All the characters and events in this 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:
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PJ
D'n'M Part 4
From Chapter 18:
Most of Dan's attention was focused on the latest uploading from Brent Rivera, but he was partly aware of a semi-whispered conversation being carried out on the other side of the curtain. Over the next ten minutes or so his attention gradually drifted away from his phone and began to fix onto the sounds of water and murmured exchanges. Dan's imagination began to conjure up a series of raunchy images, pictures that acquired added focus when words like smooth' and turn over' and `relax' were heard amongst the giggling. The combination of what he could hear and what he imagined began to have the inevitable effect on his dick, so much so that he had to reach down into his underwear in order to adjust himself to a more comfortable position. Inevitably, just at the moment of maximum and obvious readjustment, Nurse Ari suddenly reappeared. First he looked at Dan's face, then he glanced down to where Dan's hand was still very obviously busy with his junk. Then, with a smile and a wink he pulled back the curtain. Under any circumstances Dan would have been surprised by who he saw lying there, but given his situation at that exact point in time his surprise was combined with embarrassment.
It was Grey.
Chapter 19:
Dan had never really spoken to Grey, their worlds didn't intersect (except with M as the point of overlap in the Venn diagram of their lives), but he had seen him around school and, of course, swimming in the famous relay at the three-schools' tournament.
"Oh, er, Grey isn't it?"
The figure in the bed nodded. Dan saw that the right arm was in a plaster cast and there were dark bruises and bloody abrasions all down the side of his body. Fuck, that's gotta hurt.
"Hi, I'm Dan, you know, M's friend." Of course, Dan was aware that Grey would know exactly who he was, but what was he supposed to say? He would have gestured towards Milo's sleeping body but his hand was still trapped inside his boxer-briefs. Could this situation get any more embarrassing?
"I was sorry to hear what happened to you. You doing better now?"
It was Nurse Ari who answered. "Yes, Grey here is making good progress but still has a way to go. He needs lots of rest so I'm hoping you and Milo will be a calming influence."
"You can rely on us," replied Dan, still wondering when he was going to get the chance to retrieve his hand. At least his dick was no longer hard.
"Good, I'll leave you to it then. Press the call button if you need anything," said the nurse as he left the room, leaving behind a slightly awkward silence, awkward because of what Dan and Grey both knew about each other, particularly regarding Milo. Dan knew about Grey and Milo being shave-buddies and now (he assumed) Cum Brothers but he was also aware that he wasn't supposed to know that. Grey knew of the depths of Milo's feelings for Dan but he also knew that Milo didn't want Dan to know. So, yes, the atmosphere in the room was slightly tense with neither boy knowing quite how to set the conversational ball rolling. Thankfully Milo came to the rescue by choosing that moment to wake up. The unexpected movement provided the cover which allowed Dan to pull his hand out of his underwear.
"You might want to wash that now," quipped Grey, a wide smile on his face. He'd obviously been fully aware of Dan's situation. There was a split second of hesitation on Dan's part before he decided to accept the teasing in good part and smiled too.
"Huh?" querried Milo, blearily.
"Private joke," said Dan as he moved across to wash his hands, "Don't worry about it."
Just about then Milo had a moment of realisation. "Grey! You're okay. Thank crap! How long have you been there?"
"Yeah, you don't get rid of me that easily," Grey responded. "Bruised and battered but still breathing, that's me. They wheeled me in here while you were asleep. Dan here's been keeping me entertained." This was accompanied by a wide grin and a wink towards Dan as he returned to the chair.
Dan, feeling at a definite disadvantage, repositioned the chair so that it was just about equi-distant between the two beds. "So what actually happened?" he asked. "All I know is it was a hit-and-run."
Milo and Grey glanced at each other, nodded and then, between them, told Dan all about the events of Sunday evening. They told him about spending most of the afternoon at the pool, along with a few of their team-mates, putting in some additional practice hours following the team's unexpectedly heavy defeat in the competition on Saturday. Eventually Dods, as team captain, declared himself satisfied with the effort and commitment shown and suggested they all go to a nearby pizza restaurant before splitting up and making their individual ways home, leaving themselves time to get homework tasks finished in time for school on Monday.
"'Don't judge everyone by your own low standards Dods, some of us don't leave doing our homework `til the last minute.' Do you remember, Grey? That's what one of the guys yelled," said Milo, recalling how the boys had enjoyed teasing their captain.'
"Yeah, and then you said you know someone who often leaves it `til Monday morning," Grey responded as both he and Milo looked directly at Dan. The warm glance that passed between them didn't go unnoticed but Dan hid the sudden sinking feeling in his stomach with a smile and said, "It's a fair cop, just don't tell my mum."
"You think she doesn't know? You can't hide anything from your mum. Sometimes it amazes me that you're not permanently grounded." This was Milo, happily joining in the banter.
"Okay, okay, enough of the `let's-get-at-Dan time', you were telling me what happened." Dan was keen to move the conversation on, yes because he genuinely wanted to know the circumstances that had resulted in the hit-and-run but mainly because he hoped that would then mean M's attention shifting away from Grey and onto him. Of course, that didn't happen because Milo and Grey continued to share the re-telling of the events of Sunday evening, more or less ignoring Dan sitting silently between them.
So Dan heard how they'd left the restaurant with all the other guys and set off towards Grey's house where they planned to spend a couple of hours gaming before Milo continued on to his own home. Dan had to force himself not to start imagining just what sort of games they might have been planning to play. Grey explained that they were cycling along near the park, side by side but not taking up the whole width of the road, when, without warning, a dark coloured truck pulled out of a side road, seemed to try to swerve to avoid them but caught them both sideways on, before driving off at top speed without stopping. After that it became pretty hazy for both boys. Milo said he remembered several people crowding round him in the middle of the road but he was in so much pain he wasn't able to focus on anything else and Grey had been knocked unconscious and didn't come round until he was being loaded into the ambulance.
"What a bastard!" declared Dan with real venom in his voice. "I hope the police catch up with him soon. They ought to lock him up for life!"
"Yeah," agreed Grey. "My dad says it's just a matter of time before the guy gets caught. There were loads of people around who saw what happened and it was still more or less broad daylight. He thinks jail would be too good for whoever did this to us, says it's a shame there's no death penalty."
"Oooh. That's harsh," said Milo. "He did swerve to try to avoid us. Maybe the sun was in his eyes or something. Let's not be judge and jury before we know all the facts."
"Well I'm with Grey's dad. Lock him up and throw away the key. Look how badly banged up you two are. You won't be swimming again this season, that's for sure." As soon as the words were out of Dan's mouth he regretted it. The look on the faces of both Milo and Grey made it clear that neither of them had, until that moment, considered the full implications of what had happened to them. Suddenly that was the only thing they could do. No more swimming for the whole of the rest of the season? Yes, jail was too good for the bastard.
Milo turned his face away and Grey started randomly talking about something else, something completely unconnected with swimming, but Dan wasn't fooled. Why did he have to open his big mouth? The last thing these guys needed was to know they'd be out of the pool for months. And Dan knew all too well what they were bound to know, that, even if they did get well enough to swim again, the chances of them regaining a good enough level of fitness, strength and speed to reclaim their places in the squad were not good. In fact, they were next to nothing. Milo's face was still turned away and Grey's voice had trailed off. Dan had no idea what to do. He couldn't unsay it and he couldn't promise that everything would work out for the best. He did the only thing he could think to do -- he got up, mumbled a more or less incoherent, "Goodbye, see you tomorrow," and left the room. Fuck, what an idiot. Fuck!
After a frequently disturbed night, reminders of M's distressed expression repeatedly invading his dreams, Dan experienced a disturbing morning at school on Wednesday. He arrived just a couple of minutes before the start of classes so there was no time to hang-out ahead of Psychology with Miss (never Ms.) MacPherson and it was never a good idea to be late for her, so even though he walked fast and spoke to no-one, he was still aware of the looks he attracted from many of his fellow students. Some were of amusement, others appeared to be close to pity, yet more were unambiguously mocking and all this from people he hardly knew. What was going on? Had he grown a giant zit on the end of his nose? Had someone stuck a `KICK ME' sign onto his back? Things were no different when he got to the classroom. As he walked through the open doorway (good, she hadn't yet called the class to order) there was the usual sound of a dozen or so different conversations going on throughout the room. As soon as those nearest the door noticed his arrival their conversation stopped, an effect that was soon repeated across the room. It was as if the conversational tide had gone out. Simultaneously all faces turned in his direction.
"Ah, Mr. Reed, welcome. If you can guarantee to have such an effect on your fellow students at the start of each lesson, please feel free to be almost late every time."
Dan looked blankly at Miss MacPherson and then at all the faces turned in his direction. WTF?
"Thank you class, we'll resume on page 73 of Complete Psychology. Mr. Reed, please find your seat."
And so the morning progressed, with strange looks, unexpected silences and completely no clues as to what was going on. At morning break he made his way to the Boys' room at the far end of the top floor of the Humanities building, guaranteed to be deserted at this time due to its relative isolation from all the preferred hang-out places. Once inside he went straight to the row of washbasins and looked directly into the mirror above the first one he came to. No, no zit, strange marks or blemishes, no evidence of breakfast (Cheerios, toast and raspberry preserve) stuck to his face, his hair was acceptably messy and, looking down, no open fly or unmatching shoes. Hm, no explanation there.
It wasn't until the start of lunch-time that the penny dropped. He was walking across the inner quad when he spotted Christy and Melissa with their standard following of friends, admirers and hangers-on crowded round one of the benches on the far side. Suddenly every face was turned towards him and the familiar range of pitying, mocking and superior expressions rippled across them. So, four days after the events, news of the disastrous date was obviously the talk of the school, with him as the inevitable fall-guy. Dan turned and went to find Jamal.
He found him, along with Dods and various of his former soccer team-mates, kicking a ball around in a quiet corner of the school field. Ignoring the game, he walked straight over to Jamal.
"So what's she been saying about me? Have I got any credibility left at all?"
"What?" Jamal was startled and not at all sure he knew what Dan was so fired up about, let alone what he, Jamal, might have to do with it. "What's up, man?"
"He means Christy." This was Dods who had moved over to join them. "He knows."
"That's just it," protested Dan, "I don't know, but it's obvious from all the looks I'm getting and the sudden silence that's been following me around that she's talked to Melissa about Saturday night and that the story didn't stop with her."
"Oh, that." Jamal looked and sounded uncomfortable.
"Yeah, that! Melissa's your girlfriend so you need to tell me what she's been saying." The increasing distress Dan was feeling, along with a rising tide of anger, could be plainly heard in his voice and seen in the darkening expression on his face.
Dods stepped forward so that he was between the increasingly-fired up Dan and the retreating figure of Jamal.
"Whoa Dan, you need to back off." Dan was, in fact, completely unaware of just how aggressive his manner had suddenly become. "You and me can go for a walk and I'll tell you everything that I know."
With a final glowering glance behind him, a reluctant Dan allowed himself to be led away from Jamal and the other members of the soccer team who had gathered round as soon as they'd sensed there was trouble brewing.
Dods waited until they were well out of earshot before he said anything at all. Then he dived straight in. "There's no way of sugar-coating this so I'm just gonna dive straight in." He didn't wait for a response. "Christy told Melissa that you couldn't keep it up and that it just goes to prove what she'd suspected all along, that you're gay and have the hots for Milo. Sorry man."
Dan stopped dead, his feet refusing to continue moving forwards. He opened his mouth a couple of times but no words would form in his head, much less make their way to, and out of, his mouth. Except one.
"Fuuuuck!!"
"But you're not to worry about it."
"Not worry?" Dan was incredulous. Not worry? What planet was Dods living on? Thanks to Christy and Melissa, he was now the victim of a total and humiliating social annihilation, and Dods expects him not to worry? If he'd had the head space he might have stopped to wonder why it was his loss of social status that bothered him way more than the impact of Christy's muck-spreading on his chances of getting another girlfriend, but he hadn't so he didn't.
"Not worry? What planet are you on, man? This is social death for me."
"Yeah, I know it looks bad, but it's not the end of the world."
"Maybe not for you, but ..."
"We won't let anything bad happen to you. We've got your back."
"Who's `We'?"
"The swimming team. We'll stick with you, gay, straight or vegetarian, we don't care."
Dan couldn't prevent a small smile appearing at the edges of his mouth.
"But why? Why would the swimming team stick up for me?"
"That's simple -- Milo. M's rated by the team big time, you're his best friend, so put the two together and you're one of us. And I'm sure your old soccer buddies won't let you down either. Everyone will see you've got our support and that you're still one of the guys, no matter what Christy and her gang might be saying. So you're sorted."
Dan felt some of his previous anxiety begin to drain away. If Dods really meant what he'd just said, and if the swimming and soccer guys really did live up to what he'd just promised, well, maybe this was a survivable situation after all. Not that that made him feel any more charitable towards Christy. The bitch! What had he seen in her in the first place? And how could she go round saying those things about him when she hardly knew him? So, he lost his boner, so what? Like Please Call Me said, it happened to guys all the time, didn't mean it would happen again. Besides, it had never happened when he'd messed around with Tom and Mi... What? Now that was a truly weird thought. Time to put on the brakes and think about something else. He shook his head as if trying to put his mind back on track. Thankfully Dods had a question which allowed him to focus somewhere else.
"Have you seen them? How're they doing? Ms. Boyeda says they're both pretty badly knocked about."
"Yeah, I've seen them. They're both in the same room. M's had surgery to stop some internal bleeding and Grey has a broken arm and concussion. M's leg needs surgery to pin it back together."
"Fuuuck! That doesn't sound good."
"They're doing okay, at least they were until I went and opened my big mouth and said they wouldn't be swimming again any time soon. That was a 100% downer. I wish I'd kept my big mouth shut." Dan hung his head.
"Don't beat yourself up, man. From the sound of their injuries what you said was spot on. Better they hear it now and from someone who cares. They need to face up to reality. That's not to say that the team won't really miss them, though. Where are we gonna get another couple of freestylers from? Fuck!"
As he had the day before, as soon as school was out, Dan went straight to the hospital. He'd just passed the nurses' station when he heard his name being called behind him. It was Nurse Ari.
"Hey Dan. Just to let you know, Milo had surgery on his leg today. His dad just left. He said Milo was sleeping and I don't think he'll likely wake up any time soon. You might want to think about going home rather than wasting your time."
"Nah, I'll go and sit. I can always talk to Grey - unless he's got someone with him?"
"No, you're fine. His dad rang in to say he'll come by later."
Dan carried on to room H2 where he found both M and Grey fast asleep. Milo's blanket now covered just his groin area and left leg, revealing the plastered right leg which was encased from toes to mid-thigh and supported by several pillows. Great company, the two of them, Dan thought, making himself as comfortable as possible on the chair between the two beds.
As he sat, Dan's mind went back to his conversation with Dods at lunch-time or, more specifically, to the chain of thoughts triggered by the news of Christy's betrayal. Why would she do such a mean thing, telling everyone about his failed boner? And then to add in the stuff about him being gay and crushing on M. So unfair. And then that other thought bounced back, the one about never having boner problems when he did stuff with Tom and ... and M. From there it wasn't much of a stretch back to some of the stuff Please Call Me had talked about, like how he reacted when he knew what Beth Harper had done to the gay swimming guys, and how he felt about M, and his reaction to seeing Tye fucking Eddy, and picturing M when he jerked-off, and ...
"I wanted him to fuck me you know."
"What?!!" Dan was totally caught up in a world of his own and nearly jumped a mile out of the chair when a voice gate-crashed it.
"But he wouldn't." He realised it was Grey speaking, not someone (himself?) talking inside his head.
"What are you talking about, man?"
"When we did the shaving thing, I asked him to fuck me."
"Hey man, that's none of my business." Dan said the words, knew they were the right words to say, but he didn't really mean them. No, he very much wanted to make Grey's experience with M his business. Thankfully Grey took no notice of him.
"I like M, really like him and I wanted him to be my first but he said no. He said he was happy to mess around, you know, jerk-offs, blow-jobs, that kind of stuff, but he wouldn't go all the way, not with me." The regret in Grey's voice was obvious.
"Oh?"
"He said he'd only do that with someone special, someone he loved, and that wasn't me." Dan could hear the tears in Grey's voice. For a moment he hesitated but then he held out his hand. Grey took it.
"I'm really sorry about that."
"Yeah, me too."
"Did he say if there was someone, you know, someone special?" Dan knew he was skating on very thin ice here. Just about every answer he might get had the potential to really fuck with his head, but he still wanted to know.
"He didn't say but I think I know." There was a pause. "And I think you do too."
Before Dan could respond, before even getting his head round what Grey had just said, the door opened and a very large man walked in.
"Oh, hi dad. I didn't expect you back `til later. I thought you had to work."
"I did, but I pulled rank and told the rest of the team to get on without me and that I'd got something more important to do." The man, clearly Grey's father, crossed the room and ruffled his son's hair.
"Hey! Dad! Remember I've got a concussion." The voice may have sounded annoyed but the smile told the truth.
"What you really mean is that you don't want me to mess with the precious hair, especially not in front of this good looking young man."
Dan instantly turned red, partly in response to what Grey's dad had just said but mainly because he realised that he and Grey were still holding hands. Instantly they weren't.
"You must be Milo's friend. Dan isn't it? Grey has told me about you." He reached over and offered his hand to be shaken. Once again Dan coloured-up.
"Er, yes, er, Dan Reed. Good to meet you." For some reason Dan was feeling uncomfortable, really uncomfortable. Was it because of the hand-holding thing? What was he afraid of, that Grey's dad might think he was gay? So what? He was obviously okay with his son's sexuality so what difference would it make? Dan couldn't think of an acceptable answer to that question and immediately felt an urgent need to get out of the room, needed to try to get a grip on what was going on inside his head.
"Well, it doesn't look as if M is gonna wake up any time soon so I might as well get off home."
"Don't let me drive you away."
"No, you're not. I've got a pile of homework to do for tomorrow." Grey's eyebrows shot up. He knew, of course, about Dan's reputation regarding doing his homework at the last minute. Dan turned to look at him.
"When M wakes up tell him I called in. Say I'll be back tomorrow." He turned to Grey's dad. "Good to meet you." Then back to Grey. "See you." And he left.
The homework excuse was, of course, exactly that, just a way to get out of the hospital and away from the embarrassment of having been caught by Grey's dad holding Grey's hand. There was also, however, a more genuine reason for Dan to get out of there and that involved a detour via the gym in order to live up to his promise to M to retrieve the dog-tags.
The ride home didn't take long enough for Dan to sort out all the scrambled thoughts caused by the events of the last few hours and days, no, nowhere near long enough. Besides, he knew he wouldn't be able to do that on his own no matter how much time he had. No, he needed help and he knew who from. This time he'd better fucking pick up.
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