Date: Sun, 29 May 2011 10:28:32 -0400
From: Chris Johns <chris-johns@hotmail.com>
Subject: Compassion Part 5

				COMPASSION
				 Chapter 5

Tom was the first one to get a shock the next morning when Jack picked him
up for school, closely followed by Brad.

"What gives then bro. Has Darren moved in with you then?"

Jack laughed.

 "Darren's parents have had to go out of town for a week or so and wouldn't
leave him alone so Mum and Dad have taken him in for the time they're
away."

"Ok, figures, but Jack, until Rowdy accused him of being a faggot I don't
think I had ever seen you talk to him, but in less than two months he looks
as though he is your new best friend."

Jack was torn. These two guys were the first boys he ever played with. All
three lived on fairly isolated ranches and the parents had brought them
together to play from the time they could walk. He had jacked off with
them, discussed girls and done all the usual things that best friends
did. Could he tell them the truth? Or could he tell them a half truth to
show them they were still his best friends?

"No, you two will always be my best friends, I hope. Darren and I have a
different relationship. We get on really well and both of us need top
grades in science to meet our needs for college. I know you two are going
to learn to run your Dad's ranches after you finish high school. I'm going
to become a vet so that I can take loads of money off you both."

That seemed to work as all the boys dissolved in laughter.

"What about Darren then?"

Tom said, looking at the new boy in their lives.

"Oh, I might become a doctor so that I can look after the two legged
animals on your ranches."

Jack nearly ran off the road he was laughing so hard. The half lie had
worked, for now anyway. And now there were four. Jack and Darren had to be
careful if they looked at each other to make sure their eyes didn't give
them away, but otherwise Darren loved having these two new macho friends
who would also look out for him.

Rowdy saw the new relationship and that didn't please him. The snide
comments about faggots continued and eventually included reference to Jack
being so close to a little faggot that maybe he was one as well. Jack
didn't care, he loved Darren so much that the whole world could have been
like Rowdy and he wouldn't have worried. Another Phys. Ed. lesson and Rowdy
made one of his endless comments, now getting boring because there was
nothing new or original.

"Aren't you getting fed up with that guy's comments Jack."

Tom had said that deliberately within hearing of Rowdy.

"Why should it worry me Tom? Apart from Rowdy, Neanderthals died out over a
million years ago, and it was well known that they fucked each other and
animals, so I expect Rowdy's comments are to cover up the fact that he
probably fucks dogs."

That was it, in a blinding rage, Rowdy threw himself at Jack, who even with
his reaction time was unable to avoid the first onslaught. He smashed Jack
to the ground before grabbing his hair and pounding his head on the solid
floor of the locker room. It took all Tom and Brad's strength to pull him
off, by which time Jack was unconscious.

Police and ambulance called. Jack was rushed to hospital and Rowdy was
taken into custody. Chaos reigned in the locker room as Rowdy's few friends
squared up to Tom and Brad and their friends.

"That little cocksucker is the cause of this, I think it's time we sorted
him. He needs a good fucking to establish his credentials for the next two
years as our pussy boy."

"Touch one fucking hair of his head you prick and I'll take you apart. No
Jack for now makes me Darren's protector, so back off Wayne."

Any doubts anyone had that Darren was off limits for bullies was erased
with that comment. No one in the school would tangle with Tom. He was only
a little bigger than Jack but he was monumentally strong.  Wayne needed
someone else to pick on to re-establish his credo. The two new boys who had
escaped most of the bullying up to now came into his sight.

"Well I guess these two will do until Rowdy comes back to fuck the other
little faggot."

Brad stepped up alongside Mark and Andrew, the two little ones.

"I think you are asking for a good kicking Wayne. I'm going on
record. These two are under my protection the same as they were under
Jack. You all better get the message. Darren, Mark and Andrew are not your
pussy boys, nor are they here for your pleasure. Leave them alone or there
are going to be some very unhappy parents tending their wounded sons."

"That goes double for me."

That was Tom, so end of problem.

Tom called John and Sheila to tell them and to get permission to drive
Jack's Jeep. Then three worried friends were hot foot to the hospital. The
doctors wouldn't tell the boys anything until the parents arrived. Jack was
in surgery and that was all they knew. By the time John and Sheila arrived
Darren was coming apart at the seams. The final blow was when he heard the
surgeon tell John that Jack had a fracture of the skull. He just
disintegrated, sobbing his heart out in Sheila's arms.

"I love him so much, please God let him get well."

Tom and Brad heard and looked aghast at each other.

"I don't want to believe what I'm thinking Tom."

"Nor do I, but I think you had better prepare for it to be true."

"Ok, supposing it is, and supposing Jack recovers completely, how do we
handle it?"

"I guess there is only one question you have to answer Brad. Do you want
Jack's friendship? If the answer is `yes', your best friend is a faggot,
and so is mine."

Brad thought about it, but not for long.

"I guess we pray that our best friend gets better, and in the meantime I
guess we give his boyfriend as much support as we can."

Tom nodded.

"I'm really pleased. I feel the same way, I wouldn't want to lose either of
my best friends."

Together the boys joined Jack's parents and took charge of Darren, holding
him between them and stroking his back.

"He's going to be alright Darren, we'll all pray for him. I guess you are
going to be the lucky one that gets to nurse him and sooth his furrowed
brow as he gets better."

Darren wiped the tears away with the back of his hand and looked up at the
two guys flanking him.

"I promise I'll take care of him."

"We know you will, we love him as well don't we Brad?"

Brad nodded and realised he really did. Tom and Jack had been in his life
since he could walk and talk, losing either of them would be a terrible
blow, like losing a brother.

Surgery did what they could. The depression in the back of the skull had
been eased, but until Jack regained consciousness they wouldn't know how
much, if any, brain damage had been done. For two days Darren hardly left
Jack's side, for the same two days John and Sheila spent every hour they
could with him, but the feeling was that Darren would remain with him until
he recovered or died. He went to the toilet, he went for a meal when the
medics forced him out of the room. Other than that he sat and held Jack's
hand and talked to him. Tom and Brad dropped in after school each day but
everyone realised that Jack was encased in a cocoon of Darren's love and
all they could do was hope and pray. On the third day Jack regained
consciousness but was really groggy and barely knew where he was or who was
with him. He responded to Darren's touch, but barely. School was out for
the half term, Darren's parents came home and were informed that Darren was
at the hospital by Jack's bed and nothing would move him. Jack improved
slowly, but still no one was sure of his mental state.

Not quite two weeks and Jack carried out a mental test for the
doctors. Reaction tests and mobility tests were added until the lead
consultant was able to tell John and Sheila, with Darren present.

"He is going to need to convalesce for some time but I think we can safely
assume your son will make a full recovery."

Another flood of tears from Darren were proof positive, if John and Sheila
had needed it that this boy was going to be a long term fixture in their
lives.

Jack was discharged from hospital and taken home. Darren fussed round him
like a mother hen almost excluding Sheila. That first night, both parents
did something they hadn't done for years. They looked in on their son
before going to bed. What they saw brought tears to Sheila's eyes and made
John bite his lower lip to hide the emotion the sight brought. Both boys
were patently naked beneath a light sheet that stopped at their
waists. Jack's head was still swathed in bandages but he had Darren spooned
into him and was cuddling him. The look on Darren's face was of a little
boy who had just seen all his Christmas's come at once. Pure happiness
couldn't even come close to describing the look.

"I think we have just become super numery Honey."

"That's as maybe John, but that boy has to go to school in the morning. We
can't justify him losing time to look after Jack, and his parents won't be
happy either."

Jack knew his wife was right, but he didn't fancy levering Darren away from
his son. The fight was pretty one sided. John physically put Darren into
the Jeep and drove him to school.

"You will need to be on top of your studies if you are going to be any good
to Jack. Mooning over him at home is doing no good at all. His mother and I
can do that, but we can't help him with his studies."

Darren knew it made sense. He studied hard, went home to see his parents
and explained that until Jack was 100% again he would live out at the
ranch.

"I love him so much, I thought I would die when I heard he had a fractured
skull. I have to be with him Mum and Dad. I need him, probably more than he
needs me. Please try to understand."

They did, they had no template to measure the degree of love their son had
for this ranch boy, but they both realised it was incredibly intense.

"I'll run you out to the ranch Son. I need to talk to John."

Darren barely took the time to say goodbye to his father before rushing
into the house to be with his lover. John came out to see Paul Michaels.

"John, good to see you again. How is Jack?"

"Improving in leaps and bounds. I think your son might have something to do
with that."

"I'm glad, but you send him packing if he becomes a nuisance."

"Paul, I know nothing about gay love but what I see here dumbfounds
me. Those boys would die for one another. They feed each other with the
strength of their love. Sheila and I can't even come close to comprehending
it."

Paul didn't either.

"I don't know whether what they have is the normal or something
extraordinary, but they have my 100% support."

"I'm pleased because I think your son has decamped semi permanently to my
son's bedroom."

Both men laughed.

"I think we can live with that for now. When Jack is fit I suppose we will
have to work some system so that we both get a share of our offspring."

John thought the same and nodded his agreement.

"I think we should get Darren his drivers permit, Paul. Jack will not be
allowed to drive for a year after this in case of some kind of brain
trauma. Darren will be driving to school from here or it's back to the
school bus."

"I'll sort it. We hadn't bothered because we couldn't afford another car at
this time."

"Paul, Darren looks like becoming a second son to us, please allow us to
spoil him a little. This ranch makes us more money than we'll ever need and
our sons are the most important people in the world to us now."

Paul wasn't slow to pick up on the `our sons' bit.

"Just don't go overboard John, Darren isn't used to great wealth."

"We won't, and I promise we'll never use our money to undermine your
position as Darren's parents."

"Good enough for me. I'm pleased Jack is on the mend. Tell him we look
forward to seeing him in our home again soon."

"Goodbye Paul, drive carefully."

"Goodbye John, I will."

Darren had been able to hear the conversation from Jack's bedroom, as had
Jack.

"I guess we have pretty cool Dad's, Lover."

Darren nodded, and the tears sprung to his eyes.

"I do love you enough to die for you."

With that comment Darren fell onto Jack's bed and snuggled into his arms as
he cried out his love.

Jack couldn't get well quick enough, he wanted to be back at school and
making love to this little cutie tucked into his arms.

*******************************************************************************
Get used to the loving, it continues in part 6