And Manny Makes Three: Gay Romance

by Solet, Trina

  But Zack knew he would let Al down no matter what he did. Whether he rejected Mark, or pretended to while not being able to keep away from him, sooner or later, Mark would leave. Either getting sick and tired of Zack's indecision, or bored with Zack and his family life, Mark would break their hearts. Whatever Zack did there would be pain, turmoil and uncertainty in their lives, not the stability and security he wanted for Al.

  Feeling like a selfish, bad father, Zack lingered at Al’s bedroom door watching him playing with PJ and a toy truck. He seemed to be delivering something to PJ.

  "Make her sign for it," Zack told him.

  Al frowned up at him.

  "I can’t play with you right now. PJ needs me to play with her," Al said making the assumption that his father was some loser who needed to be diverted from pining for his boyfriend before he was even gone.

  "I didn’t even ask," Zack pointed out to him. "And aren't I your best friend?"

  "No. PJ is my best friend. But PJ is only my best friend in this house. Lee is my best friend at kindergarten. Ricky is my best friend at Little Rainbow. Cory is my second best friend ..."

  "Hey!" Zack interrupted fearing that the list would go on forever, and he still wouldn't be on it. "You have a million best friends, and I'm not even one of them?"

  "Sorry," Al said with a shrug as if to underline the insincerity of his apology.

  "No big deal. I'll make Mark my best friend." Zack looked at Mark for his agreement since he had just showed up next to him wanting to see Zack get bested by a little kid once again.

  "I'll think about it," Mark said. He shrugged too.

  "Betrayal on every side!" Zack said.

  "That’s not the position I’m after," Mark whispered to him. Then he mock consoled Zack in a normal voice, "I'm sure Al will still play with you when he has the time."

  "He doesn't need me, he has PJ," Zack said.

  "Don't be jealous," Al told him as he continued to play with his best friend.

  Crossing his arms Zack stared him down, but Al only stared back with a goofy version of a tough guy expression.

  "Look at that face. Don’t you just love that face?" Zack said making Al look down with embarrassment.

  It was Al’s bath time, and Mark could hear Al giving Zack a hard time once again.

  "I'm not even going to school tomorrow. I don't need it. I'm clean," Al was saying.

  "You want to lick yourself like PJ does?" That was Zack, who then had to say, "Stop licking yourself."

  Since Al wasn’t cooperating, Mark decided to give Zack a hand. He poked his head around the doorway of Al's room.

  "Hey, Al. What are we going to do tomorrow?" Mark asked him.

  Al thought about it for a minute then shouted, "Dog park!"

  "No," Zack vetoed that idea.

  "We can set up a play date with Aaron and go to the regular park," Mark offered. Aaron was one of the few kids Al’s age in the neighborhood.

  "Yeah!" Al said, liking that idea too.

  "But we can't go if you don't have your bath," Mark told him.

  "Aww."

  "It's OK with me if you skip your bath. We can stay home tomorrow, and you can watch me do chores," Mark said.

  "That's boring." Al frowned at Mark.

  "Al, are you ready to take a bath now?" Zack asked hoping that two alternatives he was given had helped Al see the light.

  Zack had finished up with Al and joined Mark in the kitchen. Seeing that Mark was getting ready to sign up for classes for next term, Zack told him to sign up for extra ones since Al would be in school all day.

  "I’ll pay for them," Zack said.

  "You're already paying me."

  "It can be like a bonus."

  "I wouldn’t feel comfortable with that." Mark gave him a significant look.

  "Come on. Are you busting my balls about our relationship by denying yourself an education?" Zack asked.

  "I’m getting an education. And what you call our relationship is still unresolved." Mark gave him a reproving look to remind him whose fault that was.

  Thinking that he had made his point clear, Mark expected Zack would drop it. But he had an argument of his own. He started it off by asking Mark, "If you weren’t involved, and the situation was the same, what would you tell me to do about us, for Al’s sake?"

  "For Al’s sake, I would tell you to make sure it was for real." Mark glared at him as he paused. "Well, hurry up and make sure already."

  "I want to put you through school."

  "No."

  "Just consider it a better deal in our barter arrangement. You get sex and tuition, I get you as a nanny and otherwise. Deal?"

  "My counteroffer is I get a part time job while Al is in school."

  "You'll be going to school too when Al is at school," Zack insisted. "Just make sure you're not too tired for sex."

  "I'm too young to be too tired for sex. That's an old guy problem," Mark informed him.

  "You bitch!"

  Having scored so decisively, Mark smirked at him. By the end of it though, Mark was letting Zack pay for extra classes and feeling guilty about it.

  The next day, Al was way overexcited considering it was just a trip to a quiet, local park not an amusement park. Of course, it wasn’t a quiet park once Al and Aaron got there. Mark had to keep a close eye on them as they egged each other on while Aaron’s mother went shopping with the baby.

  After Aaron and his mom left, Al played more quietly by himself and with Mark. While Al was chasing some birds and lamenting that PJ wasn’t there, Mark spotted a guy his own age who was sketching. He guessed he must be an art student and pointed him out to Al. Al wanted to know what he was drawing, and that gave Mark an idea. Taking Al by the hand, he went over to the guy.

  "Can I bother you for a minute? Could you maybe show me your work? Sketches of people would be better if you have any," Mark said to the guy.

  "You don't need to pretend to be interested in my sketches. I'm straight," the guy said while giving Mark a knowing look.

  "I wasn't hitting on you. Why do all straight guys think all gay guys are after them?" Mark wondered, though he also wondered why this guy had him pegged as gay so quickly.

  "If it’s not me, what do you want?"

  Mark put out his hand for his sketch book since he already told him that’s what he wanted. The guy gave it to him but watched him like he thought Mark might run off with it. As he flipped through it, Mark saw that many of the sketches were of scenery and objects. But quite a few of the drawings were of people, mostly old or nearly ugly people. There were no kids. There were two drawings of pretty girls. Making a decision, Mark handed the sketches back.

  "OK. Can you do a sketch of this kid?" Mark put his hand on Al's head. After Mark took off his hand, Al flattened his hair roughly.

  "What's in it for me?" the guy said while barely glancing at his would be subject.

  Mark started to look through his pockets so he could give him an informed answer.

  "I don't know how much cash I have on me," he said as he pulled out a few bills.

  "Mark, you’re poor," Al said. "Dad said, ‘Don't ask Mark to buy you stuff. Mark is a poor college student’."

  "Who isn’t," the guy said without much sympathy. He did settle for the seventeen bucks Mark scrounged together.

  He didn't want Al to pose or anything, which was a good thing since Al wouldn't have been able to do it. Instead, the guy, whose name was Wes, had Al bring him the best leaves he could find. Al ran around picking up leaves and showing them to Wes who always rejected them as "not good enough". Al sometimes accepted his verdict and other times defended his leaves as good ones. There weren't that many leaves at this time of year. Some had been blown off the branches by a recent storm and were now dry. Though they were few, Al didn't mind hunting them down as a kind of game. He always showed them to Mark for preapproval then presented them to Wes with a challenging stare. Wes accepted a leaf only when he was done sketching. He handed the sketch to Ma
rk and took his money and the leaf from Al. Al smiled in triumph.

  Mark swore Al to secrecy and stashed the sketch in his room. When he came back from his class, he wordlessly handed the sketch to Zack. His eyes lit up and he smiled at Mark with tears in his eyes. After gazing at the sketch for a long time he said a quiet and heartfelt "Thank you". Then he called for Al.

  "Hey, Al, did you draw this?"

  Al shook his head. He thought it perfectly plausible for his father to think that he might have.

  "Mark paid for it," Al said.

  "I'd like to pay for it. How much was it?" Zack asked reaching for his wallet.

  "Oh, come on. I wanted to give you that," Mark said a little exasperated since Zack was always trying to pay for everything.

  "It's a surprise," Al chimed in.

  "It’s a great surprise. Who did it?" Zack asked

  "That’s the part you might not like." As Mark said that, Zack looked puzzled. "I shouldn't have let anyone sketch Al without your permission."

  Zack didn't disagree. He looked back at the drawing. Al was absorbed in looking at the ground with a leaf in his hand and more at his feet. Zack noticed the signature on the bottom but couldn't read it.

  "This is really good. Is the artist a friend of yours?"

  "No. He was just a guy in the park," Mark admitted sheepishly. He knew he shouldn't have let some guy in the park sketch Al. Not that artist need permission to sketch people. But it still made Zack a little uneasy as Mark knew it would.

  "It was for a good cause," Zack decided.

  And the guy was good. He had captured something essential about Al as well as given the drawing a quality that went beyond something a guy in the park might draw for money.

  "This is getting framed," Zack said and held up the drawing to see where it should hang.

  "You hear that, Al. You're a work of art," Mark said to him.

  Al nodded, never one to disagree with a compliment.

  The drawing of Al was propped up against the lamp, waiting to be professionally framed. Zack wondered if they could have one done every year. Looking over at Mark, who was busy reading, Zack was happy that he had thought of it.

  Zack idly watched Mark. Mark always looked so beautiful and contained like he had been perfectly placed by an expert hand. At the moment, he had been placed to rest his head back and look up at the ceiling. He was either lost in thought or lost in the music coming out of his chunky headphones. His legs were stuck under the coffee table and crossed at the ankles. Zack wanted to take a picture of him. No, he wanted an artist to sneak in and draw him like that guy had drawn Al. Zack would frame Mark, hang him on the wall, and look at him all the time. Or he might settle for hanging up the picture and let the real Mark roam free.

  Chapter 34

  Saturday afternoon, after dropping off the sketch to get framed, Zack found Mark and Al busy in the kitchen.

  "Mark and I are cooking," Al boasted.

  "You mean Mark is cooking," Zack tried to correct him.

  "I am cooking too. You never give me any credit," Al complained, maybe rightly.

  "OK. Thank you for helping Mark cook," Zack told him.

  "That's better. And you're welcome," Al said, and seeing that Mark was reaching for something on a pantry shelf, he offered to get it. "I can do it," he insisted after Mark refused his help.

  "No. It’s too high."

  Al heard what Mark said only as a comment on his height.

  "He's doing it too. He's calling me short," Al whined to his dad.

  "Well, he has eyes, doesn't he? This is you. This is how short you are," Zack said and put his hand a little lower than the top of Al's head. Al took his hand and tried to correct him. Then as Zack lifted his arm, Al held on and hung from it. Mark clapped.

  "Do it again," Al demanded as Zack put him down.

  "You’re heavy. Make Mark lift you."

  Mark pulled off the same maneuver but held him up longer, with Zack acting as a spotter in case Al’s arms got tired.

  "You’re strong," Al said to Mark as he set him down.

  "I lifted you too," Zack objected.

  "You complained," Al said before he left the kitchen.

  "I guess bitching and moaning lost you some points," Mark said.

  "Oh, come on, be nice to me."

  "Show up in my room naked, and I’ll show you how nice I can be," Mark promised.

  Zack didn’t show up in his room naked, but Mark soon corrected that. He then pushed Zack down on the bed. Zack pulled him close by gripping his ass and massaging it. Mark moaned and kissed him. His tongue played with Zack’s, now in his mouth now in Mark’s. Lowering his head to Zack’s chest, Mark bit his nipple just hard enough for Zack to enjoy the sting of it. He grunted and ran his hands through Mark’s hair.

  "Your body drives me crazy," Mark told him.

  Zack’s response to the compliment was to flip them over and get on top of Mark. He wanted to show Mark how he felt about his body. Mark arched a little under him, and Zack felt his erection grow even harder. Mark was writhing as Zack was running his hands down his arms then up over his chest. Covering Zack's hands with his, Mark reached up to his arms and pulled Zack down into a deep, long kiss. .Then Mark got down to business. He pushed Zack off, and grabbed the lube and condom. As he enjoyed the preparation while on his hands and knees, Zack turned his head for a kiss. Leaning over him, Mark kissed him. It was a shallow kiss limited by their position to only their lips but Zack felt it to his core.

  Mark fucked him slowly in the same position for a while, but then he said he wanted to look at Zack.

  "What? Look at this?" Zack pointed to himself making Mark smile and kiss him randomly all over his face and chest before he went back to fucking him in this new position. Their rhythm was faster now with more quiet grunting. With greater exertion, their muscles bulged and outlined themselves. Zack stared at Mark with hunger and need until he came bringing Mark to his orgasm with him. Mark dropped on top of Zack and into his embrace. Sweating and panting, Zack held him so tight he thought he might crush him. But Mark gripped him just as hard, pressed into Zack until they were one big sweaty mess.

  ***

  Al was both nervous and excited about starting first grade. He wanted both Zack and Mark to take him to school on his first day. The day wasn’t easy for the two of them either. They had to watch Al take his seat in a new classroom so uncertainly.

  "Let’s stay until he makes some friends," Zack said. Mark dragged him off just as Al spotted a kid he knew from kindergarten. They weren’t the only adults peering anxiously at their little ones. There were a bunch of other parents lingering too long. But when Zack picked up Al at the end of the day, Al was full of news and no longer nervous at all.

  One drawback of going to school was that Al didn’t get to spend his days with Mark. Al made sure to make up for it the rest of the time by bugging Mark to play with him. Because Mark had to spend more time studying, Zack had to make sure Al didn’t monopolize him too much. Al compromised by sitting next to Mark so they could do their homework together. Since Al would show him his work to get his approval, Mark did the same.

  "Looks good," Al would always say.

  Al also waited more eagerly for Mark to come home since he didn’t get to see him since early in the morning. As soon as Mark came through the door, Al ran up to him and hugged him.

  "You missed me?" Mark asked though the answer was obvious.

  "Yeah. I never see you any more."

  "You see me all the time."

  "Not like before."

  "You want me to come to school with you?"

  "Yeah!"

  "Maybe you can come to school with me, just hurry up and get accepted to college," Mark told him.

  "Broccoli?"

  "That’s one way to put it," Mark had to agree.

  As for Zack and Mark, they were still in a holding pattern. They had an undefined thing going, nothing was stated, nothing decided. Zack’s doubts remained. He didn’t
doubt his own feelings for Mark. They were too strong. And he knew Mark felt the same way. They came together and made each other feel amazing usually at night after Al was asleep. But now that Al was in school, Zack sometimes came home during the day when he knew Mark didn’t have a class. He would leave work so he could have Mark alone, in daylight, in any room in the house.

  Zack called first to make sure Mark was home. When Zack came through the door, Mark attacked him with a hard kiss. Zack groped his ass and pulled him close to feel his hard-on pressing on the one straining through the front of his own pants. He reached down and freed himself then Mark. When Mark kneeled to suck him for a while, Zack saw that Mark had the lube and condoms on the table by the door where they dropped the mail and car keys. There was a towel draped over the back of the couch.

  "Someone was eager," Zack teased him. Mark answered only with a moan.

  "Is that where you want me?" he asked unnecessary as Mark stood up. He unbuckled and let his pants drop. Mark pulled his shirt off though Zack wasn’t going to bother. He leaned over the back of the couch and felt Mark’s fingers probe him right away. He loved the brisk movements as Mark’s fingers lubed and loosened him. The quick preparations were soon over and the head of Mark’s cock demanded entry. Zack groaned as the slide of Mark’s cock inside him opened him fully. Raising one knee to rest on the back of the couch, he helped Mark to fill him all the way. The rushed thrusting drove Zack crazy and he had to fight to hold on. He struggled and made himself last until Mark was ready, then he came with a long, loud moan of pleasure and gratitude. He gasped and laughed at the wonderful feeling. Only Mark could be so forceful and loving at the same time.