Part 3 of the story of D'n'M, just like Parts 1 and 2, includes sex between teenage boys, some of it non-consensual. As before, it is the characters themselves and how they react to events that are key to whatever success the story achieves.
All the characters and events in the story are fictitious. Any resemblance to real people, either living or dead, is entirely unintentional.
The story is copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any way without the express permission of the author who can be contacted at:
pjalexander1753@gmail.com
PJ
D'n'M Part 3
From Chapter 17:
"That's awesome. Congratulations. I told you they couldn't win without you." This was exactly the result he'd been hoping for. M was feeling positive again and it was obvious that it had a lot to do with the support of the rest of the team. Dan was convinced that knowing he was one of the guys' again, would make a huge difference to how M handled the Zephan stuff. Okay, so he needed to make the most of this up-beat moment. He could think of no way of softening the blow any further so he'd just have to go for the sticking plaster' approach -- rip it off and get the pain over with in one hit.
"So, M, the other thing I needed to tell you, it's like this ... "
Chapter 18:
Dan drew a deep breath. He was readying himself to deliver the bad news when there was a knock at the bedroom door. Before he had time to respond the door opened and Roger's face appeared.
"Hi you two, you need to come downstairs. You've got visitors."
Dan and Milo turned towards each other and shared a look of mutual puzzlement. Visitors? After dinner? On a school night? Dan's brain immediately started scanning for possible explanations for this highly unusual event and, straight away, a potentially horrific thought occurred to him. This was the sort of thing that happenrd on t.v. dramas -- everything is going along just fine when there's a knock at the door and two police officers are standing there asking to come in because they've got bad news.
"Oh shit no! It's not Tom, is it dad? Has something bad happened to him?" The blood had completely drained from his face.
"No Dan, of course not. It's nothing like you're thinking. Come downstairs, both of you, and you can find out for yourselves." Roger's voice was level and very calming so Dan's fears instantly evaporated. Milo, meanwhile, had convinced himself that his mum and Zephan were downstairs with, who knew what, vindictive purpose in mind. He didn't have the courage to ask if his fears were justified but, thankfully, one half of his mind stepped up to remind him that Mr. and Mrs. R had promised that their home was a place of safety and that they'd never let anything bad happen to him. It was at that point that he realised he'd stopped breathing. Sensibly he started again.
D'n'M followed Roger downstairs, each separately wondering who they'd see when they got to the sitting room, both laying mental bets on the most likely candidates. They each concluded it had to be people from school. Could it be the principal, Ms. Ohura? But why? And who could be with her? (Roger had referred to visitors, not visitor). Classmates were, surely, more likely than staff, but, again, who'd turn up, unannounced, on a school night? So many questions. Too many possible answers.
The pairing that greeted them when they entered the room was pretty much completely unexpected. Sitting very formally on two antique bergere armchairs (passed on to Dan's mum when her parents had down-sized several years before) were Dods and Ms. Boyeda. Who'd have guessed that combination? Definitely not Dan. Milo had begun to wonder if Dods might be one of the callers, but hadn't, not even for a nanosecond, imagined that the swimming coach would be the other. He couldn't decide whether this was an Oh wow!' or an Oh crap!' moment.
When he saw Dan and Milo enter the room Dods' face lit up. He'd clearly been finding it quite a strain sitting in a room full of, mostly, unfamiliar adults. The sight of two other teenage boys obviously helped relieve much of the tension he'd been feeling. Dan saw his mum glance at him, a questioning expression on her face and from that, Dan deduced that Dods and Ms. Boyeda hadn't yet said much about the reason for their visit. "What would you like to drink?" she asked, clearly trying to keep the curiosity out of her voice.
Dods and the swimming coach each opted for a glass of water, Dan and Milo passed. It was Dan's dad who got the conversational ball rolling while Helen was out of the room. "Your friend Dods, here, and Ms. Boyeda have come to talk to you Milo."
10 out of 10 for stating the obvious, dad,' thought Dan, tell us something we hadn't already worked out!'
Milo took a couple more steps into the room. "How did you know I was here?" he asked.
"My kid brother," replied Dods. "I told him to keep on hanging around the basketballers to see if your cousin said anything else about you. Apparently he told anyone who'd listen that you'd been thrown out from home and were living with your fa ..." His voice faltered to a stop. Partly that was because he realised, just in time, that he was about to repeat Zephan's horribly derogatory description of Dan in front of his parents, and also because he caught sight of Dan, standing a little way behind Milo, desperately shaking his head and drawing a finger across his throat in a frantic effort to get him, Dods, to shut up.
"I don't understand," said Milo. "What do you mean about Zephan saying `anything else'? Anything else about what?"
This was exactly what Dan had been desperate to avoid -- M finding out about Zephan shouting his homophobic mouth off. And he'd told Dods to keep his mouth shut unless Dan specifically said otherwise. He stepped forward and put a hand on M's shoulder but it was immediately shaken off. Milo turned his head and looked directly at Dan.
"Is this what you said you needed to tell me, upstairs just now? Something about Zephan? Something he's been saying? About me?"
The look on Milo's face hovered somewhere between sadness and anger. It was obvious that he was struggling to keep himself together. He'd clearly worked out that something bad had gone on -- bad for him -- and that there were people in the room who knew what it was but that he wasn't one of them. Dan felt a dreadful sense of betrayal. If only he'd had the guts to be honest with M when he'd had the chance, he, M, would have been at least half way prepared for the painful reality he was about to have to face. Fuck!
"Well D? Are you going to tell me what's been going on, or am I gonna be kept in the dark while everyone else knows the truth?" The anger on his face came through loud and clear in his voice. Dan opened his mouth but no words came out. He had no idea what to say to protect poor M from yet more hurt. It felt like drowning. The life-line came from an unexpected direction.
"Milo," It was Ms. Boyeda, "I think you should sit down so we can explain."
Helen, who had been standing at the door holding a tray with glasses and a jug of water, chose that moment to move further into the room. She put the tray on the coffee table and said, "Yes, that's a good idea. You come and sit by me on the sofa, M. There should be room for Dan to squeeze in too." This brief interruption was enough to lift some of the tension from the atmosphere. Everyone took the opportunity to either sit as instructed or to make themselves more comfortable. Water was poured and sipped. Milo looked expectantly towards Ms. Boyeda. He very pointedly didn't look at Dan.
"When you failed to attend practice this morning, Milo, you can probably imagine how I felt about that. The most important practice of the year so far."
Milo looked down at the floor and nodded.
"So yes, you'll not be surprised to hear me say that I was not at all happy. It was rude and disrespectful, and not just to me, to the whole team."
Milo nodded again. Dan tried to take his hand but he pulled it away as if it had been slapped.
"But I was also surprised, very surprised. You've worked so hard in the past few months to regain your place in the squad, and even to try to secure yourself an individual slot. It didn't make any sense -- you not turning up - and the more I thought about it the more I began to suspect that there was more to your non-attendance than you simply sleeping late or not being bothered."
"He wants to swim on the team more than anything, he really does," Dan declared, desperately trying to show support for M (and, if he was honest, to try to make it up to him for not telling him about Zephan). "He ..."
Ms. Boyeda threw Dan a look that instantly silenced him.
"So I asked round the other boys to find out if you'd started body shaving yet and, if so, who your shave partner is." Milo looked up and shot a look of surprise and embarrassment towards Dods. The coach obviously saw it too. "Yes, I know all about that little arrangement," she said, "and it's one that seems extremely sensible to me, although I'm not sure I entirely approve of the way each of those shaving sessions ends." On hearing that, both Milo and Dods looked totally horror-struck. Surely she couldn't know about the CB's, could she? They both wanted the floor to open up and swallow them. Helen and Roger exchanged confused looks. Dan had to work hard to supress a smile, he daren't do anything to risk Milo being even more pissed off with him.
"But I suppose what you boys choose to do in private is your own business," Ms. Boyeda continued, inwardly smiling to herself at the effect her little bombshell was having. "And I understand it was Tom's idea when he was captain and that it's designed to increase team cohesion and morale so I can hardly complain about that."
"So who did turn out to be Milo's partner?" asked Helen, still puzzled but keen to move the conversation on.
"That would be me," replied a very sheepish-looking Dods. "Ms. Boyeda came and asked me if I knew why you'd skipped practice and that's when I told her what I knew about your cousin."
"So, finally, is someone going to tell me what Zephan has been saying about me?" Milo sounded fired-up and confident but under the surface he was full of uncertainty and fear. Anything Zephan had to say about him couldn't be good, especially if it had prompted the coach to go to the trouble of seeking him out.
"From what I was told by Dods here, as reported by his sharp-eared brother, and from other enquiries I made during the day, it became clear that your cousin has been making your life pretty miserable since he arrived earlier in the week and, not content with that, he's been going round saying some particularly unpleasant and malicious things."
"But what, exactly, has he been saying? You still haven't told me." Milo's frustration at not being told the detail of Zephan's allegations was plain for all to hear.
"Milo," said Ms. Boyeda, her voice was quiet and reassuring, "Exactly what he said isn't the issue here, and besides, I am sure you can probably work out the gist of it for yourself."
Milo stared at her and then nodded, a defeated and deflated expression on his face. Yes, he could work it out and, having worked it out, he was sure the other guys would not be willing for him to remain a member of the team. His head dropped and his shoulders slumped. He didn't move when D started to rub his lower back.
"So he's just going to be allowed to get away with it?" This was Helen. She had her arm around Milo's slumped shoulders and a fierce look on her face. "He can force Milo into doing unspeakable things and then go round shouting off his mouth about it, and nothing happens?" The outrage in her voice was so solid you could almost cut it.
"If you'd just hold off for a few more minutes, Helen, I think Dods here can answer your questions." Dan's mum subsided, but it was obvious that she was only temporarily standing down from attack mode.
Ms. Boyeda looked across at Dods, silently encouraging him to continue.
"Milo, you remember I told you about the two guys on the team who got jumped and how Tom sorted it out?"
Milo nodded, Roger and Helen exchanged a questioning look. It was clear they were not aware of this particular episode under Tom's leadership as team captain.
Dan saw the look that passed between them. "I'll fill you in later mum, dad."
"And when you hear about it I think you'll both be very proud. I certainly was," added Ms. Boyeda, "And impressed, too."
Dods continued, "So you know that he made it a rule that anyone on the team is accepted by everyone on the team, no exceptions. Background, colour, religion, sexual orientation -- no-one gets to be excluded, or worse, for things they can't do anything about -- and if you don't like it you don't get to stay on the team. That's right, eh coach?"
"It was something I'd been trying to change for years but really I was just pussy-footing around the issue. Tom grabbed it in both hands and, as a result of one unbelievably powerful speech, changed the team for the better and, as long as I'm the coach, forever." Ms. Boyeda sounded really proud.
"I'm still not sure where this is going," said Roger. "How does something that Tom did when he was captain change the situation with Milo and his cousin, today?"
"Coach Boyeda called a meeting of all the team this afternoon and told everyone what had been going on and why M hadn't been at practice," said Dods.
Milo sat bolt upright. "So everyone knows about me, that I'm ..."
Before he could finish Ms. Boyeda interrupted. "No personal or private information was given out, Milo, I can assure you of that, just that you'd been mistreated by your cousin and told to leave your home as a result. Anything else that you choose to keep to yourself, well, that's your business."
Milo relaxed back into the sofa. He wasn't sure his nerves could take much more of this, but he needed to know what had happened next.
"But remember," the coach went on, "No-one is excluded from the team for things about themselves that they cannot change. No-one. Under any circumstances." Ms. Boyeda could not have made it any clearer that, a). she knew about his sexuality and, b). she considered it nobody's business but his own and, c). it made no difference to her as far as his place in the squad was concerned. Wow! It was like his birthday and Christmas had both arrived together. Double wow! But on the other hand, nothing, basically, had changed. There was still the Zephan issue.
"And what happened when the team heard about what Zephan had done and said? asked Roger.
"It was incredible," beamed Dods. "As soon as they knew what had been going on they took a vote on what to do."
"And?" questioned Helen.
"And we all agreed that, unless Zephan was dropped from his school's basketball team, the Greenside Community High swimming team would not be competing in the tournament tomorrow." Dods smile stretched right across his face as he turned towards Milo, "What's that thing those French guys used to say? -- `All for one and one for all.'"
"Really?" Milo couldn't believe it. "And you're okay with that, coach?"
"Absolutely. 100%. As Dods, and the Three Musketeers say, `All for one and one for all. And you're one of us, Milo. Don't think otherwise."
"But everyone was looking forward to the competition. They'd trained so hard." Milo was still struggling to take it all in.
"And it gets better yet," grinned Dods. "Ms. Boyeda spoke to the coach of the basketball team and they all decided they didn't want to play against a nasty fuc ..., nasty piece of work like your cousin either, so they voted to pull out, too, unless he was kicked off his team."
"That sounds like great news," said Helen, "But what happened when you told Ms. Ohura, and the teachers from Zephan's school? Surely they weren't going to let a bunch of kids dictate terms like that."
"Well, to cut a long story short," said Ms. Boyeda, "Milo will be swimming tomorrow afternoon and his cousin will not be playing basketball. And I couldn't be more pleased for you, son, or more proud of the team." She smiled all round. "Especially you Dods. What you've done today has been truly outstanding. I think I've found my team captain for next year!" She stood up and shook Dods' hand to seal the deal. He was speechless.
"You really mean it, that I'm swimming tomorrow?" asked an incredulous Milo.
"Yes - in the relay. You didn't come to final practice so it wouldn't be fair to give you an individual slot, but I've decided you deserve to keep your place in the relay. And the fact that I would have had a riot on my hands if I'd left you out had absolutely nothing to do with my decision!"
"Yeah, right," said Dods derisively.
"Careful, young man. Even future captains can be left on the bench," fired back the coach, but the half smile on her face proved that this was not a real threat. "And now it's getting late and time to go. Milo and Dods need to get to bed soon so they're well rested for tomorrow and I've got some people to call."
As everybody stood up and started moving towards the door Milo turned to Ms. Boyeda. There were tears in his eyes and, when he spoke, he had trouble keeping his voice steady, but the emotion was clearly genuine, "Coach, I can't thank you enough. Taking part in the tournament means the world to me. I promise to swim faster than I ever have before."
"It's Dods here you need to thank, and the rest of the team. They have put a great deal of faith in you so it's up to you not to let them down tomorrow," replied Ms. Boyeda.
"Oh, he won't, will you partner?" said Dods. "He'll swim like a bullet."
Milo, dry-eyed and smiling, nodded in agreement and high-fived his future captain. Goodbyes and Thank Yous were exchanged as everyone moved towards the front door but Dods hung back and signalled to Dan that he wanted to speak to him privately. Dan indicated the door to Roger's home office and they slipped inside.
Before Dods could explain what it was he wanted to say, Dan started to speak. "Thanks man. Thanks for what you've done for M. He was totalled by the thought of not being in the tournament, of not being able to be in the team anymore because of ... well, you know why."
Dods nodded and said, "M's a really good kid and a great swimmer, of course he deserves to be on the team. And as for the other thing, that's his business. But you can tell him that if he ever decides to share it, the rest of the guys won't think any differently about him."
"I will, and thanks again. But why do you want to talk to me alone?"
"From what you said earlier on," began Dods, "You know about the two gay guys who got roughed up by some other members of the team a year or two back."
"Yeah, M told me about it. He didn't think it was a secret."
"It isn't, but there's something he didn't tell you cos I didn't tell him."
"Oh yeah, what was it?" This was sounding pretty mysterious.
"I didn't tell him who it was who saw the two guys making out in the park and then tipped off the others. But I'm gonna tell you cos I think you ought to know. Whether you tell M or not is up to you."
Mysterious had changed to serious. Dan could only wonder who it was and why Dods thought he ought to know. "Okaay. So who was it?"
"Beth Harper. She was dating one of the other guys at the time and knew he couldn't get a regular spot on the team cos one of the gay guys was way better than him. She thought it was a chance for her boyfriend to literally beat off the competition."
Dan was completely pole-axed by what he'd just been told. He couldn't, he wouldn't believe it, not of Beth. "I don't believe you, and anyway, how do you know it was her?" He'd invested too many hopes and shot too much cum in the belief that Beth Harper was the girl for him to simply give up on that dream just because Dods said it was true.
"It doesn't matter how I know, I just do. She's a nasty piece of work, D, and not worth your time or trouble. Now I've gotta get going, coach is taking me home," and with that Dods slipped out of the room and moved quickly to catch up with Ms. Boyeda who was still chatting to Dan's mum and dad on the front porch.
Dan, still reeling, still disbelieving, followed Dods out of the room and made his way slowly up the stairs. There was no way it could possibly be true about Beth, was there? On the other hand, Dods seemed like a decent guy, so why would he lie about something like that? It didn't make sense. As he walked into his room, with thoughts of Beth Harper ricocheting around his head, he was met by the sight of M who was standing by the bed, a hard and belligerent look on his face. It was obvious that he still hadn't forgiven D for not telling him about Zephan, and that he had plenty to say on the subject, but as soon as Milo saw the look on D's face his own expression changed in an instant and he instinctively moved forward to pull Dan into an enveloping hug.
Thanks to all those who have taken the time and trouble to write to tell me how they feel about this story. As ever I am very grateful for all feedback and promise to respond.
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