Saturday, early afternoon, two weeks after the beach

Sometimes, the weather just sucks. I spent all week excited to go to the beach just to have my hopes and dreams crushed by a freak storm. Ok, maybe it wasn't really THAT bad, the storm wasn't coming our way so we could still go to Verity Field, but it did mean I wouldn't get to admire Calvin's shirtless body. 

Martin was swinging a baseball bat around as we took gear out of Mat's trunk. He was holding it all wrong, but that wasn't really surprising. We'd work on it. I was holding a duffle bag with Brandon's plates, ball container, and knee pads in it and helping Mat carry a cooler. Brandon was loaded down carrying way too much, but I didn't say anything, he would just get angry.

Verity Field was a big, popular place, but it didn't take long to find a spot to park in. It wasn't super busy today, maybe people thought the storm would come. I started putting plates down in a diamond while Brandon explained baseball to our nerds. Six people wasn't enough to really play the game, but hitting the ball and running around would be enough for us. 

"We'll start by just playing catch. I want you guys to get used to throwing the ball." Brandon was saying as I got back to the group. 

Mat handed me a mitt. "Five bucks says we don't get to actually play til five." 

I looked over the nerds, their eager, excited faces, I was sure they'd do their best. "You think we'll get there at all? We won't play til next time."

He laughed and we shook on it. "Bet." 

"I got Calvin." I called out, approaching him. 

"I got my coon bro." Mat said. 

Brandon patted Jeremy's shoulder. "Guess you're with me."

Calvin and I stood off at what I thought was a fair distance. He looked serious, his eyes narrowed in concentration, his tail down and curled at the tip, one foot behind the other. Maybe he'd surprise me, maybe he'd do better than I expected. I wasn't ready for his pitch. It was all arm, bent at the elbow, the ball veered to the side and hit the ground way before it would have reached me if it were thrown straight.

"Great!" I yelled. "Maybe try throwing it at me next time!" 

He was laughing. "It's harder than I thought!" 

It looked like I was going to win the bet. I picked the ball up and tossed it underhanded to Calvin. He managed to fumble it, but at least it was still by his feet. 

I picked it up again. "You wanna hold it like this." I told him, holding it with my thumb and first two fingers. "Put your whole body into the throw, not just your arm. Twist your body, wind up your arm." I made him practice the motion a few times before letting him throw it for real. He did better this time. 

"Can you be a little closer this time?" He asked.

We spent the next thirty minutes or so throwing the ball to each other, he was catching on faster than I expected. Eventually, I was able to go a little further back with each throw. Next was batting practice. 

"Great job, Cal. You're learning fast." I told him. His tail raised, pleased with the praise. "Think you're ready for the next step?" 

"Hitting the ball?" He asked. He seemed excited for this part. 

"Yup. Don't expect that to be so easy, though." I warned him. I grabbed a bat and handed it him. 

He gave it a few one handed swings before holding it in both hands. "Do I have to hold it a special way?"

This was exactly what I was hoping for. I grabbed the bat with on hand and one of his hands with the other. "Here, you're right handed, put your right hand a little higher on the handle, your left hand will be the bottom hand." I got behind him and helped him maneuver his arms with my hands on his. He pressed against me, his body was warm, he smelled lightly of exertion, his fur was as soft as ever. I wanted to draw him in even closer. Focus, Kyle. Think about that later. 

I guided him through a few practice swings before letting him go on his own. When I decided he was ready, I threw a gentle, underhanded toss his way. He surprised me by hitting it on his first try. 

"Way to go, Calvin!" I yelled. 

"You were going easy on me." He was grinning anyways. 

"Yeah, but you still did it." I ran for the ball, came back, and tossed it again. His second hit wasn't as good, but he either didn't know or didn't care. He was pleased with himself. After a few more easy throws, I went a little harder. He missed more often now, but he was improving steadily. Not bad for a first timer. 

We spent longer on batting practice before we all decided we were ready for the actual game. Mat checked his phone. "Hey! How 'bout a lunch break?" I checked the time, three fifty-five. Mat, you fuck. I may not win the bet, but I sure as hell won't let you win it either. He flashed me a smile, he knew that I knew. 

"Sounds good!" Brandon agreed before I could object. 

"I guess a little break can't hurt. Not too long, though, I wanna see how Calvin does in a real game. He's a natural batter." I was only exaggerating a little. Mat was holding back a laugh. 

Brandon got to the cooler first and started drinking one bottle of Crocade while passing out others. Martin tried to go for a soda instead, but Brandon snatched it out of his hand. "No. Hydrate first. You can drink that later." 

Jeremy snickered. "Yeah, Martin, we don't want you to have any excuses when we whoop your ass!" 

Martin shoved him and started drinking. I took a sandwich, Mat tried to grab a cookie but was stopped by a growling Brandon. This sent Jeremy and Martin into hysterics and gave me an idea. 

"Don't eat too much before the game. Running on a full stomach sucks." I warned the nerds, making sure Brandon could hear. 

"He's right. Eat light for now, we can finish it up after the game." Brandon said around a bite of his apple. 

"Or we can sit for a while and let it settle. We have plenty of time." Mat chimed in.

Shut up, Mat!  "We're already warmed up, I don't wanna waste that."

"What's with the rush, Bro? You have somewhere to be?" He asked. 

"I wanna get to the game." Martin said. Calvin agreed. Suck it, Mat! Your coon bro is on my side!

Mat's tail twitched. "You know that means you'll have to wait even longer for your root beer."

Martin gave a longing look at the ice chest. "I can wait." 

"How's the game going to work? You guys said we'll have to play it different." Jeremy asked. 

Brandon stretched as he talked. "We'll split up into three teams. One team at the bat, the other two will work together to get the batter out. You can decide if you want to play base or fielder. Batter is out if you get the ball to his next base before he gets there. If he's safe, the other batter goes up next."  That was the best we could do with only six of us. 

"I got Jeremy." Mat said. Jeremy looked surprised for a moment and quickly moved to Mat's side. 

I was about to call for Calvin again, but Martin spoke up first. "I call Kyle!" Dammit, Martin! I pushed down the flash of irritation. He really wasn't bad. I DO like him as a friend. Besides, Calvin had accidentally let me know Martin was into me. I didn't want to hurt his feelings. 

"It's you and me, Calvin." Brandon said. 

We made our way to the diamond, I checked my phone, four fifteen. I showed Mat. "Suck it. Not even close" 

"Closer than you, bitch." He raised his pitch to a mocking falsetto. "Oh, we won't play at all today. They'll never be ready. Especially not my favorite little kitty. I'll be too busy thinking about his dick to train him." I punched his arm, he laughed. "By the way, you should pick Jeremy sometimes. He's feeling a little down."

"Why?" I asked. 

"He keeps getting picked last. It's getting to him. Did you see how happy he was to be picked first?" He asked. 

I groaned. I only wanted Calvin. I didn't sign up to care about the feeling of other nerds. For some reason though, I did care. "Fine. I'll do it." 

We reached the diamond and drew sticks to decide what team would bat first. Calvin and Brandon. Martin wanted to throw, but I took the pitcher's plate instead. I already decided to go easy on the new players. Calvin missed the first swing but hit the second. Immediately, three of us ran for the ball as Calvin ran bases. I reached out first and threw it to Mat at third base. Calvin was out. 

Brandon went up to bat next. I let Martin throw this one, Brandon hit, the ball flew. It looked like I wouldn't have to go easy on him, his leg was hurt but he could still swing. He made it to home plate before we could return the ball. They got four points before their turn was up. 

Jeremy was at the bat next, Brandon took the pitcher's plate. "Go easy on him." I said. Brandon nodded and threw. Even when he was going easy, his throw looked hard to hit. Jeremy hit the third pitch, ran, and paused at second base. Mat batted next with Calvin pitching. 

The game went on for a little more than an hour. Between the soft pitches and not having enough players, everyone got more points than we would in a real game, but that was ok, we had fun. Martin and Jeremy slowed down after a while, but Calvin had a little more endurance, probably from swimming. 

Brandon hit the ball again, it flew far. He dropped the bat and started running. I sprinted to home plate to wait for someone to throw the ball my way, we had learned it was the only chance to get him out. Calvin cheered him on as he ran. He turned at second base, picked up speed as he ran to third, his leg gave out and he collapsed. 

"Brandon!" Several of us yelled his name as we rushed to him. 

Brandon rolled over, clutching his bad leg. Dirt and a little blood matted his fur. "Dammit! Dammit dammit dammit!" He beat the ground with a first, a few tears filled his eyes. "I'm never going to get better." He said. 

"Yes you will! You have to." Jeremy was trying to be encouraging. 

"You just have to take it easy for a while." Mat said. 

"I'm tired of taking it easy!" Brandon yelled at him. "That's all I've been doing since I got hurt!"

I didn't know what to say. "I'll get you something to drink." I went to our cooler to bring a Crocade and a bag of Calvin's cookies. I came back to them standing quietly while Brandon massaged his leg.

"Thanks." Brandon muttered as he took the drink. He took a long swallow and grabbed the cookie I held out. The rest of us also had some. "Mat, can I stay over tonight? My parents can't know about this."

"Yeah Bro. Of course. But we gotta tell em if you're not better tomorrow." Mat said. Brandon didn't say anything. Mat turned to me. "You wanna stay too? My mom's been asking about you. I think she wants a new picture for work or something." 

"Yeah. Sounds good." I said

"Maybe we can all come." Martin suggested. 

"I dunno if I can swing that. All five of you with no warning? My parents are cool, but they're not that cool." Mat said. Martin and Calvin looked disappointed. 

We packed up eventually. Brandon didn't complain when we told him to sit and let us carry everything. The nerds talked about having their own sleepover, I briefly mourned the missed chance to have Calvin snuggled up against me again. Mat took me to my place so I could get a toothbrush and clean clothes. We didn't go to Brandon's house at all. 

Mat's house was in the north side of town. All the houses in that neighborhood were big, the lawns manicured, the kinds of places that let you know the people there had money, even if they weren't actually rich. Mat's parents probably had even more money than most of the others there, but they didn't exactly show it off. 

Mat parked in the driveway just in front of the garage and we carried our bags in. Brandon insisted on limping up to the door himself, angrily refusing my offer to let him lean on me. The front door led into what Mat called a parlor, it was furnished for guests and had one of the guest bedrooms attached to it. We walked down the hall and past the stairs to the living room where Mat's dad was watching TV. 

"Hey, Boys. How was the game?" He greeted us. 

"It was fun, Dad. The other guys learned pretty fast." Mat answered. 

"We still have to go easy on them. We don't want to destroy them too bad out there." I said. 

He chuckled. "How are you holding up, Brandon?"

"I'm ok, Mr. Olsen. I tripped out there and I don't want my parents freaking out on me." Brandon said. 

Mr. Olsen frowned, thinking. "Don't wait too long to tell them if you're hurting. You don't want to risk never playing again."

Brandon looked at the floor. "I know. I won't." 

We went upstairs to Mat's room. It was big, almost as big as my mom and dad's. He had a nice bed against a wall, an actual couch sitting in front of a big TV, and even a mini fridge.

Mat sat on his couch and turned on the TV. "What do you guys wanna watch?"

We watched stand-up until we were called down to eat at about eight. Mat's mom had come home from work and brought Siamese takeout. Noodles, rice, vegetables, chicken, a little beef. 

"Thanks, Mrs. Olsen." I said at the same time Mat asked "Did you get cat?" 

Mrs. Olsen swatted his head with one of the chopsticks packs. "No I didn't get cat." 

It was an old, familiar routine based on a prank Mat played on my when we were kids. Even Brandon had a faint smile on his face.

"One of these days, I'm really going to feed you cat." Mat said. I rolled my eyes and we divided the food.

"I've been hoping to get you here, Kyle." Mrs. Olsen said. 

"Do you me to do pictures for you again?" I asked. 

"As a matter of fact, I do. We have some people at work who recently passed the BAR and we want to get photos of them for the office. I told them you did mine and  they were sold." She said. 

"Sounds great. When do you want me to come over?" I asked. 

"How about after school on Monday? Mat can drive you there." She said. 

Mat sighed. "I want to get paid too if I'm playing chauffer."

"Yes, Mat, you'll be paid, too." She told him. 

"How many are there and when do you want them edited by?" I asked 

"There's four. Can you have them done by Friday?" She asked.

I agreed without asking about the money. She always paid me more than I would ask for anyways.

We finished eating and returned to Mat's room. We watched TV for a while until he  pulled something out of his mini fridge and held it up. Two six packs of beer. 

"I stole these last weekend." Mat said. 

"Awesome." I said, getting up to grab one. 

Mat set the beers on the floor in front of the couch and sat next to them. I joined him on the floor, already opening mine. Brandon was slower getting down, grimacing as he did. 

Brandon took a beer and chugged half of it immediately. "Tastes like ass." 

"Yup. I don't know why my dad likes these." Mat said. 

"They all taste like ass." I told them. "I think people just like ass when they get old."

"Whatever. As long as it'll get me drunk." Brandon said. He chugged the rest and grabbed another.

"That won't take long. Remember last year? You were wobbly after two and couldn't stand after three. I got grounded for like two weeks when my dad found you passed out in the shower." Mat said. 

I remembered it too well. "My dad told me the hangover was enough punishment. I think he talked extra loud all day to make sure."

Brandon was grinning. "Lucky. My dad sprayed me with the hose before he let me inside and then grounded me for a month." The alcohol was already catching up to him. His eyes were unfocused and his words were starting to slur.

"Bro, you had vomit all over you. I wanted to hose you down too." Mat said.

Mat's door opened and his dad walked in wearing only sweat pants. Shit, we've been caught. "And that's not going to happen again." He picked up one of the six packs. "I'm not having a bunch of drunk teens in my house again. You get two each." He winked at Brandon. "I would say you only get one but it's too late for that." Then looked to Mat. "You're not as sneaky as you think you are."

Mr. Olsen left, closing the door behind him. Mat breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Dude, your dad's pretty cool." I told him. "And he knows you can't handle beer for shit." I said to Brandon. His ears were folded a little in embarrassment but he looked pleased. 

"I bet even our nerds can hold it better than him." Mat teased. 

"N-no they can't." Brandon said. He was obviously trying hard to speak clearly. Mat and I laughed at him.

"Too bad we'll never find out. Calvin's mom's a cop." I said. 

"That just means we can't let her find out." Mat said. 

I shook my head. "No. No chance. I'm not getting on her bad side."

"Watch it, you're going to turn into a good influence if you keep that up." Mat said. 

"Never." I said. 

"You're a-already making him exercise you g-good in-flu-ence." Brandon was almost done with his second beer and struggling to talk.

"At least I don't lecture everyone about hydration." I told him. 

"Hydrationsh im-portant." He emptied his can, looked at the other beers, and roughly shook his head. "I need shome water." He tried to stand, but couldn't. 

"That's why you don't chug it when you're a lightweight." Mat said as he got some water out of his fridge.

"It'sh not that." Brandon drank half of the water bottle and paused for a moment. "It's my medicines. I have to take them every day until the doctor shaysh I can shtop." He took another drink and focused on his next words. "I have to keep taking these stupid pills. I have to keep doing these stupid stretches. My mom and dad don't let me do anything s-s-stren-u-oush. The only time I get to run is when I'm with you guys and if they find out I fell, they'll take that away too." He leaned close to Mat, his eyes struggling to focus. "You can't tell them. Please. No matter what."

Mat put a hand on his shoulder. "I won't, Bro. I promise."

Brandon's body sagged in relief. "Thanksh." He chose that moment to pass out, he started to fall towards Mat who caught him and laid him down gently. 

Mat turned to me. "Maybe beer was a bad idea." 

I nodded and put mine down. "I'll just have this one."

Mat put a blanket over Brandon and a pillow under his head.  "I guess you get the couch tonight, Bro." 

"Sweet. Now I don't have to let Brandon take it." I said. 

Mat held up a game control. "Wanna play some Brawler first?"

I groaned. "It's your fault I could play Calvin's game at all." 

"You're welcome." He said. 

Wednesday morning, just before lunch. 

Another day at school, another day of the same routine. Brandon felt better after sleeping, only limping a little extra. He was able to hide it from his parents. The boys annoyed him with attention that he didn't want on Monday and we talked about whether we would go to the beach or Verity Field this Saturday. The photoshoot at Mrs. Olsen's firm on Monday went good and I already had three of them edited to make them look even better. I would do the last one tonight and email them to her tomorrow. 

I heard my name called out, Martin was running to me. Marcus was following him and looked pissed. Shit. Martin got behind me, grabbing my tail in panic. "I didn't do it, he bumped into me." Dammit, Martin. I told you I wouldn't protect you from him. I can't.

"Hey, Marcus, what's up?" I said as he stalked over. Shut up, Kyle. This isn't your problem. Just give him the nerd.

Marcus loomed over me. "Nobody taught your little bitch to watch where he's going." 

"You walked into me!" Martin yelled. Shut up, Martin. I shoved him away roughly.

"I'm sure he's very sorry about that. In fact, I'll make sure he's sorry. I'll have a long talk with him so he knows to stay out of your way." What am I doing? It's not my problem. Just leave. Just. Fucking. Leave. 

Marcus continued glaring for a second and then nodded. "You better." I breathed a sigh of relief. This went better than I expected. A sudden pain in my stomach proved me wrong. I doubled over, falling to the floor.

"Kyle!" Martin rushed to my side. 

Marcus pushed him away, placed a booted foot on my chest, and leaned on it. I couldn't breathe. "This is the second time you stopped me, Kyle." He ground his heel into me. " I'll let you make it up to me tomorrow, but it better not happen again. Got it?" I nodded. "Good." He stalked off. 

Martin kneeling at my side again. "Kyle! I'm so, so sorry, I didn't know where else to go." 

I didn't answer, I was too busy trying to breathe. Why did I do that? It wasn't even for Calvin this time. I could hear snippets of people talking nearby. Words like "that asshole" and "I can't believe he did that." Martin was still babbling. 

A couple girls and a guy came over. "You ok, Kyle?" The guy asked while offering a hand to help me up. I took it.

"What happened?" One of the girls asked. 

It took me a few seconds to find my voice. "He was mad at my friend." And I was an idiot to try to stop him. 

"So he hit you? That asshole!" She actually seemed offended by it. Don't pretend you care. He does this shit all the time.

I turned down their offers to help me to the nurse and started walking to the cafeteria instead. I didn't need to see her, and besides, she'd just ask who did it. If telling the teachers worked, Marcus wouldn't be here anymore. Other kids tried to talk to me, but I ignored them. They don't really care, they just want gossip.

Martin grabbed my arm when we got close to the cafeteria. "Kyle." He said. Oh, yeah, he's been talking this whole time. I guess I wasn't saying anything back. His eyes were watery. You're not the one who just guy punched by the biggest guy in school. "I'm sorry, I didn't know he'd hurt you." 

I patted his head. "Not your fault."

He looked unsure but followed me into the cafeteria. He offered to buy my lunch, but I brought my own today. I sat at our usual table while he got in line. Mat and Brandon were already at the table, Calvin was just arriving and sat next to me. 

"You're late today. Were you hanging out with Martin?" Calvin clearly meant more than "hanging out." 

"Not exactly. He pissed off Marcus and I happened to be there." I said. Calvin's tail puffed a little in fear. Mat gave me a pointed look, ready to be pissed. "No. I got in the way. Got punched for my trouble." 

"Are you ok?" I let Calvin turn me around to look me over. Keep touching me. Touch me all over and I'll be just fine. Mat's face transformed from angry to concerned. 

Brandon frowned. "I thought he was cool with you, though?"

"Not if I'm getting in his way. I won't get off so easy if I do it again." I turned to Mat. "He said he has a job for me tomorrow." 

Mat grimaced. "Do you know the details?" I shook my head. 

"What kind of jobs do you do for him? He's not into photography, too... is he?" It should be obvious Marcus didn't care about normal photography.

"Kind of." I said. Calvin looked confused. "If I don't keep doing it, I'll be his punching bag until he graduates." I couldn't tell him what I got out of it or that I was taking these pictures before Marcus knew about them. 

Brandon also looked like he didn't get it. Is Brandon that obvlivious or do people really not know? It made sense for the younger grades to not know yet, but the older ones had to realize. I never hid what I was doing.

Martin sat across from Calvin and held his tray out to me. "Do you want my brownie?" 

"Nah, I don't like the cafeteria brownies." I said. 

Martin ate quietly, Jeremy arrived not long after and talked to Mat and Brandon about some game. I was left getting to talk to Calvin, or maybe just stare at him while he talked. 

Swim class today was two periods later, it was still the best part of the day. Calvin always followed me in the locker room, picking whatever locker was next to mine. He had gotten better at changing in there but he was still very shy. I watched subtly as he stripped his pants off, revealing a pair of black and white chessboard pattern boxers. I had never seen him wear these ones before, maybe they were new. I had the same ones. I tore my eyes away from him as he took them off and quickly pulled on his swim trunks, glad I still had Mat to look at. He wasn't as exciting, but he was still good looking. Calvin finally took his shirt off and threw everything in his locker. 

He was waiting with me while I put my clothes away and pulled on my trunks. I think he was watching me, or maybe I just hoped he was. 

"I'm getting faster." He told me as we left the locker room.

"Faster at getting dressed?" I asked. It was a weird thing to comment on.

"No-o! At swimming. I was only seven seconds behind you yesterday. I'm catching up." He bumped against me. 

"I didn't know we were racing. Maybe I should start trying." I said.

He laughed. "We're not yet, but we will. Just you wait."

Do I tell him now I've been holding back or do I surprise him later? I imagined the look of surprise on his face when he finds out. Or he might be disappointed when he finds out he's not actually at my level. 

We swam laps for the first half of the class. Mr. Kirstoff didn't care how fast we went as long as we improved. Calvin was breathing hard when we were done doing laps, but was smiling too.

"You're getting good, Cal." I ruffled his head fur. He ducked away from my hand, but his tail was curled upward, showing he enjoyed the praise. 

The rest of the class was spent playing games with Mat and some other kids, Mr. Kirstoff tossed in a few beach balls and we batted them up to keep them from landing. After class, we were back in the locker room. I tried not to watch Calvin take his trunks off, only peeking a few times. He still walked stiffly to the shower, but he wasn't the only one. A lot of the younger kids were still uncomfortable. Why aren't they used to it yet?  It should only take a couple weeks for everyone to get used to it. I wasn't complaining, though. Shy boys are my favorite to watch. 

We showered. Calvin was quick, but waited for me to finish before moving to the drying station even though his tail was curled tightly around his leg in discomfort. I washed faster for him.

The drying station wasn't as great as it used to be. Some kid decided to start bringing a towel from home a couple weeks ago and it caught on among the younger kids. Towels didn't completely dry their fur, of course, but it did let them cover up as they blow dried. I was treated to a show today as two fox boys, Keaton and Tony, teased each other. Keaton ripped away the towel that Tony had wrapped around his waist and played keep away as Tony tried to get it back. His soft dick swung around as they wrestled for the towel until he realized he could just take Keaton's from him and use it instead.

Calvin was looking down as if there wasn't a something to watch just a few feet away. I briefly considered snatching his towel but didn't want to upset him. 

"Is it hard for you to get your back, too?" He asked suddenly. 

"Uh, no?" I said. Where's that coming from? 

He faced me. "Really? Mine's always a little bit wet when I'm done."

"Want me to get it for you?" Say yes. Say yes. Say yes!  He nodded and turned around, I aimed my dryer at him and accepted the perfect excuse to admire his slender frame. Yes! He had a little more definition than he used to, but he still looked like a skinny little nerd. My skinny little nerd. The tip of his tail curled up, peeking out from under his towel, letting my know he enjoyed this. I would do your whole body, if you want. Whenever you want.You just have to ask. Just be mine. I reached out to touch, I couldn't control myself. He tensed, just for a moment, and then relaxed. 

"Is it dry?" He asked, practically inviting me to keep touching. 

I felt around, rubbing and patting his back in different places. "No, still wet." I dragged my fingers through his fur as I dried him off, I could feel the vibrations of his purr even if I couldn't hear it over the sound of the blow dryers. Grooming is a habit cat folk share with actual cats. It's not just for couples, close friends will do it too. Mat will do it when I ask, but he's not a cat, he can't do it quite right. I wondered when Calvin was last groomed by someone outside his family.

"Nice and dry." I told him some time later. He was already dry a minute ago, but I wanted to keep going and he obviously didn't mind. 

"Do you want me to do you?" He asked. I let him and enjoyed the next few minutes of grooming. When was the last time someone did it for me? Freshman year? That was Mat. I don't think I've been groomed by another cat since I was ten.

We finished a little slower than most of the others, only the ones with long or thick fur were still drying off. Back at our lockers, I watched Calvin struggle to get his boxers on without removing the towel. He couldn't put his jeans on that way, though. He dropped his towel and rushed to put them on. He was pitching a tent in his boxers and had to push it out of the way to do his zipper. In his hurry, he left a big part of his boxers exposed over his waistband. 

Yet again, I couldn't resist. I hooked a finger under his boxers and tugged them up. He yipped in surprise, jumped, and turned my way faster than I expected. He tried glowering, but couldn't fully suppress his laugh. 

"Your boxers are showing." I told him. 

"Shut up." He pushed them down until they were covered by his pants and then put his shirt on. I was tempted to do it again, but I didn't want to push my luck.

I tried to finish dressing and was interrupted by a tickling on my side when my shirt covered my eyes. I yelled in surprise and swung my arms down.  Calvin was laughing in triumph.

"I didn't know you were ticklish!" He said. 

"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm ticklish. You got me."  I pounced to get him back, starting with his sides, moving when he tried to cover himself, and pulling him back when he tried to escape.

"Stop! No more! I give!" He yelled through his laughter. I stopped tickling him, but kept my arms around him for a moment longer. I didn't want to let go. 

I realized I was hard when I began putting my pants on. Even I couldn't control it when I had my favorite nerd rubbing against me. Calvin was definitely looking this time, I slowed down to give him a show. He was probably just watching because he could, but I wanted to pretend he really was interested. I wanted so bad to tell him how I felt, ask him out, maybe he would say yes. Instead, I just pretended I didn't see him.

Thursday morning, before school. 

I was sitting under my usual tree with Mat, waiting for school to start. He was sharing a can of Ursus with me and telling me about the short hiking trip his family was planning. The Soda Mountains in Jaguara far south of us were a low mountain range that were supposed to be very good for hiking in late fall. At least, that's what Mat said.

"My mom and dad even said I could bring someone with me. I would ask Brandon, but, you know." He said. 

"Yeah, no way his parents would let him even if he could do it without hurting himself. I bet he'd want to go anyways." I said. 

"Sooo, I was thinking I could bring you with me." He said.

"What? Dude, I don't know anything about hiking!" I've never even left the country. Why would he think that's a good idea? 

"C'mon Man! You just walk uphill and drink tons of water! I need someone to go with me! Just think of all the pictures you could take." He pulled his phone out of his pocket. 

"Yeah, I can take pictures of a bunch of trees and a mountain path. You gotta do better than that." He held his phone out showing me a beautiful sight on a mountain looking over thousands of colorful trees, vibrant reds and yellows, and even blues. How are there blue trees? 

"That's what we're going to see, Bro. That's what it looks like in fall. You know you wanna take pictures of it!" He was right. 

"I'll think about it." I told him. I really might do it. 

"What are you gonna think about?" Calvin asked. He had somehow snuck up on us. 

"Hiking. Mat wants to take me with him in a couple months." I told him.

"Oh. That might be fun." He said. 

I shrugged. "Hiking's not my thing." 

Mat showed the picture to Calvin. "I keep telling him it'll be great to take pictures of." 

Calvin's eyes widened. "Whoa! You should go! You can show me all the pictures you take when you get back!"

But then I'll have to spend my whole fall break without my favorite little kitty. "Maybe. I'll think about it." 

Mat slipped his phone back in his pocket, grinning like he won. Calvin pulled me aside.

"What's up?" I asked him. 

"Are you mad at Martin?" He asked. I must have looked confused because he explained. "Martin thinks you're mad at him because of yesterday with Marcus."

I frowned, I was kind of quiet after getting hit yesterday. "No, tell him I'm not mad at him. We're still cool." 

Calvin smiled. "Good. He'll feel better when I tell him. He was worried because, well, you know." His little crush on me. "A lot of kids are talking about it, you know. About what Marcus did to you." 

That surprised me. "What? Why? Nobody ever gives a shit about what Marcus does."

"Because it's you this time. Everybody likes you." No they don't. I don't even know most of the people here. 

I shrugged. "It won't change anything. Marcus will keep beating on smaller kids, I'll keep working for him, and nobody will do anything about it." Calvin's tail and shoulders dropped, but he didn't say anything to that.

The first bell rang and I joined Mat on the way to our first class. It was the same as always. I ran into Martin in between second and third periods, he was near my next class. He perked up when he saw me but also looked a little nervous. 

"Kyle!" He called out.

"What's up, Marty?" I smiled and patted his shoulder to let him know we were ok. He relaxed a little. 

"Will you, um, will you come outside with me? It won't take long." He asked. I shrugged and followed him out, I didn't care if I was late. Once we were outside, he talked again. "I swear I didn't mean-" 

I interrupted him. "Stop apologizing. I'm not mad at you." 

He gulped and nodded. "I... I um, I also wanted to say something else. I ran to you because... well... I like you." Oh, that's what he's nervous about. "I heard you're gay, but you're never dating anybody. I was wondering if... maybe... you would go out with me?" His body was stiff and he was having trouble getting the words out. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad. I really do like you. I don't know when it happened, but I care about you. I would say yes except... you're not Calvin.

I pulled him into a hug and hoped it would stop him from feeling too bad when I rejected him. His muzzle pressed into my shoulder and he hugged me back tightly. I hoped he didn't think this meant yes.

"Martin, I wouldn't stand up to Marcus for just anyone. I like you a lot, but I have my eye on someone else." His head twitched, his grip loosened, but I held on to him. I've rejected people before, but never anyone I actually liked. 

He nodded his head and spoke, his voice was muffled by my body. "Ok." I rubbed the back of his head once and let go. He gave me a small smile, he looked a little sad but not too hurt. "I had to try. I didn't think you would say yes, but I couldn't say nothing. I had to tell you." The bell rang,  telling us we were late. "I gotta get to class. I'll see you at lunch." He walked away, his head was down but I was sure he'd be ok.

Later, just before lunch, I ran into Marcus standing next to my locker. "It's time for you to make up for yesterday." He said as I put my books away. I nodded and followed him. We only moved across a couple hallways before getting to his target. "There he is." Marcus said, pointing to Vic. "Little piece of shit hasn't learned his lesson. Just like you." He grinned, worrying me. 

He intercepted the golden labrador boy as he was walking and pushed him into the bathroom. Hal stood just outside it, guarding the door and looking as uncomfortable as me, which didn't make me feel better. He nodded to me as I approached, it was the first time he ever looked like he wasn't ready to hit anyone who looked at him funny.

Inside, Vic was already curled up on the ground, holding his stomach. "No one's coming to help you, the door's guarded. If you try yelling, I'll just pummel you again. Got it?" Vic nodded weakly and groaned. "Good." Marcus grabbed under Vic's arms and forced him to stand up then roughly pulled his shirt off of him. "Get your phone out! I want you to catch all of this." He snapped at me. I did and snapped a picture of Marcus holding a shirtless Vic to him. He made a sound of pleasure as he grabbed Vic's crotch. Vic whimpered. 

Marcus undid the button up fly of Vic's jeans revealing the front of his plain blue briefs little by little, and then slowly slid his pants down. He grabbed Vic's bulge again and rubbed his thumb against it. I took several more pictures. "You're so small. Don't worry, you'll get to see what a real cock looks like today."

He keeps talking. Take a video!  It wasn't the horny part of my mind, it was the beginning of an idea.

Vic was crying quietly, his eyes on me. "Help me." I wanted to, this was wrong.

I shook my head. "I can't. He'll get me too." 

"That's right, little pup, he's already had his second strike. Just one more and he's out." Marcus stopped rubbing and stuck his thumb under Vic's waistband. "Are you getting this?" He asked. I nodded and he started sliding Vic's briefs down, pausing just after revealing the base of his shaft. 

"Stop, please stop. I'll stop talking about you, I swear." Vic pleaded. 

"Why would I stop? I'm not done warning you yet." Marcus jerked his hand down, revealing the rest of Vic's soft, uncut dick. He took Vic's member between his thumb and forefinger and started rubbing. Vic began to get hard. "Oh look, he likes it. I hope you're getting this, Cat." I nodded, feeling even sicker. This is so wrong. Why is he doing this?

"Mmm, you're still so small, Vic. You talk so big, I thought you must have a big cock to back it up. Nope, it looks like you're all bark and no bite." Marcus laughed at his own joke and yanked Vic's underwear all the way down. "On your knees, Vic, I'm going to show you what a real cock looks like." He shoved Vic to the ground and began undoing his own pants. He pulled out his own member, it wasn't much longer than mine but it was a lot thicker. 

"Get up, Vic, on your knees. I want to to get a close up look at this." He forced Vic up into a kneeling position and thrust his cock into his face. Vic tried to move his head away, but Marcus grabbed it and forced him back into position. "See? That's what a man's cock looks like." It leaked a little precum. "Make me angry again and I'll make you take it all, but for today, I'll let you get away just a little lick."

Vic was crying freely now. There was no hint of a fight on his face. He trembled as he leaned forward and gave the shaft a small lick. I had to choke back some bile. 

"Good enough." Marcus said. He put everything away and redid his pants. "That was strike two, Vic. You can guess what happens if there's a strike three." He glared at me. "The same goes for you." He walked out and I stopped the recording. 

"I couldn't do anything. I'm sorry." I told Vic. It sounded hollow, even to me. I walked out of the bathroom. 

"What happened?" Hal asked. I shook my head and went to the cafeteria.

Everyone was already at our table when I arrived. They greeted me but I barely heard them. I sat down and stared at the table in front of me, unable to look at any of them. 

"What's wrong?" Calvin asked. I shook my head. 

"Is it Marcus?" Mat asked me. I nodded. "Fuck, Man, I've never seen you like this. Did he do something to you?" I shook my head again. 

Brandon leaned forward. "Kyle, if he hurt you... " He surprised me with how angry he sounded.

I looked up. "It wasn't me." 

"Let's just leave him alone for now. He doesn't want to talk about it." Mat said. I nodded to him in thanks. 

They left me alone for the most part, eating quietly. Martin tried to offer me his food, but I wasn't hungry. I'd probably throw it up if I tried to eat it.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. People noticed I was out of it, but I didn't want to talk when they asked. They wouldn't help anyways. I didn't see Vic again at all. 

It wasn't until that night that I had an idea. I was emailing Mrs. Olsen the finished photos for her friends at the law firm when it hit me. A lawyer can help me, I have evidence!