Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2018 00:39:25 +0000
From: Douglas DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: Aiden II Chapter 49

Welcome back. This is another chapter the baseball fans will love. I would
like to put in a good word for my editors, Larry, Will, my anonymous final
nitpicker. Their help is invaluable in creating a readable story. There
have been times when Larry comes up with little scenes between the
characters that fit into the chapter he's working on perfectly. When he
does that, he is always right because I always insert his scene.

Before he saw this chapter, he sent me a scene with Connor ruminating about
the wonders of baseball. I loved the mood that it set and said I would look
for a place in a future chapter to use it. This is that future chapter. The
scene before the Owls' game where Connor thinks about the beauty of
baseball and the song "Centerfield" is. There are times when Larry is as
much a co-writer as he is an editor, and this is one of those times.

Please donate to Nifty so Larry and I can keep busy sending you stories.

Douglas. thehakaanen@hotmail.com

CHAPTER 49
PLAYOFF BASEBALL

SATURDAY, JULY 21

<Sammy and David>

As soon as Sammy and David learned their birthdays were only two days apart
they knew that they had to have a joint birthday party. David would turn
fifteen on Sunday, July 22 while Sammy would be fourteen on Tuesday the
24th.

"And we're not talking about the joints I used to smoke," Sammy joked. "It
won't be that kind of party."

"Gawd, I hope not. My parents would freak," David replied.

"Not half as much as mine would. I probably should be really careful using
that word, especially around them."

Since Sammy was the one with the swimming pool, they decided to have the
party at his house on Saturday since David's team had a playoff game on
Sunday. It was also decided that David would spend Friday, Saturday, and
Sunday nights at Sammy's house.

"My parents will help at the party, will be at my game on Sunday, and are
taking me out to the Steak House on Monday, so they'll get to see plenty of
me," David told Sammy's parents when they questioned the boys about that
part of the plan. The way the Bednarzyks saw it, if David's parents didn't
object, then they wouldn't either. They would be taking Sammy out for
dinner at the Steak House on Tuesday, Sammy's actual birthday.

Friday evening, after swimming and gaming and hanging around with Sammy's
parents until the two teens had to get away, they went across the patio to
the mother-in-law apartment, more commonly known as Marty and Rich's
apartment. It was now mostly cleaned out, with Marty's things in
storage. It was probably going to be no more than a place for Marty and
Rich to stay when he made a visit to Mayfield from now on.

The sex that night was their best yet. Sammy was bottom for David
twice. David was a beautifully endowed young teen - he was capable of
delivering a powerful fuck and his rapidly maturing testicles produced
torrents of cum.  They would have done it a third time except it was late
and they needed to get to sleep so they could be at their best at the party
the next day.

The party ended up being all the two birthday boys could have asked
for. David had more friends there, mainly because David had more real
friends (as opposed to party and sex buddies) than Sammy did. But, Sammy
didn't resent it. Through his talks with his drug and alcohol counselor,
with his AA sponsor, Mel, with Marty on the phone, with Jeffrey, his
brother, and even with David, he realized that his partying ways had done
more to tear down friendships than to build friendships.

And yet, his long-time friends Bryson, Dustin, and Spencer were at the
party, as was his girlfriend Susan. He was amazed how those friends stuck
by him during his darkest times, especially since he had often treated them
like shit. One thing that was going to have to happen soon was a talk with
Susan, since he had fallen madly in love with David. Or, would he have to
have a talk with David because he loved Susan?

Life had been less confusing when he was drinking—he could just get
drunk and stoned and everything that seemed complicated became amazingly
simple. Why worry about who he was in love with when he could get wasted
and end up in bed with some high school boy or girl. Sex was easy then, at
least the sex he remembered. Now it was all so confusing. Sammy was
grateful he was learning to use the tools to stay sober when being drunk
and stoned seemed so inviting—that was the way to solve his problems. He
still had those kinds of thoughts, but he knew that sharing them with the
right people helped him stay sober and on the right track.

The party was great fun. Sammy was pleased that Jeffrey and Nick were a
part of it. He even managed to cop of feel of Nick's big package in the
pool. He also snuck in a kiss and copped a feel with Susan, and traded a
long kiss in the apartment with David, the result being that they each
walked back to the pool patio with their board shorts loaded with teen cum.

"You know, for two days I will be two years older than you. I think I
really need to take advantage of that in bed," David joked when they
returned to the pool.

"I thought you did that last night," Sammy grinned.

"That was just the preliminary event. Wait until tonight's main
attraction."

Of course, somebody had to throw him a curveball, and that was Susan. She
and Sammy were lying prone on side by side lounge chairs taking in some
sun.

"My parents are going away for a few days next month. They're letting me
stay home alone," Susan informed Sammy. "Maybe this could be, like, our
chance to spend the night together."

Sammy felt a stirring in his swim suit. "Nobody's going to be watching
you?"

"Yeah, our neighbors, the Bronsons, will. But it will be easy to sneak you
in and out—we've done it for day visits."

"I'll have to think about it."

Susan sat up and frowned at Sammy. "Think about it? I thought you wanted to
do it so bad. I mean, sure, it's not like we're going to like fuck or
anything, but we can still do stuff and sleep naked together like
grownups. Or is that it? If you can't fuck me, you won't sleep with me?"

"I never said that," Sammy said, wondering where Susan's sudden annoyance
came from. "I just said, I need to think about it."

"You mean you have to check to see if it's okay with your boyfriend. Funny
how you're suddenly hanging around with a high school kid all the time,
doing overnights and everything. Are you getting, like, gay or something?"

"We are going to be starting high school in six weeks, you know. No
offense, Susan, but this is a really stupid conversation. I'd sleep with
you no matter what you want or didn't want to do, I just have to think
about it."

"Whatever. There's nothing to think about. Why don't you take me into that
apartment like you did your boyfriend? You sure were there a long
time—were you, like, making out or something?"

"Yeah, we did or something." Sammy would have happily taken Susan into the
apartment if she wasn't being such a bitch. After all, David was talking
with a couple of girls, which he certainly wasn't making a big deal of. He
and David liked each other, even loved each other as friends, but neither
one of them was gay. They had agreed on that note and agreed that making
out with girls was expected and something for them to share, but making out
with guys—well, they were an item.

"I'm still going to make out with Jeffrey and maybe Nicky," Sammy had said.

"Yeah, like me and Javier when I see my grandmother," David agreed.

Why couldn't life be this simple with girls? Sammy thought. He really
wanted a drink. He knew he needed to call Mel after the party before he did
something stupid.

<Aiden and Mason>

While the sexual angst was overflowing among the young teens at Sammy's
party, there was none in evidence at Aiden's pool. He and Mason were
enjoying being naturists together. While Aiden had his occasional sexual
doubts, even at age almost eleven, that was not the case with
Mason. Mason's sexual philosophy was simple: see cock—suck cock.

Mason's mother had dropped him off an hour before. She was happy to have a
place to leave her son while she worked a rare Saturday afternoon/evening
shift. Aiden was wearing his t-shirt "skirt" when Mason arrived, which was
as dressed as he'd been all morning. They were both stripped in seconds and
went zipping out to the pool. They had to return, however, when Larry
called them back, telling them they had to clean their clothes off of the
floor and put them away in Aiden's room before they could swim.

That task taken care of, the naked pubescent boys then spent an hour of
splashing, shrieking, crotch grabbing, ass grabbing, general wrestling, and
boner sprouting. The only reason they stopped was Phil's call to lunch,
which consisted of toasted cheese sandwiches and Phil's homemade tomato
soup with a bowl of Neapolitan ice cream for dessert. The boys ate on the
deck and were not required to put clothes on, although they both draped
cloth napkins over their privates, both to protect them from spills and to
hide the fact that they were erect. Not that being erect in front of Larry
and Phil bothered Mason any, but spilling hot soup on his balls and hard
dick did.

Larry and Phil judiciously said nothing about the up-and-down status of the
young boys' cocklets as they sat on the deck and ate with them. The topic
was on baseball and the upcoming playoffs.

"I can't believe we have to play the Bears again," Mason said. "We just
beat them and now we have to play them again. Why did they do it that way?"

"They didn't do it any way," Larry pointed out. "All the league did was say
that in the first round of Round Robin A the number three team in the
league standings would play the number six team. It just happened to work
out that you are number three and the Bears are number six, so you play
them again."

"I'm just glad we're not number nine, ten, or eleven," Aiden said after
sipping a spoonful of soup. "They don't get to play at all—their season
is done."

"Mason, you have certainly showed a lot of improvement this year," Phil
noted.

"Coach Scott and Coach Connor said that, too. They said I make it hard to
pick a second baseman to start each game," Mason grinned. "Last year I
could hardly catch anything in right field and now sometimes I get to start
at second base."

"I hope you start there on Monday," Aiden told his little friend. While
Aiden had started growing some, Mason was still lagging behind in his
physical maturity.

"You mean instead of Kalie or Miles or Lance or Jared?" he asked, referring
to some of his competition for the spot. "I thought they were good, too."

"They're all good," Aiden noted, "but you and Lance are the best at getting
your uniforms dirty." Larry and Phil laughed and avoided ruffling Aiden's
damp hair.

"How come nobody else is here today?" Mason asked.

"Everybody is busy, dude." Aiden had learned that to get a group together
almost always required prior planning. The summer weekends often found
families busy doing family things.

"I'm never busy," Mason said with a hint of sadness.

"Not so. You've never tried inviting you to a party, or you'd find out how
busy you are. You're off singing, or off somewhere with your mom, or off to
some lesson, or..."

"...or in trouble with my mom," Mason giggled.

Aiden and Mason got up and helped clean up after lunch.

"Do you guys want to go for a boat ride?" Phil asked. "We haven't gone out
much this summer."

"Yeah, that would be awesome," Aiden gushed.

"Does that mean I have to put shorts on?" Mason asked.

"Duh, Mason, what do you think?"

"I think it would be more fun to ride naked."

"Mason, you are incorrigible," Larry laughed.

"What does that mean?"

"My dads call me that all the time," Aiden told him. "It means you're
persistent, that you want to do things your way all the time, even if it's
wrong."

"Yep, that's me," Mason grinned.

The boys enjoyed almost two hours on the boat. Aiden water skied, showing
the improvement he'd made during the summer when his dads were able to take
him out. Mason tried, but spent much of his time sputtering in the water
while he waited to get picked up. He finally decided it wasn't his thing.

"Maybe next year," Mason hoped.

"You'll get it," Aiden assured his little friend. "It took me a long time
to learn, too."

After they got back, Aiden and Mason helped clean the boat and put the
lifejackets and other equipment away. Even after using liberal amounts of
sunscreen during the afternoon, both boys had red faces.

"We're going up to my room until dinner," Aiden said. "We might decide to
take a nap or something."

"Whatever you decide to do, have fun doing it," Phil told them, thinking
that taking a nap was the last thing those two hyper boys were going to do.

Phil was correct. The first thing they did was strip. "Do I get to do it?"
Mason asked as they sat on Aiden's bed.

"Up to you, but if we do it, we do a sixty-nine."

"I like just doing it and nothing else."

Aiden shook his head. "My room, so it's my way."

Mason wasn't about to argue when he had a chance to do something he
loved. The two ten-year-olds went quickly to work on each other's skinny
little preteen pegs. Aiden's was over the three-inch mark and Mason was
approaching that size. After much slurping, tonguing, grunting, and
moaning, Aiden felt his orgasm coming on. He started fucking Mason's mouth,
which turned Mason on even more, which brought him close to his own
orgasm. Both boys shook and grunted and sucked and mouth fucked and Aiden
felt his cocklet spasm in his friend's eager mouth as he enjoyed a powerful
dry cum. Mason's boy orgasm came ten seconds later with an uncontrolled
yelp.

"What was that?" Larry asked as he and his husband sat in the television
room watching a TV detective show.

"That was sweet Mason, he of the face of pure innocence, having himself an
orgasm," Phil replied.

"You mean that wasn't our Aiden yelping?"

"I doubt it. Based on what I heard before he became better at lowering his
voice, he is a moaner and groaner, although they are rather high-pitched
moans and groans. Of course, it could just be them playing a video game or
operating Aiden's remote cars."

"But you don't believe that, I take it."

"Just giving two young boys the benefit of the doubt."

Larry laughed and then said, "I think I am in the mood to listen to some
low-pitched moans and groans."

"You're on," Phil said. "Last guy to cum remakes the bed."

Upstairs, Aiden reminded Mason that he needed to be quieter when he had an
orgasm. He knew he was a bit late saying anything, but he thought it might
help the next time.

"Sorry. I don't have organisms that much and I forget."

"Orgasms."

"Whatever they're called—I'm just happy you wanted to sixty-nine because
that was much beyond awesome. I'll have a hard time liking just plain
awesome."

The boys snuggled some and then did what they said they were going to do
even though they knew they weren't going to do it, and that was fall
asleep. Horace looked down at the two naked young boys, their faces almost
angelic, cuddled together and napping soundly.

Phil knocked on the bedroom door an hour later to tell them to wash up and
dress for dinner.

"Do we have time to shower?" Aiden asked.

"If you do it together and it's in and out."

"Well, we don't have to take anything off to get in," Mason said, earning a
glare from Aiden by giving out too much information. "Well, we don't,"
Mason said meekly.

"I'll see you guys in fifteen minutes. Regular dinner attire is expected."
That meant t-shirt and shorts.

The boys enjoyed dinner, playing a game of 20 questions while they ate.
Mason's mother called just as they finished dinner and said she would be
working later than she had originally thought. She asked if Mason could
stay the night. Nobody objected, certainly not the boys. They played a game
of Scrabble with Larry and Phil and then watched the Mariners until
bedtime. Mason's mother would be picking him up at ten the next morning for
church, which meant the dads wanted the boys in bed by ten.

After a tuck-in by Larry, the two naked preteens fell asleep in an
instant. It had been a long and tiring day for them. Aiden was glad he and
Mason had messed around before dinner. All too often since school was out
he was so tired when he went to bed that he and his friends didn't have the
energy to mess around.

Mason thought it was one of his best days all summer—he loved being
around Aiden. Aiden had treated him like a real friend all day. Plus, he
got the best orgasm of his life from Aiden that afternoon. He still
couldn't always believe that somebody as cool and popular as Aiden actually
liked him.

Larry and Phil could see that Aiden was Mason's hero. They felt that Aiden
would never let Mason down, but they also knew the boys were young boys,
and one could never be sure of what would happen, especially when the
volatility of puberty set in.

SUNDAY, JULY 22

<Aiden and Mason>

Aiden had set his alarm for eight and that is exactly what time it went
off. Amazing how that works, Aiden thought sleepily as he stumbled to his
bathroom to take a pee. Mason wandered in just as Aiden finished.

"I hate church," Mason grumbled. "I'd rather be sleeping right now."

Aiden ignored his gripe and told him to come downstairs when he finished
peeing. "I'm gonna be in the kitchen starting a French toast breakfast."

"I can't believe you actually get to cook meals. That is so totally
awesome." His remark was an example of Mason's hero worship at work. "I'm
coming with you."

"You can be naked in the kitchen, but you have to wear an apron. I've got
one that fits you down there."

Aiden's dads set the table while the boys took care of the cooking. After
breakfast, everybody helped with the cleanup after which Aiden and Mason
hopped into the upstairs shower.

"I went to the twins' house on Thursday," Mason said.

"What did you do?"

"We played catch and were mean to their sister who is the `B word'. And I
sucked them both."

"Who did you suck first?"

"No, I mean I sucked them both, like I sucked them at the same time."

"You had both their cocks in your mouth at the same time?" Aiden asked as
he washed Mason's back and ass. Aiden had sprung an instant hard-on. Mason
had been hard since he stepped into the shower.

"Yeah. They aren't very big. Bryce is about as big around as both of them
together. I think Muddy is getting close. Anyway, they were on their knees
on the bed facing each other and I sucked them. Lenny came first—at
least he said he was Lenny," Mason giggled. "It was totally fun. Then, just
after we finished their mom and sister came home and we had to put our
clothes on really fast. Lenny said they'd suck me first next time—and
they'd do it together."

Aiden had never sucked Lenny and Lance at the same time, but he had been
doubled up on by the twins, so he knew that Mason would be in for a
treat. Aiden's cocklet was pulsing, telling him he would have to jerk off
after Mason left. There wasn't time then since Mason's mother was due in
about fifteen minutes. After Mason left, Aiden helped with some chores and
then called Marty.

"Hey, bro, big games this week," Marty said after the greetings were
exchanged. "Do you know when you're going to pitch?"

"Yep. I'm starting Thursday's game against the Owls. They were the first
place team."

"Sounds like you're the ace."

"Not really. I think Trent is the ace, but he's pitching against the Bears
tomorrow since I can't. I pitched on Friday."

"Did you pitch against the Owls during the regular season?"

"Nope, Trent and Jared did. Jared beat them and Trent lost 2-1 so we think
we're as good as they are. But we have to play the Bears and the Longview
Moose first. How was your game yesterday?"

"We won 7-5. And since you're going to ask I was 3-for-4 with a double, a
homer, two RBI, and a run scored."

"Yippee. Looks like your slump is over."

"Well you know what they say about slumps, right?"

"Nope."

"They're like the common cold. No matter what you do they're going to last
for two weeks. Well, the two weeks are up so I'm gonna hit the shit out of
the ball."

"I wish I could see you do it."

"Like I wish I could see you kick ass in your playoff games this week. I
love you, little bro."

"I love you big bro."

That night, Aiden brought Horace downstairs after tuck-in and spent one of
his now infrequent nights sleeping with his dads. He wanted to absorb their
positive energy for the upcoming playoffs.

MONDAY, JULY 23

Aiden, Mason, Miles, Gordy, and the twins met at the town park and played
catch. They were all bubbling about their first playoff game that evening.
A couple of the twin's classmates happened by and they joined in. They all
went to Miles' house for lunch. His mother was experienced enough to know
to make big lunches with surprise boys in mind, so nobody went short on
food.

The game that evening between the Yard Goats and the Centralia Bears didn't
go as planned. The teams played at the Centralia Youth Sports Complex. Even
though the game was at Centralia (where it had been scheduled before the
league knew which teams would be in that slot) the Goats were the home team
since they finished higher in the standings.

Nothing went right from the start. Gordy was playing shortstop and booted
the first ball put in play. Aiden, who was at third, let the second go
through his legs. After Mason fielded a ball cleanly at second and threw
the runner at first out at second, Jared dropped a pop fly in left field
which let the first run score. That started the Bears to a four run top of
the first. Even though the Bears had a losing record, they weren't a
terrible team and they showed it that day. The errors broke what
concentration Trent had. After walking two of the first three batters in
the second, he was replaced by Yonder. While the Goats fought back some,
the Bears won by a convincing 10-4 score. The Goats had made five errors in
the field and struck out 11 times.

In the other game in their round-robin bracket the Olympia Owls humiliated
the Longview Moose 16-3 in a game called after four innings. The Goats
would be playing the Moose on Wednesday.

Scott and Connor held a team meeting after the game. Neither coach was
pleased with the way the team played which they made quite clear. "Now,
it's always hard to beat a good team three times in three games, and the
Bears are a good team. But, they're not as good as us, and no matter what
the score says, we would have beat them if we played the way we're
capable," Scott told the team. "It won't hurt for us to have a little
workout tomorrow." His proposal was met with the expected groans.

"It's the last week of the season and we're in the playoffs. What do we
need to practice for?" Russell groused. "I mean all we did was lose, which
isn't a crime or anything."

"Losing isn't the problem," Scott answered. "It's how we played that's the
problem. I think a little work on fundamentals is just what we need."

That led to a few more groans before Aiden spoke up. "Hey, guys, remember
back when we had our first team meeting after the coaches picked the
roster?"

"How am I supposed to remember that? That's like ancient history. What
about it?" Jared asked.

"Well, the coaches asked if we were willing to do whatever it takes to be
good and we all said we were. Maybe it's time for us to prove we meant it."
Aiden didn't hide the fact that he was angry, both at himself and at his
teammates.

"Speak for yourself. You're being stupid; nobody wants to practice,"
Russell said. Russell wished Eddie was still on the team. He needed
somebody to have his back. He knew everybody didn't want to practice the
next day, but all they were willing to do was moan about it. They were all
a bunch of wusses and nobody wanted to speak up. Now that fucking Aiden was
opening his mouth about listening to the shit the coaches told
them. Russell had other plans for the next day and they didn't include
going to a baseball practice.

"That's so rude, Russell," Trent said. "I'm with Aiden; we need to do
whatever it takes and right now it sounds like we don't want to do that."
As suddenly as the boys had moaned about having a practice, they decided
they needed to practice if they were going to advance to the elimination
round of the playoffs.

In his own way, Russell had misread the mood of the team. After Aiden had
his say, Russell was sure everybody would turn on Aiden since nobody wanted
to practice. Instead, the opposite happened and they all ended up getting
behind the stupid faggot. Of course Russell failed to see how his attempt
to put Aiden down had rallied the team behind him instead.

The coaches watched the byplay with interest. They had almost stepped into
the fray but were glad they didn't as the problem seemed to resolve
itself. They were both impressed by how Aiden had taken charge of the
situation and turned everything around—with some unintended help from
Russell.

"Practice tomorrow at ten at the middle school field," Scott announced.

"What if you can't get the field then?" Miles asked.

"I already have it reserved." At that point he almost lost the players who
thought they'd been snookered by their coaches, but Scott read the looks on
their faces instantly. Before anybody could speak up he continued. "Win or
lose, if we'd looked and played like the baseball team we know we are, I
would have called Mr. Smithers and cancelled the field." Joel Smithers was
the head groundskeeper for the Mayfield School District, who took care of
the district's sports fields for the Mayfield Parks Department. That ended
any impending revolt.

After the meeting broke up, Aiden was surprised to see Nolan still in the
parking lot. He walked over and fist-bumped him. "Nice game, Nolan." Aiden
meant it—Nolan had gone three-for-four and knocked in four of the Bears'
ten runs.

"Thanks. After the way you beat us on Friday, I didn't think we could beat
you this time," Nolan responded.

Nolan's father, Judge Moyer, came over and joined the chat. "We'd like to
have you come over again soon," he said. "We'll be away on vacation right
after our last game, but maybe sometime before school starts."

"Thank you," Aiden replied. "That would be really cool. And Nolan can
always come to our house for swimming and boating and stuff."

The judge nodded. "I think Nolan's mother is becoming more receptive to the
idea of an overnight, so we'll see what we can do about that, too."

Aiden and Nolan looked at each other. Judge Moyer grinned—there was no
way anyone could miss the significance of the boys' smiles and the way
their eyes lit up. Nolan's father was amazed at how close the two boys
seemed to be considering the distance between them. He loved both boys and
was pleased to see the growing friendship between the two.

That night Aiden had Horace sitting next to him on his bed. He was naked,
as he just about always was in his bed, and had the covers pulled back as
he jerked off thinking erotic thoughts about being in bed with Nolan.

 At the same time in Meadow Park, Nolan had Casey II, his stuffed bear,
sitting at the head of his bed.  He was naked, as he just about always was
in his bed, and had the covers pulled back as he jerked off thinking erotic
thoughts about being in bed with Aiden. The biggest difference between the
two was that Nolan had some clear liquid to rub around his smooth, hard
abdomen while Aiden had only awesome sensations to show for his efforts.

TUESDAY, JULY 24.

It was already in the mid-seventies when practice started at ten. The Goats
were happy that Coach Scott had scheduled a morning practice because the
day was going to be a scorcher, maybe reaching the nineties.

Russell was more than happy about it, because Peter Astor had invited him,
Eddie, Barry, and Roger to his house for a beer party that afternoon. It
was the first time in quite a while that Peter was going to drink with
them. He knew it meant having sex, too, but he didn't mind as long as Peter
didn't try to fuck him. Not that he would stop the older boy from doing it,
but he knew he wouldn't like it much. Roger and Eddie were the ones who
liked to get fucked. Barry wasn't going to be able to drink, but if they
could come up with some weed by the afternoon, Russell thought Barry might
get high.

The practice went well. Aiden, Trent, Gordy, and Miles were the loudest
cheerleaders on the field. Nick McCall helped Coach Scott run the practice
since Coach Conner had to work. The drills were the regular ones, and
everybody worked hard at them. The team felt confident that they were ready
to play their best on Wednesday and Thursday.

That evening, Aiden, Trent, Gordy, Miles, Mason, Muddy, Kenny Gray, and the
twins went to the Mayfield baseball complex where the first round B round
robins were being held on adjoining fields. While they all wished that
their A round was the one being played in Mayfield, they also understood
that the world didn't work that way. There simply weren't enough fields for
both rounds to be held in the same complex.

Kelso hammered Lacy 9-1 on Field 1 while the good game was on Field
2. Kentburg scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to beat the Centralia
Scrappers 4-3. As much as he knew he wasn't supposed to, Aiden couldn't
help but cheer when Keith Barnett doubled in the winning runs. He wasn't
alone in cheering. Lance found himself equally excited. While it hadn't
happened yet, Lance had a feeling he would have a chance to get together
with Keith sometime. He hadn't lost any of his boy crush on the Kentburg
redhead.

After the games, Gordy spent the night at Aiden's, Trent spent the night at
Miles' house, Kenny overnighted with Muddy for the first time, and Mason
slept over at the twins. All of the overnights had been planned in
advance. Gordy and Aiden kissed and dry humped with Aiden on top of
Gordy. Trent and Miles joined John and Bryce on John's bed. The two teens
were high on pot. Trent and Miles had declined getting high when asked to
earlier in the evening, but they had no problem getting into a daisy chain
with the older boys. Kenny and Muddy jerked each other off. The twins
teamed up to suck off Mason and they took care of themselves in a
sixty-nine. Mason was happy Brenda didn't come barging into the
bedroom—the twins' sister worried him every time he visited the twins
even when there was no sex involved.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25

A combination of the Yard Goats being much more mentally prepared and the
Moose being a poor team led to an easy 14-1 win over the Longview
team. Yonder pitched the first two innings followed by Jared and Lance
pitching an inning apiece as the game was called after four innings due to
the run rule.

On the adjoining field at the Centralia complex, the Owls knocked off the
Bears 7-3. The Owls were 2-0 in round robin play. The Goats and the Bears
were 1-1 while the Moose were 0-2 with no chance of advancing. The Goats
would play the Owls on Thursday, a game the Goats had to win to have a
chance of advancing to elimination play. The Moose and the Bears were also
matched up and the Bears needed a win to advance as well. Only two of the
four teams would be going to the elimination round over the weekend.

In the B round robins, Kentwood beat Lacy while Kelso beat the Centralia
Scrappers. The wins meant that Kentwood and Kelso, who were both 2-0, would
go to the elimination round no matter what happened on Thursday.

If one didn't count Lenny and Lance, nobody on the Goats overnighted with a
teammate. Miles did sleep with his brother, John.  Lenny and Lance slept in
their own beds, but John enjoyed a satisfying orgasm at the hands of his
younger brother. He then let Miles rub off on his smooth ass, telling him
that it was practice for when he was big enough to fuck.

Aiden slept with his dads. Instead of placing Horace on the dresser as he
usually did, Aiden sat the stuffed Donkey on the end of the bed,
admonishing his dads not to kick him. Larry and Phil each gave Aiden a
loving dad kiss on his forehead and let their son snuggle tightly between
them and fall quickly sleep. They knew their son well enough by now to
understand that if Aiden joined them on the night before a big game it was
to gain strength from them to help him slip into his zone by game time the
next day.

THURSDAY, JULY 26

Aiden spent the next day in the pool, shooting hoops, reading to Beethoven
("Beethoven rocks and is the best game-day music," Aiden had told Phil once
when they were cuddled on their favorite chair), and spending some time on
his computer. His computer time included a brief on-line chat with Marty.

Except for when he ate breakfast and shot hoops, Aiden spent the day
naked. Even when Larry came into the pool for a while, Aiden was
naked—but then, so was Larry. The rules in the pool were simple; while
dad and daddy could be in the pool naked with Aiden, horseplay was not
allowed unless swim suits were donned. Aiden kept a pair in the basement
just for that purpose. But, with a game coming up that evening, Aiden
wasn't really into wrestling. Aiden needed to be dressed when he played
anything out in the back yard, since he would be visible from the road.

Mason and the twins rode to the game with Aiden and his dads. The twins'
mom was working and would be at the Centralia complex by game time while
Mason's mother said she had a church function to attend. Mason was visibly
disappointed that his mother would not be attending the game. She promised
him she would be at the Saturday elimination game if they made it that far.

"Then make it to today's game in case we don't make it that far," he
pleaded that afternoon.

"Mason Johnson, you know I make every game I can, but church is
important. And you should be more positive about how your team is going to
do."

"Like you care," Mason said sullenly. "You could make more games if you
wanted to." Mason was starting to edge into puberty. His mother didn't like
how his attitude was developing.

"I never miss your music engagements," Madeline Johnson answered lamely.

Mason huffed and walked off to his room. His bad mood carried over to the
ride to the game. It was something everybody noticed, since Mason was
rarely in a bad mood.

When it came time for Aiden to do his pitching warmup, he, Muddy, and Coach
Connor trekked to the bullpen. Aiden felt really good about his stuff as he
threw to Muddy. He also felt good about his head—he knew he was in a
zone and was confident that he would pitch a good game.

After the pitching warmups were complete, Connor returned to the dugout. As
he stood there looking out on the field drenched by the light of the late
afternoon sun, Conner watched his young team shag ground balls and was
suddenly taken by the beauty of it all.  Now THIS is baseball, he thought
to himself.

He understood the popularity of night baseball and why it was needed.  Many
fans simply were not able to get to the ballpark during the day because
they were working.  But today's five o'clock early summer start allowed
parents and fans to watch most of the game and also provided much of the
ambience of a day game.

On a warm late Thursday afternoon, with a cloudless sky, the stands packed,
"Centerfield", the great baseball anthem written by John Fogerty, playing
on the sound system, and a stunning team of athletic young boys on the
field, including his former coach's son, Connor realized that this was
truly the way baseball was meant to be seen and played and how blessed he
was to be coaching.  He heard Fogerty singing the refrain "Put me in,
coach!  I'm ready to play! Today! Look at me, I can be, centerfield!" and
it gave him chills.

Just then, Connor noticed two tweens from the opposing team swagger past
wearing their caps backwards.  He had never mentioned it to the boys he
coached, but in the mysterious way of boys who were teammates, the word had
gotten out that when you played for Connor you wore your cap forward—
period. He couldn't help recalling how, when he was a hot-shit know-it-all
teen, he had tried the cap-backwards thing and gotten his ass in a serious
jam with his coach, Larry Sanders.  He wondered if maybe the coach's son,
Aiden, had spread the word about backwards caps. Connor was still smiling
at the memory when he suddenly realized Scott was standing next to him.

"What the hell are you grinnin' at?" Scott asked with a leer.

"Just thinkin' about you and me at the apartment after the game."

Scott gave Connor a pat on the ass.  "Works for me, hot man. But in the
meantime, we got coaching to do."

Because the Owls finished ahead of the Yard Goats in the standings, they
were the home team. The Yard Goats led off and went down 1-2-3. Aiden set
the Owls down in order in the bottom of the inning and there was no doubt
that this was going to be a pitcher's duel. He knew that Jacoby Welch was
one of the best pitchers in the league, but on this day Aiden knew that he
was one of the best as well.

Jacoby had outpitched Trent back in June when the Owls defeated the Goats
2-1 at Mayfield. He wasn't the pitcher in the second meeting between the
two teams, a 6-3 win by the Goats at Olympia. Jared Finn was the winning
pitcher for the Goats in that game.

The first hit of the game didn't come until the top of the third when Lenny
led off the inning with a single. He stole second on Jacoby's third pitch
but ended up dying on second. The Owls bunched up a walk and two hits into
a run in the bottom of the inning to take a 1-0 lead.

Their lead didn't last long, however. Gordy hit a one-out single and Aiden
followed up with a run-scoring double to tie the score. The score remained
tied going into the top of the sixth. Jacoby had to be removed from the
game in the fifth because he had reached his pitch limit. Carson Kelly came
in as a relief pitcher and while he was good he wasn't as good as
Jacoby. He had allowed two runs in the Goats' 6-3 win.

The Yard Goats got to Carson for two runs in the top of the sixth to take a
3-1 lead. Aiden was 15 pitches short of his limit. Scott and Connor elected
to keep him in the game, but had Jared warmed up and ready to come in right
away if needed. Aiden got the leadoff batter to ground out to Kalie at
second, struck out the next batter, and then gave up an infield single to
the third batter in the inning. He had thrown 11 pitches and the coaches
elected to go with Jared's fresh arm since Aiden only had four pitches
left.

Jared walked his first batter, bringing the winning run to the plate. Muddy
came out to the mound and told him to throw strikes and he would get the
asshole at the plate out. Muddy didn't mince words when he talked to his
pitchers. Jared was used to Muddy's language and shrugged. It took him two
pitches to get the next batter to lift a pop fly to right that Trent pulled
in to end the game. The Yard Goats were 3-1 winners in their must-win
victory over the Owls.

Since the Bears had won their game against the Moose, there was a three-way
tie for the two spots in the A round robin. While the Moose weren't a good
team, they were better than the outfit that had been outscored 30-4 its
first two round robin games. They gave the Bears a good fight before losing
8-6.

The players on the three teams knew which two teams would go to the
elimination round if there was a three-way tie. The Bears had been hoping
the Owls would beat the Goats (even Nolan wanted that to happen) and, of
course the Goats were hoping the Moose would beat the Bears, which they had
done during the regular season.  They also knew what the tiebreakers were,
which was why Aiden hoped that the Bears would win their final game and at
least have the honor of being in the three-way tie.

The first tie breaker was head-to-head records in the A round robin
tournament. The teams were all 1-1, which maintained the tie. The second
tiebreaker was the head-to-head records during the regular season. The
Goats split their two games with the Owls and the Bears teams. The Bears
split with the Goats, but lost both games to the Owls. That meant the Owls
won both games against the Bears and split with the Goats. Their overall
records in head-to-head play was the Owls 3-1, the Goats 2-2, and the Bears
1-3.

The Owls and the Goats had the top two head-to-head records and would be
playing in the first round of the elimination tournament on Saturday. Aiden
could see what his dads meant about how important each game was when
playoff time came around.

After the game, Nolan sought out Aiden and congratulated him on the Goat's
win and making it to the next round. "My dad and I are coming to your game
on Saturday. I hope you kick ass, `cuz then your season will go even
longer." The losers of the first round game were eliminated from the
playoffs. While both of the winners would go on to the state tournament,
they would play each other on Sunday for seeding purposes.

"Maybe you can come home with us after the game and spend the night," Aiden
said hopefully. Nolan's demeanor brightened considerably. He said he would
check with his parents and let Aiden know as soon as he could.

FRIDAY, JULY 27

On Friday, Aiden and Gordy played around with Trent and Vince Madden at
Trent's house. They enjoyed time in the pool and playing games. Skinny
dipping was not something they could do at Trent's house, but they were
preteen boys—swimming in the sun was a bigger deal than skinny dipping
in their books, although in Aiden's case, it was a close call.

Aiden was disappointed that afternoon when Nolan texted him that he
couldn't spend the night. "Maybe we can try something next week," Aiden
texted back. Nolan was disappointed as well, but he knew better than to
upset his parents by arguing. He reasoned that, in the end, playing it cool
and being patient would win out.

SATURDAY, JULY 28

The elimination tournament was scheduled to be played at Kelso. Again, the
location had nothing to do with what teams were in the tournament—the
game locations had been determined even before the regular season had
started.

Both teams felt ready to play, but Tim Eddings, the Kelso pitcher, was on
top of his game. The Yard Goats played hard, but they couldn't touch
Eddings, who threw a 3-hit, complete game shutout, while striking out 10
and walking only one. The final was 3-0.

"Eddings had your number today," Nolan told Aiden after the game, not that
Aiden hadn't figured that out.

"I couldn't do nothing against him," Aiden lamented. He'd gone 0-for-3,
grounding out weakly to short, popping up to left, and striking out. "He's
good—he beat Trent back in June."

"Yeah, but he was really good, today. You made a couple of real good plays
at third."

"They were okay, though that swinging bunt was hard since I had to get
set."

"You could have played it on the run."

Aiden shook his head. "Yeah, and if I do that and throw it away then the
coaches get pissed and my dads will say something, too."

"So? The season's over if you lose, so you might as well go all out."

"Good point. And I bet Marty will say the same thing, even though I did get
the out."

"Well, even if I can't come over to your house for now, don't forget we
have baseball camp coming up in a little over a week and we'll be in the
same cabin."

"I can't wait," Aiden grinned. The two boys stared at each other with looks
of yearning in their eyes.

"Quick, follow me." Nolan led Aiden into the men's room, which was
empty. They went into one of the stalls where Nolan grabbed Aiden
passionately, planted a kiss on his friend's lips, and cupped his balls
though his uniform pants, happy that Aiden had removed his protective
cup. Aiden returned the grope.

"I want to do this all the time," Aiden said as they broke their kiss.

"Me, too. I mean we're starting middle school in like six weeks—it's
time we got to do things together. I mean, we're not little kids anymore."
They held hands and shared a last quick kiss before leaving the men's room.

In the next game on the field, Kentburg eliminated the Owls 7-6. Kentburg
and Kelso, the two most disliked teams in the Southwest League, would be
representing the league at the Washington Youth Baseball state tournament.

It turned out that Marty said almost exactly what Nolan had said when Aiden
called him. "Damn, bro, you've got to learn when to pull out all of the
stops. I bet you're getting good enough to make some plays on the
run—and the last game of the season makes it even more important that
you step things up."

"I got the out," Aiden said defensively.

"I know, and I'm not knocking that. I'm just saying that if you're going to
be the best, at some point you have to do the things the best do."

Aiden wasn't sure he agreed, but he let it go. He told Marty he loved him
and that he couldn't wait until Marty came to Mayfield to visit in
September.

The two said their good-byes. Aiden stared up at the ceiling of his
room. He felt a surge of sadness. Baseball was over. He couldn't wait for
next spring and his first try at school baseball. He pulled Horace off the
shelf, pulled on his tattered old "wear around the house" boxers, and
headed down to the dads and son room. Phil was sitting in their favorite
recliner. Aiden dropped in next to him and waited for an arm to go around
his bare shoulder so he could take in some of his dad's love, comfort, and
strength.

Next: Visits-2