The Kingswood Complication - Chapter 29 (Patreon)

Sunday 5 March 2023

“Love you too, see you at lunch,” Danny said as he waved off Chris, who was heading to Music Club with Mark. He had not long finished his morning workout at the gym and had hoped to be back to the dorm in time for cuddles with his boyfriend, so he was a little disheartened to find him on his way out. He headed through the living area and into his room where, much to his surprise, he realised he wasn’t alone - over on Mikey’s bed was a boy-shaped mass, hidden under the covers.

As he dropped his gym bag by his wardrobe, Danny saw Mikey stir a little so he headed over towards him. “Hey,” he said casually as he stood beside the concealed boy’s bunk.

“Hi,” Mikey replied without uncovering himself.

“You okay in there?” Danny asked casually.

“Yeah,” Mikey replied flatly.

Danny cocked his head curiously as his eyes narrowed. “I thought you had Cooking Club on Sunday mornings!” he said, curious rather than accusatory.

“Skipping it,” Mikey said with a gentle sigh.

Danny huffed slightly as he stepped back to sit down on the side of his own bed, then asked, “So is there any chance you’re coming to football practice this afternoon?”

“No,” Mikey answered immediately.

Danny frowned, pursing his lips thoughtfully for a moment. It had been a week since the incident at Fothergill, or rather on the coach coming back from the rival school, when Mikey had sunk deep into the symptoms of his schizophrenia and completely freaked out. Since then, Mikey had taken every chance he could to hide away from the rest of Year 10. “We could really do with having you back,” he said softly, “We’re against King Edwards next week and we need to be on top form!”

“Then you’re better off without me!” Mikey insisted.

“Yeah, that’s definitely not true,” Danny said firmly.

“Oh, come on!” Mikey said in obvious frustration as he threw the covers back to reveal his face. “I freaked out the ENTIRE team last week, including you and now the ones that don’t just outright hate me are too scared to even come near me!”

“To be fair, nobody CAN come near you if you’re always hiding away in here!” Danny reasoned.

Mikey scowled at the annoyingly accurate observation. “I’m not hiding,” he pouted, “I’m just… giving the people what they want!”

Danny folded his arms as he asked, “And what exactly is it you think people want?”

“Not to be around the fucking psychopath schizo freak they think is gonna flip out again at any moment!” Mikey said bitterly as he sat up and mirrored Danny’s position as he faced him.

“But… Nicky says you’re doing well now. You… you’re… y’know, back in control and doing LOADS better!” Danny said, cocking his head once again.

“Yeah, I am!” Mikey said curtly. “In fact this morning was the first morning where I woke up and didn’t have people screaming at me in my head. I WAS enjoying the peace and quiet!” he said accusingly.

Danny looked sheepish as he started, “Sorry, I should just…”

“No, I’m sorry!” Mikey interjected before Danny could finish. “That was… ugh, I didn’t need to say that. I’m sorry!”

Danny gave a meek smile as he paused for a moment, then bounced back a little on his bed, moving slightly over to Chris’ side before he held out his arm and said, “Come here!”

Mikey hesitated for a moment, then climbed off his bed and jumped onto Danny’s, happily nestling up against the other boy as he felt the arm wrap around him. “I’m really sorry I freaked you and the rest of the team out!” he said shyly.

“You don’t need to apologise for that,” Danny said, letting his hand casually stroke up and down Mikey’s back. “I’m just glad you’re doing better again!” he said, then held for a moment as silence lingered before gingerly continuing, “What… actually happened?”

Mikey let out a long sigh. In a way it was nice that Danny didn’t have all the details. He had asked Nicky not to tell anyone else about what had been going on, and the fact that even one of their closest friends didn’t seem to know all the facts reassured him that Nicky had kept his word. “I… stopped taking my meds!” he admitted.

“What?!” Danny exclaimed, recoiling a little so he could stare down at Mikey. “Why would you do that? They seemed to be really helping!”

“A lot of reasons,” Mikey said wearily. He pursed his lips for a moment as he contemplated how much to share, but decided to just give the part he suspected Danny would most appreciate as he said, “It made my dick stop working!”

Danny let out a noise that was a mix of a gasp, a snort of laughter and a cough all at once and wound up laughing and spluttering at the same time. He quickly forced himself to regain his composure and looked at Mikey guiltily as he said, “I’m sorry, I’m SO sorry, that… that wasn’t something I should laugh at!”

Mikey looked neutral for a moment before he offered a smirk and said, “I get it, it’s kinda funny when I say it like that!”

Danny smiled, glad he hadn’t offended his friend. He cocked his head curiously and asked, “So… is it all working again now?”

Mikey nodded as he replied, “Yeah, seems to be. New meds don’t seem to affect it quite so much, which is fucking great!”

“Ha, nice pun!” Danny chuckled.

“Pun?” Mikey frowned, not catching on.

“Never mind,” Danny shrugged, “I’m glad it’s all working again for you!”

“Do you… wanna try it out?” Mikey asked coyly.

“Sure,” Danny said with unbridled enthusiasm, “Whadda you wanna do?”

“Can I fuck you?” Mikey asked casually.

Danny nodded and sniggered slightly as he replied, “Have I ever told you how much I like when you cut to the point?”

“Probably,” Mikey shrugged, “I can’t really remember stuff as well as I used to!” He blushed a little as he said, “Oh, sorry, was that just… a compliment?”

“Supposed to be,” Danny said as he casually undressed, watching Mikey do the same. “You don’t remember stuff?” he asked curiously.

“Kinda,” Mikey shrugged as he grabbed some lube and stood wanking himself slick for a few moments. He sighed softly as he climbed back onto the bed where Danny had pulled his legs back and explained, “It’s kinda like… I dunno, like… I guess each voice was sort of… specialised in something.”

“Hmm?” Danny hummed, not quite understanding as he watched Mikey get in position and start pushing the head of his cock against his hole.

“So like… you know how I’m good at languages?” Mikey asked, getting a nod in return, accompanied by a gentle gasp as he began to push into Danny. “Well it was like there was a person in my head who was really good at French, so we’d go to French lessons and he’d be the one talking to me and giving me answers when I get asked anything. And there was one for German too and then when we started this year and I started the other languages, more of them popped up for that!”

“Oh, that… actually sounds… almost helpful,” Danny replied, finding it increasingly hard to concentrate on the conversation as Mikey was already picking up the pace with his fucking.

“Yeah,” Mikey shrugged, “They call them positive symptoms. That was another reason I kinda stopped my meds.”

“You missed having them?” Danny asked, reaching out to stroke Mikey’s thigh.

Mikey thought for a moment as he knelt, thrusting back and forth into Danny, then nodded. He quickly changed the nod to a headshake and said, “Not ‘missed’ them really, cos… sometimes they’d talk over each other, and it’d get confusing or make me angry or upset which was always horrible. More like I just… got kinda scared cos I can’t do anything without them!”

“But… they’re YOU, aren’t they?” Danny asked as he grabbed his own dick with his free hand and started stroking it in time with Mikey’s thrusts.

Mikey winced a little at the question. “I guess they are, but… I kinda… don’t wanna think that because sometimes…” He paused, looking a little upset.

Danny sat up a little and moved the hand on Mikey’s thigh upwards to stroke the other boy’s cheek, his fingers reaching back slightly into his hair.

Mikey smiled at the gesture and continued, “Sometimes some of them say REALLY nasty stuff… about me and… and about other people and… if the voices are from MY head then that means… that I’m being nasty and I don’t wanna be like that!”

“Aww, Mikey, you’re not!” Danny insisted, then paused to shudder a little as the pleasure was beginning to build. “You’re such a nice guy, you just… show it very aggressively,” he said with a sincere smile.

“Thanks,” Mikey said softly, nodding a little as he nuzzled his cheek against Danny’s hand. “I’ve just… got a lot to work through, that’s all!”

“You’ll get there,” Danny insisted, “And I’ll always be here to help!” He paused for a moment and added, “Fucking me helps, right?”

Mikey snorted with laughter as he nodded, then leaned forward to kiss Danny. It was a firm but passionate kiss, a tender expression of their open affection and appreciation of each other which continued as Mikey thrust gradually faster into the other boy.

After a few minutes of the warm embrace, pleasurable kiss and eager fucking, both boys began to moan as their orgasms edged closer. With his dick sandwiched between their naked bodies, Danny started to cum first, moaning contentedly into Mikey’s mouth. As the warm goo squelched between them and Danny began to come down from his orgasmic high, he felt Mikey begin to shoot inside him.

Mikey continued thrusting until he had oozed every drop into Danny, then finally broke the embrace and collapsed casually atop him, both of them breathless and content.

“Yeah, that definitely helps!” Mikey chuckled as he closed his eyes and felt Danny’s arms slip around him.

*****

The Axel Wars were over. That was what the boys had come to call the months-long conflict that had plagued their new mentees since starting at the school, courtesy of Axel Lloyd, a troublemaker who seemed to like trouble a little bit too much. Though the war was over, many feared the damage done was too great to ever be truly undone, though it was clear the boys of dorm 1.01 were trying.

Rob sighed gently as he looked over at the seven boys – Axel was not sitting with them, having not even begun to reconcile with his peers yet. While all of the others had their own vested interest in the younger boys, it went double for Rob. As a mentor to Devon and big brother to Milo, he always felt he had to split his worry between both boys. “They seem to be getting on okay, don’t they!” Rob said to nobody in particular, assuming whoever was listening would know who he was talking about.

“Well, nobody’s shouting and nothing’s been thrown, so… yeah, I guess,” Danny said as he followed Rob’s gaze.

“I’m pretty sure I saw Milo and Devon actually having a proper conversation earlier!” Rob said with an eager nod.

“Not that you’re stalking or anything!” Josh teased.

“Don’t make me send you back to the med bay!” Rob said, his eyes narrowing teasingly. Josh had not been back amongst the general population for long, having gotten far enough along in his latest chemo recovery period to be allowed out.

“Hey, Nicky, I think they’re talking about you,” Gray interrupted, elbowing Nicky. As the other boy looked round in confusion, Gray smirked and said, “They mentioned stalking!”

“Oh, oh you’re funny, listen to how much I laugh at all your extreme funniness!” Nicky replied, then stared po-faced at Gray, getting sniggers from all around them.

“I was actually talking about Rob,” Josh said, happy to turn the focus back to him, “Stalking the Lads!”

“Oh, right!” Nicky nodded, “Yeah, they seem to be… getting there!”

“Slowly!” Rob sighed.

“TOO slow,” Chris scowled. As he got gentle nods of agreement from the others, he hummed thoughtfully for a moment and said, “I really wish they could have the sort of Kingswood experience we’ve had!”

Somehow, despite the fact none of the others were talking, they actually managed to go even quieter as they all stared at Chris with slowly widening eyes and incredulous stares.

“Oh, the good stuff, I mean,” Chris said, shaking his head, “Y’know, without all the trauma and drama!”

“Us? Trauma? I don’t know what you mean!” Mark said sarcastically, getting a snort of laughter from Josh that was accompanied by orange juice shooting out his nose.

As the laughter at Mark’s comment turned into even stronger laughter at Josh’s misfortune, Mikey mused, “D’you ever think maybe we’re only so close because of all that horrible shit?”. While the question seemed to hit all of the others differently, prompting thoughtful silence from most, Nicky shot him a sweet smile, seemingly glad that he was even speaking up again having withdrawn so much since his relapse.

“There’s a fucking cheery thought,” Danny said with a wry grin and bemused headshake.

“And besides, most of us were all paired up long before the traumatic shit kicked in!” Chris said, gleefully gripping onto Danny to give him a squeeze.

“Well… not really,” Mark interjected, looking surprisingly serious for once. As he got questioning glances and curious head tilts from all sides, he shrugged a little and said, “Just… coming here was kinda traumatic.”

“They should put that one the website to attract more applicants!” Rob joked.

A wave of chuckles rippled around the group but soon enough attention turned back to Mark as he continued, “Boarding school IS traumatic. Remember, I went through it, like… four years before you guys. My parents shipped me off pretty much the day I was legally old enough to go. It’s fuckin’ terrifying enough when you’re eleven, but imagine how it feels when you’re only seven!”

The explanation got some general murmurs of agreement and several nods.

Mikey chuckled as he said, “That’s funny. I spent years thinking my parents hated me and wanted to get rid of me but they didn’t and it really messed me up but yours actually DO hate you and want to be rid of you and you’re fine!” As everyone stared at Mikey in a mix of horror and shock, he winced and said, “Sorry, that’s not funny at all, is it. I’m sorry!”

Mark stared at Mikey briefly, then smiled, chuckled and said, “No, I get it. Not like… funny haha, just… funny strange! S’all good!”

Mikey breathed an audible sigh of relief as Mark reached over the table to offer a fist-bump that Mikey happily returned, then shot a grin to Nicky who he knew was watching intently.

“Is Mikey right, though?” Rob asked.

“Oh yeah, they hate me!” Mark said with a nod and worryingly casual shrug as he talked about his parents.

“Fuck, no, not what I meant,” Rob said, looking apologetic, “I meant the other bit. Are we so close because we went through so much?”

“Oh, I don’t like where this is going!” Danny said, shaking his head.

“Where’s it going?” Josh asked, looking round cluelessly.

“Aww, so slow,” Mark said with deliberately cute condescension as he patted Josh gently on the top of his head before he explained, “I think Rob’s going down the completely-sensible and not-at-all-asking-for-trouble line of thinking that a shared trauma might push the Lads together a bit!”

“Hey,” Chris said, gently elbowing David who was sat on the opposite side of him to Danny, “What does our local voice of reason have to say about this?”

David, who had remained silent and largely withdrawn from the conversation up until now pursed his lips briefly and said, “It was my one that caused all this. I should just stay out of it!”

“Well, that’s stupid!” Mikey said, his old bluntness briefly shining through unintentionally. “Sorry,” he said with a slight cringe.

“No, go on, I reckon you’re right,” Rob invited him.

Mikey looked cautiously round at the group. He had been dealing with a lot of negativity, small-mindedness and outright meanness from many of the other Year 10 boys recently, but amongst his immediate friend group he had only been offered love and support, so he felt okay to continue, “I just mean… I wouldn’t want people blaming my mentor for shit I do, and I doubt you’d want anyone blaming Evan for things you did wrong… if you ever did things wrong!”

David considered the reasoning for a moment, imagining how he would feel if his mentor was blaming himself for David’s own actions. Nodding gently, he offered a meek smile and said, “I guess you’re right!” Back to his normal self in virtually the blink of an eye, he glanced at Chris to consider his question, then shook his head at Rob and said, “They’re right. Let’s not traumatise the children, okay!”

“Jesus, I wasn’t talking about, like…” Rob paused, to think of any example, gestured to Josh’s shaved head and continued, “… giving them cancer or something. I just thought maybe we could… try pranking them again!”

“Nooooo!” the entire group chorused at once.

The Year 10 prank was a tradition they had learned about earlier in the year. Each peer group would get together to prank their new Year 7 mentees as a sort of ‘rite of passage’. For Rob and the others, they had been tricked into getting naked in a classroom under the guise of a medical appointment with Dr Arkwright, only to have a classful of students walk in on them.

In turn, they had attempted to prank their new mentees earlier in the year but had done such a terrible job that they had been caught in the act and very publicly (and nakedly!) punished for it, something the group seemed avidly keen to avoid repeating.

“There’s always the other thing,” Danny said thoughtfully, finally chiming in with the thought that had been brewing. The cryptic statement drew curious looks and anticipatory silence from the others as their prank objections died down. “It wasn’t just trauma that brought us together,” he said with a wry smirk, “There was also… sex!”

“I didn’t think you were into the younger guys!” Chris said, making Danny blush a little as he slightly overshared.

“I’m not,” Danny said, red-cheeked, “And I don’t mean us having sex with THEM, I mean… getting THEM to do stuff… together!”

“I think Milo’s got that covered,” Rob muttered, still struggling with how promiscuous his little brother had become. He shook his head as he got curious glances and asked Danny, “What ya thinking?”

“Oh, I’ve got NO idea,” Danny confessed, “That was as far as I got. But we got some of the biggest brains at Kingswood here!”

“And me!” Josh chimed in self-deprecatingly, much to everyone’s amusement.

“Yeah, lots of big brains… and Josh,” Danny said, smiling gently. He paused for a moment to stare at Josh. He had made a recent breakthrough in his fight against depression when he figured out his feelings about Josh were a big part of his problems. He had been promising Mr Rudd for a week that he would talk to Josh but was yet to do it. Shaking himself from the weary thoughts, he went on, “So come on, nerds. Use those brains. What’s the point of being at sex school if we don’t know how to use it effectively!”

“Hnnh,” Chris chuckled, “Sex school!” He briefly shook his head to clear the silly amusement and said, “He’s right. Let’s think!”

“Aww, babe,” Danny said, stroking Chris’ hair lovingly, “When I said big brains, I didn’t mean you!”

“I think you fall into the ‘and Josh’ category!” Josh said, looking almost proud of it.

“Rude!” Chris pouted as the others sniggered. Pursing his lips as he sucked on his teeth for a moment, a smile started to break through as he said, “Accurate, but… still rude!”

The boys laughed at the playfulness as they began brainstorming ways to help their mentees.

*****

Nicky let out a groan of frustration as he hit the edge and felt the hand pull away from his dick. The frustration was surprisingly enjoyable, a welcome distraction from his day and the nagging hint of guilt that had been plaguing him. He had basically ditched Mikey for the day. He had left him with Chris for the morning, with Josh for the first part of the afternoon, then convinced him to go with Danny to football practice. After dinner, he had left him to spend time with the dorm as a whole as he headed off for his next meeting with Locky.

It wasn’t that he wanted to be rid of Mikey. He was his best friend – that was never changing – and he really liked how much support he was able to offer the other boy with his ongoing mental health issues. It just… got a bit much now and then and he had needed a break, though it made him feel guilty to do it!

Locky always made for a good distraction and tonight was no different. After their near-separation recently, Nicky and his mystery tormentor had reunited and had reverted back to one of their favourite shared activities… torturously edging Nicky’s massive cock!

For Nicky, edging was a bit like supporting Mikey – he loved it, but it brought undeniable frustrations. And just like his relationship with Mikey, he couldn’t stop himself going back for more. Locky really had the most incredible understanding of Nicky’s body by now. Nicky sometimes wondered if Locky may be a musician as he was playing him like an instrument. He knew every inch of him, every sensitive spot, every bit that made him squirm, every way to make him moan or gasp or shudder. It was quite wonderful to have someone know him so intimately, but strange at the same time as he didn’t even know who Locky really was.

Was he happy with this one-sided arrangement? Didn’t he want his own cock wanked, or his nipples sucked, or his body caressed? Was he really happy just being the one inflicting pleasure while receiving none of his own? They were all questions that ran through Nicky’s mind every time they met, but he knew their bond was still a little shaky and didn’t want to mess with things by pushing too hard for any further development.

“Ah fuck yes,” Nicky gasped as he felt his cock slide into Locky’s mouth. He bucked his hips as much as the restraints holding him down allowed, but heard a slight gag and said, “Sorry, just… ugh, it’s so good,” he apologised. “Oh god, I’m close again already,” he whimpered.

As Nicky hit the edge and felt the mouth pull away, fingers tweaked at both of his nipples at the same time. The dual touch signified a query or question, though it was always up to Nicky to try and figure out what that question was. He had likened it at times to trying to understand what your dog wants when it barks at you… cute but slightly annoying. He knew they were near the end of the session, so he had a pretty good idea what was being asked and suggested, “Is that you asking if I want to cum?”

Nicky felt his right nipple get tweaked to indicate a yes. Nodding back, he continued, “Fuck yes. I need it today!”

Locky’s hand was suddenly in Nicky’s hair, stroking it gently, which got a mew of pleasure from the blindfolded, restrained boy.

“That’s nice,” Nicky sighed. As he felt Locky’s hand grasp his dick, he let out a low growl and added, “And so’s that!” He heard a suppressed snigger and felt a pleasurable warmth in his gut.

The hand began stroking again and a moment later, lips wrapped around the head of the colossal cock.

“Oh my god, I’m gonna cum, I’m fucking cumming,” Nicky groaned, slowly turning from pleasured delight to pure sexual ecstasy as he finally crossed the line. The mouth pulled away. Moaning excitedly with each spurt, he began to shower himself with spunk, feeling every shot fly energetically from his twitching prick and into the air before spattering down over his slim, furry chest and stomach. “Fuck… fuck… fuck…” he gasped as the orgasm continued but only oozy dribbles emerged from the head of his oversized dick.

Locky’s mouth returned to Nicky’s prick and began sucking it clean of its hefty globs of spunk. Letting his tongue slide up and down the length of the sizeable tool, he lapped up every drop before he moved to start sucking it from Nicky’s torso.

“Ahhh… yeah…” Nicky moaned dreamily as he laid limp and serene with the eager mouth licking him clean. “You are SO good at that,” he sighed happily, “My many previous offers stand. If you ever want me to return the favour…” He felt the mouth pull away. “Oh, sorry, no… I… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t…” he began to stutter, annoyed at himself for losing his fight to hold back offering more.

The hand returned to Nicky’s hair. It was another form of contact that had taken on an unspoken meaning. It could mean anything from ‘it’s okay’ to just a general expression of support and affection, so feeling it now was quite a relief for Nicky, confirmation that he had not annoyed the mystery person.

“I guess… I’ll see you next time then,” Nicky said, knowing their time was almost over. “Well… not SEE you, obviously, but… you know what I mean!” He received a quick tweak to his right nipple, a quick stroke of his hair and then heard the sound of footsteps leaving.

Nicky remained still, not that he had much choice with the restraints still locked. Even a few minutes later when they clicked open as the timer hit zero, he remained in place. Locky was wonderful and Nicky really found their time together one of the highlights of his week, but… how much longer could it go on? He wanted more, he wanted to know who it was, but he kept getting crippled by the fear of not liking the answer when he finally got it or losing Locky by pushing too hard.

Eventually climbing to his feet, Nicky wandered over to his clothes and found the usual note setting up their next meeting. He glanced at the door, let out a wistful sigh and started dressing.

*****

Tuesday 7 March 2023

“Josh?” Mark said in a whisper as he stepped out of their dorm.

“Nope, just me!” Danny replied with a smile from the sofas.

“Have you seen him? He’s not in bed!” Mark said, sounding a little panicked.

“I didn’t think he would be,” Danny said with a gentle nod.

“Why do you…” Mark started before he paused to frown at Danny. “You’re not dressed for the gym!” he observed.

“No, not going today,” Danny replied, shuddering slightly. Having recently become more conscious of his control issues, and how they factored into his depression, Danny was very aware of his daily dependence on his gym routine, so the idea of skipping it was challenging!

“I don’t understand,” Mark said, still looking round in hopes of seeing Josh.

“It’s okay, he’s not here but I think I know where he is,” Danny explained. He sighed softly and said, “Look, today’s… umm… it’s a significant day for him… and me, I suppose.”

Mark looked confused for a moment before he caught on. “Oh, that’s… today! Are you alright?”

Danny thought for a moment, then nodded and said, “Yeah, I mean… I will be. Look, I’ll take care of Josh and we’ll both be okay. You just head to the gym and leave him to me!”

“Okay,” Mark nodded as he slung his gym bag over his shoulder and headed for the door. He placed his hand briefly on Danny’s shoulder as he walked past him.

Once Mark had left, Danny got up and exhaled slowly. He had been hoping that Mark would get up and, when questioned, reveal that Josh was still sound asleep in bed. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to support his friend on such a challenging day, it was more about the fact that Danny had been putting off talking to Josh about his issues for a while now. Heading out into the hallway, Danny grabbed a few supplies he had prepared on the way, stopped at the Common Room to grab a few more bits then made his way to the stairs. He headed up, then up once again after reaching the third floor to exit into the Peace Garden on the roof.

He paused briefly as he looked across the Garden and saw Josh sitting alone on a bench, staring over at the first hints of a sunrise. He slowly paced across towards him and without a word, held out a cup of hot chocolate as he said, “Morning!”

Josh smiled sweetly at the gesture and happily accepted the drink as he replied, “Morning!”

“May I?” Danny asked as he gestured to the space beside Josh.

“Of course. I was saving it for you!” Josh said cheerfully.

“So you knew I’d be here!” Danny observed as he placed down his bag and sat.

“Yeah, same way you knew I’d be here!” Josh said with a gentle nod before taking a sip of the drink. He shuddered slightly, the warmth of the hot chocolate making him realise how cold he was as he sat in just sweatpants and a t-shirt.

“Here,” Danny said as he placed down his drink and reached into his bag. He pulled out a blanket and put it around Josh’s shoulders.

“Nuh-uh,” Josh immediately objected as he put his own drink down, grabbed the blanket and shuffled closer to Danny before wrapping it around them both, huddling closer to him.

Danny chuckled and nodded as he pulled something else from his bag. “Guessing you didn’t bring a hat!” he said, nodding to Josh’s bald head before slipping on the one he had brought with him. “You know you get cold outside really quickly without one!” he admonished Josh.

“Sorry dad,” Josh teased.

“Hey, do I look like Mr Rudd?” Danny teased back.

Josh blushed. Although most of his closest friends knew that was what he called the teacher now, it rarely got spoken of and still felt a little embarrassing.

After a few moments of silence, Danny stated, “So…three years, huh!”

Josh nodded as he smiled and stared at the spot on the stone balustrade where he had been standing, contemplating suicide, when Danny found him three years ago to the day. “It doesn’t seem possible!” he said wistfully.

“Tell me about it!” Danny agreed. “Some days it feels like it… only just happened!” He felt a tightness in his stomach as he thought about the incident.

“I know, it’s weird, right!” Josh observed, “But then other days it feels like a lifetime ago, or even like it didn’t actually happen to me, like it happened to some OTHER Josh who was here before I showed up!”

“Oh god. Two Joshes. I don’t think we could cope!” Danny joked.

“Oh please. I know you’re already imagining a threesome with us!” Josh giggled.

Danny snorted with laughter, then shook his head and squeezed Josh gently as he replied, “Nah, I’m good with just this twosome thanks!”

“Yeah, me too,” Josh sighed as he leaned heavily against Danny. Silence hung comfortably for a moment before Josh said dreamily, “I’m glad you came!”

“Me too,” Danny agreed. “How you feeling about it all then? I know… the last couple of years you’ve had your ups and downs with it, but now… with… what’s happened…” He trailed off, unsure how appropriate it was to go into more detail for his question. After all, how tactfully can you really say, ‘Now that one of your abusive brothers killed himself and the other one died after holding you hostage’!?

Josh thought for a moment as he picked up his drink and took another couple of sips. “Would you… think I was an awful person if I said… I’m happy about it all?” he asked, cringing slightly at the admission.

“I could never think you’re an awful person!” Danny stated honestly. “As for how you feel about it… I can’t imagine there’s many people who’ve been through exactly what you have, so you’re the only person qualified to say how you should or shouldn’t feel!”

“Yeah,” Josh nodded thoughtfully. He sighed before continuing, “Well that’s how I feel then… happy! I got away from my brothers, which was good, but they were always just… out there… like… living their lives like nothing happened and always this thought in the back of my mind that they could just show up one day!”

Danny picked up his drink too and took a long slow gulp as he nodded to allow Josh to go on uninterrupted.

“But now they’re gone! Like… properly gone, for good and I’ve never felt better about it all,” Josh said with a slight shrug. “I finally feel free and… it feels amazing!” he said, getting a little tearful.

“I’m really glad,” Danny said honestly.

Josh smiled round at him briefly before looking back at the rising sun. “I hate that what happened has messed Mark up so much,” he admitted, “Cos Mark’s great and I want him to be happy… which I think he is, but he’s also kinda sad a lot of the time too because he feels bad about it.” He thought quietly for a moment and explained, “I got really angry for a while over it, because I hated that even when they’re dead, they’re messing up the people I care about, but… Mark’ll get through this cos he’s just that strong and brave and amazing.”

Danny smiled as he saw Josh’s face positively light up from talking about Mark, though he didn’t mention it.

“But yeah, I guess… that’s it. They’re gone. I’m happy. And… that’s the end of it!” Josh stated. As he saw Danny’s eyebrows raise in his peripheral vision he chuckled and said, “Okay, not completely the end of it, but… close enough. Enough of an end for me to say, finally… it’s behind me!”

“I’m so proud of you, Josh!” Danny said as he pulled the smaller boy closer to him for a moment. “You seem to get one thing after another coming at you and you just… fight through it all!”

Josh turned to stare at Danny, doe-eyed. “You’re proud of me?” he asked in surprise.

“So proud!” Danny replied before leaning in to kiss Josh on the forehead. He pulled him close, so he was holding Josh’s head against his chest.

Josh happily held on for several moments before he asked, “Are you depressed because of me?”

Danny recoiled at the question, letting go of Josh, then tried in vain to look like he hadn’t. “I… no…I…” he stuttered shakily. “Wh… why would you… think that?” he asked, avoiding the question.

“Cos I may not be smart, but I’m also not stupid!” Josh replied bluntly. “You’re the only one of the guys I haven’t really talked to about my cancer and… well… I know you’re depressed so… y’know… two plus two is four!”

“Hnnh, who says you’re not smart. That’s a maths GCSE right there!” Danny said as he forced a chuckle.

“Danny, it’s okay,” Josh insisted, “Remember today isn’t just my day, it’s… ours! You and me, so… YOU… talk to ME, okay!”

Danny nodded, but as he opened his mouth to reply, the words caught in his throat. “I don’t… know if I can!” he croaked, fighting a losing battle to hold back tears.

Josh took Danny’s drink from him and placed it down with his own before he reached for Danny’s hand and held it tightly. “You can!” he assured him, “Because you can do anything, Danny!”

Danny shook his head as he sniffled and said, “I can’t. I don’t wanna be the guy who makes YOU being sick all about ME!”

“Danny, you’re allowed to feel things,” Josh said with a nod. “I’ve said this to all of the others when we’ve talked about this stuff. It’s something I’ve picked up from guys I’ve met through support groups and stuff. Cancer sucks. Not just for what it does to the person who has it, but for what it does to the people around them, so yeah, I’m the one who’s sick, but that doesn’t mean I’m the only one suffering, so please… just… talk to me!”

“It’s… this!” Danny said, gesturing to the spot ahead of them, “It’s here, it’s… it’s that moment, that day!”

Josh cocked his head curiously but remained silent.

“Every time something bad comes up with you… when you got sick, or when you told us it was cancer, or when you started treatment, or got the infection or just… all of it, every bad moment… I’m back here! Something bad happens to you, and in my head, you’re back on the rail and about to fall and it terrifies me because… I can’t catch you!” Danny explained as tears rolled down his cheeks. “Saving you that day… talking you down, it IS and probably always will be the most important thing I’ve ever done and it makes me so happy to think you’re still here because I was able to help you and every day it feels like the world just keeps trying to take you away and I can’t do anything about it and it makes me feel angry and sad and scared and… and a whole load more angry and then sad all over again and I can’t take it!” He finally broke down into helpless sobs as Josh wrapped himself around him.

Josh held Danny for a few minutes as he cried it all out, shedding a few tears of his own as he held on tightly. “Danny,” he eventually said as he pulled back and watched as Danny wiped his cheeks, “I don’t need you to catch me!”

Danny wasn’t quite sure how to react to the comment. Had he been arrogant? Had he put himself in the role of saviour for someone who didn’t want to be saved? He stared back in stunned silence.

Josh smiled as he elaborated, “I don’t mean that in a bad way. I absolutely love that you want to look out for me and… I know it’s what you do and you’re amazing at it, but… I don’t need ANYONE to catch me anymore!” His words sounded worryingly final, but his smile was sweet and utterly sincere. “If I fall… it might hurt, but… I’ll just get back up again because I’m strong now. D’you know where I get that from?”

Danny shook his head and shrugged a little.

“I get it from this place!” Josh stated, getting a bit tearful again. “I get it from the people who love me and the… the family that supports me… and from you!” Josh explained. “I look at the things you’ve fought your way through, and the challenges the others have faced… Nicky dealing with his loss, Mikey with his schizophobia, Mark with his ex and the stuff with my brother! All the stuff you and the others fight your way through. You fight these things and come out of them stronger than ever and it makes me realise I can do it too!”

Danny sniffled a little and said shakily, “Jesus, are you TRYING to make me cry again?”

Josh chuckled as he raised both hands to grasp Danny’s face, a hand on each cheek as he smiled broadly and said, “My friends make me strong, but you, Danny… you make me invincible! You were my hero up here three years ago, and you’re still my hero to this day, so if you’re angry and scared and upset because you think you can’t catch me… you’re wrong, cos you already have!”

“Yeah, that’ll do it,” Danny said with an awkward laugh as he started crying again, though with slightly happier tears this time as he hugged Josh tightly.

Both taking several minutes to fully regain their composure, they sat huddled together watching the sunrise until they were both dry-eyed and calm again.

“Josh, can I… tell you something else?” Danny requested as a gentle breeze whistled around them.

“Anything,” Josh insisted.

Danny sighed. He wasn’t sure he should share what he was thinking, but there was never likely to be a better time than this to open up fully, so he took a breath and stated, “There’ve been days… usually ones where you’ve been… really suffering, where I… fuck, this is so messed up…” He trailed off, shaking his head, wishing he hadn’t started.

“It’s okay, go on,” Josh urged him.

Danny inhaled deeply and let out a long, shaky breath. “There were days where I thought to myself… why did I save him if it was just for him to suffer even more pain?” he explained, completely unable to even look at the boy beside him. “I’m sorry, that’s… it’s so fucking horrible and I always hated myself for even thinking it!”

“No, it’s okay,” Josh insisted. “There… there’s been days where… I’ve thought I don’t want to be here either… days where I’ve thought… maybe I should’ve…” He didn’t finish the sentence. Instead he just stared at the spot where he had stood three years ago. “But that’s normal,” he went on as he heard Danny gasp gently, “Others in my support groups have told me they’ve had thoughts like that… and that they’ve had friends and family who thought similar things too, so… it’s not just you and it’s not wrong!”

“Really?” Danny asked, visibly relieved as he finally looked at Josh again.

“Really!” Josh insisted, “And… it’s on those days that I think about… you guys and the stupid, funny shit we get up to and the fights and the sex and the drama… SO much fucking drama!”

“I know, right!” Danny laughed his agreement.

“I think about all that,” Josh stated, “And… well… it’s worth the pain and it makes me fight on cos… we got loads more fun times ahead and I wanna be there for all of them!” As Danny nodded his agreement, Josh took a breath and said, “So… abusive brothers… beaten. Paralysis… beaten!” He elbowed Danny as he referred to his past injury, grinning happily. He looked out ahead at the sun and nodded as he said, “And some day soon, you and me will sit here and we’ll be able to say cancer… and depression…”

“Both beaten!” Danny said confidently with a delighted laugh.

“Damn right!” Josh agreed.

*****

When Mikey had received his class schedule for the year, he had been quite delighted to see he had a double free-period Tuesday mornings right before lunch. His excitement was short-lived when he realised none of his friends had the same. Chris, Danny, Mark and Nicky had Drama, Rob and David had Physics followed by Biology, while Josh was in Art class.

In a wonderful example of every cloud having a silver lining, circumstances had arisen that actually put his solitude to good use – his schizophrenia! Talking therapy was one of the many tools being used to tackle it, and using his free time on Tuesday for his appointments meant he didn’t have to skip any classes. Not that he would have minded missing some, but at least this way nobody noticed his absence and drew any attention to him.

“Is there anything in particular you’d like to talk about today, Mikey?” Dr Arkwright asked, taking his usual approach of letting his patients take the lead.

Mikey frowned thoughtfully for a moment. He knew he could talk about his new meds and how well they seemed to be working, but he had learned pretty quickly that he always felt better if he talked about the more emotive things he was dealing with, rather than just the medical facts. “Oh, yeah,” he said as something suddenly came to him, “I… I did something yesterday and… I… I think I… did good!”

“Mmm-huh,” the doctor hummed, “Go on.”

“So it was during PE yesterday afternoon,” Mikey started, thinking back to the previous day. “I overheard… someone talking about me,” he explained, deciding against naming those involved. He felt like identifying would be like snitching, and that wasn’t what this was about.

“And what were they saying?” Dr Arkwright asked softly.

“Me being a psycho,” Mikey said bluntly, “That was their words, not mine!” He suddenly looked slightly panicked as he said, “I don’t want you to take this as, like… a reason to make us do an awareness course or any crap like that, okay!”

“Okay, that’s fine, we’re just talking,” Dr Arkwright reassured him, “So tell me more.”

“Well they were talking about me being a psycho and one of them… well… he asked me out on a date a while back and I said no, but I heard him saying how relieved he was that I did cos if I hadn’t, he might have been stuck on a date with a lunatic and that I might have, like… taken him into the woods and killed him and buried the body!”

“Mikey, that’s really unpleasant,” Dr Arkwright said, recoiling slightly despite his best effort not to.

“It was,” Mikey nodded. Taking a deep breath to compose himself, he explained, “And I… I felt a lot of things.”

Dr Arkwright tilted his head sympathetically as he asked, “What were you feeling?”

“Well I was angry at first and then sad and then annoyed at myself because for just a moment I thought maybe he was right,” Mikey explained, “But… I realised that was just… someone else in my head. I’d been really good all day and I’d only heard, like, occasional whispers but as soon as they said those things, a bunch of the voices came back and some of them were saying really nasty stuff. One of them in particular, they said to me, ‘The old Mikey woulda kicked their arses for that’ and I realised they were right!”

Dr Arkwright looked understandably concerned as he asked, “And… what DID you do, Mikey?”

Mikey gave a meek smile as he said, “Not what the old Mikey would have done if that’s what you’re worried about!” As the Doctor chuckled slightly, Mikey continued, “I think the voice was trying to… to… make me ACT like the old Mikey, but it did the opposite. It made me realise… that’s not who I want to be. I don’t wanna be the guy who flips out as soon as he’s insulted and starts hurting people. So… instead… I did my best to not listen to the voices and what they wanted and I just… went up to the other guys and told them I’d heard what they said about me!”

“Oh, and how did that go?” Doctor Arkwright asked as he relaxed back in his seat.

Mikey mirrored the Doctor’s position without even realising, calming a little as he smiled again and said, “They panicked! They honestly looked like they thought I was about to wail on ‘em!” He paused to smirk a little as he remembered their faces. “But… I told them I wasn’t mad, just… upset, and then I talked to them a bit about how having schizophrenia didn’t mean I was violent or dangerous. I offered to… talk to them some time about it and answer any questions they might have.”

“Mikey, that’s wonderful!” Dr Arkwright said proudly.

“I don’t know if they’ll take me up on it,” Mikey said a little shyly, “But… I managed to filter out the voices and react the way I wanted to react and that feels… amazing!”

“It IS amazing, Mikey. You should feel exceptionally proud of yourself,” the doctor said enthusiastically.

Mikey grinned broadly at the comment and nodded a little as he said, “Yeah, I… I think I do!”

*****

“Danny… Danny, ugh, I’m close!” Avery gasped as Danny sucked on his dick.

Danny pulled away and grinned, leaving the boy tantalisingly close to the edge as he asked, “Wanna go for more than one?”

Their record was twelve! Avery was blessed with an undeveloped (effectively non-existent) refractory period, something he had used to enjoy multiple orgasms at once before coming to Kingswood. With Danny’s assistance, he had pushed himself to gradually greater numbers. With all the things going on in Avery’s dorm, the two had not really had the chance to do it recently, but for once they actually had a little spare time in their weekly meeting.

“Oh no, please don’t make me cum a buncha times. How awful!” Avery said sarcastically as he looked down at Danny. He got a bemused eye roll in response and grinned back at his mentor.

Danny felt a pleasant warmth as he saw the smile. Things really hadn’t started well with Avery and Danny had been through several periods of doubting his own competence as a mentor, but every week things seemed to get just a little better with the younger boy. “Gonna make you break our record, whether you like it or not!” Danny threatened with a wicked smile before taking Avery’s small cock back into his mouth.

Avery sniggered, but it stopped quickly as he let out a dejected moan. His penis was fully inside Danny’s mouth… with a substantial amount of room to spare. He had always felt he was small down there, and had hoped that puberty would bring growth as rapid for him as it had been for some of his peers but so far… nothing. A couple of weeks ago, they had discovered Avery could now ejaculate. They had agreed to keep it concealed from Dr Arkwright so he could stay locked a little longer, in hopes of seeing some growth before that day came. Avery had hoped that when he got unlocked today, he would finally see signs of growth, but… alas not!

“Ah shit, Danny. Fuck!” Avery gasped as Danny’s expert mouth worked him back to the brink of release once again. This time, he continued over the edge and felt his little prick twitch between Danny’s lips and squirt up a tiny load. Within seconds of finishing his first orgasm, he felt the sensitivity growing in his small erection as usual. He was used to this, but it was something he could push through to get himself to a second orgasm… usually! “Ah, fuck… nnngh… fuck,” he groaned through gritted teeth until he couldn’t take anymore and yanked himself back from Danny’s grasp.

“Hey, what happened?” Danny asked as he glanced up and saw Avery looking distressed.

“It was too much. It hurt. I couldn’t take it!” Avery said, his jaw quivering a little.

Danny stood and let out a gentle sigh. “We… knew this could happen, or… probably WOULD happen,” he said softly as he reached out to place a hand on the younger boy’s shoulder. “The whole… being able to just carry on, it almost never carries on into puberty!” he explained sympathetically, “It’s called…”

“I know what it’s called, and it sucks,” Avery snapped, kicking his shoe so it flew across the small room and hit the wall with a thud. “Look at me!” he whimpered, gesturing to his penis. “I got no dick and now I can’t even do the one thing I REALLY liked doing with it! And it doesn’t even have the decency to get any bigger to make up for fucking up my fun!” he ranted angrily.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Danny reassured him. He approached the smaller boy, who was panting angrily, furious at his own body, and pulled him into a hug. “Ave, it’s like I keep telling you, you’re still only twelve years old. You’ve got SO much growing left to do.”

“Yeah, but when?” Avery sniffled.

“I don’t know,” Danny said softly as he stroked the boy’s hair, “But it’ll happen, there’s no rush. It’s just this place. It makes you think you need to just… be an adult right away but you don’t, Avery. I know you don’t like it when I call you a kid, but that’s what you are, and it’s okay just to be one sometimes!”

“I know,” Avery mumbled dejectedly as he held limply onto Danny, “It’s just… why can’t I be a kid with a big dick?”

Danny pulled back and smiled down at the shorter boy as he said, “Cos clearly your body’s putting all its effort into growing your personality first.” He saw Avery pull back and give him a slight eye roll, but he could also see hints of a smile behind it. “Your dick’ll follow later, and believe me, amazing personality and little dick is WAY more popular than no personality and big dick!” Danny reassured him.

“How about a big personality AND a big dick?” Avery asked with a playful grin.

“Hey, let’s not be greedy!” Danny smirked, “You can’t ALL be like me!”

“Ha, you wish!” Avery laughed as he shoved Danny away.

“Come on then, let’s get dressed,” Danny suggested, “We’ve got a game to get to. You sure you’re okay playing your part?”

Avery frowned thoughtfully. Danny had approached him earlier to ask for his help in a plan he had concocted with his dormmates. He had been reluctant to assist with it at first, but Danny could be very convincing when he wanted to be. “Yeah, I’ll do what you want,” he said with a gentle nod.

*****

“That was humiliating,” Rob grumbled as he wandered off the pitch, getting groans of agreement from the other boys.

“Yeah, but it served a purpose,” Danny replied, giving him a slight shrug. “Besides, I warned pretty much EVERYBODY else what was going on so they wouldn’t question how shit we were. Basically everyone who isn’t one of The Lads knows we threw the game!”

“Oh, that’s… a bit less humiliating,” Rob replied. He thought for a moment and shrugged back at the football pitch as he said, “Oh well, it’s your sport anyway, not mine. My rugby record remains unbesmirched!”

“Wait. If unbesmirched is the opposite of besmirched,” Danny mused thoughtfully, “Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say your rugby record is just… smirched?”

“Actually,” Chris interjected from his other side, “Smirched and besmirched mean virtually the same thing!”

Despite being corrected, Danny grinned dopily as he said, “My boyfriend’s so smart!”

“Aww, not as smart as MY boyfriend,” Chris replied, throwing an arm around Danny playfully, “You’re the one who thought up this whole… thing!” He gestured to the pitch falling away behind them.

Danny blushed a little, shrugged casually and said, “It was mostly a team effort. And I couldn’t have pulled it off without Avery!”

The boys had just finished a game of football against their young mentees – Year 10s versus Year 7s. It had come about from a staged argument between Danny and Avery at dinnertime about whose dorm would win in a football match. The younger boy had played his part to perfection, which Danny knew he would. He knew the boy was a talented actor already, if only based on the first day they met!

It hadn’t taken long for the rest of Danny’s dorm (who were in on the plan) to get involved, along with the rest of Avery’s dorm (who were most definitely NOT in on it). Danny had intended to bring up the subject of a potential forfeit for the losing team, but Avery had gotten into the flow of the argument so much that he ended up bringing it up instead, which Danny felt only added to the credibility of their fight. The other Lads really had no idea they were being played!

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend!” Rob had stated, when they had discussed the plan. The intention was to give the two different factions in the younger dorm a common enemy, and they had succeeded. The Lads rose to the challenge and prepared for the match against their mentors, determined to win, as much to prove themselves superior as it was to avoid the forfeit. The only division that still remained in the group was Axel, who the rest of the boys outright refused to have play on their team.

Nice as it would have been to have the plan fully reunite the group, Danny and the others knew they needed to take things one step at a time and didn’t push them to include Axel. It worked out well, as the older boys were down to seven members too, as Josh was still not permitted (or well enough) to take part in physical activities.

And then, the match took place. The older boys found themselves split down the middle on how they coped with it. Some of the boys – specifically David, Chris and Nicky – had absolutely no difficulty in doing badly, while the rest – Danny, Mikey, Mark and Rob – found it painfully hard to dial back their athletic ability and deliberately lose the game. But lose they had, finishing down by one goal in a 5-4 loss.

“I really don’t like losing,” Mikey said, frowning heavily as he regrouped with the others.

“Nobody does,” Josh shrugged as he rejoined his friends, “But look at that lot!”

As Josh pointed down the pitch, the younger boys (without Axel) were excitedly celebrating their victory. The previous factions – Avery, Milo and Leonardo in one group, Declan, Devon and Jorge in the other and Peyton not really part of either – seemed to be nowhere in sight. All there was now, was seven ecstatic boys happily praising each other for a job well done.

“Yeah, easy for you to say,” Rob grumbled to Josh, “You’re not at risk of being… chosen!”

“Oh, they’re not choosing you!” Danny scoffed, “No way Milo’s gonna want his own brother in there!”

The forfeit for the losing team, or rather the reward for the winning one, was rather simple. The winning team could choose two members of the losing team who would have to be at their command for one hour. Anything goes! And at Kingswood, ‘anything goes’ basically translates to ‘definitely involving sex and nudity’.

“He might,” Rob said apprehensively, “We’ve had our share of ups and downs lately. He might pick me just to embarrass me!”

“Yeah, that’s totally what I’d do!” Josh said, grinning unashamedly. As he looked past the unhappy-looking Rob and saw Avery approaching, he added, “Looks like we’re about to find out!”

As everyone looked round at Avery as he hurried closer, the Year 7 boy grinned broadly at the whole group.

“Should I take it from the expression that the plan’s working?” Danny asked, resisting the urge to smile back for fear of giving anything away to the group of younger boys watching from afar.

“Turns out you guys are way smarter than you look!” Avery chuckled.

“Thanks,” Josh replied cheerfully as the others shook their heads, then caught on a few moments later and added, “Hey!”

“It’s a good job you’re pretty!” Mark smirked, then blushed a little.

“So come on, who’s it gonna be?” Danny asked, if only to save Mark from his embarrassment.

“They want the hot one!” Avery said, pausing a moment to see if the older boys would bite, but none of them fell for such obvious bait. He rolled his eyes and muttered, “Damn, you really are smarter than you look!” Seeing the Year 10s getting impatient he said, “Mark. They want Mark!”

“Me?” Mark exclaimed.

“No, that Mark,” Josh said, pointing past him.

Mark briefly looked round, then growled at his own gullibility as he said, “I can’t believe I fell for that.” Turning his attention back to Avery, he said, “Seriously, they want me?”

“Oh yeah, it’s a real shock!” Avery said sarcastically, “Tall, muscley, hot, cute… can’t imagine WHAT they see in you!”

“I’ve taught him so well,” Danny said with a proud grin. “So, umm… who’s the other one they want?” he asked coyly.

Avery suddenly looked uncharacteristically timid, averting his gaze as he swivelled gently on one foot.

“Oh. Not me then,” Danny said, trying unsuccessfully to not look surprised. Blushing a little at his own presumptuousness, he tried to save a little dignity as he said, “I just thought… y’know, cos of how much trash I was talking about you lot they’d want, like… revenge or something!” As everyone looked at him incredulously, he mumbled, “So who did they pick?”

“Sorry,” Avery said softly to Danny, “I fought for you but I got outvoted. Turns out they want…” He turned and looked at Nicky.

Nicky looked round, even more surprised than Mark had been. The expression quickly passed as he nodded and said, “Lemme guess, you’re a bunch of little size queens!”

“Heyyyy,” Avery whined, “That’s not fair. I mean… yes we picked you cos you’re hung like a very well hung donkey who’s just won a big dick contest…” He paused as he got sniggers from the older boys for his description. “But come on. We get a chance to play with something like that, you really think we’re not gonna take it?”

“Fair enough,” Nicky nodded.

“Well… there we have it I suppose,” Danny said, forcing a smile. He thought for a moment and his smile turned a little more sincere as he said, “Well, the idea was to get you guys doing stuff together… so… job done. You two, get to it!” He grabbed Nicky and Mark to pull them towards Avery, but as he got in between them, he whispered quietly, “Remember, you can’t handle what they’re doing, you just say stop and they will. I know you agreed to do it if you got picked, but… no is always an option!”

“Thanks,” they both said at once, visibly nervous but they knew this was a possibility and prepared themselves as best they could. They offered Danny sincere but timid smiles.

Danny smiled back and let them go as he looked to Avery and said, “Okay, you kids have fun now!”

“Oh, we will!” Avery said happily as he took Danny’s place in between the two chosen losers to guide them back to his dormmates.

*****

Mikey looked down at the head resting on his lap. He was sitting in the living area with Josh resting on him, while Chris, Danny, Rob and David all sat chatting quietly. As Josh suddenly broke into a massive yawn, Mikey playfully shoved two fingers into his mouth to make gag.

Coughing and spluttering at the sudden oral intrusion, Josh let out a groan and sat up, scowling at Mikey while the others laughed at the teasing move. “You’re a dick,” he grumbled.

“Yeah, that’s really not news to anyone,” Mikey said with a shrug, getting a few amused nods of agreement from the others. “If you’re that tired, just go to bed already!” Mikey suggested, nodding towards Josh’s room.

“No, I wanna see how Mark got on,” Josh insisted, then immediately blushed as he felt all eyes on him. He quickly added, “And Nicky too!”

“Sure, Nicky too,” Rob muttered, getting a snigger from Danny who was sitting beside him.

“Plus it’s my birthday. I wanna enjoy it for as long as I can!” Josh insisted.

“That’s cute, except it’s not your birthday!” Rob teased.

Josh scowled at his best friend, then looked to the boy beside him and said, “Danny. Tell him!”

Danny sighed. It had been the same every year since Year 7, almost as much a tradition as his annual heart-to-heart with the other boy. “March seventh was the day Joshua died and Josh was born, so June twenty-first is Joshua’s birthday, but March seventh is Josh’s!”

“Whatever. You’re still fourteen for three more months!” Rob said, primarily just to tease Josh.

“Does this count as dead-birthdaying?” Chris asked, cocking his head thoughtfully, “Y’know, like dead-naming, but… with birthdays?”

“Yeah, I’m not sure that’s a thing,” David said, shaking his head.

“Ugh, I’m surrounded by dicks!” Josh huffed as he slumped back down against Mikey.

There was a momentary silence before Danny asked, “Anyone else imagining being literally surrounded by dicks?”

“Oh yeah!” “Totally!” “Yup!” Chris, Rob and Mikey replied.

David chuckled a little at the conversation but remained silent. He still felt bad that the issues with their mentees had been caused by his own and no matter how much the others reassured him it wasn’t his fault, he couldn’t help shaking the feeling. He had spent the last hour keeping to himself. Sad as it was to feel so isolated from the others, he was always a very pragmatic boy and managed to spin at least a slight positive from it. He was using the time to catch up on video editing, cutting out the dead air from his secret recordings of the living area they currently sat in as well as the two adjoining dorms. He was still contemplating other places to hide cameras, so he could get even more of his schoolmates secretly recorded, but if that happened, he wondered how he would ever find time to screen it all for the good stuff.

“They’re back!” Josh suddenly yelped, sitting up eagerly as he saw Nicky appear in the doorway.

“You mean Mark’s back!” Mikey muttered, earning him a punch to the ribs from Josh.

“How did it go?” “What happened?” “Did ya have fun?” “Who did what?” “Are they all okay?”

The questions flew at Nicky all at once and he flinched a little, staggering back into Mark as he recoiled from the verbal onslaught. “Jeebus, chill!” Nicky scoffed, shaking his head as Mark steadied him.

“Yeah, relax,” Mark agreed as he started moving further into the dorm with Nicky.

“You look knackered!” “Did they fuck you?” “What did Milo do?” “Are they arguing?” “You smell like cum!”

“Or just keep shouting everything at once,” Mark said sarcastically, “That works too!”

It got a snigger from Nicky as they sat down, with Nicky taking a seat beside Chris, and Mark sitting beside David who closed his laptop for fear of anyone else seeing what he was doing. “Okay, first, shut the fuck up!” Nicky said bluntly to silence the chatter around him, “And second… holy fuck! Your brother!” He looked to Rob, shaking his head.

“Oh god, what?” Rob moaned, sighing heavily. He had been through a whole range of feelings about having his little brother at Kingswood, often the cause of friction between the two previously-close siblings. More recently, Rob had begun to learn just how sexually active his younger brother had become and was doing his best to handle it without causing any more disagreements with him.

“Total fucking nymphomaniac!” Nicky said, shaking his head, though the smile that accompanied it suggested he wasn’t saying it in an overly derogatory way.

“Right!” Mark said, nodding his agreement to Nicky. “It kinda helped though,” he added with a shrug, “Without him just… all over everyone and Avery doing his best to keep things moving it might have ended up a bit flat!”

Rob just let out a slight hum at the comment. He felt like he needed to be more concerned about his brother’s promiscuity, but if everything he was doing was safe and consensual, and he was enjoying himself then… was it actually an issue with Milo, or just his own feelings? It was increasingly hard to tell.

“Avery did good then?” Danny asked, beaming proudly. Danny had received a lot of criticism for choosing Avery at the start of the year. After what he had done at the selection day, it just seemed like such a bizarre choice, but Danny had been insistent he saw the potential in the boy. It was wonderful to feel so vindicated. Every day Danny grew increasingly proud of Avery.

“Oh my god, yeah, he did SO good,” Nicky nodded, then cocked his head at Danny and asked, “You done much in the way of teaching him… umm… technique, yet?”

“Umm… not really. I mean… he’s still locked so we’re taking things slow!” Danny replied, curious where this was going.

“Ah, fair,” Nicky nodded, “Well… he could definitely do with some coaching on…” He paused to mime sucking a dick before he continued, “He’s got the right enthusiasm, but… the skills… not so much yet!”

“Noted!” Danny nodded. “So come on, what happened?” he asked before the group could burst again into simultaneous demands.

“Well first they got us naked, which is… well, always fun,” Nicky said with a slightly bemused shrug. His body-consciousness was something that had gradually downgraded from absolutely crippling in Year 7 to just a slight niggle now. “But once we got naked, they kinda froze up!” Nicky explained.

“I like to think they were just enjoying the sights,” Mark said with a cocky grin. While Mark had body issues of his own, he wasn’t at all shy and remained fully aware that he was, objectively speaking, fucking hot! “But yeah, it’s, like… they got these two new toys but they had no idea how to use them!” Mark chuckled.

“Until Milo!” Nicky added with a gentle head-bob, “He just… walked over and started touching us!”

“Yeah? What then?” Chris asked, beginning to squirm a little. Never shy about his own self-enjoyment, he shamelessly dropped his hand to his crotch, groping at a growing erection as he listened.

“Just that,” Mark shrugged, “He started touching us and that was kind of… all the encouragement the others needed to start doing it too! Didn’t take them long to act like we weren’t even there, to be honest!”

“Yeah, being talked about like you’re not in the room… not fun!” Nicky said, shaking his head disapprovingly.

“Speak for yourself!” Chris said, leaning forward in his eagerness, squeezing his now-rigid prick through his clothes.

“Freak,” Rob sniggered.

“And proud!” Chris grinned at Rob before turning back to the other two as he asked excitedly, “What sort of stuff were they saying?”

“A lot of comparing,” Mark said, shaking his head. “Like… all of my muscles compared to Nicky’s…” he paused, unsure how to finish the sentence without offending the other boy.

“Total lack of muscles!” Nicky said with a chuckle, shrugging at his acceptance of his slimness, “And stuff like our body hair compared to their absolute lack of it. I swear, they’ve got like ten pubes between them! We know because Milo kinda got things moving on the nakedness too and once he got his kit off, the rest of ‘em followed!”

“All of them?” Chris gulped, picturing his two naked friends surrounded by seven curious, naked boys. He slipped his hand inside his clothes to start masturbating as he gasped, “Fuck!”

“Yeah, really. All of them?” Danny asked, though his curiosity was more academic than his boyfriend’s. Even though Avery was still locked in chastity by choice, meaning his penis wouldn’t be on show, he knew his young protégé was still a little conscious of his lack of development compared to his peers.

“Mmm-huh,” Mark said with a smile. Looking at Danny, he explained, “If you’re thinking about Avery, I could tell he was nervous, he ended up doing it mostly to spur Peyton on cos he was REALLY scared to just go for it in front of everyone!”

Danny beamed proudly at the thought of Avery helping a friend.

“Oh!” Nicky suddenly yelped out, “One of the funniest parts!”

“Ugh,” Mark huffed, clearly annoyed.

“So picture it. Mark’s stood there and he’s naked and getting shamelessly groped and talked about and he was TOTALLY boned up!” Nicky started.

“Thanks for that,” Mark blushed.

Nicky grinned as he continued, “And as the Lads are all comparing their own wimpy little chests to Mark’s mighty, muscley man-boobs…”

“I swear I’m gonna punch you,” Mark growled as the others chuckled at the choice of words.

“They ARE pretty mighty,” David said, reaching out to the side to playfully prod one of Mark’s pecs through his t-shirt. His hand was promptly slapped away by a glaring Mark.

“And he starts off on this whole thing about, ’You don’t need to compare, things happen in their own time, be happy with who you are’. Y’know, the sort of bullshit Danny would normally churn out in a pep talk,” Nicky teased.

“How’d I get drawn into this? I thought we were embarrassing Mark!” Danny grumbled, though he was smirking a little as he said it.

“Sorry, not sorry,” Nicky shrugged before resuming, “So yeah, he’s giving it all that, and Leo comes out with, ‘For fuck’s sake, not everything needs to be a lesson. Just let us feel you up, you beautiful idiot’. It was FUCKING hilarious!”

“Aww, proud mentor moment,” Mikey grinned at the thought of Leo following in his painfully-blunt footsteps.

“Hey, that wasn’t nice, Mark’s not an idiot,” Josh pouted from beside him.

“But you agree he’s beautiful?” Mikey asked, smirking as Josh immediately turned bright red.

“Okay, okay, this is all great but I need the juicier details cos I’m totally cumming over this!” Chris blurted out urgently, still shamelessly masturbating.

“Oh my god, Chris,” Danny sniggered, shaking his head, though he was also sporting a telltale bulge.

The request, blunt as it was, quickly spurred Mark and Nicky on to share more intimate detail of the things they had been subjected to at the hands of the playful Year 7s. It hadn’t been particularly extreme, though they had both been touched, licked, wanked and sucked by seven boys in one night, so ‘extreme’ was really a matter of perspective!

Details of the encounter had led to Chris gradually removing his clothes as he jerked off, the rest of the boys joining in gradually to differing levels. All eight boys had sat at least half naked, playing with themselves, though most didn’t really get going until talk of the younger boys stopped. Instead, it was just the sight of their masturbating friends that began to fuel the circle jerk.

It was a surprisingly welcome sight to have all eight of them playing. Between Josh’s sickness, Mikey’s health issues, David’s seclusion over the Axel issue and the plethora of other conditions plaguing the group, it seemed like there was always something in the way of then whole group being together. Tonight though, those things were put aside a little to allow the boys to share the sexual moment.

Despite his eagerness, Chris didn’t even make any attempt to take centre stage. Normally he would have thrown himself in the middle, proclaimed himself the target and been the recipient of eight loads. He held back, just allowing his friends to cum whenever and wherever they wanted.

One by one the boys started to cum. Chris was, unsurprisingly, first. Mikey had followed next with his usual shamelessly loud groans which actually helped Josh to finish off too shortly after. Rob shot next, followed by David, Nicky and Mark. Danny had thought he was last, having edged a little while enjoying the sight of his friends cumming, but shortly after he ejaculated, Chris let out a grunt and managed to spurt up a second, final load, much to everyone else’s amusement.

With clean-up half-heartedly completed and some clothes pulled back on, the boys sat around basking in the mix of their post-orgasmic bliss and their self-satisfaction over the success of their plan to bring their Year 7s closer together. It felt like things were finally improving and spirits were high… and then the door opened!

“Jesus, it smells like a roomful of teenagers in here!” Joseph exclaimed as he faked a gag and waved his hand in front of his face.

The comment drew a mix of shouts back at him, as well as a few murmurs of agreement over the pungency of the atmosphere.

Danny smiled at the sight of his mentor, then frowned as he saw Mr Rudd was right behind him. Making eye contact with his mentor, he pointed to his own chest and asked, “You after me?” Worried he had done something wrong, he became even more worried when Joseph shook his head and said, “Josh, got a sec?”

The request attracted a strange hush from the group as Josh anxiously got up and approached the Year 13 boy and Mr Rudd. They disappeared outside the door, which they closed behind them.

Rob was immediately on his feet, hurrying over to press his ear against the door.

“What is it?” “What are they saying?” “Is it good news?” “What’s going on?” “It’s never good news!” “Where’s Dick? Josh’s mentor I mean, not actual dick!” the boys all called out at once.

Rob turned and glared back at the group as he huffed, “I’m hardly gonna hear anything with you lot waffling on. Shut the fuck up!” He promptly turned back to the door in silence.

The boys immediately burst back into chatter. “Waffling on? Rude!” “What are they saying?” “Mmmm waffles!” “Rob’s a right bitch sometimes!” “Shh, let him listen!” “You shushing is louder than us talking!”

“Oh my god,” Rob growled as he looked back again, “Seriously?” He glared at the awkwardly silent group again. “One more peep out of you…” he threatened menacingly.

The moment Rob turned away, he heard from other six, “Peep!” “Peep!” “Peep peep!” Peep!” “Poop! Ha!”

Rob turned and launched himself at the sofas. He ended up tackling both Danny and Chris to the ground as the others laughed.

“Yeah, someone grab some baby oil and throw it on!” Nicky sniggered as he watched the boys play fighting.

“Oh come on, even I could take Rob in a fight!” Mikey said, rolling his eyes.

“Get off, ya rugby freak!” Danny complained, while actually holding Rob down.

“Just so you know… that’s NOT my hand!” Chris giggled as he felt himself sandwiched between the other two.

“Not interrupting, are we?” Mr Rudd asked, looking down from behind the sofa that Chris and Danny had been ejected from.

“You’re welcome to join in!” Danny grinned at the teacher, then looked round and asked, “Nicky, where did we land on the whole baby oil thing?”

As most of the boys let out a unanimous “Eww!” Danny smirked at the disapproving look his got from the teacher, who was flanked by Joseph on one side and Josh on the other.

“Shut up, shut up,” Rob said, finally breaking free. “Well?” he asked, looking at Josh anxiously.

“You tell ‘em,” Josh said, leaning to look past Mr Rudd, whose hand he has shamelessly holding, to Joseph, who looked bemused at the whole scene.

“Okay,” Joseph nodded. He gave his best ‘disapproving mentor’ look to Danny, who sat up leaning against Mikey’s sofa alongside Chris as Rob jumped to his feet. “So we’ve kinda been doing this thing, the year thirteens I mean,” he started, looking round the group. “At the end of each month, any of us who’ve turned eighteen have been getting tested!”

“Oh my god, you’ve got Syphilis!” Chris called out.

“Not that kind of test, dickwad!” Mikey said, swatting Chris’ head from behind before he looked at Joseph and asked, “Right?”

“Right!” Joseph nodded, resisting the urge to laugh. “But yeah, we’ve all been getting tested. Last month I turned eighteen and… it turns out my genes aren’t just the perfect recipe for this ginger vision of physical perfection!” He gestured up and down himself, getting giggles from the younger boys.

“Yeah, ginger pride!” Mikey called out, getting more chuckles from around the group.

“We SO need a ginger pride day!” Joseph said, getting momentarily distracted until he saw the desperate glare he was getting from Rob. Turning his attention back to the point at hand, he continued, “Oh, sorry, yeah, turns out I’m also an absolutely perfect match to donate stem cells to ol’ baldy over there!” He gestured sideways to Josh.

Silence hung heavily for a few moments as the others took a second to take it in.

“Guys,” Josh said, grinning, his eyes watery, “I got a donor!”

The room erupted into uproarious cheering and celebration.