>The day is perfect. The sun shinking. I have all my friends around me. Nothing could go wrong. It's starting to get cold.
"I wish I had a small fire."
No sooner do the words escape his mouth then flames shoot into a few logs. Everyone screams.
"Did you see that?"
"He did it."
"He's a mutant!"
"Mutie Freak!"
"Get lost!"
The boy starts crying. The flames jump higher and it starts to rain, thunder and lightning overhead as the earth shakes and all the kid watches and belts fly around the boy. He screams. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Thunk. He rolls out of bed. Josh is already up and by Zeke's side.
"Zeke. Zeke, it's alright." The golden boy codenamed Elixer is already manipulating the chemicals in Zeke's body to calm him down. When Zeke relaxes enough to look around, he notices Josh is touching his chest. He scrambles away.
"I'm fine." and crawls back to bed. Josh shrugs and lets it go.
The Next Morning.
Zeke wakes up (Thunk, by rolling out of bed.) to one else in the room.
Josh must have already gone to breakfast.
After getting dressed and doing his morning things (can't beat the first piss of the day) he decides to go on down himself. When he arrives at the dining hall, most of the student body have already eaten and left and yet still only a handful of place were left to sit. Taking his tray, he actually went outside to eat by his favorite oak tree. It's big with wide branches. As he walks up to it, one of the branches bends down. Sitting on the branch, he eats his breakfast and reads Yeats as the branch goes back into the air. From his current vantage point, he can see most of the school grounds. All but behind him.
"That's a neat trick. What else can you do?"
Startled Zeke throws his food and book in the air. Almost falling out of the tree, he notices Damien Cross(1) on the other side of the oak.
"I don't think that you're in any of my classes. What's your name?"
Zeke mumbles something under his breath.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."
"Zeke."
"OK, question #2 was answered, how about #1?"
Zeke was suddenly developing the urge to shit his pants. He couldn't breathe, and his vision got very hazy. He lost his already tenouos grip on the tree and fell. Damien teleported under him just in time.
At The Infirmary
"Well Dr. McCoy, is he okay?" Damien asked the medical officer. The large blue furred Beast looked up.
"You are a teacher now. You can call me Hank you know. I won't bite.
"I know, but what about him."
"He'll be fine. He is very shy. New people, too many bodies, too much conversation will send his body relling and his mind doesn't cope. Something to do about his powers manifesting. As I recall, it took 8 months just to find someone he could bunk and not go into panic attacks. Has regular nightmares to boot." As Hank rambled on, Zeke started to come to. And, Thunk, rolled off the bed.
"ugh"
Damien came around to offer his hand but again, Zeke scrambled away.
"I'm fine."
Shaking his head, Zeke made his way to his room. Josh was back but he had a couple of other kids in the room too. Zeke headed straight for the bathroom and locked the door.
"Hey guys, I'll talk to you later."
A couple of goodbyes and a shut door later, josh knocked on the bathroom door.
"It's okay Zeke. You can come out now, they're gone.
The door slowly opens.
"You didn't have to do that."
"I know."
The door opened the rest of the way. Zeke's storm grey eyes met Josh's icy blue and quickly looked away.
"I heard you had a panic attack today. You alright?" Josh looked at the other boy with great concern.
"Yeah, new teacher."
Josh nodded. "You must have met Demon. You know, he and Angel are married."
Zeke looks up and perks an eyebrow, "They're gay?"
"Yep."
Josh flops back on his bed and Zeke does the same.
"What does he teach?"
"Flight and magic. I hear his wings are like a bats."
Zeke just stares at the ceiling.
"You know, Zeke, you really need to relax. I can help you with that."
Zeke looks over and shrugs.
"Alright. Take off your shirt and lay on your stomache."
As Zeke removed his shirt, Josh's eyes took in his bare chest. Downy hair covered his torso in an up arrow shape, getting darker as the stem went down in his jeans. His abs weren't defined but were there none the less. Josh noticed his biceps, although lean, were well defined and his back muscles equally so.
When Zeke had gotten all situated, Josh laid both hands on Zeke's shoulder blades and let his power fill him. It started slow. Deep in the pit of his stomache and slowly warmed his chest. As it increased, it started to overflow into his arms and down through his hands. The whole while feeling warm, like a fresh baked batch of Grandma's cookies.
For Zeke, at first Josh's hands were freezing, then they warmed up. That warmth spread from his hands like water, slowly covering his back. Every muscle, every nerve quivered with pleasure as tension and anxiety were forgotten. Never had he felt this good. When he noticed the hands weren't there anymore, he rolled over.
"Well, how do you fell?"
"Great. Never better."
"Well, I see you're not alone on that."
Josh was pointing at Zeke's midriff. Not so little Zeke was poking out of the top of the baggy jeans.
"You know, later I'm probably going to be really embarassed. But right now, I just don't care." Zeke looked down again. "I'm going to have to do something about this."
He unzipped his pants and proceeded to masturbate.
"My cue to leave." And Josh, while wouldn't have minded being in the room with Zeke while he serviced himself, got up to leave. "If I stayed, you'd never talk to me again." And left the room.
Later That Night
>And he started to scream
Thunk. Josh wasn't there this time. He was all alone. It was dark and he couldn't see anything. He started breathing heavy. His palms started sweating.
"Help."
Barely a whisper. Outside, storm clouds gathered and darkened the sky further.
"Josh. Someone."
More whispers. His throat constricts.
You're all alone
Aaahh. Tears stream down his face.
No one wants you
His hands reach for his templesl
Your a freak. A reject of society
And he curls up on the floor in the fetal position.
"Zeke?"
A light as the bathroom door opens.
"Are you okay?"
Josh walks around the bed and sees the other boy on the ground. He kneels next to him.
"Somebody, anybody" whimpers Zeke.
"It's okay, I'm here. Me, Josh."
"Am I a freak?"
"No."
Zeke lunges at Josh and throws his arms around him. Sobbing, he passes out. Zeke is too tall and awkward for Josh to lift onto the bed. Instead, he pulles down some pillows and blankets. When he tries to pull away, Zeke only grips him tighter. He shrugs and lays down with him.
The Next Morning (Saturday No School)
Zeke wakes up with a good stretch(2). Or at least tries to.
The fuck?
Something is holding him. He opens his eyes. He must have fallen asleep sitting up on the floor. There's an arm wrapped around his bare chest. A golden one. He cranes his neck over to the closet mirror and sees Josh behind him. Still asleep, evident by the thrown back head and the wide open mouth.
At first, the taller boy couldn't remember what happened last night. Then he recalled the voices. The pain. And then the light with the golden boy.
Josh must have helped me last night.
Zeke tried to extract himself from Josh's arm.
"Umm, morning."
Zeke adjusted a bit and felt something poke him in the back. He didn't mind, so he didn't say anything.
"Morning. Thanks for last night."
Josh adjusted himself and poked a little harder.
"Not a problem. You're not a freak by the way. Not here. At the school. Or to me."
Zeke smiled. "Thanks. I'll leave you to take care of yourself. Think you'll be done by the time I get back with food?"
Josh grinned back, "Yeah."
An Hour Or So Later
"Josh," the door opens slowly. "Are you done?" Zeke looks in at Josh. "Dude, clean yourself up. You look like a glazed doughnut." They both laugh. "I brought you some breakfast."
"Thanks." Josh throws a pillow over his lap. "You know, I've never heard you talk this much since you started sleeping in here with me."
Zeke looks up. "Yeah. Normally people make me very shy. But you're different. I like you."
"Cool, I like you too."
Josh extends his hand, "Friends?"
Zeke looks at his hand long and hard. Finally thrusts his forward and clasps it.
"Friends."
(1) Damien Cross is from one of my other stories, Yin and Yan.
(2) Notice he didn't fall out of bed? Cuz he did that last night, giggle.
