Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 22:37:12 -0600 From: Rhaven Subject: Love of Grace Chapter One This story contains strong language and sexual content between boy/boy and man/boy. http://www.rhavensreply.com/home/rhavensreply.com Love of Grace By RHAVEN2002 CHAPTER 1 It was a typical boy's room. Horror movie posters covered the walls; action figures cluttered the bookcase, frozen in mid-attack, posing with unflinching glory. Large lumps of clothes filled a corner of the room, which also substituted for the cat's empire. In addition, comic books circled the bed like a protective wall. The television flickered scenes of some old black and white horror movie. The glow lit the room, casting dancing shadows across the walls. The boy in the bed pulled his pillow closer to him, hugging it as he had once hugged his stuffed toys. He stared daringly at the TV as the swamp creature emerged from the water. He gasped as the thing lumbered towards the unsuspecting teens. This was Kat. This was Kat's room and his life. Kat was a boy with a sunshine disposition and a summer's smile. He had a perfection that was stuff of dreams and the affection of artists. Golden blonde hair caressed his face sweetly and curled softly at the back of his neck. His bangs constantly were being brushed away from his eyes and tucked neatly behind his ears, with a quick flick of his hand. Kat was so involved with the movie that he jumped when his best friend slipped into the room. The boy was dressed just as Kat was, in red silk boxers; they usually dressed the same. Twins without being twins. Demi was the same age as Kat, born only one month before him. Demi though was a foot taller than Kat, which made him, look older. His chocolate brown skin and broad shoulders making him appear even thinner than he really was. "Did I miss anything?" Demi asked rushing to the bed. Kat looked at the cans of coke in Demi's hands and frowned. "I thought you were going to the bathroom." Kat took the coke Demi handed him, but was still frowning. "I did, but I thought we needed something to keep us awake." Demi scooted close to Kat and popped his coke open. Demi and Kat had been close since they first met in Kindergarten. They had the same disposition and the same love for horror movies. They were best friends. Demi joined Kat in hugging the pillow, as they watched the swamp creature rip into a soldier. They gave each other a wide-eyed look and giggled. "I told you this movie was scary." Demi said putting his now empty coke can on the end table. "I've seen scarier." Kat said trying to sound brave. "Yeah, whatever." Demi said smirking. "I don't think so. 'The Creature That Killed' rocks, total gore and great special effects. You're so full of it Kat, you can't fool me I know you're scared." "Oh really." Kat put down his coke and pouted out his lips. "Yeah, really. I think you're scared shitless!" Demi mocked, puffing out his bare chest. Kat tried not to smile, but he was unable to control the muscles of his face. "You want me to kick your ass?" Kat said in his best angry wrestler's voice, still trying to look mad, but failed. "You and what army?" Demi dared. Kat giggled and dived at Demi, trying to pin his arms. However, Demi threw Kat off easily and pinned him. Demi sat on Kat's legs. Holding his arms down, Demi leaned down, giving Kat a quick wicked look, put his lips on Kat's stomach, and blew. Kat squirmed and laughed at the tickling kiss. "Stop! I surrender! I surrender!" Kat said through his uncontrollable laughter. The door flew open and both boys screeched with shock. "You're going to wake mom!" Calvin said in a loud whisper. "Why are you guys still awake?" Calvin was Kat's older brother, though since their father had left 3 years ago, he had taken on the responsibility of playing 'dad'. Kat loved his brother, but sometimes his 'dad' role got annoying. "Sorry." The boys said in unison and separated to opposite sides of the bed. Calvin looked cautiously down the hallway to his mother's room and quietly shut the door. He glanced over to the TV and scowled. "I can't believe you guys are watching this." Calvin flipped off the television. "Good God, that's stuff is gross." Calvin shuttered as he said this. The boys gave each of a wink. They knew that Calvin hated horror movies and got sick anytime he saw one. Calvin walked over to the bed and sat on the edge grabbing Kat's ankle. "It's time for you guys to go to bed." He said pulling Kat towards him. "Would you stay with us if we watched something else?" Demi asked lovingly. Kat rolled his eyes and his big brother continued to pull him closer. He knew that Demi had a crush on Calvin, which confused him. Sure Calvin was all right for a brother, but he was old, 18 years old to be exact. Calvin pulled Kat up and lifted him as if he was a little baby. "Thanks Demi, but it's late and I have to get some sleep." Kat liked it when Calvin mothered him. He looked deep into his brother's eyes. They looked so much alike it was eerie. Kat could see his future in Calvin's appearance and that made him happy. Calvin gently laid Kat back on the bed and tucked the pillow under his head. "Now I don't want to hear another sound from you guys, okay?" Calvin looked at the two boys sternly and then smiled. "Sleep tight." He said kissing Kat. "What about me!" Demi said abruptly, looking abandoned. Calvin snickered and walked around the bed to the dark skinned boy. He leaned down and gave Demi a long kiss. Kat was shocked on exactly how long they kissed, but didn't say anything. "Sleep tight." Calvin finally said and running his hand nervously through his long blonde hair. "Good night." Both boys said as Calvin left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. "Man he kisses nice." Demi said more to himself than to Kat. "Good night Demi." Kat said giving his friend a quick kiss and rolled over to his side. "Good night." Demi sighed, apparently still thinking about Calvin. The boys would have eagerly said that they weren't sleepy. It was the competitive side of them, who ever fell asleep first, was the loser. However, this night there was no contest, the boys slipped into slumber, dreaming the night away. Kat awoke as rays of light painted his room with the morning warmth. He lifted his head lazily, it was the only part of his body he could move. Demi was laying across him, his legs tightly wrapped around him. Kat giggled as he realized that Demi's hand was down his boxers and clinching his buttock. This wasn't that odd, normally they awoke twisted together like this. With great skill, Kat slid out of bed, and stretched out the sleep in his body. He lumbered to the bathroom, it always took him a while to fully wake up, which was one of the reasons he hated mornings. He could just lie in bed all day long. That was his idea of fun, but Demi would awaken and be in a rush to do something. Demi was always full of energy, from the second his eyes popped open to that moment before sleep. Kat knew that if it wasn't for Demi, he would have no life at all. Sometimes he wondered if that was a good thing or not. "Morning, Calvin." Kat yawned as he walked into the bathroom. Calvin pulled back the shower curtain and smiled. "Good morning to you too, where's Demi?" "Still sleeping." "Not anymore." Demi said as he stumbled into the bathroom. "What time is it?" "Almost 9 am." Calvin said stepping out of the shower. "Demi could you hand me a towel?" "Sure!" Demi grinned and scooped up a towel for the other boy. "Here you go." Kat watched as his brother took his time in drying himself off. It was all too apparent that he was enjoying Demi's attention. Kat pushed passed his brother and pulled off his boxers. "My turn for the shower." He stepped in as inhaled hard and the hot water sprayed over his body. He half listened to his brother chatting with Demi. Kat was feeling depressed, he wasn't sure if it was the attention Calvin was giving to Demi or Demi's attraction to Calvin. He loved them both, but didn' t want to share either. Kat felt like a third wheel, they didn't need him around. They didn't even notice him taking a shower, not joining in on their conversation. "Move over." Demi said stepping into the shower. "Where's Calvin?" Kat said hoarsely. "He's gone to his room. Man, is he hot! Wow, I think I'm in love." Demi grabbed the soap and lathered up his chest. "I think. I think he likes me too. What do you think Kat?" Demi looked over to the quiet boy and frowned. "What's wrong?" Kat shrugged his shoulders and stepped out of the shower. "Nothing's wrong." Kat grabbed a towel and walked out of the bathroom. He didn't listen as Demi called to him. If Calvin and Demi wanted to hang out together, he wasn't going to stand in their way. Demi entered Kat's room, he was dripping wet and naked. "What's your deal? Why you acting so strange?" Kat lay on his bed; he pulled off his towel and handed it to his friend. "Come on Kat, talk to me." Demi took the towel and started drying himself off. "What happened, man?" "Nothing happened, Demi. I. I just don't feel well." Kat lied. "My stomach hurts." "Oh, I'm sorry." Demi sat at the edge of the bed and started to rub Kat's stomach. "Can I get you something?" "Geeze, aren't you guys ready yet?" Calvin walked into the room, hands on his hips and shaking his head. "Ready for what?" Kat asked sitting up. "Calvin wants to take us with him to the mall." Demi said still rubbing Kat' s stomach. "Kat's got a tummy ache." Kat almost laughed, Demi made it sound like he was a baby. Maybe that was how he saw him. It made him even angrier and in fact, his stomach was starting to hurt. They really didn't want him to go along, they didn't want the 'baby' messing up their good time together. "You guys go ahead. I'll stay here." Kat said, he had hoped that they would argue with him, but Demi only smiled. "Mom's already gone to work Kat. You sure you'll be all right here by yourself?" Calvin moved next to Demi, putting his hands on the boy's bare shoulders. "I'll be fine, damn it!" Kat screamed. "I don't want to go to the stupid mall anyway!" Demi jumped up, almost falling into Calvin's arms. "Okay, we get the hint." Calvin said roughly. "Come on Demi; let's leave his 'Majesty' alone!" "Damn Kat." Demi said scooping up his clothes from the floor. Kat watched as his brother and best friend left the room. He stayed in bed until he was certain, they had left. He heard the front door slam and soon after Calvin's car zoomed away. Kat crawled out of bed, his stomach did hurt, his lie had become truth. "You are an idiot." He said to himself. Kat walked over this his window and looked out at the beautiful morning outside. "Why can't it be raining?" Nothing seemed right to him. He knew he had overreacted towards Calvin and Demi. It wasn't that big of a deal. Demi had been in love with Calvin for years. So why was it just now bugging him? Kat found his favorite pair of shorts and shirt on top of the pile of clothes and pulled them on. The shorts were Calvin's hand-me-downs, too loose, too baggy, and too worn, but felt great against his bare skin. The shirt was his 'bumming' shirt and his mother's worse nightmare. He would wear this simple blue t-shirt everyday during the summer if it wasn't for his mom's griping. He made his way into the kitchen, where he rummaged through the refrigerator and then the cabinets. He had thought about finding something to eat, but nothing looked good. The house was too quiet it made him feel uneasy and restless. He roamed through the house, from room to room. It all felt wrong, as if he was an intruder. He didn't belong here, he didn't belong anywhere. Kat headed outside, feeling suffocated by his depression. The sun felt nice on his skin, its gentle warm kiss, eased his nerves slightly. He sat down on his porch and watched as the 'normal' people carried on with their lives. He hated feeling this way; normally Demi would be there to help him. Now Demi was with Calvin and they didn't care if he was feeling bad. It had always been hard for Kat to make friends, if it wasn't for Demi, no one at school would even bother to talk to Kat. Demi was the 'outgoing' one, the popular one. Kat was just there, feeding off Demi's glory. Kat sat on the porch for a long time; he now knew that he was indeed hungry and getting thirsty. Nevertheless, he didn't want to go back into the house alone. Kat knew that once he entered, all the memories and feelings would return and he couldn't stand to feel that way again. "Damn it." Kat looked up to see his neighbor, a Mr. Grace trying to carry several bags of groceries. Mr. Grace had lived across the street for over a year now and Kat had only spoken to him once. He was a nice looking man, but it was a rarity to see him out of the house. Calvin had said that Mr. Grace was a recluse, but Kat didn't know exactly what that meant. All he knew was Mr. Grace had sad eyes. "Damn it." The man said again as he dropped a paper bag to the ground. Groceries exploded across the driveway and immediately began to roll into the street. Kat jumped up and ran over to his neighbor. "I got them!" Kat said as he grabbed up several cans of food. "Oh.um thanks!" Mr. Grace grinned awkwardly. "Stupid paper bags." Kat helped Mr. Grace collected the rest of the runaway produce, filling the remaining bags until they were about to burst. Kat picked up three bags and huffed heavily at their weight. "You got those?" Mr. Grace asked as he lifted up four bags himself. "I got them, no problem." Kat grinned, but he knew that he couldn't carry the bags too far. He followed the man into the house; it was the first he had been in Mr. Grace's house. Kat tried to act nonchalant as he gawked at all the wonderful things inside the house. There were beautiful landscape paintings on every wall; each one seemed so real that Kat swore he could see the trees sway from imaginary wind. It wasn't just the paintings that made the house unique. In the living room, there was a huge flat screen TV, probably the coolest television Kat had ever seen. Besides that, there was the wall of movies. Kat was able to spy some of the titles and it seemed that Mr. Grace had the same passion as Kat for horror flicks. "You can put them down here." Mr. Grace said placing his bags down on the kitchen table. "You got a great house." Kat said after he had unloaded his hands of the groceries. "You have some really cool stuff here." "Um. thanks. I really appreciate your help with the groceries." Mr. Grace seemed to force his smile. Kat could tell that the man was uncomfortable; perhaps that's what recluse meant. Mr. Grace had been alone for so long, he didn't know how to act in front of people. Kat pulled out a chair from the table and sat down. It was felt nice to be with someone who felt like he did. "You sure bought a lot of groceries." Kat said looking at the seven stuffed paper bags. "I like to buy for a full month, it makes it easier." The man managed a real smile. "Can I get you something to drink? I have Sprite, milk or I can make tea if you want." "A Sprite would be nice." Kat smiled back. "I can't stand going to the grocery store, it's normally a madhouse." Mr. Grace handed Kat a Sprite and sat down at the table with him. There was a moment of awkward silence. Kat drank the rest of his Sprite and considered leaving. However, he really didn't want to go home. Kat almost was afraid to return to his house. What if Calvin and Demi were there, having a great time, how could he survive that? "Are you hungry? I was thinking of fixing lunch, once I put up all these groceries." "It's okay, Mr. Grace. I don't want to be a bother." Mr. Grace stood up and cleared his throat; Kat thought that Mr. Grace was almost blushing. "It's no problem .eer Kat, right?" Kat smiled and nodded. It was nice that the man had remembered his name it made him feel special. "Really I would like to have you for lunch. I don't get a lot of visitors and . well, I do owe you for saving my canned peas." Kat laughed, it felt good to laugh again. "All right, I'll stay." Kat did his best in helping put up the groceries. Most of the time he stood still, looking confused and eventually handed the food to Mr. Grace. After all was packed away, Kat leaned against the corner as Mr. Grace prepared lunch. "I hope you like turkey sandwiches." Mr. Grace asked. "I should have asked before I started making lunch." He laughed nervously, giving Kat an apologetic smile. "It's cool, Mr. Grace. I love turkey." "You can call me. Andel. Only old women and lawyers call me Mr. Grace." "Cool." Kat almost giggled, he could call this 'man' by his first name. It made him feel so mature. They sat down at the table and ate, Andel wasn't much of a talker, but neither was Kat. However, they found things to discuss. Like their passion for horror movies or even older brothers. Andel had experiences in dealing with an older brother. After they finished the sandwiches, which Kat thought were fantastic, Andel invited Kat into the living room. "I've been collecting movies forever. I don't know why I love them so much." Andel stood by the bookcase that was full of DVD's and videos, he looked them over, smiling at titles that held some kind of magic to him. "I think movies are special because we can live them, but not be us." Kat thought about what he had just said and almost laughed. "I don't think that made any sense, did it." Andel finished slipping in a DVD and sat down next to Kat. "It made perfect sense to me. It's nice to pretend to be someone else. Being 'me' all the time is very boring." The large TV screen faded to black, eerie haunting music began, at first it was barely above a whisper but gradually the music blasted from the four speakers around the room. The movie title ghostly-appeared 'The Haunted Coffin'. It was an old 1940's horror movie; Kat loved these kinds of movies. Bad special effects, with bad make-up, and fake creatures but all pure fun. Kat would have normally been glued to the TV, but he couldn't take his eyes off the man sitting next to him. He had dark hair that was almost black and seemed to capture light within its flowing strands. Andel had a gentle face, young but with an aged sadness around his eyes. His eyes appeared brown, but with another glance seemed green, like looking into a dark mysterious forest. Kat liked how this man looked; he liked the small scar by Andel's left eye, he liked the gold earring in the man's left ear. He liked the heave of his chest as he breathed. It all made Kat feel comfortable being here. "I'm mad at my brother and friend." Kat said aloud, not sure what had made him say that. Andel turned away from the television and crossed his arms, preparing himself to listen. "Did they do something to make you angry?" Kat looked down at his hands and fumbled with a small hole in his shirt. "Demi. Demi's my best friend. has been goo-goo for my brother for years." Kat paused to see Andel's reaction. Even Kat knew that he didn't live a 'normal' life. His mother was a lesbian, his brother was bisexual, Demi was gay and he was. he hadn't decided what he was, he hated labels. He was just plain and simple. Kat. Andel's reaction didn't alter, so Kat continued. "Well. now my brother Calvin has been kind of hitting on Demi and they've gone to the mall and left me here all alone. I mean he was my best friend, not Calvin's; he didn't have the right to get in the way. And Demi was acting like I was some kind of baby or something. I hate them both." Kat inhaled deeply after finishing. His face was red and burning and he felt dizzy. Andel placed a hand on Kat's knee. "You feel abandoned. I can understand that, Kat. I don't think your brother and friend did this intentionally." Kat sniffed back a tear; it was nice to have someone to tell his problems too. Demi was great as a friend, but sometimes it was difficult to talk to him. "Don't hate them Kat, I'm sure everything will work out." Kat tried to smile, he put his hand on top of Andel's, he was surprised when the man pulled his hand away. Kat watched the rest of the movie without actually seeing it. He had to remind himself that Andel was a recluse like Calvin had said. He wasn't use to interacting with people. Kat couldn't imagine how lonely Andel must feel. He was feeling guilty now for dumping all his problems on this man. It didn' t seem right for Andel to be alone, he was too nice a man. The movie ended and Andel got up to turn off the DVD player, Kat smiled deep in his thoughts not even noticing. "Didn't you like the movie?" Andel asked. "I guess you have too much on your mind, huh?" "Do what? Oh, no the movie was great." Kat said quickly once he realized that Andel was talking. "Sure it was." Laughed Andel. "It's no problem; I know you have a lot on your mind." "Yeah I guess I do." Kat stood and headed for the door. "Thanks for lunch Andel. and the movie. I had fun." "Anytime Kat, I enjoyed your company. Consider my door opened to you anytime." "Really?" Kat stopped at the door. "I can come over anytime?" Andel thought about that and then smiled. "Anytime." Kat waved to Andel as he left. It had turned out to be a good day. Despite his brother and Demi, Kat had made a new friend. Kat was half way across the street when I stopped. Calvin's car was back in the driveway. They were home. Although Kat had had a good day with Andel, he wasn't sure he was ready to face them yet.