String - 10. Pride

“The board… reluctantly… approves item 17-85 allowing the creation of an LGBTQ alliance,” old man Taylor announced. He quickly moved on to the next item for business.

“I don’t know what was so reluctant about it,” Danny said to me as we walked toward his father’s car after the school board meeting ended. “He was the only one who voted against us.”

I loosened my tie and took off my suit coat. Mom had just bought that suit for Christmas and it was already getting to be too small as I’d grown another inch taller since then. “We did it,” I texted Ryan.

Mr. Rossi joined us at the car. “I’m so proud of you, Daniel, you really put your heart into this. You presented your case to the board perfectly.”

“Well I had a lot of help,” Danny said, blushing.

“I’m a little confused by something though. I was under the impression you were planning to be part of this as an ally, but it sounded to me like you were planning to be president. Don’t you think someone more representative of the LGBTQ community should be president?”

“Well dad…” Danny said as he sat in the front seat next to his father. “I might be a little more representative of the community than I’ve told you.”

Mr. Rossi absorbed what Danny said for a minute. “Well… We can rule out the L… So that leaves…”

“It’s the B,” Danny said.

Mr. Rossi chewed on his bottom lip for a little bit. “Well… That explains the girlfriends.”

“You’re not mad are you?” Danny asked.

“Why would I be angry with you?” Mr. Rossi asked.

“I don’t know. Some parents might be.”

“Daniel, I’ve fought for LGBTQ equality for almost thirty years. Every coming out is unique. Frankly, I’m sorry I may have unintentionally forced you to come out to me before you were ready.”

“It’s already all over the school,” Danny replied.

My phone buzzed.

“Yeet! Yeet!” Ryan had texted.

“Dork,” I replied.

He replied with a nerd emoji.

“Well if it’s already all over the school, your mother probably has heard rumors from the PTO. There’s more clucking in those meetings than you’d hear at a farm.”

“So who’s going to tell Mr. Reilly?” I asked.

“Already texted him,” Danny replied. “Read it for me,” Danny said as he handed me his phone. “I can’t read while we’re moving.”

I read the message from Mr. Reilly aloud for him. “It says, ’Great news, Danny! I’m proud of you!’ He called you Danny. He must really be proud of you!”

“New golden child in the house!” Danny laughed.

“Well, you called him a legend,” I said.

“You better thank him, boys. He stuck his neck out pretty far for you being a first year teacher without tenure and being willing to go against John Taylor takes some balls.”

“Dad,” Danny said. “Never say the word ‘balls’ in front of me again.” We all laughed.

Mr. Rossi dropped me off at my house and I told mom about how the meeting had gone.

“I knew you boys could do it. Now the next step is getting ready for the first meeting.”

“Mom… With your PTO people… Are there rumors about Danny?”

Mom sighed. “Unfortunately there are some rumors about him and you that I’ve heard.”

I pulled out my phone and texted Danny. “My mom knows.”

“Thanx,” Danny replied. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

“Just so you know,” I said to mom. “I’ve never had sex with Danny.”

“And what if you had?” mom replied.

I looked at her quizzically. “What do you mean?”

“Well what business of mine is it? Just be careful and use a cond…”

“No no no!! Do not say that word!”

“Condom,” mom finished.

“I begged you not to say that word! I don’t want to think about my mother knowing about that kind of stuff!”

“How on earth do you think you got here?” mom asked.

“Stork,” I replied.

Mom just laughed. “You are something else!”

“Well obviously dad doesn’t know about them. You heard the latest, right?”

“Yes, another half brother or sister for you. What happened to Amber?”

“I guess she decided she didn’t want a man who had a girlfriend she didn’t know about.”

“And what do you think of all this?”

“I think dad needs to keep his dick in his pants,” I replied.

Mom lost it laughing with me. “Okay, I won’t say the word I said if you don’t say that word again!”

I retreated to my room and opened a Snap with Ryan. He was in his room with his shirt off.

“Good job, Jake!” he said. “So there wasn’t any trouble?”

“It was pretty smooth sailing. Danny laid out what he wanted to do and why he thought it was important, and then they voted. They didn’t even discuss it or ask him any questions.”

“So your band director is willing to sponsor it then?”

“Yep,” I replied.

“When can I join?”

“We’re going to have a small meeting before the end of the school year just to gauge interest, and then start the full club next school year.”

“Nice,” he said.

“Yeah… So, I just had the weirdest conversation with my mother,” I replied.

“Why was it weird?”

“I don’t know. It was like… Like she was talking to me like an adult instead of like a kid.”

“Kids grow up so fast these days,” Ryan said wistfully. “What did you talk about?”

“She wanted to know if I knew about condoms.”

“Did you tell her about us?”

“Tell my mom we had sex? No… that won’t be happening for a long, long, long time.”

That’s right… Your boy Jake here totally did the deed with Ryan! It was the most perfect night of my life. It was so sweet, just like everything about Ryan. After our little whoops incident which I swore never to talk about, we got more and more open and free with each other. We had a great time enjoying each other, kissing and stuff, touching and groping everything. We video chatted every night, and usually jerked off with each other. I blew him one night when he was here, and he lasted more than five seconds which made him happy. I think he was afraid he was going to go off like a pistol every time we got close. And let me tell you, Ryan had the most amazing uncut dick. Danny and I were circumcised. Ryan’s was the first one I’d seen with a foreskin, and he enjoyed letting me play with it and learn more about what he liked. It was longer than Danny’s by about half an inch, and about a half inch shorter than my own seven incher. That’s right, I had the biggest one! Go me! Ryan’s was about as thick as Danny’s, so it was real easy to suck it. We would do this thing where we’d touch our dicks together and he’d pull his foreskin over the head of his dick and pull it as far as he could over the head of mine. I came all over his dick from doing that.

We’d already been sucking each other for a couple of weeks when we decided together it was time to make love. We knew it was coming that night, and it was everything we’d hoped it would be. Ryan had everything ready to go, and it was nice and romantic. We did it on his bed with him laying on his back and his legs resting on my shoulders, though I had to push on the back of his thighs to expose his asshole and get myself lined up. It was easy enough to sink my dick into him in that position. He took it like a champ. Missionary… I guess that’s what it’s called. Good position - I highly recommend it. Once you’re inside you can do all kinds of things like kiss and hug. Ryan wrapped those long legs of his around my waist and pulled me close so he could kiss me. And to answer mom’s question, I finished inside him. Sorry, mom… I offered to buy condoms, but Ryan said not to bother and that he wanted to feel it when I came in him. What? I was fifteen and horny. I wasn’t going to say no! Ryan came too, all over those nice abs of his when I jerked him off at the end. We couldn’t have asked for a better first time. We snuggled together naked afterward and it just felt so perfect to hold each other’s naked body. That was just last week. We’d only done it that one time, but we were both eager to have another go at it.

“Does Danny know you fucked me?” Ryan asked.

“Danny knew before I even told him,” I replied. “You must give off some kind of scent after you have sex that others can pick up on.”

“I have noticed people look at me differently. So how’d it go?”

“He was happy for us. He takes credit for being the one who got us together.”

“That’s good. I don’t want him to feel left out.”

“I think he’s relieved that things have gone so well for us. I feel bad for him though. It’s going to be harder for him to get a girlfriend since stupid Justin screwed him over.”

“I don’t know why you’re more angry at Justin than Nick. Nick’s the one who told everybody.”

“Yeah, but Justin should have known better. Justin knows Danny better than Nick.”

“I think you just don’t want to be mad at Nick because he has a nice ass,” Ryan teased.

“It’s nice, but not as nice as yours. You’ve got that nice runner’s ass.”

“I like yours myself. It’s cuter. Mine’s all firm and muscly. Yours is a little more soft and squeezable.”

“You can squeeze it anytime you want. Anyway, since this is a dad weekend. I want to ask a favor.”

“What’s that.”

“I want you to meet my dad,” I said.

“Meeting the parents? This is getting serious!”

“Well, it’s more like I want him to meet you. I’ve been talking about you to him and I want him to meet you.”

“I’ll have to ask my dad but… Wait! Why don’t we meet somewhere together, all four of us? Your dad can talk with my dad and we won’t have to put up with them while we have fun.”

“Two divorced dads, talking together… Ugh… I wonder what they’ll find in common to talk about?”

“So you in, then?”

“You know I like to watch a good train wreck.” I replied.

“Awesome. So, left or right hand tonight?” he asked.

The dads agreed with our plan and we decided to go up to Pittsburgh to watch the Pirates play the Brewers. Our dads hit it off instantly, as they had much more in common than just being a couple of divorced dads. It was kind of cool to see them talking and acting like regular human beings for a change. We started by sitting with Ryan and me in the middle with our dads on either side of us, but that only lasted an inning, because we got tired of them talking around us so we made them sit together. Ryan’s dad was a big guy, taller than my dad and heavier. Ryan said he used to be even larger before he started on the same diet that Ryan was eating. Dad bought a big tub of popcorn. Ryan and I put it between the two of us and we ate it together

“You don’t know how much I missed popcorn when I had braces,” Ryan said.

It happened so naturally, I couldn’t tell you exactly when I’d put my hand on Ryan’s hand on the little armrest between us, but I know it was the bottom of the sixth inning when dad elbowed me in the side and raised his eyebrows at me and then kind of pointed with his eyes toward our joined hands. I knew what he was ‘saying’ and quickly let Ryan’s hand go. I looked over at Ryan’s dad. He’d seen. Didn’t say anything though, and Ryan didn’t even notice anything had happened. After the game was over, Ryan’s dad pulled him aside and began to talk with him as we were walking through PNC Park toward the exit. It became obvious what their conversation was about when Ryan began talking back, much more loudly than his dad had been talking to him.

“Of course I was holding hands with him, he’s my boyfriend!”

“Not so loud! Not in public!”

“No! Let’s do this right here, dad,” Ryan insisted. “I know you don’t like the fact that I’m gay, but I am and there’s nothing wrong with that!”

The people in the crowd just kept moving along. Sure, there were some gawkers, but for the most part people kept passing by. Dad and I looked at each other. We didn’t need to say what we were thinking, we both knew. This was going to get ugly.

“I’m not saying there’s something wrong with you. You just… Why do you have to do that sort of thing where people can see you?”

“Not one gives a shit, dad! Look.” Ryan shouted. “Hey Pittsburgh! I’m gay!”

“Shut up!” one middle aged man shouted. No one else cared all that much, the crowd just kept on moving. Ryan’s dad grabbed hold of his arm and turned him around.

“Listen you little smartass…”

“Larry…” dad interjected.

“And what kind of father are you, encouraging that kind of behavior? How long were they sitting there like a couple of idiots and you didn’t say anything! Come on, Ryan. We’ll get cab to take us home.”

“No,” Ryan replied. “I’m not going with you!”

“Now listen here you little punk, you’ll come with me and that’s that!”

“Why won’t you listen to me? Why won’t you understand? I’m not doing this because I want to embarrass you or make you mad! I’m gay, dad! All I ever wanted was for you to be proud of me, to hear you say you loved me! You’re my dad, you’re supposed to love me no matter what!”

“I’m not going to have my son act like a queer with some sissy faggot boy.”

“Now wait just a minute there, Larry,” dad snapped. “If you want to be a jackass and act like that to your son, that’s one thing. But you better watch your mouth around my son. If you want to have your teeth in your mouth by the end of tonight you better apologize to my boy.”

Mr. Crawford looked ready to murder my father, and I think the feeling was mutual. He looked at me and I worried he might throw me off the mezzanine. Then looked at Ryan. We were all looking at him. He exhaled sharply. “Look, Bob, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to my son,” dad insisted.

Mr. Crawford looked at me and sighed. “I’m sorry, kid,” he grumbled.

“Go fuck yourself,” I replied.

“Jacob!” dad gasped.

“What? He called me a faggot!” I protested.

“Alright, I’m sorry I called you that,” Mr. Crawford said.

“That’s fine, but I’m still not leaving Ryan alone with you,” I said.

“What? You think I’m going to hurt my own kid?”

“You already did with the way you acted tonight,” my dad replied.

Mr. Crawford sighed. “Look… I’m a steel mill kind of guy. Okay? I don’t understand why a guy would do that queer stuff with another guy.”

“That queer stuff?” I asked.

“Two guys holding hands? Kissing? Who knows what else you’ve been doing! It’s all a little much for me. It’s not the way I was raised.”

“Sounds like you and I were raised in the same way,” dad said. “But you know what? The way we were raised got us divorced and barely able to see our kids. They’re not the problem Larry, we are. We’ve already lost our wives. I didn’t like it or understand it when I realized Jake was queer either. But I’d already lost everything else. I couldn’t lose my boy. So I learned to not just accept it, but encourage it and encourage him to not turn into a fuck-up like his old man. I’m not saying you need to go wave a rainbow flag, but you don’t want to lose your boy over something like this, Chuck. It’s not going to change just because you fight it. You’re just going to push him away. Then what will you have left? Ryan’s not asking for much, just a little understanding and some love.”

Mr. Crawford looked at dad. Then he looked at me. Finally he turned and looked at Ryan, who I could tell was trying desperately not to cry. “Can you let me have a minute with my son?”

“Take all the time you need,” dad said. “We won’t leave without you.”

Dad and I walked some distance away, where we could still see them, but not hear them. The crowd had thinned out to just an occasional passerby. It was the first time dad and I had been alone since he’d met Ryan.

“So what’d you do, trade Danny in for a younger model?” dad teased.

“Danny and I were never together.”

“And you and Ryan? You guys serious?”

“Let’s just say I take after my dad,” I said.

“Oh god! Wear a condom at least,” dad replied.

We kept watching Ryan and his dad from afar. “Whelp, there go the tears,” I said.

“Which one?” dad asked.

“Both, I think. Ryan definitely.”

“I’m proud of you, Jake,” dad said. It stunned me.

“You are?” I asked. “What for?

“You stood up for yourself today. And more importantly you stood up for Ryan. You’re a better man at your age than I ever was.”

Now it was my turn to feel my eyes start burning from tears. I don’t think I’d ever heard my dad say he was proud of me before. I turned away from him and rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand.

“Got a little dirt in my eye,” I said.

We watched as Ryan and his dad hugged each other. Afterward, Mr. Crawford offered Ryan his hand and Ryan shook it. They talked a little more and then they walked over to us.

“We can go home now,” Ryan said.

“You sure?” I said.

“I’m sure,” Ryan replied.

As we walked down the street toward the parking lot, Ryan and I allowed our dads to get further and further ahead of us until they were out of earshot. Ryan grabbed hold of my hand as we walked.

“I love you,” he said. “Thanks for sticking with me tonight.”

“You sure you’re going to be okay?” I asked.

“I think we really made some progress tonight. I don’t think it would have happened if your dad hadn’t been there. He’s a pretty cool guy.”

“Yeet,” I said.

Ryan just laughed. “Jake, no one says ‘yeet’ anymore.”

“Really?” I asked. But just last week you said it!”

“That was last week. Now it’s ‘lit’ or ‘litty.’”

“I’m getting too old for this shit,” I replied.

“Don’t get triggered on me,” he replied.

“Don’t make me destroy you, Ry,” I laughed.

Ryan leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "Now that's lit!" he said.

"You're such a dork!" I laughed. "And I love you!"