Milton's Ultimate Hero

“Hey, Milton, wait up!” JJ Brockwell called out. Milton paused, the sea of milling students in the main hallway of Empire Preparatory flowing around him. Given the morning he’d just had, Milton wasn’t interested in talking to anyone, even his hero, so he began walking again. He might just have time to finish the last few questions of his French homework if the homeroom was quiet enough. Okay, the work wasn’t due to be handed in until the end of the week, but he might as well do it sooner rather than later; it wasn’t as if he had a large circle of friends to distract him. Heck, he hardly had any friends at all. “Milton!” JJ called out again, sounding closer. Milton stopped walking, but didn’t turn around. If JJ wanted to speak with him, he could come to him. At that moment Milton didn’t care much about meeting anyone halfway. “You gone deaf or something?” JJ asked when he’d caught up. “I can hear you just fine,” Milton said quietly, talking to JJ’s shoes, which were polished to a high gloss, as always. “What the hell’s wrong with you?” Milton didn’t answer. “Did something happen at the comic book convention thing yesterday?” Milton had gone to Javits Center the previous day with Steve, a friend of JJ’s. The guy was into Superman and Batman comics, whereas Milton preferred X-Men. But despite that difference, they’d had a great time visiting the booths and talking with the vendors as well as the other attendees. “The Comic-Con was good, thanks.” Milton shrugged and started walking again. “What the f…” JJ put a hand on Milton’s shoulder and turned him around. “Talk to me.” “It’s nothing,” Milton said, still addressing JJ’s shoes. “I’m nothing.” “Huh?” Milton wished he hadn’t added that last, because he knew his friend wouldn’t let something like that pass without comment. “You ain’t nothing.” JJ rested large, strong hands on Milton’s narrow and sloping shoulders, giving him a slight shake. “What’s got you on such a downer? I thought you’d be pumped, what with spending the day with Steve all of yesterday and…everything.” JJ and his girlfriend, Maggie, had tried to play matchmaker, almost pushing Steve onto Milton. In a way Milton had felt sorry for Steve, but the guy had been pretty sweet about it all, once he’d realized Milton wasn’t about to jump his bones and suck his face. Although, Milton had to admit, Steve had a really nice face, one he’d love to taste. It hadn’t hurt that Steve had put on the Clark Kent costume he’d worn at Halloween—suit pants, white unbuttoned shirt over a Superman tee, and a sexy-as-s**t curl over his forehead. Yeah, Milton had so wanted to climb the guy’s broad chest and lay a big wet kiss on those wonderfully strong, firm-looking lips and… “Earth to Milton.” “Uh, yesterday was good.” It had been better than good. “So why are you moping around the halls looking like someone’s just kicked your puppy?” JJ’s infectious smile had the corners of Milton’s mouth turning up. “Like I said, it’s nothing.” Milton didn’t want to talk about it; he wished JJ would let it go. “Hi, guys,” Maggie said, coming up to the two of them and giving JJ a hug. Turning to Milton, she added, “Did you have a good time with Steve yesterday?” Milton rolled his eyes. “Yes!” he said, more loudly than he intended. A few of the kids nearby stopped their conversations and looked over at him. If there was one thing Milton hated, it was being the center of attention. “Sorry,” he said more quietly. “I had a great time with Steve…yesterday.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” Maggie asked, looking concerned. Milton slouched in resignation. He knew that, with Maggie and JJ acting as a team, they’d extract the truth out of him eventually, so he might as well save them the trouble of getting out the thumbscrews. “This morning,” Milton sighed. “I was taking some books out of my locker, and a couple of assholes on the basketball team thought it’d be fun to stuff me into my locker.” “Who!” Despite saying it softly, JJ still managed to put so much menace into the single word that it caused Milton to shudder. “It’s okay. That wasn’t the—” “No, Milton, it isn’t okay,” JJ interrupted. “You shouldn’t have to put up with that s**t. Hell, I thought they’d started to lay off you recently.” “They have,” Milton said in frustration. “That wasn’t what got me upset.” Maggie gave him a sympathetic smile. “Talk to us.” “Steve, he saw it happen, and…” Milton closed his eyes. “And?” JJ prompted. “He kept on walking.” “What?” JJ said loudly. Milton opened his eyes and took a quick glance around. Yep, they were the star attraction once again. Shuffling his feet, he said, “I guess it’s possible he might not have seen.” He knew that was a crock of s**t—the two jocks hadn’t exactly been quiet in their taunts. “And even if he’d seen it, why should he have helped?” Milton shrugged. “I’m just a worthless geek, a fag,” he said, using two of the terms the jocks had thrown at him. “The f**k!” JJ said under his breath, clenching his fists. “Mags, you stay with Milton…walk him to his homeroom. I’ll go find Steve.” “No, don’t,” Milton protested. Was there anything more pathetic than having a girl as his bodyguard? Plus he didn’t want JJ and Steve to fall out, they were best friends, fellow baseball jocks and… But his protests went unheard. JJ turned on his heel and went pushing through the crowd of milling kids; Milton could almost see steam coming out of his ears. Milton loved JJ for being so protective, but hated that his friend wanted to fight his battles, believing he was too weak to fight them himself. And even if part of him was turned on by the whole white-knight thing, those feelings couldn’t go anywhere, since JJ was incurably straight. Steve, on the other hand… “It’s okay.” Maggie put a hand on Milton’s arm. “JJ will deal with it.” “That’s what I’m afraid of.” Milton imagined JJ marching up to Steve and busting his nose. “Oh, God.” Steve would never want anything more to do with him then. “Let’s head to your homeroom,” Maggie said, patting Milton’s arm. “I’d rather find Steve and…” And what? Say everything was all right—it wasn’t. Say that he understood why Steve didn’t do anything? Truth was, he understood all too well why. Steve was a jock; he had a reputation to protect, and looking out for a geek wouldn’t exactly help keep that. JJ manages both, a small voice in his mind announced. But JJ is… Milton sighed. Milton shook his head in resignation and trudged off to his homeroom. What a morning! * * * * Steve had looked everywhere else, so he guessed Milton had to be in the library. God, what a fuckin’ coward you are, Morrison! he thought, mentally reliving yet again the incident in the hallway. Why the hell didn’t I say something? I might have been able to talk those meatheads down without making it look as though I knew Milton. God, the look on his face. Steve shook his head. “Milton?” he said, coming through the main library door and taking a look around. That’s when he saw the disapproving stare from the librarian. “Sorry, Ms. Philips,” Steve said more softly. Milton wasn’t in the library, so Steve turned around and went back through the door, where he bumped into JJ. “Have you seen Milton?” Steve asked, although from the thunderous look on his best friend’s face, Steve knew JJ had. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t punch you in the mouth,” JJ said, flexing his impressive guns. Reaching for humor, always his first line of defense, Steve said, “Because you think I’ve got a cute mouth?” JJ’s expression didn’t change. “s**t, man, I wish I could have a do-over of this morning,” Steve sighed, visualizing yet again the disappointed expression on Milton’s face. “It isn’t easy.” “It isn’t easy for Milton, either.” At least JJ was sounding less pissed. “Look, man, I’m sorry, okay?” Steve threw up his hands, knowing he was in the wrong and JJ was just so goddamned lucky, and smart, and hot, and… “It isn’t me you need to be apologizing to, it’s—” “Milton, I know. Jeez, this is a lot harder than I thought it’d be.” And here he was, failing on the second day of being true to himself. They walked side by side down the hallway, although Steve could tell there was a distance between them, emotional more than physical, and he hated it. Part of him wanted to blame Milton, but the more rational side of his brain knew it was all his own fault. Standing at the door to his homeroom, JJ’s being two doors down, Steve turned to his friend. “Will you help me?” Other students were close by, so Steve had to talk in code. Yes, he hated himself for that. There was a lot he hated about himself recently. “You know I will; you’re my best friend.” Letting out a sigh, Steve asked, “Will you go out for lunch with me?” He couldn’t talk in this place, too many ears. “We could go to that Thai place you like. My treat.” “I should eat with Milton today. You should join us.” “What?” Steve looked around, but no one was paying him any attention. “I—” “Bye, Steve.” JJ walked away. Steve’s shoulders slumped; he trudged into his homeroom and took his usual seat. He rested his head on his folded arms and closed his eyes. God, what a morning.