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[sub][color=slategray]Location: Gym Class, Shortly before Kiss & Tell[/color][/sub][hr][hr][/center]

California was about as different from New York as it was possible to be, at least in Connor’s opinion. However, there was one thing that had stayed relatively similar. Locker rooms. As Connor shuffled into the men’s locker room, he was greeted by the oppressive heat of shower steam, the raucous noise of teenage boys, and more naked torsos than a Playgirl magazine. He was bothered.

Connor had no problem with gym class. He was athletic, so it wasn’t a challenge like it might be for other kids. The problem really, was the locker room. Since right around middle school, Connor always felt...different around other guys. For the most part, he got on well with them, but when it came to the locker room, he began to waver. It wasn’t his body that was the problem. He didn’t much mind that, it was the others. There was something about them that just put this pit in his stomach, but also held his attention. 

He stepped down a row of lockers, the one he’d been assigned yesterday sitting at the end. Squeezing by boys in various states of undress, he winced and powered through to the end. Why was he so averse to this? Wasn’t it normal for guys to see each other practically naked? His friends back in New York had never been weird about it, so why was he?

That question would remain unanswered, as Connor pushed it from his mind in order to focus on changing quickly, and exiting the locker room. Stepping out into the gym, he could hear the squeak of rubber on linoleum, the chatter of students, their panting breaths, the thud of their feet on the ground. Now this, was familiar. So far, California was shaping up to be...tolerable.

Uncle Jack was fine, so far at least. It had only been a couple of days since he’d arrived, but they’d fallen into a bit of a routine. Connor did whatever during the day, either something around the house or school now that that had started up again, and Jack spent all day in his office, clacking away at his computer, only coming out for lunch and dinner. Connor hadn’t spoken much with him, but he let Connor be, for the most part. He’d yet to test the limits of that, but he figured tonight would be as good as any, considering the flyers that were littered around the school. 

Connor took a seat on the bleachers, looking down from his perch at the students below. Running laps outside of practice was beneath him, he’d decided that long ago, but when a kid, Damian, called out for a pickup game, he jumped up to join. Basketball he could work with. The rest...well that’s history.