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John was ten when they met for the first time. They went to the same school, but they had never spoken. In fact, they never really noticed each other at all until that summer when John found a boy in the creek in the middle of the woods. The boy was thin and pale with even paler hair and reddened scars on his back. John thought he looked tough just from that first glance. Something about the boy’s sharp bones and scarred body made him seem really resilient to John.
“What are you doing here?” John called to him.
The boy whipped around to look at John, dark eyebrows drawing together above his sunglasses. “None of your business,” he retorted, and John swore he heard a Southern accent.
“Are you a cowboy?”
“Why do you think that?”
“You sound like one.”
The strange boy cocked his head a little, like a confused bird, and he said, “Are you stupid or something?”
“No. You just have one of those cowboy accents,” said John.
“It’s not a cowboy accent. I’m from Texas, you dumbass.”
John was shocked when he heard the boy curse. “That’s a bad word.”
“I ain’t tellin’ anyone.”
There was a pause, and John decided he liked this boy who cursed and had a tough look. “I’m John.”
“Name’s Dave.”
“So what are you doing?” John went over to the boy named Dave and Dave told him he was trying to catch crayfish.
“Don’t they pinch you?” John asked.
“Not if you hold ‘em right,” Dave replied, and then he showed John how to properly catch a crayfish.
They ended up spending the whole day by the creek and they put all the crayfish they caught into a bucket of water that Dave had brought.
“What do we do with them now?” asked John.
“We either keep ‘em or let ‘em go.”
After some deliberation, they decided to let the crayfish go.
“’Sides, crayfish are stupid. We can just catch them all again tomorrow,” said Dave.
Sure enough, tomorrow came and when John went into the woods, he found Dave by the creek. John asked about Texas. Dave told him about strict people and strict rules. John didn’t think Texas sounded much fun at all. Where were the cowboys? Dave said there were no cowboys anymore. John suggested that Dave could become a cowboy. Dave snorted.
“Are you kidding? I would just make an idiot of myself,” he said.
“I don’t think you could make an idiot of yourself,” John retorted.
Dave paused in thought. “Let’s make a tree fort.”
At first Dave took charge and he told John that they had to find some wooden boards. John got his dad to buy some, and then he brought them into the woods with a wheelbarrow along with two hammers and some nails. It turned out that Dave didn’t know much about carpentry in practice, so John took the lead and taught Dave how to use a hammer and nails without hitting his thumb.
Dave hit his thumb, but he didn’t cry. It turned red and swelled up like a balloon, but Dave just dropped the hammer and went to the creek, placing his thumb into the water to soothe it. That was when John found out that Dave really was tough.
They went to the creek every day to work on building the tree fort, and it took most of July. When they were finally done, they stood on the platform and John turned to Dave and said, “Well what now?”
Dave shrugged.
They began to talk.
John told Dave about his dad and what he remembered of his mom before she died. Dave doesn’t talk about his parents at all. After some coaxing, Dave spoke about his older brother who raised him. John thinks his brother sounds kind of cool, but Dave doesn’t smile.
They talked about their interests, or John did mostly. He told Dave about all the cool ghost stories he knows and how he’s going to be a magician one day. Dave mumbled that he likes taking pictures. John tells Dave that he should bring his camera sometime to take pictures of the fort. Dave brought it the next day. Dave took pictures of their bare feet in the dirt and of the roughly built fort and the creek and the crayfish they catch. And when he wasn’t looking, Dave took pictures of John, capturing the wild dark hair and bespectacled blue eyes on film. With some reluctance, Dave let John take some pictures. John made Dave take a picture with him, and then John photographed the jagged lines of Dave’s bare back. He tried to make Dave laugh so that he can photograph Dave’s smile. He ended up with one picture.
John stole the film from the camera before giving it back to a scowling Dave, who didn’t want his smile photographed.
“It looks stupid,” Dave said.
“You have a nice smile. Shut up,” John said.
When Dave noticed the stolen film, he chased after John. John laughed with his head thrown back and the wind rushing through his hair. Dave accidentally dropped the camera in the creek and he looked a little bit broken at that, like he just lost something vital. At first John thought that Dave was finally going to cry. He didn’t, but he did go home. John went home a little later and he gave the roll of film to his dad, asking if he could have it developed. When John went with his dad to the store the next day, he brought all of his allowance money and went to look at the cameras in hopes of replacing Dave’s. The camera cost more money than John had and he went back to his dad with disappointment. When he explained the situation, his dad agreed to help pay for the camera.
The day after that, John brought the camera to the fort to present it to Dave. Dave hugged him and John could feel his bones through his skin and the lean muscle in his arms. Dave’s hands were callused. John’s body was soft with care and love.
John and Dave spent the rest of the summer together, and when school started again, they stayed together too. Every day after school, they went to the fort together, even when the weather grew cold and it began to snow. Sometimes Dave slept over at John’s house, but Dave never invited John to his house. John didn’t mind though, as long as he got to be with his best friend. They would huddle under John’s blankets together and just talk about anything and everything. Dave would take to rambling, and John would just listen to the sound of his voice.
John was thirteen when they kissed for the first time. It was summer again, and he and Dave decided to swim in the creek. John took off all of his clothes and set them on the platform of the tree fort before climbing down and going to the water. It was cool and refreshing.
“Come on in, Dave!” he called, his voice deeper, but not quite yet broken from puberty.
Dave was a little more hesitant, but finally he removed his own clothes, body looking thin and almost vulnerable without them. John would think Dave looked weak if he didn’t already know that Dave’s body was strong and wiry. Dave was tall and lanky, all bony elbows and knees and his pubic hair was already beginning to grow in.
They had swimming races across the width of the creek and then after Dave accidentally splashed John, an entire war broke out. This soon devolved into wrestling and trying to dunk each other, and when they got tired they crawled onto the rocks at the edge of the creek to let the sun warm their skin. They panted for breath and John felt Dave’s eyes on him, but it still came as a surprise when Dave leaned over and fit their lips together in a clumsy kiss. John pulled away, frowning.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” said John.
“Why not?” asked Dave.
“The Bible says so.”
“The Bible also says that girls are the root of original sin.”
“Aren’t they?”
Dave laughed a little. “But the Bible also advocates slavery, and it says that adulterers should be put to death. No one listens to any of that shit, so why listen to the part about boys kissing each other?”
John couldn’t think of a reason, so when Dave cupped his jaw and kissed him again, he kissed Dave back.
John was fifteen when they had sex for the first time. John would be the first to admit that they were probably too young to get into this, but hormones didn’t care. So that summer when he pressed Dave down against the platform of their fort and kissed him roughly and Dave asked him to fuck him, he didn’t say no. And he didn’t want to say no.
Dave had lubricant, but they didn’t use a condom. It was the first time for both of them anyway, so sexually transmitted diseases were the last thing on their minds. John used his fingers first to stretch Dave open. He could tell from Dave’s face and his sharp breaths that it was uncomfortable, and the platform was hard beneath John’s knees and Dave’s back. Dave was still uncomfortable when John first pressed inside of him, even though they used plenty of lubricant. Dave’s body was tight and taut around him and John couldn’t help but gasp at the feeling. He rubbed Dave’s back and hips soothingly and whispered at him to relax.
When Dave finally gave John the go-ahead, John held him close and slowly rocked his hips. Dave groaned and tipped his head back, though whether it was from pain or pleasure wasn’t certain.
“I love you,” John whispered.
“I don’t deserve it,” Dave whispered back.
“I love you anyway.”
Eventually, John was able to speed up and lift Dave’s hips by the backs of his skinny knees, and this time when Dave moaned he knew it was out of pleasure from the feeling of Dave’s hardening penis between them. It wasn’t beautiful like you see in movies or read in books. There wasn’t any grace about it. Their skin was sweaty and they were grunting and their mouths pressed together messily as their sharp bodies met. Dave’s entrance felt almost too wet and his fingernails dragged painful scratches across John’s back.
When John felt his orgasm approaching, he curled a hand around Dave’s erection and pumped him as best he could in time with their thrusts. John reached his climax first anyway, burying himself deep inside of Dave as he hit his release, making Dave squeal in surprise. John kept moving his hand and rocking his hips shallowly, and so it didn’t take long after that for Dave to come with a low gasp, thighs shaking.
Afterward, John carefully pulled out of Dave and bit his lip at the sight of his own semen leaking from Dave’s body, and then he had to move up beside Dave to wrap his arms around him so that he wouldn’t keep staring. Dave’s limbs trembled a little and John held him firmly against his chest as they panted for breath, kissing his neck and shoulders before trailing up to his jaw.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Fuck!” Dave choked out.
John’s lips curved up and he tweaked one of Dave’s pink nipples. “We just did that.”
Dave yelped and swatted John’s arm.
Once their strength finally came back to them, they jumped down from the platform and John grinned as he watched Dave hobble over to the edge of the creek, admiring the view of the milky fluid streaking down his pale inner thighs. John joined Dave at the creek after a few moments to wash the sweat and semen from their bodies, helping Dave out with harder to reach places. Then they just held each other, and John noticed that he had caught up to Dave’s height and even surpassed it by a little. John told Dave that even if he’s a little broken on the inside, he loves him. With some reluctance, Dave told John that he loves him too.
John is nineteen when they move in together for the first time.
Dave smiles and he doesn’t need to hesitate before telling John he loves him anymore.