Westerville, Ohio - 1965

“Andy?” the man said, looking at his brother skeptically. “Why Andy?”

“Because between Grandpa, Dad, me, and no less than two cousins, there are too many people in this family with the same first name, thats why. So I just made a riff on our last name – all the guys call me that, anyway.”

TC tilted his head, said the name to himself a few times, and smiled at his little brother. Even though he was almost 33 years old, Blaine – or Andy as he was calling himself now, had not really grown up in so many senses of the word. He was still not married, still playing around writing songs instead of looking for a new job after quitting the bank last week. He just seemed lost in so many ways.

“All right. I can think of much worse things to call yourself, I guess,” TC said, then patted his brother on the back and went to the kitchen to get something to drink.

Andy sat in the big wicker chair, cross-legged and holding his guitar. He had a lot of thinking to do concerning his life, but none of it seemed important right now as he grabbed the pencil from behind his ear and scratched down a few lyrics before taking the instrument up again. He plucked the notes instead of strumming in order to hear a certain quality, did it several times and finally allowed a smile to reappear.

He hummed a bit of the tune and then said a few of the words to himself, strumming the new arrangement of the notes: “And the wind will whisper your name to me...” he sang low, then changed the second and third note back again and sang it. It hit some sort of inner chord with him because he set the guitar down again and gathered the paper he had drawn a music staff on and erased some notes, drawing in the new ones.

“Im out of here, Andy,” TC shouted to him from the kitchen. “Let me know when you need my help moving your boxes, I can borrow a truck from a friend, okay?” TC called into his brothers bedroom, but Andy was so into his music, he didnt hear.

~ ~ ~ KB ~ ~ ~

A few days later.....

“Andy!”

Andy turned his head, not expecting anyone to be out here in his backyard at this time of night.

“Hey, Buddy. What are you doing, sitting here? Why didnt you just come up and knock on my door?” he asked the tall man who was sitting on a bench on his patio.

“I knew youd be out here sooner or later, and you know how your folks are about me coming around too much,” he said, hanging his head a little.

“That is ridiculous. They love you. Who taught my mom how to make crab-cheese puffs? Every member of her bridge club would kill to have the recipe! You single-handedly made her a legend,” Andy laughed, putting a hand on his friends knee as he sat down beside him.

“Well....” Buddy blushed.

“Hey, want to hear my new song?” Andy asked, a little nervous because he had written the song for Buddy, he was just not sure if the man knew why. They had been close friends for a long time, and Andy had been in love with him for most of that. He knew Buddy felt something for him – they were practically inseparable after all – but Andy didnt have the balls to just go ahead and say it.

“Sure, Andy, Id love to hear it,” Buddy said, smiling. He loved Andys voice. Actaully, he loved Andy, but was too shy to say so.

“My folks arent home anyway, they went to Newport with my aunt and uncle. I have the place to myself for a whole month, so dont be a stranger!” he called as he went back inside to get his guitar. Hed been sitting in the lounge practicing all evening. He grabbed the instrument and went back to the patio, giving Buddy a quick motion with his head to follow and walked down the path to the gazebo. There were trees all around this part of the garden and fluffy, soft pillows on the wicker furniture. Andy often came out here to sit in the evenings.

“CCAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Buddy jumped a mile, pushing Andy in back of him as he got between his friend and the danger lurking...oh. Well, shit. It was that damned peacock again. Buddy didnt even want to turn around. The number of times this damn bird had caught him unawares when hed been visiting Andy could no longer be counted on just his fingers.

Andy stood there for a brief second before he just could not keep it in anymore.

“BBBrrrraaaaHaaahaaaa” he laughed, almost dropping his guitar. He held his belly as he tried in vain to stop, knowing he was going to make Buddy mad. He smirked, trying to catch his breath and get a hold of himself, but the laughter would not be contained.

Buddy was not laughing. He was terribly embarrassed after last time and knew the peacock would win every time. He went over to Andy, removing the guitar from his hand and set it on the edge of the gazebo, then tripped the man, falling on top of him and holding him down on the grass by his wrists. He was sitting on Andys hips, holding him from twisting out of the hand-grip as they struggled.

“Stop laughing at me!” Buddy said, just wanting it to stop.

Andy stopped.

“Hey, Buddy, you know I dont mean anything by that...Hugo scares everyone. Its his fun in life – to screw with people. I didnt mean anything by it. Really, Im sorry,” Andy apologized. He didnt realize it was so upsetting to Buddy. “Hey, the only reason I dont get scared shitless is because moms had him since I was fifteen. He used to scare the bejesus out of me on a regular basis,” Andy confessed.

Andy became very aware of Buddy sitting on him, their bodies lining up, Buddys face so close to his as he held Andys wrists to the ground. He thought of anything to keep Buddy right there.

“Hey, the first time Hugo scared me, it was late at night. That damned peacock was supposed to be in the barn, but he was a master at getting out of his pen. I was walking across the yard and he came up in back of me and pecked me in the back of the leg. It really hurt, and I thought it was a dog or something had bitten me...then he let loose that steam whistle cawing and I peed myself. Honest. Ive never told anyone that before, and if you say anything Ill deny it – but, yeah, Hugo made me pee my pants that first time,” Andy babbled on, now nervous because he didnt want Buddy to let him go and he was afraid to let him know that.

Finally, Buddy relaxed a little. He was well aware of what was on Andys mind right now, due to some changes in his anatomy – that sort of matched the changes in his own. Buddy looked down at the man underneath him, at his soft lips and sparkling eyes, and he knew. It was a revelation. Andy felt the same way that he did. Buddy leaned closer, closed his eyes and pressed his lips to Andys.

~ ~ ~ KB ~ ~ ~

Andy sat on the over-sized chaise lounge in the gazebo, his knees just touching Buddys as they faced each other. After what seemed like hours of kissing on the grass, they had gotten up and brushed themselves off and made their way to the gazebo.

They sat, just looking at each other, neither one of them saying a word. After a while it wasnt even uncomfortable any more, it was good. Andy closed his eyes, thinking. He thought about all the time he had known Buddy – years now. They had met at a state park, both on vacation with their parents. When they realized they were staying at the same motel, they hung around for the two weeks and promised to write. Andy remembered the thrill of opening the first letter, then the attention to detail as he wrote back, and then came the amazing day six whole years after when Blaine answered the doorbell to find Buddy was standing there because his parents had decided to move to Westerville.

“Buddy?” Andys voice broke the silence of the night.

“Yeah?” he answered, shaking his head to concentrate on what Andy was going to say.

“Do you mind if I sing?”

“Id love it.”

Andy strummed his guitar, hummed to himself for a beat to be sure he remembered the words, and opened his eyes, looking into Buddys beautiful blue-gray eyes.

“I wrote this for you,” he whispered, but Buddy heard him and smiled.

He opened his mouth to sing, hesitated for a moment, and started:

“Ill walk in the rain by your side
Ill cling to the warmth of your hand
Ill do anything to keep you satisfied
And Ill love you more than anybody can.”

Buddys eyes opened wide and he stared at Andy, amazed at the words and the music coming from his throat. It was soooo...he didnt know. It was beautiful. He wondered if this was even real tonight.

“And the wind will whisper your name to me
Little birds will sing along in time
Leaves will bow down when you walk by
And morning bells will chime.

Ill be there when youre feeling down
To kiss away the tears if you cry
Ill share with you all the happiness Ive found
A reflection of the love in your eyes.”

Buddy was leaning forward, afraid he might miss a single word. Was this how Andy felt about him? How could this be true? In all the years Buddy had been in love with Andy, he had never even suspected that Andy felt the same way. It was as if Andy had put his hand down into Buddys heart and found all of his feelings – and was speaking them back to him.

“And Ill sing you the songs of the rainbow
A picture of the joy that is mine
The leaves will bow down when you walk by
And morning bells will chime.

Ill walk in the rain by your side
Ill cling to the warmth of your gentle hand
Ill do anything to help you understand
and Ill love you more than anybody can.”

The tears were running down Buddys face now, and Andy set the guitar down beside him on the floor of the gazebo.

“You?....You wrote that song?” Buddy managed to ask and Andy nodded his head.

“For you, Babe.....for you,” Andy said, his voice a mere breath in the light breeze, but the words felt heavy, keeping Buddy on the ground. He was grateful because honestly, he felt like he was going to fly away. He held out a hand to Andy, to his friend, to his other half. To the man he had loved for so long. Andy took it and pulled him into his arms, holding him safe.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: “For Baby, For Bobbie” was written by John Denver in 1965 and he always said it was his first and best song. While he went on to write and sing many other chart-toppers over his long career, this has always been my favorite. I hope he wouldnt mind if I borrowed it for my story.