Hawaiian Nine

[daddybear54]

34 minutes ago, Skanman said:

This sounds like the end ?? 🥲

Why do all the best stories have to end so soon ??

Many thanks @daddybear54  for sharing and really hope there’s still more to cum 😜

@Skanman,  Not to worry, these guys aren't finished yet! 🙂🙃🤣

[Skanman]

41 minutes ago, daddybear54 said:

@Skanman,  Not to worry, these guys aren't finished yet! 🙂🙃🤣

That’s so good to hear.  Already looking forward to more sexy adventures. 

[daddybear54]

Chapter 13:  New Reality

 

Broad daylight was sliding in around the edges of the louvered doors to the balcony when Laszlo awoke in the morning. He squinted against the vestiges of sunlight to read the clock – 7:35 am – and then shook his head and muttered, “Wow, what a crazy dream that was.”

Then he felt a hand fall gently on his shoulder and twisted his head around to see Daniel propped up on one elbow and beaming down at him like the happiest guy in the world – which he probably was. Laszlo’s eyes opened wide.

“Holy hell! So it wasn’t a dream!”

“What happened in it?”

“Well, I was eating dinner and this guy came over and asked me to go and see his friend, so I did – and the friend was you. And then we talked, you told me you loved me, and I said the same to you, and then we came back here and made ecstatic love for hours.”

Daniel laughed joyously, and then quoted John Bunyan. “ ‘So I awoke, and behold, it was a dream.’ Is that what you’re thinking?” Laszlo nodded. “Well, it wasn’t. It all happened. We both said the magic words, ‘I love you,” to each other, and then we came up here to your room and proved it.”

By this time, Laszlo was wide awake and full memory was returning. “I guess I just thought it was a dream because it seemed so impossible that it could be real.”

Daniel leaned down and kissed him. “I thought so too. But it happened, it was real, and we’ve just slept together for the first night of the rest of our lives – together.”

Now, Laszlo was positively grinning at his recollections of the night before. But Daniel had an agenda. “I need to get some coffee. You?”

“Yes, please.”

Daniel got out of bed, and Laszlo lay there, sprawled against the pillows, enjoying the spectacle of Daniel’s dark-tanned muscular body, totally naked, the muscles working under the skin as he strode across the room, ran the water, filled up the machine, and proceeded to set the coffee brewing. He then turned and walked back to the bed, and Laszlo got another eyeful of the famous Hawaiian Nine dangling in a relaxed state, but easily still measuring six inches long.

“What are you staring at?” Daniel’s tone was amused rather than irritated.

“The most beautiful sight in the world.”

“Okay, that was a bit over the top – this cheesy dialogue is starting to sound like a cheap romance novelist who’s having an off week.”

“I know,” Laszlo chuckled, “and you love every minute of it. Don’t you dare pretend you don’t!”

Daniel laughed too, and hopped onto the bed beside him, reaching out to stroke his taut abs. He leaned down, and they kissed some more, wrapping their arms around each other – until the coffee maker gave a loud belch, signifying that its work was done, and the coffee was ready to pour.

Daniel got up and got the mugs ready. “You take anything?”

“Black.”

“A man after my own heart.” He poured the coffee, carried it over to the bed, handed one mug to Laszlo, and then reached out to clink his against it. “Here’s to us, and to a beautiful life that we can share together.”

He planted his mug on the table, climbed back into bed next to Laszlo, and then they sat up against the pillows together, sipping coffee, and cozying up to each other with little random touches and brushings against each other, all very cozy and domestic.

After a few minutes, Laszlo said, “We don’t have to decide everything right away, but there are certainly some things we will need to discuss – you know, the kinds of things that every normal couple starts going into before they begin talking about it being for life.”

Daniel gave a little pout, but with a twinkle in his eye. “Are you implying that we aren’t normal?”

Laszlo said, “No. I’m saying it right out, not implying it. Last night we all but married each other, on the spur of the moment, and without any warning or preparation.”

“True. And wasn’t it wonderful!”

“It was. But now, I have to think about the future for a bit. Starting with the fact that I’m due to fly back to Los Angeles in two more days.”

“Well, that’s a fine way to show how much you love a guy! Kiss and fly express romance!”

“This is my break month from classes, but the next term begins on Monday. It’s a work term, and I need to report to my work site on Friday for some preliminary paperwork, and to meet the team I’m going to be working with. Plenty to organize.”

Daniel nodded. He remembered all too well the tyranny of schedules in the real world.

“When can you come back? Or can I come up and see you?”

“I’d love to have you come up and see me, but it had probably better be over a weekend because there’s no knowing how hectic things might get on workdays for the next two months. But before you start planning, you should know that I’m in a new place now, actually just along the street from the building where your old condo was before you sold it and flew away to surf.”

Daniel chuckled. “And this is an issue?”

“Might be, if you’re concerned about the gossip around WeHo that the Hawaiian Nine has suddenly reappeared out of nowhere.”

“Hmm. Good point. But there is the one holiday weekend in there. If I fly up on the Thursday, I can collect you from work on Friday and we can go away somewhere together for the next three nights, coming back on Monday.”

Laszlo kissed Daniel with a smile on his face. “I like the way your mind works.” But then he got serious again. “At the least, we should talk a bit about who we want to tell.”

“Such as…?”

“The entire Hawaiian Nine gang for starters. Your friends down here.”

“Rodrigo will have already taken care of that – trust me. That guy’s as bad as any gossiping old-timer when it comes to dishing the dirt.”

Laszlo laughed. “My family. Yours?”

“No. I’ve lost touch with all of them – and it’s better so for my peace of mind.”

Laszlo said no more, just put down his coffee cup and gave Daniel a fierce hug. He could feel the tears trickling down Daniel’s face, and he knew at once that this was the cruellest heartache his man had ever endured. He moved on from hugging to kissing, and Daniel responded eagerly. Strangely, Laszlo wasn’t at all upset that Daniel seemed prepared to use him to forget the pain of family rejection. Laszlo knew that there was so much he and Daniel could do for each other in a shared life, but for him, showing Daniel that he was valued, wanted, needed, truly worthy of being loved was probably the biggest single gift he could give. It was a gift of healing, of closing up an immense wound inflicted by others, and Laszlo was both honoured and humbled that Daniel had trusted him enough to let him be the healer he needed.

The kissing quickly became more intense as Daniel reached down to squeeze Laszlo’s cock, causing it to harden swiftly. When it was fully ready, Daniel spat in his hand, reached down to prepare his hole, and then lay on his back and lifted his legs. Laszlo climbed on top of him, slowly sliding his cock into Daniel until it was completely lodged inside him, and their two bodies were joined and merged from shoulders to hips.

Laszlo lay still, covering Daniel’s face with his kisses, murmuring words of love as Daniel gently stroked his body. “Daniel, you wonderful, beautiful man, I love you so much more than I could possibly tell you.”

“Show me, Laszlo. If you can’t tell me, show me.”

With that, Laszlo began to move slowly. It was another one of those amazing times where time didn’t exist, where the only reality was the intense trust and affection they were forging between them. As he moved, as Daniel continued stroking him, there was no room in Laszlo’s mind for anything but the one incredible truth, that the man he loved with all his being loved him just as much, and that anything and everything was possible, now that they were finally and truly together.

It didn’t take long. Daniel was so stirred by the intense waves of love pouring out of Laszlo to wash him clean of his pain and hurt that he found he was about to cum after only a few minutes.

“Ohhh… Laszlo… oh, that’s so good… I’m ready. Make me cum, Laszlo, I want to cum right along with you.”

It was all Laszlo needed to hear. He speeded his movements, his breathing became raspy, Daniel cried aloud, and then they exploded at the same moment, Daniel’s cock spurting up against Laszlo’s chest and falling back down onto his body while Laszlo’s cum blew inside him with a force that he could feel as he was filled up.

And they hadn’t broken the kiss even once. Slowly their breathing returned to normal. At last, Daniel managed to control his tears of joy enough to say, “I have never felt so complete, so whole, so loved in my entire life. Thank you for loving me, Laszlo.” And Laszlo was not surprised to find that he, too, was getting teary-eyed at those words.

After a while, they got up and moved to the bathroom, showering together with a great deal more kissing and touching, and then got dressed to go down to breakfast. All Daniel had was the clothes he’d had on last night, but they were passable for the moment.

At breakfast, Daniel got a text from Rodrigo.

• what pickup time for your ride?
• bring my jeep?
• driving u back here is easier
• true – 10 am ok?
• will do

Then he turned again to Laszlo. “Rodrigo will be here to get us at 10:00.”

“Where are we going?”

“For starters, I need some fresh clothes and stuff to move in here for 2 nights – if that’s all right with you.” This was said with a mocking grin. “Then, I have to get my Jeep so I can show you around some of my favourite spots.”

By lunch time, they had been back to the house where Daniel put together a quick overnight bag, and Laszlo got a chance to meet and talk with Rodrigo, and more briefly with Arian and Brad. All three of them were very happy to meet him because his arrival had plainly lifted away all the clouds and gloom that had been hovering around Daniel ever since he had come to the island. His friends were all immensely relieved to see Daniel looking and sounding so amiable and so jovial, really a totally different man from the one they’d been sharing the house with for the last year and more.

Laszlo had said a heartfelt thank you to Rodrigo for making the move to get him and Daniel together, and Rodrigo had given him a warm-hearted hug – and a hint of a crotch grind – in response. Then he let Laszlo go, with a suggestive wink.

As they drove away from the house, Laszlo said, “So, I assume you’ve been playing around with Rodrigo. I can tell.”

Daniel just grinned and said, “Guilty as charged. How could you tell?”

“Let’s just say that he wasted no time dropping hints at me too. What about Arian and Brad? Any fooling around there?”

“Not a chance. Each of those guys has a waiting list of at least 20 females. There’s no room for any of our tribe to squeeze in between. Pretty much every morning, one or the other of them will come down for coffee and breakfast with another girl we’ve never seen before.”

“Are they good surfers?”

“Of course – all of us are. It’s no use trying to surf the waves off this beach unless you are a true expert. Though where those two ever found time to polish their surfing skills when they’re always bed hopping….”

Laszlo laughed.

Daniel took Laszlo to a favourite little place down the beach, a seafood shack which dished up the most awesome fresh fish that had come out of the ocean that morning. From there, they drove on for something over half an hour to the quiet beach at the end of the road, a beach tucked into a tight little alcove in the high rocky cliffs. There, as expected, they had to park at the overflow lot and walk the last stretch. Once they came to the edge of the sand, Daniel said, “Better kick off your shoes and go barefoot here. I’ve got a surprise to show you.” Laszlo complied, and the two of them set off, walking back along the beach in the direction the road had come from, plowing their way through the deep, soft sand. After they’d walked for perhaps three minutes, Daniel stopped and said, “Now, turn around.”

Laszlo gasped at the vista that was revealed, rank after rank of towering heights of land soaring up out of  the ocean and stretching off into the distance like the rows of wings in an old-fashioned theatre stage. The air was full of the roar of the surf, and along the base of those soaring cliffs lay a permanent haze of ocean spray flung up by the crashing waves upon the rocks. It gave the whole scene a dream-like quality that matched the feeling of being somehow pulled out of normal time and space which Laszlo had been experiencing ever since he’d encountered Daniel the night before.

“It’s a magical place,” Daniel said quietly. “So many people drive to the end of the road, rush down to the shore, grab a couple of quick photos, and then drive off. They’ll never see this view, simply because you have to walk some way back along the beach to be able to see past that first headland. And you can tell from how smooth the sand is around us that almost nobody else has made it this far, not since the last big storm two nights ago.”

Laszlo stared in awe, unable to think of anything to say. And Daniel went on seriously. “It’s a lesson for both of us, to take the time to look for the real beauty and magic in everything around us. And that includes each other.”

Laszlo turned to look at him. “I’ve never heard you talk like this before.”

“I couldn’t think in those terms. I had to break free of the rat race in L.A. and come here to learn that lesson, and some other big ones too – like the truth about where my heart really wanted to be,” Daniel said solemnly. Laszlo took him in his arms, and they kissed each other, while the constant background roar of the surf chanted a natural blessing all around them. They walked back to the Jeep hand in hand, in thoughtful silence.

Back at the hotel, Daniel got settled in and then he and Laszlo went down to the pool for a swim and sit out in the sun before evening. Some of the other guests were struck by the shining quality of the smiles they directed at each other, and by the easy and happy laughter as they played in the water or shared jokes with each other.

That night, Daniel took Laszlo out to a favourite restaurant in another nearby resort for dinner, an open-air space under a broad, sheltering roof which faced a beautiful tropical garden where torches flared among the trees and a gentle stream of water flowed down a rock face into a quiet pool. The food was every bit as wonderful as the setting, and they were in no rush to finish up and go.

Once they were back at the hotel and in bed together, Laszlo took the lead in another scene of magical love-making every bit as entrancing as the previous night. When the final storm was over, and each of them had cum twice, Daniel sighed with sheer contentment. “I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

Laszlo’s reply, devoid of any sarcasm, was a simple, “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

Again, they snuggled down into the bed together, holding each other close as they drifted off to sleep.

On Laszlo’s final day, Daniel made him get up and go early to breakfast. “For where we are going today, we really have to beat the crowds.” As they drove along the road, which got busier as they passed near the airport and main town and then thinned out again, Daniel was explaining all about the island’s unique natural environment – the two primordial volcanoes which had formed the island, and which had long since been eroded down into multiple ridges and peaks surrounding the massive bulk of the huge central mountain.

At the west side of Kauai, they turned up a narrow, twisting road which climbed steadily up and away from the ocean. As they went up, the air got cooler, and the sunlight clearer as they rose above the early sea mist. Then they stopped in a small parking area, and Daniel led the way up a sloping paved path to the top of a ridge – and there, spread out before them, was a stunning natural spectacle: an enormous gorge, carved out of the mountainside, stretching for miles on both sides of them, with multiple bluffs and cliffs and rock-ribbed side valleys. Just as when he had seen the famous Grand Canyon in Arizona, Laszlo struggled to grasp the reality, the immense scale of the scene.

Daniel helped him out. He pointed the camera at a distant bluff and took a picture at the highest resolution. Then he showed Laszlo the picture, zooming in until Laszlo could see that what first looked like black specks on the ridge were a group of hikers walking along the crest of that bluff out to an overlook point. Laszlo just stared in awe, dazed by the sheer size and majesty of the scene.

They then drove on up to the end of the road where an even higher lookout point gazed down more than three thousand feet, past the cliffs of the shore to the ocean. “We were looking along this shoreline from the beach, miles over that way, yesterday.”

“Daniel, this place is just incredible. This entire island – it’s amazing.”

“It is, but it also has its drawbacks. It’s a long way from anywhere, so to speak, and the cost of living here is very steep indeed. It would be great to come back here for a holiday every year or so, but I think I need to relocate back to the mainland – soon.”

“Any particular job ambitions?”

“Let’s sit down here.” Daniel gestured to a nearby picnic bench, and they sat there, facing each other. “Honestly, Laszlo, I don’t know. I’ve been too busy decompressing from my last career to think much about it. One thing for sure, I’m done with the porn industry. No going back for me.”

As he said that, Laszlo realized – and knew it almost without any surprise – that he felt exactly the same. Done for good. “Same for me,” he said simply. Daniel smiled at that. Laszlo could tell that he had feared a different answer which might have made their future more complicated.

“What, then?”

“I chose this business and accounting program because I wanted to pick up some skills which could move around from place to place. Long term, though, I’d like to own my own business.”

Daniel gave a wry chuckle. “Be very careful what you wish for. Voice of ten years’ experience.”

“Well, I’m still thinking about different possibilities. No fixed ideas yet, but I want to be ready to jump if a suitable opportunity appears.”

“Like the way you jumped out at me?”

They both laughed, and then headed back to the Jeep and down the mountain. On the way back to the resort, Laszlo broached a trickier subject. “Daniel, I’m a little nervous about bringing this up….”

“Don’t be. If we need to talk about it, then we talk. We can’t ever be in a situation where we are afraid to talk anything over with each other. It’s relationship poison.”

“So… now that I’m going back to California, but you’re still here… how do we handle the whole thing about playing around?”

Daniel thought for a moment. “Well, we both know it’s going to happen when we’re going to be apart for that long, so we shouldn’t let ourselves get into any huge guilt feelings over it. Once we’re able to live together properly, we can revisit the question then. One thing I should tell you is that I’ve always been a big fan of three-ways and four-ways.”

“So am I!”

“Now, we’ve settled that, so change the subject again. Laszlo, here’s one I’ve been wondering about. Can we, or should we, try to schedule some kind of set day and hour to FaceTime? Or do we just wing it?”

Laszlo thought a bit. “For now, I think we should do a set time. We need it because of the 2-hour time difference.”

“Three hours when California goes onto Daylight Saving. Hawaii doesn’t.”

“Oh, right. Late evening for me, just after dinner for you, or something of that sort.” He hesitated a moment, and then went on. “Daniel – would it be too extreme or too cutesy-romantic if we did it every night?”

Daniel smiled. “How strange – I was going to ask you the same thing.”     

“Later on, once I get back to school for my final in-class term it’s trickier, because class times can be all over the map. Have to figure that out once I get my schedule. But one thing’s for sure, you have got to give me your new phone number! Look at what we went through just because you wouldn’t do it before!”

Daniel shook his head reminiscently, wondering how he could ever have felt that cutting everyone off was a good way to deal with his feelings. But then, just as they were wheeling up the main driveway of the resort, he asked, “Last question – for now. What about dinner for your last night?”

“In the restaurant here again, if that’s okay with you. I want to max our time together.”

“Perfect.”

Back in the room, they did another quick change, and headed down to the pool for some relaxing sun, swimming, and a late lunch from the tiki bar. A family with several small children were sitting across the way, and the children were amusing themselves in the time-honoured way, leaping into the pool, climbing out, and leaping in again.

Laszlo chuckled. “For such little kids, they sure kick up the water when they jump in.”

Daniel, not seeing the trap, replied, “Yeah. I bet I did it with more style when I was their age.”

Laszlo moved in for the kill. “You think you’re a good enough surfer to ride those big waves?”

Daniel began to say, “Nobody could ride such a tiny little ripple…” and then stopped, seeing the malicious grin on Laszlo’s face. He play-punched Laszlo in the shoulder and Laszlo yelped, causing the kids and their parents to look at them.

Later on, they went back up to their room to sleep. Even though the super-king-sized bed was easily big enough for three, they curled right into each other as close as they could get.

Ninety minutes later, rested, cleaned, and dressed, they headed down to the restaurant for dinner. At the host stand, the maître d’ said, “Welcome back, gentlemen. There will be just a brief delay while we prepare your table,” and invited them to sit in the armchairs beside the entrance. After a minute, he returned and escorted them to the same alcove where Daniel and Rodrigo had been seated on the previous visit. Enrique came over, welcoming them with a warm smile, and handing Laszlo a small envelope with his name hand-written on it. With a glance of apology to Daniel, he opened the envelope to find a hand-written card in a most beautiful longhand script. He was plainly finding this elegant hand a bit of a trial to read, and Daniel offered to help. “My mother’s hand-writing looked very like that.” Laszlo handed him the card, and Daniel read:

 

Gentlemen: Our warmest best wishes.

We beg you to be the guests of the hotel this evening.

Order whatever you wish from the menu and from the wine cellar.

It will be our pleasure.

 

Laszlo stared in frank amazement. “This is for real? I wonder whose idea this was?” He got an inkling of the possible answer a moment later when Enrique returned with the menus, accompanied by Aaron as his assistant, with the wine list. Laszlo detained Aaron for a moment, ostensibly to ask a question about one of the wines. What he asked was something a bit different. “Aaron, what is the story behind this – do you know?”

Aaron smiled slightly. “The hotel’s general manager was dining not far from you, sir,” and here he inclined his head towards Daniel, “the other night. He is a true gentleman and has a very romantic disposition. As well, he shares our orientation. He left instructions that you should be given this note, and the hospitality of the house, if you returned during your stay.”

“Please convey our hearty thanks to him.”

Aaron nodded, and then asked, “Will that be all?”

“For the moment, thank you.”

After he left, Daniel asked, “So, I assume you met Aaron the other night.”

“Yes, he was my server.”

“I think he’s interested in you.”

“I’m sure he is. You would be sure, too, if you’d seen the way he and I were flirting over dinner.”

Daniel laughed. They then turned to the business of selecting their wine and their meals. Two hours later, after another magnificent meal, they departed with expressions of thanks and good wishes from Aaron and Enrique, and with their thanks and a generous tip for each of them in return.

On the far side of the restaurant, the general manager watched with a satisfied and reminiscent smile on his face, remembering his younger days and the man he had loved and lost. He wished these two younger men nothing but love and happiness for all of their days and nights.

 

 

[PG1961Canada]

18 hours ago, daddybear54 said:

Chapter 13:  New Reality

 . . .

A true romantic tale with hot sex... well done @daddybear54... Cheers man!!

 

[daddybear54]

@PG1961Canada Thank you! I cannot tell a lie, I am really a born romantic at heart (just in case you hadn't already guessed that! 😉

[daddybear54]

Chapter 14:  Long Distance

 

Laszlo sat in his seat on the plane, silently willing it to pull away from the gate and get going. Daniel had urged, and he had agreed, that long goodbyes merely prolonged the agony. So they’d said their goodbyes before leaving the resort, Daniel had driven from there to the airport, and Laszlo had hopped out of the Jeep and grabbed his bag after one quick goodbye kiss.

Now, as the plane sat through a delay (“to finish loading the baggage,” the captain had said), it seemed almost as if the airline had determined to drag out the process just to scrape his nerves, already raw after saying goodbye so soon after they had finally, truly met. He felt as if he had only taken a first step to go, as if he hadn’t really left Daniel yet, and it was ripping him apart from the inside out.

Finally, the door was closed, the pre-flight announcements began, and in another minute the plane had begun to roll backwards from the terminal, being shoved clear by the tow tractor. At least, he thought, he had the consolation of knowing that he’d gotten a seat on one of the few nonstop flights to Los Angeles and didn’t have to go through the whole hassle all over again in Honolulu.

In a few more minutes they were on the runway, and Laszlo found his window was facing the terminal area and the main part of the island. His eyes were getting very wet as the plane lifted and soared into the sky, but he was pretty sure that he could make out, between tears, the grey Jeep parked by the road outside the airport with the lone figure standing beside it, waving.

Laszlo was so depressed that he even declined the offer of drink or food, and just did his best to sleep the five-hour flight away.

It was after 11:00 at night when Laszlo finally walked into his apartment. He was tired, jetlagged, and most of all he was suffering from extreme emotional disorientation. For three wonderful days and nights he had been joining his life together with the man of his long dreams, and now they were disconnected from each other again. It was only a small consolation that he now knew where Daniel could be found.

Laszlo fell onto his bed, curling himself up into a tight little ball of unhappiness and misery. He wanted so desperately to call. Even talking to Daniel would be a bit of a help. But they weren’t due to have their first scheduled FaceTime until tomorrow evening – and after checking the time yet again, he knew that Daniel – the personification of “early to bed, early to rise” – would most likely be asleep.

In this, as it happened, Laszlo was right on target. The man who was occupying his every thought was sleeping peacefully, a beatific smile spread across his face. His reaction to the end of their first shared time together was sheer euphoria: his fears put to rest, his doubts settled, a lifetime of feeling somehow wrong or insufficient or inadequate tossed into the garbage can, never to return. That miraculous transformation which Laszlo had wrought in Daniel had made – literally – a new man out of him.

Not to suggest that Daniel was in any way unperceptive or uncaring. When Daniel had awoken the next morning and taken a bit of time to think, he realized himself that his reaction was not what most people would expect to see in this situation. He was also quite sure that Laszlo was going to be a good deal less happy than he was. When it came to their FaceTime, he knew that he would have to dampen down his enthusiasm, just in case, but also be ready to try to use some of his energy to pick Laszlo back up.

Sure enough, when he ran downstairs to get some coffee, Rodrigo remarked at once on his bright cheery disposition. “I thought you’d drag in here like you were pulling a hundred-pound weight labelled ‘Life’s Tragedy’ and here you are, almost bouncing off the walls, you’re so happy!” Arian and Brad also noticed the unexpected reaction, but they were a bit more tactful about just letting it go by unremarked. Tact, however, would never be Rodrigo’s middle name.

As the clock approached ten that evening, Laszlo pulled himself together. He hadn’t exactly been bawling his eyes out all day, but he had certainly wandered around in a fog of gloom. But now he had to buck himself up, in case Daniel was even more down and needed his help. So he headed to the bathroom, washed his face in hot water to wake himself up and to clean away any negative evidence, then sat down at his computer and connected.

Daniel came on right away. “Laszlo! How are you doing?” Then he looked more closely. “You are trying very hard to put on a good face. Is it bad for you?”

Laszlo just nodded.

“Oh, love, I wish I could be there to hug you again, just to pick you back up.”

Laszlo quickly dashed his hand across his eyes. “This is a lot harder than I thought it would be, Daniel. I don’t know how anyone ever survives in a long-distance relationship. It’s barely 30 hours and I’m coming apart.”

Daniel thought quickly. This was a lot worse than he’d expected. “You need to talk to someone there, in person. Someone who’s been there and knows the score. Do you still keep in touch with Jim and Steve?”

“Yes.”

“Jim’s the man you need to talk with.”

“Why him?”

“His relationship before Steve was a long-distance one and lasted for six years. And he’s a good guy, with a caring heart. He’s sure to have some ideas and advice for you, and he’ll surely give you enough support to hold the fort for the next six weeks.”

“I can try, I suppose.”

“You should. Moping by yourself for weeks on end is no way to live. Reach out to some of the others. Marina is another one – she has more common sense in her little finger than most people I know can find in their whole body. And she really likes you, cares what happens to you. Why don’t you call her for coffee, first break you get in your schedule?”

Laszlo was brightening a bit. “That sounds like a plan, both of them.”

Daniel decided to go for the clinching argument. “Laszlo, trust in both of us, in what we said and did for and with each other. We said the biggest words of our lives: ‘I love you.’” Laszlo positively beamed at the memory. “We said it and we meant it, every word. Now, it’s just waiting time, and that means patience. It’s hard, but we’re strong where it counts – stronger than ever, since we’ve pledged to share our strength with each other. So we have strength and love on our side, and with that we can find the patience we need to get through this challenging time.”

“Daniel, I love you so much – and I love the way you always find the words to say that I need to hear so badly.”

“Laszlo, I feel the same about you. During the time since we met again on Saturday night, I’ve found more strength and healing from you than I ever got from all the rest of the people in my entire life. You’ve given me an whole new life which I didn’t think I could ever have. I love you.”

“I love you.”

“Feeling better now?”

“Yes. Much better. I’ll get hold of Jim and Marina tomorrow. And we’ll talk tomorrow night again. Friday, I have my orientation session at my worksite, nine to one, and then the rest of the day off. What about you?”

“More of the same old for me. Coffee on the beach. Surfing with the guys in the morning before all the incompetent tourists get there and ruin all the waves. More surfing in the evening, after they’ve all gone.”

“And hot sex with Rodrigo?”

“Umm….” Daniel was actually caught off guard by Laszlo’s sudden thrust.

Laszlo laughed. “Okay with me if you do. I wouldn’t mind having a go at him myself, next time I’m there. He’s hot and sexy and he already did a crotch grind and winked at me. I’m sure he’s interested.”

Now it was Daniel’s turn to chuckle. “Rodrigo? Yup, he gets hot on the turn of a dime, especially for anyone who’s…”

Laszlo had just a split second to register the door opening behind Daniel’s face before Rodrigo cut in. “Talking about me?”

Once again, Daniel was left momentarily speechless.

Laszlo laughed again and batted right back for both of them. “Well, naturally. I knew you’d been fucking around with Daniel, and then you came on to me, so that makes you fair game for both of us!”

Rodrigo laughed too. “Got me, sheriff!”

Daniel cut in, his voice a shade cooler, Laszlo thought. “Rodrigo, can you give us a few minutes to wrap this up and then come back?”

Rodrigo realized belatedly that walking in without warning maybe wasn’t the smartest move in the world after what had happened in the last few days. “Sure. Check back in ten. See you, Laszlo.”

“Bye.”

After he’d left, Daniel sighed slightly. “My bad. I should have warned him that I’d be busy at this time. Sorry, Laszlo.”

“Look on the bright side, Daniel – at least he didn’t come in to ask for phone sex.”

“How can you be sure?” That set both of them laughing. Then Daniel went on. “Well, you’re looking a whole lot better now than when we came on here.”

“I am. Thank you. What you said – I needed to hear that, from you. I’m sure we can make it through this tough time.”

“So am I, Laszlo. The real miracle here is that we love each other. That makes everything possible for us.”

“I love you, Daniel.”

“I love you, Laszlo. See you same time tomorrow.”

They blew kisses at each other, and Daniel clicked off. Laszlo sat back with a smile on his face. He hadn’t just been talking idly. Daniel really had picked him back up and fixed his anguish, and he could now see clearly how they could and would pull each other through it all.

Daniel sat back, deep in thought. He could foresee that days would come when he felt like he was hitting rock bottom, just as Laszlo had been tonight. But he also knew that, if and when that happened, Laszlo would pull him back up just as surely as he had helped Laszlo back onto his emotional feet. Armed with that assurance, he knew that both of them would be fine.

Rodrigo eventually crept back in, knocking first and looking abashed. “I’m sorry, Daniel. I didn’t realize you and your boyfriend would be chatting. Should have thought of that.” To his surprise, Daniel actually smiled, a broad, beaming smile spreading slowly from ear to ear. “Hey, what’s with the smile? I didn’t expect you to happy at me for busting in!”

Daniel chuckled. “You called him my boyfriend. And you’re right. I’m smiling because I’ve never had a boyfriend. I’ve been a kept boytoy, but that’s not the same at all. My boyfriend!” He followed that with a happy sigh. Then, back to business. “Just so you know, we’re scheduled to FaceTime every night at eight o’clock. The door will be closed, that’s the reason. It’s my fault, we’ve been so used to just walking into each other’s rooms all the time, and I should have told you before that this was going to happen.”

“Daniel, I’ve never seen you looking like this before. Not just happy, but filled up with enough joy to spread it around the whole world if you could. And it looks great on you.”

“Thanks, Rodrigo. I’ve never been this Daniel before now, and that’s an amazing feeling.”

They said goodnight to each other, and soon Daniel was asleep.

So was Laszlo. In the morning, he texted to Marina, asking her when they could meet for coffee, and to Steve, asking when he could see him and Jim for lunch or dinner. To both, he added that he had some important news to share with them.

Marina came back first and told him that she could see him on Saturday, at the Black Gold Café, any time after 10 am. He set it for 10:30. Steve fired back not long after and invited him for dinner on Saturday night.

Friday morning was an eye-opener for Laszlo. It was one thing to learn about all the ins and outs of accounting and business management in a textbook or a classroom environment, quite another to start seeing how people actually used those skills in a real-life, real-time setting. He was assigned to shadow Silvio, a member of the regular workforce, for the first week or so.

Friday night, he told Daniel all about his day. Daniel picked up on a note in his voice when he mentioned Silvio, and asked, “Is he cute?”

Laszlo replied, “Yes, now that you mention it. I was too busy listening to pay much attention to that today. Tall, dark curly hair, dark eyes, mmm….”

Daniel laughed. “Well, if you can land him, have fun!”

Laszlo laughed in turn, “What, no jealousy?”

Daniel turned serious. “Laszlo, we talked about this and agreed it was going to be something we wouldn’t feel guilty about if it happened. Not feeling guilty only works if we also don’t feel jealous. And why would I? I trust all those magic words you said to me, and I believe in you – even more, I think, than you believe in yourself. No worries, my love.”

Saturday morning, Laszlo woke up late. After grabbing a quick bite and cleaning up, he had to hustle to be on time for his coffee date with Marina. He arrived, she jumped up to hug him (sliding her hand slyly down his butt), and they sat down. Laszlo was laughing. “Still the same Marina.”

“Well, duh, you didn’t expect me to change did you?” They both chuckled again at the perennial inside joke over Marina’s I-don’t-care attitude towards getting her gender change surgery. But then she gave him a more penetrating look. “You, on the other hand, are looking really different. My Italian gramma would say that you’d been to the fiesta, your voice had changed! Come on, spill. What’s the big news?”

For answer, he took out his phone to show her a picture: a selfie, taken on the beach at the end of the road in Kauai, with that magical panorama of the huge cliffs looming behind the happy pair of handsome men smiling broadly at each other.

Marina gasped. “You found him! And by the looks of it, you snagged him too! Laszlo, that is just awesome!” He grinned. “How did you track him down?”

Laszlo explained his process of deduction and his extended manhunt. But then he went on to tell her about the intriguing way the last step of getting them together had happened.

She shook her head. “Laszlo, you must have been born with a lucky horseshoe up your ass!” That made both of them laugh. She worked on him for more details of what had happened, and then sat there, listening with a huge smile on her face as he told her all about the three special days and nights, culminating in the free romantic dinner on the last night. Along the way, he threw in the way that he and Daniel had arrived, separately but simultaneously, at the decision to quit the porn industry. Marina just kept shaking her head in amazement at the whole story. But when she commented, it was more serious. “You know, Laszlo, I’ve known Daniel for nearly ten years, and the way you’re describing him – it’s like a whole side of him that I’ve never seen, didn’t even know it existed. It’s like he’s been locked for years in a self-made prison – and you found the key, unlocked the door, and set him free.”

They talked a little longer about other things before parting, but that thoughtful take on it stuck with him as he walked home again. Coming from someone who knew Daniel as well as Marina did, it came to him as a powerful affirmation of the value of his relationship.

That afternoon, he arrived at Jim and Steve’s condo at 4:00. They’d invited him to come for a swim before dinner, “that is,” Jim had said in a mock-serious voice, “if you’re not the kind of guy who finds it hard hanging around a pool with a bunch of good-looking gay boys all eyeing each other and touching each other and… and so on, and so on.”

They enjoyed splashing around in the sun-drenched rooftop pool, lounging on the terrace, drinking the canned coolers Steve had brought up in a cold bag, and commenting on the scenery – much of it young, toned to the last ab, and hot as hell. One young fellow in particular, a cute blond with a globe-like ass shown off to perfection by a white thong, wandered by and began flirting with Laszlo, who was happy to join the game. At the same time, though, Laszlo saw out of the corner of his eye that everyone else around the pool was giving them covert glances, as if to see what – if anything – would happen. He made a quick guess and cooled it a bit. Finally, the guy moved on.

Going back down in the elevator for dinner, Jim confirmed his guess. “Ricky is the resident slut of the building. Twenty years old but acts like he’s sixteen. Has to try it on with every new guy he sees coming by, so we knew he’d be after you. About the only thing that hasn’t been up inside his ass is a Mack truck. Never refuses an offer to get bred by all cummers.” The three of them laughed.

Over a long, leisurely dinner followed by another glass or two of wine, they spent a lot of time talking about what they’d all been up to, since they hadn’t seen each other for over a year – not since the goodbye party for Hawaiian Nine Films, in fact. Jim and Steve had settled back contentedly into their home life, and Steve was enjoying his new job as PR manager of a company which owned Black Gold and half a dozen other restaurants and bars in WeHo and surrounding areas. Jim was taking a bit of a breather from the work world and acting as househusband, although he had a couple of irons in the fire – “…but I have time to decide, I don’t have to jump at the first offer that comes along.”

Laszlo told them about his courses, and all about his upcoming work term. Then, in a voice perhaps too elaborately casual, he mentioned his two vacations in Hawaii.

Steve picked up on that right away. “Twice you went to Hawaii? Once I could understand but twice sounds suspicious. Some hot Hawaiian surfer boy hooked you when he bit your ass or let you bite his?”

Jim laughed but Laszlo blushed as he replied. “Well, as a matter of fact… yes.” And just at that precise moment, his phone buzzed. “Oh, shit, it’s ten o’clock. Sorry about this.” And he clicked onto FaceTime.

“Hi, Laszlo!”

“Hello, my love.”

Jim and Steve were looking at each other with their eyebrows arched a trifle.

“Been having yourself a busy day up there?”

“Yeah. I’m out at dinner right now and had coffee earlier with Marina.”

“With Marina! I’ll be that was fun. And where exactly are you out to dinner? That painting behind you looks sort of familiar.”

Steve leaned over and whispered something in Jim’s ear, and Jim’s eyes suddenly opened out along with his mouth like a trio of outsized Cheerios.

“It should look familiar. Here, guys, come over and say hello to my new boyfriend.”

As always, Daniel’s face blossomed into a shit-eating grin at that word. Jim and Daniel got up and came over, as Laszlo turned his phone around so they could see the screen.

Daniel laughed. “Well, will you look who turned up now?”

Steve was the first to recover from the surprise. “Listen who’s talking. Daniel, where the hell are you, anyway? Everyone’s been wondering!”

“For the moment, still in Hawaii, but I’ll be coming back before too much longer. As the plans fall into place, the happy guy holding the phone will be able to keep you up with the details.”

Jim leaned a bit harder. “I want to know why the fuck you ran off on everyone without a hint of a goodbye.” Laszlo cringed slightly. Seeing that, Steve put a hand on Jim’s arm in a “back off” gesture. But Daniel wasn’t fazed.

“Put it simply – I was frightened and confused by my feelings. Then the guy who was causing all those confusing and scary feelings came looking for me, he found me – with a bit of help from one of my friends down here – and we’re a couple now. And FaceTiming every night, except Laszlo didn’t tell me he was inviting everyone else to join in on the call this time.” And he gave a fake-irritated cough.

Steve and Jim both laughed at that, and Laszlo decided to recover the phone so he could at least look at his man himself for a bit. “Daniel, one thing I can tell you, Marina was absolutely thrilled to hear the news. I’m waiting for a reaction from these two, they’re still in shock.”

Steve recovered quickly. “Well, of course, I’m thrilled too! That’s the best news I’ve had all week, and I’m sure you two will make as good a couple as Jim and I do.”

Jim coughed. “As good as?”

“Well, almost.”

They all laughed. Then Jim chimed in again. “It’s wonderful. I’m so happy for both of you. It’s easy to guess that you’ve both been having a rough time for the last year, so getting the chance to heal, and live, and love together is fantastic. Big hugs and kisses to everyone!”

Then Laszlo reclaimed the phone again. “There you go, Daniel. Anyone else you’d like me to tell while I’m at it?”

“Umm… I don’t think you need to worry. If you’ve told Marina, and Jim and Steve, the news is going to be all over the WeHo gaydar by morning. I won’t specify exactly who will do the leaking.”

Laszlo laughed uproariously, and quickly spun the phone around so Daniel could see Jim and Steve pointing accusingly at each other.

“Okay, then, Daniel. I’ll cut out for now. After all, I am being a bit rude with my dinner hosts. Talk again tomorrow. I love you so much.”

“I love you more. Until tomorrow.”

And Laszlo clicked off.

“Phew! Just in time!” Jim wiped his brow. “That was on the verge of becoming nauseating.”

Steve chided, “Jim! Don’t be so catty!”

All three of them laughed again. After some more detailed conversation about Laszlo’s whole experience of hunting Daniel down, and Steve wanting to know a bit about how Daniel’s friend played into the whole thing, Laszlo changed the subject a bit.

“There’s still something a bit scary about this. I mean, I’ve still got two terms to go on my college program, and it’s going to take some time for Daniel to make the arrangements to move back up here, so we’re going to be doing long-distance for a while. And I think I’m going to have trouble hacking that for the length of time it’s going to take.”

Jim moved over and sat next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders. “Laszlo, I don’t know if Daniel told you but, before I met Steve, I had been in a long-distance relationship for almost six years. My ex and I didn’t plan it that way, it just evolved in that direction. Yes, it’s tough, and it can feel at times like going through hell, but it is workable if you care enough to put in the work to keep it going. Especially in your case, where you can see the light on the horizon and know that it isn’t going to stay that way for ever.”

Stave came and sat on his other side. “I get it. For so long, you were pining after him, long before he sold the company and took off. Now you finally got him, and then bang! You had to leave, after just a few days.”

“Three.”

“Three days. You’re carrying all the euphoria of the beginnings of love, but you’ve got no outlet because the man you love isn’t here. Any time, any time at all, that you need to talk, we’re here and we’ll listen and try to help you in any way we can, because you’re our friend.”

Laszlo smiled. “Thanks so much, Jim, Steve. I really appreciate your support. You guys are awesome friends – and as a couple, you’re an awesome role model for how I hope Daniel and I will be together.” With that, Laszlo figured it was about time to say goodbye and stood up.

Steve said, in a meaning voice, “Well, you don’t have to rush off just yet if you don’t want to.”

Jim elbowed him. But Laszlo just smiled and said, “Not tonight, thanks. I just want to have some time to myself to think my thoughts.”

They both said goodbye to him, with hearty hugs and kisses, and with extra kisses for him to give Daniel when he saw him again, and off he went.

Steve was still smiling. “I can’t believe they hooked up at last, but it’s great news. Just to see Laszlo really smiling like that, and after he was so miserable all year.”

Jim nodded and threw in his two cents’ worth. “And I don’t think I have ever seen Daniel smile like that. Ever! Whatever he’s been doing in Hawaii, it obviously agrees with him.”

“Surfing. Didn’t you hear Laszlo? He’s dating a Hawaiian surfer boy. What’s Daniel doing? He’s gone back to his roots and started over, and he’s doing it right this time.”

“Just as you said he would. I love how you always guess right about what’s going on, Steve.”

Laszlo walked home along the street, a meditative smile on his face. As he went, though, he realized that he would actually have done better to have stayed a little longer at Jim and Steve’s place. He was now aware, and beginning to be painfully aware, that he hadn’t emptied his balls since he’d left Kauai on Tuesday, and now it was Saturday. He was just resigned to having to resort to his right hand, when a voice spoke in his ear.

“Hey, sexy. Feeling lonely tonight?”

He turned. It was Ricky. He was “dressed” (if you wanted to be charitable) in a pair of tight, white spandex shorts pulled halfway down his ass, and a crop top that was equally tight and cut off just below his pecs. Laszlo quickly glanced around. No one was nearby, and there was a convenient alleyway right beside him. And his cock was already three-quarters of the way to full erection.

“Get in here.”

He dragged Ricky about twenty steps into the alleyway, just enough to get behind a fire escape, then spun him around and pushed him up against the wall. His hand grasped the waistband of those tiny shorts, then dug inside and fingered the younger guy’s crack. Laszlo leaned close, and grunted, “Is this what you wanted?”

Ricky smiled and said, “Fuck, yes. I want your dick inside me.”

Laszlo was already hard. He yanked the shorts down, exposing that full ripe peach. His finger went to the hole, and found it was already loose and wet. Sloppy seconds.

“How many loads have you got in here already.”

“Three.”

“This one’s going to be as big as two more. Haven’t fucked in four days and I’m loaded and ready.”

“Ooh, yeahhhh….”

Laszlo pulled his own pants open, spat on his hand twice, wiped it on his now rock-solid cock, and pushed Ricky’s head up against the wall as he said, “Stick your ass out.” Ricky complied, and Laszlo shoved his big tool deep into Ricky’s loose, wet hole in one long thrust.

“Fuck, yeah!” Ricky’s response wasn’t a scream of pain, more a cry of triumph.

Laszlo planted his head on Ricky’s shoulder and began talking. He’d already guessed that the little slut liked it vocal. “You like this, don’t you? Yeah, you’re a good little slut, pulling your pants down and taking my cock in a dark alley. You really like this. Really want my fucking load?”

“Oh, yeah! Fuck me and breed me.”

“You’re not going to be able to keep it all in. It’ll be running out of your ass and staining those pretty white shorts.”

“Give to me. I want it.”

Laszlo was already getting close. He’d never thought he cared much about these anonymous scenes, but the timing, his own frustration, his overloaded balls, it all transformed him into a back alley breeder, ready to fuck bare in anything that had an ass and would let him in.

He was grunting now, feeling his load mounting up the shaft and knowing he was about to fire off inside this piggy kid’s ass – and he didn’t care. He was in full rut, and only cared about planting his seed somewhere. Anywhere.

Laszlo groaned. “Fucking gonna cum.”

“Yeah! Cum inside my ass. Give it to me!”

Laszlo blasted off inside Ricky’s ass, slamming in as hard as he could go on each pulse, as if to shoot so far inside that it would take a week to come back out. At least, that’s what he tried to do. When he pulled out, the tidal wave of spooge that followed just about landed on his feet, and he jumped back just in time. He wiped his dick on his shirt tail, ignoring the pleading eyes that wanted to lick it clean, tucked it back in, slapped Ricky’s ass, and growled, “Great fuck. Keep it in you.”

Walking away, Laszlo felt relieved physically, but also grew disgusted with himself. No self control at all, leaping at the town slut without a second thought like that. He hoped Ricky hadn’t given him anything besides a willing, wet hole to fuck.

 

[daddybear54]

Chapter 15:  Keeping the Ball Rolling

 

Daniel had been right on target about the gay community and its ways of spreading news. Laszlo had told three people on Saturday. By Sunday night, he had received over two dozen messages of congratulations from various people. Some were involved in the porn trade; others were not. He’d even gotten a few messages from people he didn’t know, but who had gotten his private email address. These had wanted to congratulate him but, even more, hoped that he would give them Daniel’s email address. He wouldn’t.

The ones he appreciated most were the heartfelt letters from Lianne and Miklos. Miklos in particular sounded a little smug. The unmistakable I-told-you-so tone of his letter was forgivable, considering the key role he had played in getting Laszlo to hustle his butt and go find his man. Laszlo read the smugness between the lines readily enough, but he didn’t let that stop him from thanking Miklos for pushing him into those critical first steps on the road to happiness.

As for Lianne, she sent him hearty congratulations, but also two pieces of big news of her own – she had left Powerdrill Films and gotten a much better paid position in the online production arm of a major film and TV producer. As well, she had begun a really promising relationship with a guy she’d met through mutual friends. Laszlo certainly smiled at that since Lianne, ever since he’d met her, had experienced nothing but bad luck in her dating life. He immediately fired back that he was very happy for her and added that he hoped her new boyfriend wouldn’t be too upset about her previous career!

All these messages raised an interesting conundrum for Laszlo. The next night, on FaceTime, he brought it up for discussion.

“Daniel, you were right – the news got all over town in no time. I’ve had a whole string of the nicest emails from just about everyone I ever met at Hawaiian Nine, and they’re all so happy for both of us. But there’s a small problem. I don’t think it’s right for me to be relaying their good wishes to you at second hand. And there’s the thing: no one except Marina and me knows your new email address and phone number. Is it okay for me to pass those along when I’m answering them, or do you want to reach out to them yourself?”

Daniel hemmed and hawed for a minute. “I don’t know, Laszlo. I moved here to escape from the porn business…”

“…and me!”

“Yes, and you, and I’m afraid to open the floodgates and bring it all down on my head again.”

“Are you afraid as in fear of changing your mind and going back?”

“Yikes! Don’t even suggest such a thing! But I know how persistent people can get. I’m not so much concerned about our friends as I am about other people who might get my contacts from them, by accident perhaps – and then hassle the living daylights out of me.”

“Okay, I can see that. Fair enough. But, Daniel, that’ll mean hiding out from everyone for the rest of your life. You don’t really want to do that, I’m sure. Just mark the line out very clearly. Tell our friends that you’re done for good, and so am I, and then they won’t think of sharing your contact info or mine with others in the industry, where it could raise problems. I’ve had a couple of emails asking if I’m available for projects, and I just replied that I was now retired from the porn game for good and they could remove my name from their lists and plans.”

“Any feedback?”

“One producer, who shall remain nameless, sent back a snarky comment wondering if I had found a boyfriend yet, and if so, which godforsaken corner of the world did I have to go to find him.”

“The nerve!”

Laszlo belted out a great laugh. “Good thing we weren’t talking in person. I’d never have kept a straight face when I thought about having to fly partway across the Pacific to hunt for you!”

That got Daniel laughing too. “Okay, I guess it will be all right. I’ll send out a bunch of letters tonight and include my phone number in them.”

“That’ll be great. They’ll all be so glad to hear from you. But now we have another problem.”

All this time, Laszlo had been surreptitiously rubbing the bulge in the front of his shorts, out of the line of sight of the camera. Now he tilted his phone down, and rubbed it some more, highlighting the very clear shape of a hard cock through the fabric.

“A very hard problem. Painfully hard.”

“Funny you should mention that. I have a similar problem.” Daniel now angled his camera downwards and showed a splendid view of a thick, rigid pole pushing up the centre of his grey briefs into a sizable tent. He wrapped his hand around the shaft, bunching the cloth together into a kind of sleeve as he slid his hand slowly up and down. A large wet spot slowly appeared over the top of the tent pole.

“I can’t help it. For some weird reason, it starts feeling this way every time we talk.”

Laszlo groaned and began to untie the drawstring of his shorts. “Same for me.”

By now, Daniel was sliding his briefs down with one hand, trying to hold the phone steady as the famous Hawaiian Nine came into full view. Laszlo stared at the screen of his phone and gave his cock another good rub before lifting up his ass and sliding his shorts down to the floor.

“Fuck, that dick looks so good. I’d love to be there right now, getting down on my knees and licking that juice off the head before I swallowed it down my throat.”

“Nobody’s ever been able to swallow this thing as well as you. Fuck, it would be so great to have you here and working on it right now.”

“I could keep sucking it and working on it with my hand until you blow your load into my mouth. Then, I could come up and start kissing you and we could swap the cum back and forth between us until I shoot my load all over your abs.”

“And then?”

“Then I’d lick that all up and share it with you as well.”

“No other place to use it?”

“Well… I said that’s what I could do. But what I’d really like to do is this.” Laszlo had managed, during this, to prop his phone up on the desk against some of his things. Now, he got up, turned around, and got on his knees on the chair, showing his bare ass to the camera, and reaching back with one hand to push a finger into his hole. “This is where I really want that big cock. Deep inside me. Bare, hard cock. Feeling the juice leaking out, using my cum as lube for you. Opening me up better than anyone else has ever done it.”

“Oh, fuck!”

“Sliding that big tool right up inside me.”

“Fucking pushing your guts out of the way to make room for it. Pumping deep inside you, your hole grabbing at me and squeezing down, chewing on me – you’re so fucking good at that – oh, shit, I can feel it now, feel your hole working me over….”

“Your cock’s getting bigger, I can tell you’re fucking ready to blow inside me. Do it, Daniel! Shoot that big fucking load all the way in!”

“Drilling deep into you… getting bigger and harder… it’s gonna… I’m fucking cumming inside your ass!”

Daniel groaned loudly. Laszlo ducked his head between his legs in time to see the screen as Daniel’s big, swollen dick head convulsed and shot a stream of cum two feet clear in the air. The sight made him speed up his own jerking motions. He quickly spun around on the chair, got to his feet, and pointed his dick right at the phone as he gave three or four vicious yanks on it and came in a second monster explosion, just a few seconds after Daniel.

He collapsed on the chair. The two of them were both breathing heavily. Gradually their rapid gasping slowed down to a more normal rate. Daniel opened his eyes and looked at Laszlo, at first sad but then broadening into a smile. “That’s crazy. Laszlo, I’ve never, ever cum like that from jerking off.”

“Well, look what you did to me! I’m going to have to go take a shower again to clean up after getting fucked like that!”

“You’ve got to wipe some of that mess off your phone too. I can’t see the left side of your face any more, it’s all blurry. What we both need to do is get tripods that can hold the phones – so we have both hands free at all times for whatever. What did you use?”

“A couple of accounting and management books and a paperweight.”

Both of them laughed. But then Daniel turned sombre. “Pretty damn hot, until you remember that it’s a poor substitute for the real thing. What is it now? Three more weeks? Then we have that long weekend together. I hope you’ll like the place I picked out.”

“Daniel, as long as you’re there, it’ll be perfect. Sorry, love, I’m going to have to go now. I have to get some sleep – I can’t be late for work in the morning. Daniel, I love you so much.”

“And I love you, Laszlo. See you again tomorrow night.”

Three weeks later, Laszlo got the long-awaited text message. “Safe landing, in the Uber now, should be there in an hour.” Daniel had decided to come on Thursday night and stay with Laszlo at his place, and then on Friday a limo would pick them up to drive to their weekend getaway.

It seemed to Laszlo like several hours before the phone rang, showing the door code. He immediately buzzed Daniel in, and then went to the door to wait, dressed in nothing but a very brief pair of bright red briefs.

At least Laszlo remembered to check the door viewer when the knock came – and a good thing, too. It was Ricky. He opened the door a trifle on the chain, and growled, “Not now! I’ve got company coming. Get lost!”

“Okayyy….”

Laszlo let the door slam. But he was pretty certain, knowing what he did about Ricky, that he’d be loitering somewhere outside to see who turned up.

Another knock. This time he saw the right face when he looked.

“Well! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”

Daniel walked in, dropped his bag, and had his arms around Laszlo from behind even before Laszlo could finish securing the door again. Laszlo moaned in delight, feeling the big lump in Daniel’s trousers pressing into his crack as Daniel’s hands explored his pecs and tweaked his nipples, all while Daniel was busy kissing his way along Laszlo’s shoulder and up to his neck.

End of dialogue. Now was not the time for words, but for action. Daniel was already busy kicking his shoes off as Laszlo spun around and attacked the front of his waistband, getting his slacks undone in record time and pushing them down to the floor. He then grabbed Daniel’s shirt and tore it open in his haste to get it off.

The two of them were in a wild state of excitement, hands all over each other everywhere as they struggled to get at each other as fast as possible. In another moment, Daniel had yanked Laszlo’s briefs down and pressed him up against the wall, dropping down and burying his face in his lover’s firm round ass and going right to town with his tongue. Laszlo moaned in delight at the sensations, arching his back to thrust his ass out even further, and reaching back with his hands to pull the cheeks farther open.

“Fuck… fuck… Daniel, that’s so fucking good. Eat my ass… stick your tongue in me… get me ready….”

Daniel complied, working his tongue with little stabbing motions into Laszlo’s hole, opening it, loosening it, getting it wet. Laszlo’s rigid dick was already leaking a steady stream of precum. So was Daniel.

Laszlo groaned again. “Fuck, Daniel, quit wasting time. I can’t wait for it. Get that dick inside me and fuck my brains out!” As he said that, he reached back again, swiping a palmful of his own pre-cum onto his hole and then fingering it in.

“You want this cock?”

“Fuck yes! Quit teasing me and fuck me!”

In another minute, Daniel had wrapped his arms around Laszlo’s chest and was slamming his hips repeatedly against Laszlo’s ass cheeks, the loud slapping noises echoing in the apartment. Laszlo could feel that he was almost ready to cum, even after just a few minutes, and he guessed that Daniel would be just as close.

Laszlo was working his hole as fast as he could go, stroking Daniel’s big nine-incher as it slammed repeatedly inside him. Daniel’s breathing was getting irregular, holding in and then gasping for air before holding in again. Both of them knew it was time. Laszlo hadn’t even touched his cock, but it was jumping up and down by itself. Now he had both hands stretched up the wall above his head, bracing himself as Daniel slammed harder and harder into him.

“Fucking cumming….”

Laszlo had barely gasped out the words when his cock blew a stream of cum up and out. It shot right up over his shoulder and hit Daniel in the face. And that set Daniel off, blasting a five-day load of hot cream deep inside Laszlo’s ass while Laszlo’s muscles kept grabbing at him as his own cock kept firing.

Then the two of them collapsed on the floor, gasping for air. Faintly, through the door, Laszlo heard a loud moan and guessed that someone – Ricky for sure -- had been listening in and there would be another fresh cum stain on the wall of the corridor. The superintendent would have to wash the walls down yet again tomorrow.

Eventually, they picked themselves up and left a mess of cum and discarded clothes behind as they made their way to the bedroom. After a long, luxurious shower together, they got into bed and snuggled down under the covers. At first, they just indulged in a lengthy spell of making out and stroking each other’s bodies.

Soon, though, Daniel got his hand on Laszlo’s dick again. “Does that thing ever go down?”

Laszlo laughed, remembering how he had said the exact same words to Daniel when they bedded down together after their first scene shoot. He, too, picked up his cue from that historic moment.

“You want to have another go and see if you can make it go soft?”

By this time, Daniel had clued in to the joke. But he then took this scene in a different direction, saying, “Something’s not quite fair here. You got yourself a buttload of hot cum, and what did I get in return for emptying my balls into you?”

“What did you have in mind?”

For answer, Daniel turned around and presented his ass for Laszlo’s inspection. “There you go. Do I need to draw you a diagram?”

Laszlo mumbled something unintelligible. It may have been due to the fact that he already had his face planted into Daniel’s crack, kissing and tonguing his ass to get him warmed up for Round Two.

When Daniel and Laszlo had first met, Daniel had seen butt-munching as a necessity of the job, something he did because the fans expected it. But Laszlo had changed his mind in a hurry when they had met again in Hawaii a month earlier. Laszlo was an expert of a high order, and Daniel now realized that getting his ass eaten was one of the greatest and most pleasurable experiences in the world, as long as it was Laszlo doing it.

While he was thinking that, Laszlo had added a questing finger to his probing tongue, and he was well on the way to opening Daniel up completely for his cock. And when it was ready, he moved up on top of Daniel and slowly sank his tool all the way into his man’s hole while Daniel emitted a quiet, long-drawn purr of “Ooohhhh… yeeeaaahhhh….”

Daniel turned his head over his shoulder so he could meet Laszlo’s kisses while Laszlo slowly fucked him. After a while, though, that wasn’t good enough for him any more. He pulled free for a moment, squirmed over onto his back, and lifted his legs up so that Laszlo could find his way inside again. And there they were, together once more, joined once more, sharing their favourite position again – the position that allowed them to take all the time in the world to kiss each other while Laszlo continued moving, slowly and gently, inside Daniel.

They continued like this for over half an hour, experiencing anew the never-failing delight of being able to face each other and stroke each other’s bodies while they were joined, cock and ass, into the fullest union with each other. In time, though, Laszlo began showing signs of growing arousal, and Daniel knew it was time to speed up, to stop edging and go for the climax. As Laszlo’s thrusts became faster and surer, Daniel’s moans of excitement grew louder, egging him on.

Laszlo had now gotten into a full push-up position, raised up on his hands above Daniel’s hard-muscled body with his cock plunging deep inside Daniel’s butt on each thrust. And the thrusts were coming faster and faster. It was time to urge each other to the peak.

Daniel muttered, “Oh, yeah. Give it to me. Give it to meee….”

Laszlo replied, “Gonna breed you and seed you. Get ready, here it cums….”

With one final mighty thrust, Laszlo pumped out his second load of sperm deep inside Daniel’s hole, filling him up to overflowing as his cock kept contracting and expelling more and more. Daniel grabbed his own tool, gave it a half-dozen quick tugs, and pulsed out another geyser of sperm that fell all over his abs and down over the treasure trail to his crotch. Laszlo collapsed down on top of Daniel, and they resumed their kissing with barely a missed beat.

Finally, though, Laszlo eased out and let Daniel lower his legs into place. Then they snuggled close to each other, each wrapped securely in the other’s arms, and stayed that way until they drifted off.

Laszlo awoke first, an hour and a half later. It was full dark. He slowly kissed Daniel awake. In the darkness, Daniel couldn’t quite make out anything except the face of the man he loved peering down at him. He muttered, “Watch your eyes,” and reached over to the bed table to turn the lamp on. Then they could look at each other properly, at their broad, happy smiles.

“I’m hungry,” Daniel said. “Haven’t eaten for hours and I’ve been working pretty hard.”

Laszlo pouted. “I’ve worked just as hard.” Then they both laughed. “Pizza to go?”

“Sounds good to me. What do you like?”

“All meat. Maybe a double hit of spicy Italian sausage.”

“Sounds good to me. Figures you’d go in a big way for sausage. Here, you crack and pour some wine, I’ll get on the app and put in the order.”

By the time the pizza arrived half an hour later, they were well into the second glass of wine – but at least they were decently dressed. That didn’t stop the pizza delivery guy from giving them a knowing grin. The smells of man-to-man sex must have been pretty thick in the air of Laszlo’s apartment by this time.

Laszlo had to ask him. “Why the grin?”

“It’s my ‘give me a big enough tip and I’ll keep quiet’ grin.”

Laszlo sniggered. “I’d prefer to think of it as your ‘memorize this address and come back next week’ grin.”

The pizza guy smiled knowingly again, took the tip, and left them alone.

“Well, that sounds promising,” Daniel chuckled. “I was starting to worry that you were turning into a complete monk, and you’d forget all about how to function.”

“Not much chance. Sex is on tap in this building pretty near 24-7, especially on weekends. After all, this is WeHo.”

They settled down to eat the pizza and finish the wine. After they were both full and feeling mellow, Daniel returned to the theme.

“So, sex in the building 24-7? Tell me about who you’ve gotten.”

“Ricky. Cute young blond with an ass that looks like he had a globe of the world surgically implanted.”

“This sounds familiar. I think he applied for a job with me once. I had to turn him down because he was under-age, but the video he submitted sure made him look experienced.”

“Oh, yeah. He’s experienced, no question. I met him the day I went to have dinner with Steve and Jim. He lives in their building, and he started flirting with me up on the roof by the pool. Nothing on but a white G-string thong. Everybody around the pool, and I do mean everybody, was watching to see what would happen. Jim told me later that he was the resident slut. I gave him a quick pump and dump in the alleyway down the street on the way home that night. He must have followed me home one day, because he turned up at the door here just before you arrived. But I think he hung out in the hall and listened for a while. I’m pretty sure I heard him moaning after that first high-speed fuck when we were just inside the door. Smart money says there’ll be a fresh cum stain on the wall out there. Too bad, it’s just his bad luck that he picked tonight.”

“Why? I told you I liked three-ways.”

“So do I, but not on a special night like tonight, not when we’re finally together again for what feels like the first time in years.”

That led to some more prolonged kissing. After a while, Daniel resumed the theme.

“What about that cute guy at your job site. Saverio?”

“Silvio. Total bust. I was coming out of the office building behind him one day, and he met a gorgeous Italian girl on the sidewalk outside. They walked off together, holding hands, and with her head parked on his big broad shoulder. What about you? I think we can take Rodrigo for granted. Anyone else get the Hawaiian Nine treatment?”

Daniel turned serious for a minute. “You know, Laszlo, now that I’m your boyfriend and we’ve both decided to exit the porn industry, I think it’s time we put that nickname to bed for good. Being the Hawaiian Nine was a great role to play when I was young, but I’m older and wiser now. I can set it aside with no regrets because I’ve found a different version of myself that I like better.”

“I totally get it. Arpad Nagy can go into retirement along with him. Now, your adventures!”

“Rodrigo came home with a sexy young Asian surfer in tow one afternoon. Met him down the beach and was really impressed by his surfing moves. Turned out he was some sort of regional championship winner in Japan. Anyway, I was mostly impressed by his moves in bed. This guy couldn’t have been more than five foot two, at most, and maybe weighed a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet, but he took the whole of my dick without any squawk at all. Actually, he was 100% bottom, so the two of us spit-roasted him, changing ends every so often. Kept it going for three quarters of an hour, and as soon as Rodrigo dumped in his hole, we changed ends once more. After about thirty more seconds, I bred him too. We scooped as much as we could get of our loads out of his ass and fed it to him – and he swallowed it all and begged for more. Rodrigo was done by then, but I gave him another load, deep inside, before we called it a day and let him stagger off home to recuperate.”

“Fuck, that sounds hot. Think we could find him again next time I cum over?”

“I’d bet on it. Rodrigo certainly didn’t sound willing to treat him as a mere fuck-and-forget.”

“Dammit, Daniel, all this hot talk is making me hard again.”

“Not surprising – but save it. We’ve got the next three days together and we have to pace ourselves, or at least try to. I just want to snuggle down to sleep, holding my boyfriend close to me.”

“You really love saying that word, don’t you? Happiness just pours out of you in strong waves every time you say, ‘my boyfriend.’”

“Does this surprise you? You do realize that you are the very first man I’ve ever loved so much that I wanted to call him my boyfriend.”

Laszlo looked faintly shocked. But he recovered quickly. “Come here. Snuggle and sleep time.”

They wrapped themselves up in each other, physically and emotionally, and closed their eyes.

In the morning, they were up in good time, showering together but not playing around. The car was going to be there for them at 10 AM, and they needed to be ready. As they enjoyed their coffee with hot rolls, cheese, and ham, European style, Daniel remarked on the nice view Laszlo had from his little dinette table next to the window. There was a lot more greenery than usual, thanks to the building on the next street that had a cluster of hibiscus bushes around its pool.

Laszlo laughed. “You should see the view later in the day, when the hot boys who live there come out to the pool and start playing around. I’m sure they get an extra thrill out of knowing they’re being watched.”

Daniel grunted, “Bunch of porn star wannabes. Oh, by the way, the weather is looking a bit unpredictable so you might want to pack a warm hoodie and a rain jacket as well as your usual clothes – and a good hot swimsuit too.”

At ten, they were out on the street when the limo pulled up. The driver, a prematurely white-haired Nordic type, introduced himself as Sebastian, and loaded their small luggage into the back after he held the door for them to climb in.

“Wow!” Laszlo said. “I’ve never ridden in one of these beauties before. Have you?”

Daniel nodded. “The guy I hooked up with when I first came here from Hawaii – he was a big-shot porn producer. He loved to spend his money on hiring a huge limo like this and cruising around town in it with a bevy of hot boys to take turns on sucking and fucking him in the car. That’s how I met him. Worst $500 I ever earned in my life.”

Laszlo nodded and said no more. It was the first time Daniel had ever alluded to his more distant past when talking to him, and it was plain that it wasn’t a pleasant memory. They settled back in the plush rear seat, cuddled close to each other, and popped the cork on the bottle of champagne placed there in readiness for them.

As the limo cruised quietly through the traffic of Los Angeles, eventually getting onto the I-5, Laszlo wasn’t paying much attention to the outside world. The car purred quietly along on the highway, and he simply sat back, absorbed in the nearness and comfort of Daniel being right beside him and holding him as they finished off their champagne and dozed off back to sleep together.

When he awoke, though, it was a different matter. The limo was moving more slowly, plainly climbing and driving along a road that was all curves and turns and steep grades. Daniel was awake now too, and Laszlo turned to him. “Are we going where I think we’re going?”

“It’s possible.”

About twenty minutes later, Laszlo saw a gateway which he recognized coming into view on the right-hand side of the road. The limo turned and rolled slowly into the winding driveway of the Alta Vista Sierra Lodge. As they got out of the car in front of the lodge’s entrance, Laszlo was struck all over again – just as on their first trip here for their final shoot – by the crisp clarity of the mountain air.

Sebastian unloaded their bags, and confirmed the time when he would pick them up for their return trip to the city on Monday. Then he got into the limo, turned it with consummate skill in the limited space, and drove slowly away. They went inside, got checked in, and were escorted by the owner to the same suite which they had used for their filming over two years ago.

As soon as the owner left, Daniel turned to Laszlo and said, “First things first. The hot tub’s right outside the sliding door. Swimsuit time!”

Both of them had new suits to show off, Daniel’s a squarecut in royal blue with yellow flashes, designed with a full pouch in the front big enough to contain his equipment, and Laszlo in a flashy brief of brilliant tropical blues and greens. Laszlo chuckled as he saw Daniel strutting over to the door. “That look is quite a shift from those long jammers you always wear for surfing.”

Daniel laughed, and then led him outside to the bubbling hot water. They climbed into the tub and sat there, snuggled against each other again while they admired the spectacular view of the rugged mountains towering up around them on three sides. Laszlo sighed in sheer contentment. Somehow, he never tired for a moment of simply sitting close to Daniel, letting their bodies rest against each other. They didn’t have to be doing anything – although it was terrific when they did. Just being so close to each other was everything he needed right now.

“What was that sigh for?” Daniel asked. Laszlo explained. Then Daniel spoke again. “Laszlo, I just can’t get over how often we’re right on the same wavelength about things like this. It’s a real miracle. I just hope we still feel this way about each other fifty years from now.”

“Any reason why only fifty years?”

“Just a random number. All I want is to stay with you for the rest of my life.”

“And I’m right on the same wavelength with you about that too, my love.”

That night, the lodge’s chef laid out a splendid buffet dinner for the guests, a regular Friday night feature of the property, and they had a wonderful time picking out all the different dishes they wanted to sample. There was a well-stocked cellar, too, and they shared a choice bottle of wine along with the meal, before finishing with a crème brulée that was to die for and aromatic coffee.

Back in their suite after dinner, they sat for a while on the terrace, gazing up at the starlit sky, and then turned in for the deepest, most restful sleep either of them could remember.

The next two days were filled with hiking on the trails in the forest, one of which led to a panoramic view over the entire valley and the waterfalls where the river tumbled down the mountainside into the gorge below them. Then there were more spectacular meals on the terrace outside the dining room, and daily visits to the hot tub. These had to be kept discreet, because there were other guest rooms overlooking their terrace, but they still managed to sneak in a few surreptitious gropes and squeezes, enough to make the business of getting out of the water without showing off their arousal a tricky matter.

And the sex. Laszlo and Daniel were steadily learning more and more about all the hundred and one ways they could turn each other on, and they were growing into a more and more rewarding sexual relationship with each session as a result. Neither of them had really understood until now how the sex in a relationship could become so intensely personal, although they’d always felt how special it was on an emotional level.

On their final night, they went the whole hog for dinner, ordering and savouring the spectacular chateaubriand along with a top-notch red Bordeaux, and finishing off with a premium cognac along with their coffee. As they sat outside on another star-filled trip to the hot tub, Laszlo held Daniel close and murmured, “This whole visit has been absolutely magical. Thank you for making it possible.”

“Magic is what we deserve. Nothing but the best will do for us, my dear Laszlo. But now, and I’m sorry to break the mood, what comes next? Of course, the car will be back at noon. He’ll drive us back to the city, take me to the airport first for my 7:45 flight home, and then drive you back to your apartment. But after that?”

“Another three weeks of the work site, and then I have a three-week break before my final in-class term. Guess where I want to go for that down time.”

“Hmm. Would it possibly be Kauai, by any chance?”

“How did you guess?” They both laughed. “As long as you don’t mind me staying at your place with the other guys.”

“Well, I guess we could stand the expense of one more mouth to feed.”

“Smart ass!”

“So, three weeks in Hawaii. And then, when that time is up, we can fly home together.”

For a moment Laszlo looked uncertain, and then it dawned on him.

“You mean…?”

“I mean that it’s time. Time to come out of hiding, time for me to return to Los Angeles, time for us to become a proper full-time couple. As long as you don’t mind me moving right into your place and then staying for good.”

Laszlo was so overwhelmed with the joy of the moment that he couldn’t even think up a sarcastic response. He flung himself into Daniel’s arms, kissing him until they were both thoroughly breathless. At last, he relaxed enough to say, “A proper full-time couple. Daniel, I can’t wait!”

It took several more hours after that for them to wind down enough to get to sleep. Of course, the scramble out of the hot tub to get back inside in the rapidly cooling mountain air revved them up. Then, there seemed to be no limit to either their imaginations, or the ability of their bodies to keep generating erections and orgasms once they got into bed. At last, though, nature had her way and they fell asleep, wrapped in each other’s arms as they always did – and as they would always do.

They opened the final morning with coffee in the hot tub, yelping again     at the chill in the air as they finally had to crawl out of the hot water and run back inside. Showers, dressing, packing all followed, before they went down to the dining room at ten for a late brunch. And then it was time to check out and walk out the entrance to find Sebastian waiting for them with the limousine. Bags loaded, they climbed into the back and relaxed for a sleepy drive back to Los Angeles. One final quick good-bye outside Terminal 2, and then Daniel walked briskly away into the terminal. Laszlo was left, standing at the curb, looking disconsolate.

“I’m sorry,” Sebastian said. Laszlo looked at him. “It’s obvious that you are sad to see him leave, and I’m sorry for your sadness.”

“Thanks. But it’ll be all right. It isn’t for much longer now.”

Sebastian gave him a fatherly pat on the shoulder, and Laszlo climbed back into the limousine for the final leg of the trip home. When Laszlo walked into his apartment, he immediately set aside his sadness and began thinking ahead. What could he ditch, what could he store, to make room for Daniel to move in? Then he realized he was getting the cart in front of the horse. First things first. He went online to book a flight, and then sent the details to Daniel.

Three weeks later, he was sitting on the plane for the flight back to Kauai. He had again gotten a seat on the nonstop flight. Flying back from the island the last time, he’d been grateful to shorten the time that he had to sit there in misery because of missing Daniel. Now, he was excited because it shortened the time he had to wait to be with Daniel again. Those magical words “for good” were ringing in his mind for the entire trip.

As he exited the security area in the partially open-air terminal, he was greeted by the familiar smiling face of – Rodrigo? “Hi, Laszlo! Daniel asked me to come and get you.”

“Why?”

“He had a bit of an accident when surfing this morning. Probably nothing big, but he’s in the ER waiting to be checked over.”

“Well, let’s get over there! I have to see him!”

“Easy, easy, Laszlo. That’s exactly where we’re going.”

Laszlo was all fidgets for the ten minutes it took to drive to the hospital. True, Rodrigo had said it was “nothing big” but these surfer dudes used that kind of language to describe waves that would rock a fifteen-deck cruise ship significantly.

They got to the hospital and walked into the emergency room to be greeted by a fussing and fuming Daniel. Laszlo was reassured right away. If he was only annoyed, and not gritting his teeth in pain, it couldn’t be that bad.

After he’d hugged and kissed Laszlo, he turned to Rodrigo and blew off some steam. “Next in line. They finally told me I’m next in line. After waiting for almost twelve hours.”

“What the hell?”

“Rodrigo, it’s like every pregnant woman in Kauai suddenly decided to have her baby this afternoon, and there’s only one doctor on call. Every time I’m just about to get in there, they page her back to the maternity ward. Babies! The one thing that won’t wait for anyone or anything else, and the whole world must bow down and stand aside because Emperor or Empress Baby is on the way!”

Laszlo suppressed a smile at hearing Daniel ranting like this. But at last Daniel calmed down enough to turn to him and ask how he was after his flight. Laszlo said, “All the better for seeing you sounding off about babies like this. Rodrigo really had me worried when he said you were stuck in the ER. Probably nothing wrong with you that a good night in bed won’t cure.”

Rodrigo adopted a portentous, Wizard-of-Oz voice. “The Great Doctor Laszlo has spoken.”

That made Daniel laugh finally. And then he was called in. He came back twenty-five minutes later with the soothing news that it was likely just a sprain but in a very unusual place, and he needed to rest and ice it for the next few days. With that, they got into Rodrigo’s extended cab pickup and headed back to the beach house. Sure enough, the sprain did gradually heal with good care, and Daniel was back to full form after about five days.

On the third morning, at breakfast, Brad was mock-complaining to Arian about how they never saw Daniel any more, because his friend Laszlo was seemingly holding him captive in bed – probably had him tied to the bedposts, face down and unable to escape. Arian was laughing his head off at Brad’s dramatics, but then Rodrigo walked in, looking unusually solemn. Brad turned and said, “What’s up with you?”

“Brad, I heard what you were saying. Just so you know, Laszlo isn’t just a friend, and this isn’t just a holiday fling. Daniel’s gotten incredibly lucky, and we should all be so lucky. He’s joined that short list of people who find the great love, the lifetime love, the one that so few people ever find for themselves.”

Arian thought for a moment. “Rodrigo, you actually sound jealous.”

“I am – a little. Not because I wanted Daniel for myself, but because I’ve never seen such a lifetime love in action before, and now I’m beginning to wish I had one for myself. It’s weird. I swore I would never fall into that trap, but suddenly it doesn’t look like a trap any more – and I wish I knew how to make the luck break that way for me. I guess I wish for too much.”

“You never know, Rodrigo. I’ll bet Daniel never thought it would happen for him either.” Brad’s tone had also become much quieter and more thoughtful.

While Daniel was metaphorically tied to the bed – by the need to soothe his sprain – he and Laszlo weren’t engaging in nonstop sexual acrobatics. Instead, they were talking nonstop about the future – about how they would handle everything from food shopping and household management to evening or overnight guests and travel planning. Laszlo spoke about the work he’d done to free up space for Daniel to put his things, and Daniel reassured him by telling him about how he’d actually sold off most of his stuff when he left California. At that, Laszlo’s face fell – and Daniel asked, “Now what?”

“Please tell me you didn’t get rid of that incredible rainbow swirl abstract painting over the sofa!”

“I loaned it to Lianne. She’s still got it, in her place. We’ll get it back.”

“Just sign me, ‘Massively Relieved.’”

Daniel laughed and Laszlo joined in.

Laszlo, though, did spend some time out and about every day. He’d just treated himself by buying a really good SLR camera, and he wanted to practise with it by photographing everything in sight, from sexy surfer boys (an obvious choice) to tropical flowers and trees. Day by day, he was getting a better grip on how it worked, and what he could do with it.

By the third week, the whole house had settled into a smooth routine with Laszlo every bit as much a part of the gang as any of the others. He joined right in with the ribald jokes and raucous laughter, showed real courtesy in greeting the unexpected overnight guests with Brad or Arian (or both) at morning coffee each day, and relished the time spent sitting on the sand dunes between coffee and breakfast, watching his man out surfing with his friends. Laszlo had actually amassed a substantial gallery of long-range photos of Daniel and his buddies by the time they neared the end of the three week holiday.

The other really great thing that happened was the arrival of another new member of the group: Seiji, the slim, small young Japanese surfer who’d very obviously developed what was (at the least) a major crush on Rodrigo. He’d spent two separate nights with Rodrigo during the first two weeks, but in the third week he’d stayed for several nights in a row – and Rodrigo was obviously enjoying his company.

Brad even picked Laszlo’s brain about it. “Do you think maybe Rodrigo might be falling in love with Seiji?”

“Too soon to say, but it’s not impossible. I hope so. I know he’s going to miss Daniel when we leave.”

“We? WE???! Daniel didn’t say a word about leaving with you!”

Too late, Laszlo realized that he’d stepped into the swamp. “He didn’t? That surprises me. Don’t say anything to him until I have a chance to ask him why not.”

Laszlo stepped out to look for Daniel, and found him sitting on the bench, staring at the ocean.

“What’s up, Daniel?

Daniel sighed. “Just realizing that I’m really going to miss these guys and this place when we leave.”

“Is that why you didn’t tell Brad you were going?”

“I couldn’t figure out how to do it. So I stalled.”

“Well, I just let it slip and now I’m embarrassed, because I figured you would naturally have let them know.”

“I’m sorry, Laszlo. I don’t know why I find conversations like this so hard to do.”

“Like when you couldn’t tell me your feelings and had to run away to Hawaii instead.”

“Yes. Like that.”

“Come on, Daniel. You’re not that scared, lonely kid getting sucked into a ride in a limo any more. You’re a grown man, awesomely competent at so many things, and you’ve got me by your side so you have no reason to be afraid. Let’s go in together and you can tell Brad and Arian, and Rodrigo, yourself.”

They did. The guys were startled, but not angry, and that made all the difference. They all congratulated him and Laszlo and wished them well for the future – “and don’t be a stranger,” Brad said, to resounding applause from the others.

For the last three nights before departure for L.A., they moved back into the FourWinds resort – partly out of nostalgia, but partly because Daniel had an ulterior motive. He was still curious about the general manager’s action in buying dinner for them on their previous visit and hoped to find out more.

On the first night, they had a different waiter whom they had not met before. But during the meal, Daniel spotted Aaron walking by and flagged him down. He greeted them with a broad smile.

“Aaron, could you please tell me if the General Manager is here tonight?”

“He is, sir. He’s actually standing over there, conferring with the maitre d’.”

“Could you kindly let him know that I would welcome a chance to speak with him?”

“There’s no need, sir. He’s already on his way over to see you.”

Aaron slipped away as the tall, lean gentleman with the handsome Hawaiian face and salt and pepper hair approached them.

“Good evening, gentlemen. My name is Ken Murayama, and I am the General Manager of FourWinds Resort. It’s a pleasure to welcome your back.”

Both Laszlo and Daniel had stood up. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

“Indeed, and a pleasure to thank you in person for hour generosity to us on our last visit.”

Mr. Murayama’s slightly old-world continental courtesy was infectious. Laszlo even found himself nodding his head in a slight bow, a throwback to his school training about appropriate dignity when meeting Hungarian ancestral nobility.

“I hope you are finding everything in the resort to your liking.”

“Very much so.” Daniel had seized the opportunity to take the lead. “I would like to ask a further favour. Could you possibly give me a little of your time to speak in private in your office, tomorrow?”

“As much as you wish, Mr….?

“Nakamura. Daniel Nakamura.”

Murayama’s face broke into a slightly knowing smile. “It will be a pleasure. Would eleven o’clock suit you?”

“That will be ideal.”

“Splendid. I will see you then. Mr. Nakamura, Mr. Kertesz (and the names were delivered with a slight but courteous bow), enjoy the rest of your evening.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you very much.”

He stepped away and they sat down and resumed their meal. Once he was out of earshot, Laszlo commented, “There’s a real gentleman of the old school.”

“Indeed.”

“Could you explain what that was all about?”

“I can’t – yet. But there’s something about him. When I saw his photo on the hotel’s website, it was very tiny -- but the face seemed familiar somehow. I felt that even more strongly when I saw him tonight. I’m hoping to find out more when I speak with him.”

“Do you want me there too?”

“Perhaps better not. He might hesitate to open up with another person present.”

“Fair enough. Can I borrow the Jeep for the morning? I’ll take the camera and go up to the canyon, see what I can do with it up there.”

“Good plan, Laszlo. I’ve seen it enough times, once more or less won’t do me any harm. Enjoy yourself up there on the mountain!”

The next morning, at eleven o’clock sharp, Daniel presented himself at the General Manager’s office, reflecting as he did so that “presented himself” was exactly the right wording for a man with Mr. Murayama’s old-world brand of courtesy, and that he perhaps should have gotten some calling cards first. The secretary took his name in, and came right back out, holding the door.

“Right this way, sir.”

“Thank you,”

The General Manager was standing, waiting for him with a smile and an extended hand.

“Welcome, Mr. Nakamura. What can I do for you?”

“Daniel, please.”

“Of course. Ken. Although my actual Hawaiian name is Kanani.”

“Ken, then. I hope you won’t think this too forward of me, but I can’t help thinking that your face is slightly familiar, in a context which I can’t identify. I’m wondering, too, why you chose to offer the hotel’s hospitality to us at dinner on our last visit. We appreciated the courtesy very much, of course, but I couldn’t help wondering. I’ve had enough business experience myself to know that one doesn’t just give the farm away to every person who walks through the gate. Was there perhaps some more specific reason why you did that?”

The General Manager sighed deeply, seeming lost in thought for a few moments. Then he roused himself and returned his attention to his visitor.

“You come straight to the point, Daniel. And you’re quite right. There is a reason. I’ll be happy to tell you the whole story, if you wish.”

“If you would, please.”

“Very well. I’m prepared to do so because I was already asked to do so some years ago and because – as strange as this may sound – some people would say that I have a fair right to be considered your uncle.”

 

 

[PG1961Canada]

I wondered who this guy was... sounds like an interesting twist... well done!

 

[Guest]

I think this is the best story on BZ!! @daddybear54

[daddybear54]

3 hours ago, Taysom said:

I think this is the best story on BZ!! @daddybear54

@Taysom thank you for the compliment!

[daddybear54]

Chapter 16:  The General Manager’s Story

 

“You’re what now, Daniel? Thirty years old? I’m seventy-one. It’s hard to look around Kauai now and remember what it used to be like when I was a child. We did have some tourism, but it was very limited in scale compared to today. My parents could remember the island back to the time when the biggest hotel had 12 rooms. In my childhood, we were still mainly a rural community, a small community, and everyone was a friend. Even if we didn’t personally know every single person on the island, it felt as if we did.

“And that included your mother. I can remember her as a young woman – Lehua was a beautiful girl, but also a very determined and stubborn one. And I can remember her older brother, her half-brother actually, since his father had died in an industrial accident on the mainland and their mother then remarried. Lehua’s father was the man you knew as your grandfather when you were a child.

“Her brother – your Uncle Keith, his Hawaiian name was Keawe – was eleven years older, and a completely different sort of person altogether. Where Lehua was tough as nails when it suited her, Keawe was always kind and gentle, a very caring sort of man. I often wondered if that was a heritage from his father, who died long before you were born.

“Since many marriages were still arranged, or at least strongly suggested by parents, Keawe married your Aunt Lily, actually Leialoha, at the age of 19. She soon fell ill, and from one cause or another was periodically sick for many years. It seemed as if she could never recover completely from one illness before the next one struck her. Keawe was devoted to her. Due to her illnesses, they were never able to have children. He cared for her with love and concern through one illness after another until cancer finally took her at the age of forty-seven.

“After she died, he left the islands, settled in Seattle, and lived and worked there for the remainder of his life, never remarrying, but living alone until he, too, died at the age of sixty, thirteen years after Leialoha.

“That, at least, was the way it appeared to the outside world, and to the rest of their families. The truth was both sadder and more complicated. You may perhaps have guessed at it already, if only in part.

“In reality, under that veil of social conformity, Keawe and I were lovers. We had met and fallen in love in high school. The old society of Kauai was rigidly intolerant, and we had to go to great lengths to conceal our relationship from everyone – family, friends, fellow students, the school administration. We had to figure out a dozen different places where we could meet. Those were snatched, unhappy meetings, the kissing and sex hurried and furtive, where we did our best to console each other for the terrible, crushing silence and separation which society imposed on us.

“Our relationship continued like that all through the years when Leialoha was so ill. I have never known for certain, but I would guess that Leialoha suspected or had actually learned about Keawe being gay, and she may have known about his relationship with me as well. That knowledge, and the anguish of being trapped in a marriage with a man who loved another man but did not love her was, I suspect, the true cause of her many illnesses.

“When I married, a few years after Keawe, my family at least allowed me the freedom to choose my own wife. I had always felt a close kinship to another girl in our class, Puanani. As we talked about marriage, she confided in me that her love was actually for another girl, a maid in her parents’ home named Kalei. I in turn explained about my love for Keawe. Having shared our deep, dark secrets with each other, it became simpler for us to marry as a protective cover for us both. Puanani became pregnant very soon after our wedding, and Kalei moved into our home to act as a nanny for our twins when they were born the following year.

“Our marriage lasted until the twins were old enough to set off into the wider world, and then Puanani left me. We divorced, amiably, and remained good friends as she lived openly after that with Kalei. I have to admit that I was more than a bit jealous.

“I had no such good fortune. I had tried to convince Keawe that we should also live together, after my divorce and Leialoha’s death a few years later. But he would have none of it. He still loved me, he said, but he owed it to the rest of his family – I assume he meant you and Lehua’s other children – to keep his truth under cover. That was why he moved to Seattle, to distance himself from me and from my urgings to him to reconsider.

“That lasted for several years, until we began to meet again. By that time I was working at one of the other resorts on the island, and he came there to stay for a holiday – a wonderful reunion for both of us, and a first time for both of us to really explore what it meant to love each other in so many more ways than we had ever managed before.

“After that, we would meet once or twice a year – he would come to Hawaii on holidays, without telling his sister, and I would go up to Seattle each summer to see him there. We would hike in the mountains, there or here, and share as much time as we could with each other.

“Then, thirteen years ago, he messaged me to say that he could not come. He was being treated for cancer, and the combined radiation and chemotherapy was sapping his strength. By this time, I had been appointed as the General Manager of FourWinds, three months before it was due to open to paying clients. It was the dream job of a lifetime for anyone working in the hospitality industry. Even so, I again offered to move to Seattle to care for him, but he assured me that he had a good home health care plan through his workplace, and I did not need to bother – and that I should not, under any circumstances, quit my landmark job. The next year, when he was feeling a bit better, he called to ask me to come and see him again, and of course I did.

“At that meeting, he told me that it was the calm before the storm. His cancer was recurring, spreading throughout his body, and no further treatment was possible. He had opted for palliative care only, and the painkiller drugs were at least keeping the pain tolerable. We wept together for all the lost time that we had never been able to share. But then he spoke of his feelings about you, about your career and your life.

“I can assure you that, although he disapproved of your career path, that disapproval had nothing to do with your sexuality. It was all out of his concern that your life might never have a chance to develop any emotional depth, that you might become hardened and jaded by endless sex on tap with no deeper feelings to balance it. He knew, of course, that his sister Lehua had cut you off and shattered her entire family by doing so. In Keawe’s mind, the fault was entirely hers, never yours. He could readily guess, from his own tough experience, at the fear which had driven you to leave home as soon as you were old enough, and at the terrible emotional penalty which your mother’s harsh actions had levied upon you, your father, your brother, and your 1sisters. And then he asked me to make him a promise.

“He said to me, ‘Kanani, for all the love that has been between us, I ask you this one favour. Please do what you can to watch out for my nephew, Daniel. I hope there will come a time when he decides to change the course of his life. When that time comes, please promise me that you will watch out for him and try to help him in any way you can.’

“His eyes were the eyes of a man in pain, so I agreed and promised I would do it. And that was the last time I saw him. Three months later, more or less, I got a last letter, which he’d dictated to his nurse to send to me. He left no such last message for his sister. But in that final letter, he told me about his bequest to you, and he urged me to share our story with you at any chance I might get.

“So I watched your life from a distance. In a way, I was very proud of your success, of your obvious business acumen and your reputation for delivering a high-class product. I used to study your company website for hours, memorizing the few pictures that let me see your face. I’m sorry I never watched any of your films; such things are only painful to me now. But I was very proud and even excited when you and your co-star won that unique award on your final film, because I sensed that you might indeed be starting to change your focus in life, and that the time which Keawe had hoped for might now be drawing nearer. I began wondering much more when you sold your company and then disappeared. I had a feeling that you might well return to Kauai to try to reset your life.

“Since then, I’ve been watching and waiting, hoping that my guess was right and that your path might cross mine. All the same, it was a considerable surprise when you appeared that night in the restaurant and were seated just a few tables away from me. I doubt if you noticed me, but I was watching you attentively throughout your meal. Then your companion stepped away, to be replaced a few moments later by the man I recognized as your co-star. I watched what passed between the two of you… and I was enthralled.

After seeing the unmistakable love that was born between you that night, I knew that it was time. I prepared the letter, tracking your new partner through his room registration to get his name, and briefed the staff on what to do. I felt sure that you would try to approach me after I had extended the hospitality of the hotel to you.

“And now, twelve years after your uncle died… here we are.”

 

*************************

 

Daniel sat in the office, letting his mind run, as he came slowly to terms with all of what he had just learned. At last, he shook himself out of his reverie and smiled slightly.

“And now I remember where I have seen you before. It was a photo of you with Keith in a family album when I was young.”

“I hope, Daniel, that telling you all of this family history has not upset you too much.”

“Not at all, Uncle Ken.” At that, the older man smiled broadly. “It’s just a great deal to absorb all at once. I have always suspected that Uncle Keith might have been gay, but I never had anything to go on other than my own intuition. There was nothing to indicate that in any letters I ever got from him, even after I’d been thrown out of the family by… by his half sister, and then shunned by the rest of them.”

Ken frowned slightly. “Daniel, even though she treated you so cruelly, she is still your mother – a true part of you as you are of her. She may still be of the same mind, or she may have felt regret and wished she had not been so rigid. I have no idea. What I do know, from my own experience, is that a grievance clung to can slowly eat you alive as you get older and other priorities in your life fall away. I’ve had to forgive so many people: my parents for forcing my marriage, Puanani for finding her happiness when mine escaped me, Keawe’s family for the emotional prison in which they locked him, even Keawe himself for holding me at arm’s length when there was finally a chance for us to be together.

“If there’s any reason I can live with some equanimity and stability in my older years, it’s because I’ve managed to forgive them all. It wasn’t easy, but I made myself do it, because I have finally been able to see that all of them did the best they could with the hand of cards they’d been dealt by their life and times. As I also have done. And now, I have another reward to make me smile. I’ve finally gotten to meet my nephew.”

Enough words had been spoken. The two of them rose, met each other around the side of the big desk, and hugged each other long and fiercely. At last, they parted and sat down. Ken moved the conversation onto new ground.

“And now, what lies ahead for you and your partner… by  the way, what is his name?”

“Laszlo. Laszlo Kertesz.”

“A fine old Hungarian name. Where do you go from here?”

“I’ve been winding up my affairs here, and we are going back to the mainland on Monday to live together full time – finally!”

“I can hear the relief in your voice, Daniel. And I’m sure he feels it just as strongly. It’s plain that you two share an extraordinary depth of love, communication, even communion, with each other. In the face of such powerful love, all else must give way. I’m sure you will be very happy together for all your lives, and I wish that for you. For me, perhaps, not so much. I’d been hoping that I might be able to see you from time to time now that we’ve finally met.”

“Uncle Ken, we can certainly come back here for regular visits. I know Laszlo loves this island as much as I do, and for both of us, this will always be the place where we first truly met. I’m not ready to say goodbye to Kauai for the last time. And coming back will give Laszlo a chance to meet you as well.”

The older man smiled again. “The good will of all your ancestors go with you.” They hugged once more, and Daniel went his way. He had been left with much to think about.

 

 

[PG1961Canada]

you ol' romantic @daddybear54  Great chapter... ties things in nicely. 😍

[daddybear54]

Chapter 17:  Building a New Life

 

The flight back to Los Angeles was a completely different experience for Laszlo, compared to his last trip. Then, Laszlo had been trying to sleep, curled into a ball to try to hide his misery at having to say goodbye to Daniel. Now, the two of them sat side by side, in First Class yet, hands joined across the extra-wide console armrest and laughing and joking up a storm.

Laszlo had already heard the whole story of Daniel’s startling meeting with the General Manager of the resort, and he was teasing Daniel about whether he planned to uncover any more surprise relatives on the way home – maybe that cute flight attendant, or perhaps the Uber driver in L.A. Daniel just laughed it off, but inside he had to wonder a bit.

Laszlo had also asked Daniel about something that had made him curious. “Daniel, just wondering, neither you nor Ken look particularly Asian – in fact you both look thoroughly Hawaiian – but you both have Japanese surnames. What’s with that?”

Daniel chuckled. “There’s a lot of different bloodlines mixed into many of the people in Hawaii now, after a century of being a mid-Pacific centre of commerce. There were many Japanese families living in Hawaii long before the twentieth century, and intermarriage had already begun even that far back. Just about every nationality on the Pacific Rim is now represented in Hawaii’s population. My father, as it happens, did look more Japanese than any other nationality (mainly by chance) but it was the other side’s bloodline that ended up dominating my looks.”

“Very handsomely too, if I may say so.”

They both laughed. Laszlo had remembered what Daniel had said about refusing to name his maternal parent as his “mother” when talking to Ken Murayama, and he didn’t press the issue. It wasn’t the time yet, and perhaps never would be.

Instead, he went on another perfectly natural tangent. “And then there’s the whole question of getting you to meet my parents.”

“In Hungary?”

“Hardly! No, they live in Boston, right where they’ve been ever since they settled there when I was about 3 months old. My dad was an English professor back in Budapest, and my mother taught in a school for foreign children so both of them were fluent in English already. Dad is still teaching at Boston U., now specializing in central European history & cultural studies. My mom is running a daycare centre for the children of university staff.”

“You told them about us.”

“I did, and they were happy – especially happy when I told them that both of us had exited the porn biz for good. I can tell you, they were not impressed when I let them know that’s what I was doing to earn money for school, but they’re the kind of people who just shrug their shoulders and leave it up to you to live your own life and do it well or make a mess of it.”

“Not many people like that in my family.”

“So I imagine. But Daniel, have you ever thought of it this way? So many guys in our position will tell you that there’s the family that you’re born into, and then there’s the family you choose for yourself – and which one is more important?

“Well, that’s true.”

“And you’ve chosen yourself a great one! There’s Jim and Steve, Marina, Lianne, Rodrigo, Brad, Arian, your uncle Ken now….”

“And you, most of all.” He leaned over to kiss Laszlo.

“Let’s see about a date to fly up to Boston.”

“Or for them to fly down to Los Angeles. Although I must admit, I’ve always wanted to see Boston for myself.”

“Then Boston it is.”

Just then, the flight attendant came by to offer a cocktail and to take their orders for the main course for dinner.

After the flight landed in Los Angeles, they claimed their bags – including several boxes of Daniel’s possessions – and then headed out to meet their Uber, pushing a couple of baggage trolleys.

“I thought you said you’d gotten rid of most of your stuff,” Laszlo accused – but with a twinkle in his eye.

“So, anything I say can and will be used against me – is that it?”

“One thing’s for sure, none of these boxes is big enough to hide your surfboard.”

“I left it with Rodrigo. He was always borrowing it anyway, didn’t have a longboard of his own in the islands – and I sometimes borrowed his boogie board when I felt like trying something completely different.”

At the apartment, the Uber driver offered to help with all their things. When he carried the last box in, he turned with a rather hopeful smile, like an eager puppy dog, as Daniel tipped him extra – and then his face fell as he was courteously but firmly escorted out the door.

“Why do I get the impression…”

“…that he was interested? Oh, he was. No question. But I wasn’t. Maybe we’ll see him again some time after we get more settled in.”

Laszlo soon found out just what Daniel had in mind, when he set right to work, unpacking boxes and finding places to put his things away. “Do it now” certainly appeared to be his motto. And indeed, when the whole job was at last finished, and they wiped the sweat off their faces, the time was still only 11:30 pm.

“Not bad. Good to get that all out of the way. Where do we take these boxes to recycle them?”

Laszlo drew him away. “It’s called Tomorrow Morning. I’ve got another priority right now.” He proceeded to hold Daniel, then looked deep into his eyes. “Welcome home, életem szerelme.”

“I like that. What does it mean?”

“It’s Hungarian for ‘love of my life.’”

That was all it took to trigger the kissing. In a few more minutes they were in bed together, not to get sexual – they were too tired for that – but just to cuddle easily and warmly together, “like an old married couple,” as Daniel put it.

Over the next few weeks, as life slowly settled back to normal, they were able to fit in some social meetings between Laszlo’s sometimes-weird class hours and Daniel’s new part-time job at one of the classier WeHo bars, filling drink orders and flirting with the cute boys right up to quitting time. He’d gotten the job with a bit of help from Steve, who was working for the holding company that owned the place. The bar job was actually a good fit because it got him out of the condo during the times when Laszlo was most likely to be hard at work at his desk, on research, writing, or reading for his classes.

But Daniel quickly discovered that there was much about urban gay life which had slipped his mind during the last year and a half of being a Hawaiian surf bum. Now he had to relearn, quickly, that there was flirting and then there was flirting. Some of the guys gave it a light, amusing tone, but some were far too pressing and blatant. To add to his occasional frustration level, there were the ones with extra-thick skulls who kept on referring to him and calling him “Hawaiian Nine” even after he told them – repeatedly -- that he wasn’t going by that name any more.

Daniel had days when he began to feel as if he should be running an old-style charm school for gayboys, teaching them how to be a little more laid-back, a little more subtle, learn how to listen more and talk less, and not to be in such a damned hurry to get laid as fast as possible all the time. Or, as he put it one night to Laszlo, “I’d forgotten how many of them are already getting themselves three-quarters of the way to a premature climax just from saying hello.”

Laszlo’s reply was very much to the point. “Speaking of which….” as he dropped to his knees and began pulling Daniel’s pants down. After he’d sucked on Daniel’s dick for a couple of minutes, he stood up and rapidly whipped his shirt and shorts off, then went back to work. Daniel laughed, between moans, as Laszlo worked on his cock with determined zeal.

“Wow. You’re not wasting any time tonight, are you?”

“Mm-mmm.” Laszlo’s reply was unintelligible because his mouth was full of nine inches of prime cock, dark and firm and tasty. Daniel took that as his cue to pull his shirt off too. When Laszlo came up for air, Daniel kicked his pants away and wrapped his arms around Laszlo. But Laszlo, to his surprise, said, “Fuck that. I’m not in a romantic mood tonight. I want you to shove that big cock inside me, fuck my brains out, and breed me – as many times as you need to.”

Daniel said no more. Pushing Laszlo down across the bed, face down, he plunged his face in between those tempting ass cushions and began tonguing and digging into the knot. In no time, he had Laszlo loosened up. Daniel stood up, spat a couple of times in his hand, wiped it on his dick, and then planted the head against the hole and, with one huge shove, buried the whole thing deep inside Laszlo’s ass.

Laszlo let out a yell as Daniel began plowing butt, then kept gasping and moaning and yelling some more as that thick slab of meat ripped repeatedly into him. Daniel was letting loose all the frustration and irritation he’d built up during his bar shift, and Laszlo was egging him on, encouraging him, and (although Daniel didn’t really sense it in the moment) making himself into the outlet that Daniel needed at the moment.

In no time, as it seemed, Daniel’s cock swelled up and blew a first load inside Laszlo’s tunnel. But his cock didn’t soften at all, nor did Laszlo expect it to. He braced himself, rearing up on his knees and reaching back to grasp Daniel’s body as Daniel resumed slamming him at full force, driving that big nine-inch club all the way, wrenching Laszlo open in a way that no one else had ever been able to match. He wrapped his muscular arms around Laszlo, who always loved to feel those hefty forearms and biceps gripping him like this. As Daniel continued driving his way forcefully inside his boyfriend’s ass, Laszlo could feel the repeated impact on his prostate and suddenly realized that he was mere seconds away from exploding.

“Fuck, Daniel… keep fucking me… you’re making me cum… gonna shoot….”

“Yeah, Laszlo, fucking blow that load!”

Daniel’s deep, animal snarl lit Laszlo’s fuse and his cock contracted, powerfully expelling a huge white spurt which leapt right onto the wall above the bed with an audible splat. Daniel felt Laszlo’s hole seizing his cock in a death grip, and forced his way deep before blasting off, spraying another big load deep inside Laszlo’s body.

Finally, his cock began to soften and slipped out. Then Laszlo turned around and faced him with a smug smile on his face. “Now you’re ready to kiss and cuddle.”

Daniel belated realized what Laszlo had actually done for him. “Aren’t you sneaky? I love it.”  Then, as they finally laid themselves down, side by side, and embraced properly, “You always seem to know what I need before I realize I need it.”

Laszlo laughed. “That’s my job. Now: your job. You have to figure out what I need.”

As he spoke, Daniel was reaching around to cuddle and squeeze Laszlo’s ass cheeks some more, but then he spotted how Laszlo momentarily winced with pain.

“Oh, shit. Did I rip you?”

“Not precisely, I don’t think, but it’s definitely going to be sore for a day or three.”

“I’ll get some ointment for it.”

“There you go, Daniel. You’re learning fast! That’s exactly what I need.”

Daniel got up, found the tube, and opened the cap. “Phew! Why does this stuff have to come with such a foul odor?”

“Well, obviously, it’s so that you don’t forget and start eating again.”

That got both of them laughing. But then Laszlo said, “Shit, I’ve got to clean that mess of the wall before it leaves a big stain.”

“That’s because you haven’t gotten a waterproof, easy-to-wash, faux leather headboard like the ones they put in hotels.”

It was another matter altogether when Laszlo dropped into the bar the following Friday evening after enjoying dinner with a couple of his classmates. He sat quietly at a table in a corner, waiting for Daniel to finish his shift at ten o’clock. As he sat there, nursing a glass of wine and thinking how hot his man looked in tight black pants and no shirt, his view was suddenly blocked. He looked up to see Silvio looking down at him.

“Hi, Laszlo. How’s it going?”

“Silvio! Wow, I never expected to see you here!”

“Why is that?”

“I was sure you were straight.”

“Really?”

“Well, I saw you leaving the office one day a few months back with a beautiful young woman, and you looked very cozy with each other.”

Silvio laughed, but it was a laugh with no humour in it at all. “That was my younger sister, Laura. She was helping to cover for me. She knows I’m gay, but she also knows that if my old-fashioned parents find out, my mother will rip me apart with her designer fingernails and my father will chop the remains into smaller pieces and feed them to the dogs.”

Another guy would have laughed at the melodrama. Instead, Laszlo’s mother hen side came right to the surface. “Sit down, Silvio, and for heaven’s sake get a drink. We need to talk.” He waved to Daniel, who promptly dropped what he was doing and came over. “Daniel, this is Silvio. Get him whatever he wants.”

“That wine looks good – I’ll have one of those.”

Daniel was back in a minute with a brimming glass. He too had picked up on the young man’s unhappy vibe.

“Thanks, Daniel.”

“Join you as soon as I can. I have to get back to the screaming hotties at the bar.”

They watched him go, and then Silvio turned to Laszlo and said, “Now I know why your face always seemed so familiar at the office. You’re Arpad Nagy, and he’s the Hawaiian Nine.”

Laszlo laughed. “I was – and Daniel was. Now that we’re a couple, we’ve both retired for good.” Silvio took a big slug of his wine and then stared out at nothing in particular. “Silvio, that sounded pretty heavy-duty, what you were saying about your family. Is it really that bad?”

“Okay, maybe I went a bit overboard, but yeah, it’s pretty rough. I’d love to come out, but I just can’t without ripping the entire family to pieces. If it was just me, I’d do it, but there’s Laura and there’s my kid brother, Marcello, and I can’t bring myself to inflict all that hate on them as well, I just can’t.”

Laszlo thought quickly. This man was definitely caught in a trap and needed help. “Silvio, I’d love to help you out. But the guy you really need to talk to is Daniel. Sounds like you’re in the same kind of situation he was in, when he left home over a decade ago. I can’t relate to it myself, but he’ll know what to say and how to advise you. Let’s just hang out here. He’ll be off work at ten and then you can talk with him.”

Silvio laughed then, the first sign of true amusement he’d shown yet. “When I think of all the times I was jacking off to his movies, wishing I could meet him in person – talking was always the last thing on my mind.”

That got Laszlo laughing too. From then on, the conversation flowed more easily. Silvio was curious about the behind-the-scenes aspect of the porn industry and how it worked. Laszlo gave him some amusing stories to help fill him in on the nuts and bolts, as opposed to the nuts and cocks, of making porn. And at ten o’clock, Daniel joined them.

“Finish those up, fellows, and let’s head out. I’m exhausted and I just want to get home.”

On the way back to their condo, they chatted about everyday stuff. After they got in the door, they sat down in the living room to talk. Silvio filled in Daniel on his situation, and Daniel realized that he was going to have to think through carefully what he wanted to say. He proceeded to explain what he felt was the dynamic of the situation, very slowly and methodically.

“Silvio, I wish I could tell you that there’s an easy way out of this bind. There isn’t. I learned that, and thousands of other gay men have learned it too. The whole thing turns on the problem that we are human beings, we have feelings for others as well as for ourselves, and we shy away from hurting others, especially those who’ve caused us no harm.

“Just to show you what I mean: my mother, ultra-religious, threw me out. My father tried to stand up for me and she threw him out too. My brother and my sisters took dad’s side, and the whole family fell apart at the seams. Then my father switched sides, blaming me for the whole mess – and now none of them will talk to me. I just watched it all happen from a distance (I’d already moved from Hawaii up to L.A.) and it was like watching a slow-mo video of a car crash.

“The thing I realized, years later than the time when I needed to know it, was that I wasn’t responsible for any of that mess. None. Zip. Nada. Silvio, we are responsible for our own actions. In your case, that means the choice to live as the man you are, or to hide from your true self. What we are never, ever responsible for is the way that others respond or react to our choices. Put that way, you need to think about how much you are actually losing if you feel that your parents are capable of treating you in such an abusive way just because you’ve told them you’re gay – especially since you are already sure that they would.”

He then looked at Laszlo, waving a hand in an “over-to-you” gesture.

Laszlo took Silvio’s hand, and said, “Look at me, Silvio. Look at me and then look at Daniel. You can see that both of us are concerned that you should be able to live as fully as possible. Would you see such concern from your mother or your father?” Silvio shook his head. “So here’s the other big thing that both Daniel and I had to learn. The family you were born into isn’t always the most important one in your life. There’s also the family you choose for yourself, the family  that treats you as a human being with worth and dignity, instead of demanding that you fit inside someone else’s framework of how they think you ought to live. I hope you’ll always look on us as part of your family of choice, because we care about you and want only for you to be as fully yourself as you possibly can.”

Silvio spoke, for the first time in minutes. “I’m going to do it. I have to – for me.” And then he put his head down and sobbed.

Laszlo put an arm around him and held him close, stroking his back and murmuring soothing and quieting tones. Daniel moved closer, too. He put an arm around Silvio’s neck and drew his head down towards his own shoulder. The three of them sat there together while Silvio cried out his frustration and unhappiness.

“It’s a big decision, Silvio. I just want you to know that we’ll be here, to listen to you, to comfort you, to hold you – afterwards.”

At last, Silvio pulled himself up. “Is it okay if I stay here and sleep on the sofa tonight? It’s too late to get the bus and it’s a long walk back to my apartment.”

Daniel immediately responded, “Of course it’s okay, and you can sleep with us if you want to. You shouldn’t be alone if you wake up in the night and get overrun by your fears again. Come on. And no funny business if you don’t want to.”

That was how, half an hour later, the three of them were snuggled into bed together, with Silvio in the middle between Daniel and Laszlo, each with an arm draped over him in a comforting way. After the emotional nerve storm of the evening, all three of them slept well and deeply. In the morning, over coffee and breakfast, they both encouraged Silvio again, and Laszlo loaned him some clean clothes so he could go right over to his family home and get it done then and there.

About ninety minutes later, Laszlo’s phone rang.

“Hello?”

“I did it. And they kicked me out. Can we talk some more?”

“Of course, come right back here. I’m in for the day. Daniel’s here too. Just come right over as soon as you can.”

In another hour or so, Silvio was back, and the three of them were sitting on the sofa again, with Silvio in the middle. Silvio was a sight for sore eyes, and not in a good way. There were several parallel scratches down his cheek – “my mother’s fingernails” – and he was showing the beginnings of a beautiful black eye – “my father has a heavy hand.” It didn’t help any that his eyes were all red from weeping out his anguished emotions.

“Silvio, can you tell us what happened?”

“My father… he talked about me as if I had the bubonic plague or something. ‘Get out of my house, you fucking sick pervert, right now. I don’t want you here when your brother wakes up. You’ll give him the gay sickness too. Get the fuck out and stay out!’ That’s when he punched me. And that’s when I lost it.”

“What?”

“I nailed him right in the balls with my knee, hard, called him and my mother a disgusting pair of hateful animals, and shouted, ‘I disown you both!’ – and then I walked out and slammed the door behind me.”

“Shit.”

By this time, they both had their arms wrapped around him, trying to comfort him. Laszlo looked over his head at Daniel with a helpless “what do we do now?” expression on his face. Daniel took the bull by the horns, almost literally. He tilted Silvio’s face up and began to kiss him. Silvio flinched away, slightly. “What…? You want to…? Even when I look like this?”

There were a million ways Daniel could have answered but they were all summed up anyway in one single word: “Yes.” And he resumed kissing Silvio, running his hands up into that head of dark curly hair. Laszlo caught the vibe from Daniel and moved in behind, wrapping his arms close around Silvio’s muscular body and kissing his neck, then began massaging his nips through the tee shirt.

Daniel slowly dropped one hand down and found Silvio’s crotch – and the cock that was already stiffening behind his trousers. Silvio responded by dropping his hand and finding the big snake inside Daniel’s shorts.

Daniel stood up and led the way to the bedroom. “Let’s shower,” he said. The three of them pulled all their clothes off and stepped into the extra large shower stall. There, they stood under the cascading water, taking turns soaping and massaging each other. Daniel and Laszlo concentrated most of their efforts on Silvio, washing away all of his hurt and humiliation, using their touching as a language to communicate to him that he mattered in the world, that he wasn’t all the vile things his parents had called him.

By this time, all three of them were hard. Laszlo turned off the water, and Daniel stepped out first, getting towels for all of them. They dried each other off, and slowly made their way to the bed where they laid down. Once again, Silvio was lying in the middle, but now with a hand wrapped around each of their cocks, sliding slowly up and down. He looked at Daniel and then at Laszlo, an unasked question in his gaze.

Laszlo answered the question Silvio hadn’t asked yet. “Whatever you want to do, Silvio. This is your first time as an out gay man. Just enjoy yourself.”

With a grateful smile to Laszlo, Silvio leaned over and took his cock into his mouth. He’d plainly sucked some cock before, but his technique was pretty rough and ready. Laszlo wasn’t worried. He knew that this Italian beauty would be making up for lost time soon enough.

Meanwhile, Daniel bent down and took Silvio’s rampant tool into his mouth, giving him one of those signature expert blowjobs which he’d perfected in a couple of dozen film scenes and in dozens more private encounters. Silvio moaned, and the humming sound communicated via his throat muscles to Laszlo’s cock, which surged in response.

But now Silvio was sliding down, licking at Laszlo’s balls and then spreading his legs farther apart so he could begin to play with Laszlo’s ass. As he did that, his body was turning over towards Laszlo. Daniel took advantage of the opportunity to release Silvio’s cock and bury his face inside that beautiful olive-skinned ass. Silvio cried aloud, “Oh, fuck! Never had that before! It feels incredible!”

Laszlo asked, “Never had your ass eaten?” Silvio shook his head. “It’s all good. Here, do the same things to me that Daniel is doing to you.” Silvio promptly dug into Laszlo’s crack and began working his tongue along the sides, and down to wash over and dig into the target. Daniel redoubled his efforts on Silvio’s hole, and Silvio – obviously a quick learner – transferred it all to Laszlo, who moaned aloud in appreciation. In no time, as it seemed, he had his tongue penetrating Laszlo’s ring, and was adding a finger for good measure. Laszlo was gasping and quivering in his excitement, now definitely ready for a cock in his ass.

But Silvio was hesitating a bit, and Laszlo could guess why. He rolled over and looked at Silvio enquiringly. “Do you want rubbers?” Silvio asked shyly.

“No,” Laszlo answered firmly, “strictly bare only. I want to feel every inch of your cock sliding into my body, and I want you to fuck me and shoot your seed inside me.” Silvio smiled as he reached for the tube of lube which Laszlo had placed within easy reach. A small squirt on his finger to go inside Laszlo, a bigger squirt on his eight-inch cock to get it ready, and he was good to go. So was Laszlo, and he pulled his legs back, reaching to draw Silvio closer to him. Daniel had sat back to watch the scene unfold and was pulling gently on his thick tool to keep it ready.

Silvio planted his dick against Laszlo’s hole and began to push. Since Laszlo wanted it, the time for his hole to open up and swallow Silvio’s tool hole was only a few moments. Then Silvio began pumping. After a minute or so, the sight of Laszlo getting fucked by this Italian stud had so aroused Daniel that he moved up, straddled Laszlo’s body, and began to sit down on his dick. Silvio paused to watch as Daniel’s ass opened right up and took Laszlo all the way to the root. But Laszlo was having none of that slackness on Silvio’s part. “Come on, keep fucking me. Pound me hard!”

And there was Silvio, slamming at top speed in and out of Laszlo while Daniel had leaned down to kiss Laszlo as he humped his ass up and down on top of Laszlo’s cock. Nobody could last long at the speed they were going, and Silvio suddenly grunted out, “Cumming…!”

“Yes, Silvio! Flood me with your seed!”

He slammed back in, and his cock began flexing and squirting into Laszlo’s gut, all while Daniel kept riding hard on Laszlo’s cock. Finally, Silvio’s orgasm slowed to a halt – but his cock refused to get soft. Instead, after a brief rest, he began pumping again.

“Fuck, yeah! Keep going and fucking fire off another load!”

Silvio was speeding up, going faster and faster, his hips almost making a blur between the rapid tattoo of smacks against Laszlo’s butt. Daniel, too, was riding faster and harder, and bringing Laszlo closer and closer.

And then it happened. Laszlo’s face screwed right up in a grimace of ecstasy as his cock erupted into Daniel’s ass, all while Silvio kept pounding his hole for him. But then, when Silvio roared that he was going to shoot again, Daniel suddenly pulled off Laszlo’s hard dick and bent over, shouting, “Slam it into me, Silvio, and fucking cum inside my ass!”

After a split second of disbelief (he’d always thought of the Hawaiian Nine as being nine-tenths top), Silvio reacted, pulling out of Laszlo’s hole and driving deep inside Daniel in one insane thrust. Just in time, too. Almost before he even had time to hit bottom, his cock blew up in a second orgasm, not even five minutes after the first. This time, he blew out so much that the juices began squeezing out of Daniel around his fast-moving dick before he’d even finished cumming.

Finally, all three of them calmed down from that insane final burst of erotic energy. Silvio lay on his back, again in between his hosts, and gasped for breath. Daniel was also straining after more air. Laszlo was not as tired, but certainly feeling all gone with the joy of getting bred by this newly-out gay boy and then breeding his own man just a few minutes later.

Before long, the three of them had all dozed off in a tangled heap of bodies and limbs. Daniel was the first to awake, about thirty minutes later. He gently detached himself from the other two and headed into the study to make a phone call and to send out a single email. He was just hitting the “Send” button, when Laszlo stuck his head in and said, “There you are! Good grief, can’t you ever stop working, even for a second?”

Daniel made an exaggerated “Shh” gesture, and waved Laszlo over, to show him the email. Laszlo read it over, his eyes getting big and round as he did so. Daniel again made the “silence” gesture, this time a clear invocation to say nothing about it, and then the two of them headed back to rouse their guest.

They urged Silvio to stay the rest of the day, and the night, with them, and he agreed eagerly, plainly enjoying the hot sex as much as he valued their company at a time of such huge emotional upset and disconnection.

Daniel said, “I have to work the bar tonight from eight till close at three. Why don’t you fellows come on down around nine or so, and hang out? Laszlo can use the time to introduce you to a few of our friends who also hang out there – especially Steve and Jim, they told me they’d be coming out tonight. High time for you to make some connections into the gay community.”

Silvio agreed readily. After Daniel left for work, Laszlo and Silvio went out for dinner to one of the more laid-back restaurants nearby, enjoying a big plate of assorted hot two-bite appetizers with varied meat, fish, and vegetable fillings, as well as sharing a bottle of wine. Then, around nine they headed down the street to the bar and sauntered in the door – to be greeted by a massive storm of cheering.

After a quick phone call to his boss to approve his idea, Daniel had sent out a group email to all of the old Hawaiian Nine gang and a sizable number of other friends in WeHo.

 

If you’re free tonight in WeHo,

Come on down to Shooting Stars at 8:30!

It’s a Coming-Out Party for Silvio!!!

He just joined the tribe this morning, so

Come on down, enjoy some tunes,

Dance up a storm, share food, drinks and kisses,

And we’ll show Silvio a whole lot of love!

Let’s make this the biggest night of his life!!!

 

The bar was packed. Almost the entire Hawaiian Nine gang were present, and many of the people who’d gotten the invite had shared it and invited others as well.

Daniel’s boss had sent out for multiple platters of fruit, veggies, cheese and crackers, shrimps and dip, crabmeat pate, and more, at his own expense – and had even arranged for another guy to cover on the bar, so that Daniel was free to host the gathering. The DJ had been informed and had put together a special set list for the night. Across the wall above the bar was strung a huge, improvised banner with “Welcome Out, Silvio” printed on it in bright pink glitter paint. All the patrons were briefed to expect him to arrive around nine o’clock.

When he walked in the door to be smacked in the face by a solid wall of cheering, Silvio turned to Laszlo. “What the fuck, Laszlo?”

“Look at the banner over the bar, Silvio. It’s a party for you!”

Silvio stared, dazed, at the banner, and then at the mob of people already bearing down on him.

“Why me?”

“Because it’s high time, and more than time, for you to meet your own community, and start to form your own chosen family. Let’s get our shirts off!”

End of conversation. For the next hour, Silvio was swarmed with hot shirtless guys wanting to congratulate him, to tell him how proud they were of him for coming out, to offer him a drink, to kiss him, to ask for his number, to pull him onto the dance floor, to invite him home -- it went on and on until it was actually making him a bit dizzy. But Laszlo kept close, and stepped in to rescue him when he could tell that it was all becoming overwhelming.

He led Silvio away from the crowd, over towards a big pair of tables in the corner, surrounded by a gang of mostly men, and a couple of women. Here, he was welcomed heartily by the Hawaiian Nine family, with everyone drawing him into the group. They planted him at a seat near the middle of the table and sat all around him, introducing themselves one by one. As they went around, Silvio realized that some of the familiar faces were performers who had appeared in one or more Hawaiian Nine films which he had seen.

But he also met Will and Eddie, the faithful camera operators and occasional walk-on performers, Marina, the general of the jockstraps, Lianne, the business administration whiz, and Jim, the quiet background supporter of Steve. Even Johannis and Miguel, the one-hit wonders, had turned up (they’d gotten the word from Marina and drove in from their home in San Diego). It took Silvio a minute to recognize the mild-mannered Steve as the famous Rod Rammer, until Steve took off his glasses with his best Clark Kent manner. Steve in particular took a real shine to Silvio, having spotted the sizable bulge in the front of his pants, but Marina was equally attracted – being Italian herself, she was susceptible to a handsome Italian stud. It was Laszlo who quietly explained to Silvio that Marina was actually a transwoman who had never bothered to have any gender change surgeries and still had her male appurtenances.

Almost before they’d finished the introductions, several trays of food landed on their tables and they all dug in. Later on, a group of them hit the dance floor all together, with Silvio dancing in the middle of the circle of his new friends. Laszlo watched, with a quiet smile of delight on his face, seeing Silvio forgetting all about his miserable morning as his new community drew him in and welcomed him.

As the time neared midnight, Daniel took the microphone from the DJ and called for silence. As might be expected in a typical gay party bar, it only took ten minutes or so to get everyone to be quiet at the same time. After briefly explaining the events of the day, Daniel invited Silvio, the newly-hatched gayboy, to say a few words.

“Last night, I walked in here for the first time. I’d never been to a gay bar. I had no idea what to expect or what to do. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar face – a man I had met when he came in on a workplace term placement at my job. Come over here, Laszlo!” When Laszlo had stepped up beside him, and Silvio had draped an arm over his shoulder, he went on. “The luckiest thing I ever did in my life was to confide in Laszlo about my situation last night, and to ask for his advice. Laszlo and Daniel took me home with them, and they persuaded me that it was time to drop my fears and become openly the man I had always been in secret. It was scary as hell, but they gave me the courage to do it. Then, when the horror show was over this morning, they let me come back and cry on their shoulders until I felt better. And if that wasn’t enough, Daniel then turned around and organized this incredible party for me.

“One thing we talked about was how we have to form our own families to take the place of the ones who’ve abused so many of us. These two guys are, and will always be, the first friends to take their places in my family of choice!”

Another huge cheer erupted as Silvio hugged and kissed Laszlo and Daniel, then turned to face the crowd with the tears streaming down his face again – but this time, they were happy tears.

The party roared on at full volume into the wee hours, and the groan of disappointment at three o’clock when the DJ shut down and the lights went on was at least five times louder than on any normal night.

Daniel, Laszlo, and Silvio all stayed to help clean up the mess once the other patrons had left. The manager tried to chase them out, but they all insisted. The time was closer to four than three when they finally called it a night. As they walked out onto the street together, Silvio started to ask, “Guys, are you sure it’s okay if…?”

“Yes.” Daniel and Laszlo answered simultaneously.

“You don’t even know what I was going to ask!”

“You think? I know that ‘can I stay with you’ tone of voice now.” Laszlo’s voice had a nicely balanced mix of the triumphant and the sarcastic.

Silvio had to laugh. “Okay, you got me fair and square.”

It was Daniel who said, seriously, “And the answer is yes. Of course. We’re family now, Silvio.”

Back at the condo, they all hugged and kissed some more, as Silvio struggled to find the right words to thank them for what they had done for him – and to him. Daniel and Laszlo waved it off, but it was Daniel who thought to say, “When you get the chance, Silvio, pass it on.”

The three of them tumbled into bed, still half dressed, and slept the dreamless sleep until well into the next morning, while the cycles of life in WeHo gradually revived, and the city grumbled and growled and roared slowly into life outside the building.

 

 

[PG1961Canada]

Three little words.... that mean a lot... 'pass it on'.... very nice.

 

[daddybear54]

Chapter 18:  Networking

 

Just a day or two after the big party for Silvio, Jim and Steve had left on a long-planned vacation – a cruise from California to Florida via the Panama Canal. After the cruise, they’d stayed on a for a few amusing extra days in Fort Lauderdale. With all of that travel, they didn’t make it back home again for nearly three weeks.

During that time, Laszlo had reached the end of his college business management program and graduated with top marks and good recommendations from the companies where he’d worked during his two work terms. That weekend, he and Daniel flew to Boston for their first meeting as a couple with Laszlo’s parents. Daniel found them to be very much as Laszlo had described them: laid-back people who didn’t get wound up or lose sleep over anything their son chose to do with his life. They gave Daniel a warm welcome, but in a tone which suggested that very occasional visits would be more welcome than frequent ones.

When he’d shared that observation on the flight back to California, Laszlo had chuckled. “Yup, that’s them exactly. Busy folk, with busy minds, and quite happy to let the birds fly the nest and not return when they’ve grown. The one thing that might change Mom’s focus would be a grandkid or two, but since Danuta, my sister, is too busy as a surgeon to be bothered, the odds on that aren’t looking too good.”

Once Jim and Steve returned home and unpacked, they quickly caught up on their long-overdue visit with Daniel and Laszlo, inviting them for dinner as a couple on the next Saturday. Both Daniel and Laszlo prepared thoroughly, sensing that – as always – a dinner invitation with Jim and Steve would likely involve a good deal more than simply a meal and chat. Not to mention, as Laszlo pointed out, that there was no telling what might happen during the relaxing-by-the-pool time before dinner, especially if Ricky was going to turn up again.

Sure enough. This time, all eyes on the pool deck were on Daniel anyway, his rich natural skin tone contrasting with the tans of the California boys, some of which looked decidedly painted on by comparison. Ricky had his eyes glued to Daniel from the minute the four of them walked out on the pool deck. His eyes were practically popping right out when Daniel walked up out of the water with his brief red suit clinging to his six-inch soft cock. After Daniel sat down again, it only took a few minutes for Ricky to wander over that way, not letting himself be deterred in the slightest by the fact that Daniel and Laszlo had pulled their chairs right together and were holding hands.

Daniel, though, had a difficult time not to laugh out loud at Ricky, whose come-on lines were so blatant and inept. Finally, getting tired of Ricky’s clumsy attempts to be tempting, he handed the boy the suntan oil and said, “Here, do our backs.” Then he signalled Laszlo, and the two of them rolled over onto their faces, letting Ricky get a thrill out of straddling their backs and massaging the oil into their skin.

It was destined to be the only thrill Ricky was going to get. After he’d finished that task, Daniel thanked him and waved him off. He walked away, pouting. So near and yet so far. Laszlo asked, “So was he the one you thought he was? The one who had applied to work with you?”

“That was him all right. About what I’d expected he’d be like, too.”

They shared the laugh, while Ricky glowered at them from the other side of the pool. Eventually, Jim and Steve urged them to come on downstairs so they could get on with cooking.

When the four of them walked back into the condo, Jim immediately moved over to Laszlo, giving him a kiss which swiftly caught fire and turned serious. Daniel was getting a similar treatment from Steve, who was already groping and squeezing his nine-inch cock to get it hard quicker.

“You make all your guests cook like this before dinner?”

“Most of them, anyway.”

Daniel laughed, but his laughter swiftly turned to a moan of pleasure. Steve had already dropped gracefully to his knees and now deep-throated Daniel’s thick tool in one swallow. Jim quickly followed suit, swallowing Laszlo’s cock all the way down.

After a couple of minutes of sucking cock, Steve and Jim stood up and led the way to their bedroom, directing their guests to take a minute to hang up their wet swimsuits in the bathroom. When they returned, Steve and Jim were on the bed side by side, Jim on his back with his legs up and Steve on all fours with his ass exposed – and the two of them busily kissing each other as they played with each other’s hard dicks. That left Daniel and Laszlo with a clear direction to get down there and start eating ass. Again, Daniel plunged his face deep inside Steve’s crack while Laszlo gave full attention to Jim’s tempting hole.

When the dust settled an hour later, everybody was dressed enough to be decent again. Jim had achieved his long-time ambition of being bred by Laszlo, and then had pumped his load into Steve’s mouth. Steve had his ass filled up by Daniel, and then had his own load sucked out by Laszlo. Everyone was thoroughly tired and hungry – and then the doorbell rang, and the delivery service had arrived with a tempting assortment of wings, ribs, and steak tacos with a monumental side of sauteed Mexican veggies, black beans, and rice. Once the equally tempting delivery driver had accepted his generous tip and left, Jim said, “Remind me next time to save up some energy to have a go at whoever’s bringing the food – just in case.”

After they’d done full justice to the food, they talked for hours about the past and the future – and it was at this dinner that Laszlo first revealed his Big Plan for his future. Even Daniel hadn’t known yet what he had in mind.

Now that he did know what Laszlo wanted to do, Daniel’s first step the following morning – after making his offer to Laszlo – was to dig up and register for an online course in social media management. He’d completed the first lesson package, the introductory session, by the time Laszlo came home from his morning practice session up in the San Gabriel Mountains. At that point, it was time for Laszlo to do some online shopping and then to hold more and more practice sessions once his purchases came in.

Three months later, with some pooling of their combined talents and not a few deep breaths of trepidation, Laszlo officially went live with the website of his new company, Starstruck Eyes Photography – a website designed and constructed by Daniel.

In it, he included samples of his landscape and portrait photography, aiming to show that he was able to do much more than just the standard portrait photo repertoire. The website included a prominent banner, flanked by rainbow flags:

 

Gay Owned and LGBTQ2S Friendly.

We Welcome All Clients.

Destination Weddings a Specialty!

 

Some saturation advertising on social media outlets soon netted their first few customers. Inside of a three-month period, Starstruck Eyes had an impressive portfolio of Laszlo’s work on display in the website’s “Media Gallery” section, including two gay weddings, one straight wedding, and one especially gorgeous destination wedding for a well-known Hollywood couple at (of all places) FourWinds Resort in Kauai. Needless to say, Daniel went along with the photographer on that shoot, more for moral support than anything else. He’d even overcome his deep-rooted aversion to putting on a suit and tie, a necessity in the wedding trade.

The two also took the opportunity, once the wedding was over, to have a fantastic dinner and a long evening’s conversation with Mr. Murayama – who insisted at once that Laszlo should call him Uncle Ken, as Daniel did. Laszlo and his new uncle took to each other at once, and another strong new family tie was forged that night. Ken also took the opportunity to ask Laszlo to come back and shoot a whole portfolio of pictures of the property, with all the recent renovations and improvements included, so that the hotel’s website could be updated. Laszlo accepted the offer, on one simple condition which Ken agreed to, subject to his satisfaction with the results.

Sure enough, in another two months, a new banner had appeared on the FourWinds Resort’s newly revised website:

 

All Photos by Starstruck Eyes Photography

Official Photographic Partner of FourWinds Resort.

 

Next thing he knew, Laszlo had half a dozen more commissions to handle destination weddings at FourWinds. Neither he nor Daniel – nor Uncle Ken, for that matter – objected at all. Indeed, Daniel had gone so far as to buy matching tailored-to-measure suits for himself and Laszlo, cut in a very European style which emphasized their muscular builds, and drew even more attention from all the women and at least some of the men whenever they wore them.

It was at one of these weddings that another idea struck Daniel to up their game even further. It happened when one of the groomsmen shoved his phone into Daniel’s hand just as the first dance was about to begin, taking him for another wedding guest, and asked, “Can you video this for me?” Daniel did, and the groomsman thanked him effusively, both then and later, via an email to the company, for doing such a great job with the video.

In a few more months, Daniel had practised enough on a new professional-quality camera and editing suite that they were able to add another banner to their company website:

 

Complete photography and videography services available.

 

With that addition, their business shot through the roof. Their rates were so advantageous that very few clients tried to buy either video or still photography alone; the combined package deal was just too good to turn down. But it did give the two of them a great laugh when Daniel wryly observed, “Back when I was running Hawaiian Nine and appearing in all those hot videos, I never dreamed that I would end up working behind the camera on jobs like this!”

In no time, as it seemed, the Starstruck Eyes business had become so time consuming that Daniel had been forced to stop working regular shifts and go onto the emergency call-in list at Shooting Stars. His videography and editing work was leaving no time for the bar at all. By now, he’d purchased a second camera and tripod, which allowed him to cover an entire event at distance on one camera while he personally attended to varying close-up angles with the other. That decision to step away from the bar gave him cause for another ironic reflection. “Now that I’m doing this work full time, Laszlo, it’s the first time since I was eighteen years old that I haven’t had to take my shirt off to earn any money.”

Laszlo’s equally sharp reply: “What, you still don’t want to start that OnlyFans page that all your followers on Instagram keep asking you to share?” When Daniel still demurred, Laszlo pretended to pout. “I hope you’re still going to take your shirt off for me, Daniel. Are you?”

In seconds, Daniel’s shirt was missing in action, and Laszlo’s shirt was disappearing equally rapidly. Other clothing items soon followed. An hour later, after Daniel had fucked and bred Laszlo and had then sucked a load out of him, he lifted his head up and said, “Well, I guess that answers your question, Laszlo.”

The following week they were back in Kauai for the third time in as many months. This time, the destination wedding involved Marius, a guy who had worked for Hawaiian Nine in the early days, and his new partner, Luke. Daniel had warned Laszlo (“Voice of experience here”) that Marius was the sort of guy who got hot for every male ass he saw going by, and that his ten-inch dick had a wicked curve which could be painful when he lost control and started hammering. Laszlo’s reaction was simple: “Bring it!”

They arrived several days beforehand to plan out some angles, since Marius and Luke had booked the resort’s rock-rimmed Hawaiian Heaven pool for the wedding ceremony. Thankfully, the grooms also arrived a couple of days in advance, and that gave Laszlo and Daniel a chance to go over their plans – which the happy couple approved. Luke’s “That will be splendid, gentlemen, thank you kindly,” was given in a textbook English university accent, while Marius approved with a laconic, “Gonna slay, dude.”

The contrast between them didn’t end there. Luke was a pale, clear-skinned blond with blue eyes and a slender twink build while Marius was a big, beefy, muscular African American – and the height difference between them was almost a foot.

This planning session took place over lunch in the coffee shop, and that was followed by quick changes in their respective rooms and returning to the pool for a swim. The four of them sauntered out onto the deck to a good deal of attention from other guests – not all of it favourable. After their swim, as they came up the stairs out of the water, each of them appeared somewhat larger in the basket than had been the case before. Just as Luke, last man out, was coming up the steps, they picked up the sound of a male voice not too far away saying, “These goddamned queers are taking over the whole planet.” Marcus gestured to the others, flexed his muscles a bit (as did Daniel and Laszlo) and the four of them walked slowly over to the guy’s deck chair. Marcus stared coldly at him for a good ten or twelve seconds, and then said, very slowly and clearly, “Is there a problem?”

“Uhh… umm… no, no problem at all.”

“Good. Glad to hear it.” Then he turned and stalked back to his seat. The man and his wife left in a hurry. A few minutes later, the pool manager came over to them. “Good day, gentlemen.”

Daniel picked up the speaking stick. “Did a gentleman come to you to complain that we were threatening him?”

The pool manager recognized him as a V.I.P. frequent guest, the one that the entire staff now knew to be the General Manager’s nephew.

“Well, yes, he did, sir.”

“I hope he remembered to tell you what he said that triggered the incident. As we were getting out of the pool, behaving ourselves properly and minding our own business entirely, he said loudly, and I quote, ‘These goddamned queers are taking over the whole planet.’ We then went over, and Marcus here simply asked him, ‘Is there a problem?’ Not much threat in any of that.”

“I see. Thank you for explaining, sir.”

“No problem.”

The pool manager walked away, and Daniel said to the others, in a very satisfied tone, “That’ll be the last complaint we’ll hear from that little twerp.”

After a few minutes of lying down and enjoying the brilliant sunshine, Marcus started squirming around a bit.

“Is there something the matter, Marcus?” Trust Luke to put the question in a complete and grammatical full sentence.

“Suit’s too damn tight. Knew I shoulda gone a size up. Can’t get comfortable,” Marcus muttered as he struggled to somehow adjust his dick in his suit without actually touching it.

Once again, Daniel intervened. “Well, there’s a place for that, you know. Why don’t you come up to ours?” And he gestured across the river to the chalets. “We have one of the cottages, with a private – and I do mean private – hot tub.”

The four of them got up, put shirts and sandals on, gathered up their stuff, and walked away, across the footbridge which had the apposite name of “Rainbow Bridge” (because it gave a great view of the rainbow from the waterfall at sunset), and up the hill to Chalet No. 3. Somehow, Daniel and Laszlo always seemed to wind up back here in one of the chalets, usually No. 3, on a free upgrade each time they checked into FourWinds – even when they’d only reserved a basic or run-of-house resort view room.

Out on the private deck at the back, the four of them dropped into the super-size hot tub – “even bigger than the one down at the pool,” Laszlo joked – and settled in. But they didn’t stay settled for long. Laszlo in particular really wanted to see what Marcus was packing and was soon stretching out a leg and rubbing his foot up and down over the big guy’s bulge, Meanwhile, Luke was exercising his fascination with Daniel’s glossy, brown-skinned muscles by sitting next to him and running his fingers over those firm pecs and abs while he and Daniel made out.

Laszlo was the first one to skin down his suit, standing up and showing his ass off as the slender brief came down, and then turning again as he stepped clear and took it out of the water so that they could all see his cock, standing as always right up against his abs.

“Hot rod there,” Marcus commented.

“It is indeed a spectacular sight,” Luke added, before returning his attention to Daniel, who was now getting a heavy-duty bulge massage from the pale-skinned Britisher.

Marcus removed his suit next, and Laszlo found his mouth watering at the sight of that enormous dick jutting out into the air. But the next moment he got a real surprise as Marcus turned around, knelt down on the seat in the tub with his ass pushed up, and said, “Here, eat this.”

Daniel and Laszlo both looked startled. Luke explained, “I’ve taught him how good it feels to be on the bottom, and now we switch back and forth all the time.”

Laszlo recovered enough to say, “I love switching up,” before he buried his face into that firm round ass and went right to town on it with his tongue. “I want to enjoy it with you both ways.”

“I would like the same, please,” Luke said as Daniel stood up, dropped his speedo, and sat down on the rim of the tub with his cock protruding well  above his massive thighs. Luke dived right onto it, and soon had Daniel moaning nonstop, right along with Marcus who was getting a virtuoso rimming from Laszlo.

The next stage wasn’t long in coming. Laszlo had now stood up, and was leaning forward, rubbing his strong dick up and down over the crack of Marcus’ ass while he dug into the hole with a twisting, reaming finger. Marcus said, “Quit teasing and fuck me with that big meat.”

As Laszlo started pushing into Marcus, Luke was climbing up onto the step, his feet on either side of Daniel’s legs, and then sitting down until Daniel’s pole contacted his hole. Luke had already been fingering his own spit into himself as he sucked Daniel, and now added some of the copious pre-cum flowing out of his tool. He then pushed his hole firmly down until Daniel’s cock pushed right inside him. Then he kept sliding down until he was completely impaled on nine inches of Hawaiian man meat and could wrap his arms around Daniel again, resuming their make-out session as he started sliding up and down on Daniel’s cock.

Meanwhile, Laszlo had pushed all the way inside Marcus and  was leaning on those big black muscled shoulders for support as he began to fuck ass. Marcus was an energetic, active bottom, turning and twisting his ass around so that Laszlo’s every stroke hit him at a different angle. Laszlo could tell every time his cock rubbed against the prostate because Marcus was also very vocal and would let out an extra loud moan each time it happened. Best of all, he had learned how to work his hole to milk a top’s dick, and Laszlo knew that this was the best fucking ass he’d ever gotten into – except for Daniel, of course.

Luke, too, was having the ride of a lifetime, since Daniel, although not the longest, was absolutely the thickest cock he had ever taken. He was hissing and moaning nonstop as he slid up and down on that pole, and even making high-pitched squealing sounds each time his prostate got rubbed by Daniel’s dickhead. Luke had by far the most sensitive ass present, and in no time he could feel it getting to him. “Fuck me harder, Daniel, I’m going… aaahhh… going to cum!”

At that, Daniel took control, gripping Luke’s arms firmly so he could hold the twink steady while he began punching his big tool upwards into the younger guy’s butt. After about a dozen high-speed strokes, things happened very quickly. Luke’s head collapsed backwards, and he let out a loud wail as a fountain of cum shot straight up into the air above him. It splattered back down all over him and Daniel to be joined by four more distinct shots. By the time the third shot came down on Daniel’s face, he had reached the point of no return and was growling, “Fuck… fuck… fuck…” as he spewed a load of his hot cum into Luke’s hole, deep inside.

Hearing their guys making so much noise set both Marcus and Laszlo on fire too, and in no time at all Laszlo was busily breeding Marcus with a massive load while Marcus was jacking his cock and spraying shots of cum all over the decking around the rim of the hot tub.

After they’d all caught their breath, the party moved inside to the huge extra-king-size bed. And since they’d all cum once, the second round could be a good deal more prolonged and include a lot more edging.

Even allowing for a more leisurely pace, Luke managed to pump two loads into Daniel before Daniel finally came again. By that time, Luke had gotten down and sucked some of his cum out of Daniel’s ass, then caught Daniel’s blasts of cum in his mouth, mixed the whole mess together and shared it with Daniel in a glorious snowball.

As for Laszlo, he’d found out in no uncertain terms what Daniel had meant when warning him about Marcus. There were a number of areas in and around Laszlo’s tormented ass which were aching by the time Marcus had fucked two loads out of him and finally dumped one more inside his no-longer-tight fuckhole.

That night, when Laszlo and Daniel were in bed together, Daniel was still feeling a bit frisky, but Laszlo waved him away from his ass. “That poor hole has had all it can take for this week.”

Daniel only laughed. “I did warn you.”

“Yes, you did!” By this time, he was laughing too. And he was perfectly happy to give Daniel another of his signature five-star blowjobs to drain him again so he could sleep.

As the weather moved from summer towards fall, the number of destination weddings finally dwindled and there were chances to relax. In this context, “relax” actually meant that Laszlo had time to pay attention to experimenting with new and more interesting tricks and angles for his photography, while Daniel went through their online presence and gave all their social media accounts and the website a thorough refresh. This included highlighting samples of their latest efforts, in both video and still photography, and updating some of the “Satisfied Clients” quotes.

Before long, though, Christmas was drawing near, and they got a few enquiries about doing family Christmas portraits. Laszlo’s private reaction was a blunt “Yuck,” but he shaded his replies in more tactful terms, informing potential clients that working with small children and trying to jolly them into good humour was not one of his strong suits, but he would be happy to do group sittings with teenage and older family members.

Shortly after he’d finished the first of the four family shoots that finally booked, he got another enquiry from a woman named Mary Matheson. In his usual manner, he messaged back to arrange a time to meet face to face, to discuss details of arranging the shoot.

She came three days later, on Tuesday morning, and he met her down the street at Black Gold. He was a bit surprised when she turned out to appear much more exotic than her rather prosaic name had suggested. That was due in part to her svelte, elegant clothes, but also to the look of her face – clearly somewhat Hawaiian, but with a strong suggestion of east Asian about her as well.

They sat down to talk, and she explained what she wanted. Her requirements were quite straightforward, and Laszlo assured her that what she wished to do would be no trouble at all. Then he proceeded to discuss dates. But she asked, as a further addition to the still photography, if she and her fiancé could also have a video clip shot at their chosen venue, the James Irvine Japanese Garden. Laszlo told her that it could be managed at his end, but a time slot in the garden had to be reserved in advance, and he gave her a paper with the contact information to make that reservation. At the same time, he noticed that she was appearing increasingly nervous.

“Ms. Matheson, is there something about this that is troubling you?”

“Well… I had actually been hoping to meet your videographer in person, also.”

“I’ve left him a message to say where I am. He should be joining us any minute.”

“That’s good. You see… oh, hell, this is awkward… I mean, my friend Alina loved her wedding photos and showed me some, and they were great but… but it’s really the video man I need to talk to now and not about the shoot… although I still want to do that….”

She fumbled awkwardly to a halt. Fortunately, just at this precise height of her discomfiture, Daniel opened the door and walked in.

“Ah, here he is now.” The relief was evident in Laszlo’s voice. “Over here, Daniel.” And then, as he approached, Laszlo went on. “Daniel, this is Mary Matheson. We’re just talking over a booking….”

His voice trailed off as he realized that neither of them was paying attention to him. Mary had stood up, and she and Daniel had their eyes fixed on each other.

“Yes. It is you, without a doubt,” Mary said, with a strange, mingled joy and sadness in her voice. Also, perhaps, more than a hint of fear.

Daniel was fixing her with his most penetrating gaze. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean, Ms., um, Matheson.”

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because you remind me of someone else – someone I have tried very hard to forget.”

“Daniel. Do you know the Hawaiian equivalent of ‘Mary’?”

“Of course. Malia.” And then, suddenly, he gasped audibly.

“That is my real name, Daniel. Malia Nakamura. And the person I resemble is, of course, our mother, Lehua.”

“Malia… I see it now, but of course I wouldn’t recognize you. I haven’t seen you for nearly fifteen years. You and Maile were not quite six years old when I left. Maile, is she well?”

“Yes. She is living in Kauai still.”

“And Darren?”

“He’s travelling in Japan right now, but his home is in San Diego. Daniel, please get a chair and sit here with us. I have some very hard news for you.”

Daniel went and borrowed a chair from another table, sitting close to Laszlo for support. Both of them had picked up the significance of that “very hard news.” Laszlo put an arm around Daniel and held him close. Malia noticed that arm and its probable significance but said nothing.

“Daniel, our father is dead. He passed away three days ago, in the hospital in Honolulu. Cancer.”

Daniel’s voice in reply was toneless, but Laszlo could feel the tension building in him.

“Were you with him?”

“Yes. Maile and I were both there. Darren was unable to get home in time.”

“What about…?” His voice tailed off into silence.

“Our mother? She came, and she wanted to see him. But he refused. When she entered the room anyway, he promptly rolled over to face the wall, although moving in bed caused him great pain. He said, very harshly, ‘Get out of here, Lehua. I have nothing to say to you and no wish to see your face. Leave me in peace.’ She tried to stay anyway, but Maile and I forced her to leave by threatening to call the security. She was weeping as she left, but Maile only said, ‘Hah! Serves her right!’ It was my exact thought.”

Daniel said nothing.

“The funeral will be in Kauai this Saturday, the visitation Friday evening. I know it’s short notice, but… can you come?”

“Where and when?” His voice was toneless, flat, utterly unemotional.

“Seven o’clock on Friday, eleven in the morning on Saturday, at the memorial gardens, near the airport.”

“Will… Lehua… be there?”

Malia realized that, once again, he’d been unable to bring himself to call her “mother.” She didn’t blame him at all.

“I doubt that very much. When three of us have told her off, I don’t think even she would be that pig-headed. But if she does, I will order her to leave and not make a scene that would get written up in all the papers and reported on the TV news. With her concern for her precious reputation, that should do the trick.” She laughed loudly at the thought. “Darren will be there; he has a flight back from Tokyo which arrives Friday morning. And I’m flying back tonight.”

Daniel thought quickly. It was plain that Malia hadn’t been nearly as malicious towards him as he had thought. Also very much in his mind was Uncle Ken’s admonition to set aside hate and to forgive, if at all possible.

“If I can get a flight, I will come.”

“Thank you.”

“Malia, one question. Do you live here or there?”

“My home is here now. I’m working for a fashion boutique – hence the flashy clothes, I have to go straight on from here to work at one o’clock. I flew down to see Father before he died, then flew back to deal with some issues here. Getting the name and online ad from my friend Alina just at that point in time and seeing your picture on the website was an incredibly lucky break. And I’m so glad I found you!”

Daniel couldn’t resist the urge to dig in a bit. “Really? I’d had the impression that you and Maile had sided with Father when he blamed me for causing the whole messy collapse of the family.”

At that, she actually chuckled. “I probably did. But look at the situation, Daniel. Maile and I were not even six years old yet! Do you think a six-year-old can get all the nuances? Probably all we grasped was that you were gone, Mother and Father weren’t together any more, we were with Father, and he had forceful opinions about it all. Would any six-year-old go against her parent in a situation like that?”

“Lehua probably would have.”

Daniel’s sarcastic retort set them both laughing, and they stood up, finally embracing each other – and Laszlo, who had been sitting by, watching and listening and absorbing all this time, heaved a massive sigh of relief.

“Just so you know, Daniel, and because it concerns you more than anyone else. Father didn’t go to his grave believing that you were at fault. His final words, just before he died, were “Tell Daniel… I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

At that, Daniel’s iron composure finally cracked wide open, and he began weeping, as Laszlo leapt immediately to his feet to hold him close and console him.

Malia’s face melted into a beautiful smile at the sight. “That’s what I thought. Mr. Kertesz….”

“Laszlo, please, Malia.”

“As you can see, Laszlo, we come from a badly messed up family. With your loving care and concern, you are providing exactly the medicine my brother needs to heal. I hope to be as lucky as he is one day.”

Laszlo turned to face her. “But, I thought you said… your fiancé….”

At that, she giggled like a little girl, but with a sly grin on her face. “Well, not quite yet – but I’m trying to maneuver my boyfriend carefully into a position where he’ll think that he’s had this marvellous idea of proposing to me all by himself.”

That made them all laugh.

On Thursday, Daniel and Laszlo were once again seated together in first class on a flight down to Kauai. The lead flight attendant recognized them and welcomed them warmly back. The lunch and cocktails were delightful, but for all that it was a sombre trip for both of them.

When they checked in at the resort, they found a note from Uncle Ken in their check-in package, extending his condolences and saying that he would see them at dinner. Once they were seated, the General Manager walked over and asked if he might be allowed to join them at their table. Some of the other, nosier guests began rapidly revising their estimate of the two casually clad young men, wondering how much money they might actually have if the General Manager thought it worth his while to butter them up – which just went to show how often the world’s gossips had no idea of what they were talking about.

On Friday, they went into town to the visitation, and Daniel had his first meeting in just under fifteen years with Malia’s twin sister, Maile, and with his brother Darren, who had been nine when he had left for Los Angeles. All three of them gave a warm welcome also to Laszlo, and Darren even called Laszlo “brother” when they were saying good night at the end of the evening. Daniel had to do much of the honours during the visitation, as he was the only one old enough to remember some of the more senior relatives on both sides of the family who had come out to share their memories and condolences.

Daniel and Laszlo were also surprised, and pleased, to see his surfer friends coming up in the receiving line. Rodrigo had spotted the announcement in the online news and caught Daniel’s name in the list of the bereaved. He planned right away to come with Seiji, and then told Brad and Arian. All four of them gave both Daniel and Laszlo big hugs and heartfelt expressions of sympathy.

The funeral itself on Saturday morning was simple, thoughtful, and served to give some closure to all of them. Darren was right on the same page as his sisters and brother, and proved it when he said afterwards, “Well, thank heaven Mother didn’t decide to stick her nose in,” following his blunt statement with a rough-edged laugh.

Mr. Murayama came to the service, and extended his sympathy to all of them, in his customary elegant and polished manner. None of Daniel’s siblings knew him or could make any connection, but all three of them raised their eyebrows a trifle when Daniel and Laszlo both addressed him as “Uncle Ken.”

After the guests had departed, and they had gone together for a final lunch at Maile’s home, it was Darren who asked the question about Mr. Murayama which was in all of their minds. Daniel thought for a moment, and decided it was time to give his family the whole story, at least in outline.

“I call him Uncle Ken because he was the lifelong partner and true love of our uncle Keith. Both of them were forced into loveless marriages with women by the rigid social conformity of Kauai in those earlier days. Through their whole lives, they would meet whenever they could, in secret, but they were never able to live openly together. Laszlo and I are so grateful that we don’t have to endure a shadow life under such stifling restrictions.”

Darren nodded. “For everyone’s sake, I’m grateful too that things have changed so much.”

Maile then changed the subject slightly. “Not to put any pressure, but I could do with some happy news for a change. Laszlo, are you and Daniel making any wedding plans?”

The two of them laughed. Laszlo fished out a card and handed it to her. “We seem to spend most of our time making wedding plans – but it’s always for someone else’s wedding.” Maile studied the card and then chuckled, getting the joke.

“As for us,” Daniel picked up and carried on, “which I know is what you were asking, we haven’t talked about that specific step yet. But we’ve committed to each other for life, just as our uncles did.” Laszlo leaned close and they shared a kiss.

Darren chimed in again. “If you ever do, that would be great. High time we all enjoyed a family party for a happy reason.”

Malia took the privilege of the last word on that subject. “High time we all enjoyed becoming a family again.”