THE BOY THAT KISSED ANOTHER BOY
It was a regular class with more charts on the walls than actual paint and a blackboard that was almost always covered with a dust of chalk, the sediments pooled on the floor and lining the wall beneath the board.
Our wooden benches were long and had a make-shift table attached, with an open space in between the seats we sat on and where we kept our books to write; a space where we kept all of our stationery and books not yet in use. It was two persons to a bench – and he was my seat partner.
He was slightly bigger than me with a complexion that was as dark as I was light. Our teacher used to call us Milk and Milo, even though we didn’t earn those nicknames from our skin colouring.
He was such a lousy kid. He would take my pencils, which I loved keeping sharpened because you never know when you’ll need another during class work, and he would break out the lead or snap the stick into two. He enjoyed misplacing my things, reveled in copying my work, no matter how much I tried to cover my book. As a Primary School student, I really hated sharing my school work with others. And then, sometimes – which was more often than I’d love to admit – when he didn’t get what he wanted, he would pinch me or push me and I’d yell at him with all of my might. I was five and in Primary One. At that age, my voice was about as loud as a static, and to get due attention, I had to yell.
It was because of this constant kerfuffle that our teacher noticed us. It was then our complexions that made it easier to identify us as beverages instead of with our names, Delle and Somto. But she refused to separate us into different seats. For some reason, despite the fact that Somto was clearly driving me insane, she made us remain seat partners. Perhaps, she figured, in the way of traditional thinking, that putting a child that did good academically with one who didn’t would help the latter.
However, as these things are sometimes wont to happen, our relationship as seat partners got better over time. I learned to adjust to Somto’s mischief and he learned to recognise when I wasn’t in the mood to have my pencils broken.
But his mischief with my pencils was not the only thing that changed. Somehow, I started looking forward to going to school. It used to be such a chore, waking up in the morning and remembering that I had to go to school and have to deal with that boy. But with the improvement in our relationship, school started becoming one of my favorite places.
Then, one day, we kissed.
I really do not remember the events that led to this or the actions surrounding it, but I do remember our faces tilting towards each other and our lips coming together.
It was brief. It was spontaneous. But it felt good. It felt good because I giggled right after and I saw him smile before he turned away as if in shyness.
I was five when this happened, a kid in an ordinary school with ordinary experiences and from a good, functional home. A kid who had no prior exposure to same-sex dealings, had a father figure around, and was only ever being exposed to heterosexual experiences all over the media and in real life. I would eventually get molested by both the same and opposite sex older figures much later in life, but by the time these molestations happened, I was already a child expressing what came naturally to him.
It, therefore, baffles when people say homosexuality is learned, a Western import or a sin – because right after I kissed that boy, I felt anything but sinful. All I felt was me, a boy who had kissed another boy.
Written by Delle
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17 Comments
Sun
February 26, 09:43Since i was 7 years i know I was different from other little boys like me… I knew that i like boys, even when I don’t know what it means to be gay or homo. It was right existing in my head and mind before I even get to know such exist after I most have been in high school.
https://anchor.fm/letstalkgayatlist/episodes/My-gay-story-eq4d5k
Delle
February 26, 15:50💙💙💙
Mannie
February 26, 10:03Harry song should come and read this story.
All these “celebrities” would think they can just sit and judge over matters based on their views……Mtchewww.
Sage Philip
February 26, 12:10HarrySong nah old gist, if you know you know.
Even in one of his songs he categorically stated that he prefers bottoming to toping.
Mannie
February 26, 13:02Ahhh…in this our country Nigeria?
Delle
February 26, 15:53I know that song 😂😂😂
Can’t believe you also gleaned this from the lyrics. Thought I was alone
Raine
February 28, 02:06Which song be that abeg?
Delle
February 26, 15:52You know, I saw that headline and didn’t even bother reading. The stupidity of our celebrities just keeps giving. It’s beyond sad that there isn’t anyone in the entertainment industry that I hold to a high regard as it concerns logical thinking and rationale.
Very sad. They’re all a bunch of idiots.
Fred
February 26, 13:17I was drawn in by the MOONLIGHT kiss scene. I wish you weren’t 5 so you’d remember how it all happened. I mean, a notorious student and his brilliant seat partner kissed!
Delle
February 26, 15:54Lol. Well, that’s all you get
Manage it 😂
Henri
February 26, 23:46A beautiful tail. Being gay is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I couldn’t have it any other way…
Delle
February 27, 09:10*hugs*
Wonda Buoy
February 28, 15:41A beautiful TALE o, not TAIL, odudu okuko k’obu odudu ewu?
Delle
February 28, 18:30😂😂😂😂😂
Denzy
February 27, 04:20I also have a vague memory of similar event happening to me, I wish I remembered more. It was likewise a seatmate in primary school.
It’s pulcher how these things happen naturally and with such innocence. Thanks for joggling me back memory lane.
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The spate of child (boy) sexual molestation is really alarming, its hard to find an adult who wasn’t abused as a child these days. Parents/guardians should be more vigilant.
Delle
February 27, 09:11Your last paragraph is everything. It’s such a sad reality.
Child molestation is a menace, a recurring one.
Takara-kun
October 04, 16:56Erhm, I think I started daydreaming about Sunday Umeh at 10 years old back in primary 4. Grown up, pretty sure he was queer as well; and so was our best friend David.
I sha tried to find him on Facebook much later, no luck.
About the child molestation, it didn’t happen to me but I’ve met acquaintances it happened to. It really is a menace.