The Wounds Within My Heart By James
Disclaimer
This is a story which deals with sexual and romantic situations between teenaged boys. This story will at times deal with situations concerning rape, child abuse, Racism, Ableism, suicide and other dark subject matter. If you're not of the legal age to read such material, or if you're disturbed by this type of story, then please back out now. Also, please remember to donate to Nifty, as it's your donations that keep this and other stories on the site free to the public.
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Thanks once again to my editor K. who's done an amazing job at editing my story. I always appreciate your edits you make, and your assistance helps this story be the best that it can be. Thank you.
The Wounds Within My Heart
Chapter 19
That Sunday, Nohea was at Pietro's house, David awoke early to get some house work done. It was after 7:00 A.M., and David first started with checking over the bank books, then he went in to dust the rooms downstairs. Once that was complete, he moved to the rooms upstairs, careful to not wake Triston. He'd save the vacuuming for later in the day when Triston was awake and away from the noise.
Once finished with the dusting, David looked in on Triston, and he enjoyed watching him sleep. He went over to sit on his bed for a moment. Triston continued sleeping, and he was on his right side facing the area of the room in which the door to the bedroom stood. His left arm was curled around his favorite plushy, which was a brown and white dog. David knew that the plushy gave Triston a lot of comfort, especially when he slept. As he sat there watching him, David thought about how glad he was that the boy had it with him, and he also thought about how deeply he loved Triston.
David reached out to gently stroke Triston's thick brown hair. It was getting long again, and was about a couple of inches above his shoulders. David made a mental note to ask Triston if he wanted to go and get it trimmed a little at some point in the coming days. It wasn't in his eyes, but it was almost there. That was usually the point at which Triston would allow him to take him to the barber shop.
As David sat there continuing to stroke the boy's lovely hair, he thought, like many times before, about what Triston's future would be. He knew that he wasn't going to put his son in a group home. That would hurt Triston deeply, and he knew that Nohea wouldn't stand for it either. Neither would Beth, come to think of it. Still though, he continued to try and think of how he could provide for Triston's future when the boy became older and an adult. There were still doubts as to whether or not Triston would be able to live on his own totally independent, or with support staff who would check on him only a couple of days a week.
Triston still had a lot of trouble with anything math-related. He also had trouble with understanding various things when it came to financial issues. For example, Triston showed real difficulties when tested about how to hold on to money to make it last, or knowing how to not spend impulsively. In their daily lives though, Triston didn't ask for much in terms of things he wanted David to buy for him, But when learning the concepts in school, that was when his difficulties showed themselves the most. When David would explain these things to Triston while out to different places, he could see that the boy could hardly keep up with what he was talking about. David would change the subject so as not to stress out his son.
There was also the issue of eloping that Triston sometimes had. The couple of times it happened were fortunately ones that David was able to handle. The second event happened when Beth was with the two of them. The first time it happened was when Triston and David first started living together.
On the day in question, David had been out in the garage. It was in the middle of the second month of Triston living with him at this point. When David went into the garage, he had left Triston in the yard, and he could see him from where he was bent down cleaning a couple of tools he had. On that particular day though, there were several firetrucks that went by blasting their sirens along with their horns. They started earlier that morning about an hour after Triston had awoken. When he first heard them, Triston put his hands over his ears and made an annoyed sound. David made sure to have his noise-canceling headphones ready in case he needed them again.
Triston had his headphones on a couple of times when a couple more firetrucks went by. By this time, it was almost 11:00 A.M. on that hot June day in the middle of the month. There hadn't been any further disturbances, and when David asked Triston if he wanted to go out into the yard, Triston motioned for him to open the door. David did so, and he let his son know that he would be in the garage, and he would be able to see him. Triston nodded, then went out sitting down on the grass with his Legos.
It was going on 12:00 P.M., and things continued to remain quiet. Triston hadn't taken his headphones out with him, and David didn't think he would need them since they probably wouldn't be out there that long. Unfortunately, there were several more firetrucks that went by in a row, sirens blasting and horns sounding loudly.
David looked up as the noises continued, and he looked again. Triston was gone. David felt his heart in his throat! This was what he dreaded. He had heard of Autistic kids eloping, and he also heard how some cases of this didn't turn out well.
"Triston!" David said loudly struggling to remain calm.
There was no answer though, and David ran from the garage. He looked around, then could see a flash of bright green. It was Triston's shirt that he was wearing at that time. David ran, and he could see off to the right to the shoulder of the road. Triston was well past the driveway, and he was increasing in speed.
"Triston!" David yelled.
The bright-green of the boy's shirt was disappearing fast, and David ran faster than he had in a long time. He struggled to keep up, and yet Triston only ran even faster. Finally, David gained ground on him. He caught up, and Triston was just inches from him. Unfortunately, in his panic, David didn't realize his own strength.
"Triston, stop!" he yelled louder than he meant to, and he pulled hard on the boy's shoulder.
The force caused Triston to fall, landing hard on his butt, then falling on his back. David got him in a sitting position, then moved so that he was in front of him. Triston was crying now, and the sensory overload coupled with David's rough handling of him, only increased the boy's already overwhelmed and over-stimulated brain!
Triston shoved hard, not wanting to be handled, and David pulled back. He did manage to get the boy to take his hand, and Triston was wiping at his eyes with the other one.
"That really scared me Triston!" David said still frightened, but struggling to calm down and use a lower volume with his voice. "I'm really sorry I grabbed you like that. I was just really scared."
After a few more minutes, Triston calmed down, and he moved closer. He motioned for David, and he took the boy in his arms. They sat together like that for a long time, and Triston rested his head against David's chest.
"Are you ready to go back to the house?" David asked once Triston looked up at him.
Triston nodded, and they stood, but David stood in front of him for a moment.
"Was it the noises from the firetrucks?" he asked. "Was that what made you run from the yard?"
Triston made a fearful sound, and put a hand over one ear.
"I should have taken the headphones out with us," David said stroking Triston's hair. "I'll remember to do that the next time. I'm sure that really was too much for you."
Triston nodded.
"If anything gets that intense for you, and I'm around just let me know and we'll leave the area, or we can put on your headphones if it's something like what happened today, okay?" David went on.
Triston nodded.
"Okay, good," David answered. "I also want you to know that I'm not mad, and wasn't upset with you. I couldn't ever be angry with you. You're my son, and I really do love you. I wouldn't ever want to lose you."
Triston reached out, and he hugged David tightly. David held him just as tightly, then they separated to go back home.
The second time Triston eloped was less serious, and was over before it really got a chance to begin. It happened a couple of months later in August. On the day in question, David and Triston were in the grocery store. Triston had on his headphones, but the noise-canceling function wasn't activated. When David checked with him, Triston typed "Not too much noise," on his AAC device. The device had come the month before in July, and David as well as Triston were glad about that.
When Triston ran that second time, they had finished at the produce aisle. Straight ahead was the snack aisle where a few boxes of pop tarts sat. David saw them, but Triston saw them first and acted quickly. He took off not as fast as the first time, but for David, the memory of the first time came back. He did his best to control his voice.
"Triston," he called out and chased after him, doing his best to not break into a full-on run.
He caught up to his son, and Triston turned to look at him. Triston then gave his head a shake, as if remembering the other time he ran when he and David were outside. He came to where David stood, and David put an arm around his shoulders.
"So you saw your favorite snack, that's alright," he said. "Try to let me know next time before you run to whatever it is you're interested in. Can you try to do that next time?"
Triston nodded, then David hugged him.
"Good, thank you," he responded, then he got a box of pop tarts to put in the shopping cart. As they continued to the check-out isle, David felt better. That second time could have truly been a whole lot worse, possibly like the time back in June.
David came out of his memories, and looked down at Triston lying there asleep. He was glad that those two times of eloping weren't repeated. David was even more grateful for the fact that, since that second time in August, Triston hadn't eloped since. He hoped that this trend of no eloping would continue for Triston.
David stood up at that point after leaning over and kissing Triston's cheek. He then looked at the clock on his phone and saw that it was well after 8:00 A.M., and he figured that Triston would be ready to get up around 9:00 A.M., though sometimes he liked to sleep in a little longer on the weekends. David turned and looked at his sleeping son for another moment, then left, gently closing the door behind him. He went into his home office, and looked through the messages that had come in over the last few hours.
0000
Nohea
As I awoke, Pietro kissed my cheek, my forehead then the side of my neck.
"Good morning," I said as I turned onto my back.
Pietro kissed my cheek again, then I sat up. He grabbed his device, then typed.
"It's after 9:00 A.M.," he said. "I woke up about ten minutes ago, and decided to lay there watching you sleep. You do look so cute when you're sleeping."
"Thanks," I answered. "That's really sweet. You look really adorable when you sleep as well."
"Thanks," he said.
"You're always welcome," I said getting out of bed.
After I used the restroom, I brushed my teeth, then showered quickly. Pietro had showered before me, and when I returned to the bedroom, he was sitting on the edge of the bed checking his phone.
"Messages?" I asked leaning down to kiss him.
"None right now," he answered.
"Okay," I replied.
Alex was going to be texting us at some point later in the morning about when to hang out that day. Chelsey would be coming with him, and Evan, Collin and Brianna would be meeting us once we decided where we would be going.
I sat beside Pietro, and he put his phone off to the side. We hugged for a long moment, then shared several deep kisses.
"Last night was amazing," I said softly close to his ear. "I can't stop thinking about it. I never felt so loved than I did with you doing all that to me."
"I'm really glad I could make you feel so good, and I'm so happy that you enjoyed our evening together!" Pietro answered as we kissed again. "I'd love to continue on with more stuff like that again tonight if you're alright with it?"
"I'm definitely alright with it," I replied. "That would be really amazing!"
We shared one more kiss, then got up to go into the kitchen where I could hear Bryan and Amy getting breakfast ready.
We all greeted each other once Pietro and I entered the kitchen.
"We would have come out to say good night to the two of you, but we fell asleep before you guys got home," I said.
"It's alright," Bryan said.
"We didn't get home until 11:30 P.M.," Amy said. "We had been talking with a couple of friends of ours after the main party ended, and we lost track of time until I checked my phone's clock."
"Did you guys have a good time?" Pietro asked.
"I sure did," Amy answered.
"So did I," Bryan said in agreement.
"It was a few doctor friends we know, and sometimes we get together to go out and have dinner and drinks," Amy explained.
"Sometimes they have music at the restaurants we go to," Bryan said. "They had a group playing different songs at the place we went last night, and we decided to stay for the whole set."
"They did a good job!" Amy added.
"They absolutely did," Bryan went on.
"I'm really glad you guys enjoyed yourselves," I said.
"So are we," they both agreed.
After breakfast, we told them about our idea about getting together later that afternoon with our friends. They said that sounded like fun. We also told them that we would be hanging out at the mall for a bit, then getting lunch from some place. When we asked if they wanted us to bring anything back for them, Bryan let me know that he and Amy would make something at home.
Once at the mall, Alex and Chelsey were the first to show up. Brianna, Collin and Evan came a couple of minutes later, and we first went to the record store that was in the front of the establishment. We talked while walking, and it was really nice to hear about what our friends had been up to over the last few days.
While we were in the store, we split up and after looking around, Alex found me in the Used Section. He read off the albums I was looking at, and I shook my head in disgust.
"Fucking Auto-Tune Bullshit," I said. "Why can't these fuckers make real music anymore?"
"Yeah, I know," he answered. "Since we all brought money, this might be a good time for us to split up while in the other stores to get our Christmas shopping done."
"I think that's a good idea," I said.
He and I walked through a couple more sections, and he asked if we could go sit down on one of the benches out in the main area of the mall itself. I texted the others to let them know where we would be.
"Thanks," Alex said once we were seated on the bench. "The endless rotations of Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Lil Dirk and M&M were getting really old really fast."
"No problem, that's what I'm here for," I answered. "I'm always happy when I can help save you from the evil Pop and Top 40 crap pumped out over the airwaves."
He laughed, then we sat there in silence for a moment. Alex spoke again, and I figured that we were getting at another reason, and possibly the real reason, why he wanted to sit down with it being just the two of us.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but I was wondering about stuff concerning people like you and Pietro," Alex said. "I don't mean about you guys being disabled, but about how you guys are gay."
"Okay," I said. "I'm always happy to answer any questions you have within reason."
"I understand," he replied. "Don't worry though, I wasn't going to ask you any personal questions."
"I know you wouldn't do that," I said.
"I was wondering about that thing you hear people say about kids," Alex went on. "You know, about how they say that kids liking other kids of the same sex just being a phase? Do you think that's a real thing? I know that there are a lot of LGBT people who get really pissed when someone says that."
"Yeah, a lot of us do," I answered. "It's usually just another way to deny our LGBT identity. There might be a couple of kids who have had gay crushes and maybe acted on them. They also might have enjoyed them, then realized that they're straight after all. Even if they had those short-lived attractions on which they acted, it doesn't make their experiences any less meaningful. Mostly though, if kids identify as any of the orientations on the LGBT spectrum, then that's usually who they are throughout their lives always."
"I get it," Alex said his voice distant as if he were deep in thought. There was silence, then he spoke again, but leaned in close enough to speak softly. "I always thought I'd be in a relationship with a girl. I mean, there were a couple of girls I thought were cute when I was like eight or nine, but the feelings were really fleeting."
"I see," I answered.
"When I would be around other boys of those same ages, I'd feel really excited," he went on. "I don't mean like in a sexual way, but in much more of a happy way. It felt stronger than when I would be around some of my female friends. That's the best way I can explain it."
"That's basically how it was for me as well," I answered. "I can definitely relate."
"I'm glad you understand," he said. "Lately within the last several months, I've been getting a lot more sexual and some romantic feelings for some of the guys I see around school. It's not anyone in particular, but I haven't been thinking about them that much. At least not back then. It's been on my mind a lot more lately though. I'm not scared about liking guys, but I'm totally nervous about coming out to anyone in my family."
I leaned forward so that no one else could over-hear.
"When you say you're really nervous about coming out to your family, do you think you'd be safe if you told them?"
"I feel safe," he replied. "I don't believe they'd try to hurt me if I came out," he said.
"Okay, good," I answered.
"It's just getting comfortable about the idea of coming out to them that I'm trying to deal with," he went on.
"So, are you Gay, or Bi?" I asked. "Have you figured that out for yourself exactly yet?"
"I'm pretty sure I'm gay," he said. "I'll have to think about it a little more, but I think that's how it's playing out for me."
"Well, no matter what happens you have my support," I said. "You'll always have it, and I really mean that."
"Thanks Nohea," he said then we hugged for a long moment. "That really means a lot. You're the best."
"So are you," I answered. "I'm always happy to be here and supportive of you and any of my other friends."
"Same here," he replied. "Would you mind keeping this between the two of us for now? I mean, if you want to tell Pietro then you can, but I just don't want anyone else to know until I'm ready to tell them."
"I won't tell anyone else," I said. "I'd never out you to anyone, and I'll keep what we talked about just between the two of us."
"Thanks," he said hugging me again.
"You're welcome," I answered as I hugged back.
He seemed a little more at ease now as we finished our talk, and as we separated, he let me know that Pietro was coming towards us. I stood, and we walked towards him. Our other friends joined us a minute later and we continued on with our walking.
0000
Pietro
As I walked along, I thought about what I saw when walking towards the exit of the record store. I had seen Nohea and Alex separate after sharing a hug. They began talking, and it looked intense. Their heads were together, and Alex looked extremely nervous as he said something to Nohea. After another moment, they hugged again one more time, then stood. Alex looked relieved and I wondered what I had missed. I didn't think anything was going on. I wasn't the type to rush to conclusions, and I wasn't about to start now. The fact was that I cared about Alex as did Nohea. I wanted to make sure that everything was alright. I made a mental note to ask Nohea bout what was going on when he and I were alone at some point later that evening.
0000
Nohea
As we kept walking, I asked if anyone had any ideas about where they wanted to eat. We had decided that food was the next thing on the list. Pietro suggested one of the sandwich shops that was a couple doors down from the mall. We all agreed, and we walked off to go and get lunch. While walking, I thought about the conversation between Alex and I from earlier. I hoped that he would be alright going forward.
Author's Notes
So now we're getting a little more into Alex, and his story. I figured I'd make him LGBT in some sort of form, so this is the result. I hope all of you enjoy where things go for him. I think everyone will be surprised at who it is with whom he ends up as boyfriends. That will come a few chapters later though.
In the next chapter, I'll be bringing Nohea and Pietro's weekend to a close. I hope you've all enjoyed reading about their time together. All that being said, I hope everyone had a really nice Christmas, and everyone have a Happy New Year. I'll see you all in Chapter 20.