John

After a battery of tests to place him, we got Luke into school. The kid is really intelligent, and even though he'd missed half of last year and the first two months of this year, they let him stay with his age group. He had a lot of extra home studying to do to catch up, but he enjoyed being back in school. It was obvious that he loved learning.

Luke

It's grand being back in school. It was neat how the principal helped me integrate the first day. There was an assembly in the gym before classes started. After he got through with the regular boring mumble jumble, he called me onto the stage.

"I want you all to meet a new student… Luke Reed. Luke is what is known as a little person. He is sixteen and he won't be growing much taller.

"Now, students, I'm not asking you to treat him special. He's no more special than each and every one of you. What I am asking is that you accept him and treat him as you would the person sitting next to you. I'm sure you're all adult enough to do that." He turned and held out his hand. "Welcome, Luke."

My first day back in school was going great until right after lunch. I walked into the classroom and chose a seat in the center of the room. The teacher Miz Adolph was a 'past middle age' woman with her hair in a bun at the base of her neck, no makeup, and the ugliest dress I've ever seen. I heard John tell Farr, after meeting her at a PTA meeting later on, that she looked like a 'left behind hippy,' whatever that is. I had to go online and Google hippies to see what he meant. He was right on. She stood beside her desk and looked around the room until her eyes settled on me. "Luke Reed, I want you to sit up front where you can see."

"I can see clearly from here, Ma'am," I told her.

"Are you arguing with me?" she asked looking down her long thin nose at me.

"No, Ma'am. But really, I'm just fine right here."

"You will do as I say. You," she said pointing at a girl sitting in front of her, "change places with Luke."

The girl gathered her books and walked back to stand next to me. I grudgingly got up and moved to the front row seat. There was a bit of tittering, which the witch quickly quailed with her evil eye.

When we left the classroom a couple of big guys that I'd already classified as bullies started teasing me about being the teacher's little pet. I did my best to ignore them until one of them tripped me. I went sprawling and my books scattered across the hall floor. Both guys thought it was really funny and were laughing their heads off as I got to my knees and started gathering my books. No one made any attempt to stop them or to help me as they hurried by. I guess they didn't want to be harassed by them, too.

Their laughter suddenly stopped, and I looked up expecting to see a teacher, but instead there stood the most beautiful boy I'd ever seen. And he was nearly as big as John.

"Butch," he said, "you and your lackey pick up Luke's books and then get out of here. If I even hear a whisper of you two picking on him again you will be sorry."

There was no arguing from the two bullies. They quickly did as instructed, and then scurried away.

The young god knelt and held out his hand. "Hi, Luke, I'm Ben."

In all my life there have only been two people that have come down to my level to talk to me. I'm sure you've already figured out that they are John and Granpa Pat.

I watched his big hand envelope mine, then I looked into his eyes as he said, "Those two guys used to terrorize the whole school. They're just a couple of overgrown wimps. They won't bother you again."

Okay, you already know I'm not shy. I may be small, but I'm not reticent at all. Back in Glendale, I got beat up a couple of times after school because I've got a mouth that says what my brain is thinking. But this time, I couldn't get my tongue in gear. Then when I finally did, what came out totally mortified me. "You're my beautiful guardian angel." That's really what I said.

Ben turned bright red, but he was still holding my hand and he was still looking into my eyes that were locked on his. "I am, if you want me to be," he said.

"Yes," was all I could respond.

Ben suddenly let go of my hand and stood. "We're going to be late for class if we don't hurry."

I watched him trot off down the hall, and then realized that I didn't know where I was supposed to go for my next class. I'd had my schedule with directions on top of my books before they were scattered, now I couldn't find it at all. After searching through everything again, I headed for the office to get another copy.

No sooner had I stepped into the office than I was confronted by the principal wanting to know how things were going for me. I shrugged and told him "It's okay, but I lost my schedule and need another one." Of course I got a lecture about not losing things. I swore to myself those two goons were going to be paid back for putting me through this humiliation.

Having gotten a copy of my schedule and a note for being late, I floated through the rest of the day. I did my best to keep my mind on school, but the image of my guardian angel kept popping up.

I already told you about ol' Adolph. Well, Mr. Simonson was just as bad as her. His problem was he couldn't talk to me like I was a regular teenager. No, he talked to me like I was a little child. But the last straw was when he called me 'Lukey' in front of the whole class - like I was a baby. It was just too much. I blew up at him and called him a bigoted swine. He is fat and greasy looking, you know? Anyway, I got sent to the principal.

When the principal, who had been given an account of my recent history, asked me if I felt like I needed psychiatric counseling, I got really angry… I wasn't nuts, and I didn't deserve to be insulted by a teacher in front of the whole class, but I bit my tongue and didn't blow up at him.

After I calmed down and started thinking about it, I could see the connection in my mind between Simonson and some of the men I'd had to deal with while living on the street. I could see that maybe I did need to talk to someone about what I'd gone through. He set up my schedule so that I could see the school's psychologist once a week instead of going to home room. That meant I'd have to put even more time studying at home to catch up with the rest of the class. That didn't bother me. I'm smart and I figured it would only take a few weeks to do it.

I make it sound like I'm a problem. I'm not - well, for the most part I try not to be. But I just can't see why I should have to put up with being treated in such a demeaning manner. You know what I mean?

It was hard talking to Dr. Drew the first two sessions, but after my third session of talking to him, he actually called Miz Adolph and Mr. Simonson in for counseling on how to deal with me - that's when I began to trust him.

Both teachers eventually ended up apologizing to me, and they really did try after that to treat me just like the rest of the kids. I also ended up apologizing to each of them, but at the same time I think I succeeded in making them feel guilty, too; at least Simonson. I really don't think Adolph had a heart, or a conscience. She let me move out of the front row, but she clearly did it under duress.

Once I got to know and trust him, all the crap - all I'd gone through being kicked out and living on the streets, having to sell myself to get enough food to live - all the anger and shame came loose; it just all came out in one session. Afterwards, Dr. Drew called Farr to come pick me up because I wasn't in any condition to see my classmates.

Farr is the best, he took me to his lighting shop, and we spent a lot of that afternoon with him just sitting beside me with an arm around my shoulders, not talking... just being together. Only thing he said about it was that he was happy that I was getting it out of my system. He apologized for not getting me into counseling sooner.

I did feel better after spilling it all... cleaner. Although it would take me a long time to get over the guilt and shame. At least I began to realize that I wasn't at fault. Dr. Drew is one of the best.

A couple of days after I'd met Ben, I was walking home from school (we live only five blocks away) wishing I'd at least caught another glimpse of him. I hadn't seen him since he'd put the two bullies in their place. I knew nothing about him except his first name - and that he was the biggest, and I don't mean around, most beautiful boy I'd ever seen. Then I turned the corner on to my street, and there he was on the sidewalk across the street talking to a girl. I froze, knowing immediately that she was his girlfriend, because as I watched, he put his hands on her waist and lifted her off the ground, kissed her forehead, then set her on the steps leading up to the house. She giggled, kissed him on his cheek, ran up the steps and into the house. Damn, his girlfriend lives across the street and three doors down from me.

My first urge was to head back around the corner where I wouldn't be noticed, but my legs wouldn't move. I thought if I stayed perfectly still he wouldn't see me. Wrong. When he turned around, his face lit up in a smile as he called out my name and rushed across the street to meet up with me.

Damn, my heart fluttered like I was a silly girl, but, man oh man, he's just the most gorgeous guy in the world - and he was smiling at me… and damned if he didn't drop down on one knee to talk to me. To get him back on his feet so I could stop feeling so self-conscious, I asked him if he'd like to stop in for a soda. I was hoping he would, while praying he wouldn't. I knew I had no business falling for a straight guy, and I could certainly not let him know how I was feeling about him.

Just my luck... he accepted, so I led him down the street and up the steps into the house. I got us a couple of Cokes and we sat down at the kitchen table. He drained half his can, then set it down and said, "Mel tells me you just recently moved in here."

I grinned and replied, "Yeah, I've been living here for nearly two months now. Who is Mel?"

"Melissa. She says that two men live here, too."

I was wondering why I had invited him in. What if he didn't like my living arrangements and spread the word around school? I chose not to answer and instead said. "I assume that Mel is the girl you were flirting with across the street. Is she your girlfriend?"

Ben blushed. "Mel's not my girlfriend. We're just best friends. We kind of grew up together."

To keep him from returning to the subject of me, I asked, "So, do you have a girlfriend?"

Ben's reaction was strange. I mean he didn't right out say no he didn't have one, nor did he say he did. He chewed on his lower lip and looked at me, then past me, like he was looking out the window.

"Surely, as good looking as you are, the girls are bound to be clamoring for your attention."

He glanced back at me and half smiled, "Yeah, they do. Thanks for the Coke… I gotta go," he said, then guzzled the last of his Coke and stood up.

I scrambled to get my act together before he got half way across the living room. "Ben." He stopped and turned around to look at me. "I didn't mean to offend you," I said. "Please don't go."

Ben stared at me, then at the floor, and then at the ceiling before he walked back over to the kitchen table and sat down. "May I have another Coke?" he asked.

I ran to the fridge and grabbed him one, then sat down across from him. He opened the can, giving it all his attention, took a swig, set the can down, then looked at me. "What you said the other day - in the hall at school. What did you mean by that?"

Damn, that put me on the spot. How to get out of that? "I... well, are you going to pound on me if you don't like what I say?"

"Luke, I may get up and leave if I don't like what you say - but I'd never pound on you."

"Last January my father disowned me and put me out on the streets," I told him. "By begging and doing other things, I managed to… to at least stay alive." I glanced up at him. His mouth was drawn tight and his eyes a bit watery. But he didn't look back at me. I wondered what was with that. I went back to talking.

"I hitched a ride up here from L. A. It wasn't any better here. Actually there are more freaky perverts here. Then when everything had really started going downhill… what few belongings I had were stolen, I hadn't had a bath in nearly two weeks, and everyone was shying away from me… I was getting to the point of giving up; these two men that I live with found me and took me in."

"They're gay guys?"

I glanced at him; he was staring out at the street. "They are good guys," I said.

He looked at me with raised eyebrows as though he doubted what I'd said, then asked, "Are you gay?"

I stared at him a moment then shrugged. "I don't know. I sure as shit stinks didn't like what I had to do while I was on my own."

He studied me with a sad expression on his face. "So, these two guys treat you okay?"

"Better than okay. When my father kicked me out, I had two pairs of jeans, three shirts, some underwear and socks and one pair of ratty ol' shoes. I had a little cot in the corner of the living room to sleep on. I now have eight pairs of pants, at least a dozen shirts and a drawer full of underwear and socks and three pairs of new shoes. I've got my own TV and computer, several games, and best of all, my own bedroom and bath."

Ben still looked skeptical. "So what do you have to do to earn all that?"

I knew what he was thinking, and it kind of pissed me off, even though I'd wondered the same thing in the beginning. "Oh, there's a lot I have to do. I have to keep my room neat and clean. I have to tell the truth at all times. I have to trust that they will always love me. I have to go to school and get good grades. There're lots of things like that that I have to do." Ben was looking at me like I'd pulled a good one on him. "They're great guys, Ben. They'd never do what you were thinking."

"Alright, but what do they get out of it?"

I'd had enough of his doubts. I jumped up and spread my arms. "Hey, they get me as their son. What more could they want?"

Ben grinned and said, "You're a cocky little shit."

I smirked and replied, "That's my initials C-L-S."

I should have known that he would pick that up and make it my nickname. A lot of kids made all kinds of guesses about what it stood for. Some even guessed right, but Ben never told anyone what it meant. Soon it got shortened to C-L. And then everyone just assumed that it stood for Cool Luke.

Ben and I became good friends, and I never mentioned anything again about him having... or not... a girlfriend. Even though I asked him several times after that first day to come over, he always had something else he had to do after school. It depressed me, but still, at school he was always there for me with a big beautiful smile and, of course, his protection.

John

One thing that Farr insisted on as soon as Luke was legally in our custody was that he take lessons in self-defense. Farr found a school that taught not only Taekwondo, but also Karate, Jiu-jitsu and Aikido. Luke quickly fell in love with the martial arts and would have taken classes every night of the week if he'd been allowed. As it was, Farr restricted him to Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

I was happy to see Farr get back into it, too. I felt that it would help to rebuild his confidence after being raped. I'd noticed that he stayed close to me anytime we went out in the evening, and the one time he had to piss, he held it until he was squirming. When I realized what he was doing, I excused myself to our friends and asked Farr to accompany me. The look of relief on his face said it all when he saw that we were headed for the restroom. Later, in privacy, I told him to just let me know and we'd do the same as we had this evening, and if anyone wanted to make jokes about it, fuck 'em.

With both of my little men into martial arts, I set up one of the extra bedrooms as a sparring room. So Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, and most Saturday and Sundays, they practiced at least an hour each evening. I'm sure that if Luke had his way, it would've been more.

Luke

I really got into the martial arts thing with Farr. It was so cool of John to set up one of the unused bedrooms upstairs as a sparring room for us to practice. With Farr teaching me at home, along with my classes, I really learned a lot, really fast.

I guess I'd been going to the dojo for about a month or so when this new guy came in one evening. He captivated my attention right off the bat because he was as big as Ben - almost as big as John. That stirred my interest. He was good-looking - handsome, but not like Ben, who looks like he should be a model in a fancy magazine. Matt's more rugged looking - manly.

But the thing that drew me to him most, as I watched him, was the gentle way he had about him. He moves so smoothly, like he's totally aware of his body.

I noticed right away that he was looking at me as much as I was looking at him. He was shy and would look away every time I looked at him. But he'd smile this little secretive smile every time. That first night, we didn't speak to each other, but the next class I walked right up to him and introduced myself.

He was definitely shy. He grinned and kinda shuffled his feet. If his gi had pockets, I'm sure he'd have had his hands stuffed in them. "You're with that other little man?" he asked.

Wow, in a roundabout way, he'd just called me a man. Most people immediately assume I'm a young boy. "Yeah, that's Farr," I answered. " He's one of my dads, he's a brown belt." That was obvious since Farr had on his belt, but I'm proud of him.

That immediately piqued his interest. "You have two dads? Wow, that's cool. Is your other dad a little man, too?"

I laughed at his exuberance, and asked him why he hadn't assumed that I was a little boy like most people do.

"It's simple, Luke, we're in a class of sixteen to eighteen year olds."

"Duh!"

"So, is your other dad a little man, too?" he asked again.

I laughed, "He's bigger'n you, Matt."

His eyes got big, but he didn't say anything. A moment later we were lining up on the mats to start our exercises.

As we went through our movements, I realized that Matt hadn't hunkered down or stooped to talk to me. That really impressed me. And I was really thankful that he hadn't gotten down on his knee to talk to me. That always embarrasses me when someone does that in public.

I introduced Matt to Farr that evening. Later, on the way home, Farr commented on how polite Matt was.

"Yeah," I agreed and didn't say anything more. I was thinking more along the line of what a sexy huggy bear he was.

After a couple of blocks Farr glanced at me. I wondered if I looked as moony as I was feeling. Then he grinned slyly and said, "You have my permission to invite him over to the house anytime you wish."

Matt

I may be big, but I've never been much of a jock. I'm not a sissy though; I'm just not into organized sports. My freshman year in high school the coach wanted me to join the football team along with my buddy Ben because of my size. I tried to get out of it, but he insisted, even after I explained to him that I was a cluts. After a month of practice, I was still stumbling over my own feet and consistently fumbling the ball. My team mates weren't kind; they came up with all kinds of derogatory names for me. I nearly got into several fights before the coach finally took mercy on me and let me off.

The assistant coach, who was my gym teacher and much younger that the football coach, asked me one day in gym if I'd ever tried something call Tai Chi. I made a joke telling him Thai food was my favorite, but I wasn't familiar with Chi, and asked if it was some kind of tea?

He laughed and explained that it was an ancient Oriental form of exercise, and that it might help me with my clumsiness. He gave me the name of a man that held classes in the neighborhood park. Saturday morning, I went to the park to watch. Man it was neat. All these barefooted men and women dressed in loose white clothes, doing the same slow motion movements. It was beautiful to watch. I tried copying what they were doing, really getting into it. I guess I was really concentrating because the little Oriental man was standing right in front of me before I became aware of him speaking to me. I'm sure I was bright red with embarrassment. But then he asked me if I wanted to join the group. I told him yes, but that I'd have to ask my mom.

When I told Mom about it, she eagerly contacted the man and I soon was one of the groups practicing these smooth movements and enjoying doing it. I couldn't tell you if it might have helped me catch a football, but I stopped tripping over my own feet. Master Fu, my Tai Chi teacher, after a year suggested that I join a dojo and learn the discipline of the Martial Arts.

There was this kid in the sixteen to eighteen group that looked like he was maybe twelve he was so little. His feistiness was so cute. I kept watching him, and I noticed that he kept looking at me. After a while, I noticed in the adult group there was a man about the same size as this kid in my group. This was fascinating. I'd never seen little people like them. They were nothing like the strange little man that played Mini Me in that Austin Powers movie. These guys were perfectly proportioned. Both of them were hunky… well, maybe that's not the right word, but they were both muscular and well built - pleasing to my eyes.

Even though Master Fu had commented repeatedly on how smooth I'd become in my movements, I still felt like a big lummox. I was way too shy to approach this little guy and introduce myself. When I went home that night, I kicked myself for not learning his name.

I called my buddy Ben when I got home and told him about the little guy and his older friend who was as small. Ben and I became friends - buddies - when he used to go to the same school I still do. He was the only one on the football team that didn't make fun of me. Then his parents bought a big Victorian house and moved. Now Ben goes to a different school. We still see each other all the time, because the move was just a few blocks away, but enough to put him in a different school district.

Ben came out to me just before his family moved. I didn't understand why he waited until then because he knew that I was gay friendly. I mean I'd figured out long before that I liked guys: I just hadn't told anyone. I hadn't ever done anything with another guy, so what did it matter? Anyway, there was this kid Tony in our year that got outed. I stood up for him one day when three football jocks had him cornered and were picking on him.

"I may not be any good at playing football with you guys, but I can probably take all three of you out if you want to try me," I told them.

Shit, I was scared they would take me up on it, but when Tony said, "Hey, that would make it an even fight, the two of us against the three of you," they declined and walked away, mumbling that I was probably a faggot, too.

"Keep it up," I yelled after them, "and I'll catch you each alone and show you who's the faggot." They shut up.

So, anyway, when Ben was moving out of the neighborhood, he told me he was gay, I got up the courage to tell him I thought I probably was, too. I'd kind of had a crush on him for a long time, and was disappointed when he thanked me for taking up for his boyfriend and asked me to keep a protective eye on him.

"Who the fuck are you talking about, Ben?" I asked.

He grinned and said, "Think about it, Dude."

"Tony?"

He grinned at me. "I knew you were smart."

So, since Tony and Ben were boyfriends and I was good friends with both of them, it was easy keeping up the friendship with Ben after he moved.

Back to the little dude. When I told Ben about the little guy, he swore that it had to be the same one from his school that he'd befriended and become his protector like I was with Tony. So I knew Luke's name the next time I went to my martial arts class, but before I had a chance to say anything when he came in, he walked right up to me and introduced himself.

On our break while we were waiting for his dad, we started talking. Luke told me about his other dad being bigger'n me. Mr. Bailey, or Farr as he insisted I call him, was really nice. I could tell he really cared about Luke. It made me think about my own dad.

On the way home I thought about neither of us telling the other about our mutual friend. Well, I couldn't see why Luke would have told me, but I should admit to him that I'm buddies with Ben. Next time I saw him I would.