We Are NOT Alone

They arrived at the stone path, and Josh jumped ahead of Peter, reached the deck first, and then held his hand across to pull Peter in from the last stone. They hurried up the stairs back inside the villa. “Pumpkin?”

“Yes, Mintaka.”

“I know it probably won’t surprise you, but I’m feeling hungry all of the sudden. May we check to see if there is a late-night menu for room service?” Josh asked turning to Peter with a grin.

“No need. Check the fridge in the kitchen.” Peter waved. Josh spun on his heel and walked over to the kitchen area. He opened the door and leaned in. His eyes grew very big.

“No way!” There was a freshly cut slab of thick bacon, a loaf of local artisanal bread wrapped in a reusable stay-fresh package, and a jar of chunky local peanut and macadamia nut butter accompanied by a beautifully, hand-written note.

Josh pulled off the note and read it aloud, “No Josh, this was actually not Peter’s idea, this was all me. Love you both, have a beautiful time with each other, deets when you get back, love Angel.” Josh paused, “Ah, so sweet of her!”

“Well, get cooking! Your forever partner’s hungry too!” Peter smiled coming over to nuzzle Josh’s neck.

“Take your shirt off and stay a while,” Josh encouraged as he searched around in the cupboards for a frying pan. “Score!” Josh shouted raising his arms straight up, then he put it on the stove, peeled off eight big strips of bacon, and fired up the gas range. The sizzling started almost immediately. He looked around for salt and seasonings in the cupboards while also pulling out three plates, various knives, and a fork.

Peter was used to just hanging around observing and staying out of the way when Josh was in chef mode. Josh prepared food like masters play chess. He was always planning the next few moves so when things were ready, the next part was already there. Guessing what Josh would do next was part of Peter’s fun in this. He was usually wrong, but he kept trying. A layered paper towel was already there when the bacon was finished frying and needed to settle somewhere such that excess fat could be absorbed. Thick pieces of bread had already been toasted to perfection and were ready to welcome the nut butter spread just as the bacon hit the towel. Josh liked his piece well-lathered with nut butter, while Peter preferred a thinner sheen. Peter waited for it, and there it was, Josh always swiped the butter knife between his pointer finger and thumb collecting all that had not stuck to the smear on his piece of toast or Peter’s. Then he would bring it over for Peter to lick clean. Peter obliged him by spending a particularly long time sucking Josh’s thumb like a baby.

Lastly, Josh put the strips of bacon onto the nut butter layers and pushed them down, and served them open-face. Peter liked to fold them in half and Josh had followed his way for years. They went to take a bite when Peter stopped them.

“From now on, our first bite at every meal should be, when practical, forever partnering ceremony cake style—not necessarily smashing into the face but definitely interlocking of arms and feeding each other.” Josh grinned and giggled. Peter realized he had not heard Josh giggle in a while. He was bouncing back from their deep talk at the ocean. So, they wrapped arms and pushed the first bite into each other’s mouths. Josh started chewing right away loving the sensations of flavors as the bacon mashed with the nut butter. As he chewed, his eyes got bigger.

“Oh my gosh, Pumpkin, this nut butter is amazing.”

“Glad you like it. That was all they had readily available, so I said, ‘go for it.’ as I tried to fulfill Angel’s wish.”

“Thank you for humoring her.”

“It was a compromise down from her coming with us and staying in the guest house.”

“I love her, but this is our honeymoon, so thank you for that,” Josh said.

“Um, I also had to agree to send her photos of us, and especially you, four times a day. I think she likes you better.”

“Of course she does! Kidding, but four times?”

“She said six, I said three, and we compromised at four.”

“Our honeymoon, Angel, get your own forever partner!” Josh kidded.

“Maybe we need to set match-making for her as a priority for our next big project.”

“That is a great idea, Peter,” Josh said suddenly turning very official. “Full?”

“Yes, babe, that was seriously amazing. I feel absolutely perfect.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Josh said as he stood up, quickly cleared away the dishes, and then leaned over pulling Peter up onto his feet.” He then led Peter to the master bedroom and suddenly picked him up cradling him in his arms like a big baby. He pushed open the door with his foot and carried Peter across the threshold, spun a few times into the room, and then placed him gingerly on the gigantic bed at which time he then climbed on top of him and laid down so they were face to face and perfectly matched. After kissing him a few times, he then popped up kneeling with Peter’s waist between his legs and resting his own ass cheeks on the tips of his heels. He sat there for a while very comfortably just smiling at Peter.

“You look so amazing, Mintaka!”

“You too, Pumpkin. Thank you for everything today. When I imagined my dream forever partnering ceremony at, I don’t know ages 12 to 16, I had no idea what or how to imagine this day. I never dreamed of anything close to this. I am so grateful and so in fucking in love with you.”

“I guess you must mean that!” Peter said reaching up and stretching to put his hands behind Josh’s neck. He then pulled Josh back down re-introducing their lips to each other. While they did not normally care if lights were on or off or otherwise, Peter reached over and hit the villa master power switch once which immediately turned off all of the main lights and only a very specifically-selected set of ambient mood lights remained for this occasion. It simultaneously illuminated the faux fireplace with dancing flames to add to the heat of the moment. Josh reached down to remove their shorts when they both suddenly realized they were still wearing their board shorts. Josh started giggling which then infected Peter. Josh rolled off Peter’s chest and onto his back next to him. They each untied and removed their own shorts struggling only a little. Then Peter flipped on top of Josh.

“Oh, that was just a ruse so you could get on top of me!”

“Yes! You caught me,” Peter smiled. “This is my honeymoon too, and some of my dreams Mr. Mintaka Expalibour!” Josh giggled hilariously and then he had to tickle Peter in the ribs.

This was one thing that Peter had hoped Josh would never discover — he was incredibly ticklish in exactly two places: the bottoms of his feet (like most people), and the sides of his rib cage (also not that unusual), however, the tickle had to be directed in just the right way which Josh discovered in no time. While Peter knelt on top of him Josh had easy access to his rib cage and tickled him well. They loved to tickle fight and add it to the list of things they loved. They loved pretty much anything that had to do with touching, loving, feeling, and being together in nearly all intimate ways.

After a few seconds of tickling, however, and having resisted doing too much all day apart from activities in the limousine, massive close cuddling on the airplane, and kissing throughout, they were now both fully in alignment to consummate their forever partnering — not a legally necessary requirement, but one they intended to fulfill nonetheless. Josh could have easily mapped out his plan for this consummation just as he could build and serve the perfect and most mouth-watering peanut butter-bacon sandwiches. He wanted, however, this night to be perfectly spontaneous with each of them moving and enjoying whatever felt amazing next as they ascended toward their mutual climax together. No matter what happened, there was zero pressure because the plan was to enjoy each other massively for the next couple of days in every possible way in every possible position in every private location in and outside of this perfectly palatial villa.

“Hold on, pause.“ Josh spoked to me. “Dude, this is our honeymoon consummation. It’s too much. Do you need to narrate every detail? We’ve shared a lot of everything, but can we have this to ourselves?”

Startled, instinctively I just wrote what he said and did as usual. He looked at Peter. Then he said to me, “Can we have a moment to discuss this privately.” Peter looked confused not knowing what Josh was talking about nor to whom. I nodded to him affirmatively. A few minutes later he called me back. “Ok, so I got this idea. Maybe it will fulfill the obligations while preserving some elements and some privacy just this once just for us to keep to ourselves.” I nodded again because nothing like this had ever happened to me as an author before. I’ve been writing for years, but I’ve never had one of my characters break out and speak to me before. “In exchange, we will each write you a few POV highlight pages, and email them to you tomorrow after breakfast. From now until then, you’re out of this equation. Sound good?” I considered his offer. Having Josh’s and Peter’s own personal perspectives on the following events rather than having to rely on my imagination could be interesting. Intrigued, I nodded. Sometimes it is good to try new things. You know, to sort of mix it up. Though, honestly, I think it was this or nothing. When I began, I pictured Josh as being a very different sort of character, extraordinary in some way, but I never imagined this — him highjacking my process, breaking off the page, so to speak, and telling me what was going to happen. He waved me out saying, “We can go back to normal tomorrow morning after breakfast after we’ve written our stuff and enjoyed our first night together just the two of us. I’ll call you back. I promise. Oh, one more thing, our POV pages are sic. Ok? Got it?” I nodded again my agreement and stepped away. It was an experiment in trust. I could get nothing or I could get maybe the best stuff you will have ever read.

ROUGHLY 12 HOURS LATER

“Ok, Dude, we’re done, I sent our POVs as promised via email. Thank you for understanding and doing that. It means a lot. Feel free to go back to normal now. It’s just, you know, our forever partnering ceremony night come on. You get it.” I nod.

Josh’s & Peter’s POV Pages [sic—as Josh required] are Included at the end for you to read if you wish.

My review — These are not for the faint of heart and should only be read by people who really want to invade that private time. Probably most people won’t want to. I didn’t for a long time. Finally, I just was so curious. See how long you can resist?

Josh turns to Peter. “Waterfall picnic and a swim?”

Peter replied, “That sounds perfect, Mintaka, but only if you can guarantee me a rainbow.” Josh looked down at his feet for a second and then took a seat on Peter’s lap. Peter put one arm across Josh’s lap and put his other hand on Josh’s shoulder. “Nice,” he said then stroking Joshes back feeling him and cuddling a bit with his stomach at the same time. He thought to himself that Josh’s baby bump was present as before but Josh’s stomach muscles were stronger and more highlighted.

“What?” Josh asked.

“This is the first time you’ve ever sat in my lap as my forever partner.”

“Becoming forever partners has reset everything. Everything we do for a while will be the first time. Maybe that is the best reason of all to become forever partners.” Josh giggled.

Usually, being a bit smaller, Peter sat in Josh’s lap. He liked this feeling though especially when Josh giggled as he could feel the depth of Josh’s cheerful, boyish oscillations better. Plus, when Josh was sitting up this high and sunken down into Peter’s lap, his feet could not quite touch the floor — maybe just the tips of his toes if he stretched. Therefore, he was prone to swinging his legs back and forth a bit — the motion was calming and soothing like riding on a train. Peter hugged Josh and nuzzled him more. “So, about that rainbow?”

Josh suddenly got a devilish glimmer in his eye. “I guarantee you a rainbow, Pumpkin. For sure!” Josh sat there a few more minutes swinging his legs and cuddling with Peter. Peter had to admit that he really loved this side of him though some might find it childish. He was so pure and so adorable. There was not an ounce of pretentiousness in him. There were no false airs. He lifted up Josh’s arm and dove the pointiest part of his tongue into the ticklish part of Josh’s armpit driving him crazy almost instantly. Josh got loose and then darted for a minute in the bedroom.