Coach Assistant

By: Tim
(© 2015 by the author)

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

Chapter 21 

I quickly grabbed the sheets to cover us.

“I think you’d better stick your face under this, Francis”

“Hmm, yes, maybe I should.”

He tried to laugh a little but, with my cum on his face, he felt very embarrassed by the whole situation.  If I had had the time, I would have helped him to clean it up, but there was just no time.

If I’d been thinking more clearly, perhaps I would have called out that we’d come down in a minute, but I just wasn’t thinking clearly.

“Come on in, dad.”

The door opened and my dad stepped into my room.

 “Ah, is Francis here?” he asked before he took a good look at the bed.

“Oh, sorry!  Wrong question, I guess.  I just wanted to check to see if you were home and if everything went OK today at school since I missed you earlier this evening when I came home a short time ago.”

“No, we’re fine; nothing special happened today”

“Good, I’m not going to ask why Francis is hiding.  I’m not sure if I really want to know, but I think it’s bedtime and I mean time for separate beds.”

“I know, dad.  Sorry, but Francis was just about to leave when you knocked.”

“OK, well then, I’ll leave it to you.  See you at breakfast tomorrow.”

“Sure, I’m just going to have a shower and go to sleep”

“Sweat dreams, guys.”

With that he left the room.  I slowly pulled the cover down and I saw that Francis was just lying there with a very red face.

“For a minute I was afraid that he wanted me to come out of there.”

“Well, I think he had some idea what was going on because he didn’t ask that question, but I can say, he wasn’t looking very happy with the situation.  I think he guessed we were both naked and were or had been playing.  Well, we can’t do anything about it now.”

“You’re right about that.  I’m sorry, but I wiped my face on the sheet.   I was just so afraid that he was going to ask me to surface.”

“I’ll do the laundry tomorrow, so no one will know.”

“OK, I’d better get out of here and clean up before going to bed.  I still feel a little bit sticky.”

I turned my face closer to his and put my hand on his left cheek, just softly touching it and feeling it.

“Sticky, perhaps, but also very soft.”

“I’d better go or I’ll wake up here in the morning.”

I laughed a bit at that.  So far we were expected to sleep in separate bedrooms but each time Francis somehow had landed in my bed and we had awakened both in the same bed.

He walked out.  I knew where he was headed, to the bathroom.  I quickly got up and put on boxer shorts and a bathrobe.  Maybe he forgot but I had just told my dad that I was going to take a shower before going to sleep and that was exactly what I intended to do.

I slowly walked towards the bathroom knowing that Francis was in there.  Despite the huge explosion of just a moment ago, I felt my dick starting to get stiff again with the knowledge that Francis would be naked in there.

I opened the door and there he was with his back towards me, just opening the curtain.  Maybe I should have waited a moment longer but I couldn’t do that tonight.

“You want company?”

He turned around and smiled at me.

“Following me already!  I knew you couldn’t do without me for very long.”

“You heard what I said to dad: I need a shower before going to sleep.  So do you mind if I keep you company?”

“What do you think?  Could I ever say no to you?”

I walked slowly towards him, leaving the robe behind.

“I’m sorry you had to go through all of that, this evening,” he said, pointing at my body.

I was not sure how to respond but I didn’t want to go into that now, so I just laughed and said, “You liked the way I felt, soft and all, so I think it couldn’t have been too bad.  But, for now, come on and let me wash you”

I didn’t leave any room for discussion as I pushed him further into the shower and turned the tap.  He wanted to say something but I put a hand over his mouth.

“Shush, this is my way of saying ‘I love you’.”

I slowly pushed him under the water and, with his back still to me, I started to wash him, first his back and then slowly going down to his ass.  His fleshy cheeks made me all warm and horny, as I felt his soft skin.  I knew that that was something that didn’t come from the warm water but from feeling his lovely skin and enjoying his figure.  I slowly went down to his muscular legs, just giving them a soft massage while I went lower and lower.

I finished washing his backside and was not sure how to proceed.  I looked and saw the shampoo, which was standing in the corner of the shower floor.  I took it in my hands and put some in my palms.  Then I brought them both to his beautiful hair.  I slowly started to massage it in.  I continued to work it further and further into his hair.

All this time Francis hardly said a word, but I felt him relax more and more.  But as I washed his hair, he started to let out some moans.  I made a mental note to remind me that he liked to be touched there.

I brought my mouth to his left ear and softly said, “turn around and close your eyes.”

I helped him to turn around and smiled when I saw that he had indeed closed his eyes. He was enjoying himself, I could see that by the look on his face and when my eyes lowered, I found confirmation of that when I saw his cock.  It was hard but still very beautifully shaped.  I could see his vein going through it.  His foreskin was a little bit drawn back but not completely.   I wanted to feel it, but my hands were still in his hair and I didn’t want to remove them quickly, so I slowly started to withdraw my hands from his hair and washed lower down.  I massaged his face, with some extended work at his ears.

Not using my hands this time but my tongue and mouth, I couldn’t resist and kissed him on the lips.  He still had his eyes closed, so he slowly opened his mouth when he felt my tongue and lips.  But I didn’t push them in; that was not what I wanted.

I slowly lowered my hands further, working my fingers over his chest and nipples, then down to his belly, simultaneously washing his skin and massaging his muscles. He tried to impress me with them because I could feel that he tensed them while I washed them.  I slowly went a little bit further, not touching his cock but sliding may hands along each side of it.  I just wanted to leave that part of him for last.  But I had crouched down a little, so my eyes were at the same level and, as I washed the front of his legs, it was hard to take my eyes off it.

I slowly raised my hands from his feet and started to fondle his balls.  Francis’s moans became louder and louder and I was glad that the water was still running; otherwise, I’d have had to stop because he would have been heard all over the house.

From his balls I slowly raised my hands until they bracketed his cock.  I felt it harden as I touched it.  I could no longer hold it and I slowly moved forward.  Just before my mouth reached him, I smelled all kinds of unfamiliar odours.  I wanted to savour them as much as I could.  I didn’t want to forget any of them.  Then slowly I started to move my lips around his cockhead.  I felt him start to tremble.  I looked up to see his face.  He had his eyes open.

He didn’t say anything but he backed off a little bit.  I smiled to myself when I realised that he couldn’t stand on his own any more and needed the wall to rest his back against while I continued to take more and more of his cock into my mouth.

I felt his foreskin somehow slips further into my mouth, and then I slowly let it slide out.  I looked at it to check if I was right.  It looked beautiful, just a little red, hard, filled with blood but just a shape that was perfect for me.  I took it back in my mouth and, as I did that, I felt Francis thrust his hips forward.  He couldn’t control himself any more.  Then I felt his cock begin to convulse and his cum flooded my mouth, first hitting the back of my throat, then slowly starting to drip on my tongue.

Hmmm, the taste was great and I slowly started to swaollow, enjoying every little drop of Francis.  I backed off a little when he started to relax and I looked up into his face.

He still had his eyes closed and I saw that he had been completely into it.  He didn’t black out like I had, but still I knew he had enjoyed it and I certainly did.

“Love you, Francis, with all my heart,” I said softly when I reached his ear with my mouth.

He still kept his eyes closed, but a smile appeared on his face.

“Hey, Nick, are you still in there?  It’s really getting towards bed time now.”

Oops, dad again!  I just hoped he hadn’t checked to see if Francis was in his room.

“I’m almost ready, dad.  Good night.”

“OK, good night, son.”

I looked again at Francis and said, “we’d better leave before he comes back.”

Francis just nodded.  I stepped out of the shower and started to dry myself.

I wanted to say something but I just didn’t want to spoil the moment, and Francis must have thought the same because he didn’t say anything.  He just had a big smile on his face, which said it all.

We went our own way, just giving each other one more kiss and a smile.  I lay down on my bed and enjoyed all the feelings of the last hour.  It had been incredible.

Relaxed, I fell asleep very quickly, just thinking about that wonderful person on the other side of the hallway.

Tuesday morning was a morning just like any other.  I believed we had experienced everything.  After two weeks of almost non-stop surprises, I was sure I needed a normal day, a day to try and give everything a clear perspective, a day to work through all the emotions I had felt.  So I tried to make it as usual a day as possible.  At the end of day, after practice, I though it had worked.  Nothing special had happened and everyone had left me alone.  I had shared some intimate moments with Francis but nothing too heavy.

Francis had gone with his friends to have some drinks and I went straight home.  I wanted to do some homework.  What I needed to do was a LOT of homework.  This was something that had almost been forgotten during the last two weeks.

I was just starting when the phone rang.

“Hello, Nick here.”

“Hi, Nick.  This is Alexei.  I hoped you’d be home by now.”

“Hey, Alexei.  It’s good to hear your voice.”

We chatted about how things were going with me for a while, what was happening here, and Alexei told me what he had been up to.  Strange as it seemed, this felt as if there was a real friendship growing despite the age difference between us.

“OK, so what is going to happen now, Nick?  Do you already know what you’re going to do about the whole situation?”

“To be honest, I think I’ve got some kind of plan but I’d feel a lot better if you were around to help.  I’m sure that if things went wrong, an adult present would be a good thing.  I can’t ask that of any one else; the only person I can trust is you, so I hope you can come over.”

“Hmm, you know, if I can help you, I will.  It all depends on when you want to do this.”

“I’m not sure when, but there’s a good chance that it’ll be next Saturday, so in ten days or so.”

“I’ll have to check my calendar and phone you back on this, OK.  I’m not sure if I have anything planned for that weekend.”

“OK, just let me know before Thursday?”

‘That won’t be a problem, Nick.  I have to go in a moment, but let’s talk again on Thursday, OK, or do you have more things you want to talk about?”

“Hmm, yes, if you don’t mind.  I’m not sure how to ask this Alexei.  I … well, it’s about Francis.”

“Is there something wrong.  I thought he’d reacted rather well to everything you told him.”

“I’m afraid his reaction has been just a little bit too good, Alexei, if you know what I mean.  He’s hardly talked about it at all.  He saw me yesterday and said hardly a word … well, one remark, but nothing more.”

“I think, Nick, that you have to give him some time.  This is all new to him, too.  He’ll talk more about it when he’s ready.  I found it surprisingly that you’d talked about this at all.  I though he’d want to wait for a few days at least.”

“Well, he hasn’t said much but so far I’m OK with it.  I just have some doubts about his reaction.  I don’t want to lose him but I want to be honest with him.”

“I know.  Give it time, Nick, and it’ll all change for the better.”

“I hope it does, Alexei.  I wouldn’t want to lose him.”

“You won’t, Nick, as long as you keep talking to him.”

“I know.  OK, I’d better let you go.  You’ll let me know on Thursday?”

“Yes, I’ll call you the.  Bye, Nick.”

“Goodbye, Alexei, and thank you for listening.”

“No thanks are necessary, Nick.  Goodbye.”

I tried to review the conversation.  I knew Francis needed time about all of this, just as I did.  I went back to my books and studied some more.

I’m not sure how long I kept on going, but I don’t remember hearing anyone enter the house.  Suddenly there was a knock at my door.

“Come on in”

“I though I’d better knock before coming in,” my dad said.

“Thanks, Dad, I appreciate that.”

“I know but I see that Francis isn’t here.”

“No, he’s out with his friends.  I needed to do some catching up on homework.  I haven’t done much lately and I didn’t want to get too far behind.”

“Good idea Nick.  To be honest, that is one of the things I wanted to talk with you about after I found you together with Francis here.  I still mean what I said.  I don’t want you spending all your time fooling around.  I know how difficult it is, not to do that when you’re in love.”

“Well, as you can see, I’m still the responsible guy here.”

“I’m sorry.  I should have known better and trusted you, but I’m still a little bit concerned about this.”

“I know, dad, but at the moment there’s nothing to be concerned about”

“How is Francis doing?  Are there any difficulties with his feelings for his parents?”

“He hasn’t talked about them at all, dad.”

I couldn’t tell him that we’d had other things on our mind.  I was sure that, somewhere deep inside, Francis was still struggling with it all.

“I think I should contact them by the end of this week or over the weekend, to let them know that Francis is here just in case they change their minds.”

“Well, there’s little chance of that, dad, but I know you have to try.”

“Yes, I must.  I just don’t want to get into trouble in the future if they change there minds.  Well, I’d better leave you to your studies.  But if there is anything, let me know.”

“I will, dad.”

I turned around and went back to study as dad left the room.

It was later when I heard the door open again.  I knew who this was.  I was sure of it without even looking.  I just knew.  I didn’t have to turn around.  I felt him come close to me and I felt his lips kiss my neck.

“Hmm, I’m studying, Francis.”

“I though it was time for some distraction, Nick.”

“I could stop if you want me to, but I’m enjoying this a lot at the moment.”

“I think I can make you change your mind.”

He had put his arms around me and was grabbing my chest and my nipples through the sweater I was wearing.

“Hmm,” I moaned softly.  “I was just trying to get some work done.”

“Oh, no, you’re not,” he said.  And with one hand he reached down towards my crotch where my dick was already hard.

“See, I knew you’d want to play instead of study.”

I just laughed and turned around, knowing it was time to give in because this was a contest I could never win.  I kissed him on the lips to let him know I’d surrendered.

“I knew you’d give in, Nick.”

“I know that too, Francis, but I just wanted to see what you’d do to get me to give up.”

“Ahhh, so you were playing, too!  Well, I can think of a few more things we can do before going to sleep tonight”

“I’ll bet you do, Francis, but can’t we try to take it a little easy tonight”

He looked at me, kind of surprised.

“I wanted to thank you, Nick, for the shower last night.  I haven’t had a chance to do that.  It felt so great that I couldn’t even say anything when we finished yesterday.  I just couldn’t find the words to do it justice.”

“Well, that says it all for me, Francis.”  I had started to blush at what he said.  I looked at his face and wasn’t sure he got it.

“There is no better compliment, Francis, than what you just said.”

I saw that he’d gotten the message this time because he started to smile and blush a little.

“I wasn’t sure.  I thought you were mad because I didn’t say anything last night or this morning about it.”

“Why did you think I was mad, Francis?”

“Hmm, I think this will sound stupid to you, but you only tried to kiss me once today and tonight, after practice, you practically forced me to join the guys instead of going home with you.”

“I’m sorry but I really needed to study a bit.  I haven’t done much schoolwork lately and I also wanted this day to be a normal day.  We’ve been going through quite a lot, you know.”

“Hmm, you’re right.  Sorry, I didn’t think about it that way.  Is that why you didn’t want to play around tonight?”

“Yes, you got it, Francis.  I needed some rest today to try and deal with all those feelings I have been going through lately.”

“As long as I can stick around for a while, that’s enough.  We don’t always have to play around.  Just being with you is enough for me.”

I just smiled at him and gave him a big passionate kiss to let him know I appreciated that.

“Hmm, if you keep that up, I’m not sure I’ll be able to restrain myself, Nick.”

“Well, you’d better learn some self control, Francis.  Otherwise we might be in some trouble in the future.”

He started to laugh when he realised what I meant by that.

‘Trying to make a fool out of me, Nick?”

“No,” I said, smiling.  “Just trying to protect you from becoming one!”

That was enough to start a little fight.

We ended up tired.  We both somehow landed on the bed and just lay beside each other, looking at the ceiling and holding hands.

“Did you think about Friday, Nick?”

Oh no, I thought.  I wasn’t sure if I wanted to talk about that now.  Because I didn’t respond right away, he turned his face towards me and I did the same.

“Sorry, Francis.  To be honest, I have but I don’t want to talk about it yet.”

“I’m sorry, Nick that .… “  And with that a tear ran down his cheek.

At that point there wasn’t anything I could say.  We just held each other for a while, him crying out loud and me quietly, my tears flowing down my face.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow, Francis,” I whispered in his ears.

“I know we have to.  We have to tell David also, if we want him to help us.”

‘Tomorrow is fine by me, Nick,” he answered.

We just held each other for a while, then he backed off a little, looked at me and said, “I love you, Nick.”  He kissed me then slowly and softly and stood up from the bed.

“Good night, Nick.”

“Good night, Francis.”

He left my room.  I turned around, just laying on my back again, looking at the ceiling, going with all the emotions I felt, not knowing how to handle them but just leaving them where they were for the time being.

I slept quite well and woke up a little too early.  There was something on my mind but I just couldn’t get it.  It concerned something I was thinking when I fell asleep last night.  It was a flash of something about how to handle the doctors, something to make their presence easier for them to believe.

I couldn’t grasp it at the moment and decided to let it go.  I knew that it would be back later today when I was not thinking about it any more.

I dressed and went downstairs.  Today I had the first hour off.  Fortunately, I found David in the kitchen. That was good, I though.  I needed to ask him if he was going to be home tonight.

“Good morning, David.  I didn’t expect you to be up this morning.”

“Ah, well, our teacher for the first period is sick and I didn’t want to go to the library this early.”

“Francis and dad have already left.”

“Yea, they did, about ten minutes ago.  Francis was looking at the stairs all the time.  I think he was hoping you would show up before he left.”

I smiled when I got the image in my head of Francis sitting at the table looking in anticipation at the stairs for me to show up there.

“Hey, Nick, are you still with me?”

“Sorry, just daydreaming.”

“I had that impression already, Nick.”

“Are you going to be home tonight, David?”

“I’m not sure.  I wanted to ask Kathy if we could meet to study for a while.”

“Study, David???  That’s something new!!!” I said with a smile.

“Trying to be funny, Nick?  You know what I mean, don’t you?”

“Well, I’d hoped you’d be home tonight, David.  There is something I want to talk to you about.”

‘Tonight, Nick?  Can’t we do it tomorrow?  Kathy has some lessons on Thursday evening so I can’t go to se her tomorrow.”

“To be honest, David, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to wait for another day.  It’s kind of important.”

“I could stay home tonight, if it’s that important to you.”

“Yes, it is, David.  I’d really appreciate it.”  I looked at him with a pleading look on my face.

“OK, I’ll tell Kathy you want to talk and maybe I could go visit her later this evening.”

“Thanks, David,” I said, relieved.

We ate our breakfast in silence.  I saw the looks David gave me from time to time but he didn’t ask or say much more about why I needed to talk to him.

From David’s point of view:

Why would Nick want to talk with me?  It had to be really important, otherwise he wouldn’t have insisted the way he did.  He also had a very sad tone in his voice while he said that last sentence.  Should I ask him what he wants to talk to me about?  No, if he wanted to, he would have told me this morning.  I’d better try to find Francis this morning to find out what this is all about.

Later that morning, I found Francis in the hallway, waiting for another class to start.

“Hey, Francis.  Can I have a talk with you?”

“Hi, David.  I didn’t expect you around this area of the building.”

“I know.  I never come near the Arts teaching rooms but I was looking for you.  Nick asked me to be around tonight because he wanted to talk with me.  He didn’t say what it was about.  Do you know?”

I saw the colour drain from Francis’s face.  “Yes, I think I know what he wants to tell you.”

“Can you give me some idea?”

“I think you know already what this talk will be about.”

“Can’t you be more specific, Francis?  Of course I have some idea but I just wanted to be prepared a little better.”

“Sorry, David, but this isn’t something to discuss between classes and if Nick didn’t tell you anything, I’m not going to tell you either.  It’s all up to him.”

“It’s about why he was sick two weeks ago.”

“Yes, that’s something I can confirm, but please don’t ask me anymore.”

“Are you going to be there too, Francis, or is he going to talk to me alone?”

“I have no idea.  We haven’t discussed that.  If you don’t mind, I want to be there but that all depends on Nick.”

“OK, I just have to be patient then until tonight.”

“I think you’d better do that.  I’m sorry.  I can’t say more.”

“No, I can understand that, Francis.  See you tonight.”

With that I walked out of there, more curious than I was before.  Still I knew it was really important if Nick wanted to discuss the reason why he’d been so ill.  It had been on my mind a lot lately  - well, at least when I wasn’t with Kathy - but I would have liked to be better prepared somehow.

I decided I’d just have to wait and see, so I went home as quickly as I could that evening.

From Nick’s point of view:

I know David wanted to ask me what I wanted to discuss, but I was glad he gave up asking.  I saw Francis during lunch, but we joined the rest of the guys not wanting to make it to obvious that we were a couple.  We didn’t want to start any rumours, well not at least for the time being.

I tried to kiss him while I was in a private corner of the hall, but he backed off saying “be careful, Nick.  We don’t need this in our lives now.  We’ve enough stuff to work through.”

I knew he was right but, still, I really would have liked to do those things in public.

After practice, I went home.  Practice went well and my dad told me to do some new routines next time.  If I could get those routines to work well, I would have a chance to join the school team for the city championships - something I never thought would happen but was now possible, thanks to Alexei.

I’d promised to cook dinner that night so, when I came home, I went to the kitchen right away.  I started to prepare the meal.  I sat down to read the newspaper while everything was cooking.  I didn’t hear Francis come in, but felt two hands on my shoulders.

“I though I’d find you here.”

“Getting hungry, Francis?” I replied.

“Yes, I might have a snack as I usually do before dinner.  Practice makes me hungry.”

“Hmm, I though you might have something else on your mind.”

“Oh, don’t you ever think about anything other than that, Nick?”

I smiled, turned myself around, pulled him a little lower, and kissed him on the mouth.

“You talked with David this morning, Nick.”

“Yes, did he tell you anything?”

“He wanted to know what you wanted to talk about tonight.”

“I though so.  He was curious.  Did you tell him anything, Francis?”

“No.  If you weren’t going to tell him, I wasn’t going to either.”

“Thanks.  I knew he’d come running to me immediately if you’d told him what this was about.”

“Are you sure, Nick?  Are you really ready to tell him what happened?”

“I’m not sure, Francis, but I think I have to.  We need him to work with us and I think I owe him that much”

“Do you want me to be there, or do you want to do this alone?”

“Oh, no, I want you there.  I’m not sure I could do it without you.”

“OK, if you need help or anything, just let me know.  I want to be there for you.”

“Thanks.  I know I can depend on you.”  To make sure he knew what I meant, I started to kiss him again.  We stayed locked together for quite some time.

“Oh, no, this is the third time I’ve found you guys doing stuff I’d rather not see.”

David came walking in and we stopped kissing.

“Did you ever think kissing Kathy in public might cause a problem?  I saw you at the end of the hallway today, so shut up,” I replied and turned back to look at Francis and gave him another big deep kiss.

David laughed a little.  “Point taken.  As you both have fun, I won’t be in your way but I think you’d better look at the stove because there’s something that’s starting to smell.”

“Oh, no!”  I turned around and headed to the stove.  David was right, something had just started to burn but when I opened the skillet, I saw I had caught it just in time.

“So, Nick, what did you want to talk to me about?”

I was a little shocked he asked before dinner.  I had planned to finish dinner and then talk about it.

“I think Nick wants to wait until after dinner, David, if that’s no problem for you.”

“No, that’s fine by me.  I just wanted to try to speed things up so I could get away to Kathy’s place, but I don’t mind having dinner first.”

I smiled at Francis, glad that he had answered that question for me.

We ate in silence.  I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to wait because the tension between us grew more and more.

Francis tried to put me at ease but the tension was just too great for that to happen.

When we were finished, David said, “why don’t you two go into the living room?  I’ll clean up and put some leftovers aside for dad to eat when he comes home”

“OK,” I said.  See you in a few minutes then, David.”

“Yes, I’ll be out in a few minutes.  Don’t worry.”

As we entered the living room, Francis put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me gently towards him.

“Do you really feel up to this?  The tension in there just a moment ago wasn’t normal.”

“I know, Francis, but I need to do this.  I need to get this off my chest.”

“I’m sure that David would understand if you had to stop because you couldn’t continue.”

“Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

We sat down beside each other on the couch.  I put my head on Francis’s chest and just enjoyed being there, smelling the musky odour of Francis slowly rising with every breath he took.

Some how I must have dozed off for a little while.  Suddenly David tapped my shoulder.  “Do you want something to drink while we talk?”

“Yes, that would be nice  Could you get me a beer?”

“OK.  Something for you, Francis?”

“No, thanks, David.”

David walked in with two beers.  He handed me one and sat down on the chair just facing us.

“So, what do you want to tell me, Nick?  You know you can trust me.  You can tell me anything you want.”

“I know, David, but this isn’t easy to tell you.”

“Well, if you can’t tell me now, don’t worry, we can do this another time.”

“No, I want to do this now, but I’m not sure I can tell you the whole story, but I’ll try.”

“OK, I’m all ears.”

I started to tell David how I met the doctor and what happened during the examination.  I felt Francis’s hands going through my hair, sometimes slowly and sometimes just keeping them still, but I know he wanted me to know that he was still there.

I had to drink something before I could continue telling him about the visit to the doctor’s house.  As I got to the point where I had to admit my submissive feelings, I saw that David looked kind of strange.  He was worried.

I sipped a little more beer before I continued, but it was David who interrupted with a question.

“Are you sure you want to tell me this, Nick?  This is something quite private.”

“I want you to tell it all, David, because I need your help, but please don’t ask anything else, otherwise, I’m not sure I can finish this.”

Francis kissed me on the lips, something I found very reassuring.  However David was going to react, Francis would still be there for me.  I was very afraid that David would walk away and would not want anything to do with me any more.  I took a deep breath and continued to tell about my first experiences with Mike.

I saw that David was not comfortable with all this, but I continued.

When I came to the point where I had to buy my gymnastic outfit, the look on his face made it clear that David was feeling quite uncomfortable, and I started to worry about his reaction.  I wasn’t sure, but I think that somehow Francis felt that too because he stopped caressing my hair and put his arms around me.

 I looked at David again, but found him staring at me, not even making a sound.  I turned my head towards Francis’s chest.  I felt tears start to flow, and that was something I didn’t want David to see.  I’m not sure why I started to cry but I though I saw some disappointment in his face, and that was something I couldn’t stand.  I always wanted David to be proud of me.  I thought I’d achieved that with the way I’d improved at gymnastics and with my love for Francis, but all these things with Mike seemed to eat away at what I’d gained.

Feeling more and more insecure, I continued to cry.  I thought I heard some conversation between David and Francis, but I wasn’t sure what they were talking about.

“Shhh, Nick, it’s alright.  If you don’t want to continue, that’s fine with David,” Francis whispered in my ears.

I didn’t reply right away.  I had to get my tears under control before I’d be able to do that.

“But we need him, Francis.  You know that.”

“I know, but not to all costs, and if you don’t want him to know the whole story, he just has to trust you and not ask for more details.”

“He’ll never help us if he doesn’t know what it’s all about.  And what if he finds out from someone else!  No, I want him to know all of it.”

“Maybe I have a solution,” David said.

We both looked at him wondering what he was thinking.

“You know what Nick wants to tell me, don’t you, Francis?”

“Yes, I think I do,” Franscis responded.  “I’m not sure what Nick wanted you to know but I think I know most of it.”

“Would it be OK, Nick, if Francis continued?  Maybe that would make it easier for you to get through all of this.”

“I think that would be a solution,” I said in between sobs.

“Would you do that for me, Francis?”

“Hmm, are you really sure, Nick?  All of it?”

“Yes, all of it, Francis.”

“Including last Monday night?”

“Yes, everything.”

Francis took his bottle in his hand and took a sip.  He looked from me to David and back again.

“OK, if you two are sure about this, I’ll try.  If you want me to stop, let me know, Nick.”

“I will, Francis.”

Francis continued where I left off.  When he came to the events of Sunday afternoon, I looked at David quite intensely to see how he reacted.  He first looked at Francis and then to me.  I couldn’t see any reaction at first, but then I saw a tear run down his cheek from his left eye.

He stood up and came towards me.  Without saying anything, he untangled me from Francis and took me in his arms.  He started to cry harder and that made it impossible to keep my own eyes dry, so new tears started to flow.  If I look back at it now, I’m not sure how it was possible to cry that much in only a few days.  I though I’d be completely dehydrated by now.

As we both started to calm down a little, he held me at arm’s length, looked me in the eyes, and said, “I’m so sorry, Nick.  If I had only known, I could have been there for you, helped you.  And dad drove you right into Mikes arms.”

I wanted to say something, but I just couldn’t.

“Have you already decided what to do with Mike, Francis?   Because if you need help, just tell me what I need to do and I’ll be there.”

“Oh, no!” I thought.  He wants revenge, too.

“I don’t think I can be on the team with him any more, no way.”

I looked at Francis, hoping he would try to talk some sense into David.

“David, please don’t look at me that way.  Let me finish first.”

“There’s more?” David responded.  He looked at both us and said, “OK, continue.”

He returned to sitting on the floor while we sat in front of him on the couch.

Francis continued the story with the things that happened between us, and then he came to the point where he found me in my room with the pills in my hand.

“No, you didn’t, Nick!  Oh my god, I would never survive losing you!”

I looked at him and said, “Sorry, David, but at that point I saw no other way out any more.”

“If anything like that comes up, talk to me.  You must know by now that I’m here for you, whatever happens.”

“I know now.  I’m sorry, David.”

“No, don’t apologise.  That is what brothers are for.”

We just looked at each other and Francis asked, “shall I continue?”

Francis continued with everything that had happened until the events of Monday evening.  I’d gotten braver, so when Francis ended I looked at David again and said, “that is why I need your help.  I have a plan to end this all but we can’t do it alone.”

“Is Mike completely behind you?  He’s not about to double-cross you, is he?”

“No, I trust him, David.  He wants to get out of this as much as I do.”

“Are you OK with all this, Francis?”

“Yes, if this is the way Nick wants to end it.”

“Well, I’m not sure if this is the right thing to do, Nick, but I’m with you if you need me.  I’m not sure I understand all of it, but I’ll help you.”

“I know, David.  Even Francis has his reservations.  He’d want to get Mike just as much as you do, but that isn’t the way out of all this.”

“So, what is your plan, Nick, and when does it take place?”

“I think it’ll take place next Saturday but I’m still finalising the plan.  I’m waiting for a telephone call tomorrow.”

Francis hadn’t said anything about Alexei, so I didn’t want to bring him into this without knowing that it was certain that he’d be involved.

“I want to talk about it with you all Friday evening,” I added.

“But then you have to .…”

“I know, Francis, but we can carry out my plan after that.  I think we can make the Friday evening much easier without the doctors expecting anything, but first I have to talk to Mike about my idea.”

“OK, I’m not going to ask any more questions, Nick.  I trust you.”

We sat there for a few minutes with little more to say.  David had gone back to his own chair and was lost in his own thoughts.

“I’m going to get another beer.  Any one else?” I asked.

I got a positive response from both of them, so I walked to the kitchen.

(While Nick was in the kitchen)

“I know you have questions, David, but I don’t think that Nick is able to answer them now.”

“I know that, Francis.  I wanted to ask several, but he seems to be very lost in his own thoughts at the moment.”

“Are you OK for the moment with all of this?”

“What a question, Francis!  Of course not!  I’m sure I’m going to have a long talk with Mike.  I need to have some answers from him also.  I’m sorry but I just can’t believe he did this to Nick.”

“I know.  We talked about this last Monday, and I think I can see why this happened, but still that doesn’t mean I like it.  I only agreed under protest to the plans for this Friday, but they both seemed very scared of what the doctors might do.”

“I understand that, but I’ve known Mike for almost ten years now.  We’ve been friends, well more or less, during that period.  I can’t believe he let Nick undergo such things.  No, he’s not getting away with this that easily.”

“As long as you don’t tell Nick, David.  I don’t think that would be a very good idea. He still thinks that Mike is not to blame for all of this, especially not what happened on Sunday afternoon.”

“I won’t tell him.  I’ll find a spot to talk to Mike about it.  How is Nick dealing with all this?  I can imagine you have a lot to cope with at the moment.  Especially if you take into consideration your coming out and the situation with your parents and all”.

“I’m not sure we’ve talked about it all except in a very dispassionate, clinical way. We cried a little bit like you did a moment ago but I’m not sure if he’s not trying to block it all out of his memory.”

“We have to keep an eye on him, to see how he’s dealing with this all, Francis.  We don’t want him to make another attempt to end it all.”

“No, we don’t want that.  You said you couldn’t go on without him, David.  Well, I can only say that I feel the same way.”

“Are you really letting him go on with this on Friday?  I mean, can’t we do anything to prevent it from happening?”

“We talked about that quite extendedly, but Mike and Nick don’t see a way out until they trap the doctors and end the blackmail.  I pushed as far as I could to get them to reconsider, but I don’t want to be pig-headed.  I think it very important for Nick to know that I fully support him and trust him.  I don’t want him to think that I have any doubts about his judgement, and he needs your support, too.”

“OK, if that’s the case, I’ll do whatever he asks and we’ll just have to trust whatever plan he’s devised.”

-------

As I came back, I felt that they’d been talking about me because they fell silent when I rejoined them.

“I’m going to see Kathy, if you don’t mind now, Nick.  I want to try to do some more studying.”

“OK, that’s fine, David,” I said without much conviction in my voice.

“I’ll be there on Friday evening so we can make plans. OK?”

“Yes.  Say hi to Kathy for us, David.”

I looked at him as he walked out of the room.  I still wasn’t sure he accepted everything that had happened.  I know it was maybe a bit much for him to take in all at once.  I only hoped he wouldn’t change now.  We’d started to have a really good relationship lately and I didn’t want to lose that at this point.

I sat down beside Francis and he looked me in the eye.  “Are you really OK with this all, Nick?  So far I’m proud of the way you’re handling all this.  I could never have done what you’ve had to deal with without breaking down totally.”

“I’m not sure, Francis, but I’m just trying to be rational about all this.  And I know I have you to support me, so that’s a very big help.”

“Do you intend to tell any one else?”

“No, not for a long time.  I think everyone who needs to know, does.”

“You’re not going to tell your dad?”

“No, Francis.  You must never allow him to find out about this.  He’d feel the need for an official response and that means it somehow would come out into the open.  I could never deal with that.”

“Don’t you think the three men should somehow be punished for what happened to you?”

“Not if that means that I have to tell all this in court, Francis.  I’d never be able to do that.”

“I understand that, Nick.  I only hope you can get this all behind you without too many scars.  Telling the police does help in most cases.”

“I’m dealing with it in my own way, Francis, and I’ll never tell anyone else, and you and David must never tell anyone.”

“I won’t, at least, not without your permission.”

“I know you won’t.”

“So what are we going to do for the rest of the evening, Nick?  Any ideas?”

“I though we’d stay on the couch, just watching TV for a while.”

“That’s fine by me.  Shall we see what’s on?”

For the rest of the evening we just watched TV.  I was curled up against Francis, who was holding me in his arms.  I felt safe and protected that evening, as if we could take on the world together, no matter what happened.

I didn’t hear dad come in, or David returning from visiting Kathy, but somehow they must have because they both sat down on the side chairs.  We started to talk a little bit about the team qualifications for the city championships.  David and Francis agreed with my dad that I had a good chance to qualify to become the reserve.

Before they had a chance to change the subject, I said goodnight and went upstairs to my room.  I kissed Francis before going up and, as we finished, I saw a slightly uncomfortable look on the faces of dad and David.  “You’ll have to get used to that. We’re not going to act as if we don’t love each other,” I said with a smile.

They didn’t say anything, but both smiled back as if they wanted to tell me they could get used to it.

I’d hoped that Francis would come along with me, but he didn’t.  A moment later I heard him closing the door of his room.  I went to the bathroom and decided to have another drink before I went to bed, so I walked to the kitchen.

I heard David and dad talking.  I couldn’t make out the exact words, but when I got to the fridge I could hear what they were saying.

“Did you see those two curled up against each other when we came in?  I believe they really love each other,” my dad said to David.

“Yes, they looked real cute.”

“I think we’ll just have to get used to it.  I only hope that they survive the rough times they are heading for.”

“I think they’ll handle it well and we’ll be here to support them, won’t we, dad?”

“Yes, we will.  Nick deserves to be happy at last.  You know, I never knew how to approach him but I’m glad we’re trying to be more open to each other.  That seems to have closed the gap between us quite effectively recently.”

I quickly left the kitchen.  That was private and I didn’t want to hear any more.  Well, to be honest, I did, but I thought it was better that I didn’t hear any more confessions. I wasn’t sure I could handle them.

To be continued...

Posted: 11/06/15