The Village

Asher’s Perspective

I was dumfounded. Was this hunk asking me up to his room for sex? I mean he probably was, right? Was I ready for this? I promised myself I would move faster this time, not like with Jake, and that I would try new things… but… well this was so unlike me. But then again so was coming to a gay resort and getting naked (oh my god I was naked at a gay resort!!). And let’s face it, Martin was totally my type, boyish looking with a manly body, and a cute smile. But he was so forward… but maybe I needed that. Right? I mean, I was never gonna make the first move. What the hell was I supposed to do here?!

“Um. Yeah. I think I’d like that” I said. At least I think it was me who said it. Yeah. It was me.

Martin smiled, jumped up with his nice cock flopping in front of him, grabbed my hand and led me through the spa, into the elevator and up to his room. Holy crap! I stood in the hallway while he opened the door to his room and thought about running. I was suddenly self-conscious, but why? There really wasn’t much to hide. He saw what I was packing (or wasn’t… oh god I felt so inadequate) and must’ve been okay with it or we wouldn’t be going into his room. Right? He opened the door and a familiar scent took over my senses. BroMax Candle Company had been in the same barn as my office until recently, and they made candles with The Resort’s signature scent… it smelled like home. That comforted me and calmed me down inside a little. I could do this. I followed him into the room and shut the door behind us, he gently pushed me up against it and gave me my first, real, passionate kiss. The softness of his lips against mine, his tongue dancing with mine, his hands exploring my slight, smooth frame, it was all so new and all so… so… so, OH MY GOD! He was a couple inches taller than me so I stretched on my tiptoes to meet his lips as my arms instinctively wrapped around his neck. It was really happening! Even if it ended right then, it was further than I had ever gone with anyone. EVER. But it didn’t end then. It was just beginning.

Martin moved us towards the bed, this is where I should probably tell you about how nice the room at The Resort was, but… um… what room? All that existed in that moment was Martin’s body and what he was doing to mine, the rest of the world was just gone. He gently pushed me back so I fell onto the big, luxurious bed, his lips never leaving mine. Then he made his next bold move, he moved his lips to my cheek, my neck, then my nipples. He bit, licked, and teased them one by one making me tremble in anticipation and make noises I didn’t know I was capable of. With my body being like it was, and me relying on testosterone shots, my sex drive was unpredictable at best. Sometimes I had no desire or drive at all, other times it consumed me. Luckily for me, this was one of those “consumed me” moments and I was hard as a rock! Even at is hardest, my cock was average sized at best and my testicles weren’t really visible, but none of that mattered to Martin, he kept making his way down my body. When he licked my flat stomach it sent a wave of erotic pleasure through me… this hot guy was licking me. Every inch of me! He moved down my left thigh until he got to my toes and took them in his mouth. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! The warmth of his mouth shot right up to my smallish member. To be honest, most of the time I didn’t even notice my cock, but that night it hurt in an indescribably pleasureful way. It was like it was bursting to get out of it’s own skin. The toe licking… WHEW! I never expected it to feel like that (sucking toes… ew! But WOW!). He moved to my other foot and gave it the same attention and by the time he was done my mind and body were numb with ecstasy. He moved up my right leg until he met my cock and gave it a lick. ARGH!!!!!!!!! It was AMAZING! Then he took me in his mouth… all of me! The warmth and moisture of his mouth was just amazing. He fumbled for my balls but couldn’t find them (they lived up in me almost all the time), but it didn’t faze him. None of it did. The fact that I was intersex never even came up, he just kept giving me new pleasure on top of new pleasure. It was as if the thing I feared the most didn’t even matter! Martin was the first man to touch my body in a loving way and it was everything I had ever dreamed of.

We had been mostly silent until Martin rolled off me and onto his back. “Sit on my face” he said in a commanding but welcoming tone. Sit on his face? I mean, yeah, I’d seen it in porn but… but… why not? So, I sat on his face. He pushed down on my back so that I was leaning forward in a sixty nine and face-to-face with another man’s  cock for the very first time. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! It was so big, I mean not just big compared to me, but just BIG. Period. My only point of reference was porn, and he stacked up to every porn star I could remember. He pushed my head from behind prodding me to suck it, I opened wide and did my best to wrap my mouth around it. I stretched my mouth to its limits and got his head in, he pushed me further and I got a couple of more inches in, he rewarded me with a pleasureful growl. What happened next blew my world… while I was sucking him off, he put his tongue in my asshole! I can’t, I just can’t even express… ARGH! His tongue was in my hole! The warmth, the texture, the new sensations… I whimpered like a wounded animal around his glorious member. My whimpering must’ve sent waves of pleasure through his cock because he let out the groaning-grunt of an animalistic growl like I had never heard before (yeah, I just totally invented that term… I NEVER heard anything like it). He smacked my ass and drove his tongue deeper into me as he hissed “Damn, you’ve got a great ass, Asher.” It was all so amazing.

We went on like that for like ever. Eventually, I rolled off him and onto my back, and we both finished ourselves off lying side-by-side with our heads turned, gazing into each other’s eyes. It took effort for me to cum (it usually did), but I did it. When Martin came, he shot like a porn star. His spunk flew into the air and landed all over his taut chest. He looked at me and snickered with a smile as he squeezed the last drops out of himself with a shudder of pleasure. My face hurt from smiling and I just giggled… it was all I could do.

I couldn’t believe I had waited so long to experience such pleasure, but on the other hand maybe it was so mind blowing because I waited so long. I didn’t know which, and I didn’t care.

I just lie there for a while catching my breath. Martin rolled onto his side, then kissed me and whispered, “you really are beautiful. Can you stay tonight?”

I thought about it… I mean I really wanted to stay, but I was there for work. And didn’t want to mess up. “I can’t. I have to work tomorrow” I said with a sigh.

“Well, if you stay, maybe we can go further” he said grinning at me devilishly.

“You mean like… um… anal sex?” I asked naively.

He chuckled at my innocence, “yeah. Like that… I want to fuck you” he said.

I freaked out inside. Oh shit. This had been so much fun, but taking him inside me? Oh my god, I wasn’t ready. I mean, I didn’t think we’d… Um… My head spun. “I’m… I’m a virgin Martin. This is the most I’ve ever done with anybody” I blurted.

We were laying on our sides face-to-face, his eyes opened wide. “No way!” He said with a chuckle. “You mean I’m the first guy you’ve done anything with? EVER?” He asked. I just nodded. He reached over to the nightstand, grabbed his phone, leaned in, and took a pic of us, “there, a souvenir of your first time. Gimme your number and I’ll send it to you.” He handed me his phone and I programed my number into it and sent the pic to myself.

He touched my face with the back of his hand, “I really want you, but this is a big deal. If you’re not ready that’s more than cool.”

I blurted, “I’m not ready yet.” It was like a gut reaction.

He chuckled again, “I totally get it. What we already did was awesome… for a first timer you know your shit” he said accentuating his point with a peck on my lips. I could feel my face turn beet red. He respected y boundaries and we just lie thre and talked for a while. I got lucky with this rando encounter, it could’ve gone very, very bad. With the pressure off we just lie there talking. He was a 22 year old dental assistant (and hot, hot, hot). He and a group of friends took a trip to Carolina Beach together last year and had so much fun they decided to take a trip together every year. The Resort had a special deal during Pride last summer, so they signed up. The guy he roomed with last year brought some random guy home and it got weird, so Martin decided to get his own room this time. He never stopped smiling and was so animated when he talked… he was so different from me.

I just lie there listening to him talk and basked in the afterglow for several minutes. Eventually, I got up, wrapped my towel around my waist and headed down to the locker room to get my clothes; Martin followed. After I got dressed, he kissed me goodbye, and I ordered an Uber to take me back to the hotel. I didn’t sleep for crap; I was up all night smiling and looking at the selfie Martin sent me… the two of us, bare chested – post my first real time with a guy! I wanted to post the pic on social media (but it’s not like I had a network of friends who would comment), I got up like three times wishing I had someone I could call and tell about Martin. I almost called Seth, but thought that was pushing my luck, I decided to keep this private moment private. BUT I JUST REALLY WANTED TO TELL SOMEONE! I didn’t catch a single Z that night.

Surprisingly, despite my late night out and no sleep, the next morning I was full of energy! I took a shower, got dressed, packed my bags, and went to meet Brody in the lobby. We were going to spend the morning in the office and then go to straight to the airport midafternoon. I got to the lobby first and was having a cup of coffee when Brody stepped off the elevator, “Good morning, Mr. Boss man” I chirped (yup. I chirped).

Brody smiled and laughed, “Y’all are full of it this mornin’” he said. “Didja get a good night’s sleep?”

“The best!” I lied, I wasn’t about to tell my boss that I snuck out and got some (although I really wanted to. I wanted to tell EVERYONE!). Oh my god I was just a bundle of joyful energy lol… two words that rarely apply to me. But I did it! I stepped out of my comfort zone and it was amazing. Brody and I got in the rental car and drove to the office. That morning while Brody was in a creative meeting, April the traffic manager (the person responsible for keeping all the projects in the agency moving forward), asked me to demonstrate to the other production artists how I prepared my files. I spent a few hours showing them the way I did things. I was very anal about it all; they asked a lot of questions and showed me a few things I didn’t know. Apparently, my files were the most organized and easiest to work with… yeah, it’s a little thing but I was proud of myself (something that didn’t happen that often). I noticed that one of the other PA’s, Shea, was wearing a yellow pin with a purple circle on it. I recognized it as the intersex flag, I had thought about wearing one but wasn’t quite ready to bring that kind of attention to myself. Their pin was in the shape of a heart and made me smile… were they intersex or just an ally? Either way I felt less alone. They made eye contact with me several times through the morning. After our meeting our group walked to lunch together, I so badly wanted to talk to Shea and ask if they were intersex but had no clue how to get some privacy or how to even start the conversation if I did get them alone. Lucky for me, Shae made the first move. They sidled up next to me and we walked together behind the rest of the group. “Thanks for sharing with us today, I got some good tips” they said. I smiled and told them they were welcome. “I go by she/they by the way. How about you?” They asked, just throwing it all out on the table. Oh my god, they knew. How did they know? Did Brody tell them? Was I that obvious? I looked at her with a red face and a blank look. “I saw you checking out my pin several times and I just figured…” they said answering my unasked question.

I probably should have paused, or let he finish her sentence or something, but I blurted “he/they” and she smiled. Then I confessed, “I never met anyone like me before.”

Shea smiled and said, “it’s not like there are billions of us, but we’re around. I have several friends.” We talked quietly for the rest of our walk to the restaurant. I had a nice lunch with the team and surprisingly didn’t feel like the odd-man-out, I felt like one of the team. At the end of the day Brody and I were saying goodbye to people and getting ready to go. Shea approached me, “It was good to finally meet you in-person, I hope you come back soon” then she shook my hand and put something in it. It was her intersex pin. “You’re not alone. I’m glad we met. I’ll email you later” she said with a smile. Seriously, I almost cried.

Brody saw me put the pin on in the car on the way to the airport and said, “Shea wears one like that all the time, what does it mean?” I told him what it meant and told him Shea had given me theirs. “That’s cool” he said, “I like Shea, I’m glad y’all made some friends here. Ya’ know April was really talkin’ ya up to Kev. You built a good name for yourself here. Ya’ did good on your first business trip.” For the second time that day I was proud of myself.

The flight back to Wilmington was uneventful and it was almost 10PM when Brody dropped me off at Harrington House. Trevor’s door was open, so I poked my head in “Hi Trevor.”

“Hey how was your trip?” He asked.

“Good, but I’m wiped out” I said. Then I surprised myself, “If you don’t have plans tomorrow night, do you wanna get the guys together and go out for dinner?” He had asked me to hang out before I left, I blew him off at first but Seth gave me a push and we all ended up just hanging out at his place the night before my trip. Unfortunately, I was such a basket case that I wasn’t much company and felt I owed him a night of hanging out. I had never initiated something like that before but suddenly I had more confidence. That trip changed my life forever… beyond what I even realized at the time.

Seth’s Perspective

It had been a looooong week! Izzy spent the first part of the week pushing everyone’s buttons, her long holiday weekend with the family gave her an overdose of love and attention that went right to her little head. But by the visit with her mom on Wednesday she had calmed down and was her own lovable self again but honestly, I was dying for some me time; it was about 8 O’clock on Thursday night when I finally got it. The kids were in bed, Zach was vegging out in front of the TV, and I was sitting on the couch with my laptop working on my book for the first time in a week. So many fascinating stories kept materializing out of the blue… Benny and West’s reunion, Trevor, even Izzy OD’ing on love and attention. My fingers were flying over the keyboard as ideas just flowed out of my head and through my fingertips. I had called my mentor from college, Dr. Aarons earlier that week and enlisted his help. He agreed to read what I wrote (when I was ready) and consult on my book… I was really going to do this! I worked into the wee hours of the morning, then finally went up to join Zach in bed.

I paid for my late night writing binge on Friday morning; I was wiped out. I was feeding the kids while Zach talked to his mom on the phone trying to figure out our Christmas plans. Zach and I always went to Wisconsin at Christmas, we spent Christmas Eve with his family, and Christmas Day with my family at Mom and Pop Nicholls’ house, but so much had changed in the last year. We really wanted to be home with the kids on our first Christmas morning together, it was important to me to build our own traditions with the kids. On top of all that, I was bound and determined to find a way to include Karen at Christmas… obviously our options were limited and she couldn’t be there, but me and Zach was exploring some ideas.

He hung up with his mother and said, “Well, it’s official, Mom and Dad are coming to North Carolina for Christmas, they’ll probably stay for at least a week.”

I sighed, “Ugh, I guess I have to call Mom Nicholls and tell her we’re not coming.”

“We can still go if you want” Zach offered.

“No, I really want the kids to be here at home on Christmas morning, but I’ll miss my family” I said. “I’ll call Mom Nicholls this weekend after I find out what Eli and Riley are doing.”

“I’m sure they’ll stay now that Mom and Dad are coming” Zach said. “Besides they’re not going to want to leave the kids.”

Freddy was eaves dropping on the conversation and asked, “Are we gonna get a Christmas tree?”

“Yup” Zach answered. “We’re gonna go with Uncle Brody, Uncle Max, and Teddy this weekend.”

“YAY!!!!” Freddy cheered, Izzy cheered too, but I doubt she had any clue why, she was just going along with Freddy. “Can we get a really, really big one?” He asked excitedly.

Zach laughed “The ceiling in the living room is nine feet high. So, yes!” Freddy and Izzy (and me) all cheered.

“I’ll make hot chocolate after we get the tree and we can all decorate it together” I said. Freddy was SO excited. God, Christmas was going to be so much fun with the kids around… damn, they had changed our universe so much.

We finished breakfast and got into the Atlas to go to school. It was our regular routine, Zach kissed us all goodbye and got into the GTI and whirred off to work, me and the kids picked up Teddy and headed to school, then I was off to work. Friday was just another workday that included a very positive session with Trevor who was settling into his new job, his new home, and had even made a few friends. I also had a very draining session with Asher, he had just returned from his first business trip to Phoenix and he was beyond excited. He wasn’t his usual quiet self, in fact he wouldn’t shut the hell up, lol, I loved seeing him so excited and happy but I was worried that he would work himself to death, it sounded like all he did was work the entire trip. He ended his rant with, “Seth, I feel like I can go anywhere and do anything!” Asher said, “they treated me like… like I was important.”

“Well, you are important, I’ve been telling you that for months” I responded.

He just smiled, “but they noticed my work, and they noticed me.” I was happy that he felt so good about himself, but sad that it took him almost twenty years to get there, I just hoped it would last. Asher was a good guy. As I looked over at him sitting on the sofa in the therapy room, I noticed he was wearing a yellow heart-shaped pin with a purple circle in the middle, I recognized it as the intersex flag. That was a bold step for Asher, even though most people would have no clue what it meant, he was putting it out there.

“I like your pin” I said hoping to elicit a response.

He smiled shyly, “Seth, there’s another intersex person who works at the agency, their name is Shea and she gave me her pin” he said, then he almost squealed, “I’VE NEVER MET ANOTHER INTERSEX PERSON IN PERSON BEFORE!”

“How did that feel?” I asked.

“It felt like... I don’t know, I almost cried. Is that weird?” he asked.

“Not at all, it had to feel awesome to meet someone like yourself for the first time” I responded.

“It did” Asher said choking up a little, “It really did” and then he went on about his trip some more, there was this new confidence about him. Huh, I guess finding a friend who made him feel more normal made all the difference. I ended my work week on a positive note thanks to Asher.

Friday night was Pizza Night at BroMax, it had become a tradition and I loved it! It kept our little community informed, grounded, and close knit. When we walked in, Izzy ran up to her favorite aunt and gave her a hug. Riley responded with “there’s my favorite bitch.”

Izzy froze and shot her the look of death as she shook her head, “Dat a bad wode. You naughty” (Izzy to English translation: “That’s a bad word. You’re naughty”). Score one for Santa!

After that little exchange, the kids all played while the adults all talked. Brody gave me more details on his trip to Phoenix with Asher, “They love him there” he said. “If he ever wanted to move, Kev would open doors for him… you’da been proud of him, Seth.” I absolutely was proud of him. The longer he was with us, the more he came out of his shell and became Ash.

Talk turned from Asher to Christmas and we told everyone we had decided to stay in North Carolina over Christmas. “Us too” Eli said.

“Since mom and dad are going to be here, we figured we’d stay too” Riley confirmed.

“Hey, ya’ll” Daddy James whispered. “Do ya think I could get away with showin’ up as Santa or would the kids recognize me?” Hell, he’d make an awesome Santa.

“Maggie and the others might buy it, but Teddy is older and close enough to you that he might figure it out” Gina said.

“Nah” Brody said. “He aint got a doubt in his head about Santa, so he won’t even be thinking that way. He’ll buy it… at least this year.” That brought a smile to Daddy James’ face, he really wanted to play Santa.

“I’m thinkin’ bout makin’ my rounds on Christmas Eve. First, I got see Maggie and DJ since they live closer to us and go to bed earlier, then I’ll come here, Then I’ll go across the street to see Freddy and Izzy.”

“Why don’t we all just spend Christmas Eve together here and you can make one big stop” Max suggested.

“Santa could give them the bikes!” Zach offered. We had all planned on giving the kids bikes or trikes for Christmas, even DJ was getting a little push car. “Santa could bring each kid their bike as a big, special gift” he added. We all discussed it for a while, it was a possible plan… the logistics would be hard with taking the bikes home, etc., but the idea was great and the kids would flip out.

 I loved that we were talking about creating traditions that brought our chosen family together on Christmas Eve. Our kids were going to have amazing memories of their childhood.

  

To be continued…