The Move

"Don't worry, boys. I'm sure you'll like it once you get used to it," Dan called back from the front seat. "It may be a lot smaller than LA, but there's plenty to like here."

Dan had recently taken a job in a small town in northern California. The twins about to start their last year of high school and he knew there was no way he could afford to send them to college on his previous salary, but here he would be getting almost twice as much at a cost of living almost half what it was in LA. Raising the twins on his own hadn't been easy - sure, he'd had a few boyfriends that helped out, but not many men were interested in a guy with two kids, even if he was as hot as Dan was.

Dan and the boys' mother had split amicably when Dan came out to her. They'd still lived together for a little while, but when she decided to move across the country they decided the twins would be best off in a familiar environment. It turned out to be the better decision; most likely they would have been in the car with her when it happened...

The car pulled up to the house and the boys' eyes got wide. "You never said it was this big, dad," Joe exclaimed. "It's huge!"

If I had a nickel, Dan thought to himself. "If I had a nickel for every time I'd heard that..." Mark joked. Like father, like son.

Joe shot his brother a dirty look and bounded out of the car. "Wow." Even the normally cynical Mark had a hard time maintaining his bored look, staring all around him as he walked up the porch into a house full of labelled cardboard boxes. The movers had already gotten there and unloaded all of their stuff, giving them the chore of unpacking everything.

Dan sighed and got out of the car. Again the doubts hit him. Was he doing the right thing? He was pretty sure, but then, only time would tell. His back and knees ached; they'd been driving for twelve hours already and he needed to move. He raised his arms over his head and stretched, enjoying the feel of his cotten t-shirt against his suddenly erect nipples. I wish I could jack off, he thought. I hope the movers didn't look in any of the boxes with my sex toys in them...

As he walked up to the house he could hear the boys' voices wafting out as they fought over bedrooms. Dan had managed to buy a four bedroom house with a good sized parlor, living room, a huge kitchen and even a pretty decent basement, if unfinished.

"Ugh," he grunted as he put the pillows into place on the couch, then flopped on it. Five minutes, he promised himself.

Upstairs, the boys were exploring. Their dad's stuff was already in the biggest bedroom with the private bath, so that was obviously not going to happen. The other three all looked about the same, but one had a window that opened out over the porch - perfect for sneaking out.

Joe realized it first and called it. Mark immediately realized why Joe was so hot for that room and laid claim to it himself.

"No way! I called it first!"

"I hadn't seen all the rooms yet. You can't call it until we've both looked at all of 'em."

"You should have looked faster."

"Screw that!" Mark yelled, and initiated their usual conflict-resolution method: wrestling. Mark leapt at Joe and knocked him to the ground. Mark, hoping for an easy pin, got into position, but Joe knew better than to get pinned that easily, and pulled a reversal.

Both boys had been wrestling, both each other and in school, since they were but wee tots. Being twins who at the same diet and followed the same exercise regimen they were nearly identical in terms of strength and speed as well as genetics, and the outcome of a match between them was a toss-up.

Assuming it actually had a chance to end, that is...

Back downstairs, Dan's peaceful moment of relaxation was brought to a nasty end by the knocking and yelling from upstairs. "Jeez..." he muttered, and sat up, rubbing his forehead. "Not even five minutes..."

He plodded up the stairs and followed the noise. Mark had Joe in a headlock. Joe's shirt had been torn off and Mark's didn't look like it would survive. All of Joe's muscles were flexing as he tried to break the headlock, and for a moment Dan was struck by how much the two of them looked like he did at that age...

"All right, break it up! You two can't even make it five minutes?" he barked at them. Mark released Joe and the two stood up. "What was it about this time?"

"I called this room, Dad!" Joe blurted out, his chest still heaving.

"I hadn't finished looking!" Mark retorted, crossing his arms across his chest.

Dan reached up to rub his forehead again. "Man..." he muttered. "Okay, this is the deal. Mark, you get that room." Dan pointed across the hall. Joe smiled as Mark started to protest. "Quiet. Joe, you get that room," Dan pointed at the other bedroom, then braced himself for the inevitable...

"Dad!" they cried in unison. "ButIcalledtheroomnoyoudidn'tIdidIwasn'tdonelookinghowcanyoudothisitisn'tfair!"

"Of course it's fair. This way nobody gets what they want - you two don't get the room, and I don't get my five minutes of quiet on the couch," Dan smiled sarcastically. "That's the deal. Next time just flip a coin or something."

The two sighed. "Fine." It occurred to them that this way they'd both have access to the window anyway...

"Now, I figure we should just start with the bedrooms. Once we've got the beds together we can work on the living room..."

Dan let the boys deal with their rooms on their own. His only condition was that anything that could scratch the floor had to be on a rug, but otherwise he could care less. It took him nearly twenty minutes to get his bed positioned the way he wanted it on the rug, after which his shirt was drenched in the heat - the power wasn't going to be turned on until tomorrow. Two hours later he finished, by which time he was starving. He emerged from his den to find the boys had already finished their rooms and were working on the kitchen - they both looked pretty sheepish.

"I don't think we have much light left tonight. How about we all get showers and go out somewhere?" Dan suggested.

"Pizza!" Joe shouted.

"Chinese!" Mark cried.

"I doubt we'll find a place with both." He stood there for a moment and looked at them. The twins looked at each other. Dan wondered if they'd learned anything or not.

"One, two, three..." the twins made fists and bumped them against their palms. "Paper," showed Mark, his hand flat.

"Rock," Joe sighed.

"So Chinese then. I've got my own bathroom. There's the one in the hall upstairs; you two can share it. Get cracking," Dan smirked, and climbed back up the stairs, glancing in the boys' rooms on the way. They had their similarities but were two entirely different people - Mark's room was covered with posters of rock stars and skateboarders, and Dan was sure that soon dirty clothes would be added to the mess. Joe was the opposite; he was almost retentively clean and has some bizarre fascination with rap music. They'd gotten their mother's black hair and his blue eyes, her height and his build, although in recent months Mark had taken to dying his hair - this week was royal blue. Dan actually liked this one; it matched his eyes, unlike the green, or (shudder) pink he had had briefly when he screwed up dying it red once.

He headed on into his room and shut the door, then stripped down and got the hot water running. As he pulled the curtain shut and waiting for the water to heat up, he caught sight of himself in the bathroom mirror. For a moment, he stood and looked at his own body.

He was doing pretty well for a guy only a few years shy of forty. In high school he'd been an all-state wrestler and gymnast, and had continued in college, although he'd never won any national competitions. Parenting active twins on his own had helped keep him in shape, from biking with them when they were young to weightlifting when they got older. He could still see his abs, but they were starting to fade out a little. He flexed a bit in the mirror, admiring his own arms, his smooth, chest, stomach, and as always, his eyes drifted down to his groin.

The hair still hadn't completely grown back yet; it was only about half an inch long still, and the scar was a bit pink. Dan reached down and stroked it with his fingers, remembering what it felt like before. He still got a little thrill from it. The testicles weren't that far under his skin and when he rubbed the area it gave them a little stimulation. The tightness in his groin that he had come to recognize as his body's attempt to gain an erection grew. He wanted to cum, but all his toys were still packed away...it would have to wait until later.

Twenty minutes later he was dry, dressed, and shaved - Dan wanted to look good when he went out. He had no idea how big the gay scene was out here but didn't want to blow any chances by looking slovenly.

The boys were dressed more casually, in shorts and t-shirts, lying on the floor on their stomachs arm wrestling. Dan watched their biceps bulge as each tried to force the other's arm to the floor with pride - he couldn't be happier that they'd grown into smart, handsome, strong young men. Again he wondered if he'd made the right decision bringing them here, considering what would happen to them. Should he tell them tonight or wait? Wait, he thought to himself...give them as much time without having to worry about it as possible.

Mark forced Joe down and jumped up hooting. "Woo-hoo!"

"Yeah, yeah," Joe muttered, getting to his feet.

"You two ready?" Dan asked. "I'm starving."

The boys threw their shirts on and headed out to the car. Apparently their wrestling match had been to decide who got shotgun, so Mark hopped in and Joe sat in the back. The three headed into the main part of town and drove on down the street. Dan had only been in town twice before and didn't know it well, so they just drove around for a bit looking for a place.

Mark spied it, a little hole-in-the-wall pizza place with some skater kids hanging out in front. "Let's stop here," he suggested.

"Hmm. Okay," Dan consented, and parked on the street. Mark pulled his baseball hat off and mussed his blue hair up. Dan knew what the deal was there; Mark skated and wanted to make it obvious that he was likely into the same stuff they were. All this would be a lot easier if they boys had friends to help them through it...

They got out and walked towards the place. Mark lagged behind a little, trying to check out the skater kids. It looked like there were four of them, about their age, trying some basic ollies and flips.

Just as Mark walked by, the board flew out from one of the kids coming down off a jump and shot just to Mark's left. His reflexes were on the mark as he put a foot down right atop it as it sped by, stopping it dead. With one motion, he drug his foot to the end of the board and pressed down with his toes, flipping the board up into his hands.

The kid who'd fallen came up to him and gratefully took his board back. "You skate, man?" He was a good looking kid, skinny and toned, in a ratty t-shirt and long pair of cargo shorts, with dirty blond shaggy hair and a scruffy goatee.

"Yeah. We just moved here today, so I haven't been out anywhere yet," Mark told him, watching the kid's eyes look over his body.

"Really? Cool; it'll be nice to have more guys around here who do it...you know where Slate's Park is?" Mark shook his head no. "It's right down this street here..." the kid gave Mark directions. "We usually hang there. We'll probably be down there tomorrow afternoon if you want to show up."

"Yeah, that'd be cool," Mark tried to play it smooth. "See you there."

"Great." Mark started to walk off. "Hey," the kid called after him. "What's your name, man?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm Mark."

"I'm Silas."

"Good to meet you man. I'll, uh, see ya tomorrow, ok?"

"Later on, dude."

Meanwhile, Dan and Joe had already gone inside. Deciding on a pizza was one of the rare easy choices for their family to make, as they all liked the same thing: pepperoni, sausage, and hot peppers. Joe saw some old video games in the back and abandoned Dan to go play them, while Dan waited up front to order.

The place was a little run-down and dingy but had a good atmosphere. The game room in the back had some dilapidated looking pinball machines, an old Ms. Pac Man tabletop, and a Galaga stand-up. Joe popped a quarter into Galaga and started playing.

Around stage 23 Joe became dimly aware of somebody watching him. During the minute break between stages he glanced over to see the guy watching him. He was a short kid, short but thick - his arms and chest bulged out of the thin, stained T-shirt he was wearing with the pizza joint's logo on it. The kid's paper cap barely contained his shock of blond hair. "Oh, sorry, dude," the kid said. "I've just never seen anybody make it that far before."

"Aww, hell, I can get a lot further than this," Joe said, as his spaceship promptly ran head-on into an approaching missile.

"Oh, sorry. I'll shut up," the kid apologized.

"Nah, it's not your fault," Joe said, starting up his second ship. "You work here?"

"Yeah. Crappy summer job my parents made me get. It was either this or quit the wrestling team."

"You wrestle?" Joe asked. "We just moved here but my brother and I were planning on joining it when school starts up." Joe didn't look at him, but the screen, so didn't notice the kid checking out his build.

"You a senior?" the guy asked.

"No, we'll be juniors."

"We?"

"My brother and I. Twins. Kid with the blue hair out front."

"Oh, okay. I figured you must be older than that. You look pretty big - you'll do pretty well here if you know what you're doing. My name's Ryan, by the way."

"Joe. Nice to meet..." he trailed off as his ship narrowly avoided an onslaught of killer space bees. "...you," he finished.

"You doing anything tomorrow night?" Ryan asked. "There's a party down at the beach."

"Really? That would be cool. Where is it?" Boom, as the galaxy's last hope lost another spaceship.

"Uhh...well, it's kinda hard to explain. I've got room in my truck; I could just pick you up," Ryan offered.

"Yeah, that would be cool."

"Where do you live?"

Joe paused as he realized that he had no idea. "Umm...I don't actually know the address. We just got here today," he smirked, looking sheepish. "I'll ask my dad while we eat and let you know before we go, ok?"

"Sure. Welp...I gotta get back to work. Later on, dude."

"Later on, man. Thanks for the invite."

"Sure thing."

Back in line, Mark walked in and joined Dan at the table. Joe was still in the back saving the universe, so they made random chit-chat. Again Dan wondered when he should tell them...if they were making friends this fast they might find out, and he wanted them to hear it from him. Under the table he pressed his hand to his bare groin again, feeling the smooth flatness in his groin.

A pimply faced teenager brought their pie out and distracted Dan from the issue. Later, he told himself, as he and Mark began to devour their dinner. Joe joined them soon enough and the three stuffed themselves. Tomorrow, he thought to himself. I'll tell them tomorrow.

Late that night Mark heard a knock on his door. He was laying in bed in his boxers reading a magazine, not really tired. "Mark?" came the familiar whisper.

He opened the door to find Joe. "You wanna watch a movie?" Joe asked.

This was a familiar routine to the two of them. Mark had a TV in his room; Joe had some porn stashed away. "Sure," Mark answered. "Pop it in."

The two took their usual positions as the movie started: Mark in the bed, Joe in a chair at the foot of the bed. Joe fast-forwarded to the good part and the two of them whipped it out and started beating slowly. They'd been doing this for years, ever since Mark first discovered they could do it when they were twelve and showed Joe. Neither minded the others' presence but a definite code of conduct had arisen: neither talked more than necessary, and their eyes stayed glued to the screen.

Joe usually came before Mark did; the movies he got normally involved fake-breasted porn starlets with the occasional lesbian scene, which didn't do it for Mark. He was usually more interested in the guys fucking the girls.

Having a gay dad almost made it harder for him to tell anyone. He'd only fooled around with guys once or twice in the past but had known for a long time. He'd done girls just to make sure, and while he did okay at that it wasn't what really turned him on. He really just wanted a strong pair of arms to hold him and a fat cock to suck, not tits and ass.

He couldn't really talk to Joe about it; he was just too close for Mark to feel really comfortable about it. That, and they were twins - would that mean Joe was queer? Mark glanced at him busily whacking off in his chair. He sure seemed into chicks.

Mark just closed his eyes, leaned back, and thought about guys...cocks, balls, pecs, whiskers, sweat. He heard Joe grunt, and then felt the wetness as his balls pulled up close to his cock and dropped their load, the pearly white goo spurting out all over his stomach and chest.

Still panting, he let go of his cock, letting it lay against his belly, still firm but slowly deflating. Joe got up and went into the bathroom to dry off. "Night, man," he said on the way out. Mark just nodded, glancing briefly at Joe's equipment, identical to his...

The next afternoon Mark grabbed his skateboard, left a note for his dad where he was going, and headed out to the park Silas had told him about. Dan had left early that morning to go buy a bunch of stuff they needed - general household supplies, groceries, all that stuff you need when you move that you never bring with you.

It was a nice day, sunny and bright. Mark peeled his shirt off and tucked it into the back pocket of his shorts, enjoying the breeze on his bare chest as he whizzed down the streets. He wanted to impress these guys, and pulled some ollies and short grinds on the way to get warmed up.

As he neared the park he saw them - four guys at the far end in the tennis courts pulling tricks. He cruised along the paved paths in the park near them and recognized one as Silas.

"Hey, dude," Silas greeted him as he entered the tennis court. "I was hopin' you'd show."

"Hey," Mark answered. "What's up?"

"We were just about to head downtown, hit some spots there. You want to come?" Silas asked. Mark looked at the boys from the safety of his sunglasses, keeping his head pointed as Silas but looking around at the other guys. Silas was also shirtless, skinny, with a light patch of blond hair squre in the center of his chest and tanned skin. The other guys, soon to be introduced as Danny, Carter, and Erik, hit the typical skater kid profile right on the mark - mostly pretty skinny, a few random piercings here and there, jeans, chain wallets, studded belts...all okay looking but not as good as Silas. Something about his demeanor made Mark want to be close to him.

The boys skated out and headed to a parking garage. They pulled some tricks on the way, and Mark pulled off a decent manual that got him some props. When they made it to a long set of stairs, Carter said something about grinding the rail, and jumped onto it, riding it all the way to the bottom but landing wrong and skinning his knees. Danny wouldn't even try it and Erik couldn't ollie far enough to hit the rail to start with. Silas hit it perfectly, grinding all the way down and even dismounting with a heelflip.

Mark felt challenged. The others were at the bottom of the stair set and he was at the top. He could do this - he'd done similar sets before; surely he could manage this one.

He started up and got some speed, heading toward the rail at an oblique angle. Just as he was about to hit the first stair, he moved his back foot to the back of the board and pressed down, pulling his front foot upward and launching himself and the board into the air towards the rail.

Mark dragged his front foot along the board to make it horizontal again and hit the rail, starting the grind. As he approached the bottom he could feel the board starting to lag behind and adjusted his balance to keep upright, but overcorrected. The board flew out in front of him into the street and Mark, still flying forward, fell directly onto the rail, one leg on either side.

It all happened in slow motion. He could see the board flying out over the other kids' heads and the world pitch as the rail came to meet him. Then came the blinding pain in his crotch as he hit the rail, wet and mushy, and the knock as he fell off that to the ground at the bottom of the stair set.

Silas and the others ran to him. "Is he okay?" Erik asked. Silas rolled Mark's unconscious body over. He was breathing and a quick finger to the neck showed he wasn't dead or anything, but he did have a cut on his forehead and a red stain spreading in his groin.

"Call an ambulance," Silas told them, and Danny whipped out his cell. Silas undid Mark's shorts; there was more blood underneath. "We have to put pressure on it," he explained, pulling his shirt from his pocket and lifting Mark's boxer-briefs away from his body.

"Whoah," Carter's eyes grew wide. "He has a dick?"

"He just moved here," Silas told him. "They must not have done it yet."

"Can I see?"

"It's a dick, Carter. You had one too. He's bleeding, for chrissake." Silas stuffed his shirt down in Mark's undies and held it pressed there until the ambulance came.

The EMT's got him onto a stretcher and checked Mark out inside the ambulance, leaving the other boys to wait outside. "Why do'you think he's bleeding so bad?" Danny wondered aloud.

"I think his sac got cut or something," Silas commented. "Not too sure."

Inside the ambulance the EMT's had stripped off Mark's shorts and underwear, leaving him naked on the stretcher. Silas was partially right; Mark's scrotum had split open and one of his testicles had been crushed. The EMT's radioed to the hospital to let them know they were on their way.

The back door opened and one of them called out. "One of you want to ride along? We need somebody to tell us who he is."

Silas ran up to the back and hopped in, only to be taken aback by the sight of Mark, naked and bleeding. The EMT showed him where to sit and the ambulance took off. Silas watched as the guy cleaned Mark up as best he could, packing the wound with sterile gauze. Silas stared at Mark's package - he had never seen a mature one before. He knew all about it from sex ed class, how it all worked and all, but he and every guy he knew had had theirs removed five years ago, and he had never seen a mature cock in real life. Mark's was huge compared to how Silas' had been, and hairy, like the guys' in the porno's he'd seen. He hoped Mark could deal with it well when they took it off him - the local boys all got tucked before they could really do anything with theirs, so they didn't know what they were missing, but this guy...

The phone rang at the house and Joe picked it up. "Hello?" Moments later, he was dialing Dan's cell number. "Dad! Mark had some accident skating and they took him to the hospital."

"What?" came Dan's voice from the other end. "Is he okay?"

"I dunno. They said he hit his head or something but they think he'll be okay, then they said something about him needing surgery or something."

Surgery? They're going to tuck him, Dan realized. This wasn't the way he had wanted it to happen... "Okay. I'm almost home anyway. Come outside, we'll get the stuff that needs to be in the fridge in and then I'll run down there."

When he pulled up to the house Joe was waiting outside. Dan just dumped the bags in the driveway and took off again, leaving Joe to take them inside and put them away. Dan felt bad about leaving Joe and going alone, but if he was right about what they would do to Mark he didn't want Joe to find out about it this way.

He'd seen the hospital earlier that day so knew where to go, but even on the five minute drive his brain assailed him with fears about Mark - that he'd had a concussion or brain damage or burst his spleen or any of the other random fears parents get about their children.

When he got to the hospital he sprinted to the emergency doors and inside. "Mark," he panted, "Mark Caballero. Where is he?"

The nurse behind the counter typed something into the computer. "Oh, they brought him in about half an hour ago and they took him straight into surgery. You can't see him yet, I'm afraid."

"Is he okay?" Dan panted.

"I'll tell the ER to send his doctor out as soon he can. If you'll just have a seat..."

Dan took the hint and sat down, trying to be calm. He kept his fears under control; Joe said they said Mark would be okay, and if they were tucking him, well, it would have happened anyway in the next few months or so. Maybe he'd have it easier this way.

An eternity later a doctor in slightly bloodied scrubs came out and asked for him. Dan followed him back into the guts of the hospital.

"Your son will be fine, Mr. Caballero," the doctor told him. "Apparently he was trying to skate down a stair rail and fell. He sustained a light blow to the head; that just needed some stitches and even though there's no concussion we'll want to keep him overnight for observation. Now, I understand you just moved here?"

"Um, yes," Dan answered.

"Well, your son also suffered some injury to the groin area. One of his testicles burst and his scrotum ruptured, and there was some damage to his penile structures as well. Since we'd have to do some major work down there we decided to go ahead and perform the usual restructuring now."

So they had done it. Dan almost reflexively put a hand near his groin, becoming acutely aware of his lack of genitals. Now Mark was the same way... "We expect him to make a full recovery quickly. I'd like to keep him here tonight, but we should be able to send him home tomorrow morning."

"Can I see him?"

"Sure. He's still out but his room is right down the hall here..." Dan quickened the pace as they neared his son's room. He burst in the door to see Mark in bed, part of his head shaved with a bandage over it and a blanket over him. Dan had tears in his eyes and he leaned over his son's prone form and kissed him lightly on the forehead. He put a hand on Mark's chest so he could feel him breathe, something he had done with them as children when they slept.

"Ahurm," the doctor cleared his throat. "He should be coming around any time now. Ring the nurse if you need anything." Dan shook hands with him and the doctor left, only then noticing the scruffy kid sitting in the corner.

"Uh, hi," Silas greeted him.

"Hey," Dan answered back, apprehensive. Who was this kid?

"Umm...I'm Silas Denningham," the kid introduced himself. "Mark was with me when he...you know, hit himself."

"Oh, okay," Dan said, now recognizing him from the pizza place. "Thanks for helping out."

"Hey, no problem. He seems like a cool guy. Sorry, he, uh, you know, it happened."

Dan sighed lightly and sat down. "It's okay; they're saying he'll be fine."

"Even though they..." Silas pressed fingers into his flat groin to show what he was talking about. "You think he'll be okay with that?"

"I...I don't know," Dan answered.

Silas left a few minutes later when he could sense that Dan preferred to be alone with his son. With the privacy, Dan first called back home to let Joe know everything was okay. "Yeah, he hit his head and they want to keep him overnight but he should be fine."

"Should I still go to that party?" Joe asked.

"Uh..." Dan just didn't want to deal with this right now. "Yeah, go ahead. I think I'll stay here tonight."

"Okay. I'll try to be home early in case you need anything."

"Okay, son. Have fun at the party."

He leaned forward again in the chair and absentmindedly stroked his son's hair. Mark moaned a little.

"Mark?" he asked. "You awake?"

"Uhhh...owww...."

"It's Dad," Dan told him.

"Whu...where am I?" Mark muttered.

"You're in the hospital. You hit your head," Dan told him.

Mark tried to lift his head up. "Ow...head hurts." He tried to sit up. "Ow...crotch hurts."

"Just don't worry, son. You'll be okay." Dan pushed the nurse call button.

"No..." he muttered, pulling himself up onto some pillows anyway, letting the blanket fall to his belly, then closed his eyes again. "Is there any water?" Mark asked.

The nurse came in. "Can we get some water?" Dan asked. She nodded and left the room. Dan turned back to Mark. "She'll get you some."

"Great," Mark intoned, and relaxed back into the pillows, closing his eyes. "What happened?" He seemed to be getting a bit lucid, but was still pretty out of it.

"They said you were skating and fell on something."

"Right...the rail..." Mark blew air out. "Ugh."

They sat in silence for a few moments. "What did they do, uh..." Mark moved his hand to his groin and lightly felt the bandage. "Where? Where's all my...it's gone..."

"Don't worry about it, Mark, just rest," Dan told him. The nurse came back with the water and some pills.

"These will kill the pain and help him sleep," she told Dan. "It would be best if he stayed out for a few hours." Dan nodded okay and she helped Mark take the pills.

Mark lay back on the pillow and stayed there with his eyes closed. "They cut it off, didn't they?" he asked, his hand moving back to his groin. "All of it."

Dan sighed again. "Yes, son," he told him. "It had to happen."

"Must've got hurt pretty bad, huh?" Mark giggled, then grimaced as the pain of the movement hit him.

"You burst a testicle, and hit your head, son."

"That's all? Why'd they do the...the...rest?" He seemed to be struggling to stay awake.

Mark put his hand on Mark's chest. "Just try to rest, son. I'll be here in the morning." Dan didn't even think Mark heard the end of his sentence, as the boy's body relaxed and he slipped into sleep again.

Joe was worried about Mark but since his dad called to tell him Mark would be okay he wasn't too worried to party. He got dressed up in clothes he figured should be right for a beach party - cargo shorts, sandals, tightish tank top. Ryan had already called and was supposed to be on his way over. Joe was doing a final look-himself-over when he heard the horn outside.

He stepped out of the house, locking the door behind him, and sauntered up to the red Jeep in the driveway. "What's up, man?" Ryan greeted him.

"Not too much. Just looking forward to this party." Joe hopped in the passenger's side, hitting his foot on a case of beer on the floor. That made Joe a little nervous; he'd drunk a little before but never much.

"It should be good. A bunch of chicks should be there, maybe give us a little rub." Rub, Joe thought. Must be some local slang or something.

Ryan took off and sped along down to the beach, pointing out landmarks along the way - local hangouts, that sort of thing. "How old's your brother, anyway?" Ryan asked.

Joe thought that was a funny question. Ryan must not have noticed they were twins..."Um. About five minutes younger than me, we think, but my dad said they got us mixed up a few times when we were younger."

"Oh, you're twins? I thought you looked pretty similar but I guess I didn't get a good enough look," Ryan said. "Or maybe it's the blue hair. You should have invited him."

"I told him about it but he went out skating and apparently hurt himself. Dad went down to the hospital. He said it was nothing to worry about; just knocked himself silly."

"Oh, that sucks. Too bad for him. Okay, this up here is where we usually get beer," Ryan pointed out a convenience store on the side of the road. "This guy Brent's older brother works there and he hooks us up." Right after the convenience store Ryan pulled onto a dirt road that went back over a hill.

"Cool."

"So where you from, anyway?" Ryan asked.

"LA. Dad got a job up here way better than his last one so we moved up here."

"Just got here, huh?"

"Yeah."

"You been tucked yet?" Ryan glanced at Joe's shorts.

"Tucked?"

"You know," Ryan said, patting his crotch.

"Uh...no."

"Hey, we're here," Ryan shouted, stopping the jeep. "Grab the beer," he told Joe, and hopped out of the Jeep. He grabbed a few more cases from under a tarp in the back and the two lugged them past the treeline and out onto a wide sandy beach. About ten kids were already there playing sand volleyball, a few chicks sunning themselves on the beach. Joe was still wondering what tucking was, but the sight of the girls drew his attention...

Back at his house, Silas said hi to his mom and little brothers and went straight to the room he shared with his four little brothers. "Out," he said to Jimbo, the third-youngest. Jimbo knew better than to argue and promply cleared out. Silas locked the door and stripped down, pulling his sweaty and bloody clothes off and leaving them in the orange hamper his clothes went in.

He stood in front of the full-length mirror on his bedroom door and looked over himself...his scraggly hair, stubbly chin, smallish nipples. His eyes moved down past a six-pack born of skinniness, to the shaven smooth void of his groin with its short pinkish vertical scar. Silas imagined himself with a cock, low and swinging, long and thick, with two egg-sized balls hanging from it. He started to get horny and rubbed the spot a bit, stimulating the lone testicle buried beneath.

Ever since he'd been tucked Silas had wondered. His friends told him not to bother, but he couldn't help it - it wasn't that he minded being tucked quite so much, just that, well...he wished he had at least known what it was like. He envied Mark, the guy who had surely gotten to use his before losing it. Didn't matter with him anymore; Silas had seen the bandage over Mark's groin and knew it had happened. His brother still had his, though... Silas wondered again for the umpteenth time what it must be like.

He dug his dildo out from the spot it was hidden and held it to his groin, trying to imagine that it was real. "You're being an idiot, Silas Graham," he whispered to himself. "Get over it already."

Now he was all horny, so he hid the dildo under a towel and headed to the bathroom to get off, thoughts of the two brothers filling his head...

Mark woke up again around midnight. His mind was hazy from the painkillers still coursing through his system, but opening his eyes to yet another unfamiliar ceiling woke him with a start.

He sat up in bed and looked around him. His dad was sleeping in a chair next to the bed. Moonlight filtered in through the Venetian blinds on the one window. There was a tube going into his arm that he knew better than to screw with.

A little wave of pain shot from his head. Mark put a hand up to feel the bandage. He could feel the same tightness at his groin, and snaked his free arm under the covers to feel it. He put his palm over his groin and realized he couldn't feel his cock...or his balls. He poked a little - they were definitely gone!

"Aah!" he cried, more from fright than anything. Dan awoke with a start.

"Mark! Mark!" he gently pulled Mark's hand out from under the covers and lay a hand on his chest, slowly pushing Mark back onto the bed. His son stared straight ahead, breathing rapidly. "Calm down, son."

"Dad?" Mark panted. "What...what happened?"

"You were skating and had an accident."

"What...I don't remember much..." He tried to recall the last thing he could. He had some hazy memories from being in the hospital earlier, and then skating with Silas and the other kids...then, the rail. "I hit my head..." he muttered.

"Yeah, son. You'll be okay though; they just wanted to keep you here overnight."

"If I just hit my head, then, then..." he threw the covers off and stared at his own bandaged and swollen groin. "What happened to...to..."

Dan pulled the covers back. "Calm down, son," he tried to be soothing. "It's okay."

"No, it's not okay. Where the hell's my dick?"

Dan visibly deflated. This was not how he had planned to handle this. "Okay, Mark...just try and listen to all this, ok?"

"O...okay," Mark whimpered.

"When you fell you burst a testicle and did a lot of damage to your genitals in general, so this probably would have happened anyway, but, this town has a strange policy. When boys turn fourteen, they, well, they call it tucking, but..."

"They cut their dicks off?" Mark asked incredulously. Was he really hearing this? "Why?"

"I don't know the history...something that happened a long time ago, like 1880 or something," Dan tried to explain, "but, well, it was a condition for us to move here is they had to do it. I wanted to wait a while, but you'd hurt yourself so bad down there anyway they just went ahead and did it now."

Mark felt like he was about to faint. His cock was gone. His balls were gone. This was a nightmare. Please let this be a nightmare, he wished to himself.

"You've still got one testicle, son, they put it where the..." he stumbled with the words. "Where the root of your penis was."

"Did...did they do this to you, too, Dad?"

Another sigh. "Yes, son. The second time I came up here, in March."

"And you just let them?" Mark was incredulous. How could anybody let this happen to them?

"It was the only way, son. You know how hard it was for me to get a decent job. I didn't want to tell you boys this, but we were about to get evicted, and I want you two to go to a good college, and..." Dan put his head in his hands. "It was the only thing I could do, son." His eyes were getting wet.

His father on the verge of tears struck Mark in a bad way. Between the realization of what had been done to him, the painkillers, and the situation in general, his mind was swimming with random thoughts. It made his head hurt. All he could think to do was lean over and put his arm around his dad.

Joe spiked the ball over the net and it came down hard, making a miniature crater in the sand. After three beers he was a little toasty, and jumping around playing beach volleyball didn't help too much. "I'm gonna go sit down for a while, okay?" he said to no one in particular and wandered off toward the fire they'd lit earlier. A few kids were hanging out around it sitting on logs or blankets and talking, mostly gossiping about other kids from school.

He'd met everybody earlier and seemed to get along well with them. A few of the girls had been shooting him some looks, and was hoping to get laid tonight, but with his stomach rumbling he wasn't sure he wanted to.

"Hey," Ryan greeted him.

"Hey," Joe returned it. Ryan sat down next to him and stared into the fire for a few minutes.

"You having fun?" he finally asked.

"Yeah. A little worried about my bro still. This beer's got me feeling a little weird too."

"You must not drink much for three beers to put you down."

"I don't. I mean, I haven't...in a while, you know?" Argh. He was going to look like a dumbass in front of these people. He glanced over at Ryan. He was smiling, and staring blankly into the fire.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, just watching the wood burn down. Joe caught a few covert glances at a girl named June, who'd given him a few approving looks earlier, then absentmindedly put his hand down his pants to adjust.

"What was that?" Ryan asked.

"Huh? Oh...just had to, you know, adjust myself," Joe answered.

"Oh, right," Ryan replied. "Forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"You just moved here."

"What, do you call it something different?"

"Um, no..." Ryan stood up and stretched. "I'm gonna get some more beer," he commented to no one in particular and ambled off.

June got up and came to sit next to him. "So, new kid. How do you like it here so far?" She smiled and put an arm around him, pulling him in close.

"I like it pretty well," Joe replied, hoping his loose swim trunks would hide his boner.

"You wanna talk a walk?" she asked.

"Sure!" No, too eager...aw, fuck it, Joe thought. I might get laid! "Let's go."

"Okay." She stood up and they stumbled off down the beach. He stood up rapidly, his boner sticking straight out. He didn't even look but could just feel it, so turned away from the fire, hoping the darkness would hide it.

They wandered off down the beach awhile talking. She asked him about wrestling, his family, where he had lived. After a few minutes they'd gotten to a nice spot and she suggested they lay down.

Both lay back on the sand and looked up into the clear sky. "I love it out here," June waxed. "Nobody around...we could do anything we wanted." She rolled over, straddling his belly. "Anything," she giggled, and put her hands on his chest, running a finger around his nipple.

Joe's boner came back in full force and poked June in the butt. "Ooh!" she squealed, and reached around to feel what it was. When her hand hit his shorts and felt his cock, she smiled and said huskily, "You really are new here."

Joe just smiled and put his hands behind his head. She crawled backwards down off him and gripped his swim trunks by the legs, pulling them down slowly. Joe's boner, rock hard, thwapped against his stomach as it came up. June pulled his shorts off and tossed them aside. "Wow," she commented, getting on all four over his legs, looking at it up close. "I've never seen one like that before," she commented.

Joe's penis wasn't the only thing swelling after that comment. June moved her head closer to Joe's groin and took his cock into her mouth, slowly bobbing up and down.

"Oooh! Teeth!" Joe whispered. "Careful!"

"Sorry," she apologized. "I haven't done this much."

"Just take it slow and watch the teeth," he smiled at her.

She smiled back and went back to it. Joe lay there, a little drunk, warm and happy on the beach. I love this town, he thought to himself.

June tired of giving him head after a few minutes and came back up in a straddle, undoing her top and letting it fall to the sand. Her breasts were well-proportioned to her size, smallish and perky. Joe reached up and massaged them with his hands. "Oh!" she moaned. Joe just smiled, narrowing his eyes. Aww, yeah, he thought.

She came down on top of him and shoved her tongue down his throat, clumsy like the teenager she was. He returned the favor.

"Do you have a condom?" he asked. "God, I want to fuck you."

"Condom? No...you can't buy them around here."

"Oh." Joe was disappointed. He knew better than to try without it but was hoping. "Guess we'll have to go for the next best thing."

He sat up, slowly letting her down to the sand, and pulled her bottom off. "Mmmm," he smiled up at her, and dove tongue first between her legs.

June was definitely a moaner, and he made her moan loud. It only took five minutes for her to look like she was having a seizure: "Ah! Ah! OOOOOOOOHHHH!" After her orgasm it seemed like June only got hornier. She knocked Joe back to the ground and attacked his cock with new fervor, playing with his balls in one hand as she did it.

Joe was paralyzed with pleasure; he couldn't move or talk - even when she scraped his cock a little with her teeth he couldn't make a noise. "Ah...ah...I'm...cu..." was all he could get out before he exploded all over her mouth, her breasts, her hands. Flush with orgasm, he could only lay there for a moment, matching her smile with his.

Back at the fire, Ryan finished his sixth beer off. He was drunk and horny, and people were starting to leave. No ass tonight, he thought to himself. Better find Joe...

He had seen him leave with June, but fuck it - she didn't have a car either and he needed to get home before two or his dad would whip his ass. He stumbled off down the beach until he could faintly hear June's moans. "Ah," he mumbled to himself. "Lucky bastard."

Ryan came up from the land side and caught sight of them. They didn't see him behind the bushes. June's top was off and her tits were hanging out; Joe's face was buried in her snatch. Ryan had a perfect view of Joe's ass, but what got him was what was hanging from Joe's crotch. He hadn't had his for three years now, and hadn't seen a pair of balls on a human since then.

He squatted down behind the bushes, watching the two of them go at it. June was hot and all but not really his type. As for Joe, well, Ryan didn't go for guys much but when he did, Joe was the kind he went for. He wanted Joe's cock in him, and bad. Ryan rubbed his groin, shaven smooth, feeling the scar. His hand moved further down to his taint and pisshole, and he pressed up against it with his fingers, stimulating his prostate a bit. He could feel some prostate goo drip out of his pisshole onto his hand, and rubbed that over his groin and nipples, tweaking them with his left hand while his right stayed in his groin.

Finally it seemed like the two of them had finished, and were just laying out on the sand. Ryan could hear a girl, Claire, maybe, shouting June's name. June was already putting her top back on, pecked Joe on the cheek and ran off down the beach. Joe just lay there, naked on the sand, his arms behind his head.

Ryan now took his chance. He walked out next to Joe. "Hey," he greeted him.

Joe sat up with a start, covering himself reflexively. "Oh, uh, hi, uh..."

Ryan sat down next to him and lay back parallel to Joe. "Nice dick," he commented. How would Joe take that, he wondered? He said his dad was gay...maybe he'd be cool with fooling around.

Joe had no idea how to react to that. "Uhh...thanks."

"Couldn't help but notice." Ryan pushed himself up onto his side. Joe was really, really nervous, not feeling threatened so much as confused. Ryan reached his hand over, stopping just shy of touching Joe's still engorged cock. "You mind?" he asked.

Joe could smell the beer on Ryan's breath, but, well, he was still horny. He'd never fooled around with a guy before. Mark had, and they'd talked about it, but it was a little weird to him...

Ryan took Joe's silence as a yes, and started pumping it lightly. It quickly grew hard again. "Here," he muttered, slipping off his swim trunks and getting up on all fours.

Joe took that bait and got on his knees behind Ryan. The girl hadn't let him fuck her, but if this guy wanted it... He guided his cock in with his hand, pressing up against Ryan's ass. It loosened easily, and Joe just slid right in, flexing his cock once he was in to press up against Ryan's prostate - something he'd learned when he watched some instructional "better sex" video his dad had thought he'd hidden from the boys when they were younger.

In, out, in, out...he was doing more work this time, but damn this felt good. He grabbed Ryan around the waist and pulled him into himself as he thrust. "Give it to me," Ryan cried, and Joe thrust harder, slapping his balls up against Ryan's ass.

Joe began to tire after having already gone at it with June, so lay back on the sand and pulled Ryan down on top of him. Ryan turned to face Joe and lowered himself on, moving up and down as fast as he could. Joe smiled up at him, letting his gaze wander down. Ryan was pretty built, probably stronger than he was, and his height would only help that...great abs, perfect six-pack, and...the hell?

Joe wanted to ask where Ryan's dick was, but, couldn't...oh jeebus, he was about to cum, and so was Ryan. "Aah...aah...aaah!" Ryan moaned, and a load of milky white goo shot from between his legs all over's Joe's belly just as Joe thrust upward for the last time, emptying his load in Ryan's asshole.

After a few moments panting, Ryan stood up over him and stretched. "Aaah...that felt so fucking good, man."

"Dude...phew..." Joe was still out of breath. "Dude, what...what happened to your dick? And...and..." Joe could only stare at Ryan's bare crotch.

Realization hit Ryan like a ton of bricks. "Y...you don't know?"

"Did you have an...accident or something?"

Ryan sat down next to Joe, their nudity forgotten. "I figured you'd know about this by now," he started.

"Know about what?"

"About this," Ryan said, rubbing his scar.

"How would I...?" Joe trailed off.

"Okay, it's like this," Ryan began. "I moved here four years ago so I know it's weird, but this is the deal..."

Mark woke up again around two in the morning. Dan had passed out in a chair next to the bed. He wasn't in that much pain anymore, mostly just sore. His head hurt when he moved his eyebrows but his crotch didn't feel too bad.

He put his free hand under the covers and just lay it over the bandage. It's gone, he thought to himself. It's really gone. He was still pissed at his dad for making that kind of decision for him - he and Joe were only a year from graduating, and then they'd have been in college, with their dicks...couldn't they have done something? He knew his dad didn't communicate with his family and hadn't in decades, and their mother's family lived on the east coast, but surely...

No, he thought. That's all pointless. It doesn't matter anymore; the deed's been done. He just had to learn to deal with it. It might not be all that bad, he thought. Dad seems to have adjusted well, and Silas and Erik and all them...they didn't even seem to think about it; it was normal to them. Maybe it would become normal to him.

He didn't how Joe would react, though. I've fooled around with guys, Mark thought, and I could get used to taking it up the ass, but Joe...he doubted Joe would deal with it well.

"My dad's from here," Ryan explained, "He got tucked at fourteen. We lived in Seattle until I was almost fourteen and he wanted to move back. I didn't know anything about it either until we were already down here.

"I heard about it in school, and when I asked my dad about it he showed me. I didn't really know what to think about it, but it seemed like what you had to do, so when the time came, Dad took me down to the doctor's and they did it. I was laid up for a week but when it healed up, here it was." Joe ran a finger along the line of Ryan's scar, a little turned on by it but mostly curious.

"They put one of your balls up in where your dick was," Ryan explained. "You can push here..." he pressed into the flesh over the scar, "...and rub it a little." Joe did it, noticing Ryan's nipples get hard. "Yeah, that's it," Ryan purred.

"So you have to get fucked to get off?" Joe asked.

"Most of the time. I've cum a few times doing this stuff," indicating the rubbing, "but it's easiest to go up the ass. The girls around here all know what they're doing with a strap-on, so it's not like you have to be queer or anything."

"You're not gay?" Joe asked.

"Not...really, but, well..." now it was Ryan's turn to be uncomfortable. "I mean, I was really kind of curious. I've never seen a hard cock in real life before." He blushed, and looked down at himself. "Mine's been gone for years and I only got hard with it once or twice. Never got laid until later. It's just...I dunno. I guess I wanted to know what it felt like." He didn't want to tell Joe that he really was attracted to him, but it just blurted out. "And you are pretty hot," he finished.

"I've never been with a guy before," Joe confessed. "Does it hurt?"

"The tucking or the fucking?"

"The...taking it up the ass. Does it hurt?"

"It kinda does the first time. You just gotta learn to relax. After you've done it a few times it's easy; it's like riding a bike. After they tuck you I'll take you down to the shop and we'll find a smallish dildo for you to start on."

After they tuck me, Joe thought. So it's a foregone conclusion. What about his dad? What about Mark? Was...was that why he was in the hospital?

"I don't think I wanna be...tucked," Joe let slip out. "I...I like my dick."

"It's not that bad once they do it, really," Ryan comforted him. "I was freaked out too, but afterwards you'll see; it's really okay. Most guys wouldn't go back even if they could. I wouldn't."

"You like it better that way?"

"Well, I mean...it's really the only way I've known it. I never fucked anybody before I got tucked. Hell, I never even jacked off."

Ryan lay back down on the sand and looked up at the stars. "I wonder what it's like sometimes."

Joe gazed at Ryan's body from top to bottom...his face, his chest, his stomach, his legs, arms, smooth groin, and he started to get hard again. This tucking thing...it kinda turned him on. He reached over and started massaging Ryan's scar again, his cock slowly erecting for the third time.

Ryan noticed. "You want to go again?" he said, incredulously.

"Well, A, if I'm losing it I want to get as much out of it as possible - although they won't be taking it without a fight."

"And B?"

"You...uh..." Joe didn't feel entirely comfortable saying it, but... "B...I think you're really fucking hot."

The two were awakened the next morning by the sun coming up. After round two they'd washed themselves in the ocean water and then lay on the beach, intending to just be there for a few minutes. Joe awoke with Ryan's head on his chest and his arm around the other boy's neck. His cock was a little sore from all the attention and his head was pounding from the beer.

Ryan dropped him off at his house with a promise to call later. Joe was a tangle of emotions; unsure how to feel about Ryan. "Am I gay?" he thought. "Does Ryan really count as a guy?" Then came the whole tucking issue - he didn't want that to happen to him, no way. He could catch a bus out of town, run away from the whole thing, but, what then? He had no family to stay with outside of his father and brother, no real cash saved up, and didn't want to end up some street prostitute or something like that.

The others weren't home from the hospital yet, thankfully, so Joe showered the sand and salt off and hit the sack.

"Come on, son, let me help you out," Dan pleaded. As soon as they'd gotten home Mark had opened the door and started walking out on his own. The doctors had told him to be very careful and walk as little as possible for a few days. His crotch was still swollen and painful, but Mark wasn't about to let his dad carry him to the door. I'm seventeen, for chrissake, he said to himself. I can do this.

He hobbled up the front steps, his dad hovering around him the whole way. The steps posed more problem than walking did but he made it into the house and collapsed on the couch. "Here, I'll get you some water," Dan offered.

Mark flipped on the TV but all they could get were crappy Sunday morning religious shows...nothing to distract him from the feeling that he'd been racked up really bad, combined with having most of his crotch cut out of him. Dan gave him the glass of water and the Loritabs the hospital had given him; Mark swallowed them and let himself melt into the couch while Dan headed up to shower and change clothes. On the way he peeked in on Joe, only to see him passed out naked atop the covers, ass in the air.

While in the shower he thought about how to break the news to Joe. Maybe we should go ahead and move up the date for him, he thought. It might cause issues between the boys, and the sooner the better, or so the people had told him when he'd had to schedule his own tucking. He'd call this week; it would be best that way. He just wished he had some way to let Joe feel how bad it wasn't - he knew there was no way he could tell a seventeen year old boy that not having his penis really wouldn't be so awful. Mark, in his moments of lucidity, seemed to be dealing with it well, but that could just be the shock of it all.

Once out of the shower he saw that Mark hadn't budged a bit but was instead entranced by some movie he'd found on TV. He fried up some sausages and eggs, buttered some toast, and took some out to Mark, then yelled upstairs: "Breakfast if you want it, Joe!" He heard a muffled response in return. It didn't matter; there was plenty for both of them. If he was coming down, he'd come down, if not, he wouldn't.

Joe stumbled down the steps a few minutes later in his boxers. "Hey," he greeted Mark.

Mark lolled his head around. "Hey."

"How you feeling?"

"Like shit."

"What happened?"

"Tried to grind a rail and fell." Mark took a bite of toast.

"You gonna be okay?"

"I think so."

They stood there in silence for a moment while Joe tried to think of how to word his next question. He decided in favor of bluntness. "Do you know about this, uh, tucking, thing?"

Mark giggled. "Uh...yeah."

Joe couldn't help but glance down at Mark, but couldn't really see anything through his shorts. "So, uh, what do you think about it?"

"Doesn't really matter anymore." He pulled the elastic waistband of his shorts away to reveal the bandage underneath.

Joe's eyes grew wide. "They did it to you already?" Terror gripped his brain.

"I squished a nut when I fell and they had to go in there anyway, so they did it while I was under. I didn't know until I woke up."

"What did Dad say?"

"He authorized it."

"So he was cool with it?" Joe was suddenly feeling very alone.

"They did it to him months ago."

Joe felt like he'd been hit over the head with a two-by-four. Even his dad? He sat down on the couch next to Mark and stared straight ahead into space, his already scrambled thoughts trying to deal with yet more strange information.

Dan noticed him on the couch, both looking stoned. "Funny," he said to the two of them. "I thought I only gave Mark narcotics."

Joe turned to look at him. "You want some breakfast?" he asked.

"Sure," Joe muttered, and ambled into the kitchen, his head hung low, and sat at the table. Dan set a plate of food down in front of him.

"So how was the party last night?" Dan asked. Joe looked pretty down...

"It was good. I had fun."

"You get laid?" Dan smiled, not expecting the answer he was about to get.

"Yeah. Three times." Joe wasn't even paying attention; he was on autopilot, his brain occupied by other matters.

"What?"

"Uhh...um..." Crap.

"So...uh...did you...use protection?" Dan knew his kids would become sexually active at some point, and had tried to teach them to be responsible, but this was still not something he expected.

"Well, um, no. They don't sell condoms here, but..."

"Then you shouldn't have done it, son. All the diseases you can get, or getting a girl pregnant, or..." Visions of lesions danced in Dan's head.

"Dad, dad, calm down," Joe pleaded. "The first one, the girl, um, we didn't go all the way, and the other two, this guy, he's clean and all, and I know I am, and..."

"You had sex with two different people?" Dan was simulataneously horrified and impressed.

"Yeah, this chick at the party who'd never seen a dick before, and then this guy I met, but..." Joe was trying to steer the conversation toward what he wanted to talk about, the tucking, not his sexual escapades. Dan was more impressed, and a little worried, by the revelation that his kid was apparently bisexual, and was hoping to avoid the tucking conversation until he could think about it some more.

"You got laid?" Mark asked, yelling from the living room. "Way to go."

"Uhh, yeah," Joe answered, a little nervous about talking about it with Mark listening in. He didn't want to make his brother jealous or sound like he was trying to taunt him or anything. "Look, Dad, that's not really what I wanted to talk about, okay?"

Dan sighed. Okay, he thought to himself...let's get this over with. "I...I know, son."

"So what the hell's going on here? I was the only guy at that party with a dick, and now I find out the two of you are, uh, 'tucked?' Dad, I don't want that to happen to me!" Joe was on the verge of tears and trying to hold them back.

Mark wasn't sure if it was the painkillers or shock of it or what, but he was having a hard time relating. He knew his dick was gone, and balls effectively gone, but it just didn't bother him. Everybody else here was, so it's not like he would be some weird freak in the locker room - quite the opposite. He could learn to take it up the butt; it didn't bother him that much. He was annoyed about how it happened and all, but, pressing his hand to his groin, it felt strangely...right.

"Just...Dad, is there any way out of this?" Joe pleaded. "There's gotta be some way around it."

"I asked the same thing, son, and, well, not really. We can put it off until August..."

"Can I go back to LA? Maybe I could stay with Ruth's family, or Gene, or somebody..." Joe was grasping at straws. Gene's family was dirt poor and could probably not afford it even if Dan sent him money, and he and Ruth and not left on exactly the best of terms. Even Joe didn't really like the idea; he didn't want to leave his family.

"Son, it's...it's really not that bad, honestly. The first week while you're healing kinda sucks, but after that, well...you get used to it. You kind of get to like it." Dan was pretty threatened at this point and all the things he had prepared himself to say were out the window.

"But, Dad, it's...it's...aigh!" Joe gripped his head in his hands, elbows on the table. "This is just too weird! It's like I'm in some bad horror movie!"

Dan slid around the table and put his arms around his son. "Joe, look at me. Come on." Joe turned his head, eyes bleary. "Son, you know I love you. I don't want to hurt you, or your brother. This was a hard decision for me, too, and one that we all have to live with, but I think it's the right one." He didn't want to bring up the money issues - he wanted Joe to accept this on his own, not by using some guilt trip. "We can put it off a month or two; they told me you guys had until August. Just...this guy last night. He was okay with it, wasn't he?"

Joe was holding back the tears. "Y...yeah, I mean, I guess so..."

"Son, around here it's like getting your driver's license. It's just something you do. If it was all that bad do you really think they'd keep doing it?"

"I...I dunno..."

"Then just do this. Enjoy it while you have it. I'll buy you a case of rubbers if you want me to. Ask the friends you make what they think and give it some time to sink in, okay?"

"O...okay." Joe reached around his dad and hugged him tight. Dan hugged him back.

"I love you, son."

"Love you too, dad," Joe sniffled.

A few hours later Joe went out for his usual run. It was weird without Mark there; they almost always went together, but Mark wasn't supposed to run or lift until his stitches came out. Joe used the time to think, but had a hard time coming up with any new conclusions.

Okay, he thought, so I wouldn't be able to fuck anymore, or jerk off, but I can still have sex the same way everybody else does. Dad said he liked bottoming better even before he got cut, and Ryan sure seemed to enjoy it. The girls around here won't care, and Ryan'll still probably want to hang around...

His thoughts wandered to the Ryan situation. He really dug Ryan, both as a friend and physically. He'd had sex twice before last night but Ryan was easily the best lay he'd ever had - he'd be fine with that, but, then they'd be having shove dildos up each other instead of it being his dick in Ryan. Would that be the same? Maybe he could just try it beforehand, get used to it...yeah, he'd do that.

Dan had tried to convince him of the finality of it - "It will happen," he had said, and Joe had heard the same thing from both his dad and Ryan, that they really didn't mind it much. Hell, Dan had said he almost liked it better this way.

Still, Joe just couldn't help but dread the very prospect of it. There had to be a way to keep his cock.

When he got back to the house he snuck into his dad's room and swiped the smallest dildo he could find and some lube before hitting the shower. He stood naked in the bathroom with the door locked and turned the water on. "Okay," he said to himself. "Here we go."

A few squirts of lube on the dildo later, he was squatting in the tub, slowly pressing the tip up against his ass. Relax, he kept thinking to himself, and stuck it in a little. It was uncomfortable, and he briefly considered just saying screw it, but instead sucked it up and pressed it in a little further.

Relax...relax...he just held it there, trying to do it the way he'd heard about it. Relax and you'll open up, he thought. After a few moments, he actually did, and suddenly it was a lot less uncomfortable. It still wasn't exactly 'good,' but it was certainly a lot less bad.

He pushed it in a little further, tensing up some along the way, but always managing to relax again. A little further, further, and then...oh! That's a weird feeling, he thought, moving the dildo around a little, massaging his own prostate. His dick became turgid, slowly swelling a bit.

Next Joe tried moving it in and out a little, but not pulling it out all the way. It did feel good when he hit his prostate, and he was getting used to it. He kept wanting to jerk himself off but had promised himself he wouldn't - he wanted to do this like Mark would have to from now on, as if he didn't have a penis.

In and out and in and out. After twenty minutes he could even pull it completely out, re-lube it, and put it back in. After thirty he finally came, frantically wiggling the plastic dick in and out of his ass, hard cock shooting all over the sink.

Ryan called later but couldn't come over; his family was making him do something. He said they'd get together the next day and hang out. That was fine with him; what with all that had gone on that day he didn't really feel like hanging out with anybody either.

He accidentally walked in on Mark changing his bandages. Normally they didn't lock the bathroom unless they were shitting or jerking off; with three guys in the house there wasn't much point, especially when two of them knew exactly what the other looked like, or used to, anyway.

At first he apologized, but Mark didn't really care. "Go ahead and piss; I'll only be a minute," he told him. Joe was about to wait, but, well, he was curious, so watched Mark in the mirror.

His brother's groin looked like hell - bruised and swollen. The stitching looked good, anyway - the people at the hospital did a good job with it. It was weird to see, but in a way it looked sort of natural...almost attractive. But still scary.

"How you feeling?" he asked Mark.

"Groggy," came his answer.

"No, I mean about the...you know..." he gestured towards Mark's groin.

"It hurts some still. Not too bad now."

"Are you pissed about it?"

"No...not really. Right now it's more a pain in the ass than anything."

Mark finished and stood up, so Joe went to do his thing while Mark rewrapped his bandages. Once done he caught sight of both of them in the mirror, and an idea percolated in his brain...

"You know, we are twins," Joe said.

"Uh...yeah," Mark replied sarcastically.

"So...uh...what if we cut our hair the same and everything? Then in situations where they were going to check to see if I were tucked yet, you could go instead!" Joe was proud of this idea.

Mark thought about it for a moment. "I don't think it would work, man. We'd have to keep it up for a year, for one thing. You couldn't fuck anybody, for another, and think about locker rooms and stuff. Hell, in a singlet it would be obvious when you have a package and I don't."

"I could deal with not getting laid for a year, and it's not like I have to be on the wrestling team. I bet we could keep it up." Joe had an idea, he wasn't going to let it go.

"I dunno, man. I don't think it'll work."

"Just...just think about it."

Later that night Joe got some surgical tape and headed into the bathroom. He started taping his cock and balls down, trying to squish them into him as much as possible. If he could talk Mark into this, he'd have to be able to keep his package as small as possible.

The tape kept pulling at his pubic hair, so that had to go...Joe lathered up his genitals and took the razor to them, carefully removing all the hair he could. Once denuded and dry, he tried again, stuffing his balls up and taping his cock down between his legs. That didn't really work too well; he could barely walk, so he tried again, this time just squishing it all down as much as he could. That seemed to work okay; he could walk with that.

He tried putting on a pair of tight underwear and looking at himself in the mirror. He couldn't see much of a bulge at all, and when he touched his hand to his groin could barely feel anything. This could work, he thought.

A week later Mark still hadn't given him an answer, and Joe was fully aware that his time was running out. He'd fucked Ryan a few more times - he was insatiable. "Why'd you shave?" he'd asked. Joe just said he wanted to try doing it and that he never had, which seemed to satisfy Ryan. He told Joe that nearly all the guys in town shaved their bushes off; it looked less girlish that way.

Mark was recovering well. He could walk better and said it didn't hurt anymore unless he pulled it funny. The stitches hadn't come out yet and he was still getting used to pissing through the catheter, but overall he was fine. "I'm horny all the goddamn time," he confided in Joe. "I need to head down to the store and get me something to get off on but I'm not supposed to until the stitches come out."

Dan had been out a few times and met a few guys in and around town. He was still getting used to sex with and as a tucked guy; most of the things he knew how to do required that at least somebody had a penis, so learning to have a satisfying sexual encounter when nobody had external genitals took some time.

It seemed to him like Mark was adjusting well, which pleased him - he hoped that seeing Mark would make things easier on Joe when his time came. Mark's little friend Silas was over to help out a lot as well, and what with just having started his new job and all he was happy to have any help he could get.

Joe had been practicing binding his genitals up, trying to find the best way to do it. He could usually manage to keep them well hidden, but whenever he got a boner it would tear the tape off. He wasn't sure how he'd manage to keep that from happening.

"Come on, man. How about this: you just go when I'm supposed to get the tuck and tell 'em I already had it done. I'll do everything from there on out. Please?" Joe pleaded.

Mark sighed. He'd been putting up with various revisions of Joe's plan for two weeks now and was starting to get sick of this. "Joe, it's not that bad. Really, it isn't. Just deal with it. I'm not gonna go around telling people I'm you."

"But...come on, man..." Joe was starting to whine.

"Grr," Mark growled in frustration. "Look," he stated tartly, unbuckling his pants and letting them fall to the floor. "Just look at it."

Joe stared at his twin's groin, a little stubbly, with the pink scar running up it. Mark ran his finger up and down the length of it, emphasizing its smoothness. "You need to deal with this, man. It's driving you nuts and you're driving me nuts. You should just do it, already."

Joe was taken aback. "Well...maybe I have been kinda annoying..."

Mark was on a roll now. "You've been really fuckin' annoying, man! You're driving me nuts with a plan that wouldn't even work on some lame TV show. I mean, what the hell's such a big deal, anyway?"

Joe's eyes hadn't left Mark's groin. "Well, uh, um..."

"Come on, out with it!"

"Man, I just...I like having it there. I like using it. I don't want it gone." Joe's eyes started tearing up a little.

Mark softened a bit, grasping his brother by the shoulders. "Look, man, it's...it's like when Mom died. It just happens. You can't do anything about it so there's no point in crying about it, okay? You just deal with it and move on, so...just do it."

Joe looked up at Mark, his eyes red, and blinked some of the water out of them. "I...I guess you're right."

Lying in bed that night Joe came to his decision. In the morning he'd ask his dad to go ahead and get him tucked...he might as well. At least this way he'd be healed up before school started.

He had a bunch of yard work to do with Mark the next day and was supposed to meet Ryan after he got off work. He was looking forward to it all day - not just the sex, but telling him of his decision. Dan was supposed to call when he was at work and set up the appointment; he said he'd call at lunch to tell him when it was. The boys were in the yard when he called, but when Joe came in to check there was a message telling him it was set up for Thursday the 12th - only two weeks away!

Last night, once he'd made the decision to himself, he'd started a little ritual - every time he thought about it, he'd think to himself: "I am going to be castrated," and try to imagine how his pants would sit, how he'd walk, sit, whatever. Joe figured maybe he could talk himself into not worrying about it so much. A certain relief came in just accepting that it would happen, but he was still anxious about it all.

The two of them finished up the yard and started their last chore, edging the sidewalk, when Silas rolled up on his board. "Yo, Mark!" he called out.

"Hey, man. We gotta do this, then I can go."

Si flipped his board up into his hand. "How long you need?"

"I dunno. Not too long - just a few minutes."

"I'll just hang out then. Hey, Joe."

"Hey, Si," Joe answered him.

"Your shorts still full?"

Joe winced. Silas asked him that all the time, egging him for actually having a dick, of all things. "Yeah, for the next two weeks."

"Really?" Si's tone changed. "Well, good luck, man."

"Thanks."

"I'm just gonna grab some water, if that's cool," he said to Mark. Mark nodded and Silas headed in the house.

"I really gotta piss, man," Joe said. "I'll be right back." He followed Silas up inside the house. When he got out of the bathroom, Si was waiting for him.

"Hey, man. Can I ask you a question?"

"Uhh...sure."

Silas took a breath and tried to summon up the courage. "Can I, um, just see it?"

Joe knew immediately what he was talking about but pretended not to. "See what?" he asked, smirking.

"See...you know. Your dick. I've never seen one in real life on an adult." Silas' ears were burning.

Joe smiled again, a little nervous himself but more amused than anything. "Yeah, here ya go," he acquiesced, undoing his pants and letting them drop to the floor. He'd just shaved it again that morning so it was all nice and smooth.

Silas oohed and aahed. "Man, it's huge," he muttered. Joe knew full well that it was pretty average, but for a kid who'd only ever seen prepubescent ones it would be. All the attention was making it excited, and it slowly filled up, coming to half-mast.

Si stared at it up close, haunched on his knees to get a close look. Then came the real need for courage, and after a quick glance up at a smiling Joe, Si opened his mouth and wrapped his lips around Joe's cock.

Joe was startled for a moment, but then the warm dampness of Si's mouth pushed any worries out of his mind. The kid seemed inexperience but eager, and Joe was more than happy to let the kid suck him off.

Back outside, Mark was wondering what was taking them so long and went up to the house to check...Joe better not be trying to get out of this now, he thought to himself. He opened the front door and his jaw hit the floor. Here was Joe, shorts around his ankles, getting sucked off by his best friend!

Joe looked up and his eyes grew wide. Silas seemed not to notice. Mark started to get that fuzzy feeling now that meant he was horny...this was a pretty hot sight. He stuck his hand down the front of his pants and massaged his groin, his mouth curling up into a little smile. Joe knew that that look meant and put his hand on the back of Silas' head, guiding him on and off his hard cock, giving Mark a little show.

Mark quietly shut the door behind him and slipped out of his shorts, finding a place on the couch. Joe was staring at him pleasuring himself - that's what I'll look like soon, he thought to himself. Silas was still oblivious to Mark's presense, lost in the pleasure he was giving Joe. Joe just stared at Mark, who stared at Silas. When he felt his orgasm coming on he pulled Si's head into him, pumping the ropy white cum down the boy's throat.

Si was more confused that anything. Sure he knew how it was supposed to work, but with no experience with it all he knew was something gooey got in his mouth. He swallowed reflexively, unsure what was happening but not really caring either.

"Ah, shit," Joe muttered once he stopped shooting, and collapsed back into a chair. "That was nice."

Mark was still playing with himself, immensely turned on but not able to do much about it. "Man, I need a dildo soon," he said out loud.

Si spun around, his lips still wet with cum. "Mark?" His eyes ran over his friends' nearly naked body, so much like his brother's but with the one big difference...he noticed Mark's nipples were hard. He must be turned on, Si thought.

"Sorry dude. I opened the door and just had to watch."

"Man, you should have said something." Silas stood up and took a gulp of water, trying to wash the taste out of his mouth. "Oh, man, I got some on my shirt!" he complained, eyeing a spot of already drying cum on his front.

"Don't worry about it, man," Joe said, still horny as hell. He sat in the corner chair, dick still hard, slowly jacking himself. "Just take it off; it doesn't stain."

"You two...uh, it doesn't bother you to, uh..." Silas was stuttering again.

"Nah. We used to jack off together all time," Mark told him.

"But you don't, uh..."

"No, we don't fuck each other," Joe finished.

"Oookay," Silas relaxed. That would have been way too freaky. Masturbating together was kinda weird on its own, but incest would just be nasty.

"I'd go again but Ryan's supposed to be here in a little bit," Joe commented. "Gotta save up, ya know?"

Silas looked disappointed. "I'm still rarin' to go," Mark suggested.

"Yeah. How about you two fool around and I'll watch this time?" Joe asked. He really wanted to know how they did it.

"O...okay," Silas agreed. Mark ran upstairs to get his dildo and Silas stared longingly at Joe's cock as he undressed. When Mark got back down he practically leapt on his friend, lips and tongue everywhere. Joe watched as they made out, fondled each other, nibbled on tits, and generally got hornier and hornier. Finally Mark lubed up the dildo and worked it into Silas' ass, moving it in and out while he sat on all fours on the floor. "Ohgod," Silas exclaimed. "Ohgod, I'm cumming!" Cum spurted from between his legs onto the floor for what seemed like hours - it actually puddled up on the hardwood floor.

Joe continued watching as they switched up, getting only hornier watching the skinny redhaired kid fucking his brother with a plastic cock. Mark sure got off on it, breathing heavier and heavier, finally closing his eyes and craning his neck back, tendons showing in sharp relief. Right as his twin started making his own white puddle on the floor, Joe came again, the first spurt shooting all the way over and splattering Mark's chest.

When they both stopped the three of them just sat there for a moment breathing heavily and collecting themselves. "Damn," Joe broke the silence. "That was amazing."

"Yeah," Mark and Silas agreed in unison.

After they'd cleaned up and sheepishly finished edging the sidewalk Mark and Silas took off to go skating somewhere, leaving Joe by himself to wait for Ryan to show up. "I think that was the craziest thing I've ever done," Silas commented to Mark.

"Me too," Mark responded. "I'd jacked off with Joe before but never done anything like a three way before."

"I didn't know you were watching, but...I don't think I would have minded. I was more worried you'd be pissed at me for, you know...sucking off your bro."

"Nah, it's okay," Mark dismissed his worries. "I dunno about performing in front of him, but I really enjoyed it too, if you, uh, wanna do it again sometime. I know you're all about the real dick and all, but..."

"No, no, I liked that stuff too." Silas' ears were turning red again...he wasn't good at talking about this stuff. "I mean, I was curious, but now that I've done it...I dunno. You're both hot as fuck, but...the dick doesn't really matter." It was true...Silas had this expectation built up in his head for so long, but after finally getting to fool around with a real cock, it wasn't that he was disappointed, but his curiosity was sated.

Mark patted Silas affectionately in his crotch. "Good to hear it. Now let's see if we can ollie this bench."

Back at the house, Joe hopped in the shower, still aglow from his two orgasms. He soaped his body up well, scrubbing off the dried cum and sweat, running his hands over his taut skin. He loved the feel of his own body, tight smooth skin over muscle. Even without a cock...

"I am going to be castrated," he whispered to himself. Joe looked down at his shaven genitals, the lack of hair making them feel almost alien to him. "I am going to be castrated." He knew 'castrated' wasn't really the right word but it sounded less euphemistic than 'tucking,' and he had never heard any of the other words. He stepped out of the shower and started drying himself off. When he stood to brush his teeth he caught sight of himself in the mirror, and a perverse idea came to him...

He tucked his genitals down between his legs and stood up straight, trying to set the image in his head. "I'm going to be..." The doorbell rang, interrupting his thought. Joe pulled a towel around himself and ran down to the door to find Ryan waiting for him.

"Hey man," Ryan greeted him. "I get ya outta the shower?"

"Yeah, come on in." Joe smirked, dripping. As soon as Ryan was inside and the door shut, Joe dropped the towel and pulled Ryan in close, grabbing him around the waist and pulling him to him, rubbing his groin up against the front of Ryan's shorts. "You'll never believe what happened today."

"Hey dude, you're gonna get my clothes all damp," Ryan protested, laughing.

"So take 'em off. No, seriously, lemme get dressed and I'll be right back down." Joe sprinted up the stairs and threw on some shorts, a tank top and some flipflops. He came back down to see Ryan attempting to squeeze the water out of the front of his shorts.

"Man, now it looks like I pissed myself," he protested.

"It'll dry off fast; don't worry about it. Where we goin' tonight?" Joe asked, as they walked out the door.

"Party at Sean's house. You want to get something to eat first?"

"Yeah, sure." They hopped up in the Jeep. "So, uh," Joe began, "my dad made the appointment today."

"For what?" Ryan responded without thinking, then got it. "Oh. Nevermind." He stopped there, waiting for a cue from Joe to know whether he should be sympathetic or congratulate him.

"I got two weeks, then snip snip." Joe made scissor motions over his groin with his fingers. "I figured I outta just go ahead and do it."

"Well, congratulations, man...just don't get too drunk tonight and we'll find somewhere to, uh, celebrate."

"Ha. I look forward to it."

Joe felt a certain freedom accepting his fate. Once he accepted his tucking as a certainty he no longer had to worry about it. Sex with Ryan or himself became less an act of fervent desperation and more something he could relax with. He'd still never tried using a dildo; he didn't want to yet but was certain that if Mark had learned to enjoy it so much that he wouldn't have any trouble learning himself.

The days sped by. Dan kept an eye on him, looking for signs that Joe was getting too nervous or freaking out, but to his surprise he seemed pretty calm about the whole thing. Mark was definitely helping; seeing that his brother had been tucked and got along just fine was surely helping.

The day finally came. Joe hadn't been allowed to eat anything past 8PM the previous night and was starving when he got up, but Dan couldn't let him have anything. They got to the hospital around nine and checked in. Everything seemed very routine to Joe, but then, around here this sort of thing was routine.

After the initial checkup and examination to make sure there was nothing wrong with him, they wheeled a naked Joe into the operating theatre and ran an epidural into him. He couldn't feel anything below his chest, just watch as they lifted and spread his legs, leaving his feet in stirrups. He kept trying to crane his head up to see what they were doing as they spread orange disinfectant all over his midsection, but the nurses admonished him to keep his head back - he'd be done soon enough.

So, he did. He didn't really understand most of what the nurses and doctors were saying as they spoke - it was all medical lingo, and all he could feel was the occasional tug. His mantra changed to, "I am being castrated," and he felt fine with it, and not just because of the epidural. He really just wanted to sleep through the whole thing - two weeks laid up was not his idea of fun; it would be so much better if he could just go to sleep and wake up two weeks later all nice and healed up.

Then, it was over before he knew it. He was laying back, thinking about the incredible sex he'd had with Ryan the night before when the doctors started washing up and the nurses wheeled him back to his room. They transferred him to a bed for a few hours, where he mostly slept, and then in the late afternoon into a wheelchair and out to Dan's car and home.

The next two weeks sucked, plain and simple. Joe didn't feel like moving much for the first few days, but Mark was really good about it - bringing him food and water, helping him to the bathroom, that sort of stuff. Joe was a little freaked out at first at how much his groin had bruised, but as the swelling dropped and the bruises retreated his mood improved.

"Jesus, I'm horny," he told Mark. It was only the fourth day since he'd been tucked. "That one nut must be going into overdrive."

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons they said they do the kids around here young," Mark told him. "I was about to explode."

"I gotta wait another...ten days before I can get off?"

"Yup. Si and I went down and bought me a dildo yesterday. I'll go with you when you go if you want - I almost bought one that wouldn't blown out my ring if Si hadn't stopped me."

"Sure...guess I'll need one now."

"Unless you want to use one of dad's," Mark joked.

Joe made a disgusted face. "Dude, that's like...like...talking about Dad having sex with the Pope or something."

"Eeew. Nasty," Mark laughed. "You need anything?"

"Other than a good blowjob...nah, I'm okay."

"I'd hope so. No more blowjobs for you, dickless."

"I cannot wait until I am better just so I can kick your ass," Joe challenged him.

"Please. You'll be all weak and wasted, whereas I shall be buff and pumped. You shall be destroyed." The doorbell rang. "Oh, that's Si. Gotta go."

"Later on."

"Later."

Months later...

"Get up, you two!" Dan called from the living room. "You've only got two hours!"

Joe was already in the bathroom brushing his teeth. Mark stumbled out of bed and down the stairs. "Put some pants on, Mark," Dan pleaded. They'd been doing this for months now and he couldn't break them of it.

"Why?" Mark responded, blinking through sleepy eyes. "I got nothing to hide." Dan rolled his eyes as Mark got a bowl and some cereal out. Dan did take a moment to notice Mark's scar had faded out well - he could barely see it anymore.

Joe ambled downstairs, thankfully wearing some shorts. "Morning," he mumbled, still hung over from the graduation party the night before.

"The hell is that?" Dan exclaimed, noticing the new silver ring hanging from Joe's left nipple.

"Huh?" Joe looked up from the cereal he was pouring.

"That ring. When did you get your nipple pierced?"

"Oh...uh...a bunch of us did it last night..."

Dan rolled his eyes. "At least it's not a tattoo," he muttered, eyeing the small black star Mark got on the twins' birthday. "Alright then. I'm going into town to get memory for the camera. Just make sure you two are ready to go by noon."

"Okay, dad," said one or the other of them.

"And Mark?" Dan continued.

"Yeah?"

"Make sure you're wearing something under the gown, okay?"

"Awww..." Mark whined in mock disappointment.