Capture Me Gently - 7. Chapter 7

Aiden bumped the ball alongside the floor. He had a clear view of the basket, and he dribbled an opponent player, took the ball in his hands, jumped and then threw it. The ball went straight through the basket. He turned, took a high five with Peter who was on his team, and then ran towards the other end of the court.

It was a few hours after his visit down at Eden, and he was now at basketball practice.

The other team now had the ball, but with a simple tackling from Peter, they had it back again. "Catch, Aiden!" Peter called and threw the basketball to Aiden, who caught it easily. He turned around and started running against the opposite teams basket. Unfortunately he didn't see Alex coming, so when his friend tackled him, he overbalanced, and he and Alex fell hard into the wall. The ball bounced out in the field again, and got picked up by someone from the opposite team. Alex's team.

Aiden, who had his back against the wall, stared into Alex's azure eyes. He could see surprise in them, but also some teasing.

"You did that on purpose," Aiden stated in a low voice.

"Maybe I did," Alex grinned back. "Did it work?"

"Work with what?" Aiden asked, a little short of breath.

"Distracting you," Alex replied and his grin changed into a smirk.

"That definitely worked," Aiden stated.

"Hey, queers!" Glenn Kirtland suddenly shouted. "Fucking get away from each other before I smash your heads in!"

Aiden's head shot up and his eyes locked on the other boy. He stepped around Alex and moved towards him. "What the fuck did you just say?" He asked in a low, threatening tone as he stopped in front of him.

"I called you queers," Glenn Kirtland replied nonchalantly. "You have any problems with that, fag?!" He gave Aiden a daring look.

"Yes, in fact I have some problems with it," Aiden snapped back. He clenched his fists, and then hit the other, conceited boy right in the jaw.

Glenn Kirtland stumbled backwards. He glared at Aiden with big, shocked eyes. He couldn't believe that the blonde actually had hit him in the middle of the gym!

"Just because you're Marcus's little brother, doesn't mean that you can go around and do what the fuck you want," Aiden snapped.

"You piece of shit," Glenn whispered intensively, and then he jumped on the blonde, knocking him to the ground.

"Hey you two!" The coach shouted. "Stop it! Get away from each other!"

He came running, and so did the rest of the team.

"Hey, bastard!" Peter yelled and pulled Glenn off of Aiden. Glenn tried to hit him too, but Peter dodged it, and then pinned Glenn to the floor, holding his wrists in a tight grip.

Aiden sat up slightly and massaged his temple. He glared at Glenn, but turned slightly as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Alex's azure eyes looked back at him.

"You alright?" Alex asked in a low voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Aiden replied and gave his boyfriend a small smile. He used Alex's shoulder to lean on as he slowly got to his feet. Glenn had kicked his knee in his side as they fell to the floor, and it was hurting like crazy. He was so going to get a bruise there.

"That idiot," Alex swore silently. "I can't believe him! He's such a freaking bastard."

"Yeah, he is," Aiden agreed. He shot Glenn, who now was released from Peter's grip, a dark look. He was Marcus's younger brother, and both brothers seemed to have something against him. Well, Marcus had because he had left the freaking gang, but he had never done a freaking thing to Glenn. Not before he started with all his bullshit, that was.

"We're finished here for today," the couch spoke glumly. "And you two," he pointed at Aiden and Glenn, "better watch yourself from now on. I do not want one of you, or both, to end up in the hospital during a practice because of fighting! If there's something between you two that needs to be solved; solve it in your free time!" And with that speech, he turned and walked out of the gym.

Aiden exchanged a glance with Alex, and then they moved to the locker room.

"Are you staying at my place tonight, too?" Aiden asked the black-haired boy.

"No, I think I have to go home tonight," Alex replied. "They're really going to start fussing about it if I don't come home soon. I will come with you home now, though, because all my stuff is there." He smiled lovingly up at Aiden and brushed his fingers gently over the back of his hand.

Aiden grinned back, looking forward to spending some time alone with Alex before he had to go back to his parents' place.

---

As the boys walked into the kitchen, the first things they saw was that Catherine was sitting next to Thomas at the table.

"You!" Aiden exclaimed and pointed at her. Both Catherine and Thomas looked up at him. "You could've told me you were going to teach in my class!"

"I didn't know you were in that class," Catherine spoke with a small, sly smile.

"Of course you knew," Aiden muttered. "They must have given you a list of all our names, or something."

"Probably," the woman said lightly.

Aiden's eyes narrowed. "You didn't tell us just because of the fun of it, didn't you? You wanted to freaking surprise us." He stared straight into her eyes, and saw that what he had said was absolutely true. "Sneaky," he said, and then moved out of the kitchen with Alex.

They walked down to Aiden's room, where they threw their schoolbags in a corner and turned to face each other. Aiden had closed the door behind them, and now he pulled the other boy closer to him and kissed him lightly on the lips.

Alex's hands ran up Aiden's arms and rested behind his neck. He deepened the kiss, and Aiden shoved him gently against the wall, pressing their bodies together.

As Aiden thrust his tongue into his mouth, Alex moaned and started to tug at his boyfriend's shirt. He wanted it off; he wanted to feel Aiden's naked, hot skin. He pulled the shirt up and got if over Aiden's head. Then his boyfriend started to trail kisses down his neck, while one of his hands started to unbutton Alex's own shirt. The more naked skin appearing on Alex's upper body, the lower down Aiden moved his lips and tongue.

Alex moaned silently and tangled his fingers in Aiden's blonde hair. Aiden smiled against his skin, and then moved upwards again, until his lips once again locked with Alex's.

And then the door crashed open, and a startled yelp could be heard as the person entering saw the position they were in. The boys jerked apart, and then slowly turned to the doorway, where they saw Christina staring back at them. Her face was pale though, and Aiden had a feeling that it was another reason for that, and not the kiss between the two boys she had witnessed.

Aiden walked over to her, took a grip around her forearm, pulled her into the room and then slammed the door shut behind her back. Alex blushed from where he still stood against the wall, and he quickly started to button up his shirt without looking at either of them.

Christina glanced between Aiden and Alex. The former was staring back at her, still without a shirt on, while the latter avoided her eyes completely. "Why haven't you told me anything about this?" She asked after a while, staring straight at her four year younger brother.

"You're okay with it?" Aiden asked, he sounded almost surprised.

"Of course I am, idiot," his sister exclaimed fretful. "Damn it, Aiden, you know me! I don't have anything against homosexuals! God damn it, it's hot thinking about two guys together! You know that I think that. And I've said it so many times before."

"You were joking," Aiden answered lamely.

"It was still the truth," Christina stated. "Remember this morning? When Riley and Ben started making out? I even said that it would be even hotter if you two started making out! And haven't I been teasing you for god-knows-how-long?" She glared at them and placed her hands on her hips. "How long have you two been together for?"

"Not long," Aiden answered briefly.

"For how long!?" Christina Asked in a demanding tone.

"Since Friday," Aiden mumbled.

"That's not long," she said, both looking and sounding surprised.

"I know. That's what I said," Aiden replied.

"Well, I'm happy for you," Christina grinned. "But it sure took you some time. All of us knew you two would end up together ages ago."

Aiden exchanged a quick glance with Alex, and now the black-haired boy also dared to raise his head and look at Christina. Christina smiled at him, but then she suddenly felt dizzy, and she sat down on Aiden's bed.

"Is everything okay, Chris?" Aiden asked with worry, and kneeled in front of her.

"The reason why I'm in here... What I wanted to tell you, Aiden..." Christina lifted her head and looked at her brother. "I think I'm pregnant."

"Pregnant?" Aiden stared dumbly at her.

"Yeah," Christina said intensively. "You know, as in I'm having a baby. A child!" She started to panic slightly. "I'm fucking having a baby! I'm twenty two years old! I'm not ready to raise a kid!"

"Hey, Chris, calm down," Aiden said firmly and placed his hands on her shoulders, holding her twitching body calm. "Have you talked to Jo about this? Because he is the father, right?"

"Of course he is the father," Christina sighed and hid her face in her hands. "And no, I haven't talked to him. If you haven't noticed, we're always fighting."

"Oh, I know," Aiden said. "I was visiting Jayden earlier. He was down in the club, because he couldn't stand being up in his apartment, seeing as you and Jo were fighting in the other." He scratched the back of his head lightly. "Tell me, why are you always fighting? Is it just because of his job?"

"Mostly his job, yeah," Christina replied. "He's travelling so much, and I need more time with him. I can't stand him being gone for weeks, maybe months, at a time. It's driving me insane." She angrily wiped away her forthcoming tears. "And now I'm going to have a baby with him? I will be the one who has to take care of it, because he's not here! And I can't do that, Aiden. I just can't..."

"Do you want the child?" Aiden asked in a low voice. He looked up at Alex, who silently sat down on the chair next to his desk.

"Of course I want it," Christina said. "I'm having it with the man I love. But when he can't always be here and help me... I don't know. I can't do it alone."

"Just talk to him, Chrissy," Aiden said. "He loves you. I know he does. I have known our cousin all my life, so I should now. And really, so should you. If you just tell him, he'll be there for you. He'll do what he can."

"I don't know how I'm going to tell him," Christina groaned in irritation. "I don't know how to raise the subject or how to keep myself from not breaking down into tears and beg him to stay with me." She sighed frustrated. "You two are so freaking lucky!" She suddenly exclaimed. "You never have to worry about pregnancies or any bullshit like that! Consider yourself lucky, boys! Damn fucking lucky!" And with those words, she rose from the bed and strode out of the room; closing the door orderly behind her.

Aiden turned to Alex, who silently sat down beside him on the bed. His azure eyes were worried, and Aiden smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Stop worrying so much," he said. "Everything will turn out fine in the end. For everyone." He kissed him again, only deeper this time. Alex sighed contently against his lips, and then lay back down in the bed, pulling Aiden down with him.

"You think she will tell anyone?" Alex asked as they parted to get some fresh air into their lungs.

"Not unless I particularly tell her to," Aiden answered. He stared down into the depths of Alex's sparkling, azure eyes. "Do you want me to tell her?" He asked slowly.

"Not really," Alex replied and blushed slightly. "I mean... I like you very much, Aiden, but I'm just not ready to come out yet. If I come out, my parents may find out, and I'm not ready for them to know just yet."

Aiden ran his thumb over Alex's cheeks, jaw and chin. "I understand that," he said in a low voice and bent down, almost brushing his lips against his boyfriend's. "I'm not out yet either, and my family is the most accepting one you'll ever find," he said lightly.

"Yes, they are," Alex said. "I really like your family, Aiden. If mine had been only half of what yours is..." He laughed bitterly.

"Hey, don't think so depressing thoughts now," Aiden said. "You're going home soon. So let's make the most of the time left of this day matter," he rolled over, getting Alex beneath him, "and let's do something more exciting." He grinned and kissed the black-haired boy who now was his boyfriend.

"More exciting, indeed," Alex smirked against Aiden's lips. "Kiss me some more!"

And that was exactly what Aiden did.