Soulmating

|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-| ~ S O U L M A T I N G ~ |-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-| by reid

||||||||||||||||| || 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...

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.

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

WARNING!!! My stories contain mature themes and may project images or scenarios that are inappropriate for younger or sensative readers.

Or on AIM at xXxReidxXx...

Enjoy!

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| || Karma- Part 2 || ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Zac didn't want to get up. He wanted to lay his big ass in that bed until no later than one p.m. and not have to get up for any reason other than because he wanted to. The best thing was... he could do exactly that. There wouldn't be anyone tapping on the door with an annoying delicateness to tell him that he "really needed to get the show on the road". He wouldn't have to get up and face radio interviews or soundchecks or Meet & Greet sessions with groups of dumbass groupies. He could just lay there in bed and not have to worry about it.

Of course, it hadn't always been so easy. Up until three months ago, it had been harder than fuck. All the endless media shilling and ass kissing. Yet somehow in the middle of it, he'd managed to find someone. He'd found someone who loved him and not the bullshitting public persona. Then fame had tried to take Reid away. Maybe not take him away but it had definitely tried to mess things up pretty bad and there was no way that Zac could allow that.

Fame, fortune, and adoration was nice... but not nice enough to fool him into thinking it was worth giving up true love for. Zac had been raised way too well to sacrafice something so good for something that would eventually run dry. Some people who once appreciated his maturity probably cursed it now and that was okay.

Zac smiled against the pillow as he dimly recollected in the space between sleep and wake. He couldn't let it mess this up, he thought, he couldn't let their bullshit wreck his chance at love. Tay and Ike may have been fooled into thinking it was worth it and God knows they had tried to convince him... but they didn't. There was no way they could have. Zachary Hanson was just smarter than that, period.

So he'd fixed it. He took his future into his own hands for the first time and fixed his situation. Zac could still remember it like it was yesterday. Two weeks before their followup album was going to be released... he quit. He quit the band and quit being famous with a surprising amount of ease. Sure, they told him he would regret it. He would regret throwing away his stardom and taking his share of the cash and leaving it all. And yet... he wasn't regretting it. Maybe once the endless days of snorkeling, sunbathing, sailing, drawing, and having hot sex having wore thin, he might start to think different. But it wasn't too likely.

• Three Months Earlier *

Our lips locked together in an obscene dance of kissing as we stumbled through the hotel room door. Zac hurriedly shut it behind him and urgently pulled me to the bed where he laid back as the loose strands of his thick blond had begun to cling to his forehead and neck with his perspiration. Slowly, I lowered myself down onto him and as soon as I was on him, he pushed his hips up, arching his back and presenting his sweaty, flushed body for my pleasure. He still smelled musky from the ninety minute concert he'd just performed and his body was still swimming with the finely tuned sexuality he oozed on stage... but now it was becoming less cultivated and much more natural.

The kissing broke as my lips suckled at the thick muscle of his straining neck, sucking and licking at the sweaty skin. Zac writhed and moaned underneath me, his broad chest heaving as my hands found their way under his clingy black t-shirt. The silky, damp skin of his chest radiated with heat as I ran my hands up and down over the muscle, finding his dark nipples and stroking them slowly. Another moan left his luscious lips and his body lowered back onto the bedspread as he raised his arms and allowed the t-shirt to leave his torso. For just a moment, I pulled back and looked at his tanned body glistening with droplets of his sweat. Almost as if he'd been lightly sprinkled with sexual dew.

In my moment of lapse, Zac had grown beyond impatient and his shaking hands flew to the fly of his baggy green cargo pants, trying to somehow tap a reserve of clear headedness long enough to get them off. I smiled and gently moved his hands away, receiving a grateful look in return and my fingers gently undid the button and slowly pulled the zipper down. A shiver ran through his fleshy body as the sound of the zipper caught his ears and he moaned softly, his long fingers digging into the comforter.

Once the waist of his pants had gone loose, my fingers curled in the hem and pulled them down slowly, forgetting completely about his shoes and socks and allowing his cute smiley face boxer shorts to see the outside world. Little by little, the pants came down Zac's thick legs and exposed the bronzed flesh to the air conditioned air of the hotel room. Goosebumps stood out on his calves and he let out another moan, arching his back and thrusting his cotton covered erection into the air.

My fingers went back to his waist and I pulled down the boxers over the resitance of his hard cock. Once the boxers were clear, Zac's throbbing five inch erection bopped up and slapped against his stomach, precum oozing from the slit like a slowly erupting volcano. Quickly, I leaned in and took a speedy lick at his uncut cockhead, tasting the sweet muskiness of his hard tool. The sensation of my tounge sent a rapid shudder through Zac's body and he cried out, jacknifing on the bed before my hands calmly traveled to his bare shoulders and laid him back down.

As I went back down, preparing to seal my lips around his dick like a vacuum, Zac suddenly rolled over onto his stomach. His large, sweaty bubble butt was immediately in my face and for a split second, I was grossed out until... it actually appealed to me. Zac giggled and shook his ass at me, pushing it right in my face and sending a clear message of what he wanted. I smiled and gave the creamy mounds a playful slap, drawing a growl of mock pain from Zac. Even in the hottest moments of sex, we still had our sense of humor.

Things got serious as Zac laid down on his side, kicking off his shoes and pulling his legs up to his chest, assuming our usual "loosening up" position. Taking a few seconds to undress myself, I crawled down next to him, running my hand up his bare legs and stroking his curvy hip, feeling him squirm slightly. My fingers moved from his hip to his buttcrack, pushing inbetween into the hot jungle-like crevace. After a second of searching, the fingers found his thick, tight hole and using the sweat to my advantage, I began to ease my index finger inside.

Zac groaned softly, all his muscles seeming to tense at once as his tight ass began to swallow my finger, pulling it deeper and deeper inside. I added my middle finger and slid them in and out, feeling the tender, hot inner walls of his body. They probed further and further until my fingertips felt the small, hard pebble buried deep inside him. Zac cried out and his body jerked again, my fingers finally finding and massaging his aching prostate.

My free hand traveled around and found his erection and I began stroking it, slowly at first and then speeding up. Zac's moans became more guttural and primal as he thrust in one direction into my hand and the other back onto my exploring fingertips. His body gave off waves of heat and lust as he allowed me to pleasure him from both directions. The moans escaping him stopped and the rumbling groans began as his body began to shake. I began nuzzling his neck, licking it and suckling at it and my hand tightened on his cock, stroking him faster as my fingers massaged his prostate in long, firm thrusts.

Then there was a knock at the door.

Zac was fairly over the edge into extasy but our ears had become so trained to interruption that he immediately went lax and swore under his breath. My fingers slid out of his ass and my hand left his cock as he began to shake with a different emotion. Smouldering, he got up from the bed, pulled up and zipped his pants and searched for his shirt. I could tell that this one was pretty bad by the way his jaw was clenched like a vice, his shoulders tense with anger and unresolved desire.

"Hey," I gapsed, my mouth dry, "It's okay."

Zac stopped and his voice sounded shaky, "No, it's not. It's not fucking okay."

He went back to pulling on his shirt as he got up off the bed and mopped the sweat from his brow, his lower lip shaking imperceptibly to those who hadn't become attuned to it. Several times as he flustered around, I was worried that this would be the one where he would finally snap and realize it all wasn't worth it. This could very well be the one that makes him dump me, I thought.

Zac struggled until his shoes were on and he walked over to the door. Why? He asked himself, his chest beginning to feel tight with anger. Why couldn't they just have the rest of the night to be together? Why did something always have to get involved and screw it all up? He resisted the urge to just tell whoever it was to go away, composing himself the best he could as his hand closed around the knob. Zac slowly opened the foor, finding their tour manager looking apologetic.

"I have some girls who couldn't get into the meet and greet," She said, intimidated by Zac's obviously irritated demeanor, "They'd really like to meet you, Zac. If you could just give them a few minutes, that would be so nice."

Zac inhaled, keeping his temper in check, "Look... I performed for them. I shook my ass and pretened to like them. I made eyes at them and got all sweaty and bulgey. I even wore my extra tight jeans for them and now I'm finished. I'm through. I'm done for the night."

She went on quietly, "Zac, they're fans. You know that it's important to be accomodating."

Zac inhaled through his clenched teeth and pulled his hair back, defeatedly walking out the door of the hotel room and following her down the hall. Inside, his temper seethed and he struggled not to put one of his fists through the hotel hallway wall. Why did he even do this? It's not like he particularly cared what the fans thought. In a way he did, but not so much anymore. Not when he felt the scratch on his arm from when they got a little over-excited or too eager to grab his arm.

"Why should I even bother? They're just testosterone snorting sluts, anyways." Zac spat under his breath, inhaling slowly.

"Temper temper." She said.

Zac's feet drug on the hallway carpeting as he walked back to the room. He rubbed the red mark on his left forearm from where designated annoying groupie #1 had grabbed him and twisted more than a little too hard. It hurt. It hurt pretty bad. But it's not like his pain mattered. The three little crotch sniffing bitches had gotten their whiff of him and now they would run home and get on their websites and talk about how he had obviously been hitting on them.

And of course, they'd insisted on clawing at him for as long as they could. Nevermind that he might be tired after the concert. Don't worry about if he might be burned out on screaming girls. He owed them a one on one meeting because he was Zac Hanson. Teen rock star. Just the thought of their demands and how he "owed" them was enough to bring a bitter, acidic taste to Zac's mouth. Thank God the hallway was quiet. The only thing he wanted right now was some hot, sweaty sex and some cuddling before he could sink into the bed and go to sleep. That's all I want now, he thought, that's all I want ever.

Zac said a silent prayer of thanks as the door clicked open, saving him the trouble of going all the way back down to the lobby and kissing ass for another key. On tired legs, he trudged into the room and kicked off his shoes, his system beginning to ache and feel heavy with fatigue. But then he saw the familiar, comforting form in the bed and he smiled. With the smile came a very familiar tingling in his young loins as his dick regained his erectness.

With a weary amarousness, he stripped down to his damp sweaty boxers and crept onto the bed. Then he laid down next to the form... smiling as he knew it was all his. He walked the fingers of his right hand up and up and gently shook the lump under the covers. Zac leaned in and pursed his lips, brushing them across it's neck and onto the easily accessible earlobe. He smiled and a shiver ran through his body when the movement began. Finally... finally finally finally... they were going to be together. Slowly it rolled over until... a snore.

Zac's heart sank and he collapsed onto the bed, staring up at the dark ceiling. A heavy lump formed at the back of his throat and he swallowed, trying to force it down before it became too much. Hot tears flowed down his cheeks as the fatigue and frustration of the whole situation... fuck, his whole damn life for the past three years finally became too much. All the years they took him for granted. They just assumed that little Zac would follow his big brothers like a lemming. Never wanted to posess a mind of his own until they needed a lively quote for an interview. Always expected to follow and do whatever they said. They always thought he was just stupid little Zac who knew no better than what they told him.

They were wrong.

And now... they were going to learn to exist without him.

• Just outside Marathon, Florida... 87 degrees and sunny... *

"Ungh... fuck yes." Zac groaned, moving his long sweaty hair away from his flushed face.

We knew that sex in plain sight was dangerous. We knew that any old pervert could see us while we fucked like horny dogs out on the deck but we didn't care. There was just something about doing it outside with the sun beating down and every nook and cranny of our perspiring bodies being visible that was just... sultry.

"Oooh fuck... who's my man?" He hissed, his hands gripping my shoulders.

The white bands of the deck chair were sticking to my bare ass but I didn't notice. My hips thrust in a rythym, burying my engorged cock deep inside Zac's hot tightness. He straddled my lap, the sweltering musk of his scent filling my lung with every breath, resting against me and allowing my thrusts to control the tempo. Sweat rolled down off his flushed cheeks and down his thick neck, the sun pulling the moisture out of his pores. His broad, muscled shoulders flexed and bulged, sweat rolling down to his dark nipples and clinging to the tiny hairs that surrounded them.

Zac's naked skin glistened with sweat against the brilliant blue of the ocean behind him. The golden tan of his upper body was all I saw as my thrusts started to speed up, my cock traveling with an elegant ease in and out of his hot, velvety insides. My hands moved from the sweaty curves of his hips and began to double fist his trobbing uncut cock. As soon as my fingers closed around the veiny shaft, his body jerked and tensed and a deep groan resonated from inside his chest. His voice was charged with an incredible sexual energy. Slowly, his face came forward and his forehead rested against mine, the golden damp waves of his hair sticking to my cheeks and neck, his full, beestung lips kissing me and blessing me with their salty warmth.

Our kisses deeped and he began to shudder. My hands gripped his throbbing tool firmly and tugged them with solid strokes, and I felt his balls begin to tighten. A very familiar heat rushed through my thighs and crotch as my cock swelled, pressing into Zac's bowels and a massive rush of pleasure jolted through my body. A moan began to escape my lips but Zac sealed his hot mouth over mine and his tounge thrust into my mouth as my hot cum began to course through him.

As soon as the first shot of my cum filled him, Zac squealed into my mouth. His cock swelled to an almost impossible thickness in my hands and his tight rosebud clamped down on my cock. A massively thick shot of milky sperm rocketed from his swollen purple cockhead and splashed my neck, coating it with gooey heat. A second spurt hit my chest and the fever of it felt like it was burning my nipple like a sexual napalm. The third and fourth shots weren't quite as impressive as they flew up and coated Zac's rippling stomach muscles and oozed down into his happy trail.

After one more instant of tension, Zac's body shivered and went limp ontop of me. My spent cock relaxed and slid slowly out of his hole, drawing a wobbly moan from Zac into my ear. Gradually, my hot load began to ooze out of his ass and onto my thighs and then down through the white straps and onto the polished wood of the deck. His hair still clung to my face and neck as he breathed heavily in my ear, his heart thumping against me as he drifted down from cloud nine.

Zac shifted his weight and stretched out luxuriously ontop of me. His breathing became slow and relaxed and at some point, he hit the button that sent the shade over us. Steadily, our bodies began to cool down and we laid on the chair together, staring out at the ocean. It could have been more than hour or less than five minutes that we laid there, but it didn't matter to either of us. We were together. That was all that mattered.

"That was fun." I said, moving Zac's hair and holding it in a loose ponytail.

He nuzzled me, "I love you."

I smiled, "Still feeling all cuddly and sweet, I see."

He nodded sligtly and hugged me, snuggling himself as close to my body as possible. A pleasant sea breeze drifted up across us and goosebumps stood up on our bare skin. Something about it seemed so perfect. I could have stayed there forever and never wanted for anything else. It was just that nice. To be able to hold him and be close to him. Sometimes my mind would have to think about it and grasp it, it would need to make itself think about the situation and understand everything that had happened. It was enough to make me feel weak when it would dawn on me that he'd given it all up... for me.

Zac squirmed ontop of me, "I'm hungry."

"Sucks to be you." I yawned, wiping the sweat from my face and feeling the drain from exertion in the sun.

"No," He said, squirming again, "You're supposed to get me something to eat when I say that."

"Oh." I nodded.

"Let's try again... I'm hungry."

"That's too bad."

Zac paused for a moment before breaking up, his body shaking as he laughed and gradually as he calmed down. We laid there longer in the shade, enjoying the cool darkness and watching the ocean from our luxurious sprawl. I stroked his hair gently, sighing contentedly and braiding a handfull of it idly. Zac yawned and squirmed again, curling his arms around my neck and pressing his warm lips to mine. After the kss, he rested his forehead against mine and pursed his lips.

"Seriously, though. I'm hungry."

I smiled and kissed him back, "For what?"

"Something sugary and sweet and completely unhealthy and bad for my teeth." He mumbled as he reached down and adjusted himself between his legs.

"Can you walk?"

"Sure. Just give me a minute"

I smiled again and Zac laid back down, resting his head against my bare chest. Slowly, I took a deep breath and looked back out at the vast indigo expanse of water and the long winding strip of white sand along the beach. Out in the distance, I could see one of the many sailboats that often came out to the point of land in the distance. They rarely ever came into the bay. They never came close enough to see the small group of houses and small town that existed inside the bay. And that was just how everyone liked it.

"Oh yeah." Zac moaned, dunking his head into the cooler.

I walked into the air conditioned store and rolled my neck around, feeling the cool air wash over my flushed cheeks. The walk hadn't been very strenuous at all but the heat had rocketed up almost 15 degrees. I blinked and mopped the sweat from my brow, heading straight for the drink case. Reggie, the cashier we were used to and had become good friends with, wasn't at the counter which made me wonder but not too much. The only thing I was thinking of was the ice cold Pepsi... so dark and beautiful... ready to be consumed.

After pulling the drink from the case, I turned around and waited at the counter. Zac had busied himself at the soft serve ice cream station. Reggie came out from the back of the store and smiled at Zac.

"Don't make a mess like last time." He chuckled.

"You know you love it." Zac said in a lusty voice.

After ringing up my Pepsi and the estimated cost of Zac's ice cream, I searched the pocket of my shorts and only managed to come up with about two dollars... leaving me fifty cents short. Zac casually strolled over, enjoying his treat, sucking it down before it melted. No luck with the other pocket. God knows, we'd already abused the "put it on my tab" system enough in the past couple months.

"Zac," I said softly, "I'm short."

"Whoa, I hope I'm short someday." He giggled, licking the ice cream off his fingers.

I ground my teeth, "I'm serious."

He looked at me, "Hey... you're the one who handles the cash."

"We need fifty cents."

"Can't we put it on our tab?" Zac suggested, still not seeing the direness of our situation.

"We use our tab enough, Zac." I said sharply, feeling the cold sweat run down between my shoulder blades.

After a second of contemplation, Zac dug around in the pocket of his ratty blue plaid shorts until he managed to find a quarter, two dimes, and a nickle. After handing them to Reggie, we walked out of the cool store and back into the hot sun of the afternoon. I walked in an embarassed silence, drinking my Pepsi, not sure if I should apologize or just pretend it never happened. Zac walked next to me, finishing off the ice cream and tossing the paper wrapper into one of the nearby garbage cans.

"Reid... are you okay?" He asked softly.

"Yeah," I sighed, "I just get uptight."

"I know... but it's been three months."

With an exhausted sigh, I sat down on a nearby bench and inhaled deeply. Zac was completely and totally correct. There was really no good reason why I was still acting so anal about everything. Maybe it was the responsibility that had been bestowed upon me. Being the executor of an estate was a pretty big job. Especially for an estate with as large a value as Zac's. I rubbed the sweat away from the bottoms of my eyes and exhaled, rotating my jaw and feeling the familiar ache that came with stress.

The wood of the bench creaked as Zac sat down next to me and draped his arm around my shoulder. I felt him lay his cheek on my forehead as he sat next to me. I stil didn't know what I was supposed to say.

"I'm sorry." I said softly.

"It's okay," He said gently, "I just... I guess I feel responsible."

I looked up finally, "Why?"

He shrugged, "I don't know... I mean, nobody made you do this with me. I only did it because you said that you'd come with me if I did. I feel like I put all this stress on you when the whole point was to get rid of the stress."

"It's not your fault that I'm a neurotic basketcase." I mumbled.

"Reid... we're in paradise. We don't have to worry about interruptions or people seeing us. We can do what we want. For the first time, we can actually be together and not have to worry."

"Yeah.... so...?"

"So stop being an ass clown!" Zac yelled as grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me playfully, "We don't have to worry anymore! God, you should be the one telling me this!"

Zac collapsed into a campily frustrated silence as I couldn't help but smile. Zac shook his head and then looked at me with a melodramatic indignation before smiling. I leaned back against the bench as he wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled my cheek, hugging me close as we sat there in the sun. Just sitting together. Being together without having to worry. It was definitely a new, weird, wild concept that I was going to have to get used to.

"Mom, I'm fine... seriously... no, I'm fine. Why?"

I smiled as Zac talked to his mom over the phone. A phone call from Mrs. Hanson usually meant Zac would be tied to the receiver for a good hour or two, fielding questions about his health and general well being. I didn't blame her for being concerned and needing to hear it more than a few times. Her third oldest son was living 1500 miles away with his much older homosexual lover. At least she'd been cool enough to allow such an irresponsible thing so, as I reminded Zac often, we had it pretty good.

"Well, he can come visit... you all can... no, Reid would love that."

I started hacking and gagging theatrically, inviting a barrage of couch cushion blows from Zac. He smiled at me and stretched back out on the couch, continuing the conversation with his mom. As soon as we'd gotten back from our walk down to the store, the phone had rang like clockwork. She always called around 1:30 in the afternoon, pretty much every other day. It was something that Zac and I had just become used to over the past few months. Despite his complaints, I was pretty sure Zac needed and took strength from the conversations because it showed him that not everyone in his life from before three months ago hated him and felt let down by his need to be himself.

"Tell Tay that I said his narrow ass better not touch my drums... yeah, but the tour set is different. I mean, MY drums... They are too still my drums! Tell him if he messes with my drums, I'll kick his ass... I know, mom... yeah... I know you do."

It was pretty obvious that Zac was going through his usual paces when his mom got emotional. The tone of his voice had changed almost immediately and I heard what he called his "creamy middle" begin to come out. He had become quite used to hearing this part of their conversations and for a while, they had gotten him emotional too but now he was able to be strong.

"Okay, mom... I know... I love you too, mom... Okay... okay, bye."

Zac hung up the phone and tossed it down on the couch next to him. He sighed and rubbed away some of the sweat around his eyes before sitting up and stretching. His body left an elegant damp spot on the couch cushions. I just watched Zac as he re-pulled back his frizzed blond hair and ventilated himself, alleviating the feeling of greasiness that came from being motionless in hot weather.

"You ok?" I asked carefully.

He smiled sweetly and held his arms open to me, "I will be."

My stomach fluttered as I moved across the living room and into his embrace on the couch. His strong arms wrapped around me perfectly and he laid back, pulling me down ontop. As we sank slightly into the soft cushions of the sofa, Zac's muscular body relaxed under me and he sighed contentedly. I gently nuzzled the tan crook of the left side of his neck, feeling his warm skin and taking comfort in the welcomness of his squeeze. I felt one of his large hands stroke my hair gently, almost protectively, as his chest rose and fell under me, his steady heartbeat thumping against my torso.

He giggled softly, "Mom says hi."

I turned my head so my cheek rested against his shoulder and my forehead against his slightly flushed cheek, "Thank God."

Zac sighed, "Reid, she's not pretending."

"I didn't say anything..."

"Yeah, but I know what you're thinking."

"You couldn't possibly."

"You're thinking that she's just pretending and she hates you and thinks you're a vile, nasty, old pervert who kidnapped her innocent son and filled his head with contempt for what used to be his lifelong passion."

I had just been read like an open book, "Goes to show what you know. That's not it at all!"

Zac laughed heartily, "Then what is it?"

"I'm concerned that she, like damn near everyone else, blames me for having some sort of cult-like control over you and that I pulled you into my web of homosexuality. So you see it's totally different."

He giggled again, "I guess you've torn my deductive reasoning skills to shreads."

"I guess I have." I said self-importantly.

Zac giggled some more and wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly. His warmth pressed against me and the sensation was almost intoxicating. The feeling of his muscles flexing around me and expressing the fact that he wanted me there was just too wild to comprehend.

I said softly, "Hey Zac."

"Hey Reid."

"You have girl hair."

He chuckled, "You're just noticing this?"

"You smell, too."

Not having thought of the consequences of saying such a thing, it came as a surprise when Zac lifted his arm and quickly pushed my fragile face into the musky pit of his underarm. My nostrils filled with the garlicky essence and I sputtered, struggling against his hand until he released me. I came up coughing and gagging, expunging the foul odor of his B.O. and feeling like I'd been subjected to a chemical weapon. Even through the fabric of his white t-shirt, the scent was still overpowering and comparitive to a meal of only blue cheese and onion that had been aged for about nine or ten years. Zac, of course, found it absolute comic genius and laughed uproariously underneath me.

After the last of his scent was gone from my nose, I looked at him, still in the throws of hilarity. Something about how he shook with laughter from the hilariousness of my suffering pushed me over the edge. As his laughter calmed down, I noticed the drops of sweat on his forehead and in the nape of his neck. How dare he take so much pleasure in my possible brain damage, I thought as I growled and sat up, straddling his hips.

Suddenly, Zac calmed down and his eyes widened slightly.

"Uh oh." He said softly.

Without words, my fingers dug into his soft waist. Immediately, he reacted with a husky shriek as his hips bucked and he trashed, laughing uncontrollably as I tickled him. He knew he was trapped and he knew that struggling was quite certainly not an option. Within seconds, he relaxed and kicked his legs, gasping and begging for mercy between squeals of laughter.

"Okay... see... listen, you long haired freak," I said, holding him down, "I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd here. I'm trying real hard but all I think about is your nasty armpit in my face."

"I'm sorry, Jules... I'll be like Fonzie..." Zac gapsed, giggling uncontrollably.

I paused and lovingly petted his sides through the shirt, stroking the skin as he laid there. He was still tensed and not quite sure what I was going to do. Zac's caramel eyes watched me suspiciously as he relaxed bit by bit, trusting me as he went lax under me and giggled again. He mopped his brow and exhaled heavily, smiling primly after a job that had largely turned out to be well worth the aftermath. To him, getting me with his armpit was worth getting tickled to near insanity.

"Seriously... you need to get your wash on." I said as I got up and set the phone back on the base.

"I do not!" Zac said, sounding supremely insulted.

"Smell yourself."

"Pshhhh..." Zac scoffed as he lifted his arm and took a long whiff.

The answer as to who was right was decided immediately. The look of nausea on Zac's face was an answer both undebatable and unmistakable. Anyone who had been close enough to smell him that day knew it. I knew it. And now he knew it. Zachary Hanson needed a shower. A hilariously cute look of defeat came across his features and he sighed defeatedly.

"If I wash, can we go out?" He asked hopefully.

I nodded concedingly, "Sure."

"You have to use soap too." I said and closed the bathroom door before any smart remarks could be said in return.

I waited for a few moments outside the bathroom door until I heard the water start. After several more seconds, I could hear Zac splashing around in the shower and singing to himself. Everything was at peace. I smiled and shook my head, momentarily weakened by the notion of a wet, naked Zac but able to get myself under control. After a deep breath and shiver, I walked over and pulled a clean shirt out of the dresser. As I was pulling it down, the phone rang.

I collapsed onto the bed and picked up the receiver, "Hello?"

"Hi Reid."

It was Mrs. Hanson.

"Umm...Hi! Uh- yeah, hi. " I said, stumbling more than slightly for words.

"Is Zac there?"

"No, he's in the shower. I'll get him."

"No," She said softly, "I wanted to talk to you, actually."

I tried not to go on-guard, "Why?"

"Well, the past couple times I've talked to Zac, I've been trying to get him to bring you and come home for a visit."

"I see."

"And it's gone about as well as you'd expect."

"So I've heard."

"Well, the reason that I wanted to talk to you is I know that Zac values your opinion quite a bit. So I was thinking that maybe you could talk to him about it?" She said, sounding eminently hopeful.

"And you're asking me this because Zac does what I say?" I said, keeping the dangerous tone out of my voice.

"What? No. Not at all. I just know that you're closest to him right now and maybe if you could talk to him about it... he might listen and reconsider."

"Look... I don't know what I can say. Zac is gonna do what he wants to do."

She laughed, "I know, Reid. Just talk to him. Do it as a favor to me."

I smiled, "All right."

"You do owe me one. I've let you kidnap my son, after all."

"Goodbye!" I laughed.

"Bye Reid." She said.

I hung up the phone and chuckled to myself. Even so, as many times as she could joke like that, there was still a part of me that made me wonder. The mention of possibly talking Zac into coming home for a visit set off a delayed chain reaction in the part of my brain that handled worst case scenarios. My mind began to concoct a series of events that led to us going back to Oklahoma with the FBI waiting for us, me getting arrested and being sent to jail and never seeing Zac again. Just the possibility of it was nearly enough to make me consider forgetting about the phone call.

But then again... what if it wasn't like that? There was a chance that she really did only want Zac and I, Zac especially, to come home for a while. In his initial rant, Zac had made it pretty clear that any chance of extended residence in civilzation was out of the question. The times I'd mentioned the possibility of visiting had been met with tense silences in which Zac would struggle for words to describe his feelings which all in all amounted to nothing resembling a desire to interact with the elements he'd left behind.

Whether or not I blamed him was something completely irrelevant but I couldn't help siding with his parents everytime I heard Zac talk to his youngest siblings on the phone. The way he patiently spoke to them and the times I could tell they had begun crying managed to pull at my heart strings greatly. Any amount of selfishness I felt and decadent pleasure from having Zac all to myself weakened quite a bit and many times I'd considered encouraging going back. But something about getting a phone call from his mother and hearing her ask me personally... it gave me some extra motivation.

"I just said that she seems to want you to."

"Reid," Zac whined, "I just... don't want to."

I sat down at the table and thought for a second, "Do you have it built up in your head that it's going to be worse than it actually might be?"

He looked down, "No. I mean, I don't think I do. I just don't want to go back and have to deal with that funky stench of shame coming off everybody."

"Who would do that?"

"Everybody," He said sharply, "They all looked at me like I should be ashamed. I don't want to go back to that."

We paused as the waitress came to the table. I thought to myself and devised a new plan of attack as she took our drink orders. As soon as she left, I went to start back in on Zac but... I couldn't. There was something about how he looked. His freshly washed hair and clean, tanned skin. I just sat and looked at him, taken aback by how handsome he was. He finally noticed me and smiled before a bit of blush came into his cheeks.

"Cut it out." He mumbled.

"Sorry," I said after a breath, "But anyways... I don't think they'd try and make you feel ashamed."

"Of course they will," Zac groaned, "They will because they don't understand why I did what I did. No amount of explaining and gentle narration will make them understand."

"So you're going to go the rest of your life without seeing them again?"

Zac, Mr. Subtlety in the flesh, responded with probably the most glowing, happy, wistful face I'd ever seen. I shook my head and laughed in spite of his smartass nature.

"Okay okay... are you going to go the rest of your life hearing Mac cry on the phone to you?"

"That does definitely suck," Zac sighed, "But he can come visit us."

"What about your mom?"

"She can come visit us too."

"So you have no problem with going the rest of your life not seeing your family ever again? You're gonna go the next sixty or so years just living out here and never seeing them again?"

Zac struggled for a response and I knew that I had him on the run.

I pulled back a bit, "I'm just saying... maybe it would be a good idea to go back. Just for a little while."

Zac played with his napkin idly before answering, "I don't know. I would go back if I didn't think it would be all awkward and shit. I mean, everything is so cool now. Going back home would bring all that bad stuff back and right now, that's the last thing that I even want to attempt. Like it's playing Russian roulette where I'm 99.9% sure I'm gonna get my brains blown out."

"If you don't want to go back, then I won't push it on you. But I think if you do go back, it might give closure on that situation by seeing everyone. If they bust your balls for leaving, it's out in the open and out of their system. Then we can go back here knowing that you went home and saw everything and dealt with it yourself. Then if anyone else holds on to what happened, it's their problem."

The strangest thing about what I had just said was I believed it. I found myself pushing down all the fear of some ambush in the interest of a greater good. Zac had pretty much swept a large part of what had happened under the rug and tried to forget about it, doing a good job but still leaving a large, sore lump inside himself. All the sun and sand and sleeping until 2pm did a good job of obscuring the lump, but it didn't make it go away.

"I'll think about it," Zac said helplessly, "I'll just... think about it."

I reached out and held his hand under the table, "Hey... you know that whatever you decide, whatever you want to do, I'm going to be here with you. That's not ever going to change."

He smiled and squeezed my hand, "I know, Reid."

I was being challenged. There was really no way to misconstrue what he was trying to express, considering he was standing only about half a foot away from me. The look of cocky srrogance on his face was telling enough, not counting the words he'd just used to express his opinion of my relationship with Zac. He was my height, maybe a little shorter, and he had short spiked blond hair and a mild tan that only magnified his prickish personality. One arm was on the pool table and the other was on the back of a chair to his right. Behind him was the restroom, where I was trying to gain access too.

Our paths crossed after probably the most innocent of occasions. After dinner, Zac had wanted a drink and we had stopped at a game room on the main street of the town. While he had downed his Dr. Pepper, I was on my way to relieving my bladder in the rest room. But unfortunately, that plan was being contested by the wiry homophobe in my way. The first remark had come as I went up the small steps to go past the pool table and before I could remark in return, he assumed his position of defiance.

"Isn't that cute?" He sneered, "The faggot wants to use the bathroom!"

I stopped and chewed my lower lip, taken completely off guard by this sudden show of intolerance. My correct hunch was that he was like many of the southern panhandle college students hanging out in the town during a brief respite from school. His t-shirt read University of Miami. I wondered what his Dean of Students would think seeing this behavior.

"Hate to break it to ya, queer, but there aren't any glory holes in here." He said, squinting at me.

The room had gone all but silent as the showdown began to escalate. I chewed on my lower lip some more, clearing my throat softly and trying my best to quickly evaluate the situation. Whoever the hell this jackass was, he wasn't going to backdown without some show of agression in return. But I didn't want to return his attitude. I was better than that.

"Look at him," The guy said to the room, chortling, before turning back to me, "What's the matter, fag? Has that little jailbait washout boyfriend of yours fucked your brains out? Huh!?"

I didn't say anything.

"I guess so. I guess that this faggotass molester doesn't have anything to say!"

A very curious and unique heat began to rise in my chest and through my arms. The knuckles on both of my hands began to tighten and tense and my jaw began to feel that odd soreness. Kind of like when you bite down and clench it really hard and it hurts, but hurts in a good way. Slowly, I sucked air in through my teeth and felt the sweat roll down my neck. More than anything at that point, I wanted to take his head off.

His voice became quieter, "Listen here, fudgepacker, you want to use the bathroom... you have to go through me. But you'd probably like that, huh?"

Again... I didn't say a thing.

"Check him out," He laughed excessively, "This fucked up queer's gone mute! What a pussy!"

Finally, my mind settled on a suitably blistering retort. I pressed my tounge against the roof of my mouth and got ready to deliver a barb so nasty and painful that it would sink into his flesh and fester unbearably. I released my tounge and smirked a bit, getting ready to shred this bastard like the pig he was. Oh, it was going to be sweet. Especially sweet because the retort would stun him long enough for my fist to connect with his sculpted little button nose. I began...

"Reid," Zac's voice came from behind me, "Let's go."

I didn't move. My voice cut off in my throat and I stalled, not entirely sure what to do. Suddenly, Zac's hand slipped over my fist and squeezed it, massaging my knuckles and urging my hand to open. Not by choice, my hand opened and allowed his to slide in and the soft, warm skin of his palm encompassed mine. My fingers were limp and surprised by his sudden touch and my mind reeled, not sure how to handle this.

"Yeah, you better listen to your little boyfriend." The guy said, snickering.

I still didn't move. My system tensed and ready for attack. Feet planted firmly, jaw clenched, shoulders sqaured and ready to fend off any punch and deliver three in return. My left hand balled up and ready to put a hole in the jerk's face. But my right hand was a different story. It was being held by Zac. I didn't know what to do.

"Let's go home." Zac said softly, his grip both gentle and firm at the same time.

I was able to form words, "Zac... this isn't about you."

"Um... yeah, actually it is because it's you. Let's go... now." He said, his tone hardening with the final word.

For several seconds, I stood there. My foe was still wearing a hearty smile as he watched my dilema. Everyone else inside the establishment was dead silent, watching the exchange. Gradually, my shoulders began to untense and my neck loosened. The fist left my other hand and my jaw began to hurt from being held so rigid. In the blink of an eye, I made a decision as my mind weighed the consequences of each possible action. Slowly, I turned towards the door.

The guy laughed, "Look! He's a pussy! What a chump!"

As he said the words, my back was turned and I tensed again. As my muscles tightened, Zac could feel it through my arm and he kept his grip on my hand. He began to pull gently towards the exit and I reluctantly allowed myself to follow. A pin could have been heard dropping as we left, thru the doors and out into the lukewarm night air.

When my feet hit the concrete surface of the sidewalk, I disengaged my hand from Zac and began walking towards home quickly. Intense feelings of shame and embarassment rushed through me and my eyes began to burn. My stomach dropped and I felt like the biggest coward on God's green earth. Zac hurried to catch up to me but at that point, he was the last person I wanted to see, talk to, or have to deal with.

"Reid--"

"Shut up. Do not talk to me."

"Reid, don't be mad--"

"I'm serious! Shut the fuck up!"

He put his hand on my shoulder, "Please don't--"

I stopped as we passed under a streetlight and shoved his hand away roughly before turning to him, "Thank you! Thank you for making me look like a pussy! It's not like people already don't think enough shit about us but now they think I'm a pussy! Thank you, Zac!"

He said softly, "Reid... that wasn't you--"

"How the holy FUCK do you know what is and isn't me?! You made me look like a pussy. To them, I'm not a man anymore! I'm just a fucking faggot pussy with no balls!" I said and began to walk away, leaving Zac under the light.

"When the holy fuck did you start caring about what guys like that thought?" He spat, following me slowly.

I didn't answer.

He hurried and caught up with me, "Reid, what was I supposed to do? Let you get in a fight?"

"YES! Exactly!" I stopped under the next streetlight, "You were supposed to let me get in a fight. You were supposed to let me get in a fight and bust that jerkoff up and tear him a new asshole. That's how it works. But thanks to you... I now look like a pussy."

"Not to me," Zac said, "Or do I not matter anymore? Or maybe I never mattered! Is that it?"

"Maybe." I said under my breath, and I kept walking.

My body stirred on the couch. The only noise I made was a grumbling sound as I rolled over and tried to slip back into deep slumber. But then... it happened again. Something was gently running through my hair. I squirmed again and tried to swat whatever it was away. But it would go away. It happened again and I rolled over, pushing Zac away from the edge of the sofa and rolling back over to face the back. It was no use, however. I was awake.

"Reid, we have to talk about it."

"Go away." I mumbled.

"No," He said softly, settling down on the floor next to the couch, "We have to talk."

"Fine. Talk your ass off."

Zac sighed, "Seriously."

"Damn it! Look, can't we just forget about it?"

He thought for a second, "No. I'm not doing that anymore. I'm confronting things from now on."

I groaned and buried my face in the pillow, not wanting to confront a damn thing. Unfortunately for me, Zac had his teeth sunk in and he wasn't going to let go for anything. I tossed the pillow away and rolled onto my back, not saying anything and simply giving the non-verbal go ahead for the conversation to continue.

"What were you gonna do?" He asked softly.

"I don't know. Beat the hell out of him... break his nose... permanently disfigure him."

"And he'd do the same to you."

"So?"

"So... you freak out when you step on a penny in your bare feet. I doubt you'd enjoy having a split lip and a broken nose and shit like that, right?"

"Hey, I could handle it!" I said, suddenly energrized.

Zac didn't say anything. He sat on the floor and looked at me smugly, knowing that he had all but won the debate. I lapsed back into an offended silence and stared at the ceiling, not giving him the satisfaction of hearing me admit defeat. He was right. He had saved me from an assload of pain and suffering by pulling me away from a fist fight. Had I been in the same situation less than a year before, I would have ended up with a broken nose and a handful of my own teeth.

"What the hell did you do to me?" I groaned, rubbing my face briskly.

He crawled forward a bit, "I turned you into a civilized human being when you weren't looking."

He turned me and not the other way around. How ironic. I sighed and massaged my temples, knowing that Zac knew that I knew that he'd won. In an instant, he was off the floor and ontop of me, his body pushing mine into the cushions as he held his face in front of mine. Our lips brushed together before he kissed me deeply, his tounge sliding effortlessly into my mouth. The sensation drove a swell of hot pleasure through my body and out the tips of my toes. His hair tickled my forehead and cheeks as he pulled away and settled down ontop of me, resting his face against my neck.

We'd worked it out. Just like that, we'd worked it out. It was a pretty big step, I thought. As we laid there, I knew what Zac was thinking and I knew it scared him. He knew he was going to have to go back home. There really wasn't anything else he could do. There were things he had to confront and people he needed to talk to and I had no choice but to be there for him.

I would have to conquer my fears of police officers waiting in the airport and bitter family members waiting with shotguns. My fears were present but really not that bad. Whatever fear I had couldn't compare to what Zac had to be feeling. His fear was much more real and it had the very distinct ability to alter his life as he knew it. As long as we were safe and living in seclusion, living in the darkness, he could do what he wanted. But if he went home, he would be going back into the light. And they could get to him in the light.

• 3 weeks later ... *

"Ahhh... home!" Zac gushed as he collapsed on the front lawn.

I smiled at his unabashed joy as I tipped the shuttle driver and unloaded the last of both our original and accquired luggage. The final total came to nine bags. The clothing and amenities we had taken to Tulsa with us had only needed 2 suitcases plus a carry on bag. I sighed and began to carry them into the house, with no help from Zac at all. I didn't get too annoyed. Leaving him laying relaxed and unburdened in the sun, I dumped the first several suitcases and boxes in the entryway of the house and rested momentarily. Three trips later, everything was safely inside. The main concern was getting anything perishable out of the sun. Another perk of living in seclusion was the lack of worry about security, which was just fine by me.

The mid-day sun was topping off at about 88 degrees as I stood on the front porch and stretched. Gradually, all the airplane oxygen left my lungs and the sweet scent of the lush tropical flowers filled my senses. Idly smiling, I strolled down off the porch and down the front walk, expecting to find Zac still on the lawn. To my surprise, he wasn't there.

Not too concerned, I ambled around the lawn and onto the driveway, looking for him. Just as I would have usually begun to get a little concerned, I found him standing near the bushes towards the end of the block. He was bent over and it seemed as if he was listening to something. Momentarily, visions flashed through my head of having to talk us out of yet another odd situation that Zac had managed to instigate.

"Boo." I said flatly, poking him in the side.

He swatted at me, "Shhh... do you hear it?"

"No, Zac. I can't hear the voices in your head."

"I'm serious! It sounded like somebody was in the bushes."

"Uh huh."

He looked at me, "I swear to God!"

I was more than a little skeptical, "Zac, is this like the time you heard an alligator in the hot tub?"

"Yeah, loser. There's an alligator in the bushes. Seriously, I heard something."

I sighed, "I thought your issues have been worked through."

"They are! But that doesn't change that I heard someone in the bushes."

Without saying anything, I took Zac by the hand and began to lead him towards the house. After a grumble, he sighed and followed me along the paved sidewalk. Somewhere off in the distance, a bird began squawking and there was a rustle of leaves. Something was being chased, I thought. Maybe some poor furry woods creature was going to be had for lunch. Zac gradually cheered up and in one fluid move, lept onto me piggy back-style. After a second of wavering, I got my footing and carried him back onto the lawn.

His legs slipped out from my arms and he laid back on the grass, staring up at the sky. He looked so contemplative and at peace that I couldn't help but join him. The sun shone down on us, warm and pleasant, as we gazed up at the unfiltered blue backdrop above us. I felt his left hand close around my right hand and squeeze it, connecting us quite contentedly. His long fingers curled easily over my knuckles, making me feel safe and secure.

There was, however, only so much of staring at the sky that Zac Hanson could take before it got too stagnant. He pulled me up and we stood together in the yard, hugging. His arms wrapped so nicely around me as he squeezed, giving me the most pleasant endorphin rush I'd ever experienced. He stood up on his toes and kissed me, nibbling gently on my lower lip. I smiled and kissed him back, running my hands down and squeezing his ass firmly, drawing a whimper of pleasure from him.

Wanting to savor the warmth, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then there was the crunching of gravel in the driveway and what felt like a second later, a soft thump filled my ears and Zac's body went slack in my arms. My eyes opened and in the short time they had been closed, had adjusted to the lack of light. The sunlight blinded me and I tried to hold Zac up and keep my balance at the same time.

Suddenly, a bright flash of pain hit my right eye as something very hard and blunt struck me. My knees weakened and I fell back into one of the flower beds, my back grinding against the hard ground. Zac fell ontop of me, limp and not moving as I shook my head against the impact induced daze. Another blow caught me in the ear as I cried out, bringing my right hand up and trying to ward off the attack. The light was blurred and in the sun, I could only see the faintest outline of a person as it's hand came up again.

Swinging blindly, I tried to defend myself but the attack had stopped. My head throbbed and ached terribly as bright spots of red and orange flooded my vision. The metallic, copper-like taste of blood flowed from the cut in my lip as I spat and tried to somehow get myself ontop of Zac and protect him. It was my only thought and my only worry. In seconds, my vision came back and I shook my head, spitting blood off to my side and doing everything I could to regain my senses.

When my eyesight came back, I found myself staring into a gun barrel.

A voice spoke, a highly feminine and small voice, "Get up. Right now."

The first cupfull of water hit Zac's face like a wave. He jolted in the chair and sputtered, the back of his head throbbing and feeling as though it had been tagged with a steel pipe. Instinctively, he tried to wipe off his face but a peculiar resistance kept both hands against the arms of the chair. In the haziness that was his mind at that point, he didn't immediately realize what was going on. The last thing he had remembered was hugging Reid outside and then... then something happened.

His neck barked with pain as he tried to raise his head, the water running down his face and down his chest in cool streams over his skin. Somehow he was aware that the lights in the room were off, only disorienting him more and adding to the sour taste of panic and fear that had begun to churn in his stomach. As consciousness returned, Zac made another attempt to move but he found his feet incapacitated as well. More and more awareness came back and the fear only became greater as he realized his arms and legs tied to the chair. This isn't happening, he thought as his breath became hitched, please not now...

Before panic could firmly set in, another cupfull of water, ice cold and thrown with a cruel sharpness, splashed across his face. Zac sputtered again and shook his head, tortured by the stinging pain above his neck and not being able to massage it. A fit of wet coughing exited his chest and he squirmed again, still feeling horribly unlucid.

"Wake up."

Zac swallowed hard when he heard the voice. He didn't recognize it but without looking at the person, he knew from his experiences that it was a girl in her late teens, most likely overweight and mad at the world. The muscles tightening in his jaw as he felt rage begin to burn along with the fear. Slowly, his eyes focused through the blurred darkness of the room and he saw his captor.

He was right. Of course he was right. She was shortish, long blond hair, overweight and not particularly attractive, and not the best complexion in the world. Zac felt a rumble of nausea in his stomach when he saw what she was wearing. A Hanson t-shirt. This crazy bitch was wearing a Hanson t-shirt. As the final clarity returned to his vision, he saw what completed the outfit. The sight of it made his eyes burn angrily. Hanging around her neck, bright and proud, was a crucifix.

"Wake up!" She said again, her voice accquiring a timber usually reserved for calling dogs.

Zac let his head fall backwards and he rolled it a bit, stretching and staying calm as best he could. Let her make the first move, he thought to himself, let her dictate the pace of the procedings. Normally, he would have had trouble keeping a straight face at the word "dictate" but not now. Especially not when he didn't know what she wanted with him... and Reid... Oh God, where is he--

"Why Zac?" She asked, her voice teeming with barely contained hysteria.

Zac's voice shook, "Where is he?"

She blinked, shifting the gun to her other hand, "Huh?"

"Where's Reid?" He asked, his voice shaking but still impressively steady.

"Oh... him," She said bitterly, "He's in a safe place."

"Please... just don't hurt him. He hasn't done anything." Zac said, struggling. Truly struggling to keep from breaking down.

"Hasn't done anything? Hel-lo?!" She said dramatically, "He molested you, Zac! How can you think that's nothing?! Seriously, I thought you were raised better than that. How can you not see?"

Zac was almost at a loss for words, something about her seemed almost familiar, he spoke, "Look... if you want an autograph, you're going about it the wrong way."

She shook her head, "Zac, all I want is for you to be straight again. All I and everyone else want is for you to stop pretending your gay and stop being dirty and just come back and make music again."

Zac inhaled deeply, "I'm not pretending. I can't be straight again. I'm gay and if that's not what you want, then I'm sorry."

"Baby, all we want is for you to be good again. We're willing to forgive you for this," She leaned in close, holding the gun by her side, "It's not Christian, sweetie, you know it isn't."

She began to stroke his hair. It was the gentle touch of someone pretending to be compassionate but with the underlying tone of complete perversion. Her touch digusted him. Zac fought the bile rising in his throat as he touched his cheek, her face inches away as if she were going to kiss him. If she kisses me, he thought, I'll bite her nose off. But she didn't, leading him to a slight feeling of regret. She sighed and patted his hand twice, consolingly.

"Zac, drastic times call for drastic measures. I couldn't sit back and watch you throw everything away for this perverted life of being queer. It's not right and I couldn't let you do that." Her voice was so soft and disgustingly affectionate.

Zac shuddered as he realized what it was he noticed what it was that seemed familiar. Her hair was styled much like his own. Her shoes were the same type he wore. And on her fingers were the telltate band-aids that covered the blisters that came with playing the drums. Zac's body sagged into the chair and he shook his head, wondering why this had to happen now of all the times.

She stood up straight, "This is going to be very hard for you, Zac."

A stinger of panic lanced it's way through Zac's body, "What do you mean?"

"This 'Reid' has some sort of perverted mind control over you. It's going to be hard for a little while but... this is necessary, Zac. As long as he is alive, your heart and soul will never be truly clean."

Zac's eyes widened and his body was gripped with a cold, weightless terror, "No... please... no..."

She stroked his cheek again, causing the rage to nearly course out his pores, "I know, my baby. I know it's going to be difficult but please keep in mind that it's what's best for you."

Every muscle in his body tensed and he felt the lump in his throat nearly explode. The rage and anger and terror at what was happening was too much. Molten tears ran down his face as a low strangled cry came from the back of his throat. I'm in hell, he thought, I've died and gone to hell... what did I do that was so bad?

"I know, honey," She said as she stood up, "It'll be done soon. You don't have to watch."

"Listen you fucking psycho!" He spat, "You hurt Reid and I will spend the rest of my life making sure you regret the day that your obsessed, fucked up ass ever saw me!You hurt him, bitch, and I will make sure you suffer!"

She sighed again, shaking her head, "You poor thing. What has he done to you?"

Breathing wasn't too much fun. Every time I expanded my lungs, they filled with the heavy odor of oil and sawdust. In the space of a minute and a half, I was ushered into the garage at gunpoint and tied to one of the spare folding chairs. The air inside the garage was stiflingly hot and muggy, making me sweat heavily. My heart stopping worry about Zac certainly didn't help. Knowing that he was inside, at the mercy of some obsessed stalker was nearly driving me over the edge. There wasn't one viable reason as to why this was happening and there was nothing we had done to deserve it. Not a goddamn thing.

The blindfold around my face had been tied painfully tight, cutting into my temples. The ropes wrapped around my wrists scratched and itched, tied tightly enough to cut off circulation to my hands. I began to rotate my wrists, at least trying to stop the throbbing and aching. Blood trickled down my forehead from where she had hit me with the gun and the salt quotient of my sweat made the gash sting worse.

I tried not to think about my head because it would only make me think about Zac's head. The possibility that he could have a crack in his skull or some form of brain damage... my stomach fell like a stone at the thought. A sense of angry desperation ran through my veins and I struggled more, trying to find some way out... any way out before something happened to Zac. The hot, toxic air of the garage served only to struggle harder.

My hands twisted in the rope, trying in vain to find some sort of purchase. I worked my wrists back and forth, the sweat soaked skin began to burn and become raw as the rough material scraped at the skin. Gradually, the rope began to loosen and my heart skipped a beat. I became partially aware of a hot substance running down my fingers, my only thought focused on getting the hell out of the binds. As my wrists worked faster, the rope loosened and loosened until it fell off.

A hot sensation of relief took hold of me as my hands came free and I pulled the blindfold from my eyes. My shoulders ached as I brought my hands up from behind my back and stretched my arms. My wrists were scraped and rubbed almost totally raw from the rope. The sight made me angry as I roughly tore the rope away from my feet and stood up, looking around the garage for an element of defense against our intruder...

More blood ran off my wrists as I slowly crept through the dark house. I could hear Zac and this mystery freak in the living room. Sweat rolled down my forehead and through my cut, the stinging sensation only peripheral. My feet stepped slowly as I walked as deftly as possible, not wanting to make a sound. The wallpaper felt cool against the hot sweatsoaked back of my t-shirt, my fingers curled around the handle of the baseball bat.

Staying close to the wall, I peered around and saw them. She had Zac tied to a chair and he was soaked from the chest up. But not with blood. He looked, for the most part, uninjured. It didn't surprise me, considering that out uninvited guest was obviously a fan with some very strong opinions based on the Bible. She was standing between Zac and I, her back turned to me as she spoke softly and lovingly to Zac. I could read the fear and anger on his face as he sat there, worrying.

Another emotion crossed his face as he looked absolutely terrified. After she attempted to pacify him, his face became drawn with a rage I'd only seen once before. He growled at her and from his words, I knew she was going to kill me. Or at least that's what she was planning to do. I knew there wasn't any time to waste and I slid forward, slowly and silently into the room. I held the bat ready in case she turned around.

Zac's eyes widened slightly and as I crept up behind her, I only caught her saying "what has he done to you?" My teeth ground together and I swung the bat in a sideways arc. The head slammed into her wrist, and a crunching sound resulted as the gun hit the floor and she screamed shrilly, falling to her side holding her crushed hand. Quickly, I grabbed the gun and pointed it at her, not at all in a forgiving or pitying mood to those with mental disorders.

"Gonna shoot me, huh?!" I yelled, pointing the gun right at her, "Is that what you were gonna do?"

"Please... I'm sorry..." She whimpered, curling into a ball against the coffee table.

"Fuck you!" I hissed, pulling my foot back and kicking her in the side.

She screamed and began crying, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry..."

I turned away from her and untied Zac quickly. With little warning, he lept into my arms and held me tightly. Keeping my eye on the mystery woman, I returned the embrace and stroked his back. He had buried his face in my neck and begun to sob deeply. All the worry and panic was beginning to leave his system as his limp body rested in my arms, his hot tears mixing with the sweat rolling down my neck. His grip on me relaxed eventually and he stood close to me, his forehead against my cheek as he inhaled and got a hold of himself.

Then he turned to her, "What's your name?"

She looked up at him, her eyes red rimmed and snot running out of her nose pathetically, "Huh?"

Before I could blink, Zac grabbed the gun from me and pressed it roughly to her head, "What is your name?"

The coldness of his tone frightened me. I held the bat and watched.

She sniffled, tears rolling down her flushed cheeks, "Annie."

Zac pulled the gun from her head and gave it back to me. He was silent as he stood there, looking down at her with a mix of hatred and pity. His hands were balled into fists and his breath was ragged. Slowly, he brought his left hand to the back of his head and massaged it gingerly. Annie was still curled into a ball, whimpering like a cornered animal. All of her Christian induced self confidence was gone. Without her gun, she was another homophobe cornered by reality.

"What were you gonna do?" Zac asked, his husky voice calm and measured.

She spoke in a tiny, afraid voice without moving her arms from around her head, "Nothing..."

"Fuck you!" Zac yelled suddenly, "You were gonna kill him, weren't you?!"

"No," She sobbed, "No... I was just... just..."

"What?!" Zac grabbed her savagely by the hair and pulled her over to the chair he had been tied to, his size and strength far overmatching her non-armed person, "What the fuck were you going to do?! You had a fucking gun! You hit me with a gun and you said you were going to kill him! What the fuck were you going to do?!"

Annie sniffled again as she cried, "I just want you to be straight again..."

"Fuck you!" Zac yelled, "Fuck you! You want me to be straight so psycho bitches like you can pretend that you have anything more than a Smurf's asshair of a chance at being my girlfriend?! I have news for you, bitch! I wouldn't be with you or any of your other fucked up Christian bitch coalition if my dick was on fire and your snatch was made of water!"

I tried not to chuckle. It was clear that Zac's words were hurting Annie much worse than anything else he could have done. I wasn't about to stop him, however.

Zac leaned in close to her ear, "Got it?! I'm gay! You don't have me and you never will!"

Annie sobbed helplessly, "Y-You don't have to be gay."

"Fuck you!" He yelled in her ear, "I bet you thought that if you learned to play the drums and wore Converse All Stars and grew your hair like mine and tried to be just like me it would make me love you, huh?!"

Annie didn't say anything.

"Do you even realize how fucked up you are?! Where are you from?!"

"M-Minn-- Minnesota." She sobbed.

"So you came all the way from Minnesota to do this?! You're insane! You are fucking insane!" Zac shouted at her.

For the first time, I noticed her backpack. It was sitting next to the couch and suddenly, I was filled with curiousity. Keeping the baseball bat well in hand, I walked over and picked it up. Zac looked at me questioning as I dumped it's contents out on the coffee table. Annie let out a small sob as she held her ruined hand and watched.

At first, there wasn't anything really of note in the clutter. But after a closer look, my stomach turned as I picked up the small box. Trojan condoms. She was going to rape Zac. I dropped them disgustedly and looked at Annie, seeing the guilt on her face and the intense shame as her entire plan had unravelled before her eyes. Zac saw them and picked them up, looking at the box and then at Annie, his dark eyes blazing with fury.

"Oh Jesus." I said softly, rubbing the aching spot at the side of my head.

"You were going to rape me," Zac said softly, his mouth forming around the words, "You were going to murder Reid and then fuck me. Or were you going to fuck me and then murder Reid?"

She could make no excuses and her voice was meek, "I thought it would make you straight."

Zac dropped the condoms and looked at her. Suddenly, his hands went to the waist of his shorts and he pulled them down completely. Annie closed her eyes tightly and tried to turn away. Zac grabbed his flaccid penis and pressed it against her cheek roughly, holding her jaw with his other hand. He was almost hissing with anger as he shoved himself in her face.

"You see that?!" He snarled, "You see it?! You were gonna kill for it. You might as well look at it!"

Annie whimpered, "Please... I'm sorry..."

Zac continued to press himself against her, "It has a sign on it, bitch! It has a sign that says 'Not for psycho, obsessed, stupid bitches who want to be me!' Do you see it?!"

"I'm s-s-sorry..."

"Fuck that! Fuck being sorry! Do you see it?!"

"Please..."

"Do you see it?"

She inhaled, "Yes."

Zac released her face and pulled his shorts up, a look of disgust and repugnance on his face. I shook my head and turned back to the pile of crap on the table. The only other thing of note besides the wallet and the keychain and assorted junk was a white envelope. "To The World" was written on the front. I picked it up and examined it, ripping it open slowly. Inside was only a piece of white paper with a neatly handwritten note.

The situation had become so unreal and dreamlike. Outside the house, day was turning to night and the dusk had begun to creep inside the house. Zac's face looked pale and damp with sweat as he stood firm. In the sparse light, I was able to make out the words, reading them carefully and taking them in.

"What does it say?" Zac asked flatly.

I took a deep breath, "You better see for yourself."

I passed him the note silently and as he read the words, and became aware of what they meant, the fury came back onto his face. His jaw tightened and the paper crumpled as he squeezed it. Slowly he turned to Annie, and she returned his glare with a terrified, yet sturdy confidence in herself. Zac looked at her for several seconds. The note began to shake as he swallowed before releasing the furrowed paper and it fell to the floor.

Then Zac grabbed the gun. His hand shook with fury as he pressed it against her head, the last of his calm gone as he cried angrily. The barrel of the gun dug into her head as she began to cry again, faced with the reality of her actions. I stood up slowly and walked over, laying my hand on his shoulder. Tears rolled down his flushed cheeks and his finger inched around the trigger.

"Zac... don't do it." I said softly.

"She was gonna kill all of us..." He sobbed, his hand shaking the gun against her head.

"You don't have to kill her, Zac. You're not like her."

Zac wiped his eyes with his free hand, not saying anything.

"It's okay, Zac. It's over. We'll call the police and it'll be okay."

He still didn't say anything. The gun was still digging into the top of her head. I moved my hand off his shoulder and down his arm. My hand curled around his and I slowly urged him to let go of the gun. My grip was like his when he urged me away from the fight, which seemed like almost years ago. My grip was very balanced. Gentle yet very firm. His skin felt hot and damp. I could practically feel the anger and the digust he was going through.

I gently held him with my other arm. My hand squeezed his and massaged it, trying to convince him that it was okay to let go. His hand shook more and I steadied it, not wanting his finger to pull the trigger inadvertantly. His muscles seemed to tense one last time before he went lax and collapsed against me. The gun passed easily from his hand to mine and I pulled him away, holding him steadily.

He didn't cry as I moved over, still holding him up, and took the phone. It was a challenge dialing up the police with one hand and keeping my eye on Annie in the chair. Part of me expected her to make a dash for the door or for the gun or for some sort of last minute completion to her plan. But she didn't move... she just stayed there... curled into a ball.

"She'll be treated and then taken to jail. After that, she's basically locked up."

"All right."

"Everything looks safe here. Would you like someone to stay?"

"No thanks. We'll be fine."

"Well, okay then. We'll be seeing you soon."

I nodded and the officer left. Carefully closing the front door behind him, I locked it and pulled the deadbolt into place. The last of the police cars pulled away and once again... all was quiet. As soon as things were serene, my body seemed to sag and feel the burn of what had happened. The fatigue and the panic sent me into a post-trauma crash and it was a struggle not to lay down on the floor and go to sleep right there.

I trudged down the hall and into the bedroon. The lights were off and I could see the familiar outline of Zac under the covers. The room still had a slightly warm scent and there was condensation on the mirror from when Zac had showered. My body lowered itself onto the matress and I exhaled deeply for what felt like the first time in years. The whole experience had probably aged me about twenty years.

"Reid..." Zac said softly.

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry..." He said, his voice cracking.

I laid down next to him and hugged him through the blankets, "What are you sorry for?"

"For acting like that... I mean, I'm sorry. It just scared me..."

He could barely finish his words before he started to cry. The tears were different this time. They weren't tears of anger, shame, dissapointment, or worry. They were just different. I held him as the tension finally left his body for the last time and he began to realize what had happened. I kissed the warm skin of his forehead and hugged him, giving him security in my presence.

"You don't have anything to apologize for," I said softly as I stretched out next to him, "You did better than I would."

He was quiet for quite a while. The tears stopped and he breathed deeply, his body calming and his system beginning to relax from the stress. All I could do was hold him. Outside in the distance, the sound of the waves crashing against the shore could be heard. It was a nice, soothing noise. It was doing an excellent job of masking the fact that I didn't have a damn clue what I was supposed to say. What had happened was so... freakish. And now was the aftermath.

The waves kept crashing. They kept on with their peaceful breaking as they moved on. The waves would always keep going no matter what. At least there was that much normalcy in our situation. In about the space of two hours, this one person had managed to completely disrupt what had been a very healing several weeks for Zac.

As much as I wanted to be angry and hate her for it, I just found myself unable to. She was a victim of her own obsession. It wouldn't have surprised me at all to find out that she came from an abusive home with an absent father that left her to cling to religion and her love for Zac to keep her from losing her mind anymore than she aready had. But it didn't excuse what she had done.

"Reid?"

"Hmm?"

"I need you." Zac said softly, his voice calm and relaxed.

"You're not serious."

"I need to feel safe... and that's when I feel safest."

"You're not too tired?"

He didn't respond with words. I felt his hand slide down under the covers and rest between my legs. The sensation of his strong hand gently squeezing my most sensitive area immediately drew a response. I squirmed and shivered, goosebumps standing up on my arms as he continued to massage me, bringing me to full capacity in a matter of seconds. Zac's lips pressed against mine and he kissed me, his tounge slipping into my mouth with the greatest of ease.

It didn't take long at all for our kissing to escalate in depth and passion. My hands moved under his shirt and felt the warm skin of his chest and the firmness of his physique. He lifted his arms above his head and the shirt came off effortlessly. The sight of his naked body made my mouth water as I moved my kisses from his mouth, down his neck , and onto his hardening nipples. I first sucked on one and then the other, firmly drawing on them inside the warmness of my mouth and teasing them with the edges of my teeth. As my tounge snaked across the hard brown skin, Zac moaned deeply and thrashed on the bed in the throws of pleasure.

Using my tounge like a paintbrush, I ran it up and down over his chest, caressing his skin and dampening it in the cool night air. With every touch, he shook and almost seized with bliss. After giving his torso a fairly complete toungebath, I moved my attentions lower. It drove him crazy to have my tounge in his belly button and when I slid the point into the small cavity, Zac groaned and grabbed handfulls of the sheets. I could smell the musky sweat pouring out of him as he struggled to hold off from blowing his load prematurely. His scent so warm and pungent, a scent that cologne companies would be blessed to be able to sell.

As I licked his belly button and down the sparse trail of hair, my fingers softly stroked and caressed his hips. Zac squirmed and draped one of his legs over my shoulder, moaning blissfully as he allowed himself to get lost in the pure pleasure. The moans became deeper and gruffer as I brought my tounge down and licked the sensitive skin of his thighs, the thick muscle squirming and flexing as he urged his hips upward.

Slowly, he brought one of his hands down and grasped one of mine, holding it. Our fingers locked together and squeezed tightly as I dragged the tip of my tounge slowly over the fuzzy wrinkled skin of his scrotum. The slight sensation sent a jolt through his body and he jerked on the bed, precum squirting wildly in two different directions from his cockhead. In one long, firm lick, my tounge slid up over his tight sac and up the length of his throbbing erection. Zac's fingers squeezed my hand like a vice and he groaned loudly as he felt the length of his cock engulfed by my hot mouth. As soon as my mouth had closed around it, another massive throb ran up the shaft and a thick glob of salty precum oozed out onto my tounge.

"Not yet... I want you in me." He gasped, squirming and gulping air.

With a bit of added saliva, I pulled my mouth slowly off his cock and left it bobbing, glistening in the moonlight from outside on the water. It throbbed again, another glob of precum oozing out and down the shaft. The sight alone was almost enough to make me cum but I wanted to save it. I wanted to be inside him. He felt safest and... maybe... that's when I felt safest too.

Zac rolled onto his side and pulled his legs up, giving me an unobstructed route. Starting with one finger and then two, I gradually loosened him up and massaged his prostate, sending a thin spurt of precum across the sheets. The muscle tightened on my fingers and his moans got louder as he urged his rosebud back on my fingers. My lips found the pulse in his neck and I sucked on it, sending Zac into a near frenzy of pleasure.

Together, we rolled forward and he got on all fours, his body shaking with lust. My arms wrapped into the familiar position around his waist and the sensation of his warmth against me was intoxicating. Almost perfectly, my hips fit against his and my dick felt the gloriously familiar tightness of his hole. The small, tight pucker flexed against my cock, expanding and inhaling me into the hot depths of his body. My head swam and I pressed my face against his neck, sucking and kissing him hungrily.

His insides expanded and held my cock tightly as his tensed muscles pushed into me. His body felt so warm and soft in my arms and his skin tasted so salty and alive. We began to move together, my cock pumping in and out against the engorged gland inside him. Everytime my cockhead stroked over it, he moaned loudly and his whole body shook. Beneath him, my hand found his rock hard erection and stroked it, collecting the thick precum he was exuding and stroking it back down the ridged shaft. In my arms, he shivered and pressed into me, the only noises coming from him were deep pleasured gasps.

A massive shock of pleasure raced through me as my balls rubbed against his, massaging them together. Just to be with him felt so good. The knowledge that we were together. Nothing could pull us apart. I inhaled sharply and began to slide in and out him with more speed, more urgency, as the sensations and feeling became more and more prominent. Zac began to moan loudly, his body shaking as his cock swelled in my hand and his balls pulled up against my own.

With one last, loud cry, his ass tightened almost painfully on my shaft. My cock buried inside him to the hilt and his hips shuddered before buckling as the first shot of his molten cum sprayed onto the sheets. My hand deftly stroked him, squeezing and massasging every last drop of hot juice from his balls.

His hole relaxed for a second before tightening again as the second wave of orgasm rushed over him, sending me over the edge as well. I moaned deeply into Zac as my own cock distended and throbbed deep in his bowels and I filled him with my own sperm. Shot after shot flooded him as we came together, every last bit of tension working it's way out of our bodies.

My vision blurred again as we collapsed into a pile on the bed. The sheets stuck to our sweat soaked bodies, the only noises were the sound of the waves crashing outside and our depleted breathing. My cock softened and slid easily out of his still sensitive hole, and a hot smooth stream of my cum trickled out onto the sheet. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths, still holding onto Zac, making sure he didn't try and bolt on me. But I knew that was the last thing he'd do.

Zac rolled over to face me, his cheeks flushed and sweat glistening on his brow and upper lip. His eyes were finally calm. They were finally free of stress. He smiled tiredly, his eyes drooping half closed as his body relaxed and basked in the afterglow of love making. He swallowed and moved slightly on the bed, completely sapped of hid strength. It was oddly gratifying, considering I had seen first hand how much energy and strength and vigor the kid had.

I reached up and gently stroked his hair, "You okay?"

Zac smiled and nodded, "I wanna go home... for a little while at least."

I smiled, not feeling worried anymore, "Cool."

THE END