The Life of Matt Summers, Part 1

by Flaming Matt

Chapter 8

October 2014

The next few days pass with out any further surprises or shocks as they explore, fish and swim as well as talk, to Ben's credit and David gratitude he gives him and his son plenty of time alone, while he kept himself busy and as he notices the growing closeness between them, Ben couldn't help but think everything was going to end up okay, Matt was also feeling the same way about his dads reaction to what they had planned to tell him, because of how close they had managed to get to each other in the last a few days.

With both boys seeming to be in high spirits, David couldn't help but enjoy himself as well and actually managed to forget about what was coming, but he wasn't that lucky and as the final day of the trip comes around he had spent the whole day on edge, trying to work out how best to react, he had to get it right otherwise the boys might question any odd reaction and he couldn't risk them knowing he had already known, he had also received a phone call from Nick, reporting that the job had been completed and although there was a complication, he was assured it was nothing too serious and David decided to not ask for any more details for the time being.

The day passes quickly and when the evening sets in, David actually wondered if the boys had changed their minds about telling him, but that bit of hope on his part was more down to the couple of beers he had already had, which he hadn't even questioned as to why the boys seemed to be overly keen for him to drink and it wasn't until they sat around the fire and he saw his son give his friend a very worried look, that it finally clicked and he suddenly realised why they were keen on him to be a little drunk and he remembered the part of the conversation they had about making sure he couldn't get so angry, that he would want to drive home straight away, he actually couldn't help but admire the two boys planning for this talk and how it was going to happen, but as his son begins to talk, his mood drops as the moment he had been dreading since he had overheard his son talking with his friend, was about to happen.

"Dad, I need to tell you something." Matt suddenly says, with a heartbreaking look of shame and sadness on his face, which David finds hard to look at, knowing what is to come didn't help make this any easier either, but he had to follow through with his plan and resisted the urge to reach out to his son and instead just stays where he is and lets him speak.

"Well that sounds ominous Son." David replies in a teasing tone, trying his best to keep the boys from becoming suspicious.

"Ominous?" Matt asks with a confused look on his face, he was just taken by surprise by the word and purposely let it distract him from what he was going to say.

"It means like something bad or threatening is about to happen right David?" Ben answers and looks over to David to see if he is either going to praise him or correct him, although like his friend he had let himself get distracted, because he was still a little scared of how David would react once he knew the truth.

"That's close enough Ben." David states with a smile and can see the boy beam with pride. "Sorry Son, what did you want to tell me?" He then asks, turning his attention back to his son and trying to make sure he doesn't give away the fact that he knows already, even though there was a massive part of him that could see a way out of this whole conversation if he distracted the boys enough, but the contingency plan was already in motion and he didn't want to derail it now.

"Please don't be angry or hate me Dad, but I have something bad to tell you." Matt begins to state nervously, but has to stop and looks over to his friend with a worried expression on his face.

"It's okay Matt, just say as much as you can and if you can't keep going, I will say the rest." Ben states warmly, immediately recognising the look on his friends face and reaches over to take a hold of his hand for support, David sees this but doesn't react the same way he did on the previous mornings, when he awoke to see the two boys holding hands, in this case it was clearly a sign of support and knowing what was about to be revealed, he would have been more surprised and slightly annoyed at Ben, if this didn't happen.

Matt then tell his dad what happened, he tells him about Jordan and how he tried to help his friend, but had in the process just become trapped himself, he told him about the threats to everyone he cared for and how Mr Jones would just rub his legs or shoulders at first, but would then quickly start touching and squeezing his nipples and privates and all the while his son is talking, David just sits their with a look of disbelief on his face, he had already overheard his son pour his heart out at the things that had been done to him already at the lake, but there were a few new things that he didn't hear before and he really struggled to maintain his act as so many emotions started to run through his mind, but he stayed strong and just let his son talk.

What his Son told him next though, was almost too much to handle, even though he had already overheard the same thing before, it was different now because he could see and feel the pain and sadness in his sons voice, hearing him talk about being forced to slowly strip naked for the pervert and then being photographed and videoed, then how he took photo's and videos of him while he did other things, in what was meant to be the safety of the school, just broke his heart and he knew he was close to losing it, so when his son told him about being forced to touch the pervert, he actually stood up in anger and kicked a plastic container that was next to him and sent it flying across the ground and caused both boys to flinch in fear.

Ben for his part was desperately trying to remain strong and tightened his grip on his friends hand, even moving closer to him so their bodies were in contact with one another, luckily David had managed to compose himself and sit back down, but even though the worst details were already revealed, there was still more to come and his son started to talk about Jordan and what the pervert had been doing to him, he then talked about how the pervert had somehow managed to get Jordan's parents to let him give their son extra 'special' private tutoring at his house, by lying about him falling behind in his class and they had accepted it without question and how Mr Jones had then told him that he was going to make the same arrangements for him, so he could give him the attention he deserved.

After that David just looked on, as his son breaks down completely and buries his face into his friends chest and David knew that was the end of the story and he wasn't going to get anything else from him and was relieved that this part was over, despite how hard it was to hear and deal with, but now came the next phase in his plan and he really has to get it right and just needed Ben to react the way he hoped he would, otherwise his whole plan would fall to pieces and he couldn't afford for that to happen, so he gives his son a few more moments to cry and then clears his throat.

"Son, I don't need to hear any more, I don't hate or blame you for anything, none of this is your fault, now though I just want you and Ben to start packing up, because we are heading back right now and I am going to kill that son of a bitch, but don't worry about the tent and bigger stuff, just get what you can quickly and we are out of here." David then announces, in as serious a tone as he can manage and thought by the look on the boys faces, that he had gotten it just right, now he just had to hope they actually had thought of this and had a plan of action.

"NO DAD NO YOU CAN'T.... PLEASE YOU CAN'T... YOU CAN'T..." Matt screams out in desperation, the boys had known this was the likely reaction by his dad and even had the plan in motion to stop it actually happening, but he was too emotional after reliving everything to think straight and just couldn't help but cry out and David to his horror starts to worry that maybe the boys hadn't expected this at all and his plan was in jeopardy, but luckily for him Ben comes through once again and does exactly what he had hoped the boy would do, although not quite in the way he had predicted.

"Mr Summers no, we aren't going anywhere tonight." Ben says in a stern defiant voice and David quickly turns to the boy, who is still standing his ground without flinching and David has to try his hardest not to show how impressed he is with him.

"You will do as I say boys, now get packing and then get in the car." David responds, still using his serious tone to keep up the act, he knew he was so close to this part of his plan working and he just had to hope that Ben would keep going.

"No you're drunk, tired and angry and I won't get in the car with you or let you take Matt, so unless you want to go and leave two eleven year old boys alone in the middle of nowhere and just to go and get yourself locked up for the rest of your life then go ahead, but you aren't getting us in that car with you." Ben retorts, losing none of his courage as stares at his friends dad and this time David doesn't have to act surprised by the boys words, he hadn't expected such a display and couldn't help but be impressed by his sons friend even more.

"You will get in the car or else." David then says, as coldly and as threateningly as he can manage, he knew it was horrible and cruel to talk to the boys like this, but he was convinced Ben wouldn't back down and just went for it.

"Or else what, you're going to beat us, sure that's going to look so good you know, beat the shit out of us and then get us all killed by crashing into something, just so you can go kill someone for molesting your son, yeah that's sure going to show Mr Jones, I can just see it now David, him reading the paper seeing our three names as they name our dead bodies and him suddenly saying 'you know what, I'm not going to molest boys ever again', way to go Mr Summers you have saved us all." Ben then states sarcastically without even flinching once and David almost loses his composure at the young boys frankly amazing speech, he had planned to keep this little argument going for a little bit longer, but he honestly had no reply to that and decided to concede and admit defeat.

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry." David begins to reply and quickly forces tears from his eyes, as he looks to both boys, he even drops to his knees for added effect and pulls his sobbing son into his arms. " I'm so sorry Matt, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you okay, please forgive me." He then says sincerely, he may be executing his plan, but this is his son and he loves him so much that he is genuinely hurting inside, he then wondered if he should pull Ben in for a cuddle, but almost as soon as he thought of it, he felt someone embrace him from behind and then felt his son pull in tighter and he now struggled to hold back his own tears, as the two boys both cried their hearts out.

They stayed in their embrace for almost ten minutes, before someone finally spoke and to both his dad and friends surprise, it was Matt who broke the silence.

"Dad please don't kill him, please I can't lose you, please can we just go to the police and let them deal with it please." Matt says, pleading with his dad as he pulls away from the embrace enough, so he can look him in the eye.

"Son I can't do nothing, he has to pay for what he has done, people like him don't deserve to live and you're my son, I have to do something." David replies, trying his best to keep his plan going despite just wanting to confess he knew already, although he knew it was too late for that now and as much as he wanted to just comfort his son, he knew he had to follow his plan through until the end.

"Dad you have to promise me you won't do it, promise me please." Matt again pleads to his dad, as the tears start to roll down his cheeks again.

"Mr Summers please at least sleep on it, you're just drunk and in the morning you will see that we are right and that we should just go to the police, at least promise us you will decide in the morning please, you have to promise." Ben then states and David has to fight hard to suppress a smile at both the boys lack of knowledge when it came alcohol and how much it actually takes for someone to be drunk and for Ben saying exactly what he had hoped he would.

"Okay boys, I promise that I will think about going to the police and we will talk about it again tomorrow, but Son I want you to know right now that none of this is your fault and I love you." David responds and stands up, he then pulls Ben around so both boys are now in front of him, he then looks at them both, before settling on his son so he knows he is being sincere in his love for him.

"Dad I love you too, but I won't let you do something stupid, even if I have to er... even if I have to er... tie you up and stuff." Matt then states in a nervous yet serious tone, causing Ben to repress a giggle at his friends plan to stop his dad and even David has to work hard to stop a smile appearing at his sons threat, his tone was so serious it was almost too adorable.

"Well I guess being tied up would be uncomfortable, so I promise to sleep on this and then see what happens, now I suggest you boys go ahead and get to sleep while I clear up a little out here and no arguing just do it now." David responds firmly, leaving the boys to drop their heads slightly and head inside the tent, as they do as they are told.


"Ben, you don't think he will really kill Mr Jones do you, I don't want my dad to go to prison." Matt asks his friend, after they get inside the tent and find themselves standing face to face in just their underwear, after stripping off everything else.

"No Matt, he's just angry right now and once he gets some sleep he will calm down, now come on let's get to sleep before he comes in." Ben responds, before giving his friend a quick kiss and smiles as he can see he had caught him off guard.

"Creep." Matt then says smiling, he couldn't believe how happy a kiss from his friend made him and couldn't help but blush as they both climb into their sleeping bags, they then smile contently as they stare into each others sparkling green eyes, before slowly drifting off to sleep.


The next morning for the first time since they arrived, Ben is the first to wake and he smiles widely, when the first thing he sees when he opens his eyes, is his sleeping friends face and can't help but think how cute he is, he then spends a few minutes just watching him sleep, until he suddenly realises that they are actually holding hands and his smile grow even wider, he then takes a quick look over to his friends dad to make sure he is still asleep, before looking back into his friends closed eyes and gets a naughty idea.

Unable to resist, he slowly leans forward before gently pressing his lips to his friends and kisses him and after a few moments he starts to feel his friends grip on his hand tighten and watches as his eyes open in surprise and for a second he actually gets worried that his friend is going to scream in shock, but Ben then feels him return the kiss and relaxes and finds himself looking deeply into his friends sparkling green eyes, while he continues to enjoy the kiss.

"Morning Dumb Ass." Ben then says, with a big grin after breaking the kiss.

"Morning Creep." Matt replies with a smile, he then surprises his friend by letting go of his hand and using his now free hand to flick his nose playfully.

"Hey, what was that for?" Ben responds and feigns injury as he rubs his nose.

"That was for waking me up and this is also for waking me up." Matt answers, but before Ben can even think of replying, he is suddenly being kissed and can't help but let out a little moan of happiness, which causes Matt to pull back from the kiss and giggle. "You liked that then." He then states, with a big cheesy grin and giggles again when his friend blushes.

Before Matt can tease his friend any more though, the sound of his dad waking up, quickly snaps him back to reality and he quickly sits upright and looks over nervously, before sighing in relief when he sees that his dad is only just waking up and isn't facing them.

"Morning Dad, how are you feeling?" Matt asks in a casual tone, deciding to let his dad know he is already awake.

"Oh er... hey Son, oh and morning Ben it makes a change for you two to be awake, I'm er... fine Son, just give me a chance to fully wake up, if you need the toilet or anything now would be a good time." David replies groggily, as he tries to wake up and thinks maybe he did have a couple of drinks more than he had thought.

"Oh, I really have to go." Ben suddenly blurts out, before jumping up and making a quick exit to the nearest bush to empty his bladder, although in the process he had unknowingly given both David and his friend a good look at his tented tighty whiteys and while his friend tries to hide a snigger and wonders if he had given his friend a boner by kissing him, he suddenly blushes as he feels his own penis starting to get hard, while he thinks about his friend and hopes his dad doesn't notice.


Matt had managed to avoid his dad seeing his boner, when he had left the tent to join his friend and after ten minutes all three of them are fully dressed outside the tent and planning on where to begin with the packing up, eventually David takes control and assigns the boys their tasks, where they work in silence, until Matt plucks up the confidence to talk to his dad.

"So Dad did you er... you know er... think about it?" Matt asks nervously and when his dad looks over to him with a blank look on his face, he can't help but fear the worst and can already feel himself starting to shake.

"Think about what?" David replies in a confused tone and instantly realises what his son is talking about and just hopes he hasn't messed up his whole plan in a few moments of stupidity.

"Huh, you know about last night and what we talked about, did you calm down?" Matt responds in confusion, his dads answer caught him off guard and he can't believe he had forgotten and he can feel his bottom lip trembling, as he wonders if his dad even cares about what had happened to him.

"Oh sorry Son, I really am just still half asleep, those beers kind of take it out of you at my age." David tells his son, he is hoping the mention of the beer, which was the boys idea would cover up for his slip up. "But you will be glad to know that Ben was right as usual it seems and as soon as we get home all three of us are going to the police station." He then adds with a half smile and stops himself from going over the top, when he suddenly notices his son shaking a little and realises his slip up may have upset his son and is about to walk over, when for once Ben's interruption is not a welcome one.

"Can't you call them now though, why do we have to wait until we get home?" Ben asks abruptly, staring at his friends dad expectantly, but David had already anticipated this scenario and knew exactly how this would play out, he just wished he could have comforted his son first, but when he does look back to him, he is relieved to see that he seems to have pulled himself together.

"That would be the best option, but my phone is dead boys, I tried ringing your mother last night Matt, after you two went to sleep, but it was dead." David lies to the boys, he had actually just drained the battery by loading up all the games he had on the phone and letting the battery die out.

"You can use mine Dad." Matt says excitedly, he had pulled himself together after accepting his dads explanation for the memory lapse and quickly runs over to his bag and takes out his phone, but his excitement soon turns to disappointment, because when he tries to turn it on, he realises the battery is also dead. "Oh it's dead, but I haven't used it all week." he says, as he looks at his phone with a puzzled expression, he knew for a fact that it was fully charged and just couldn't understand why it was now dead.

"You probably left it on all week Dumb Ass, don't worry I have my phone too and your dad can use that." Ben states and pulls his phone out of his pocket, only to see that it was also dead and shrugs his shoulders in confusion, he was sure it still had at least a quarter of it's battery the day before, but he couldn't be sure and just accepted that he was wrong.

"Look guys don't worry, let's just get packed up and then we can get home and get that piece of shit locked up." David tells them both and moves over to ruffle their hair, he was trying to put on an overly nice routine, so the boys would relax and not think too much about their phones, because while they had slept, David had drained the batteries in both their phones himself, in the same way he had done to his own.

§

Once they have everything packed up, David gets the boys to use the toilet one last time before they leave, just so they don't have to make any more stops than they have to, the boys don't object because they also wanted to get home and to the police station as fast as possible, both boys were now feeling guilty about leaving it so long to tell David what had happened, they only just remembered that while they were safe out here, Jordan had spent the whole week at home and they knew it was likely Mr Jones had managed to get him alone at least once, causing Matt in particular to feel even worse, after he remembered him and Jordan not going to see their teacher on the last day and he knew his friend would have paid the price for that.

Once they finally leave their camp site, a silence falls on them and they are all in deep thought about different things, while Ben is worried about his friends situation, he also has to think about his talk with Mitch, there was no avoiding it now and he just couldn't help but run through all possible scenario's, sure his brother had seemed fine and he even seemed to already know about things, but that was over the phone and maybe in person it was going to be different, he just didn't know and a part of him still wished he had never made that call.

For Matt he couldn't stop thinking about Jordan and what might have happened to him, just because he was to afraid to tell his dad earlier, even when his friend had begged him to do it, he had been too afraid, then he started to think about his mum and everyone else he knew and how they were going to react to everything, he was terrified and didn't know if he could cope with everything and could feel himself starting to shake, he could even feel the tears building in his eyes, until he felt his hand being squeezed and smiled weakly at his friend, he could already feel himself relaxing and gives his friends hand a few gentle squeezes to show his appreciation, before he goes back to his thoughts.

Unaware of the boys thoughts or even the fact they were now holding hands, David was having his own issues with what was to come, he knew that the plan was a success and had gone as well as can be expected, but there was something that had happened that was not supposed to happen and despite being assured it was not too serious, he couldn't help but worry about it, however what was really bothering him was going to the police station, would the police wonder why he didn't stop along the way to call them and he was so distracted by his thoughts, he hadn't realised that he had been gradually increasing his speed to well above the speed limit, it wasn't until Ben called out to him to slow down, that David realised what he was doing, but by then it was too late and he could see the sirens in the rear view mirror and had no choice but to pull over.

Silently swearing at himself for being so stupid, David can't believe after all his hard work and planning he may have blown it, however just as he sees the constable walking towards the car, he gets an idea, an idea that would work perfectly and he quickly turns to the two boys, still not noticing that they were holding hands.

"Look boys, I don't want you two to say anything okay, just cry a little and maybe cuddle up with each other, don't ask me why, just do what I say and I will explain later I promise." David instructs them, he can see the confusion on their faces, but he smiles when they quickly cuddle up to each other and then sees a few tears fall down their faces, David felt guilty about asking the boys to do this, but he needed to get this right and turned his attention back to the constable who was now almost at the car.

The constable then knocks on the window and signals for David to lower it, he then proceeds to explain why he had pulled him, David after listening to everything the constable had said, decided to kick his plan into action and smiled to himself, as he noticed the constable taking a few glances to the two boys in the back seat.

"Those two your sons, Mr Summers?" The constable enquires.

"One of them is and the other is his friend, we've just been camping down by the lake for the last five days." David replies, without looking back at the boys and keeping his eyes locked on the constable.

"Are they okay, they appear to be very upset." The constable then asks, in a slightly suspicious tone and takes another look at the two boys before returning is attention back to David.

Seeing his chance, David takes a slow look back to the boys and winks at them without letting the constable see, before turning his attention back to him, looking him directly in the eyes.

"I know I was speeding, but there is a very good reason for it and while it doesn't justify or make what I did okay, I think you will understand, but I would like to talk to you in private if that is alright, you can see they are upset and I don't want them to hear this" David says in a quiet but friendly tone, he doesn't want to sound patronising or aggressive, otherwise he wasn't going to get anywhere.

"Sir if you would like to step outside your vehicle and come over to my bike please." The constable states in his formal tone, just loud enough for the boys to hear him, David then turns to them with another wink and steps out of the car, following the constable to his bike, so they can talk with out the boys hearing.


"Thank you so much constable, you have no idea how much I appreciate this and well how much you are going to be helping us out." David then says, again trying not to patronise the constable, who seems to be a decent guy.

"In normal circumstances I wouldn't allow this, but I have kids of my own and the boys seemed really upset, so I will make an exception this one time and while we are talking, please call me Roger." Roger responds in a friendly tone, David has to work hard to suppress a smirk, not only was the constable being very understanding so far, but he also had kids of his own and David knew right then that this was going to work.

"Roger there is no easy way to say it, so I'm just going to get straight to the point, while we were on this trip, my son and his friend told me that..." David begins to say, he had planned to pause for effect before he started, but to his own surprise he genuinely needed to stop, as even saying the words hurt him and he could feel his anger building again. "Roger they told me that their teacher had been molesting my son." He then says, after managing to calm himself down and waits for the constables reaction.

"I er..." Roger responds, he wasn't expecting this at all and despite all his training, he doesn't know what to do and how to respond.

Sensing the constables hesitation, David decides reluctantly to tell him everything his son had told him the night before and he can see the horrified expression on the constables face, which David thought understandable and reassuring, he knew the constable's reaction was sincere, after he had already confessed to having his own children and decided to carry on and tell him about how the boys had got him drunk before they had told him, so he wouldn't be able to drive home last night and then nervously telling him how angry he was and how he had wanted to kill the pervert and then how the boys had refused to even get in the car when he had tried to get home last night.

All the way through the story, David made sure to keep glancing back to the car with a look of concern on his face, which he knew would cause Roger to do the same, he wanted the constable to know he was worried about the boys, he then had to hide a smile as the constable asked the obvious question about using their phones, he explained that all the phones were dead, after a week away with no way to charge them and that he had felt stupid for not being more careful in case of an emergency, he then finishes by explaining that he had still been thinking about all the things his son had told him and didn't realise his speed and how grateful he was that the constable was there to pull him over, because he could have had an accident and at that point he feels the constables hand on his shoulder.

"Look Mr Summers, I haven't wrote the ticket out so we can forget about that, as for your story, well I want you to get back into your car and follow me to the station, it's close by and don't worry about your speed just keep up with me, I will have my sirens on, so we can get that piece of shit into custody as soon as possible." Roger tells David, who to the constables surprise pulls him in for a hug, before quickly letting go and faking a look of embarrassment.

"Oh shit sorry Roger, I just can't thank you enough for what you are doing for my son and guess I got carried away." David says with fake sincerity and even manages to let a few tears roll down his face, just to seal the deal and is delighted to see it had worked, when the constable gives him a pat on the shoulder, before telling him to get in his car and hoot his horn when he was ready to go.


David slowly returns to the car and sighs in relief before getting inside and turning to the boys, who had separated slightly without letting go of each others hand, but David still doesn't seem to notice and just smiles at them warmly.

"Son I hope you don't hate me, but we are heading to the station right now, I told the constable what you told me about your teacher and he wants us to go with him, so he can make some calls to get your teacher into custody as soon as possible." David explains to the boys in a positive tone, knowing it will help them understand this was a good thing, not like he expected them to be upset, this is what they wanted after all and he knew he really didn't need to try and convince them of that.

"Is it over now Dad?" Matt asks naively, which almost breaks David's heart, he has done his best to focus on the plan rather than his son, so he could stop himself from losing it and when he looks over to Ben only to see the same look of hope on his face, he knew he had to be honest and tries to stay strong as he takes a deep breath.

"No son, I wish it was and I wish I could lie to you, but I am afraid it will get a lot worse before it gets better." David starts to say but has to stop, his sons expression changes from hope to defeated instantly and it was almost too much for him to continue. "I know that you're scared Son, but I want you to trust me, I promise that nothing bad will happen to you, you will however be asked a lot of questions and many times because they will want to make sure you are telling the truth, we will be with you every step of the way though and while it isn't what you wanted to hear, I want you to know how proud I am of you for doing this." He then says, but instantly regrets his honesty, when he sees the look of horror and dismay on his sons face and he knows that his son was barely holding it together and now he is going to have to sit through question after question and relieve the experience over and over again.

"Hey, Matt come on, we already talked about this, your dad just means that there will be some interviews from the police and then maybe some reporters and of course when we all go to court you will have to say something, but that's it and like your dad said, we will be with you every step of the way and I'm proud of you too and I know Jordan will be so happy you could do what he wasn't able too and you may have even helped some other kids as well, you should be proud of yourself." Ben suddenly states from the heart and is rewarded when he receives a grateful smile from his friend and when he looks over to his friends dad, he can't help but blush at the look of respect on his face.

Happy that his son seems to be settled down after his friends little pep talk, David beeps his horn to let Roger know they are ready to go and once the sirens go off and the bike starts moving he follows him all the way to the station, a long the way he can't help but feel like everything is going to work out perfectly and after a few close calls with some other vehicles, they finally pull in to the station where he follows Roger in with the two boys just in front of him, he doesn't want to let either of them out of his sight.


Mr Summers if you could just come with me for a second, the boys will be fine in our waiting room and I will get someone to get them something to drink." Roger says, as he shows the boys into the waiting room, he then places a hand on David's shoulder and escorts him to his sergeant, once they are all sitting in the sergeants office, Roger gives a quick introduction and David starts to tell the same story he had told Roger earlier, although this time he is genuinely struggling to get the words out, he had previously been so focused on the plan, that he could distract himself and now that it is almost over, his emotions start to get to him and he almost misses the look of disgust and sympathy on the sergeants face.

"Mr Summers, I am going to need to speak with your son and his friend separately, before I can take any action." Sergeant Williams begins to say and can see the unimpressed look on David's face. "I will have Constable Harris start the process now though, so once I have the boys statements, we can get things moving very quickly, I hope you understand even in these situations we have to follow procedure, to avoid making mistakes that can cause issues and result in the guilty walking away free." He then explains and hopes David understands that he is doing what is best for his son.

"I understand Sergeant, the last thing I want is for that piece of shit, to get off on a technicality, but I do have one request that I insist on and I hope you understand." David responds, making sure to keep eye contact with the sergeant.

"Go ahead Mr Summers, but I am not making any promises." Sergeant Williams replies, although in cases like this he is prepared to compromise on some protocols.

"My son has been through a lot and is close to breaking point and even I can't seem to keep him from falling to bits, his friend Ben though is another story though and has been able to help my son cope with everything so far." David explains and takes a quick few seconds to try and relax a little, he is finding it harder and harder to keep himself calm, as his concern for his son grows. "If you want to question my son, you will need to let his friend be in the room with him, otherwise you will just have a broken boy crying his eyes out and to be honest, I will not allow you to interview him without his friend in that room with him." He then adds in a serious tone and to his relief, the expression on the sergeants face softens and he can tell he has succeeded.

"Mr Summers the last thing we want to do is terrify the boy and cause him to break down and if his friend being there will help us avoid traumatising him any more than he already has been, then it will not be a problem." Sergeant Williams responds, before signalling to his constable to start making some phones calls, he then walks David back to the boys to begin the interview process himself.


The interviews all go well and according to plan, apart from a few moments where Matt almost lost it, but Ben was always quick to step in to calm him down, Sergeant Williams was more than happy they had all the information they need and is about to call for constable Harris, when the door opens and the constable walks in with a concerned expression.

"Sorry to interrupt Sir, but I need to speak with you and Mr Summers, it's very important and it really can't wait." Roger says slightly nervously and really isn't sure how the news will be received.

The sergeant decides to ask another constable to stay with the two boys, he then leads both Roger and David to his office, so they can have some privacy.

"Roger we can drop the formalities for now, what did you find out?" Sergeant Williams tells his young constable, who smiles and relaxes.

"Thank you Gordon, I was making some phone calls to my contacts in Mr Summers home town and explained what was happening and was informed that yesterday morning, Mr Jones was found murdered in his house." Roger started to explain, before David quickly interrupts.

"Murdered? He's dead, the bastard is dead?" David almost shouts, in a mixture or shock and glee, deciding this is the perfect way he should react to the news.

"Yes David he is dead, however there is also something else that you should know, you mentioned a Jordan Anderson to us earlier and that he was a friend of your sons?" Roger then asks, a now genuinely worried looking David, who starts to wonder if this was the complication Nick had mentioned to him and couldn't help but fear the worst as he looks at the constables expression.

"Yes, Jordan is one of my sons best friends and he is also a victim of Mr Jones, he is okay isn't he?" David responds with his own question and is praying that the boy is not dead, he knows it could devastate his son and with everything else that had happened, he was genuinely afraid that it will be one thing too many for him to handle.

"He was found in Mr Jones bedroom, it appears whoever killed him didn't check the house, otherwise they would have found the boy." Roger explains and David can feel his heart sink as the constable speaks and the guilt was almost unbearable. "Luckily though when the police and ambulance arrived, he was found quickly and he is alive, I'm sorry I can't say any more, but that is all the information I could get for now." He then says and David lets out a relieved sigh.

"Thank you Roger, you can leave us now, I would like a word with Mr Summers alone please." Sergeant Williams instructs his constable, who complies after apologising to David for the news, who just nods his head, David felt awful and if Jordan had died, then he would have blamed himself for not acting sooner.

"I can't believe this is all happening." David says, as Roger leaves the office, he again finds himself not needing to act because he is genuinely shocked by the revelation and just hoped that Jordan wasn't badly hurt, because if he was than he only had himself to blame, he knew he could have done something sooner, had he not wanted... no he thought to himself, it's no use blaming himself, he had to focus on his son who was more important.

"Mr Summers while this does change things, I still think you should go public with your sons claims." Sergeant Williams suggests and catches David by surprise, he didn't anticipate this being an option and thought Mr Jones being dead would be the end of it all and he could just concentrate on rebuilding his sons life.

"He's dead though, why would I put my son through all that for nothing?" David replies honestly, he really doesn't see the point and certainly doesn't want his face plastered all over the TV or papers.

"It's only a suggestion, but there is a possibility that this Mr Jones was not acting alone, there could be more and given his age and what I can gather from your sons claims, he has been doing this for a long time and is very organised, so there is a possibility that just because Mr Jones is dead, your son could still be in danger." Sergeant Williams explains, David though is actually quite relieved to hear this as strange at that would sound, the reason is that Nick and his associates would have went above and beyond and if there was or is any one else involved they would know and would either have dealt with it or be in the process of dealing with it already and with that in mind he knows there is no need to take this any further.

"There is that possibility, but I feel like my son has been through enough for now and I think you can respect that he is just a child and can only take so much before it gets too much for him and I am not willing to risk my son being permanently scared from all of this." David responds in a neutral tone.

"I can understand that Mr Summers, but I think whether you like it or not your son is going to be dragged into the situation, because Mr Jones was murdered and a naked abused boy was found tied to his bed, it won't be long before the media goes crazy and people start to ask the right questions." Sergeant Williams begins to say, before pausing when he sees David give him a questioning look. "Jordan will have no choice, but to be exposed to that and if what you say is true about your son being photographed, then those photos will already be in police hands, this is not something I want to be saying and I don't agree with it's fairness at all, but the best thing you can do is go public yourself and get your sons story told on your terms and shield your son from being hounded." He then continues and despite his earlier reluctance David realises the sergeant is right, all his planning and hard work isn't going to be enough and he realises that he never told Nick about the photographs and that mistake has come back to smack him in the face.

"Oh shit, you're right, but this isn't just my decision to make, I will need to speak to my son when we return home and to my wife and make the decision as a family." David replies half heartedly, he was trying to sound confident, but he knows because of his mistake with the photographs, his son is going to go through hell for the next few months, as the media go into a frenzy.

"David it's just a suggestion and there is the possibility that there will be no need to go public, it all depends on how public everything has been made, it may just be reported as a murder and there will be a local interest due to him being a teacher, however the chances of nothing else being mentioned is extremely low and you could just wait and see what happens, at the very least you can prepare for the worst and get your son ready just in case." Sergeant Williams then suggests, sensing David's hesitancy and actually hoping that the boy is spared such a public spectacle, he had seen too many children break under such extreme public scrutiny and didn't want to see it happen again.

David decides not to say any more and just stands up to shake the sergeants hand, he then heads back to the boys and they all make sure to say goodbye to Roger before leaving, David then quickly ushers the boys out of the station and back into the car to continue on their journey home and while the boys talk to each other in the back seat, David debates with himself whether to talk to his son now or wait until they get home and it isn't until he catches himself speeding a few times, he decides he needs to talk to his son as soon as possible, otherwise he will never be able to concentrate on driving and pulls over at the next opportunity.

"Dad I thought we were going straight home?" Matt asks his dad, as they stop in a hotel car park.

"Sorry Son, it's just while we were at the station, Constable Harris gave me some news and I wasn't sure if I should tell you now or when we get home." David replies truthfully, he thought once he made the choice to tell his son, it would be easy and he could get on with the journey home, but it was proving to be anything but easy to tell his son and especially the part about Jordan being found naked and tied to the perverts bed.

"Did something happen, is Mum okay?" Matt quickly asks, clearly concerned and instantly thinking about his mum and for a moment David forgets about all the bad stuff and enjoyed how much his son loved him and his mum, but his thoughts quickly turn back to Mr Jones and Jordan.

"You Mum is fine, the news is about Mr Jones, he's dead Son, someone murdered him at his house either yesterday morning or the night before, I don't know anything else about what happened, but there is something else too." David answers, but pauses to let his son have at least a few moments of joy or relief at the news of the perverts murder, but when he looks at his sons face, he sees a hint of suspicion in his eyes, as he process what he has just been told.

"Yesterday morning?" Matt asks, without taking his eyes off his dads.

"Yes Son, yesterday morning or the night before." David responds, before he actually realises the look in his sons eyes and the actual meaning of the question, he had no doubts his son initial thoughts were that he was responsible, be despite being a little hurt his son could think that, he knew because of his careful planning his son would realise he couldn't possible be involved and David was glad he had thought ahead.

"Oh, okay what else then?" Matt then asks, in a rather casual manner, as he tries to hide his true feelings of happiness and relief at the news of his teachers death and now started to think that it was all over now and he could just go back to his normal life.

"Before I tell you, I just want you to know that he's in hospital and will be okay." David states, slightly bending the truth in the hope to reassure his son. "When Mr Jones body was discovered, the police also found Jordan unconscious and tied naked to his bed." He explains and is about to continue when both boys interrupt him.

"JORDAN'S IN HOSPITAL?" Both boys shout out in unison, clearly shocked by the news and David can see the horror in both their faces.

"Sorry boys, I just didn't know how to tell you without scaring you, but as far as I know he's going to be okay, I wish I could tell you more, but I won't lie to you and well there is another issue we have to talk about Son, but that is something we need to discuss with your mum as a family." David responds, hoping for once one of his speeches didn't make things worse.

"He's not going to die is he?"Ben then asks, he had been silent so far, so his friend could talk with his dad, but he can't help but say something after hearing about Jordan.

"No Ben, I wasn't given much information, but what I was told is that he is alive and isn't going to die." David reassures both boys and smiles as the news seems to work and they both look a little bit more relaxed, although he knows both boys will be extremely worried about their friend.

"I am glad that bastard is dead." Matt suddenly blurts out, with his voice full of hate, both his dad and friend are shocked, not only by the words he used but also the tone and there was no mistaking he meant every word and more.

"Son, while I agree and couldn't have put it better myself, please don't let me hear you swear like that again." David says, he wanted to make it clear he was on his sons side, but that it wasn't okay to use that kind of language.

"Sorry Dad but what he did, well he deserved it and I want to go see Jordan as soon as we can." Matt apologises sincerely, he knows he shouldn't have swore and was grateful for his dads reaction and quickly leaned forward and hugged him.


Happy to have somewhat cleared his head, David tells the boys to settle down and starts the journey home again, the three make small talk the rest of the way home and manage to only have to stop once for something to eat and to use the toilet, after what seems like an eternity, David finally pulls up outside of their house, instead of Ben's which causes both boys to look confused.

"Dad, why aren't you dropping Ben off at his house?" Matt asks, as he dad turns to the two boys.

"Sorry guys, I forgot to tell you that I made a few phone calls at the station, I told your mum that we were on our way home and that we needed to talk to her about something very important, I just thought I should give her a chance to at least be prepared for the news, instead of just coming out with it and causing her to freak out and as for you Ben, I hope you don't mind but I called your dad to ask him if you could spend the night with us and he agreed, I think it would just be easier if you were here for Matt, because his mum is not going to take this well." David explains to each boy, but wishing he had not forgotten to tell them earlier, because they both look concerned and he can see his son recoil a little, at having to tell his mum what happened.

"I don't mind, I want to be there for Matt and help him as much as I can David." Ben says with a big grin, although when he looks over to his friend, he can see he looks worried and quickly puts an arm around his shoulder, David just smiles thinking of it as nothing more than a friend supporting another friend, although if he had kept his guard up over the two boys closeness, he would not be so quick to smile.

"Dad can you tell mum, I don't think I can take telling the story again, I'm just sick of it and don't want to go keep having to go through it all the time." Matt asks meekly, he is exhausted and reliving the memories every time he tells the story and the questioning at the police station was brutal on him, despite trying to put on a brave face he just couldn't keep doing it.

§

After a few more moments, they finally head inside and once the hugs and kisses are out of the way, David asks his wife to sit at the kitchen table, while they all do the same, having already been pre warned by her husband, Sarah tried to prepare herself for what the bad news could be, but as she looks at the boys and her husband she can't see anything obvious wrong with any off them, although see does notice the frightened and sad look on her sons face and just hopes she can keep a level head and the news isn't too bad.

David remembering what his son had asked him, does all the talking and despite wanting to spare his wife from the worst of it, he reluctantly doesn't leave anything out and just tries his best to reassure her and keep her calm, but his own composure almost falters when he notices his son bury his face into his friends chest and is again glad that he had arranged for Ben to be here just in case this happened, Sarah also notices the two boys and has to force herself to stay where she is and listen to the rest of what had happened.

When he eventually finishes telling his wife everything he knows, including Mr Jones being murdered and Jordan being in hospital, David starts to grow concerned when his wife just sits there with a blank look on her face, he watches her looking over to their son, who is still crying into his friends chest, as Ben rubs his back gently and after a few minutes of silence, David is just about to speak again when Sarah suddenly springs up to her feet.

"I AM GLAD THAT BASTARD IS DEAD!" Sarah shouts full of anger and hate, unknowingly imitating her sons reaction from earlier and looks up in surprise, when her son look up to her with his red puffy eyes laughing, at first everyone just stares at him and David starts to worry that maybe his son has finally had too much to deal with and has snapped, but before he can think too much about it, Ben suddenly starts laughing as well and both Sarah and David look at each other with a mixture of confusion and concern.

"Why are you two laughing?" Sarah then asks, in a concerned tone.

"It's just... what you... just said.... Mrs... Summers it's exactly... what Matt said, when he heard about.... Mr Jones, it even.... sounded the same." Ben manages to say in between his chuckling and snorting and to Sarah's confusion, her husband suddenly starts laughing and before long Sarah can't help but join in with them.

For almost five minutes they continue to laugh, until the sound of Matt crying again stops them, this time though instead of turning to his friend for support, he gets up and almost jumps into his mums arms.

"I'm so sorry Mum, I didn't want to do those things, he made me do them, please forgive me." Matt cries out, causing Sarah to start crying and holding her son tightly, David is just about to join them when he looks over to Ben, who he can see is trying his best to remain strong and not get in the way and David can't help but feel sorry for the boy, he had no one to comfort him and it was David's fault, so he goes over to his sons friend and embraces him instead, Ben is surprised by the show of affection at first and flinches, but soon relaxes and just lets it all out and cries quietly into David's chest.

"Matt you listen to me, I love you and what that man did was wrong and unforgivable, but you have nothing to be sorry for, it's not your fault and you have nothing to be sorry for, do you understand." Sarah says from the heart, she then gently lifts her sons face, so she can look into his eyes, which look painfully red and puffy.

"Thanks Mum, I love you."Matt responds with a smile, he then gently leans over and gives his mum a loving kiss on the cheek, before cuddling her again for a few moments, until Matt takes a moment to look over to his friend.

Matt's heart then instantly drops a little more, as he sees for the first time how much everything has taken out of his friend, who is now crying his heart out in his dads arms, knowing how much his friend has been there for him, Matt decides it's time he returned the favour and lets go of his mum and walks over to his dad and friend, he then gently pulls his friend away from his dad and holds him in his own arms, David now free of the boy gets up and walks over to his wife and puts an arm around her waist, as they both look at the two boys.

"Dad, can we go up to my room please?" Matt asks, looking at his dad for approval and smiles weakly as he nods his approval, Matt then gently pulls his friend to his feet and manages to get him moving towards the stairs, although getting up the stairs proves a little more difficult then he had expected and he has to get his dad to help when his friend refuses to let go of him, but eventually they manage to reach the top and his dad leaves them and heads back to his wife.

§

Matt manages to get his friend into his room, without too much effort, he then just about manages to lock the door behind him and finally gets to his bed, where he sits down with his friend still holding on to him.

"Ben I love you." Matt then says, with a weak smile. "What you have done for me I will never forget and I just want you to know I'm here for you now." He then adds, before lifting his friends face and kissing him softly on the lips, it only takes a few moments before he feels himself being kissed back and they stay like this for a few minutes, before Matt breaks the kiss and also the embrace leaving his sad looking friend, looking at him in confusion.

Matt then moves back to his friend, but instead of embracing him, he starts to remove his friends clothes, Ben at first doesn't react because he is still feeling down, but finally realises what his friend is doing when he feels his shirt being lifted above his chest and helps by lifting his arms and after his shirt is off, he stands up and watches blankly while his friend starts to unbutton his jeans and within a minute Ben is standing naked in front of his friend with tears still rolling down his face, he then watches his friend walk over to his chest of drawers and return with a pair of tighty whiteys and lifts one foot at a time to allow his friend to pull them up and manages to smile weakly.

"Thank you, I love you too." Ben then says sincerely, letting himself be pushed backwards on to the bed and watches as his friend pulls the sheets over him.

"Ben I want you to sleep now, but I need to say goodnight to my parents and then I will come right back okay?" Matt says softly, as he lightly wipes the tears from his friends face.

"Okay Matt, please don't be long though, I don't want to be alone." Ben responds warmly, although Matt can see his friend is already starting to fall asleep and before he has even left the room he can saw that he was already asleep.


Matt then makes his way downstairs, where he find his parents cuddling on the sofa in the living room and starts to have second thoughts about disturbing them, but decides he really needed to speak with them and walks in to the room.

"Hey Mum and Dad, can I talk with you please." Matt asks nervously and startles his parents, they weren't expecting to see either boy until the morning.

"Hey Son, come and join us." David replies, as he and his wife make room for their son to sit in between them, however when he just sits opposite them, he grows a little concerned that something has happened and wonders where Ben is.

"Come and sit with us Honey." Sarah then says in a warm tone, but to her surprise he stays where he is.

"It's okay, it will be easier to talk to both of you if I sit here." Matt responds with a forced smile, he really wanted to just let his parents comfort him, but he had to put his friend first for a change and stayed where he was.

"Son, is it about Mr Jones?" David asks in a concerned tone.

"No, well yeah but that can wait until another day, I want to talk about Ben and what's wrong with him." Matt responds, looking to his parents with an expectant look on his face.

"What do you mean Honey, is Ben okay do you want me to go check on him?" Sarah asks, just beating her husband, who was about to ask the same question.

"No well er... I just don't understand er... he just started crying and looked so er... I don't know, he just looked so weak you know and he er... even fell asleep as soon as I laid him on my bed, is he going to be okay, he isn't ill is he?" Matt explains and can feel tears rolling down his face already.

"No Honey, he isn't ill so don't be worried, he was just exhausted and it just finally caught up with him I guess." Sarah replies, although not really knowing what else to say, she hasn't been around the boys for the past week and thinks about checking up on her sons friend, just in case he really wasn't well.

"But how can he be so tired, he slept more than me or dad did and he didn't seem tired on the way home." Matt asks in confusion, not understanding what his mum is talking about.

"Son, your mum doesn't mean that kind of tired, but I will try to help you understand what she meant okay." David then says, seeing that his son was just getting more confused.

"Okay Dad." Matt responds, he just wants to understand what happened and didn't care who explained it to him.

"I want you to think about the past few weeks and what has happened to you, then I want you to think of how many times Ben has been there for you and how he has helped you through it." David tells his son before pausing, to give him a chance to think over what he has said.

"I still don't get it though, Ben has been great and helped me so much, whenever I was sad he would help me through it, he was so strong and confident and that just made me feel better you know." Matt responds, as he works through all the times his friend had held him and comforted him when he was at his lowest, but still doesn't understand what his dads point is.

"Exactly Son, he has been a rock for you, he put your needs above his own so he could be strong for you, but a person can only keep their emotions locked away for so long, until they burst out and that is what happened to Ben, you see after he saw your mum comforting you, he finally allowed himself to let go and that is why you saw him so emotional and exhausted." David explains, trying to keep it as simple as he could, he doesn't confuse the boy any more than he already appears to be and he hoped he did a good job and also for the first time realised just how good a friend Ben really was to his son, for putting himself through so much to help him, at the expense of his own health and it made him appreciate him even more.

"So it's my fault he is so upset?" Matt suddenly says in a guilty tone and feels more tears roll down his face.

"No Honey, that's not what your dad is saying, none of this is your fault and Ben will tell you the same thing." Sarah says reassuring her son, just like her husband, she had suspected that the boys bond was a lot closer than that of normal friends, but they have very different views on what is right and wrong and she definitely thought that it was adorable and she was happy that her son had someone like that in his life.

"Oh, I think I get it now, so he isn't ill or anything he just needs to er... let his er... you know, just rest right?" Matt responds a little unsure of himself, but he is pretty sure he understands now.

"Yes he will be fine Son, so don't worry about him, is there anything else you want to ask us?" David answers, noticing to his relief that his son is looking a little more happier than he had been a few moments ago.

"Yeah but not today, can I go get some rest as well please?" Matt responds, as he stands up and rubs his eyes, although he is genuinely feeling tired, all he really wanted to do was go and be with his friend and watch him sleep for a while.

"Of course Honey and remember we both love you, good night sweetheart." Sarah answers and gets up to give her son a loving cuddle, just as David moves over and ruffles his sons hair.

"I love you both too." Matt replies and gives both parents a quick peck on the cheek, before heading upstairs, leaving his parents to sit back down and cuddle up to one another..

Just before he is about to open his bedroom door, Matt decides to take a quick detour to the toilet to take a pee and wipe his face clean and as soon as he is done, he goes straight into his room and locks the door behind him and when he turns around his heart almost melts as he stares at his sleeping friend, who just looks so peaceful and cute, he can't help but watch his friends chest rises and fall for a few moments before he slowly strips naked and is so distracted by his sleeping friend, he doesn't realise that he is still naked when he carefully climbs into his bed, trying his best not to wake his friend, he finally gets comfortable and lays on his side facing his friend and gives him a gentle kiss, before slowly falling into his own deep sleep.

§

The next morning Matt is still in a deep sleep, but finds himself slowly being woken up as a strange noise, it almost sounds like someone is calling his name, his eyes then slowly begin to flutter open. but when he suddenly feels something pressing against his lips, his eyes shoot wide open in surprise, until he realizes he is looking into those beautiful sparkling green eyes, that belong to his friend and starts to return the kiss.

"Morning sleepy head." Ben then says playfully, after he breaks the kiss and pushes some of his friends hair away from his eyes.

"What time is it?" Matt replies groggily, as he struggles to wake up fully, much to his own surprise as he is normally and early bird, but he just puts it down to the emotional few days he has just had.

"About six I think." Ben answers and starts to gently stroking his friends cheek, after his sleep he feels a lot better and although he is slightly embarrassed about breaking down in front of everyone, he was glad to get it out of his system and it felt nice to not have it getting him down any more.

"Six in the morning, why did you wake me up?" Matt asks in a slightly annoyed tone, he has never been one to sleep all day, but he did enjoy the occasional lay in and after yesterday he really didn't want to wake up this early.

"Because I couldn't resist, I've been awake for an hour and well I also got curious about something and wanted to ask you why." Ben responds teasingly.

"Why what?" Matt asks and gives his friend a quizzical look.

"Why you are naked?" Ben responds with a big grin on his face, then watches in amusement as his friend looks under the sheets and then back at him blushing.

"I er... don't know er... I'm sorry I didn't..." Matt begins to mumble, he is embarrassed and worries that he has upset his friend.

"I don't mind, I like you being naked, so I decided to join you." Ben responds with a mischievous grin on his face.

"You're naked too?" Matt says, without hiding the excitement in his voice.

"Yeah look." Ben says, before stunning his friend by pulling the bed sheets away and throwing them on the floor, exposing both their naked bodies to each other.

For a few moments they lay in silence, while they both enjoy looking at each other, which becomes even more obvious when they both start to get boners, but neither does anything to hide themselves and for a few more moments just enjoy the view.

"Creep." Matt then says, breaking the silence as he smirks at his friend.

"I'm not the only one though, looks like you really like what you see." Ben retorts with a big grin.

"I think we should er... I want to er... I am going to take a shower and then you can have one after me." Matt suddenly says, surprising his friend at his sudden change in attitude.

"What's wrong, did I do something wrong?" Ben asks, with a little hurt in his voice, he was hoping they could make the most of being up so early and alone together and wonders if he has misunderstood his friends feelings.

"No, wait what?" Matt replies in a confused tone, as he tries to understand his friends question.

"I thought you liked me, you know and now you are er... you seem to want to get away from me." Ben responds, even though he isn't quite sure what he is saying or even why.

"I do like you, don't be stupid but er... this is a little weird you know, not bad weird but er... scary weird, but in a good way I think, but it is still scary you know?" Matt tries to explain, but stumbles on his words and confuses himself as much as his friend.

"Huh? Scary weird, but good weird huh?" Ben responds, totally confused by his friend.

"Sorry I don't know what's happening, I like you, I really, really like you Ben, but I have too much going on to understand it or even try to make sense of it and I really want to talk about it with you, I really do, but I just can't right now, please don't be mad, please don't hate me." Matt pleads to his friend, he remembers back to the pond, where they first talked about this and despite Mr Jones being dead, he still has too much on his mind to understand his feelings for his friend and just hopes he understands.

"I'm not angry, I just guess I forgot you weren't ready, I just want you to know that I love you and when you're ready we can talk." Ben replies, forcing a convincing smile to reassure his friend, despite feeling very hurt inside, he knew he had to be patient and he knew no matter how long it took his friend was worth the wait, but he still couldn't help wanting it to happen right now.

"I'm still sorry that things can't be, you know er... easier, but they will be soon I promise." Matt then says with a genuine smile, he then gives his friend a light kiss on the lips before standing up, it's only then that both boys realise they are both soft, but don't say anything about it.

"You're worth the wait Matt, but I think I better head home though, I want to catch Mitch before he heads out, he usually goes out early on a Saturday to meet up with his mates and I haven't seen him for ages, you don't mind do you?" Ben asks his friend, lying about Mitch going out early, but he needed an excuse to go home, not just because of the awkward exchange they had just had, but also he was still a little embarrassed about last night and didn't want to see his friends parents just yet.

"Oh er... yeah sure, do you want to grab a shower after me and I could walk with you?" Matt asks in a hopeful tone, he was worried his friend was angry at him and didn't want him to go just yet.

"Er... no it's okay, I er... just want to see my brother and can get a shower when I get home, you don't mind do you?" Ben says, as he repeats the last words he had said before and couldn't help but feel a little tug on his heart, when he notices the hurt look on his friends face, but knew for now he just wanted to get away and not be with his friend for a while.

"It's okay I guess, we can meet up later or something though right?" Matt responds, trying to hide the fact his friends rejection hurt, but unknowingly failing as Ben can't help but see it in his face.

"Sure we can talk later, or something sure." Ben replies awkwardly, as neither boy really knows what to say and just look at each other for a few moments, before Matt walks over to his door and unlocks it.

§

While his friend takes his shower, Ben gets dressed and heads downstairs to find his bag, he takes one last look up his friends stairs and quietly unlocks the front door and leaves, taking a very slow and unhappy walk home, trying his best to make sense of what just happened and how it is going to affect things, he eventually makes it to his front door and is just about to open it, when he suddenly remembers that he doesn't have his key and it's still too early for either his dad or brother to be awake and can't help but sink down to his knees, where he starts to cry, he just can't believe how his day had started so brilliantly, after discovering his friend was naked and then both being naked and now he was a complete mess.

He is still crying quietly, when he hears the front door opening in front of him and almost screams out when he feels something wrap around him, but just before he does he looks up and realises who is holding him and without saying anything, he just buries his head in his brothers chest and cries his heart out.

"Hey, hey what's up little guy?" Mitch asks in concern, as he holds his little brother tightly, feeling him physically shaking as he cries. "Come on buddy, what happened?" He adds, but still gets no reply, not really knowing quite what to do, Mitch decides to pick his little brother up and carry him inside to the living room, where he then places him on the sofa, before kneeling down in front of him. "Come on talk to me Ben." He then says, trying his best to get his little brother to talk and takes both his hands into his own.

"I was locked out and didn't want to wake you or dad." Matt replies, barely loud enough to hear, Mitch however can't help but be surprised at his little brothers answer and looks at him quizzically.

"Come on Ben, we both know you aren't this upset, just because you couldn't get inside, it's not even seven yet, so shouldn't you still be round Matt's house?" Mitch responds, deciding to take control of the conversation in the hope he can get the truth out of his little brother.

"Why are you awake?" Ben suddenly asks, again causing Mitch to be confused by his little brother and is now growing more concerned and begins to worry that something bad has happened.

"Dad got called into work, there was some sort of emergency, so he woke me to let me know, I was actually just going to head back upstairs to sleep, but I heard someone crying outside." Mitch answers, deciding to take a different approach to get to the bottom of this.

"So Dad isn't here then?" Ben asks and for the first time looks up and into his brothers eyes in a hopeful gaze, realising that this may just be the perfect time to talk with his brother.

"No, it's just the two of us little guy, so why don't you tell me what's really going on here, is it to do with what we talked about on the phone the other day?" Mitch responds and gently uses his fingers to stroke his brothers hands, as he continues to hold them.

"Yeah, it's just not fair Mitch, why can't we just be happy." Ben responds. as more of a statement than a question, which causes Mitch to raise an eyebrow.

"What's not fair Ben, you're going to have to be a lot clearer, if you want me to be able to help you little guy." Mitch replies in a caring voice, he was confident that he knew this had some thing to do with his little brother and Matt kissing, but he wasn't one hundred percent sure and didn't want to embarrass his little brother, if he had it all wrong.

"Mitch it happened again, we were kissing and naked, but then he suddenly got all weird again and said he wanted to have a shower and that we should get dressed, like he didn't like what we were doing." Ben explains, trying his best to be clearer and looks at his brother hoping he had the answers and would make everything better.

"Naked... oh never mind I shouldn't be surprised, so er... anyway, were you doing anything else except kissing?" Mitch asks, not quite sure he really wanted to hear the answer to that question, he loved his little brother and wanted to help him, but that didn't mean he wanted to know all the details in his little brothers life, but then at the same time he had to look out for him and if it meant feeling uncomfortable than so be it.

"I don't know, we just kissed and then we noticed that we er... both had you know er... boners and he teased me, so I teased him back and he then suddenly got weird and I told him that I loved him." Ben answers honestly and again looks at his brother expectantly.

"You love him?" Mitch says in surprise, he couldn't believe they were already thinking about that sort of thing, although he doubted at their age they actually knew what it really meant, he had got the impression from his little brother on the phone, that the boys didn't understand their feelings so maybe this was part of the problem and he started to think of how he could help them both.

"Well yeah, like I love you and dad, I love him too." Ben replies, actually smiling for the first time as he says those words, giving Mitch something to think about, he had seen smiles like that before and maybe his little brother was in love.

"I see, well we can talk about that a bit later, why don't you tell me what you said to him after he teased you about er... you know." Mitch starts to say, but can't help but feel a little weird speaking so openly about his little brothers body, even though he knows he needs answers and he would do anything for his brother, although it was still a bit weird.

"It was nothing, I just said 'I am not the only one, looks like you really like looking at me too' and pointed at his boner, then he went weird and we sort of talked a little and he said he wishes things were easier so we could just be happy together and said he just has too much on his mind and asked me to just give him time, I don't understand though why does he need time?" Ben explains and even though he would wait forever for his friend, it didn't mean he wanted it to and he just wanted to understand his feelings.

"Oh well that's a lot to take in, but just hear me out please and I will try to explain to you, what I think is going on." Mitch says in a reassuring tone, thinking he had figured out the boys issue.

"I just want to understand Mitch." Ben responds, genuinely just wanting to understand his feelings as well as his friends behaviour, he knew his friend had serious things happening and he knew he should give him time, but for some reason he just couldn't stop himself wanting it all now, despite everything else that was happening.

So Mitch starts to tell his little brother about what being in love means and how it affects people and those around them in different ways, he goes through everything he can think of that is relevant to his little brothers situation and by the end of it feels a little exhausted, but he thinks that he has managed to get through to his little brother, although he still hasn't answered the question of why Matt needs more time, because he really doesn't know and that is when he remembers what his little brother had told him the evening he called him while he was on his trip.

"Ben, the only thing I can't really answer is why he needs more time, but I think you may already know the reason and because of your own confusion, you just can't see it." Mitch tells his little brother, who just gives him a confused look.

"What do you mean?" Ben asks, wondering where his brother was going with this.

"You told me something big was happening in his life and when he got back everyone would know about it, can you tell me now what that is and maybe it will help me explain to you what is happening with him." Mitch explains, but when he sees the look on his brothers face, he wonders if he has done the right thing, in asking him to tell him what that was.

A few moments pass and just as his brother is about to say something, Ben starts to talk, revealing the story he has heard too many times for his own liking, but if this will help him understand not only his own feelings but also his friends, then he knew it would be worth it, although he makes a point of avoiding eye contact as much as possible, while he tells his brother everything and it isn't until he is finished, that then he notices his brothers mouth is wide open in shock, however it's the unmistakable look of anger in his brothers eyes that gets his attention.

"Mitch, you aren't angry at me are you?" Ben asks nervously and flinches as his brother suddenly snaps out of his daze and locks right on to his eyes.

"Oh shit sorry no, I was just thinking how I was going to kill that son of a bitch teacher of yours, but someone already beat me to it, holy shit though is Matt okay, oh shit wait that's a stupid question, this is so messed up." Mitch states, struggling to get his head around the whole thing and actually forgets the fact that this was meant to help him explain things to his little brother and instead finds himself wondering if he should go see Matt and help him.

"Yeah, but what does it have to do with him needing more time Mitch?" Ben then asks, knowing how selfish the question must sound, but he just honestly believed that if he can understand his and his friends feelings then he can help his friend and then they could be together.

"Honestly I'm not sure, I mean as I see it now there are two options I can see, the first is to just let everything else settle down and just be friends, support him like you have been doing already and when it's finally over, you two can then talk about your feelings and see if you really are more than friends, of course that means you will have to be strong and ignore your own feelings until then, but if he really means that much to you, than it shouldn't matter how long you have to wait." Mitch explains, stopping to give his little brother a chance to process that and ask any questions before moving on.

"I think that is what he meant, but it's so hard Mitch, one minute it's like we are the only two people in the world and then it's like he realises what's happening and gets scared and it's so hard you know, what is the other option, what is that?" Ben asks, trying to lift his spirits after feeling himself getting close to tears again, Mitch however takes a few moments to think, it's clear to him the first option may tear the two boys apart and he doesn't want that to happen and just wants to make sure he words the second option in the right way.

"I know Ben, but love is never easy and you could always come to me to support you, you don't have to go through this alone and I know you already know the wait would be worth it, because I know this will sound weird coming from your big brother, but you and Matt are adorable together and it's obvious how much you care for each other, so just don't give up on him and as for the second option, well that one is a bit more risky, but I think it could get you exactly what you want." Mitch states and is about to continue when his little brother jumps in, clearly excited but just as impatient.

"What is it, please just tell me... please." Ben pleads excitedly, causing his brother to give him a funny look.

"Just calm down a bit Ben, as I was saying, it's risky because it could backfire and you could just push him away from you, he's been through a lot and I'm sorry to say this, but something like that can change a person." Mitch begins to explain again, but can tell his little brother is going to interrupt him, so quickly tries to finish what he was saying. "before you jump in again though, the second option is just to tell him how you feel, get him alone somewhere, where you won't get interrupted and just tell him everything you feel for him, you do know how you feel now right?" He finishes explaining and just checks to make sure his little brother understands his own feelings.

"Yeah I think so, yeah after what you told me, I know I love him, just not in the same way as I love you or Dad, but definitely more than a friend right?" Ben states, with a shy smile on his face, as he looks at his brother for approval.

"Yes, I think you got it little guy, now when you do this, he is either going to shut down completely and try to get away, he may even get angry at you and it really could ruin your friendship, so you have to think about this before you make a decision, however I think it will force him to actually face up to his own feelings and will actually help him, I think he is maybe just too scared to tell you how he feels, just in case you reject him and he is just protecting himself by hiding behind the other stuff." Mitch tries to explain as clearly as he can, but he knows he is not an expert and just hopes he is doing and saying the right thing.

"What do you mean protect himself, how can he not know how I feel, I told him I love him already." Ben asks, not understanding his brothers point at all.

"Think about what he has been through Ben, all the way back to losing his best friend in England, then the incident with his parents and his well you know what, then what Conner, Andy and Simon did to him in the park and then we have that pervert Mr Jones, wouldn't you be scared to get hurt again? So he probably does knows how you feel, but because of all those things, he is focusing on the tiny chance you may reject him, rather than believe you love him, does that make any sense to you?" Mitch explains and surprises himself as much as his little brother, with how much sense that made and it also makes him realise just how much Matt had actually been through and really starts to feel like he needed to do more to help the boy from now on.

"But er... oh I think I get it Mitch, I think I understand I really do, if I say it first and tell him everything I feel about him, he won't be afraid any more and he will love me back right?" Ben says excitedly, although slightly twisting his brothers words.

"Whoa there little guy, remember I'm just guessing here and I don't know how he will react, so don't get your hopes up because it could go wrong, but for what it's worth, what ever you choose to do I want you to know that I'm going to be there for you no matter what happens." Mitch says and smiles as he can see that his little understands what he has been telling him.

"Sorry, when should I tell him though, I want to tell him now Mitch, please can I call him now and tell him, please Mitch?" Ben pleads excitedly and Mitch realises that maybe he jumped the gun a little and his brother hadn't understood everything he had told him, so he decides to pull him to his feet, then places his hands on top of his shoulders and looks him straight in the eyes.

"Look you need to calm down Ben and think about what I just said, if you go on like this, you will ruin any chance you have and just scare him away." Mitch tells him sternly, this time leaving no doubt in his little brothers mind, that he needs to calm down and think about this.

"Sorry." Ben replies meekly, realising he is acting like a baby and blushes.

"Look despite what I just told you Ben, I actually think you should give him a call to come over, the sooner you both know where you stand and how you feel the better for both of you, but before you go all hyper again, let me call dad first and see what time he will be home." Mitch instructs his little brother and doesn't wait for a response as he pulls his phone out and starts to call their dad and after a brief exchange Mitch turns to his little brother smiling.

"What did he say Mitch, what did he say tell me..." Ben says failing to hide his excitement, but managing to at least not get too carried away this time.

"Dad won't be home until at least six o'clock, so why don't you go take a shower and change, then we can have another little chat, because there is something I need to talk to you about and it is quite important." Mitch responds in a kind tone and can't help but smile, when his little brother hugs him tightly, before letting go and practically skipping up upstairs to the bathroom, causing Mitch to laugh to himself.

§

After showering and changing, Ben quickly comes skipping back into the living room, where he notices his brother has made him an OJ and some sandwiches to eat and turns to give him a curious look.

"You took so long, I thought I would make you some breakfast, I'm guessing you haven't eaten for a while and well it gives us a little more time before, well lets just say I don't think either of us is going to enjoy the talk we are about to have, but if things go the way I think they will between you and Matt, then you need to know, so once again you can thank me later for being the best big brother ever." Mitch says with a smile and ruffles his little brothers hair causing him to giggle.

Ben thinks about asking his brother what the talk was about, but once he takes another look at the sandwiches and OJ, he realises just how hungry he actually is and sits down quickly and to his older brothers amusement, makes light work of the meal, he then takes a few moments to let the food settle down, before turning to his brother who is still smirking at him.

"What?" Ben asks his brother curiously, wondering why his brother is looking at him like that.

"Just never seen you eat so fast, I think you may regret being in such a hurry when you realise what I am going to talk to you about." Mitch says with a cheesy grin and Ben suddenly gets a bad feeling and wishes he had taken his time with the food. "So remember when you told me about what happened at the pond, you know when you and Matt kissed and stuff." He then adds cutting right to the chase, even though he was smiling and teasing his little brother, he was not looking forward to this conversation at all, but his little brother needed to know and his well being always came first.

"Er... yeah I told you we just kissed and stuff, what about it?" Ben asks nervously, wondering what this has to do with anything and worrying whether this is going to be another 'sex talk' and couldn't help but blush.

"Well you said you were both naked and while you were kissing both of your er... you know what er... touched and you felt all weird and tingly before he moved away right?" Mitch asks and joins his little brother by turning bright red, although not quite as red as his little brother, who looks like he is going to explode or pass out.

"Oh no, Mitch please don't, I wish I never told you that, do we have to talk about it, it's so embarrassing, please don't Mitch." Ben pleads, when he realises this is going to be one of 'those' conversations and wishes the ground would swallow him up.

"I will take that as a yes and trust me Ben, I really don't want to do this, but you have to know, so just shut up and listen so we can get this over with as quickly as possible." Mitch explains firmly and without waiting for a reply carries on and to his little brothers horror and to his own discomfort, he explains the ins and outs of masturbation, not sparring any of the details and just explaining anything relevant that he can think of and after what seemed like a lifetime he finally finishes, but when he then looks at the clock to see only ten minutes have passed, he lets out a sigh and turns back to his little brother who has somehow managed to turn an even more impressive shade of red and they both just sit there in silence for a few minutes, before Mitch decides to break the silence.

"Do you have any questions?" Mitch asks, as Ben slowly looks up at him.

"I don't know, you aren't messing with me are you though, you promise?" Ben responds, not really sure how he is feeling right now at this new information, a part of him wants to test it out himself, but the other part thinks that it's kind of gross and maybe his brother is just trying to play a trick on him and will just laugh at him for being stupid enough to believe him.

"I promise you everything I have told you is the truth and just to be clear Ben, just because I told you this doesn't mean you have to jump right in and start doing it, you're only eleven years old, I was almost thirteen before I started doing it, so there is no rush and while I'm being honest, I kind of envy you a little bit." Mitch responds, surprising himself that he admitted to envying his little brother, he hadn't planned on saying anything like that even if it was true.

"You envy me?" Ben asks, while giving his brother a questioning look.

"Oh crap, I wasn't meant to say that, it's just well shit, I might as well say it now I guess, look if you and Matt end up the way I think you will after today, you and him are going to be growing up and discovering things together, where everyone else like me had to find these sex things out for ourselves and for the most part discover them alone, you though are going to have Matt to discover them with and trust me when I say this Ben, as good as this stuff feels on your own, compared to doing them with another person, it doesn't even come close, it's just amazing and well I just think you're a lucky little shit, so yeah I envy the fact you will get to share so many amazing firsts with him." Mitch reluctantly explains, but unintentionally piquing his brothers curiosity a little bit more.

"What do you mean by sharing firsts though, what does that mean?" Ben asks curiously and Mitch can't believe he just landed himself in more sex talk with his little brother.

"Well sex stuff you dumb ass, what else have we been talking about and no I'm not going to tell you what they are, it will be more fun for you and Matt to find out for yourselves and well just trust me, the first times are always the most special." Mitch responds, as he ruffles his brothers hair, he really didn't want to have to go into that kind of detail and hoped his little brother just let it go.

"Why are they so special though, won't they be rubbish compared to if you've done them before?" Ben then asks curiously, destroying his brothers hopes that they can move on to a more comfortable topic.

"Oh trust me, they will definitely be better after a few attempts, but those first times will be more special than any other, think of them as your first steps or first words, they certainly weren't your best, but they will always be the most special, even if you can't remember those Ben, Dad can and if you ask him about them, I bet you will see his eyes light up with pride." Mitch responds with a warm smile, happy that he managed to come up with an explanation, that didn't involve going into any great detail.

"Oh, I think I get it now, so can I call Matt now?" Ben asks, although he knows he doesn't really need permission, he just feels because of what is brother had done for him it's the right thing to do.

"Of course you can, but remember not to get your hopes up too much, oh and by the way do you want me to stay home or disappear for a few hours when he comes round?" Mitch responds and smiles at the excitement on his face.

"Oh er... I don't know, won't it be weird talking to him about our feelings with you here?" Ben replies and tries to think if he should let his brother stay or not.

"Honestly Ben, I think it would be best if I left, you can always call me and let me know if you need me to come home or if you want more time, you will just have to remember that dad will be home after six, so whatever happens don't forget about him." Mitch tells his brother, reminding him that there is a time limit.

They both eventually agree that Mitch should make himself disappear, which he is happy to do because he wanted to hang out with his mates to discuss some things and that Ben should call Matt and get him to come over as soon as possible, which he does while his brother takes a shower and gets changed.


The phone call doesn't quite go according to how Ben had imagined it would, there was still some awkwardness between them from earlier and it takes Ben almost ten minutes before he finally gets his friend to come over and when he hangs up he has a big grin on his face, he is so excited that he is finally going to be happy and feels on top of the world, until he turns around and is suddenly tackled to the ground and begins to laugh in hysterics, as his brother tickles him mercilessly.

"STOP... STOP IT... OH GOD STOP..." Ben cries out, as he begs his brother to let him go.

"Make me little guy." Mitch replies mockingly, as he continues his tickle torture, he loves his little brother more than anything and they have always had fun teasing each other and knew his little brother wouldn't be angry.

"STOP... PLEASE... I'M GOING TOO PEE... OH GOD STOP... I'M GOING TOO.... PEE." Ben continues to cry out. still laughing his head off, despite really needing to pee and just prays his brother realises he is being serious.

"Well we can't have you making a mess now can we and I did just showered." Mitch replies and finally releases his little brother, who takes a few moments to realise he's been let go and just as Mitch is about to tease him some more, he suddenly jumps up and runs to the bathroom as fast as he can and almost trips up the stairs which causes Mitch to laugh, as he watches his little brother disappear up the stairs.

However when Ben returns, he gives his still grinning brother an angry glare before kicking him in the shin, causing Mitch to hop around and give him a questioning look, he knew that wasn't a playful kick and it actually did hurt.

"Oh shit Ben, that actually hurt." Mitch states, he is surprised his little brother had kicked him that hard, he had expected some sort of retaliation, but before he could give it any more thought, he noticed that his brother had changed clothes and suddenly feels like the biggest jerk ever, when he realises why his little brothers kicked him so hard. "Oh shit, you didn't make it did you?" He then asks in a guilty tone.

"What do you think you dick head." Ben responds, his voice full of anger and embarrassment.

"I was only playing around, I didn't realise, shit little guy, I'm so sorry." Mitch says sincerely, he had only meant to have a little fun and now he knows he has just messed up big time.

"I'm sorry for kicking you, I know you were only playing but it still sucks, you better not tell anyone, you promise?" Ben then says, surprising Mitch, who had expected to pay heavily for his mistake.

"What and risk you kicking the hell out of my other leg, no way dude, I ain't messing with you again." Mitch replies, rubbing his leg in mock pain and relaxes as his little brother starts to laugh.

"You can be a real butt head you know, but you are the best brother ever and I love you." Ben then states, before giving his brother a big hug, normally he would have sulked and been angry at his brother for something like this, but he was just too excited about what is going to happen when his friend came round, to worry about that sort of thing.

"It's not hard, when you have the best little brother to look out for and he can't half kick hard either, now how did it go with Matt, is he coming over?" Mitch responds and ruffles his brothers hair again, he didn't really have to ask how it went, because if Matt wasn't already on his way round, then his little brother wouldn't be talking to him right now and he knew he got lucky, because what he did was pretty shitty and he was genuinely annoyed with himself.

"Thanks Mitch and well Matt will be here soon, are you going to go before when he gets here or after?" Ben responds and looks at his older brother.

"I'm actually going to head out now, just remember to call me, so I know if I need to come home or stay away and don't forget Ben." Mitch tells his little brother, as he makes his way to the door, leaving his little brother to hopefully have a very good day.

§

Ben waits patiently at the front door for his friend to arrive, he keeps going over and over again in his head what he is going to say and playing out every possible scenario his mind can come up with, when after what seemed like hours, but had actually only been ten minutes, he hears a soft knock at the door and opens it immediately, smiling at the sight of his friend, who he thought somehow looked more beautiful than ever, he then wonders when his friend went from being cute to beautiful in his mind, but is pulled back to reality by his friends voice.

"Are you okay, you look weird." Matt asks, as he looks at his friends weird expression.

"Oh yeah, sorry guess I er... come on then get inside." Ben responds nervously, as he comes to his senses a little too late, to stop himself looking completely stupid in front of his friend.

The boys then stand awkwardly at first and attempt to make small talk, but it's clear that this might not be as easy as Ben had imagined and Matt actually starts to think, that maybe he should make up some excuse to leave, as the awkwardness seems too increase more as they look at each other, but Ben suddenly decides he needs to say something and should just come out with it.

"I love you Matt and I wanted you to know that I mean it and I want us to be boyfriends." Ben blurts out quickly, he then looks at his friend, who looks absolutely stunned and is just standing there open mouthed... "Matt did you hear me, I said I love you, isn't it great?" He then adds, trying his best to sound happy, Matt though is still just looking at him with his stunned expression, which starts to cause Ben to worry, that his brother was right about how this could go wrong.

Ben continues to stand waiting nervously, not really knowing what to do and just hoping his friend will say something or at least react in some way, so he knows what he is thinking, because he is suddenly wishing he had asked his brother to stay, he knew Mitch would know what to do right now, because this was going all wrong and wished he had never said anything, he was sure his friend now hated him and tears began to fill his eyes up.

"Matt can you say something please... you're scaring me..." Ben finally manages to say, as his bottom lip starts to tremble slightly.

Ben then drops his head and looks down at his feet, when he feels tears fall down his face, he is about to tell his friend to just go home, so he can go to his room and cry, when he suddenly feels a hand on his chin and feels his face being lifted, but before he can say anything he feels his friends lips press against his own and all the feelings of rejection and sadness fall away and are replaced with happiness and love, the kiss only lasts for a minute, but to Ben it was the best minute of his life and when he feels his friend wipe away his tears away, he smiles happily.

"I'm sorry Ben, but I don't think I'm ready to be your boyfriend." Matt then states, instantly breaking his friends heart and Ben just stands there trembling. "But I do love you, I just don't know what that means and until I do, I don't think we should move too fast." He then adds and Ben sighs a little in relief, he is still feeling a little rejected, but at least his friend didn't hate him.

"You Dumb Ass, you scared the crap out of me, of course it makes sense and I'm sorry I blurted out the boyfriend thing, I just got a little over excited and the awkward silence was horrible, so I just said what I was thinking... Mitch told me not to get too excited and I should have listened." Ben then responds, but as soon as the words about his brother leave his mouth, he knows he may have slipped up and the look on his friends face confirms it, as a look of fear spreads across it.

"You told Mitch about us?" Matt asks in surprise, but the anger in his voice is clear and Ben knew he had to think fast.

"Well not really, I was talking to him on our trip in the tent, you know when I left you and your dad alone to talk the first time and well he sort of just came out with it, I didn't know what to say, he somehow already knew and was surprised that we didn't already know ourselves and he said we were cute together." Ben explains honestly, but he can't quite tell from his friends face, whether he just made the situation better or worse.

"He knew, but how, I didn't know for sure until we were kissing in that pond and wait he thinks we are cute together?" Matt responds in a bemused tone, as he tries to make sense of his friends revelation and what this means for him and his friend.

"Yeah, apparently the way we act around each other and how close were are gave it away, oh and he said the being naked together thing was a big sign too." Ben again answers honestly, he is starting to get a good feeling about everything now and can see his friend doesn't seem to be angry any more.

"So er... you talked with him about us?" Matt then asks, more curiously than accusingly, wanting to know what the older boys reaction was.

"Yeah well to be honest, I wanted to talk to you about these feelings, but you weren't ready, so I asked Mitch and he talked things through with me and made me realise how I really felt about you, I knew I loved you, but I didn't know what it meant, he helped me see that I loved you in a different way than I love my family and in a different way than a friend likes another friend and that is how you feel right, you love me more than a friend and in a different way to your family right?" Ben answers with his own question and waits for his friend to reply.

"Yeah I do love you, I think about you all the time and when we are together I just want to kiss you and hold hands, but it was so scary and weird, I definitely don't want other people to know though, maybe we could keep this a secret for a while and then see what happens." Matt answers and waits to see if his friend understands.

"I feel the same way, we should just be with each other and see what happens and we always have Mitch to talk to, he won't tell anyone I promise and he is so cool he even came up with this idea to tell you how I feel, because he said the reason you didn't want to talk, is because you were scared I might not feel the same way, because of everything you have been through, you know with Mr Jones and the other things that happened." Ben says and again realises too late what he just said.

"You told him about Mr Jones?" Matt responds angrily and takes a step away from his friend.

"Oh shit, I'm so bad at this, I'm sorry but I just needed to talk to someone Matt and I got so upset Mitch knew something was wrong and me and him don't have secrets, he already knew about us and I trust him with my life Matt, please don't be mad at me, you know he sees you as his little brother and he would never do anything too hurt you." Ben quickly responds from the heart, hoping his honesty is enough for his friend to not hate him.

"Oh shit Ben, okay fine I trust him too and you, but is there anything else I should know, because you can't keep coming out with all these revelations, otherwise I'm going to have a heart attack or something." Matt responds, as he feels his anger disappear, he knows Mitch is not going to hurt him and actually feels relieved, because it's one less person he has to tell himself, he really hated the thought he might have to tell more people about what had happened to him and suddenly he remembers Jordan.

"Not really, well just that I wet myself earlier." Ben confesses, deciding to sacrifice his pride to make up for scaring his friend so many times in such a short period of time and the look on his friends face is priceless and he knows his sacrifice was worth it.

"You what, dude that's so gross, why would you tell me that and how?" Matt replies in disbelief, not knowing what would possess his friend to confess to wetting himself.

"Sorry, I just wanted to even the score between us, you know for revealing all that stuff and well I may have the best big brother ever, but he can be a dick sometimes, he tickled me and didn't let me go quickly enough and well I didn't make it to the toilet in time... so can we call it even now and like just kiss and stuff now?" Ben explains, before grinning from ear to ear.

"Okay we're even, but before we get all lovey dovey, there is something we need to do today." Matt responds, causing his now horny friend to look at him curiously.

"Well yeah, I guess we can get naked too, I like kissing you naked." Ben then says grinning again, as he moves towards his friend and totally misunderstanding the situation.

"You're such a creep Ben, I'm trying to be serious so just listen to me first." Matt states smiling, as he has to actually physically hold back his overly excited friend, who gives him an adorable pout that almost makes him forget all about Jordan, but he manages to resist his friend for a few more moments.

"This better be good, we are missing out on some good er... how did you put it, lovey dovey time." Ben says teasingly and stares deeply into his friends sparkling green eyes.

"Damn it, stop being so sexy for a minute, we need to go see Jordan today, he's still at the hospital and well I feel bad for him, you don't mind do you?" Matt manages to say, although even as the words leave his mouth, he can't help but get lost in his friends beautiful green eyes and almost doesn't hear his friends reply.

"Oh shit Jordan, I totally forgot about him shit, I hope he's okay should we go now?" Ben replies, as the realization that he had forgotten about his friend makes him feel like a selfish jerk.

"It's only like seven thirty Ben, we can go later, besides they won't even let us see him until visiting hours right, so we should just have some fun until then." Matt answers and surprises his friend by lunging at him and tackling him to the floor, where he starts kissing him lovingly.

The boys then playfully wrestle around on the floor kissing each other for almost ten minutes, before Ben breaks away and gets to his feet with a mischievous look on his face, causing Matt to look at him wondering what his friend is thinking.

"Let's get naked." Ben states grinning, as he slowly starts to remove his t-shirt.

"You're such a creep, I'm not getting naked yet." Matt responds firmly, but he can't help but stare at his friend who is now topless.

"Well I am." Ben says grinning again, before throwing his t-shirt to the ground, he then bends down to remove his socks, as his friend continues to stares at him.

"No, come on let's just go slow and at least keep our underwear on" Matt then states half distracted by his friends body, he just couldn't resist looking, but he definitely wanted to try and avoid getting naked for now.

"Fine, but why?" Ben asks, he is a little disappointed but also a little excited to see his friend... no his boyfriend... or are they still just friends, he thinks to himself still not quite knowing what they actually are now, but soon loses his train of thought as his friends t-shirt hits the floor in front of him.

"Because it will be more fun to go slow and give us something to do later on." Matt explains, as he kicks his shoes off and bends down to pull his socks off as well, he then stands back up and slips his shorts down revealing his tighty whiteys and smiles shyly, when he notices his friend checking him out.

"Okay you win." Ben replies, not taking his eyes away from his friends tighty whiteys, he unbuttons his jeans and lets them fall to the floor and steps out of them and now is just standing in his briefs.

With both boys now standing in just their underwear, they take a few moments to just look at each other and an awkward silence develops, however before it goes on too long Matt quickly turns around to see where his shorts ended up and in the process gives his friend a brilliant idea to get what he wants and lets out a fake gasp, that causes Matt to turn round quickly wondering what happened.

"What... are you okay?" Matt asks, as he looks at his friend who has an almost disgusted look on his face.

"Eww you got skiddies..." Ben states, trying hard not to give the game away, by being over the top and hs to force himself not to smile at the look of horror on his friends face.

"No I don't you creep." Matt says defensively, but he can feel his face grow bright red and starts to have doubts, despite knowing he had a shower and hadn't gone to the toilet yet, he couldn't help being paranoid.

"Yeah you have, Eww you're so gross..." Ben then says, as he starts to tease his friend into his trap.

"Shut up you're lying." Matt responds, as he feels himself die of shame and feeling mortified.

"Look for yourself skid mark, I'm just going to get dressed." Ben responds smirking and watches as his friend tries to get a look at the back of his undies, but Ben knows there is only one way his friend is going to know for sure and continues to pretend he is reaching down for his clothes to get dressed.

Matt completely falling for his friends lie, reluctantly removes his tighty whiteys, he didn't want to be naked yet, but he had to prove to his friend that he didn't have skiddies and is about to cheer in triumph, after he inspects them and finds no marks, when he hears his friend begin to talk again.

"Well if you're getting naked, than so am I." Ben declares, almost ripping his briefs off before throwing them at his friends head and laughs as they hit their target.

"You creep, you tricked me." Matt says half angry and half excited, as he pulls his friends briefs from his face and throws them to the ground along with his own and pouts at his friend.

Without saying anything, Ben walks over to his friend, pulls him into his body and kisses him, it only takes Matt a few moments, before he melts into his friends body and kisses him back, but just as the boys get lost in each other, they are startled by the front door being opened and turn in horror as someone walks in with a look of shock, as their eyes fall on the two naked boys holding each other...

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