The Judge's Blessing (boyxboy)

Crisis (Fall III, 9th Grade)

Several weeks passed during which Danny and Asher were increasingly seen less and less at each other's homes over the weekends. Text messaging and Skype calls also decreased in frequency. Asher knew there was a problem, but he wasn't sure how to deal with it—he wasn't even completely sure what the problem was, though he had his suspicions. Does he just apologize for something he didn't do? That didn't seem right to him, and it would auger poorly for any relationship that formed with Danny.

While Asher was moping around his house, Danny was increasingly spending time with his best friend Damian. For the past week, either Damian had spent the afternoon after school at Danny's or vice versa. It was Damian to whom Danny turned when his mother died. It was Damian to whom he turned when he first met Asher, and to Damian, when he and Asher started dating.

Damian had recognized long ago Danny was gay, but when Danny decided to come out, it was to Damian that he first did so. For Danny, Damian was the friend to whom he could turn for just about anything and not have to fear the response. Over time, Damian had come to know just how much he could push Danny about something, and when to just step back and let Danny have the space to work something through.

During that week, though, Damian thought it time to get Danny to open up about what was bothering him. It was evident that something was. As Danny's best friend, Damian knew he needed to push Danny to tell him—there was no way for Damian to help otherwise. And Danny's increasing pain was hard to miss. What Damian did know was that Danny didn't mention Asher nearly as much as he did in the past, and Danny suddenly had time available on the weekends to watch Netflix or go for an ice cream. Did it have anything to do with Asher? Everything seemed to be going fine there. What's the problem, then?

"Danny, I know that something's eating at you," Damian said that Friday after school. They had gone to the local cupcake shop—Danny loved the  double chocolate cupcakes. But almost from the time they met at the shop, Damian could see something was eating Danny up. As they ate their cupcakes, Damian asked, "What is it, Danny? You know I'm not going to come down on you about anything. Have I ever judged you? Let me help. Anyone can see you're miserable. What's doing, bro?"

Danny's head hung down and he said, "It's Asher. He did a pretty good job of humiliating me. I don't know what I did to trigger it, either. I had just been pretty nice to him, and then...that."

"OK," Damian responded, "what exactly are you talking about? I'm not following."

"I'm a bit embarrassed, Damian."

"Come on, dude, spill the beans. Danny, do you remember when you and Asher were just starting to get comfortable with each other and you mentioned that you had kissed each other on the lips? If you hadn't told me at the time—hell, Danny, you were dying to tell me—I would never have had the chance to tell you to try kissing with your tongue. You sure didn't find it on the internet—I did. And didn't that work out nicely? At least that's what you said at the time. It was worth a milk shake, actually."

"Damian, this is different."

"Really, Danny? Somehow, I doubt it. But humor me, maybe I can give a different perspective."

Danny was silent for a minute.

"Danny, you are the most intuitive emoting person I know. That I'll ever know. If Asher really wanted to humiliate you, you would have picked up on it long before he tried. So what's it going to be—let me know what's embarrassing you so much, or maybe I should just go and let you give the matter some more thought. Cause I've gotta tell you, bro, you're getting to be not so much fun to be around. What happened to the old, carefree Danny? I want him back."