day like that with everyone drooling over your fine ass. You think I didn’t see how they were loving looking at you in your tight uniform that shows you off? The way that girl at the grocery store looked at you with stars in her eyes? You fucking tease! That’s two.” And he filled me up again, forcing more of his cum deep up my ass. He pulled out briefly to flip me on my back before shoving in to the balls in one plunge. I grunted. “You, they were staring at you like that, Kev. Even the girl.” “Bullshit. They all wanted you, the hot American soldier in his hot uniform and a look on his face that said he could kill them with his bare hands. The way you walk, like you’re stalking prey, all smooth and deadly, just oozing sex.” He punctuated his words with hard thrusts, changing the angle repeatedly and intended to hit me everywhere inside. I felt the cum boil up from my balls and knew I was going to shoot all over my Class A’s. I couldn’t care, I didn’t want him to stop. He hadn’t undressed and seeing him plowing into me with that sleeveless cowboy shirt, the angry look in his eyes that still couldn’t hide his love for me, his muscles flexing with his exertion, his beautiful hair swaying with every thrust. “You strutted around like the King of Killeen and they all worshipped you. But you’re mine, you hear that?” And he smacked me again. “PUT YOUR FUCKING HAT BACK ON!” He yelled. This time I just held onto it, pinning it into my head. Being manhandled by him was the biggest turn on. His authority and control sent me over the edge and I sprayed cum up between us. “Fuck me, don’t stop!” I grunted in the throes of ecstasy. “I don’t stop until I’m done, soldier. That’s three.” I couldn’t believe he could shoot without any outward show, but the evidence was running down my ass with every thrust. He just continued to fuck into me, and I came twice more. He’d come five times and we were a mess. I lost count of how many times I got a smack on the face and my left ear was ringing. I was a mess of all the cum I shot, which he’d smeared on my face. I don’t know how many times I screamed at him to fill me with his hot nut, hoping he’d just pump it all deeper and deeper as he added more. He was an absolute animal and I loved it. I missed this Kevin. And he knew the more violently he fucked me the more it sent me into the stratosphere. And now, he was trying for a sixth, that hard to reach last ejaculation. He began really punishing my hole with hard jabs and extra deep thrusts while I lay there limp and receptive to anything he wanted to do. He was grunting with every plunge of his fat dick. We were both sweating and I made sure to keep one hand on my cover while the other grasped the back of his neck during his domination of my mouth with his tongue. “Oh fuck, here it comes. I’m going to shoot my load in your hot straight man Army ass, Private. You want my load?” He growled “Fuck yes, fuck it into me deep, Sir! Please cum in me again!” I begged. Somewhere along the way he’d removed one leg from my trousers and I was spread wide open for him like a Thanksgiving turkey, I’m sure at this point my ass looked like the open cavity ready to get filled with stuffing. “That’s right, Private. This hole is for MY dick, MY cum. You can fuck your friend Addison or Zeus with your dick, but this belongs to ME, you got that? No one touches this except me. No tongue, no finger, no dick gets near this perfect, hot Army ass.” “It’s yours, Sir.” I gasped. He was so deep in me, I was so sore but it felt amazing. That was a promise I easily made. No one could do to me what Kevin did in his various moods. I had it all with him. He began a series of long, low grunts. “Ah fuck! Oh fuck! Take it!” And I knew he finally reached his sixth. He kissed me roughly. “I love you, I don’t want to share you.” He moaned while he spewed out whatever nutjuice was left into my destroyed hole. He finally stopped moving and lay on top of me, panting. “Fuck, you’re amazing.” He said into my ear. “You just don’t care what I do to you, do you? You’ll take anything I do to you.” I kissed his neck. “Anything, babe. You know you won’t break me. I love it all, but only when you’re the one doing it. It wasn’t just sex talk in the heat of the moment. You’re the only one I want in my ass.” He took a deep breath. “Mmmmmm, I like that. I love knowing my dick’s the only one that does it for you. You make me feel like a man, babe. Like a big, strong, real man.” I chuckled. There it was again, one of the things I loved about him, that he didn’t see himself the way everyone else did. “You ARE a big, strong, real man, Kev.” “Sorry about your uniform. Do you really think I look good like this?” He asked. “Yeah, bud. You look really good, people couldn’t stop staring at you. Don’t worry about the uniform, I’ll wash and iron it tonight.” I answered. He nuzzled my neck. “I don’t care what anyone else thinks, Tom. I only care what you think.” He licked my cheek. “Oh wow, you taste like your cum. That’s so hot.” He bathed my face with his tongue, trying to lick off all the now dried jizz he’d smeared on me during his brutal pounding fuck. His warm wet tongue felt incredible. “Wow, you guys didn’t even get undressed.” We heard Tim’s voice from across my room. “Bro, you have to start knocking!” I told him. “I did. You were too busy getting the stuffing fucked out of you and begging for another load. You guys are animals, you know that?” Tim observed. Kevin rolled off me, pulling out. I was surprised that his dick was still mostly hard. I felt some of his cum dribble out of me because it was difficult to pull my asshole closed right away. I pulled my trousers off my other leg and unbuttoned my coat. At some point one of the pins had come off my ribbon rack. I’d have to find it, it was probably in my coat somewhere or in the bed now. “You try fitting that big cock up your ass.” I told my little brother. “You either embrace the pain and go wild, or you cry your eyes out.” “No thanks.” Tim said. “I think it would kill me.” I shook my head. “Was there something you actually needed or were you just here to watch us fuck?” Tim smiled. “Mom said dinner would be ready in a half hour. But then I wanted to watch. You should see the way his dick stretches out your hole, man. I can’t believe you take it like that.” I sighed. It wasn’t really something I wanted my little brother to see, but there was no going back now. Kevin just lay there with his smirk. “Don’t look at me, I didn’t know he was there either.” He said. “Come on, we need to get cleaned up. He stripped off the shirt and threw it on the floor, standing there with a bare muscled chest, his Wranglers unbuttoned but his dick and balls stuffed back into his underwear that sacked out the open zipper obscenely. “And I wanted to say thank you.” Tim continued. I noticed his eyes roaming over Kevin’s body. “Roger was actually nice to me after you left. You guys were the talk of the school.” “Good.” I said. “That was the goal. If Carol was still here we’d have brought her too and she would have given them more to talk about by hanging all over you.” “Let’s go shower, babe.” Kevin said. “I’m hungry, and whatever your mom’s cooking smells really good.” He stretched and I couldn’t help but stare at his incredible body. Yeah, he was the only one for me. I pulled everything off my uniform so I could get it in the sink with cold water and some detergent. My cum was smeared all over. As long as it hadn’t dried I could get the evidence out. The rest of the week went by too fast and before we knew it Thursday night came. I was torn between not wanting to leave Kevin and wanting to see my Bravo brothers again. But there was no guarantee my brothers and I would get the same duty station. “Kev, they might put me on a flight tomorrow. I get my orders.” I told him in a soft voice with my head on his chest laying in my bed. He took a deep breath. “Really?” “Yeah.” I said. He didn’t speak. I knew he was crunching thoughts in his head. We lay like that for a few minutes. I loved listening to him breathe, watching his chest and stomach rise and fall. “I guess we have to get back to real life, huh? It was nice to have this week though.” He seemed a little distant. I tried to be optimistic. “I get leave. We can figure out how to see each other. Hey, you need to give me a way to reach you by phone at MIT. I don’t know where I’ll be, but as soon as I get there I’ll leave you a way to reach me. When I get my orders tomorrow I have to let my mom and Tim know where I’m going. I should be able to call you too. Are you going to stay here, or go spend your last couple days with your family?” “I kind of want to stay here, but my flight leaves Saturday anyway. I don’t know Tom.” He sighed. “I’ve got too much going on in my head. It’s hard to decide.” “You know mom would love it if you were here. It will make it easier on her if both of us weren’t gone at the same time.” I pointed out. I didn’t have to make any decisions like Kevin, that was how the Army worked. You went where they told you, when they told you to be there. “Mmmm”. He hummed. He was still trying to decide. “Kev, look… we should talk about how this is going to work, okay?” I moved up off his chest and sat with my back against my headboard. This was the hard part, and I felt a preemptive twinge in my heart with what I had to say. “I’m going to be busy with getting up to speed in whatever new job they put me in. It might be six months or more before I can get away. We won’t see each other much the next year. You’re going to be busy with school, but let’s try to talk every week even if it’s just a few minutes, okay?” His eyes refused to look at me. “Okay.” The reality was settling in. I continued. “Kev, you’re beautiful.” I started. “I know you don’t see it, but you are, inside and out. You’re going to get a lot of attention and…” “Tom—“ he interrupted “No, Kev, let me finish, please.” I took a deep breath. “It’s okay if you need to… you know… “. I didn’t want him to, but it would be unfair of me to expect him to be completely faithful to a man he almost never saw and it would be a couple years before we could even live in the same city. Add to that the fact we were men who sometimes thought with our dicks more than our other head. Just because I had no desire or need to have anyone but him didn’t mean he would feel the same way. It was not going to be too hard for me to keep it in my pants. There wasn’t going to be anywhere near the opportunities for me to fuck around as he would have. During training was one thing, but general fraternization was frowned upon if it wasn’t outright prohibited. And after Carol, and Kevin, I already knew sex with any other woman or man would be a disappointment. But Kevin could have just about anyone he wanted, and after what I saw at the grocery store I knew there would be plenty of men and women throwing themselves at him. His entire gay experience was limited to me, and there was a big wide gay world out there that he would want to jump into. If he hadn’t already, he was going to meet other gay people. All it would take was for Kevin to be caught in a lonely moment, or horny, or frustrated with being separated from me, or just tired of waiting and being good. There was also the possibility there would be someone he found he couldn’t resist. Kevin being gay meant he would find at least a few other men attractive and desirable. I didn’t have that problem. No one I looked at flipped my dick switch anymore. “That’s bullshit, Tom. You’re the only one I want. And you better not be saying you want to fuck around with your Army buddies.” He growled in barely controlled anger. He still wouldn’t look at me, and his eyes were darting left and right. “No Kev. I can promise you now that won’t happen. I know you don’t get how it is for me, but nothing except the connection I have with you does anything for me. Even with Sleeper I was just doing it for him, and now that he has Zeus I don’t need to do that anymore. Plus, we’re together again and just the thought of having sex with someone else doesn’t make me feel good.” I tried to explain. “Let’s just be honest with each other. Don’t hide it from me if it happens. I won’t get mad, okay?” “Whatever. Fine. But nothing is going to happen.” He said. “I don’t want to talk about this. It sucks bad enough you have to leave.” He crossed his arms and his eyes turned dark and stormy. I saw tears start in them. “You’re doing it again. You’re letting me go and you promised you wouldn’t.” “Babe, I’m not letting you go. I never want to let you go again.” I moved back down and pulled him tight to me. “You’re so hot and you don’t understand now. But I know you will.” Maybe I wasn’t being fair to him and maybe I saw too many hurdles we had to leap over. Fuck, I didn’t know anymore what I was doing. This was what I hoped to avoid when I left for the Army but was it the right thing to do? He wasn’t wrong. I switched my mind over to how I felt five nights ago when he snuck into my room. Fuck! I was being an idiot again, and I swore to myself I wouldn’t. Why did the thought of being apart from him make me start putting up walls? Why was that my knee jerk reaction and why was it so sneaky and automatic that I didn’t know I was doing it? “Kev, I’m sorry. You’re right. I was doing it again and I don’t know why. I don’t want to hurt you again. I don’t want to hurt me, or us again. You’re right, it’s bullshit. It means I don’t trust you to love me as much as I love you and you haven’t given me any reason to think that.” I sighed. “I don’t know why I do that. I’m scared, Kev. I’m scared you’ll find someone better, or even maybe something easier to deal with than my difficult life. We’ll have to hide who we are and what we do. I’m scared that you’ll decide you’ll be happier being open and out as a proud gay guy.” “Maybe I’m scared too. Did you think of that? I’ve got another two and a half years of boring school before I even think of starting my life while you’ll be out there doing exciting Army stuff, meeting tons of hot sexy soldiers like Addison and Zeus. You’re going to change, I just know it. You may not even want me in two years. You might decide that it’s just too much trouble to be with your gay boyfriend when you aren’t even gay and don’t have to be. You can find a girlfriend or a wife anytime you smile your handsome face at them.” And now he was crying. “I don’t need to be open and out, I don’t even want that. I don’t really even want people to know I’m gay. I didn’t want to be the gay poster boy in high school. Everyone at university thinks I’m straight and that’s the way I like it. So fuck you, Tom, you don’t get to decide for me just because you can’t handle this. You don’t get to be in charge. I’m not in your Platoon.” He got up out of bed. “Where are you going?” I asked, startled. “Home. Maybe we’ve got a lot more to think about than I thought.” He said, pulling on his underwear calmly. And that’s what frightened me. He wasn’t angry, he was calm, like he’d made a decision and had accepted something I didn’t know about. “Kev, don’t, please?” He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder, then came over to me, bent down, and gave me a real kiss that took me to that place, his eyes still wet but no more tears fell. “I love you Tom. Figure your shit out. I’ll be waiting. I’m willing to go the distance. You’re worth it. I hope you think I am too.” ***************** BRAVO PLATOON Graduation from training was anti climatic. Ordinarily (like with Basic and the original AIT) they’d feel like they’d crossed a finish line and were ready to embark on their new career as an Army soldier. Usually, the Army loved their ceremony, their rites of passage and made a big deal out of the entire process. This graduation was quiet with a closed group, just the Company and their direct superiors. Plus, they hadn’t yet been told what their next move would be. Almost every one of them had received awards and COA’s They’d made it back to base Wednesday. Since then, until graduation today, their duty had been busy work. As holdovers they helped all over the base with everything from maintenance to mess duty. The restrictions they had under training were still in effect, wake up at 4:30, PT, breakfast, duty during the day, barracks free time starting at 1800, then lights out and bed check at 2130. None of them could figure out what they were waiting for, and Sleeper checked with Lamont of the Charlies but they hadn’t gotten any word either. The Alphas and the Deltas hadn’t returned from graduation. Sleeper wasn’t authorized to call Assmunch to find out if he knew anything, but he probably hadn’t. He was reporting to Ft. Hood today to get his orders. “Platoon, fall in!” Sarge called before he’d even made it through the door. Troll yelled down the hallway to notify the others who weren’t in the bay. No one kept Sarge waiting this time, and they were all formed up in 20 seconds. “At 0800 tomorrow you’ll all report to the Lieutenant for your formal orders and paperwork, but I’ve been authorized to tell you that Bravo Platoon will undergo Airborne training at Ft. Benning, Ga. Pack out, you’ll be leaving tomorrow as soon as you get your orders. If you haven’t returned your issued gear to the Quartermaster, do so today before 1700 hours. Questions?” Sleeper jumped in before anyone else. “Will Private Brickmann join us there, Sarge?” “Did I stutter, Private? I am very sure I said Bravo Platoon.” Sarge irritably replied. “Private Gunnerson and yourself are tasked with transport of Private Brickmann’s gear and personal effects to your new duty station.” That was no big deal. Everything they had fit into a single large duffel and a backpack. “Sarge, are we ever going to know why we were chosen for this training?” Bootlicker asked. “Need to know, Private. And I don’t need to know, which means you don’t need to know. Be glad the Army saw fit to provide you with additional training. I think it’s because you’re all a bunch of maggot fuck ups the Army didn’t trust to let loose on the world. And apparently you’re all STILL fuck ups because they are sending you for MORE training. If you embarrass me and boot out of Airborne, I will personally hunt your sorry ass down and chop off your balls. If there aren’t any more stupid questions, get to it grunts. And you had better erase any sign of your presence from my barracks before you go. ANY AND ALL.” He stressed. “It’s tradition to leave your Sergeants with a parting gift. I’m sure you will think of something laying around that might be suitable. Something you’ve stashed away for a rainy day, perhaps. Dismissed.” With that, he turned and exited the barracks. They all scrambled to gather what had to be returned to the Quartermaster, talking excitedly about Airborne training with relief at being able to go through it together. It was definitely strange though. But Sleeper was convinced the Army intended them to become Army Rangers as a unit. Just before bed check, Sleeper and Bootlicker brought a bin filled all the leftover alcohol stash to the Duty Sergeant’s desk. “Sergeant, while cleaning the barracks we found this contraband in the storage room behind some crates.” Sleeper said, putting the bin next to the desk. “Well, I wonder who left it there so carelessly, Private.” “I can take a guess, Sergeant, but it’s not my place to speculate.” Sleeper chose a half truth being unwilling to directly lie to the Sergeant. “We just thought you might know of a good way to dispose of it. We’d take it to the dumpster ourselves but it’s too close to bed check. Unless you’d like us to?” Sleeper said. “No, I’ll take care of it. Can’t have you breaking the rules, can we?” “No Sergeant, we wouldn’t want to miss bed check.” *********************** “Do we know anything for sure?” Major Apone asked. “No Sir. None of the soldiers have reported any incidents or concerns.” First Sergeant Barrow replied. Barrow worked directly for the 172nd Infantry Brigade and did not report to Major Apone, but his duties meant any administrative issues like behavioral problems went to his desk. Except for a few instances that were normal run of the mill young soldier problems, none of the four Platoons had any issues. Major Apone looked at Sergeants Horvath and Walters. “So Platoon Bravo and Platoon Charlie, in six months, have had no instances of homosexual conduct despite complete restriction from liberty and being quartered together? I find that hard to believe. The background checks the Army conducted before selecting these troops indicated there would be at least some difficulties. Each of those Platoons has five homosexuals or potential homosexual soldiers. And I’m supposed to believe no one got their dick wet?” Horvath shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you Sir. Even without a Duty Sergeant present there was nothing but the normal behavior of a 19 year old. We allowed them to have alcohol as directed, and parties every Saturday. Nothing got out of hand, it was all just your basic juvenile games. I’ve seen worse at some of the get togethers I’ve been to over the years. These boys seem intent on becoming good soldiers.” “Well, phase one is over. I’m no longer driving the bus. The Army wants them to mix with the other troops now. Maybe they’ll fuck up.” Apone said. “Sergeant Walters, Sergeant Horvath, you’re both on standby for temporary duty if these Platoons complete Airborne training successfully. You’ll be joining them at Ranger School. I fully expect a few failures.” “Sir, what’s the purpose here?” Sergeant Walters asked. “What are we supposed to be looking for?” Major Apone sighed. “A breakdown in command, morale, unit cohesion, any problems caused by homosexual troops. Squads and Platoons are tight knit units and the test study wanted to limit potential damage during phase one. This comes straight from the top, from the Pentagon. All this talk of homosexuals serving in the military makes us all nervous. There’s similar test cases being run for women in combat roles. The Gulf War showed it’s impossible to keep women away from combat danger even if they don’t participate in combat roles. Off the record, we’re having more problems integrating women than we seem to be having with homosexuals. And that’s purely for two reasons: One - the men don’t think the women can do the heavy lifting and pull their weight like a man, and Two - fraternization among the troops.” “Sir, there’s never been a duty performance issue with those troops, women or homosexuals. It’s been known since WWII that homosexuals and women have served honorably, sometimes with distinction.” Sergeant Horvath pointed out. He’d already reasoned out why the training Sergeants hadn’t been informed of the purpose for having the four Platoons here at Grafenwohr. The Army didn’t want their test group tainted by either favoritism or hardship. But he and Walters wouldn’t have any authority past this point. “Does the Army intend to keep these troops together?” “For now. The Airborne and Ranger courses are individual training, not unit training. They’ll go through the training at the same time, but will be on their own for performance evaluation.” Major Apone stated. “And as far as Airborne and Ranger School are concerned, Bravo and Charlie Platoons are troops specially chosen for the honor of undergoing Ranger training. They will be tested exactly the same as all the other soldiers. But you will be watching for any breakdowns. They will know you’re there, and you will be who they’ll want to come to first with any problems, or guidance. Only Col. Ulrich of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade will have any knowledge of this test group. He is under orders to keep the special nature of these troops quiet. As will you. Not even the Black Hats will know. None of the Instructors will know. You will report to him directly and only to him.” “Understood, Sir.” Sergeant Walters acknowledged. Alpha and Delta Platoons had probably been selected for a different path. Walters was suddenly glad he and Horvath hadn’t taken it easy on their boys. They were more than ready to excel.

I can’t wait to read what’s in store for Max. I love Franco so far, he’s perfect for Alex and Max. The moment when the King came to Alex and Max was truly well done, brought tears to my eyes. He loves his son. You amaze me with how you’ve demonstrated that Alex just has this quality that makes people want to love him and care for him. And everything he does, everything he says makes me feel that way too. It’s his vulnerability, his openness, his kindness, his naughty playfulness like a little scamp… And every time someone comes to his defense, or does something nice for him it just makes my heart beat faster.

Thanks man! I’m writing at a rate of a chapter a week. I start my chapter plan on Saturday, try to write as much as I can Sunday, then each morning before work I write a little more until Friday when I can add and edit before sending it in. There’s a big change coming up for the Bravo Brotherhood, and a lot of them are going to have to grow up. The Army has big plans for the brothers.

KEVIN SIX MORE DAYS! I really wanted to excuse myself to the bathroom so I could cry without Tom seeing. I almost can’t handle the emotions I’m feeling. I was barely keeping it together. Tom isn’t shutting me out anymore, last night in his arms was everything I needed to heal the wounds of the last year. Part of those were self inflicted because I kept telling myself I should have known better than to fall in love with my straight best friend. But the sex had made that line too easy to cross. Oh fuck that… it’s bullshit. TOM made that line easy to cross, in fact it was impossible NOT to cross. Why’d he have to be so fucking wonderful? So sweet? So secure and self assured? So kind and loving? Why did he have to care about me, and then show it in a million different ways? Shit, I could keep the list going for an hour, and then spend another hour on a list of all his sexy physical attributes, how hot he was to me, down to the way he walked heel to toe like a demonstration of how humans were meant to walk. I guess I didn’t think losing him would hurt so bad. I guess I overestimated my ability to keep my feelings in check. And when he hadn’t answered my letters… letters in which I’d been so careful to avoid any mention of US so that he’d see I was okay with not having him in my life so that I actually COULD have him in my life, on whatever terms he wanted I expected something, anything that would tell me he was okay with going back to the friend zone. But not getting a single letter back, that gutted me. Still, I couldn’t stop writing letters to him. At least by writing him letters it felt like he was still there, just a little. And I guess doing that allowed me to keep my foolish hope alive. I spent over a year knowing no one was ever going to stack up to Tom, and I was going to be alone because I couldn’t disappear him like he disappeared me. And that was even worse, that kick in the stomach, that he could disappear me. It seemed so easy for him to do. But then this morning he said he hadn’t been able to, that it was too hard for him, and he hurt as much as me. “Hey, I have to use the bathroom, be right back.” I said to them, not waiting for a response. I nearly made it before the tears started. I quickly closed the door and sat on the floor and let the storm take me. See, a strange thing happens when your pain leaves you… your mind decides to say a personal goodbye to every wound, every kick, every single tear you’ve shed and you re-live the memories and a piece of the feelings. Before the happiness can be real, your traitorous brain inflicts a twisted tragic play upon you that it won’t let you ignore. I was happy, so happy…but I was sad for myself that I had endured such abject misery. You cry because the ordeal, this labor of Hercules, is over. But your mind also doesn’t want to let go of the pain it got used to, so it invents new pain, fictional deceptive pain, so it can just keep chugging along without having to do the adjustment work of changing its perception. It says ‘but wait…are you SURE you’re free? Are you absolutely confident you won’t still hurt? Here’s where you might be wrong about the torture being over…’ I was so mad at him yesterday, so angry that I wanted to be there for him after the death of his dad and he wouldn’t fucking let me. I was also filled with joy that we were in the same room together again and he was talking to me. I knew what he was feeling, knew he was lost inside, knew he was frustrated with just wanting to lose himself but he couldn’t because he had to be the man. I knew him as deeply as I knew myself. And he had to keep me away from him. Couldn’t let me love him for even just a moment. Didn’t want me to show him that he needed me. If I hadn’t wanted to kiss him so badly, I would have hit him. Anger and joy… the two ingredients of a perfect emotional cyclone. Today I was fine as long as I knew that what we had was just this one day after which we’d endure another separation that we could use to figure out how to make this work. I still needed to finish college, he needed to get wherever he was going with the Army. We could use the return to normalcy to make decisions with clear heads. I already decided when I got my degree I’d just find a job where he got stationed and we’d do the ‘just a roommate’ thing, or if he wasn’t willing to take that risk we’d get separate apartments near each other. We could figure it out, there were options. That was one of the ‘I wish…’ fantasies I’d used to comfort myself over the last 16 months, entertaining all the different ways we could have gotten around the Army’s ban on gays. But now we had a whole week with each other and figuring it out now was going to come up. Fantasies were all well and good but when you had to face the practicalities everything got messy. What if it couldn’t work? What if it was too difficult and the only decision was we couldn’t be together? And what if Tom changed his mind and decided to be with women again? The possibilities for failure seemed like a dark cloud hanging over my happiness. And I cried for the unwelcome thought that it might have been better if I’d let Tom have his way and left it alone. At least I’d become used to the pain, as bad as it was, but now I had to face the possibility of going through it all again and it was bringing the fragile house of cards I’d built crashing to the ground. My head was all over the place and I was caught between wanting to focus on the happy part but knowing I couldn’t ignore the sad part. There was a knock on the door. “Kev, you okay?” It was Tom. I replied too quickly and failed to hide the turmoil in my voice. “Yeah babe, doing great.” Seriously? Doing great? Supposedly just using the bathroom? No one in a stable state of mind answers ‘doing great’ if all they are doing is pissing in a toilet. “Well that sounds like bullshit.” Tom answered. He didn’t wait, and I heard the lock pop just before the door opened. He saw me sitting there and quickly shut the door. He sat down beside me, shoulder touching shoulder and leaned his head on me. “I know Kev.” He sighed. “Me too. But we’ll figure it out, we do this together, okay buddy? You don’t have to go through this alone anymore. It’s not going to be easy, but we WILL figure it out. I’m sorry I put you through this.” And he turned and buried his head in my hair. And that was all it took to shut down the spinning gears in my head. We sat like that, me in a state of calm that only Tom could give me, him breathing in the smell of my hair like it was scented candle. “So, was last night your first time?” He uttered into my hair. “Yeah.” He chuckled. “I like that we were each other’s first.” That. That right there was on the list of a million things I loved about him. It was how he knew exactly what I was thinking and just said it. Or maybe it was that we could feel exactly the same about something in the same moment. “Was it okay? Did you like it?” He asked, finally withdrawing his head to look at me. I smiled. “You want to stick your dick in me again, don’t you?” I laughed and it echoed in the confines of the small bathroom. He gave me a thoroughly pathetic sad puppy look. It just wasn’t something he could pull off. Tom was nowhere near a sad pathetic puppy. No, that look on him made it seem like the panther was trying to fool its prey to become less wary just before pouncing to devour it. “Oh come on!” I said with laughter. “You look like an idiot.” And then he stuck his tongue out in a ridiculous eager pant and I lost it completely. I pushed him away. “Yes, fine. You know it was amazing. Everything you do is amazing. We can trade off fucking each other.” He laughed. “Nope. I still want you to fuck me more, but every so often I want a piece of that.” He punctuated his words with a lustful look at my ass. “Anything you want, Tom.” I said quietly. “Anything you want, Kev.” He repeated. He leaned his head on my shoulder again. “Hey, how about we spend the week like we were in high school again? We don’t ruin it with trying to figure out what comes next or thinking about having to go away next weekend?” That sounded good to me. I gave him a soft kiss. “I missed you.” “I know, Kev. Me too.” “Do you want to hang out with Carol tonight? We can ask her if she wants to come over.” He asked. Just like high school. “Yeah, that would be fun. If she doesn’t, we can offer to drive her to the airport for her flight tomorrow. I hung out with her the day of your dad’s funeral, but I know she’d love to spend time with you too. You need to tell us what’s been going on with you and about the Army life.” I responded. “Do I have to? It’s kinda boring, just training and learning, and tests and getting yelled at a lot.” Tom explained. “Hmmmm” I said, not believing that for a second. “You left out shooting guns, blowing stuff up, group showers, naked soldiers. We’ll get it out of you.” I stood up and he followed me. “Let’s go out there. I’m sure your mom and Tim are wondering what we’re doing locked in here.” He raised his eyebrows. “Well since no one is screaming about getting fucked, I think they’ll assume we’re just talking.” I was just as embarrassed as him, I just hid it better. Or at least I thought I did. We called Carol and she was just as excited as we were to hang out again. Tom’s mom suggested we invite her for dinner. “Hey, um….would it be alright if I got my stuff from home and just stayed here for the week?” I asked Tom’s mom when we had a moment alone. She smiled. “I didn’t buy all this food for just the boys. I had a feeling you’d be here more than just today. I’m glad you worked things out. Tom hasn’t been the same for a long time. His father and I..” she paused and a hurt look washed over her face. “We were worried about him. He hasn’t been happy.” I hugged her and we just stood there for a few moments. “It’s going to be hard, I know. I liked him a lot, even though he never stopped telling me to cut my hair. Or calling me a hippie. So you both knew?” “We couldn’t really hear you two, you know. But we figured it out. The way you two always cuddled on the couch, the sleepovers, the looks Tom always gave you and your absolute infatuation with him. And Tim was coming to us with questions. His father had a hard time with it at first but we talked about it and saw how happy he was with you and Carol. We thought it was probably just a phase he was going through, but when he changed into a different person after enlisting, closed himself off we knew it was hurting him.” She sighed. “He had to make his own choices. Kevin, thank you for coming back. I know it would have been easier for you to stay away. Tom’s never been the type to have a large circle of friends, he’s always picked just one or two to hold close. You’re good for him. I’m concerned though, about the Army. Hopefully all this talk of gays in the military will change things, but you both need to be careful.” “I know. We know.” I said. “Maybe Bill Clinton will change the policy, he said he would during his campaign. But who knows? I’ve got college to finish, so at the least we won’t be able to see each other for a while. We promised we wouldn’t talk about it this week. We lost a whole year and a half and we want to just enjoy this week.” “Well if your parents don’t mind, we’ll be happy to have you here. It’s nice to have the house full. Makes it a little easier. I have to be a little selfish and say it feels right having three of you around.” I hugged her again. “Thanks Mrs. Brickmann. I like it here too.” “Are you taller? I swear you’re taller.” She commented swallowed in my arms. “Yeah, I grew two inches. Probably done now though, but I’m as tall as Tom.” I answered. Dinner was great. Mrs. Brickmann was an awesome cook and you could just tell she loved taking care of everyone. Tim couldn’t stop smiling at Tom and I. Tom told us stories of his time in the Army which he tried to make sound boring but I think we could all tell he loved every minute. He was the same Tom, mostly. Yes, he was more serious but his underlying self confidence which was unshakable before had only grown. To me, he seemed like he could fight a war all by himself. He’d gained 20 pounds of muscle looking even more sexy, and the way he moved …. Fuck it made me hard just watching him lift his glass to take a drink. Every movement was so measured and in control. Smooth. He’d always reminded me of a jungle cat, but this version of Tom was an apex predator. I couldn’t wait to get him into bed tonight. We weren’t going to get much sleep. I just couldn’t decide whether I wanted him to fuck me more than I wanted to fuck him. Before this morning I really had no desire to get fucked. But when Tom had taken me half asleep the feeling of our connection made my heart sing. I can’t describe it. The closest I can come is that he wasn’t fucking my ass, he was filling my soul with love. After dinner, we all did the dishes while Mrs. Brickmann sat at the breakfast bar drinking a glass of wine watching us have fun. Carol sprayed Tom with the sink sprayer so he threw her over his shoulder and told Tim and I to spank her pretty little butt. She squealed and it sounded like she was enjoying it more than hating it. The three of us sat in the living room talking like old times, Tom sandwiched between Carol and I. Mom and Tim had gone to bed so we could talk alone. Carol wasn’t seeing any one guy seriously, but was enjoying herself with the unique type of Southern California ‘dude’ that she said littered the area. She said her favorite kind was the dumb version of surfer she could talk into just about anything. She said that she still hadn’t found anything as hot as having sex with us, but she wasn’t giving up. She said she wanted to find a guy who wouldn’t be a weak little bitch. She was fine with him being a little bitch, he just had to be a man about it. We heard a couple of her favorite stories, one about a UCLA Bruins football player, a wide receiver who loved her to smack him around. If she could get him past being a little boy he might do nicely. Tom and I knew Carol’s particular flavor of dominance and understood only a certain type of personality would do. They had to meet her level of intensity rather than shrink in total submission. She didn’t want a servile toy. She wanted a beast to tame. She wanted a vicious feral animal that tested her control, kept her on her toes and forced her to stay alert and wary lest he turn on her. When you controlled an animal like that you borrowed their power and strength as your own. Tom told her that like any animal, you needed to train them and that she should be willing to put in the work if she wanted the reward. Her Wide Receiver sounded perfect for her. He was all testosterone and suppressed game day rage, a little bit of an arrogant dick to be honest, but she said when they were alone he went meek and soft, practically worshipping her. “Train him. Like any pet you have to let them know specifically what your expectations are.” Tom said. I had been mostly silent up until now, thinking like I do, crunching all the details she’d said and examining the gaps of what was missing. “Tom’s right.” I said. “He’s a momma’s boy, with an overbearing father I think. He thinks treating women like soft, fragile creatures is what a man is supposed to do. You have to get him off that leash. He thinks his big dick will hurt you, thinks you’ll bruise and his 6’3” muscles will crush you. What would his coach do if he played football like that?” “Hmmmm.” She said, her eyes unfocusing as she thought. “Yell at him, find some way to motivate him. And I really want him to bruise me a little.” I laughed at that last part. “Exactly. Give him a motivation.” I agreed. “Sounds like he wants to treat you like a princess. He needs to understand that you don’t need that. Remember how you tortured Tom by not giving him what he wanted? Remember how you felt when you thought Tom was gay and you were going to show him what he was missing? Nothing was off the table in your bag of tricks and it led to the hottest sex you’ve ever had. And you did the same thing to me. You didn’t hold back. Sounds like you put yourself on a leash too. This guy sounds like he wants to play, he just doesn’t know how. Teach the boy to be a man. He’s got it in him, you see it when he’s on the field so you just have to show him he can be that guy in bed with you.” “Okay. That’s me. What about you two? Are you okay?” She asked. I looked at Tom and smiled. “Yeah, very okay.” “Good, you two need each other.” Tom raised an eyebrow. “You two want to relive some more old times?” He grinned. I smiled wider. I was kind of hoping we might end up here. We both looked at Carol. She smiled, but I could tell it would be a no. “I’ve got something else in mind. Besides, you two should use every minute of this week for yourselves. I want to, but you both know it wouldn’t be the same. And then all we’d think about was how it didn’t measure up to what we remembered, and the disappointment would ruin what we used to have.” I knew she was right. She was always right about these things. “So what were you thinking of doing.” “Tim.” I gawked. We should have expected that, I suppose. I looked at Tom. He looked at me with surprise on his face, then Carol. “He could do worse than you teaching him the ways of women.” Tom said. “Hey! I think you meant he couldn’t do better. Didn’t you?” She threatened. “I don’t know.” Tom played. “I don’t want my baby brother to get broken by some she devil.” Carol crossed her arms. “If he’s anything like you it will take a lot to break him. But don’t worry, I’ll keep my dial set to reasonable.” I chuckled. Carol’s ‘reasonable’ was a normal person’s level 8. Tom shrugged. “If you’re going to do it, better get up there before he finishes himself off. He’s probably been jacking off since he went to his room.” I laughed. “He’s not.” I argued. “He’s waiting for us to have sex so he can listen through the wall.” Carol laughed too at that. “I just got a better idea. Let’s all go to his room.” Holy shit. Was she thinking what I thought she was thinking? “I’m not having sex with my little brother, you pervert.” Tom said to Carol. “He’s not little. He reminds me a lot of you back in school. And that’s not what I was thinking.” Carol replied. Tom had a slightly worried look. “Okayyyyy” As if he knew we were talking about him, Tim came down the stairs. “Just needed some water.” He said, trying to sound too casual. Tom chuckled. “Liar. You were hoping to spy on us fucking our brains out.” Poor Tim turned red as a beet. “No I wasn’t.” He lied. Carol laughed. “Come here, Tim.” She ordered. Tim didn’t even take a breath before he was in front of us. She still had it, that ability to take control before you knew what hit you. “We were just talking about you.” She said smoothly. “Have you kissed a girl?” Tim shrugged. “Yeah, a couple. Why?” “You know we can tell when you’re lying. You’re just like Tom, you get red here, and here.” She gestured to his face. “A real kiss? Or just a quick peck of the lips?” Tim wouldn’t meet her eyes and got a little redder. “Yeah, I thought so. Kevin, kiss Tom.” She ordered calmly like she was asking me to pass her the mashed potatoes at dinner, not looking away from Tim. I felt that old familiar thrill Carol could instill when she gave me direction of what to do to Tom. I put my hand around the back of Tom’s neck and pulled him to me and I felt him melt and dive into my eyes. Suddenly, we were alone in that beautiful place only he could take me and I loved how instantaneous and easy it was to get there when I touched him. I stayed there with him, so relaxed but also excited, until I heard Carol’s voice. “See? That is a kiss. They go somewhere and nothing else matters. That’s what you want.” She explained. I let Tom go and couldn’t stop smiling. Every time. Every time was like this. He made me love him because he did that to me every time I touched him, kissed him, or held him. I was already halfway gone just being in the same room with him. And the look on his face said he was there too. My blood was pumping, and I saw the red flush creep up his neck. He reached out and touched my lips, his fingers were shaking. “Those lips.” He whispered. Just like he did after our first Kiss. I suddenly didn’t care about Carol, or Tim. He had nothing in his world but me right then. It made me feel heady and recklessly wanton. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Carol kissing Tim but it hardly registered. It was just another detail of the room, like the coffee table or the lamp beside the couch. “Let’s go.” I said, reaching up to hook my fingers through his teeth to grab him by his lower jaw like I’d done that day in the hallway in front of English class, pulling him up off the couch. He never took his eyes off me. I picked him up in my arms, loving how solid he felt, just the right weight to let my strength recognize the substance of him. He wasn’t too heavy for me and created a soothing balance in my arms. I kissed him again as we climbed the stairs to his room. Closing the door with my foot, I set him on his feet and almost ripped his clothes off him before throwing him naked on the bed. His cock was hard and standing rigid away from his stomach its length reaching to his belly button. He had the most amazing thick cock. “Yes.” He breathed. “I want you so bad.” I started at his mouth, his big sexy mouth, invading him with my tongue. I licked up the side of his face before finding my way to his ear, nibbling and driving my tongue around the whirls. I sucked on his earlobe and licked that tender spot behind it. I just wanted to taste him, use my mouth to feel his entire body one inch at a time. I bit his neck softly, just enough so I hear him grunt. My hands gripped his rib cage and I pressed in before running up into his armpits so that I could pull his arms above his head and pin them there, leaving him vulnerable and exposed. I used one hand across his wrists to hold him in place while my other hand danced across his military honed action ready body. He felt different too, we’d both improved over the last eighteen months. He was all hard and sculpted. “Aren’t you going to get naked?” He asked, breathing hard. I covered his mouth with my own and kissed him deeply with languid movements of my lips and tongue. “Shhhhhh” I said. “Close your eyes. You’re all mine.” I felt him relax and go limp and knew I could let his wrists go. He wouldn’t move. He would let me move him where and how I wanted. I kissed my way down his chin, his neck, to his chest. I licked his tiny brown nipples gently, circling them with my tongue. He wasn’t hairy like me. “I missed the taste of you so much.” I breathed into his chest. “I’d lay in bed trying to remember how you smelled, your sweat, that clean man smell that made me weak every time you hugged me. I started to lose the memories after a year and I was so sad.” I rubbed my face over his chest slowly then dragged my nose and forehead down his stomach until his dick rubbed against my neck. Oh, it was so hot, radiating a heat that filled me with a sudden desire. I grabbed it by the base and stood it up to gaze at it. It was a proud dick, full and hard. The tube that carried his fluids made a straight line down the underside, I licked it hard from base to head and was rewarded with a thick drip of his sweet precum. Surrounding his thick head with my lips I sucked trying to pull more up his veined shaft. I took my time. It spasmed in my mouth. But I got what I wanted with a gush. I wanted more. I spread his legs apart to suck on his heavy balls. He groaned. “Kev…babe…” he whined. I knew what he was going to say. I swooped back up and swallowed half his dick just before he shot. I needed his seed, the elixir of his beautiful masculinity. “Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh my God, I’m cumming so hard, don’t stop!” He wasn’t quiet. He was a good boy and stayed in place even though his hips thrust his solid cock in and out of my lips with his orgasm. I swallowed most of it but it was a fight between wanting to savor the taste of him and needing this part of him inside me again. I would never get tired of the way his cock spurted so heavy and thick when he came. I almost lost my own load in my underwear when I remembered he’d shot one of these amazing loads inside my ass less than twenty four hours ago. His seed in my ass. He’d filled me from both ends with his hot Army soldier nut, and that drove me crazy. I pulled his legs up to expose his hole, bending him in half so that his tight pucker faced the ceiling, and I dribbled the portion of his cum that I saved directly on it. I stood up and leaned into him, pulling my dick out of my shorts and rubbing it through his sperm all over his crack. I loved the way his ass hair was sparse, but dark when it was wet with our juices. I was not going to last long the first time, but then I never did. I pressed my huge head against his hole knowing he’d let me in. The way his ass stretched around my thick cock turned me on, swallowing me with a lovers caress. “You feel so good.” I moaned as I sunk into him. “I love the way you fill me up. No one but you, Kev. That belongs to you. I belong with you.” He breathed sincerity and love with every word and I felt us join in that special place as I filled him with eighteen months of needing him. It felt like my orgasm would never end, I just kept lazily stroking in his perfect ass while more and more cum poured out of me into him. It was all so slow and drawn out I became comfortable in that process of delivering my love to him, relishing the ease of sending my little swimming soldiers to fill him. I hoped they would make him stronger and that somehow I could permeate his cells with my DNA to give him my strength. It sounds fantastical, but I wanted my cum to change him. Not change who he was, I loved him just as he was.. but I wanted a piece of me to live in him so that I would always be there, with him, sitting in the deep recesses of his hot fucking handsome man’s body. My balls felt like they were squeezing out every drop for him, or that he was suctioning the cum from them - it was unclear in which direction the force worked. In Engineering, down is not down, and up is not up, direction of force is everything and multiple forces applied could have some intense effects. My gear wheels spun to calculate the various forces at work while I hemorrhaged my juices through my dick. Like his cumdozer in my mouth shoveling his cum back into my throat, I was both propelling and pushing, he was both suctioning and pulling, our biological machines made to perfectly enhance this process. So why shouldn’t there be a further process, like with women? Why couldn’t my sperm wriggle inside his cells and leave behind my DNA? I don’t know how long I was in that place but my head was thrown back when I regained myself and my taut muscles were cramping. I looked down on his smiling face and his body. He had shot another load while we were lost in each other. “That was incredible.” I panted. “I think you emptied me. I don’t think I was shooting as much as you were siphoning it out of me. Holy shit.” I could feel my dick softening as his hole clenched and unclenched around me. That had never happened with just one orgasm. Just being inside him kept me hard and I always came at least three times. I was always turned on around him, he affected me on a primitive level. But this time was different. “It was … I don’t know. Deeper than ever before. I could feel you cumming inside me. God you’re so sexy when you cum.” He said. “Can you get naked now? I want to hold my man.” I stripped, trying to do it without pulling out but my softening dick didn’t stick with the plan. Ah well, I just needed a little while to go again. I scooted him up on his bed so I could lay down next to him then he made me turn on my side so he could spoon me. I may be bigger than him, but when he held me like this I felt like a kid again in a warm happy place where I was loved and protected. “You’re taller.” He said into my hair. “I missed so much while I was being an idiot. Don’t let me be an idiot ever again, Kev. I don’t want to miss a single thing with you.” “Tom?” I asked. He grunted in answer, and the vibration it made against my back made my dick twitch. And of course that brought me to thinking about him fucking me while holding me like this and grunting as he plowed me like a rapacious soldier and my dick shot to attention. Oh yes we had to do that. The cum he’d shot onto his stomach was slick on my back while he breathed and I wondered if it was too sick that I wanted to rub his cum all over me so I could smell him on my body. I dismissed it as impractical. Everyone would know and I wanted it to be a secret thing. It was better if it was a secret between us. I don’t know why, maybe it was just a matter of me having something of him that no one else could have or see. I brought my hand up to stroke his arm around my chest. He was playing with the hair on my pecs. It felt good. As usual, he waited patiently for my brain to stop clicking and my mouth to speak. He was so good to me. I never needed to worry Tom wouldn’t understand me. “Have you been with anyone else?” I asked, knowing I shouldn’t, but needing to know. I don’t know why it mattered, we weren’t together when he left for the Army. Aw fuck, I didn’t want to know, I suddenly realized. “One guy. My best friend in the Army, Addison. No women.” Tom answered before I could stop him. I felt my heart sink. He pulled me tight to him. “Kev, it was a situation of convenience, not love. Not even lust. He’s straight…or at least he was. We sorta took care of each others’ needs.” “What do you mean ‘was’?” I barely managed to utter. “And how?” “Kev, do you really want to hear this? I’ll tell you everything, if you want. But I don’t want it to hurt you. It wasn’t anything big, and nowhere near what we have. If you want to know I’ll tell you.” He kissed my shoulder. I had to think about it. He waited. He hadn’t stopped stroking my chest. He wasn’t nervous or feeling guilty so that said it probably wasn’t too bad. “Tell me the ‘was’ part first.” I said. Had Tom’s amazing body, dick, and soul turned his best friend gay? Was that even possible? Oh… fuck. That’s exactly what I’d done to Tom, my formerly straight best friend. Now I had to know. “Well, I think he’s got a boyfriend. He doesn’t know it yet though. But there’s no way he’s going to get away from this guy. And I don’t think he wants to.” And then he told me all about Sleeper, and then Zeus. I had to admit, they both sounded really hot. Who doesn’t like tall, confident, muscle bound hunks that look like male models? “So you didn’t turn Sleeper gay?” I asked. “Nah, but I probably showed him the way to get there. And it’s kind of your fault anyway, you and Carol.” I seriously doubted that. Like he could read my mind, he said “No really. You two taught me how good it feels to get my ass eaten. I just passed that on to Sleeper. And one Saturday I was not in a good headspace, and I fucked him.” “Just once?” I asked. Tom sighed. “Twice.” And then he told me the story of Zeus, Sleeper and him which was the last time he had sex before coming back home. While I didn’t exactly feel GOOD about it, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. “You guys must get really horny.” I observed. I felt him shrug. “Not really. Most of the time you’re just too exhausted to even think about sex. It’s like you WANT to, but it takes too much energy.” “You’re the only guy I’ve been with.” I revealed. “I know babe. Had I known I would have you back in my life…in my heart, I wouldn’t have done those other things with Addison.” ******************* SLEEPER Sarge and Bravo Rescue, which consisted of two of the Bravos other Sergeants arrived slightly before 1400 hrs. Sleeper had put a watch outside, switching out every 45 minutes to keep an eye out for the team. It was going to be difficult for Sarge to see the shelter with the piled snow and still steady snowfall. He’d find the rock formation and probably figure out that the large slope of snow hid the lean-to, but not how to get in. Besides, Sleeper didn’t want to hear Sarge’s lecture on setting camp watch when out in the field. “Why were your men outside, Private?” Sarge laid into Sleeper first thing. “You’re risking them getting frostbite. What’s your rotation?” Sleeper took a moment to calm himself. Maybe he was thinking of Sarge the wrong way. It was Sarge’s job to train them, to make sure their decisions were based on solid information and with careful and full thought. He could just be checking to make sure Sleeper knew what he was doing. “Rotation is 45 minutes, Sarge. The worst of the storm seems to have passed an hour ago, they’re in their 7’s and by my calculations it would take an hour for frostbite to set in but that’s an estimate. They were ordered to stay in the shelter of the rock so the full wind wouldn’t hit them full force. We also needed to keep an eye out for your team. Relax, Sarge. Go warm up by the fire. I’ll have someone heat you Sargeants a meal.” I signaled Cellblock, Shark and Mini Hulk to bring over the hot coffee they’d brewed from whoever’s MREs. Some of the guys didn’t drink coffee so it got passed around to whoever else wanted it. It was just like middle school, trading out stuff from your lunch you didn’t want to get something you did. “Thanks, Montelongo.” Sarge replied, taking his coffee and after letting the steam heat his face he took a long sip. He told the other two Sergeants to check on their squads. “Quite the shelter you made here. Well done.” WHAT? We’d impressed Sarge? Well, hell. That was the first time I heard praise come from his lips in six months. “Team effort, but it was Zeus, Alaska, Chunk, Olympic and Bootlicker that designed and engineered the whole thing. I think the German Forest Service is going to be a little mad.” “Why would they be mad? You’re going to UN-build it and erase any sign the Army was ever here, right?” The bastard grinned. I gave him a sarcastic smile. “Absolutely, Sarge.” “Let me radio in, then I think I’m going to take a little nap after I eat.” The Sergeants didn’t assume command, or interfere in any way with what happened over the next 24 hours, just observing how we handled ourselves. Whatever happened with Wanker was a non event for everyone, and there was no evidence of a breakdown in morale or any awkwardness in the Platoon. That didn’t mean there was a repeat. The Sergeants were here after all and no one was stupid enough to ignore how the camp was supposed to run. I didn’t have to impress on anyone that we maintain discipline around the clock. I had to smile when I realized somewhere in the last six months we became a team, a unified group in which everyone knew their role and trusted the others to know theirs. The brothers stepped forward without being ordered to fulfill a task that fit their skills. All I had to do was list the duties and tasks that had to be done, and the Platoon handled it without argument with the squad leaders taking over the details. I wondered if that was unusual, and asked Sarge. “That’s the way it’s supposed to work, Montelongo.” He said. “Doesn’t mean it always goes this smoothly. Leadership is more than just giving orders. Leaders manage personalities, identify tasks, and let their troops handle how to get it done. The trust goes both ways. They trust you to figure out what needs to be done, but they also want you to trust them to know how to do their jobs. The more you trust them, the more they trust you and another thing happens when you do that - you’ll find your soldiers work harder to keep that trust. When we get back you’ll have to do what Private Brickmann usually does, I want a report detailing everything, every decision, every action. You’ll get a debrief with the Lieutenant, the Captain and the Major. It might be all together or separate. I’ll help you get the report eyes ready, but you’re going to do it by yourself until you think I’m ready to look at it.” “Was this planned, Sarge?” I asked him. Sarge laughed. “No, this was a last minute operation to take advantage of the weather, but we didn’t know that depression was going to come barreling through and turn it into an emergency. It blindsided us. We weren’t even planning to send you boys out again, but it was decided this would be a good opportunity to let you run or walk on your own without the Sergeants looking over your shoulders. It was supposed to be a literal 3 day walk in the park. As usual, no plan - “ “Survives first contact with the enemy.” I finished for him. He nodded. “Remember this situation. If whatever situation you’re in doesn’t change, you’ve gotten very lucky. You did well making quick decisions with the input of your men. If you had delayed because of confusion or unwillingness to change the orders you were given, we might have been pulling bodies from the snow. Wind chill took the temperature down to minus 20. I know Brickmann wouldn’t have blinked to do whatever he needed to. He doesn’t have a problem with making judgment calls if the situation calls for it and sometimes I think he’s just stubborn and thinks he knows best how to manage a situation. I don’t know if he’s rubbed off on you, but I will say I’m impressed how smoothly you handled this.” I shrugged. “It was the brothers, Sarge. It was actually easy because we had the right guys to get through this.” He gripped my shoulder. “You recognized you had that resource, and you listened. Never forget that when you’re in command. This all happened because YOU led them to this and let them do what they’re good at. This happened because you were willing to risk adapting your orders with new information and you were smart enough to realize we hadn’t taken the worsening conditions into account and weigh that information against the risks of continuing the operation.” It felt good to have him say that, but I knew without Zeus, Cellblock, Shark and Mini Hulk things would have gone very differently. Plus, there was the expertise of Chunk, Alaska, Olympic, Bootlicker and Wanker who were the brains behind our safe haven. And of course the brothers who worked so hard to build the shelter to design in just a few hours without complaint, most of them bringing a specific talent to the job. Little Weeble scrambling like a mouse up the frame of the lean-to nimbly lashing logs and branches. Weeble may be five foot two, but his heart and mind were ten feet tall. No one made Weeble feel small. He was a tough little fuck, with the kind of personality and attitude that made everyone smile and feel intensely protective. “Are the other Platoons okay? Did they find shelter?” I ask. “I’ve been a little busy looking for you, and Ops radio communication isn’t for having coffee and a chat with your buddies, Montelongo. Especially not with superiors listening in.” He chastised me. That was a dig at how I broke protocol earlier. “And this is a good lesson too. You worry about your men, that’s all. If you let other concerns in, and lose your focus it WILL cause you to make mistakes. You follow YOUR orders, take care of YOUR men, and trust the other commanders are doing the same. If you need the information, your superiors will give it to you. Otherwise, you wait until you get your men home safe to ask questions. Ask all the questions you want. But understand the Army will rarely give you the answers you want.” I thought about it, and he was right. He wasn’t telling me not to worry, just that I had one job right now and I had to be 100% mentally dedicated to that or I risked fucking it up. “Thanks, Sarge. I understand. Assmunch wouldn’t have asked you that.” Sarge laughed. “No, he wouldn’t, not in this situation. I don’t think he would even have a thought in his head for the other Platoons right now, his head would be filled with planning how he was going to get you all back to base.” I snorted. “What plan? We just wait it out and get picked up.” It was that easy. Sarge scowled at me. “Just when I think you’re smart you go and say something so fucking stupid I want to shove my boot up your ass. Lesson time over.” And then the Good Buddy Sarge of the last ten minutes was gone to be replaced by Asshole Older Brother Sarge. “I swear I’m a fucking glorified kindergarten teacher.” He muttered to himself, but I’m sure he meant me to hear

Absolutely! This is different from everything on here! Please don’t stop. What I like about this is the Dom/sub, the ferocity but how the Alphas, for all their strength and virility, are actually the slaves to the subs. They literally can’t do without them. And Danny is the absolute best. You’ve balanced the needs of each group perfectly, the subs get all the alpha dick they need, and the alphas get to impregnate hot subs.

Oh man, I was really hoping Tom found his man. He’s such a sweetheart, and Nick needs to get tied down. I love the way you write, @losolent. I’m in love with this story!

My tastes in body type and looks have expanded considerably from when I was younger. But one thing has remained the same - personality. I have always loved confidence coupled with kindness. I had a pivotal period of about a year when I was 31. Up until my time with him I was picky, and kept myself from being a total pig because 1) I hadn’t yet come to terms with being gay and was still fooling myself about settling down with a woman, and 2) I still incorrectly thought being a total whore meant something was wrong with you. But I met a guy online who was every bit of sexually repressed as I was. He lived in another city with his partner but traveled around Texas for work so I’d drive to whatever city he was in and we’d fuck, we’d go out, we’d fuck someone else then go back to the hotel and fuck again. Somehow we felt that with the other’s acceptance it was okay to let loose, we were in different cities than where we lived so who was going to know? We went to sex clubs, parties, back rooms… it was like anything was okay if we were together. Now, he was a handsome fucker with a gorgeous 8 inch perfectly straight thick cock, and I wasn’t bad to look at either and had a great dick myself almost equal to his, we were both confident and finding random dudes to fuck seemed so much easier with him there… and when I thought about the dynamics years later I concluded it was because we weren’t desperate and we were both projecting a completely unworried desire for fun. So a few months into our escapades I set up an ‘everyone welcome’ gangbang for me so he could watch me get railed by random guys of all types. I’d never done anything like that before. It was both exciting and fear inducing at once. That’s what broke the stupid gate I’d locked myself behind for too many years. The guys that showed up were all over the physical spectrum, young, old, hot, less than attractive… whatever. Seeing him turned on watching me get plowed over and over again, and seeing how turned on the guys were who were getting the chance to fuck me made me realize sex should ALWAYS be that fun and unbridled and honestly it didn’t really matter who it was with when it was just sex. And that year also did something else for me. I was able to realize I enjoyed being a top way more than being a bottom. Because I didn’t need to be such a confused passive little afraid bitch about sex. Big beefy guys do it for me, skinny runts do it for me. Hairy, smooth. I even get turned on by a certain kind of ugly. And I have a soft spot for guys who are a little slow in the head. God help me. But I don’t like meanness or rude… that kills any desire for me.

Thanks bud! That means a lot!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh….. NOW I get it. Thanks for explaining that, WelshBB! I’m a little slow. Lol

Lol, did you really mean it’s bad? Even if so, I’m glad you laughed and cried, and want more, that’s my goal!

ZEUS 0245 hrs. When they reached the rock formation he and Alaska scouted the area around it for a large enough and flat enough space to hold the Platoon under cover of a windbreak as well as suitable to lean logs and branches which was difficult because the snow was now deep enough to hide the features they were looking for and it was dark. The rock face did block the wind currently blowing from the northeast making the snow pile more shallow. “This looks like our best bet.” Alaska announced loudly to overcome the wind rushing through the trees and the sound dampening effect of the snow. He spread his arms to indicate a stretch along the formation that was approximately 60 feet long. It wasn’t completely flat but it checked all the other necessary boxes. “Let’s clear a line ten feet from the base of the rock.” By the time the Platoon arrived they had a good start clearing the area and the rest of the guys began scouring the woods around them in pairs to locate enough deadfall to build their windbreak shelter. Their packs and sleds were laid out to cover the ground already cleared so the heavy, thick snow wouldn’t just cover the ground again as they worked. Squint and Weeble were put to work cutting up half their tents into fabric panels that would curtain the windbreak and allow snow to be packed against the branches they leaned against the formation. Someone, probably Chunk, had the foresight to task a few guys to start a woodpile for a fire. Bootlicker soon had a campfire burning that helped with light. Fires were forbidden in the Veldenstein but this was an emergency and the Army would have to deal with the fallout if they were caught. No one thought that was likely. The windbreak was constructed as a grid, lashed with paracord. Alaska directed the building saying it wasn’t that different from how outdoor equipment like your snowmobile was protected in Alaska to keep it from being buried overnight, it was just on a larger scale and more durable than the basic A-frame for something temporary. Green wood lower branches with pine needles still attached were used to thatch the basic grid. Every layer helped. Once the tent fabric panels were tied on, they piled snow and packed it against the sloped structure. Sleeper said the cold had rendered the radio inoperable, and they’d have to wait until it could be warmed up a little in the shelter. After four hours they were all exhausted but they had a fairly roomy, cozy shelter inside which their packs were lined up. Everyone had decided to use the Extreme Cold Weather level 7 outer suits as a padding layer beneath their bags. Bootlicker and Cellblock engineered triangle shaped doors for either end that opened inward to allow them to get in and out for bathroom trips to a latrine dug just outside the doors under a cantilevered overhang. Half of the guys chose to zip their sleeping bags together and sleep in pairs. Gabriel didn’t ask Sleeper, he decided they would do the same and Addison would just have to deal with it. A small fire pit had been dug out against the rock face in the center and if they kept the fire small they could keep it going for two days with the wood they had. The shelter was almost airtight except for the two ends which had the doors allowing enough airflow that a fire wouldn’t be a problem. “Everyone get some sleep.” Sleeper ordered. “I’m not setting a watch.” By this time, they could hear the wind gusting violently causing the woods around them to be filled with the creak of swaying trees and a whistling moan that got louder with each passing minute. “I’m wiped, but I don’t know if I can sleep in this.” Shark replied. “Fuck, if this shelter doesn’t hold-“ “Shark! Shut the fuck up. It will either hold or it won’t, it’s out of our control, but spreading your fear won’t help.” Cellblock barked. “It’ll hold.” Bootlicker announced with a bored confidence. “It’s effectively a single reinforced shield that weighs over a ton and a half because of the foot of packed snow on top of it. The math says it would take a tornado to even budge it.” Soon the simple exhaustion of a sleepless night and the scramble to build the shelter forced everyone’s eyes to close. Gabriel waited until he heard Addison’s breathing slow and inched closer under the sleeping bag. He carefully sidled up to his friend and wrapped his arm slowly…so slowly over Addison’s chest, trying not to wake him. He just wanted to sleep next to him, feel his body heat, listen to him breathe. “Snuggle up, buddy. Let’s keep warm.” Addison whispered so quietly Gabriel almost didn’t hear him. Gabriel felt his entire body flush with heat at the words. His heart began to race and his penis swelled up inside his pants under four layers of clothing. He pulled Sleeper tightly into his body. His hand found the zipper on the front of Sleeper’s coat and unzipped it inch by slow inch to keep any sound from escaping. His breath was coming fast. They could be quiet. Everyone was so tired they were deep in slumber. Addison lay completely still not denying Gabriel’s touch, sending a trembling thrill coursing through him. There was something intensely exciting about moving this slow and quiet forcing himself to keep half his awareness focused on the group around them. Once the zipper was down, Gabriel went to work on the buttons of Addison’s uniform shirt one excruciating button at a time by feel. Addison’s breathing had increased. Underneath lay a thermal shirt layer that was hugged tightly to Sleeper’s muscular warm body. Gabriel let his hand wander over the feel of his chest and stomach with no thoughts of the lessons Andrew had taught him that first time so many weeks ago. Gabriel’s mind was consumed with the pleasure of touching Addison, nothing more and every movement sent waves of tingling sensation to his groin. He was grinding up against Sleeper’s hip, very slow. He felt Sleeper’s arm move slightly and his hand rub against his crotch. The involuntary moan almost escaped from his throat. He dropped his hand down to Sleeper’s belt, loosening it but not completely undoing it where it might create noise. He next found the button on his pants. Sleeper was executing a similar process on Gabriel’s uniform. A small rustle could be heard when Gabriel was forced to pull the loop off the button, and they both froze to listen for any change in the men around them. Nothing. Gabriel boldly unzipped Sleeper’s two pants layers and Sleeper lifted his hips slightly so Gabriel could push the thermal layer and underwear down to his thighs and they both sighed when Gabriel wrapped his hand around Addison’s hard member. Sleeper’s hand was inside Gabriel’s pants stroking his large engorged penis in synchronized movements. Gabriel rolled Sleeper slowly onto his side facing away. He pulled everything down to just below his testicles after briefly letting Sleeper’s penis out of his grip. Sleeper drooled saliva into his hand and reached back to rub it on Gabriel’s penis then repeated the process to slick his hole. Then he grabbed Gabriel’s penis again and guided it between his cheeks to his opening. Gabriel shifted closer, hoping the noise wasn’t enough to wake anyone. He knew he should take some time to open Sleeper up with a finger or two, but he didn’t want to wait, and Sleeper seemed eager to have him go ahead so he pushed gently forward with his hips. He felt a resistance and pulled Addison’s hips back using his penis as a handle to apply more force feeling his own body shudder with the enticing expectation of the warm tightness of Addison’s hole. He buried his face in the hood covering Addison’s neck and whispered “I need you. I need you so bad, Addison.” After their argument last night which in Gabriel’s mind was emotionally painful this felt like Addison’s apology and his mind and body sang together with relief and desire. Addison didn’t hate him, wasn’t pushing him away. He seemed to want this as much as Gabriel and the happiness that brought electrified him. This excitement was so much different than that first time five weeks ago. This was only him and Addison, together wanting the same closeness, wanting to give and take the same kind of pleasure using the physical to express the emotional and using the emotional to heighten the physical like a cycle of expression that was so smooth and balanced between them it felt like a separate state of consciousness. He finally pushed inside and Addison stiffened with a sharp intake of breath. “Shhhh. I will go slow.” He soothed the beautiful man nestled up against him. Gabriel moved his other arm up, snaking it between Addison’s neck and shoulder to wrap around his chest. Ever so slowly, he sank deeper into Addison, the movement nowhere near what he really wanted to do but at the same time so much more pleasurable with the extended duration of it. It was that small sip of water when you are dying of thirst, the kind where you think you can taste the water when you know it has no flavor and every part of your tongue surges forward to bathe in the satisfying wetness. A gulp gets the job done with indifference. A sip milks every speck of pleasure the water has to give, lets it linger for its full effect and makes the dryness of your mouth bloom like the cracked cake of desert dirt after a rainstorm. Oh this was so much better than the first time. It was deeper and broader because the connection joined them beyond where they touched and in that moment Gabriel knew sex could give them so much more than just the satisfaction of a physical need. It could heal. It nourished his heart, his mind, and even his soul that should have been solely God’s domain. He didn’t even have to move much to feel the sinking pull of Addison’s beckoning desire and he couldn’t separate it from his own. Addison was squeezing down on his penis with every stroke Gabriel made on Addison’s member in his hand. Their breath was synchronized, coming faster and shallower. Gabriel wanted to feel Addison ejaculate before him, but he knew he wasn’t going to be able to wait that long. Addison’s hand found his wrapped around his chest and he brought Gabriel’s hand up to his mouth to press it hard against his lips and suddenly Gabriel heard his friend give four silent grunts while Addison’s hole gripped down tight onto his penis. Gabriel’s other hand felt a sudden warm wetness from Addison’s penis and the knowledge that Addison had ejaculated cause him to seize his beautiful man in a crushing embrace as he flooded his friend with his seed. Even this orgasm felt different than the ones before. With this one he wanted to implant everything he felt for Addison deep inside him with a desperate hope it would grow. His sperm was a message, his gift of who he was and how Addison made him feel and its fluid warmth would show Addison the beauty of it. This was how Addison could carry a part of Gabriel with him always. A bible verse came unbidden to his mind: James 3:18 ‘And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace’. It was his hope that this would join Addison together with him, and that his friend would feel the peace he himself felt when Addison was with him. Gabriel didn’t move when they were finished, and Addison stayed still himself except for returning Gabriel’s hand to his chest. Their breathing slowed, returning to a more normal relaxed inhalation. Gabriel was close to nodding off when he heard sounds from further down the line of sleeping bags. There was a rustling and whispering, and a barely audible moan. He felt Addison’s body shake with a silent chuckle. “We’re not the only ones.” He breathed to Gabriel. That made Gabriel smile, and he hugged Addison tight. **************** Wanker woke up with a start when he felt Footlong press up against his back, bend his hips and knees to bring them up against his own, and throw his arm over him. Okay, that was fine, a little cuddle. Footlong’s warm body felt good. They’d both stripped down to their thermals before climbing into the doubled sleeping bag, neither of them willing to endure getting twisted in their uniforms while they slept and the shelter filled with bodies wasn’t frigid, it was actually cold but comfortable enough that the sleeping bag might actually be TOO hot. He was about to fall back asleep when he recognized what had to be Footlong’s monster dick grind into his ass. He remained completely still, unsure of what to do and if Footlong was doing this in his sleep. He didn’t want to wake anyone up. Then Footlong’s arm moved down to Wanker’s hips to hook his fingers into Wanker’s waistband. It looked like Footlong didn’t care about waking up Wanker. Still, Wanker didn’t move. There was only one thing Footlong was after and Wanker was caught between wanting it to happen and knowing he should stop it. His internal struggle didn’t last long and he told himself he was a stupid fucking idiot when he pulled his own clothes down to his knees to let Footlong do whatever he wanted. Footlong was nowhere near as thick as Sergeant Horvath even if he was close to the same length. Wanker wouldn’t have a problem taking it. It was a little funny to Wanker that Footlong hadn’t even wasted time on being shy about it. It probably said a lot about how Footlong thought of him that he could just take what he wanted without worrying about how Wanker would react. What Footlong was doing might have mattered before, but ever since getting railed by Sergeant Walters, then Sergeant Horvath, then Assmunch fingerbanging his hole, then Zeus fucking him without a single emotion or word said and doing that twice…well he wasn’t sure getting an assfucking meant much of anything. It sure seemed to mean something to the guy doing the fucking though. So if that’s what Footlong wanted, fine. Footlong immediately released his one eyed snake and pushed it between Wanker’s cheeks looking for his hole. Wanker rolled his eyes. “Use some spit, bro.” He whispered. “Oh. Yeah, sorry.” Footlong whispered back. “Never done this.” Wanker quickly felt Footlong roughly wipe a wet hand across his asshole, then he grabbed his dick and led the search with his extended index finger until he located what his dick was looking for. Wanker felt Footlong barge in like an asshole was just going to take a dick as easily as it pushed a turd out. Well, it wasn’t like this was going to be the worst fuck of his life, Wanker thought, and he just relaxed through the tolerable pain of Footlong’s invasion. Better not to prolong it, let Footlong get his nut any way he needed and then they could get back to sleep. “Shit that’s tight.” Footlong gasped. “Shut the fuck up. Don’t wake everyone up. Blow your load and keep it quiet.” Wanker spat with almost no air behind the words. Fuck Footlong was a dumbshit. Footlong was making all sorts of noise, the sleeping bag was rustling with every thrust of his hips. He wasn’t keeping it to a minimum, fucking the long shaft damn near all the way out and then balls deep. Thank God there wasn’t any smacking of skin against skin. But the dumbshit was breathing too loud like a Saint Bernard, probably drooling too. Wanker decided he needed to help this along so he started gripping down on Footlong’s cock. “Fuck, I’m gonna cum. Can I cum inside you?” Footlong asked. Aw, how sweet. Dumbshit. “Yes, don’t make a fucking mess in our bag. Just fuck it into me. And shut up!” If this idiot said one more word Wanker would fill his boots with snow. Thankfully, Footlong emptied his balls silently, finally getting the message. His thrusting sped up, then paused, then started again with three slow thrusts, then he spasmed, and buried it all the way inside Wanker’s fuckhole, and Wanker could feel the lengthy shaft thicken up and throb repeatedly as it spewed hot nut gravy deep inside him. For the first time since Footlong started, Wanker had a feeling of pleasure at the moment he knew Footlong’s jizz was filling him. He pushed his ass back to milk it all. Damn, he didn’t expect the rush that brought. A guy he felt nothing for, in fact was a bit irritated with, just used his hole to dump his load and that feeling of trashiness felt so good. “Gotta take a piss.” Footlong whispered, pulling his dick out of Wanker’s leaking ass. Wanker didn’t care. Footlong quietly climbed out of the sleeping bag, threw on his boots and coat and walked around the others to the door. “Wanker.” Came a whisper two guys over. It was Shark. “What?” Wanker whispered back with frustration. “Can I get a turn?” Wanker knew he should be upset for a couple reasons. First being now four of the guys knew. Second that Shark just asked so casually like Wanker was just a whore that was supposed to take dick for anyone. But… Wanker didn’t feel mad or insulted. It was more like a feeling of ‘well why not? My ass can take a dick, you need a hole, so sure, climb on.’ So that’s what he said. “Sure. Climb on.” Shark was far more quiet than Footlong when he moved. It almost seemed like Footlong didn’t really give a shit if anyone heard and found out they were fucking. Of course he didn’t, he wasn’t the one being used like a fuckdoll. He’s not the one who’d get a reputation, that the others would look down on or look at with disgust. Shark came over and climbed inside the bag with Wanker. Footlong came back inside, saw his place had been taken and just climbed into Shark’s bag with no reaction. Shark was a little more hesitant and gentle. Something in Wanker wanted Shark’s hard cock in his ass without delay. He’d seen Shark’s dick in the showers when it was soft and it seemed to be relatively average, but there was something exciting about not knowing what kind of hard dick was going up his ass that made Wanker’s hole hungry. There shouldn’t be any need for spit at this point, Wanker could feel the slippery effect of Footlong’s heavy load greasing his crack. Shark surprised him by pushing him on his back and climbing between his legs. Face to face then. That was fine. He reached down and felt that Shark had already pulled his hard dick out of his bottoms. Wanker took a moment to feel it with a stroke or two. Yeah, definitely average, bigger than his hand but not by much. Decent thickness. He pulled Shark by the dick until it was lined up with his leaking hole. “Go for it, bro.” Wanker whispered. Shark slid easily inside him, the way lubricated by Footlong’s cum so that Shark sank to the balls in one steady and unhurried thrust. “Fuck!” That was the only word Shark said the entire time. He pumped on top of Wanker in a regular rhythm, not breathing hard. Wanker looked into Shark’s eyes, which were watching him as he shoved his cock in and out of the hole beneath him. Just a nice, regular, even stroke that kept up for several minutes. Shark blinked occasionally, but never broke eye contact. Wanker just looked at him with an amused slight grin. Now this was more like it. A nice hole scrubbing, nothing crazy, just a steady pump. It was actually very relaxing. Nothing he had to do except keep his hole exactly where it was. There wasn’t anything emotional about this. He liked that, no confusing feelings or trying to figure out what the other person wanted. He wasn’t trying to cum, or even make Shark cum. No talking. It was all very simple, easy, direct and uncomplicated. “Ay Puta, hurry up!” They heard Puta whisper. “You takin too long. Hazlo más rápido!” Well shit. Wanker knew from the sound of it that Puta expected to get some right after Shark finished. He didn’t know whether to beat the shit out of Footlong for being so loud or thank him. And Puta couldn’t be the only one awake now. Thankfully, anyone else was keeping quiet. Maybe Puta would be the last guy who needed to bust a load out. Wanker did that trick Sergeant Walters told him would move things along, he tightened down on Shark’s cock, then released, then tightened, keeping it up until Shark just stopped moving, still staring at him while his dick pulsed with multiple spurts of cum. He didn’t uselessly ask if he could, didn’t seem to care whether Wanker wanted more cum inside him. Then just as calmly as everything else he’d done, he pulled out of Wanker’s now sloppy hole and climbed out by crawling over the top of Wanker’s head letting his wet cum slimed softening dick slide across Wanker’s face. Not on purpose, just as a careless inconsiderate way to leave. The dismissive act sent an arc of excitement through Wanker. It seemed to say ‘your hole was the only thing that mattered and now that I’m done with it I don’t need to think about you anymore.’ It wasn’t mean or insulting. No one gives a second thought to the sock they shoot their load into before throwing it on the floor next to their bed. Fuck, Wanker felt turned on by that. Puta wasted no time climbing in, his thick curved brown cock already hard and free of his pants. He pulled Wanker’s shoulder and flipped him over on his stomach. Wanker cooperated. Any way Puta needed to fuck him was fine. Puta wasn’t gentle, but he didn’t need to be. “I’m gonna be fast, hermano. I know you want my leche.” He didn’t exactly say it loud, but it wasn’t a whisper either. “For fuck’s sake, shut the fuck up! We can all hear you assholes, we’re trying to get some sleep. Wanker quit being such a slut.” Demon spoke. A few of the other guys agreed. “Fuck him tomorrow.” One guy said. “You’re making it smell like a whorehouse in here.” Another said, sounded like Dimples. Then Sleeper’s voice, “Puta, finish up then everyone go to sleep. I’m sure Wanker will be glad to take care of anyone else in a few hours. We’re stuck here for a few days. You can all get a turn. Just not right now.” There were a few grumbles. “I was gonna get next. Shit.” “I shoulda jumped in after Footlong.” What surprised Wanker, Sleeper and Zeus was how no one said anything about fags, or disgust, or anything negative. True to his word, Puta pounded Wanker’s ass violently for a dozen more strokes and grunted a string of dirty Spanish into Wanker’s ear as he dumped his load to mix it with the previous two and Wanker thought the load must have been massive the way some of it forced its way out around Puta’s hard pole to run down his taint over his balls like a river of cum. So much for not making a fucking mess in his bag. Puta simply collapsed down beside him and pulled the sleeping bag back up to cover them both. “Thanks, Wanker. It was good.” He whispered, sounding sincere while his hand patted Wanker’s ass before reaching down to pull Wanker’s underwear and thermals back up. ***************** They slept for about four hours. Someone had put another section of dead limb on the fire at some point so they still had glowing coals radiating heat. Their little shelter was very well insulated by the packed snow and except for the two doors on either end of the long lean-to very little heat escaped. The heat from their breathing, their body heat, and the small fire was more than enough to keep the inside temperature hovering around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The only problem was when someone had to go out to use the latrine, but the wind and snow was so violent now no one went out unless they absolutely had to. It was amazing how long you could deny a shit if you didn’t want to. Of course, Wanker couldn’t hold off. His ass was full of cum and he wasn’t sure if he relaxed his asshole whether he needed to shit or it was just the cum, so he bundled up and went to squat over the hole beneath the overhang. Every time the wind swirled into the makeshift latrine his balls felt like they would turn to ice cubes so he pushed and strained to get everything out as fast as possible. He grabbed some snow and dragged it over his hole and crack, throwing it in the hole. Maybe Holler had a better way of shitting outdoors and wiping your ass, he probably grew up without an indoor bathroom. Seemed like exactly something that redneck would have experience with. But for now, Wanker risked frostbite to get the job done, having to endure the pain of frozen fingers to make sure he was scrubbed clean. He had to remove his other glove to wash his hands with snow afterwards and he hurried inside to warm them over the fire pit. He stood there trying to get warm again, wishing he could pull his pants down and warm his ass and balls as well. Sleeper was over by his bag messing with the radio. Wanker gave up trying to get warm, he felt like he could climb inside the coals and it would still take hours before the icy feeling left him, and he went over to Sleeper to help. Communications was his thing, there was nothing he couldn’t do with radio, or telecom. “I got it, Sleeper. What’s our frequency?” Sleeper told him and he set the dial. The radio was working fine now that it had been kept in the warmth of the shelter. “Base, this is Bravo Platoon reporting, over.” Sleeper transmitted. There was a few seconds of silence. “Bravo Platoon, confirmed. Stand by Bravo One. Over.” Another 20 seconds passed. The entire brotherhood had gone still, and were listening. “Good to hear your voice, Bravo One, report. Over.” A different voice said. “Base, Bravo Platoon is sheltered approximately 10 km inside the Veldenstein. Condition optimal. Stand by for location. Over.” Sleeper snapped his fingers at Cellblock. “Cellblock, what’s our coordinates?” Cellblock consulted his map and read off coordinates. Sleeper repeated them over the radio. “Bravo One, Base confirms DD coordinates 49.672205, 11.523606. Standby Bravo One. Over” Another thirty seconds elapsed. “Bravo One, Bravo Rescue’s been looking for you boys. Base has authorized communication on this frequency. Standby. Over.” A few seconds passed. “Bravo Platoon, this is Bravo Rescue, we have your coordinates and will come to you.” Sleeper recognized Sergeant Walters’ voice. He hadn’t realized how tense he’d been until the sound of Sarge’s voice lifted a weight from his shoulders. “Confirm coordinates. Over.” Sleeper read off their coordinates. “Glad you’re going to join us, Sarge. We’ll have a hot meal waiting for you. What’s your ETA? Over.” “Bravo One, you will maintain proper communication protocol over this frequency. ETA to rendezvous with Bravo Platoon 1600 hours. Over.” Sarge chastised. That was just like him to be a hardass. “Understood Bravo Rescue. Confirm arrival at 1400 hours.” Sleeper tried to resist, but thought the punishment would be worth it. “We’ll let you keep your clothes on this time Bravo Rescue. Safe travels. Over.” “Bravo One, switch to frequency two eight two point eight. Over.” “Copy that Bravo Rescue. Bravo Platoon switching to frequency two eight two point eight. Base, this is Bravo Platoon Out.” “Base Out.” Wanker immediately dialed the frequency in. “Bravo Rescue, this is Bravo One. Over.” Sleeper made his voice extra perky, knowing it was going to get under Sarge’s skin. “Montelongo, I am going to piss in your boots and leave them in the sun.” Sarge growled. Sleeper waited a couple seconds for more to come. “We missed you too, Sarge. Come get your lost boys. Over.” “You all okay? Any problems? Over.” “Negative, Sarge. Alaska, Zeus, Chunk and Olympic got us all set up in a cozy resort in a forest. You’re gonna love it. We are warm and we have no injuries. Just waiting this out. Over.” “Glad to hear it. We aren’t too far from you, it’s just going to take a while to get there. Over.” Sleeper could hear the wind over the radio. Sarge and whoever was with him weren’t near as comfortable as the brotherhood was. “Look for a large rock formation, it’s the only one in this area. It’s about 100 feet long and 30 feet high, you can’t miss it. Over.” “Roger that, Private. Will get there as soon as we can. Bravo Rescue Out.” Sleeper turned to the brothers. “Sarge is on his way. And since I have your attention, let’s get this out of the way. Anyone got a problem with Wanker?” The brothers looked around at each other, trying to gauge if anyone was going to speak up. Everyone seemed a little hesitant. “Now is the time. Get it out if you have something to say.” Sleeper urged. Dumbo cleared his throat. “Wanker, are you a fag?” Zeus growled “Pick another word, Richards. And do it quick.” There was no missing the threat in Zeus’ voice. Sleeper could feel the anger coming off of the giant behind him so strong it nearly pushed him. “Gay.” Dumbo corrected, his face fearful. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way, that’s just the word I use.” “Don’t use it.” Zeus commanded. “Ever.” He hammered his point home with an angry stare at every soldier. “Sendahl, do you want to answer? You don’t have to.” “Sure, I don’t care. No, I’m not gay. I just don’t think it’s any big deal taking it up the ass. Lots of guys do it. I was just helping the guys out.” Wanker replied, and the confident casual delivery he used indicated he didn’t truly believe it was anything worth making a big deal about. “Anyone else?” Sleeper asked. Troll spoke up. “Can we ask him questions?” “Yes, but he doesn’t have to answer if he doesn’t want to. And he’s our brother, be respectful.” Zeus answered. “Do you suck dick, bro? Or just get fucked?” Troll asked without blinking. Wanker chuckled. “For you guys, yeah I’ll suck dick. No big deal.” There were a couple “hell yeah!” heard from the group, but it was hard to tell who said it. Troll smiled. “Hell yeah.” He repeated. “You’re alright, Wanker.” Maybe it was because none of them had any opportunity to have a date with a woman for six months, and hadn’t even been in the same room with one except for the few female instructors that came through for their training but the Bravos hadn’t responded anything like what Sleeper thought they would. He glanced back at Zeus. He knew what Andrew would do. “Anyone here have a problem if a brother WAS gay? Just because Wanker’s not, doesn’t mean we don’t have a gay brother among us. Is that a problem for anyone?” Sleeper asked. Again, the brothers looked at each other, some trying to see if anyone would speak up, others trying to see if they could tell who might be gay. No one said anything for a full minute before Holler spoke up. “I ain’t never been round no gay boys, Sleeper. I think I might be afeared if I was to know we got a gay boy here. I don’t mean ‘em no harm or nuthin’, and I don’t hate ‘em I just would be thinkin’ all the time that they was gonna try to do sumthin’ to me.” “Puta, no body gonna put dey dick in you.” Puta joked. “We no wanna break you little fragile body.” Everyone laughed, even Holler. “Some body try sumptin’ you send ‘em to Wanker, he take care of it. Or Zeus and he gonna strike dem down.” Everyone took a moment, and then Cellblock blurted out after having put it together faster than anyone else. “Wait. Julio… you’re … uh … you said ‘we’… Puta just shrugged. “Jess, so what? But I no get fucked. I no like da dick in my culo. It no feel good.” Well that was a big surprise to Sleeper. Almost as big a surprise as Zeus. Andrew had read it all wrong. The entire brotherhood was shocked speechless. “What?” Puta asked. “My brothers no love me no more?” That seemed to break the frozen silence and all the guys, even Holler, surrounded Puta in a group hug, with the guys closest moving aside so the others could push in and give Puta a hug or a pat, or rub his head with a smile. Sleeper turned to Zeus to see his face was wet with tears. He saw Zeus smile, but not at him. Sleeper turned to see Puta looking back at Zeus with a smile of his own that said ‘it’s alright’. Then he looked at Sleeper and winked. He guessed Puta didn’t miss much and suddenly all the sly looks and stares back in the barracks after that Saturday night made a different kind of sense. Puta broke away after the brothers got done and came over to Sleeper and Zeus. Wanker seemed to have drawn a small crowd. Sleeper didn’t have to guess what Wanker would be doing in the hours before Sarge arrived. He’d have to make sure they got the place aired out or replaced the smell of sex with something else. They might have to use some wet wood on the fire and endure a bit of a smoke out. “Gabriel, you no worry, okay? I keep your secret. But no body gonna care. If dey no care about me, is no way dey gonna hate you.” Zeus grabbed Puta and crushed him in a smothering hug. Puta put his arms around Zeus’ big body, looking like being smashed by a giant felt like a soft comfortable embrace. “But maybe if your boyfriend let me, I can kiss you? Just a kiss for you beautiful soul.” Sleeper was about to give a nod to Zeus, but Zeus just bent down without a glance and pressed his lips to Puta’s. It was nothing extreme or anything of import, just a gentle ‘thank you’. Sleeper had to smile. So Zeus didn’t have to swallow a guy whole to kiss him. And Zeus didn’t ask for permission, from anyone. Sleeper already knew that when Zeus decided something you weren’t left with a lot of choice and the incredible thing was he didn’t feel resentment at not having a choice. It ended up feeling like because Zeus decided it, that it was the right thing to do. Choice? Gods like Zeus turned ordinary mortals like him into adoring worshippers, that was the choice. It would always be the only choice. Puta sighed and moved back. “I better get in line for Wanker. But maybe we should put up a wall?” Sleeper nodded. “Yeah, let’s not make this difficult on the guys. A little privacy will keep things from getting out of hand.” And a glance over at the group said it was just in time. About ten of the guys had Wanker on his knees while they surrounded him. “Hey! Jesus bro’s! Let’s get some kind of privacy going before you get down to business. Not everyone wants to see that.” Sleeper called out. Most of the guys had the decency to look slightly ashamed. Sleeper noticed a lot of dick re-tucking going on. Damn, these horny fuckers were going to flood Wankers insides with so much cum he wouldn’t need to eat dinner tonight. They quickly had a curtained barrier thrown up made from a few sleeping bags and some paracord that created a room about six feet square that hung from the wood frame of the lean-to. It wouldn’t handle a lot of sound, but at least no one had to watch Wanker taking a train. Besides, Wanker wasn’t the loud one early this morning. That had been Footlong and Puta. **************** Wanker felt a little overwhelmed. After the sleeping bags created some privacy, the guys had been patient enough but now weren’t willing to wait in an orderly line so he could deal with them one on one. All ten piled into the room. Wanker kept his tee shirt and thermal top on, as well as his thick socks, but he was naked from the waist down. He knew at least a couple were going to want to fuck his ass. He knelt on his folded up uniform, which provided the perfect level of padding for his knees and he found that amusing. He was busy sucking Troll’s fat cock, burying his face in his pubes, then alternating sucking his hairy nuts in his mouth. The other guys were watching, stroking their hard dicks while waiting their turn. Demon was getting some strange from Footlong’s left hand but he obviously wasn’t comfortable enough to repay the courtesy leaving Footlong to stroke his own dick in his right. Suddenly Cuntwrecker moved. “I’m not waiting. I’m using the other hole.” He said. He kneeled behind Wanker, who dutifully spread his knees apart and pushed his ass out, never breaking stride on Troll’s fat hairy cock. Cuntwrecker… only a few things to say about him. First, he was fit, but his hips were just a bit too wide, giving the impression of being a female from behind. You know, guys had a certain overall shape and that didn’t include childbearing hips. Guys should have wide shoulders that v’eed down to hips that didn’t spread out too far. Maybe it was the combination of Cuntwrecker’s narrow shoulders and sturdy hips. But anyway, he was just an average looking dude, wore glasses, blonde hair and brown eyes. He had a nice face… nice. Like you couldn’t call him ugly… but you couldn’t call him handsome or cute either. He just looked nice. No woman walking alone at night would cross the street to avoid him. No one would notice him in a crowd. But Cuntwrecker, for all his plain niceness and feminine shape, had THREE girlfriends back home that sent him about six letters a week. And supposedly they all knew about the others but were still desperately vying to be first among his harem. And these chicks were fucking smoking hot too. Even Sleeper was shocked at the quality of women Cuntwrecker attracted. Cuntwrecker even said he had to break up with a fourth woman, an older woman, because he just didn’t have time to service them all. It wasn’t a matter of energy or keeping his dick hard, he just didn’t have time. And he said it wasn’t fair to them to make them beg for his attention. He claimed to be able to fuck repeatedly for long periods and they begged him to stop before he was actually tired out. Turns out he didn’t have a problem with them begging him for that. He said he kept going until he made them do it. And then he’d kiss them and head over to the next one while they fell asleep with the type of smile that could only be created by inexhaustible multiple orgasms. And he did all that with a dick that was a little over five inches long. Yeah, it was slightly thicker than average, but it also had a wicked upward curve. And the last thing about Cuntwrecker was that when he came, and he demonstrated it for the Bravos once when he served as Barracks Bitch and was ordered to prove his claim, when he came he could fill half a red solo cup with cum. The first time, and six minutes later he filled the rest of it until it over flowed. Of course, then he was dared to chug it so he clenched his jaw, took a deep breath, and poured it down his own throat. While everyone stood shocked and stunned to their very cores, Cuntwrecker fought to stop the heaves that threatened to make him puke it all back up again. He was only partially successful and it was like watching the Space Shuttle blow up all over again as his cheeks ballooned out trying to hold it in. Tears rolled from the corner of his eyes as he swallowed it a second time. Everyone stood silent in deep respect before a huge roar of celebration came from everyone’s lungs. The Bravos did not bestow the honored Title Cuntwrecker for frivolous reasons…. And it was an honored Title, not a nickname. Cuntwrecker, that poor plain man hiding in a woman’s shapely body was everything in bed that ALL of them prayed they could be. But maybe it was like Spiderman’s Uncle Ben said… with great power comes great responsibility… and none of them would use that power for good. Cuntwrecker actually cared about his three girlfriends, wanted to treat them right, was honest with them and did everything he could aside from sex to show them how much he cared. He took the time to answer every letter they sent, and it ate up a lot of his free time and study time. He called them every weekend, one after the other, asking them about how they were doing and what they did, listening to their stories. Cuntwrecker deserved that power more than any of them. He used it for good. Before Cuntwrecker could bend his curved dick down to slip it up into Wanker’s ass, Troll said “We know you like to go for a while, Cuntwrecker. So if someone wants to step in, you let ‘em. Okay?” Cuntwrecker smiled his nice plain smile and nodded. “Got it, Troll. No problem. But it’s been a long time, first one will be quick.” Cuntwrecker was actually really curious to find out if his dick did the same thing to a dude that it seemed to do to women. As a considerate lover would, he spat a wad of saliva on Wanker’s asshole before pushing in. Wanker grunted around Troll’s dick. “Almost there, buddy.” Troll said. “I’m going to shoot in your mouth. Just keep going. Just like that.” They were speaking very quietly to keep this from bothering the rest of the brothers close by. “Oh fuck… Cuntwrecker… shit… you’re hitting everything up there.” Wanker gasped, taking his mouth off of Troll but keeping up motion with his hand. “I’m gonna cum, Wanker, put it back in your mouth.” Grunted Troll. Wanker immediate dived back on his cock and in a couple strokes he felt Troll’s warm load coating his tongue. It wasn’t a large amount, so Wanker just let it go down his throat with his saliva. Cuntwrecker shifted position mid thrust to throw one leg up on Wanker’s back so he could fuck him sideways. The change in Wanker was immediate. Troll had withdrawn his dick and moved aside, but still stayed. Wanker was bucking back into him. “Fuck Cuntwrecker, if this is what you do to your girlfriends… holy shit.” Cuntwrecker chuckled. Looks like his dick worked on either sex, and he felt proud. “This isn’t even the best position, Wanker. They really go crazy doing it missionary. I’m going to have to try that out on you. But not this time. You’re busy, and I’m about to shoot my first load.” And with that he really laid into Wanker’s ass knowing his curved dick was putting pressure on both sides of Wanker’s guts. He felt his nuts start churning and his asshole began to tingle signaling the impending flood he was going to deposit up Wanker’s hole. When he felt the cum start boiling he plowed into Wanker’s ass with five powerful thrusts and almost drove Wanker to the ground. He slowed his strokes as his huge load spewed out up inside his fellow soldier’s guts and he kept stroking with lazy movements until he was completely finished. He’d worked up a little sweat, but he could wait for another couple of the guys did their thing before he worked out a second load. The only bad thing about his dick was that its curve made it difficult for a good blowjob. So pussy or ass just made everything easier. Wanker nearly lost it when he felt the spread of warmth flooding him. Why was he still surprised that the moment a guy came inside him he got that turned on feeling? Fuck it drove him crazy. He didn’t feel anything about the fuck… well except for Cuntwrecker’s dick, that did feel absolutely incredible rearranging his insides and yanking his sphincter every which way. But it didn’t make his dick hard or make his balls tighten up. But feeling the cum filling him up, THAT was what made his eyes roll back. It felt like he could shoot even though his dick wasn’t hard. It was almost worth asking if Sergeant Horvath could fuck him again. He’d definitely feel THAT fuck and the thought of Horvath’s huge load filling him gave him that tingle again. Shit, he was going to have to talk to Puta about this, maybe he’d know why getting loads up his ass got him cranked. Junior decided to mount up next, while Duck stuck his 7 inch dick in his mouth. Not accounting for second turns, he might be able to wrap this up in an hour. ******************* “You know you can go join them Zeus, if you want. I’m not going to get hurt.” Sleeper lied. This wasn’t a test. Sleeper felt he needed to let Zeus know it was okay to explore more gay stuff. He wasn’t going to get that from Sleeper. Sleeper didn’t know the first thing about gay stuff. Maybe he could talk to Puta, but Sleeper decided maybe not. It was that kiss that didn’t sit quite right with him, the way Puta just did his smooth, suave Latino thing and got a kiss from Zeus. But Sleeper knew if Zeus did go behind that curtain it would hurt. He had a sick feeling in his stomach just thinking it might happen. He was about to just tell Zeus he didn’t want him to, when Zeus answered. “Why would I do that, Sleeper? I have you. And even if I didn’t, I don’t think I would.” Zeus said in that matter of fact straight even tone of voice. When Zeus spoke it just seemed like whatever he said was how the world was in reality, and anything else you thought it was became fiction. If he said ‘No Sleeper, the sky is green.’ he’d look at the sky and suddenly he find that sure, it might LOOK blue, but it was really a blue green. In fact, there was probably more green than blue there. Well if there’s more green than blue that would make it green, right because the blue hardly counted. And the words he just said ‘I have you’ shot right into Sleeper’s heart. It was true. Zeus did have him. He wasn’t going anywhere. He’d give Zeus anything he wanted, would demand nothing from Zeus. Yeah… Zeus had him. And while a small part of him wondered how and why… the vast majority of him was simply content and happy that he was such a rotten fucking lucky prick. “Hey Zeus, suit up, let’s go check the perimeter.” He said. “Okay.” And Sleeper had a flashback moment to the night before, after he asked Zeus to share a sleeping bag and it all falling apart. That same ‘Okay’. No inflection or indication of whether the suggestion pleased him or angered him. It wasn’t what he thought it was at all. Zeus just didn’t express things. Sleeper thought maybe that was a fortunate thing. If Zeus’s straight even tone could get you to agree to just about anything, Gods help us all if Zeus unleashed actual feelings into his words. But Sleeper did wonder why Zeus held back all the time, and it couldn’t be because he realized his effect on people. Zeus was completely clueless of the level of worship he demanded. They put on their level 7’s. Sarge had paid attention and made sure Zeus had a suit that fit his size. They pulled up their balaclavas and Sleeper told Cellblock to keep an eye on things, make sure the curtain didn’t get out of hand, and to keep an ear out for the radio. Sarge would radio in with an update when he could. He told Cellblock he and Zeus were going to check the perimeter and put out a signal flare on the rock formation. Cellblock wished them luck. The last guy to go use the latrine said the snow was pretty deep, over three feet. And the wind was really tearing up, even in the protection of the rock formation. He suddenly thought of something and called to Spaghetti to see if they had anything to measure the temperature and wind speed. Spaghetti was a lazy name. He wasn’t Italian. His last name was Bergettay. Probably French or Belgian. But it sounded like Spaghetti. Nicknames seemed to follow one of three rules - some kind of personal descriptor like Troll or Shark. Something they could poke fun at you with like Assmunch and Wanker. Or something stupid and completely off the mark like Sleeper and Spaghetti so it would get under your skin. Spaghetti said they did have a weather sensor that would tell barometric pressure and temperature, but it didn’t have the piece that measured wind speed, which was a three foot rod with a top made of spokes that had cups attached, and a wire ran back to the unit to give a readout. Sleeper didn’t care about wind speed… what he cared about was wind chill, which could be calculated from temperature and wind speed. Sleeper went ahead and took the book sized unit. It had a grey screened digital readout like a digital watch or calculator only the screen was about 8 inches tall and six wide. Super fancy. Spaghetti had cycled it on and the readout was showing a temperature in the shelter of 57 degrees. Practically tropical. The brothers had done an amazing job for having to throw something together in just a few hours. Sleeper suddenly thought of the other Platoons. He would have to ask Sarge for an update when he got here. Calling into Base to get gossip was not authorized. “C’mon Zeus, let’s get this done.” “Wait sleeper, we need eye covering if we’re going out in the open. The temperature is bad enough, but we’ll be exposed to the full wind. First rule, no exposed skin.” Well shit, that blows plan number one, Sleeper thought. He planned to get away from the brothers so he could kiss Zeus. Puta’s kiss put a sour pit in his stomach. He knew Zeus liked to kiss him and he’d fought it before feeling it was too intimate. But that was all changed now. He WANTED to show Zeus he was okay with being intimate. Everything that had happened in the last 24 hours since they’d left the barracks had built up to drive Sleeper’s emotions for Zeus into new territory. The nothing argument over the sleeping bag. The way Zeus just took charge in the shelter doing what Sleeper had fucked up the previous night, zipping their bags together so that Sleeper HAD to join him. Zeus didn’t talk about it or whine, didn’t want to share his feelings, he just did the thing he wanted to do. Then, when he snuggled up to Sleeper, waiting until everyone was asleep. Then taking charge and taking what he wanted, something Sleeper himself couldn’t manage to make happen the night before even though that’s what he was going for. Then that feeling of connection when Zeus held him, both of them cumming from almost no kind of movement just the amazing feel of being together, from Zeus’s arms squeezing him, the sound of his breath through his mouth. And then falling asleep just like that so relaxed like being in Zeus’s arms was the best place in the whole world. Zeus hadn’t even moved or pulled out when they were woken up by Wanker’s gangbang, or rather Demon throwing a justified fit. And they fell asleep again just like they did before. They only slept for four hours, but it was the best night’s sleep Sleeper had ever had. Then, the brotherhood’s response to Wanker, then Puta, and Puta coming to free Zeus of concern. And of course, the kiss that Sleeper thought he was okay with but found out the more he thought about it the more he didn’t like it. Finally, Zeus’s easy dismissal of getting to participate in whatever meat fest was happening behind that curtain and the words ‘I have you’. Sleeper had never felt so out of his element while still so comfortably happy. So yeah, Zeus was going to get a kiss, as many kisses as he wanted.