“Wow.” Skyler marveled at the sight of Cam’s nakedness. “That’s amazing.” I can’t believe this is happening. I wonder if this will go further? Wait, who am I kidding? Of course it will! He’s totally into this, too!
“I guess I’ll have to play naked until you die. Then it’s nay-nay time for you.”
Skyler smiled as Cam sat down and leaned back on the couch. His posture accentuated his nakedness, and Skyler struggled to focus on the game. Cam picked up his remote and started playing. Skyler tore his eyes from Cam’s physique and stared at the monitor. It’s hopeless. He’s going to kill me. How can I concentrate with this beautiful boy next to me?
Skyler ran through the maze of tunnels and lost all sense of direction on the map. He could feel the sexual tension growing between them and in his boxers as they played on for the next kill.
“I’m coming…for you,” Cam said, taunting Skyler.
“Shut up, you’re distracting me,” he said, smiling.
“No way. I have nothing left to lose at this point. I’m already naked. It’s your turn to strip.”
Skyler heard the released of a needler gun, or the Pink Jizz Hand Cannon, as they liked to call it, because it blasted and peppered its target with glowing pink crystals that stuck for a few seconds before exploding.
Shit, shit, shit.
The sound system indicated the pink crystals were perforating the tunnel walls around him. Some might have stuck to his avatar, but he wasn’t sure. He blindly threw a frag grenade and spun around, looking for a way out. He was trapped. The grenade exploded somewhere to his right, and then the pink ammo exploded all over him and killed him.
“You got me,” Skyler said, laughing out loud.
“Okay, drop ’em,” Cam said, tossing his controller onto the couch between them.
So pushy!
“If you insist,” Skyler said, a faked reluctance in his voice. He stood and hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his plaid boxers. He seductively pulled at the elastic waistband and smiled. Cam gestured with his hand and pointed to the ground.
Skyler pulled his boxers down and stepped out of them. “Well, here it is.”
“Nice. Very nice.”
“You’re not so bad yourself, you know.” I like what I’m seeing, buddy.
“Thanks.”
“Now what?” Skyler asked, staring at Cam’s naked arousal.
“I dunno. I didn’t think this far.”
“Yeah, you did,” Skyler said with confidence. Liar. This is so not about making sure we’re normal or fine for girls. This is totally about us fooling around.
“Maybe. Do you want to touch it?”
“Yes.” You have no idea how badly I want to.
“Go ahead, then.”
Skyler knelt in between Cam’s legs, his senses heightened. Skyler smiled as he placed his hands on Cam.
* * *
“Man, what a fun night that was,” Cam said, chuckling.
“Sure was,” Skyler agreed, smiling at the memory of when they connected as more than best friends. Their first night of Strip Halo had been the first of many times they fooled around together. Now, months later, sexuality and emotions intertwined into the beautiful relationship they struggled with revealing to their families and friends.
Cam and Skyler played several matches of one-on-one slayer-style games and then some capture the flag with schoolmates who were online. After sucking down half a bottle of Sprite and killing the bag of chips, Skyler looked at the time. It was 11:15. They had been playing for almost two hours without a break. In between matches, they reminisced about their history together since the first Strip Halo experience. Cam still hadn’t figured out Skyler’s rocket tactics, but it didn’t matter because they had learned a different use for their rockets.
“Do you think it’s safe to head upstairs yet?” Skyler asked. I really want to play with you.
“Yeah, definitely. Could we wait here a little? If that’s okay?” Cam loaded a new map but didn’t press start. Instead he turned down the volume and relaxed in the sofa. “Come here, boyfriend.”
Skyler smiled and shifted over to Cam. He leaned against his chest as Cam wrapped his arms around him. They kissed and then Skyler settled comfortably in Cam’s embrace.
“Boyfriends,” Cam whispered, pecking at Skyler’s face with little kisses.
“Is that what we are?” Skyler asked, wondering aloud.
“Well, I love you, I’m pretty sure you love me, and we fool around a lot. I’d say so, yeah. We just haven’t called it that yet.”
“So, that’s how you think of me now? I’m your boyfriend?” We’re thinking about the same thing here, right?
“Yes. And my best friend, who also happens to be my boyfriend.” Cam’s hands gently massaged Skyler’s abs. “Who also happens to be ridiculously hot, too.”
Skyler laughed. “Thanks. You’re one sexy guy yourself, you know.”
“Yeah,” Cam answered, smiling mischievously. “I know.” He rested his head against Skyler’s head.
“You’re funny.”
“I try.”
“We have to be secret boyfriends though, right?” Skyler asked. He could hear the disappointment in his voice.
Cam sighed. “I dunno. I’ve been thinking about coming out to my parents, but I know they’ll lose their shit. This isn’t something that’s going to be easy for them to accept.”
“What do you think they’ll do?”
“Bitch-slap me upside the head with a Bible, for starters.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Rebecca would…I dunno…I don’t even want to think about it. There will be counseling, prayer sessions, and probably exorcisms. But I can’t stay in the closet forever. That’s the more horrible choice, I think, no matter what our parents would do.”
“Do you think there’s a chance they’ll be okay with it? It’s not like it’s 1950. I mean, things have come a long way…a really long way, you know? I keep watching the It Gets Better videos and the gay YouTubers and they make me feel so hopeful.”
Skyler sighed. He and Cam had been watching the popular YouTube series, garnering courage through the success stories of others who survived tough coming out experiences. “Nope. If they caught us fooling around with girls, we’d probably get grounded and served up a few sermons about purity and why it’s important to wait for marriage. If they caught us fooling around together…I think your parents would send you to some kind of get-straight camp. That’s why I think it’s important we figure out how we’re going to come out to them before we tell them we’re boyfriends.”
“You’re right.”
“Besides, it’s not like we don’t already know what happens to homosexuals from church—the counseling, therapy, and the prayer ministries—I swear Pastor Bob has to say something anti-gay every frigging Sunday. That and ‘When one door closes, God opens another.’ I’m so sick of hearing that.”
Cam laughed. “Our pastor hates homos, too. And let’s not forget, we don’t exactly go to a homo-happy or supportive school. Cornerstone Christian Academy and its sexual conduct policy, remember? We all signed that purity pledge at the beginning of the year.”
“I thought it only applied to sex with girls,” Skyler teased.
“Meh, I’m not about to test it.”
“Me neither. You know I don’t buy into all the churchy Jesus stuff. I wasn’t raised with it. Most of it sounds so crazy to me. I know it’s not your perspective, and you’re much more involved with it than I am, but, seriously, this isn’t the way it is. It can’t be. There’s too much hate when it’s supposed to be about God’s love.”
Cam sighed. “Yeah, I know. There must be a place for gays in the church. It doesn’t always make sense to me either. How can God be an all loving, wonderful, powerful God who loves his creation, except the gays? Why pick on us? I mean, why would God make us if he planned to condemn us to hell?”
Skyler shrugged and bounced his head gently from side to side. “I think about
it this way. Jesus hung out with the sinners, lepers, prostitutes, and all the other unclean people that everyone else shunned or stayed away from. He went and talked with them when no one else would go near them. Actually, that’s a really good way to piss off the Pharisees in the Bible…go talk to the unclean. But I think going to the unclean is the core of the Gospels, if not the whole New Testament? Jesus accepted people where they were at and he wasn’t afraid of them or what other people would think or say. He took care of them and talked with them. Then he usually forgave them and told them not to sin anymore and move on with their lives.”
“Interesting,” Cam said thoughtfully. “What about when they tell you homosexuality is a sin, that you should stop sinning immediately, seek forgiveness, stop sinning and move on?”
“Stop sinning—you mean stop being gay? That’s the thing, that’s where the whole biblical argument falls apart. You can’t have a God of love who makes everything that is good, who wants you to be happy, wants you to live a fulfilled life, and at the same time, condemn you for the way in which you love—the very way he made you. God made me gay, Cam, I did not choose this. He made me so I would love another man. And that is good because God is good and God only makes good things.”
“Wow. For someone who claims not to buy into the whole Christian thing, you sure do know your theology.”
“Thanks. I’ve been getting ready.”
“For what?”
“Coming out, being me. Learning the scripture verses they don’t want me to learn. The stuff they don’t tell you. The memorization shit is easy. They say it all the time in church so it’s impossible not to know it. It’s the other weird, nonsensical, and hurtful verses they don’t talk about. They don’t want to explain the contradictions or gray areas. They want things to be black and white.”
“That’s for sure.”
“And, duh, the Internet. Praise God for YouTube! Another of his greatest inventions! There are so many young gay role models and there’s plenty of pro-gay stuff on the Internet to research. So, I’ve been doing my Bible studies, but I pursued an alternate course of study for when I do come out.”
“It’s still going to be a big blow up.”
“There’s no getting around that. But if we do it together, who knows, it might be a lot easier.”
“You mean come out together, like at the same time?”
Skyler sat up and turned around. Cam’s suggestion excited him. “I didn’t mean it that way, but what a great idea. Think about it…we come out at the next party where are families are together.”
Cam wrinkled his brow. “Mmmm, I dunno. That sounds super awkward, Sky.”
“Cam, I want to come out of the closet and have a boyfriend—someone special, someone to call my own. That’s you. No matter what we do or when we do it, it’s gonna be tough.”
Cam took Skyler’s hands in his. “I know, babe, I want the same thing, but I don’t think we should do it together. I think I need to tell my parents on my own terms, and you should do the same.” Cam shook his head. “If we ambush them together, especially with your brother and sisters around, then the worst scenarios will play out.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Skyler’s shoulders sank a little. I thought there was strength in numbers.
“But believe me when I say this…” Cam said. He placed his index finger under Skyler’s chin and gently tilted his face up. “I am committed to you. We have been and are now officially boyfriends, even in secret. Nothing will take that away from us.”
“You sure?”
“Definitely sure, but we need to keep it a secret for now.”
“Sweet.” Skyler leaned forward and Cam met him for a passionate kiss.
After a few moments, Cam smiled and asked, “Wanna head upstairs?”
Finally. “I thought you’d never ask!”
The boys cleaned up the man cave and headed upstairs to the dimly lit and deserted first floor. Cam’s parents had already gone to bed. After dropping the trash off in the kitchen, Cam turned off all the lights and they went upstairs to Cam’s bedroom.
“I’m gonna take a quick shower,” Cam whispered.
“Okay, I’ll take one after you.”
“Maybe soon we can take a shower together.”
“I’d love that.” Too bad it’s way too risky right now.
Cam headed into the bathroom and shut the door. Skyler went and flopped down on Cam’s bed. He laid back and stared up at the glow-in-the-dark stars from Cam’s boyhood that remained stuck to his ceiling. When Cam finished showering, he walked into the bedroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist. Skyler smiled and reached for the towel. Cam gently slapped his hand away.
“Not until you’re clean, dirty boy. I left a towel on the counter for you.”
“You’re such a cock tease. Okay, fine.” Skyler smiled and walked into the bathroom and shut the door. After undressing, Skyler turned the water on and showered away the school day, the soccer game, and the intense Halo matches. When he was finished, he wrapped the towel around his waist and grabbed his clothes before heading back into the bedroom.
Cam had set up the daybed for him, and Skyler dropped his clothes on the floor next to it. After they fooled around, Skyler would cuddle with Cam until about 6:00 a.m. For safety’s sake, he would shift over to the daybed in case Bill or Jen peeked in or came to wake them up for the important ritual of the Mosher pancake breakfast that accompanied their sleepovers.
“So, what’s under your towel?” Skyler asked, pointing at Cam’s waist. Cam had adopted a seductive pose on his bed and laid on his back with one knee up and one arm tucked behind his head.
“You’ll have to come over here and find out,” Cam said, suggestively bouncing his eyebrows.
“Don’t have to ask me twice,” Skyler said. With two swift steps he mounted the bed and positioned himself between Cam’s legs and locked eyes with his boyfriend. His hands landed on either side of Cam’s shoulders. Cam smiled at Skyler, who briefly hovered over his boyfriend. Then he winked, closed his eyes, and leaned in to kiss him.
They passionately made out and Cam’s hands started grazing Skyler’s skin, freely exploring the muscles on Skyler’s back. Sensitized by Cam’s touch, Skyler shuddered under Cam’s gentle caresses. Their kissing intensified as they became lost in love together.
Moments later, Cam reached under his pillows and pulled out the bottle of lube he had mentioned earlier. Oh, I can’t wait to find out what that feels like. Cam poured some lube into their free hands so they would be ready.
As Skyler shifted, his towel loosened and Cam pulled it off and tossed it aside. Then his hands freely roamed under Skyler’s towel and eventually found their long sought-after prize. Skyler moaned as pleasure and passion sparked and surged through his body. Skyler balanced himself on one arm and used his free hand to tear open Cam’s towel. Cam gasped and smiled as Skyler took hold of him.
“Holy shit,” Cam exclaimed softly, his eyes rolling back in his head at the sheer pleasure of the experience. “That feels amazing.”
“Doesn’t it?”
Skyler whimpered. His body pulsed with pleasure and his breathing intensified as Cam brought him to the edge. “I’m getting close.”
“Me too.”
Several moments later, Skyler grabbed the headboard in front of him and the boys let loose a few day’s worth of pent up sexual frustration. After they recovered and cleaned up, Skyler cozied up to Cam, nuzzling his face on Cam’s chest. Cam wrapped an arm around Skyler, who could hear and feel Cam’s heartbeat against his face. He began to draw circles in the dirty-blond hair on Cam’s chest.
“Safe to say that felt really good?” Skyler asked.
“Yeah,” Cam chuckled. “You have no idea how much I needed it.”
“Well, if you needed it as badly as I did, then I have an idea.”
“Do you think, if we come out, our parents would let the sleepovers continue?” Cam asked.
“Don’t really want to think a
bout them right now. It’ll ruin the mood. But worst case, in two years, we can get our own apartment together, or check out the same colleges, become roommates, or at least go to college near each other.”
“I hear you. We have plenty of time to figure it out. But, you’re right. Right now we should enjoy being together.” Cam gently caressed Skyler’s back. “I love you, Skyler Phoenix. I really do.”
Skyler smiled. “I love you, too, Cam. I know we can do this.”
“You feel so good in my arms. I love what you’re doing to my chest.”
“What can I say, I have a hot boyfriend and I love his chest hair.”
“More like chest fuzz,” Cam said, laughing to himself.
“Chest fuzz becomes chest-hair, and I like it. You’ll always be my sexy boyfriend.”
The secret boyfriends snuggled into bed under the covers, and, after a memorable goodnight kiss, Skyler settled into Cam’s arms and they fell asleep.
* * *
When daylight started shining through Cam’s windows around six o’clock, Skyler woke up as the alarm sounded. He reached over and turned it off. He kissed his slumbering boyfriend on the forehead and quietly slipped out of bed. Then he shifted over to the daybed and fell asleep.
Around ten fifteen, Bill knocked on the door and announced that breakfast would be ready in fifteen minutes. Cam mumbled something to his dad and the boys stretched and then crawled out of their beds. The sound of Bill’s footsteps receded as he headed downstairs.
“Wow,” Skyler said. “That was a lot of fun last night!”
“No kidding,” Cam said. “And this morning? You still wanna have another go if we can?” He covered his mouth as he yawned.
Skyler smiled. “I guess the fact that I have a boyfriend now really turns me on, so yeah, of course.”
Cam smiled back, bouncing his eyebrows and glancing down at his boxer shorts. “I know what you mean. I could go again, right now.”
“Do we have time?” Skyler joked.
“Not really,” Cam said, looking at the clock. “I want to enjoy it.”
The Climb Page 5
