Survivors 3-4

[aurelius]

Survivors 3-4: 56-60

 

56

 

In the morning Abari and I woke up before the others.  “I know you heard Xander and Nashuja last night,” I whispered.  “I felt your tear.”  “It was beautiful,” Abari whispered back.  “It’s strange, having someone in a foreign land say the truth about your brother.  I can see why you love him.  I love him more now.  If you want to kiss him, that’s fine with me.”  “No,” I said.  “We will kiss him together.”

 

And so we went over to Xander and Nashuja and we both kissed them both.  “What’s this?” Nashuja said.  

 

“I just wanted to thank you for helping me see the beauty of my brother,” Abari said.

 

“Me too,” I said.  “We were cuddling last night but not asleep.  We heard your beautiful answer, Xander, and yours as well, Nashuja.  And we just wanted to thank you.”

 

We all hugged and kissed each other.  Xander kissed Abari and then he kissed me; I felt as thought finally a spell had been broken, and I could love Xander as I always had.  “And now we have to have our morning water,” I said.  “If you drink our water, you’ll probably go to sleep.”  

 

“How about if I have a sip?  I promise I won’t go to sleep.”  So he sat down with us and we passed the water jug around.  When it got to Nashuja, he took the smallest sip. “It doesn’t taste like normal water.”  

 

“That’s because it isn’t,” Xander said.  “It gives us all the nourishment we need.  Morning water gives us strength for most of the day.  Evening water is a time for everyone to gather and talk and share stories.”

 

“It sounds like a simple but powerful way to structure your day.  One day I would like to visit your island.”

 

“Be aware,” I said. “There is no other water on the island except this water which changes men.  So, if you come and drink our water, you will become one of us.  And how can you leave dancing with the bull?”

 

“I can’t.  I guess I’ll just have to bring a barrel of water from Kapadar,”  he said with one of his winning smiles.  “But I need to lead your out of the palace and down to your ship.”

 

We certainly couldn’t not have found our way by ourselves.  There were several turns and even stairs down that we had never seen before.  After he had led us down to the harbor, Nashuja hugged and kissed each one of us and wished us a good voyage.  But I had to talk with him alone, so I told Xander and Abari I would join them on the ship in a while.

 

I took Nashuja’s hands and said, “I want to thank you for making me dance with the bull.  I was scared at first, but then the sky opened for me and it was beautiful.  Thank you!”  And I hugged and kissed him.

 

“Jabar, I have a pretty good eye when it comes to men—I know when I want a man as a lover, like Xander, and I know when I want a man as a brother—you.”  He kissed my cheek.  “I will miss you.  I will look for your ship in the harbor again, and I will hope you are on board.”  We hugged and kissed again.  I felt I had found a home away from home.

 

Nashuja stayed on the dock after I boarded.

 

“Did you have a good night?”  Masud asked me with a smile. 

 

“I never thought I would find place I’d like as much as our island.  But I do like this place,” I said as I waved one more time to Nashuja.  Masud asked me what had happened.

 

“I danced with a bull,” I said. “And it opened the world.”  I sighed.  “I may have to come back—or you may have to buy a bull and bring it to the island!”  I smiled as I said it, but I also meant it.  Then I waved once more to Nashuja before I joined my brothers on the oars.

 

We pulled at the oars as the ship left Kydonia harbor.  I both regretted going and loved that we were going.  This stop had been the best for me, and I hoped it had provided Xander some healing.

 

After we got out of the harbor, the ship turned left; we were going to sail around the western tip of Kapadar and then go home.  Masud said he had gotten bags for beds, lamps and olive oil.  I told him I had asked Amare to trade for olive oil with the Egyptians.  “Yeah,” said Masud, “It’s time we moved to oil lamps.”

 

 

57

 

As the ship entered our harbor, we noticed that only one other ship was docked.  That meant another ship was off trading somewhere.

 

Abari, Xander and I were glad to be home.  We ran from the harbor.  We stopped at the smithy to see Zuberi, but he wasn’t there; he was up the mountain, mining ore.  Xander wanted to go to him, but I said, “No; we need to see our dad.  If I show up without you, he will be worried.  You know I’m right!”  I was being bossy, but I wanted to get Xander back to our dad.  Xander bowed his head and said, “Yeah, I know.”  So he asked Tabid to run up the mountain and tell Zuberi that we had gone home to our fathers.  

 

As we got closer, we noticed Garin was practicing Coconut—or at least we thought it was Coconut—on the beach.  But the men were all laughing, so maybe it wasn’t Coconut.  Still, Garin spotted us and waved.  “Abari! Xander!  Come and practice!”

 

Xander answered: “Silly boy!  We have to see our fathers first!”

 

As if “silly boy” was magic, Lateef appeared from the trees and ran to give me a big hug.  “You’re back!  Finally!”

 

“I missed you too!”  We hugged and kissed.  Only then did Garin leave his teammates and come over.  He gave Abari a big hug and a kiss:  “Good to have you back, little brother!”—even though Abari is bigger than Garin; still Garin was able to lift him up: one muscle guy lifting up another muscle guy.  Xander laughed.  “Some things don’t change!”  

 

After setting Abari down, Garin went over to Xander and hugged and lifted him up too: “Have you gotten bigger?”

 

“Maybe,” said Xander. “Why don’t you and your brother join us for some water with our dads?”

 

“OK.”  Then Garin turned back to his teammates and yelled, “Asim, take over for me!”  Xander looked at Garin and said, “So Asim is now your second-in-command?”

 

“Yeah,” Garin said, “Coconut has changed a lot since you’ve been gone.  Some guys call it “Go-go-nuts”—and they’re not wrong!”  Xander looked at him and tilted his head.  Garin said, ”I’ll explain later.  Let’s bring you to your dad.”

 

Abari, Xander and I didn’t get to make an entrance to our fathers’ house.  They were out the door and running down to the beach while we were still standing in sand.  Dad ran to Xander first, hugged him, crying, and said, “I’m so glad you’re back!  I had such dreams while you were gone!  I was sure you weren’t coming home!”

 

Amare grabbed Abari and hugged him tight and lifted him up—another muscle guy lifting another muscle guy.  But Abari held his dad’s face and kissed it again and again and again: “Oh Dad!  I’m so glad I’m home!”

 

Then Dad came to me:  “Thank you for bringing Xander home!  I had dreams that you were the bridge to bring him home!”

 

“Your dreams weren’t wrong,” Xander said.  “Jabar kept you in my mind, even when I thought I had found a new home.”

 

“A new home?”  Amare was confused. 

 

“We have a story to tell,” I said.  “Do we want to sit down here on the beach or go inside?”

 

“We might as well sit here—Abari, could you get a couple of water jugs from the house?”  

 

“Sure, Dad,” and Abari went off to do as his dad asked.

 

As we sat down, I noticed that the men from the Coconut team started sitting down near us.  Once again, our family was providing stories for the rest of the bay.

 

“Xander,” I said.  “This is mostly your story.  You should start.”

 

“I met my family in Greece.  Some of them were nice; one of them wasn’t so nice.  But most of all, I met my twin brother.”

 

“A twin brother?”  Dad sounded astonished.  “No wonder I was having dreams about you not coming home!  But how could you leave a twin?”

 

“Because he loves you,” I said—I couldn’t help myself.  “And he loves all his brothers.”  I looked over at Xander; he was already quietly crying, so he nodded for me to continue.

 

“Xander’s twin is named Demetrios.  We met him in Mycenae.  He’s in the army.  One of his friends saw Xander giving a bully the lesson a bully deserves, and this friend asked Xander and Abari and me to come with him.  We stopped outside the army encampment because we had already had a run-in with some Mycenaean soldiers who wanted to make Abari a slave.”—here I turned to Abari, who nodded and said, “I lifted up a block of stone and won this bracelet”—and he wiggled his wrist to show the bracelet—“so they wanted me to be a slave.  Xander fought off two of them and they finally let me go.”

 

I continued: “Xander wrestled a big guy and then pretty guy named Leander who spoke some Egyptian.  But then this guy came out of the encampment: same height as Xander, not as much muscle, and with a short beard.  And when they wrestled it became almost comic.”  I turned to Xander, who said, “He knew all of my moves.  He moved the way I move.  It was like I was wrestling my shadow.”

 

“So,” I said, “everyone started chuckling and then one of Demetrios’ friends said that they should take Demetrios and Xander to a seer who lived nearby.  This seer, Homer, was amazing!  He put Demetrios and Xander into a sleep, and waved some sweet-smelling, burning herbs over them and told the rest of us—in Greek and Egyptian—that the two athletes needed to remember the most painful day in their lives.”

 

Xander was recovered enough to say, “It was the day our parents were murdered and Demterios and I were taken away as slaves.  We each had tried to forget that day—“  But here Zuberi showed up, running out of the trees.  Xander stood up and walked out of our group; Zuberi threw himself onto Xander, wrapping his legs around Xander’s thighs, saying “I should have never let you go!”  And Xander saying, “I missed you so much” and Zuberi saying, “I had to get Lateef and Garin to suck my cock—and I sucked theirs.”  And Xander saying, “I don’t care; my cock was sucked by other guys too.”  They said these things so fast, their brothers and most of the men from the bay smiled.  But Xander and Zuberi hugged and kissed—and kissed, and kissed—and whispered  “You’re back” and “I missed you so much.”  For their brothers and fathers this was beautiful and expected.  I didn’t care if the men from the bay got embarrassed.  But I looked around, and some had tears in their eyes.

 

Finally, they stopped kissing and hugging and sat down, still holding hands.  Xander said, “Where was I?”

 

“You were talking about dreaming the day you were taken from your parents,” I said.

 

 

58

 

“It was like I was there again.  I felt intense pain—I was losing my parents and my twin.  My whole world was lost.  I couldn’t keep from crying.  When Homer woke Demetrios and me up, we were both crying—and then we kissed and hugged and cried.”  And he choked up again.

 

“All of Demterios’ friends were crying; Abari and I were crying.  The only person not crying was Homer, the seer; he seemed to know what would happen.”

 

“But then how did you decide to come home?”  Dad was anxious.  I imagined that, to him, Xander should have stayed with his brother.

 

“Because, as I said, he loves you.”  

 

“And Zuberi,” Xander said, as he kissed his lover. “I wasn’t faithful to you, but I missed you terribly.”

 

“I don’t care,” said Zuberi.  “You’re here.”  And he wrapped his arms around Xander and squeezed hard,

 

“Homer, the seer who brought Demetrios and Xander together, helped them leave each other.”  Dad still looked concerned and confused.  “This seer,” I said to Dad, “was incredible.  It was like he could see into men’s souls.  Demetrios’ friends gave Xander and Demetrios a feast.  We didn’t eat much; Xander drank a bit too much”—here Xander nodded; Zuberi punched his big arm, but Xander gave his lover a kiss.  “In the middle of the feast, as Xander was talking about his life and about the Egyptian invasions of our island”—

 

“But not mentioning the water!” Xander interjected.

 

“But not mentioning the water—we had discussed this just before the feast.  In the middle of the feast, here  comes Homer—who’s blind, by the way—on the arm of a stunningly beautiful young man named Adonis dressed only in a loincloth.”  Someone in the crowd whistled and several men chuckled.

 

“Anyway,” I said, trying to get the men back from their thoughts of fucking Adonis, “Demetrios invited Homer over, hoping he could help convince Xander to stay and fight by his side in the Mycenaean army.”

 

Zuberi turned to Xander and said, “No; you wouldn’t!”  Xander gave him another little kiss and said, “You’re right; no, I wouldn’t.  But try telling that to your twin brother who you lost years ago and who, in many ways, is so like me!”  Zuberi answered, “Yeah, I can see that would be hard.  Oh!  That makes me even happier that you chose me over your flesh-and-blood.”

 

“It was a close call,” Xander said.  “Homer helped, but so did Jabar.  He was relentless.  He kept reminding me of my family who loves me.”

 

I looked around,  Lateef was quietly crying—but so was happy-go-lucky Garin.  My Dad’s face was wet with quietly falling tears.  He said, “Oh my son!  This must have been so hard for you!”  Xander gave Zuberi another quick kiss and then leaned over to hug his dad and cry on Dad’s chest.  “I love you, Dad!”  “And I love you son!  I’m so happy you’re home!”

 

“OK” I said, looking around to see if I still had an audience.  Xander gave me little nod, so I continued.  “Like I said, Homer seems to be able to see into men’s souls.  He knew that Demetrios’ whole life was the army.  He had been adopted by an officer in the Mycenaean army—that’s how Demetrios was saved from slavery.  And the army was all that Demterios knew.  So, for him, having Xander join the Mycenaean army was the most logical thing in the world.  He even wanted Abari and me to join, so that Xander would have some of his other family nearby.”

 

“But,” Xander said, smiling, “Jabar refused, and Abari backed him up.  They had no intentions of joining the Mycenaean army; they didn’t want to sail across the sea to attack Troy.  And when Jabar took that stand, I felt as though part of me was reborn.  No, I didn’t want to be in the army.  I loved—and still love—Demetrios, but I am not an army man.”

 

“And Homer saw this,” I said.  “He may be blind, but he can see things others can’t see.  He carefully told Demterios that Xander would always love him, but Xander would not like a life in the army.  It was hard for Demterios to see this, so Homer immediately went to an exchange of tokens.  He asked Xander to give up his golden thunderbolt—something that connected him to you, Dad—“

 

“I noticed his thunderbolt was now brass,” Dad said.

 

“And Homer asked Demetrios to give Xander a bracelet which Demetrios’ adoptive father had given him.  He said the two tokens would always connect them.”

 

“And they do,” said Xander, putting his hand around the bracelet.  “When I touch my bracelet, I can feel where Demetrios is.  His boat is nearing the shore at Troy.  I don’t know why they’re going to war, but Demetrios is very excited about it.”

 

“But,” Dad said,  “it still must have been hard for you to leave your twin brother.”

 

“It was, Dad, but I had Jabar there to remind me I had a family that loved me and that wanted me to come home.  You know, Dad, Jabar loves you almost as much as you love us!”

 

Now I was quietly crying.  Abari reached over and gave me a hug and kiss.  “Thanks for bringing us all home, my Jabar!”

 

“Yes, thank you, Jabar!” Amare said.  “Your dad has been a bundle of worries.  He knew something was troubling Xander, and he kept having these dreams.  I tried everything—helping Garin and Akhom carry slabs; swimming in the bay, practicing Coconut with Garin—but your dad was haunted by these dreams.  Now maybe we can have some decent sex and decent sleep!”  And Dad immediately leaned over and gave his lover a kiss:  “Thank you for being so patient with me!  I’ll be better now!”

 

This was the healing we all needed.  Our family was whole again.  Our fathers’ love for each other was still strong, and their love for us was still the foundation of our lives.  I looked around and smiled.

 

 

59

 

Lateef was curious: “But what about this family member who wasn’t good to you?” 

 

Xander responded: “That was my cousin Eteocles.  We were sleeping in his parents’ guest room, on their estate outside Pylos; he snuck in and sucked my cock.  And of course he fell asleep and in the morning he was bigger, with more muscle.”  Xander looked at me to continue.

 

“Eteocles loved watching Xander and Abari wrestle, so he invited all his buddies over to their estate to watch Xander and Abari wrestle.  Well, when his buddies saw that Eteocles had more muscle, I imagined that he told them that he had sucked Xander’s cock.  I figured something might go wrong, so I ran down to the harbor and got Masud and some of his crew to come up to the palace, where Xander and Abari were going to wrestle for their king.  Masud had a friend the court who spoke Egyptian and was able to translate for us.  And he found out that my suspicions were right: Eteocles had told his buddies about getting more muscle from sucking Xander’s cock.”

 

Lateef guessed things were going wrong: “So, did they capture Xander and Abari?”

 

“Yes, they did.  They drugged their wine and carried them off to a room where they milked their cocks.  After everyone else was gone or drunk or asleep, Masud, his translator friend, and I and one of Masud’s men went looking for Xander and Abari.  We found them and waited until there was a pause in their milking of our brothers.  Then we went in; I confronted Eteocles, telling him, with the help of the translator, just what I thought of him.  Then I hit him and knocked him out.  Masud’s crew helped us carry our brothers out of the palace and down to the ship.  As we were about to board the ship, Eteocles showed up again and said he loved Xander and had to have his cousin stay.”

 

Zuberi exclaimed, “No!  He didn’t!”

 

“Yes, he did, my love,” Xander said, “but wait—“ and he nodded to me again.

 

“And I hit him and knocked him out again.”

 

Zuberi clapped his hands. “Wonderful!  Thank you Jabar!”

 

Garin smiled and said, “You guys had some adventures, that’s for sure!  And Jabar may not look like he’s got much muscle, but he’s got it when it counts!”

 

“But,” said Xander to me, “You haven’t told of your own adventure—with the bull!”

 

Lateef exclaimed, “A bull?”

 

“When we went to Crete—or Kapadar, as they call their island,” I said, “we were approached by this good-looking guy who asked me if I wanted to dance with a bull.  I said ‘What?’  And he said he could teach me because I didn’t have too much muscle, like my companions.”

 

“That’s rude!” said Garin.

 

“But he was right,” said Xander.

 

“Dancing with a bull,” I said, “means leaping over the bull as it runs at you.  Both men and women on Kapadar do this.  They worship a snake goddess and the bull is sacred to her, so they leap over the bull.  They even had a wooden bull in a practice area next to the a regular arena where they leap over a real bull.  So I learned to leap over the wooden bull, and then I faced a real bull.  After all the practicing, I was able to do it, even though feeling the bull’s hide moving under my hands was a bit scary.”

 

“But you should have seen my Jabar!” Abari exclaimed.  “He did great!  Nashuja—our friend on Kapadar—said that Jabar could have leaped in their festival, if we had stayed longer.”

 

Dad said, “So you got good at this bull dancing?”

 

“Yes, Dad; I learned why they do it.  When you leap over the bull, it’s like you’re part of the sky—the sky opens for you—I’d never felt anything like it.”

 

“It sounds,” Dad said, “Like you will want to go back!  Do I have another son to worry about leaving home and not coming back?”

 

“No, Dad!  I may go back to Kapadar, but I will always come back to you!”  And I gave my Dad a big hug.

 

Xander said, “Jabar really did like Kapadar.  Nashuja really liked me”—he turned to Zuberi and said, “he sucked my cock—but didn’t swallow; Abari did that part.  Nashuja liked Jabar a lot too—more like a brother.”  He paused.  “But enough of our adventures.  What’s changed on the island?” 

 

“The Egyptians brought oil and oil lamps in our last exchange,” Amare said.  “I guess we’re getting more civilized.  If the men aren’t practicing for Coconut, many of them wear loincloths.  And I’ve taken your place as Coconut judge.”

 

“That’s fine with me,” I said.

 

“And,” Garin said, “It’s necessary.  No one ever questions my dad’s judgement.”

 

“Ouch!” I said, “But I understand.  And, like I said, it’s fine with me.”

 

“Besides,” Garin continued, “Coconut has changed a lot.  Remember that game you judged where the harbor men were teasing the quarry men?”

 

“Of course,” I said,  “Akhom kept me from getting injured or killed!”

 

“Well, every team on the island often teases the other side before the game.”

 

“And often,” Dad said, “there is no game—the teasing leads to guys, well,—“

 

“Attacking each other, fucking and sucking each other,” Garin said with a big smile his face.

 

“Really?”  Abari was, of course, interested.  “You mean free blow jobs?”

 

“And free fucks, too, my brother,” Garin said, “though I think your size may keep some men from trying to fuck you.”

 

Dad turned to me: “It seems the men need a free-for-all, a free place and time to act on their sexual desires without any rules.  This, of course, means that there are still rules—your father and I have to make sure no one gets hurt, no one’s raped who doesn’t want to be raped.  So, though we may not be judging a Coconut game, there have been times when I’ve had to breakup a rape, and so has Amare.”

 

“And that’s when my size comes in handy,” Amare said with a smile.  “Usually I go over to the men and scowl and that makes them think about not hurting someone.  But once I had to physically break up a rape.  I picked up the raper and held him by the scruff of his neck until he said, ‘Sorry!’”

 

“But usually,” Dad said, “things don’t get that bad.  Usually all the guys have a good time sucking and fucking.  And when they’re done, everyone has smile on his face!”

 

I looked over at Abari before I said, “And no one has any trouble with their partner blowing or fucking some other guy?”

 

“Not,” Dad said. “as long as it’s done in the ‘Go-go-nuts’ free-for-all.”

 

I had to ask: “Does anyone still play Coconut?” 

 

“Yes,” said Garin, “some times two teams show up and they don’t tease each other—and a regular Coconut game happens.”

 

Dad looked at Amare and then said, “I think that happens about one time in three.  Would you agree, my love?”

 

“That sounds about right.  More Go-go-nuts than Coconut.”

 

“Well, I’d like to see a game, and I’m very sure Abari would love to be part of a Go-go-nuts.”

 

“Yes, I would,” Abari said, smiling.  And then to me he said, “It looks like we just had that talk you wanted—and I get to suck other guys’ cocks!”

 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right!”

 

 

60

 

After our stories and evening water, the men of the bay broke up and went to their various homes.  Xander put his arm around Zuberi’s shoulders, and Zuberi did the same.  It wasn’t hard for Abari and me to hear both of them moaning; they were pretty loud that evening.  Abari and I were both tired but we also wanted to enjoy our first night back in our own home, so we “did a Garin” on each other and fucked before we collapsed into each other’s arms.  It was odd, making love in the light of an oil lamp.  It reminded me of that evening with Nashuja in Kydonia.  I guessed our fathers had brought the lamp and the oil jug in, and lit the wick in the lamp.  I was glad things were changing on the island.

 

As I snuggled into Abari’s big arm, he said, “Jabar, you know I will only ever love you—you know that, yes?”

 

“Yes, my love.”

 

“So if I suck someone else’s cock in Go-go-nuts, it’s just for fun—it doesn’t mean I don’t love you—you understand that?”

 

I turned around and looked at my love and said, “I will always love you, even if you go after some hunk of meat so you can suck his big cock—I will still love you.”

 

Abari smiled and hugged me close. “Thank you, my Jabar!  You just made me love you more!”

 

In the morning I discovered that someone—probably our fathers—had also made sure we had water in our water jug for morning water.  I got up and was putting water in our cups when Garin and Lateef came by and said, “May we come in?”

 

“Of course!” I said.  Then I went over and nudged Abari to get up.

 

We all sat down for morning water.

 

Garin spoke: “We just wanted to check that you are really OK with Abari wanting to suck other guys’ cocks.”

 

By this time Abari had gotten up and sat down next to me: “I asked my Jabar about that last night.”  He looked at me and said, “He said he was fine with it.”  And then he hugged me and said, “And I told him that he just made me love him more.”

 

I smiled and said, “I know that Abari loves sucking cock.  On our trip, Xander wanted someone to suck his cock and Abari jumped at the chance.  I think, if he could, he would suck the cock of every man on the island!”

 

“Can I?”  Abari looked at me, “Really?  You wouldn’t mind?”

 

“No, my love,” I said, “I would mind.  I wouldn’t like it if you put up a sign that said “Free blow jobs” and got so tired that you wouldn’t suck my cock!”

 

“Oh,” Abari said and hung his head, “I hadn’t thought about that.  You always think ahead, Jabar,”—and here he gave me a hug—“and that’s just another reason to love you!”

 

“But, my love, what If a couple of big guys decide that they want to fuck your glorious ass?”

 

“But they wouldn’t do that if I’m sucking some guy’s cock—would they?”

 

Garin looked at Abari and said, “Mostly anything goes, but neither of our dads is going to let anyone get fucked who doesn’t want to get fucked.   And, if your dad is the judge, I think he’ll help protect you.”

 

“On the other hand,” I said with a smile, “Maybe you might like hitting some guy who tried to fuck you without your permission.”

 

“Well,” Abari smiled back at me, “That might be fun.  But I just don’t think of some of these possibilities.  I just think it would be fun to suck other guys’ cocks!”

 

“I know, my love, but you’re a big, beautiful man.  I’m sure there are guys on the island who have lusted after your body.  In Go-go-nuts, they might try to overpower you and fuck you.  And they won’t be as gentle as I am.”

 

Abari thought for a moment and then said, “I still want to try Go-go-nuts.  But I’ll have to think about protecting myself, too.”

 

Garin looked at Lateef and smiled.  “I think as long as Abari keeps his cock-sucking to Go-go-nuts, they’ll be OK.”

 

Lateef nodded.  “They’re talking about it honestly—so that’s good.”  Then he turned to us, “We just don’t want another mistake—even if Abari makes it and not you—“ and here he lightly slapped my head.  I smiled; the slap meant I was home.

 

Then Garin said, “We are so glad you’re back.  We missed you guys.”

 

Lateef added, “Yes, we missed you something awful.  Jabar, this island just isn’t the same without you.”  And he gave me a hug—which I returned; we hugged for a while.

 

As we broke our hug, Lateef added, “And I just wanted you to realize that when you said Xander loved his Dad, you were also saying you loved our Dad.”

 

Now I felt like a child: “Yeah, you’re right.  When Xander met Demetrios, I was scared to death.  I was afraid I would have to come back and tell our Dad that his first son didn’t return—and I was afraid Dad would just shut down and die.”

 

“I know,” Lateef said.  “Both Garin and I talked with Amare about our Dad—he was worried sick, and it seemed there was nothing Amare could do to get Dad’s mind off of Xander.”

 

Garin added, “I think Xander was right.  Jabar, you love our fathers as much as they love us.  And when you brought Xander back, you reunited our family and made us one again.”

 

“You have saved us several times, my brother,” Lateef said, “and for that and many other things, I love you.”

 

“And so do I,” Garin added.

 

“But not as much as I love him!”  And soon I was engulfed in the loving arms of my brothers.

 

I love my family.  I love our island.  That first full day on the island, Abari and I once again went down to the shore and lay down with our feet feeling the surf.  It was so peaceful.  The sun beat down on our bodies, and I rolled over and caressed Abari’s wonderful muscles.  A little later, we walked over to the pool and enjoyed a soak and some time in the big bushes on the way to the jungle, sucking each other’s cocks.  I’m sure there were guys who walked by and heard or saw us, but since most guys on the island go to the pool and then suck or fuck, no one bothered us.  

 

Later in the afternoon, Abari and Xander joined Garin and the other guys on the beach.  They were practicing teasing for Go-go-nuts.  That’s what they were doing when Xander, Abari and I saw them yesterday—and the laughs continued today.  It turns out that Abari is pretty good at teasing—and much better than Xander, who seems a bit too serious—no, noble—to get in silly teasing poses.  Garin, of course, can be a warrior in a Coconut game or use his powerful body to tease any man to “go nuts”.  Of course, he doesn’t need to tease Lateef.  He and I sat on the sidelines and enjoyed watching all the well-muscled bodies, some of them acting like little boys, others acting like muscled women.  

 

And when Lateef and I watched our first Go-go-nuts, I got to see Abari in his cock-sucking action.  And I got to see what happened when a fairly muscular new man came over and started caressing Abari’s ass and pulling his legs apart.  Abari simply stopped sucking, turned and with one swipe of his big arm, sent the man rolling away.  Abari said, “Can’t you see I’m busy?”  Lateef and I laughed.  Amare, who was judge, smiled and said, “That’s my boy!” 

 

It was so good be home.