Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2014 14:05:47 -0400 From: Jade <phantomscorpio77@gmail.com> Subject: Gay/College : In the Shadows of Our Lives - Open Your Heart 1 Copyright © 2014 by Jaden Lane, All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval storage system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. (Permission to post electronically is given to www.nifty.org and its affiliated mirror sites only.) Nifty would like our help to continue to provide us with wonderful stories. Please donate if you can. http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html I'm trying to write this so that the back-stories aren't necessary. However, if you want to catch up on the back stories, go to my free site (www.phantomscorpio77.com) and under the stories page find If You Could Read My Mind, In This Cruel World, and of course In the Shadows of OUr Lives. (At a later point Eddie from Beneath The Shining Water will also join.) !!!Check out my new website where I have this and all my stories posted!!! www.phantomscorpio77.com Please be of legal age to read this material, and tell me what you think. >>).:.(<< In the Shadows of Our Lives Part 3 – Open Your Heart I Getting to Vancouver from Houston is a grueling drive for eighteen year old Paul Hunter, his one and a half year old daughter Belinda, and his seventeen year old boyfriend of eight months, Jonathan Farrows Jr. With both windows fully open the heat in the extended cargo van is almost unbearable on the warm highways under the unrelenting summer sun. It has Belinda uncomfortable all the way. Even the boys find they have to limit their drive to between eight and ten sweaty hours on the highways each day with lots of water, Red Bull, and many rests in between. It leaves them with a 150 mile stretch for the last day. The trip has used up all the generous buffer room they had given themselves to make it to their new home and costs them an extra two nights in motels. Along the one way trek in a packed rental van to their destination they are also transporting with them the extra heavy load of doubt. Paul has never been out of Texas in his life other than a week earlier in the year that he and Belinda went to Disneyworld in Florida with the families of Jon and their friend Tim. On top of that, he is effectively running away from his family, if you can still call it that at only eighteen years of age. As unloving as his family has been of late, he knows he is going to miss them more than he'll ever let on. Leaving close friends and his entire life behind is a huge step. Going to college for most students has the built in safety net of having a home to return to. For Paul, there is a home, just one he's no longer welcome in. Even though he's spent years in advance mourning the eventual loss of his anti-gay family, if it weren't for Jon by his side, he's no longer sure he would to be able to make this move on his own. Generally quieter and introverted, Jon has blue eyes and short light brown hair over his boyish-slender 140 pound, 5'11" frame. His greatest worry in life is Belinda. Sure, he's helped with her in the last eight months and she has grown as completely attached to him as he is to her and Paul. Yet the thought of permanently taking care of a child while technically not yet an adult himself, his almost step-daughter, used to terrify him deeply. In fact it still frightens him. In contrast, he is anxious and excited about school, but not nearly as worried. He will miss his family and his few friends back home but he is genuinely excited about the adventures the future holds for him in a new city with new friends. Both boys, young men coming into their own now, realize along the way that they are bottling up their fears and doubts and not discussing them. By the time they hit Wichita, barely a quarter of the way, this has become evident and they let out their worries to each other. Rolling through Colorado the next day they each get a better handle on their own panic and anxieties, secretly vowing or personally affirming that they will find a way. By the time they get to Salt Lake City they are marveling at each other's apparent strength, and in one way or another both silently resign themselves to the fact that they will be strong for the other, keep their fears inside so as not to stress each other out, and hope that down the road the little white lies will be forgiven. Now, as they finally hit the Seattle city limits their future in Vancouver lays right before them just on the other side of the international border. Excitement and hope are by far starting to prevail despite their mixed emotions and weariness from the drive. At 5'11", 180 solid pounds with a few freckles, green eyes and straight dark brown hair reminiscent of Chris Kline at the time, or more like Nicholas Hoult currently, Paul got his build from playing baseball and hockey most of his life. Likewise, Paul has played guitar all his life and already has a sizable collection amassed in his young life. He got each of them from an uncle that works at Gibson guitars in Nashville. All the left handed guitars he owns are faithful replicas of famous guitars with the exception of his uncle's initials where a Gibson logo would normally go. Arriving at the border just before noon, it never occurred to Jon or Paul that trying to cross an international border in a rented cargo van with Texas plates, packed full of baby items and nearly a dozen guitars, might seem a little odd to a border patrol officer. Adding to the complication is that the name on the rental agreement is Jon's mother, because you need to be 21 to rent a vehicle from U-haul in Houston. Their van is site checked on the spot and they have to drive over to a vehicle inspection station. Luckily they get an efficient inspector that has seen it all and doesn't deem anything suspicious. Half an hour later their school documents are all back in order and their cargo is cleared. The friendly lady welcomes them to Canada and gives them each a small Canadian flag to celebrate Canada Day, the nation's birthday. Paul starts singing and playing American Pie on guitar as Jon drives away. Ten minutes later they make one final pit stop at a McDonald's along the way, and buy a 6 pack of McNuggets because they would otherwise feel criminal for just using the facilities to change a diaper and run. They finally arrive at their ultimate destination a little over half an hour later. After a final quick call home to tell his mother they've arrived safely, Jon reaches across Belinda and Paul meets him half way for a loving kiss. Jon asks, "Are you ready to do this?" "Ready Freddy," Paul answers. Jon gets out of the van, stretches his long and slim body, adjusts a white ball cap he's appropriated from his boyfriend, and heads to the doors of an old building and buzzes apartment 216. Inside the apartment twenty two year old university lacrosse player Brennan McKerracher barely manages to press the talk button before his seventeen year old brother Duncan rips the cordless phone from his hand. Assuming it is Jon and Paul, Duncan states, "We'll be right down guys!" Leading a small squadron of friends, Duncan races down the stairs and bounds through the doorway. Duncan Jussi McKerracher is a very active and fit 180 pounds at 6'1" tall. His short dyed black hair is pushed forward in a `Caesar' with the front spiked up, and helps his blue eyes stand out more against his natural pale white skin. The summer sun has caused his freckles that normally sit on his cheeks to join across his nose and push up towards his forehead. Along with a tan/sunburn, they are also currently more pronounced on his neck, shoulders, and arms. Out in public you are more likely to find him in cargo shorts or pants rather than gym shorts or athletic pants. Under the screen handle of CosmicJoke04 Duncan was trolling the guys in a gay Vancouver chat room when he first met Jon online. Jon was feeling out the idea of coming to university in Vancouver. The name Lone-ly Star jumped out at Duncan so he messaged Jon from outside the chat room. That was well over a year ago when they instantly connected online. This past Christmas break Duncan flew to Houston and met Jon and Paul. He also met a couple other guys on the trip that became online friends and decided for the hell of it to apply for university in Vancouver too. Bailey Regan and Neville Reilly, the other couple he met will be making their way west soon, as soon as Neville gets some loose ends tied up. With Belinda in his arms, Paul just reaches Jon as a door bursts open before them. Duncan lunges forward and hugs them all at once, "You're here, yo! My little lonely star is really fuckin here!" "Good to see you too, Dunny," Jon says with on overwhelming sense of joy flowing through him as a small army of people gather at the bottom of the stairway. Turing around to face the other people, Duncan makes introductions, "Yo! Everyone, this is Jon and his boyfriend Paul, and their little girl Belinda. Paul, Jon, this is everyone. Well, not everyone, but summa my peeps." With his arms around Jon and Paul's shoulders and speaking a mile-a-minute Duncan introduces Jon and Paul to his boyfriend Ben, his brother Brennan who they will temporarily be roommates with, and ten friends he rounded up to help the guys move in. He gives a little back story for each person he introduces. When Duncan winds down Jon raises an eyebrow at him, "Skittles and Mountain Dew again?" "Negatory Captain Ass-munch, thank you not at all. Although, I kinda hafta admit that was a lethal combo! I swear, I even had decaf this morning for you," Duncan professes, "Okay, let's do this shit yo!" Caught up in Duncan's hyperactive hurricane, Jon and Paul feel happy. They loosely know exactly one person in Vancouver, but at least it seems they know the right person, one whose friends will do anything for him, like help complete strangers move on a national holiday. After a couple minutes of meeting everyone, the group makes quick order of bringing everything inside. In less than half an hour the cargo van is empty and everything is stacked just outside a bedroom. With the heavy lifting done the group of friends head out with plans to all get together later that night for Canada Day celebrations and fireworks. The room isn't large but Jon and Paul hardly have enough to fill it. Until he got a job and could frugally spend some money, Paul, being sixth of seven boys born to his parents, never had much more than hand me down clothes and a few handed down toys. Being into music and having an uncle that is a master craftsman for a guitar manufacturer, his left-handed guitar collection is the only thing that was ever truly just his. The only additions to that are his hockey equipment and his current clothes. He had his own truck which was more than half paid off when Belinda was born, so he traded it in for a base model Chevy Cavalier to get out of financing payments. He just recently sold the car with the intentions of buying a used car here once he and Jon are settled. Other than clothing and rollerblades which he brought, the only possessions Jon ever really had are books and CD's, which he left behind. Surveying Paul's guitar cases, Brennan suggests, "Hey guys. Not saying this place isn't safe or that I don't trust any of the current neighbours, but if word gets around that you have a treasure of guitars, well, this whole area is student living...When you go to grab my old bed at Duncan and my parent's place, you might want to stash your guitar collection there or in Ben's basement, at least until you get to your dorm room." "Kay," Jon says carefully, now worried for the safety of everything they brought. He and Paul have basically brought with them all of their possessions that mean anything to them, few as they are. Shortly after acquiescing to the suggestion and placing a huge amount of faith in them, Jon and Paul fallow Duncan and Ben to Ben's house to drop off all Paul's guitars save for one, Windy. From there they head to Duncan's to collect Brennan's old twin bed that doesn't get used anymore from the bedroom he and Duncan used to share. As soon as they get back, Duncan asks, "Alrighty then, the clock is ticking! Which one of ya'll is driving the van back across the border? We gots to get our asses moving or my mom is going to own mine and never let me use the car again." As Jon and Paul hug and kiss goodbye Duncan gets an idea and pulls Ben in for a kiss too. Feeling no passion, he grabs Ben by the wrist and pulls him back, "That was a weak ass kiss-yo! Plus everyone here knows, so you can kiss me you know? Lotsa people say I'm cute. Shit, I'd do myself!" "Yeah, but you have low standards," Ben teases before realizing he just burned himself to the laughter of others. With directions printed out from MapQuest, Jon follows Duncan to the U-Haul location near Seattle to return the van. Ben stays back with Paul to help start getting things in order. Very similar to Duncan in stature and body type, Benjamin Hannu Hartkainen has a slightly darker complexion than one would expect of a Scandinavian, like he always has a bit of a tan. Like Duncan at 6'1", he has five more pounds of weight, tipping the scale at a very athletic 185 pounds. Ben has light brown eyes that match perfectly with his short dark brown hair, styled in a Caesar also, pushed forward with spiked bangs. At the insistence of his very recent ex-girlfriend he had his tips frosted for graduation. He has exactly three freckles on his face as Duncan could tell you without thinking, two below his left eye and one just above the right side of his top lip. As Paul looks at a box he sighs. He rips open one end of the box and jokingly asks Ben, "Bet you didn't expect to be putting a crib together today, did you? Feel like heading out with your friends?" Ben nods and fishes out his keys to cut the tape on the other end of the box, "Not the crib, no. But I do want to get to know you guys. You're important to Duncan, and sometimes he's smarter than me. He raved about you guys ever since Christmas and maybe he's on to something about it being easier to learn to accept myself when I'm with other gay guys." Paul pulls out some boards for the frame of a crib that will convert into a first bed for Belinda when she's ready. He's taken the short-formed word `kay' from Jon's vocabulary, "Kay, fair enough. If you weren't stuck here with me for Duncan's sake, what would you be doing right now?" Ben doesn't know what barriers to keep up as he tries to honour Duncan's request to be open with Jon and Paul, "Full-out honesty? Our friends are meeting at a park to play some ball in about half an hour. I'd be masturbating alone or messing with Duncan so I don't throw wood looking at him when play." "Oh! Uh...okay," Paul nearly chokes at Ben's response, but puts a finger to his lips and points at Belinda. Ben was already blushing at his bold admittance and getting called for saying it out loud in front of a toddler makes him even more embarrassed, "Oh crap! Right. Sorry!" Now Paul feels awkward, "No prob. No offence but that's about the last response I was expecting. Keep in mind I mostly know about you third hand, from what Duncan tells Jon, and Jon tells me. I also thought you were more reserved." "Oh wow. Yeah, what you heard is pretty much on the money then. Dunc wants me to be open minded and he really wants us all to be friends. He thinks it will help me accept myself if I make a conscious effort to `pull the popsicle stick out of my butt' around you guys," Ben reveals. "Gotcha. Let's make a deal then. You be you, I'll be myself. Jon's an introvert. He's totally going to be as quiet as a church mouse until he feels comfortable around you. And from the little time I've spent with Duncan, he has no inhibitions, so he can be the unapologetic extrovert for all of us," Paul suggests. Ben lets out a relieved smile, "Deal!" The convertible crib is a gift to Jon and Paul from the parents of a friend of theirs. Their friend Tim lived the entire senior year of high school with Jon and his mother after they moved from Houston to New Orleans. It was a last ditch effort to keep Tim where the baseball scouts knew him after he and Jon got him kicked out of an apartment he had just moved into. It worked for Tim; he is on the short list to be drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers. Along with that came a scholarship at Perdue in West Lafayette, Indiana, so that the Brewers farm club, the Indianapolis Indians can monitor his development. Paul's pretty thankful Tim boarded with Jon for their senior year because it was Tim that played matchmaker and finally got Jon and Paul together. As Paul separates the contents of the box and stacks alike pieces, he comments, "So that's a huge step, coming out to everyone at grad." Ben sets aside the instructions and grins, "Yeah. I love him, I really do. I always wanted to do grad together with him too, but part of me was holding out on being straight. When he was so bummed out my heart broke for him. I guess I'm bi at most, I like girls a lot more than guys, but I love him. He's so happy and it makes me happy. But the rest? How do you deal with people knowing?" "I'll have to get back to you on that," Paul says. Ben is confused, "Oh. I thought you were out." Paul shakes his head, "Sort of, but not really. We have a few friends that know. Most of the school baseball team knows, even looked out for us, strangely. But nah, we weren't out. More people here already know than I ever told back home." Ben tries to mollify Paul, "As gay as you think you may have looked in Texas, you seem pretty straight here." Paul chuckles, "And it's funny, because we chose here because it's more liberal and we want to be out and not have to hide. Nah, everyone knowing here before they even met us, and not caring, sort of makes it a lot easier." Ben agrees, "Yeah, no problem there. I guess I have to get used to it too. No one seems to care here. Definitely not our friends. Duncan's been out for more than a year and hardly anyone bothered him, just two guys we were in a band with, and one kid at school. He called the kid out over announcements one morning and that was that. I think they even chat on MSN now." Paul recalls, "That sounds about right. When he visited after Christmas I had him fill in for a friend at a hockey tournament. It wasn't even my team; I was filling in for a different friend. I had to give up playing hockey and baseball when I become a dad. Anyways, there were these two guys calling me a fag in German or something. Duncan called them out, told them off, and somehow even after that they thought he was just the best." Already feeling a like there could be a guy bond with Paul, Ben ventures, "Yeah. So, how about these other two guys. Neville and Bailey? What's your take on them?" Paul thinks for a moment and then relates, "They're alright. Bailey can be a bit much, I think, but Jon gathers through Neville that he isn't really like that. We'll have to see. Nev has blinders and tries hard to see the best in people. He is definitely a tortured soul. But he's everything you've no doubt heard, and then some. He's like, incredibly smart, deeply thoughtful, really kind, and beyond humble. He's also six and a half feet tall and has to weigh less than Jon." Ben asks, "And he has a kid too?" Paul bites his lower lip and thinks for a second as he screws a couple pieces of the frame together, "Yeah, odd story there. For me, I was giving up on guys, one in particular. I'd already faked sex enough that I figured having a kid with my girlfriend, real girlfriend unlike Duncan and Yvonne, would force me to live a straight life. Neville though was a different story I gather. Bailey's sister is a lesbian. Neville doesn't know how to cope with conflict. I guess she sort of forced or trapped him into getting her pregnant and he didn't want to, but he froze up or shut down or something. Either way, he didn't want it but couldn't stop it. The little guy's a cute kid." Ben asks, "So how long have you and Jon been together? I'm guessing less than two years, if your daughter's what, a year and a bit old?" "We got together around Thanksgiving. So about eight months ago," Paul answers. Oh, I thought it was longer than that. You guys aren't worried about coming here and breaking up or anything? Ben asks before noting, "Sorry, that was rude." Paul laughs, "No worries, everybody's asked that. Nah, we're not worried. Long before we got together we'd sort of flirt. Well, not really flirt. We'd stalk each other is more like it. He's actually the guy I had a thing for when I gave up and got Stacey pregnant on purpose. Of all the dumb luck, I was there when he and his first boyfriend got together. I didn't know for certain, but still, I knew. You know?" Ben smiles. He can't help but think maybe his boyfriend is right, that Duncan and Jon are alike, and similarly, he and Paul are destined to be good friends too, "Yeah, actually. I know exactly what you mean. When I started dating Katy I could tell Dunc was hurt. He wasn't being flirty or anything really, but I knew right there on the spot that afternoon after swim practice when he turned his attention to a guy we know." Paul continues. "So yeah, like that, it turned out I was right. But even when he was with Daniel, Jon says they both checked me out a lot. Apparently I had the best um, well...they liked me best of all the guys on the baseball team. So while he was watching me play baseball and enjoying the view of me in pinstripes that particular year, I'd always look for him at school, like a love sick puppy. Not actually talk to him, mind you. That would have taken courage. We weren't even really friends then. Friends of ours saw him doing the same thing to me, trying to memorize when and where I'd be somewhere at school and try not to get caught staring." "Yes, your straight competition for Jon's heart," Ben teases. "Ah, yeah, one of them. That would be Tim. Tim is the one that took my hand and Jon's hand and put them together. In order to do it, he practically had to put my hand in Jon's crotch and Jon's in mine for us to actually figure out what was obvious to him. Speaking of, where do you get catsup chips here?" Ben looks quizzical, "Ketchup? Anywhere you find chips. Why? Hungry?" Paul makes a bitter face, "Good Lord, nah! We don't have nasty chips like that and French fries with cheese chunks back home like y'all have here. Duncan left some behind and Tim sucked back the whole bag. I think Tim even had Duncan mail him some more. We promised to mail him a few bags every now and then." >>).:.(<< Four hours ahead of Vancouver in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Bailey and Neville are wrapping up a late afternoon lovemaking session in a hotel room that spilled into the early evening. Against his wishes Neville agreed to leave their home in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, on an impromptu visit to his birth family, mostly at Bailey's insistence. Neville badly needs the stress release the past few hours between the sheets brings him. At 6'5" tall Neville Reilly is hard to miss in a crowd, but his lanky 165 lb frame is far from imposing. Originally born Elijah Harold Johnson, Neville was found kissing another boy by his eldest brother, Little Mike, and ran away that very night under legitimate fears that his father was angry enough to kill him. Along the way he took as his own the last name from a trucker that helped him, and added the first name of his favourite underdog character in the Harry Potter novel he loved so much. Being homeless for nearly three years since running away did not afford him the opportunity to eat at all some days, and never enough to meet the requirements of his growing body when he did eat. Since living with Bailey's family for the past few months his frame has started to fill out enough that his skin is mostly smooth over his ribs now and his joints are not as knobby as they had been. He is already enjoying a deep summer tan and it's only the first of July. Above his vibrant green eyes he prefers to keep his sandy blonde curls at bay by clipping his hair to a quarter inch length. Bailey has seen it longer and is begging him to let it grow, but Neville's not too sure. Maybe a little at the front. Some curly bangs and the rest neatly clipped, wouldn't be horrible, he thinks. Standing at 5'10", Bailey's 190 pounds and slight belly make him a little overweight. Not obese, but about 20 pounds heavier than his naturally stocky frame should be. His piercing eyes are usually the first thing people notice on him. They are a very pale, almost white-washed blue, with a cark corona around the irises. They contrast greatly against his sweeping skateboarder styled chestnut brown hair. Neville was born and raised on a dairy farm just outside of Halifax. Both sides of the family have been farmers for generations although his maternal grandmother was born into a farming family in Mexico. Heading back to the home where he used to live is very unnerving for him. Because Bailey only sees the happy side of Neville getting to see his family for the first time in years, Neville can't even find it in himself to point out how he feels. He dreads looking his younger brother and sister in the eyes and acknowledging that he abandoned them. He doesn't think he will be able to find words to convey to his mother that he is thankful she gave him the heads up to get out before his father did something. In light of what his older brother and sister have revealed to him when Bailey invited them to surprise Neville for his graduation, Neville is unsure of everything in his world. Part of him wants to know if the last three years have been in vain. He wants to know if he spent two and a half years homeless over a lie or exaggeration. He wants to know if his father was serious, or speaking out of hurt, anger, and shame when he confided in his mother that he was going to take Neville hunting and have an accident. He wants to know if his mother played it up or not. If she did, it means she wanted Neville gone from her house too. But more than anything, Neville doesn't want to know. At this point in his life he knows those are answers he is not ready for, questions he is not ready to ask. Neville and Bailey meet Brooke Regan, Megan Flannigan, and his son, Eli Regan in the hotel lobby. Brooke is Bailey's older sister, and Eli's mother. Megan is Brooke's girlfriend. Before even leaving the parking lot Neville makes sure everyone in the Dodge Durango can hear, especially his boyfriend that gets caught up in trying to push him beyond his boundaries, "Look guys, this is going to be really heavy for me. Coming here is opening up wounds I have to live with. All three of you think this is fun, and you've ignored what I want all the way here. Me. Okay? When we get there, think about me for once." "We'll be there for you Nev. We'll support you," Bailey promises and rubs his hand along Neville's arm. Feeling his back against the wall, Neville gets a little scrappy and comes out fighting, "That's just it. I don't want your support. I don't want you pushing me. Do not push for some Kodak moment, some Kleenex Sunday family make-up session. You guys can take whatever you want from this. I'm here to see my brothers and sisters, watch the fireworks, and then call it a night. I don't want a heart to heart with my mother, and I refuse to talk to that man ever again in this life. If things get tense, if we don't leave right away, the first time I ask to go, I will never speak to any of you again either." With his message received the mood in the van becomes more somber and subdued. When they get to the Johnson farm there are well over a hundred people from neighbouring farms gathered on the crest of a hill as far away from the grazing heard of cattle as can be on the farm. On their way up to the gathering Neville points out a grove of maple trees. There is one tree planted in order for him and each of his siblings. Originally it was red maples for the girls and green maples for the boys. When Neville was discovered to be gay his father, Big Mike Johnson, chopped down his tree and burnt out the stump. Later in a show of support for their missing brother, Neville's older brothers Little Mike and Seth dug up a golden maple and planted it where his old tree was. Neville keeps his word while at his old home. He first visits with his older siblings Seth and Kristen, who Bailey surprise-invited to his high school graduation. When his younger siblings Julie and Trevor can't be held off any longer Neville focuses his attention on them. It's been three years almost to the day that he ran away and there seems a lifetime of catching up to do. Eventually Kristen shoos Julie and Trevor away so that Neville can meet his youngest brothers for the first time. Rory is just over two years old and Callum is eleven months behind him. While Brooke shows off his own son, Neville can't get over the fact that Rory was born to effectively replace him, and Callum so that Rory wouldn't grow up alone. He does not go anywhere near his mother or his grandparents, and throughout the night he outright refuses to acknowledge his father. His reception is varied among the other guests so he only bothers to exchange pleasantries with the ones that are warm and supportive. The last person he seeks out is his eldest brother, Little Mike. Clapping a hand on his brother's shoulder he addresses, "Little Mikey. I forgive you." Mike stands an inch taller than Neville, and easily weighs seventy five pounds of pure muscle more than him. Their hug is intense. Mike pleads, "I'm so sorry. I should have kept my mouth shut." "It's okay. I'm alive." "But I lost my brother. We lost you." Neville finally gets to say what he's thought about profoundly for three years, "God doesn't close a door without opening a window. You only sped things up. It was inevitable. In a way, you actually saved me. This life wasn't for me. I only wish you hadn't carried this burden on your heart all this time. I love you, I never blamed you." Neither giant of a man keeps his composure. Finally Mike is able to speak, "Did they tell you I married Jenny Strong from David Strong's Black Angus farm? She's pregnant. If it's a boy it looks like you already beat me to it, but we agreed on Eli, and Ellie for a girl." Neville deflects the honour, "Well you'll have to change that. I'm not that special. Besides, if it's a boy, like you said, his cousin will have beat him to it. Give him a better name." Once the fireworks are over Neville says his goodbyes to his brothers and sisters and the group of teen are on the road back to their hotel for the night and then back home to Charlottetown the next day. Emotionally drained, when they hop into bed Neville preemptively chooses to just give Bailey a blowjob to get him off rather than endure an hour or more of foreplay, sex, and cudding. Bailey is unaware of the ulterior motive, and ten minutes later is sexually satisfied to the point that when he nods off post-orgasm Neville quickly falls asleep. >>).:.(<< "So, tell me all about it, how you finally got Benji to come around," Jon asks as he gets into Duncan's mother's car so that they can drive back from returning the cargo van. Duncan enthuses, "Oh, watch out-yo, he prefers Ben. Only I still get away with Benji. But yeah! It was so unromantic, it was awesome! Classic us, anyways. I was all captain-depresso at our high school graduation formal and bumming everyone out, so I kept sneaking out to the parking garage for a good cry. Then at one point everyone was out there too and Katy nagged me to just admit I was sad because Benji was her date, not mine, and to just admit I love him. So I did. Then Benji was all like my knight-in-rusty-armour and said that he loved me too." Jon questions, "Don't you mean knight-in-shining-armour?" "Nun-uh. Rusty armour foshue. And maybe like, blood-and-guts-splattered too," Duncan confirms, "Get this; he was all like `Oh Duncan, I've tried not to love you this way for all these years, but I can't help it, I do love you and stuff'. Well, not `and stuff', and he maybe didn't actually use a hoity-toity aristocratic voice full of disdain either, but that's more or less what he said and how he said it. Then Non-Don-Jaun kissed me in front of everyone for the first time ever! He's no Bill Shakespeare, but he's finally all mine now! Whadda think of him?" "He's great," Jon explains, "Maybe not the most outgoing and expressive, but he's real nice and I can see he's just like you when it comes to being kind and good hearted." Duncan winks, "He's got a great bod too, doesn't he?" As Duncan looks left to make a turn Jon sneaks a peak at Duncan's finely haired legs trying to spot any sign of whether he's in boxers or boxer briefs, "Sure, and he's got a great body. Not my type, but definitely fit." Cracking an evil grin, Duncan points out, "Like you wouldn't spread your legs for him!" "I'd probably have him do me doggie style actually, but so not the point, 'kay. That's your job now," Jon shocks himself by revealing. Starting to plump up between his legs, Duncan adjusts himself, "If you want me to do you doggie style, do we do it now on the side of the road or get a room?" Jon's pretty sure Duncan is joking, "Uh, just in case you thought I was teasing you, I meant that bending over for Ben is your job now." Duncan laughs, "Relax yo, you're so uptight! I know what you meant, and that's a job I take seriously! Bending over for Ben: the Duncan McKerracher story, coming soon to a gay porno theater near you! Yeah, he's pretty good when he bends me over his hockey bag and gives it to me, but I want to try it standing up, scissors, in a sex swing, shit man, I got a whole directory of saved porn files with different ways to ride his joystick and to make love to him! But I have a little more mileage than him so Ima hafta take it slow so that I can break his ass in proper on my love pole and not have him completely freak out and go running back to girls on me." Noticing Duncan's obvious state Jon teases, "You still get hard at just the thought of him!" Knowing Jon will shy away from going toe to toe with him, Duncan just gives it right back, "You don't even know! My dick should hurt right now and be like, protesting me for how much use and abuse it's gotten in the past few days with him, but 'lil Dunny's a trooper! Now then seeing as you went there, Ima ask you straight up; is that a sympathy erection you're trying to tuck away, are you throwing wood because I'm just that sexy, or are you adjusting your jeans to plump them up and make it look like you have something there?" Jon does change the subject, "So where's this beach that you guys want us to come to for fireworks tonight?" Duncan is on a cloud, he's badly wanted a gay friend beyond his ex-boyfriend Adam so that he doesn't have to censor his tongue and can just let it all loose, "Yeah, that's what I thought, prude! You can't barely talk the talk! Your poor ma; she won't even recognize you when I get done corrupting you! You're just too cute! I'm so glad you and Paul are here, this is going to be so awesome!" When Jon and Duncan get back a few hours later they have only a few minutes before Duncan needs to get the car back home for his parents. He hopfully asks, "I know you just got here, but are you guys coming out for Canada Day tonight?" Paul innocently asks, "So, what's the deal with tonight? Canada Day?" Duncan explains, "Same thing as what happens when we take you guys back across the border in three days for Fourth of July. Fun and fireworks. Shit-yo, in Seattle you can probs even get away with the same PDA's as here. Holding hands, hugs, kisses and all that gooey stuff that you're going to get to do in public tonight." Jon looks at Belinda sleeping. Paul suggests, "She has been down for a good few hours now so she'll be up anyways. Maybe it wouldn't hurt." "Cool yo! I'll give you the directions and some bus fare. Gimme a call when you get there and I'll come find you," Duncan enthuses. >>).:.(<< When Jon and Paul and Belinda in her stroller arrive at the bus stop by Kitsilano Beach Park, along a stretch of English Bay, Jon calls Duncan's cell phone as promised. Moments later Duncan shows up with his dear friend and former fake girlfriend, Yvonne Toivonen. When they all settle onto the blankets spread out on a grassy hill, Jon and Paul are amazed at the group of close to thirty friends. Duncan starts the introductions, "Here we are. This group of blankets are all ours. Uh, most everyone you already met today aren't here yet, but no one here bites. You know Ben and Kimi, and Jase. The dude with the blonde spikes is Ian. He and Ben are best friends. The girl in his lap is Shawna. That guy with the brown bed-head thing going on is Cameron. He's one of my best buds. These two lovey ladies are Heather and Nadine. They're both super sweet as long as you don't play volleyball or waterpolo with them. Then they're out for blood, and have the skills to back it up. The girl with Yvonne there is Sara. Everyone, this is Jon, Paul, and their daughter Belinda." Paul whispers under his breath to Jon, "Good luck, that's a lot of names to remember." Hearing the comment Duncan adds, "Peter, Richard, Etienne, and Katy are still all on their way. Peter's bringing his recent girlfriend Tricia. He's Asian and she's Indian, but as you can already see from the people around you, we're kinda like the United Nations in this group. That's just how our school was. A little of this, a little of that. And tonight's scratches from the line-up are Adam, who's in Whistler with the guy he dumped me for, Miso who has to work tonight, Tom, who's also working tonight, and Casey, who we're all pretty sure is a closeted lesbian. She and her `friend' have been camping over at Pacific Rim National Park overlooking the ocean on the other side of Vancouver Island since grad last week. Sasha is going to stop by at some point to meet you. He's our other guitar player that Paul's replacing, but he's somewhere down on the beach with his group pf peeps. And I invited a bud I met when practicing with the university waterpolo team, but Keith prolly won't show." Duncan tries to give the guys perspective to where they are, "If you look to the right, that's downtown. Davie Street, which is our gay community, is there. Gastown is on the other side, which is a cool, trendy community. Kind of straight ahead and a bit to the right is Stanly Park, which has some of the oldest trees in North America. My dad mostly works there. Essentially he's a tree doctor. Straight out over the water that way is West Vancouver. You guys came from the left, which is by the university, and right behind us is the Kitsilano neighbourhood, where we all grew up." After the introductions and directions Ben and Duncan catch Paul scanning the other guys while Jon shows Belinda off to a group of girls, "Lotsa eye candy tonight. The rest of this group is all straight." Paul denies, "It's okay, I wasn't looking." Duncan shamelessly points out, "Yeah, me too. I never check out another guy. Ian over there is the closest if you dig Jiffy's twink look, but like I said earlier, Shawna in his lap is his girlfriend." "Not sure what that is to be fully honest," Paul admits, "A friend called it a `squeegee kid' look." "He's gotten a little more buff since Christmas," Duncan points out. Paul speaks quieter as he thinks back in his mind, "Nah. Maybe two ounces of definition. He's still a twenty nine inch waist. He's never going to be huge and now that he knows I love him the way he is, he doesn't care anymore. He still overdoes it in the gym, but not on purpose, and he doesn't hide under bulky clothes any more. He left that and most of his concert tees back home. I love him the way he is, but I'll miss that look a little, especially the dog collar. I get it though. I thought what he wore represented his self-confidence when really he was hiding his self-conscious." As Jon blushes hearing this, Yvonne snipes, "Typical boys, thinking with their dicks." "And the girl wonders why the only guys that don't scare off are all gay," Duncan comments loudly to himself. Remembering being on the other end of a phone call where Yvonne was practically beating Duncan, Jon looks from Duncan to Yvonne and back, shocked, "You put up with that kind of talk?" "That's all the boy is; talk. Plus I have to, I made him gay," Yvonne shoots a satisfied look at Duncan. Duncan laughs, "Damn right you did Toots! Between avoiding your boobies and Adam offering me what he has, no offence but Hells-ya, I ran screaming from you!" "Well I think you're beautiful Yvonne," Ben comments. "Thanks, back at you! Although I did see you checking Duncan's ass out when we left a few minutes ago," Yvonne teases. Duncan turns to Ben, "What-what? And?" "You're not a twink like Jon, as you put it, but I'd do you," Ben bashfully banters. Duncan's good friend Jase sarcastically chimes in, "Oh God, you two are hot, especially when Ben just grabbed at your cute ass. I'd do you both. Ah, new love, I think I'm going to vomit." Duncan dreamily contemplates, "I wish my ass was as good as Ben's! Yo, we're like the same height, almost the same weight, we do the exact same workout routine, our bodies are so close in some ways, and so different in other ways. He's only getting hotter as we're getting older." Yvonne teasingly calls Duncan a slur in German, "Tunte." Duncan cracks back, "Wow! Did you just figure that out, ex-girlfriend of mine?" Yvonne gives it right back, "No, I figured it out that time I walked into your room with two boys and two used condoms on display in the messed up bed." "Check and mate," Duncan concedes. "Although the condoms were hardly unrolled and barely had anything in them," Yvonne quips. "Hey-hey now! First of all, if we're going there, one of them wasn't on me so don't you even try to say I have a small dick. I get to see plenty on display in the change rooms, thank you God, and I'm more than happy with whats I gots. Uh, pretend you didn't just hear that, anyone I've been in a change room with. You're just jealous that I whipped it out for a boy and not you! Now lemme tell you; he may not be all that much of a grower, but he definitely is a shower. So all the same, just like mine was, the jimmy-hat was unrolled plenty enough on him if I say so myself, and we both did an admirable job of filling them during use and when we shot our fun stuff in them," Duncan has no problem revealing. Another of Duncan's close friends, Cameron, chimes in, "Always knew you checked me out, but what's this Yvonne?" "Um, yeah...this one time with Adam, sweet guy by the way, I sorta really liked him actually," Duncan answers for Yvonne and explains so that Jon and Paul can follow along with the rest of the group, "Well lets just say that he and I played our first ever rounds of the x-rated version of `doctor' when my parents were out at a Hallowe'en party with the Finnish League of Parents. Yvonne and her mom had just recently moved out of Katy's and gotten their own place. So, she was babysitting Katy's brother Juri rather than pretending to be my girlfriend at Ian's party. When my parents dropped Katy's parents off, Yvonne caught a ride over with them. Adam and I were decent, but didn't take care of the evidence on the bed, or our faces. That was two years ago when he was all goth with white grease-paint, black eyeliner, nail polish and lipstick, and I was a vampire. I had the nail polish and eyeliner on too. Toots here saw the condoms, the runny mascara and black lipstick all over us, and heroically covered before my parents could clue in that their favourite son had just quickly lost his virginity like less than an hour ago, to the other boy in the bedroom. Or so we thought." "What do you mean `or so we thought'? Wallace McKerracher does not spot something so juicy and let it slide without teasing the daylights out of anyone," Ben's brother Kimi chimes in. Duncan wraps an arm around Ben's and holds him tight, "I know, right? But Dad caught it all and actually just let me go on thinking it was my secret. Mom was too innocent I guess to figure out how black lipstick got all over my neck and face. Fuck, Adam was so hot that day, but it was Toots here that really made my heart melt that night. I mean like yo, what girl discovers her supposed boyfriend was just sexing it up with another guy and covers for him, then tells them both she's cool with it? She's the shit, that's for sure!" Paul is trying to make sense of the lack of inhibitions shared in the rapid-fire conversation, "What?" Duncan asks, "What-what?" "Jon tells Tim everything. Am I the only guy that keeps his private life private," Paul asks in embarrassment. Duncan teases, "What, like the time you guys had marathon sex with me masturbating to the sounds of it in the next room? Oh my gawd, what will all these strangers think? Let me tell you; two dicks, two mouths, two butts, and prolly some lube. Seriously, there are only like three possibilities. You do Jon, he does you, or you both do each other. I mean c'mon really, two gay teen boys that are exclusively in love with each other...abstinence can be ruled out of the equation about as quickly as condoms. And while that's going on somewhere else Ian and Shawna or Richard and Etienne do their thing, and yes, the rest of these guys do their own hands while Toots eats ice cream alone and Belinda here plays hide and seek behind her cute little checkered hat. It's not exactly as shocking as admitting you secretly like Pepsi better than Coke. Southern gentlemen or not, admitting you're gay kinda sorta blatantly tells the whole world what you want to do in bed." As the girls direct their attention to an uncertain Belinda, Paul catches Kimi stare at them. Stepping up beside him, Paul asks, "So, Kimi. Do you have a girlfriend?" Kimi snorts, "Nope. Fresh out of those." Ben teases, "Fresh out huh?" Kimi nods, and then indirectly explains to Paul, "Yup. I guess that's what happens when a guy gets drunk and suggests to his girlfriend that she not be such a bitch." "She wasn't exactly friendly. Everyone here thought she was stuck up," Ben agrees. "She was shy and didn't know anyone here. She was actually sweet, and I really liked her, but no one else gave her a chance. Besides, like I need advice from you," Kimi argues. Ben counters, "What, just because I'm with a guy now?" "Oh, get over yourself. Hardly. In fact, if you two ever break up you know I'm siding with him," Kimi says, and then turns to Paul, "You see, Ben here's only been with two people and never asked either one out. When he and Duncan were starting to fool around, I thought he was pining over Katy. Finally, one day on the way to school I couldn't take it anymore and told her that he liked her. As for Duncan, well you know the story there. At least I have the balls to tell a girl I like her." As Belinda makes her way over to Jon and latches herself to his leg Ben changes the subject, commenting to Paul, "So you guys got here all right." Paul nods, "Yeah! The directions helped, for sure. We're a bit worried about this holiday schedule the busses are on, and getting lost, so we might cut out early." "Doesn't it freak you out, having a kid? If Duncan had a kid, I couldn't do this. If I was Jon I would have been scared off," Ben reveals. "Everything about it scared the shit out of me at first. Still does to be honest. I'm still afraid I'm going to break her, or feed her the wrong thing, or lose her, or that she'll get into something I didn't put out of reach. But she really grew on me. When she stopped squirming away from Jon to always get to me, now that she's accepted him and started giving him affection, well...my hook was already in him, she just set it in place," Paul offers. Curious about how things work with another, more established gay couple, Ben asks, "So how do you guys find private time? You do have sex, don't you?" Laying on his back with Shawna sitting on his hips, propped up by his elbows, Ian rolls his head towards his best friend, "Jeez-Louise Ben, put the guy on the spot a little more, why don't you! Maybe ask him what a dick is for and how to use it when it's a little more private!" "Sorry," Ben offers. Shy around a bunch of new people, Jon sits down between Ian and Ben and gathers Belinda in front of himself as everyone's attention is on Ben. Ian and Shawna decide to have a good time poking fun at Ben and Duncan as they regale Jon and Paul with their account of how their friends finally became a true couple at Graduation just shy of a week ago. >>).:.(<< After dusk settles and the fireworks end Jon and Paul take their leave with Belinda and are make their way back to their temporary apartment. Back in the apartment once Belinda is sleeping they create their own fireworks in the narrow borrowed bed, flip-flopping in an intense session, the first of many to come in their new country. Likewise, Ben and Duncan cap off Canada Day with their own fireworks. After Ben finishes inside Duncan, satisfied, Duncan reflects that just can't wait until Bailey and Neville head to Vancouver for the school year too. He has a feeling it's going to be the start of some great times ahead.