His mouth was open slightly and I watched him breathe for a while. His chest rose and lowered slightly with each breath and he seemed so peaceful and content. I don't know how long I watched him, but finally my concentration was broken as he re-arranged his arms a little. I lay down next to him again and snuck my arm under his pillow. I snuggled closer to him so that my chest was pressed against his back. I felt Mike stir a little and then press himself against me.

"Morning Mikey" I whispered.

"Morning Eric" he said grabbing on to my arm with his hand. "So, how come you were starring at me?"

"You knew?"

"Yeah, I felt you wake up."

"Why didn't you say something?" Our conversation was quiet and comfortable. I'm not even sure we cared particularly about the answer to our questions. It just felt good to be together.

"I didn't want to get up, it felt too good lying here together." He reached back and stroked my hair a little.

"Oh. Yeah, it does feel good doesn't it. So how'd you sleep?"

"I slept great, but I had the weirdest dream. I was human pincushion and someone kept shoving this huge pin in me." he started laughing.

I was laughing too. I pulled him against me tightly and rolled on top of him so that his face was in his pillow. "I had a dream too. I was working construction and they made me run the Jackhammer." I started ramming my hips against his butt.

"Easy big boy. Didn't you see the sign? 'New Construction Ahead - Use Caution!'" His voice was a little pained.

I stopped moving. "You're sore?"

"Well yeah I'm sore. I just had your big piece of meat in me for the first time - I think I'm going to be sore for a few days." He said it like I should have known.

"Oh." I felt bad. I never wanted to hurt him, and now I was feeling really bad that it had me feel so good.

Mike could hear it in my voice. He rolled over so we were facing each other. "Hey, I didn't mean anything by that. Last night was great, I'm totally happy we did it." He waited to see the smile come across my face, then he continued, "and I can't wait to do it to you." I was a little afraid now. I wasn't sure I was ready yet, we'd had fun, but it was all so tense and seemed like work. I didn't imagine that sex should be that way. He saw my smile disappear for second even though I tried to maintain it. "It's OK, Eric, I want to do it to you too, but not before you want me to." Our eyes were locked and we pulled each other in close. We exchanged the best kiss we ever had.

Our relationship had definitely changed and we could both feel it. It became Mike and Eric against the world. We were more protective of each other and we shared our experiences more. When good things happened to Mike, I felt like I was happier than when they happened to me. I was starting to figure out what relationships were all about and couldn't imagine life without Mike.

After our kiss broke, we just stayed there in bed holding each other and talking about nothing. We were startled back to reality when my Mom knocked on the door. "Eric? Mike? Are you two up? Eric, remember you have your first driving lesson today!" I had lost track of time. Carl - of Carl's driving school - would be here in less than an hour. I told her that we were up and that we'd be right down.

Mike and I cleaned up and raced down for a quick breakfast. Just as we finished eating, a Ford Focus pulled up in the driveway. The car stopped and the door opened. Mike's and my jaws hit the floor as we got our first look at Carl. The man was about six foot tall and must have weighed at least 275 pounds without an ounce of fat on him. He was built beyond anyone we'd ever met in person, in fact it looked like Carl could have stepped right out of a Muscle Mag 2000.

My Mom looked at us both. "Close your mouths you two. You'd better go out and meet your driving instructor." We both stood up and walked out the side door to meet Carl.

"Hey guys, I'm Carl. I'm here for your driving lessons - I didn't know there were two of you." He had a skin tight white t-shirt and we could see every muscle in his upper body. Veins stood out on his arms and forearms like I'd never seen before. I finally looked up at his face and realized he was pretty handsome too. He had jet-black hair and almost black eyes. I guessed by his face he was probably in his mid to late 20's. He smiled at us and I could tell just by the way he greeted us that he was a cool guy. I didn't know if my Dad had found this guy on purpose or if he just happened to be built, but either way I was going to have to thank him for Carl.

Mike spoke up first. "Ummm, no." And that was all he said, he was still in awe of Carl too.

"No?" Carl asked.

"I I I've already got my license." Mike replied.

Carl turned to me. "You must be Eric." He extended his thick hand and I shook it without saying anything. I was still awe of him. "Are you OK, Eric?"

"Umm, Yeah. I'm fine. I'm sorry. Umm, we've just never met anyone as big as you." I choked out the words without ever dropping my gaze from Carl's incredible body.

He smiled broadly. "Thanks, Eric! I can see you guys must be doing some serious training yourselves. I bet you must weigh at least 180 already!" He lightly punched me in the pec as he said this. I was finally getting my wits about me.

"I'm about 190 now." I said sheepishly. It didn't matter that my Dad was paying this guy; it was still an incredible compliment.

"That's more than I weighed at your age, Eric. You look really strong. Let's see what you've got." As he said this, he flexed his left arm indicating that he wanted me to flex my right arm. His arm was massive - that was the only word I could think of for it. It didn't even look like we were the same species standing next to each other. I put up my arm and flexed it as hard as I could. "Damn, Eric! Shit you could compete; there aren't many teens with muscle like that. So who's your friend here? You aren't brothers."

"Oh, this is Mike. He's my neighbor - he lives across the street." Carl turned and looked at Mike a little.

"You look good too Mike. Keep training and you'll get as big as Eric here!" Carl was smiling and trying to be nice, but it was the worst possible thing he could have said. The smile immediately disappeared from both my face and Mike's. I knew that I was now bigger than Mike, but on some level, my mind always pictured Mike as more built than me.

"Huh? No, Mike's bigger than I am." I said without really thinking. I guess I was defending him, or maybe it was that part of me that still saw myself as fifteen pounds lighter than Mike rather than ten pounds heavier. Carl got a sort of sideways smile on his face. "OK, Eric. Whatever you say. We should get going though."

Without saying a word, Mike waved and walked down the driveway back toward his own house. I could tell he was hurt and everything in side of me said that I should go after him, but Carl was waiting for me, so I just let him go. I watched Mike walk away, I couldn't stop watching, but I couldn't go after him either. Finally Carl got my attention. He'd pulled out a clipboard from the car and was going over a safety checklist with me. It look me a few seconds to get my mind on what he was talking about, but soon I was totally into learning to drive. After a few minutes with the checklist, I was sitting behind the wheel. Five minutes later, off we drove.

After about forty-five minutes of driving around the neighborhood we pulled back in the driveway. The time had flown by and Carl had turned out to be very cool. We both got out of the car and as I did, I noticed Mike and Justin walking across the street towards us. I couldn't wait to see Justin's reaction to Carl. •