By the time Matty was fifteen and Alan nearly sixteen, the twins had become very close friends with Phyllis and Michael Buckman.  It hadn’t hurt that after one year the Caldwells had increased Michael’s portfolio by forty-five percent.  It also didn’t hurt that Michael Buckman had found a practically new six story office building for sale at an excellent price.  It was just two streets from Caldwell Investment’s old location.  The firm occupied the top two floors, which doubled their working space.  They were easily able to rent the other four floors to a variety of professionals; doctors, lawyers and CPAs.  The revenue from the rentals covered all the occupancy costs so the firm was literally rent free, a savings of $6,500 a month.

The Caldwells and the Buckmans attended the opera, museum openings, and many Broadway shows together.  Matty and Alan loved when they went out together for obvious reasons.  The two couples had dinner out often, and when Clay and Steve were around they joined them in these activities.  Clay and Steve were around less and less these days, preferring to stay in Julie’s Paris apartment. 

One evening, after Matty had gone home after visiting at the Buckmans, Michael told Alan that he wanted to talk to him.  It was Thursday evening, bridge night for Phyllis.  As soon as she left, Michael and Alan sat down on the living room sofa. 

“Alan,” Michael began, “I wonder if there is something you want to tell me.”  Alan looked perplexed so Michael continued.  “Look son,” he said, “I see the way you and Matty look at each other, the way you bump up against each other when you think nobody is looking, and those long sessions locked up in your room after school.  I know that you can’t be studying all that time.”

Alan grew pale, but he also grew bold.  Obviously his dad suspected the truth about him and Matty.  He cleared his throat and began to speak.  He knew exactly what he wanted to say.  He had been practicing for this moment for at least two years now.

“Dad, I hope you won’t be disappointed in me.  I’m still the son you always told me you loved, but the truth is I’m gay.”  He put a finger to his lips indicating that he had more to say and Michael should let him finish.

“I knew who I was long before I met Matty so please, please, don’t think David and Jonathan had anything to do with this.  I’ve never spoken to them about my sexual preference, and I don’t know if their gaydar is sensitive enough to know about me.  I gotta tell you that Matty thinks they know about us.  I love Matty, Dad, and he loves me.”  He hesitated, but figured he would go all the way.  “We’re lovers, Dad.”  Having said that, Alan began to sob.  Michael put his arms around his son to console him.

“Listen,” he said to Alan.  “There’s nothing about you that could ever disappoint me, so get that out of your head.  And don’t you ever be ashamed to love someone.  Love guides us and motivates us to do the best we can with our lives.  Think how empty our lives would be without love.”

Alan sat up a little taller and hugged Michael with all his strength.  “Oh Dad,” he said, “Do you know how wonderful I feel now.  You’ve given me the greatest gift ever, the gift to be me, to be free.”

Michael started to stroke the back of Alan’s neck.  “I’m not going to tell your mother.  I want you to tell her in your own time. It’s something you’ll have to do yourself, but I’ll be there for you when you do tell her.  I only have one question to ask you.  Are you sure it’s real with you and Matty?  I know all boys fool around.  Hell, I did too.  Are you sure this isn’t something you’ll outgrow?”

“Not on your life Dad.  I’m sure of it.”

“I need to talk to the Caldwells,” he said.  He dialed their telephone number and asked if he and Alan could drop in for a bit.

“Sure,” Jon said.  “I’ll put up the coffee.”  Jon was worried.  This sounded serious and he suspected it had something to do with Matty and Alan.  He kept a calm face when he let them in.  As soon as Michael was fully in the house and Jon shut the front door, he grabbed Jon in a bear hug to end all bear hugs.

“It seems we’re going to be family,” he announced proudly, “and I couldn’t be more pleased.”

“What’s going on here?” David wanted to know.

“Get Matty down here and let’s go into the living room,” Jon answered him.

When they went into the living room, the twins took a seat on the sofa, Michael sat down on an easy chair, and Matty and Alan sat on the floor leaning against each other, looking like two frightened puppies.

Michael wasted no time.  “I spoke to Alan tonight.  I’ve suspected he was gay for sometime now, and I further figured that he and Matty were making it together.  When he told me that our sons were in love with each other, I couldn’t have been happier.  At least I know that he isn’t exposing himself to diseases on the streets”   He stopped talking and simply beamed at the twins.

David spoke first.  “Wow, I didn’t see that coming.  “Jon and I have suspected for some time that our boys were lovers, but we never asked like you did.  Mike, I gotta tell you.  That took guts.”

“Shall I break out the champagne?” Jon asked.

“No, let’s just do coffee, and we’ll be off.  Tomorrow is a school day and a work day.  Oh by the way, Alan and I are not telling Phyllis for right now.  Alan wants to do it himself when he’s ready.”

Up until now, the boys were speechless. Finally Matty spoke up.  “As long as you guys sorta consider us to be adults or nearly so, could I humbly request that you stop calling me Matty and switch to Matt or Matthew.”  Then he looked at Alan.  “Except you, love.  I like it when you call me Matty.”

Everyone laughed and went into the kitchen for coffee and a piece of one of Mindy’s home made apple pie.

Right after Thanksgiving, Jon called Michael.  “We’re going down to Palm Beach for Christmas week,” he told Michael.  “How would you like to join us?  You and Phyllis can use the guest bedroom, and the boys can sleep on the sofa bed in the living room.  Somehow I don’t think that they would mind.”

“That sounds terrific,” Michael answered.  “Just let me check with Phyllis and I’ll get right back to you.”  He called back within the hour with a resounding yes.

When they arrived at PBI they rented two cars.  This way, if the Buckmans wanted to do something that the Caldwells didn’t want to do, there would be no hassle and vice versa.  Jon drove the two boys to the condo and David went with the Buckmans so they wouldn’t lose their way.  Actually they really could have gotten along with one mini-van.  During most of the trip, they pretty much did everything together.

Then one evening, Jon told Phyllis and Mike that he and David wanted to go down to Ft. Lauderdale to a gay bar and restaurant they liked.  It had a piano bar with a pianist who played mostly show tunes, and the bar never played loud disco music.  It was a great place for them to be among their own and spend a pleasant evening.  He and David could even dance together if the mood hit them.  As for the food, it was passable.

Phyllis said, “I’ve never been to a gay bar, and this place sounds great.  Do you think the gay monitor would descend upon us if Mike and I went with you?”

“Not at all.  It would be an ironic twist of fate if you were discriminated against.” David said. “I think it will be fun if you came with us.”

“Can we go, can we go?” the boys started chirping.

“Not on your life,” Jon said.  “Anyway you’d never get past the carding.  You’ll just have to put up with each other at home.”  Somehow that sounded like a good idea, because nobody was having sex in these close quarters.  With that settled Jon consulted his personal phone book and called the bar to make reservations for four for dinner.

As soon as the adults were gone, the boys went at it.  They started in their usual fashion of playing sixty-nine.  They tried not to cum, but sometimes it got away from them.  It didn’t much matter.  At their age, they recovered almost immediately.  When they stopped playing and were as hard as they would ever get, Matt went into his fathers’ room, opened the top drawer of the bedside table and found what he was looking for, a tube of lube.

They hadn’t had sex in a few days and each fucked the other twice and could have gone more if they weren’t so exhausted. Matt carefully returned the lube and the boys put on pajamas.  They watched TV for a while but they kept dozing off so they gave up, shut the lights and went to sleep.  They avoided sleeping wrapped up in each other’s arms because Phyllis would see them when their parents returned, and Alan hadn’t told her yet that he was gay and that he and Matt were lovers.

They could have taken the highway to Ft. Lauderdale but Jon chose to take a scenic route. They followed the ocean down Route A1A.  There wasn’t too much light left, but they were able to see the mansions in Palm Beach and Manalapan.  They could also see the beaches and the ocean when the foliage wasn’t too thick.  It was snowing in New York and the northerners could hardly believe how beautiful the weather was and how mild the temperature.

There was a large parking lot behind the bar and it was perfectly free of charge. “That’s something you wouldn’t see in New York,” Phyllis observed.  They went into the restaurant through the back entrance and had to walk up to the front entrance to find the host.  Phyllis was pleased to see other women in the bar.  Some were obviously Lesbians, some were fag hags, but there were a few straight women there as well.  They were probably with friends or relatives.  For sure one elderly woman was there with her son and his ‘lover.’

The maitre d’ sat them in a nice corner table.  The waiter swished over to them, introduced himself, and handed out menus.  Then he took their drink orders.  Phyllis told the guys to have fun and she would be the designated driver.  While the waiter, Paul, was getting the drinks, Michael remarked that the menu looked better than the twins had led him to believe.  “I think they have improved it some since we were here last,” David remarked.

The service was superb, mainly because the waiter just hovered around their table.  He was obviously flirting with David and Jonathan, and when he flirted with Michael, who was probably the handsomest guy at the table, Mike turned absolutely beet red.  David and Jonathan started to kid him and told him that the waiter was just flirting and wasn’t serious at all.  Mike wasn’t so sure.

They all ordered steaks and it really was quite good.  The sides were grilled vegetables and smashed potatoes, with an assortment of rolls.  They were also given a choice of plain butter or honey flavored butter.  They ordered coffee and éclairs for dessert.  During dessert, the piano player began to play.  It was still the dinner hour and he played soft background music.  Every so often a couple got up to dance.  It might be two men, two women or a mixed couple.  The Buckmans had never seen two men dance together before, at least not tightly embraced, and it took a lot of liberalism and a little getting used to.

At one point, when a man and woman were dancing together, Mike asked Phyllis to dance.  They were really quite good and the twins wondered if they had ever taken lessons.

“Care to dance?” David asked extending his hand to Jon.

“Sure.”  They joined the Buckmans on the dance floor.

When dinner was over, they all joined a slew of other patrons around the piano.  Everyone sang along with the piano player which prompted Mike to say, “This reminds me so much of some of the pubs I was in when I was in London.”  David and Jon were pleased to see that their guests were having a good time.

Suddenly a voice screamed out, “David, Jon what are you two chaps doing here?”  It was Archie Manning, a client from back home.  “Talk about English pubs,” David said, “here’s John Bull himself.”

David introduced Archie to the Buckmans, who could hardly understand his thick British accent. 

“Isn’t spending time in this place a lovely way to pass an evening?” Archie asked.  “I discovered it on my last visit.”

“Are you alone?” Jon wanted to know. 

“I was when I came in,” he said.  He turned to the bar and waved at someone.  A cute young man, waved back.  “As you can see, I’m not alone now.  Well, I don’t want to leave such a morsel all by himself.  I might lose him.  Ta, ta, gentlemen and lady,” and he was gone.

They stayed for another hour, singing with the piano player and dancing.  A handsome middle age man approached Mike and offered to buy him a drink.  Mike declined graciously, but was secretly flattered that a rather good looking gay man found him desirable.  Before they left, Mike and Jon left a substantial tip in the piano player’s oversized glass.

Although none of them was anywhere near to being drunk, they had each had a few cocktails, so Phyllis got behind the wheel as she had promised.  David directed her to I-95 for the trip home.  It was too dark for scenic routes.  They returned to the condo in less than half the time it took for the trip down to Ft. Lauderdale.  They tiptoed into the condo to find their sons fast asleep.  They were wearing their pajamas and were facing away from each other as far to each end of the bed as possible.  Everything looked perfectly proper to Phyllis.

When they were in bed behind closed doors, Mike found himself really horny thinking of everything he had seen at the bar.  He started to initiate sex with Phyllis who tried to stop him.  “They’ll hear us,” she whined.

“Who cares,” Mike answered.

In a little while, David and Jonathan heard the muffled sounds of love coming through the thin walls.  Jon groped for his brother’s cock.  David tried to stop him.  “They’ll hear us,” he whined.

“Who cares,” Jon answered.

Matt was awakened by muffled moans and sighs.  He lay still for a while sensing what was going on in the bedrooms.  He rolled over, embraced Alan and grabbed his cock.  Alan whined, “They’ll hear us.

“Who cares,” Matt answered.

During the night, Phyllis woke up to go to the bathroom.  She could not help but see the young boys in the living room.  Somehow their pajamas were gone and they were curled up together with their arms around one another.  They were sleeping naked on top of the covers. Now Phyllis was a sophisticated, educated New York woman.  She knew what she saw, but vowed to say nothing until they returned home, and she could speak to Michael and Alan privately.  Unfortunately she made a classic mistake.  She assumed that Jonathan, David, or Matt or all three of them, had corrupted her son.  For the remainder of the trip she was rather cool to David and Jonathan.  The coolness was obvious to everyone.

When they returned to their own home in New York, Michael said to Phyllis, “OK.  What’s bugging you?”

She literally began to seethe, and then she screamed hysterically, “You’re dear friends have turned our son into a bleeding faggot.”  Then the tears began to flow.  Michael, who had never raised his hand to a living soul ever before, slapped her across the face.  Phyllis stopped crying and looked at him in disbelief.

“Don’t you ever call my son a faggot,” he hissed at his wife.  “I’ve known for quite a while that he was gay and that he and Matt were lovers, but we agreed that Alan should tell you himself.  He was just waiting for the right time.  I’m sorry that you had to find out this way.”  His voice softened.   “Honey, Alan knew that he was gay long before he met the Caldwells.  Jon and David didn’t turn him gay.  For heaven’s sake, they have been guiding and mentoring him, and helping him to adjust to his sexual orientation.  They have been a godsend.  We owe them our gratitude.”

He took Phyllis in his arms, wiped her tears and kissed her on the cheek.  “I’m sorry I hurt you,” he said, “but when you called Alan a faggot, I lost it.”

“No” she said, “you did nothing wrong.  I just need time to get used to the idea.”  Then she spotted Alan who was standing in the doorway.  He was sobbing like the little boy he still was.  She broke away from Michael and ran to her son.  She embraced him and tried to soothe him.  “It’s Ok honey,” she said.  “It’s OK.”

When Alan calmed down, she went to the front hall closet and put on her coat and boots.

“Where are you going, Mom,” Alan asked.

“I’ll be right back,” she answered.  Phyllis walked the one short block to the Caldwells through melting snow and slush.  When she got there, Mindy let her in.  She found the twins in the living room.  Matt was in his bedroom.

“Phyllis what’s wrong?” Jon wanted to know.

“I’m what’s wrong,” she answered him, and threw her arms around his neck.  She released him and hugged David also.

“Thank you for looking after Alan and helping him to adjust.  It’s what Michael and I should have done.  I’d like to think that I would have acted more wisely, if I had been told properly.”

“How did you find out?” David asked.

“I found them naked, curled up together on the sleep sofa one night.  I guess I freaked out and took it out on you two and Matt.  Please forgive me.  I’m so, so sorry.”

“There is absolutely nothing to forgive,” Jon told her.  “As Michael so aptly pointed out, we’re family now.”

Phyllis laughed and said, “Well, Alan is my only child.  I wanted more children, but it didn’t happen.  Do you think Matt would mind calling me, Mom?”

“Frankly, I think he’d love it.  He needs some female influence in his life.”

Phyllis embraced them once again and headed for home.

To be continued...