06.04: Danny and Tom (JP)

“Hey are you okay?” Danny asked, walking up the front steps of the house.
Tom cleared his throat. ‘Yeah I am good thanks, all this fresh air takes some getting used to.’
“I love it,” Danny said with total honesty. Moving from New York to here was an absolute joy, the sense of space he felt was amazing. He had never realised how cramped and enclosed he had been by the walls of the city. Narrow filthy canyons, foul air and litter everywhere, now he wondered how could people could live like that.
‘You do?’ Tom was aghast.
The boys did introductions.
“Where are you from Thomas?”
‘Tom, only my moms call me Thomas, and that’s usually when they are pissed at me. I am from Cardiff in Wales.’
“I thought you celts were all rugged outdoorsy types.”
‘We ain't all hill farmers Danny. Rugged? Me? Look at me, if I stood sideways and stuck my tongue out I'd look like a zip.’
Danny laughed. “I need to change, all sweaty after my run. Walk me in?”
They moved inside and took the stairs up to the boy’s dorm. They were a couple of rooms apart.
Tom waited by the door leaning on the jamb.
“You said moms, you got more than one?” Danny kicked his running shoes off letting them fly and land where they would.
‘Two. Two dads too.’
“Parents divorced and remarried. I get it.”
Tom didn’t watch as Danny stripped off his running gear. ‘Not really. All four are gay. Gene mum and dad wanted kids so they had me, the other two had my sister. It’s a weird family set up, nice though.’
“Sounds it, nice family.” Danny wrapped a towel round his waist and walked past Tom to head for the showers. He wondered if Tom was gay too, was that a trait that was passed on in the genes too. It was funny since finding out he had an anomalous gene he wondered a lot about what made people up. He knew you weren’t born bigoted, that was learned, he had worked hard to unlearn those bits of himself when he became aware of them. What stuff did we inherit he wondered again. “You comin’?”
‘I… I don’t need a shower.’
“Didn’t think you did. Not suggestin’ we shower together. But we are goin’ to end up yellin’ at the top of our voices if we are goin’ to keep talkin’.”
Tom saw the sense of that and fell into step with Danny.
“How long you been here Tom?”
‘Six months or so.’
“Great you can show me around. I need a guide. I am new here. Dude you do not have to turn away just cos I am nude.”
The shower roared to life.
‘Yeah… sure… Just not… Shouldn’t stare. Guys don’t like being looked at by other guys.’
Danny thought about this as he washed himself down. There was a time when even the idea of being near a gay guy would have freaked him out, would have brought out his dark side. But now. Living rough either makes you evil or makes you a better person. Danny felt that he had gone on the latter route.
“Don’t sweat it Tom.” Danny didn’t deliberately show off, he didn’t want to embarrass Tom. Wrapped in his towel he took a long spiked comb from his wash bag and primped his bleached hair. “Not a natural blond.”
‘I guessed.’
“You?”
‘Yeah, all blond, collar and cuffs.’