He was tall and very skinny. He wore peculiar glasses that made him look like a bookworm. His clothes were often mismatched and sometimes they were strange and uncommon as if they were from somewhere else in history.
There were other things that made him different, but then what would I know being a jeans and tee shirt boy.
He wore a ring with a big glittery stone. He took it off and let me look through it and see a shattered world.
He said, "That's what the world is really like. It shows you how broken everything is."
I gave him a puzzled look. I didn't know what he meant, but he said it as if he knew things no one else did.
He wore rawhide bracelets strung with different colored beads. He told me that they were magic. Around his neck he wore a very ornate cross but claimed to be an atheist. He said, "I don't believe God or governments but I do believe in magic." I had never met anyone like him before.
I stopped my bike to take a closer look. His blond hair was short and combed. It was the only normal thing about him and because of that, it didn't fit his overall image. It only made him look stranger.
"My name's Leonardo, you may shake my hand."
He extended his hand like he was some kind of royalty. We shook and became friends. I told him my name, Jamie.
I looked up at him and saw that his face had broken out and that he had already started shaving. I remember noticing that he had an Adam's apple that seemed to go up and down when he laughed or swallowed. He looked all grown-up to me but he didn't act like any of the adults I knew. I asked him how old he was. He said he was sixteen.
Leonardo also had many weird gestures that where dramatic, expressive or just plain crazy. There were so many and they changed so often that I couldn't keep track of them all. When I closed my eyes and listened to him talk, he sounded almost like a beautiful girl.
I rolled along on my bike next to him while he walked and talked. He went on and on about things I never had heard of before. I didn't understand but I liked listening to him. It was sort of like a new and unfamiliar music.
Being on a street lined with development houses was like being under a magnifying glass. I think we both had the sense that we were being watched by people behind windows and fenced in yards. Gradually we made our way towards a less populated area. We walked together along a road that connected one small town with another. Vines and reeds had become overgrown on the side of the road and I showed him a secret path that led to a hole in the fence. I dumped my bike in the underbrush and we walked out into the open field together. Once free of civilization I relaxed with him and he with me.
He said, "What's your full name?"
I said, "Jimmy, actually James Wooly."
Leonardo said, "That's not nearly enough of a name for you. I've changed my name lots of times."
I said, "I like it."
He continued. "You need something more aristocratic. You need a name like mine."
He cleared his throat and puffed himself up. "My name is Leonardo Alexander William Florien Victor Baxter."
Before I could say anything he said, "The third!"
It was comical but I accepted it as truth. He seemed to like that I listened to him with interest and that I didn't see the need to challenge him.
"If we get to be really good friends I'll invent a name for you. I think you look sort like a, Maximilian. You might be in the direct line for the throne of some lost kingdom. You never can tell."
I knew it wasn't true but I liked that he imagined that about me.
We waded into a patch of tall grass and then smoothed out a space where we could sit secluded from the rest of the world. Leonardo sat length ways and looked at me as if he was calculating or something.
"I like your hair. You should grow it longer and use plenty of cream rinse. I would grow mine very long but my dad makes me get it cut once a month like clockwork."
I had no idea what cream rinse was and I never really gave my hair a thought. I only got it cut when it became a nuisance. He reached out and ran his fingers through a hanging down lock of my hair.
"Black hair with blue eyes is very exotic. Jamie, you are very cute, did you know that?"
I shrugged my shoulders. Leonardo could clearly see that I was enjoying the attention even if I did look slightly embarrassed. Maybe I should have been afraid of a stranger paying me this kind of unusual attention but I wasn't. Leonardo looked harmless.
He reminded me of a kid in school who always used to get beaten up. I could see where Leonardo's high horse about aristocracy invited pissed off boys to drag him down just for the fun of it. When he moved closer, I wasn't afraid and if there was a reason to be afraid, I didn't care.
"You have any brothers or sisters?"
I told him that I just live with my Mom.
Leonardo said, "My parents split up and my sister is with my Mother and I live with my Dad."
He continued. "My Dad hates me but that's okay because I hate him too. He says I'm hopeless. I don't know why but I still try to please him."
I studied his face and suddenly I could see passed his glasses. He looked fragile and defenseless.
He smiled at me and said, "My dad said that I am totally useless. He says I should have been killed at birth. I think he is probably right."
Leonardo was going on about how miserable he was living with his father.
He said, "I wish I could live somewhere else. I wish I could find a place where people liked me and everyone is happy. Let's change the subject, talking about my Father is making me depressed."
I sat up and offered encouragement. "I haven't known you very long and I like you."
Saying that seemed to put him off balance. He tried to say something but was blocked by a stutter that seemed to go on and on. I had heard about things like that but I didn't understand what caused them.
When he finally got passed it he said, "That's because you're a nice person and not an asshole."
We were stretched out together in the tall grass, unobserved, carefree and pleased with our new friendship. There were several long pauses where there was barely word or maybe a laugh.
Finally Leonardo looked over to me and said, "You ever jerk-off?"
He said it as if it was something that had been troubling him. I looked up at large clouds that had formed in the sky.
Still looking up I said, "Yeah."
He looked relieved.
I said, "I do when I'm in the mood."
Leonardo laughed and said, "I do it all the time. I can't help it."
Without a word of agreement we did what all boys do. We opened our pants and started a stroke. We also did what all boys do. We looked at each other's cocks. My self image was pretty good and since I had just started playing with myself I was proud of my dick. It was almost five inches when I was hard. I liked the idea of showing it off. I pulled it out so Leonardo could see. He looked at it with great interest. Then he pushed his pants and shirt out of the way revealing a large boner and big balls. I think my mouth must have dropped open at the sight of it. He let me see it and then hid it as if he was ashamed. I had no idea that cocks got that big.
"God damn Leo, did you ever measure it?"
He looked sheepish and said, "Yeah, I think it is a bit over 8 inches."
We lay together and worked on ourselves. I looked down at our two sets of feet twisting and turning as we got closer. Leonardo started breathing hard until his whole body tightened up. When he came, he squirted cum all over his chest and as high up as his chin. He even had to wipe it off of his neck. I was totally amazed. I never came much more than a teaspoon full.Leonardo cleaned himself up.
I knew that boys do this with other boys for reference and comparison so I was untroubled by the experience. However, it was my turn to finish up. I had to show off my dose of cum to complete the bond of friendship between us. I started stroking again. Leonardo moved closer and slipped his arm around me so that I could rest my head on him while I did it. Without stopping I turned so that I could see his face. He looked calm and gentle and it felt good being close to someone. I was getting close so I began to do it faster. He pulled closer to me so that the length of his warm body was next to mine. He began to whisper words into my ear. I couldn't understand what he was saying but it sent chills through me and it was making me cum. The experience was so intense that I cried out. I had never done anything like that before. I lay next to him exhausted and out of breath. I felt him cuddling me as if I was something rare and precious.
Sometime went by before I recovered enough to sit up and look around. Leonardo was strangely quiet and subdued. Silently we put ourselves back together. He wouldn't look at me directly and behaved as if he was guilty of something terrible. It took walking through the tall grass and exploring before it wore off and he was back to being his silly self again. It was the heat of the day and thirst that drove us back to civilization. We both walked into the QuikiMart. Before we could get very far into the store, Mr. Daggett, the manager came out from behind the counter.
He pointed a finger directly at Leonardo. "You! Get out of here before I call the police. If you come in here one more time I will kick the shit out of you!"
Leonardo had a horrified look on his face. He backed away and turned and ran out of the store.
Mr. Daggett looked down at me and said, "I not talking about you Jamie, I'm talkin about him comin in here and stealin stuff."
He might as well have been talking about me because I was just as scared as Leonardo looked. I got two cans of coke and pulled out my money. I went to pay and Mr. Daggett leaned forward and began to talk to me in confidence.
"Jamie, what do you want to be hanging around with that trash for? I know you are a good kid but he's not for you. He lies and steals and you don't want to be associated with that do you? That kind of stuff rubs off and he's headed for serious trouble."
He lowered his voice and continued. "Jamie, he's never been seen with any girls. You know what I'm talkin about when I say something like that? So if you don't want something bad to happen to you will tell him to stay the fuck away from you."
I thought he was finished when he added, "Listen to me Jamie, if he touches or tries anything funny, you come and tell me and you can bet your ass I'll do something about it."
When I came out of the store, Leonardo was gone.
A few weeks went by before I saw Leonardo again. It's not like I wasn't on the lookout for him, I was but we never crossed paths. The time had come for me to go down to the Freedom and Liberty Mall and shop for a new game. Since it took an hour to get there by bus, I always spent a few hours hanging around. There was a pitiful excuse for an arcade that was good for about a half an hour distraction so after I bought my game I stopped by. I always liked to watch whoever was on Dance Revolution. Sometimes there would be a cute girl or a pair of girls or more often two boys competing to see who was best. No one was there but off in the corner was someone I recognized. Although I don't know how I recognized him because he looked completely different. His hair was yellow with black and brown leopard spots and both his shirt and pants were red. Today he was wearing one earring with a black sharks tooth hanging from it.
When I came up to him I must have looked confused because all I could say was "What happened to your eye brows?"
He laughed.
Leave it to Leonardo to try to look daring or ultra cool and end up looking silly. To make matters worse, he was standing in front of a brightly lit machine and was holding a large green mallet that looked like it came out of a cartoon. A bucked toothed chip monk popped out of a hole behind him and he quickly turned and swung at it. He missed. Then another one popped out of another hole and he tried to hit that one and missed.
He had a slight fit and then clawed at his own face in exasperation. "Oh Fuck!"
On top of all that, he had a four foot long skateboard with him. No one who is serious about skateboards has one that long. Leonardo looked proud. He said it was for cross-country. I already had my game and I told him I had to get home. Before I did, he grabbed me and pulled on me.
He said, "You hate me, don't you?"
I laughed and said, "No Leo, I don't hate you, you just look so weird without eyebrows. I was looking for you and this is the first time I ran into you."
He put his glasses back on and didn't look quite so weird. "I figured once you got to know me you wouldn't like me anymore but I have to tell you, I'm already prepared for that, so don't think you can just hurt me because I'm used to it."
I said, "Leo, relax, I like you and you haven't given me any reason to hate you so calm down, okay?"
He switched his glasses for a pair of wrap-around sunglasses. He slanted his gate and said, "Cool."
I couldn't help but laugh but I had no bad feeling towards him.
It was another week before I saw him again. This time he snuck up behind me and tapped me on my shoulder. When I turned and looked at him I didn't know who he was. I soon realized that it was Leonardo. His hair was black and his eyebrows had almost grown back in. What was lacking he had enhanced with a marker giving each eye brow a neat plaid pattern which was a much better look.
It was a subdued Leonardo, a Leonardo that looked like he had found even more trouble.
"Jamie, I'm really sorry, I get manic. Please don't hate me."
I asked, "What's Manic?"
He said, "It's when I sort of go crazy. Usually it's when I stop taking my meds."
He smiled at me and said, "I'm fine now."
He reassured me, "Really I am."
Secretly I didn't believe him and I decided that the smart thing would be to lose him in a hurry.
He got up close to me and whispered in my ear. "Let's go back to that place and jerk-off."
The suggestion was a surprise because I hadn't been thinking about anything like that.
I said, "I don't know, I don't think I'm really in the mood."
Leo became sly and mischievous. He whispered again in my ear so that I felt his warm breath.
"I'll get you in the mood. I'm very good at that."
I went along reluctantly. I had other things to do so I guess I was doing it just to please Leonardo. We went through the hole in the fence and out into the field. When we found our spot and settled in.
He cuddled up next to me and said, "Jamie, let me do it for you. Just lay there and let me make you cum. I want to do it and I promise you don't have to do it to me."
It seemed strange that he released me from any obligation but I didn't question it. I watched while he fiddled with my pants and then felt me through my underwear.
He whispered in my ear. "You don't have to do anything. All you have to do is cool-out and let me make you cum."
He pulled my pants further down and then my underwear. We both looked at my boner sticking up, twitching. He pet my balls and my penis. I noticed that his hand seemed to be trembling. He made it easier for me to cuddle closer to him. This was much better than a quick jerk in my own bed.
He whispered in my ear. "Jamie, I dreamed about you and in my dream we were doing this. In the dream we were both happy."
Hearing him made my boner so hard.
He said, "Tell me when I'm doing it right to make you cum."
He was stroking me and I moved my body up and down under his hand. I was breathing through my mouth and I looked into his face.
I said, "Like that. Keep doing it like that."
He knew exactly what I meant and he brought me closer.
He whispered into my ear, "Cum. I want you to."
It started with a tremor that went through my whole body and I started squirting. Leonardo held me so that I could let go of everything.....and I did.
I came out of it in a much better mood. I felt refreshed and energetic. We gathered ourselves and started out.
Out on the road I said, "What about you Leo? You didn't get to cum."
He said, "Feeling you cum was so much better."
I didn't understand but he seemed to be happy.We headed our separate ways.
Isolation:
My mother opened the door. A tall boy wearing glasses, tight pale blue pants and a black shirt, stood in front of her.
"Is Jamie here?"
Without looking away from him she called, "Jamie! Someone's here to see you!"
Leonardo extended his hand but my Mother didn't respond. She looked suspiciously at him. The strange boy was taller than she was. When I showed up at the door there was a standoff. She wouldn't let him in and Leo didn't try.
I said, "Leo, come in."
My Mother grudgingly let him pass.
She was sarcastic and under her voice she said, "He's a little old for you to be associating with, don't you think Jamie?"
I said, "He's alright."
She relented and we headed for my room.
Leo looked around my cluttered room and said, "God, you have so much stuff and it's all out where you can see it."
He turned to me and said, "My Dad is very militaristic. Everything has to be put away and be perfectly neat.
The only place to sit was together on my bed. Leo picked up my photo book and flipped through it. The door to my room slowly opened and I looked up to see my Mother standing there. She was motionless but her eyes went from me to Leonardo and back to me. Her expression was both serious and doubtful.
She crossed her arms and said, "Jamie, I have to go to work and I want you to know that I don't want any trouble or unexpected surprises when I get back."
She looked at Leonardo and said pointedly, "How old are you?"
Leonardo answered almost apologetically, "Sixteen."
She slowly turned to go and said, "Okay, no trouble, understand?"
We heard the front door close and then the car start up. I was used to my Mother's ways and we actually got along but it was plain to see that she regarded Leonardo with caution. It wasn't until we heard the car drive off that Leo seemed to relax.
He looked at me and said, "Adults are the enemy. They always look at me like they want to destroy me. It's like I can hear them saying, You're a failure or you are a fuck-up. My Dad wants to put me in the army so's I will learn to be a man. Even your Mom looked like she was going to call the cops on me and I didn't even do anything."
I tried to reassure him. "No, that's just her way of trying to look out for me, she's okay, really."
Leo made an uncharacteristic frown. "I hate adults!"
I said, "But you're almost an adult yourself. I mean in less than two years you'll be eighteen and I got four more whole years to go. I just want to be old enough to drive."
I thought for a moment and then said, "You can't hate adults when you're almost going to be one."
He said, "I'll have no problem. I'm used to hating myself."
He continued, "I won't grow-up, I don't want to! I hate everything serious, I hate responsibility and I don't want to go to work, get married and have kids and buy a house and all that shit! I just want to be who I am without people trying to force me to be what they want me to be."
His tension gave way to defeated resignation.
He held his face in his hands and mumbled, "I can't, I can't, I can't."
I was fourteen and I didn't seem to have a problem striving for maturity. I was even looking forward to it. Leonardo wiped his eyes. He had been crying. I put my arm around him and tried to comfort him. He seemed to cheer up a bit and was wanting to leave his frustrations behind. He dug into his pocket and pulled out something enclosed in his hand.
"Here, I got this for you."
It was a small pewter dolphin mounted on a crystal. Its body was arched as if it was jumping above the waves. I placed it on a shelf where I kept my collection of little things.
"Look, Leo, I'm putting it right next to Pika the Pokemon. Thanks him, "You didn't need to do that."
He was returning to normal, at least as normal as he was able. "I got it for you because I really believe we are friends. I mean I hope we are friends."
He looked at me wanting a confirmation.
I said, "Yeah, You're weird, but I do like you."
A long moment of silence set the mood in motion. I was waiting for Leo to start it. For all I know he planned it out in advance but I didn't care. He put his hand on my leg and I spread out in willing acceptance. He was looking at me and I reached out and carefully pulled off his stupid glasses. I looked into his face. He looked fragile and vulnerable and in a funny way, he even looked younger than me.
He moved his hand over my crotch and gently squeezed.
If I hadn't wanted him to, all I had to do was to stand up and tell him he was a perv, but I knew Leonardo would be crushed and he would run away and never come back... Why would I do that? I could tell that he had genuine feeling towards me and anyway, I liked him. I would probably jerk off before the end of the day anyway so why not share it with him. I didn't care and it made him feel good so what's the big fuckin deal?
It didn't matter if I liked girls or maybe there was a possibility that I might be gay, here was someone who liked me and devoted himself to me. Besides, I didn't have to return the favor if I didn't want to. I unbuckled my belt and opened my pants for him.
Leo raised himself and looked out the window to make sure that the car was gone. I said, "Don't worry, she won't be back until evening."
He whispered into my ear. "Jamie, I'll do anything for you.
I know about all the bad things people say about stuff like this, but I believe we didn't do anything wrong. Everything we did was sort of friendly, natural and I wouldn't have done it if I didn't want to. I can't speak for Leonardo but he was always kind to me and even though he might have tricked me into having sex, he never made me do anything I didn't want to.
I know I'm not gay but I grew to love Leo. He had a sweet and giving nature and wouldn't ever hurt anyone. He only wanted to be loved. Even so, I fear for him. People that don't even know him, suspect in him impulses that he doesn't even know he has. They try and convict him in their own minds and look for an excuse to crush him. For people like this, there is no word for love, there is only molestation, harassment, sodomy and rape.
He said to me, "Have you ever been in love?"
It was a strange question and I had no idea how to answer it. I pushed out my lower lip and shrugged my shoulders.
Leonardo looked off in the distance as if he was trying to see something far away. "I have. If you don't you're lucky because it can fuck you up so bad."
He looked sort of sad but suddenly began joking and laughing again. It was puzzling but I didn't have nearly enough experience to understand. I think it was the first time in my life where I saw someone that exposed and defenseless.
I loved Leonardo from that moment on.