Aside from JJ, who is based on the author himself, the story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this story are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred. Aside from JJ, who is based on the author himself, any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

DISCLAIMER: This work portrays children and adults in situations featuring innocent/nonsexual nudity at an establishment similar to an onsen. JJ and his family are nudists/naturists; all nudity portrayed in the story should be looked upon in that light. If you can't handle that, I recommend you stop here and find another author's material to read.

For more info on why I've called this establishment they're visiting a bathhouse instead of a sentō or onsen, please read the description.

All characters portrayed in this work belong to AmbassadorJJ.

Author’s notes: This story takes place when JJ and Patton are 6 years old, a week after Patton discovers JJ and his family are nudists. The boys had already played baseball (well, tee-ball/coach pitch baseball) for two whole seasons together at this point. This is their third season playing together. The boys are obviously best friends at this point and visit each other’s houses often.

As JJ, his mom, and I walk down the street in our city’s Japantown, I can’t believe I agreed to do this.

See, before a baseball game last week, I discovered that my best friend JJ and his family are nudists. I thought that was cool; they like to run around naked all the time at home. After chatting with my mom and dad about it, they talked to JJ’s mom, Miss Mary, and we all decided that everyone is cool with me running around naked at JJ’s house too… And, if I’m ever around for it, I can go with them to the bathhouse like we are right now. My parents have never been uptight about that kind of thing. We don’t loaf around naked at the house, but we’ve all seen each other naked plenty of times. No big deal.

So, anyways, I spent last night at JJ’s for the first time since last week. It went well. We played and swam naked all afternoon and evening. I’m not shy about being naked with JJ; he’s like my twin brother. Being naked around his parents isn’t weird either; they’re the parents of a boy, right? They’ve seen it all before.

As I’m discovering right now on the walk to this bathhouse place, what actually freaks me out is being naked in front of strangers. Suddenly, I’m jarred out of my mind and into reality: we’ve arrived.

JJ is holding the door, and I look at him apprehensively. “You’re gonna have a good time, Pat, I promise! It’s super cool.”

I nod. “Alright, fine, let’s do it.” I step inside and the first thing that I notice is the hot, moist air. It smells like an indoor swimming pool, like chlorine. We’re in a small room with benches and a small counter. There’s an older Japanese guy behind the counter.

Miss Mary, JJ’s mom, pats me on the back. “You’re a brave soul, Patton.” I grin really big. Miss Mary is one of the nicest people I know. She rocks.

The Japanese man behind the counter looks up from a stack of receipts. “Mary!” He laughs. “Good to see you back! Jordan, it’s good to see you too. You have brought an extra with you this time, huh?”

Miss Mary nods and smiles, then she replies, “Good to see you too, Mister Takahashi. It’s been a while!”

I watch as JJ nods after his mom speaks. “Yes sir, mister Takahashi. This is Patton. He’s my friend.”

I wave nervously and mister Takahashi looks at me. “Oh, well, welcome Patton-sama! I hope you enjoy your visit.”

Sama? What does that mean? I’ll have to ask JJ later. I nod. “Uh, thank you, sir.”

Mary pulls out her wallet from her bag and Mister Takahashi looks at Miss Mary. “I tell you what. We rarely get new customers, especially non-Japanese ones like you all. So… I’ll let Patton in free on this first visit. How does that sound, Patton?”

I can feel my cheeks getting warm and turning red. I smile, and reply, “I... Uh, thank you mister Takahashi. You’re very kind.”

Miss Mary hands mister Takahashi some money, and he hands her some change. “Patton is a bit shy mister Takahashi. He’s never done anything like this before.”

He laughs. “I can tell. That’s okay, it’s not very busy today, and we welcome all to the bathhouse. If all goes well, he’ll be cured of that shyness in no time.”

JJ speaks. “Thanks, mister Takahashi! You rock!”

He laughs, and ushers us through the back door. We walk through the door. The smell of chlorine gets stronger and the air is warmer in here. There’s a shelf full of shoes. JJ points to an empty spot. “Alright, Pat, take off your shoes here.” We all take off our shoes, and when I turn to look where we’re going next, I see only three doors. One has a stick figure in a dress and the other a plain stick figure, and the middle one is just a simple open doorway.

Miss Mary can sense my confusion. “Patton, typically, here, men and women share the bathing and changing area. There are two separate restrooms, but that’s the only area where people are separated. Think you can handle being around a lot of nude people? You know. No staring or gawking. You can glance at people’s bodies, but only for a moment. People at Japanese bathhouses like this are expected to be respectful to their fellow bathers. For the most part, you have to make eye contact with the other bathers. Can you do all that?”

I take a deep breath and nod. “Yes, Miss Mary. I can do it.”

“Alright, good! Follow me. JJ will help you out.” Miss Mary says as we go through the door.

I look at JJ apprehensively. He grins back confidently, and as we walk through the door, I feel the air get even hotter and, somehow, more moist. We walk to a locker, and JJ and his mom start to take off their clothes. JJ beckons me to follow suit, so I do. JJ talks while we do. “So, when we’re not in the bath, we’re supposed to cover our boy parts with a towel. Mom will wear a big towel to cover herself up. Alright?”

I nod, having already removed my shirt and socks. “Alright.” I look around the locker room as I take off my shorts. There’s nobody else around, thankfully. I look at JJ, and he’s already butt naked. That kid really undresses fast.

“Patton? You gotta take your underwear off too, silly.” JJ says, snapping me back into the moment.

“Uh, yeah.” I slide my underwear off, and the warm air feels better on my exposed skin. JJ leads me over to a stack of clean towels and rags, and we both grab a rag to cover our private parts with. Once she’s fully undressed, I watch Miss Mary grab a large towel from a clean stack of them. She wraps it around herself.

Miss Mary looks at us. “Ready?” JJ nods and I do too.

We start walking towards a doorway that has a door propped open, and I can hear people talking now. JJ looks at me, and talks. “Now, you should know a couple things, Pat. First? No splashing or roughhousing is allowed. We gotta be still and behave ourselves. Second? Like my mom said, no staring at people. It’s rude. Finally? We can talk to anyone, but we’ve gotta be respectful and quiet about it. Sound good?”

I nod, and we step into the open threshold and find a room filled with showerheads and soap dispensers. One is shampoo, the other is body soap. Miss Mary puts her towel on a hook, and steps under a showerhead. I look at JJ and he points me to one. We put our towels on hooks too. We all turn the water on at our showerheads, and JJ says, “Gotta shower before we get in. They’re big on cleanliness.”

Well, we do that. Once we’re all clean and rinsed, we cover back up and then step through another closed door and the smell of chlorine disappears, but the heat is intense now. Inside, I can see the source of the chattering earlier. The doorway leads to a room with a large pool that has about 15 people in it. Well, actually, after further looking, there are two separations in the pools, making it actually three distinct pools. There are rocks in the pools and ledges to sit on, too. They all appear to be deep enough for the adults to sit down and be mostly covered with water. The rocks in the middle look taller; enough so for kids to do the same as the adults. The whole place looks like some sort of spa.

“Why are they all separated?” I ask JJ.

He replies, “Well, this first pool we’re gonna get in is the coldest water. The next one down is warmer, and the last one is the hottest. The hottest one is like 120 degrees, so it’s a bit too hot for us.”

Upon closer examination, I can see that makes sense. The hottest pool is filled mostly with older guys, the middle one with women, men, and a kid or two, and the first one has four kids and one adult woman. Looking around, I can see that all but a few of these people are Japanese. Which makes sense, given the part of the city we’re in.

Miss Mary takes off her towel and leaves it on a rack, and then steps into the first pool at our feet. “Yes, I’m going to be moving to the middle pool, myself, boys. You two can come over there, but I suggest you adjust to the warm water in the first pool before you do.”

JJ nods, and removes his towel from its spot covering his private parts. He puts it on the rack with his Mom’s towel and then steps in. “C’mon, Patton.”

I feel like I’m being stared at. I look around the room and see that nobody is paying me any mind except JJ. Most of the other bathers are chattering with their neighbors or simply relaxing quietly. Some of them are even speaking in Japanese. Well, I guess they are. It definitely isn’t English.

JJ looks at me from the water. I’m taking too long. A few seconds later, I finally work up the nerve to remove my towel. I put it away, and then join JJ in the water quickly. I quickly discover that the water is hot! I look at JJ, who is grinning like a goofball. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” I whisper.

JJ laughs gently. “You’re fine. You’ve done the hardest part. You got naked and nobody looked! Congrats buddy.” He pats me on the back, and I can feel my face turning red.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is odd, is all.” I say, as we walk over to the rock in the middle of the pool.

JJ giggles. “Oh yeah? Well, this is even weirder.” JJ goes under the water and comes back up with his hair dripping and steaming. “See?” He grins. “You try.”

I shake my head. “Nuh-uh.”

JJ eyes me. “Come on, Patton. You’ve been super brave this far. The hard part’s over, now you can relax!”

I sigh. He’s right. Nobody cares that I’m naked because they are too. Besides, I know he won’t shut up unless I actually go underwater, so I say, “Fine.” I dip my head underwater and come back up with water drizzling off me. I wipe my eyes and stick my tongue out. “Happy now?”

He nods. “I am! Come on, we can sit on the rock until we’re ready to go to the middle pool.”

We walk over to the rock and sit down. As we relax, I remember my question from earlier. “JJ?”

JJ looks over at me. “Yeah?”

“Why did mister Takahashi call me Patton-sama earlier?” I lower myself into the water some more.

“Oh, well, it’s kinda like calling you sir. Uhm, that’s what my mom told me anyways. He did that the first few times mom and I came here, too. Once we got to know him more, he stopped doing it so much.”

I nod. We stay in that spot quietly for several minutes. Eventually, we move over to the middle pool, which is almost unbearably hot. Miss Mary welcomes us. “Ah, I see you two got sick of being cold.” Several of the other adults chuckle, and I stick out my tongue.

JJ replies, “Yeah that first pool is for the birds.” Everyone chuckles again, and we spend several more minutes there quietly aside from the other bather’s talking. We chatter a bit too, but I’m so hot that it’s all kinda foggy to me.

Eventually, it’s time to get out; I am obviously getting a little too hot. His mom is a nurse; she’s pretty good at spotting stuff like that. When we get out of the pools, I stand at the edge of the pool next to the towel rack a little longer than JJ and Miss Mary. The fog in my mind clears a bit as I stand there. As they put their towels back on properly, JJ eyes me. “Patton, you gotta cover yourself up when you’re not in the pool, remember?”

I smile, still feeling light-headed. I can’t decide if the light-headed feeling is from the heat or being naked in front of strangers, but eventually, I reply. “Yeah, I was just enjoying the moment. I’m more comfortable now.” I grab my rag and cover myself with it, and we work our way back to the lockers. We talk a little about the experience. There are others in the locker room and I’m not scared to be naked in front of them. I’ve decided that I’m all right with being naked in front of strangers. Now that I’ve done it, it’s not too scary anymore.

We get dressed and as we walk back through the front, mister Takahashi stops us. “Patton-sama, did we cure you of your shyness?”

I look at mister Takahashi. “Yes, sir! I’m not so scared anymore.”

He smiles. “Excellent. I hope to see you back here again. You have nice day!”

We all wave as we exit the building. I walk more confidently than I did on the way in. I’m still a bit light-headed, and I feel really tired now. Once we reach the car, JJ and I get into the backseat and buckle up properly in our booster seats.

There are times I hate being stuck in my booster seat, but now is not one of those times. I yawn as Miss Mary starts the 20-minute drive home. She looks at me in her rearview mirror. “Tired, Patton?”

I nod. “Yeah. All that heat has me feeling tired…”

JJ looks over at me; he appears to still be wide awake. JJ never has been a good napper… He speaks up, “You’re gonna fall asleep aren’t you Patton?” He smirks.

“Yep!” I proclaim, closing my eyes and leaning against the cushioning of my seat.

“Well, now I know you had a good time.”

With my eyes still closed, I listen, and reply, “Oh?”

JJ continues, “Yep. You can never nap when you’re nervous.” The last thing I hear before I fall asleep is JJ giggling at that statement.

* * *

When I wake up, I still feel warm. I open my eyes and find myself in JJ’s bed. JJ’s here too, actually. He’s got his arm laid over me, and I can hear him breathing slowly. Miss Mary is standing over us, and she holds her hands out to me. She must’ve woke me up… “C’mon, let’s let him sleep. Time for you to go home, cutie.” I reach up to her, and she picks me up carefully. Still part asleep, I lay my head on her shoulder comfortably and close my eyes. Once we’re clear of JJ’s room, she talks softly to me. “Patton, you’re one of the sweetest kids I know, you know that?”

I giggle a bit. “Yes ma’am, hehe.”

She laughs and kisses me on the cheek. Miss Mary pats my bottom as we step out the front door of the house. “Tabatha, I got him for ya. Figured I’d let him sleep as much as I can. He and JJ both fell asleep after the bathhouse visit.”

Tabatha? That’s my mom’s name! I feel Miss Mary hand me over to her. “Hiya sweetie,” says the familiar voice. I open my eyes and, yep–it is my Mom!

I look at her in the eyes and smile. I wrinkle my freckled nose at her. She loves it when I do that. “Mommy,” I say softly, hugging her.

She hugs me tight. “Hey Patton, I missed you buddy!” I lay my head on her shoulder and close my eyes again, snuggling up to her. She talks to Miss Mary, saying, “Goodness, you guys really tuckered him out, Mary! I haven't seen him this tired in a while!”

“Oh, well, you’d be tired too if you swam as much as those two did this morning! Especially if you went to Japantown and bathed in that superhot water. He was asleep 3 minutes after we got in the car. I laid him in the bed and he never even woke up.” Mary replies.

I nod along sleepily, looking around a bit. My Mom replies, “No kidding? How long has he napped?”

I watch as Mary taps her chin. “Well, we got home about 30 minutes ago, so maybe 45 minutes?” Pause. “Tabatha, let him sleep. He was so brave; he only hesitated once and even then just briefly. I could tell he was a bit scared. Really, it’s no wonder he’s sleepy. You could tell it was an exhausting experience because it even wore Jordan out. Jordan never naps like this.”

My mom runs her fingers through my hair and I laugh lightly, and turn my head over. She replies, “Well, in that case, I agree. We’ll go home and nap. Oh and, Mary?”

Mary replies, “Yes, dear?”

Mom is patting my back gently now. She tells Miss Mary, “Thanks for letting him hang out naked with you all and go to the bathhouse. I know those are special things for you all. I’m glad he had the experience. You’re sure you don’t mind him hanging around and doing all that with JJ?”

Mary laughs. “Tabatha Smith, I told you: it’s fine! JJ loves that Patton knows about it. He hasn’t been able to stop talking about having a friend to run around with naked. As long as Patton’s comfortable doing it with us, he can join in any time he wants to. Else, we’re still perfectly content to adjust and wear clothes when he’s over. These boys love each other to death; you know that. They’re like brothers. We just want them to keep that friendship forever.”

I can feel my mom’s head bob up and down. “Thank you, Mary.” Pause. “Well, you and yours have a good night, okay? We love you, and you tell JJ that Miss Tabby said heyo and she loves him. He’s gotta come visit us later this week.”

We start walking away, and I feel the warm sun on my shirt and head. The last thing I remember before falling back asleep is hearing miss Mary reply, “Alright, Tabitha. We love you too dear, and tell Patton to give us a call when he wakes up! JJ will want to chat, no doubt! Bye-bye!” Then, the car door opens, and I fall back into sleep as my mom buckles me into my car seat.