We were told briefly during the Official Welcome that we were to undergo a week of Onboarding, during which we would not be wearing more than our jocks for all of the first four days, including a 48-hour period of being fully naked. Gert, the President of the Academy, had told us during his speech that he and the other instructors, had during the previous week undergone a much more intensive Onboarding than the one we were about to experience, and it was now our turn – we were told that we would collectively experience a range of interactions that most of us would never dare to imagine, let alone partake in, alluding to Jane Ward's book Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White Men.

I had no doubt about my own sexuality, but I suspected most of my fellow pledges were straight; some of them, I knew, even had long-term girlfriends. Indeed, as we had arrived on the Campus that morning, all 24 of us dressed in typical College students' attire of T-shirt and jeans, I saw a few of my fellow pledges each farewelling a chick. From what I knew though, all of us had signed up for this; this pilot project was a study into gender, sexuality, orientation and relationships, simulating an educational institution in which nudity and MSM action was to be a daily part of the routine of all members of the Academy, based on anecdotes of sexual experimentation among peers within closed single-gender environments, be it prisons or boarding schools.

After the icebreaker activity and lunch, we were taken to the Tower Complex located in the centre of campus, up an elevator to the 7th floor, and past a reception area which gave way to a vast locker room; here we split up into two groups, each containing 12 pledges and 12 instructors. The other group went off in a different direction while my group was taken to one part of the locker room, where us pledges were told to sit on a bench along the far wall of the room, the instructors gathering in a huddle next to another bench perpendicular to and in front of us.

After some time, the huddle at the centre of the locker room broke up, and instructors Gert, Shane, Leon and Theo came over to where we were sitting, standing at either end of our bench. Meanwhile, the remaining 8 instructors started unbuttoning their shirts, tossing them into the receptacle at the far end of the room. Conal, Kevin, Ryan and Ivan sat down on the bench perpendicular to and directly in front of us, while Chris, Shaun, Mark and Jon came over to the bench we were sitting on.

Chris approached Ally, Shaun approached Michael, Mark approached me and Jon approached Josh and they asked us to stand up and come with them. They led us to where Conal, Kevin, Ryan and Ivan were sitting and asked us to stand in front of the bench. I found myself standing in front of Ryan, dressed in his uniform trousers, the waistband of his Bonds boxer-briefs peeking out above it, shirtless with his hairy chest showing, in contrast to Conal, Kevin and Ivan, who were hairless. Ryan smiled at me and reached for my crotch; I backed away a little, but someone was behind me blocking my way.

I turned and saw Mark, who told me to relax, as he took my hands and held them gently but firmly behind my back. I realised that I was trapped. Ryan then reached for the zip of my jeans and unzipped it, then he undid my jeans button, following which he unfastened my belt and pulled it out of its hooks on my jeans. I gasped as my belt was removed. Ryan then slowly lowered my jeans, with Mark still holding my hands behind my back. I looked to my left and right and saw my fellow pledges, Ally, Michael and Joshua, receiving the same treatment at the hands of their assigned instructors. Ryan lowered my jeans to my knees, then, smiling at me, he slowly took my boxers and began easing them down, which I was helpless to stop as Mark still had my hands firmly in his grip. Soon my dick came into view and sprang free.

Without warning, Ryan then leant forwards and took my dick into his mouth and started sucking it. I gasped at the sudden onset of pleasure. Out of the corners of my eyes I saw Ally Michael and Joshua also being sucked off, their jeans hanging off them and boxers lowered just a short way, like mine, down to our thighs, as Conal, Kevin, Ryan and Ivan sucked our cocks. I turned back to Ryan, sitting in front of me, and he paused for a bit, smiling at me again, then he used his hands to pull my jeans, which were by that point around my knees, and I felt and heard them drop to the floor, with similar sounds coming from either side of me I knew the same was happening to Ally, Michael and Josh. The instructors were fully coordinated in their movements; I later learned they themselves had been in our position exactly a week before.

I felt a little unbalanced, floating on air because of the pleasure my dick was receiving, and Ryan placed his hands on my elbows to steady me. On he sucked, and I felt the pleasure building up inside of me. Ryan then slid one hand, then the other, under my shirt, and rubbed my tummy a bit before his hands creeped further upwards, and I saw and felt my shirt being lifted up, slowly but surely, my chest coming into view. I was always shy about even taking my shirt off when in company, but this was a new experience on another level altogether. Eventually Ryan's hands settled on my nipples, and he started pinching and playing with them.

Mark still held my hands, standing behind me, and I felt his bare chest against my back through my T-shirt. I felt totally helpless, with Ryan's mouth sucking my cock which by now was fully hard, his hands lifting up my tee and playing with my nipples. I let out a soft moan at the pleasure I was receiving. This went on for a few more minutes. Ryan's hands were also feeling up and running over my chest and stomach, and I silently prayed each time the front of my shirt fell, but Ryan would then immediately lift it up again and his hands would go back to my nipples. This went on for a good while.

Eventually, I felt Mark step back from me, now holding both of my hands in one of his. He then used what I guessed was his other hand to take hold of the back of my T-shirt, which I felt being lifted. Mark briefly released my hands as he pulled my shirt up and my hands went up as my shirt was lifted off me from behind, before Mark took hold of my hands again. Gert, Shane, Leon and Theo stepped forward from their positions supervising the other 8 pledges – namely Erik, Ben, Tauri, Jack, Kalvin, Nathan, Aaron and Douglas – whom only now I realised had been watching us the whole time; I was too focused on what was happening to me and those around me I had totally forgotten about the others watching from the far end of the locker room.

Gert, Shane, Leon and Theo each took a freshly-confiscated shirt from Chris, Shaun, Jon and Mark, who had simultaneously removed it from the bodies of (respectively) Ally, Michael, Joshua and myself, who in turn were having our dicks continuing to be worked on by the mouths of (again respectively) Conal, Kevin, Ivan and Ryan. Out of the corner of my eye I saw our T-shirts being dropped in the collection bin at the far end of the room, where our instructors had dropped their Uniform Shirts before. I was now shirtless, with my jeans around my ankles, boxers around my upper legs, hands held firmly behind my back by Mark and cock being sucked intensely by Ryan. I was far from comfortable at my nudity, yet being in this vulnerable position felt strangely exhilarating and added a new dimension to the physical sensations I was feeling in my dick. I was the one receiving the pleasure, yet I was the slave.

I knew the same was happening to my 3 fellow pledges as well, as one by one each of us were letting out grunts and moans of pleasure. I didn't know how I felt about this – like the others I had committed to this Academy, and this was part of our Initiation – but it felt strangely surreal as I stood there totally helpless to stop what was happening to me. One by one, each of us started moaning in earnest as we came into our instructors' mouths, with our hands still held behind our back. As each of us came, Gert, Shane, Leon and Theo, who were supervising other fellow pledges who were waiting their turn, led the group in cheering and clapping. Eventually I came, and Ryan hungrily swallowed it all as I moaned in pleasure, Mark behind me holding me steady.

Mark finally let go of my hands, saying, “Put your shorts back on and sit back down there”. Feeling embarrassed, I was only too happy to oblige; Ryan had released my cock from his mouth and I put it back into my jocks, pulling them back up, still reeling from the orgasm. I realised that nobody had sucked me off for a while, recalling old memories from about 5 years ago, as an 18-year-old visiting the baths in Melbourne for the first time, being sucked off by a naked man in his late 30s sitting on his towel, as I stood in front of him with my own towel draped over my shoulder; prior to that first visit to the baths, I recalled nobody besides myself had seen my dick for many years.

I shuffled back over to the far bench, where Ally, Michael and Josh joined me, all four of us now wearing only our Jocks, as Erik, Ben, Tauri and Jack were called to come forward for their turn. I felt strangely exposed being among the four wearing the least clothing in the room, especially sitting with Kalvin, Nathan, Aaron and Douglas who were by contrast still fully dressed in their street clothes, but I knew that all of us, including the instructors, would all be in the same state soon enough. And as for us pledges, our Jocks were all that we would be wearing until the following afternoon, from which point the instructors would have us either in Towels or fully naked for a full 48-hour period.

As these thoughts ran through my mind, my cock twitched and slowly got hard again, eventually making a tent in my Jocks. Prior to that point I had always believed receiving a BJ equated to power and giving one implied servitude; it was strange how the tables had been reversed in my latest experience, its semi-public nature enhancing the symbolism of it all. And this was just a taste of what was to follow in the coming days, when my pledge buddies and I would bond over our collective shared experiences of being subjugated, the smoothness of the BJ we had just received contrasting with the rough nature of the many JOs that we would later be forced to endure, naked and restrained, powerless to stop the talented hands of our instructors pumping our cum out of our hard dicks in full view of one another. It was seriously hot.

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Day 3: Wed 9 Nov 2011 (9:30am – 11:00am)

Upon arrival on the 12th floor, I noticed this floor had large rooms containing amphitheatres, each with rows of stands ascending around a centre stage, on which there was a raised dais and towards the back wall, a glass-walled cell with a single bench in it. It was inside this cell that I saw Shane (the CEO) was seated, dressed only in his jocks, shirtless, his hands bound behind his back in bondage cuffs.

Leading the session was instructor Theo [in Trainer Vest & Running Shorts], assisted by instructors Kevin, Conal, Ivan and Ryan Tessier, who by now had removed the clothing they were in before and were dressed in Towels only. All 24 of us pledges, dressed in Jocks only, were asked to sit in the stands of the amphitheatre together with the rest of the instructors who were seated amongst us.

Theo then called out to get our attention, then proceeded to release Shane from the glass-walled cell and led him to the dais, releasing Shane's hands from his bondage cuffs before getting him to lay down on the padded table in the centre of the dais, instructing him to hold on to the inbuilt handles on either side of the table near his hips. Theo stood beside Shane facing his groin, with Kevin, Conal, Ivan and Ryan standing to either side of Theo.

For the next 10 or so minutes, Theo, Kevin, Conal, Ivan and Ryan ran their hands over Shane's body, Shane lying down on the dais in front of them. They felt up, touched and caressed his chest, legs and face, and also made brief touches of his cock through his underwear.

After about 10 minutes, Theo then slowly lowered Shane's Jocks down to his thighs, exposing his dick, which he started feeling up and stroking to get hard. After another 5 minutes, Theo lubed up Shane's dick. All this went on while Kevin, Conal, Ivan and Ryan continued feeling up and running their hands over Shane's body, chest, legs and face. Once Shane had been lubed up, Theo started jacking him off in earnest, all the way to a huge orgasm. Shane came all over his chest and legs, the room erupting in cheers as he did so.

While Shane was catching his breath after cumming for the first time, Theo instructed everyone else in the room to start getting ourselves hard in preparation for our own orgasms. Kevin, Conal, Ivan and Ryan were told to remove their Towels and drape it over one shoulder, while us pledges in the stands were told to lower our boxers (down to our knees/ankles). Bottles of lube were handed out on stage and in the stands while we were in the early stages of jacking ourselves off.

Later, when Kevin, Conal, Ivan and Ryan (on stage) and the audience members (in the stands) began jacking off in earnest, Theo then turned his attention back to Shane, who was still lying on the dais, holding on to the handles. Theo relubed Shane's dick, using some of Shane's own cum from his chest/legs, and lowered his Jocks from around his thighs, pulling it down to his ankles, then unhooking it from one leg, so the Jocks were hanging off one ankle only, and slowly started jacking him off to his second orgasm.

Eventually, Kevin, Conal, Ivan and Ryan, naked with their Towels draped over one shoulder, came onto Shane's body in a classic bukkake. At the same time, the audience members in the stands began cumming onto their own chests/legs. Finally, Theo jacked Shane off to his second orgasm, Shane cumming once again all over his body.

Once everyone had cum, we were told to clean up. Kevin, Conal, Ivan and Ryan took their towels off their shoulders and used them to clean themselves up before putting their towels back on. Audience members in the stands (who had their boxers lowered to jack themselves off) were told to remove our boxers completely and use them to clean ourselves up, then stand up and use the hand holding our discarded boxers to cover our dicks.

In the meantime, Theo completely removed Shane's Jocks, taking it away and dropping it in a nearby collection bin. Theo then removed his own vest and now shirtless, used his vest to clean up Shane's body before also tossing it into the collection bin. Theo then gave the signal for everyone to adjourn to the communal showers two floors below.

Upon the signal being given, members of the audience were to file out of the amphitheatre room in an orderly manner, dropping their boxers in the collection bin on their way out, then proceed naked (with one hand covering their dicks) to the communal showers on the 10th floor.

Kevin, Conal, Ivan and Ryan were to proceed there in their towels, dropping their towels in the collection bins at the entrance to the showers. Theo followed the crowd out of the room, discarding his running shorts in the collection bin on the way out, proceeding to the communal showers in his boxers, discarding his boxers at the entrance to the showers.

Finally, Shane once he had been cleaned up by Theo, got up off the dais, buck naked, using one hand to modestly cover his now-sensitive and softening dick, followed Theo, Kevin, Conal, Ivan and Ryan off the stage and to the communal showers on the 10th floor.

All instructors and pledges were to gather here for a group shower before the next session, also in the amphitheatres at 11:30am. Pledges were given a towel to wear after showering.

This is not a written or finished story as such, but more a summary of key points of a candidate story I have yet to flesh out for the Drawn From Life section of Awesome Dude. It's from my own personal experience, and is deeply personal, thus it's taking me a lot of courage to put this ou there. As such, please be careful and sensitive in your feedback/replies. This opening post refers to two separate personal experiences of mine.

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Firstly, this experience occurred in 2003, when I went on an overseas exchange trip to a boarding school in Sydney, Australia, at the age of 15. I had posted about this on the Communal Showers Australia subreddit, in response to a photo of a facility in Adelaide which contained a small number of (2 or 3) closed shower stalls next to a row of open showers, where I commented about the presence of choice for users of the facility. This set-up was also the case in the boarding school I went to on the Year 9 exchange trip - 2 closed shower stalls to one side, adjacent to 2 full rows of 8 open showers along each wall, plus a few bradley poles in the middle of the room. However, the unwritten rule among the local boys was that the closed stalls do NOT get used. On my first evening, I used one of the stalls, and the boys who were present reported me to the house seniors. At the time, I was very shy about even taking my shirt off in front of anyone; I was well-known for it at school. Thankfully, none of my schoolmates from my home institution were assigned to the same boarding house as me, save for one; our teacher had a brilliant idea of requesting each of us to be placed in  separate dorms in different boarding houses across the school so that we would interact with the local boys. This is the reason why I am not like most international students, who tend to keep to themselves and stick together in large groups.

Anyway, after dinner, I was instructed to report to the locker room, where I would be punished for breaching the unwritten rule. There, one of the senior boys sat on a bench facing me as I stood - another boy got behind me and removed my shirt from behind - and the senior facing me undid my pants and sucked me off. Then, I was told to lay down on the bench and hold on to it, my hands by my sides, as two boys lowered my jocks and jacked me off in full view of the gathered crowd. This was the first time in my life I became sexually active; unlike most guys I did not discover wanking on my own at an early age, I had it shown to me by the boys I made friends with on this exchange trip the year I turned 15. It was an eye-opening and enriching experience; for the rest of the 3 weeks of that exchange trip, I joined the boys in my boarding school hall for their secret liaisons in the locker room and had the time of my life.

I'm wondering if this experience can be developed and fleshed out into a story suitable for publication on the Drawn From Life section of Awesome Dude. Some advice, feedback and suggestions for how to develop it would be greatly appreciated.

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The second experience I'm posting about is to do with my early formative experiences at the gay men's baths as a young man, shortly after coming of age. I posted about this on the LPSG.com forum some time ago. On my first ever visit to the baths, in late 2006, aged 18, I went with a friend, and I saw the sign saying that beyond the locker room and changing area, no street clothes or footwear were allowed, and one must be in a towel beyond that point. At the time I was still  a bit shy about stripping off in front of others. My friend and I opted to keep our underwear on under our towels, and he brought me to the spa pool at the rear of the facility and asked me to chill there while he went exploring. I asked if it was ok to take my boxers off before getting into the spa, to which he said yes, it's ok, in fact itt's mandatory. I felt a tad self-conscious as the guys in the pool stared at my dick after I'd hung my towel and jocks on the pegs provided and entered buck naked into the pool. I chatted with one of the guys there and mentioned I was interested in playing around, it would be my first time (bar that early experience in boarding school above), and he told me it's up to me if I wanted to or not, and gave me some tips. Later, as my friend and I were walking through the maze, a fellow patron of the baths, whose name I later learned was Mark, started feeling me up as we passed each other, then invited me into a room for some action.

Inside the room, Mark sat down on the mattress and  took his towel off, sitting on it. Now buck naked, he unhitched my towel, which I draped on my shoulder, and then he lowered my boxers and started sucking me off. He commented on how I had left my friend to join him and later invited my friend to join us for some hot action. On subseuqent visits to the baths, I ditched the practice of wearing my jocks under my towel. I bumped into Mark a fair few more times at various bathhouses and we had much hot action together. All this in view of my childhood/teenage shyness of nudity but now I had come to embrace it, which is a milestone and achievement on my part, looking back. I'd also like to develop this into a proper story however I would like some comments, feedback and advice from other users on this forum in this vein. Your suggestions and tips would be much appreciated.

Thank You All.

It was the morning of our second day at the Academy. After we'd had our breakfast, the instructors led us pledges to the 5th floor of the Central Campus Tower complex, where the other group of instructors and pledges from the other Fraternity Hall separated from us to go into another room. Meanwhile, our group headed into an anteroom with various couches and chairs, separated by a glass wall from an inner Showroom, which had a vinyl mattress upon the floor. This was, supposedly, where the Induction Ceremony was to take place.

At this point, all of us pledges were dressed only in our boxers, and nothing else, as were some of the instructors, namely, Gert, Shane, Shaun and Chris. As for the rest of the instructors, Theo and Leon were in T-shirts and boardshorts, Kevin, Conal, Ivan and Ryan were in vests and basketball shorts, while Mark and Jon were shirtless in running shorts. I guessed this was all part of the setup. The clothed instructors were to supervise the proceedings, while those instructors dressed in their jocks were to take an active lead. The Induction Ceremony was to be undertaken in pairs; Michael and Ally, Academic Deans, were the first to go, followed by Josh and me.

When it came our turn, as Michael and Ally were led away by Chris and Shaun, presumably to wash up, Gert approached Josh and Shane approached me. All four of us were wearing only our Jocks. Shane told me to stand up, which I did. Then, he picked up a fresh towel off the benchtop and handed it to me, instructing me to put it on over my boxers. After I'd put it on, Shane went behind me and fastened my hands together with a pair of bondage cuffs. In front of me I saw Gert doing the same to Josh. Shane then bent down and reached underneath my towel, taking hold of, lowering and removing my boxers from under my Towel, while Gert did the same to Josh; our underwear was now confiscated, and the instructors took them away from us and tossed them into a clothing collection bin in the corner while the rest of the boys in the waiting room watched.

Shane then held my elbow and led me through the door to the inner Showroom, as Gert led Josh behind me. We were asked to sit down on the mattress on the floor, facing the glass through which the rest of the group were watching us. I then saw Michael and Ally being led back into the anteroom, buck naked, by Chris and Shaun, who were holding their towels in their hands, getting them to sit down on two empty chairs near the front and placing their towels in their laps before releasing their hands from the bondage cuffs they were in.

I had seen what happened to Michael and Ally before and knew it would be Josh's and my turn next.  At this point, Josh and I, the second pair to be selected to undergo the Induction, were sitting on the mattress in the inner Showroom, naked except for the Towels around our waists, hands bound by bondage cuffs behind our backs, facing the glass through which the instructors and the other pledges were watching us. Instructors Chris and Shaun, wearing Jocks only, were standing by the door through which we were recently led through. Instructors Gert and Shane were standing in front of (respectively) Josh and I and the mattress we were seated on, also wearing only their Jocks.

I gulped as Chris took a step to the left and closed the door to the anteroom, knowing that soon my dick would be in full view of the watching crowd. The thought got my adrenaline pumping. I took a quick glance to my left, at my buddy Josh, who was seated beside me, in his Towel, hands bound behind his back; he looked terrified, probably anticipating what was about to happen, which we saw done to Michael and Ally before us. I turned back to Shane, who was by now squatting down in front of me, holding a bottle of lube which he was pouring a generous amount into his hands. I saw Gert doing the same in front of Josh, and giving him a reassuring smile.

Shane, shirtless and wearing only a pair of Bonds boxer-briefs, which we had been told was the Basic Attire for all members of the Academy, reached for my waist and unhooked my Towel, slowly easing it open. Slowly my pubes and then my still-soft cock and my balls came into view. To my left I saw Gert doing the same to Josh. I only half-noticed the audience, who seemed to be leaning forward to get a better look; my eyes were primarily fixed on Shane and his hot body and the sparse hairs in various places on his chest. Being Asian I didn't have quite so much hair; my chest was pretty much smooth save for some barely noticeable abdominal hair. In contrast, Josh was much hairier. I also noticed Josh was uncircumcised, unlike me, and his dick was also noticeably larger.

Shane then put both hands on my dick, as did Gert to Josh – Josh and I both gasped from the cold and wetness of the lube – Shane teased my dick a bit and then gently started stroking me off slowly. I glanced, helplessly, at the watching audience through the glass before looking back at Shane. Our eyes met but he remained silent as he slowly, sensually, stroked my dick to a full erection. His technique was skilful; he'd first use one fist and run it up and down the length of my cock two to three times before turning his hand the other way, giving my dick an extra tug, and then repeat the process, his other hand on my balls, occasionally straying to my inner thighs or up my chest to tweak a nipple. From time to time, he'd switch hands and repeat the same process.

To my left, I saw Gert was using a similar technique, the only difference being Josh's foreskin sliding over and back to cover and expose his pink cockhead, which became less and less and the exposure increasing until Josh was fully hard. This went on for about 20 or so minutes and as time went on Josh and I got increasingly aroused and I felt the familiar stirring in my groin signalling impending orgasm. To my left I heard Josh starting to make soft grunts and moans from the stimulation, and soon I found myself in a similar state. Gert and Shane didn't miss a beat; they kept up the tempo and rhythm, slowly and sensually stroking us off while the others watched through the glass.

As I felt the pressure building up within my groin, I let out a loud moan of ecstasy, and gave a few strangled yells as my cum came gushing out onto my chest and legs. Wordlessly, Shane milked out the last few drops of cum from within me and then got up, Chris opening the door for him as he exited the room, as he had done previously after making Ally cum, while the audience started clapping and cheering. To my left Josh started moaning loudly as Gert jacked him to a huge orgasm; I glanced over and saw him cumming all over himself as Gert milked his cock. Like Shane before him Gert also then got up and wordlessly exited the room as the audience whooped and cheered again.

As my orgasm subsided, I started feeling a little embarrassed, feeling my face glow a bit as I sat there, towel open under me and my softening cock in full view of our audience, with my cum splashed out all over me. Fortunately, Shaun and Chris came forward and taking hold of our elbows, helped Josh and I get up, picked up our towels from the mattress and led us, buck naked and with cum all over our bodies, our hands still cuffed behind our backs, out of the inner Showroom through the anteroom, then out along a short corridor and round a corner to a small shower room with two rows of communal showers and six showerheads sticking out of the walls on each side.

Shaun hung my towel on a peg on the wall at the front of the room and led me to one of the showerheads on the far end; soon Josh joined me under the next showerhead to my right, led by Chris. Shaun and Chris turned on the showers and some pleasantly warm water came gushing down. I looked at Shaun, standing to the side out of the way of the shower water; Shaun, still in his boxers only, gave me a reassuring smile as he squeezed some soap from the dispenser on the wall and soaped up my body and my cock; I recalled that nobody had bathed me other than myself in decades, since I was a boy. I was powerless to stop him or take over myself as my hands were still cuffed behind my back; to my right I heard Josh protesting saying he can wash himself, but Chris told him to relax and stay still, so I knew we had no choice.

I saw Chris washing Josh's cock vigorously and peeling back his foreskin to wash underneath; Josh gave a small yelp, whether from pleasure or pain I couldn't tell. Being circumcised myself I thought to myself, Thank God that isn't happening to me, and that Shaun seemed calmer and a little more measured than Chris was. Shaun washed my body and then my cock, rubbing off all the lube and cum from my body, then when done he closed the shower tap and led me over back to the pegs at the front of the room. I felt myself shivering as Shaun took one of the two towels from the pegs (whether it was Josh's towel or mine I had no idea) which was still mostly clean and dry and used it to dry my body, rubbing me all over with it, paying particular attention to my dick, which was starting to show signs of life again. Behind me I heard Chris drying Josh off as well; Josh was muttering to himself but I couldn't really make out what he was saying.

Shaun then took my elbow and led me back along the same corridor from which we had come, back into the anteroom where the next pair of pledges were about to begin their turn; we got there just in time to see Shane removing Tauri's Jocks from under the Towel he was now wearing, his hands bound behind his back in bondage cuffs, while Gert and Jack were already in the inner room, Gert helping Jack to sit down on the mattress. Ben, whose turn would be next (with Erik) after Tauri and Jack, later told me that Tauri had made quite a show of protesting and had to be restrained by a few of the instructors to get his bondage cuffs on.

Shaun led me to an empty seat, helped me to sit down, then placed my now-damp towel in my lap. I felt relieved that my dick was finally covered again, after being on show and exposed for the past half hour or so. Shaun went to get the keys from the table on the side of the anteroom and came back to release my hands from the bondage cuffs, and then passed the keys to Chris, who had helped Josh sit on the empty seat next to me and then released him from his restraints too. Shaun and Chris then proceeded back into the inner room where Shane and Gert were getting ready to perform the same Induction on Tauri and Jack as the rest of us looked on.

Over the next two hours, I saw Tauri & Jack, then Erik & Ben, then Nathan & Kalvin, and finally Douglas & Aaron, undergo the same ritual that Josh & I had just been put through, like Ally & Michael before us. Each pair started out in boxers, over which they were asked to put on a towel, then had their hands cuffed behind their backs and their underwear removed from under their towel, which was later opened once seated in the inner room exposing their dicks in full view of the audience, and after cumming were led away for their shower, returning buck naked with their towels placed in their laps providing cover for their dicks once again.

After Douglas & Aaron had returned from their showers, Gert went to the front and spoke a few words in a short debriefing, then instructed us to stand up and put on our Towels round our waists and adjourn for lunch. We were then led out of the room to another part of the facility via a few corridors and a short elevator ride, with the other group joining us where their twelve pledges had also undergone the same Induction process. As we sat down to lunch, we were instructed to remove our Towels and place them in our laps once again.

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Author's Note: Thanks for reading my sample, I hope you enjoyed it. This story comes from a fantasy of mine based upon a real formative experience I had at the baths as a young man; Shane is a real person I know whom this story is dedicated to. The full story can be found on my website at stories.homebase.gay (under the Original Creations tab); please note that the story is still missing one chapter and I'm having trouble bridging the gap. The other two stories I've posted on there are still in the draft stages; one is a single-chapter spin-off told from the perspective of a teenage student of the institution, while the other is a different form of writing, a rulebook or policy manual of the fantasy world I am building, to which my own Induction is depicted in the story I've posted above. To these ends, I'm appealing for feedback from readers who may be interested in and able to provide editorial mentorship to a budding author and advise on worldbuilding and development; if interested please DM me or send me an email at homebase.gay@gmail.com. Thank You All.

Warning: hormonal teen behavior, stupidity and immaturity. Skip if that bothers you.

Here's a sample from a story that I am currently working on. I have written about sixty thousand words. Judging by the way the story is unfolding I expect to add another fifteen thousand before it is finished. The story is set in the current time in North America and deals with a half dozen boys in various relationships with each other, some almost mystical and others bluntly sexual. These relationships evolve in the context of the climate crisis, the covid pandemic, veganism and animal rights, with a dash of the supernatural in the mix. The sample below is the first part of the opening chapter. Chapters are generally divided into 4 or 5 shorter parts. The working title is, We, The Animals. I will appreciate any comments members care to make. The big question here is, "Does this make you want to read more?"

Thanks,

Biff Spork

We, The Animals

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all beings are created equal, and have a right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of their Happiness.*

Chapter 1 — Not a Murmur, But a Growl

On a sunny spring morning, David McAdam turned his electric bicycle onto a bumpy logging road. The rutted road was only wide enough to accommodate a single vehicle. It wound up the side of Jana Mountain through a clear-cut area that had once been old-growth forest. The boy was heading for a protected area, a park, but not through the public entrance off the highway. He wanted to be alone. This logging road would lead him up to the backside of the park. There he hoped to enjoy the pristine forest unmarked by trails. Other people would not disturb him there.

The clear-cut looked like a war zone; few plants grew above knee height. Some of the stumps were massive — silent testimony to the grandeur that was gone. The twisted trunks of worthless shrubs and saplings lay like bodies after a battle. Scattered stands of purple-flowered lupines brightened the devastated area. Green shoots and tendrils showed that nature, though wounded, yet survived.

Despite the desolation, David’s youth and his joy in his new bicycle buoyed his spirits. He sped up the dirt road towards the dark green that marked the park boundary. It was his thirteenth birthday and that had brought him his new e-bike. He had bought the bike with his own savings matched by his parents. After delivering a lecture on safety, his father had given him permission to ride on the roads. He was no longer limited to bike trails. Thanks to the power assist motor, he could travel into the mountains that shaped his valley. The boy had looked forward to this excursion into the high parkland for months before this day.

The narrow road hugged the mountain’s contours. Hairpin turns prevented him from seeing far ahead. He heard the truck’s revving engine before he saw it speeding around the next bend. A shimmering black cloud enveloped the red pickup as it hurtled toward him.

The boy lurched off the road, escaping collision with the truck by inches. As it zoomed past, he caught a glimpse of the driver. Scarlet spots like small wounds marked his face and fear contorted it.

The pickup skidded around a twist in the road and the black cloud swirling around it thinned. In the truck’s rear window, the boy saw a rifle mounted on a gun rack. The dark cloud resolved into individual birds. They re-formed into a compact mass and flashed toward him, then swept up into the sky. There were hundreds of starlings. They formed a teardrop shape above him and hovered for a moment, as if considering their next move. Then they soared into the sky like a single giant creature before descending into the forest.

David wrestled his cycle back onto the road but stood beside it before mounting. The near collision had shocked him and what he had seen had stunned him. It seemed impossible that the starlings had been chasing the pickup, yet the scene was engraved on his memory.

A quarter-hour later he wheeled his bike into the trees that marked the border of the park. He chained it to a pine out of sight from the road. An earthy, evergreen scent filled his nostrils. He listened to the whistles and trills of birds and the crackling of grasshopper wings.

The purling of a nearby stream attracted him and he walked in that direction. When he reached its mossy banks he felt he was in the place he had been hoping to find.

He had come to the forest seeking a spot where he could be himself, where he could drop all pretenses without fear. He began to remove his clothes, folding them and placing them in his backpack. He undressed like it was a ritual, as a way of discarding his public persona. Clothed, he was David Alexander McAdam, thirteen-year-old son of Pete and Doreen McAdam. When he stood naked and barefoot on the spongy, humus-rich forest floor, he felt he was someone else, his true self. He filled his lungs and felt his penis begin to stiffen as a faint breeze caressed it. It was a good feeling and within seconds he was erect. He stroked himself once only. He was more interested in exploring the forest than in indulging himself.

The boy knelt at the stream’s edge and splashed some cool water on his face. Then he waded knee-deep through the burbling creek to the opposite bank. He wandered deeper into the woods.

On the shadowed underside of a fallen log an outburst of brilliant orange fungi caught his eye. He bent over, then lay down so they were at eye level. In the cool shadows, dew drops glistened on the mushrooms’ unblemished, newborn umbrella-tops.

Several of the mushrooms had insects roaming over them. They were flying insects with their wings folded over their rust-colored bodies. They ignored David as they scurried back and forth performing inscrutable tasks. At first he tried to figure out what they were doing. Then that part of his mind dropped away. It satisfied him to watch them, without seeking intellectual understanding.

He lay in that state until he became aware of twigs and pine needles pressing into his shoulder. He rolled then onto his back. The play of sunbeams that penetrated the leafy canopy was like a dancing image of happiness.

One of the rusty insects landed on the tip of his nose and regarded him. David laughed and his visitor spread his wings and departed. Like an answer to the boy’s laugh came the scolding ch ch ch of a gray squirrel. He located the squirrel with his eyes and exchanged a long glance. Then the squirrel raced into the network of higher branches and disappeared.

Several minutes later he felt the subtle sensation of another consciousness nearby. Someone or something was watching him. It did not feel threatening. Yet the sense of someone observing him was disquieting. It made him aware of his nakedness.

David shook his head to clear it of the odd sensation and the feeling dissipated into the forest around him. It didn’t disappear completely but remained as a feeling of acceptance. He felt as if the forest approved of him and welcomed him. He felt like he had arrived at his true home. After long wandering, he was approaching where he should always have been.

He saw through the trees a brightness that indicated there was a clearing ahead. He strolled in that direction. He heard a laugh mixed in with the other forest sounds. A husky treble voice cried, “That tickles!” Then the laughter bubbled forth again, starting in a high squeal and trilling down like a bird song.

David ducked into the undergrowth. Then he crept forward, determined to see who was encroaching on this forest. He had begun to think of it as his forest. He crawled on hands and knees from one shrub to another, ever closer to the clearing. At the edge of the glade he parted the branches of a huckleberry bush so he could spy without revealing himself. He never forgot what he saw.

~~~

*The quote that opens the story is the first line of The Declaration of Animal Rights

Door Kickers

I was listening to an album trilogy by Stone Rebel called The Indigo Trilogy. The MP3 was playing on my computer and was being fed to my Cambridge Audio AXR100 over a Bluetooth connection driving a pair of Klipsch Reference Premiere RF-8000F speakers.

The rich sound of the superbly crafted music filled the room as I wrote a review. For a little while, the beauty of the music forced the ugly memories to retreat.

For a while, I could forget. I could forget the IEDs. I could forget the burned, stinking bodies. I could forget the maimed children, the gaunt sunken eyes and the ever-present smell of death. I could forget the dead and broken friends.

All that combat. All that death. All the rules of engagement that had obviously been written by a retarded lawyer. All those battles fought with both hands tied behind our back that by some miracle, we won.

All for nothing so some pussy of a politician could say we were done.

The VA said I had PTSD. Well, fuck. Of course, I do. That’s what happens to sane people in war. The insane ones like the killing. I’d seen that shit too.

Unlike many vets of the Sand Box, I did not find my solace in a pill, baggie or bottle. I drowned the din of battle in my head with beautiful music played loud.

Like a lot of my fellows, I started out listening to metal. That worked for a while, but metal is… psychically jagged and I had bled enough. I needed something different. I found it in Progressive rock.

That’s what I was listening to when the FBI kicked in my door. Some REMFers pointed guns at me as they cleared the house, hooked me up and put a black bag over my face, and arrested me for treason.

The Prog Page

I started my page on a popular social media site when I go home. As a long-time fan of progressive rock, it was only natural that I created The Prog Page dedicated to progressive rock. Over the years it attracted seventy-five hundred fans of old progressive groups like Yes, Pink Floyd, Rush and new bands like Marillion, Possum Tree and Stone Rebel.

Like similar pages, I had to deal with spammers, scammers, trolls and off-topic posts. Some people had the idea that everyone, even people who belonged to closed moderated forums, needed to hear about their religion and politics.

At first, I tried to reason with them. This does not work with unreasonable people. The only way to deal with the true believers is to ban them. They are certainly entitled to their opinions, but our forum is not about their religion or politics and disruptive behavior isn’t welcome. Every year I had to ban scores of spammers, scammers and trolls. Posting the rules did not work. They had their mission, and it was incompatible with Progressive Rock.

I don’t give a rat’s hairy butt if you hate republicans, democrats, know for sure that 9/11 was an inside job, your conspiracy theories, insider information or know a guy who knows a guy. If it’s not about Progressive Rock, it doesn’t belong on the Prog Page.

I’m interested in the great albums. Fragile by Yes. 2112 by Rush. The Wall by Pink Floyd.  I’m interested in new music that sounds great and tickles something in my brain like imagination and wonder.

I’m not interested in crazy conspiracy stuff about the Federal Reserve, Vaccine depopulation, aliens from Roswell or Lizard People that control the government.

It got so bad, I had to create a series of questions any Prog fan could answer just to keep the spammers, scammers and trolls out. What is your favorite progressive album? What is your favorite progressive band? Those questions zapped most of them because they had no idea.

I do a decent job of keeping the Prog Page on topic.  Sometimes I miss an off-topic post or two and other Admins let me know. Ian from Manchester or Ariel from Tel Aviv are online when I sleep or am at work.

Social media is a strange place. There are the giants, and we all know who they are, and there are the midgets, smaller sites that cater to special interests. The giants are large and strange in the way they run things. They are a bit like me. Their response to most problematic users is simply to ban them. As the Prog Page is probably the least offensive of any group and I bounce spammers, scammers and trolls as soon as they pop up, I wasn’t on the moderator’s radar. For years the group performed its mission: to bring great progressive rock to anyone who wanted to find it.

Documents

In our forum there is a documents section. Pinned at the top of the list is Top100ProgAlbums.pdf that contains a list of the Top 100 progressive rock albums of all time. I’ve got sixty of them on vinyl and most of the rest on CD. The site that makes the list comes out with a new one every year, so it gets changed every February.

Other documents that land there are reviews, criticisms and lyrical analysis. Some people want to call other rock groups progressive, and that’s a long-running and unwinnable debate. Are the Who or King Crimson prog? I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not. That is a completely valid topic of debate for our page. If you make a good case and don’t get personal, debate away to your heart’s content.

Recently, we had many new people. Russell from Texas answered his favorite prog album was Close to the Edge and his favorite group was Yes. Al from Iowa liked Lucky Man by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Gus from Georgia liked Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. All of it old school, but respectable choices.

I accepted them all.

They liked posts most people liked. They participated in discussions. What I did not notice was when Gus from Georgia uploaded a file: NAC-MFI.pdf.

Interrogation

“Sergeant Daniel Clark, how long have you been in contact with the New American Congress?”

“I haven’t been a Sergeant in a good while, and I don’t follow Congress.”

A different voice said, “You need to answer our questions.”

“I would if I knew what you were talking about.”

The first voice growled, “These soldier boys have been trained to resist interrogation.”

The second voice said, “Mr. Clark. You had the New American Congress Manual for Insurrection posted in your Progressive Rock page. Could you explain that?”

“I’ve never heard of the New American Congress and, if I had noticed it, I would have deleted it and banned whoever uploaded it. I don’t want political shit on my page.”

The first voice said, “You’re going to have to do better than that Clark. You are arrested under the terms of the Patriot Act. We can hold you as long as we want.”

“You would be wasting your time. I stay out of politics. Period. Both sides are fucked up and… I’ve got problems of my own. I don’t need or want any part of that.”

The second voice said, “Clark, you fit a profile the New American Congress looks to recruit: you’re a veteran of the War on Terror. You’ve had problems since you got back. You are just the kind of angry, trained, decorated veteran that they want.”

I sighed and said, “Then they’re going to be disappointed. I’ve had all the war I want. I just want to run my business, live a quiet life and listen to good music. I have to be the most boring suspect you’ve ever picked up.”

The first voice said, “We don’t pick up many with a Silver Star, airborne wings and Ranger tabs. That’s why we’re interested in you. If a man like you were to go rouge, you could do a lot of damage.”

The second voice asked, “Do you know who Gus from Georgia is?”

I answered, “Nothing other than his favorite album was Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd.”

The first voice said, “That was Colonel Jacob Henderson. He’s recruiting for the New American Congress.”

I swallowed and said, “Then you’ve got a much bigger problem than a wanna be hippie like me that don't want to make war no more if Havoc Henderson is on the other side.”

                                                                         The Thief of Hearts.

Part 1

His daydreaming was brought to an abrupt halt by a noise from downstairs. He rose from the bed and listened, and again he heard the noise. Making his way down as noiselessly as possible he went first to the kitchen and found everything in order. He heard the noise again, and this time it was definitely from the sitting room. Making his way silently to the room, he looked through the crack between the door and the doorpost to see a young boy about eleven or twelve years of age rummaging through their belongings.

Stepping into the room he said, “Having fun?”

Startled the boy swung around to face the source of the voice and uttered a solitary word, “Shit!”

“Yeah shit it is, and you’re in it,” before Micah could utter another syllable the boy made a dash for the open French-windows that led out to the garden. The boy was fast but not fast enough, Micah caught up with him and before he could get out of the room grabbed him by the arm.

“Let go you cunt,” the boy yelled, and he swung one of his legs trying to land a kick in Micah’s groin area.

He dodged the kick still managing to hold on to the boy as again the boy tried another kick. Micah wrapped his arms around the small boy and yelled, “If you don’t stop struggling and kicking I’m going to belt you.”

“Fuck off and let me go arsehole,” and he kicked out again.

Micah swung one of his hands not with a lot of force and slapped the boy on the face causing the boy’s head to swivel with the impact of the blow.

“You fucking bastard, I’m going to kill you for that,” the boy screamed as he struggled more furiously.

Micah again slapped the boy a bit harder this time, and the boy fell to the floor.

Slowly the boy rose tears streaming down his face snot flowing from his nose, “Why the fuck did you hit me?”

“Oh and I’m supposed to stand still while you kick me in the goolies.”

The boy sniffed, “What’re you going to do now?”

“What have you taken from the house?”

“Nuthin,” and he wiped his nose on the sleeve of his tracksuit top.

“I’ll ask you one more time, if I don’t get a truthful answer I’ll call the cops and let them deal with you, what’ve you taken from the house?”

The boy put his hand inside his pockets and withdrew a gold plated pen, thirty pounds in cash, and his mother’s wristwatch, which would have been no great loss as she seldom wore it. Still sniffing “That’s it,” he said handing it over to Micah.

He took the items from the boy and put them down on the coffee table. He took the boy by the arm and dragged him along with him.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Just shut up, you’re not in a position to ask questions,” and Micah dragged the reluctant boy into the kitchen. Inside he tore off a couple of kitchen towels and handed them to the boy.

“Clean your face and wipe your nose you look a mess.”

“You fucking caused it didn’t you, you arsehole.”

“Ok I’m sorry you satisfied.”

“Yeah.”

“If you want you can wash your face in the sink, there’s a hand towel you can use to dry with.”

“Thanks,” the boy washed his face and dried it then turned to Micah, “Now what?”

Micah shrugged his shoulders he felt sorry for the scrawny looking kid, “You want a drink of some sorts?”

“You got a coke.”

“Yeah in the fridge help yourself.”

The boy got his drink opened it and guzzled a mouthful swallowed and belched.

“Ah that’s nice, what’re you going to do now?”

“No idea, I should report you to the cops but you’re too young to be locked up.”

“Who the fuck you calling too young I’m fifteen.”

“What, you must be joking, I thought you were about eleven, or twelve at most.”

“Yeah everybody thinks that, that’s why I get away with doing the things I do.”

“Okay I suppose you’d better get on home, but if you ever break into our house again and I find out it’s you I’ll kick your arse.”

“And how the fuck are you going to find me? You haven’t got a clue about my name, or where I live, and for sure you’re no Sherlock fucking Holmes.”

Micah looked at the younger boy and smiled, the boy was right there was no way he could ever find him again when he left the house.

“Okay so I won’t be able to find you again, but just do me a favour and keep out of our house. Come on I’ll let you out of the front door.”

Micah led the way then opened the door and stood to one side to let the boy out. As he was about to leave Micah asked?

“What’s your name?”

The boy continued his way out of the house when he was outside he turned saying, “Luke, Luke Harrison and what’s yours?”

“Micah Anderson.”

“Micah, what kind of a fucking name is that?”

Micah angrily slammed the door shut in the boys face then walked over to the front room window to watch him as he left.

He was still standing in the same place when the door had been slammed shut in his face, he shrugged his shoulders turned and walked down the drive then out into the road and out of sight.  

Micah tidied up some of the mess that the boy had made in the sitting room, then went upstairs to shower and change. Later that evening, as he walked home alone after visiting with some of his friends at their local youth club, on a couple of occasions he felt as if he was being watched. Both times he stopped and looked around thinking that someone might be attempting to mug him, but there was no one to be seen. He continued on his way home this time increasing his pace, and keeping alert for the slightest sound but nothing else transpired, and he was finally able to enter into the sanctuary of his home.

It was a couple of weeks after the break in that Micah returned home after school on a Friday. He was looking forward to the long Bank Holiday weekend, and in his case the half term holiday. He knew the house would be empty as his parents seldom got home from work before five thirty pm.

He opened the front door stepped inside and nearly screamed with fright, and had to restrain his bowels from emptying into his clothing, to see the same boy who had broken into the house previously standing in front of him.

This time the boy wasn’t ransacking the house, he just stood in the hallway looking at Micah.

Closing the door and composing himself Micah looked at the boy and asked, “How the Hell did you get into the house and what do you want?”

“Umm I came to see you.”

“That’s nice of you, but when you come to visit someone you normally come to the front door and wait till you’re asked in.”

“Okay so I’m out of line, but when I came around and knocked on the door there was no one in, so I went around the back and got in through the French Windows. You’re dad should really get something done about them, any idiot can get in through those doors.       

“I’ll make it a point of mentioning it to him. It’ll be interesting to see his reaction when I tell him the person who broke into the house twice, said so.”

“You’re not going to mention it was me are you.”

“No Luke I won’t.”

“You remembered my name?”

“Yeah, what’s so remarkable about that?”

“Umm I’ve forgotten yours, I know it was something funny and you got fucking annoyed when I asked you about it.”        

“It’s Micah and there’s nothing funny about it.”

“Yeah that’s it I’ve been doing my nut trying to remember it, what the fuck does it mean.”

“I’ve no idea, now you know my name, why are you here?”

“Uh, I just wanted to see you again if you don’t want me around I’ll fuck off.”

“You don’t have to leave, but next time for Christ sake don’t break into our house just wait outside or come back later, will you?”

“Shit what’s the big fuss, I haven’t touched a fucking thing. I’ve only been waiting for you to come home.”

“How the Hell! Did you know I’ll be home first, say if one of my parents came home early?”

“I’m not that bloody stupid. I’ve been watching you for the last few days to see what time you came home from school, and I kept an eye out from the front window to see who would come home first just in case.”

“Okay now that you’re inside and you know my name, what can we put the honour of this visit down to.”

“I just fucking told you I wanted to see you again.”

Micah looked at the younger boy, “Luke can you answer a question without getting all up tight and swearing your head off.”

“I’m not up tight, and this is the way I fucking talk, if you don’t like it hard fucking luck.”

“Okay Luke now you’ve seen me, do you want to leave?”

“I don’t want to fucking leave, but if you’re telling me to Piss Off, I will.”

“You’ve got a mouth like a sewer.”

“Fuck You! I clean my teeth every day.”

“Oh Christ! I wasn’t implying your breath smelled Luke, it was because of your constant use of swear words in nearly every sentence that you utter, that made me make the remark.”

“Oh okay whatever. So you don’t want me to leave then huh?”

Micah looked at the small boy, it was hard to believe he was fifteen going on sixteen. The boy’s frankness and good looks in a way attracted you to him, and when he applied that pleading look with his striking blue eyes it was very hard not to give in to him.

“I think I need my head examining standing here talking to you, I’m going upstairs to get showered and changed, and you can do what you want.”

Micah turned his back on the boy and made his way upstairs only to hear footsteps behind him. He swivelled his head and looked over his shoulder to see Luke following him. He smiled to himself at the same time thinking, What the Hell does he want and why would he risk breaking into their house just to see me.

When Micah reached his room he told Luke to make himself comfortable, he grabbed a change of clothing and headed for the bathroom.

Ten minutes later he emerged from his shower washed and changed to see Luke lying on his bed with his eyes closed and apparently asleep. He walked over to the boy and slowly removed his trainers and left him to continue his sleep while he made his way downstairs to get something to eat. He made a couple of slices of toast and some tea carried them over to the breakfast table to partake of his snack. He sat down and was about to start when he looked up to see Luke standing in the doorway.

“So you decided to get up?”    

“I was kind of awake when you took my trainers off, but was too comfortable to get up. It was the smell of the toast that did it.”

“You want some?”

“Yes, please.”

Micah got up put another couple of slices in the toaster and poured another cup of tea. When the toast was done he took it over to the table where Luke had already seated himself and put the food and drink in front of him

“Thanks.”

“Your welcome,” and Micah sat down to continue with his snack.

Luke sat and stared at Micah.

“What’s wrong? Why don’t you eat instead of sitting there staring at me.”  

“I was just thinking you’re something special.”

“Me, special, why?”

“Well it’s not very often you get a kid say sorry to a someone who breaks into his house twice, and even serves him tea and toast.”

“Look just finish your food okay, I’ll polish my halo later.”

Luke laughed and started on his food. Five minutes later they’d finished and were washing and putting away the crockery.

Then with Micah leading the way they made their entrance into the sitting room. He slumped onto the end seat of the settee and was surprised when Luke dumped himself down beside him.

So you want to watch some television?” “Micah asked.

“If I wanted to watch the fucking box I’d have stayed at home. I came here to see and talk to you. If you’re not interested in what I have to say just say so and I’ll piss off.”

“God you’re bloody touchy, okay I’m listening tell me what’s so important that you have to break into our house to talk to me.”

“I umm I, oh shit I don’t know how to fucking say it to make it sound nice so that you’ll like it.”

“Look Luke, I understand you can’t express yourself in the same way as I do, but just say what’s on your mind in the way that you normally talk, and don’t try buttering it up you’ll only make it sound shitty.”

“Okay, from the first time I broke into you’re house and we met, and you were nice to me, I sort of fancied you. I’m what you and the rest call queer, but I just couldn’t get you off my mind. I’ve followed you all over the fucking place just to see you, I know the school you go to, and the boys that you hang around with, and that shitty Boys’ Club you fucking visit with your mates. I’ve had heaps of wanks just thinking about you at night, I know that you might think I’m a fucking weirdo, but I thought I’d better tell you then if you told me to Piss Off I’d know that you’re not interested. But I’d still like to be your friend.”

Micah was silent for a moment then looking at the boy whose looks and size belied his age, and saw the concern and anxiety on his face, he smiled in the hope that it would put Luke at ease.

“So are you going to fucking say something, or just sit there smiling looking smug?”

Micah angry that the boy’s sudden outburst said, “I was smiling to try and put you at ease you little shit or can’t you differentiate between the two. But seeing you don’t need putting at ease just Piss Off then.”

“Oh, Uh, okay,” and Luke stood up his face drawn, he looked at the older boy who’d been on his mind for the last couple of weeks said, “Bye,” and turned to leave the room.

He’d only taken a step when he was grabbed from behind and pulled back onto the settee again next to Micah.

“Not so fast, I’ve still got a few things to say before you go.”

“What for, you just told me to Piss Off.”

“Yeah, well you can do that after I’ve said my piece. Firstly Luke, I’m flattered that you fancy me, and I don’t consider you a queer or any other name you can think of to express your homosexuality. I would very much like to have you as a friend but that’s all, I don’t think I’m in to having sex with you or any other boy for that matter.”

“Have you got a girlfriend?”

“Umm no, not at the moment, but that can change very quickly if I meet the right girl.”

“Shit how old are you?”

“I’ve just turned seventeen.”

“Are you a virgin?”

“Don’t be so bloody personal.”

“Bloody Hell, look at the size of you and you’re still a virgin.”

“I didn’t say I was still a virgin, and what the hell has size got to do with it.”

“If you weren’t a virgin you’d be only too fucking keen to say so. A guy as big and as good looking as you would have either all the birds sniffing around your crutch, or some other boy besides myself trying to get to know you. “How tall are you?”

“I’m six feet Luke and weigh 175 lbs, and not everyone goes around shouting about their sexual conquests. There are people who keep certain events in their lives private, and not to be relayed to the whole world. So whether or not I’m a virgin is my business and what you and anybody else cares to think is irrelevant. 

“Do you always fucking talk like that?”

“Uh, what d’you mean.”

“All posh and all that shit.”

“And do you always talk like you’ve swallowed some shit.”

“Why do we always end up fucking arguing? I came here to talk to you and see if you could like me as much as I like you.”

“I’m sorry Luke, it’s just the way that you talk and your incessant swearing that gets to me.”

“Well if I tried to stop fucking swearing, oops if I tried to stop swearing when I talk will that make it better.”

“I like you Luke, swearing or not, but I’m not sure that we could be as close as you want it to be.”

“Okay it’s a start, maybe when you get to know me better we could become closer, so are we going to kiss and make up.”

“You’re joking?”

“Don’t look so shocked Micah, what’s a kiss amongst friends.”

“Yeah I’ve heard that before, and it can lead to all sorts of things.”

“Come on just a small one.”

Micah looked at the pleading face, the boy certainly could put on that little boy lost look that made you feel it would be a crime to refuse him for whatever he asked.

“Oh shit!” He exclaimed then leaned forward and pecked the smaller boy on the lips. “Is that alright?” He enquired.

“What the ff uh! What was that supposed to be Micah?”

“You asked for a kiss and you got one, what more do you want?”

“Shhhhhhii! Umm, okay can I give you a kiss now?”

Luke leaned forward and as Micah didn’t object brought their lips together. His hand went around the back of Micah’s head to hold him. As their lips met Luke’s mouth opened to engulf the older boy’s lips then his tongue snaked out to force its way between the other set of lips, his tongue invaded the older boys mouth seeking and finding the others tongue. Tentatively Luke let his tongue touch and stroke Micah’s, the response was immediate his tongue was at once engaged and they swirled and danced in a ritual of erotic passion bringing moans of pleasure from both boys. Now Micah’s loins sprang to full erection and were even more aroused when a hand gently cupped and softly massaged his scrotum. The older boy suddenly broke away.

“Stop Luke.”

The younger boy saw the look of concern on the older boys face, “I’m sorry Micah I’m sorry I shouldn’t have felt you up.”

Micah didn’t say a word he stood and lifted the boy and tucked him under his arm and carried him to the front door opened it and set the boy down on his feet on the doorstep.

“I think you’d better go home Luke, I have to think about what happened just now, and not have you around when I do so.”

“Micah I’m sorry pleeease let me stay.”

“No, go home.”

“Can I get my mobile I left it in the sitting room on the chair.”

“Wait here I’ll get it,” Micah returned to the sitting room retrieved the mobile and made his way back to the front door to see the younger boy standing on the doorstep with head bowed. Micah couldn’t help feeling sorry for him, he looked so small and helpless which he knew from experience was not the case, but still his emotions got the better of him. When he reached the boy instead of giving him the phone he grabbed his hand and pulled him back into the house closing the door behind him. He took Luke back to the sitting room where he dumped him on the settee again and handed him the mobile phone saying.

“You’re a thief Luke,” he said sitting down beside the younger boy.

“I didn’t steal anything when I broke in this time I promise.”

“No, nothing of monetary value, but you’re trying very hard to steal your way into my heart and you’ve very nearly succeeded. I’m not about to let that happen unless I want it to, do you understand.”

Luke grinned, “Okay Micah, whatever you say.”

“And stop looking so sure of yourself otherwise I’ll kick you out again.”

“Sorry Micah,” and the boy hung his head.

“Oh God! Quit it Luke, you make me feel like some kind of monster every time I tell you off, actually come to think of it you’re the bloody monster, you’re twisting me around your little finger,”

Luke looked at the older boy and refrained from grinning. He didn’t want to push his luck too far instead he put on his most innocent look and said, “I’ll do whatever you want me to Micah.”

Micah grinned at Luke’s little performance, “Do you always go into your innocent little boys’ act when you want to get away with things.”

Luke knowing that Micah had sussed him out now reverted to norm, “It helps when I get caught doing something I’m not supposed to be doing. So what have you got in mind now?”

“No idea you tell me, because every time I make a decision to do something somehow you put an end to it.”

“Do you want me to go home to give you time to think things over?”

Micah looked at Luke and saw the seriousness of his face, gone was the little boy lost look, in its place was the face of a very beautiful young boy, with light brown hair, who stood no more than five feet two inches in height and weighed about 100lbs. Who at the moment was concerned about what was going to happen to their friendship and which path it would take.

“Luke can you answer some questions for me please?”

“Sure go ahead.”

“Okay and I want an honest answer; do you break into peoples houses often?”

The boy looked him straight in the eye, “Yes, and you don’t have to preach to me how bad people feel when they find their house broken into. I’ve heard it all before in the courts.”

“If you want to be friendly with me that stops as of now, otherwise get lost. I don’t want to be associated with a criminal.”

“Luke’s face reddened he held his tongue and nodded his head.”

“What happened to your voice you lose it all of a sudden.”

“I’m leaving, when you think you can talk to me in a, in a,” and Luke was struggling to find the words then blurted out, “Fuck you,” stood up and headed for the front door. As he exited the house and walked to the front gate it was opened by Micah’s parents who were just returning home, he nodded to them and continued his way out of the premises.

Inside after greeting his parents his father asked, “What did that young boy want that we met at the gate.”

“That was Luke dad, he’s like a friend and he’s not so young he’s nearly sixteen.”

“My goodness he must be the youngest looking sixteen-year-old I’ve ever seen.”

“Yes he doesn’t look his age, anyway dad you’d better get something done about our French Windows in the sitting room.”

“Why the concern about those all of a sudden?”

“Dad, you have to promise not to say or do anything if I tell you why you need to get the French Windows made more secure.”

Mr. Anderson saw the seriousness of his son’s face then agreed to his wishes. Micah then relayed the events of the break in two weeks ago, and also the second and informing him that the culprit was the same boy he’d seen leaving the premises.

Mr. Anderson thought for a moment then confronted his son, “Micah, why would you want to protect that boy, he’s a thief, and you don’t know how many other peoples houses he’s broken into, and the emotional upset it can cause.”

“I know that dad, but he just sort of got to me and I let him go. Maybe because he looks so young and he feels that what he’s doing is not all that bad. I think he needs someone to talk to him to make him realize the consequences of his actions, and to get him to change his ways.”

“And I suppose you think that person could be you.”

“Well I thought so dad, but I think I just blew it, I wasn’t very tactful in my approach to the subject that’s why you saw him leaving when you arrived.”

“Well I won’t take the matter any further as promised on this occasion Micah, but any more break-ins in this neighbourhood in the future and I’ll tell the police what I know and give a description of the boy.”

“Okay dad.”

A couple of hours later after saying goodbye to his parents Micah left the house to meet up with his friends at their youth club. After he’d walked for about five minutes he felt as if he was being followed. He looked around hoping to see Luke but the streets were empty. He decided to walk a bit faster then when he came to a turning he swung down the street and ducked into the nearest doorway and waited to see if anyone was following him. He waited a minute and nobody appeared, he gave it another minute and still no sign of anyone following him. He came out from his position looked around and resumed his walk to the youth club.

Three hours later he came out of the club with his friends and started his walk home. Arriving at the first junction he made his goodbyes and turned in the direction that would take him to where he lived. He walked quickly and this time there was no feelings of unease of being watched as he walked along the streets.

Nearing his house he noticed a form sitting on the gate. “Luke,” he recognized the boy at once and he smiled, his heart beat faster, and he quickened his pace to confront the form on the gate.

“Hi,” Luke mouthed as he drew near.”

“You been waiting long?” Micah asked.”

“Long enough, you’re fucking hopeless at trying to sus someone out. That move of ducking into a doorway and waiting for someone to appear went out in the fucking dark ages, you’ve been watching too much bloody telly.

Micah looked at the small form and felt like hitting him for the insults, but at the same time he wanted to pick him up and squeeze him into his body, and that is exactly what he did saying, “Shut your shitty little mouth.” and brought their lips together.

As the older boy lifted him off the gate Luke wrapped his legs around Micah’s waist while their mouths and tongues took them on a ride of enlightenment towards each other. Luke clung onto what to him was a gentle giant of a boy that he had fallen in love with on their first meeting, like a baby monkey clings to its mother, he clung onto Micah. The kiss ended and their heads drew back so that they could gaze at each other.

“I’m sorry Luke for being rude to you earlier.”

“That’s why I fell in love with you, you’re always saying sorry when you really don’t have to. Jeez Micah you’re so big and you’re saying sorry to a little runt like me, and you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Just drop the subject, now what are you doing out so late at night?”

“Waiting for you.”

“Oh shit that was a stupid bloody question, okay won’t your parents be concerned that you’re out so late.”

“No, I happen to live in a home for children and can get in and out whenever I please without them knowing, I don’t have any parents.”

Micah looked at the small boy in his arms leant forward and rubbed their noses together, “You want to come inside?”

He pecked Micah on the lips, “Yeah.”

Lowering Luke to the ground then grabbing him by the hand Micah led him inside the house.

You Cannot Save Me  

 by Talo Segura.

He watched as the water rushed into the cave, tugging helplessly at the shackle securing his arm; realising the high tide was starting to fill the space, dooming him to drown. The first light of dawn illuminated the small entrance which gave out onto the sea. Crashing waves pummeled the rocks and shoreline somewhere in the distance. The roar from outside contrasted with an echoing calm within the darkness. Successive waves broke over his head as he struggled in vain to free himself. Today I will be in paradise he thought and wept, even as he cried in anguish.

The boy was half-dead when he'd pulled him from the wreckage and dragged him out of the water onto the damp sandy beach. He could not have known, nor could he have rightly been held responsible, it was not just. Those events played out in his head as the salty water filled his nostrils and stung his eyes. He gulped in air between mouthfulls of choking water. 

It was another bright and sunny day, the sand damp, but warm, on his bare feet as he walked along the water's edge. The peace was broken only by the gentle sound of rolling waves and the screech of a seagull swooping overhead. He shielded his eyes as he looked towards the sound and then to the distant horizon. The deep blue of the sea sparkled in the sunlight and only the faintest of lines marked where the horizon touched the sky. A cloudless sky that reflected the colour of the water.

His habit was to wander the shoreline alone, keeping company only with his thoughts, allowing the sounds of nature to fill his head and the warmth of the sun to caress his bare chest and warm his sadness. Nothing would take away the emptiness he felt, not the beauty of the savage shore, nor the kind words of those few friends who still bothered to try and talk to him. He was dead to their words and sentiments, consumed by the loss of the first and only person he had loved, would ever love. No one, nothing, could fill his life now. To that, he was resigned, and the desolation he felt inside himself left him inconsolable.

Hardly ever did he encounter anyone on these lonely walks, even less a patrol of the castle guard. The army were usually content to walk the ramparts and guard the city, seldom concerned with anything outside, whatever it might be. They were perhaps confident that the fortifications alone were more than enough to hold back any attack. After all this was one of the remotest parts of the kingdom. That was reason enough for the King to have despatched his son and heir to the distant outpost. Certain he would be safe from the ravages of the impending war in the south.

Rounding the headland that warm sunny morning he was immediately confronted with a scene of devastation. Wreckage was scattered against the rocks. He scrambled along, being careful with his footing on the slippery stone and avoiding the ragged strands of emerald green seaweed. It was as he made his way towards the beach on the other side of the outcrop that he saw him.

Jet black hair with a strand of seaweed in it, torn clothes, and surely a broken leg judging by the unnatural position. The boy was half in, half out of the water. His body lifeless, an arm moving with the water, bobbing up and down. He quickly drew close and grabbing the boy's shoulders lifted him out of the water and dragged him a little way up the beach. Putting his ear to the tiny chest he tried to listen, but heard nothing. A finger against the boy's creamy white neck may have given a hint of a pulse. Without hesitating he pinched the nostrils and covered the cold lips with his own. He breathed into the lifeless body. He gulped in air and breathed into the boy's mouth again. Then again. A reaction!

He turned him on his side as the once lifeless body coughed up water, two, three times. Spewing the salty liquid onto the sand. Laying him back, he looked into the dark eyes. For an instant he thought those eyes matched perfectly the strands of discarded seaweed, and somehow they echoed those eyes he had lost.  

Before he could do more there was shouting and noise. Galloping horses and harsh words. The sound of a drawn sword as it slid from its scabard. A glint of steel. Hands dragged him away as the voices shouted at him. He saw the expressions on their faces. They were accusing. Accusing him. Of what? The blackness enveloped him like a sudden eclipse. 

The stone floor was cold, he could not understand where he was. Reaching for his head he noticed blood on his arm. How long had he been unconscious? He had no idea. Stumbling to his feet he moved uncertainly in the gloom. The heavy wooden door wouldn't move. It was locked. He slumped back down.

"You kissed the Prince Royal," the stern, gruff voice, announced.

He was bent over on his knees, prostrate before the judge. A guard held each arm outstretched.

"You are condemned to die by drowning."

He heard the words, but didn't register their meaning. His head hurt, his whole body hurt. Why was this happening?

Was it the next day? How many days had he lain there, on that stone floor? They dragged him out, kicked and beat him. Pulled him with them, wrapping his eyes with a band of dirty cloth. He stumbled, weak and blind. He heard the waves and smelt the salty air. Then the water was all around his body. His arm was shackled to a chain as voices echoed. The dirty cloth was ripped from his eyes and the darkness was replaced by a deep gloom. He shivered in the cold water.

Then a glimmer of light gave a faint impression of his surroundings. He was alone, totally alone. He watched as the water rushed into the cave, tugging helplessly at the shackle securing his arm; realising the high tide was starting to fill the space, dooming him to drown. He was condemned. Condemned to walk this world alone or to drown in a sea of sorrow. The love of his life awaited him in paradise and his tears joined the salty waves as the water rose and covered his head. 

“Dominic did you hear what I said?” Matthew heard a sniffing and a voice crackling with emotion.

“I heard Matthew, but I don’t want to hear your voice from 250miles away.” Dominic’s voice broke as he sobbed out, “I want to hear it with you standing in front of me. Please come back.”

“Oh God Dominic, stop crying. I promise I’ll be back shortly, just give me a few more days.”

“NO,” he yelled, “I want you back now, if you don’t come back I won’t speak to you again.”

“Do you really mean that, because if you do then you may as well put the phone down your end.”

Silence.

“Dominic.”

“Uh huh.”

“So.”

“So what”

“You haven’t put the phone down.”

“I’m thinking about it.”

“You’re taking a long time thinking about it.”

“How much longer are you going to stay in Kendal?”

“Were going around in circles with this conversation Dominic, can’t we talk about something else.”

“Such as.”

“I don’t know, you, and how you’re doing in the sixth form.”

“How do you bloody think I’m doing without you around?”

“Dominic don’t start that again,” and Matthew was interrupted.

“I didn’t come on the phone to make small talk Matthew, I miss you and want you back, and I’m trying my best to make you understand that.” And in his anger Dominic slammed the phone down.

Mr Blake looked at the young boy with tears streaming down his cheeks and took him into his arms.

“Dominic, I heard the conversation with you and Matthew now can you explain what is going on between the two of you?”

And Dominic with tears running down his cheeks, and a great deal of sniffing, related the feelings the boys had for each other. When he finished and getting his emotions under control he said, “Mr Blake I can’t understand why Matthew went away to think things over without telling me, and now I feel all alone without him by my side.”

Mr Blake produced some tissues to wipe the boy’s face then gave him a couple more telling him, “Blow your nose.”

After Dominic had done what he was told he said, “I’d better be getting home, my mum warned me about not to be bothering you too much.”

“It alright Dominic you’re not bothering us I’ll drop you home. I think I’d like to talk to your mother about what you just told me.”

“Uh, I don’t know Mr Blake, my mum might give me Hell for getting you all involved in this.”

“Don’t worry about it I’ll drop you home, and I’ll do the talking you just sit tight okay.”

“Okay Mr Blake, then we had better get going I don’t want to be late getting back.”

Edward Blake scooped the boy under his right arm, “Right let’s go.” Walking over to his wife he pecked her on the lips saying, “See you later darling.”

Dominic wrapped under Edward Blake’s arms uttered a, “Bye Mrs Blake,” and the two of them left the house.  

Outside Dominic was set on his feet and they walked round to the garage and climbed into one of three cars. When they arrived at his block of flats Dominic tried to persuade Mr Blake that there was no need for him to talk to his mother.

“You may not think so Dominic, but I do, now let’s go up to your flat.”

“It’s not very big Mr Blake, and we don’t have nice furniture like you do.”

“Dominic, you don’t have to make excuses about your home. The most important thing is that you’re happy in it.”

“Oh yeah Mr Blake, we are, we have great times together my mum, sister, and I.”

“Right then, let’s go meet your mother.”

Mrs. Spencer was surprised to see her son walk into the flat with a man on his heels.

“Mum, this is Mr. Blake.” 

“Pleased to meet you Mr Blake.”

“Please, call me Edward, and I’m pleased to meet you.”

Leading the way into the sitting room she said, “Come in Edward, take a seat, and the name is Karen. Now what brings you around here, I hope Dominic hasn’t been making a nuisance of himself.” At the same time she indicated to Dominic to take his sister into the kitchen.

“No Karen, actually I’ve come to discuss the friendship between our two sons. You know that they have become very close friends. Now the friendship according to them has become more serious so much so that they’re both confused by it.”

He looked at Karen who seemed to be nodding her head understandably at what he was saying.

“Let me be more specific Karen, the boys seem to think that they’re in love. Myself I wouldn’t be too concerned about it as yet, as there are still very young. Boys of this age can have very intense friendships, but as they reach adulthood the intensity does wane as their interests take different courses. At the moment Dominic, and Matthew, seem to be confused about their friendship, which has caused him to go away to think it out. Dominic is quite broken up about Matthew leaving without informing him.

“Oh dear, Matthew was around here on Monday evening and left without saying anything.”

“Why was that?”

“Dominic wasn’t in, he’d gone out to one of his classmate’s house, and Matthew seemed a bit upset when hearing Dominic had gone out.”

“The reason I came to see you Karen, was that Dominic is still very upset about being away from Matthew, so I thought that I can arrange to have Dominic driven to Kendal to join Matthew.”

“But what about school?”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m on the School Board I can fix that, also the term finishes next week so he won’t be missing much in any case.”

“Let me call him in and ask him if he wants to go.”

She called out for Dominic to come into the sitting room, he arrived carrying his sister.

“Dominic, put Jemma down,” Doing as his mother instructed he replied, “Yes mum what d’you want.” 

“Mr Blake has suggested that he can fix it for you to join Matthew in Kendal, do you want to go?”

“Yes mum, when can I go?” She turned to look at Matthew’s father.

“Tomorrow or is that too soon.”

“No, that would be fine Mr Blake, that would be brilliant.”

“Okay then I’d better get home and start arranging things, and don’t bother with taking any money with you, you won’t need any.”

After he’d made his goodbyes to Karen, Dominic accompanied him down to his car. “Mr Blake, can I ask another favour of you please.”

“Ask it Dominic.”

“Don’t tell Matthew that I’m joining him.”

“Dominic, I wasn’t going to tell him like you I wanted to surprise him”

“Mr Blake.”

“Yes.”

“You’re an okay guy, and thanks again.”

The man ruffled the boy’s hair “So are you, now if you want to see Matthew tomorrow you’d better get upstairs and start packing the driver will be around by 11am tomorrow.”

Dominic bade Mr Blake a “Goodnight.”

With the courtesy being returned by Mr. Blake.

He was up bright and early, and after the normal morning rituals of showering, dressing, and eating he sat and waited. The hands of the clock seemed to take forever to reach eleven. Before that Dominic had been down to the entrance to the flats at least half a dozen times, in the hope that the driver would arrive early. At precisely one minute after eleven a black Mercedes saloon drew up and blared its horn. Dominic jumped up grabbed his case kissed his mother and sister goodbye, and flew down the steps to the waiting car. The driver took the bag from him put it in the boot while Dominic climbed into the backseat sat down and strapped himself in.

The driver climbed in behind the steering wheel saying “If your ready sir should we begin the journey?”

“Oh uh yes, lets go please.”

The car smoothly drew away from the flats and headed for the motorway, and then Northwards to Kendal. After an hour and a half of driving the driver drew into a service station parked the car and turned to Dominic saying, “We’re stopping for lunch sir.”

Dominic was speechless he had about 75p on him which was just about enough to buy a cold drink let alone lunch, “Uh you go ahead I’m not hungry I’ll stay in the car if it’s okay by you.”

“But Mr Blake insisted that I stop for lunch, and to make sure you ate something. He even gave me the money to cover the cost of my food as well.”

“Uh oh okay, I don’t want to get you into any trouble,” and Dominic climbed out of the car grateful that Mr. Blake had been thoughtful enough to provide money for food. He was hungry and could eat a horse.

During the meal they introduced themselves to each other, and got quite friendly. After they’d finished their meal when they returned to the car Dominic asked, 

“Can I sit up front with you George instead of at the back?”

“Yeah sure hop in,” and they were on their way again.      

About four thirty in the evening they reached the house that Matthew was staying at. The driver took Dominic’s case out of the boot and walked with him to the front door where he rang the bell. A man a bit older but very similar in appearance to Mr Blake answered the door. He looked at the young boy standing on the doorstep smiled, held his hand out, “You must be Dominic, I’ve been expecting you, come inside.” Turning to the driver he said, “You coming in as well George,” taking the case from his hand.”

“No sir, I had better go and book into the hotel, Mr Blake has reserved a room for me for the night, so that I can get an early start tomorrow without bothering anyone.”

“Okay George, see you, and have a good day.”

With George gone Mr Blake senior led Dominic into the lounge placed his case on the floor and introduced his wife to Dominic. She came and gave Dominic a big hug held him at arms length saying, “What a handsome young man,” making Dominic blush.

“Martha don’t embarrass the boy,” Mr Blake said, then calling Dominic to his side he informed him that, “Matthew is upstairs in his room, it’s the one directly ahead at the top of the stairs. Go on up and see him, if you don’t make too much noise he’ll most probably think it’s me coming up.”

Dominic thanked Mr Blake senior, and headed for the room. He was nervous and shaking with anticipation with the thought of seeing Matthew again.

He reached the room door and knocked gently on it and a voice from inside that he recognised instantly said, “Come in uncle.”

Dominic opened the door to see Matthew with his back to the door kneeling on the bed with his head stuck out the window. He stood in the doorway till Matthew turned saying, “What did, Oh God! Dominic and he jumped off the bed they both ran towards each other as they met Matthew scooped the smaller boy into his arms. He hugged the small form to his breast squeezing him, then easing off and looking at the face that had been in his thoughts since he had left home, “I’ve missed you something wicked Dominic.”

“Missed you as well, but first I have to tell you something, but please don’t hate me after I tell you.”

“Can’t it wait till later?”

“No, I have to tell you now, otherwise I may not have the guts to tell you later. It’s been on my mind and I feel you should know. Then you can make your mind up about me.”

“Okay go ahead.”

“Well you know the evening that you came around to my place and I was out.”

“Yeah that was Monday,”

“That’s right, well I’d told you that I had a lot of homework and couldn’t go out that evening.”

“So,”

“So Frank, who gave me a lift home suggested that we do our homework together at his house and without thinking I said yes. That evening after we’d finished we were talking and without thinking I let on that we were friends. Then he asked me if we were wanking, and I got embarrassed and blurted out no. But he guessed that we were by the look on my face, so he asked me if I would wank him. At first I didn’t want too but when he put my hand on his dick I just gave in and did it with him.”

“You and he had a wank.”

Yes, and I liked it till I had my orgasm, but it wasn’t as good as when I do it with you. Afterwards I felt bad and started crying because I felt ashamed that I had done it with someone else other than you. Frank tried to make me feel better, by saying that it was his fault for taking advantage of me, but it didn’t help much. I wasn’t going to tell you about it but it’s been bugging me. So now that I’ve told you, are you mad with me?”

Matthew gazed at the small form in front of him then replied, “Dominic that was one of the reasons I left to come up here. That evening when I got to your house and you had gone out, the very thought of you being with someone else made me go all haywire. If I’d stayed and found out I don’t know what I would have done, I only realized afterwards that I was not thinking right, and needed to try and understand my emotions towards you. So, I came up here to try and get things into perspective. Dominic, you’re only twelve years old, and though I’m much bigger than you I’m only a couple of years older. Yes, I love you, but I really can’t expect you to feel the same way as I do, you’re much too young to start thinking about relationships, and it would be unfair of me to try and get you involved in one. And before you start telling me how advanced in your education you are, remember, you knew practically nothing about sexual feelings, and emotions till you got involved with me. I think we can still be very close friends, but give yourself a chance till you get a little older before you decide what.” and Mathew’s speech was brought to a halt by Dominic shouting.

“Will you shut up Matthew, and stop spouting all that holier than thou gobbledygook. Yes, I am twelve years old, and yes, I was a bit behind in my sexual awareness, but you seem to forget I happen to be a very fast learner faster than you. So, you don’t have to be concerned about leading me astray, I know what I want and that’s the reason why I’m here in Kendal.”

The older boy stood staring at his young friend, suddenly he blurted out. “What have I let myself in for, but whatever it is I like it.” Then lowered his head so that his lips could be met by a pair as eager as his.

                                                                                                     Epilogue.

He sat staring out of the front room window looking down the drive. His partner for 70+ years had passed away two years ago, and he felt empty without him. He thought back to their days at school, and university, the girls they dated for the experience, and finding it not to their taste, and eagerly returning to each other. Their setting up home together and the adoption of children and the happiness it brought into their lives. Their children had done well, married, and produced children of their own, who were in out of the house on a regular basis, but still he yearned for his partner.

He tired easily these days, his reminiscing diminished as his eyes started to close, but then he awakened his eyes focused more clearly. Oh My God! There he was that brown haired twelve-year-old boy walking down the drive. He flew from his wheelchair and was out of the house in a flash, as he ran so the years melted away and he was fourteen again. He met Dominic halfway down the drive, grabbed hold of him and lifted him into his arms, the boy’s legs wrapped around his waist, and arms around his neck and their lips joined. Matthew broke the kiss, Where the Bloody Hell have you been, I’ve been waiting yonks for you.

Well I’m here now Matthew, let’s go.

He lowered Dominic to the ground then hand in hand they faded into eternity.

                                                                                                                                                         The End 

My first sexual boyhood experiences with the opposite sex took place at the age of twelve.

Let me relate what happened.

I went to boarding school as my parents were overseas my Father working for Burmah Oil Company. (That’s not spelt wrongly that’s how the company spells its name and they’re still in existence today.)

Anyway after tea we were confined to certain areas of the school. So as would be, rules are made for breaking especially when you’re twelve years old, so my friends and I decided to break bounds. We agreed to break out and head for the playing fields that were the other side of a main road. Vic Algernon (short for Victor) led the way followed by myself and Pete Buckhurst brought up the rear. When we got to the playing fields we headed for the hut, it was there at the side of the field up alongside an 8ft. hedge. Workmen who were doing some work in the surrounding fields, used the hut during their Tea Breaks. Now it was deserted and the three of us entered it, we were sitting there just chatting excited that we’d broken bounds when we saw Pauline Phillips walk past the hut window. We all jumped up opened the door and yelled for her to come in, which she did.

Pauline was a local village girl, well known by most of the older boys in school, as lots of stories were circulating about her. She was 16yrs old and had rather large breasts. Anyway we started chatting her up and soon the talk turned to sex. After allowing us to play with her tits and her crutch she took her panties off and lay on the hut floor. Soon all three of us had our pants off, Vic was the first to go, he lowered himself onto her, inserted his 3 inch dick and after about half a minute shot his load. I went next with a similar sized cock, and after sticking my dick inside her (this was the first time for any of us) a couple of strokes and I was shooting my load. Pete who had been waiting impatiently lowered himself down on her, but before he could get his dick inside her his hips started pumping and he shot his load all over her dress. God, was she bloody mad, it would leave a stain and she would have to go home like that. We took the piss out of Pete something wicked on the way back to school.

We entered the school grounds and didn’t see Pauline again till about 2 weeks later. We were in the workman’s hut again, and like the previous time she came by. She came into the hut and we started chatting and then we tried to feel her up again, but she resisted and told us not to do it. The three of us were all worked up so we didn’t take no for an answer. Pete grabbed her legs, and I wrapped my arms around her pinning her arms to her side, and Vic started to put his hand up her skirt to take her panties off.  She struggled so much that she got her legs loose and started kicking out, so we let go of her and got the hell out of there, and back to school.

The next day during lessons the whole school were taken out of their classes and assembled in the main hall, and up on stage was the Principal, Pauline, and her mother. The next thing was after being identified by Pauline Phillips, we three were pulled out of assembly and told to go to the Principal’s office and wait there for him.

About ten minutes later he arrived, and had three shit scared boys standing in front of him. Sitting down he looked at us and asked us, “Why did we try to rape Pauline Phillips.”

We were dumbfounded then shouted out, “We didn’t try to rape her sir, and because she wouldn’t do it with us we thought she was just trying to be awkward. So we tried to make her but because she struggled so much we gave up and left. We couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t do it like she did the last time.”

The Head stood up what do you mean the last time he asked.

I said, “The three of us did it to her about 2 weeks ago sir.” He had a bit of a smile on his face and asked, “What did you do to her?”  So Vic says “We put are thingy’s into her and shot so we didn’t know why she wouldn’t do it this time.”

“Didn’t you Idiots know that she was having her Periods”? He asked. We all looked at him with blank faces and Vic asked. “What’s Periods sir?

He looked at us,  “You’ll learn about periods at a later date, meantime you boys will go without pocket money for the rest of term, and if any of you are in front of me again I will inform your parents and expel you, is that understood.”  All three of us nodded he then dismissed us and we left his office.

Only six months later did I learn what periods were as did the other two. Meanwhile for the rest of the term the three of us had reputations that many of the other boys would have given their right testicle for.

I often wonder what Pauline Phillips thoughts were, on being screwed by Three boys in less than two minutes. Mind you she was good wank material for quite a few months till Valerie Caxton got her hands on me.

                                                                                              Valerie

One of the first girls I ever went steady with was Valerie Caxton.

I’d been going out with Valerie for a couple of years from the age of thirteen, she used to live across the road from me. I, at that time lived with my aunt as my parents were overseas.

My aunt, was a friend of the Caxtons that’s how I got to know her. Valerie, took a liking to me she fancied my long hair and tan.

I was attending boarding school so only saw Valerie during the holidays. While I was at boarding school she used to write to me. I was one of the few boys who got letters from a girl-friend and I guess the youngest, which was a terrific status symbol, I used to feel ten feet tall but in reality was 4’ 11”.

Anyway, we used to see each other when I came home on holidays, and go to the movies, and such, no sex was involved at that time only friendship.

When I was nearing fifteen, we started having some heavy petting sessions, she would feel my dick by putting her hands in my pocket and I would finger her and play with her breasts. One day her parents were out, I was never the forceful type actually a bit shy, she dragged me up to her room, we started kissing and some heavy petting, when suddenly she said, “It’s about time we had sex.” I knew the basics about contraceptive’s and the like so I told her “I didn’t have any.” You wouldn’t believe it she pulled one out, (She must have been planning it) and from that day we started having sex on a regular basis.

About three or four months later, when talking about sex with some of my friends at school Vic included, one of the older boys tells me. “The best method is to get her to lie across the bed with her arse right on the edge, then lift her legs up in the air and then do it, you’ll be able to get your balls in as well”. So, being naïve, and armed with this knowledge, when I went home for my summer holidays, I intended at the first opportunity to try it out. About a week later when her parents were out, we headed up to her bedroom. She dropped her knickers, I my pants, put on the rubber then told her to lie across the bed. She looked a bit surprised but did what I asked, then when she’d got to the edge of the bed, with a bit of a struggle I lifted her legs into the air. I lined myself up, and leaned over to enter her.

Now comes the tricky part. Valerie’s bedroom floor is covered in Parkray tiles that are highly polished, and she had a bedside mat that I was standing on. So, as I leant over to enter her, the mat slipped from under my feet. I came crashing down, my face hitting her in the crutch.

My erection went down so fast it was ridiculous, and she was killing herself laughing, which only added to my embarrassment, jeez! I could have died. But we did succeed the next time with the bedside mat, and my socks removed, didn’t get my balls in.

                                                                                                      Una

This story about my adventures with the opposite sex was like a Shakespeare play, Loves Labour Lost.

I had left school at 16 yrs and 6months without the knowledge of my parents, as they were still overseas and started work as an Apprentice Electrical Engineer.

I had met a girl Una, just can’t remember her surname it might have been Daley but I’m not too sure. Anyway she happened to be a friend of Valerie’s so that was how I came to know her, picking up girls on my own at that age just about terrified me so I usually relied on friends.

Una was a prick tease, she would let me play with her breasts, and finger her and she wanked me a few times, but would never let me put my dick up her crutch. This particular day I came home from work and she phoned me, (I’d left my aunt’s house and was living with a cousin who had his own house, and had rented a bed-sit to me.) I spoke to her and told her to come over to my room as we could have more privacy.

She arrived about 6.30pm and after a brief hello, I started on her trying to get between her legs. After about an hour of really getting her worked up she conceded to letting me shag her. I was all excited then realised I didn’t have any rubbers, and that really annoyed me as she wouldn’t agree to doing it without one. So I started on her again, and by promising her that I would pull it out when I was going to discharge, got her to agree  to open her legs again. This time I had my pants off in two seconds flat, she was on her back and I buried my dick inside her without any ceremony. I started pumping and having been worked up for so long, it wasn’t going to be long before I achieved an orgasm.

Now at nearly 17 I think I weighed just over 8 stone about 120lbs. So being buried deep within her and nearing my orgasm, there was no way I was going to pull out. Una sensed this, and just as I was about to blast off, she had her hands on either side of my pelvis and she just lifted me up and threw me off her. Bloody hell, one minute I was deep inside her fucking like a madman, the next I was flipped off, her furiously fucking fresh air and my spunk flying all over the place. Boy was she mad at me, as some of my semen had gone on her clothes and for not pulling out like I said I would. For me it was terrible not having anything wrapped around my dick when I was cumming and ending up on the floor. Needless to say the next time I made sure that I had an ample supply of rubbers.

So now you know why I call it Loves Labour Lost.

In conclusion what I did learn about the opposite sex, was that they cannot handle the male organ as proficiently as another male. Females are competent, but men, from a very early age learn how to play with their ding-a-ling. So woman are a lot less experienced and not in the same class as a man.

My adventures with the opposite sex came to an end, when I met a rather handsome boy during my Engineering apprenticeship. Who seduced me, and gave me the best hand job of my life. He’s kept up the good work ever since, and the best part no rubbers involved.

Part 1

Six weeks before the end of the summer term because he’d won a scholarship, he’d been taken out of his regular school and sent to a Public school for boys. So that he could be assessed and placed into classes that catered for his academic abilities.

Now two weeks later he lay on his bed letting his imagination take him on a ride of make belief where all the scenes enacted were controlled by him and played out to his satisfaction.

As he walked to school there ahead of him was Matthew Blake and his friends. They hadn’t seen him yet, till one of the boys turned to look around and noticed him. The boys ahead stopped having been alerted to the fact that he was behind them. He approached the group, this time there was going to be a different outcome to the scenario that normally took place when confronted by these boys on a daily basis. They had know idea of the changes that had taken place in him, and the super fighting powers that he now possessed, even Bruce Lee was not in his league. When he neared them they sneered at him and shouted the normal offensive remarks. He didn’t bother to even break his stride but just walked around them to continue on his way to school. The moment he felt the hand on his shoulder he turned, and in the next instant the boy responsible for trying to detain him was lying on the floor howling in pain. The other boys stood and stared in disbelief at what had just taken place. He didn’t say a word instead he looked at the boys as if they were bits of human excrement, turned on his heels and continued on his way to school. The boys helped their friend up and decided that if they all rushed his assailant at the same time they would be able to inflict the same pain that he’d meted out to their comrade.

He heard the running feet nearing him and was not surprised, it was what he’d expected. The moment he knew that they were within striking distance he leapt into the air turning at the same time, and his feet striking out taking the two leading boys in mid-drift, landing lightly on his feet his arms shot out taking the other two boys out of the fight and then he was face to face with Matthew Blake.

He stood still and gazed at the boy who was two years older than him, fourteen inches taller and most probably nearly twice his weight.

“It’s just you and me now Blake he exclaimed, you ready to take your punishment.”

“Do your worst Spencer you don’t scare me.” Matthew Blake said, as he advanced towards the smaller boy in a shuffling gait with both hands up and fists clenched.

“I don’t intend to scare you Blake, just give you some of the treatment you and your cronies have been giving me.”

“DOMINIC, if you don’t get out of bed now you’re going to be late for school.”

“Okay mum I’m up, I’m up.” And Dominic Spencer his thoughts broken returned to the real world. He walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror at his reflection. There was this boy who had turned twelve a week ago, with a mop of brown wavy hair skinny as can be staring back at him. He tried flexing his muscles but was unable to notice any difference in the size of his arms when he did, nor for that matter any muscle. He went into the bathroom and stood on the scales 76lbs. “Umm one pound heavier than last week,” he thought, but if I had to go to the loo and have a dump it would be the same. He stood up against the doorpost put his hand on top of his head so that it lay flat on his head with the middle finger touching the doorpost, he then stepped away to look at where the finger rested, That’s still about four feet eight inches jeez! Man, this is so bad when is it going to increase by at least half an inch, he thought, then stripped to get into the shower. While in the shower his mind began to wander again, It would be brilliant if I could get super powers like being abducted by aliens and have my body changed then sent back to earth to put everything right. I would be able to fly or even be like Silver Surfer and have a board that you can’t fall off, that goes as fast as light and.

His thoughts were shattered again by his mother’s voice, “DOMINIC, I’m not going to tell you again, hurry up.”

“Alright mum, alright, I’m nearly finished,” he shouted back, annoyed that his thoughts of super powers had been broken.

He was in the kitchen within the next few minutes stuffing some cereal down his throat kissing his mother and sister goodbye and rushing out of the house. After the bus ride as he walked the last couple of hundred yards to school he kept a constant lookout for any of the adversaries from his daydream. Then he came out from one of the side streets and his stomach churned as Matthew Blake, joined him on his walk to school. He bowed his head and tried to slow his pace so that he would fall behind.

Turning his head the older boy beckoned with his hand, “Come on Spencer keep up I want to talk to you.”

Quickening his pace he caught up again with the older boy. “What about Blake?”

“You’re in our class and you’re two years younger so I suppose you’re one of those kids who has brains oozing out of his ears, but it’s a bit different from junior school isn’t it.”

Dominic was silent and just kept pace with the fourteen-year old.

“What’s with you Spencer can’t you answer.”

“Yes, it’s different to junior school, and lot’s more bullies to make life miserable for some boys.”

“I suppose you’re referring to me.”

“Yes, to you and the others who you hang around with.”

“Yeah, well a bit of name calling doesn’t hurt anyone, but the real reason I wanted to talk with you is that I want your help.”

“My help,” Dominic burst out, “In what way can I help you?”

“My dad went ballistic when he saw my last report, and if I don’t improve I’m going to lose a lot of my privileges. So, I was wondering if you could help me with some after school tuition to improve my grades.”

“Yes, sure, whenever you want, just tell me the days and we can arrange the time.” Dominic tried to keep his voice sounding as normal as possible but inside he was shaking as he thought, Is this for real, or is it some kind of trap to get me alone so he and his friends can amuse themselves at my expense.

“What about in the evenings say from 6 to 8pm I could come over to your house Spencer or, if you want we can meet at mine.”

“No, not at my place there would be too much distraction there.”

“Okay then we can meet at my place starting from this evening after school. My parents will be going out around 7pm for their weekly Friday evening social night so we’ll be left alone after that.”

“Alright Blake, whatever you say, but I have no idea where you live.”

Matthew Blake supplied an address then strode off leaving Dominic in his wake.

Other than during the meal break when Harrison, did his usual of roughing him up a bit in the school grounds, and the normal snide remarks as to his manliness the day went quite well. For once Blake and his friends hadn’t accosted him but maybe this was due to the fact that Blake required his help and had called off his dogs of war.

On his return from school he informed his mother that he was going out later that evening to Mathew Blake’s house. He went into his bedroom did his homework which for him was like adding two and two, then showered and changed. He spent time with his younger sister playing with her one of his favourite pastimes, then ate his evening meal said “Goodbye,” to his mother, and made his way to his evening appointment. Walking down the driveway of the Blake house, Dominic was impressed by its size and the surrounding grounds. Nervously he reached for and pressed the doorbell. He heard the sounds of the chimes then footsteps the door opened, and Blake was standing in front of him.

“Come in Spencer.”

He entered into the hallway and looked around. Ahead and to the right was a staircase that curved to the left as it wound its way to the next floor. He looked down and noticed the highly polished parquet flooring and was a bit reluctant to walk on them in his trainers.

“Come on Spencer don’t just stand there,” and Blake gestured to him as he led the way into the Lounge.

 He followed then stood in shock at the size of the lounge, it was as big as their apartment or nearly. Again Blake gestured to him to be seated next to him on the settee patting the empty space with his hand. Timidly he approached looking all around as he sat next to Blake.

“Spencer what the hell is wrong with you, you look like you’re in a dream.”

“Uh, I umm, I’ve never been in a house as big or as grand as this before.”

“Why, where do you live?”

When Dominic told him the area that he lived in and stated that it was a council property, the older boy nodded his head and kept quiet.

After a strained silence Dominic looked at Matthew Blake and asked, “Do you want me to leave?”

“Bollocks, why would I want you to leave?”

“I don’t know, you were so quiet after I told you where I lived that I thought you were embarrassed that you’d asked me to come here.”

“I’m not bloody embarrassed, it’s just because you come to our school I didn’t think you would be from that area and in a council flat.”

Dominic looked at the older boy lowering his head he said. “The only reason why I attend the same school as you is because I’m supposed to be above average intelligence for my age, and won a scholarship to the school.”

“You don’t have to tell me about your brains, we all know about that, you’re two years younger and still way ahead of us. They should put you in with the sixth formers they’re more to your standard.”

“I think they’re still assessing me Blake.”

You don’t have to be so formal you can use my Christian name if you want.”

“Sorry Blake, umm I mean Matthew, when they’ve assessed me then they’ll decide where to place me.”

“I don’t suppose you’d want to stay in our class would you.”

“I umm I don’t know.”

“Oh, come off it Spencer.”

“Why don’t you use my Christian name if I have to use yours?”

“Oh okay Dominic, you’d be glad to get out of our class wouldn’t you.”

“I’m not sure if another class would be any different. The only time I was happy was in my last school. I was with boys of my own age, we used to have great times together although classes used to be boring. Then I was moved to this present school, wish I hadn’t let on about my learning abilities.” Then looking up at the older boy, “So what did you want me to assist you in.”

“Nothing.”

“What, so why did you ask me to help you.”

“Just to get to know and talk to you.”

“But you’re always having a go at me at school and calling me all sorts of names.”

“Yeah, I’m a bit of a shit aren’t I, but I was jealous of your brains and how a twelve-year-old could be so smart. To be really truthful my dad made me see what a lowlife I’d been when I discussed you with him.”

“What did you discuss about me?”

“Just how advanced you were in your studies and how we took the mickey out of you because of your size. He was really annoyed, that I for one could treat you in such a manner, and gave me a lecture on my insensibility. I promised him that I would rectify the matter and so here we are.”

“Thanks, it has been bad but it should get better now, unless they decide to move me again.”

“Don’t worry, I know a few of the sixth formers if they move you there. I’ll have a word with Williams, he’s one of the prefects and he’ll make sure that you don’t get any hassle.” While he talked he studied the small form sitting next to him and now realised that Dominic though small was actually very good looking, verging on beautiful. Was that another of the reasons that he’d made life so difficult for this small, shy, and sensitive boy, whom he was getting fonder of by the minute.

“Oh thanks Matthew,”

The voice broke Matthew’s train of thought as he thrilled to the sound of his name being spoken by the still unbroken voice of Dominic, he looked at the boy and felt that he would like to grab hold of him and crush him in his arms, instead he smiled and asked, “What would you like to do Dominic, now that you know you don’t have to tutor me.”

“Anything you want.”

We can play billiards or snooker, PS2 or pc games whichever you like.”

“I don’t know how to play snooker or billiards never played it before.”

“Well what about the play-station?”

“Okay, I’ve played at my cousins at Christmas time.”

“If you really want to play the play-station we will, but I’ve got a better idea.”

“What?”

“Let’s just sit and talk.”

“Yeah I’d prefer that, I haven’t had a lot of practice on those games, actually I only played it the once then only for a couple of hours.”

“So how does it feel to be with kids a lot older than you?”

“I never thought that older boys could be so unkind, just because I happen to be younger and a lot smaller.”

“I should be one of the first to be put in the firing line for making it tough for you, but if you want we could become friends, do you want too?”

“You’re not having me on are you Blake, umm Matthew?”

“No honest Dominic, I’m not, I even told my mates to quit with the name calling, and roughing you up during todays break periods.”

“Thanks a lot, I could do with a break from all the hassle.”

“So what’s it like being a brain box and having all the special treatment.”

“It gets pretty intense at times, okay so I’m able to absorb and understand information better than most kids of my age, and older. But I also like to play like the other kids. That’s what the adults seem to forget. Because I’m so advanced in my studies, they don’t see me as a twelve year old, but someone much older. It really use to suck at times, until I reminded them of it, then they realize their error and let me out to play.”

Their talk was interrupted by Matthew’s parents entering the room, he introduced Dominic to them and Mr Blake walked up to him took his hand and shaking it said, “I’m very pleased to meet you Dominic, and I’m glad to see that Matthew has started to make amends for his earlier behaviour.”

“It’s nice to meet you Mr and Mrs Blake.”

Turning to his son Mr Blake said, “We’ll be back by mid-night Matthew, try not to make too much of a mess and make sure you take Dominic home on time, I don’t want his parents worrying.”

“Okay, bye dad, bye mum,” and the boys were left to themselves.

“Do you want to have anything to eat or drink Dominic?”

“No, I’m fine, I ate before coming over.”

“Right let’s go up to my room so I can finish my homework I hadn’t quite finished when you arrived.”

The two boys made their way up the winding staircase, Dominic looking around in awe at the sumptuous manner in which the house was decorated and furnished. Reaching the landing Matthew turned to his right, walked along to the door at the end of the passageway and entered followed by Dominic, who didn’t fully enter the room but stood in the doorway and stared.

“Oh shit! Dominic not again, come on in and sit on the bed.”

He walked over to the bed and sat down as Matthew had suggested.

“Gosh, I wish my room was as quarter as big as this I’d be over the moon.” 

“What d’you mean as quarter as big, your room can’t be that small.”

“You haven’t seen our council flat, our box room has been converted into a bedroom for me. I think the dimensions are Nine feet by seven, but at least I have it all to myself and I’m not disturbed when I’m studying.”

Matthew looked at the younger boy, and his feelings of guilt upset him, as he thought of his and his friends earlier behaviour towards Dominic. He watched the boy as he sat on the bed and bounced up and down a couple of times testing the mattress.

“Okay if you’re comfortable I’m going to finish off my homework which shouldn’t take too long, you won’t be bored will you?

“Me no, I could sit here all day just looking around, you’ve got a brilliant room.”

“Well look as much as you want.”  Matthew said, and sat at his desk to do his homework.

Dominic sat in silence looking around at all the paraphernalia that was in Matthew’s room, till eventually his eyes rested on the boy seated at the desk. He studied the older boy and thought, He’s quite nice now that he’d got to know him a bit better. Don’t suppose he’d want me, as a special friend, he’s heaps bigger and richer than me, at least he and his friends won’t be taking the mickey out of me anymore. Wish he was my best friend that would be brilliant, nah that can’t happen I’m too small and young for him to want me as a best friend.

“What you thinking about?”

“Uh!

“You heard.”

“Uh! Nothing, just looking around.”

“Well at least you’re quiet, normally the other kids can’t stop asking questions and yapping while they’re here.”

“Didn’t want to disturb you while you’re doing your homework.”

Matthew pushed his books to one side saying, “Balls to the homework can do it later,” he sat at his desk looking at the boy seated on his bed whose feet didn’t touch the ground. A sudden impulse had him jump from his seat and run across towards the boy. Grabbing him round the waist with one arm he lifted and pushed Dominic backwards and pinned him to the bed. He lay with part of his body resting on top of younger boy looking down at him.”

“Got you,” he exclaimed.

“What, what are you going to do.” Dominic stammered nervously “I thought we were going to be friends you’re not going to beat me up are you?”

“Well you thought wrong I’ve been longing to do this to you. Now you’re really going to get it.” He lowered his face to the boy’s and rubbed their noses together then laughed.

Dominic angry at first for the fear instigated by Mathew then saw the funny side and laughed along with Matthew.

“Do it again Matthew I liked that, it was nice.”

Matthew stopped laughing and gazed down at the smiling boy, again he lowered his face to the younger boy’s but this time brought their lips together in a quick kiss.

Dominic was startled but at the same time thrilled by the kiss, looking up at Matthew he enquired. “What was that for?”

“I’m sorry about the kiss, couldn’t help it, I just felt like doing it.”

“Oh, are you a homosexual?”

“No, I don’t think so, I mean I’m not sure, I’ve never fancied any other boy before, just you, and then only when you came here and I had a chance to get to know and see you close up. I don’t know, I just got this urge inside of me to hug and kiss you. You’re not too put off by what I’ve said and did are you?”

“No, I’m happy to know you like me, but I don’t really know much about this sort of thing only what I’ve read, and never given it much thought.”

“Don’t you think about sex, and all that sort of stuff?”

“Not really, should I?”

“Don’t you umm you know play with yourself and such?”

“By play with myself do you mean masturbation?”

“Yes.”

“No, I’ve never done it, never thought about it should I have?”

“Don’t you get erections?”

“Of course I do, and when I fondle my dick it feels nice but that’s all.”

“Haven’t you ever rubbed it till you get a really nice feeling in your dick like as if you’re in heaven?”

“No.”

“Not so smart after all, I was doing it at least three times a day at your age.”

“What’s so smart about masturbation?”

“You’ll find out when you do it for the first time.”

“Will you teach me?”

“Umm I umm I it’s nearly time for you to go home, come on I’ll walk you back.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Look, all you have to do is hold your dick in your hand and rub it up and down till you get a tingling in your balls, then you get this really good feeling like no other, it’s absolutely indescribable.”

“Well if you’re not going to show me, I may as well go home.”

Dominic if I was to show you how to do it. You and I might feel bad about it later.”

“What do you mean bad?”

Well you’re younger than I am, and I might feel that I’m taking advantage of you because of your age and inexperience, and you might feel embarrassed about letting me do it to you. Just let’s leave it for tonight.”

The boy sighed reluctantly, “Oh okay if you say so.”

“I’m sorry Dominic, I promised my dad that I’d get you home on time and it’s already gone past eight. I promise I’ll show you tomorrow when you come over. Now come on I’ll walk you home.”

“You promise, you double promise.”

“I promise, I promise, now move it will you, otherwise your parents are going to have a go at me.”

“I don’t have parents only the one, my mum.”

“What happened to your dad?”

“No idea my mum never talks about him, in any case she isn’t married.”

“Oh well never mind, let’s get you home before your mum has a go at me.”

They left the house and walked chatting like boys normally do, the older at times wrapping an arm around the smaller boy protectively till they arrived at the block of flats where Dominic lived.

“You coming in for a while Matthew?”

“If it wasn’t so late I would but I’d better get home, what time are you coming around tomorrow?”

“Can’t be too sure, have to help my mum with the groceries so say about 1pm.”

“Okay give me a call before you leave.”

“Umm I can’t, we don’t have a phone, only a mobile that my mother keeps.”

“No problem, just come over when you can, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” Matthew turned to leave.

“You’ve forgotten something Matthew.”

He turned back confronting Dominic, “What?

“Dominic laughing said, “Aren’t you supposed to kiss your date goodnight,” and turned to run into the flats.

Matthew smiled and grabbed the boy before he could enter through the doors to the flats. He spun him around and quickly pecked him on the lips then turned and ran off. Dominic stood staring after Matthew till he was out of sight. With Matthew gone he suddenly felt a little sad and realised that he missed his presence. He turned and entered the door and climbed the stairs to their first floor flat. Inside he greeted his mother then played with his younger sister before she went to bed. With not a lot to interest him on the TV he went to his room to read but could not concentrate on his book. Thoughts of what had happened earlier kept invading his mind. He put his book down and started fondling his loins till he was erect. Sliding his hand under the elastic waistband of his tracksuit bottoms he started to rub his penis in the way that Matthew had told him. He was starting to experience some quite intense feelings in his loins when his mother’s voice interrupted the administrations to his penis. With the fear that his mother might walk into the room and catch him in the act of masturbation his penis quickly deflated. He got up from his bed and made his way to see what it was his mother required of him, knowing that he could continue his experiment later.

As he walked home Matthew’s thoughts were in overdrive about his actions and what had driven him to do what he had. He’d kissed the boy twice but also in the open, luckily there had been no one to see it happen, but all the same that was a totally stupid thing to do. Still feeling the other boy’s lips on his had given him an instant erection, and right now thinking about it he’d have to go and get some instant relief, otherwise he was liable to make some rather nasty stains on his bed sheets tonight.

He waited impatiently looking out of the front room window towards the entrance to the drive waiting to see that small slim form, with a mass of brown wavy hair atop his head flopping down around his ears walk into view. The red lips that looked like they’d been sucking a strawberry lolly, which he’d kissed twice. His face, that made him want to crush the boy to his breast and have him remain like that forever.

His thoughts now centred on the fact the boy had still not arrived, His thoughts were in overdrive. Where the fuck is he, he said he’d be here by one o’clock and it’s nearly two now, if he isn’t here in the next five minutes I’m fucking off to Brian’s house. 2pm came and the boy hadn’t arrived, alright another five minutes and I’m definitely going he can go to hell. Ten past two and still no Dominic. “What the hell could have happened to him, and he hasn’t even got a bloody phone so that I can call him, he’s a right little shit I’m going to, and Matthew’s face broke into a huge grin, God here he his.

 He headed to the front door flinging it open and ran down the driveway meeting Dominic half way, then grabbing him lifting him into his arms swinging him around and asking, “Where the bloody hell have you been, I’ve been waiting effing yonks for you.”

“My mum was messing around in the shopping mall, she took ages to finish the shopping.”

Not letting go of the Dominic he carried him into the house then set him on his feet.

“Come on lets go to my room, oops do you want something to eat or drink first.”

“I’ll have a cold drink please, its thirsty work walking here in the heat.”

“Okay, you carry on to my room and I’ll bring it up.”

Dominic made his way to Matthew’s room and sat on the bed waiting for him to appear. Shortly Matthew arrived carrying a tray containing a tumbler and a can of Pepsi and set it on his desk. He opened the can and poured it into the tumbler filling it to the brim. Then walking over to Dominic, he handed it to him.

“Here you are, that should quench your thirst.”

Taking the glass Dominic expressed his thanks then proceeded to drain it. As he stood up to go and put the glass back on the tray, Matthew smiling took the glass from him to take it back to the desk.

“You must have been thirsty, do you want another one.”

“No (and in the middle of his sentence he burped) thanks, oops sorry.”

Matthew couldn’t help himself he replaced the glass went over to the boy hugged him lifted him onto the bed and pinned him down with his body. With Matthew squeezing and shaking his body Dominic burped and apologised again.

“This will stop you burping,” and Matthew brought their lips together.

He was in heaven tasting the younger boy’s lips which had a sweetness to them from the Pepsi he’d just finished drinking. He broke the kiss then looked down at the boy’s face, the mouth was slightly open, and he could see the two front teeth with a very slight gap between them that looked so large compared to the other teeth, it made him look really cute.

Dominic with a questioning look on his face and his eyes searching Mathew’s asked, “Do you like kissing me.”

“Yes,” Matthew responded, “I don’t know why, but every time I see you I want to do it. I must be going crazy, I’ve never felt like this about anyone before. I’m sorry I won’t do it again.”

“It’s okay I don’t mind, but I was just wondering why you do it.”

“I told you last night why I kissed you, if I tell you how I really feel you might think I’m weird.”

“And kissing another boy is considered the norm I presume.”

“Because you’re more intelligently advanced than most boys, do you have to talk in that superior manner, you’re not a teacher talking to one of his pupils.”

“Sorry Matthew, I really didn’t mean to sound pompous, will you please tell me I really want to know?”

Matthew released his hold on Dominic and sat up on the edge of the bed. With his feet on the ground he hung his head trying to compose his thoughts  on how best to express his feelings to Dominic.

He felt a hand come around the back of his head then rest on his cheek and force his head to turn and look into the face that was consuming his thoughts.

Dominic kneeling on the bed to get his face level with Matthew’s looked into his eyes said, “Come on Matthew tell me.”

He smiled at the younger boy, “Okay brains seems like you’re a bit backward in the human emotions field, though I suppose you are still quite young. Mind you I’m only a couple of years older myself but I have had a bit more experience than you. Anyway, here goes. I think, no I know I’m getting extremely fond of you Dominic, I’ve dated girls and even had a couple of them wank me, but I’ve never felt anything like this before. I’ve not done anything sexual with you except kiss you, and yet, I feel being in your company is all I need. With the girls I only went with them to get them to play with my dick and feel their tits and finger them, but there was nothing like this feeling like I’m having now.” Gazing into the younger boy’s eyes he asked, “Do you have any romantic feelings towards me Dominic, you can speak the truth I won’t hold it against you if you don’t?”

“I don’t know Matthew,” Dominic responded nervously, “I feel nice being with you and even when you kiss me, but I’m not too sure about the wanking thing.”

Matthew’s laughter burst forth, after controlling his laughter he said, “That’s put very delicately isn’t it, you’re not too sure about the wanking thing. Dominic, I just told you, being near you and kissing you is enough. I don’t.”

And Matthew’s voice was interrupted by Dominic, “But I tried it last night like you told me. The first time my mum interrupted me, and by the time I got to bed and started doing it again I was so tired I fell asleep. Now today, I’ve not had a chance to do it. So, I’m still not sure about what it’s like to have a wank and how it makes you feel towards someone. Can’t you show me then I’ll know if I want to or not?”

“Oh shit! Dominic, you don’t want to do it now do you?”

“Bloody hell Matthew, are you dumb, how many more times do I have to say it. Yes.”

Matthew rose from the bed saying, “Just let me go and shut the door in case one of my parents decides to come in.”

He returned to the bed, “Okay lie on the bed but first lower your tracksuit bottoms and briefs to under your dick.” 

Dominic did as he was instructed while Matthew sat beside him. He looked down at the slim inch and a half uncircumcised flaccid penis. He put his hand under the boy’s scrotum feeling the marble sized balls and gently fondled them. Dominic’s penis sprang to life and was rock hard instantly. Matthew continued to play with the ball sac then moved his hand to grasp the three-inch erection and started to stroke it. Dominic was in heaven while Matthew played with his loins, he was having the most marvellous sensations coursing through his body. As Matthew continued to stroke his dick he started to feel something building inside of him in the lower regions. Suddenly instinct took over and he started to buck his hips into the hand that was giving him so much pleasure. Matthew sensed the boy was nearing his orgasm so started stroking even faster, then suddenly the boy’s body convulsed his hips bucked and he gave out a long drawn out moan as his orgasm took control, he continued to thrust his dick into Matthew’s hand till his orgasm subsided, he closed his eyes and lay still. Regaining his composure, he felt a pair of lips press against his and opened his eyes to see Matthew looking at him.

“Dominic, are you all right?”

“Dominic smiled never better, now I know why you did it at least three times a day, that was as you said indescribable.”

“Matthew.”

“What?”

“Can we do it again?”

“Bloody hell you’ve only just finished.”

“Well let me do you first then you can do me again.”

“Dominic, is that all you want me for, to have wanks?”

 “I umm I ‘m sorry, it sounded bad didn’t it, but I did like it an awful lot. “If you’re annoyed about it I’ll leave if you want me to.”

Matthew thinking the boy only wanted to get his rocks off replied “That’s up to you if you want to leave by all means go.”

The younger boy responded. “I asked you if you wanted me to leave and you turn around and say, if I want to. If you can’t make the decision then I’ll make it for the both of us.”

Dominic stood up adjusted his clothing and started to walk out of the room.

Matthew trying to retrieve the situation called out, “Are you coming back tomorrow?”

“Dominic stopped, turned and looked at the boy sitting on the bed. “No point is there, if you think the only reason I come around here is for a wank.”

Matthew sprang from the bed walked over to the younger boy grabbed him by the shirt; “If you leave I’ll beat the shit out of you.”

“What?

“You heard, do you think I’m going to let you go just like that.” He grabbed Dominic who was struggling and lifted him into his arms then carried him to the bed and flopped onto it in a heap. With his arms and legs enveloping the younger boy, he clung to Dominic who had become still as they lay together. The younger boy lifted his head laid it on Matthew’s shoulder then worming his arms free wrapped them around Matthew and squeezed. Matthew smiled he was happy again this is what he wanted just the two of them in each other’s arms. Gently grabbing a fistful of hair on Dominic’s head he brought it around so that he could bring their lips together. The kiss seemed to light a spark between them that Matthew could not resist any longer, he forced his tongue into Dominic’s mouth seeking and finding its partner and proceeded to caress it with his own.

“Dominic gasped and broke the kiss, “Oh gosh! I’ve heard about French kissing but never thought that it would be so incredible.”

“Matthew laughed again, “That’s something else you’ve learnt, now who’s tutoring who?”

Dominic giggled “They say I’m very quick at learning so let me put into practice what I’ve learnt,” as he brought their lips together then lowered his hand to fondle Matthew’s erection.

Matthew broke the kiss “No Dominic not yet, let’s just lie here for a bit I like having you in my arms.”

“But your hard as rock Matthew.”

“So.”

“So, let me do something about it.”

“The older boy smiled and pecked Dominic on the lips. “Okay but I don’t think I’m going to last very long, so you had better stop fondling me for the time being, stop Dominic stop, Oh God stop or I’m going to do it in my trousers let me take them down first.”

Dominic ignored Matthew’s requests to stop and continued to stroke his cock through his clothing, suddenly Mathew stiffened, his hips started jerking uncontrollably as he erupted inside his underwear.

As he recovered from Dominic’s administrations Matthew looked at the younger boy, “Oh God that was wonderful but you made me make one helluva mess in my clothes, I’m going to have to go and clean up.”

“Can I see it Matthew?”

“Alright,” and he lowered his trousers and briefs.

“Yike’s the semen looks awful, something like phlegm.

“Yeah well you’ll be shooting the same when you’re older, now I’d better clean it up.”

“No I’ll do it seeing that I was the cause of it.” Dominic rolled over to the side of the bed and reached the bedside table removed some tissues from the box and started to clean Matthew’s discharge. As he cleaned the now flaccid penis his movements caused it to grow to a semi state of arousal.”

“Huh seems like someone’s getting all excited again.”

“Yeah, well what do you expect when someone is stroking it instead of cleaning it?”

“That’s it I’ve had enough of cleaning,” and Dominic put the tissues aside slipped his tracksuit bottoms and briefs down to his ankles then lay with his rampant member on top of Matthews exposed loins. The older boy wrapped his arms around the diminutive form and squeezed him into his body, as their hips gyrated eager to experience again the pleasures of a few moments ago.

Matthew and Dominic, recovering from their second orgasms lay contentedly in each other’s arms enjoying the closeness of their bodies, and wishing that this moment in time would never end.

Part 2

The boys spent every moment of their spare time that they could together, the hardest times were at school, when they had to keep their distance and only snatch brief glances at each other. There was of course the occasional brushing against one another when walking in the corridors, or the touching of hands when the opportunity presented itself, but other than that they promoted a picture of indifference towards one another.

Two weeks after their first encounter and at the beginning of the third week Dominic was seated at his desk in the maths class. Mr Jenkins walked in looked at Dominic and called him to the front of the class. Matthew watched as Mr Jenkins spoke to Dominic. When he’d finished talking the young boy returned to his desk. Giving Matthew a quick glance and a shrug of the shoulders, he picked up his belongings and strode to the door. Before leaving he turned again and gazed forlornly at Matthew, and from where he sat, Matthew, could see the boy was on the verge of tears. He himself had a lump in his throat as he realised that this was the end of Dominic’s presence in their classroom.

Dominic with the instructions given to him made his way to the sixth form. Reaching the class, he tentatively knocked on the door and waited to be given permission to enter. A voice barked, “Enter,” and Dominic did so looking nervously at the teacher.

“Ah ha Spencer,” boomed Mr. Perkins, “We’ve been expecting you, find yourself a seat and we can continue with the lesson. Dominic looked around and saw a vacant chair and desk next to a rather large good-looking black-haired boy, whom he knew to be Williams as Matthew had pointed him out in the school grounds. He took his seat glancing at Williams who gave him a smile that put him at ease. So, Dominic settled down to

begin his studies in the sixth form. The senior year where boys who passed their “A” level exams with the required grades went on to university.

The morning period went by quickly and Dominic was quite at ease, he’d shared the first break talking with Williams, and were now on first name terms with each other. Frank had even bought him a Pepsi, which he guzzled down with relish. One of the privileges of being a sixth former meant that they broke early for lunch before the rest of the school, so they could get their food without having to partake in the stampede that normally took place. It also meant that he had to wait for Matthew to make an appearance. Because of his mother’s financial position Dominic got free meals, but Matthew didn’t bother with school food, he normally went outside the school grounds and bought what he required from the various fast food outlets. Dominic his meal finished sat waiting patiently till eventually Matthew appeared. He stood in the doorway of the cafeteria looking at Dominic, then with a flick of his head indicated for Dominic to follow him. Outside he turned and walked away from the cafeteria with Dominic following at a discreet distance, till Matthew went down a side alley some distance from the school. As soon as Dominic was within arm’s reach Matthew pulled him into his arms and hugged him.

“God, it’s been terrible not seeing you in the classroom, how are you?”

“Not bad, actually pretty good and Williams has been really nice to me.”

“I’m glad to hear it, are you coming over after school this evening.”

“No, I can’t, I’ve already been landed with heaps of homework, and I don’t know what’s going to be dished out in the afternoon classes.”

“So, I won’t see you after school then.”

“Matthew, I’ve already told you why not, you know I’d rather be with you then doing homework.”

“Alright, we had better get back to the school otherwise you’re going to be late for your first period.”

They returned to the school, and once inside the grounds went their separate ways. At 3.30pm Dominic was walking through the school gates with all the various text books he’d acquired over the course of the day and finding the weight a little too much, he was about to rest them on the wall to ease his aching arms when a voice enquired, “D’you want a hand with them?” 

Turning he saw Frank Williams standing there with a grin on his face, “Yeah they weigh a ton, not sure if all these text books are really necessary but I was given them all the same.”

“Well give me half of them and we can carry them over to my car, then I’ll drive you home.”

“You’ve got a car?”

“Yes, why not, I’m over seventeen and got my license two months ago, now I drive to school instead of having my dad drop me off.”

“Oh, okay let’s go, and thanks a lot.”

While Frank drove they chatted till he suddenly said, D’you want to come over to my place later this evening.”

“No, I’ve got all this homework to do and by the time I’ve finished it’ll be too late.”

“That’s okay, we can do our homework together.”

“You sure it won’t be too much trouble.”

“No, I tell you what I’ll come and pick you up at about 5.30pm How’s that?”

“Great, I’ll be ready for you.”

The boys continued their talk till they reached Dominic’s address. Frank helped Dominic with his books to the entrance to the flats then said, “Don’t forget five thirty.”

“I won’t, and thanks for the lift and help with the books,” and he made his way into the flats to his apartment.

Later that evening around 6pm the doorbell rang and Mrs Spencer opened the door to see Matthew standing there “Matthew, I’m sorry Dominic’s not at home,” Mrs Spencer said, “He went to one of his classmate’s house, but you’re welcome to come in and wait if you want.”

“Oh, no thanks Mrs Spencer I’d best be off, see you again sometime.”

“Do you want me to give any message to Dominic?” she asked before Matthew could leave.

“No, its okay really, see you,” and he left.

His stomach churning over with anxiety and thinking that Dominic had lied to him about not being able to come out this evening.

He thought, If I hadn’t decided to come over and surprise him I would never have known that he’d gone out. His thoughts were now running riot as he wondered, who was the person Dominic had gone to see, and was he more important to Dominic than himself. Obviously, he preferred to be with the other person,” he summarised, otherwise he wouldn’t have gone out.

He walked home struggling with his emotions as his thoughts heaped more misery on his shoulders. Inside the house he went to his room and lay on the bed trying to sort out what was happening to him and where his emotions were leading him.

Matthew though only fourteen, was physically very mature he was 5ft 10ins tall and well proportioned. He’d never considered himself anything else but heterosexual, but since meeting Dominic, those beliefs had been put into question.

After an hour of thought he’d made up his mind and acted on it, he rose from the bed and made his way to the lounge to confront his father. Seeing his parents watching television Matthew strode over to where his father was seated. Big as he was he squeezed himself by his father’s side saying, “Dad I need to talk to you.”

“In here or in my study.”

“Over here will do. I umm I want to skip the remainder of the school term, and go to stay with uncle Robert in Kendal, there’s only nine more days to the end of term.”

“What’s the problem Matthew, maybe I can help?”

“No dad. I need to sit down and have a think about certain events that have taken place these last couple of weeks, and if it’s really what I want to happen.

“So, why can’t you do it here?”

“That’s one of the problems dad, the distraction is too close at hand.”

“I see, if I agreed to your request when would you want to leave for Kendal?”

“Tomorrow, you can make excuses for my absence to the school. They’ll accept anything you say, you being one of the board members. You’re going to Scotland tomorrow for your Companies annual golf tournament. I could accompany you, and you can drop me off at Uncle Robert’s place, then continue on your journey.”

“I suppose I could do that. But is it really that important and do you have to leave so soon?”

“Yes dad, it’s that important.”

“Okay, then you had better get upstairs and pack, and I’ll give your Uncle Robert a call to tell him you’ll be staying with him, umm how long do you intend staying Matthew?”

“Not sure dad, as soon as I’ve sorted out the problem. I’ll let uncle know and he can bring me back home,” and Matthew dashed out of the room to pack his bags, while his father phoned his elder brother advising him that his nephew would be staying with him for a few days.

While Matthew was making his plans, Dominic was seated at a table in Frank’s bedroom finishing off his homework. Franks house was not as big or impressive as Matthews but all the same it was a lot better than his council flat. When they’d finished their homework, Frank asked the younger boy if he wanted anything to eat or drink. Dominic politely declined the offer then asked, “Are you very friendly with Matthew?”

“Do you mean Blake?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you ask?”

“Just wanted to know, because he spoke about you.”

“Well not really, my dad happens to work for his father. I’ve been over to their house a couple of times on social occasions, but that’s about all. Mind you Matthew is really nice very polite, and doesn’t flaunt his father’s wealth.”   

“Yeah, I know what you mean, I didn’t realize how rich they were till I went there.”

“You’ve been to his house.”

Realising his mistake Dominic quickly tried to recover the situation by saying, “Oh yes, he wanted me to help him in some studies after class.”

“You don’t have to try and cover up Dominic, if there is one thing that I know about Matthew, is he wouldn’t want any tutoring in his studies. He happens to be one of the cleverer boys in his class. I know from seeing him win awards at end of year prize giving ceremonies.”

“Well we just got friendly when I was in his class.”

“Do the two of you wank?”

“What?”

“Come on Dominic don’t act stupid, when you talked about Matthew you seemed like you were in a different world, and by the look on your face the answer is yes.”

“I’ve got to get home.”

”Don’t be like that Dominic, I’m not going to think badly of you. Actually, I wouldn’t mind if we gave each other a bit of release.”

“I’m I umm.”

“Don’t ooh and ahh Dominic, I got a hard on just talking about it, have a feel.” Frank walked over to the boy took his hand and placed it on his erection.

Dominic couldn’t resist, he started to fondle the older boy’s erection which brought moans of pleasure from Frank’s lips.

“Stop a minute Dominic,” and he pulled away from the boy, he went to the door locked it then returned to the bed to where Dominic was waiting.

“Take your trousers down,” Frank told the boy as he walked towards him, at the same time removing his own clothing. Dominic who had lowered his clothing stood by the bed watched as Frank exposed his erection for the first time. It was bigger and thicker than Matthew’s. Frank lay on the bed Dominic sat beside him and eagerly wrapped his hand around it feeling the hardness and girth of the biggest penis he’d ever seen. While he stroked Frank’s cock the same was being done to him by the older boy. He could feel the pleasure mounting in his loins and looked at Frank’s face to see him lying with his eyes closed moaning as he neared orgasm. Dominic was the first to reach his dry climax, at the same time Frank wrapped his hand around the hand that was on his cock, and started to increase the speed. Suddenly he stiffened and moaned, “I’m going to cum.” then thrust his hips upwards. His semen shot out to land just about midway up his body, then start to dribble over their hands. They remained motionless on the bed recovering from their exertions, “God I needed that. It’s been bloody ages since I’ve had other than my own hand on my cock,” Frank announced.

Later as they both dressed Frank turned to Dominic and said, “Please don’t say anything about this to anyone, otherwise I could be in big trouble.”

“I’m not stupid Frank, I know what the law is, and you didn’t force me into doing it, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Thanks Dominic, that felt really nice, we could always do it again if you want to.”

“I don’t think so Frank, it was okay but I think once is enough.”

“What’s the problem, I’m not going to ask you to do anything else, only wank me and I’ll do the same for you.”

“No, I don’t want to Frank, isn’t that a good enough reason.”

Frank looked at the slender young boy whose eyes were watery on the verge of tears, “I understand Dominic, I can see the reason why, its Matthew isn’t it?”

“No, it isn’t it’s just that I umm,” and the tears burst forth as he felt the guilt of his betrayal of Matthew.

“Frank put an arm around the slender young shoulders of the younger boy, “Dominic come on stop your crying, you haven’t done anything wrong, it was all my fault. I was the one who took advantage of you, and led you into what took place. Now go and wash your face then I’ll take you home.”

With feelings of regret at what had happened he made his way to the bathroom sniffing he thought, Please God, don’t let Matthew find out what I did.      

Next day Dominic was up early and standing outside the school gates waiting for Matthew to arrive. He waited until it was time for assembly and still no Matthew, glumly he turned and made his way to classes. All day at every chance he had he looked for Matthew, until he ran Brian during the meal break, and asked him if he had seen Mathew. “No, he hasn’t come to school today, must be down with a cold or something, he’ll most probably be back tomorrow.”

Dominic moped around the rest of the day, not taking a lot of interest in his lessons till the bell went for end of school. For once he dashed out of the classroom and headed for home as fast as he could. Arriving home he yelled to his mum that he was going over to Matthew’s house as he dashed to his room to get changed. He was stopped in his tracks when she reminded him that they were going over to visit her mother.

“Oh mum, can’t we go tomorrow I have to go and see Matthew.”

No, we can’t, you know your grandmother would have cooked for all of us, now go and get changed, and no arguments.”

Bloody Hell! He thought as he went to his room. Everything is going bloody wrong, what else can happen, now I’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see him.

Next morning Dominic was once again at the school gates early and like the day before no Matthew. This time at the earliest opportunity he spoke to one of Matthew’s friends to ask about him, and was given the same information as yesterday, that he was sick. This time after school he asked Frank if he would drop him off at Matthew’s house. When they arrived Frank asked, “Do you want me to wait, I can take you home afterwards.”

“No thanks Frank, I’m not sure how long I’ll be staying.” Frank drove off and Dominic made his way up the drive to the front door. He rang the bell and Matthew’s mother opened the door.

“Afternoon Mrs Blake, can I see Matthew.”

“I’m sorry Dominic, didn’t you know, he’s gone to the Lake District, Kendal, to be exact.”

“Oh no I didn’t, when did he go.”

“Yesterday, do you want to come in?”

“Uh no I’d better get home, I’ll see you later Mrs Blake.

He left feeling confused and wondering, why Matthew would go away without informing him, and what was the reason for his leaving. It couldn’t be about anything that he had done, he thought. Matthew couldn’t know about what had taken place with Frank because he had left the next day. As he made his way home he anxiously wracked his mind as to what could have made Matthew leave so suddenly. When he reached home his mother confronted him as to why he was late arriving.

“I went over to see Matthew, he hasn’t been to school for the last two days. It was a waste of time though he wasn’t there, he’s gone to the Lake District. He didn’t even bother to tell me he was going.”

“Oh, maybe that’s why he came over on Monday evening when you had gone out. To tell you he was leaving but as you weren’t here he didn’t bother.”

“What, why didn’t you tell me that Matthew came over?”

Because I asked him if he wanted to leave a message and he said no. He was surprised that you weren’t in, and just said goodbye and left.”

Dominic’s mind flashed back to Monday when he’d told Matthew, he couldn’t see him after school because of the amount of homework he had. Then that same evening he’d gone to Frank’s house. As he made his way to his room the realisation struck him. That Matthew must have thought that he’d lied on purpose, just so he could go out with someone else. He lay on his bed and thoughts of him and Matthew’s days together flooded his mind. Then he realised, that if Matthew didn’t come back before the end of term it would be about two months before he saw him again. He jumped up from the bed ran to his mother. “Mum can I go to Matthew’s house I need to talk to his parents.”

“Dominic you’ve just come from there, they might not want you disturbing them again.”

“Muuummm please, I promise I won’t annoy them pleeeeease.”

“Okay but don’t be long, be back before 8pm.”

A quick kiss on his mother’s cheek and he was gone, taking the stairs two at a time he was soon out and running along the road towards Matthew’s house.

Again, he rang the front doorbell, but this time it was Mr Blake who answered the door. “Hello Dominic, come in.”

“Thank you, Mr Blake, can I speak to you for a moment.”

“Yes, what was it you wanted to discuss.”

“Not discuss Mr Blake, just wanted to know if you can give me the telephone number at the place that Matthew has gone to stay.”

“Alright Dominic,” and he gave Dominic the phone number that he’d requested. “Do you wish to speak to Matthew now? I was just about to phone him.”

“Oh yes please Mr Blake.”

“Okay come into the lounge,” and Dominic did what was requested of him. He stood by Mr Blake as he dialled the number and anxiously waited for his turn on the phone. Mr Blake spoke with his elder brother first, who’d told him that Matthew had been moping around the house all day and didn’t seem to be taking an interest in anything, he asked him to hang on as he handed the phone to Matthew.

“Hi dad.”

“Hello son, I hear you’ve not been up to your old tricks like you normally get up to when in Kendal.”

“I’m okay dad honest, I am just having a think about something.”

“Alright but try and get your thoughts sorted out as quickly as possible, we want you back home soon son.”

“I promise dad, I’ll talk to you again soon.”

“Matthew before you go, there’s someone here who wants to talk to you.”

“Who dad?”

Mr Blake handed the phone over to Dominic.

“Matthew.”

“He was stunned to hear that soft unbroken voice call his name.”

Not getting an answer Dominic spoke again, “Matthew are you there.”

“Yes Dominic, I was just surprised for a minute when I heard your voice.”

“Matthew will you please come home, I miss you so much please Matthew, please.”

“Oh God Dominic, I ran away because of you. I just couldn’t believe how I felt when I went to your house and you weren’t in. The feelings I had were very worrying, I was angry, and sad, and everything all sort of jumbled up together. So, I decided to come here and sort of think it out.

“You’ve had two days Matthew, you must have come to some sort of decision by now.”

“I have Dominic, but I’m not sure how you’ll react to it. I won’t come back till the school term has ended.”

“That’s not fair, what about me, you’ve buggered off without saying a word, and left me wondering what had happened. Didn’t you even think of telling me what you were going to do, or were you just thinking of yourself and to hell with me.”

There was silence at the other end.

“Matthew say something.”

Matthew was astounded at the anger in Dominic’s voice, and the accusations thrown at him, which were partially true, and for the moment he was startled and left speechless.

“Matthew if you don’t say something I’ll put the phone down.”

“Dominic, I love you.”

                                                                          T B C

Any and all comments, observations, good, bad, and ugly, are welcome. If you don't like it, that's fine, just say why, because that helps (obviously).

Now I'll shut up and let you read It!

Chapter One - Reticular Formation

The neurons of the reticular formation all play a crucial role in maintaining behavioural arousal and consciousness.

Part I – Danger

Contamination - making or being made impure by polluting or poisoning.

The neon light glowed in the darkness, reflecting washed out colours that reverberated off the sidewalk. The tall glass buildings he hugged gave no protection from the incessant rain that streaked in cords from an unseen sky. “Join us for a new dawn...” the smiling face, ten times larger than reality, announced from the red and blue electric billboard, so far up towards the invisible sky that it towered over the street.

“Watch It!” The loud voice jarred him back to earth. He bumped into the figure of a man dressed in a grey hat and overcoat, the collar turned up, his face obscured. The man walked quickly on, ignoring him, mumbling something that was lost in the noise.

He stopped, looked down from the giant billboard which was now saying, “life has never been this good...” and turned, watching the figure disappear. He was soaked through to the skin, the clothes he had on offered no protection from the torrential downpour.

The loud screaming hum of an electric vehicle zoomed past, a mist of water swirling and scattering behind it. His attention was drawn to watching the rear lights recede down the street. He jumped, startled at the touch of a hand on his shoulder. Turning rapidly to look behind him, he was staring directly into the face of a boy. Another dark figure, cloaked in a hoody, about his own height.

“You can’t be on the street during curfew.” The boy offered a half smile, as if he wasn’t sure what the reaction would be.

“Curfew?” He questioned. 

A quizzical expression crossed the stranger’s face, but was gone almost in the same instant. Perhaps he had decided something? His hand gripped Joel’s upper arm. 

“Come on, let’s go.” 

He pulled him back along the sidewalk, back in the direction he had started from.

Any resistance was momentary. Joel followed the boy. 

Walking side by side they turned into a small alley between the tall buildings. Suddenly Joel stopped. The boy turned to look at him. They faced each other silently. The rain was dripping from his hair and from the hood covering the boy in front of him. Joel watched, distracted by a glistening rain drop on the tip of the other boy’s nose.

“I can’t stay here,” the boy broke the silence.

The whirring of another car passing along the main street added a sort of highlight to that statement. Joel was torn, undecided, was it safe?

“Come on! “ There was an urgency in the boy’s voice, but Joel didn’t move. 

The rain bounced off the buildings and pooled in a dark puddle around their feet. The darkness was deeper in the ally, only a faint red glow shed any light, and that was at the far end, almost obscured by the gloom.

“Where are we going?,” Joel had found his voice.

And now the boy pulled his arm, urging him forward along the alley. Once again he didn’t  resist, although his question just hung in the night, unanswered.

They stopped below the red glow of an electric sign hanging above the door at the far end of the alley. The dim light it provided washed out by the rain. It flickered, grew momentarily bright, then faded and came back alight. The neon inside buzzed and crackled in rhythm with the flickering light, but looking up it was still clear enough to read the name – ‘BB Club.’’

The boy tapped a code, pushed the door open, and virtually shoved Joel inside. He closed the door behind them. 

Joel perceived the closing door like another statement in a long series of events. The images crossed his mind one after the other of closing doors, their apartment, the car, the train, the centre.

The boy’s hand had moved down Joel’s arm, and his hand found Joel’s hand. The warmth of the boy’s touch was as if a switch had been flicked – this was the first human touch since the door closed at the centre.

He was led down a dimly lit corridor, only tiny leds at floor level marked the passage. They moved right, along some stairs which turned, twice, ninety degrees. Now it seemed they were in some kind of basement, below ground.

Across the far side of this underground space, the boy opened a door and they went inside.

This time as the door clicked shut behind them the light came on with a click and a flicker, the neon tube came alive, buzzed that insane electric noise, like it was gasping for breath. Blinked one final time, as if saying to them with some satisfaction – I’m alive again – the white light finally broke the darkness.

Joel looked around. There was little furniture apart from one large bed and a dark brown leather armchair, the material of which was cracked and broken. So much so that the stuffing was trying to escape in several places.

The boy stopped in the middle of the room and started to take off his clothes. Joel stared, he didn’t know what to do. What was happening?

“Take your clothes off,” the boy told him, looking up as he removed his jeans.

Joel didn’t react immediately, he was looking at the boy who now almost completely undressed stood up and stared at him. Hands on hips, with only his underpants on, the boy waited.

“Like what you see?” The boy smirked, turned and opened a cupboard door, then removed a towel. 

Joel didn’t reply, just watched the boy.

He threw the towel at Joel. It hit him and dropped to the floor.

“For God’s sake, get out of your clothes and get dry.” The boy turned back to the cupboard to get another towel and began drying himself.

Joel slowly got undressed. It wasn’t that he was shy, or that he was in any way concerned, the boy had only been nice, but his head was fuzzy. It was hard to get coherent thoughts together. Joel was not at all sure that he had not suffered something, maybe he’d been contaminated?

He did as he had been told, removed all his soaking wet clothes, bent down and picked up the towel to dry himself off. It was then he saw the boy was naked. He looked at him standing with his back to Joel picking clean clothes from the cupboard.

Something stirred inside Joel as he observed the boy. His eyes rested glued to the figure in front of the cupboard, and in particular to the fine rounded cheeks of the boy’s arse.

The boy knew that Joel was looking at him, he could sense the gaze of Joel’s eyes staring into him. He didn’t have to look, he felt it. He pulled on some clothes. He thought to himself – ‘this could work out.’

Once dressed in shorts and t-shirt, he turned around to look at Joel who was standing naked next to a pile of wet clothes, with the towel held in both his hands in front of him.

“We’re about the same size,” the boy said. “Come here and pick something to wear.”

Joel walked over to stand next to him by the cupboard, but still clutching the towel. The boy turned back and they accidently brushed shoulders. He smiled at Joel. It was definitely a smile, not a smirk, a genuine smile.

As Joel reached out to take a t-shirt from the cupboard his towel dropped a little. The boy moved away to sit on the bed, but still watching Joel. To pull the t-shirt on Joel had no alternative than to let the towel drop completely to the floor, and now it was his turn to feel that sensation of someone’s eyes staring.

Once the t-shirt was on he picked out some underpants and turned back towards the boy on the bed. “Can I take these?,” Joel asked, holding them up.

“Yeah,” the boy replied. “Everything’s clean.”

For some weird reason Joel was getting hard. He had no idea why. Joel could look at a person and admire beauty, and the boy was a fine example, but he had never been predisposed to any sort of attraction towards another boy. This was a first!

Joel realised that his head was clearing.  He got dressed, choosing a pair of jeans, then closing the cupboard and taking a seat in the armchair, which clanged metallically as he lowered himself into it.

“It’s a worn out bit of shit,” the boy told him.

Joel smiled back.
 

                                                                                                                         Come Away With Me   

Part 3

It had been over a week since Ethan had seen Michael, and was beginning to wonder if they would ever talk again. He had thought that Michael would ring to apologize but nothing at all had happened, and he himself had felt that as he was not in the wrong he was not going to be the first to phone.

He made his way home from school with Johnny at his side.

“You still seeing Bolton in the evenings Ethan?” Johnny enquired

“No haven’t seen him for over a week.”

“Then why haven’t you been over to visit me in the evenings?”

“Didn’t really feel like it Johnny”

“What’s the reason you haven’t been to see him?”

“No reason just giving it a bit of a rest for the moment.”

“What’s he like to talk to?”

“He’s okay actually quite interesting.”

“Do you like him?

“Yeah, he’s not bad, better than some of those stupid friends he used to have.”

“How come after he had that truce with you he became a bit of a loner?”

“Don’t know, anyway why are you so interested in him all of a sudden?”

“I’m not interested in him just never had a chance like you to talk to him.”

Well I’ve not spoken to him for over a week, and I don’t think I will be speaking to him anytime soon.”

“Have you had an argument with him?

“No, why d’you ask?”

“Because of the way you’re talking and the way you’ve been acting at school for the last ten days.”

“You’re imagining things what’s with you all of a sudden.”

“Okay no need to get your knickers in a twist only asked a simple question.”

“I’m sorry Johnny, see you in school tomorrow.” he turned with Johnny’s goodbyes echoing in his ears into the street that he lived on.

Michael was miserable; he couldn’t understand why he’d got so jealous of Ethan’s friendship with Johnny, causing him to drive Ethan away, and now he had no one that visited him. He’d lost interest in trying to get about on his crutches and constantly made excuses not to. His loss of appetite was soon made apparent in the thinness of his body. His parents noticing his change in character questioned him and were politely told to “Leave me alone.”

In the second week when the situation hadn’t improved they informed the doctor about his condition. The doctor after due consideration told them he’d be around to see the boy after his surgery appointments.

Later in the evening after the doctor had examined Michael he sat discussing the boy’s health with his parents.

“There is nothing medically wrong with Michael,” he said, “his fractures are mending well from what we can see from the last x-rays that were taken, so something must have happened at home to cause this downward trend in his physical well-being.”

“That’s just it doctor we just don’t know what it can be.”

“Have you questioned him on the matter?”

“Yes and we can’t get a thing out of him.”

“What about his friends can’t they find out what the problem is?”

“Well he hasn’t had any visitors not for quite a time. Even before his accident he didn’t get many friends coming around not like he used to have. Then only Ethan Grant visited him while he was in hospital, and only the once on the first day he came home, since then no one has been to visit him.”

“That could well be the problem not having any friends visiting him. I’m not sure what we can do about that, you can’t very well force children to visit, only ask.”

“I’m not too sure that Michael would like us asking boys to visit him doctor, he’s told us on a couple of occasions to leave him alone.”

“Well the only other way to get him to eat would be to threaten him with hospitalisation again, and that’s what I’d better do right now, will you excuse me a minute while I go and speak to him again.”

The doctor knocked and entered Michael’s room.

“I’ve been discussing you’re decline in weight with your parents Michael, and it seems that you just don’t want to cooperate and eat what’s prepared for you. If you continue to eat such minuscule portions of food then the only solution is to enter you into hospital. Then have you fed intravenously until we feel that you can be trusted to eat properly again, do you understand?”

“Do what you want doctor I don’t really care what you do.”

The doctor left the room and confronted the parents again.

“That didn’t seem to have much effect on him, if his appetite doesn’t improve in the next week then let me know and we’ll re-enter him into hospital.”

“Alright doctor and thank you for coming.”

Precisely eight days later Michael Bolton was back in hospital, and promptly put on an intravenous feed his weight was down to 95lbs. he’d lost nearly 55lbs in weight and the doctors were getting concerned about his condition. His parents and younger brother were absolutely distraught not knowing what could cause Michael’s health to deteriorate in this manner.

For the first two days Mrs Bolton stayed and slept in the hospital with Michael, on the third day she went home and Michael’s father took over. After attending to the younger son she drove down to the local supermarket to stock up the groceries for the next few days. Inside she bumped into Ethan’s mother who at once enquired about Michael and how he was doing.”

“He’s back in hospital again.” she replied.

“Oh my goodness whatever happened.”

“Well we don’t know, he just hasn’t been eating and seems to have lost interest in everything, so the doctor re-admitted him to hospital, so they could feed him intravenously and keep him under observation.”

“Oh dear I’m so sorry to hear that Mrs Bolton, I do hope he recovers soon is there anything that I can do to help.”

“No, not really we don’t even know what to do, please excuse me I have to get going and finish my shopping bye for now.”

Ethan’s mother finished her shopping and went home. Later that day when her son returned from school she questioned him.

“You didn’t tell me that Michael was back in Hospital.”

“What,” Ethan shouted absolutely astounded, “Michael in hospital since when?”

“I don’t know I met his mother in the supermarket and she told me. He seems to be quite bad they’ve got him on an intravenous feed at the moment.”

“Oh God, mum you’ve got to take me to the hospital right now.”

“Have your tea first then we can go.”

“No mum right now. I just can’t think of eating after hearing about Michael.”

“Alright get whatever you have to and let’s go.”

“I don’t need anything mum the quicker we get there the better.”

They made their way to the car and within ten minutes were at the hospital and making their way to where Michael was hospitalised. At the entrance to the ward Ethan stopped and looked around, he saw Mr Bolton seated at the side of Michael’s bed that was blocking his vision of Michael. He quietly walked over to stand behind Mr Bolton and looked over to see Michael sleeping. Sensing someone behind him Mr Bolton turned and smiled as he recognised Ethan.

“Come and sit down Ethan there’s a chair there,” he said indicating, “that you can use, draw it up beside me.”

Ethan did as was requested and sat down, “How is he Mr Bolton?”

“No different than when he entered hospital Ethan, we thought that he might decide to start eating properly when he was brought in, but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference to him.”

Has he been sleeping long?”

“About a couple of hours or so. I’m just going to go and have something to drink do you want anything Ethan?”

“No thanks Mr Bolton.”

“Okay see you shortly.”

As soon as Mr Bolton left Ethan stretched his hand out and clasped Michael’s and started gently squeezing it. He felt like he wanted to burst into tears to see his friend looking so sick and weak. He couldn’t believe this was the same Michael that terrorised him now just a shell of his former self. The hand that had hit him a couple of times was now as slim as his own. The thoughts brought the tears that he had managed to hold back earlier flow down his cheeks unchecked. He was so full of his sorrow that he didn’t hear Mr Bolton return till he heard him sit down beside him. Quickly he removed his hand from Michael’s but not before Mr Bolton had seen him clasping his son’s hand.

“Ethan you don’t have to take your hand away. If you feel comfortable holding Michael’s hand then do so. Here you’d better wipe your face,” he said handing him a tissue.

“Thanks Mr Bolton,” Ethan said through his sniffling, “I couldn’t help it when I saw how thin Michael is do you think he’s going to be alright?”

“Yes I think so, the doctors here are very good. I think they’ll get him back on his feet and looking normal again. I saw your mother in the restaurant I asked her to come up as there was only the two of us here so she should soon join us.”

He had hardly finished speaking when Mrs Grant walked into the ward and sucked in her breath on seeing the condition of Michael.

“Whatever caused Michael to relapse to this condition? She enquired of Mr Bolton; “he was getting along fine the last time I saw him.”

“We just don’t know, from the first day he got home he seemed to just go downhill.”

Hearing Mr Blake mention when Michael’s health started to deteriorate Ethan realised that it was the day of their argument, but he couldn’t have taken it so bad his leaving that day, he thought. He couldn’t, Oh God, was he to blame for Michael getting so ill. He hadn’t meant their argument to last as long as it did, he’d felt miserable not being able to talk to him. Please God let him get better, his mind raced and thoughts flew through mind, I promise God, I’ll do my best to behave and I won’t argue with him again, just don’t let him die please God, please.

His thoughts were interrupted as Michael’s eyes opened and focused on his face. Slowly a smile spread across his face, “Ethan,” he whispered.

“Michael, did you have a good sleep.”

“Yeah but if I’d known you were coming I’d have stayed awake.”

“Michael, I’m sorry for walking out on you the day you came home from hospital.”

“Bullshit, it was my fault, I made you leave the only thing was I didn’t know how badly it would effect me.”

Turning to Mr Bolton and his mother Ethan asked if he could talk to Michael in private if they didn’t mind as they had to settle a misunderstanding that they’d had some time ago.”

Sure Ethan.” Mr Bolton said and escorted Mrs Grant out of the ward.

Ethan returned to holding Michaels’s hand then gently squeezing it he smiled and said, “Michael, Johnny, and the others they’re my friends, but you’re not, you’re different you’re more than a friend. I just don’t have words to explain how I feel when I stand beside you, like now holding your hand. At this moment my chest is aching and I want to wrap my arms around you and just squeeze you, I don’t feel like this with my other friends just you Michael you’re something special.”

“I’m sorry for acting like a fool Ethan, and causing everyone so much worry, I really was jealous of Johnny, and thought that he would make you forget me, but now you’ve made me feel like I want to jump out of this bed. Can you come closer and put your arms around me like you said, I need you to hold me for a while.”

The small boy stood up and wrapped his arms around the patient, he managed to get his small arms around Michael only because of his loss of weight.

As Ethan held him, on the spur of the moment Michael turned his head and placed a kiss on his cheek.

“Michael will you give over the other kids in the ward can see what you’re doing.”

“Not in the least bit worried about what they think, anyway that was another way of saying thank you.”

“For what?”

“For everything, for telling me how you felt about me for making me feel hungry again, and most of all for just being here with your arms around me.”

Ethan could no longer hold back his feelings after hearing what Michael said, he lowered his lips to Michael’s and pecked him on the lips.

“You boy’s seem to have finished talking I see.”

“Ethan let go of Michael and spun around to see Mr Bolton and his mother standing at the foot of the bed.

“Umm, yes Mr Bolton and Michael is feeling a lot better.”

“Is that’ because you were giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation,” he said smiling.

“Umm no, I was just I was umm I.”

“Alright Ethan,” Mr Bolton interrupted his spluttering, “I was just joking I’m sure that Michael was enjoying your administrations on him as I don’t see any signs of disapproval on his face.”

Ethan hung his head and started to leave when Mr Bolton stopped him.

“Don’t leave Ethan, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have made fun of you, Michael needs you so much, just the look in his eyes tells me he’s feeling better because of your presence here.”

“You’re not mad at what you just saw Mr. Bolton.”

“No Ethan, I’m not mad, I’m happy to see my son with a sparkle in his eye again maybe your presence has done him more good than all the medicines.”

“I don’t know about that Mr Bolton, but he did say he was starving not long ago so he must be feeling better, don’t you think?”

Mr Bolton looked at the boy’s upturned enquiring face, “I reckon that’s the best news we’ve heard in quite a few days Ethan,” he said ruffling the boy’s hair, “Now all we have to do is find him some food instead of pumping all that grunge through his veins.”

Michael’s recovery if not spectacular was speedy so that within a couple of days he was allowed home and his parents told to return with him in a months time to have his fractures x-rayed prior to have the plasters removed if the healing process was satisfactory. He was glad to be back home again with the added bonus knowing that Ethan would be around as soon as he could after school. Ethan not wanting to lose Johnny’s friendship told him that after school he would be visiting Michael every day till he was back on his feet. At first Johnny was none too pleased having Michael taking up so much of Ethan’s time but he soon found other friends to spend his evenings with.

The day finally arrived when Michael returned from the hospital minus his arm and leg plasters. The strapping around his rib cage being removed some two weeks earlier. When Ethan made his daily visit after school as he walked into Michael’s room he stopped in his tracks, mouth open. When he found his voice he looked at Michael sitting on the bed with a big grin on his face. Ethan slowly walked over to him and wrapped his arms around Michael laying his head on his chest he mumbled,

“You didn’t tell me you shit.”

“I wanted to surprise you,” encircling his arms around the smaller boy. “Made my mum and dad promise not to tell you even had to threaten Robert with sudden death if he even hinted it to you.”

Kissing the smaller boy on the top of the head, “So what do you think, big improvement eh?”

Ethan didn’t answer with watery eyes he lifted his face to bring their lips together, their tongues sort and found its partner as they revelled in the feelings the kiss brought about.

Breaking the kiss Michael spoke, “Ethan.”

“Yeah.”           

“Will you do me a favour?

“What?”

“Will you ask your mum if you can sleep here tonight? Its Saturday tomorrow so there’s no school for you.”  

“Okay, but I won’t phone I’ll go home and ask her she’s bound to say yes, then I can pick up my clothes and come straight back.”

“You won’t be long will you?”

“I’ll be so quick my feet won’t touch the ground.” Giving Michael a quick peck on the lips he said, “Bye,” left the room yelling his goodbyes to Michael’s parents as he ran out of the front door.

“Michael, what on earth is going on I just heard Ethan yelling goodbye and the front door slam.”

“It’s okay mum, he’s just gone to ask his mother if he can spend the night here.”

“Oh, and I suppose I’m not to be consulted on this matter.”

“Oops, sorry mum just didn’t think, can he spend the night.”

“No.”

“Oh Mummmm.”

“Alright I was just joking.”

“Thanks mum.”

An hour later when Ethan hadn’t returned Michael got on the phone to Ethan’s house. After a couple of rings Mrs Grant answered the phone.

“Umm Mrs Grant is Ethan coming over to spend the night?”

“No, I’ve told him that he’s not allowed to sleep at your house, and the less he saw of you the better.”

“What do you mean the less he saw of me.”

“Michael was interrupted by Mrs Grant saying, “Goodbye,” and putting the phone down.

Michael was stunned, he quickly went to his mother and told her what had happened.

“Michael, Mrs Grant is well within her rights to stop her son from seeing whoever she feels is not right for him. I would do the same if I thought that another boy was a bad influence on you.”

“But mum I haven’t done anything bad.”

“Michael your father told me about how he and Mrs Grant found the two of you kissing.”

“Oh but that’s not bad is it.”

“Not in my eyes Michael, but other people don’t see things in the same light. Mrs Grant I suppose was just waiting for you to have your plasters removed to put a stop to your friendship with Ethan. In her eyes because you’re the more physically mature she holds you to blame for what happened, and she doesn’t want Ethan joining you in friendship any longer.”

“Well she can’t stop me from seeing Ethan at school. The term ends next week but after the holiday when I’m fit to go back I’ll see him then.”

“Yes, you can see him then but don’t antagonise Mrs Grant, you’ll only make matters worse.”

Ethan sat opposite his mother in silence.

“I’m doing it for your own good Ethan, he’s a bad influence and he’s corrupting your mind, boys like that should be kept away from the others.”

“He’s not corrupting my mind, I want to be with Michael and be his friend.”

“Yes, I don’t mind you having friends, but kissing other boys.”

“So that’s what it’s all about.” Ethan said interrupting his mother, “Well Michael wasn’t kissing me I was kissing him so you’ve got it all wrong.”

“You never had these kind of thoughts until you met him. You never did any kissing with Johnny did you?”           

“I didn’t have the same feelings for Johnny, like I did for Michael.”

“Look I’m not going to argue with you, you’re not seeing him again and I mean it. Don’t think that you’ll see him in school after the holidays, because I intend changing your school so that will be the end of any relationship with Michael Bolton.”

Ethan stood up stared at his mother then without a word turned his back on her and walked out of the room.

The next day only when she spoke to him did Ethan speak to his mother, at all other times he kept quiet and never instigated any conversation.

Mrs Grant thought that after a few days he’d get over the ban on seeing Michael, and that he would resume talking to her. Three weeks later and the situation was still the same, Ethan only spoke when spoken to, the rest of the time he remained silent or locked away in his room. Eventually she snapped and decided to confront him. Knocking on his door she shouted that she wanted to speak to him downstairs in the sitting room. The moment he walked into the room his mother started her tirade.

“Don’t think by resorting to the silent treatment that you’re going to get me to change my mind. You’re going to a new school and that’s settled, and if you think you can see your friend behind my back think again. If I so much as suspect that you’ve seen him I’ll have the police brought in on the case. They may not be able to do much because of your ages but it will make him out to be the offender. I don’t think the boys in his school will take very kindly to that, if he’s suspected of molesting another boy smaller than himself.”

Ethan looked at his mother in astonishment, he’d not realised to what lengths she’d go to break his friendship with Michael and for the first time in days he decided to answer his mother.

“I never expected you to be so narrow minded, you may be able to stop me from seeing Michael but you will never break the feelings I have for him. You can only have control over me till a certain age then as soon as I am old enough I will leave this house and you. Then I will go to Michael if he still wants me, and you can live your life whichever way you want, but I will not be any part of it.”

When he’d finished talking Ethan turned and walked out of the room and out of the front door.

Hearing the front door close Mrs Grant sat down and burst into tears. She realised that by trying to hold onto her son she had more or less driven him away.

It wasn’t his friendship with Michael that had prompted her to act in the way she did, if it had been a girl she would have found some excuse to break the relationship. She felt that if Ethan were to become too fond of someone whichever sex, that person would replace her in his affections.

She wanted to hold onto him for as long as possible, and was afraid that he would leave her the moment he became emotionally involved with someone else. She’d not expected it to be at such an early age, which had caused her to react the way she did. Friendships she could deal with, but when she saw how her son kissed and looked at Michael she became afraid of the boy that held such a lot of her son’s attention. She had waited till he was out of plaster so that there would be no repeat of the previous incident before acting. But now she realised that what she had done had made matters worse.

She sat and collected her thoughts and made the decision that she could not continue with her present course of action, and when Ethan returned would sit and discuss the matter with him and try and get their lives back to what it used to be.

Ethan meanwhile had walked aimlessly till he found himself at the entrance to the park. Looking around he saw a public telephone, going over to it he inserted 20p and dialled Michael’s number.

“Hello Robert, could you ask Michael to come to the phone please.”

Ethan didn’t have long to wait before Michaels voice was there asking him, “How he was.”

“I’m okay Michael, I don’t have much time, I’m at a public telephone at the entrance to the park so could you meet me here so that we can talk.”

“Okay I’ll be there as fast as my limpy leg will get me there, bye see you in a bit.” and he hung up.

Ethan walked into the park and finding a secluded spot sat down on the grass to wait for Michael. After a while he unclasped his hands from around his knees and lay back closing his eyes.

Ten minutes later he opened his eyes as he felt someone watching him, arching his neck and tilting his head he looked back to see Michael standing looking down at him.

Ethan Jumped up and went over to Michael they held hands and just stood looking at each other till Michael asked,

“What are you doing here?”

“I had an argument with my mum again, she intends sending me to a new school at the beginning of next term.”

“Shit! That’s really being mean, I never thought that she would be like that. So now what do we do. I can’t believe that our friendship can cause your mother so much anger.”

“Well, we can still see each other. We’ll just have to make plans so that she won’t know we’re meeting, because she threatened to call the police, if she found out that I was seeing you behind her back.”

“Bloody Hell! What’s wrong with her Ethan she wasn’t like that before?”

“I’ve no idea she just seems to have lost it and gone off the deep end recently.”

“Okay, I’ll think up something for us and get back to you,” Michael thought for a moment then said, “I’ll get Johnny to deliver the message that way she won’t know.”

He stood clasping the smaller boy to him then nudging the smaller boy on the top of the head said, “Ethan”

“Yeah.” He said looking into Michaels eyes.

“When we’re sixteen your mum can’t stop you from seeing who you wish and you can also leave home, if you have a safe environment to live in.”

“Yeah that’s right.”

“Will you come away with me, we could live together at my parent’s home till we’re old enough to have a place of our own.”

Ethan looked around the park there was no one in sight he leaned upwards and kissed Michael, “Three years seems forever Michael but if I have to wait ten years I’ll wait. Now I had better get home don’t know what my mother is planning next.”

They walked out of the park together then outside reluctantly they went their separate ways.

When he arrived home Ethan opened the door and made for his room. Before he could get to the stairs his mother’s voice rang out.

“Ethan, could you come in here please.”

Reluctantly he turned away from the stairs and made for the sitting room, as he entered his mother looked at him and said,

“I think I had better apologize for the way I’ve behaved and causing us to fall out. I’m sorry Ethan, I never wanted it to be like this but I got frightened that you would get so involved with Michael that I would be left out of your life. It’s not about him being a boy or even if it were a girl I just didn’t want to be left alone.”

Ethan walked over to his mother wrapped his arms around her and hugged her.

“Mum, you never have to fear about me not being part of your life. Even when I was mad with you and no matter what I said, deep down I knew that I could never shut you out.”

Mrs Grant with tears streaming down her cheeks managed to control her voice enough to say, “You’d better go and phone a certain boy and ask him if he wants and if his parents allow him, to come and stay for the weekend.”

“Thanks mum” he said kissing her on the cheek, “you’ll see its much better having two boys in the house instead of one.”

“Yes, and twice as much work now go and make that call.”   

Ethan made his way to the phone and dialled the Bolton’s number Mr Bolton answered the phone.

“Hello Mr Bolton.”

“Ethan how are you?”

“I’m fine Mr Bolton, would it be alright and if Michael is willing for him to spend the weekend at our house, if you and Mrs Bolton are agreeable?”

“I guess it would be alright but hang on a minute I’ll ask him.”

Ethan could hear Mr Bolton shouting to Michael asking him if he wanted to spend the weekend with Ethan. There was no reply until he heard a voice.

“Ethan is that you?”

“Yes.”

“My dad’s not having me on.”

“No my mum and I have sorted things out can you come over.”

“Give me five minutes to throw some clothes in a bag and I’ll ask dad to drive me.”

“Okay then get going bye for now.”

“Bye.” And the telephone conversation ended. Ethan went over to his mother and hugged her again, “Thanks a million mum.”

“Ethan we still have to talk at a later date about your feelings for Michael and his for you. When you’re both sure in which direction you want your lives to progress.”

“Yes mum, I think I’m pretty sure now but I’ll wait and see, and I’m sure Michael will have the same outlook.”

Untangling herself from her sons arms she, said, “I’d better get into the kitchen and prepare some food for an evening meal for us I’m sure someone must have got his appetite back now.”

Ethan grinned “Okay mum I’m going outside to wait for Michael.”

While he stood on the pavement looking down the road waiting to see the red Ford come into view he thought, “If it comes into sight by the time I count ten Michael loves me most of all, and forever and ever. One, two, three, four, fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive, annnnnnnnd siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiix, annnnnnnnnnnnd, sev, Yeah.”

The car came into sight, as soon as it stopped outside the house Michael was out of the car and hugging Ethan. The boys then turned to Mr Bolton saying goodbye to him as he drove off.

As they walked in the front door Ethan’s mother was there, “Hello Michael come in and leave your bag in the hallway, the two of you go into the sitting room while I go and finish the cooking.

The boys made their way into the room, inside and out of sight of his mother Ethan wrapped his arms around Michael and squeezed then looked up into his face expectantly.

“What?”              

“You know what.”

“I don’t, tell me.”

“Michael will you give over annoying me.”

Smiling Michael lowered his face to bring their lips together. At the first touch they moaned and explored each other’s mouths hungrily, Michael literally lifting Ethan of his feet as he crushed him into his body. Breaking the kiss they stood gazing at each other, “It seems like years since we last did that Ethan, God! How I’ve missed you.”

“Me too, now we don’t have to worry about be separated and thinking what we can do to be together.”

“Ethan.”

“Uh huh.”

“If your mum had not allowed us to be together would you have come away with me, when you came of age?”

“I don’t know Michael, I was angry at how my mum reacted but deep down I still love her, and I’m not sure that I’d be able to turn my back on her and walk away.” If it had been the other way round would you.”

“Yeah, it’s easier said than done, anyway that’s not an issue anymore,” he lowered his head to bring their lips together again when Ethan’s mother walked in. 

“If you two can stop sucking on each other’s lips for a second maybe you could help lay the table so that we can eat.”

The boys blushing and laughing did what was asked of them. Later after they’d all eaten and cleared the table and watched television for a while the boys after wishing Mrs Grant goodnight made their way to bed.

Upstairs in the privacy of Ethan’s room for the first time they would be able to look upon each other’s naked forms. Surprisingly they were both shy to undress and just stood looking at each other. Michael was the first to speak.

“Ethan.”

“Yes.”

“Are you feeling the same as me?”   

“What are you feeling?”

“Nervous.”

“No, I’m not nervous, I’m just about pooping myself.”

Michael burst out laughing grabbed Ethan, and swung him around then carried him to the bed gently laying him down and settling down beside him. His arms wrapped around the smaller boy Michael just lay looking into his eyes.

“What.”

“Michael didn’t answer.

“Michael what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, everything’s right. I’ve been dreaming of this moment so many, many, times and now that it’s here I don’t want it to ever go away. Just lying here with you in my arms feeling your body against mine is the wickedest feeling in the world, except for the other one of course.”

“What other one?”

“You know.”

“I don’t tell me,” Ethan said, bursting into laughter.

“Right I’m not going to tell you I’m going to show you.” Michael pulled the smaller boy into him and started to grind his erection against Ethan’s just as swollen gland.

“You took long enough to show me Thought you were going to talk all night. I’ve been umf,” and Ethan was cut short as Michael’s lips covered his and felt his tongue being caressed by Michael’s.

Michael broke the kiss, “Ethan, let,s get undressed my dick is aching to feel yours against mine without the clothes between us.”

They both got off the bed and started to strip their nervousness gone with the anticipation of what was to come.

They stood naked looking at each other, Michael stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and drew him against his body. They shuddered as their bodies made contact and their erections rubbed together. Michael fell back on the bed dragging Ethan with him so that the smaller boy lay on top of him. Their lips came together and eagerly their tongues sort to make contact bringing moans from them as they relished the feelings of pleasure that emanated from the rubbing of their loins and the caressing of their tongues. Suddenly Ethan’s hips started to buck as the he began to near orgasm he ground even harder against Michael’s erection then lifting his head and arching his back he rammed one more time hard against Michael he yelled, “Oh God! Michael, and his hips started jerking uncontrollably as the semen erupted from his loins to spray between them. The sight of Ethan achieving an orgasm, and feeling him shooting his semen between them sent Michael into overdrive. Just as Ethan was nearing the end of his orgasm so Michael exploded, he squeezed the smaller boy into his body yelling, “Oh God! Ethan,” he cried, as his hips started pumping and globs of semen flew out of his penis to mix with Ethan’s deposit.

Minutes later Michael rolled onto his side to ease Ethan’s weight off him. They lay with arms still around each other face to face smiled then brought their lips together in gentle pecks.

“Michael.”

“Uh huh.”              

“That was the most wonderful feeling I’ve ever had.”

“God Ethan, I don’t know, wonderful just doesn’t come close to how I felt, and now with you in my arms I don’t ever want it to end.”

“Michael, will you love me forever.”

He looked at the smaller boy and pecked him on the lips “What makes you think that I’m ever going to stop loving you. Have you forgotten what happened to me when I thought you’d left me?”

“I’m really sorry for that. I still feel really bad about it.”

“You shouldn’t it was all my fault for trying to make you do what I wanted and not trusting you. I was so jealous of you I couldn’t stand to think that you’d like anyone else more that you liked me.”

Ethan lifted himself up to look down on Michael, he pushed him onto his back then lay on top of him and brought their lips together. Their tongues united and sent currents of pleasure through their bodies their tongues danced inside their mouths twirling, caressing, thrusting, bringing the very spark of life that lay within them to unite as if they were one.

When the kiss ended Ethan looked at Michael, “Do you still think that I could love anyone more than you?”

“Nope.”

Happy and content they lay together arms entwined around each other their eyes beginning to droop as gradually sleep overtook them and they passed into dreamland.

                                                                                                                                                                             The End.       

Chapter One

“Hey there, old roomie! What’s happening?” Paul Champlain, a senior year student at The Steele Academy looked in on Jim Gilman, his longtime friend and, until this year, his roommate.

“Yo, Paul. Not much. Just getting the feel for the new digs and trying to keep the little munchkins from going totally berserk. It’s fun to finally be the top dogs at school.” Jim looked up from where he was relaxing on his sofa.

“I hear ya, Jim.” Paul read aloud the sign on the dormitory door. “James Gilman – Resident Assistant. “Wow. Poor you! Full-time professional nursemaid. What did you get? Seventh graders or eighth graders?”

“Eighth graders, lucky for me. Newbies in seventh are way more trouble than they’re worth.”

“No shit. I lucked out so I just get to attend school this year. No underclassmen who need their noses wiped, no late-night tear fests. I may have to share a campus with them but I don’t have to work for them too!”

“Oh c’mon, you old Grinch. It’s not all that bad. The private room here is a nice perk – I don’t have to share with low-lifes like you. And the break on tuition comes in handy when I have to make car payments on the new Jeep.”

“Better low-life than no-life! So yeah – I heard a rumor your old man caved on the Jeep deal. Seriously?”

Jim smiled broadly nodded. “Yep. In the parking lot as we speak.”

“Excellent! See what you get for keeping your nose clean and having no fun? We’re going to have to try that monster out on some back Texas roadways, right?”

“No sweat. You pay for the gas, we go for the ride!”

“Consider it done. I gotta cruise. See you at supper.”

“Gotcha.” Jim watched as Paul sauntered away down the hall, scattering underclassmen in his path.

Jim reached up and stretched casually, his hands on the doorframe above him, and smiled to himself. There were six RA’s for the 60 incoming seventh graders, five for the eighth graders. If things went as normal, each group would work out weekend duties so nobody became a prisoner of ‘The Little People’ as they generally referred to their wards.

At 5’10” Jim was no giant, but he still towered over most of the 13- and 14-year olds he’d be supervising in the year ahead. There was even a pair of 12-year-old eighth graders for the first couple of months before their birthdays kicked in. He knew there would be challenges, but there was also bound to be a lot of fun included along the way.

As he noticed the clock on his desk he realized there was no time like the present to take care of one of those challenges, so he wandered down the hallway. Boxes of clothes and hangers and bedding and unidentified junk filled his path. He carefully paused or ducked as needed to avoid the youngsters unloading their prized possessions and making up their rooms.

At last he arrived at his destination and noticed two familiar youngsters chatting excitedly. One of the beds was neatly made with things put away in drawers and closet. The other bed was still bare, and nothing was hanging in the second closet at all. He gently knocked on the doorframe. “ ’allo?”

The two boys in the room turned to see who would knock before entering. They and their peers had spent the previous year getting accustomed to Steele Academy, but courtesies and niceties weren’t a big part of their young tween lifestyle. They normally just barged in. They smiled when they saw it was their fearless dormitory leader, Jim.

“Howdy!” said the boy standing by the door. Mike Sullivan was a happy kid who shared that characteristic with everybody he met. “You out prowling for the turkeys who aren’t finished moving in yet?” he asked with his perpetual grin. “We’re just getting settled in. I’m in 205 and we’re done there. Trevor and I just finished his place here so we can help the other guys if they need it. Oh. And the McCoskeys are late as always so they’ll do windows and floors for the rest of the year!”

“Well, no turkey hunting today, Mike. Just a bit of business to take care of,” Jim replied. He noted that Mike had put on a few inches in the course of his first year at Steele, and was closing in on 5’4” or so. Mike’s piercing blue eyes peeked out from under a dark brown rat’s nest of a hairdo and seemed to broadcast a message of comfort. Jim responded with a grin of his own. “And it looks like I found the two businessmen I need to take care of that business with both at the same time.” He paused. “When you get a couple of minutes, wander on down to my office. I have a proposition to make.”

“Geez! His ‘office’ now?” exclaimed Trevor Davis from his reclining position on his bed. “We’re back here less than a day and already the RA’s propositioning us. Is that good or bad?”

Mike grinned and shrugged as he whispered sotto voce, “All depends on what the proposition is and what’s in it for us. Let’s play along.”

Jim shook his head and looked skyward. “I should’ve asked for seventh graders. I swear I should’ve.” He turned and walked back towards his room cum office, certain the duo would be close behind. They were.

“Gee, Jim,” started Mike as they arrived at Jim’s room. “I love what you’ve done with the place! The whole scene is just SO you!”

“Very funny, dirtbag. Now get in here and close the door for a minute.” Jim motioned to the sofa that replaced one of the two beds found in a standard room, and took a seat by his desk. He compared the duo as they moved to the couch. Trevor was the shorter of the two by perhaps two inches or so. His bright blonde hair contrasted sharply with Mike’s deep brown, but they somehow complemented each other. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and began speaking.

“I actually need you guys to consider doing me a favor, but it’s not a foregone conclusion just yet.” He looked pointedly at Mike and said, “It might be asking more of you than you care to share, and I’ll understand if you say ‘No’, okay?”

Mike nodded. “Go for it. I have a hunch I might already know what you’re going to ask.”

“Fair enough.” Jim paused. “Fact is I just learned for certain that the McKoskey twins won’t be returning this year.”

“What?!” exclaimed Trevor. “Not at all? Tom was supposed to be my roommate. And Tim was going to be Mike’s, right?”

“Yep.” Jim took a deep breath. “But it seems their dad just got orders to go to Germany and they decided they desperately wanted to go along. It all just got finalized yesterday or I would’ve let you know before you went and set up your rooms.”

“Yeah,” said Mike. “Tim sent me a note about it the other night. He said they still weren’t sure as of then. Seems they found out the drinking age in Germany is 14 with your parents’ permission. And his brother told him that 14 is also the ‘informed consent’ age to have sex too, except you also have to get permission from the girl’s father. I can almost picture that one!”

Trevor laughed. “Yah, yah, Mr. Schmidt, can me and your daughter and my brother have some fun and … my what a beautiful shotgun and we’ll be going now and forever! Adios!”

Jim picked up the theme. “Sounds about right, although I’m not sure ‘adios’ is how you say ‘it’s time to disappear’ in German. But anyway, for now, the question is, would you two like to share a room? I guess you can have either of the two you’ve already set up. Otherwise it’s the luck of the draw who you end up with if we get late registrations.”

Trevor didn’t hesitate for a moment. “I’m good with joining up.” He smiled. “Probably could do better with a bum off the street, but we all must make sacrifices from time to time. If I could survive a McCoskey I can probably survive anybody. Maybe even Mike here.”

“Okay. That sounds like a ‘marginally almost sort of tolerable’ from Trevor.” Jim grinned. “Mike?”

“I gotta say it’s tempting, but I think I know what you were hesitating about, right, Jim?”

“Afraid so, Mike. This is one of those stupid ‘open kimono’ moments.” He chuckled. “Well, almost.”

“Gotcha. Okay. I’m totally good with it. And I don’t think it’ll be a shock.” He looked at Trevor.

“Trev, I honestly believe you’re one of the best guys in the class. And it doesn’t hurt that we’re the two youngest guys in the class either, so we have that in common. We can cover for each other when some of the dipshits go whacko.”

Trevor nodded. “No joke. Despite how ugly you are, that’s sort of comforting.” He winked.

“And that’s where the problem comes in,” Mike continued. “Only about five people on campus know this, and I hope you can keep it to yourself, but that’s up to you. The fact is…” He paused to catch his breath. “Fact is that I’m gay. And the second fact is, and I doubt Jim even knew this for sure, is that I think you’re cute. Really cute.” His voice began to falter. “Like… like totally hot cute. So maybe us being roommates isn’t a bright idea.” He exhaled and let his shoulders slump low.

Jim looked back and forth between the two boys. For the longest time, nobody spoke. Mike looked completely exhausted while Trevor looked confused and, if anything, a bit shell-shocked. After several painfully long moments – which felt like hours – had passed, Jim chimed in to break the ice.

“Thank you, Mike. I know what that took. Trevor, that’s probably a lot to take in for now. Maybe you’d feel better if you slept on it or something?”

Trevor shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. You said we all have to be honest so I guess it’s my turn.” He looked directly at Mike.

“I know that took a lot of courage, Mike. And I’m sorry how hard it was for you. Maybe I did sort of know or at least suspect, and the McCoskeys weren’t always the best at keeping quiet.

“But the fact is I’ve sort of kept things from you too. From everybody, actually. I’ve never said a word to anybody. For all I know, my mom is the only person who ever really noticed. Well, her and my dad before he died. The fact is, Mike…”

Trevor took a deep breath.

“Mike…” He hung his head as if to cry. “Mike, I’m a southpaw.” He stopped abruptly.

“A southpaw?” Mike scrunched up his face.

“Yep. Left-handed as the day is long. I write left-handed. I eat left-handed. I color left-handed. Hell, if I could catch or throw a ball to save my life I’d probably do that left-handed, but I can’t do that so I won’t do that at all. Ever. My Cub Scout knots were all backwards. My writing hand, which I guess should be called a lefting hand, is always covered with ink smear. You have no idea how embarrassing it is when people notice.” He paused and sat there, head hanging low.

Mike contained himself only a second before he erupted. “What the FUCK are you talking about? Who the hell cares if you’re left-handed?”

Jim caught the grin on Trevor’s face just a moment before Mike did.

Trevor seized the moment. “Exactly, you jerk! You think I care if you’re gay? I honestly don’t give a shit, okay? I honestly don’t care. You’re my best friend here, and probably the best friend I’ve ever had or ever dreamed of having, so I honestly DO NOT CARE, you asshole!”

Mike shook his head as he regained some semblance of control. “You honestly got all that worked up – got me all that worked up – just to jerk my chain?”

“Yeah. I’m afraid you’re rubbing off on me,” replied Trevor with a smug look of accomplishment on his face. “And it was totally worth it.”

“So… you’re serious? We’re roommates?”

Trevor looked to Jim for confirmation and got a shrug and a nod.

“Looks like we’re stuck with each other. Which room should we take?”

“To be honest, mine overlooks the square. Sort of more scenic.”

“Sure, yeah. So you can perv on all the guys in their PE gear.” Trevor shrugged. “Okay by me.” He looked at their RA. “Okay with you, Jim?”

“If you guys are happy with it, I’m totally fine.”

“Then let’s get out of here and get relocating. C’mon, Mike.”

Mike paused for a moment and looked at Trevor, a devilish grin on his face. “You dreamed of me, huh? Wow. And just out of curiosity… you said you do EVERYthing left-handed?”

Jim quickly interjected. “You two have the entire rest of the year to answer that, okay? Now get outta here! GO!”

The two boys threw open the door and actually giggled their way down the hall. Jim shook his head and smiled to himself. It was definitely going to be an interesting year.

Between the two of them, Mike and Trevor made quick time of relocating. Mike was actually correct about having the nicer room, so they grabbed everything in Trevor’s room and lugged it down the hallway. Some of the other boys objected about their things being tossed in the process, but Mike laid it all to rest with a quick, “You snooze, you lose!”

At last, the final sock had found its way into a vacant drawer, shirts, pants, and shoes were neatly stashed in their closets, and they both kicked back on their beds to rest.

“Can you imagine what this place must’ve been like back when Steele was an actual military school?” asked Trevor.

“Well, the only thing I know is there’s no way I’d be here if it was. This place has plenty of rules and all, but it’s still basically fun,” Mike answered. “I mean yeah, I could do without morning calisthenics and crap like that, but it counts for PE and you have to do that sometime.”

“Sure. But all the rules they must’ve had? Salute! Drop and give me twenty! Throw the grenade! Not for me.”

“Maybe,” Mike answered with a grin. “But there are a few people I wouldn’t mind throwing a grenade at.”

“You really are a violent twit! I’m glad I’m your roommate and not somebody on your shit list.”

“Speaking of which, that reminds me. The cafeteria should be open for supper by now. Let’s eat!”

“Good for me!” replied Trevor.

“And just for the record, you can be my roommate AND on my shit list at the same time. Just sayin’.”

Trevor popped him up against the side of his head with his ball cap as he dashed through the open doorway. “Yep. It’s going to be a great year.”

Es Endet

-------------------

Musings

As he pushed the lawn mower back and forth over eighteen-inch grass, Georges Gilbert Celeste Latourette, George to his friends, was glad he had torn himself from the computer. He invested most of his waking hours in front of it, engaging in constructive pursuits like editing Wikipedia articles, writing impassioned political Facebook essays—read by others with similar points of view, and reading stories at his favorite internet site. Stories about well-adjusted, athletic, clear-skinned teenagers with full heads of hair, who stood up to bullies and found romance with other teens like themselves. He spent countless additional hours secretly playing mindless games and viewing online porn after everyone else had gone to bed, making himself more depressed as he tried to ignore a sense of impending doom regarding the consequences of his procrastinations.

George was enjoying the physical activity. Maybe it would keep him from having another heart attack, though that seemed unlikely, given the ice cream binges at his brother’s house, where he had been crashing for a year now, and the desserts and extra portions of somewhat nutritious food at the Lake County Senior Center, three days a week. Extrapolating from his grandfather’s fatal heart attack at age 46, and his father’s at 65, he thought there might be some hope. On the other hand, both of his parents had gotten type 2 diabetes and George had recently graduated into prediabetes. It was hard to stay motivated, and he sometimes thought that an early death would save him from Alzheimer’s and provide some money for his relatives and causes that he supported.

The grass surrounded one of his rental houses, currently empty. Much of the grass was somewhat shorter, but the yard was large, like many yards in Lakeview and unlike the meager weed patch surrounding his house in San Jose. This job would end up taking a few hours and two refills of gasoline.

George used the time to think about his plans for the yard. There would be a passive solar greenhouse, partially buried and containing enough thermal mass to avoid spending nonrenewable energy and money on heat during the winter, when temperatures sometimes dropped below zero, Fahrenheit. And vegetables, enough to eat healthy salads all year. He was currently making do with overpriced organic produce from Lakeview’s only supermarket and, occasionally, that same produce after it expired and found its way onto the Senior Center freebie bench. He also wanted to set up a workshop in the building behind the house where he was mowing. It would have a woodworking section—George could begin to use the joinery tools that he had purchased over the years—and an electronics section where he could learn how to program Arduino and Raspberry computers to set up a home security system and automation for the greenhouse. The Arduino and electronic components that he had purchased a couple of years ago were still in their boxes, so he might need to buy another nanocomputer to take advantage of the latest technology.

Of course he would never do any of those things, just as he would never free himself from his possessions. His house in San Jose was a badly organized warehouse, filled with four dead people’s stuff. Uncomfortable Victorian chairs and fine display cabinets filled with beautiful things that George and Héctor had bought together. The entire contents—paintings, furniture, and junk—of Richard’s parents’ house. And all of Richard’s things. Richard had been a shopaholic, acquiring arguably useful items for twelve years before hanging himself in the hallway, leaving George to deal with it all. George knew that if only he could haul everything to the dump and fix up the house, he would get enough rent money to buy things he liked better, sufficient to fill another house. But, like most of his other plans, that would never happen: it was too hard to let go. He would do to his relatives what Richard had done to him, except for the hanging part. All he needed to do was eat as he had been eating, sleep as he had been sleeping, and take his medicines as consistently as he had been taking them.

His name had been a gift, sixty-eight years earlier, from his father, Dr. John Francois Latourette, Junior. It had created problems for him as a child, especially when the principal read it at his eighth-grade graduation. Celeste? Celeste! And badly pronounced, as if he were two Georges. The names were a tribute to his Huguenot ancestor Georges de la Tourette and Georges’s brother Gilbert-Celeste, and to his famous distant relative, Dr. Georges Gilles de la Tourette. The brothers’ great-grandparents had fled from France to Switzerland after the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572, eventually reaching England. Seeking more freedom and opportunity, Georges and Gilbert-Celeste crossed the Atlantic in 1700 and settled in Manakin Town, Virginia, where they built a house, bought some slaves, and became Americans.

The story was a source of family pride—except the part about the slaves, of whom George learned only as an adult. But to George the child, his name had been one more example of how his father wanted their family to be different, better than families that had televisions, drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes, cussed, and had extramarital sex. Families whose dads let their sons use bad grammar, who played catch with them and took them to baseball games. John had wanted George to be better than his less intelligent classmates. When other kids made fun of his name, George told them about his illustrious relatives, which alienated him from them even more.

Well, George thought, Dad got his wish. John was an accomplished but pathetic man who passed his lack of emotional intelligence onto his son. He’d gotten his other wish, too. Having heard, “When will you ever amount to anything?” many times as a child, George had fulfilled the implied prediction. But John’s biggest sin was that he never taught George how to have fun or experience joy. How could he have?

As he pushed the lawn mower, George pursued his favorite fantasy: going on a one-way trip to when he was a kid, but with the knowledge he had as an adult. This time, he wouldn’t waste his life. He had spent a lot of time in libraries and on the internet to prepare himself. Smarter than everyone else, he would become a visionary teenager, warning the world about carbon dioxide and HIV and standing up for civil liberties and racial justice. He could prevent the AIDS epidemic before it happened and get a Nobel Prize for that. He would get to have sex and romance with guys like the ones in the stories. Put that asshole algebra teacher in his place. Have a perfect put-down for the guy who gave him grief over a sweater that his grandmother had bought for him at a rummage sale. Best of all, after his father used a coat hanger on his bare buttocks, he would say, “Asimov was right: violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” Of course this would earn him another spanking, but he would take the pain without crying. His experience as a BDSM bottom would help with that. He would goad his father into beating him until the police hauled him off for child abuse.

Maybe almost seven decades is enough, he mused. People didn’t live much longer than that, anyway. But first he had to straighten out his affairs.

He finished the mowing. A good afternoon’s work, but not really progress: the grass would only grow back. He noticed he still had some time to work on his current carpentry project, constructing a pair of garage doors. Attached to the workshop, the “garage” was more like a carport, with a sloping roof and a trapezoidal opening in the in the front. Doors would allow the tenants to store their stuff, as he was keeping the workshop for himself. The work went slowly: George had many nice tools but meager skill. Still, he enjoyed using his creativity to solve problems like putting a door into a non-rectangular opening adjacent to the main building’s eaves.

Using a spirit level and protractor to measure the roof slope—not very accurately, it turned out—George tried to visualize exactly how he would need to cut the 10 foot piece of 2 by 10 lumber. The board had to be wide enough to attach just behind the front rafter, but not so wide as to hit the transverse slats supporting the sheet metal. His mind wandering, he looked up at the sky, now a deep gray though sunset was not due for another three hours. He saw a lone goose gliding below the clouds, barely moving except for an occasional wing flap to regain a bit of altitude. Those wings, along with its long neck and extended feet, defined a shape that reminded George of a kite. Very slowly, it drifted north and over the horizon. The dark goose, dark green tree leaves fluttering in an increasing wind, and brownish green of the Warner Mountains contrasted with the clouds in understated elegance.

The temperature had gone unusually low for June, but the inside of the truck would still be warm. George climbed down the ladder and blew into his hands to warm them as he basked in the wonder of what he had just seen. Looking toward the garage, he noticed something on the roof. Could it be his brother’s favorite framing hammer? Yes! Having misplaced it two days earlier, he’d imagined it waiting to become a lawn-mowing casualty. He retrieved it and noticed the lack of any new rust.

Life was good.

--------------------

My first draft of this started with George coming off the ladder and seeing the goose. But that seemed too short, even for flash fiction, and I wanted to explain the significance of "life was good." Eventually, I came to see it as the opening episode of a story, tentatively called Lakeview Chronicles, about a gay senior citizen moving to a small town, finding that he had brought his demons with him (and sometimes fighting them), and finding some moments of happiness. There will be realistic descriptions of the problems and satisfactions of old age, a lot of old people and probably numerous younger characters, hopefully, if I somehow learn how to write credibly about teenagers along the way. Not much action, but less introspection than in this introduction to George's character. No dramatic ending or happy-ever-after, unless I can find a way to make that believable. The story could be open-ended, but episodes will build on previous ones.

So, here are my questions:

• Did the story hold your attention? Would it hold the attention of the kinds of people who read the tales in Awesome Dude?
• Would this be viable as a stand-alone short story? 

Any suggestions or other comments—even those like "this was so boring I couldn't finish it"  or "I never got to the point where I cared about the protagonist"—will be gratefully received.

Thank you!

peter

He stood by the water feature in the mall, eyeing the various people that passed him by. Sizing them up he rejected them one by one, either because of their appearance which did not appeal to him, or, that they went past him as if he did not exist.

The boy was young, it was hard to judge his age he could have been anywhere between eight and eleven. He was black-haired with a light brown complexion; his eyes were big and dark brown verging on black. Like most young boys the eyelashes were long and curled, with thin black eyebrows above them. His nose was small and slightly up turned, and lips that were full and red looked like they’d been coloured by sucking a strawberry Popsicle. Being summer he was dressed in a baggy T-shirt sporting a Nike motif on the left breast. His combat shorts reached below his knees, and his tanned hairless legs flowed into a pair of white socks and trainers. The boy was about 4ft. 6inches in height, slim and stood with a look of despair on his face. He’d been standing in the same spot for nearly twenty minutes as he sized up the adults that went past. Then the look on his face changed. From a look of despair and frustration, his eyes suddenly brightened and became more alert. He moved his position more into the centre of the walkway, knowing the person that he had seen would have to pass close to him as he went by.

The man noticed the child standing in the walkway ahead of him and as he approached he made eye contact with the boy and smiled. He looked down at the child when he was alongside him.

The boy’s mouth opened and tried to speak. His mouth moved but only a croak came out.

Stopping the man looked down at the boy and asked? “What was that?”

The boy’s mouth moved again, and again the same croak came forth

The man reached down placed his hands under the boy’s armpits and lifted him. When he had the boy at eye level he placed an arm around the boy’s upper thighs and supported him in his arms.

“Okay, you don’t have to be frightened what was it you wanted to say?”

“Will you take me home with you.”

“Will I, did I hear you right? Say that again.”

The boy repeated his request for the man to take him home.

“That’s what I thought you said.”

“Yes, if you don’t mind.”

“Hold it, not so fast.” The man said setting the boy down on his feet. “We need to discuss this a bit more. Would you like to talk this over a cup of coffee or milkshake.”

“Okay, there’s a McDonalds just down the ways we could go there.

“Well lead on my fine friend and I’ll follow.”

The boy took the man’s hand and said. “You don’t have to follow you can walk alongside me.”

“Umm, that was just a figure of speech.”

“Oh okay whatever, come on,” as he dragged the man towards the fast food outlet.

When they arrived after enquiring what the boy wanted he went to the counter and placed the order and stood waiting till it was ready. He picked up the food and drinks and made his way over to the table that the boy was seated at.

“One quarter pounder and a chocolate milkshake right,” he said, setting it in front of the boy.

“Yeah thanks a lot,” and the boy didn’t stand on ceremony as he started attacking the food.

The man sat down and watched the boy as he ate not saying a word content to wait till the boy was finished. At the same time his mind was in overdrive thinking what was he supposed to say.

With cheeks bulging with food the boy said, “So what do you want to discuss?”

“What are you doing away from home and why aren’t you in school instead of in the Mall?”

Swallowing a mouthful of food the boy replied, “I was running away from home.”

“Oh I see, and what’s the reason for your running away?”

The boy took another bite of his burgher and with bulging cheeks and with his head bowed he mumbled, “My dad doesn’t love me.”

“And what makes you think that?”

Again the boy swallowed before answering, “Well he’s always too busy to come and attend any parent days at school, or watch me play in the school soccer matches,” and paused to take a sip of his drink before continuing. “Sometimes he doesn’t come home until I’ve gone to bed. Yesterday was the final of the Inter School Cup competition and I scored, and our team won 3-0 and he didn’t come to watch me play. Everybody else’s dad was there, but only my mum came but she doesn’t understand football like dad.”

“What job does your Father do?”

“He’s a doctor.”

“So don’t you think that’s why he couldn’t come to see you all those times because he was busy?”

Taking another sip of his drink the boy replied, “There are other doctors they could do the work if he came to see me at the school couldn’t they.”

“Yes, I suppose so if they were just normal everyday cases, but if they weren’t then he would have to stay at the hospital.”

“That’s what he always says.”

“Would you like to come with me now that you’ve nearly finished your burgher and milkshake before I take you home?” The man said, “I’d like to show you something.”

Taking a last mouthful of chocolate milkshake and swallowing , “Okay,” the boy said, getting to his feet.

“Before we go do you mind if I make a phone call first.”

“Alright.”

The man went to one side and took out his mobile phone, dialled and made his call, he spoke for a few minutes then put the phone away and returned to the boy’s side.

“Taking the boys hand he said, “Right, let’s go.”

They walked in silence to the man’s car they got in and the man drove off, while driving he turned and asked the boy?

“You didn’t take a lot with you if you’re running away.”

“I didn’t want to be tied down with anything heavy,” the boy said looking at the man, “I took all my money that’s all I need.”

“How much have you got?”

“Forty pounds.”

“That’s doesn’t seem to be very much money.”

“It’s a lot of money,” the boy said with a tone of indignation in his voice, “It’s all my savings. I bet I can go really far away with it.”

“Well how far do you want to go?

“I dunno, maybe a zillion miles away.”

“That is far, but have you got your passport with you?”

“Shhhhhugar!” The boy exclaimed looking at the man, “I didn’t think of that. Maybe I can get a forged passport”

“That will cost you money.”

“Well how much do they want for a forged passport 5 pounds?”

“Umm I’m not too sure, but I think it might be quite a bit more than that.”

“Well I’m not going to pay any more, they’ll have to take what I give them.”

“Okay we’ll talk about that later we’re coming to where I wanted to take you.”

The man parked the car. When they got out he took the boy’s hand and led him into the building. They walked down endless corridors with people acknowledging the man and giving the boy a questioning glance, till they entered through some doors. He led the boy inside the room and then to the side of a bed then turning to the boy he said,

“This is Jonathan he was knocked down by a car yesterday and he’s still unconscious. We hope he’ll be okay we don’t know yet, we’ll only know when he opens his eyes and he starts to talk,” then indicating to the people by the bedside “This gentleman and woman are Jonathan’s parents.”

“Hello Doctor is everything alright any reason for you to come back.”

“Yes everything’s fine I just wanted Javed here," indicating towards the boy. "To know why I was unable to attend a football match yesterday.”

“Is he your son doctor?” The woman asked.

“Yes.”

Turning to the boy, “Javed,” the woman said, “Your dad was in the hospital for nearly twelve hours yesterday helping Jonathan if it wasn’t for him Jonathan may not be alive now. You must be really proud of your dad for all the people he helps.”

“Yes I am very proud of him,” the boy said shyly, “But I didn’t know how important he was, and how much people depended on him.”

The man addressed the parents saying, “I’ll be back tomorrow to see Jonathan, bye for now Mr & Mrs Wright.”

“Bye Doctor, bye Javed,” they responded.

The man and boy left the ward walking hand in hand.

“Sorry Dad.”

“What’s to be sorry about?”

“Running away.”

“Well we knew you hadn’t gone very far, when you left a note for your mother telling her where you had gone.”

“Well yeah, I didn’t want her to worry. You know how she is.”

“That was very thoughtful of you Javed.”

“Dad.”

“Yes Javed.”

“If you have heaps of operations then it’s okay for you not to come to the school plays, or football matches.”

The man stopped lifted the boy into his arms and brought their lips together in a gentle kiss then lowering the boy to the ground said,

“Thanks son, come on let’s go, your mum is waiting anxiously to see you.”

With feelings of well being Father and son walking hand in hand made their way home.

The End.

Sorry about the punctuation but not one of my stronger points. Anyone wishing to edit this chapter feel free to do so.

                                                                                                                                  Come Away With Me

 Part I

Ethan Grant was thirteen and the butt of Michael Bolton’s and his friend’s jokes and bullying. He was four feet eight inches tall slimly built and constantly dreamt when he would start growing like the other boys. He dressed and prepared himself for school ready to face the daily torment, which tended to make school anything but a happy experience.

It hadn’t been too bad the first couple of days until Michael Bolton and his friends had stepped into the picture. At first he thought that Bolton had wanted to be friendly but when one of the boys had said, “He’s a right little wanker, a mummy’s boy,” that Bolton had seemed to change and his harassment had started on a daily basis.                               

Reluctantly after saying “Goodbye,” to his mother he made his way to face the torture of another day at school. Surprisingly the morning period went rather well and other than a couple of snide comments he got off rather lightly. It was at the lunch break that things got a bit hectic when after his meal Michael Bolton and his followers accosted him outside in the school grounds. Michael was well over a foot taller than Ethan and nearly twice as heavy and made a habit of making Ethan’s school-life a misery. Now confronted by his tormentor and his cronies Ethan was hoping things wouldn’t get too unpleasant. He looked around to try and see if any teachers were in the vicinity that he could use as a means to escape the inevitable, but there were none in sight.

“Don’t bother looking for any teachers Grant, there’s none around we’ve already checked.”

“So what are you going to do to me this time Bolton?”

“What’s with you wanting to know, are you some sort of punishment perv who likes to get hurt.”

“No just want to prepare myself, I’m sure you get more enjoyment out of this than I do, so if there are any pervs here it must be you lot.”

“The moment he finished speaking Ethan’s head was snapped back by a fist crashing into his jaw, his eyes glazed over and he crashed to the floor. The gang of boys turned and left him lying on the ground they laughed and talked excitedly about what had just happened.

A couple of minutes later Ethan with tears in his eyes got to his feet, his jaw ached but thankfully no teeth were broken although there was a slight swelling to the side of his face. By the time the bell rang for the resumption of classes he’d cleaned the tearstains from his face but the swelling had increased and was quite noticeable.

Mr Robertson the science teacher had made it a point of arriving in the classroom early. He had witnessed what had taken place in the playground from the Staff room window although, he had not seen who had struck the blow but he had a good idea who had. When Ethan walked into the classroom Mr Robertson stopped him and questioned him about the swelling and asking him what had happened? Feigning ignorance as to what he’d witnessed take place earlier in the playground, to see what excuse the boy would come up with to explain the cause of his injury.

“I got hurt when I was playing football sir, during the lunch break”

“Alright Grant you had better go and let the matron take a look at you, and Bolton, you had better accompany him to make sure he gets there in one piece otherwise you’ll have me to answer to, do you understand?”

“Yes Sir,” Michael mumbled and both boys left the room and headed for the dispensary.

Once outside of the classroom Bolton said, “So do you expect me to thank you for not informing Mr. Robertson that one of us had hit you?”

“Look Bolton I don’t expect anything from you except more punishment so just leave me alone I didn’t want your company and I don’t particularly like you or any of your cronies either.”

“Don’t get smart with me Grant or I’ll kick your arse again.”

“So what’s new about that, and I’m not being smart I just stating a fact, just as you don’t like me so I don’t like you or any of your friends, is there anything wrong with that?”

“Listen you little runt you’re going to be in big shit by the time we’ve finished with you.”

“What’s with you, I only stated the truth, and why do you have to have your friends around when you have a go at me? Do you need to have moral support to hit me?”

“Right I’ll show you I don’t need anyone around when I deal with you after school today, I’ll give you a swelling on the other side of your face to match the one you’ve already got.”

“Do you really think that frightens me, you’ve hit me so many times I don’t get scared anymore just annoyed that I can’t hit you back hard enough to hurt you.”

Michael grabbed the boy’s shoulder stopping him and looked him in the eyes; there was no fear only a smouldering resentment at his tormentor’s attitude.

“So you want to hit me?”   

“Yeah.”

“Okay, go ahead I’ll let you take your best shot.”

“What, right now.”

“Yeah there’s nobody around.”

“No, there’s no point to it I won’t be able to hurt you, and if I was lucky enough to do so what would it prove.”

“What do you mean what would it prove.”

“Okay so I hit you and hurt you then what? Does that make me different to what I am at the moment? Does it make me cleverer, or make me better looking; no I’m still me? The only difference would be that I can hurt you when I hit you, big deal. Would that make you and your cronies leave me alone or even like me, I think not.”

Michael new the smaller boy was right but was reluctant to admit it instead he sneered, “You’re so full of shit Grant, no wonder no one likes you when you start spouting out all that moral diarrhoea.”

“I didn’t ask to be liked especially not by you and your friends I’m not that desperate for friendship.”

After the smaller boy’s remark Michael Bolton was seething. None of the other boys had ever spoken to him like this; he thought that his popularity with the other boys made all of them wish to be friendly with him except for present company.

So he retaliated in the only way he knew how. “Button your fucking lip Grant otherwise school or not I’ll beat you to a pulp if I hear anymore crap from you.”

They continued their walk in silence till they reached the dispensary. The injured boy entered into it while Bolton stayed outside waiting for the smaller boy to reappear. He did after a few minutes with the Matron

“Bolton I’ve spoken to the Principal and informed him that I’m sending Grant home. I can’t wait with him, as I’m busy with other patients. Your last two periods are P.E. and Games so you won’t be missing any academic periods, you can wait with him by the main gates till his mother comes to pick him up.

The two boys made there way towards the main gates and waited in silence till Blake who could not contain his inquisitiveness any longer blurted out.

“So what did you tell the Matron?”

“Same as I told Mr Robertson.”

“Oh, okay I suppose I’d better say it, thanks for not telling, although it wasn’t me that hit you.”

“No need to thank me, if I had told the truth you, or one of your friends would have beaten me up again later on so I only said it to save myself another beating.”

“What’s with you Grant can’t you accept someone’s thanks I was trying to be nice.”

“Sorry, not used to you being nice.”

“Okay, but don’t get ideas, any mouth from you in future and you’ll get another swollen jaw.”

Just then a car pulled up and a very attractive, curvaceous auburn haired woman stepped out of the car. She walked towards the boys then in front of Ethan stooped down and kissed him on the cheek.       

“And what have you been up to that I have to come and pick you up from school.”

“Nothing mum, just took a knock playing football that’s all.”

“Alright get in the car and does your friend here want a lift home as well.”

“Bolton you want a lift home.”

“Can’t go yet my mum doesn’t get back till four.”

“That’s alright,” Mrs Grant said, “umm, what’s your first name?”

“Michael.”

“Michael, you can come home with us till four then I’ll take you home. I’m sure Ethan will enjoy your company.”

“Uh! Okay Mrs. Grant.” Michael Bolton said, with a look of embarrassment on his face as he looked across at the smaller boy.

Both boys climbed into the back seats and Mrs. Grant drove off. As she drove she asked the boys how long they’d been friends as she’d never seen them together before. There was a strained silence for a few seconds before Ethan answered.

“We’ve been friends for some time mum,” Ethan Grant said, throwing a quick glance at his now companion, “but normally Michael has to wait behind he’s a classroom monitor so has to make sure no one has left any belongings behind and everything is put away.”

“That is a very responsible position I bet your mother is proud of you Michael?” 

“Umm, well she doesn’t know I haven’t told her yet.”

“That’s very commendable not very often you come across a boy who doesn’t brag about what he’s achieved in school. Take Ethan here he’s always talking about how many friends he has and how well he’s liked by all the boys.”

Before the mother could continue Ethan interrupted her.

“Mum, stop going on you’re embarrassing Michael.”

“Sorry Michael didn’t mean to.”

Thankfully for Michael and Ethan the drive didn’t last much longer before they arrived at their destination.

While his mother parked the car Ethan led Michael into the house. He asked him if he wanted anything to eat or drink. A coke was requested if any was available which Ethan supplied from the fridge.

As they seated themselves in the sitting room Mrs. Grant came in telling the boys she had just remembered that she had to go out again but would be back in time to take Michael home. Kissing Ethan she made her goodbyes to the boys and left.

As soon as Ethan’s mother had left Michael turned to him saying.

“Jeez you’re one helluva a liar where did all that come from?”

“I’ve had heaps of practice,” the smaller boy said hanging his head, “when you’re not very popular and have no friends and your mum thinks that everyone must like her son then you have to learn to lie to keep her happy.”

“What does your dad think?”

Ethan Grant lifted his head staring at the boy sitting across from him, “Don’t know he’s not around to worry about, just my mum. I think he’s married to some other woman and is overseas in the army.”

“I suppose you must hate my guts for having a go at you every day.”

There was no response from Ethan he just sat silently looking at the other boy.

“You can say what you want I’m not going to beat you up, especially not in your own home.”

“I know that, the smaller of the two said. “But there is always tomorrow at school or the days after.”

“Okay Grant I promise not to hit you, now tell me.”

“No I’m not going to say a word, maybe today and tomorrow you’ll be okay but then later you might just revert to your normal self.”

“I’m telling you, you arsehole, I’m not going to do anything.”

“Why don’t you just listen to yourself then tell me why I don’t tell you what I think of you.”

“Michael Bolton was silent for a while then said, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to sound off like that for some reason when I’m near you after a time it just happens. I’m not sure why but I just seem to lose control and I have a go at you if not orally then physically.”

“That’s okay for you, but it doesn’t make me feel any better seeing that I’m on the receiving end.”

“Alright I’m really sorry, I know that it’s rough for you but what else can I do to make it alright?”

“Depends on how long you intend to stay in this frame of mind, if you can keep it till we’re at school tomorrow then you could ask your mates to lay off.”

“Okay consider it done.” So now what are we going to do till your mum comes back?”

“Do you want to watch the telly or a video?”

“Not a video it’s not far of four pm and I won’t have time to watch it all.”

“Okay Michael what about games on my pc we can play one of them.”

Michael Bolton was silent for a moment just looking at the smaller boy as he heard him use his Christian name in that high pitched voice of his.”

“What’s up did I say something wrong?”

“No I just feel bad about you being nice to me after Jones hit you in the face at school. I feel like a real worm now thinking about it. There were six of us all bigger than you and you weren’t scared to said what you had to.”

“Can we just drop the subject Michael you’ve apologized already?” 

“Ethan.”

“Yeah.”

“Will you really tell me what you think of me if I promise I’ll never hit or swear at you again.”

“It really doesn’t make any difference if you promise or not at least I’ve got the chance to tell you now so here goes.”

He looked directly into the larger boys eyes, “You are the nicest looking boy I’ve had the misfortune to know. When I first saw you I really thought that I could get to like you but jeez did I get it wrong. For some reason I don’t know why you seemed to take an instant dislike to me, and that’s when life at school became less than pleasant for me. From the moment you and your friends started on me any chance I had of forming any friendships with other boys went out of the window. They’re all too scared to associate with me in case you all take it into your small little minds to start on them as well. I sometimes think why are there boys like you in the world that take pleasure out of hurting someone who has done nothing to make you dislike them. I wonder why parents can’t see their kids like you and your friends for what you really are. Or maybe your parents don’t really give a shit what you do and how you act and let you run wild, that’s the reason why you behave the way you do. Frankly I think I’ve seen better things crawl out of the gutter than you and your mates, and as for intelligence you’ve all got as much as a turd.” With head bowed he was silent for a moment then lifting his head and looking directly at the bigger boy he said, “That’s it now you can think and do what you like you asked me what I thought of you, and now you’ve got my answer.”

Michael Bolton sat quietly for a while, he’d never felt so humiliated or insulted in all his life, swear words normally used at him by other boys just bounced off and he could give as well as he got, but being spoken to in this manner was absolutely humiliating. The only recourse he had was to say, “My parents do care how I behave and if they’d heard what you just said I think I would have been in big shit. I never bothered to look at it the way you just explained, as you said we must have been small-minded and brainless to do what we did. I don’t expect you to forget everything overnight but if you can later on I wouldn’t mind being your friend if you wanted my friendship.”

“I’m sorry for saying that your parents didn’t give a shit it was uncalled for but I got a bit angry.”

“It’s okay if it was me I think I’d have used a lot worse language than that but I don’t think it would have been as effective. Where the hell did you get to talk like that?”

“What do you mean talk like that.”

“Insult a guy without screaming or swearing at him.”

“Oh, well there was this kid at my last school who used to make you feel like a worm when he used to open his mouth to insult someone. I used to listen to him and sort of copied him but I’m no way as good as he is. I didn’t really mean what I said about you, but that’s what happens when you get a chance to get back at someone who has been bugging you from day one.”

“You don’t know how close I came to breaking my promise. I felt like kicking you in the goolies when you said my parents didn’t give a shit how I behaved or I had as much intelligence as a turd that really hurt.

“It was meant to hurt you, and to pay you back, but I’m only sorry that I couldn’t say the same to your friends some of them deserved it more than you.”

Before the conversation could be continued Ethan’s mother returned breezing into the sitting room she announced, “Is Michael ready to go home.”

With affirmative sounds from the boys they all trooped out to the car the two boys sitting in the back as Ethan’s mother roared of down the road towards Michael’s house.

Outside his house Michael jumped out of the car thanking Mrs Grant then sticking his head into the rear window he said, “Bye Ethan see you at school tomorrow.

For the first time in a month Ethan was ready and raring to go and not having any misgivings about attending school. Since yesterday it seemed like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. He kissed his mother goodbye and with a decided spring in his step headed for school. Unfortunately none of Michael’s friends had been informed of his promise of not to hit Ethan. So it was a complete shock to him when he felt himself falling as he was tripped from behind and lay sprawled on the floor and his clothes soiled by the dirt from the pathway. The boys laughed some actually stepping on his back as they filed past him adding to the hurt and embarrassment. The tears flowed down his cheeks, not from any pain but from the sheer frustration of having thought he was not going to experience any more harassment only to have his hopes dashed in such a short space of time. As he started to get to his feet he felt a pair of hands helping him then a voice.

“What happened Ethan?”

He turned at the sound of Michael’s voice. “Some of your friends did the usual.”

“Shit! I’m sorry I’ll have a go at them later.”

“No leave it Michael you can’t blame them they didn’t know about your promise yesterday and in any case it was you that made the promise not them”

“Okay but I’ll warn them to lay off in future. Come on we had better get you cleaned up in school before we attend assembly.”

They continued their way to school together getting puzzled looks from some of the boys who knew of the enmity that normally existed between the two boys. Reaching school they headed for the washrooms. Inside Michael took some paper towels slightly wet them then proceeded to try and wipe off as much of the stains on Ethan’s clothing that he could. After attending to the clothing he wet another towel then gently started to clean the tearstained face. When he’d finished he said, “That doesn’t look too bad,”

“Thanks Michael it makes me feel a whole lot better.”

“Well that makes up for yesterday now if you’re up to it lets get to assembly.”

The boys made their way to the assembly hall then once inside split up to go to their respective places. As Ethan reached his place John Stevens one of the boys who’d witnessed Michael helping him asked, “What‘s with you and Bolton?”

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing; yesterday he was half killing you today he’s helping you get cleaned up. Have you got something on him with which you can blackmail him?”

“Such as?”

“I don’t know but it’s very funny him helping you.”

“Nothing funny about it at all,” Ethan said, “he came to my house yesterday and we had a talk and he just said that he’d lay off me in future that’s all.”

“Okay but what about his moron friends will they leave you alone?”

“Not sure will just have to wait and see.”

“I hope for your sake they do Ethan. Sometimes I used to get really angry the way they used to treat you but was too scared to do anything in case they started on me.”

“It’s okay Johnny I don’t blame you for not doing anything, most probably I would have done the same in your position.”

And leave him alone they did. Ethan’s school life improved dramatically he made friends with a few of the other boys but Johnny was his closest friend. They were constantly together at every possible moment. He did from time to time talk to Michael but only fleetingly he was too engrossed with his friendship with Johnny to spare more time for him.

Michael on the other hand had become more subdued he didn’t exert his authority in the classroom like he did previously, and was not as feared by the smaller boys as he used to be. Since his talk with Ethan he realised that if his parents had known how he behaved in school they would have been ashamed of him. Now he was trying to make amends, he hadn’t dropped his usual friends he only didn’t associate with them to the extent that he used to. 

The down side was that inside he was hurting. He thought that after his understanding with Ethan that they would become firm friends but quite the opposite had happened. Other than the cursory, “Hi Michael,” that would be it and Ethan would be on his way jabbering away with his friend who seemed to be constantly at his side. He envied Johnny solely for the reason that he and Ethan were so friendly and often wished that it was he and not Johnny at Ethan’s side.

This evening in the privacy of his bedroom Michael sat and contemplated his actions of the past and realised that it was expecting too much to think that Ethan would forget and let bygones be bygones and become a close friend. He had thought that after the day that he’d spent at Ethan’s house that he would be a constant visitor but that experience was never repeated. It was the one and only time he’d visited, yet from the conversation he’d overheard Johnny was around there on a regular basis.

Michael had friends but none that he could call really close and when he’d first seen Ethan had taken a liking to him only to have any thoughts of friendship dashed as one of his friends made the remark, “Another pretty boy wanker I bet he’s a mummy’s boy.  So rather than seen to be getting friendly with Ethan he kept his distance and eventually joining in the bullying of him. Now thinking back he came to understand why he had constantly picked on Ethan. It was one way that he could actually make contact with the boy without seeming to be wanting too. He liked the smaller boy but his macho image meant a lot to him at the time. Now he wished that he’d been a bit braver not to worry what the other boys thought and instead become friendly with Ethan, now any chances of his getting friendly with Ethan had taken a severe denting. Lately he’d sit in his room fantasizing how he would rescue Ethan from the bullies, or in the swimming pool when an attack of cramp had him going under, or whatever took his imagination with the inevitable outcome of Ethan regarding him as his hero.  All this fantasizing was because Michael craved Ethan’s friendship even yearned for it and at times so much so, that he had thoughts of resorting to harassing Ethan to gain his attention again. But decided against it, fearing that it might lead to the boy hating him again. He gave up on his thoughts of getting Ethan to notice him and went into the kitchen where his mother was preparing the evening meal.

“Hi mum the food not ready yet.”

“No, and what are you doing moping around here instead of being out with your friends.”

“They’re not really friends only boys that I know at school I see them there all day so I don’t want to see them after school as well.”

“Then why did you always want to be out after school only a few weeks back and now all of a sudden you’re stuck in the house and even playing with your younger brother who you never seemed to have time for before.”

“Oh okay I’m going out to the park I’ll be back later.”

“Just make sure it’s not too late otherwise you’ll have your father coming out searching for you.”

“Okay bye mum,” and Michael left to try and put his thoughts about Ethan out of his head.

He met his friends in the park and kicked a ball around with them for about half an hour then decided to head home. As he came to the main road he saw Ethan walking on the other side of the road. Dropping all his inhibitions he yelled across to him and started to run over, and then darkness.

Part 2

The driver of the car didn’t have a prayer of stopping in time as Michael dashed out into the road. Now he just sat there stunned and in shock, after he’d felt the impact of the car hitting the boy and seeing him hurled into the air. Cars screeched to a stop, people yelled, and Ethan like the driver of the car stood frozen as he saw Michael hit by the vehicle. He’d looked across the road when he’d heard his name called, and now wanted to run over to Michael, but he couldn’t move. Tears were flowing down his cheeks, then suddenly his vocal chords responded to what he’d seen and a horrific scream erupted from his lungs. He dropped on all fours to the pavement his mind in turmoil at the events that had just enfolded in front of his eyes, his body jerking with the sobs pouring out from him. People ran in different directions some to attend to Michael and to see what could be done for the boy, at the same time calling for medical assistance on their mobiles. Others attended to the driver, and some to Ethan, who was still on his hands and knees on the pavement sobbing his heart out.

With the arrival of the police and ambulances some semblance of order was established as cars moved, and people were ushered along their way. The paramedic from one of the ambulances after treating Michael took him away, while the second team attended to Ethan, still traumatized and softly sobbing to the other ambulance. After attending to Ethan a couple of the team attended to the driver of the car, making sure he was fit to accompany the police to answer any questions deemed necessary.

At the hospital Michael was first x-rayed to ascertain the extent of his injuries and then to surgery. One of the nurses managed to extract their names and addresses from Ethan before they sedated him and admitted him to the children’s ward.

Ethan’s mother was the first to arrive and was shown into the ward where her son was sleeping peacefully for the time being. She turned to the doctor and enquired. “How long will my son have to remain in hospital?”

“That depends on the counsellor, but I think it would be no more than a day.”

“How is Michael the other boy?”

“I don’t really know, he’s still in surgery and won’t be out for some time yet. He’s had extensive injuries to one of his right arm and leg, and also his ribs, they’re not life threating that’s all I’ve heard from the ER staff. I should imagine that he’ll be sent to intensive care after surgery for the first twenty four hours to make sure all is well, then transferred here to the children’s ward if they feel he’s out of danger.”

“Oh My God!” Mrs. Grant exclaimed, “Can I go and see Michael’s parents.”

“Not at the moment they’re in with the hospital counsellor and will stay there till Michael comes out of surgery, which will not be for quite some time. So I would leave it till tomorrow Mrs. Grant.”

“Alright doctor, now how long will it be before Ethan wakes up?”

“Well he was given quite a heavy sedation, you must realise what he saw had quite a traumatic effect on him. Actually I think you should spend the night here we have a bed next to Ethan’s for you, so when he awakens you’ll be there for him. If you want you can use the phone to ask any relations to bring whatever you require for your stay here tonight.”

“Thank you Doctor for your consideration, I’ll get my mother to bring whatever I need over here and also some things of Ethan’s.”

“You’re welcome Mrs. Grant, if there is nothing else you require I’ll continue with my duties.” Saying his goodbyes he left.

In the waiting room Michael’s parents sat both silently praying that there son would make a full recovery. The counsellor had spent an hour or more with Michael’s parents allaying their fears and putting their minds at rest. That their son was in a serious but not a life threatening condition, and had left, telling them if they required him for anything, they had only to press the call button, and he would be with them as soon as possible.

At first Michael’s mother had been nearly hysterical when the police had given her the news of his accident. Now that her husband was at her side holding her hand, and the assurance of the counsellor that Michael was not in any imminent danger of losing his life, she felt more composed, but was still fearful until she could see for herself that her son was out of danger.

The hours dragged by they phoned Mrs. Bolton’s sister to speak to their younger son Robert where they’d left him. He was full of questions about his brother, which they answered to the best of their ability which seemed to satisfy the boy. Then what seemed like an eternity, which in reality was just over four hours, the doctor walked in with a smile on his face. “Mr and Mrs Bolton.” He beamed.

“Yes.” They answered.

“You’ll be glad to hear that Michael is out of surgery and in the Intensive Care Unit. Before they could question him he continued, “Don’t be alarmed it’s just to keep a check on him. If no complications arise, he should be out of ICU and in the children’s ward later tomorrow.”

The doctor paused for a bit then continued, “Now to inform you of his injuries. Luckily the driver because of the traffic wasn’t going very fast, so Michael came out of it with fewer injuries than we at first suspected. His right arm and leg are broken, and he also has three broken ribs and a concussion. We’ve done a full scan of him and found no internal injuries. The concussion will leave him with a bit of a sore head when he wakes but he’ll have a lot more discomfort from his broken bones than his head. So now if you want I will answer any questions you have.”

Mr Bolton was the first to speak asking the doctor, “Will he make a full recovery?”

“Yes the breaks were clean and the car wasn’t travelling very fast so being young Michael should be running around in about three to four months, without any handicap.”

Both parents thanked the doctor on hearing his statement then asked if they could see their son.

He led the way out of the room and to the ICU ward where they saw Michael in plaster with all the normal array of tubes stuck into the boy, who had just emerged from surgery. This to the parents would have been frightening had not the doctor been on hand to allay their fears and explain the purpose of the various tubes. The boy was still unconscious from the anaesthetics but was expected to come around within the next hour or so. The doctor after answering a few more questions and putting the parent’s minds at ease made his excuses and left. So Mr and Mrs Bolton took seats at their son’s bedside looking furtively at each other and waited for him to regain consciousness.

Twenty-four hours later Ethan who’d been informed that Michael was alive and out of danger was being discharged from hospital. His mother and he were just gathering up his belongings ready to leave when Michael was wheeled into the ward. The orderlies soon had him settled in and left him in the care of the nurses. Ethan and his mother slowly walked over to Michael’s bed the boy’s eyes met, Ethan stood silently staring for a bit then asked, “How are you?”

Michael grimaced, “Not too good at least the pain killers are doing their job, but what are you and your mum doing here?”

“I Umm got shocked when I saw you hit by the car. I thought you’d been killed, and sort of broke up, so they kept me in hospital for a day now they’re sending me home.”

“Oh sheesh! Wish you were staying longer at least I’d have someone to talk to.”

“I can come and visit you if you want Michael, my mum could bring me over.”

“Would you? That would be great.”

“Michael we have to go now I’ll bring Ethan over tomorrow.”

“Okay Mrs Grant bye for now, bye Ethan.”

They left the ward and on the way out met Michael’s parents they spoke briefly then continued on their way home.

Ethan with his mother visited Michael on a regular basis every day for the first week, but with all of his family and relatives around Ethan had very little chance to speak to him alone. The second week Ethan’s mother thinking that there would be the normal crowd visiting Michael said she’d stay in the hospital cafeteria, he could go up on his own to visit Michael, as there would be too many people at Michael’s bedside. Ethan walked into the ward alone and was surprised to see only Michael’s mother there. Greeting Mrs Bolton he stood looking down on Michael.

“Hi Michael.”

“Don’t stand there Ethan, come and sit on the bed,” and Michael patted the bed with his good arm.

As Ethan sat on the bed Mrs Bolton asked “Did you come on your own Ethan?”

“No Mrs Bolton, my mum brought me but she went to have a cup of tea in the café, she thought that there would be too many people here seems like she got it wrong today.”

“Well they’ll all be here later when they come back from work. Meantime I think I’ll join your mother in the café for a cuppa.”

She kissed her son on the cheek and said she’d be back shortly, leaving the two boys to themselves.  

They sat silently looking at each other till reaching out his hand Michael took Ethan’s in his, “Thanks for coming every day, I couldn’t say it before too many people around but it means a lot to me.”

Ethan was shaking inside; feeling Michael’s hand in his was sending all sorts of feelings running around his body. He clasped Michael’s hand tighter then started to sniffle.

“What’s wrong Ethan?”

“Don’t know I’m feeling sort of funny inside holding your hand,”

Michael pulled his hand away.

“No, I didn’t want you to take your hand away,” Ethan said reaching over and clasping hands again, “I meant funny nice, and really happy to see that you’re getting well,” Ethan hung his head then looking into Michaels eyes said, “You don’t think I’m a sissy wanting to hold your hand do you?” 

“Nothing sissyish about it, I like holding your hand as well, I’ve been wanting to touch you for ages.”

“What d’you mean touch me for ages.”

“I umm I sort of umm,”

“Come on Michael tell me.”

“Well when you first came to the school I sort of took a liking to you when I first saw you, but you didn’t pay any attention to me. Because your size some of my friends started to call you a wanker. I didn’t want my friends to think I had feelings for you so went along with the name calling. The only other way I could find to get near you so my friends wouldn’t suspect anything was to pick on you. I know it was the wrong thing to do. I didn’t have the guts to come out openly in the first place, but I suppose my image meant a lot to me then, at least I did manage to put it right in the end.”

“You really wanted to be my friend from the beginning?”

“Yeah, but after I stopped picking on you I hardly ever got a chance to speak to you again. You were so tied up with that Johnny character, I don’t think you even knew I existed.”

“Well he was the first boy to get friendly that day and we just started going together from then.”

“Yeah fat lot of good it did me.”

“You’re jealous that I got friendly with Johnny, aren’t you.”

Michael didn’t answer he gently pulled his hand away and lay staring at his visitor.”

“Ethan reached over and clasped hands again, “Sorry didn’t mean to sound so cocky.”

“You were right I was jealous of Johnny, I used to wish it was me with you all the time.”

“Yeah well I used to, and still do stand in front of the mirror imagining that I was you, with big muscles, and all the boys thinking I’m their hero.”

“Ha, well you had better find another model to admire, this one can’t even sit up let alone stand.”

“You’ll get better Michael, I’ve always fancied you, but thought that you wouldn’t want to be friendly with a weed.”

“Ethan, I suppose now is the time to tell you what’s on my mind then I want you to go home and think about it. If you don’t come back to visit me I’ll understand.”

“What d’you mean?”

“Shush, will you let me talk and no questions afterwards, just go home and think about it.”

“Okay”

Nervously Michael started to speak, “I umm uh here goes. From the very first time I saw you like I said earlier, I wanted to get to know you and be friends with you. But being seen with a boy, that my friends thought was a total looser made me back off. Only after that day when I went home with you and we got to know each other did I realise what it was within me that drove me to do what I used to do to you. It was like a love hate thing, I wanted to be with you but my image wouldn’t let me. Since we had the truce and you’ve had the chance to make friends, I thought that I would be one of those friends but it never happened. Yeah you spoke to me only a quick hello and that was it. I used to sit in my room sometimes dreaming of being your best friend, and saving you from all sorts of dangers. Then carrying you back in my arms and you were happy to be with me. The day I got knocked down I‘d been thinking of you, and when I saw you across the road I just wanted so much to talk to you that I didn’t think, just yelled your name and ran over. What I’m saying Ethan, is I like you more than any of the other boys. I don’t care if the others aren’t my friends just as long as you are I’d be happy. I know what I’ve just said sounds kind of you know queer, but I just can’t help the way I feel about you.”

Ethan did as Michael requested, he released Michael’s hand stood up turned and left the ward. He made his way to the Cafeteria where his mother was talking to Mrs Bolton. After saying their goodbyes the two of them headed for the car park. Half way there Ethan stopped told his mother he had to go back and to wait for him at the car he wouldn’t be long. He headed back inside the hospital, and arrived back at the children’s ward to find Michael was still alone his Mother hadn’t returned from the Cafeteria.

Ethan walked over to the bed clasped Michael’s hand, “Don’t need to go home to think about it what you said, I know what I feel when I hold your hand see you tomorrow.”

“Do you have to go?”

“Yeah my mums waiting in the car park, tell you what I’ll try and get her to drop me off here after my dinner.”

“That would be brilliant if you could come back again.”

“Will do, I promise.” With a bit of difficulty Ethan extracted his hand from Michael’s who was a bit reluctant to let it go, then made his way out to the car park where his mother was waiting for him.

He was quiet in the car as they headed homewards not making any conversation and deep in thought.

“A penny for them.”

“Huh, what did you say?

“A penny for them, your thoughts you’ve been sitting there since we left the hospital and you haven’t uttered a single word.”

“Sorry mum, will you do me a favour after dinner.”

“You want to visit Michael again.”

“How’d you know?”     

“Didn’t take a lot of brain power when you came back the second time, and just sat in the car staring ahead like a zombie.”

“I wasn’t like a zombie I was just thinking about something.”

“Can I help in any way?”

“No, not yet mum, but will you take me back after dinner you don’t have to stay just take me to the ward, and come and pick me up at nine pm.”

“I don’t suppose it’s any use saying no, as you’ve most probably already told Michael you’ll be back later.”

“Mum can you read minds?”

“No just putting two and two together.”

“So, you’ll take me back later?”                     

“Yes, I just told you, but what about Johnny normally he comes around on a Friday evening.”

“It’s okay he’s going out with his parents tonight.”

 Seven thirty pm and Ethan walked into the ward to see Michael’s parents and the normal visitors around his bed. There was one extra, a young boy who looked the spitting image of Michael but on a smaller and slimmer scale, which he assumed, was his brother. Again Michael beckoned him forward and blushing Ethan went and sat on the bed where he had earlier. With the visitors around they just made small talk till Michael lifted the top bedcover to let it fall over Ethan’s hand covering it, then gently slid his hand underneath till they met. No one noticed what was happening under the bedcover as the boys continued to talk at the same time squeezing each other’s hand. At eight thirty Michael’s parents and relations made ready to leave Ethan stood to one side to let them gain access to him as they wished him goodnight. Before leaving Mrs Bolton turned to Ethan and asked, “Is someone coming to take you home?”

“Yes Mrs Bolton, my mum, she’ll be here at nine.”

“Oh that’s good, see you again soon,” and she and the rest of the entourage left the ward.

As soon as they were all out of sight Ethan turned to Michael and exclaimed! “Bloody Hell! Michael, are you crazy what if they’d seen us holding hands under the bedcover.”

“I don’t really care Ethan, I’ve been longing to make friends with you for so long and now that we are it doesn’t worry me who knows about it.”

“Yeah, being friends is one thing, but being seen holding hands we’ll be made fun of by all the other kids, and I don’t think our parents would be over the moon about it either,”

“Okay, I’m sorry I won’t do it again, now you’ll have to excuse me for a couple of minutes I need to pee and the nurse has to attend to me.”

“Alright I’ll wait till you’ve finished.”

Michael pressed the call button at the side of the bed and in a few moments a nurse walked into the ward to attend to him.

Ethan waited till the nurse had finished and drawn the curtains back then went over to Michael.

“That must be really embarrassing to have to have her do that for you.”

“Well I’m getting used to it now but the first time I felt so embarrassed I had a hard time pissing.”

“Yeah I would have been the same.”

“That’s the easy part the most embarrassing is when I had to use the bed pan and the nurse had to clean me afterwards. The first time I could have died, but she was really good and joked about it and we had a good laugh. So now it’s not so bad only thing is I have to lie here like a bloody mummy, till they think it’s time for me to start moving around.”

“Well the time will soon pass.”

“That’s okay for you to say, you don’t have to lie flat on your back for the whole day.”

“Yeah I know it’s a real pain meantime is there anything I can do for you Michael.”

“Yeah put your hand under the shoulder of my good arm and scratch the shoulder blade above the strapping around my chest.”

“No problem,” Ethan started to slide his hand under Michael’s body when he told him to stop.

“What’s the matter?”

“Slide your hand under my bed shirt not on top of it.”

Ethan did as he was asked and was thrilled to feel Michael’s bare skin on his hand when he passed the strapping. He reached the spot that Michael had requested and started to scratch him. As he did this he had to lean forward which brought his face much closer to Michael’s and gazed into each other’s eyes.

“Is that okay where I’m scratching?”

“Anywhere is okay it feels brilliant having your hand on my skin.”

“So your back is not really itching at the moment.”

“No, but it’s nice to feel your hand on me.”

“Michael, can I ask you something?”

“I can guess what it is but all the same go ahead and ask.”

“Do you like going with boys, you know like doing things with them?”

“I don’t like all boys, I like you, and I’ve never done anything with other boys, but I have dreamt about doing it with a boy.”

“Who’s the boy you dreamt about?”

“Jeez Ethan, that’s a pretty stupid question to ask.”   

“What d’you mean stupid?”

“It’s you dumb cluck.”

“Me?

“Well who else do you think it could be Dennis the Menace?”

Ethan was silent for a short time digesting what Michael had just said; “It’s more or less time for me to go home my mum will be waiting at reception, see you tomorrow.”

“What time tomorrow?”

“In the morning,” and Ethan made his way out of the ward he was halfway to the lifts when he turned back and returned to Michael.

“You really dreamt about me?”

“All the time.” 

He took Michael’s hand and squeezed it, “You going to dream about me tonight?”

“What d’you think especially with you standing here holding my hand and giving me a stiffy.”

“Oops sorry, I’d better go now let your stiffy go down.”

“No, play with it please Ethan then I can have a really good dream.”

“What.”

“You heard Ethan, please, will you?”

Ethan unclasped their hands and slipped his hand under the bedcovers he lifted the bed shirt and his hand soon found Michael’s throbbing member. Gently he squeezed it while groans of ecstasy escaped Michael’s lips he stroked it a couple of times and suddenly Michael stiffened, his penis throbbed and erupted as his semen blasted out onto the sheets and his groin.  As he regained his senses Michael exclaimed, “Oh God Ethan that was wicked, but I need to clean up now can you do it for me there are some tissues in the bedside locker.”

“Okay, jeez you must have been saving that up for some time I hardly touched you, and you exploded.”

“I haven’t done it since before the accident, and having your hand on my penis was just too much and it exploded.”

“That’s some appendage you’ve got there it’s huge.”

“It’s not huge just average for my size.”

“Bloody Hell! If that’s average I’d hate to see what big is. What you’ve got is lots bigger than mine and it’s a lot fatter as well.”

“Well you’re a lot smaller than me but when you grow so will the rest of you.”

“Okay now you’re cleaned up and I’ve got as much off the sheets as I can I had better go my mum will be waiting for me.”

“Thanks Ethan,” Michael said as Ethan made ready to depart, “I can have some wicked dreams tonight.”

“Me to,” Ethan responded, “See you tomorrow Michael,” and he left to meet his mother his mind in a whirl still marvelling at the thought of having held Michael’s cock in his hand. He knew that at the first opportunity he got when reaching home he’d have to attend to his own feelings. At the moment his penis was erect and hard as rock, and needed the same relief that he’d given Michael.

The days went by with Ethan getting only a couple of chances to repeat their first moment of intimacy with Michael as he normally had someone of his family at his bedside. They did however mange to do so on a couple of occasions the second time Michael even putting his hand inside Ethan’s tracksuit bottoms and fondling him till Ethan had to stop Michael’s manipulations not wanting to eject his semen inside his underwear. The fourth week after his physiotherapy sessions and instructions on how to use his crutches the doctors decided he could go home but no school for another four weeks. Michael was thrilled to be going home although he would miss some of the staff that he’d got very friendly with. The drive home in the ambulance couldn’t end quickly enough until finally they were there and with the help of his father he made his first tentative steps outside to the front door and into the house. The spare room downstairs had been turned into a bedroom for him, so that he wouldn’t have to negotiate any stairs as there was a downstairs shower and toilet available as well. The moment he was settled in he was on the phone but was disappointed when Mrs Grant answered his call instead of Ethan. She told him that Ethan was not in but would tell him when he returned that you called. He felt a bit saddened. Ethan knew that he was coming home today, and being a Saturday there was no school so he thought that he would be at home waiting for his call. He was wondering if Ethan had gone to see Johnny and was working himself into an anxiety frenzy, thinking that now he was no longer in hospital he would have to take second place to Johnny. His thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell ringing. He heard his mother’s footsteps as she went to open the front door then return to stop outside his door a gentle knock the door opening and there was Ethan. They both grinned as they saw each other, Ethan walked over to the bed and sat beside Michael who noticing that his mother had closed the door behind Ethan took his hand in his.

“So good to see you again Ethan.”

“Michael what’s wrong?”

“What d’you mean what’s wrong.”

“Michael I can tell when you’re not so good you get all emotional, I saw you last night in the hospital and only left at nine and now you’re saying so good to see you as if you hadn’t seen me in donkey’s years.” 

“Okay I phoned your home and your mum told me you were out so I though because I was out of hospital you had gone to see Johnny.”

“That was my fault, I told mum not to tell you I was coming around, I wanted to surprise you. So would someone be jealous if I was to go and visit Johnny.”

“No I wouldn’t be I’d just umm I’d, I’d, I’d go back to my old friends that’s all and you can stay with your Johnny if that’s how you feel,” he said letting go of Ethan’s hand

“Do you want me to leave then?”

“You really know how to play on a person’s feelings don’t you Ethan? You know I don’t want you to leave and yes you know I’m jealous about you and Johnny and how close you are with him.”

“So what do you want me to do give up my friendship with Johnny? That’s impossible he was the first good friend I made at school and I’ll never stop being his friend.”

“What about me then, how do you rate me?”

“I don’t make a habit of rating you or Johnny, he’s my friend the same as you are only you and I are a bit more than friendly.”

“Is that the only reason that you like me for what we did to each other while I was in hospital?”

“Michael, what’s with you, you’re acting like you want to drive me away and if you carry on like this I will go and I won’t come back.”

“Then go, see if I give a shit run off to your stinking Johnny.”

Ethan got up from Michael’s bedside grim-faced, and determined not to be forced into making choices of who he could be friendly with or not and left the room. He made his goodbyes to Michael’s family and went home.

T.B.C.

At the corner of U.S. 395 and Safeway, three teenagers were holding a sign and shouting something about a car wash. The closest that George’s Dakota ever got to car washing in Lakeview was when the attendant at Ed’s Fast Break cleaned the windshield. In San Jose, Juan often did the job while the truck was parked in front of the house. George wouldn’t have bothered with it but had learned to be appropriately grateful.

Two blocks to the north, a bright-faced stocky boy with blond hair was enthusiastically bouncing a lime-green sign advertising a 4H bake sale in the True Value parking lot. George parked. The sign at the booth said something about Energizer Bunnies. The adult at the booth explained that her club raised rabbits and sold them at the fair.

“When I was a kid, we lived in a town smaller than this, but all the cool kids lived out of town, on peach ranches that were on roads named after their families,” George rambled, “and most of them were in 4H. My sister joined, too, but they did sewing and cooking.”

“Yes,” replied the sponsor. “We have that, as well as clubs for raising sheep and goats and the like. 4H is very big here.”

George paid a dollar for a bag with two M&M peanut butter oatmeal cookies and went into True Value. “I’d like a bag of chicken manure and four of the steer manure blend,” he told the smooth-faced cuddly-bear at the counter, as he pushed his credit card into the machine. “I can load it myself.”

As he card lifted the bags from piles at the back of the parking lot, George reflected on how easy it would be to take a few extras. Easy and stupid. In this town, integrity was everything.

Five hours later, George drove into the Elks Lodge lot and parked next to a freshly washed new Sheriff’s Department SUV with “In God we trust” painted on the back. It looked as if half of the officers from three different police agencies were there. The sign at the door announced SEN. JEFF MERKLEY TOWN HALL 4:30 PM. George grabbed a flyer for the Elks’ Cow Pie Bingo contest from a table in the foyer. Ten dollars a ticket, only 625 tickets sold; if the cow defecates on your square first, you win $1,000. Nice odds, thought George: they’ll clear about $5K after expenses. Proceeds would be used to support Lakeview Elks programs.

Seated at a small table with two clipboards and a roll of tickets, Mona Lynch greeted him enthusiastically. “George! I thought you were going to be out of town. Sign in here, please. Would you like to ask a question?”

“Yes, please,” answered George. Mona handed him half of a pair of tickets, and put the other half into a basket. George thought about the question he planned to ask: Senator, with increasing talk of impeaching Donald Trump, you could find yourself deciding whether to put into the White House someone who is actually competent and would be more effective at advancing a Republican agenda you don’t necessarily agree with. Would you be able to rise above partisan considerations to do that? George already knew what the answer had to be—that the senator’s only agenda was to do what’s right for America. The question was designed to embarrass Trump supporters—an overwhelming majority in this part of Oregon—and to drive a wedge between them and the President. George had told his friends that he thought Trump was more useful to Democrats than to Republicans. Agreeing, most of them seemed to think that George was pretty smart to have thought of that.

George sat at the table, across from Mona, to help get the attendees greeted and signed in. Most of them knew Mona and the other Democratic co-chair, who had taught some of them when they were in middle school.

Dorothy Simms arrived with her two children, sixteen-year-old Carolyn and Gabriel, fifteen. Looking at the two greeters, Dorothy remarked that George’s solid purple tee shirt matched well with Mona’s purple floral blouse. George hadn’t noticed. Mona, in turn, complimented Carolyn’s blue and gold outfit and then asked Gabriel, “What colors do you like?”

Gabriel responded with his slightly awkward adolescent voice, “Well, I go more for the more subdued tones, more subtle contrast. Like last week, the afternoon that the temperature dropped and then it rained. I looked up at dark grey clouds and saw a single goose flying under them, gliding, flapping its wings only enough to regain altitude. The goose looked black against the clouds. It took a couple of minutes for it to drift north and over the horizon, and then I noticed the cloud’s contrast with the hunter-green tree leaves, rustling in the wind, and the brownish green of the Warner mountains. It was really beautiful.” His face was glowing as he finished his dissertation.

The people nearby listened in rapt silence. “Wow!” said Mona. ”Wow. Are you an artist?”

“Not really,” was the reply. “I’m no good at drawing. But I love colors and I like to write.”

George was mesmerized. This Gabriel was a kindred spirit, whether he knew it or not.  And intelligent. And gorgeous, lithe with lovely full-bodied hair and nearly flawless skin. “If only I were 55 years younger,” he mused to himself wistfully, silently adding, “but knowing what I know now.” Of course, this Tadzio couldn’t have been at all interested in fifteen-year-old ugly-duckling George, either, any more than the old man now. George felt unclean. He wanted to be worthy of being in the boy’s presence.

A man wearing cowboy boots, jeans and an open-collared shirt with its sleeves rolled halfway to the elbows came to the table. “Mona, thanks so much. I appreciate everything you do.” Mona looked up, surprised. “Senator Merkley! Good to see you again.”

One of the county commissioners—probably a Republican, thought George; they all are—led the Pledge of Allegiance. Standing close to Mona, George hoped nobody else would hear him omit the “under God.” The public stand that he needed to take didn’t have to be too public.

Thanking everyone for showing up, the commissioner warmly introduced Senator Merkley. Standing with the lectern behind him, Merkley thanked the commissioner, the Elks Club Exalted Ruler, several people in the audience, and all the rest of the audience.

The Senator introduced Carolyn Simms and mentioned some things about her, referring to cue cards he had made previously. Carolyn’s question was about funding for education. Then people in the audience asked their questions as the commissioner drew their tickets from the basket. Realizing that all of the fifteen people with tickets would get their opportunity, George began to feel anxious.

One of the questioners thanked Merkley for working with his Democratic and Republican colleagues to beautify the post office. He thanked her for her efforts and said that he had been careful not to step on the grass when he visited it, earlier in the day. Somebody else asked about the recent congressional baseball shooting: would it have helped if more citizens at the scene had been armed, and would Merkley be arming himself (no and no). Other questions addressed regional and national issues. Most of the questions—with the exception of one about the anti-corruption lawsuit that Merkley and 195 other Democratic lawmakers had recently filed against Trump—were not very political in nature. The Senator engaged in friendly dialog with each person who asked a question, while the others politely waited their turn.

“Number 351,” announced the Commissioner. Nearly all the numbers had been called. Not needing to look at his ticket, George replied, “Actually, my question has already been answered, so thanks, I’ll pass.’

“Did you ask your question?” George’s brother asked later.

“No. That’s not how things are done here.” George silently thanked the God he didn’t believe in, that his number had not been one of the first.

Hi. I'm Cameron. I'm a familiar.

The teen stared as he heard this greeting without ears, in his mind.

Do you even know what a familiar is? If you know anything about witchcraft and familiars, you might have thought of Pyewacket from Bell, Book, and Candle, or maybe Wizard Justyn's tatterdemalion black cat from Owlflight....

And of course, familiars can move in a variety of ways that aren't strictly commonplace....Prince Rupert's dog Boye, was a ferocious familiar; they were scared of him because he fought so bravely alongside Prince Rupert in many battles. They tried to shoot him with a silver bullet, but their aim was off. No surprise there, nothing but a great lot of ill bred revolutionaries and stumble bum republicans they were....

I think you understand that something eldritch is taking place here; and I also think that you're beginning to relax just a little, so I'm going to let you have more freedom of movement; but believe me when I tell you that you have to listen to what I'm about to tell you, and as I suspect you now know, you will listen. Why don't you go into the kitchen and get us some cold drinks. I'd like a root beer in a nice bowl, if you please....

[This story is just beginning, I've two chapters so far. I would love to have an editor if this strikes anyone's fancy.]

You catch it from mosquito bites. Avoiding mosquito bites in Mississippi is pretty much impossible. We joke about them being our state bird.

I got it working in my garden I'm sure. To avoid the worst of the daily heat you work early in the morning or late in the afternoon. I always put on repellent but the little buggers think I'm delicious.

First comes a fever, a rash on your feet and then it attacks your joints. With me it hit me in the hands, knees, shoulders and elbows. For a while there wasn't much that didn't hurt.

You don't want to move. I parked myself in front of video games and played and played and played. I'm pretty much sick of them now. I didn't think that would ever happen.

I'm not really sure which is worse: the pain or the boredom. The pain isn't really horrible. It is constant and doesn't go away. It is monotonous and wears you down. It's very hard to sleep with constant pain until you are absolutely exhausted.

It's so slow watching the calendar watching the days of May and June tick away.

Now that it's going away, I try to do too much.

Upside: I lost some weight. I don't recommend the method. I'm immune and won't get it again.

I'm just glad that I'm relatively young and healthy so I could throw it off. It tends to be a chronic condition in the elderly and that would really suck.

It is a rude way to make you really appreciate good health.