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Chapter 21: Sickness
Daniel wasn’t in the best of moods during school on Thursday. He hadn’t
slept well, and as result he was feeling tired and more than a little
irritable. Jason didn’t exactly help, what with his constant prattling
and complaining about things that, when compared to Daniel’s problems,
seemed pretty trivial. Daniel found himself tuning out and letting Jason
chatter on to himself. Several times throughout the morning, Dean would
turn and give Daniel a smile. Daniel would smile back, trying to ignore
his inner turmoil. He felt incredibly guilty about what he and Dean had
done the previous evening, as though he had in some way betrayed his
friendship with Jason. He tried telling himself that he was being
stupid, but this didn’t help, and he found that the more he thought
about it, the more he was blaming Jason for how he felt. If Jason didn’t
want to be more than friends then surely Daniel shouldn’t be made to
feel guilty for doing things with someone else. Putting the blame on
Jason was unfair, and Daniel knew it, but he couldn’t help it, and this
made him feel even worse. Why were emotions so complicated?
The one good thing about the day was that there was no sign of Simon
McBride. The boy’s desk sat empty. At least that was one irritation less
to worry to about. Daniel didn’t think that he would have been able to
cope with McBride’s constant barbed comments on top of everything else.
The bell signalling the lunch-time break came as a welcome relief.
Daniel quickly scooped up his books and pushed them into his schoolbag,
glad that for the next hour he wouldn’t have to sit listening to a
teacher droning on. Beside him, Jason was already on his feet putting
his own books away.
“I think old McKenzie is going senile,” said Jason, referring to the
teacher who had taken them for the last lesson of the morning. “He keeps
saying the same things over and over. And have you seen the way he just
stands there staring into space? It’s like he’s forgotten where he is.
Maybe he’s on the booze and he’s pissed all the time.” He gave a short
chuckle. “I bet that’s it. He’s not senile, he’s pissed. Don’t you
think?”
“Eh?” Daniel hadn’t really been listening.
“Don’t you think McKenzie acts like he’s pissed?”
Daniel looked at Jason and shrugged. “Who cares?” he said, coldly, not
the least bit interested in whether or not McKenzie might be a drinker.
For a moment, Jason looked surprised at the tone of Daniel’s reply. Then
he shook his head. “You’re a real miserable git this morning, you know
that?” He pushed passed Daniel and hurried to catch up with Dean, who
was leaving the classroom.
Daniel groaned to himself. Taking his feelings out on other people, and
Jason in particular, was certainly not helping matters. The best thing
was probably to try to forget about his problems for now and simply
concentrate on getting through the day without upsetting anyone. He
decided that he’d better make more of an effort to be sociable during
lunch.
In the canteen, the boys bought their lunch and sat down at an empty
table, Daniel and Jason on one side, Dean and Trevor on the other.
Trevor looked almost as miserable as Daniel was feeling. Perversely,
this made Daniel feel a little better. He didn’t like Trevor, mainly
because Trevor clearly didn’t like Jason. Just for a moment, Daniel
entertained the idea that maybe Trevor was actually gay and secretly
fancied Dean and that he was jealous that Dean was showing an interest
in someone else. But no, Trevor wasn’t gay. He was just an obnoxious
wanker. Dean had got it right when he’d suggested that Trevor didn’t
like Jason because he thought that Jason might be gay and he didn’t want
to be seen hanging around with him. Bastard. Daniel glared across the
table at the boy.
“I’ve been thinking about something,” Jason leaned forwards, looking a
little nervously at Dean.
“Thinking is usually good,” said Dean, grinning.
“I was wondering…” Jason hesitated. He glanced at Daniel and then back
at Dean. “Maybe you could show me how to fight. Just a few moves, you
know, so that if someone like McBride starts anything, I can look after
myself.” He looked down, blushing.
The idea of Jason, the smallest boy in the class, going up against
McBride, one of the biggest and most belligerent, was so ridiculous that
Daniel had to struggle not to laugh. That is, until he saw that Trevor
was laughing, and then his amusement turned to anger. “What’s so funny?”
he demanded.
“He is,” laughed Trevor. “If he thinks that he can beat McBride he’s off
his rocker. McBride would put him in hospital.”
Dean shot Trevor a reproachful look. “Anyone can learn to look after
themselves,” he said. “Size doesn’t make any difference. Jason’s not
that much smaller than me. You think that McBride could put me in
hospital?”
“Well no, but…” Trevor looked suitably abashed.
As Trevor dropped his eyes, Dean turned his attention back to Jason, his
expression softening. “I can maybe show you a few things,” he said. “But
in a way, Trev is right. Unless you know how to do it properly, someone
is likely to get hurt and it will most likely be you.”
Jason looked disappointed. “Yeah, OK. I just thought… You know.”
Dean nodded, sympathetically. “Yeah, I know. Look, if you’re really
interested, you can come and sit in and watch when I go for my coaching.
Then, if you decide you want to do it, you can get some proper lessons
of your own. You’d have to start in the beginners classes, but I’d help
you all I could between times.”
“Really?” Jason brightened up. “You think I could really learn how to
fight?”
“Anyone can at least learn the basics,” said Dean. “That’s if they’re
willing to put the work in. It’s really hard work.” He gave a dry smile.
“Or if you don’t want to put in all that work you could always follow my
dad’s advice. Hit them before they hit you and make sure you hit ‘em
hard enough to knock ‘em down.”
Jason grinned. “Your dad sounds cool.”
“You might not think that if you had to live with him,” said Dean, with
more than a hint of bitterness. “Anyway, I have a training session on
Saturday if you want to come along and watch.”
“Yeah, I’ll be there,” said Jason, happily.
Daniel looked from one boy to the other. He struggled to contain the
sigh that he felt moving up from his insides. What was he going to do?
He couldn’t keep messing around with Dean behind Jason’s back. Sooner or
later, Jason was bound to find out and then there would be trouble.
Especially given that Jason seemed to see Dean as some sort of role
model. Daniel knew that even though he liked Dean a lot, his feelings
for the boy could never match the way that he felt about Jason. But
could his relationship with Jason ever develop in the way that Daniel
wanted? Jason seemed to have opened up a little recently. Or was that
just a case of Daniel seeing what he wanted to see? Probably. Jason
obviously wasn’t gay. If he’d had any sexual feelings at all for Daniel,
then surely he would have said so when he’d found out about Daniel being
gay. Maybe it was time to stop hoping for something that clearly wasn’t
going to happen. Jason would be coming round tonight for a measuring
session, and Daniel decided that that might be a good opportunity to
talk to his friend. He would tell Jason about what had been going on
with Dean and see what happened.
“You OK, Daniel?” Dean asked, from across the table.
“Yeah, why?”
“You’ve been really quiet.”
“It’s women’s troubles,” Jason laughed. “It’s his time of the month.”
The laughter instantly died as he noticed the hurt look in Daniel’s eyes
and he quickly looked down. “OK, so it wasn’t funny,” he muttered.
“No, it wasn’t,” Daniel agreed, softly.
The afternoon proved to be as big a strain as the morning. Having made
up his mind to tell Jason about himself and Dean, Daniel was now
becoming increasingly worried about what his friend’s reaction might be.
Suppose Jason was so upset by this information that he ended their
friendship. Daniel felt sick at the thought that this might happen. But
at the same time he knew that things couldn’t continue as they were. Not
telling Jason was almost certainly a far worse option than telling him.
It seemed that Daniel’s mood was infectious. Jason appeared to become
steadily more morose as the afternoon wore on, keeping his head down and
hardly speaking. Daniel made a couple of attempts to lift the mood
between them but his rather forced light-hearted comments were met with
disinterested shrugs.
As they got up from their desks at the end of the final lesson of the
day, Daniel confirmed that Jason still intended to come over later for a
measuring session, and then set off for Adam’s room for his bi-weekly
session with Ben and Billy. To his surprise, Jason joined him.
“Where are you going?”
“To see Adam,” said Jason. “Like I told you this morning, the runt is
ill and Mum asked me to go give this note to Adam to explain why he
won’t be there today.” He pulled a note from his pocket and held it up
as though it were evidence.
“Ben’s not in today?”
“Yeah. That’s what I just said. That’s what I told you earlier.” Jason
gave an exasperated sigh. “You’ve been really out of it today. You sure
you’re not getting sick as well?”
“No, I’m not sick,” said Daniel. He didn’t recall Jason mentioning Ben,
but then he’d been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he’d taken
very little notice of anything at all that Jason might have said. “So is
Billy in?” He asked, wondering if there was any point in going to Adam’s
room.
“How should I know?” said Jason. He gave a soft giggle. “Mind you, with
all the stuff that the little pervs do together, there’s a good chance
that they’ve gone and infected each other.”
Daniel sighed. Jason had an amazing talent for saying the wrong thing.
Billy was waiting in Adam’s room when the two older boys arrived. Daniel
gave a brief knock on the open door as he went in. Adam, was was sitting
on the edge of his desk reading the contents of a folder, and he looked
up and gave the boys a welcoming smile.
“The runt’s not coming. He’s got the shits,” said Jason, getting
straight to the point.
Adam’s eyes widened slightly at Jason’s colourful phraseology, but he
took it pretty much in his stride. “Yes, Billy’s just told me that Ben’s
not in today.” He accepted the note that Jason was proffering and
glanced through it. He gave a frown. “When did this come on?”
“He started with it last night,” said Jason.
“Has he been vomiting, or is it just diarrhoea?”
Jason gave a grin. “No, he’s been puking up as well. That’s how it
started last night. He puked on the lounge carpet.”
Adam shook his head, his expression grim. “It sounds like he’s picked up
the bug that’s doing the rounds at the moment. It’s not very pleasant,
but as long as he drinks plenty of fluids he should be OK. It doesn’t
usually last long; most people are starting to feel better in
twenty-four hours or so. The main thing is to be extra careful with
hygiene to try to make sure that he doesn’t pass it on to anyone else.
These bugs often end up going around the whole family. How are you
feeling?”
Jason gave a shrug. “I’m fine.”
“That’s good,” said Adam. “Let’s hope you stay that way. If I get the
time I’ll call in and check on Ben sometime this evening.”
“So what do we do now?” asked Daniel. He’d intended to follow up on his
promise to Ben and ask Adam whether it would be OK for the two younger
boys to measure each other, as long as they were supervised. Now, that
plan was obviously on hold.
“You may as well carry on as normal and measure Billy,” said Adam.
“Though I think it’s probably best to just stick with the measuring
today; we’ll pick up the ejaculation tests next week when Ben is back
with us.”
“OK.” Daniel glanced at Billy, who gave a shy smile.
“Will you be long?” Jason asked Daniel. “If you aren’t going to be too
long, I’ll hang about outside until you’re done. Then we can go straight
round to your house.”
“No, I won’t be long,” said Daniel.
“OK, I’ll see you in a few minutes.” Jason moved towards the door. As he
passed Billy, the younger boy gently touched his arm, bringing him to a
stop.
“You can stay if you like. I don’t mind.” Billy’s voice was soft, and he
spoke quickly and nervously, dropping his eyes as colour rose to his
face.
“Erm… I dunno.” Jason looked from Billy to Daniel.
“If Billy doesn’t mind, you may as well wait in here,” said Daniel.
“That way I won’t have to come looking for you when I’m done.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Jason didn’t look particularly enthusiastic at the idea
of staying in the room while Billy was being measured, but he made his
way over to a chair by Adam’s desk and sat down.
Adam had watched the exchange with an amused smile. “As long as everyone
is happy,” he said. He moved behind his desk and, sitting down, he
turned his attention to his computer.
As Daniel collected the measuring tape and the boy’s folder from the
desk, Billy began to pull his clothes off. Daniel noticed that as he
stripped, the youngster kept casting frequent covert glances at Jason.
Jason, however, sat forwards on his chair, his elbows on his knees and
his chin in his hands, seemingly completely in a world of his own.
For some reason, Daniel found himself feeling quite self-conscious about
putting his hands on Billy’s body while Jason was there, even though
Jason didn’t appear to be paying them any attention. He guided Billy
over to the measuring chart that was pinned to the wall, gently placing
his hand on the boy’s bare chest to hold him steady while he read off
the height measurement. Billy, for his part, seemed to enjoy the
contact, appearing more relaxed than he had during the times when Ben
had been there. He smiled and even giggled softly a couple of times as
Daniel took his measurements. By the time Daniel had completed the
youngster’s upper body measurements, Billy had a full erection.
Following his usual routine, Daniel dropped down to his knees and moved
on to the leg measurements, leaving the best part, the penis
measurements, until the end. He once again noticed that Billy kept
looking over at Jason and felt an irrational stab of jealousy. Daniel
had come to believe that Billy had had a bit of a crush on him, but now
he recalled the time that he and Jason had listened outside Ben’s room
and heard Billy saying that he had always thought that Jason was hot.
Billy might have a bit of a crush on Daniel, but it appeared that he had
an even bigger crush on Jason.
Finishing the boy’s leg measurements, Daniel pulled Billy’s attention
away from Jason in the most unsubtle way possible. He took hold of the
youngster’s hard dick and gave it a squeeze.
Billy gave a soft gasp, and looked down, smiling as he watched Daniel
pull his skin back and measure his erection from base to tip. He stood
with his arms down at his sides, his hips pushed slightly forwards.
Daniel couldn’t resist rubbing his thumb over the boy’s sensitive head,
causing Billy to squirm and giggle, before allowing the foreskin to
slide back into place. He looked up at the boy and gave a smile, which
Billy returned, and then he stroked up and down the hard shaft a few
times before taking the circumference measurements.
It was over all too soon. Daniel would have loved to try some of the
things with Billy that he’d done with Dean. It would have been great to
fully explore the boy’s smooth body, stroke along his chest, feel his
balls, touch his tight arsehole and maybe even put a finger inside him,
and then stroke the boy’s dick and make him cum. The thing was, Daniel
was fairly sure that Billy might be open to most of those things.
However, with Jason sitting just a few feet away and Adam working at his
desk, anything more than was required in order to take the measurements
was out of the question.
Strangely, the thought of getting his hands on Billy didn’t cause the
feelings of guilt that Daniel was experiencing as a result of what he
had done with Dean. Probably because what he wanted to do to Billy was
purely physical; there was no emotional attachment to the boy. Billy
could never be a real rival for Jason. Though of course, following this
logic, it must mean that Daniel did have some emotional feelings for
Dean. He might not feel quite the same about Dean as he did about Jason,
but there was definitely something there that could be built upon.
Daniel looked over at Jason, who was still sitting staring at the
ground, his chin in his hands. He sighed. If only Jason were gay, life
would be so much easier.
“OK, we’re done,” said Daniel, after he’d entered up the last
measurements on the sheet. “You can get dressed now.”
“OK.” Billy shot a final look at Jason, then slowly walked over to his
clothes and began putting them on.
Jason remained silent and withdrawn as the two boys made the journey
from school to Daniel’s house. Daniel was starting to worry that he had
either done or said something to upset his friend, and had played back
over what had happened during the measuring and immediately before it,
trying to think of anything that might have caused Jason to take
offence. He couldn’t think of anything at all, unless it happened to be
the actual measuring. Was Jason upset at seeing Daniel touching Billy?
Daniel didn’t think this likely, but was unable to come up with anything
else.
Given Jason’s mood, Daniel was having second thoughts about whether he
should tell his friend about Dean. Maybe it would be better to hold off
with that particular bombshell until Jason was a little happier. He
decided to wait and see what happened during their measuring. Maybe once
they got started, Jason would brighten up.
They were nearly at Daniel’s house before Jason finally broke the
silence. “Is he bigger than me?” he asked, the sudden question taking
Daniel by surprise.
“Eh? What?”
“Billy. Is he bigger than me? Is his dick bigger than mine?”
Daniel gave a short, involuntary giggle but quickly managed to bring
himself under control when he saw the serious expression on Jason’s
face. “No, of course not.”
Jason nodded, looking partially satisfied. “OK.”
“Is that what’s been bothering you? You thought Billy’s dick might be
bigger than yours?”
“It hasn’t been ‘bothering’ me,” said Jason, coolly. “I just wondered,
that’s all.”
Daniel hid a smile. “You were looking then. You had a look at Billy’s
boner.”
“I could hardly miss it when he was standing straight in front of me,”
said Jason, defensively. “He’s bigger than Ben,” he added.
“Yeah, he’s bigger than Ben. He’s not as big as you though.” Daniel
could understand where Jason was coming from. One of the boy’s biggest
worries was his slow physical development. Being the smallest and least
developed in his class at school was bad enough, but discovering he had
a smaller dick than a twelve-year-old would be much worse. “Besides,
yours is getting is bigger; remember the last time we measured it?” This
earned him a tight, embarrassed smile. “Billy likes you, you know.”
Jason gave an almost derisive snort. “Yeah, right.”
“I mean it. I think he has a real crush on you. That’s why he suggested
that you stay. He wanted you to see him naked. All the time that I was
measuring him, he kept looking over to see if you were watching.”
“He’s a little perv,” said Jason. “Just like the runt.”
When they reached Daniel’s house, Jason went straight up to the bedroom,
while Daniel called into the lounge to make sure that his mother knew
that they were going to be measuring each other; he didn’t want her
walking in on them by accident.
As he joined his friend in the bedroom, Daniel noticed that Jason was
now looking even more unhappy than ever. “We don’t have to do this today
if you don’t want to,” he said.
Jason shook his head. “We’d better do it. The sheets for this week have
to be in tomorrow.” He started to get undressed, dropping his clothes
onto Daniel’s bed.
Daniel watched the boy for a moment and then he too started to undress.
It really didn’t look like today would be right time to say anything
about Dean, he decided.
Daniel was the first to be naked, pulling off the briefs that he was
wearing and dropping them onto the pile of his other clothing. The front
of the briefs were marked with the precum that had oozed from his dick
while he had been touching Billy, and he was careful to put them down in
such a way that the mark was hidden from view. He stood and waited a
moment as Jason stepped out of his shorts.
Looking at Jason, Daniel realised that his friend didn’t just look
miserable, he looked ill. Jason’s skin was even paler than usual, there
was perspiration on his forehead, and he was taking quick, shallow
breaths. “You OK?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You don’t look it.”
“I told you, I’m fine,” Jason repeated, getting annoyed. The he suddenly
closed his eyes and tensed up. “Oh fuck!” he groaned. His eyes opened
wide and his expression became one of panic. His hand went to his mouth
and he staggered forwards. He grabbed for his shorts, missed them, then
gave up and charged for the door, his hand clamped firmly over his
mouth. Naked, he flew out of the room and along the landing towards the
bathroom.
Daniel rushed to the bedroom door, silently praying that Jason made it
to the bathroom and didn’t puke on the landing carpet. To his relief,
the landing was empty. However, the awful sound of retching was coming
from the bathroom. It looked as though Jason had made it just in time.
Quickly, Daniel pulled on his briefs and went to check that his friend
was OK.
Reaching the bathroom, Daniel found Jason on his hands and knees in
front of the toilet bowl, looking thoroughly wretched. His skin was
clammy and he was panting heavily.
“Are you OK?” It was a silly question, but Daniel couldn’t think of
anything else to say.
Jason didn’t reply. He leaned forwards, his body tensing up as he
vomited into the toilet.
“Ugh! Gross!” Daniel muttered. He watched Jason, wanting to help, but
not knowing what he should do. What the hell do you do to help someone
who is throwing up? His concern grew as Jason continued to retch, the
spasms leaving the young teen panting and sobbing as his stomach tried
to turn itself inside out. “Oh shit, Jase!” In a panic, Daniel ran to
the top of the stairs and screamed down. “MUM!”
Daniel’s mother appeared seconds later. “What on Earth is going on?” She
stepped into the bathroom, taking in the scene. “Oh dear.” She gave a
sigh and, pushing Daniel aside, she knelt beside Jason, putting her arm
comfortingly over his shoulders and gently stroking the back of his
head. The bout of puking finally eased and, gasping for breath, Jason
lifted his head.
“Daniel, throw me that towel,” said the boy’s mother, pointing to the
towel rail. She took the large towel and draped it around Jason’s body.
Then she got up and flushed the toilet before rinsing a face-cloth under
the hot water tap and using this to wipe the young teen’s mouth. “I
think we’d better try and get you dressed and get you home,” she said.
She looked back over her shoulder at Daniel. “Daniel, stop standing
around like an ornament and go and get some clothes on. Then you can
help Jason get dressed.”
Daniel had been so worried about Jason that he had forgotten that he was
wearing nothing but a pair of rather skimpy briefs. In fact, it was even
worse than that: he was wearing a pair of skimpy briefs with an
extremely obvious dried-precum mark on the front. He felt his face
redden as he hurried back to his bedroom to get his clothes. He was
almost finished dressing when Jason appeared, walking a little
unsteadily, with the towel held tightly around himself and Daniel’s
mother still with her arm around his shoulders.
“Do you think you’re going to be alright for a few minutes now?” the
woman asked, looking at Jason’s face, her expression concerned.
“Yeah,” Jason nodded. “I think so.”
“I’ll leave you to get dressed. Come down as soon as you’re ready and
we’ll get you home. If you start to feel sick again, get yourself
straight back to the bathroom.”
“I will,” Jason promised. His voice was weak and he sounded extremely
sorry for himself.
“How are you feeling?” Daniel asked, as his mother left, pulling the
door closed behind her.
“Like shit.”
“You should have said that you weren’t feeling well. I thought that you
were just in a mood.”
“I didn’t think it was going to get this bad,” Jason replied. He lowered
himself down onto the edge of the bed. “Pass me my shorts, will you.”
With a bit of help from Daniel, Jason managed to get dressed. He still
looked pale, but at least he didn’t appear as though he were about to
throw up again – not just yet anyway.
“You going to be OK in the car?” Daniel asked.
“Dunno. I expect I’ll have to be. It’s either that or stay here, and I
don’t think your mum will be too impressed with that idea. The runt
started off by throwing up and then he spent all night shitting and
puking.” Jason gave a sick grin. “Look’s like I’m in for some real fun.”
Daniel squeezed the boy’s shoulder. “Adam said it only lasts about
twenty-four hours. You’ll be OK.”
“Yeah.” Jason put his hand on top of Daniel’s, the uncharacteristic
‘touchy’ gesture taking Daniel completely by surprise. “Thanks, Daniel.”
“For what?”
“I dunno.” Jason gave a shrug. “Just thanks.” He smiled and lowered his
eyes.
The car journey to Jason’s house passed without incident. Daniel’s
mother made Jason sit in the front passenger seat with a plastic bowl on
his knees and a blanket around his shoulders. By the time they arrived,
Jason was starting to look quite green again, and as soon as he was out
of the car he wasted no time in hurrying into the house to get to the
toilet.
Feeling bad that he couldn’t be of any help to his friend, Daniel stood
in the doorway of the house while his mother explained what had happened
to Jason’s mother. He wanted to go up and say goodbye to Jason properly,
but neither of the adults thought that was a particularly good idea. So
he had to be satisfied with shouting up the stairs that he would give
Jason a call later, before getting back into the car for the short ride
home.
Comments about the above story can be made on the
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email me at gym@softhome.net
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