Blood Sport

Blood Sport By James

Disclaimer

This is a fictional story that contains sexual/romantic situations between teenaged boys. This story will also at times contain issues dealing with Ableism, Racism, Rape, Anti-LGBT Bigotry and Suicide. If you're not of the legal age to read this type of story, or if you're disturbed by such material than don't read any further.

Please remember to donate to Nifty, as it's your donations that keep this and other stories and material on the site free to the public.

Thanks to my editor K. for their work on this story. I really appreciate the help you give me with making sure this story can be the best and is without errors. Thank you.

Finally, if you like this story and haven't done this already, sneak into my E-mail address jamesheady1985@gmail.com house while they're still asleep. Replace their deadbolt locks on their front and back doors with the kind that lock with a key both on the outside and inside. Once done, leave and lock the door behind you without leaving a key for them to use.

Summary

For Joshua Gibson, life has been hard since the day he was born. Diagnosed with Autism at almost two years old, his parents do little to help him. Believing that his Autism is something that's a problem, they do various things to make him feel unaccepted, as well as if it's his fault how he is.

With Joshua being Autistic, he has the typical characteristics of the disorder, a couple of them being problems with certain lights, sounds and tactile sensations. Though Joshua is book smart in certain areas, he still has a child-like view of the world as well as an inability to know when people mean to do him harm.

It's within this context that Joshua's world is destroyed one night when he's betrayed by the guy he thought was his boyfriend, along with the other guys in their friend group. This night culminates in Joshua having to start a new life.

Daniel Evans, Danny to his friends and family, on the other hand is leading what appears to be a truly amazing life. He has his single mother, his sister and a friend of the family who's part mentor, part uncle and part father. That last part is especially true since Danny and his sister's father walked out on them when Danny was 11 and his sister was nine years old. Though their father wasn't a very good one right from the start, this event deeply impacts everyone, especially Danny. He takes on almost adult-like levels of responsibility that on the surface, appear to be something which should be admired.

Danny's mother, sister and family friend are deeply proud of him, but underneath Danny is torn apart. Struggling greatly with his mental health, as well as with trying to accept himself as gay, Danny is just barely holding on.

When the worlds of these two boys come together, it'll only be at that point when everyone will see if things will turn out well for the two of them going forward. Will they be able to connect with each other, given their respective challenges? Will Joshua be able to trust Danny to let him in? Will Danny be strong enough to take a chance on loving Joshua? Find out in Blood Sport.

Blood Sport

Prologue

Case File Notes on Joshua Gibson

05/01/2023

"The patient is Joshua Gibson. Joshua is 14 years old, and presented to my office today with a marked trembling in both hands. When offering him a chance to sit across from me, patient refused for the first ten minutes of the session. Patient seems fearful, and spent the above-documented first ten minutes walking around the office looking at everything I had, but not touching any of the objects. When asking Joshua how he found out about me and my practice, patient states that he was given a contact card by someone he met on a bench near a restaurant the previous week before. Patient states that he came to see me, because he needs someone to talk to. Patient went on to state that he doesn't have the friends he recently had, and he feels like he doesn't know how to deal with being alone as he states that he is now.

Patient is dressed in clothes which appear to be unwashed, and though his hair is combed, patient appears not to have showered possibly within the last few days. Patient also appears to be extremely exhausted.

After the first ten minutes, patient sat across from me, but sat perched on the edge of the couch. When asking him if he would feel more comfortable sitting back and relaxing, patient stated that he couldn't relax. Patient has several bruises on his arms, face and a large lump on the left side of his forehead. When asking him about it at one point, Joshua stated that he couldn't talk about it, and when I asked a couple of supplementary questions, he grew more agitated, and began rocking back and forth with his fists clenched. When I reassured him that we didn't have to talk about it, he relaxed, but still continued to appear agitated.

05/10/2023

Meeting with Joshua Gibson for the second time, and he seemed scared as we began our time together. After a few minutes of him sitting across from me, he asked if I knew anyone who was bad or evil. I stated that I knew people at certain points who did bad things. Josh then stated that he knew a lot of bad people, and he went on to state that he wished he could be away from them. I asked him if he wanted to talk about who they were, and he paused for a long moment before moving over to where I sat. Patient sat beside me, and I waited to see if he would say anything further. He stated that his parents weren't always nice to him.

I waited for a moment, and Joshua stated that they were always yelling at him for even the smallest of things. He went on to state that sometimes they would yell at him for spilling a drink which he would state were accidents. Joshua has also stated that he has Autism, and while I learned this from his information once looking up his medical records, Joshua went into a little more detail during the session.

Joshua states that sirens and other various loud noises scare him. Joshua also states that certain lights bother him severely. When I asked if he felt comfortable to talk more about that, patient refused and spent the rest of the session drawing on a pad of paper I keep in the office.

05/17/2023

The patient is Joshua Gibson. Today I met with him, and he stated the actual reason for which he originally came to see me. Upon hearing what he had to tell me, I informed him that due to the violent nature of the incident I was required by law to report what I knew. Joshua stated that he was afraid that he would be in trouble. Upon spending several minutes assuring him that nothing would happen to him, patient stated that he would feel comfortable with me calling the police. I'll be reporting my findings to the Sangger Police, and will also be reaching out to Social Services in order to remove Joshua Gibson from his current living situation. Additional calls will be made to secure placement of patient into a living environment that will better meet his emotional, physical and disability needs.

Garry Carson M.D.

One Month After Birth

The screams of the neglected infant filled the bedroom. The house was trashed as usual, and the parents were in the living room attending to their financial matters. The mother was balancing the checkbook while the father did the same with the savings passbook. While that was going on, the baby continued to lay in his crib screaming and screaming. They ignored him like they had been because the two parents believed that he just needed to cry it out of his system. It worked for them, so why couldn't it work the same for him?

In the baby's bedroom, he continued to lay in a completely soiled diaper. A bottle of curdled milk lay by his side, and he continued to push it away, deeply nauseated by its smell. What was further disturbing the boy most of all though were the rustling sounds coming from within the walls. He didn't know what they were, and this only heightened his fear. There were more rustling sounds now, and they were coming from the wall to his right. The boy's crib sat just a few inches from the wall, and he turned his head to look in the direction of those sounds.

It sounded as if something was crawling around in the walls, and now there were several squeaking noises along with several scratching sounds. The baby screamed louder and louder, and the noises got more and more frantic.

The baby was named Joshua Gibson, though between him and his parents, his usual name was more likely to be Brat or Screaming Little Bastard.

"Shut the fuck up now!" the mother screamed as she burst into the baby's room. "I'll fucking give you something to cry about you screeching little Bastard!"

After replacing his bottle and diaper, Mrs. Gibson practically tossed the boy back into his crib. He hoped that she wouldn't go, but she did. It was almost night at this point, and now the noises within the walls were more urgent. The boy still didn't know what they meant, but he somehow understood that something horrible was within that wall, something that meant him harm.

Returning to the living room, Mrs. Gibson sat back down, and continued making entries in the checkbook registry.

"Fucking Christ!" Mr. Gibson shouted. "What's that mush-brain Retard still screaming about! You changed his god-damn diaper and bottle, didn't you?"

"That's just what I got through doing," she yelled over the increasing volume of the boy's screaming and crying.

"Then what's his fucking problem now!" Mr. Gibson shouted even louder.

"I don't fucking know!" she shot back. "I did hear a couple of sounds coming from the wall near his crib. Probably a couple of rats trying to get in."

"What the fuck," he replied dismissively. "It's not like they're going to get in or anything like that."

"Whatever, let's just get these bank books balanced so we can go out with Marsha and Phil," she answered.

"Works for me," he said. "I'll call the nanny to come and watch the little brat."

"Good. Maybe while you're at it you can call Doug to come over and put more rat traps in the basement," she said. "We live in a mansion, but you sometimes wouldn't know it because of having to deal with those little Mother Fuckers constantly getting in."

"I'll take care of it," he answered.

"Good," she shot back.

Once Sally the nanny arrived, she told them she would look after the baby. The two parents left, and she sat down in the living room. It was a huge living room with three couches, two recliners and a rather impressive entertainment stand towards the back of the room. The whole house was really nice, it was just when one considered the rat problem, then the house didn't seem so charming after all.

Back in the now darkened bedroom, Joshua heard the sounds within the wall. There were more scratching sounds, along with several cracking sounds as if a creature was biting into something. Looking over to his right, the baby saw a hole begin to form in the wall, and it widened even more. He screamed as loud as he could, and this brought in Sally right away. She saw what was happening and she moved the boy's crib into the living room. After closing the door to the boy's bedroom, Sally returned to sit back down on the couch.

Two Years Later

"It's official," Dr. Sanders said, sitting down behind his desk. "Your son Joshua has Autism."

Mr. and Mrs. Gibson looked at each other, then back at Dr. Sanders.

"You're sure?" Mrs. Gibson asked.

For most of the last year, Josh had failed to begin making eye contact, as well as not engaging in the typical play of a child his age. He would just sit, putting his toys in an orderly row, and repeating this process over and over. He also hadn't spoken his first words yet, and it was at that point that they decided to get him tested to see what was going on. Autism had been right at the top of the list, and had the doctor known of the neglectful nature of the boy's home life, then he might have run other tests to see if anything else was at work in addition to the Autism.

Shortly after Joshua was born, he and his parents had to move into a slightly smaller house since the other one had been too over-run with rats. On the one night that Mrs. Gibson had asked Sally to come over and babysit Josh, it had been the second time they asked her to watch their son. On that particular evening, almost an hour went by until Sally had to call the Gibsons letting them know that she had to move Josh's crib into the living room. She went on to explain that she heard Josh screaming in his bedroom. When she came into the boy's room, she saw that a hole in the wall near his crib was forming and getting bigger. She could then see something beginning to push through it.

It was at that point that they began looking for another place to live. The house they found was what most people would consider a McMansion. Mr. and Mrs. Gibson both hated it, and wished they could have found another mansion that could have been even bigger than the one they just left. At that point, they both took out their rage and frustrations on Joshua. Now, finding out that he had Autism only added to their rage.

"Oh good, Autism," Mrs. Gibson said spitefully. "That's just great. It's not enough that this kid cries constantly, and won't play like normal kids. Now he's going to be retarded, and while we're trying to enjoy outings with our well-behaved friends, he'll be sitting at the end of the table rocking, laughing or flapping his hands like a god-damn retard. Oh, how lovely this all is."

"Well, there are therapies we can try that can make sure that he's as normal as possible," Dr. Sanders said. "Have you heard of what's called Applied Behavior Analysis?"

"I don't think so," Mr. Gibson answered.

"Neither have I," Mrs. Gibson added.

"It's a set of therapies that teach kids with Autism how to properly socialize with others. It teaches them how to make proper eye contact, how to follow directions and to act appropriately in virtually all social situations. It'll also help with Josh not doing any of the things you referred to a moment ago. Those of course are called stims, I mean the rocking and hand-flapping you mentioned. Those are classic stimming behaviors that many kids with Autism do, and Applied Behavior Analysis, or ABA, can help them with no longer doing those kinds of disruptive and inappropriate expressions."

"In other words, it'll make him normal," Mrs. Gibson said. "Well, almost normal. I mean, it'll make it so that he's not over-taking my life, right?"

"Correct," Dr. Sanders replied. "People in the so-called Autistic and Neurodivergent Community would like us normal people to believe that Autism is a mere neurotype that's just different than that of people who are non-neurodivergent. This of course is nonsense, and it's just a lot of self-hating people who can't accept the fact that they have a disease for which they need treatment. I think if we get Josh started with ABA Therapy right away, then he'll be a lot better off in the long-run."

"I agree," Mrs. Gibson answered.

"So do I," Mr. Gibson added.

So that's how it began, the nightmare in which Joshua Gibson was trapped. Just an endless game of blood sport for society to enjoy at his expense.

Part One

Ice Cream

Chapter One

First Meeting

You have a person in the physical sense иC they have hair, a nose and a mouth иC but they are not people in the psychological sense. One way to look at the job of helping autistic kids is to see it as a matter of constructing a person. You have the raw materials, but you have to build a person.

Ivar Lovaas

Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky The Brothers Karamazov

"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

Maya Angelou

Daniel Evans

The last of the flyers came out of the printer, and fell into the tray under the slot. Reaching out, I retrieved it and placed it with the others on the table. After counting them, I saw that all 100 of them were there. Going out of the office, I went down the hallway of the church, and up to the door of Pastor Braden Larson.

Braden Larson had been the pastor of the church I had attended since I was almost seven years old. My mom and dad would sometimes go, but I always enjoyed going. It was usually Kelven, who was a really close family friend, who would take me when my parents couldn't. Mostly when they couldn't was a lot of the time, seeing as how they rarely went as I mentioned a moment ago.

The church of which I was a member was LGBT-accepting as well as affirming of said group. I would be glad for that later, but I don't want to get ahead of myself for now.

What drew me to church that Wednesday evening was Youth Group which was at 6:00 P.M., and it ended around 7:30 P.M. I offered to stay afterward to help with the flyers for the event happening that up-coming Friday evening. It was an ice cream social, and when Braden told us about it last Wednesday evening at Youth Group, I immediately agreed to help with setting it up.

Once Braden wrote up a list of the ice creams we would need, I worked on getting the various shops interested in donating said dessert to our church. There are about seven different ice cream shops here in Sangger, and four are in the same area as is the church. I even went across town to a few other shops, careful to stay out of the dangerous areas of the city. Even then, Mom agreed to let me visit these last three shops, but only if Kelven drove me. Once I agreed, and got Kelven's okay to drive, it was settled.

Once organized, I visited the shops on Thursday and Friday. It was good that I had little homework those two days, and I was able to get it all done in Study Hall earlier in the day. It took about an hour to visit the shops close to the church on Thursday, then over an hour to visit the last three on Friday. Fortunately though, all agreed to donate ice cream, and I thanked all of them for their time. I then texted Braden, letting him know that it was a go.

During that weekend, Braden got in touch with all of the shops, and by Monday of this current week, he had several trucks drop off the shipments. They would be more than enough, and so the only thing left was to print off the flyers inviting everyone to come. I figured lots of people would.

The ice cream social was an event we did every year. Braden started it about three years ago, and his idea was for it to be something the kids could attend so they'd have a nice and safe place to go. He was really big about making sure kids didn't fall into gang activity, and he also wanted there to be a place kids could go to as a respite from chaotic and dysfunctional home lives.

Although the kids at the church attended it, it was open to the public. We got lots of people who were non-members of the church, and it was really nice to see people join us for the evening, even if they weren't members of the church. Even then, Braden and I thought of them as family even if it wasn't on paper.

As I neared Braden's closed office door, I knocked. I listened for a moment, and I could hear him talking to someone on the phone. He hung up, then called out for who ever it was to come in. I entered, then closed the door behind me.

"Hey Danny, it's good to see you again," he said coming from behind his desk to take the stack of flyers from my out-stretched hand.

"Thanks, good to see you again too," I replied. I think we're going to have another really good turn-out this year. I've been telling my friends at school about the event, and they're all excited to come. There's also several other kids at the school who I know mainly from the Track team. They talked about coming, so hopefully they will."

"If they do, that would be really nice," Braden said as he began copying the flyers.

The copier ran as I sat down across from Braden's empty desk chair. Neither of us spoke while the machine ran. It wasn't loud by any means, but I was just sitting there enjoying the moment of being off my feet. Braden was texting on his phone as the copier finished the last of the pages.

Placing his phone on the desk after sending the text, Braden took the pages from the tray, then loaded more paper into the machine. He then copied off another stack of flyers.

After a final stack was copied, he took them down to Shelly who was his secretary. She would get them sent out early the next morning all throughout the city, and then all that would be left was to have people show up.

As I waited for Braden to return, I texted my mom. It was almost 8:30 P.M., and with it being a school night I had to be home by 9:30 P.M. I was glad to see that I had finished everything well before that time. I then let her know that I was ready to come back home if she was ready to pick me up.

It was dark out at that point, and had been so for the last two hours. October was upon us, and it was almost the end of the month. The weather was cold enough by this time so that the weather man was calling for snow that evening. I hoped it would wait until we were all back home before snowing if that's what would happen. I liked being inside when snow was falling, and didn't really like riding out on the road when it was snowing. I never really had. I think it was just because of how easily the snow could cover up the road and make things difficult to see, especially the line going down the middle of the highway.

My mom texted back, letting me know that she would be there soon. Putting down my phone, I looked up at Braden who was across from me behind his desk. He was in the process of shutting down his laptop for the night.

"I can imagine it's nice to have that powered off for the evening," I said.

"It definitely is," Braden said in agreement. "It's time for me to go home and enjoy sitting by the fire with a book for a few hours."

"That does sound really nice," I answered.

"Yes," he said. "I wanted to thank you again for staying to help with getting the flyers printed off. Also, thank you for all the help you gave over the last few days with organizing. I really do appreciate it."

"You're welcome," I said. "I really was happy to help, and I had a lot of fun with helping to organize everything. This church has always felt like a second family to me."

"I can tell that that's how you've felt in all the years you've come here," Braden said. "I know attending services here as well as helping out with the various activities meant a lot to you. I know you really enjoyed them, especially as things continued to be chaotic in your home life."

"You're absolutely right about that," I responded.

"Yeah, and I can only imagine how hard it's been living at home over the years, especially everything leading up to your dad walking out on you guys."

"All of that really was hard, and him leaving was even more painful," I said.

I felt the old anger, hurt and even a stronger emotion heat up inside me. It took a moment for me to realize what that third feeling was. It had been flaring up a lot within the last year, but it took me until now to finally understand what it was. Hate.

I'll only say now, that while mine and my sister's father wasn't a good father by any means, when he walked out on us, that was when I began to understand that I'd never have his love and support. That truly hurt a lot, but I didn't know that at the time. I was only 11 when he walked out in the middle of a shouting match, a fight between him and our mom. Long story short, it was bad, but I'll go into it more later.

The bottom line though was that losing our father the way we did left my sister and I hurt, feeling alone and like we had caused what had happened. For my sister, she wondered if him leaving was because of her being disabled, and mine was for different reasons. It all came down to the same in the end though, and we both struggled to make something resembling a new life for ourselves. Our mom did the best she could to be supportive, and also be there for us.

I would go on to do extremely well in school, and even stay up well past my bedtime to get reports done for various different classes. I would also study for several hours each night, and though this brought in good grades, I wasn't aware at the time the cost to myself. I would be soon though.

So, you can probably see why Braden and the church which he served were so important to me. I was really close with Braden, about as much as I was with Kelven, but not in the same way. For Kelven and I, we were like older and younger brother with him acting as an older brother type, and a really good friend. For Braden, he was the guy I would come to when dealing with more deep and existential matters along with certain religious situations. Both of them helped me in the ways I needed them to, and that was something for which I was truly grateful.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard footsteps nearing the office door. Getting up out of my chair, I went to the door opening it. My mom stopped, and we greeted each other. Stepping into the office, she said hi to Braden, then sat down for a moment. I reclaimed my chair, and filled her in on how everything went.

"I'm so happy that things went well," she said. "So, when's the big day for the event?"

"It'll be this up-coming Friday," Braden said. "It'll be starting at 6:30 P.M., so that should give everyone enough time to have dinner taken care of. That is for those who eat early."

"That sounds good," my mom said.

"It'll be over by 9:00 P.M., so by then everyone should be in enough of a food coma so that they'll sleep through the night, especially the kids," Braden went on.

"I don't know about that," I said. "There are a couple of my friends who bounce off the walls when they indulge in more heavy sweets like ice cream. Just look at my friend Jason. Give him ice cream, and he's up almost all night."

"Yeah," my mom said laughing. "Good thing we give it to him only on weekends."

"Definitely," I replied.

My mom's name is Jennifer Evans, and she worked at one of the restaurants in Sangger. It was a small cafиж that was about 20 minutes away from our house, and she had been working there since the time our dad left. Before that, she had been working as a teller at one of the banks. Sometimes she would have to work late during that first job, so she decided to take the restaurant job, as they were good about her being able to be home in the afternoon and evenings with my sister and I.

My sister's name was Martha, and she was 11 at this time. I was 15, and would be getting my license soon. I would be 16 at the end of December, and Martha would be 12 in February.

When people saw my sister and I out at different places, they were amazed at how much we looked alike even though we weren't twins. We both have dark-brown hair, but I have deep-blue eyes while Martha has light-green eyes like our father. I clearly got my blue eyes from our mom.

As for the rest of my physical description, I stand about 6-3 and am around 170 LBs with much of it being muscle. I also keep my face clean-shaven, and learned to shave when Kelven taught me. This was when I was 14, and began growing facial hair. I was already growing a lot of body hair, not just between my legs, but on my arms, and under them. I began starting puberty when I was 12, and it came on really fast. The facial hair was the last to appear with all the other physical and vocal changes coming before. It was exciting, but also kind of a scary time when all that was happening. At least that's what I thought back then. I confided this to Kelven, and he told me he understood. I was glad he did.

While I was changing, I was getting a lot of looks from various girls at school, and when I was out in the community doing different things. I also got several shy looks from a few boys, and at the time that really bothered me. It touched upon what I didn't want to think about, and I worked extremely hard to put it out of my mind when I'd see them staring at me!

In short, going through the larger part of puberty felt intense, and brought up a lot of emotions I was trying to process and deal with. I was at a better place at this point in time, but it took a lot to get there.

My mom and Braden finished their conversation, which was them planning what time I could show up. I agreed to come around 5:30 P.M. on Friday to make sure everything was where it needed to be. Once we had that set, we all three said goodbye to one another. Exiting Braden's office, my mom and I left the church and got in the car to return home. I was glad that Kelven was available to watch Martha when our mom left to pick me up.

0000

Joshua Gibson

On that same Wednesday night, a car pulled into the garage. The garage was attached to the right side of the house, and in back of the house there were woods as far as the eye could see, and more even further back. The house was in the country, and everything was peaceful all around. Once the garage door finished its descent downward, Kate Edwards exited the vehicle. After making sure the car was locked, she entered the house through the door that was on her left immediately as she got out of the car. It was well after 9:00 P.M., and she had to work late that evening. Normally she was able to be off around 4:00 P.M., but things were running late at the hospital.

Kate worked as a nurse at Sangger University Hospital, and she had been there for almost eight years now. She loved the job, though it could get exhausting, particularly on days like this one. She was glad to be home, and she only wished though that she didn't have to be away from her son Josh for as long as she had been. Fortunately, her oldest son Connor was home, so he watched over Josh for the last few hours.

Entering the kitchen, Kate quietly placed her bag down on the kitchen table, then checked to make sure the front and back doors were locked. She heard the TV playing softly in the living room, and had an idea that Connor was the one in there. He had on a sports game, but was probably using it as background noise as he texted non-stop on his phone. Entering the living room, she saw that Connor had just put down his phone, and he stood up to greet her,

"Hi Mom, it's good to have you home," he said as they hugged.

"Thanks, and I'm really glad to be home," she answered.

Separating, they went into the kitchen where Connor let her know that everything went really well that evening as he and Josh hung out.

"I ordered pizza earlier," Connor said as he got it out to heat some up for Kate. "As you probably can guess, Josh was really pleased and so I'm a big hit with him as usual."

"I figured that," she said as she took the plate to the kitchen table. She got out a Coke, and placed it above the plate then excused herself to go back to Josh's room. She could picture him in his bed, right arm curled around his stuffed dog, and a few other stuffed animals beside him.

Now standing in the doorway of his room, she could see Josh under the covers on his right side, arm curled around the previously mentioned stuffed dog. Looking around the room in the dim light, Kate took in the right side of the room with it's bookshelves, the first two levels of which held various Science-Fiction and Fantasy novels. The two lower levels held various books related to Science and Medicine. The last row had books pertaining to art, with many of the books containing large photos of different nature paintings.

Beside the bookshelf, there was a computer desk on which sat a laptop, a set of speakers to which was connected a music player and to the left of the desk was Josh's dresser. The bed was across from all this with the right side pushed up against the wall so that if you were laying on it, you'd be facing the desk. It would have been a good angle to face had there been a TV on the desk. If one sat on the edge of the bed, they'd be facing two large chairs side-by-side. A bedside table stood next to the bed, and to the right when walking into the room, there was a full bathroom, complete with bathtub/shower and a toilet along with a sink.

Kate stepped further into the room and gently sat down on the edge of Josh's bed turning so she could face him. She saw that he was asleep, and she reached out to tenderly stroke his hair. At that point, he awoke, and opened his eyes.

"It's just me," she said softly.

"What time is it?" he asked rubbing his eyes, and looking up at her.

"It's almost 9:30 P.M.," she answered. "I'm sorry I had to work late, and we'll be able to have the whole evening with each other tomorrow night though."

"That's alright," Josh answered sitting up as he shared a hug with Kate. "Connor and I had a good time hanging out together tonight. I'm glad you'll be off tomorrow evening though."

"Me too," she answered.

Josh lay back down, and remained on his back for a moment.

"Oh, and that reminds me," Kate began. "There's a flyer I got at work today. It's for an ice cream social that's being held at a church in town. It's going to be this up-coming Friday, the day after tomorrow. What would you think of going to it?"

"I'd really love that!" Josh said smiling, and sitting up.

He hugged Kate, and she held him for a long moment.

"Okay, I'll put it on the calendar, and we'll go when it comes time," she said. "I'll see if Connor would like to join us."

"That would be really nice if he went with us," Josh said lying back down."

"It really would," Kate answered in agreement.

She then said goodnight to Josh, and kissed him on the cheek as his eyes closed and he went back to sleep. She then sat there as he slept, just watching him. As Kate sat there, she couldn't believe that it had only been since the end of August of 2023 that Josh had been living with her. When she saw him, she had immediately loved him. The connection was immediate, and she knew that she had wanted him to be in her life for always.

Kate reached out gently stroking Josh's hair as he continued sleeping. She then thought about how he had come to live at the place where she first met him. She still couldn't believe what he had been put through, and it scared her. She was just glad that he was with her and Connor now, and she was working hard every day to provide the best life for Josh that she could.

Standing up after another moment, Kate leaned down gently kissing Josh on the forehead then exiting his room. She gently closed the door behind her then reheated her dinner once back in the kitchen.

0000

Danny

The day was finally here! It seemed like it wouldn't ever come, and classes dragged by that Friday. It seemed as if it might rain earlier in the morning. I also struggled to stay awake in the last two classes the first of which was Government, and the last one was Math. I disliked both, and Math was one which was so time-consuming that I had to struggle not to down 50 pots of coffee in order to stay awake.

Eventually the bell rang, and Jason closed his note book and I just as quickly closed mine. Following me out of the class room, Jason stood beside me as I took my bag out of my locker then shut and locked it. Falling into step with him, I walked with him to his own locker which was four doors down from mine.

"I'm so glad this day is done!" Jason said as he shut then locked his locker. "I've been looking forward to this ice cream event since you told me about it a few days ago!"

"I figured you would be," I said as we exited the building. "Oh, and I don't think I told you yet, but we have Cookies and Cream that will be there. I know that's your favorite."

"You didn't, but I was hoping that you'd have some there," he answered. "That's you of course, always thinking of your friends as well as your family."

"Thanks," I said putting a hand on his shoulder as we neared my house.

"You're welcome," he said. "I mean it, too. You and I have been best friends since we were like in the second grade. You've looked out for me from almost Day One, and still do."

"I'm always happy to be there for you," I said. "Of course, you're saying that especially because of me including your favorite ice cream flavor on the list for tonight."

We laughed, then he looked at me.

"That too, but still, I always appreciate it."

"Yeah, always," I responded as we stepped up to the front door of my house.

Unlocking then opening the door, I stepped aside, letting Jason enter first. Mom and Martha were at the kitchen table, and I saw Martha's Math workbook opened, and a notebook beside it. Martha looked up from her book, and I knew that she was as annoyed with the subject as I had been earlier that day.

Stepping around to where she sat, I hugged her and she hugged back.

"How are you?" I asked.

"I'm good," she answered. "And you?"

"I'm glad to be finished with school for the weekend," I said.

Martha had a slight slurred quality to her voice due to her neurological issues. I could still understand her, and I knew others could as well if they really tried. Martha didn't have a single diagnosis, but it was a certain degree of brain damage due to an infection she caught while still in the womb. It caused the damage to the centers of her brain dealing with motor skills meaning that she couldn't walk, and it also caused problems with the areas of her brain that dealt with speech. Hence the speech difficulties she had.

After saying hi to our mom and Martha, Jason sat down with a Coke, and I went into my room to put away my school stuff. Returning to the kitchen, I got a Coke for myself then sat down at the kitchen table to see how our mom was doing.

"So, are you guys looking forward to your mom-and-daughter time this evening while I'm gone?" I asked.

"Yeah," Martha said.

"It'll be nice," Mom said. "We'll be ordering pizza and bread sticks."

"That sounds good," I said.

"It really does," she replied.

"It'll be even nicer that we won't have to be entertained by your Metal music and you and Kelven's never-ending talk about it," Martha said looking at me and smirking.

"That's kind of harsh," Mom said smiling, and trying to sound authoritative.

"Oh come on," I said, smiling myself now. "It's not that bad. Besides, Mom should be glad that I don't dress like some of the more extreme artists like Dead from Mayhem. Oh, and there's the fact that my friends and I don't burn churches or stab our band mates to death."

"What a lovely image," Mom said laughing.

"I don't know about you Danny," Martha said laughing herself now.

"Well, you like some of the stuff by Nightwish I played for you, so that's good," I went on finishing the last of my Coke.

"I do like them," Martha said in agreement.

"Anyway, I'm sure I'll have a good time," I said. "I'm sure the two of you will also. Oh, and I wanted to remind you that Kelven will be taking me over a little after 5:00 P.M."

"I remember," Mom answered.

Jason would be going back home for a bit before meeting us there. He wanted to help fix dinner with his family so they wouldn't have to worry about it. He left, and I went to get the little bit of homework out of the way for that Friday. By the time I finished, it was almost 4:40 P.M. I closed my books and powered down my laptop, then put everything away, save for the computer. I went out into the kitchen to see if anyone needed any help, then went out to check the mail.

As I closed the mailbox, I heard a car drive up in the driveway. Metal music played loudly from the opened driver's side window, and I recognized it as something by the Metal group Manegarm.

Lifting my hand to the car, I waved then went into the house, making sure to leave the door unlocked. It was Kelven, and we always made sure that the door was unlocked for him when we knew he would be coming over. I put the mail down on the kitchen table where Martha sat drinking some hot apple cider since she was finally finished with her math homework. Mom sat down with a glass of her own.

"Yes, I heard the wonderful music from Kelven's car," Mom said laughing.

"That was something by Manegarm," I said. "They're a Metal band from Sweden. They're even better when they get to the singing parts of their songs."

"So, they can actually sing," Martha said smirking at me.

"Keep teasing me about my love of Metal, and I'll be sure to infest your room with 20 colonies of little brown bats," I said laughing. "It'll be an early Christmas present."

"No you won't," she shot back laughing. "Why Brown Bats specifically?"

"Because of how small they are," I replied. "They can get in the smallest of spaces. Did you know that?"

I was attempting an over-serious look and tone as I said that last part.

"Okay, no one is infesting anyone's room with anything," Mom said laughing.

Kelven closed the door as he entered the house greeting us all.

"Who's going to do what to who's room?" he asked.

"Just Danny and Martha doing their usual verbal sparring about Danny's love of Metal. At least you didn't turn him on to anything worse than that."

"You're welcome," Kelven said as she got up from the table, and he took her seat.

We talked for a few more minutes, then it was 5:00 P.M. I got up then after saying goodbye to Martha and our mom. Kelven and I got in the car and pulled out of the driveway.

"Thanks for driving me," I said as we rode down the highway.

"You're welcome," Kelven answered. "I'm always happy to do it.

We continued to ride along as the album Vargstenen by Manegarm played. I was really glad to be there beside Kelven who was basically the big brother I never had. It was always really nice spending time with him, and we would definitely be spending more time together that weekend.

The social was going along really well. I had been there for about 20 minutes greeting everyone, as well as helping Braden make sure that all the ice cream was there, and that everyone had what they wanted. Jason was good enough to help out, and once that was taken care of, I got a bowl of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and sat down at a table near where the church was. Jason sat down across from me with a bowl of Butter Pecan. Kelven had gone off to talk to a couple of guys he knew at the church. They would get together from time to time to work on various construction projects, and he mentioned wanting to talk with them sometime that weekend about if they had any projects they needed help with in the coming days. Sometimes they would talk for a long time once together.

"Yeah, I know," he said gathering up a spoon full of the dessert. "It's not your favorite."

"That's an under-statement," I shot back laughing.

"Right, I forgot. You don't like nuts in your ice cream," he replied.

"That's right," I answered. "That shouldn't even be a thing."

He laughed, then smirked the way he did when getting ready to say something either inappropriate or out-right offensive.

"No, don't even start," I said laughing harder. "I don't know what you're going to say, but I can only imagine that it's going to be something dirty."

"I was just going to say that you wouldn't be so disgusted by nuts in your ice cream if they were from the right guy," he said ,then started laughing hard as if he had came up with the world's most funniest joke in centuries.

"We really need to think about getting you a Lobotomy, and soon," I shot back as we both laughed. "I can't take you anywhere."

"I know, you're not into finding the one yet," he said serious now.

"Not any time soon at all," I answered. "I really do want to concentrate on school and work on finding out what else I want to do with my life. I at least know that I want to finish school and go to college to get a degree in counseling. I want to be able to help LGBT people who've had to deal with trauma in their pasts, or who are still dealing with traumatic issues. Well, you know all that. Still though, that's what I'm focused on for now. Trying to navigate a relationship would just make things difficult at this point in time. So, it'll be a long time before I ever find that special someone."

Finishing my ice cream, I stood up and looked straight ahead. The plan was to go over to the trash can and throw away my bowl and spoon before getting clean ones. It was at that moment though that I saw him, and what I had just said to Jason went right out of my brain.

He was standing with a guy who looked a few years older than him. The guy was reading off the ice cream flavors to him, and I stood there as if time stopped. He was short, probably about only 5-1, and a little chubby. He had a smooth face, milky-white skin and thick black hair. He also had deep-brown eyes that I could have gotten lost in! In short, he was beautiful! I hadn't ever seen anyone like him before, and the pull towards him was like nothing I had ever felt before in my entire life!

I had to give my head a hard shake to bring myself back to where I was. Jason was looking at me and he smiled.

"No plans for a boyfriend anytime soon huh," he said.

"Uh, I'll be back in a moment," I said feeling my face flush really hard.

Going over to the trash can, I threw away my trash, then turned left to where the man and the boy stood as they discussed the ice cream flavors they wanted. I stepped up to where they were, and I waited until the boy told the man what he wanted.

"Uh, hi," I stammered. "Uh, I, I'm D,D, Danny. I'm here helping out tonight, and if there's anything you need just let either the pastor Braden, or myself know."

"Damn, I must sound like the biggest idiot ever," I thought in my head.

"Hi," the boy said softly with his eyes everted from mine. He did take my hand though and we shook. "I'm Josh."

He said that last part just as softly, and he then lifted his head and looked at me quickly before taking his eyes away once again."

His hand still held mine, and his grip seemed to get a little tighter which seemed out of place with his almost closed-off demeaner. I continued holding his hand, and our eyes met once again with his looking into mine a little longer this time. Time seemed to stand still once again, and I was more than happy to stand there with him like that all night!

Author's Notes

I hope everyone really likes this chapter, and this new story. I had come up with the idea for this story back a few months ago, and it wasn't too long after that when it all started really taking shape in my mind.

In the next chapter, you'll get to see how things go with Josh and Danny as they start getting to know each other that Friday evening. Clearly, Danny is attracted to Josh, and you'll have to wait to see how Josh handles that.

All that being said, I hope you guys are having a good evening, and are doing well. I'll see you all in Chapter Two.