Marine Squad Sierra Foxtrot

By: Jeff B
(© 2013 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 4

How the three of us managed not only to get up in the morning, but to make it throughout the day without getting our heads blown off is anyone’s guess. I felt like I’d just closed my eyes when my watch started beeping, followed ten seconds later by my phone. Not only was I still tired, but my body was sore. If Josh and I are going to keep sleeping together we have to think of a better way. I was going to talk to him later today about it. I thought maybe we could just move our bunks into the same room and shove the stupid things together; we’d at least have some room to move. I love having him on me, but all night gets a little confining. I did find a fun way to wake up Mark, though. He was on his back so I couldn’t grab his ass, but I did find something else to grab. He had a morning hard on and it was sticking out of the fly in his boxers. I couldn’t resist; I grabbed his cock and stroked it five times before his eyes snapped open. He looked at me a little confused for a second and then got a huge shit-eating grin on his face. He told me he really loved the way I woke up my buddies.

Mark, Tiff, Pete and I headed out the door at 0440, climbing into one of the Humvee’s to get as close to the caves as we could. We still had to hike another two miles before we got to them, but we didn’t have to hike the ten miles to reach that point. Tiff was driving, with Pete riding shotgun. Mark and I were in the back, sitting side by side on jump-seats on the side wall, and not five minutes out he was asleep on my shoulder. How he actually slept with all the bouncing and rocking around is beyond me, but he sure as hell did. When Tiff stopped the truck and we got out, we spent a few minutes getting our gear together and tried to wake up a little more. The hike would finish that for us, but we were still kind of groggy when we set out.

Mark and I took point and headed out, followed a hundred yards behind by Tiff and Pete, all of us scanning around us, keeping a sharp eye out for everything.  When we were about two hundred yards away from the cave opening a bullet struck the rock about two feet to my left. Mark and I dropped to our bellies and returned fire, sending about twenty rounds in the direction we’d heard the gunshot. We had no idea if we’d hit anyone, but there was no return fire. Tiff yelled up at to ask if we were alright and then told us to stay down. She said she had a line of sight on six men with her binoculars and she was going to have Pete send them a good morning grenade with his RPG. He actually sent three of them and after the smoke cleared we all walked over to see what was left.

We found seven dead bodies; some of them in parts and pieces, and a bunch of automatic rifles, two machine guns and six RPG’s. Mark and I had been damn lucky they hadn’t used the RPG on us. I guess their lookout wasn’t very awake either; he had just taken a shot with the rifle that was still in his dead hands. We went through all of their stuff, looking for any kind of papers or maps that might lead us to more of them or tell us what their plans had been. We didn’t find anything more than the weapons and some food they had stashed. Tiff used the radio and called for a helo to come pick up the remains and the weapons, and after leaving a marker we headed out again. The helo reminded me that we really needed to have one sent to our camp to have that crapper hauled away before we all got sick. She grinned at me when I told her about it and said she would have it taken care of when we got back.

There’s nothing better than getting shot at to wake your ass up, and we were all wide awake from that point on. We spent the rest of the day looking in and around caves, Mark and I still at point. We did find another weapons cache, but it was small enough that we just took it with us when we headed back to our truck later in the day. Mark did see another snake in the cave and blew its head off; well blew the thing into several pieces. The man does not like snakes. After spending another two hours walking around we stopped and had something to eat, sitting on some rocks that gave us a great view of the area all around and below us. We even watched the helo land and pick up the remains of our earlier battle. While we were eating Pete just started laughing his ass off and we all stopped and watched him for a moment, all of us grinning at him. I looked at him and smirked.

“Feel better now?”

He laughed again. “Yeah… Fuck….” He shook his head, grinning.

“What the hell is so funny?”

“Oh man… I was walkin’ around the back of your building this morning, on my way to the chow hall and happened to look at the wall as I passed. I think Matt got horny this morning when he got back, ‘cause there’s a bunch of cum stains all over the fuckin’ wall.”

Mark and I laughed while Tiff just grinned and shook her head. Mark couldn’t let it pass, though without comment.

“So let me get this straight. You’re eatin’ lunch and you start thinkin’ about cum stains? How do you make that kinda connection?”

We all bust up laughing again.

“Fuck you… No, I just happened to think about it.”

“Yeah, sure; everyone thinks about cum stains on the wall while they’re eatin’ lunch. Something you wanna tell us, Pete?” Mark grins at him.

“Fuck you, dude. I’m not the one that was grinning watching J.C. and Josh kissin’. Maybe there’s something you’d like to tell us.”

“Sure. I thought it was nice. They look good together.”

“So you’re gay too?”

“No, but you don’t have to be gay to think a couple looks good together.”

“I guess. But no, I wasn’t thinkin’ about the cum stain on purpose, it just popped into my head. Leave it to fuckin’ Matt to do some shit like that.”

“How do you know it was Matt?”

“Who else would do that?”

“You make a good point.”

No more was said about Mark’s gift on the wall and we finished our lunch in relative peace. After lunch we started hiking to the west side of the caves. We’d been there several times before and had never found anything, but this time we found some kid, about fourteen years old walking around. It was the last thing we expected to find. We approached him with caution; we’d all seen other kids his age shoot a Marine or soldier without thinking twice about it. When we were about two yards away from him he finally looked over at us, kind of surprised to see four Marines standing there. He looked a little scared. Tiff could kind of get around in their language so she started talking to him, telling him we weren’t going to hurt him, but what was he doing. He told her his parents had been killed and he was looking for his brother. He said that his brother had always told him that if anything ever happened, to come to this side of the cave and wait for him. I looked at Tiff.

“I wonder if his brother was one of the seven we took down?”

“I hope not. Let me ask him if he has a photograph of his brother; we’ll know.”

She asked the kid about the picture but he didn’t have one. He described his brother to her, but that really didn’t help us much. With a description of 175 cm and 64 kilos, with black hair and brown eyes it described ninety percent of the male population of Afghanistan. With the added information of his age, at sixteen, it dropped the percentage down to forty-five. Tiff asked him if he’d like to come with us or stay and wait for his brother and he said he had to stay. We gave him our rations and a couple bottles of water and headed out. It would really suck to be orphaned at fourteen and I didn’t wish that on anyone. It got me thinking about my own family, my parents and especially my brother. I still hadn’t been able to convince Logan he had to stop being such a fuck up, that it was only going to lead downhill. I had to try again. I couldn’t let my little brother self-destruct and not try to do something to stop him. I would give him a call as soon as I got back to camp.

The remaining two hours were as boring as they usually were. We just hiked around, looking at things and shining bright flashlights into smaller caves. I almost stepped on another snake, but didn’t tell Mark about it; I figured the stupid snake had as much right to survive as the rest of us. We headed back over to where we’d left the small weapons cache and grabbed it, then headed back to our Humvee. After a thirty minute drive back to camp we were finally done for the day. Josh wasn’t back yet, but that gave me some time to talk to Logan. Mark wanted to hang out, but I told him what was going on with Logan and I really needed to call him and see if I couldn’t help him somehow. He grinned at me and told me good luck, and that I was a good brother. I wasn’t so sure about that. I walked over to the admin building and asked Gunny if I could use the computer to make a Skype call to my little brother. He said sure and left the office, giving me some privacy. I was really relieved when Logan actually answered.

“Hey, bro, what’s up? How’re you doin’?”

“Hey, Joe! Man, it’s so good to see your face; how the fuck are you; are you OK?”

I smile at him. “I’m good, Logan; I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t worry about me, Joey; you have to take care of yourself. I’m fine.”

“No you’re not; what’s going on? Mom and Dad keep telling me about all the crap you’ve been doing. What’s goin’ on, little brother?”

“Nothin’, just hangin’ out with friends; you know the drill.”

“Hangin’ out with friends and gettin’ arrested isn’t the normal drill, Logan. I thought you always hung out with Bryce and Kyle; I can’t imagine those two doin’ shit that would get you all arrested.”

“I wasn’t with them; I was with some new guys at school. They’re really cool, Joey; you’d like ‘em.”

“Not if they get my brother thrown in jail. I don’t want you getting hurt, bro; it’d kill me to find out you’ve been hurt. We’ve watched those locked-down shows together; you know what goes on in those fuckin’ places. You can’t do shit that will get you put there.”

“I’m not gonna get put in prison, for fuck’s sake; we were just fuckin’ around and got busted; it’s no big deal. And I don’t need you raggin’ on me from ten thousand miles away; I get enough of that shit from Mom and Dad.”

“I’m sorry; I’m sorry I’m raggin’ on you. I didn’t mean to, I’m just really worried about you.”

“Well, stop worrying about me; I’m good. You have to worry about yourself, Joey. You’re fuckin’ getting shot at all the time; you need to worry about you, not me.”

“Is that what this is about; is that why you’re being reckless? You worry about me getting killed?”

“Yeah, bro; what do you think? My big brother’s far away getting shot at all the fuckin’ time and I can’t do anything to protect you. It’s like what’s the fuckin’ point. I could lose my big brother and I’m supposed to worry about getting good grades and stayin’ out of trouble? That’s bullshit. You need to come home. I need you here.” He has tears streaming down his face and that makes me start.

“Oh, Logan… I’m sorry; I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you were so worried about me. But I’m OK; I really am. I have great friends here who will do anything to protect me. They’ll give their fuckin’ life to protect me; don’t worry about me.”

“Yeah, and I know you; you’d give your life to protect them. Where does that leave me?”

“Oh, man… I’m sorry. I promise you, Logan; I’m as careful as I can be. I don’t take chances and I don’t purposely put myself in harm’s way. I’m doing everything I can to make sure I get to come home and see you. You can’t spend so much time worrying about me. It makes me sad to think that you’re so upset because of me. But you have to promise me that you won’t keep taking chances that will get you put in jail or hurt. You don’t want me hurt and I sure the fuck don’t want you hurt!”

We just sit there, looking at each other crying; not knowing what to say. He sniffles a couple of time and wipes his eyes with the backs of his hands and looks back at me.

“I love you. You’re my big brother and you’ve always been here for me. I just miss you. I miss you every fuckin’ day.”

“I love you, too, Logan; always, bro. I miss you, too, I really, really do. I think about you and worry about you and wonder what you’re doin’.  I promise you, Logan; I will do everything I can to make sure I come home alive so I can see you.”

“You’d better, goddammit.” We both sniffle again.

I try to give him a good smile. “I will. I plan on walkin’ in that door, pinnin’ your ass to the fuckin’ floor and tickling the shit outta you.”

He smirks and grins. “I’ll be fuckin’ waitin’.” He sniffles again and looks at me. “Fuck, bro; it’s so, so good to see your face.”

“Yeah? Well, it’s great to see your fuckin’ mug, too. When’re you gonna shave that shit off your chin?”

He laughs. “Hey, don’t be dissin’ the goatee; it took me four fuckin’ months to get it this long.”

I laugh. “Four months for a half-inch?”

He laughs. “Blow me; that’s more than you can grow, blondie.”

I smile at him. “Yeah, you might have me on that one. I’m just givin’ you shit; it actually looks good on you. I like it. Just don’t let it get all scraggly and nasty lookin’; girls don’t like that shit.”

“Really?”

I smirk. “I don’t know; I’ve never had a goatee. I’m just guessin’.”

He laughs. “There’s nothin’ like great advice from my big brother.” We both laugh.

“Hey, I’m a fuckin’ jarhead, what do I know?”

“Yeah, you have a good point, jarhead.” He smiles at me. “You know I’m proud of you, right? I tell everyone at school that my big brother’s a fuckin’ Marine. That, and if they ever give me any shit, I tell them he’s a huge fuckin’ Marine.” He laughs.

I smile at him. “Thanks, bro. I’m proud of you, too. I always have been. So, speakin’ of girls and goatees, do you have a girlfriend?”

He blushes a little. “Nah… I haven’t had time for one. Besides, none of ‘em seem interested in me.”

“Oh, bullshit. You’re just too shy to notice. You gotta make the rounds, bro; get out there and meet some women. Quit hangin’ out with these new guys and go find yourself a woman. You’re sixteen; it’s time to get laid.” I smile at him.

He laughs. “It’s way past time to get laid; my hand’s startin’ to hurt.”

I grin at him. “Well then, switch hands, dufus. You have to keep ‘em both in shape.”

He laughs. “I did! I can’t get myself off with my left hand; it’s fuckin’ worthless.”

I smirk. “Use both at the same fuckin’ time; train the left one!”

He laughs hard. “Fuckin’ Joey… What a perv! Show me your fuckin’ hands; you must be gettin’ scabs on ‘em by now.” He laughs again.

I laugh with him and then show him my hands. “That’s what lube is for, dude. Not only keeps your dick from getting’ sore, it helps your hands, too.”

“You just ain’t doin’ it right if your hands aren’t sore. Fuckin’ old man; what’d they teach you in boot camp; how to be a little girl?” He grins at me.

“Yeah, and on every Friday and Saturday night we dress up in short skirts and have dances around the fire. Blow me, bro; I got your little girl hangin’.”

“Yeah, yeah; we already know who got the dick in this family, and it wasn’t you.” He laughs.

“Yeah, but yours is just a rental; you have to return it when you turn eighteen.” I laugh.

“Good! I can get a newer, bigger one! This one will be worn out by then anyway.”

I kind of blush. “Fuck… That one kinda backfired on me.”

He laughs hard. “You think? Fuckin’ Joey… Thinks he’s the king of the come back and just got his ass handed to him by his little brother.” He smiles at me.

“Yeah, well, I haven’t had you to spar with; I’ve lost my touch. Be warned, dufus; it’ll all come back to me when I’m standin’ in front of you, talkin’ shit.”

“Whatever. I can hand you your ass on the phone and I can do it in person. You better start practicin’ on your Marine buddies; you’re gonna need all you can get.”

“Oooo, big talk from the little man. I accept that challenge.”

He grins. “Yeah? Bring me your best shit talkin’; you’re gonna need it. And I got your little man hangin’.”

I hear my dad yelling in the background to turn the fuckin’ computer off and go to school. I’d forgotten about the time difference. I look at Logan and smirk.

“Dad’s barkin’.”

He grins. “Dad’s turned into a fuckin’ Schnauzer; he barks all the time. He’ll get over it.”

I grin at him. “You know better than that. I need to let you go to school before Dad has a stroke.”

“I don’t wanna say goodbye, though.”

“I don’t either, but you need to get to school and I need to get to chow; I’m fuckin’ starvin’. I gave my food to some kid we ran across.”

He grins. “That’s my big bro; the savior.”

“Yeah, well, he looked hungrier than I did.  I knew I had food waitin’ for me back here.”

He smiles at me. “You’re a good man, Joey. I guess I’ll let you go get your grub on since you were such a good boy today.”

I grin at him. “Thanks. You better start bein’ a good boy, too. I’ll get home and rip that wanna-be goatee off your fuckin’ chin.”

He laughs. “Just try it, dufus; I’ll hand you your ass again.” He looks at me and gives me a sad smile. “I love you, Joey. Please call me again when you’re allowed to; I fuckin’ loved this. It’s been so great seeing your face and talkin’ to you.”

“I will, I promise. I’ll call you a lot more, OK?” I smile at him.

“You’d better, goddammit. And hey, send me some fuckin’ pics. I wanna see the kinda place my brother’s stuck in. Send me some of your buddies, too; I’d like to see what kind of trash you’re hangin’ out with.” He grins.

I laugh. “You got it! I’ll send you a bunch of pics. Everyone around here is always snapping pictures of everything; I’ll send you some of ‘em. And don’t be talkin’ shit about my buddies.”

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean nothin’ by it.”

“I know. I love you, Logan. Have a good day at school. And take good care of yourself, OK?”

“You too, dammit.  Now go feed that mug of yours before we both start cryin’. I’ll see ya, later, Joey.”

“See ya later, Logan.”

I reach up and click on the end call button and close the window. I need a fucking hug in the worst way. I get up and head to the door, hoping to find Josh is back. As soon as I open the door, Tiff walks in. I just stare at her a moment and then throw my arms around her, squeezing tight. She wraps me in her arms and just holds me. I sniffle a few times and she rubs my back and tells me it’s going to be alright. We just stand there for about a minute or so before she pulls back a little and looks at me.

“What’s wrong, Joseph; what happened?”

I sniffle again. “Nothing happened. I just finished talking to my little brother and I just really, really needed a hug. Thank you.”

“Oh Joseph, don’t ever thank me for a hug. I love hugs; you can hug me anytime you want.”

“Thanks, Tiff.” I sniffle again and pull her back into me, holding tight.

She whispers into my ear. “Is your brother alright; is something wrong?”

“He’s goin’ through a really rough time with me being away. I didn’t know; I didn’t know he was so upset about it. He’s been gettin’ in trouble lately and I guess that’s why; because he’s terrified that I won’t ever come home. How do I help him, Tiff?”

“Oh baby, you help him by doing what you just did; talk to him. Call him and talk to him; let him see that you’re alright.”

I sniffle again. “He said that it was so great seeing me; seeing my face. I guess you’re right; I just need to call him more. I didn’t know he was so upset about me being gone.”

“Well, now you do, baby; just call him. Call him every fuckin’ day; we don’t care. It’s not like we’re payin’ by the minute for internet service.”

I smirk. “I guess so, huh?” I sniffle again. “I’ll call him every day; let him see that I’m OK.”

“That’s what I’m sayin’. How old is your little brother?”

“Sixteen.”

“That’s a really tough age for a lot of reasons; having his big brother far away and in constant danger isn’t helping him much. Call him whenever you want, OK?”

“Thanks. I will.”

“Now I’ll hug you all night if you want to, but I know a cute, young man who’s lookin’ around for his boyfriend.”

I smile into her shoulder. “I guess I should go see his face, too; I like knowin’ he’s alright, too.”

She giggles. “He’s just fine from what I could see. And I wasn’t jokin’, Joseph; I’m good for a hug anytime you need one; always.”

“Thanks, Tiff; that goes for me, too. If you ever need a good hug, look me up.”

“I will; you’re good at this. Now go find that man of yours and go get some food in ya.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

We break the hug and look at each other, grinning. She winks at me and grabs my shoulders, spinning me around towards the door. She swats my ass and pushes me forward, chuckling.

It takes me about five minutes to find Josh. He’s decided to take a shower since he couldn’t track me down. I walk into the shower room and find him in the second shower, all soapy and sexy looking. He’s facing the shower and doesn’t see me walk up. I stand about a foot away from the shower, looking at him, checking out that fine body.

“Goddamn, boy; you are incredibly fucking sexy when you’re all soapy.”

He giggles and turns around, soap running down his face. “There you are! Where were you?”

“In the office. I needed to talk to Logan, so I asked Gunny if I could Skype with him. I’ve been talkin’ to him. How long have you been back?”

“Just a few minutes. I couldn’t find you so I figured I’d get all cleaned up for ya.”

I smile at him. “Thank you, baby. You have no idea how fuckin’ hot you look all soapy. Damn… I can’t stop lookin’ at ya.”

He blushes and smiles. “Well, stop lookin’ long enough to get naked and get in here with me.”

“Really? Are you sure you wanna take a shower together here?”

He giggles. “I’m very sure I wanna take a shower with you. And here is where the shower happens to be at the moment. And yes, I know what you mean. If someone walks in, they either accept it and move on or they don’t. I’m not hiding from them anymore. You’re my boyfriend, I love you and I wanna take a shower with you. Now get your ass in here. Now!”

“Yes Sir!”

Nobody walked in on us while we were in the shower and that was probably a really good thing, because Josh was on his knees in front of me for several minutes. I wanted to return the favor but he wouldn’t let me; said I had to wait until tonight. Since I didn’t know I’d be taking a shower just then I didn’t have my towel or clean pants with me, but we shared his towel and I walked back to our room in my dirty pants, changing them when we got in the room. Once we were dressed and ready to go grab some food, I stopped him, kissed him and then smiled at him.

“You know I love sleeping with you; having you on top of me. I love it like nothing I’ve ever done before. But we gotta work out a new plan, baby; my body was killin’ me this morning. I was thinkin’ we move both of our beds into one of our rooms and just slam ‘em next to each other. We’d have a nice double bed to sleep on.”

He grins at me. “I like the way you think, mister. Which room do you wanna use?”

“It doesn’t matter to me; you pick. If you wanna be in your room, which is cleaner, then we’ll move my bed in there.”

He giggles. “I know you too well, Joey; my room would look like this one in a week; it doesn’t matter. It would be less work to move my bed in here; we wouldn’t have to find all of your clothes to move ‘em.”

“That’s not nice. You’re sayin’ I’m a slob?”

“Yes.”

I smirk. “Yeah, OK, you’re right; I am. I’ll try and do better if you want me to.”

“We’ll at least try to keep our clothes separated on the floor; how’s that?” He grins again.

“You can be cold, you know that?” I smile at him. “OK, you got it, sexy. Let’s go eat.”

“You walk out first, I wanna check out your ass.” He giggles.

“Perv. You know you’re allowed to look and touch it anytime, right? That is part of bein’ boyfriends, in case you hadn’t heard.”

“Smart-ass. Start walkin’.”

As we’re walking outside to get to the rec-room he looks over at me and grins.

“So you’re really comfortable with us moving in together; not worried about what they’ll say?”

“No, I’m not worried about them. Like you said in the shower, I love you and I want to be with you. They either handle it or they don’t. We’ll deal with it when it happens.”

“Good. I feel the same way. I love you, Joey.”

“I love you, too, Josh.”

“You wanna hold hands?” He smirks at me.

“You think I won’t?”

“I don’t know.”

“Give me your hand.”

He smiles at me and takes my hand in his, working our fingers together and keeps walking. We walk into the rec-room and the only people in there are Gunny, Pete and Mark. They look at us and grin and go back to their food, Gunny rolling his eyes a little. Somebody has made spaghetti and it smells great. It’s really not very often we get a regular meal around here, it’s usually more like a hamburger, sandwich, cereal or MRE. We snack more than we actually eat. This is a nice surprise. I make Josh and me a plate of the spaghetti and grab the rest of the open loaf of bread off the counter and we go sit next to Pete. I look at him and smirk.

“You’re not gonna start thinkin’ about that wall again, are ya?”

He laughs. “Fuck you. Eat your food, gay boy; you need the energy.”

I grin at him. “Yeah I do, he’s a fuckin’ animal.”

Gunny just starts howling, spitting his food out. Mark and Josh aren’t far behind him. Poor Pete just turns red and shakes his head.

“I liked you better when you were in the closet. I don’t suppose you the left door open.” He grins at me, smirking.

“Nope; all sealed up. I guess you’ll just have to learn to love your gay brother.”

“How much are you willing to pay me to love you?”

I start laughing. “Five dolla; love you long time.”

Gunny’s about to fall over from laughing; his face is red and he’s just laughing his fucking ass off. Pete even starts laughing, shaking his head and laughing. And Logan thinks I lost my touch. I look at Pete and smirk.

“You ready to call it?”

He smirks and grins. “Motherfucker… Fine, you win this one.”

“Thank you. Eat your food, straight boy.”

He laughs again. I turn to look at Gunny, grinning.

“Are you gonna be OK?”

“Oh fuck… I don’t know; that was fuckin’ hilarious! You’re fuckin’ quick, dude.”

“Thank you. My little brother just told me I’d lost my touch; wish he’d been here.”

“You haven’t lost your touch, J.C.; you won that one fair and square. Fuck… Well, Pete may have liked you better in the closet, but you’re fuckin’ hilarious as a gay boy. Keep up the good work, Marine.” He smirks and laughs.

I laugh again, looking at Gunny. “Speaking of being a gay boy, Josh and I want to run something by ya. We were thinking we’d just move our beds into one room; is that cool?”

Gunny smirks. “What, having him on top of you isn’t enough; you need room to thrash around?”

I grin at him. “Something like that. It’s just hard to get any decent sleep on that little bed with both of us in it. We thought we’d slam the beds together and have one bigger one.”

Pete looks at me. “Damn boy, you can’t go the night without bein’ cuddled up?”

I look at Pete, grinning. “No. Would you wanna sleep in separate rooms from your girlfriend?”

“Well, no, but that’s not the case here. She’s back in the States; I’m here. We learn to live without each other while I’m deployed.”

“You’re right, that’s not the case. But in this case my boyfriend is right here with me and I’d like to sleep in the same bed as him. I’m not tryin’ to be a dick about it, Pete; I’m just sayin’ that since we are here together, and we are in a relationship, I’d like to share my bed with him. You may not like that we’re gay and boyfriends, but we are and we enjoy spending time with each other.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it, J.C., I was just askin’; makin’ a joke out of it. Don’t get your panties all knotted up. And for your information I don’t have a single problem with you being gay or you and J.D. being together. Like I told you last night, it was just a little weird for me to see two guys kiss. I don’t even live in your building, so I really don’t care what you’re doin’ in there. I was just makin’ a joke, dude; chill.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry, Pete. I really didn’t mean to go all gay evangelist on ya. I’m sorry.”

“No problem, Joe; just chill a little. You really need to believe and accept that none of us has a problem with you guys bein’ together. We’re on your side, brother.”

I smile at him. “Thanks Pete. And I am sorry I got jumpy; I just keep expecting the bottom to drop out about this; about Josh and me.”

“Stop worryin’ about it, brother; we’re all cool with it. Hell, it seems like it’s taken you two longer to accept it than it did the rest of us. Stop stressin’, dude.”

“Thanks. I guess you’re right about that. I’ll try to relax.” I smile at him and then turn back to Gunny. “So, what do you think?”

He grins. “Pete’s right, don’t get your panties all knotted up.” He laughs. “I don’t give a fuck where you guys sleep; sleep on the fuckin’ roof for all I care. Take the Humvee out and go to a fuckin’ drive-in movie and make out. You’re both grown men, you don’t have to ask anyone for validation or acceptance. If you’re mature enough to come here and get shot at, you’re sure the fuck mature enough to decide who you love and where you wanna sleep.”

“Thanks, Gunny.”

“Now eat your fuckin’ spaghetti, gay boy; he’s an animal and you’ll need the calories.”

We all laugh and Josh and I start eating. After eating, we enlisted Mark’s help and got Josh all moved into my room. We even cleaned my room before we moved him in and I couldn’t believe the difference, or the things I found that I hadn’t seen in weeks. Our new home looked almost like one of those gay couple homes you see on T.V. We spent the next hour or so just bullshitting with each other and Pete even stopped by to see the new digs. He gave us shit about the room being clean for once, but not a word about the beds being next to each other. He stayed for about twenty minutes and then went off to get some sleep. We all decided he had the right idea; none of us had slept more than three and a half hours in the last twenty-four. Mark bid us goodnight and went to his room while Josh and I got ready for bed. Josh had just finished stripping down to his shorts when he looked at me and grinned.

“Commando?”

I smile. “Fuck yeah, boy; every night. I love feelin’ your body next to me.”

“Good. I love feelin’ your body next to mine. Take them shorts off, boy.”

“Yes Sir.”

Mark yells from his room, laughing. “My shorts are already off!”

Josh yells back. “Good boy! No beatin’ that thing tonight.”

“Yes Sir!”

We all laugh. Josh looks at me and grins. “Climb in; I’ll be right behind ya.”

I wink at him and smile, getting into our new bed. There’s a gap where the beds meet, but it still seems nice to get in a bigger bed. I lie on my back, waiting for Josh to cuddle up with me. Once he’s comfy he looks up at me and smiles.

“I like this; it’s nice. I’m glad you thought of it.”

“I like it, too. I really wanna return the favor from the shower, but I’m too tired to do a good job. Is it OK if I do it in the morning?”

He smiles at me. “Of course, baby. I’m tired, too. Go to sleep, sexy boy; I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Yes you will. I love you, baby.”

“I love you. Goodnight, Joey.”

“Goodnight, Josh.”

I lean my head down and kiss his head while pulling my arms around him. He snuggles down into me and we’re both sound asleep in less than a minute.

To be continued...

Posted: 03/22/13