Disconnected

Dylan got up from the computer and looked out his window for a few minutes as he thought about some of what he had just learned. He went and lay down on his bed with his hands behind his head looking up at the ceiling. He wondered how this had happened to him. If it was in fact what he thought it was, and if it was, could he control it some way? All these questions swirled around his head. In some ways it sounded kind of cool, but in other ways he was a little scared of it. He finally decided he would have to just wait and see what happened. That one site had given him some ideas, but until he tried them he didn’t know what would happen.

He got up from the bed with nothing resolved and went downstairs to watch TV with his parents. They were sitting together on the couch. His mom’s feet were sort of tucked under her legs and she was leaning against his dad a little. His dad had his arm around her shoulders as they watched the show. Dylan decided to try to see if he could control his…gift, he guessed you could call it. He closed his eyes and tried to feel anything. He smiled a little as he thought about Luke Skywalker in the first Star Wars movie. "Use the force, Luke", he could hear Obi Wan Kenobi say in his head. He almost giggled at that picture in his head of him with Obi Wan instructing him as he was trying to feel the remote floating around in the air before him.

He let out a slow breath and tried to relax a little. He again used the Star Wars force analogy and tried to reach out with his mind and feel something. As he sat there trying to feel something nothing seemed to be happening. He furrowed his brow trying to concentrate real hard thinking that maybe that would work. He was concentrating so hard that he almost felt like a headache was starting, probably from the tension in the back of his neck. He decided that relaxing was the best way, as he remembered from what he had read, so he leaned back and took a slow deep breath before letting it out slowly and again tried to relax.

He sat there quietly and hoped that something would happen, or come to him, or something. He just about gave up when he started feeling something. He almost started concentrating, but stopped himself before he did and just forced himself to relax. Then it started, he felt…contentment…happiness…and through it all, like a connecting musical harmony…love. The feeling seemed to fill him with gentle warmth. It made him remember when he was younger and he would sit on either of his parent’s laps and they just hugged him. He could almost feel their arms around him as they held him. He was floating in that feeling when his dad’s voice broke in and got his attention.

"Hey Dilly."

"Huh, what?" Dylan opened his eyes and looked around, just a little confused. He saw his parents still in the same position but they were looking his way and smiling.

"You looked like you were falling asleep there. Maybe you should go up to bed."

"Oh, uh, yeah, I guess. G’nite Dad, G’nite Mom."

He went over and gave them a hug goodnight. His mom added a kiss to his cheek. He smiled and went to his room. After he stripped down, brushed his teeth and did his business before heading back into his bedroom and slipping under the covers. He then lay there and thought about what he seemed to have accomplished. He was sure that what he had felt was his parent’s feelings as they sat together. He was excited. He had gotten some control over this gift, if those feelings were real. He thought that they were, because he knew that the feelings hadn’t been exactly his. So that only left his parents as the source of the feelings.

If that is all true, and he had felt his parent’s feelings, and he was pretty sure that was what it was, then according to what he had read online, he was Empathic somehow. Meaning he could sense other people’s feelings. It would certainly explain some of the weird things he had been feeling over the last few months at school and what had happened at Josh’s Uncle’s house that afternoon. He was sure that what he had been feeling had been coming from his two friends, Jamie and Josh. It was late and he needed to get to sleep. He couldn’t fall asleep right away until he made himself relax and then he finally fell asleep. Just before dropping off to sleep, he once again felt that feeling of being held within his parent’s arms.

On Monday Jamie called Josh to let him know he was on the way, so Josh was waiting for him when Jamie rode up. The two boys smiled at each other and again there was a bit of a blush on their faces as they turned and headed towards Dylan’s house to meet him. At Dylan’s, he invited them inside and as usual were greeted by his parents. Dylan just had to get his backpack from his room and he would be ready to leave. Before coming back downstairs to join his friends, he paused at the top of the stairs, out of sight and tried to see if he could ‘read’ his friends. He closed his eyes for a moment and once again reached out.

It took a few moments and then he felt first his parents, because it was a familiar feeling. He cast his mind out and then he felt it. First he felt a feeling of being happy, but he also felt deeper, below that, a hint of sadness and he couldn’t figure out what that was until he realized that both of his friends had lost their mom’s and it was something that they probably felt deep within themselves. He could feel that for one of them it was not as acute and he figured that it was Josh who felt that, since it was about a year or so, since he had lost him mom, while Jamie’s loss was only a few months ago. He continued reading them and he found that he could feel a stronger happiness within both of them and something else. He couldn’t quite tell what it was but he knew it was a good feeling. There was also a slight feeling of fear there, too. He didn’t know what that was. He continued to try to understand some of the feelings when there was a yell from downstairs.

"Dylan! Are you okay up there?"

He opened his eyes and came out of the sort of trance and stammered a quick answer.

"Oh, yeah, be right there. I, uh, almost forgot my homework!"

He started down the stairs and joined up with his friends.

"Bye Mom and Dad."

They waved to him as he and his friends left the house. Dylan got his bike from the garage and they headed for school. Dylan kept his discovery to himself as they rode to school. They had to hurry just a little, because Dylan had held them up with his experimenting. They quickly locked their bikes up and headed to their homeroom. They were soon joined by their other friends.

During class, Dylan decided to do some more experimenting. So during a lecture, he looked down at his desk like he was following along in the book and closed his eyes. This time though when he tried to stretch out with his mind, his eyes shot open involuntarily and the contact was broken, because as soon as he had stretched out to see what he could feel, it felt like he was assaulted by a flood of feelings and he had to shut it down quickly. He felt overwhelmed by everything hitting him at once. He had opened himself up in such a way that everything poured in and he thought that if he hadn’t stopped, he would start feeling everything from everybody in the school. The effect had scared him a little and his heart had started to hammer in his chest like someone had jumped out at him from hiding. He looked around to see if anyone had noticed him, but everyone seemed to be either making notes or looking in the book or up at the teacher. He decided that was enough experimenting for now.

During the day his thoughts kept turning to what had happened in first period. He didn’t try anything in math class. He also didn’t try in PE, because he realized there were a lot more kids around from all the different PE classes, not like in a single classroom. Besides, how could he get away with closing his eyes while playing soccer? He could just see it, running down the field with his eyes closed, yeah like that made sense. So he decided to hold off for a little while. They all went to lunch together as usual. After they finished with eating, they went to sit down between one of the buildings. Between the buildings there were trees with flowers and/or ground cover planted around them, surrounding the trees were raised concrete planters. During breaks and lunch, the students would gather around these trees and sit on the wide planters to just hang out. That is where the eight of them decided to go.

They sat there hanging out. Some of them were talking. Others were talking about homework assignments. Dylan took the chance to try again. He looked around the area. There weren’t too many kids other than his friends. He glanced at his friends before closing his eyes. Once again he reached out with mind. There was nothing for a moment and then he started to experience the feelings coming off of his friends. He found Josh and Jamie first as he had already experienced what they felt. Now it was more of the same, and he thought he had identified that good but unknown feeling that he had felt that morning, he thought it was something like love, but not quite that strong, not like he had felt from his parents and he knew it was what Jamie and Josh were feeling towards each other. Dylan let a small smile on his face. He then quested further outward, he found another set of feelings, this one had friendship and happiness and then he felt that same feeling of something like love. It surprised him so he searched some more and found more of that same feeling and felt a connection between the two sets of feelings. He continued searching and found someone else and again he felt some similar feelings and that included again that same love type feeling and it seemed to be connected to another person who had the same feeling and again, he felt a connection between the two sets of feelings. He was going to do some more searching, when he felt someone lightly punch him on the shoulder.

"Huh, what?"

"Dylan, hey man, didn’t you sleep last night?"

He looked over and saw Josh was sitting there with a concerned look. He nodded his head.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about something."

"Okay, it looked like you were asleep."

"Nah, just thinking."

The bell rang just then and it was time for class. As they walked to their lockers to get their books, Dylan walked behind them studying his friends. As he watched some things started to make sense. He started to see things that he hadn’t really noticed before. It was like his little foray into reading their feelings had clued him in to little things that he hadn’t noticed before. He saw the closeness between his friends. He saw subtle clues that led him to see how his friends had paired off.

Jamie and Josh were a given, he knew that now. Sean and Dakota were paired up and all those little signals that Dakota had given off about being protective of Sean, now it was clear that they liked each other, but it also seemed that they were a little apprehensive about those feelings. He thought about it for a few moments and realized it had to do with worrying about admitting what they felt to each other. Ian and Logan were giving off the same feelings only theirs seemed to be much closer to love like his parents and there was some apprehension, but it didn’t seem to be about their feelings towards each other like Sean and Dakota, but something else. He concentrated a little more and it came to him, it was a small amount of fear of being found out by others. Right then he realized he was tuning into their feelings when he focused on them. He didn’t have to close his eyes. Wow, this was cool. At that point he realized something, his friends were apparently gay and it looked like they were paired up. What were the odds, a bunch of boys, all in the same class, becoming friends, and they seemed to be gay. He suddenly felt a big weight off his shoulders because that had been something that had been worrying him for a while now. He had figured out a few months ago that he was gay, because he knew that he had enjoyed spending time with Josh, but he also knew that even though he was really cute, he wasn’t quite Dylan’s type. Dylan didn’t know what his type was yet, but he figured he would find him someday. He was just waiting for the right connection.

They got to class in plenty of time before the bell rang. He didn’t have a chance to try his gift again during the science class as they were doing some experiments and he had to pay attention, although with the new realization he didn’t need to close his eyes to use it. He still figured it would be better to pay attention. In the next class, he tried again, and this time he looked around the room as he tried it. He found that it was easier for him to read his friends than it was other people in the room. It was like, since he had a connection of some sort with his friends, and he was familiar with them they were easier to read. As he read them, he found that what he suspected appeared to be true. Each of the pairs had a connection between them, but there also seemed to be a connection of some sort between the eight boys as well. There was a feeling of friendship as he expected, but there was also something else. It felt familiar, like how he felt about something that he had had for a long time. The closest he came to the feeling was the feeling he got from an old stuffed animal that he had gotten when he was little. It was safely stored away in one of his dresser drawers. It gave him a warm feeling whenever he stumbled upon it when looking for something in the drawer it was stored in. As he thought more about the feeling that he got from the connection, it was like something old and familiar, like he had known these other boys for a long time.

With the other people he had to work harder for, and they weren’t as clear as his friends were to him. There were many different feelings, from different levels of happiness, boredom, occasionally frustration, even a little anger. He thought the last two feelings were from people who were working on the computer assignment and not having it work the way that the person having those feelings expected it to. He finished what he had to do for the class, and after casting about the room a little bit to check some of the people out, he thought he’d try something else. He closed his eyes for a moment and opened himself up in general instead of focusing on a subject. He felt that flood of feelings coming at him, so he backed off and then slowly opened himself up again. He found that he was able to sift through the feelings and choose which ones to focus on. He could see this huge wave of feelings at the edge of his awareness, but he found he was able to hold it back. He suddenly got this feeling of loneliness and longing coming from somewhere, it felt near, but when he focused on it, he lost it. He kept trying to find it, and he would feel where it was coming from, but it kept getting lost in the multitude of other feelings and was elusive to grasp. Sometimes it was like he ran into a wall and that puzzled him a little. He pulled back and opened his eyes again. Looking around he saw that the class was almost over. He started gathering his stuff just before the bell rang. As he and his friends went to their next class, Dylan noticed that he had a little bit of a headache so he decided not to try anything in the next class.

After school was out for the day and they were on the way to get their bikes Josh nudged him.

"Dylan, are you okay?"

"Sure, why do you ask?"

"Well you’ve been kinda quiet today and then almost falling asleep at lunch. I just want to make sure my best friend is okay."

Dylan smiled at Josh.

"Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t know, I guess I was just thinking about stuff and concentrating on the class work."

"Any stuff that I can help with?"

Dylan shook his head.

"Nah, nothing important, just stuff.’

"Okay, but you know, if you need me to help with…stuff. I’m there."

"Yeah, I know. C’mon let’s go."

They got their bikes out of the cage and started riding for home, they had just gotten to the end of the school driveway and were starting down the road, when they heard a short whoop from a police siren from behind them and then over the loudspeaker came a gruff amplified voice.

"You four on the bikes, pull over!"

Dylan, Josh, Jamie and Ethan stopped their bikes and quickly looked around to see a police cruiser behind them. They looked at each other and it didn’t take Dylan’s gift to tell him that there were feelings of worry and concern radiating off the boys along with some confusion. They couldn’t think of what they had done to be stopped by a police officer. They were just heading down the street before crossing over to Dylan’s neighborhood, but they were going to cross at the light up ahead not ride straight across the street, like some kids did. They hadn’t done anything wrong that they could remember. The officer had his lights flashing as he stopped the cruiser. Other kids nearby looked at them, and some stopped because they wanted to see what was going on, others just rode on by. The officer turned his lights off and opened the door to get out. When he stood up, Josh dropped his bike on the ground.

"Uncle Eric, you…uuugh! You scared the sh…stuffing out of me!"

The officer closed the door and started walking towards the boys with a big grin on his face. Josh went over to him and punched him in the arm before hugging him. Eric laughed at his nephew. Ethan was a little confused and was looking at his friends.

Dylan explained, "That’s Josh’s Uncle. The three of us went over to his new house on Saturday and met him. He just moved here recently and I guess he’s a cop now. He used to be in the army, I guess he got out."

Josh stepped back from his uncle and glared at him with a mock scowl, "How come you didn’t tell me you were a cop?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise. So were you surprised?"

Josh just slugged him again and Eric laughed. Josh tried to keep the scowl on his face but couldn’t and he smiled along with his uncle. The two of them walked over to the other three boys. The kids who had gathered around them left, disappointed that they weren’t going to get to see anything good.

Josh led his uncle over to his friends, "Uncle Eric, you already know Jamie and Dylan, this is one of our other friends Ethan."

Eric nodded to all of them, "Nice to see you boys again. It’s also nice to meet you, Ethan."

"Nice to meet you, too, sir."

"How long have you been with the police force Uncle Eric?"

"Not too long. Today was my first day on the job with the Hemet police. I trained to be a cop soon after I got out of the army back east, but I wanted to work in a smaller city so I kept an eye out for openings here in this area and this job opened up, so I applied and was accepted. I’ve been working on getting the house and everything ready before I dropped in on you and your Dad."

"Well, you could’ve told me."

"And not get a chance to see the looks on your faces when I pulled you over, not a chance. So you guys headed home now?"

"Yeah."

"Well, see you guys later, I gotta get back to work."

Josh hugged his Uncle again and Eric waved to them before getting back into his patrol car and driving off. The boys watched him for a moment before getting back on their bikes and heading home. At home Dylan noticed that his headache had gotten a little worse, so after saying goodbye to Josh and Jamie, he got a couple of Advil’s and went upstairs to lay down for a little bit. He closed his eyes and did the slow, deep breaths to relax and soon he dozed off. When he woke a couple of hours later he felt a lot better. He heard the front door open downstairs and got up. He changed out of his school clothes and pulled his homework assignments out of his backpack and started working on them until dinnertime. His dad came and got him for dinner. After helping clean up, he went and finished what homework he had left before getting on the computer to do some more research about his gift.

He got to the website that had led him to try a few things out. As he read, he saw that it said that some empaths could project their feelings onto another or even change a person’s feelings to what an empath wanted them to feel. The ones that mentioned that kind of thing made references to Science Fiction books that mentioned it, but also said that it was real as well. He really didn’t know what to think for sure. The only thing he was fairly sure about was that he had been able to pick up on other emotions. He was also able to separate out his friends and he seemed to instinctively know whose emotions, among his friends, that he was feeling. He knew he wanted to explore this more to see what kind of control he had. He didn’t know if he was what the website said were the majority of empaths, middle of the road types. He thought his ability seemed to meet that description, but he wondered if he was actually a stronger one or not. The strong ones were the types who were said to be able to project their feelings on others. To him that sounded kind of like controlling someone and from Sci Fi books and movies that he had watched, that always seemed to be considered something that only the bad guys did. That was when a thought occurred to him, maybe some of the Sci Fi psychic stuff wasn’t so impossible. He wondered if there was anyone else that he knew that could do something like this. He knew it was rare, but maybe. He wondered if there was a way to ‘sniff’ out others by using his gift. He didn’t know, but he dove back into his research to see if there was a way and what kinds of different abilities that there were. He was still at it when his dad told him that it was time for bed. He shut everything down and did what he needed to do before going to bed.

For the rest of the week, he tried out his gift. That is how he thought of it, a gift. Although he was curious about whether he could make someone else feel differently than they did, like someone who was sad, could they be made to feel better by projecting that kind of a feeling toward them. He kept going back to that thought about it being bad to influence someone that way, so he refrained. He did think that he was getting better at it and he also thought he was getting better at filtering out others emotions so that he could feel only the ones that he wanted to feel. The more he practiced the more he saw how close each pair was getting, which included Sean and Dakota, but they were still at the point of not letting each other know what they felt. Ian and Logan, and Jamie and Josh seemed to be comfortable letting each other know how they felt. Although both couples also had a little bit of reservation to keep from going too far so that others might figure them out. Dylan often saw them do something without thinking about it, like a brief touch on the arm or leaning towards each other as they talked or shared something, before realizing what they were doing and pulling back before it was obvious to anyone else. One thing about this gift of feeling his friend’s happiness was that he was in a good mood most of the time, as some of it spilled over to him. There was one mystery, from time to time throughout the day, he would again get that feeling of loneliness and longing, that was quickly hidden before he could lock onto it. He figured after a while that he was picking up on some crush from one of the other students and shrugged it off.

Dylan was not the only one doing a little experimenting that week. Ian and Logan were trying a couple of things as well.

Since the incident with Sean, Ian had wondered more and more about how he had healed Sean’s nose like he did. He continued to do some research; he even talked to Psyealer a couple of times. After one of those conversations, Psyealer had said something that had got him thinking.

Psyealer sat in front of the computer and looked at Rowe’s answer. After a few moments, he had an idea and started typing.

Psyealer smiled when he read that. It did answer his question. He started typing again.

Ian had been thinking about that statement and wondered how he could practice. If he had healed Sean, and that is what appeared to have happened, then it seemed the only way to practice would be on someone who was hurt. But he didn’t know how he would do that. Go to a hospital and wander the halls. He knew that there would definitely be sick or hurt people, but a kid wandering the halls would not be allowed. He also didn’t want to wish for someone to be hurt, like in an accident or something like that. So, he wasn’t sure how he could get any practice. He didn’t know what to do about it. Maybe he’d talk to Logan about it.

Ian didn’t get a chance to talk to Logan during much of the week about it. On Thursday in PE, Logan was moving the ball down the field in the soccer match they were playing, when another boy came up and tried to take the ball away, he got his foot on the ball just as Logan was going to pass it. Both boys’ feet hit it at the same time and Logan tripped and fell hard. He put his hand out to break his fall and pain shot up his arm. He cried out and the coach blew his whistle to stop the game. The coach ran over, with Ian close right behind him. Logan sat up cradling his wrist. The coach knelt next to him and Ian dropped to his knees on his other side. The coach examined his wrist. He carefully moved Logan’s wrist. Some of the movement caused him to hiss in pain.

"I don’t know if it’s broken, but it is at least badly sprained. I want you to go to my office and wait for me. I’ll be there in a few minutes."

"Can I go with him Coach, to keep him company?"

The coach looked at Ian and nodded, "I think that will be okay. Logan, let me help you up and then the both of you go and wait for me in my office."

The coach helped Logan up; being careful of his arm to make sure it was supported as he stood. Logan put his other hand under his arm to support it as he and Ian headed back to the locker room and the coach’s office. They went inside and sat down.

"Does it hurt a lot Logan?"

"Yeah, a lot."

Ian scooted closer and looked at Logan’s wrist. It looked like it was starting to swell up and it also looked like it was turning a little purple.

"Um…Logan, can I…look at it?"

Logan shrugged and nodded. Ian started to reach over and Logan suddenly pulled back a little.

"It’s not going to hurt will it?"

"Um, what do you mean hurt?"

"What you’re going to do."

"I…uh…"

"Just, be careful, ‘kay."

Ian nodded and reached out for Logan’s arm. He carefully cradled the injured wrist. Logan hissed when it was moved. Ian winced and gave his boyfriend an apologetic look as he lifted it a little more carefully. He cradled the wrist between his hands, after glancing at Logan and giving him a quick smile, he closed his eyes. He tried to remember what he had done when he had helped Sean. He tried to get that same feeling of being pulled towards the injured area. Nothing seemed to be happening and he opened his eyes. Logan arched an eyebrow and Ian shook his head.

"I don’t know. It doesn’t work."

"That’s okay bud."

Ian saw him wince as he moved his wrist a little and he tightened his lips.

"Let me try again Logan."

Logan nodded and Ian saw the love and trust in his eyes. Ian nodded and closed his eyes again. He tried to reach out with his mind. Nothing happened for a few moments. Ian kept trying to picture Logan’s wrist and was about to give up, when he felt his mind move forward until he was feeling the same thing as when he helped Sean. He felt around with his mind and felt something out of place. Just like before, with Sean, he tried to imagine it smooth, not jagged, like he had done for Sean’s nose. A few moments later, the area became smooth. The next thing was the hot area. He worked at cooling it down until it matched the surrounding area. Logan sat there and felt his wrist warm up. He felt a sharp pain and then his wrist started to feel better as the warmth continued to grow, until it felt like the sun was shining on his skin in the middle of summer. His whole wrist started to get hot and then it started cooling down until his wrist felt normal again. Ian opened his eyes a moment later and saw the smile on Logan’s face. Ian let go of his wrist. Logan lifted it up carefully and started to move his wrist around. His smile grew as he realized it didn’t hurt at all. Both of them looked at it and the wrist looked like it always did. Logan looked at Ian and with a big grin he moved closer and kissed his boyfriend.

"Ahem."

The boys jumped apart and looked up at the doorway. At that moment they heard the noise from the nearby locker room as the class came in to get changed. Coach Jorgenson walked over to his desk and sat down. He saw the stricken look on the two boys faces and looked down as he tried to hide his smile. Once he had himself under control, he looked up again.

"Well that wasn’t exactly what I meant by keeping him company, Mr. Rowan."

"Coach, I…uh…"

Both boys were red faced and looked like they were getting a little frantic. Coach Jorgenson held up his hands to try to calm them down, "Boys, calm down. You have nothing to worry about."

The boys looked at each other and then back at the coach. They saw that he had a small smile on his face. They looked at him to see if he was being serious and saw no deception in his eyes, so they started to relax a little. Both of them let out a sigh of relief. The coach saw them relax some and he reached in one of his drawers and pulled out an instant cold pack. He shook it a few times and then came over to the two boys he handed the cold pack to Logan, but Logan shook his head.

"I don’t need it Coach. See, it’s okay now." Logan held up his wrist and moved it around.

The coach took his wrist and moved it around. He gently squeezed all around the wrist. He watched Logan’s face for any discomfort, but Logan merely smiled at him. The coach took the cold pack back and tossed it on the desk and sat on the edge of it facing the boys.

"Well I guess it wasn’t anything to worry about then. I’m still going to contact your parents Logan to let them know about it anyway, just in case. Right now though, it looks okay to me. If it bothers you at all for the rest of the day, let your teacher know and we’ll call you parents right away to pick you up."

He paused a moment and studied the two boys. The boy’s smiles faltered a little as they looked up at the coach.

"I guess I don’t need to tell you boys to be careful."

"Careful about wha…oh, yeah."

They nodded and the coach nodded in return.

"If you boys have any problems, anybody bothering you, you come to me, understand?"

They nodded.

"Okay, you boys go get changed and get on to lunch. I know teenagers can’t go too long without sustenance."

The boys smiled as they got up and hurried into the locker room to get changed. At the door Logan paused at the door.

"Thanks Coach…for everything."

Coach Jorgenson smiled and shooed them from his office. The two boys hurried into the locker room. They passed by some of their friends who asked about his injury. Logan showed them his wrist as they passed by. Both of them quickly stripped down and went into the shower to clean up. Once they were dressed again they hurried outside to catch up with their friends. They didn’t have to go far. Their friends were all waiting outside the door for them. The eight of them went to lunch and took over one of the tables as they usually did. Dakota was the first to ask Logan about what happened.

"I thought your wrist was badly hurt."

"I guess it wasn’t as bad as we thought. While we were in the office it started feeling better. Coach said that he would let my parents know anyway just in case, but see, I can move it and it doesn’t hurt at all."

That seemed to be the end of it and they finished their lunch. At the end of the lunch period as they were heading to their lockers Sean moved up next to them and spoke in a low voice.

"Was it like when you fixed my nose?"

Both boys tried to look confused.

"Fixed your nose? I…I don’t know what you’re talking about? Your nose was just bleeding a little and Logan and I just helped put pressure on it to make it stop."

Sean cocked his head a bit as he looked at them. He didn’t seem to buy it, but he let it go and went to join Dakota. They watched him catch up and then gave each other a smile as they saw Dakota glance at Sean as he got next to him and then draped his arm across Sean’s shoulders. A moment later it’s like Dakota noticed what he had done without thinking about it and he quickly dropped his arm and looked around quickly, but he did make sure that they were walking close to each other. For the rest of the day, Ian saw a couple of things that concerned him, well one concerned him a lot and one concerned him just a little.

He saw Sean giving him and Logan speculative looks. Every time he looked at Logan it was his wrist that caught his attention, especially when he did something like pick up his backpack or grab something with that hand. Usually, soon after that, Sean would glance over at Ian. Sometimes Ian would see Sean reach up and touch his nose. He was worried Sean would say something to someone, like Dakota for instance, but he didn’t.

Before the last class, Logan bent down a little and spoke in a low voice, "You want to come by my house after school?"

Ian didn’t say anything, just a quick glance and a nod. They finished up for the day, grabbed the stuff they would need for homework, got their bikes out, and after saying goodbye to their friends they headed to Logan’s house. They didn’t see Sean watch them ride away. He was just standing there watching them as he straddled his bike when Dakota nudged him and motioned with his head for them to leave.

Ian and Logan didn’t say much as they rode. Ian knew that there was going to be some discussion about what he had done and he hoped that Logan didn’t think he was a freak. That was his biggest worry, Logan dumping him because he was a freak. When they got to Logan’s, he opened the garage door with his remote and they parked their bikes inside. Logan closed it and they entered the house through the internal door. Logan still hadn’t said anything and Ian was really starting to get worried as they made their way through the house to his bedroom. Logan dropped his backpack on his desk chair. Ian stayed by the door, like he was ready for a quick getaway if Logan freaked out on him. Logan walked over to Ian and grabbed the strap of the back pack with his ‘injured’ arm and dropped it on the ground. Before Ian could do anything, he felt crushed as Logan gave him a bear hug. He smiled at him and then leaned in for a kiss. They kissed for a few moments before stepping back and let a huge grin settle on his face.

"I’ve wanted to do that ever since PE and it’s been hard to not jump you in the hallway or the classroom. That was so fucking awesome Ian. I mean…Wow…it hurt so much. I was trying real hard not to cry. I was sure it was busted and I’d have to get a cast and then have to wear it all through Christmas and all, which would have sucked. Thank you, thank you so much, that was awesome."

Logan moved his wrist all around and then dropped back on the bed and looked up at Ian who had let out a breath of relief before smiling at the antics of his boyfriend. He dropped down on the bed next to Logan and leaned on his elbow.

"So you don’t think I’m a freak?"

"Freak, no way. You are the most awesomest boyfriend ever. You fixed my arm and it was probably broke. You took all the pain away."

"It was broke, I think?"

"What was what?"

"Your arm, I think it was broken or something. I felt a place where I think the bone was…..jagged…I guess, and I made it smooth, and then I cooled the other parts that were all hot."

"That is so cool. But how were you able to do it?"

"I don’t know, it was hard at first and then it just worked. I was trying to find some info on the computer about psychic healing, at least that is what I eventually figured out that this was, and I eventually hooked up with this guy online who knew all about it."

Logan got a serious look on his face and frowned. Ian leaned over and kissed him.

"Don’t worry. I’m not stupid. I didn’t use my real name and I didn’t say that I could do these things. But this person, Psyealer, that’s what he called himself, I think it was a guy. Anyway, he said that you need to exercise this stuff, gift, whatever, like an athlete or a musician, otherwise it might not work when you need it to."

"So how have you been ‘exercising’ it?"

"I haven’t. Maybe that was why it was hard at first. Maybe if I somehow exercised it, then it will be easier."

"But how…wait a minute, I’ll be right back."

Logan ran out of the room and came back a few moments later with a steak knife in his hand.

"Here you can practice on this."

"Logan...no."

Ian jumped off the bed as Logan drew the knife across his palm. He winced immediately and blood started to well up.

"Ow, shit, I didn’t think it would hurt that much."

"Dipshit. What if it won’t work? Here come into the bathroom and give me your hand."

They ran to the bathroom and Ian took the injured hand in both of his and closed his eyes. He was distracted a little when he felt the blood pooling in their hands, but he pushed that away and started concentrating. This time it seemed to work right away. It was like, because he had already done it today his mind knew what to do. He felt the split where there shouldn’t be one and pulled the parts together until they were stuck together again. He also made sure that he cooled the area as well. Once he was sure everything was the way it was supposed to be he let go and opened his eyes. They both looked at his palm and there was a very faint line where the cut had been. When he saw that everything looked okay, he looked at Logan who was smiling. Logan was about to say something when Ian hauled back and punched him in the stomach causing Logan to double over. He then walked to the bedroom while Logan caught his breath. Logan was scowling and a little pissed when he got into the bedroom.

"What was that for?"

"You know what it was for. That was for being a fucking idiot. Don’t do that again. You scared the shit out of me."

The anger left Logan’s face and he got a sheepish look before he looked down at his feet.

"Sorry, I guess I wasn’t thinking."

"Damn right you weren’t thinking. Next time engage you’re brain. You’re the only boyfriend I have and I kinda want you to stick around."

Logan lifted his head a little and looked at Ian through his lashes before sticking out his lip. Ian tried to keep the scowl on his face, but he failed and just rolled his eyes. Logan grinned and jumped on top of him to give him a kiss. As they kissed he would mutter ‘sorry’ a few times.

"Don’t ever do that again."

"Okay. That was cool though. You seemed to be able to do it pretty fast."

"Yeah, it was easier this time."

Another kiss and Ian gently pushed Logan to the side and got up.

"I gotta go home. I’ll see you in school tomorrow."

One final kiss and Ian left for home. Logan picked up the bloody knife and made sure there was no blood in the bathroom or his bedroom. He cleaned the knife real good and put it back in the drawer.

The next day, after school, Ian and Logan dropped by Ian’s house to work on homework together. They were sitting in the dining room with some chips and sodas for snacks as they worked.

Ian looked over at Logan, "Logan, something I’ve been thinking about since I got home last night. It was about you."

"I know it was a dumb thing to do…"

"No, well yeah, it was, but that isn’t what I was thinking about. It was about what you did when we met Sean. You know you said later that you could ‘see’ that he was hurt and needed help?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Well, I was wondering if it was something like what I can do. If you practice with it, then you can maybe get better at it."

"Yeah, but how?"

"I don’t know. I wonder if that guy Psyealer, I’ve talked to online, would know anything about it."

"Wait, I don’t think that’s good idea. You really don’t know anything about him."

"True that, but maybe I can just ask him, like I was curious about it."

"I don’t know. I still don’t think it’s a good idea."

"Okay, I won’t do it, but I still think you need to practice somehow. I mean, maybe you’ll be able to help someone else. Maybe it’s like Spiderman’s Spider Sense."

"Yeah, right. Get back to your work. I wanna get this stuff done, so we can work on biology for a little while before you have to leave."

"Biology? We don’t…oh, yeah. Cool."

They were still working when they heard a car pull into the driveway and a car door opened. Logan looked up and groaned a little.

"Ah man, I forgot, Dad said that he might get home a little earlier today. He only had one appointment with a student after his classes were done for the day."

Ian was putting his books and homework into his bag as the front door opened and Logan’s dad came in with the mail in his hands sifting through it. He looked up and saw Ian there, "Hi Ian, you boys working on homework?"

"Yes sir, we just finished up most of it. I was just getting my stuff together to go home."

"It is always best to get the work done before you relax and have fun."

Logan let out an involuntary snort.

His dad looked at him puzzled, "You want to clue me in?"

Logan turned red as Ian quickly finished stuffing his things in his bag.

"No, sorry, just thought of something funny at school. C’mon Ian, I’ll walk you out."

They hurried to the garage door so Ian could get his bike. Logan closed the inner door behind them as both boys tried to control the giggles. They shared a quick kiss and Logan opened the main door to let Ian out. Logan walked with him out to the yard. Ian saw some papers on the ground next to the car and picked them up. It looked like an assignment or something.

"Logan, I think this belongs to one of your Dad’s students."

He reached out to hand it to Logan. As Logan grabbed it, he felt a little internal jolt and it caused him to blink and shake his head.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I think so. That was weird."

"What?"

"For a second in my head, I saw some college guy looking at the rear bumper of a car and it had a big dent in it and he looked pissed."

Ian took the paper back and found a name on it, Oscar Rivera. "Did the guy look Latino, you know like he was Mexican or something?"

Logan tried to remember what he had seen when he took the paper. It had only been for a few moments so the details weren’t as clear.

"I don’t know, maybe, he did have black hair, but other than that, I’m not sure."

"Maybe it was the guy who wrote this paper. See the name is Oscar Rivera. It sounds like a Mexican name, so maybe he was the guy and this is like when you saw Sean in the bathroom. You know, maybe it’s like those psychic ladies you see on TV, you know, they talk about them helping police sometimes in solving crimes. Maybe it’s like that for you."

"Okay, maybe, I guess, but am I supposed to like, offer my services to the police?"

Ian thought about it for a moment before shaking his head.

"Naw, probably not, but maybe we can figure out a way for you to practice it, so you can get better at it. Anyway, I guess your dad dropped this and I gotta get going. See you. Let me know if you figure it out."

"Kay, see you."

Logan took the paper and went back through the garage back inside the house. He found his dad sitting in the living room watching the news as he went through the mail.

"Hey Dad, Ian found this by your car."

His dad took the paper and nodded, "Yep, one of my students assignments. Thanks."

Logan went to his room to finish up the homework. After he was done, he tried to bring up what he remembered from when he had gotten that vision for want of a better name. He tried but was unsuccessful in bringing it up other than as a vague memory. He figured that this ability was limited in what he could see and when. He didn’t know how he could get better at it, but maybe between Ian and him, they could come up with something.