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The Good Stuff
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Jacob followed Seth up the cement walkway to his door. On his last visit to this house, he had been angry, apprehensive, and a bit guilty. He hadn’t been aware of anything but the possibility someone would soon out him if he didn’t get ahead of the situation. How things had changed in just over a week. He was still apprehensive, but this time it was an exciting, arousing apprehension that brought a blush to his face and amplified his senses.
He noticed the boxwood bushes that lined the yard between Seth’s townhouse and the next, and the overgrown rose bushes in the small garden along the front of the house. The yard was otherwise completely empty. The house was pale grey with bare windows curtained on the inside with heavy drapes. The houses on either side were freshly painted, with pale yellow on one side and sky blue on the other. Seth’s house looked worn, with knicks and de
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The bottom dropped out of Jacob’s stomach. The aroused excitement he had been lost in moments before had been transmuted into terror. He was done. This was it. He had gotten greedy and now his life would be ruined. He struggled back into his shirt. He was ready to bolt out the door and all the way back home. He fumbled with his belt, too stressed to handle the small buckle.Seth reached out and stopped his hands, then guided them out of the way so he could buckle Jacob’s belt for him. “It’s gonna be fine,” he said, more confidently than he looked. “We’ll explain.”“Explain how his son was just about to be screwed by another dude?”“I was about to be screwed, huh?” chuckled Seth. “My dad knows about me. He’s just… h
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Brett passed the ball to Jacob, who went up for a three point. Jacob’s new guard backed into him, a legal move, causing him to step back on his right foot. His ankle screamed under him. As the ball left his hands he knew it was over. They hadn’t made a single basket since Middleton called the time out.After the ball hit the rim, Middleton caught the rebound and took off to the other end of the court. Jacob did his best to not limp as he hurried to catch up to guard his man. They scored eighteen points in the last fifteen minutes. Forge was just too tired to mount a strong defense anymore, and Jacob was struggling to not trip over his own feet, let alone get any more baskets. Middleton did not end the game with a strong lead, but they didn’t need it. They won. The whole team crowded together to celebrate before lining up for the post-game handshake.
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The locker room was already deserted, but the air still smelled of sweat, and steam from the showers clung warm and heavy to Jacob’s skin.“They sure get out of here quick,” Seth commented. “Do they even wash up?”Jacob laughed. “Sort of.” He winced as Seth helped him to sit on a bench. “It’s more of a rinse.”Seth kneeled down and began unlacing Jacob’s shoes.“You don’t have to do that,” Jacob argued as he put a hand out to stop Seth.“I said I would help.” Seth removed the ice pack from Jacob’s ankle and set it on the bench.Jacob glanced down at his boyfriend, curious what Seth was thinking, but a curtain of curls hid Seth’s face as he worked. His boyfriend. Was Seth his boyfriend, though? They hadn’t yet had that conversation.Jacob peeled his jersey off. He was still swe
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Jacob had never been so grateful for an injury. Seth’s arm held tight around his waist as he limped along to meet Sarah, who waited at her two-door hatchback at the curb. Sarah wouldn’t be able to tell that both his legs were weak for a different reason. He barely noticed the injured foot now, as long as he didn’t put too much weight on it. He wasn’t sure if that was because of the ice or because it was already getting better; most likely, he was just too distracted to feel the pain.Sarah hurried over to help. She lifted Jacob’s other arm over her shoulders, and she and Seth almost levitated him the rest of the way to the car. Jacob felt silly needing so much help, especially since he didn’t, actually. He could have walked on it if he had to.“It’s really not that bad,” he complained. He had been doing just
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The Forge dragons played two more games before the weekend of Seth’s show. They won both of them easily. It was starting to feel like they actually had a real chance, after all. Jacob’s ankle had pretty much recovered by the next day, and he had no problem playing on it. It could have been much worse, and it served as a bit of a wake-up call to the team both to be careful on the court.The lobby outside the auditorium was sparsely populated. Jacob paid seven dollars for his ticket, and the girl on the other side of the table handed him a color program. He flipped through it while he waited for the auditorium doors to open. Jacob hadn’t ever gone to see a play before. He didn’t know anything about theater. It wasn’t his thing. He liked some television well enough, and he definitely liked movies, but his only experience with theater was the couple of times the youth of the
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Jacob waded through the crowd to the inconspicuous stage door. On the other side was a dimly lit hallway with doors to several rooms. One was labeled “Green Room” in hand scrawled marker. Jacob opened the door.The room was empty. Mirrors lined the walls with vanity lights along the top and a counter running underneath. There were a few plastic chairs scattered around the room. Jacob heard the door open and shut behind him.“Okay, talk,” commanded Seth.Jacob turned to see Seth glaring at him. The effect was likely not what Seth intended. Standing before Jacob was a glittering satyr with large ears sticking out from either side of his head. Jacob couldn’t hold back the laughter that bubbled up from his chest.Seth glared ev
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“Come on! If we get going now, we will get in before midnight!” Seth called from outside.Jacob shouldered his way through the front door with the last box of his belongings. “You know we’ll end up hitting traffic, anyway. The maps don’t tell you about traffic that doesn’t exist yet.” “All the more reason to get going,” Seth said as he shoved a box over to make room for Jacob’s last contribution. Jacob pushed his box into the tetris of luggage that was held in place by sheer luck. They forced the hatchback closed together, grunting in unison with one last push to get it to latch. They had bought it together a week ago; their first purchase together, though it was in Jacob’s name since Seth didn’t have a license. Having completed their packing, they leaned against the back window to catch their breath. This was it. Everything was done.Two weeks ago, Jacob had walked across the auditorium stage for the first and last time, collecting his diploma before taking a seat among the gradua
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Jacob couldn’t believe it. He grasped Seth’s hand as the nurses checked his vitals and wrote things on charts. Seth’s gaze darted around wildly, but always came back to Jacob. The feeding tube down his throat prevented him from speaking, but he occasionally made scared sounds that sounded to Jacob almost like a whimper. “It’s okay,” Jacob kept saying. “You’re okay now.” He was overwhelmed with joy that Seth was awake, but his heart ached that there was nothing he could do to make this easier for Seth. Nurses ran in and out of the room, bringing new equipment. The instruments on the cart beside Seth’s bed had calmed down to a steady rhythm of beeps. Seth’s doctor came in. He checked the monitors, then turned to Seth. “It’s good to see you finally with us, son,” he said. “I’m going to take the tube from your throat now, if that’s alright.” He gently lifted the mask from Seth’s face. Seth squeezed Jacob’s hand. “I need you to continue to breathe slowly and evenly. Breath with the
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The gym was cacophonous as the team trotted to the court for the first huddle. The announcer called the names for the starting line-up for Preston over the noise of the crowd, while James gave last moment notes to the team.“Remember, Jacob will be on the weak side. I will dribble for a pick and roll. Charlie, I want you under the strong-side basket. If Jacob is blocked, I’ll pass to you for a jump shot. If I can’t get it to either of you, Bret will be in the paint, and we’ll relay the ball to one of you.”With a shout of “Forge!” the team broke off and lined up for the announcer’s call.On the court, Charlie stood in the center facing Preston’s number fourteen, a seven foot tall slender kid, named Chet Harper. The referee blew the whistle, and both C
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Jacob pushed through the doors of the long-term ward at West Valley Medical center. Seth was in the back corner of a communal room with a curtain pulled around his bed, creating a private space roughly the size of Jacob’s bedroom at home. Not at home. He couldn’t go back there. He didn’t have a home anymore. He had slept in Seth’s bed, at Seth’s house, for the last few nights.Seth had been moved to the long-term ward after twenty-four hours of observation for complications of his surgery.Seth lay on the hospital bed, as still as the dead except for the slow rise and fall of his chest. He wore a mask with tubes connected to a beeping tower of computers. Sensor wires sprouted from a mesh cap pulled down over Seth’s trademark curls and connected to another computer. On the monitor, several lines ticked zigzags across the
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Stale, musky air met Jacob when he pushed through the doors to the locker room. He was early, as usual, having bolted from class as soon as the bell rang. Most of the rest of the team would take a break before heading for the locker rooms, but not Jacob. Calm washed over him as he breathed the familiar scent. He felt at home. So much had happened in the last twenty-four hours. So much had changed. He had missed this room, this smell, this familiarity.He found his locker and dialed in the combination. His uniform was still there. He pulled his shirt over his head and slipped the jersey on. Number 33. Kobe’s number in high school. Small details seemed to matter more when you realized how short life could be.Jacob was tying his shoes when the rest of the team rolled into the locker room, echoing chatter off the walls. Jacob looked up, but they
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Beep.Beep.Beep.The rise and fall of the electrocardiogram signaled Seth’s beating heart.Jacob and Mark sat in silence on opposite sides of the bed. Both watched Seth’s peaceful face as his chest slowly rose and fell with each breath.Beep.Beep.Beep.Jacob’s own heart beat in double time. He wanted to say something. He wanted to apologize again, but Mark wouldn’t hear it. Mark had already told him more than once that it wasn’t his fault; that he had nothing to apologize for, but Jacob still couldn’t make himself believe it. The only reason Seth
