LARRY'S 23rd POST: POPS IS HERE WITH US NOW!

Hi guys, it’s me Larry writing again.

I guess you’d like to know how I’m doing after reading what Marcus wrote last time. Ellen kinda threw a Monkeywrench into our plans, so what else is new in my life sometimes. Marc was there for me and got me over it for now so I’m okay for a while. Maybe I should write more about what’s going on with me and Ellen before I get to the end of this chapter, but I have some other stuff to write about right now, like our Pops flew up here last Friday night to stay with us and that’s on my mind now.

Marc's FaceTime picture I get to use.

Just one more thing about Marc’s last chapter, he wanted to use a picture of our FaceTime call with Pops when he was still in Mexico but also wanted to get his chapter posted before the end of July. IDK why that was so important to him, but he got it posted without the picture he had in mind to use. He also wanted to show you guys that Pops finally did decide to grow a beard after we told him he should and bet him he could grow a really great one. Anyhow, Marc showed me what he wanted to use for the FaceTime call, and I liked it a lot and asked if I could post it for him in my chapter. Sure I could and now you get to see it too. Just know that we got the real Pops here with us right now and that’s what I want to write about myself. Anyway here’s Marc’s FaceTime picture of Pops.

Anyhow, back to my stuff, like I said Pops is up here with us now and outta the heat of Mexico. Us Californians are not used to humidity like they have; they say we have a dry desert climate. I call it hot as hell sometimes, but you can go find some shade and it’s like 20 degrees cooler. I really wanted to see him outta there and he agreed, maybe he wouldn’t have if his lady friend was still there. She could come here too if she wanted but if you read Marc’s chapter you know she went to live in North Carolina with her daughter to recover from Covid.

We fixed up the room I was supposed to use here for him. That means we dusted and took all my stuff outta the closet and put a bunch of empty hangers in there for him. I never used the room other than sometimes I went in there just to clear my head. That has nothing to do with Marcus okay, I used to do that at my house too. I had a room that we called an office, but I never used it like that, it was my place in the house to go to when I needed to be alone. If Ellen told me to go there I wouldn’t, I’d head for the garage to work out or something. Nobody’s gonna tell me to go to my room, not even her! Hahah. The biggest job we had to do was not inside but outside in the patio that belongs to that room. The plants and flowers are taken care of by Aldo, but he’s not expected to clean the furniture or clean the windows. So we did, and now it looks so nice. It’s a good thing Marc and me are like we are otherwise I’d be living in that room. Now that I see how nice it looks, IDK, Marcus better watch out! 

Anyway, back to Pops coming here. He was expected on Friday night, and we were gonna go pick him up at the Sacramento International Airport, but he surprised us instead. He rented a car for himself and drove here instead. I was kinda looking forward to going to get him with Marcus. At least he told us before we went there for no reason. He said that he didn’t want us to be taking him everywhere he wanted to go, and it was better that way for everyone. Well getting outta the house for a while sounded good to me since we’ve been so busy inside making the place look like nobody lives here! I’m fucking serious, the place never looked so good. I thought we were good at cleaning until we decided to really clean the place. Maybe we do need some help around here after all.

When I talked to Pops on Friday he had only one request from us, could we have some of Marc’s good coffee to drink when he got there. He really missed that stuff. Really that’s all he wanted. I woulda gone for a lot more, maybe a steak dinner or something after a long flight. Well that’s not a problem, Marc buys five pounds of Jamaican coffee beans at a time and there’s always some here. Lately we’ve been trying some other stuff we find in the grocery store. Don’t want to get to the point of not liking the Jamaican stuff because we drink it all the time. You know I haven’t a clue what Pops likes to eat or even that he liked that coffee. At least Marcus knows everything about his Pops, so we are okay.

POPS GOT HERE AND WE MET HIM AT THE GARAGE

Pops called us from the car he rented and talked to us while he was driving. At least it was a built-in phone system and not his iPhone. Pops knows his way around here, no instructions needed to get here, and we were told when he was at the front guard gate to be let in. We told him we’d meet him at the garage so he wouldn’t need to go to the front door like a guest. This house has a much nicer entrance than my house does but we always use the garage way into the house. Like it’s the family entrance besides it’s a hike to the front door from where we hang out all the time. I hope he doesn’t have a problem coming in that way.

When he did get into the driveway we were both standing at the open garage door. He parked in front of the smaller garage door that’s for Marc’s classic car that we hardly ever use or open the door, got to work on that with him some day. Pops opened the trunk from inside so we could get the two suitcases he brought with him. I went to go get them and that gave Marcus a chance to hug his Pops for a really long time, they really missed each other. Hell I had the suitcases inside and they were still holding each other. Enough already I thought, I want a hug myself. I tapped Marc on the shoulder and said, “Hey my turn!” I could see Marcus had the happy tears as he stepped away for me. I just grabbed onto Pops and gave him a bear hug and I kissed him on both cheeks like I’m some kind of foreign guy. I’ve seen that in a lot of movies we’ve watched together, but I really meant it, it wasn’t just for show. Pops kissed me back, not on both cheeks like me but one good kiss and when he did he hugged me back even stronger. I had no idea how much I wanted this minute with him myself until it happened.

When Pops was though with my hug he wanted to know if we had a pot of coffee on because that was what he had been thinking about the whole flight. I think I would have been thinking about seeing us more than thinking about coffee myself, but what do I know. Hahah, I don’t think it was like that at all, I’m just trying to be funny. But he did ask for the coffee though.

Anyway he got the coffee and some cannoli’s we picked up at the Sicilian Deli that’s not far from here. I don’t really know if Pops is Italian, but Marcus is, and cannoli’s are high on his dessert list after his weight loss. Me too, but I love everything Italian anyway. I remember writing a long time ago that I heard that there are blond Italians, and maybe that’s what I am instead of a Dutch boy, but I’ll take adopted Italian boy any day.

Before we got into the coffee and cannoli’s we showed him the room he was going to have here, and he said he thought we give him that one. Okay, I wasn’t expecting that, but then he was the one that bought this house for the company to use. I bet he never stayed one night in here though. Marcus told me the place was a party house at first before he had him move in to watch over everything. It was dark out to really see the outside patio, but we did turn on the outside lights and he said it was very peaceful looking and he’d like to check it out in the morning. I’m glad we spent as much time on everything for him now.

After dropping off the luggage and checking out the room, Pops put his arm around me and said, “What do you say about getting that coffee now?” He never took his arm away from me as we walked the halls to the kitchen. It’s a good thing the hallways are wide enough for that, but we know that because Marc and me are always walking together like that. Well not always but most of the time.

IT'S COFFEE AND CANNOLI’S TIME

Cup of joe and cannolli time

Marcus made the bigger pot of coffee that we have since he said Pops loves his coffee as much as we do. I guess he’s not affected by coffee at bedtime too. We talked for such a long time, well, I kinda listened more than talked. They had a lot to catch up on, but Pops always made sure I got to be in the conversation too. Considering the profession they both had before retiring; they know how to get people to open up and say stuff that might be important. I’m guessing here, but I kinda believe it too.

The conversation did get to his lady friend. You know Marcus started calling her “Pops’ lady friend” instead of “girlfriend”. Kinda strange calling someone around 80 a girlfriend for me too. But we didn’t know if “girlfriend” meant something more than just a “lady friend.” Does that make sense to you? How to you ask someone like Pops are you guys sharing a bed like us. If Pops wasn’t really family and he worked for my company you can bet we’d just come out and ask or make some kind of dirty remark and laugh it off. But not with Pops, no way.

But we did finally get to know more, well a little more than before. Pops said that he has his own bedroom in her condo in Mexico. And he kinda left it there, hell, I have my own bedroom here too, and did I ever sleep in it? No fucking way! Not gonna either unless we have this big fucking fight. Well I don’t see that coming any day soon. We don’t have fights, sometimes a little piss me off shit, but no fights. And we never go to bed angry. I bet you kinda figured out that I’ll get to the bottom of the bedroom thing with them huh. You’ll just need to read everything before you know. I’m just telling ya gotta read everything. Hahah.

Anyhow, he did tell us all about Sarah and how he thinks she got Covid, and he didn’t. He said that Sarah and he didn’t get their shots at the same time or place, and he wasn’t sure if she had all four shots. Sarah is kinda losing some of her memory at times. And she has expat friends that she made down there long before he came to stay. Pops said he didn’t know very many of her friends but that was okay, some of them he was sure he didn’t need to have for himself. I think that meant he might like some guy friends instead of nothing but widows to meet up with. I bet he has no intention of getting hitched up, he’s been a widower for a long time and is over the lonely part. 

I listened like I said more than talked but I got the feeling Sarah is still his buddies widow and he’s there to keep their memories alive. And company for each other, yeah company just like Marc and me, sure we have a lot going for us, but we are company for each other too. We aren’t always headed to the bedroom, sometimes it’s the pool. You gotta know I had to put that in there, it’s a natural thing for me to try to be funny you know. Okay serious time, I love knowing I have Marcus with me to just be there sometimes, I can look at him and know we love being together, even if it’s just a smile I get from him. Before that sounds too mushy for you, we also know when the smile means ya want to get it on for a while. Like I said, company comes in all forms.

I had a feeling that in the days to come we will hear a lot more about them and maybe his dear friend Harvey that passed away long ago. It must be rough getting older and seeing your friends pass away and all you have left are memories. I never thought those thoughts before getting to know Pops, he’s the oldest guy I want in my life and now I want him to never die and then lose him too. 

We talked for a long time about stuff that I have no idea how to write about and most of it was stuff Marc and Pops knew about. You know Marcus was still working from home when I got to share his office with him. I know a lot more about his business just by being there close by him, so what they were talking about wasn’t that hard to follow. But Pops always was looking over to me to see if I was not getting bored I guess. He’d wink at me and say he was sorry for all the shop talk. I told him not to worry, wait until I get my turn to talk shop talk to get back at them. I got him to laugh too. That’s one for my side! Actually, the subject changed after that, and we just talked about how good the coffee and cannoli’s were and Al really knows his coffee. 

I guess you know for all of Marc’s life he has been Al to Pops. I don’t know if he’ll ever be Marcus for Pops unless we tell him more about why we use different names. I’m ready to talk about it, he knows I have two names I use although he still calls me Mark. There’s a big difference between me as Mark and me as Larry, I love being Larry, Mark sucks most of the time. I can say that because it’s me I’m talking about. But with Al and Marcus, they are a lot alike. Al is all business and in the closet still. Marcus came out to the world in the BGR journal blog. I don’t know what’s holding him back, I know how free he is being Marcus, and I know how free I am being Larry. I’m ready to deep six Mark for good. I wish Al could free himself more than just in the journal. Maybe after we get married, well he better by then!

I can tell you nothing else that is important to us was talked about before saying goodnight to each other. Marcus started it first when he hugged Pops and kissed him on the cheek good night, I hope you know I did too. I hugged him and kissed him only on one cheek like Marc, but I got two kisses back, one on each cheek. Hahah, I guess he liked what I did at the garage. And I’m gonna keep it up too. I know he likes me. We didn’t tell him anything about how we dress around here, or should I say don’t dress huh. I guess it will come up sometime though.

As we broke up to go our separate ways to bed, I kinda expected a pat on my butt from him or a squeeze like normal, but nothing, kinda disappointed me a little bit. Remember I said that here, it will probably come back and bite me one day. I grabbed Marc’s hand as we walked over to our side of the house and I kinda got really close to him like someone might hear us and said, “That really went well, huh.” And he just turned and kissed me and not just on the cheek, the kind that we had to stop for before we tripped over our own feet. Marcus told me how happy he was that I could welcome Pops to our home like I did. I told him, “Oh no buddy, I’m adopting Pops and he’s always gonna be in my life too.” I guess you know we stopped again and kissed the kind of kiss that said, “Get a room guys!” Not a bad idea and we were almost there too.

OUR FIRST MORNING WITH POPS IN THE HOUSE

Remember that get a room guys crack I made, we did, and it was the best time we’ve had in a long time too. I don’t know why it was, but I’d love to do it all over again! I guess because we both wanted Pops here so bad. We are always horny for each other, anyhow it wasn’t just about Pops. And now we have a little problem we never seemed to talk about together, I think we both wrote about it but now it’s real and not something in our heads to deal with.

Me making the coffee

One of us would head to the kitchen to get the coffee on and if it’s me, I take out some eggs from the refrigerator to get them to room temperature. I saw that on YouTube once and it really works. Cold eggs don’t cook like room temperature eggs, and you can trust me on that. Ya but there’s a but here, actually it’s a butt I’m talking about. When it’s warm like it is now, you can bet your ass we don’t get dressed going to the kitchen, we will after a shower though. At least we brought enough clothes into the master bedroom now. And underwear too. Anyway I was the one up on Saturday morning, almost noon I think, we had a very busy night and let’s leave it there for now. Anyway, I put on one of Marc’s sexy silk boxers we share, the dark ones, I know you can see through the white ones in strong light. I’m not gonna push this too far, but at least I want to know how Pops will handle seeing me in underwear. I know I’m taking a chance with this, there’s a lot less material between my ass and his hand if he goes there when he sees me.

Well, you could have blown me over, out comes Pops all dressed up like he’s going to work or something. What could I say other than I’m sorry if seeing me in my underwear was not cool for him. I coulda said it’s a good thing I wasn’t naked, but I didn’t. He said, it’s old habit that he hasn’t broken yet. And then he said that Sarah liked seeing him all dressed up in the morning. Okay that settles in my head he really does have his own bedroom there. Or he’s a damn good liar. I asked him if he had plans for the day, and he kinda did. He was gonna see some of the guys he’s known for years and surprise them. He told me that he’d be back for dinner and don’t make anything and that goes for Al too, that he would be taking both of us out for dinner tonight someplace nice that he really missed. Then he said maybe I could find some pants to go with those sexy things I was almost wearing. If he didn’t laugh at that I’d be worried I made the wrong choice.

I did tell him that we are pretty casual around here and we like it that way and that I hope he didn’t mind too much. I still didn’t say anything about the naked thing and maybe I never will. I have a feeling it’s gonna be him that opens up about just how casual, casual is for him. I saw what Marc wrote last time and I’ll tell you he wasn’t lying. We saw pictures of him in the photo album not having a problem being naked in front of a camera, and lots of times too! But that was when he was someplace in his 20’s. He’s 82 now, and he’s been a very successful business man his whole life. Maybe what he did when he was young and high as a kite on weed is only a memory he’s not proud of. Nope! Even I’m not buying that, if he was he wouldn’t let us see the album or give it to us. He even showed us one picture of him, the one where he only had his shirt off, but we found all the rest because of that picture. I told Marc when we finished looking through the album that it must have been really fun being a kid back then. Being a kid was never fun for me. Marc said I wasn’t all alone on that.

Guess who else got dressed before coming into the kitchen, well there’s only one other guy here anyway. Personally I gotta say this, “Mark” was nowhere in sight that morning because if he was he’d go back and get dressed. Larry was here and he staying in his silky dark boxers all the way through breakfast, and no one said boo about it too. I guess you know by now that Larry gets more real for me every day, and Mark is fading away. I can’t go back anymore, Mark is all phony baloney, he’s only known hiding and fear. No fucking more. I know Al wrote about his “Larry” and made him the way he wanted him to be. Well I bought into that big time. After reading a whole bunch of his early chapters all I ever wanted was to become Larry for him. I started to dream that I was him more and more. I’m not saying that I wasn’t acting like what Marcus wrote about me, I’m saying I knew the difference between Mark and Larry, and it didn’t take long for me to know what I really wanted to be finally.

We saw Pops off for his day from the garage and I was still in my dark silky boxers too. Once I set my mind to do something, it gets done. Pops told us to get dressed nice, the restaurant he’s taking us to is classy. Marc told him to wait a minute so he could give him a remote for the garage door. Now I’m wondering other than our tux’s what’s classy enough for Pops. I’ll let Marcus work on that, he’ll probably pick out the suit with the pants that are too tight on my ass, I just know he will. Speaking of Marcus, after we closed down the garage door he asked or I should say almost asked me what was on my mind with the boxers and then said, nah, never mind and laughed. I knew what he was gonna say, I’m not dumb. I told him we gotta start someplace because I’m not going back to the old days of hiding everything. Marc just shook his head a bit and asked me if I’d want to join him in the shower room. I said, “You still horny?” And I got a bigass smile back. Yup, it’s gonna be one of those kinda days and showers. Do you hear me complaining? Nope!

Once we got into the glass brick shower room, he told me what he wanted to do and I’m not gonna say no, I’d never do that to him. But my head was thinking just like him and I’ll get what I want before we ever leave the shower anyway. Oh yeah, something else, for those of you wondering if we are wasting water getting it on in there all the time because of the drought out here, no, we know better than that, the water gets turned on and off. For me the shower room gets this real sexy light and reflections on us from above and all around us, it’s a real turn on for me, ya Marc too.

Oh this talk is going nowhere fast. I just know whoever built this glass brick room had to be a big horn dog just like us. You know something else for all those years I knew Al, I never saw the inside of his bedroom or bathroom. I can’t even imagine why he would want to show me anyway. I do now! I bet Larry would have been born long before the journal if he got to see the place back then. Just thinking out loud here. Hahah. Actually, Mark would have had a fucking heart attack if Al did show me and tried something funny with me back then. I believe that more. Like I said, move on. Like dinner with our Pops.

FANCY DINNER OUT

I was right about Marcus picking out my suit for me to wear with the tighter and kinda stretchy pants too. Hey if it turns Marc on, I should go for it, right? Pops saw me in that suit when we went downtown to meet him for lunch once a long time ago, and he gave me lots of compliments too. Lately I’ve been thinking if you got it, you might as well go for it. It’s like when people are always telling you nice things about yourself, you start to believe them. You know I think I’ve heard more about my butt from Lisa than anyone, even Pops. Don’t think Marc doesn’t tell me stuff like that because he does, sometimes he just has a whole bunch of other stuff he likes to talk about more than my ass. Hahah.

I’ve never been to the place Pops took us to, but Marc has been before. I’ll tell you how fancy it was, there was this guy in a tux that insisted that he put my napkin on my lap, I was about to hit his arm away from me, but I got the look from Marc to chill out. And he wasn’t even our waiter. I bet he wants a tip too. And then if that wasn’t bad enough, the menus we got didn’t have any prices on it, and a lot of the stuff was in a foreign language too. I’ll tell you if it was just me and Marcus there, we’d be out the fucking door in a minute. Marcus told me later that we got the ladies menu so they wouldn’t know what things cost and I guess pick out the most expensive stuff. Well it was Pops choice and he made sure we wouldn’t try to pay for the bill. Thankfully I have Marcus in my corner, and he picked out something for me to eat that I would like. He just suggested it out loud to me saying that I would really love it and I trusted him. Man if he was ball busting me he’d be paying the fucking price for it later in bed, that’s for fucking sure!

I’ve been to some nice places with Marcus before, but it’s not my favorite thing to do. I’d rather go to some not so fancy place like the Mexican restaurant we go to a lot, or our favorite pizza place, or even Applebee’s, or the Texas Roadhouse, I know what I like to eat in those places.

Actually, something happened at the restaurant and I shoulda figured it was gonna happen again, and it did. The two of them were back to talking about work again. And I think they forgot about me for a while, well way longer than a while. Maybe me yawning a lot gave Marc a clue to change the subject, he told Pops he’d love to discuss this stuff in the morning over coffee with him. And then he told Pops that I was gonna be snoozing soon if they didn’t stop and the two of them laughed. I just smiled at them, and I’ll just leave it there without saying any more about it.

Pops apologized to me and said he missed his business talks with Al and got carried away for a while. I was nice to them and said it was okay, it was interesting. No it wasn’t at all. I think we may have to make rules about not talking shop when we are at restaurants, that’s what I think!

Marc got Pops to talking about what it’s like living down in Mexico and staying with Sarah in her condo. Pops made it clear that he’s just her roommate and they share expenses and spend lots of time remembering stuff he never got to talk about while living in California and that’s it. He said that he had been living by himself for a long time and forgot what it’s like to share a home with someone, especially a woman. He kinda wanted to make sure we understood that part. Marcus would say that he was “preaching to the choir” saying that. I get what that means big time now.

He told us how hard it was to see her get so sick and that he felt helpless sometimes trying to make her feel better. When her daughter came to help her mother it was what they both needed. Pops wasn’t as prepared as he thought he was mentally when it came to someone getting that sick. He said when his wife passed away it was peacefully, and she was spared a long illness. Then he told us that now he thinks about his age and that so many of his friends have passed away or had horrible medical problems they were dealing with and it kinda scared him now more than before. I didn’t know what to say to him, I kinda shrugged a little bit and said that I was sorry too. This is when Marcus took over and did what he knows how to do, he’s the pro here. He pulled up some words to make Pops feel better and we got to change the subject again.

I almost wished the subject was my tight pants at that point, but nope, not a peep from either of them. Damn, maybe I’m losing it huh. I coulda dropped my napkin and got up and bent over to pick it up, but kinda thought that was a desperate idea. If you think any of that is true about me, I’m gonna be really pissed off at you! Hahah. 

The thing that was true for me was the feeling I got knowing that Pops likes me enough to want to invite me along with Al and that he’s so okay with the two of us being together like we are. Of course he was going to ask me to come, Marcus wouldn’t let me just stay home, but I never felt he had to invite me. He wanted me there. I wish I could say the same about my own business partners though. They would never understand why Marc and me are the way we are together or that we are planning on getting married. Oh yeah that’s gonna fly with them. Best thing I can do is get far away from them and never tell them anything about my future plans.

What I really want to write about here is how it felt being around an older really classy and kind man. I used to say I had no experience like that before and that I never had someone old enough to be my father to love being around anyway. I can’t say that any more. My business partners are older, hell even Marcus is older, but none of them are old enough to be my father. I always thought Marcus was the classiest dude I ever knew in my whole life, now I know somebody even classier. Maybe that’s how my best buddy learned how to be that way. You know what else, the two of them made me feel like I really belonged there with them. That was the cool part for me. I did see something for the first time though, Pops and Marcus really love having fun joking around with each other, I think I kinda get where Marc gets that from now. I think I understand Pops a lot better after that dinner, and his joking around with me is a lot like what he does with Al. That really made me feel so good to know, he’s just being Pops with me.

Marcus might want to write about that dinner if he wants to add anything himself. I think I gave you enough from me for now.

IT WAS ME WHO HAD THE TALK WITH POPS

You know somebody had to do it and I figured Marcus was gonna chicken out on us. When I had Marc pinned under me when we were fooling around in bed the other day, I decided to lay it on him, not me, my idea. I don’t remember all the words since we definitely were fooling around with each other at the time. But when an idea comes into my head it wants out fast. Marc already heard me say and write that I don’t want to change anything back to our old ways and I like who we are and what we do around here together. And I think Pops will be okay with us not being phony with him. I hope. I didn’t say hope to Marc though.

Marcus knew exactly where I was going with this and I could see him getting ready to say no way, no how. But he didn’t, and I don’t know exactly why he didn’t. And then I remembered about Joe and how I changed his world for him, and I kinda figured out what Marc was thinking. And he knows when something gets into my head, watch out it’s gonna come out ready to rumble. Besides it’s not that Pops is this big uptight dude anyway, at least I don’t think he is. Nah, if he was, my butt wouldn’t have memory of the pats and squeezes from him, nope he’s not gonna freak out on us. Poor Marcus never got to say boo while I was rambling on and holding him down from moving although he did have a vice grip on my dick at the time. It coulda got serious. Hahah.

Anyhow, I asked Marc if he’d be upset with me if I don’t want him there with me when I get to talk to Pops. Maybe I shoulda said don’t get upset with me instead. I gave him a reason to think about it. And to make it worse, I wanted to take Pops to our fav coffeehouse too. It’s a good thing I was in the power position on top of him still. You know I would have changed my mind if he was really upset. He was just yanking my chain Marcus style. Maybe he was having a great time under me anyway, I know my dick could tell a story! I really think he was trying to see how long I could keep talking while my dick was under attack. Maybe attack is too strong a word, but it was getting the message big time.

Marc made me promise not to ask Pops to get naked with us in the pool. I don’t think I was anyway. If he does someday, he should be the one to want to do it, right? I know I’m gonna miss being free to be me around the house if we don’t find a way to do it and not piss off Marcus. Hahah. Anyway I kinda did the best I could to explain why I wanted some alone time with Pops, I think he understands me now.

When we were all in the kitchen later that day I asked Pops if he would have some time free to talk to me. I guess that was a silly question because he said of course he had the time, any time I wanted was fine with him. That’s when I told him I like for him to see where we like to go for coffee when we are out of the house. He was okay with that and asked if Marcus was going too. I was a little scared to tell him I wanted just the two of us and Marcus was okay with staying at home. I was starting to think I was being awful leaving Marc at home, but I really wanted to do this with Pops only. I said Pops was a classy dude and he proved it again. It’s like he could read my mind about what I wanted and said he understood and asked when I’d like to go. I said how about now. I figure no backing out that way.

POPS IN THE COFFEEHOUSE WITH ME

Our favorite coffeehouse

Pops said he could see why the two of us loved the place and he didn’t have a cup of coffee yet. Well the coffee choices are good there, but nothing beats Marc’s Jamaican Coffee at home, so I didn’t push that part too much. It was how you could find a nice quiet spot to talk, but I didn’t go telling him sometimes you can sneak a kiss when it’s not too busy. I’ll let him figure that out for himself.

I didn’t know anymore exactly what I wanted to get from that meeting, because now it was real and not just in my head. I was so pumped over the chance to get this time with him, I might have some of the stuff we talked about not in the right order, but I’ll try. Most of the times at home I refer to Marc as Sweetbabes, sometimes a lot worse for fun just like him. But lots of times it’s Marcus because he likes that. I’ve slipped up a few times already in front of Pops calling him Marcus or Marc, but Pops never says anything. I wonder what he thinks sometimes and how many more times I will do that too. Anyway I thought maybe that’s something good to start out with because I don’t want to worry that I’m screwing up something. I just told him that sometimes I call Al Marc or Marcus because he likes that name so don’t get confused, okay.

Pops just said, “It’s his name anyway, I’m glad he likes it.” Okay I wasn’t ready for that, and I asked him how he knew that; Marc told me it was a name no one knew about. Pops said he was the one to give it to him and explained how it happened. He told me that he and his wife were chosen to be Al’s Godparents before he was born. That his mother picked his first name for someone in her family and his dad said he gets his last name from him, so he was okay with that. Ginny and I were asked about giving him his middle name, so I suggested Marcus for my boyhood friend growing up, besides I liked the name. But he agreed with me that Al never used his middle name other than the initial, so no one really knew what it was. That was such a cool answer and now I wonder if even Marcus knows how he got it himself. Best part, one more thing I don’t need to worry about blowing around Pops now. But there are a few things I might get brave enough to talk about yet and I know what Marc warned me about doing too.

Before I got to tell him what is on my mind if I was ever gonna do it, Pops started telling me stuff. He wanted me to know he knew a lot about me already from Al and from a few parties that Ellen and me were there too. He said I was hard not to see. Oh, oh! I can’t wait to hear this part. He said that no one else looked like me there, my curly blond hair caught his attention all the time. Okay so far, that’s me and he’s not too far off on that, I’d notice if there were other guys that looked like me anyway. I do remember writing about a bleached blond guy once that was kinda trying to get into my pants at Lisa’s promotion party. And then he said it was how Al looked at me or was always trying to see where I was in the room. Okay now I really want to know about this because we have a witness of what we acted like back then. Pops said that the way Al looked at me and sometime when I was looking at him too, that it reminded him about himself long ago with his best friend Harvey. He told us about him before, so I already know lots. He said that when the two of us were together we were about as real as it gets and someday he’ll be hearing more from us. Before he changed the subject, he told me that Al had already told him some time ago that I was the most important person in his life and don’t be upset if it goes the way he’d like to see it go. Or something close to that. Well Marcus has kept a secret from me, but I won’t say anything because that’s so sweet to know. Man I must be slipping, I thought I knew everything about him.

He asked me about Ryan and wanted to know everything too. He told me he wished he had a son to raise but was quick to say that Al was a gift to them. He knew my son and me didn’t have a relationship for a long time, and he didn’t push for why, Pops is pretty smart, he knows how to put two and two together. But he did tell me why he and his wife didn’t have any children. They tried but she couldn’t carry the baby without a miscarriage. If you think you know me, then you know I asked why they didn’t adopt a kid. Maybe I wanted to know why I wasn’t adopted when I could have been. He said the several losses were too much to deal with and they gave up and figured there was a reason why that was happening. I tried to say the right things then, and I guess I did because he thanked me a lot. 

I guess what I really wanted was to know what it felt like just sitting and talking to your father about stuff, whatever. But I also want to know how to be a father to my own son, something I’m not proud of for not knowing how or even trying for years. I’m so lucky to have a son like Ryan and I just want to be everything I can be for him and for my grandsons. I told Pops all that and he listened to me like he really cared. 

I figured this was the best time if there ever was for me, I told Pops that I never had a man who wanted to act like a father to me, and that he was the only man who even cared about me other than Al. I said I’ve come this far without a father or grandfather, but would he consider being my grandsons great-grandpa and if he liked Ryan and his wife enough that maybe he would consider being his grandfather too. I took one look into Pops eyes and knew that went right to his heart. Marcus told me when you are trying to make the sale, just shut up when you’re through and wait for the response. So I know better, but I just kept yapping right along and kept telling him stuff about how much I loved that he liked me and a bunch of other crap, but Pops stopped me and said, that he would be so proud to step up for me in that way but that would I always call him Pops and let him be the father I never had. I gotta say, I was finally speechless, and I started to cry real tears like I couldn’t stop. I didn’t expect that much from him, and I asked him if I could have a big hug, because I really needed one right now. Of course I got my hug, and it was real too, I know the difference.

We talked for a long time; a lot longer than I bet Marcus was thinking too. I can’t say I got a lot of advice, but I did get what I was looking for, some one-on-one time with a father figure. I did get something else; I know now that Pops loves me just like he loves Al and he said so too. He said he was so proud of me and how I stuck to my guns with my sobriety, and he thought Al and me were the best sons he can call his own. I didn’t push anything about his relationship with his best friend long ago, he just started telling me stuff. I bet even Marcus doesn’t know everything about them as I do now. 

There’s another thing I can only say a little bit about right now, but since you guys know about the new problem I’m running into with my wife Ellen and the divorce, just let me say that Pops told me that his lawyer will handle everything for us in our divorces. So I should stop worrying about shit and relax he has this. Did I just win the Lotto? Like really? We talked more but so much of it is not ready to write about so know that my mind is in a lot better place now. Pops said, “I will be marrying you two before the end of the year, so hang in there; it’s going to be okay.” I’m gonna leave it there for now, I just wanted you guys to know we talked about it over coffee.

I know I promised Marc not to try and get Pops in the pool with us the way we like to swim, so I didn’t go there. But I did go to the kinda casual way we dress or don’t dress around the house. I promised myself that I get that part covered one way or the other. Anyhow I just got brave and told him that Marc and me don’t have a problem with being naked together around the place. He laughed and said you guys better be that way. That was cool and gave me some courage to continue. Anyway I asked him if he saw us naked in the house would he be offended or feel awkward around us. If he did we would try hard not to do that around him. He laughed again only louder this time. And then he asked me, “What makes you think I’d be upset with being around naked guys at times?” That was a hard question to answer without feeling stupid. I told him, “I didn’t know why, just thought older guys might not like that kinda thing.” Okay so I said something stupid, I don’t have the filters that Marcus has when talking. Pops took a hold of my forearm to get my attention and said, “Do not do anything different around the place because he was there, period.” And then he said, “What makes you think older guys feel that way, we’re not dead inside son. Don’t be surprised if I join you one day, you never know about older guys, just remember that.” And then we both laughed and eventually he took his hand off my forearm and relaxed into his seat. But he kinda chuckled a lot after that; I can only imagine what I put into his head right now. I guess we’ll know soon enough. Man, my world has changed so much in such a short time, ya can get super dizzy really fast.

I don’t know how much I should write about Pops and Harvey right now, especially since Marc would read it at the same time as you guys. I’ll say this, they were not like us exactly, it was a different time. He did tell me that there was a lot of dope smoking at the time, and it did break down barriers for them. But over the years they knew they grew a special love for each other, and it lasted for many, many years. He said he guessed that I knew that they were all married, and they stuck it out to the very end. There were times that he and Harvey got together when they could, but it wasn’t often. Kinda reminds me of us after we got back from our lake cabin trip years ago, we wanted to get together so bad, but it was hard to do. But as you guys have read, we did as often as we could and now here we are. I know one thing for sure, Pops will want to talk about his love for his buddy Harvey and how he has dealt with the losses. And now he might lose Sarah as his long-time friend and buddies widow as well. He’s not handling loss very well right now, and I can understand what it must feel like. I’m so glad he’s here with us and maybe we can fill the emptiness he feels inside.

I guess I covered the important parts of our coffeehouse visit, there might be more if I remember. We needed to get back home and check on lonely Marcus. I know I’m making fun of that here, but I do care, and I am so glad he let me have this time with Pops to myself.

AS WE ALL MOVE FORWARD TOGETHER

This chapter of mine was only supposed to be about me and Pops and little else. We’ve all started living together and it’s at a let’s see how it goes stage right now. I guess I should say there’s been no naked time inside or outside yet. You can blame Marc on that, not me! Maybe one day though, it’s okay so far. But I’m not giving up on wearing my boxers making breakfast though. Pops has worn some shorts he brought with him, and he’s gone shirtless a few times, but that’s it. He hasn’t gone into the pool that I know of, but maybe late at night. I bet if he does it’s to see what it's like swimming naked. I know that’s what I’d want to know if I were him. So far we haven’t said a word about how much me and Pops look alike, you know in the fur department. I love having some one like that to relate to now. It probably was never a problem for him, maybe.

I want him here as much as Marc does, so he has no fear of being unwelcome. I know from reading that there are lots of cultures where the grandparents are taken care of and sometimes live with the family. I totally understand that now. But I know so little about older people and what they need or want, I think from my visit with him I know a lot more now and what he needs is nothing more than what we need. Maybe we need him more than he needs us. I guess we’ll know sooner or later.

I gotta go see how many commas I forgot to use or lately use in the wrong spot. Man I’m never gonna get the grammar thing ever! But after a few chapters now, sometimes I get a few paragraphs without mistakes, cool! I need to get some pictures and read it a couple of times to see if it sounds stupid before I post it. So I guess you’ll know what I’m doing now. And the big problem is finding the time to write my chapter without Pops wondering what I’m writing about. Sometimes I think we should just tell him about the thing and move on like what Marcus did with me at the beginning of the blog. It’s just all the sex we wrote about and all the horniness, it’s gonna take a lotta guts to let him read that about us. 

Okay that’s it, I hope you like what I wrote again.

Love you guys,

M. Larry

Here is a link to Marc's next chapter, it's really good:

https://brosgonerogue.blogspot.com/2022/08/ch-86-pops-uncovers-something-really-big.html#more