Überteen 6
by muscl4life
In a lousy attempt to save my own life, I still considered jumping to my sides, but my legs felt like they were bolted to the road. I tried to shake that horrible feeling over me. My limbs suddenly enfeebled, I sunk on my own knees, totally overwhelmed by the up-close termination of my young life. I wanted to shout, but my mind was focused on the most ridiculous “last wish” when I firmly shut my eyes and braced myself for the worst.
People who have gone through near-death experiences usually say that at such critical moment, their whole lives flashed before their eyes. I don’t know if my life had been so insignificant that it wasn’t worth to be revived at the moment of my departure, but honestly all I felt was a great desire to carve my teeth one last time in a juicy, warm, greasy cheeseburger.
Crouching on the road, lost in my interior darkness, I cried at the loud noise of the 18-wheeler trying to stop, the smell of burnt tires filled my nostrils, my whole body shaking uncontrollably. I was so dead by now, and I all could think was how I desperately hungered for one last burger.
Something touched my body, and it was surprisingly tender. I wondered if it was the touch of the Grim Reaper releasing my soul one split-second before my inevitable death. I opened my eyes, but the light was gone, though my other senses instantly recognized the smell, the touch and the sounds.
Somebody came on my rescue, and I knew it could only be Richie. I thought he would just leap with my body away from there right before the truck ran over us. I wondered if he could just fly away carrying me along his superpowered self into a happier life.
Unfortunately, there was no time for such comic book stunts, yet, my savior never hesitated. He just did what had to be done.
I felt Richie grabbing my body and engulfing it with his enormous bulk, then he arched his massive back, stomping so strongly at the ground I could feel his right foot breaking through the layers of asphalt and concrete. Richie moved his hips, twisting his humongous body, setting his powerful right shoulder in position to absorb the impact of that lethal collision.
CRASH!
It felt like the world was literally shaking around me, I felt the humongous muscles of my Richie flexing so hard, they actually compressed me like some kind of kind of vacuum sealer, the hard, warm touch of his muscles through the flimsy fabric of his clothing protected me from the impact of the fatal effects. I tried to scream for Richie’s sake, but my mouth was muffled by the sheer strength of his muscles around my body. I felt the pressure around us increasing, we were moving, but at the same point, Richie managed to remain standing, keeping from me the metal I could hear crashing against the colossal teen who saved my life.
After such loud moments, I felt my ears buzzing, until a new series of sounds started. Drivers stepping on the breaks abruptly, people screaming, calling for help, among all those noises I desperately seek to hear one in particular.
Richie’s heartbeat – I only cared to hear his heart beating, because if in the end he had to sacrifice for me, I would never forgive my own stupidity. I wanted to keep my eyes closed, the images could be too horrible, I just wanted to hear his heart beating before I could…
“Nate…Nate can you hear me?” That same basso-profundo voice tone which I already recognized as being Richie’s, I couldn’t seem to find his powerful heartbeat, although it didn’t mean my savior hadn’t make it, once again the uncanny abilities of those we called Übermen proved to be simply incomparable with anything humans could possibly attain, for Richie had literally stopped an eighteen-wheeler truck with his own massive body, on top of such impressive deed, Richard didn’t seem wounded at all, he was more worried about my own condition.
“Nate…please talk to me…” Richard said as hi big thick fingers rubbed the sides of my face; I slowly opened my eyes, but as soon as I made the slightest gesture, Richie just held me closer to his chest, if that was actually physically possible.
“Too tight…” I complained in a very weak voice tone, because Richard was so nervous about my condition he actually forgot my frail human body couldn’t handle all the pressure his humongous muscles could create around it – my Brazilian Über just smirked and released some of the pressure, although he gave firm signs he wasn’t letting go of me any time soon, I could breathe much easier, anyway – those were silent few seconds, but we both felt like our eyes said much more than our lips would ever dare.
There we were; the stupidly-nosy-guy-who-almost-got-ran-over-by-a-truck and the Über-who-saved-the-life-of-the-guy-he-wanted-to-push-away. Although Richie still loved me, just as much as I love him, it read clearly in his intense green eyes that his latest act of unselfish love didn’t change our situation.
“Nate…are you okay? Are you feeling anything wrong?” he asked me still very concerned. I could hear people gathering around the incident, some were braver but most of them just stood there at a reasonable distance after all there were three real Übermen in that spot – for most of people it still meant a really dangerous place.
“Yeah…I felt jealousy, but now I just feel stupid…and thankful because you saved my life, Richie…” I said looking firmly into those green eyes that I loved so much. Richie just gulped, it was clear he was fighting the same urge I had to forget about everything and kiss those juicy lips.
His smile never seemed so embarrassed before, his cheeks were red. It was like that colossal man had just realized he had risked his very life when he threw himself in front that truck – speaking of it, I suddenly realized I still didn’t see whatever happened after Richie pulled that fantastic stunt.
“Dude, what was that?!” Nigel asked as he approached my beloved Richie; the older über checked on both of us with a very concerned look. Soon, Jacobsen joined the picture, and he had the same worried expression.
“The firemen will be here in any moment now…” Pete said in a very slow tone, his blue eyes checked everything over and over, and I suddenly felt worried, because I couldn’t see anything engulfed by Richard’s enormous muscles.
“Okay…but what about the trucker?” Richard asked his tone sounded genuinely concerned with the sake of the poor truck driver, who suddenly ran into a solid wall of teen muscle.
Jacobsen nodded “We already took care of him, he is gonna be okay, but we can’t say the same about the truck. You’ve totally wrecked the vehicle!”
Richie smirked. “I had no other choice, someone’s life was at stake…” he said petting my head, which suddenly made me imagine that he would actually do the same thing to save any person, or maybe even a puppy or a kitten – even before his transition period, Richie was the kind of man who risked his very life to save others – was it really any special because I was the one whose life was endangered?
“Save the Superman speech, you big fool! We all know you would never let anyone die, what to say about Nate, although you’ve clearly didn’t think it thorough. Now…since you are both well and unharmed.” Nigel took a few steps back and held his cell phone, which looked even smaller on those massive paws – the clicking of the camera announced that Nigel’s playful personality was back on track.
The beautiful ebony Überman then showed us the picture he took, and I gasped. Richie was just acting like nothing serious had happened but it was far from being true – Costa stopped the truck, but the incredible amount of inertia stored on the vehicle produced an unbelievable effect, the truck had literally crushed AROUND Richie’s body, creating an enormous mass of wrecked metal and rubber than once has been a bright new metallic blue 18-wheeler.
The remarkable detail, which pushed Nigel into taking that amazing photo was that Richie wasn’t harmed at all, despite the fact he was the one suffering all the impact, his uncanny hard muscles just deflected all the energy, because even if Richie’s body was made out of Über material, I was 100% regular, and I was feeling pretty much fine, despite the tremendous experience I had just undergone. Somehow, Richie not only resisted the crash his body absorbed all the impact, which explained my own survivor something to my little knowledge seemed something pulled out of the superheroes universe.
“I could get out of here, but I might hurt Nate…” It suddenly sounded Richie was apologizing with his Über fellows that he didn’t get free from all the surrounding metal on his own, which didn’t seem so difficult given his tremendous size. I wasn’t sure how I should feel about his concern, he had just saved my life, but it actually sounded like Richie was patronizing me, although, judging by the way our bodies were interwoven , if Costa tried to push himself through the metal, his humongous muscles, which were totally surrounding my body, could indeed turn me into pulp.
“It is alright buddy, we’ll help you, after all Pete and I are way stronger than the Jaws of Life…” Nigel said as he and Peter clamped those humongous hands around the metal, easily crushing the steel beneath those thick fingers.
“You get out on three…” Nigel said as he looked at Richie and then back at Jacobsen – just as effortlessly as the older übers bent the metal around Costa’s humongous muscles, my beloved stud slowly moved his muscles, allowing my much smaller frame to slip from his powerful and protective embrace. For one side I kinda wanted to remain embraced to Richie like that for a little longer, however, at the same time I feared it would only make things between us even more complicated.
I’ve managed to get out, standing back on my own feet, something that I’ve never thought would be possible again, frankly, it felt really strange not having all that strength to protect my body, my own legs seemed too weak to support my weight, I don’t know exactly why, the moment I was released from Richie’s grip I just couldn’t stand on my own, but before I could collapse I heard a tremendous noise, and it was Richie’s literally bursting out of the metal scrap in order to pick me before I fell again.
“Oh my God, Nate, we’ve GOT to take you to the hospital!” Richie exclaimed as he scooped me in his monstrous arms once again.
“No…Richie…I'm fine…I just lost the balance…” I tried to convince him there was nothing wrong with me after his heroic feat, but it was in vain, for Rich could be as stubborn as a mule.
“Rich, the paramedics will be here in a second, they can tell if there’s something wrong with Nate!” Jacobsen tried to reason, but Costa was determined to make sure I wasn’t hurt.
“Yeah, dude, what are you doing? Taking Nate to the hospital by foot, are you just gonna run down the highways stomping over cars, is that your idea? Don’t you think we’ve got enough problems with your recent stunt? Let’s just take our time and make things right, you don’t want the news talking wrong things about the incident huh?” Nigel had a good point, so Richie just stood there holding me like a baby while we heard the sirens getting closer.
The ambulance with paramedics indeed got really fast to the place, although it took them much longer to actually come forward to take care of the trucker, after all, according to the reports, there were three massively huge Überteenagers who have just wrecked an 18-wheeler with their bare hands. Richie, finally lost his patience and carried me closer.
“Listen, if you guys are afraid of us, that is your problem, but we’ve got two guys who need you right now, so please just forget about us monsters and focus on your work okay?” Richie said in a much calmer tone than his body language suggested, so the paramedics still felt a lot intimidated by his enormous figure, soon, however, one of them took the guts to reach the trucker, who had been already gently removed by Nigel and Jacobsen – although he was sore all over and got a few burn marks because of the airbags, the trucker was indeed much better than he looked, but who could blame him? Not only he had almost ran over a stupid boy, then a monstrous creature made of muscle crashed against him, totally wrecking his precious brand new working instrument, on top of everything, two other monster teenagers just broke into the crushed metal to grab his sore body.
Meanwhile, the remaining paramedic checked my body, under the careful supervision of my humongous body-guard, at each part he examined; Richie’s face twisted in different expressions of anxiety and preoccupation, until the E.M.T finally announced that, apparently there was nothing wrong with me, but Richard insisted.
“Well, we can only know for sure once the proper exams have been done right? I mean you are taking us to the nearest hospital, right buddy?” Richie said placing his huge hand on the left shoulder of the paramedic which totally covered his entire chest.
“Erm…sure, we can take him to the hospital, but I'm afraid…there won’t be any space for you, pal…I mean…” The EMT hesitated about prohibiting the enormous lad to along with us in the ambulance but Richie didn’t even let the guy finish; he just carefully picked my body up as the paramedics prepared me for the ride.
“That’s not a problem, you guys take Nate and the other man to the hospital, make sure to get the highway, it’s the closest route to the hospital…” Suddenly it sounded like Nate was telling the professionals how to do their job.
“No offense kid, but only a fool would take the highway that time of the day, everything is jammed because of the duplication works!” the EMT replied. Normally he would just ignore any suggestion given by laymen, however given the size and the colossal stance of the nosy boy.
However, Richie didn’t seem to notice the gentle manner in which the paramedic suggested him to step aside and let them do their job. “Trust me, take the main road and I’ll guarantee you’ll make to the hospital much faster!” The EMT duo could not quite catch the meaning of Richie’s suggestion, although it seemed obvious they weren’t trying to make those humongous lads angry at them. Once “persuaded” to follow Richie’s instructions, the paramedics proceeded to take me and the poor driver inside the vehicle.
“Don’t worry, Nate, I have everything under control” Richie said brushing the sides of my cheeks, I wished he leaned down and kissed me, but it seemed Costa was determined to follow his plan to shut me off his life, I suddenly desired the EMT team suddenly ignored Nate’s “orders”.
From the back windows of the ambulance, I watched as my Richie approached the humongous Jacobsen, I could see the intensity of my former Brazilian boyfriend’s concern, because I’ve certainly screwed things once again, however the worst part for me was that Pete was just there to save Richie’s day once again; he placed his hands on Costa’s impressively wide shoulder, giving it a gentle shake and flashing a winning smile to make Richie feel more confident. I couldn’t help but feeling uncontrollably jealousy at those enormously muscular lads, their unearthed beauty and muscular perfection matched so perfectly that it was just impossible to deny they were a match made in heaven.
The ambulance had barely reached the highway and we felt the driver hitting the breaks. “Damn! Just like we told that monster, it’s all jammed!” The driver cursed, turning on the siren and trying to force its passage among the heavy traffic, but it was just useless.
I would start protesting about the fact the driver had called Richie a monster, when suddenly, we felt a series of small shocks, like there was an earthquake or something, I instantly recognized that unusual feeling, there was no way to stop that silly grin from my lips, and judging by the look on the paramedic that traveled along with me, he had guessed the same thing.
“Holy cow, what are those crazy dudes doing now?” The driver asked in disbelief, outside cars honked and people screamed, it sounded like doomsday commenced, and yet I couldn’t do anything but facing the vehicle’s ceilings, the other EMT stood up and checked the reason for such commotion.
“I guess your friends…are clearing the way for us,” the low, almost whispering voice tone indicated his shock.
All I heard were the sounds of metal, heavy powerful grunts; people screaming and cheering, but that was all needed to mentally visualize what happened outside; it was indeed very weird and embarrassing sprouting a boner while laying down in an ambulance litter, all tied and immobilized, I suddenly thanked the paramedic was too entertained by the little show Richie and the other Übers provided to notice the bulge of my hard cock.
I suddenly heard someone hitting the window, the beautiful face of Richie appeared for me, smiling so beautifully and tenderly as usual, he showed me his big thumbs signaling everything would be indeed under his control, I wished I could move my hands to wave back at him, but Richie had no time to waste, I devised his pretty face getting away from the ambulance, the sounds of the commotion provoked outside only intensified.
Nonetheless, the vehicle started moving, the driver conducted us through the cleared road, Richie had managed to provide – the other EMT just waved his head in disbelief, suddenly the road felt much more rougher.
“Dude, those guys just invaded moved the cars blocking our way to the construction site and now…they are clearing the way for us…I mean… they…are getting the trucks and those huge vehicles out of our way…with their bare hands!” The guy reported me, and I really wanted to witness such wonderful scene, although the sounds they were producing gave a pretty accurate idea of their intent.
Richie, Jacobsen and Nigel opened our way through the impressively heavy construction equipment – trucks, cranes, concrete mixers, enormous walls of stacked iron bars, they didn’t even need the crew to operate the heavy machinery, my über friends simply used the power contained in those inhuman muscles to move anything that stood in our way to get through the hospital.
“Holly cow, how strong are those Über guys?” The truck driver asked rhetorically as we easily drove through the cleared space, while Richie, Pete and Nigel ran ahead of us to take care of the enormous obstacles, most of the times each one acted alone, but some of times, given the herculean category of their intent, they teamed up to move something that would take much longer if they worked alone – such effort rationalization truly indicated, they were not trying to show off – they really wanted to make a difference in our rescue.
I couldn’t actually look at the poor man “Well…honestly I think not even them can answer your question.” Meanwhile, the shortcut opened by pure muscle power actually worked, because in just a few minutes we arrived at the hospital, the ambulance stopped, the doors opened, the emergency crew entered to take us inside, I watched as Richie followed the crew, towering over them with a truly concerned look.
“I’ll be here when you get out, Nate, I’ll promise”…He said before we entered the building.
I don’t know how it happened, but as soon as I’ve got to the Emergency Room, there was my father right beside the doctor in charge for the ER. I knew that face all too well, my father was not just worried, and he was clearly freaked out. Dr. Briggs watched silently as the other doctor checked me once again.
“Well, Hank, if you haven’t told me this kid had just came from a truck disaster, I’d just say he fell from his bike or something…just a few bruises but that’s all. You got lucky Nate!” The doctor waved his head as he looked at my father “But I guess the worst part is yet to come huh?”
“Thanks so much Charles, I know he doesn’t seem harmed, but can we still run that catscan? My wife will never stop bugging me if I don’t show her that everything is okay.” Dad smirked as he shook hands with the other doctor.
“Sure…you can take him to the tomography room, now.”
I suddenly gulped as dad faced me so intensely “I am not even asking you what the hell happened. I got a call from Pete and he reported about the accident, fortunately for you I was attending some patients here, now cut the crape and get on this chair, we still have lots of exams to run – and they won’t be funny at all.”
Once again Pete Jacobsen made me look an imbecile, although he cared about me so much to inform my parents about the accident, I couldn’t help feeling mad at the fact that he was not just indefinitely bigger, stronger, more attractive, cleverer than me, he was also a much better person than I could ever be.
I motioned to sit at the chair “Dad…I…” I felt so stupid for being in that situation, especially when I now understood it only happened because I could not trust Richie, and no wonder he wanted to shut me down from his life, I meant anything but trouble, BIG troubles.
“Save the explanations for your mother, kid. The whole hospital crew heard you and the über squad coming through the construction site. Frankly, I think you should try to control that hot temper, especially when we both know that no matter if it was you who screwed things – the rest of people will just blame everything on the Übermen…” Dad said as he pushed my chair out of the ER.
After my father made the hospital crew run pretty much all kind of possible exams on my body, I was finally released to go home, because, miraculously, I hadn’t suffered anything serious, and despite the tremendously displeasing shame guilt I might felt, it was indeed to get out and face the consequences of my unwise deeds – and by consequences I mean facing the absurd number of reporters and photographers that already expected for any detail about the unearthed story that happened this afternoon, but not just them, there were actually denizens of people seeming despaired to talk with me.
The scene outside the hospital building was indeed interesting, the three massive Übers were surrounded by much smaller people, although the young lads could be pointed out as the ones being the intimidated, they towered over the nosy reporters and the unceasing flashes of the press, none of them cared to answer not a single one of the insensible questions those reporters made – Richie patiently waited outside, displaying a stoic determination to remain under control, those bastards had already created an “unofficial version” of the incident, in which I was the one being chased by three furious Überteenagers, the police also was there, despaired to find the slightest reason to put those “monsters” behind the bars, and even the guys from an insurance company were sent to investigate the reason for the destruction of a brand new 18-wheeler, after all not many companies were covered against Übermen-provoked damages.
I wanted to get out standing on my feet, not just to look tougher to face the sharks outside, but especially to calm the only one that really mattered, the moment our gazes met, Richie started walking among the many people surrounding him, if he had been tremendously patient so far, now he simply forced his passage through the usage of his impossibly huge bulk, like a modern day Moses, Richie opened his passage through the red sea of paparazzi and finally got close of me, he looked at my dad, who just shook his hand and said out loud.
“Thanks for saving the life of my son, Richie, I don’t know what came onto Nate to throw himself under that immense truck, but if it weren’t for your bravery and that of your friends too…” Suddenly my father hugged my best friend and broke down in tears, which had a devastating effect at the crowd. Dad’s emotion was true, I could see he actually meant it, however, I also understood the real reason behind such unexpected statement, if my father was personally complimenting Richie and his friends, it meant any bogus story about me being chased by a furious pack of Überteenagers was just tabloid material.
Richie blushed, his green eyes indicated he wasn’t expecting such appreciation display, the other huge lads, seemed to act on cue and addressed to the reporters, Pete and Nigel were handling folders for the reporters; Jacobsen flashed a winning smile and started reading that unexpected press release.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we from the Über Youth of America would like to thank the press members for your presence here, for information is the vital key to overcome prejudice and any kind of discrimination in our society. This afternoon, Nathan Briggs was almost victimized in a terrible incident and he was saved by the unselfish act of bravery displayed by Ricardo Costa, who single handedly stopped a moving truck to avoid his best friend to be killed.
Yes, Richie is an Überman and like it’s already widely known, for that reason he possesses strength, endurance and performance standards much higher than a regular individual of his age, and those differences actually guaranteed his survival, not to mention Nate and the truck driver Edgar Mayer, who had kindly agreed to cooperate with the investigations and assured that if it wasn’t for Richie, he could have been unwillingly responsible for the death of a teenager. In order to provide the fastest access to the nearby hospital unity, Richie, Nigel and myself decided to help the EMT team, opening space through the construction site of the Northern Highway, which also provoked an understandable commotion among our community members, we once again apologize for any inconvenient we might have caused through our recent deeds, although we assure no damages were caused to the public safes; finally we from UBA strongly believe that our gifts are not a threat to our fellow citizens, quite the contrary, they can help when necessary, not because we are stronger or bigger than most of society members, but especially because we feel the need to help our brothers and sisters in the need.”
I had to admit Pete was just too damn good, the guy not only wrote a press release, he also seemed to have discussed the best way to avoid any troubles for Richie, not just that, his magnificent looks and extraordinary public speaking skills totally conquered the sympathy of the press members, the accusations and disgustingly insinuating questions were gone, all the reporters cared now was to hear more details about UBA’s leader positions about the Übermen reports all over the country – Jacobsen not only covered our asses, he also provided the perfect smoke bomb to cover our retreat.
The next thing I noticed, Richie and I were already inside my dad’s car – that means, while dad I rode in the front, poor Costa had to squeeze himself in the back seat, he literally had to lie in fetal position, I quickly threw a huge blanket my dad borrowed from the hospital, and we drove away, trying to keep as unnoticed as possible, although after Pete’s speech, I pretty much doubted they would still be interested in hearing “the old news”.
Dad actually seemed thrilled with the action – “Damn, that Jacobsen dude is good! He only asked me to thank Richie in public and let the rest with him, I never thought he could handle all those vultures at once!”
“Yeah, that’s why he is our leader; Pete really knows how to act under pressure!” Richie commented, suddenly forgetting that he was the one who never thought twice about saving my life, to me that was acting under pressure, but after all the trouble I had caused with my insane and ever growing jealous of Pete Jacobsen, I decided to nod along and sink in the passenger’s seat drove us back home where we still had to face the worst part; the despair of our mothers, and this time I don’t think not even Pete’s unearthed charm would work.
To make a long (and terribly shameful) story short, once we got home, it was a whole new commotion; of course my mother and Mrs. Costa were all over us, demanding to know what triggered such unexplainable and terrible events, but at some point their anger was surpassed by the happiness of having us safe and sound albeit the extraordinary stories they have heard and seen in television.
At the end, although I’ve been grounded “until my face grows a full beard” I felt that things did not end so badly as I’ve expected, although that was pretty close, even Richie, the perfect son, was grounded for the first time, temporarily prohibited to go to UYA’s meetings, something that made feel happy and tremendously guilty at the same time, because I knew those meetings meant a lot to Rich, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but feeling relieved in knowing that at least Costa and Jacobsen wouldn’t be making out every afternoon after school for a while. I knew that after a couple of weeks of extreme surveillance, both mom and Mrs. Costa would eventually get bored of keeping us under such tight leashes and so we’d be released from the punishment, Richie would get back to his meetings, and I quite frankly, would use that time to do some serious thinking.
And time indeed is the best way to figure something out, as most difficult and impossible it may initially seems, if you start pondering about details not just as they had first appealed to us, but especially how things actually happened around us, then you might eventually get a clue, usually in a very ironic way.
There aren’t many things I could actually do while “paying my debt with society” – television, internet, videogames, music, sports – most of the pleasures for a teenager were took away from me, except for reading, something I actually never really cared, but given my lack of choices, I decided to read something to distract my mind out of trouble, comic books, variety, the morning paper suddenly had more than just comics and sports section, but my day was actually much longer than minor reading materials could provide me – the irony commenced when I found one of Richie’s books among my school stuff, “The Little Prince” – I still remember how much of a hard time I gave Richie when he told me he loved such a girly book, I used to say he was now ready for becoming “Miss Congeniality”.
I guess I finally “borrowed” the book after such insistence of his part, which just proved that Richie could be just as stubborn as me if he wanted, anyway, confined on my bedroom “until hell freezes”, I eventually started reading the classic story that has been charming young beauty pageant contestants for generations, and the irony only increased as I found myself devouring each page with an unexpected hunger.
All this time, I’ve been really wanting to understand why my relationship with Richie suddenly got so intense after he discovered his über condition, for two times we have caused havoc and chaos, if before it was only in our neighborhood, now our crazy love had taken the entire city by assault, I still didn’t know exactly why things always seemed to end in near disaster when Riche and I tried to figure out our situation, and suddenly I felt my chest sinking as I remembered the words Richie said to that initiating über.
“If you actually care for that boy, you should not let things go any further, übers need a lot of sex, and regular guys may get hurt sometimes, not just physically but emotionally, it’s just very hard for a tiny guy to understand that sex is something so powerful…”
Could it be something so simple? Have I been so stupidly stuck in my opinion that I never cared to put myself in Richard’s enormous shoes? I guess all troubles I’ve caused proved that Richie’s might teamed up with my insensibility tended to lead into catastrophic situations, maybe it was time for something I never thought it would be possible – I had to rationalize things, maybe my feelings towards Richie were causing more troubles than benefits – he had always been my best friend, and I know we’ll always remain that way.
I guess it was time to face something I had been trying to smuggle inside my own selfish chest; a few months earlier, I’d never admit to Richie that I loved “The little Prince” – but situation was so obviously parallel that I could no longer deny – irony is just something designed by the “Great Architect” to make us realize we are nothing but stupid creatures in the end.
I also knew I couldn’t just corner him, for it had turned out so horribly wrong the previous times, so I waited all night long, thinking and rethinking about my arguments, trying to make them as solid as possible, suddenly I felt anguished to not be able to phone Richie anymore, and only then I realized how much sense it finally made, although it actually increased my anxiety to meet Richie, and the night never lasted so long.
I took all precaution necessary, in order to avoid running into me, Richie left for school in the last possible minute, although with his impressive and ever growing muscular legs, the distance between his house and our school was covered each day faster. I also respected his space, for Richie now sat at the very other side of the classroom in which I was, he was clearly following the orders to “avoid getting Nate into trouble” down to the letter, and that was the most excruciating part of being so close and yet so far from my best friend I’ve had in my life.
Finally, the moment I was expecting had arrived, the History teacher had phoned sick, and we would have an entire period free, something that for most of students is just exhilarating, for Richie actually felt disappointing, so he just decided to spend the free time in class to advance even more on his personal studies – no matter how massively huge that guy was getting, he was still a major nerd – and even in these days I wasn’t so close to him, I still could tell almost exactly how much bigger he was getting – my Brazilian friend was soon to reach the 10 feet tall mark, I just wished there was a scale under his especially designed über desk to tell me his precise weight, although judging by the enormity shoulder width and his relatively tiny waist, the impossibly hugeness of his chest, the heroically girth of those monumental arms, the legendary muscular complexion of those thighs and the heavenly secret that kept his humongous manhood confined in such skin tight clothes, at each passing day Richie became more like Pete Jacobsen, and if that once made me feel stupidly jealous, now it makes perfect sense.
Richie was so lost in his own thoughts he never heard when I approached him, and I gently touched his grotesquely oversized hand. “Hey there…” I said very calmly, and it seemed to work, because he didn’t desperately retrieved his enormous paw, although I could tell in his eyes he still wanted to avoid me.
“Hi, Nate, didn’t see you there” Although flashing a dazzling white smile, his reply sounded unusually dry, I noticed the humongous lad already preparing to move. “I guess I lost the sense of time. I really need to take care of something, his body stood so tall and so powerful, I obviously felt my erection building but I needed to overcome my urges.
“Erm…you take care, buddy…” Richie said once again before turning his humongously wide box-shaped back on me.
“I am your Rose, aren’t I?” I said at once, feeling tremendously stupid for making any allusion to Saint Exupery’s classic, but it had the exact effect over my gigantically sized “Little Prince” because he not only stopped, the behemoth actually turned around to look down at me, so I had to cease the opportunity.
“You know… the Red Rose under the glass dome…I’ve done some reading these past days…and I guess I finally understood how you feel about me.” I confessed, although the voice sounded much weaker than I wanted.
I waited for any reaction of him, because anything was better than having Richie forcing himself to avoid me, the grin rising on his lips indicated my irony theory seemed to work.
“So…you had my book all along and only now you’ve chose to read it?” He asked as his eyebrows arched, displaying his surprise.
I shrugged “What else can I do until my mom gets decides to let go of my punishment? Besides, you were the one begging me to read more classics…”
Richie finally nodded “Well, you have to, we need to build a solid academic character if we want to get into a good university…”
“Don’t change the subject, Rich, I asked you a question, do you feel about me the same way the Prince felt about his Red Rose?” I finally gathered the courage to face the humongous muscular lad towering over me, and Costa finally noticed it was time for us to work things out between us.
The huge Über passed his hands through the luscious hair of his “If you mean that I care a lot about you, then you are right, I kinda see you like Prince saw the Rose.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it, the Red Rose under the Glass dome was for the Prince the greatest responsibility of his entire life, because he actually felt it was incapable to survive without him, the Rose was his most precious possession, but at the same time the reason why he couldn’t just move on with his life!” I suddenly vomited a very precise and personal analysis of that book, one that would certainly impress the toughest literature teacher, although I was not interested in impressing a teacher, I wanted to understand how my friend felt.
Costa’s eyes widened, he suddenly needed to sit, fortunately his über desk was not that far, Richie took a deep breath, all the time looking at my face so intensely, even as he was sat and I stood, we were practically at eye level, so the Green sea in which I wanted to drown never seemed so closer.
“Well, you’ve certainly gave it some deep thought huh?” Richie’s hand reached the back of my hand; I felt the humongous paw could easily cover my own head. “I guess I didn’t even see things from this side, but…I certainly don’t feel like I own you, and I don’t consider you to be incapable.”
“Yet, you have to save me every now and then…” I placed my hands around the gargantuan arm, feeling the rugged mountains of muscle on it. “The worst part is that I do behave like that Rose, always demanding, I don’t care for your needs, I only feel like you should be worried about what I want…and it’s actually monopolizing you…like you owed me something…” I felt the tears trying to roll down my face, but I fought the urge to keep my grounds.
Richie didn’t feel like retrieving his arm, he enjoyed my gentle rubbing, but I felt his finger gently brushing my cheekbone. “Nate…how come you say something like that, you are the most unselfish person I know, you’ve helped so much, ever since the day we met you have been helping me…”
“Exactly, and I always felt proud for being the one who would help you, the smarter one, the one with whom you counted, but it all changed all of a sudden – you are not my skinny cute friend that I secretly wanted to kiss, you’ve become such a powerful muscular man, a behemoth, a force of nature…and still I felt things wouldn’t change between us, I felt like I would always be in charge, when I helped you with the whole S.M.U.T. episode, I truly thought I still needed to take care of you, that although you’ve grown so much, deep down you were the same person…”
“Nate…I didn’t change in the outside, I am still the same Richie.” He said, bringing me closer to his body, gently lifting my chin to face his face.
“I know that…now…you didn’t change, I was just blind to see the real you inside your former looks, I didn’t feel like you were capable of defending yourself, you would always need me to do well, even though you were the best student, the best athlete, the once built for success, your Über condition only made all those things infinitely more obvious, and that what made me suddenly turn into the Rose…”
“You know…from someone who said it was just “Miss Congeniality book” you’re actually going really deep in the meanings of the story huh? Richie smiled and for the first time things in a long time things between us seemed so easy, and so natural.
“Yeah…the irony…it really tastes bittersweet…but I did become the Red Rose, because deep down, it wasn’t bad, or actually selfish, it was just afraid, because it realized eventually the Prince would go after much bigger things, he had much higher purposes in life than being its personal gardener, I mean just look at me following you in secret, sneaking into the UYA’s building to spy on you, even though you’ve pretty much made it clear you felt unsure about a future for our relationship, I could not stand the idea that you actually had much more important things to accomplish in your life than being my boyfriend.”
Richie looked at me with a concerned look “Nate, I am sorry if I made you feel meaningless in my new life, but truth is I…”
I gently closed his mouth with my finger “Please…I need to finish it…I’ve already caused you too much trouble for acting without thinking ahead, it’s time for me to be them mature one…” I took some breath before I continued. “I guess you were right after all, we, little guys might not ever understand what it feels to be so huge and strong, all the things inside your body, but…it doesn’t mean we can’t actually relate to most of your feelings.”
“What do you mean?” Richie sounded each time more intrigued.
“Well…you and the other Übers, you’re guys having lot of sex inside the HQ, don’t you?” I asked at once, and yet he blushed in all tones of red before gathering courage to confess.
“Yeah…constantly” His smile was indeed sexy, although the embarrassment look in his features were much more precious. “But you have to understand Nate, I…”
“I know…I know…you love me at the same time...and that’s what I mean. You are not feeling torn apart just because you are an Über. This feeling you have, I have it too…”
Now it was time for Richie’s shocked expression “You do?”
“Of course, although I have to admit it was very confused in my head, I first thought I was jealousy of you and the other Überteens, especially Pete Jacobsen, when I saw your kiss, well you already know what happened afterwards, but then it took me a while to figure I was just blaming them for something I felt as well…Richie…I feel horny about Pete, Nigel too, I mean I love you but my cock gets so hard when around them.”
For the first time, Richie seemed to understand my point of view, his embarrassed grin was even cuter. “So…you understand…”
“That you can love me and still feel incredibly hot after those guys? Hell yeah, and it’s not because your Über condition, it’s precisely because we are MEN, male teenagers, in the peak of our crazy puberty hormones, we have all this raw sexuality, and we want to fuck all the time. Übers do not hold exclusivity on that aspect of manhood…” I laughed while leaning my head on his gargantuan body.
Richie joined me in the laughter, and for a few moments we stood there, enjoying each other’s company, but eventually Costa gently made me face his manly face.
“So…where exactly do we stand?” he asked me, frankly curious about our relationship.
I smiled. “We are exactly where we should have been all the time. You are my best friend, and the one I love, unfortunately we can’t be lovers, so it’s time for me to let you go…but I don’t mean stopping seeing you, I want us to have what we used to have, that feeling of complicity, we might not be lovers ever again, but the eventual kiss and tenderness wouldn’t hurt…I don’t want you to feel worried about hurting me, and at the same point, you can’t help feeling that way when your body does nothing but growing bigger each day…” I gently held his cheeks and planted a long, deep, warm kiss on them.
“If we become responsible for those we conquer, I am now setting you free Richie, free to live your life and be all that you can be, I love you so much, and will love you, I do need you in my life, but in a way we can both enjoy, I don’t want you to worry about my safety at every second, I especially promise to stay out of all trouble.” I finally said and gently slipped from his embrace.
Richie watched as I smiled back at him.“Wow it really feels much better…”
The humongous lad stood up. “Are you sure that’s how you feel? I…really never meant to hurt you…”
“Richie, you always gave me the best times, ever since we were children, and even now, you were my first lover, and I guess in a lot of ways you will be the only…but I am the one who needs this closure, although I feel our friendship will remain the same, at least that is my most sincere hope.”
“You too, Nate…I guess it wasn’t meant to be after all, but I don’t regret trying at all…” He smiled and hugged me so tenderly, engulfing my body with the same muscles that saved my life – the power I still lusted after, but somehow, I didn’t feel despaired for attesting we couldn’t be together, I felt actually relieved, because this way Richie was free, my heart was broken, but knowing that it would indeed save Richie from all the pain and guilty he was feeling was my strongest motivation.
In the end, I guess I was just being stubborn to admit that those rumors about Übermen were right, it actually didn’t mean an über can’t love a regular guy, but things are much more complicated when your lover is over twice taller than you and more than 10 times heavier, with strength that is capable of bending steel pipes like they were made of tin foil.
So, that’s how things between me and Richie Costa returned to normalcy. I am not saying I still didn’t incredibly jealousy every time Pete and Nigel passed by our school to pick up Rich after class, in fact, it did hurt when I realized that if Richie once looked so much smaller than Jacobsen, or Morris, but now he was not just as every bit as big as his Über friends, all of those massively lads grew even bigger as time passed, it was just impressive to attest their development carried on.
I still got my private time with Richie when he walked me to school, which was a very practical transport way, just sitting on the shoulder of your best friend and enjoy as his giant muscular frame did all the hard work – not to mention that in school we still remained best friends, even when other students were reported to be Übermen, it still didn’t change how Nate felt about me, we were inseparable for almost all the time, after all Richie still needed his personal time to fulfill his “Über duties”, which I totally understand.
Like I said before, my heart still ached for not being able to enjoy Richie completely, I still lusted after him, but truth to be told my love for Rich still filled my heart to the brims, to the point I didn’t even notice that I actually became some kind of “legend” in Hamilton High, the guy who actually broke up with the biggest man of school, I guess I got some kind of reputation, which, added to the fact I was slowly changing into a very attractive young lad – and what really hurt me was the fact it was Richie who had to point out when a guy was checking me out, which was actually very funny because I hung out with an enhanced version of David.
At the same time, Richie and Pete never assumed an open relationship; I guess he didn’t want to hurt me, although I was pretty sure they were “friends with benefits” – it was just too much testosterone accumulated in those ever growing muscles, and each day it only seemed they would never stop growing, Richie’s parents actually built another isle in their household for their humongous son, where the ceilings had to be higher than 12 feet tall, because Richie wouldn’t take more than months to reach such extraordinary height, in fact, the whole isle was simply a massive bedroom with an outdoor kitchen so Richie would have his meals with his parents.
If at first Susanna and Marcello felt sad for the condition of their son, they now were thrilled about his enormous size and massiveness, thanks for the UYA help, Richie now had custom made clothes delivered monthly at his house, not to mention that his family received a financial support for all the extra food they had to buy now, they also met the parents of other lads who shared the same peculiar condition, and that really helped them to accept that his son was just enormously big, but not hinder neither a menace.
Great news was that other Über students were reported, and Hamilton High was indeed the most Über friendly school of the country, and soon Richie could enjoy participating of collective sports once again, although not even the new Über guys were big enough to Richie’s standards, he could at least share the joy of playing with the new Über designed courts and equipment.
Eventually, the school year finally ended, it had actually been too stressing and exhausting, a true emotional roller coaster that returned to the station. I was sat with Richie underneath the three, his favorite spot in the park, maybe because that three remained taller than my giant best friend, although I had no doubt he could just pull the trunk out of the dirty if he wanted, still Richie would never do such thing, he was just the sweetest guy in the world.
“So what are you plans for the summer?” Costa easily made me seat on his gargantuan thigh, nonetheless, I got used to talk without looking at his face, because there was no way to see over those mountainous chest of his. As Richie grew even bigger and more muscular, his proportions also changed, he now looked so packed in muscle that even Jacobsen seemed to pale in comparison, although the Leader of UYA would never admit he was outmuscled; deep down I felt incredibly proud for my best friend.
“Oh nothing special…I might go spend some time with my relatives of my mother, you know how much she misses her folks…” I said trying to sound as natural as possible.
“That’s great…Pete wants me to speak at the First International Über Convention to be held in D.C., but that means I’d have to spend most of the summer preparing me for the event, it is going to be pretty important, seems even the President will be there, our goal is to create a bill with the rights of the Übermen…” Richie could not disguise the excitement in his tone.
“Talk about big plans huh? Well I think you should go and help those guys to prepare an event they will never forget!” I said truly enthusiastic about the idea, because Richie had been working very hard in the cause of the Übermen, he deserved to witness such important event, everything else was just minor.
“Yeah…do you think you could meet with me there? It’d mean a lot because you were the one who inspired me!”
“But…What would I be doing there? I am not an Über neither an important authority.”
“Well…you are very important to me…and it would mean a lot if you’d come, my parents are coming too…so I guess you could join them in the trip, I don’t think they would mind…”
“Can I ask you a question? How come YOU are going to Washington?” I said standing on his thighs trying to look at his face, and then Richie just lifted me gently to place me on the top of his humongous chest.
“Well…believe it or not, the Air Force will provide transportation for all the Übers, which is actually very cool, because most of us don’t fit in the commercial aircrafts.”
“Oh…wow, flying with the Air Force guys huh? You must feel pretty important huh?” We both laughed, I could feel the enormous power of Richie’s muscles shaking underneath me.
“Yeah, yeah, so are you coming or not?” He asked me once again, and this time I had to give him an answer.
“Erm…I guess if nothing happens, I’ll go, but…”
“Excellent! I will be waiting for you there!” Richie hugged me and suddenly I lost all the courage I had gathered. Richie let the hug last for a few extra moments, but then he gently stood up and placed me back at the ground.
“I have to confirm with the guys that I’ll be there… will you be at home later?”
“Yeah, like I had your busy schedule…” I joked as we parted, although from the inside I was feeling pretty bad, why didn’t I just give him a phony excuse? Now things were getting more complicated, and time was not on my side.
I got home and my mom gave me the same look of the recent days “Nate, darling, you shouldn’t be out there under the sun, you know…”
“It’s alright mom, we were under the three, and I barely walked, Richie carried me along most of the way.
I hated to admit, but I loved when my mom yelled at me for the simplest things, now all I got is that sweet, guilty tone on her voice. I just went upstairs to avoid seeing her crying again – but dad caught me right when I was passing by his studio.
“Did you tell him?”
I took a deep breath. “No… and now he is expecting me to go to Washington and see his speech…”
Dad waved his head. “Son… you know you can’t promise that, you’ll be…”
“Yeah dad… I know…but Richie needed to go, and he would never go if he knew about my…condition, and you won’t break your promise, as a doctor and my father”
“I won’t tell him neither his parents, don’t worry, I respect your decision, son, although I disagree with you.”
“That’s alright, I have the right to chose what is best for my own reasons,” I said as I went upstairs.
I guess Irony might also have several different angles. Back in the day when Richie saved me from that truck, my father might have wanted to teach me a lesson by running all possible exams on me, who would guess they would accidentally find out that I have a very rare kind of leukemia?
Anyway, I’ve been trying to tell Richie about my health for quite some time that I wouldn’t spend the summer just resting with my relatives, instead I'd be interned at a specialized hospital to find the best way for my disease. Indeed, irony has too many angles – Richie felt sad because he found about his condition which gave him a whole sort of different problems than mine.
However, more than ever I felt like the Rose under the Glass dome, I couldn’t hold back my Prince, for he had much higher goals to pursue in his life, I had to fight this thing on my own, no matter what it took, besides, not even Richie’s massive muscles and extremely powerful strength could help me now.