Disclaimer: If you live in an area where reading material involving two males undergoing sexual acts is illegal, I suggest you stop reading now, as this document may be considered heinous and/or unlawful. Also, any relation to people living or dead is just coincidental! This story is complete fiction!
Background Information: American Sign Language (ASL) is a non-verbal language used primarily in the United States and Canada among the Deaf community. It is very different from English, as it is a visual language, with a grammar and syntax of its own. I will do my best (as a hearing person) to demonstrate how Deaf people communicate by typing signed conversations as all capital letters with lowercase letters representing unsigned words to help the understanding in English.
***Due to large amount of people's requests, I will no longer be translating dialogue in ASL within the story. If there's a part that you don't understand, I'd more than happy to interpret it for you. :) I've also decided to change the way signed names are typed out. For example, Peter (the letter P and the sign music together) will be "P[eter]."
"YOU HEAR, I WANT" by Matt James Chapter 5:
Matt and I walked back to the dorms slowly and without conversation. My whole body was tingling. It had been so long since I had felt this way.
Every time I looked at him, he had the same little grin on his face. Seeing that made me smile.
We got to his building first. "FOR [the] ICE SKATING LESSON, THANK YOU," I said slowly.
He gave a sideways smile, "[It's] NOTHING." He shyly looked away, then back at me.
"GOOD NIGHT."
"Good night, Pete," he spoke and signed at the same time. He gave me an unexpected peck on the cheek and retreated into the building.
I turned around slowly and began walking towards my dorm. I looked up and saw the clear sky. It was truly a sight, especially for Rochester. I began laughing uncontrollably and a person, walking here and there, would look at me oddly. I just felt so good!
Upon entering my room, I took off my coat and stretched my arms and back out while yawning. I was dizzy. It was almost like an adrenaline rush. I figured it would be best to just lay down and just bask in the high.
Guess I had fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes it was 8:20 AM. I looked to my left and saw Kyle sleeping on is stomach, arms tangled with his pillow, and a leg sticking out from under the blanket.
Instinctively, I climbed down from my bunk and put on a pair of sweatpants. It was my morning ritual to usually take a shower as soon as I got up, but I felt a little different this morning. I took my morning piss, brushed my teeth, and washed my face. When I got back to my room, I realized that there was absolutely nothing to do this early on a Sunday morning.
I put some under armour spandex on underneath my a pair of track pants and put on a hoodie over an undershirt. I also tossed on a pair of gloves and a headband for my ears before lacing my running shoes.
Before high school, I had never really been an athletic kid. It wasn't until my best friend Ben had convinced me to join cross country and track with him, as means to meet "girls with six packs." It only took a couple of weeks for me to get addicted to the runner's high I experienced everyday at practice. And by the time I was a sophomore in high school, running had become a new outlet for me. I could clear my head, and think about anything I wanted; or I could just run, and not think about anything at all.
According to my stop watch, I had been running for 49 minutes. I guess I had just zoned out.
Tip-toeing into my room I collected my shower tote and towel. Showers always felt extra amazing after going for a run. I turned on the water and let it run until steam began rising from the floor tiles. After I knew that the water was warm enough to enter, I pealed off my clothes and stepped into the shower. My cold skin tingled as the hot jets of water hit it. It burned, but in a good way.
After drying my hair and dressing myself quietly, I treaded over to the dining hall to have an early brunch. I'm not sure if I've said it yet, but I definitely love to eat! /Especially/ after going for a long run.
I had never noticed before, but being alone (for once) was really nice. I didn't have to talk to so-and-so about this-and-that. It didn't really occur to me that I always had a friend with me, whenever I did anything! All I did was sit, eat my food, and watch SpongeBob SquarePants on a nearby TV. I guess I really underestimated being by myself. It's funny how I was so afraid that friends would be hard to come by!
The rest of my Sunday was relatively uneventful. Farting around with my friends between homework assignments was the norm. My homework seemed easier than usual, but I wasn't about to complain.
Later, I had dinner with my closest group of friends. It included Will, Greg, Hannah, and some of my other friends, Glen, Nick, Rachel, and Tim (the latter two in a relationship). I think it's notable to say that they all knew about "me."
Our dinner conversation went as usual; Will, Greg, and Glen joked around as Hannah and Rachel shook their heads. Nick, Tim, and I usually sat there laughing in good company as we threw in the occasional profound exclamation. I really came to love everyone here.
After the laughter at one of Will's jokes calmed, he turned to me quickly with a confused look. "Oh yeah, where did you go last night?"
"Oh, you mean after you left me to skate on my own jackass?" I teased.
"Yeah, yeah," he laughed. "No, but really, we went back to the dorms thinking you had given up and gone back already."
"Oh," I shrugged, "sorry, I went for a walk with a friend."
"A friend? Who? I didn't know you had other friends," Glen blatantly put it. I kicked him under the table. "Ow," he flinched.
"My friend Matt," I smiled.
"Matt? Is that the Matt on your floor?" Hannah asked.
"No, a different Matt. He lives over in Ellingson." Ellingson was the building that consisted of primarily deaf kids.
She seemed interested, "I don't think you've ever mentioned him before. Why haven't we been introduced?"
"I dunno, we didn't really talk much 'til yesterday, but he's really cool. Really awesome guy." Hannah and Nick raised their eyebrows a little bit at that statement.
"Oh wait, you said he lives in Ellingson?" Will chimed. "Is he deaf?"
"Yeah."
Will nodded, "Oh... yeah, I think I saw you skating with him towards the end."
"He was a pretty good teacher." I looked down a little and smiled again.
I guess I hadn't been very subtle with my actions, because Hannah moved around and got a few inches from my face. "Is he cute?"
"Um.." I laughed a little bit. It was a good thing they all knew I was.. you know. Otherwise I might have died from embarrassment. "I guess." I never really liked talking about my 'love life.' Everyone knew that too. I guess it was good that I blushed a little bit, because it signaled everyone to not push the subject.
Kyle came back to our room at about 9:30. He took off his jacket and put some leftovers in our fridge. He waved, "HEY P[eter]!"
"HEY K[yle]," I waved. His sign name was modified version of the sign for happy. "HOW [was] DINNER?"
"[It was] GOOD. [So] CONVERSATION WITH M[att] HAD."
My eyes widened. "TALK ABOUT WHAT?"
"YOU, KINDA." I was scared. What had they talked about? I just stared at him, shaking a little bit. He puckered his lips and kissed the air with his eyes closed. Ashamed, I looked down. He waved to get my attention. "TWO-OF-YOU DATING?"
"NO-NO-NO," I paused thinking about it. "[Well..] ONE KISS, ONLY."
"[Did] YOU LIKE?" He kissed the air again, and it made me laugh.
I shook my head and blushed a little. "SORRY, [didn't] TELL YOU."
"YOU TELL ME NOT, WHY? WE [are a] FAMILY."
"FAMILY?"
"OF-COURSE. DEAF PEOPLE [are a] FAMILY. NOT ONLY DEAF, [those that] CAN'T HEAR. [But] PEOPLE [that] CARE FOR COMMUNITY. YOU DEAF." I understood. It was the difference between the words deaf and Deaf that he was talking about. The word deaf refers to those that cannot physically hear. The word Deaf is used to describe the group of people that come together to form a community. The Deaf community. He was saying I was part of it. "WE, ALL-OF-US, STICK-TOGETHER. DUMB, SMART, SHORT, TALL, DISFIGURED, BEAUTIFUL. STRAIGHT. GAY. EVERYONE." He came over towards me and opened his arms. We hugged each other for a few seconds.
"WAIT.. TOLD YOU, WHO?" I asked.
"M[att], HE DID. HE THOUGHT YOU, MAYBE, TOLD." He looked like he was feeling a little guilty. "[Are] YOU MAD?"
I shook my head. "SPEAK [with] HIM, I SHOULD." Kyle nodded. It was then that I realized that I didn't have his pager (not a pager, but basically a cell phone with only texting and data transfers enabled) number. My face must have done something because Kyle asked me what was wrong. "HIS PAGER NUMBER [I don't] HAVE [it]."
Kyle pulled his pager out and gave it to me. "NOW, HAVE-WHAT-YOU-NEED." I thanked him after saving Matt's number in my phone.
"TEXT NOW, SHOULD [I]?"
He shrugged.
"I THINK.. MAYBE WEIRD I TEXT-HIM. WHY? HE DIDN'T-GIVE-ME NUMBER." Kyle shrugged again. "[Is] THAT CREEPY?"
"NO. WE ROOMMATES, HE KNOWS. NOT WEIRD."
"[Well...] TEXT-HIM, SHOULD [I]?" Kyle shrugged, yet again. I couldn't help but laugh as I shook my head. "I DON'T-KNOW WHAT-[to]-DO." I threw a shoe at him when he shrugged again.
Monday morning was always the most painful day of the week. My alarm blared at 7AM as usual, and I turned over to see Kyle sprawled all over his bed whilst snoring lightly. I shook my head as I climbed down my bunk; he was far too good looking. Even while he slept!
I showered, brushed my teeth, shaved, got dressed, messed my hair up a bit (yes, I'm /that/ guy), and grabbed my backpack and a granola bar on my way out.
Half-way to class, I saw Matt! I waved to him as he was fiddling with his pager.
He stopped and gave me a warm hug. I had already forgotten how warm he felt. "Hey! How was the rest of your weekend?"
"GOOD+. I FORGOT [to] ASK-YOU FOR YOUR PAGER NUM--"
He interrupted me, "585--"
"K[yle] GAVE-IT-TO-ME FINISH(already)." I smiled
"OH-I-SEE. Why didn't you text me then?"
"I THOUGHT, MAYBE, TOO-SOON?"
"Nah, it's just a text. Whenever you want, TEXT-ME." The way he mixed English and sign language added to his charm. I guess I hadn't really known him long before we kissed. I definitely needed to get to know him better.
"O-K, [well].." I didn't know how to say bye, really. "I CLASS GO NEED."
"I didn't freak you out did I?" I guess I had a confused look on my face. "When I kissed you?" he cautiously whispered as he looked around.
"NO++. YOU DIDN'T. SURPRISED-ME ONLY." He looked relieved at that. "SEE-YOU LATER, [I] WILL. O-K?"
"Yeah," he signed and spoke, "see you later Pete." He smiled and turned to enter one of the dining buildings as I continued to class.
Nick and I had 8AM chemistry together Mondays and Wednesdays (which is how we became friends). I came in a few minutes late, as I had stopped to talk to Matt, and Nick asked what had happened.
"Oh, I saw my friend Matt on the quarter-mile. I stopped to talk to him for a minute."
"Matt?" He looked like he didn't know who it was.
"It was the guy that helped me ice skate when all of your dumb asses left me to skate alone."
"Um.. I wasn't there actually. I would have skated with you." He looked down.
"Oh, whoops. Sorry. Heh. Yeah, anyway I mentioned him during dinner on Sunday."
"Yeah, I remember now. So you like him, huh?"
"He's really cool. It doesn't hurt that he, uh, kissed me after leaving the rink either."
Nick flinched a little bit, "He /kissed/ you?" The people around us gave us looks of non-approval.
I laughed quietly before apologizing, "Sorry, I forgot how you straight guys felt about things like that."
"Er, right. So are you guys dating?"
"I dunno," I really didn't. "It was just a kiss. Hopefully, we'll get to know each other a little bit more. Nick only nodded before fiddling with his pen a little and scribbling some chemistry notes. He seemed a little awkward the entire lecture.
I nudged him as we exited the class, "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable man."
"No, it's alright," he said almost immediately.
"You sure? It feels like you clammed up right after I mentioned the, uh, you know."
"No, I'm fine. It's weird that he kissed you though, don't you think? I mean, you just met."
"Well we had actually met before that, so not really.. I mean, we had a good time. The whole thing was actually pretty perfect."
"Perfect?" He suddenly stopped in the middle of a stairwell. It was a good thing there was no one in the stairwell with us, otherwise we would have been holding up traffic.
"Yeah. It was."
"It doesn't sound perfect."
I felt my stomach get a bit sour. "Seriously? I know you're straight and all, but you can't just be happy for me?"
"It's just wrong."
"Wrong?" I got defensive. "What's so wrong about a guy kissing me?"
"Nothing." He said plainly. "It's just.." he shook his head, "Perfect would have been me kissing you. Not him." He continued down the stairs as I stood there recovering from the blow that I had just been dealt.
Nick and I are friends. Did he just say that he wanted to kiss me?
Message from the author:
I'm SO sorry this took so long everyone! My summer was hectic and time consuming! I didn't have the time to write or be on the computer at all. I thought getting back to school would change all that, but I guess I was wrong. School's been extremely stressful, and I only have the time to write bits and pieces at a time. I apologize if there's any inconsistencies within this chapter, as I wrote (as I said) five minutes at a time. I actually finished this chapter as I was putting off studying for midterms. Hopefully, in the future, I will get more time. Gotta pray for that easy schedule for next semester! I really hope the wait for the next installment isn't as long as this last one was. Sorry about the cliff hanger (both chapter 5 and 6, hahahaha). I am starting a mailing list, so that I am able to easily contact everyone when a new chapter (or any type of news) comes out. Just send me a quick email (or include in your next email to me) saying that you'd like to be added to the mailing list, and I'll do just that. :) email me at nordictiger790@hotmail.com