Rocco had been agonizing over what to get Mike for his 16th birthday. They had been spending time together as a couple for a little over a week since they first kissed at Tiffany’s party. It was too soon to get him something significant like a ring—besides he didn’t even know Mike’s size. However, this was the first relationship he had ever been in —one where the affection was reciprocated. He wanted to do something special. He knew Mike drew, of course, so art supplies were an option. Rocco still knew so little about Mike, and he only had a couple of days to come up with something.
“You okay?” Rocco’s mom asked noticing Rocco lost in thought.
“Yes,” Rocco instantly replied. He had learned over the years never to reveal to his mom that he was anxious or scared. She would always turn his anxiety into something about herself. She would always try to fix it. Rocco didn’t want that—he just wanted some advice. He decided he would take a chance, “Well, actually, a friend of mine will be having a birthday in a couple of days, and I don’t know what to get.”
“Is this gift for a guy or a girl?” she asked. Rocco automatically started to carefully tread lightly. Not only did he want to keep his general affairs from her, he also did not want her to know about him and Mike. He was not at all ready to let her know about his sexuality.
“A friend who is a guy,” he replied curtly.
“Hmm, what does he like?” she continued.
“That’s just it. I don’t really know,” Rocco responded.
“If you don’t know that much about him, are you sure you want to give him a gift? I mean, that doesn’t sound like much of a friend,” she quipped. Rocco sighed—she was starting her judgements.
“Well, we just met a couple of weeks ago,” Rocco replied.
“You should only give gifts to your closest friends,” she said.
This was not helping Rocco. Maybe he could come up with something. “I’m invited to a birthday party. I don’t want to show up empty handed.”
“In that case, maybe you could make something,” she said lighting up a cigarette.
“Make something?” Rocco didn’t understand where she was going.
“Yeah, make him something. Something meaningful. And, you aren’t spending any money,” she said taking a long drag of her cigarette.
That was a good idea. If he made Mike something, it would mean a lot more than just some random item he bought. After all, Mike had drawn him a picture which meant the world to him. Yes, Rocco would make him something. But, what?
He thought for a moment, and then the lightning bolt of an idea came to him. He stood up promptly and started to go to his room.
“Thanks, Mom. I just got an idea,” Rocco said as he was halfway into his room. He heard an “okay dear” as he closed the door.
Rocco’s room was an orderly mess. There were dirty clothes in a pile in one corner of the room. Papers and books were scattered throughout the room. His amplifier, stereo, and guitar were in another corner. He went over to his where his guitar was. It was stored lovingly in a hard case. It stood upright against his component stereo. There were cassettes and CDs piled on top of each other. He started to dig to try to find a blank cassette. He was going to make Mike a tape—but not just any tape. Instead of a mixed tape of randomly strewn together songs, he was going make Mike a tape of him playing his guitar. If Mike could draw him something, he would play some songs for Mike. That would be perfect. It was from the heart, required lots of effort and care, and didn’t cost a thing other than time.
He finally found a cassette that was still in its cellophane wrapper. Now, he had to think of what to play on the tape. Often, to get inspiration flowing, he would get out the guitar and start tuning up his instrument. Just the action of tuning the strings and having the guitar in his hands was enough to spark his creativity. He opened his case and started to get his guitar out. Something caught his eye at the bottom of his case. It was one of his expensive picks—ones he saved for public performances. This pick was chipped and worn down. It struck him suddenly that he had used this pick at the party where they first kissed. Eureka, gold!!! This would make a perfect companion gift to his mix of songs. He had Mike’s gift cemented—a personal tape of his guitar playing, the pick he would use to play the songs on the tape, and the pick he used to play at the party that sweet night. Perfection!
Now, to come up with a playlist of songs. He did not have time to record a full album so he picked three that he could learn. He was going to sing the lyrics. He didn’t have the best voice, but it was good enough for these purposes. Besides, if he sang from his heart, it wouldn’t matter. It took him about thirty minutes to come up with this list:
· “Punk Rock Girl” by the Dead Milkmen
· “Here Comes Your Man” by the Pixies. Rocco knew this wasn’t a love song, but the chorus would be the part that would stand out. Those words were perfect…here comes your man, Mike.
· “Head Over Heels” by the GoGos.
He picked those songs because he either already knew the music or had the sheet music. He didn’t have time to go to the music store which was two hours away nor the time to try to figure out lyrics and music to anything else. These would have to do.
He spent that evening before bed practicing these three songs. He was so entrenched in this activity that he skipped dinner. He opted for a quick sandwich and chips. Once he was confident in his ability to play these songs, he wrote down the lyrics (or at least as best as he could remember). He then played the music and sang the lyrics to make sure he had everything synced. It was close to bedtime before he felt like he had the songs down. He would have to spend tomorrow night trying to record the songs. He would only have one shot straight through with each song. If he messed up, he would have to rewind his tape to the exact point where he started the song and record over the song. It would be a pain, but he certainly did not have any editing equipment. His operation was low-tech; however, he felt he could accomplish this feat in a few takes.
“Are you ready to practice?” Joe said opening the door of Mike’s room. They were going to practice driving since Mike was going to take his license test on Thursday. He was prepared for the written test but was still shaky with the actual driving. He could go, break, and turn, but it was the parallel parking that tripped him up.
“Yeah, hang on. Can I ask you something?” Mike said sitting on his bed putting his shoes on.
“Sure,” Joe said and sat down in the chair at Mike’s desk. “What’s up?”
Mike stopped unsure about how to get this started. Joe picked up on his hesitation.
“Is it about Rocco?” Joe asked. Mike looked up and nodded. “What’s going on? You guys okay?”
“Yeah, it’s nothing like that,” Mike said. “It’s about sex.”
“Oh, okay,” Joe crossed his legs.
“Well…” Mike started and then trailed off. “I don’t know.”
“Come on, Mike,” Joe assured. “You can talk to me. I mean, at this point, I know the big-ticket item.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Mike said and realized that he did not need to be embarrassed. “I don’t know what to do.”
Joe sat up a little. “Like you don’t know what to do with all the parts?”
“Yeah,” Mike nervously laughed.
“What have you two been doing behind these closed doors?” Joe raised an eyebrow. He knew they spent a lot of time together. Surely, they had done more than chat.
“We’ve made out a lot. A couple of times we took our shirts off and kissed. But that’s all. We’ve never done anything below the waist. Rocco tried once but I stopped him,” Mike said looking embarrassed.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Why did you stop?” Joe contorted his face in concern. “Was he pressuring you?”
“Oh no! It’s not that at all. I really wanted to…you know,” Mike made a gesture towards his lap.
“So, what happened?” Joe asked.
“I was embarrassed,” Mike said looking down.
“About what?” Joe asked with empathy.
“Like what if he’s disappointed? What if I don’t measure up?” Mike admitted.
“You’re afraid you are small?” Joe asked.
“Yeah, or he thinks it’s ugly,” Mike said nervously.
“Dude, we’re brothers. We should have similar equipment so it’s not going to be small. And they’re all kinda ugly, so you will be fine,” Joe reassured.
“Really?” Mike looked up.
“Mike, really. Besides, regardless of size, it doesn’t matter. Rocco likes you. He’s not going to care,” Joe said. “He likes you…all of you. Rocco doesn’t seem like the guy that would care about your size.”
“I guess you’re right,” Mike smiled. “I was also afraid that I wouldn’t be any good. I don’t know what to do with another guy.”
“Well, you’ve got the home field advantage here,” Joe said.
“What do you mean?” Mike asked.
“You’re both guys. You have the same equipment. You know what you like; so, do that to him and see if he likes it.” Joe spoke frankly.
“Oh, yeah.” Mike nodded. “That totally makes sense.”
“Are you thinking of going further with him this weekend? I’m guessing you are since you’re asking me about all this stuff,” Joe said.
“Not necessarily. I mean, I really, really want to soon but I’m just nervous,” Mike said.
“Just promise me you don’t do something that you don’t want to do because Rocco wants you to or because you think that’s what Rocco wants,” Joe looked at him with a serious face.
Mike laughed. “I’m always the one that makes the first move, so I don’t think that’s going to be problem. I was the one who kissed him.”
“You did?!?” Joe was stunned.
“Yeah, at Tiffany’s party, I was the one that led him into the woods and kissed him,” Mike smiled.
“You’ve got bigger balls than I thought, Mike!” Joe laughed.
“What was it like when you played with that one guy?” Mike asked.
Joe snickered. “I did enough to know that it was not for me.”
“Why didn’t you stop?” Mike asked.
Joe looked down and pursed his lips. “I felt obligated for some reason. Like I felt like I should see it to the end. That’s why I want you to be sure when you do it. Don’t feel like you have to go through with it just to be nice.”
“I will.” Mike said.
“Any more tips on gay sex from your straight brother?” Joe laughed.
“No, I think I’ve heard what I need to know,” Mike smiled.
“You ready to drive?” Joe dug in his pocket and pulled out his keys.
“You sure you are okay with me driving your car?” Mike asked.
“Yes. One, I know where you live. Two, you drive like a grandpa so, even if we hit something, we won’t be going fast enough to do anything to it.”
Mike flipped him a bird and laughed.
“Thanks so much for doing this” Rocco said to Pete as he plugged in his guitar. Rocco had told him about his idea for Mike’s birthday present. It was Pete’s idea to have Rocco come over to use his recording equipment as well as offering his vocal talents for the songs that Rocco picked.
“Are you kidding? I love the idea. I think it’s sweet you want to do this,” Pete said and tested out his mic. Pete had better equipment that would record directly from the equipment. Rocco was planning on just pressing record on his tape player to pick up not only the music but anything else going on in the environment.
“I heard about what you said to David. Thank you, Pete. That means so much to me,” Rocco sincerely said looking Pete in the eyes.
Pete stopped what he was doing, “Your pain is my pain, dude. He shits on you; he shits on me.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Rocco felt a tear well up. He did his best to try to keep it from going any further.
“You don’t have to say anything,” Pete went over to hug Rocco. Now, Rocco did start to cry. Pete pulled away and saw him crying, “Ah shit!”
Rocco laughed and wiped his tears away, “I know.”
“Listen, from the first day I met you at the skate park, I knew you were an awesome guy. And, I had heard all these rumors, and I didn’t give a shit if they were true or not. I knew I wanted to be your friend. You are an awesome guitar player and an awesome friend. So, thank you!” Pete said and flipped his hair over to the side.
“Well, I wasn’t always sure if you liked me, but I know now you do,” Rocco said wiping away his last tear.
“I never made that obvious?” Pete asked in surprise.
“Well,” Rocco snickered. “You’re moody. It’s hard to figure you out.”
“Isn’t that how a lead singer is supposed to be?” Pete joked.
“You definitely live up to that stereotype,” Rocco quipped.
“Fucker,” Pete laughed. “Seriously, you are gold, dude. You’re a brother from another mother.”
Rocco smiled at this. He had completely underestimated Pete’s bond with him. He wished he had met Pete earlier in his life. “Oh, I gave Mike the picture of Fred so he’s working on our logo.”
“Perfect,” Pete said as he went to his mic. “I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.” He turned on the mic and put his hand on the recorder. “Are you ready to rock?”
“Let’s rock,” Rocco confirmed.
Pete turned on the recorder.
“Mike, this is for you!” Rocco yelled to get the microphone to pick up his voice.
“Happy birthday, Mikey. 2…3…4…” Pete said into the mic.
They played all three songs perfectly. There was no need to do any retakes. It took less than 30 minutes to record. They reviewed the tape, and both agreed that this was some of their best work—just the two of them. Of course, it sounded like two high school guys, but there were no missed beats or wrong lyrics. The important thing was that it was something from the heart.
“Can I make a copy for myself?” Pete asked.
“Absolutely,” Rocco replied. Pete put in a blank tape to copy the master. Once he got a copy, Pete ejected the master tape and handed it over to Rocco.
“Here you go,” Pete said. “When are you going to give it to him?”
“His birthday is Wednesday. So, I’ll give it to him then,” Rocco replied.
“Cool, let me know what he thinks,” Pete said. Rocco gave him a thumbs up.
“You guys have been hanging out quite a bit. Are you official boyfriends now?” Pete asked as he turned everything off.
“Not yet. I’m thinking of asking him this weekend,” Rocco said as he put his guitar in its case. “It’s only been a couple of weeks, but we’ve been hard and heavy since we first kissed.”
“Hard and heavy?” Pete raised his eyebrows.
“Well, we haven’t done anything more than make out and stuff, but we’ve been doing that every day,” Rocco clarified.
“And stuff?” Pete wanted to know more.
“Just shirts off,” Rocco answered.
“You planning on doing more this weekend?” Pete asked and sat down.
“We are taking things very slowly,” Rocco replied. “Neither of us are ready for more, really.”
“Not ready? How much more ready do you need to be? It’s just sex,” Pete said flatly.
“Just sex? That’s a big step,” Rocco said.
Pete thought for a moment. “Yeah, you’re totally right. There’s no rush.”
Rocco paused and then asked, “I actually don’t know what to do with another guy.”
“Well, I’ve got no experience that I can speak about on this matter. But I would think it’s like with a girl. You just do what comes naturally, right?” Pete said.
“I guess so,” Rocco said. “I mean, it is a little different.”
Pete laughed. “Yeah, one less outlet.”
Rocco laughed. “Dude, that’s sick.”
“It’s true!” Pete joked.
“Shit, what do you do with a dick?” Rocco pondered.
“Well, you got one. What would you want to do with yours?” Pete asked.
“Yeah, point well taken,” Rocco said and looked off. “Well, I’m not going to pressure him to do anything. He’s always been the one to get things started.”
“Really?” Pete asked surprised.
“Yeah, he’s always instigating,” Rocco said.
“It sounds like you just follow his lead then,” Pete replied.
“Yeah,” Rocco thought about this. He was worried about nothing. He’d just let Mike set the tone. “Man, thanks for this talk. I haven’t talked to anyone about this before. It’s good to work things out.” Rocco went over to hug Pete and loaded up his car.
“Happy birthday, Mike,” Rocco whispered to Mike from his desk. Class hadn’t started yet so there was no need for Rocco to whisper. He did this more to make this their own personal moment.
“Thank you!” Mike turned around and gave Rocco a huge smile.
“I can’t wait to take you out to dinner this weekend,” Rocco said and winked. Mike’s stomach fluttered at the thought. It occurred to him that this was really their first date. They had spent lots of time together over the past two weeks, but it was either impromptu or because they were studying for a test. They hadn’t planned anything intentionally.
“I can’t wait for our date either,” Mike said and turned around in his chair to face Rocco. Rocco was taken back at hearing the word “date”. It had just now registered that this was going be a date—their first date. He smiled at Mike.
“I have something for you,” Rocco said and dug in his bag for Mike’s present. He pulled out the cassette of the songs he and Pete recorded. He had decorated the insert with flamboyant lettering, some smiley faces, and few sour faces. Inside the insert he wrote “Happy birthday, Mike. Love Rocco.” He placed both of the used picks between the insert and plastic case, so they were visible without opening the case. He pulled it out and gave it Mike.
“Happy Birthday, Mike,” Rocco said. Rocco hoped he liked the present.
“What’s this?” Mike said as he took the tape.
“Pete and I recorded some songs for you. I came up with the idea, but Pete wanted to make it extra,” Rocco pointed at the guitar picks. “These are special guitar picks. This one is the pick I used to play the songs on the tape. And this one is from the night I played at Tiffany’s party when…” Rocco’s voice dropped to a whisper “when we first kissed.”
Mike stared at the tape for a considerable amount of time—so much time that Rocco began to think he hated the present. Perhaps he wanted something store bought—he got it all wrong!
Rocco was shocked when Mike looked up at him with tears welling in his eyes.
“Do you like it?” Rocco asked overtaken by a sense of regret. He had spent all this time on a present that was cheap and ridiculous. Was he crying because Rocco missed the mark?
“I fucking love this so much, Rocco,” Mike exclaimed getting the attention of neighboring students. “This is the best present ever!”
Rocco’s anxiety instantly changed to relief and happiness. He wasn’t off the mark. The present was a success.
The bell rang and Mr. Pendleton walked in. “Okay, class, let’s get to it.”
“Thank you so much, Rocco. It’s going to be a long day because I want to listen to this.”
Rocco smiled and pulled out a piece of paper. On it, he wrote:
Will you be my boyfriend?
He folded up the paper and slipped it to Mike. He heard Mike unfold the paper and giggle. In a few moments, Mike slipped the paper, folded back up, to Rocco. Rocco eagerly unfolded the paper to see Mike had written:
YES, YES, YES!!!
Mike + Rocco
