Friends With Benefits
by Joel Stronach
After putting it off for as long as he could, Jim Hollingshead finally confessed to his wife, Avis, that their business was on the verge of collapse and that he would, without doubt, have to declare himself bankrupt. There was a hell of a row between them, overheard by their only son Luke who thought that his mum might be on the verge of leaving her husband, but it seemed that twenty years of so-called happy marriage was difficult to walk out on, and she agreed to stay with him if he agreed to her terms.
The business went into liquidation a couple of weeks later. Jim declared himself bankrupt and the house, the Mercedes and the Jag were all put up for sale. Fortunately Avis had some money of her own and, much to Luke's complete surprise; shock even, his dad agreed to join his mum in a new venture where she would be very much at the helm. She had decided to buy a property on the south coast of England. Not a family home as such, but a boarding house. For those of you unfamiliar with English meaning of the term, it means something similar to a hotel, but rather less grand, usually family-run. Avis had settled on a large house in a road adjacent to the sea in the resort of Blackminster in the county of Devon in South West England. There were many boarding houses directly overlooking the sea, so the rather grandly-named 'Buckingham House' in Esplanade Approach, was at a distinct disadvantage as it could not charge the higher rate for rooms which boasted a 'sea view'. It was also rather dilapidated when the Hollingshead family first viewed the property, and there were a couple of elderly 'resident' guests, who occupied their rooms the whole year round at a much reduced rate. One of them was a retired army officer, always referred to as 'The Colonel' (although they later discovered that he had never risen above the rank of Captain), and Miss Ellis, a rather elderly spinster who always smelled vaguely of Eau de Cologne and urine, the latter often overpowering the former.
There were three other letting rooms plus what was referred to as 'the annexe'; a single story extension with a sitting room and two bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, where the Hollingsheads would live. Of course, their new station in life meant that Luke would have to leave his fee-paying school and settle into one of the local state schools. He was actually rather relieved about this as the word had got out at school that he was gay, and he was being harassed a bit by the more sporty kids, who seemed to think that they were more of a man than him. The rumour mill was started by Frankie Garwood, a lad who Luke thought was coming on to him, and when Luke responded it turned out that Frankie was anything but gay, and certainly not up for any messing about.
But to cut a long story short, a reasonable price for Buckingham House was agreed and Avis signed on the dotted line. The Hollingsheads would take over from the existing, rather ancient owners at the beginning of the holiday season on Wednesday 1st June, and Luke was due to start at his new school the following Monday. He knew that he would have to be careful not to misread any signals this time, and he would definitely need to work on his gaydar!
When the Hollingsheads pulled up outside Buckingham House in their modest Citroen family hatchback on the appointed day, Fred Bennett, the previous owner, was there to meet them and he handed Avis a huge bunch of keys. "There's one on this bunch for every lock in the place. There are lots of other spare keys in the office desk drawer, and the letting bedroom keys are all on the board just inside the office door. It's all yours now." He said. Avis thanked him and the family went into the main entrance, thinking that Fred Bennett would follow them in and talk them through everything, but the next thing that happened was that they heard a car starting up outside and when Jim went back outside, it was to see Mr Bennett's ancient Volvo estate pulling out of the car park and into Esplanade Approach.
"So much for that." Jim said, explaining what he had seen.
No use crying over spilt milk." Avis said. "He's gone now and good riddance, so let's get the kettle on, take a look at the register to see who we've got here and have a quick reconnoitre."
In the kitchen Avis filled the kettle and put it on the old-fashioned enamel gas stove to boil while Jim went into the office to get the register. Avis ran her finger along the top of the stove to reveal a thick layer of grease, and when she opened the oven door and sniffed at the inside she very nearly threw up.
"Don't worry mum," Luke said. "I'll make that my first job. By the time I've finished with it, it may still look old but it will certainly be a lot cleaner."
When Jim came back into the kitchen with the register, he said that only The Colonel and Miss Ellis were in residence, but that more guests were expected on Saturday. As it was Wednesday, that meant that they had a couple of days to make sure that the rooms were ready. They did a tour of the house and found that both The Colonel and Miss Ellis were at home, and although they had already been introduced, they renewed their acquaintance. Miss Ellis asked what they would be having for dinner and Avis told them that she hadn't yet had the opportunity to see what the food situation was. She asked whether Miss Ellis had a favourite and Miss Ellis replied that she preferred anything that wasn't cooked in the oven. Everything cooked in the oven, she told Avis, always smelled and tasted of burnt grease.
"Don't worry Miss Ellis," Avis said. "Young Luke here has volunteered to give the cooker a thorough cleaning. I was shocked when I looked in the oven, I really was."
Miss Ellis smiled at Luke, "Well young man," she said, "you'll have your work cut out there."
"I like a challenge, Miss Ellis." Luke replied. Miss Ellis beamed at him and he caught a whiff of Eau de Cologne as she swept past him
"All being well, if Luke really manages to clean it properly I'll go shopping later and buy the ingredients for a shepherd's Pie; will that suit you?"
"Oh yes indeed," Miss Ellis replied. "Good old English fare. You can't go wrong with a shepherd's pie."
Luke left them to it and went to retrieve his case from the boot of the car. Of course, most of his belongings were on the removal van, which would not be arriving until the following day. But in the car he had brought a small suitcase containing some old clothes, as his mother had asked him before they left if he minded doing some sprucing up. He took the case to his new bedroom, which he quite liked because it overlooked the side garden, and it had a four foot wide bed. He stripped off everything that he was wearing and put on an old pair of loose-fitting shorts and an equally old tight-fitting tee shirt, and made his way back to the kitchen. Luke rarely wore underwear and went barefoot whenever he could. He was looking forward to being able to feel the grass under his bare feet in the garden.
He hunted around in the kitchen until he found everything he needed to start work on the cooker and began to tackle the top first. The burners and surrounds were pretty bad, and he had to change the water several timed before he had finished. He took everything to the sink and washed it thoroughly before filling a bowl with hot water and lemon washing-up liquid to tackle the oven. He didn't want to use any chemicals unless necessary so a phenomenal amount of elbow grease and frequent trips to the sink for more clean hot water were required. By the time he had finished there was more grease on his old clothes than there was on the cooker, some of it black and some of it an unnatural shade of orange. Luke was so hot that he thought he might overheat if he had a shower immediately so he went and sat just outside the annexe door in the garden. There was a small bench which he sank on to gratefully. He spread his legs out in front of him with his bare feet resting on the cool grass. His loose-fitting shorts allowed the minimal breeze to circulate around his nether regions and helped to cool him down. As he sat there he had the feeling that he was being watched, but as he looked around there was no sign of anybody else around, but the thought excited him and he began to get hard. Luke was quite well-endowed for his age, and as he got harder so the tip of his cock peeped out of the left leg of his shorts.
Luke was not a great believer in modesty and if there was anybody watching him they were welcome to see his equipment, and he gently began to stroke his still-lengthening cock, and as more of it appeared, he was almost certain that he heard a sharp intake of breath, but on looking around again there was no evidence that anybody was watching him; not that Luke cared, he was proud of his body and was not averse to showing it off.
He now felt cool enough to shower, and he needed to finish off what he had started, so he walked into the annexe entrance and went into his room. He stripped off his shorts and tee shirt and sat facing the window on the wooden chair to give himself some relief before he showered. Normally he would have taken care of it in the shower, but by now he was almost certain that he was being watched and was hoping to catch whoever it was. As he took himself in hand he thought he saw a shadow outside the window, but carried on with what he was doing. He decided to take his time over things and jerked himself slowly and gently, producing a lot of pre-cum from his uncircumcised cock. The wooden chair was beginning to get rather uncomfortable, but he didn't want to sit on anything upholstered in his greasy state. As he neared his climax he heard a groan outside the window and quickly rushed over and looked out to see a dark-skinned boy, possibly a little younger than him, disappearing into the shrubbery about twenty yards away opposite the window. He threw on his shorts, his erection blatantly obvious, and rushed outside. A close examination of the bush under the window revealed copious amounts of boy juice splattered around, so he knew that he had been right about his voyeur. He went back inside and ran the shower to get warm while he removed his shorts again.
As soon as the water was warm enough, Luke stepped underneath and soaped himself thoroughly, giving the attention to his cock to finish off what he had started. It took some considerable time before he felt clean enough to turn off the shower, step outside and begin to dry himself. When he walked through into his bedroom he had a good long look out of the window, but couldn't see anybody so he lay down naked on his bed and rested. Shortly afterwards he heard his mother calling him. "What is it mum?" He called. "Tea and toast is ready in the kitchen." She called back. She knew Luke very well and guessed that he would be naked in his room. She knew that he didn't care if she saw him like that, but she always tried to avoid it. She had old-fashioned values and thought it 'not quite right'; heaven knows she had had enough trouble accepting that he was gay.
Luke threw on a clean pair of shorts and tee shirt and padded barefoot out to the garden and then into the kitchen. "Is there a way through without going outside?" He asked his parents.
"There was originally, but it was sealed up some years ago, the Major told us." His mother said. "By the way Luke, the people from Norfolk House next door popped in to introduce themselves. They have an adopted son about your age, but he looks a bit younger. He's certainly smaller. They have a similar set-up to us, and sometimes they used to work closely with the previous owners if either of them had a large party staying. They wanted to know if we were willing to do the same. Oh, and thank you for making such a great job of the cooker, Luke. There's a shepherd's pie in there and it doesn't smell smoky or greasy at all."
"That's OK." Luke replied. "Just let me know if there's anything else I can do." Luke thought about what his mother had said about the boy next door at Norfolk House and wondered whether it was this lad that had been spying on him. "Is Norfolk House the building the other side of the hedge opposite my bedroom?" He asked.
"That's right." His mother said. "It is owned by Alex and Vera Miles and their son is called Neil. By the way Luke, that side garden is private, just for us and is not open to residents. I know how much you value your privacy, so it's probably a good thing for you."
"Wow, that's great Mum." Luke said. "Do we have enough money to employ a gardener or will I have to do some gardening myself?"
"Your dad has said that he will keep the residents' garden at the front up to scratch, but I think that you and he will have to do our garden between you."
After his tea and toast Luke went out into the garden and made his way across to where he saw the boy disappear earlier. There was an area about a foot wide where the foliage and branches were thinner than everywhere else. He pushed apart the leaves on his side and it was plain that a boy could, if he wished, squeeze through from this garden to the next. Now that he had discovered this he could go about setting a little trap for the peeping Tom, or more accurately, peeping Neil.
The following morning Luke decided that he would begin to tidy up the garden, and as he was going to use the lawnmower he put on a pair of socks and some good strong shoes. There was quite a sizeable lawn and he began mowing at around ten o'clock staring with the side closest to his bedroom. He occasionally drank from a large bottle of water which he had placed on a bench in the shade of a tree. After about fifteen minutes he had worked up quite a decent sweat, even though it was a petrol mower, so he stripped off his tee shirt and then carried on. He had noticed a slight movement in the shrubbery that he had inspected the previous day, but he gave no sign that he had noticed it. Every now and then he would stop and drink more from the bottle of water, and when he had emptied it he went inside and refilled it.
Over the next few passes mowing the lawn, he made a point of swigging a healthy amount from the bottle of water and within a very short amount of time he urgently needed to pee, which was a key part of his plan. He was now very close to the shrubbery and when he got near the gap through to next door he left the mower, went right up to the shrubs, lowered his shorts to his knees and let fly with a great stream. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see in the shade of the bushes the neighbours' kid watching him pee, his own cock in his hand. When he was certain that the boy's total attention was on his cock, he reached out with his free hand, grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him through into the garden. At first Luke couldn't believe his eyes. This boy was clearly of Asian origin, probably Indian. He had a dark complexion and brown eyes like deep pools of water. The boy's features were quite perfect and his skin was as smooth as silk. What Luke was most pleased about was that the boy's pubes were intact. He had seen so many pictures of gay teens on line with shaved pubes, but it really didn't appeal to him. Pausing only to shut off the lawnmower motor, Luke began pulling the boy across the lawn. "Wait." The boy said. "I can't walk like this, let me pull my shorts up."
"No." Replied Luke, whose shorts were around his knees affording him more freedom of movement. "Kick them off."
"What!?!" The boy said.
"You heard me, kick them off."
"But then I'll be …"
"You should have thought about that before you started spying on me."
"I wasn't spying." The boy said, pouting and still trying to reach down and pull up his shorts."
"What would you call it then?" Asked Luke as he bent down and pulled off the boy's leather sandals. "Perving? Snooping? Ogling?"
"No, I was just … watching you," the boy said lamely, his lips beginning to quiver, as though on the verge of tears.
"Yes, with your cock in your hand." Luke pointed out. Now kick your bloody shorts off." Luke added, "Before I pull them off for you."
The boy looked at him and, seeing that Luke was serious, reluctantly stepped out of his shorts and underpants.
Luke, who had had hold of the boy's arm this whole time resumed pulling him across the garden leaving the shorts in the middle of the lawn. Once in his bedroom in the annexe, he pushed him down on to the bed.
"So you're Neil Miles are you?" Luke asked.
Neil was trying to cover his cock, which had got softer on the short journey across the garden. "Don't bother." Luke said. "I've seen everything there is to see and, to be fair, you have nothing to be ashamed of." Luke slipped his shoes and socks off and took his own cock in his hand. "You may even have a little more than I do." Luke continued to stroke his cock, staring at Neil's face. Neil was staring at Luke's cock and he automatically began to stroke his own hardening member.
"Leave your cock alone." Luke said
"What!!" Neil said. "But you're …"
"Never mind what I'm doing." Luke said. "You've been pleasuring yourself while you were watching me. Now it's definitely my turn." Neil reluctantly took his hand away from his cock, which continued getting harder and harder.
Luke slipped out of his shorts, so now he was totally naked. He continued to play with himself until Neil was getting really worked up. Several times Neil had moved his hand towards his cock, but each time Luke simply said, "No." And Neil obeyed. After about ten minutes Luke stopped what he was doing and walked towards the bed.
He knelt either side of Neil's legs and bent down towards his cock. Neil moaned with anticipation and Luke gently took the whole of Neil's member into his mouth. Neil let out a loud cry and warned Luke that he was going to cum. Luke simply took his mouth off Neil's cock and said, "No, not yet, you're not," and went back to sucking gently on him. Neil's wails became like those of a wild animal caught in a trap, such was the effort he was putting in to stop himself from ejaculating. Eventually Neil stammered, "C-c-can't ho-ho-hold it!" and fired volley after volley into Luke's waiting mouth.
Luke continued to suck on Neil's deflating cock, with Neil begging him to stop because it was too sensitive, but Luke just carried on and eventually Neil began to get hard again. "Please, please, please stop; I'm begging you, I think I'm going to die or something." Luke looked up into Neil's desperate face and let his cock go. Neil breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"Why?" Asked Luke.
"Why what?" Replied Neil
"Why were you spying on me?
Neil thought for a minute. "It's difficult to know where to start." He said.
"I find the beginning is as good a place as any." Luke replied, somewhat flippantly.
"OK, but I'm not too sure where that is but I'll try… … … … I suppose my problem started about two years ago when I realised that I wasn't the same as the other boys, not that there are too many other kids hereabouts. I knew that I liked looking at other boys and not girls, and that I was … … attracted to them. I made a couple of approaches to boys who I thought might be like-minded, and we had a bit of fun together, but as soon as I wanted to go further they both refused me. I was pretty desperate for a while, but then one day I thought a boy was giving me the eye and I made an approach to him, but it turned out that he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at the girl that I was sitting next to. He was a nasty bastard too, and put the word all around his cronies, who made sure that every kid in the school knew that I was gay. Believe me, I was called some names that I wouldn't ever have dreamt of using. Several of the girls were still pretty friendly, but it was boys that I wanted to be close to. When I saw your car pull up and you got out with your parents, I made up my mind to watch you, never thinking that anything could happen between us, but I thought you were very good-looking and I really fancied …. fancy you. I couldn't believe it when you started jacking off in the garden, and then this morning when you took your top off I thought I was going to have a heart attack; then when you started pissing right in front of me I nearly hyperventilated. All the rest, you know." Neil concluded.
"So what do you do about school now?" Luke asked. "I don't suppose there's much choice in a place like this."
"Not really." Neil replied. "I was picked on so much, firstly because of my colour and then because I'm gay. Eventually the authorities actually asked me to leave the school, and when dad asked how they expected me to complete my education, the local council agreed that I could have home schooling. I have two tutors who, between them, cover the whole syllabus except for sport and religious education. Sport I can handle myself as I love swimming and spend a lot of time at the pool. There's also a small lake in the local woods which is pretty deserted during the week and I sometimes go skinny dipping there. As for the religious education, I had to agree to attend a local church and to accept any tuition the clergyman considered that I needed. That I can cope with too because the vicar just seems to want an easy life and has only asked to see me once."
"Okay." Luke said. "Going back to the racism thing, you don't exactly look like a kid who is called Neil Miles."
Neil laughed. "Of course not." He said. "I was fostered by mum and dad when I was just a few months old. Nobody knows my original history. I was found wrapped in blankets in the car park of the local hospital. Mum was a nurse back then and she was the one who found me. The authorities tried their hardest to find out where I came from, but nobody came forward with any information. A few strings were pulled and mum and dad were given foster parent status and a year after they began fostering me they were allowed to adopt me, and believe me I couldn't wish for better parents. Now, if I've answered enough of your questions could I ask you to go and get my shorts please?"
Luke laughed, pulled up his own shorts, which were still around his knees, and went out into the garden wondering, as Neil was wondering inside, what sort of relationship, if any, they could have. When he got back inside he went to hand them to Neil, but Neil grabbed his arm and pulled him closer. He looked up into Luke's eyes and pulled his shorts down again and gently began to play with Luke's balls. He didn't know it, but this was something that Luke particularly liked. Luke's cock immediately sprang to life, and Neil moved one hand to pull back Luke's foreskin and then he gently kissed all around Luke's glans.
Luke, being totally unprepared for this, rapidly came to full attention and it wasn't too long before he filled Neil's mouth as Neil had so recently filled his. Luke collapsed on to the bed, unable to speak for a few minutes, but when he had recovered sufficiently he said," So where do we go from here?"
Neil thought for a moment before saying, "Well, you seem to have taken charge up until just now, what do you think?"
"Yea, sorry about that, but I knew that you'd been watching me and I didn't like being spied on."
"Yes, I'm sorry too, but I didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with you and, yes, I know I succeeded in doing just that."
"You certainly did." Luke said. "How about we just start off as friends?"
"Friends with benefits?" Neil asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Goes without saying." Luke replied, "But as we live next door to one another, sleepovers might seem a bit strange to our parents."
"I dare say we can get round it somehow." Neil said. "We have the gap in the hedge, after all."
"We do indeed." Luke said.
Well, the boys thought that they could keep their 'friends with benefits' arrangement a secret from their parents, especially as Luke's parents arranged for him to join Neil and his tutors for his schooling and they adjourned to Neil's bedroom after lessons to 'do their homework', but in reality neither set of parents were fooled, but mutually agreed to turn a blind eye. After about six months the boys were fooling around and talking about the European habit of kissing on both cheeks and Luke performed the double kiss on Neil. Then, looking deep into Neil's big brown eyes, he did what he had been longing to do for a while; he kissed Neil gently on the lips. Neil responded and before they knew it they were making out with great gusto.
This new development in their relationship did not surprise either of them as Neil had also begun to have similar feelings for Luke, and once both boys had reached their seventeenth birthday, they got together with both sets of parents and were given two rooms in the attic of Neil's house to call their own. Of course, they still spent a lot of time with both sets of parents but they now had a place that they could call their own where they could do as they pleased.
Authors deserve your feedback. It's the only payment they get. If you go to the top of the page you will find the author's name. Click that and you can email the author easily.* Please take a few moments, if you liked the story, to say so.
[For those who use webmail, or whose regular email client opens when they want to use webmail instead: Please right click the author's name. A menu will open in which you can copy the email address (it goes directly to your clipboard without having the courtesy of mentioning that to you) to paste into your webmail system (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc). Each browser is subtly different, each Webmail system is different, or we'd give fuller instructions here. We trust you to know how to use your own system. Note: If the email address pastes or arrives with %40 in the middle, replace that weird set of characters with an @ sign.]
* Some browsers may require a right click instead
