Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2019 00:39:34 +0000 From: AP Webb Subject: D'n'M Part1 chapter 17 This story has been a long time in the making. Part1 consists of 19 chapters, not all of which contain any sexual material. Its main characters are teenage boys. The author has not been a teenage boy for a long time and apologises if the dialogue is not always convincing. All the characters and events in the story are fictitious. Any resemblance to real people, either living or dead, is entirely unintentional. The story is copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any way without the express permission of the author who can be contacted at pjalexander1753@gmail.com D'n'M Part 1 From Chapter 16: D had a long history of digging Milo out of the holes he'd dug for himself due to various mishaps, crimes and misdemeanours, keeping him out of trouble or embarrassment in the process. There was Milo's ninth birthday sleepover when he drank so much cola he peed his pants. D didn't just not tell anyone, he took Milo's wet clothes home to get them washed and dried and back, before Milo's mum -- a very sharp-eyed and even sharper-tongued lady at the best of times -- had time to notice they were gone. Or the time they were playing one-on-one soccer and Milo shot the ball straight through the glass of the kitchen window. D owned up as the culprit and took the punishment -- grounding for a week and no video gaming -- without a word of reproach to Milo. So, yes, D had always been there for Milo and had never got close to letting him down. But this? Being gay? This was different, wasn't it? In another league altogether. ********** Chapter 17. Or was it? Very faintly, as if he was hearing a tiny voice coming from somewhere far away, Milo became aware of the sensible half of his mind telling him that this was his friend, his best friend who had never let him down. Surely, the voice said with increasing volume and conviction, admitting to this terrible secret wouldn't be as catastrophically bad as he so feared. After all, this was D, his `twin'. Milo took a deep breath and lifted his face. Slowly he let out the air and took another. Dan looked at him, waiting patiently but with an unreadable expression. On the third breath Milo began to speak. "You know when the guys get together and start talking about girls and stuff?" Dan nodded. "And they get all excited about what they'd like to do with Bethany Harris and Jasmine Bonnetti?" Another nod from Dan. "And people get louder and louder." "Sure, it's what guys do. I've heard Tom and his friends talking like that and my dad says it's all part of growing up. As long as you keep it clean and respectful, he says. Not that they always do." He laughed. "Ok. But have you ever wondered why I hardly ever say anything? Why I usually find a reason to be somewhere else when those conversations start up?" Dan hadn't wondered, hadn't given it any thought at all in fact. He was always too caught up in the boy-talk M was describing and the effect it was increasingly having on his thirteen-year old body. So it came as quite a surprise to realise that M was right about not joining in and generally leaving the group before the talk got really interesting. Before he could respond to M's question, his friend continued in an increasingly quiet and hesitant voice, almost like he was fighting to get the words out. "Well, the truth is ..." "Yes?" "The reason I do that ..." "Is?" "Is because I don't like girls." This last was said so quietly that Dan could barely hear it. "Well yeah. Girls can be pretty weird, and who knows what they're thinking most of the time? But mostly they're ok. Some of them are more than ok. Beth Harris -- wow!" A grin spread across Dan's face, in his head a picture of him and Beth Harris doing all the things that many of the older guys said they had often done with her. Milo was beginning to get desperate. He could see from the faraway look on D's face that his mind had travelled off to some other place. Somewhere inhabited just by himself and Bethany Harris. He had to make D understand before he completely lost his nerve. "I like BOYS!" And in a much quieter voice, "I like dick." There was a pause. A long pause. In a split second Dan's face went from somewhere far off in another universe right back to the here and now, right back to the park right back to the bench he was sharing with his oldest, closest friend. Milo forgot to breathe. "You mean my dream of you and me double dating Beth and Jasmine is never gonna happen? That it'll be me and Beth with you and some hunky backstroker? Jeez. I didn't see that coming." Milo wasn't sure he was hearing right. Was D really not shouting abuse at him and telling him he would never speak to him again? Could it be that his world wasn't about to collapse in on itself? He held his breath and waited for whatever D might say next. "Well, that'll definitely be different, but it doesn't sound too bad. Just as long as he's not better looking than me. That wouldn't be fair on your best bud." "You mean you don't hate me now you know my secret? Don't want to rat out the queer boy to all the other guys? Still want to be friends with me?" Milo couldn't quite believe that he had reason to hope for good answers to all of these questions. Dan looked shocked and it sounded in his voice. "Hate you? How could I hate you? You and me are besties. Even if you were a mad axe murderer I couldn't hate you. Although I'd probably hide the key to the tool shed," he joked, desperate to lighten the dramatic mood. With all his worst fears suddenly lifting away like early morning fog, Milo responded to Dan's totally unexpected words in a completely natural and instinctive way -- he threw his arms around D's neck and sobbed with relief. He didn't notice that they were in the middle of a public park with dozens of other people within easy seeing distance, and even if he had he wouldn't have cared. He was full from top to bottom with total joy. "You really mean it? What I just said wasn't the worst thing ever?" "Listen," replied Dan, with his thoughts and emotions just about back to normal. "The worst thing has been the last few weeks when I was sure I'd lost my best friend because of some stupid thing I'd done to piss him off." "And you won't tell anyone?" This was said with a desperate tremor in Milo's voice. "I really, really don't want anyone else to know, especially my mum. Not until I've had time to sort things out in my head." "Not my business to tell," Dan assured him. "As far as I'm concerned we just go on like before. You keep my secrets and I'll keep yours. But you've gotta promise me something." Milo was suddenly on edge again. What sort of trade off could D be about to demand? Perhaps everything wasn't as `happily-ever-after' as they had seemed just a few seconds before. "What?" "That you'll never keep anything this important secret from me again. Deal?" A fresh wave of relief pulsed through Milo, making him tingle with a mixture of unbelievable happiness and complete disbelief. D was still his friend and the secret of his gayness wasn't going to be broadcast around the neighbourhood. "Deal. And that goes for you too. When you do finally get `FRIENDLY' with Beth Harris, I've gotta be the first to know. But, please, without all the nasty details!" Dan laughed and nodded his acceptance of Milo's terms. And that was the end of what, forever afterwards, was known as the Big Scary Conversation, or BSC for short. With a shared smile and a comradely fist bump the two boys picked up their boards and set off, out of the park, towards their respective homes. When Milo arrived at his house the toxic atmosphere hit him like a fist. His dad was nowhere to be seen and his mother was banging around in the kitchen, muttering under her breath about a wasted weekend. "Where have you been all this time? With Dan I suppose. Well, you weren't here to eat dinner with the rest of us and you know what that means." Milo did. It meant that there would be no dinner for him that evening. At least, not at his own home. He didn't bother to respond to his mother but simply turned around and made his way to Dan's house. ********** To keep this amazing resource open and freely available to readers everywhere, please consider donating to; http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html