A Marine Called Jason
(Revised)
by: Peter

(© 2007-2012 by the Author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 84
Teenagers 

How It Happened 

Kyle had come into Devon’s room after they’d both gone to bed. 

“How come you’ve got your shorts on?” Devon asked, seeing him in the doorway with the soft light from the nightlight behind him.

“I put ‘em on just to come down the hall,” Kyle said as he peeled them off and tossed them up on the top bunk.  “You mind if I sleep in here tonight?”

“Naw, I was hoping you would,” Devon said.

Kyle shoved himself up into the top bunk and stretched out.  “We’re soon gonna be high schoolers,” he said.

“Yeah. Are you scared?”

“No. A little nervous maybe, but not scared. It’s not like we’re going to be the only two freshmen.”

“Are you going out for sports?” Devon asked.

“Hell, yeah. So are you,” Kyle said.

“I don’t know if I am or not.”

“What? Why not?” Kyle asked, leaning down over the edge of the bunk. “You’re a natural jock. You’re going out for sports.  Besides, that’s the way you get the chicks.  Jocks attract chicks.”

There was a long silence.

“You asleep?” Kyle asked softly.

“No. I’m not sleepy.”

“How come you’re so quiet, then?” 

Devon took in a deep breath and let it out.  “There’s something I need to tell you, Kyle.  I need to bring it out before we start high school, ‘cause it’s going to be a whole lot different than grade school with PE classes and the locker room and showers, not like it was in grade school.”  He was quiet for a moment then he went on.  “There’s a reason I’m not going out for sports, Bro.  I’m gay.”

The air in the room seemed to be dead still, as if it was frozen.  Suddenly, Kyle jumped down from the upper bunk and sat on the edge of Devon’s bunk.

“What the hell makes you think you’re gay?” he asked.

“Just….feelings I have….thoughts that creep into my head.”

“What kind of feelings and thoughts?”

“Just….feelings I have….thoughts about….about guys….like sexual thoughts.”

“You’re fuckin’ serious,” Kyle said, surprised.

“You think I would joke about something like that?”

“Do you have feelings and thoughts about girls?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah, about as much as I do about guys,” Devon replied.

“Then you’re not gay.  Gays don’t have feelings for girls.”

“And straight guys don’t have feelings about other guys,” Devon said.

“At the very worst, you’re bi, dude,” Kyle told him.  “Bi guys have feelings for guys and girls both.”

“I don’t wanta be either,” Devon said. “I wanta be straight, like you and every other guy I know.  But I can’t help these feelings, and the thoughts that keep creeping into my head.”

“I don’t think there’s anything you can do about it,” Kyle said.  “I don’t know, but everything I’ve read, you’re born that way. It’s like you’ve got the gene or something.”

“Does that mean my dad isn’t a hundred percent straight?” Devon asked.

“Naw, man, there’s nobody straighter than our dads,” Kyle said.  “You must’ve got it from your mother’s side, or maybe it’s just a stray gene that slipped in from generations back.  A freak of nature or something.”

“I don’t like the way that sounds,” Devon said.

“I’m not calling you a freak.”

“It don’t make sense anyway, Kyle.  Genes don’t just slip in. You get ‘em from somewhere in your past.”

“Well, it sure as hell wasn’t from your dad.”

“Kyle….”

“Yeah.”

“You said, at the very worst I’m probably bi….at the very worst, those were your words.  That makes it sound really bad, and it makes me wonder….what you think of me.”

“I don’t think any different than before. It was a bad choice of words.  Heck, it don’t make any difference to me if you’re bi, or even gay.  We were brothers before you told me and we’re still brothers.”

“We’re not brothers,” Devon said. “Not real brothers.  We don’t have the same dad.”

“But what if we had the same mom?”

“We don’t know that for sure.”

“We know it if that’s what we believe,” Kyle said.

“We don’t even know if Jason and Brad are our real dads,” Devon said. “We’ve both got American blood, but our mom was probably a prostitute.  We could belong to anybody, and Jason and Brad just happened to be the ones to choose us.  We don’t know for sure where our genes came from.”

“Where the hell is this crap coming from anyway, Devon?” Kyle asked. “You keep saying our mom ‘cause that’s what you wanta believe, but we don’t know if it’s even true. I don’t know about you, but Brad is my dad, and nothing’s going to change that.  Jason would be pissed as hell, and really hurt, if he knew you were talking like this.  Just be glad they took us out of that orphanage and brought us to America.  If you could have a choice, right now, of any guy on the planet that you’d want to be your dad….would it be anybody besides Jason?”

“No.”

Kyle clasped his hand around Devon’s face. “And think about this, dude.  I’m your brother, and there’s nothing you can do about that either. And if you ever try, like disowning me or something, I’ll kick your ass.” Then his tone changed and he seemed to choke.  “I love you, Devon. I love you more than anybody else on the planet, and that includes Brad.”  With that he leaned down and kissed him on the mouth. It wasn’t a passionate kiss, but it wasn’t exactly a brotherly kiss either. It was a kiss of love. Their lips undulated against each other but their tongues didn’t meet, and Kyle broke away before they did.  “Don’t you forget it,” he said hoarsely.  “And if you tell anybody I kissed you, I’ll break your face.”

Suddenly Devon rose up and put his arms around Kyle’s shoulders and pulled him down on top of him. He hugged him tightly. 

“I love you more’n anybody on the planet too, Kyle, and I thank God every day that they took us out of that place together. I would’ve died if they left me behind, or if they took me and left you.  I don’t think I would’ve left without you.”

“I wouldn’t have left you behind either,” Kyle said.

“If anything ever happened to you……” 

“Nothing’s gonna happen to me, Devon.  I’m gonna be fine, now and always.  We both are.”

“As long as we’re together,” Devon said.

“We’ll always be together,” said Kyle.  “Now, are you going to let me up?”

Devon released his hold on him and Kyle rose up, still sitting on the edge of the bed.  “Listen….don’t worry about being bi. Nobody’s gonna know; I don’t think you even know for sure.  I didn’t have a clue, and I’m closer to you than anybody else.  So don’t worry about it, cause if it’s true that means you play both sides of the fence, and heck, that might not be so bad.  And there’s something else……”

“What?” Devon asked.

“I don’t want this to sound like it’s gonna sound, like I’m wanting something from you, or trying to use you, so promise you won’t take it that way.” When Devon didn’t say anything he said again, “Promise.”

I promise.”

“Well, if you ever wanta sometime act on those feelings you’re having, to find out for sure about yourself, well, you can do it with me, and I promise nobody’ll ever know.”

There was dead silence as the two boys just looked at each other, and Kyle suddenly felt panic that he’d said the wrong thing.

“I didn’t mean anything except….I’m just saying, if you try it and you like it, well, maybe you’re right about your feelings, or.… if you try it and you don’t like, well, then you’re not bi.  I don’t mean anything else by it, Devon, I swear.”

“I know you don’t,” Devon said.

“You were looking at me funny,” Kyle said.

“I was just trying to imagine what it’d be like….doing it.  It was all just feelings and thoughts in my head till you said that, then it just hit me that it could actually happen.”

“Well…..”  He punched Devon playfully in the stomach, then stood up.  “Don’t be afraid to ask.” He walked to the door and was gone before Devon could stop him.

To be continued...  

Posted: 09/14/12