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Claire was sitting at her breakfast table the next morning enjoying her first cup of tea of the day. The sun was just barely rising when she heard the rumble of a couple of Harleys rolling up her driveway. The two big men waved to her as they dismounted. She motioned for them to wait as she grabbed the extra key to Max's apartment and dashed out to give it to them. After greeting them and getting warm hugs, she said, "He'll still be asleep." She giggled to herself imaging Max's reaction to those two big gorgeous men waking him.

Ben and Jim crept silently up the stairs, opened Max's door, then tiptoed over to his bed, one on each side, and lay down beside him. Max groaned and rolled onto his back. Ben kissed him on his right cheek and whispered, "Good morning, Maxy." Max started to roll toward him, but then Jim did the same on his left. That confused Max's dream state. He groaned and mumbled as he began to wake up.

Both men then raised up over him, supporting themselves with a hand on either side of his chest, their heads together. Ben cooed, "Maxy, wake up. It's time to go running."

"Not already," Max mumbled, as he tried to stretch, but both of his arms were pinned under the covers that were held down by Ben and Jim laying on them. His eyes popped open, and seeing two unshaven faces peering down at him, he yelped.

Both men sat back rather surprised at Max's reaction. Max sat up and rubbed his eyes, looked at their shocked expressions and couldn't help but laugh, "Damn, that was enough to scare the sleep out of me for a week." After a moment, they both started laughing with him and pulled him into a three way hug.

"That was a shitty way to wake me up," Max groused through sporadic laughs.

"Hell, Max, you didn't have to scare us," Ben said, trying to look offended as he continued to chortle.

"Where have you been? I introduced you two and you both just abandoned me."

"We're sorry, Max, we just got so involved with getting to know each other," Jim said.

"Yeah, I had to ask for more days off for my vacation," Ben chimed in.

Max watched Jim move over to sit next to Ben, whose arm automatically went around him. Max envied the happy little smile that lit Jim's face.

"I guess you're glad I turned you both down, huh?"

Jim grinned. "You know we are, Max, neither of us would have wanted to break your heart."

"Fuckers," Max mumbled, as he crawled off the bed and headed for the bathroom. He didn't try to hide his morning woody.

"We didn't do that to you, did we?" Ben asked, pointing at his jutting naked pole.

Max brazenly turned around and waved it at them. "Not unless you're my full bladder." He ducked through the bathroom door and closed it. He could hear Jim laughing and calling Ben, "Bladder boy." Max shook his head and wondered if his life was going to be like this from now on with those two clowns. 'Well,' he thought with a happy smile, 'that would be more than okay with me.'

He grabbed his jock strap and running shorts off the towel bar where he'd hung them to dry when he'd rinsed them out after yesterday's run. He put them on before opening the door. Jim and Ben were in the kitchen. Max could smell the fresh brewing coffee. He picked up his shoes and walked into the living area to put them on. Jim brought a cup of hot steaming coffee over to him. He accepted it with a smile and settled back in the old club chair to enjoy it.

There was a knock on the door. Ben looked up to see Claire smiling through the window in the top of the door and sprinted over to let her in. She carried a plate stacked with sticky looking cinnamon rolls. "I know this isn't on your diets, but I think you might enjoy them once in a while. I baked them yesterday."

Ben took the plate from her, saying, "Oooh, thank you, they look delicious." He set it on the counter, turned back to Claire and wrapped his arms around her. "It's good to see you again, Mom. I really missed you."

"Don't give me that." She batted at his big arm. "You've been back from your vacation for four days, and this is the first time I've laid eyes on you."

"Well, something very special happened."

"I know. So... you've decided to live together. You're going to move into Jim's house, huh?" Claire said.

Jim strangled on his coffee.

"You guys didn't tell me that." Max complained.

Ben glanced at Max, then at Jim and shook his head. "And you know that we haven't told Claire."

"I didn't need to be told." Claire said, "I've seen it in my dreams."

"Dreams?" Jim gasped, shocked

"Didn't Max or Ben tell you? I dream."

Jim turned and looked at Max for verification.

Max nodded with a big grin. "She dreams," he said.

Jim turned a dark scarlet. "Please, tell me you don't get visuals of our bedroom."

"Heavens no. But it might be interesting if I did. Two big gorgeous guys like you."

Ben flushed, too.

"Would you two stop it," Claire scolded. "I'm not about to do such a thing." And then her eyes unfocused. "Oh my!" She fanned her face and grinned at the two big men. "I'm sorry, you just got my imagination to running."

Max was rolling on the floor laughing at his friends' embarrassment.

Claire walked over to him and poked him with her toe. "Stop that. Or I'll use my imagination on you."

"I'm sorry," He moaned and burst out laughing again.

Claire looked back over to Jim and Ben. "I didn't mean to embarrass you, but Max has needed to let loose like this for a long time. It's very therapeutic you know. And Max has been too somber for too long."

She looked down at Max and realized that he was no longer laughing. The laughter had turned into hysterical sobs. She knelt and gathered his head and shoulders into her arms. Caressing the side of his face and assuring him, she got him calmed down, but he continued to quietly sob. He'd curled into a fetal ball. Ben picked him up, holding him tightly to his chest. Claire got to her feet and hugged the two of them and then Jim.

"You can use your imagination on us any time you want if it will help our little buddy," Jim said. Ben vigorously nodded in agreement.

"I'm so happy you two have come into his life. He needs you."

"We're here for him, Claire," Ben said.

She patted them each on their cheek and went back down stairs knowing that Max was in good loving hands.

Ben carried Max, still sobbing, to the bed. Jim watched as he uncurled Max's limbs and undressed him. He pulled the covers back as Ben gently lifted and laid Max in the middle of the bed, and then began to strip his own clothes off. Jim watched, thought about it, then quickly shed his own clothes.

Ben crawled into the bed and pulled Max's backside up against his chest. Jim snuggled up to his front, and wrapped his arm over both men. Ben kept running his fingers through Max's hair and talking to him in a low voice, telling him that everything was going to turn out all right. Soon Max's weeping turned to whimpers, and the whimpers eventually turned to little sighs and shudders. Both big men murmured loving words as they continued to hold and caress Max between them.

Max eventually became aware of where he was, and realized he had a rampant hardon. As his awareness broadened, he found that Jim's hard cock was pressed up against his own, and that Ben's was nestled in his butt crack. In a panic, Max attempted to wiggle free of the two men, but they held him tight and murmured soothing sounds until Max relaxed. Reflexively, he began to rub his cock against Jim's. The movement, in turn, rubbed his crack over Ben's rampant hardon. It wasn't long before Max found himself climaxing and, simultaneously, he felt Jim's semen mixing with his own as Ben covered his low back with his hot seed.

Max's libido had been low since the day he'd found Joseph fucking Allen. The incident had made him feel like he wasn't enough for Joseph, hence, simply not desirable. With everyone on his case to forgive Joseph, his own ego got lost in the push. No one thought about how he felt, except for his anger, which was the only thing they could see. They couldn't see that he was hurting; that the wound to his ego was open and still bleeding. The incident in the shower with Ben had boosted him a bit, but when Ben met Jim and the two of them disappeared, he plunged lower than he'd been before.

It was apparent that Claire was the only one who took the time to see that Max wasn't healing. Jim marveled that she had somehow wordlessly conveyed this to Ben, and that Ben understood what was needed. But it also said a lot for Jim that he comprehended what Ben was doing and joined him in helping to heal Max.

After his emotionally charged orgasm, Max fell into a deep slumber. The two big men continued to hold him and to murmur lovingly to him until they were sure he was deeply asleep. They then slipped off the bed and cleaned him and themselves. Jim stopped Ben as he started to put his jeans on. Wrapping his arms around his man, he said, "I am definitely in love with you. You're my loving, gentle Ben."

"Ditto, Lover," Ben murmured with a love filled smile, and kissed Jim on the tip of his nose.

After dressing, they left Max to sleep and to heal.

When Max awoke, he was alone in his bed. He lay there snuggled into his pillow and remembered what had happened. As he analyzed how he felt, he realized that his heart felt lighter. The heavy pall had lifted. He still felt guilty about his treatment of Joseph, but now he felt he could go on until the time was right to see him again. And if Dave was telling him the truth... that Joseph wasn't dating... then maybe Joseph really did see him as desirable and worthy of being loved.

He wondered when he'd see Jim and Ben again. Funny, he didn't feel the least embarrassed or guilty about what had transpired. He actually felt warm and loved. He had two best friends that had no qualms about helping him through his mired problems. As he thought about lying against Ben's naked hairy chest, all he felt was a warm loving appreciation for his friend. And then he thought about Jim snuggled up to his front in a full body contact. He found himself getting a little excited and wondered if it could happen again. Deep down, he knew that it was a onetime thing, and for that, he cherished it more.

With the security of having three close loving friends, Max slid off the bed and dressed. It surprised him to see that it was nearly noon. He unconsciously calculated the time on the east coast and without further thought, picked up the phone and dialed an old, well memorized number. Half expecting a recording telling him the number was no longer in use, he was surprised when it rang. He was about to hang up as it rang for the fifth time. He heard a beloved voice say, "Hello?"

Joze was just getting out of his last class of the day when his cell phone started vibrating. He struggled to pull it out of his jeans pocket. Flipping it open, he didn't recognize the number, but he knew that area code 310 was West L.A. He almost dropped the phone before he could get it to his ear. "Hello?" he said, with his heart thumping wildly in his throat. He was met with silence. "Max? Is it you?"

He heard a throat being cleared then, "Joze."

Joseph's mind scattered in a hundred different directions, trying to deal with Max calling him. He settled on being receptive, but letting Max take the lead. In a warm voice, he said, "It's good to hear your voice. How are you?"

"Joze, I'm sorry."

Unrealized anger flared when Joseph heard Max apologize. He couldn't quite keep the bitterness out of his voice as he asked, "I'm the one that fucked up. What are you sorry for?"

"Joze, I've been such an immature ass. What you did wasn't the end of the world, but I treated it like it was... and I was wrong."

Max listened to the silence until he couldn't take it. "Joze?"

"Listen, Max, I'm standing in the middle of a hall with a hundred people. May I call you back as soon as I can get to my room?"

"Of course."

"Forty five minutes at the most. Will you wait?"

"Can I say one thing before you go?"

Joseph looked around at the rush of students. "I've wanted for months to hear it. But I don't know if I could handle hearing it standing here with all these people around me. I'll call you ASAP." He disconnected and stood in a daze that seemed like an eternity, before he rushed across the campus to his dorm, wondering if Max had really been about to say that he still loved him.

Max held the phone out and stared at it. He wasn't sure what he'd expected as a response from Joseph, but he didn't even get to say what he most needed to say. And then he thought of what his response to getting a critical call in the middle of a hoard of hustling students would be, and realized that Joseph hadn't actually shunned him.

He sighed and collapsed into the club chair, only to jump up and walk into the kitchen. There were two cinnamon rolls neatly wrapped in plastic on the counter. He poured himself a cup of cold coffee and placed it in the microwave to heat. He devoured a roll while he waited. The machine dinged and he burned his fingers on the hot cup. He doubled a paper towel, wrapped the cup, and took it along with the other roll back to the club chair.

He'd dozed off from the sugar overdose and was startled awake by his phone chiming. "Max here," he answered.

"Max, it's Joseph."

They listened to each other breath for a bit before Max remembered to respond. "Joze, I miss you so terribly. I'm such an idiot for treating you like I have."

"You said that already. What was it you wanted to tell me?"

Max was stunned by the hard edge to Joze's voice. After months of ignoring Joze, he wondered how he wasn't expecting that. "You have every right to be angry at me, but you hurt me so badly."

"I hurt not only you, Max; I hurt everyone close to me that day, including myself. And believe me, I have paid for it."

"Guess I made sure that you did."

There was no response from Joseph as he thought about all the times he'd tried to reconcile things with Max and had been rebuffed time after time.

"Anyway," Max said, "I just wanted to tell you that I will never stop loving you. I've forgiven you, and on my knees, I'm begging for your forgiveness."

"Max, from the moment I first saw you hiding behind your dad I have been in love with you. But right now, I'm having a very difficult time trying to like you again."

"I haven't been very likable."

Joseph didn't respond, and after hesitating, changed the subject. "I talked to Gary Thanksgiving Day."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

"It's funny, he and I have always been around each other, but it is only now that we're becoming friends."

"Gary's a sweet guy."

"Much like I remember his brother being."

"Yeah?"

"He said you got right back on a plane for L.A. when you found out I wasn't there."

"The only reason I went home was to see you."

"And I stayed away because I was afraid of seeing you."

Joseph thought the line had gone dead and just before he called out to Max, Max said, "A real irony, huh?"

"Max? Are you going to be home for Christmas?"

"I promised your grandmother I would be."

"Yeah, she told me - and I promised her I'd be there, too."

Max felt like he should have just left it at that, but he had to know. "What about your new boyfriend?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The one you went to Boston with for Thanksgiving."

Joseph laughed. "That was Web. He's my roommate."

"You're rooming with your boyfriend?"

"Max, I'm rooming with my roommate. He's not my boyfriend."

"But he's the one you went to Boston with."

"Yes, but he's just a good friend."

"So what about your boyfriend?"

"I'm, unfortunately, still on the outs with him."

"So, you're not meeting him at Christmas."

"Yes, I am. I just now made that arrangement."

"I don't understand."

"Max, I may end up in bed with other men, but there's only man who will ever be my lover."

It finally got through to Max what Joseph was saying. "Oh." After a pause, he asked, "Do you think that man could ever be your best friend again?"

Max's little boy lost voice stabbed Joseph in the heart. He wished that he was with Max so he could pull him against his chest and offer him assurance, but at that point he still wasn't sure where he wanted to be with him. After some hesitation, he said, "That's something I don't know. Let's discuss that at Christmas."

They said their good byes with Joseph not having said, "I love you." And they both wondered if they'd ever hear it from the other again. Max wondered if Joseph was screwing other men. He ignored the ache and hoped that he was at least being careful. And then he wondered, 'Could my reaction be considered as mature?'