Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:09:09 -0500
From: Cy-kun <cysanonymouslyanonymousemail@gmail.com>
Subject: Everything Will Turn Out Alright Part 7

Disclaimer: Even though you're gonna do it anyway don't read this unless
you're of legal age and this type of thing isn't outlawed where you live.
If you object to reading about sex and love between young boys then this
isn't for you. I'd still love to know why you're here though. Copyrighted
material that may be mentioned is owned by the people who own it and I am
not one of them. All of this is fictional, fake, and never happened.

Introduction: Here's another looooong chapter. My last chapter combination
thing kinda ruined the ending I had for the first chapter 7 so now I gotta
put it with what was supposed to be 8, which was way too long to begin
with. I'm gonna have to start planning out these chapters better. This is
also the last of the pre-written completed chapters which means that,
vacation or not, the wait for new chapters is gonna be longer from now
on. :( As always you can leae questions, comments, constructive criticism
and other assorted goodies at cysanonymouslyanonymousemail@gmail.com.
Enjoy!

	-Cy

-------------------------------------

Surprisingly, no one said anything to me about what happened in lunch for
the rest of the school day. I had expected the harassment to start the
second I got to class but the most offensive thing anyone did to me was
stare and whisper to their friends. Not that that made me feel any
better. I longed for the comfort of social invisibility.

	Even though no one had said anything I still tried my best to go
unnoticed. I hunched down in my seat and wouldn't raise my hand even when I
so desperately wanted to. When nobody in class knows the answer teachers
here have the really stupid habit of picking on the kids who have no idea
what the hell is being taught, waiting for them to stumble through a
laughably wrong answer and then explaining the correct answer in much
greater detail than is needed. I always tried to avoid this by raising my
hand and giving correct answers if no one had their hand up. Today, though,
I had to suffer through that along with everything else. All in all those
last two periods were probably the worst I'd ever had in my life.

	After the my last class was over I hurried as fast as the slow
moving crowds would let me to my locker hoping to catch Vicky. He wasn't
there. Normally I might have waited to make sure I'd missed him but I
didn't want anyone to notice that I was there and try to start talking to
me. I was in no mood to listen to anyone's bullshit but I didn't want
anyone to think I was running away from them either. That would just make
things worse. Luckily I was able to put everything I needed in my backpack
in near record time and get lost in the end of the day chaos before anybody
said anything.

	I walked out of the building and looked around for Vicky. He was
nowhere to be seen. My heart sank. If his dad was here to pick him up today
he wouldn't have been able to wait for me, that would just hold up the pick
up line. I looked around again in the vain hope that I'd see him maybe
partly hidden behind a tree or something but he wasn't there. Dammit. I
really wanted to talk to him about all this. Vicky seemed very subdued at
lunch and I wanted to make sure he was ok. He may not have been the
delicate flower I had originally thought but this had to bring back some
bad memories of his experiences back in New York. I really hoped he was
ok. I promised myself I would do whatever I could to protect him from the
worst of the abuse that was sure to come our way.

	I was walking over to a relatively unoccupied area of the front
lawn to wait for my mom to show up when I noticed a group of about 10 or so
girls standing in a semi circle around something that I couldn't see off to
my right. As I got closer I could hear a steady drone of conversation and
every once and a while an exclamation of laughter. I wondered what the hell
could be so damn amusing but my curiosity quickly turned to rage when two
of them parted for an instant and I saw that they had surrounded Vicky.

	Those goddamn fucking bitches! I ran towards them as fast as I
could. He must have had the same idea as me to wait away from everybody
else and they must have seen him and pounced. My rage was white hot and all
consuming. I didn't care if they were girls if they had done anything to
hurt my Vicky emotionally or physically I'd make them pay. I'd scream at
them, I'd beat the living shit out of them, I'd make damn sure they and
everybody else knew the consequences of messing with Vicky.

	As I neared them and started overhearing some of what they were
saying, however, I slowed down and felt the rage lessening. Then I noticed
that Erica and Michelle were part of this group and my rage turned back
into curiosity with just a bit of confusion thrown in.

	"That is so cute!" one of the girls exclaimed.

	"I know!" another one answered. "I can just imagine them sleeping
in bed together that must be the sexiest thing ever!"

	I had stopped moving towards them and was trying to figure out what
the hell I was feeling, (relief? confusion? fear? anticipation?) when Erica
noticed me.

	"Nate!" she yelled out and motioned me over. All the girls turned
around at once and almost all at once shouted my name and invited me to
join them. As I walked over Vicky and I locked eyes and his expression was
half confusion and half amusement. Seeing his face brought back all the
feelings I had before when I thought he was being made fun of and I was
filled with such relief at how wrong I was that I walked right up to him
and wrapped him in a tight hug. I didn't care who was watching, I was just
glad that he was ok. Besides I was starting to realize that I was probably
currently in company that would have no problem at all with two boys
embracing. I was right.

	"AWWWWWWW!" they all said at once.

	"That is so sweet!" one of them shouted.

	"I know! It's, like, so totally, incredibly hot!" came the
unmistakable voice of Michelle.

	Several more of them made similar comments but I tuned them out.

	"I'm so glad you're ok." I whispered into Vicky's ear. "When I saw
them standing around you laughing I thought...." I trailed off not wanting
to finish.

	"I'm fine." he whispered back. "I was a little nervous when they
first came over but all they did was ask questions about us and squeal." He
laughed softly.

	I smiled, happy beyond words that he was ok, but my smile faded and
I filled with shame as I remembered my anger from before. I really would
have hit those girls if they had been making fun of Vicky. That really
shocked me, I wasn't usually very violent. I'd only ever been on one real
fight in my life back in Alaska and that was with a boy who tried to steal
my Oreo's at lunch. I would normally never even think to hit a girl. I felt
awful.

	The thing is, as bad as I felt, I knew without a shred of doubt
that if they had been making fun of Vicky and I had actually hit them I
would never have felt even the tiniest bit of remorse.

	We let go of each other and turned back to the group
of.....fangirls? That fit, I realized suddenly. They were acting like a
group of teenage fangirls. Although fans of what I wasn't sure yet. Vicky
and I? Gay people in general? Were they maybe associating us with
characters from some shounan-ai series? I had no idea and I didn't have
anymore time to consider it since they were talking at us again.

	"So have you, um......" the girl turned red and trailed off. I
noticed that she was one of the people that usually sat at a table near
ours at lunch. In fact every girl there beside Erica and Michelle sat near
us at lunch.

	"Have we what?" Vicky asked.

	"Um, you know......" this girl also turned red.

	"Ugh. You're all such wimps! Have you guys had sex yet?" Michelle
asked exasperatedly. The girls all looked equally shocked that she said it
so bluntly and eager to hear our answer. I groaned inwardly.

	"That's none of your business." Vicky said firmly.

	"Awwwww! Come on! You can tell-" Michelle started to say.

	"No." Vicky cut her off and held up his hand again. "Look, I guess
I don't mind telling you about how we met or that I slept over Nate's house
but that's something personal between Nate and me. It's not something we
want to discuss with people we barely know in front of the school." I
nodded my agreement.

	They at least had enough decency to look embarrassed. (Heh, me
talking about decency.) Although Michelle, as usual, was the least
effected.

	"So, can you at least tell us if you kissed?" she asked hopefully.

	Vicky sighed and then looked at me. I thought about it for a second
and nodded.

	"Yes, we have." Vicky aswered.

	"AWWWWWWW!!!" they said again.

	"You guys are so adorable." Erica gushed. The other girls agreed.

	"Will you kiss for us?" Michelle asked suddenly. The girls waited
in breathless anticipation.

	"What?!" Vicky exclaimed.

	"Please? Just one kiss? Look we'll even stand really close so no
one else sees ok? Pleeeeease?" Michelle begged.

	"Look, we-" Vicky started.

	"Please? It's only a kiss and we promise we'll never ask again so
please? Please?"

	"I don't-"

	"Come on! We really wanna see! Please? For me? Come on! Pretty
please?"

	Vicky had turned red and I could see that he had no idea how to
respond. He obviously didn't want to put on a show for these girls, and to
be honest neither did I, but he couldn't figure out how to get that across
to them. I desperately tried to come up with a solution and suddenly
something popped into my mind.

	"One hundred bucks." I said before Vicky could say anything else.

	They all stared at me.

	"What?" Michelle asked confusedly.

	"One hundred bucks." I repeated. "Give us one hundred dollars and
we'll kiss for you, I promise."

	They were silent. I'd almost forgotten what silence sounded
like. Vicky was looking at me like I was crazy. Just then I heard a car
horn and looked over to see my moms car waiting in front of the school. I
grinned when I noticed Vicky's dads car was only two cars behind her. We
had our escape route.

	"We have to go, our parents are here. We'll see you on Monday and
remember, we'll only kiss for a hundred bucks!" I grabbed Vicky by the
wrist and ran towards the car.

	"Why did you say that?" Vicky asked when we were out of earshot. We
ran until we were out of talking distance from the girls.

	"Look," I said as we slowed down. "They were just gonna keep asking
us until we kissed right?" He nodded. "And you didn't want to kiss for
them, right?" Another nod. "Well that got them to stop asking and there's
no way 13 year old girls are gonna be able to get a hundred
dollars. Besides they'll calm down this weekend so even if they manage to
get a hundred dollars together they're not gonna want to spend it just to
see two guys kiss once."

	"Hm," Vicky said and chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully. "Yeah, I
guess that makes sense." He smiled at me. "But you do know that we're gonna
have to kiss if they come up with the hundred dollars right? I don't think
that'll make things any easier for us." My good mood evaporated. I had
almost forgot about everyone else. There was no way the rest of the school
was going to be as disturbingly accepting as these girls were.

	"They won't." I said confidentially.

	We got to the car without incident although I did notice several
less than friendly looks from some guys as we made our way there. Vicky
noticed that too and his mood turned sullen again. We said goodbye at my
car and I gave Vicky a smile. Vicky only managed a slight half smile in
return and then turned and ran towards his car. I got in mine and we drove
home.


	We drove home mostly in silence. My mom tried starting a
conversation with me but even though I answered all her questions she
realized quickly that I wasn't in the mood to talk. Traffic was light so it
took us less than 15 minutes to get home. When my mom stopped the car I
grabbed my bag, took out my key and ran into the house. I know, I know,
dashing off into the house and going up to your room isn't the best way to
keep a curious mother from knocking on your door and badgering you with
questions about what's bothering you but I didn't care. I just needed to be
alone and think.

	When I got into my room I threw my bag down and turned on the
Xbox. Not that I was in any kind of mood for playing games but if Vicky
signed on I wanted to be able to talk to him.

	I hated leaving him like that. I knew this whole situation was
bothering him a lot more than it was bothering me and that worried me
because it was bothering me a lot. Or it would have been if I didn't have
Vicky to worry about. I wished I was the one feeling the worst about this
so his pain would at least be less than it was now. But then he'd feel bad
for me and that would make me feel bad about making him feel bad and then
he'd just feel worse which would make me feel worse. Dammit, it's hard
being in love sometimes. Not to mention confusing.

	Speaking of confusing what the hell was up with all of those girls?
I had no idea whether to be relieved that they didn't treat us like shit or
offended that they apparently saw us as toys that would play with each
other on demand. The more I thought about it the more annoyed I got. I'd
had fantasies before about having someone watch me have sex but to be
cornered and forced to kiss my boyfriend by people I barely even knew was
not something I'd had in mind. Although, I guess they didn't really order
us, they kinda just begged. Which was weird, but at the same time just a
bit flattering. Gaaah! This was just as confusing as my last train of
thought. I wonder if Vicky is doing any better at sorting this stuff out?

	As I thought of Vicky I checked my Xbox. It had been less than 20
minutes since I got home but I knew I'd be checking that and my email
pretty much nonstop until I got something from him so I might as well get
started. He wasn't on. No email either. I sighed. This was going to be a
long night. I wished that I didn't have to wait until tomorrow for him to
come over. Who the hell decided that? Oh, yeah, me. Well it made sense at
the time! It was supposed to give us all of Saturday and most of Sunday and
we'd drop him off after dinner. Now he needs me and I'm not here. Well, I'm
here. But he isn't. And am I talking to myself? Goddammit.

	This was really messing me up. Was this how I was going to be every
time something was bothering him and I couldn't talk to him? I figured it
was. I tried to work out in my head when the absolute soonest possible time
we could move in together would be. The results were pretty depressing. The
earliest we could move in with each other would be in 5 years after we
graduated high school and even then only if we got into the same college
and if that college was far enough away that we would have to stay in the
dorms. Maybe I could run away and live in a tree in his backyard? At least
then I could sneak in his window when something like this happened. You can
tell how upset I was because the thought of sneaking in Vicky's window
wasn't immediately followed by a sex fantasy and a furious jerk off
session.

	These were my thoughts as I waited for some kind of communication
from Vicky. I kept turning the days events over in my mind between trips to
the Xbox and the computer to check for signs of Vicky. There never were
any. I tried reading but I couldn't focus on the story for more than two
sentences, I tried surfing the internet but ended up refreshing my email
page for about 40 minutes and I even tried calling Vicky's house when I
couldn't take the waiting but his dad must have been using the line because
it just kept ringing and ringing and ringing and who the hell doesn't have
call waiting these days? Doesn't that come free now? And his dad is a
doctor so it's not like they can't afford a good phone plan.

	I was in the middle of a pretty good fantasy that involved a hammer
and the head of the idiot who still sold phone plans without call waiting
when the phone rang. Could that be Vicky? He'd never called before but
maybe his internet was down or his dad did have call waiting but couldn't
get off the call he was on or, or, or it didn't matter. I leapt towards the
phone with my heart in my throat and my feet caught in my sheets. My face
smashed into the floor but I barely noticed as I scrambled over to my
phone. I managed to make it to the phone and rubbed my now tender jaw as I
answered.

	"Hello?" I asked eagerly.

	'"Hi." Jason said.

	"Oh, hi." I said dejectedly. My whole body sagged.

	"Sorry. I guess you don't wanna talk to me right now huh? I
understand." he said sadly. I could hear the pain in his voice and somehow
that made me feel even worse. Goddamn friends.

	"No! It's ok. I just....kinda thought you were Vicky."

	"Oh......so, you haven't talked to him yet?" he seemed a bit
hesitant and the tone of his voice sent panic racing into my heart.

	"No, why did something happen? Did you talk to him? Is he ok?" I
asked frantically.

	"Hey! Calm down, I haven't talked to him. I was just.....I was
hoping you guys didn't hate me."

	"Huh? Why would we hate you?"

	"This whole thing is my fault, that's why! If I said something to
Jen or if I didn't let her sit with us in the first place none of this
would be happening. Everything that happened to you guys today is all my
fault!"

	I had never seen him this upset before. I knew he could be
protective of his friends but....damn.

	"It's ok." I said as soothingly as I could manage. "I don't blame
you for any of this and I'm sure Vicky doesn't either. Besides with the
exception of being 'outed' in front of half the lunch room nothing really
happened to us." I heard Jason let out a relieved breath.

	"You mean no one bothered you? No one made fun of you or started a
fight or anything? Christ I was worried all day. I almost skipped
basketball practice to get home and call you."

	"No, nothing like that. We did get cornered after school b- wait,
you play basketball?"

	"How do you not know that? I mentioned it like three times this-
what the hell do you mean cornered? Who was it I'll kick their ass!"

	I couldn't help myself, I burst out laughing.

	"It was just a bunch of girls." I said still chuckling. "They were
just asking us questions and they wanted us to kiss for them."

	"What?"

	"Yeah. I know."

	"That's just way too weird."

	"Yeah. I know."

	"Did you?"

	"No." I said simply. I didn't feel like getting into the whole
'hundred dollars' thing right then.

	"And is that really all that happened?" he asked disbelievingly.

	"Well...." I hesitated. "We did get some not so friendly looks from
a few guys while we were walking to get picked up. It really upset Vicky."
I wanted to say more but I couldn't really explain why I was so worried
without telling Jason about what happened to Vicky and there was no way in
hell I would ever tell anyone anything Vicky told me in confidence.

	"Mother fuckers. I'll-"

	"No, you won't." I cut him off. " Look, it's incredibly awesome
that you'd do something like that for us but this isn't your problem and-"

	"What the hell do you mean this isn't my problem?" he
yelled. "Whether you blame me or not this wouldn't have happened without
me! You two are my best friends, hell, my only real friends and even if I
didn't blame myself I'd still kick anyone's ass that messed with you."

	I couldn't help but smile.

	"If you would have let me finish." I said patiently. "I was going
to say that even if you beat everyone up that gave us problems that'd just
make things worse for us in the long run. So far it's just a few looks and
even if it gets worse than that this is something we need to take care of
ourselves. We can't just sit back and let you protect us." I softened my
voice a bit. "I think it's really sweet that you want to protect us
though. You really are an awesome friend."

	He sighed. "Fine, alright. I won't go around school kicking
everybody's ass I guess." I chuckled. "But I'm not just gonna stand around
and watch people pick on you." I started to speak but he cut me off. "No,
don't say anything. It won't make things worse if I'm just there to back
you up ok?"

	"I can speak now?"

	"Yes".

	"Ok, fine. But only if you see something going on. If you hear
about something, even if me or Vicky are the ones telling you, you can't go
running off to get revenge for us ok?"

	"Fine, fine." he huffed. "And I was all set to go all Rambo on
everyone's ass too."

	I chuckled. "It's the 2000's. You'd have to go all Chev Chelios on
everyone's ass."

	"Who?"

	"God, you really need to start watching movies made in this
century."

	"Shut up."

	I full on laughed this time. Not that anything we said was all that
funny but a good portion of the tension that had been building up all night
just poured out of me and laughing seemed like the right thing to do. It
was almost a shame that Jason was straight, he would have made a really
awesome boyfriend for some guy. I had a sudden flash of insight and I just
knew that no matter how much Jen may care about him she, or any girl
really, would never appreciate him the way he deserved. I shook away that
thought. I had enough to be depressed about without adding anything to the
list right now.

	"So, what the hell is this about basketball?" I asked changing the
subject.

	We talked about that and other light subjects for another hour
before he got kicked off the phone and we said goodbye. I felt better. I
was still worried about Vicky but I thought I was in a much better frame of
mind to help him than I was before. At least I probably wouldn't make
anything worse. Probably.

	After getting off the phone I went back to my computer and noticed
that I had one new email. It was from Vicky! My heart was pounding as I
opened it and read.

	Hey, sorry about not being on. i just needed to think about some
things. im probably gonna go to bed after sending this so ill see you
tomorrow. i love you.

	Well, that wasn't exactly reassuring. Vicky had never been one for
long, flowery emails but this was more terse than usual. And what did he
mean by "think about some things"? Could he having second thoughts about
us? I shook my head. No, that was a stupid thought, even for me. I may not
have known Vicky long but I knew him very well and I knew that he loved me
the same way I loved him. There was no way this would drive us
apart. Besides, Vicky was smart enough to know that even if we broke up
right now and never spoke or saw each other again the damage was already
done so it wouldn't do any good at all. It must be a sign of how worried I
was that I would even think that.

	Still, even though I knew that our relationship was strong despite
it's shortness, I now had a seed of doubt in my head that I couldn't dig
up. I grew increasingly more frustrated as what I knew and what I was
afraid of fought for control over my emotions. I let out a frustrated growl
and decided to go to bed early, maybe sleep would help. I never even once
thought about doing my homework.

	Sleep didn't help.

	I tossed and turned for hours, trying desperately to put my doubts
and worries out of my head just long enough to fall asleep. When I finally
did fall asleep it was due more to exhaustion than any mental peace. I woke
up at 7:30 the next morning, one of those wake ups where one second you're
dead asleep and the next you're sitting upright wide awake, and immediately
picked up right where I left off. I was well rested though, so that was
something.

	Or maybe not. If I was tired I would have at least had the hope of
falling back asleep to comfort me but as it was I knew I'd never fall
asleep again so all I had to look forward to was two or three hours of
worrying about the same damn things until Vicky got dropped off.

	I checked my email again thinking that maybe he might have sent me
something else during the night but all that was there was the usual
spam. I swore and opened up Vicky's email again. I read it over and over
looking for some hint about his mood, something that might give away what
he was thinking about, but there was nothing. He did say "I love you" at
the end and that should reassure me but what if he loved me but still
thought leaving me was for the best?

	How the hell did I ever start thinking about this?!

	I was now almost firmly convinced that Vicky wasn't going to show
up, that he was going to send me an email or maybe even call and tell me
that he didn't want to be with me anymore. It was a complete reversal of my
mindset from last night with him leaving me being what I knew to be true
and any slight hope crushed down to the size of a seed. I hoped that seed
would grow as fast as the last one did but apparently despair has stronger
roots than logic.

	"Nate! Vicky's gonna be here in about an hour do you want some
breakfast?" my mom shouted.

	Huh? I looked over at my clock and froze in shock. It was 9:20. I
had actually been sitting on my bed thinking about this for almost two
hours and it didn't even seem like 20 minutes had passed by. I shook it
off.

	"Yeah! I'll be down!" I shouted back.

	I thought about telling her that I was sure Vicky wouldn't be
coming so there was really no need for me to eat ever again but I kept my
mouth shut. She'd find out soon enough and I wanted to put off that
conversation for as long as possible.

	Like the car ride, breakfast was eaten mostly in silence. I could
tell my mom wanted to ask what was wrong in the worst way but she didn't
and I loved her for it. After breakfast I showered, got dressed and sat
down on my bed to wait.

	Wait for what you may ask? I had no idea.

	I knew Vicky wasn't going to come but my seed of hope and started
to sprout and I also knew he would. Ever know two completely conflicting
things to be 100% true? It's not fun, trust me. I felt like my brain was
tearing itself apart before finally, terribly, I thought of a solution.

	What if he was going to show up to break up with me in person?

	Leaving aside the fact that this completely ignored the "he won't
show up" truth it fit perfectly enough for it to become my new obsession. I
was so panicked over this new revelation that I completely lost track of
the world outside my doubts and fears and I jumped in surprise as someone
pounded on my door.

	"Hey, are you asleep in there? I called you three times!" my mom
shouted through the door.

	"Huh, what?" I said stupidly.

	"Vicky and his dad just pulled up, do you wanna come down and say
hello or should they come up and present themselves to you?" she asked with
a healthy dose of sarcasm in her voice.

	I leapt up our of bed, threw open my door and ran downstairs,
almost knocking my mom over in the process. Expectations of massive
heartbreak or not there was just no way I could not be excited to see
Vicky.

	And just like that it hit me, the answer to all my problems. Well,
this one anyway.

	Up until now I'd only considered what Vicky might say or do or
feel, I never once put my own feelings into the equation. I love Vicky, I
love him so much that sometimes I bring myself to tears just thinking about
it, and there is no way I could ever live without him.

	 So I wouldn't.

	No matter what he said or was afraid of or thought would make our
situation at school better, I was not letting him go. He was mine, now and
forever, and nothing could ever change that.

	I got to the door just as the bell rang and I yanked it open. Vicky
was standing there with his dad, an overnight bag over his shoulder. He
didn't look like himself. His physical appearance hadn't changed, he still
looked as beautiful as always, but there was no sign of his usual good
cheer or happiness. He looked depressed.

	For a moment my heart stopped and all my worries started to flood
back but I pushed them away. I would not let anything ruin what we
had. Including proper manners.

	Before he or his father could say anything I grabbed Vicky by the
wrist and dragged him into the house. I pulled him up the stairs, past my
astonished mother and into my room before slamming and locking the door. I
turned towards Vicky and was met with a shocked expression.

	"Nate, wha-" he started

	I pulled him towards me and cut him off with a kiss. I kissed him
furiously, trying to push away any doubts and worries he may have had with
my lips. At first he didn't respond but then he started kissing me back
with equal frenzy. My heart soared, even if he did come here to break it
off with me like I feared, that he didn't push me away meant that it might
be easier to convince him not to. We broke our kiss and I hugged him close
to me.

	"Vicky, I know you're worried about school and what's gonna
happen. I know you think it's gonna be like it was in New York and I know
you think that breaking up with me would help but it won't. It's already
out there, us being together or not would make no difference at all. But
even if it would I don't care. I'm staying with you, no matter what
happens, you'll never get rid of me. Ever. I love you too much to let you
go." I said forcefully.

	Vicky didn't say anything for a while, he just stood there while I
held him. I started to worry again. Was he steeling himself to break up
with me anyway? Did he think that was all I had to say, that I would give
him up after that one attempt? Well, if he did, he had no idea how far I'd
go to keep him. I was about to say something more when he finally spoke.

	"You....thought I wanted to....break up with you?" he asked in a
tone of complete and utter confusion.

	"Um, yeah, don't you?" I asked, equally confused. I let him go just
enough to look into his face but I still kept my arms around him. He had a
look of disbelief on his face and his eyes were glistening with unshed
tears.

	"What...why would you think that?"

	"Well, um, in your email.....you said you wanted to think about
something and, well, I thought that meant that you were thinking about us
and, um, that it might be easier at school if we weren't together and
that's why you didn't talk to me...." I trailed off. Wow, that really
didn't make any sense when you try to say it out loud.

	Vicky just stared at me for a moment, his eyes still shining.

	"Nate, you idiot." he hit me lightly on the chest and smiled. The
tears in his eyes started to fall down his cheeks as he buried his head in
my shoulder.

	At that moment I felt myself falling in love with him even more.

	I was still confused, happy, but confused. I was so sure that he
wanted to leave me but as I tried to explain it before and as I thought
about it now I couldn't figure out why. I held him tighter as I felt my
shirt wet with his tears. I wanted to us to stay like this forever, Vicky
clutched tightly to my chest with relief and love flowing through my body,
but just because my problems were solved didn't mean Vicky's were. I still
remembered that look on his face when I answered the door and with that
picture in my mind I gave his one final squeeze before stepping back and
looking into his face.

	His eyes were red with tears and his smile was gone. I wiped the
last tears from under his eyes with my thumb before speaking.

	"If you weren't going to leave me then what's wrong? You look
really depressed." I said.

	"Well," he sniffed. "I'm....it's not....." he trailed off and
looked like he was about to cry again. My heart broke for him, this must be
effecting him a lot more than I thought.

	"It's ok." I said. "Come over to the bed and we can sit down." I
took hold of his hand and led him to the bed. He sat down next to me and I
put my arm around his shoulder as he put his head on me. We just sat there
with me holding him for a while and when he spoke again he sounded like he
had calmed down.

	"I don't want you to think that I'm ashamed to be with you or that
I'm embarrassed or anything like that. No, let me finish, I need to get
this all out before I start bawling like a kid again. I love you Nate and I
could never be anything but happy to be with you. It's just.....those
looks...." he swallowed before continuing. "Those looks that those kids
gave us after school, they were the same looks that I got back home, the
exact same looks!"

	His voice got louder and the words just started spilling out of his
mouth. "When I saw them everything just came flooding back. The taunts, the
insults, everyone that I thought was my friend abandoning me without even
talking to me about what happened, everything. I felt just like I did back
then for the first time since I met you and I just wanted to grab you and
hold you and....." He started crying again and I wrapped my other arm
around him and held him close.

	I didn't say anything I just held him until he started speaking
again.

	"I wanted to hold you so badly but I couldn't, not at school, not
in front of everyone and their parents, so I ran away. I went up to my room
and the feeling just kept getting worse. I needed to talk to you, I needed
you Nate. I needed your arms and your body and your smell and I couldn't
get any of that at my house. I couldn't get it over Live either so that's
why I didn't sign on. I needed to see you and hear you and touch you
because being with you is the only thing that ever made that hurt go
away. Do you understand me? I could never leave you, I could never live
without you, I want you in my life forever."

	Hearing the same thoughts that had been running through my head
just a short time ago come out of his mouth made tears start running down
my face as well.

	"I understand." I said with a sob. "I understand."

	He pulled himself out of my arms and looked at me. Our tear-filled
eyes met and in that look I knew that he knew I felt the exact same way.

	Suddenly Vicky lunged at me, pushed me down on the bed and kissed
me hard. I wrapped my arms around him and returned his kiss with equal
desperation. As we kissed I held him tight. He frantically started kissing
me all over my face, he kissed me all the way back to my ear and then bit
it hard. It didn't even hurt a bit.

	He kissed his way back down to my neck and I tilted my head to the
side to give him better access. He licked and kissed my neck I let out a
moan and as if that was a cue he stopped kissing me and we both desperately
pulled off our shirts and threw them away from us. Our now naked torsos
pressed together as our lips met again. As we kissed Vicky's hands moved
over my chest, down my stomach and stopped at my pants. With newly
practiced skill he unbuttoned them with one hand, unzipped them with the
other and pushed them down. I helped him by kicking them off and he grabbed
my penis.

	He didn't jerk me off or even move his hand at all, he just held me
and somehow that was more intimate than any sex we'd had up until then. I
ran my hands up his back, to his neck and finally cupped his face. He
stopped kissing me and as we looked into each others eyes we once again had
a perfect understanding of what the other was thinking.

	While he still held onto me I reached down and repeated his earlier
performance but on his pants this time. He kicked them off and I ran my
hands softly down his back and tenderly gripped his buttocks.

	He started to move down my body and as he did my hands slid from
his butt up his back and finally came to rest on the back of his head,
which was now level with my penis. His lips brushed against me lightly
before engulfing my shaft. I ran my fingers through his hair as he moved
his lips up and down on me.

	I closed my eyes and moaned softly. Oddly enough I wasn't moaning
from physical pleasure, the pleasure was almost completely emotional. I
could feel his love for me more clearly than I could feel his lips. Vicky
soon stopped sucking me but I wasn't expecting to finish in his mouth. I
knew that he was just getting me ready for the next part.

	With my penis wet and slick from his mouth Vicky climbed on top and
slowly started to lower himself onto me. My head pressed against the skin
of his hole and I felt the slight, familiar resistance before I slid into
him. He was as tight as ever as he took all of me inside him but I didn't
feel like I was invading him, it felt like coming home, like I belonged
here more than anywhere else.

	He started to slowly move his hips up and down. His hole gripped my
shaft tightly as he moved his body. He leaned down and kissed me
tenderly. I returned the kiss as I slowly started to thrust into him. Still
kissing, I rolled us both over so that he was on his back and I was on top
of him. As we broke our kiss and I looked into his eyes I finally
understood the difference between fucking and making love. This wasn't
about physical pleasure, although there was a lot of that to be found, this
was about emotion. It was about needing to be as close as possible to the
person you loved.

	We kept our eyes locked as I pushed into him. I picked up the pace
of my thrusting. Vicky's breathing got heavier and heavier until he finally
closed his eyes and let out a moan. I took this as my cue to make love to
him faster. As I thrust into his tight hole I was struck by how beautiful
he was when he was having sex. His mouth was slightly open, his eyes were
closed and his head was tilted slightly to the left. I leaned down and
kissed him on the neck.

	I was making love to him at a steady pace now and every time I
thrust inside him I heard him let out a quiet moan. It was so quiet I don't
think I would have heard it if my head wasn't right next to his. He wrapped
his arms around my shoulders and his legs around my waist. Our bodies
pressed together and I could feel his hard penis trapped between us.

	I changed the way I was making love to him. Instead of thrusting
with my hips I moved my entire body up and down as I pressed into him. This
had the added effect of rubbing the very bottom of my stomach over his
stiff cock. It wasn't long before I heard a louder moan come from his lips
and felt jets of sticky wetness flow out of his penis between us. The
feeling of his semen between our bodies as I thrust inside him was too much
for me, I pushed myself inside as far as I could go and with a long moan of
my own I came deep inside him.

	When I was finished I slid out of Vicky, rolled over and lay on my
back. He turned on his stomach and put his head on my shoulder. We didn't
say anything. There was no need for words. Our bodies had said everything
that needed to be said. I stroked his hair softly as we lay there together
in silence. We stayed that way for hours.

	My eyes snapped open. For a few seconds I was disoriented, not
really knowing where I was or why I didn't seem to have any clothes on, but
as I looked down and saw Vicky still laying on my chest it all came back to
me. I smiled. Any worries about school seemed so unimportant right then,
the only thing that mattered was being with Vicky.

	It didn't take me long to notice that Vicky was fast asleep and it
didn't take long after that for me to realize that I had fallen asleep
too. I looked over at my clock and saw that 4 hours had passed since Vicky
got here. I felt panic start to rise in my chest. Did I lock the door?
Could my mom have opened it and saw us like this? I wanted to run over to
the door and check the lock but I couldn't move, if I did Vicky would wake
up and he was just too damn adorable to disturb right now.

	I looked around the room for any sign that anyone had been in
here. Nothing looked like it had been touched or moved but chances are that
if my mom opened the door and saw me and Vicky sleeping in each others arms
completely naked with dried cum on my stomach she probably wouldn't have
started rearranging my room. I studied the door again and then breathed a
small sigh of relief. Vicky's bag was right in front of the door. The door
opens into the room so there was no way that anyone could close the door
from the outside and have that bag pressed right up against it. We were
safe.

	I started to lightly stroke Vicky's hair again. It was so soft!
Even after all the times we'd been close or had sex or just held each other
I could never get over how soft he was. I felt a grin creep across my face
as I started to think about a part of Vicky that usually wasn't soft when
we were naked. As I lay there stroking Vicky's hair and feeling his long,
sleeping breaths on my skin I realized that no matter what happened in my
life as long as I had this, as long as I had Vicky, I could get through it.

	I felt Vicky stir on top of me and let out a tired groan. (So damn
cute!) I stopped stroking his hair, not wanting to wake him up, but I was
too late. Vicky yawned, stretched like a cat and then wrapped his arm
tightly around my chest.

	"Hey." he mumbled sleepily.

	"Hi." I kissed his head lightly.

	"Mmmm." he sighed. "Did we fall asleep?

	"Yeah, for a few hours."

	"Ok." he snuggled closer to me. Apparently he wasn't as concerned
about anyone barging into the room and seeing us as I had been.

	"You wanna go back to sleep?" I asked.

	He thought about it for a while. "Nah. I'm already awake." He
sounded less sleepy too. I started stroking his hair again and he nuzzled
my chest. (So fucking adorable!)

	"Are you....feeling better?" I hated to do anything that might
break the mood but I needed to know.

	"Yeah. Being with you makes everything better." he answered
contentedly.

	My heart soared and I felt myself grinning happily. Love really is
the solution to most of life's problems, as well as the cause of a lot
too. Luckily me and Vicky have had a lot more experience with the solution
part of love. I gave him a squeeze. He squeezed me back. Ah, love.

	"So, what are we gonna do at school on Monday?" I asked.

	"What do you mean?"

	"I mean, even though we're not really worried that much anymore,
we're still gonna have to deal with a lot of crap from people. Do we just
ignore then, do we run from class to class and hope we avoid everybody, do
we start fights with anyone that says anything? And what about those girls?
Even if they give up on seeing us kiss they're still gonna keep bothering
us."

	"We should run away together."

	"Huh?"

	"Let's run away. We could leave and never have to deal with anybody
at school. We could live under a bridge where no one would ever find us and
it'll just be the two of us forever."

	Run away? That was pretty insane. As annoying as she can be I'd
miss my mom, not to mention Jason. But.....I would be with Vicky. And Jason
could visit us, we could tell him where we were and he could sneak us food
and maybe we could even give him notes for our parents from time to time so
they'd know we're ok. I can't imagine bridges would be all that comfortable
to live under but any place that had just me and Vicky could be home. Maybe
it could work, maybe-

	"Um, Nate? You know I'm kidding right?" he asked.

	Oh.

	"Umm......" I trailed off, embarrassed. Vicky laughed, sending warm
breaths of air across my chest.

	"Sometimes I wonder what you use that brain of yours for." he
giggled.

	My face burned with embarrassment and I was sure that I must be
bright red.

	"But," Vicky continued. "You'd really live under a bridge with me?"

	"I'd do anything if it meant making you happy." And for probably
the first time I realized how true that was, I'd do anything for Vicky
without even thinking about it. Like living under a bridge with him.

	"See? That's why I love you." He propped himself up on his elbow
and kissed me. My embarrassment was replaced with a different kind of
warmth.

	"Because I'm an idiot?" I asked teasingly.

	"Because you're you." He kissed me again and then put his head back
on my chest. "And about school, we'll just have to lean on each other and
deal with things as they happen I guess. No use planning for things when we
don't know exactly what's gonna happen, right?"

	"Yeah, you're right." When did Vicky become the strong, confident
one? Not even 24 hours ago he seemed to be almost in tears because of a few
dirty looks and now he's being all calm and rational.

	Could I really have that much of an effect on him?

	We cuddled together for a little while longer until my mom called
up to us to ask if we wanted lunch. Since I had sort of forgotten she
existed I was a bit surprised at this. Vicky apparently also forgot about
my mom being.....well, being, because we both scrambled out of bed at the
same time and started to frantically pull our clothes on. We got dressed in
record time (suck on that, jeans!) and I shouted down that, yes, we were
hungry. She said she'd make something for us and it'd be ready in about 20
minutes.

	And that was it. She never came up, she never asked us to come
down, nothing. We looked at each other and laughed. Oh well, at least we
knew that our dressing time had improved. Unfortunately that was all that
got better.

	"Your shirt's on backwards." I grinned.

	"So, yours is on inside out." Vicky shot back. "Plus you're wearing
my pants."

	I looked down. Huh, so I was. I giggled, which in turn made Vicky
giggle, which then turned my giggles into full blown laughter, which made
his giggles turn into full blown laughter, which.....well, that's it I
guess, we just laughed for a while. It wasn't really all that funny but by
the time we got ourselves under control we both had tears cascading down
our faces and we were so out of breath that we had to frantically gulp down
air to keep from passing out. Of course once I noticed Vicky's impression
of a tear streaked fish trying to suck down air I immediately started
laughing uncontrollably again. Which, of course, set Vicky off again as
well. Even as my chest burned and I fought to fill my lungs with enough air
so that my next laugh wasn't the one that suffocated me and even as I
wondered just what in the hell was so damn funny I couldn't help but notice
how good this felt. This pointless, out of control laughter was just one
more thing that I was sharing with Vicky and I found myself never wanting
it to end.

	It did, eventually. We got ourselves under control enough to where
we only had a few sporadic giggle fits here and there. Any sadness at our
shared laughter's end was quickly forgotten as we started to change. Even
though we had just seen each other completely naked less than 10 minutes
ago I got instantly hard as the sight of his exposed flesh and my head
filled with all kinds of naughty thoughts and desires. Vicky caught me
staring at him and he grinned wickedly. God! Seeing that naughty little
grin on his sweet, innocent face was such a turn on! I wanted so
desperately just to grab him right there and rail him, not the sweet love
making we had before, but full on balls deep lust fucking. Sadly, that
didn't happen. We changed, staring at each other and grinning the entire
time, then went downstairs for lunch.

	The smell of partially cooked grilled cheese sandwiches assaulted
us as we sat down at the table. Was there any smell as great as grilled
cheese being cooked? I thought of Vicky's scented body spray and realized
how stupid that question was. I'm sure I don't need to mention this by now
but I got hard as a rock once again at the thought of Vicky's scent. Yay
for tables and all the wonderful things they can cover up. When our
sandwiches were done my mom put them on plates, set them in front of us and
then to my surprise sat down at the table with us.

	Uh oh. I knew that look. It was her "enough is enough, I want the
truth" look.

	"Ok boys, what's going on?" I didn't know it was possible to mix
concern with impatience and harshness but she somehow managed it. Vicky,
not noticing the look or noticing it and not knowing what it meant, had
taken a bite of his sandwich but stopped chewing after the question was
out. Mine still sat untouched and I had a horrible feeling that it would be
very, very cold by the time I got around to picking it up.

	"What do you mean?" I asked trying as hard as possible to sound
like I had no idea what she was talking about. I did, though, and her
response confirmed it.

	"You know exactly what I mean. You've barely said three unprompted
words since I picked you up from school on Friday and you spent all night
last night locked in your room. In fact you've been acting strangely this
whole week. Then today you were incredibly rude to Vicky's dad, just
pulling his son up to your room without even saying hello, and you didn't
come out for over four hours. And then I find out from your father that
you," she pointed at Vicky, who swallowed his half chewed sandwich
nervously "have been acting the exact same way. So what's going on? Is
something happening at school? Did somebody.....do something?"

	Crap, this was going to be worse than I thought. I expected the
stuff about Friday, I knew I did nothing to hide how upset I was, but she
also noticed something wrong earlier in the week? Crap, crap, crap. And
what about all this with Vicky's dad? He noticed something too? We we
really both this bad at hiding our emotions? I was suddenly very glad that
I didn't decide to keep me being gay from my mom any longer than I did, it
would not have stayed secret long at all. No use spending time thinking
about problems that I could have had when I had a very real problem in
front of me right now. As cool as my mom could be about things, when she
isn't doing something like this, there was definitely a limit on how much
of my life I wanted her to know about and this was very much past that
limit. Not to mention that it wasn't exactly outside the realm of
possibility that she would get out of the car on Monday after dropping me
off and personally tell every student she saw not to bother me or Vicky
unless they wanted to deal with her. That type of thing might be endearing,
if unwanted, from Jason but from my mom it would be completely and utterly
humiliating. I'd rather just be known as the school queer than the school
queer that needs his mommy to protect him. I had to think up a plausible
lie, and fast.

	"And don't you dare lie to me." she added quickly. My jaw
dropped. "You always get that same look when you're about to feed me a line
of bullshit I won't have it."

	Jesus, she never swears in front of company. She must be pretty
damn serious.

	"And if you aren't going to tell me then I'll just get it out of
him." she pointed at Vicky who swallowed visibly, and this time it had
nothing to do with food. Damn her, she went right for my weakest weak
spot. I'd never subject Vicky to one of her interrogations.

	"Ok, fine! Just......promise me you won't overreact ok?"

	She glared at me.

	"Please! I swear it's not all that bad and we already know how
we're gonna deal with it so we don't need any of your 'help' ok? So please
just promise me that."

	"Fine." she said after a few seconds of thought. "But I expect the
whole truth."

	And that's exactly what she got. Well, mostly. I explained
everything to her. Jason's girlfriend sitting at our table, her friends
having crushes on us, us trying to get them to lose interest, our utter
failure at that, Jen 'outing' us in front of the entire cafeteria, the
creepy fangirl reaction to that, Vicky and me getting surrounded after
school, the dirty looks (man, I thought she was gonna snap at that one), my
reaction, Vicky's reaction, me waiting to talk to Vicky (I saw him wince
slightly as I described how upset I got over that), me pulling Vicky up to
my room and finally our resolution to keep each other strong and deal with
things as they come. Like I said before, however, I only told her most of
the truth. I left out anything about Vicky's experiences in New York (that
would always be his thing to tell, never mine) and our incredible love
making session. I also made Jason out to be more of a victim in this than
he really was (not that I had started to blame him or anything but, well, I
could see how someone might think he started all this), the last thing I
needed was my mom deciding that all this was his fault and forbidding me
from ever hanging out with him again. She took all this about as well as I
expected.

	"Well, I'll have a chat with the principal tomorrow, I'll make sure
he makes it known that you two are not-"

	"NO!" I shouted. "Are you insane? You can't do that! That would
just make everything worse! You promised me you wouldn't overreact, you
promised!" I said this last very forcefully. Promises were her one weakness
that I could exploit. She had been betrayed by my dad so many times that
she was compulsive about keeping promises.

	She sighed frustratedly. "Well what do you expect me to do,
nothing?"

	"Yes! That's exactly what I expect you to do. This isn't something
you can fix, mom. Me and Vicky need to handle this ourselves, it's the only
way we'll ever have a chance at getting people to leave us alone." I had to
make her realize that this was one thing she could never make better but I
knew that wasn't going to cut it. She was not the type to stand around
while her son went through a hard time. She had to feel like she was doing
something. I really was lucky to have a mom like that but I just wished she
could be that way and not take it to the extremes that she sometimes
did. Suddenly I knew the best way she could help is out without making
everything worse. "Mom, if you want to do something just keep doing what
you're doing. Be supportive and accepting of us and just, you know, be here
if things end up getting bad. You've been really good at that so far and
it's really helped me a lot." I hit me as I was saying it that that was
probably the truest thing I had ever said that wasn't "I love you, Vicky."
For all the times when she acted like....well, her, she was always there
for me when I needed it and even without me ever realizing it she made it
so much easier to be comfortable with myself whenever my infrequent doubts
and worries creeped in. Between her, Jason and Vicky I had the very best in
family, friends and love. I felt my eyes start to well up and it took every
ounce of self control I had to keep those tears from falling.

	I saw a slight softening of my mom's features and when she spoke
her voice had lost all of it's harshness. "Alright, if that's all you need
then I can do that. But I want you to know that you, both of you, can come
talk to me if you have any problems ok?" she smiled slightly. "I even
promise I won't overreact ok?"

	"Ok," I smiled back. "And thanks mom."

	"Thanks, Julia." Vicky said, his first words since my mom sat down
at the table.

	My mom smiled at him then frowned down at our lunches. "Are your
sandwiches cold? Do you want me to heat them up?" I felt mine and, like I
had predicted, it was ice cold. So was Vicky's. We both said yes and she
heated them up and gave them back to us. They tasted pretty good for
reheated grilled cheese and we gulped them down. My mom left us alone to
eat but we didn't talk. It wasn't an awkward silence or anything like that,
we were just both thinking about everything. We finished, put our plates in
the sink and went back to my room.

	"Your mom is scary." Vicky said once the door was closed. I let out
a short bark of laughter.

	"You think? I tried to tell you she wasn't all eggs and sweetness."
Vicky giggled. "But....I'm sorry about all that. I didn't think she'd do
that while you were here."

	He shrugged. "It's alright. You handled it well, I'm proud of you
sweetie." He gave me a hug and a quick peck on the cheek. I blushed.

	"Yeah, well, you know she's gonna tell your dad about all that
right?"

	"Yeah."

	"And you know he's gonna wanna talk to you about it again, right?"

	He nodded.

	"Well, I'm sorry about that too."

	"It's ok!" he said laughing. "He would have said something to me
about it anyway."

	"You think he'll take it well, you know, with everything
that....happened?" I finished lamely.

	"You mean will he freak out that I got outed once again and ship me
off to the dark corners of the world to spare me the constant torment of my
fellow schoolchildren?"

	I never considered that this might lead to Vicky moving again, I
just wanted to make sure his dad wouldn't do what I just barely stopped my
mom from doing, but now that the thought was in my head I had something new
to panic over. Joy. I was getting ready to build up to a pretty good freak
out myself when Vicky stopped it in it's tracks.

	"Nate, he won't." he said reassuringly. "We just moved and he just
started a pretty important job, there's no way I'm going anywhere." he
grinned. "Plus, I'll be incredibly smooth and reassure him I can handle it,
it'll be easy, he's nowhere near as scary as your mom."

	I laughed. I knew very well how smooth and charming he could be
when he wanted to. Of course, it may just work on me because I'm hopelessly
in love with him, I didn't think his dad had any such feeling. At least I
really hoped he didn't because that last sentence put a whole bunch of
incredibly unneeded thoughts into my head. I may be a raging perv but even
I have my limits.

	"So," I tried desperately to banish those so very disturbing
thoughts from my head. "I guess that means we've averted a crisis huh?"

	"Yeah, at least until school." he frowned. "Nate, do you really
think we'll be able to do this? I mean really?"

	He looked me right in the eyes as he asked this and I saw a bit of
doubt but I also knew he wanted a real answer, no matter how much I wanted
to grab him and be the reassuring, confident boyfriend I promised myself
I'd never lie to him and that included half truths and empty comforting.

	" I don't know. It'll be hard but I think we can probably
manage. Especially if we're together." I smiled at him. "It's easy to make
a single person feel like crap but it's a lot harder when there are two
people supporting each other. Plus we still have Jason and I guess the
annoying fangirls so it's not like we'll be completely friendless."

	"Heh, can't lose what you never had right?" He sounded bitter.

	Damn, this wasn't going as well as I hoped. I recognized his tone,
it was the same tone I used when I was determined to feel miserable. I
could offer all the positive encouragement in the world and no matter how
much I believed it it wouldn't do much good. At least not right away. I had
to do something that would snap him out of it. Grab him and kiss him? Unzip
him and give him a blowjob? Strip down and present myself to him? No, that
might make him feel better now but it wouldn't do anything to solve the
actual problem. I needed to do something that would make him feel better
about facing everybody at school on Monday and sex just couldn't solve
that. I thought about it for a bit and then felt a grin spread across my
face.

	"Hey Vicky, let's go on a date."

	"Huh?" He sounded confused but confused was better than sullen out
of hand rejection.

	"Let's go on a date." I repeated. "Let's go out and spend time
together like a normal couple."

	"You mean, like, in public?" he asked incredulously.

	"Yeah, in public, stupid." I smiled. "Come on, everyone we know
already knows we're a couple now right?" He nodded slowly. "So what's the
point in staying up in this room brooding about what's gonna happen on
Monday? We should go out and show everyone that we go out on dates just
like everyone else, that we don't care if we're seen together."

	"So, we what, just shove our relationship in everyone's face?"

	"No!" I interrupted before he could go any farther. "We just need
to show people that we aren't weird or different, that we can have fun and
be together just like they can without it being a big deal. If we act like
it doesn't matter then maybe it will stop mattering to some people." I
smiled and placed my hand on his cheek. "I'm not saying it'll solve all our
problems but it could be the difference between the entire school making
fun of us or just a few assholes." I grinned. "Besides it'll be fun. I've
always wanted to go on a real date."

	"You....wouldn't be scared?" he asked quietly.

	"Hell yes I would! I'd be terrified." That was the fucking
truth. The one thing I've always been the most afraid of was being 'outed'
and having everyone know I was gay. No matter how much I may have wanted it
the last thing I ever expected was to be able to be out in public with a
boy on an actual date and normally I never would have even considered
it. Hell, even with Vicky I'd hoped to keep all this a secret and I still
kinda did, though that was now impossible. I was petrified at the thought
of being out with Vicky in a group of people, knowing that every show of
affection was being watched and judged by everyone around us but I really
did feel that it was the best way to start getting people used to the idea
of two gay kids being just as normal as them. Still, even that may not have
been enough to get me to actually suggest it but since the idea popped into
my head I discovered that I really, really wanted to go out with Vicky. Now
I just had to convince him. "But what's the worst that could happen? People
start harassing us a few days early? My mom can drop us off and pick us up
right out front of wherever we go so there's no need for us to walk around
in any dark, deserted areas and risk getting jumped and if anyone tries to
start something in a public building security will kick their ass out in a
second. We'd be just as safe out as we would be at school, more so really
since most places that kids go to tend to have at least one cop around on
the weekends."

	"Well....where would we go?" I gave a little internal jump for
joy. He was coming around.

	"The movies are always a good place for first dates." I grinned.

	"But....it's Saturday night, it'll be filled with people from our
school and people from the high school too!" Damn, I was losing him.

	"Look, we'll have to deal with high school kids eventually, it's
not like we can stay in 8th grade forever, so we might as well start in on
them too. Hell, a lot of them will have younger brothers or sisters in our
grade anyway so it's a good bet that some of them probably already know." I
took his hands in mine and looked directly into his eyes. "We don't have to
do this if you really don't want to, but I do, I think it'd be fun and I'd
love to finally be able to show you off and make everyone insanely jealous
of me." I smiled. "Please? For me?"

	Ok, so maybe that was just a bit unfair, but I really wanted to do
this and I knew that if he just said yes and we went out he'd end up
enjoying himself. I could see his struggle with the decision play itself
out across his facial expressions and body language and before he even
opened his mouth to answer I knew what he'd say. My smile widened into a
full blown grin.

	"Ok." he said. "Let's do it."

-------------------------------------

Quick vacation update: I'll be home Tuedsay night so I should be able to
get back in a normal writing schedule on Wednesday or Thursday. Yaaaaaay!!
But I have no estimates on when the next chapter will be up. Booooooo!! It
all depends on my motivation. (not to subtle plea for praise, hehe)