Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2022 20:24:22 +0200 From: Ryan White Subject: Feels Like Old Times Chapter 1 HOLA PEEPS!! As things stand, the only available day that I have to write, is always Sundays, and in the evenings when I'm done with work, no one is in the mood for writing LOL...more like a glass of wine and a delicious chicken alfredo! Sorry again for the long delay between stories, but hoping you guys understand xoxo Your continuous feedback is SO appreciated!! Seriously you just love seeing a bunch of emails when a story is submitted, saying how much y'all enjoyed it. It makes writing WORTH it so much more!! Please enjoy, and thanks for reading xx liciousryan@gmail.com Peace and love, Ryan FEELS LIKE OLD TIMES "I'm telling you, Bry, I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do this school holiday. Geez, just imagine me and my dad under the same fucking roof all the bloody time! Dunno why he had to take vacation at the same bloody time! URGH!" "Justin, chill out man! Not gonna be that bad, is it? Your dad might be a little...well, old fashioned, but..." "Old fashioned! Have you actually met him before? Seriously Bry...can't you tell your parents that you don't wanna go with them to New Zealand? I dunno what I'm gonna do without you here for the next fucking two weeks." Bryan Connolly smirked and looked at his boyfriend with all the love he had inside his heart for him, and it was rather a lot, if you realise that they had been best friends ever since they were six years of age, and it was a full ten years later by now. Both boys knew exactly what they meant to each other, as neither was exactly popular in school, and yet they weren't exactly one of the outcasts either. Somewhere is the middle, was always a good place to be, Justin always said. Justin Taylor sighed and stood up, quickly taking a look around to see if there was literally anyone that could be possibly watching both of them, because holy fuck, you just never knew...before he gently and subtley took his boyfriend's hand and gave it a slight squeeze. "WhatsApp you later?" he asked, winking at the boy he adored with everything inside him, and as always, his heart swelled to its utmost capacity as he felt Bryan return the same gesture. "You bet. But yeah, I get what you're saying. Fuck this fucked up town. Man, sometimes I think we're cursed or something. Why did we have to be born in fucking Orania of all places. Welcome to the homophobe capital of South Africa, should be our fucking motto." Justin smiled sadly, before his phone beeped. He took out his Samsung and checked his WhatsApp's...and sure as hell, it was his dad, in his own words, simply wondering when he would get home in time for Bible Study. Yeah...you read correctly...that was his life right now. "Gotta go, the General has spoken," he said before Bryan also stood up, for the world and for the homophobic and exclusively Caucasian town of Orania, they were the best of friends, and no one would ever have any reason to think anything else of both of them being seen together more than frequently... ...and that was just the problem, wasn't it? The fact that they could never be who they TRULY was in the full sense of the word...because Orania didn't allow anything other shapes or forms to live in their town than the sheer normality, or what they saw as being normal. If you were a teenage boy, you were expected to have a girlfriend. If you were a man, you were expected to work hard, diligently and to have a wife, along with the traditional 2.5 kids and the town house with the fucking white picket fence, regardless if that was what YOU wanted. "Two more years, buddy. Two more years..." Justin whispered before he saw Bryan looking straight at him. "I love you, Justin," he whispered, so softly that only Justin would ever be able to hear him. "I know, buddy. I feel the same, you know that, right?" Bryan nodded, and sadly sighed before he turned around and dejectedly as Justin had ever seen him, walked back towards his home. Another beep on his phone, another message from his dad. FUCK! Justin snorted and quickly typed a reply... "On my way, was chilling with Bryan." He placed his phone back into the pockets of his jeans, before he saw what he thought was something shooting across the early night sky. Weird...it was only like, past six a clock in the evening and usually in the middle of September, it didn't get even remotely dark this early. Walking home, he saw a flash of light streaking across the sky yet again, and he suddenly laughed as he thought of those mythical things, they had learned of in middle school...what was it called again...oh yeah! A shooting star...just imagine! Supposedly if you ever were lucky enough to see one, you could wish anything you want and it would come true. Fucking hell, Justin thought as he grinned sneakily, turning into the lefthand sidewalk and into his street in order to get to his house...first thing I'd fucking hope for is to finally have sex with Bry! It wasn't that both of them never wanted to...it's just in this god forsaken town, it was a little nerve wracking to try and have sex with your boyfriend, if you were a boy yourself. The things they were taught in history class at school, of the way Orania deals with people, and DEALT with people back in the day who didn't adhere to the town's rules and values...it was terrifying. They would literally chase your entire family out of this place...if you were even remotely suspected of not being a true Afrikaner, which just really meant, that you had to be white, and proud of it. Regardless of 26 full years after Apartheid had ended...Orania had their own rules and regulations. Each and every day, you had to hear sickening words...like you the fullest right to think other races were beneath you. Because you were white. An Afrikaner. You had to SHOW it. You had to be PROUD of your heritage. Being gay...just wasn't part of the deal, nor was it ever going to be. ** "Cutting it pretty darn fine, aren't you, boy?" Justin sighed. He wasn't even in the house yet properly. He removed his shoes and took a deep breath, before he ran into his father who was at that moment, sitting in the living room, watching what seemed like some or other cooking channel. He reached out for the remote and turned it off, before he shook his head, all the while looking straight at his son. "Justin, remind me, what time did I tell you to be home?" Justin rolled his eyes. "Dad, I'm not a little kid anymore..." "WHEN DID I TELL YOU TO BE HOME?" Justin sighed and rubbed his arms with his hands. Suddenly he felt more than a chill enter this supposed house of God. "Any time before six." "Hmm. Thought so. And what time is it now?" Justin gulped as he saw that it was nearly 18:30...geez how long did it take for him to actually get home? That serves him right for fucking day dreaming over seeing shooting stars that was probably just an airplane for even thunder over the horizon. "Dad, I get it okay? I totally do, and I apologise. Can I go to my room now before we have Bible studies tonight?" Leyton Taylor closed his eyes and shook his head one more time. "I don't know where the heck I went wrong with you. You have zero respect for me, or anyone else. The only person who seems important to you, is that Bryan kid you are always hanging out with. Perhaps I should pay him and his parents a visit, tell them what a bad influence he has been on you. Only reason I haven't done that, is because his father is our pastor. How would that look?" Justin's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at the sheer hearing of those words. "Dad! We've been friends for over ten years! YOU and his dad fucking play golf together, how the hell can you..." "ENOUGH! I will NOT have that demon language in my house! It's bad enough your mother couldn't stand living the Lord's way but I will be a BAD father if I don't fix what is wrong with YOU!" "Come on, Dad, Mom cheated on you and she was fucking banished from this fucked up town..." That hit a nerve. To say the very least. Leyton Taylor sat down on the couch, the utter silence between father and son could have been sliced with a butter knife...before he wiped his eyes tiredly and stared into what seemed like nothingness. "You're all I have left, Justin. You're my son. And we have rules here. I didn't make them, but there you are. We are God's children, you, me, all of us. So please, respect the values that I taught you, the same ones that was forced upon me, when I was your age. Come on Justin, I don't ask a lot." Seeing his dad as defenceless as he now was, really hit a cord with Justin, he didn't quite know how to feel about the tired and aged man sitting here before him right now...it just wasn't in Leighton Taylor's demeanour to act this way. His dad was only thirty-sex himself, so he was still young in Justin's eyes, and if Leighton wasn't his dad, then Justin might have even thought he was hot...he shook his head. No...not those thoughts again. FUCK. "I'll get ready for Bible Studies, Dad. Okay? I'm sorry I upset you. Oh wait, am I allowed to go to my room now?" Leighton nodded silently, still starting into the abyss, as Justin finally walked off. There were times that he really was stunned at his father...a strict disciplinarian for sure, but times like tonight, his dad just seemed to...fade out of existence, like nothing and no one could get through to him. It has happened since before his mom had cheated on his father, even. A message from Bryan lit up his phone's screen and he excitedly jumped on his bed, laying down on his stomach with a smile as big as the Kalahari Desert. "You home?" Justin's fingers flew over the keypad of his Samsung in sheer reply. "Yeah, got in trouble because I was late. All thanks to you." Three little dots flickering on the screen was a dead giveaway that Bryan was typing back. "Fuck off haha. I wanna kiss you so bad right now." Justin felt now his teenage sixteen-year-old cock was getting harder and harder as they continued to flirt, the "getting ready" for Bible Studies all but forgotten, at least for now. "You still think your dad is kinda hot?" Justin rolled his eyes...the one fucking time that he and Bryan had gotten drunk in their entire lives and he just HAD to divulge that bit of fucking information to his boyfriend, how he never allowed an opportunity pass by to tease Justin about it. "I'm gonna kill you, buddy hahaha" "Well, he isn't ugly, is he?" "Are you fucking crushing on my dad? Is this what this is?" "I'm totally fucking with you hahaha get your ass going or we'll be late for Bible study." "See you later, I love you." "Same!" ** Two days later, both Justin and Bryan were walking home from school, after a particularly hot day, something both boys loved with all their heart. Summer was by far their favourite time of the year, as both totally digged being outdoors as much as they can. And in the event of them going swimming, they could of course admire each other's boyish, muscle teenage bodies as much as they liked without anyone thinking anything suss about it. Bryan unlocked the door and left it open for Justin to enter first, wonderfully cooling as Bryan's dad worked from home, being the town pastor, and thus the air con had been on the whole day. "Dad? You here?" Bryan shouted before he frowned and shrugged his shoulders. "You go to my room so long, I'll get us something to snack," he said before he felt Justin's arms go around him, and he shuddered at the same time, when Justin's forehead gently came to rest on his shoulder. "Jus...dude, what are you doing..." Justin sighed, and gently kissed Bryan's neck as he held him even more tight than he had been doing before. He could actually feel the other boy's heart beating underneath both palms of his hands, something that he found incredibly erotic to say the very least. "I love you, Bry...I wanna be with you...like, really be with you...like all the other couples at school are doing...come on, you know what I mean..." Bryan sighed and his chest seemed to tighten and tense at the words of his boyfriend. "Jus...right here in this town? Really? You know we can't!" Bryan moaned softly as another soft, wet, warm kiss was placed directly into the crook of his neck, and he reached out slowly and grabbed both of Justin's hands with his very own. "I don't wanna stop you but please, buddy...if my dad sees this..." "Don't you go thinking about your dad when I'm holding you..." Justin snickered and affectionately rubbed his nose against the back of Bryan's neck, his entire body enveloped in goose pimples because of the sheer sensations of finally doing something intimate with the person he loved. In regards, Bryan was a fucking bunch of nerves, and a worrying feeling suddenly dawned over Justin... a feeling that he didn't like one little bit. "Dude...seriously now...there is no one here. Why can't I just hold you?" Bryan swallowed slowly and he gently wriggled free from Justin's grasp only to be red faced and blushing furiously as he urgently looked around the kitchen area for any sign of his dad. "Because, if you forgotten my father, is a fucking priest! What the hell do you think is gonna happen if they find out his son and his best friend are faggots?" Justin's heart sank...he couldn't actually believe that Bryan even said THAT word...they heard it so many times at school and elsewhere, and he always thought that Bryan had his back when it came to the anger of hearing it all the time... ...and here his boyfriend was...saying it, even remotely, no matter in what context, directly to him. Bryan's eyes flickered dangerously towards his father's office, where he was probably preparing his sermon for Sunday, and then back at Justin, who still was stunned belief what had just happened. "You fucking serious right now?" Justin whispered, his eyes never leaving that of his boyfriend. Bryan shook his head and sat down at one of the kitchen tables, complete with his hands lodged inside of both his hands. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." Justin didn't quite know what to do, or even how to do or say anything to Bryan right then, so all that he felt he COULD do, was to pick up his backpack and swing it over his shoulders. All he wanted to do now, was get the hell outta there, and away from Bry, even if it killed him doing so. "What? Why are you going? We still have that assignment we need to do..." Justin's voice croaked before he cleared his throat. "Bry, did you ever once imagine actually coming out to anyone? Your dad included?" Bryan pulled a sad face and blinked, before he turned away from Justin and he looked down at the table, complete with polished silver cutlery before him. Justin waited with baited breath for an answer, fucking any answer from the boy he had loved so very deeply for over ten years, but something inside his very being told him that if Bryan hadn't responded by now, he wasn't ever going to. At least not with something that Justin wanted to hear. "Bry..." "I love you, Jus. I really do. I just don't know how I'll ever be able to tell anyone. How long before we actually have jobs and we can get the hell outta here? How long before we're actually financially dependent to take care of ourselves? Do you realise that if we tell people what's actually going on between us, that we will NEVER be able to see our parents again? They'll reject us, forever! Is that what you want?" Bryan was visibly shaking now, as he stood up and grabbed a photo frame that was placed next to the dinner table, containing a photo of himself, his father and mother, and his little kid sister. "You see this? You want me to just give this up right now? And throw this all away? Because if hadn't realised it, we live in the fucking wrong town to be who we really are! It's so easy to say, lets fucking tell anyone that we're gay because our lives will be REALLY SWELL then, won't it?" Whatever Justin was expecting...it definitely wasn't THIS. At all. He really thought that although this were difficult and although they lived where they did, that what they HAD BETWEEN them would actually be enough to overcome adversity. Any adversity. And maybe...just maybe he was naive enough to believe that someday both their sets of parents might be a little understanding of who and what their children were. Justin didn't feel the need to say anything in return, there was absolutely not need to. If he had ever wondered before now whether him and Bry could ever have made this thing work, he just got his fucking answer good and proper. He turned around and quietly started to walk out of the house, and what was more...Bryan made no attempt...not even a single damn peep out of his beautiful, angelic voice, to stop him. It was when he was half way home, that he felt the bile push up into his throat and he hoped to God that Mrs Van den Horst didn't see him hurling his guts out on her oh-so-precious roses that she always won one of the other boring fucking prizes for. For Justin, they looked better when in fact, being covered in his sick, he so didn't care what was happening right now. Bry didn't break things off with him, but he just as well might have done. If he wasn't ever, EVER prepared to stand up to his parents and the Orania community, what sort of chance did they have anyway? Wiping away a few nasty tears that was suddenly, out of nowhere, gliding over his swollen, red cheeks, he angrily sniffed and once more cursed himself for being this pathetic. There were loads of blokes out there...and not that he was a dude magnet or anything, but he sure as hell knew that he wasn't ugly either. Two more years...two more years until he was eighteen and then he would kick this town from underneath his fucking shoes. He never wanted to see anything that lived here, even his own father, ever again. ** There it was again! He could swear it! Nah...probably just mere lightening again like the other day. They hadn't had rain in a while, so it could be. Yeah, he wouldn't be as lucky as to really see a shooting star, making a wish and having it come true. That fucking shit only happened in movies and fairy tales, not in real life. Justin turned away from the window the moment he heard his father come home from work, and he quickly dashed towards the living room and switched the TV channel over to some of other religion crap that he always knew Leighton loved watching, and couldn't get enough of. God forbid that his father had to see him watching Heartstopper of all things... "Son? You home?" "Living room, Dad!" Leighton sighed as he entered the room, taking off his jacket in the process, leaving him only with a polo neck that he had been wearing, as well as some blue jeans that showed off his chiselled and defined muscular body. For the age of thirty-six, Leighton would be considered somewhat of a catch, to be honest so much so, that Justin had to literally pray away the ladies that always seemed to be so holier than thou at church, always preaching quotes out of the Bible, but then again, they through themselves silly and provokable at his dad for no apparent reason...fucking hypocrites, the whole lot of them! At the joke that Bryan always made of Justin have said that one time that his dad was sexy, Justin opened his mind and suddenly really had a good, honest look at his dad. Leighton didn't have a single grey hair on him, not yet, anyway, and he always believed that since your body is a reflection of the Lord Almighty, that you should take proper care of that, and that of course explained all the hours he spent in their home gym, as well as always preaching at Justin himself not to over eat, lie about and play Nintendo Switch all day. Talking of which, Justin grinned and placed his cell phone securely in the pocket of his jeans, before he froze... With all and sundry thoughts he had over his own bloody father being sexually attractive, he never even once thought that his father had pressed the ALT button on the TV remote. That simply meant that the previous channel anyone had watched, would appear on said TV...and he had been watching Heartstopper right before his dad came in...FUCK! How could he forget that? Leighton had done the exact same thing loads of times! This was all fucking Bryan's fault...geez louise...he only hoped and prayed now that his father wouldn't realise just what Heartstopper was all about...he'd literally kill him... Too late. And if there was indeed a God up there somewhere he must have had a cheeky sense of humour, because it JUST so happened...at that FUCKING MOMENT, to show the scene the where two lead characters, Nick and Charlie, bless their souls, end up kissing in that magical scene inside that beautiful forest area... Justin swallowed. Slowly, very slowly. His father was quiet...deathly quiet. Suddenly the TV was switched off, as only the silence between father and son was remaining hanging in the utter most awkwardness humanly imaginable. "Justin...Justin, why would you watch things like that?" Leighton's voice trembled as he whispered those words, so softy, and sounding to utterly destroyed that Justin could barely hear him. More silence followed...Justin had no answer for his father...well he did, but he doubted very much whether Leighton actually wanted to hear it. "I SAID, WHY ARE YOU WATCHING THIS DRIVEL?" The speed to which his father jumped out of the couch and moved towards him, terrified Justin...his father had never, ever lifted a hand to him, but fucking hell, today might just be the first for many things in this house. Justin was quicker and jumped away from Leighton as quick as he could, before watched his father sink too his knees, a far fucking cry from a man wanting to hurt his son. He ran his fingers through his hair, before desperately looked at back again at Justin. "You're not...please...you're my son...you're MY SON! Tell me, you're not...don't say it...?" Justin didn't know what to do...he was scared as fuck to even open his mouth! But then...he suddenly realised...with his dad kneeling so pathetic on the floor, desperate as hell not have his son say that he was in fact gay...he realised that for once...he needed to step up and be a man. He had gotten angry earlier because Bryan had refused to come out to his own parents...sure his dad was the town pastor, but still...he if wanted Bryan to make such a huge decision, then he sure as hell could also! Justin's lips quivered...before he nodded slowly...refusing to look at his father. Leighton bowed his head down, before he stood up, once more running his fingers through his by now, dishevelled hair, before he turned and faced his son. "Fine...fine...I guess...I guess we'll have you attend some more Bible classes; this is just the devil tempting you and taunting you with his vile horrible nature, I'm sure Bryan's dad can pray for your soul or something...this can't happen...this can't be...no! My boy...you fight against this! You have got to let the devil out of you!" Justin smirked and suddenly, a rush of warmth BLASTED through his veins. He blinked and swallowed, and once more, he could have sworn, out of the corner of his eye, outside in the dark, dark night sky of Orania, he saw a flickering of sparkling white flash dashing through the stars and beyond...shooting star or not, he was gonna get a few god damn things of his chest. "No, Dad. I've stayed quiet for so long, I can hardly think straight any more, let alone be straight. Dad, I'm still me. I'm still Justin, your son! I just...I just happen to be attracted to boys, instead of..." "NO! NO! I don't wanna hear it! I can't go through this, not again! Tomorrow, I'll call the pastor and make an emergency appointment in order to cast the devil out of you...no, this can't happen, I refused to do this a second time..." "DAD! LISTEN TO ME!" The sheer urgency and emotion coming out of Justin's teenage voice finally made Leighton keep quiet and take notice of what his son was trying to so desperately make him believe. Justin's sixteen-year-old fists were clenched tight as could be, the veins inside the crook of his neck were bulging with the intense feelings that was now flooding through him like warm lava straight from Krakatoa. His stomach and chest were heaving like it never had before. Tears were dripping from his eyes, but only this time, he didn't see the need to actually wipe them away. "You know what, Dad? I wish...I really wish that I could like, I dunno, travel back in time or something to when you were my age. Just to see how you would have coped if YOU had the same feelings as I do! To actually be in MY shoes for just a god damn day! To live in a town where you are hated just became you aren't white! Because you are different! Because you notice a hot guy, instead of a hot girl! IM STILL ME!" Leighton wiped his eyes, and he casted his eye over towards a photo frame that stood on the side table, next to the TV unit. He slowly walked over towards it and picked it up. Justin swallowed...that photo frame contained the photo that was taken of him a week after he was born, and it had been placed inside this very room ever since he could remember. Leighton shook his head, his chest heaving just as much as his son's before...he dropped said photo frame...and it smashed into a million sheer little pieces across the squeaky-clean linoleum floor. A needle falling could be heard, the silence was THAT deafening. "You are no son of mine..." Leighton said, not even remotely looking at Justin, before he turned around, walked backwards into the corridor into his own bedroom, and slammed the door well and truly, shut. Justin gasped for air, his throat suddenly dry and hoarse. He forced some life and blood into his lifeless legs as he sprinted upwards towards the bathroom, as fast as he could, just to get some water in his system, because he sure as hell felt as if the earth as suddenly spinning beneath, as well as around him. As he reached the bathroom, he grabbed a glass and opened the tap, only to have nothing come out. As he looked upwards into the mirror cabinet above the tap, he could see his cold, hard reflection, eyes swollen and red from crying, his sweaty hair was all over the place, his shirt was near drenched in sweat from the intensity of arguing with his father... and oh god...coming out to him... ...but why the place was spinning around him so uncontrollably, he didn't quite understand. He grabbed only the basin in order to keep himself upwards, but it was to no use. The last thing that he saw was his eyes roll backwards in their sockets as the vision around him turned pitch black, at last. ** "What the fuck..." Justin groaned as he finally opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times. He naturally lifted up his teenage body but sunk back down almost immediately with another groan, as the pain lodged inside his head refused to do what he wanted. He couldn't remember ever, EVER having a headache as severe as this...once more, he pressed down with both palms of his hands, onto the cold hard tiled floor, before he squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation of his head being crushed with whatever migraine this was, God knows he only ever had a sip of fucking alcohol in his life, before carefully and gingerly managed to hold himself upright, using the basin as his shield. He blinked a fair few times before he finally realised where he was and what had happened...the last thing he could remember inside his fogged up brain, was that he was trying to get a glass of water from the upstairs bathroom, before feeling like shit and...nothing else. "Must have fucking fainted...Jesus...but why though?" he asked himself in a hushed voice, before realising that it must be way past his bedtime. Sixteen years of age and still Leighton had his son to go sleep at a time which HE thought to be good and proper. Another thought shook him to the very core...Oh God...it wasn't a nightmare, was it? He really came out...CAME OUT to his dad? And Leighton really DID say those despicable words to him...you are no son of mine... No wonder he didn't come and even look for him. He could have lied here all night, hit his head or whatever...wow. Justin sighed. He knew his father would be mad as hell if he ever came out, but never in a million years did he EVER think that...you know...he always thought Leighton would eventually love and accept him for who he was! Fat chance of that happening now, I guess. Justin felt a pressure in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his phone and pressed the unlock button on the right-hand side. NO SERVICE "Fucking Eskom and their fucking loadshedding again...knew this would fuck up my phone eventually..." he muttered before locking it again, and placing it back where he found it. He turned around and opened the bathroom door, and walked out whilst trying to supress a yawn with his hand held Infront of his mouth. And in the process of doing just that he never, ever saw the boy coming from the opposite direction of the upstairs corridor... "FUCK!" "WHO ARE YOU?" Both phrases were shouted at the exact same time as the two boys collapsed from the clash where they had literally walked into each other. Both boys grunted and groaned their displeasure, Justin even more so, having had a splitting headache even before this, and he angrily looked up at the stranger that seemingly came from nowhere to be right here before him... "GET OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE! I've had the night from hell, so if you wanna steal anything, just fucking take it and go! I'm fucking serious! DAD! There's something in the house! DAD!" The other boy...strangely enough dressed in what seemed like...yeah, that's what it was...pyjamas, simply continued to rub his head from the solid collision, while he tried to register just what Justin was saying. "Dude! DUDE! Your house? This ain't your house! This is my...whatever, look, if anyone has to go, it's you! Where the...how the hell did you get in here, I had locked everything!" It was like the strange boy suddenly just...just realised that he was standing inside what he was claiming was HIS house...and only how realising that there was an intruder before him. He quietly, slowly, without making move moment, walked backwards, still facing Justin, before he in a quick moment, turned around and sped down the stairs. "Hey, what gives? COME BACK HERE, YOU THIEF!" Justin screamed on top of his voice...surely his dad would hear him shouting and come and help him...was he THAT angry and disgusted at his own son that he wouldn't help him against an intruder? He ran down the stairs himself, before turning into the corridor and burst into the kitchen area, where the boy was still standing, but only this time, with a knife inside his hand. "I told you to get out! I don't wanna use this thing...but I will! I'm done with being bullied!" Justin frowned...this kid clearly has issues and a fucking lot of them. He took a closer look at said kid for the first time since they clashed heads upstairs...black gelled hair...not done in a way that would have been seen as modern, but still okay, he guessed...wow...oh wow...as Justin's eyes slowly but surely met those of the intruder and softened against his will... ...this was the most beautiful...stunning...he was running out of words...how SEXY was this guy? Jesus Christ! But for the love of God WHY would you break into someone's home wearing pyjamas? Justin took a step back, clearly convinced that whoever this was, that he would absolutely use that knife, if he had to. He had a weird look in his eyes...and suddenly Justin somehow relaxed...if he was indeed someone breaking in, he was doing a fucking terrible job...poor guy looked as he was about to piss his pants at any moment! "Dude...I don't wanna hurt you either, I'm not that kinda guy, okay? My name is Justin, and I'm sixteen. I live here, and you clearly don't so why don't you do both of us a massive, MASSIVE favour and leave? Please? Like I said, I don't wanna hurt you, but, I mean, you broke in here..." The knife was lowered just a tad... "What? Are you for real? I didn't break in anywhere, this is MY HOUSE, not yours, pal!" Justin blinked, and then he blinked again. SERIOUSLY...not only a kid that breaks in, but he was now dealing with a total nut case as well? And where the hell was his dad? Surely, he was hearing all of this! The last time he saw him, he went to his room and slammed the door shit so fucking hard, the hinges must be screwed... Justin froze, and then turned around, and walked as quickly as he could towards his father's room. As he got there, he figured the situation didn't render a knock and he walked in...the door wasn't even closed...what the fuck? As he looked around in what he had known all his sixteen years on this earth, what was his father's bedroom, was now...well...the entirety of the room itself was different. The layout, the furniture, the bed...the fucking carpets... Feeling drunk in his head again, Justin sunk his body forward, with his hands resting on his knees, for a few seconds, before he closed his eyes and opened them again REALLY fast...still the exact same, weird image before him. This was his father's room alright, he knew that much, but...it also WASN'T. Certainly not like he remembered it. "Can you get out? Please, we don't even have anything valuable to steal...please just go..." he heard the boy's voice behind him once more. Justin turned around, total and utter confusion smeared across his entire face, before he noticed the boy didn't have the knife with him anymore. "What is going on...WHAT THE..." Justin shouted as he saw his own room, out of the corner of his eye...and he ran towards it like lightening itself was chasing him, with the strange boy in hot pursuit. Like a corpse frozen in time, he stood in the edge of actually entering...this was a boy's room alright, he saw that clear as day...but this was not HIS room! What the hell was going on!? "What do you want here now? I don't have any money either!" Justin spun around so fast; he swore he would have whiplash for decades. "This is YOUR room? Fuck off! Dad? DAD!" Justin didn't know if he was coming or going at that point, he run circles through his home, trying to figure out what was happening, and in every nook and cranny, of the home he knew since he was born...it was the same, the same design, the same corridors etc...but nearly EVERYTHING was different. Back in the living room, or what he had known as the fucking living room, he sat down on a couch...totally out of breath, and once more his chest heaving like a mad man's...his breathing was shallow and he covered his eyes with both his hands...hoping to God that this had to be a very, VERY nasty dream. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and immediately scrunched back like a frightened hamster, before he saw the mysterious boy, and he was holding a glass of water towards him. At least he hoped it was water and not poison. "I didn't put anything in there, only sugar. Just drink it. My dad always says that helps for nerves and things like that." Funnily enough, his own father also lived by that remedy...but that wasn't important now. Justin didn't even care anymore, he sloshed the sugary wetness back like his life depended on it, and after a few seconds of solid breathing, he felt that it actually helped...beyond all belief. The boy gave him a slight smile and sat himself down on the couch opposite Justin, before he lit up his eyes. "See? You're still alive. Look, you don't look like any mugger I've ever seen, and with all the police and security here in Orania, we don't have many of them either. Something tells me you're not one. So...who are you?" Justin opened his mouth to actually defend himself and to remind the sexy little bugger sitting across of him that this was HIS house and if anyone was actually breaking in here, it was him...but then he saw the copy of YOU Magazine on the table. One of the best known and best-selling mags in all of South Africa. On the front of the cover, was Michael Jackson. Even at sixteen years of age, and still a toddler when he died in 2009, he still knew who and what he was. So, what was he doing... No This...just CANNOT be happening... The date... 16th July 2002 No Nah uh This was not normal... "Dude, you okay?" Justin looked up at the boy, and then down at the magazine... "What...what is the date today? And the...and the year?" "What does that have to do with..."' "FUCKING ANSWER ME!" Justin spat out, standing up and looking all around the home and the ceiling for possible cameras that had been installed for some of other new TV show that took people for absolute idiots... "Can you chillax? It's 14 July 2002. There, you happy?" Justin sank down...once more he closed his eyes and opened them REALLY fast, like he did before and of course absolutely nothing had changed. "This isn't...this isn't happening..." he whispered, before once more, just like back in the bathroom that HE remembered, darkness overtook his tired teenage body. ** "Hey dude! Dude! You gonna sleep all day, man?" Justin wiggled his eyes and slowly opened them. As shapes and forms took clear focus inside his eyes, he sat upwards, his arms clinging to feel normality beneath them. He blinked a few times before his gaze once more landed on... "Not you again, fucking hell! Why can't I fucking wake up from his god damn nightmare?" The boy frowned and come forward, and before he knew what hit him, Justin felt the back of the boy's hand on his forehead. "You're warm as anything. Dude, you are I can't take you to the hospital or somewhere? My dad did say I can use the car for emergencies." "How fucking old are you, twelve?" Justin murmured, wanting to be as mean as possible to this kid who was irritating the living shit out of him just by merely being in the same room as him. He stood up and realised that he was still in the living room downstairs. "I slept here? On the couch? Last thing I can remember is..." "Uhm, yeah, you passed out. My parents taught me manners, I wasn't gonna have you sleeping on the floor. I carried you to the couch, no big deal. They're away for the weekend, they won't even know." "You actually carried me? With those arms?" Justin smirked and pointed towards the skinny, white danglers hanging at the boy's side, who flipped him the middle finger before he nodded. "Yeah, and I'm so regretting it now. You want some coffee? I can make some eggs and toast if you like." Justin's mouth was actually watering, he didn't happen to eat anything before he and his dad had that fight last night...before he actually remembered what he endured the night before...his eyes flickered over that same magazine...and it was still there. "It's still the year 2002, is it?" he asked the boy, clenching his right hand into a first as if for good luck. "Still 2002, dude!" the boy yelled from inside the kitchen. "Fucking hell. Man...this stuff happens in movies and in books...how the fuck did it happen to me? And how the hell...shit, how the fuck do I get back to my own time?" Justin whispered to himself, shit scared that the boy might actually hear any of the convo he just had with himself and really had him admitted for being mental. As he walked towards the window of the house, he had lived in all his life, he peeped outside. Nothing much out of the ordinary, except for a few cars that he knew for a fact wasn't relevant anymore in 2022, a couple of kids with weird hairstyles, but all in all, it still looked normal...whatever normal was. MY PHONE! Jesus! Justin quicky ran upwards towards the bathroom, where he locked the door, before he took out his cell phone. It still had 88% of battery remaining, thank God, but it literally had no service. Of course, it wouldn't, because somehow, he had ended up 20 years in the fucking past! Justin leaned against the basin, and looked straight in the mirror. Okay...think...what would have caused this? What could have happened to make this happen? Clearly it wasn't going away, no matter how hard he tried, so he obviously had to DO something to SAY something to get back to 2022. At least, fucking hell, that's how it always was in the movies and in time travel shows he watched on the sly when Leighton wasn't home. Only this wasn't a movie or a series on Netflix. This was actually HAPPENING. Suddenly his eyes narrowed...there was a moment in the fight with his dad, that he said...jeez...what was it...? Justin closed his eyes and forced his tired brain to remember the exact words...he told his dad... YES! He told his dad that he wished he could have gone back in time to show him how difficult it was being gay when HE was Justin's age! And that he wanted to make him understand what he was going through! He was sure that was what he said! And somehow...somehow, insane as it sounded...his wish was granted. His wish was...? Fuck. FUCK! Suddenly it was like images and thoughts were streaming back to him, as if from being hidden behind a dark black curtain for fuck knows how long...those weird white bolts in the sky...he saw one flicker before his eyes in the reflection of the window JUST before he said THOSE WORDS! He didn't fucking mean it! He didn't really wanna travel back to the time where Leighton was his age! What the fuck happens now? "I have to get outta here. Quick, before someone catches on...I have to find dad...where ever he is..." Justin whispered, shaking his head and taking a few deep breaths before he unlocked the bathroom and walked back downstairs. The smell of eggs, bacon and freshly made coffee had his stomach and nostrils raging, as he slowly walked to the kitchen, terrified suddenly of saying or doing something that would force his identity. The boy was wearing a green t-shirt this morning, complete with grey shorts as well as his hair was without gel, floppy and clean as a whistle. He smiled as he saw Justin hovering in the corridor outside the kitchen and he signalled for him to come inside. "It's not much, but it's something. Help yourself." "Thanks, I guess. Listen...dude..." Before Justin could finish his sentence, there was a knock on the back door, which, in Justin's world, walked out on the patio and swimming pool, but here in 2002, it didn't seem as if there was anything but grass, grass and more grass back there. The boy frowned, wiped his mouth and opened the door. "Justin! You okay, what happened? Dude...you're white as a sheet!" Justin had a piece of toast halfway to his mouth, when he looked up at the sound of his name, only to see another boy, one he had never seen before...well, obviously, standing shivering outside, even though it already felt like it was going to be a warm ass day. Was he called Justin as well? Coincidence much? Nah...twenty years apart. Probably didn't mean shit. The boy, although not as much as a looker as his house counterpart, was blond and beautiful, but he looked nervous and scared, especially when he saw Justin sitting at the kitchen table, with all the food surrounding him. "Who the fuck is that? This early, Lee? You cheating on me or what?" he suddenly whispered, but loud enough so that Justin could hear him. "DUDE! What...why don't you just post a letter to everyone saying that? Keep your voice down! I'll talk to you later, okay? I'll come and see you later, when I'm done with my chores and...stuff." "I wasn't thinking, Lee, I'm sorry, but WHO is that..." "LATER! Trust me!" The blond boy suddenly looked as if he had been thrown with multiple rocks over and over, before he nodded slowly and turned around, and Lee, he now knew the boy's name was, closed the door. "Sorry about that, man. Uhm...I guess you heard all of that...? Justin nodded, but he smiled wryly, before he reached over and patted Lee on the shoulder. "Guess I can tell you here and now...haha...weird...anyway, I'm gay too. And it feels FUCKING GOOD TO SAY!" Lee stared at Justin with an open mouth, before a smile eventually pulled at the corners of his mouth, and he snickered quietly. "Yeah okay, we don't want the whole world to know. Eat your food and then...well...I still don't know what you were doing here to begin with...?" Justin drank some coffee, before placed his cup down. This is gonna have to be good...where to fucking start? ** THANKS FOR READING!! First chapter, setting the scene, so now I wanna know if you wanna read more? Who is Lee? And where does he fit in? Will Justin ever get back to his own time? Lemme know xx liciousryan@gmail.com