Holiday House Walk

by David Lee

"How come I have to go and Lance doesn't?" Liam whined.

"He'll be with his girlfriend's family in Des Moines for most of Thanksgiving. That's been planned for some time. HE'S an adult, and YOU'RE too old to whine."

Heather Patterson wasn't going to give in to her teenager's pleas. Although pushing him to do what she thought was best didn't exactly fit her model for good parenting, she felt he was being unreasonable, and she wasn't in the mood to cajole him.

This was ultimately for his own good. He was too much of a loner and she was trying to make him more social. This was only a nudge in that direction.

"This isn't a big deal and it'll take only an hour or so out of your Sunday afternoon. Your father and I will make an appearance at the first three houses by ourselves, but I want you to come with us to the Lawrence's house. Their home is only a short distance from the one we're interested in buying. The realtor is holding an open-house this afternoon and we can kill two birds with one stone.

"Besides, it wouldn't hurt you to get better acquainted with Paul, especially if we end up being neighbors."

"Paul's stuck up and won't want to see me, anyway." Liam insisted.

"Being the new kid in town, he's probably just shy. As you know, his parents have spent a lot of effort on decorating their home for the house walk. It'll not only raise funds for our church, but it gives them an opportunity to meet more of us. They're trying to become a part of our community, and we need to support them."

"Can't you just pay for my ticket and let me stay home? I'll even give you the money out of my allowance."

"Look, we don't place many demands on you. It won't kill you put to on a pleasant face and do this for me."

"Okay," he sighed.

If Liam were being honest, he'd have to admit that he had it easy. His parents were good to his older brother and him. The boys didn't lack for love or material possessions. They were expected to put forth their best effort in their studies and activities, but beyond that, they were rarely forced to do anything they didn't want to do. He might as well save his breath because he wasn't going to win anyway.

And, he didn't mind scoping out the house near Paul's. From the pictures he'd seen on the 'net, it had a lot of features that were lacking in their current place, including a four-stall garage where he could park the car he hoped to talk his parents into once he got his license.

Ah, but if they bought the house in that upscale neighborhood, would there be enough extra money to purchase the vehicle he wanted?

The move would also necessitate changing schools which might or might not be good. While he didn't have a wide range of buds at Jefferson High, breaking into a new environment wouldn't be a thrill either.

Paul Lawrence wasn't happy with the prospect of how he would spend his Sunday afternoon either. He didn't like the idea of a group of strangers invading his private space. The crowd would be almost exclusively made up of people his parents' age and older. He'd been expected to keep his room picked up for the past week, after the cleaning crew had practically sterilized their home. He fantasized about leaving a cum-rag or a pair of used underwear sticking out from under his bed as an act of rebellion. Of course, it was just that - a fantasy to make him smile inside. Oh well, it would all be over in a few hours. Then, he'd spend the rest of his day hanging free - in lounging-shorts, commando!

The late-November day turned out to be perfect for a holiday house walk. The air was crisp, the sky was a brilliant blue, and the light dusting of snow on the pine trees completed the festive picture. In fact, Paul's father, Daniel, sent him out to capture the scene from several view-points for next year's Christmas card.

Daniel hadn't been thrilled about his wife's project any more than his son had been, but now that the decorating was completed and the refreshments all in order, he was pleased with the results. Events like this would widen their circle of acquaintances and thus, help build his new practice.

The first people to visit the house were older couples who had various motives. Some were curious about how the new family lived. Others were interested in what kind of refreshments were being served. A few were truly attracted by the Christmas decorations. Most of them thought of it as a good excuse to have an outing and support a worthy cause at the same time.

Paul felt like an exhibit in a living museum. He was certain that the older ladies would find something amiss in his room and spend the rest of the day clucking over it.

The truth was that most of them found him adorable and charming. His smooth, company-manners tended to mask his true feelings of discontent.

After about an hour of playing host, along with his parents and little sister, Paul spied Liam entering the foyer.

"Liam Patterson, thank God you're here!" he said in an excited whisper. "I haven't seen anyone my own age in hours and my fake smile is beginning to make my face hurt!"

"Um, hi, Paul. I didn't even think you knew who I was. We've only met once at church."

"Of course, I do. Besides church, I've seen you wrestle against our team, and you're good. You're practically a legend at our school."

"I guess I'm okay," Liam grinned, shyly.

"Okay? You pinned Thad Watson in a few seconds. He used to strut like he was God's gift to the sport and you took him down a few pegs. Now he limps around wanting sympathy."

"Did I really hurt him? I hope he's okay!"

"He has a bad case of bruised-ego, but he'll be fine. He's a lot nicer to nobodies like me since you gave him a taste of reality.

"Now that you're here, I have a good excuse to disappear. Mom will be fine with me showing you my room. Don't worry about missing out on the food. I have a stash of the goodies upstairs that I'll share with you."

Liam followed Paul up to his bedroom. He was amazed at how friendly the kid was. Perhaps Mom had been right about the shy thing.

"Wow! Your room is awesome! Your mom must have hired a first-rate decorator."

"Nope, Mom let me choose the colors and almost everything. I saw the look I wanted on line, and while I didn't copy it exactly, but I did steal some of their ideas."

"Maybe you can help me if we get a new house."

"That would be cool.

"Let me show you the rest of my hideaway. I keep this other door locked because it's my private man-cave, and I don't let just anybody in, but you're welcome to see it."

Paul took an old-fashioned key from the top drawer of his bureau and opened the door to his lair. Liam was duly impressed.

The area was like a living room and had probably been built as quarters for a live-in nanny. There was a small bathroom attached, and there were a couple of large closets. A person could almost set up housekeeping there.

The original hardwood floor had been refinished, and it shone like a highly varnished basketball court. In place of a rug, the center featured a good-quality wrestling mat. The cream-colored walls were almost entirely covered with posters and photos of athletes, ranging from high school boys to Olympic stars. All the sports represented were ones with tight-fitting uniforms which had minimal coverage to allow maximum freedom of motion – track, swimming, diving, wrestling, and rowing. The clothing did nothing to disguise the fact that they were very definitely male.

Paul watched Liam's reaction, especially how the scenery affected him below the waist. He grinned inwardly when Liam tried to surreptitiously adjust his junk.

Not wishing to embarrass his guest, Paul turned their attention to food. He opened the dorm-fridge and brought out several delicacies, including a tiny Christmas-tree-shaped cheese log and fancy crackers. There were homemade creampuffs and decorated cookies too.

"Do you like my posters?" Paul asked as they sprawled on a couple of beanbag chairs, snacking.

"Yeah, the athletes are all, um, well-built. I wish I looked that good."

"You do. Most guys look better than they realize. We tend to have a distorted image of ourselves because we develop slowly, and we aren't aware of how our bodies have changed until we see them in a photograph with a fresh eye. Maybe if you'd pose for me in your singlet I could prove it to you. I'd like to have your picture displayed along with the guys from my old team. I might get a few from this year's squad too. My hobby's photography."

"If you take shots of me, I'd like to have some of you in return."

"I'm good with that. Maybe we could pose together, and I could use the timer or the video function."

Liam was thinking how hot that could be, but the mood was broken by the voice of Paul's mother.

"Paul, Liam's parents are going to look at the house around the corner and they want him to go with them. Heather thought maybe you'd like to tag along."

Though Liam would be elated if Paul went along, it crossed his mind that his mother might be trying to get them together. He couldn't figure out her motive. He'd never admitted to his parents that he was attracted to other boys.

Was his mother pimping for him like Sally Field tried to do for her son, Sam and Adam Rippon? How creepy was that?!

Surely, she couldn't know what went on in his mind.

"Wow, this house is practically a mirror image of ours," Paul exclaimed. "I wonder who the original owner was back in the early 1900's."

"Perhaps the realtor knows," Liam suggested.

Since late fall and most of winter are slow seasons for selling real estate in the Midwest, the agent wasn't busy, and he welcomed the question from the teens. These parents looked like potential buyers, so it was in his best interest to be nice to the boys.

"In answer to your query, this house was designed for a Mr. Percival James by a local architect, Jasper Pearson. Franklin James, brother of Percy, commissioned a similar one the same year. In fact, I sold that one to a family this fall."

"That would be my parents," Paul said. "It's a cool house. I hope Liam's family decides to buy this one. May we have the key to the locked room upstairs?"

"Um, I guess so. It hasn't been used for anything but storage for the past 75 years, so I don't usually open it until someone expresses an interest in buying the place. Its appearance doesn't do anything positive to sales. The owner's willing to cut the price a little for the buyer to have it remodeled."

The realtor produced an old key which looked like a twin to the one Paul had, and the boys scurried up to check it out.

"Mom, we've got to buy this house! I want the bedroom that's like Paul's. It's like servant's quarters and it's got the coolest antique bathroom. The pot looks like the one in the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. Do you remember it?"

"Vaguely. Don't get too excited until we find out what the final price will be."

Offers and counter-offers can drag on for weeks when the owner thinks he can get top dollar. However, with the coming of winter, sellers will sometimes make concessions to unload a property they don't want. It looked like the Patterson family might be able to get an excellent deal.

Jim Patterson was a good poker player. He didn't show a lot of excitement at the prospect of owning an older home, no matter how much history it had. He pointed out various things that would need updating and repair, starting with the room his son loved. By the time he was through, he had the owner making several monetary allowances for what needed to be done.

The owner had inherited it from his great-uncle and wanted to be rid of it as soon as possible. It held no sentimental value for him.

In mid-December, they got possession.

Christmas vacation for the public schools began on a Friday, and Paul had invited Liam for a sleepover from then till church time on Sunday morning. Liam hadn't been sure what he should bring for sleeping, but Paul soon set his mind at ease, at least to some extent. Paul said there was no need to bring a sleeping bag because they could use his large bed. If sharing with another guy made Liam uncomfortable, Paul would use the futon in his man-cave.

In answer to his other concern, Paul said he usually wore boxers or sleep-shorts to bed when he had company. That made Liam smile as he speculated on how his new friend slept when alone. Perhaps, he'd have a chance to find out.

Besides something to wear to church on Sunday, Paul requested that he bring his team singlet to pose in for a photo.

Liam's mother picked him up from school and dropped him at Paul's house. It was only a few doors from their new place, but it was a blustery day and she didn't want him to catch cold. Now that they lived so close, they might have frequent sleep-overs.

Paul immediately escorted Liam up to his room. They both had short assignments from their language arts teacher who seemingly wanted to torture her students during the break. Rather than stew over it for a week and a half, they spent the time before dinner doing homework. Once it was completed, they could kick back and enjoy vacation.

Dinner was a pleasant time, other than having Paul's little sister, Emma, vying for Liam's attention. She was only 11 years of age but had hit puberty early and was learning to flirt. Her behavior embarrassed her brother to no end. When she made a rather suggestive remark, their mother took her to the kitchen for a brief discussion. After they returned, she didn't open her mouth for the rest of the meal, other than to eat.

"Let's get into our gear so we can do the photo-shoot," Paul suggested when they were alone in his room after dinner.

He didn't wait for an answer but began to strip off his clothes as soon as he'd locked the door. Liam was surprised at his lack of modesty. Of course, both had changed in front of team-members on a regular basis, so it wasn't especially out of the ordinary.

Liam followed suit, moving quickly to prevent developing a full-fledged hardon before he donned his singlet. None-the-less, his dick had plumped up enough to strain against the fabric. That might have made him self-conscious had Paul not been in the same condition.

Paul asked him to put on his headgear to complete the look. Then, he positioned Liam on the mat in front of the closed window-shades which provided a kind of neutral background. He took several shots from various angles, high and low.

"Look at these!" Paul exclaimed. "You're a lot more impressive than you know."

As Liam viewed them on Paul's TV which blew them up to about one-third life-size, he had to admit his muscles were more defined than he realized. The shot Paul had taken, from the floor looking up, showed his crotch at its best advantage. Jeez! He began to firm up again looking at the image of his own package.

Paul wasn't finished yet. He set up his camera on a tripod to make a video of them wrestling. That would provide him with a wide range of stills to use for whatever posters he chose to make.

They started much like they would in a real match. Liam was in a lower weight class but proved to be a worthy opponent. Paul found himself pinned on his back in a short time. Instead of trying to dislodge Liam, he wrapped his arms around him tightly. In doing so, he realized he was putting himself in a vulnerable position.

The boys looked into each other's eyes questioningly. Paul thought he'd found the answer he was seeking when he sensed Liam's erection pressing against his abdomen next to his own. Acting on that, he used his right hand to pull Liam's face toward his. There was no resistance when their lips met.

"I wasn't very happy about our move here until a few seconds ago," Paul panted. "I hope I'm not reading too much into this."

By way of answer, Liam initiated the next kiss, which turned even more passionate.

"To think, I tried to weasel out of coming to see your Christmas decorations last month," Liam grinned when they came up for air. "Is it true; are you like me?"

"If you're asking about my attraction to boys and my hope that I've found a boyfriend, then we're definitely alike. Are you out to your family? I'm out to the 'rents but not to my blabby baby sister."

"Um, you're the first to know 'bout me, besides me," Liam confided. "I'm not sure how it will go down at home, but yes, I'd like us to be boyfriends. We might have to be secretive for a while."

"Okay, I'm not gonna post it on social media, but it's gonna be hard not touching you or holding your hand."

"Let's make the most of it in private," Liam suggested, slipping his hands inside Paul's singlet to touch the part of his anatomy he most wanted to hold.

"I wanna feel you too," Paul gasped.

Getting up on their knees, the boys pulled each other's gear down far enough to free their throbbing cocks. Then they lay back on the mat to carry their mutual exploration further. Some of their moves would probably be considered clumsy by more accomplished lovers, but for them the experience was intense and led quickly to a satisfying conclusion.

What pleased Paul the most, beyond having just experienced the greatest orgasm of his young life, was that Liam pulled him into a loving hug instead of acting guilty or embarrassed over what they'd done. Having shared a quickie with a teammate at his old school, he knew how awkward things could become.

"Wow! We just blew out a whole bunch of potential babies." Liam joked.

"Yeah, it's a shame to waste all that spunk. Um, have you ever tasted it?"

"Maybe; have you?"

"Yup, but only my own. You wanna taste each other's?" Paul asked, hardly daring to breathe.

"Yeah!" Liam said without hesitation.

Paul milked some remaining juice from Liam's organ and licked it off his finger. Liam did the same to him. Both grinned in the knowledge they'd done something "very naughty" together.

It wasn't until they arose from the mat to clean up the mess that Paul remembered his camera had been running the whole time. He could scarcely wait to see the footage.

Putting their singlets to soak in the sink, they shared a shower, washing away their sweat and the rest of their cum.

Since it was too early to go to bed, they cuddled on the futon in their boxers under a blanket, watching their homemade porn video. One thing led to another, and they soon got naked again. This time, they caught one another's offering and licked it up immediately, cutting down on the cleanup.

Liam's brother, Lance, had come home on Saturday afternoon but they hadn't seen one another until Church on Sunday. The two hugged briefly before the service.

Afterward, during the social hour, Liam introduced him to Paul. Lance got a charge out of how animated his sibling was. This new boy was making a positive change in him.

Liam's family went out for brunch before heading home. It was a good way to have a celebratory meal that Mom didn't have to prepare. She'd had enough to do for the holidays with moving and planning meals, despite having hired help.

Pleading fatigue, Heather and Jim went into their bedroom for a nap when they returned to the house. Their sons grinned at each other, both suspecting that the 'rents might be enjoying more than sleep.

Lance followed Liam into his new quarters to have the "grand tour." He'd resisted the temptation to peek into it on his own because he knew how proud his little brother was of the decorating he'd done so far.

"Wow! I love how everything goes together. Most dudes in high school don't know how to match their clothes, let alone create an awesome room."

"I had a lot of help from Paul. He's really good."

"So, are you guys dating?" Lance joked.

Liam turned as pale as a ghost. He hadn't seen that question coming.

"Um, wh-what do you mean?" he stammered.

"Nothing bad. I watched the two of you today, and I can tell you care a lot for one another. I've just finished a course in adolescent psych and I'm aware of the signs," Lance said, closing the distance between them.

"Please don't hurt me," Liam begged.

"I'm not gonna hurt you. You're my little bud. I'm trying to tell you that I understand. Have you talked to the 'rents yet?"

"No, I'm scared! What do you think they'll do?" Liam began to cry.

"I suspect they'll give you a hug like I'm gonna do."

With that, Lance wrapped his strong arms around his younger brother and held him until the water-works subsided.

"Do you suppose they've guessed about me like you did?"

"Uh, Mom IS a psychologist who works with kids; what do you think?"

"I don't know what to think anymore."

After Lance was satisfied that Liam would be okay, he retreated to his new room to text his girlfriend. They missed each other very much and hoped to be together for New Year's Eve since they wouldn't be for Christmas.

In his room, Liam texted with Paul. He related what had transpired between Lance and him. Paul thought it was a good omen to have Lance in their corner. If Liam's parents reacted badly, it was a comfort to know his brother was his ally.

Liam told Paul that he'd made his decision. He was going to come out to his parents after dinner that evening and see where he stood. He couldn't face the holidays in limbo. Paul insisted that he wanted to be there for him when he did. If anything went awry, Liam could go home with him until everyone cooled down.

It was difficult for Liam to enjoy the lovely meal. His throat seemed to constrict every time he tried to swallow. As a result, he didn't eat very much.

Heather wondered if her son might be coming down with the flu, despite having had the shot, but he insisted he wasn't sick.

Everyone retreated to the family room after the cleanup from dinner was completed. They had barely settled when the doorbell rang. Liam hastened to answer it, knowing it would be Paul. They exchanged a quick kiss for luck in the foyer before joining the family.

Liam stood looking pale and anxious. He screwed up his courage, took a deep breath, and began his announcement.

"Mom and Dad, I have something to say, and I hope you won't hate me when I'm done. Lance already knows, and he's okay with it. I've tried very hard for the past two years not to be who I am, but I can't deny it any longer. I'm gay."

"You're very brave to come out to us," Jim rose to embrace his son.

"I'm not brave at all, I'm shaking."

"That's the adrenalin in your bloodstream. You've been under pressure and you were frightened, but you didn't let that stop you from doing what you felt you needed to," his father stated. "That takes guts!"

"Paul, thank you for coming over to lend Liam your support," Heather said. "Can you stay the night?"

"I'll text my mom. I'm pretty sure she'll say it's okay."

"Mom, did you already know about me?" Liam asked.

"I had a suspicion."

"Do I act gay?"

"Not at all. You don't exhibit any of the stereotypical signs, but you weren't girl-crazy like Lance was the minute he hit puberty. Of course, all kids are different, so that wasn't necessarily a clue either."

"So, did you decide to match me up with Paul to find out?"

"When Paul's mother learned about my profession, she confided in me that he was gay and had a crush on you. She was attempting to prevent his getting hurt if you rebuffed him.

"I assured her that you were a gentle guy who wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone, so the two of us decided to help you get acquainted and then stand back and let things develop as they would."

"So, you had a motive for forcing me to go on the house walk besides just showing me who's in control?"

"Oh, dear! I don't like the sound of the words 'forcing' and 'control' used to describe what I did. I'm sorry I came off that way; will you forgive me?"

"Better than that, I'll love you forever!"

Needless to say, Liam had a very Merry Christmas.

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Holiday House Walk

by David Lee