Pizza Boy at the Door Ch. 17

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It was late enough that most of the options for food at that point had closed up. The formal dining rooms were long ago emptied. The giant buffets would be scraps to choose from at best...even if they were still open. Neither of them felt like a cold sub & chips, or hot Reuben and giant pickle; so they decided to take the always open default option, and head to the back of the top deck and hit the pizza place. They added a decent sized garden salad to share to their order for one plate with a slice of each of the six choices of already made pizzas in the display case counter. They would be able to share and sample and for once, not overeat on the gut buster cruise.

The guys sat and had their late night mini-meal at a round table near the now guest empty, back pool and hot tub. As Josh's fork speared the last croquette swimming in the final puddle of dressing in the salad bowl, Kyle spoke. "Let's walk some and enjoy the moon and stars and water, baby."

Josh used his finger to swipe away a stray red sauce smudge from Kyle's cheek and licked it off before saying simply, "Cool." He let Kyle take his hand and laced his fingers with his boyfriend's as they both stood up. They climbed the baker's dozen or so stairs to the upper level of the top deck, and began a casual stroll from the stern to the bow on the long ship. They paused only for a few minutes at the half way point, to lean over the starboard side railing and watch the sea birds and fish search for food in the water. Both passengers and crew often fed them late in the evening with leftover bread pieces from the buffets according to what Kyle told him. That finally explained to Josh why it seemed at times that the flying and swimming wildlife, was accompanying the ship's path.

They stopped one other time, when they ran into Ron and Frank also taking a constitutional, but doing their loop of the boat in the opposite direction. That chatted a few minutes and Kyle and Josh promised to meet them for the Sunday morning sunrise church service, and do breakfast together afterwards. The more they were around the two older guys, the more both of them felt their spiritual sides stir inside. Not because Ron or Frank; either one; 'pushed' religion at them...just how they seemed to live it and be at such peace with God. Quick hugs between all of them and the couples went their own directions again.

They had been standing at the bow for only a couple minutes...holding hands and acting as forward lookouts as the Elation sliced its way through the Gulf water, in the dark at full speed...when the weird grin slithered across Kyle's face.

Josh knew how 'Titanic' was Kyle's favorite movie and that the facial expression wasn't because he had seen an ice berg. He let their mind meld work again and squeezed Kyle's hand harder as he only said, "Why not? I know you want to, babe."

Kyle's grin morphed to a big smile and he pulled Josh up on the railing at the very tip of the point it made at the very front of the ship. He wrapped his arms around him and they both leaned forward as far as they safely could, while replicating the famous 'Jack & Rose, bow-flying' scene from the film. They kissed passionately; but not sloppily or tastelessly in a way that might offend anyone; before finally dropping back down to the deck floor.

They had been talking about Josh's plan for the summer while eating earlier, and how he intended to crash on Cody's couch. He had already told his parents he wanted to stay in Pensacola and work at the pizza shop instead of coming back to the farm between spring and fall semesters. Staying at the dorm hadn't been an option, since Ryan was going back home for the summer. Josh wasn't paying the extra cost of it being considered a 'private' room those months. No way! Not for the 'big closet' the cramped room actually was. Surprising; Kyle had offered no other options for Josh to consider...at the time.

Kyle mumbled, "This is as good a time as any, I guess, baby." Josh only looked at him with a confused wrinkle of his forehead. Unbeknownst to his lover; Kyle had slipped a post-card-sized piece of yellow, heavy weight paper in his back pocket, before leaving their cabin to eat. He said nothing at all as he retrieved it from his cargo shorts, and pressed it into Josh's hand.

Just a big, begging smile came with the oft present gold flecks in the hazel eyes Josh looked back into. He glanced down at the paper now in his hand, and saw it was post-paid and addressed to the post office on one side. Flipping it over, he found a small form printed on it. When he saw the 'Change of Address Request' at the top in thick black letters, he looked at Kyle with an even more confounded expression.

Kyle chuckled. "You don't get it baby? Not at all?"

"No, I don't Kyle...and I will toss you overboard if you dare utter 'Trust me' right now."

He laughed hard at the joking threat, but quickly took Josh's hand in his and went down on his right knee. He couldn't drag out what he was wanting to say. "I want you to stay the summer too, my sweet Joshua...but not at Cody's. After what you showed me tonight in the cabin, it's time to ask. Will you please grant me the honor of moving in with me?"

Before Josh's chin bounced back up from the deck, Kyle added: "And become my real husband some day when we can legally, too?"

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The internal joy both of the guys shared when Josh broke into tears and screamed, 'YES AND YES!'...once for each question Kyle had asked, and loud enough to be heard in the steerage cabins in the ship's basement...were still the same feelings inside them when they crawled into bed together. The name on the ship may be the same, but their shared elation was the biggest thing floating in the Gulf of Mexico that night.

They talked well past midnight about the future. More of the many little immediate details, than the bigger what ifs and dreams for down the road. Kyle had chuckled; but also well understood; when Josh grumbled, "I just agreed to move in with you and marry you at some point...and my 'rents, and brothers, and grams and gramps don't even know I am gay yet."

"So what, baby? You gotta meet my family officially yet, too. You can just take me down to the farm and surprise them with all of it at once." That tongue-in-cheek comment made his boyfriend laugh; and that laughter made Kyle add: "You dad isn't the 'shotgun wedding' type, is he?"

Josh roared at that one but came back instantly with, "Well he did say in the past, that if I ever got some girl preggo, I had to do the right thing." He teasingly squeezed Kyle's soft cock. "With this between your legs, you may not be a girl; but I may have done that earlier...unless you are on the pill."

Kyle smiled back at Josh's touch and the teasing reminder that he had given himself over completely and let Josh make them fully one. "Yes, that might be a possibility and I would know for certain who the daddy is...even without going on Maury for the results of a paternity test." He curled into Josh and went on. "You know something sweet one? That was only the second time I ever trusted anyone enough to let them go there, but it will be the 'first time' in my mind forever because you made love to me and the right way too. Patiently. Easy. No pain at all." Kyle paused and bit his lip. "And I already forgot the name of the other guy."

Josh knew that he meant Joe. It also confirmed to him that the single time Kyle may have succumbed to being on bottom with him, that it had not been a pleasant experience. He didn't ask or need to know any specifics...just that Kyle had been pleased by him was all that mattered.

They continued to kiss and cuddle and talk, but even with the normal lover foreplay touches and brushes, neither really wanted to try to equal or top the earlier session. The mind meld had whispered to each of them, 'Let that be it this day.' Kyle snickered to himself at how easily he related things to his favorite movie, when the title of Walter Lord's 1955 classic best selling book about the Titanic, came with the thought of: 'Yeah...this will forever be a night to remember.' A few final flurries of 'I love you so much' and kisses, and they just silently rolled up tight together. They were soon drifting deep into sleep, as the Elation drifted purposely on towards the Mobile, Alabama, port again.

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The sunrise service wasn't much like 'church' at all. At least not the high church 'pomp and circumstance' stuff Kyle was so used to with masses; nor the uber-conservative and totally traditional ones Josh grew up with. More of just a quick celebration of a shared love of the ultimate expression of love-come-to-life Savior, the forty or fifty other passengers joined to praise. Mainly just a few very upbeat songs done together 'a cappella' and Ron repeating from memory in his deep voice to all, the 23rd Psalm. They all held hands as the short service ended with a prayer that included thanks to God for watching over everyone and holding them in safety on the cruise, and a hope that new friendships had been found. Kyle and Josh felt the double hand squeezes from Ron and Frank as they both said 'AMEN' loudly at the end.

It was over breakfast that the two older guys actually invited them to their church for the first time since they had met. Both boys agreed quickly. Josh had no clue at all what an MCC was, and Kyle had only passing knowledge of it beyond that the letters stood for Metropolitan Community Church and had a ministry directed mainly at gay people. But they were already looking at their new friends as mentors and wanted to see what the truth was of the faith family they were offering to share. They talked at length while finishing up their meals and coffee, and the boys promised to be at one of the next two or three Sunday services. The phone numbers they all traded, said they wanted reminded if they didn't show up. The foursome only finally broke up, when they realized they were just a couple hours from the cruise ending, and wanted to take the last quick race around the ship.

Since Kyle had convinced Josh to wear their board shorts, they did the water slide a couple times once more. Then they wandered the hallways towards the back deck pool and stopped only to smile at the memories of slow dancing together on the now-dark disco floor, and ones from meeting more new people at the wine bar 'Dorothy' gatherings when they walked passed it. They had been reviewing; verbally and in their minds; how much had happened and changed in less than ninety-six hours, and were leaning over the back railing watching the engines churn the sea, when the loud speaker crackled to life. "PORTING IN 90 MINUTES" was repeated twice and they got a little sad.

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"No Joshua! You cannot sign on as a waiter, if I get hired as ship doctor, and us live on here all the time." The huge smile he had on his face, told him Josh was just day dreaming to the max, when he suggested it. "But," he began and took a quick pause after, "But, if you want to, we can take a honeymoon cruise for real one day. I will agree to that right now, baby."

Josh's face beamed and he kissed Kyle's nose...then rubbed his against it, Eskimo style. "DEAL!" was all he said as he took Kyle's hand in his and before he begged to see what was on the final humongous dessert table at the main buffet. "I want some more sugar before we get off."

The snicker that Kyle let escape didn't tell Josh what he was thinking when he heard the words. 'Oh yeah...just what I could go for now too. A little more sweet stuff from my sugar, and 'get off' one more time before we leave the ship,' was what zinged into his mind. Another half muffled snort went with the next unstated thought. 'Damn! Hard again and didn't even need oysters.'

"What you thinkin' about, babe?" Josh was curious about the double noises he had made, and also the wild eyes that were shifting to that strange deep brown they would at times.

Kyle only smiled as wide as his face would permit. He took Josh's hand and hurried him towards the calorie laden, stainless steel, refrigerated island in the middle of the biggest restaurant on board. They quickly had a couple of platefuls of samples of everything from pie to cake, and cheesecake stuffed inside flaky crusts to huge brownies topped with French vanilla ice cream; and headed for the privacy of their cabin.

The ice cream and brownie combination, became a milkshake lake with a crumbling, chocolate row boat on top. The cheese cake concoction wilted a little as it warmed up to above room temperature also. The thick, white icing on the red velvet cake, slid off into the slices of apple and cherry pie they shared a plate with as the boy's bed romping heated up the room even more over the nearly an hour time period.

They had done one more thing on their final love fest of the cruise that had never happened before: Josh mounted Kyle first and enjoyed the top position for a while, and then they switched and Kyle was buried deep in Josh for a long time. They both felt the impending and impossible to stop orgasms, and were trying to ignore the warnings their balls were giving them. It was hopeless, and Kyle was taking the last final thrust to bump Josh's magic button with his cock head; when another, harder jolt, drove them both to a huge mutual ending.

It was the tug boat doing the final nudge of the Elation into its berth in Mobile, and smacked the dock just a bit too hard!

Kyle must have smacked the dock pretty well also. They both ended the four day cruise in deep, guttural moans and with lots of Josh's juices shooting all over Kyle, while his liquid love was drowning Josh's special bulb.

There had been no iceberg, and no necklace was lost; but then again, they and their boat ended up far better than Jack and Rose and 'the ship that God himself couldn't sink' had in the movie, too. The Elation would cruise the seas again, and the boys were ready to move on to the next chapter in their lives...engaged and really together in the same house!

Then suddenly Josh thought he was like Jack from the movie...unable to breath and sinking deep in the cold water. 'Oh my gawd! How will my family take this?'