Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2022 17:42:31 -0500 From: Fang Saito Subject: Cadence - Chapter 11 This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any real people or places is purely coincidental. This story is the property of the author and is protected under copyright laws. The author retains all rights. No reproduction is allowed without the author's consent. Conversations and feedback are appreciated to Greyson B. via email at hokkaidohotel86it@gmail.com. The emails I have received thus far are greatly appreciated. Wow, I found some rough typos in that last chapter. I apologize for not proofreading better. Also, I have some things about to be going on, so it might be a good week or two before I am able to get to chapter 12. But worry not, we are not done. If you enjoy this story, please support the Nifty archives today with a thoughtful donation by visiting https://donate.nifty.org/. This story will contain graphic depictions of sex between males of teen and adult ages (M/m, m/m). If this is an issue for you or the laws where you live, you are obviously in the wrong place. Also, this is a story with plot, not merely wank material. You have been warned. I have posted another story in the Gay / high school section, called A Ghost Finds a Body. Feel free to check it out. Cadence Part 11 Cade double checked that they were both presentable and opened the door. There was nobody waiting, but as they exited, a Soccer Mom walking out of the Ladies' Room gave them funny looks. Cade ducked past her, Simon following, and made his way back into the food court, around the cavernous space, and over to the exit doors at the other end. He checked that Simon was still following as he pushed his way outside. Once they were clear of the mall entrance, Cade stopped at one of the concrete pillars, leaned his back against it, and looked up to address Simon. "So, was it what you wanted?" "What the fuck, Cade?" said Simon. "You said last night that you weren't interested. I dropped it pretty damn well, I thought." Cade looked away, suddenly feeling uncomfortable maintaining eye contact. "You wouldn't stop staring at me last night. Then in there, you looked like you were getting annoyed that I was talking about some other guy from school." He looked back up at Simon, this time with an almost defiant expression. "I'm not going to date you, so I thought giving you what you wanted was the best way to let you down easy." Simon stood there, silent for a moment, then said, "I don't know what you thought you saw. If I made you feel bad last night, I'm sorry. I wish I hadn't said anything. I'm not deflecting when I say I'm really not gay. I'm not trying to date you. No offense." After a minute or so of silence, Cade finally spoke up. "Can we just forget about it then? Just go back to being D&D buddies?" "Yeah, D&D buddies is good," said Simon. "But, uh, can we go back inside? It's a little cold out here." "Oh yeah," said Cade with a laugh. Pushing himself away from the pillar, they made their way back inside and started heading over to meet Nathan. Just as the book store entrance came into view, Simon said, "But if you ever want to 'let me down easy' again, feel free to say so!" "Asshole," laughed Cade. Finding Nathan wasn't too difficult. He was either going to be in the fantasy, science fiction, or games sections. And there he was, in the roleplaying game section, looking through some secondary company sourcebook that Cade didn't recognize. "Get some shit worked out?" Nathan asked, replacing the book on the shelf as they walked up. "Yup," said Cade. Simon just giggled silently. "I'm not going to ask," said Nathan. "SO I figured out a club for you to join. Come see." Confused and curious, Cade followed Nathan as he started leading them to another part of the store. Simon tagged along, curious but with no real investment in the discussion. "So here is what you need," said Nathan. "You are going to start a club that focuses on team building, problem solving, time management, resource management, and conflict resolution. Oh, and creative writing." "Sounds complicated and boring. Except for that last bit. So what kind of club is this?" "826," said Nathan. "It's an organization in places like LA, Washington, New York, Chicago and such. They run after school programs for creative writing and stuff. But they are just your inspiration." He kept them walking through the store, curiously circling back toward the center section. "That's not telling me much about this 'problem solving club' that I'm supposed to form," said Cade. "What, are we going to be a bunch of detectives?" "Sometimes. And other times, you will be troublemakers. And sometimes a pain in one particular person's ass," said Nathan with a laugh. Finally he stopped and pointed... at the rack of Dungeons and Dragons books they had just left. "You are going to start a D&D club." Cade laughed. "You're nuts! D&D, at school?" "Exactly! You get to play D&D, and add it to your resume!" "Nobody's going to allow this!" squealed Cade. "Actually, it's getting pretty common," interjected Simon. "I don't know what 826 is, but I remember my cousin saying they had a D&D club in their school. He was mad because football got in the way of him getting to join." "I don't know, my guy," said Cade. "That's got to be a hard sell." "Well, there has to be resources online. We can take a week or so to dig some stuff up, put together a cheat sheet with some materials, and you can put it in Mr. Jordan's hands. Worst thing that happens is he shoots it down." "We'll see," said Cade. "Actually," said Simon, "why aren't we doing this at Carlisle?" Nathan laughed. "Because if we do it at or school, I'd end up having to run it!" The three friends changed the subject to other things as they browsed the different sections. Cade found this goofy little stuffed animal of a Mimic, an animated treasure chest where the lid turned into a mouth, complete with teeth and tongue. The best part was that it had a zipper to a little pocket to hold a set of dice, and a clip for attaching it to your backpack. He thought it was amazing, and commented that he might try to find a way to get it with some extra Christmas money. Once they left Books-a Million, they ran around and hit up the rest of the mall, checking out some clothing stores, Hot Topic, FYE, and of course, the weird import store that every mall seems to have, with all the little statues, fountains, and bamboo pots. They chatted about some of the movie posters outside the theater entrance, figuring out what looked good and what was going to obviously suck. They spent a good half an hour in Gamestop, with Simon pouring through Xbox titles, and Cade picking wistfully through the action figure selection. Nathan drifted back and forth between the two. Cade didn't realize that Nathan had seen him do the same thing in most of the stores they had been in. It wasn't so much that Cade wished he could buy a bunch of the figures, even though there were several he thought were really cool. Rather, Cade was being hit particularly hard with nostalgia. Action figures had been their thing. Cade and his mother. They had bonded over browsing store shelves, discount bins, even flea markets and thrift stores, finding the dumbest figures, and sometimes the coolest, and coming up with wild stories together about who they were, and what their relation might be with other figures. They ignored their actual origins, and made up their own backgrounds. It had started when they found some ancient, god-awful Batman figures in glaring neon outfits in an old dollar store somewhere. Cade had been six, maybe seven. They both agreed that none of them could really be Batman, so they started joking about who they might really be in disguise. It became their thing, their reason to bond while shopping. Every grocery store visit required them swinging by the toy section, no matter how small, just to make up stories about the knock-off figures they would find. It was their thing, and Cade missed it. Today for some reason, he missed it especially hard. He found himself holding some action figure from something he had never heard of. It might have been an anime, or it might have been a video game, he didn't know. It just became apparent to him that he couldn't make out what he was looking at. His eyes were going blurry. He tossed the package back on the shelf, trying to be careful but not really caring that he knocked some of the others over, and hurried away as he wiped the tears off his cheeks. God, why did he have to be such a loser, crying over some stupid memory. He made his way over to a side corner of the store, away from his friends, wiping his face with the sleeve of his hoodie and trying to get himself to calm down before anybody noticed. Cade managed to get himself back under control after a few minutes of staring at the section of old used games and accessories. Both of his friends were playfully arguing about some fighting game, apparently unaware of his disappearance, as Cade made his way back over. He noticed the cashier watching him as he straightened out the shelf of action figures he had knocked around before. Cade made it a point to not look weird, and went over to stand with his friends until they were done looking. Simon bought a couple of games, and they headed out. They swung by a couple of other stores and ended back at Spencer's. While Simon picked out the items he had debated on their first stop off, Nathan and Cade flipped through the black light posters in the back. They both laughed at all the white lint all over their apparently "clean" hoodies, then Nathan put his arm around Cade, pulling him into a side hug. "Are you okay? I know today hasn't really been your thing." "Yeah, I'm good. Sorry I made a big deal about not skating." Nathan squeezed his shoulder for a second. "I get it. I do. And it means a lot to me that you let us come hang out here. You're my bud. My bro. But Simon's my friend, too. I didn't want to leave him hanging and watching from the sideline." Cade nodded, shrugging his shoulders a bit, as much as he could snuggled against Nathan's side as he was. "I get it. We skate every week. A change of pace is fine." Nathan let go of Cade, and picked through a few random items just to be doing something with his hands. He seemed to be debating something. Cade didn't know what it was, or what to really say, so he kept slowly flipping the poster displays, one after another, not really looking at any of them. "And did you and Simon get... whatever it was, sorted out?" "Yeah" "So you are good? Seriously, if he's hassling you in some way, you need to tell me." "Seriously, yes. We are good. We talked, we got our 'heads' cleared," Cade inwardly congratulated himself on the hidden pun. "No more problem. It was just a misunderstanding, and I was being stupid." He hugged Nathan back. "Thanks, big brother." Nathan took what was said at face value, seemingly not noticing the reference to him having called Cade his brother than morning to Simon down in the basement. They saw that Simon was finished at the register and headed out. They left the mall, Simon carrying bags from both Spencer's and Gamestop, Nathan swinging his bag with a new D&D book and a pair of paperbacks he had purchased from Books-a-Million, and Cade content, even with no swag bag. They hopped in the car and headed home, after Nathan called ahead to let his mom know they would be home soon. Jordan and Brian joined them in the basement, and the five of them had fun goofing off, wrestling around, and playing video games until dinner was called. They had amazing grilled burgers with homemade baked beans and chips for dinner. Sometimes summer food in October is just called for. Just a reminder of what was just left behind around the corner. Finally it was time to head home. Nathan and Cade chatted a bit more about ideas on getting resources and framing counter-arguments on the D&D club idea. They had to fill Jordan in on the idea, which of course, he loved. He jokingly asked if Nathan would come run a game at his middle school, which of course caused their older friend to start moaning and whining about always having to run the game, and never getting to play. They got back home, saying their goodbyes to Nathan and heading in. While Jordan headed to his room to sort himself out and start on his homework, Cade went through to the kitchen. The refrigerator actually had a good bit of food in it. There was a good selection of cold and frozen goods, most of it heat-and-eat quick foods, but also a good variety of base ingredients for Cade to cook with. He checked, and the cabinets had been restocked with dry and canned goods as well. Good on Duncan, for once. And speaking of, there was a note from Duncan on the fridge, stating that he was going to be away taking care of some things until at least midweek. So suddenly things were looking up for Cade. He had groceries, he still had cash in his wallet from earlier, and he wouldn't need to deal with Duncan for several more days. Cade was feeling good as he got to his bedroom and unzipped his overnight bag to start pulling out his dirty laundry, and then stopped. Sitting in the top of his bag was the stuffed Mimic, the receipt pinned to the clip with a yellow smiley face button. He sat down on the bed and cried.