Date: Sun, 1 Jan 2023 17:07:52 +0000 (UTC) From: Andy Brown Subject: Opposites attract, chapter 5 Opposites Attract - Chapter Five Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction which features romance and sexual activity between teenage boys. If you do not want to read such a story, or it is illegal for you to do so because of your age or where you live, then I recommend you go read something else instead. It's always great to hear from readers, and I do make sure I write back. If you want to get in touch, please email me on andybrown3000@yahoo.com If you can, please support Nifty with a financial donation - whatever you can afford - so that this archive of stories can remain free and available. Just go to http://donate.nifty.org/ ********** Gethin drummed his fingers on the handlebars, briefly turning around to look at Alex as he silently freaked the fuck out. He turned his attention back to the road the moment Alex caught him looking. Sucking in air, he tried not to be obvious about how hard it felt to breathe all of a sudden. It was a Tuesday. Nothing special. The same town Gethin had lived in all his life. The same street he knew like the back of his hand. He was cycling towards the McDonalds restaurant that he and his teammates often went to after a game, where he knew the menu so well that he didn't even have to look at it anymore... and Alex Deighton was sat right behind him. Holy shit! He just asked Alex out! Gethin Smith had asked another guy on a date! Well, sort of a date. He hadn't said "Date." It was just food. Everyone ate food. Gethin did it with his friends all the time, so doing it with Alex didn't have to be a gay thing at all, right? At least, no one who saw them would think that... hopefully. Did Alex think that? Did he want Alex to think that? Gethin swallowed hard, slowing to a stop as the light ahead of them turned red. He looked back at Alex again before he could help it. Seriously, it was like the boy was a magnet for his eyes. "You like burgers, right?" Gethin blurted, realising that he'd never even asked Alex where he wanted to go. Gethin's nerves took over the minute he'd put his feet on the pedals, and he just started cycling the familiar route out of habit. But shit, what if Alex was a vegetarian? Or like, some kind of animal rights activist? Hadn't he said he'd been born in Bristol, where people ate tofu and shit? Though McDonalds had a veggie burger on the menu now. Or there was always the fillet-o-fish if Alex was okay with seafood. "Sure," Alex said, his hands trembling as they gripped onto Gethin's waist. He met Gethin's gaze, and smiled at him. "Burgers are good. Um, anything is good actually. I'm easy." Alex blushed hard with the last line. For some reason, seeing that went a long way toward calming Gethin down. Or maybe he just relaxed because it was Alex, who never made Gethin feel dumb about how much he sucked at maths. He'd become the part of Gethin's week that he looked forward to the most. Okay, let's be real. Gethin was a hormone ridden boy, after all, so his dick ran the show at least half the time. And right now? It was starting to distract him, overriding even his nerves. Because in addition to looking nervous himself, Alex also looked... good. Damn! He looked really good! The fact that Alex's arms were currently attached to Gethin's hips really wasn't helping things either. Gethin bit his lip, letting his eyes roam over Alex without, hopefully, being too obvious about it. Alex wasn't built like the guys on the rugby team. He was definitely in shape, but more like someone who ran cross-country. Gethin had never seen him in anything other than his school uniform, but it fit him so well. Like, really, really well. Alex made a breathy little sound that had Gethin's dick suddenly very interested. Gethin jerked his eyes back up to Alex's face, hoping like heck that Alex hadn't actually realised he'd been checking him out. Not that Alex's face was any less distracting. The whole blushing thing was making his eyes go from hazel to almost green. The way they lit up, made Gethin feel... well, happy. And yes, definitely a little bit turned on, too. But the point was, how could he really keep being nervous when he was so damn happy just to be here with Alex? Answer: he couldn't. It was only when his cheeks started to hurt that he realised he was just sitting there smiling like a fool. A besotted fool. A car behind them suddenly honked, jolting Gethin's attention away from Alex and back to the road. "Shit," he muttered, seeing that the lights had turned green. A pang of embarrassment hit him as he realised he'd been holding up traffic for who knows how long. The car honked again. Gethin pressed down on his right pedal hard, causing Alex to jerk behind him and grab his waist even tighter. "Sorry," Gethin muttered, pretty sure Alex would never want to go anywhere with him again, much less on any form of date. Alex just laughed, grinning with the thousand-watt smile that Gethin had sort of become addicted to during their study sessions. Gethin began to laugh, too. Okay, it was official. Secretly, Gethin definitely wanted this to be a date. Even though he never planned on saying it out loud, ever, to anyone, he was also definitely, unequivocally, 100% extremely gay. Alex just did it for him, like no one else ever had. Alex was beautiful in a kind of way that had nothing to do with the prettiness of girls like Cerys and everything to do with the way guys had always drawn Gethin's attention. Except that with Alex, it wasn't just a matter of Gethin's dick getting hard for the lad, but also a bunch of other stuff, too. Like the way Gethin always wanted to be around him, even though he knew he shouldn't. Or the way he felt like he just scored a try every time he made Alex laugh. Or the way he got off on maths now, of all things, just because having Alex explain it to him and get all excited about it made Gethin want to understand. It wasn't just so Alex wouldn't throw in the towel and give up on him, although yeah, making sure he didn't think Gethin was a lost cause was pretty motivating, too. But even if there wasn't a single rugby fan in the entire country of Wales who cared whether or not Gethin passed maths, it would just... well, it would really suck if Alex quit tutoring him. And God, wasn't Gethin a fool for having almost made that happen today. Gethin had never really liked the academic part of school. He hadn't ever felt particularly good at it, for one thing. It had always been easy for him to drift with his schoolwork anyway, since most people seemed to care more about how good he was at passing a rugby ball than his grades. But around Alex, it was different. Gethin felt different. Alex was always saying smart things that sort of made Gethin feel smart, too. Or funny things that would have Gethin laughing days later, just from remembering them. Or other things; random, interesting things that got Gethin thinking about stuff he'd never considered before. Then, as soon as he heard Alex's take on them, he sort of wondered why he hadn't. In short, Alex made Gethin feel like there just might be more to him than rugby, which felt kind of dangerous but also exciting, both at the same time. "So, um, is there an important match coming up or something?" Alex asked as they finally pulled into the car park at McDonald's. "Something you have to practice extra for today?" Gethin had to laugh at the question. "Yeah, Al. The cup final? Maybe you've heard of it?" he teased, winking at Alex as he fastened his bike to the railing. "Oh... right," Alex groaned, covering his face. "I guess you can tell rugby isn't really my thing. Sorry." Gethin laughed again as the two of them walked across the car park, not minding that at all. His laughter choked off as a wave of guilt swamped him. Even if it was kind of fun and refreshing to have Alex so oblivious, Alex had obviously asked him because he'd believed the lie Gethin had told him earlier. And that... well, there was no getting around it. Lying to Alex just felt shitty. After the near miss with Cerys almost outing him on Friday, Gethin had finally convinced himself that the only safe path was to quit his Alex obsession once and for all. Which, of course, meant giving up on their tutoring sessions. And yeah, that idea has sucked. Really sucked. Clearly, it also hadn't lasted. At least, not for more than about half an hour. Gethin had headed straight home after practice, which hadn't run late, since their coach always ran a tight ship. He was fully intending to just ghost Alex out of pure self-preservation. But apparently there were some things that Gethin wanted even more than protecting himself and his big, gay secret. Well, just one thing, actually. One super-smart, hazel-eyed, kind of beautiful thing. No matter how much he knew it might cost him, Gethin hadn't been able to stick with his resolution. Honestly, it had killed him to imagine Alex waiting at the library without a clue that Gethin had ditched him. Gethin had actually convinced himself that he'd just cycle back to the school and man up, tell Alex they were done in person, and be able to leave it at that. That was another thing that hadn't lasted past the first smile Alex had given him. Or maybe Gethin had crumbled the minute Alex had fallen into his arms. "What?" Alex asked, bumping Gethin's shoulder as they got to the door, yanking his attention back to the here and now. "You were zoned out. Do you... do you still want to get something to eat?" "Yeah," Gethin said, feeling his face flush. "Totally." He held the door open for Alex and spent about three seconds battling his guilt before he gave into the inevitable. He liked Alex too much to lie to him. Gethin would probably still have to keep the whole gay part to himself. Which okay, fine, was maybe a lie by omission. But at least he could come clean about what had happened that afternoon. "Hey, Al?" Gethin said, his imminent confession sending his nerves straight into the red zone. "I, uh, I've got to tell you something." Oh, God. Was Alex going to hate him? "O... kay," Alex said cautiously. The way he drew out both syllables of the word made it sound even more obvious just how weird Gethin was making things. Great. Just... great. Off to a stellar start there, Gethin. He swallowed, hoping that somehow Alex would be cool with it. Immediately, he felt an extra stab of guilt. The fact was, if Alex wasn't cool with finding out Gethin had lied to him, he couldn't just storm out on him. Alex had no way of getting back home. Although, if Alex really thought Gethin was an arsehole, he could just leave anyway and walk himself home, despite how far it was. Not that Gethin would let Alex walk if he could help it. And yes, jeez, he was totally stalling, wasn't he? "So... do I have to guess what this thing is you want to tell me?" Alex asked, sitting down at an empty table and giving Gethin a shaky smile as a few nerves of his own started to show again. "Are we playing like twenty questions?" Gethin stuttered out a laugh at that. Nervously, he raked a hand through his hair. He wondered where to sit. Across from Alex, like he would if he was hanging with one of him friends? Or right next to Alex, the way Gethin really sort of wanted to? "Gethin?" Alex prompted, laughing as he waved a hand in front of Gethin's face. "Are you spacing out from low blood sugar? And does that count as one of my twenty..." "Smith!" The boisterous shout was accompanied by a familiar clap on Gethin's back. It was Harrison. The sudden, loud influx of what felt like half the rugby team had Alex's mouth snapping closed mid-sentence, and Gethin instantly breaking out in a cold sweat. Shit! Shit! Shit! He should've figured some of his friends would show up here. Fuck, they always came here. What had he been thinking? Three of the guys sat themselves down at the empty side of Alex's table as several more took seats at a nearby one, their voices buffering Gethin from all sides. "Hey, Gethin." "Mate, you really got out of training fast. Figured it was study date day today?" "Gethin, sit down, bro. Make some room the rest of you." For a split second, Gethin was tempted to bolt, the way he had on Friday when he ditched DT. One look at Alex's face stopped him, though. The light had gone out of Alex' pretty hazel eyes. They were glued to the table like it suddenly held all the secrets of the universe. If Gethin had thought Alex looked nervous before, it was nothing like he did now. Before, Alex had looked cute-nervous. Flustered-nervous. Now, Alex just looked flat out terrified; pale and sort of clammy. There was no way in hell that Gethin would ever leave him hanging when he looked like that. Gethin slipped into the seat next to Alex, their thighs bumping up against each other. Harrison immediately claimed the space on Gethin's other side, shoving him even further across the bench seat in Alex's direction. Alex's eyes darted up to meet Gethin's. He looked a little bit like he wanted to throw up. "Hey," Gethin said quietly, bumping his shoulder. "Hope you don't mind some company." "No -- no -- no," Alex said, which was such an obvious lie that Gethin couldn't help but laugh. Alex's deer in the headlights look lasted for another few seconds. Then, just like the two of them had done earlier on the bike, Alex started laughing right along with him. All of Gethin's nerves immediately melted away. The light came back into Alex's eyes, too. For a second, it sort of felt like it was still just the two of them there on their own. Seth leaned across the table from the other side, breaking the spell. "Oh," he said, smirking as his eyes bounced back and forth between them. "I'm guessing you're Alex? Gethin's... `tutor'?" Gethin scowled at him. Jesus Christ! Seth had totally done the air quotes thing with his voice again. Dick head! "Um, yes," Alex said, sort of shrinking back in his seat. Gethin slung an arm over the back of the bench. He was a big guy; he had to stretch out, right? Sort of accidentally on purpose, he nudged Alex a little. Not that he was putting his arm around Alex or anything; Gethin just wanted him to know that he had his back. "Alex is my friend, Seth," Gethin said, giving Seth a `Don't fuck with Alex' look that Seth had better pay attention to if he wanted to stay friends. "We just needed some food, okay? Not a big deal." "Never said it was," Seth replied, relaxing back in his seat with a grin. "I'm just being friendly myself, right?" Gethin snorted. Realising he still had his arm around Alex, he quickly yanked it back in front of him. He really wished he could have left it there, though. Harrison leaned around Gethin to get a look at Alex. "You're in my English class," he said, almost making it sound like an accusation. Jeez, could the guys lighten up a little? Alex nodded, his knee starting to bounce under the table. "Yeah," he squeaked. "I am." The way Alex's voice lilted made him sound almost apologetic about it. Harrison grinned. "So you tutor, huh? Unlike some people here - " Harrison elbowed Gethin hard, shoving him into Alex, "-- I actually need to do well in my exams to have a decent future. You got any extra time? Cos, whilst I may be okay at English, I'm literally flunking physics." Alex's eyes darted to Gethin, then back to Harrison. "Maybe," he said, still sounding nervous. Harrison opened his mouth like he was going to press Alex on that, but Gethin elbowed him to shut him up. Payback was sweet. "Are we going to order, then?" he asked, changing the subject, hoping it would keep Alex from wanting to bail. It sort of felt awkward as hell to have everyone here. But Gethin definitely didn't want his Alex-time to get cut short just because his teammates had showed up. "Some of us actually came to eat, you know," he added. "You trying to say you're getting hangry, Gethin?" Seth asked, laughing. "That's why you're so on edge?" He wadded up a used napkin that had been left by a previous customer and threw it across the table at Gethin's head "Shut up," Gethin replied, swatting it away. "Not just mad we crashed your date, are you?" Seth asked with a wink. His... what now? Ice shot through Gethin's stomach. Next to him, Alex tensed up, too. Did Seth actually think the two of them were on a... "W-what?" Gethin stuttered, 99% sure that Seth had just been giving him shit. He was 100% sure, however, that every single person in the room had heard. Surely, they were now staring at the big neon `gay' sign that must be blinking over Gethin's head? "Dude, relax," Harrison said, looking at Gethin's balled up fists, the knuckles almost turning white. "Think I should get the Big Mac?" "Why are you even asking, Hazza?" one of the guys crowded around the extra table asked with a laugh. "You always get the Big Mac." "You better not eat that the day of prom," someone else offered. "With your breath smelling of pickles, you won't be getting any action from Megan." "Well, I'm sure as shit not planning on getting any action from any of you guys," Harrison retorted. "So yeah, I think I'll be ordering it." "I'm shocked," Seth said dryly from the other side of the table. "Next thing you know, Gethin will be ordering the McChicken Sandwich." "Gethin always gets the McChicken Sandwich," Harrison said, slapping Gethin's back. "Pretty sure if he didn't, the sky would fall in." Actually, Gethin had figured the sky falling in would be triggered by Seth's totally out of line joke about what Gethin had actually been doing with Alex. Much to his shock, however, no one else even seemed to have heard. Or maybe they just thought he was talking shit. Alex leaned against Gethin's side. Gethin caught his breath as the contact instantly sent a cascade of addictive tingles right through his body. "Don't worry," Alex whispered, so softly that there was no way his voice travelled any further than Gethin's ear. "I know it's not a date." Gethin tensed, then forced himself to relax, reminding himself that Alex understanding that they weren't on a date was a good thing. Except... hadn't Gethin figured out earlier that he sort of did want it to be a date after all? Across the table, Seth caught his eye, glanced at Alex, then looked back at Gethin. He winked before turning his attention back to the argument with the rest of the rugby lads about how many portions of fries they should order. Gethin's stomach immediately twisted into a knot of anxiety. What was that wink supposed to mean? Alex shifted away from him, those long fingers of his clenching and unclenching in his lap like he was nervous. Suddenly, Gethin forgot all about the wink. Not a date? Fuck it. No one was paying attention anyway. He slipped a hand under the table and used it to cover Alex's, stilling his tutor's busy fingers. He leant over, so that Alex and only Alex could hear him. "Are you sure about that, Al?" Gethin asked under his breath, giving Alex's hand a squeeze. Alex's eyes had locked onto their hands the moment Gethin had touched him. But when Gethin spoke, they jerked up to meet his. And he looked... shocked? Shit! Gethin froze. Did Alex actually want to date him? Was the lad even gay? How on earth was a guy supposed to know that kind of thing about another guy anyway? Maybe all those smiles of Alex's were just being friendly; not anything more. Had Gethin just screwed up big time? Misread the whole thing? Ruined everything? His palms suddenly felt clammy again. He let go of Alex's hand, wiping his own on his trousers under the table. "Uh," he started, heart racing. "I mean, unless you are... you aren't... I mean, if you don't want it to be - " "I do," Alex interrupted, loud enough that the conversation paused around them for a second. No one asked what Alex was talking about though. After a second or two, the rest of the guys went right back to ignoring the two of them as they discussed what they were going to order. "And yes," Alex whispered, leaning into Gethin and smiling more with his eyes than his mouth. "I am." Gay. Yes, Alex was gay. Gethin grinned, his chest doing its helium balloon impression as the Alex-tingles hit him all over again. "Cool," he whispered back. Before he could second-guess himself, he added, "I... uh, I am, too." And time didn't stop. And no one turned to stare at him. But still... holy shit. Had he really just admitted that? Out loud? He had, and the proof was the way Alex's eyes lit up. That was distracting enough that Gethin couldn't be bothered to freak out quite yet. Because he'd just outed himself to someone, after a lifetime of doing everything in its power to avoid exactly that. Gethin was vaguely aware that they were probably grinning at each other like fools. But for a second, nothing else existed. Then Alex fake coughed, using it as an excuse to hide his smile behind his hand. Gethin looked away, but not before he felt something unexpected and freeing move inside his chest. All of a sudden, it felt like the two of them were truly connected. Like they'd been bound together. As if together, they'd just become something greater than either could ever have hoped to be alone. ********** Links to my other stories Short stories: Looking After Jake - https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/looking-after-jake Meeting With a Trucker - https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/meeting-with-a-trucker Thank God It's Friday - https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/young-friends/thank-god-its-friday My Stepfather's Secret - https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/my-stepfathers-secret The Hotel Room - https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/the-hotel-room The Sketch Pad - https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/young-friends/the-sketch-pad Builder Boy - https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/builder-boy Multi-chapter stories: Tutoring Dylan - https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/tutoring-dylan/ The Hunters - https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/the-hunters/ Everything's Different In The Country - https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/young-friends/everythings-different-in-the-country/