Alex's New Life: Next Generation Chapter 8
Time for another trip to the farm. Anybody figured out what Danny's up to yet? You know to donate by now but here's the link again https://donate.nifty.org/
Chapter 8
\\\ Ben ///
"Hey Ben! Where ya going?" I heard Danny's voice call out behind me as I was trying to untangle my bike from the junk in the garage.
"Oh...hey, I was just heading out to see Lucas."
"Oh cool, I'll get my bike and come with you." Shit!! I really didn't want him tagging along so I really needed to get out of here before he came back, if only I could get this GODDAMN HOSEPIPE OFF MY BIKE!! By the time I won the battle Danny was already waiting at the end of the driveway.
"Hey, do you mind if I go alone? I err...need to talk to him about erm... Sammie's birthday present." I said as I joined him.
"Their birthday was 4 months ago." Grrr!! Fucking little know it all!!
"Uh...yeah but I never got her anything so...y'know, better late than never?" Note to self, practice lying. Danny suddenly looked around, checking to see if anyone was nearby then leaned in closer to me.
"Is this about the whole super strength thing?" He whispered and my eyes suddenly went wide.
"What? No of course not!! Wait, how do you know about that?" A big smile spread across his face as I was beginning to suspect Tom was right about him being Batman.
"I'll tell you on the way." He said and started to ride off. I stood there stunned for another few seconds before jetting off after him.
"How long have you known?" I asked as I finally caught up to him.
"About five years." He replied, nearly causing me to fall off my bike in shock.
"You've known about this since before you met me?"
"Yup." He answered plainly and then told the story. "I was visiting my grandparents in Amberswood the week your dad opened the new shop there and he had two huge guys with him; one dressed as Batman and the other as Captain America so I couldn't tell who they were under the masks. I didn't go to the opening itself but I hung around enough to see if I could see them without their masks on as I was sure your dad had hired some famous bodybuilders or something. After a while things quieted down and the two guys went back into the shop but never came back out again. Later on though I saw two slightly smaller guys leaving with a bag each and one was carrying what looked like the shield in a protective case. I followed them discreetly and saw them get into a car and drive away, only I knew I'd seen that car around Emberville before so when I got home I went to look for it."
"So how do you know they were the same guys?" I asked.
"Cos I'm not an idiot." He smiled back as he replied. "I tracked the car down pretty easily and I managed to sneak onto their farm a couple of times and saw them doing some freaky things like beefing up and moving insane weights around."
"So how come you never said anything to anyone?"
"It didn't seem right, I didn't know who knew besides your dad and I didn't want to ask you about it cos you always seemed to avoid Lucas, so I assumed you didn't like to be reminded about it."
"Ok, but why bring it up now?"
"Because you and Lucas seem to be ok with each other now so I figured you got over it." We finally arrived at the farm and wheeled our bikes into the courtyard to stash them by the house out of the way. We went straight to the kitchen door as no one ever used the front door, unless it was a special occasion. It was unlocked as usual so I just knocked politely even though I was already opening it and as we entered Josh came in from the main house.
"Hey guys, are you here to see Lucas or Sammie?" He asked. I kinda wished Alex had greeted us as I still found Josh to be a little intimidating with him being so much bigger than me, but he was really softly spoken which didn't seem to fit with his body.
"Errr...are they both here?" I asked nervously.
"I think Sammie's helping out at the music store today but Lucas is over in one of the barns with Alex, come on, I'll take you over." I already knew my way around the farm but I was pretty sure I knew why Josh didn't want us walking around alone. He needn't have worried though obviously as Danny already knew their secret. He led us over to the stables first to see if they were there but as he did he called out for them. "Alex! Lucas! We got company!!" After a few seconds they both came out of Alex's workshop and walked over to meet us as I smiled to myself thinking about how they'd probably had to shrink down because of Danny being here.
"Wow, twice in one week, you guys are becoming regulars around here." Alex said with a smile but something seemed strange; this was the first time I'd ever brought Danny up here so what did he mean by that? I turned to Danny who just looked a little flushed and I could see Alex looked a little guilty for saying it too.
"I thought you were coming up here alone." Lucas said but then looked a little embarrassed as he knew he'd been a bit rude to his other guest. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that, you're Danny, right?"
"Yeah...it's kinda weird that we haven't really spoken before." Danny said as he looked around the farm. "This place is huge; I've never really seen it all this close before."
"You want the guided tour?" Alex asked.
"Actually do you mind if we head up to the woods? I kinda wanted to talk to Lucas about something." I replied before Danny could answer.
"Sure go ahead, if you want some lunch when you get back you know where the food is." Alex said and we started back towards the gate. It had been a long time since I'd been to this part of their property but nothing much had changed. The road still changed to a dirt track in the same place and when the pathway split it still looked like it just went down to the left whereas the right side of it was blocked off by a couple of enormous tree trunks. The right-hand path had always been a secret that only our families knew about so Lucas started walking to the left as Danny moved off to the right.
"Are we not going this way to the clearing?" He asked and Lucas just turned to me in surprise.
"How does he..." I just shrugged my shoulders as Danny moved closer to the trunks before stopping in front of them.
"So how do we get over there then?" Danny asked. Lucas just looked from me to Danny and back again as Danny let out a sigh. "Fine, pussy way it is then." Then he started nimbly climbing over the trunks with very little effort as Lucas looked to me.
"What the fuck?" He whispered as I just shrugged again and started to climb over. Usually we didn't have to climb as Lucas or one of his dads just shoved the trunks aside, but as Lucas was trying to hide everything from Danny we had to do it the harder way. Having said that though, it's definitely much easier with all the parkour training I've been doing over the years. When we dropped down to the other side Danny stood there looking a little disappointed.
"Hmm...you decided on the pussy way then." Danny said as Lucas looked at me with more surprise on his face as I was trying not to laugh.
"Is he for real?" Lucas asked and I just gave him a coy smile while shrugging my shoulders again. I really should've told Lucas that Danny knew but I was having too much fun watching him try to hide it. As Lucas led the way I noticed Danny start to lag behind little, but when we made it to the clearing I suddenly heard him catching up.
"HEY LUCAS!!" He shouted and just as Lucas turned around Danny slammed a pretty big tree branch right into his stomach.
"ARGH!! What the fuck is wrong with you?!?!" Lucas just stood there in shock; unmoving as the branch shattered over his abdomen and I saw a big grin appear on Danny's face.
"You know most people would have fallen over in pain at that." I said and Lucas' face dropped in horror as he realised he'd been caught out. I suddenly burst out laughing as Lucas went from fear to confusion. "He knows all about your secret." I finally said when I got my breath back.
"What? You told him?"
"Nah I figured it out years ago." Danny replied and quickly told him how he'd figured it all out. "So do you prefer acting like a wimp to being strong then?"
"What?"
"Well you always look like a wimp so I assume you like it."
"Well..."
"I mean, if I could do what you could do I wouldn't want to be a wimp. Are you hoping someone will make you their bitch?"
"What the f..."
"I bet you don't even know how to act tough cos you've spent so much time acting like a fairy." I stood back and watched as Danny kept pressing his buttons and could see that Lucas was about to snap.
"OH YEAH? HOW MANY FAIRIES CAN DO THIS?" Lucas suddenly piled on a huge amount of muscle and tore the nearest tree out of the ground in one swift movement, then easily snapped it in two like a toothpick. "YOU EVER SEE TINKERBELL DO THAT?" I'll admit seeing Lucas do that was impressive and I even saw Danny take a small step back, but I couldn't help laughing at the situation.
"You know you've just done exactly what he wanted don't you?" I said as I watched Danny look proud of himself.
"You little fucker!!" Lucas suddenly grabbed Danny and held him above his head with one hand. "Which way's his house? I'm gonna launch the little bastard home!!" He had a huge grin on his face as he held Danny like a spear, ready to do exactly as he said. Danny didn't look scared at all; he actually pointed his toes and held out his arms like Superman ready for his flight.
"DO IT!!!" He yelled through his giggles. Lucas gave me a lopsided smile as I burst out laughing again at the scene in front of me.
"You're insane kid." Lucas said as he put Danny back on the ground and I couldn't help but notice the disappointment on the younger boy's face. Lucas dwindled down to a more manageable size and then looked at the cliff face in front of us. "Tell you what, how about a race to the top of there?"
"You're on!" Danny replied. There was a box hidden at the base of the cliff with climbing gear in it for us mere mortals and, even though Danny protested, I insisted that he wear a harness and let me belay him. When he was all kitted out and ready the challenge started.
"Ok, since I'm used to this wall I'll give you a five second head start." Lucas said and Danny quickly started to scramble up the wall. After the five seconds were up Lucas smiled at me, winked and then launched himself skyward. He gracefully landed at the top of the cliff and looked back down at Danny. "Looks like I win pipsqueak!"
"No fair! You should be climbing!" Danny complained, although he looked like he was enjoying horsing around like this. Lucas rolled his eyes and jumped back down beside me then launched himself onto the cliff face and dangled by one hand, which was sunk into the rock near Danny.
"Is this better?" He asked and then took off up the cliff by pounding his own handholds into the rock face. When he reached the top I felt Danny's rope go slack as Lucas grabbed it and pulled him up. I knew what was coming next so I tied myself off properly and Lucas hauled me up as well. It had been years since I had been up here to the glade but the view was still as impressive as always. Usually we came up here in the summer but it was nice to see the different colours as the autumn leaves swayed in the trees all around us. We took off our harnesses and I sat on the ground with Lucas as Danny wandered around checking the place out.
"So what's the deal with you and Nick then?" I asked Lucas.
"What d'you mean?"
"Well you barely spoke to each other all week and it's almost like neither of you wanted to be around the other. Are you avoiding him?" Before he could answer Danny's voice cut in behind us.
"No, he has a crush on Nick but keeps him at bay cos of his strength thing and Nick's staying away cos he has a crush on Lucas but doesn't want anyone to know he's gay." We both looked up at Danny in surprise as he held something out to us. "Why is there an arm up here?" Lucas took the stone arm from Danny and told him the story of how Josh made the statues for Alex to destroy when they were younger. When Danny heard that one of them was Nick's dad he took off to find the head saying something about rebuilding it. We left him to it as I had far more pressing things to talk about.
"So is what Danny said true? You like Nick?" I asked.
"Well he is kinda cute but Danny's right, I can't go out with him without telling him about me."
"So you can only go out with people who know your secret? That only leaves me and Danny then and I know we're both straight." I said, giving Lucas a lopsided smile.
"Yeah but I'm strong enough to make you both my bitches if I wanted to." Lucas replied with a wry smile. "Nah, I'm kidding. Thing is, he's spent all these years hating me because his dad hated my dads, how do I know he wouldn't go telling his dad and making our lives hell if he found out?"
"Ok, I see your point, but let's say you and another guy fell for each other without all that baggage, would you tell him?" Lucas went quiet for a long time as he contemplated the answer.
"I don't know...I'd have to see what happens at the time." He finally replied.
"So even though you and Nick could be perfect for each other you're still not going to make a move In case he actually does want to go out with you?"
"Ok, so let's say I ask him out, now we don't know he's actually gay..."
"Yes we do!" Danny called over while he was sitting a little way away trying to piece one of the stone heads together.
"Quiet you!!" Lucas called back before continuing. "Right, so he hasn't told us he's gay yet, so he's hardly likely to say yes if I asked him out is he?"
"So what you're saying is we need to get him out of the closet? Or get him to ask you out. But if he did would you say yes or knock him back because of your secret?"
"Argh!! Why is this so complicated?" Lucas sighed in frustration as he lay flat on his back looking up at the sky.
"Hey check this out; I think I found all the pieces." Danny called out. We went over to take a look and for the first time I saw Nick's dad in 3D, although only in stone form. Danny was being careful with the head as the pieces weren't stuck together and you could still see cracks and chips in it from where it had been shattered. When he was happy it wasn't going to fall apart he took his phone out and started taking pictures of it for `research' as he called it. I still hadn't figured out what he'd been researching all week but I knew he'd tell us when he was ready so I didn't bother asking.
"Come on, I'm getting hungry and we need to figure out our next move. I reckon this little shit can come up with some devious ways to make everything work out." I said, nodding at Danny as he climbed back into his harness.