Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2003 12:35:41 -0000
From: Gymnopedies <gym@softhome.net>
Subject: Sexual Development 11

The usual disclaimers apply: don't read if you are prohibited by location,
are under legal age, or if you are likely to be offended by explicit
descriptions of gay sex. The story is pure fiction and is not based on any
actual events.

Gymnopedies   November 2003
gym@softhome.net


Sexual Development - Chapter 11: Turnabout Is Fair Play
-------------------------------------------------------

Things didn't look better in the morning. In fact if anything, they looked
even worse. Daniel was faced with the prospect of turning up at school not
knowing whether Jason would have told everyone that he was gay. He
considered pretending to be ill so that his mother would let him stay at
home. But he knew that he was going to have to face things sooner or later,
and if he did go in today maybe he would get to talk to Jason and somehow
convince him not to tell anyone else.

However, when Daniel arrived at school there was no sign of Jason. As the
bell sounded, signalling the start of the school day, the desk beside
Daniel's was conspicuously empty. Whilst this obviously meant that Jason
wouldn't be able to tell anyone Daniel's secret, it also gave Daniel
something else to worry about. Where was Jason? Why wasn't he at school?
Had he stayed away because he couldn't even bear to face his former friend?
Daniel's mind churned over the possibilities.

"Are you with us today, Daniel?"

The teacher's voice pulled the worried fourteen year old back to
reality. "Oh, yeah. Sorry Mrs. Redbrooke."

The teacher shook her head. "I was asking you if you knew why Jason
Middleton wasn't at school today," she said, wearily.

"I don't know," Daniel snapped. "How should I know?"

"Well, I thought you might have an idea, seeing as the two of you seem
almost to be joined at the hip most of the time," said Mrs. Redbrook,
sharply, her expression indicating that she didn't care for Daniel's tone.

"Yeah, they're like a couple of queers," called Simon McBride, from across
the room. The comment brought loud laughter from Simon's circle of friends
and giggles from elsewhere.

"That's enough. Be quiet, McBride," said the teacher. She turned back to
Daniel. "I've a message for you from Dr. Lomax. He would like to see you in
his room at morning break."

"He's probably heard about you and Middleton and wants to know how you
manage to find Middleton's teeny weenie," Simon called out, amid more
guffaws of laughter.

"Leave Jason alone," Daniel snarled, jumping to his feet. His face was
glowing red with anger.

"Sit down, Daniel!" The teacher's voice cracked like a whip. She glared at
the furious teenager until he once more took his seat, then turned and
looked across the room at the other boy. "Simon Mcbride, I told you to be
quiet. I don't expect to have to repeat myself. You have just earned
yourself a detention."

The two hours until morning break really seemed to drag. Daniel found it
hard to concentrate on his schoolwork, spending most of his time watching
the clock and wondering what Adam wanted to see him about. Eventually came
the sound he had been waiting to hear, the bell signalling the start of a
twenty minute break from lessons. His books were in his bag before the bell
had even stopped sounding and he was one of the first through the classroom
door.

Impatiently, he pushed his way through the crowded corridors. As he reached
Adam's room, the door opened and two boys came out. They were a couple of
years older than Daniel and he knew them by sight but not by name. From the
mixture of embarrassment and relief on their faces, Daniel guessed they had
just completed a session similar to the one he had undergone with Jason,
the previous week. He nodded towards them and got tight-lipped smiles in
return.

Giving a quick knock on the open door, the young teen entered to find Adam
standing by the sink, drying his hands. He looked up and gave Daniel a
welcoming smile.

"Good, you got my message," said the doctor. "How are you today? Better
than yesterday, I hope."

"I'm fine, I guess. Jason's not in today." Daniel came straight out with
the thing that was uppermost on his mind.

"Yes, I know," Adam replied. "I checked up on you both straight after
morning registration. When I discovered he hadn't made it in I rang and
spoke to his mother. He's ill in bed. Though I can't say I'm surprised."

"What do you mean?" asked Daniel, feeling that he might be somehow
responsible for his friend's illness.

"After I'd dropped you off yesterday, I went round to his house. After
seeing the state you had gotten yourself into, I thought I'd better see
what sort of condition he was in."

"How was he? Was he ok?" Daniel asked.

"About the same as you," said Adam, with humourless smile. "The main
difference was that he'd stayed out in the rain and the cold even longer
than you had. He'd been walking around for hours; he didn't even have the
sense to get undercover. He'd eventually arrived home not long before I got
there. His mother was going frantic and he was refusing to talk to her, so
she was grateful when I turned up."

"Did you get him to talk to you?"

"I did. We had a good long chat."

"What did he say?"

Adam smiled and shook his head. "Most of what was said is between me and
Jason." He put his hand on Daniel's shoulder. "He's hurt, he's upset and
he's angry. I did tell him the full story about how and why you'd got
involved with Ben; I thought that best, since he'd already overheard Ben's
version. That probably helped a little. At least now he understands things
a bit better than he did. You've got an awful lot of work to do to make
things up with him."

"You mean there's still a chance that we can be friends?"

"Like I said, he's angry, but I would say there's a good
possibility. Though when he sees you, don't be too surprised if he decides
to sock you one."

"I'd wouldn't mind that, if it would make everything alright."

Before Adam could reply there was a knock on the door. Daniel turned to see
Ben and Billy entering the room.

"Ah, I was just starting to think you might not have got my message,"
smiled Adam.

As they saw Daniel, seated in front of the desk, the two younger boys
stopped in their tracks.

"What's he doing here?" asked Ben, his expression suddenly turning
suspicious. "What's he been saying?" he demanded.

"You ask that like you have something to feel guilty about," said Adam
mildly as he walked around the youngsters and closed the door. "But if you
really want to know, he told me..." he dramatically slid the bolt on the
door home with a loud thud, "...everything."

"You're going to be sorry for blabbing," Ben muttered, softly, as he stared
coldly at Daniel.

Adam must have heard this comment, but chose to ignore it. He returned to
his desk, seating himself in his chair. "How's Jason this morning?" he
asked Ben, after a slight pause.

"I don't know," Ben replied, surprised at the sudden change of
direction. "He said he didn't feel well, so Mum said he could stay in bed."

Adam nodded. "Do you know why he didn't feel well?"

"Because he spent yesterday standing out in the rain, I expect."

"Probably," Adam agreed. "But do you know why he spent the day out in the
rain?"

"How should I know that? I wasn't even there when he got home and he'd
already gone to bed by the time I got back. I was at Billy's house."

"In that case, I'll tell you." Adam leaned forwards across the desk. "He
was a bit upset. Earlier that morning he'd overheard you and Billy talking
about a certain video you had made. He also overheard you laughing about
Daniel being gay."

Most of the colour drained from Ben's face and Billy looked positively
grey.

Adam continued. "I won't bore you with the details, but largely thanks to
you two, both Daniel and Jason had a pretty miserable day yesterday. We
should just be grateful that things didn't turn out an awful lot worse."

Billy looked like he might cry, but Ben looked defiant.

"I know a part of the blame has to go to Daniel," said Adam, giving the
teenager a quick glance. "He realises that, and he's paid the price for
it."

Daniel hung his head. Adam's words had hurt, but he knew them to be
true. He felt Adam's reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"We were just having a bit of fun," said Ben.

"Blackmail isn't fun," said Adam, coldly. "Certainly not for the one being
blackmailed. And blackmailing someone because of their sexuality is in my
book just about as low as you can get."

Ben looked down and muttered something inaudible.

"Where is the tape?" asked Adam.

"Which tape?" Ben again looked defiant.

Adam's face darkened. "You go ahead and play games with me if you like. But
I can promise you that before we're done you will be VERY sorry."

"It's at my house," Billy said, quickly, a tremour in his voice.

"Thank you, Billy."

"You can't make us give it to you," said Ben. He stood stiffly, his hands
clenched into fists.

Adam chuckled. "Do you really believe that?" He paused for a long moment,
his gaze fixed on Ben, until the boy began to shuffle around
uncomfortably. "Forget the tape for a moment." Adam suddenly broke the
silence, his tone much lighter. "You see, you two boys have left me with
another problem. Unfortunately, you've shown that you can't be
trusted. You've already tried blackmail once, so how can I be sure you
won't try it again? What if you were to try and blackmail me by making up
something about one of our sessions together? Also, there's your
measuring. These results are important and need to be accurate; I don't
think you can be trusted to do it properly."

Billy looked about to say something, but Adam held up his hand to quieten
him.

"I think the best thing is to get your parents involved," said the
doctor. "I'm going to contact your parents and suggest that they supervise
your measuring; they could take it in turns, Ben's mother one time and
Billy's mother the next."

"Nooo!" Billy gave a wail of protest.

"You can't do that," Ben called out, for the first time looking really
frightened.

"Also," Adam continued, "I'm going to suggest that at least one of your
parents is present as an observer during each of your future sessions with
me. That includes your extra weekly sessions."

"No, please..." Billy looked like he was about to cry.

Ben stared open mouthed at the doctor.

"I'm sorry, boys, but you haven't left me any choice. I may as well start
to get it organised now." He reached for the telephone on his desk.

"Don't! Please don't," Ben cried. Tears started to run down his cheeks.

Adam paused, the phone in his hand. "I really don't see what else I can
do," he said. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then slowly replaced the
handset. "I suppose there is something else we could try."

Ben wiped his eyes on his sleeve and looked hopeful. Billy, who had covered
his face with his hands, looked out from between his fingers.

The doctor looked at them, dragging out the moment. "Suppose I were to ask
Daniel if he would be willing to supervise your measuring and sit in on
your testing sessions."

Daniel, who had been watching the two youngsters, and even feeling a little
sorry for them, spun around to face the doctor. "Me?"

"Only if you want to," said Adam. "I know you don't owe them any favours,
not after what they've put you through. So if you don't want to do it, just
say the word and I'll go ahead and get their parents involved."

Daniel couldn't believe he was being given this opportunity. It would be
the ultimate revenge for what Ben and Billy had done to him. It would be
even better than the video that they had promised him and then conned him
out of. He looked around at the two youngsters. Both of them were watching
him with almost pleading expressions. "Does supervising the measuring mean
just watching, or would I be taking the measurements?" he asked.

"I think it would be best if you were to actually take the measurements,"
said Adam. "That's what I would be asking their parents to do."

That meant he would be able to touch as well as look, just like they had
done to him. The revenge would be perfect. Daniel fought to keep his voice
steady and controlled as he spoke. "It would be pretty horrible for them to
have their mothers seeing them hard and everything, and even touching
them. I guess I could do it, if that's what they want."

There was an audible sigh from Billy and Ben gave a shuddering sob of
relief.

"Is that what you want?" Adam asked the two twelve year olds. "It's up to
you. Daniel or your parents?"

"Daniel," said Billy, quickly, and Ben nodded agreement.

"Right," said Adam. "From what I hear, you're pretty big on making deals,
so here's mine. The video of Daniel is to be on my desk by the end of
lunchtime today. If you do that, then we can leave your parents out of
it. However, if I hear even a whisper that you have another copy of the
video, that you have shown it to anyone else or that you have even hinted
to anyone about Daniel being gay, you will find your parents are doing all
of your measuring and watching all of your testing from now on. The same
applies if you give Daniel any trouble at all during the measuring or if I
have any problems with you in the future. Do you understand?"

Both the twelve year old's nodded.

"Daniel will measure you twice a week," said Adam. "If the two of you want
to measure each other more often than that, that's up to you. The
supervised measuring will be done here in this room straight after school
on Mondays and Thursdays; your extra weekly session with me is scheduled
for Thursdays, so we'll move that to straight after school as well and link
the two together. Since it's Monday today, I'll expect you here within five
minutes of the end of school. Is that clear?"

"Yes," said Ben, weakly. He gave a sniff and wiped his eyes.

"Good. Since the bell for the end of break went five minutes ago, you'd
better hurry back to your lessons. You can tell the teacher that you are
late because you were with me. Off you go, and don't forget that tape at
lunchtime."

Looking thoroughly beaten, the two younger boys unbolted the door and left.

"I thought that went rather well," said Adam, sitting back in his chair
with a smug smile.

Daniel looked at the expression on Adam's face and suddenly realised
something. "You planned all along for me to be the one measuring them," he
accused.

"Of course I did," said Adam. "Why do you think I had you here at the same
time as them? But if I'd come straight out and told them that, they would
have kicked up a stink. By first making them think that their mothers would
be doing it, it made you look like a pretty good deal. They're even
grateful to you now for agreeing to do it."

"And I thought Ben was devious," said Daniel, with a shake of his head.

"I think Ben has met his match this time," laughed Adam. He got up from his
chair and picked up his jacket, pulling it on.

"I suppose I'd better get back to class as well," Daniel
sighed. "Mr. Barton's going to have a right moan at me for being late. He's
hasn't forgiven me and Jason for skipping his lesson last week after you'd
finished with us."

"You're not going back to class, you're coming with me," said Adam. "I sent
a message to Mr. Barton earlier, so he won't be expecting you. I don't
suppose he'll be very happy, but some things are more important than
geography."

"Where are we going?" asked Daniel.

"You'll find out soon enough. Come on."

Sitting in the car, next to Adam, it didn't take Daniel long to work out
were they were going. "You're taking me to see Jason, aren't you?"

"We're going to see Jason, yes. When I spoke to his mother earlier I told
her I would be calling round to check on him, and I thought this was as
good a time as any for the two of you to start talking."

"You think he'll want to talk to me?"

"Probably not, but we don't always get what we want."

Daniel fell silent. He wasn't sure this was such a good idea. He wanted
everything to be all right between himself and Jason, he wanted that more
than anything. But he had no idea how to start making things right or even
what to say to the boy. As they drew nearer to Jason's house he found that
he was getting more and more worked up about what was going to
happen. Deliberately, he tried to think about something else. "What was all
that about Ben and Billy having an extra weekly session with you on
Thursdays?"

Adam glanced round at the boy then put his attention back on the
road. "It's something I do with all the boys who don't ejaculate," said the
doctor. "I want a more regular check on their development than the usual
sessions will allow, so I get them in for a quick test every week."

"So you're going to be doing that to Ben and Billy on Thursdays, while I
measure them?"

"Well, I'll let you measure them first," said Adam, with a grin. "You need
to catch 'em while they're still hard. Though in boys that age, getting
hard again shortly after an orgasm is not normally a problem."

This was something to look forwards to. As well as getting his hands on the
two youngsters, Daniel was going to be able to watch Adam jerk them off
each week. And that was on top of anything that might be happening in
future sessions with the doctor. He hoped that at some stage he would get
the chance to see them getting some sort of anal examination to make up for
the indignity of them pushing a candle in his arse.

Jason's mother answered the door and let them in. She was going to show
them up to Jason's room, but Adam said they could manage so she left them
to it and returned to what she had been doing in the kitchen.

"Does she know?" Daniel asked the doctor, in a whisper, as they climbed the
stairs. Mrs. Middleton had greeted Daniel with a hello and a smile, just
like she always did.

"She knows the two of you had a falling out, but she doesn't know what it
was about," Adam replied. "I had a quick word with her last night. She's
not especially worried, because apparently she's used to Jason going into a
sulk when the two of you argue. Sound familiar?"

"You've been talking to my mum," Daniel muttered.

Adam gave a quick knock on Jason's bedroom door and pushed it open. Daniel
followed the doctor inside.

Jason was lying in bed looking thoroughly sorry for himself. He raised
himself up onto his elbows as Adam entered, but his expression turned into
a scowl as he saw Daniel. Though he didn't say anything, which Daniel took
to be a fairly good sign. While Adam went over and sat on the edge of the
bed, Daniel remained standing by the door. He decided it was probably
better to keep his distance at this stage.

"I hear you're not feeling so good," said Adam.

"I'm ok," Jason replied. He spoke to Adam, but continued to stare coldly at
Daniel.

"Well, your mother said that you had a temperature earlier," said
Adam. "And considering you spent most of yesterday freezing cold and soaked
to the skin, I thought I'd better come and have a look at you." He opened
the bag he'd brought up from the car and took out a stethoscope. "Let's
have your top off," he said, pointing to the white t-shirt that Jason was
wearing.

"I'm alright, I'm feeling better now," Jason insisted, this time looking at
the doctor.

Adam looked thoughtful. "You know, that reminds me of a time when I was
working in a hospital casualty department. A man was brought in with chest
pains. When I tried to examine him, he wouldn't let me. He said exactly the
same as you just did. Fifteen minutes later he was dead."

"Did he have a heart attack or something?" asked Jason.

"No, nothing like that," said Adam shaking his head, sadly. "He decided he
was going home, walked straight out of the door into the road and got run
over by an ambulance."

In spite of all his efforts to the contrary, Jason's mouth twitched into a
smile. He glanced over at Daniel, who was himself grinning at the poor
joke. As their eyes met, Jason's smile disappeared and his expression
became sad.

"Come on, let's have that shirt off." Adam took hold of the garment and
began to pull it upwards, leaving Jason little choice but to raise his arms
and allow it to be removed. Jason sat hunched forwards, his arms folded
across his bare chest while Adam again delved into his bag and took out a
small metal case from which he produced a thermometer.

"Open up," the doctor ordered, and he put the thermometer into Jason's
mouth. Putting the stethoscope into his ears he moved Jason's arms out of
the way and used the metal disk to listen to the boy's chest in several
places before getting him to lean forwards and repeating the procedure on
his back. After laying the stethoscope aside, he retrieved the thermometer
and peered at the reading. "You've got a slight temperature, but nothing to
worry about. You'll live." With a grin he ruffled Jason's blond hair then
pushed him back onto the pillow.

To Daniel, watching from over by the door, Jason looked so vulnerable, laid
back in his bed. The sheet covered him to mid-stomach, leaving his slim,
smooth chest exposed, and his untidy hair framing his pale face gave him a
sort of waif-like look. Daniel just wanted to rush over and hug him and
make everything once more like it was before.

Adam packed his things away then sat looking at the two boys, his gaze
moving from one to the other. "What a pair you make," he said, eventually,
shaking his head. " Both of you too daft to come in out of the rain. How
long have the two of you been best friends?"

"Probably since we were about four," said Daniel.

"Something like that," Jason muttered, in agreement.

"That's a long time," Adam observed. "I bet you've had a few fallings out
in that time."

"A few," said Daniel, with a dry smile.

"But you've always managed to sort things out, one way or another." Adam
leaned down and closed his bag with a loud click. "I'm going downstairs to
talk to Jason's mother so that the two of you can have some time alone
together. You can talk to each other, you can shout, you can scream, you
can even beat each other to a pulp if that's what it takes, but you have to
sort this one out, just like you've always done before. Best friends don't
come around very often, it would be a shame to throw away everything you've
built up over something like this." He picked up his bag and walked to the
door. As he went out he turned and gave a grin. "Try not to damage each
other too much, I'm not especially good at putting in stitches."

In spite of Adam's parting attempt at humour, the mood that settled over
the room after the doctor had left was far from light. Jason had once again
folded his arms across his chest and lay back in his bed, glaring
stubbornly at the wall. Daniel searched vainly for something to say, but
really couldn't think of anything. There was so much that he wanted to say,
but none of the words that came into his head seemed appropriate.

The silence stretched on for several minutes, until completely at a loss,
Daniel slowly shuffled forwards and sat down carefully on the bottom of the
bed, facing away from the other boy. A couple more minutes passed.

"Adam said I shouldn't be surprised if you tried to thump me," said Daniel,
nervously.

"Maybe I should," Jason replied, after a pause.

"Yeah, maybe you should." Daniel shook his head, sadly. There was another
pause. "Remember the last time we had a proper fight? We were about
eight. We were in your back garden playing some game and I was losing and I
said it was because you were cheating. We started to shout at each other
and I told you to drop dead. You punched me and I punched you back and the
next thing, we were rolling around on the ground together. Then you caught
your head on a stone or something and cut your forehead open. I'd never
seen so much blood."

>From behind Daniel, Jason's soft voice took up the story. "You pulled out
your handkerchief and tried to stop the blood. You kept saying 'Jason, I'm
sorry, I didn't mean it. Please don't die.' Mum heard the noise from inside
and came running out. She couldn't understand why I was the one that was
bleeding, but it was you who wouldn't stop crying."

"It was because you were hurt and it was my fault," said Daniel. He twisted
around until he was looking at the other boy. Their eyes met. "Even right
back then I couldn't stand to see you hurt. Especially if it was me that
caused it." The fourteen year old felt a tear run down his cheek. He
angrily brushed it away. "Now I've gone and hurt you again," he said.

Jason looked away again, staring at the window. "Adam came to see me last
night. After he'd finished lecturing me on how stupid I'd been for spending
all day walking around in the rain, we talked. First we talked about you,
and Adam told me about your deal with Ben and why you'd done it. Then we
talked about me. We talked about me for ages. I told him things that I've
never told anyone else before; things that I'd hardly even let myself think
about. It's funny how just talking about things makes them easier to
understand. Adam was really good. He listened and explained some things to
me. But do you know what he said at the end?"

Daniel shook his head, but Jason didn't even glance at him to see his
response.

"He said that it was you that I should really have been telling those
things to. And deep down I know he's right. Sometimes I've really wanted to
say stuff to you but I was too scared too." Jason again made eye contact
with Daniel. "I suppose you didn't tell me about your stuff for the same
reasons."

"Yeah, something like that." Daniel gave a small nod.

"That doesn't mean I'm not still mad as hell with you though," said Jason,
in a louder voice.

Daniel hung his head. He wanted to say he was sorry, but the word seemed
somehow inadequate.

"Did those things I said outside your house yesterday cause problems with
your mum?" Jason asked.

"I thought they had, but it turned out that she already knew about me
being, you know, gay." Daniel's voice lowered towards the end of the
sentence. Even though it was now all out in the open, he still found it
uncomfortable to say.

"That's a relief." Jason's mouth twitched into a very slight smile. "While
I was out walking around yesterday, half of the time I was worrying that
I'd ruined things between you and your mum." The smile became
self-mocking. "I must be mental."

"No," said Daniel, shaking his head. "Not mental."

"How long have you known you were gay?"

The question caught Daniel off guard. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"It isn't something that just happened. I didn't wake up one morning and
decide I was going to like boys instead of girls. I suppose it's been the
last year or so that I've realised that boys turn me on and girls don't."

"Don't you like girls at all?"

"Sure I like girls. But I don't think about them in that sort of way, you
know, for sex." Daniel realised that he was blushing.

"So you get turned on when you look at boys?"

This line of questioning was getting extremely personal and Daniel was
starting to get hot under the collar. "Sometimes," he said. "But it's not
the first thing I think about every time I look at a boy. It's only certain
boys."

Jason nodded. "Adam says that if a boy gets turned on by another boy or
even does stuff with him, it doesn't mean that he's gay. He said that a lot
of boys play around together; they jerk off together or even jerk each
other off but that doesn't prove anything. He told me that there's a good
chance that Ben isn't gay, that him and Billy are just messing around and
'finding out about their bodies' and that the things they did to you were
really about power, proving that they could control and humiliate an older
boy."

"Are you trying to say that I might not be gay?" Daniel felt strangely
offended by this notion. He hadn't asked to be gay, and there had been
times during the past year or so that he had wished that he wasn't, that he
could be 'normal' like the other boys around him. But now, having his
'gayness' brought into question, he felt himself becoming annoyed.

"I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about Ben. Stop being so damned
touchy. I don't know whether you're gay or not." Jason answered, sharply.

"Well I am," Daniel snapped. "So you're going to have to get used to it."

"I don't have to get used to anything," Jason quickly retorted. The two
boys glared at one another.

After a few seconds, Jason looked away. When he spoke his voice was once
more softer, his temper under control. "I've spent the last couple of years
scared to death that I was going to end up gay. I've lost count of the
times some of the guys at school, like Simon McBride, have made jokes about
me being a fairy or a queer because of how I look. I was scared that if
they said it often enough, it might come true, or that I might start to
believe it myself."

"You don't become gay because of what someone else says," said Daniel,
gently.

"I know that. I know I was being stupid. But I couldn't help it. Then
yesterday morning I overheard the runt and his friend laughing about me not
knowing that you were gay when we were touching each other and all that
stuff. And I thought to myself that if my best friend is gay and we've been
touching each other cocks, what does that make me? I guess I couldn't
handle it."

"It doesn't make you anything." Daniel answered, quickly. "It's not a
disease that you can catch by being around someone. We were touching each
other because we had to; because Adam told us to. That has nothing at all
to do with being gay."

"I know," Jason sighed. He lapsed in silence. "You should have told me," he
said, after a long pause.

"Yeah, I know I should. But what would you have done if I had?"

"I would have been able to deal with it."

"Would you? You sure?"

"Yeah, eventually. The part about you being gay anyway." Jason gave an
amused grin. "The part about you fancying me would probably have taken me a
bit more getting used to though."

"Well, nothing has really changed that much," said Daniel. "You've always
been my best friend, now you're more than that. I've always cared about
you. Now I just care even more."

Jason looked uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry," said Daniel. "I can't help how I feel."

"It's just not easy for me to get my head around. You were right though,
what you said earlier." For the first time since Daniel had entered the
room, Jason's eyes held a touch of warmth. "I do have to get used to
it. You're my best friend and I don't want that to stop." Then his smile
disappeared and he gave a frown. "But I swear that if you ever go behind my
back and do anything like that again, you'll pay big time. In fact, you've
still got a lot of paying to do for this last time, so don't think I've
forgiven you completely."

"As long as we can still be friends, I'll pay anything you want." Daniel
felt a surge of relief. It looked like everything was going to be alright.

"You shouldn't be so quick to make promises like that," grinned Jason. "You
might find that Ben isn't the only one in our family who can twist a
promise around to suit himself."


End of Chapter 11


Feedback is encouraged and always much appreciated. Let me know what you
would like to see happen in future chapters, or send me your ideas and
suggestions for new stories.  Email me at gym@softhome.net or visit my
website http://www.storiesbygymnopedies.com for more stories, polls and
previews.