Take Me From This Pain, Kevin's story

“You really made the team?” Kevin squeaked as he and Jason tossed their backpacks on the floor of their room. “No kidding?”

“Would I kid about it?” Jason grinned. He plopped down on their bed and stared up at the ceiling.

“But, you haven’t played for, like, years!” Kevin exclaimed. “Just a few games here and there with our friends.”

“Hey, some people just naturally have it,” he glanced over at Kevin. “And some people are too delicate.”

Kevin’s eyes suddenly darkened and he pounced on Jason stomach, earning a sharp gasp before the taller boy started laughing hysterically. He maneuvered the small blonde under him easily and smiled haughtily down at him.

“See?”

“Show off.”

“Aw, but you used to like it when I showed off, baby,” Jason grinned before he darted the tip of his tongue out to trace a lazy path from Kevin’s chin to his collarbone.

“Why can’t you just let me stay mad at you?” the small blonde gasped. He’d stopped struggling and was angling his neck to give Jason better access to it.

“Because you love me.”

“I do love you,” Kevin whispered. “I definitely do love you.”

“Mmmmmmm,” Jason murmured as he sent vibrations through Kevin’s neck, thrilling him. “Want to hear more, or want to make love?’

“Love now, story later.”

“Demanding little baby, aren’t you.”

“And I command you to make love to me!” Kevin grinned.

Jason smiled and leaned up to lift Kevin and pull off his top when the doorbell rang.

“DAMN IT!” Kevin shrieked. “Shhhh! Make like there’s no one home!”

“How?” Jason laughed heartily. “My car’s out front. If it’s one our friends, they won’t stop.”

As if punctuating that sentence a loud banging was heard through the walls.

“I know you’re in there, Jay! I see your car!” Joey called out.

“That damn pain in the ass must have radar!” Kevin fumed. “He’s going to make sure I die of blue balls, I’m telling you!”

“You can’t die from blue balls,” Jason guffawed.

“Well, they’ll fall off, anyway.”

“And then you’ll really be my princess,” Jason said with a smile.

“Hey!” Kevin threw his sneaker at him. “You’re GAY, remember? If I become a woman, you’ll have to, too! There’s no way I’m letting you go!”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Jason grimaced. “My blue balls will definitely fall off first. I was really looking forward to lazing the rest of the day away in bed.”

“Open up, ladies,” Joey called. “I wouldn’t want to have to tell Gina you didn’t have chaperones this afternoon.”

“CHAPERONES!” they shouted together

“Where the hell does he get off . . .” Jason began.

“I’d rather not know exactly where, thank you very much.”

“We’d better let the big idiot in,” Jason sighed.

“I guess there’s always tonight,” offered the small blonde.

“Count on it!”

They hurriedly exited their room and ran downstairs, and Jason plopping down on the couch as Kevin opened the door to Joey and Cindy. They trooped in, followed closely behind by Randy and Marly. All looked around the room excitedly before finding seats.

“Well, it’s about time!” Joey said as he settled Cindy on his lap.

“To what do we owe this unexpected visit,” Jason grunted albeit good-naturedly.

“Aw, did we interrupt your little celebration?” Randy grinned. “That’s a shame.”

“It’ll be a shame when I throw this fireplace poker at you, too!” Kevin griped brandishing said object.

“Hey, he seems a little tense,” Joey said in a loud whisper to Jason. “Maybe he needs to get laid more.”

“Arrrrgggggghhh!” Kevin threw up his hands and got up to get sodas and snacks from the kitchen.

“You’re an ass!” Jason laughed at Joey.

“I’ll go help him,” Cindy piped up and left Joey’s lap.

“Me too!” And Marly was gone.

“Seriously, sorry if we interrupted anything,” Joey smirked. “But when Steve and Tommy told us you all made the team, we had to come over and congratulate you.”

“It COULDN’T have waited until tomorrow?” Jason scowled then smiled. “No biggie, man. We have all the time in the world to . . . celebrate alone later.”

“O-okay!” Randy grimaced. “Now tell us what happened.”

Before Jason could answer his cell rang. He looked at the caller ID and smiled as he flipped it open.

“Hey, Rye!”

“Hey! I wanted to ask you how your tryouts went.”

“Great! Where are you anyway?”

“Just leaving the mall, actually.”

“Why don’t you come over?” Jason suggested. “The gang’s mostly here to ask the same info and this way I don’t have to tell the story more than once.”

“’Kay, be there in 10.”

Jason flipped the phone down and smiled as the girls and Kevin carried in a few bags of chips, a small bowl of ice and some bottles of soda.

“Okay, now you can begin,” Kevin huffed as he plunked down haphazardly across Jason’s lap.

“Nope, we’re waiting for Ryan.”

“We don’t have to wait!” Randy waved him off. “We’ll fill him in on what he missed.”

“Yeah!” Joey, Cindy and Marly chimed in.

“No!” Kevin crossed his arms and fixed Joey with a pointed glare. “Now you’ll learn all about deferred gratification.”

Jason burst out laughing as the small blonde stared down the jock.

-----------------------------------------------

“You want cola or iced tea, Ryan?” Kevin chirped as Ryan settled himself onto the floor.

“Whatever’s easiest.”

“I have them both.”

“JUST GIVE HIM COLA, ALREADY!” Joey cried, eliciting a round of laughter from everyone but Ryan who looked confused.

“Kevin’s teaching Joey about deferred gratification,” Jason explained.

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Ryan replied then turned to Cindy, “and I mean no disrespect.” She shrugged. “But isn’t that her job?”

Joey frowned deeply as the new perspective dawned on him. “Yes, Ryan,” he said excitedly. “Yes, it is!” He turned to Kevin and Jason who smiled back innocently. “And you WONDER why us straight guys worry about you!”

“Oh, really?” Kevin feigned indignation to Joey’s fake outburst. “You can’t knock it until you try it, honeysuckle!”

“Honeysuckle!” Joey, Randy and Ryan called out at the same time.

Cindy, Marly and Jason were all rolling with laughter at this point.

“Don’t wind him up if you can’t handle the aftermath,” Jason finally gasped out as he pulled a smirking Kevin back onto his lap and settled him in. “Anyway, you want the story?”

“That’s what we’re all here for!” Randy shouted.

“Okay, okay!” Jason grinned. Kevin sat further back against him and kept his smirk firmly in place. “We all went to tryouts, just like we promised those morons we would.”

“Were they surprised to see you?” Kevin asked.

“Shocked as hell,” Jason replied. “They told the coach we shouldn’t try out since we were all seniors already and wouldn’t be back to play next year but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Don’t be surprised to see Tommy back if his grades look like last year’s,” Cindy sighed.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow,” Jason suddenly turned to her. She looked at him curiously. “Coach said he could only play if he maintained a passing grade in all his classes.”

“He barely passed most of them last year.”

“I know. Could you maybe see it in your heart to tutor him in English and science?”

“Hey! That will cut into my cuddling time!” Joey pointed out.

“What a shame,” Kevin answered for Jason, not looking a bit concerned.

Jason caught Ryan’s eye and the two shared a smile.

“Well, if it’s only those two subjects,” Cindy murmured.

“Hey!”

“Hey, yourself!” Randy smacked his shoulder. “This is for a good cause and Cind could meet with him while we’re at practice.”

“That’s true.”

“I’m glad you’re okay with this,” Jason said to Randy, “because I was just going to ask Marly to help with math and social studies.”

“Huh?” Randy replied.

“It’s cool,” Marly laughed. “As long as we meet while they’re at practice.”

Randy and Joey exchanged frowns but both finally nodded their heads in the face of their girlfriends’ agreement to the plan. Kevin looked like he’d gotten one over on the two boys, even though he knew nothing of the plan to begin with.

“So, are you captain then?” Ryan finally asked.

“Co-captain,” he laughed. “And you should have seen Mark’s face when Coach announced that. God, it was awesome!”

“I’ll bet!” Randy nodded. “I’d love to be a fly on the wall when he tells the witch!”

“The witch?” Ryan asked.

“Tanya,” Kevin explained. “Trent’s evil sister. I still can’t believe they’re related.”

“You and me both,” Joey growled. “I can’t even tell you how much trouble she’s caused him over the years.”

“You don’t have to, bud,” Jason replied softly. “We could see it every time he talked about her.”

They were quiet for a minute as they all thought back to the day Trent left for school, when Tanya told him she was glad to be rid of him and stalked off to the mall with her friends. Although they were never close, no one could miss the hurt look in the tall boy’s eyes as he watched his sister walk away like that.

“Well, at least he’s with Matt and Brian now,” Joey smiled sadly. “The last time he called me, he sounded pretty happy. I sure miss our Saturday morning hockey games, though.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Ryan matched his nostalgic tone. “I miss tossing the ball around with Matt.”

“Well, I’M still here,” Randy suddenly sounded offended. “And you never told me you missed doing that, Joey!”

“You hate ice hockey,” Joey pointed out. “And you never get up before noon on the weekend.”

“Very true,” Marly agreed.

“But Ryan does,” Jason pointed out. “And since he used to do stuff with Matt . . .”

“And Matt’s now doing stuff with Trent . . .” Kevin added.

“Why don’t you meatheads follow their example?” Cindy finished for them.

Everybody laughed and Joey and Ryan looked at each other inquisitively.

“You play ice hockey?” the redhead finally asked.

“Some,” Ryan returned. “And I already know you know how to toss a football.”

“I’ve been known to on occasion,” Joey replied dryly.

“Hmm,” Kevin scratched his chin. “It seems our evil plan may actually work.”

Jason nodded and they all laughed again.