Tales from Kingswood - Chapter 31 (Patreon)

Friday 17 April 2020

Josh felt a little confused as he headed along to the private study rooms. Rob had asked to meet him there so they could talk in private, despite the fact they had alone and in the same room at the time. Figuring it was probably just something ultra-secret, he complied and knocked gently on the door. As he opened it and stepped inside he saw Danny glance over at him, jumping up from his seat.

“Oh, sorry,” Josh said, pulling back a little to double-check the room number. “Rob asked me to meet him here!”

“Erm… Chris asked me to meet him here!” Danny said, confused for just a moment before it turned to frustration as he took a good guess at what was happening.

Josh had spent 14 days in ‘Covid jail’, as the students had come to call it and, in that time, all of the other 1.01 boys had visited him. It had been uncomfortable for all of them at first. Josh had said terrible things to them all before half-term, and though the truth was now out that they weren’t his own words, he still felt inordinately guilty for saying them. He had apologised to each of them when they visited, and all of the other boys had subsequently insisted they understood and offered forgiveness. All except one!

Danny had not visited. The closest they came to interacting was when Josh was released and he had joined the others to welcome him out, although they had exchanged a few brief words, but that was it. That had been three weeks ago and since then, the two had avoided each other, thought it seemed more likely Danny was doing the avoiding and Josh was simply allowing it to happen.

Several times over the past few weeks both Chris and Rob had done their best to encourage the two to talk but met with either hostile resistance (mostly from Danny) or transparent excuses (mostly from Josh). Today was the least subtle and most desperate attempt the two instigators had made so far.

While Danny had caught on to their plan immediately, Josh seemed oblivious to the subterfuge and shrugged as he walked in. “Must need both of us. Thought Rob’d be here by now!” he said as he took a seat at the study table. After a few moments of silence, he asked cautiously, “So… how are you?”

“Actually, I just remembered I needed to see Joseph about something. When Chris gets here, tell him I’ll catch up later!” Danny quickly lied, moving to the door.

“Danny,” Josh said softly. “Can we talk?”

“Sure, I’ll… erm… I’ll catch up with you later!” Another bare-faced lie. He dashed out and pulled the door closed behind him.

*****

Mikey and Nicky had felt a little guilty about the amount of time they were spending away from the others over the Easter break, but it had been caused more by a growing closeness and genuine enjoyment of doing things together rather than from any desire to avoid the rest of the dorm. That didn’t mean they weren’t enjoying the break from the emotional turmoil and drama going on with the other six boys.

Josh was still getting used to life without the abuse and control from his big brothers. On top of that, ‘The Incident’ and subsequent fallout had made him well known to the rest of the school and while it was incredibly sweet how supportive and caring every one of them seemed to be, it was a little overwhelming at times. Rob was doing his best to offer support, but that took pretty much all of his time and energy.

Chris and Danny were still… off. Though they had begun to spend more time together, they had not returned to the extreme closeness they had shared until everything fell apart. They hadn’t returned to sharing a bunk, which was a strange sight for the others to behold after six months of them sleeping together most nights. Then there was the whole ‘Danny problem’. While he had begun to return to his old self a little, anything that reminded him of Josh or The Incident quickly turned him quiet and moody.

David was continuing his struggle against agoraphobia, working all the time to rebuild his confidence and fight his own personal demons. James had proven himself an incredible friend to the youngest member of their dorm and spent countless hours supporting and helping him.

Compared to all of that, Mikey and Nicky were… great! Nicky still had plenty of down moments, usually triggered by the occasional sighting of his mentor/ex-boyfriend, Will, but other than that he was mostly happy. His growing friendship with Mikey felt incredible and the fact they seemed to be inordinately sexually compatible too was just a nice little bonus. Their exploration of each other, as well as their own interests and desires, were taking both of them to new ground.

“Looks like it’s all ours!” Mikey said happily as he peered into the dorm.

Chris stirred a little. He was laying face-down with his head at the bottom end on his bunk, completely covered over. He had hidden there after setting up Danny, who he suspected would be annoyed after being ‘parent-trapped’. After a short while, being so comfortable he had just fallen asleep, the slight heap in his covers seemingly not visible from ground-level where Nicky and Mikey were. As he heard them come in, he considered announcing his presence but grinning wickedly to himself figured he could probably give them a good scare if he waited for the right moment.

“Excellent. You know what to do!” Nicky instructed.

“Yes Sir!” Mikey replied, sounding entirely sincere.

The comment caught Chris’ attention right away and he slid as quietly as he could to the edge of his bunk and raised the covers to make a slight crack so he could see the other two boys.

Mikey had immediately responded to the command by removing his clothes and, in a matter of moments, stood in the centre of the four sofas, completely naked. He hadn’t even touched himself, yet his cock stood at full-mast as he watched Nicky. When the other boy cleared his throat, Mikey yelped, “Oh, sorry Sir!” and dropped to his knees.

Chris had no idea what was happening, but the way his own cock shot to full firmness made it very clear he liked it. As cute as Mikey looked naked (and it was, indeed, very cute) it was the situation that turned Chris on the most… or was it secretly observing the situation? Either way, he felt like he could fuck a hole through the mattress but remained still for fear of being spotted and missing whatever was coming next.

“Good boy,” Nicky said, petting the other boy gently as he moved past, sitting behind him on a sofa.

Mikey’s eyes closed gently as he mewed contentedly and nuzzled his head against Nicky’s hand, letting out a muted whimper as it pulled away.

“Tell me what you want,” Nicky instructed, “And I’ll tell you how to earn it!”

“Play with my butt!” Mikey called out urgently.

Nicky chuckled, clearly not surprised. Mikey was getting more adventurous, but he still had his favourites. “And where do you want to cum?”

Mikey was a little more reluctant to reply this time, blushing a little. “On the boxers,” he said shyly.

“Go get them!” Nicky said, reaching out with his foot to nudge the back of the other boy gently.

Mikey happily jumped to his feet then scurried across the room, oblivious to the concealed boy he passed on the way. He rooted around in his wardrobe and emerged carrying underwear that Chris was sure didn’t belong to him. It was certainly not his style; it was the brand Nicky usually wore.

He playfully hung them from his erection as he stood before Nicky, grinning broadly.

“Cute,” Nicky said, with a sincere grin. “Now, if you wanna earn it…” He didn’t finish the sentence. Instead he just raised his socked foot towards Mikey who let out a disgruntled moan. “We don’t have to do anything at all if you’re not interested,” Nicky offered in response to the noise.

“No!” Mikey yelped. “Fine!” he growled. He dropped to his knees as he pulled the sock off of the other boy’s foot.

Chris was already amazed by everything he had seen. Mikey doing as he was told would have been a shocking sight even in a non-sexual scenario, but in Chris’ mind the often-aggressive boy seemed much more likely to be the one in charge! What came next shocked him more and gave him a strange feeling of both arousal and disgust – Mikey lifted the sock to his face and took a deep breath through it.

“Did I say you could do that?” Nicky asked sharply.

“You didn’t say I couldn’t!” Mikey offered back cheekily.

Nicky looked like he wanted to react harshly, but his own chuckle took away any chance of it. Instead he shook his head and said, “Get on with it then!”

Mikey reluctantly dropped the sock to the floor then grabbed Nicky’s foot and tentatively poked his tongue out, running it from heel to toe.

Once again Chris felt the strange mix of revulsion and excitement, slowly grinding his erection against the mattress as he watched on in secret.

Mikey slowly got more animated in his worship of Nicky’s foot – licking all over, sliding his tongue between the toes when he wasn’t sucking on them. Watching it at first, Nicky eventually pulled his lengthy cock out and began to stroke it slowly as he closed his eyes, letting his head rest back against the sofa as he enjoyed the work Mikey was doing.

Nicky’s stroking was relaxed and unhurried, clearly intended to simply enhance his pleasure rather than showing any intent to cum. “Swap!” Nicky ordered, pulling his foot away and offering the other. As Mikey went to grab it, he pulled it back and said, “No sniffing this time!”

Mikey let out a disappointed moan but pulled the sock off and got to work licking the other foot as Nicky continued to calmly pleasure himself.

After the other foot had a few minutes of attention, Nicky pulled it away and said, “You’re getting good at that!”

“Oh good,” Mikey said flatly. “Such a useful skill to have!”

Nicky sniggered again, but this time leant forward and took the boy’s face in both hands, pulled him close and planted a gentle kiss on his lips. “It’s useful to me!” he whispered, then gave him another peck.

Chris heard Mikey let out a playful giggle. During their first term together, Chris had rarely heard the sweet laugh from the boy. Instead it was usually the more wicked laugh he unleashed when saying something mean or watching someone suffer some misfortune. Over the second term, he had heard it a few times and it was utterly endearing. Now, as they moved into the third and final term of the year, he hoped to hear it much more often.

“Now, your turn,” Nicky said happily. “Get in place!” he instructed.

Mikey had never moved so quick in his life. Suddenly he was on the floor in front of Nicky, upside-down with his shoulders on the ground, legs pulled back to make his cock hover a short distance over his face while his hole rested right in front of the more dominant boy.

“Ugh, so freakin’ hot!” Nicky grunted as he grabbed Mikey’s ankles playfully and let his hands slide down the legs, parting them more to fully expose the puckered hole that his fingers circled teasingly.

“Yeah it is!” Chris whispered happily as he watched on, still humping his bed as much as he could without giving himself away.

Nicky reached down and grabbed the boxers Mikey had retrieved. Lifting them up, he screwed his face up a little and said, “So these have got my sweat from playing basketball and how many loads now?”

“Two of yours, three of mine!” Mikey called out; his voice slightly laboured from his hunched position.

“They stink. I should probably chuck ‘em in the laundry!” Nicky teased.

“No!” Mikey insisted. “Please, let me have them, you said I could, I paid the price. Please!”

Mikey was begging. Chris almost blew his load right then. He had never even dared to imagine the other boy like this.

“It’s okay,” Nicky chuckled. “I’m just teasing. You earned this!” He reached down and placed the underwear over Mikey’s face, holding them over his nose and mouth. “Breathe!” he ordered.

There was an audible hiss as Mikey took a deep breath, the air filtering through the soiled garment. Mikey let out a pleasured shudder, his legs trembling as they waved in the air above him. Each breath he took through the used underwear seemed to send ripples of pleasure through him.

Holding the underwear in place with one hand, Nicky sucked on two fingers from his other hand then mercilessly plunged them into Mikey’s exposed hole.

“Hnnnh!” Mikey grunted, his toes curling and fists clenching. As Nicky began to finger-fuck him, he let out a high-pitched moan that repeated with each inward thrust of the two digits, gradually getting higher and higher until he screamed out, “FUCK I’M CUMMING!”

Nicky moved his hand from the underwear but left it on Mikey’s face, instead grabbing hold of the throbbing cock and milking out the load, watching it drip down onto the boxers.

Mikey whimpered his way through his orgasm, breathing heavily by the end, which only aroused him further as the scent of the underwear drifted in with each inhalation.

Nicky grabbed his own cock, stroking it quickly, this time clearly intending to cum. He jumped to the ground, kneeling beside Mikey’s head and pumped his own much larger load onto the moistened underwear.

The sight of it all was too much for Chris, whose cock erupted in his pants, throbbing against the mattress excitedly. He moaned out with pleasure as he squirmed in his bed.

Nicky and Mikey looked round in horrified unison at the sound and spotted movement up on the bunk.

“Oh, hey guys!” Chris said sheepishly as he pulled the covers back to reveal his face, grinning awkwardly.

*****

Danny’s morning had so far been spent avoiding the rest of the dorm. It wasn’t so much that he wanted to stay away or was annoyed at them, though Chris had not done any favours with stunt earlier to try and force him to talk to Josh. He was choosing to stay away mainly to avoid inflicting his mood upon them. Things were gradually moving towards actually being happy again and he didn’t want to ruin that for anyone.

Eventually he had decided his earlier lie to Josh was actually the best way to keep himself occupied and sent a quick message to Joseph asking what he was up to.

[At the lake. Come join me!] Joseph had replied almost right away.

Danny quickly made his way through the ornamental gardens, then followed the path through the woods and made his way to the lake, pausing to look around and try to spot the older boy. He always got a slight thrill by the lakeside. It brought him a strangely contented feeling as he thought back to the semi-romantic night he had spent there with Chris on his birthday, as well as the not-romantic-but-still-sexy evening they had shared during lockdown.

He spotted his mentor sitting a few dozen metres along and down the slope, beside Sam Fletcher – Rob’s mentor and one of Joseph’s dormmates. “Hey guys,” he said cheerfully as he approached.

“Hey,” Joseph said happily. He grabbed Danny, immediately yanking him down to the blanket they were sat on, positioned between the two older boys.

“Guess I’m joining you,” Danny chuckled as Joseph draped an arm around his shoulders.

“Alright mate,” Sam said happily, nudging Danny’s arm.

Both older boys were shirtless, sitting in just shorts under the blazing morning sun. Seeing most of the others around them were similarly attired, and never one to be shy about being seen undressed, Danny quickly pulled off his top too.

“How you doing today?” Joseph asked casually.

Danny gave a slight shrug. “Okay I guess,” he said, not really wanting to think too deeply.

Before any of them could say much else, they were approached by the final two members of dorm 2.02, John Dixon, mentor to James… and Brian! Danny felt a little awkward at their approach and, had he not been settled down between the two boys, might have even considered excusing himself and making a dash for it. Just seeing Brian felt difficult enough, but it was made so much harder (in more than one way) as he was clad in nothing but a pair of school speedos and was dripping wet, the sun glistening off the beads of water peppering his body, his hair flat against his head with a few wet strands dangling down over his eyes… his… really pretty eyes!

Danny forced himself to look away, though in doing so he found himself looking down at the sudden bulge in his own shorts, blushing heavily. He and Brian had barely spoken for months now, since before their first encounter at a gloryhole. They had shared several more experiences like that, sucking each other off, though the last one had ended… awkwardly, when Danny’s troubled mind had disturbed him to the point where he had not offered his cock in return, ending their encounter early.

“Hey, look who it is!” Brian said with a smirk as he saw Danny sat with his mates. “What up, babycakes!”

Danny felt a strange lurch in his stomach. He hated the way Brian never used his name and favoured colourful nicknames instead, but since they had stopped talking, he had almost begun to miss it. Hearing one thrown his way now, he smiled reluctantly and snapped his usual comeback of, “It’s Danny!”

“Whatever you say, amigo,” Brian teased.

“Tell him he’s not funny!” Danny said, looking to Joseph.

“Been telling him that for years but he still doesn’t believe me!” Joseph sniggered.

“And you’ve been wrong about it for years!” Brian insisted. He gestured to John, stood at his side, and said, “He’s being dull and leaving, so I need one of you to come play cos it’s boring trying to drown myself instead of someone else!” He gestured back towards the lake.

“Nope!” Sam said, shaking his head. “You know I don’t swim anywhere with living things in the water!”

“Yeah, I’m with him,” Joseph agreed, then smiled and said, “Danny’ll play with you though!”

“What!” both Danny and Brian said at the same time.

“I don’t even have swimwear with me,” Danny added.

Joseph grinned. Leaning close to the younger boy he asked, “You know how you keep saying you want things to go back to normal and to start getting dares from me again?”

“Yeah?” Danny asked, frowning a little until he caught on to where this was going and insisted, “No, don’t!”

“Hey Danny,” Joseph whispered in his ear. “I dare you to go swimming… naked!”

Danny let out a whimper that, to the others, probably sounded like fear. To Joseph, who knew the boy best, it was a clear whimper of reluctant delight. Though he a took a few deep breaths and looked round nervously, he reached down and grabbed the waistband of his shorts and underwear, leaned back onto his elbows to raise his butt off the ground and pushed them past it. Sitting back up he let out another whimper as he slid the clothing down his hairless legs, which he pulled up close to try to conceal himself.

With the shorts and boxers around his ankles, he reached down to pull off his trainers and socks, then pulled his feet out of the clothing one at a time.

Joseph placed his hands on Danny’s knees, pressing them down to flatten his legs and reveal his exposed crotch to the other three boys watching on in amused delight. Brian in particular seemed very interested to watch what was happening, the bulge in his speedo thickening just a little.

Danny moaned once more as his cock quickly throbbed to full firmness.

“Damn, what a little perv!” John chuckled. “Gutted I’ve gotta miss this,” he said, picking up his towel and t-shirt. “Have fun fellas,” he said as he walked away.

After calling goodbyes after their departing friend, Joseph leaned in close to Danny and whispered, “You’re gonna get up and walk, not run, down to the lake with Brian. Also… you will NOT cover up! Got it?”

“Jesus, Joesph. What’ve you got on him?” Sam asked with a snigger. He had a slightly similar relationship with his own mentee, Rob, but that was just for the younger boy to do sexual things in private in exchange for weekly freedom from chastity, although in their case it was very much a consensual façade rather than any kind of genuine blackmail.

“Nothing!” Joseph said happily. “This is ALL voluntary, isn’t it Danny?”

“Mmm-huh,” Danny hummed his agreement, cheeks burning bright red at the admission.

Sam gently took hold of Danny’s arm, drawing his attention and asked, “Definitely voluntary?” he asked, his eyes narrowing. While full details of what Josh’s brothers had done to him were not public knowledge, little slivers of information had gradually made their way through the school’s collective consciousness, and everyone was suddenly on the lookout for any other similar situations. Sam, being mentor to Josh’s best friend, was probably even more cautious than most.

“Yeah,” Danny admitted. “I’m a freak… and proud!” he said, still blushing heavily but smiling as he said it.

“Come on then, Buster!” Brian said, offering a hand to help Danny up.

Danny sighed. Several weeks ago, Danny had drawn the ire of his English teacher, Mr Fitzsimmons, for masturbating in class (again) and as a result had ended up naked and ‘finishing off’ in front of the whole class before spending the next two days naked. The whole school had seen him during that time. Somehow though, this felt exponentially more embarrassing. It was probably because he knew the mockery that would follow.

There was an unspoken code of conduct amongst the students at the school when it came to naked punishments. Mockery, laughter and teasing was perfectly acceptable, but only at the time, maybe a day or two after. Beyond that though, there was never any real teasing. What Danny was about to do was outside the confines of this silent social agreement. He was naked, seemingly voluntarily, as well as being undeniably aroused.

Danny felt suddenly aware of the familiar faces around. This wasn’t just ‘a bunch of guys who went to his school’. Over to his left was Scott and Nathan Edwards, twins from Year 12 he knew from Football. Just past them he recognised Hugo Murray and Logan Adams who were both on the Year 9 swimming team. There were other boys from his year, boys he knew from D&D club, more boys from the football and swimming teams. All of them knew him and all were about to see him.

Danny took the hand offered to him, noting how soft the skin of Brian’s hand was, despite the strength of his grip. His natural instinct as he stood was to cover, but he felt compelled to obey what Joseph had instructed and kept his hands down by his sides as he walked with Brian towards the water.

Other boys began to notice. “Nice boner, Danny!” “Damn, dat ass!” “Forget your speedos?” a few called out while others whistled at him. As he reached the water, he quickly waded in until his waist dropped below the waterline. He ventured a look back and so many eyes were still on him. Now concealed, most appeared be losing interest.

Brian stood to his side, looking down at him as he eventually looked back.

“So does Joseph know about us and done this to tease you too?” Danny asked awkwardly.

“No. I haven’t told him,” Brian insisted. “I haven’t told anyone!”

“Hnnh, that figures,” Danny said grumpily, moving a little further in and ducking down so he was up to his neck.

“And what does that mean?” Brian asked with a frown.

Danny ducked even lower, letting the water rise up to just below his nose. He mumbled and blew a few bubbles with his mouth as he looked at Brian, making out he was answering.

Brian sniggered and shook his head. “Yeah, I didn’t quite catch that!” he said, shaking his head. “You think there’s something wrong with me not telling anyone?”

Danny responded once again with gargles and bubbles.

“Well… have YOU told anyone?” Brian asked flatly.

More bubbles.

“Why do I get the feeling you don’t want to talk about this?” Brian asked.

Danny tilted his head back to raise his mouth out of the water and squirted some in Brian’s general direction.

“Oh it’s like that, is it?” Brian asked, grinning. “Well in that case…” He lunged forward onto Danny, pushing him fully under the water.

Danny easily slipped from his grip and popped back up a couple of metres away. “Too slow!” he taunted. The second Brian moved towards him, he ducked under the water.

Brian splashed heavily onto the spot where Danny had just been and looked around, seeing the boy pop up a short distance away again.

“Still too slow!” Danny sniggered. It felt great to be able to be the one teasing for a change, though he did feel a slight twitch below at the thought of letting the older boy catch him.

Brian lunged again, laughing, but once again the younger boy deftly dodged him.

This time Danny had only moved a little to the side, letting Brian float past before reaching out to pinch a buttock before kicking away and emerging above the surface. “Gotcha!” he sniggered.

Three more times in quick succession Brian repeated his lunges, resulting in three more dodges and two more butt pinches. The older boy stood in place, breathing heavily from the exertion.

Danny smiled over at him, breathing heavily himself from the repeated underwater swims. “Truce?” he offered.

“I accept your surrender!” Brian said back with a smirk. As Danny looked back at him, both knowing who would actually come out on top if this continued, he rolled his eyes and said, “Fine. Truce!” He offered his hand, holding it just out of the water.

Danny bobbed his way closer and cautiously took the hand, shaking it.

Suddenly Brian yanked the boy towards him and grabbed him in a headlock. “Ha, gotcha!”

“Oy!” Danny yelled out, struggling to get free. His hands flailed against the muscled torso and strong arms, quickly sapping his will to even pretend to want to get away. Realising the opportunity that had presented itself, Danny stopped struggling and instead grabbed the bulge in Brian’s speedo.

“Oy!” Brian yelped back, letting go and jumping away from the younger boy.

Danny scowled at the reaction as he sunk down to his nose in the water again.

“What now?” Brian asked, slightly annoyed at the obvious backstep.

Indecipherable underwater gargling was all Danny replied.

Brian shook his head and said, “Come on, bubbles. I’m gonna need actual words!”

Danny automatically tried to reply his usual, “It’s Danny!” but as he had done so on instinct – without lifting his head – he swallowed half the lake instead and stood up, coughing and spluttering.

Brian was on him in a moment, not headlocking him this time, but just placing a hand supportively on his back, rubbing it while he caught his breath.

“Okay, what’s the problem?” Brian asked.

“Me?” Danny asked, visibly frustrated. “You’re the one who stopped talking to me and only wants to see me if it’s through a frickin’ gloryhole!”

Brian sighed and nodded. “Fine. I guess… I did go a bit weird when I found out we’d… done what we did!”

“And?” Danny asked with an angry shrug.

“And…” Brian said, looking a little lost. “I’m sorry? I dunno. What d’you want me to say?”

Danny shrugged and dropped below the water again, bubbling.

“Stop that!” Brian snapped, pulling him up. “Look, I got a bit freaked out, but then… everything kinda went to hell. Half-term happened, then the lockdown, then that stuff with your mate. After that, I wanted to check you were okay, but I know you don’t like me and if I just came up and asked you, you’d probably just get pissy, so I figured… ya know… maybe carry on what we started before half-term, which you did, get back to normal or something, but then that seems to have started pissing you off too, so I’ve just been… staying out of your way!”

Danny stared back at the older boy for a moment, taking it all in then sighed, took a deep breath and toppled backwards. He sunk beneath the surface and just lay still for a moment, thinking it all over. Suddenly he felt hands grabbing at him and pulling him back up.

“What the hell was that?” Brian snapped as Danny emerged. “I thought you were drowning!”

“I was thinking!” Danny insisted.

“Underwater?” Brian asked, looking immensely annoyed.

“Yeah, it’s a thing!” Danny said with a shrug.

“That’s not a thing!” Brian snapped.

“Well it should be,” Danny pouted. He realised Brian was still holding him and jumped away. “I don’t not like you!” he said awkwardly.

“How long were you without oxygen?” Brian asked, giving a confused smirk.

Danny rolled his eyes. “You said I don’t like you, but I don’t, or… I do… I mean, ugh!” he huffed.

“It’s okay, I get what you mean,” Brian reassured him.

“So… the… the stuff we do. That’s… your way of checking I’m okay?” Danny asked with an incredulous grin.

Brian shrugged. “I could ask ‘are you okay’ but I’m guessing you’re already sick of that!” He sniggered at his own comment.

It was such a casual remark, but it hit Danny with surprising impact. How could everyone he spent so much time with be oblivious to that, yet Brian just seemed to know. It was a bizarre mix of confusing and intriguing that just begged for follow-up questions, but Danny had something else he needed to know. “So it’s not, ya know… anything more than just, I dunno, fun?”

“Oh yeah,” Brian said, smirking through a slight blush. “I’m totally into you. Won’t you please go on a date with me. I know a lovely little gloryhole we could visit!” he said, then added, “That’s sarcasm, by the way. I know you’re not that quick!”

“Quicker than you, dickwad!” Danny said with a grin. “Or you finally think you can catch me?” he taunted, floating away a little.

“Oh you’re so dead!” Brian snapped, lunging again.

Danny dodged like before, but this time instead of pinching his butt, he pressed down on the older boy’s back and twisted him a little to disorient him as he went underwater, then grabbed at his speedo and yanked it down.

Unable to even figure out which way was up, Brian flailed and, in his panic to return to air, fully lost his speedo to the younger boy.

“Give that back!” Brian hissed angrily after coughing up a mouthful of lake.

“Make me… knob-gobbler!” Danny taunted, waving the stolen garment a little above the surface.

Brian made several quick lunges, but Danny’s skill in the water was clearly superior and he had no trouble avoiding Brian’s grasp. As he dodged repeatedly, he worked one leg into the stolen speedo and then the other, finally pulling it up. As Brian lunged once more, Danny dodged away, this time pushing himself towards the bank.

“Get back here!” Brian hissed, seeing Danny moved towards the shallower water.

Seeing the naked boy seemingly begin to emerge, many of the eyes up on the grassy slope returned to Danny, eager to see a repeat performance of his walk into the lake. As he emerged, there were a few confused faces as people began to wonder when he got his swimwear back. A few caught on to what had happened right away and began to laugh in the general direction of the increasingly embarrassed Brian.

“Hey, these are really comfortable!” Danny called out, drawing more attention as he pulled at the speedo’s waistband. “Brian, what size are these?” The taunt confirmed what had happened and suddenly everyone knew the Year 10 boy was sat there in the lake, completely naked.

“Very funny. Give them back!” Brian called out, trying to sound authoritative, though his burning cheeks undermined it.

“Oh I don’t think so, big boy!” Danny called back as he wandered towards Joseph and Sam.

“Fuck, Danny. How the hell d’you pull that off?” Joseph asked, seeing the boy return wearing Brian’s swimwear.

“And is that ALL you pulled off?” Sam asked with a snigger.

“Joe, little help here!” Brian called out.

“Oh I don’t think so!” Joseph called back, standing up, always happy to have a crowd when inflicting a little humiliation. “According to the rules of Kingswood, whosoever dost hath thy speedos nicked, shall verily endure thine walk of shame!”

The laughs from the other spectators increased greatly as Brian glared back. If looks could kill, the death stare Brian was giving would have killed Joseph, most of his family and maybe even a few neighbours too. Determined to not let his humiliation go on any longer, Brian cupped his hands over his cock and balls, silently smug that it took both of them to do it, then began wading out of the lake.

As the naked fifteen-year-old emerged, the laughter and comments turned to whistles and cat-calls and understandably so… he looked damn good, his clenched arms making the muscles of his torso really pop, while the treasure trail on his stomach, darkened by the water, disappeared into the visible top of his pubes.

Ignoring the rest of the boys dotted around, he headed straight for Joseph and Danny who were both in absolute hysterics. Towering over Danny he growled, “Can I have my speedo back now?”

“Sure!” Danny declared happily. Despite the fact he was revealing his own nudity, he pulled the speedo down and stepped out of it, knowing that the crowd’s amusement was still aimed at the older boy. He stood up and held it out.

Brian reached for it, partially exposing his girthy cock and hefty balls to the boys on his right, then quickly pulled the speedo on. “Okay, show’s over!” Brian declared.

“Or is it?” Joseph asked with a grin. He moved behind Danny, draped his arms over the shorter boys should and then crossed his arms over the naked chest. Leaning in to whisper in Danny’s ear, he said softly, “I think Danny deserves a punishment for that, don’t you?” He looked to Brian.

Brian actually looked a little concerned. “Nothing too bad!” he said sympathetically.

“Don’t worry, he likes it when I punish him,” Joseph said to his friend, then moved his lips right up to Danny’s ear and whispered, “Don’t you?”

Danny answered, but not with words. As Brian looked down, the boy was hard once again.

*****

Rob had just made his way back to the Home Building ready to meet his best friend. Josh had been on a video call with his Mum and some other people about the upcoming trial of his brothers. Rob had wanted to go in with him, just for support, but Josh had insisted there were things that would likely get spoken about that he didn’t want Rob to hear. Despite their returning closeness, much of what Josh had endured over the years hadn’t been shared with anyone except Danny.

At first, Rob had just sat outside the room waiting, but it felt worryingly reminiscent of the time he had spent in the Dining Hall on the day of The Incident waiting to hear what had happened, so he decided to go off and kill some time. A quick walk round the gardens and then to the lake had revealed some interesting sights, but he knew he needed to be here for Josh and soon returned to wait.

The door opened and Mr Trent walked out, a hand gently against Josh’s back.

“Everything okay?” Rob asked Josh cautiously.

Mr Trent looked to Josh, silently questioning whether he wanted the him to answer for him.

Josh smiled at the gesture, then said, “Yeah. Yeah, all okay!”

“What are you up to now?” Mr Trent asked as Josh moved beside Rob.

Josh shrugged. “Not a lot. That was… hard work,” he said meekly.

Mr Trent nodded. “Anything you need?” he asked with a sincere smile.

“It’s okay, Mr T. I’ve got him!” Rob said happily, putting an arm around Josh’s shoulders. It made Josh smile.

“Okay, well message me if you need anything,” the man said before turning to walk away.

As soon as the man was clear, Rob asked, “So how are you REALLY?”

Josh just shook his head.

“Wanna talk about it?” Rob offered.

Josh looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head again.

“Okay,” Rob said, knowing Josh was always best left to share at his own pace. “I know what’ll cheer you up. Let’s go to the lake!”

“What’s cheerful about a lake?” Josh asked, a little confused.

Rob grinned. “You’ll see!” he said with a snigger.

Although Josh pressed Rob for information as they made their way through the grounds, he refused to give anything away. When they got to the path down to the lake, Josh stopped and stared in amused delight at the sight of Danny, completely naked and tied to a tree. He had a few other boys around him, seemingly touching and teasing him.

“What the fuck?” Josh asked with a chuckle as they approached Joseph who was keeping his distance and seemingly remaining hidden.

“Back for another go?” Joseph asked, looking at Rob.

“I thought Josh might want a go!” Rob sniggered.

“Go at what?” Josh asked, confused.

“Teasing Danny!” Rob explained. “He’s being punished for…” he paused, looking questioningly at Joseph.

“Does it matter?” the older boy asked with a snigger.

“I guess not,” Rob shrugged. “You can look, touch, tease just don’t make him cum and don’t tell him Joseph’s here. He thinks he’s just been left there!”

Josh looked to Joseph who nodded at the summary. He chuckled, but then sadness crept over his face. “I should probably stay away. I think I’d ruin his fun!” he said with a sigh.

“Ugh, I’m getting so sick of this!” Rob said, shaking his head. “Joseph, can you help us out. How long you gonna be keeping him there?”

Joseph glanced at the time and shrugged. “Dunno, maybe an hour or so.”

“When you’re done with him, any chance you could just move him somewhere else for me?” Rob asked.

Joseph looked from Rob to Josh and back, suspecting he knew what the younger boy was planning. He nodded and asked, “With or without clothes?”

“Surprise us!” Rob sniggered.

*****

Chris had just wrapped his towel around his waist ready to head to the showers when he heard, “Oh, hey pervert!” from behind. He smirked and shook his head as he looked round at Mikey.

Chris had not long finished swimming while Mikey looked to be on his way back from a game of basketball.

“You’re the pant-sniffing foot-licker and somehow I’m the pervert?” Chris asked with an amused grin.

“If you hide and watch your mates getting off without them knowing, then yeah, you’re the pervert!” Mikey said back sharply.

Both Nicky and Mikey had been pissed when they found out Chris had seen them playing earlier that morning, with Nicky politely asking him not to tell anyone what he’d seen while Mikey resorted to threats of violence including ‘a wedgie so bad your arse crack’ll end at your neck!’ It was certainly one of the more colourful threats Chris had received, but he had not taken it seriously. It was much harder to be scared of Mikey after seeing him getting fingered until he shot spunk in his own face!

“I wasn’t hiding,” Chris insisted. “I just didn’t tell you I was there!”

“Whatever, pervert!” Mikey grumbled as he pulled off his top.

“Oh get over it!” Chris said dismissively. “I already promised not to tell anyone. Besides… you have NO idea how hot you both looked doing all that!”

“Yeah, hot enough to make you jizz your pants!” Mikey sniggered derisively, yanking down his shorts as he kicked off his trainers.

“Yeah,” Chris said with a nod, unbothered by the tease. “Pants I thought YOU might be interested in!”

Mikey froze, holding his own underwear around his knees, completely sideswiped by the comment.

Chris grinned, leaning back to check out Mikey’s butt. The move prompted the other boy to continue moving.

Blushing heavily, Mikey said unconvincingly, “Why would I… be interested?”

“Because of the whole ‘I love used pants’ thing you’ve got going on!” Chris said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“I… don’t…” Mikey stuttered.

Chris sighed. “Yo, Snuffles. Tell your man Mikey here that I’m trying to be nice!”

Mikey actually glanced off to the side and frowned. He nodded then looked back to Chris and asked nervously, “You’re not… taking the piss?”

“Nope,” Chris said, shaking his head. He looked round. There was nobody too close by and they had already been keeping their voices low, but he lowered his voice even more and said, “I was actually about to go… enjoy myself in the showers thinking about it. Care to join me?”

Mikey’s eyes widened as he silently nodded.

Chris didn’t say anything else, he just nodded towards the showers and walked away. Mikey followed, wrapping a towel around his waist. Moments later, they were locked together in a cubicle, towels removed and hot water flowing.

“So you’d like the boxers I blew my load in, would you?” Chris asked, grinning. He had been curious for some time now about what Mikey was like sexually, even going as far as trying to get the information out of Nicky, but he had been a staunch defender of Mikey’s privacy. What he had seen that morning had been a welcome revelation and he had barely been able to stop thinking about it all day.

“Yeah. Whadda you… want for them?” Mikey asked, feeling somewhat embarrassed about a second person knowing his secret new fetish but excited at the thought of getting his hands on another pair of used underwear.

Chris shrugged. “You can have ‘em. I kinda like the idea of my pants turning you on!”

Mikey nodded a little as he quietly said, “Thanks!”

“But for now, let’s have some fun!” Chris grinned. “On your knees!” he barked.

Mikey smirked as he looked at Chris derisively. “Piss off. You get on YOUR knees!” he said back.

Chris was a little taken aback. “You… lick my feet!” he insisted. Seeing the smirking continuing, he added a firm, “NOW!”

“I told ya… piss off!” Mikey sniggered.

“B… but you’re the sub! I’m… I’m in charge!” Chris stuttered.

“I don’t know what a sub is, but you’re in charge of fuck all, mate!” Mikey said with a snigger.

“But… this morning. With Nicky, you… you did whatever he said!” Chris reasoned.

The snigger faded and Nicky turned a bright shade of red. “Yeah, well… that’s different!” he mumbled awkwardly.

Chris paused for a moment, trying to figure it out. “Well… erm…” he mumbled.

Mikey rolled his eyes. “Just suck my frickin’ dick, okay!” he said flatly. He reached out and grabbed Chris’ shoulder, pushing him down to his knees.

Chris still looked a little confused and the further delay earned him a slap to the cheek with Mikey’s dick. Still trying to figure out what was happening, he took the boy’s cock into his mouth.

*****

Danny let out a long, low moan of sheer frustration. His dick was currently being played with by… someone. He knew them, or at least recognised their face, but he had no idea who they actually were. He was naked, restrained and teetering on the brink of orgasm with a relative strange teasing his balls.

For two hours he had been there, tied to the tree halfway down the path to the lake, ever since he had managed to steal Brian’s speedo and embarrass the older boy. He and Joseph had brought him there, tied him up and just left. No indication of when, or if, they would return.

Every guy who passed seemed to enjoy the sight of him stuck there, happily teasing him, most of them touching him, an annoying number going as far as edging him. Despite his multiple requests to be let free, none of them complied. Some had been nice though, feeding him snacks or drinks. It was the little kindnesses that made it feel like a humiliating game rather than a traumatising punishment. Though he had not seen the two older boys who left him there, he suspected they were nearby. After all, Joseph had never once left him in a dangerous situation, and it seemed unlikely to start now.

“Come on, Rube, we gotta go,” a Year 11 boy Danny knew from football called back to the boy currently teasing him. “And I think Danny’s gonna blow if you do much more!”

“Ugh, fine,” the other boy said, giving Danny a quick final stroke before following down the path.

Danny was so distracted by the ongoing humiliation and the orgasm that felt so tantalisingly close that he didn’t even hear Joseph approach from behind until the teen whispered in his ear, “Having fun?”

“If I said no, would you believe me?” Danny asked with a slight chuckle.

Joseph moved round and looked at his wet, straining dick, then shook his head.

“You finally letting me go?” Danny asked hopefully.

“Almost,” Joseph said, moving back round to untie Danny’s hands. Once he was free of the tree, he tied the hands back together again and said, “Come with me!”

“Like I have a choice!” Danny grumbled as they moved away from the path and into the woods. “If this is like a murdery thing, could you at least let me cum first?” he requested with a snigger.

“Of course!” Joseph agreed. “I’m not a monster!” he chuckled.

Danny laughed too. It was a strange feeling to be naked in the woods, hands restrained, with no idea where he was going but to still feel completely safe. He knew Joseph still felt a lot of guilt over the way he had deceived and lied to Danny during their first term together, but the trust that had been lost had been rebuilt ten-fold since.

“Where exactly ARE we going then?” Danny asked.

“Not much further!” Joseph replied.

Danny recognised the area. It had six weeks more of Spring growth, so it was substantially greener and denser, but Danny had been here back during lockdown on a walk with Chris. Rather amusingly, he had been naked then too. They stopped in almost the same spot he had undressed with Chris on their naked adventure and Joseph secured him to another tree.

“Wait here!” Joseph instructed.

“Again,” Danny added in fake annoyance, “It’s not like I have much of a choice!”

He stood waiting for a moment, wondering what kind of humiliation Joseph had planned next for him. He knew he wouldn’t be alone long, so it was no surprise when he heard someone else approach.

“Hi Danny,” Josh said as he stepped into sight.

“Josh,” Danny said, looking round nervously, wondering who else might appear. “What are you doing here?”

“You said we could talk later!” Josh said, moving closer.

“Kinda busy here,” Danny tried to resist. Josh was right in front of him now. “Any chance you could untie me?”

“So you can just run off again? No chance!” Josh said sharply.

Danny tried looking back, trying to get his hands free.

“Please talk to me” Josh pleaded.

Danny stared down at his feet. “Come on, do we… have to do this now?” he asked awkwardly.

“Yes! Yes we do!” Josh insisted sharply. “Why won’t you talk to me?” he shouted angrily.

Danny stared at him and shouted back, “Because I can barely even look at you!”

Josh recoiled a little at the comment, looking more than a little hurt. “I… I knew I’d hurt you, but… I… I didn’t think you hated me!” Josh said shakily. “I know it’s my fault you’re hurting and I’m sorry!”

“What? No!” Danny insisted, shaking his head. “No, don’t be sorry and it’s NOT your fault! None of this is YOUR fault!”

“Then what?” Josh asked, getting annoyed. “What’s the problem?”

Danny tried to answer but ended up remaining silent, shaking his head a little.

“Fine, let’s try this!” Josh said as Danny avoided eye contact. He moved closer and took and nervously reached for Danny’s dick, which was now very much flaccid. He paused and asked softly, “Can I?”

“Sure,” Danny said, unsure what was happening. “What are you doing?” he asked nervously.

“Communicating YOUR way,” Josh said with a shrug. He stood stroking Danny’s dick which hardened almost right away, the afternoon’s edging still very much with him.

“Josh… I… what… unnnh…” Danny moaned incoherently, as confused as he was frustrated. “I’m… unnh… I’m close…” he mumbled, feeling the orgasm he had been repeatedly denied sneaking up again.

Josh immediately asked, “Why can’t you look at me?” When Danny didn’t answer, he stopped stroking.

“Uhhh,” Danny moaned. “No! Don’t do that!” he complained.

Josh gave the straining dick another couple of strokes and then stopped again.

“Are you… actually… edging me… into talking… about my feelings?” Danny asked, cock throbbing.

“Maybe,” Josh said with a snigger.

Danny took a breath. “That may be the most Kingswood thing anyone has ever done!” he chuckled.

“I know right!” Josh chuckled in agreement.

The brief moment of levity broke some of the tension, so Josh reached forward, placed a finger under Danny’s chin and raised his head so they were eye-to-eye.

“Danny, please. I don’t care if you’re… pissed at me or angry at me or anything, I just wanna know what’s going on. I can take it, whatever it is!” Josh pleaded. As Danny continued to stare back in silence he added an almost inaudible, “Please!”

Danny took a deep breath. His heart felt like it was going to burst through his ribs at any moment it was pounding so hard. “Josh, I… when I look at you… I just… I get SO angry!”

Josh’s jaw trembled as he took a step back.

“No! No, not at you!” Danny insisted urgently. Shaking his head he added, “Never at you. You didn’t do anything wrong, I’m not angry at you, I promise!”

“Then.. what?” Josh asked, clearly confused.

Danny chuckled awkwardly as he slowly shook his head. “At… at everyone! I mean, angry at you brothers for… for everything they did, obviously, but… but… everyone else too,” he paused, a tear rolling down his cheek. “I get angry at… your mum and the teachers and all the grown-ups for… for not keeping you safe and… and at Rob and your mentor and… the others for, for not seeing it, for… for not seeing how much you were suffering.” Tears were streaming now, for both boys. “But most of all, I look at you… and I get angry… at myself!”

Josh leaned in and grabbed Danny, holding him as they both cried.

“Wh… why?” Josh stuttered, sniffing back tears, still holding Danny.

“Because…” Danny started, then shuddered as another surge of tears struck. He sniffed them back and tried again. “Because… you were right there… living by my side and you were suffering so much… you… you were so… so scared for us that you… you were willing to… end it all,” he paused again, sniffing back more tears. “You were going through all of that… and I didn’t even see it!”

They both devolved into tears again for a few minutes.

“Danny, you can’t…” Josh started, sniffing. “You can’t think like that!”

“But I do!” Danny insisted. “I… I help people, that’s… that’s what I do… well that and getting turned on by embarrassment!”

They both laughed and it eased the mood a little.

“I just…” Danny paused again, only sighing this time, the tears seemingly at bay. “I want all the people I love to be happy and safe, so knowing that you were… unhappy and unsafe but I didn’t even see it…” He shook his head.

“You didn’t see it because I was hiding it!” Josh insisted. “I’m taking it as a compliment to my acting skills. Maybe I should join you and Chris in drama club!”

They both laughed again.

“But please stop… being angry at yourself. So what if you didn’t see. I don’t care. What matters was that when you did see, you…” Josh stopped, the size of what he was saying really striking him. “Danny… you saved my life!”

They stood in silence for several moments.

“Do I need to… charge you back up to get any more out of you?” Josh asked with a grin, reaching for Danny’s cock.

Danny laughed for a moment. “No, it’s okay,” he said, although he did actually still need relief. “Look, I can’t promise miracles, but… I can promise I’ll try. I think… maybe talking might be good for us both!” Josh nodded. “I kinda get the feeling you haven’t told the others… all of the details, right?”

Josh shook his head. “I saw… how much it got to you, knowing all of it. I… I didn’t wanna…”

“Break anyone else?” Danny asked with a snigger. As Josh nodded, he smiled and said, “If there’s any of it you wanna talk about that you can’t share with the others, I promise I’ll listen!”

Josh sighed and nodded.

“What is it?” Danny asked, sensing he was holding back.

Josh took a deep breath and exhaled shakily. “Are you… sure?” he asked wearily. Getting a nod back he said, “The time they can hold my brothers is nearly up and… because of Covid they haven’t had a trial yet and I think… they’re gonna get out… and… I’m scared what happens when they do!”

“Fuck!” Danny exclaimed. “Erm… I’m kinda stuck here but I wanna hug you!”

Josh laughed and leaned in to hold him again.

“It’ll be okay,” Danny reassured him, resting his head on the other boy’s shoulder. “They’re never gonna hurt you again, I promise!”

As Josh pulled away he nodded, wiping a tear from his eye. “Thanks Danny,” he said quietly. “I guess I should… let you go now!”

“That’d be nice!” Danny smirked. He nodded downwards and added, “If you wanna finish me off first, I wouldn’t complain!”

“With everything I’m going through, you’re still after a hand-job?” Josh asked, looking appalled.

“Oh, erm… I’m sorry… I…” Danny stuttered awkwardly.

Josh burst into laughter. “Relax, I’m happy to do it, but that was too good to miss!”

“Oh my God, you wanker!” Danny said, clearly amused.

“I’m no wanker,” Josh complained. “Fuck knows why I was in such a hurry to get back in this!” He pulled the front of his shorts and underwear to reveal his chastity device had been re-locked into recently. “But I guess I can practice my skills on you!”

Danny let out a happy groan as Josh grabbed his dick and started stroking eagerly.

“So how many times did you get edged this afternoon?” Josh asked as he played with the solid little dick.

“I dunno, like, a million!” Danny said, shaking his head.

“So this should be a pretty good load?” Josh asked with a grin. “You’re so lucky. I wish I could cum properly!”

“I think… I’m about to… cum enough for… both of us!” Danny gasped. “Oh crap, here it comes, yeah, yeah, unnnh, yeah!”

Josh stood to the side, pumping Danny’s dick as he shot spurt after spurt onto the ground. Josh let out a disgruntled moan at the sight of it. “I wanna be able to cum!” he grumbled.

“Yeah, it’s… pretty fun!” Danny panted happily, looking exhausted. “Now, time to let me go. I don’t suppose you have any clothes for me, do you?”

Josh shook his head. “I can lend you these!” he said, pulling his shorts down to reveal his own briefs. He offered them to Danny, then realised he was still tied up. “Oh, hold these!” he said, then playfully stuck them over Danny’s head as he untied the rope holding him.

With his hands finally free, Danny pulled the shorts from his head with a giggle and went to put them on, but said, “Oh, are you sure. Don’t want you getting the piss taken out of ya!”

Josh shrugged. “Don’t worry. I’m still the abused suicide kid. Nobody dares take the piss yet. May as well enjoy it while it lasts!”

Danny wasn’t sure whether it was okay to laugh until he saw Josh grin, then chuckled along with him as they headed out of the woods.

*****

“I can’t believe Easter break’s over already!” David said wistfully as he lay in bed.

Lights out had been half an hour ago, but the whole dorm was still wide awake, energised by the day but also made uncomfortable by the heat.

“It’s not!” Mikey disagreed. “There’s still two days left!”

“Well that’s the weekend, not Easter break,” David explained.

“It’s still part of it!” Mikey insisted, leaning slightly to the side so he could look up to David’s bunk on the other side of the room.

“No, it’s not,” David argued back.

“What, so Easter break’s over now and we suddenly cease to exist until school starts on Monday?” Mikey sniggered.

“Don’t be obtuse!” David scolded him.

“I’m not!” Mikey said grumpily.

“Yeah, cos he doesn’t know what it means!” Josh sniggered from below.

“Do you?” Mikey asked, glaring over at him in the low light.

“No I don’t, but I’m not pretending I do!” Josh admitted.

“It’s an angle of more than 90 degrees but less than 180!” Nicky called out, sitting up and looking at his phone, his face illuminated by the gentle glow.

“How am I that?” Mikey asked, looking at David like he was crazy.

Nicky heard a snigger from above and glanced up to see Chris grinning. While not as smart as David, by his own admission, Chris’ love of books gave him a massive vocabulary compared to the others so he was the only other one to catch on to what Nicky had done.

“No, not that obtuse!” David said, a little annoyed. “It has another meaning!”

“Not sharp-pointed or sharp-edged,” Nicky read out another intentionally wrong definition of the word from the page he had searched.

“Not sharp?” Mikey asked angrily. “You calling me stupid?” He stood up from his bunk.

“What? No, no… I… I was… I…” David stuttered awkwardly.

Chris was laughing even more now but quickly called out, “Chill fellas and Nicky, stop teasing!”

“Ugh, you’re no fun!” Nicky complained, flopping back down on the bed.

“He meant you were being deliberately awkward or argumentative,” Chris explained.

“That’s not much better!” Mikey grumbled.

“Oh come on, you’re DEFINITELY awkward and argumentative!” Danny chuckled, reaching down to muss the other boy’s hair.

“Geddoff!” Mikey scowled, pulling away.

“But we love you anyway!” Danny added, grinning.

“Shut up,” Mikey said with a slight giggle.

As Chris glanced over, it made him so happy to see Danny smiling. After the events of the afternoon, which he was severely annoyed to have missed, Chris had worried Danny’s mood might be even lower, but for some reason when he returned for dinner he seemed so much more at ease, and it had lasted through the whole evening. He held back a sigh, wishing he could hop over and join him for the night but their relationship still felt… off!

“Hey,” Danny suddenly called out. “As Easter break’s over…”

“In two days,” Mikey interrupted, getting a laugh, even from David.

“It’ll be time for Dr Arkwright appointments for you guys!” Danny went on, looking over to the other side of the room.

“Oh yeah,” Chris said, sitting up and looking from James, to David, to Josh and then, leaning over, to Rob. “Any of you think it might be time?”

“Cos time’s running out for Year 7!” Danny added.

David let out a sigh and said, “No, nothing for me!” He pouted a little.

“Same here,” Josh said unhappily, his encounter with Danny earlier still reminding him of how undeveloped he was compared to some of the other boys.

“And me!” Rob admitted, actually feeling a momentary swell of pride that he had friends he could so casually and openly admit it too.

“And I don’t care!” James added with a dismissive shrug.

“So that’s a no,” Mikey sniggered.

“It’s an I don’t care!” James insisted sharply. “It’ll happen when it happens. I’m in no rush!”

“You would be if you’d tried it,” Mikey replied, getting a slightly guilty chuckle from the other three boys on his side of the room.

“Kinda funny how you guys on that side all got there first and we’re all waiting!” David said, observing the clear developmental divide from one side of the room to the other.

“Well yeah, but it’s BECAUSE we’re on this side, it’s not just coincidence!” Nicky said confidently.

“What?” Mikey asked, frowning and shaking his head. As he looked at the boy to his side, he got a quick wink, prompting him to say no more.

“What, so there’s some magical force that happens to stop halfway across the dorm?” Rob asked with a snigger.

“Magnets!” Nicky said firmly. “Or rather, Earth’s magnetic field!”

Chris and Danny gave each other a look. They had both picked up on Nicky’s penchant for spouting convincing bullshit early on and could both tell what he was doing.

“You see, because we lay this way round,” Nicky said, gesturing to the bunks he, Mikey, Chris and Danny used, with our heads towards North and feet towards South, the earth’s magnetic field runs down us while we sleep, drawing what it needs… ya know… down there. But you guys, laying the other direction, heads South, feet North, it does the opposite and is slowing down your development.” He paused, waiting to see if anyone would shout up their disagreement or disbelief. He heard a few doubtful moans and quickly cemented the idea by adding, “I figured you guys knew, it’s the sort of thing I thought everyone did. That’s why I was so surprised you sleep the way round that you do!”

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, which slowly swung open. “Come on lads, I know it’s not a school night but it’s getting late!” Mr Trent said as he peered into the dorm having heard the voices from outside.

“Yes Sir!” the boys chorused.

“Good lads. Sleep tight!” the teacher said as he left. It was rare that he had to prompt the boys, not because of overly good behaviour, more because they were just usually better at concealing their after-dark activities.

Seemingly feeling that Nicky’s explanation was a good end to the conversation, most of the boys seemed to start settling down with the intention of sleeping. Chris let out a gentle sigh. He was, in his own word, ‘almost, sort of, kind of, maybe getting used to sleeping alone’, though in reality that meant he wasn’t getting used to it at all. He still found himself waking up from bad dreams increasingly often, he was just getting better at not waking the others when doing so.

He didn’t want another restless night, but still didn’t dare to just climb over and join Danny. He figured it might be worth trying someone else and climbed down from his bunk. He gave Mikey a quick smile as he watched him climb down the ladder. Mikey was a possibility, although he had made it clear on many occasions that he liked space when he slept, so Chris chose to respect that. Instead he moved over to Nicky’s bunk.

As he started to get in, Nicky whispered, “If you’re here for our usual Saturday morning, you’re about eight hours early!” He heard a muted whimper from the other boy and immediately added, “But go on then!”

Chris climbed in and didn’t really cuddle up to him, mainly because the heat made it uncomfortable to do so but draped an arm casually across him as they kept a small gap between them. As the intention was purely just sleep, they both remained silent, closing their eyes. After a few moments, they heard shuffling across the room. As they looked up, they saw David had moved round and was now laying the opposite way round on his bed.

Both boys had to cover their mouths to stop themselves from laughing out loud. They would have to tell David the truth, but it could wait until morning.

After laying in silence for several minutes and hearing the tell-tale changes in breathing they recognised as signs the others were asleep, Nicky whispered, “Can’t sleep?”

“No!” Chris replied. “You too, huh?”

“I don’t like the heat,” Nicky explained.

“Want me to go back to my bed?” Chris offered.

“Nah, I’m good,” Nicky said, reaching over and casually stroking the other boy’s bare stomach.

“You’d be cooler if you took this off,” Chris whispered, grabbing at Nicky’s t-shirt.

Nicky moaned, always reluctant to be shirtless, but the logic was there. Plus everyone else was already asleep so there was nobody to see him, so he pulled it off, but placed it beside his bunk, positioned to quickly slip it back on in the morning.

“That’s better,” Chris said happily, returning the gentle caress he had just received.

“Hey, no ideas, I actually want sleep!” Nicky insisted.

“Relax, I know you’re probably all shagged out after this morning!” Chris teased about the encounter he had secretly spectated.

“I can’t believe you watched us!” Nicky grumbled. “I bet Mikey’s pissed about you seeing him being submissive!”

“Yeah, about that…” Chris whispered. He rolled back a bit, looking over to make sure Mikey was asleep. He certainly seemed to be, based on the gentle snoring. “I don’t think he’s a sub!”

“Were you watching or not?” Nicky asked with a slight snigger.

“Yeah but believe me when I say I tested him myself and can say, for certain, he’s no sub!” Chris explained. After sucking Mikey’s dick in the shower, Chris had actually found himself kissing the other boy’s feet. Mikey somehow turned Chris’ attempt to dominate him round completely.

“Come on, you saw him with me!” Nicky said incredulously.

Chris chuckled. It had taken him a little time to figure out, but after observing them throughout the evening, he had finally caught on. “He’s not a sub!” Chris insisted. “He’s just TOTALLY into you!”

“What!” Nicky exclaimed in surprise, louder then intended. He paused, looking round the room for anyone he might have disturbed, then repeated quietly. “What?”

“Mikey. He’s got it bad for ya!” Chris sniggered.

“No chance, he’s waaaay more into Danny!” Nicky insisted.

Chris looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. “Actually, I can kinda see that. Doesn’t change the fact he’s into you though!”

Nicky didn’t reply. He just lay there thinking about it. Could Chris be right? He eventually fell asleep, still unsure.