“Shit, man! Good to see you too!”

I was trying to get some more heat out of the stove while Brett stamped his feet on the boards to warm them up.

“So, what?”

“I told you - I’ve come to take you home.”

“I know, but I haven’t even - “

“Yes, you haven’t even made up your mind. Or maybe you have. Whatever, I’m here to make it up for you.”

“But - “

“No use arguing with me - it’s all settled. As soon as we heard from your coach I told Dad I was coming.”

“Darn the Boss!”

“No, don’t darn him, thank him. I’ve been miserable for months and so have you. What’s the point of us both eating our hearts out on opposite sides of the world when we could do it together. In the warm. Doesn’t matter what you’ve decided - or what you haven’t, you’re coming with me. Gonna take my coat or what?”

I had to laugh. He stood up to give me his coat. He stood there shivering, so we got our first hug. Darn, but it felt good to have those arms around me again. And - shit! He felt like a living boulder!”

“Hey you! You’ve been working out!”

“Sure - Dad got me back on to ultra-contraction and I’m bi-i-i-g now - big as you were when we first met!”

“Shit, man - you sure are! Feel those arms! And those pecs are even -”

“No, you can’t take my clothes off till we go to bed. Sit down and shut up.”

We sat, huddled together on the rickety bed.

“Dad hasn’t wasted these months either. He’s been doing a lot of research and he thinks he’s come up with an idea that can suit us all - whatever you decide.”

“Which is?”

“Have to wait till he can tell us himself. I don’t even know yet - I just know that he changed from gloom to hope overnight a few days after we got Boss’s letter. The thing is, there aren’t any conditions any more - just to be happy, whatever we decide. AND he thinks you - we can have our cake and eat it too. Now can we go to bed?”

“Horny bastard!”

“Shit, lover, I’ve been waiting long enough! And it’s still freezing out here!”

I flung an old rug over his head and imprisoned him in my grip.

“That better?”

An almighty push and I was on the floor with the monster looming over me, enshrouded in his rug.

“Hey, strong too!”

“So, Mr. Scandinavia, you coming with me or not?”

How could I refuse that?

“Sure I am.”

“Thank God for that! Pilot can stop freezing his nuts off at your airport and we can leave at dawn.”

“But -”

“You don’t need anything except personal bits and pieces - it’s all waiting for you over there. And the Boss’ll be here at seven to say goodbye.”

“You were so darn sure I’d say yes?”

“I knew if it was the other way round I’d have to, yes. Yes! Where’s your bag? What d’you want to take?”

I thought for a moment. What the hell! Wouldn’t need snowboots over there. Threw a couple of old books into a hold-all, along with a few things I treasured, like a photograph of my late ma and pa, and one of coach looking like Sandow in his salad days.

“Want this?” Brett was holding last month’s first place trophy.

“Why not?” In it went. Tomorrow the razor and toothbrush. That was all I needed of the old life. For a moment I felt guilty for rejecting my whole past, or almost all of it, then I looked at Brett and thought only of our future. Fuck it - close one door, open another! As if it agreed, the stove suddenly put out a lot of heat and the room actually felt warm - warm-ish. Quite warm enough to rip Brett’s clothes off and have a look at this new and improved physique!

We wrestled ourselves naked and finally he was there - all of him. A whole lot more of him.

“Shit, man! Look at you! You really are as big as I was - or nearly!”

“Shit on the nearly, man! I am as big: Dad’s got all the measures! And look at you anyway! Mr. Olympia! You’re fucking huge! Always have to be one step ahead, don’t you?”

And that living boulder, with his rampant dick, was on me. He rammed his big cleft bicep in to my face.

“Hey! Watch the teeth! - they’re not Made in America!”

I grabbed those fabulous extra-large Brett-pecs and squeezed.

“And these are mine - all mine!” and I clenched my teeth on one magnificent man-tit. He twisted my balls to make me let go, then we seized each other round the waists so that our pecs ground into each other and our dicks were imprisoned between each other’s totally awesome quads.

“You know how much I’ve been missing you? To think that I nearly lost all this!” I said before I devoured his mouth in a much-delayed first kiss.

We fell backwards on to the rickety bed which gave one crack under our joint 560 odd pounds and collapsed.

Our love-sex fest that night must have pleased the gods, as well as us, for the next morning brought a clear blue sky and - miracles! - the sun.

We were hardly shaved and dressed when Boss came rapping on the door. We let him up. He and his wife and kid came up, bearing steaming baskets of coffee and bacon and eggs and fresh rolls. They took one look at the collapsed bed and the strewn bedclothes, then another at our sheepish grins, and burst into roars of laughter. Pilot, coming up the stairs behind them, joined in.

We ate breakfast among the ruins. Boss said he’d send the bill for the broken bed to the Master with a warning note. Pilot, who’d been staying with the Boss, not at the airport, said the Master would be surprised at nothing. More laughter and a great breakfast.

Pilot took my bag down to the Boss’s truck - then it was time to say good-bye. It wasn’t easy, after something like twenty-five years, and there were too many tearful hugs from all of us. Boss said, “Not to worry, we’ll clear all this up. I’ll sell your truck and send you the proceeds - less last month’s rent!” I think he already had someone in mind to move in.

Then that was it. Had to go. More tears and promises to write and all that. Horrible.

Brett said, “What the fuck?! They’re all coming to La Jolla for the summer anyway - to get some real sun!!”

Whoops and hollers and we all piled down the stairs. Mrs. Boss and the kid took my truck and the rest of us squeezed into Boss’s and finally set off for the airport.

And destiny. •