Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 20:29:18 +0000 From: David Lee <dlee169@hotmail.com> Subject: The Metamorphosis for Jeremiah Long, Chapter 48 The Metamorphosis of Jeremiah Long, Chapter 48 Warning: This story contains scenes of love and sexual interaction between males of similar age. If the reading or possessing this material is illegal in your country, state, province, county, municipality, etc., please leave this site immediately and do not proceed further. If you are under the legal age to read this, please do not do so. The author retains the copyright, and any other rights, to this original story. You may not publish it or any part of it without explicit authorization from me. I have written several other stories. My longer ones on Nifty include: "Always and Forever" (March 25, 2004), "Jacob and Jacques" (May 30, 2004), "Zeke" (August 29, 2005), "Tales from Bentonville" (November 16, 2008), "Second Chance" (September 24, 2010), and "Tommy and Tanner (October 21, 2012)under "High School" and "Someone to Watch over Me" (January 21, 2011 under "Beginnings" in the gay male section. My short stories include: "Brad and Alan's Canoe Trip" (April 22, 2004 under "Camping", "Of Angels and Dragons" (November 8, 2008) under "Camping", "A Christmas Tale" (December 22, 2009), "Wyatt's Thanksgiving" (November 20, 2012)under "High School", "Brazil Affair" (October 1, 2010), "A Technological Christmas" (December 23, 2011), and "Patrick's Christmas (December 19, 2012) under "Beginnings," I have one story in the Sci Fi/Fantasy category called, "Seth's Gift" (October 10, 2010). "Banana Splits" was added under "adult friendships" (September 17, 2013). You can easily access most of my tales by going to the "Author" button in Nifty's home page and scrolling down to David Lee. Some of these stories are also posted at: www.storylover.us and www.saberpeak.com. My only reward for contributing to Nifty is your emails. Please write if you like the story. Please include the name of the story in the subject line of your email because my email service sometimes puts them in the "spam" file. Thanks and hugs to Tom and David (boxerdude) who edit for me so that there are fewer mistakes! They not only proof-read, but make other valuable suggestions. Your donations to Nifty are appreciated to keep this a free site for us and for you. David (dlee169@hotmail.com) -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Metamorphosis of Jeremiah Long, Chapter 48 The guys who had slept downstairs together had all showered and eaten breakfast and were now hanging around in clean boxers instead of getting dressed. They were, after all, in an all-male household and weren't expecting visitors. Joe and Mark would have been there too if they weren't still asleep up in Joe's room. "You mentioned something about dildos before we went to sleep," Micah said. "Could we see them?" "Sure," Jon responded, as he got them out of the closet. "We might even share them if you don't think that's gross. We always wash them thoroughly and never use them without a condom, so they're sanitary." "That would sure beat cucumbers," Bradon giggled. "Have you been practicing with veggies?" "We did a little with some carrots," Micah admitted. Bradon and Micah looked over the "training set" with a great deal of interest as they considered Jon's offer. They were surprised when they heard a knock on the outside door. Because of their almost naked state, everyone but Davy scurried into the bedroom. He peeked through the glass and opened the door without hesitation since it was Cade who was standing on the step. "Harrison had to go in to work early, so I went out to buy the things you'll need," Cade explained. "How much do I owe you?" Davy asked. "Nothing; consider it an engagement present. There are a couple of extra items I thought you might enjoy having. Have fun!" "Thanks! Can you come in for a while?" "No thank you. I have several errands to run and the stores will be crowded with bargain hunters today. The adult book store wasn't particularly busy though." "I'll bet they get more trade before Valentine's Day," Davy grinned. "You're probably right." The other guys came into the living room when they heard the entry door shut. "Was that our favorite swimming coach, or am I imagining things?" Bradon asked. "That's difficult to say," Davy answered. "I wouldn't want any rumors floating around about anyone purchasing `adult' items for teenagers." "In that case, I'm not going to even hazard a guess," Bradon grinned. Davy opened the plain black plastic bag and dumped the contents on the table. In addition to two dildos, there were two varieties of lube and two pairs of edible undies. "Look at the size of those artificial cocks!" Bradon exclaimed. "They probably aren't any bigger than your dick when it's hard," Jon told him. "According to the labels, they're 5 ½ inches in circumference and that's what we are." "I don't know if I could take those," Bradon said. "My butt hole aches from just looking at `em." "Is that a good ache or a bad one?" Micah asked. "A little of both." "To make it pleasure, and not pain, is why you work your way up to these by using the various sizes we were showing you. I'm sure I could score you a new set from our source if you're interested." "Yes please!" Micah enthused. "I want to be `ready when the time is right,' like that commercial for Cialis says." They took turns trying the vibrating dildo between their butt cheeks, through their underwear. It made them all hard in a flash, but they didn't have any time to do anything about it at the moment because they heard Joe and Mark bouncing down the stairs. Since they hadn't had time to put the toys out of sight, they let the other two see them. After a few minutes, Joe and Mark shared their news. They had just received texts from Erica Dahl concerning the girl, Marcy, they had counseled in the summer. Marcy wanted them to know that their suggestions had worked and the boy who had been avoiding her was now her boyfriend. It turned out that he had been guilt-ridden as they suspected. The older guys congratulated them on being able to help out. Even though it wasn't a life or death situation, the lives of those two strangers had been improved because of their intervention. ---------- The snow that fell on the weekend wasn't sufficient to close school on Monday, but it wasn't greeted with joy by most adults and a number of teens. Davy and Jon kind of enjoyed the exhilarating weather as they cleared their walks and drives with their dad's equipment. Tyler didn't mind it either and he finished Sean's driveway, having borrowed Brock's machine. He absolutely loved using the snow blower and immediately began bugging Sean to purchase one for them so that he could make a little money working for others in the neighborhood. Sean caved pretty quickly, and the two of them headed off to Home Depot to see if they could find an American made one. They settled on an Ariens though it was the most expensive brand in stock. Sean figured it was worth the price to have one that had a good record for dependability. Bradon called Davy, Jon, and Joe to suggest they go sledding on Sunday afternoon. He and Mark had Phil's old wooden bobsled and there was a decent hill for sledding at one of the parks. He would pick up Micah on the way. They met there early enough to get in several good runs before the place was teeming with other kids. It seemed as if everyone else in town showed up with the same idea. By 2:00 o'clock, the waiting-line for the best spot was too lengthy to be enjoyable. After seeing a couple of fights break out over line-butting, the guys decided they'd had enough. They had been able to successfully settle the disputes among some of the younger kids, but having to act as playground supervisors wasn't their idea of fun. They spent the next hour and a half at Bradon and Mark's house enjoying hot chocolate and freshly baked cookies with their buds. "How do you manage to make homemade goodies with two babies in the house," Davy asked their hostess. "Today, Bradon and Mark made the dough up before they went." Mickey explained. "Other times they entertain Alex and Lexi so that I can get things done. They're both going to make great parents." "And great wives," Micah teased. "Well, that applies to Bradon, at least." "What am I, chopped liver," Mark protested. "I could be a good wife." "I'm sure you'd be fine, but I'm not planning to marry you," Micah grinned. "I'm not sure I want to be called a wife," Bradon scowled. Micah went over and whispered something in his ear, and his expression changed to a big grin. Though no one had heard it, the other guys had a mental image of how it might have involved the dildos they'd been discussing. ---------- Although the first snowstorm of the season wasn't as serious as it might have been, it was a harbinger of things to come. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there were two powerful weather events, one of which caused school to be closed. That day, Tyler made pretty good money with his dad's new machine. Davy and Jon welcomed the day at home. No school meant no swim practice either, so they got to sleep in late for a change, since the cancellation had been on the TV station's web-site the night before. Neither of them wasted the day, however. Besides removing a lot of snow when the storm eventually ran out of steam, they worked on the prototype of a video game with a medieval theme. The company, which had sponsored the contest the previous year, had contacted their top prize winners to see if they were interested in coming up with a new game – something that was exciting, but didn't involve stealing property and killing lots of people. Davy had immediately suggested something involving the Middle Ages because he already had a lot of material for the plots due to the research he'd done for his story about Justinian. He was able to transform that into several scenarios, including an optional gay-themed one with Justinian and his lover as the main characters, slaying dragons and fighting off enemies of the kingdom. The boys had a lot of fun working on it, even though they didn't expect to reap much reward. So far, Davy had been correct about the pittance he would receive from his book. Although it was selling reasonably well, not much of the profit went to the author. There were too many people between the buyers and him. They made quite a bit of progress on the game, but realized it would take more hours over Christmas to develop it to the point of being ready for submission. They were careful to copyright all that they did, in case someone tried to rip off their original ideas. ---------- Amanda and David had stayed with Sean for the past month as they'd planned, but Melba and Matthew had gone back home immediately after Thanksgiving. G-Mat was so involved with the well projects in the Southwest that he felt almost guilty when he was away from them too long. At their family's request, they flew into town again for the week that included Christmas. Todd and Jim declared that it was their turn to host everyone for a holiday dinner, so that was the plan for Christmas this year. As was their habit, the rest of the extended clan prepared parts of the meal so that the hosts weren't stuck in the kitchen for days in advance. This year, both policemen took several vacation days around the holidays so that they wouldn't feel rushed, and so that there would be more time to visit with their parents. Todd's near-death experience had underscored the fact that time with families must be a higher priority than money and careers. No one could predict how much time there would be to spend with loved ones. ---------- The Christmas Eve services were all pretty well filled, especially the early one. The adults in the extended clan opted for the late one that ended around midnight. It had become their tradition to see Christmas in and then sleep late in the morning. Now that the boys wouldn't need someone to drive them, they could go to the family service to be with their friends who had younger siblings who would need to be in bed early. Davy, Jon, Joe, Mark, Bradon, and Micah sat as a group. Jack's parents brought the four musketeers who sat in the row ahead of the older boys. The new associate pastor, Brenda Moore, took the lead in that service which was shorter and contained more of the carols which were familiar to everyone, including the children. Pastor Ted would do most of the late one in which the choir provided much of the music – some in Spanish, French, and Latin. With a blanket of fresh snow, the world looked particularly pristine and peaceful. It set the mood for a pleasant Midwestern Christmas Tyler's group was invited to Jack's house for cookies and non-alcoholic eggnog and cider. The older kids went to Bradon and Mark's home for some social time as well. ---------- Christmas day was laid back, with dinner around 2:00. Todd and Jim provided the spiral-cut ham and everyone else brought sides. G-Mat was again drafted into baking pies for it. They had opened gifts in the morning after breakfast. Having drawn names and kept a limit on how much could be spent; the presents represented tokens of affection rather than overindulgence. Everyone had been encouraged to give something to a charity if they could. Later in the afternoon, a bunch of the boys went sledding again. This time, the park was nearly deserted so they had lots of turns and lots of fun. During the break, there were a few swim practices and the boys worked out in the weight room several times too. Other than that, many of the kids on the team relaxed and did little or nothing constructive. That was not the case Davy and Jon who continued working on their video game prototype. The grandparents all left two days after Christmas. They felt that their kids and grand kids should have time to relax before going back to school and work. As much as everyone loved having them visit, it would be easier not having extra guests to entertain and plan around. With their houses emptier than they'd been for awhile, the boys planned a New Year's Eve party – actually two parties. Davy and Jon invited the guys who went to the lake with them, while Tyler had the musketeers over to his house. In both cases, the basement apartments were the setting for the events. Tyler arranged two air mattresses in their basement living room. The boys could have used the queen sized bed in the bedroom, but Tyler wanted them all to be in the same room. He was concerned that there might be pairing up otherwise and he didn't want to see anyone becoming jealous. If they were separated by couples, he figured he and Jack would end up together. Jack was fun, but loved to kiss, and Tyler was a bit uncomfortable with that. He was interested in sex, but not a serious emotional involvement. At Davy's house, he and Jon gave up their bed to Bradon and Micah as they usually did. The other guys slept in sleeping bags on air mattresses in the living room. They played a long game of Monopoly while watching the New Year in on TV. They didn't play any strip poker because it had lost its charm as they were used to being naked around one another often anyway. They did strip before climbing into bed nude after exchanging kisses all around at the stroke of midnight. ---------- January proved to be an especially busy month. The swimmers were headed for state again, hoping to bring back trophies. The guys involved in sports that weren't in season spent extra time in the weight room doing strength training to be ready for track, soccer, tennis, and baseball. Jon and Davy practiced many hours in the pool and some in the weight room as well. This was probably their last year to compete because they weren't sure they would go out for swimming in college. Both Cade and Vin encouraged them to consider it, but didn't push because they knew the boys had many interests and might not have time for it. In addition to sports and academics, Davy and Jon continued to improve on their game prototype. Probably no one at school had more to do than they did. ---------- The state swimming finals were held at a university about 100 miles away and the boys would be staying over as they had sometimes in the past. Again, some donor or donors came up with the money for a charter coach to transport them instead of a school bus. All the guys on the team were given black and red neckties which coordinated with their Speedos. When they came into the pool area, they all proudly wore them with their swimsuits and posed for pictures. It made quite a sight. Cade's guys all did well as they had in the past. It still amazed coaches from other schools that Cade and Vin could display so much camaraderie with their team members and still have such a disciplined squad. The men's 200 medley relay squad shaved a couple of seconds off of last year's record, and was able to take top honors. They beat their nearest competitor by fractions of a second. The coach whose team came in second asked for a review because he felt they should have taken first. The tape showed clearly that Nate had touched the edge of the pool ahead of his rival. The coach wasn't a very good sport about losing, but fortunately his swimmers were. They all congratulated Jon, Davy, Bradon, and Nate for their fine performance. Jon took first in the men's 200 freestyle, beating his nearest competitor by a full second. Davy won in the 50 meter freestyle. Bradon took first in the 100 butterfly, and Nate came out on top in the 100 breaststroke. His teammates teased him about his win in that event, saying he's had more practice stroking breasts than his gay buds. This year, Micah was an active participant in the diving competition. He didn't have the skill level in swimming that his friends had, but his diving was nearly flawless. He came in second in the state and was really thrilled. Because of bad weather, none of the grandparents and few of the parents were able to make it to cheer the kids on. Brock and Brent were the exceptions. They drove through some pretty nasty conditions to get there, but made is safely. The team members in general were very pleased to see a few hometown supporters in the crowd. --------- Their overnight stay was pleasant, taking place in the hotel where they'd been a couple of years before. The facilities had all been well maintained and looked like new. The boys enjoyed the whirlpool and the steam room as well as the small pool. As Davy and Jon emerged from the steam room wrapped in their towels, they were approached by coach from another team. "Aren't you one of the guys a couple of my senior swimmers tried to bully last time we were here?" he said to Davy. "Yeah, I am. How did you remember me?" "I might not have except for the newscasts which covered the governor's awards." "Wow, you saw those?" "Of course; I think half the people in the state were watching. I'll bet you haven't had any crap from anyone this year." "Um, no. I noticed that some kids have sorta given me wide berth. I thought maybe it was because I'm out and proud." "I think it's more a case of respect, and perhaps wariness. You probably have a reputation of being able to handle yourself. I could have predicted that when you put one of my swimmers in the pool rather handily." "I did sorta let my adrenalin take over." Davy admitted. "No, it was more of a case of having confidence and standing up for what's right. By the way, both of those guys straightened out. One of them bullied someone else and had to do a lot of community service. He actually changed. The other one... Hmm... I guess `straightened out' isn't exactly correct. What he did was come out of the closet. His father was livid, but I heard he's finally coming around. Well, I won't take up your time. You guys looked great out there today. Best of luck on whatever you're in tomorrow." "Thanks!" ---------- Rooming arrangements were optimal for the guys this year. Nate chose to be with some other buds so that Davy, Jon, Bradon, and Micah could share a room. He said he didn't want to put a damper on anyone's fun. The boys had blushed at the implications, but didn't beg him to reconsider. ---------- February was a miserable month for weather. There had been no "January thaw" and it looked like there wouldn't be one in February either. There were a few highlights to keep the guys upbeat. The Valentine's Day Dance came off well. Neither Davy nor Jon got involved, but they did attend. It was an all-school affair, instead of being sponsored by the GSA. The boys wore bright red shirts and white jeans. They looked really good. The shirts were given to them by the manager of the store where Davy worked, and Jon sometimes modeled. The AF logo was prominently displayed on the pockets, making this a great opportunity for free advertising. They danced with Jenna and Willa as well as a few other girls. However, they were in each other's embrace for the slow dance with dimmed lights that ended the party. When it was over, the freshman boy who had been shocked to see guys dancing together at the Halloween gala came up to Jon. "You guys move well together," he observed. "Uh, it turns out my dad isn't homophobic. He laughed about my mistake in October, but he told me that he would love me if I decided I was gay. Isn't that cool?" "It's icy-cool!" Jon grinned. ---------- February also saw the pre-production publicity come out about the "Medieval Adventures" game that the boys had worked on. The company made some minor changes to it, but kept most features, including the gay characters. In addition, the boys would receive a better percentage of the royalties than they had expected. They were thrilled. Before the first copy went on the market, the organization called American Family Association launched a campaign against it, saying it was part of the gay agenda to lure young people into becoming homosexuals. The more they railed against the game, the more pre-sales it enjoyed. A week later, Davy received a call from the publishing house that his book was literally flying off the shelves and going into a second edition. They wondered if they could talk him into a sequel. It seemed that the right-wing group had also bashed his novella. "Wow! I may actually make enough off of it to buy a case of beer!" Davy exclaimed at dinner that night. "You don't even like beer," Jon giggled. "So, I guess that would be true if you didn't sell another copy." "True. I guess I need to set my sights on something other than beer." ---------- Tyler's early spring perked up with the beginning of indoor soccer practice. He was tired of running the snow blower every couple of days and was eager to be more physically active. His time in the weight room paid off in making him bigger and stronger. Coach Rapoport was impressed when he saw Tyler and other "stars" of the team with their shirts off. Guys who had retained a bit of residual baby-fat last season had been transformed into chiseled young men who were ready to take on anyone. No doubt boys of opposing teams had also matured, but Bernie felt that his guys had a good chance of dominating the field. Forrest, Chandler, and several other kids looked as good as Tyler. Of course, being older, they should have. In any case, it was an impressive group of young men. On some days, conditions were favorable enough to practice outside. That made the kids feel like winter was at long last over. ---------- Davy and Jon had decided not to go out for track and field this spring. Their jobs at the mall plus academic endeavors and planning their wedding seemed like enough to occupy them. Jon had planted the idea in Davy's head early in the term. Remembering how stressed out Davy had been fall, Jon didn't want him to hazard having a panic attack, no matter how much Davy protested that he was fine. They still ran some days just to keep in shape and to relieve stress. Naturally, they had other ways to reduce any pressure that might build up. ---------- A couple of weeks before spring break, Mr. Bousek introduced the project that would occupy his creative writing students for the rest of the term. He started by asking his class what they understood the word "metamorphosis" to mean. Nate raised his hand, as did several others. "To me, it's like the word `morph' that we use when we transform an image on the computer, or like the Transformers I played with as a kid." "That's a great answer. Jon, I see your hand, did you have anything to add?" "I agree with Nate, but we also see that kind of thing in nature, like when a caterpillar makes a cocoon and comes out of it later as a butterfly." "Those are both good answers. David, you had your hand up earlier, do you have anything else to say?" "That was one of the vocabulary words I studied on before taking SATs last spring. As I recall, the definition implied that the process was fairly rapid. Can the change be evolutionary as well as revolutionary?" "I don't see why not. Did you have an example in mind?" "Yeah, I was thinking about the modern horse. In far distant time, it was more the size of a dog, but slowly metamorphosed into a large, powerful draft animal like the Clydesdales." "That sounds reasonable to me in what we are going to do with the subject. In preparation, we will look into a couple of artist's notions of what metamorphosis meant to them before we write our own composition. Saturday night, there is a broadcast of last fall's symphony production of `Metamorphosen for 23 Solo Strings' by Richard Strauss on public radio. That's the German title, if you hadn't guessed already. I know none of you has anything better to do than listen to it on a weekend night. If you actually do have a life, you might record it for another day. This is NOT required listening, but I feel it might help inspire some of you. What is mandatory is the reading of Kafka's, `Metamorphosis' which is a rather strange tale. It's a short novella, so it won't take you too long to complete it. Please read the first 15 pages by Monday. If you like to multitask, you could read them while listening to the music." Davy invited Nate to join them on Saturday night for a reading and listening time, but he had a date. The rest of the guys in their circle weren't in that class, so it looked like they would do it alone. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's notes: I heard from the following during the past week: Tony W, Daniel W, Tom A, Scott W, Jim W, Bill T, Paul F, Wayne, Roger L, Ott H, Luke C, RC, Aaron W, Daniel L, Paul R, and Walt S. Thanks! I recently read a story by Ron from the Mustard Jar and thought I'd share the link with you. It's complete and you may not be able to put it down until you finish. I couldn't! http://www.themustardjar.com/maskhome.html