Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 11:57:28 -0700 (PDT) From: Virtual Insanity <virtualinsanity78@yahoo.com> Subject: Mannie the Marine 4 This story contains male-to-male consensual sexual relationships, so if this is illegal for you to read, please adhere to whatever laws you abide by. **** This story follows a previous story of mine called Wade & Christian, which you can find in the high school section of this fine archive. I suggest you read it first. BUT, if teen angst and ultradrama romance is not your thing, this story does stand alone. For my fans, this story is mighty different from Wade & Chris and The Prick, it is about a conflicting relationship and the power of true love. So, if you are looking for any of my previous stories regurgitated, you will be sorely disappointed. This story will run about 10-15 installments. It will also feature the characters of Wade & Christian quite prominently, so let's enjoy the ride, shall we? Don't forget to e-mail and encourage me, I could use it! virtualinsanity78@yahoo.com ***************************************************************************** For some reason, Wade was off of his back and for that Mannie was grateful. A week went by and absolutely nothing happened. The tension at the breakfast table was gone. Mannie had learned all of Kiesha's drop-in times and managed to avoid her and Reggie completely. He'd gone out and got himself a part-time job drawing up blueprints by hand and through graphic design for an engineering firm and he would be starting the following week. He'd gotten a letter in the mail from the U.S. Marines stating that his new assignment was under review pending advice from his military doctor and Mannie already knew what the outcome would be. They were going to give him an honorable discharge and call it a day. They wouldn't take the risk of further injury and the possibility of having to cough up big bucks in the future. He'd be put on a disability pension and called a veteran. In the mean time, Mannie spent half of his days sitting on the sofa in Wade and Christian's den, with the television volume on low and shifting through the channels with the remote, watching people's facial expressions and wondering what the hell he was doing back in Michigan. Mannie tossed the remote aside and leaned back against the sofa, sighing deeply. There were a couple of guys he knew he could call to relieve the boredom, but for some reason he had no desire to do that. The telephone at his elbow rang and Mannie reached back to pick it up. "Hello," he said into the receiver. "Um...Mannie?" a shaky voice inquired and Mannie swallowed quickly, confused. "Yeah," Mannie said back. "Who's this?" "It's...uh...Jon," the voice said and suddenly became familiar. "Jon, man, what's up?" Mannie asked. "I'm...fucking lost, man," Jon said and Mannie could recognize the difference, the shakiness in Jon's tone. He was scared out of his mind. "Did you have a blackout or something?" Mannie asked quietly, hoping that his calm attitude would help Jon to calm down, too. "Yeah," Jon said. "I d-don't know where the fuck I am, Mannie. Can you come get me?" "Yeah, I can, but you gotta tell me where you are first," Mannie told him. "It's a lot of traffic, a lot of people," Jon said. "Is there a sign on the corner?" Mannie asked. "Yeah, but don't tell Wade, okay?" Jon said quickly and Mannie smiled. "I'm not gonna tell Wade anything, just tell me what that sign on the corner says," Mannie said. "Okay," Jon said and paused for a moment. "Fourth and Lane. I guess I'm on the corner of Fourth and Lane." How the hell did he get all the way over there, Mannie wondered? It was the complete other side of town. "Just stay put and I'll be there," Mannie told him. "Okay," Jon said and hung up. Mannie hung up the phone and then dialled a taxi. About fifteen minutes later, the cab pulled up in front of the house and Mannie stopped his solitary vigil on the front steps and jogged to the cab. He pulled open the back door and hopped in. "Fourth and Lane," he told the driver and sat back against the dark blue seat. For the first time he acknolwedged that the restless feeling coursing through his veins had little to do with boredom and everything to do with Jon. For a week, he'd been trying to convince himself that his little incident on the porch steps with Jon had just been an abberation, something to be quickly forgotten, but deep down he knew that it wasn't. If Mannie could do one thing well, it was be honest with himself and the fact of it all was simply that he was attracted to Jon on some level that he had never been attracted to another person...and it was unfortunate because he had absolutely no right to do anything about it. *** Jon was leaning against the white brick side wall of the Wal-Mart on Fourth and Lane when Mannie's taxi rolled to a stop there. There was little reason for Mannie to worry about overlooking Jon because he stood out like a sore thumb in the bright orange Taco Fiesta getup. Mannie got out of the taxi and waved at Jon. Jon eyed him quickly, then broke out in a smile, quickly shuffling over to the taxi. Mannie got back in and scooted over to make room for Jon. When Jon got in the car, Mannie could see by the paleness of his face and the streaks lining his cheeks that Jon had been crying. His heart twisted in his chest. "Back where we came from," Mannie directed the taxi driver and then leaned back to stare at Jon. "You okay, man?" Jon nodded, but didn't look at Mannie. They sat in silence for a long moment, then Jon kind of tilted his head down and began to cry again. Mannie let out a rough sigh and put his hand on Jon's back, it was a soothing gesture. "Tell me about it," Mannie urged him and Jon hiccupped and shook his head. He shot a look at Mannie. "I've known you what, a whole week," Jon said through his tears. "I don't open up to people I've only known a week." Mannie realized that Jon was teasing him and let out a light laugh. He ran his hand up and down Jon's back lightly and smiled at him. Jon looked at him and gave him a watery grin in return. Mannie did what he could to ignore the thumping of his heart. The very tip of Jon's nose was red from his sniffling. He was the epitome of adorable. "Tell me anyway," Mannie urged him and wrapped an arm around Jon's shoulder, squeezing comfortingly. Jon leaned against Mannie, enjoying the warmth of human contact. It was the kind of touch that Jon knew instinctively had nothing to do with pity and for that he was grateful because with Wade and Chris, he could never be really sure. "It was Trina's fault," Jon said, sniffing hard. "I tried to get home, but I haven't been over here a whole lot of times." Mannie felt something bad stir inside of him. "What do you mean it was her fault?" he asked. "I mean she fucking brought me out here saying she needed to do some shopping," Jon explained, his words coming in quick, fast spurts. "I just wanted to go home after work, but she didn't even care and when we got here I walked around holding her bags and shit and we started talking. She asks me if I'm interested in her and I'm like no, not like that. Why should I settle for someone who's not even half of what Shannon was, you know? I'm not completely stupid." "You're not stupid at all," Mannie said, barely concealing his anger. "Yeah, I am," Jon said quietly. "I was never all that smart before, so I know I'm not all that great when it comes to brains now." "You were smart enough to get me to stop cutting," Mannie pointed out. "And nobody's ever done that before." Jon looked over at him and smiled. Mannie smiled back and tensed when Jon leaned in, resting his head against Mannie's shoulders. "I'm real glad that you're here," Jon told him and Mannie leaned back against the seat. He did what he could to squeeze his legs shut and pretend a total and complete lack of interest in the guy sitting beside him. What he felt and what he could do about what he felt were two completely different things. There had never been a guy who even treated him remotely the way that Jon was treating him now. Mannie had never been comfortable enough around other guys to develop the kinds of friendships he envied so much. There had always been his sexuality in the background, first stopping him from even wanting to be around other guys so that he wouldn't feel the attraction and then not feeling comfortable around other guys because of the attraction that he knew they might not feel in return. How did you make friends with a straight guy? He'd never quite figured that out and here was Jon as straight as an arrow and niave to boot, telling Mannie all of the things he needed to hear from another person, that he was valued, that he might actually be worth something. The only thing that Mannie could do was sit back and squeeze his dick between his legs so that Jon wouldn't figure out that he was raging hard. "So, what do you think I should do about Trina?" Jon asked. Mannie thought for a moment. "Stand your ground," Mannie told him. "You definitely shouldn't ride home with her anymore." Jon was silent for a moment and Mannie looked over at him. "What are you thinking?" Mannie asked into the stillness of the car. The sky was turning a dusky blue as day crept into evening and the street lights reflected off of Jon's face. Mannie swallowed hard and looked away. "I don't wanna go back to having Chris and Wade pick me up from work because it sucked," Jon said. "They would just stop whatever they were doing and come and get me and I don't want that. I want to be able to make it home without having to bother them, but I get lost all the time." "I'll come and get you," Mannie said quickly. "Taco Fiesta is what, two miles from the house, tops? I'll walk to your job at the end of your shift and we'll walk home together. If you pay attention, you probably will know how to get home by yourself in no time and we'll test it out, okay? It'll be no big deal, I'll just say I want to go out and get a taco and we'll run into each other and walk home together." "Okay," Jon said and smiled, not analyzing why it didn't bother him that Mannie would be the one interrupting his schedule to look out for him. "That sounds good." "It's a plan then," Mannie agreed and went back to staring out of the window. Jon suddenly sat up straight. "I know where we are now," Jon said quickly. "Not too far from home, right?" "Right," Mannie said. "Let's get out here and walk the rest of the way," Jon urged. "We gotta get our stories straight for Wade, too, you know?" "You can let us out here," Mannie called to the driver and he pulled the car over to the curb where Mannie proceeded to pay him while Jon slid out of the car. Mannie slid out after him. They stood on the curb, looking at each other and looking just as quickly away. "How much do I owe you from that ride, man?" Jon asked and Mannie shook his head. "I was just sitting around bored out of my mind," Mannie told him. "It's no big deal. I've got plenty of cash, don't worry about it." They started walking down the sidewalk in the direction of the house, each reflective and a little quiet. Mannie was setting up different scenarios that they could tell Wade when they got home and he figured that Jon was doing the same when Jon bumped his shoulder lightly with his own and asked, "So, did you have a boyfriend or girlfriend back in the Marines?" Mannie promptly forgot all of the stories in his head and looked over at Jon. Jon was the first person to ask him anything about what had been going on in his life back in the Marines. He relished the opportunity to talk. "I don't seem to be all that lucky when it comes to dating and love and all that," Mannie told him. "But there was this guy. I wouldn't call him my boyfriend or anything like that, but we messed around a lot and I - I guess I liked him a lot. I wasn't trying to be serious about anyone, which was probably a good thing because he was married." Jon gasped and his mouth dropped open. "You were messing with somebody that was married?" Jon asked incredulously. Mannie shrugged and looked away. "I'm not a saint, Jon," Mannie told him. "Look up the definition of sinner and you'll see a picture of me right there, waving at you." "You're a decent guy," Jon told him. "Not really," Mannie told him. "I've done a lot of shit I'm not proud of." They walked in silence for a moment. "So, tell me what happened with the married guy," Jon said, breaking the silence. Mannie shrugged again, a little uncomfortable. "His name was Scott," he went on. "He was an all-American type, you know blond hair, blue eyes, military style. I saw him a few times on the base, but we never spoke until we were over in Iraq, then we just kind of hooked up one night after we got there. He was lonely and I'm always lonely. It worked out, you know." "So, what happened?" Jon asked. "I fucked things up as usual," Mannie said. "We got ambushed by some civilian types, just a homemade grenade. Anyway, I had a funny feeling about it, so I told Scott that I'd handle the situation and I ended up being the one riddled with shrapnel." "You saved his life?" Jon asked. "Nah, not really," Mannie said. "I just put myself in the line of danger rather than him or any of the other guys. I mean, I had no one at home waiting for me, you know and Scott had a wife and two kids. He kept their picture around all the time and she was real pretty, you know the perfect blonde family thing. That's what Scott had waiting for him back home and my parents won't even speak to me. So, I took the chances." "And then?" Jon asked. "I ended up in the military hospital for months, just lying there and Scott was around but he couldn't even look me in the eyes, didn't talk to me," Mannie told him, unaware of the way his voice wavered and hollowed. "I'm just one of those types that you can have a good time fucking, but when it comes down to anything serious, people run the other way. I've adjusted." Jon turned on him quickly, pushed him against the side of a building they were passing and eyed him under the street light. Mannie's hands were shaking, the lightest of quivers and his eyes were hollow, deep and empty. "That's stupid," Jon told him. "You're worth more than that, Mannie. You shouldn't let yourself think this crazy shit about yourself. How can you even think some of this stuff?" "Experience," Mannie told him. "Everytime I put myself out there to be serious about a person, I end up dumped or used." "Everyone goes through that," Jon told him. "How many times?" Mannie asked. "At some point, you're supposed to find someone who cares about you, right? Even if it's not the love of your life, right?" Jon shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not," Jon told him. "Some people don't find real love until late in life. You never know when it'll happen." "Maybe," Mannie shrugged but they both knew he doubted it. Jon held him there, watching the silent play of emotions on Mannie's face. "And what's the deal with your parents?" Jon asked suddenly and Mannie turned his face away. "The age-old story of the unwanted queer son, that's all," Mannie told him in a bare whisper. And a single tear escaped Mannie's firm hold, blazing a hot trail down one of his chiseled cheekbones. He reached up to wipe it away and Jon stopped him. Jon lifted shaky fingers to wipe the tear away and the gentle, subtle caress of his fingers loosened Mannie's hold on his emotions. More tears followed and Jon stood there silently, the expression on his face dead serious as he wiped the tears away with a light brush of his finger tips. Jon's arms went around him, tightened almost unbearably as Mannie silently bawled against his shoulder. The two stood there for an interminable time, Mannie losing control for the first time since he was a young boy and Jon, feeling every shaky breath that Mannie breathed. Jon brushed his lips against Mannie's neck, right at the madly pulsing epicenter of the column of his throat, and Jon felt the urge to purse his lips, to press them firmly against Mannie's throat - against another man's throat. The need to do it shifted and roiled around inside of him until he could feel it like a heavy cloak across his back, pressing against his spine. It was a feeling that Jon had never felt before and he could not identify it. He only knew that he had to do it, he had to move pass the realm of one guy comforting another and into a territory that he had never even fathomed going into. He silently and gradually pressed his lips against the pulsing flesh of Mannie's throat and a thought came to him. He would do anything for Mannie. Jon felt the first kernel of fear. ****************************************************************************** Thanks for all of your encouragement. It's meant a lot in helping me to feel great about what I am writing and to be compelled to go on. Sorry no sex just yet, but it will come!! Please e-mail me at virtualinsanity78@yahoo.com.