Degrees of Sanity

I don’t own ‘em, but if I did do you think I’d share? *sigh* I couldn’t help but add a little bit of my own humor, in a very wrong place. You’ll see… Anyway… read, review, and enjoy.

::Degrees of Sanity- chapter two::

Justin woke up with a start. His eyes snapped open and the morning light blinded him. He threw a hand over his eyes, and bit his lip so that he could hold back any wayward expletive. The last thing he remembered was talking with Richard, while they both got high. Richard had his drugs and Justin had a knife, poised over his forearm. Richard had said something about how he thought that Justin was over doing it and then… Justin drew a blank. Maybe he had passed out after all.

Justin knew he was lying in a bed. He felt the sheets underneath him, and instinctively knew they were not his own. There were very few times that Justin remembered waking up in any other place than were he had fallen asleep the night before. How long had he been asleep? It was obviously morning. Was it still the same afternoon or had he slept through the night?

Justin gasped and his heart hammered, when he felt something drape across his chest. He cautiously opened his eyes and turned to see what had him pinned to the bed. It was Richard. ‘Well, this is novel’, he thought with disparaging scoff. Richard shifted in his sleep, searching for more warmth. Justin had no choice but to lie limply and accept it. The other boy had shifted until he was completely pressed against Justin’s side, and Justin really wasn’t sure he wanted his friend to wake up and confront him about this embarrassing position. Richard would, no doubt, accuse Justin of ‘allowing’ it to happen.

Justin sighed internally and tried to will himself back to sleep. Maybe if Richard woke up first it wouldn’t end up badly. He closed his eyes, pushed Richard’s hand away, and slowly turned on his side, facing the wall. Richard, unconsciously, pushed closer to Justin’s figure, until there was barely a hairs breadth between Richard’s front and Justin’s back. Justin felt his heart thunder in his ears and he knew his pulse was jumping. Why did he have to pass out?

‘Oh, dear God.’ Justin gasped inaudibly as Richard wiggled his hips, in his sleep. Justin could feel the nudge against his backside and it nearly made him have another fainting fit. ‘He must be dreaming,’ Justin squinted his eyes closed and tried to ignore the little pushes, his friend’s sleeping form was making. ‘Oh, God, Richard is molesting me in his sleep.’ Justin was close to accepting this information when Richard’s arm draped over his stomach and he started a light petting motion. The motion was slow, almost innocent… as if Richard was trying to console him. The hand dropped slightly and stroked the top edge of his boxer shorts. Justin’s eyes snapped open and he grunted. ‘No, that is too much,’ he thought, as he threw the covers off of his form and pushed himself out of the bed and out of his friend’s embrace.

Justin looked back at Richard, who just drooped into the warm space Justin had left, and continued sleeping. He shook his head and sighed, as he searched the room for his shirt and pants. Richard had at least allowed him to sleep semi-dressed. Justin pulled on his pants and sighed, quietly, before slipping on his tee shirt. How would he ever be able to face Richard after this? Would Richard suspect? Justin wasn’t even sure how he felt about Richard half of the time. He was his best friend and his worst enemy, but never had he thought of him as a… boyfriend? Lover? Justin shook his head at this thought. Richard would have kicked his ass, if he had ever brought that line of thinking into their conversations.

Justin took the time to jot down a quick note and leave it for Richard to find when he awoke. Afterward, he spared his friend a quick glance, mentally wished him sweet dreams, and promptly ran away. He had no idea where he was going, but he knew for sure that anywhere was better than being held prisoner in his best friend’s bed… Or was it? Justin mentally kicked himself. He headed down the sidewalk not knowing where to go or what to do. If he were honest with himself, he would admit that he wanted to be nowhere else but Richard’s bed, warm and protected by his most trusted friend.

Richard opened his eyes, lazily, and turned toward the ceiling. He smirked and sighed. Justin had made like a scared jackrabbit, and fled before Richard could acknowledge that he was truly awake. ‘Damn, he seemed almost receptive and then he ran away.’ Richard gave into a long and languid stretch before turning and propping himself up. When he finally could sit up, without falling back, he took in a deep breath and smiled. The room smelled like Justin. He knew that that thought shouldn’t make him so happy, but inexplicably, it did.

Justin was his best friend, after all. He gave the guy grief, yes, but he also shared his deepest secrets and wishes with him. They had smoked, drank, and killed together. It was actually surprising that they hadn’t breeched other territory, before now. Richard wasn’t gay, of course. He had dated numerous girls with beautiful faces, delightful laughs, and supple young bodies that yielded to his every desire. Richard certainly wouldn’t forget them, but there was something about Justin that made his blood humery ery time he looked at the boy and he saw that condescending glare, which was so Justin, he felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his throat. The problem was that he wasn’t sure it was a bad feeling.

Richard pushed himself up off of the bed and looked his room over. Justin had been doing something before he left. Richard wasn’t enough of an optimist to assume the other boy was taking care of his own morning erection, like Richard had tried to do, so he figured that he had been writing a note. Richard found the note on his dresser and laughed at the abrupt message.

R.

I had to go and run some errands. Sorry about the
problems I may have caused. Oh, and next time, let
me keep my pants on.

J.

Richard chuckled, throatily, and folded up the note. At least, there would be a ‘next time’. Justin obviously wasn’t freaked out as bad as he could have been. It wasn’t as if he had harmed Justin, anyway. Richard looked down at his tented pajama bottoms and shook his head. “You have been sorely mistreated, however.” Richard cupped his erection and his legs almost collapsed. “Sorely, sorely mistreated.”

Richard moaned, as he fell back on his bed and rubbed himself roughly, through his pajama bottoms. He was quickly becoming harder, and he was pretty sure he wouldn’t last long, at this rate. Richard closed his eyes and imagined a pair of strong, beautiful hands, in place of his own, stroking and squeezing. He had almost found his completion, when there was a knock on his door.

“Richard? Are you awake?”

‘Damn it!’ Richard grunted and looked at his door, willing it to be locked. His mother could not walk in on him, while he was jacking off. That was just completely unforgivable. “Yes, mom.” Richard held back a groan and bit his lip, painfully. “I’m awake, but…” Richard gasped, silently, and tried not to buck into his hand. “…I’m not dressed.” Richard moaned, a little too loudly, and cringed.

“Richard you sound… off. Do I need to come in there?”

‘I wish *I* could just come, in here!’ Richard hissed and cursed the fates. Obviously, they hated him. “No, mother I’m fine. I just don’t feel much better, since yesterday.”

“Well, if you say so.” There was a pause. “Richard, your father and I are going out of town for the weekend. We’re going shopping, and I just wanted to check and see if you would be okay, while we are gone.”

Richard’s eyes rolled into the back of his skull. ‘I’ll be much better when you are gone, woman!’ “Yes, of course. You guys have a good time. I’ll just stay home and recoup. Maybe I’ll get some extra studying in with Justin.” Richard grit his teeth and thanked God that his voice hadn’t wavered, overly much.

“Okay, honey. You be good.”

There was the sound of footsteps falling away, and Richard knew his mother was gone. Richard grabbed his hard prick and squeezed. He gasped as he reached a painful and glorious orgasm. Stars burst behind his eyes and Justin’s name fell across his lips. “Damn.” Richard sighed and shifted in his sticky pants. Nothing was ever going to be the same. Richard felt the damp patch of clothing at his crotch and smirked, ruefully. Nothing would be the same, he would make damn sure of that… but first, he had to change his pants.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Justin sat on the side of the pond, watching some type of water bugs battle each other. Either that or they were mating. Justin really wasn’t interested enough to try o tell the differences, between the two. He just stared at them and thought about Richard. Richard’s diabolical laughter, his yuppie clothes and haircut, the way he would spit in between long drags on his cigarette, the way he pressed so nicely into his back that morning…

Justin ld fod forward and rested his arms on his crossed legs. He wasn’t the only person at the park this morning, he realized as he heard the strum of a guitar. Justin turned his body as much as it would allow, in his present ‘Indian-style’ position, and checked to see where the music was coming from. A young, lanky man sat on a bench only twenty feet away, strumming and harmonizing, with a low velvet voice. Justin decided it was relaxing instead of annoying, and went back to pondering his run of luck.

After a few more minutes of feeling sorry for himself, Justin picked up a small stone and tossed it out across the water. It skipped once and made a nice ‘kerplop’, as it found it’s new home. Justin picked up another stone and tried to focus on the best way to throw it, to get a couple more skips out of it. He tossed it and it hit the water once, before sinking to it’s watery grave. Justin hadn’t noticed that the music had stopped. He was intent on the business at hand.

A strong, but quiet voice broke his concentration. “Hey, you must really have it bad, if you’re skipping stones, over it.”

Justin looked up at the voice and frowned. He shielded his eyes from the sun and realized it was the young musician. Justin motioned for him to take a seat andretureturned to his stone skipping.

The young man watched for a moment and then smirked. “First, you should try using just the medium size, flat rocks.” The man picked up a rock and handed it to Justin. He watched the boy test the feel of the stone, and smirked. “Did you not have a father figure to show you how to skip stones?”

Justin shot the boy a withering glance and started to pull his arm back, to throw the stone. The young man flinched, as if he were about to be stricken, and Justin dropped his arm. He gave the young man a funny look and quirked a brow. “I wasn’t going to hit you.”

The man shrugged and looked out at the pond, straight faced. “So, we all have our dysfunctions.” He pointed at a place in the water and nudged Justin, lightly. “You want to aim for that area and do it with a flick to your wrist. Kind of like if you are back handing a Frisbee.”

Justin did a s he was told and smiled when it skipped a couple of times, before sinking. “Who taught you how to skip them?”

The young man shrugged. “My step dad. He taught me how to fish and camp, as well. I’m Derek, by the way.” Derek held out his hand and waited for Justin to take it.

Justin took the proffered hand and shook it. “Justin.” He took the chance to take in Derek’s outward appearance and he smiled. The young man had floppy black hair that barely hid his bright blue eyes, and his had nicely defined cheekbones that led to a huge grin of pearly white teeth. Justin took that moment to ask, curiously. “Is your step dad the reason you flinched like that?”

Derek smirked and picked up a stone, hefting it at the water. It skipped five times and finally lost momentum. “He’s not the reason, no.” Derek smirked at Justin and leaned back, his hands bracing him. “Who are you skipping stones for?”

Justin shook his head, in confusion.

Derek chuckled. “You know… Is it girl problems?”

Justin shrugged and frowned back out at the water. “Not exactly.”

Derek bit his lip and nodded. “Yeah? It’s hard living in a smaller town, huh? Makes ‘the road less taken’ harder to take.” Derek cleared his throat, and continued. “I’m supposed to meet somebody out here, in a couple of minutes.”

Justin nodded. “I can leave.”

Derek scowled and shook his head. “Why would you do that?” Derek looked over at Justin and saw the dejected look he was wearing. He smirked knowingly. “You’re still in High School, huh?”

Justin nodded. “Why?”

Derek leaned back until he was lying on his forearms. “They don’t have a cool kid table in college. When you get out of college, you don’t even have the cool kids. You have the smart people who did something in there life, and the others who are just squeaking by.” Derek sighed. “I’m a mixture of both. I write music and sell it to bands, while happily squeaking by. It gives me time to spend with my significant other.”

Justin nodded, as he tried o take all of it in. “You married?”

Derek shook his head and laughed. “No, thank God. Right now, I’m in the doghouse. If we were married I would definitely never get another piece of ass, ever again.”

Justin scoffed and shook his head.

Derek pushed the younger boy’s shoulder and grinned, infectiously. “Don’t knock the sex until you try it… often.”

“Did I just here you talking about sex?” Justin and Derek looked back to see who was interrupting their conversation.

“You mean that elusive thing that I’m not allowed to have?” Derek laughed and let his arms collapse from under him. He reached upward and motioned for the new guest to hug him.

Justin watched in interest and cocked his head to the side. The black haired boy was reaching up for the new guest, who happened to be a slightly short, red headed man. His face was a series of beautiful lines and planes. He almost looked pixyish, with his short, punked out hair and eyebrow ring.

“You could have just come at our appointed time, instead of getting here early. You really have a bad habit of that.” The red head stooped down and pulled Derek’s hand, until he was sitting up. He dropped down on the other side of Derek and gave him a half hug. “What were you guys talking about?”

Derek shrugged. “Skipping stones, my step dad, you…”

The red head scrunched up his nose and looked past Derek, to Justin. “I’m Leo. He didn’t say anything bad about me, did he?”

Justin was slightly confused, but he tried not to let it show. “Are you the one who’s holding out on the sex?”

Leo took that moment to give Derek a swift punch in the shoulder, making the darker boy flinch. “If you wouldn’t go and screw other people without condoms, I wouldn’t hold out on you.” Leo leaned over Derek and whispered conspiratorially. “He’s a complete and utter dumb-ass, most of the time. He was scared he got this chick pregnant, okay, and he failed to tell me until after the baby was born.”

Justin nodded and looked at Derek with a mischievous smile. “And I was starting to think you were a nice, wholesome guy.”

Leo let out a short, forceful laugh and fell back on the grass. “Nice, maybe. Wholesome, hardly.” Leo arched his back and grunted. “Some yuppie is coming up to say hello, I think.”

Derek swatted Leo’s stomach and grinned at the small yelp it brought forth. “Be nice.”

Leo shook his head as he pet his abused tummy. “You’re the nice one remember?”

Justin turned and frowned, when he saw that Richard was standing a few feet away staring. “Hello, Richard.”

Richard frowned in return. “You were laughing.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Leo asked, with a grin.

“No.” Richard stated decisively. “Just doesn’t happen often. I’m Richard.”

“Leo.”

“Derek.”

Richard nodded his hand and gave the red head another look. “You’re in that band that played at Oitoberfest.”

Leo nodded and grinned. “The little bassist, with lots of spunk? Yeah, that was me. I had blue hair at the time, though.” Leo pushed himself up and turned toward Richard. “We’re playing a gig tomorrow. You guys should come. It will be a Morley’s.” Morley’s was a bar on the outskirts of the city.

Richard nodded and looked over at Justin. “We’ll be there.”

Justin narrowed his gaze at Richard and tried to figure out what was going through his head. They were underage, and Richard’s parents would not allow him to go to Morley’s, even if he had a ‘chaperone’.

Derek pushed himself up and pulled his companion with him. “we need to head on. I need Leo to look over some lyrics I’ve been writing, as well as some tabs. You guys have a good day.” Derek leaned into Justin and grabbed his hand. He winked at him, while squeezing the palm. “Nice to meet you.”

Leo grabbed the back of Derek’s belt and tugged. “Nice meeting you guys.” The two young men headed over to the bench to pick up Derek’s guitar case and then walked, casually, out of the park.

Richard stood silently starring at Justin and Justin watched the other two leave.

Justin sighed. “I think I may have just made some friends.” Justin looked up at Richard. “How did you find me?”

Richard shrugged. “I didn’t. I was just walking and I saw you from the road. You left early.”

“I had to run an errand.” Justin lied. “We’re going to Morley’s tomorrow?”

Richard took a seat beside Justin and shrugged. “Sounded like an offer I couldn’t refuse. What were you guys talking about before I got here?”

Justin shrugged and smirked to himself. “Skipping stones, my lack of a dad, you…”

TBC

-Please ignore the sign about not feeding the monkeys.-