Eye to Eye

By: XPud
(© 2018 by the author)

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

xpud@tickiestories.us

Chapter 5

The boys stare at each other for a moment longer; shortly, though, there is a startling clunk from the door behind Vin, sending both of them to their feet. Brandon walks out of his room and heads to the restroom, blindly ignoring the two of them.

Vin watches his brother go into the bathroom and close the door with his foot. "Howzabout we go to my room, yeah?"

"Yeah, Vin." Isaac's heart is definitely getting a workout, today; it has settled down to where Isaac doesn't feel light-headed, but it's still racing along at least at a presto tempo. Isaac follows Vin into his room, where Vin hops up onto the bed. Isaac, not quite as tall as Vin, has to use the baseboard as a step to get up on the bed. "Why is your bed so tall?" he asks.

Vin looks down at it and frowns. "I never thought about it. I just got this one a year ago after I hit my growth spurt, and, yeah. I guess the parents got me a tall one 'cuz I'm taller, now." Vin's eyes drift from the bed to Isaac's feet, and he cocks his head slightly. "Hey, I didn't even realize you were still wearing your shoes. Get comfy -- you're staying over now, yeah?" He grins at the last part.

"Okay, Vin," Isaac replies, slipping off the bed to kneel on the floor and un-strap his velcro shoes. He takes each one off carefully and asks, "Where should I put my shoes?"

"Eh, anywhere is fine, really. Uh, put 'em over near mine," he says, indicating a spot in the shallow, open closet. Isaac places his shoes right next to the familiar pair of dirty white sneakers, along with a pair of shiny black dress shoes that contrast sharply in almost every way with the sneakers. He notices, as he does so, that Vin's shoes are a good bit longer than his own. He then sits down to take his socks off and place each one very neatly inside of the proper shoe. Few things are more aggravating than a sock on the wrong foot.

He hops back up onto the bed and sits down across from Vin. They stare at each other, allowing the wordless stream of emotion to wash back and forth: excitement, awkwardness, hope, possibility, curiosity, a little bit of stress, expectation, anticipation...

Vin finally looks away for a moment. "Man, that is such a rush. I mean, I can definitely see why you don't like looking at people in the eyes."

Isaac replies plainly, "I like looking at your eyes."

Vin rolls those eyes and remarks, "Well, at least someone does. Everybody else thinks they're cool at first, but then I just get made fun of, or I'm known as 'the tall boy with the weird eyes.' Not really the kind of name I wanna make for myself, yeah? I've been thinking of getting contact lenses to hide it. I dunno."

Isaac wants to say something to compliment his eyes, but the fear of looking or sounding "gay" keeps invading his thoughts. But he said he might be bi, so he won't care, right? he asks himself. After an awkward silence, Isaac finally says, "I think th-that your eyes are really pretty." Just hearing the words come out of his mouth sets his entire face aflame.

He doesn't have time to react, though, before Vin re-establishes eye contact and smiles; Isaac feels a complex emotion, one like love, with some adoring and maybe a touch of giddiness, gush forth through the link, along with snippets of amusement and...envy? Vin shakes his head a little bit and says, "Yeah? Says the boy with the bluest eyes I've literally ever seen on anyone ever, boy or girl. Y'know, they're..." he sighs. "Man, I'd kill for a pair of eyes like yours." He looks down with a half-smile and a small laugh.

Isaac, though, is aghast. "No, Vin! Don't do that!"

Vin looks back up: confusion, surprise, and a sudden mirthful amusement shine in his eyes. "Oh, no no--augh, I didn't mean that literally! I was exaggerating. I wouldn't really kill anyone." He smacks himself in the forehead. "Y'know, I did some reading up on, um, people 'on the spectrum' after the, uh, the fire drill. I guess you, uh, don't get sarcasm or that kinda thing all that easy, huh."

Isaac hangs his head a little bit. "That's like inferences, right?"

Vin looks up and shrugs. "Yeah, I guess so. But yeah, sorry about that. I'll try to be a bit more direct. So..." He shrugs again and looks straight at Isaac's eyes. Taking a deep breath, he sighs and says, "I guess I'll just directly say it: you have gorgeous eyes."
Isaac has been complimented on his eyes before by all sorts of people, but it usually just washes off him like nothing. Knowing that his eyes make Vin happy, though, ignites both an intense glee and a burning bashfulness in Isaac, which he knows Vin can feel immediately. "Um, thank you, Vin."

Vin leans back and looks at the ceiling. "God. That felt damn good to say. I won't lie; from the first time we made eye contact back then in the locker room bathroom area, I've been jealous of your eyes." He sits up. "But boys 'aren't supposed to compliment other boys' or whatever," he says, using his fingers to denote the quotation marks around his quote. "That's just stupid as hell. Someone's got pretty eyes, you should be able to tell 'em they got pretty eyes, yeah? Why does it matter what junk they got, whether or not you can tell 'em?!" By the end of it, Isaac notices that Vin is a lot louder than he started. He stops for a moment. Taking a slow, deep breath, he looks back at Isaac's eyes. "Sorry. It's...a personal thing. But seriously -- don't ever let anyone tell you anything about those eyes, or I swear I'll...I'll hurt 'em."

Isaac feels a brick wall of protective instinct come from Vin's eyes, mixed with determination, strong but lingering relief, and a lesser envy than he felt before. Isaac says timidly, "I won't, Vin."

Vin nods. They share a short, awkward silence before Vin says, "Man. There's just so much to talk about...where do we start? Heh." Isaac offers no suggestion, so Vin tries, "How about this: how long have you known you were gay?"

Isaac stammers, "F-five days."

"Five d--!" Vin sputters. "Wh... how--? How...have you only known for five days? Like, you just magically knew on, what, Monday?"

Isaac stays silent, not sure how to answer the question, or even if he should. He just stares at the space on the bed between them.

"Sorry, sorry," Vin says with his hands out in front of him. "That wasn't cool of me. I promise I'm not trying to make fun of you or anything. But, I mean, what...what told you, or--or what made you realize that you were gay?"

Isaac stares blankly off, remembering the images that came to his mind that Monday when he was masturbating: it was the first time he imagined Vin playing with his hair. He feels an intense wave of embarrassment and shame, one that lights his face afire and quickens his breathing. He whispers, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Vin leans over a bit to look more at Isaac's face; Isaac looks up, catching eye contact, and he feels a touch of confusion and some amusement from Vin, followed by more confusion and an echo of his own shame. He sees Vin's cheeks redden slightly. Vin breaks eye contact quickly, rubbing the back of his neck and straightening the shoulder straps of his tank top. He says, "Wow, man, that's...geez, that's strong. You...you don't have to be embarrassed, Isaac." He rubs his hands on his own face a bit before continuing. "Here, tell ya what, lemme tell you about my own story a bit, and then you can share. I-if you want, I mean. You don't have to. So I figured out maybe last year, really, that I might be bi. I knew I liked girls, pretty much have for a long time...heck, even before the first time I jacked off, I knew girls were pretty to me. But last year, there was a boy, an 8th grader, who...man, I dunno. He wasn't like, manly or anything; in fact, he was kinda girly. But, but not like painted fingernails or long hair or whatever, just kinda...y'know, thin body, soft-spoken, really gentle...but like, that was the first time I was ever, I guess, 'attracted' to a boy. I figured maybe it was a one-time thing, but...it's happened more often than that." He smiles a tiny little smile and looks aside. "So yeah, there you go. I say I 'might' be bi because I dunno all the different terms they have out there; all I know is I've liked both boys and girls. So...what about you? Did you wanna talk about it?"

Still staring downward, Isaac mentions quietly, "It was when I was masturbating."

"What, you ashamed of that?" Vin asks with a grin. "I've been jacking off since I was like ten. It's no biggie--every boy does it, even if they lie about it."

"No, Vin, I'm not ashamed of that." He waits a moment longer to add the rest. "I had an orgasm because I was imagining you playing with my hair."

"Oh." Vin thinks about it more, and his eyes go wide. "OHHH." There is a long, awkward silence between the two very red-faced boys. "I, uh...I dunno what to say." He stays silent another moment before saying, "I mean...have you...you know, found anybody else attractive? I mean, other boys?"

Isaac takes a deep breath. "Mr. Guthrie is my reading specialist, and he is, he, um, I think he's...attractive. And the boys in the locker room, some of them. When, when they're in their underwear." Strangely, it doesn't feel nearly as embarrassing to talk about that part with Vin. Maybe it's because they both share that activity.

"Yeah, I can see that. There's a few lookers in there, too." Vin nods sagely. "Yeah, screw it. I guess I can call myself 'bi' for now. That works. Man, sexuality is weird, innit?"

Isaac frowns at him for a moment, but he manages to decipher the strange word. "Yes, Vin." He mimics Vin's nod.

Vin muses, "So...I was the reason you figured out you were gay. That's...kinda nuts. I mean, not like you're nuts for it or anything, just, I dunno, it's crazy to think about. In a good way, I guess." He thinks about it for a moment and then adds, "So, uh, is there anything you wanted to know about me? You can ask me anything, really."

Isaac takes a while to consider what to ask. "Do your grandparents have blue eyes?"

Vin stares blankly at Isaac for a moment. "I...definitely did not expect that question. Geez, uh, lemme think a sec...y'know, I think Mom's mom had blue eyes."

"Good," Isaac says decisively.

Vin stares at him strangely, but then busts into a fit of laughter. "I--what?! Wha--why did you ask that? Why do you want to know if my grammy has blue eyes?"

Isaac responds, "Because if your grammy has blue eyes, then your mom may have it as a recessive gene. And then if your dad has a parent or grandparent with blue eyes, then maybe he has it as a recessive gene. And then you could have a blue eye, even though nobody else in your family has one."

Vin shakes his head, smiling; Isaac notices that Vin gets that same look right before he would usually comment on Isaac's talents. "I mean, yeah, that kinda makes sense. I admit I didn't pay a lot of attention in the genetics part, was too close to math for me. But why only one blue eye? What's that all about?"

"Um, I remember that Mrs. Horner said that th-there were a lot of genes for eye color, so there are a lot of combinations. Maybe one of the combinations is brown and blue."

"Well, so far, I've seen only one person like this, and that's when I look in the mirror. If it's genetics, I musta hit the lottery or something." He rolls his eyes to punctuate the thought. "Still...pretty interesting question. Not about me, exactly, but...that was good."
"Thank you, Vin."

"So, my turn, eh?" Vin asks. "What's your family like? Brothers, sisters, dogs, cats, snakes...koala bears...?"

"I don't own a koala bear!" Isaac says with a playful swat at Vin.

"I was just asking! You never know..."

"Koalas are not even bears. They are marsupials." He says the word in almost a sing-song way. "They carry their young in a pouch on their ab-domen." He always finds it hard to put both of those consonants together in that word, so he breaks them up a bit for ease of pronunciation.

"Heh, you know your facts about koalas."

"And then, and then you can't keep them as pets, because they eat a lot of eucalyp-tus leaves, and then you couldn't feed them."

"A'right, a'right, no koala bears," Vin says, giggling. "Or, uh, koala...marsupials. Right. What about the rest of your family? Who you live with?"

"I live with my mom."

"That's it? Just you and her? No brothers or sisters?"

"No, Vin."

"Not even any pets?"

"No, Vin."

"But your dad is there, right?"

Isaac pauses a moment. The thought of "his dad" seems very strange to him, taking him a moment to process it. "I don't have a dad," he replies. Thinking about it, he adds, "I know that I have to have one because there has to be b-both a sperm and an egg, but I never met him."

Vin stays silent for a moment. He finally says, "Oh...uh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, y'know, bring that up. I didn't know."

"What didn't you know?" Isaac blithely asks.

"Y'know, that you didn't have a father."

"Oh. Why are you sorry about that?"

"Well, I..." Vin responds haltingly. "You know. That's usually...whatever. I dunno."

"You don't have to be sorry that you didn't know that I don't have a father, Vin. You didn't have any way to know it, so don't be sorry." Isaac has often heard people express their concerns about not knowing things, but to Isaac, it's simply unfair to expect someone to apologize for things they don't know. Also, Isaac wonders, Vin didn't apologize for not knowing about koalas, so why did he apologize about not knowing that I don't have a dad? The idea perplexes him.

Vin scratches his head a moment. "I mean, I guess you're right. I dunno why I'd be sorry about that. I guess you're okay with it, then, yeah?"

"I'm okay with it, Vin." He is, in fact, okay with Vin not being sorry. That's all he can figure out to be okay about, anyway.
Vin looks at Isaac for a moment with a small smile; Isaac takes a second to read his emotions through eye contact, and finds the sort of feeling that Isaac might get from the moment he sits down after a very long walk through a crowded mall with his mother, or maybe how he would feel if he found a twenty-dollar bill lying on the floor. Isaac finds this curious, but he can't figure out what exactly that feeling means and doesn't know how to ask Vin about it.
Vin sighs and looks over Isaac's shoulder as he hears the angry thumping of someone stampeding down the stairs. "Anyway, uh, I guess it's your turn. I gotta know what you're gonna come up with next."

"What do you mean?"

"No worries -- just, y'know, you got a question to ask about me?"

"Yes, Vin." Isaac looks at the bed, forming his question with dread. "Why do you have to go to athletics?"

"Aw, Isaac..." he says with a soft voice. "I got basketball, my man. I gotta be in athletics to get the practice to lead this school to number one in the district!"

"But then you have to leave gym class and I won't see you."

"Hey, there's still piano time, yeah? And maybe they might put me in one of your other classes."

Isaac huffs. "But why do they make it like that? Why don't they just put you in athletics at the start?"
Vin explains, "They apparently don't put the athletics classes together until they see which seventh graders can make it through the tryouts and all that, so it always takes a few weeks before they start it up. Who knows, there might be a new all-star in seventh grade that can rival my dunk game!"
"But I don't want it to change. I don't..." Isaac has a mess of clashing thoughts, none of which make it through unscathed. All that's left after the dust clears is, "I don't like it."

Vin scoots a little closer and places a hand on Isaac's knee, squeezing it gently. "You're too cool for me to just disappear. If I'm not in gym with you anymore, we'll just have to hang out more in the piano rooms like we usually do, or over at each other's houses, yeah?"

The answer doesn't quite satisfy Isaac, but he knows it's the best he can get right now. He looks down at the hand on his knee, but he doesn't seem to get much comfort from it; at the moment, there is a torn hole in the middle of his emotional knot, one that keeps pulling everything else in. "Vin, can I ask another question?"

"Sure, whatcha got?"

"Why do you always help me?"

Vin hesitates, asking slowly, "What...what do you mean?"

Isaac looks up at his face, but not into his eyes. "You always help me. You're always nice to me. Why?"

"I mean, it's 'cuz we're friends, yeah?"

"Even before we were friends, you were helping me. You helped me get my clothes when everyone was gone. You stopped the bullies two times in the locker room. You helped me in the fire drill. You..." Isaac feels very small as he continues, "you're the only one who is nice to me, except Christian. And then you're popular, and then...you invited me over. Nobody's ever invited me over to their house, ever." Vin is silent, but Isaac is only taking a moment to prepare his next thought. "And then we didn't even do a lot of music today, and that's why you said you were my friend was 'cuz we both like music. But...but you're still nice. So why are you my friend when we're not playing p-piano or doing math?"

Vin blinks a few times and raises his eyebrows. "Wow, Isaac. I didn't...geez, where do I start? Uh...okay, that's like...a lotta things." He takes a breath. "So. I help you because, well, people need help sometimes. I like helping people. I saw you needed help in the fire drill, or with the bullies, so I helped you out."

"But nobody else does."

"Well, screw everybody else. That's what I say."

"But...nobody else even likes me. Everyone thinks I'm different and weird, or, or a ‘voodoo kid,’ or ‘Mime Boy,’ or a fag, or--"

"Who the hell called you a 'voodoo kid?!'" Vin snaps.

"Um, two boys in the cafeteria were talking."

"Well, screw them, too. And there are definitely people that like you."

Isaac mutters petulantly, "No, there aren't."

"You know the boys that you were playing ball with in gym? The boys that were clapping for you after the fire drill?"

"Yes."

"They were clapping because they were happy that you made it. They know that you have...you know, some...things that are really hard for you to do, and they were proud that you made it."

"So they know that I'm different?" Isaac sighs. "I guess everyone always knows, don't they." He doesn't inflect it as a question.

Vin smiles. "It's cool, man. It...it's like me being tall, or having my eyes. I can't hide my differences, either. So you talk a little different. Big whoop. You're still super smart."

Isaac doesn't have a ready answer for that one.

Vin continues, "So you can't tie your shoes. Big whoop. Like, all the people who can tie their shoes can't just hear a song and play it like you can. Y'know, I bet if I asked anyone if they'd rather be able to play a song on the piano after hearing it just once, or be able to tie their shoes, everyone ever in the history of the world would choose your talent over some stupid shoes."

Isaac blushes a bit. "But...why do they make fun of me, then?"

"Jealousy, remember?"

Isaac's resolve in this argument is slowly whittling down; still staring at the bed, he says, "I don't want to make people jealous."

"Well, too bad."

This answer surprises Isaac enough that he looks up quickly. He sees a slit-eyed half-smile on Vin's face and a melange of interesting emotions within his eyes: playfulness, determination, some sort of aggression, and a sort of self-satisfaction. Vin continues, "That's the problem of being awesome -- there are always gonna be jealous people. And you, my friend, are awesome."

Isaac cannot stop the smile from forming on his face. Perhaps emboldened by the playful spirit in Vin's eyes, Isaac retorts, "No, you're awesome."

"Yeah, well, you're awesomer. No take-backs!"

"No fair!" Isaac slaps Vin's knee lightly.

"Yes it is!" Vin says with that same playful look.

"No it's not!" Isaac says, giggling. He tries to slap at Vin again, but Vin catches his hand with his own outstretched hand, making Isaac unintentionally high-five him.
Vin curls the tops of his fingers; his hand is large enough, and his fingers long enough, that the first section of Vin's fingers can freely bend over the top of Isaac's. "Hah, caught you!" he says.

Isaac stares at their connected hands. "Your hands are so big," he remarks.

Vin, not moving his hand, shrugs and says, "It helps with basketball big-time. Piano, too, I guess. Heh, maybe that's why I like them both."

Isaac studies the size of his hand in comparison. Then, on impulse, he moves his hand a little bit and interlaces his fingers in between Vin's and grabs his hand, just to see how it looks and feels. A moment later, Vin folds his fingers over Isaac's hand, as well.

A second later, the doorbell rings mutedly through the walls of the house. "Mom!" Isaac says, quickly letting go of Vin's hand and scrambling over to the door. Vin gets up shortly afterward and follows Isaac out of the room; Isaac takes the stairs very carefully, making sure both feet meet up at each step before going down the next one, but he does so as fast as he can make that happen. By the time he gets downstairs, his mom is being let in by Vin's mom. They greet each other as Isaac and Vin come around the bottom of the stairs; he bounds over and gives her an affectionate hug, which she reciprocates with a laugh.

"My my, Isaac, that's a lot more love than I usually get when I show up somewhere. Of course, I guess I'm usually picking you up." She looks over Isaac's head at Vin and says, "Have you two been enjoying yourselves?"

Vin and Isaac both say, "Yes, ma'am," nearly simultaneously, making them look at each other and laugh.

She smiles and nods slightly. "I can see that. Well, honey," she says, wheeling a small blue suitcase over to Isaac, "here's your stuff. There's a full set of clothes, your favorite towel, and your toothbrush in there. That should get you through the night and morning. Is there anything else you need?"

Isaac looks at the suitcase and shakes his head. "No, ma'am."

"Okay. Don't stay up too late. If you wake up before Vin, be nice and let him sleep, okay?"

"Okay, ma'am..." He drags out the last bit, looking around the entry hall restlessly.

"And if you start to feel anxious or stressed out, remember your exercises."

"Yes ma'am," he says emphatically, but he starts hopping slightly out of impatience.

She nods. "Right, well, there's one thing I need, then."

"What, Mom?" he asks, looking up at her quizzically. They meet eyes, and for a moment, Isaac feels a wave of anxiety and fear, protective instinct, love, and a heavy, bittersweet sadness. She opens her arms and smiles, looking at Isaac; he breaks eye contact and dives in for another hug, squeezing her tightly. She rocks back and forth with him a bit, but this time, he adds to the momentum, nearly knocking them both off-balance.

She lets go of the hug early this time, laughing. "Okay, okay. You almost took me down, there. I can almost see how impatient you are to get back to playing, so I'll let you boys go. Call me in the morning when you're ready to leave, okay?"

"Okay, ma'am."

"Goodnight, Doodlebug."

"Goodnight, Mom."

As she leaves, Vin's mom adds, "You two don't stay up too late, alright? We got church in the morning, yeah?"

"Oh, right, duh. Yeah, Mom." Vin rolls his eyes. To Isaac, he says, "Sorry, I kinda forgot we had church. Still feels like a Friday to me, for some reason."

"It's okay, Vin," Isaac says as Vin heads upstairs, Isaac shortly behind with the wheels of his small suitcase thumping up each carpeted step.

When they get to the top of the stairs, Vin asks, "So, uh, do you wanna keep talking, or maybe play some more piano, or...?"

"Keep talking, Vin," Isaac says with an irrepressible grin.

He shrugs and smiles. "A'right, sounds good to me." They head back into his room and sit on the bed again. "So, I feel like I already know a lot about you. Why don't you ask some more questions? It's kinda fun answering them."

Isaac responds by reaching over and taking Vin's hand again in both of his, examining it like a new toy. "I like your hands."

"Well, that's not really a question, but...I mean, heh, I'm glad?" Vin laughs as Isaac handles Vin's hand, turning it this way and that, looking at it like a person who might be interested in buying it. Isaac turns Vin's hand palm-up and begins to trace the wrinkles in his palms with his index finger. A moment in, though, Vin flinches and says, "Hey! That tickles."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Vin," Isaac says, but doesn't repeat it.

"Nah, it's okay, just...don't be so light on the touch. I'm kinda ticklish." He scratches at his palm with his other hand. "It's fine, though."

Isaac runs his fingers across Vin's palm, feeling the slightly coarse texture of his hands. He does this silently for a moment longer, just focusing in on the texture against his fingertips; Vin remarks, "Y'know, I'm glad you didn't decide to do this to my feet, or I'd probably kick you on accident." He untucks one of his feet from underneath his knee, exposing it.

"Your feet are really big, too," Isaac points out.

Vin takes his hand and places it across his foot to show the difference. "Yeah, I'm already in a size 11 shoe; Mom says I'll outgrow Brandon by his age if I keep it up. Freakin' clown feet, I tell ya."

Isaac places his hand on his own foot; the proportions are about the same, though Isaac's pale in comparison to Vin's. Isaac scoots to where he can put his foot up next to Vin's. As soon as he touches Vin's foot, though, Vin recoils quickly. "Aah! Ticklish!" He giggles a bit. "Careful!"

Giggling with him, Isaac says "I'm sorry, Vin." He looks up to see Vin's smiling face, and the emotional connection surges with delight and curiosity, though from Vin's side, there is still that strange bundle of emotions that shows up once in a while that Isaac can't quite comprehend.

While they are looking at each other, Isaac feels a small itch on his left arm. He idly reaches up to scratch it at the same time Vin reaches up to scratch the same point on his own body in a perfect mirror of Isaac. While Isaac scratches it, though, Vin pauses, his hand hovering just over the spot. "Did..." he starts, eyebrows furrowed, "did your arm just itch?"

"Yes, Vin," Isaac replies.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that part," Vin remarks. "God, that's weird, feeling someone else scratching their own skin. Like, seriously. So like...do you feel this?" he asks, poking his arm with a finger.

"Yes, Vin," Isaac replies, pointing to the same spot on his own arm.

"Hmm..." Vin reaches an arm behind himself. "Do you feel this?" he asks.
Isaac does feel the pressure of a thumbnail lightly against the middle of his back. "Yes, Vin," he says, "right there." He points at the spot through Vin where Vin is touching his own back.

"Geez, that's cool." He pauses a moment, looking around. "Hm. What happens if...I do...this?" He looks at Isaac expectantly.

"Do what, Vin?" Isaac asks, but he has no time to wait for a reply as Vin lunges forward and tickles both of Isaac's feet. Isaac's eyes fly open, and he thrashes for a moment, squealing and slapping at Vin's hand; Vin stops quickly, though, jerking as if he himself had been assaulted. He laughs, "Whoa! Haha, I could feel me tickling you! Mind. Blown." Vin pantomimes little explosions with his hands coming out of the sides of his head.

"Vin!" Isaac snaps, shocked. "You tickled me!"

"I know; I was there." He nods. "For what it's worth, I tickled myself, too. But it was in the name of SCIENCE!" Vin sticks his finger high into the air.

Vin says it with such pomp and goofy poise that Isaac bursts into laughter. Vin beams foolishly, only making Isaac laugh more. Isaac slaps Vin's knee until he says, "Okay, okay!" and pushes Isaac back, smiling. He sighs and turns around, heavily flopping down lengthwise on the bed, his head near Isaac's knee. "You're cool, Isaac. I like you."

Isaac stops. He hasn't ever heard Vin say those words specifically to him. All he can think of to respond is, "You like me?"

Vin laughs a little. "Well, yeah! What, did you think I hated you or something?"

"No!" Isaac says, shocked. "I didn't think that!"

"I know, I know, I'm just kidding," Vin says, reaching up with his right hand and patting Isaac's knee. "But yeah, I like you. You're fun."

"I like you, too, Vin." Just saying the words makes Isaac feel giddy, and he grins from ear to ear. He rocks back and forth a little bit, just to try to burn off some of the excess emotional energy he feels.

Vin looks up at Isaac's smiling face, and they meet eyes. Isaac feels comfort, belonging, a growing curiosity with a needy sort of feeling behind it, and the same hope and fear from before. Vin says, "Hey, Isaac."

"Yes, Vin?"

"Can I try something?"

"What do you want to try, Vin?"

Vin sits up cross-legged and faces Isaac, where Isaac's left thigh runs alongside Vin's right shin in a sort of interlocking puzzle-piece sort of way. "Look at me for a moment," he requests.

"Okay, Vin," Isaac says, obliging without a second thought.

Vin slowly reaches up and cups his hands lightly around Isaac's head, slowly trailing up the bristly hairs on the sides and back of his scalp, barely touching them. Isaac is immediately overtaken by a full-bodied gasp, not expecting this at all. The sensation is utterly electric, sending goosebumps all over his body and setting his heart on fire. Vin's eyes open up wide as he breathes, "Holy cow...that's what it feels like to you? No wonder."

Isaac's eyes feel plastered open. He stares, frozen in place, as Vin finishes caressing Isaac's hair. Only when Vin is no longer touching him does Isaac realize that he had not been breathing; he lets out his breath in a slow, shuddering exhalation. He stares at Vin the entire time, emotions running wild between the two: intense desire, surprise, wonder, bliss, sharp uncertainty, and an impatient longing. Isaac has no idea who is feeling what right now, other than those emotions all being present.

Vin blinks and shakes his head. "Geez. If that's just how a couple o' hands feel to ya, I can only imagine what the fire alarm musta been like. No wonder. I mean, if you...if your eyes and ears are anything like your, uh, your sense of touch. That was intense...I can see why--"

As Vin is talking, Isaac takes his glasses off and folds them up, placing them in the hole in his lap. He then interrupts Vin's monologue by grabbing Vin's hand and placing the palm on Isaac's cheek, where his long fingers just barely touch behind Isaac's ear. Isaac stares expectantly and seriously at Vin.

Vin meets his eyes again and lets out a tiny laugh; Isaac feels a fuzzy, yellow nervousness pass through the connection between them as Vin takes both his hands and repeats the action, touching each hair as lightly as he can on the way up. By the time he's finished, they both are flush in the face and breathing heavily, though it is hard to tell from whom the emotion originated. Isaac is back to fully erect again, his boner pointing awkwardly forward; Vin himself has a growing bulge on one side of his basketball shorts. He shifts uncomfortably and breaks eye contact, muttering, "Shit, man, you're makin' me chub." He musses his own hair and shakes his head a bit, scooting back a few inches. "That is...wow."

Isaac puts his hands on the bed and scoots up to rest his leg alongside Vin's again. Everything in his mind and chest is fire; even though he fears that he will mess this up, that he will say something that makes Vin tell him to go home, that he will never see Vin again...his mind can do nothing but ask for more. This is what he has wanted, what he has needed, but he had no idea how much -- how intense -- that need was until this moment. Isaac reaches for Vin's hand and grabs it with both of his hands. "I...really like you, Vin." He wants to ask for so much more, but all he can figure out how to say is that inadequate little sentence.

Vin looks at him in the eyes and smiles, though the emotions Isaac is getting from him don't quite match up with what Isaac would expect from a smile. "You're not so bad, ye'self," he says with a little laugh at the end.

Isaac feels Vin's nervousness increase, but the adrenaline and hormones screaming at him are much louder than his voice of reason could ever be. He notices that Vin's erection has traveled farther down his leg, making for a much larger boner than Isaac has. Isaac, fueled by both his curiosity and lust, lets go of Vin's hand, reaching for Vin's erection, instead.

Vin intercepts Isaac, grabbing Isaac's hand before he makes contact; he looks at Isaac with a wide-eyed expression that Isaac has never seen on him, and the emotions Isaac feels from him are not at all what he expects: anxiety, fear, and stress overpower the curiosity and attraction that were so much stronger earlier. Vin gently pushes Isaac's hand back, saying, "Whoa whoa, hold on. Not so fast."

Isaac knows that he just ruined it. He scared Vin, and now he's never going to be able to talk to him again. "I'm--I'm sorry, Vin. I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." He keeps repeating it as he turns to crawl off the bed and find somewhere to hide for the rest of his life.

Suddenly, he feels a hand on his wrist, stopping him in place. "Isaac. Please. It's okay. Just sit down a sec, will ya?"

Isaac hesitates, wondering what horrible thing is about to happen. He continues chanting, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

"Please," Vin asks.

Isaac finally obeys, sitting back down cross-legged facing him. This time, though, Vin grabs Isaac's hand with both of his, engulfing it. "Look..." he begins. Taking a sigh, he continues, "Before we do anything else, or, or go farther--I mean i-if we do, which that's cool if, y'know, we do, but--I need to tell you a few things."

"W-what, Vin?" Isaac asks, his nerves and adrenaline making his voice shaky.

"First off, I'm not a virgin." Isaac stares at him a moment, but says nothing. It is interesting to Isaac that Vin has had sex already, but it doesn't register as something to be concerned about. However, Vin continues, "I had sex once before, but it wasn't really my choice...if you get what I mean." At Isaac's continued stare, Vin explains, "I was...I was at a friend's apartment last year when his older brother was having a party. There was beer there, and I...uh, I made a stupid choice and started drinking beer."

Isaac interrupts, "You shouldn't drink alcohol! You're underage!"

"I know! I know," Vin says, his hands out in a placating gesture. "Like I said, it was really stupid. So my friend and his brother got drunk, and so did I...I mean, basically everyone did, yeah? So. A lot of people passed out and all that, and this one chick that was a friend of his brother, probably seventeen, maybe eighteen, real hot...anyway, she started talking to me, y'know, since almost everybody else was out cold. One thing led to another, and then I was out on the balcony with her, and she, I mean, she was smokin' hot, don't get me wrong, but like she started getting rough with me and I told her I wanted to leave...anyway. Look, the details aren't important, but I really don't like being forced to do things if I'm not ready. I mean, nobody does, yeah? So, just...too fast, okay? I'm not mad, I promise. Just maybe not so far yet. Izzat cool?"

"That's cool, Vin. I'm sorry."

"Hey, just like you told me, you didn't know, so why are you sorry?"

Isaac thinks about it for a moment. "I'm sorry because I made you feel bad."

He smiles. "Well, don't be. You had no idea, so it's okay. But anyway, for what it's worth, I really like you, too. If you want the truth: after you told me about your power--er, 'ability,' I thought that maybe...well, I had had feelings for you ever since that first day, and I was like, I guess I was wondering if maybe it was just your power that was making me feel that way, like a, like a hypnotist or a succubus, or somethin'."

"What's a suck-you-bus?"

"Oh!" Vin responds, laughing. "Um, it's a monster from some of the games I've played, like a demon woman that seduces people. And no, I'm not saying you are a demon woman or anything, I just...y'know, don't worry about it. So anyway, I thought that it was your powers, maybe, but then I realized that I was happy to see you even when I wasn't looking at your eyes. I mean, you're fun to be around, you can do all kinds of cool things, you helped me on my math like a genius, you play freakin' beautiful music, you don't make me feel like I gotta be some big, cool jock guy just to be appreciated..." He looks down at the hand that he has clasped in both of his own. "You're really cute, too, which helps, I guess."

Isaac blushes furiously. Literally nobody has ever called him cute except his family members.

Vin barks a laugh. "God, wouldja listen to me? I sound like I'm sittin' in confessional! Here I am, holding your hand hostage, tellin' you my life story, sayin' things I've literally never told anyone else ever--and I've known you for, what, a week? Maybe you are some kind o' hypnotist, messin' with my mind!" He laughs and shakes his head.

Isaac shakes his head frantically, as well. "No, Vin, I'm not a hyp-notist! I promise!"

"Well, I'm convinced," he states. "Or am I only convinced because you hypnotized me?!" He looks into Isaac's eyes with his own wide-eyed, creepy stare; he wiggles his fingers near the sides of his face to emphasize the act.

"I'm not a hyp-notist!" Isaac says with a slight voice crack. He grabs Vin's hands with his own, trying to force them down from Vin's face; Vin, however, fights back, making it into a contest -- a contest that quickly turns in Vin's favor. Both boys have determined, smiling grimaces on their faces as they vie for position, but Isaac slowly gives more and more ground. The emotion shared through their eyes is mostly determination, with a playful spirit dancing behind it.

Suddenly, Isaac feels a surge of a different emotion from the eye contact: pure mischief. He doesn't have time to register it, though, before Vin switches from pushing to pulling; the combined force from both of the boys sends Vin onto his back and Isaac toppling onto him. Isaac squeals in surprise with his legs flailing behind him.

Vin looks at Isaac and smiles. He remarks, "Um...you're kinda poking my belly button."

Isaac looks down between them; he obviously can't see it, but he can feel his erection digging into Vin's abs. It doesn't help that he now has his body pressed against Vin's; the heat alone is enough to keep him hard. "Um, I'm sorry. Um, I can get off of you."

Vin doesn't let go of Isaac's hands. "I mean, you could, I guess, but how about this?" Vin quickly rolls and flips both of them over, landing with Isaac's hands pinned down near his ears and Vin's knees straddling Isaac's legs near the hip. Isaac looks down to notice that Vin is pretty heavily tenting his basketball shorts, as well. Vin looks down as well and blushes a bit. "I, uh, get a little turned-on by wrestling. I would die of embarrassment if I ever decided to join a wrestling team in high school." He laughs a little bit.

Isaac is aware that people don't actually die of embarrassment, but he's currently too interested in staring at Vin's crotch to comment. Instead, he says, "You have a big penis."

Vin snaps his head up to look at Isaac with a very odd expression, eyes wide open but brows furrowed. "Geez, man! You don't gotta just point it out like that!" He quickly sits up with his legs tucked in and his hands around his knees, his face turning bright red.

"What?" Isaac asks, confused. "My penis is a lot smaller."

"Well, yeah, but you don't just talk about other people's dicks like that!"

"Oh. Um, why do other boys talk about each other's penises a lot, then?"

Vin stares off for a moment with his brows furrowed. "What--OH! Isaac, buddy, they're usually insulting each other. They don't...they don't actually know about each other's..." Vin just laughs. "Wow. Sorry, Isaac, I just didn't even think of that. It's not something they're supposed to be doing, anyway. I mean, we're alone and all, so yeah, but it's still, I dunno. It's weird to me. I'm not used to people talking about my dick."

"Oh. I'm sorry, Vin."

"Nah, it's cool. Just...heh, learning all kinds of new things today, about you an' me both."

Isaac ponders the thought before reaching into his pants to adjust himself. He stops short, though, realizing that he might actually find the answer to his previous dilemma. "Vin?"

"Sup?"

"How do you fix when, when you have an erection, and it's, um, not...not pointing right? How do you fix that without putting your hand in your pants?"

Vin laughs again. "These are the best questions, I swear. Wow. Uh, so, why can't you just stick your hand in there?"

"Because Mom said that you're not supposed to do that in public."

"Oh, yeah, public isn't a good place to do that. So if you're wearing khakis like that, one of the things I like to do is the old 'pocket pool' trick."

"What's that?"

Vin tries to demonstrate by sticking his hand into his pockets, but he realizes he's wearing basketball shorts. "Hm. So, what you do is you stick your hand in your pocket so that you get past all the thick pants material, so then you can kinda...y'know, use your pocket as a glove to adjust yourself."

Isaac thinks for a moment about what Vin describes, and he sticks his hand into his pocket. It's clear that he's supposed to somehow move his penis to where his underwear isn't draped the wrong way on it, but he can't figure out how to pinch the cloth or move anything in a way that would make any progress. He tries a few more times, but he gives up and huffs. "That's too hard!" he says.

"Wait," Vin asks, "what are you wearing for underwear? Briefs?"

Isaac nods.

"So you need to slip underneath them and like...mess with it there. Does that make sense? Sorry, I've never tried to explain this before."

Isaac tries again once or twice, but his fingers cannot find purchase underneath the somewhat tight elastic of his briefs. He shakes his head. "I can't do it."

Vin sits silently for a moment, looking this way and that, but at nothing in particular. Finally, he takes a deep breath with his eyes closed and lets it out heavily. "I swear to God, if anyone ever finds out about this..." he mutters, and then he opens his eyes. "Right," he announces, scooting off the bed to go over to his door. He twists the lock in the doorknob until it clicks. Sitting back down, he says, "Okay, how about this: I show you how to do it."

"Um, okay, Vin."

"A'right. Come sit over here, but face away from me." Vin stretches his legs out in a "V" shape and pats the space on the bed between them.

Isaac crawls on the bed over to the spot and turns away as instructed. Vin scoots up to where his inner thighs touch Isaac's hips; Isaac gets flashbacks of the wet dream that he had, and his heartbeat quickens.

Vin reaches around him and gently places his hand over Isaac's. "Okay, so thankfully, your pockets are kinda large, or this wouldn't work. So you put your hand in your pocket, like this." He guides Isaac's hand with his own until they are both touching the depths of the pocket. "Now, move over to here, and kinda...I guess scrape your fingernails or push down hard, like this..." Vin pushes Isaac's fingers into his thigh and inward so that they slip just underneath the underwear; the fabric rasps harshly on his skin, but it's over quickly. "There you go. Now, uh, see if you can wiggle the underwear off of your, uh, your dick."

Isaac is having the hardest time concentrating on the words that Vin is saying due to the heat of his breath on Isaac's shoulder and Vin's hand on his own. Nevertheless, he works his hand in at the base of his penis, between it and the briefs; he moves his hand toward his belly button, freeing his erection from being ensnared by his briefs. Having finished the job, Isaac moves his hand out quickly, leaving Vin's hand resting directly on Isaac's hard dick.

Both boys freeze. Isaac can feel Vin's breath quicken a bit on his shoulder. Slowly, Isaac feels the rough linen of his pocket move upward against his erection. The texture is just underneath his tolerance level as far as sensitivity goes, but the feeling of Vin's fingers applying just enough pressure, heat, and movement over his penis is electrifying. He draws a deep breath and lets it out slowly, realizing only after a moment that he is making a small whining sound like when he's stressed out.

Vin takes his hand out of Isaac's pocket. He says, right near Isaac's ear, "So...I think I'm ready to explore, yknow, other things, if you wanted."

Isaac nods furiously enough to almost hit Vin in the mouth if not for some quick reflexes. Isaac stays where he is, in the warm, comforting spot between Vin's legs, and waits for what comes next.

Vin starts out by lifting his tank top off and tossing it onto the floor in a heap. Isaac quickly takes his shirt off and tosses it on the floor as well, but he immediately stares at it in discomfort.

Vin points out, "Wow. You usually fold your stuff up." After another moment, he adds, "Isaac, if it bothers you, go fold it up. You don't have to just do what I do, you know."

Isaac wordlessly hops off the bed and picks up his shirt, laying it out and neatly folding it into a small rectangle.

Vin laughs and spins around on the bed, pulling his basketball shorts and light green plaid boxers off; as he does so, his dick catches on the elastic and slaps backward onto his abs when it gets free. As Vin kicks his shorts and boxers onto the floor near his tank top, Isaac stops and stares in wonder at his penis: it looks to be possibly twice as long as his own, and somewhat thicker. There is a decent-sized patch of golden-brown curly hair at the base, as well. His penis is pointing at about the same angle as Isaac's, but it curves up a little bit on the top half; his balls actually look only a tiny bit bigger than Isaac's, but it's hard to tell by the way Vin is sitting. The most striking difference, though, is that the skin from the shaft of Vin's penis comes up over the glans about half-way; Isaac has never seen this before, but then again, he's really only seen his own penis, which has no such extra skin.

Isaac stares wide-eyed for a moment longer before he unbuttons his own pants and slides them off as if he were dressing out in gym, only he slides his briefs off right afterward. He folds both up neatly, laying them down near each other on the floor in the order he would put them on. He stands there and locks eyes with Vin; the mixture of emotions he feels is a heady brew of lust, curiosity, attraction, admiration, some unexplainable variety of love, that dark bunch of emotions from Vin all wrapped up in a ribbon of hope, the fuzzy, yellow nervousness from before, and a flurry of other fleeting feelings that all mesh together. Added to it, Isaac feels the excitement and adrenaline from both himself and Vin, nearly making him lightheaded.

Isaac breaks eye contact to examine the rest of Vin's nude body. Isaac has seen lots of bodies of less-developed boys, the ones who still have softer lines and are not as muscular, but Vin's body is definitely toned. The lines between the muscles on his arms are clear, but they're not bulky like some of the football players that Isaac has seen. Isaac has already seen his calves and shins, but his thighs are smooth and solid, without an ounce of fat on them. His abs are not incredibly defined, but he does have a six-pack showing through; his pecs are definitely developed enough to have that round, muscular curve to them. All in all, though, he still looks more slender than bulky.

"Whatcha starin' at?" Vin asks with a smile.

"Your body," Isaac replies truthfully.

Vin looks upward and laughs. "Ask a stupid question..." he says; Isaac gets the feeling that maybe he wasn't talking to him. Vin looks back at Isaac and beckons inward with both his hands. "C'mere."

Isaac walks up to the bed, where he feels almost as tall as Vin; Isaac is exactly tall enough that his privates are just above the mattress, and Vin barely has to look down to meet his eyes. Vin scoots forward and sits where his penis almost touches Isaac's. He looks at Isaac's body all the way down and then slowly back up, meeting Isaac's eyes with a rush of anticipation and reassurance overshadowing the nervousness and fears from before.

He fixes his eyes on Isaac's chest, reaching out and very gently trailing his fingers along Isaac's sternum and down his ribs. Vin remarks, "Your skin is so soft."

Isaac's only answer is a full-bodied shiver from the stimulation.

Vin continues focusing on his hand as he slowly caresses Isaac's smooth abs, gently feeling Isaac's nearly flat navel on his way down. As his hand approaches Isaac's pelvis, he stops and asks, "So...can I touch yours? Your penis, I mean--trying to remember to be more direct, sorry--but I'm okay with you touching mine."

"Okay, Vin," he says, looking down in anticipation. Vin slowly reaches out and gently runs his index finger and thumb down Isaac's penis from the tip of the head down the shaft. Isaac inhales sharply through his nose at the first touch and exhales slowly, almost as if his lungs were tied to the position of Vin's fingers. Isaac completely forgets about touching Vin as he watches the motion, enraptured by the feeling and sight of Vin's fingers on his penis.

Vin repeats the movement again. On the way up, he runs his thumb across the opening in Isaac's penis just before he lets go; a small trail of precum lingers between his thumb and Isaac's dick as Vin puts his hand on his own dick for a moment, moving the skin of it back from the head and then pulling it all the way back over. "Did you wanna try touchin' mine?"

Isaac reaches out to touch it. He wraps his hand around Vin's penis just at the point where it starts to curve; his fingers don't overlap quite as much as Vin's did on Isaac's, both from his fingers being shorter and Vin's dick being thicker. Isaac notices another detail that makes Vin's different than his: the thickness changes at different points. Isaac silently explores Vin's penis, clasping his hand at different points, measuring around the base of it and then seeing the difference at the thickest point, near the curve. "It changes," he remarks.

Vin has since opened his legs a bit more to grant access and is leaning back on his hands. "Yeah," he says, "it's kinda weird like that, I guess. I've seen some others like that on, uh, some porn videos that I watched."
Isaac stops. "You watched porn?" he asks, both intrigued and shocked. "You're supposed to be eighteen for that!"

With a smile on his face, he replies, "Technically, you're supposed to be eighteen before you go touching another person's willie, too, but I promise I won't tell if you don't."
Isaac looks into his eyes and sees a certain playfulness that he has begun to associate with joking. Still, he hesitates a moment longer, at least until Vin adds, "Isaac, don't worry about it. I promise nobody is going to kick down the door and arrest us for, y'know, messing around with each other. Lots of people do this at our age, yeah?"

Isaac asks, "Are you sure, Vin? I don't want to get in trouble."

He smiles and sits up, putting his hands on Isaac's shoulders. "I promise I won't let anything happen, okay?"

Isaac takes a moment to consider it. "Okay, Vin," he finally says, though he is glad that Vin said that; he really wants to keep doing what they're doing, even if it's against the law -- which is a first for Isaac, the boy who is scared of stealing cereal on accident. Isaac focuses back on his new toy, gently squeezing it in different places, exploring the feeling of someone else's erection in his hand.

Finally, he gets up to the top, where he picks up some of the extra skin between his two fingers, rubbing it between them to feel it move. "Why does your penis have so much skin?"

"Oh, heh, that's 'cuz I'm uncut. It's called 'foreskin.' Everyone has it at first."

Isaac frowns. "Why don't I have it, then?"

Vin stammers, "Uh...I mean, I guess you were circumcised when you were little. I mean, usually people have it done on, like, newborns, or when their kids are like super young, so you don't remember it."

"But...why?" Isaac feels somehow hurt, deceived by finding this knowledge out.

"I...I'm not sure. I never really asked anyone."

Isaac continues frowning, trying to figure out why his mom would do that to him, especially without him knowing about it. She must have had a reason, he decides, but what could the reason be? It looks just fine on Vin's, so--

He doesn't get a chance to think farther on it before Vin moves Isaac's hand back onto his dick. Isaac watches as Vin closes Isaac's hand and moves it down the shaft, bringing the foreskin down with it. He then brings it back up; Isaac watches with fascination as the foreskin rolls its way back up Vin's dick. Vin lets go and suggests, "There. You try."

Isaac obliges, moving his hand down Vin's shaft and back up, enthralled by the sight, the feel in his hand, and the fact that he is masturbating someone else. Isaac's penis throbs in response, announcing its own aching need.
Vin closes his eyes and leans his head back, moaning a little bit. "Damn, that feels good."

Isaac is intensely interested in watching what he's doing, but he is deeply curious about how this whole thing feels; he asks, "Um, Vin?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I see?"

Vin lifts his head. "See what?"

"How it feels."

"What do you--oh! Oh." He blinks a few times. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead." He looks at Isaac.

Isaac meets his gaze: a flood of excitement washes both ways, with a layer of comfort making itself known underneath it all. An intense curiosity wends its way through the both of them as Isaac slowly moves his hand downward. Isaac can feel exactly what the foreskin would feel like rolling across his glans, and it makes him moan softly in pleasure. The feeling isn't as intense as he would expect, but he thinks it may be since he's not actually being touched. He looks down for a moment, still distracted by watching his hand on Vin's dick, but he looks back into Vin's eyes while he brings his hand back upward slowly; the feeling is incredible.

"Wow, Isaac, that feels good." He lets out a small laugh and adds, "I think I can...wow, that's weird--I think I can feel you feeling my, uh, feeling me being touched. Like I'm getting feedback from you or something. What the hell, heh -- that's, that's cool."

Isaac continues jacking him off slowly, enjoying the feeling by proxy that he is giving Vin. "That feels good."

"You're tellin' me, when you're the one doin' it. God, that's weird to think about." After another moment of being jacked off, Vin says, "Hey, I wanna see something."

"What, Vin?"

Vin scoots forward to match his dick up to Isaac's, pushing them both upward. He puts his hands around Isaac's hips and brings him even closer, to where Isaac can feel Vin's breath stirring his hair lightly. Vin says, "I just wanted to see how they look right next to each other."
Isaac looks down between them to see his dick matched up to Vin's; while Vin isn't quite twice as long, his is still definitely a lot more penis overall than Isaac's. Isaac's balls, though, are indeed almost the same size, if not a tiny bit bigger.

Vin thrusts a bit, grinding his penis against Isaac's. Isaac gasps, completely not expecting the sensation. Vin laughs a little bit and thrusts a few more times playfully. "Take that!" he says with another thrust.

Isaac narrows his eyes at Vin. "Take that!" he says, mimicking Vin's words in almost the same inflection, though somewhat higher in register.

The two of them end up sword fighting for a moment, Vin sitting on the bed and Isaac attacking him from his spot between Vin's legs. After a few thrusts, waggles, and giggles, Vin says, "Can I see something else real quick?"

"Okay, Vin," Isaac says, standing still.

Vin reaches out and slowly closes his entire hand around Isaac's dick. "Heh, it fits perfectly," he says with a little smile. It does, in fact, fit nicely in his palm, with the head poking barely out between his index finger and thumb. The warmth and pressure is at once comforting and titillating to Isaac, who stands there, spellbound.

Then Vin takes his thumb and starts to rub Isaac's dick just underneath the glans; the feeling is ecstatic, like scratching an itch, getting a massage, and the best masturbation session Isaac can think of. The intense sensation doubles him over; he crumples, resting his head on Vin’s shoulder as he begins to make that whining sound again. The sensation is electric and overwhelming all at once, leaving Isaac trailing behind in his attempt to process it.

Vin giggles a little bit and asks, "Is this okay, Isaac?"

Isaac pants, "It's...it's...okay, Vin." Words are never easy to him, but with the waves of pleasure assailing him, they're nearly impossible. He hopes whatever he said came across as a "yes."

Vin rubs his thumb across Isaac's glans, wiping the precum off of it and using it to lubricate his thumb while he continues stimulating that spot. He begins to slide his hand up and down Isaac's penis; though circumcised, there is still a decent amount of skin movement, easily enough to let Vin rub the length of his thumb across the underside of Isaac's dick. Isaac's whining moan gets a little louder, and it gets interrupted more often by him taking more quick, shuddering breaths.

Isaac closes his eyes, unable to process anything more than the ecstatic feelings shooting through him right now. Suddenly, though, he feels the shoulder his head is resting on tense up a bit as Vin's left arm raises up. Shortly, lightning shoots through his spine as he feels the transcendent bliss of Vin's fingers once again slowly working their way up the back of his skull. He grabs onto the sides of Vin's ribcage, both for balance and just for something to grasp.
The combination of stimulation to his hair and dick proves far too much for him to handle; after only two more strokes of his penis, his whine quickly clenches into a grunt as he grips tightly onto Vin and reflexively thrusts at him in a powerful orgasm. He has no idea how many times he shoots, or where it goes, or anything other than the fireworks going off in his head and the fire of pleasure ripping through his groin. After an eternity in his own mind, the feelings subside slowly with the spasms in his penis; breathing heavily, he opens his eyes and lifts his head, letting go of Vin's ribs. "I'm sorry," is all he can figure out to say.
Vin barks a laugh. "You have, uh, kind of a strong grip. Damn." Vin looks into Isaac's eyes, where Isaac sees a surge of pride, the dance of amusement, a feeling of power, and a light curiosity. Vin quickly looks away, though, saying, "Whoa. Weird. I could feel your, uh, the after-orgasm stuff, and that's just weird before I've actually, y'know. ...Wow, that was a stupid sentence." He laughs at his attempt; Isaac laughs, as well, if only from the giddiness that comes from an amazing orgasm, especially at the hands of his idol. "Anyway," Vin continues, "I guess I should clean up the mess." He rubs his thumb and forefinger across Isaac's glans, scooping up the cum that dribbled onto his fingers.

"W-whuh--!" Isaac exhales as the hyper-sensitive nerves throughout his glans all fire at once under the assault of Vin's fingers. Isaac jerks forward reflexively, almost hitting Vin's face with his head. "Stop!" he pleads, "it's sensitive!"

"Okay! Sorry, sorry, just cleaning up." Vin brings his hand up to his face, where Isaac's mostly-clear cum has coated his thumb. "Hm," he says, sticking his thumb in his mouth and sucking it clean. He pops his thumb out of his mouth and says, "Not bad."

"Did you just eat my semen?" Isaac asks in awe.

"Yeah. It wasn't bad. And why do you call it 'semen?' That makes it sound all scientific and weird."

Isaac furrows his brow. "That's what it's called. The mixture of sperm and other fluids is called 'semen.'" Isaac rattles off the fact verbatim from having read it in the science textbook.

Vin rolls his eyes, saying, "Well, yeah, but it just sounds so stuffy saying that. I mean, like, just call it 'cum,' like everyone else does."

"Yes, sir." Isaac doesn't even realize his faux-pas, as he's still too shocked at Vin eating his "cum." He wasn't even aware that was a thing that people might do.

Vin looks down and uses his index finger to wipe off a spot in the middle of his chest. "Heh, you shot me right in the chest."

"I'm sorry!" Isaac says, half giggling, half serious.

"It's all good," Vin says, licking it off his finger. "It tastes almost sweet. That's cool." He looks at Isaac. "Hey, why don't you come up on the bed? You've just been standing there forever."

"Okay, Vin." Isaac climbs back up on the bed, his head still swimming a little.

Vin says, "So...I guess it's my turn, yeah?" as he starts to jack himself off. "It was really hot watching you cum, by the way."

Isaac doesn't respond, but he sits and watches Vin jacking off, especially the way his foreskin slides up and down over the head.

Vin scoots up a little closer, spreading his legs out. "Hey," he asks, "do you wanna do it for a while? Jacking me off, I mean."

Isaac smiles a bit, the excitement once again flaring through him; he hasn't even had a chance to go soft. "Yes, Vin," he says, scooting himself forward as well. Vin helps him situate himself where he is sitting in a "V" with Vin between his legs, facing him; Vin puts his legs over Isaac's so they can sit much more closely. Isaac reaches out and starts moving his hand up and down on Vin's dick, still fascinated with the movement of his foreskin.

Vin starts to direct him a little bit: a touch faster, grip a little harder, go up this high and then back down, don't pull too hard. Soon, Isaac gets a solid rhythm working on Vin's dick as Vin occasionally thrusts into it. Vin leans his head back and moans, "Damn, that's good."

Isaac already feels his pulse throbbing in his own penis again; the sensitivity has only gone down a bit, but he feels like he could already masturbate again. He focuses in deeply on his task, making sure he doesn't deviate at all from the rhythm, the pressure, or the motions. It's almost like its own silent music, like a metronomic massage on Vin's penis.

After a few silent minutes, Vin begins to breathe a little deeper. He picks his head up and says, "Geez, if you keep that up, I'll cum soon." A second later he gasps with wide eyes and says, "Hey, Isaac! Look in my eyes!"

"Okay, Vin," Isaac says. He keeps his rhythm up, but the moment he looks into Vin's eyes, he feels a powerful wave of excitement and readiness pulse through him, warming his groin and lighting his thoughts on fire. He suddenly feels like he himself is approaching orgasm, just as if he were touching himself the same way. He can feel the nerves getting more and more sensitive every time his foreskin slides off of them -- even though it's Vin's foreskin.

"You ready? I'm gonna cum," he says breathily.

Isaac keeps his eyes on Vin; he sees Vin exhale heavily, grunting as his dick begins to throb in Isaac's hand. Isaac feels the warmth of Vin's semen begin dribbling over his thumb, but he has no time to register it as he himself tenses up in the throes of another orgasm. He quickly breaks eye contact in surprise, looking down and grabbing at his pulsing dick with his free hand to prevent anything from dripping onto the blankets.

Vin puts his hand around Isaac's and uses it to continue jacking himself off, squeezing every last bit of cum out of his orgasm. As the feelings fade once more, Isaac looks down at his own penis, curious that he barely produced a little more than a drop of clear semen this time. He then considers his other hand, which is still being used by Vin; his finger and thumb are coated in thick, white semen, a lot more than he himself has ever really made. "That's a lot of semen," he remarks. "I mean, um, a lot of cum."

Vin laughs. "Well, I was really turned on, so that probably has something to do with it. Seeing a cute boy jacking me off is, y'know, hot as hell." He shrugs with a small smile.

Isaac giggles reflexively at being called "cute" again. On a whim, he decides to try what Vin did earlier: he carefully scoops up the cum off of Vin's dick (making him twitch a little bit, as well) and licks it off his thumb. It has a unique flavor to Isaac, but not a bad one. Not wanting to make a mess and having nowhere else to wipe off the cum, he just eats the rest of it. As an afterthought, he licks the single drop off his other hand. It feels like it coats the back of his throat as he swallows it, making him reflexively swallow a few more times.

Vin barks a laugh. "How does it taste?"

"Not bad," he says, imitating Vin's response.

Vin shakes his head. "Man, that was incredible. You seemed like you enjoyed it, too, yeah?"

"Yeah, Vin. I enjoyed it. A lot." Isaac is still trying to process everything that just happened; he almost feels numb, but a feeling of wonder suffuses his mind. I just masturbated with Vin, he thinks. I did a gay thing. With Vin. He said he thinks I'm cute, and that he really likes me, and that he's jealous of my eyes. Isaac's mind continues with these sorts of thoughts, leaving him swimming in mixed emotions.

"You okay there, Isaac?" Vin asks.

Isaac looks up, surprised, and meets Vin's eyes. Added into the mix of things going on in Isaac's head, he feels a fading touch of curiosity that makes way for a gentle concern and a warm, comforting sort of feeling, not unlike love, but not the same as he has felt from his mother occasionally. Isaac nods. "Yes, Vin. I'm okay." Isaac smiles in response to the feelings he receives from Vin, and those same feelings are echoed through their eyes.

Vin looks over at his dresser and gets up from the bed, his slowly-softening erection swinging a bit as he walks. He picks up his phone off the dresser and looks at it. "Dang. It's not even all that late, but I'm already kinda tired. Did you wanna do anything else before bed?"

Isaac checks his phone from his own pants. "Oh, I need to take a bath."

"You still take baths?" Vin asks. "I mean, we got a tub and all, but we have a really nice shower head if you wanna try it out."

"Showers hurt my skin," Isaac explains. It's not quite pain, but it's an effective enough explanation. "So, um, where...?"

"Follow me," Vin says. "Well, after we get our clothes back on. Don't want anybody asking anything." Vin slips his boxers and basketball shorts back on, taking a moment to check whether his mostly-soft erection is noticeable.

As Vin slips his tank top on, Isaac quickly puts all of his other clothes back on in the proper order, even though he's just going to take them off in a moment. He unzips his little suitcase and pulls out his towel, appreciative as always of its softness. He looks through the rest of it and realizes that his mom didn't pack his pajamas. He stares into the suitcase and whines, trying to figure out how to fix this issue.

"What's the matter, bud?"

"I don't have my pajamas."

"Oh. Uh, hm." Vin looks around his room. "I mean, I don't really have anything that'd fit you...can't you just sleep in your underwear? I usually do."

Isaac considers the option. If the sheets are soft enough, he thinks, I might be okay. "Maybe," he admits.

"That's the spirit," Vin says with too much enthusiasm. "Now, let's go show you how the tub works."

They go into the bathroom, where Vin slides the shower curtain aside and demonstrates how the faucet works. It's actually similar to the one that Isaac has, so it doesn't take him long to understand it. "A'right," Vin says, "just, uh, call out if you need anything, I guess." He backs out of the bathroom as Isaac takes off his shirt and folds it on the counter.

"Okay, Vin," he responds, and Vin closes the door. Isaac places his towel within easy reach on the floor as the tub fills with water.

As Isaac goes through his normal bath time routine (minus the masturbation), he reflects on everything. The thoughts about Vin actually saying that he really likes Isaac, and that he's jealous of Isaac's eyes, weigh more heavily on Isaac's mind than even the fact that they just jacked off together. He sits and ponders these as he bathes. I don't think he would lie about those things, he considers, but I don't feel like I believe him. Why not? He can't come up with a decent answer, except that they play music together sometimes. Is that enough to like me for? he wonders. What else could he like about me? Is it just because I helped him out on math a few times? I know he also said it's because I make him feel like he doesn't have to be...that he doesn't have to act cool or whatever around me. I'm not really sure what that means or why it's true, but maybe it's just one of those things I don't understand about other people. It's just another way that I'm different, I guess.

He finishes his routine up quickly, since he started it a bit later than normal. He pulls the drain plug, dries off quickly, and dresses back into his underwear. He takes his clothes and brings them with him out into the hallway, where he sees Vin playing that fighting game again on the PS4. "Vin?" he says at the entrance into the game room.

Vin pauses the game and turns around. "You all good now?"

"Yes, Vin."

He leans down and powers off the machine mid-fight. "Cool. So, uh, did you want to do something else, or...?"

"I want to go to bed," Isaac states.

"Good, me too. I was afraid I was gonna hafta stay up later to entertain you, but this totally works for me." He smiles and vaults over the top of the couch, landing gently on his feet and walking over past Isaac. "Here, lemme show you the guest room." He leads Isaac into the sparsely-furnished room adjacent to his, where there is a twin-sized bed jutting out into the middle of the room, a nightstand with an alarm clock on it, and a lamp by that. There is a plain white light fixture in the center of the ceiling, but no ceiling fan.

Vin pulls down the sheets and runs his hand along the fabric of the bedsheet. "Is this gonna be okay for you?"

Isaac feels it; it is comparable to his own sheets, if a little rougher. "I think so, Vin."

"A'right, cool. Uh, so I guess...this is it. Uh, if you need anything, just come wake me up. I promise I won't be mad or anything. Cool?"

"Cool, Vin."

"Cool. So, then...goodnight?"

"Goodnight, Vin."

Vin smiles at Isaac; they lock eyes one last time, and Isaac feels an uncertain awkwardness, a quiet regret, and a giddy happiness hiding underneath it all. Vin closes the door, leaving Isaac in a silent, unfamiliar room.

Isaac places his clothes and glasses in a neat stack on the nightstand and crawls under the sheets. They feel okay on his skin, though he dislikes when the sheets are tucked in. He takes his time carefully untucking the sheets all the way around the bed before getting back in and wrapping himself up as he likes to do, one foot sticking out from the side.

He lies there for a while, but he soon begins to feel anxious and uncomfortable. It almost feels as if he's been thrown into some sort of solitary punishment, a silent jail cell. He can hear the ringing sound of silence itself, loud enough to press in on his ears uncomfortably. He tosses and turns a few times, but cannot find any way to be comfortable or calm. He knows it doesn't make sense to think so, but he cannot shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen if he stays in the room.

Eventually, the entire thing gets past his last defenses and he begins to hyperventilate. He realizes that he may end up going into a meltdown if he doesn't find a way out of his own mind, so he quickly gets up, leaving his clothes and everything else behind, and knocks on Vin's bedroom door. The door opens up a moment later; Vins looks out to see Isaac's face contort into a grimace as he begins to cry quietly.

Vin hesitantly says, "What happened? Wh--come in, come in." He guides Isaac by the shoulders and closes the door behind him. They both make their way through the dark room to the bed, where Isaac collapses into a heap on the floor and begins to run his hands roughly through his hair back and forth.

"Hey, bud, it's okay," Vin says with a soothing voice. "It's gonna be all right, yeah?"

Isaac can't respond other than to cry harder. He knows he's out of the place that caused all this, but he cannot gain purchase on his runaway emotions.

Shortly, he feels a warm, long-fingered hand on his back. Vin firmly rubs Isaac's back, just as Mr. Coleman did after the fire drill; the warmth, the repetitive pattern, and the simple fact that it's Vin's hand all work together to put a cap on Isaac's anxiety, allowing him to finally head in the other direction and start calming down.

Isaac rocks back and forth, making it hard for Vin to rub his back; he settles for just leaving his hand in the middle of Isaac's back as Isaac works to return to stability. Eventually, he is able to take intentional, deep breaths and curb the spasms in his diaphragm; he begins to mutter, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Vin says, "Don't be, Isaac. You're fine. Everything is fine. If anything, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset. But...what happened, if I can ask?"

Isaac says, "I...I don't like new places. It, um...I don't always..." Isaac cannot figure out how quite to articulate the fact that he felt abandoned, lost, irrationally alone and exposed. He settles with saying, "I got scared."

Vin replies, "Oh, right, I forgot about that. Crap. I'm sorry, man -- I didn't want to, I mean, I don't want you to be scared. I'm really sorry." He squeezes Isaac's shoulder. "You don't have to be in there if you're not comfortable with it."

Isaac rocks a while longer. Eventually, he mumbles, "I can't go to sleep here. I need to go home."

Vin hesitates. "Are you sure? Was it just the room itself? I mean, you could sleep in here if you want. I got a big bed, y'know."

Isaac considers it. He already knows the sheets are fine, and he would definitely feel safer with Vin in the room. "Okay, Vin," he decides.

"A'right, cool. Here, lemme help you up." He extends a hand, which Isaac grabs.
They both climb onto the bed and under the covers (which are thankfully not tucked in). Isaac's eyes suddenly shoot wide open. "I left my clothes and glasses in there."

"Oh, no worries; I can go get 'em." He slips out of bed and closes the door behind him. Isaac lays in the bed, looking up at the ceiling. There is a fan in here, but it is on the lowest setting and makes almost no noise at all. He already does feel more comfortable in this room; it's not unfamiliar to him, and he knows that Vin will be back shortly, anyway.

A moment later, Isaac hears the sound of muffled conversation outside. He hears Brandon's deeper voice say, "What are you doing?" However, he can't make out what Vin says in response; in fact, both of them begin to talk in much quieter voices. He hears them go back and forth about five times each; each one doesn't say a whole lot, but the tones of their voices sound sharp. Isaac isn't sure what exactly that means; they might be angry, but it might mean something else. Isaac wishes he understood more about those kinds of things. After they finish talking, he hears the sound of footsteps creaking down the stairs.

Vin opens up the door again quietly, closing it behind him. Isaac cannot see Vin well since the room is dark and he does not have his glasses on, but he can see where Vin is as he asks, "You want me to just leave your stuff over here on the dresser?"

"Yes, Vin."

"A'right. It'll be right here." Shortly, Vin rejoins Isaac under the covers; Isaac can feel the warmth practically radiating from him. Vin turns toward him and says, "You gonna be okay in here?"

"Yes, Vin. I'm gonna be okay."

"Good." Isaac can see Vin smile, but he cannot see Vin's eyes very well. Vin adds, "Hey. I really liked today. I had a lot of fun, and, y'know, learned a couple of things...tried some new things...it was nice."

"I liked it too, Vin. I really liked it." Just thinking back on things makes Isaac feel a little giddy.

"Heh." Vin's smile drops slowly off his face. "Goodnight, Isaac."

"Goodnight, Vin."

Isaac is much more comfortable here than in the other room; in no time at all, he finds himself drifting slowly off to sleep, thinking about all of the awesome things that happened over the day.

Some time later that night, Isaac finds himself awake, struggling to remember the strange dream he just had; all he can pull from it is feeling like he was falling off of something, but that he was caught by a giant pair of hands and safely put down on the ground. As he comes to, he realizes that he has a warm body pressed up against him; he looks down to see Vin's arm wrapped around him, holding him close. He can feel the slow rise and fall of Vin's breathing, and the gentle warmth of his breath as it blows against his neck. Isaac drifts back to sleep with the feeling that, even with all of his differences, he finally belongs somewhere.

To be continued...

Author's note: THEY'RE SPOONING! I knew it'd happen someday. Oh, my beating heart! That said, I'll be taking a short break from updating this story to work on Lucky Chances, my other active story. I love this one way too much to stay away for long, though, so stay tuned! As always, if you like what you're reading, if you have any comments, queries, constructive criticisms, or just want to stop by and say hi, send me an email -- your communication is what tells me that the story is being enjoyed; it's the one reward and motivator we authors have for continuing our craft, so don't be shy! Hope to hear from ya soon. Until next time!