Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 17:55:23 EDT
From: BugarTheWizard@aol.com
Subject: Hero in Love chapter 9

Blackness surrounded the blue shrouded figure as it wove its way through
the darkness of space. After that dream, sleep had escaped the young boy,
and so now he set out to find the source of his nightmares.  What was that
horrible thing in the sky? He thought as he flew. Space would have been
pretty, as light from distant stars twinkled out beyond the wall of
blackness, but he was too intent on finding something to verify his
dreams. Outside of the atmosphere, which magnified the glare of the sun, he
could see starlight.  And, wow!  Space was sure big... Kyle thought, after
an hour of flying rather fast.  He noticed that it was easier to travel in
space as there was no wind resistance.

So what was up with that stupid dream?  What was out here that was so big
and huge? And that dream voice; it wasn't his. Kyle was 99.99999 percent
sure his subconscious wasn't aware of some outer space menace.

But, after flying outward for a very long time, Kyle realized that his
energy wasn't as strong as it was on Earth. That's weird, he thought. I
wonder if it's got something to do with the Earth.

Kyle slowed his speed but continued outward; trying to feel how far out he
could go. Yep.  It definitely was getting weaker. Soon he reached a point
where he could barely maintain his aura. Fuck. Kyle turned back and
increased his speed as his power access grew.

I guess I learned something today, Kyle thought to himself as he flew
faster; realizing he had spent too much time out here.  Kyle looked at his
watch, and realized he needed to get some sleep or his brain would feel
weird.

Jason walked into school from his Mom's car, wondering what the teachers
would say. This was probably the first Monday he'd ever actually, somewhat,
wanted to go to school.

All around, Jason could hear people talking about the super boy on the TV,
and wondering all sorts of things about him. Who was he?  Did he have a
girl friend?  What was his favorite band?  And the girls were just drooling
over him.  In fact, he thought he saw a girl with some sort of print out of
the boy, his bare chest visible from her locker.

Jason wished he could put up pictures like that; but he didn't want to
completely kill his social life at school. Jason brushed his hair out of
his eyes and then straightened his shirt, which was open, as he walked into
class.

He moved down the row, and was somewhat worried when he saw that Kyle had
bags under his eyes.

"Bad night?" he asked, startling the young boy next to him.

"Yeah; couldn't sleep," Kyle replied, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh. I'm sorry" Jason said, patting his friend lightly on the
shoulder. Kyle had a hard time sleeping the first night before school from
worry.

"It's okay," Kyle replied, just as the bell rang.  Today was going to be
interesting.  Kyle couldn't' wait to hear the social studies teacher
express her views on this super hero.

And he was right. After calling role, she began. "Now class; we all know I
like to go over current events and, well, we have had several incidents
concerning the boy cloaked in blue.

"He's dreamy," one girl sighed, and Jason had to agree with her.

"He's a freakin' skinny twig boy." Jason looked to see a rather stocky boy
speaking. Must be a jock.

"Just cuz he could beat you to a pulp, you don't like him," another girl
said, which caused a round of laughter from the class.

"That brings me to my first point. I hate to sound like a certain movie
with a spider as a theme. But I want to talk about power today," she began.

"Power. Men and women have always fought for it.  But this...  boy,
literally has it.  Flight, speed, everything." Jason hadn't thought about
it that way before.

"Power in the wrong hands can be deadly. You remember anything about the
holocaust?" She continued.


Kyle was disturbed by what the teacher had said.  She had basically
insinuated that he might lose his mind, or let his power go to his head and
take over the world or something. Like he'd ever do that.  But it was
interesting to hear her view of power and how it could affect things if he
sided with any particular government or group.

His mind sure was tired from thinking. He really should have just gone to
bed instead of flying out into space.  It had been very beautiful though.
He should do it more often; just not instead of sleeping.

"Hey... you ok?" Jason asked him.

"Yeah; why?" Kyle replied.

"Cuz I've been talking to you for, like a minute now.  The bell rang
already," he explained.  Oh crap.

"Sorry; just had stuff on my mind," Kyle replied as he finally noticed the
empty class room.

"It must be a lot of stuff," Jason said, getting his bag and standing
up. Kyle followed his friend and they left the class room, weaving down the
hallway.

WHAM!!  Kyle ran into something.  The only thing that registered was that
it was soft as he hit the floor and stared up at the ceiling.

"WATCH WHERE YOUR!!..." a high pitched voice exclaimed.  Kyle felt some
satisfaction as he saw Jason ignore the familiar voice and bend over him.

"Are you okay Kyle?" he asked, helping Kyle stand up.

"Yeah," Kyle replied, feeling smug when he saw Michelle looking disheveled
as her friend helped her up.

"Look, I gotta run; I'm going to be late," Jason said, and Kyle didn't
blame him. At least he stayed around long enough to help Kyle up.

"You should watch where you're going, Kyle," one of Michelle's friends
said.

"Right..." Kyle drawled as he moved past.


"Jason!!"  Oh great. Why was that stupid Michelle bothering him? She caught
up to him as he continued down the hallway.

"What?" he asked, wondering what she wanted.

"I really think you'd look better, and cuter too, with short hair."

 "I like my hair," Jason said defensively.  Why was she still going on
about that?

"Yes; but I think it would look great short... and you could spike it," she
said, running a hand up his arm.  Why was she doing that?  If she liked
him, he didn't know what he'd do.  He couldn't deal with girls. They were
weird. And not attractive.

"You could come over some time and my friends and I could give you a make
over," she suggested.  WHY did she think he wanted one?  What in the hell
was her problem?

"No; I don't want a makeover. And I can't afford new clothes," Jason
said. Oh, he was going to have to shoot himself if he had to put up with
this every day in his science class. Jason sighed as he sat down in the
empty seat he'd picked the Friday before.  At least it was away from those
girls.

*****************************************************************************

 Kyle sat down for lunch; feeling a little better, but still kinda out of
it.

"Dude... you didn't see any of the news?" Josh was asking Steven as Kyle
sat down.

"No, and it pisses me off.  Everyone is talking about it... and I didn't'
get to see it."  Kyle would be too, but he was there. Steven had dialed up,
and didn't have the patience to download stuff.

"You should have seen his energy beam.  Just streaks of blue light across
the sky, blasting into the water," Josh said excitedly.  It had looked
pretty cool when Kyle had watched it second hand from the cameras on the
islands.  Apparently the news had traveled faster than he could fly, and
they'd filmed him doing his thing.

"Why do I have to miss every fucking thing?  I missed the air show too," he
moped. Steven's parents did seem to have a talent for making him miss
everything cool.

"Dude, it's not that bad. I'm sure Josh has it saved on his computer," Kyle
said.

"Saved what?"  Kyle turned to see Jason sitting down with his lunch bag.

"Steven missed all of the super boy news." Josh laughed, as Steven moped.

"Wow.  Kyle never seems to be around either. You're always doing
something," Jason commented.  Oh no... not this.  Not already.  Kyle had
always wondered how best friends never put it together; but he'd expected
that later.  Not NOW.

"It's not my fault; I was skateboarding. Then I had stuff I had to do.
Besides... I saw him that first time at the reactor.  Where were you?
Eating dinner," Kyle teased.

"Well, my mom and aunt dragged me out," Jason defended. Jason was starting
to get a spine now that he was comfortable.  Kyle liked his less nervous
friend.

"Sounds like my parents," Steven said, picking at his lunch.

"So, have you seen the fan sites, Josh?" Jason asked, looking at the red
haired boy as he ate.

"YES!!  Can you believe the ones with the votes for names?"

"I know. Some of them are so dumb. He really needs to pick one, or someone
does; because calling him `the boy', or `super boy', is getting old," Jason
said.  That got Kyle to thinking. He really did need a name, and soon,
apparently. He didn't want to be The Boy. That was dumb.

"Blue thunder!! He doesn't even do thunder." Josh laughed.

"Wasn't that from an anime?" Jason said thoughtfully, now taking a bite out
of his sandwich.

"Oh yeah; it was," Kyle replied. "Ranma one half." He laughed.  It was an
awesome Anime.

"Oh yeah!! That was hilarious," Jason added. "Then how about Shirtless Boy;
cuz he doesn't wear a shirt much," Jason continued.  "How dumb is that?"

"I don't wear shirts a lot," Kyle said absentmindedly, as he dipped some
fries in his fry sauce.

"Why do you eat that stuff?" Jason asked.

"Because it's good," Kyle replied, stuffing his mouth.

"No it's not." Steven argued.

"That's cuz you weren't raised on it," Josh argued, taking Kyle's side.

"Yeah. Fry sauce is mostly Utahan anyway," Kyle explained. "It's an
acquired taste."

"So what other names have you heard?" Steven asked, changing the subject.
Kyle liked Steven; he wasn't very good with awkward situations so he would
change the subject to avoid arguments.

"Gaia boy, Spirit of Gaia, Spirit of the sky... spirit of thunder..." Jason
droned on. "Blue lightning, boy wonder, radical glowing boy... oh and get
this; some people think he's like a superman-type hero, so they want to
call him the invader or something like that."

	"That's dumb." said Steven resolutely.  "But some of those names
aren't too bad. I like blue lightning."

	"But he doesn't even do lighting," Josh countered.

	"Then what were those beams he did?" Steven asked.

	"BEAMS!" Kyle, Jason, and Josh said back at the same time and then
began laughing.

	"Man; if I could do beams like that, this school would be gone,"
sighed Josh.

	"Well, maybe that's why you're not him..." Jason laughed, and Kyle
had to join in.

	"Hey...; it could just as easily be me!!" Josh countered.

	"No it couldn't," Steven said. "You have freckles; he doesn't, and
his chest doesn't look like yours at all."

	"Since when do you look at my chest?" Josh asked.

	"Since you blind me every time you take your shirt off for PE,"
Steven said back.

	"Do they do this all the time?" Jason whispered to Kyle.

	"Yes they do; it's fun to watch them."  It was. Jason had known the
two other boys for a long time; but they'd known each other since, like
preschool. So they were the best of friends. Kyle had never felt left out;
they always had time for him, but he'd always felt a little envious of what
they had going.  They could read each other in ways he couldn't.  But now,
with Jason... maybe he would have a best friend.

	"So, do you think he has super powers because he deserved them?"
Jason asked while Steven and Josh were arguing on their side of the table.

	"You mean like a cartoon where the hero is selected because he's
the one for the job?" Kyle asked back. Was he?  Was he selected because he
was pure of heart or something like that?  Kyle didn't feel that perfect.
But the heroes in books and cartoons never felt like that either.

	"Yeah.  Do you think he was, like, chosen to be the hero that
fights mystical monsters or something?" Jason asked.

	"Not really.  Wouldn't there have been some sort of disturbance
already?" Kyle countered.

	"Not if he cleaned it up so nobody knew," Jason explained. Oh
great; he was definitely reading the same stuff Kyle was used to.  But now
he was trying to apply it to a situation that didn't even fit into any
story Kyle had ever read.  Here he was getting strange dreams... that
really didn't give him any information; and they sure weren't telling him
that he was special or destined.

	I guess your right.  But he could have gotten his powers from
anywhere.  And didn't he say something about a cave and not remembering
anything?" Kyle suggested.

	"Hmm. Maybe it was just a weird lie to get out of explaining it,"
Jason said back, still working on his sandwich.

	"Yeah; well I bet he's just showing off anyway, and likes to be on
camera," Josh said, catching Kyle's attention. What?  Why did he think
that?

	"Why?" Jason asked. Kyle would have said something too, but he was
too shocked. How could anybody think that?

	"Well, look at the way he crashed through the doors at the power
plant." Josh said.  "Wouldn't a normal hero just, like, walk through?"

	"What? A normal hero? There is nothing normal about him," Jason
said defensively.  Kyle felt really happy suddenly.

	"Well, I think he's showing off too," Steven agreed.  Why did
everybody have to be weird about him? Kyle had to move fast to stop this
stupid reaction. He didn't' have time to "open the doors."  Anger began to
creep through Kyle's body.

	"Dude. How is he showing off?" Kyle asked, trying not to be
obviously angry.  But he was.  How could they think that he was showing
off?  It didn't' make sense.

	"The cheesy interview; not wearing a shirt," Josh said, but Kyle
could tell they were weak arguments.  He could even see that Josh knew they
were weak arguments.

	Jason gave a small laugh.  "Sure.  Yeah.  That's definitely showing
off." Kyle wanted to hug Jason right then and there.  "I think that you're
just jealous."  Jason stuck his tongue out.  SO CUTE!!

	"So, at least I'm not a love struck fan," Steven joked back.  That
was kinda mean.

	"I'm just really into superheroes and stuff," Jason said, but Kyle
thought he might be blushing a bit.  Was he really feeling a little more
for super Kyle than just normal fan boyness?  "It's like I'm in some dream
where I'm watching something huge happening.  Only I'm not waking up."

	Kyle had those kinds of dreams before.  "Yeah; I had one where this
giant a bomb went off; some sort of mushroom cloud, right over the
mountains. So I'm, like, waiting for the shockwave to come, but it doesn't.
So I get, like, a gun... don't ask me where... and I'm waiting for looting
to happen."

	"Oh yeah!  I had one...." Steven started.

*******************************************************************************************

	Why did Steven have to say that? Jason had been brooding over
Steven's comment all day.  He wasn't crushing on that super hero boy; was
he?  Was he actually having a crush?  The boy was so blonde... so cute; and
his chest was perfect.  Like Kyle's chest.

	Damn it!!  Why had Steven put that thought into his head?  He
hadn't even thought of it that way until Steven had said something.  Jason
had been thinking of Kyle.  Wonderful loving Kyle.  Loving?  Where had that
come from?

	Jason looked down at his text book and sighed.  Why did it always
seem to come back to Kyle?  Even when he was thinking about the super kid
it came back to Kyle.

	Was he gay?  He liked Kyle; he liked the way Kyle looked; he liked
the way that boy on TV looked.  Did that make him gay?  Not that it would
bother him.  His mother wouldn't like it; but his aunt would be supportive.

	Then the school bell interrupted Jason's thoughts; not to mention
the rest of the class scrambling to put their books away.  Jason grabbed
his stuff and put it in his bag.  Then he hurried out of the class room,
hoping he could get away before that stupid girl caught him at his new
locker.

******************************************************************************

	Kyle headed home, figuring he should do his homework and then call
Jason to see what he was doing.  He figured the rest of the world could do
with out a super hero for a day.  He'd done all that hero stuff over the
weekend, and now he was ready to just chill at home.


	Kyle walked in the door and found his mother watching TV while she
cooked dinner.  "Hi mom!" he said, hugging her around the waist and
dropping his stuff on the living room chair.

	"Oh hi honey. How was school?" his mother asked, bustling around
the kitchen as usual.


	"Fine," Kyle replied, looking at the TV.  "Same old thing.  But the
teachers are going on about this super hero kid. My social studies teacher
used it as some excuse to talk about government power and stuff."

	"That's interesting. I've been watching this strange news thing
about him." His mother gestured at the TV. On the TV was footage of some
crazy looking man ranting about something. How was this about him?

	"Oh dear. The terrorists have hostages. I hope he shows up soon."


	HOSTAGES??  What?  What was going on?

Well that's it for chapter 9. Yes I'm a mean evil bastard, but I like
reviews and feedback, so I'm hoping I will get more this way.  Thanks to my
new editors Dr. grant and darryl. feed back from all you new reviewers. the
constant support from paladin and Mr. canada. (to tell you the truth, I
forgot what he likes to be called online.)