Still Hate You

HOLA PEEPS!

It's your boy Ryan with another story for Nifty which I hoped you guys will enjoy, as you seemingly always do.

This time, I've chosen a different route...what happens when two boys, who cannot STAND the sight of each other, get too close for comfort?

Much love to you all, Ryan

STILL HATE YOU

** FOUR YEARS PRIOR **

"Over here, dude! Pass the ball! I'm open!"

Twelve-year-old Jonathan Logan looked up and immediately spotted his best friend Seth Randall on the flank next to him, running alongside as fast as his pre teen legs could afford to carry him. The latter boy gave his teammate a chance to score as he quickly squared the ball to him, and indeed, the fast as nails Seth maneuvered his way past the opposition goalkeeper and slotted the ball home to the delight of the watching crowd at Freedom Primary School, on this hot as fuck Friday afternoon.

Even at their tender ages, there was something within both boys which their peers admired and dare I say...almost worshipped. At that age, the girls already started to notice that both best friends were more than just boyishly handsome...they were going to be rock, solid heartbreakers in just a few years time, if not already sooner. The fact that their coach told them there was a talent scout coming to the game, might have also sweetened the pot for both boys as well.

To both Jonathan as well as Seth, soccer wasn't just another sport, it was a near religion. They lived and breathed the sport, never fail to watch a single match on the telly when their beloved Manchester United played, as Jonathan always came over to watch games at Seth's house, since the Logan family didn't have the financial resources that the Randall's had. Nevertheless, the boys were lifelong best friends, and it felt like nothing and no one could break that seemingly unbreakable bond between the two of them.

After the game, which ended 2-0 to Freedom High, the boys waved to their parents, who were, as always, watching them together from the stands, and ran as quickly as they could, back to the locker room to take their showers. Seth's heart skyrocketed in his young chest as he saw the coach talking to the talent scout that he had told them about, and he dug his elbow into Jonathan's midriff, his eyes flashing over where both adult men were.

"That must be the dude, what do you think?" Seth whispered as he took off his sweaty, grimy football shirt and flung it slowly towards the floor, not taking his eyes off the two men even for a second.

Jonathan sat down on the wooden bench before him and sighed, wiping the sweat from his eyes, before he took a sip of water from his water bottle and nodded in agreement.

"Duh...his face was plastered all over social media that he's gonna be visiting schools in the area! Geez...I hope I did enough to just...well, I dunno, impress the guy? Is that how you say it? Because if things go on like this, I don't think I'm gonna be able to go school here next year."

Seth swung around towards his best friend, so fast that he nearly ended up with a bad case of whiplash, his mouth was totally inside his throat at the sound of Jonathan's lethal words. They had been in the same class and school ever since they could remember...even as far back as Kindergarten!

To split the both of them now...sure, he had other friends, such was his immense popularity around these parts, but he couldn't...in his young heart and mind, he couldn't possibly imagine a world where Jonathan wasn't with him. Even for just the seven hours of school...and the fact is that they were mostly at each other's houses most of the time anyway...they were fucking inseparable!

And now...now this?

"Dude...your dad hasn't found another job yet?" he whispered, sitting down next to his best friend, his arms at his sides...because suddenly he had this huge and unexpected RUSH inside him to actually place one of them around Jonathan's shoulders. He didn't know why...instinct? He just wanted Jonathan not to look as fucking sad and as miserable as he did now.

Jonathan sighed and looked down at his beaten old football shoes that he was forced to practice in, as well as play games with.

"Yeah man...it's been months now and you know my mom doesn't make much at the bakery. The only damn reason I'm even still here is because my dad paid my school fees on time when the money was still coming in, but it's nearly the end of the year and they are always like, fighting over money and shit, and it's fucking doing my head in, Seth. The only fucking way I can go to school here next year, will be if I get one of those scholarships. I really don't wanna leave but..."

Seth swallowed slowly, and took a quick look around the dressing room for good measure, to see if anyone was watching the two of them, or if anyone was in the near vicinity. Nearly all of their fellow teammates, was either already underneath the showers, or their parents had already come to pick them up. They weren't alone by any means but there was no one who would DARE to say anything out of the ordinary either.

Breathing out slowly, he reached over and placed the palm of his hand firmly on his best friend's shoulder, squeezing it slightly as he did so. As always, when he was close to Jonathan these days, a ripple of excitement...an effect of joy slashed through him like a hot knife through butter. He didn't know why it seemed to happen more and more these days...he and Jonathan had been friends literally ever since they could remember, but since he had turned twelve...he had begun to look forward seeing Jonathan more and more everyday. Like, he would...he couldn't put it into words yet...it was almost like his entire face would LIGHT UP when he saw his best friend at school in the mornings. Or when Jonathan's dad would drop him off for their weekly sleepover.

He breathed out in rapid staccato sloths as he saw Jonathan looking over at him, before the latter boy glanced towards Seth's hand, still on his shoulder after all this time, and then finally back to himself. As quick as lightening, Seth withdrew his hand, when Jonathan's eyes seemed to have been narrowing at his touch, before the coach entered the locker room, along with the high and mighty scholarship dude that everyone had been so keen to actually impress.

Jonathan's eyes nervously flashed over towards Seth, who gave him a small thumbs up. The coach dutifully explained carefully that only three of the boys on the team had made the cut to get a scholarship to play soccer for their school right into their final Primary year, before they would eventually leave for high school. He proceeded to introduce the talent scout to the rest of them and then gave him the floor to speak. The man rambled on and on for a good eternity it felt, way too boring for a twelve-year-old to digest.

Finally, after what felt like FOREVER, he eventually got to the three chosen names. The first two names belonged to neither Jonathan nor Seth.

Both boys looked at each other as they realized...IF this was happening, it was only happening for ONE of them...both boys were the hearts and souls of their team...both were excellent strikers, born to score goals...what the heck did this man see in those other two boys, but not in one of them?

"And finally...Seth Randall."

Seth quickly turned towards Jonathan, and whilst he knew, he had every right to be ecstatic about being chosen by a talent scout in order to win a scholarship to play the sport he lived for at his school, he realized what it meant for his best friend. Seth's family were rolling in the dough...Jonathan's were not. This was seemingly the only way that Jonathan could remain at this school for his final year...and now...SETH...who's parents could easily afford to keep him here WITHOUT outside help...man...

Jonathan's eyes were giving away how upset he was for merely a moment, because in his heart and in his mind, he was happy for his best friend. Never mind how rich the Randall family was, Seth was his best friend and if anyone deserved a scholarship, it was him, because he was a DAMN good soccer player. It didn't seem fair that he should miss out on everything said scholarship provided, just because his parents were rich.

"Well done, my dude...really, man, I'm so stoked for you!" Jonathan hollered at his best friend, a genuine smile streaking across his face as he did so. He meant it...he was happy for him.

Just a pity, that he probably...most likely, wouldn't be able to be on the same team as Seth the following year.

**

Two days later, and both boys were hanging out with some of the other teammates from their school's soccer team. It was nearly the end of the school year, and they didn't have that much left to do in the exams, only a boring English assignment remained.

Jonathan gave out a laugh as Omar, one of the defenders on the team, fell flat on his face in trying to test out his new hoverboard, when he saw Seth running up towards them, carrying his own underneath his arm.

"The hell have you been, Randall?" shouted Kyle, one of the team's midfielders...and he also came with the reputation of being one of the school's biggest bullies. Whilst the stuff that Kyle got up to was usually funny and just meaningless boyish pranks, there were times that Jonathan felt he didn't wanna be part of some of the stuff Kyle was wanting to do, these days. Seth always told him that life was way too fucking short to worry about crap, so he had no choice but to fake a smile and just ENDURE Kyle's antics.

Seth smiled, and although he couldn't have noticed it, his smile broadened the moment his eyes fell onto Jonathan, as it seemingly always did. He kept telling himself that Jonathan was his best friend...of course he would be happy to see him, why wouldn't he? Was HAPPINESS the reason that his tummy felt weird and this chest exploded with warmth and fuzziness whenever he was with Jonathan too...? That...he really didn't wanna know the answer to.

"I'm here now, aren't I? Come on, and help me get on this thing, I haven't tried it out yet!" he thundered over towards Jonathan, who quickly stood up and did what he was told. For the next hour and a half, or so, the boys, being boys just tried their best antics on the two hoverboards that were available, each time breaking themselves into an oblivion of laughter when they fell down or when the hoverboard would simply slide away from beneath them.

"I DARE YOU...all of us...to get on that thing and ride all the way down from Elmar Hill down to here!" Kyle suddenly cried out, mischief and laughter more than evident inside his eyes.

Omar swallowed hard, with his own hoverboard in his hand, and looked up to where Kyle was talking about. Elmar Hill was the top end of a drive that circled into the bad part of town, where Edgemead Primary and High Schools were situated. There has been YEARS of hatred and animosity between Freedom and Edgemead leaners stretching back several decades, and it was always known that the "rich" kids who lived in the Freedom part, NEVER set foot inside Edgemead, and of course, vice versa.

"You want us...to get on this thing, and slide all the down here from Elmar Hill? Kyle, you crazy?" he asked, in his mocha-coloured tone, looking at Kyle as if he had just escaped from a mental hospital.

Kyle rolled his eyes and snatched Omar's hoverboard from his grip.

"Well, if you guys are all too fucking pussy to do it, then I will!" he yelled and ran upwards to Elmar Hill before any of the boys would even dare to stop him.

"I don't like Kyle these days..." Jonathan whispered to Seth, who shrugged his shoulders and continued to stare up at the top of the hill.

Kyle reached the top and gave a raucous, boyish cheer, before he got onto Omar's hoverboard and before the rest of the boys knew what had hit them, Kyle had made it back downwards to them safe and sound, displaying excellent balance and skill to stay on the hoverboard, which he quickly tossed back to Omar, his face as arrogant as anyone had ever seen it.

"There. I did it. Seth, over to you. Come on, dude, are you a fucking man or a mouse?"

Seth swallowed and looked over at Jonathan, who, if he was being honest, was feeling a little better about it now...I mean, all of them had just seen Kyle do it, and if Kyle could do it, and it shouldn't be too difficult, should it?

"I'm game to try if you are? I mean, if you trust me with that expensive thing of yours?" he said softly, his eyes gleaming at Seth. There was no hiding it...Jonathan's heart thundered in his chest...he really wanted to get up there now.

Seth's heart was pounding too, but for an entirely different reason. What WAS WRONG with him? These kinds of feelings...they shouldn't be happening...they shouldn't be FELT towards another boy! Jonathan's blond hair waved bravely in the width of the afternoon sunshine. His stomach tightened at the sight.

"I trust you with my life..." he said, before he could even stop himself.

"Oh, for God's sake, get a room, you two faggots!" Kyle jeered nastily as he took out his phone and checked the time, before switching on his video mode to record what was about to happen.

"You guys doing this or not?"

Seth sighed and nodded, before Jonathan grabbed the board from his hands.

"Race you to the top of hill!" he shouted before he sped off in that direction, and Seth giggled out loud before he followed his best friend upwards.

Once at the top, which both boys reached at the same time, suddenly, as most twelve-year-old boys would, they weren't feeling so self assured anymore, looking down said hill.

"Uhm...it's kinda far down now that we're up here..." Seth murmured, his legs suddenly feeling like jelly.

"Yeah...but come on, dude...we can't let Kyle win. You heard what he called us just now..."

Seth gripped the hoverboard tight, before he looked at Jonathan.

"What...faggots? You know he didn't mean that! That's just Kyle, being Kyle!"

Jonathan sighed and nodded but Seth could see the worry in his eyes.

"Well, it's just not the first time that I've heard people call us that...me and you."

Seth frowned...this was news to him.

"Say what now?" he demanded, the hoverboard as well as the challenge they had been dared to do, momentarily forgotten.

Jonathan bit his lip as he stared down the hill, before he cleared his throat.

"It's just that...the other day at school, Saskia kind of wanted to ask me out, but I already had plans with you, so I said no because I didn't wanna be a dick but then she said...I mean, I'm sure she didn't mean it..."

"SAY WHAT, JONATHAN?"

Jonathan didn't dare look at his best friend.

"She said...sometimes me and you, seem more like...b...boyfriends than best friends. That's all. And now Kyle with his bullshit too...see, that's why I didn't even wanna mention this before because...SETH, what the hell are you doing?"

Jonathan's eyes bulged out of their sockets as Seth placed his hoverboard down onto the tarred road and proceeded to get onto the damn thing, trying his best to keep his balance, looking defyingly over at Jonathan, as he did so.

"Seth...come on dude, you don't have to do it if you don't want to..."

Seth grunted out loud, and what Jonathan didn't realize, was that his pride had now been severely hurt. It was one thing, being confused over what he felt for his best friend...what exactly it was, he didn't really know, but what he DID know, was you were supposed to FEEL this way for a girl. Not another boy.

And definitely not your best friend in the whole world.

It was one thing knowing who wrong all of that was...but now hearing that other people have also seemingly realized this...SASKIA of all people! The biggest gossip in the school...JESUS!

He had to do this. He had to somehow prove her, and Kyle wrong.

He wasn't gay. He wasn't a faggot.

He couldn't possibly be.

HE DIDN'T WANT TO BE GAY!

"See you down there..." he whispered to Jonathan, winking at his best friend, before he slid down, the hoverboard doing its job in taking him away to where Kyle, Omar, and the others were waiting.

Jonathan's heart was beating so fast, it rivalled that of a garden mouse. His hands were shaking. He felt like he couldn't watch this, but he also didn't wanna look away. Why did he HAVE to mention what Saskia even said?

Everything will be fine.

Everything with be cool.

Just a minute or so for Seth to ride down and them they will both go home and play games on Seth's Nintendo Switch, like they always did on a Friday afternoon when Jonathan came for a sleepover. They will make popcorn in the microwave and watch a movie on Netflix, and just generally be friends and life long buddies as they have always been.

And everything they had just discussed would be over and done with, never to be repeated again.

"JESUS, SETH WATCH OUT!"

Jonathan's eyes rocked solid in their sockets as he realized with all his daydreaming, that he didn't realize what was happening. It was only when Omar's deep voice was thundering over the area that he saw why the boy sounded so anxious.

Seth was nearly at the bottom but somehow, he had lost control of the hoverboard. Jonathan started to chase his buddy down the hill as he tried feverously to get to him before he fell off the board, but it was too late. Seth's body, as if in slow motion, CASCADED off his board at a frightening speed, the board slipping out from underneath him when he was literal centimeters from the rest of their teammates, as he crash landed directly on his left knee, rolling over one the rock hard concrete several times with the speed that he had been going down the hill.

What's worse...the POPPING sound coming from his knee...

...for as long as he lived, Jonathan didn't think he would ever get THAT out of his head.

**

"WHAT? THAT BAD?"

Jonathan stared at Seth's mother, Veronica Randall in sheer morbid terror, with the information that she had just given him.

The poor woman wiped away her tears and seemed to stare at nothingness before her, shaking her head her son's best friend.

"What the hell were you guys thinking, Jonathan? I have a good mind to take that hoverboard and burn the living crap out of the thing! And why didn't you stop him?"

Jonathan's entire face turned beetroot red as he heard and accepted the lashings of Veronica's scathing words, before he swallowed slowly and cleared his throat.

"Can I see him?"

Veronica's eyes flashed dangerously towards Jonathan before she got up and ran her fingers through her hair in complete and utter devastation.

"You know where his room is. Just be prepared...he's not in a good mood," she muttered before she ran towards her own bedroom as fast as she could, hitting the door closed behind her, her cries from inside could well and truly be heard as she cried her heart out at her only son's misfortune.

Jonathan was shaking...in all his years coming here, it had never felt like this. So...alone...so incredibly WEIRD and decrepit. His eyes fell on the big screen TV where they always watched movies and played Switch games...the living room floor where they coloured in pictures as toddlers...outside in the big back yard where they always celebrated their birthdays...the huge pool where Seth's dad had taught them both how to swim years ago...

...it all seemed like that was another time and another place right now.

Walking slowly towards Seth's room, he knocked on the door for what felt like the first time in his entire life...never ever was it even necessary to do so...before he once more took one deep breath for courage, and entered.

"Seth?"

A flying book towards the door missed Jonathan's head by mere seconds.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE? I DON'T WANNA SEE YOU!"

Jonathan's smile faltered as he saw Seth for the first time since the terrible accident. He knew it was bad, but until Veronica told him, he didn't realize how bad it really was. Seth broke his ankle in two places, and he completely dislocated his left knee.

There was no way he would be able to play soccer for nearly seven months, and THAT was IF the knee healed completely like it was supposed to. There was a very real chance that he would never be able to play the sport he loved, more than his own life, ever again.

"GET THE HELL OUT!"

"Seth, come on, man, I just wanted to see if you are okay...?"

Seth's anger reached fever pitch, if he had the full and complete usage of his left leg, there wouldn't be even a scratch left of Jonathan, he felt. His eyes were red as hell, his handsome twelve-year-old face distorted in anger and bitterness, as he laughed squarely at his best friend.

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M FUCKING OKAY? YOU...YOU DID THIS TO ME!"

A solidary tear escaped Jonathan's eye, and he felt it rolling down his cheek, but he did nothing to wipe it away or even stop it. He stared at Seth in sheer disbelief.

"Look...I know what I said before you got on that thing upset you, but how can it be MY fault alone? Dude, you didn't HAVE to do the dare! If you wanna blame anyone, blame Kyle! He started the whole thing!"

Seth spat out some pent out saliva, the glob of which missed Jonathan's worn-out old shoes by millimeters. Jonathan jumped back slightly; his eyes wide as he realized that his so-called best friend had just literally SPAT on him...he knew Seth was angry but JESUS CHRIST...

"It was ALL YOU! You and your girlfriend Saskia calling me and you faggots! That's why I did it! I wouldn't have if YOU didn't put all that in my head and you know it!"

"I TRIED TO STOP YOU! YOU WOULDN'T LISTEN, SO HOW THE HELL IS THIS MY FAULT!"

Seth glared at Jonathan, and his eyes turned nasty as it possibly could.

"I dunno...maybe you thought if I fucked up my knee, I would lose the scholarship and you would get it. You were so fucking JEALOUS that I got it and not you..."

"WHAT THE FUCK? I was really happy for you the other day..."

"Like hell you were! If you really were my friend, you would have stopped me getting on that board AND my mom agrees with me!"

BANG...that knife in the back hurt way more than anything else Seth could have said. Jonathan couldn't breathe...he had grown up half his life in this house...it was his second home. Aunt Veronica and Uncle Thomas were like parents to him. Both families have always loved and respected the hell out of each other...

...to hear Seth say those...those disgusting words...

Only Seth wasn't finished there.

"You know what? I really hope you get kicked out of school for this. I really hope you end up going to Edgemead, where poor people like you deserve to really be. I don't wanna see you EVER AGAIN! You've fucking RUINED MY LIFE! GET THE FUCK OUT!

Tears were streaming down Jonathan's face at the unfairness of it all. In his mind, he got that Seth was angry, that his entire life was now thrown apart, and perhaps it was the anger talking...but at twelve years of age, it was just words. He heard them, he digested them. Anger of his own FLARED up like the hellish deep fires of inferno.

"You know what...FUCK YOU, SETH! I HOPE YOUR KNEE IS PERMANANTLY FUCKED!" he shouted in complete bitterness and utter devastation, before he turned around, opened the door, and made sure he got the hell out of Seth's house, and the hell out of his life.

** PRESENT DAY **

"Oh fuck...no one does than better than you..."

Seth Randall thrusted his groin upwards to meet the mouth and the lips of the teenage boy who was currently doing the best possible job he could to suck and get him off, the feelings emanating from his rock hard sixteen-year-old cock was almost too much to bear. He looked down at Joel Rawlings, the only openly gay dude in the entire Freedom High and he smirked at the desperation Joel always showed twice a week when he would come over and service the most popular boy in school.

"Man, you are really hungry for my dick, aren't you...fucking faggot...lick my balls, come on...JESUS...fuck you're so GOOD at that..." Seth whispered as his eyes literally rolled back in their sockets as he felt Joel give Mario and Luigi down there some much-needed love and attention, both of his boys being bathed in a glory of warm saliva. His cock was throbbing, ounces of pre cum urgently and rapidly spilling out of his flaring piss slit and down his steel hard teenage pride and joy, his chest tightening as it always did when he was close to spilling his sixteen-year-old virile boy seed.

He winced as he felt Joel grabbing his fuck stick and jacking it as fast as he could, all the while still giving his twin boys down under some tender TLC, before he gulped as he felt his cockhead being enslaved by Joel's warm mouth once more.

Tuesdays and Thursdays after school...he sometimes felt as if he was really being HIMSELF on those days and those alone...because revealing to everyone at school who he really was, was not an option. Seth Randall had really evolved in the four years since he had that horrific break to his knee, but he got up and got on with it, seen as a hero to many of his peers because he could walk like a normal kid of sixteen, despite what he had overcome. The only change to his life was, he was now a goalkeeper instead of a striker, saving the goals, rather than actually scoring them.

Goalkeepers tended to move less on their legs than strikers did, which was the one thing that Seth failed to overcome...if he was too active for long periods of time, his injured left leg would become incessantly numb and his knee would start to sting and hurt like hell. This way, he could still be part of a team, and a team with an unbeaten streak as it stood. Their upcoming game against their BIGGEST rivals, the school onto which Freedom High tended to always spit on in disgust was Edgemead Academy. They haven't lost a game in the regional championships all season, and they weren't gonna start doing that against Edgemead of all schools. Like fucking hell.

"Cumming...holy shit, I'm cumming..." Seth groaned out loud as his hips fucked itself into Joel's hungry ass mouth as the nearly drowned the poor boy in creamy, thick teenage sperm. The stuff was usually so much, he always stashed numerous tissues away in his room for when he was alone and he could jerk off, so he knew exactly what Joel was going through when trying to swallow his babymakers.

Joel, though, being the trooper that he was, licked up everything that he could get his tongue on...not everyone could say that they had tasted the sperm of the sexiest, most popular dude in school, after all.

Seth's legs kicked out and nearly kicked Joel on his shoulders in orgasmic bliss, as he ducked in time, knowing how sensitive Seth got after he blew his wad down his throat, and he sat up, savouring the taste of Seth's cum inside his mouth, before swiping a bit of sperm from his face and putting it in his gullet as well. He never quite knew when all of this would eventually come to an end...Seth was dating a new girl every few weeks, but he always allowed Joel to give him some satisfaction twice a week, something that Joel never could quite understand. He wasn't complaining though, by any means...it was Seth Randall after all.

"Jesus, have you been practicing on a cucumber or what...that was the best you have ever given me...fucking hell, dude..." Seth smiled as he gently slapped Joel's face with his right palm, swiftly getting up and grabbing his underwear, it having been tossed in a corner when they had gotten started earlier.

Joel giggled as his eyes flushed over Seth's naked body as he always did, his own dick nearly doing cartwheels at the mere thought that this was even happening. Seth was so sexy...he was deliciously beautiful for a sixteen-year-old teenage boy. Dark black hair, which he didn't even need to style...it was seemingly effortlessly perfect each and every day. A stunning six pack set of abs that he so deserved, what with all the work he did in his home gym after hours. He was toned and muscled, his smile was enough to melt the darkest of chocolate...and all in all, the times that Joel had spent with Seth had taken its toll.

He knew how he felt about Seth, and he also knew it would never be reciprocated.

But that was the thing...if Seth Randall was completely and utterly straight...why was he even here? He could have stopped...this...a long time ago, so why was he demanding Joel coming over twice a week, when he could literally get any girl at school to suck his dick and swallow his cum?

Seth gave Joel a wink as he got fully dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, patting him on the shoulder as he did so.

"Same time next week, yeah?" he asked, his eyes gleaming as he took in the school faggot.

"Sure...yeah...I'm always here..." Joel muttered, his heart racing as he had to force himself not to lean in and kiss Seth, because that would be GOODBYE COCK SUCKER for good. They might have this little arrangement going on, but he knew there was limits when it came to what a seemingly straight dude would and could allow. Instead, he just nodded and made his way out of the huge Randall home.

Watching Joel leave, Seth completely lost his smile the moment the boy was out of his house. Watching Joel walk down the street, secretly adjusting his own hard cock, he sighed and reached for his packet of cigarettes. His parents weren't gonna be home for hours, so he usually took advantage to light a few up when they weren't here. Taking a few drags and puffs of his cigarette, he sat down and stared at nothing in particular.

One of these days, Joel was gonna ask him a question that he didn't have any answers to...or rather, it would be an answer that he wasn't prepared to give. Joel might be a faggot, but he sure as hell ain't stupid. Seth knew he could have anyone. He dated so many girls since he started high school, that he totally lost count. He lost his virginity at the stupidly young age of thirteen and a half, to a girl who was three years his senior.

Make no mistake...he got off all those times.

But he had to go to extremes in order to do it.

Imagining Sean Cody scenes usually worked.

Seth took another drag and a slice of pain dragged along with it. Hiding who he truly was. Knowing that in the end...he wasn't much different from Joel Rawlings. He was as gay as Joel was...only he was able to hide it, and Joel wasn't. Joel knew that even if he told anyone about their two days a week...who the hell would believe him over Seth Randall? And in turn for keeping quiet about all of this, Seth allowed Joel to get him off, which was obviously mutually beneficial.

Seth watched the smoke rise up from his nearly finished cigarette. He knew how to deal with the pain of being gay and not being able to fully live his life...to live a lie twenty-four, seven. To have his parents think he was some boy God...his father always praised him for living up to the Randall expectations. His mother always bragged about her son to all her friends. If they ever found out that he wasn't as perfect as he seemed...

The pain...the utter flesh melting pain of sticking his still burning cigarette into his left arm...creating another burn to join all the others that was already there, and some which had healed over time...as he sunk into the pillows as tears streamed down his cheeks. Images of male bodies...naked and hard...dicks at the ready, waiting to burst...handsome faces of his teammates and other young boys flowing through his mind like mist before the morning sun.

His chest heaved. He pushed the cigarette butt even further into his flesh...as if he wanted more pain...more FEELING to take away what he felt.

At last, he dropped what was left of his cigarette, and cried on the expensive ass sofa like only a little boy could. Fears of rejection by his peers, his parents...his entire being...if anyone ever knew Seth Randall was as gay as a Pride parade.

It couldn't ever, EVER come out.

**

"COME ON! They are roasting us on our own fucking pitch! Get your heads in the fucking game! JESUS!"

Seth broke up the team huddle and got back onto the pitch with the second half to start. Everyone, which was everyone would have thought that the rich, powerful, almighty Freedom High would have wiped the floor with Edgemead Academy like they always did, but at the moment, the school deemed as inferior to their majestic counterparts, was leading 2-1.

The utter humiliation if they were to lose this refused to enter Seth's mind. It couldn't and WOULDN'T HAPPEN! Not if HE had anything to say about it.

Turning to the referee looking to restart the game for the second half, Seth saw that the board on the opposite side went up, meaning a substitution was being made for Edgemead.

"Going off is Number eight, Frank Carter and coming on for Edgemead Academy will be number seven, Jonathan Logan!"

Seth seethed through his teeth. He loathed the fucker. Even after all these years, he still stared at him with the same contempt as he did on that faithful afternoon when he chased Jonathan out of his bedroom. The fucker had the nerve to rile up his former school's supporters by pointing to the scoreboard, wanting to solidly RUB it in that the lesser thought of Edgemead was leading at that moment and time.

In the first ten, fifteen minutes of the game, nothing seemed to change, with Freedom's players throwing attack after attack at Edgemead, but with no success, with the latter's defenders having the game of their lives, per say. Suddenly Omar, lost possession of the ball, an absolute gift to the Edgemead players. One by one, they passed to each other in complete precision, until their last midfielder flung the ball magnificently over towards Jonathan. With his long, lanky legs, he powered forward, his strong, powerful upper body no match for the floundering Freedom High defenders, fighting them out of his way, steaming down on the Freedom High goal, with now only the goalkeeper to beat.

Which was Seth himself.

Jonathan looked up, his eyes full of rage and determination, as his strong legs dug in and held the ball at his feet, with Seth narrowing his eyes against the harsh sunlight streaming down onto him, momentarily blocking his sight. Jonathan, even after all these years that himself and Seth had remained mortal enemies, knew his former best friend better than anyone, and he knew his left side was his weakest, having done his homework in preparation for the match.

His eyes locked on Seth, and in the four years that had passed, the rage inside his own teenage heart was still burning flame, beyond flame. The way that Seth ended their friendship, the way he had blamed him for his misfortune, the way he had treated him ever since...the way he MOCKED him when he was forced to transfer to Edgemead Academy because he could't afford to attend Freedom...he hated him. He STILL hated him. God help him, there wasn't anything left of the boy that he played Micro Machines with as a kid.

Jonathan stalled with the ball at his feet until the very last minute, and fired a stunning shot towards Seth's left but somehow, miraculously, Seth jumped to his side and blocked the shot out for a corner. Jonathan wiped the sweat of his face in agony over the lost chance, when he heard it...

"Cheap shot, Fucker! You ain't gonna get past me, not today, not ever!"

Turning towards a grinning Seth, he shot a middle finger towards his former friend, with the corner being swung in by his teammate, and with his lanky frame he dwarfed the rest of his Edgemead teammates, outjumping them as well as the entire Freedom defense with ease and heading the ball towards the goal...

...and SETH AGAIN SAVED IT!

"Jesus Christ, is he on fucking steroids..." he wondered out loud, before Seth flipped him off, laughing nastily, as the game continued.

Freedom managed to level the game at 2-2 with five minutes to go, and now suddenly it was anyone's game. The team who could score now, would surely win it. The infamous Kyle was having a nightmare game, as he lost possession a couple of more times, but at the same time, the Edgemead players were tired as hell. Outplayed for nearly 90 minutes, they had given their all and it showed.

One of the Edgemead players played a long pass over towards Jonathan, and suddenly all the Freedom defenders stood still as it caught them completely off-guard.

Jonathan with greed in his eyes, stormed towards the goal, there was no one around him, and determined to beat Seth this time...THIS time, he wouldn't be denied. Seth knew he was in trouble...if Edgemead scored now, they would win the game, and the backlash from Freedom students would be far too severe...losing was fine, but not against their bitter of bitter rivals. Not against them.

Not against HIM.

Seth tried to block the shot as Jonathan came close, but the latter had other ideas, and rounded the goalkeeper, but instead, he found Seth with a goal saving tackle on himself, as both his legs were swung out from underneath him, as both boys landed on the muddy pitch and heard the referee's whistle.

"PENALTY TO EDGEMEAD!"

The Freedom students were INCENSED, and a couple of parents had to stop their offspring from running onto the pitch and actually attack the referee with giving that decision. Seth and his fellow Freedom players nearly drowned said ref in trying to change his mind, but even the coach had to admit, it was a bad tackle from Seth Randall. The Freedom players completely underestimated their so-called lower opponents in the first half, and now they were in serious danger of losing the game...

...if Edgemead's star striker could beat Freedom's star goalkeeper.

Jonathan vs Seth.

"You fucking dived, you bloody FUCKER!" Seth hissed towards Jonathan, who smirked and laughed at his direction.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't...you will never know, Loser..." he hissed back, enjoying EVERY INCH of Seth's wrath on his face and his temper getting more and more agitated by the second.

"Get ready to fail, Fucker, you're going down...you ain't beat me the entire game and you ain't gonna beat me now..." Seth slandered over towards his former best friend as he took his stance in goal, ready for the penalty to be taken.

"How's the knee these days? I thought you were a striker back in the day..." Jonathan taunted back, with Seth's hands bawling into solid fists with every word that he spoke.

"I hate you...I fucking hate the shit out of you..." he shouted, hard enough so that only Jonathan could hear him.

Jonathan gave a thumbs up to his teammates, before he winked at Seth, his eyes glimmering.

"You're so not even worth my time to even hate..." he shouted back, enjoying Seth's reaction to his scathing words.

The referee blew his whistle, indicating that the penalty could finally be taken.

Jonathan stepped up, and took his shot, hard and FAST...

...and REJOICED as it landed up in the back of the net.

The BOOOS from the Freedom High faithful was DEAFENING. They could lose every game they played, but they HATED losing to Edgemead. They NEVER lose to Edgemead.

When the final whistle blew, it seemed like something in Seth had completely and utterly SNAPPED. As his eyes darted over towards the victorious Edgemead players, he saw Jonathan celebrating with his teammates and that was it. The Fucker totally dived to earn that penalty which won the game for them and he knew...and he wasn't even ashamed of it. As Jonathan happened to glance towards Seth once more, he reached out and showed the boy a thumbs down, and mouthed LOSER towards him, all the whilst smiling and pumping his fist in sheer and utter glee.

Seth had no idea or control over why he did what he did next.

He raced over towards the celebrating Edgemead players and he pulled Jonathan from the group and shoved him over to where they were somewhat alone.

"YOU'RE A GOD DAMN CHEAT! YOU FUCKER! YOU CHEATED AND YOU KNOW IT!" he shouted in sheer anger, alerting everyone around him of what was happening, a defeating silene thundering over the players and their fellow students.

Jonathan's smile reached even wider heights, and spat onto the ground, very much like Seth had done towards him four years ago in his bedroom when their friendship went to total shit.

"Yeah? Even if I did...what the hell are you gonna do about it...LOSER? We already won! Get a life, will ya..." he smirked, walking away, but Seth wasn't having any of it.

With a rage of terror in his voice, he viciously tackled Jonathan from behind, wrestling him to the ground, and started to punch every single piece of flesh that he could reach on the teenager. Jonathan realized too late what was happening...he never thought Seth might outright attack him, but he eventually started to fight back. It took a couple of moments for the two opposing soccer coaches to pull the boys apart, as each teenager tried their level best to get lose from the adults' grip and gleefully destroy the other.

"I FUCKING HATE YOU! FUCKER! CHEATER!" Seth battered the kid opposite him, swinging his fists like a mad man in trying to actually reach Jonathan but the grip his coach had on him was way too tight.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU! NOTHING BUT A FUCKING LOSER! USELESS IDIOT!" Jonathan gave as good as he got, his entire midriff having to be held back by his own coach.

"SHOWERS! BOTH OF YOU!" the Freedom High coach shouted, and pulled his player away from the situation.

"You're fucking benched for eternity, after this..." he muttered underneath his breath, with Seth gritting his teeth at the unfairness of it all.

So help him...Jonathan Logan was going to pay. He was going to pay DEARLY.

**

"CHEERS TO YOU!"

Jonathan downed a shot of rum as he held his girlfriend close to him and gave her a French Open that she wouldn't forget in a hurry, as she nearly choked with the sudden air being taken from her lungs.

"Dude! You gonna let your girl die from kissing on your fucking birthday?" one of his teammates hollered over towards him, but Jonathan merely flipped him off.

Saskia finally got her breath back as she reached down secretly and groped his already rapidly rising teenage cock. Having already had it in her pussy numerous times, she knew exactly how good that seven incher felt and what its owner was capable of doing with it, and she already made plans to lie to her parents that she was sleeping over at a friend's place. Tonight...they were sure as hell gonna have one massive fuckfest.

"You did it, baby...you finally beat those rich bastards..." she whispered and increased her grip on his by now, rock hard teen boy dick, which earned a shudder from Jonathan as he leaned down and kissed Saskia once more.

"I was thinking of you the entire time, babe..." he whispered back and nearly fucking came as she caressed the spot where his dickhead rested inside his boxers.

Well...if he had to admit it, which he never ever would, she wasn't the only person on his mind yesterday afternoon when they had beaten the almighty Freedom High on their own pitch...he rolled his eyes, as he took hold of another shot of rum and downed it in one full swoop.

Seth...Seth fucking Randall.

They only ever saw each other when Freedom played Edgemead these days, with Jonathan himself never setting foot on the rich side of the town anymore. Back when his father committed suicide due to his never-ending struggle to support his family, it was his mother who had kept them going, and worked two jobs just to keep things afloat. Now that he was sixteen years of age, he could legally get employment somewhere, which he could manage after school and on weekends. He had already a bunch of interviews lined up after the weekend, but for now...he was going to fucking enjoy his birthday.

The music was as loud as he liked it...it seemed like the entire Edgemead Academy was at Saskia's house tonight. It was literally the biggest house in the Edgemead area, and last year her parents had saved up enough money and even had a pool installed. He hated celebrating his birthday here, but what could you do...his small apartment wouldn't have cut it. Simple as that. And it's not even like Saskia even minded. It only perceived to increase her own popularity having the party here.

An hour or so had passed, and even in his drunken state, Jonathan knew he had way too much to drink. He never ever had this much...because there was never any money for it. He had saved his ass off for this sixteenth birthday bash, and he was enjoying every minute of it. He looked around with red, tired eyes...he literally couldn't see Saskia anywhere. Half his teammates were spread across the back yard, with some half asleep, and the rest just plain drunk. He smiled as he thought of Saskia...naked and willing underneath his lanky, powerful teenage body.

A sudden movement next to him, shoved him out of his drunken stupor, as he was violently pulled upwards and all of a sudden, he could swear that he was seeing...nah, it couldn't be...

"I got you now, you sick son of a bitch..."

Seth.

No.

Really?

Jonathan weakly allowed himself to be grabbed and spun around so that he was facing his former best friend, and SHRIEKED when a glass of water was viciously thrown smack bang onto his face.

"Come on! Wake the fuck up, and face me like a fucking man, you FUCKER!" Seth yelled out, and suddenly, Jonathan felt like that big black curtain of drunkenness had instantly lifted, trying his best to focus his eyes on what was happening.

Jesus...it was Seth Randall alright. Angrier than he had ever seen him. He nervously looked around, knowing even with the water in his face, he didn't stand a chance against the sober Seth right now...but all around him there were teens passed out, or just not in any state to actually help him.

"What...the hell do you want? What are you even doing here?" he slurred his words, and tried to keep his focus, but Seth was having NONE it, as he shoved Jonathan once more, the latter kid stumbling backwards and falling flat on his ass.

"Pathetic...you're always calling me a loser...take a fucking look in the mirror, you FUCKER..." Seth breathed, kicking Jonathan right in the center of his stomach for good measure. The boy groaned out loud and grabbed himself where Seth had injured him, but that just edged the latter on even more.

"You totally fucked up my life...I wonder if you even have any idea how much...you were my best friend, and look what you did to me! You ended me! How the hell can you even still LOOK at me! I HATE YOU!" Seth screamed like a man possessed, but what he didn't realize was that kick in the stomach, was all that Jonathan needed to force his tired body upwards and to actually face his sworn enemy.

"How many times...do I have to say...what happened that day...wasn't my FAULT!" he hissed towards Seth; his voice hoarse with emotion.

"I lost my scholarship, I lost my place on the team, for seven fucking months I had nothing and no one, not even my BEST FRIEND!" Seth yelled back in complete dis-contempt.

Jonathan wasn't leaving it there however.

"Fuck you! I came to check on you and you CHASED me away like dog! What was I supposed to do!?"

"I was angry and in SO much pain! I didn't mean HALF of the shit I said that day and you KNOW it!

"Oh, I'm a fucker and a mind reader now? My God, Loser...I LOVED YOU LIKE A BROTHER!"

"Yeah well, I LOVED YOU LIKE..."

Seth stopped abruptly, and swallowed whatever he was going to say next. Jonathan closed his eyes and tried to focus...

"WHAT? Come on, don't stop there now, big guy! LOSER!"

Seth closed his eyes, and saw Jonathan coming closer...and closer...and closer...playing him at his own game...taunting him with every move, just like yesterday on the soccer pitch.

"Get...the hell...away from me..." he whispered, his eyes now firmly on Jonathan's chest and abdomen...Jesus...not this again...not again...after all these years...NOT AGAIN...

Jonathan laughed at Seth, his white teeth showing at every sound, his facial features nasty as can be.

"Don't come in here with some crap ass story how I ruined your God damn life, you did all that to yourself. How fucking DARE you come into MY girlfriend's house, attack me and talk trash and then you can't take the payback? You're a fucking coward. You always have been. I'm well fucking rid of you..." Jonathan mouthed and turned to get away from Seth...

...only in his state, he didn't quite realize how close he was to the edge of the pool.

With a desperate shriek and an almighty splash, Jonathan slipped on the wet surface and fell head first into the deep end.

Seth wiped his eyes and tried his best to keep his temper in control, but actually facing Jonathan in such close proximity again for the first time in four years was the last thing he needed. Suddenly he heaved as he felt physically ill. All those feelings that he felt for his former best friend, was coming back to him like the Grim Reaper himself.

He doubled over and nearly puked his guts out, for still feeling this way, for still caring about Jonathan Logan. For still wanting him so bad...for not having the guts to say anything when they were friends...not ever trusting Jonathan enough to tell him that he...that he cared for him more than he cared for his own life.

DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU!

Seth turned around to leave, but something didn't quite feel right. He turned around, and he stared at the pool for a few seconds.

JESUS! JONATHAN HADN'T COME UP YET!

"Jonathan...JONATHAN!" he called the boy by his real name for the first time in what felt forever...it had always been FUCKER ever since that fateful day...but no reply came either way.

Without thinking, Seth dove head first into the area where Jonathan had fallen into and immediately felt his tall, muscular body underneath his touch as he dragged him upwards head first as both boys plunged out of the water. Jonathan must have been knocked lights out by the cold water...that was all he could think about. Who knows how much alcohol he had in him...

With all his might, he dragged the bigger teenager out of the water as fast as he could, his left knee nearly killing him with all the effort and the strain he was putting on it, and laid him out on the cement concrete besides the pool.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck...what do I do...What the fuck do I do..." he whispered to himself, and suddenly he remembered that he had learned how to how this shit in PE. Coach had taught this to them yonks ago, incase there was ever an accident on the training ground or in a game, to allow his players to know what to do if something were to happen.

But that would mean he had to...

Seth swallowed. There literally wasn't time.

With shaking hands, he gripped the sides of Jonathan's handsome face, and placed his lips solemnly onto his own.

Carefully, softly at first, as the coach had trained them to do, getting his shaking hands to move towards Jonathan's powerful chest, and pumped his lungs up and down as rhythmically as he could, all while counting to five, before he dived back on Jonathan's lips once more. Pumping his lungs a few counts more, going back to his mouth, over and over until it felt that he might collapse out of sheer exhaustion...

...before finally...at last...

Jonathan's body heaved and brought out a torrent pool water that had been cooped up in his lungs, came cascading out of him. He coughed incessantly, before he regained his vision and his surroundings, looking upwards at Seth with tired eyes, confused at first at what Seth Randall was actually doing here...before his memories must have somehow returned...the fight...the trash talking...

...slipping and subsequent falling into the pool.

"You...you okay, man?" Seth asked...softly as he could...not wanting to harm Jonathan any more than he already had.

Jonathan blinked a few times, before he took one look at the still uneven layers of pool water, and then at his clothes, drenched in it...his eyes widened as he realized Seth was soaking wet too...putting two and two together and eventually getting four.

"Did you...I remember slipping...oh my God, did you...?" Jonathan managed to croak out, unable to speak anymore than was necessary.

Seth stood up, looked around the pool area, and finally down at Jonathan.

"I can't...I can't be here..." he whispered and took off as fast as his legs were able to carry him.

**

"Hey...I was looking for you...my bad, I must have passed out in the bathroom, because I like...just woke up...sounded like someone screaming?" Saskia said, her eyes narrowed and her face as white as snow...a clear indication of someone not used to drinking severe amounts of alcohol.

Jonathan winced as she took his hand and pulled him towards where her bedroom is. Oh...yeah, that's right...they were going to have sex...

Trying his best to remain as sober as he possibly could be, he allowed Saskia to take off his t-shirt, following by her placing various kisses to his chest and his collarbone, all the way up to his neck, where she started to give him a hickey, but seemingly changing her mind at the last second. Reaching up with her mouth, she placed her lips on his own...

...and instead of kissing her back, all that Jonathan could see or feel...

...were the lips of Seth Randall's.

What the fuck...he had saved him from surely drowning...he HAD to have...why would he have been as wet as he was?

He really did love the Loser like a brother when they were growing up. And in an instant...everything had changed.

"Stop..."

"Stop what, baby?"

"Saskia, are you DEAF? I said STOP!"

The beautiful teenage girl's eyes dropped like a dead fly and her mouth opened in total shock...in all the years they had been sexually active...this...had never happened. He has never spoken to her like THIS.

"Baby...come on, you were hard for me earlier, let's just get into bed..."

"Saskia, no! We're both drunk, it won't feel right, okay? Just...let's just leave things for another time, yeah? We have loads of time...just not tonight, please? I need water...Jesus..."

Leaving a devastated Saskia all alone in her bedroom, Jonathan managed to make his way to the bathroom, where he saw the puke that she had to have brought up before she passed out, stinking the place up in the corner. He leaned down, opened the tap and drank like he had never had water ever, before in his entire life.

He closed his eyes and WILLED the feeling of another boy's lips on his away. Or at least, he tried to.

The love...the utter respect and childhood LOVE that he had for Seth had been hidden away for SUCH a long time...why was it BACK all of a sudden? In the few times they HAD seen each other in the past four years...it had always been a disaster. They HATED each other.

He had just walked out on his girlfriend and stopped them from having sex...all because of Seth.

Feelings HIS lips kissing him when it was infact Saskia's. Feelings HIS hands on his chest when it was hers.

Jonathan gripped the sides of the basin...he was trembling with confusion and anger.

"I'm gonna get you, Loser...first you fuck with me, and now you screw with my mind...I'm gonna make you PAY..." he whispered, as he helped himself to more water.

**

THANKS FOR READING!

I love writing for Nifty, but the Highschool section is my all time favourite. PLEASE let me know if you wanna read more about Seth and Jonathan, and where to from here for them...because there's not way things end here LOL.

Shoot me a message!

liciousryan@gmail.com