Author's Note – This is book three of the Kingswood Saga. Check out Tales from Kingswood and The Kingswood Eight to find out what has happened previously. Thank you all for the ongoing support and feedback.
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The Kingswood Effect
Chapter 22
Wednesday 1 February 2022
Danny laid in bed staring at his hand, or more specifically, the promise ring Brian had given him on their first anniversary at the end of Year 8. He had developed a habit of fiddling with it when his hands were unoccupied with other things.
It had been ten days since the roleplay session down in the Kingswood Underground with Brian, Adrian and Kyle, and ten days since any of them had spoken to him because of it. He had known they were annoyed with him when they stormed out, but he figured they would be over it soon enough. He certainly hadn't expected to be blanked by them all for so long. He had considered trying to approach them himself, but he figured this was THEIR problem, not his, so they were the ones that needed to get over it.
Shaken from his thoughts by movement at his side, Danny watched Chris roll over and reluctantly open his eyes. A smile spread across the sleepy boy's face.
"Hey," Chris whispered, the silence of the dorm making it obvious the others were not yet awake. He glanced over to see that David and Mark, Danny's usual gym companions, were both gone and asked softly, "No gym again today?"
Danny shook his head slightly and replied, "Didn't feel like it!"
Chris' smile gave way to a slight frown as he shuffled closer to Danny, slipping one arm under his neck and letting the other rest on his hip. He let out a gentle sigh and said, "I wish you'd tell me what happened!"
"It's nothing," Danny insisted.
Chris' frown deepened as he said, "It's got Brian, Adey and Kyle not talking to you and they won't tell me anything either. It's definitely not nothing!"
"Fine, then it's nothing I want to talk about!" Danny said grumpily.
"Was it something they did? Something you did?" Chris asked curiously.
"God, I said leave it. Fuck!" Danny huffed, rolling over to face away from Chris.
"Sorry," Chris whispered sadly. He was about to roll away too when Danny suddenly shuffled back against him, pulling his arms around him. "I'm sure it'll be okay," he said optimistically.
"Hnnh," Danny hummed dismissively.
"And maybe it's not all bad," Chris added, nuzzling his cheek against Danny's shoulder. "Looks like Adey finally got the nerve to tell Kyle he's totally fucking in love with him!"
Danny suddenly rolled back over, eyes wide. "He did?" he asked, shocked.
"Yup. I heard it from David who heard it from Ewan!" Chris explained.
"Oh!" Danny said, looking thoughtful. "I guess... that's good news then!"
"Mmm-huh," Chris hummed. "Speaking of good news, you're coming to drama club tonight, aren't you?" As Danny looked at him curiously, he grinned and said, "I heard Ruby's announcing the cast for my play!"
"Oh my god!" Danny grinned, "That's awesome! I still can't even believe you wrote a whole play!"
"Adapted!" Chris corrected him. "Willy S did the heavy lifting, I just turned it into something more... modern!" As Danny frowned at the name, Chris smirked and said, "Shakespeare!"
"Oh him, he wrote Game of Thrones, right?" Danny asked with a wry grin.
"You're lucky you're cute," Chris giggled then let out a content sigh as he lay staring at his best friend.
"You feeling okay about this?" David asked, actually managing to look even more nervous than Rose.
Rose took a deep breath and nodded. "I think so!" she said, holding tightly onto David's hand.
"There's really no pressure to do this quite so publicly if you're not ready," Dr Arkwright said as he stood close by. "Telling David was a wonderful step forward, but remember you take all of this at your own pace."
"Yes sir, thank you," Rose nodded. "But actually, it was telling David that's made me want to do this!"
"Wait, have I made you feel pressured to..." David started nervously.
"No, not like that!" Rose interjected with a giggle. "I just mean... being able to just... be me... to BE Rose around you, it's... made me feel like it's time to be that around everyone!"
"Oh!" David said, blushing at the sweet comment.
"That's wonderful to hear," Dr Arkwright said with a sincere smile. "Now Mr Trent's going to start and then hand over to you, but if it gets too much, just give him or myself a nod and we can take over. And if you just need to leave at any time, that's fine."
Rose nodded to the man, then smiled at David. As Dr Arkwright headed into the room, she asked David quietly, "Will it... be okay if we start telling people we're together too?"
"More than okay!" David grinned as they followed inside.
The Year 9s were chattering excitedly, many of them talking about the reason for the unexpected assembly, the rest just glad to be missing fifth period. They looked round as Dr Arkwright, Rose and David walked in but continued talking until Mr Trent called out, "Okay, quiet please!"
The noise died down and a few glances were exchanged as they saw Rose and David had stayed at the front with the two adults. A few whispers continued, but even they stopped as they found themselves subject to a glare from Mr Trent.
"Okay, thank you all for coming," Mr Trent said with a smile. "We're here today because we have some news we'd like to share with you and telling the whole Year group at once felt like the best way to avoid the inevitable Kingswood rumours." The comment got a few chuckles. The school was notorious for spreading news both quickly and inaccurately. "Now I would ask you all to remain quiet and respectful while we share this information with you. There will be an opportunity to ask questions, but if you wish to do so, you will raise your hand. Now, I'm going to hand you over to Ewan who would like to share something with you all."
All eyes turned to Rose, or as they all still knew her, Ewan. She took a sharp intake of breath, but David's hand gently stroked her back supportively and she exhaled slowly before stepping forward. "Erm... th... thank you all for... giving me your time... although I expect most of you are just glad to be missing History!" The comment got a few laughs which seemed to put Rose at ease a little. "So I know we've all... had the talks and the lessons about it, but... just to make sure you all understand, sometimes people don't feel the same on the inside as they look on the outside... erm... with their, erm... gender, I mean."
A few of the boys began to mutter, but quickly stopped as saw Mr Trent's watchful eye fall on them.
"When someone's gender doesn't match the one they're born with, we call that being... erm... tr... transgender!" Rose explained shakily. "Erm... I... I was born a boy but I've never really, erm... felt... right with that and a while ago it was because I realised... I'm actually a girl, so... that makes me... transgender!" Rose said, stopping to let the small crowd digest it. "I've started my journey now to... to... make my outside match who I am inside!"
When nobody start shouting or hurling abuse, Rose let out an audible sigh of relief, but turned to Dr Arkwright and gave a nod, feeling at the limit of what she could offer up.
"Thank you for sharing that," Dr Arkwright said as he stepped forward. He looked out to the crowd and said, "I'm sure you can all appreciate the bravery it took to stand up here and tell you all that." He got a sea of nods back. "So the reason Ewan has decided to tell you this today is because she has reached the point in her journey where some lifestyle changes will be taking place. I am confident that you will all be considerate, understanding and respectful of these changes and support your classmate through her journey."
Mr Trent stepped forward and explained, "One of the changes will include a change in her pronouns. Who can tell me what a pronoun is?"
"It's a like a professional noun rather than an amateur one!" Mikey called out with a grin, getting a few laughs.
"Michael!" Mr Trent frowned.
"Just kidding sir. It's those words you use when you talk about someone, like just now when you said her' pronouns' instead of his'," Mikey replied with a smile. He looked to Ewan and asked, "You use she/her now, do you?"
Rose was more than a little surprised by the understanding and the direct question, especially from the notoriously gruff Mikey, but smiled and nodded back.
"Cool," Mikey nodded, getting a few surprised looks.
"I... I'll also... be going by a new name now," Rose said anxiously. "Erm... from now on I'll be going by... Rose!"
The crowd suddenly burst into chatter, but as Mr Trent called for quiet, several hands shot into the air.
The next several minutes passed with a whole range of questions being asked, some answered by Rose herself, others by Mr Trent or Dr Arkwright. Although some of the questions began to verge on potentially insensitive or intrusive, it became apparent quite quickly that they were all borne of genuine curiosity and interest.
Eventually, Dr Arkwright decided the discussion had gone on long enough and although Rose had not indicated a desire to stop, he chose to end the discussion there anyway.
Mr Trent dismissed the boys, sending the dorm 1.09 boys off to History, the 1.11 and 1.12 boys to Geography and keeping the dorm 1.10 boys behind to talk about the finer details of how it would impact their dorm.
"Just wanted to say hi, Rose," Mikey said as they went to leave. "I'm Mikey!"
"She hasn't forgotten who YOU are, fuckwit!" Josh sniggered.
Mikey scowled at him and said, "I've always been taught it's polite to introduce yourself to someone when you first meet them and this is the first time I've met Rose, so just let me do my thing... fuckwit!"
Rose smiled at the exchange and held out her hand. As Mikey shook it, she said, "Nice to meet you Mikey!"
Mikey nodded politely, then proceeded to grab Josh in a headlock to lead him out.
"Hey, thank you for staying with me," Rose said quietly to David.
"I didn't do anything, I just stood there," David said with a shrug.
Rose nodded and smiled as he said, "Believe me, it still helped!"
David smiled, leaned in to give Rose a peck on the lips then headed out to join his dormmates. "Hey guys," he said a little awkwardly, as he saw they had all waited for him.
"Big day for Ewan!" Nicky smiled.
"Rose!" Mikey corrected him.
"Sorry, yeah," Nicky said sheepishly. "Big day for Rose!"
David chuckled. "She still gets it wrong now and then. It takes time!" he said as he could see Nicky looking a little guilty. "And yeah, big day!"
"Big one for you too," Danny said, placing an arm around him. "Anything... else you wanna tell us?" he asked, barely holding back his grin.
"You... know?" David asked, blushing a little.
"How could we not?" Rob sniggered.
David took a deep breath and nodded as the others giggled. "Fine, yeah... so... I have a girlfriend!" he admitted joyfully.
The others burst into cheers as they mobbed David with a group hug.
Afternoon classes had passed by quickly. While the boys of dorm 1.10 had missed the whole of the double period of History to spend time talking to Rose, they had returned to normal classes afterwards, sharing seventh period with the dorm 1.09 boys for Maths. After that, it had just been eighth period French before the boys were free for the evening. Study hour had been spent largely talking about Rose and David, a conversation which had carried on right through dinner, though David had been excused from the usual dorm 1.09 group meal to go sit with his girlfriend as it was a special occasion.
As soon as dinner was over, Chris vanished, making a vague excuse about having somewhere to be and David advised he was skipping swimming to spend more of his night with Rose.
"Hmm, think I'll give swimming a miss tonight too," Danny said, glancing down the table to Adrian, who he would normally have gone with.
"Mate, what the fuck happened?" Mark asked, shaking his head at the undeniable rift.
"Doesn't matter," Danny said, frowning heavily.
"If you're not busy then," Mark said cautiously, "Would you be free to... help me out with something?"
"Hmm, will I regret saying yes without asking what it is?" Danny asked, eyeing the bigger boy suspiciously.
Mark sniggered and replied, "Say yes and find out!" As Danny continued to stare suspiciously, Mark shrugged and said, "No, it's something I'm sure you'll enjoy!"
"Fine, okay then!" Danny shrugged. He literally had nothing better to do until drama club later in the evening anyway.
A few minutes later, the two boys were up on the second floor. As Mark opened the door to the shower room, Danny let out an excited noise as he realised they were almost certainly heading to the hidden entrance to the Kingswood Underground.
"I didn't know this was gonna be a sex thing. It woulda been an even quicker yes if you'd told me that!" Danny said as they made their way down the many flights of stairs.
"It's not!" Mark replied, shaking his head. "Well, it's kinda related to... sex stuff, but it's not, like... actual sex!"
"Ya lost me!" Danny said, clearly confused.
Mark sighed, glancing back to make sure nobody else was currently following them down the stairs before he explained, "You know my whole... issue, with, like... having stuff done to me!"
"Yeah," Danny said, resisting the urge to joke as he knew it was something that weighed heavily on Mark at times.
"Well... I finally had a chat with a counsellor about it and one of the things they said would potentially be helpful is just getting used to being touched, but doing it in a safe, controlled environment could be the best way!" Mark explained.
"I stand by my previous comment of... ya lost me!" Danny smirked.
"We're going to get a massage!" Mark said, nodding a little. "It's... someone else touching me... in a hopefully pleasurable way, but without the... ya know... pressure or expectation of sex!"
"Huh," Danny said thoughtfully, "That's... actually a pretty smart idea!"
Mark gave a wry grin and said, "Yeah, it turns out that if you actually talk about your problems and get professional help, they get better and don't just build up until they explode. Not that anyone in our dorm EVER does stuff like that!" He sniggered at his own lack of subtlety.
Danny scowled for a moment, then reached up to haphazardly stroke Mark's face as he said, "I can tell by the look on this thing that you think you're being funny, but you're really not!"
"You're entitled to your wrong opinion!" Mark giggled. "Anyway, shut up, you're getting a free massage out of this. I'm paying!"
"Yay, rubbing!" Danny chuckled.
Josh had lingered outside the Dining Hall as had become his routine now, always planning to `accidentally' bump into Mr Rudd. Ever since his previous outburst that had put him on the receiving end of his favourite teacher's wrath, he had gone out of his way to not only be on his best behaviour, but also make sure Mr Rudd knew it.
"Evening sir!" Josh said as Mr Rudd appeared, accompanied by Mr LaMont and Mr Hargreaves, the other PE teachers.
"Which sir exactly do you mean?" Mr Hargreaves asked with a chuckle.
"Pretty sure he meant me, isn't that right, my little human shadow!" Mr Rudd said teasingly, shaking his head a little.
Josh blushed at the slight teasing, but quickly seized the opportunity to be `well behaved' as he said, "Sorry sirs, I didn't mean to interrupt your evening, I'll let you get back to it!"
As the three men exchanged amused glances, Mr Rudd said, "I'll see you guys later!" Still chuckling, the other two continued on, exiting the building. "And how are you tonight, Josh?" he asked casually.
"I'm good thank you, sir," Josh replied, always happy to have the man alone.
"Glad to hear it," Mr Rudd said politely. "Was there... anything in particular you needed to see me about?"
"Erm... no, just... erm... saying hi I guess," Josh mumbled, cursing himself for letting yet another day pass without remembering to think of actual stuff to talk to Mr Rudd about when he bumped into him. "Oh!" he suddenly yelped. "Yes, dance club!" he declared excitedly. "We just found out we're doing a routine in the Dance showcase at the SCIPS creative weekend next month."
"Well that certainly sounds... interesting!" the teacher said with a hint of a smirk.
"Ugh, it's not dancing like that ballroom crap," Josh huffed, not even batting an eye at the colourful language he had used to a teacher. "It's like hip-hop and street stuff. Being small's kinda useful again cos the bigger guys get to throw me around and stuff and it's SO cool," he explained enthusiastically. He looked to Mr Rudd a little coyly and asked hopefully, "Will you... be there to watch, sir?"
"Well, it wasn't exactly pencilled into my calendar," Mr Rudd said, frowning a little. As he saw the distraught look on Josh's face he grinned and said, "But I'll stick it in. Looking forward to seeing you in action!"
"Awesome!" Josh beamed happily.
Mr Rudd leaned in close, grinned and said, "Well... so long as this `action' doesn't leave a stain on my trousers!"
Josh turned bright red in an instant, reminded of the spontaneous ejaculation he had experienced when getting hugged by the large man.
"Or on one of our sleeping bags!" Mr Rudd added, winking playfully.
If the trousers comment had made Josh wish for sudden death to avoid the embarrassment, finding out that the teacher knew about the supposedly-covert wank he had undertaken when they were camping together made him feel like he had actually died of sheer humiliation. Unable to say a word, he just had to stand red-faced and watch as the man walked away.
"Night Josh!" Mr Rudd called back to him.
Josh hurried up the stairs and virtually skipped his way round to the dorm. Despite the embarrassment of Mr Rudd's comments, knowing his favourite teacher would be at his performance was an incredible feeling. As he got into the dorm, he stopped and frowned a little as he asked Mikey, the room's only occupant, "Where is everyone?"
"I don't fucking know. I ain't their mother!" Mikey scoffed dismissively.
"Oh," Josh pouted, a little deflated. His good mood quickly kicked back in as he suggested, "You wanna have a kick-about?"
Mikey sat and shrugged as he said, "Sure. Fuck all better to do!"
A few minutes later, they had made their way down and towards the back exit of the Home building. As they didn't have need of a full pitch, they had decided not to bother going over to the Sports Complex and just play on the back lawn instead.
All the way down, Josh had been chattering away about the routine he and the other others in the dance club were preparing for the showcase, either oblivious to Mikey's disinterest or simply not caring that he didn't care. As they made their way down the back steps towards the lawn, they passed a couple of Year 7 boys sitting near the bottom.
"... and he's a total trannie. It's fucking freaky!" one of the boys finished saying as they passed.
Mikey paused and nudged Josh's arm to silence him. As Josh stared at him, he slowly turned to face the younger boys. "What did you just say?" he demanded, nostrils flaring.
All three boys looked scared, but the boy who had been speaking in particular looked about ready to wet himself as the older boy glowered at him. "Erm... nothing!" the boy squeaked.
"You called someone... a trannie!" Mikey said, stepping closer.
"Hey, Mikey, ease off," Josh said, grabbing Mikey's arm gently.
Mikey yanked his arm free, breathing heavily as he seethed. "WHO... were you talking about?" he demanded.
"S... some... some guy... in... in year nine!" the boy said, clearly moments from bursting into tears. The other two boys shuffled up and a step trying to distance themselves.
"Seriously Mikey, chill!" Josh insisted, placing a hand on Mikey's shoulder
"No!" Mikey snarled at Josh as he yanked his shoulder away then turned back to the younger boys. "First," he said through gritted teeth, barely holding back his prodigious rage. "The word is TRANSGENDER. Second, I think you mean some GIRL in year nine. And third..." he paused, panting. "It is NOT FREAKY. It's just different!"
"I'm sorry!" the boy squeaked as tears welled up.
"Come on, Mikey, don't do anything stupid!" Josh urged his friend, knowing what it could be like when `Psycho Mikey' came out.
"I'm not!" Mikey said to Josh, frowning back before looking to the crying boy again. "Don't be sorry. Be BETTER! You need to EDUCATE yourself and stop being a bitchy little prick!" He looked at the other two and added, "ALL of you!"
"We will!" the boys chorused, standing as they took another step back up the steps.
Mikey continued to glare for a moment, then said in a low growl, "Now run away!"
All three boys turned and ran up the stairs, then disappeared into the building.
"Wow!" Josh exclaimed, raising his eyebrows. "Never took you for a, like... avocado for justice!"
"I don't think that's the right word!" Mike mumbled absently as he turned to continue walking. "And I'm not. Say what you want about people for the things they do, but I WON'T put up with people being mean about stuff they can't change!"
Josh smirked as he followed. "That might actually be kinda sweet if you hadn't just given those kids nightmares for life!" Josh joked.
"Shut up!" Mikey growled, his fists clenching. "FUCK, I need to hit something!" he said anxiously.
Josh took a slight step back and held the football out in front of him.
Mikey snatched the ball then kicked it as hard as he could, trying to vent his anger. The ball flew a fairly impressive distance, bouncing a few times as it landed before rolling to a stop near the treeline of the woods that was shrouded in darkness as the lights from the building faded with the distance.
"Well I'm not going to get it!" Josh said petulantly as he squinted at the distant ball.
"FUCK!" Mikey grunted. "Those FUCKING little pricks have really pissed me off!" He looked Josh up and down.
"Nuh-uh, no way. We're not fighting!" Josh insisted, taking a step back.
"You are if I say you are!" Mikey said, lunging forward to try and punch the other boy.
"No!" Josh yelped, jumping clear just as Mikey's fist flew. He took off across the grass, sprinting as fast as he could, managing to easily outpace Mikey who chased furiously. "FUCK OFF, I'M NOT FIGHTING YOU!" he yelled back at him.
They stopped as they reached a large oak tree. Josh ran behind it and stopped, waiting to see which way Mikey would try to pursue. Every time the aggressive boy made a move, Josh simply moved the opposite way. "Mikey, fuck off!" Josh said, more annoyed than scared.
"No, just... fight me. I need to clear my head!" Mikey demanded. When he got worked up, annoyed or angry, Mikey easily lost control of himself, but over the past couple of years he had found only two always-effective things that calmed him down – fighting and sex! Occasionally he could be calmed by a `long hug', as he called it, but that usually only worked with certain people and none of them were around. Nor were his few limited sexual options, which only left one way back to clear-headedness – fighting!
"No, I don't fight anymore!" Josh insisted.
"Oh since when, ya pussy?" Mikey growled, trying to fake Josh out by moving round clockwise for a moment before turning back the other way.
"Since I met the person I need to be a good role model for!" Josh explained.
"You met someone?" Mikey asked curiously as he stopped trying to chase. "Who?" he asked curiously.
"No, not... someone as in... like, boyfriend. I'm gonna be a mentor. I want do a good job with him and that means no more punching!" Josh said confidently.
"Oh come on, you don't mean that," Mikey scoffed. "Stop being a pussy!"
"Stop calling me that!" Josh snapped.
Mikey smirked, realising he may be onto something. "Why don't you make me... pussy!" he jeered.
"Shut up!" Josh said sharply, taking a step to the side so he could now see Mikey.
"Pussy pussy pussy pussy!" Mikey teased, taking a step closer.
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Josh yelled, charging at Mikey, fist raised. He stopped himself, just short of actually making contact. "No!" he said, lowering his hand. "It's not gonna work!"
Mikey grinned broadly. "Gotcha!" he said as he grabbed Josh, shoved him to the ground and jumped on top.
"Get off!" Josh complained, struggling to get free, but the advantage he had over Mikey on speed was the opposite when it came to strength, having never been able to overpower him.
"Make. Me!" Mikey said with a wicked grin. He reached down and slapped Josh playfully. Josh scowled at him but made no attempt to resist. "Come on, pussy boy. Fight back!" Mikey said, slapping the other way. As Josh continued to lay still, Mikey started saying, "Pussy!" accompanied by another slap, over and over, one way then the other. "Pussy!" Slap. "Pussy!" Slap. "Pussy!" Slap.
As Josh's petulant resistance slowly started to give way to crying, more from the entire experience than the actual pain of the slaps, Mikey began to get tearful too.
"Why won't you fight back?" Mikey groaned. "I need you to fight!" he said, raising a hand to his head. "I need to... to get it out." He went to slap again, but his hand was moving so slow it just gently touched Josh's cheek and stayed there. "Please!" he said, barely above a whisper.
Josh sniffed as he stared up at Mikey for a moment. As Mikey shuffled back a bit, falling back on his haunches, Josh sat up, staring at him face-to-face. "This works too, right?" he asked, knowing his friend's two remedies. He leaned in and kissed Mikey.
Mikey held it for a moment then pulled back, looking at Josh curiously for just a second before grabbing him more tightly to kiss him properly. The kiss continued for a good couple of minutes, going through waves of passionate aggression and caring tenderness.
When they finally parted, Mikey slipped his legs out from under him so he was sat on Josh's legs as he said, "You're not running away this time!"
"I don't want to!" Josh replied, feeling a little shaky. "Do you... feel better?"
Mikey smiled for a moment and nodded, but the smile quickly dropped as he asked, "Wait, was that... just to calm me down?"
Josh thought for a moment then shook his head as he said, "No, but I'm glad it did!" Josh raised a hand to rub his reddened cheek.
"I'm sorry," Mikey said, raising his hand to hold Josh's as it stroked his cheek. "Fuck," he sighed. "Why am I... I mean... why do I..." He sighed again and asked, "Just... why?"
"I don't know," Josh replied, shaking his head.
"More importantly," Mikey said, shuffling a little as he sat on top of Josh, "Why are you hard again?"
"I don't know that either," Josh shrugged, not even embarrassed by it.
"Do you... ever think about... when I jerked you off behind the Sports Complex?" Mikey asked curiously.
Josh pursed his lips thoughtfully for a moment before nodding gently. "Sometimes," he replied nervously.
"Do you... ever WANT to do... more stuff?" Mikey asked, then added a quick, "With anyone, I mean, not just me!"
"I don't know," Josh said, barely audible. "I..." he started, but stopped, shaking his head.
"Come on," Mikey urged him, then gave a grin as he said, "Don't make me Psycho Mikey it out of you!"
Josh chuckled at the comment, then sighed and said, "I do, but it makes me think..." He paused again, his face screwing up angrily. "Fuck!" he snapped. "It's my brothers. It's ALWAYS my FUCKING brothers!"
Mikey wasn't quite sure what to say, or how to handle the sudden anger. It was an emotion he was used to being on the other side of.
"Mikey, can I... tell you something?" Josh requested softly.
Mikey finally climbed off, convinced Josh was no longer a flight risk and sat at his side, facing him as he said, "Yeah, sure."
"I fucked up!" Josh said, looking genuinely torn between gut-wrenching sadness and fist-clenching fury. "I... never told the police and... and the adults and stuff... I never told them everything because..." He shrugged and shook his head. "I don't even know why. Maybe I was ashamed of it, maybe I was protecting mum, fuck, maybe I was even protecting THEM, but I never said everything they did... and then I requested to... to... just... let them off and now they're just... out there, walking around free and I'm stuck here... unable to even wank off a friend cos they've fucked me up so badly!"
Mikey was really at a loss for what to say. He had spent increasing amounts of time with Josh over the past six months, but he had still never really been privy to the full details of the abuse Josh had suffered growing up. Even if he had, Mikey still wouldn't know what to say to any of that. As he felt pressure building in his head, he needed to say something. He just let instinct take over. "Confused about how he could help, Mikey just sat there, wishing he could make things better. Josh looked at him, confused about what was happening," he narrated.
Josh was, indeed, looking at him, with a mix of amusement and curiosity. "Why do you do that?" he asked softly, head cocked.
"Do what?" Mikey asked, seeming almost unaware of his own words.
"You... I dunno, there's a word the others use, ya know... for when you, like, talk about yourself like you're watching... yourself!" Josh explained, slightly annoyed at himself for not having the right words.
"Oh, that," Mikey blushed. "I... erm... it's... something a friend used to do before he... erm... left!"
"It's funny," Josh smiled. "And... I'm glad you want to make things better, even if you don't know how!"
"Me too," Mikey said, keen to avoid the subject of his stress-induced narration. "If we sort your head out and you could be wanking me off!" he joked.
"Would you let me?" Josh asked curiously.
Mikey thought for a moment and said, "I only really like doing it with people I trust!"
"Oh!" Josh said, looking a little glum.
"So... yeah, I guess I would!" Mikey nodded.
"Can I try it?" Josh asked, his expression of surprise at his own forwardness matching Mikey's own.
Mikey leaned to the side. They were concealed from the Home Building and the few other students out on the grounds by the large tree, but he still wanted to check they were alone. Leaning back, he shrugged and said, "Sure!" He hopped up onto his knees and pushed his sweatpants and underwear down, letting his dick flop free.
"I like your ginger pubes," Josh giggled.
"You should!" Mikey said confidently. "Gingers are the best and anyone who says otherwise is a cunt!" he insisted with cute aggression.
Josh tentatively reached out and grabbed Mikey's cock. It was already stiffening at the prospect of the handjob but continued to swell more quickly as the fingers wrapped around it, feeling warm compared to the cool evening breeze lapping at his balls.
Josh kept his gaze fixed on the penis, stroking it slowly at first, but gradually gaining speed. His other hand slipped inside his own underwear, tugging at his boner as he jerked Mikey off.
Mikey remained silent for a while, enjoying the feeling as he let his friend experiment, but eventually asked quietly, "You doing okay?"
Josh nodded, looking up momentarily to give a quick, timid smile before continuing with the wanking.
"You're pretty good at that," Mikey said, enjoying the feeling.
Josh looked up again, but this time without the smile and said softly, "I had a lot of practice!"
Mikey reached out and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, though the sadness of the moment was rapidly disappearing as he felt himself getting close to cumming. "Josh, I'm getting close," he warned.
"Good!" Josh said, smiling again. "So am I!" He knelt up to face Mikey as he pulled out his dick. He knelt there, jerking both dicks off as they sped towards their shared climax.
Mikey was first to shoot, though Josh was only moments behind, both loads spattering onto the ground between them as Josh aimed their throbbing cocks to the grass. They leaned on each other a little as they moaned their way through the release, before exchanging giggly smiles as they put their dicks away.
Sitting down against the tree, Mikey watched as Josh sat down at his side for a moment before moving to lay down, resting his head on Mikey's lap.
Mikey thought for a moment, then moved a hand to gently stroke Josh's hair. "Do we... need to talk about stuff?" he asked cautiously, more out of a feeling of duty than any actual desire to do so. "Like... what we just did?"
"No, sometimes not talking is fine," Josh whispered back as he closed his eyes.
"No, this is fine!" Mark said with a gentle nod to the Year 11 boy standing over him. He had stripped down to his boxers for his massage without any qualms. Body-image was not one of his problems, though he was not quite as keen to strip in front of the two Year 11 masseurs as Danny had been, who was just lying there casually naked.
The massage had not been going long and Danny had wasted no time in telling Mark's masseur about his intimacy issues, for which he received a shoe thrown at his face. He had been tactful enough to not share the cause, or any mention of Mark's abusive ex, but had openly shared Mark's aversion to being touched.
As it turned out, Danny's comments had proven useful as the older boy had shown incredible sensitivity as he started the massage, always checking each area was okay to touch, asking how Mark was doing and generally just being inordinately professional. Mark's nervousness about the semi-intimate contact had quickly faded and now he just laid there enjoying the experience.
Meanwhile, Danny was enjoying his own experience, though he was not even being subtle about the kind of enjoyment he was getting. He had proudly flipped over onto his back to reveal a straining erection and stated, "He's paying, so happy ending included please!"
"Well, I do suppose I owe you one in return," Bailey, Danny's masseur, stated with a smirk.
"You do?" Danny asked curiously, shuddering with pleasure as the older boy's supple hands rubbed him from his shoulders down to the centre of his chest and back up.
"Yeah, you blew me the other day in the showers, though I think your eyes were glued shut with spunk at the time!" Bailey sniggered.
"Oh, that's him!" Roman, Mark's masseur, commented.
Danny blushed a little – partly at being confronted by someone he had sucked off but never even spoken to before and partly at the thought of the two older boys obviously having discussed his sexual escapades.
"So your friend's a bit more forward than you are?" Roman asked, still working on Mark's back.
"I think Danny's more forward than pretty much everyone!" Mark smirked.
"It's what I do!" Danny said, straight-faced despite the laugh from the other three.
"And what is it YOU do?" Roman asked, nudging Mark slightly. "Like... extra-curriculars and stuff!"
"Mainly a football guy," Mark replied casually.
"Oh, congratulations then. Heard you guys won your match last weekend," Roman said happily. "What's your position?"
"Laying down!" Mark replied, the massage table hiding his grin.
Roman burst into laughter as Danny and Bailey exchanged mildly amused glances.
"You're so funny!" Roman chuckled.
"Thanks," Mark said proudly. "And I'm our goalkeeper!" he explained, "Danny's the captain though. He's great!"
"Wow, goalkeeper," Roman replied, completely ignoring the mention of Danny. "You must be... erm... good with your hands!" he said, blushing a little as soon as he said it.
"I'll just get on with this," Bailey said, shaking his head as he grabbed Danny's dick and moved to turn his back on Mark and Roman.
"I'm okay. You trying to recruit me as a new massager?" Mark asked with a chuckle.
"Erm, it's masseur," Roman chuckled. "And no, just... erm... making an observation."
"I bet he is!" Danny muttered, getting a smirk from the boy slowly jerking him off.
"D'you wanna flip over and I can do your front!" Roman said, then immediately stuttered, "I... I mean... erm... massage your... erm..."
Mark lifted his head and glanced at the older boy, pursing his lips thoughtfully as he hummed, "Erm..."
"Oh!" Roman exclaimed, glancing down to Mark's mid-section. "If you're erm..." he stopped himself. Mentioning the possibility that Mark was aroused would likely embarrass the boy as actually making him show it, leaving him slightly stuck on how to be tactful. Instead of saying anything, he grabbed a towel and doubled it over, then draped it across Mark's boxers, holding it there as he flipped over.
The bulge of Mark's erection was still fairly obvious, primarily because he was impressively endowed, but the extra weight and layers of the towel helped give at least the illusion of concealment.
"I'm going to touch your chest now!" Roman stated, then let out a slight whimper as he said, "I mean, I'm... continuing the massage there... erm... if it's okay with you!"
"Yeah, it's fine!" Mark said casually as he got comfortable. He was finding the non-sexual contact surprisingly relaxing, apparently oblivious to the older boy getting flustered.
"It's nice," Roman said as he touched Mark's chest, glaring over as he heard sniggers from the other two. "I mean... nice that... you're doing okay with... with the touching!" he added, clearly feeling awkward. As he got a hum of agreement from Mark, he asked, "So what else do you do aside from football?"
"Rugby too," Mark explained, "But I definitely prefer football."
"You've definitely got the build for rugby!" Roman said with a smile.
"Thanks," Mark chuckled. "And I do Martial Arts as well!"
"Nice!" Roman nodded. "What else?"
"Oh, erm... just... just some other things," Mark said a little awkwardly.
"Yo Mark," Danny suddenly called out. "You ain't at King Edwards anymore. Nobody's taking the piss outta you for enjoying other stuff!"
"Wow, he's SO not subtle," Mark grumbled.
"He's also not wrong," Roman said as he continued massaging. "What other clubs you in?"
"Erm, well..." Mark mumbled, still not used to being able to be open about his interests. At his old school, you did your studies, and you did sports and that was it. Anything outside of that was seen as soft, and being ashamed of it was proving a hard habit to break. "I do Creative Writing, cos I really like telling stories," he explained. "But I also do Music, Drama and... erm... d... dance!" The final word was almost a whisper.
"Awesome!" Roman said happily. "Wow, so you in all of them for the SCIPS thing next month?" he asked eagerly.
"I'm in the drama showcase," Mark replied, feeling emboldened by Roman's seemingly sincere interest. "Actually after we're done here it's Drama Club and we find out casting."
"Who you hoping for?" Roman asked, moving onto one of Mark's arms.
"There's a couple I wouldn't mind," Mark explained. "They're the ones with the least, like, kissing and stuff!"
"There's kissing?" Danny asked, suddenly sitting up.
Bailey immediately pushed Danny back down and hissed, "Shh, they're talking!"
"You DON'T want a kissing role?" Roman asked curiously. "You... look like you'd be a pretty good kisser!" he said, then immediately closed his eyes and shook his head again at his own lack of subtlety.
"I am!" Mark declared confidently. "I just... don't know how I feel about doing it on stage... with an audience!"
"Ah, that's fair. You'd rather keep it private," Roman nodded. "Like... maybe down here in the Underground?" Another silent groan at himself.
"Yeah, I guess," Mark chuckled.
"Well I guess now I'll have to get myself a ticket to the show then, won't I!" Roman said cheerfully.
As Mark and Roman continued the massage and chatting, Bailey sped up his stroking on Danny's throbbing cock. "You... erm... okay with more than this?" Bailey asked, gesturing down to his hand.
"Oh, go for it!" Danny said happily. He lifted his hands and interlinked his fingers beneath his head, tilting it slightly to look down at Bailey immediately devouring his dick. "Ah fuck!" he groaned as he felt the lips around his shaft and a tongue gently probing at the head. "Damn, you're good at that!" he moaned happily.
Not being on speaking terms with either his boyfriend or two of his regular fuck-buddies, and with Chris increasingly absent, Danny had been a little short on good blow jobs lately, so he was unsure whether Bailey was actually good, or just good compared to NOT having a blow job. Either way, he could feel his orgasm building.
"Fuck, I'm nearly there. You don't charge extra for swallowing, do you?" Danny sniggered.
"No, he considers that his tip!" Roman said without looking round at them.
Baily just gave a thumbs-up to exclaim his own amusement at the comment, but continued sucking, happily gulping down Danny's load.
"Okay!" Danny said, flopping out fully relaxed as Bailey stepped away, "I'm definitely booking one of these again!"
"Oh yeah, they always come back for more!" Bailey chuckled.
"Yeah, must be because of your excellent massage skills!" Mark sniggered, once again getting an over-exaggerated laugh from Roman.
Several minutes later, with their time up and both re-dressed, Mark and Danny had bid goodbye to the older boys and started making their way to the stairs back up to the Home Building.
"You feel okay after that?" Danny asked, ensuring to keep to the actual point of their visit.
"Yeah," Mark nodded. "That was... really nice. Definitely felt like a step in the right direction!"
"Awesome!" Danny said happily. "And hey, you got yourself an admirer out of it!"
"I did?" Mark asked, frowning heavily.
"Uh, yeah, duh!" Danny exclaimed. As Mark just looked confused, Danny added, "Roman!"
"What? No, he was just doing his job!" Mark insisted dismissively.
"Oh please!" Danny scoffed. "Even if you ignore the fact he had a boner from the moment you stripped, he was SO flirting with you!"
"What? No way. He was just... being friendly," Mark said, refusing to accept it.
"Mate, seriously. He was hitting on you... hard!" Danny said with a snigger, shaking his head.
"Oh!" Mark said, a little awkwardly. Thankfully he was saved from the conversation by a shout from across the Underground atrium.
"Hey guys, wait up!" Chris called out as he hurried towards them. "What you doing down here?" he asked curiously as he joined them starting up the stairs.
"Was just gonna ask you the same thing," Danny said, eyeing Chris suspiciously.
"Oh, just hanging out," Chris said with a shrug.
Danny and Mark exchanged incredulous looks but didn't probe further.
"You guys heading to drama?" Chris asked.
"Usually, yeah!" Danny said with a nod, then smirked and added, "Oh you mean Drama Club? Yeah, that too!"
Nicky watched the timer closely, stroking his dick rapidly as the two boys in front of him matched his pace. "STOP!" he called out as the timer hit zero.
"God, I was close!" Angel said, panting. He reached down to start the timer again and called out, "Go!"
Immediately, Nicky and Froggy began masturbating to match Angel's pace.
The three boys had met up with the intention of heading to the pool to get in some extra diving practice, but had been side-tracked by Froggy's suggestion that Nicky join in one of their games. Nicky was used to spending time with the Year 8 boys, but usually shied away from their (almost always sexual) games, still a little reluctant to expose himself too much in front of larger groups. With just the three of them present, and an assurance that it wouldn't involve any kind of public nudity, Nicky had agreed.
The game was simple. A fifteen-second timer was started and whoever's turn it was had to wank while the other two matched their pace. Players could choose to end their turn as soon as the timer hit zero, or keep going if they chose to. If another player ejaculated on your turn, they lost... but so did you. The only way to win was to be neither the active player, nor the ejaculator, when someone finally shot their load.
With his own turn passed, this was Nicky's chance to win, hoping that Froggy would cum and make him and Angel the losers. "Look like you're getting close there, frog-man!" Nicky teased.
"Shut up!" Froggy huffed, panting heavily, very clearly close to cumming.
"STOP!" Angel called out as soon as it hit zero again, not wanting to risk Froggy shooting. He frowned at Nicky and added, "Frog-man? You can't nickname someone based on a nickname!"
"Sure you can," Nicky shrugged. "It's not like there's a law against it!"
"Well frog-man says go!" Froggy said, starting the timer.
Once again Nicky stroked, keeping up the pace Froggy was setting. It was quite amusing seeing the two younger boys torn between looking at his colossal cock and resisting it to avoid getting turned on. Considering the anxiety his endowment had caused over the years, Nicky was finally beginning to see at least a little enjoyment in his phantastic phallus.
All three boys were doing their best to conceal how close they were, but having gone for so many rounds now, all three had been on edge for some time.
"Just cum already!" Nicky growled, more a fan of doing the edging than being edged himself.
"After you!" Angel sniggered.
"Come onnnn," Froggy whined as the timer ticked down. "STOP!" he called out, his cock twitching a little. "Fuuuuuck," he groaned, knowing the end was nigh.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Angel nudged the timer towards Nicky and said, "Come on, no breaks!"
"Fine. Go!" Nicky instructed, stroking his cock, deliberately slowly. Knowing the others had to match his speed, this was his best chance of avoiding Froggy cumming on his turn. As the timer slowly ticked down to zero and the other boy still hadn't cum, Nicky smiled as he just continued stroking.
"Timer's done!" Angel said, mildly alarmed.
"Oh I know," Nicky said with a wicked smile. "But let's keep it going just a bit longer!" Froggy whimpered quietly. "And a bit faster!" Froggy whimpered loudly. "Aaaaaaand... stop!" he finally called out. "Come on, no breaks!" he said as he nudged the timer to Angel.
"Fucker!" Angel sniggered. Within moments of starting the timer and starting to masturbate, Angel knew it was over.
"FUCK!" Froggy yelped out, leaning back as his cock erupted, showering his stomach with a surprisingly ample load.
"Fuck, you win!" Angel grunted unhappily.
"Excellent, what do I win?" Nicky asked excitedly.
Angel frowned. "Nothing, you just... win!" he explained.
"Oh, then if game's over, we may as well finish!" Nicky said. He looked to Angel and grinned as he cocked his head towards Froggy.
"Great idea!" Angel called out happily, stroking quickly. He and Nicky charged at Froggy, knocked him onto his back and then proceeded to shoot their loads over him.
Nicky was a little kinder than Angel, shooting his sizeable load over the boy's torso, but Angel took great pleasure in shooting on his friend's face, laughing as he did it.
"Ugh, you guys suck!" Froggy complained as they released him.
"Nah, that's a different game!" Nicky chuckled, already putting his dick away, having remained mostly clothed unlike the two naked boys. Angel laughed along with him.
"I need a shower!" Froggy grumbled as he stood up.
"We're literally about to go to the pool!" Angel shrugged.
"Yeah, and I'm NOT walking over there covered in your loads. I'm showering!" Froggy replied petulantly. As he headed down the dorm, he made a deliberate show of wiping most of the cum onto Angel's bed before grabbing a towel and heading out of the dorm.
"He's such a dick," Angel sniggered.
"Come here," Nicky said as he flopped onto a sofa, pulling Angel with him.
"What ya doing?" Angel asked as he was pulled close to the older boy.
"I like to cuddle after I cum. Feel free to take the piss, but I'm still doing it!" Nicky said, smiling a little as he thought of Chris, from whom he had picked up the habit.
Angel paused for a moment then said quietly, "I won't take the piss!" He laid there, held against Nicky's side in silence for a few moments before he said, "I was thinking about... starting something and I thought you might... be interested in being involved!"
"This another game?" Nicky asked with a grin.
"No," Angel replied, shaking his head a little. "It's... I dunno what you'd call it. A group... maybe a campaign... something like that, but... all based around stopping bullying!"
"Oh!" Nicky exclaimed, surprised by the serious turn. He frowned and said, "We don't really... have bullies here. It's why it works!"
"I don't know if that's true," Angel said as he sat up.
"Angel, are you... being bullied?" Nicky asked, stroking the boy's back.
"Hell no," Angel said, shaking his head. "I just..." he paused to sigh, then glanced round at Nicky. "I hope you don't take this as a bad thing," he said nervously, "But... well, I know we're friends and everything now and we've totally moved on... well... hopefully..."
Nicky nodded and smiled sincerely.
Angel smiled back, though it quickly dropped away. "I still... when I look at you... I still see how... hurt you were when we were being mean to you but also... it makes me remember how... good it felt to have everyone think I was this...big tough guy, which really sucks because I know it was horrible and feeling good about it makes me horrible!"
"Angel," Nicky said, softly, reaching out to stroke his arm.
"No, I'm not... fishing for sympathy," Angel insisted, "I'm just... well... all that stuff went down with what we did to you and then... your mate beating me up for it and... nobody else ever knew. The teachers didn't know, others in our Year had no idea and every time I think about you suffering or me enjoying the... the power of it... it makes me scared about how many others in the school might be in the same situation."
"Wow, yeah, that's... erm... I never really thought of that," Nicky said, a little shocked at the notion.
"And I might be way off. There might BE nobody. We really might have no bullies here, but if there's even one person suffering, I... wanna help them!" Angel explained.
Nicky smiled and nodded. "Really earning that nickname, aren't ya!" he teased a little.
Angel chuckled and nodded. "I guess so," he agreed with a smile. "But I don't know how it'll work or what we'll do, I just know I want to do SOMETHING and I'd love it if you could be involved!"
"That sounds amazing," Nicky said with a nod. "And I'd be honoured!"
Mr Warren, aka Ruby, had wandered off to make sure the older students were okay working on their production for the drama showcase, leaving the Year 8 and 9 students sat waiting for the casting announcements. Auditions had taken place the previous week and with the weekend's drama club meeting cancelled due to most students being away for SCIPS events, it was only now that Ruby was able to reveal the cast.
"Just so you know, Danny totally hasn't read your script!" Mark said with a snigger.
"What?! Rude!" Chris complained, elbowing Danny who was sat to his other side.
Danny suddenly looked round at him. He had been a little distracted, seeing Adrian sat across the room with Rose and a couple of other Year 9s. While he had been determined to just leave him alone and let him `get over it' in his own time, Danny was feeling increasingly uncomfortable about the whole thing. "Sorry, what?" he asked, having not heard what the others had said.
"Mark tells me you haven't read my script!" Chris said, raising an eyebrow.
"I've read it!" Danny insisted.
"You didn't know there was kissing!" Mark exclaimed.
Danny blushed and said, "Okay, I read the audition scenes, but I figured I'd read the rest when I knew my part!"
"Well, that's just fuckin' rude!" Chris said, only feigning annoyance and not doing it particularly well.
"I just figured I already knew it," Danny shrugged. He leaned forward to look at Mark. "He's a total Shakespeare nerd. I swear we've played basically every scene from it over the years in here anyway! Any time we get to choose, he's like... `ooh, Shakespeare'. It's cute... but repetitive!"
"Ah!" Chris said, waving his script in Danny's face. "That's the thing, it's NOT A Mid-Summer Night's Dream', it's A Mid-Summer Night's SCREAM'. Very different!"
"Well I read it!" Mark said proudly.
"Suck up," Danny muttered, getting an elbow from Chris.
"Why don't you tell him all about it," Chris said, mostly just wanting to test Mark's boast.
"Okay," Mark shrugged, largely convinced Chris was actually just testing him. "So Damian and Harley are together and they head off into the woods one night to make out, but they're followed by Damian's ex, Hunter, who's totally still into him and Xander, who's totally crushing on Harley. At the same time a group of rugby lads have gone to mess around in the woods too. What none of them know is that woods are controlled by these fairies. Their king and queen recently broke up cos the queen, Tytania, she's totally hooked on watching the humans, like some kinda supernatural Keeping Up With the Kardashians, so the king, Oberon, decides they need to be cancelled and sends out his fairy assassins to kill all the humans so he can get back with Tytania." He looked to Chris and asked, "That about cover it?"
"You DID read it!" Chris said, happily grabbing Mark in an excitable hug.
"Still a suck-up!" Danny sniggered.
"Okay people, quiet down!" Ruby announced, flouncing through the centre of the group. He flopped down into a massive bean bag and sighed, "It's so exhausting being this fabulous! Anyway, the show must go on. I'm sure you're all eager to find out your roles. Yes?"
There was a general murmur of agreement.
Ruby tossed his head back and groaned exaggeratedly, then lifted his head again and demanded, "WITH energy, people!"
"YEAH!" the boys called back, laughing at the usual over-dramaticism of the teacher.
"Timothy, hand me my pad!" Ruby said, holding his hand out.
"I think that's you today," a Year 8 boy sniggered, nudging a boy at his side who was sat near Ruby.
Timothy' did not exist, at least seemingly not outside of Ruby's head. It was the name of the assistant he clearly felt he deserved and was something of a running joke amongst the students. Whoever was nearest at the time simply took up the role of Timothy' and assisted him. The boy handed Ruby his pad as requested.
"Thank you," Ruby said with a slow nod. He flicked to the right page and said, "Ah yes, here we go, A Mid-Summer Night's Scream, by Christopher Smith!" The boys applauded as Chris stood and took a bow. "Yes, well deserved, if only for the wordplay," the teacher smiled. "And without further ado, we shall start with the fairies. Behold the king of fairies, Oberon... played by Jason Johnson," he announced, gesturing to one of the boys sitting with Adrian. More applause. "And his queen, Tytania shall be played by the lovely... Rose Thompson!"
The room went strangely quiet as many of the boys looked round.
"Formerly known as Ewan Thompson!" Rose said, knowing word had likely not spread to the other years quite yet.
The awkward silence remained.
"Okay, underlings, unclench!" Ruby said abruptly, shaking his head. "I'm aware I have cast a girl in one of the only female roles, but it was based on the audition alone... AND has been discussed with Rose ahead, so everything's fine!"
Some muttering followed from the group, mostly among the Year 8s, discussing the `girl' in the room.
"Well, let's speed this up or we'll be here all night," Ruby said, sitting up as much as he could in the bean bag. "Puck will be played by Aaron Moore. Cobweb will be Steven Harris, Mustardseed will be Gabriel Nelson, Moth will be Jeffrey Turner and Peaseblossom will be played by Samuel Sutton."
The boys talked quietly for a moment.
"Now, onto The Rustics... a.k.a. the rugby lads," Ruby continued. "Boris will be Toby Potter, Quinn will be Lucas Yates, Flyboy will be Tyler Griffin, Guns will be Oliver Robson, Snot will be Bojing Chung and finally Tiny will be Callum Wheeler." After giving the Year 8 boys a chance to chatter and congratulate each other, he said, "And that brings us on to the humans."
"You saying rugby lads aren't human?" Steve asked, getting a laugh from the group.
"I'd never say such a thing," Ruby replied. "I would simply think it and maybe imply it, but never say it!" As the boys all laughed, he cleared his throat and said, "Playing the Headmaster of the school, Mr Theseus, we have Marcus Reid!"
"Oh yeah, I'm in charge, bitches!" Mark called out happily.
The boys laughed for a moment, then gasped a little as they looked to Ruby.
Ruby barely responded, staying focused on his pad, though he did raise an eyebrow as he said casually, "You are, indeed, in charge..." he looked round the group and smirked as he added, "Bitches!" More laughter. "And playing the role of fellow teacher Mr Hippolyta, we'll have Haru Tanaka!"
"Yeah, go Harry!" Danny called out, supporting the younger football team captain.
"Now, our main four," Ruby said, looking at the remaining Year 9s. "Playing Xander, will be Adrian Rivera, Damian will be played by Daniel Davies, Harley will be played by... Harley Edwards, the name is a coincidence, and last but by no means least, playing the role of Hunter... and I assure you this too was based on auditions, was our playwright, Christopher Smith!"
There was a round of applause for the main cast, though they all seemed happy to celebrate each other for a few moments, the excitement of the new production really kicking in.
Most of remainder of the evening was spent discussing roles and the schedule for rehearsals. By the time Ruby dismissed them all, they were all still chattering away excitedly.
"I'll catch up," Danny said as he pulled away from Chris and Mark. He turned back to head towards Adrian and approached cautiously. "Hi," he said quietly.
Adrian scowled and as the boys around him gave him a quizzical look, he said, "I'll see ya later," to let them know they were good to go. Once they were alone, he looked at Danny and snapped, "What?"
Danny was a little shaken by the abruptness. Being ignored by Adrian was one thing, but being faced with such aggression made the rift between them seem all the more real. "I... erm... we're gonna have to spend a fair bit of time together to prepare for the show. Are we... okay?"
"Are we..." Adrian started, clearly too annoyed to even finish the question. "No, we're not OKAY!" he snapped angrily. "I'll work with you on the play cos I love drama and I Chris wrote this," he brandished the script, "So I want it to be great, but you and me... we are NOT okay!"
Danny huffed and shook his head. "Fine, whatever," he said as he turned to walk away.
"No! Fuck you!" Adrian snapped furiously, grabbing Danny's arm. "You don't get to act pissed at ME!" he snarled at the other boy.
"Why not? You're being a dick over something I didn't even do to YOU!" Danny said defensively.
"You... you..." Adrian stuttered, literally angered beyond words. "Ugh!" he huffed and stormed towards the door. He stopped, fists clenched, motionless for a few moments. Eventually he turned and asked, "Do you really not get it?"
"Yeah, I get it, I shoulda told Brian what we were doing, but... he's the one that should be pissed about it, not you!" Danny said, shaking his head.
"Wow, you really are totally fucking oblivious, aren't you!" Adrian said, shaking his head. "Forget it. I'll see you at rehearsal."
Danny just stood and watched him leave.
"Is nobody gonna announce wank time?" Mark asked curiously when the lights had been out for several minutes and nobody had mentioned it or made any significant sign of movement.
"I got seen to earlier," Danny sniggered.
"Me too!" Rob said happily, having spent most of his evening with his boyfriend, Luke.
"And me," Nicky added, smiling at the memory of his game with Angel and Froggy.
"Same here!" Mikey and Josh said unintentionally at the same time, then both giggled.
"Yeah, I'm passing!" Chris said, getting a darkness-hidden frown from Danny.
"And I'm busy!" David said as he sat with his phone out, texting Rose.
"Don't let us stop ya though," Chris said, his smile actually audible.
Mark frowned. "Yeah, I'm not being the only one... doing it!"
"Okay, well sweet dreams," Chris said, then smirked and said, "Or more likely... wet ones!" The others all laughed as Mark just huffed and curled up.
"Why no wanking?" Danny whispered to Chris. "What were you up to earlier?"
"Can't tell you," Chris whispered back. "But... I'll show you soon. Promise!" He leaned over and gave the other boy a playful peck on the cheek before rolling away to get comfortable.
Danny shrugged. He had been through various stages with his best friend. Times when they kept too much from each other, times when they had avidly shared every little detail, but they finally seemed to have settled into a comfortable medium, always honest without over-sharing. He knew if Chris didn't want to tell him, he should respect it, though it didn't stop his curiosity running wild. It actually proved a good distraction from the Adrian/Brian/Kyle situation... at least it did until he realised it was just a distraction and his mind wandered right back to it.
Not feeling remotely able to sleep yet, Danny reached out and grabbed his phone. Usually this late at night if he couldn't sleep he would text someone else outside the dorm... usually one of the three people he was now not speaking to. Instead, he decided to open up the digital copy of the script for the play they had been given, remembering Mark's comments about kissing.
Tempted as he was to just read the whole script, Danny decided to just skim through, checking for scenes involving his character, Damian. Right from the start, he saw he had a lot of scenes with Harley, who was playing a character by the same name. Their characters were in a relationship at the start of the story and, with the script being written by Chris, they were not shy about showing physical affection. That was no issue, Harley was a friend and a few hugs and a bit of hand holding would be nice, though there were some kisses too.
Apparently Ruby had worked with Chris to censor some of the more explicit scenes, not wanting to fall foul of the SCIPS judges for having unacceptable content, but there was still plenty of kissing and implied sexual contact. Considering his personal rule about kissing (i.e. he only kissed Brian), Danny felt a little uneasy about the role, but he had always been able to make exceptions, and playing a part in a play certainly seemed a reasonable one.
Danny continued to skim through, amused by the excerpts of the storyline he was getting. Finally, near the end he got to a scene featuring Damian (his character) and Hunter (Chris' character). He read through it nervously.
Damian: He's still out there, I can hear him. We need to make a run for it, get back to school, maybe find Mr Theseus!
Hunter: No, you saw what happened to Xander. They can detect movement. We need to stay here and wait for morning!
[Hunter reaches out to ensure their concealment is keeping them hidden. He reached across Damian and as he starts to pull back, pauses to leave them face-to-face]
Hunter: I... I'm sorry about what happened to Harley. I know I was never the biggest fan of you two together, but... he was a good guy!
Damian: He was! I... only date the good ones.
[Damian reaches up to touch Hunter's face]
Hunter: I... never stopped loving you!
Damian: I did!
[Hunter tries to pull away but Damian holds him in place]
Damian: I made myself stop, because loving you and not being with you was worse than anything those fairies could do to me!
Hunter: So... you could... love me again?
[Both pause, staring longingly]
Damian: What do you think?
Danny let out a gentle gasp and looked down to the sleeping boy at his side then looked back to the page and whispered the next line, [Damian and Hunter kiss].
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. New chapters will post weekly, so be back same time next week for more!
If you have any questions or comments, my email is always open at matterotica@hotmail.co.uk. Alternatively, I can be found on patreon where I also post my stories, along with bonus content and exclusives, at patreon.com/matterotica
If you wish to read any of my other stories, please see below for links
The Kingswood Saga
Tales from Kingswood (Book 1)– https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/tales-from-kingswood/
Half-Term at Kingswood (Book 1 bonus story) – https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/half-term-at-kingswood/
The Kingswood Eight (Book 2) - https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/the-kingswood-eight/
A Very Kingswood Easter (Book 2 bonus story) - https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/a-very-kingswood-easter/
The Benny Saga (in reading order)
Benny Takes Control – https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/authoritarian/benny-takes-control/
The Dangers of Desire – https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/authoritarian/the-dangers-of-desire/
Benny's House – https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/authoritarian/bennys-house/
Other Series
Possession – https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/possession-series/
Jack Hamilton – https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/authoritarian/jack-hamilton/
Phil's Naked Adventures – https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/authoritarian/phils-naked-adventures/
One-shots
The Art of Seduction – https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/the-art-of-seduction
Jake's Exposure – https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/authoritarian/jakes-exposure
Becoming an Internet Master – https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/authoritarian/becoming-an-internet-master
Brian's Big Mistake – http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/authoritarian/brians-big-mistake
And Then It Got Worse – https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/masturbation/and-then-it-got-worse
Missed Opportunity – https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/young-friends/missed-opportunity