Max and Josh - 4. Max's coming out

Disclaimer: This story includes sexual and romantic situations between consenting individuals. Any allusion to illicit or illegal activity, sexual or otherwise, is used only for enhancement of the story line and not promotion thereof. Remember AIDS, HIV and other STDs are a very real threat, please always practice safe sex.

I can prove copyright on this story so please don't copy or remove this story for personal use without my permission.
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Max and Josh 04: Max's coming out.

Max didn't roll out of bed till ten the next morning. His muscles were killing him. The Coach's tryout routine had been hell, and the fact that he was the only one that had to tryout didn't make the workout any easier.

First thing was bench press; forty reps at a hundred and ten pound, then bicep curls; thirty reps at a seventy-five pounds, then squats, and leg extensions. The coach must have thrown every weight lifting exercise he could think of at him, even if it wasn't part of the required exercises for competition. But the look on the Coach's face when he couldn't find a valid reason to fail him more than made up for the pain and stiffness he was feeling.

He grimaced as he walked gingerly to his dresser, silently cussing every stiff step he took. Once he made it across the room he was able to dig out a pair of loose fitting jeans and an old t-shirt and attempted to get dressed.

Grimacing as he did so he pulled the black sleeveless shirt he had slept in over his head, and then turned to look at himself in the mirror. As much as he hated to admit it the coach trying to kill him did have some good side effects. He ran a hand over his chest, feeling the hard muscle beneath the taut skin, he continued down to his flat stomach, no matter what he tried he had never developed the defined six -pack abs he always saw on models including his favorite, Josh.

The number of times he had seen Josh shirtless had burned the image in his mind.

He wished he could just once run his hand over each segment; slide his tongue across the spaces between. He stopped himself from going any further in his fantasy when he felt his dick starting to get hard. He closed his eyes and pushed the thought of Josh out of his mind as he ran his hands over his sore biceps trying to rub the bulging muscles into relaxing.

He turned away from the mirror and started to get dressed. He had managed to get his jeans on and collapsed into a chair when his mom came in with a steaming cup and a smile. She handed him the cup then sat down on his bed.

"What are you smiling about?" he asked her sipping on the chamomile tea she had made him.

"Cause you are finally telling Josh and Frank you’re gay, I'm proud of you." She said still smiling.

"Yea well, don't be too proud of me, I haven't told them yet." Max replied starting to feel better, his muscles relaxing from the tea, but still feeling leery about the afternoon.

"But you do still plan on telling them right?" she asked scooting up the edge of his bed.

"Yea I have to; it's either that or let them hear it from the rumors at school." Max said but it was more than that, he had been telling the truth when he told Moure he was done hiding. He was getting sick of lying to his friends, especially Josh, who for some reason seemed to be acting weird the past few days. Max wasn't sure if it was just his imagination getting the better of him or he was really seeing it, but the way Josh had been acting the past week had been different. He was more outspoken and extroverted than normal.

"What are you thinking about?" His mom said pulling him from his thoughts.

"What ...oh ....nothing just this afternoon. What I'm gonna say and stuff." Max said taking a drink of his tea and burning his lips on the still hot liquid.

"Yea right." she replied skeptically.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Max asked trying to keep a straight face. His mom was a master at reading facial expressions.

"Nothing, nothing whatever you say." She said getting up.

"Whatever, just in case they decide to stay did you put those pork chops out for me?" Max asked trying to get up to follow her.

"Yes I did, and I'm sure they'll stay, after all it won't be that big of a shock, or will it?" She asked quizzically.

"Well, would it be a shock to you to find out your best friend of two years is gay?" Max asked finally getting to his feet.

"Good point, but if they really are your best friends they won't care." She said reassuringly.

"Yea, I just hope you're right." Max said wincing as he tried to stretch to relax his muscles.

"Don't worry, I am. Mothers always are after all." she said with a laugh.

"Yea, sure they are." Max said laughing himself.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for work?” Max said looking at his watch, “It's almost eleven." he said looking at her.

"Don't worry, I 'm going, I'm going. I wouldn't want to spoil your big day." she said with a laugh.

"Yea well, there won't be too much to spoil." Max said pulling on his shirt.

"What do you mean?" she asked looking confused.

"I mean, I don't honestly expect anything to happen today. I mean, I'll tell them and they will give the same speech that Marshal and Ray did in Chicago." Max said with a shrug.

"What speech." his mom asked still looking confused.

"The its not you, its me speech,” Max said as if it should be the most obvious thing in the world but seeing that his mom didn't get it he elaborated, they will tell me that we can't be friends anymore.

"The fact of me being gay is not the actual problem. The actual problem would be that they wouldn't be able to relate to me because they're straight and it would not be fair to have them hold me back from finding real friends. Just like Marshal and Ray did. ” Max finished sounding exasperated.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you could even think that about Frank and Josh, I mean they are nothing like those two idiots." she said actually sounding angry.

"They don't have to be, they just have to full of stupid fucking stereotypes." Max said sounding just as angry.

"And what stereotypes would that be exactly?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Do you really want me to give you a list?" Max asked sarcastically.

"Yes, I do as a matter of fact." She said still sounding angry.

"OK, well lets see, that all gay guys have HIV or AIDS, that we come on to anything with a dick, that all we want is sex, or if they are really fucked in the head that being gay is some kind of mental illness, just to name a few." Max said his anger fading into exasperation.

"And what in your history together makes you think they'll come to any of those conclusions?" she said her anger also fading.

Max was silent for a moment, going over their times together in his head. Nothing in their past would make him think those things. When ever the topic of homosexuality had come up they had never shown the slightest inclination to any of the stuff he had just mentioned.

"Nothing alright? Are you happy now?" Max said sitting back down and burying his face in his hands.

"Then why did you say it?" She said kneeling down in front of him and pulling his hands away to see tears streaming down his face.

"Because I am afraid alright, because I don't know how they're going to react and it's just easier to expect the worse than to be surprised by it later." he said turning his face away from her.

"And that is what you think will happen, you to tell them and then they just abandon you? She asked wiping tears off his cheek.

"Well based on my history with friends and being gay I don't really have much else to think." Max said turning to look at her.

"But things are different now." she said trying to comfort him.

"Yea, how are they different?" he asked skeptically.

"Well, you've been friends with them longer, you know more about each other than you did Marshal or Ray. The only reason you told those two in the first place was because you got involved with Tim, remember?" she asked quietly. She hated bringing up Tim and Chicago more than he did.

"Yea I remember." Max said thinking over everything she had said. Things were different now. His friendship with Josh and Frank was vastly different than those with Marshal and Ray. The only reason he had told them was because of Tim.

"You're right, it is different now and things will go differently than they did with Ray and Marshal, I hope." Max said smiling at her trying to convince her since she now had a look of worry on her face.

"Alright. Well then, I need to go to work. So are you sure you'll be OK?" She asked smiling at him.

"Yea, I'll be alright. I just need to meditate for awhile and since they won't be over till noon I'll have some time.” He said helping her to her feet and giving her a hug.

"What was that for?" she asked as he let her go.

"For helping me through my mini break down just then." he said with a smile.

"Well that’s what I'm here for, to guide, comfort and all that other motherly junk." she said with a laugh.

"Well as much as I would like to keep this going,” Max said looking at his watch, “you still need to get ready for work and I want to meditate for awhile." Max said pushing her out of the room.

"Alright, alright, I'm going, keep your shirt on." She said laughing. That was the thing about his mom that he loved the most, the fact that she could be a friend and a parent all at once.

"I will, just go so I can meditate." He said still pushing towards the door.

"OK I'll go so you can, just don't worry about this afternoon, everything will be alright." She said in a serious tone.

"I won't, I'll be cool and everything will be alright. Is there anything else you would like to add?" he asked smiling.

"Yea this,” she said, as she gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek, “Will I see you tonight when I come home?" she asked as she let him go.

"It's Saturday of course you will, you know I never go to bed before you get home on the weekend." He said still smiling.

"Good cause I want to hear all about how this week was, including about how all this happened plus I want to know how today went." she said as she started down the stairs to her room.

"That’s a lot to tell." Max said to himself as he closed his door and went back to his chair to meditate. He usually sat on the floor in front of his personal altar but with his legs being so sore he probably would have never made it up if he tried.

"Lets see it's ten after eleven now so I can meditate till eleven thirty-five then go down stairs and prepare for D-day." he said to himself as he closed his eyes and tried to keep the thoughts of Josh out of his head as he started his calming techniques.

* * *

Josh splashed cold water on his face trying to wake himself up. He had barely gotten any sleep the night before. Between dreams of laying in Max's arms, and nightmares of how Max would react if he told him how he felt, it had been a rather restless night. He went back to his room, got dressed and went down stairs to grab a bite to eat before he went to Max's.

"So who were you dreaming about last night?" His mom asked as he sat down with a bowel of cereal.

"What do you mean?" Josh asked his spoon frozen half way to his mouth.

"Well I heard you talking in your sleep last night and it sounded like you and whoever you were dreaming about were having fun." she replied with a laugh.

"I don't know what you’re talking about. I don't remember having any dreams last night." Josh lied. He had been dreaming of Max all night but it quickly went from the two of them having sex to Max telling him that he never wanted to see his face again, at which point he woke up drenched in sweat and saying "no please come back" but it appeared that his mom had not heard that part.

"Well you did. I just wish I had been able to catch a name to tease you with." she said with a smile.

"Well if you didn't hear a name how do you now I was dreaming about someone." Josh asked glad that he had apparently had not said Max's name aloud but still worrying about what he had said.

"Well it was kind of garbled and I was on my way to the bathroom but I heard something about "I want you,” “more, more", and "please, don't stop," and quite a few others but those I'll keep to myself and let you be embarrassed." she said with a devious smile at the blush she caused to creep up around his ears.

"Well I have to admit that I have no clue what you are talking about, but it does sound like I had fun." Josh said finally getting a bite of his cereal and hoping that the conversation was over.

It wasn't.

"You don't even remember telling whoever it was that you loved them?" she asked now looking him in the eye for the first time since the conversation began.

"I said what?" Josh asked choking on the juice he had just taken a drink of; that part he really didn't remember saying.

"You said, "I love you", I heard it on my way back to my room, you said it very clearly. You really don't remember it?" she asked, her gaze becoming uncomfortably intent.

"No, I really don't remember it, any of it." Josh said wiping juice off his chin and shirt.

"Josh, are sure there is nothing you would like to tell me?" she asked sitting down at the table and taking hold of his hand."

"No, why do you ask." Josh said trying to read the expression on her face and having no luck.

"Well it is just that you have been spending more time in your room and you have been a lot quieter than usual this past week, and well I have been worried about you and so has your father, he may not have seen you very much since he was made supervisor but he's noticed a change too." She finished looking both concerned and anxious.

'I need to tell her something, maybe not everything but something,' Josh thought to himself trying to decide exactly what to say.

"Well to tell the truth I do have a few things going on, just some stuff I need to work through and nothing you guys need to worry about." he said trying to reassure her.

"What stuff? I would like to help you if I could." she asked still looking concerned.

"This is some really personal stuff mom; I need to work it out for myself. I promise when it is all said and done I'll tell you everything but right now I need to work it out alone." He said now holding her hand instead her holding his.

"Alright, if you say you have to do it alone then I'll have to let you, but I'm here if you need me, OK?" She said, still looking concerned but he knew she understood.

"Yea, I know you are, but right now I need to go, there is some stuff I need to do before I go over to Max's place, so I'll see you later. Love you." He said standing up and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"I love you too. I'll see you tonight, right?" She asked going over to the sink.

"Yea, I should be home." He said looking around for his keys.

"Bye." she said as she walked over to pick up the phone as he walked out the door.

"Hello, Mathew’s residence." She said into the receiver.

"Hey honey, it’s me." Josh's father Joshua said.

"Hi dear, what are you doing on the phone? Your lunch break isn't till noon, it’s only ten?" she asked as she started the water for the dishes.

"Well, I'm the Supervisor so as long as I keep it quick it’s OK. So how has your day been?" Joshua asked with a laugh.

"Well it's been good so far. I talked to Josh before he left." She said thinking back to her talk with her son.

"What did he say?" He asked sounding slightly sad. Joshua had been working so much that he hardly had time to talk to his son.

"Nothing really, just that he was dealing with a few things that he wanted to handle alone." She said worriedly.

"Emma try not so sound so worried. It's normal for boy's Josh's age to want to deal with personal issues alone." He said confidently, even though he was just as worried as she was.

"I suppose your right. I remember how secretive you were with your parents at Josh's age." She replied thinking back to hers and Joshua's youth.

"So do I. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about though Emma, it’s probably just got something to do with Max." He said thinking about how close Josh and Max were, and how much he had changed since the two boys had met.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked curiously.

"Well you know how close those boys are. Max is like the brother he never had and from what he's told us Max could get into a lot of trouble with this new teacher they have."

"You could be right, he has been acting strange whenever we happen to mention Max, getting very quite or trying to change the subject, but it feels as if there is more to it than that." She said not knowing how close she was to solving the mystery.

"So what do you think is wrong then?" He asked sounding curious.

"I don't know. It’s like he is hiding something. I just wish I knew what." She said sounding concerned again.

“I’m sure if he needs our help he'll come to us, but I need to get back to work so I will see you at noon, right?" He asked

"Yes I'll be there." She said before hanging up the phone.

She sat back down at the kitchen table and thought about Josh. There was a strange familiarity in the way he was acting, as if she had seen him do it before.

* * *

Josh didn't have to pick Frank up till eleven thirty so he spent the hour he had free in a shelter house that overlooked the river on the outskirts of town. He, Frank and Max had hiked in the woods around the area many times. Those were some of his favorite times. Max knew the area better than anyone in town, he had shown them all sorts of things they never knew were there, including a fountain that trickled out of a rock face near the east side of the river.

"Are you ready to talk to Max?" Frank asked when Josh picked him up, although his voice didn't carry the same determination as it had the day before.

"Well, I guess I'm as ready as you can be to ask one of your best friends if he's gay or not." Josh said in a slightly sarcastic way.

"What's with the sarcasm man? Like I said yesterday, after being friends with him for this long, I think we have the right to know this kind of shit, don't you?" Frank asked with a pinch of suspicion gliding into his voice.

"Yea, I guess. It’s not like it'll change anything anyway." Josh replied; marveling at how similar this conversation was to the last one he had with Frank.

"That remains to be seen." Frank said as he turned to look out the window.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Josh asked and when he didn't reply he asked again, after the third time he gave up. He knew no matter how much he badgered him Frank wouldn't talk if he didn't want to.

"Well, we're here." Josh said as he pulled into Max's driveway.

"Yea I know." Frank replied looking a little hesitant.

"Then why are you still sitting in the car?" Josh asked, Frank hadn't noticed he had gotten out.

"I'm just thinking,” Frank said trying to get out of the car before realizing he hadn't taken off his seatbelt, “why are you so eager all of a sudden?" Frank asked with a touch of annoyance as he got out of the car.

"Oh, I'm not eager. I just want you to hurry up cause since this was your idea, your going to start the conversation." Josh said with a wide smile, even though his insides were shaking with nervousness. In a few moments time he would find out if Max was gay and if there was even the remote possibility that he could share his feeling with him.

"Come on.” Frank said walking towards the door.

* * *

Max was sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter when he saw Josh's car pull into the driveway. He went to the door when he saw them get out. He waited there wondering what was taking them so long to get to the door, he looked through the peep hole to see them standing next to the car talking.

Josh, who was looking good as ever dressed in a pair of baggy jeans and a blue Reebok t-shirt that was tighter than he normally wore was smiling at Frank who looked rather uncomfortable for some reason.

Deciding he would play a little bit to try and alleviate his nervousness, he stepped back from the door when he saw them finally making their way up the walk.

"Who is it?" Max said in a high pitched voice sounding like a little old lady when he heard them knock.

"Who else are you expecting at noon you jackass, now drop the voice and open the door." Josh yelled through the door trying to sound annoyed but Max could tell he was smiling.

'This might not go down so bad if they're in such a good mood.' Max thought to himself as he went to the door and opened it to see both Josh and Frank smiling.

"You need to watch your language that could have been my grandma man." Max said as he closed the door.

"Yea right, your grandmother lives in Kentucky and only comes up here once or twice a year, either during the summer or the holidays." Josh said taking a seat next to Frank, who had already sat down, the look of discomfort back on his face.

"Look guys there's something I need to talk to you about before we start to have too much fun,” Max said with a nervous smile as he sat down, “I'm just not sure how to tell you."

"Just tell us. Whatever it is I'm sure it’s not as big a deal as you think it is." Josh said leaning forward looking curious.

"Actually it is a big deal or could be.” Max said as he started to rub the dragon charm he wore, a sure sign to anyone who knew him that he was nervous, “You see the....I'm, well...I'm," Max stumbled for a few seconds before Frank, who had been quietly listening decided to stop him.

"Come on man just tell us and get it over with."

"I'm gay." Max said quietly before looking down at the floor to await their response.
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To be continued...

Thanks to Rush for assisting in editing my story.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, more to follow soon. If you have any comments, suggestions or criticisms or just want to talk I would love to hear it lol, you can email me at allenarcane88@yahoo.com. Or leave a PM via my profile page.