welcome to crvboy - Nate's Wounded Heart

"Would you get your butt down here so we can open our presents already?" Dylan yelled at the top of his lungs as he waited sitting in front of their small artificial Christmas tree. Nate was already waiting for Julian next to the stairs, smiling at Dylan's impatient need to open their presents. Nate still felt a bit out of place but he hoped his cousins would like the presents he had gotten for them.

"All right already, I'm here now start unwrapping them," Julian said smiling as he walked down the last few steps of the stairs. When he reached Nate he started pushing him towards the tree as they saw Dylan take the presents one by one and shake them to hear what they held inside. "No fair you squirt, open them without doing that," Julian said down to his brother.

"Don't call me squirt, I'll open it ok," Dylan said giving a weak smile. "Dad used to call me squirt," Dylan said almost in a whisper as he tore open his first present, he ripped the wrapping mercilessly but kept the tag. -From Nate, love you Dyl.- He opened it to find a pack of black jocks inside. "Oh my god you didn't!" Dylan said before rolling into a ball as he laughed hysterically.

"He's been saying for months that he's going to get those," Julian said in between laughs as Dylan got up and started taking his pants off, he took his underwear off too and it was the first time that Nate had a real glimpse of his cousin's equipment. Dylan's dick hung about four inches soft, and it looked like it had some nice girth. His pubes were trimmed and his uncut dick made it even harder to not stare at his exposed crotch. He put the jock on and smiled widely as he looked down at himself, he turned around for Julian and Nate to watch.

"I like how it stands out against my skin, thank you Natey," he said as he walked up to Nate and hugged him tight.

"I didn't remember that you guys are intact down there," Nate said before the three of them busted out laughing.

"Yup, always gets a few looks in the locker rooms," Julian said smiling.

"I hate the fact that even our cocks look the same," Dylan said smirking at Julian.

"No you don't, you love it," Julian said as he unzipped his pants and took his dick outside. As if they were thinking the exact same thing, Dylan took the jock off and they stood facing each other, dicks pointing to the front. They gave a few strokes and their cocks swelled and grew to some good seven and a half inches. Nate stood there and watched in awe, they were identical even in that department. As they looked into each other's eyes, they reached and pulled their foreskins back revealing the heads of their dicks, both purplish and shiny. Nate guessed that the two of them had to be just as thick as he was and they were both curved upwards.

"OK, Christmas, presents, focus everyone," Nate said as he felt himself beginning to get hard. Both twins started laughing as Julian put his dick back into his pants, and Dylan started getting his clothes back on.

"Now, it's your turn Jules," Dylan said as he picked a present from under the tree. The tag read -For Jules from Nate- As he tore the present open he realized by the shape that it was a book. When he got it open he saw it was one of Nate's own favorites.

"The Servant of the Bones," Julian said as he read the review on the back of the book. "I've heard you say a few times that this book is both sexy and interesting, I'll love it Natey, thanks," he said as he came up to Nate and hugged him tight.

"I think you're still kind of hard Jules," Nate said blushing as he broke the hug.

Julian smiled and looked down shaking his head. "I've read on the web that they call them 'Perma-hardons' or something like that we both have that problem," Julian said blushing and reaching for a present under the tree and handing it to Nate.

"That one's from the two of us for you, and you can't say no," Dylan said smiling as Nate took the present and started unwrapping it, it was a 4"x4" box containing a Motorola cell phone. He looked up from the box to one twin and then to the other trying to get the words out but failing every time he'd try to say something.

"I can't," he managed to say after a few seconds.

"You can and you will," Julian said as he looked to Dylan receiving a nod from his twin.

"No, I mean, I appreciate the gesture. I really do, but I can't pay a cell phone bill, it's too much stuff to pay with school and all," he began saying.

"We're paying for it, dad was an employee, we get discount on services and besides you know when he died he left us pretty well off," Dylan said looking at Nate with a serious expression.

"And its got a good plan, you get to store five numbers as your family group so you can send text messages and call to those numbers without charge, it's part of the plan," Julian said as he helped him open the box and showed him the receipts and papers where it showed the numbers that were on his group. Martin, Becca and the twins were listed as the numbers he could exchange calls and messages with, free of any extra charges to the bill.

"Are you sure that it won't be a problem?" he asked them.

"No, just take it, that way we can talk more and you'll have more ways of staying in touch with your friends too. We told them about it so now they have you registered in their groups too." Dylan said as he smiled at Nate.

"Yeah, I've heard them talk about it a few times, I just never thought much of it because I didn't think I'd be getting one myself," he said as he opened the foldable cell phone, it was a V300 and it even had a camera. "Guys this must've been expensive..." he tried to say but the twins cut him off with a shroud of protests and after a few seconds they both went quiet after seeing him stay quiet. "Thanks then," he said smiling as the two of them smiled broadly and hugged him.

"Now comes dad's present," Dylan said as he released them and went to get a bigger box from under the tree before handing it to Nate.

"You mean he wanted to give me a present or..." Nate started saying and stopped not knowing quite well how to ask them.

"When your parents kicked you out he said he was going to help you get through college, and the first thing he said was that he was going to give you that," Julian said as he nodded towards the wrapped gift.

Nate started opening the present with a faint sense of fear. As he got it open, he felt himself freeze up for the second time in less than half an hour. He was holding a laptop, he didn't even know the model but he knew it was a good computer. "It was his, he said he'd get a new one and get that one upgraded for you to use at school," Dylan said with a slight smile on his face.

"No, keep it, I can't take it you guys should keep it as a memory," Nate said feeling the tears welling up in his eyes and ready to fall.

"He wanted you to have it, you have had enough trouble with your own parents like to be giving us shit now, so don't," Julian said looking him straight in the eye.

"He had already set a good college fund for each of us and when he died his insurance left us with even more money Nate, we want to help you. He would've done so if he was here, so now it's our turn to do it, so please don't say anything and just accept our help," Dylan said with the first signs of crying threatening to come.

"We talked to Susie about it, and we're going to give her a hand with money too. It was hard to convince her but she accepted and now we want you to let us help you. You already have a scholarship and if you let us help you pay for the rest then you'd be able to study more without having to work at school," Julian said trying to remain calm.

"Guys, I..." he tried to get the words out but his voice started breaking.

"Just let us help you Nate, for once just accept the help," Julian pleaded.

"It's not fair, how could I even repay you guys, I mean you've been too good already..." Nate said as the tears started streaming down his face.

"Well you've been great to us too, you can't imagine how much it means that you wanted to spend Christmas with us even after what happened," Dylan said with a few tears slowly falling from his eyes.

"And besides it's been great to have you here, now that dad isn't..." Julian said before he started sobbing. Nate reached for him and held him, he looked at Dylan and extended a hand, Dylan got in between them, and the three hugged for what felt too little time. That night they went to bed together and slept in Julian's bed.

The next day as soon as he got up, Nate went to the master bathroom on the second floor and took out the hair clipper he'd heard Dylan said they kept in the cabinet under the sink. He got it and used the clipper to cut all of his longish hair to half an inch long. He shaved and left his chin and small lines of hair going up from it to his lips. His reddish hair shone and he thought it looked quite nice. Julian and Dylan were very surprised at the sudden impulse which he displayed when he cut his hair, but they both agreed that the shorter hair and chin hair made him look even more masculine and a bit older, but very handsome. They started preparing things for the small lunch they had planned, only Tommy and Ryan came. Ryan was Julian's date and he and Nate had barely met, but they had liked each other immediately.

Ryan was five feet and ten inches tall; he had longish brown hair that fell to a side of his forehead. He was nicely built, not a jock he had explained it was all good genes. And Nate thought that Ryan's brown eyes were just as appealing as Martin's. In all honesty, Nate and Tommy had liked each other even more; Tommy was funny and loved to hang out with Nate, he said he loved his new style and took some time to check it out and tell Nate how he thought it made him look more "Macho" as he put it. Also Nate thought that Tommy was great looking, but he was sure that he was straight, up until a little after lunch he was. Nate had gone up to the guest room, a room that had started to become "his room" without the need of any mention or declaration about it. And as he sat on his bed thinking, Tommy knocked on the door.

"Hey, can I come in?" Tommy had asked.

"Sure, what you doing man?" Nate asked as Tommy walked in and sat next to him on the bed.

"Not much, I just had some stuff in my head and wanted some company," Tommy said as he bit on his lower lip.

"Well I can help with the company part, though I'm not sure if you want help with the other part too," Nate said trying to offer his help.

Tommy smiled and looked at him. Nate felt a chill as Tommy's intense gray eyes stared into his own and smiled before looking away. "I don't know if you can, I think it's more of a thing that I should deal with on my own," he said before looking at him again and placing his left arm around Nate's back, pulling him into a half hug.

"Well then, I can cover the company part, what do you want to do?" Nate asked him. Tommy looked serious all of a sudden and stared into Nate's eyes again. He started to move closer to Nate's face until they were less than an inch apart. Their mouths were at the same level and when Nate realized this, it was as if his body acted on instinct. He closed the distance between them, closing his eyes as his lips met Tommy's and gave him a slow passionate kiss before he felt Tommy break the kiss. "I'm sorry Tommy..." he started saying as he saw Tommy's eyes were wide with surprise.

"Don't be," he said before grabbing Nate's face and pulling him for another long and passionate kiss. After the kiss Nate opened his eyes and found Tommy staring at the small marks that his scrapes had begun to turn into. He placed a finger on it and started gently rubbing it. "Does it hurt?" he asked as his fingertip rubbed across the tiny V shaped mark.

"Not really," Nate said still unsure of what was happening. Was this what Tommy had in his mind?

"I can't believe that someone would want to hurt you this way," Tommy said before he leaned in and kissed Nate's lips once again. After a few seconds of kissing Tommy started running his hands on Nate's back, slowly, softly, causing him to shiver with desire, until they were abruptly interrupted.

"Hey Nate is Tommy..." Dylan was going to ask if Tommy was in there when he walked in on them. "Oh sorry, you guys should close the door..." Dylan started apologizing when Tommy got up with a hand on his mouth, he looked around and then walked to the door.

"No, it's ok man, I was actually going to go home," Tommy said as he walked past him and left the two of them impressed.

"Ok, so how did that happen?" Dylan asked looking at Nate.

"I'm not even sure, he said he had some stuff on his mind and he needed to... Do some thinking... And then next thing I know he kisses me," Nate said.

"Well he has been acting a lil weird lately," Dylan pondered aloud.

"Do you think he's going to be ok?" Nate asked him.

"Well I'll call him, though I must say I am a bit surprised," Dylan confessed.

"Do you have a problem, you know if he happened to like guys?" Nate asked him.

"No, of course not, he's my friend and I love him no matter what. Now that you say that I guess he might be a little scared about that too huh?" Dylan asked.

"Probably, you should talk to him, and just in case, tell him I'm sorry," Nate asked him.

"Ok, I'll see what happens," Dylan told him.

"Hey man, happy new years!" Nate said into the phone.

"Happy two thousand five to you too Nate," Martin wished him back.

"May this year be better than '04, god I hated '04," Nate confessed.

"Well you met me, that's gotta count as good," Martin said chuckling.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, it's just that there was a lot of bad stuff you know," Nate apologized.

"I know man, so what're you doing now?" Martin asked him.

"I'm here with the twins, and Ryan and Tommy are here too," Nate answered, he took a few seconds before running his fingers over his chin and smiling. "I cut my hair very short and I'm leaving a small goatee now," he added.

"A new haircut and a goatee, man I want to see that, you must look all hot with that," Martin said smiling.

"Nah, I look ok I guess," Nate said blushing.

"So Ryan's the guy Julian's dating?" Martin asked him as Luke walked right behind him. Martin had left the living room and gone to the front yard of the house a little bit before midnight and it had taken Luke a while to find him.

"Yeah, he's cool, kind of hot too," Nate said chuckling.

"Have you been drinking anything funny?" Martin asked chuckling himself.

"Yeah, Tommy's dad gave us some wine, I had a glass, I'm just bad for liquor," Nate confessed and laughed a bit as he sat down on his bed before he continued talking. "Ryan and Julian are a serious couple now," Nate told him.

"So this kiss between you and Julian didn't really mean anything?" Martin asked him, causing Luke to get a few steps closer trying to catch as much of the conversation as he could.

"Not really, I think I was just craving contact you know and with all that was happening I don't know, but it didn't really mean anything," Nate told him as he laid back in bed and stared up to the ceiling.

"Despite what Luke thought when he saw you," Martin said.

"Yeah, despite that," Nate said closing his eyes.

"So Julian has a boyfriend now, and you tell me you've been hanging out with Tommy and Dylan a lot right?" Martin asked him as Luke felt the first sting of guilt hit him since he started listening in on Martin.

"Yeah, it's weird, Tommy just sort of came out to us on the twenty fifth," Nate answered.

"So he turned out to be gay?" Martin asked.

"Yeah, and he seems to like me," Nate said still feeling weird about the whole thing.

"So Tommy is hitting on you or something?" Martin asked him feeling anxious himself and causing Luke to start feeling nauseous.

"Yeah, and I kind of like him too, we've been kissing from time to time," Nate confessed him.

"So you like him too," Martin said, trying to confirm it rather than asking, causing Luke's stomach to turn and head up to his throat.

"Yeah, it feels weird but I do like him a lot, he's very funny and he's so nice to me," Nate told him.

"So you don't think you're gonna be working things out with Luke?" Martin asked him as Luke started to ponder the possibility of just going back inside before he either started crying or threw up.

"Martin, he threw a boot at me and asked me to leave and not come back, I don't think I really have to try and get myself hurt in some other way," Nate answered him coldly.

"I'm sorry, I guess it's not my place to butt in," Martin apologized.

"I'm sorry too man, I know your intentions are good, but I don't think I want to stress myself with Luke or any of that stuff," Nate said as Tommy knocked on the open door and smiled at him before pointing down and mouthed the words 'let's go'. "Martin, Tommy's here, I think I'm going back down with him to chat with the guys before we go to bed." Nate told him.

"Ok Nate, I love you man, I mean it, just be careful and tell Tommy he better be good with you ok?" Martin asked him.

"I know, and I love you too man, happy new years," he answered.

"Ok man, take care," Martin said before hanging up. Luke didn't have time to move before Martin turned around and caught him. "How long have you been standing there?" Martin asked Luke as he looked down in defeat.