An Unexpected Turn

The Calm Before The Storm

“Neither one of you better die on me”, Ryan said and then the three of them drifted back to sleep.

Ian found himself rolling down a grassy hill with Steve. They were both laughing happily. Once they stopped rolling, Steve was on top of Ian looking down at him lovingly. Ian felt so happy in this moment, then suddenly the sound of thunder filled the air and the ground began rumbling beneath them. Steve’s expression changed to concern and then the woman’s scream came, just like before. This time though the scene suddenly changed. Steve was holding on to Ian’s hands. He seemed to be hanging there and he yelled to Steve, “Steve! Let me go”! Steve yelled back, “Never”!

I sat up suddenly. Ian bolted up as well and I knew he had the same vivid dream or nightmare which seemed more appropriate. Ian embraced me and held me tightly and then asked, “Steve, am I going to die this time”? I squeezed him tightly and replied, “Not if I can help it and I’ll never let you go. If you die, it will be by my side, and we’ll die together”. Ryan groggily said, “What’s all this about dying? Did you guys have another nightmare? I already told you, neither one of you better die on me”. “Sorry Ryan. We didn’t mean to wake you”, I apologized. Ryan rubbed the sleep from his eyes and said, “It’s ok Steve, but I meant what I said”. Ian looked to me and as I returned his look I said, “No one is planning on dying”.

Later that morning, while Ryan was getting a shower, Ian cuddled up to me on the sofa and half-smiled at me, “Steve, you know no matter what, I’ll follow you anywhere, even in death”. I returned the half-smile and replied, “I know that stud and it both frightens me to death and makes me so happy to have you with me. I love you so much. I never want to see you hurt, especially because of me”. As a tear ran down my cheek, Ian smiled, kissed the tear from my cheek and said, “Steve, we’ve already had that conversation. I’m really proud of you and never be sorry for doing what you need to do and never second guess your decisions based on my safety. I choose to be with you no matter what, for better or worse. I guess that sounds corny, but I mean every word of it”. I had to smile as I saw the love in his eyes as he made that statement and brought him into a tight hug. He hugged me back and we remained in that embrace for a while before easing up. I then looked into his eyes, smiled and said, “No guessing about it. It was corny, but so sweet at the same time. What did I ever do to deserve you stud”? Ian laughed and replied, “Deserve me? What did I ever do to deserve you? I’m in awe of you every day Steve and proud. I feel so privileged to just be with you, let alone be your fiancé”.  “Am I interrupting something”, Ryan asked, as he entered the living room half dressed? Ian and I both smiled at each other before turning to Ryan. I answered Ryan by saying, “We were just both feeling so proud of the great friendships we’ve acquired and how wonderful our lives have been so far as a result. We’re so happy to have you as our friend Ryan”. Ryan blushed a bit and said, “It’s my honor to have the two of you as my friends. I’m so glad we met, even though it was under some embarrassing circumstances”. Ian laughed and said, “I can still picture you with your arms in the air and your pants down around your ankles”. Ryan blushed further and said, “I’m just glad it’s just a picture in your mind and not a real picture”. We all laughed.

Scott was feeling more and more irritated at Mike’s standoffishness. They had been friends for years and now it seemed like there was a constant tension in the air as they were forced to remain stuck together at Tony’s house. He didn’t want Mike to leave. He had nowhere to go. He just wished Mike would be more understanding of he and Tony’s new relationship. Just then Tony came through the front door soaking wet. There were several people who followed in behind him also soaking wet. “Scott, could you get some towels please”. “Sure thing”, Scott replied as he scrambled up and went to retrieve the towels. As Scott returned with a pile of towels, he recognized two of the men who had been wading through the water the other day retrieving belongings from their flooded house. He began handing out the towels to the grateful group and they began drying themselves and their kids. Just then, Mike entered the room and asked, “What’s going on”? As Tony pulled off his shirt and continued drying himself, he replied, “These are some of our neighbors. Their houses are flooded out and they have nowhere to go as the roads are closed and no one’s come to rescue them. I invited them here for the night. At least for now they’re safe, but the water is inches over the top of the wall now. Apparently, some of the cars are still blocking the creek and it’s causing it to back up worse than otherwise. If the rain doesn’t let up soon, we’ll be flooded out as well. Mike, could you go into the kitchen and make some coffee and maybe some hot cocoa for the kids”? Mike hesitated a moment, then smiled at the wet group and said, “Sure thing Tony. I’m on it”.

While Mike was in the kitchen making coffee and hot cocoa, Tony and Scott went and retrieved some dry clothes from his and his parent’s bedrooms so everyone could have some dry clothes to wear. Tony had to go to the attic and find some of his old clothing for some of the kids, but because his parents had donated most of them, some of the kids were wearing large t-shirts that looked like dresses on them. They were just happy to be dry though. Mike then came in with the cocoa and handed it out to the kids, smiling and reassuring them. Scott noticed and was glad to see that side of Mike again.

Scott volunteered to take the kids downstairs to the family room to let them play some video games while the adults were brought into the kitchen for some hot coffee. They all were thanking Tony for his generous hospitality and for Mike’s hot coffee. Tony just modestly replied, “Any one of you would most likely do the same. I’m just glad we could help”. Then Tony looked to Mike for a moment before saying to his guests, “If you’ll excuse us for a moment, enjoy your coffee. Mike, could we talk”? Mike looked at Tony warily, but answered, “Sure Tony”. They then went off to talk privately.

Mike looked at Tony, wondering what he was going to say to him. “Mike, we have a situation here where we have a lot of people here and we need to decide what to do about sleeping arrangements. I’m going to need you to give up the guest room. I need to let one of the families have it as well as my parent’s room. I know they’d be ok with it. We need to make them feel as comfortable as possible. I know you have a problem with the situation between Scott and me, but you’re welcome to sleep in my bed with us if you want. I’m just trying to make the best sleeping arrangements as possible. Mike looked at him, horrified for a moment when he said, “I’ll find room on a floor somewhere Tony”, then he thought about it and said, “I’m sorry dude. I’m still not comfortable with all this and I’m not sure I ever will be, but I’m willing to sleep wherever you need me to. I understand that this is bigger than what my feelings are about what your personal choices in life are”. Tony grew enraged about Mike’s comment, but held his outrage in check, replying, “Mike, first of all, it’s not a choice I’d have made, so it’s something you should think about. Right now, though, there are more important things to think about, so I’ll leave you to choose where to sleep, but the guest room and my parent’s bedroom are taken, as well as the sofa in the family room and living room. You’re one of my two best friends and part of my family as far as I’m concerned, so as such I need you to do your part in helping to make our neighbors feel as comfortable as possible”. “I’m sorry Tony. I just wasn’t brought up that way and before you start blaming my dad for it, he’s the only parent I’ve known most of my life and I love him, so I don’t want to hear anything bad you have to say about him”, Mike retorted. Tony was frustrated with his friend and replied, “Look Mike. I’m not going to get into this right now about you dad’s beliefs. That’s not important right now. Right now, I must make everyone as comfortable as possible, given the situation, and I’m expecting you to do your part. At least respect the friendship we had”. Those last words stung Mike. He had been judgmental of his best friends for ‘their decisions’ but wasn’t expecting either of them to lash back at his own preconceived judgement on them. After all, he was in the right on this, wasn’t he? Was Tony’s comment about ‘the friendship we had’ a signal of the end of their friendship? Is that what he truly wanted? An end to a friendship that had lasted throughout their childhood. But wasn’t it Scott and Tony who chose to have this immoral relationship? Weren’t they the ones to blame here? Mike was so confused. “Your choice”, were Tony’s last words as he went back to join the adults in the kitchen.

After the sleeping arrangements were made, Tony and Scott made dinner for their guests and entertained as best they could. As the kids were emerging from downstairs, a little boy ran into Mike’s leg and after bouncing off, said, “Thank you mister Mike. I’m glad my daddy said to come here. We would have drowned if we would have stayed in our house”. Mike smiled and said, “Tony would never let you drown. As a matter of fact, Tony and I and even Scott would have gone down to save you if you were drowning. My friends and I will always try to keep you safe.” A little girl then hugged him and said, “Thank you mister Mike. I’m glad you know the friends of the superguys. They’re probably saving other people right now, so they left Mr. Tony and his friends to help us”. Mike smiled at her and said, “Yeah, they’re probably busy elsewhere, but Tony and Scott know what to do and how to help. I’m just glad I can help too”. The little boy then asked, “Mister Mike, are you a superhero too”? Mike thought about what the kid had asked and contemplated his answer, “I’m just a regular guy who’s glad to help, just like your parents”. A little girl then said, “A guy on the news said that the superguys are fake and just actors getting paid to do that stuff. I think he’s wrong though”. Mike bent down and looked the girl in the eyes while the other kids stood around them. Mike then told her, “Steve is one of those guys you call the superguys. He actually saved me as well as Tony and Scott from a burning car. It blew up moments after he rescued us. It was real, no acting, so yes, the guy on the news was wrong. Steve did risk his own life to save ours, but firemen and policemen do that every day as well, so they may not be superheroes, but they are definitely heroes”.

After insuring all the families were comfortably in their sleeping arrangements, Tony, Scott, and Mike headed for bed as well. Mike and Tony compromised, and Mike slept on the floor in Tony’s room. Around two in the morning, Mike woke up shivering. The room had grown cold and the thin sheet he had over him wasn’t enough to keep him warm. He grudgingly got up and crawled into bed next to Tony. Tony was momentarily awakened by the movement in the bed and smiled to himself when he realized Mike had crawled in next to him. He thought maybe Mike was realizing he was being foolish.

An hour later, Tony’s bedroom door opened and one of the boys entered. Tony heard the door and sat up, “What are you doing up”, he asked? “Mr. Tony, I’m cold and scared. The lights don’t work”. Tony carefully climbed out of bed and realized it was getting cold. The generator must have shut off. “Let’s get you back into bed. I’ll get you another blanket and then go check the generator”. “I’m scared. Can I come with you”, the kid asked? Tony smiled at him and said, “Sure. What’s your name”? The boy grinned widely and said, “Stevie”. As Tony grabbed a flashlight and led them to the linen closet, he grabbed a blanket out and wrapped Stevie in it and said, “Here, this should keep you warm until we get the heat back on Stevie. You know one of the heroes is named Steve right”? Stevie grinned and nodded his head and said, “He’s my favorite, but I like you too”. As they made their way down to the basement and into the back room where the generator was, Tony noticed the gas pressure gauge was reading zero pressure. Wanting to make Stevie feel helpful, Tony asked him, “Stevie, can you give me a hand here? When I tell you to, push this button down and hold it”. Stevie came over and nodded, ready to push the button. Tony closed the gas valve off and opened the valve to the backup propane tanks and then said, “Ok Stevie, press the button and hold it until I say to let it go”. Stevie put his serious face on and pressed the button, “Ok, I’m pressing it”. Tony switched the generator from gas to propane and as the system purged,  he then hit the ignition. The generator cranked over and started. “Ok Stevie, you can release the button now”. Stevie grinned, proud that he’d helped get the generator restarted. Tony then reached over and turned on the light. The power was back on, and the house would soon be warm again. They made their way back upstairs and Tony put Stevie back to bed before returning to his own room. Once there, he found that Mike had moved to the center of the bed where Tony had been, so he climbed in next to him and drifted back to sleep.

Scott woke up and noticed it was just starting to get light out, so he moved back into the warm body behind him and was pleased to feel the hardness press between his firm cheeks. He then drifted back to sleep pressed into the body behind him which he thought was Tony’s.

Tony stirred awake and glanced over at Scott and Mike, surprised at the position they were in. As he climbed from the bed, his movement awakened Scott who turned back intending to kiss Tony. To his surprise, he came face to face with Mike. He pushed back into Mike and felt his still stiff cock press between his buns and then carefully pulled away and got out of bed. Tony was standing there watching him with a big grin on his face. Scott grinned as well and asked, “When did Mike crawl into bed with us”? Tony replied, “He must have gotten cold when the generator shut off and climbed in to get warm”. “But how did he get in the middle”? “I’ll explain it while we get coffee and breakfast ready”, Tony said. At that moment, Mike rolled onto his back and began to wake up. Scott motioned to Tony who looked where Scott was pointing to see a clear outline of a hard cock. Scott whispered, “I thought it was you and was pressed back into him half the night. Good thing I woke up first”. Mike’s eyes slowly opened, “What’s all the whispering about”? Tony responded, “Sorry Mike. We were trying not to wake you. Want to help us get breakfast ready”? Mike realized he had a morning wood and rolled to his side, “Um, sure. Could you give me a bit? I’ll be out in a couple minutes”. Tony glanced at a grinning Scott and then replied, “Ok, we’ll see you in a few”. He and Scott then dressed and headed to the kitchen.

The rain finally let up on Thursday night and most of the area had heavy flooding. It was almost strange not hearing the pouring rain outside for a change. We called our friends to see how they were doing. Carl and Chad were both safe, but had no power, so they were running generators. They were both bored out of their minds. When I called Tony, he told me about his house full of neighbors and about a little boy named Stevie who apparently adored me. I’d have to make it a point to meet him. Tony also told me about the morning discovery with Mike which I found amusing. A brief hope flashed through my mind at that moment, and I hoped the dream was wrong somehow and things would be ok between Mike and Tony and Scott. “Steve! Steve! Come out to the patio”, Ian called. As I stepped out onto the patio, I was bathed in sunshine. “Feels good, doesn’t it”, Ryan asked smiling? “Sure does”, I replied, then added, “Should warm things back up. It actually started feeling like Autumn the past week”. “Late Autumn maybe. It dropped to forty-two degrees last night. A new record and they’re expecting it to reach eighty-six today. This is some freaky weather”, Ian added. Ryan grabbed a pool net and began removing leaves and other debris from the pool. “Might be the last chance I get to swim in this pool for a while at least. May as well get it cleaned up”, Ryan said. I patted Ryan’s back and said, “Thanks Ryan. I’ll get breakfast ready. Looks like it’ll be a nice day for a change”. “I’ll clean the filters awhile”, Ian said.

When breakfast was ready, I called them in. They had the pool cleaned up for the most part. The filter system and additional chlorine would do the rest. I planned on adding additional chlorine once we were done swimming to shock the system back to normal. The roads were still flooded, so we were spending the day here, though we’d check on the neighbors in the area to see if anyone needed any help.

After breakfast we drove around checking on neighbors. We found those who stayed were on high ground and had made it through fine. Some of them were low on water and one family was low on food. We retrieved water from the house and some fresh and frozen food for the one family who needed it. The people whose houses were flooded had evacuated before the water levels came up which was a wise decision.

By the time we returned to the house, it was one in the afternoon. We ate a quick lunch and then sat out on the patio digesting our food. Eventually, Ryan stripped down and jumped into the pool. He came up gasping, “Holy fuck! It’s freezing in here”! Ian and I laughed as Ryan hugged himself to try to warm up. He didn’t remain in the water long and when he came out, he scrambled for a towel. Ian started laughing and asked, “Where’d your balls go Ryan”? Ryan grinned sheepishly and replied, “They crawled up inside where it’s warm”. I checked the water temperature and found it had dropped to fifty-eight degrees as the heating system couldn’t keep up with the cold pouring rain. It would take a day or two to warm it back up. As we relaxed in the sun, Ian asked, “So when do you have to leave Ryan”? “Sunday morning. I have to be at the airport by eleven. I called a while ago to make sure the schedule hadn’t changed because of the weather”, Ryan replied. “I’m sorry the weather turned so bad during your stay Ryan”, I said. “That’s ok Steve. We had plenty of fun indoors. I really enjoyed my stay and met some new friends. Chad and Carl are great, and I’ll see more of Peter since he’s attending the same campus”, Ryan replied, then added, “Think I can visit some weekends and during break”? “You’re welcome here any time Ryan. I hope you can be here for our wedding”, I said. Ryan grinned and said, “Absolutely”. I added, “Bring Peter along if he wants to come”. Ian couldn’t resist, “We’d like to see more of Peter as well and from the looks of that bulge in the front of his pants, he definitely wants to cum”. We all laughed.

After lunch, we took a walk to survey the storm damage. There were a few trees down and when we went down to the beach, we saw it had taken a lot of sand, but overall, it wasn’t too bad considering the amount of rain we had. We took our shoes off and walked the beach about a quarter mile and then returned. As we approached the road back up to the house, I stopped and pointed to the old pier where the kid had gotten stuck, “Remember that”? “How could I not remember that Steve. I thought you’d been knocked out and I’d have a choice to try to save you and let the kid drown or hold on to the kid as long as I could and lose you”, Ian said. I grinned and said, “Fortunately I just bumped my head a little. Anyway, I looked into who owned the pier and the property it was on. It seems the owner of the property had a thirty year lease to the government for the pier. The government stopped using it ten years ago and it was left to deteriorate. The lease runs out the end of next year. Seems both the owner and the government smelled lawsuit when they realized who was looking at it. The owner is desperate to make a deal and divest itself from the property because once the lease is up, it’s worthless to them anyway. The government can’t be sued over this, but they don’t want the bad publicity, so they agreed that if I bought it from the owners who agreed to sell really cheap, the Army Corps of Engineers would repair it before the lease is up. It will be ours in a month. I’m going to develop it and we’re buying a boat”. Ryan smiled and said, “That’s great news Steve”. Ian just stood there with his jaw dropped so low, I thought he’d get sand in his mouth. “There’s one more thing I need to tell you. I insisted the Thomas family get twenty-five percent ownership and once developed, Mr. Thomas will manage the property”, I concluded. Ian managed to pick his jaw up then and grinned widely before saying, “You really are a fucking saint, Steve. That’s one more reason why I love you so much”. And with that he pounced on me and kissed me passionately. Ryan just looked on shaking his head, eventually saying, “This really shouldn’t surprise me at all because you keep coming up with more surprises, but holy shit Steve”! As we walked back up toward the house I said, “I’ve been talking to Mike and we’re going to set up water safety courses for youths at the site and mix in some entertainment venues as well to give the younger crowd somewhere to go at night. Since the properties are at different levels, it won’t interfere with our privacy at the house, but we’ll be able to observe the entertainment from the balcony whenever we want”.  Ian grinned and said, “So we get the best seats in the house for free”. “Something like that”, I replied. Ryan interrupted, saying, “You know Steve, you’re really going to be disappointed with the wedding presents you guys receive. You have some pretty low end friends”. I shook my head and looked Ryan in the eyes and said, “No Ryan, I have some very high caliber friends and the richness of their friendship far outweighs any monetary riches we could ever possess. We won’t be disappointed with our wedding presents at all because the only presents we’re looking for at our wedding is the presence of our friends”. A tear rolled down Ian’s cheek.

End of Chapter 34