Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2021 11:16:47 +0000
From: writersblock404 <writersblock404@protonmail.com>
Subject: (G)rowing pains - 2

(G)ROWING PAINS - Part 2

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continue writing? This is my first storyline on Nifty, so I love hearing
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writersblock404@protonmail.com.

This is a work of fiction; any resemblance to any real people or places
is purely coincidental. Though I must admit, some inspiration has been
gathered from my own experiences.

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_______________________________________

Coming out of the locker room, both Jasper and Jeremy found that they
were indeed the last people left in the rowing club. They had recently
got their own keys as they had been a member for a year without any
issues. It had felt like a kind of rite of passage when they had been
officially handed their very own keys to the rowing club.

Jeremy was not really feeling like going home already. His head was still
swimming with thoughts, his heart fluttering with all kinds of feelings.
Going home to face his parents and his older sister was not something he
wanted to do right now. What if they somehow could see or sense what had
happened?

"So, you want to, perhaps, hang around here a while longer?" He
ventured.

Jasper looked around, it was a bit odd, being the only two here. But he
did not have any plans really. It was a Saturday, early afternoon. The
best he had to look forward to when coming home was homework. He would
not mind postponing that, he absolutely hated maths. "Sure, why not.
Want to throw some darts?"

Jeremy brightened up, that was an excellent idea. The club had a big
darts board in the back, together with a table tennis table and a few
very run down but hugely comfortable couches. It was a bit of a hangout
zone for the younger people of the club. Though some of the `old' men
didn't mind throwing a dart now and then either.

They both grabbed a can of soda from behind the bar, dropped some coins
into the box reserves for when people served themselves and went to the
darts board. The soda cans were popped open, and they took a few big
gulps. Jeremy put down his Fanta on the table-tennis table and Jasper put
his Coke next to his.

From a box underneath the darts board they each got a set of darts, and
they cleared the whiteboard of the scores of the previous players.
Apparently, Nathalie had seriously beat Kris in the last game.

"Okay, who's gonna go first?" Jeremy asked.

"Let's throw for it," Jasper answered, and he quickly threw a dart,
trying to get it as close as possible to the bullseye.

Not one to be left out, Jeremy pretended to be a pro, weighing one of the
darts on his hand, before getting a good grip and throwing his own.

THWACK, the darts in the board collided and a metallic sound rang out.
But looking closely, Jeremy's blue dart was closest to the bullseye from
the two darts.

"It's mine, I'll go first". Jeremy said, walking to the darts board
and getting out both arrows. He went to the throwing line and as he
handed Jasper's arrow back to him, he gently grazed his hand. Now you'd
think it must have felt like the softest touch, but then you don't know
that rowers have pretty coarse hands. All the rowing often leads to
blisters and a lot of tough skins. So, Jeremy touching Jasper's hand
felt a bit like two bits of sanding paper being pulled over each other.
It felt electric, even if it had just been for a split second.

He took a good throwing stance and in quick succession threw his darts.
He heard Jasper snickering.

"That's bloody rubbish," Jasper said, still grinning.

Jeremy looked at the board. One of his darts had completely missed the
board and was now stuck in the wall. Adding to the growing amount of tiny
holes in the wall. The other two had netted him three whole points.
Jasper had been right, that was rubbish.

He got his darts out of the board and got himself clear from the line of
fire as Jasper had already taken place.

Three thuds sounded in quick succession and Jasper hollered in
excitement. All three had hit the board, and furthermore, had landed him
a nice score of forty-three. He got his darts out and placed the score on
the board.

The game went on a little longer and Jeremy's aim was consistently off.
Which was odd, as he was actually pretty good at darts. As could be
expected, Jasper won the game... and the next.

After two games, both had finished their soda's, and they got two new
ones. They took them back to the couch, and they sank themselves in their
favourite three-person couch. Being as run down as it was, they actually
sank quite a bit down in it. Somehow, to them, that made a couch way
better than any kind of new and fresh furniture their parents were always
going on about. Who would give up a perfectly well-tenderized couch?
Which is how most of the seats and couches in the hang out had been
gathered, left-overs after so-called furniture upgrades by the kid's
parents.

They sat right next to each other. Nothing unusual for the two of them
either. Ever since the first few practices that they had had, they had
pretty much been tied to the hips while at the club. In the way only
young boys could befriend each other quickly and be absolutely
comfortable with each other. But that had been over a year ago, both had
still been eleven then. Now, Jasper was twelve and Jeremy had just turned
thirteen. And after the whole episode in the shower just now, things felt
a bit weird all of a sudden, for both of them.

Jasper was suddenly very aware of the warmth that Jeremy was radiating
right next to him. He had never really noticed how you could feel
somebody's warmth when they were sitting next to you. But right now he
was so very much aware of it. "Jeremy...?" Jasper started, "Are we
still friends?"

Jeremy looked over feeling worried. "I hope so," he quietly said. "Are
you having... doubts?" he asked. He could feel his heart beating like a
drum through his entire body. This was what he had been afraid of. He
knew it. Jasper had figured out that he liked guys. Oh gods, and he had
just basically forced himself upon his friend. He must hate him now!
Jeremy started to panic.

Jasper was actually much more relaxed about it than Jeremy knew. He was
totally unaware of the panic-attack his friend was about to have. This
was mainly just very new to him. Liking someone, anyone, had never really
been something very big on his mind. Sure, he `liked' friends, just as
he liked his mom and dad. Or grandma. But like-like someone, nah, never
really happened. And his family was not really hung up on the whole gay
thing. His uncle, his dad's brother, was gay. Had a great boyfriend
actually, he loved hanging out with his uncles. They had an amazing
care-free approach to live. So, in his own mind, it had never become a
thing or a concern, what or whom he would like.

He turned his head and looked right into the huge open eyes of the
panicking Jeremy. He looked like a deer staring into a couple of bright
headlights. "Jeez, chill it, dude," he told Jeremy. To show things were
okay he moved closer and swung his arm around Jeremy's shoulders.

This relaxed Jeremy a bit. Perhaps Jasper did not hate his guts? He
started having a tiny bit of hope. "You... don't hate me, do you?"
Jeremy asked carefully.

"HATE YOU?" Jasper shouted. But he quickly backed down as he spooked
Jeremy all over again. "No, dude, of course I don't hate you. I just
never saw this coming. I don't really know what to think of it. Or how I
feel about it. It's just so weird and new," he said.

"So, you like guys?" Jeremy carefully asked. And, throwing all caution
to the wind he added, "... too?"

That actually did take Jasper by surprise. He had not even considered how
Jeremy felt about guys or girls. Sure, they had talked about things like
that. But Jeremy had never given any indication that he might actually
like guys. Hadn't he had a girlfriend when he had just started rowing?
And he just always told everyone there wasn't anyone special in his
life. Not looking either.

"Jasper?" Jeremy continued probing. Jasper had zoned out a little.

"I don't know," Jasper said, "it never mattered much."

Jeremy could not believe it. For the past year, he had worried almost
every day after he had first noticed him looking at other guys at school.
And when he joined the rowing club, he was afraid of having to shower
with the rest of them. At some point, he knew puberty had really hit him,
as he was losing almost all control over his erections and getting
pimples on the most awkward moments. The pimples had got less as he spent
more time showering and training. The erections, not so much. And here
Jasper was telling him that it never mattered much? How could this not be
monumental, life-altering!

"You're kidding, right. Doesn't really matter?" Jeremy gasped.
"It's been the most important thing on my mind for like, ages, and to
you, it doesn't really matter?"

"Wait, this has been worrying you all this time? Why did you never
say?" Jasper asked dumbfounded. "I mean, we're like friends. Best
friends. Right?"

He really could not believe Jasper had had this on his mind all this time
and had not told him. He had talked about their family pet dying, he had
even cried on his shoulder over that. But this, he had not told!?

Unconsciously he had pushed himself back on the couch a little, to be in
a better position to stare at Jeremy in amazement.

Jeremy could not talk. The words had hit him really hard. He had wanted
to tell... but he had been so afraid to mess up everything. Even thinking
about telling Jasper had only ended up in all kinds of doom scenarios
with everybody finding out and hating him. His parents wanting him to
move out and he'd never live it down in school. He felt his throat
tighten and his shoulders started shaking. The stress was getting the
best of him and a small sob escaped him.

Jasper saw how his friend had almost crawled into the corner of the
couch, his shoulders shaking, and... was that a sob? Was Jeremy crying? A
huge wave of concern washed over him. No, no, that was not what he had
wanted to happen. He wanted to be there for his friend. He was not mad.
Confused maybe, but certainly not mad. On a whim, he threw himself on
Jeremy and hugged him tightly.

"Dude!" he sighed. Dude was something he said all the time. It was such
an all-encompassing word. It could mean someone, or whatever, or don't
be silly. He used it for everything, just like apple sauce.

He felt Jeremy move under him and starting to hug him back. His head
rested on his should now, quite the reverse as in the showers a moment
ago, and he could feel his friend heaving, sobbing and crying.
"Dude...", he said again, as in everything would be alright.

Jeremy could not help but let everything out. He had not realized how big
of a deal this had been for him. He had thought he had handled everything
coolly and most considerately, up to now. But this huge outpouring of
emotions also told him it had been a big deal, a huge deal. And he could
only go with the flow now, trust in Jasper to have his back.

They sat like that for a while, and slowly Jeremy started to calm down.
The heaving stopped, the sobbing subsided, and he was able to wipe away a
single last and lost tear. Oh, gods, he had totally drenched Jasper's
shoulder. The shirt was all wet. "Sorry...," he said.

Jasper pushed back a little and looked into Jeremy's eyes. "Don't
be." And, not knowing what to do, or how far he could go, he settled on
giving Jeremy a kiss, on his forehead.

Jeremy grinned. "Silly!" and planted a big kiss right back on Jeremy's
lips. Nothing hot, nothing sexual, just a huge thankful kiss. Okay, and
he had wanted to show where kisses were supposed to be planted. Just a
little at least.

_______________________________________

That's it for part two. Thanks for reading. I hope to continue this story
soon. I have some ideas in mind as to how this story can continue.


And thank you for the suggestions that I have received by mail, and the
heads up on the small character mix-up I had in part one. Even the short
messages to encourage me to keep the story going, thank you. To be
honest, I had not expected any response at all, and I really am very
appreciative. I did not know the readers here could be as kind as the
authors!

Email me at writersblock404@protonmail.com if you want to let me know
what you think of it so far.