Struck

[redkage]

Struck
1
A collaborated work between Redkage and Mr. X

John was quietly walking through the hallway when someone stuck their foot out and tripped him, causing him to crash into the ground and scattered the books he had been carrying. He heard several voices laugh as they made a quick getaway while other students just walked by, not paying any attention to him. Quickly John gathered his books, but it took him some time since people keep on kicking them around without knowing it.

John was nothing special. He had plain brown hair and eyes, and a pair of glasses that kept on slipping to the tip of his nose. He was never a big guy. In fact, he was downright weak and wimpy at 5’4” and 99 lbs. even though he was a High School Senior. Always the smallest of his class, he was a very easy target for all bullies.

“Hey squirt!”

Well, one in particular anyways.

Picking himself up quickly, John looked up at the source of the voice. And when he looked up, he really looked up!

Dan Thunderstrike, a fellow senior and the most popular guy in school. The complete opposite of John, this guy was the biggest and the strongest in the whole school. Standing at the impressive height of 6’4” Dan towered above the minuscule John by a whole foot, but on top of that he weighed 230 lbs. of pure muscle mass. Huge pecs, wide shoulders, ripped abs and powerful arms and legs. Not only did Dan have the muscles, he also had the looks. Shining blue eyes, silky smooth shoulder length hair tied in a neat ponytail and he had perfectly straight white teeth. He was part Native American, the grandson of a genuine tribal chief of the Walla Walla nation as he declared proudly. Maybe because of this he had richly colored skin that seemed to give him a sort of glow in the sunlight.

He was also the object to all of John’s wet dreams. As hard as he tried, he could not help but lust after the guy’s huge body. Because he was always close to Dan, John had been able to watch this stud grow from the very beginning. Every day Dan was just a little bit bigger, a little stronger than before, and John was always the first person to witness those beautiful muscles in action.

Dan was captain of the wrestling team with a flawless record. For four years he had been playing the sport he had never suffered a loss at all. In fact, Dan had never lost a single game of sports ever since that first day in elementary school when they were placed in the same classroom. And as if fate would have it, they have been in the same classroom ever since then. And this year was no exception at all, because they had every period together.

Today he was wearing a tight black shirt that looked awesome on him. The fabric clung onto his body, hugging his every curve and swell. John could even count every abdominal muscle through the shirt easily. And those expensive faded jeans…god, they looked so good on him, easily displaying his thick legs and impressive package. If he turned around, John knew he’d be able to see those large ample buttocks sticking out, just demanding to be groped.

“So squirt, where’s my history paper?” Dan asked, crossing his arms over his huge chest. The pose causes his huge pectorals to bulge outwards, the buttons of his shirt looked as if they would pop off any minute. Immediately John could feel his cock grow hard. Thank god he was wearing loose jeans; otherwise Dan would probably get angry if he knew John was sexually attracted to him.

“H-here it is sir.” John lowered his head and pulled out the report from his folder, which Dan roughly grabbed from him.

“Nice.” Dan said as he skimmed through it quickly. “You remembered not to use big words. The teacher definitely won’t suspect a thing, as always.”

“I t-try my best, sir.” John said meekly. He had been doing Dan’s homework ever since the sixth grade and had Dan’s style of speech and attitude engrained in him so much that he could write anything exactly how Dan would have written it if he had taken the time to research and actually done the assignment himself.

“You’d better.” Dan sneered down at him. He then looked over the paper again. “This is definitely an A minus paper. You even put in a few typos for me so the teacher could dock some points off and not get suspicious, very clever of you. As a reward for working so hard, I’ll let you pick the guy that I’m gonna dunk his head in the toilet.”

John’s head jerked upwards. “You shouldn’t do that sir.” He said with an uncharacteristic force of tone. “It isn’t right.”

Immediately Dan grabbed John and lifted him up into the air with a single hand. “Are you telling me what to do, wimp?” He growled. At that moment the bell ring so students quickly moved to get to their next class, none of them even noticed the two of them.

“N-no sir!” John’s timidity returned. Despite the position he was in, he couldn’t help but become aroused by the feeling of being lifted so effortlessly into the air like that. His eyes went from the huge hand that was holding him down the thick vein covered forearms and to the biceps that were bulging under the sleeves of his shirt. John didn’t know if it was just his imagination, but Dan’s bicep seemed to pulse and bulge just slightly bigger for a brief moment.

“Then what are you saying?” Dan demanded.

His lip quivered, but he managed to force his voice out of his throat. “I-I don’t think you should do things like t-that to other p-people, sir. Y-you could get into t-trouble if you got c-caught. B-but if you really want to, then….then do it to me, sir.”

Dan stared at the wimp he was holding. Was this little fucker kidding? What kind of person would volunteer for a dunking in the boy’s bathroom toilet? But the look on John’s face, although fearful, seemed dead serious.

That face really annoyed the hell out of him.

Roughly Dan yanked open a nearby locker and stuffed the shrimp into it. “Dammit, you just had to kill all the fun, did you? Maybe some time in there will teach you better.” Then without waiting another second Dan slammed the door shut and headed to class.

When Dan sat down for class, he figured John would come in several minutes later and take his usual seat next to him so Dan could enjoy toying with the wimp’s head. His favorite was to make the guy jump up and squeak so the teacher could wail on him. He watched as the class filled up, but John didn’t show up. When the bell rang, he smiled as he thought about how funny it would be for the idiot to get chewed out for being tardy. However class officially began and the lessons started and John still didn’t show up.

Minutes stretched into hours, and hours stretched to whole class periods, but John didn’t come to class at all. Dan tried to shrug it off, saying to himself that the little snot had been so humiliated that he ran on home and ditched school, but he couldn’t get rid of his uneasiness. For the rest of the day Dan couldn’t stop thinking about John, and it pissed him off like hell that he was thinking about a tiny wimp like him. Why should he care about what happened to that pathetic excuse for a guy? He had been picking on him ever since the fourth grade! Finally school ended and he was able to go to the gym to blow some steam.

The moment Dan stepped into the gym everyone stopped what they were doing to watch him. Grinning cockily, he then went through his arm routine, grabbing his usual hundred pound dumbbells and began to pump them. Fuck, they were starting to get light now. Every time he lifted the weights everything felt lighter then before. To give himself more of a challenge, he set the 100 lbs. dumbbells down and grabbed the 120 lbs. dumbbells instead. There, that was more like it! He could feel the blood pumping into his engorged biceps as he forced rep after rep out, making his guns even bigger.

“Lookin’ huge Dan!” A couple of his jock buddies walked up to him and patted his shoulder. Dan replied with a grunt of acknowledgement. Thunderstrike’s favorite work out soundtrack was the sounds of shock and awe he always got from the fellow gym users. It always helped the muscle bound teenager enjoy his training time so much that he didn’t even feel the passage of time. Soon he had already trained very hard and intensely for nearly 90 minutes.

Thunderstrike stood up and admired his glorious physique on the mirror.

“Dude man, you lookin’ SWOLE!” Someone said. Dan cocked his head as usual, pretending he didn’t notice such drastic improvements on his body just to give a chance for the guys to point them out, which always added to his inflated self esteem.

“Shit, you’ve been gaining a lot of muscle lately.” Another guy mentioned.

“What did you gain, 10 pounds since the start of school?” Yet another jock complimented the muscle stud, who just smirked in response.

“Make that fifteen.” Dan grunted proudly as he headed to the bench for the last exercise of his day.

As usual, the guys made amazed noises and someone whistled. “Sweet, man! I can’t believe you managed to put on so much muscle!”

“I have a lot of free time.” Dan grinned broadly.

Suddenly someone snorted “Shit, that’s right, you don’t have to do homework.”

It was Tyson Green, the school team quarterback, deliberately trying to provoke the muscular teenager star and his entourage. Everybody knew about the rivalry between the football and wrestling teams, especially because Dan had once belonged to both teams. But he had opted for dedicating his amazing gifts totally to wrestling, his favorite sport in the world.

Tyson continued as he headed for another gym machine.

“You got that skinny ass nerd to do it for ya. Hey, maybe I should push him around and get him to do my homework too!” The 6’tall 200 pounds quarterback casually commented, ignoring the advices of his fellow jocks that he was stepping in thin ice.

The dumbbells Dan had been lifting crashed into the ground. The entourage stepped back, allowing the muscular stud to stand up and confront the other jock, but given Dan’s uncanny size, even the strong bodied Tyson paled in comparison. Thunderstrike just grabbed the speaker and lifted him up. “Listen here, no one messes John but me, got it? He’s mine!”

“Okay, okay!” Tyson replied fearfully, his eyes growing wide. “You know I was just kidding with you, Dan. I’d never touch the little guy, come on man, we are buddies remember?” Green said holding Dan’s massive hands around his shirt collar.

“Good.” Dan said as he let go. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll hit the showers.”

Dan was grateful to step under the showerhead and let the hot water just rain down on him. What the hell just happened? Did he just defend the little twerp? No, of course he didn’t. If John took on the workload of another person, then he would have less time to work on Dan’s. Yea, that was it. He didn’t want his own grades to fall, so he made sure to keep John all to himself. Besides, John had been his marked property for over eight years after all. People knew Dan owned him, so they generally left him alone anyways.

But why can’t he get that stupid face out of his head?

About then a couple of his buddies came into the showers and Dan quickly returned to soaping his body up to get out of there quickly. He was pissed as hell and wanted to think things over a bit.

“Hey Dan. You really showed Green why wrestlers rule!” A fellow member of Dan’s team said complimenting the impressive teenager for putting the annoying Tyson on his place.

“Some guys, they just don’t seem to learn that no one messes with Thunderstrike” He said irritably, turning around.

“I was wondering what that tattoo meant.” The fellow wrestler asked, apparently trying to figure out one of the school’s greatest mysteries: the meaning of the massive tattoo that inked the glorious muscular back of Dan’s powerhouse physique.

Dan had gotten such enigmatic drawing a couple of months ago, but he never told anyone about its meaning, and given the complexity and the highly detailed scene portrait and the frequency with which the owner displayed such muscular canvas, the whole school soon commented and wondered about “The Tattoo”. Although several unofficial versions came up, Dan never really explained why he tattooed the image of a lightning bolt striking a blossoming tree, with the blooms floating in the air like they were being carried by the wind. It was very highly detailed, every petal and limb on the tree clearly visible as if it were real.

“It’s just a tattoo, nothing to it.” Dan shrugged, already feeling where this conversation would eventually lead.

“But…don’t you think the flowers are a bit…” The shorter and lighter wrestler leaned forward and said in a low voice. “girly?”

“Hey, when you’re a big stud like me, you can make anything look cool and manly, especially manly!” Dan pounded on his chest in a macho fashion. “Anyways, I gotta go. I’ll see you later.” Then he walked out of the shower room heading to his gym locker in order to take out his clothes.

When he pulled them on, he noticed how tight they felt on him. They had always been tight before, but he just noticed that it was starting to become uncomfortably constricting. The shirt was stretched taunt across his huge chest and the sleeves of his shirt were strained to contain his pumped up arms. His jeans felt they had been shrink wrapped on around his legs, and even his big cock and balls felt cramped in their jock.

After he had slipped on his sneakers, there was one last item in the locker: a small bag made out of leather hide decorated with beads. Carefully he opened it and pulled out a necklace. It wasn’t fancy, just a long string of leather with a few beads on it with a feather tied in the center. However, Dan handled it gently as if it were made of glass. His Dad had made this for him. It had been a gift for his twelfth birthday before...

Dan shook his head and pushed the thought out of his mind and tied the necklace on. Then he grabbed his backpack and headed out for home.

As he was walking down the school hallway, the image of him shoving John into the locker flashed through his mind again. Shit, why was he thinking about the little snot so much? He had been picking on him for years! John was nothing more then a toy, an object.

But why can’t he shake off the nagging feeling that there was something more?

He was about to pass the locker where he stuffed John into when a sudden thought occurred to him.

No, it couldn’t be that….could it?

He took two big steps to the locker and yanked it open. Sitting inside, hugging his knees was none other then John.

“What the fuck are you doing still in there!?” Dan demanded, both surprised and frustrated.

John jerked his head up in surprise. “Y-you didn’t tell me when to come out, sir.” He said with a perfectly honest face.

Dan stared at him hard. “You…were waiting for me to tell you…to come out?” He said in a stunned voice. Shit, John had always been submissive and easy to order around, but to stay in a locker all day? But something didn’t click. John was as straight laced and obedient to the school rules as they could get. No matter what, the little half pint always did everything to not get into trouble. “Why didn’t you just get yourself out after the bell rang? Aren’t you worried about getting in trouble with the teacher?”

“I…couldn’t get the locker to open.” John hung his head. “It was stuck, sir.”

Dan didn’t have a problem opening the locker. Then again, he was much stronger then John. “Shit, I knew you were weak but I thought you could at least get yourself out of there. Why didn’t you call for help?”

“If I had called for help, they would have asked questions.” John explained. “If they inquired further into the matter, they might’ve discovered that you were the one who did it and would have suspended you from the team.”

“So in order to save my hide you decided to stay in this tiny ass locker?” Dan’s voice was incredulous.

“I knew you would come and let me out, sir.” John said sincerely. The hopeful look in his eyes told Dan that he truly believed what he was saying.

Shit. What was up with this idiot? Dan had almost gone straight home and left him there for who knows how long. Would John have stayed in there the entire night? And it was just because he didn’t want Dan to get in trouble?

What was wrong with this guy?

It took him a moment to realize John was still sitting inside of the locker. “What are you waiting for, get out of there already!” Dan said irritably as he grabbed one of those thin arms and pulled him out and onto his feet. John’s legs wobbled a bit from being stuck in that position for so long, so Dan immediately supported him. As he held John up, a very uncomfortable feeling welled up inside of Dan.

The muscular jock tried to go along on his way without looking back at such pathetic little wimp, but it made him even more uncomfortable when Dan realized that such uncomfortable feeling was actually guilt.

Dan stopped a few steps from the geeky lad, still hesitating.

“I guess you missed your bus, huh?” He said, trying to keep it at bay.

“I don’t take the bus sir.” John replied, keeping his eyes down causing his silver framed glasses to slide to the tip of his nose. Silently Dan remembered when he whaled on the tiny guy for looking straight at him like they were equals, and ever since then John had always kept his gaze on the floor.

Crap, there was that guilty feeling again. “Where do you live?”

John’s head jerked up. “Wh-what? Why? Sir.”

“Just answer the question.” Dan asked impatiently, looking at his sides he feared some of his fellow jocks would actually witness the powerful Thunderstrike being good to his favorite prey.

John flinched back from his tone. “T-Teacher St, off Church and Newhope.”

“Shit, that’s like three miles away.” Dan muttered. “And you walk to and from there everyday? Why don’t you get your parents to drive you?”

“My parents have work.” John’s gaze lowered back down. Dan wasn’t really sure, but he thought he saw a flicker of sadness in those eyes before they vanished from view.

“They’re busy doing important things, too important for me to bother them sir. And since I don’t have an allowance to pay for the bus fare, I walk home.”

“Why don’t you ask your parents for the money?” Dan frowned, “It’s only a few coins. Don’t you even get any lunch money? You can use the spare change from that to pay.”

“You take my lunch money everyday sir.” John told him.

Ouch. He had forgotten about that detail, and now it was rearing its ugly head. “Fine then, today I’ll drive you home.” He said as he pulled out his car keys and jangled them in his hands.

John’s eyes widened. “N-no sir! I don’t want to be a burden to you. You shouldn’t be wasting your gas money on someone like me.”

“And I’m saying its okay.” Dan crossed his arms.

“But I have…plans.”

“Plans?” One of his eyebrows rose. “What kind of plans?”

John shifted uncomfortably. “I have…somewhere I need to go.”

“Then I’ll take you there.” Dan said firmly.

“But-” Unaware of the fact that a few other jocks were about to exit the locker room, John tried to formulate an excuse, but his eyes were lost on Dan’s uncanny body.

“Oh for the love of-” Dan stepped forward, grabbed John and threw him over his shoulder and quickly proceeded to the parking lot, if any jock saw him, at least they wouldn’t think he was actually trying to do something good to that miserable dumb geek for a change.

“S-sir!?” John exclaimed. His tiny little body shaking along with Dan’s bouncing muscles, the rhythmical waddling stance in which the jock’s body graciously moved.

“Just be quiet and do what you’re told.” Dan barked.

Instantly John’s mouth shut tight. However, without talking he was suddenly aware of the situation he was in. Right now he was being carried on Dan’s broad shoulders like a sack of laundry. He could feel Dan’s powerful traps and deltoids flex and move under him. He prayed to God that Dan wouldn’t feel his growing erection through his jeans.

Apparently God was a very good listener because Dan just continued to carry him out into the parking lot and walked to his truck, a brand new black 2007 Dodge Dakota. Dan deposited him into the passenger seat of his truck and even buckled his seat belt for him. Then Dan jumped into the driver’s seat and turned to him. “Alright, where’s the place you gotta go?”

“1200 Maple Rd.” John reluctantly replied.

Dan gave a brief nod before he started the car and began to drive. The two of them rode in silence, which gave Dan time to mule things over, something he hadn’t done in a long time.

Somehow the way John acted really confused him. Before he always saw John as a scared little wimp that did everything he told him because of fear. But now, John was acting as if he actually cared about him. The more he thought about it, the stronger that thought grew. When he thought back at a dozen different scenarios, he could suddenly see that John wasn’t acting like a regular victim. In fact, it was almost as if John wanted to do things for him like his homework. He didn’t even complain about the times he sucker punched him or pinned him in a very painful wrestling holds.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me that you needed your lunch money to get back home?” Dan asked trying to break the ice between them.

“Because you needed it more than me…” John said in a genuine tone that caught the driver off guard.

“Are you crazy? Have you seen the kind of car I am driving? I don’t need your money, I just do it because…” Suddenly, Dan knew that the only answer to that that question was that he enjoyed the feeling of power he had over John.

“But you really needed, sir. You always buy extra food for you with my money, and if it helps your muscles to get even bigger, it is a much descent destination than my transportation…” John completed in such a stoic way that it made Dan consider supernatural possibilities. No one could be that good, especially with such a jerk like himself.

Was this guy some sort of saint? The mere thought made that feeling of guilt grow even more.

Finally they arrived at the address John had given him.

“A bakery?” Dan frowned as he parked in front of the store. “What do you have to do at a bakery?”

“It’s….private sir.” John shifted uncomfortably.

“Tell me.” Dan ordered, since John seemed to respond to direct orders pretty well.

John looked a bit reluctant, but caved in. “I’m buying a slice of cake, sir.”

“A slice of cake? What for?”

“For…my birthday.”

Dan’s lips parted. His mouth became dry and his Adam’s apple was lodged in his throat. “Your…birthday?” His voice came out hoarsely.

“Yes sir. Today is my 18th birthday.”

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in. All of a sudden John started to hate himself and the guilt that had been building inside of him suddenly blew up in size. “Why are you buying your own birthday cake?” He asked. “I mean, I’ll bet your parents already have one waiting for you when you get home.”

“No,” John shook his head, “They don’t even remember that it’s my birthday. Every time they require the date, they have to ask me to tell them. Usually they find out about two weeks after my actual birthday and they give me a little money, mostly a twenty dollar bill. I’ve been buying my own birthday cake for the past…” John paused to count his fingers. “…eleven year now. It’s a silly tradition, and I don’t know why I do it, but I still do it every year.”

That kind of lifestyle…it wasn’t right. This guy had suffered from his constant bullying since the fourth grade. He was short, small and weaker than a kid three years younger than he was. Every day John had to walk over three miles to and from school, and at lunch he was fed by the leftover scraps that Dan ‘privileged’ him with. Now he finds out that no one celebrated John’s birthday.

And all the while John didn’t utter a single complaint.

Dan reached into the area behind his seat, rummaging around the stuff he had tossed back there until he found what he was looking for. “Here.” He said, pressing a box into John’s chest. “It’s an ipod. I, uh, just got a new and better one at home, so you can just take my old one off my hands.”

John looked down at the box in his arms. Despite what Dan had said, this was undeniably a brand new ipod of the latest model, still in its original sealed casing. “I can’t take this, sir.” John said, giving the box back. “It’s much too grand of a present for me. Plus my parents do not allow me to download music onto their computer, and I am unable to pay for them as well. But…thank you”

Then John did something Dan had never seen before. He looked straight into Dan’s face…and smiled.

“Y-you’re welcome.” Dan said, stunned.

“Allow me to pay you back for the ride sir.” John said. “Wait here please.”

“But wait… you didn’t have money even for your bus ride!” Dan held him by the arm.

“Not today sir, you kindly didn’t get your share of my money!” John replied as he smiled.

Before Dan could notice, John had managed to slip from his grab; jumped out of the truck and dashed into the store. A few minutes later he came out carrying two boxes with the store’s logo printed on the side.

“Here. This is for you sir.” John held out one of the boxes.

Curious, Dan accepted the box and opened it. Inside was a slice of a very delicious, but very expensive chocolate layered cake, exactly Dan’s favorite. Speechless, he gawked at John, but the little guy merely kept his eyes on his lap.

After everything Dan had done to him, John had went and bought him a gift like this. It was his birthday for crying out loud, John should be buying this kind of shit for himself! Dan knew from their conversation that the guy didn’t have that much money, but he just blew it for him. That kind of selflessness pissed him off.

But at the same time, it made him feel…warm inside.

“So, should I drive you home now?” Dan asked.

John hesitated for a second. “I-is it alright if you drop me off at the park instead sir? I usually go there to…to celebrate my birthday.”

“No problem, half pint.” Dan nodded.

When they reached there, John jumped out of the truck and headed into the park. Without saying anything Dan followed him. The place they arrived at was a lone stone bench in the shade of several trees still in bloom, despite the lateness of the season. John seemed to pause briefly to admire the scenery before he sat down on the bench.

Briefly, Dan paused to look at his surroundings. For some reason, a feeling of nostalgia and longing arose in him, but he quickly shook it off.

“So, do you have any traditions you usually do while you’re out here?” Dan asked as he sat down next to him.

“N-not really sir.” John shifted uncomfortably from being so close to him. Every muscle stood in sharp relief under Dan’s shirt, and their close proximity to him made it hard for John to breath regularly. “Usually I just sit out here and eat my cake. The scenery is always nice to look at, though this year it looks very beautiful.”

Dan looked up at the overhanging branches covered with delicate flowers and found himself agreeing with him. It did look rather pretty.

“So…go ahead and make a wish or something.” Dan suggested.

“H-huh?” John blinked, his glasses sliding to the tip of his nose again.

“You come all the way out here by yourself just to eat a piece of cheap cake. You might as well wish for something.” Dan told him.

John looked at him. What did he wish for? Dan was so close to him that he couldn’t think straight. Beads of perspiration began to form on his forehead and his palms became sweaty. What did he wish for? If anything, what he wished for was-

A gust of wind picked up, scattering a few stray petals around them. At the same time, a tearing sound appeared. Startled, the both of them looked at Dan’s sleeve, which had just ripped open.

“What-” Dan began to ask before a button popped off of his shirt, quickly followed by another to reveal his massive pec shelf. Then his other sleeve burst open, exposing his huge guns.

John stared at Dan wide eyed. Dan was literally growing out of his clothes right before his eyes! The sight of one of his fantasies coming true made his dick harder than ever before.

“What the fuck is going on!?” Dan cried as another button popped up. Then his eyes landed on the tent in John’s pants. “Dude…are you getting off on this!?”

“N-no sir!” John tried to deny it.

“Fuck, you are!” Dan said angrily as he jumped to his feet.

“I’m sorry sir!” John cowered back. “I…I can’t help it. I’m…I’m attracted to you.”

“Fuck you!” Dan barked, making John jump.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” John apologized. “I promise to whatever you tell me just…just please, stay my friend.”

John whirled on him. “Friend?” He repeated. “You think we’re friends? Are you stupid? We are not friends!”

“B-but-”

“Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear.” Dan said as he loomed over John. “We. Are. Not. Friends! Friends don’t make the other one do their homework, or beat on them or stuff them in lockers! Did you think we were close or something just because we’ve been in the same class since the fourth grade? Well you’re wrong! You were nothing but a play thing to me, someone I can push around to do the things I want. I didn’t even see you as a human being, you fuckin’ idiot!”

John was shaking violently as he gazed up at Dan with wet eyes. Each word coming from Dan’s mouth was like a blow to his body, and he couldn’t help but whimper. Try as he might, he could not get his erection to die down, and that seemed to infuriate Dan even more.

“I never want to see your pathetic face again, you got that?” Dan said in a low, threatening voice. “Now beat it!”

John sat there for a stunned moment before he leapt to his feet and raced off as fast as his short, thin legs could take him. Dan watched the direction that John disappeared to before he turned and headed for his car. Before he left, he took the box of cake that John had given to him and threw it into the trash.

[redkage]

Hey everyone, it's me again. Today I bring you a collab between me and a great writer who, for personal reasons, wants to be kept annonymous at this time. He's a reknown artist on this forum, and I am honored to have written this story with him.

Expect the next part sometime in the near furture!

-Red

[tapanther]

Wow, This has real potential. I seriously can't wait for the next part. Great job, both of you.

[Jaypat]

If you don?t mind me asking, how does this collaboration work? Do you get together and write or do you e mail the story back and forth or does one of you write one section and the other write another?

Oh, by the way, great start. I?m looking forward to the next part.

[redkage]

Originally Posted by Jaypat

If you don?t mind me asking, how does this collaboration work? Do you get together and write or do you e mail the story back and forth or does one of you write one section and the other write another?

Oh, by the way, great start. I?m looking forward to the next part.

There are a lot of different methods, depending on the people writing it. You can contact each other via e-mail or an IM, and discuss things like story, theme, plot, etc. One way to write it is to do a certain amount of the story, then pass it to your partner whenever you feel convienent or when (s)he askes for it. Then that person can go over it, change/fix and add as well before passing it back.

Another way is for the both of you decide on what to write together, word for word, while one of you type it out on a document.

Either way, it's mostly what you feel comfortable with, and also who you're working with, etc. There's no set way to do anything, so you just have to do your best, like me and Mr. X

[TheMM]

...this renowned writer/artist, "Mr. X" is none other than...*is suddenly killed in a mysterious way*

[tagsnola]

... However you and your collaborator, Mr X, are doing it. I am definately hooked. I'm looking forward to the next chapter.
- TagsNOLA

[therealm1]

This story is amazing. I'd love to hear more of it!

[IndigoSensor]

Great start! I click the story and didnt look at who wrote it, but I knew it was you right away. Your style is very distinct.

The olny critisizm I have is that dan begins to have these relizations after YEARS of beating on John. The length of the timeframe makes it a tad unrelistic in my book. If he had olny known him for a year or so, that would be different. However, I can understand the point of this from a plot standard.

Excelent work as always!

[scot158f]

What a great start! I cannot wait for the next part!! Thanks for writing, redkage and Mr. X

[skumbum]

Originally Posted by redkage

Dan never really explained why he tattooed the image of a lightning bolt striking a blossoming tree, with the blooms floating in the air like they were being carried by the wind.

When you update your avatar, let me be the first to say I expected it!

[Blake]

I have to say that is one hell of astart to what I hope will be a very interesting story.
Can't wait to see what happens next

Thanks

[sexiscriptor]

that was....AMAZING
unfortunately I have to run because my parents have no concept of patience, but at the least i'll say --

Originally Posted by Redkage

That kind of selflessness pissed him off.

has to be the greatest character statement of all time ^.^

terrifically hot as always, man, I'm looking forward to reading more from you two soon!
~Palmer

[tagsnola]

... John's selflessness will nettle Dan so much that he'll eventually feel compelled to intervene to lead Dan in another direction. John is such a wounded, negelected soul. Dan hardly seems like the person to extend the hand of friendship to John, but, with Dan, there's obviously an internal conflict of some kind going on, evidently having something to do with his father, who, evidently, has died prematurely. Dan seems very conscious of what his school mates think of him, zealously guarding his "badass" reputation. And yet, the rank injustice of John's life situation appears to have gotten under John's skin. But, without realizing it, John has broken the "code" between Dan and him by wearing his heart on his sleeve (or in his crotch, as it were). But it would appear that Dan has issues of his own. The final exchange between Dan and John, where Dan was needlessly cruel to Johnl tells me not that Dan is a badass. It tells me that he is afraid of John and of the unwelcome feelings he is beginning to see that he has for John. Right now, it looks like Dan is more afraid of John than John is of Dan!

Maybe when all this plays out, Dan can help John with his self-esteem issues. And maybe John will help Dan to realize that he doens't need to hide behind his badass facade. Hopefully, in the end, Dan will see that selflessness, when rightly directed, is a strength, not a weakness.

But in the meaintime, until they find their way, I think these two characters are in for a very rough ride.

An earlier post, by IndigoSensor, mentioned that Redcage's writing has a certain unique unmistakable character. Of his work, I've only read "Touched" and this first chapter of "Struck," but from what I've seen, IndigoSensor's assessment is bang on. My soul resonates with Redcage's writing.

- TagsNOLA

Originally Posted by sexiscriptor

that was....AMAZING
unfortunately I have to run because my parents have no concept of patience, but at the least i'll say --

has to be the greatest character statement of all time ^.^

terrifically hot as always, man, I'm looking forward to reading more from you two soon!
~Palmer

[Stoneman]

Phew. This story is pretty sad.

[13 of Spades]

Originally Posted by Stoneman

Phew. This story is pretty sad.

Amen to that. I feel like I've been the bully to this kid for six years now and realizing he's neglected like the Christmas fruit cake in the back of my refridgerator.

[theseventhwave]

Originally Posted by TheMM

...this renowned writer/artist, "Mr. X" is none other than...*is suddenly killed in a mysterious way*

[COLOR="Red"]Ha! Brilliant! I was just about to speculate on who I think "Mr. X" is, but perhaps I'll keep my suspicions to myself.

Redkage (and Mr. X) - great story (as usual). [/COLOR]

[TeknoDave]

Great story thus far...I am intriuged at the choice of Dan's heritage, the Walla Walla tribe. I grew up just east of that region.