The Adventure (Tomark)

Chapter 8

A/N: In order to celebrate >500 hits (plus the few people that made it to the second chapter :D) and your super nice, funny & encouraging comments, I wrote an extra long part that features some NC-17-ish content. It's not that much, but it made me giggle hysterically while typing, so please read with caution (or don't continue if this is not your thing). Thanks for reading my story and letting me know what you think about it. You guys are awesome :)!  

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When Tom hangs out at Poway's rundown skate park one week later, Travis' words still float around in his head. The well-intentioned advice of 'manning up' and proving that he is 'the shit' sounded plausible, almost simple when his confident best friend suggested it, but it's not that easy in reality. How is Tom supposed to prove something he's not — and probably never will be?

„Yo, DeLonge!" a familiar voice shouts from behind, almost making him jump. Tom grabs his board, turns around and waves at the boy who just called his name. He knows Ian from school and actually is not too fond of him, but since he appreciates everything and everyone that distracts him from those not exactly uplifting thoughts (and skateboarding by himself didn't turn out to be very helpful so far), Tom decides to be gracious for once.

„Hey man, what's up?"

„Not much. Just came home from my job at church camp. Thought I could screw some college chicks at the counselor's lounge, but man, they were fucking frigid."

Tom, secretly blaming Ian's unfortunate looks for his failure, giggles. „Bummer."

„So... How was your summer? Did you survive tutoring?"

„Yeah, sure. Anne can be merciless, but she really helped me. I'll totally ace the next math quiz," the teenager explains while trying to ignore the weird feeling in his stomach. „That's what i hope at least."

Tom doesn't like the other boy's use of past tense; he doesn't want summer to be over. But there are only a few days left until school starts again — and after that, things will be different for sure. Knowing that those carefree afternoons in Mark's room soon will be a thing of the past hurts, and it makes looking forward to his senior year difficult. Tom doesn't care about writing sappy messages into his classmate's yearbooks, about childish pranks or about prom. He cares about being close to Mark though, and the prospect of not always being able to is more than frustrating.

And it's not just that. There are things the high schooler has to sort out now that he has realized that getting all flustered in the presence of his friend, thinking about him 24/7 and even jacking off to his pictures are no accidental slips or coincidence. Coming to terms with this is difficult, but he did kiss Mark after all, and his heart still starts racing when he recalls it. He doesn't know what all of this means and he doesn't want to label it either, however, being together with Mark to explore those peculiar feelings further seems reasonable. He just needs more time to collect himself, to build up his courage and — if that's even possible — to prove that he by all means can keep up with the college student, his lifestyle and his idea of fun.

Unfortunately, all of this will be rather difficult as soon as Mark is back at college, screwing around and probably forgetting about Tom instantly.

The teenager sighs. Mark is not even here, yet he manages to distract and confuse him. Mark with his stupid blue eyes, white teeth, soft skin, muscular—...

„Hey! Are you even listening to me?"

Ian's scrutinizing voice brings him back to reality. Tom looks at him apologetically and slowly shakes his head, but the other boy only laughs. „Penny for your thoughts?"