Soulmating

=DISCLAIMER= This story is meant to imply nothing about the sexuality of the real people involved. Anything mentioned from this point on is purely fictional and not meant in any way but the highest regard.

The lyrics used within are not meant to imply anything about the individual preferences, practices, or lifestyle choices any of the musical artists mentioned. The lyrics are not used for any personal monetary profit...

Thank you for the feedback... all two of you. But in all seriousness, if you enjoy the story then I'm glad regardless of if you contact me.

If you have any objections to my writing, then why in the name of Jesus are you reading this? I know some of you might like Hanson but I don't buy the whole "I didn't know it was a GAY STORY!" defense. So shut up and don't send me any more hate mail you stupid, obesessed little Christian girls.

The mentions of previous works of gay fan fiction are meant in the utmost respect...

We're two from the end after this one.

Comments, Suggestions, and Criticisms can be sent to saboteur_98155@yahoo.com

I can be reached on ICQ at 70639912... Or on AIM at Reid00005992...

Enjoy!

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| || The Compound- Chapter 10 - "The Revelation" || || By Reid || ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

=Realization...=

When Keri sent me a message telling me she needed to speak with me, I didn't really think that anything was wrong. The only real assumption I had was that she needed to talk to me about the wedding ceremony or she wanted to make sure I was OK with her and Dr. Rios being a couple, so when I went down to her room, nothing set off my warning meter. The message had come very early, nearly 6am, and nothing suggested that it was all that urgent so I took my time getting dressed and spending a few minutes cuddling with Zac, who was still asleep.

When I left the room, the hall was empty but when I reached Keri's room, I saw several agents sitting inside with her. The door was open and I went right in and saw Keri sitting on the chair, holding her head in her hands. My stomach seized and my first thought was that something had happened to Taylor and she needed me to tell Zac. I got a sour feeling deep inside my innards as a million different scenarios flashed through my mind. Had Taylor been attacked and killed? Had his plane or helicopter or whatever the hell was being brought in on crashed? Had Zac contracted a STD? Was Keri dying of cancer? Had my father flown into a rage and murdered one of my little brothers in their sleep? The familiar sensation of dread felt like it was closing my throat up.

"Keri?" I managed to say.

She looked up quickly and I could see her eyes were red, "Reid... sit down."

"What?" I said and lowered myself into a chair, bracing myself against the possible bad news.

"Reid... Brandon killed himself last night. He overdosed on sleepaid he'd saved up from the ASM."

My ears didn't want to hear what she'd said and my mind tried to convince itself that something entirely different came out of her mouth. I didn't want to let myself believe that he'd given up. If there was one thing about him that I'd always liked was that he was never a quitter. I always thought that if it got to be too hard, Brandon would just reach down and keep pressing on... it made no sense that he would kill himself. There had to be some mistake with it. Brandon must have slipped in the shower or cut himself while shaving or any of the other hundred things I tried to tell myself had happened instead. He couldn't have killed himself. He would have been giving up and he wouldn't ever do that, and I had to make myself believe it.

"He wouldn't do that." I managed to get out and it was all I could say.

"Reid... Brandon was very sick. He had a mental disorder."

"No... no he didn't..." I said, shocked at how she was betraying him.

"Brandon suffered from a severe disorder that caused him to develop delusions."

"No! He was not sick! How dare you talk about him like this!" I said and I felt myself losing my temper.

"Reid, he was a schizophrenic. He had two very different personalities. There was the one that you saw who was your friend and was very nice and likable. But there was another side to him... Reid, Brandon was a sexual predator."

I was shocked, "Like a rapist?!"

"No. He didn't rape anyone. He seduced several young boys and when they had sex with him, he immediately ignored them and shunned them. Several of the boys he slept with committed suicide and when Brandon was asked about it, he showed no remorse. He was a very sick person. Like you, he was abused and he lashed out by sleeping around very indescriminantly."

"Oh..."

"The doctors think that during this time, he contracted AZI which caused the schizophrenia. We never were able to find out about it and it only showed up when we got a blood sample for the dentist in D sector and by then it was too late. Brandon was a very different person than the one you knew, Reid. He was constantly looking for the one boy who would end all his pain."

"He thought Zac was it, right?" I said, the realization hitting me.

"Yes, he did. He made several attempts to cause you and Zac to fight. He was trying to get you to break up with Zac so he could have Zac for himself. He was fixated on Zac to a point where when we found him; he had taken a red hot paper clip and carved Zac's name into his own.... Well, his own genitalia."

I shuddered several times and had to suppress my gag reflex. Then a few seconds later, another horrifying realization came over me...

"Keri... did Brandon sleep with Jake?"

"Yes, he did. How did you know?"

"He had to remove Jake from the picture. He couldn't have Jake looking too attractive to Zac when I broke up with him and risking that Zac would want to be with Jake instead. He had to demoralize Jake so badly that when I broke up with Zac, Jake would be so unattractive, at least in Brandon's mind, Zac would only have one option. Zac told me that someone might have been suggesting that he was sleeping with Jake and that was Brandon. I'm assuming Brandon went to Zac and tried to 'warn' him about me in some way, which would have led to Zac going to Brandon out of gratitude for trying to help him. Am I right?"

"Yes..." Keri looked dumbfounded, "That's exactly what happened. How did you know?"

"Right after each time Brandon tried to warn Zac, Zac came to me and told me the whole thing. Up until now, I'd assumed that Brandon was just jealous but now I know different." I said, feeling like Matlock.

The room was silent for a few minutes as I thought about all that had been said. I wasn't surprised because I had always gotten a weird vibe from Brandon and something about him seemed a bit off center... something always seemed broken down inside him. Not in the good Tom Green kind of way. The other feeling I felt wasn't anger. I wasn't mad like maybe some people would have thought I should be because I knew that what had happened with Brandon wasn't ultimately his fault. It was the doing of his parents and his upbringing that had driven him to it. It was more like a feeling of sympathy. And honest to God, I was more worried about Jake.

"Reid, I have something important to ask you." Keri said, putting her hand on my knee.

"What is it?"

"Brandon's father, as you know, is a fairly prominent politician in the state of New Mexico. He has asked that we keep all this between us. I've only told you because it concerned you directly. I know that I have no right to expect you to keep this a secret for some homophobe only looking to keep his status quo unthreatened, but he did ask personally."

"Regardless of what he did, Keri, Brandon was my friend and he made my first few months here much less painful that they could have been. I'll go along with this. What are we saying?"

"The official cause of death is that Brandon suffered cardiac arrest as a result of his diabetes. I'll be making the announcement when everyone is awake. I've already spoken with Jake and he's agreed to keep it a secret so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Are you going to get Jake some help? He needs it." I asked, standing up.

"Yes, he'll be working with a therapist." She said, standing up as well and walking me to the door.

"I'll tell Zac." I said as I walked out the door and didn't look back.

"Reid?"

"Yeah?" I looked over my shoulder at her.

"Thank you. I don't know where the hell you got such a sensitive side."

"Me neither," I turned back around and walked away.

Me neither, I thought to myself.

=7:37am=

After getting back to the room, I had sat down at the desk and tried to get my thoughts together. It was still sinking in that Brandon had actually killed himself. And then, on top of that, he'd been seducing and molesting young boys ever since he'd gotten inside the compound. My mind didn't know what to think about it... my whole personal notion of who he was had just been torn unevenly down the middle. There was the Brandon I'd known and liked... and then there was this other person who had been sleeping around all his life. He'd never told me about it and he'd never even given me a hint that he was like that in any way at all. It was just such a shock to hear.

It wasn't even starting to sink in that he had some sort of bizarre fixation on Zac that apparently had gone beyond mere jealousy. I could only imagine what he'd been thinking about me and if he'd made dozens of sadistic plans to get rid of me or take Zac by force. It instantly made me want a shower. It also made me feel a sense of failure that I had almost allowed myself to believe whatever web that Brandon was spinning in order to sleep with Zac. I took myself to task for being so blind and not seeing what was happening and then I felt bad about even believing Brandon, even as little as I did. It was a lapse in my trust of Zac to consider that he would cheat on me, let alone at the urging of a lunatic like Brandon. I shook my head as I sat there and thought about all of it, feeling blessed for not becoming a(nother) victim of his demented urges. Then my mind thought of all the young boys he scarred permanently, including Jake, who had only wanted companionship. Pretty disgusting.

When the lights came on and I heard Zac let out his time-honored wake up groan, I smiled and looked over at him squirming under the covers. In that moment, I thanked for God for not letting me believe Brandon and not letting me send Zac into his waiting arms. For some odd reason, I realized that Brandon really wasn't the friend I thought he was. Apart from the usual teenaged posturing we did, I knew nothing about him and really didn't feel much of a connection. But maybe I was trying to justify my feelings of detachment and/or anger. It was a shock, but not as big of a shock as I would have thought it would be. It shocked me more to think that someone who had seemed as militant about his life and himself as a person as Brandon was would give up and kill himself.

He was dead and I was alive. Whatever had made him think that he had nothing more to live for obviously hadn't happened to me. But it could have. It could have happened to me if I'd slept around instead of isolating myself from the world. AZI, or "The Raze" as it was called in slang, was out there and if I'd been as reckless as Brandon, it could have very well gotten inside me and turned my brain to mush. It made me shiver to think that I might have been within one sexual experience of contracting it... and considering what had happened with my last boyfriend, I was pretty damn lucky.

It could have been you, Reid. You got lucky, I thought to myself. All those teachers, policemen, and drug dealers that Ryan had slept with at the same time as you... it could have happened. It could have happened to you and you could have given it to Zac. And the thought that I had nearly passed a brain destroying STD onto Zac made me feel guilty. But it hadn't happened which was the most important thing to remember. Zac and I were both there and we were both healthy. And getting married. And his older brother would be arriving in little more than two hours and fifteen minutes...

=The fixation continues...=

"All right, Karen. You're free for now."

Agt. Barrie stood up from the small desk in the admissions center and stretched, rolling her neck around in circles and rubbing her eyes. She had been on guard duty at the D sector admissions desk for the past three hours and the only thing she wanted was a shower and a nap. After letting the next guard sit down, she grabbed her ID card and walked through the glass doors into the whitewashed hallway that would take her down to the staff lounge, and as she walked, she looked at the sterile looking walls of the place.

Just be glad you didn't get J/X duty like Julie, she told herself. You could be working with the creeps. Agt. Barrie shook her head and pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail as she made her way down the hall. She wasn't exactly sure of what time it was and she didn't really care to find out. The frosted glass doors were unlocked and she was thankful for that small blessing before walking into the empty lounge. There wasn't anyone else inside and she figured most everyone else was either out on duty or off hanging out somewhere and smoking pot outside the fence. She had found out it wasn't unusual to smoke pot among the staff and most of them felt so damn guilty about their job that they had to do something or a mass suicide would eventually go down. But hell, it meant there was plenty of room for her.

She rubbed her eyes again as she walked over and grabbed the coffee pot and smelled the contents, on guard at first but them pleasantly surprised when the coffee turned out to be less than 12 hours old. As she poured a cup, she thought about the "notice" that had been sent around concerning the recent uprising down in the lower sectors. After pouring, she looked for the paring knife the guards used to stir in the cream and sugar but it was nowhere to be found. After looking around in tired frustration, Agt. Barrie shrugged and took her reluctantly black coffee.

She thought more about the warning notice that Warden del Toro had sent out and what it had said. Apparently, the arrival of the second member of the white Jackson 5 had sent all the pedophiles and lunatics into some sort of rage... they had gotten much worse and now it was at a fever pitch. All the guards in the compound were told to be on the look out for "escapes" who had managed to slither out of the confines. It was enough to make the most hardened agent shudder to think of what could happen.

Regardless of everything else, that couch looked pretty damn good right about now. Ten hours of work at the admittance desk had worn her out and she wasn't even willing to broach the concept of working it when the newest celebrity resident made his arrival. She would leave that to poor Agt. Hines. She could handle it. She'd been a bouncer in some bar in Miami so it wouldn't be a big deal for her to take on a few frenzied gay guys. A mirthless laugh left her mouth as she fell back on the couch and sipped the coffee slowly, looking at the orange lava lamp burning away in the corner.

If they make this whole thing into a movie, Agt. Barrie thought, they'd sure as shit better get someone good to play me.

A metallic whirring from behind her caught her attention and she looked back over her shoulder. Agt. Barrie got to her feet and ground her teeth aggrivadedly and walked towards the door. She stopped when she saw that the small gray door that led into the D sector internal computer system was open. The lock, at first inspection, looked opened but when she looked closer... the damn thing seemed melted. She reached down and held it in her hands and it fell apart like an old piece of paper.

"What the hell...?" She said out loud and pulled the door open.

The inside of the computer room was empty and the small desk behind the computer bank was unoccupied. It immediately set off the warning alarm inside Agt. Barrie as she remembered that at no time, was the internal computer system supposed to be unmonitored. If this thing was open, anyone could walk in off the hallway and find out just about anything about the place. Something was definitely wrong. The whirring was a repeated feed of paper coming out of the small laser printer and when she picked it up, she noticed several lines of information.

STORM FRONT 0800hrs 5days

LEVEL FIVE SEVERITY: HIGHEST DANGER

SECURITY SHUTDOWN DANGER: AFFIRMATIVE

J/X SECTOR COMPROMISED: AFFIRMATIVE

REMOVE INFORMATION (Y/N): YES

!WARNING! IF INFO REMOVED; STAFF WILL BE UNPREPARED FOR SHUTDOWN

REMOVE INFORMATION (Y/N): YES

"Oh Jesus..." Agt. Barrie said. There was nothing they could do...

She didn't see the tall figure in white standing behind her. It was holding the missing knife...

=Arrival...=

It was about half an hour until Taylor would be getting there and even I had to admit, it was more than a little exciting to think that I'd be sleeping beside Hanson. It was just such an unreal kick to think that the band I'd once listened to on a CD would be, in a few short hours, right here with me. As if having Zac wasn't enough, Taylor would soon be here and no matter how many times I said it to myself, I still could hardly believe it. Of course, my excitement didn't even compare to that of Zac who was so excited he almost hit his head on the ceiling from jumping too high on the bed, but he was just so cute. It was something that would melt even the coldest of hearts.

Zac's tutors had been cool enough to give him the day off from his classes so he could go meet his brother at the arrival center. They hadn't seen each other in four months and it made me wonder if Taylor would be surprised or scared to see how much Zac had changed. My second concern was naturally, would Taylor like me? Even as Zac had repeatedly assured me, I couldn't let myself be too sure because like I'd thought with his mother, there's something about seeing someone for the first time that can go either way. I could have been the nicest guy in the whole world but if something about me rubbed Taylor the wrong way, my relationship with him would have a smog over it permanently and from how important Taylor sounded to Zac, it would be a mighty big inconvenience if that happened.

I'd told Zac about Brandon and he seemed to feel bad but more concerned about how I felt. I respected Keri's request and didn't tell Zac about all the things Brandon had done. It was a secret that Keri and I would most likely take to our graves unless Mr. Voight... Senator Voight... admitted that he'd been a homophobe and turned his son into a lunatic. Of course, we'll protect your public image! You've earned it! Sure, we'll see to it that you being an abusive parent don't damage your precious public personal. Don't worry about it! We'll protect your sorry ass until the cows come home... oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to talk about your wife like that, Senator! Here... accept this punch in the face compliments of all the gay guys who saw what you did to your son...

"Come on, Reid! Let's go!" Zac chattered as he grabbed me from behind and tried to walk me out the door.

"Hold on, Zac. They'll come let us know when they're ready to take us down to the arrival place," I said and looked at him, "Oooh... you better look in the mirror."

"Why?"

"You've got an outbreak on you, buddy."

Zac hurried into the bathroom and let out a cry of anguish as he looked in the mirror. I followed him in and leaned against the doorway, watching him inspect the line of four red spots above his upper lip. He inspected them carefully, not wanting to touch them, and contorting his lips and making them flex. He whined like a dog as he checked out the zits from several different angles. I walked over and put my arm around him soothingly.

"Reid... please tell me you could love and marry a pizzaface." He sobbed theatrically.

"Zac... you're a 15 year old boy with 15 year old pores. I don't mind an occasional smattering of zits. It comes with the territory." I took hold of his chin and turned him towards me before laying a long kiss on his lips. After a few seconds, he whimpered and I felt his leg quiver against my knee. He pulled off and rested his forehead against the bridge of my nose and I kissed his hairline a few times in rapid sequence. He giggled and hugged me tightly.

I rested my cheek against the top of his head and held him back, "You're pretty damn weird, Prozac."

He giggled again and the door buzzed, and I could feel the jolt of excitement race through Zac. He began jiggling with anticipation and he pulled me by the hand out of the bathroom and into the bedroom where he whipped open the door. I recognized one of the agents as Agt. Revell, who had escorted Zac and I back from our meeting with Angie, but the other one I didn't know. She was a tall, blond woman who looked to have quite a bit of Swedish in her and she was soon introduced to us as Agt. Askolof. Apparently the other agent that was supposed to escort us was nowhere to be found after she got off duty at the admittance desk. It all sounded the same to me and I shrugged as Zac hurried out the door and forced Agt. Revell to hurry to keep up with him.

As we walked down to the admitting center, I tried not to get too excited but it was really hard when Zac seemed so eager. He was a very contagiously enthusiastic person. It was like chasing a little kid who was seeing Disneyland for the first time and it was adorable in it's own exhausting way. We walked down through the main concourse and through the main hallway under the mural. I had to stop to re-tie my shoe, which added to Zac's impatience.

"So it's his brother." Agt. Askolof said in a heavy accent.

"Yeah, it is." I said, slightly intimidated by her but not wanting to show it.

"They were very popular in Sweden. They have relatives there."

"So I've heard."

"Before I came here, Zac caused a national depression among the young girls." She said and looked at me as we walked.

"That doesn't surprise me."

"His brother probably caused a mass suicide."

I looked at her, "The world knows about Taylor?"

"Yes. It became the next celebrity news item when he admitted it."

"I'll bet it did."

"I hope you are not tempted by him."

"I'm not going to be." I said and held the door to the connecting hall open. It would take us to the admitting hall. Zac and Agt. Revell were almost 20 yards ahead of us.

"You have Zac. He is obviously very in love with you."

"I feel the same way about him." I wasn't sure where she was going and I didn't want to challenge her.

"You have a big chance when you marry him. You have a chance to prove that gay men are faithful and stay faithful."

"I'm going to stay faithful. Why are you asking all these questions?"

She looked at me and smiled slightly, "My brother was gay. He killed himself rather than come in here. It is my hope that you will at least honor his death and the deaths of every other gay man by treating Zac how he should be treated."

We walked along in silence before she said, "My English is not very good. I mean to say that lots are looking to you and Zac to be an example. I hope you take it with some seriousness, all right?"

"Sure..." I said and smiled, "I can do that."

=Arrival...=

The shuttle pulled up at the admitting station ahead of schedule.

Taylor sat up and wiped his palms on his tight khakis as he waited for the door to slide open and when it did, he felt a slight pang of anxiety. The whole trip had been a hell of a lot more painless than he'd ever thought but still, he couldn't only wonder what it must have been like for Zac in the midst of his confusion and fright from being pulled away so quickly. Just the thought of Zac made Taylor's stomach flutter as he realized in a few minutes, he would see the goofy little monster again. It was something that had kept him going throughout the whole godforsaken process where he had to give his name and personal information over and over. And after that came the physical examination where he was so nervous he needed to be sedated and "dilated" for the prostate exam. Just the memory made him shudder. But it meant finally being honest and living without fear. And it meant seeing Zac again.

God, he'd missed Zac. Only when the realization sunk in that he would be seeing Zac in person was when Taylor felt the huge ache in his heart begin to release. The four months he'd spent trying to repair his life and trying to hide who he really was had nearly killed him. It had nearly broken his heart down the middle. It had nearly shattered his tender heart like a Christmas ornament that had fallen on the fireplace hearth. The painful goodbye with his little siblings took every ounce of strength Taylor had. Then the goodbye with Ike was the most stilted, awkward moment he'd ever felt and the fact that it took place with the one person he'd always been totally honest with hurt even more. The pain of feeling like he'd let him down. Just recalling such raw memories made Taylor seize up and clench his eyes shut tightly.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a woman standing in front of the open door. She was quite tall. Taylor wiped his eyes and tried to smile. The warm air coming in from the outside was surprisingly pleasant feeling to his mid-western senses.

"Hi Taylor," She said, offering her hand, "I'm Keri Barton. I'm your sector head."

"Hey," He said, shaking her hand and climbing slowly down out of the shuttle.

"How do you feel? Do you need anything?" She asked him, walking next to him closely.

"I guess I'm OK. I'm still getting used to this whole thing." He said, ruffling his black T-shirt in the sweltering sun.

"That's normal. Do you have any questions?"

"Is everything going to be cool? Do I have to worry?"

"No. Your sector is probably the nicest one here. Full of respectful guys who will let you get settled before they start talking to you. The whole place is monitored so if anyone does try anything against your will, they'll be apprehended immediately before any real damage can be done. If they do it more than once, they suffer the consequences."

Taylor was reassured and sighed in relief as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, "Is Zac OK?"

Keri smiled, "Zac's fine. He's been counting the days until you get here."

"OK, cool. Is Reid cool?" He asked. Taylor felt nervous when he thought about Reid. Would Reid like him? God, he hoped so. This guy was going to be his brother-in-law. And from what mom had said, Zac was seriously head over heels for him.

"Reid is just fine. He's looking forward to meeting you."

"Whew... I've been worrying about that the whole time."

"He's been worrying too," Keri said, "You two will probably get along great."

Taylor smiled to himself with relief as Keri held the door open to the admitting center. Just knowing that he wouldn't have to deal with a hostile situation was enough to put him at ease. Keri seemed pretty nice and if Zac could fall in love, who was to say that he couldn't either? Mom had said that Reid, after joking that Zac had found a man she'd consider leaving dad for, was a very nice, very caring person. Then she'd mentioned Reid's childhood, which immediately made Taylor feel for him. Even though the Hanson family had been homeschooled, they were well aware that others had it much tougher it everytime he heard about an abused child, his heart ached. He had nearly been ruined by the whole Matthew Sheppard thing.

"Right in here, Taylor." Keri said, directing him into the air-conditioned heaven of her office. He shivered and when she directed him to do so, he sat down in one of the chairs across from her desk.

"All right," She said, "I'm going to ask you a few questions and answer any you might have. I know you've had to answer a whole bunch of questions the past few days and I sympathize. But these are new, OK?"

"OK." Taylor shrugged.

"Do you have any phobias? I mean anything officially diagnosed."

"No. None that I know of."

"All right," Keri said, marking it down on some sort of scantron paper, "Any allergies?"

"Alcohol."

"Is that it?"

"The only one I know of for sure." Taylor began to tap on the arm of the chair.

"Any particular food or drink preferences? We're arranging for you, Zac, and Reid to eat by yourselves."

"Ummm... cheeseburgers and steak, fish, Mug root beer..." Taylor said, thinking.

"All right. We can accommodate most of that." She said, "Do you have any questions?"

"A million but I'm going to have to find the answers out myself."

Keri smiled and stood up, "You ready to see Zac?"

=The waiting room...=

The wait for me as just as agonizing was it was for Zac, who could barely sit still for half a second before losing control and spazzing out again. Once we had reached the waiting room safely, the two agents had returned to duty and left us alone and I practically had to fight Zac off. He wanted to see if we could pull off a quick orgasm before Taylor got there but getting caught naked with Zac wasn't the first impression I wanted to make. It was really sweet to see him so excited. I could scarcely imagine getting so excited if one of my siblings came to visit me.

"Zac, I'm going to the ASM. I'll be right back." I said, standing up.

"No! You can't go!" Zac said grabbing my arm.

"If I don't get a drink, I'm gonna get heatstroke. Just stay here and you'll be OK," I said, untangling from his grip, "Besides, I want you to have a few minutes alone with Taylor. OK?"

He sighed, "OK. I'll make sure Taybear is safe for you to meet. Be back soon."

"I will."

After a few kisses, I turned and went down the hall. My mouth wasn't really that dry and my conscience wouldn't let me get away without telling Zac the real reason. It would have to be a private moment between him and Taylor and having me there just seemed really inappropriate. I wanted to give Taylor the choice of when to meet me and not have it be against his control. And for the sake of their family, the two brothers needed a moment alone without me butting my head in. It just seemed like common sense to me. Maybe it seemed paranoid or overly sensitive to others, but it was how I felt and if I could be sure of one thing about myself now, it was that my feelings were valid.

The hall was quiet around the ASM and for a second, it sounded like footsteps were echoing down the hall but thanks to the low lighting, I couldn't really see either way. The D sector was usually pretty guarded so it wasn't much to worry about as I ordered up a water and waited patiently. Next to the ASM was a window that gave me a view of the deck that surrounded the admission center and connected it to the D sector main building. When I looked out the window, I could see Devon sitting with a few others guys just talking. He looked up and we made eye contact and in his eyes was a question to which I shrugged. He nodded slightly and turned back to his conversation as the ASM beeped and I pulled out the bottle of water. My hands shook but I still managed to take a sip.

My feet felt and moved like they were weighted down for some reason and for a split second, I nearly thought that it was all a dream and seconds later, I'd wake up in my bed in my crappy old apartment. But it didn't happen. I didn't wake up to the sound of my alarm clock or the smell of mildew... it was all real. This whole thing was real. This wasn't some dream or erotic fanfiction. This was real life and it was happening right before my eyes. It was enough to make me shake my head and laugh as I walked down the hall and back to the admission center. My pace was quickened slightly when I turned the corner but Zac wasn't there.

I set the water down on one of the benches and walked up to the door that opened into the hallway. It was silent and no one seemed to be around which I thought was just a little bit odd. At the end of the hall, I could see the sunlight shining in from the outside and there was no way I'd miss an opportunity to feel the sun. Keri must have come and gotten Zac or something, I thought as I made my way down the hall and out onto the platform outside the open door. From there, I could see down onto the front covered entrance of the admission center, where Zac and someone who looked pretty damn familiar were hugging. I recognized the other guy immediately as the lead singer of the rock/pop trio Hanson... I think Taylor was his name.

From what I could see, Zac and Taylor were pretty damn happy to see each other. The hug ended when Zac let him go and they began walking towards the stairway together and it occurred to me that if I wanted my first meeting with Taylor to be comfortable, I had better get my ass inside. Nearly tripping over my feet, I managed to get inside before I heard Zac's heavy footsteps on the stairway. My feet skidded on the floor of the waiting room and I hurriedly tried to fix my hair in the reflection off one of the framed paintings on the wall.

OK, we don't look too bad, I thought as I ran my fingers through my hair, checking it and trying to find a suitably casual position. I could hear Zac talking from the hallway and it was caught off guard as one of the guys in my art appreciation class tossed half an orange at me through the door. The projectile nearly caught me in the shoulder and momentarily, I forgot about Taylor and stood up. Grabbing the orange, I walked over to the door and tossed it back at the perpetrator as he ran away snickering.

"Hey asshole! You throw this at me again, I'm gonna make you eat in reverse!" I yelled, laughing and wiping my hand off.

"Ummm... Reid?" I heard Zac say behind me.

Now what was I supposed to say or do? It was like one of those situations on a sitcom and I could hardly believe that it had actually happened to me. I took a deep breath and tried to put on my best smile as I turned around to see Zac standing there with Taylor next to him. It was such a comfortably awkward moment that I couldn't help but laugh slightly.

"I just had something thrown at me." I said and shrugged.

"Reid, this is Taylor. Taylor, this is Reid." Zac said.

Taylor smiled and stuck out his hand, "So you're Reid."

I shook his hand and it seemed like all the worries I had were gone, "Yeah, I am."

Zac seemed pretty pleased with the first impressions, "So... now that we're all cool with each other... why don't we go back to the room? Is that cool?"

"Yeah... is it cool with you?" I asked Taylor.

"It's fine. You guys just gotta make sure I don't get lost or anything." Taylor said and his voice sounded so much more... throaty.

Looking at him in person gave me the same feeling with Zac but less intense. They both were real people and seeing them in person only made it more obvious. As we walked, I could tell that Zac was staying very close to Taylor and not being real eager to move away from him, which didn't really strike me, was odd. It was there first time seeing each other and again, from Zac told me, they were very close. It was pretty clear that he wasn't lying because Taylor seemed to be surprisingly at ease... more so than I would have expected. Maybe Zac's presence was calming to him and if it was, it didn't surprise me in the least.

As we made our way to the room, accompanied by two new agents, Zac was talking non-stop about the place and Taylor, whom I assume was well used to it, just looked around in awe and nodded occasionally. It looked like the poor guy hadn't been able to wash his hair in several days and it was a feeling I knew all too well. The whole process of admitting and traveling to the compound left nearly no time for any personal grooming and I then smiled at the thought of the three of us, three young men, using the bathroom in the morning. It wasn't going to be pretty... the mess of wet hair and clothes... yuck.

Keri met us again at the entrance to the D sector and as we walked up, it looked like she was talking with several other agents. She looked up and she didn't exactly look healthy. The toll of losing Brandon, bringing Taylor in, and whatever else had happened was quite obviously weighing on her really heavily. She rubbed her eyes and walked up to us.

"Hi Keri," I said, "Is everything OK?"

"Yeah, we're just looking for one of our agents," She waved it off and smiled, "How are you boys doing?"

"We're dope." Zac said.

"Maybe you," I said to him and turned back to Keri, "Are you sure everything is OK?"

"Yeah, Reid. Don't worry about it," She turned to Taylor, "How are you doing?"

"I'm cool. Just takin' it all in." He said, "All the staring is hard to get used to."

"Well, that'll stop when you're suited up and in the swing of things. Go on to your room and get settled." Keri said and walked away, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something serious was wrong.

"Reid? Come on..." Zac said and I looked up and noticed that he and Taylor were walking ahead. Zac stopped and took my hand, pulling me up to speed as we walked to the room. When we reached the door, I noticed that the ID pad had changed to contain three names:

ROOM 33A

R.CAMERON/Z.HANSON/J.HANSON

PRIVACY: PREFERRED & SECURITY ENFORCED

Wow, I thought, they have us on security enforcement. They obviously weren't going to take any chances now that our room contained two very blond, very tempting teen idols. For a second, I wondered what the "J" stood for before I remembered that Taylor was his middle name. I guess I had a lot to get used to.

Taylor looked a little apprehensive when Zac grabbed his hand and pressed the first two fingers onto the pad, "Zac, what are you doing?"

"It'll only sting for a second."

When the pad beeped, Taylor hissed sharply and pulled his fingers back and looked at the two tiny red spots on his fingers. He put them in his mouth for a few seconds and made a hurt face at me before we all went into the room, and I nearly choked at how hot and humid the air was.

"Apparently, a certain someone didn't turn on the A/C." I said firmly to Zac.

"Hey, I was excited!" Zac said and hip checked me softly.

"So... this is home?" Taylor said, sitting down on the edge of the bed and looking around.

"Yup. It may not be mainstream, but it's a lot less hostile." I said, sitting down at Zac's desk. Zac had sat down next to Taylor on the bed, staying close to him. It was sweet.

"It's worth it, then." He said, looking up at the squares on the ceiling, "What are those for?"

"That's the 'sexual aid' dispenser. If you need KY Jelly, it will provide it."

"Ah," Taylor said, blushing slightly, "I'll bet you guys wear it out, huh?"

"Shut up!" Zac laughed.

"So where's my uniform?" Taylor asked, getting with the program.

Zac hopped up and grabbed the bundle of clothes from the dresser, "Right here. What size do you want? Large, Extra Large, or Medium?"

"Medium is what I usually go for." He said and I was surprised with how well he was adapting.

Zac handed him the medium outfit and he headed for the bathroom. When the door was closed, Zac grabbed me by the arm and pulled me over onto the bed, "What do you think?"

"He's cool." I said, not sure what he wanted me to say.

Zac smiled and nodded as we sat there and listened to the sounds in the bathroom. So far as good, I thought. Taylor and I had gotten along fairly well and we'd managed to make Zac happy. Whether or not we could actually build on it would remain to be seen. It was hard for me to form an opinion of Taylor because we had said about five words combined to each other and I knew that if we were going to live together for the immediate future, we'd be talking a lot more. There was no way I couldn't have a relationship with someone so important to Zac and I was willing to put up with almost anything if it made him happy. But it was so hard to get a read on Taylor because he was so shy.

The door opened and Taylor came out wearing the uniform and he looked better in it than I would have thought. He sat down next to me on the bed and I immediately got a rush from behind in-between them. It was a powerful feeling. Zac squirmed and got a sheepish look on his face.

"What?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"I have to..." He trailed off and looked down.

"Ewww... go outside and do it." Taylor said and held his face away from Zac, and he was obviously familiar.

"I have to do it in the solid form. I gotta take a dump."

He sat there for a few seconds and didn't move.

"Go!" Taylor and I both said at nearly the same time.

"OK," Zac said as he grabbed a copy of Rolling Stone from the nightstand, "You guys talk and get to know each other."

He disappeared into the bathroom and left Taylor and myself sitting on the bed next to each other.

"The uniform is really comfortable." He said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, it really is. You'll appreciate it when you're spending the day out moving around and doing stuff."

"My pale legs look horrible, though." He said and laid back on his elbows.

"A few days out in the courtyard will cure that. When I got here, I was pale and sick looking. When you start taking advantage of the climate and temperature, your body will adjust and your skin will tan really nicely. Especially if you have clubs that let you get outside once in a while."

"Cool, what clubs are you in?" He leaned up on his elbow and I felt comfortable with him surprisingly quickly.

"Mostly art stuff. I take visual arts, which is movie viewing and physical arts which is pottery and painting and all that stuff. The rest of my time, I'm in book clubs and working with the environmental science department."

"Right on. Are you going to school?"

"Not currently. I'm just exploring my interests."

"That's cool." He said and got quiet for a second, "Reid, you and I need to be cool with each other."

I was relieved and grateful that he brought it up, "Yeah, we do."

"Mom showed us pictures of you and even after she said how cool you were, I still felt kinda protective over Zac. Like I've always felt that way about him and even when she said that you were really cool, I was kinda doubtful. What I'm saying is that I may still be protective and if I am, I'm sorry."

"That's fine, Taylor."

"Call me Tay."

"All right. Don't worry about Zac. Worry about you getting adjusted. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told him: the best way to go is to just accept this place. Don't constantly think about before because it will give you an ulcer if you do. Try and remember that you don't have to be afraid here and if you accept it, it can be a cool place."

"Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't have come out if I didn't at least understand what this is. I just couldn't handle keeping it inside anymore... And I couldn't handle--"

He was interrupted by a loud straining groan from inside the bathroom. He continued, "I couldn't handle the thought of Zac going through this alone when I was just as guilty as he was. It really tore me up inside and if I didn't come in here and be honest with myself, it would have killed me. I mean, I didn't think of all the fans or anything. All I could think of was that I was living a lie and I couldn't do it anymore."

"Yeah. You had to be yourself before you could be someone for your fans."

"Yeah... and the only thing I regret was that I let Zac go through it all alone. But now I can tell it was for the best because he found you but I still feel bad. Like I can only imagine what it was like to come in here alone and I'm 17 and I could barely handle it. It's such a relief to see him happy but it's still hard to think about."

"It kills me to think about how it felt for him." I said and we sat in silence.

"I'm sorry for gushing all this out to you." He said and smiled slightly.

"It's all right. I don't mind listening. I'm good at it."

"Cool." He smiled again. And we were cool with each other.

As if on cue, the toilet flushed and the door opened. Zac came out and said, "Nobody better go in there for a while."

"Yeah," Taylor said and sat up, "Reid, can I talk to Zac along? Is that cool with you?"

"Sure, Tay. I can go if there are any new openings in the club listings. I'll meet you guys at the private room for lunch?" I said as I got up off the bed and walked over to the door.

"Cool." Zac said and kissed me twice, once on the cheek and once on the lips before I left.

=Later...=

After the long walk down to the activity center, during which I fielded what must have been hundreds of indirect questions about Taylor, I made my way back up and followed the directions to the room which Zac, Tay, and I would be eating in. When I got there, Agt. Romano introduced herself to me and she apparently had been assigned the duty of guarding our mealtimes. She seemed pleasant enough and opened the door for me and let me in. As a force of habit, I looked both ways to make sure Zac and Taylor weren't right behind me and about to get their fingers or feet smashed in the door. I guess it was a habit from growing up with four younger siblings. Once I got in, I was pleasantly surprised.

Our dining room was more than an empty conference room; it nicely set up with a square table with nice settings and real glass dishes and authentic silverware. The walls were pained dark blue and the room was dimly lit and quite pleasant. Agt. Romano informed me that when Taylor and Zac arrived, the kitchen staff would bring us several steam trays of food that we liked. It made me smile because it was the kind of extravagant treatment that I wasn't used to. I was so surprised by it that I stood there for a few seconds wondering what I was supposed to do.

My eyes scanned the room and I spotted a medium sized black foam barrel shaped cooler sitting on a stool by the table. I walked over and pulled up the foam flap that acted as a lid. The cooler was filled with ice and cans of Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, and Mug Root Beer. Real soda, pretty nice, I thought. Then I felt guilty because everyone else was having to drink processed juice and milk along with their food. But I guess they weren't fortunate enough to be rooming with two rockstars! Heh heh heh. Ummm... anyway. I let the lid of the cooler drop and pulled out a chair from the table and sat down, enjoying the padded feel of the chair.

Outside the hall, I could hear the familiar rumble that meant Zac was in the area and I smiled. We had only been apart for about 45 minutes but I still missed him like crazy. I heard Agt. Romano introducing herself and I stood up and walked over to the door. The heavy blue door swung open and Zac walked in, taking in the surroundings with Taylor doing his best to blend in behind him. After giving an approving nod, Zac and I kissed a few times and hugged, making up for the horrible time we were separated. I looked at Zac with a question and he nodded reassuringly, telling me silently that things would be OK.

Agt. Romano contacted the kitchen staff through her communicator as Taylor and I sat down at the table, but Zac stood in front of his chair and looked at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked, looking at him while Taylor explored the cooler.

"Aren't you going to pull my chair out?" He said in a snotty tone.

"Oh where ARE my manners..." I stood up and held the chair out and when he sat down, I shoved it in firmly. He yelped in mock pain before laughing and reaching up to tickle me as I sat back down. Taylor had pulled out a can of each drink and by process of elimination, figured out that the Pepsi was mine. Zac snapped open his Dr. Pepper and took a long chug as Taylor and I both braced against the belch that came seconds later. Once it was passed, we both relaxed and waited for the food to arrive.

"So, what do you think, Tay?" I asked, smiling at Zac as I felt his foot rub my leg.

"It's cool. Like, when we walked down here I felt safe for the first time, you know? Like I didn't have to worry about people guessing that I'm gay because they all know. I didn't mind the staring so much because it was respectful and I didn't feel like I was in danger or anything." Taylor said, and I admired his chattiness.

"That's cool," I nodded and turned to Zac, "Did you wash your hands after you took a dump?"

Instantly he looked guilty and walked towards the door quickly to go wash his hands. I shuddered and took a drink of Pepsi to try and shift my senses away from it. Once he was out of the room, Taylor looked at me with an astounded look on his face.

"What did you do to him?" He asked.

"Huh?"

"Zac is so different. Like, he's all sweet and affectionate." Taylor sounded so amazed.

"He's been like that the whole time he's been here." I said, shrugging.

"Reid..." Taylor seemed at a loss for words, "The first thing Zac did when he saw me was he hugged me. He hugged me and he kissed me on the cheek. Before, his greeting was to smack somebody in the shoulder and make fun of their clothes or something. And the whole time we talked in the room and the walk down here, he was so... happy. It's like the whole time before he left, he was this sarcastic, bull headed, smartass who could never be sincere."

"Wow..."

"Yeah. But now, Zac is like this sweet, long haired, teddy bear." Taylor sat back and shook his head.

"Is that bad?"

"No! It's a nice surprise. When mom got back, she said he seemed really happy but she didn't mention that he was all humanitarian and stuff. It's really cool but I'm gonna have to get used to it because for so long, I was used to him answering every question with some smartass answer. Now he's all genuine... but it's cool."

"I guess I've had a big influence on him." I said, at a loss for words.

"Yeah, you have. When he first came in here, I was scared shitless that he'd get molested but now it's like I'm so relieved because he found somebody really cool," He said and I blushed, "It makes me feel a lot better about being here and being with you guys. I mean, I know it sounds kinda corny but... I don't know, I guess I want us to be kind of a family. Like, you're gonna marry Zac and be my brother-in-law and you guys will be all I've got. I want us to be cool."

"We will be. And then when you find someone, he'll be a member of the family, hopefully."

"That'll be a while, probably." He said and studied his knife.

"So you're gonna latch onto to me and Zac constantly until we kick you out long enough to be alone?"

He took a deep breath and paused, "Yeah, I will. For the time being. Do you mind?"

I laughed, "I think it'll be cool."

Taylor smiled and Zac burst through the door, flushed and sweaty as he stumbled back into his seat and took several chugs of Dr. Pepper. When he caught his breath, he said, "I had to go all the way back to the damn room to wash my hands!"

We smiled and only seconds later, the kitchen staff arrived with about five steam trays filled with breaded fish and chips, chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, and rice. Apparently Keri had pulled some strings to see that our first meal together would be better than average. As I dished up and watched Tay and Zac nearly empty the trays with one scoop, it made me dread what kinds of bare bones meals we would be getting in the future.

=Taybear & Devon=

Okay, Dev. You can do this. Just go up to him and talk. He's a normal guy and I'm sure he just wants to be treated that way. It'll be fine. Devon thought as he walked over to Taylor's desk nervously. His hands were shaking and he jammed them in his pockets as he pretended to not be too interested.

"Hey." He said pleasantly.

"Hi." Taylor looked up, "Hey... aren't you that risk taker dude?"

"Yeah, I am. Your familiar with my work?"

"Uh... yeah, kinda. We watched when you swam from Alcatraz. That must have made your nuts ache."

"Oh yeah." Devon blushed at Taylor's flirtiness.

"You want to sit with me? It might help to have another famous person to chill with."

Devon sat down slowly next to Taylor and his head felt light when he caught the scent of soap and cologne coming off the slender rock star. He rubbed his hands nervously on the legs of his shorts and tried to get a hold of his pounding heart. This was all too much, he thought. There's no way this is happening.

"Hey, after class do you want go chill in the courtyard? We can exchange childhood fame stories." Taylor asked.

"Yeah! That would be awesome." Devon said and cringed at his doofy language.

"Cool. I'm kinda lonely. Reid and Zac are getting married tomorrow and I'm kinda on my own."

=The night before...=

Taylor's first few days had gone better than probably anyone could have expected. He got settled and started his classes and showed a lot of adapting skills which took a lot of the pressure off Zac and let us prepare for the wedding. But of course, Taylor was telling the truth and nearly every minute we weren't sleeping or at our classes, it was the three of us hanging out. But I didn't mind because Taylor was a cool guy and it didn't bother me to share my time with him. He was considerate and very respectful which went a long ways towards earning my appreciation.

I'd only seen Devon once and when I asked Taylor, he didn't mention anything and that was fine. Devon had wanted to go at his own speed and if that meant waiting a while, then I was cool with that. I had also seen Jake and talked to him for a few brief minutes and the kid actually seemed to be getting better. He made his peace with Zac and now that Brandon was gone, he didn't have a walking reminder of all the pain. But I still felt for him and hoped that he would find someone that would make him happy because he deserved it just as much as anyone.

I had been so caught up in Taylor, that I'd almost totally forgotten about Zac and I tying the knot. It wasn't like I didn't recognized the significance of getting married and I didn't "neglect" Zac's and my commitment for Taylor. It was more like my desire to help had taken over and before I knew it, Keri sent me a message reminding me that I had extra shower time that I remembered. And it was the day before, none the less. Zac was so excited about it and insisted that we start our life together on the right foot by sleeping in different rooms and not seeing each other the night before. It didn't take much pleading to Keri. She understood the sanctity of marriage and how important good luck was, so she let me sleep on the couch of her apartment, and it was decided that Zac and Tay would stay back at the room. It was a minor inconvenience but when Zac asked me, I just couldn't turn down those caramel eyes.

At about 8:00pm after dinner, Zac and I parted at the door with a long kiss and I carried by "wedding uniform" which in reality was no different than my every day outfit, down to Keri's place. I had pushed to the back of my mind that I still didn't have any vows and I figured it would be better to write them the next day. Over the years in high school, I'd convinced myself the "working under pressure" led to my best work but I knew that in this situation, the occasion was way too serious and special to rifle out some half assed words. I had to honestly express how much Zac meant to me.

"Keri? It's Reid." I said, knocking on the door.

I stood there and got a chill thinking that normally, I would have asked to stay with Brandon. Ugh. After a minute, Keri answered the door and let me in. She was looking a little better but still looked a bit bothered by something. I didn't want to press her on it so I kept my mouth shut.

"Come on in. You sure you don't want the bed?" She asked.

"No, it's cool. The couch is fine." I said, dropping my clothes on the coffee table and sitting down.

She had gotten several blankets and pillows to make sure I was comfortable. The couch didn't feel uncomfortable at all and it would serve it's purpose just fine. That was when I remembered the notepad in front of me. My brain felt fatigued and I rubbed my eyes and tried to come up with some great opening line for my vows. I had been brainstorming all day but it just wasn't working for me and the longer I took, the more I knew that the quality was going to suffer. All I needed was the one idea... the one starter that would get the ball rolling and I knew that when I found it, the rest would come along easy. Just one good line to start it off. That's all I needed but nothing was coming to me. It was like some Kafka-esque short story. Well, not really.

Damn near an hour was spent staring at the empty notepad, trying to come up with something that would lead to great prose. I searched my soul, my heart, my life, and everything else they tried to teach me in creative writing class but it either seemed too stupid or too sappy for Zac. My vows needed to express how I felt about him but not go over board and make it seem like I was putting undo pressure on him. But that was kind of hard not to do considering everything he had done for me since I'd met him. The words had to be there but as much as I tried, they just couldn't come out onto the paper...

=Before bed...=

"Do you like him? I mean, really."

"Yeah, I do. He's really cool."

"You mean it?"

"Yeah. I'm still getting used to what he turned you into, but I'm not complaining about that."

"What I mean is... it means a lot to me if you like him."

"I like him a lot. I've only known him for a couple days but from what I've seen, like he seems like he loves you really a lot and cares about you. He puts up with all your gross habits and I'm sure he's woken up with your pit in his face and he's still here. That should mean quite a bit. That you can be yourself with him."

"Yeah. Remember when we talked about that?"

"Sure."

"I never thought I'd find anyone besides you that I could be cool with."

"And you have.... Oh whew man, was that you?"

"Yeah, sorry."

"It's OK."

"So do you like Devon?"

"He seems cool but there isn't anything there. Like I don't think we'll be more than buds."

"Does he feel that way too?"

"Yeah. He's the one who mentioned it."

"Tay..."

"Yeah, Zac?"

"Are you going to be there tomorrow?"

"If you want me to."

"Of course! You're my brother. Duh."

"Cool."

"Thanks, Tay."

"Go to sleep. You're getting married tomorrow."

=Still searching...=

It's past 11pm. That was the only thing I was thinking. I had been sitting on Keri's couch for almost three hours trying to come up with just the first line of my vows. Taking off my shirt hadn't helped the creative flow and neither had twenty pushups. Nothing was working for me. All that entered my mind was that it was 11pm and I hadn't written one line yet. It was frustrating because I knew that it would only take that first line to get it going. I had tried brainstorming all the wonderful things about Zac and all the ways he'd touched me, both physically and emotionally, and I'd tried to think back to the first time I saw him on MTV or the first time I'd seen him in person, our first kiss, our first hand holding... I tried everything. But none of it was working. My creativity was suffering a complete and total breakdown at absolutely the worst possible time.

The pen dropped from my hand and my body fell back against the couch cushions. Something inside me was ready to resign and just wing it but then I told myself that Zac was way too important to do that. In the soft glow of the lamp, I looked at the spider ring on my finger and thought about how in twenty-four hours, it would be replaced by a gold band. A gold ring that would signify the bond between two people, two young men who were once lonely but now had been rescued. And then right as I thought I had an opening line, it evaporated and left me high and dry again.

"Reid? Shouldn't you be trying to sleep?" Keri said, walking over behind the couch.

"Yeah, I should. But I need to write my vows." I said, the second sentence garbled by my hands rubbing my face.

"What's the problem?" She asked, sitting on the back of the couch.

"Everytime I try and write something, it just seems so stupid. This is one of those rare situations where you know that you can't mess it up. I need to have something that will express my feelings."

"Just express your feelings for Zac. Write down how you feel."

"I've tried that. It comes out stupid."

"Reid," She put her hand on my shoulder, "It may sound stupid to you because not even Shakespeare could accurately record your feelings for him. What you think is stupid may sound beautiful to Zac. Just look inside yourself, all at once, and tell Zac how you feel. Don't worry about length or making it sound elegant... just be honest. If your heart is in it, it won't be stupid."

It was sage advice. Keri smiled and patted me on the shoulder before going back into he room and closing the door. Her words still sinking into my subconscious, words that I knew were right but hadn't really accepted until right then. The part about not worrying whether it sounded good to me was especially enlightening because no matter how good the words I wrote actually were, they would never seem good enough, at least to me personally. I'd have to sit back and look at my words from a different perspective. When I thought of it that way, it didn't sound so daunting...

=The next day...=

How the hell was he going to get married if he couldn't stop the shaking?!

In about fifteen minutes, you're gonna get married, Zac told himself. His hands had been shaking like leaves since he'd woken up that morning and even during the shower, getting dressed, having breakfast with Tay, and then when he'd applied a few more handfuls of cologne, they had been just jigglin' away. Even then, as he sat in the small dressing room that led into the "wedding room", his hands were still quaking and it felt like at least an 8 on the Richter scale. It was the shake of an excited young man and just the thought of what was going to happen made Zac grin like a big doofus.

He could hardly sit still and the red plastic chair under him was seriously starting to make his butt ache. Everytime he shifted around to give his cheeks some air, the tape in his pocket rustled and caught his attention. Right up until that moment, he'd been prepared to play the tape for his vows but even though the thing was only a few days old, it still seemed... old. It didn't seem like the way that Zac Hanson would express his love. It just seemed so mundane. Zac smiled and congratulated himself at using such a high brow word in his thoughts. Score one for Prozac, he thought and chuckled.

Another more pertinent (Hey! Another high brow word...) thought entered Zac's head. The night before, he'd been burning brain cells trying to imagine what Reid was going to say. He really didn't want to get all his hopes up and then have Reid be all, "Uhhh... for better or worse" and shit like that. It was the kind of thing that most people would think Reid would say... but Zac had learned more than a few times that Reid wasn't about doing what most people thought, and even then, Zac didn't really think like most people. He had made a reputation by doing the opposite of what people thought. It was his charm, he thought and smiled as he scratched his knee.

You're gonna be 15 and married. An old married woman. You and Reid are gonna be like those old people who constantly bug on each other about the volume of the TV. You guys are gonna shuffle down the hall together, holding hands and looking for the perfect blended food. Zac began to laugh and took a deep breath as he thought of all the cool things that being married would lead to. He was the first Hanson brother to get married which was a little freaky considering Ike was pegged as the romantic one.

The wild, youngest member of the band was the first to fall in love and follow up on it. God, how cool was that, Zac thought. He had actually found a sweet, sexy, smart, hot guy that made all the years of faking people out and hiding his real self worth it. Damn! First he had gotten to spent three years of his life as a rock star, and then right when he thought it was all over, he opens his eyes and sees Reid. Talk about winning the lottery. It was still hard for Zac to believe that he'd really, truly found someone he could open up to.

Somewhere between the tours, and albums, TV appearances, and screaming girls who made Zac's nuts ache and not in the good way... he had closed off a large part of himself. He'd put up a huge wall around his soul, a wall that held in all the tears and real feelings that needed to be let out but got kept in. The rare times anyone saw it were when Zac just couldn't hold it in anymore or when he got so frustrated or tired that it all came out. From then on, he'd associated the tears and real feelings with fatigue, pain, or frustration and it all closed off and before Zac knew it, whenever he tried to be real with someone, it came out as some joke or insult. It was like he couldn't let himself be real or it would let in more pain or fatigue or frustration...

Reid had changed that almost immediately. He felt comfortable for the first time with someone other than Taylor and the comfort was different. It was bigger and he felt it as soon as he saw Reid for the first time. He knew it was the real deal when they spent the first afternoon eating together and then when Reid hugged Zac... really held him and made it feel not so hopeless right when he needed it... Zac knew that Reid was different. There wouldn't be any pain or frustration when he opened up to Reid. What he had feared would feel really bad actually felt good... it felt so good to be open and honest and from there, it just got easier to open up to people.

Somewhere deep down, Zac had known that when he finally found happiness with another person, it would be another guy. He was surprised that for all the time he was on MTV or on tour, the girls didn't pick up on the uninterested vibe he gave off. There really wasn't any other way to think of it. The girls were just scream machines who tried to rip his clothes and yank out locks of his hair. How could he be blamed for not jumping at the chance to spend his life with one? Reid had taught him to thank God for the gift of being gay because otherwise, he'd probably end up with some girl who fell in love with his energy and then expected it to stop. He had always known that only another guy... another guy who could understand the whole male mindset... only someone who appreciated the art of singing with both holes could make Zac happy. And Reid appreciated him. Reid appreciated the mix of wacky, hyperness and quiet, thoughtfulness and he didn't make Zac feel bad for possessing both traits. Shit, he made Zac feel GOOD for being a very multi-faceted (hey, that's three!) person.

Reid made it OK for him to be himself. Just the thought made Zac feel all shaky inside. Zac looked up at the ceiling... looking through it... looking into the sky... he took a long breath...

"Thank you."

=The ceremony...=

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together to join Reid Lewis Cameron and Zachary Walker Hanson together in holy matrimony. Who gives Zac away?... Anyone?"

"Oh! Uhhh... I do. I give him away. Or ... how do I say it... his brother does."

"Very well. I've been told that they wish to exchange vows of their own creation. Zac, you may go first."

"OK, cool... Reid, I know I said I was going to play that tape again and but I don't really want to. I've said all the really heartfelt stuff before and you know how I feel. And I know that this might feel like one of those Oprah shows with the person telling their old parents how they feel and shi--uhhh... stuff. Sorry, your honor."

"It's all right. Continue."

"So it's not gonna to be all awkward and stuff because you know how I feel. And I know that it would just make you feel kinda weird to have to stand here and listen to all so I'm not gonna do that. You know how I feel... I've said it a bunch of times. You know that I love you when I thought I'd never love anybody 'like that'. So yeah... I want you to know that this is the coolest feeling I've ever felt. And it feels so cool because I love you so much.... So that's it."

"Reid?"

"Well jeez... mine are gonna sound so cheesy now!... OK OK, I'll read them anyway."

"Hurry. There's cake."

"Hey, you made the big deal about writing our own vows..."

"Sorry. Go ahead."

"I could have stood here and quoted lyrics from Weird and done the whole 'we're strangers on a runaway train' thing but that just seemed way too phony and it wouldn't really capture how I feel about you. I could say about how you've changed my life and how you've made me so happy but that would just be too sappy. So I called your mom."

"Huh? Why?"

"I called her to ask for ideas on how to express my feelings for you and she read me a little saying that your dad wrote to her when they were just starting to date. Then I kinda filed that away in my mind and until last night, I didn't think of it. But now I know that it's perfect for how I feel."

"What is it?"

"The quote was, 'I don't wish to be everything to everyone, but I would like to be something to someone.'"

"Oh wow..."

"Yeah. And if you know one thing, I hope you know that you're everything to me. You make it worth my effort to open my eyes in the morning when I know you'll be there. And I never want you to forget that you made what I thought was a wasted life seem worthwhile again. And the only way I can pay you back is to make sure that you feel loved forever."

"Now wait, don't kiss yet-- don't kiss yet. May we have the rings please... Zac, place the ring on Reid's finger... Now repeat after me: with this ring, I thee wed."

"With this ring, I thee wed."

"Reid, place the ring on Zac's finger... Now repeat after me: with this ring, I thee wed."

"With this ring, I thee wed."

"I now pronounce you... well, what should I pronounce you?"

"Together."

"You are now together. You may... continue kissing."

=The wedding night...=

After the small party, Zac and I had been lead up a small dark staircase and for a moment I wondered what it was all leading to. I was still beginning to realize what had happened as we were guided through a door and out into the warm evening air. It was what I could only guess was an old helicopter-landing pad on top of the D sector and in the center, an elegantly furnished table had been set up. The only light was coming off a circle of floodlights that had been lit for what must have been the first time in months as we were guided over to the table and sat down.

What followed was probably the most filling and satisfying meal of my life. We were served steaks and potatoes and cooked carrots and peas and we even got real sparkling cider to drink. It was pretty obvious that Keri had pulled some major strings to get us treated so well. Zac and I didn't say much during dinner, mostly because Zac had taken it upon himself to put this catering company out of business from lack of food. He must have eaten ten helpings of the food but they just keep bringing it willingly so it couldn't have been too big an inconvenience for them. It wasn't much for romance but it was still nice. I knew the romance would be coming later.

After the dinner had been consumed, we sat there for a long time just looking up at the sky. It was a clear night but there was an odd buzz in the air, but it wasn't heavy enough to be unpleasant. The stars were out and we saw some of the same constellations we'd seen after we said goodbye to Mrs. Hanson and the memory gave me a pleasant rush. As we sat there and looked up, Zac lifted his foot up and rested it on my knee and it was a nice connection. We sat and looked up as I gently stroked the line where his sock ended and his bare leg began. It didn't take long before goosebumps were standing up on his tanned skin.

The agent who had been serving us came back one last time to make sure we were all right and that's when I decided to make my move. When she had left, I smiled and pulled a long, velvet-lined box out of my pocket and held it in my hands. As geeky as it sounded, I was a little nervous.

"What's that?" Zac asked.

"It's my wedding present to you."

I smiled again, stood up and walked over behind Zac who leaned his head back and looked up at me. Making a concerted effort not to get sidetracked by his eyes, I gently guided his head foreword and lifted his soft ponytail up off the back of his neck. The warm air on the back of his neck made him shiver slightly and I took the opportunity to lean down and nuzzle him and make him shiver even more. I handed him the box and he opened it, revealing a thin gold necklace that had cost me basically my entire credit account that I'd earned from working with Dr. Howard. Zac smiled and rested his hand on my knee as I draped the necklace around him and fastened it securely at the back. When I let his hair fall back down, he leaned back and we kissed softly but he pulled back.

"We have to go to the honeymoon suite." He said and gave my knee a slight squeeze, which made me jerk slightly.

He giggled and stood up slowly before taking my hand and leading me back over towards the door from which we'd entered. The short stairway was dark and Zac seemed to know the way as he guided me down and through another smaller door and into a dimly lit hallway. The place didn't look familiar at all and if it was public domain, I'd never seen it before. The hallway we were in looked nicer than the normal ones in the dormitories and Zac slowly pulled me along until we reached an unmarked door at the end of the hall. I couldn't help but look behind me to see if any guards were going to bust us for breaking and entering.

Zac pulled a small key out of his pocket and unlocked the door quickly. When it swung open and I got my first look at the room, it nearly made me pass out. The room was giant and it looked like, if it belonged to anyone, it was the warden's private suite or something. The room was completely round and standing out from the wall as a large, four-post bed with white silk sheets and a polished oak frame. The walls had been painted white and there were various works of art hanging on the round walls complete with small lights illuminating them from above. There was a small table and on it, sat a stereo and it wasn't the cheap version I had... it was a real stereo. About 20 feet from the foot of the bed was a white chair.

Zac released my hand and pulled me into a hug, wrapping his arms around me and holding me so tight my lungs began to squeeze. His grip softened and he pressed his lips on me and blessed me with the warmest, longest, most loving kiss I think I'd ever felt in my life. His hands crept up the back of my shirt and it made me feel lightheaded as he kissed me a few more times in his trademark rapid fire method. Then we just held each other... then we kissed again. It was great.

"Where are we?" I asked him.

"Keri called in some favors and got the warden to let us use the 'presidential suite' for the night." He said, blowing in my ear.

We kissed for a few more minutes before Zac pulled off and guided me to the padded white chair in the middle of the room. He was grinning like a maniac as he ran over to the stereo in the corner and fooled with it for several minutes, and it looked like he was being very specific about the song he was going to play. The chair felt so comfortable under me that the extra time he was spending was pretty worth it and my hard on was beginning to flex with anticipation. The whole thing was just so exciting. We were married, for Christ's sake. And he obviously had a pretty special surprise planned for me.

"Just another minute over here." Zac called and his voice sounded rickety with excitement.

Might as well get comfortable, I thought and settled back in the chair and crossed my leg over my knee. The room felt so comfortable because of the air conditioning and it was still sinking in that Zac and I were getting to stay in what had been made to resemble a real hotel room. My fingertips drummed on my knee as I waited and admired the sight of Zac bent over slightly by the stereo, his hair hanging down in his face as he did so. His leg was shaking a little which was a pretty sure sign that he was tremendously excited about what he was doing. It looked like he was trying to hurry but we both knew he didn't have to. We had all night.

A bolt of adrenaline hit me when I saw Zac stand up and smile to himself as I knew that whatever was going to happen, it was going to be right now. My eyes shut, I took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly through my mouth and took a sip from the glass of water with a slightly shaking hand. It would be mighty embarrassing to pass out from excitement at this point. Zac walked slowly back to me and kissed me again, much more slowly and with much more feeling than he had when we first got in. A few seconds later, a song I knew I'd heard before but couldn't place began to play on the stereo.

Baby, take off your coat...

Real slow...

And take off your shoes, I'll take off your shoes,

Baby, take off your dress, yeah yeah yeah...

You can leave your hat on...

You can leave your hat on...

You can leave your hat on...

You can leave your hat on...

Zac began to swivel his hips in the most ungraceful "sexy" dance I'd ever seen but at that moment, it was impossible for me to imagine anything being more erotic. He pulled up his shirt slightly to expose his bare stomach but quickly pushed it back down and thrust his ass back at me, and when I reached out and touched it, he playfully slapped my hand away. My head began to feel like it was filled with helium as I watched him. He leaned in and straddled me, thrusting his crotch at me and nearly brushing my chest with it, and it felt like some hypnotizing technique. I could smell his excitement and the musky scent was nearly driving me into a lust filled trance.

Go over there, turn off the light...

Come over here, stand on that chair,

Raise your arms up in the air...

Now shake 'em,

You give me reason to live,

You give me reason to live,

You give me reason to live,

You give me reason to live,

He turned over and laid on his back on top of me, grinding his ass back on my crotch. Zac grabbed my hand and placed it firmly on his crotch and he thrust several times into me, twisting his hips in an erotic ballet. The song just fit him so perfectly as he rubbed himself against me and danced, looking like the world's most graceful performer to me. I could feel the sweat on his back against my legs through his shirt and he arched his back, looking up at me and blowing me a kiss. His hands traveled down and held mine as he rubbed himself with them, pressing them against his bulge and thrusting his hips, grinding back on me and mashing his body into mine.

These minds keep talkin,

They try to tear us apart,

They don't believe in this love of mine,

They don't know what love is,

They don't know what love is,

They don't know what love is,

I know what love is...

He stood up and jerked his body in time with the music and all I could do was rest my chin in my hand and watch, so turned on that nothing could have killed my buzz. He continued to work his hips around and he slid his hands up under his shirt, rubbing his chest and stomach and only giving me sparing glimpses. His cheeks were fairly flushed and he was sweating in the heat of the moment while his hair was starting to look a little scraggly and greasy in the dim mood lighting. His chest heaved and he winked at me and bit his lower lip, pulling down his shorts just far enough to expose the top of his ass, teasing me with the hint. He strutted his way back behind the chair and when I leaned my head back, he kissed me and in my upside down position, I got a long, deep shot of his scent. It was sweat mixed with CKBE and soap. The best smell in the world.

The song stopped on the stereo and Zac fell forward over the arm of the chair into my lap and laid on me like a baby. He was breathing heavily and smiling, and I felt his hand reach up and stroke my neck with a sweaty palm. I think he was too tired to say anything but even so, no words were necessary as I leaned in and kissed him gently, feeling his hot breath in my mouth. He licked my chin playfully and took my hand and gently guided it up under his shirt and onto his stomach. Zac regained his breath and kissed me again, giggling softly and adjusting himself to accommodate the straining erection in his shorts. He stood up and pulled me with him as the next song on the album played and it was one I recognized.

Hold on ... I'll be back for you, It won't be long ... But for now there's something else, That's calling me.... So take me down a lonesome road, Point me east and let me go, That suitcase weighs me down, With memories ...

He embraced me as Joe Cocker sang the opening lyrics as we began to dance slowly. He looked into my eyes and again, I saw the maturity but it didn't embarrass me or make me want to turn away. It made me want to look into them forever and feel that maturity and youth and love for as long as God would let me stay on earth. It was at that moment that I realized why I had been put on this planet and it made me remember all the nights that I had laid in bed hiding from my father when I'd asked why God would test me so much. It was to make sure I was worthy of having this moment. It was to make sure that I'd appreciate feeling the love and amazement that was filling my soul at that exact moment.

I just wanna be the one you run to, I just wanna be the one you come to, I just wanna be there for someone... When the night comes, Let's put all the cares behind us... And go where they'll never find us, I just wanna be there beside you... When the night comes, When the night comes...

Zac kissed me again and laid his head on my shoulder and wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me tightly as the music took us away. I could feel his heart beating against my chest and I was pretty sure he could feel the same with me. I closed my eyes and sighed deeply, reveling in the magic of the moment and taking so much pleasure in being close to Zac. It wasn't really clear who was leading who but it was crystal clear, or it should have been to him, that I was enjoying it immensely. His warmth and and strength of him against me was all I could think about. There was no guest appearances by my family or anyone else at that point. We were the only two people in the world at that point.

Two spirits in the night That can leave before the morning light When there's nothing left to lose And nothing left to fear So meet me on the edge of town Won't keep you waiting I'll be 'round Then you and I We'll just roll right out of here

How appropriate. Two spirits whom everyone else saw as being dirty and bad finding security and love with each other. Usually when I thought about it, it would make me angry but it just let go because the sensation of his embrace around me was keeping everything bad out. His forehead felt so warm against my cheek and the ends of his hair tickled my forearms on his shoulders, and I was surprised at how good a slow dancer he was. There was no comical bumping and grinding here. He was holding me and moving with a methodical slowness that was oh so relaxing.

"I want to be the one you run to... when the night comes." Zac sang softly with the music, "I just wanna be there beside you... when the night comes..."

"Let's put all the cares behind us... And go where they'll never find us..." I responded.

I know there'll be a time for you and I Just take my hand and run away Think of all the pieces of the shattered dream We're gonna make it out some day We'll be coming back Coming back to stay When the night comes...

He pulled away from me and took my hand firmly and led me over to the bed where he sat down, squinting his eyes and looking up at me with his trademark sarcastic smile. I reached down and pulled his shirt up, baring his chest and stomach but when I tried to get it up over his head, it got caught in the necklace and he whimpered dramatically. I worked carefully and adjusted the necklace and I was able to pull the shirt up but I stopped when only his mouth was exposed and the rest of his head was covered by the damp shirt. When he smiled, he looked so goofy. I leaned in and kissed him several times before pulling the shirt up and off the rest of his face. He looked me in the eyes as the light from above the bed glistened off the gold of the necklace.

"Want your present?" He asked, smiling.

"You gave me the best present in the world."

He winked and leaned back, pushing his cloth covered erection in the air majestically as he rummaged under the bed before pulling out a shiny black shopping back. He sat up on the bed and dumped the bag out between us. The long, ribbed pink vibrator I was familiar with and just the sight of it nearly made me cum in my pants... but there was some other interesting material along with it. The first was a medium sized, red plaid thermos, the second was about eight packets of KY Jelly, and the third was a set of five long red silk straps. The first four straps were somewhat thin and elastic but the fifth was thicker and much less yielding.

Zac leaned in and whispered, "The bigger one is my blindfold."

Whoa... this was uncharted territory, "You mean... bondage?"

Zac smiled and laid back, spreading his arms and legs out to the corners of the bed and looking at me with the horniest look of expectation I'd ever seen. My eyes tore away from him and I opened the thermos and the thick scent of melted chocolate filled my nostrils. It was like my body was floating above the bed and watching the hottest porn movie I could ever have imaged in my life. It was just so... erotic. Zac wanted me to tie him up, rub hot melted chocolate into his skin, and then tease him with a vibrator. There was NO way this was really happening. This had to be a dream. This wasn't happening. This was all... fuck, it was awesome!

"You gonna tie me up? I think I feel some hyperness coming on and if I'm not restrained... there's no telling what I might do..." He began to squirm.

"OK..." I said and grabbed the straps in shaky hands.

Zac willingly went limp as I had more trouble than usual with his shoelaces and finally managed to get the shoes untied and onto the floor. His feet didn't smell as bad as I was used to but it wasn't like I was turning back at that point. His socks came off easily and ended up across the room where they rolled under the chair where we found them the next morning. After the socks came the shirt which ended up in a pile on the floor between his shoes. The goosebumps had spread to his bare chest and stomach as he limply went along with a disrobing. And he did it all with the same wistful, half-conscious smile on his face.

When it was all done, Zac was spread out on the bed in front of me wearing only the necklace against the dark skin of his chest and proudly displaying six inches of hard dick sticking up and into the air. I wasn't exactly sure where to start so I grabbed one of the straps and tied it slowly around his right ankle, drawing a quivering moan as the silk rubbed his skin. When I looked up, and behind the bouncing erection, he smiled and blew me a kiss. When I repeated with the left ankle, he moaned again and pressed his body into the mattress as I tied the other ends of the straps to the bedposts. It felt like I floated back to the top of the bed and tied his arms to the posts, doing my best not to cum from the hot breath against my neck and upper arms. I pulled off briefly and looked down at him, he was straining his head up at me trying to kiss me and puckering his lips eagerly. He had a look of frustration on his face as he did so and only when I leaned down and kissed him teasingly, did he seem to be satisfied. It left me with enough time to secure his arms to the posts. And when it was finished, he jerked his arms legs and tested the bindings... and boy were they ever secure. He seemed deliriously happy with it.

My knees were wobbly as I stood back and looked down, admiring Zac tied to the bed... totally helpless. But not really helpless because if anything happened, I would have untied him before anything else. But he wasn't looking to get untied anytime soon from the look on his face. I knew he was waiting for the blindfold but something inside me felt a little weird about it. I felt weird because he was showing such unwavering trust in me. This kid had let me tie him to the bed and now he was waiting for me to take his sight away. As weird as it was, I still found it really flattering and it felt good to know that someone would put their trust in me so completely.

An impatient moan from the hostage on the bed brought me back to reality and I picked up the blindfold and walked over to him. Zac looked up at me urgingly and when I hesitated, he groaned and kicked his leg against the strap. The whole thing was starting to cause a sensory overload in my brain and I nearly dropped the blindfold. After recovering my grip, I lowered it onto Zac's face and as soon as it covered his eyes, he cried out and jerked on the bed.

"What?! What's wrong?" I asked, pulling the blindfold away.

"Just kidding." He said and grinned cold-bloodedly.

My heart slowly went back down from my throat and I couldn't help but laugh, "Are you ready?"

"Yes. Don't worry about me. I trust you... I think." He trailed off.

"Zac..."

"Reid, of course I trust you. Now blindfold me."

I shook my head and lowered the black silk down over his eyes and tied it gently at the back of his head under the ponytail. I took great care in making sure that it wasn't too tight but still felt snug enough not to slip or cause a distraction during the heat of the moment. At that point, my mind was trying to block out exactly what was happening, namely that I had Zac Hanson naked and tied to the bed, because if I thought about it, his captive body would be streaked with my cum. This was one of those situations where the pre-orgasm excitement and tension would be cranked up to the max and if I blew my load so early, it would be a supremely missed opportunity. Even then, I still didn't know what to do first which was absolutely reprehensible.

I didn't have the time or testicular control to form a real complex battle plan as I started in the most sensible place. After getting my lips suitably moist, they found their way to the swelteringly clammy skin of his neck, licking and nibbling gently. There was no way he could direct me and my mouth was left to it's own pattern as the taste of his skin washed over my tongue. The muscles in his neck were tensed and with each stroke of my tongue, his body shook and he moaned. He wasn't fighting against the straps but more like moving with them and using their tension to pull his muscles rigid and urge his body up off the bed and against me. I felt the cool brush of his necklace against my cheek and I gently pulled it back with my teeth and dropped it back onto him.

Zac was trying to thrust off the bed but the straps held him and after each time he arched his back, he would limply rest on the mattress. When I pulled off his neck, his breathing slowed down and he seemed to relax bit and the blindfold was turning a dark maroon with the gallons of sweat he was pouring out. The moisture had formed a thin line down the center of his chest and stomach where it had pooled after rolling off the sides of his body. It was an almost artistic sight as I leaned down and brought my lips onto his left nipple, kissing it firmly and drawing out a loud cry of pleasure. He tried to push his nipple back into my mouth but after I'd pulled back a certain distance, the bounds kept him from following. It gave me an almost wicked sense of power as I dangled my tongue over his nipples and just barely touched them with the taste buds on the tip. I used my other hand to gently tease his other nipple, circling it with my fingernail and recalling how the motion drove him crazy. From the moans coming out of him, it sounded like we would be needing the straightjacket real soon.

I could tell he was needing it badly and I couldn't in good conscience torture him for TOO long, so I hurried up a bit. My lips formed a seal around one, and then the other and I gave them several hard sucks as I slid my hands under him and onto his back. His body was completely taut against the straps and when I pulled off his nipple, he let out a cry of frustration. When I looked down, his cock was as hard as I have ever seen it. The foreskin was almost totally retracted and his purple cockhead was pulsing and sending me it's own Morse code in time with his heartbeat. I was straddling his left leg and when I pushed up on my arms, my eyes slowly went down his body and caught sight of the three inch long white scar on his side. In an erotic magazine, I remembered reading that sometimes scar tissue was quite sensitive. After dragging my tongue slowly over it and hearing the yell of pleasure, my suspicion was confirmed.

"Please..." Zac gasped, his head falling from side to side, "I gotta cum... please..."

Suddenly, I felt a little less considerate, "Well... you're gonna have to earn the right to cum."

"Ohhhh... I'll do anything..." He begged, playing it up more than a little.

Instead of responding, I climbed up the bed and knelt in front of his face. I gently ran my hand over the top of his head and he thrashed on the bed, trying to get as much pleasure from my touch as possible. This was far too incredible to just end in five minutes so it was time for a little change. I stood up and quickly stripped off my sweaty, confining clothes and knelt back beside him. His whole body tensed and I knew he could smell and feel my hard cock, which was almost resting on his chin. His lips were puckering as he tried to locate it but I held it just out of his reach, being very deliberate to tease him with the smell and heat.

Showing off my evasive skills, I brought it in and gave his succulent lips a quick swipe... coating them with a thin layer of my precum. His tongue shot out and licked it up quickly, and seconds later, he was whimpering and begging for more. He was panting heavily and his cheeks were flushed and the edges of the blindfold had turned almost black with sweat. Such a hot sight it was. The only thing hotter was the look of his lips puckering, trying to catch another drop of my precum. Zac had been a pretty good boy so I decided to indulge him and crawled up and gently pressed the head of my cock against his lips. His full, humid lips engulfed me and sucked me deep inside his mouth and the awkward angle forced more of my dick down his throat than he was ready for and he gagged slightly. It didn't hold him up for long and he sucked me eagerly, so strong that his cheeks were drawn in and it almost hurt me.

My whole body shook and I had to fight myself back from the edge. I tenderly stroked his cheek as I pulled out and took a few deep breaths to recover. My hand idly went down and without thinking, it laid flat on the bare skin of his chest and I pulled it back immediately, surprised as the heat resounding off his skin. A few seconds later, I put my hand back down and rubbed him in wide circles, awed at the incredible heat that he was producing. He was covered in a patina of sweat that glistened off every exposed inch of his body. I wasn't exactly dry myself so I didn't have room to talk.

My eyes were torn away from his squirming form long enough to spot the thermos resting on the pillow next to his head. It was time for some chocolaty goodness, I thought as I unscrewed the lid and took another sniff of the contents. It was such a sweet, rich smell and when I dipped my finger into it, it felt so hot that I almost considered not using it. Luckily, the chocolate cooled and it made me reconsider. My attention waned when Zac thrust his hips up off the bed and brought them back down with a more-than-slightly loud crash on the mattress. That told me that he wasn't really appreciating my hesitation.

What the hell, I thought and dipped two fingers into the chocolate and settled comfortably on my elbow at his side. Like a true artist, I brought my index finger down on Zac's nipple and slowly coated it with the chocolate. He hissed in through his teeth and a jolt ran through his body and I noticed the chocolate begin to form a firm shell on his nipple. For some reason, that entertained the hell out of me and I did it to his other nipple just to see it harden. Zac was moaning practically incoherently as I drew a thick brown line from one nipple to the other and noticed how the fuzz between his pecs stood up under the chocolate. I couldn't resist leaning in and taking a lick of it and relishing the taste of chocolate and sweat mixed together. My lips traveled back up and I deftly sucked the chocolate shells off each nipple and kissed him deeply, sharing the chocolate nipple flavored confection.

Taking great care to make sure he felt the heat and thickness, I drew a straight line down the middle of his chest and onto his stomach, feeling him quiver under me. Next came a ring around his belly button and a line down from there to the edge of his glowing blond pubic bush. The slow intendedness of my actions sounded like it was driving him absolutely insane with lust. After mopping the sweat from my brow with my forearm, I reapplied the chocolate and rubbed it torturously slowly over the vulnerable skin of his scrotum. A rising gasp caught in his throat as he thrashed as best he could but the straps, which had gotten a little twisted and contorted, did their job and held him exposed.

As more of Zac's sex laden scent was absorbed into my system, my ideas got more and more erotically nefarious. I dipped just the tip of my index finger in the chocolate and drew a razor thin line up the underside of his cock, which nearly sent his tied up highness into a fit of sexual frustration. His cock jerked and sent a thick, gooey streak of precum onto his chest, and the clear fluid looked funny against the brown of the chocolate. His legs shuddered as I made a delightful pattern of brown spots on his thighs and calves, bringing out a mixture of moans and giggles from their owner. But it was time to get serious.

"Zac... we're going to play a game." I said in a very cold tone.

He immediately stopped laughing and laid still, "Yes, sir."

I picked up the vibrator and laid it on his chest, "We're going to test your endurance."

"But... but... you know I can't control myself..." He gasped and he was turning the 'damsel in distress' level up to 12.

"You'll have to learn how because if you make ANY noise... any noise at all," I picked up the vibrator and rubbed it over his nipples, "This bad boy is going inside you with no lube."

"Ohhhh no...." He moaned and squirmed, "It needs lube... please... don't... it needs lube..."

It was hard for me to keep a straight face as I hoped that he knew I wouldn't REALLY do it to him, "Oh yes.... but if you don't make any noise, then you have nothing to worry about. All you have to do is not make any noise."

His mouth hung open and I could tell he was pretty impressed with my game.

"Starting.... Now." I said, and his mouth closed slowly.

For the next ten minutes, Zac put on probably the most impressive display of human endurance I had ever seen in my life. No noise came from his mouth at any time... even as I slowly licked his scar and licked the melted chocolate from his skin... even when I licked and suckled on his ankle... There was no moaning or even any gasping when I sucked him slowly and nibbled my way up and down his shaft. Using his ninja-like skills, he managed to hold off on climaxing through it all and even in my terrible, totally horrified state of intense annoyance, I admired it. Having such control over one's testicles is a real accomplishment. But it only made me more focused on getting him to make noise so I could threaten the dry vibrator but not really follow through with it.

"Well shit... I'm out of ideas." I said.

Zac didn't respond but when I looked at him, he was sporting an ear to ear grin.

"I guess the only way to do it, is to lube this sucker up and stick it in you... but I don't really want to dry it off so I guess we'll just have to use it lubed from now on. What do you think?" I said, seeing if he'd fall for it.

He didn't.

I shrugged and tore open two of the KY packets and coated the vibrator in the thick, clear gel. When it was nice and slick, I began to press in between his asscheeks, which were tighter than usual as they were pressed against the bed. I was being very careful not to go too fast or too hard because unlike my dick, the vibrator couldn't pick up the muscular contractions. I'd have to listen to Zac's moans to tell me if things were going all right and as far as I could tell, they were going just fine and dandy. As I eased the shaft further into him, his moans got louder and more urgent and I could see the effects of the vibrator in his dick as it throbbed and got harder as the penetration got deeper. The gel did it's job and all too soon, I felt the head of the vibrator press against his prostate and after twisting it around a few times, Zac and I both knew that it was time to turn it on.

He inhaled so deeply I could see his ribs as my finger found the small red switch. It felt so sweet. Zac bit his lower lip and it looked like he was preparing to lose the game. It made me smile one more time as I brought my finger down on the button. All at once, a soft flesh encased jiggling sound hit the air and Zac's body jerked taut against the straps and I could almost see each muscle tighten and flex. He breath shook and I knew he was holding out as long as possible. His lips quivered and I wrapped my fingers around the quivering shaft of the vibrator and began to slide it in and out.

He pushed his head back against the pillow and pulled his legs up as much as he could, allowing me more room to work on him. I began to vary my thrusts and occasionally, used the vibrating head to tickle the rim of his asshole and bringing it up and rubbing the wet head over his balls, sending ripples of pleasure through his body. With one firm thrust, I sent it all the way in and with it, Zac's dam of restraint broke down and he let loose with a loud moan as his cock swelled. I sat back and watched as about seven thick spurts of cum arced out and splattered on his chest. He was moaning like crazy and his head thrashed from side to side and I noticed his toes curling and uncurling as he finally got his release. It felt like the contractions of his ass would pull the vibrator from my hand.

When his moans softened and the throbs of his cock began to decrease, I slowly pulled the vibrator out of him and rubbed it over the surface of his sweaty thighs. It moved in a slow line from his thighs down his flexing calves and over the sensitive undersides of his feet. He moved weakly under me and moaned softly, looking completely vulnerable and at my mercy. I pulled the vibrator off him and switched it off and in the silence, he was breathing heavily and lying limp on the bed, not struggling against the straps anymore. The heaves of his chest slowed eventually and he lay there, covered in sweat and recovering from the orgasm.

In my desire to tease and fulfill him, my own painfully hard erection had gone forgotten. My amorous side was suddenly brought back out as I slowly began to lick up the copious slick of cum on his chest, enjoying each drop. That was when I got a tremendously sick idea. I pressed my face into the cum and made sure to coat just about every inch of my face in the thick, white slime. When it was coated to my satisfaction, I crawled up and kissed Zac, letting him taste his cum on my lips. He eagerly licked at it and when I moved my face around, he shuddered when he felt the cum candy slick.

"Ewww..." He shuddered and giggled in his throaty post-orgasm voice.

He acted grossed out but it didn't stop him from hungrily slurping and gobbling his cum from my cheeks, forehead, and the underside of my jaw. He sucked it all up as if he was starving and it was the only thing that would satisfy his appetite. By the time he was done, my face was technically clean but still soaked with his warm spit. I smelled like a Dr. Pepper and wedding cake casserole. After the licking was finished, Zac laid back contentedly and sighed, his cock now in a state of half erectness.

"Wow..." It was all I could say.

"Hell yeah." He said, and when I looked at him, the first thing I saw was the necklace.

"Want me to let you up now?" I asked.

"It's your call, master." He said in such a demure tone I cracked up.

"I think I need some ass." I said in a deadly serious tone.

"Well, come and get it!" He barked in an over the top confrontational tone.

I gave him a sly look as I reached down and undid the straps around his ankles and he bent his legs back and forth. I reached up and undid the bounds at his wrists and his arms feel and almost immediately, he was on me and kissing me passionately. We both fell back into the bed and I wrapped my arms around his waist and began to suck and kiss his neck madly. It was like some green light had gone off inside me and the only thing I wanted was him and I wasn't about to wait or take any substitutions. Zac seemed to understand and just relaxed, letting me have my way as I laid him down on his back and kissed my way down his body with hard, wet sucking kisses. He yelped softly when I consumed his nipples with an almost savage desire. His whole being seemed to submit to my desire and it appealed to a hidden part of me that liked him letting me have my way.

My hands found his hips and I flipped him over, sending him face first into the bed. He laid still, shaking slightly with anticipation, as I grabbed the pillow and shoved it between his legs, displaying his ass in the air. His cheeks were a little flushed from rubbing against the sheets and as I arranged him on the pillow, he moaned and I felt the sheets go tight as he grabbed them in his hands. After adjusting his position so that his nuts hung back between his thighs and his once again erect cock stuck up again his stomach, everything looked perfect. I grabbed a packet of KY Jelly and tore one corner open and squeezed a line up and down the hot, sweaty crevice of his asscrack. I even added a little glob on the moist normally hidden away back of his scrotum, making it constrict against the cool jel. His left foot pounded the mattress as his hot body got used to the cold gel and accepted it and warmed it up.

Using two fingers, I smeared the jelly up and down his crack and poked it into the hole, feeling his sphincter grab and sort of smooch at my fingers. Just using the tip of my middle finger, I poked it in and out and made him feel like he was going to lose control. He moaned and jerked underneath me as I saw his hands grab the bedposts and hold on for dear life. Right as the short, teasing pokes reached their limit... all at once, I thrust three of my fingers deep inside him. He cried out and bucked his hips back at me and humped the pillow on his way back down. The sensation of the cold jelly inside him must have been quite startling so I rubbed my left hand over the small of his back to assure him that he wasn't going to be hurt. He seemed to calm down almost immediately.

The sheets felt hot and moist under my knees when I crawled up and grabbed his hips in my hands. I used my thumbs to pry apart his asscheeks and expose the pink crevice to the free world. Before beginning the entry, I looked around to make sure we were alone and when I was sure, I gently touched my cockhead to his asshole. He jolted again and moaned into the pillow. I continued to push in slowly and suddenly, Zac pounded the mattress and pushed his face up.

"God damn it! We're married now! You FUCK me! Not like some piddly old man!" He growled, and the forceful talk added what felt like another inch to my cock.

"You want it?" I whispered, my fingers pressing into his hips.

"I fucking NEED it! You FUCK me! Plunge that huge manmeat inside me! Now!" Zac hissed and braced himself.

"You got it." I said softly.

My body fell forward and in a split second, my entire cock was buried deep inside him. He let out a hoarse scream at the sensation and his body jerked back at me, and he was impaled on me. My hands slid up onto his back and I pushed him into the pillow as I started pumping myself in and out of him. He moaned and his body shook as I pressed him against the bed firmly and fucked him deeply. His leg jerked and shuddered against the bed as my head fell back and my body took over, plunging myself into his well-lubricated hole. Even in my lust, it still sounded like his moans had a hint of defiant pleasure in them.

"Do you... like this... Zac...?" I grunted, amazed at my ability to form words between thrusts.

"Oh... yeah... ungh... you fuck me... ugh... so well..." He groaned back.

"You aren't supposed... oh yeaaah... enjoy it..."

"Too fuckin' bad grandma... I love you..." He gasped, even gyrating his hips back at me.

"What was that?!" I hissed in an outraged tone.

"I looove me some of you... oohh God... right there..." He moaned in a gloating, yet genuine tone.

I shook my head and bit my lower lip as I grabbed his hips and began to fuck him harder, slamming my cock into him and when I expected the moans to stop, they only got louder and more pronounced as Zac urged his back at me, even more eagerly. On each imbedding, our nuts would press together and the gel made them slippery and sensitive. With the hand that wasn't holding his side, I reached down and squeezed them together, drawing a long, loud moan from Zac. His body was mine. His heart, body, and soul belonged to me at that point. It was that knowledge that made me cum. I let out a loud cry as my cock swelled and pressed into the hot, welcoming interior of his ass. I felt his body tense up as he shot a few more loads into the pillow as stream after stream of my nectar flooded him.

Jolts ran through my body as my eyes caught the sight of the gold necklace under his sweaty, dark ponytail which was more than enough stimuli to draw out a few more globs of cum. My body shuddered one last time and I fell forward onto Zac, who groaned under me and I felt his legs straighten out. We laid there together, breathing heavily and coming down from our collective orgasm. Zac reached up and clumsily pulled the band out of his hair and let the sweaty mass fall across his face as he rolled onto his back underneath me. The hair covered his face and he began laughing as in my daze, I reached down and tickled him playfully. He tried to curl into a ball but my weight on top of him wouldn't allow it.

His hot breath in my ear gained my attention and I reached up and moved the hair out of his face. Our eyes locked and he stared deeply into my eyes, not saying anything. But it wasn't like anything needed to be said. My hands cupped his cheeks and he smiled drolly before I kissed him. Long and deeply with plenty of passion. Like a perfect gentleman, I closed my eyes and when I opened them... Zac was asleep. He had fallen asleep during our kissing. But I wasn't too offended because he had fallen asleep with the most adorable fulfilled smile on his face. He looked like an angel. He was an angel.

He was my angel.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around him and pulled the covers up over us. My hand reached over and switched off the light and only the bright moonlight of the vast Pacific Ocean came into the room. The dark room was cast in a sterling glow as I yawned and held Zac under the covers, enjoying the warmth. My eyelids began to feel heavy and my body felt like it was floating away as I fell asleep. My last thought being the decision that if this were the last time, it would be the most wonderful time I'd ever spent with another living human being.

Made even more wonderful because I never thought it would happen.

=Two days later...=

When the rains came, they weren't prepared.

The power failed all over the expanse of the buildings.

In one foul swoop, light was taken away,

God's wrought was incurred and panic ensued.

The security system went down,

Fools, lunatics, and lovers alike were released,

The halls were open and unguarded,

Hysteria of desire and realization spread.

The most deformed of the deformed were freed.

And from there they came,

Slowly from their cells and into the unguarded halls,

Cackling maniacally and bringing their darkness forth,

Sending cold shivers through the halls.

All their efforts focused,

Led by a white cloaked maniac.

Stalking their way forth to the closed door,

The door that stood between them and... him.

The blond pixie who belonged to them.

The one who would end their suffering.

When the lights went out, they came forth.

The lights went out in the bedrooms,

In the offices and classrooms,

Plunging them into blackness.

And in the D-sector, closer than he could have dreamed,

The white shrouded man laughed into the darkness,

Seven words escaped him,

Leave The Light On...

I'm Coming Home...

• author unknown

=To Be Continued...=