My Friend and Protector - 2. Another Jerk Plus Another Mistake Equals Pain

So, January rolled around before anything too interesting happened. And then it was loaded with interesting. There was a new kid in our grade. It must have sucked for him, changing schools mid-year. I found out later he had a brother that was a senior. They could almost have been identical gorgeous twins, if Mason wasn't like ten inches taller. The Junior was named Brandon, his brother was Mason. I called them the Gorgeous Gordons, or the Gorgeous Gordon Twins. Not out loud, of course. Shit, if looking got me almost outed, saying that to anybody but Karl would be social suicide.

Brandon was in a couple of my classes. Unfortunately not gym. I would have loved to see him naked. Turns out I would get to in the not too distant future, but I'm getting ahead of myself. He did have the same lunch as me, though. With my history of making friends with the new guy, I invited him to sit at my table his first day. Brandon was nice. Like me, he had blond hair and blue eyes, but the blue was so dark they were almost purple. I tried not to stare at them, but he was like half an inch taller than me, probably about the same weight, but the height was the important thing. Our eyes were at the same level. Fuck, it was hard not to stare at them. I'm sure he caught me doing that a couple times but never said anything.

Then one day Mason saw me talking to Brandon. I tried never to even look at Mason, he wasn't friendly to anybody. He always seemed to have a bug up his ass about something. Brandon told me that Mason had to leave his girlfriend when their dad got promoted and transferred here. He never said anything about his own girlfriend. I started to get hopeful when I asked at lunch one day.

"Didn't you have to leave a girlfriend behind too?"

He looked a little uncomfortable.

"No, I didn't have one."

"Weird, you two look almost alike, if he could get the girls, I don't see why you couldn't."

"Um, yeah. Can we not talk about this here?"

"Yeah, sure."

I wondered why, but I let it drop. Of course, the horny me started to fantasize that he didn't have a girlfriend because he liked boys. Hey, I could always dream.

"You want to maybe come over to my house after school one day? I haven't heard you talk about doing any sports, so maybe you're free?"

"Yeah. I do cross-country in the fall and track in the spring. My dad wanted me to take up a sport, the only ones in winter here are basketball and wrestling. I'm not coordinated enough for either of those."

Although I did consider wrestling for maybe half a second. On the plus side, rolling around with another boy would be fun. On the minus side, rolling around with another boy would be too much fun, if you know what I mean. I'd probably die of embarrassment the first time I got a boner wrestling someone. Which would definitely have been the first time I wrestled someone.

"Cool. How about Friday? Mason has a game so he won't be there. You can stay for dinner, once I clear it with mom. Hang out for a while afterward. You've probably noticed I don't have many friends yet. You're the only one who made an effort. I think Mason had something to do with that."

"Why do you say that?"

"Also a 'not here' conversation."

"OK. I'll ask my parents about Friday, but I don't think it'll be a problem."

"Great. Well, off to class. See you later."

"Ciao."

Unrelated to Brandon having lunch at this time, his brother did as well. On the way out of the cafeteria he stopped me.

"What are you doing with my brother?"

"Um, eating lunch, talking. You know, things friends do together."

"You don't want to be his friend."

"Why not?"

"You just don't. So stay away if you don't want any trouble."

"No offense, Mason, but I don't think you need to be telling me who I can or can't be friends with."

"Stay away, or I'll make it so you have to."

He left. I'm totally dumbfounded why he'd do that.

"What was that all about?"

Karl usually eats with the basketball team, so I don't spend lunch with him too often. But he still looks out for me.

"Mason told me I shouldn't be friends with Brandon."

"Yeah, Mason's an ass. Pissed off at the world. If he wasn't so tall, and actually good at basketball, coach Young wouldn't have even considered adding him to the team so late. He's pretty much told everybody to stay away from Brandon."

"Yeah, well, Brandon's nice. I'm not going to let Mason dictate who my friends are."

"Good for you. I don't trust him to just let it go if you keep being friends, so watch your back when I can't."

"Will do."

Mom and dad were OK with me going to Brandon's after school on Friday. They just asked that they meet him at some point. They like knowing who I'm with. Brandon's mom was good with me eating dinner with them. She was actually glad that Brandon made a friend. Apparently she recognized the effect of Mason keeping kids away from Brandon, if not the cause.

The Gordons didn't live too far from where I did, so they walked to school as well. We walked to his house after school on Friday.

"I'm really glad you're able to come over. It's been kind of lonely since we moved."

"Yeah. I don't know why Mason doesn't want you to have any friends."

"Mason's a total dick. He hates me."

"Why? You're friendly, easy to talk to."

"Um, can you keep a secret?"

"Sure. If you don't want me to say anything, I won't. But everybody already knows Mason's a dick."

"It's not about Mason."

"OK, same goes, I'll keep quiet."

"Mason hates me because I'm different. I told you I didn't have a girlfriend before we moved. Truth is, I've never had a girlfriend."

"Some people start slow. It's no big deal. Neither have I."

"I suspected that."

"What do you mean?"

I'm starting to get nervous and excited at the same time. I'm nervous because it seems Brandon suspects I'm gay. I'm excited because I suspect he is too.

"I just had a feeling, that's why I'm sort of comfortable telling you I'm gay."

Happy and afraid. I'm happy because I may have finally found someone to like in that way. Afraid because nobody knows I want to like somebody that way. I don't respond right away.

"You are too, right? Or did I get my signals mixed up?"

Huge decision time here. I can either lie and stay in the closet, which might mean nothing could ever happen with Brandon. Or I can come out to him and possibly get into a relationship.

"Carlo, I asked you to keep my secret. If you are gay, A) I'd never tell anyone, and I'd be the happiest boy in Rockaway. Not only having a good friend, but also having someone else like me to talk to. Or more."

"Wow. This is hard. Nobody knows but Karl. I've kept it secret for years. But, yeah, you're right. I'm gay. Although I've never done anything with anybody about it."

"Me neither. Mason pretty much guaranteed that. You're only the second person that even tried to get past that."

"Yeah, he told me after lunch the other day to keep away from you. I told him he couldn't tell me who to be friends with."

"Oh, fuck. You didn't?"

"Fuck yeah, I did. Why?"

"Well, the first person that, um, disobeyed Mason and got close to me paid for it. Although nobody knows for sure Mason did anything. Except me. He told me as a warning to not try and find a boyfriend, and therefore not a friend at all. But you seemed different. I hope I didn't make a mistake and get you hurt."

"What'd Mason do to this other guy?"

"I'm not sure you want to know."

"What? He didn't kill him?"

"No. Not directly. He wasn't out yet either. Mason fixed that. Somehow he got a photo of him, he photoshopped it to look like he had a dick in his mouth and spread it around the school. A week later the kid killed himself."

"Oh, man. I'm sorry. That completely sucks. But getting outed wouldn't be the end of the world. I'm sure I wouldn't be happy about it, but kill myself over it? No way. I couldn't do that."

"I'm glad to hear that. Either way, we need to be careful. I like you and maybe at some point would want to do things with you, but Mason makes that difficult. So for now, all anybody knows, especially Mason, is we're just friends. I'm sorry."

"It's OK. I get it. I'm not ready to tell the world either. I wouldn't mind doing some things with you either, but I'm cool with taking it slow."

"Thanks Carlo."

"No problem Brand."

"I like that. Keep calling me that. Well, here is casa de Gordon."

"More like dimora de Gordon."

"Dee-more-uh?"

"Mansion."

"I wouldn't go that far."

"True, not quite that. You said your father got a promotion, it must have been a hell of a jump."

"He's a lawyer. He made senior partner and was sent down here to open up a new branch of the firm with a couple others who volunteered to jump through the hoops necessary to become licensed in Florida. The things the money gets us are nice, but he spends a lot of time at work. Sometimes, it's not a good trade-off."

"Where did you live before?"

"Cincinnati."

"Well, you'll have nicer winters."

"True. Mom! I'm home."

"In the kitchen Brandon."

"Be prepared to get inundated with snacks, Carlo."

"I'm always ready for more food."

"Hi mom. This is Carlo Marini. The boy I told you made friends with me right away."

"Hello Carlo. And thank you for making my son welcome."

"Hello, and that was easy. He's actually the second new kid I've done that with. Although the first was over 10 years ago. But we're still the best of friends, so it looks good for Brand."

"Well, I have some cookies, and fruit. I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I hit both ends of the snack spectrum. Help yourself. 'Brand' can let you know where anything else is."

"Grab a couple things and I'll show you my room."

He's got a room at the back of the house. More like a suite. Bedroom, sitting room, and a sweet bathroom.

"Too bad you had to get the smallest bedroom in the house."

"Well, actually my little brother Carson has the smallest, but it's pretty close."

"I was kidding. This would be the biggest bedroom in my house. Well, including the sitting area. I think my parents bedroom is a little bigger than the bedroom proper. How old is Carson?"

"He's almost 12, but he's in 8th grade. A little brainiac. Has skipped two years already. It wouldn't surprise me if he jumps to 10th next year."

"Cool. I don't know whether he's lucky or unlucky."

"Yeah, he does have some problems socially, generally being with kids about 2 years older than he is. If he skips again, he'll be almost three years younger than his classmates. But I'll be there to help him out if he needs it."

"I can too. At least, as long as we're still friends next year."

"Plan on abandoning me?"

"No, but shit happens."

"True. Right now, though, piss needs to happen. I'll be right back."

"OK, yeah, that's probably a good idea."

After we drain the beasts, we play some video games for a while.

"Want to see the game room?"

"You have a game room?"

"Yeah."

We go downstairs to the basement level. Half of the basement is this huge room. There's a pool table, a couple multi-game video games, a card table and the biggest fucking TV I've ever seen.

"Holy shit, that's big."

"That's what he said."

"I think it's 'that's what SHE said.'"

"Not for boys like us, hehe."

"Touche."

We're watching a college basketball game, just so I can see what the TV looks like when Mason comes in the room.

"What's HE doing here?"

"Looks like he's watching TV. What are YOU doing here?"

"A pipe broke at Madison High, so the game got postponed. I told him to stay away from you."

I decided I needed to speak for myself.

"I'm sorry, you're not my father, so you have no say in who my friends are."

"No, but I'm HIS brother, so I have a say in who his friends are."

"In what world? The world of fantasy you live in?"

"Carlo, don't argue with him."

"Yeah, listen to your boyfriend. He makes sense. Don't argue, just leave."

"We're not boyfriends. Two boys CAN be friends without being boyfriends. I guess you couldn't know that since you don't have any friends."

"Carlo! Please, stop?"

"Oh, no. it's too late for that Brandon. I can't do anything here, you'll go running to mommy, but you'd better watch your back Carlo. You'll pay for mouthing off."

"That wouldn't be good for your health Mason. I suggest you leave me alone."

"Hah! I'm not afraid of a little pipsqueak faggot like you. Watch your back."

Mason storms out of the room.

"What the fuck did you do that for? You don't know what he's capable of."

"No, but I know what Karl is capable of. That dick may get in the first shot, but it'll be the last one he throws at me."

"Why would Karl get in the middle of it?"

"Like I told your mother, Karl and I are still the best of friends. Earlier in the school year, he practically put Kyle Gardener through the gym lockers after he called me a faggot and then made the mistake of calling Karl my boyfriend. Later that day, he laid him out in football practice. Kyle hasn't been a problem since."

We had dinner in their dining room. I counted 8 chairs but it looked like there was room for at least 4 more. Carson was like a mini-Brandon. He was cute. He had about a thousand questions for me about everything from what's in town to sports I liked. Mason was quiet. Although the glares he sent my way could have busted my ear drums if they were the verbal equivalent. I asked Carson how he was adjusting to the new school.

"It has been very difficult. I do not know if Brandon informed you, but I have skipped two grades. All my classmates are older and more mature than me. I have made friends with one sixth and one seventh grade boy, but it is not quite the same. I am happy Brandon found a friend right away. It allows me to believe there is still hope for me."

"Age shouldn't matter. You could make friends with younger boys, why can't the kids in eighth grade?"

"Peer pressure. A feeling of superiority that they have being the oldest in the school. Many more reasons."

"Well, I hope you find a couple friends. Brandon says you may skip to 10th grade next year. If you do, you'll have him and me to watch out for you."

"He and I, but thank you. I would appreciate that."

"Pffft."

That last from Mason. Obviously not believing Brand and I could watch out for his little brother. I decided not to renew that argument from before. Brandon and I hung out some more in their game room. We invited Carson to stay with us but he felt he would be 'infringing on our attempt to strengthen our friendship.' It's going to take a little while to get used to the way he talks. It's not like he's talking down to you, just that he sounds so proper. I mean, lighten up, be a kid outside of school. But I guess that's the way he is and will be.

As I said before, the Gordon's didn't live too far away, so walking home even a little later in the evening wasn't going to be a problem.

"Thanks for coming over Carlo. You can't know how good it feels to finally have a friend. I just hope Mason doesn't ruin it for us."

"You're welcome. And we just won't let him."

As I was leaving, Brandon leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I hope that was OK."

"More than OK. We'll have to find a way to do more of that, maybe even like this..."

I leaned in and kissed him on the lips. Not a lingering, full mouth kiss; just a peck, but he smiled so wide it practically melted my heart.

"Good night, Carlo."

"Nite Brand. See you Monday."

"I'll be looking forward to it."

"Me too."

Monday rolled around and everything was going well until lunch time. I had a problem waking up in the morning, so I had a large mug of tea before I left home. One problem with that is that it increases the need to take a pee during the day. I excused myself and headed to the men's room. I didn't notice, but Mason followed me. But Mason didn't notice who followed him, either.

I got to the bathroom and was standing in front of the urinal when Mason came up behind me and locked his arms around mine, pulling them back painfully. Since I was still pissing, I pissed on the floor, my shoes, and the bottom of my pants. Just before it felt like my arms were going to break, he let go. Karl had an arm around Mason's neck.

"Turn around and finish pissing Carlo."

"Where?"

"On him. Make it look like he pissed his pants."

"I don't know..."

"Trust me?"

So, I pointed my dick at Mason's groin and let loose with what I still had left. By this time, Mason was pretty much passed out. Karl put him down in the puddle I created when Mason grabbed me.

"Are you listening dick?"

Mason nodded while trying to catch his breath.

"Next time the piss goes somewhere else, and it won't be just one person's. I hear you even look at Carlo funny and you'll have the whole football team pissing in your mouth. On video. And don't think they won't do it for me. You understand?"

Mason nods again.

"I'm sure your voice works. Do. You. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Stay in here until the bell rings."

That was even better than what Karl did to Kyle. Maybe because I got a little bit of revenge in too.

Next up - "Word Gets Around and Closeness With Brandon"