A Deal’s a Deal - Part 27

[Ender]

A Deal’s a Deal - Part 27

Tony jogged home, the crisp evening air felt good on his exposed skin but the heat trapped by his shirt had caused him to begin to sweat. Tony considered pulling off his shirt and running bare-chested the rest of the way home. Tony liked the feeling of sun, wind and rain against his bare skin if he could get away with it he would ditch the shirt and long pants in favor of the gym short he generally wore around the house. “The only place my mom doesn’t hassle me about my shorts is in my room. The moment I step out of my room to get something from the kitchen she’s on my case to “put some clothes on…” I’ve worked hard to get this body and hard to keep it… why shouldn’t I show it off.

Tony let himself in the kitchen door and yelled to his mom that he was home. He plugged the electric grill thing in to warm up, and then he fished in the freezer for a couple of boneless skinless chicken breast and a box of broccoli. Tony popped the chicken into the grill and the box in a bowl and then the microwave. He set the timer, when the broccoli was done the chicken would be too. As his dinner cooked, Tony sprinted up the stairs and to his bedroom. He tossed the bag at the dresser and sat his backpack by his desk and turned on his computer. Then before changing into the brief shorts his mom disliked so much, he walked to his mother’s room. As he stood there from under the door he could see the lights were on and he could hear the TV. Tony gently knocked and said quietly, “Mom… You still awake?” She answered and told him to come in. Tony opened the door and stepped into the room. His mom motioned for him to come sit on the side of her bed. Tony crossed the room and as he sat down facing his mom she took his large and powerful hands in hers.

“Is something wrong dear,” said his mom as she brushed the dark shaggy hair out of his eyes.

Tony looked at her and said, “What makes you think something is wrong Mom.” Then he frowned and looked away.

His mom smiled and gently touching his cheek say, “Well you’re home early, and I heard you in the kitchen starting your dinner cooking and you’re here now… So my guess is you didn’t eat with the Matthews’ and something happened that’s bothering you…”

Tony looks in to his mom’s eyes and smiles, “That pretty much nails it Mom.” And Tony related the incident in the cafeteria, his offer to Mike and Mike’s reaction, and finally the meeting with Mike’s parents and their reaction. “So I’m sort of expecting you’ll get a call from Mike’s mom telling you she doesn’t want me to have anything to do with Mike anymore…” and Tony hung his head.

Tony’s mom put her hand under Tony’s chin and gently raised his head that they were eye to eye again and said, “There was nothing wrong in anything you did, you do have a tendency to be a bit overly blunt at times that can put people that don’t know you off but to those that do know your honesty, kindness, integrity and understand it find it endearing. Mike’s folks don’t know the real Tony yet.” Then she tried to hug him but couldn’t reach around the bulk of Tony’s torso and he hugged her back. Then she whispered in his ear, “You had better go eat your chicken breast before it burns.”

Tony pulled back and sniffed. He quickly picked up the smell of well-done chicken starting to creep towards burnt. They smile at each other and Tony starts to head for the kitchen but he stops on his way out the door to look back and smiled saying, “Thanks Mom.”

While Tony waited for the broccoli to reheat and over cook, he stared at the severely over cooked chicken and the phrase “blackened chicken” crossed his mind followed closely by the word “Cajun” so Tony sprinkled a sizable dose of cayenne pepper over the remains of the chicken, it wasn’t bad. So he decided he would try it again under more controlled conditions. After his dinner of sort of ‘Cajun blackened chicken’ and over cooked broccoli, Tony headed back to his room.

When he got to his room Tony stripped off his clothes and slipped into his shorts and flexed briefly in the dresser mirror and thought, “Maybe, I will enter that show.” Tony felt his penis begin to plump. And he thought, “Jacking off in the shower or bed in the dark is one thing but staring at yourself in the mirror… That’s too… No, I’m not going to go there.” Tony plopped himself in front of his computer; there wasn’t anything on his IM account, “‘TCSuperStud’ that was ‘SHSuperStud’ aka Shane’s idea, I need create a new one sometime,” Tony thought. He then pulled up his e-mail. In spite of his spam filters there were still a couple dozen junk mails ranging from quack penis extension pills, creams and machines to “Christian” refinancing and second mortgage home loans. There was one from a girl he had been on a date with once, “Yeah about a month ago, Shane talked me into a blind double date because Shane’s date wouldn’t go out with him unless he got a date for her friend… turned out the friend had a crush on me and the two girl targeted Shane as a route to me. The night ended with Shane pissed that his date wouldn’t have sex with him and my “date” pissed at me because I didn’t want to have sex with her… If she wanted sex she should have picked Shane… I’m still a virgin and I intend to keep it that way until I find someone I care about and who cares about me,” then there were a couple more ‘please take me out’ messages… “NO WAY!!!” and finally a message from Mike… He and his folks had tabled the matter for the night… Mike suggested that they walk to school together and wanted some suggestions for breakfast and lunch. Mike also told Tony his IM user name was ‘BlueWhaleBoy’… Tony shook his head and pulled up his IM program again and added ‘BlueWhaleBoy’ to his buddy list with the message, “Hi Mike… Tony here… I get it… Unhappy Fat Kid right?” Tony sent the message and waited for a reply. After a minute or so Mike’s reply pops into the message window.

BlueWhaleBoy: Would you believe I’m into Cetaceans… Tony Canton Super Stud… yeah, that works….

TCSuperStud: Not really and I want to talk to you about your name… Shane Hart talked me in to that he’s SHSuperStud real creative right… and I’ve just haven’t bothered to change it.

BlueWhaleBoy: So what’s the plan for tomorrow?

TCSuperStud: Walking to and from school is something I want you to start doing on a regular basis… We did the trip to your place in less than 40 minutes but you were puffing pretty heavy… So I want you to take it a bit easier starting off so let’s allow an hour to get there… so say you meet me where I stopped to tuck in my shirt at a bit after 6:00… and don’t worry about food I’ll arrange for that for you until we can get your folks on board.

BlueWhaleBoy: Okay I’ll meet you there just after 6:00 and you’ll handle supplies

TCSuperStud: Right… pack some shorts and a t-shirt and we’ll do some really light lifting after practice… if your folks ask you can say you needed to research a paper… Oh yeah, you might want to pack the shirt for school and wear the t-shirt for the walk in.

BlueWhaleBoy: Sounds like a plan… see you in the morning, Stud…

TCSuperStud: Just wait in a few months you’ll be the Super Stud and you’ll need a stick to beat them off… cya…

BlueWhaleBoy:

Tony saw the Shane was online so he messaged him:

TCSuperStud: Hi Shane I was wondering if you could do me a favor on the way in to school in the morning… I’m going to walk into school with someone but I don’t want to carry a lot of stuff. So could I get you to swing pass my place and pick up a couple of things…

SHSuperStud: Sure buddy… you got some early morning action lined up man?

TCSuperStud: Not the way you’re thinking horn dog… I’m playing personal trainer… I’ll explain more later, okay? All I want you to do is pick up my books, gym bag and a couple of lunches… if you want to eat like me for a change I’ll pack one for you too if you want.

SHSuperStud: No thanks man. I have plans for a meatball sub with extra cheese… Yeah I can swing pass there for you… Is there anything else pal??? you just popped up over a really foxy lady and I want to get back to her.

TCSuperStud: Sorry Bro, I didn’t mean to interrupt you while you were beating off to web porn… thanks a lot… catch you in the morning…

Tony’s mom was still awake so he grabbed a t-shirt out of the laundry bin and padded down to his mom’s room to explain his plans for the next day. After that Tony reset his alarm clock, he tossed the t-shirt back into the laundry bin from the far side of the room, then he crawled under the covers and switched off the light.

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Tony awoke with a start, when the alarm went off, instead of the morning twilight he normally awakened into, his room was dark and he fumbled a while before finding the snooze button. Lying back with his hands behind his head, Tony stared at the ceiling for several seconds before remembering he was meeting Mike near his place. He tossed the covers off and headed for the bathroom. After a few minutes he had decided that to shower would be a waste of time and to shave without showering was a pain so he would skip both. At first Tony thought he’d indulge himself and wear just his cross trainers and some running shorts and change in a restroom at school. But he reconsidered, last night was crisp this morning would be chilly and Mike wouldn’t be running any time soon so it was unlikely that he would break a sweat walking with Mike. So he again recovered a t-shirt from the laundry pulled it on followed by a pair of cargo pants and the cross-trainers and tucked a dress shirt in his backpack.

Tony went to the kitchen. He mixed a double serving of oatmeal and popped it into the microwave. He pulled a couple of chicken breasts out of the freezer and popped them in the grill. He split a bag of salad between two plastic bowls and added a scoop of cottage cheese, a can of tuna some diced green chilies and a splash of wine vinegar to each bowl. He sealed the bowls, shook them thoroughly and tucked them in a bag. He added a couple of apples, bananas, and low carb protein bars. By then the chicken was cooked so he popped them into zip-lock bags and then the bag with the rest. Which he put in the refrigerator and retrieved the skim milk and made two shakes each with half the oatmeal. The shakes then joined the rest of the food.

Tony checked his watch, he was running late and it would take more than an easy jog to meet Mike on schedule. Tony locked the house behind him and headed for Mike’s place at a fast trot. Tony wanted to be waiting for Mike because although Mike wanted his help, he suspected Mike didn’t particularly trust any jock and to be late might be taken as being stood up and Tony didn’t want to risk any of Mike’s trust. At the half waypoint he saw that at his current pace he would leave Mike sitting there for five to ten minutes… so Tony broke into a full run. In spite of the chill air Tony started to sweat heavily. By the time he reached the rendezvous Tony was a bit winded and large patches of sweat darkened his t-shirt from under his arms and the collar down the front and back…He checked his watch, he should have more then five minute to cool down before Mike got there. As he paced back and forth taking deep slow breaths Tony felt numerous small rivulets of sweat trickling from his torso so he patted the shirt against his body so the t-shirt would absorb the sweat. The result was the t-shirt clung to his chiseled torso like a second skin.

Tony heard a rustling from a clump of bushes and turned to see Mike walking toward him grinning. Mike said, “It must be a real kick to have a body like yours.”

Tony’s breathing had normalized and he replied, “Yeah it can be but it takes a lot of work to keep it.” Tony smiled, “You’re early.”

Mike replied, “So are you. And it looks like you hauled ass to get here.”

Tony smiled, “I didn’t want you to think I stood you up or something…” The smile faded, “I can understand why you might question the motivation of a Jock a lot of them have hurt you.” Tony continued, “I really do want to help you…” Tony’s smile returned.

“I really want to believe that,” Mike looked like he was a bit ashamed of something. “After we chatted, I chatted with Andy, the guy that was there yesterday and helped me get cleaned up”

“Yeah, I know Seadar, we used to be friends back before high school,” Tony said. “We used to play Duel Monsters before I moved on to high school and got involved with other things. I sort of miss playing but none of the jocks play it only the nerds.”

Mike grinned, “Actually he said pretty much the same thing and that’s where I know Andy from. He suggested that I show up early to check things out and make sure you weren’t leading me in to an ambush.”

The bushes rustled again and Andy stepped into view, “Maybe I misjudged you and there still is a chubby little nerd under the muscle. I figured that you had gone to the dark side when your goon squad fell in behind you, that two jock princelings were having a turf war.” Andy said with a distinct tone of condescension.

“Goon Squad?” Tony snapped, “Some guys that I’m friends with came unasked to back me up so there wouldn’t be a fight if I couldn’t get Tinsley crew to layoff Mike on my own. I stepped in to rescue Mike not to confront Tinsley. Mike needs to develop a backbone and some self-confidence so thugs like Tinsley won’t keep targeting him.”

“You want him to fight them…” Andy sneered

“I want him to project the image that he could and would fight if he needed to… then they’ll pick on someone else.” Andy looked skeptical and Tony checked his watch. “Mike, we need to hit the road I don’t want you to push yourself until you get used to working out on a regular basis.” Andy started to protest but Tony got in his face and pitched so that Mike could hear it as well as Andy, Tony said calmly and forcefully, “Look Andy, I offered to help Mike get into shape, and he accepted that offer, so I’m going to do whatever I can to get Mike in shape. Now you seem to have some problem that you feel I abandoned you, well maybe I did but I did not do it with the intention of hurting you. If I did hurt you I’m sorry. I would still like to have you, as a friend and not an enemy. I thing we need to talk but not right now. I’m working with Mike right now and we are going to talk about eating while we walk. Mike wants to lose fat but he needs to build muscle too; which is exactly what I want Mike to do build muscle and burn fat. That’s the same reason I work out. And it wouldn’t hurt you either so if you want to learn like Mike does table your problem with me for now and walk with us. Otherwise please get lost.” Tony turned and walked to Mike “I’ll carry your backpack for you I don’t want you to push yourself and get winded the way you were yesterday.”

Mike and Tony started walking and left a stunned Andy standing mouth a gape. Mike looked over at Tony and with some concern in his face asked, “Ahmm, you said you would take care of breakfast… Right?”

Tony smiled, “And I have, it will be at school waiting for us.”

“School?” Mike whined.

“Yeah, some studies say that cardio exercise in the morning before breakfast burns more fat then eating first and than doing the cardio. It doesn’t seem to make much difference for me but it may work for you. If it does you lose the flab a bit faster if not, we try something else.”

“What do you mean ‘try,’ I thought you knew how to get in shape,” said Mike.

“Well I know how to get me in shape and most of it will work for you and most anyone but some things will work better for you than for me. It’s always, if one thing doesn’t work, try something else.”

They had gone about two blocks when Tony and Mike heard footsteps approaching from behind. They stopped and looked back to Andy trotting to catch up with them. When Andy came within a few steps of them they could see he was smiling. “Did you decide to join us?” Quipped Mike.

Andy stopped and grinned, “Yeah, I think so. There really is a nerd buried under all that muscle.” Andy poked Tony in the chest and abs. “And not the wimpy one I used to know… Nerd honor, values, compassion and brains… Wrapped in the muscle, confidence and charisma of a jock, no less than a star quarterback. The best of both worlds. I’d like to have that too and since you’re going to give lessons I want in too… I’m sorry for the way I’ve acted toward you, it was wrong to blame you for leaving me…”

“Great Andy but there is a time issue here. I don’t want Mike to push too hard yet and if we don’t get a move on we’re going to be late,” laughed Tony.

“So lets move!” said Andy and pushed between the other teens and hooked their necks with his out stretched arms and pulled them a long with him. The three laughed as Mike and Tony fell into step with Andy. “So you miss Duel Monsters and haven’t played for over three years…” Andy said, “I’ll give you a game… And maybe I’ll finally manage to beat you.”

[Ender]

Well this episode is my tenth addition to the story that Lover_Boy started in late October last year… I’ve tried to be faithful to the directions that he left me about the characters and story line… I may not have advanced all the elements that were in the original story, mostly because either I don’t have experience in those areas, or I’m not really comfortable with them. But I have also tried to not undermine them, because Lover_Boy said he might want to return to the characters in the future. I know that a lot of me has leaked into some of the characters especially Tony. But I think/hope that at their core he and all of the other characters Lover_Boy created remain true to his vision…

Ender

[jacestar]

congradulations on your tenth installment, the story is progrssing wonderfully, you shouldn't worry about your writing style it's perfectly fine, and I can't wait for the next installment, best of luck and I hope to see the next chapter soon

[Ender]

I think the next chapter is about half written... But since the characters have been driving what's happening in the story from the past couple or three parts I can't be sure... What I currently plan to end the next part with, I had intended to have had happened two parts back... they're coming up with some (at least to me) interesting stuff so I'm letting them run with it... I start the ball rolling in one direction and as the characters play with it goes somewhere else... It sort of strange to see a story you planned to go oneway go off in a totally different direction when you're writing all the writting all the characters...

And there in is my problem if I let the character go their own ways I don't know if they won't evolve in directions Lover_Boy wouldn't like... so I am considering spinning the plot line the characters are prusing off into a new story and not further corrupt Lover_Boy's characters and world... also there been little feedback of late and always the same people... I know I don't have guys exploding out of their clothes all over place or growing to the size of a house. I prefer to keep things within reason... (In earth gravity being over about 7ft and full functional suggests you aren't a human, a lot of stuff needs to change to reach that scale)

I have tried to look more at the people and less at a guy blowing up like ballon. Why he wants muscle, what he does with it, how it chages him, how the muscle change his relationships... I'd like to believe that there are more than the half dozen or so people that have voiced support out there...

Thank for listening... I need to get back to the story... A little while ago Shane was ready to take a swing at Tony but they worked it out for now but I not sure for how long... I'll keep you posted...

Ender

Feedback welcome... hint... hint...