daddybear54

Chapter 1: The Trick Dean loved to dance, and he was dancing up a storm at a well-known gay club in Montreal. All around him, the huge floor was full of sweaty, muscular bodies, with most of the guys wearing nothing more than tight, tiny shorts – or less. The sight and smell of all those built, sexy men dancing at high energy levels was intoxicating. Dean liked that he didn’t stick out like a sore thumb. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself in any big way. It suited him to look a little more ordinary than some of the massive muscle studs, to simply blend into the crowd. He actually enjoyed being just one among many. He wasn’t built enough to get swarmed, but neither was he so underdeveloped as to draw comment. His shorts weren’t the shortest in the room, and the bulge in them wasn’t the biggest, although it would certainly grow with the right guy. His blond hair was natural, not fake, and the blue eyes were real, not tinted contact lenses. He knew exactly what he wanted tonight. Dean loved being versatile, switching roles from top to bottom, and trading off with partners – but there were some nights when he just wanted to get fucked, and other nights when all he wanted was to pound a hot hole. Tonight was one of those pound-the-hole nights. He’d already been approached over the last hour or so by several men, including two different big guys who had “total top” written all over their faces – not to mention that they gave themselves away by instantly groping his ass as soon as they got within reaching distance. Each of them was a good-looking stud in his own right, and each of them had an awesomely muscled butt. In another mood, Dean could easily have gone for either of them and either taken their dicks all night long or tried to switch tops and bottoms with them. He certainly had a knack for persuading guys who thought they were total tops to try the bottom role and see how they liked it. But tonight he was definitely top-only himself and needed to find a hot ass to bust wide open. Eventually, his attention was drawn to a guy about his own age who was, for the moment, dancing alone. Dean couldn’t help noticing that he had worked his glutes extra hard to make his butt thrust out further than normal, and that he was rolling those glutes noticeably as he danced. Dean drew a likely conclusion from that. The guy looked handsome, with a head of black, curly hair, close-cropped, and black eyes in a handsome face. His olive-toned skin was covered with a glistening sheen of sweat. Dean managed to work his way around until he was in front of the sexy guy, then waited for a chance to make eye contact. When he did catch the man’s eye, he threw in his best asset, a killer sexy smile, and stepped closer. The cute guy smiled in return and moved towards Dean. Bingo. Before long, they were dancing right up close to each other. It was then that Dean made the first move, clamping his hands onto this sexy guy’s lush round buns to pull him closer. In another five minutes they were rubbing bulges, and the bulges were growing as Dean kneaded that firm round peach. That’s when the curly-headed guy suggested they go to his place. They collected their clothes and coats from the checkroom and headed out to the street. “Just a couple of blocks and a bit this way,” the dark-haired beauty said, leading Dean down the snowy sidewalks of Ste-Catherine Street past several couples, both gay and straight, kissing up a storm in the doorways of closed stores. He punched in a security code and led the way up the stairs in a building, just off Ste-Catherine on a side street. Three floors up, he unlocked an apartment, and they walked in. As soon as he closed and locked the door, Dean pounced, pulling the man into his arms and going straight into high-intensity kissing mode. His target broke the kiss. “Hi. I’m Joey.” “Dean. Nice to meet you.” They smirked at each other as they ceremoniously shook hands, then Dean dragged Joey right back into his embrace and grasping his tempting butt again. In no time, coats and shirts were flying every which way, soon followed by jeans dropping down. Dean leaned gently on Joey’s shoulders, palms down. Joey took the hint, and dropped gracefully to his knees, skinning down Dean’s tight shorts and breathing a quiet “Wow” at the growing wet pool in the foreskin. His tongue came out automatically to taste that precum, then his hand slid the skin back to reveal the head. Dean let out a sound that was half moan, half sigh, as Joey wrapped his mouth around the head and then slowly swallowed the tool all the way to the bottom. Dean gripped his head firmly, holding him in place as he slowly face-fucked the beautiful man looking up at him. Joey worked his mouth on Dean’s rigid cock, massaging him and sucking on him as Dean pumped his throat. Meanwhile, his spare hand was busy working his own shorts off. Sliding them over that firm round ass was a bit of a challenge without two hands, but Joey had gotten plenty of practice through the past few years. Joey let go of Dean’s cock and stood up, letting his black shorts fall to the floor as he did so. His own cock was a thing of beauty too, standing right up to his abs out of a nest of raven-dark hair, and dripping just as Dean’s had been a few minutes earlier. Dean bent down and sucked up the juice, then deep-throated Joey for a few minutes. Finally, though, it was time to see what he was really after. Dean’s finger had been sliding over Joey’s taint and probing his crack and hole while he sucked, but what Dean really wanted to do was to bury his face in between those lush mounds and go right to town on eating Joey’s ass. Dean pulled off Joey’s dick, straightened up, spun Joey around and marched him into the bedroom where he shoved Joey onto the bed, face down, ass up. Joey immediately bent his hips to thrust his ass further into the air, knowing and wanting what was coming next. Dean hopped onto the bed between Joey’s spread thighs and leaned down, pushed his buns apart, and dug deep down into the crack with a tongue. That ass crack emitted the most enticing man-sweat after hours of high-energy dancing. Dean lapped and slurped up and down, teasing Joey’s hole and then biting on the cheeks on either side. Joey kept rolling his ass from side to side like a small boat in a rough sea as Dean feasted on his crack. It was time to up the stakes. Dean slowly began thrusting a finger deep inside Joey’s hole as he kept eating ass. That finger took on a life of its own, twisting around and stroking the smooth insides of Joey’s colon, and finally seeking out and rubbing against the gland. Joey cried aloud at that, his hips jumping and his shoulders tensing up. “Oh, fuck!” Joey kept on moaning and squealing as Dean’s magic finger worked inside him. Then the finger drew out, but only to give a little more space as Dean began thrusting his tongue into Joey’s tight ass, stabbing it inside him until the hole loosened and bloomed, opening up, wanting it, begging for it. Joey’s voice was begging too. “Dean, don’t tease me, dammit. I need that meat inside me now. Get up there and push it into me, fuck my brains out!” Happy to oblige, Dean pulled his face and hand out of Joey’s crack, then scooted up until his chest was pressed down against Joey’s back. Reaching underneath, he moved his own cock into the right position, pressing down against Joey’s ass until it found the spot. Then, as he began to push, Joey’s hole opened right up, until Dean’s seven-inch cock slid slowly but surely all the way up inside Joey’s tight butthole, until Dean’s hips were pressed firmly against those big round cheeks on either side, until Joey was firmly and completely impaled and pinned down on the bed. Joey moaned aloud as Dean slowly rolled his own hips from side to side, shifting his cock around inside Joey’s tunnel, rubbing against the sides and bumping the tip against the prostate, giving Joey an extra dose of squealing thrill each time he nailed the target. When Joey’s hole began flexing, chewing on Dean’s cock, Dean began to move, rising and falling as he thrust his tool deep into Joey’s ass on each stroke. Joey was gasping at every thrust. Dean gradually increased his speed until he had passed beyond the limits of conscious thought and was hammering breathlessly and thoughtlessly at Joey’s hole, smacking out a rapid tattoo of slaps against those beautiful cheeks. Joey began moaning louder and louder, sensing that he was going to cum soon, that it was going to be big, and that he was going to shoot hands-free as Dean fucked the cum out of him. “Oh, God, Dean, you’re gonna make me cum. Don’t stop, slam fuck me, make me shoot!” Dean came back to full consciousness to realize that he was pounding Joey at near-supersonic speed, and quickly reaching the point of no return himself. “Fuck, yeah – get ready to take my load ‘cause I’m going to blast my cum right up inside you. Fuck! Fuck!! Fuck!!!!” With that, Dean gave one last vicious slam deep inside Joey and held his cock there as it convulsed repeatedly. With the fifth shot, Dean began rabbit-punching that ass, driving each individual thrust and shot of sperm as deep as he could go. He dimly sensed that Joey’s ass ring was going through some epic convulsions of its own, and distantly heard Joey wailing, “Fuck, fuck!” as the cum spewed out of his cock onto the bedsheets underneath him. At last, that massive climax tailed off into silence, a silence only broken by the two men gasping helplessly for breath. Dean slowly let his cock slide out of Joey’s hole, and then looked down proudly at what he had done, as a long stream of cum flowed out of Joey’s ass, down his taint and over his balls. Dean buried his face in that crack again, carefully licked and sucked up all the cum he could get, and then told Joey, “Roll over.” Joey obediently rolled onto his back and lay there, chest heaving, as Dean dribbled and drizzled all that cum all over his abs and pecs. He then bent down and licked it all up again into his mouth, used his fingers to pry Joey’s mouth open, and spat his entire load into Joey’s mouth, snapping “Swallow!” as he did so. Joey obediently followed orders, and then grinned, a grin that made him look ten years old all of a sudden, as he said, “Yum!” That made them both laugh, as Dean let his elbows unlock and fell on the bed alongside Joey. They rolled to face each other and embraced. “Damn,” Joey said, “you don’t look like anything out of the ordinary but that was a fuck for the record books!” Dean laughed. “Oh, I’m quite ordinary. I like to give as much as take, so when it comes to being the top, I just give my bottom what I’d like to get myself if I were in his place.” They laughed again, snuggled closer, and dozed off for an hour or so. Dean awoke first. It was still only eleven p.m., and his cock was hard again – and it wasn’t a piss hard-on. Joey had turned him on so much that he was raring to go for another round and plant another load of his seed inside Joey’s on-so-tempting ass. He got around behind Joey, pushed him down flat on the bed, and buried his face in that incredible peach again. As he did, he heard Joey’s voice from in front of him: “Well, it’s about time. I thought you were done for the night, and you were just going to lie there and snore until sunrise.” “I don’t snore.” Joey laughed and made loud snoring sounds. “I do not snore!!!” Dean’s hand landed with a loud smack on Joey’s ass, then again, and again. Joey made his snoring sounds again, even louder and more exaggerated, and Dean quickly got the message. He began smacking Joey’s plump ass cheeks, harder and harder, switching from left to right and back again. Then he pulled Joey right up onto his lap. Joey squirmed and giggled, trying to get away, but Dean was having none of that, and he kept up his spanking until Joey’s ass was starting to turn quite a rosy shade of sunset. At last Joey tried again to wiggle away. Dean held onto him, but Joey loudly said, “Safe word!” Dean stopped. “Say what?” “I’m saying that if we were going to go full speed ahead into that scene, we really should have set a safe word first.” Dean laughed. “No, we don’t need to. I’m not really into that bondage thing, I was just doing what I thought you would enjoy. Anyway, that peach looks nice and ripe now. Ready to be picked, if you know what I mean.” “You like ripe peaches?” “I definitely like this one!” Joey laughed too. “Stop talking and get on your back. I want to ride you this time.” Dean rolled flat onto his back, his cock jutting aggressively up into the air. Joey straddled him, grasped the cock, and lowered himself onto it, taking it all into himself in one smooth slide which left him sitting astride Dean’s hips, facing his feet. Without stopping, Joey immediately began to ride up and down, using his ass to pull on Dean’s tool at each upstroke, and then letting his hole relax so the hard meat stick could slide back in as he sat down. He had Dean groaning soon enough from the sensations Joey’s talented peach was giving him. In another minute or so, he sensed that Dean was going to come soon. But Joey wanted this to last, so he pulled off, turned around, and swallowed Dean’s cock down deep, licking and sucking it, but gently, so as not to drive Dean over the edge too quickly. But Joey wanted to cum too, and finally climbed back up and sat down, this time facing Dean. He planted his hands on Dean’s chest as he rode, tweaking Dean’s nipples as he slid up and down. Dean copied his move, reaching up with both arms at full length to play with Joey’s nipples as Joey’s self-fucking shifted into high gear. Then, suddenly, the moment was there. Joey groaned aloud, speeded up even more, and then went rigid as his cock pumped out another load all over Dean’s body. Joey could usually cum hands-free when he wanted to but getting there twice in a night was another story. Just as he thought that, Dean began slamming hard up inside him and, after about ten strokes, fired off half a dozen spurts of a second large load of cum up into Joey’s ass. Joey collapsed across Dean’s chest, Dean’s cock slowly softened and slid out of his hole. Dean’s cum trickled slowly out, with no one to interfere with its natural path down onto Joey’s taint and balls. And time stood still. After a few minutes, Joey rolled off, and Dean sat up. “Joey, I need a shower.” “Just out the door to the left.” Joey slipped on a jockstrap as Dean showered up, and then met Dean at the door once he was dressed. They slipped their arms around each other and kissed some more. Opening the door to let himself out, Dean turned back to kiss Joey goodnight. They locked lips and swapped tongues one last time – and then Dean said, “Sorry, I really have to go.” “Can I see you again?” “I can’t say. It was great fun tonight, for sure, but….” Dean let his voice trail off. Joey got the message. “Okay. Good night.” Dean sauntered off down the stairs. As always, he checked carefully to be sure there were no hidden cameras around. Next, he looked back up to check that Joey wasn’t following or watching him, and down to be sure that no one else was watching. All clear. Dean casually stepped back against the wall and closed his eyes for a moment. And vanished.

@tankonpoint thanks for the feedback! No surprise, I have been a scholar of history all my life and used to teach it, so the idea of weaving history into the tale came completely naturally. I have been experimenting with building it up to book length, but haven't gotten too far yet.

Definitely an intriguing opening. I'll be waiting to see where you go with this one, @losolent

@negchaserlooking Thank you so much for the compliment. I've really enjoyed writing these two interwoven stories. I'm glad you liked reading this one so much.

Chapter 9: The Perfect Sunrise The aircraft flew low over the brilliant blue of the ocean, the wheels looking as if they were going to graze the wavetops as the plane skimmed close above the surface. “Are you sure there’s actually something to land on out here?” Andrew chuckled. “Yes, it’s just ahead of us. If you were looking out the other side, you’d be able to see all three of the islands, and the airport terminal. We’ll be down in less than a minute.” Just then, a dark smudge slipped by below them, and the water changed colour to the most eye-popping greens and turquoises. “Wow! What is that???” Wonderment and astonishment in equal measures filled his voice. “That’s the coral reef. Inside the reef, the water’s a lot shallower and has a sandy bottom, and that’s where you’re seeing the greens. And any second now….” “Land! Thank goodness!” The artificial shoreline of the airport slid below them, the end of the runway followed moments later, and in a few more seconds the plane touched down smoothly, the reverse thrust fired up, and the aircraft slowed down, then turned off the runway to taxi up to the terminal. “On behalf of Air Alcantara, your flight crew and cabin crew, and the 185,000 smiling people who live in our island home, welcome to Alcantara. Please remain seated with seatbelts fastened until the aircraft comes to a complete stop at the terminal….” Andrew let the rest of the arrival announcement wash over him without listening. They were here. They were back. Was it really less than a year since he’d last landed in Alcantara? It seemed far longer, but then it had been such an eventful year. First there’d been the death of his Uncle Rich, who had for so long been such a key anchor point in his life. Then there’d been the horror show of the accident, the terrible weeks of sitting in the hospital day by day, waiting for Markus to come back to him. The shock when Markus finally awoke and didn’t remember Andrew at all – that had been the worst day of his entire life, no question. And then there’d been the whole wild emotional roller-coaster ride ever since then, as he and Markus navigated the challenge of learning how to fall in love all over again. They gathered up their things, and Markus eyed him curiously. “Are you okay, Andrew?” “Yes, I’m fine. Just remembering all the things that have happened since the last time I came here.” As always, the moist tropical air hit them in the face with a damp heated towel as they stepped off the plane and walked down the stairs, then across the apron to the terminal entrance. Andrew chuckled, remembering when he’d first come to Alcantara as a boy six years of age, give or take, and that was exactly how it had felt – like his mom, slapping a warm wet cloth on his face to wash off the dirt of a busy afternoon playing in the muddy stream near their home in Toronto. Once inside, Andrew steered towards the right-hand exit, where the sign displayed the baggage claim and customs inspection symbols and the words, “Exit: Alcantara Island & Portavedra.” They looked around with shining eyes at the sparkling-clean interior of the brand-new catamaran ferry, which Andrew guessed as being at least 50% bigger than the older vessel they’d crossed with on their last visit. Once the ferry had whisked them at top speed across to land on the main island, they quickly cleared customs, picked up their bags, and steered out the door into the public area of the Portavedra terminal. The lean, tanned, ramrod-straight Asian man who walked briskly towards them could have passed for being in his mid-fifties in other circles. There was nothing to show that he was 72 unless you already knew that as an independent fact. “Andrew!” “Uncle Tommy!” “It’s so good to see you here again, my boy!” “It’s great to be back!” They hugged and kissed then, still holding each other, and Tommy looked Andrew squarely in the eye. “You have no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to this visit. Life has been so quiet these last months.” “And lonely too, I’m sure. I’m sorry we couldn’t arrange to come in time for your birthday last week.” “That doesn’t matter. This is going to be a great birthday celebration for me!” Tommy then turned to Markus, giving him another kiss and a fierce hug. “Markus, it’s so good to see you again and to welcome you to Alcantara for the first time for the second time.” That made all of them laugh. But Tommy was moving right on. “And this is Henrik. Welcome to Alcantara, Henrik! Very glad to see you here at last.” Another kiss and hug, and then he continued. “Let’s get moving. We have to drive pretty small cars here because of the narrow, twisting roads, but these fellows will help.” He walked over to a counter with a sign which read “Alcantara Baggage Services.” “Tommy!” the man behind the counter called out. “I haven’t seen you here in the terminal for ages!” “Hi, Jackie. We’ve got some bags to send up.” “No problem, I’ll put them right onto the first van. They should arrive just a few minutes behind you.” Once the bags were tagged, Tommy led them outside to the parking area, and they saw exactly what he meant by small cars. Most of the tiny import cars would be mistaken for overgrown motor scooters in North America. “Tallest guy rides shotgun,” Tommy said, and Markus and Andrew automatically waved Henrik forward. Once all four of them squeezed into the little vehicle, Tommy fired it up and headed off along the shore road towards the miniature capital city of Portavedra. On the way, they drove by the towering cranes of the cargo port, and the cruise ship dock, where a giant white cruise liner was busily reboarding passengers for an imminent departure. Henrik had to ask, “That man at the baggage counter – he knew who you were and where you live?” Andrew laughed. “Get used to it, Henrik!” Tommy supplied a slightly more helpful answer. “Henrik, in this country I actually became a celebrity without doing anything. Pretty much everyone in Alcantara knows who I am and where I live.” Andrew laughed again. “Don’t be so modest, Uncle Tommy. What he really means, Henrik, is that he didn’t do anything except become the chair of the social sciences department and then the dean of students at the university, co-designed and curated the exhibits at the history museum and the museum of the people of Alcantara, wrote and published a 3-volume history of the country….” “…and married the guy who ended up becoming the President for 15 years,” Markus put in. Tommy laughed. “That last one was what really did the trick. I was actually pretty invisible except among the academics until Rich became so prominent.” With that, they drove into the city, then Tommy turned up onto Hillward Street, pointing out the legislature, the cathedral, and the museum campus to them as the car mounted up the steep, twisting hill. They climbed higher and higher still into the residential district, and then Tommy turned off onto Suncrest Drive, and along the gently curving road before pulling into the driveway of a long, low bungalow, the sort of house that used to be called “ranch style.” “Welcome home, fellows!” They all got out. Tommy led them in through the front door – and Markus and Henrik stopped in amazement at the sheer size and crisp, elegant décor of the broad living-dining-kitchen area. Beyond the room, through the panoramic windows and sliding glass doors, they could see the huge pool. Farther beyond that, in the distance, were the hills on the far side of the city and the blue water of the ocean stretching off into infinity. Tommy then took them down the hall and into the master bedroom suite. “I’m putting you gents in here,” he said. Andrew immediately protested. “Uncle Tommy, you can’t do that! This is your room!” Tommy chuckled. “Actually, I can. After all, I am the manager of this hotel.” He laughed aloud. “I figured with three of you, you would need lots of space – and this room has the biggest closet. And the biggest bed.” He then favoured them with a wink and a dirty grin, before adding, “And the biggest shower!” They all laughed. “I don’t mind at all being in the guest room for a while. If I put you in there, you’d be having to draw straws every night to see which one would be having to sleep on the living room couch.” The doorbell rang, and Tommy said, “That’ll be the bags.” Once he’d tipped the driver generously, over Andrew’s protests that he should be the one to do it, they brought all the bags in. And Tommy made an announcement. “Okay, fellows, the meeting will resume in the pool in ten minutes. Get going!” Actually, it took only about seven minutes for the three of them to get their bags open, get out their swimsuits, and wash off the grime of the journey. Then they headed outside – to find Tommy already in the pool, busily grinding out some laps. They sat on the edge, their feet dangling in the water, and simply watched as Tommy swam back and forth, his elite swimming background and long years of regular lap swimming clearly evident in every stroke. Henrik was especially awed. “I’m not more than a third of his age and I can’t swim anything like that well.” After they’d watched him for five minutes, Tommy stopped at the near end, took off his goggles, and said, “Well? Are you going to just sit there and stare at me all day? Get your asses in here with me!” With that, Andrew stood up and dived neatly in. He had never been in Tommy’s league, but he had gotten some swimming lessons when he was young. Markus followed, also doing not too badly. Henrik stood up last and executed a perfect dive – if a perfectly graceless bellyflop could be counted as perfect. All three of them laughed at him. “Sorry about that,” he apologized. “I never had any swimming lessons.” “Well, what do you expect?” Tommy replied. “Nobody can ever look graceful trying to dive into the water while wearing a pair of baggy board shorts two sizes too big for him. First thing tomorrow, we go shopping and get you a proper swimsuit.” Henrik tried to demur, but Andrew just laughed louder. “Uncle Tommy, stop that! You know perfectly well that you’re trying to check him out, and you can’t see anything interesting when he’s wearing that big sack. I can read you like a book, and you’ve got ‘dirty mind’ shining out of your eyes like a pair of spotlights.” “Damn, busted,” Tommy said, leading the laughter. They swam around in the pool for half an hour, with Tommy giving Henrik a few simple swimming pointers to help him get more at home moving around in the water. Markus was the first one to get chilly, and he climbed out of the pool in his tight black speedo, walking over to the outsized hot tub. Andrew followed a moment later, his yellow speedo plainly see-through-when-wet – and Henrik was plainly seeing. Henrik, then, came over, hot on Andrew’s heels, and Markus said, “Hey, Henrik, just drop those heavy shorts before you climb in. I’m sure this hot tub has seen buck-ass-naked guys before tonight, right, Uncle Tommy?” Henrik skinned down his shorts and got down into the hot tub beside the others. And then Tommy climbed out of the pool, to a chorus of wolf-whistles and cheers from his audience. It was quite obvious that his entire body had been kept just as youthful as his face, and he could definitely hold his own in speedos, too. He sat down in the hot tub with them, smiling complacently, and saying, “It’s amazing what five miles or so of swimming every week will do to keep you young and fit.” After they’d soaked in the hot tub for a few minutes, Tommy asked, “Drinks out here in the hot tub, or go inside and get dressed first?” Everyone opted for getting dressed, as the sun was going down behind the hills and the breeze was feeling cooler. In another twenty minutes, they met back in the living room, and Tommy passed around the cocktail shaker, pouring margaritas for everyone. Then he raised a glass and toasted them: “To my guests, and a warm welcome to my home.” They all drank to that, and then Andrew took his turn. “To my Uncle Tommy, the man who’s done so much to help us all throughout these last difficult months.” That toast was greeted and drunk with loud acclaim. Conversation then revolved around first impressions of Alcantara from Henrik and Markus, until Tommy got up to go and get dinner ready. Then Andrew took the others outside to look at the view of the city and the harbour by night, all illuminated. In time, Tommy called them to the table, and they sat down to a dinner of pan-seared local fish with fruit salsa and green salad. As they ate, they all complimented him on the meal, with Andrew telling the others that Tommy had done some professional chef training when he was younger. Later that night, as they crawled into bed, Andrew asked Henrik if he was having a good time. His response, more serious than Andrew expected, was both insightful and thoughtful. “I really like your uncle. I can tell that he’s been lonely, because he’s making the absolute most of the together time with the three of us. He’s such a kind, thoughtful man, and I think he must have had an amazing life with your birth uncle. And this whole country – it’s not what I expected at all, so much more developed than I thought it would be, but still feeling a lot more European than North American. I can definitely sense why you love it here so much, Andrew.” “They did have an amazing life together, Henrik. I’m glad you could pick up on that.” The three of them settled down into the huge bed together, with Andrew taking the centre position this time. There was no sex play after the long travel day, but there was a fair bit of kissing before they dropped off to sleep. In the morning, it was a different matter. Andrew awoke, as usual, to the sensation of a warm tongue and lips digging away into his ass crack. After a minute of lying there with eyes closed, enjoying the feelings, he snapped up abruptly when he heard Markus saying, “Hey, Henrik, that’s my job you’re doing!” Andrew squirmed around to find that it was Henrik who had been rimming him. And Henrik laughed. “Well, Markus, if you’re looking for something to do, you can start working on my ass if you like. I know you want to.” Just like that, they formed into a three-man rimming chain, with Henrik in the middle, and getting the best of it both ways. Before long, all three of them were moaning audibly. Andrew muttered, “Keep it down, guys, it’s early and we don’t want to wake up Uncle Tommy.” “Fuck,” Henrik chortled, “he’s probably listening in right now with a water glass pressed against the wall!” He then redoubled his assault on Andrew’s beautiful firm round butt, adding a prodding finger to the mix and slowly worming his way inside. Almost as soon as he did that, he felt Markus wiggling a finger into his own hole, and that’s when he realized that he might be getting to fuck Andrew, but he was going to get fucked by Markus at the same time. Henrik was ready, and so was Andrew. He placed the head of his cock against Andrew’s hole, and the hole bloomed, opening up and swallowing him. As he sank in, he felt Markus’s cock prodding against his own ass and did his best to relax, as Andrew had done, and let Markus into him. Markus pushed a little harder, and then Henrik’s muscle gave way and Markus popped the head of his cock inside Henrik. Then he leaned down, and whispered into Henrik’s ear, “Okay, it’s all up to you. Start the train moving whenever you’re ready.” After a moment, Henrik understood what he was saying, and began to pull slowly out of Andrew while Markus held steady behind him. As Henrik came back out of Andrew’s butt, Markus was sinking deep inside him. Once he established the rhythm, he moved easily back and forth between his two partners, diving into Andrew as he pulled away from Markus, and then fucking himself on Markus as he pulled back out of Andrew. Up and down Henrik moved, loving the whole sensation of fucking and being fucked at the same time. He’d never done this before, and the feelings he was getting from it were really intense. Andrew was finding it intense, too. Not only was he feeling Henrik’s big cock probing deep inside him, but he also sensed the weight of the two men pressing down on his back, although neither one was letting his full weight bear down. Andrew felt almost as if both of them were fucking him at the same time. On that thought, and without even thinking about it, he gasped, “I want both of you inside me. Together. Now!” Henrik stopped. Markus asked, “Andrew, are you sure?” “Yes, I want both your cocks inside my ass, now, dammit. Come on! Double fuck me!!!” Markus pulled out of Henrik. Henrik rolled sideways, onto his back, bringing Andrew up on top of him. Then he grabbed Andrew by the shoulders and pulled him down until he was lying on his back on Henrik’s chest, with his legs up and his hole wide open to Markus, even with Henrik’s cock inside him. Markus grabbed the lube, spread it liberally over his cock, slapped some extra onto Andrew’s hole and Henrik’s cock, and then tossed the bottle aside. He moved the tip of his cockhead against Andrew, resting on top of the thick shaft already inside him. Once again, he asked if Andrew was sure, getting a frantic, “Fuck, yeah!” in return. It took a bit of time. Markus had to keep up the pressure for a couple of minutes, but then Andrew’s hole slowly expanded, softened, and yielded to his assault. At last, the head slipped inside. The sensation of being jammed right inside along with Henrik was almost more than Markus could bear, but he slowly bore down until most of his cock was inside Andrew’s widely stretched hole. Andrew himself was moaning and hissing and gasping for air as his ass struggled to come to terms with the massive invasion. Eventually he began to slide off and back on again, a little at a time, and then a little more. His face contorted with a mix of pain and concentration, he slowly fucked himself on the two big dicks inside his body. “Oh, God,” he gasped out, “that feels so fucking…. It hurts, but it’s incredible. Don’t stop! Fuck me, you two big studs, with those big hard dicks!” It was Markus who began pumping first, and Andrew stopped moving, letting Markus do the work. Henrik, on the underside, was incredibly turned on by the feeling of Markus rubbing against his cock, and Andrew’s tightly stretched ass gripping both of them. After a minute, he began moving too, heaving his hips up and down to pump his cock in and out of Andrew’s hole. It was more than any of them could stand for long. Henrik was hitting Andrew’s prostate on every stroke, and suddenly Andrew gasped, shouted, “Oh, fuck!” and began pumping streamers of cum all over Henrik’s ridged abs. A moment later, incredibly turned on by the spasms of Andrew’s hole as it tried to clench around him, Henrik suddenly convulsed, shooting his cum inside Andrew’s ravaged butt. The feeling of the hot cum sloshing around set Markus off, and he pumped another massive load inside Andrew seconds later, twisting and heaving in orgasm and feeling the huge, combined load of sperm leaking out around his tool and dripping slowly down onto Henrik’s balls and thighs. Markus softened first and fell out. Henrik slid out right after him. Andrew held himself there, quivering and gasping as his hole gaped open, unable to shut itself properly after having those two big cocks in him at once. Then his elbows gave out and he collapsed onto Henrik, while Markus rolled aside and lay down next to them, their three dicks all dripping wet and sweat pouring off them. Just then, there came a knock on the door, and before they could even think of what to do, Tommy opened it, eyed them with a knowing grin, winked, and asked, “Coffee or ice water for breakfast, you piggies?” That day, Tommy made good on his word and went shopping, returning with a new bright-blue speedo for Henrik to wear. Henrik modelled it out at the pool, to loud approval from the other three. Tommy gave him some more little lessons in effective swimming, including getting him to put his face under the water, and looked very pleased as he said, “Henrik, you’re a natural! It’s a pity you didn’t get some good swimming training before you became a teenager, but you’re making up lost ground really quickly.” All in all, it was a very relaxing time up there on the hill. The three younger fellows walked down the winding road into the city each day, early enough that the tropical heat and humidity didn’t become oppressive. Afternoons were devoted to the pool and hot tub, and evenings led to more long conversations, with Tommy telling all kinds of stories about his years with Rich. Andrew found himself learning things about his uncle that he had never suspected, all of which went to making him seem even more human and lovable. On the fifth full day of their stay, Andrew and Markus wanted to take a tour through the three museums downtown. Henrik found that idea less interesting, and Tommy offered to take him on a driving tour around the island, a good choice since it was a brilliant sunny day and drier than it had been so far during their visit. Before they all left for the day, Tommy urged Andrew and Markus to meet them at Bahía de la Paz for a swim followed by dinner at the hotel. “Take the number 2 bus from the bus station. It’s just down the hill from the museums. If you catch the three o’clock bus, you’ll be in good time. Give me your towels and stuff, and I’ll bring those in the car, that way you can just wear swimsuits under your clothes.” As the drove around the island, Henrik asked Tommy all kinds of questions about Alcantara. Since Tommy was the pre-eminent scholar of Alcantaran history and culture, Henrik got all kinds of details right from the source that he would only have found otherwise after tedious hours of research. He said as much, and Tommy laughed. “I’ve always enjoyed teaching my students about this country. The only difference was that I used to get well-paid for the privilege of getting to do it.” For lunch they stopped at a little roadside café on the point of land nearest to the neighbouring island of Isabella, and sat on the patio, enjoying the view of the towering peak across the water as they wolfed down some lightly battered amberjack bites with an incredible sweet and spicy chili dip, which Tommy highly recommended. While they were eating, Tommy explained all about the open-pit diamond mine on the slopes of that mountain – the main source of the country’s phenomenal prosperity. After lunch he drove them up to the lookout on the crest of Saddle Mountain, the best spot on Alcantara from which to see both other islands at once: Isabella to the southwest and the coral atoll of Serafina, with the airport, to the northeast. Then Tommy looked at his watch, and said, “We’d better head for Bahía de la Paz now, so we don’t keep the others waiting.” Down the mountain road, back through the city and past the port area, and then they arrived at the beach parking lot at just about three o’clock. Tommy urged Henrik to shed his clothes and catch some rays on the sand, while he went to sit on the terrace of the hotel. “When the others arrive, I’ll get a tray of drinks all around.” Henrik peeled off his clothes, surprised to feel no self-consciousness on his first public outing in a speedo. He lay down on his back on a towel, popped his sunglasses back on, and just laid there with his eyes closed, thinking about what a beautiful day he’d had, not least about how much better he now understood the love that had held Tommy and Rich together for nearly half a century, and still guided all of Tommy’s dealings with his nephews. And I guess I have to consider myself a nephew now, too, he thought as he glanced up at Tommy, who was watching him with a reminiscent smile from the terrace. Meanwhile, Andrew and Markus had bought a day pass for all three museums, visiting the history museum and the Museum of the People of Alcantara before lunch. They were intrigued to learn that the nineteenth-century mansion, Hillward Hall, which housed the history museum had been the Presidential Palace, until Rich had left it in favour of his own home which – truth be told – was both more palatial and more regally situated, high up on the hill. They then solemnly posed for pictures at the dedication plaque in the atrium of the Museum of the People, which commemorated the official naming of the museum building as Dunnatore Hall, in honour of Uncle Rich when he retired from the Museum Board. For lunch, they sat out at one of the outdoor cafés on the Cathedral Square, having croissant sandwiches with café au lait, and feeling more European than any other place west of the Atlantic that they’d ever seen. They then devoted a solid hour to the museum of the Alcantaran environment in Seaward Hall, a particular interest area for both of them. It was about twenty after three when the bus stopped at the midpoint of the beach. Andrew and Markus jumped off, removed their shoes, and began walking out onto the sand. “I remember this beach perfectly. Most of what I’ve seen while I’m here has not turned up yet in my memories of the past, but this place looks exactly the way I pictured it,” Markus said wistfully. They took each other’s hand and strolled down towards the edge of the water, where the gentle waves were washing hypnotically up onto the shore. “It’s not so placid when they get hit by a nor’easter storm,” Andrew said with a chuckle. “But right now it’s perfect.” They turned their steps towards the hotel, and Andrew said, “See them yet?” Markus replied, “There he is,” gesturing at Henrik, and that’s when Andrew spotted the tall, lean man in a blue speedo stretched out on a towel. And then he stopped, gasping aloud. “What’s wrong, Andrew?” “Markus, I just remembered a dream I had. It was the night when you called me from wherever you were hiding out. I just realized what an idiot I was to not understand what that dream was trying to tell me. It wasn’t an ordinary dream; it was a prevision. What just happened now, that was exactly what happened in my dream, and you said the exact same words that you said just now as you pointed at Henrik.” “Any thoughts?” “Well, you know that this is a place which was so important to my Uncle Rich. I think he may have been trying to talk to me in my dreams, telling me that a triad was the way our lives were going to go.” “Wow, Andrew that’s pretty weird – certainly something more than just coincidence. Look, there’s Tommy coming down from the hotel terrace and it looks like he’s bringing refreshments.” “What are we waiting for, then?” “I don’t know, you’re the one who stopped walking. Let’s move it, that pitcher – looks like sangria -- is just going to get warm if we don’t hurry up.” Arriving by Henrik, they popped open a bag which Tommy had brought and hauled out more towels, then they peeled off their clothes too. In a few minutes, all of them were stretched out on the sand, enjoying the warmth of the tropical sun and hating the idea of going home to Vancouver’s notoriously rainy and windy winter. A couple of rounds of sangria framed a leisurely swim in the ocean, one taken for pleasure rather than exercise. As they were stretching out again after the swim, Tommy remarked, apropos nothing at all, “I should have gotten red instead.” The other three just looked at him. “Sorry, I was reminiscing again. If the turning point in a person’s life has a spot on the map, right here on the sand is where my ‘x’ would have to go. When I’d been in Alcantara for a year and a half, teaching at the university – I was still in my twenties – I came down to the beach here one day. As I was sunning, I saw a very good-looking young guy come down from the hotel terrace, spread out a towel, and then pull his clothes off, just as you fellows did. He laid down here to get some rays, and all I could think was, ‘I have to talk to him.’ “I picked up my stuff and walked over here to say hello, asking if we hadn’t met before. He said he couldn’t tell unless I took my sunglasses off, so I told him to do the same. Right away, I recognized him as the hot lawyer I’d met at an embassy reception in Ottawa twenty months earlier. We swam together, we talked, we had a killer dinner up there on the terrace, and he invited me back to his room – that night, and the next night, and for the whole rest of the week before his holidays ended. And I gave him a name. He introduced himself as Rick, telling me that his mom and grandma called him Ricky. I said I wouldn’t call him Rick or Ricky because it sounded too college-kid-jock. I said, ‘You’re Rich.’ From then on, he was -- and by the end of the week we were a couple.” After a long silence, during which a few teary eyes got wiped dry, Andrew said, “So this is where you met. Wow.” Henrik, ever practical, put in, “And the red? What about that?” Tommy laughed. “Rich was wearing red speedos that day! You’d have looked even more like him, lying on the beach, if I’d bought you red instead of blue.” That made them all laugh. After more conversation, and a long, leisurely dinner on the hotel terrace, they piled back into the car, with bags on laps a necessity, and drove home. The beauty of a winter holiday in Alcantara, as Andrew had long known and the others were learning, was that you could do everything, or nothing, in whatever proportions and for as long as you felt like it. One thing the three younger men often felt like was some more energetic, not to say acrobatic, sex. They learned to put up with Tommy’s not-quite-subtle sarcasm and meaning expressions after they’d had one of their noisy fuck sessions. As all good things must come to an end, the last day of their holiday drew near. On the final full day, Markus had dragged Andrew downtown for some shopping, but Henrik sat quietly in the living room, musing on the strange turn his life had taken. Tommy came in, bringing a pitcher of iced tea, which he’d learned Henrik liked, and asked, “Anything wrong? Want to talk?” “I think I would. If that’s okay, Unc… I mean, Tommy.” “Henrik, I’d be honoured if you would call me ‘Uncle Tommy’ as the others do.” “Thanks, Uncle Tommy. Well, here it is. I’m still feeling a bit uncertain about this triad thing, if this is really the right thing for me to do. And I feel bad about that, because I was the one saying we all had to agree to go all in or it was no use. And now, I’m the one getting second thoughts and cold feet.” Tommy pondered that. “What kinds of second thoughts?” “Oh, things like what happens if one of us changes his mind, or what if one of us meets someone else, stuff like that. I guess it’s partly because I had one short relationship that cracked up after only a month or so, and then one really bad one that was complete hell to get out of.” He took a deep gulp of his iced tea. “And now, I begin to wonder if I’m even cut out to commit to something like this, or if I’ve been burned so badly that I can’t ever really commit again.” “Henrik, those are perfectly reasonable doubts to have, and there’s nothing wrong with you because such thoughts float through your head – as long as you don’t let those negative ideas rule you. Look, I’m going to share something with you, and I hope nobody will get mad at me for spilling the beans. Rich and I each had two bad experiences before we met each other. Andrew had a couple of short but bad ones in college – Rich and I spent quite a few hours on the phone, talking him through those. Markus told me he’d had some bad experiences in Germany before he moved to Canada to escape the last one. “I guess what I’m saying is that bad experiences and relationships that turn sour are part of life. Most people have them. It’s not good if you obsess over them, or if you let them cut you off from other possibilities, but just know that you aren’t alone in struggling with your past. But look at where it went. Rich and I committed to each other, then we married, and we were together for almost fifty years before he died – just about a year ago now. Andrew and Markus landed with the right pairing too, and married, and they’ve been together for over 20 years. And now, they’ve opened up their relationship to become a triad with you and done it quickly and willingly. You are now just as much a part of their lives as they are for each other, and I can see that what wasn’t there to begin with is starting to appear now – Andrew loving you, and you loving Markus. “You can kill so much of the joy and excitement in your life by letting those awful doubts – those ‘but what if?’ thoughts – control you. Set them aside. If something does happen, time enough then to deal with it, but for now, take your life in all its richness and live it as fully and whole-heartedly as you can. There’s no substitute for that, and no better way to live.” Henrik sat, quietly, absorbing what Tommy had said, and at last he spoke. “Thank you, Uncle Tommy. I guess I really knew all of that already, but I needed to hear you pull it up and put it into words so I couldn’t miss the significance of it all. And now I know exactly why Andrew and Markus always get that happy look on their faces when they talk about you. The way you always know just how to explain everything and clear the air – det er fedt!” Tommy’s look contained equal measures of pleasure and confusion. “Sorry, Tommy, I just slipped back into Danish. That means ‘it’s awesome’ – more or less.” “Henrik, you three are going to be just fine, and I hope you’ll remain that way for many a year. Give me a hug to seal the deal.” The two of them hugged strongly, whole-heartedly, sealing their new uncle-nephew relationship forever. As they held each other close, Henrik realized that he too had changed – he had finally found the courage to set aside all his doubts and, as he’d said weeks ago to the others, to go all in. Just then, Andrew and Markus walked in the door. “Well,” Andrew said, “what’s made you two go all emotional like that? Henrik, was he comforting you because I swiped the last two slices of pizza yesterday?” Everyone laughed, and Tommy said, “Come on, boys, it’s getting on, and we need to squeeze in another swim before the sun goes down.” They dispersed to the rooms to get changed. Andrew and Markus got to the terrace first and started off in the hot tub. When Tommy arrived a minute later, he dived right into the pool and swam half a dozen quick laps before joining them in the hot tub. As they soaked peacefully in the bubbling water, Markus suddenly said, “Hey! We’re missing Henrik.” Andrew asked, “Where is he?” Tommy replied, “He had a phone call. He’ll be out in a minute.” Just then, Henrik slid open the glass door from the living room and stepped through – and Andrew gasped again. “What, Andrew? Your dream again?” Markus asked. “Yes, it was.” With that, Andrew proceeded to tell the three of them all about the dream he’d had, and how he now saw it was a prevision of their afternoon on the beach and this moment on the patio. Tommy smiled. “Rich was talking to you again, Andrew. And this was before you called me to ask about how to handle the situation with Markus and Henrik’s true confessions, wasn’t it?” Andrew nodded. “That Rich. He’d figured out about this triad before any of the rest of us. Rich always seemed to catch on to everything before I did, and he’s still at it.” He shook his head slowly and reminiscently for a moment, and then snapped out of it. “One more swim, come on!” They all climbed out of the tub and dived back into the pool and swam laps back and forth for another fifteen minutes. Even Henrik was now holding his own reasonably well. When Andrew complimented him on the improvement, he pointed to Tommy’s lessons, but Tommy scoffed at that. “Hah! You just needed to shed all that dead weight, ten kilos of wet cotton. You swim a lot better without those outsize baggy shorts. And you look a lot better without them, too – really sleek and sexy.” Immediately, Markus and Andrew moved in on either side of Henrik. Andrew spoke for all of them. “Sorry, Uncle Tommy, you can’t have him. He’s taken.” Tommy laughed joyously, as the three younger guys kissed each other. That night, as they lay together in bed, Henrik told Andrew and Markus briefly about his long conversation with Tommy. “I needed that chance to air my doubts, and for him to remind me that we all have shadows in our past, but we can still live and love fully in spite of those bad moments. And I really want to live, and love, with both of you, just as much as I possibly can.” And with that, he turned to Markus. “I love you, Markus.” Markus’s eyes teared right up as Henrik said that to him for the first time ever. Andrew realized immediately what a significant moment this was, and he in turn spoke. “All of us want to live this life, fully, together. I love you, Henrik.” And with that, quietly and naturally, the two links missing from the triad were completed. Now they were all kissing each other, murmuring their love to each other, and their cocks were filling rapidly -- but there was an unspoken agreement that they wanted to take plenty of time, to live fully in the moment, that tonight was more about affirming their mutual love than about getting their rocks off. Henrik went first, slowly moving around until the was on top of Markus, Markus wrapped his arms and legs around Henrik, stroking his firm muscled body, feeling a strong rush of love and gratitude for this man who had worked so hard to bring his damaged limbs back to full life. Henrik moved his body slowly, sliding back and forth on top of Markus, their hard cocks rubbing against each other as they continued kissing. Andrew got down between Henrik’s legs and began tonguing Markus’ hole, guessing where their lovemaking would end up. The combined effect of Henrik’s kisses and Andrew’s tongue soon had Markus gasping for air and writhing slowly on the bed, his hands now squeezing as well as stroking Henrik while Henrik kept sliding back and forth on top of him. Markus broke their kisses to look Henrik in the eye and say, “I want you now. I want to feel you inside me, like I’ve never felt you before.” Andrew took the cue and backed off from the hole, then took Henrik’s cock, lubed it up with his spit, and placed the tip against Markus’ tight hole. Henrik leaned, and Markus immediately relaxed and opened, taking it in, wanting it, letting Henrik slowly sink all the way inside him. Andrew now pulled back, wanting to savour for the first time this rare experience of watching these two men that he loved so much making love together. Henrik may have been young, but he certainly knew how to pace himself. He continued his slow, gentle fucking of Markus for twenty nonstop minutes, without any letup in the easy stroking of his body or the soft, loving kissing going on between them. Andrew was near to tears as he watched them bonding so firmly, knowing that his vision of the triad was at last coming to full flower and that these two were sharing the love between them in every way they knew how to do. At last, Henrik could feel his orgasm approaching, and he couldn’t hold back any longer. Markus sensed it, and murmured, “Give it to me, Henrik. Give me all you have. Love me, Henrik, with all you have to give me.” Even then, Henrik didn’t speed up. He simply kept pumping slowly and gently in and out, until his cock convulsed, and the seed flowed out of him into Markus, filling him up. At last Henrik let himself slip out of Markus, but they continued to embrace and hold each other close. Now, they each reached out an arm to draw Andrew to them as well, and the three-way kissing continued for some time. Then Andrew felt his cock beginning to stiffen, and he knew just what to do. It was his turn to finish the triad, to make love to Henrik. And he wanted to. He needed to. His heart ached to finish what they had all started, to complete the bonds they had been building among themselves. Henrik knew it too. He rolled onto his back, lifting his legs, and said, “I’m ready now. I want you inside me, Andrew. I want you to love me and breed me.” Markus passed Andrew the lube, and Andrew prepared his cock and Henrik’s hole. Then, it was time for Markus to watch as Andrew put the finishing touches on their masterpiece. With his cock deep inside Henrik, he covered his partner’s face with kisses, telling Henrik how much he loved him and how much he wanted Henrik to feel loved and needed, wanted and valued. As he spoke, he kept pumping slowly and steadily into Henrik’s muscled ass until he couldn’t hold it any longer, and let his sperm flow, coating Henrik’s tube with his seed. As he was cumming inside Henrik, Markus was busily working on Henrik’s cock with his mouth, drawing another load out of him and deep into his own throat. Then they separated, but remained together, bodies touching bodies, lips pressed to lips, and arms draped over chests as they all fell asleep in an incredible unity. In the morning, the boys awoke early. After that unforgettable round of intense, loving sex before falling asleep, they’d all slept deeply and contentedly, snuggled closely up against each other. Now, they headed out for an early quick dip in the pool, followed by a leisurely sit in the hot tub. It was quiet and peaceful. A few early trucks could be heard away down the hill on the main island road, and somewhere in the distance a rooster crowed, but otherwise there was no sound. As they sat there, arms around each other, the sky in the east was gradually colouring up more and more. With just enough clouds to spread the colour around, the show was spectacular, and especially when the sun lifted over the horizon. Andrew sighed. “A perfect sunrise to end a perfect holiday.” Markus added, “A perfect holiday with the two men I love.” Henrik put in, “You fellows have been a true sunrise to me, showing me that I’m not a lost cause and I can live a full and happy life. I love you both so much.” They all kissed each other as they sat there in the bubbling water. Tommy was watching them from inside, his face expressing real contentment and deep happiness for his family. As they were eating breakfast an hour or so later, Tommy said, “The van will be here for your bags at ten o’clock. They’ll tag the bags right through to Vancouver for you. Then I need to get you down to the terminal by eleven, so you’ll get on the boat to the airport in time for your flight.” They all nodded. “It’s going to be very quiet here when you’ve gone,” he added sadly. Henrik spoke up, “Uncle Tommy, it may be a while before all of us can get away to come down here again, but you know you’re always welcome to fly up and see us in Vancouver.” Andrew and Markus smiled broadly at hearing Henrik address him as “Uncle Tommy,” and Tommy himself smiled just as happily at the thought of seeing his three nephews sooner rather than later. When the van driver arrived, Henrik’s bag was still missing. “Henrik, the van is here!” “Be right out.” And a moment later out he came, bag in hand, and wearing a t-shirt none of them had seen before. The pre-printed slogan read, “GO BIG OR GO HOME.” But Henrik had crossed out the “OR” and added, in black marker, “AND,” right above it. “GO BIG AND GO HOME.” Markus and Andrew had puzzled looks on their faces, but Tommy’s face split from ear to ear in a huge smile – he understood exactly what Henrik meant. As the aircraft lifted away from the runway and soared into the sky, Henrik, now in the window seat on the right side, got a grandstand view of the steep hills of the island of Alcantara, and the beautiful city of Portavedra rising all around its harbour. He managed to pick out Tommy’s house, high up on the hillside. Straining his eyes, he made out the figure of a man – he knew it had to be Tommy -- standing on the terrace, waving farewell to them. “Until the next time, Uncle Tommy,” he whispered – and he waved back. Epilogue: Nine Years Later The Gang of Three, as they now jokingly called themselves, turned the key and walked into the house on Suncrest Drive. Everything looked the same, but it now felt empty and desolate. Andrew spoke quietly. “It was a beautiful service. I have to write a letter of thanks to the Premier for arranging the honour guard, and to the President for deferring to her predecessor to give the eulogy. Mikael Groening had known both of them for years, and gave the eulogy at Rich’s funeral, so he was the perfect person to speak about Tommy, as well.” Markus and Henrik hugged him, holding him close. They’d all loved Tommy, no question, but his presence in Andrew’s life went back the farthest, and it was not surprising that Andrew was feeling the loss most acutely. He’d been notified from the hospital in Portavedra that Tommy had died, swiftly and without pain. Fittingly, he had suffered a massive heart attack while doing what he had loved all his life grinding out laps in the community pool with his usual energy. The three of them all felt it was the most perfect end possible – quite literally, Tommy had died with his speedos on. And how many 81-year-old men could say as much? A few hours later, there had come a second phone call from a lawyer, informing Andrew that he was designated as Tommy’s executor. He had packed a bag and flown to Alcantara the next day, while Markus and Henrik had followed a few days later, well in time for the funeral. They’d hugged and held each other through numerous bouts of tears, and through laughing reminiscences of their remarkable uncle. On arriving in Portavedra, Andrew had wasted no time getting his status as executor certified. He was then able to claim Tommy’s personal belongings from the hospital, including the keys to the house. The lawyer had informed Andrew that a small note attached to the original of the will informed him that a longer personal letter would be found on the copy of the will in Tommy’s desk. The three of them decided to postpone visiting the house until after the funeral. Now, they were here. Markus and Henrik headed for the kitchen and busied themselves whipping up an improvised meal out of the contents of the freezer, while Andrew headed into the study and began going into Tommy’s desk. It took him no time at all. The will, with the letter attached, was right in the centre drawer, resting on a padded brown paper envelope, thick and weighty. He looked at the envelope first. On it were prominently printed these words: This envelope is NOT to be opened. It is to be delivered intact to the administrative offices of the Alcantaran Museums, in Dunnatore Hall, and retained securely there. It is not to be opened under any circumstances until after the fiftieth (50th) anniversary of my death which occurred on _________________________. Andrew filled in the date of Tommy’s death, “November 17, 2061.” Underneath it he added, “November 17, 2111.” He then set the envelope aside. He would deliver it to the museum offices later. Now he took up the hand-written letter on the will. He read it through once, then again, and started a third time, when he realized that the writing was growing blurry. He dropped it and just sat there, the tears pouring freely down his face. Markus came in, found Andrew crying his eyes out, and knelt down, wrapping his arms around Andrew who dropped his head onto Markus’ shoulder. A moment later, Henrik joined them. He placed his arms across both of their shoulders, as they all wept for the loss of the kind man who had loved and encouraged them all, and who had helped them to find their way into the triad relationship which still nourished and sustained all three of them. At last, Andrew cried himself out. Markus helped him up, and said, “Come on, let’s eat lunch. We can do this part later.” Over lunch, the mood became positively hilarious as they popped open a bottle of champagne from the wine cellar, and reminisced about Tommy’s wicked sense of humour, his snarky remarks about their noisy sexual antics, and the way he’d bought Henrik his first speedo to save himself the hassle of trying to undress Henrik with his eyes through the baggy board shorts he used to wear. After lunch, when they were all feeling better, Andrew got the papers from the study and sat down with Markus and Henrik, then read them the letter. It was dated barely a month earlier. “My dear, dear Andrew, Markus, and Henrik, “I know that my time is coming, although the doctor keeps hemming and hawing. I’m ready. I’m not afraid. I’ve had a long and full life, including all of my many years with Rich. Next to him, the biggest joy of my life has been the time I’ve been able to spend with the three of you, here or in Vancouver, over the last decade. I could have died of loneliness after Rich had gone, but there was no way you were going to let that happen. I am so grateful to you all. “You three are the only family I have left. My parents are long gone, of course, and my younger brother died childless. In the old days, this would have been the tragedy of all tragedies to a Japanese man, to see the end of the family name, but I now know better. It’s the family heart that matters, and the heart and soul that Rich and I nurtured lives on strongly, in all of you. “As always, the will is full to the brim with technical legalese crap (which Rich would have just loved, being a lawyer!). Put simply, there is a bequest of a million dollars to the university to establish the Tomoyoshi/Dunnatore Memorial Scholarships (Hah! Finally, I get to go before Rich!). The remainder of the estate, including the house, passes to Andrew, for legality and simplicity’s sake. This letter, though, is to make sure you all understand that it is a bequest to the three of you as a family unit. “You may be shocked at the size of the estate, but you should know that your Uncle Rich was the son of a wealthy man, as well as being a substantial earner as a lawyer in his own right and a lifelong shrewd investor. My salary from the university and a bequest from my parents didn’t do any harm either. “Along with the will, I am enclosing a two-month-old valuation of the house. This remains valid for twelve months as an estate document, so will hopefully serve you for that purpose too. “I hope this bequest will allow you not only to live your lives as you wish, without money worries, but also to give substantial support to such community causes as you feel are important to you. “With all my love to all three of you, “Uncle Tommy.” They sat in silence. Then Andrew picked up his champagne flute, which he’d brought from the lunch table. “Here’s to our Uncle Tommy, a man who gave us the best of himself every year while he was alive. He’s treated us royally in his will, but that is the least of the gifts he’s given us. To Uncle Tommy!” They all drank the toast. Then Andrew, all business, gathered up the papers and said, “I’ll take this stuff down to the lawyer’s office tomorrow. I’m planning to appoint them as trustees to administer the estate, so I don’t have to stay here for weeks on end to do it myself. After that, I guess I should go to a realtor to start the process of selling the house for us. Any questions?” Henrik asked simply, “Why?” “Why what?” “Why sell the house? Think about it, Andrew. We’re going to be very wealthy men, by any standard. You already own our condo in Vancouver outright. Once the estate is completed, you’re going to be a dual landowner. Why not take advantage of both? Think of the benefits: we can come and go as we please, no worries about hotel availability. We can stay here as long as we like, up to six months at a time. Summer in Vancouver, winter in Alcantara, friends and social life in both places. What’s not to like about that?” Andrew looked thoughtful; it was plain that this possibility hadn’t occurred to him. Markus, though, wasn’t quite so sure. “What about work for you, though, Henrik? It’s all very well for the two of us. Andrew is self-employed and works mostly online now, I’m working part-time, and we’re both getting closer to retirement age anyway, but you’ve got a while longer to go.” Henrik chuckled. “I already covered that. The last time we were here, in February, I went one day to the hospital and talked my way through to the head of therapy services. She told me that they always have to scramble if one of their regulars gets injured or ill, or to cover holiday periods. They’ve sometimes had to fly in casual therapy workers from the U.S.A., from Canada, even from Europe. Having a qualified therapist here for months at a time, ready and willing to work on a short term or casual basis would be a godsend for them. And I’m sure I can do the same thing in Vancouver, using my time there to keep my qualifications current.” Andrew slowly smiled. “I’m impressed, Henrik. You’re more foresighted than I am. It’s pretty obvious to see that you’re on board with the idea of keeping the house. Markus?” “Oh, I am too. I just wondered how that would work for Henrik. I’d love to still have this place for us, with all of its special memories.” “And new memories still to be made here, too,” Henrik added. Andrew chuckled. “Okay, then. It’s unanimous. We keep the house – and the condo. And we commit to the life of three jet-setting gayboys, continually whipping back and forth without a care in the world.” They all laughed and hugged each other happily. Then Henrik said, “Come on! Let’s seal the deal with a swim!” Andrew intervened. “Henrik, for now the house is the property of the estate. It isn’t ours yet. Legally, we aren’t entitled to use it.” Markus put in the last word. “Fuck legality! Let’s go for it! Skinny dip!!!” In no time, he tore off his clothes, dashed outside, and leaped into the pool with Henrik and Andrew hot on his heels, the three of them joyfully plunging naked into the water in broad daylight. ************************* For anyone who's read and enjoyed this story, but missed the previous chapters, you can also find the story of Rich and Tommy in this forum. It's called "Affairs of State."

And the way you translate it all into words is amazing too

The Kiss. The Intensity. Wow. Just... Wow.

Chapter 8: Outside the Box Andrew sat on the bed, thinking. Back in the guest bedroom again. Didn’t we do this part already? Of course, he knew that he’d never been in a situation remotely like this in his entire life. Suddenly it seemed to him that the man he’d known and loved for twenty years was now a complete stranger, someone he’d never met before. It was a strange and disquieting feeling. Yes, Markus had affirmed more than once that he loved Andrew, and Andrew believed him. It wasn’t the fear of losing Markus that now obsessed him, but the fear of what he might be getting into, and how he might find himself in far over his head. He knew that he needed to talk to Uncle Tommy right away, before he let his fears screw him up any further. Again, he hit the speed dial. Tommy picked up right on the first ring. “Andrew! I was just about to send you a text. How are you doing?” “Uncle Tommy, I’m feeling very disjointed and confused right now and I think you’re the only person who can help me sort myself out.” “This sounds serious. What’s the word on Markus?” “He came back. He was waiting for me when I came home from an afternoon appointment.” “Well, that’s good news. Isn’t it? You don’t sound as excited as I’d expect you to be.” “Don’t get me wrong, Uncle Tommy. It’s great that Markus is back. I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw him, I was in such a hurry to leap into his arms!” Tommy chuckled. “That sounds more like what I’d expect. And how long did it take for kissing to evolve into… umm, let’s say, something more.” Andrew now laughed too. “Oh, about ninety seconds, I think. Henrik got a real charge out of watching us getting all over each other A.S.A.P.” “Is that all Henrik did, just watch?” “Of course not. I invited him to join in,” There’s just no nice word for it -- Tommy sniggered. “I’ll just bet you did. And I’ll bet the rest of the meeting unfolded along the usual lines: numerous positions, multiple loads, everyone switching up all over the place. Oh, to be young again!” “Are we that predictable?” “Andrew, you’re gay, and it’s obvious that you guys all enjoy each other’s company, so yes, you three are that predictable.” He let out another dirty laugh. “Well, Uncle Tommy, you’re right – but it was what happened after we calmed down that really threw me for a loop. That part was so totally unpredictable.” Tommy stopped laughing then, listening attentively as Andrew walked him through the true confessions that had followed after their hot sex: Markus stating that he now loved both Andrew and Henrik, and Henrik following on with his declaration that he didn’t love Markus but did love Andrew. Tommy’s face grew grave as he listened. As much as he loved cracking jokes, and always had (it was one of the key things Rich had loved so much about him), he could tell at once that this wasn’t a time for joking, but a time for careful, thoughtful consideration and well-chosen words of advice. “So, Andrew, how is all of this making you feel? What’s your reaction?” “Utterly confused. I have no idea what to say to whom, or what to do and when.” “I can certainly understand why. I’m sure you had no idea of any of these feelings bubbling away under the surface, because both of them kept it all really quiet.” “Uncle Tommy, how do you know that?” “Simple. You certainly would have been on the phone to me a lot sooner if you had found out about how Markus was feeling before now.” Andrew laughed ruefully, shaking his head. His uncle really did know him from front cover to back pages, and there was no point protesting when his words were so on point. Tommy thought for another minute. “Andrew, like you I see a problem here, but unlike you I see a solution. It’s actually a simple solution, although some of the details may require more care and thought. In fact, I’d say that two-thirds of the solution is already in place. And you are just the man to figure out the missing pieces and put the whole picture together. All you need to do is think outside the box and consider the situation from a different angle. Clear?” “Clear as mud, Uncle Tommy. I have no idea what you’re getting at.” “You will, though. You’re a smart man. Just remember that you’re two-thirds of the way there already, and then think carefully about what I’m telling you. Go outside the box -- and look from a different angle. Think about that, and you’ll figure it out. Good luck! And keep me posted.” He clicked off. Andrew sighed. The one time he really needed some good advice from his Uncle Tommy, and all he got was a kind of cryptic riddle to puzzle out. He had no idea what Tommy meant by saying he was two-thirds of the way there, and as for going outside the box and looking from another angle, he was clueless. He sighed again and checked the time on his phone. Nine-thirty – no wonder he was tired, it had been a very long day and a full one too. He opened the door. The lights were out, and the door of the master bedroom closed, so he knew that Markus had called it a night as well. He slipped quietly across the hall to the second bathroom, brushed his teeth and showered, and then headed back to the guest room naked, carrying his clothes which he then put down on the chair. He shook his head in frustration. He’d finally gotten Markus back – but on the other hand, he hadn’t. Right when they should have been celebrating their reunion, he’d tripped right over a huge, unexpected rock in the way, and the shock had caused him to detour back into the guest room. Life was so damned incomprehensible at times. Climbing into bed, he pulled up the duvet and lay there, pondering Tommy’s mysterious words. Somehow, neither the situation nor Tommy’s puzzling words seemed at all clear and straightforward. Straightforward! Suddenly, as that word ran into his thoughts, Andrew felt as if all the hair on his head, no, his entire body, was standing on end. That was the key. He was too busy looking for a straightforward approach to the whole mess, when he really needed to be looking anywhere else but there. And that’s when another thought clicked in. A box is straightforward. But this isn’t. Get outside the box and look for a different angle… a different angle! Of course! Now I get what he meant with the two-thirds part of it as well. This is perfect! Without conscious thought, he found himself leaping out of bed. He threw his briefs on and crossed the hall to the master bedroom. He eased the door open gently, but then found Markus sitting up in bed with the lamp on, studying something on his phone, and looking anything but happy. “Markus.” “Andrew? What’s got you looking so happy all of a sudden?” “I think I’ve just figured out how to handle this whole messy situation.” After a momentary silence, Markus prompted him. “Well?” “Not yet. I need to think it through in detail, be more certain it’s workable, but I’m onto it – thanks to Uncle Tommy. I thought he was giving me some kind of bullshit mystery riddle, and then I figured out what he was actually saying – and it’s absolutely pure genius!” “Isn’t this a bit unfair, you busily bubbling over with joyful energy, but you won’t tell me why?” “I guess,” Andrew said slowly. “But would it be unfair for me to change my mind and come and cuddle up here and sleep with you like I’m supposed to?” A smile spread slowly across Markus’ wan face. “I guess that would be fine. I’m going to have to trust you because it’s obvious that you’re not giving anything else away tonight.” With that, Andrew turned down the duvet, crawled into bed next to Markus, and said, “I’m here now. Let’s snuggle in together.” Markus put his phone down, switched off the light, lying down and coming into Andrew’s embrace. “You know something, Andrew? I’m feeling better already.” “So am I.” They lay quietly there, cuddling together and kissing each other gently until they drifted off to sleep. On Saturday morning, as they drank their coffee, Markus asked, “So, do you still think you have it?” “I think so. Some details I need to consider, and there’s something I want to run by Henrik as well. But I think I’m on the right track.” And with that, Markus had to be satisfied. Andrew was playing the clam to perfection. During the morning, on a break between internet searches, Andrew texted Henrik. “Got an idea to fix this, can u come to see us?” “When and where?” “Our place, 3 pm” “OK” While Andrew was busy on his computer, Markus went into the bedroom and closed the door. He needed to phone Tommy. He picked up on the second ring. “Hello, Markus. I hear you’ve got a problem.” “We sure do.” “How’s Andrew this morning?” “He’s being mysterious. He says he’s got a solution to our mess, but he won’t give any clues. The original human clam, just shutting right up.” Tommy laughed. “Sounds like he figured out my little riddle.” “So he says. It’s actually getting annoying. He’s humming away to himself like he’s right on top of the world, but I have no idea what there is for him to get so happy about.” “Markus, do yourself a favour and stop worrying. Just go with the flow. If Andrew has arrived at the point where I think he has, it’ll be as close to a perfect fix as any of you could want. If I’m wrong, you can call me later and tell me off, but for now, trust me.” “I guess I really don’t have any other choice.” “That’s the spirit! By the way, on another note entirely, when am I going to see you fellows again? It’s been months since you were last here -- and I’d love to have some company.” “I’d really like that too, Uncle Tommy. I only have a few scattered memories of Alcantara but they’re all the most beautiful images, and I’d love a chance to make some new memories there.” “You will, Markus. It really is as close as I’ve ever seen to heaven on earth. Talk about it and let me know.” “I’ll run it by Andrew in a little while, maybe over lunch.” “Thanks, Markus. Hope you’ll be able to come and see me soon.” Well, Markus thought, at least I tried. He’s being just as unhelpful as Andrew. Uncle and nephew, for sure – and then he pulled himself up short, remembering that Andrew and Tommy were only related by marriage. But still, the older man’s influence had plainly rubbed off. He chuckled ruefully, and then turned his attention to the idea of a trip to Alcantara and when it might be possible. The idea had certainly caught fire with him, and he hoped Andrew would be up for it as well. Finding where to book a flight was the easy part. He decided to study the maps of Alcantara, figuring out where Tommy lived and what else was nearby. While he was looking over the map, he was also reading up about the country in online sources. In the course of an hour or so, he had learned much more about Alcantara, and triggered a few more memories, one of them being a crystal-clear mental image of a gorgeous curving crescent of sand framed by palm trees, with a picturesque little boutique hotel at one end. Over lunch, Markus brought up the idea of a trip to Alcantara. Andrew caught on right away. “I guess I’m not the only one who’s been talking to Uncle Tommy,” he laughingly said. Markus nodded. “That’s right. He’d really like to see us. I think he must be very lonely right now.” “I’m sure he is. He and Rich were together for well over forty years, so I’ve no doubt Tommy feels lost without him. I kind of know how that feels.” Markus patted his hand. “But I’m back now, Andrew. What do you say, would you like to go?” “Definitely. We can talk about details later, Markus, okay?” Markus then told Andrew about his memory of a palm-fringed curve of sand, and a small hotel. Andrew recognized the description instantly. “That’s Bahía de la Paz – the Bay of Peace. Tommy told me that he met Rich there for the second time, and that’s when they fell in love. It was also the place where Rich’s mom, my grandma, grew up. She was Alcantaran. Her parents lived in a small house by the ocean, right where that hotel is now. It’s a really special place, very peaceful – just as the name says – and one that I always love visiting again. I can’t wait.” “Sounds wonderful, Andrew.” “It is. Something else I hope you’d enjoy is to visit the National Museums. That was Uncle Rich’s idea and pet project. It was all developed and construction got under way during the years when he was president, and he became the chair of the museum board after he stepped down from the presidency. One of the museums is named after him – Dunnatore Hall.” “You know, Andrew, the more I hear and learn about Rich, the more I’m sure I would have enjoyed meeting him.” “That’s an understatement. You certainly did! That guy loved both of us so much. I still remember him wiping tears out of his eyes when I told him on a video call that I had proposed to you, and you’d said yes. He thought you were the greatest. And you know something, Markus? He was right.” That led to a serious bout of kissing that significantly interfered with the more routine business of cleaning up the lunch dishes and putting the leftover food away. At last, though, Andrew told Markus, “I texted Henrik and asked him to come over at three. Then I’ll be ready to share with both of you at once what’s in my mind.” The next two hours crawled by at a speed that made the average garden snail seem like a hundred-metre sprinter by comparison. At last, though, the phone rang, and Markus picked up. “On the way up,” Henrik’s voice came through the phone, and Markus noted the time as he put the phone down. Three o’clock, exactly. Gotta hand it to him, he thought, he’s nothing if not punctual. In another minute, he let Henrik in and the three of them sat down in the living room, with Henrik and Markus looking inquisitively, not to say inquisitorially, at Andrew. “Well, Andrew,” Markus started, “I hope you’re finally ready to let us know what this is about. And I hope its going to be good.” “It had better be,” Henrik added meaningly. Andrew seemed completely unfazed by the implied tone of criticism in their voices. He began, simply and calmly. “After we all said goodnight yesterday, I called my Uncle Tommy. I needed to talk to someone about what had happened, and he’s my first choice of an advisor whenever the going gets tough. What I got from him, after I told him the story, was not so much advice as a riddle. It went something like this: ‘Unlike you, I see a solution. You’re two-thirds of the way there already. What you have to do is get outside the box and look at the whole thing from a different angle.’ “I couldn’t make anything of that and said so to him. He repeated it, more or less word for word, and told me to just think about it and I’d figure out the solution to our problem. “So I tried, but nothing came. Just as I was mentally cursing him for not giving me something straightforward, it hit me. Trying to be straightforward wasn’t the way. A box is straightforward, with its ninety-degree angles, but Tommy had said that I needed to get outside the box and look at things from a different angle. And then I had the second big ‘aha!’ moment. What if the angle were sixty degrees instead of ninety degrees?” “Oh, God,” Henrik moaned, “I barely got good enough grades in math to qualify for therapy school and here I am, trying to do it again!” “Henrik,” Andrew said calmly, “you work with angles all the time in your therapy as you measure the motion of the joints. Just try to visualize it as I did, because it was the visual image that settled the whole thing into place for me. Imagine drawing a straight line. Now, at one end, take a sixty-degree angle to the right, same distance. At the end of that line, take another sixty-degree angle to the right, same distance. And where are you?” Henrik took a moment to picture it, and then he suddenly got the visual. “You’re back at your starting point.” “And what have you just drawn?” “A triangle.” Markus’s face suddenly lit up. “Not just a triangle, an equilateral triangle!” Andrew smiled. “That’s right,” he said. “Three equal sides, three equal angles. A perfect figure, balanced, complete, equal on all sides and equal on all corners. That’s what we need to be. A triangle. A triad. A throuple – although I absolutely hate that made-up word. That’s who we are, and that’s what we need to become.” Suddenly, Henrik slapped his head with the palm of his hand. “Now I get it – and I get what your uncle meant when he said that you – we -- were two-thirds of the way there already!” Markus came in, rather plaintively. “I don’t get that two-thirds bit at all.” Henrik explained. “In a perfect triad relationship, there are two lines on each side, and two lines flowing out from each of the three members. What have we got? The two lines are there between you and Andrew. One line from you to me, and one line from me to Andrew. The two lines that aren’t there, not yet anyway, are the one from Andrew to me and the one from me to you.” Markus looked at Andrew with a mixture of admiration and wariness. “Andrew, this all sounds great in theory, but are you sure it can actually work in practice?” Andrew smiled. “That’s where the difficulties come in, no question. For one thing, there’s no legal mechanism in any country on the face of the planet to legally form a three-way relationship. But many people do, even if without legal sanction – and not just gay men, either. And there are ways to secure a legal cover even without a direct recognition of the relationship.” Markus remained unconvinced. “Such as?” “Wills and powers of attorney. If we’re going to do this, we all agree to redraw our wills and powers of attorney, mainly to have the executor of the will and the holder of the power of attorney be a member of the triad. Ideally, the alternate would also be a triad member, but that’s less important – except for the medical power of attorney, where I think it should be seen as essential.” “Good thinking,” Markus admitted. Henrik also professed admiration. “You have really been thinking this through, haven’t you?” “Trying to. I know there are more issues, but they can be solved. If we have the courage to admit that we don’t want to lose what we already have, this is the best way to secure it all, and still have room to grow more into our future. That’s especially important for you, Markus, because as things stand, you’re the one who’s in love with both of us.” “I know, Andrew. Yes, I think I’m ready to go with this. What about you, Henrik?” Hesitation. The euphoric mood which had begun blossoming in the room dampened noticeably. Henrik was plainly unsure, hesitant, nervous even. “I’m sorry to ruin the party, fellows. I just don’t know. It’s such a startling idea, and something I’d never imagined doing or even wanting to do. I need to think it through really carefully and try to be completely sure of whether this is truly what I want, or if I think I can commit to making it work. Because we all need to make that commitment. We all need to be ready to go all in or it’s no use.” They nodded. They could see exactly what he meant, and they didn’t want to put any pressure on him. Andrew spoke again. “Henrik, that’s perfect. You are one hundred percent right about committing, and you are absolutely smart for wanting to take time to think it all through before going ahead. We’re not going anywhere, and we’ll be right here. Just one request. If you decide that this isn’t for you, please let us know. Don’t just drift quietly away and leave us wondering.” “That’s fair, Andrew, and I want to play fair with you after you’ve both been so good with me. I promise I will let you know my decision, either way. Gotta go now, gents. I’ll sleep on it for a while before deciding.” They hugged and kissed him goodbye, and he left. Andrew and Markus were alone together again, but there was a palpable difference in the air. “I really hope he comes around to the idea,” Markus said. “In some ways it’s completely different – but I love him just as much as I love you, and that’s a hell of a lot of love.” “Markus, what I love most about you is how love just flows out of you to so many people. And what I love about this idea is that it can work. Despite what Henrik called the two missing lines, there’s more than enough love to go around for all three of us. Let’s see what he decides.” “And if he says he can’t do it, we still have each other.”

@Assmunch What an amazing, beautiful scene -- sex and love in perfect proportions. I'm crying right along with Weeble.

Chapter 7: Confessions Markus sat with a smile on his face, remembering the pleasure of hearing Andrew’s voice again, and grateful that he had apparently calmed Andrew down and drawn the sting of his fears. He also felt deeply moved. Nothing Andrew had said or done before had equalled that moment when he cried aloud in sheer relief on realizing that Markus still loved him. Markus resolved to treasure that memory for any bleak day in the future when he might begin to wonder if Andrew still cared for him. All of that, on the other hand, just made him feel worse still about the strange feelings that were attracting him to Henrik. He desperately wanted to tell Andrew the truth, but he couldn’t figure out a way to do it without pouring gasoline on the flames of Andrew’s already fragile trust in this marriage. In the end, he supposed he would be forced to give up his romantic attraction to Henrik as an impossible fantasy and turn his energy back to rebuilding his marriage in every way he could. Damn it, he thought, why did this have to happen when I’m already happily married and still in love with my husband? Eventually, he saw the time, got up, and walked into the bedroom, noting Henrik already lying under a heap of covers, and well over on his side of the bed. He sighed, sat down on his own side, and started taking off his clothes. Just as he lay down and pulled up the sheet, he heard a rustling noise and saw Henrik, rolling over to face him with a curious gaze. Markus sighed again. “I suppose you want to know how all that went.” “Only if you want to talk about it, Markus.” Markus thought for a minute, and then gave a shortened, simplified report. “Tommy told me that I should really talk to Andrew myself. He was right. Nothing else would have calmed Andrew down. I realized that when I heard how excited he got when I called him. We didn’t talk long, but he’s feeling a lot better now.” “That’s good,” Henrik said, but the words lacked the ring of conviction. “You don’t think so?” Markus picked up the note of hesitation right away. “Sorry. No, just tired, that’s all. I guess I really need to get some sleep.” With that, Henrik rolled on his side again, facing away from Markus. Markus shrugged, rolled the opposite way, and soon the sound of two men breathing slowly and evenly filled the room as they both slept. Andrew, too, slept peacefully, drifting off amid pleasant memories of wonderful times he had shared with Markus through the years. In his dreams, he then found himself with Markus, strolling hand-in-hand together on the beach at Bahía de la Paz in Alcantara. In the distance, near the hotel, he could see a lone man lying on the sand, wearing a blue speedo, and soaking up the sun. Markus pointed that way and said, “There he is.” At first, he’d thought it might be one of their uncles, but as they drew closer, he saw that this man was a blond-haired and much younger guy and looked like a real stud. Andrew felt sure in the dream that he should know this man, but his face refused to come clear – as if it were a photo which had been deliberately blurred. Then the vision shifted, dissolving momentarily into fog before reforming clearly. Now they were soaking in the hot tub on his uncle’s terrace, and Uncle Tommy was in the water with them. Markus asked, “Where is he?” and Tommy replied, “He’ll be out in a minute.” The sliding glass door from the living room slid open and another man started coming out, but before Andrew could make out who it was, he woke up. He lay awake a little while, wondering why he was dreaming about another man. Plainly, it couldn’t be his Uncle Rich as the three of them were all appearing in the dream at their current ages. It seemed odd, but he hadn’t felt that there was any tension between him and Markus over this mysterious stranger in the dream. The entire vision had felt positive and reassuring, not disruptive. Musing thus, he fell asleep again, and passed the rest of the night in a peaceful slumber with no further dreams – or, at least, none that he recalled in the morning. The next morning, Andrew found that his positive mood from last night’s phone call had held strong through the night. The strange dream he filed away in a corner of his mind, unable to make anything clear out of it. When he got to work that day, all his coworkers noticed at once how bright and chipper he appeared, the old Andrew which they remembered from before the accident. Markus was feeling better too. Having followed Tommy’s wise advice, he too was finding that the dam had broken and that he was feeling much more positive about his prospects going forward. Tommy’s suggestion that he get on with his life and worry about the rest of the pieces falling into place later now seemed remarkably on target. He resolved to do just that, as soon as he finished writing the segment of the journal which now occupied him, a segment connected with the fragmentary memories of his years with Andrew, and what pointers those memories now offered him as he moved on. Henrik sensed the new peace in Markus as soon as he had gotten up and had some coffee. That made him happier, too, because it gave him hope that he might soon get his apartment back, and that the torture of treating the one husband in physiotherapy while simultaneously pining hopelessly for the other one would soon be over. What Henrik wasn’t happy about was the realization that his friendship with these two men would also have to come to an end. He hadn’t told Andrew and Markus exactly what had happened to him a few months earlier and he didn’t intend to share it. Suffice it to say that he had finally struggled clear of a clinging relationship with a narcissistic, praise-hungry young guy who could never feel secure about anything no matter how often and forcefully Henrik affirmed it. His ex might have been sexy and muscular with a good big cock, but the size of his ego and insecurities overwhelmed any physical attraction. When he finally realized Henrik was serious about leaving, he threatened to kill himself if Henrik actually left. Henrik went, and his ex tried to make good on his threat (unsuccessfully) – and Henrik had been feeling guilty ever since. Having a friendship with Andrew and Markus beyond the strict limits of his professional duty had done Henrik far more good than he’d ever anticipated. As the week went on, he found himself thinking more and more often that he didn’t want to burn his bridges with his friends, even if it meant he was going to have to go on hiding his true feelings for Andrew. On Friday, Henrik surprised Markus with the announcement that this would be his final physiotherapy session since Dr. Peterson had confirmed that Markus had met or exceeded target ranges for mobility and function in all key areas required to qualify as a complete recovery. Henrik expected Markus to be happy at this news, and the quiet, subdued response he got surprised him. “Well, I guess that’s that, then.” “What do you mean, Markus?” “I mean, I guess we won’t see you anymore.” “Is it that important to you?” “Henrik, you’ve become a good and valued friend these last few months – and I’m sure Andrew would say the same thing if he were. It goes much further than just the therapy. Or no. What I should really say is that the therapy you’ve given us both has gone far beyond anything in your purely professional role.” “Meaning the sex, I suppose.” “It was damn hot, you can’t deny that!” Henrik laughed slightly at that. “But I was actually thinking of how much your friendship has smoothed our way through this stressful time in our lives. Which is why I have to tell you this now. Look, Henrik, this is getting scary, but I’m going to put all my cards on the table. You know how much Andrew and I love each other, and that’s not changing. But now I’m finding myself falling in love with you as well as with Andrew. I don’t know what that’s all about, I have no idea how or why it happened, but there it is.” Henrik had fallen silent. His eyes grew big and round, like saucers, and his mouth gaped open, but no sound came out. Plainly, he had neither suspected nor anticipated this announcement. Markus went on. “I don’t blame you for being surprised. How do you think I feel? I can’t make any sense of it at all, and I sure as hell have no idea how I can possibly explain this to Andrew. All I know for sure is, I love you too, and I don’t want to lose you.” Henrik sighed deeply, as he struggled to find the right words. “Wow… Markus, you really floored me. I did not see that coming at all. Maybe I should have, but….” His voice trailed off into silence. “Henrik? Are you mad at me or anything?” “No. Just confused and puzzled, much the same way you are, I would guess. But you’ve been honest with me, and you deserve the same in return. Markus, I don’t share the same feelings towards you, and that’s not because you’re not a great guy and a good friend – you are. And on that level, I don’t want to lose you either. But romantic love – not really. There’s no sense in it at all. Remember the old saying: ‘The heart has its reasons, which reason can’t understand.’” “I know.” “Well, that’s all the explanation I can give for the fact that I don’t have romantic feelings towards you – but I definitely feel that way about Andrew.” Now it was Markus’ turn to look completely astounded. He did a very creditable imitation of Henrik’s big round eyes and open mouth a moment earlier. They stared at each other in silence for at least a minute, maybe two. Finally, Markus spoke. “Holy shit, what a mess this is!” Henrik replied, “You got that fucking right.” Suddenly, the ice cracked and the two of them began laughing, laughing, laughing as if they’d never laughed before and could never stop themselves now that they’d begun. Each time one of them paused to draw breath, and tried to quiet down, he’d look at the other’s face and that would set him off all over again. Eventually, they slowly quieted down as they simply ran out of energy and air. Then they sat there, looking at each other as if seeing each other for the first time, seeing each other with completely different eyes. Markus was the first to break the silence again. “So now what do we do?” Henrik pondered for a moment. “Well, for sure I need to come to your condo and pick up the therapy table that’s been sitting there unused ever since you landed yourself on me. And since we’re going there anyway, we’ll have to tell Andrew that your physiotherapy is officially completed.” Markus intervened. “And since we’re going that far, we might as well drop the other shoe and tell him everything we’ve just told each other. We’re going to have to do it. He’s very sensitive to atmosphere, so he’s going to be able to feel right away that something weird has happened.” “Do you want to try to get there before he comes home from work?” “Yes. Although, these days, his schedule has become so freewheeling that I have no way of guessing if he’s doing a full day, a half day, working from home, or just going out for one or two key appointments. I’m going to guess a full day, which means we have about 90 minutes to get there ahead of him.” “Well, let’s get this show on the road.” *************** An hour later, Andrew was walking home from the bus stop. He’d had to go all the way out to Surrey to see a new client, but it had been a worthwhile meeting, and the commissions he’d earned from the deal would cover the travel cost several thousand times over. It made for a long afternoon, but at least he now had a quiet weekend to look forward to, and he planned to relax and unwind, now that he actually felt able to unwind for the first time in all the long months since the accident. As he walked up the street, he was remembering another day when he’d walked home and straight into a huge shock – the letter. He hoped no such shock was waiting for him again this time. Hope springs eternal. He rode up in the elevator, opened the door of the condo – and was greeted by the smiling face of Markus, leaning on the corner of the kitchen counter. Andrew froze for one split second, then he raced into his husband’s open arms, laughing and crying and yelling all at once. “Markus! Markus!!! Ohmygod, Markus!!!!!” In a moment, their arms were wrapped around each other while they hugged and cried and kissed nonstop. On the sofa, Henrik sat with the folded massage table next to him, watching the show with ironic interest. While he watched, the show rapidly became more interesting, as the kissing grew more intense, and the hands began roaming to some rather sensitive areas. When the buttons began coming undone, Henrik cleared his throat. Andrew and Markus sprang apart, presenting a dishevelled, partially undone appearance to Henrik’s sardonic gaze. “This kind of behaviour is rather inconsiderate in front of the third wheel.” Andrew grinned at him. “Who told you that you had to be the third wheel? Get over here.” Henrik laughed. “Well, since you asked so nicely….” In moments the three of them were all entangled with each other, with buttons popping and shirts flying all over the place. Then it was shoes pulling loose, trousers dropping, underwear sliding off, until three happy men with three proud boners leading the way headed off to the master bedroom. In seconds they were all lying on the bed in a triangle formation, with Andrew sucking Markus, while Markus licked at Henrik’s beautiful cock, and Henrik had his mouth wrapped around Andrew’s erect pole. The room filled with the sounds of moaning male voices as three mouths performed their magic on three hard dicks, the pace of the moaning rising in sync with the pace of the sucking. Andrew pulled off for a moment and commented, “Damn, Henrik, you’re really good at sucking my cock like you mean it!” Henrik replied with a congenial pat on Andrew’s ass and kept right on slurping away at his tool, so Andrew dived right back down onto Markus and resumed the mouth suction. At the same time, he began poking and prodding at that beautiful ass which he had missed so badly for the last week. In no time, Markus opened right up and let Andrew’s finger slide into him while at the same time not missing a beat on Henrik’s hard dick. All three of them were now leaking pre-cum into each other’s mouths, and it was obvious from the tone of their sound effects that they were all going to cum soon into each other’s busy mouths. Andrew wanted to make sure Markus came first, so he redoubled both the mouth and the finger action. Suddenly, Markus pulled off Henrik’s cock and yelled, “Ohmigod!” as his cock convulsed and exploded into Andrew’s mouth, the busy finger inside his ass driving him to a frantic orgasm such as he’d rarely had from a blowjob. Henrik grabbed his cock and began beating it, but Markus quickly recovered and said, “No!” and swallowed it again. In just a few more seconds, Henrik blew a huge squirt of cum into Markus’ mouth just as he went all the way to the bottom on Andrew, who blew his first big shot right down into Henrik’s throat. After the first explosions ended, they all pulled off and joined in a three-way kiss, exchanging all the cum with each other in a giant snowball, more than enough to go around. Once they’d thoroughly mixed and swallowed all that cum, the three of them flopped down onto the bed, side by side. Markus rested his head on Andrew’s chest while Henrik, on the other side, stroked Andrew’s thigh muscles gently with his hand. It didn’t take long before Henrik’s dick began stiffening up for more action. When he felt himself getting hard and aroused again, he shifted his hand from Andrew’s leg to his cock, which also responded quickly. Markus didn’t clue in right away, but when Henrik rolled over on top of Andrew, he certainly felt Henrik’s pec bumping against his head. Markus lifted his head and opened his eyes, just in time to see Henrik plunge his mouth down onto Andrew’s mouth and start making out. Further down, their now-rigid cocks were duelling with each other between their ab muscles. Markus backed off a bit, and lay on his side, enjoying the sight of the two men he loved getting it on together with so much energy. Their hands were all over each other’s bodies, touching and squeezing and stroking. Henrik slid his hand in between their thighs and down into the gap to stroke Andrew’s taint, making Andrew moan loudly and shiver with the sensation. Then his finger dropped even lower, seeking the hole which he so badly wanted to enter and breed. As Henrik began finger-fucking him, Andrew almost automatically lifted his legs up in the air, pulling them back on either side of Henrik until they were over his shoulders. Henrik then slid down the bed, and let his tongue follow his finger, down Andrew’s taint and then into his ass. Markus watched in delight as Henrik made love to his man’s ass, fingers and tongue sliding in and rotating around, flexing and twisting, loosening the hole, while Andrew’s entire body twisted around on the bed as he groaned in ecstasy from the skilful manipulation of his ass. It was time. Henrik rose up on his knees and moved forward again, placing his cock right at the entrance and then slowly bearing down. It took only a moment, and the head of his dick popped inside Andrew’s tight butt. Then he kept the pressure on until he slowly sank all the way inside and came to rest with his hips against Andrew’s cheeks, and his mouth reaching for Andrew’s mouth to start kissing him again. The whole scene was an incredible turn-on for Markus, as he watched these two men in the throes of a deep and meaningful sexual encounter. He gazed in awe as Henrik slowly pumped his cock out of Andrew’s body and then back in. He watched the play of the back and ass muscles as Henrik slowly worked Andrew over, rising and falling in a hypnotic rhythm, while they kept steadily kissing and swapping tongue. Now Markus moved. Rising to his knees, which could now both carry his weight, he moved over until he could rest his hand on Henrik’s firm, round ass, and help him fuck Andrew by pushing down on each stroke. In a flash of insight, Markus realized exactly what Henrik was doing, and wondered if Andrew sensed as well that this sex session had shifted gears, and that Henrik was now making love to him. But Markus realized and, strangely enough, the realization didn’t bother him at all. He had no time to ponder that odd lack of negative reaction, as Henrik was now slowly gaining speed under his hand. He moved around until he was between Henrik’s legs and then bent forward and plunged his face into the crack of the ass, slurping and digging at the hole with his tongue and getting Henrik ready for his cock. The hot tongue bath going on in his butt crack only drove Henrik’s passion faster towards its climax, and Andrew too could sense what was coming. As Henrik’s strokes moved into high gear, Markus pulled his face out but plunged his finger right inside the hole, and finger-fucked Henrik as Henrik cock-fucked Andrew. Markus felt around for the target, found the prostate, and began stroking it. With a loud cry, Henrik moved right into overdrive, pounding down into Andrew’s ass while Andrew urged him on with a gasped, “Fuck, yeah! Give me your load! Breed my ass!” With that, Henrik cried out again and slammed right down into Andrew, feeling every spasm as his cock contracted over and over, forcing an epic load of sperm out of his body and deep inside Andrew’s hole. Markus kept fingering and teasing his gland, loving the feeling of Henrik’s asshole clamping down on him from the force of his explosion. At last, the orgasmic contractions ended, and Henrik lay down again on top of Andrew, the two of them still kissing each other. Markus took that as his cue. He slid up between Henrik’s legs and slowly inserted his own rock-hard cock into Henrik’s ass, sliding farther in until his hips came up against the firm round ass cheeks. But, unlike Henrik earlier on, Markus was too close to his own climax to take his time for a leisurely fuck. He at once began pounding down into that tight hole while Henrik and Andrew both moaned with pleasure under him. He supported his weight on his arms, but he made sure that both of them felt part of his weight pressing down on top of them. It only took a minute or so of steady fucking, and then Markus speeded up, ramming forcefully inside Henrik’s tight hole until his cock exploded, spraying a gigantic load of his seed into that tight, athletic ass. As soon as he finished cumming, Markus pulled out, and flopped down on the bed beside the two of them. Then, as Henrik slowly pulled free from Andrew, Markus said, “Sit on my face, Henrik, and push my load out.” Markus then proceeded to tongue and lick and slurp every bit of his load from Henrik’s hole as it came out in spurts, enjoying the feeling of sucking that tight, firm ass clean. “Okay, I think you got it all,” Henrik said as he lifted off to lie down between them. “I’ll say,” Andrew cut in with considerable feeling. “I’ve never had so much swimming around inside me from just one load. That was incredible!” “Yeah, it was,” Markus and Henrik said in unison, almost as if they’d rehearsed it. Then all three of them laughed. Eventually they all recovered enough to get off the bed, take turns cleaning up in the shower, and then get dressed some plain fish fillets in the freezer, plus boiled potatoes, fresh veggies, and some mysterious mix of seasonings and mayo that enhanced all the simple flavours beautifully. After dinner, they poured another glass of wine and sat down in the living area. Markus and Henrik looked at each other, and they both knew that they were going to have to come clean. Markus began. “Andrew, while I was away, I had a long talk with Uncle Tommy about the whole situation. He said two very important things during that call. The second one was when he told me to call you, and I did. But the first was when he said that we needed to fall in love again with each other, as we are now. Of course, that’s easy for me, because I still remember very little of what you were like when we first met. But I know it’s a lot harder for you, because you still imagine getting the old me back again. I’m beginning to think, though, that it won’t ever happen like that. “If I’m right in thinking that I will never recover all of who and what I was before the accident, then Uncle Tommy’s advice becomes even more important for you to consider. And I’m going to tell you why. “Falling in love with you just came so easily and naturally to me, even before I knew that I had fallen in love with you before. But something else happened, something I can’t either explain or understand. I found that I was getting the same kind of romantic feelings for Henrik. For a long time, I struggled with that because I love you so much, and because we live in a society where love is supposed to be with one partner. It seemed to me that I was weird, or messed up, because I loved two men. Anyway, today I finally got up the nerve to tell Henrik how I was feeling about him. And that’s when things got even more weird and complicated.’ He indicated Henrik with an “over to you” gesture, and Henrik carried on with the story. “When Markus told me about his feelings, I could sense right away that this could get really messy. And that’s not only for the reasons that he’s already mentioned. I knew that I also had to be honest with him, and the honest truth is that I don’t really have the same kind of feelings for Markus, much as I like him as a friend and enjoy his company. The person I do have romantic feelings for is you, Andrew.” Markus picked up the imaginary speaking stick again. “So now you can see what I mean by complicated. Andrew, you love me. I love you, but I also love Henrik. And Henrik loves you. I knew he had been telling the truth when I saw the way he made love to you this afternoon. It was beautiful and powerful and intense, and a bit scary too, because it made me fear the way this messy situation could end up ruining all of our lives. So now you know all about it. The question is, what do we do about it now, because we have to do something. We can’t go on forever, trying to act as if it hasn’t happened – because it has.” A long silence fell. All three of them looked at each other, searching faces for clues. Markus was relieved to see that Andrew didn’t look angry, which was what he had feared. He looked puzzled, yes, and confused, but he was plainly giving the situation some serious thought, and that, Markus thought. was a good thing. At last, he spoke. “You weren’t kidding when you said it was messy. I have no idea what to say or do or think about it all right now. It’s probably going to take some time for me to process all of this and see what comes up. For sure, I want to call Uncle Tommy and get his advice. After that, I just want to go to bed and sleep on it. It’s okay if you want to join me, but I’m honestly not in the mood for any more playing around right now. Maybe I should just sleep in the guest room tonight.” “If that’s how you feel, Andrew, that’s probably the best thing for you to do. I need to do a lot of thinking about it all, and I’d like to talk to Uncle Tommy too, but I’ll let you talk to him for now. I can wait till tomorrow.” Henrik then spoke up. “When I took on this job, I had no idea it was going to get so complicated. You fellows have become such great friends, and I don’t want to lose that, but if that’s in the cards I can live with it. I’ll get on my way now and go and do my thinking and sorting out at my own place. “Oh, and by the way, Andrew – because we didn’t get around to mentioning it before – Dr. Preston notified me that Markus has completed his physiotherapy and is now discharged from the program, so I’m taking the therapy table with me to return it to the clinic. Good night, Andrew. Good night, Markus. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I’ve messed your lives up so badly.” Seeing that he was hurting, both Andrew and Markus got up and gave him a close hug and a kiss, and then he left them alone. “I’m sorry too, Andrew.” “No apology needed, Markus. I found myself falling for another guy, too, while you were still unconscious. I saw him again while you were away this last week. But there wasn’t anything in it, really. I was trying to convince myself that I actually liked him so I wouldn’t be left all alone if worst came to worst. But I can see that you and Henrik are both completely serious, so that puts this case on a totally separate level. I’m going to go call Uncle Tommy now and see what he has to say. Good night, Markus.” With a simple kiss, they called it a night and Andrew disappeared into the guest room, closing the door quietly but firmly behind him. Markus sad down again, and buried his face in his hands, silently weeping.

This chapter made me so happy -- there's no other word for it!

Chapter 6: Negotiations My dear, dear Andrew, he read. I’m sorry to do this to you, but I need to get away and think things through on my own. So much has happened so quickly, and I’m struggling with all of it. I’m still groping in a mental fog, with only occasional gleams of light from the past coming through, and it’s making everything in my present incredibly hard to handle. Don’t worry, I haven’t done anything stupid or gone off to some shithole on the wrong side of town. I’m in a safe place, with a friend, and I’ll be fine. Please don’t go checking around and trying to find me. I’ll come back when I feel like I’ve got things together – because I love you. That much I do remember clearly now. I know you’re going to worry about me because you’re like that. Please, please look after yourself. Talk to anyone you need to help you cope with my absence. Again, I’m sorry that I’ve had to do this to you, and I love you. Love, Markus. *************** An hour later, Andrew was still sitting there, the letter dangling limply from his fingers. He’d read it over and over, scanning the page automatically, and the only thing that sank in was that Markus was gone. Nothing else registered. Dinner time came and went, and still he sat and stared. Finally, at about seven o’clock, he snapped out of the trance. As if it were the only possible course of action, he seized his phone and again speed dialed Alcantara. “Andrew! How’s everything going? Markus still doing well?” “Uncle Tommy!” Andrew’s voice cut right across his uncle’s social chat as a cry from the heart. “What’s happened? Andrew, what’s wrong?” “Markus is gone.” “Has he gotten lost again?” “No.” “My God, he isn’t dead, is he?” “No.” “What then? Andrew, please, tell me!” “He… he… he’s left me.” “Please tell me this is a joke.” “No joke. I came home from work and found a letter he’d left on the pillow. He’s gone. And I don’t know what I did wrong. No idea at all. But he must not love me any more, why else would he go?” “Andrew. Read me the letter.” Tonelessly, Andrew read it aloud. There followed a silence as Tommy pondered what he’d just heard. “Andrew, have you actually read that letter – I mean, really read it?” “Over and over. I get it, he’s leaving me.” “I don’t think you’re getting it at all. Look, go through that letter and tell me how many times he says he loves you in it.” “Three.” “Make that five.” “Uncle Tommy, how do you figure?” “Add one for the opening where he calls you his ‘dear, dear Andrew’ and one for the last bit where he actually begs you, ‘Please, please, look after yourself.’ Andrew, that isn’t the sort of thing people say in a break-up letter. They tell you exactly what they think is wrong with you, they tell you they don’t love you any more, or that they hate you, and they say, ‘I’m going, and I’m never coming back.’ What does Markus have to say about that?” “He says, ‘I’ll come back when I feel like I’ve got things together – because I love you.’” “Precisely. ‘I’ll come back.’ Andrew, you’ve gone off the deep end and panicked when it really isn’t necessary. To judge by the tone of the letter, he’s being completely honest with you. He’s gone away to spend some time on his own and somehow pull his head together. If he feels he needs that kind of ‘me time’ so badly, we need to respect his wishes. You know, Markus has never been the kind of guy who uses words to conceal the truth. He’s normally very straightforward. Says what he means and tells it like it is. You just need to read his words and stop trying to find an unpleasant or unhappy hidden meaning between the lines.” “But what if he changes his mind and decides not to come back?” “There you go, trying to focus on the worst-case scenario again! That habit will make you old before your time, young man. That letter was written by a man who is very much in love with his husband, but he’s struggling with all the other issues in his life, like his loss of memory, his loss of his job, his physical injuries from the accident – shall I go on or do you get the picture?” Andrew let out a monumental sigh. “Uncle Tommy, I’m sorry. I’ve been such an absolute idiot about this. I can see now that I should have read the letter more carefully before I flew off the handle.” “You were in shock, Andrew. I think anyone would be under the circumstances, considering all you’ve been through. But it sounds like you’re feeling better now. Time to park all your imaginary fears, go get yourself a good dinner, have a little nip of Scotch – not the whole bottle, mind you! – and try to get yourself a good night’s sleep. Yes, it’s hard to do all that when you’re worried about Markus, but I’d advise you not to be. He’s a smart guy, apart from his memory lapses, and you can trust him to take care of himself.” “Well, Uncle Tommy, you’ve done it again, as so often before – pulled me back from the brink. I’m surprised you don’t get tired of rescuing me before I go over the falls.” “What goes around, comes around. I would have been truly lost and in despair if you and Markus hadn’t been there during the week of the funeral and afterwards to keep me on a somewhat even keel. We’re good for each other, Andrew, just like any really effective family – and we’re both good for Markus as well. He’ll be fine and so will you, and you will get back together when he feels better about himself. Okay now?” “Yes, Uncle Tommy. Thank you so much.” **************** Markus sat on the couch, holding his head in his hands. Henrik sat beside him, an arm draped around his shoulder, trying to comfort him. “God, Henrik, I wish it hadn’t come to this, but it’s like I didn’t have any choice. Getting fired from my job was the last straw. I was worn out from coping with the physical injuries, emotionally exhausted from struggling to try to get some of my memories back, and now this. And poor Andrew, trying so hard to help me all the way, and even neglecting himself to help me. It was more than I could bear.” “You know he’s going to be an even bigger mess now.” “I know. That’s why I hated to do it, but I couldn’t go on as I was. Just tying myself in knots.” “So, Markus, what do you want me to do that Andrew isn’t doing?” “It’s not that, Henrik. I just need some alone time to figure things out, and I expected you would be out most of the time, which is why I asked you. I don’t want to get under your feet or in your way, honestly.” “And if I want to bring someone home?” “You just told us you weren’t doing any hot dates because you were struggling with the fallout from a bad experience. That’s what gave me the idea of asking you. But if you do, I can sleep on the couch.” Henrik sighed. “Yeah – you’re right. I was and I am. But now I’ve really gone and done it – gotten involved personally in a client’s problems which have nothing at all to do with my job.” “Nobody else needs to know. Please, Henrik – I don’t know where else to go.” He sighed again. “All right. You can stay. Good thing the bed is extra-huge. We can both sleep in it without this getting any more involved than it already is.” “I’m so grateful.” “And what do I do if you start asking me for advice?” “You can tell me I’m on my own to sort it out. I really don’t want to make things awkward for you.” Henrik made a face. “Well… not any more awkward than I already have done.” “One more question. Andrew is sure to call me, or text me, at least to share the news, if not to ask me for any advice I could give. What do you want me to tell him?” “Tell him you’re seeing me to keep going on the therapy because he’ll be worried about that. And just tell him that I’m safe and in a good place, and I will come back to him when I feel ready.” Henrik’s phone started ringing. He glanced at the display and said, “And sure enough, right on cue.” Then he waved at Markus to get out of the room before he picked up the call. “Hello, Andrew. What’s up?” “Henrik, Markus has left me. Have you heard from him or seen him at all?” “Yes, I have, as a matter of fact. Andrew, he’s fine but he needs time to himself to sort himself out. I know where he is, and I’ll be seeing him regularly to keep up with his physio, so he won’t lose ground on that.” “And what about his memory work? Who’s going to help him with that?” “I didn’t really talk to him about that, Andrew, because it isn’t my area, but I guess that’s what he wants to work on by himself. I’ll ask him the next time I see him.” “Henrik, he’s cut me off. He won’t pick up his phone, he won’t answer my texts, what the hell else am I supposed to do? I can’t imagine what I did wrong!” “Andrew, did he tell you that you did something wrong?” “Well, no, but….” “Sounds like that is not the point and settling himself down is more what it’s about. And before you ask, no, I am not going to tell you where he is because he asked me not to. He needs to be alone right now. And he’s fine.” With a sigh, Andrew said, “Okay, thanks. Tell him I love him.” And he clicked off. Henrik sat in an exact duplicate of Markus’ appearance a few minutes earlier, head in his hands, as Markus came back into the room. “What a mess. Markus, I sure hope you know what you’re doing because I feel awkward as hell being asked to act as a go-between for you and your husband. He’s completely messed up. He thinks he’s done something terrible to drive you away, but he has no idea what, and he’s beating himself up emotionally.” “I’m sorry, Henrik. I shouldn’t have come to you.” “Wrong, Markus. Right here is precisely where you should have come. You know, it’s a good thing for you that I care about what happens to both of you fellows. I’ll call him tomorrow and go and see him after my work hours are done. Maybe I can calm him down some.” “That would be great. You’re such a good friend.” “Sucker is more like it.” And now I feel guilty again, Markus thought, because I’m not telling Henrik the real reason I chose to come to his place when I needed to get away. I think there must be something wrong with me. I know I’m not lying to myself. I love Andrew so much, I really do. So why am I getting the same kinds of feelings about Henrik? And how on earth can I explain it – to either of them – without sounding either weird or just plain greedy? None of the three of them slept well that night. Henrik lay awake for ages, wondering what he’d gotten himself involved in, and wondering what it was going to do to him emotionally, because of his own feelings. Markus tossed and turned, keeping Henrik awake, because of his unpleasant dreams. Andrew kept reaching out to cuddle with a husband who wasn’t there, and then waking up and getting teary-eyed as he remembered the letter. *************** Andrew walked to work in the morning and plunged into a busy agenda of phone calls and deals. It was the only way he could take his mind off the mess in his life, not that it helped that much. At regular intervals, he would hang up the phone, make a few notes, and then shake his head, wondering how this could have happened, wondering what he could have done or what he had done. His colleagues could tell that something was very wrong but none of them wanted to broach the subject. He’d been through so much already this year. Around three o’clock he got a text from Henrik. You free to see me this afternoon? Listlessly, he wondered what Henrik wanted with him. Yeah. When and where? Meet me at the bar in thirty minutes. OK. Andrew proceeded to wrap up the rest of his outstanding work items, before heading out to walk over there. He got to the bar first, perched on a stool, and ordered a drink. Henrik arrived about five minutes later, tapped him on the shoulder, and took him over to a quiet booth. “I was hoping you’d bring Markus with you.” “I figured you would. But no. I haven’t seen him yet today – that’s my next call.” Henrik mentally was cursing himself for starting off with a lie. But he went on. “Andrew, I know you’re busily trying to blame yourself for what’s happened, but you shouldn’t. I got that out of him, loud and clear. This is not about you, it’s about him. You should try to imagine yourself in his position. Sure, there are more and more things that he’s remembered but they’re still disjointed pieces. They don’t connect up with each other at all. Think about what Dr. Preston said to you about the pixilated picture. And he’s feeling more down than he’s willing to admit about losing his job, even though he can’t remember clearly what that job was or how he was doing it.” Andrew sat with a thoughtful look on his face, sipping his drink. At last he said, “So I didn’t do anything wrong?” “The only thing I can think of is that maybe you tried too hard to help him. That may have kept reminding him more than he liked of how messed up his memory is. But again, this is about him, not about you, so don’t keep beating yourself up like you’ve obviously been doing.” “That’s pretty much what my uncle Tommy already said to me.” “Obviously he knows you better than I do. Good advice. I gotta get going now, but keep in touch and look after yourself, Andrew. Okay?” “Sure. Thanks, Henrik.” *************** Back at his apartment, Henrik talked again to Markus. “So when I talked to him, he told me that he’d been talking to his uncle. Uncle Teddy?” “Tommy.” “Right. Andrew got the same message from him that he got from me – to remember that this is about you, not about Andrew. He keeps thinking he did something awful to drive you away, but I think I persuaded him that you weren’t reacting to him, only to yourself.” Markus looked thoughtful for a moment. “Andrew told me that Uncle Tommy and his husband, Rich, were always very close to us. Maybe I should talk to him myself. I just don’t have his number.” “Do you know where he lives?” “In Alcantara – or somewhere down south, I can’t remember.” Henrik sat down at his laptop and started searching. “Okay, I’ve found Alcantara. What did you say his husband’s name was?” “Rich.” After only a few seconds, Henrik let out a low whistle. “Wow! You fellows really move in important circles! I just found this huge obituary for Rich, who was the President of Alcantara for 15 years, and then a detailed article all about Tommy when he retired from the university seven years back – he was the Dean of Arts and Sciences. Keeps talking over and over about the ‘power couple.’ Just give me a moment to find the number.” Henrik scribbled on a piece of paper, and then handed it to Markus. On it was the name, Professor Tomoyoshi Takahashi, PhD, and an address and phone number. “Henrik, can you enter that number and save it in my phone? I’ve got another little problem, scrambling some of the digits when I’m copying numbers. And then I’m going to call him.” “I’ll go in the bedroom so you can have some privacy.” And I’ll sit there, Henrik thought, wishing you well as you try to sort out your life. This is so frustrating. There’s a part of me that hopes you’ll succeed because I care about what happens to you. But there’s another part of me that’s hoping you’ll fail because then I’ll feel less rotten about going to Andrew and telling him my true feelings. Markus sat, listening to the ringing tone. On the third ring, the phone clicked on. “Hello, Markus. How are you doing now?” “Uhh… Tommy?” “Yes, it’s me.” “I sort of recognize your voice, but I don’t really remember much about you.” “So I’ve heard. That’s all right.” Tommy’s voice came through the phone in his signature calm, reassuring tones – the same tones with which he’d once persuaded Rich to run for election as President. “I’m afraid I’ve made a real mess of this whole thing. Are you mad at me?” “Should I be?” “You know, walking out on your nephew, I mean – it wasn’t exactly a nice thing to do.” “Markus. First of all, you are every bit as much my nephew as Andrew is. I’m going to say the same thing I’ve said so many times before, although you may not recall it. I am as proud of both of you, and feel as close to you, as if you were my own sons. You both matter to me just as much. I’m sorry you are having so much trouble getting through this situation, but I don’t think there was any nice way for this to all happen – it was bound to get messy. The big thing here is to be sure of what you are trying to achieve.” “I just want to find myself again.” “And that’s important. If you don’t mind a bit of advice….” “Please.” “Markus, I think the biggest thing you and Andrew have to do is to get to know each other all over again. Easy for you, it’s all you have to go on right now. Not so easy for him, he wants to get you back as you were, and I’m not sure that’s going to be possible. You need to get to know each other and fall in love with each other as you are now, not keep trying to go back to what was there before your accident.” “That’s easy to answer. I know that I love him, but I don’t know much about him as he was. So I really have fallen in love with him all over again.” Tommy chuckled, a bit smugly. “That’s what I told him you were going to do. Keep going along those lines, and I think you’ll find the whole situation will iron itself out. For you, I would guess the biggest part is just keeping on moving forward while you’re learning to live with and work around those gaps in your past, rather than trying to fix all the problem spots before getting on with your life.” “You make it sound easy.” “But I know it won’t be. That’s why you should feel free to call me any time you need to talk about it. Just as Andrew does.” “Uncle Tommy…, umm, if it’s okay for me to call you that….” Markus spoke hesitantly. “Of course.” “When you talk to Andrew again…, could you please tell him I love him?” “Well, yes, I could do that. But if you don’t mind another piece of advice, you need to tell him yourself. Call him now. I’m sure he won’t be asleep yet. Markus, that’s the big Number One here. You and Andrew need to talk to each other. Sooner rather than later.” “I will.” Markus surprised himself by saying those words, and then realized a second later that this really was the thing he wanted most right now – to hear Andrew’s voice. “That’s good, Markus. I’m sure it will pick him up tremendously, and right now I think he needs a boost more than you do. He’s such a worrier – takes after his Uncle Rich that way.” Tommy chuckled reminiscently about all the times he’d had to calm Rich when he started getting too many “what ifs” tangled up in his thought process. “Uncle Tommy, I’m sure this won’t be the last time I say this but thank you so much for helping me get through this whole mess.” “Markus, even if you don’t remember it, you were a rock of support for me during the first week or two after Rich died. We’re family, and we definitely look out for each other. Take care, Markus.” *************** Even with that strong and positive reassurance from Tommy, Markus sat for close to an hour, staring at his phone but doing nothing. Henrik came back into the room, saw the look on his face, and decided to just leave him alone to wrestle with his demons. There was a fair bit of the worrywart in Markus too, if not quite as much as Andrew, and he feared getting hit with a blast of anger fuelled by fear from his husband. At last, he realized that if he didn’t act then, it would be too late to do it tonight, so he braced himself for unknown reactions, and speed dialed Andrew’s number. It rang. One. Two. Oh, shit, Markus thought, he’s put it on silent and doesn’t hear it ringing. Three – and the phone clicked on in the middle of the third ring. “Markus!” Andrew’s excited, ecstatic voice bellowed in his ear. Markus eased the phone away a bit before replying. “It’s me, Andrew.” “Thank God! I’ve been so scared ever since you took off, so afraid of what might happen to you. Are you okay right now? How are you feeling?” The words kept bubbling out of him in an unending stream of emotional energy. At last Markus got a word in. “I’m all good, as in safe and healthy. Otherwise, it’s as I told you in my letter. I’ve gotten so overwhelmed with the emotional impact of everything that’s happened that I just had to get away for a bit. And before you ask, no, it’s nothing to do with you, and no, it’s not because of anything you did or failed to do. I just needed peace and quiet and breathing space and plenty of time to think.” A sound came to him over the phone, a sound he couldn’t recall ever having heard before: Andrew was crying aloud. As a matter of fact he had heard it once before, at Rich’s funeral, but he still didn’t remember that more recent event. At last, Andrew calmed down enough to say, “Markus, I love you, so much I can’t tell you. Do you still love me?” “Silly boy, of course I do. Didn’t I say it often enough in my letter?” “I’m sorry, Markus, I just let my imagination run away with me about what happened.” “So you’re feeling better now, Andrew?” “A bit. I’ll feel a whole lot better when I see you again.” Markus cringed a bit, knowing with one hundred percent certainty what the next question would be. And sure enough, Andrew went there. “When do you think you’ll be coming back?” “Andrew, I’m sorry, but I can’t say for certain. There’s so much I have to process, and it’s taking time. I’m doing a lot of writing to help me come to terms with it all, and that’s actually helping a bit with recovering memories too -- well, a few of them anyway. But I just don’t feel settled down enough yet, or ready to move forward. I need your love, for sure, but right now I also need your understanding that I require space and time to work on my own healing. You do understand that, don’t you?” Andrew still didn’t quite understand it, but he did understand clearly that Markus still loved him and truly needed his love and support right now. “I do, Markus. Keep working in your own time, and your own way. I’ll be here whenever you feel ready.” “I love you, Andrew.” “I love you, Markus.” And they clicked off. Andrew sank slowly back down on the bed, putting his phone down on the nightstand, and then slowly rolling over with an expression of dread on his face to look at the face of the man lying naked beside him. He’d expected to see anger -- and was surprised to see there nothing but sadness and compassion. “So that was him,” his companion said. *************** About five hours earlier, after Henrik had left the pub to head home, Andrew had ordered another beer and sat there, brooding, and thinking his thoughts with a deep, solemn expression on his face. A few guys who were intrigued by his appearance quickly realized, after a close second look, that he was off somewhere much more important to him and probably wouldn’t welcome any interruption. As it was, he had barely finished half the beer at the end of nearly an hour. The brew in his glass was getting decidedly warm, and he sighed and pushed it away. Just then, a hand fell on his shoulder and a familiar voice said, “Andrew. You okay? You look as if you just lost a fortune on a bad bet.” He looked up, and his mind – which had almost been on another planet – matched the face to the voice and produced the name for his use. “Hi, Jimmy.” “Need some company?” “I wouldn’t object.” Jimmy sat down, waved Gary, the waiter, over and ordered two more beers. Gary took away the one that Andrew had pushed aside, guessing rightly that it had gotten so warm that its owner didn’t want it any more. Once he’d delivered the fresh drinks, Jimmy came straight to the point. “You want to talk about whatever it is that’s made you look so lost and vacant?” “I don’t know, Jimmy. I feel bad about burdening you with my problems.” “From the looks of you, you had better offload on someone, and pretty damn quickly too. Come on.” Andrew took a deep breath. Once he began talking, it was hard to stop the words from pouring out. He told Jimmy all about everything that had happened, from Markus losing his job to coming home and finding the letter. He went on to describe the phone calls with Tommy and Henrik, and his own lingering fears about whether he was going to lose Markus. After he’d fallen silent again, Jimmy pondered for a moment and when he did speak, it seemed strikingly irrelevant. “Have you ever heard that old saying that when three people tell you you’re drunk, you should go home and lie down?” “Jimmy, I’m not drunk. Not yet, anyway.” “No, perhaps you’re not, but you’ve heard this over and over, from everyone, and now you’re going to hear it from me. You know what comes shining through your whole tale of woe, loud and clear? Andrew, he loves you. He loves you, and he is going to come back to you. We just don’t know when. There, now you’ve heard it from his letter, you’ve heard it from your uncle and from that therapist, Whatshisname, and you’ve heard it from me. Persuaded yet?” Andrew still looked doubtful. “And another thing, I’ll bet he wouldn’t be very happy if he knew you were running all over the place, letting people know that you don’t trust him when he says, ‘I’ll be back.’” “Jimmy, I guess what I really need is to hear it from him.” “I can think of another thing you need, something that will help you relieve your stress and maybe sleep better tonight. Come on, drink up, we’re going.” “Where?” Jimmy smiled archly at him and then winked. “Can’t you guess?” Once they reached Jimmy’s apartment, they quickly got undressed and got into bed. At first, Andrew said that he didn’t really feel like doing anything but cuddling, so Jimmy held him close and stroked him gently, reassuring him that he was loved and valued. After they’d been snuggled up together for about twenty minutes, Jimmy felt the familiar sensation of a hard cock rubbing against his own. “Sure feels like you’re interested now,” he said as he wrapped his hand around Andrew’s tool and began squeezing and stroking it. After a minute of that treatment, he flung the duvet aside and slid down Andrew’s body, taking that hard dick into his mouth. One thing for sure, Jimmy definitely knew how to give a super blowjob. As he worked his way up and down, swirling his tongue around the head, and squeezing the shaft with his lips, Andrew began moaning, quietly at first, but with increasing passion. “Oh, fuck, Jimmy, that’s so damn good. That feels awesome!” “If you think that’s good, wait until you feel my ass.” “Get up here.” Andrew pulled Jimmy off his cock and up to face him, then began kissing him full-on, tongues swirling around and stabbing into each other’s mouths. As they made out, he ran his hands down Jimmy’s back and began stroking and squeezing the cheeks, then sliding his fingers into the crack and prodding at the hole. Andrew smiled as Jimmy’s hole opened right up and his finger slid in, feeling the channel already lubed up and ready to go. “Well, you sure came prepared, didn’t you?” Jimmy laughed happily, but his laughs turned to groans of passion as Andrew rapidly rolled him over and then mounted on top of him, his hard cock prodding into Jimmy’s crack and finding the target. “So, you want this big dick inside your ass?” “Oh, yeah, give it to me. Fuck me deep and hard.” With that, Andrew started to push. Jimmy opened right up and sucked him in almost as easily as he’d sucked Andrew down his throat a few minutes earlier. Once Andrew had pushed all the way into Jimmy’s hole, he came down flat upon Jimmy’s back and began kissing and nibbling at his shoulders, then digging his face into Jimmy’s neck and biting on the skin. Jimmy cried aloud, and reared his ass up, working the hole around Andrew’s solid erection, squeezing down on that cock. Andrew took the hint and began pumping him, going right up to speed really quickly as he realized that Jimmy was more than ready to take what he had to give. As that fuckhole kept squeezing and chewing on his dick, he knew that this first round was going to be quick. Driving into that firm round ass faster and faster, Andrew let his moans fill the room and then gasped, “I’m going to cum.” “Fuck, yeah, cum inside me, fill me up. Give me your load.” Andrew exploded inside Jimmy’s working, clutching ass. After he’d finished cumming, he pulled out and then flopped over on his back. Jimmy immediately dived onto his dick, licking and sucking it clean, and kept working on it until it became hard again. It didn’t take long. Andrew was definitely good for another round. Once Jimmy had gotten his cock standing upright again, he proceeded to sit down on it, facing Andrew as he fucked himself, riding up and down like a wild man on that big rigid organ. Before long, Andrew was groaning, muttering about how incredible Jimmy’s ass felt around his dick. Then Andrew sat up, wrapped his arms around Jimmy, and shifted his legs around until he could lay Jimmy down on his back and do him missionary. He started fucking really slowly, lying right down on top of Jimmy’s body and just pumping gently in and out. Jimmy wrapped his arms and legs around Andrew’s body, holding him close somewhere else altogether – and Jimmy could guess that Andrew, in a kind of waking, dream was actually making love to his lost Markus. This is crazy, Jimmy thought, I’m letting this man use me as a surrogate husband, and I don’t even mind. Why doesn’t it matter to me? I guess it’s because I really like him, and he desperately needs this kind of physical closeness right now. I can give him that, and maybe help him a bit too. Andrew was kissing him now, as his cock slowly picked up speed inside Jimmy’s hole. His groans got louder and more frequent as he reamed Jimmy’s ass to the max, sliding all the way out and punching all the way back in. Jimmy continued to hold him close as he fucked faster and faster. Then Andrew broke free from the arms and legs tangled around him, reared up on his knees, and jack-hammered Jimmy’s tight butt until his cock exploded, shooting a second load deep inside his butt. Jimmy gave a loud cry of, “Yes! Breed me!”, and quickly grabbed his cock, jacking a huge eruption of seed out of himself as Andrew finished cumming inside his ass. Andrew slowly pulled out and then lay down beside Jimmy. Jimmy pulled him close and cuddled him, letting Andrew curl his head into Jimmy’s chest. Jimmy realized that he was feeling very paternal towards this man much older than him who was feeling like a lost child right now. And then, as they lay there together, Andrew’s phone rang. It was the second ring before it registered with Andrew. That was the distinctive ring tone that belonged to just one caller on his entire list. He grabbed the phone, picked up the call, and yelled, “Markus!” Jimmy watched, curiously, as Andrew began talking at a mile a minute.

Chapter 5: Sleeping Beauty As soon as they walked in the door of the condo, Markus wanted to seize Andrew in his arms and start kissing him and undressing him. Andrew had to fight him off for the few seconds it took to close and lock the door. That done, he quickly grabbed Markus by the hand and dragged him to the bedroom. They fell into each other’s arms then, kissing as passionately as if both of them had been stuck in the middle of the desert with no human contact for half a year or more. Before long, all their clothes were on the floor in a heap, and the two bodies were piled in another heap on the bed, arms and legs all tangled up in each other as each of them struggled to touch and feel and kiss as much of the other as possible. No words were needed. None were possible. Their lips were closely fastened together, tongues duelling in the tiny space between their mouths. Hands were moving over and around all parts of their bodies in less time than it takes to describe it. Finally, Markus got loose from the kiss and bent his head down to take Andrew’s cock in his mouth. Almost by instinct, he tried to get up on his knees to get the best shot at deep throating that beautiful tool, but his injured leg sent him a sharp reminder of its presence, and he fell on his back. Then, he urged Andrew to come up over him and feed that rigid cock down his throat. Andrew assumed the knees position over Markus, and then bent down to swallow Markus as Markus swallowed him. It was another sign to Andrew that the Markus he knew and loved was back, when they instantly fell into a perfectly synchronous rhythm in their sixty-nine, each one going down as the other did. They did it so smoothly that it felt almost like they were each sucking themselves. Plainly, Markus had not in the least forgotten his virtuoso cock-sucking skills, and Andrew outdid himself in matching him. Their cock-sucking duel kept growing in intensity and power until both of them began moaning, a sure sign that they were nearing climax. Andrew was rubbing his fingers gently over the taint below the cock, and Markus was doing the same to him as they drove each other towards the peak. Then it happened. Andrew groaned and pumped a first shot into the sucking mouth under him at the exact moment that Markus let his first huge squirt fire into Andrew’s mouth. The two of them went on pulsing and cumming in perfect unison, in an ecstatic reunion of pleasure. When the waves of orgasm finally died away, Andrew swung around and kissed Markus, each one sharing the other’s cum in a perfect snowball. They wrapped their arms around each other, holding each other close in a comfortable and (for Markus) suddenly familiar embrace. It was still early evening, but they fell asleep like that, and slept until morning, waking up with their arms still holding each other in a loving hug. Markus disentangled himself first, rolling out of bed to head for the bathroom. Then he pulled on some shorts and a t-shirt, walked down the hall to the kitchen, ground the beans, and set the coffee maker running. As he was doing that, he felt Andrew’s arms sliding around him. “Good morning, husband,” Markus said, turning his head to meet Andrew’s kisses. “Good morning, my love,” Andrew responded, between kisses. “You realize that we never did toast our anniversary properly.” Andrew laughed. “I think the toast we drank was better than any glass of champagne.” Markus replied, after a moment’s thought. “Our twentieth anniversary – and the first day of our new lives together. How perfect is that? You’re right.” Once the coffee was poured, they sat down, enjoying the fresh brew and the quiet time to be together again. After a while, Andrew got up and organized some breakfast. Once they’d eaten and got the dishes cleaned up, it was time for the morning therapy. Markus headed down to the bedroom and climbed onto the massage table. Andrew came in and began working on his left leg muscles, and almost at once Markus started trying to grope him. But Andrew shut him down. “We’ll never get this done if you keep trying to get me going like that. But let’s not forget, you need to do this and make it work with me if you’re going to recover one hundred percent use of your arm and leg. Focus, and save the fun and games for later.” Markus was contrite. “I’m sorry, and you’re absolutely right. Business before pleasure, Mr. Therapist.” They both laughed at that, but then the rest of the therapy session was conducted properly. It was a different matter when the prescribed exercises were finished. Andrew made some notes on the chart Henrik had left for him, and then kept on massaging Markus, but with rather more attention being paid to certain other muscle groups and body parts that were no part of the required physiotherapy -- that, and the way he began using massage techniques that never appeared in any kind of official physiotherapy manual. Those techniques involved a lot of use of the tongue and fingers, and much attention to the cock, nips, balls, and ass. Andrew spent a good ten minutes making love to Markus’ lovely ass, the first time he’d had a chance to do that since the accident. After that long of a tongue bath and tongue fucking, it took no time at all for Markus to open up and let Andrew’s finger inside his hole. Soon Markus was writhing and moaning all over the bed while Andrew continued to twist his finger in and out of that tight ass, finding and stroking the prostate to drive Markus even further into total sexual abandon. Andrew bent down to kiss Markus as he continued to work two fingers in and out. Markus moaned, “Oh, fuck, I so want you inside me, making love to me. But I can’t lift my legs very well, it’s still hard to move that left one.” “Well, roll onto your side, whichever one is more comfortable, and let’s see what we can do with that.” Markus got onto his right side, and Andrew positioned his cock at the hole, then began to lean in. Markus opened right up at the first pressure and, in no time, Andrew had gotten the head inside and was slowly sinking farther into the channel. Markus groaned in pleasure. As for Andrew, he was over the moon with delight at finally getting to join himself to his husband again. That familiar and well-loved tunnel surrounded his cock as he delved in, and Markus let out another moan as he touched bottom. “Markus, can you turn your shoulders and chest to lie flat?” “There you go.” Once he’d done that, they were in a position where they could face each other and kiss while Andrew fucked Markus. He proceeded to do just that. He leaned forward over Markus and brought his face down, sliding his tongue into his man’s mouth as he slid his cock up inside that beautiful tight ass. Andrew was in no hurry; he wanted to make this last as long as possible. He kept his pumping motions nice and slow, aiming himself to keep rubbing against Markus’ prostate every so often. Markus would moan again every time he did that, and his rock-solid cock would jump by itself each time Andrew made contact. “Ohhh… Oh, Andrew, that feels so wonderful. You’re filling me and stretching me so much.” Andrew continued kissing Markus as he worked slowly inside that wonderful ass, pumping slowly and lovingly in and out again. “Markus, I’ve been wanting to do this ever since you woke up. To be inside you, to make love to you. You feel so amazing, wrapped around me, drawing me into you.” Andrew felt his orgasm beginning to build and stopped moving. He wanted to make this last as long as possible, so he pulled slowly out and bent down to work on Markus some more with his tongue. Markus kept moaning and murmuring about how wonderful it felt as Andrew washed his crack and hole down with slow, luxurious tongue strokes and kisses. Then he pulled up again, placed his cockhead back against the hole and sank slowly back in while Markus exhaled a long-breathed “Yeeaaaaahhhhh.” Once more, Andrew resumed his slow, loving strokes in and out of Markus’ ass while they kept kissing each other. At last, the passion of the kisses reached Andrew’s dick and his fucking motions began to speed up. “You want me to fill you up, Markus?” “Oh, yeah, I want it. Give to me – cum in my ass.” “I’m going to give you a big load.” “Yesssss, Andrew, I want it all. Fill me up, cream my guts, don’t stop!” Just then, Andrew felt like the dam was about to burst and he slammed all the way inside Markus, just in time for the first shots of cum to spray all the way inside. Markus speeded up his stroking hand and came right along with Andrew, firing his cum all over his abs and chest, and even hitting Andrew on the side of the face with one shot as they kept kissing each other right through their orgasm. At last they calmed down and their breathing slowed to normal. Andrew let himself slide out of Markus, and Markus then rolled his hips down so that he was lying flat on his back. Andrew snuggled right up against him, and they kept on kissing and cuddling like that for a good half hour before Andrew finally, reluctantly, detached himself and sat up. “I need a shower. I reek of hot sex.” Markus laughed. “I’m not objecting. Don’t you want me to come along and help wash you?” “Of course. Let’s go.” The shower involved not only some extremely thorough washing, but also a good deal more gentle, romantic kissing. The two of them spent the rest of the weekend carrying on like the pair of honeymooners they’d been twenty years earlier, bouncing from bed to table to bed, and going out each night for dinner in another place that was waiting for Markus to rediscover it. In between bouts of sex, and the twice-daily therapy sessions, they spent a lot of time talking about exactly which details and moments Markus could remember. Andrew kept his laptop on the table between meals and would look up his photos of any particular time or incident which Markus recalled. That gave him a chance to try to recover even more details of his memories. But when Andrew started branching out into times Markus hadn’t remembered yet, trying to accelerate the recovery, Markus gently called a halt. “You’re trying too hard, Andrew, and I don’t think this is a process you can force. It has to happen in my brain’s own good time. I know you’re desperate to have me all the way back to normal, but we both have to remember always that this is going to a be a long road – not a weekend do-it-yourself project for us.” It was a message Markus had to repeat more than once in the days that followed. By Monday, Andrew had also brought Markus up to speed on his own work in the brokerage, and how he was using a combination of work-at-home and office time during these weeks when he was caring for Markus. Although not yet putting in a full day at the office, Andrew went into work in person each day during that week, for at least a few hours, and manfully endured a lot of ribbing about his side gig as a personal nurse and what kinds of health therapies he was expected to perform. On Wednesday, Andrew got a text message from Henrik: “Home again, jetlagged like crazy. Ten A.M. tomorrow OK for you?” “Confirmed.” Then he told Markus that Henrik was back and would see them Thursday morning. That being so, they skipped any rousing sex that night or Thursday, so they could be ready, neat, and tidy when Henrik arrived. “We’ve got some big news for you,” Markus said as soon as Andrew and Henrik entered the bedroom where he lay on the massage table. “Well, that sounds interesting. Spill it!” Henrik replied. “On Friday evening, Andrew took me down to sit by the water and I recognized the place from a dream I’d had earlier in the week. I told him about it, and that’s when he showed me a photograph of the day we first met.” Right on cue, Andrew produced his phone and showed Henrik the picture. “So… you’re telling me that your dream was actually a memory.” “Yes -- and that we are now back in business as a couple.” Henrik gave what could only be called a dirty laugh. “Yeah, I can just imagine.” Andrew chuckled. “Actually, it’s a lot more than just wild sex.” Markus added, “Falling in love all over again is the most incredible feeling. Exciting, and scary, and a bit stressful, like the first time… only not. But wonderful anyway.” “Okay, well let’s get on with this session and see how your flexibility went all to the dogs while I was away, and you two lovebirds were busy playing instead of working.” At the end of the hour, Henrik expressed pleasant surprise that Markus had indeed improved during his absence and confirmed that they could now move to a thrice-weekly schedule, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It was Andrew who urged him to come at the end of his client list for the day on Friday so he could hang out for a bit – this with a highly suggestive wink and salacious grin. Henrik agreed. After he had left, Markus began groping Andrew. “We’ve got time before lunch, don’t we?” “Yeah, I guess I could put off going into the office until this afternoon.” In another minute or so, heaps of clothing dotted the floor and Markus was lying on his back with Andrew between his legs, sucking industriously. After a while, he turned around and proceeded to sit down on his man’s face, allowing Markus to begin eating his ass. Andrew loved having his ass eaten almost as much as he loved to eat ass himself, and Markus certainly hadn’t lost any of his incredible technique. While he was licking and digging in with his tongue, Andrew kept playing and sucking on his cock until both of them were thoroughly wound up. Then, Andrew moved down the bed and placed Markus’ erect dick at his hole before slowly sliding down and taking Markus deep inside his body. The feeling of that hard cock sliding into him for the first time since the day of the accident awoke a fire in Andrew, and he began panting right away as he rode up and down on Markus, letting that beautifully curving dick do a number on his ass. For once, he was ready long before Markus, and kept plunging down on that cock until his own jumped up and down and let a load fly out all over Markus’ thighs, without Andrew even having to touch it. It barely even slowed him down. After only a few seconds, he was right back up to speed and pumping his muscular ass up and down on that hard tool. After another minute he pulled off – but only to turn around and face Markus, and then he sat right back down. By now, Markus was beginning to gasp for air too and Andrew knew that he was going to cum soon. Andrew was so turned on that he could feel his own load beginning to rise again, and he knew that he and Markus could cum right together, as they so often did. Andrew rose and fell even faster as Markus groaned louder and more often, and Andrew began giving a stream of dirty talk to bring his man to a full boil. “Fuck, Markus, you’ve got the best cock for reaming me out like this. You’re getting me so wet. I can feel the precum sliding around your tool. I want it. I want your load in me. Your cock’s going to make me cum again. Cum right with me, Markus! Fucking seed my ass, cum inside me! Aww, fuuuuck!” Andrew exploded again, this time showering his cum over Markus’ face, just as Markus thrust up into him and started shooting deep inside his hole. After they had showered together, and got dressed for the second time, they sat down to a completely decorous lunch of the chili Markus had made the day before. Andrew then gave Markus a loving kiss before heading off to work. Later in the afternoon, he came back in time to conduct the evening therapy session before they sat down to dinner, which Andrew prepared – pork chops with potato salad and coleslaw. After dinner was finished and the dishes all washed up, Andrew was feeling frisky again – but this time Markus shut him down. “Uh-uh, lover boy. You’re the one who invited Henrik to ‘hang out,’ as you put it, and I’ve got to save something to be ready to give him. So do you. So no playing around tonight or tomorrow morning.” Andrew pretended to be hurt, grumbling about being shut out, and then started laughing. They settled for a nice long session of cuddling and fell asleep holding each other, something they never got tired of doing. On Friday morning, Henrik texted that he would be arriving between 1:30 and 2:00 in the afternoon, so Andrew decided to skip office hours. Since it was a beautiful sunny morning, he took Markus on a scenic drive up into the mountains on the north shore, to a viewpoint where they could see the entire city spread out below them like a model in a museum. Back home, they enjoyed a light lunch, and Markus then went to get ready. Henrik arrived promptly at 2:00, and the therapy session got under way. Andrew simply sat in the chair in the bedroom and watched, getting aroused even at the medically correct stretches and flexes that Henrik performed with Markus. Then, at 3:00, Henrik said, “Andrew, time to get up off your duff and get over here. I’ve got a couple of new exercises for Markus that I want to show you.” Andrew sauntered over and got in position next to the massage table, and Henrik stood behind him, reaching his long arms around to demonstrate. “See, I want you to take up his leg with your left arm, and then press down firmly with your right hand on his left hip, so the hip won’t come up off the table. Then, I want you to push the leg over towards the right hip – not forcefully but stretching it across him without bouncing it at the end of the range of motion. Got it? Here, let’s do it together.” Andrew obediently pressed down the hip and stretched his arm forward, moving the leg across Markus’ body. Henrik also had his hand on the leg, but he had a longer distance to stretch because Andrew was in his way. As they neared the maximum range the leg could reach, Andrew felt something big and firm pressing into his glutes. “And hold it there, Andrew, for one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, five thousand, then slowly bring it back. And repeat, five times in all.” On each repeat, Andrew felt his butt getting prodded, and the thing prodding him was getting bigger and firmer on each repeat. On the fifth time, Henrik took over the counting and, after counting to five thousand, said, “And hold it there… hold it… hold it… hold it… hold it… hold it…,” at the same time gently rubbing his erection up and down against Andrew’s ass. “And relax.” By now, Andrew himself was rock hard, and the pressure of his erection against the edge of the table during that last long hold had actually become a bit painful. Andrew turned to face Henrik, clamping his hand firmly onto Henrik’s bulge. Markus asked, “Is that it, then?” Andrew responded with, “Henrik has something else going on that I think he wants bent over to the other side.” All three of them laughed, then, as Andrew dropped gracefully onto his knees, undid Henrik’s trousers, and slid them down to reveal a sopping-wet bulge in his briefs. He began sucking on that bulge, breathing onto the fabric to give Henrik’s tool a heat bath, and then slurping on the wet material to try to suck his precum out of the briefs. After a minute or two of that treatment, he moved onto the next exercise, sliding the briefs down and taking that proudly erect cock into his mouth. As he gave a virtuoso blowjob with sucking, deep throat, licking the lollipop, and slowly pumping the shaft with his hand, he heard some rustling noises behind him, and guessed that Markus was getting undressed behind him. After he’d been blowing Henrik for five minutes or so, Henrik pulled him up to his feet, then spun him around. “Time for my special therapy for the two of you.” Henrik then shoved Andrew forward until he was bent over the massage table with his mouth falling naturally onto Markus’ dick while Henrik proceeded to strip down his trousers and briefs, exposing his ass. Henrik knelt down and proceeded to give Andrew an Olympic-quality rimming and tongue bath, eventually adding a finger and then two inside his ass. All the while, Andrew couldn’t make up his mind whether to pay more attention to Markus’ cock, his nipples, or his mouth, but did his level best to give some good mouth love to all of them. The next thing he knew, he felt the blunt head of Henrik’s cock poking at this hole. Andrew closed his eyes and did his best to relax, as Henrik pushed slowly into him, holding still for a few moments, and then sinking his cock all the way inside Andrew until his hips pushed up against Andrew’s butt cheeks. Andrew moaned and bent his head lower, swallowing Markus all the way into his throat until Markus began moaning too. Then he pulled off. “Oh, fuck, Henrik, that feels so good.” “Damn right, I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I met you. God, your ass feels incredible!” Andrew swallowed Markus again, and Markus said, “Whatever you’re doing to him, keep it up. It’s working. He’s doing an amazing number on my dick.” Andrew was now bobbing steadily up and down on Markus’ hard-on, applying plenty of suction as he went, and Henrik had begun moving inside his butt, sliding out and then pushing back in. Before long, Henrik was fucking Andrew as vigorously as Andrew was sucking Markus, and all three of them were making a fair bit of noise. Andrew pulled off Markus again and applied his hand instead. “Fuck me harder, Henrik. Really show me what you’ve got. Pound my ass with your big hard cock!” Henrik started speeding up, while Andrew was jacking Markus harder and harder. “Fuck, Andrew, keep pulling on me like that, I want to cum all over your hand.” Henrik, too, was moaning that he was getting close, that Andrew’s hot hole was going to suck the cum right out of him. In another minute, things began happening. Markus heaved his hips up off the table, moaned aloud, and began spurting cum over Andrew’s stroking hand. Andrew immediately bent down and swallowed Markus again, sucking the rest of his load down his throat. Henrik slammed hard and fast into Andrew’s butt, locked up against him, and pumped his hot cum deep inside Andrew’s firm, round ass. All three groaned aloud as the cum flew. That left Andrew, and as soon as Henrik pulled out of him, a stream of cum poured out of his hole. He caught some of it in his hand, spread it onto his dick, and began yanking on it like a madman. “Hey,” Markus snapped, “don’t waste that. Get up here and shoot it all over my face!” Andrew obediently moved left to the head of the table, held his cock above Markus, and pounded it furiously for about half a minute until his man cream erupted, coating Markus’s face with streaks of white. After he finished cumming, he let his dick drop down onto the eager lips and tongue which proceeded to lick and kiss him clean. He then licked up the rest of the load Markus had shot on himself, added some more cum from his own butt, and shared it all with Markus. Henrik got down on his knees again and sucked the rest of his load out of Andrew’s gaping ass, triggering another loud moan as he did so. He then moved up and joined the others in a three-way snowball kiss. At last they all parted to get some air. Henrik laughed. “Wow. What an awesome way to start the weekend.” Andrew chuckled. “Hope we didn’t leave you short for whatever hot date you have lined up for tonight.” “No hot date, I’m kind of in recovery from a bad experience a couple of months ago.” Markus said, “I’m sorry to hear that. I hope we’ve made you feel a bit better.” Henrik laughed. “If I didn’t feel better after playing around with you guys, I’d be really worried! Seriously, though, I do appreciate your kindness very much – not just the sex but the free meals, the listening ears, it’s all been really helpful.” “Speaking of free meals,” Andrew put in, “want to stay for dinner again?” Henrik hesitated. “Please do. We enjoy your company too,” Markus prodded him. “All right, yes. And thank you. Just want to make sure I don’t wear out my welcome.” The three of them enjoyed a quiet, relaxed evening together, ordering take-out pizza and just unwinding and talking over a couple of rounds of drinks. Henrik left at ten o’clock with profuse thanks, and Markus and Andrew went off to bed in a peaceful mood that lasted through the weekend. On Monday afternoon, Markus was out for a walk when Andrew’s phone rang. It was Marlyse, the secretary to Danniel Burnham, who was the executive director at the People Places Foundation, the affordable housing non-profit where Markus had been working before the accident. Andrew had called her after the crash to let her know that Markus would be unable to work for a considerable period of time, and they’d chatted about his progress a couple of times since. Now, she was calling to ask if Markus could come in for a face-to-face meeting with Burnham on Wednesday afternoon. “The meeting isn’t a problem, Marlyse, but his memory is still far from perfect. If Mr. Burnham doesn’t mind, I’d like to come in with him, to help with any questions where his memory is still uncertain.” “Not a problem, Andrew. Would three o’clock work for you?” “Fine, thanks. We’ll be there.” On Wednesday afternoon, Marlyse welcomed them warmly, and then ushered them into the office. Burnham opened the meeting on a cordial note. “Glad to see you doing so well, Markus. You seem to be having no trouble moving about. “Thanks, Dan. It’s been a tough road, but I’m nearly all there physically.” “That’s good to hear. We’re really missing you here. Everyone’s always depended on you to have all the facts and figures on our case files right at your fingertips.” “Well, that part isn’t so good.” Markus looked decidedly unhappy at the way the conversation was turning, and Andrew decided he should intervene. “He has only very scattered and fragmentary memories of pretty much everything from twenty years or so ago up to the point where the accident occurred. His memories since he woke up in the hospital are fairly solid, but before that….” Markus added, “As an example, I might remember a street name but be unable to recall where it was located or why it mattered.” Andrew continued, “One of his doctors told me to imagine a pixelated image with ninety-nine percent of the pixels missing, and none of the remaining pixels adjacent to each other.” Dan drummed his fingers on the desktop, looking upset. “That sounds difficult, no doubt. Any time line given by which significant improvement might take place?” Markus shrugged helplessly, and Andrew spoke again. “No. The doctor really can’t estimate how long this might take. It’s already proven to be a longer and slower process than we’d hoped.” Dan sat in thought for a minute while Markus and Andrew waited. At last he spoke again. “I’m really sorry to hear this. I’d very much hoped we might be able to get you back sooner. As things appear now, I’m afraid I’m going to have to hire someone to replace you. I’d love to be able to hold your job for you, but we aren’t a very big organization and it’s imposing a lot of strain on the rest of the staff to try to keep everything going. I’m sorry, Markus, but we’re going to need to move on.” Markus shrugged. “I understand. It’s not fair to the others.” Andrew sat silent. Dan was now looking truly unhappy. “I wish I didn’t have to tell you this. When you do recover your memories to a fuller degree, I would like nothing better than to add you back on. Please give us a call and come and see us when you think you’re ready.” He stood up to indicate that the meeting was over. Andrew and Markus also stood, hands were shaken all around, and goodbyes were spoken. Danniel Burnham stood at the door of his office, watching Markus and Andrew walking away. Markus was visibly drooping, his shoulders sloping forward. Dan sighed deeply, as Marlyse came up to him with some documents. “That was awful, Marlyse. I hated having to swing the axe like that, but what else could I do?” “I know, Dan. Times like this, I wouldn’t be in your shoes for any amount of money.” Andrew and Markus walked slowly out to the car. Once they were seated, Andrew turned to Markus. “That must have hurt, Markus.” “The funny thing is, it didn’t really. I mean, I know I worked there for years but I don’t really remember much of it at all. No, losing the job as a job doesn’t hurt. What hurts is the feeling that I’ll never be much use to anyone at all until my mind gets back in top-notch working order – and that’s taking so damned long.” He sighed, as Andrew took his hand and squeezed it for a minute before starting the car and driving him home. Over the next few days, Markus was visibly down, the usual sparkle in his eyes absent. He worked away around the house, went on long energetic walks, participated fully in the therapy sessions, but in a way that suggested a part of him was somewhere else altogether. Henrik noticed the difference and commented on it when he came in on Friday. Markus told him what happened, sighing deeply as he did so. Henrik was at a loss for words. The conventional “you’ll find something else soon” seemed both untrue and out of place. Over the weekend, and the next week, Markus rebounded. Andrew was much happier to see his energy level coming back up. They enjoyed a great dinner out at Café Chanterelle on Wednesday evening. Oddly enough, he also recovered a number of other bits of memory. These were all from their earliest years together, but still, progress was progress. One detail that especially delighted Andrew was when he said on Thursday, “I just remembered lounging with you in an infinity pool, high up on a hillside, overlooking a town centre and harbour. Was that in Alcantara?” “Yes! That’s Uncle Rich and Uncle Tommy’s private pool!” “Seemed awfully big for a private home.” Andrew laughed. “They were both super-dedicated swimmers. Rich told me they had that huge deck and pool installed as their first big project after they bought the house – and the house is a real sight, too. Hey, maybe we could go there on a holiday. I’m sure Tommy would love to have the company. What do you think?” Markus nodded. “I’d like that. I think a complete getaway would do me good. Seems like we’re pretty much near the end of the physiotherapy anyway, so maybe we could go after Henrik signs off on it. I just don’t know about how comfortable I’d be, staying with your uncle.” “I don’t think you need to worry about that. He thinks you’re the best. He always says that he feels about the two of us just as proudly as if we were actually his sons. Just the fact that he came to Vancouver when you were in the hospital says it all.” “We should go when winter’s coming and the rains set in. It’s tropical, so it’ll be warm, right?” “Definitely!” “While we’re on the subject, you never did tell me. When did your Uncle Rich die?” Andrew’s face clouded over, and Markus picked it up right away. “Would you rather not talk about it?” “No, it’s okay. I have to get used to thinking about him in the past tense. It was last March, so about eight months ago. Heart failure, I guess. He just didn’t wake up in the morning. And he was 84, so he’d had a good and long life. He and Tommy had been together for over forty years. It’s been hardest for Tommy, of course. But I really miss him too.” “Wasn’t he some kind of politician?” “Yes. He spent nine years in the Cabinet, and then was elected as President three times, for a total of 15 years.” “President? Wow!” Andrew chuckled. “Yep. Sounds impressive, but it’s actually just a formal head-of-state position to do all the ceremonial duties, welcome foreign dignitaries, things like that. The Premier is the working head of the government in Alcantara.” That conversation made Andrew feel very happy. In spite of the setback from losing his job, it seemed that Markus was finally making headway in recovering memories and that helped Andrew to feel a lot less stressed. Andrew walked up from the bus stop to the condo on Friday afternoon, feeling right on top of the world. It was a beautiful day, he’d acquired two new clients on the say-so of satisfied long-timers on his list, and he was coming home to the husband who had finally come back to him. Life was feeling pretty damn perfect. He was remembering his last mental image from that morning. Markus had chosen to sleep in, and Andrew leaned down to kiss him as he lay among the pillows, looking serene and peaceful. As Andrew kissed him goodbye, a beatific smile spread across Markus’ face. Andrew walked off on his way to work with that image of his own wonderful Sleeping Beauty in his mind. Now, he stepped into a silent condo, but this no longer troubled him. Markus by this time had a good sense of direction in the immediate neighbourhood and often went for walks at any or all hours of the day. It wasn’t a panic moment any more, not like that first time he hadn’t come home. He headed down the hall and into the bedroom, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw the neatly folded paper resting against the pillow on his side of the bed. He picked it up, unfolded it, and began reading – and found something that dropped his heart right down into his shoes. Markus’ absence was neither coincidental nor unplanned.

@negchaserlooking still much more to come!

Chapter 4: Surprise Party By the third week at home, Markus was getting to be self-sufficient in many areas. Going out by himself was still a non-starter, except for the immediate area around the building, but Andrew was feeling confident overall that he was improving. The memories were filling in rapidly, but still concerned almost entirely with the earlier part of Markus’ life, when he was still living in Germany. On the Monday of the fourth week, Andrew came home from one of his semi-regular visits to his office, where he was doing his best to stay on top of the needs of clients in his brokerage. He walked in the door of the condo just in time to hear a loud groan and an unmistakable “Aw, fuck!” At once he realized that this was not a distress call but a cry of unbridled passion. He headed down the hall and stepped into the master bedroom in time to see Henrik riding up and down on top of the erect cock of Markus, and plainly loving every minute of it. Andrew realized that Henrik was even sexier than he’d thought, with a firm round muscle ass and broad shoulders tapering down to a tiny waist. No doubt the abs and pecs would be just as spectacular. Markus said, “Damn! Should have closed the door.” Henrik, though, saw things differently. “Well, don’t just stand there gaping, Andrew, get over here and join the party!” “Him? Not a chance. I’ve been trying, but he just keeps going on endlessly about professional ethics. Okay, Andrew, you can see Henrik isn’t worried about his professional ethics at all, so what’s your excuse now?” Andrew had to admit that the two looked really hot together, going at it like that. And he definitely wanted to join the party, even if Markus still hadn’t figured out who he really was. Before he’d even reached a conscious decision, he was already discarding his tie and dress shirt, kicking off his shoes, and stripping off his trousers. His tight briefs went next, and he crawled up onto the bed, putting his hands around Henrik’s back to stroke his chest and play with his nips while he rode on Markus’ big erection. Henrik groaned loudly, evidently loving the tit play, and the feel of another rigid cock stroking his buns. But then he got other ideas, and said, “Bring that cock up here, I want to suck it.” Andrew scrambled to his feet and into position, feeding his cock to Henrik, and Henrik went right to town on it, sucking like mad as he continued working up and down on the solid cock in his ass at the same time. Andrew clamped both hands on Henrik’s head, holding him tightly over his cock as Henrik sucked and spluttered. But Henrik never lost concentration on Markus either, knowing that Markus didn’t have the stamina to drive hard into him – which meant it was his job to draw that load up and out. After so many weeks, he knew it was going to be a big one. And he could tell that it was coming soon. Henrik broke free from Andrew’s grasp and cried out, “Yeah, Markus, let it go. Cream my guts. Give me that whole hot load of cum deep inside me!” With that, he speeded up his riding motions and, in about ten seconds, Markus cried out and stiffened as his cock convulsed, emptying the load of a lifetime inside Henrik’s clenching, clutching cunt. Henrik kept riding more slowly until Markus finished cumming, and then pulled off. A stream of cum started flowing out of his hole, but Henrik saw Andrew jacking himself and quickly cried out, “Don’t waste that load, Andrew. Get that dick inside me and finish yourself off there!” Andrew pushed Henrik down onto the bed, and rolled him onto his face, then mounted him. Henrik emitted a squeal as Andrew plunged deep inside his hole in one long, hard stroke, then began pounding. As he went to town on Henrik like a piledriver, Markus said, “Fuck, that’s hot,” in a tone of mixed awe and envy. Henrik just kept wailing, “Harder, harder, dammit. Fuck me like you mean it!” “Shit, I’d forgotten how much I love getting sloppy seconds!” Andrew muttered. By now he was hammering out a rapid tattoo of loud “smacks” on Henrik’s firm round ass, and Henrik’s expert hole was working hard to bring him to climax. “Fuck, I’m gonna cum!” “Yeah, Andrew! Fucking breed me. Cum in my ass!” Andrew slammed in one last time and exploded, spurts of cum shooting into Henrik like jets from a firehose. “Oh, god, I can feel it pumping into me!” Henrik moaned. At last, Andrew ran out of juice and collapsed across Henrik’s muscular body, gasping for air. And then he felt a hand stroking his back and ass gently. It was Markus, touching him for the first time in almost two months. And it was Markus who spoke first. “Let me suck that dick clean, Andrew.” Andrew actually wanted to cry at those words, but he got into position, straddling Markus, and fed his slimy, slippery cock into his husband’s mouth. Andrew was overwhelmed with a torrent of emotions, feeling that expert mouth working on him again after so long but knowing that Markus still didn’t realize who he was. Markus pulled off and looked up at him. “Are you okay, Andrew? Hey, it’s just a blowjob, nothing to get so emotional over.” Andrew was at a loss for what to say. It was Henrik who intervened, gently. “Markus, I think he’s maybe getting feelings for you, and he’s worried because it’s unprofessional for him to do that.” Markus then said, “Well, I won’t tell if you won’t tell. Come on, fellows, let’s all cuddle.” Henrik lay down beside him and snuggled in against him, and Andrew – after a moment’s hesitation – lay down behind Henrik, pushing up against his back so he could reach across and stroke Markus while he pressed against Henrik. Later on, after they’d all gotten cleaned up and had dinner, Markus went off to bed while Henrik stayed to have a talk with Andrew. “Henrik, that was so hard to take. Everything at once, the past, the present, the future which is still so cloudy. I just don’t know how to handle all these conflicting feelings.” Henrik held him close in a comforting hug. “Andrew, I’m surprised you haven’t cracked wide open from the stress ages ago. It’s taking a long time for his memory to come back, longer than I expected for sure, and I think that even Doctor Preston is worried. It’s almost like he needs some sort of huge or startling stimulus to break through the key connection in his mind. Maybe this little three-way will help him make that breakthrough.” “I sure hope so. It seems like hope is all I’ve got now.” “Well, hang onto that hope. I’ve got to get going, but I’m always a text away if you need to talk.” “One question: do you come on to your patients a lot, or was this a special thing?” “Yes -- and yes. That’s to say, I come on to guys I’m sure are gay and who attract me. And yes, this is a special case. What happens to you and Markus has become important to me, on a personal level, and I’ve understood that there’s more healing needed here – by both of you – than just textbook physio. And just like Markus: I won’t tell if you don’t tell.” With that, he kissed Andrew goodbye, and went. Andrew was left to ponder it all, and he knew that he desperately needed to talk to the best listening ear a man could ever want. He picked up the phone and speed dialed Alcantara. “Andrew?” “Hi, Uncle Tommy. Sorry if I woke you up.” “I wasn’t sleeping. I was writing. What’s happening?” “I’m at an emotional crossroads.” “Tell.” Andrew proceeded to relate the whole story of the three-way and what happened afterwards. “Sounds like a fun time,” Tommy chuckled. “So, where’s the problem?” “As you could probably guess, I got pretty wound up about having sex with Markus again, especially because he still thinks I’m just a therapist helping him along. But it also got to me because Henrik, the real therapist, said something that made it sound like he’s getting feelings for Markus.” “Can you remember what he said?” “Something like, ‘What happens to you two is important to me, personally, and I think both of you need more healing than just textbook physio.’” “Interesting. To me, Andrew, that sounds like his feelings are more directed towards helping you and Markus than just getting it on, or getting involved, with one of you.” “Somehow, Uncle Tommy, it just feels all wrong to me, especially when Markus still doesn’t realize that he and I are much more than just a client and therapist.” “Is that all that feels wrong?” “No. It feels wrong to be helping another man have sex with my husband, because we were exclusive.” “I didn’t know that.” “It just seemed to us like the right thing to do.” “When did that happen?” “On our fifth wedding anniversary.” “Wow. That’s – what, fifteen years ago?” “Fifteen years this Friday.” “And you’ve both held to it?” “Well….” “Come on, Andrew, spill it!” Andrew proceeded to tell Tommy all about his two meetings with Jimmy. “There’s a lesson for you here, Andrew. About the whole thing of being exclusive. It’s great, if you can do it. Or you can take the easy way out and say, no, we don’t have to, that’s heteronormative. But that’s a cop-out, because it doesn’t clear up the emotions that are involved. Rich and I were exclusive for a while, but we couldn’t hold onto it. Each of us cracked, separately. I won’t go into the details now, but after we came clean to each other, we did all our outside playing around together. That way, we weren’t going behind each other’s backs, but we also weren’t confusing hot sex with love, because they are two very different things, of course. You cracked. Perfectly understandable under the circumstances, and I doubt very much if Markus would blame you for doing it. And he cracked, without realizing that was what he was doing or what he intended to do. So, it sounds to me like you two need to be more realistic about the idea of being exclusive, definitely talk it over once he’s back up to date with being married to you, and then maybe do something like what Rich and I did.” “Uncle Tommy, why is it that you always seem to have the best advice?” “Probably because I’m the one gay man in your life – Rich was the other – who’s had the life experiences that you need to know about, the ones that none of your immediate family can help you with, much as they love you. But there’s another thing here, Andrew. Markus has shown his hand, by showing that he wants to be with you. That means that he’s still the same man who reached out to grab you at the Pride Festival two decades ago. Whatever it was that drew him to you then, it’s still there and still working. One thing I’m sure of, you aren’t going to lose your man to anyone else. So don’t fret about that.” “Thank you so much, Uncle Tommy. I don’t know what I’d ever do without you.” “Well, Andrew, I think I can answer that one. Some day, after I’m gone, you’ll be ‘Uncle Andrew’ to some young nephew, perhaps even the son of a friend, who needs help navigating the turmoil of realizing his identity. And you’ll do a great job of it, too.” With that, they signed off the phone call. Andrew then went through his nightly ritual of gazing at the special photo album on his phone, the one with all the best moments of his life. And there it was: the selfie of him with Markus, that first photo of Markus that he ever took, arms around each other and grinning happily into the camera at the Pride Festival. The welcome hug from Markus’ mom and dad when they flew to meet them in Cologne. The visit with his parents in Ottawa on the way back from Germany. Then the picture on their first visit to Uncle Rich and Uncle Tommy in Alcantara, the two couples standing together by the pool in speedos while the self-timer did its job from the nearby table. The wedding: a close-up of two hands with rings resting one atop the other, then the two of them kissing each other under the garden archway, the picture of the wedding party with their parents, and the one with Rich and Tommy, with the four of them all in dashing grey tuxedoes. By that time, Markus had become every bit as close to Rich and Tommy as Andrew himself. Andrew sighed and put the phone away. He knew that Tommy’s advice was solid. It was one thing to acknowledge that his uncle had been right, another altogether to accept that advice and make it his own. But he knew that he would try, because the alternative… it was a case of “that way madness lies.” On Tuesday, Henrik told them that by the end of the week they’d be able to move Markus to physiotherapy just three times a week, with Andrew handling two and Henrik coming in for the third and more intensive session. As they explained this to Markus, his face fell. “What, I finally got the two of you into bed with me and now you’re both going to run for cover?” “We both have our jobs to do, Markus, and other clients to care for. But Andrew can keep living here to help you out with going out and about, getting shopping done, and other errands like that. If you don’t mind, that is.” And Henrik winked slyly at Markus, then turned and grinned at Andrew. “Anyway, we’re still keeping you on the seven-day schedule at least until Monday at least.” On Wednesday, Andrew did the physio session but resisted the urgings from Markus to have some fun. Markus grumbled about “damned professional ethics,” but he accepted it. Thursday brought an unusual off-day visit from Henrik, who explained that he had a day off on Friday to travel back to Denmark for the funeral of one of his grandparents. He wouldn’t be back until Wednesday, so they agreed to defer the final decision about scaling back the therapy until then. Out of deference to his feelings, they didn’t indulge in any sex play but just sat around after the physio session, talking over a glass of wine, and then had Henrik stay to dinner. Markus insisted on preparing the steaks and salad himself. Andrew kept an eye on things from his seat, but there were no problems. It seemed that much of Markus’ kitchen skills dated back to his teenage years and that period was still pretty clear in his mind. Henrik and Andrew both complimented the dinner and thanked Markus for giving them such a great meal. By Friday, Andrew was getting edgy. As the time for daily physio was winding down, it was going to get harder and harder to sustain the myth of why he was living in the condo. What the hell was he going to do then? All he could think of was letting himself drift into a relationship with Markus while waiting for Markus to remember that they were already married. Not the worst fate, he supposed, but it still felt somehow like he was taking advantage of the situation, and of his husband’s incomplete memory. Not very logical, he admitted, but logic seemed to have no role to play in this entire mess anyhow. Friday, Andrew took Markus out to dinner at what had been one of their favourite spots, Café Chanterelle, down near the water. Markus didn’t remember it at all, but definitely enjoyed it as much as ever, particularly the house specialty of confit of duck. After dinner, they walked down to the park to enjoy the sunset. With summer coming on, the evenings lasted late, and on this clear Friday night there were many others, sitting on the grass, walking along the waterfront walkway, lying on the beach, or scrambling over the rocks by the shore. They managed to grab a bench facing the water, and just sat there enjoying the view. Markus was looking from side to side, taking in all the variety of water, trees, buildings, mountains, and the… “That bridge,” he said, half to himself, looking down the shore towards the Burrard Street bridge. “I remember this place.” Andrew managed to suppress his eagerness. “Really?” “Not to say remembered it. I dreamed about it the other night. I recognized the bridge from the dream.” “It’s called Sunset Beach. What happened in your dream?” “Everyone was down here. It was like a huge party. Thousands and thousands of hot guys, all drinking and dancing up a storm, with a band playing really loud music from a stage over there,” and he pointed down the shoreline. “I was young again, and I was having so much fun. And then, I saw this one guy, really handsome young fellow, walking past me alone, and I wondered why. He looked… I don’t know, not sad exactly, more like detached, as if he wasn’t really there at all. I felt sorry for him, because I wanted everyone to be as happy and have as much fun as I was having. So, I started walking over to him, to get him to join me and dance with me… and that’s when I woke up.” He sighed. “Have you ever had a dream like that?” Markus turned to Andrew, to hear his response, and his jaw fell. “It was you! Andrew, you were the guy in the dream – younger, but I’m sure it was you! Wow, this is crazy, I’m starting to have dreams about my therapist. Does that mean I’m falling in love with you?” Markus laughed happily, and then realized that Andrew was looking at him very strangely indeed. “Sorry, Andrew, did I say the wrong thing or something?” “It’s not that, Markus.” Andrew paused and drew a very deep breath. “It feels like I’ve been waiting for this moment since halfway to forever. It’s time for me to show you something.” He drew out his phone, entered the security code, and opened the album with the special pictures, showing Markus the first one. Markus stared at the picture, his jaw dropping to the ground. When he finally spoke, his words came slowly, quietly, as if spoken in a trance. “So… it wasn’t a dream after all. It was a memory.” “Yes, Markus. You didn’t dream it or imagine it. You really did walk over and grab me by the hand, pulling me into the crowd to dance with you.” “And then what happened?” “We danced and drank the whole afternoon away. Then we came up here and sat down on the beach over there, leaning back against one of those logs, to watch the sunset. We were holding hands as we sat – and then you put your arm around me and snuggled me closer to you. Then we went back to your place…” “…and made love all night long until the sun came up?” Both of them laughed. “Not quite that long. But we had some really wild sex, and when we were relaxing afterwards, both of us said that we just felt so right and comfortable with each other. That much we knew right away.” “Amazing. And then what happened?” “Here are some more.” “Wow. So then… I took you to meet my parents. And are those your parents?” “Yes, they are.” “We must have gotten serious really quickly.” “We did. For me, it just felt from the start like we were meant to be together. And then, we went to Alcantara so you could meet my uncles.” Markus pointed excitedly at the handsome Japanese face on the screen. “Andrew, that guy – I remember him, he was in the hospital when I woke up!” “That’s right. I call him my uncle, but actually he’s my uncle by marriage. That’s his late husband, my mom’s older brother, Uncle Rich. This one’s name… “…is Tommy.” “You remembered that!” “I knew as soon as you said Rich’s name. Rich and Tommy – of course. And he was here last month.” “Yes, he was. Okay, one more set of pictures.” Up came the photo of the two hands wearing wedding rings. Then he swiped through the rest of the wedding pictures. “Andrew! We got married!” “Yes, we did, and what a wonderful day that was.” “When did all this happen?” “The wedding? Exactly twenty years ago today.” Markus looked almost shocked. “Happy anniversary, husband.” Markus took his cue and leaned in for a kiss. As they kissed, their fingers entwined automatically, familiarly, as if they’d done it thousands of times before (which they had). Then Markus looked at Andrew solemnly, holding both his hands in his own. “I was going to ask where you’d gone to after I met you, but it wasn’t you that went away – it was me.” “Well, it’s not as if you wanted to get clobbered by that careless truck driver on the Sea to Sky Highway.” “Andrew, I can’t even imagine what hell you’ve been going through since the accident. And I’m sorry, but we aren’t out of the woods yet. I still don’t really remember much of this at all. I mean, the pictures obviously prove that it happened, but I look at them and only scattered little bits make me say ‘yes, that.’ So, it’s going to be a long time yet before I’m completely back with you. At least, I know now why I felt so strongly that I needed to be closer to you once you started doing the exercises with me.” “I know this is going to take time. I just can’t tell you how happy I am that you remembered the day we first met all on your own -- and did it on our twentieth anniversary. And you have no idea how utterly delighted I am that I can finally stop pretending to be your damned therapist!” Markus pulled a face. “You mean you’re not my therapist? Shit, I was really enjoying having you touching me all over like that. But all that endless rigmarole about your damned professional ethics. What were you thinking?” “What I’m thinking right now is that we’re just about to miss the sunset we came down here to see.” They sat there on the bench, hands curled around each other, and watched the sun emerge from a cloudbank and dip below the horizon in a glorious light show of reds, oranges, and yellows. At last, Andrew spoke. “Perfect sunset.” “To me, it feels more like a sunrise. Life beginning again.” Markus leaned over to kiss Andrew. “Come on, Andrew, let’s go home and toast this anniversary properly.” “Home.” Andrew’s voice was wistful. “The way you just said that….” “Well, it hasn’t felt much like home for the last month, being stuck in the guest room and all.” “Let’s go home, Andrew. Our home.”

Chapter 3: Ducks in a Row Andrew unlocked the door of the condo, then stepped aside to let Markus walk in first. Of course, he was watching for any signs of familiarity to note down and report back to Dr. Preston. Markus walked into the main living room, and then went slowly around. He paused at a display shelf. “My dad’s gold medal from Olympic wrestling. He gave it to me when I won a citywide high school tournament in Frankfurt.” Andrew knew the story well, but politely said, “Oh, wow.” “And the little ceramic vase – my mom made that while I watched her at work. I was about eight or nine, and the way her hands shaped it as the wheel spun around, it fascinated me.” “It’s beautiful.” Now, he moved to the panoramic window and stared out at the mountains across Burrard Inlet. “Those two peaks there, are those the Lions?” “Yes, they are. They’re a lot farther away from here, and from each other, than they appear.” Andrew knew that Markus couldn’t have had a view of the Lions from any room in the hospital, so he took that as a positive sign. But he decided to move on. “Let’s get these bags dropped off into the rooms.” He headed off down the hall to the master bedroom. Markus followed behind, suddenly suspicious. “Wait, how did you know which way to go for the bedrooms?” “We got your address from your ID when you were brought in. Once we knew you were going home, we got permission from the management to come into the apartment, just to make sure there would be room for the massage table. And there it is.” He pointed to the far side of the room, where the table stood between the desk and the window. “I’ll just drop my bag off in the guest room.” “Wait!” Markus spoke so sharply that Andrew pulled up, before turning to look at him. “Are you afraid to share the bed with me?” The words were spoken with a meaning grin and a wink. Andrew faked a chuckle. “That’s your game, is it?” Markus grinned again. “Well, you certainly are good-looking and in shape, and your pants look like you could be packing a concealed friendly weapon.” Andrew cringed inwardly at what he had to say next. “Not a good plan. Have to maintain professionalism here. I’ll stick with the guest room, thanks.” Once he was in the guest room, Andrew sat down, groaned, and buried his head in his hands. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought – and he suddenly realized that the problem wasn’t the only thing that was hard. Markus hadn’t forgotten that he liked men and he was attracted to Andrew – all over again. It was like a replay of the first time they’d met, at a Pride party on the beach. Andrew thought back to that Sunday afternoon twenty-two years earlier. *************** The sun blazed fiercely down on the beachfront, making the temperature uncommonly warm for Vancouver. The band was pumping amplified music out at a superjet-powered level that made sure the lyrics could be clearly heard for miles around. The crowd of revellers in a few clothes and a lot more skin streamed continuously into the party area. Andrew moved around the periphery of the crowd, where he felt more comfortable. He had tucked his shirt inside the back of his shorts, and was enjoying the sun, but he wasn’t sure why he had come. Sure, it was Pride, so wave the flag, show your true colours, community solidarity, blah blah blah, but the truth was that he didn’t really enjoy big, noisy parties. He was just trying to decide if it was time enough to pull the plug and leave, when a hand seized him and dragged him right into the crowd. “C’mon, let’s dance! You’re looking kind of down there – let loose and enjoy yourself!” Andrew found himself facing a tall, lean blond man with clear blue eyes. Like him, the guy was shirtless. Unlike Andrew, the shirt was nowhere in sight and the shorts were super-tight and super-short, outlining a firm round ass and a more-than-interesting bulge. In no time, he realized that the stranger had far better dance moves than most of the guys around them. Andrew began picking up some pointers just by watching and the two of them were soon moving in sync, two guys dancing as one. Once they really got into the same groove, the stranger moved closer to him and they danced close, moving together and moving against each other. Soon they were embracing and kissing, and then the stranger asked his name. “Andrew. Yours?” “I’m Markus.” They hung out together for the rest of the party, and Andrew found he was enjoying the party much more now that he was with someone. The party was on Sunset Beach, and they stayed until just about sunset. But then Markus said, “Let’s leave now. I’d rather just watch the sunset somewhere a bit calmer. Okay with you?” They left the party area and walked along the shoreline park for about 10 minutes, then picked out a spot and sat down on the beach, leaning back against one of the huge logs placed there. Markus reached out and took Andrew’s hand. A minute later, Andrew was leaning his head on Markus’ shoulder, Markus put his arm around Andrew, and they sat like that, watching the sun go down. At last, the air was getting cooler, and Markus stood up. “Come on, Andrew, let’s go and heat things up again.” “What did you have in mind? Club party? Bar?” “My bedroom? Yours?” Andrew laughed. “Yours, if its close. Mine’s a fair distance.” “Come on, then.” It was a short walk to the apartment which Markus shared with two other guys. “They won’t be home, they’ve gone off to Barcelona for the week.” Markus led Andrew into his bedroom, and in seconds they had their arms around each other and were busily working at getting each other’s shorts off as fast as possible. Andrew won, because he just had to give a little tug on the tiny shorts Markus was wearing, and down they came. He dropped to his knees and grasped the beautiful 8-inch uncut tool in front of him as it jutted up, licking up the shaft as he played with the balls. Then, skinning back the cover, he licked around the head before he swallowed the entire shaft into his mouth, and Markus let out a long-drawn groan. “Oh, fuck, yeaaahhhh, that’s so good.” Andrew worked on Markus for a few minutes, but then Markus grabbed him, pulled him up, and resumed kissing for a minute. Then he said, “My turn,” and went to his knees, taking Andrew’s 8-incher in hand and going to work on it. In no time, he had Andrew moaning and groaning as he worked his tongue up, down, and around the shaft, then plunging his head right down the shaft, taking the entire cock into his throat. “Damn, that’s fucking hot,” Andrew gasped out, as Markus used his virtuoso sucking technique to bring him rapidly to the boil. But now, Markus released Andrew’s tool, and Andrew pulled him up, said “Turn around,” and then knelt down again, burying his face in between Markus’ firm round ass cheeks. One thing Andrew had learned right from his earliest experiments with his high school track teammates was that he loved eating ass. It turned him on immensely to hear a man groaning and moaning while Andrew’s busy tongue dug into his hole, washed down his cheeks, licked over his taint, and more. He gave Markus the works, until Markus was moaning and crying nonstop in ecstasy, his hole opening up and begging for it. And now Markus was begging too. “Oh, fuck, man, you’ve got me so fucking hot. I can’t wait! Get that thing into me. Plant that big fucking cock on my hole, shove it into me, and ride me long and hard!” “Always glad to oblige.” Andrew stood up, then gave Markus a firm shove that sent him sprawling across the bed, face down, ass up, and ready. Andrew leaped on top of him, digging his dick into the crack. “Spread those cheeks,” he snapped, and Markus reached back with his long arms, grasping his cheeks and pulling them open as Andrew planted his big cockhead against the hole and began to lean on it. “Got some lube?” Markus was still just a little too tight. He reached over to the bed table, pulled out a tube, and passed it up to Andrew, then grabbed and opened his cheeks again. Andrew spread the lube over his rigid dick, worked some into Markus’ hole, then tossed the tube aside, planted his cock against the hole and began to lean on it. Now, like magic, Markus opened right up, and Andrew’s thick head slipped into his ass. “Ohhhhh….” Markus gave a long moan that trailed off into silence. Andrew waited patiently until the hole began to relax a little more, and then slowly began sliding deeper. It took a few minutes. His tool was thicker than average, and Markus was tight, feeling like he hadn’t been fucked for a while. But Andrew kept the pressure on, and slowly his tool sank all the way in to the bottom until his hips were resting against those taut ass cheeks and he could then lie down, right across Markus’ firm muscled back. Andrew proceeded to do just that, moving slowly at first but gradually gaining speed until he was propped up on his hands in full push-up position, slamming his hips down over and over to drive his cock into the tight, willing ass under him. Markus certainly knew how to get fucked, too, working his ass muscles on each down stroke and relaxing them as Andrew pulled out again. After a few minutes of this, Andrew pulled right out and flopped over on his back, then said, “Here, climb on.” Markus proceeded to sit down on Andrew’s firm pole, riding him up and down like a merry-go-round horse gone mad, moaning nonstop as he fucked himself into next year on Andrew’s cock. After a while, he spun around so that he was facing away from Andrew, and then leaned back while Andrew stretched his hands up, grasping Markus by the shoulders so he could ride like a maniac. Then Andrew pulled Markus all the way down on top of him and began slamming his cock at top speed up into Markus. His ass wasn’t tight any more. It was looser now, still grasping Andrew but no longer seizing him in a death grip. Andrew drove himself harder and harder into that hot hole, groaning, and saying “Fuck” over and over, and then suddenly, “Oh fuck! I’m gonna cum. Gonna flood your guts!” “Yeah, man. Fill me up with your cum! Seed me!” Andrew thrust his hips all the way up, clear off the bed, holding both Markus and himself in the air as his cock pulsated, pumping shot after shot of his sperm deep into that awesome hole. Markus groaned, grabbed his dick and beat it, and started cumming all over himself while Andrew was still shooting inside him. Then Andrew’s strength gave out and he flopped down onto the bed, his cock coming out of Markus, and a stream of hot cum flowing slowly out after it and dripping down onto his body. Later on, they were sitting up in bed together, relaxing with a glass of wine and stroking each other gently between little kisses. Andrew felt amazingly comfortable and, somehow, at home. He’d been through several partners, some fun, some not so fun, some for a month or three, and some only for a night. But he had never felt this kind of comfort-zone sensation before. He made a mental note to call Uncle Rich and Uncle Tommy and run it by them, to get their feedback. Just as he thought to do that, Markus sighed. “What is it?” Andrew asked. Markus thought for a moment before he replied. “Just thinking about how good this feels. I mean, the sex and all was amazing, it was great having you load me up twice like that, but – just this, the two of us at ease, comfortable, relaxed, close. It feels so – I don’t know… right, somehow.” He emphasized the word “right” clearly. With that, Andrew knew at once that they were on the same wavelength. He made no reply, just tightened his arm to snuggle Markus closer. And Markus spoke again. “I’d love for you to stay – unless you have to go.” “I’m in no hurry.” With those words, Andrew put his glass down, slid down into the bed, and rolled onto his side to face Markus. Markus parked his own glass, switched off the light, and snuggled down next to Andrew, rolling to face him. They wrapped their arms around each other and fell asleep like that. *************** Andrew snapped out of his reverie of the past to find a stain on the front of his trousers, and to hear the voice of Markus calling irritably to him, “Andrew! Are you going to take all day? I’m ready for my treatment!” “Be right there.” Andrew did a quick change, and then sauntered back into the master bedroom to find Markus lying on his back on the table. He grabbed the massage oil and began working on the left leg. “I’m glad you started there, it’s a bit sore and stiff from all the walking.” Andrew worked on the muscles with his fingers, and then started the bending and flexibility exercises. After a while, he moved on to the left arm and shoulder. They were certainly getting better, but all that side of Markus had taken a hell of a beating when his car was crushed against the concrete retaining wall on the Sea to Sky Highway by a transport with a hotshot young driver who was a little too sure of his ability to text and drive at the same time. Nor had the resulting fire helped matters, although the burns were not the worst of the problem. Over the next few days, they worked out the details of housekeeping arrangements, what foods to shop for (of course Andrew knew already, but he played dumb), and other such mundane matters. Andrew also kept playing the memory games with Markus. Unlike the physio, his occupational therapy with Ariana hadn’t continued when he left the hospital, so Andrew was happy to keep doing it. After all, the sooner Markus recovered his memory, the better. Meanwhile, patience was a necessity for Andrew. On Monday, Henrik came in for a therapy session, and Andrew took advantage of the opportunity to go out for a good long walk along the waterfront park and back. The stress of the situation, which was far different from the normal stress of caring for a recent hospital case, was really getting to him. When he came back, he heard some giggling and sighs which were somewhat different from the sounds of a normal therapy session as well. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Markus dropped even more suggestive remarks towards Andrew. It was plain that his ordeal had left him raring to go, and Andrew was finding it more and more difficult to keep a professional distance. Henrik kept coming in each day for a morning therapy session, and Andrew took care of the afternoon sessions. On Friday, he made up an imaginary work session day at the hospital, and left Markus on his own when Henrik came in. He’d been texting Jimmy, and when Jimmy said he had a day off, that was all Andrew needed to hear. Andrew picked him up and drove to a restaurant out of the neighbourhood so they wouldn’t be seen by anyone who knew them. After a fun lunch together, they went back to Jimmy’s apartment for another wild round of sex, in which Andrew bred the younger guy twice again, and then urged him to return the favour since Jimmy hadn’t cum yet. Andrew had been so sure that Jimmy was bottom only, but when the younger man got his dick all the way inside his ass, Andrew found to his surprise that Jimmy was an experienced and virtuoso fucker too. He said something and Jimmy laughed. “Yeah, I can do both – I just prefer to take it. But I give, on demand.” “I demand that you give it to me!” Both of them laughed then, but Andrew’s laugh quickly changed to moans of satisfaction as Jimmy worked his hole over, using his dick alternately as a power drill, then a corkscrew, and then a crowbar. It was a long time since Andrew had taken a fucking like that, and it awoke a real fire in him, a desperate need to have Jimmy fuck the cum right out of him, preferably hands-free. The odds were good; Jimmy certainly knew how to keep rubbing the prostate of his bottom from multiple angles. In all, Jimmy pounded Andrew for over 20 minutes, showing terrific staying power. He took Andrew through almost any position you could imagine. The one that really surprised Andrew, giving him sensations like he’d never felt before, was when Jimmy got right up over him and faced Andrew’s feet, then slid that tool back inside and fucked his way to a climax. Just as Jimmy announced that he was about to breed Andrew’s hole, Andrew yelled aloud as his cock convulsed, shooting a stream of cum underneath him onto the bed. That did the trick. As soon as Andrew’s hole contracted, Jimmy’s cock blasted an epic load inside his butt, pumping shot after shot of cum into Andrew, firing until he’d shot at least a dozen times – and still his cock kept contracting and trying to force even more out. When he pulled out at last, a river of cum poured down Andrew’s crack and dripped over his balls and onto the bed, adding to the mess he’d already made on it. After they’d wound down from that power climax, and cleaned up some of the resulting mess, Andrew sat Jimmy down for a serious talk. He’d decided that he needed to bring Jimmy right up to speed with what was happening in his life. After he’d gotten through the whole lengthy analysis of the situation, Jimmy had a question. “Andrew, why are you telling me all of this?” “I figured you had a right to know. It’s obvious that we enjoy playing with each other. I just need you to know why that’s all it can be, but also why it’s going to stop sooner rather than later.” “Fair enough. I can live with it. And I appreciate the honesty.” “I’m going to have to go now. I still need to give Markus his afternoon physiotherapy session.” They parted, not without a few lingering kisses, and Andrew hurried home. He walked in the door of a silent condo. No lights, no sound, nothing. He looked into each of the rooms in turn. No Markus. It was as if he had completed his morning physio and then vanished. Andrew could feel panic rising in his throat, but he forced himself to remain calm and check things off one by one. No note anywhere. No message on the fridge. No message on my phone. Car keys still there (phew!). He texted Henrik. Henrik responded, “No idea.” He decided to wait half an hour more, and then contact the police. Tick. Tick. Tick. The clock inexorably marked off the seconds and minutes until Andrew wanted to scream at it. Then, at the 28-minute mark, his phone rang. He grabbed it. “Hello?” “Andrew? It’s me. Markus.” Andrew heaved an overwhelming sigh of relief. But he also registered the fact that Markus sounded either sad or worried, and tired with it. “Markus, where are you?” “I’m at the front door of… what was that address again?” That remark was directed to another voice that he could hear, speaking indistinctly in the background. “1892 Comox Street. I tried to get into the building to come up to the apartment, but my door pass wouldn’t work.” “It’s the wrong building. Yours in 1982 Comox.” “I know. This fellow who was coming in told me it must be the wrong building because my condo is on the 25th floor, and this one only has 22 floors.” “It’s just a block away. Hang tight, I’ll be there for you in about 5 minutes.” Andrew headed down in the elevator, and then walked down the street to the next block and into number 1892. “You’re okay, Markus?” “Yeah. Tired, though. I thought I had a little more stamina than that for walking.” “Frustrating for you, I’m sure. But we all know it’s going to take a while.” “All?” “As in you, me, Henrik, and Doctor Preston, for starters. Come on, let’s get you home.” They walked slowly back up the street to number 1982 and rode up to the twenty-fifth floor. Once inside, Markus flopped into an armchair, and propped his left leg up on the stool. “Damn. I’m wiped.” “What happened?” “I just wanted to get out for some fresh air and to walk a bit. I didn’t trust my memory, so I copied down the address from my desk. See?” He held out the handwritten note and Andrew took it. Neat and clear: “1892 Comox Street.” Andrew thought about it for a moment. Then he got a pad and pen. “Markus, I’m going to show you an address and get you to copy it for me. Just to see what happens.” He opened the map on his phone and picked out a random address: 1042 DAVIE STREET. Markus copied it down: 1402 DAVIE STREET. Andrew tried another one: 1180 HOWE STREET. Markus copied: 1810 HOWE STREET. Andrew thought for a moment. Then he said, “It looks like something in your brain is scrambling the numbers up. I’ll mention it to Dr. Preston the next time I see him.” “Oh, great. That’s all I need, another problem to deal with.” “Anyway, Markus, I’ll just write your address out properly for you on a small card and you can stick it in your wallet so it’s always on you wherever you go. And we’ll skip the afternoon therapy session for today, you’ve had more than enough of a workout.” And I’ve had all the stress I can take for today, he thought. Of course, he knew that Markus already had his address on his driver’s licence but that had been removed since he was still unable to drive. Andrew was keeping it safe. Markus was so tired that he flopped into bed at 9:30 and slept right through until Andrew called him for breakfast the next day. He was too tired to even think of making his usual sly remark about Andrew joining him.

Better and better!

Definitely an intriguing start!

@Assmunch you are doing a fantastic job of presenting so many different back stories to account for all the men in the Bravos. Great creativity! And it's awesome to see Weeble being given a real sense of self-worth. He needs and deserves that so badly. Looking forward to more!

Chapter 2: Wake-Up Call Tommy got out into the hall, just in time to see the long legs in black trousers vanishing around the corner. He headed that way, nerving himself for a very stress-filled conversation. Turning the corner, he found that he was approaching the nursing station and the waiting area across from it. He could hear the harsh, wracking sobs coming from the waiting area. Thankfully, no one else was there – just Andrew, crumpled up in a chair, shoulders heaving, as he sobbed disconsolately. Tommy knelt down in front of him and opened his arms wide. Andrew flung himself forward into his uncle’s embrace, crying heartbrokenly on his shoulder as Tommy wrapped him securely in a loving hug. Chad and Alicia came along the hall and into the waiting area, stopping without saying a word as they watched Tommy holding the tearful Andrew close while his shoulders shook. Tommy looked up at them, and waved to them as if to say, “You can go, I’ve got this.” After a while, the tears died down and Tommy could feel Andrew was regaining control of his body, the quivering and shaking slowly dying away. “Come, Andrew, let’s go for a walk outside. Fresh air will do us both good.” As they left, Chad and Alicia came back into the waiting area and sat down, expecting Dr. Preston to come and talk to them. It was a good half hour before he appeared, and then the doctor had questions to which they didn’t have the answers. The big Number One was, “Who is Werner?” Knowing the answer to that might help to judge how far back the memory lapse extended, and therefore how long it might take for Markus to fully recover the ability to access all his memories – or at least the great majority of them. Chad finally said, “The only person who might be able to answer that is my brother, and he’s somewhere outside right now, bawling his eyes out as he tries to come to terms with the fact that he’s married to a man who doesn’t know who he is any more.” That came out with rather more of a cutting edge than Chad intended, but it did penetrate the doctor’s absorption in a fascinating case study. “Ohhh.” Dr. Preston’s voice trailed off down the scale as the human dimensions of the whole awful situation finally began to sink in. He thought for a moment, and then asked, “Can you get hold of him?” “I could,” Chad replied, “but I think it’s better if I don’t try right now. Our uncle will take care of him and help him to get over the first brutal shock. I’d rather leave them to sort it out. Perhaps by tomorrow he’ll feel able to come back in and talk to you about it.” Dr. Preston nodded and then, choosing his words carefully, he went on. “If he can, that will be a help, but don’t try to force it. He must be in a terrible emotional mess right now. Whenever he feels ready, that will be soon enough. We’ll keep taking care of his husband in the meantime. Can you give me your number so I won’t have to be calling Andrew if he doesn’t want to hear from me just yet?” “Of course.” Once Chad had given the doctor his phone number, he and Alicia said goodbye and left. Outside the hospital, he checked his phone and said, “Message from Uncle Tommy: ‘He’s a bit calmer now, but I’d better stick with him for a while. Will let you know if any news.’” “Thank goodness he’s here,” Alicia said. “It’s a real Godsend for Tommy to be with Andrew right now.” With that, they headed back to the condo. Later that evening, Tommy called. “Chad, I’ve brought Andrew to my hotel suite. I’m letting him sleep in the bed, and I’m taking the couch. I just want to be here to care for him if he wakes up and gets distressed again during the night. He’s asleep right now.” “Thank you so much, Uncle Tommy. I really appreciate you keeping him close, and how you’ve always cared so much about Andrew and watched out for him.” In fact, Andrew’s emotional exhaustion ensured that he slept for about ten hours. When he awoke in the morning, he opened his eyes to find Tommy looking at him, full of care and concern. “Good morning, Andrew. How are you feeling today?” As the memory of the previous day came slowly back, Andrew’s face began to fall. But simply giving way to his emotions wasn’t in his character, as Tommy well knew. “I’m not all there, Uncle Tommy, but feeling a bit better than last night. Let’s go get some breakfast, I’m hungry.” Over breakfast, and about four cups each of the hotel’s rich, aromatic coffee, Tommy nudged Andrew to talk through the short-term and long-term implications of the situation. It mattered to him that Andrew thought the whole thing through for himself as much as possible. It also meant that Tommy had a basis for ongoing advice calls which were sure to happen in the days and weeks to come. It was the most natural thing in the world that Andrew would turn to Tommy for advice, as he always had with Rich as well, and the best of that special relationship between them was that Andrew’s parents also saw it as the natural thing for him to want -- to talk it over with his uncle. As they finished breakfast, Tommy said to Andrew, “I hope this won’t upset you too much, but I’m heading back home tomorrow. There are still all kinds of finicky details from Rich’s estate that I have to attend to.” At once, Andrew felt contrite. “Uncle Tommy, I’m so sorry. I’m being so damned selfish, pinning you down here when you have your own life to live and things that you need to do.” Tommy hugged him again. “Andrew, you should know by now that you and Markus are as big a part of my life as if you were my own sons. Rich would have said exactly the same if he were here. Just know that I am very concerned about both of you. Even though you have to figure your way through this for yourselves, I’m never far from you in spirit and only a click away if you need a listening ear. We’re family, Andrew, in a way that I could never have guessed or predicted until it happened.” The next few weeks dragged by interminably for Andrew. Tommy had gone back home to Alcantara, but he had firmly told Andrew that he was to call at any time if he needed to talk about what was happening. Chad and Alicia had also returned home to Toronto, amid profuse thanks and appreciation from Andrew. And when their flight took off, Andrew was left to cope on his own with the problem. He had been able to tell Dr. Preston that “Werner” was the name of the first man Markus had gotten into a relationship with, back when he was in university in Germany, almost 20 years earlier. It seemed that all his memories since then had disappeared. However, as Preston explained carefully, it wasn’t likely that the memories themselves had vanished, just that Markus’ brain couldn’t figure out how to access them right now. He was hopeful that the brain’s electronic pathways would in time repair themselves enough to make most of his memories accessible to Markus once again. Andrew himself was a good deal less confident, since Markus had shown no sign of recognizing him as yet. All the same, as he reminded himself, Dr. Preston had to reintroduce himself every morning when he came through on his rounds, and for days, Markus would ask, “Have we met before?” or some such thing. But in the second week after he woke up, Markus now remembered Dr. Preston from day to day. He remembered Andrew, too, but just as another familiar face and name. There was still no sign beyond that. By the beginning of the third week, though, Markus was no longer asking them to produce Werner. From some of the disconnected comments he made, it seemed that he had now recalled that his relationship with Werner had ended badly. Andrew knew he was grasping at straws, but that seemed to him like a positive sign. Meanwhile, the physical healing was moving on rapidly, and Dr. Preston felt that he would be ready to be discharged from hospital by the time three weeks were up. That, of course, raised a challenge: how was Andrew supposed to take home and care for a husband who didn’t know who he was at all? To help with the critical memory problem, Markus was assigned an occupational-health therapist, who could do various kinds of mental exercises designed to stimulate the revival of the brain’s memory circuits. Ariana was a lively, vivacious woman with a light-hearted approach to her task, and Markus found his work with her to be actually fun, as well as stimulating. By this time, Markus had also begun seeing a physiotherapist, a young man of Danish descent named Henrik. He began working with Markus on a daily basis, helping him to recover the mobility and flexibility that he had lost from the burns in the accident, followed by the long stay in the hospital. In no time at all, Markus fell into an easy and comfortable manner with Henrik. Andrew also found Henrik easy to talk to. Soon enough, Andrew was explaining to Henrik the challenging situation that he would face when Markus was discharged. Henrik could appreciate the difficulties, and since he had an innate inclination to be sympathetic towards both men, it came naturally to him to want to help them out. After a couple of days, Henrik came up with an idea, and asked Andrew to meet him after his work day was done at a nearby pub. When they got there, Andrew realized that something was up as Henrik walked with him into a watering hole which was unmistakably a gay bar. They grabbed a table in a corner, got a couple of drinks, and Andrew listened as Henrik proposed that he should become Henrik’s assistant. Andrew balked, but Henrik laughed and said, “Not officially! I’m not suggesting you go through formal training as a physio! But I can show you how to work on the exercises Markus needs, and you can work with him at home on the days that I can’t be there myself. That’ll be weekends to start with, and then later on some weekdays as well. We’ll keep it informal, except that we can tell Markus that you’re my assistant. That’ll give you an excuse to be there all the time and to help him in other ways as well.” Henrik gave Andrew a meaning wink and grin as he said that. “Is this even legal?” “It’s on a need-to-know basis, which means that nobody but us needs to know. Does that answer your question?” “I guess.” Andrew still felt unsure if he could pull it off. But Henrik simply said, “You’ve got a better idea?” No, he didn’t, so he decided to go along with Henrik’s scheme even though he thought privately that the whole idea was a bit hare-brained. What made it feasible was the fact that the patient had already accepted Andrew as part of the team looking after him, so having Andrew carry on into home care would perhaps seem reasonable to Markus. The next day, Henrik introduced Andrew to Markus as his assistant, and told Markus in the most natural way that Andrew would be going home with him to provide home care and therapy as his healing continued. Meanwhile, Henrik himself would be coming for an hour most days to continue providing therapy – at least for a while. By the end of the Tuesday session, Andrew had begun doing some of the simpler exercises while Henrik watched, approvingly, saying, “You see, Markus, he’s as much of a natural at this as I am.” On Wednesday, Andrew did about half of the session, and Henrik gave him some pointers to improve one or two of the exercises. Henrik knew that what he was doing was strictly illegal, but he had also sold himself on the idea that his role with helping Markus along the road to healing had other dimensions at least as important as simply doing textbook physiotherapy. He explained to Andrew that he had arranged for the delivery of a massage table for physiotherapy sessions in their condo. Wednesday was also that day that Dr. Preston notified Andrew that Markus would be discharged on Friday. That meant that Thursday was Andrew’s last chance. He’d done a thorough sweep through their condo, hiding things that might distress Markus. He’d even packed a bag, to bring with him on the day he was going to “move in” with his “patient” to take care of. Even with all of that, he still had a piece of important unfinished business that he simply had to take care of before Markus came home. Andrew had a serious case of an itch that needed desperately to be scratched. When he left the hospital at eight o’clock on Thursday night, he made a beeline for the bar where Henrik had taken him. At least, he figured it might give him a shortcut to his objective and save him hours of unproductive messing around on apps. Pulling up a stool at the bar, he ordered a beer and then started looking around. As luck would have it, there was a slim, red-haired twenty-something twink who spotted Andrew right away and found the older man and his athletic muscles definitely appealing. He sat down next to Andrew and began a conversation. Andrew wasn’t in a mood to be fussy, but he had to admit to himself that the twink, who was handsome and well-built (although slender), certainly filled the bill. As soon as they each finished a beer, Andrew left the bar with Jimmy (the twink) in tow. Jimmy walked him around the block to his apartment and led Andrew to the elevator, and then down the hall to his apartment. As Jimmy closed and locked the door, Andrew spun him around, pressed him up against the wall, and began kissing him, thrusting his tongue aggressively into Jimmy’s mouth as he slid his hands down that slim back to the firm round ass. Pressing the kissing even harder, he began squeezing and moulding Jimmy’s butt as he began grinding his crotch up against the younger guy’s bulge. No hesitation there, either – both of them were already rock-hard, and Jimmy was well on his way to getting Andrew’s shirt out of his trousers and fully unbuttoned. As the passionate kissing, grinding, and squeezing continued, successive items of clothing gradually littered the floor all the way from the entrance to the bedroom, until Jimmy was sitting on the bed and releasing Andrew’s painfully hard dick from his tight briefs. Right away, Jimmy proved that he had the skills as well as the body to fill the bill, as he began giving Andrew’s seven-incher a virtuoso blowjob. Twisting his mouth around the shaft, plunging deep down to the root, pulling back until his tongue was washing the head, sucking the cock deep and then swallowing while the head was deep in his mouth, Jimmy had Andrew on the ropes in just a few minutes. But Andrew had other plans for his load. He wanted to breed ass, to pump his sperm as deep into this twink’s beautiful ass as possible. He pulled Jimmy up onto his feet, spun him around, and fell to his knees, pushing his face right into the crack between those well-shaped buns. Andrew quickly brought his years of experience to bear, eating Jimmy’s ass, licking along the sides, down onto the taint, and back up again, washing over and over across the tight little hole and then pushing and twisting until his tongue pried its way in. He then proceeded to tongue-fuck Jimmy’s tight opening until the younger twink was moaning and sighing in ecstasy. It was a good ten minutes before Andrew pulled out his tongue and replaced it with a finger, then a minute or so later with a second one. The third finger followed in due order. He certainly knew how to keep his fingers twisting and flexing around inside Jimmy’s ass, loosening and opening him every way he could. Meanwhile, Jimmy was sniffing on the poppers, giving himself a good rush. Andrew said, “Pass it up here.” Jimmy handed him the bottle and he took a couple of good deep whiffs himself, then handed it back down, saying, “Get ready, because you are about to get fucked.” He could tell from the feel of Jimmy’s hole that this guy hadn’t had cock inside him for a while. Andrew moved his hard dick against the hole and pressed inwards. As he entered, Jimmy collapsed face-down across the bed and Andrew followed right with him, letting his cock sink deeper and deeper inside Jimmy’s hole as he lay down right on top of the twink’s slim and beautifully-shaped back and butt. Jimmy groaned loudly, “Oh, fuck, yeah!” as Andrew’s cock penetrated him all the way and his fucker’s firm, muscular torso collapsed right across his body. Almost at once, he began twisting his hips from side to side, squeezing the cock inside his ass first one way and then another. That was enough to stimulate Andrew into action, as he planted his hands on either side of Jimmy’s chest, pushed himself up to arm’s length, and began to pump. Starting slowly, he soon began to gain speed, pushing his way into Jimmy’s ass faster and faster until he was giving that twink butt a full-on pounding. Jimmy continued moaning and twisting under the assault, feeling the power of the man fucking him deep inside his body. As Andrew speeded up his powerful thrusts, Jimmy moaned aloud that he was going to cum. Andrew pounded even faster, gasping out, “Cumming right with you!” Suddenly, Jimmy’s ass contracted violently around Andrew’s cock as the first spurt of cum shot out under him onto the bed. That was all it took. Andrew slammed full-force inside his ass and started firing bolts of cum deep inside that hot young hole. As the force of the orgasm died away, Andrew slowly pulled out, and flopped on his back next to Jimmy. Jimmy dived onto his cock and began licking and sucking it clean. After a couple of minutes, during which Andrew hadn’t even begun to soften, Jimmy pulled himself up and sat down on that rigid pole, taking it all inside himself for another round. Andrew groaned at the feeling of his first load lubricating that tight hole and sliding all around his dick. He was happy to let Jimmy do a bit of the work for a while, and lay back, enjoying the sight of that firm, slim young body bouncing up and down on his erection. After a while, though, Andrew was ready to resume control, and he sat up, rolling Jimmy backwards until he was lying on his back with his legs kicking up in the air. Andrew got in between those long legs and pushed his cock back into Jimmy’s hole, coming right down on top of him, face to face, and tongue to tongue, while Jimmy wrapped his legs and arms around Andrew, pulling him in closer. Between the nearness of the position, the intensity of the kissing, and the speed of Andrew’s plunges into Jimmy’s hole, it took no time at all before load number two moved into place and started making its way up the shaft of Andrew’s cock. “Ready for me to knock you up again?” “Oh, yeah, I want that hot load all the way inside me. Breed me deep!” A few moments later, Andrew’s cock went into spasms, pumping another massive load deep inside Jimmy’s receptive ass until the sperm was draining and squelching out around his dick as he slowed down from the final epic thrusts. When he pulled out, a long stream of cum oozed out of Jimmy’s ass and ran down his taint. Jimmy lay there with what some people call an “all gone” look on his face, dazed and happy with the joy of two big loads swimming around inside his ass cunt. They lay on the bed together, cuddling and kissing and stroking each other for a while. Then Jimmy said, “That was so awesome, I hate for you to leave. Want to stay?” Andrew sat up then. Yes, he wanted to stay. No, he didn’t want to stay. His mood swerved wildly between the two extremes while Jimmy watched him curiously. Andrew felt like he owed Jimmy an explanation, especially because the sex had been so sensational and he had certainly felt an attraction to this good-natured young guy. Finally, he spoke. “I’d like to but I can’t. It’s complicated, I can’t explain the whole thing, but I would like to see you again – I’m just not sure when it will be possible. I know that sounds like a copout, and it’s not that at all, really. I’m sorry, but that’s all I can say right now.” Something of his stress and distress came through in the relatively conventional words. Jimmy was a sensitive, intuitive guy, and he realized that Andrew really was struggling with something big. But he’d enjoyed their time too, so his response was, “Okay, let’s swap digits.” Andrew got up, got his phone, and had Jimmy enter his number. “I’ll send you a text now with my name so you can add me.” That done, he left after a lingering goodbye kiss at the door, remembering to turn back and wave again before getting on the elevator. He’d guessed right; Jimmy was standing by his open door, watching Andrew as he left. As Andrew walked home, he realized that his life was about to get complicated. He’d always valued honesty, and here he was preparing to live a lie with his husband who didn’t know who he was. As if all that weren’t enough, he guessed that it might be a long time before he could have sex with Markus again, and there was Jimmy, eager, willing, fun, and good company -- quite apart from being a sensational fuck. Andrew had enjoyed his evening immensely, but he didn’t want to manipulate Jimmy’s feelings when his own hope was to have his normal life with his husband back again. What a mess! Andrew groaned and shook his head as he walked in the front door of his condo building.

On its way soon, @Charmingbear!

Chapter 1: The Aftermath Andrew sat beside the bed, resting his hand on the left hand of Markus. Did Markus even know he was there? He couldn’t tell. Markus was penned in place by an array of wires, tubes, and cuffs, and surrounded by pumps, IV drips, and monitors. Large areas of his face, right arm, and right leg were swathed in bandages. The room was filled with the sounds of bleeping machines and the steady rhythmic whoosh of the respirator. There was no other sound. The figure on the bed lay still. This was the fourth day now that Andrew had kept this vigil beside his man. Three nights had passed since he had received the call to go to the Vancouver hospital because Markus had been in an accident. Andrew had burned up the roads, trying to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. Once there, he’d stared in shocked disbelief at the still figure while the doctor had droned on and on. Words and phrases like “… severe burns to the arm and leg… several rib fractures… soft tissue injuries… inflammation… possible brain damage… induced coma…” had washed over him without any of it registering. The doctor had needed to explain it all to him again, patiently, the next day. Andrew couldn’t comprehend, he couldn’t fathom, how a man as vital and vigorous, as endlessly energetic as Markus, could possibly be lying there, unmoving. It reminded him of a fairy tale where the hero or heroine was entrapped by an evil magic spell and would be held immobile until released by the coming of love, expressed by a kiss. With that thought, he’d tried kissing Markus. It hadn’t worked, and Andrew had then felt like a complete idiot for even hoping that it might help. And the whole day had started off so normally. Andrew usually wound up sleeping on his face, and (as so often before) he slowly came awake to the unmistakable sensation of Markus sliding a wet tongue between his ass cheeks, probing gently at his hole. Andrew squirmed and moaned gently as he felt that delicious sensation of the warm, wet tongue prodding at him, getting him wet, and then pushing to try to enter him. Markus was an absolute master of this use of the tongue as a warm-up to something bigger and firmer. Andrew spread his legs wider apart and relaxed into the feeling as Markus continued to lap at his ass crack, washing the sides of his cheeks and poking at the tight little opening. Then he felt the finger rubbing gently at his anus, rubbing and pressing, seeking to open him up. It was that finger that found the way in first, and the tongue soon followed. As always, Markus took his time, thoroughly enjoying making love to his man’s ass, sliding his tongue in and then alternating with the finger, twisting around, eventually finding and stroking the prostate. By now, Andrew was thoroughly awake and his cock was well on its way to becoming fully hard. He knew perfectly well that Markus would have been hard even before he began, and that made his patience and perseverance all the more amazing. When it came to sex, though, Markus was never in a hurry. Taking his time was far too enjoyable. At last, the tongue and finger withdrew, and Markus began to move. Andrew felt him sliding up his back, his firm pecs rubbing across Andrew’s back muscles, and then the rigid pole sliding into the crack between his buns. Even now, Markus didn’t rush, letting his cock slide along Andrew’s crack, up and down, as he gently humped his husband’s butt. Finally, though, Andrew started getting impatient. He was passing beyond wanting Markus inside his body to the point of needing it, needing his man’s cock to be fully buried inside him. He pushed his ass up, and said, “Give me that beautiful cock, Markus. Slide it right inside me and show me how you can make love to my ass.” “You want my cock, Andrew?” “God, yes. I want it now, and you’re driving me crazy by teasing me – and you know it!” Markus gave an ironic little laugh, and said, “All right, then. You know I always give you whatever you want.” With that, he reached down, took his thick shaft in his hand and placed the tip against Andrew’s hole, now thoroughly wetted and loosened. He then began to lean on it, firmly but still without haste. There was a gasp below him as the head pushed its way inside, but not a sound of protest – more of a sound of relief that the teasing was finally over and the action was beginning. Markus continued to push downwards, sliding the entire eight-inch shaft behind the head into Andrew’s tight fuck channel. His dick was an unusual shape, getting thicker towards the base, and Andrew loved the sensation as Markus reached full penetration, then stopped at the point where his hole was stretched to its widest around that beautiful cock. “God, Markus, that feels so incredible, you’re stretching me so wide.” “It feels amazing to me too, Andrew – every time.” And with that, Markus began to move out and back in, sliding his cock deep inside his husband’s muscular ass and then withdrawing until only the head was clasped by the ring of muscle. As he moved, he slowly increased the speed until he was steadily pumping into Andrew’s hole, still without haste but driving fully and deeply in on every stroke. Andrew moaned in ecstasy as Markus plowed him deep. Markus reared up on his arms into push-up position, needing more leverage, and his muscles flexed as he continued to pick up speed, the flop of blond hair across his forehead bouncing up and down as he fucked faster and faster. In another minute or so, he was going at close to full speed, his hips making a loud “smack” each time he slammed down into Andrew’s firm, muscular ass. His breathing was coming shorter and faster as the fuck strokes continued to gain speed, and he knew he was going to explode very soon. Andrew knew it too. He heard the rapid breathing, and shoved his hand under himself, grabbing hold of his own cock and jerking it forcefully. He knew how much Markus loved to be talked through his climax. “Yeah, Markus, yeah. Fuck me harder, you stud. Give it all to me, deep and hard. I want you to cum in me, to breed me deep. Cum inside me! Fucking give me that whole load!” Markus was now gasping and groaning as Andrew clamped the hole down tightly on his cock on each thrust. “Cum in my ass!” That final cry pulled the trigger. Markus slammed all the way into Andrew and held it there as the first three big shots of cream erupted deep inside Andrew’s ass, then followed with a quick series of short slams against the cheeks as the rest of his load streamed out into his man’s hole. As soon as Andrew felt Markus cumming in him, he twisted and groaned and let his own load erupt out onto the bed underneath him, soaking the sheets with a generous blast of cum. Then Markus collapsed onto Andrew’s back, his arms unable to hold him up any longer. Andrew reached up and back with both arms, stroking his husband’s firm body as he panted for air in the aftermath of orgasm. Then he turned his head to the side, allowing Markus to seek out his mouth for some intense kissing while they were still riding the high of cumming right together. When evening came, it was typically Andrew’s turn to fuck Markus and load him up. Andrew’s fucking style was more forceful, more energetic, and faster overall, yet they still managed to cum right together more often than not, and frequently Markus would cum without even touching himself. Andrew had driven home that afternoon, all set to give Markus a fuck for the record books – and then had found himself, instead, sitting in the hospital, staring wide-eyed at an unconscious, immobile body. On the second day, Andrew had found himself frantically jerking off in the shower. He was all primed by force of habit to be fucked and to cum, and he had to get it out of his system before he could do anything else. It was on the third day that Andrew’s brother, Chad, and his wife, Alicia, had arrived from Toronto. The two brothers had always been close, right from boyhood, and finding out that Andrew was gay hadn’t disturbed Chad in the slightest. He’d suspected that even before Andrew himself had figured it out. “Chad. Thank God you could come.” “Of course I came. I’m worried about you, bro.” “Thank you for coming too, Alicia.” She said nothing, but hugged Andrew hard and long. That hug was a speech in itself. Unlike Chad, Alicia had never really felt much at ease around Andrew and Markus, taking refuge in polite but stiff formality. With the passage of time, though, she had gradually begun to realize that maybe, just maybe, her fiercely religious and moralistic family upbringing hadn’t given her as many of life’s answers as she used to think. The three of them had sat and talked about what had happened, while Andrew continued stroking the hand that didn’t respond by so much as a twitch. Chad saw that, and his worry and concentration deepened. At last, he came right to the point. “Andrew, you need to get out of here. You need to take a breather for a few hours at least.” “No! I can’t. I won’t. He might wake up. I need to be here if he wakes up!” “Andrew. What are the doctors saying?” “It’s… he’s in a coma. Induced coma.” “Andrew, he’s not going to wake up until they feel sure it’s safe. Until then, they’re going to keep him unconscious, to help his brain to heal.” “But, Chad, I know he can hear me. He has to hear me. He has to know I’m here with him.” “Andrew!” Chad’s voice came out in an abrupt bark. “You need to take a break. You’re on the thin edge of cracking apart from the stress, you’re wound as tight as a strung bow, and if you snap, that’s not going to help Markus at all. Come on, we’re going out.” Andrew kept trying to fight back but soon ran out of steam and slowed to a stop, like a nursery toy that had run down and needed to be wound up again. In the end, it was sheer emotional exhaustion that decided the argument. Andrew stood up, Chad and Alicia got on either side of him and took his arms, and the three of them walked out of the hospital. Outside, Andrew was almost shocked to see the setting sun touching the mountaintops with rose-tinged light, glimpsed through the trees in the park across the road. He’d been convinced that it was deep, dark night. But it was light, the world was awake, people were hurrying by on foot, on bicycles, in cars, and he took a deep breath and felt a bit of the tension leave him. They walked around the corner to a small seafood restaurant, eating an excellent meal and having a couple of glasses of wine each. It was the first decent meal Andrew had enjoyed since that awful phone call. He could feel his frozen brain beginning to thaw a little more. During dinner, conversation turned to their parents. Their mother, Chloe, was recovering from surgery in Ottawa and since she was now in her eighties it was a prolonged process, so it hadn’t been possible for them to come west. Chad had filled them in as much as he knew about what was happening. He would talk to them again, but he also urged his brother to call home. “You know that Mom and Dad love Markus as much as they love us, and Mom especially is going out of her mind with worry. It’ll do both of you good if you talk with her tomorrow – it’ll be too late tonight with the time change.” Andrew nodded agreement. Then Chad changed the subject, cautiously moving onto more painful ground. “Before I forget, I talked to Uncle Tommy as well.” Andrew immediately stiffened. Chad knew it was a sore spot, but it had to be said. “He’s really worried about you, too.” Andrew didn’t look up, but instead spoke to the table cloth. “I can’t talk about that right now.” Chad sighed. He’d guessed right -- Andrew was still struggling with the intense pain of that loss a few months earlier. They’d both gone to Alcantara for their Uncle Rich’s funeral. Both of them had liked the older man very much, but in Andrew’s case the liking had soared to the edge of hero worship. Rich, their mother’s older brother, and his husband Tommy, had been the first people Andrew had told when he’d decided to come out, even before telling his brother and parents. The safe zone they’d represented for him had been one of the biggest anchors of his entire adult life. Their wise advice and experience had kept him afloat through a couple of early and disastrous attempts at relationships. They had expressed real pleasure when he met Markus and introduced him to the older couple on a video call. His two uncles had come to the wedding when he married Markus, making a wickedly funny joint speech about their nephew that had the entire audience – including Andrew and Markus -- roaring with laughter. The special relationship they enjoyed just went from strength to strength as the years rolled by. They’d visited with each other frequently, taking turns doing the travelling, and even gone on joint vacations. No doubt some of the people who saw the older and younger gay couples going places and doing things together had speculated about possibly kinky daddy and boy antics in the bedroom but, as it happened, sex hadn’t played any part in their relationship – although they had all loved each other dearly. Now, Rich was gone, and both Tommy and Andrew were suffering. Chad knew better than to force the subject, so he changed to another topic. Time enough to return to that later. As the dinner ended, Alicia was the one who suggested to Andrew that he come and stay with them. “We rented a condo for a couple of weeks, and you might want to use the spare bedroom. Just so you can have some company in the morning when you wake up.” To his own surprise, and theirs, Andrew found himself agreeing. His state of exhaustion was such that, when he undressed and fell into bed, he went out like a light and didn’t wake up for nearly ten hours. In the morning, over breakfast and coffee, Chad said, “Andrew, do you want to come over and stay here with us for the next week or so? Maybe better than being at home alone right now.” Andrew thought about it for a moment, and silently nodded his head. “Okay, after we finish breakfast, let’s go over to your place and you can pack a bag, then we can drop it back here before we go on to the hospital.” By the time they reached the hospital, Andrew had calmed down and unwound far enough that he actually followed and took in everything the doctor was saying. At first, the report sounded positive. The pressure and inflammation in the brain was decreasing, and the doctor felt sure that in three more days they could slowly allow Markus to emerge from the induced coma. But then, as the doctor went on, Andrew felt his stomach sinking back down into his shoes. “There is some evidence of possible brain damage. It’s not likely irreversible, but when he wakes up he may display signs of memory loss, perhaps extending back some time before the accident.” Chad gripped Andrew’s shoulders firmly as he sensed his brother losing his cool, composed manner again. “Can you tell us anything more, doctor?” “At this point, no. We will only know more when he does recover consciousness. At the least, he will certainly be in the hospital for several weeks more because of his physical injuries, followed by an extended period of physiotherapy.” It was an unnerving prognosis, and Chad could see that Andrew was thoroughly scared of what might happen when Markus did wake up. Chad stuck close to him for much of the day, finally leaving at about 4:00. After that, Andrew was sitting alone again by the bedside, while Chad and Alicia were off visiting some friends in Vancouver. He was again gently stroking his man’s hand, trying to will his soul to penetrate the dense fog of the induced coma and make contact with the soul of Markus. Andrew’s concentration was so intense that he didn’t even hear the footsteps entering the room behind him. But he did hear the voice, a voice deeply familiar to him, even though it was nearly half a year since he had last heard it. “Andrew.” He stood and turned, his eyes staring wide open on a gasp at the sight of that lined and tanned Asiatic face, the wise, ageing eyes brimming over with sorrow and concern. “Uncle… Uncle Tommy….” And then, just like the frightened little child he had been so long ago, he suddenly raced into his uncle’s arms and they held each other tightly, fiercely, as they sobbed out their stress and their grief together. After that first emotional storm had passed, Andrew found that the dam had burst and he could hardly wait to have a long, intense talk with his uncle. There was so much for both of them to say, as he well knew, so much that they couldn’t really share with the rest of the family as openly as they could with each other – this above all, because of the special commonality and affection between them. Andrew sent a quick text message to Chad, telling him they were going out (but not where they were going), and they headed off to have a long dinner together. Tommy talked at length about his own emotional stresses from losing Rich, his husband of nearly half a century. It helped Andrew immensely to hear that they shared many of the same emotional triggers, even if the precise causes were different. But were they? Even now, Andrew couldn’t rid himself of the nagging suspicion that things were going to go wrong, that Markus might still die. It was time. He forced himself to drag his fears into the open, to speak them out, to give them life and dimension by putting them into words. Even now, although he couldn’t bring himself to put it quite so bluntly, the fear that he was going to lose Markus hovered behind all the emotional stress that he was describing to his uncle. But Tommy fully understood this fear, too. He put his hand over Andrew’s and gave it a friendly, familial squeeze. “Andrew, you’re worrying too much. You can easily waste half of your life worrying about what might happen, only to find that it doesn’t work out that way. Rich was often like that too. You can’t know yet exactly what will happen, but Markus is just like you – vigorous, energetic, active, and careful about his health. Whatever exactly comes when he wakes up, you can be sure that both of you are good for many more years yet. Just look at his family, and then look at your parents, and your uncle. Good genes.” And Tommy gave Andrew a jaunty wink in which Andrew could clearly see the witty, bubbly young PhD student who had so captivated his uncle. Finally, at ten o’clock, the restaurant owner had to ask them to leave as it was closing time. Tommy picked up the bill, over Andrew’s protests. “Uncle Tommy, please let me take care of it. You’re the one who had to travel all that way to get here!” “Quite all right, Andrew, I’d been hoping for an invitation for a while so, when this happened, I just invited myself. Rich would have beaten both of us to the bill if he’d been here.” Tommy chuckled, Andrew joined him, and then the older man’s face began to crumple. Andrew drew him into a strong hug, holding him close as he cried silently. The restaurant owner stood by patiently, divining that this was much more than just another couple having dinner. Finally, Tommy regained control, and they walked out into the night, noting the full moon shining down on the still-busy streets. As they went, Tommy apologized to the restaurant owner for holding him up so long – an entirely characteristic action. Andrew walked Tommy to his hotel, and then took the SkyTrain back to the condo that Chad and Alicia had rented. He was glad to be alone. It was a silent, thoughtful ride. They’d given him his own key and door pass so getting into the building and the suite was not a problem. He found Chad and Alicia sharing a glass of wine and could guess, from the sudden silence, that they were talking about him. “How did it go?” Chad asked. “Better than I feared,” Andrew replied. “We both needed to talk. It helped.” “Helped you or him?” “Both of us.” “How long is he staying?” “He didn’t say, but I’m sure he didn’t fly all this way just to turn around and head back to Alcantara tomorrow.” Chad and Alicia nodded. “I expect he’ll come by the hospital again tomorrow.” “We’ll see him then,” Alicia said, and for once she didn’t look nervous at the thought of again meeting the famous gay uncle. Chad could sense the change in her, and it pleased him immensely. Andrew slept well. In his dreams, he was a young man again, meeting Markus for the first time – but instead of the beachfront park in Vancouver, he met Markus on the beach at Bahía de la Paz in Alcantara, and when Markus drew close to Andrew, he had the face of the young Tommy which Andrew had so often seen in photographs. He awoke then, realizing that Tommy and Markus were actually like each other in ways he had never understood before this night. Did that mean he was also more like his Uncle Rich than he had guessed? Tommy had hinted at such a resemblance, but perhaps it went deeper than the single point Tommy had mentioned. Musing like this, he fell asleep easily again and slept the rest of the night in peace and tranquility. The next day, while eating lunch with his uncle in the hotel café, Andrew narrated his dream. Tommy smiled, wistfully, obviously sunk in his own memories of his lost love for a moment. Then he spoke. “Did Rich ever tell you how we met?” “He told me that he met you at an embassy reception in Ottawa, and then again a couple of years later after you had moved to Alcantara.” Tommy smiled. “Just that?” Andrew nodded, and Tommy went on. “Andrew, I spotted him lying out, enjoying the sun on the beach at Bahía de la Paz, and went over to speak to him. That’s when I recognized him as the tall, handsome lawyer who had captivated me at that embassy reception.” “Wow.” “I think Rich was talking to you in your dreams last night. I’m sure he’s keeping as close to you as he can right now. He always cared so much about you and was so proud of you, almost as if you were his own son.” Andrew decided to risk a personal question. A bit hesitantly, he asked, “Do you feel him close to you as well?” Tommy chuckled. “Andrew, you don’t have to hesitate to ask me anything. We don’t keep secrets from each other, remember? That’s how the four of us have always rolled. Yes, I do feel him close sometimes. Not as often as I could wish and not as close as I want, but still….” Andrew sat silently, watching and waiting, until Tommy went on. “Rich had some truly awful experiences when he was younger. So did I. We lived through them, and we learned from our mistakes, and when we met each other, we were ready to live and love fully. He wouldn’t want the pain of our loss, or of this horror show you’re going through now, to ruin our lives but he would want, and expect, that we would not just get through it but learn from it all.” Coming from anyone else, those words would have sounded just too trite, too pat, to be credible – but when it was Tommy saying it, with all the wisdom of his seventy-five years, it made more sense to Andrew. Perhaps that was not least because Tommy was one person whose only personal stake in pulling him through was the same kind of enduring love that had held him and Rich together for over 40 years and had drawn Andrew and Markus so close to both of them as well. Two days later, on Monday afternoon, with all four of them present, the doctor explained that he was now ready to start releasing Markus from his coma. It would take, he said, about 24 hours, give or take, so he would not likely wake up and become responsive until some time around noon or later on Tuesday. Chad, Alicia, and Tommy all told Andrew that they would be there with him when that happened. That night, all of them slept restlessly, disturbed by strange dreams, as if the same spirit of disquiet was invading all of their minds simultaneously. The next day, they assembled again in the room, and waited. With them were a nurse and the doctor. The doctor warned them all to keep back a bit from the bed in case anything happened and he or the nurse had to intervene suddenly. Tommy was the most patient of them all. Alicia was second-best, keeping her arm draped over Chad’s shoulders so he would know she was with him. Andrew, understandably, was the edgiest of all. He just couldn’t wait any longer to see and be seen, to speak and be heard, to kiss the man he loved, even though full-throttle hugging was impossible due to the profusion of wires and tubes. At last, Markus began to stir. His head turned a bit from side to side, his eyelids fluttered for a moment but didn’t open. Then his arms and legs began to move slightly. The doctor was watching closely. “Motor function in all four extremities,” he muttered to himself, making a note on his chart. Markus blinked, and his eyelids rolled back, revealing those startlingly blue eyes which had so enthralled Andrew when they first met. He was staring upwards at the ceiling, not focusing, plainly trying to decipher what he was seeing. His mouth opened, and there came first a couple of inarticulate sounds, and then – startlingly clear – a name. “Werner.” “Who?” Alicia whispered. Andrew put up a warning hand, indicating silence. The eyes of the man in the bed began to move, swinging slowly down from the ceiling until he took in the group of people watching him so avidly. He looked faintly puzzled. “Hello, Markus,” the doctor said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Uh… you look like… must be a doctor.” “That’s right. I’m Dr. Preston.” At that point, Andrew couldn’t hold himself any longer. He stepped up to the bed. “Markus, my love, it’s me. Andrew.” “Who?” Andrew’s face fell to the floor. “Werner? No, you’re not Werner. Who are you?” At that, Andrew’s composure cracked. He dropped Markus’ hand, turned, and walked swiftly out of the room, leaving Markus staring in a puzzled way at the spot where he had stood. Chad began to follow, but Tommy put out a hand to stop him, and said, “No. Let me go.” As Tommy left, Markus began talking again. “That wasn’t Werner. Where is he?” And then, on a steadily rising note of panic and anger, “What have you done with Werner? I want to see him! Where is he???” The doctor said, quickly and quietly, “You’d better go. You’re doing more harm than good being here. I may have to give him a sedative.” “We’ll be in the waiting area,” Chad replied as they left. Out in the hall, Chad and Alicia looked at each other, wide-eyed. It was clear to both of them that Andrew’s nightmare was just beginning.

@losolent This story has been an absolutely amazing ride from the get-go, and is well worth returning to and rereading. To continue or not? Yes, I would love to read more about these wonderful characters but on the other hand, you've reached a near-perfect spot to wave goodbye to them. Hard to think what else you might say if you were to go on. Since everyone else has now paired off, the only loose end left to pursue is what happens to Liam. Whatever you decide, it's all good -- look how many people's hearts you've won with this novel. Thank you for all the time and effort you've put into writing it!

Seemed like there were a lot of guys brushing tears out of their eyes during this chapter (from Artem to Alex), and no wonder. @losolent you really, really outdid yourself with your vivid, detailed account of the royal wedding, complete with cheering crowds, ceremonies, vows, and above all with the official oath taking by Prince Maximilian of Monrovia, Duke of Valeoir and Marquess of Montcalm. I'm not ashamed to admit that my eyes were getting wet a few times while reading about this incredible day.

Side note: Happy Birthday to Alex and Max and all the gang! I just noticed that @losolent dropped the first episode of this epic novel on July 25, 2021 -- one year ago today. And what an amazing year it's been!