Erastes

The Guardian

Chapters 24-30

Just as I was getting Ethan into his pajamas, Dylan and Tyler walked down from Tyler's room to speak with me. They were only in their underwear, but at least they weren't naked, since I wasn't sure how Justin would handle something like that.

"Mr. Blake, would you mind if I started calling you Uncle Blake from now on?" Dylan asked, catching me completely off guard. "I just feel so close to you now that Mr. Blake doesn't sound or feel right any more. You've helped me with so much, like with the pitching and the lump thing, so this would be my way of letting you know how much I appreciate everything you've done and are still going to do for me."

"Dylan, I have no problem with you doing that, but I'm not sure how your parents might react if they were to hear you calling me Uncle Blake," I responded. "I certainly don't want to create any problems with your family, because they might think I'm trying to get too involved in your life."

"They won't mind," he offered, trying to convince me. "They like you too and they don't mind me coming over here all the time, so I don't think they'll have a problem with this either."

"If you talk it over with your mom and dad first and they think it's alright, then I don't have a problem with it either," I confirmed, bringing a smile to his face. As we were finishing up, Marcus and Justin walked into the room and joined us.

"Justin wants to take his bath with me," Marcus announced, which caused all of our mouths to drop open in surprise.

"You mean you're going to get naked in front of someone else?" Dylan asked, not quite believing what he'd just heard.

"Yeah. You said I needed to start doing that, so I'm going to do it with Marcus," Justin confirmed.

"Yeah, I told you that, but I didn't think you'd actually do it," Dylan confessed. "I mean you freak out whenever I see you naked, so I never expected you would ever do something like this now."

"Well I am, so stop picking on me," Justin spat back. "I only did that at home because I thought I was supposed to. I saw how dad always acted if he came into the room when we didn't have any clothes on, so I thought that was how I was supposed to act too."

"It's not and I'm glad you're finally learning that," Dylan stated, while looking pleased with his brother. "Just don't do it around dad or mom, but it's ok when you're over here with just us."

"Yeah I know, but I'd never do it in front of mom or another girl anyway," Justin agreed. "I just want to try it, because Marcus and I are friends now."

"So you're going to wash yourselves and just take your bath together?" I asked next, to clarify the situation.

"No! You're still going to wash us," Marcus replied, as he looked at me and wondered why I thought that. I merely looked at Justin for clarification.

"Marcus told me downstairs that you give him his bath," Justin confirmed. "He said he stopped letting you do it for a while, but he likes it now and it gives him a chance to tell you about stuff while you're alone. I stopped letting my mom give me baths when I turned 8, but it was because she was a girl and I didn't want her to see my thingy any more. You're a guy though, so I want you to wash me too, so I can see why Marcus still likes doing this."

"I'm not sure I should be doing it though," I stated, as I thought about some of the things Tyler had told me previously. "When I wash Marcus, I touch some areas that I probably shouldn't with you. I'm also not sure I should be doing anything like this without your parents consent first."

"It's ok and everything will be fine," Dylan urged, so his brother didn't change his mind. "As long as Justin is willing to do it, then there shouldn't be any problems."

"Then I want you in there with us, so you can verify everything that happens," I relented, although not without still having some severe reservations.

"I can do that," Dylan agreed.

"So Dylan will see me without my clothes on too?" Justin wondered, reflexively.

"I'll get naked with you, if it will make you feel better," Dylan offered, to put his brother at ease.

"Yeah, ok," Justin agreed, although this wasn't an enthusiastic confirmation.

While I was filling the tub for the boys, Marcus and Justin began taking their clothes off. I then had them step into the tub, with Marcus at the end closest to me, so I could wash him first. I wanted Justin to see exactly what I did to Marcus first, so he could let me know if he didn't want me to do the same things with him. Once they were both in the water, Dylan and Tyler entered the room and stood behind me, both completely naked as well.

"Will my thingy get big like Dylan and Tyler's?" Justin asked, innocently. "And will I get hair down there too?"

"It's not a thingy, it's a penis," Marcus corrected him. "That's what big boys call it."

Dylan, Tyler and I all silently chuckled at Marcus' input. It was Tyler's birthday party all over again.

"Yes, when you get older like them, those are some of the changes that will happen to your body," I confirmed. "It's what happens when you're no longer a little boy and start to become a man."

"Dylan's not a man yet!" Justin protested, while looking at me as if I had two heads.

"Maybe not completely, but he's well on his way to getting there," I explained, and Justin seemed to accept my response this time.

"You'll get 'rections too," Marcus added, much to my dismay.

"What's that?" Justin wondered, as he stared at Marcus.

"It's what's happening to your penis right now," Dylan offered, as he pointed down at the water. Sure enough, Justin's little penis was becoming hard.

"Why did it do that?" Justin wanted to know, as he stared down at his groin.

"That's something else that happens as you get older," I quickly explained. "It's another sign that you're starting to grow up."

"And it probably happened because you saw all of us naked for the first time," Dylan added. "It's very common, so don't worry about it or be embarrassed."

"I'm not," Justin shot back, although maybe not convincingly.

I then washed Marcus, so Justin could see everything I did to him. Although I tried to bypass his privates, Marcus thrust his crotch out at me, to let me know I'd forgotten something. Justin watched in rapped fascination as I washed that area too.

Once I'd finished up with Marcus, I had Marcus and Justin switch places, since it was easier for me to do it this way. After I had finished washing most of Justin, I handed him the washcloth next.

"Maybe you'd better do the last part," I advised him.

"No! I want you to do it like you did to Marcus," he shot back. I looked over my shoulder at Dylan, to see what he thought about this.

"If he's ok with it, then go ahead and do it," he urged.

Hesitantly, I took the washcloth back and began to finish the job. As I was washing his genitals, Justin sprouted another boner.

"I got another one of those things," Justin announced with a grin. He was obviously pleased with himself about it.

"It's a 'rection," Marcus offered, as he pointed to it.

"It's an E-rection," I corrected, "but let's get you two dried off and in bed.

After we finished up in the bathroom, I got both boys in their pajamas and tucked them in Marcus' bed. I instinctively kissed Marcus on the forehead, as I bid them both sweet dreams.

"Aren't you gonna kiss me too?" Justin asked, looking slightly hurt.

"Of course, if you want me to," I agreed. "I just didn't want to upset you, if you thought you were too old for that stuff."

"Nah, it's ok," he concurred, so I bent down and kissed him on the forehead too, before turning off the light and leaving the room.

I then headed downstairs for a while after that and before long Dylan and Tyler came down to join me. They were both smiling broadly as they approached, so I had a feeling something was on their minds.

"That was freaking incredible," Dylan stated, as he sat down beside me. "I knew Justin might start growing up if I could get him over here with you, but I never expected it would happen so soon! You're a freaking magician."

"No! You're wrong about that," I strongly disagreed. "I had very little to do with this and it was mostly Marcus and you that convinced him to do it. It was your little speech to Justin before you went up to shower and then whatever Marcus said to him when they were alone downstairs. I only reluctantly agreed to do what he wanted. I just hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass later."

"It won't," Dylan assured me. "I can vouch for everything that happened and I'm sure Justin won't say anything to our mom or dad about it. He doesn't like to talk about stuff like that with mom and our dad sort of freaks him out about those types of things, so Justin won't say anything to him either. I think Justin is just glad that he had someone to explain this crap to him, so now he knows what's going on. It's kinda like how I felt, when I first started coming over here."

"Oh, you weren't that bad," I challenged, while staring at him.

"Maybe not quite as bad, but only because I saw how others were reacting to those types of things, so I started to change too," Dylan explained. "I wasn't going to take a shower after tryouts at first, but then I saw Tyler and a bunch of the other guys doing it, so I decided to give it a try too. Then at Tyler's birthday party I let go of even more of my hang ups. Being naked with all of the other guys like that when we weren't taking a shower and then measuring our dicks was kinda fun. Then when you came in too, I wasn't so worried or ashamed about you or anyone seeing me like that any more. I'm glad I never got as bad as my dad though. I love him a lot, but he's really strange when it comes to stuff like being naked or talking about sex stuff. My dad nearly messed up my brother and me and he probably would have, if we didn't have you."

"I'm glad I could help, but I'd prefer if everything we did stayed just between us," I offered. "I hope neither you or Justin will ever talk about what goes on here when you're away from our house."

"I would never do anything like that and I'll make sure Justin knows not to do it either," he quickly assured me. "I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't come over here any longer and I'm sure Justin will feel that way before long too."

After we finished our little discussion, Dylan and Tyler went back upstairs, so I closed up the house and went up to bed as well. I checked on each of the boys on the way through and saw Justin and Marcus sleeping contentedly beside one another. I was going to skip Dylan and Tyler, but realized I hadn't kissed Tyler goodnight or wished him sweet dreams before he went to his room, so I popped in to do that now. Unfortunately, I walked in on the two of them enjoying a bedtime sixty-nine. I quickly turned around and started to leave, when I heard Dylan speak.

"It's ok. Come on in," he offered, as he and Tyler both looked in my direction.

"I was just coming in to say goodnight and didn't expect to catch you like this," I stated, slightly embarrassed. "I guess I should have, but it never crossed my mind."

"Don't worry about it and you can still come over to say goodnight," Dylan offered.

As I walked toward them, it was impossible not to notice their erections pointing at each other's head, but they were obviously unfazed by my intrusion. I quickly kissed each one on the forehead and wished them sweet dreams, before I turned to leave.

"You don't have to go," Dylan urged. "You can stay and watch, if you want. Maybe we can teach you something." He giggled after saying this, so I assumed he was merely teasing.

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass," I replied, as I exited the room and closed the door. I guess I'll have to be more careful from now on when Tyler has company.

The following morning, I made the boys pancakes for breakfast and then we sat and rested for a while. After I felt we'd taken it easy long enough, I took Dylan out to backyard so we could work on his pitches. He seemed to have a lot more confidence after his outing the previous day and I had Tyler catch for him, so I could help Dylan refine his technique. After he threw what I considered to be the maximum amount of pitches, since I mentally included what he had thrown yesterday as well, we went back inside to see what the other boys were up to. We found them in the family room watching cartoons on TV.

"Let me know when you boys are ready to go to the park," I announced, to let them know I'd take them whenever they wanted to go.

"Let's go now," Marcus shot back and I turned to see the other two nodding in agreement. "We can do it now and then we can go again after lunch. Ok?"

"I guess that would be alright," I agreed, as everyone grabbed their gear and we went outside to load into the car.

"Why don't we take my mom's old car this time?" Tyler suggested. "It's just been sitting in the garage, but I have heard you open the garage door and start it a few times, so I know it still works. It's got more room, so we won't be as crowded."

He was right! His mom's Subaru Outback had been sitting in the garage since the night his parents were killed in the accident in his dad's car. We just put my things in the other half of the garage, but I had continued to start it from time to time, so the battery wouldn't go dead. I even took it out for a short spin a few times, but I only did that after I first got home and the boys weren't around yet. I never suggested that we use it, because I wasn't sure how the boys might react. It definitely would be better for us, especially right now, since it had three rows of seats in it. This way, there would be more room for everyone and they wouldn't feel crowded."

"What do you think, Ethan and Marcus?" I asked them directly. "Do you think that's a good idea?" They both nodded their heads in agreement, so I felt we could do this without incident.

"Ok, just let me go get the key and then I'll back it out of the garage. Once it's out in the driveway you can all jump inside," I suggested.

"Ethan can sit in the front this time and Dylan and I will sit in the middle," Tyler offered. "Marcus and Justin can sit together in the back." Everyone seemed fine with his suggestion, so that's what we did.

We spent quite a bit of time at the park and I started working out with Justin first, so I could get a feeling for his skill level. I also asked Tyler and Dylan to throw flies and grounders to the other pair while I was doing this.

Justin was a little behind where Marcus had been when I first started working with him. He was also more cautious when fielding the ground balls I hit to him, so I spent a little time working on his stance and advised him how to move when fielding grounders. Once he started to get that down, I showed him how to step when throwing the ball, since I was having him throw it back to me. As soon as he began to get better at these things, I started hitting him easy pop ups next. I concentrated on having him use two hands and not being afraid of the ball, before we worked on how to judge where the ball was going.

As soon as I felt Justin was doing fairly well, I put Dylan on second and Tyler on first as I hit grounders to the other three. I would yell out which base I wanted them to throw to as they fielded the ball, to get them used to throwing to the various bases. Then, I would critique their effort afterward and offer suggestions about how they could have done better. Once we'd done that for a while, I sent the three boys to the outfield and hit fly balls to them next. Once they caught the ball, I had them throw it to the cutoff man, which was either Dylan or Tyler, as they rotated in and out to do that.

After we had done those things for a while, I called them in one at a time to bat, while I pitched. The rest would spread out and field the balls and then toss them back to me. I had to give Justin a few pointers during his turn, but he wasn't doing too badly. He got some good whacks in on occasion, but there was still room for improvement. I let each boy hit about twenty balls, and when they'd all had a turn at bat, each of them wanted to do it again. Since I didn't have a problem with that, we started the rotation over.

I think they were all a little tired when we got back in the wagon later and prepared to head back to the house. Since they were all hungry too, I asked them what they'd like for lunch. They quickly agreed on pizza, so I grabbed my cell phone and called in an order for delivery. I knew we'd be back at the house well before it arrived.

After the boys were full, they started pestering me again.

"So when are we going back to the park?" Marcus wanted to know, almost as soon as he'd finished chewing his last piece.

"In an hour or so," I replied. "I want to give your lunch time to settle a little first, because I don't want anyone puking on the ball field." They all giggled at my answer.

"That was really fun earlier and I learned a lot," Justin added, after they all stopped snickering.

"Have you ever played on a team before?" I asked, since I wasn't completely sure.

"No, I didn't really care about baseball when I was little," Justin answered, making it sound as if he was all grown up now. "After watching Dylan's games and playing catch with some of the other boys my age when we were there, I decided I wanted to give it a try too. I would have played last year, but I broke my arm before the baseball tryouts started."

"Yes, that was bad luck, but hopefully it won't happen again this year," I offered.

"Yeah, I hope not," Justin agreed.

The other boys then offered Justin and Ethan some advice about what they should expect during the tryouts and what positions they might want to play if they made a team. Marcus, Dylan and Tyler each offered his own take on which positions the other two would probably do the best at, as they waited for me to take them back to the park. After listening to them do this, I told Justin and Ethan not to worry about this right now and we'd see how they improved first, before they'd have to make their choices.

During our second trip to the park, once again using the Outback, I did the same things I'd done with the boys the first time around. Then, some other kids began to show up and wanted to know if they could join us. It was pretty much the same group that had gone through the drills with us before, so I decided it might be fun to split them up and have a game instead. I'd pitch to both teams and umpire, but I also told Dylan and Tyler to take it easy on the younger kids, since the other boys joining us were all about Marcus and Justin's age.

There were enough for six on a side, so I divided them up as evenly as possible. We wouldn't use a catcher, since I had several baseballs and we'd merely pick the other balls up when we changed batters. We'd also play with four infielders and two outfielders, so the second baseman would play like a short fielder with a right handed batter up and the shortstop would do the same with a left hander up. I told Dylan and Tyler they would be playing first base for their team and the other boys would rotate positions, so they could get a feel for both the infield and outfield.

It was a fun time and the boys tried to keep track of the score, but no one was really concerned about who won. It was just a fun experience, but it gave Ethan and Justin a chance to figure out which positions they might like to play later. I think we ended up playing about nine innings, before I finally told them it was time to stop for the day.

The other boys thanked us for letting them join in and said they'd had a great time. Then I loaded my crew into the wagon again and drove home.

"I think I'm gonna play second base," Ethan announced after we'd started back.

"You can mention to your coach that you'd like to play there, but then your coach will have to decide who will do the best job at each position," I advised him. "Just remain open about playing any infield position though, because you might be better at third or shortstop than someone else."

"Ok," Ethan agreed simply, before Justin spoke next.

"I think I want to play in the outfield," he stated. "I'm not as good with ground balls, but I like to run and I can catch balls hit in the air a lot better."

"You hit fairly well too, so that might be a good place for you," Dylan told him. "I wasn't expecting you to do that good when you were batting, but you really surprised me. During the game you hit the ball pretty hard and you also hit a few balls pretty far during batting practice too. Wouldn't you say so, Uncle Blake?"

"Yes, I would," I agreed, while smiling at Justin in the rearview mirror.

"Thank you," Justin told us, but I saw him also looking at his brother mildly surprised. I took it that he wasn't used to having Dylan say something nice about him. "Should I start calling you Uncle Blake too?" Justin added, while turning his attention to me.

Suddenly, I realized that Justin wasn't just reacting to the fact that Dylan had paid him a compliment. Justin had obviously also caught on to his brother's comment, even though I hadn't picked up on the fact that Dylan had called me Uncle Blake at first. I guess I was just so used to the other boys referring to me that way that it hadn't sunk in at the time that it was Dylan doing it. Now, I had to figure out how I was going to handle this situation.

"Dylan has slipped and done that before, so he asked if he could call me that from now on," I responded. "I told Dylan he should check with your parents first, to see if they had a problem with him calling me Uncle Blake, but I guess he must have slipped again. Anyway, if your mom and dad don't mind, then I'm fine with it too, but it will be your choice. You can call me either Mr. Blake or Uncle Blake, whichever you feel more comfortable with."

"I think Uncle Blake is better," Justin quickly confirmed.

"Me too," Dylan agreed.

"Dylan, then it's up to you to clear it with your mother and father," I clarified. "I want you to make certain they don't have a problem with it before either of you start calling me that."

He assured me he would, as I parked the wagon in the driveway and turned off the ignition.

"Are we going to take a bath now?" Marcus asked, once we got inside.

"We can do that later," I replied. "I think Dylan and Justin need to go upstairs and collect their things so I can take them home. Their parents told them they had to be home tonight to spend time with the family, so I don't want to take them home late and upset their mom and dad."

Justin and Dylan did as I'd asked, so I took them outside and we started to get in the car. I did this because I thought my three would opt to stay at the house, but they wanted to ride with us too. After I agreed, we all got in the Outback instead.

Dylan and Justin both thanked me as I walked them up to the door. I wanted to make sure their parents were home, since I didn't see their cars in the driveway. It turned out that they'd just parked them in the garage, because they were trying to avoid the bird crap and pollen coating on their vehicles as much as possible. Once I was sure they were home, the Cochrans thanked me for helping their sons and giving them a night alone.

"Do you mind if we call him Uncle Blake from now on?" Dylan asked, before I left. His parents looked at each other quizzically, so I thought I'd better explain.

"Dylan got confused a few times, since the other boys are always calling me Uncle Blake, so he asked if he could just do that too," I began. "Justin wanted to do it as well, so I told them they'd have to get your permission to do something like that first, because I didn't want to step on any toes."

"No, that will be fine," Cherie confirmed. "We just looked at each other like that because we weren't sure if Dylan was taking too many liberties with you. He seems to be expecting a lot from you lately and possibly even taking you for granted."

"I know he feels comfortable being with us and I have no problems with it," I replied. "I certainly don't mind and enjoy his company as well. I'm also glad that he and Tyler have become such good friends and Dylan never causes any problems when he's with us."

"And Marcus and I are really good friends now too," Justin added, so his parents would understand why he didn't want to be left out either.

"Yes, they got along really well too and Justin did quite well when I worked with them at the park earlier," I confirmed. "We went there both before and after lunch, but they even got to play a game in the afternoon, when some other boys asked to join us."

"It sounds like you're becoming the baseball Pied Piper," Cherie teased, after I'd told her this.

"I'll happily fill that role, as long as it benefits my boys too," I agreed and then I bid them all goodbye, before heading home again.

Cherie seemed to answer the question about her sons calling me Uncle Blake yet, so I hope she didn't feel pushed into it.

"So did Dylan's parents say it was alright for him and Justin to call you Uncle Blake?" Tyler wanted to know, as soon as I got back in the Outback.

"Kind of, but I want to give the Cochrans time to talk it over first," I confirmed. "I have a feeling their biggest concern is that they are worried Dylan might be taking advantage of me."

"He's not, is he?" Tyler pressed, sounding concerned.

"No and I told them he wasn't, so don't worry," I replied, much to Tyler's relief.

"Justin likes you too," Marcus added from the back. "He told me that when we were alone."

"I know and I enjoyed him being with us as well," I agreed. "I'm glad you and Justin got along and both Dylan and Justin feel comfortable when they're with us."

"Justin said he was glad you told him all that stuff when we were taking our bath too," Marcus added. "He thinks you're really neat."

"I'm glad," I said aloud, while thinking to myself that I hope he keeps all of that information to himself.

"I gotta find someone now," Ethan chimed in, suddenly feeling left out.

"I'm sure you will, once you start playing ball," I assured him, to ease his concern. "You'll probably become good friends with one of your teammates and then you'll start hanging around with each other too."

"I hope so, and then I'll have him spend time at our house too, like Dylan and Justin do with Tyler and Marcus," he added, suddenly looking more upbeat.

"Yes, and then you'll all have a special friend too," I confirmed.

Later, I gave Ethan and Marcus their baths and got them in their pajamas, but I let them stay up a little longer afterward, since this was the start of their spring break. I informed them that during the week I'd let them all stay home with Tyler, as long as there weren't any problems. I also explained that Ethan and Marcus would have to go over to the Riordans when Dylan's mother picked Tyler up to take him to practice. Ethan and Marcus had no problems with any of this and Marcus didn't even say anything to Tyler about not being bossy.

Sunday was a pretty laid back day and we didn't do a whole lot. The boys didn't even bug me to take them to the park, since we'd gone twice the previous day, but I think it also had something to do with Dylan and Justin not being here to go with us. We merely enjoyed each other's company and hung out together until it was time for bed.

It was a little strange when I woke up Monday morning. Not only didn't I have to get the boys up and ready for school, but I didn't have to fix them breakfast either. They'd all agreed to just have cereal and toast while they were home, so I'd stocked up on cereals, milk and bread. I also loaded the fridge with plenty of lunchmeat, sliced cheese, fruit and juices, so Tyler could make them lunch too. He agreed to do that as well, since he wanted to make sure I'd allow him watch the other two until his baseball practice.

I called home a couple of times before noon, just to make sure there were no problems and all three boys sounded happy about how things had been going so far. That took a load off my mind, so I was able to concentrate on what I needed to get done at work.

When I finally arrived home later, I saw that Tyler had retrieved his brothers from next door when he got home from practice, but I was surprised to find Dylan there too. Even though I was expecting to work with him on his pitching this week, I guess I just didn't think we'd be doing it the first night, especially since we'd done so much on Saturday.

"Hi, Uncle Blake, and Mom and Dad said it would be alright for us to call you that," he said in greeting. "I had my mom drop me off here with Tyler after practice, because I wanted to tell you about what the doctor said this morning."

"Yes, I'd like to know if your doctor found anything," I agreed. "Did he feel a lump?"

"Not on my nuts, but there was one on my sac," Dylan replied. "That's what I felt, but I thought it was on one of my nuts. The doctor said it was a fatty deposit that sol... sol... it just got hard."

"Were you trying to come up with the word solidified?" I asked, just to be sure.

"Yeah, that's the word he used," Dylan confirmed.

"Did he say what you should do about it?" I followed, to get a little more information out of him.

"He said I didn't have to do nothin'," Dylan answered. "He told me that unless the skin changed color or the lump got bigger, it shouldn't be a problem."

"I'm glad to hear that," I told him.

"Me too," he agreed. "Let me show you where it is, so you can help me check to make sure it doesn't get bigger."

Before I had a chance to say anything or object, Dylan pulled down his shorts and underwear.

"It's right here. See if you can feel it too," he urged.

I did and found it quite readily. It was a hard little nub about the size of a very small ball bearing.

"Did you feel it?" Dylan persisted, as I was checking it out.

"Yes, I did this time," I confessed. "Now I have a pretty good idea why you were so upset the other day."

"Yeah, but you'll be able to tell if it gets bigger, won't you?" he pressed, as he studied my face.

"I've equated the growth to something I'm familiar with, so I should be able to tell if anything changes," I confirmed, much to Dylan's relief.

"Good, because I was worried I wouldn't be able to tell if it got bigger and there was no one else I could ask," he responded, quite relieved. "Thanks, Uncle Blake. I knew I could count on you."

"I'm glad I could help," I assured him. "Do you want to throw a few pitches before I start fixing dinner?"

"Yeah, that would be great and mom said I could call and she'd pick me up when we're done," he added.

"Why don't you first pull up your underwear and shorts first. Then, you can call your mom while I'm changing and tell her that I'll bring you home after we eat. You can have dinner with us too, if you want and she doesn't mind," I offered.

"Yeah, that sounds good, so I'll call her to make sure it's ok," he confirmed as he was getting redressed.

I then went upstairs to change out of my suit and came back to the kitchen afterward, so I could begin my search for what we were going to have for dinner. As I was doing that, Dylan came out to find me.

"Mom said she'd rather pick me up and have me eat at home," he announced, looking disappointed. "She says you feed me enough as it is and they'll need to start paying you child support if it gets any worse." I could only chuckle at his mother's observation.

"It's not that bad, but I can appreciate how she feels," I told him. "Ok, let's go out and throw the ball around then. Did she say how long it would be before she'd come to get you?"

"She said she'd pick me up at 6:00," he replied.

I asked Tyler to catch again, so I could work directly with Dylan. I was hoping to correct the little quirks in his grip and help him get the ball to react better. I spent some time working with him on his pitching motion too, so every pitch would appear about the same to the batter until he released it. I also pointed out a few places in his last game where he should have shook Carlos off and thrown a different pitch, but that will come with experience. For now, he was beginning to understand what I getting at, so I felt confident that he would do better in his future outings.

"Oh, I wanted to tell you about how much better Justin and I are getting along now too," he advised me, as we took a short break. "We talked more yesterday than we had during all of last year. He's really not so bad after all and he didn't even freak out when I accidentally walked in on him when he was on the toilet. He just smiled and waved at me."

"I'm glad to hear that, because brothers should be close," I stated.

"And we started talking about this coming weekend too," Dylan continued. "Do you think Justin and me can stay here with you on Friday and Saturday night? The sign ups are Saturday morning and tryouts are the following Saturday, so this will be the last chance we'll have to practice more before then."

"I know, but your father will need to be with you for the sign ups," I pointed out.

"So! We can pick him up before we go there then," Dylan suggested. "He can sit in front with you in the wagon, while the rest of us sit in the back."

"We could do that, if he's willing," I agreed. "In fact, there is something else I'd like to talk over with him before the sign ups too, but first I need to ask you something."

"Ok, what?" Dylan countered, while studying my face.

"Are you and Tyler going to be in the same league this year? It's for 13 and 14-year olds."

"Yeah, I know and I'm 13 too," he explained, looking at me strangely, but I was the one that was confused.

"How can you be that much older than Tyler, yet still in the same grade?" I wondered. "Didn't you say your birthday is in September?"

"Yeah, but I started school a year later than everyone else my age," he answered. "The summer before I was to start Kindergarten, I was having a lot of infections, sore throats and trouble breathing. Just before school began, the doctor told my mother I needed to have my tonsils and adenoids taken out. He couldn't do it until after school started, so my mom and dad decided to keep me back a year, rather than have me start out missing a whole bunch of time just as I was getting started."

"That makes sense and now I understand," I agreed. "It also gives me more reason to ask your father something."

"Then I'll make sure he picks me up one night when I come over here to work on pitching. That way you can talk to him about everything when he shows up," he offered.

"That sounds great, so when do you have in mind?" I followed.

"How about Wednesday?" he wondered. "Then we could do it again on Friday, because I hope Justin and me will be able to stay over that night."

"That sounds fine, as long as your dad agrees," I confirmed.

After we finished our discussion, we worked some more on his pitching and shortly after we'd finished up, Dylan's mother arrived to pick him up. I went out to chat with her briefly and informed her that giving Tyler rides to and from practice this week more than made up for what I was doing for her son. She said she didn't think so, but she no longer worried about Dylan spending so much time with us.

After dinner, Tyler wanted to talk to me too.

"Carlos said he might be able to come over for a while on Saturday, so you can work with him," he announced.

"I hope you didn't talk to him about this where anyone else could hear! Did you?" I responded, concerned.

"Only Dylan, because I didn't say anything to Carlos until we were outside waiting for our rides," he assured me. "No one else was around, so no one heard what we were talking about."

"Ok, then we'll just wait to see what happens next," I responded. "If he shows up, then I'll talk to him about things and see if he wants me to help him improve. If he doesn't, then we'll just drop the idea. Ok?"

"But I'm going to have to pitch to Carlos next year too, since we're in the same grade and Nathan is older," Tyler complained. "I want to do this so he'll be better for next year as well."

"And we'll do it, but only if Carlos wants to and he comes here so I can work with him," I confirmed, to let Tyler know that I didn't feel this was negotiable. He argued with me a little while longer though, but when he saw I wasn't about to budge, he finally let the topic drop.

The rest of the evening was fairly quiet, along with the entire next day. The boys seemed to be doing well on their own until Tyler went to practice and then the little ones went over to spend a few hours with Brenda Riordan and her daughters. Tyler was also good about going to get his brothers when he got home, so I had no complaints.

I came home a little later than usual on Tuesday evening though, because I ran an errand after work. The boys didn't even notice my tardiness, which meant I didn't have to answer any of their questions about where I'd been or what I was doing. It was something I had planned to do before, but got sidetracked, so I felt this was a good time to make up for it. I didn't tell anyone else what I'd done, however, because I felt it could wait until a more appropriate time.

Wednesday started off just as quietly and nothing of any consequence happened until I got home from work. At that time I found Dylan waiting for me again, but he wanted to talk before we went out to practice.

"I talked to my dad about staying here Friday and Saturday and he said he'd talk it over with you when he picks me up at 6:00. I told him you had something you wanted to talk to him about too, so he said you could do it all then."

That sounded logical, so I went to change my clothes. When we went outside, I discovered that Dylan was steadily improving with every outing together, so now I started working on his control. First, I had Tyler hold the catcher's mitt at a spot I called out to him, such as high inside, low outside, etc. Then, I asked Dylan to pitch to that spot, so Tyler wouldn't have to move the mitt very far to catch the ball. This was a little more difficult for him to master than the various grips, so it would take a little more time for him to get comfortable doing it. Fortunately, the batters he'd be facing in between wouldn't be the cream of the crop, so he'd still be able to do fairly well until he got better at everything.

I was just about ready to start dinner when Don showed up. After greeting him warmly, I invited him inside so we could talk.

"Are you sure Dylan's not taking advantage of you?" Don asked, as soon as we began our conversation. "He said you were willing to let Justin and him come and stay for two nights again this weekend."

"That's what I agreed to, because this will be the last weekend before the tryouts. That means it will also be my last chance to get Ethan, Marcus and Justin ready so they'll get picked on a team," I confirmed. "I know the leagues only turn down a very few kids and it only happens if more kids sign up than they have openings for, but I'd rather not take any chances."

"That explains Justin, but why do you need Dylan?" he followed.

"Besides spending more time working on his pitching, he and Tyler help me with the younger ones," I explained. "I use them at first and second base, so the boys can practice throwing there after fielding the ball. They're also handy during batting practice, so no one has to run around a lot to retrieve the balls that are hit."

"Ok, I see now," he agreed. "I just wanted to make sure, but at the same time it's nice to have some time alone with my wife. Maybe we'll go to a movie or do something else, seeing we'll have two nights alone." He winked at me after saying this.

"And if this leads to another child, will you name the baby after me?" I joked and I thought Don was going to choke after hearing my comment.

"That's not about to happen," he shot back. "We've got all the kids we want." Don then released a nervous giggle after saying this, before moving on to another topic. "So Dylan said you had something you wanted to talk to me about too."

"I do," I concurred. "First of all, if the boys are here with me, then I'll drive over to your place Saturday morning to pick you up, so we can all ride to the sign ups together. You'll need to be there to sign Dylan and Justin's forms," Don nodded his agreement. "I also wanted to talk to you about this too."

I then went ahead and explained my idea to him and he seemed agreeable to it. As soon as we firmed up the details of how we were going to handle it, he took Dylan home. I told Dylan I'd see him and Justin on Friday, just so he'd know everything was set. I thought he might knock his father over when he began to jump around in a personal victory celebration, but fortunately that didn't happen. .

My three were excited about it too, once I confirmed this for them during dinner. Even Ethan seemed happy about it, since he got along with Justin too and Marcus told him they could all do stuff together.

The boys were riding a high for the rest of the night and even bath time was more fun than usual. With them in such good moods, they wanted to play around a bit, which included making sure I got wet too. I was certainly glad I was wearing my old clothes at the time.

Tyler wanted to sleep with me that night and I had a feeling it was because he knew he'd be busy with Dylan on the weekend. He said it was just so we could talk about some things, but I felt this might just be a pretense. We did chat about a couple of minor issues about sign ups and tryouts, but he also told me how his practices were going.

"I'm kinda worried about something," he said at one point. "I think the guys are already taking the team we're going play in the next to last game we have left way too easy, so I'm afraid it's going to happen like you said before. You warned me that if we got too confident, then we might not take a team seriously enough and end up losing."

"Yes, that's basically what I told you," I confirmed. "So do you think that is what's happening now?"

"Yeah, and I think the coach does too," Tyler agreed. "He told them they'd better settle down and start taking this team seriously, because they might not be as bad as we've heard. He even tried to remind them about the one team we faced that we thought were going to be easy too and then they played a really tough game that we had to struggle to win."

"I remember that game," I replied. "I hope that doesn't happen again, only with worse results next time."

"I'm afraid it might," Tyler stated, and I could see he was really bothered about this. "Some of the guys are even saying that we'll probably score twenty runs or more before the game gets called."

"That's definitely not a good sign, but I hope they get their heads screwed on straight before then," I commiserated.

Since I wanted Tyler to relax and get a good night's sleep, I did something else I wasn't planning on. I decided to perform oral sex on him again. When I told him what I was going to do, he said he wanted to sixty-nine with me instead. Even though I was hesitant at first, he convinced me that he could handle it. He said I'd seen him doing it with Dylan, so there was no reason why he couldn't do it with me too. That's when I finally gave in.

I laid on the bed and had Tyler hover over me as we did this. I was insistent we do it this way, because I produced much more semen than he did and he would be less likely to choke on it, because he could just let it fall from his mouth if he needed to. Once we got started, Tyler blew his load long before I was ready, but after he recuperated he finished me off too. Then, he snuggled against me for the rest of the night.

I almost hated to get up the following morning and it wasn't that I didn't want to go to work either. I just knew that the moment I moved, it would wake Tyler up. I couldn't stay there though, so I slipped out of bed as carefully as possible. Tyler still woke up, but I convinced him to go back to sleep, because I'd be leaving soon. He got up and used the toilet first, but then he came over and gave me a kiss, before he finally got back in bed. I finished dressing and then left for my job.

Thursday passed by fairly uneventfully and I actually got a lot of work done. When I got home, I asked Tyler if things had improved at practice and he said it hadn't. He told me the guys were horsing around a lot of not taking things seriously. He said they were even taking bets on how many runs they'd beat the other team by, but it was mostly just the 8th graders doing this. Tyler said the 7th graders were doing much better, because they were mostly subs and were working hard so they could get more playing time. Except for Juan, all of the other 8th graders were starters. Jamal, Dylan and Tyler were the only 7th graders that got to start.

I was pretty sure Tyler was assessing the situation correctly, so I hoped the 8th graders came to their senses before it was too late. I'm fairly certain Coach Hendricks was wishing for the same thing, but only time would tell if that happened.

For some reason, I got really antsy about leaving work on Friday, especially as the end of the day approached. You might think this was because it was the weekend and I was looking forward to getting away from my job for a while, but that was only partially true. Even more than that though, I was also looking forward to spending time with Dylan and Justin, as well as being with my three boys. For some reason, I was super excited about getting them signed up for the summer baseball leagues, although I wasn't exactly sure why.

As I kept one eye on the clock, I was even more impatient than normal as I waited to leave. When I was finally able to get out of there, I drove directly home and eagerly looked forward to seeing all of the boys there. Dylan and Justin were waiting for me when I arrived, since their mother had dropped both of them off after Dylan and Tyler's practice. Justin ran to greet me as I walked through the door.

"Hi, Uncle Blake," he said, as he wrapped his arms around my waist. "Thank you for letting us come back to stay with you again."

"You're very welcome," I replied, as I gave him a hug in return and kissed him on the forehead.

"Oh, and my dad wanted me to give you this," Dylan stated, as he handed me a wad of bills. "He said you should take us out to eat tonight and there should be more than enough left over to feed us tomorrow too."

"He didn't have to do that," I protested.

"He wanted to, so just take it," Dylan added, as he shoved the money into my hand.

"Ok," I relented. "So what do you say about going to the diner tonight, since we haven't been there for a while?" When I saw the confused look on Justin's face, I thought I'd better fill him in. "It's someplace we go to eat from time to time and I think you'll enjoy it too. Ethan and Marcus always find something they like to eat there."

Justin looked at that pair quickly and saw them nodding their heads. That seemed to be good enough for him.

"Ok," he agreed.

Since everyone was agreeable, I loaded them into the Outback and drove to the diner. The waitress we liked so much was there and seated us quickly. Then, she gave us the menus and filled our water glasses.

"Every time you come back you've added another boy," she observed. "Who's this little cutie?"

"It's his brother," Marcus quickly offered, while pointing at Dylan, "and my friend."

"Then I'm sure he's just as well behaved as y'all are," she replied, before taking our orders.

Justin had wanted to sit between Marcus and me, so Ethan sat between Dylan and Tyler. Tyler even helped Ethan like I would have done and I was pleased to see this. I even noticed Dylan helping Ethan too. What great kids they are.

After we finished eating, I stopped to say hello to the manager before we left. Once again, he told me how impressed he was with my boys, as well as their friends. He said I wouldn't believe how some of the other kids that came in there behaved, but he was always pleased to see us, because he knew he had nothing to worry about. I thanked him for his kind comment, as I paid the bill and ushered the boys out to the wagon.

A short time after we got to the house, I told Ethan it was time for his bath. I was surprised when all three little ones went upstairs together, but I soon discovered why. Justin wanted to see Ethan when he didn't have anything on, since Ethan was the only one he hadn't seen naked on his previous visit. I had no problem with it, and obviously neither did Ethan, and it sated Justin's curiosity.

After watching Ethan undress in his bedroom, Marcus and Justin didn't come into the bathroom with us. They went to Marcus' room to undress instead, which mildly surprised me. After I finished bathing Ethan and got him in his pajamas, I went to see what the other two wanted to do next.

"Are you going to take your baths together again?" I asked the two bare-assed boys.

"No, we wanted to do it alone this time, but we still want you to wash us," Justin replied for the both of them.

"Then who's going first?" I asked in return.

"Justin can, since he's our guest," Marcus quickly agreed. "He wants me to wait in here until you're done though, but that's ok with me."

I was surprised by this, as I followed Justin into the bathroom. I filled the tub and then he stepped in and sat down.

"Shut the door too," Justin urged me, before I knelt down to wash him. I wasn't sure why he wanted me to do this, but I complied.

"I like doing this with you," he announced, as I knelt down beside the tub. "This way we can talk without any of the other boys in here to butt in."

"Yes, that's certainly true," I agreed. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to thank you for telling me all that different stuff the last time," he began. "I didn't know any of those things before and I didn't know my thingy, I mean my penis, will get bigger. I didn't know they got as big as Dylan and Tyler's, because I had never seen another boy naked."

"And some day you might even see some penises bigger than theirs," I confirmed.

"Really? Even bigger than theirs?" he asked, surprised. His mouth was hanging open and his eyes were as wide as saucers.

"It's possible," I agreed. "I even suspect Dylan and Tyler's penises will probably get bigger than they are now."

"Wow! I hope they let me see them then," he commented, although I wasn't sure if he was speaking to me or himself.

"I know now why Marcus likes you to give him his bath," he added, once he got over his amazement. "It's fun, but we can talk to you about stuff we don't want the other boys to hear. I'm glad you are doing this with me now."

"I'm glad too, but I don't want you talking to others about what we do here, because some people might not understand," I warned.

"I know. Dylan explained it to me. Don't worry. I won't ever do that," Justin confirmed.

"Thank you," I replied.

After I finished giving Justin his bath, I got Marcus next. He told Justin he could stay in with us, so Justin sat on the toilet lid, as I washed the last of the boys. Once I finished, I tucked all three boys into Marcus' bed, since they all wanted to sleep together. Then, I kissed each one goodnight and went to do the same with Dylan and Tyler.

I was a little more cautious before I entered Tyler's room this time. I knocked and asked if I could come in first, before I entered. They were both naked when I walked into the room and they told me I didn't need to worry about asking first. They insisted I could just come in, whenever I wanted.

"You've seen everything we've got already," Dylan stated, as he tried to convince me.

"But I haven't seen everything you do," I countered, which made Dylan and Tyler giggle.

"Maybe not, but we don't care if you see what we're doing," Dylan assured me, with Tyler nodding in agreement. "You're like my second dad now and I don't mind if you catch us doing stuff. I wouldn't want my dad to see any of it, but I'm ok with you. It's strange, but I just feel more comfortable here than I do at home, even when Tyler and I are doing those other things too."

"Well I'm glad you feel comfortable here, but now it's time for you to get some sleep," I suggested. "We'll have to get up early for the sign ups tomorrow, unless you guys have changed your minds about playing."

"We haven't," Dylan quickly confirmed.

I then kissed both boys on the forehead and wished them sweet dreams, before I turned off the light and shut the door. At least I didn't have to worry about that pair coming over to bother me later.

Saturday morning, I woke all of the boys up early, fed them breakfast and got them ready to go to the sign ups. After I got them into the back two rows of the Outback, I drove over to pick up Don at his place. He got into the front passenger seat and I drove to where the sign ups were being held.

Once we were inside, Don and I told the boys to sit off to one side while he and I took care of something first. They all looked confused, but did what we asked as Don and I approached one of the tables. We then asked to speak to the person in charge of the 10 - 12-year-old group, along with the person in charge of the 13 - 14-year-old group. One of the men went to see if they were available and soon came back with two men we hadn't seen before. Don and I then introduced ourselves and asked if we could speak with them in private. They agreed and led us to a corner in the back where we'd have some privacy and then they looked at us apprehensively.

"What is it we can do for you?" the first man asked.

"I have a problem. I'm a single parent, but I've only been one for a few months," I began. "I became a parent when one of my best friend's and his wife were killed in a traffic accident. They named me guardian of their children, so now I have three sons that want to play baseball. They will all be in different leagues, with the youngest in tee-ball, but the other two will be playing in your leagues. This presents me with a real problem in logistics, since I'll be running all over the place to get them to their practices and games, and I have no one to help."

When I paused to take a breath, one of them spoke up.

"And what do you think we can do to assist you with that problem?" the same gentleman that had spoken earlier wondered.

"I was just about to get to that point," I offered. "This is Don and he also has two sons that will be playing in each of your leagues as well. Since our sons are all friends, Don and his wife have offered to help me with my dilemma. The only way it will work though, is if you allow our 10-year-olds to play on the same team and our 13-year-olds to do the same."

The two immediately began whispering back and forth with each other and then they turned to speak with us again.

"Have your sons played before and are they any good?" the other gentleman asked this time.

"Our 13-year-olds play on their school's modified baseball team this year. They're both 7th graders and starters," I began. "My 10-year-old played in the 7 - 9-year-old league last year, but Don's younger son broke his arm before the season began and didn't get to play. I take the boys to the park and work with them nearly every weekend, so I've seen that Don's 10-year-old is just as good as my middle son."

"Wait! You practice with all of the boys at the same time?" the first gentleman asked.

"Yes, I take them to Riverside Park and run fielding drills, before I let them take batting practice," I confirmed. "A couple of times some other boys joined us too, but usually it's just our five sons."

"That clears up one thing we've been wondering about," the man replied. "We'd heard that someone was working with a group of boys there and thought one of our coaches had gone rogue and was working with his returning players before it was allowed. I'm glad to find out that isn't the case."

"If you're that well versed with the sport, then maybe you'd like to coach a team for us," the other man suggested. "We are always looking for new talent and fresh blood."

"I'm flattered by your offer, but like I said, I will have problems getting the boys around as it is, so I won't have time to get involved in anything like that."

"That's a shame, but how will our allowing your sons play on the same teams help you with the youngest boy?" the second man asked. "You'll still have him to deal with."

"Yes, and if he makes a team, then I'll try to find a parent of one of his teammates to help me out with him too," I explained. "Even if I have to run to get him, Don has agreed to do whatever is needed for one pair of boys and his wife will do the same with the other pair." The two men merely nodded their heads in understanding after hearing this.

"I'm afraid we can't make this sort of decision alone," the other man added. "We'll need to run it by the other league officers too."

"Then I hope you can do that now, because I'm not letting my three sign up until I know for sure that I'll have a way to get them around," I replied. "I don't want to build up their hopes thinking they're going to play, only to find out we can't manage it later."

"And I won't sign my sons up either," Don added. "I don't want them to have to choose between their friends and playing ball. The boys are close enough that my sons wouldn't want to play if their best friends can't."

"Please give us some time then and we'll go speak with the other officers that are here," the first man offered. "If not enough of them are present to allow us to make a decision, then we'll call some of the others to get their input. However, we will get this taken care of before the sign ups are completed for the day."

While the two men went off to do that, I left Don where he was in case the men came back early, while I went to tell the boys we'd be with them shortly. They wanted to know what was going on, but I told them we'd explain it all to them on the way home. Hesitantly, they accepted my answer, so I went back to wait with Don.

About twenty minutes later the two men came back to speak with us again. They both looked very serious, so we weren't sure what their decision might be.

"We got all of the officers for both leagues to agree with your proposal, so this is what we'll do," the second man began. "You might already know this, but the coaches each rate the boys when they tryout. Then we hold a draft, where the coaches get to pick the players they want on their team. We do this in the reverse order from the way the teams finished the previous year, in an effort to keep the league balanced. As soon as we know how many new kids are going to try out and how many previous players are returning, then we'll know how many players will be on each team. There has to be a minimum of 12 on a team, but no more than 15. We'll add or eliminate teams according to the demand."

"So how will this work for our sons?" Don asked next.

"What we've agreed to do is this," the man continued. "We'll announce to the coaches before the draft begins that there will be a pair of boys that must be drafted together. When the first of each pair is selected, we will give the coach choosing him a chance to take both, with the other boy automatically becoming his pick in the next round, or he will be allowed to reconsider and make another selection. I'm not sure if this will make your boys more or less desirable to the coaches, but it should take care of your problem."

Don and I thanked the two men and then we went out to make sure each of our sons got signed up. When we completed this process, each boy was given a tag they were to wear at the tryouts the following Saturday. Each of these tags had both a letter and number on it. The letter indicated the age group they were in, while the number showed their place in the sign up. For example, Tyler's tag read I-26. The 'I' showed he was a 13-year-old and the '26' indicated he was the 26th 13-year-old to register. It would be the only way the coaches would be able to identify them, since no names would be used. This was being done in order to make the selection process as fair as possible. The boys were all excited as we got in the wagon to head home.

"Where did you two go when we first got there?" Tyler asked, as soon as we were driving away from the place.

"Mr. Cochran and I went to talk to the league officials from the two leagues that you four older boys will be playing in, so we could ask them a favor," I answered. "We got them to agree to let Dylan and Tyler play on the same team, and Justin and Marcus will do the same, so Dylan's parents and I can help each other get you boys to and from practices and games. However, you just can't mention this to anyone else, because we don't want them to think we were rigging the process or gaining an unfair advantage."

I'd barely got the last sentence out of my mouth before I heard the boys shouting and whooping it up behind us. They had all been worried they would be on different teams and have to play against each other, but now their concerns were no longer relevant.

When we dropped Don off at his house, Dylan and Justin both thanked him for doing this for them and each one told him they loved him. Don seemed a little uncomfortable with the last part, but he told them they were welcome, before turning and going into the house. As soon as he was inside, I backed out of the driveway and headed home.

The boys continued walking on cloud nine for the rest of the morning, since they knew not only would they be on the same teams, but it meant that they'd probably be able to spend a lot more time together at our house too. Ethan looked slightly down and I could tell he kind of felt left out, so I promised him we'd find someone on his team that we'd include in our little group as well, just as soon as he made a friend and we could get his parents to agree. That seemed to make Ethan feel better, so he went off to spend time with Justin and Marcus.

Carlos called just before lunch and I'd almost forgotten that he wanted me to work with him today. After thanking me for having Tyler suggest that he do this, he wanted to know when he should come over. I told him I'd be taking the boys to Riverside Park to run through some drills at 2:00, so if he could get here before that time then he could go with us. After talking to his parents, he said he'd be at our house by 1:30. I said that would be fine, but then I told him to tell his parents that we'd drop him off when we were done, so they wouldn't have to come and get him.

Carlos showed up at precisely 1:30, so I took the boys to the park a little earlier than I'd planned. I had the little ones play catch and throw grounders and fly balls to each other, while I worked with Carlos, Dylan and Tyler. Before any balls were thrown or I began to work on his stance, I first asked Carlos a question.

"I hope you remembered to wear your cup," I began and Carlos made a strange face. Although I couldn't tell for sure, I thought he might have been blushing.

"Yes, I have it on," Carlos confirmed. "You saw me naked at Tyler's birthday party, so you know I have much to protect. You can check if you want." He giggled after saying this, so I wasn't sure how much of that was tongue-in-cheek and how much was serious, but I responded.

"No, that's fine. I just wanted to make sure you had it on before we got started."

"I don't leave home without it when I'm going to be catching," Carlos teased, as he wrapped his knuckles on the plastic protective device through his clothing.

"Ok, Carlos, now that I'm sure, we'll work on your stance first. This is the stance you've been using when you are catching," I began, as I got down in the crouch he used. "Can you see how your weight is basically centered in your butt, which is almost touching your heels? This prevents you from moving around behind the plate, as you should be able to do."

I could tell he wasn't sure what I meant at first, so I decided to demonstrate. I had him get in his normal crouch and then I took a baseball and tossed it high, low, right or left completely at random, but all within reach, to see if he could get to it. A couple of times he even fell over in the attempt, but he was only successful about 25% of the time.

"Now let me show you how you should be positioning yourself instead. This stance is good in all situations, but it's especially important when there are men on base or you're expecting the batter to bunt," I explained. "First of all, you can't sit back on your heels. Instead, place your feet about shoulder width apart and then squat down, like your going to sit on a low stool, but there isn't one there."

I showed him exactly what I meant and then had him practice doing it a few times, until he started to feel comfortable with it. After he had that down pat, I showed him how to drop to his knees and position his glove when a pitch was in the dirt. Then, I showed him how easy it was to pop up for high pitches, as well as move right or left for the throws that were off line in one of those directions.

Once he was getting the hang of it, I had him practice moving around and reacting to my hand signals indicating which way I wanted him to move. When he was getting used to doing that, I then took one of the baseballs and tossed it at him again, just like I'd done before. The only difference was, this time he got to or blocked about 6 out of every 10 throws, which was much better than what he'd done in his former stance.

"Hey, this IS a lot better," Carlos agreed, as he smiled at his recent success. "Why didn't anyone ever show me this before?"

"I'm not sure, but if you've watched Nathan when he's catching, this is exactly what he does," I explained. "That's why he's so good and not many pitches get by him. It's also why he is able to react so quickly to bunted balls and foul pop ups behind the plate."

I worked with Carlos a little more at perfecting this skill, before I let Tyler and Dylan start pitching to him. I knew each one would be wild in different ways, but since they were two of the pitchers Carlos would be catching for, it would also get them familiar with each other.

I was impressed by how quickly Carlos caught on to this and how much he improved. I would continually give him pointers whenever he made a mistake, but I'd also roll balls out in front of the plate to simulate a bunt and then have him throw to whoever wasn't pitching. since I had that boy play first. I also took a bat and hit a few foul pop ups to him while he was in his crouch, so he could get used to moving on them as well. Then I let Dylan and Tyler take turns working with Carlos, while the other one played first while I hit infield practice to the three younger boys.

It seemed as if the younger boys had a greater motivation to do well today, because they knew this could affect whether they got picked on a team or not. They were all putting a lot of effort into everything they did, but Justin appeared to be working harder than anyone else. He was also doing much better fielding ground balls, as well as improving on chasing down fly balls too.

After a while, I called an end to what they were doing and started throwing batting practice. Everyone got a turn at bat, including Carlos, and I gave him a few pointers on hitting too. I was pleased that all of the boys were hitting quite well, so it looked as if they were ready for tryouts.

"Thank you for showing me all of this stuff and working with me," Carlos told me, before I took him home. "I think I'll do a lot better now, so maybe the coach will let me catch more in the last few games."

"I hope he does, because you're doing much better now," I agreed.

"Yeah, you were doing super," Tyler added. "You were moving much better and stopping a lot more balls, but I'm sure you'll get even better the longer you do it this way."

"I think so too," Carlos agreed. I dropped him off at his house a couple of minutes later.

When we got to our house, I told the boys they'd have to clean up first and then we decide what we were going to do next. When I went upstairs a few minutes later to give them their baths, I found five naked boys wandering the hallway, without a care in the world. I was truly surprised to see how much Justin had changed in such a short time when it came to this, but I was glad he had loosened up and so was his brother.

"Can we take a shower this time, like Dylan and Tyler?" Justin asked, when I called Ethan to come with me.

"You want to wash yourself, or possibly each other, in the shower instead?" I followed, slightly confused.

"No, we still want you to wash us, but in the shower," Justin replied.

"That would mean I'd have to get naked too," I pointed out, in case he hadn't figured that detail out for himself.

"Yeah, I know," he said quite blandly, but alarm bells were going off in my head.

"One at a time or all together?" I asked, but only to give me time to think about this a little longer.

"Ethan, Marcus and me want to do it together," he answered. "We think it will be fun to do stuff like this with each other, but we still want you to wash us."

"Hang on a second and let me do something first," I suggested. "Why don't you three wait in Ethan or Marcus' room until I get back."

They agreed and I went in to talk to Dylan and Tyler. They were still in the shower, so I went into the master bath to speak with them. They were surprised to see me, although it didn't bother either one, and I explained Justin's request to them.

"Since you already give them baths, what difference would it make?" Dylan wanted to know.

"It means I'd have to get naked as well," I pointed out.

"Cool. Then I'll get to see you naked too," Dylan chirped. "I've always wanted to see what you look like without anything on, so Tyler and I will come in and watch when you do this."

"You're a big help," I teased. "But what will your parents think if they find out about this stuff?"

"They're not going to find out about any of it," Dylan assured me. "Justin knows what goes on here is to stay here, so don't worry about it."

"But if Justin got an erection from seeing you two and thought your penises were big, then how is he going to react to me?" I wanted to know.

"You mean you've got a big dick?" Dylan shot back.

"He's hung better than Jacob," Tyler quickly answered.

"Damn!" was Dylan's response.

"I'm just average, but can we get back to my point?" I scoffed. "Do you really think I should do this?"

"Yeah, cuz I want to see your dick too," Dylan offered, as he and Tyler stepped out of the shower.

"Be serious," I chastised him.

"I am!" he shot back. "Just do it and don't worry so much. You're making too big a deal out of this and nothing bad is gonna happen."

I wondered if those words were as ominous as they sounded, but I finally agreed to do what the little ones wanted. Nothing had resulted from any of the other things we'd done, so I was hoping this wouldn't be any different. I went out and got the boys, but then had them wait in my room until I got undressed.

"Wow! Your penis is bigger than Dylan or Tyler's," Justin announced, as his mouth hung open and he pointed at my groin. I was afraid this attention might make me bone up, so I quickly herded the three of them into the master bath. They had to wait briefly while I adjusted the water, but then I told them to get in the shower stall with me.

"Wow! This is cool and it's big too," Justin observed. Luckily, the boys were small, so it wasn't too crowded.

"Ok, I'll wash you one at a time," I told them. "I'll start with Ethan and you two can decide who I'll do after that."

They agreed, so I began removing the dirt from my littlest angel. When I finished with him, Justin wanted to go next, so I washed him again. He already had a stiffy when I started, probably from seeing me naked, but I washed him anyway. When I got to Marcus, I was surprised to see he had an erection as well, but I wasn't sure if his had been caused by the sight of me or Justin. It didn't really matter I guess, so I washed him too and then quickly cleaned myself.

While I was lathering up, I noticed the boys were busy doing some exploration and touching each other's bodies, but then they began to touch me too. I was hesitant about letting them do this at first, especially when Justin reached for my dick, but I didn't want to reverse all of the progress he'd made so far with things like this. I let him explore the area briefly, but after we got out of the shower and I was drying them off, I began to clear up a few things, so this wouldn't lead to future problems.

"Guys, I want you to know that you shouldn't be going around touching other people's private areas like this," I explained. "We all like each other and I know none of you object to having the others do this to you, but it's not something you should do outside of our house, at least until you are grown. I know you boys are curious, so I let you explore my body too, as well as each other's, but that's not something you should go around doing to anyone else."

"But you touched us too," Justin pointed out.

"I only did it while I was cleaning that area for you and I asked your permission first," I responded. "If you didn't want me to do it, you could have said no."

"I didn't mind, but I understand now," he replied. "We only did it with you because we wanted to see what it would be like."

"That's fine, as long as you all understand," I confirmed. They said they did, so I sent them off to get dressed.

Since it was still early afternoon, I made a quick phone call while they were putting their clothes on. Once I discovered we could do what I had in mind, I made reservations, so our dinner and activity for the night was set. I then called the boys downstairs, so I could explain what I had planned.

"While you were getting dressed, I called and made reservations for us all to go to Medieval Times later," I informed them.

"What's that?" Justin wanted to know.

"Did you learn about kings, knights and castles at school?" I followed, and he nodded in response. "Well we are going to this place for dinner and you'll eat some food that you might have had if you lived back then, but don't worry, you'll like it. We'll also get to watch a show and you will see knights jousting on horseback, but they'll be fighting with swords too. You'll not only get to see them do this, but you'll be able to cheer for them too."

"That sounds neat," Justin quickly agreed.

"Do you mean they do this in a restaurant?" Marcus followed, looking confused.

"No, it all takes place in sort of a big arena, but it will look and feel as if we're going into a castle when we get there. You'll see," I told him. "It will be fun and I think you'll all enjoy it."

"Won't it be expensive?" Dylan asked next, looking concerned.

"Of course I'll have to pay for it, but since your father sent money with you to give to me, I'll use that to help pay for you boys, so I feel we can afford to do this."

He seemed satisfied with my answer and all of the boys were excited. Since the place opened more than an hour before the activities began, I made sure the boys were ready in time for us to drive there with this in mind. Not only did I want to be among the first to arrive, but I was hoping that by getting there early it would allow me to do a little extra with the boys too.

Since we arrived even before the doors opened, we were in the very first group to go inside. I immediately took the boys to the medieval torture museum first, which they all thought was really neat. After looking at all the strange devices there, I took them to see the Hall of Arms display after that. After seeing all of the weapons on display, the boys were still talking about all of the different things they'd seen, both the weapons and torture devices, as we went in and prepared to eat.

There was definitely more than enough food for each of us and we were served a variety of items. The menu consisted of oven roasted chicken, garlic bread, tomato bisque soup, herb-roasted potatoes, spare ribs and what they called the 'Pastry of the Castle'. We were also allowed two beverages each, so the boys were all stuffed by the time they'd finished.

Once the meal was over, we settled back and waited for the show to begin. It was spectacular too, with horses, falcons, knights fighting, trumpets announcing the different events and the King and Princess sitting in the Royal Box. The boys were amazed by it all and happily cheered for our particular paladin, the Blue Knight, as he engaged in personal combat. After nearly two hours of non-stop action, the evening finally came to an end.

"I liked it when the horses and knights charged at each other," Ethan squealed excitedly, as we were riding home. "The sticks they used busted when they hit each other or they could have really been hurt." Of course, he was referring to the joust.

"Yes, it was a good thing their lances shattered, but it was very exciting," I concurred.

"I was afraid those birds were going to swoop down at us," Marcus stated, as his eyes widened. "They were big and had sharp claws too. Those birds could have really hurt us, like when they went after those things that were tossed into the air, so I'm glad the man was able to control them." He was referring to the Royal Falconer.

"Falcons have long been used as hunting birds by kings and other noblemen," I confirmed. "They would use the falcons to kill other birds or small animals and the falcons were trained to bring whatever they caught back to their handler, so it could be used for dinner."

"I liked seeing all of the different weapons," Justin chimed in. "They weren't like guns, so you had to be close the other person to use them. They didn't kill people quickly either. The guys using them had to beat or stab each other with those things a bunch of times. It must have been awful to fight like that."

"I'm sure it was and very painful too, especially if you were on the worst end of the deal," I agreed.

"I liked watching the knights fight with the swords," Tyler offered next. "I think swinging a sword was kinda like swinging a bat. They must have had to learn how to open their hips and do stuff like that too, but they had someone swinging back at them at the same time."

"I hadn't thought of it quite that way, but I'm sure you're right," I confessed. "Fighting with swords had its own set of skills that had to be mastered, so the knights had to practice a lot with every weapon they used."

"I really liked the Torture Museum. There were lots of really scary things in there," Dylan announced. "I can't imagine what it must have been like having any of that stuff used on you, but it must have been awful and I'm sure it had to hurt really bad too."

"I'm sure it was very painful, but didn't you like anything in the show?" I followed, slightly confused.

"I loved it all!" he added, in response to my prodding. "I really liked watching the horses the most though. They were fast, powerful and awesome to see in action."

"They certainly were, but you had me worried for a second," I teased. "I was beginning to think you didn't like the show."

"No! We all liked it," Dylan shot back, and then I heard a chorus of "Yeah, we did" and "Thank you!" from each of the boys.

When we got home from Medieval Times, I sent all of the boys upstairs to get ready for bed. When I went up a few minutes later to tuck them in, I reached Marcus' room and discovered the three little ones were standing around naked.

"Why haven't you put your pajamas on yet?" I demanded, as I looked at them.

"Can't we just sleep like this?" Marcus wanted to know, as he looked at me hopefully.

"Is it something you all want to do?" I followed, only to see three heads bob up and down in unison.

"Well I guess it won't hurt to let you try it this time," I relented. "Since you all agree, I'll allow you to do it tonight, but you can't tell anyone else about this."

"Not even Dylan and Tyler?" Justin wanted to know.

"Oh you can tell them, but only when you're here at our house. You're not to talk about it when you're anywhere else though, because someone might overhear you and then cause problems for us."

"Ok," he agreed, as I had them all get into Marcus' bed, so I could tuck them in.

After I'd kissed each of the boys goodnight and was sure they were settled down for the night, I went over to Tyler's room. I felt I should give Dylan and Tyler a heads-up about what I was letting the little ones do tonight. I didn't want the older boys to be surprised or react inappropriately if the younger ones said anything to them about it later.

"Goodnight you two," I said, as I kissed Dylan on the forehead, while they were lying next to each other in bed. When I leaned across to kiss Tyler, however, he turned his head and kissed me squarely on the lips instead.

"I want to do that too!" Dylan exclaimed, when he saw Tyler kiss me on the lips.

"What?" I countered, since it hadn't really dawned on me what Tyler had just done. I had been too focused on how I was going to tell them about what I'd let their younger brothers do.

"I want to kiss you on the lips too!" Dylan followed, while looking at me anxiously. When I looked at Tyler, he tried to explain his way out of what he'd done.

"I just forgot and did it that way, because it's how I used to kiss my mom and dad when they came in to say goodnight to me," he stated, as he looked at me sheepishly hoping I would accept his indirect apology.

"I guess it hadn't even registered with me that you had done anything different," I confessed, while continuing the charade. Then, I looked back toward Dylan. "If I let you do this, it will only be to give me a peck on the lips. There will be no big production and absolutely no tongue." He giggled when I said this.

"I know," he agreed. "It's just that my dad would never let me kiss him on the lips when I was little, so I want to do it with you."

I allowed it and Dylan gave me a sweet peck on the lips too, just as he had promised. After he'd done that, I looked at the two of them and spoke.

"Seeing we've got that behind us now, I can tell you the real reason I was planning to speak with you," I began. "I wanted to tell you that your brothers asked if they could sleep naked in Marcus' bed tonight."

"Holy crap!" Dylan gasped. "You mean Justin took a shower with you and the other boys earlier and then he wanted to sleep naked with them too? This certainly isn't the same brother I knew a month ago, but I'm glad he's finally getting over his hang ups."

"Oh, he's certainly doing that," I quipped. "He and the other boys also spent some time feeling each other up when they were taking their shower this afternoon."

"No way! Did they do it to you too?" Dylan wanted to know. I hesitated briefly, before I finally answered.

"I let them do some touching and exploring, but not too much," I confessed. "I only did it because I didn't want to give your brother the impression that any of this was wrong and reverse the progress he'd made so far. After I dried them off, I explained that they shouldn't be doing anything like that with anyone else and they definitely weren't to talk about it, except with you two. It's why I felt I should warn you first, so you'd be prepared for what they might say about it tomorrow."

"Thank you," Tyler countered. "I'm glad you did, because we probably would have been very shocked and maybe even said something we shouldn't."

"Would you let me feel you up a little too?" Dylan asked, ignoring the current topic. I merely gave him a dirty look in return, since I'd just given in to him about the kiss, but I didn't directly answer his question. "Come on. You let my brother do it. This isn't fair. I want to have a chance too!"

Even though I didn't think it was a good idea, I considered his request for a few seconds first, before I finally gave him my reply.

"If I allow you to do this, it will only be to do what I allowed the others to try," I explained. "There will be no sexual exploration, like trying to get me hard or attempting to jerk me off." I said it using the street term for masturbation, so Dylan couldn't claim he didn't understand what I meant later.

"Ok, but I don't see why not," he responded, not completely satisfied with my response.

"It's your choice. It's either that or nothing," I offered.

"I said ok, so I'll just do what you let the others do," he agreed.

As soon as he agreed, I told him I'd be right back and then made a quick trip across the hall to get undressed. Before I returned though, I grabbed the towel I had used earlier and wrapped it around my waist. Even though I knew Dylan was going to see me naked in a few seconds and he was even going to touch my genitals, I didn't think I should go back without covering up first.

When I walked into Tyler's room again, Dylan hopped out of bed to do this and I immediately noticed that he and Tyler were both naked as well. He kept moving closer and eventually unfastened the towel from around my waist and let it drop to the floor. He then reached toward my privates and tentatively felt around my scrotum and penis, as he explored it. I did my best to think of something unexciting and non-stimulating while he was doing this, so I wouldn't firm up. I certainly didn't want to get hard from his manipulation and, luckily, it didn't happen. I waited patiently, as Dylan sated his curiosity.

"You certainly are a lot bigger than Jacob," he observed, and it almost sounded as if he was saying this as a compliment. "I wish I could see how big it gets when it's hard."

"Keep wishing," I teased, as I ended the session. I then picked up the towel and wrapped it around my waist again, as I headed for the door.

My mind was spinning as I climbed into bed a short time later. Even though I hadn't planned or expected it, I'd allowed Justin and Dylan to explore my body with their hands today, but that wasn't the weirdest part. That honor belonged to the fact that I didn't think what they'd done had been overly inappropriate or strange, although I was glad I hadn't gotten aroused from their attention. I'll admit that I had to work at it when Dylan was doing the touching, but I chalked that up to the fact that he knew how to turn a guy on, since he had been practicing those skills on Tyler.

What I found the worst aspect about the experience and the thing that shocked me the most was that I actually enjoyed what they did as well. I also knew this would have to be the only time I allowed anything like this to happen and it was absolutely as far as I could go with either one. I had the feeling Dylan might want to try doing more with me later, but I just couldn't allow it to happen. Dylan may not like it, but he's going to have to be satisfied with doing those things with Tyler, because this was the last time he'd be permitted to do anything like this with me.

I was just dozing off later when I heard someone enter my room. As I opened my eyes and let them adjust, I discovered it was Tyler. He was standing beside my side of the bed, looking down at me.

"Dylan's been bugging me to come over here since you left my room. He wants me to ask you a question," he offered, as a way of explaining the intrusion. I could tell from the way he said this and how he sounded that he was reluctant to continue. "Dylan wants to know if we can sleep with you tonight. He said we did it before, when he thought he had a lump on his balls, and he wants to do it again. This time he wants you to be in the middle though."

I wasn't sure if I should permit this or not, since I had a feeling Dylan might have an ulterior motive. After thinking it over for a few seconds, I decided how I was going to answer Tyler.

"If I agree to do this, then there can be absolutely no funny business," I emphasized. "Absolutely nothing sexual can take place, but I will let both of you cuddle against me if you want."

"Great!" I heard Dylan shout, before he raced across the room and hopped under the covers beside me. He'd obviously been standing in the doorway awaiting my answer.

I moved over so Tyler could get in on the other side now, and then both boys sidled up against me.

"Hey! You're both still naked!" I exclaimed, as I felt their penises brush against my legs.

"Yeah, but we won't try anything," Dylan promised.

Once again, I ignored the little voice in my head and let them get away with it, but this would have to be my line in the sand. At the first hint of either one trying to do anything sexual, then I'd send them both back to Tyler's room.

To my relief, each boy behaved and merely cuddled with me. I had one in each arm and they put their heads on my shoulders. They also draped one of their arms going across my body and one of their legs were hanging over one of mine and probably touching each other. I also felt their penises wedged against my leg, but neither one was aroused at the moment. Even though it might sound as if this was uncomfortable, I had never felt more loved and contented in my life, so I ended up sleeping like a baby.

When I woke up Sunday morning, I could feel both boys' morning wood pressed against my thighs. Since I knew this wasn't caused by sexual arousal, I remained in bed and waited for one of them to wake up. It was Dylan who woke up first and when he opened his eyes, he was staring directing into my face. He smiled when he noticed that I was awake too.

"Good morning," he greeted me, when he saw I was looking at him. "I totally enjoyed doing this and slept really well."

"I'm glad you had a good night's sleep, but you two are poking holes in my legs," I responded, and Dylan burst out laughing.

"I guess we just really like you," he quickly quipped in return.

"I think you'd better go use the toilet before you make a mess in my bed," I suggested.

Our talking must have also awakened Tyler, but he wasn't quite coherent yet.

"Mornin'," he said, as he stretched and yawned. "Why are we getting up so early?"

"Actually, it's not early. It's almost 9:00," I stated, after glancing at the clock. "I'm surprised the other boys aren't up and moving around yet."

"They probably did some more exploring on each other's bodies last night, since they were all naked," Dylan teased. "If they did, they probably stayed up late and are all tired out now."

"That may be, but let's get up before one of you wets the bed or amputates my leg with that saber you have sticking into it," I joked, which got both boys giggling.

"You mean this?" Dylan teased, as he threw back the covers and hopped up on his knees, so I'd get a good view of his piss hard erection.

"Yeah, that," I confirmed. "Now go use the toilet."

Dylan giggled again and jiggled his penis in my face. He even paraded across the room on his way there and made sure his penis swung back and forth so I could see it. Tyler got up to join him in the master bath and he gave me a good show as well, as he made his way there. I waited for them to finish up before I went in to empty my bladder.

After washing my hands and splashing some water on my face, I went back into the bedroom and put on some clothes. As soon as I was dressed, I went to check on the little ones. They were all tangled together in a heap, like a litter of puppies, but they looked very contented. I quickly decided it was possible they had done some more bodily exploring after I'd tucked them in, because the covers were quite rumpled and indicated they had been fairly active.

While I was fixing breakfast, I was surprised to see all five boys enter the kitchen still completely naked. I did a double-take, since it wasn't what I was expecting, and then I spoke.

"Don't you think that maybe you should have at least put on your underwear?" I asked, while scanning each of them.

"Why? This is good and no one cares," Dylan offered.

"Well I do, because I don't want any pubic hair in my food," I shot back.

"There's a better chance that the hair from our heads would get in the food first, so quit making things up," Dylan challenged. "Only Tyler and I have pubic hair anyways and we're not going to get it anywhere near the food."

I knew there wasn't much sense in arguing with him, since it was obvious he was going to keep balking about going back upstairs to put on his underwear. In fact, I had a feeling he'd been the ringleader that talked the others into doing this as well.

"Ok, go sit down at the table and I'll bring your food in shortly," I told them. "I made French toast again, since you all seemed to enjoy it so much the last time."

"Great!" I heard several different voices mutter.

After I fed them, I sent them up to the bedrooms to get dressed. I threatened that if they didn't do as I'd asked, then I wouldn't take them to the park later. That was enough of an incentive to get them moving.

We went to the park twice during the day, once before lunch and again after they'd finished eating. This would be the last time we'd be able to work together before the tryouts, which were the following Saturday. When we got back after the second session, I told Dylan and Justin to go grab their things so I could take them home.

"Our only game this week is on Thursday, so can we stay over again next Friday?" Dylan asked, before he went to do as I'd suggested.

"That will depend on what your parents have to say," I replied. "I have a feeling they are beginning to think you're spending too much time over here as it is."

"We'll only stay over on Friday this time, if it's ok," Dylan offered. "I'm pretty sure my parents will be alright with that."

"You can ask them after I drop you off and then you can let Tyler know what they say later," I agreed.

Dylan and Justin then went to collect their belongings so I could drive them home. Their parents came out to welcome the boys back as I pulled in the driveway and they waved at us from the stoop, as their sons were getting out of the Outback. Since the Cochrans had come outside, I had the other boys get out of the wagon too, so we could say hello to them. After we had all exchanged pleasantries, Justin asked his parents a question.

"Can we stay at Uncle Blake's house next Friday?" he blurted out. This caused his parents to look at him, before they glanced at each other and then at me.

"Don't you think you should spend a weekend home for a change?" his father countered, while looking at Justin first and then at Dylan.

"We have the tryouts next Saturday and we'll come home right after we finish there," Dylan offered. "We just want to stay Friday night, not both days this time."

"Blake, are you ok with doing this?" Cherie asked next, bringing me into the discussion.

"I'll have three boys that are going to be more than a little excited about the tryouts the next day, so it's not a big deal for me. Having your two for company may give them something else to occupy their minds, rather than worrying about how they're going to do," I offered. "I just told the boys that it would be up to you if they could stay over. The tryout times are staggered throughout the day, so we won't be done until around 5:00, but I'll bring the boys home then, if that will help."

"Why will the tryouts take so long?" Cherie wanted to know, since she hadn't been informed about how this would work.

"It's because the tee-ball tryouts for Ethan will be at 9:00," I began. "Then we'll have a break, because the 7 - 9-year-old tryouts are held at 11:00 and none of our boys are in that group. Justin and Marcus will be trying out at 1:00 and then Dylan and Tyler will start at 3:00. Fortunately, we don't have anyone in the 15 - 17-year-old group, because they won't begin until 5:00."

"Ok, I understand now," Cherie stated. "I guess we don't have a problem with it then, if you don't." She said this while looking at me and I shook my head to indicate it wasn't a problem for me either.

"Nope, that will be fine," I added verbally.

"I guess we'll just drive down to the field at 1:00 then, so we can watch Justin tryout, and then Justin and Dylan can come home with us after Dylan's group finishes up," Don added.

"That will work and I'll have the boys put their things in our wagon, so they'll be able to get them when they're ready to go home with you," I suggested, and I saw Cherie and Don nod in agreement. I then told them which fields the tryouts would be held at.

"Thanks, Mom and Dad," Dylan quickly told them and then Justin did the same.

Now that everything had been cleared up, my boys and I got in the Outback and I drove them home. They were happy with everything we had done over the weekend and were already looking ahead to next weekend, although Tyler was also thinking about his team's game on Thursday.

A little while later, after I'd fed the boys again, I took the two younger ones upstairs and got them cleaned up. After they changed into their pajamas and got ready for bed, I let them come down to the family room with me and I cuddled with them as we watched a couple of shows on TV.

Since they would be returning to their classrooms tomorrow, I made certain they got to bed early. I wanted to make sure they had a good night's sleep, so they would be alert throughout the day.

I went to bed shortly after the boys did, because I was worn out as well. It was the direct result of the culmination of one of the most unusual and surprising weekends I'd had with the boys and their friends since I'd come to live with them.

When the alarm went off in the morning, I got up, took my shower and woke the boys, before I went down to make their breakfast. The boys quickly got back into their routine again and I gave them all a kiss goodbye, before they headed out the door to catch the bus.

Work wasn't as bad as I'd expected, because we weren't as far behind as I thought. There was still plenty to do though, so the day passed by quickly and before I knew it I was heading home to pick up the boys.

When we arrived at Tyler's practice, I could see his team was just about ready to finish up, so the younger pair and I didn't even get out of the car. Instead, I pulled around to the front of the school and waited for Tyler to take his shower. When he and Dylan came out after they'd finished, I noticed Dylan's mom wasn't there to pick him up, since they'd wrapped up early. I quickly called her on my cell phone, so I could tell her what happened, but I also advised her that I'd drop Dylan off on my way home. She thanked me and we took off.

"The coach let us go early because he was pissed about the way the older guys were messing around," Tyler advised me as I was driving to Dylan's house. "The coach told them to either start doing things right or just stop showing up any more. I'm pretty sure they got the message, because the team we're playing on Thursday isn't the one they think is so bad."

"I hope you're right," I replied. "I'd hate to see you guys ruin such a good season when you're so close to the end."

After getting home and feeding the hungry horde, Marcus and Tyler went to do their homework, while I spent time with Ethan in the family room watching TV.

"I had a lot of fun over the weekend," Ethan told me, when a commercial came on. "I liked the place you took us, but I had fun here too. Justin and Marcus let me play with their pee-pees in the shower and when we were in bed later."

"I had a feeling that's what you boys were doing when you slept together," I mentioned.

"How did you know?" Ethan wondered, while looking at me curiously. "Did they tell you?"

"No, but I saw signs that you boys had done more than just sleep," I answered.

"You're not mad at us, are you?" Ethan asked next.

"No, I know boys do things like that because they're curious, but like I told you and the others after we showered together, you can't do those things anywhere else. Ok?" I asked in return, and Ethan nodded in agreement.

He cuddled against me for a little while longer, as we finished watching the show. Then I took him upstairs and gave him his bath, before I tucked him into bed. After checking Marcus' homework over, I bathed and tucked him into bed too. Then I went to see how Tyler was doing. He was just finishing up with his assignments, so I told him I'd check everything over while he was taking his shower. When he came back, I told him it was fine, gave him a kiss and bid him goodnight.

"Thanks for helping Carlos on Saturday," Tyler told me, before I started to walk away. "I'm pretty sure he's going to do better from now on."

"I think so too," I agreed, before I left his bedroom.

Tuesday passed by fairly uneventful as well and was pretty much a repeat of Monday. However, when I picked up the boys and got to Tyler's practice, things seemed to be going differently there. Coach Hendricks was working the team hard, so we got out to watch what was going on. Actually, I was the only one that watched the practice, because the other two went off to play catch. When Tyler's team finished up, he came over to speak with me.

"Things seemed to be going better today," I pointed out, after Tyler said hi.

"Yeah, I think the other guys were scared the coach wouldn't let them play if they didn't start doing better," he agreed. "I think we're going to be alright now."

"I hope so," I concurred.

Tyler then raced off to take his shower, so I got the other two and went to wait for him in front of the school. It didn't take very long before he was done and we were soon on our way home.

After we ate and the boys finished their homework, Tyler stuck around to speak with me after I'd checked his assignments.

"Everyone on my team signed up for summer baseball too," he announced. "The older boys will be on the same teams they were on last year, but the other guys my age will have to tryout, just like Dylan and me."

"So now most of your teammates are going to become the enemy," I teased, which made Tyler grin.

"Yeah, in a way, but we'll still be friends," he quipped back. "I think it will be fun to pitch against them now, since I know what types of pitches they like to hit."

"Yes, that could be an advantage for you," I agreed.

"But they also know what pitches I throw, so it might not be much of an advantage for me," Tyler added, after he'd thought about it some more.

"That could definitely even things out," I mused. "I guess you'll just have to be smarter than they are." Tyler's face suddenly lit up.

"Yeah, I can do that," he quickly agreed.

He was in a pretty good mood when I got to his room to say goodnight later, after putting the other two to bed. After I tucked him in, I gave him a quick peck on the lips and wished him sweet dreams.

Wednesday started off just like the previous two days, as I got the boys up and sent them off to school. Then I drove to work and spent the day wrapped up in spread sheets and entering data into the accounting software. When the day finally came to an end, I headed home, picked up the little ones and took them to the school. Tyler's team only practiced a little while longer after we got there, before the coach let them go. He was letting them out a little early again, because he wanted to make sure they all got a good night's sleep before the game the following day.

After Tyler took his shower, we went home, had dinner and he did his homework, before getting ready for bed. That's when Tyler came to find me.

"Can I sleep in your room tonight, because I know I'll sleep better with you," he began, and it seemed this was becoming his regular routine on the night before a game.

"I suppose, but it's only to sleep. Ok?" I countered, although I was pretty sure he already knew that.

"Yeah, I know," Tyler agreed, halfheartedly.

"Ok, you can hop into my bed and get comfortable, but I still have a few things I need to do first," I told him. "I'll join you just as soon as I'm done."

About a half hour later, after finishing the tasks I wanted to complete, I prepared for bed. Tyler was already asleep when I got there, but as soon as I was in position, he automatically cuddled up against me. I'm not sure if he had awakened or merely did it out of instinct, but he slept soundly for the rest of the night.

Thursday was an away game and Tyler was pitching, so I asked the boss if I could leave early, since I didn't want to miss any of the action. My boss had no problem with my request, because he knew I would make up the time one way or another, so I called Brenda Riordan to let her know what I was doing too.

When it was finally time to leave, I raced home to pick up the munchkins and took off for the game. This team was playing on a field at the school, so it was easy to find. When the boys and I walked up to the bleachers, Tyler's team was just coming off the field after warming up. Tyler gave me a coy little wave to let me know he'd seen us, but he then sat down on the bench with the rest of his teammates.

The team got off to a fantastic start and each of the first five batters got hits, before Crawford flew out to left field for a sacrifice fly that scored Tyler. By the end of the top half of the first, Tyler's team was already up 5 - 0. Tyler also pitched quite well in the bottom of the inning and kept the other team scoreless, but his team didn't do quite as well when they came up to bat again.

The game was never in doubt though and Tyler's team won by a final score of 8 - 1. It was a good thing that they'd gotten off to such a fast start, because the other team settled down after the top half of the first and gave them a good game. Tyler came over to speak to me afterward, to let me know what was going to happen next.

"I'm going home on the bus, because the coach wants to speak with us again," he announced, "but you aren't going to believe this. Some of the guys on our team found out this team beat the team were playing next 5 - 0, so they're starting to get carried away again. I think that's what the coach wants to talk to us about."

"Ok, I'll see you back at the school then," I concurred. "You had a good game on the mound, but you also looked good at the plate, so try to enjoy the ride back. I hope Coach Hendricks is able to get through to the others, without getting down on the rest of you."

"Yeah, me too," he agreed, before racing off.

The boys and I took off and we easily beat the bus back to school. I parked where I normally did, along the curb in front of the main entrance, and waited. We saw the bus drive in about five minutes later and it pulled up behind us and let the team off. Tyler immediately ran over and hopped in the car.

"The coach wasn't too bad," he stated, once he got buckled in. "We're going to practice tomorrow and Saturday at 9:00 too, because our next game is on Monday. Coach said he'd thought about giving us Saturday off, because he knew a few of us would be trying out for the summer league that day, but since some of the team has been screwing off, he felt we needed the extra work."

"I can understand that, but it's going to make it rough on me," I pointed out. "What I'll have to do is drop you and Dylan off at the school a little earlier than usual on Saturday, because Ethan's tryout is at 9:00 too, just the same as your practice. I'll stay with him until he's done and then I'll swing back to pick you boys up afterward."

"That's fine with us," Tyler agreed. "Me and Dylan will be alright hanging out at the school for a while before and after practice, if we need to. You don't have to worry about us."

"I hope not," I countered.

That comment evoked a surprised look from Tyler in return, but I wasn't sure if he thought I didn't trust him or that I didn't think they were capable of defending themselves and each other. He didn't say anything about it though, but after seeing the look on his face I felt he might do that later, when we were alone.

We stopped and grabbed some take out on the way home, because the boys were already hungry and I didn't feel like fixing anything. After we finished eating, Ethan and Marcus raced off to do other things, but Tyler stuck around to speak with me.

"I want to ask you about the comment you made in the car," he began, while looking at me with a serious expression on his face. "I know you trust me, at least I'm pretty sure you do, so don't you think me and Dylan can handle ourselves, if anyone tried something?"

"I absolutely trust you," I assured him, "but I'm not sure you two would be able to handle every situation on your own. I'm not sure if I could handle some situations, especially if the other person had a weapon or was much bigger than myself, but I know you two will do ok in most cases."

"Oh, ok. I guess I can see that. I just wanted to be sure," Tyler added. He then took off to take his shower and do his homework.

Other than checking their assignments after they finished and giving the younger pair their baths, nothing out of the ordinary happened. We all slept in our own beds, which in itself was quite unusual as of late. Everyone woke up in a good mood the next morning and eagerly started getting ready for school.

The day passed by uneventfully and I was soon on my way home to enjoy the weekend. After picking up Ethan and Marcus, we swung by the school to watch the end of Tyler and Dylan's practice. They didn't look very happy as they headed toward the locker room to shower and I wasn't exactly sure what was wrong with them. I had a vague idea about what might be bothering them, but I'd have to wait and speak to them first, in order to be certain.

After those two came out of the school and hopped in the car, I set out for Dylan's house to pick up Justin. On the way, Dylan and Tyler filled me in on what was bothering them.

"Before practice started, the 8th graders began taking bets on how much we were going to win the next game by," Tyler stated, sounding disgusted.

"When they asked us what we thought, we told them we were just focused on the tryouts tomorrow and didn't have time for stupid stuff like that," Dylan stated, with touch of bitterness in his voice.

"Then, they told us none of us 7th graders had to worry about the tryouts or making a team, because we were better than the other guys that would be trying out," Tyler advised me. "They said we needed to loosen up, because this was party weekend."

"When we asked them what that was supposed to mean, they laughed and said they were going to be getting together and enjoying the weekend and told us we should too," Dylan added. "They're going to blow the next game for us. I just know it."

"Yeah, I hope Coach Hendricks doesn't play any of the 8th graders now, because we'll do better without them," Tyler spat out, totally disgusted by the way his older teammates were acting.

"I hope things work out for the team then," I commiserated, as we pulled into the Cochrans' driveway.

Dylan got out and hustled inside to get his brother, but he also told us that he needed to get something else that he'd forgotten to put in with his other things before he left the house that morning. I told him there was no hurry and to take his time. I didn't want him to feel that he had to rush and then hurt himself in the process.

When the two brothers came out to join us, I saw Cherie waving in our direction from the doorway. I waved back and then pulled into the street, as we headed toward the diner. Once again, I didn't feel like cooking and felt this was the best alternative.

We said hello to everyone on our way in, as we were led back to a booth. We sat in the same order we had the last time we were all here together, with Justin sitting between Marcus and me, while Ethan sat between Dylan and Tyler. After ordering, the boys turned their attention to the tryouts.

"Do you think we'll all make a team?" Marcus asked and I could tell he needed some encouragement.

"Let me put it this way," I began. "I've seen you boys improve over the past several weeks while we've practiced at the park together. If you do half as well as you did there, then I'm sure you'll all be picked by a team. It will make life interesting for me though, because I'll have to juggle driving you all around, but I'm glad to do it so you can play."

"Thanks, Uncle Blake," I heard from my three at about the same time.

"And our mom and dad will help with that too," Dylan quickly added, to let me know I wouldn't have to do this alone. "They feel they need to help you out as much as they can, since you've done so much for me and Justin."

"I really appreciate that and it will be a big help," I agreed. "That's why I asked your dad to back me up when we talked to the league officials about putting you boys on the same teams."

"That was excellent!" Dylan enthusiastically agreed. "I'm really glad you did that, because this way we'll be able to spend more time at your house with you too."

About that time our meals arrived, so we ended our discussion and concentrated on the food. As soon as we finished eating, I herded everyone out to the wagon and drove them home. When we reached the house, the boys each carried their things inside, and almost as soon as we walked through the door, Justin asked me a question.

"Can we shower together again and then all sleep in Marcus' room, like we did last time?" he wanted to know.

"You three can shower together if you want, but you'll have to wash yourselves," I answered.

"You aren't going to wash us?" Justin shot back, as he looked at me confused.

"No, I don't think I need to be getting naked with you every time you're over here," I replied. "And I don't think it would be a good idea for you three to sleep together naked tonight either. You stayed up a lot later than you should have the last time you did that and you're going to need your sleep this time, if you want to do well at your tryouts."

"Ok, we won't do it then," Justin agreed, "but won't you please wash us?"

"Sure, if you want to take a bath instead," I replied, much to Justin's disappointment. After seeing how Justin was reacting, another option was offered.

"Me and Dylan will take a shower with you and wash you, if you want," Tyler offered. Almost immediately, the three little ones were putting their heads together and whispering back and forth.

"Ok, we'll do that then," Marcus agreed for all of them.

I wasn't sure what this meant or what it might lead to, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to know either. I asked if they were going to do this now or later, since they still had a couple of hours left before they needed to go to bed, and they quickly agreed to do it later. In the meantime, the three youngest went with me to the family room and decided to watch something on the Disney channel. Dylan and Tyler chose not to join us and headed up to Tyler's bedroom instead.

The little ones were pressed against me on three sides, as we watched a movie. Justin was on my right, Marcus on my left and Ethan was on my lap. All three rested their heads against me, as we enjoyed what was happening on the television screen. When the movie ended, I told them it was time to go up and take their shower and they needed to let Dylan and Tyler know they were ready. I also told them they could yell down when they wanted me to come up to tuck them into bed.

It was more than forty minutes later when I heard Ethan call for me. "Uncle Blake, you can come up now."

I was a little surprised it had taken them so long to shower, but I wasn't about to say anything. Instead, I went up and tucked Ethan in bed first and then I went over to tuck Justin and Marcus into Marcus' bed next. I also told them no fooling around tonight and they were to go to sleep. Then I went down the hallway to say goodnight to Dylan and Tyler.

"I hope you didn't have any trouble with the little ones," I stated, when I walked into the room. I only brought this up because it had taken them so long.

"I wouldn't exactly call it trouble but it sure was interesting," Tyler replied. "Dylan and I had talked it over before they came up and agreed that I was going to wash Justin and he was going to wash Marcus and Ethan. That part was ok, but those three kept grabbing our dicks and rubbing our balls and butts the whole time."

"Yeah, they had both of us hard and even tried to jerk us off," Dylan added, as he looked at me, incredulously.

"I didn't think they knew about that stuff yet," I offered, since I was totally surprised by this news as well.

"I think maybe Marcus saw some of that stuff happen at my birthday party, because a bunch of the guys jerked each other off after some of the others were asleep," Tyler responded, in order to explain this for me. "Marcus must have been awake at the time and seen some of it, so maybe they tried it with each other when they slept together naked."

"That would definitely explain a few things. Maybe I shouldn't have let Marcus join you that night," I suggested, belatedly.

"He would have learned about it sooner or later, so it's probably not such a big deal," Tyler suggested.

"Maybe not to you, but I would have preferred it didn't happen for a couple more years, especially if he's getting Ethan and Justin involved in it too," I replied.

"Yeah, I guess that could be a problem," Tyler conceded.

"So what did you two do when this happened?" I asked, since I wanted to know what transpired next.

"We both let them do it for a little while, but stopped them before we cummed," Dylan answered. "It was kinda like you did when they touched you in the shower last week. We didn't want to completely discourage them, because we knew they were just being curious, but we told them afterward that they should only do this here and nowhere else."

"I'm glad you two put a limit on what you let the boys do and were smart enough to warn them afterward," I agreed, somewhat relieved.

"They got us all worked up though, so now we're going to have to take care of each other," Dylan added, with a wink.

"Then I'll leave you two alone to do that," I countered, as I gave each one a peck on the lips and a hug for helping me out.

"We could come over and do it in your room and then sleep with you," Dylan offered, hopefully.

"I think you two should just stay here and do whatever it is you are going to do," I suggested, as I turned to leave.

After I exited the room, I decided to go to bed too. I was tired out as well and Saturday was going to be a very hectic day for me. I had Tyler and Dylan's practice first, along with Ethan's tryout, but then we'd get a little break until Justin and Marcus were due to try out, followed by Dylan and Tyler's tryout after that.

Once again, I was just falling asleep when I heard someone enter my bedroom. I wasn't surprised when I saw Tyler standing beside my bed.

"Can we sleep with you? Please?" he asked, as soon as he saw I was looking at him.

"No, I'm not going to get in the habit of letting you two do this every weekend," I responded, without hesitation, "Just as I turned the little ones down earlier about showering with them, I'm turning down your request as well."

"Please?" I heard Dylan beg from the doorway.

"Not this time," I repeated. "You'll sleep just fine in Tyler's room tonight."

They weren't happy with my answer, but they did as I'd asked. A short time later, I finally fell asleep and spent the night alone.

When the alarm went off the next morning, I took a quick shower and then woke the boys before I went down to fix breakfast. It was just scrambled eggs and toast this time, but I promised to make it up to them at lunchtime. I told them we would eat early today, just as soon Ethan's tryout and Dylan and Tyler's practice ended. That way, Justin and Marcus wouldn't be going to their tryout right after eating, but it would still allow them to make up for the meager breakfast. It should also give their meals time to settle before their tryout began.

As soon as the boys had finished eating, I told them to go get dressed quickly and then load all of their gear into the wagon. I also told them to remember the tags they were given when they signed up, because they would need to wear them at the tryouts. It was the only ID they would have so the coaches would know who they wanted to pick. After I'd said this, Dylan admitted that was what he rushed into his house to get when we stopped to pick up Justin.

When I dropped Dylan and Tyler off at school, I knew they would have to wait about twenty minutes before their coach showed up. I felt badly that they would have to stand around for so long, but I wanted to make sure I got Ethan to the field in plenty of time for his session.

Once we got to where his tryout was going to be held, I could see all of the other eager five and six-year-olds waiting to tryout too. After about a ten minute wait, the coaches and league officials got things started and ran the boys through a series of fielding and throwing drills, before letting them hit off the tees. I could see the coaches jotting down notes about the various boys as they went through their paces.

Doing my own mental evaluation of what was going on, I actually thought Ethan was one of the better kids I saw trying out for tee-ball, if not the best, but I might have been prejudice. He not only did a great job at fielding grounders and catching fly balls, but his throws were accurate too and they also had some zip on them. On top of that, he did great hitting off the tee as well. He hit the ball just as hard and far as anyone else, but he also made contact with the ball every time he swung, rather than hitting the tee or missing the ball completely. I made sure to tell him I thought he'd done a good job, once he came over to find me after they'd finished.

"You looked terrific out there," I told him. "I don't think you have anything to worry about."

"You were the best one out there," Marcus eagerly assured him, without any prompting from me.

"Yeah, you looked really good doing everything," Justin added, making it unanimous.

"Really? You think I will get picked then?" Ethan asked, looking for confirmation.

"Unless the coaches are blind or crazy, I think you're a shoo-in," I replied.

"What's a shoe got to do with it?" Ethan wondered, confused.

"Not shoe, like you put on your foot, but shoo, like you say when you want to get something to go away or get moving in the right direction," I told him. "It's just a way of saying you're sure to get picked or bound to get what you want. In other words, I'm saying you've got nothing to worry about."

"You should have just said that then," Ethan added, while giving me sort of a scowl. This let me know I would need to select my phrases more carefully when dealing with the boys, although they should probably learn the meaning of expressions such as this too.

From there, I took those three back to the school to see if their brothers were done yet. The coach was talking to the team when we pulled up, so we didn't get out of the Outback. I thought he was merely going over a few things quickly before letting them go, so we waited to see. If not, then we could always get out to watch them after they took the field again. My first guess turned out to be correct, however, and Dylan and Tyler waved at me as they headed toward the locker room. Once I saw this, I pulled up in front of the school.

When Dylan and Tyler got in the car a short time later, Ethan was the first one to speak.

"Uncle Blake says I'm gonna get picked to play on a team," he announced, with a huge grin on his face.

"That's great!" Dylan responded.

"Yeah! Congrats, bro," Tyler added, grinning at Ethan. "I knew you could do it."

"Ok, time to talk about lunch. What do you guys think about getting subs?" I asked next, breaking up the little congratulatory party.

"Yeah!" I heard them all reply, nearly at once.

I then drove over to Subway and let each of them get what they wanted. Just as before, the little ones got 6" subs, while the rest of us got a foot-long sub. They also got chips and a drink to go with it. I didn't worry about Dylan and Tyler eating too much, because they would have more than enough time to digest such a large meal before their tryout began. Besides, they had a small breakfast and worked really hard at their practice, so they needed it to build their strength back up.

We stayed at Subway to eat, rather than making the trip home. After the boys finished their meal, I told them they should take it easy and not race around until their tryouts began. They didn't give me any problems about doing this, so I drove them over to the park where Justin and Marcus would be trying out next and we found a nice shady shot to hang out and wait. I felt this was the best way to handle the in between time, because this way I'd avoid the extra running around that would be caused by driving home and back. It would also ensure we would be on time for this tryout session to begin.

This tryout was taking place at a different park than where Ethan had tried out earlier and was going to be held on an enclosed field, with fences at an even 225 feet [70 m] all the way around. We were definitely the first ones there and I spotted the Cochrans when they showed up about forty minutes later. We all moved to the bleachers at that point and sat together to watch how Justin and Marcus did.

That pair performed admirably when it was their turn to show what they could do. They both did quite well fielding grounders, although Marcus did a tad better than Justin, but Justin seemed to do better when it came to catching fly balls. He even ran down one fly ball that was hit poorly by the assistant coach and I could tell the other coaches were impressed by what he'd done. Both boys did really well with throwing and hitting too, so I felt they had nothing to worry about either.

"You guys did great," Tyler told them when they came back to join us.

"Yeah, I don't think you'll have to worry about getting picked," Dylan added. "I hope me and Tyler do as well as you just did."

"That was the best I've seen either of you do since we started practicing together," I told them. "Your hard work has definitely paid off."

"I was quite impressed with both of you too," Don added. "You looked almost as good as your older brothers."

Marcus and Justin were beaming after receiving this praise and began strutting around like a couple of peacocks. It was really cute to watch.

Dylan and Tyler's tryout was going to be held at another field, because the three youngest groups played on fields with 60 foot [18.5 m] base paths. The older two groups played on fields with regulation 90 feet [27.5 m] between the bases. I left Don and Cherie with Marcus and Justin, because they weren't quite finished yet. The coaches still wanted to time the boys to see how fast they were, especially when compared to each other, so I took Dylan and Tyler and drove over to their tryout next.

I also took Ethan with me and we got there just in time, due to being held up in traffic. It made me wish I'd left the other field a few minutes earlier, but luckily our late arrival didn't negatively effect the way the boys performed. Dylan and Tyler hustled out to join those that were already on the field, because they wanted to make sure they didn't get left out. This tryout was taking place on another very nice enclosed field, but the outfield fence here was marked off at 300 feet [90 m] all the way around.

Don and Cherie arrived with our 10-year-olds about a half hour later and came over to sit with Ethan and me. A couple of the assistant coaches were already working with the boys, as one hit ground balls to them at the shortstop position and had them throw to another coach at first. Once each boy fielded a few ground balls, he went out to shag fly balls in center field next and then make a long throw to another coach standing near the one hitting the fly balls. Tyler and Dylan both looked good in those drills and I overheard a couple of the coaches talking about them.

During the batting portion of the tryout, Tyler hit two balls over the fence, while Dylan hit a homerun too, but that was merely icing on the cake. Both boys had been connecting solidly with the pitches and hitting the ball hard, as they sprayed line drives all around the field. After watching this pair finish up, I didn't think any of the boys should have a problem making a team.

Each of the boys had been told that the various leagues would hold their drafts the following day, so they should be receiving a call either Sunday night or possibly Monday evening instead. I knew the boys would be on pins and needles until they received those calls, so I was hoping their notifications would come early in the day, rather than later.

My boys and I said goodbye to Don, Cherie, Dylan and Justin as they got ready to head home. Before they left, however, Cherie had something to tell my three.

"Since Dylan and Justin are calling your uncle, Uncle Blake, my husband and I want you to start calling us Uncle Don and Aunt Cherie from now on," she announced.

Tyler, Marcus and Ethan were all thrilled by this announcement and eagerly chimed in, "Goodbye, Uncle Don! Goodbye, Aunt Cherie," as they were walking away.

After getting the boys home, cleaned up and fed, we settled in for a quiet night. They kept talking about their tryouts and making comments about how they thought they and each other had done. Whenever one of them asked me what I thought, I replied they had done really well and should be getting a call sometime over the next couple of days to verify that fact.

Later, after I'd tucked the two younger ones in bed, Tyler came over to speak with me.

"Last night I realized something," he stated, while giving me a dirty look. "You said you were going to get me some of those fake dicks to practice with, but you never did."

"They're called dildos," I pointed out. "Think of them as a sick female deer, an 'ill doe' and just add a 'd' for deer in front of it." I thought making a joke out of the word would keep him from forgetting it again. "And I did get them for you, I just forgot to give them to you. I stored them on the top shelf of my closet, so your brothers wouldn't find them, and then they simply slipped my mind."

Actually, I hadn't given them to him intentionally, hoping he might forget about them for a while. Unfortunately, something must have triggered his memory. That made me wonder what he and Dylan had been up to after I'd refused to let them sleep with me again.

"So can I have them now?" he wanted to know.

"I will give them to you, but I want you to keep them someplace where Ethan and Marcus won't find them," I cautioned. "I don't want to have to answer their questions about why you have them and what they're for."

"Ok, I promise," he agreed. "So are you going to get them for me?"

"Yes, just be patient," I snapped, as I headed toward the closet. I pulled down the bag and dug out a couple of items and handed them to him.

"These are the two smaller dildos and here's a bottle of lube to use with them," I explained, as I handed him the items. "I'll hold on to the two larger dildos until I think you're ready for them. You can start off practicing with the smallest one first and then move on to the next larger one when you think you're ready. Just coat the outer surface with a little lube first, before you insert it."

"Will you show me what to do?" he wanted to know.

"Yes, I can do that for you," I agreed, but then decided to tease him a bit before giving in. "Are you hinting that you want me to do that now?"

"Yeah, I was and that would be great!" he replied.

"Ok and when you're done just wash them using the liquid soap and warm water, but make sure they're thoroughly clean before you dry them off and put them away. It's imperative that you do a good job doing this, especially if you're going to let Dylan use them too."

"Ok, I promise we'll do that," he concurred, which let me know he did plan on sharing these with Dylan too.

I then showed him how to pour some lube over the smallest one, as I held it in my palm and then worked the lube all around the surface of the dildo next. After I'd finished doing this, I handed it to him.

"You should probably put some lube on your fingers before you use this. Just insert one of your fingers into your rectum first and move it in and out for a while. Then do the same thing with two fingers, so you stretch your opening out a little bit before you put the dildo in there," I suggested, as he looked at me.

"Will you do all that for me now, so I know what you mean?" he followed, and his expression pleaded with me to give in.

"I'm sure you can figure that part out for yourself," I responded, thinking it wouldn't be necessary for me to do this for him.

"Please? Come on, just this once," he whined, while flashing me his most pathetic look. I was going to say 'no', but his eyes were begging for me to give in.

"Ok, I'll do it this time," I conceded, since he looked so damn miserable. "Get on the bed and I'll explain exactly what I'm doing, so you can do it to yourself after this. You'll also be able to show or tell Dylan how to do it too."

Tyler immediately shed his shorts and t-shirt and then raced over and hopped on the bed, before spreading his legs to give me access. Since I already had lube on my hand from preparing the dildo, I placed my middle finger at his entrance and slowly began to add pressure. Gradually, it slid inside him.

"Oh, that feels strange," he announced, once I had the finger all the way in his butt. "It didn't hurt or nothin', but it was like taking a crap with it going in, instead of coming out."

"I guess that's one way to describe it," I confirmed. I then worked the finger around for a while, before repeatedly sliding it in and out of his hole.

As soon as he seemed comfortable with that, I added a little more lube to my hand and used my index and middle fingers next. I saw him wince slightly as these went in, but he didn't ask me to stop or complain that it hurt. Since he seemed to be fine, I repeated the same procedure that I'd used with just my middle finger and finished up by sliding the pair of digits in and out of his widening hole.

"Are you ok and do you want to continue?" I asked, just to be sure.

"Yeah, I'm ok and you can use the dildo now," he confirmed. "I want to see what that feels like too."

I then followed the same procedure with the smallest dildo and gradually worked it in and out of him as well. When I felt I'd done that for a sufficient amount of time, I pulled the dildo out and looked at Tyler's face.

"That's enough for now," I told him. "Take this and clean it off before you put it away."

When he grabbed the dildo from me, he inspected it for a few seconds first. Then, he looked up at me and spoke.

"I guess you were right about using this before I did anything else," he told me. "It isn't nearly as big as your dick and it made me feel full, so I guess I wasn't ready to do it with you after all."

"I'm glad you're mature enough to admit that now," I told him, as I gave his bare ass a swat and sent him on his way.

The boys were all a bundle of nerves from the moment they got up Sunday morning. Even though I tried to explain that they probably wouldn't be getting a call until later that evening, at the earliest, they were all wound up tighter than an 8-day clock. All I could do was to hope the coaches would call before they all hyperventilated, or worse.

In an effort to keep them calm, I had the boys come into the family room with me to watch a movie, since I hoped this might distracted them, at least temporarily. It worked to some extent, but as soon as the movie ended they reverted back to the way they were before.

Seeing they weren't doing any better, I talked them all into going outside to help me wash both vehicles. Once we started doing that, especially after they began squirting each other and me with the hose, their other concerns slipped their minds for a while. When we finished, we were all soaking wet, so I had them enter the house through the garage, because I didn't want them tracking through the house. As soon as I lowered the garage door, I had them strip down, along with myself, and we left our shoes there to dry and carried our clothes to the laundry room, so I could put them in the washer. Then, I sent them upstairs to towel off and get dressed again, while I finished up there and before I did the same.

When we came downstairs a short time later, I fixed them lunch and then took them into the family room to watch another movie. This time they were a little more relaxed and each one cuddled against me as we focused on the screen. When the movie ended, I was just about ready to ask what they wanted to do next when the phone rang. They all sat up straight, with their eyes wide, their mouths hanging open and their heads turned in the direction of the phone.

"By the way, I'll answer all phone calls today," I advised them, as I got up and headed over to see who was calling. After quickly exchanging greetings with the person on the other end and chatting with him briefly, I decided to let the boys know who this call was for.

"Ethan, it's for you," I announced, and he came racing out to take the phone from me. I walked back to the family room to be with the other two and before long Ethan came charging into the family room to tell us the good news.

"I got picked on a team," he announced, as he danced around excitedly. "I'm going to be on the Angels."

Each team in his league had a corporate sponsor and then an American League team name too, but the kids usually just referred to the team by the last moniker. I thought it was very appropriate that my littlest angel was going to be playing for the O'Charley's Angels. O'Charley's is a restaurant chain that is headquartered in Tennessee, but it has restaurants locally too.

"That's fantastic," I told him. "When do you practice?"

"Next Saturday," he answered.

"Do you know what time or where?" I asked and he looked scared as he shook his head. I was glad I'd managed to get that information from his coach before I'd called him to the phone.

I was also glad I'd prepared for this day in advance. One night on my way home from work, I had stopped off at Staples and purchased a calendar that had large squares for each day, so there was plenty of space to jot down notes. I'd also bought three highlighters, one each in orange, green and blue, which I could use to differentiate between the three boys. I quickly jotted down the information about Ethan's practice and highlighted it in orange before I forgot the details.

Now, the other two were even more uptight than before, since Ethan had heard from his coach. I was almost thinking I'd need to drug them, in order to keep them from getting too nervous, but I wasn't ready to go to that extreme just yet. I was out in the kitchen fixing dinner when the phone rang again. I followed a similar routine as earlier, before I announced who this call was for.

"Tyler, it's for you," I shouted.

He came flying out to take the phone from me and excitedly spoke to the person on the other end. After chatting with the man for a couple of minutes, he came over to inform me about his good news.

"I'm playing for the Fraternal Order of Eagles," he announced. "The coach says the uniforms will only say F.O.E. on them, but I think that's neat. We'll be everyone else's biggest foe." I had to chuckle at his observation.

He then told me when and where his practice would be, although I already knew that information, because I'd asked his coach before calling Tyler to the phone. I carefully marked it down on the calendar and highlighted it in blue. When I finished doing this, I noticed the extremely worried look on Marcus' face.

"Don't worry," I advised him. "Just because you haven't been called yet, it doesn't mean anything. I was told that your league has the most teams, because you have three age groups playing, 10 thru 12, while Ethan and Tyler's leagues only have two age groups in each. It's just going to take them a little longer to get through the draft and make their calls."

Marcus suddenly looked a little better as this information sank in. Just then the phone rang again. I picked it up and talked to the person on the other end.

"Tyler, it's Dylan," I announced. "Talk quickly and tell him you'll call him back from your cell phone, so we don't miss Marcus' call." A minute later, Tyler hung up and came to find me.

"Dylan got his call too, but he understood about not staying on the phone very long, because Justin is just as nervous," he explained.

"Yes, it's a little harder on Marcus and Justin, since the rest of you got your calls already," I agreed. "We've just got to keep him calm until he finds out too."

After we finished dinner, I took the boys to the family room to watch TV together. This time I held Marcus on my lap, because I knew he needed me the most right now. As the evening wore on, he was getting more and more nervous, even though I kept reminding him that they'd been told some boys making the team might not be called until Monday night. He made a face, but nodded in return.

About 8:15 the phone rang again, so I placed Marcus on the couch and went to answer it. I talked to the person for a couple of minutes before saying anything to the boys.

"Marcus, it's for you this time," I told him. He jumped into the air, pumped his fist and then came rushing out to take the call. A couple of minutes later, he came racing back into the family room to share his good news.

"Me and Justin are going to be playing for the Braves," he shouted, totally overjoyed.

"The real Braves?" Ethan asked, looking shocked.

"No, the Masonite Braves," Marcus answered. At least he remembered his sponsor's name too, but his league used National League teams for the other half.

Marcus then told me when and where he'd be practicing, although I already knew this information, so I marked it down on the calendar and highlighted it in green. I figured I would buy a small valise to keep the calendar, highlighters and a couple of pens in, so I could carry it with me between the house and car. That way, I'd always have it available so I could jot down the new practice and game times, but I'd also be able to keep track of what was going on at any particular moment.

Now that everyone knew they had made a team, I gave the younger pair their baths and put them to bed. After Tyler finished his shower, he came in to talk to me.

"I'd forgotten about this, because I was worried about making a summer league team, but now I'm worried about our game tomorrow," he informed me. "Can I sleep with you tonight, so I won't think about it so much?"

In the back of my mind I'd pretty much been expecting this to happen, since I hadn't forgot about his upcoming game. While he and the others had been fretting and stewing about getting a phone call, I had pretty much anticipated they'd all be hearing from one of the coaches sooner or later. Following that same vein, after I'd watched some of Tyler's teammates trying out yesterday, it had reminded me about Monday's game. Factoring all of that together, I answered him.

"Yes, I don't have a problem with you doing that, since this is your last week playing on the school team," I agreed. "After Thursday's game though, I don't feel we'll need to do the same thing for the summer league games."

"Maybe if there's a really tough game coming up?" Tyler asked, hopefully.

"We'll see, but I'm not sure any games in the summer league will be that important," I replied.

Once we got in bed and he cuddled up against me, I could feel his erection poking me through his boxer briefs. I didn't say anything at first, but since it didn't seem to be going down and he kept moving around and making it even more obvious, I finally decided to address the issue.

"I take it you need help with that too," I quipped, as I moved my leg against his obvious boner.

"Yeah, that would be nice and it would help me sleep better," he agreed, playing it coy.

"I have a feeling you planned this all along," I shot back, as I tossed the covers out of the way. I turned on the lamp after that so I could see his face and it was covered with a huge grin.

"You're a sneaky little devil," I teased, as I pulled down his boxer briefs and exposed his throbbing penis.

Once again, this was only to take care of his immediate problem, so as 'Larry the Cable Guy' would have said, we'd just 'Git-R-Done!' I lowered my mouth over the tip and closed my lips around his shaft, before I began to bob my head up and down on it at a fairly rapid pace. I also let my tongue tease and stimulate his penis at the same time and Tyler started to buck his hips to match my movements. He didn't seem to mind that this was just going to be another quickie, because he was obviously only seeking relief.

After a couple of minutes of this frantic pace, Tyler thrust his hips upward one final time, as his body stiffened and he grunted with each shot of semen that entered my mouth. It seemed to me that he ejaculated more than usual, so he must not have jerked off after I'd worked my fingers and the dildo in him last night. The long duration in between obviously left him a little hornier than usual and more in need of ejaculating, so I was glad I'd decided to do this for him.

As soon as I'd finished and helped him pull up his underwear again, he cuddled against me as he normally would. Within a minute or two, I could tell by his even breathing that he had already fallen asleep. I just turned my head and kissed him on the forehead, before I did the same.

Everyone seemed to be in a really good mood when I woke them up on Monday morning, probably because they were anxious to share the great news with their friends at school. I was glad to see them so happy, as they ran outside to get on their buses.

Tonight was going to be Tyler's final away game, so I asked my boss if I could leave a little earlier again. After assuring him this would be the last time for a while, he agreed to honor my request, so I called Brenda Riordan to notify her too.

I was pretty busy at work, but we also had to attend a couple of mandatory meetings during the day, which kind of distracted me from thinking about Tyler's game. One meeting was concerned with budget issues and the other meeting was about an upgrade to the accounting software. We were then told that each of us would be required to do some beta testing on the upgraded system, along with doing our regular jobs on the old software. This meant we'd basically have to do everything twice during the beta process, first as we normally would do it, but then we'd have to repeat the process on the beta system, to make sure the results were the same.

This process wasn't going to start until the following Monday, so at least Tyler's school team will have finished its season by then. The unfortunate part was that the summer leagues would just be getting started and I'd have three boys to rush home to and get ready for whatever their team was doing that night.

The beta process was going to mean a lot more work for all of us, although we'd be getting paid some overtime for doing it too. This meant everyone in our department would be making a little more money as well. It also explained why the department was going to be experiencing budget problems, since the upgrade wasn't in the works when the budget was being prepared for this year.

The changes we would be incorporating into the software was something that the software developer had only added recently, but claimed it was urgent for everyone else to install. We were informed these new modifications were meant to take care of some problems they'd discovered in the original code that might allow the system to be hacked, besides making it vulnerable to malware and viruses.

After hearing this, the company felt these problems were severe enough to require immediate attention, so the C.E.O. was going to give our department a little extra money to take care of these issues. Our department manager, however, felt the amount of money the C.E.O. was offering wouldn't be sufficient to cover the entire cost of doing this. Therefore, we would have to make some additional cuts in our department budge to accommodate for what would actually be needed. That's why the first meeting was held.

This was great for nearly everyone else, since they were excited about the extra income, but that was only a secondary concern for me. What I was most worried about was that I would have to do most of my share of the beta testing on the company laptop at home later, after I had finished chauffeuring the kids around. This wouldn't be too bad until school was through for the year, because the leagues tried to take it a little easy on the boys while classes were still in session. Until then, they promised to only tie the boys up two nights a week, because they didn't want to affect their grades. This was good for the time being, but as soon as school ended, all bets were off.

By the time I left for the day, my head was spinning. All of these concerns were going through my mind as I drove home to get the boys, so we could head over to the school that Tyler's team was playing. I was so distracted before I picked the boys up that I'm surprised I didn't have an accident. However, once Ethan and Marcus got in the car, they distracted me from those other issues.

As I pulled up at the school, I was fortunate to find someone that was able to direct me to the park where the game was going to be played. When we arrived at the field, the game hadn't started yet, which made me grateful that we hadn't missed anything. It was another enclosed ballpark, similar to the one where the 13 - 14-year-old tryouts had been held this past weekend, but I wasn't sure if this was an advantage or a disadvantage.

As I watched the team warm up, I could see some of the boys appeared to be more sluggish than usual. I also noticed that Tyler had a disgusted look on his face as he spoke with some of his teammates. After thinking about this for a few minutes, I realized that all of the players he was talking to and making ugly faces at were 8th graders. That's when it suddenly dawned on me that Tyler's worst fears might be coming true.

When the game started, Tyler's team was up first, since they were the visitors. Dylan led off with a single, but then Nathan popped up to the shortstop and Trent struck out, so Dylan wasn't able to advance. Tyler then hit a double to right center field, but Dylan had to stop and retreat back to third after the right fielder made a quick recovery of the ball and fired a strike to home plate. Jacob then hit a weak grounder to second for the final out.

Crawford was pitching and he walked the leadoff batter. The second man in the order then hit a single between short and third, but the runners took second and third when Jacob bobbled the ball in left field. Crawford then walked the next batter to load up the bases. The cleanup hitter then came to the plate and flew out to Antonio in right for the first out, but it was deep enough that the runner on third was able to tag up and score and the runner on second went to third. The kid on first stayed where he was, as the ball came in to Dylan, who was the cutoff man.

The next batter hit a grounder to Tyler at short and he scooped the ball up and tossed it to Dylan at second to get the force out at second. Dylan's relay throw was also in time, but Curtis bobbled the ball at first, so the runner was safe and the boy on third scored. Crawford then hit the next kid with a pitch, putting him on first and moving the other boy to second, but Coach Hendricks had seen enough. The other team was now ahead 2 - 0 and there were runners on first and second, so the coach pulled Crawford out of the game and called Trent in to pitch. He also sent Paul out to center field and he replaced Crawford in the batting order. The coach was obviously upset enough that he had pulled Crawford completely out of the game and sat him on the bench.

After Trent warmed up, the next batter popped up to third to end the inning. Even though they were in a hole, it could have been worse, and I could see the coach chewing out some of the players for their lack of effort and mental lapses as they returned to the bench. It seemed to be the 8th graders that had been the problem so far, both with the bat and in the field.

Since Paul had come in for Crawford, he was up first in the top of the second. He hit a little dribbler to third, but hustled and beat out the throw. All of his teammates were cheering and telling him great job, which was a big boost to Paul's ego. Jamal followed that up by hitting a ball up the middle, but the other team's shortstop made a great play and grabbed it. Not only was he able to keep the ball from going into the outfield, but he also made backhand flip to the second baseman for the force out. It was a really tough break for Jamal, Paul and the team. Antonio followed him to the plate and struck out while looking at a pitch that was too close to take with two strikes. Curtis then hit a foul pop up behind the plate that the catcher caught to end the inning.

When the other team came up to bat, the eighth batter in the lineup was up first and he hit a line drive toward Curtis at first base. Curtis reacted to it very slowly or he might have been able to catch it. Instead, the ball sailed over his head for a single. The next batter popped up to Tyler at short for the first out, which brought the other team to the top of its batting order again.

Their leadoff batter then hit a long fly ball to center, but Paul was able to track it down for the second out. Trent then walked the next batter, which put runners on first and second, and brought up the third man in the batting order. Trent fell behind early, throwing 3 straight balls, but then he got the kid to hit a shallow pop up behind the plate. Nathan threw off his mask but seemed to have trouble locating the ball, so it ended up falling to the ground in foul territory for a strike. It was unusual for Nathan to miss such an easy chance, but he didn't seem to be moving as quickly or decisively today.

With a 3-1 count on the batter, Trent threw the next pitch over the center of the plate. The kid took advantage of being given a second chance and zeroed in on the pitch, hitting it squarely. It sailed high into the air and out to left field, so Jacob started after it, although he looked to be moving in slow motion. Somehow he managed to catch up to the ball and it appeared that he was going to catch it, but at the last second it bounced out of his glove and then barely cleared the outfield fence before hitting the ground, giving the boy a 3 run homer. It also put the other team ahead 5 - 0.

Coach Hendricks immediately jumped off the bench and called time after the batter crossed the plate. He then began making wholesale substitutions. First, he called Dylan in to pitch and I could see Dylan smiling from ear-to-ear as he walked toward the mound. Coach then put Jon in Trent's spot in the batting order and told Jon to play second base, but he also told Carlos to put the catcher's gear on and take Nathan's place. The coach wasn't done yet and sent Stanton out to left for Jacob, Jose went in for Antonio in right, while D'Wayne was sent out to play first base for Curtis. This meant the coach had just taken out all of the 8th grade starters and the only 8th grader playing was Jose, who'd just gone in as a sub. Now, we had to hope that nobody got injured, because there was no one left on the bench still eligible to play.

After Dylan warmed up, he faced the other team's cleanup batter first. He was ahead of him in the count 1 - 2, when the kid hit a bloop single over the second baseman's head. Dylan had thrown the right pitch and placed it fairly well, but the ball had caught a little too much of the corner. Dylan had left it close enough for the batter to get a piece of it, but far enough away that the boy was slightly off balance, so the contact wasn't solid. Once that boy reached first base, I saw the expression on Dylan's face change, which left no doubt in my mind that he was even more determined to do well now. He got the next batter to hit a ground ball to Tyler, who tossed it to Jon at second to get the force for the third out.

Dylan was up first to start off the third inning and he hit a shot over third base for a single. When the left fielder fumbled the ball briefly, Dylan hustled and took second on the error. Carlos then hit a single between first and second, but the coach held Dylan up at third. He remembered the right fielder's previous strong throw to the plate and didn't want to take a chance, so there were runner's on the corners. Jon then came up and hit a ball to the third baseman. After looking Dylan back to the bag, the only throw he had was to first and he barely got Jon for the out. Now, there were runners on second and third with one out.

Tyler was up next and hit a long fly to center field. It looked as if it was going to get by the kid playing there, but he made a fantastic catch. Both Dylan and Carlos tagged up and advanced though, which meant Dylan scored and Carlos was on third with two outs. This brought Stanton up next and he hit a line drive over the second baseman's head, which scored Carlos and left Stanton at first. Paul was up after that and he hit a soft line drive between third and short. It could have easily gone through for a base hit, but the shortstop made a diving catch for the final out of the inning. It was a really bad break for Paul and the team, because they were still down, but now the score was 5 - 2.

In the bottom of the third, Dylan faced the sixth man in the other team's lineup first. He struck that kid out looking at a two-seam fastball and then he got the next batter to pop up to D'Wayne at first. He followed that up by striking out the next boy, when he swung late on a four-seam fastball. It was the first easy inning for the team.

Jamal was the first batter up in the top of the fourth and he hit a solid single up the middle, Jose then bunted him down to second, although Jose was thrown out at first. D'Wayne then hit a little blooper over first, so there were runners at the corner's again with one out. This brought Dylan up and he hit the second pitch hard to left-center field. The center fielder had to run a long way to track it down, but somehow he managed to catch it for the out. Jamal was still able to tag up and score from third, but D'Wayne had gone part way to see if the ball was going to drop in and then had to retreat back to first. Carlos was up next and he also hit the ball hard, but it was right at the second baseman, who caught it for the third out. With a few breaks, this could have been a big inning, but they only scored one run and closed the gap to 5 - 3.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Dylan got the ninth batter in the other team's lineup to pop up in foul territory behind the plate. Since he had been using the new stance, Carlos leaped up quickly, took off his mask and located the ball. Then, he pulled the ball in for the first out. This brought up the top of their order and Dylan got the next batter to hit a grounder toward the hole between first and second. D'Wayne made a nice grab to keep the ball from going through, but since Dylan hadn't pitched very much, he forgot to cover first and the kid ended up with an infield single.

I didn't want Dylan to get down on himself, so I yelled out some encouragement, like I would have done for Tyler. "It's ok. Don't worry about it! You're doing well, so just work on the batter."

Coach Hendricks was yelling out encouragement too and I could see Dylan was shaking off his minor mistake, as he bore down on the next batter. He got that boy to hit a grounder to Jamal at third and he fired the ball to D'Wayne, to get the out at first base. That brought up the kid who had hit the 'assisted homerun' his last time at bat and I could tell Dylan was aware of this fact. He started the boy off with a four-seam fastball that the boy took for a strike at the knees. Dylan then threw him a two-seam fastball that tailed in on the boy's fists and tied him up for strike two. Dylan followed that up by throwing a four-seam fastball just off the outside corner of the plate, in an effort to get the boy to chase a bad pitch, but he didn't bite. Dylan followed that up with a forkball that started off at the top of the kid's strike zone. The batter swung over the ball when it dropped, but the pitch would have been called a strike by the umpire anyway, if the boy had let it go by. That ended the inning with the score still 5 - 3.

Jon was up first in the top of the fifth and he surprised everyone by hitting a pitch over the first baseman's head. The ball hit the ground in fair territory, but then spun into foul territory, which gave Jon plenty of time to run to second base for a double. This brought Tyler up next and he hit a hard shot down the third baseline that looked as if it was going to drop in fair. The left fielder, however, made a terrific sliding grab that not only robbed Tyler of a hit, but it also kept Jon from scoring. He was nearly to third when the catch was made and had to race back to second to keep from being doubled up.

This brought Stanton up next and he hit a line drive back up the middle, but the pitcher was able to reach his glove out in time to catch the ball. The force of the ball hitting the glove nearly pulled it off the pitcher's hand, but he was able to hang on to it and Jon managed to get back to second again and avoided the double-play. Paul came to the plate next and hit the third pitch out to right field. It was a little higher than the one Jon had hit, which gave the right fielder time to run under it for the third out. It was another of those 'could have been' innings.

The other team's cleanup batter was up first in the bottom of the fifth and connected with Dylan's fourth pitch. It was a line drive, but fortunately it was right at Tyler and he was able to haul it in for the first out. The next batter hit a little floater out to Jose in right after that and he handled it easily for the second out. The next kid then hit a really slow roller down the third base line that Jamal got to as quickly as he could. Unfortunately, the batter was quite fast and beat the throw for an infield single.

While working on the next batter, Dylan hung on one pitch a little longer than he should have and it hit the dirt in front of the plate. Carlos reacted just like we'd worked on at the park and kept the ball from getting through. It kept the runner at first, so Dylan smiled broadly and gave Carlos the thumbs-up signal, to let him know he'd done a good job. Dylan then got the batter to hit a ground ball to Tyler, which he tossed to D'Wayne at first for the third out.

Jamal was up first in the top of the sixth and hit an outside pitch toward the hole between first and second. The second baseman made an outstanding stop and managed to flip the ball to first in time to get the out, another tough break for us. Jose was up next and hit a ball over the pitcher's head and back up the middle for a single. This brought up D'Wayne and he hit a hard grounder to third. The kid on third fielded the ball cleanly and tossed it to second for the force out, but D'Wayne was too fast for them to complete the double-play. This brought Dylan up again and he hit a rope out to left field. Once again, it looked as if the ball was going to drop in, but the left fielder made another fantastic diving catch to rob him of the hit, just as he'd done to Tyler in the previous inning. It retired the side and left the other team up, 5 - 3.

The eighth man in the lineup was up first in the bottom of the sixth and Dylan struck him out for the second time, but this time he caught the boy looking. Then, Dylan got the ninth batter to pop up to Jon at second base for the second out of the inning. This brought the other team's leadoff batter up again. He worked Dylan to a full count, before he finally flew out to Stanton in left field.

Tyler's team was now coming up in the top of the last inning, still down by two runs. Jon was up first and hit a ball that went over the third baseman's head, but the shortstop reacted quickly and dove for the ball. Miraculously, he was able to catch the ball before it hit the ground for the first out. Tyler was up next and I could see the determination in his eyes. He went with a pitch on the outside half of the plate and drove the ball to right-center field. It was just out of reach of the center fielder and the ball rolled all the way to the fence, which allowed Tyler to race around the bases for a triple.

Tyler's team suddenly began to perk up and I noticed those on the bench had put their rally caps on. That meant it was being done by the 8th graders that had been pulled earlier. I took it to mean that those boys were hoping their teammates would pull this game out, so it wouldn't appear as if they had been the ones to cost them the victory.

Stanton was up next and hit a shot to the outfield, but too close to the left fielder again. That pain in our butts hauled the ball in for the second out, but Tyler was able to tag up at third and beat the throw to the plate, so the team was only down by one run now. Paul stepped to the plate next, and after working the count to 2 - 2, he hit a soft liner to left-center field. It was too deep for the shortstop to catch and too close to the infield for either the left or center fielders to reach, so Paul wound up with a single.

None of Tyler's teammates were able to sit still now, since the tying run was on first, but there were also two outs. The other team's pitcher seemed to be rattled after giving up the last run and ended up walking Jamal next, which moved the tying run to second and put the go ahead run on first. Jose stepped to the plate next, with two outs and a chance to be the hero. After the count went to 1 - 2, Jose hit the next pitch in the air between first and second base. It was too high for either the first or second basemen to grab and the right fielder came charging in for it. He dove and slid through the grass on his stomach, but somehow he also managed to catch the ball for the third out, thus ending the game. Unfortunately, Tyler's team was still down one run, so it meant they had just suffered their first loss of the season.

All of Jose's teammates had jumped up when he made contact with the ball, thinking it was going to drop in for a hit. However, they went from euphoria to total dejection in a just a couple of seconds, as they watched the outfielder make an unbelievable catch. Many of the players even dropped to the ground in disbelief when this happened, but they eventually got up again and walked over to slap hands with the other team.

I was able to overhear Tyler and some of his teammates as they complimented specific individuals on the other team about their fine play and was pleased by their sportsmanship. Their praise definitely included the left fielder and shortstop, who had each robbed Tyler and his teammates from getting hits, but they congratulated the right fielder as well, who had just kept Jose from becoming a hero. Tyler was a little down after the loss and only came over to speak with me quickly, before he took off to be with the rest of the team.

As Tyler and his teammates were getting on the bus, Coach Hendricks came over to speak to me. "I heard you've been working with Dylan and Carlos," he began. "They played super today and you've done a great job preparing them for me. Too bad I didn't go with my gut feeling to bench the starting 8th graders and not let them play this game. Besides the way they'd been acting during our last few practices, I'd heard some rumors at school about what they'd been up to, but I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, those rumors were unofficially confirmed by the way they played on the field. That was the worst I've seen any of them play before. They looked terrible."

I agreed with his assessment and we talked about the game briefly, before he went to get on the bus too. He said he was planning to have a lengthy heart-to-heart chat with the team, but I was convinced this meant he was going to rip some of the boys a new one, while patting some of the others on the back. I couldn't wait to hear what Tyler had to say about it when he got back.

We got to the school before the bus arrived and then waited for the team to show up. As we sat there, I called the Cochrans and told them I'd drop Dylan off, because they hadn't made it to this game and I didn't see either of their cars around. They thanked me and said they were just getting ready to leave the house, so this would save them from making the trip.

When Tyler and Dylan got off the bus, I waved for them to both come over to the car. I then told them I was going to give Dylan a ride home. Once they were both inside and buckled in, I spoke again.

"Dylan, you came in and did a great job pitching today. You looked sharp and held the other team scoreless, which almost gave you guys a chance to pull it out."

"Yeah, but we didn't," he groaned. "That was our first loss, just because of the stupid 8th graders."

"I know, but you 7th graders did everything you could to make up for them and almost came back to win," I assured him. "In fact, if it hadn't been for the other team's great plays in the field, you would have won. I don't understand how the other teams in your league beat that team so badly, because they've certainly got some good players."

"We were told there were a few reasons for that," Tyler quickly mentioned. "After the game, we found out the left fielder had been out for most of the early part of the season. He said he got a concussion after he and the center fielder collided in their first game, so he had to sit out for a few weeks. Then the shortstop missed a bunch of games too, when he injured his ankle badly during a slide. The right fielder also missed half the season, but in his case it was because of his grades, so he wasn't able to play again until he got them back up. They told us those other teams beat them when all three were out."

"That would explain things," I agreed.

"Coach Hendricks says he's going to start all of us that finished the game today, when we play our last game," Dylan added. "That means the 8th graders that generally start will be sitting on the bench the next time. We heard at school why they were so out of it today. They all got together and partied Saturday night and all day Sunday too."

"Yeah, we were told they were drinking beer and smoking pot too," Tyler continued. "Most of them didn't get home until really late last night, so they didn't get much sleep either. That's why they all looked so terrible today and weren't playing like they normally do."

"They should have just told Coach they weren't feeling well then and let the other guys start instead," I offered, shaking my head.

"They still thought the other team was so bad that it wouldn't matter," Dylan replied. "Coach really tore into them on the ride back though. As soon as he was done, the other guys on the team started giving them a lot of shit too, so I'm pretty sure those guys all feel like assholes now for costing us a chance at a perfect season." After a few seconds, Dylan continued. "Um, sorry about swearing like that, but that's what they are."

"I understand, so I'll let it slide this time," I told him, as I pulled into his driveway.

He ran inside and then I drove my boys over to the diner to get something to eat. When we walked in, our favorite waitress spotted us immediately and came over to greet and seat us.

"Is it the weekend already?" she teased, since we generally showed up on a Friday or Saturday night.

"Nah, but it's late and the boys are hungry, so we decided to stop here, because it's quicker," I replied.

"Looks like someone had a baseball game," she added, looking at Tyler's uniform.

"Yeah, but we didn't win. It was our first loss and it happened in our next to last game," he responded, still looking depressed.

"Oh honey, there are more important things in life than baseball, but I know how you feel," she commiserated, as she led us back to a booth.

We ordered as soon as she returned with our water, since we practically knew the menu by heart. She wrote it down, turned it in and then delivered our dinners about fifteen minutes later.

"There ya go," she said, as she set the plates in front of us. "I hope it helps to make y'all feel a little better."

We thanked her for her concern and then dug into our food. As the boys and I were finishing up, I asked if they wanted desserts, because I felt it might help to make Tyler feel a little better. Of course they all did, so when the waitress came back to our table we all ordered. Ethan and Marcus had sundaes again, but Tyler ordered the strawberry cheesecake before I could do the same. I merely stared at him after the waitress left our table.

"Hey, I like strawberries too, but I didn't want ice cream this time," he explained, glaring back at me.

"I didn't say anything," I countered, while shrugging my shoulders slightly.

"I could tell by the way you were looking at me," he reasoned. "I knew you were wondering why I got the cheesecake this time."

"I might have been a little curious, but I wasn't going to say anything," I offered, in explanation.

"So I did it for you," Tyler quipped, while giving me a smug look. "Oh and I forgot to tell you earlier that I spoke with the other 7th graders on the bus ride to the game. They all got picked to play on a team too, but they're all on different teams, except for Carlos and Paul. Those two will be playing on the American Legion team."

"So you and Dylan, as well as Carlos and Paul are teammates, but the rest are all alone," I summarized.

"Nah, some of them are on a team with an 8th grader too, although none of us are too happy about that right now," Tyler quickly confirmed. "It doesn't matter though, because the other 7th graders know some of the other guys that will be on their team too, so it's not a big deal."

As soon as we finished up, I made sure to say 'hi' to the manager before I paid the bill and took the boys home. After getting the little ones cleaned up and ready for bed, I asked the boys if they had their homework done.

"I don't got none," Ethan offered, in response.

"I don't have any," I corrected him.

"That's cuz you don't go to school," Ethan shot back, giving me a dirty look and missing my point completely. I decided to let it drop after the other two said their homework was done.

Once the boys were in bed, I sat down with the company laptop and finished doing the things I hadn't completed before I left work earlier. It took me about an hour, which wasn't too bad, and then I went upstairs to get some sleep.

During the workday on Tuesday, we learned more about the beta project and were given more details about how to log on to the parallel site. We were also told about the little differences that had been incorporated and how it would affect what we did. It was nothing major and in most cases shouldn't even be obvious while we were working, but it would hopefully prevent future problems for the company.

After picking up the boys later, I took them to Tyler's practice. I saw a lot of long faces, drooped shoulders and heads hanging low as they went through practice. The 7th graders didn't appear quite as bad as the 8th graders though, although they all appeared to be depressed about losing their chance for a perfect season. Coach Hendricks was doing his best to turn this around so they didn't lose the last game too, but from the look of things he might be fighting a losing battle. He chatted with the team briefly before turning the boys loose and Tyler came directly over to speak with me before he went in to take his shower.

"It's not as bad as it looks, but I'll explain later," he advised me. "I've got a bunch of things to tell you."

I wondered what that would entail, but I didn't consider it for very long. Instead, I took Ethan and Marcus to the car and drove around to the front of the school. A few minutes later, Tyler came out with Dylan. Dylan walked over to say hi to us first, before he went to ride home with his mother. As soon as Tyler got buckled in, he turned to me and spoke.

"I'll fill you in after we get home," he stated, as he jerked his head toward the backseat. I knew this meant he didn't want his brothers to overhear the conversation.

After I feed the boys dinner, the little ones headed to the family room to watch TV. "Aren't you coming with us, Uncle Blake?" Ethan wanted to know.

"I'll join you in a little while. I have something else I need to do first," I replied.

Ethan didn't question me about what I had to do and just went on without me. As soon as we were alone, Tyler began to tell me what he had been hinting at earlier.

"Coach Hendricks told the starting 8th graders they wouldn't be starting the next game and probably wouldn't even play, unless someone got hurt," he began, while looking serious. "I heard the coach found out why the 8th graders had looked so bad at our last game, but I'm not sure who told him. Anyway, when the coach thought maybe some of the 8th graders might not show up after he'd told them that, he said that if they didn't come to our practices or show up at the game on Thursday and take their punishment for breaking team rules, then he'd make sure the other coaches knew what they'd done too, so it might effect whether they got to play next year as well. That scared most of them, but Jacob got cocky and wanted to know what team rules they broke."

Tyler paused at this point, so I wasn't sure if he was going to continue. For that reason, I spoke next.

"And what did the coach tell him?" I wondered.

"Coach said they broke the 'no partying' rule and used alcohol and drugs," Tyler answered. "When Jacob looked like he was going to say something else, the other 8th graders told him to just shut up."

"So Jacob was going to try to deny it?" I asked in return.

"Probably, and he was the one that set it all up in the first place," Tyler admitted. "He organized the 8th graders into all getting together and had his older friends supply them with the booze and weed. I think the other guys were worried that if Jacob kept trying to get out of this and continued arguing, the coach might go to the head of the athletic department and have them banned from playing the fall season too, maybe even more."

"That was probably a wise move on their part," I agreed. "It's best for them to accept their punishment like men, seeing they knew what they were doing was wrong."

"Yeah, but the funny thing is, the others probably wouldn't have ever done any of that if Jacob hadn't kind of bullied them into it," Tyler stated. "When some of the others balked about going and participating in his party, Jacob threatened that he'd spread word around school that they were pussies and warned them they might get beat up too."

"But he didn't threaten the 7th graders?" I pressed, because that seemed strange to me.

"He tried, but he doesn't have the same kind of hold on us, since he's in a different grade," Tyler responded. "I feel bad that the other guys just didn't ignore his threats."

"Yes, but peer pressure can make people do stupid things, so I hope you can see that now and will be able to avoid something similar from happening to you in the future," I pointed out.

"Yeah, Dylan and I talked about it some," he replied. "I think we'll be ok for our last game too, since the 7th graders have been doing so good. Jose will start too, because he didn't join the others when they partied. His parents were taking him out of town over the weekend to visit relatives, so the other guys didn't get on his case about being there. They could tell he didn't have a choice about going with his mom and dad, so they just left him alone."

"That worked out for Jose then," I replied. "Do you think he would have gone otherwise."

"Probably, because they got Antonio to go and he really didn't want to do it either," Tyler informed me. "I think Jose would have joined him, just so they could hang out together and kinda protect each other. They're really good friends."

"I'm surprised Jacob has that much influence over the others," I added, thinking aloud.

"He has some pretty tough friends in the 8th grade, but he has a bunch of older friends too. They can be really nasty, especially if Jacob sicks them on you," Tyler countered, giving me a better picture of what was going on.

"Then maybe you shouldn't hang around him or have him over again," I suggested, not knowing how Tyler was going to react to my suggestion.

"I already made up my mind not to do either of those things, but I did that after he tried to pressure me into letting him fuck me," Tyler answered. "I decided I didn't need friends like that, but I have to admit he was fun at my birthday party. He was the one that got everyone else to measure their dicks and then jerk each other off afterward."

"Yes, but now we know how and why he was able to do that," I offered, and Tyler nodded his head in response.

The rest of the night was pretty normal for us and nothing out of the ordinary happened. The boys all leaned against me as we watched something on TV, but I could also tell the little ones were looking forward to their first practices on Saturday. Tyler, on the other hand, was thinking about his school team's last game on Thursday, but they all had something that was occupying their minds, so they didn't need me to keep them entertained.

Wednesday was fairly uneventful too, at least while I was at work, but that soon changed. There was a little drama when I got to Tyler's practice though and he came rushing over to tell me about it, just as soon as the coach dismissed them.

"Jacob quit!" Tyler exclaimed. "The other guys said he told them he thought Coach was bluffing, so I guess he'll find out."

"Having spoken with Coach Hendricks a few times," I began, "he doesn't impress me as the bluffing type. I hope Jacob can live with the consequences of what might happen next then."

After agreeing with me, Tyler raced off to take his shower, while I rounded up his brothers. They had been playing catch and hadn't immediately come back when Tyler's practice ended. They were just so focused on what they'd been doing that they had been oblivious to everything else. They both looked surprised when they heard me yell to them that it was time to leave, especially after they'd glanced around and didn't discover anyone else.

"We didn't even see the other boys go," Marcus stated, as he looked at me to see if they were in trouble.

"I noticed that. So what was so fascinating that you two were unaware of anything else?" I wanted to know.

"I was just practicing my pitching with Ethan," Marcus confessed. "I really want to be a pitcher like Tyler and Dylan."

"That's admirable and I'll work with you a little more, if you really want to do that," I offered.

"Yeah, I do," Marcus agreed, without hesitation. We then got in the car and drove to the front of the school.

"Dylan told me to ask you if he and Justin can stay over again on Friday night," Tyler began, as soon as he got in the car. "He said we could all ride to practice with you on Saturday and then he and Justin would go home afterward."

"It's fine with me, as long as his parents agree," I confirmed.

"I knew that's what you were going to say, so I told him to just ask his parents about it," Tyler replied. "He said he would and he'd let me know what they said tomorrow, before our game."

"So I'm that predictable, am I?" I asked, feigning a hurt look.

"Sometimes, because I know you'll always do what you think is best for us," Tyler answered. "And that includes Dylan and Justin too."

"Then I guess it's not a bad thing," I countered, while reaching across and tousling his hair.

After feeding, bathing and putting the little ones to bed, I went to my room, wondering how long it would be before Tyler showed up. It was shortly after I heard him get out of the shower when he walked into my bedroom.

"Can I sleep in here tonight? It will be the last time for a while," he stated simply, while looking hopeful.

"I had a feeling I'd be seeing you tonight," I admitted. "Just to sleep this time?"

"Maybe you could help me with this too," he suggested, as he removed his towel and pointed down at his suddenly stiffening boyhood.

"Ok. Shut the door and come on in," I offered. He quickly spun around and pushed the door closed, before turning toward me and sprinting to the bed.

"Man, I love you and always know I can count on you when I need you the most," Tyler stated, while giving me a hug. "Can we sixty-nine too?"

I didn't immediately respond to his request and gave him a stern look instead. I soon broke down, however, when I saw the hurt expression on his face. I didn't want to torture him any longer, because I knew I'd be giving in to him, almost as soon as he'd asked. I just didn't want to do it too quickly.

"Ok, I suppose so," I relented, much to his delight.

I had him hover over me again, like we'd done the last time, and then we went to work on each other. I suddenly felt like a calf or colt sucking on it's mother's teat, except if I were to draw a proper analogy I would be sucking on my sire's cock instead. Either way, I did it tenderly, as I attempted to drain his 'boy milk' from his body.

He was busy doing the same thing to me and he wasn't doing too shabby of a job either. I decided to try something a little different with him this time, so I let his penis fall from my lips for a second, so I could wet my finger. I felt he was about ready to pull off of my penis and complain, when I took his boyhood back into my mouth. Then, I reached up and slid my finger into his rectum.

I think this startled him at first, because his sphincter suddenly clamped down on the intruding digit and he stopped working on me, but then he began to relax again. I used my finger to massage his prostate and before long he was filling my mouth with his semen. When this happened, he stopped working on me momentarily, but as soon as the great sensations had pulsed through his frame, he started again. A few minutes later, I was filling his mouth too and he drank it down as quickly as he could. Some of it seeped out and fell back onto my groin, but he accepted most of my offering without complaint.

I went to clean up after that and when I got back into bed, Tyler immediately cuddled up against me.

"Thanks. I enjoyed that," he whispered in my ear.

"I did too," I confessed, as I held him against my side and we both drifted off to sleep.

I wished Tyler good luck when he left the next morning and told him I'd see him at his game. He smiled and ran off to get on the bus.

Other than being busy doing my job, nothing much happened at work either. Almost before I realized how late it had become, it was time for me to leave. I hustled home to pick up the boys and then drove to the school, since this was Tyler's last home game.

I was surprised to see a larger crowd than normal and realized there were a lot more students there this time. I guess they must have heard the team had a great season and were there to give them an appropriate send off. I spotted Don, Cherie and Justin in the stands, so I led the boys over to sit with them.

Tyler was pitching, but the game had a different feel to it, since there was a whole new set of starters. As soon as Tyler's team took the field, I glanced over at the bench to see if any of his teammates were unaccounted for. As far as I could tell, Jacob was the only one missing, because I spotted Crawford, Trent, Antonio, Curtis and Nathan. I was glad they hadn't followed Jacob's lead this time and were acting mature and accepting their punishment.

Tyler started off strong, getting each of the first three batters out. The first boy grounded out to Dylan at short, the second batter struck out and the third boy popped up to Stanton in left field. As soon as Stanton caught the ball for the third out, the entire team raced in to bat.

The team's batting order seemed a bit strange too. Although Dylan was leading off and Tyler was still batting cleanup, everything else had changed. Here's what today's lineup looked like and there were no subs planned, except in the case of injury.

Dylan was leading off and playing shortstop, Jamal was playing third base and batting second, Carlos was catching and in the third spot and Tyler was pitching and the cleanup batter. After him, Stanton was hitting fifth and playing left field, Paul was in center field and batting sixth, Jose was the 7th man in the order and playing right field, D'Wayne was at first base and batting eighth and Jon in the last spot playing second base.

Dylan hit the ball hard, but directly at the third baseman for an out, before Jamal singled and Carlos did too. Tyler then flew out to center field, but Jamal was able to tag up and advance to third. Stanton then singled as well, scoring Jamal and moving Carlos to third, but then Paul grounded into a fielder's choice, with the out being made at second. The team was up 1 - 0 at the end of the first.

Tyler had a strong second inning as well. The other team's cleanup batter hit the ball to center field, but Paul was able to snag it for the out. The next batter grounded out to Jon at second and the boy after him got an infield single when Jon couldn't handle the ball cleanly. Tyler then got the next batter to pop up in foul territory at third and Jamal caught the ball rather easily for the last out.

Jose started off the bottom of the second with a double down the third base line. Curtis bunted him over to third, although he was thrown out at first, and then Jon hit a grounder back to the pitcher. The pitcher was able to look Jose back, before throwing Jon out at first, so there were now two outs. Dylan came up to bat next and hit a single over short, which scored Jose. Jamal then flew out to center field, but the team had scored another run, so they were leading 2 - 0.

In the top of the third, Tyler struck out the eighth batter in the other team's lineup and then he got the next batter to ground to D'Wayne, who made the unassisted out at first. This brought up the leadoff batter for a second time, but this time he flew out to Stanton in left field.

Carlos was up first in the bottom of the third and led off with a double to right center field. Tyler came up next and hit a single between the shortstop and the bag at second, but it was good enough to score Carlos. Stanton then hit a single between the first and second basemen, which moved Tyler to third. Paul followed that with a little blooper between the first and second baseman and just out of reach of the second baseman's glove. This scored Tyler and moved Paul to second. It was also enough to get the opposing coach to come out and change pitchers.

Once the new kid had warmed up, he got Jose to fly out to the right fielder for the first out. Then Curtis hit a double over the left fielder's head, which scored Stanton and put Paul on third. Jon bunted down the first base line next, and the first baseman tried to get the out at home. Paul slid across the plate before the catcher could make the tag, leaving Curtis on third and Jon safe at first on the fielder's choice. This brought Dylan up to bat again and he hit a hard grounder to short, which the shortstop turned into a 6-4-3 double-play to end the inning. Tyler's team, however had scored four more runs and were now leading 6 - 0.

After that, it was a runaway game. The other team didn't score in the top of the fourth and Tyler's team brought three more runs across the plate, to make the score 9 - 0. The other team scored one run in the top of the fifth, but then Tyler's team scored two more runs in the bottom of the inning. Once the scorekeeper told the umpire behind the plate the score, he checked with both teams and called the game because of the ten run rule, even though there were only two outs in the bottom of the inning.

Tyler's teammates and Coach Hendricks were all thrilled that the 7th graders had done so well and the 8th graders looked totally dejected that the team had won without them. Not only that, but they'd also had to ride the bench in front of the largest crowd of the season. The euphoria from the win carried over as the boys slapped hands with the other team and then Tyler ran over to me.

"Great game, champ," I said, as he approached. "You all looked good out there."

"Thanks, and we proved to those 8th graders that we didn't need them," he replied, gushing over with pride.

"You certainly did," I agreed.

"Did you talk to Uncle Don and Aunt Cherie during the game?" Tyler followed, while eyeing me suspiciously.

"We chatted about a bunch of things before the game started," I replied, while not telling him what he wanted to hear.

"Did they say anything about this weekend?" he pressed, getting more excited. "They told Dylan they'd talk it over with you at the game."

"This weekend was mentioned briefly," I responded coyly, still not giving him the answer he was looking for.

"Come on! You know what I want you to tell me," he begged. "Are they going to let Dylan and Justin stay over on Friday night?"

"After they made sure I was ok with the idea, they said it would be fine with them," I confirmed, which caused both Tyler and Dylan to leap into the air. I hadn't noticed that Dylan had joined us, since I was having so much fun making Tyler squirm. "Seeing you boys all have different practice times on Saturday, I told Dylan's parents that I'd drop Dylan and Justin off at their house after the last practice."

"Great! I was a little worried because of that," Tyler admitted. "They think we're asking too much of you and taking advantage of the situation already. Dylan said his parents told him that Ethan, Marcus and me would have to stay over at their house sometime, so you can go out on a date or just go someplace where you can meet someone."

"Yes, Don and Cherie mentioned that too, but I told them I wasn't interested in having a relationship right now," I confessed, while looking him in the eye. "I explained that it was hard enough to meet someone you were compatible with without immediately having to tell them they would be saddled with three rugrats too, if it worked out. That would be more than a little daunting to a prospective mate. I think Don and Cherie understood my point and won't push it again for a while."

"We're not rugrats," Tyler replied, emphatically before lowering his voice to a whisper. "And you don't need no one else either, cuz you're gonna wait for me!" He added this last part so no one else would hear him, before he gave me a wink.

"Let's go home," I suggested, while trying to stifle a smile at his response. "I'm sure you and your brothers are hungry and you all have school tomorrow too. I hope you remember this is only Thursday."

"I'd like to forget it, but I remember," he teased in reply.

I then called the other boys over so we could go get in the car, but I could tell I was headed for another interesting weekend.

NEXT PART