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Now that Mark had laid his cards on the table, the scenery and the beautiful weather lifted up his spirits.

They rode their bicycles together on the empty country road that was only occupied by them. The sun pounds exposed patches along the way which exposed the undergrowth. "Follow me. I'll show you a spot that visitors have never seen. That is, if you have time." Mark turned off into a little path towards some spring water ponds surrounded by willow trees. Mark leaned his bike on one of the trees, this action was then followed by Johnny. "This is my spot. All mine. I come here to read. I can't begin to tell you the number of books I've read here." Johnny put his hands in the water.

"It's freezing cold!"

"This spring is in the mountains, the Alpi Orobie. The water comes straight down from there." Mark spoke as Johnny freshened up his face with the water.

"Do you like being alone?"

"Nobody likes being alone.. but I've learned to live with it."

"Are you always so wise?"

"I'm not wise at all. I told you, I know nothing. I know books and I know how to string words together. It doesn't mean I know how to speak about the things- the things that matter most to me." Mark babbled on and Johnny listened to every single word.

"But you're doing it right now in a way."

"Yes, in a way. That's how I always say things.. In a way." Mark sat on the grass as he stared out at the view so as not to look at Johnny. Johnny crouched a few yards away from Mark on the tips of his toes, it was like at any moment he'd spring to his feet and go back to the bicycles.

"I come here to escape the known world."

"I like the way you say things.. Why are you always putting yourself down?" Mark shrugged.

"I don't know. So you won't, I guess."

"Are you so scared of what other people think? Or what I think?" Mark shook his head. Johnny stared at Mark as he waited for him to say something. In the silence of the moment, Mark stared back. It was the first time that Mark had dared to stare back at Johnny openly. Before this moment, he had always casted short glances before looking away from Johnny's steely gaze. It was as if Mark was finally saying to Johnny: This is who I am, this is who you are, this is what I want.

He stared back with an I-dare-you-to-kiss-me gaze. "You're making things very difficult for me." Mark didn't back down and neither did Johnny. "Why am I making things difficult?" Mark asked, his gaze still not hovering. "Because it would be very wrong."

"Would?" Johnny sat down on the grass then lied down on his back, his arms under his head as he stared at the sky. "Yes, would. I'm not going to pretend like this hasn't crossed my mind." Johnny admitted.

"I'd be the last to know..."

"Well, it has. There! What did you think was going on?" Johnny confessed. "Going on? Nothing... nothing." There was a long silence. "I see.. you've got it all wrong, my friend. If it makes you feel better, I have to hold back. It's time you learned to do that too." They each leaned on one arm as they stared out into the view. "You're the luckiest kid in the world."

"You don't know the half of it." Mark answered in something of a mocking tone. Johnny thought deeply about this. "So much of it is wrong." Mark blurted out, interrupting Johnny's thoughts.

"What? Your family?"

"That too."

"Us, you mean?" Mark didn't reply. He thought about the consequences of their ping-pong relationship. Johnny was 7 years older and not to mention, a man. A man who was also his father's temporary student and assistant but then Johnny moved up close to him. Very close. He stared right at Mark's face as though he wanted to study it. Johnny's eyes lingered on Mark's pink lips before he touched his lower lip with his finger. He let it travel from left to right then left and right again, expressing his desire but also his curiosity, compassion, adoration and fear.  Johnny smiled at Mark as he lied there and that very smile filled Mark with a kind of apprehension about what would happen next.

Johnny brought his lips to Mark's mouth in a warm I'll-meet-you-halfway-but-no-further-kiss, a conciliatory kiss. It was obvious that Mark still had a lot to learn by the way he dived in with his mouth wide open as Johnny kissed him. Mark's return kiss was so famished that he lost himself in it. Johnny separated them, turning back to look at the view.

"Better now?" Mark didn't answer. He kissed Johnny again, lifting his face as if to discover more, know more. He wasn't sure about what he was doing but he was delighted by the pleasure that touching and being touched by Johnny brought. Touching Johnny helped him try to resolve the problem he was having with his own body- did he like boys? Or girls? Or was it both?

Even with their faces touching their bodies were still angles apart. Mark lifted his knee to face Johnny. "I think we should go." Johnny separated them again. "Not yet." Mark didn't want this moment to end. "We can't do this, I know myself. So far we've behaved. We've been good. Neither of us has done anything to feel ashamed of. Let's keep it that way. I want to be good."

"Don't be. I don't care. Who will know?" Mark reached for Johnny in a quick, desperate move and let his hand rest on Johnny's crotch. Johnny didn't move. With total composure, in a gesture that was both gentle and commanding, he brought his own hand onto Mark's hand and let it rest there for a second. He twined his fingers into his hand then lifted his hand. There was a moment of silence.

"Did I offend you?" Mark asked, suddenly abashed by his own action. "Just don't." Johnny gave Mark his hand and helped him stand up. He pulled up his shirt to examine the scrape but honestly, he just wanted to kill the mood. "I should make sure it doesn't get infected."

"We can stop by the pharmacist on the way back."