Max opened his locker, not surprised to see PE clothes inside which now fit his new, larger body. There was a distinct smell to them…it was clear that they hadn’t been washed in a while (if at all during the school year), but he found that he didn’t mind the smell. Max quickly got changed into his PE clothes, excited to see what would be waiting for class. He stuffed his school clothes in his locker and ran outside to the soccer field.
Max was surprised to see Coach Chase standing in front of his PE class, with several very familiar sticks on the ground behind him. They were going to play lacrosse?! Max felt his excitement rise exponentially. He was always good in PE, but he LOVED lacrosse!
“Warner!” the coach cried out when he saw him. “Get your butt over here and show these guys how to properly hold a lacrosse stick!”
“Yes sir!” Max said, running over and grabbing one of the long sticks off of the ground. He instinctively gripped it properly and modeled it for his classmates.
Coach Chase continued to explain the rules of lacrosse to the class, informing them that due to not having enough pads, that they were going to be playing non-contact. After going through the basic rules, Coach Chase picked Max and Seth to be the team captains. Max remembered teaching Seth the basics of lacrosse as they grew up…something that seemed slightly off, but at the same time, felt 100 percent accurate. Since the two of them had the most experience, the coach thought that it would be a good balance (plus Coach Chase thought it would be interesting to see how two of his star players who were in a relationship would play off of each other on opposing teams).
Within a few minutes, Seth and Max had split up the class and began a fast-paced game of lacrosse. Max remembered playing on a local club team for many years, and his experience clearly showed versus Seth, who generally spent the winter and spring with wrestling instead and had only played lacrosse with Max and some of his teammates for fun a few times throughout the years. Max felt his clothes very quickly get drenched in the sweat and BO that his new body seemed to exude at a much higher pace. Furthermore, since Max was the most experienced player on his team, he also found himself fielding the ball the most, although he did try to pass and allow as many of his teammates to play to get the experience. It seemed that at least most of the athletic players were enjoying themselves. Seth’s team put a valiant effort and even was able to make a few goals throughout the match, but it ultimately ended with Max’s team trouncing Seth’s.
“Good job, guys! Go get showered and ready for your next class!” Coach Chase called out at the class. The students started to make their way off the field and back towards the locker room.
Seth ran up to Max and gave him a fist-bump. “Great game! I knew you were going to kill us, but it was still tons of fun!”
“I know, man! It was fantastic! I can’t wait to keep playing this for a while!” Max replied.
“Warner! A word, please,” the coach cried out to Max before he and Seth got off the field.
“Do you want me to wait for you?” Seth asked.
“Nah, go on ahead. I’ll catch you later,” Max said.
Seth ran off after some of their other friends, and Max turned around and jogged back to the coach, who was getting the lacrosse sticks laid out for the next class. “What’s up, Coach?” Max asked.
“So, these sticks are just the first step,” Coach Chase told him. “The school board has approved a lacrosse team. We’re actually in the process of getting things geared up so that we could potentially start in January. The rest of the equipment should be arriving within the next week or two. But the major hurdle that I’m struggling with is figuring out who should be on the team. We’re going to have normal tryouts, of course, but I could use your experience in recruiting players who might best make the transition into the sport. Could I count on you to do that?”
“That would be awesome!” Max replied, wiping sweat off his brow. “I’d love that!”
“I think you would be perfect for team captain,” Coach Chase continued. “You’re probably the most experienced player in the school, at least that I’m aware of. Unfortunately, time is off the essence. What is your next class?”
“My next class is lunch, then study hall,” Max replied.
“Well, you’ll definitely need to nourish yourself after that practice,” the coach replied, “But after lunch, I want you to focus on thinking about the best players to play for the lacrosse team from the various teams. If there are any of your club teammates that go to school here, or if any of your football teammates share your study hall period, maybe you could get together with them and come up with some specific students to recruit. And I want you to personally recruit them. People know you’re good at the sport, and you know more about it than I do.”
“Yes sir! I’m looking forward to it!” Max realized that he actually WAS looking forward to it. He couldn’t wait to start planning who to recruit for the team, but his stomach started growling. He realized that in the craziness of the morning, he hadn’t eaten breakfast, and after the fast-paced game, he realized he was starving! He was definitely ready for lunch!
Coach Chase dismissed him, and Max ran back to the locker room to get showered and changed. As he entered the locker room, he found himself swaggering through the room with much more confidence than he had at the beginning of class. Although his hormones were still raging, his excitement of telling Seth the great news overpowered his horniness, and he was able to make it to his locker without throwing a huge boner. He found Seth returning to his locker having just come from his shower, a towel wrapped around his waist. Max found the shirtless body of his boyfriend instantly attractive, and it took some serious self-control to stop himself from rubbing his hand through Seth’s hairy chest. Seth finished drying off and opened his locker, quickly getting dressed.
Max tried to not look at the hot naked body of his boyfriend as he dressed next to him, focusing on opening his locker and getting his towel to take a shower. Max didn’t usually take a shower after PE, or at least, he didn’t think he did, but at the same time, he knew he definitely needed one.
“So, what did the coach want to talk to you about?” Seth asked, throwing his towel back into his locker.
“Apparently the school’s getting a lacrosse team, and he wants me to be the team captain and start recruiting for it,” Max replied excitedly, shucking off his shirt and shorts and taking his towel out of the locker.
“That’s awesome! Count me in!” Seth replied. “At least, as long as it doesn’t conflict with wrestling…I’d have to check with the coach…”
“Thanks, Seth,” Max replied with a smile.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Seth said. “I have your jacket!” He reached into his locker and pulled out a familiar jacket and handed it to Max.
Max looked at the jacket in his hands. There were a number of vintage patches sown onto the front, and when he turned it over, he saw the name Warner sown onto the back. “Wait, I thought this was your jacket that you lent me last night…” he said aloud, clearly confused by the name and the patches.
“No, man! It’s yours! Why would I have a jacket with your last name on it?” Seth said, grinning.
Max couldn’t help but think that the jacket belonged to Seth, but there was no doubt that his name was sewn onto the jacket, along with football and lacrosse patches as well. The jacket felt warm and familiar, and he slid it on, finding that it fit his new frame perfectly. “Yeah, you’re right,” Max said, removing the jacket again and putting it into his locker. “It’s like I said earlier…My mind has been kind of crazy today…”
“Well, your mom gave it to me this morning when I went to your house looking for you. I figured you would want it back,” Seth said. “Anyways, I’ve got to get to my Pre-Cal class. I don’t know why I signed up for all these nerd classes…But Mrs. Comstock said that they should have my schedule changed soon! Gotta go!” Seth leaned in and gave him a quick kiss, which earned a wolf whistle from some of the other guys in the locker room. Max blushed but returned the kiss.
As Seth started to walk away, everyone’s attention was slowly drawn to a small crowd that had formed around the Coach’s office. The group was made up mostly of nerds who were all chattering excitedly; they appeared to be eagerly posing questions to a single individual at the crowd’s center. As the group began to break apart, Seth and Max looked over in surprise to see who emerged. It was Ben Williams, the same nerd who had been helping Lyle try to stump Max with obscure entomology questions during biology class. He was looking exhausted with his arms held limp at his sides, clutching a slightly pink-tinged gym shirt in his left fist that they both recognized as one of the loaner shirts Coach kept around to humiliate any boy who forgot to bring his own to class.
Ben caught sight of Max as he cleared the edge of the crowd and immediately grew uneasy. He visibly shook off some amount of sleepiness and discomfort and approached Max with dutiful intent while the rest of the crowd stuck close by, not wanting to miss out on any new information or sudden developments.
“Max?” he began softly. “I need to apologize for what happened this morning. Lyle was way out of line… with what he said… You know? I thought it was really awesome how much you knew about bugs. Lyle would too, normally, but you’re so cool and popular, I think he got jealous… He’s not homophobic or anything… not usually… I think he just wanted to upset you… and embarrass you in front of everyone to make himself feel better…at least, I guess... I’m sorry...”
“It’s cool, man,” Max said, waving his hand dismissively. “I’m over it.”
“I’m not,” Seth grumbled, folding his arms and leaning against the wall of lockers.
Ben grimaced a little and turned slightly more towards Max as a subtle physical cue that he would rather exclude Seth from the rest of the conversation....
“You sure missed all the excitement after you left class though, Max,” Ben began, seeming to liven up a bit more. “Lyle and I were doing our genetics lab together, and to start we needed to put our fruit flies to sleep using chloroform in order to catalog their genetic traits without them flying all over the place… Somehow the bottle of chloroform slipped out of Lyle’s hands and it spilled all over his shirt! The entire class got pretty woozy, but he and I were knocked out cold. I woke up in the nurse’s office a couple hours later… I guess Lyle’s shirt was so saturated with chloroform they had to toss it into the dumpster out back. Lyle hasn’t woken up yet, but the nurse asked me to get one of Coach Chase’s loaner shirts since she just ran out of her own lender shirts this morning when some kid threw up on the school bus.”
Ben raised the pink tank top with a shrug as he turned to head toward the door.
Seth’s eyes narrowed as he held out a hand to block Ben’s path.
“Are you really sorry about that ‘Fag’ shit?” Seth demanded.
“I really AM,” Ben insisted with surprise. “I know it wasn’t me who said it, but I really should have stood up for Max when Mrs. Watley came back into the room… I guess I just hoped someone else would say something, and then, suddenly, it was too late.”
“Well, I think Lyle could use a little humiliation of his own… A little payback to fit the crime...” Seth continued.
“Well, I am bringing him a pink shirt,” Ben observed, before falling silent at the sharp glare Seth shot in his direction. “Never mind,” he quickly added. “What do you suggest?”
“Well… How do you think he’d feel about wearing Max’s letterman jacket for the rest of the day?” Seth suggested with a grin.
“Like cheerleaders do for their boyfriends?” Ben questioned, trying to see if he understood the nature of the prank.
“Exactly,” Seth replied with a smile. “Will you do it? Would you bring Max’s jacket back to the Nurse’s office instead of the loaner shirt?”
“Why not?” Ben replied with a shrug. “It’s a harmless enough prank.”
“What do you say, Bae?” Seth asked, turning excitedly toward Max.
Max wasn’t eager to make waves, but he could tell it was important to Seth, so he relented in the end.
“Aright,” Max said with a sigh. He reached into his locker and pulled out the jacket just as the bell rang for the next class. “Let him have it, Ben.”
As Ben left the locker room with Max’s jacket, Seth looked down at his phone. “Shit! I’m going to be late for my Pre-Cal class. Coach will kill me if I start racking up tardies. Gotta go, Bae! See you later!” Seth ran out of the locker room.