William
by Paul Jamison
Chapter 11
Will's viewpoint
I woke to the sun streaming through a gap in the curtains. Glancing at the bedside alarm I saw it was just after seven. I began to feel a pressing need to go to the bathroom. I slid towards the edge of the bed and felt Justin shift position behind me. He was still fast asleep breathing gently. I slipped out of bed and padded across the bedroom and into the bathroom to take care of needs. I thought through the events of the previous evening. There were two 'firsts' for me. One, giving and getting my first B.J., two, sleeping naked with another boy... and he's my boyfriend, I was feeling chuffed with myself.
Suddenly, just as I'd finished peeing, a pair of hands snaked around my waist and pulled me into an embrace. Justin nuzzled his face into my neck and kissed it several times. I giggled as I felt his morning erection pressing against me.
"Hello," I said.
"Mmmmm," he muttered back.
I moved away from the toilet bowl, Justin took my place and attempted to pee. I giggled at his efforts made difficult by his morning hard-on. He made a noise that showed his frustration at not being able to get himself going despite being every bit as desperate as I'd been. At last he seemed to get started and did the necessary. When he'd done he flushed and turned to where I was drying my hands after a quick wash.
"Are you getting up now?" He asked, as he went to the sink and washed his hands.
"Not sure," I replied. "Rick and Paul'll prolly be up and about. Rick goes off quite early so he'll be down in the kitchen doing tea and toast I guess. Dad's coming home today; I'm not looking forward to tomorrow though. I've already been to one funeral, my mum's and that was hard."
"I've never been to one," Justin answered. "My p's went to my grandma's when I was little but I stayed home with my aunt."
"So, what're we doing then?" I asked.
"Let's shower and go eat," Justin replied.
"Okay," I said.
I turned on the shower and stepped in after checking the water, Justin was soon in behind me soaping me up. I turned round to do the same to him and few seconds later we're both rock hard again. We continued to rub gently until the inevitable happened. Justin stiffened his legs and making his throaty noises shot three times onto the shower floor, I was almost as close and he quickened his rubbing on my cock and almost at once I felt my balls tighten and I too shot a couple of loads onto the shower floor. We kissed briefly, finished showering, shut off the water and giggling quietly to each other dried ourselves off.
Back in the bedroom we dressed and Justin packed his clothes into his backpack. We both got our kit ready for the swimming tests and with a quick glance to make sure nothing was forgotten went downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In the kitchen I was enjoying a second cup of tea when the boys breezed in, both had Cheshire cat grins on their faces. I looked towards them and smiling widely said.
"Looks like you two had a pleasant night? All bright eyed for today's tests then?"
"Oh yes," Will replied.
"Certainly am," Justin echoed.
The two boys got themselves tea and toast for breakfast, once sorted they came to the table and sat down to eat.
"Looking forward to getting your certificates?" I asked them both.
"Definitely," Will replied. "Dad'll be pleased too," he continued.
"Yeah, me too," echoed Justin. "I'm just annoyed I'm not up for the Silver award though. I can do it; I wasn't here this time last year when they'd the courses, so I'm a year behind now," he moaned.
"Oh, I see," I said, "can you catch up at all?" I asked.
"Yeah, I can do Silver at Easter instead of next summer, then I can do the Gold with Will next summer," he replied.
"I hope that works out then. What's Liam doing? Do you know?" I asked them.
"Yeah, He's doing the Gold; he says he wants to train as a swimming instructor and life guard," Will said.
"He's a year ahead of us 'cos he's older," Justin said.
"That makes sense," I smilingly agreed. "So, what time are you to be there? Eleven as usual?"
"Yeah, same as the other days," Will replied.
Justin nodded in agreement and continued to munch toast. I mulled over a few thoughts to myself and then said
"Thought any more about your birthday yet?" I asked Will.
"Nah, sorry, not had time. I'll start thinking after swimming's over, okay?"
"Sure, it's not a problem. Oh, while we're on thinking got any ideas on who else to invite on the boat? Anyone you can think of in your group of friends?" I asked them both.
"No, not yet," Will replied.
"The problem is we want to ask another gay guy, you see." Justin explained.
"We're not too sure there're any others in our year and don't want to risk problems if we get it wrong and someone blabs all over school," Will said.
"Point taken," I replied.
"What's the situation regarding homophobic bullying at the Royal Grammar these days?" I asked them. "I mean is there a definite school policy of zero tolerance of any kind of bullying, including homophobic?"
"There's meant to be, but some masters ignore it even when it's right in their earshot. If you complain they say stuff like 'it's only banter, it doesn't mean anything' and stuff like that. If you go to your head of year though, I think it'd be taken seriously but that's a big deal and most don't want to go through that, with all the questions and stuff which goes along with it all, you see," Justin explained.
"So actually making a complaint is quite an ordeal in itself then?" I asked.
"To our head of year, yes, it is a bit," Justin replied. "It's more if you complain. Then everyone will assume that you've done so 'cos you're gay, so you end up being stuck with that regardless. So it's best to keep your head down and don't do anything to cause comments."
"It shouldn't be though," I continued. "There should be an absolute no tolerance of bullying of any kind and it should always be made plain by any nearby member of staff, whenever something occurs, that whatever it was, isn't on, won't be tolerated and must stop right away, and not happen again either."
"It doesn't happen like that," both boys replied.
"Well we can hope things will change for the better over time, now that the law's changed to give legal protection and obligations on schools to take every form of bullying very seriously," I said. "Right, you've about eight weeks to find a suitable fifth crew member then, okay?"
"Okay," they both said back.
"We've a couple of hours before you need to be at the leisure centre, so how about we finish breakfast and make a start on your computer?" I said with a grin.
"Oh, yes please, can we?" Will asked.
"Time to do quite a bit but perhaps not finish it," I replied.
Both boys hurriedly finished their breakfast and cleared away the table top. I wiped down the table and got the protective cover out and set it up. Then we got the box of components from the corner and the computer case and began to unpack the items.
"Not everything at once," I said, "just the motherboard and case for now, okay."
"Okay," both boys replied excitedly.
While they were unpacking the case, I got out my tools and power connector and set that up. Then we set the motherboard carefully down on the table. I told them to unpack both the processor and the memory strips, but not to take them out of final antistatic packing until we were ready to slot them into the motherboard. I connected up earth straps to all three of us and to the computer case now opened out on its side on the table.
We continued by dropping the processor into its socket and closing down the locking lever. Then we attached the heatsink and locked that into place, connecting the fan to its power socket on the motherboard. I then showed Will how to click the two memory strips into their sockets on the board. That done, I explained that was all there was to do before we fitted the motherboard into the case.
I then showed the boys where to clip the back panel socket plate into the case and we offered the board to the mountings to see if all fitted just right. It did, so we fitted the motherboard into place onto the case mounts. Then I asked the lads to unpack all the drive units, so we could fit them into the case. The two optical DVD-RW drives were unpacked and we slid them into the mountings and clicked the easy lock plates into position. We then slid a multi-card reader into the smaller floppy disk slot; we'd decided against fitting a floppy drive as they'd been superceded by memory sticks and suchlike for external storage. Then Will unpacked his graphics card, I showed him how to remove the correct back panel blank to allow it to fit the special pci express slot and he slid it in till it locked and fastened the top plate with a locking screw. Finally we fitted the power supply into its place with its mounting screws that Justin had just unpacked.
"Crikey! He exclaimed, "what're all these connections for?" he asked, as he surveyed the myriad of wires coming from the outlet of the unit.
"Just about everything we've installed needs a power connection as well as a data connection," I replied, "and a good power supply like this will have plenty. So let's get connecting."
We connected the power to all the components and then connected the data cables from the drives to the motherboard, then the case switches and the card reader to their connection points. Finally we installed the hard drive into its bay, connecting power and data cables to that also.
"Well, that's pretty well it for assembly," I said. "Would you like me to put the software on while you're at life-saving, or we'll wait till the weekend to finish it?" I asked Will.
"Um... I'm quite interested to see it being set up... but I want to use is as soon as I can... I think I'd like it all working as soon as poss. really," he finished.
"Okay," I said, "I'll carry on after I've dropped you both off. It'll be done by the time I come over to see you get your awards this afternoon. We'll just check it to make sure its operating okay before we go then."
Will and Justin unpacked the monitor and we set up the computer, connected the monitor, mouse, keyboard and finally power connections and Will pressed the 'on' buttons on both. The machine whirred into life and after a second or two went through the p.o.s.t. sequence. The processor, memory, as well as all the drives were recognised by the system test and then the final line 'please insert system disc and press enter' was displayed.
"Everything's just fine," I said, "I'll finish this off as soon as I'm back. Will get the Operating System disc out for me and then it will be all set to install." I finished.
Will handed me the boxed disc. We shut down the system, tidied away the tools, empty component boxes and got ready to leave for the leisure centre.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I dropped the boys off at the centre and headed back into the traffic for home. Once there I made a cup of coffee and turned on Will's computer again. The insert system disc message appeared and I opened the DVD and slipped in the disc. The computer went through the various stages of installation and some thirty minutes later I had Windows up and running. I then installed the motherboard and graphics utilities and drivers, a picture utility programme and a combined word processing suite. All went very well indeed. Then I located from my cupboard a wireless dongle and plugged it into a spare usb port, loaded the software and tried a connection to the internet. The display showed an almost full signal and connectivity strength and I hoped it would work as well on the top floor in Will's room.
I connected to the net and downloaded some further utilities, antivirus software and messenger chat software. I then configured an email address on a new mailbox from our own ISP. I wasn't at all sure how long Will would be with us but if he ended up staying longer than the planned month he'd need a mailbox of his own.
I then entered a few sites into his favourites folder; ones I hoped would be of help. One for kids where he could ask questions and get online answers and a two or three well known story sites, the same as I'd recommended to Liam a few evenings before that might give some good reading. I'd just completed all of that and was considering moving the whole system up to his room when Rick came through the door from the garage.
"Hey there, how's it all going?" he asked me.
"All done bar the setting up in his room," I said.
"Oh! Let's do it now, then it's all going when he gets back this evening!" Rick said.
"Okay, I agreed.
We turned off the machine and carried the various units up to Will's room. Rick pulled out from the wall the new computer stand and we set it up, connected it again and slid it back into place. I switched on just to make sure all was well and we could get a connection signal on the third floor. It was not quite as strong but was plenty for a good fast connection. I was rather pleased as what with everything else that had happened this week I had clean forgotten to do anything about network wiring the two top rooms.
"Seems the router signal reaches here just fine," I commented.
"Yes," Rick replied, "there's not too much steel or concrete in these Victorian houses to stop the signal getting through."
"I guess not," I agreed.
"So, how about some lunch now as this's all done? He'll be suitably impressed I hope?" Rick said.
"Oh, he knows. They both helped with the build this morning before swimming course." I replied.
At this moment we were interrupted by a ring on the doorbell, so we quickly left the room and descended the stairs to the front door. Rick opened the door to reveal Frank standing on the doorstep.
"Frank, hi, do come in, you've made great time," Rick said.
Frank returned the greeting, entered and Rick closed the door and followed us both through to the kitchen.
"Have you had any lunch yet?" I asked him.
"No, I've driven almost non-stop since breakfast, had just one short break halfway," he replied.
"Well, join us for a salad. We're just about to eat," I suggested.
"That's good of you. There's much to say and I'd like that very much," Frank replied. "If it's no trouble of course," he added.
While we were talking I'd already begun making the basics of three ham salads and in a few minutes had them on the table with cutlery and condiments. Rick had busied himself making a pot of tea and turning to Frank asked
"Good journey back then Frank?"
"Yes, very, no delays at all, which was a bit of a surprise, but a welcome one," he replied.
"Let's eat," I said and we all sat down to eat.
For a few minutes we all ate away in silence pausing to pass condiments or pickles as needed between us.
"We built Will's computer this morning," I said. "He seems totally delighted with it, although he's not seen it fully installed and working yet. He'd to get off to the last day of the swimming of course."
"Oh excellent, that'll please him at least," Frank replied. "It's going to be a bit of a toughie for us all tomorrow I think,"
"Well no funeral is particularly pleasant is it?" I said.
"No of course not, but some are a welcome release, if it's after a long and painful sickness though," he said.
We realised that he was referring to his wife at this point and both of us agreed sympathetically with Frank.
"What's the agenda then Frank?" I asked.
"Well as I see it we go to this award this afternoon, after that back home. I left in such a hurry I did not clear the fridge out, unless you guys did?"
"No I'm afraid that slipped my mind entirely," I answered.
Well there'll be post to deal with too. Then to eat out as you suggested at the Italian place you've booked. Will'll stay here tonight I think. No need to upset his routine. Then tomorrow ready for the hearse and cars at ten thirty, for the funeral at eleven. I'm not sure how many'll be there. I've been in touch with as many family and friends of mum and dad as I could," he said.
"Would you like a buffet here after the funeral?" I asked. "I can get something sorted first thing tomorrow; you know sandwiches and finger food for say twenty. Would that work out okay?"
"Oh goodness, could you?" asked Frank. "I'd just thought of suggesting a reception for drinks and sandwiches at the pub across from the cemetery, but your idea'd be a lot better, if it's no too much hassle for you both?"
"No, I don't think so; I'll go off to the supermarket on the way back from this award and get some supplies in. It won't take too long in the morning to make and to set it up in the garden room." I replied.
"Then, as you've suggested, back here for an hour or so's reception for those that wish to come. Then, I guess I need to have a chat with Will about school and future arrangements," he said.
"Can we butt in here?" Rick said. "I've been doing some research and the cost of the boarding schools really is phenomenal isn't it?" he asked.
"It is indeed," Frank replied, "but I've little choice now. My parents are out of the picture for looking after Will and I simply can't impose on your good offices indefinitely," he continued.
"Well, we've been doing a lot of thinking this week," Rick continued, "I've also been doing some research. I believe there's a school for serving officers children, which is heavily subsidised?"
"Gosh, you've been busy. Yes, there is and it's choc-a-bloc full and no hope of getting him in there until he's sixteen at least."
"By which time he'll be quite capable of attending sixth form on his own, as he'll be sixteen and able to live independently if you consent."
"Really? Oh yes of course, boys can go to sea in warships at sixteen, you just don't think of these rules and of your own son in the same light!" he said.
"How's your dad and what progress is there on getting him somewhere?" I asked Frank.
"Oh that's now resolved, thank God. He wants to sell up and after recuperation in a respite hospice, which I've now arranged, he'll be there some eight to twelve weeks or so, he's going to live next door with the district nurse calling to make sure all's well and he manages okay. I can't find a suitable home, or more to the point, one that he'll agree to go into. So, that's the solution I've come up with. I'm just hoping it'll all work out," Frank said anxiously.
"Well that actually sounds quite hopeful, which makes even more sense for what I am about to suggest to you," Rick said. "We propose that we'll continue to look after Will here and that he stay at the Royal Grammar School also. He's about to go into exam year and that's a key stage that shouldn't be disrupted if it can be avoided? The fact that his granddad will be just next door will mean that Will can also look in on him every day and we can make sure he's getting about, getting fed and can be a liaison for you between the nurse service and you. I'm not sure when you've to be back at work but I am sure you won't be able to 'drop everything' anytime there's a small crisis?"
"I'm quite overwhelmed by this. It's an amazingly generous offer. I'll have to think it through. I mean no definite decisions have been made. I was going to talk it through with Will tonight before we went out." Frank replied.
"There are a couple more things to take into account," Rick continued. "Will's got a close friendship with young Justin now. I really don't think it would be at all good to break that up by sending him off to boarding school, where he'll have to find his feet all over again, getting used to new ways of doing things and fend for himself, in a perhaps not too welcoming or accepting environment for a young gay lad?...Oh, and while he's at it keep his grades the same too?"
"Oh! I hadn't really considered that at all," Frank confessed. "I've been a bit bogged down with the logistics rather than the social impact aspect of all of this. Are you really saying that as far as you're concerned you're prepared to be the 'responsible adults' for William until he gets to eighteen, or until I am no longer at sea, whichever comes first? Though, I rather think I'll be at sea until I'm fifty at least, which is seven more years, then five more at a desk, then I might possibly call it a day... who knows for sure?" Frank said.
"We've been thinking around this all week actually. I've been researching and found some not too good facts about homophobic bullying in many British schools. It's rife and unpleasant. There's been a major survey recently, it doesn't make good reading at all. It's actually led to the government including statutory guidelines in law to give protection, rights and anti discrimination law and make it an absolute duty to all schools to treat all forms of bullying equally and to present a no tolerance policy. It has to be said that many schools haven't embraced this and faced up to the facts. Some are pro-active and some being dragged into very reluctant action, some are even trying to deny there's a problem."
"What's the record at the Royal Grammar, do you know?" Frank asked.
"Like many, they could be better. They've a policy but it's not universally enforced by all staff it appears from what the boys have told me." I said.
"I'm beginning to believe that boarding school's a very bad option for Will in his current situation, I mean if things go wrong, or he's not believed or supported, he's stuck there with no escape until half term or end of term break." Frank said.
"Basically, yes, I guess so, unless he scarpers and we don't really want to get into that scenario at all." I replied.
"I think, all things considered, it'd be in Will's best interests for him to stay here until his granddad's able to be around for him again or he's old enough not to need looking after anymore, which is eighteen I guess? That's if you'll have him?" Frank said.
"Actually it's seventeen. A teen can leave home at seventeen without parental consent, sixteen with consent, if they want," Rick chipped in, "but yes, we'll have him. I know I speak for Paul here as well. There've been no problems with Will or his friends. I can't expect it will continue for ever like that, but he's always seemed willing to talk rather than row or throw a fit?"
"He can be moody, make no mistake, but usually comes round and does talk things through most times I've had to disagree with his ideas!" Frank laughed.
I glanced at the clock and noticed it was almost a quarter past three.
"We need to think about going soon," I said. "We don't want to be late for these awards after all."
With that, we cleared away the remains of lunch, loaded the dishwasher and all three of us left in my car for the leisure centre. On the way we decided that we'd do the shopping for the funeral reception on the way home from the awards, with Frank saying he'd accompany me and settle the costs.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We arrived at the leisure centre at around five past four, I parked up and we all made our way towards the entrance. Going through the swing doors we noticed Will, Justin and Liam coming towards us from the changing rooms. We stopped and waited for them to hand back their pool passes and come into the foyer.
"Hi, guys," I said, "so everything gone okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, we've all passed. We've to be in the small hall at four forty-five for the certificates, okay," he said. "Oh I'm starving, may we get burgers and cokes?" he finished.
"Yeah, may we?" Will echoed Justin, as Liam looked on smiling and nodding his agreement with all that Justin said.
"Hello son, nice to see you, how are you?" Frank said with a hint of sarcasm and a laugh in his eyes.
"Daaad!" Will remonstrated.
"It's no good Frank, they're teens ... food first, social niceties after!" Rick said.
We all laughed as Frank put his arm round his son's shoulder as we made our way to the cafeteria food line. Frank produced a twenty pound note and handing it to Will told him to get everyone what they wanted, but only a pot of tea for him Rick and myself as we'd only just had lunch a short while previously. Rick and I agreed, reminding the boys that we're eating out later that evening.
I suddenly realised that neither Justin nor Liam knew about eating out and I felt a little embarrassed. Just then, I caught sight of Mary Naylor coming through the cafeteria doors scanning the tables for Justin. I caught her eye with a wave and she immediately came over.
"Hello again," she said, "has he been behaving himself? She asked looking across to find Justin, Will and Liam loading their orders onto trays. I quickly caught Justin's eye and made signs to indicate for him to add another cup of tea. He got the message and added that to the order and the boys came over to where we'd found two empty tables side by side and took them over.
"Oh yes, no problem at all. Didn't see much of them except to feed," I replied.
"That sounds about right for my Justin," Mary replied, "He's never yet been late for food as far as I can remember," she laughed.
We all sat and the boys ate their food whilst we took a leisurely cup of tea. I turned to Mary asking what her plans were for that evening, mentioning that we all intended to eat at Mario's. I suggested that perhaps she and Justin would be able to join us there at eight.
"Oh, yes, now that is a good idea," she said. "I've not had a chance to try that restaurant yet, so it would be a good opportunity. My husband's not home until tomorrow evening. He's been away on a conference this week," she explained.
I turned to Liam mentioned our plans and asked him if he'd like to come also.
"I would very much. My mum's out this evening at her church meeting. I'd have had a takeaway," he said. "Will it be more than say... twenty quid?" he asked.
"Probably not, but don't worry about that we'll be taking care of the bill tonight anyway," I said.
"No you're not," Mary and Frank both chipped in, "we'll share it between us adults?" they suggested.
I looked at Rick and when he nodded I said.
"Yes, okay, we'll organise a car though as there's seven of us. We'll get a taxi. It can pick us all up and take us all home afterwards so no problems with having something to drink," I suggested. "Rick can you add three to our table booking and I'll call the car place now," I said.
The others all nodded in agreement and as the boys had finished eating, we got up and started to make our way to the hall for the awards. Once seated they very speedily got down to calling out the awards and in less then thirty minutes we were out and heading for the car park. We gave Liam a lift home and told him to be ready for us by seven-fifteen that evening. Once home Frank and Will went to their own house to talk and for Frank to catch up on his post and clearing up. With Will's help they were back with us just after six thirty. Will was looking decidedly happy with things in general...
"So what's with the Cheshire cat grin?" I asked him.
"Oh, Dad's just been talking about school and where I'll be staying," he replied.
"Oh, that's good; perhaps someone will mention it to us sometime soon?" I feigned seriously.
Will's face took on a panic stricken look, his eyes darted from ours to his dad's and back several times before he cottoned on he's being led up the ...!
"You're having me on?" he laughed nervously, "aren't you?"
I took pity on the woeful expression, the uncertainty showing in his eyes and said
"As it happens yes, you're staying with us until you're eighteen or your granddad's well enough again. With a bit of luck he'll be next door too in a few months time.
"Yeah, Dad said just now." Will replied. "I just wasn't quite sure then if you were all kidding me, but it's all okay," he said.
"Good because we're delighted to be having you for as long as it's needed and it's a weight of your dad's mind. So how about you go and show him your room and your new computer and then be down here ready to go in half and hour," I said.
"Oh, it's all done?" Will asked.
"Go and see," I said.
With that, Will excitedly dragged Frank with him out of the kitchen and headed up to his room, so he could show his father his new computer. We took the opportunity to adjourn to our own room for a quick shower and change before we went out to eat.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We knew we would have a superb meal and we did. Mario was delighted to host a party of seven and we had first class attention throughout. We offered Liam wine with his meal which he accepted and thoroughly enjoyed himself chatting to Justin and Will about computers and swimming and to the rest of us about whatever he was asked. I began to think of him as a very pleasant young man indeed.
The subject of the canal holiday came up and Frank amused us in the extreme, when he explained to Mary that falling in the average British canal would usually mean knee deep in mud, the only source of serious risk was in operating the locks, if care was not taken and common sense not exercised.
Mary gave Justin a pointed look and made a comment to the effect that he'd better do as told or else, much to everyone's amusement.
After coffee had been served we noticed that it was well gone ten and we all had a sombre day to follow on the Friday. The taxi arrived at twenty past ten. We all thanked Mario for a great meal and headed to the car. The driver dropped Liam off first. He bade us good night with many thanks for a great evening. We then dropped off Mary and Justin and they said they would see us at the cemetery chapel the next day at eleven. A few minutes later I paid off the taxi, Frank went to his house and we entered ours after Frank and Will exchanged goodnights.
Will went straight up to his room after saying goodnights to us. I had a last drink of water and with Rick following me we locked up, switched off the lights and made our own way to bed to await the following day and all that might entail...
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