My name is Marco. Most people call me "Mighty Marco", and "Magnificent Marco". And all the girls call me "cute". Luckily, I don’t have to deal with the girls. I don’t even like girls, or women for that matter. That’s right. I like guys. I’m gay. Deal with it.
I don’t have time to deal with your attitude or the girls. I have way more important things to worry about. Like the fate of the world.
To which you promptly reply, "Oooookay, dude forgot his medication."
But I’m not some brain case. Everything I tell you is true. Except for the Mighty Marco thing.
Earth is being invaded. If you’re looking out the window right now to see if there’s a spaceship swooping low, firing phasers everywhere, then you need the medication. If that were the way they operated, you wouldn’t be reading this now, because I’d be dead, and you’d be one of them.
Who are they? They are Yeerks. Parasitic aliens from another galaxy, who assume complete control over whomever they take. In their natural form, they’re about as big as a slug, and they look like it, too. They are small, green, and absolutely helpless in their natural state.
Then they take you. They crawl in your ear and push themselves toward your brain, and take over. You try to walk and you can’t. You can’t talk or blink or hug a loved one. And they tap into your mind so you have no secrets. They know everything about you, which is why they can act like you flawlessly. There is no way to tell who is a Yeerk and isn’t by appearances.
It was just after a mission that this incident happened. We had just rescued psycho-chick Rachel from Chapman and Visser Three last night. We really had to get normal. I’m against this whole thing, personally. I think that we should just act normally, forget this whole stupid war, and live long enough to get our drivers licenses.
My mom died about two years ago, and my dad totally lost it. He used to be a computer programmer, but he quit his job, and now he works as a night janitor because he can’t stand being around people.
If I got killed in this war, he’d die. Plain and simple. I’m all that’s keeping him here anyway. So I try and lead somewhat of a normal life while I’m not fighting for my life. When there’s not a mission at hand, I try to forget about the whole damn thing.
So tonight I was staying at Jake’s house. I don’t know why I keep accepting these offers. All that happens is I get hot over him, he doesn’t notice, and then I get bummed because there’s no chance of me ever getting him. Every time I hope it will be different.
Of course, I still act normal when I’m with him. It’s not like I make obvious advances or flirt. That’s what you do when you like someone for his or her looks. Jake’s my best friend, and has been since I can remember. I don’t want his body, I want him. His heart, his soul, his body, his very being.
I want to be able to tell people that I love him, and he loves me too. But I can’t. So I still pretend that I like any really cute girls I see on the street. Don’t get me wrong. Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean that I can’t recognize female beauty, it just means that I also recognize male beauty, and that’s what I’m attracted to. Deal.
So I was staying at his house for the night. I brought along two movies, one for cover and one to watch. In other words, a comedy and a porno. ‘Blue Streak’ and ‘Crash’. Tonight I had a plan.
‘Crash’ is a weird movie, I don’t even really like it. But there are four people, two guys, two girls, and eventually every possible couple has had sex, including the two guys. I had the movie fast-forwarded to the middle of the two guys going at it.
Press play, and see Jake’s reaction to same-sex relationships of the male persuasion. If he isn’t totally disgusted by it, I’ll come out and tell him what he means to me. If he is, tell him that I had to shut it off when my dad walked in. Foolproof.
So I was at his door, backpack on one shoulder. Jake opened the door, and I fell in love all over again. I’d seen him countless times over the years, but I swear that there was something different about him today.
He was shirtless, which was a bonus for me, but his face was lit up by a smile I’d never seen on him before. Usually when he smiles, which isn’t often enough because he has a great smile and hardly ever shows it, he has a really laid-back look. This time it was bright and enthusiastic. Very un-Jake-like.
He let me in, still smiling like he had just won a million bucks. I had been there many times before, but I’ve never felt that house so full of energy before. There wasn’t even anyone home besides Jake and I. Tom was at the Sharing, luckily, and his mom and dad were at a PTA thing.
"Too much coffee this morning?" I inquired as he shut the door behind me, knowing very well that he didn’t drink coffee at all. He shook his head at me.
"Marco, you know that I only drink decaf," he said, with a smile at me. I wish he wouldn’t smile at me like that. Every time he does that it’s a nail in my coffin for liking him in the first place.
God, he’s hot. He has a really handsome face, a well-developed body, and a great mind. They say that you can’t have it all, but he’s pretty damn close. He has these beautiful intense brown eyes, and brown hair that falls around his face, parted slightly to the right.
His body is great. He has a gym in his basement, so he works out a lot. He not bulging muscles all over, no no no, he’s more subtle then that. His body is formed around the image of a slightly built kid, but it’s a bit more then slightly built. The thing is, you can’t tell he has that much muscle just by looking at him. But you touch him and you won’t feel anything but warm skin and hard muscle.
Me, I’m not built. I’m just an average kid, mostly muscle, but not because I work out. I have a Brazilian heritage on my mom’s side, and American on my dad’s, which combine to give me ‘olive’ colored skin. My black hair is long in the back, cut just above my shoulders. And I have, quote: dark eyes that always look like they’re laughing :unquote.
Anyways, we went up to his room. I followed him, admiring his muscled back and legs as he walked up the stairs. When we got to his room, he opened the door, and gestured for me to go in. I walked into his room, feeling awkward, thinking about plans for tonight. He walked in and sat down on his bed, smiling at me again.
I felt my heart melt, and I swear that my knees almost buckled. I righted myself in time for him not to notice, and asked in my most self-assured voice, "So, what we gonna do?"
That was the most un-self-assured voice I have ever heard. "I don’t know," came the reply. "Wanna play PSX for a while?"
"Sure. That is, only if you want to lose again." I am the lord of the Playstation. Millions cower before my mighty thumbs, my lightning reflexes, and my great instinct when it comes to this sort of thing.
"Okay, Marco. I’ve been practicing lately, and I got pretty good. So…"
He got up and popped open the Playstation. He put a game in, I didn’t see which one, closed it, pressed power, turned on the TV, grabbed the two controllers, and came and sat back down on his bed.
I continued to stand in the middle of the room while this was going on. It had changed a lot since I’d last been here. All the posters of hot girls were gone from the walls and ceiling. His normally thrown-together room was actually organized, with everything in it’s own little place.
What really caught my eye was the amount of raptor stuff. There were small posters of peregrine falcons (his raptor morph), a bald eagle, osprey’s, and a large poster of a red-tailed hawk. And several smaller ones. And a photograph of Jake and a red-tailed hawk.
And by his dresser, small enough not to be noticed by scanning eyes, was another photograph. I noticed it ‘cause I’m just like that. Details, y’know? Anyway, the picture was of a boy, about Jake’s age, with wild blond hair and piercing blue eyes. Tobias.
Wow, I thought, he must be taking Tobias’ problem really hard. One of the members of the Animorphs, Tobias, was trapped as a hawk during our first mission. Since Jake’s the leader of this troupe, I guess he feels responsible. That is so totally Jake. Helping someone by taking on a part of their burden.
"Hey Marco, you all right, man?"
"Huh? What?"
"I said ‘Are you going to stand there the whole time?’ "
"Huh? No. I’m fine. Right, sit down. Listen, can I have one of those controllers?" I asked him as I dropped my backpack and started to lower myself to the floor.
He patted the bed next to him. "You can sit here. It’s not like there’s a force field around my bed, you know."
"Alright." I got up off the floor and sat down next to him, kinda close. This is great. I’m sitting on his bed and he’s sitting with right beside me with no shirt on. I could feel my t-shirted arms brushing his as I took the controller from him.
I watched as the Capcom logo flashed by, meaning that it was a fighting game. I saw the familiar face of Ryu flash by on the screen, followed by a host of other characters from various Capcom games. I pressed Start to skip to the title screen. "Marvel vs. Capcom," the Playstation announced.
Good. I game that I really like. Which also means that I’m really good at it. Jake was going to die. I pressed the cursor down to Versus and waited as the game yelled, "Let’s Go Crazy" and the loading art came on. We picked our characters.
I picked a Gold War Machine and Gold Venom team for pure power, which is what I play well as. I was, however, kind of surprised to see Jake pick Shadow Lady and Roll, which isn’t that powerful. Of course we both set our controls to Manual. There would be no one-button fireballs in this battle.
"Ready?" Jake asked.
"You’re going down, man," I replied.
Gold War Machine and Shadow Lady jumped onto the screen. "Ready…" the game called. I tensed up. Jake didn’t change at all. "FIGHT!"
I immediately jumped back and threw a fireball at him. He jumped, dodged it, and threw one at me from in the air. I blocked and went to jump, only to see Shadow Lady aerial-roundhouse me.
I super-jumped into the air and used the boosters to get to the other side of the screen. He launched a missile at me. It hit me in the air and I started to fall. He didn’t even let me hit the ground before he started to Lightning Kick me.
I got up and launched a Super Blast at him. He teleported behind me. I couldn’t move because I was in the middle of a technique. I saw him power up behind me, then Roll charged in. He had performed a Team Super on me.
Of course I died. That much power plus additional damage for a back attack killed me.
"YES!" Jake yelled. His face was a look of pure triumph, which made him even cuter. "Try again, Marco?"
"Sure." I couldn’t believe his progress. Last time I played him at this, he lost so badly that if we were playing for money, he wouldn’t have a cent left. We played some more, but my heart wasn’t really into it after the first loss. I was starting to get nervous about my plan.
Would it work? What if it didn’t and he hates me for revealing myself? No, Jake wouldn’t do that. We’ve been friends for too long for him to just hate me. But I’ve heard that one of the best ways to ruin a friendship is by falling in love with your friend, because then it goes beyond friendship and you can separate so much easier.
But what if it does work? I could be in purest heaven for the rest of my life. I could finally have Jake all to myself.
But why does he look so happy now? Maybe he’s in love with someone else. Maybe Cassie and him finally went on a date. Maybe there’s some new girl in one of his classes that likes him. AAAAHHHHHH!!!! It’s times like these that I wish I could read minds.
I started to dream about what I would do if I had Jake. I would sing, jump, laugh, cry, scream, and feel every emotion possible at the same time. I would go on walks in the park with him, holding his hand. I would feel his warm body next to mine all the time. I would kiss him deeply and lovingly.
And I would make love to him. You better damn well believe it. I would give anything for Jake, up to and including my body, virginity, and soul. Hell, if he wanted to tie me up in chains and whip me, I’d still go along passively.
Another teaser. I'm driving myself insane. Same routine, if you want me to keep going, and finish this fic off e-mail me and give me a digital king in the ass. If you include ideas with the ass-kicking, it's even better. And a big "Arigato" for Katra, from the Gundam_Yaoi ML. You were a huge help, confidence-wise, on AOL last night, and after the chat, I sat down and wrote some more of this.