The Men of Manhattan

8

The two laid in bed, content. Martin felt like a whole new person entirely after loosing his virginity. Half awake, he dreamed of nice pink clouds and bright yellow sunshine and hummed a sweet tune. His head was comfortably rested on Bruno's chest as Bruno stroked Marty's head.
"Bruno..."
"Hm?"
"You're so warm..."
"You are too."
Bruno chuckled in reply then said,
"Marty..."
"Hm?"
"Do you think it's normal for two men to make love?"
Martin lifted a feather-light eyelid, turned his head towards his man and thought for a while then replied in a soft voice, "I didn't always think so but I think it is now. Many would disagree. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, just curious. A lot of people say sodomy is an unnatural act but what we did... felt so natural. As natural as how it must have felt to the ancient Greeks."
Martin turned and rested his head on his love's warm inviting chest. Bruno slowly pet his uncouth black hair, Martin rubbed his head against the touch.
"Bruno... Who've you made love to before?"
Bruno was not hesitant to answer, "I've made love with 2 other people other in my life. Cecil Banks was the first person— this ginger kid... we were pretty close friends back in high school. I was 17, he was a year older or so. We would meet up every Friday at my house to go downtown with our little group of comrades then us two would go to my house to study. One night, he kept asking me about girls... he asked me what kind I liked and if I've ever dated, I lied for most of the answers and he could tell I was. We were on my bed, he placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it real tight and started talking about how much I meant to him as a friend. Then we started hugging each other for a long, long time. That's when I had my first kiss... and one thing led to another. It was all a bunch of experimenting, really, we really didn't know what we were doing. We just did whatever felt right. We uh, did it a few times after that until I moved away."
     Martin stared into Bruno's twinkling eyes as he talked and stroked his chest. "Hm, that's quite sweet."
"Y-yes... if you're wondering who the other person was, it was Candace."
"Oh my."
"Yes. We only tried it once."
"And what was that like?"
"Eh."
The two began to laugh. "Do you know what happened to Cecil after you moved?" Marty asked.
"We wrote to each other for a while y'see, he stayed in Rhode Island. He was drafted the last time I heard... haven't heard from him since."
"What a shame."
"Yes. But, I'd rather love you than all else."
Martin kissed Bruno's chest in relpy then rested on it again. He sighed, for he remembered when Henry had held him so close on that cold, lonesome night. He shook his head at the memory. "Are you alright, Marty?"
"Oh, I'm fine now... I've been fine the whole time I've been with you."
     "Well... I get the feeling there's something on your mind." Martin sighed again. "Alright... there is something on my mind... I hate thinking about it but I can't help but to. Everything reminds me of 'im."
     "Him?" Bruno was interested. Martin's heart began to pound, he wished he hadn't said anything.
     "Never mind."
     "No. Tell me, who's him?"
     "O-okay. There was this good friend I used to have... Henry. We were good buddies from college. I always had a crush on him." Martin told him about the good times they had together and the night he had a panic attack and Henry made everything better and how he was his first real kiss. Then he told him about Henry refusing to say "I love you" and how they got into a fight, ignoring each other ever since.
Bruno was silent for a while. Martin was afraid he'd grow jealous because he was thinking of someone else.
"He sounds like a good guy to me... just mislead." Martin felt relieved.
"I cried a lot. I feel so sorry for him."
     "Listen Marty, forget about him, he's a lost cause."
     "Yeah. I guess you're right." But Marty could not forget, a part of him didn't want to forget. He wanted to express this thought but he was much too tired.
"My, it's late— 2:30 am. Guess we better get some shut eye."
     "Bruno?"
     "Hm?"
     "I love you."
     "I love you too."
They drifted asleep in each other's arms.