The Tornados

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

“You had an awesome meet,” Jimmy said to Bryan as they boarded the bus to head home. The meet was done. The team came in second. A solid second.

“Yeah, I just wish we could have won,” Bryan replied. “Gulf Coast is just too good.”

“They have an amaze team,” Nick chimed in with youthful texting generated language.

“Stephanie, your team did great,” Bryan turned to the cute girl sitting next to him. “You ladies really did come close to beating the best team in the state,” Stephanie smiled.

“Okay team, we had a great meet. Several of you topped your best times. This will be the toughest team we swim against all year. The great news is we held out own and we came in second, solidly ahead of Lakes, which is also a great team,” said the coach. The girls team coach added similar comments.

“Okay, guys, we got off with just a warning from the officials about your letter fiasco. But, here is the deal. First, we will have dual practice all week,” Coach announced. There were groans from across the bus.

“Alright, it could be worse. We could have had to forfeit the meet, luckily the officials had a sense of humor. Second, we will do four hours of community service at the food bank packing boxes. Details to come.”

None of the guys said a word. They knew when to be quiet, and this was one of those moments. There were looks at each other, grimaces, and a few hand gestures got made behind the bus seats, but the team stayed quiet. “You know, he is right. We did almost screw up bad,” Bryan said to whoever was listening.

“Yeah, I guess so,” came the reply. The bus started up and headed away from the meet. Bryan had his arm around Stephanie. Nick and Jimmy sat side by side. It was a pretty quiet ride home.

_______________

Nick laid in bed that night, thinking. It was a fitful night. It all started after the meet when he got home. Nick ate dinner quickly, hardly talked of the meet. He had confusing thoughts on his mind. After the late dinner, Nick headed off to his room to do homework. Nick was a really studious young man, he had his eyes on pursuing drama at one of the really good arts programs, a talent he discovered at a young age in school plays. He had just begun a youth acting program at one of the local theater organizations. The best part of acting for Nick was the chance to be somebody he wasn’t in real life. He most enjoyed flamboyant and outgoing roles that stretched his mind and his capability. He loved the ability to be who he wanted to be. When he was on stage, he was the Nick he dreamed of. Just like the Nick on swim team.

It was late when Nick finished his homework. Almost eleven. He texted Jimmy. “You still up?” When he got no reply back, he laid back on his bed and stared at the posters of Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps on his wall, along with the poster of Robin Williams from Mrs. Doubtfire. In three bigger than life posters were the men he admired most. One, of course, was no longer around, a recent and very tragic death that had rattled Nick to his core. Nick smiled as he thought of and looked at each one of the posters. Phelps with his always serious look, Lochte in his always flamboyant swimsuits, this poster he was in white, daring white. Williams with his ability to make people laugh. Nick wanted to be all of them.

Nick was wearing one of his Speedo swimsuits, a solid black with gold print splice side panel on the right side. It was a remnant from his Summer swim team, whose colors were black and gold. Nick often hung out at home in his swimsuits, something he started a year or so ago. No particular reason, just liked how they felt on him. He wasn’t bashful about it. He didn’t hide in his room, he actually wore them around the house. Some guys wore basketball shorts around the house, Nick wore swimsuits. His sister thought it was a bit weird, but then she thought Nick was weird. His mom just figured it was a phase and ignored it. Tonight, he wore a gold T-shirt and the Speedo, the T-shirt now tossed over his desk chair.

Nick’s mind was racing from the comment Jimmy had said. Nick had never confided in anyone that he thought he was different from most guys. As much as he tried, Nick was just not attracted to the girls like the rest of the guys were. He didn’t get boners looking at nude pictures on the internet. He didn’t get all hard when he saw a cute girl. He thought girls were cute, even fun to be around, it wasn’t like he didn’t like girls. He just didn’t like them the way his friends did. When they started to talk about sex, which at is age was just that, talk and bravado all in fiction, he just made stuff up. Nick acted like he wanted to “do it” with the hot girl du jour, but it was just that, acting. He was good at it. Nobody knew the real story. Nobody but Nick.

Nick rubbed his hand along his chest and admired how the tight black swimsuit outlined his body. He loved how guys looked in swimsuits. The way the suit molded around their packages, displaying not just their bulges but also their muscular legs all the way up and the muscles just below the abs leading down to their sex parts. He had no idea what those muscles were called, but every great swimmer had them. Nick’s eyes wandered to the picture of Phelps in his vintage look Speedo. He loved how that suit molded to Michael’s body. The confidence of the athlete standing there in a full exposure of masculine beauty. Of the two swimmers on his wall, Michael was the hottest. Nick spent many nights getting turned on by that poster. Tonight was another one.

“Could Jimmy be like me?” Nick thought to himself. “It sure sounds like it,” he answered his own question. There was something about Jimmy that Nick found fascinating. He knew it from the first day they met, not all that long ago. It was an attraction Nick had never felt before. Oh sure, they were both swimmers and they had a lot in common, but it wasn’t the same feeling as other guy friends. Jimmy seemed deeper, a connection that was hard to explain. “Plus, he is really cute,” Nick thought. His hand rubbed across the bulge of his black and gold Speedo. He felt the tingle of excitement inside. Nick started to get really erect. He loved the feeling of being erect in his swimsuits. Nick gently caressed himself, not just that part, but all over his body. He was finding places that seemed to make him feel more desiring.

Nick had never thought about doing anything with a guy, at least not that he was ready to admit to himself. That was starting to change. Nick was starting to wonder more about what would be sexually arousing for him. Just as his guy friends fantasized about what sex with a girl was like, or even just kissing a girl, Nick was starting to wonder what it would be like to tough a guy’s chest, hold his hand, or even maybe hug. He had not gotten past that point, yet. Thoughts of Jimmy would take him there. Nick closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation of the tight swimsuit. He opened them and admired his own bulging anatomy as he glanced across his chest to the bigger than ever mound of black lycra between his legs. Over the course of the next several minutes, Nick would bring himself to a climatic finish, but this time it was stimulated not by the poster on his wall, but by the desires of his attraction.

The alarm clock came way too early. The first of the double sessions was about to begin. The black and gold Speedo was now tossed to the side of the bed. “You awake,” was the text message waiting for Nick on his phone. Jimmy was awake. “Make friends with your fav Speedo,” came the next line. “We are going to be wearing them all day…lol” Jimmy then shot a selfie of himself in his practice swimsuit. Nick smiled at the photo. He grabbed his own swimsuit and headed to the shower.

Practice started in thirty five minutes. Nick had to rush to get ready. He heard his phone vibrate with a new text, just as he stepped in the shower.

[Dooley67]

As Jimmy roused himself out of bed, he thought' "how am I going to get through 2 practices every day, I could barely drag myself out of bed this morning? It could be worse, though, coach could have been really angry and given us a worse punishment."

As Jimmy was putting on his blue Sporti suit, his thoughts drifted to Nick which happened most mornings since he met him at the beginning of swim season. Jimmy loved the Sporti; it made him feel very masculine, the low cut, the small sides, and while pulling the suit up and thinking about Nick, he felt his manhood growing. He liked the way it felt and especially because it was tied to how he felt about Nick.

First thing after getting dressed, Jimmy texted Nick, "you awake? Make friends with your fav Speedo. We are going to be wearing them all day...lol." Then Jimmy sent a selfie over to Nick of himself in the blue Sporti.

After sending the selfie, Jimmy began to think about why he did that. He knew that Bryan sent selfies to Stephanie but that was a guy sending pictures to a girl that he really liked and who really liked him. He was sending a picture of himself nearly naked in a tiny swimsuit to another guy. "What am I doing, what was I thinking?" Jimmy asked himself.

Jimmy had never felt about anyone, either a girl or another guy, the way he felt about Nick. He loved the way he looked in his Speedo, loved to talk to him and joke around, and felt like he wanted to hang out with him all the time. "Is this normal or crazy or weird?" He just didn't know.

Ever since Jimmy hit puberty he had felt an attraction to other guys. When he saw a guy on TV or in a movie or even someone at school, he got this fluttery feeling in his stomach, a sort of stirring in his man parts, and he felt himself getting a hard, not fully hard, but he certainly found himself growing. And when it was Nick, the feeling was even stronger.

Before he joined the swim team he had never worn a tiny suit and the team suits were really snug and sleek. He felt like he could hide a boner in the boxer type suits, but in the speedo type suits, there was no place to hide. Like when he and Nick were sitting in the bleachers watching Bryan swim the 200, they were wearing just their team suits, no shorts or shorts. Jimmy was distracted by his closeness to Nick and felt himself starting to throw a boner, enough so that he tried hiding his bulge with his hands. "Thank God when the race was over, I could jump in the warm-up pool and things naturally settled down," Jimmy thought.

"But what about that selfie I sent to Nick?" Jimmy thought. Is Nick going to be mad at me or does he feel that way too and about me?" Little did Jimmy know that Nick was asking himself this same question.

Jimmy always had a hard time when he tried to figure this all out. He reached a point when he just couldn't think about it anymore because he felt like he was getting to a dead end. He thought, "why does this have to be so complicated? "Nick is my buddy, why can't I just look at him as a good friend who I like to hang out with?" But deep down, Jimmy knew it wasn't as simple as that. Bryan was his buddy, George was his buddy, but it was different with Nick. Jimmy knew that to him, Nick was more than just a friend. Could he dare to think that it was like saying that a girl was more than a friend? Could he dare to think that it was OK to see another guy as more than just a friend?

It was getting late, he had to grab a quick breakfast and get to swim practice and he couldn't let this distract him during practice. "I have to be able to give 100% during practice, I can't let myself be distracted." Jimmy reasoned. But first, he needed to send another text. "Nick", Jimmy texted, "we need to talk, I have something I need to tell you and something I need to ask you."

Just as Nick stepped into the shower, he heard his phone vibrate with another text. Being in a hurry, Nick would pick up the text later after his shower.

....to be continued

[Dooley67]

Jimmy had grabbed his breakfast and then dashed out the door for the first morning of the two-a-day practices. Bryan, who was already 16, had his driver's license and Jimmy waited outside to be picked up. Bryan showed up a couple of minutes later and Jimmy hopped into the car.

"Morning dude," said Bryan, "you look either like you're half asleep or you've got something on your mind." Jimmy didn't think that his expression was so transparent, but he knew that Bryan could read him like a book all the time, well, most of the time.

"I'm really tired, didn't get a good night's sleep and I'm trying to figure something out."

"Well, buddy, spill it, you know you can always rely on me to help you out."

"Thanks, but not this time Bry, I have to do this one myself and right now I just want to concentrate on practice and not be distracted."

"Suit yourself, Jimmy. We just have to stop and pick Nick up and then we're off to practice, but you know you can always count on me."

"Thanks, man, I know that."

Earlier, Nick had showered, dressed, wolfed down a granola bar, and then as he always did, checked his phone for texts. He read the text from Jimmy, "Nick, we need to talk, I have something I want to ask you and something I need to tell you."

Nick had a feeling that he knew what Jimmy wanted to talk to him about, the same thing he had on his mind. Suddenly, he felt really worried about what he was going to say, about losing Jimmy's friendship if Jimmy didn't feel the same and was going to be mad at him, and about how he would act when he saw Jimmy. He didn't have to wait very long to find out because Bryan drove up with Jimmy in the car.

Nick jumped in the back seat said "hi guys" to Jimmy and Bryan, and then started complaining about how early it was, how tired he was, and wondering out loud "do you think coach is going to make this a really tough practice?"

Bryan answered, "I don't think so, he was a little annoyed, but not really massively pissed off, I think that maybe he even thought it was kind of funny."

"Man, I hope you're right," said Jimmy, "two practices a day is going to be really hard and I don't want to have a sh..ty start on the first day."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," agreed Nick, "let's just hope for the best."

A few minutes later the guys arrived at school, Bryan parked in the student parking lot and they headed for the locker room to change into their suits for practice. On the way, Jimmy and Nick lagged behind (Bryan was always in a hurry so it seemed natural for the two of them to be bringing up the rear).

Jimmy broke the ice and asked, "Nick, did you get my second text this morning?"

"Yeah, I heard my phone beeping just as I got in the shower so I didn't pick it up until later. What do you want to ask me and tell me?"

Jimmy answered quickly, "there isn't enough time to talk about it now and I need to talk with nobody else around, let's do it later after school and second practice."

"What's it about?" Nick asked, knowing full well what it was about but wanted to hear it from Jimmy just in case he was wrong."

"Well dude, it's about what I said at the meet yesterday and what you said about you also looking at the tall blonde guy and some other things too. It's not easy for me to talk about because I'm really confused, but I want us both to promise that we won't let anything affect our friendship."

Nick was very relieved as he said, "You know Jimmy, I want to talk about all of that too - I'm also confused, and I promise to not let it affect our friendship."

Jimmy heaved a sigh of relief after hearing what Nick said. And then the two guys headed into the locker room knowing that they were heading into uncharted territory and feeling both eager and terrified at the same time.

[solarguy]

Great continuation Dooley! Thanks!

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

D67,

Great addition to the story. I like the way you have Jimmy acting with Nick, exactly the way it would be at that age trying to figure it all out. Jimmy is moving cautiously, but they both know the truth. It is a tough time and you captured it well.

STS

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

“Good morning ladies,” Coach opened the practice with. “That sure was fun, the letters and all. Looks like a few of you liked them so much you still have them on your chests. Well, that’s cool. You do realize it about cost us the meet. “

“Sorry coach,” came the reply from one of the guys. “Guess we weren’t thinking.”

“Yeah, I think that sums it up.” Coach answered. He then just stared at the line up of swimsuit clad guys standing before him. He almost broke a smile at how intimidated they looked. In his heart he knew they were just having fun and secretly coach actually laughed at the whole thing. It was really a great team building.

“Well, gents, play as a team and now you pay, as a team. Better tie those drawstrings tight, because I am going to make you work so hard your swimsuits might fall off your skinny bodies when we are done. It’s coach’s pay day!” He paused. Jimmy gulped. Bryan about pee’d right there. “Get in the pool and let’s start with a 500, but I want the last 100 done fly! Go, go go!”

“This sucks,” one of the voices was heard. Coach smiled.

By the time the 90 minutes was done, three of the guys were so beat they couldn’t even hoist themselves from the pool. “At least the chlorine faded some of those letters,” coach called out. IN the locker room the guys all sat on the bench and talked. They were tired. They had 45 minutes until the start of school.

“Dude’s, what you say we get dressed and hit Mickey D’s for breakfast. I sure could use it,” Ryan, one of the seniors called out.

“Great idea,” Ben replied. The rest of the guys agreed. They all rushed to get dressed, tossing their wet swimsuits into their bags and quickly slipping into jeans, shorts or whatever they were wearing. The cackle of guys, a walking cloud of chlorine aroma, headed out the door. The McDonald’s was a short walk away. Life was coming back to the team. Hot cakes and egg McMuffins had that impact on adolescent males.

Nick and Jimmy walked together towards the back of the group. It was great day, warm and sunny. The last thing they both wanted to do was go to school, better day to hang at the beach or pool. “I am beat, coach kicked our butts,” Jimmy said almost whining.

“Yeah, that was really hard.,” Nick replied. “I think he was really mad, despite what Bryan said in the car.”

“Yeah, note to self to never mess with coach,” Jimmy answered.

“You got that right, Jimmy,” came back Nick. “your text was funny, the one with you in the Speedo. I laughed my butt off.”

“Cool, dude. After I sent it I kind of felt stupid.” Jimmy responded. “Like it was probably weird, me sending a pic to you like that,”

“Nah, it was cute.” Nick replied. Jimmy was relieved.

“So, you think coach is going to kill us again after class?” Jimmy changed the subject.

“I think so,” Nick replied.

“You can count on it,” chimed in Bryan, who joined the tail end of the conversation.

___________________


“So, what’s up?” Nick asked Jimmy as the two sat along at the far end of the lunch room. It was taco day, which was actually pretty good. “I know you said after practice, but maybe we can talk now?” Nick added. Nick was wearing jeans, skinny leg style that fit kind of tight. Jimmy noticed that, especially the way the jeans made clear that Nick was a guy, a well rounded bulge pushing out the button fly. Jimmy had on really handsome khaki shorts, almost to his knees per school regulations. Underneath he was wearing a team swimsuit, having failed to pack his usual underwear. Maybe he just conveniently forgot.

“I don’t know, Nick. I feel kind of weird.” Jimmy replied, not making direct eye contact.

“Bud, we can talk about anything. You know that. Is it about the guy at the swim meet?” Nick replied. He reached over and touched Jimmy’s hand, which was resting on the table.

“Well, yeah, kinda,” Jimmy replied. “But it is more than that, it is kind of hard,”

“Spill it, trust me I can handle it.” Nick replied.

“Well, I think I um, you know…,” Jimmy paused. He was shaking. His eyes started to water but he was not going to let himself cry. Nick kept his eyes on Jimmy’s face. “well, I um, kinda like guys, I think. I mean not just like, I mean really like, as in like to look at them and stuff.” Jimmy slumped back as if he had just let the weight of the world out.

The two guys sat silent, eye contact. Both were looking deep at each other. Jimmy waited for the reply, Nick tried to muster one. As much as Nick knew where this was going to go, once it happened, he still felt caught off guard.

“Wow, Jimmy, that took a lot of courage,” came Nick’s reply, finally. Jimmy rubbed his swimsuit through the hand in his pocket. He felt his stomach in a knot, a lump in his throat. Had he just screwed it all up? What was Nick going to say next? Jimmy waited was not ready for what came next....

[Dooley67]

Jimmy was feeling so vulnerable right now and felt like he had opened up something that was gigantic and he didn't know how it would end. He felt good that Nick had acknowledged that it took a lot of courage to confess his attraction to guys, but he had no idea what Nick was going to say. But, as it turned out, he didn't have to wait long.

Nick looked right at Jimmy and said in a somewhat tremulous voice, "Dude, I know exactly how you feel. When you saw Jeff and said out loud how hot you thought he was, that's exactly what I was thinking but didn't say. And for me, it's not just Jeff, it's other guys too. I don't know if you noticed that at the meet I wasn't interested in looking at the girls. I mean I like them and they look cute and all, but it's the guys I look at, at their bulges, at how they fill out their briefs. And I think you do too."

That was a lot for Jimmy to take in. He could barely believe that Nick had been so direct and honest with him, and he then noticed that his stomach was no longer in a knot and he no longer had a lump in his throat. "But what do I say now"? he thought. "Should I tell Nick how I feel about him, should I be as honest with Nick as he was with me?"

"Well", Jimmy decided, "here goes."

"Nick, Jimmy began, I always thought that I was the only guy who liked looking at other guys. When I started high school, joined the team and began to wear these tiny suits, I was so nervous - I didn't even let my mother see how I looked in my team suit. But then I began to like the way I looked and the way it made me feel. I would get sort of hard while wearing the suit, not in practice, but when I first put the suit on and looked at myself in the mirror. And maybe you're not going to like this, but the same thing would happen when I looked at you in your suit. It felt good, but it also scared the sh-t out of me cause I didn't understand what was happening and I was afraid of what you would do or say if you noticed. With Jeff, you know the tall blonde guy, it was just about how he looked, but with you, it's different - you're my buddy and I like you, but I like you in that other way too."

After his long "confession", Jimmy exhaled deeply and felt exhausted like he had just run a marathon.

While Jimmy talked, Nick listened intently, barely moving a muscle, taking it all in, trying to process what he was hearing. Finally, to break the tension, Nick blurted out, "what the f--k are you thinking?"

Jimmy's heart was in his throat when he heard Nick's outburst.

"Just playing with you, dude." Sigh of relief from Jimmy.

"Jimmy, I think that you and I are very much alike. I could have said exactly what you just said and I think it was a pretty ballsy thing for you to do. I was really taken with Jeff and his bulge and also that he was a nice guy, but with you I get this feeling in my man parts but that's not the only thing. You are my friend too and I know that adds to how I feel. I really don't know where the hell we go from here, but we gotta keep talking about this and see where it takes us.

With that, a huge smile swept across Jimmy's face, so infectious that Nick smiled broadly as well. Then Jimmy answered, "I know exactly where this takes us - it takes us to class and then to practice...lol. And then who knows where?"

With that these 2 guys, 14 and 15, went to class feeling a whole lot lighter but also wondering where they were ultimately heading.

....to be continued