Melting Pot

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While elements and scenes in this story are based in reality, all of the characters and activities herein described are 100% fictional, and the story is 100% mine, although some of you have given me really, really good ideas to throw into it - please don't reuse without permission. Constructive comments are welcome at RILOBO1@yahoo.com

Melting Pot - Chapter 30 by Rich Lobo

For a change, Atul woke me up. He had heard some noise outside the bedroom, and gotten up to investigate. As I turned over to face him, he was standing behind the barely cracked open door, peering out with a grin on his face. Noticing my newly awakened presence, he motioned over for me to take a look: Neal and Dileep were standing by the kitchen door, naked as the day they were born, arms around each other in a tender embrace, and foreheads touching. They were whispering sweet nothings to each other as evidenced by their playful expressions and giggling as if they were 13 year old sweethearts. They must have gotten distracted from their primary reason for being up, as the teakettle began to whistle. Dileep gave Neal a huge kiss on the lips as he broke the hug and headed into the kitchen. Now that they were detached, it wouldn't be rude to intrude. We opened the door, and equally without apparel, went into the kitchen to say good morning. I walked up first, and gave Neal and Dileep a peck on the lips with my greeting; Atul did the same. Within moments, we all had begun to chub a bit, but before anything useful could come of it, "Live from Washington, it's NPR news." sounded from the bedroom, and a knock sounded from the door. We all scurried to the privacy of the bedrooms to make ourselves presentable, and I (selected to put on a bathrobe) went to see who was at the door: it was Jaya.

The sun had barely risen, and yet she was alert, jovial, impeccably dressed, coiffed, and made up, With one look at barefoot ragamuffin me, she clued in that she perhaps had visited a little too early. She began to apologize, but I waved her off: her brain is still suffering from jetlag. "You are still working out a nine and a half hour time difference" I told her, "you are excused." She brought a Tupperware full of fresh idlis (steamed rice dough pancakes) for our breakfast, and said she did need to go shopping to supply a "proper kitchen" (a jab at Rana? I'll take it.) I told her that I'd take her shopping around 10:00 AM, and to make a list of what she needs. She told me - with a wink - that she would be happy to spend some time with me, and that she would teach me how to make her son's favorite dishes - my face must have telegraphed shock, and it will take some time before I am comfortable publically being accepted as Atul's partner. Just before heading back upstairs, she confided in me that this morning was the first morning in a very long time she had awakened without a sense of fear and foreboding at what mood her husband would awaken with and thus subsidize her day.

After I had closed the door behind me (and double checked that the door this time was indeed locked), three naked men came out of the guest room. Dileep and Atul both looked with wide eyes at the container of idlis, something either of them hadn't seen or enjoyed in a while. I shucked my bathrobe and dropped it on the floor, "Don't let the boys know we had nakey time this morning; they think they're the only ones who get nakey time." Dileep had a curious expression on his face, until Atul told him what "nakey time" is. Dileep laughed out loud, and I swear that when he lets his deadly serious exterior crack and the inner child show, the man is absolutely irresistible. Atul was just behind him smiling, hands massaging his shoulders as it came to me that I was looking at two thoroughly beautiful men, and my cock received an unexpected surge of blood. I walked up to Dileep, our faces just a foot or so away from each other, and said "I never got the chance to thank you for saving my life yesterday." I turned to Neal, asking "may I please kiss the love of your life?" Neal just smiled and nodded his approval. We had, in our last foursome, had cemented our understanding of who belonged to whom, so this new episode began without any discomfort on my part.

I leaned forward until my lips were mere fractions of an inch away, and Dileep leaned forward enough to make contact. My head was tilted slightly to the left, enough to see that Atul had moved closer to Dileep's back, and to hear the little kisses Atul was applying to the back of Dileep's head and neck. My left thigh felt the unmistakable touch of a soft cock yearning upward toward liftoff, needing only fifteen seconds before curling upward, the wet and slightly uncovered piss slit dragging a line of moisture up my inner thigh, past my scrotum, finally landing on my lower abdomen next to my own cock. I reached both hands behind Dileep and grabbed Atul's hips, pulling him - along with Dileep - forward to complete the contact of the bodies. Off to the side, Neal made a little wolf whistle. Dileep and I shared tongues for a few minutes before we broke the kiss, and Atul reached out to bring Neal into this group encounter: all of us were feeling love for each other.

I couldn't stop myself: I had to have Dileep inside me. Slowly sliding down his body to my knees, I kissed his broad, brown nipples nestled in their own black, hairy tufts, each of his six-pack abs, his navel, each millimeter of his black treasure trail, his cock root, and all the way back up his curved shaft to his tight foreskin. I began retracting his foreskin slowly down his shaft, kissing each bit of glistening inner skin as it revealed itself, until once it had been fully and tightly retracted, the beautiful, purple and shining cockhead was revealed in all of its glory. Its shape was perfect: much like the oft used "German army helmet", the coronal ridge flared out with sharp edges. I kissed my way up to the frenulum, ending with the piss slit, which now looked like a leaking puddle. I kissed the tip, licked the moisture up with the tip of my tongue, and then opened wide to devour the entire cockhead, dragging my tongue over its entire surface and eliciting a deep moan from deep within Dileep's throat and chest. This cock was not as beautiful as Atul's (hey, I'm biased there), but it was gorgeous indeed. There were no blemishes anywhere on its smooth eight or so inch shaft, all the way down to where it met the wrinkled and hairy skin of his scrotum. I switched attention from shaft to balls, and soon had in turn each of the two golf ball sized orbs in my mouth, laving them well with my tongue.

Unknown to me, Atul had also slid down Dileep's body and onto his knees. I noticed only when I felt Atul's heavy cockhead begin to swordfight mine in the air between Dileep's slightly spread legs. In a few moments, Atul began shifting to his right, finally nudging me to the right as well as we both began orally worshipping Dileep's cock. As Atul began his worship, Dileep attempted to protest, telling Atul he did not have to do that - did that have to do with their differing castes? Atul simply looked up at Dileep, growled, and attacked Dileep's cock with a passion, wrapping his preternaturally long tongue nearly all the way around Dileep's corona. This was my opportunity to go lower, all the way down Dileep's hairy, muscular legs to apply some worship onto Dileep's strong, manly, broad feet. I kissed each of his perfectly shaped toes, and began moving back up the inside of his other leg, finally joining Atul's tongue in worshiping Dileep's perfect, brown shaft. I knew Neal had joined the party when his feet appeared behind Dileep, I stood and saw them both kissing, Dileep bending his head back over his shoulder to meet Neal's mouth. I told everyone I'd be right back, and ran to the bathroom to prepare my ass: I had to have that cock in me. While cleaning everything out, I reckoned that I had not fucked nor had been fucked by Dileep, that I had not yet fucked Neal, and that Atul had not yet fucked Dileep (assuming that Neal and Dileep had already fucked each other.) Be it therefore resolved that we will settle this entire score before breakfast, and before I go grocery shopping with my new mother in law.

When I came out of the bathroom, Dileep was standing there in the living room, his hands on his hips, head leaned back a bit, and looking very much like a slightly darker Dev Patel. Both Neal and Atul were on their knees, still actively worshiping Dileep's cock - as they should be worshiping the genitals of this glorious desi God. Please don't get me wrong: I am entirely devoted to Atul, but in my mind Atul, Neal, and Alex - and by extension Jason and all the neighbors - are now intricately woven into my being and entire existence - but in different ways. The last days have proven to me that Dileep is now within that small group of people who define who "I" am. I must surrender myself to him, although it is in his nature to only surrender himself to others. It could well be that (as Atul and Neal sometimes remind me) I am overthinking things - yeah, I tend to do that. Bringing myself back to the basic elements of what was at hand - i.e. getting fucked and fucking - I announced my intentions: we four need to be on the same page and level: no one of us can in any way be subservient, or superior to any other. We've already discovered and embraced the amount of love Atul and I, and Neal and Dileep have for each other - and those two relationships must be primary, but all four of us have to be equals. Hence - despite the crassness of the statement - there are some new fucks that need to occur this morning.

On that, I summarized my thoughts, and told Dileep and Neal that they should prepare to be fucked: Dileep by me, and then me by Dileep, and Neal by me. I guess they both did the math themselves, and arrived at the same conclusion, we headed off to the bathrooms: Dileep with me, and Atul with Neal. When we were alone, I demonstrated proper procedures to clean - and thus enhance - sexual congress. His response confirmed my suspicion that he had indeed bottomed for Neal, but that it had been less than enjoyable. Indeed, it had been somewhat painful and. shall we say. unhygienic. This was unfortunate, but not surprising: Neal at that time had been a "new gay," and it would be much like a five year old teaching a four year old how to make a cheese souffl‚. The fact that Dileep was still so very much in love with Neal spoke volumes, and in my mind, deserved a "redo". Men can usually fuck well innately - it's encoded into our genes, but being fucked well as a gay man requires some extra skill and expertise on the part of BOTH partners; I needed right then to show Dileep how it is supposed to be.

When we were finished, I took Dileep in my arms, and kissed him deeply. I told him I wanted to show him what he should expect from Neal, and what Neal should expect from him. He knew that both he and Neal were "newbies" to male on male sex - and I knew that if that lesson plan were properly delivered enacted, that his coupling with Atul would be proof positive of concept for both Dileep and Neal. We had a few minutes before Neal and Atul would be out from the bathrooms, so I wanted to get at least one side of our "congress" out of the way. I took Dileep's hand, and pulled him into the bedroom I share with Atul. While I lubed his shaft and my own anus, I told him how important it was for both men in a relationship to make sure the "bottom" was cleansed - and more importantly, well relaxed and lubed. To prove the point, I told him I was clean and relaxed, raised my legs up and wide, and asked two things of him: to fuck me and enjoy the experience, and to take notes. Dileep was ready to go, and I started to tutor him on what a top should expect. With my legs up and wide, I directed Dileep to make sure his curved, brown, beautiful cock was well lubricated and that he checked in with me that he was correctly lined up and ready to enter me. I forced him to make eye contact with me, telling him that this physical and mental contact was imperative to success.

Once he was over me, his greased up cockhead nestled just inside my anus, and had established eye contact, I asked him to take a mental picture of the moment - impressing upon him that THIS is the tableau he should expect and indeed demand of Neal or any man before pressing forward with sex, whether he was on top or bottom. Dileep, who was indeed poised between my spread legs, and facing me directly, took a moment before leaning forward toward my face and kissing me. I noticed some motion off to my right, and saw Neal peaking from around the door frame. Ignoring Neal, I asked Dileep to enter me, and tell me whatever he was experiencing. I actively relaxed my sphincter muscles, and felt the pressure his cockhead began providing, but before the pressure became critical, I asked him to kiss me, and through that kiss, communicate to me what was happening. He looked at me with some confusion, but complied. As his kiss intensified, my sphincter relaxed and allowed his cockhead greater access. As his cock began entry, I broke off the kiss, and moved my lips to his ear, whispering "this is one way you need to communicate where you are and what you need to Neal. He is new to this, and will need to learn from you, and because you are new to this, you will need to learn from him."

My asslips detected a bit more pressure, and more importantly, a good bit more moisture spilling from that delicious cockhead onto my ass. I looked up and engaged his eyes, making it clear that I wanted a connection with him before we went further. This request for "eye contact" is not universally understood among people from different cultures and backgrounds, but Dileep seemed to get it. Once established, he accommodated: it was almost as if we had choreographed our movements. As he pressed forward, my legs spread wider. As there was resistance, he picked up on it, and held back. It was a dance, and Dileep was learning how to lead and how to follow. I quickly cut my eyes up and to the right to see Neal watching and taking notes. By this time, Atul had appeared on the scene and had begun unobtrusively moving around the bed to the opposite side to have a seat on the side of the bed. Dileep bottomed out in me, and while still mentally connected to me, began his outstroke. I shifted the angle of my pelvis a bit so that his cockhead would better connect with my prostate. He made a couple of passes with that angle, and I made sure to physically manifest my reaction to the contact. After a couple more passes, I brought it to his attention, asking him to note what his dick was feeling when it passed over my prostate. After several episodes of "call and response", it became clear to him when his actions caused me pleasure - and indeed it began to feel wondrous, and I allowed it to increase in intensity and duration. My reactions to his ministrations seemed to have brought him to a kind of disequilibrium: he didn't get how what he was doing led to my obvious reaction of joy - but I felt that Neal had been taking notes.

What I did notice, was that Dileep was approaching his orgasm, and I began modulating and compressing the muscles around his cock: his strokes, breathing, perspiration - everything were indicating an imminent cumshot. As well, everything in my past had pointed to the immediate cumshot and denouement - but that denouement was not to happen. I felt Dileep ramp up, felt his cockhead swell, and even felt six or seven cumshots - some of which I felt spill out of my ass and onto the sheets before I felt his assault onto and into my anus recover without pause or break, and begin again anew, and as each morning did in the movie "Groundhog Day" the assault began again: Dileep had fucked past his orgasm into another fuck: this guy was something special. I had to know where this was going, so I just pulled my legs back and passively accepted everything he was pouring into me, keeping my muscles tight along his cock. He fucked me through another orgasm, and without pause ramped up once again into a powerful, deep fuck - as if he hadn't cum at all. His muscular body provided the power he needed, and my hands were moving all over his skin, feeling the tight muscles just below, and soon was spasming and shooting into me once again: Neal was a lucky man indeed!

At this juncture, completely astonished - as was our audience, who had come into the room and were watching wide-eyed. I pushed Dileep off of me, explaining that it was my turn to show him what he wanted - no, needed - to know. Without much preamble, I turned Dileep onto his back, raised his legs, spread his ass cheeks, and began feasting upon the hairy hole upon which I had not had access earlier as he was standing. Dileep had obviously not been prepared for this sensation, and was soon waving his legs and head to and fro. As I continued my ministrations on his incredibly tight hole, Atul brought his lips close to Dileep's ear, whispering things to him in Telugu. I didn't understand anything more than a soothing tone of voice, peppered with the words "Rich", Neal, and "baby". Throughout Atul's oratory, Dileep's legs relaxed and spread wider and wider, as did his hole, finally opening a bit of gape and allowing my tongue to enter. I cut my eyes up again toward Neal and engaged his attention, letting him know he should be watching and learning. Shifting my eyes back into Dileep's eyes, I explained that I was now going to make love to him.

I lifted up and kissed him with a passion. Reaching for the bottle of lube, I greased my fingers so that I could begin the one finger, two finger, then three finger twistfuck. His prostate soon made itself known to me: it was incredibly hard, and so very easy to find. I made sure that he could feel and understood that this was his prostate, and it should feel like this while it was being stimulated. It seemed that Neal had indeed attempted to make this known to him, but Seeing Dileep's eyes and mouth open wide as I made contact, it made sense that he had not fully understood properly the importance of the sensation. Dileep's eyes soon were tightly shut, so I took the opportunity to look up at Neal and bring him into this unspoken conversation. Soon, Dileep seemed to have relaxed enough to take my dick, and as such, I lubed up and lined up. Dileep opened his eyes, looked up into mine, and asked - no, pleaded - for me to fuck him. Atul tossed me a bottle of poppers, and I briefly explained their purpose, then administered them to each of Dileep's nostrils before I obliged his request, and soon my cockhead had popped inside him, and was very soon be massaging his beautiful, hard prostate.

Dileep reacted as if his body had been suddenly injected with joy: his legs - and indeed arms - spread up and wide, his eyes and mouth again wide open. Fully anticipating that round two would involve me passing this delicious fuck of a largely virgin ass on to Atul before it was completed, I rotated my dick up, down, left, and right into Dileep's ass in order to help open Dileep up to better accept Atul's glorious and beautiful "vaikalyam" - which I knew Dileep would soon love as soon as he had gotten around acceptance of its girth that both I and Neal had learned to accommodate. Once again, Dileep's eyes were tightly closed, so I kept looking up at Neal to gauge whether or not he was following the lesson plan. Neal, after some time, nodded at me in an indication that he was following along. I started feeling the telltale indications of my own impending orgasm, and looked over to Atul to see how ready he was to take over. His cock was hard, wet, and ready - and as such, I reached over to grab it and begin pulling it over to take ownership of Dileep's pussy.

Atul's cock was so hard. Watching his man bring Dileep to where he was had made Atul's cockhead so swollen and ready for action that I was afraid I hadn't sufficiently prepared Dileep for the coming onslaught. Dileep groaned in protest when I withdrew from him, but Atul was soon there to fill the void. Thankfully, it seemed Atul had also considered that Dileep wasn't quite ready, as he bent lower and extended his tongue before inserting it again into Dileep's hole. Grateful that I had avoided my own orgasm - I so very much needed to spill my seed inside Neal - I reached up with my left hand, and began dragging Neal down to the bed to the left of Dileep before spreading his legs wide, looking into his eyes, and announcing "I've wondered for 20 years what it would be like to make love to my best friend." I grabbed the lube and re-slathered myself, as Neal grabbed the poppers to take a couple of huffs. Neither of us seemed particularly concerned about preparation, so this would be a rough insertion. I lined up, Neal said "fuck me buddy", and we were off. I do very much like being able to just "push in and plow," but only when I know my partner can take it. I had seen Neal get fucked only once as he lost his virginity to Atul. If he could take Atul right out of the gate, he was certainly going to survive me.

I drove in all the way down to my root as Neal moaned the whole way. As I planted, I leaned forward and he leaned up for our lips to connect, but at the last second we each shunted aside and kissed each other on the cheek, nose, chin, ear, etc... just not on the lips with passion. Oh, we've kissed many times: a few drunken New Year's kisses with a bit of tongue, but mostly chaste pecks hello and goodbye. We've hugged many times too, but his arms now enveloped me with a yet unseen passion, and his legs crossed at the ankles around my lower back. I stayed firmly nailed deep inside him and relished finally knowing nearly everything about this man. I wrapped my arms under his shoulders and began running my hands and fingers through his beautiful brown hair, rubbing my fingers around his ears - in places I had never touched on him before. For his part, he began rubbing his hands all up and down my back then reaching up to grab my hands and intertwine his fingers with his. I moved my lips to his neck to kiss the erogenous zones I knew were there, and he arched his back and spread his legs wide. To this, I raised up to a kneeling position, still connected to him; his cock was at its full ten inches, and due to our current position, the tip was mere inches from my mouth. Of course, I had to experience this for the first time too. Once my lips had fully enclosed his beautiful cockhead, Neal spread his legs wider, and now his left foot had invaded Atul's airspace.

By this time, Atul had Dileep's knees pushed back onto Dileep's shoulders, and from the grimace on his face, Atul was on the verge of breaching the anal ring. When the pop shortly came, Dileep's eyes and mouth flew open. Atul needed some time to maneuver past Dileep's prominent, hard prostate, but Dileep's facial expressions effectively narrated the entire process to anyone watching: his eyes, cheeks, and lips twitched every time Atul's beautiful knob bumped into it. It is my guess that Atul will not have the option of steering around it, and every single thrust would involve battering Dileep's sensitive prostate. A hypothesis began to form in my head: given that Dileep has already demonstrated the ability to cum multiple times, and given his heretofore limited sexual activity, the man and his prostate must be swollen with some serious reserves on hand for a prostate orgasm. My right brain was hyper-anticipating a huge cumshot from Dileep, but my left brain forced me to look and make sure that a towel was in easy reach. Right brain told left brain to shut the fuck up and enjoy the show, as the sheets were going to have to be washed anyway, which sounded reasonable to left brain who shut itself off. Just about then, with a deep moan and with his eyeballs rolling backward in his eyes, Atul shoved past the swollen prostate. Dileep's legs flew apart giving a clear view of his beautiful, curved cock twitching in the air, and Atul's cock sinking into the nether reaches of Dileep's bowels.

Dileep's right foot was now in front of my face, as Neal's left foot was in front of Atul's. Atul and I exchanged glances, and with one common thought, brought that foot to our mouths for a little toe worship. The effect did not go unnoticed by Neal or Dileep, who began moaning - especially given that Atul and I, in lock-step, began undulating our hips, driving and withdrawing our cocks in short strokes deep inside our partners. Neal and Dileep quickly looked at each other's faces, checking in with each other before moving their hands between themselves, and locking their fingers together. Atul and I could see that they were enjoying feeling and mirroring the same sensations at the same time The whole side-by-side thing went on for a few minutes until Neal looked up at both Atul and I, and simply said "FUCK US!" with Dileep echoing "PLEASE!" Relinquishing each foot, we both assumed similar, best-practice positions for long dicking, our hands on the bed on either side of our partner's torso, arms anchoring behind the relevant knees to raise the pelvis of the partner up into the best angle for a deep fuck.

And. fuck we did: it wasn't destined to last long. I had already worked up a nut with Dileep, and with the way Dileep's prostate was now being pummeled, it couldn't last long. I focused all my energy on Neal's prostate, shifting so that I would hit in on the left side, then the right side, then jabbing it full ahead, my cockhead being forced to slip on its underside on the way in or out. Neal started sweating, and a sound was emanating from his throat each time he exhaled: hard to describe, but it sounded like whining, but with a growling undertone. Dileep was hyperventilating and moaning. Dileep and Neal still held hands, fingers still intertwined, through that interface, they seemed to be communicating with each other with squeezes, twitches, and thumb caresses. I looked over at Atul, and he nodded back at me: time to bring it home. We both bore down on our bottoms, and began battering their prostates alone for a while - I have no idea how long, as time had stopped having any significance to me. I felt Neal's ass begin to tighten and saw his hand squeeze Dileep's tightly. Dileep returned the squeeze, and I knew they were cumming together. Scratch that: WE knew they were cumming together, so we both shifted to long dicking for the few thrusts it took for our bottoms' asses to begin to spasm. Atul and I drove in deep, began blasting our loads, and watched the show, which both right and left brains enjoyed immensely. Both Neal and Dileep came without any manual assistance.

Neal's cumshots had sprayed droplets all over his neck, chest and abdomen, and he rather resembled a glazed donut. My hypothesis about Dileep had been correct: he had painted the headboard, his hair, nose, chin, neck, chest, and finally washboard stomach. Left brain was pleased that his aim had been perfect, everything landing along his easily cleaned center line. Right brain chided left brain, letting it know that even several seconds afterward, Dileep's ass ring would be leaking copious amounts of Atul's cum onto the sheets. Atul and I looked at each other, and then simultaneously bent over to kiss our bottoms, fully on the lips - with passion, and with no-last second switch to the cheek. In my mind (and probably in Neal's mind too,) we had just consummated a friendship of over twenty years, and it felt wonderful. Dileep admitted later that his thoughts were of deep thanks that he had met his man, still some remaining confusion as to why Atul would want to make love to him. Atul was simply feeling joy, borne of his new freedom and his now suddenly promising life with people who loved him. However, first things first: we were all sticky and glued together by cum. We were all famished, I had to take my mother-in-law out shopping, and three little men would soon be pounding on the door.

We unknotted our limbs, and climbed out of bed. I asked Dileep to lay there for a second while I got him a towel: as predicted, there was a surplus of cum, and he was leaking. I wiped off the headboard and sopped up the pool of jism as well as I could before stripping off the sheet, and joining Atul in the shower. Afterward, in a surprising move, Atul gathered up the sheets and towels, put them in the washer and started it; it looks like he'll be easy to train! I cooked up some scrambled eggs, and we all sat down outside with coffee, tea and juice to devout them, as well as the surprisingly tasty idlis! Dileep and Atul had contented expressions on their faces as if they had been transported home: yeah, Jaya will need to teach me to make foods that make my man happy. We all took a moment to tell each other how our recent experience felt for us, and the feeling was universally good. I told each of them how much I love them, and they each shared love for each other - all of us knowing who the primary partners are, but also knowing there would be no shame or jealousy whenever we share in the future. This is the beauty of healthy relationships between male friends: deep emotional bonds with little sense of ownership, and understanding that sex is a wonderful thing, but not the end-all, be-all of human existence.

To underscore this point, the veranda was soon invaded by the horde; they must've all coordinated their attack via texting, and I'm certain they were all anxious to get back to being that threatening threesome. Fortunately, they had all been fed at home, but nonetheless they polished off anything left on our table. I told them that Jaya had mad the idlis, and Jason immediately decided that was the first thing he wanted Jaya to teach him how to make. Atul bellowed out loud (God is that a beautiful sight!), took Jason into his lap, kissed him on the cheek and said "if you make me idlis, I will love you forever!" Jason just rolled his eyes and said, "Duh! you're gonna love me forever anyway." We all laughed out loud. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jonas and Alex sidling up to Dileep. There was no wonder in that, to them, Dileep was "new meat" and "eye candy" at the same time. Alex caught me eyeing both of them and what they were doing: busted! He scurried over to sit in my lap, and with his lower lip pouted out said: "don't be mad at me, he's just hot as FUCK!" whereupon Atul, Neal and I in unison said "Language!" to even more giggles. Poor Jonas, with no lap of his own to perch, took advantage of the opportunity to crawl up into a surprised Dileep's lap, who had a bit of shock showing on his face. Whatever: I had no doubt the boys would soon find their way into his pants.

Jonas picked up on this immediately, and twirled himself around on Dileep's lap to face him, asking "what's the matter, do you not like us?" before planting a sensuous kiss on Dileep's lips. Jason and Alex both jumped up to pursue the matter with Jonas, pressing themselves close to him, and kissing Dileep's cheeks. Alex said "that one is for protecting us," and Jason followed up with "and that's one for protecting of my man. Dad told me about you." Finally, Neal spoke up: "guys, give the poor guy a break, he's new here and still has a lot to learn. In the meantime, you can come over here and cuddle with me all you want," which they did, leaving a visibly relaxed Dileep in their wakes. I asked Jonas where his papa and Russell were; he just rolled his eyes (another adopted gesture from Alex and Jason) and said "they're doing `it' again, and I was just too tired for another round." Did I hear correctly? Jonas was too tired for sex? Night is day, black is white, and the whole world doesn't make much sense anymore!

We heard a door close upstairs, and an elegant Jaya began flowing down the stairs; trust me: flowing is the correct word, her silken garments wafting gently with her motions in the slight breeze. Jason's face lit up when he saw her, and he bolted from Neal to meet her at the bottom of the steps. I grabbed his tee shirt, and told him to WALK! As Jaya reached the landing, she held out her hand to bring Jason's head to her bosom for a hug, saying "there is my precious little rakshaka! How are you feeling this morning?" He reported all is well, and then began babbling: "the first thing I need to learn how to make is idlib. iblis. that stuff you made for breakfast. It's delicious, and it made Atul and Dileep SOOOO happy!!" Positively beaming at this praise, Jaya told him "Idlis it is young man!" she then leaned down and whispered, "and I need to teach you Atul's favorite dish too - vegetable biryani, and maybe some sweet ladoo." Then raising up and at full voice said "Rich and I are going shopping right now to get all the ingredients for some delicious dishes so I can show him how to make Atul's favorites. Jason was now practically jumping up and down in excitement, obviously anticipating an invitation to go with us. Why not? It would be fun! I winked and nodded at Jaya, who said "it would be wonderful to have the two most important men in my son's life escort me shopping, wouldn't it? Perhaps I could learn some more about Atul's life here! Why don't we go visit your parents to see if it's ok for you to go with us?" An excited Jason grabbed Jaya's hand and began pulling her to the door to the Cho household, when all of us on the veranda shouted "WALK" at the same time.

I jumped up and joined them at the door before Jason opened the door and rushed in. Jason began babbling in Korean, and his mother and father came to the door telling him "swi o la" - something akin to "take a rest" or "calm down". Jaya took the lead: "would it be agreeable to you for Rich and I to take Jason shopping for a bit this morning? He wants to learn how to make some of Atul's favorite Indian foods, and we promise to make him go slowly." Jin Woo and Jae Soo looked at each other with a bit trepidation before Halmoni came up behind them, telling them something in Korean. I followed up telling them I would fasten Jason into a shopping cart with a child's seat if that would make them feel better. Jason shot some caustic side-eye up at me on that one, but I added that for real, Jaya and I would probably be more protective of Jason than anyone. That, and the interchange with Halmoni had obviously made them reconsider their doubts. From behind the parents, Halmoni grinned, and gave Jason a wink just as Jin Woo relented, telling his son to be careful and not get too excited. Jason - to his credit - slowly tiptoed to his parents to give them a hug.

Our first stop was the Thriftown, which is normally busy every day except for Sunday mornings. On the way, Jaya admitted with a bit of a growl that Rana's kitchen had been poorly stocked, and in terrible need of some hard work. Once at the store though, her mood perked up remarkably: they had an entire aisle devoted to Indian foods, grains, spices, several types of rice and nuts - even ghee and rosewater. I passed by this aisle frequently, and with my eyes closed could locate just about anything with my nose. Jaya selected many items before moving on to other areas. In the bakery aisle, there was fresh na'an and roti. In the dairy section, she rejoiced to find several kinds of Indian style yoghurt before moving on to the fresh fruits and vegetables: again, the variety of items there was rich, and she piled the basket with the basics, potatoes, cauliflower, peas, carrots, onions, garlic (of course), several kinds of peppers as well as other items I'd never noticed before. We also picked out some hard to find teas in the US. Finally, with a full cart, we headed to the check out, passing the frozen ice cream. Jason looked at the selection with a sad eye - it seemed that his parents frowned on him eating too many sweets. Jaya told him her favorite was mint chocolate chip, to which Jason just beamed. She surreptitiously slipped a half gallon in the cart (with a wink at Jason), and announced that we could go home now, because we had everything she needed in the cart.

We got back home, and it took us all two trips to get everything upstairs. The apartment looked spotless! It was so much better than the last time I had been there, I noticed that incense had been burned, and it did greatly diminish the smell of Rana's evil. Jaya, with the help of her little co-conspirator, slipped the ice cream into the freezer and began putting things away. While she was doing that, I found Rana's MARTA bus and rail card; it was the only way she had to get around, even though the lazy cow rarely did leave the apartment. A quick check on the website showed that the card had nearly 100 trips left on it. I told Jaya that the bus stop was just outside the gate to the complex, and not far at all from here, and that any bus going south there would stop at the shopping center with the Thriftown, as well as all the other shopping venues in Clarkston, and any bus going North would stop at the gate to the complex if she pressed the "stop" button before arriving. She only needed to tap the card on the scanner at the front of the bus.

Jaya needed a bit of rest, but told both of us to come up around 4:00 PM so that she could teach us how to make Biryani for everyone's supper in the evening. When we came back, all of the ingredients had been laid out for us. She put each of us in an apron, and showed us just once how to prepare each ingredient, and then let us both do the work as she wrote out the instructions for us to use later. She did ask some espionage questions, about how each of us had met Atul, how we developed our love for him, etc.. Thankfully, Jason did show some decorum in his answers, and didn't include any sordid items. I did notice her hovering over Jason anytime he was using a knife, or near the stove cooking the onions in ghee (clarified butter); I completely saw Atul through her and her protective instincts, and it made me smile. By just before 6:00 PM, we had both created a big pot of something that - if it wasn't biryani - it smelled incredible, alongside a bowl of creamy, yogurty raita as a condiment, and sweet Ladoo for dessert. Our guests began arriving shortly thereafter. When Atul and Dileep walked in, their eyes lit up at the remembered smell of home cooking. When they'd finally gotten their plates and taken a bite, Dileep's and Atul's eyes teared up. Atul thanked his mother profusely for this special treat, but she said "don't thank me! These two (pointing at Jason and me) did ALL the cooking: all I did was manage from behind." Atul walked up to me and the beaming Jason at my side, lifted Jason up with his right arm, and embraced me with his left before giving us both a kiss directly on the lips and thanking us. Dileep was right behind them, with a kiss and hug for each of us as well.

We all ate well, sitting on cushions around the living room. It was such a lively, lovely evening filled with laughter and smiles. Halmoni leaned over and told Jason she wanted to know how to make this dish. Jaya shared stories of Atul as a boy, nothing too embarrassing, but enough to make the boys giggle. The parents also shared stories about the boys that DID cause some ears and cheeks to blush. I sat with Atul, his mother, Jason and Alex, Jonas with his (now) dads (plural) and Neal with Dileep, all of us completely open and comfortable with who we were and whom we were with. With this evening, two things happened: Jaya became a member of the family, and the spirit of evil had been driven from this apartment by pure love: it was now a place of joy.