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You are here: Home > Story Shelf > All Authors > N Fourbois > N Fourbois | The Ghetto, Gone but not Forgotten | Part 2

The Ghetto, Gone but not Forgotten

Part 2

by N Fourbois

Suddenly the piercing ringing of a school bell interrupted the story telling from Simon, Adam and Tony.

"We'd better get off to rugby training," said Adam. "I declare this meeting of the Cockatoo Club closed until the next meeting at lunchtime tomorrow," and he banged a dessert spoon on the bare table. The remaining people in the dining hall went silent and looked around, then burst out cheering.

"So when are we going to see Ben again?" asked Paul Taylor as they walked off to the changing rooms.

"Probably not before half term," said Tony.

"Unless, of course, we see him when we play his school at rugby," said Adam. "Has anyone got a fixture list?"

At the beginning of term everyone was in the same rugby class and within the first two weeks each would be allocated to a group according to ability. The serious players would be in the training squad. The boys sat on the grass by the pitch to wait for the master in charge of rugby to speak to them. He introduced himself and went on

"It is the job of my colleagues here and me to do our best to ensure you enjoy your rugby at whatever level. It is my particular responsibility to produce the best XV possible in each year group to represent the School. As you know, I am new here this term and so I don't know any of you yet, either by name or reputation. What that means is that you may have been God's gift to rugby in the past three years, but I won't know that unless you prove it to me. On the other hand you may never have represented the School before and if you are motivated and work hard this may be your first opportunity. It depends on you, lads."

"You may well be in with a chance, Adam," whispered Simon.

On the way back to the changing rooms Adam said

"Phew, I'm glad we did those work outs in the holidays."

"You're right," answered Simon. "How did you get on, Tony?" Tony looked very flushed and utterly knackered. You couldn't hear his response. When he could speak, he said

"Did you see those two that threw up at the side of the pitch?"

"At least it wasn't on the pitch," replied Adam sympathetically.

The next day the members of the Cockatoo Club piled into lunch as soon as possible after the end of morning lessons. They took over a table in a remote corner of the dining hall. The rotating chairmanship of the club fell on Tony who gently rapped a dessert spoon on the table and opened the proceedings.

"Now, where were we?" asked the chairman. "Oh, yes, nude sunbathing. Nothing much more to say about that except that we were all extremely disappointed when absolutely none of you even noticed our lack of tanlines in the showers yesterday. When we finished sunbathing last week, we went for a swim, showered and got dressed. Not even any fun and frolics in the shower. Brabazon provided us with a light tea, then Ben and I went home."

"So that brings us up to the party on Saturday," said Simon.

"Wait a minute, Si. You're way ahead of us. We had our family celebration first, but before that we had the three families to dinner at our place," said Adam.

"How could I forget? That was such a grown up evening."

"We thought it was going to be a bit of a non fun evening," said Adam.

"But we hadn't put William into the equation," added Simon. "Admittedly beforehand the two of us were a little on edge. I don't know why because we knew everybody. I think it was because we wanted everything to go right for Ben's sake. The two taxis turned up within a minute of one another and Brabazon showed the guests into the library where we were ready to welcome them. I don't want to make this sound as if I'm on the turn, but I was absolutely amazed at Angelica. It was the first time I had ever seen her not wearing some kind of trousers, she'd been to the hairdressers and to put it bluntly she was a feminine version of Tony and Will."

"Gee, thanks, guys," said Tony.

"Sorry, luv, but if she hadn't been a girl and I'd been unattached I could have fallen for her."

"That's okay," said Tony. "I can cope."

"And I had to give him counselling for days after," said Adam.

"In her long dress she upstaged Isabella," said Simon.

"She certainly did," confirmed Tony. "Ben was laughing about that for days after. It was hatred at first sight, but the nice thing was it was only one way. Angelica genuinely didn't realise the trouble she had unwittingly stirred up."

"And it didn't help having them sitting next to one another at table," said Simon. "But that was my father's wicked sense of humour. Although he's never said anything, I think he got a bit fed up with Isabella on holiday."

"On the other hand William did realise," said Tony "and even though it was the first time he'd met Isabella he seemed to know all the wrong questions to ask and the wrong remarks to make."

"Brabazon excelled himself," said Adam "along with Mrs Green's help. For the main course he brought in a large joint of pork complete with crackling."

"Dad carved the first few slices as host and head of the household, then Brabazon took the joint over to the sideboard to carve the rest and serve the guests."

"I think he must have been in on the joke," said Adam "because he always made sure he served Angelica before Isabella, and she noticed."

"Still, the main thing was that the parents got on like a house on fire," said Tony "and Ben told me it made things a lot easier at home for him."

"We were sent to show Ben and William our rooms after the meal," said Simon "while the others had coffee and drinks."

"And Angelica won't tell me what they talked about," said Tony "and anyway she was too busy trying to be nice to Isabella to notice."

"We looked through our holiday snaps on the computer in Simon's room," said Adam. "That lasted about five minutes until we let Ben and Tony borrow my room so that they could have a bit of private time while we kept Will occupied."

"And that was something else," said Simon. Tony gave a wry laugh.

"I still don't know what to make of my baby brother. My gut feeling is that in the end he'll come out."

"On the other hand," said Adam "it may just be misguided admiration for that hunk of an older brother. You know the saying. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

"Are you saying you fancy me?" asked Tony.

"Of course I am."

"See you round the back of the bike sheds after gym." and they blew each other a kiss.

"Hey, girls," said Robin, "can we get on with the story, please? Some of us are leaking precum in anticipation."

"Where were we?" said Simon. "Oh, yes. Ben and Tony had just gone into Adam's room to rest. We were supposed to be entertaining William, but he ended up in entertaining us."

"He took off his shoes and went and lay on Simon's bed and it was just one of those things. He looked so cute and he had one hell of a bulge in his trousers. Whether he had a semi on or not, we don't know to this day, do we, Si? What was worse was that he knew we were looking at it and were interested. 'You can feel it if you like,' he said. We both blushed because we knew we wanted to. We told him he was too young. He said he wasn't. Tony had told him that if his voice had broken, he had hair down there and he could produce spunk he was old enough and that he qualified on all three counts." Simon continued.

"Then he started looking in the drawer of my bedside table and showing us what was in there, as if we didn't know. 'Why have you got fruit flavoured condoms?' 'They taste nice.' 'Is this a dildo?' 'Not strictly speaking. It's a butt plug.' 'What's the difference?' 'Well, a dildo's for pleasure and a butt plug's to keep the water in when you're having an enema.' 'What's an enema?' 'Hasn't Tony taught you anything?'" Adam went on.

"We put on a DVD hoping that would keep him amused, but no. 'Can I go to the loo? I want to pee.' 'It's in there.' Then when he came out he was only wearing his undies, and did he look sexy! He sat on the bed again, half watching the movie, rubbing his crotch and licking his lips. Where did he learn all this from, Tony?" Tony shrugged his shoulders.

"We tried ignoring him," said Adam. "Have you ever tried ignoring Will?" Tony gave a knowing look. "Then William said 'Aw, c'mon, guys, you know you want to jerk me off,' with those great big blue imploring eyes."

"And did you?" asked Paul.

"Well, that must remain a secret between Simon, William and me. I expect Tony knows, knowing Will."

"And I'm saying nothing," said Tony.

At that moment Will happened to pass by the Club's table in the school dining hall.

"Hi, guys," he said tartily, waved his hand and batted his eyelids. Under the table there were eight instant erections.

"And that was about it." Simon endeavoured to continue as if nothing had happened. He failed. "The house phone buzzed to say that the taxis had been ordered for a quarter to twelve and that we'd better start to pack up what it was we were doing."

"I don't know how Tony and Ben explained their creased shirts," said Adam. Everybody looked at Tony who blushed and said

"I'm still saying nothing."

"You know, Adam, thinking back, Dad must have asked Brabazon to put in some UV bulbs in the dining room 'cos did you notice how our shirts and the table linen glowed?"

"And the other interesting thing was all five of us dressed the way we did for dinner in Germany – white shirts and dark trousers – without being asked to," said Tony. " Apart from Will. I told him what to wear. Still, I'm grateful to you van den Bergs. You helped to bring Ben and me closer by getting our families together."

On the following Tuesday Adam's birthday was acknowledged in a low key way. A kiss and a hug from Simon, and at breakfast from Philip, a few birthday cards, and he was allowed to choose the meals for the day. Ben and Tony came over in the afternoon, but that was coincidental and part of their training schedule. Wednesday was the big day. When Adam and Simon went down for breakfast, Philip was already there, fresh from his morning swim, and he gave each an identical looking parcel. They undid the giftwrap and found inside a skateboard.

"I heard you talking about them some time ago and realised that might be a nice surprise." Both boys said thank you, but Simon could not contain himself.

"What happened to the £10 limit on presents, Dad?"

"You shouldn't ask the price of a gift, but since you did, £9.99 on e-Bay... or was it Facebook?" added Philip, taking the mickey out of himself. "And if you want the extras, you'll have to buy them yourselves." Mrs Green had come in early to provide an old fashioned cooked breakfast. While they were eating Philip explained that he had booked a day at a rather exclusive country club about fifty miles away. They had unrestricted use of all the facilities for twenty-four hours, they would have dinner in the evening, stay the night and leave after breakfast. Brabazon had packed an overnight bag and the boys' suits. They just had to pack the sports kit they needed. "It's one of the perks from my club in London. I can get temporary affiliate membership of the country club. I don't want to hurry you boys, but the sooner we get there the more activities we can do."

The boys hurriedly put some kit into their sports bags and took them off to the car. They travelled about thirty miles on the motorway, then cut off across country. As soon as they turned off the road and drove through the gates the place exuded luxury. They booked in and were shown to their rooms. On the table in the rooms were sheaves of paper and brochures which explained what was available.

"Have you two decided what you want to do yet?"

"Will you teach us to play golf?" asked Adam.

"That's a tall order for one day," answered Philip, "but I'll tell you what we'll do. They're bound to have a golf pro here who can coach you on the basics. Then we'll go on to the driving range and if you feel happy after that, we'll try a few holes, but you won't have time for all eighteen." Philip was feeling inwardly rather pleased that the boys were showing an interest in golf as that was something they could share.

The boys quickly sorted themselves out. Tennis kit was the most appropriate attire they had with them. Philip took them along to golf area and set them up with a set of clubs. The golf pro introduced himself and took the boys out to the practice area while Philip contented himself on the driving range. Simon took to the sport immediately. For him the golf club just became an extension of his hockey stick. Adam had to concentrate, but being a fighter he stuck to it and his perseverance paid off. The boys graduated onto the driving range after which the pro handed them over to Philip. They decided on a light lunch and then they would attempt the real thing.

It would be unfair to say that the game was a disaster. It was the boys' first attempt, a strong cross breeze had blown up since practising on the driving range. Philip kept some perspective on the whole event by playing the holes with them and showing them the game was possible. The most difficult thing was to convince Adam that the winner was the player with the lowest, not the highest score. By hole five they decided it was time for tea, but both boys were determined to give the game a go on a future occasion.

After tea they went to the outdoor swimming pool and did their statutory number of lengths with Philip in attendance. They could not help but notice they were the only ones in the pool wearing speedos, a little disappointing for them, but it made the boys walk proud. After that they decided to take a sauna. Since their experiences in Germany it did not faze the boys in the least that Philip joined them naked, although Adam's instinct for boywatching would not keep its head down and, checking Philip out, his attention fully absorbed by the fact that his equipment was identical to Simon's, or to be more precise Simon's was identical to Philip's. After being nudged by Simon, Adam came out of his trancelike state and blushed as he realised what he was doing. As he sat in the sauna, he could not keep his mind from wandering back to what he had seen. It was logical, yet he remained surprised. However, the plunge in the freezing pool afterwards was to change any ideas on that matter radically. Not only that, but any thoughts of going to their room for a spot of R & R flew out of the window as the equipment firmly refused to co-operate. When he was dressed Adam still looked blue and Simon was shivering.

"I think you boys had better find an activity to warm yourselves up," said Philip. "I don't want to spend the evening with two shivering wrecks."

"I've got a better idea," said Simon. "We'll go back to our room and fill the bathtub with hot water. I think we'll be less likely to do any muscle damage."

"What time are we eating?" asked Adam. If he wasn't thinking about his or Simon's dick, his stomach came next in the list of priorities.

"Shall we say seven?" said Philip. "We won't have to hurry then."

The boys disappeared to their room. They hadn't paid much attention to the bathroom on their arrival. They were just impatient to get on with their activities. Now that they did look in on it, they realised how big the bathtub was, bigger than anything they had at home. Simon turned the hot water tap on and the bath started to fill. He emptied the little bottle of complimentary bubble bath into the swirling water. They stripped their kit off and climbed in together. Although hot, the temperature of the water made little impression on their frozen bodies and after lying there for a quarter of an hour or so, they emptied the tub and ran a fresh supply of water, without the bubble bath, which at least felt hotter this time. They sat in the water facing one another, their legs stretched out either side of the other's body. Simon leant forward and gave Adam a gentle kiss. The gentle kiss became a less gentle one and when they finally broke Simon said

"That's odd."

"What?"

"Normally when we kiss I get a stiffie str8away."

"It's all right for you. I've got nothing left to get a stiffie with. My balls have disappeared completely up inside my body. I've got an empty sac and an empty foreskin."

"My balls have gone tight, which they don't usually do and my dick's gone sort of semi-stiff," said Simon. "Feel it."

"Oh, yeah." The water had gone cold again and so they refilled the bath and just relaxed in it in that half conscious state between sleeping and waking. At last they were beginning to warm up. They were just about to get out when Simon noticed a button on the wall.

"I wonder what this does," he said pressing it. They could hear an electric motor starting up.

"Wow!" said Adam. "It's a jacuzzi." Simon switched it off, they pulled the plug and refilled the bath with hot water, then switched the jacuzzi on again.

"It tickles," said Simon.

"With what I've got left there's nothing to tickle."

"Then we'll use it in the morning before breakfast."

"And after what I'm planning tonight, during the night and in the morning you won't want any more tickling."

"I love it when you talk dirty to me, but it's just promises."

"Have you ever known me fail on my promises?"

"Mmm, not yet admittedly." Simon leant over and kissed Adam. When they broke, Adam said

"Aah, that's better. Something's stirring between my legs. No, don't touch it. You might frighten it off. I was beginning to think it might be just that tonight – promises."

Simon and Adam dried each other off and then wrapped themselves in the sumptuous bathrobes the country club provided.

"I've never seen your dick look so small, Si."

"Oh, thank you, Adam, you know how to make a boy feel good, and that's not exactly from Mr Kidney Wiper himself, is it?"

"Oh well, we all know who that is. Tony Legge."

"Or is it William Legge from what we're being told?"

"Don't even go there. He's only twelve. We might be gays, but we're not cradle-snatchers. We're Mr and Mr Respectable Gay."

"I think we might have to have the two Legges across for some skinny-dipping before term begins."

"Simon van den Berg, you're incorrigible."

"Does incorrigible mean an extremely sexy and inexhaustible stud?"

"No. One who's been dropped from the team because his assets have been frozen."

"You bitch," and Simon grabbed Adam, carried him to the bed and climbed on top of him, sticking his tongue so far down his throat until he gagged. "You know I shall never stop loving you no matter what you do or say."

"I know, Simon, and I shan't ever stop loving you, either."

They fell asleep in one another's arms and it was half past six before Adam woke. He gave Simon a nudge.

"Come on, sleepyhead. We've got to get ready or we'll be late."

"Oh, god, no," cried Simon. "I didn't dry my hair properly and now it's all knotted."

"So's mine. At least yours is str8..."

"I can assure you it's the only part of me that is."

"...I've got my curls to unknot. I'll tell you what. I'll wash yours over the basin and dry it off with the hair dryer and then you can do mine, but we'll have to be quick." Adam imagined how erotic this could be under different circumstances. It was nearly ten to seven when hair was done and they were still in their bathrobes. It was good that they'd had the discipline of changing quickly instilled into them at school. They were fully dressed with ties knotted by five to.

"You know the term 'tighty-whities', Si? 'Loosely-whities doesn't sound quite so good, does it? Or feel so good. I've got a dick now, but my balls haven't come back yet."

"You'll be fine after a hot meal. Let me have a look at you." Simon str8ened Adam's tie and gave him a kiss. "You look perfect, my love." They went down to dinner, each carrying a small paper carrier bag and met Philip in the lounge on the dot of seven.

The waitress seated them at a round table near the window so that they could look out across the countryside. Even so at seven in September it was already growing dark with the threat of the short winter days ahead. The table was laid with a thick white linen table cloth, the serviettes were of similar white linen, the cutlery of heavyweight silver metal. In the middle of the table was a lone silver candlestick, the candle lit, and low enough so as not to impede conversation. The waitress brought three menus. That was the only disappointment. The boys had grown used not just to waiters, but had been spoilt with young attractive waiters of a sympathetic persuasion. However, they were here to celebrate two birthdays, not to be distracted by fleetingly attractive young men who, unlike Otto, were simply teases beyond their reach. The choice on the menu was so large that the boys didn't know where to start.

"There are no prices printed in the menu," remarked Simon.

"With their system they don't need them," replied Philip. "Also they don't need to reprint the menus when the prices go up."

"So what is the system?" asked Adam.

"If you are guests like us, the price of the meal is included in the full or half board tariff, and if you dine as a non-resident you pay for either a two or three course meal and order whatever you want."

"More places ought to do that," said Adam.

"What do you think about a seafood starter?" said Simon.

"I know nothing about the reputation of this place, or its food, but think about it. It's nowhere near the sea and so the various bits of seafood are either frozen and defrosted, or it's had to travel a long way on the hope that someone might order it. Let's just say that unless I were dining near the coast, I would never think of ordering it."

"I'm going for the soup," said Adam. "I still haven't thawed out properly from the cold pool after the sauna."

"You stayed in too long," said Philip, "especially as you're not used to it. It's a quick in and out to close the pores. Now as it's a special occasion, I'm going to suggest you try some Asti Spumante. It's a sparkling white wine, rather sweet, but with nice flavour of its own. If you don't like it we can order something else."

The waitress came, took their order and said it would take about fifteen minutes. Meanwhile the restaurant was filling up, always a good recommendation. Since they had a gap in the proceedings the boys decided to exchange birthday gifts. Adam was the first. He handed over his gift and card to Simon and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"I'd have thought you would have done this at breakfast," said Philip.

"We wanted a sense of occasion," said Simon. To increase the suspense he opened the card first, read it and laughed, then handed it to his father. He then took care unwrapping his present. It was evidently a hard box of some kind. Simon undid the clasp and as he lifted the lid he saw inside a necklace. It consisted of sharks' teeth, white hanging from a black string. "Why that's beautiful," said Simon. "Thank you, Adam," and he gave him a kiss on the cheek. He didn't care if the people around were looking. After all, they were now brothers even if they were lovers as well. He then handed his gift to Adam. "It looks as if I'm the only one who hasn't broken the £10 rule."

"Oh no you're not," countered Adam. "£9.99 on e-Bay," he said giving Philip a look.

"I haven't spent anything near that." Adam's present was long, almost flat. He carefully unwrapped the gift paper and inside was a jiffy bag addressed to Simon, but with his name crossed through and Adam's written above. He continued to take care as he eased open the flap, put his hand inside and gentled out a piece of paper. He fair squealed with delight when he read it and delved back into the envelope.

"I do not believe it," he exclaimed as he withdrew an article made from blue lycra and held it up for everyone to see.

"It arrived just before we went on holiday, but I didn't tell you because I wanted it to be a surprise." All the time Philip was looking nonplussed and so were many of the other diners whose attention had been drawn to what was going on.

"Are you going to tell him or am I?"

"It's your present. You tell him."

"Well, earlier in the year there was an interview in GYmagazine with Tom Daley, the Olympic diver, and he offered at £5 an entry form to raffle one of his Olympic speedos, the money to be divided between his training fund and a sports injury charity. In fact strictly speaking it's made by Adidas and not Speedo."

"Adam really wanted to win. So we both put an entry in and I won, but I didn't tell anyone because Iwanted it to be a surprise and here it is. Be careful with that letter, Adam, because it's not only a letter of thanks signed by Tom for supporting him, but it's also a certificate of authenticity." Adam was so excited that he'd got up and was hugging Simon. When order was restored, Philip handed over another packet.

"This is a present from Lucy." He gave it to Simon since she was officially his dog. He unwrapped it and inside was a new collar and lead with a card that read 'Happy Birthday. I wish I could have been with you today,' followed by a paw print. "I think she's trying to tell you something." At that moment the waitress brought the first course.

The soup did for Adam what it was meant to do. It warmed his whole body and although he said nothing because Philip was there, he actually felt the clunk clunk as his testicles descended and took their rightful place in his scrotum, filling his undies to their accustomed volume.

While they were waiting for their main course, Philip enquired

"How are the arrangements going for your party on Saturday?"

"Great," replied Simon. "Six invitations sent out and six answers received."

"We're changing one thing after thinking about it. We're going to hold it in the games room rather than the summerhouse. It'll make it easier for the catering and cleaning up," said Adam.

"Ben and Tony are going to spend the night with us and the other four will be going home."

"All of them could stay if you want."

"No, it's okay, thanks, Dad. We have plans."

"You see Tony and Ben don't get a lot of private time together," added Adam.

"That's a little more than we need to know," said Philip. "Am I allowed to look in?"

"We suggest you're there to greet them when they arrive and to talk to their parents when they collect them, particularly if they come early and otherwise keep a watchful eye from a distance," said Simon. "Anyway you won't be able to tolerate the noise."

"Or our music."

"You'd better check with Brabazon about Thursday and Friday since school begins on Monday. He'll have organised haircuts and I'm sure there will be things to do for school."

"Haircuts?" said Simon.

"Haircuts," repeated Philip. "It'll save your hair getting knotted when you're in a hurry." Simon and Adam gave one another a look as if to say 'How did he know about that?'.

They had started planning for the party a week after they got back off holiday. That it was going to be a gay party was a foregone conclusion. That it was going to be a jockstrap party they thought would be pushing their luck, but they got away with it. Philip's thinking had been 'if I allow nude swimming, how can I stop them from wearing kit, even it's the minimum of kit?' They had a rough idea of the activities they wanted to do and would deal with the detail later. First of all they discussed the guest list and then got down to designing the invitations on A5 card. Under the heading of 'Be Gay, or Stay Away' they wrote 'Adam and Simon request the pleasure of the company of ......... at a Party to celebrate their fifteenth birthdays at 7.00 pm on Saturday, 8 September. Games, swimming, buffet and disco. Carriages 11.00 pm. Dress: jockstraps, socks and trainers. No gifts, thank you. RSVP.' Philip had agreed to pay for the food and a doggy bag each. Anything else the boys had to pay for from their own money.

The main course had arrived. Adam had ordered duck à l'orange, Simon venison and Philip the most ginormous omelette he had ever seen, light, fluffy and cooked to perfection.

"I don't think I need mention no alcohol," said Philip.

"That's not a problem with our lot," said Adam "and I don't think they'll have anywhere to hide it." Simon giggled. "Talking of alcohol this Asti Spumante is rather good. You can taste the grapes in it." Dishes with generous portions of vegetables appeared on the table. Outside it was now completely dark. After this the boys were rather too consumed with eating to hold a coherent conversation, but as they sat waiting for dessert Adam said

"Our guests don't know it yet, but we hope to form ourselves into an unofficial body for the support and welfare of the gay pupils in the school."

"We shan't make a big fuss or evangelise," said Simon. "We just want to watch the backs of people like William and make sure the likes of Roly Bedbug have no influence over them."

"We want the uncommitted to see that we're not a gang of perverts who need bashing, but that we're a force for good in society."

While the meal seemed to have passed quickly it had in fact been taken at a leisurely pace. As the trio were drinking their coffee Philip said

"I almost forgot to tell you. As you're fifteen now..."

"Almost," interrupted Simon.

"...I have instructed the bank to increase your allowances. They'll be writing to you with the details in a few days." Adam and Simon thanked Philip. Adam suppressed his amazement as he thought his allowance was already more than generous, especially as he always had a reasonable amount of money left at the end of each month. Philip looked at his watch. It was half past ten.

"I've found today rather tiring, boys, so if you'll excuse me I'm going to turn in. I'll just go and thank the waitress." When he returned the boys left with him and they walked through the now almost empty restaurant to the lift. Outside his room Philip took Simon and Adam into a hug and gave them a good night kiss on the cheek. They thanked him for a wonderful day and wandered down the corridor to their own room.

The door locked behind them, Adam took Simon in his arms and said

"That was a truly wicked birthday present. I couldn't have thought of anything better myself."

"I want to see you wearing it."

"And I want to see you wearing mine. Whatever we do tonight you can choose. Anything."

"Anything?" Adam nodded and deep kissed his lover. They broke and quickly got undressed. Adam looked at himself in the full length mirror and was relieved to see that everything between his legs was back to normal. He pulled on the Olympic speedos, showed them off to Simon and then looked again in the mirror. "You certainly do Tom justice in them," remarked Simon. Adam then went and placed the necklace round Simon's neck. They stood there admiring one another, Simon's cock slowly filling with blood, rising and his foreskin peeling back to leave a glistening glans and a pearl of precum hanging from the slit. Adam's was strictly under control. He could stand it no longer, slipped the speedo down to the floor and stepped out of it.

"I'm going to wear those tomorrow instead of undies. I think I can understand the power of the fetish just feeling the energy of Tom's loins seeping into mine." They embraced again, their hot boners held tightly between their pelvises.

"Adam, my love, do you know what I want to do more than anything else tonight?" Adam shook his head. "Something I've been longing for for weeks?" Adam shook his head again. "I want to sit on your cock. Ever since Otto showed it was possible. I want to feel it inside me and yet be in control."

"I'm up for it now. Anything for you, but let me take your necklace off first."

The following morning Adam was the first to stir.

"Hey, Si, are you awake?" Simon stretched and scratched his balls.

" I am now."

"I just wanted to be the first to wish you happy real birthday."

"Thanks, Adam."

"And say how great you were last night. I don't know why I made all the fuss before. Do you want to do it again?"

"What I really want is a good long pee, then I want you to make me feel good with a birthday snog and if that's really good I want you to sit on my cock." After Simon had relieved himself, Adam went into the bathroom, made sure he was clean and then Simon's birthday treat continued.

They eventually got themselves showered and before he dressed Simon put his sharks' teeth necklace on.

"What do you think of this?" asked Adam. He fetched Lucy's new collar and tried it round his neck. It just about reached, but wouldn't do up.

"Looks good," said Simon. "If you really want a bondage collar, I'll get you one for Christmas, one with metal spikes set in it."

"Take a rain check on that nearer the time," replied Adam.

They met Philip in the breakfast room. He hugged Simon and wished him happy birthday with a kiss on the cheek. After breakfast he said

"Are you boys ready to go?"

"More or less," said Adam.

"We've just got to clean our teeth and close our cases," added Simon.

The journey home took a little over an hour. Lucy was pleased to see her humans again and before the boys got down to serious preparations for the party they took her for walkies with her new collar and lead.

The first bell interrupted the proceedings of the Cockatoo Club and Tony closed the session. Tuesday afternoon and the boys were off to their dance lesson, followed by gym.

"I like Tuesdays," said Adam. "The tight kit makes me feel very masculine."

"It's only 'cos you can show off your bollocks," said Fran bitchily.

"If you've got 'em, show 'em," replied Adam "and you can have a private showing anytime, Fran."

"With my permission," added Simon.

"I shall have mine cut off when I leave school," Fran declared. "I have already come to the decision to sit down to pee. All that posturing at the urinal and who can piss over a ten foot wall is just too much for me." Whether he really had made those decisions or whether it was simply Fran striking a pose, it had the same effect. A shudder went through the assembled crowd. It would be Wednesday before they could talk about the party and of course, they had all been there.

The Cockatoo Club was anxious to open its meeting during Wednesday lunch to discuss the birthday party. They had all been there and were anxious to chip in.

All six guests arrived by seven just as it was growing dark. They and the parents who had brought them were shown into the library where Philip and the boys were ready to greet them. The adults were offered drinks while Adam and Simon took their guests down to the games room. They were given a large carrier bag to put their clothes in, mainly tracksuits, after which they were correctly dressed for the party.

"Hey, Robin, is that when your parents found out you were gay?" interrupted Steve.

"No, that was when we were on holiday. I'd met his gorgeous Dutch boy called Jan with pale blue eyes and long blond hair. I had him up against the wall outside the disco when who should come along, but my parents and my brother who just had to say 'Hi, Rob,' as they went past. I think I could have got away with it with them thinking I was with a girl but the bulge in his trousers was bigger and more pointy that the bulge in mine. Of course, the following morning I had the oh so embarrassing sit down and chat with the 'rents, but they were okay and accepted me for who I was. The only trouble is I have to put up with the 'go and milk the bull' jokes and things like that, but in fact it's taken a hell of a lot of pressure off me and it can't be too bad if they allowed me to go to the party. At least I didn't have to hide the invitation. Still, as chairman I'm ruling this out of order and it's back to the party," and Robin quietly rapped a spoon on the table.

"You realise you've just ruled yourself out of order, don't you, Rob?" laughed Tony.

Back at the party Simon and Adam clapped their hands for silence.

"Listen in, lads. First of all, we want to welcome all of you here and we hope you have a wicked evening. We'd like to introduce a friend of ours, Ben Carlton. Step forward, Ben." There were whistles, cheers and applause from the assembled crowd. We met on holiday. He goes to the cathedral school, but we won't hold that against him." Boos and catcalls. Ben was getting into the mood of things and took a bow.

"Weren't you their scrum half in the U14s?" said Robin,

"That's right. We won that game 10-7."

"You won't next year," came the reply. It was all good natured banter. Adam took over from Simon.

"Before any of you randy bastards try and get your evil way with Ben I should mention that he and Tony are a couple." More cheers and applause. "The fridge over there is stacked full with drinks. Help yourselves. There are plenty of plastic cups and if it looks like getting empty, tell one of us." Simon continued.

"The boring bits. One or two house rules. Don't go outside. The rottweiler is on the loose and like us he's queer too. There's nothing he likes better than a bit of a boy's arse." (Laughter) Lucy wouldn't have approved of being referred to as a gay rottweiler. The gym apparatus is out of bounds, 'elf 'n' safety. When we go swimming, one person has to stay on the side to act as lifeguard. Don't worry if you haven't brought a towel. We've plenty of spares. If any of you feel the whole thing is too much and you need some privacy, you can go into the side room where we have set up some sunbeds."

"We're going to start off with party games," said Adam. "That may sound a bit silly and childish, but it's meant to be. There's a serious bit later for those that like to be serious. And the first game is Twister. Enjoy yourselves." Adam and Simon laid out the mat and picked out Robin and Ben to have the first turn since they seemed to know each other. As they played they got into almost impossible positions and it made a good icebreaker. You cannot play Twister without being intimate and if you are dressed in a jockstrap it soon shows. The next round was Tony and Fran, the shortest and the tallest, then Simon took on Steve and finally it was Adam and Paul. Steve let himself down, but it was while under the greatest physical stress, by farting. He was disqualified.

"Now the next game," said Adam "is Blind Man's Buff."

"Don't you mean Blind Man's Bluff?" said Paul.

"Not the way we play it. Now I'm sure you remember how to play the game. One of you is 'It' and he is then blindfolded. He has to try and capture someone and then say who it is. Then it's that person's turn if they're right. And I'll be there to make sure you don't hurt yourself. Have I got a volunteer? Thank you, Paul."

"But I didn't..."

"Oh, yes you did," chorused the other seven. Realising he'd been stitched up Paul capitulated and Simon produced a pair of sleeping goggles, the ones given out on long distance flights, and put them over his eyes. Adam led him to the middle of the room and spun him round to disorientate him.

"Sorry," said Adam, "did I mention the house rule when we play Blind Man's Buff? No? Everyone take your jocks off." Simon went round with a cardboard box collecting them. "Now, Paul, you identify your captive by putting your hand between his legs and feeling him. No, it's all right. You can take your jock off when you take the goggles off." That was probably a good idea as the pouch of his jockstrap clearly showed he was in favour of the house rule. The game began and everyone dodged about round the victim until he eventually lunged and grabbed a body. He felt for his legs and finally managed to slip his hand up between them.

"Oh, that's a dead give away," he said. "It's Tony." Everybody clapped and Paul took off the goggles and Adam placed them over Tony's eyes. Paul took off his jock and immediately his dick rose to the occasion to be accompanied by more uproarious cheers. Simon went over to the table and came back with a small packet, gift wrapped and tied with a bow.

"I award you a bonus prize for the first boner of the evening." Everyone laughed and clapped. "By the way, Steve, you'll be getting one for what you did." Steve blushed and everybody held their noses and shouted 'pooh'. Tony was taken to the middle of the room and was spun round. He made a grab at the first person to pass him, found his groin and shouted Robin.

"Wrong," everyone shouted. He made another capture.

"Paul."

"No." He was spun round again and took a third prisoner. As soon as his hand reached his crotch he knew who it was.

"Ben," he shouted triumphantly, took off the goggles and gave him a hug. Adam made sure that each of their guests had a go. Simon fetched the jock box and everyone had a lucky dip.

"It doesn't matter if it's not yours. Just take it and wear it and look at the name in it." It was a weird feeling wearing someone else's supporter, even once the cold sweat had warmed up, but one or two obviously found it a turn on. If anyone had been suffering from tinea cruris, it would have been rampant by the end of the evening.

"And now for our last game," Adam announced. By now the boys were all hyped up and entering into the spirit of things. Simon set out six chairs, two rows of three back to back. "Simon will control the CD and we shall play Musical Chairs." The game started stately enough, but had hotted up by the time it was down to Fran and Steve. Simon waited until they were the farthest away from the chairs as possible, stopped the music and there was a mad rush. Fran got there first with Steve landing on his lap. Feeling Fran's hardening dick pressing against his crack was a definite turn on.

"See you in the restroom later," he whispered in Fran's ear, then Fran kissed him on the cheek.

"Another bonus prize for the first kiss of the evening," called out Adam and Simon handed him one of the little gift wrapped packets.

Adam and Simon called for silence. It was time to go swimming. Adam volunteered to take first watch as lifeguard. Simon phoned Brabazon to say he could set up the buffet. The guests could hang their jockstraps on the pegs and sort them out afterwards to get their own back. The boys enjoyed themselves diving and bombing, playing games of dicktag. Finally it was time to get out, shower, dry off and get dressed, if that's what putting their jockstraps on could be called. Once everybody was out Simon and Adam secured the swimming area so that no one could stray back in there.

"Help yourselves to the buffet and drinks." said Simon. "There's plenty for everyone and what's not eaten you'll have to take home." The boys tucked in and nearly demolished the whole lot. Towards the end Tony called for silence and made a little speech thanking Adam and Simon. They had obeyed the instruction not to bring birthday presents, but they had all signed a card and Tony produced it from his bag of clothes and gave it to them with a hug and a kiss. Our boys said thank you and that they hoped they were all enjoying themselves. Adam went on.

"As we said earlier there was going to be a serious bit and now we've come to it. Ben, we're going to talk about our school, and you may feel out of it. We don't want you to. We want you to feel very much part of what we're going to do tonight. As gay teenagers we are very lucky at our school because we are accepted, accepted as we are, but very much included in the community. We hope you are at your school, Ben." Simon continued.

"Some good things happened at our school, but also a bad thing and if I just mention the name William Legge, you will all know what I mean. We think we are all the gay pupils in our year, next year's Year 10, but we may not be. We want to help not only our own year, but the gay boys in every year group, whether they have come out or not. We know who some of them are. We had hoped to find out from Roland Bedford some more names, but that was not to be. If a boy wants help to come out and be accepted, we are there for him. If he needs advice, if he needs protection from bullying or exploitation, we are there for him and together we can be a force for good."

"What we are proposing," said Adam "is to form ourselves into an unofficial society. We are the founder members and that includes you, Ben. We already sit together over lunch and that can become our regular meeting time. Has anyone anything they'd like to say?"

"You know my feelings after what happened to my brother," said Tony.

"I had difficulty coming out to my parents," said Robin " and when it finally happened it was good to know Ihad you blokes behind me." Someone had to snigger.

"That's fine," said Adam. "We've got to be able to laugh at ourselves. It's healthy. It keeps a balance. Bottling up the jokes is unhealthy."

"So what are we going to call ourselves?" asked Paul.

"The School LGBT Club? That's what they call them in America."

"That's far too grey. It leads on to the farce of political correctness, narrow mindedness. As far as I know we haven't any lesbians in the school."

"I cover the T," said Fran.

"We won't worry about the B."

"I know we've joked about it, but we have called ourselves the Cockatoo Club. I'll explain afterwards if there is anyone that doesn't understand. Okay," said Adam, "I formally propose we found the Cockatoo Club to look after the interests of the gay community at school."

"I second that," said Simon.

"Those in favour?" Eight hands went up. "None against. Carried."

"Adam, are you going to be chairman?"

"Yes, but..."

"And the but?"

"It will be just for the first session only, then we'll have a different chairman on a rotating basis so that everyone gets a turn."

"Any more questions?" There were none. "Then on with the motley. Can you help Simon and me to tidy up the buffet. Then we can put it outside the door ready for Brabazon and he can clear away without disturbing us. I don't want him to suffer a cardiac arrest on our account."

During the lull Paul undid his bonus prize and saw he had won packet of three fruit flavoured condoms. Steve unwrapped his to find a carton with a dildo made entirely of chocolate in it. Fran hadn't undone his yet.

"Okay," said Simon, "we asked you to remember whose jockstrap you were wearing. Now it will take two dances for this to work through, but that's who your partners will be." Adam started the CD they'd prepared and dimmed the lights. Naturally it began with Abba to set the beat and the mood, followed by the Village People and YMCA. After that Simon explained that next dance would be a gentleman's excuse me. "Adam will be working the CD player and so there will be seven of us. The spare bod can ask anyone to dance. No one is allowed to refuse. That leaves a different spare bod who asks for a dance and you can't go back to a partner until you have danced with two different people." After that it was a free for all.

Robin and Paul were contentedly dancing together, just holding hands.

"This is giving me a stiffie," whispered Paul.

"Don't worry. I've had one for ages," answered Robin. "Put your arms round my waist. That's right. Now your hands on my buns and pull me in." Robin did the same to Paul. Now their bulges touched and a frisson went through both their bodies. "Jan, the Dutch boy, taught me to do this. He was the first person Iever snogged and danced with. In fact, he was the last person I did this with." Their packages throbbed. Robin's hands started caressing Paul's buns, his fingers probed his crevice and he finally slid a finger into his hole.

"Did your Dutch boy teach you to put your finger in a hole in the dyke?" They both giggled. Robin put his lips against Paul's, forced them open and pushed his tongue into his mouth. When they broke, Paul said

"I can't go on like this. I'll come off in my jock."

"Let's go into the store room." When they went in they found it was lit by a single shaded 40 watt bulb. They could make out Fran and Steve on one of the sunbeds and stumbled their way across to the other, moved the strategically placed box of tissues and towels out of the way, and lay down together.

Simon noticed they were down to four. Steve and Fran, Paul and Robin had gone off to the quiet room. The remaining four were quite content to dance with one another until Adam eventually looked at his watch. It was a quarter to eleven already. He went into the quiet room, knocking on the door first. The two pairs were entwined round one another. They ignored Adam. He put on the bright neon lights. That did the trick.

"It's time for the last dance, lads." They went back to the games room to get out of the bright light. Simon put on a slow smoochy number and four pairs clung tightly to one another. At the end the lights went on.

"Time to get dressed, guys," said Simon and he and Adam handed back the carrier bags with their clothes in. "Before you go, we've got a doggy bag for each of you. They're all the same. We found these in GYmag. They call them valises. We call them sandwich boxes and what it is is an overnight bag for gay men. You just put them in your suitcase and you should be equipped with everything you should need for the weekend – condoms, lube, and one or two other things which you can discover for yourselves. Not to be opened in front of parents!"

Our boys led their guests up to the library where Philip was entertaining representatives from 'Dad's Taxi Service Ltd'.

"Did you have a good time?" he asked. They all agreed they had and thanked Philip for letting Simon and Adam have the party. There were five or ten minutes of polite conversation and then Robin, Paul, Steve and Fran were whisked away. "Let's go and sit in the kitchen. Brabazon might have some cocoa for us and Idon't think Lucy has had her biscuits yet."

They sat round the table. Adam and Simon looked exhausted. They had expended a lot of nervous energy that evening. Their reputation had been on the line in more ways than one. They told Philip of the foundation of the Cockatoo Club.

"I'll do what I can to help there. Just ask."

"We will," answered Tony.

"We're pretty bushed, Dad. Do you mind if we go up to bed?"

"You go on up. I won't be too late myself. Brunch tomorrow. So please yourselves when you come down." He hugged Simon and kissed him on the brow.

"Thanks, Dad, for a super evening." He did the same to Adam. He hugged Tony and couldn't leave Ben out and so hugged him too. They all thanked Philip as they said goodnight.

Brabazon had already put Ben and Tony's overnight bags in Simon's room.

"You stay in here," said Simon. "I'll sleep with Adam." Tony and Ben had a chance to open their valises. Their eyes opened wide at what was in there.

"I'll have to lock this away from prying eyes at home," said Tony.

At that moment the first bell for afternoon school rang. Time for rugby training. Robin tapped the table with the end of a knife handle and closed the Wednesday session of the Cockatoo Club. The boys went off to the changing rooms. Mindful of one incident on Monday, they made sure that they had not eaten too much.

Back at home that night Simon and Adam were feeling a bit down, particularly as they sat having supper together in the kitchen. It was just the two of them with Lucy curled up under the table. Brabazon was elsewhere in the house and Philip wouldn't be back from London until nine or so. To begin with their rugby session had been harder than they had ever known it before and as fit as they were, even they felt the strain. On Saturday there would be a voluntary training session at school, except it wasn't voluntary if you wanted to get into the team. The first match was the following Saturday and they couldn't count Saturdays as free until they knew whether Adam would be playing or not. Naturally Simon would want to go and support and the rôles would be reversed the following term when Simon was playing hockey. The dark evenings meant that they couldn't go outside when they came home. Schoolwork had become noticeably harder now that they were in the senior school. They were just grateful that they could get all their homework done at school. Philip had made it clear that when he was at home he wanted Sunday to be more of a family day – bonding he called it – which meant they couldn't have their friends over unless he was away, and anyway they had family things to do as well. He'd already said that he would be abroad over half term and so that put the kibosh on their going away. The Berlin trip would have to wait for the Easter holidays. They were too tired to have much love play when they went to bed on schooldays and there wasn't any time in the morning. A quick mutual wank was as far as it got, and only then if they were lucky, and by Friday evening they were suffering withdrawal symptoms, or lack of withdrawal symptoms as Adam wryly joked, and to add to this they were coming up to the first anniversaries of the death of Simon's mother and of the motorway accident that killed Adam's parent s. On that particular evening it just got to them. The one positive thing was that they were starving and ate heartily, the result of a light lunch and hard physical work during the afternoon.

"I'm going up to read," said Adam when they had finished eating. They put their dishes and cutlery into the dishwasher.

"I'm going to watch telly," said Simon. He went to the television room and switched on. Eastenders, another laugh a minute. He sat in an armchair watching it, but not watching it. Things were churning over in his head. Tears started to roll down his cheeks. The door opened and in walked Philip.

"Hi, Simon."

"Hi, Dad."

"Where's Adam?"

"Upstairs, reading." Philip saw Simon's face.

"Hey, Simon, is everything okay?" It obviously wasn't. "Come and sit on the settee with me." He put his arm round Simon. "Does Adam know you feel like this?" Simon sniffed and nodded.

"He feels just the same. I don't think he wanted to cry in front of me."

"And you didn't want to cry in front of him?" Another sniff and Simon nodded again.

"If you're in love and in it for the long haul, you've got to learn to look after your boy, share these things and comfort one another. Here, dry your eyes." Philip gave him the handkerchief out of his breast pocket.

"It's odd. I've been feeling so grown up, especially since my birthday and here I am feeling like a little boy again."

"It happens, son, it happens. You'll feel better after a good night's sleep." Father and son sat quietly together. The television became an irrelevance. After a decent interval Philip said "So what has brought all this on then?" Simon explained what he and Adam had been talking about over supper. "Yes, we must keep an eye on Adam over the next few weeks. He's bound to feel it, as we shall with Mum. But we can share the experience as we went through it together. Adam's on his own and that's where you have to be brave and be there for him."

"I know, Dad. I'm just going up to see he's all right."

It was evident that Adam had been crying too. Although his eyes were dry, the tearstains on his cheeks were obvious. Simon climbed onto the bed next to him, took him into his arms and cuddled him. They didn't need to speak. After a time they just stripped off their clothing, got into bed in their underpants and fell asleep until the alarm woke them at six-thirty. The sun was rising in a blue sky. The mood of the two boys had improved accordingly. If only they had time to make love before going to school. They showered together. At least that relieved the pressure on their loins.

School went well. Fran held the chairmanship of the Cockatoo Club. It was announced that Robin and Paul were officially boyfriend and boyfriend, the one who had shied away from a relationship and the one who had been afraid to come out to his family. It became routine that William Legge would walk past the meeting each lunchtime, even though it was held at the farthest end of the dining room, make himself known and tart outrageously,

"You really must take that boy in hand, Tony," remarked the chairman.

"I have already," replied Tony who then blushed after realising the implication.

Adam and Simon had opted for cross-country on Thursdays. They both enjoyed it. After all that's how they had met and fallen in love. The autumn sun was warm without being too hot for running. After being briefed as to the route and while still waiting for the off, Simon stood there admiring Adam. He was developing a superb physique. Swimming had given him broad shoulders, a well developed chest which housed the large lungs cross-country requires. He was narrow at the waist and hip. His body was almost triangular in outline. Simon grew hard as he stared at Adam dressed in a tight white singlet through which his nipples stood proud, skimpy white shorts that tucked up in his crack outlining his buns, just about covered the necessary and the bulge of his black jockstrap because he was wearing his balls up dance fashion and it had nowhere else to go. It still excited Simon to see Adam like that even though he knew intimately what was underneath. When he walked off to the start line Simon followed, lusting over Adam's buns and the black straps that traversed them. Still in a trancelike state he went up to him and whispered in his ear

"I want to make passionate love to you tonight as soon as we get home and before we have supper." Adam put his hand behind Simon and surreptitiously fingered his crevice. "I'm going to tell Brabazon we want to wait for Dad before we eat."

Adam had already made a name for himself by convincingly winning the 5000m at sports day. Now he wanted to prove himself to be the best cross-country runner, in his age group if not in the school.

"Adam, are we running round together?"

"No way. Only if you can keep up. This is school, not home or walking Lucy. It's competition and I intend to win." Simon was somewhat taken aback. He had not seen this competitive side of Adam before. On the way round the course he thought about it and knew Adam was right. He wouldn't play hockey badly so that Adam could have his place in the team.

Adam won the race well ahead of his fellows. It was his first time on the course and there were no markers so that he had to hang back to stay on route. The following Thursday, however, he would know which way to go and he expected himself to do better. In the changing room Simon whispered

"Try and skip the shower. I want to take you all sweaty and smelly." Adam started getting changed. He took off his jockstrap and sniffed it. He handed it to Simon who sniffed it as well.

"God, you two are gross!" came the voice of Sam Welham.

"Don't knock it until you've tried it," answered Simon and handed Adam's jock to Sam who himself was in a state of half undress, the bottom half. To save face Sam took it and sniffed it. Instantly he popped a boner to a round of applause and cheering.

Simon and Adam cycled home faster than usual. They were on a high. The previous day's tears had purged them of any depressing emotions, the effort of cross-country had cleared their circulation and brains, it was high pressure weather and the sun was still shining. Mrs Green, not Brabazon, was at home to greet them. They asked her if they could have supper with Philip.

"That won't be until eight o'clock. Can you two last out that long?"

"That's fine, Mrs Green. We've things to do."

"Okay. There's fruit on the kitchen table in case you need to nibble something beforehand. Bring your school clothes down before you get started." Dirty washing and school uniforms safely deposited with MrsGreen they returned upstairs, hung the 'Do not disturb' signs on their doors and then Simon pushed Adam up against his bedroom wall.

At five to eight they arrived in the kitchen, freshly showered, and full of joy. They had solved their schoolday lovemaking problem. Philip greeted two very different boys from twenty-four hours ago. He himself was upbeat as he'd signed an important contract that day.

"I did think we might go walking this Sunday," said Philip, "but after hearing the demands put on you by school this week it would make more sense for us to relax. Any ideas what you want to do?"

"Eat, sleep and make love," replied Simon with a sudden intake of breath as he realised what he had said in front of his father. Adam blushed as well.

"Have you anyone in mind?" Philip enquired casually, wanting to make light of Simon's slip of the tongue.

"Can't think of anybody at the moment," answered Simon, believing he was having his bluff called. "Might have to go down the local yoof club and pick up a chav." Philip picked up the newspaper and said

"Mmm, not much on television tonight." The boys got on with their supper in silence, at least for a few minutes, and then Simon told his father about how Adam had come first in the cross-country that afternoon.

After supper Simon took Lucy outside so that she could settle down for the night. She was given her biscuits when they returned. Then he went to look for Adam whom he found in the television room. They tried watching together – another cookery programme, I'm a Celebrity Chef - Get me out of the Kitchen, or something equally inane. Simon pressed the mute on the remote. By now Adam was lying along the length of the sofa, his head resting in Simon's lap and enjoying the feeling of his dick pressing against the nape of his neck as it tried to expand.

"Hey, Adam, how do you think our relationship is going?"

"Oh, Si, that really is such a girlie question."

"Don't you ever think of me as your girl?" Adam gave him a look. "No, I'm serious."

"No. Never. I'm gay, proud to be gay and I like people of my own sex. You're not a girl substitute. You're my man, my hundred percent hunk of masculinity. So what are you trying to ask? You've obviously got something on your mind."

"Well, I was thinking about this afternoon when I really needed to make love to you and we had to wait until we got home. And then there was the time last term when I just grabbed you and pulled you into that cupboard."

"I like it when you're impulsive and just want to surprise me and take me like that. What's wrong with that?"

"It just seems so out of character... of me."

"I wouldn't say it was out of character, the way you were ogling my package."

"I know. It looked so big in those tiny shorts you were wearing, especially with the black jock showing through the white." Simon's dick was now really hard against the back of Adam's neck. "Shift yourself a minute." Adam raised his head and Simon pulled down the zip on his fly. "Ah, that's better." Adam could feel the warm moistness of Simon's undies. "You must always wear white shorts. They suit you."

"I do most of the time, but we have to wear blue for rugby practice and white is just for school matches only, like you do for hockey."

"We're getting off the subject."

"Then you've got to tell me what you're talking about, Si."

"You know when we met?..."

"How could I forget?"

"And fell in love instantly? Well, I always looked on you as the more experienced one. You'd had a boyfriend before and done stuff. I was a virgin."

"I was as well, don't forget. You took my cherry."

"I know," said Simon, "but I was a complete virgin. You were the first boy I'd ever done anything with."

"Is this about us doing it with other boys like Tony and Ben?"

"No, I enjoy that. We both do. What I'm trying to say is that in our sex life you're the boss, like you let me be the boss here at home, especially when dealing with Dad or Brabazon. You've shagged me more times than I've shagged you." At that moment Philip put his head round the door and said

"I'm off to bed, lads. It's been a heavy day." He realised too late that he'd interrupted a significant moment and then withdrew quickly. "Good night." He'd closed the door before the boys could say good night back.

"But what I can't understand," said Simon "are these moments like this afternoon when I feel really masterful and want to dominate you. You don't mind, do you?"

"Mind?" said Adam. "I adore them. It makes our relationship complete, mutual, not one way. You can have me whenever and wherever you want, well, not whenever and wherever you want. The playing fields surrounded by a hundred boys is not a good idea." The humour relaxed Simon, except for his dick which was still trying to bore its way into Adam's neck. "Hey, Si, you're getting into bondage and S & M with all that talk of being masterful?"

"Mmm, I like those little chocolate sweets."

"No, you twat, they're M & Ms." They both laughed. Adam knew Simon was being obtuse on purpose. "S&M – sadomasochism."

"You weren't into that, were you?"

"No, not me, but some pretty weird things did go on in the cellar of that orphanage at times. I bet the house parents didn't know anything about it." They laughed in mock horror. "You didn't mind me not running with you this afternoon?"

"No. I was just a bit amazed when you said it, because we always do everything together. But when Ithought about it I understood. While we're one item, we still have to maintain our individuality. And you have to obey your testosterone blast as I have to follow mine."

"Come on, Si, it's time we went to bed and sorted out that little man of yours before he really does drill a hole through my head."

"Not so much of the little, either. He's bigger than yours."

"Only in length, not in cubic capacity." Simon's sphincter gave a little twitch at the thought. "And do your flies up before we say good night to MrsGreen."

The following day the Cockatoo Club was in full session over lunch under the chairmanship of Steve when William Legge came by on his daily pilgrimage, waved, said 'hi, guys' and then came str8 up to Simon and Adam and asked

"When can I come for a swim in your pool?" Tony was mortified. He remembered that Will had a problem with the public baths, but even so. For our two there was no problem, not even an issue.

"Can't make it this weekend," said Simon. "We've got rugby training tomorrow..." Adam's ears pricked up at the 'we'. "...and Sunday we've got family stuff to do. It might not be possible until half term, but if we've got a free day we'll tell Tony and you can come over with him." Tony still didn't look too overjoyed at his brother's approach.

While they were cycling home that night, Simon said

"Adam, do you mind if I come to rugby training with you tomorrow?"

"Of course not. You don't have to ask me. It's for everybody."

"It's just that I was thinking, if you get into the team I can volunteer to be linesman or something. Then Ican watch you in the away matches as well as the home ones."

"That's great, but I can't promise to do the same with hockey. I've never picked up a hockey stick in my life and it's the big cross-country term. But I'll come and watch you in your matches."

"That's okay. They don't have linesmen in hockey. They have two umpires that work the line as well."

The weekend came and went. The all day rugby session had been a test of fitness and endurance which meant that Simon, not a natural rugby player, could keep up. Adam still had no idea how near to a team place he was or not. The session had been harder than anything he had known at his previous school, where there were probably two hundred in a year group as opposed to a hundred here. Sunday was truly a day of rest.

"I've given Brabazon Sunday off as this week," said Philip. "I'm off to South Africa for a fortnight and so he won't have any free time unless Mrs Green can cover." While the boys were disappointed that they wouldn't see Philip, they were pleased that they could invite their friends over. "We'll go to church tomorrow. That should keep the vicar happy until Christmas, then I'll take you out to lunch. We'll give Lucy a good run in the afternoon and after that get our feet up and hope you two will be fit for the new week at school. I'll get Brabazon to leave out one of his cold collations for us in the evening."

Monday and Wednesday training sessions to go and the team sheet would be on the notice board Thursday morning. Simon and Adam went to view it. They couldn't get near because of the throng, but they didn't have to as one boy pushed his way out and said

"You're in, Neave. You've been selected. Major won't be very pleased about that." Simon kissed Adam on the cheek. No one noticed in a crowd like that.

"Who's this Major?"

"He's only the boy who played in the centre for the last three years."

"Oh," said Adam. "At my last school I was a small fish in a large pond. The pond's a bit smaller here."

Over lunch the Cockatoo Club was in session, but had little 'business' to discuss and so there were a number of private conversations taking place. They'd congratulated Adam on gaining his place in the XV and Simon had succeeded in getting the job of touch judge. William had had his lunchtime constitutional walking past the guys and outrageously tarting.

"Hey, Tony, that brother of yours is getting worse," said Paul. "He minces past, flashes those blue eyes and smiles. If he goes on like that, we'll have to enrol him in the Club."

"He'd like that," replied Tony "but still claims he doesn't qualify. He says he'd like associate membership because he agrees with what we're trying to do."

Tony was seated between Adam and Simon.

"Tony," said Simon "do you want to come and hang out with us over the weekend? Bring Ben and Will."

"It'll have to be Sunday then 'cos Ben's playing rugby on Saturday afternoon. I'm going to watch the match. His parents are taking me in case anyone starts asking who I am. And I'll have to check with Ben first."

"Text us this evening," said Adam "and come and spend as long as you like. Simon's dad's not there and so there'll be brunch and if you want, you and Ben can have some special time together and we'll take care of Will."

"That's the trouble at the moment. It's hard to get any privacy in his house or ours, especially with you-know-who around."

"When we say 'come and spend as long as you like'," said Simon "not too early. We've got rather a lot of catching up before we get up."

"Anytime after ten should be okay," added Adam. The meeting broke up early and Simon and Adam went to get changed for cross-country.

Saturday brought with it great excitement. The morning saw Adam making his debut representing his new school as a centre and Simon as a touch judge. Adam look resplendent in the scarlet and royal blue quartered shirt with the school badge, and white shorts, not so tight this time, and for those interested enough to look so did Simon in his black close fitting tracksuit. It was not until today that the difference between U14 and U15 rugby dawned on Adam. Everyone, including himself, was that much stronger, bigger – taller and broader – young men rather than boys. They were lucky to be starting the season with a home match. It brought larger crowds and the support was important. He was only sorry Philip couldn't be there. As the team split after the last stages of the warm up he spotted at first William (how could he miss him?) and then Tony on the touchline.

"Hi, Adam," Will shouted. "Good luck. See you tomorrow." Adam thought he should have felt embarrassed at having a junior boy shouting for him like that, but how could he be embarrassed by Will? He was so loveable and certainly hadn't given up his Saturday morning to be an embarrassment. 'I wonder if he's going with his brother to support Ben this afternoon. If there's room in the car, I bet he is,' thought Adam. It was a hard game. The first one of the season always was, but the School emerged victorious by not much. It was the hard training that paid off and made the difference in the end. He'd hoped he'd played well enough to keep his place and he certainly wanted to play in the match against Ben's school later in the term. You don't change a winning team, do you? Everyone who spoke to him said 'well done'. Adam was his own harshest critic. Simon wanted to kiss him as the team was clapped off the field, but controlled himself. There would be plenty of time for that later. Despite having showered he wanted to soak in a hot Radox bath when he got home and to be pampered by his lover. He might then be ready to take Simon and Lucy for a walk. Perhaps they would do the walkies first. Adam and Simon went into team lunch – steak and kidney pie, baked beans and chips – and then they were free to go home. The school kitchen would only fry chips for team lunches and teas. They had become a privilege.

The following day Adam and Simon made sure they were up and downstairs by ten. They tucked into brunch and it was some minutes before Brabazon announced Masters Anthony and William Legge, and another five before his sonorous tones announced Master Benjamin Carlton. All three had cycled from their homes. They drank orange juice while our two boys tucked into the remnants of their breakfast. They talked about the two rugby matches. Ben's team had also won with Ben scoring one of the tries.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Ben. He looked so cute today. He was wearing an ancient pair of 501s, no rips – his mother would certainly not permit that – so well washed that they hugged his figure and gave a a good impression of his butt and package. On top a plain white tee shirt, loose, coming down over his belt, but not low enough to cover his crotch. "These are real 501s," he said realising he was being checked out and admired, "bought in California when we were there last year. These are actually made in the USA." The others were impressed. After this diversion Adam got round to answering the question.

"Show us how to ride our skateboards." They were still in their boxes. They hadn't had time since their birthdays to try them out. "Then we ought to take Lucy for walkies." She started to take an interest in the conversation. "Brunch, then R & R."

"What's R & R?" piped up William.

"Rest and recuperation," replied his brother flatly. He was none the wiser.

"Then go for a swim and after that see what time you've got left until you have to go home."

"I'll have to go before it starts to get dark," said Ben. "I haven't any lights on my bike. Also I've got a bit of homework to finish off." The other boys smiled.

"That's the great thing about our system," said Simon. "We get all our prep done at school so that when we come home at least we know our time's our own."

They had great fun on the skateboards and being well co-ordinated and natural sportsmen Simon and Adam learnt quickly. Lucy had the short walk – round the lake without going up to the wishing well, though they'd love to have shown Ben and William where they first met. After that they were all willing to tuck into more than a little brunch. For R & R they headed upstairs. Adam told Ben and Tony they could use his room and that they knew where everything was, but could they use towels? There were plenty of clean ones in the drawer.

"What do they need towels for?" asked William.

"In case they have to wash their hands," came the unsatisfactory answer.

"Meanwhile, Will, you're coming with us to watch a DVD and you can choose," said Simon.

"We'll buzz you on the house phone five minutes before the film ends," said Adam. "No need to answer."

"What are you going to do that for?" asked William.

"They might have fallen asleep and we don't want to make them jump when we come back." Simon ushered William out, clutching a DVD. Adam put the 'Do not Disturb' notice on the door handle.

Simon and Adam settled down on the settee with William between them. They cuddled him and he snuggled up to them. Then as the film started he looked up into Adam's eyes and asked in hushed tones

"Are Ben and my brother making babies?"

"I hope not," he replied. "I don't think they have the right equipment for that." William giggled.

"You know what I mean."

When the house telephone buzzed, Tony and Ben were lying on their backs under the duvet, resting after making love. They looked at one another, kissed and then got out of bed, rolling up the large towel they had been lying on and put it into the linen basket. They inspected the bed sheet and saw that it was still clean. Adam came up, went through Simon's room and knocked the bathroom door to his room and went in.

"Ready for a swim?" They went downstairs. Simon was just telling Brabazon that they were going swimming, then all five went down to the pool.

"Can we skinny dip?" asked William.

"Sure." They all took their clothes off and Simon brought out five towels. As they stood in the changing room naked, Will's jaw started to drop. He'd only ever seen his brother naked, and as he stared at the others his dick slowly swelled and stood to attention. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. His dick became so tight and stiff that it lay against his lower abdomen and as his foreskin drew back the glans almost touched his navel.

"I'd like to propose," said Tony solemnly "my brother as a full member of the Cockatoo Club." After the rapid agreement Adam put his arm round William's shoulder and quietly said in his ear

"Will, you had better go and jump into the pool and cool down a bit."

The four lads looked at one another. They had been touched by the scene and all felt there had been a little magic at work during it. They were true romantics at heart.

"I think we now know which side he really bats for," said Tony. "I'll talk to him on the way home."

The boys had their swim, showered and got dressed. Ben thought it was time he got going as he had quite a distance to cycle. Tony wanted time with William. The atmosphere was odd. The boys didn't know whether to be happy for William or not. It had all come as rather a shock, but as Mr Hindsight said, all the signs had been there. Nobody had wanted to recognise them.

Tony and Will cycled off towards the park. It was only a slight detour.

"Why are we going this way?" asked William.

"You'll see in a minute." They got off their bikes at the entrance nearest to the wooded hill and wheeled them up the path towards the wishing well. Here plenty of people were about, singles with dogs, families with children, taking their Sunday afternoon walks to help work off their lunches. When they reached the summit they chained their cycles together and went over and sat on the wall of the wishing well. Tony put his arm round William.

"This is where Adam and Simon first met, Will. The well certainly granted their wish. Did I ever tell you how they lost one another, then eventually found each other again?"

"No."

"Remind me and I'll tell you. Perhaps tonight. How are you feeling?"

"All right. It all happened so quickly." At that moment a couple of scruffy, snotty nosed kids walked past.

"Poofs," one of them shouted.

"Piss off!" shouted Tony back. "If you opened your eyes, you'd see that we're brothers." They both flipped the finger and walked on.

"But we are poofs, aren't we?"

"Don't give them any more thought." Then the import of what William had said hit Tony. It wasn't the P word. It was the 'we'. 'Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings.' "You realise you came out this afternoon, don't you, Will?"

"I couldn't help it. When I saw Adam there... well, when I saw all of you there, it just happened. Icouldn't help it."

"Don't worry about it. It's your age – our age – it happens to us all... when we least expect it, when we least want it to." William snuggled up to his brother. "Will, you've got a bit of a crush on Adam, haven't you?"

"No." Tony looked at him. "I've got a big crush on him. If he weren't Simon's boyfriend..." His voice trailed off and his eyes glazed over in a dreamy manner.

"So are you gay or not?" A big sigh from William.

"I suppose I am. I've been trying to fight it."

"Why?"

"Lots of reasons. I didn't want people to think I was queer just because my brother was." The starkness of the word queerjolted Tony. It was not in his normal vocabulary, well not in that sense. "You see I want to make my own way in life. I know you're my big brother and I love you dearly. I know that we look like one another. Boys at school have said that now I've grown a bit we could be twins, but I want to be different from you." Tony discovered in his younger brother an intellectual and emotional depth he never knew was there. "And now I'm gay. Another difference gone and I've been fighting it like hell." A tear was rolling down his cheek.

"Forget for a moment that I'm gay. We're talking about you. Are you upset that you're gay?" William thought for a few moments.

"No. No, not if I'm going to have friends like yours, friends like Adam. Now I've accepted the fact I'm going to make sure I enjoy it, but I still want to be different from you, Tony, a person in my own right, not Tony's brother all the time."

"But you are different. That's what I like about you. It also drives me up the wall at times. I don't want you to be the same as me, but that's why it's important for you to find your own friends. Do you want be a member of the Cockatoo Club?"

"Yes, because I know there will always be someone outside the family to help me, but I want to spread the club to Year 8."

"Do you know any gay boys in Year 8?"

"No, but there must be more besides me."

"They may not be old enough to know yet. When are you going to tell Mum and Dad?"

"Will you do it for me?"

"No. There are certain things you have to do for yourself. But I'll be there with you if you want me to, for support."

"I don't think it will be tonight."

"And what about the girl at the swimming baths?"

"All part of me trying not to be gay. I don't want to see her again. Anyway, after the last time my fingers smelt of rotten fish." Tony burst out laughing and that made William laugh too.

"Come on, Will. It's beginning to get dark and Mum and Dad'll start worrying."

"I love you, Tony."

"I love you too, Will, and don't worry. They took it all right when I came out, though Angelica had told them already. But I don't think it's right that I should... or Angelica either for that matter."

Back at the van den Bergs' house Brabazon was preparing Sunday roast, beef this week. As the boys sat round the kitchen table enjoying their meal, with Brabazon sitting at the head, – the dining room was only used if Mister Philip was in residence – he said

"Master Simon and Master Adam, I enjoy preparing a roast more than any other food. Of course in the old days it was not part of the butler's duties to cook. That was done either by cook or the housekeeper, but times have changed. It was still like that when your grandfather was alive, Master Simon. And Master Adam, Master Simon's mother did much of the cooking while she was still with us. I started to cook when she became ill and was unable to continue and Mrs Green was not here." Brabazon was in the mood to reminisce that evening and his tales of below stairs could be both interesting and amusing.

"Did you ever get married, Brabazon?"

"No, Master Simon, that was not to be." His face had changed colour. "Excuse me. I must attend to the custard. It is about to boil."

"I think you touched a raw nerve there, Si."

At the end of the meal the boys thanked Brabazon and expressed their appreciation of his efforts.

"I think tomorrow evening we shall eat the rest of the beef cold." The boys went into the sitting room. They could not bring themselves to watch television.

"If your dad's not here for half term, we'd better make some plans."

"I want your body every night and every morning... and in between as well, Adam."

"I'm sure you do, but we'll have to entertain ourselves when we finally do get vertical. I have the impression we'll need to catch up on a lot of sleep."

"We'll let Tony and Ben know we're on our own. We can fix up to do stuff with them."

"I'm sure they'll want to come and sleep over if they're free. They don't get much sex at home. You know what I'd really like to do, Si? Have another shopping trip to London. Some of my kit's getting a bit small."

"Don't you dare replace those cross-country shorts of yours."

"No, of course not. They're a perfect fit. And it gets the other kids checking me out. That's a great ego trip, especially with the so called str8 ones. Mind you, when the winter weather comes I shall have to wear lycra knee-length shorts under them to protect my muscles and hamstrings from the cold. I'm still determined to get that Sam Welham behind the bicycle sheds after what he said." Simon gave him a look. "With your permission, naturally."

"I wonder if Brabazon will let us go to London alone. We're fifteen now." The door opened and there was a slight cough.

"Master Anthony Legge wishes to speak to you both on the telephone." The boys went off to their downstairs office and put the phone on 'speaker'. They saw that Tony was calling on his mobile.

"Hi, Tony, how's William?"

«That's what I'm calling you about. He's okay. He's downstairs watching TV with Mum and Dad. On the way home we made a detour and went up to your wishing well. I couldn't think of a better place to talk to him, except it was a bit crowded on a Sunday afternoon. Anyway, he came out to me and said he'd been trying to fight being gay, but with what happened in the swimming pool this afternoon he realised he'd lost the battle.»

"We were saying it was obvious with hindsight," said Simon.

"He just needs to find himself a nice boyfriend."

«Not much hope of that yet. He's only in Year 8 and an early developer. Most of his year group have got to catch up yet. They still think it's just for peeing over high walls.»

"What did he say about joining the Club?"

«He's cool with that. In fact, he's more than cool. He's dead keen and he wants to recruit in his own year, but doesn't know how.»

"It's a bit soon for that," said Adam. "Tell him to come and sit with us at lunch tomorrow."

"But it won't be wise to sit with us every lunchtime. He'll need to keep his friends in his own year," added Simon.

«And do you know what? He's got a crush on you, Adam.»

"What was I telling you?" said Simon. "You wouldn't believe me."

"You've got to admit the boy's got good taste," riposted Adam, but in fact his natural modesty was causing him to blush. "OMG, that's one big responsibility."

«I'm sure you'll cope, Adam. You became an even bigger hero after the match yesterday. He said Ben's a rubbish rugby player compared to you.»

"He's only saying that to wind you up. We'll discuss it after we've played their school, if I'm still in the team."

"Has he come out to your parents yet?" asked Simon.

«We're working on that one at the moment. He wanted me to do it for him and I refused.»

"Hey, Tony, Adam and I were just talking about this. Dad's away over half term and so we're on our own and not doing anything special."

"We wondered whether you and Ben might like to come over and stay the night sometime. Talk it over with him and your parents."

«Yeah, okay, thanks, we'll do that. Might get you two skateboarding properly too. I think that's all the news. See ya at school tomorrow. Cheers, guys.»

"Cheers, Tony," the other two shouted and clicked off the phone.

"Give you a game of seven card whist, Si."

"Okay." They took a pack of cards out of the desk drawer and played quite contentedly until it was time to go to bed.

Monday morning and a new week at school. At lunchtime the Cockatoo Club convened under Robin's chairmanship and William was officially accepted as a member. In his acceptance speech he offered to become the Year 8 representative. Tony was very proud of him. He had certainly pulled himself together. Rugby lessons were more like rugby training than fitness training. Tuesday's dance and gym lessons were a form of relaxation in comparison. Wednesday more rugby training. Wednesday evening at home Adam said he had plans for the cross-country race.

"Si, I need your help tomorrow with Sam Welham and this is what we're going to do."

"You realise that if we get caught we're in big trouble, don't you?" Adam nodded.

The next morning they cycled a little faster to school. Yess! Adam's name was on the team sheet. The morning seemed to drag and the lunchtime gathering of the Club broke up early. William was as good as his word and continued having lunch with his own year group, although he would always walk over to the Club's table, tartily wave and say 'Hi, guys'.

The weather was holding. The milky September sun was warm in a pale sky. The temperature was just right for running and keeping all the jiggly bits and pieces jiggling. Adam and Simon made a point of talking to Sam during the warm up and while waiting for the off. He couldn't keep his eyes off Adam's shorts, back or front. There wouldn't be any trouble. His brain had already sunk to his groin and was boasting about it. His penis was in full control. The boys were given the off. Instead of running ahead as Adam normally did he stayed at Simon's side a yard behind Sam. Once they were out of the school grounds the bunch of boys spread out into a line. Sam was a good runner, not as good as Adam, but equal with Simon who was no push over when it came to running. The course was perhaps seven or eight miles. It could be lengthened or shortened according to need, that is time available, age group, state of the ground and test of endurance. By the time they reached the path through the wood the spread was so much that Sam, Simon and Adam were the only people in sight. 'Even better,' thought Adam. Not only was the wood thick with trees, but there were bushes either side of the path. It was here that boys would veer off the path to relieve themselves if they needed to. Adam gave Simon the nod and they moved up either side of Sam and manœuvred him off the main path into the bushes. Now they were hidden from the main path. He was too surprised to comprehend what was happening and to resist. Simon's work was done, but he tarried a few moments to ensure it was all going to plan by pretending he was having a pee.

"Sam, I was impressed by the way you popped a boner last week when you sniffed my jock." Sam's face lit up. He hadn't been embarrassed, he'd enjoyed it, he said. "Do you want to feel my balls?" Sam thought it was birthday, Christmas and Easter rolled into one. "Go on. I'm not going to thump you at all. Well, not unless you hurt me." Sam put his hand up between Adam's legs, then down the front of his shorts. Simon thought he could safely go and continued on his run.

"I can only feel your balls," said Sam.

"Yeah, I've got them tucked up with my dick facing north to keep it out of the way. Remember I do dance. Hey, your shorts have expanded a bit." Sam said

"What do you expect from feeling a hunk like you?" Adam deftly slipped Sam's shorts down over his jockstrap. His jock followed. Now he was trapped. Round his ankles they acted like shackles. Adam started to jerk him off. Sam was too mesmerised to say anything about it, not that he wanted to. This was one of his wanking fantasies actually coming true. There was no finesse in Adam's technique. For him this wasn't even sex. It was establishing a principle, the principle that if you popped a boner it was an open invitation to a gay guy. Sam soon came off. Adam had reached his goal.

"Hope you enjoyed that. I'm off."

"Wait a minute. When do I get to do you?"

"When you catch me of course. See ya back at school... unless you catch up with me, then be my guest." Sam was in difficulties. Not only were his shorts and jockstrap round his ankles, but his spunk had shot all over the place. No pockets in the shorts, ergo no handkerchief. He had to clean himself up with his singlet, shorts and jock.

He was finally ready to resume his run. As he rejoined the main path one of his classmates shouted out

"Where have been, Sam?"

"Taking a slash."

"I can see that. You've peed all over yourself." By the time he got back to school his body heat had helped dry a lot of it up.

Now Adam had to subject himself to a great personal challenge. He had spent five, maybe ten minutes with Sam and he still wanted to win the race. Exhilarated by the sexual experience he surged ahead, soon overtaking Simon. He gave him the thumbs up as he passed him. He soon got his second wind. He didn't know how many were ahead of him, but he ran, almost blindly from the effort he was making. The last half mile back to the school was gently uphill. His long legs, like the long back legs of a hare helped him to run up hills. The run in over the school fields was flat. One person in front of him. He had to beat him. He sprinted like mad, but the figure in front pipped him to the line. The impossible had happened. Adam congratulated the winner out of good grace.

"What happened to you, Neave?"

"Oh, sod's law. I'm not used to the course yet and I took a wrong turning." Adam sat on a bench and stretched his lungs open. He soon got his breath back.

In the changing room with Simon at his shoulder he sought Sam out.

"No hard feelings, Sam?"

"I get plenty of those when I see you." They shook hands and grinned.

"Can I sniff your jock?"

"At your own risk." He handed it to Adam who took a long sniff at it. It was still cold, wet and sticky, bit at least the spunk was fresh.

"Fantastic," and handed it to Simon. Adam had a dewdrop of Welham's spunk hanging from the end of his nose. Simon handed the article back to Sam who to save face had to sniff it.

"So when can I jerk you off?"

"As I said, when you catch me. Give me a minute and you can catch me in the showers."

"I can't do it in there. Everyone will think I'm gay."

"But Sam, you are gay."

The following weekend passed in a similar way to the previous one. The U15s won their match and Adam scored two tries. His two biggest fans were on the touchline while Tony had gone to an away match with the Carltons to watch Ben. William didn't go to the van den Bergs' on Sunday, though Tony and Ben did. On the Wednesday of the following week Philip arrived home from South Africa and said he would be remaining at home until his trip over half term, even of it meant travelling to and from London in a day.

And so September passed into October and the weather became more autumnal. Philip's decision to go away over half term had been the unwilling result of a compromise. He knew his boys would need him over the coming weeks and he would need them. One of his first jobs on Thursday morning was to write to the school so that staff might know that the first anniversary of his wife's death and similarly that of Adam's parents was approaching and asked them to give special consideration should anything untoward arise. He marked both days by ordering Brabazon to provide a formal meal. He asked the boys to attend dressed in their dark suits and sombre ties. Each meal started with a quiet reflection on the lives of their loved ones, followed by a discussion of their memories and finally as a form of thanksgiving to be cheerful at the thought of their own blessings. At this point Brabazon lit the candles on the table. It was difficult for all those present if only because Adam had never met Simon's mother and the van den Bergs had never known Mr and Mrs Neave. However, it had one wondrous effect. Over this first year both boys had largely suppressed thoughts of their departed loved ones, rarely spoken about them, even to one another. This simple ceremony had loosened their tongues. The parish prayed for them in church the following Sunday.

However, we are proceeding at too fast a pace. On the Saturday following his return home Philip was able to attend the school rugby match and give Adam his support. It was an afternoon away match. The boys had to catch the coach at noon and Philip took them into school by car. Today there would be no William on the touchline to cheer Adam on, but he found Simon sufficient encouragement, although as touch judge he was not allowed to cheer, but had to concentrate on the job in hand and appear neutral. It was a gruelling match and the second half was played in drizzle which made the ball greasy and difficult to handle. The teams were evenly matched and the game finished with that most unsatisfying of scorelines, the 0-0 draw. There was no honour or distinction to either side, except that the players had remained committed and battled to the end.

Eventually the final match before half term arrived, the one all our friends had been looking forward to, the one against Ben's school and this year it was at home and in the morning. Ten o'clock meet, eleven o'clock kick off. The weather was perfect. Fine, no wind, not too hot, not too cold, the sun hidden by cloud. There would not be many of these days left this year. The ground was soft without being wet. The grass was still growing. It was obvious well in advance that this would be a personal tussle between Adam and Ben. They might be intimate friends, but until the final whistle they were archenemies and no let nor quarter would be given. Adam didn't see the visiting team arrive. The first he saw of Ben was when he led his team out onto the field. Ben looked as beautiful as ever in a shirt of navy and gold hoops and dark blue shorts. Under different circumstances he would have taken him in his arms and hugged him tight. Being so muscle bound and because he was small for his age he looked so neat. Adam knew he wasn't to be underestimated because of his size.

Philip and Lucy caught up with the Legges and the Carltons on the touchline. Naturally Tony and William were there, Tony rather muted because his loyalties were sharply divided. The significance of the match had even reached Angelica who had voluntarily forsaken a day's riding to join the family. Isabella had not considered a similar form of self-sacrifice to support her brother. Tony instructed his sister to cheer the home team and clap the visitors if they played well, but in reality he was instructing himself under the personally difficult circumstances.

The whistle blew and the match started. Something the boys in the team did not know was that their rugby masters had trained for their degrees at the same college and so were good friends. The spin off of this was that they coached their XVs in a similar manner and this made for an open game with the ball flowing and the breakdowns quickly dealt with. There is something about local derbies which make the games harder fought. All the time burning in Adam's ears were Ben's words spoken at the birthday party, 'We won that game 10-7', and they spurred him on. The tackling on both sides was fierce and it meant the half time score was still 0-0.

It was the second half that showed the teams for what they were, where fitness and stamina told and when the final whistle blew the School had ironically managed to reverse the score from the previous year and left the field with a 10-7 victory, the visitors' try scored by Ben and one of the home tries by Adam. Relieved it was all over Adam ran across to Ben and took him in a hug and congratulated him on his try. As captain Ben still had to thank the referee. The home team, physically and emotionally exhausted, walked quickly across to the touchline to form a tunnel and clap their opponents off. Somehow William managed to break though and grab Adam in a hug in front of all the parents and the School. Adam couldn't care less. For five minutes he was a hero.

Unknown to the boys Philip had organised drinks and snacks back at the house for the Legges and Carltons. When he could grab them he told them to give a ring when they were ready and he would send Brabazon with the car to fetch them and they must make sure Ben was with them and not to let him travel back to his school on the coach.

The teams made their way back to the changing rooms. Adam stripped all his kit off and still naked he strolled across to the visitors' half to seek out Ben. When he found him, they hugged again.

"I gather you two know each other," said one of the players standing nearby."

"Yes," said Ben. "We met on holiday in Germany."

"Ben," said Adam, "we're not allowed to swap shirts because they're so expensive. So I want you to have my jockstrap. No one's said we're not allowed to swap them," and Adam handed Ben his still warm jock. Ben immediately responded by pulling his down and handing it over to Adam. They hugged again amidst loud cheers and clapping from the team. The score was no longer important. "And after lunch you're coming home with us because Simon's dad has organised a little party for your parents and the Legges. Adam returned to his team's half of the changing room accompanied by loud rhythmic clapping.

Finally, changed back into their school uniforms, both teams, their hair still wet, found their way to the dining hall. Before they sat down to a meal Adam and Simon showed Ben the table where the Cockatoo Club met each lunchtime. They then took their places in the queue and collected a plate of sausages, egg, bacon, baked beans and, of course, chips. The three went and sat down together. It was good to see the teams mixing. It was not just them. The 2nd XV and the U13s also had to be fed. As the meal came to a close Simon rang home to say they were almost ready. They went to see the visiting team off, then Adam, Ben and Simon picked up their kit and walked to the car park to wait for Brabazon.

The three families mixed well and the conversation was loud and animated. Our three boys were welcomed and congratulated on their performances, even Simon for the way he ran the line. As those assembled either stood or sat around chatting Judith Carlton with Ben standing next to her said to William

"So you don't mind your brother having a boyfriend?"

"No, why should I? I'm gay too and I'm looking for a boyfriend, but Adam doesn't think I'm old enough yet." The conversation ceased and then quickly took up again. David and Amanda looked at each other opened mouthed. Angelica said

"See? I told you so, Mum."

"Shh. Not the time or place." She gave a disarming smile to everyone. "That's nice, darling," she said to William. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Well, I was going to, but I just forgot and didn't get round to doing it. It's no big deal. With school and everything you don't get a moment to yourself to think."

"Did you know, Tony?" Tony coughed.

"Know what, Mum? I was talking to Philip."

"You children are impossible." She smiled. Philip intervened.

"I think this calls for a toast. To William."

"To William," everyone repeated.

"I've never had a toast before." None were more amazed than Simon, Adam and Tony. Tony just shrugged his shoulders.

At about half past two the party broke up naturally. Tony was going to spend the afternoon at the Carltons' house. Adam and Simon were about to go upstairs to change.

"What are you two doing this afternoon?" enquired Philip.

"We're going into town to choose some DVDs," replied Adam.

"And to do some boywatching," added Simon. Philip was about to protest. "When you were our age, you used to go to the park to look at girls. You told us."

"That was different. We didn't used to get gaybashed. I don't want any more fuss with the police."

"No worries. We'll take care."

"If you're going into town, you wouldn't like to walk and take Lucy? She needs a walk and at least she'll protect you."

"That's fine with us. You're not stiff, Adam, are you?"

"Not at the moment," he replied trying to keep a str8 face.

"From the game I meant." That was just too much. They both burst into girlie giggles.

"That's enough, boys, thank you. Don't you ever think of anything else?"

"It's our age," said Simon. "GYmag says that adolescent boys spend ninety percent of their waking hours thinking about sex..."

"And one hundred percent of their sleeping hours," added Adam and they both dissolved into giggles again.

"When you get back home and have become a little more sensible, we need to have a chat about one or two things." Simon and Adam gave each other a 'what-have-we-done-now?-look', but at least it wiped the grins off their faces. And no, they hadn't touched a drop of alcohol while the party had been going on.

When they reached the town centre, the first thing they did was to go to the video shop.

"Hi, Colin," they said as they went in. He had a badge with his name on pinned to his tee shirt. It was some months since they'd seen him and they were sure he had grown. He looked slimmer and the zits had gone. He looked as if he was starting to look after himself.

"You're looking good, Colin," said Simon.

"Yeah, I've got a boyfriend now and I've moved in with him. He makes me go to the gym with him. He's a wonderful cook and he makes me eat properly too."

"And what do you make him do?" Colin lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Service me twice a day."

"That can't be bad."

"And he's got a really fat dick."

"You haven't seen Adam's." The other customers were starting to look around, curious about what the whispering was about. "So what can you recommend?" said Simon.

"You don't do hardcore stuff, do you?"

"No, never felt the need," said Adam. "We get enough of the real thing."

"Speak for yourself, ducky," said Simon in a camp voice.

"I've got three new coming of age movies, all HD. One of them's a remake of You are not Alone, dubbed, no subtitles and you can listen to it in the original Danish as well."

"We'll give that a miss, thank you," said Simon. "The Danish, not the movie."

"We'll take all three," said Adam. "See how we trust you, Colin?"

"And we can always wrap them up for Christmas presents when we've seen them." After they'd paid, they left. "See you, Colin. Keep it up. You're looking good. Almost fancy you myself."

"Where next?" said Simon after leaving the shop.

"The market. I want to buy a bracelet for William." They found the stall that sold leather goods.

"I tell you what," said Simon. "I fancy those black chokers."

"What? The dog collars?"

"They're not really dog collars. They're made for people." Simon tried one round Adam's neck. "Mmm, like it."

"Must admit I like the feel of the leather. It's ever so soft. Doesn't it make us look gay?"

"Don't worry, Adam. We are gay."

"We'd have to be careful where we wore them." Adam looked at himself in the mirror. "Yeah, okay. I like this one with the studs."

"I thought you were referring to me then," said Simon. They didn't feel ready for them yet. They handed over the cash for three bracelets.

"What next?"

"The chemist. I forgot to put razor blades on Brabazon's list." He ran his hand across Simon's cheek. "You're getting a bit that way. If I wanted to kiss a hedgehog, I'd send Lucy out into the garden to find one."

"Okay, don't nag. You're my husband, not my wife. I'll put it on the list for next week." A middle-aged matron gave them a look when she heard the conversation. The boys returned a sickly grin.

"I need another jockstrap after giving mine to Ben," said Adam.

"You've got his though, haven't you?"

"Of course, but I'm not going to wear it. It's sealed in an airtight polythene bag. You haven't sniffed it. It's gorgeous. A real turn on. Tony's lucky to have that boy. Imagine ending up with someone like Colin?"

"Hey, don't knock him. He's doing something about it."

"You're right."

"About what?"

"Colin and the jock. I've got enough to last out with until we go to London for our shopping trip."

"Oh, yes. We must talk to Dad about that when we get back."

They went and found an empty bench in the main square to get down to some serious boywatching. There was plenty of talent to choose from. The town's adolescents, male and female, gathered there on Saturdays and on weekdays during the school holidays. By and large they behaved themselves. Occasionally one or two would get a bit silly, but they were usually self-regulating. They could tell the year was moving on – no shorts, but jeans and sweats, hoodies instead of tee shirts. Suddenly a beauty sauntered past. Adam whipped out his iPhone and took several snaps while pretending to make a call. He e-mailed them to himself, then wiped them. After that they played one of their favourite time-wasting games. They found a boy they fancied, took a look at his trousers, then had to guess the size and shape of his dick, whether he was cut and whether he had tight balls or low hangers. It was a complete waste of time because they never had a chance to verify their guesses or find out who had won. Still it kept them amused.

"Do you ever feel like having a bit of rough?" asked Simon.

"Not these days. There was plenty of that in the orphanage. There was never any lack of quantity of sex there, just quality. There was probably one kid I fancied there. Remember I was in between – between Jack and you – and they called him the Duck."

"Why did they call him that?"

"Because his arse was so tight no one got in there and a duck's arse is watertight, don't forget. I didn't get near, not even with a finger, and it wasn't for the want of trying, I can tell you."

"I think that's the first time you have spoken to me about what went on in the orphanage."

"Let's face it. It wasn't the best of times in my life. I don't particularly want to recall it."

"Was it that bad then?"

"No, it wasn't bad at all. An orphanage has a certain function. It must be like boarding school except you don't go home at the end of term and you've no parents to turn to. You've got the old lags who will be there until they're eighteen and then will get kicked out to make their own way in the world. You've got the itinerant population that comes in and is then sent to a foster home. I suppose I was an itinerant. You were fed adequately, had your own bed. You couldn't choose your friends. Most of the inmates were decent. You had the rogues. You've got rogues at our school. R Bedford is one example."

"So how do you feel about the experience?"

"Okay. I emerged unscathed. It's made me feel fortunate, content with what I've got... which is you, the home you and your dad gave me, the education, the security. Si, I'm getting cold. Can we go home?" Lucy was immediately on her feet.

"I'm sure that dog understands every word we say."

"Hi, Dad, we're home," shouted Simon as he and Adam stepped through the front door.

"Hi, boys. I'm in my study. Ask Brabazon to make us a pot of tea and we'll have it in the kitchen."

"Okay," he shouted in reply. "Hmm, can't be that bad or he'd be seeing us in his study and no tea." The kitchen was cosy and warm. The Aga saw to that. Outside the sky had cleared and it had grown colder. This was the last week before the clocks went back. Philip came into the kitchen carrying a sheaf of papers. The tea was brewing in the pot.

"It's okay, Brabazon. I'll pour." That was code for 'we're discussing family matters, Brabazon. Make yourself scarce'.

"Certainly, Mr Philip," and he went and started preparing the table in the dining room for supper.

"Now, boys, down to business. First of all, I've had an e-mail from Herr Hinterwäldler."

"Who?" they chorused.

"Herr Hinterwäldler. Otto's father."

"Of course. We should have remembered. We set up that subscription for him," said Adam.

"Otto's on autumn holidays from school and because he's worked so hard over the summer his father's sending him on a five day international waiters' course in London over half term. A bit of a jolly, if you ask me. He's asked if he can come and stay for the weekend before he goes home."

"Why, that's great," said Simon.

"Fine. I'll e-mail back with a yes. As I'm not here, he'll have to sort out his own transport. It's not fair to put that one on Brabazon. If Tony and Ben would like to stop over, we'll put Otto in one of the spare rooms. I'm off Friday evening – early start from the club Saturday. I'll see you before I go."

"We're home early that night. No prep over half term," said Adam.

"Now half term. I'm sorry I shan't be there, but it was a trade off. I thought it more important for me to be here during our anniversary week."

"Will that happen every year, Dad?"

"I don't think so. I mentioned to you some time ago that I'm thinking of making the South African operation independent. I'm employing an agent who will work on commission. So it will be in his interest to make sure the company remains permanently financially strong. That's what I want to finalise this week to make sure that I have the right man as agent – basically honest and hard working – and the right auditors who will keep a strict eye on things and alert me immediately, should anything go wrong. If I'm successful the British part of the company will receive a large income without my having to lift a finger. We deserve it after all the effort I've put in. I say 'we' because some way or the other both of you will eventually be involved in the company, even if you don't work for it. Also it will mean I'll never have to go to South Africa again, unless something does go seriously pear shaped. I'll have definite news for you when I get back.

"Back to half term. If you want Ben and Tony to sleep over during the first weekend that's between you, them and their parents, but not during the week, I suggest. Parents do like to see their children occasionally and the Legges now have the problem with William."

"It's not a problem, Dad."

"It's not a problem. Homosexuality is not a problem. We're no more a problem than vegetarians or Presbyterians are a problem. We're just different."

"I think David and Amanda were a little surprised."

"Maybe," said Simon, "but they'll get over it. They got over it with Tony."

"And now they have a lot of experience to deal with it," added Adam. Philip felt beaten on that one.

"Your trip to London. I've discussed it with Brabazon. There are one or two logistical problems, but I'm saying yes. We'll talk about them over supper. It'll mainly be common sense. I'm almost there. Now Christmas and New Year. I suggest I book up somewhere in the sun. In practical terms that's Florida, the Canaries or the West Indies. Are you happy in principle?" The boys nodded. "And lastly I hear a lot about the activities you do at school, but not much about lessons and work."

"We'll be bringing our report cards home this week," said Simon.

"Okay. You can tell me a bit more over dinner. Anyone for another cup of tea?" Philip filled up the three mugs. "So, Adam, how do you feel after this morning's match?"

"Great. On top of the world. For me it was the most important match of the season with Ben in the opposing team. Now I've just got to make sure I keep my place."

"No danger there all the time you keep scoring tries," said Philip.

"And by the way," said Simon, "that boy Major, who lost his place in the three-quarters to Adam, is back in the team in a different position."

"So if we take Lucy for a walk in the country tomorrow, you're both on for it?"

The boys went off to make themselves comfortable in the sitting room.

"Can I read your new GYmag, Adam?"

"Of course you can. You know that what's mine is yours."

"I don't think I want your smelly socks, thanks."

"What's wrong with my socks? The best hard cheese in existence."

"And the best soft cheese?"

"Doesn't exist. But... it would be my smegma if I let it form."

"Eugh! How can you be so revolting, Adam Neave?"

"Adam Simon Neave van den Berg, if you don't mind. And the answer is years of practice, but blame it on six months in the orphanage."

"Unfortunately that's one of the reasons I love you so much."

"Yes, they always say you love someone despite or even because of their faults." They settled down. Adam was reading a book.

"Hey, Adam. You know we were talking about S&M the other day. There's a whole page introductory article on it with big warnings about keeping it at a distance. It's only for very special couples with very special needs which have to be complementary."

"Oh, I must have a look at that later on. Who's in the centrefold?"

"Don't know. Don't recognise him. Some unpronounceable foreign name."

"Is he all right?"

"All right, but not worth snapping on your iPhone and mailing to yourself."

"I suppose he wouldn't be if he's already got his pic in GYmag. What I really want, what I really, really want, is to see a pic of Daniel Radcliffe there. He's old enough to be legal now and he appeared naked in that Equus. Now he's just my type. I might just have to divorce you to go with him."

"No danger of that. He's as str8 as a ramrod."

"I can dream. Why can't these beautiful boys be queer like us?"

The boys enjoyed their walk in the countryside with Philip, Lucy more so. It probably did him more good than the boys as they had plenty of opportunity to exercise during the week. Rugby training was more theoretical and concentrated on tactics as it would be over two weeks before the next match. The boys were given a dire warning to keep up their fitness over half term or suffer. On Friday the boys received their report cards. None of ours had anything to worry about. Simon's strengths lay in maths and the sciences, while Adam's were more on the linguistic side. He found that because of the higher standards and greater pressure he was doing much better at his new school. He certainly wasn't behind any more.

At lunchtime the regular meeting of the Cockatoo Club convened. When William had finished his food he came and joined them, though it was difficult to accommodate nine round a table for eight. The conversation was about what they were going to do over half term.

"Steve's taking me to a fancy dress party for Hallowe'en. It's going to be my first appearance in public in a skirt..." Steve blushed. "...proper stockings and a suspender belt – none of those tights things – full make-up." Everyone looked at Steve who shrugged his shoulders.

"It'll still be the same old Fran underneath," he said "though I shall have to rehone my gold-digging skills."

"Huh," said Fran. "What makes you think you'll get that far?" Adam and Simon confirmed arrangements with Tony for him and Ben to stay over both weekends. Tony was particularly looking forward to seeing Otto again.

"Can I come?" asked William.

"You can come over on the Saturday, but you've got to go home afterwards," said Tony. "You ought to be finding some mates of your own." William put on a pout and Robin put his arm round his shoulder. Thursday afternoon would be 'open house' for any members of the Club at the van den Bergs' house. (Don't bring your swim gear.)

It felt strange for the boys to be home by four-thirty. They dutifully presented their report cards to Philip who congratulated them and said he would discuss them over dinner which was at six so that he could get off to London in good time.

After they had said goodbye to him, Simon and Adam went into the television room to relax and watch one of the DVDs they had bought. They had mixed feelings about Philip being away. They missed him naturally, but at the same time they felt masters in their own home, Brabazon permitting. They appreciated the freedom they had been granted and made every effort not to abuse it, even on the occasions when their adolescent hormones took over control from their brains. It was a credit to their upbringing that this rarely got out of control. At that moment Lucy pushed the door open, came in and climbed up onto Simon's lap.

"I often wonder," said Simon "if we'd get on so well if we didn't have regular sex together."

"I'm not even prepared to experiment on that one."

"It's odd. If I feel like arguing with you, I just have to think of our making love and I don't want to argue any more. And when we actually do, there's no question of arguing in the first place."

"Come and give me a cuddle."

"I can't without disturbing Lucy. And she's squashing a boner."

Half term flashed past. During the first weekend Ben and Tony arrived on Saturday morning and departed on Monday morning. They both had black rings under their eyes from lack of sleep, something they both had to answer for when they were picked up under the threat that if it happened again, it would be sleep overs just for one night in the school holidays. It didn't go unnoticed that neither Adam or Simon sported such black rings. Adam did notice when he went up to tidy his room that they had severely raided the 'supplies' that he kept in the drawer of his bedside table. 'Oh I would have thought that now they are such an established 'married' couple, they wouldn't have used those anymore. I'd better stock up for the weekend, especially with Otto here.'

Over lunch Simon asked Brabazon

"Do you mind us having so many guests?"

"As long as your father is happy, I am, Master Simon. In the old days when your grandfather and grandmother were alive..." Simon and Adam looked at one another, but refrained from rolling their eyes or giggling. "...it was a family tradition to hold open house. Provided the guests passed my muster, they were welcome. Of course we had the staff to deal with them in those days and we didn't reside here." The boys wiped a mock tear away. "We were in a larger and older house in the country. We had to downsize and your father wanted something nearer the centre of town, which of course proved wise when your mother became ill." The boys now wished they hadn't wiped the tear away. "Both your grandfather and father have been very generous in providing a budget for entertaining guests. Now if I may have the attention of both of you, may I remind you that you have dental appointments at three and hair appointments at half past three. Also the hound will require walking." Lucy, lying in her basket, raised her head and looked at Brabazon. She resented being referred to as 'the hound'. But despite his personal disapproval of dogs indoors he otherwise treated her in a very kindly manner. "It will be dark by five o'clock."

Tuesday was the day set aside for the shopping trip to London. Philip was not completely comfortable with their going unaccompanied and issued strict instructions. Drab clothes so that they blended into the crowd, no iPhones or expensive watches, there was an old mobile they could take, minimum of cash, preferably in pound coins rather than notes, otherwise use their bank cards, each carry rucksacks to hide any purchases from posh stores, keep together and watch each other's backs at all times, if they were in difficulty phone Philip's club, and phone Brabazon to say they were on the train back, then take a taxi from the station. Finally bring back all the receipts so that they could work out what came from the family budget and what was to be paid for with their personal money. Brabazon would sort that out the next day. Having taken all that on board they made their way to the station.

It was sportsgear for school that was the prime need. Both boys had grown over the past few months. Adam needed a tracksuit and wanted the tight fitting lycra type like Simon's. They both needed shirts, formal and informal, and pullovers. Simon's 501s were about to reach the threadbare stage ready to be made into cut-offs and they wanted some 'more adult' underwear, not to mention Adam's replacement jockstrap and some new cross-country shorts. After Christmas he would be running three times a week, four if there was an inter-school competition on Saturdays. It was a shopping expedition with little time for anything else. They could always sightsee with Philip, and they wanted to catch the train back before the rush hour began.

Wednesday they had to spend on chores – room tidying, cycle maintenance and cleaning, hound combing and brushing. In the afternoon they met Ben and Tony and cycled out to the Banks's farm to see Robin, each returning with various bits of farm produce for home consumption.

"Twenty minutes to boil a goose egg," said Mrs Banks "or you could scramble them. They're a meal on their own." Robin was pleased that he could now have his gay friends visiting quite openly. He had become a more cheerful person in himself.

Thursday afternoon was 'open house' at the van den Bergs'. The usual routine – soccer on the lawn, then swimming and lastly snacks provided by Brabazon. On this occasion he allowed them into the kitchen. During the swimming session William popped a boner again once everyone was undressed, but no one paid the slightest attention and it soon disappeared once he got into the water. Adam and Simon were pleased that all nine members of the Cockatoo Club had made the effort to turn up. For Sam Welham this was his first social engagement as a Club member and he fitted in well. The only hard feelings he had were when he was standing under the shower thinking of his encounter with Adam earlier in the term.

Friday morning saw Simon and Adam taking a run with Lucy for they suddenly realised the week was over and that they'd done very little about their personal fitness. The rest of the day was spent preparing to welcome Otto.

Otto arrived just after six o'clock and in his consummate professionalism Brabazon had not the slightest difficulty in announcing Herr Hinterwäldler, who was naturally shown into the library. Adam and Simon gave him huge bear hugs and kissed his cheek in greeting. They showed him up to his room, carrying his bags for him, pointed out where everything was and said that they would be dining in the kitchen at seven. They forwarded Philip's apologies for not being there and told him that he was to make himself at home. Over dinner he regaled them with stories from his catering course in London. He was guarded about giving the full low down in front of Brabazon, who was dining with them, but basically the work side had been very light, there had been plenty of sightseeing and a couple of theatre visits and what was more important he had been living in with like minded young people for a week and they had to speak English.

"You probably know that in the catering trade there are a lot of sensitive and attentive people like us. It is a necessary quality so that we can carry out our job." The boys caught the drift of what he was trying to convey; Brabazon jolly well knew what the implication was, and of course all this accorded with Herr Hinterwäldler senior's intentions in sending his son to England as a reward for his commitment and hard work during the summer season.

"Tomorrow you will meet Tony and Ben again," said Adam.

"They are going to spend the night with us and go home Sunday afternoon," added Simon.

"And you will meet Tony's little brother, William, but he won't be stopping."

When dinner was over the three lads went upstairs and Otto was shown Simon and Adam's rooms.

"I have brought some gifts for you which I hope you'll like," said Otto. "Wait a minute." He went off to his room and came back with some magazines and two packets in giftwrap. "Thank you for sending me the Abonnementof GYmagazine. We do not have anything quite like it in Germany, but there is a teenage magazine called Bravowhich has some nice pictures and some nice articles in it. And I hope you like these and haven't got one already. They are both the same," he said handing a package each to Adam and Simon. Adam gave a squeal of delight when he undid his to find that inside was a black choker in soft leather complete with silver studs. How glad they were they hadn't bought collars the previous week. "They are very fashionable among young people in Germany at the moment. I have also brought two Kühlungsborn tee shirts for you to remind you of your holiday, but I must unpack my case properly to find them." Simon and Adam tried their collars on and were very impressed, both with how they felt and how they looked on each other. They thanked Otto by taking him in a hug and giving him a kiss.

The boys went downstairs to watch a DVD. Otto went to sleep in the middle of it. He really had had a busy week. When he woke up he said he would like to go to bed early, but he hoped they could do some things like they did in Kühlungsborn another time. Brabazon provided cocoa in the kitchen and then they said good night. Adam and Simon took their time preparing for bed as they realised that after tonight it could well take another week before they would be able make love together in a leisurely and unhurried manner.

Saturday morning Tony and Ben arrived by Dad's Taxi Service. When they first saw Otto they gave him a big hug, almost knocking him off his feet. They were taken aback to see Simon and Adam wearing black leather chokers, but when they had thought about it a little they liked them.

"That looks so gay," said Tony.

"I know," replied Ben. "We ought to get one as well." Otto was already wearing the leather bracelet that Adam and Simon had given him. Half an hour later William turned up on his bicycle. He'd had to mend a puncture before coming, but needed some help from his Dad to get the tyre off and back on. He was introduced to Otto with just a formal handshake. The first thing the boys did was to go swimming. That's what they would probably have done on a Saturday morning when there was no school sport and of course now Will had to keep away from the public baths. Otto had no objection to not wearing a swimming costume and when he was ready to dive in William could not keep his eyes off him, although on this occasion his one-eyed trouser snake had made up its mind to behave itself. The boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves and after they eventually got out they decided to go and play football on the lawn. In a hurry, just as they were trained to do at school, they dried themselves, dressed and went up and out onto the grass where Lucy was ready to join in.

Meanwhile down in the changing room Otto and William were still drying off.

"They seem to have forgotten us," said Otto. He looked at Will's wrist and said

"So you are gay too?"

"Yes," said William proudly. I came out officially two weeks ago today, although my brother found out a little while before and my sister knew already though nobody told her. But she knew about Tony before he said anything."

"How did Tony find out about you?"

"In the morning if we didn't have to go to school I would get into his bed and we'd cuddle up together. Then in the summer my voice broke, my balls dropped and my dick grew longer. It happened very quickly while Tony was in Germany and when he came back he taught me to do stuff and we had a lot of fun, but Istill didn't think I was gay, even though I was thinking of boys when I jerked off. Then one day I was here with all the other boys and I popped a boner in front of everybody..."

"Popped a boner?" asked Otto.

"Like this." Will grabbed his own dick and made it point towards the ceiling.

"Ach, I understand now."

"And then I knew for certain I was gay... and so did the others." William was standing in front of Otto who was sitting on a bench.

"You know you are very hübsch, Will. Pretty, no that's not the right word for a boy, beautiful, no, good-looking." Will blushed.

"So are you. I like your dick. I have never seen one quite like that before."

"So what kind of stuff have you done with your brother?"

"Only wanking. He says that if I want to do anything else I have to find a boyfriend my own age and you see I am an early developer and so I don't know any boys in my year at school who are gay."

"Would you like to do some stuff that is different?"

"I'm up for it unless it hurts. Tony says it hurts the first time you shag."

"You have to be very careful when you begin. I can show you something I think you will like."

"Okay"

"Can I hold your eggs?"

"Eggs?" said William puzzled.

"I mean balls. We call them Eier– eggs – in German."

"Sure. You can do what you want as long as you don't hurt me." Otto held Will's balls in his hand and weighed them. That was enough to make him stiffen up."

"I see you are popping a boner." They both laughed. It was the way Otto said it. He licked Will's balls, then slowly up his shaft, peeled his foreskin right back and put his glans in his mouth and continued to lick, then suck it like an ice lolly.

"That tickles," said Will, "but it feels ever so nice." Otto carried on his work for a few minutes longer. "Otto, I've got this funny feeling. I think I going to..." It was too late. William shot his load, not only in Otto's mouth, but over his face. He felt really good, on a high. "Did you swallow that?"

"Naturally."

"Yeuk. Isn't it dirty?"

"No, quite the opposite. It's very pure and it tastes good and every boy tastes different. Come on. We'd better get cleaned up and dressed before the others notice we're not with them."

"Thank you, Otto. You're my first boyfriend."

Otto and William eventually emerged into the garden, both grinning like the cat that got the cream. In fact some of the cream had dried on Otto's upper lip.

"Come on, you two. What have you been doing all this time?" said Ben.

"I've been practising my German oral," said William "and we forgot the time."

"Get stuck in. You're on my side, Will, Otto's on Tony's. Get your shirt off."

"But I've only just put it on," protested Will.

"We want to see your nips."

The game went on for another half an hour until Simon said

"Let's stop for brunch. We haven't eaten anything all morning." The boys agreed, except for William who gave Otto a knowing look.

Otto hadn't had a chance to do any shopping. He wanted to look in a bookshop and he wanted to take back a present for his mother and father. Simon and Adam took the others to the main square.

"All the young people gather here and it's a great place to do some boywatching," said Adam.

"But it's much better in the summer than in November because the boys wear less clothes." Simon took out his camera and took a few photos. Otto did his shopping and they all repaired to Burger Star. The walk into town had made them feel peckish. As they walked in they were surprised to see Paul Taylor and Robin Banks sitting in there behind monster double burger and cheese whoppers. They introduced Otto and explained who he was, then went to get their orders.

"Don't choose burgers," said Simon "as that's what we're having for supper."

"So what are you two doing?" Adam asked Robin and Paul.

"We're going to the early showing at the cinema," said Paul.

"And then I'm going back to Paul's place for a sleep over. I'm on a promise." The two boys looked at each other tenderly.

"What is this 'on a promise'?" asked Otto.

"It's what we hope to be with you tonight," replied Ben.

"We'll explain later," said Tony. Meanwhile William was not missing a single word of this conversation.

When the boys had finished they made their way back to the van den Bergs' house. William had to leave str8away. Although he had lights on his bike and a reflective waistcoat he still wanted to get home before it was dark. He was in a quandary. Should he tell his brother about what had happened between him and Otto? He'd have to give it some thought. Tony had told him off about what he did with the girl at the swimming baths and when he mentioned having sex he gave him all sorts of dire warnings about age gaps and boyfriends. William was confused. There was no way he was going to have the opportunity before Sunday evening and he certainly didn't want his parents to know.

The boys let Brabazon know that they were back, then went down into the games room. They could play snooker or darts. Otto had seen pool and billiards, but he had never played snooker. Now Simon and Adam were fifteen they had started working on some of the fitness machines. Adam wanted to strengthen his legs for rugby and cross-country, but although upper body strength was good for his rugby he did not want to develop excess musculature as it had to be carried round the cross-country course. He had come to the conclusion that while he was an above average rugby player, he was a very good harrier and so cross-country won. Simon was interested in general fitness for his hockey and did little with the kit. On the other hand Ben who was surprisingly muscle bound for his age wanted the upper body strength for his rugby. At a quarter to seven the boys went upstairs to shower and change for supper.

Brabazon loved having guests. Secretly he loved having such vibrant and goodlooking young men as guests and he was always out to impress when such company was assembled in the house. Tonight's fare was simple, but it had been prepared with love, it was hot and appetising. At seven the 'company' sat down at the kitchen table with Brabazon at its head. He placed in front of each of them a large dinner plate filled with butcher's burgers, fried egg, baked beans and lashings of his special non-pointed chips with another bowl of them keeping hot in the oven. Add to that salt, vinegar and tomato ketchup according to taste, a splendid meal had been prepared for the boys.

After such a meal the boys needed to relax, but something other than watching television, and so they got the Monopoly board out. Otto of course knew the game from Germany, but the surprise entrepreneur who finally won was Ben. Everyone had been looking to Simon, the son of a successful businessman. By eleven they had drunk their cocoa and decided it was time to retire for the night. Brabazon locked up and went off to his dwelling in the granny flat. The boys were left to their own devices for the night with Lucy as the only witness. They gathered in Simon's bedroom.

"Okay, Otto," said Adam, "you're the guest. What do you want to do?"

"Play games," he answered with a smile. "That one we played when you were in Kühlungsborn."

"Oh, piggy-in-the-middle," said Tony.

"No, the other one. How did you describe it? Oh, yes, the one where the four of you gave my arse a good pounding." There was instant laughter, ranging from guffaws through giggles to titters. They were amazed at the new English phrases Otto was learning. "Now there is another phrase I learnt from the little regular article in QY, you know, the one entitled QE: Queer Etiquettewhere they explain the social dos and don'ts of being a homosexual. 'I shall now go and freshen up.' I shall be as quick as I can," and he went off to his room. Meanwhile the other four stripped off and put on the towelling 'loin cloths' Simon provided.

Back in his room Otto wrestled with the British shower system to give himself an enema. It was much easier at home in Germany. The Germans had a fetish about their bowels and their movements. He eventually returned also dressed in the 'loin cloth' he had found among the towels.

"Now, Otto, you get to choose the batting order," said Simon.

"Batting order?"

"Sorry, it's a cricket expression. The order we pound your arse in." More general laughter.

"That's easy," said Otto. "Simon, Tony, Ben and Adam."

"Adam, that makes you Mr Chief Lubricator, and Ben you have the privilege of unrolling the condoms. Otto, wear this," and he handed him a jockstrap. "It will keep your dick under control and in the next game one lucky person shall have the privilege of sitting on your dick. You choose."

"Okay, I'll tell you at the end of this game."

It was half past twelve by the time the party was over.

"I must tell you," said Otto "that you were all fantastic, and Ben you were very fantastic when I took you on my... Schoß..."

"Lap," completed Adam.

"But may I give you some advice and I hope you won't be insulted or offended? Read the Queer Etiquettearticle and before come to a party like this shave the entrance to your bottom, or nicer still, ask Tony to shave it for you." Everybody, including Ben, just burst out laughing. "I am sorry, Simon. I have made your jockstrap wet."

"No worries and you can keep the jock. I've got some more."

"Thank you. I have never seen one before. We don't have them in Germany."

"You now know what your Christmas present is going to be," said Adam.

The boys settled down for the night, Otto in his own bed, Ben and Tony in Adam's and Simon and Adam in Simon's. They were so tired that they slept the sleep of the just. At first light Tony and Ben woke up entwined in one another. They went off to the bathroom together to get rid of their morning wood and went back to bed and cuddled in its warmth.

"Hey, Ben, you wouldn't like to give my arse a pounding, would you?" They both laughed at Otto's turn of phrase.

"Fine by me. Pass the stuff out of the drawer and I'll lube you up." Tony looked in drawer.

"Oh. There's plenty of K-Y, but no jonnies." They thought for a moment.

"Mmm, should be all right without. We've been together for over four months and always used protection, even with other people." They settled down and enjoyed their first bareback ride.

Otto was the first down to brunch, followed by Adam and Simon, and much later by the sleepyheads Tony and Ben. They just had a lazy morning, doing what adolescents do best, nothing. They did go through some of the holiday snaps on Adam's computer and that led on to some illegal internet viewing. William had wanted to cycle over, but his mother stopped him.

"Leave them in peace for a bit or you'll outstay your welcome. And you ought to be getting some friends your own age."

After brunch lunch they decided to take Lucy for a walk and go to the wishing well to show Otto where Simon and Adam had first met. With five of them and a dog they felt safe enough in case they met any nasty characters who wanted to make trouble. When they got back, Brabazon had a pot of tea on the go and after that Ben and Tony rang their parents for a lift home. They said goodbye to Otto and hoped they would see him again soon. After all he was good value. Hugs all round and a promise to see other, Otto apart, in school the next morning. For the evening Brabazon had prepared them a great treat and privilege. Not only had he cooked one of his superb roasts, lamb as it was not commonly eaten in Germany, but he had set the table for three in the dining room. On this occasion he would eat in the kitchen and allow Simon to preside at the head of the table, although there was no question of his carving the joint. That would have been a step too far for Brabazon.

Since it was an early start for all three in morning they said good night to Brabazon at nine and went upstairs. They found time for a game of piggy-in-the-middle and soon fell asleep afterwards. The alarm rang at six-thirty. After a shower and dressing they made their way down to breakfast. Otto was amused to see the boys in their school uniforms since no such thing existed in Germany. At twenty to eight it was the parting of the ways as Otto climbed into the taxi for the station in order to catch his train to the airport and Simon and Adam climbed onto their bikes for school. When they got home in the evening they decided that they had been stupid to neglect their fitness over half term. Rugby training had been particularly gruelling that afternoon.

Tuesday was one of those days when everyone appears to be in a good mood. On such days high pressure is always in charge of the weather system, the sun shines in a near cloudless sky and of course there is no wind. The boys had particularly enjoyed their dance class in the afternoon. The maestro and his assistants had been in a skittish mood and communicated this to the pupils. The music was light hearted, the dance moves frivolous, and an encouragement to the gay members of the class to camp it up without the fear of a sharp rebuke. In the gym class Adam could not keep his eyes off Tony. Something had happened to him, he looked radiant, more beautiful than ever and Adam had to keep adjusting himself in his leotard as his dick grew and contracted trapping pubic hairs under his foreskin. Simon spotted something was amiss and as soon as Adam explained to him he fell under the same spell.

"I can't wait to get in the shower," he whispered to Simon.

"The state you're in you'd better take a cold one." Fortunately Tony didn't seem to notice until later. Walking over to tea, Adam said to him

"I saved you from getting raped in the showers."

"Oh? I didn't notice. How did you manage that?"

"I controlled myself." Tony gave him a friendly punch on the arm and laughed.

"The way I feel today you shouldn't have bothered."

When Adam and Simon arrived home, they were pleased to find that Philip was already there, arrived back safely from his business trip to South Africa. Unusually he was out of his suit and dressed down in casual clothes. Despite the long and tiring flight he too was in a bright and cheerful mood. After greeting his them warmly he announced

"Well, my sons, that's the last time I shall be doing that." It was re-assuring to both Adam and Simon that Philip had addressed them as 'my sons'. "Hard work, but a thoroughly successful and worthwhile trip. The South African concern is now one hundred percent independent and if it doesn't make at least a million a year for the London company without our having to lift a finger, there will be some heads on the block." He was not usually as open about business affairs and so the boys assumed it must have been ultra good news.

Meanwhile a couple of miles across town a different scene was being played out. William Legge was just as bouncy as his friends in Year 10. After more than seventy-two hours of controlling himself he had reached bursting point. The door to Tony's bedroom was flung open, knocked and William appeared by Tony's desk.

"Can I come in, bro?"

"You are in, Will."

"Oh, so I am. Shall I close the door?"

"Is it still on its hinges?"

"Tony, can you keep a secret?"

"Yes."

"I mean really keep it. Not tell Mum and Dad."

"I think you ought to close the door. Your voice can be heard all over the house." William closed the door.

"And certainly not Angelica. She knows too much already."

"And you won't be cross with me?"

"I promise," said Tony. William lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Otto gave me my first blow job on Saturday."

"What?" said Tony believing he had misheard.

"Otto sucked me off. Saturday morning after swimming while you lot were playing football. It's all right. Isaid he could... and I enjoyed it... and it hasn't made me go all weird and feel abused."

"But he's older than you."

"Well, you have had sex with him and gone much further than I have and he's older than you."

"But..." Tony suddenly realised he had painted himself into a corner. "Come here, Will," and grabbed hold of him and gave him a great big hug. "You see, you're still my baby brother and I love you so much."

"And he swallowed my spunk. He said it was okay because it's pure." Tony continued to hug him.

"Go and get your PJs on and you can cuddle me in bed until it's time to put the light out. I'm so proud of you, Will. I really am."

The spotlight stayed on Will the next day. Events started in the maths lesson. He had finished the exercise and was getting bored. The desks they worked at consisted of a tabletop and underneath a compartment where you could keep books. No one ever did because everyone had a locker, but the compartment became a repository for screwed up pieces of paper, discarded sweet wrappers, paper clips, the occasional penny and the less pleasant things a schoolboy might want to get rid of. And so William wasted time rummaging amongst all the rubbish to see what he could find. Putting his arm right in to the back he felt something jammed in. He wrenched at it, nearly tipped the desk over and made a great clatter which disturbed the whole class. The maths master told him off, asked to see his work, but that didn't matter. He had the mystery article in his possession. He just did what he always did – said a bright and cheerful 'sorry, sir', flashed his blue eyes and gave the sweetest of smiles which would melt the heart of the most hard-bitten lesbian and carried on as if nothing had happened. Since he had got all his problems right, there was little more the master could say to reprove him. Just then the bell rang for the end of the period. He could now examine his trophy, and a trophy it was. It was a French vocabulary book. On the outside was the hand written name 'R Bedford' and inside naturally enough French vocabulary, but when he turned it round and looked at the back, then he made a discovery. There were lists of names with dates, letters, obviously abbreviations, and sums of money. He had discovered Roly Bedbug's database and account book. He had evidently hidden it there on the day he was in trouble and naturally was unable to retrieve it later.

After William had finished eating his lunch and his pals had gone off to do whatever it was that Year 8 boys do at lunchtime he took his customary stroll across the dining hall to the table where the Cockatoo Club was in session and instead of tartily waving and saying 'hi, guys', batting his eyelids, smiling and going on his way, he drew up a chair, sat down and asked if he could join them. Tony rolled his eyes, Simon and Adam grinned.

"Have I got news for you guys." He pulled the French vocab book from the inside pocket of his jacket and waved it around.

"What's that?" asked Adam, perhaps the only person to be taking the boy seriously at the moment.

"It only happens to be the French vocabulary book of a certain..." Here he paused in order to gain the greatest dramatic effect. "...Roland 'Bedbug' Bedford."

"Yees?" came the chorus. Still Adam was the only one anxious to find out more. He knew William was no fool.

"But, if you turn it round and open it at the back..." William was milking it. "...you will find the details of all the kids he dealt with." A collective 'wow!'. He handed it to Adam who silently read some of the pages. Everyone looked at him in silence. At long last he read out a sample of names from last year's Year 7 right up to the Upper Sixth. Although all the names were known to the boys assembled round the table, even well known, hardly any of them had a reputation apart from being strict heterosexuals. The biggest surprise was the previous year's Head of School, also Captain of Rugby, and who had brought such a stunning (female) partner to the Summer Leavers' Ball. While the others were still oohing and aahing and nattering away at the revelations Adam quietly continued reading the notes and accounts neatly and painstakingly inscribed on the pages. 'Not only was he an acute business man, but a confirmed obsessive,' Adam thought to himself. At that moment the bell went for afternoon activities.

"Can I hold on to this for a while, Will?" William was unable to deny Adam anything. As everyone departed for their activities, Adam took a diversion and headed off to the School Office. He asked the school secretary for a stout envelope, wrote his name and address on it, sealed the notebook inside, bound it round with sellotape, paid some money and asked for it to be put in the school mail first class recorded delivery. He didn't want it hanging around in the changing rooms or in his locker while he was at rugby training. He could wait a day before looking at it again.

The weekend arrived more quickly than it should have done. The weather had turned. Rugby was played away on Saturday afternoon in the pouring rain, the worst combination of conditions. Apart from a lie-in it meant Saturday morning was written off. At least their rugby master hadn't told them they mustn't have sex before a match. Some schools still had Saturday morning school necessitating an afternoon match. Adam was heartened to have Simon running the line and Philip supporting from the crowd. Also they would get home that much earlier. The School lost the match, not by very much in a high scoring game, but a loss remains a loss under any circumstances and Adam still blamed himself for not taking fitness seriously during half term, despite the consolation of scoring two tries that were converted.

Sunday was Remembrance Day and the boys went to church with Philip. At least it remained fine for the parade, but soon after one the heavens clouded over and it was a repeat of the previous afternoon's weather. Brabazon served lunch to Simon, Adam and Philip in the dining room. During the conversation Adam said

"Philip, we've got something we'd like to discuss with you." Philip raised an eyebrow, not knowing what to expect. "You said you only wanted us to have friends staying over for the weekend when you weren't here." Philip nodded in recognition. "Now that you no longer go away, that means we can't have any more sleep overs."

"Brabazon said that the family from Grandfather's time always had a tradition of entertaining guests," added Simon. Philip thought for a moment. He sensed himself being caught in a pincer movement.

"New circumstances, new rules, I suppose. I'd forgotten I'd said that. Okay, have your sleep overs, but please, not every weekend. It's nice to have my sons' company to myself occasionally."

"Thanks, Dad," they both said. 'Now that is progress,' thought Philip. 'That's the first time Adam's questioned the domestic arrangements since he joined us. Usually Simon does that.'

"Brabazon, that sirloin was superb."

"Thank you, Mr Philip."

Adam was standing by the living room window, Bedford's notebook in his hand, watching the rain pouring down the panes. Even Lucy, the renowned water dog, didn't want to go out in this weather. Simon was stretched out on the sofa reading GYmag.

"Hey, Adam, give me a hand with this."

"What's that?"

"It's a questionnaire."

"Not one of those where you have agree or disagree, tick 1 - 5? They're a waste of space. You just give the answer they want you to give."

"No, it's better than that. It's about what you think of GYand what you have to do is cut out the questionnaire and write your answers on a separate sheet of paper, staple them together and send them off, which means you really can give your opinion. Also every person who returns an entry gets a free assortment pack of Durex and a free tube of K-Y."

"We'll give the assortment pack to Ben and Tony so that they don't takes all the supplies out of my drawer and not tell me."

"Tony tells me they've given them up."

"What, he's discovered he can't get pregnant any more?"

"No, it was because your supplies ran out and Ben was so horny that night he was absolutely begging for it. Well, that was Tony's side of the story."

"My supplies wouldn't have run out if they'd told me. Still we're going round in circles."

"Not only that, but the first out of the hat wins a free weekend, Friday to Monday, at a gay friendly hotel in Brighton. Oh, forget that. You have to be at least eighteen. Consolation prize for under eighteens an expenses paid, plus overnight stay, visit to Alton Towers on Gay Pride Day."

"Forget that too. We're not going to win the star prize twice on the trot. What do they want to know?"

"Usual things. Why do you read GY?"

"Informative and entertaining."

"How do you get it?"

"Subscription."

"What age group do you think it caters for?"

"Ball-dropping time to 20."

"I can't write that."

"Okay, onset of puberty."

"How old are you? Favourite articles?"

"Too many to mention. Centrefold, Queer Etiquette, Agony Uncle, the educational bits... and lots more. Oh, the ads. We've bought quite a bit from them.

"Least favourite bits?"

"Fashion articles – too camp for people our age who still go to school, competitions, too many coming out stories, they're all the same."

"What would you like to see included?" said Simon.

"Ooh... young gay achievers, health issues. What do kids know about breast knots and phimosis? More advice on how to cope with being gay, life skills, not that we're particularly in need at the moment, but you never know. Recommended websites."

"Is GYgood value for money?"

"At subscription price, yes. Off the shelf, no."

What do you do with your old copies?"

"Pass them on to Tony."

"Have you any suggestions for improvement?"

"Yes, print it on non-stick paper."

"How disgusting. You always were a messy pup."

"Replace the subscription with a coupon system and cut out p&p. Is that a good idea or is it a good idea?"

"Yes, except we'd have to remember to go to the shop to get it."

"Or have it delivered with the newspapers. Is that it?"

"That's the lot."

"I think we've earnt those 'free' gifts. I'm going to photocopy this notebook so that I can work on the abbreviations. I think they stand for the 'services rendered'. I'll also work out whether any of those mentioned need help and I think we might even be able to give William a list of potential dates." Adam went off to photocopy. Simon wrote out Adam's answers to the questionnaire and added his own. The rain pelted against the windows. Lucy sighed in her sleep.

The Cockatoo Club was meeting over Monday lunch.

"Did you get any further with Bedford's notebook over the weekend, Adam?" asked Sam.

"Yes, once I could concentrate on it, it was easy. There are two parts to it. The first is the business side. Old Roly must have been coining it in, but he had a good business brain on him. His charges were on a sliding scale so that a wank cost a Year 7 boy 50p, while shag for an Upper Sixth lad was £10. Now remember Roly only organised this. According to the notebook at least, he never took part, or if he did never paid anything for it. But it didn't stop there. We know last year's Headboy was involved. He would pay £10 for a shag. Now if Roly could find someone who wanted to be shagged he charged them the fee according to his year group, and there were lots for ultimately it gave you protection from the prefects, but if he had to ask someone he then had to spend some of that £10 fee, but he still came away with a profit. Now what I am more interested in is the second bit, the database. There's no code. It's simple. W is a wank, B a blowjob and F a shag. +means top or equivalent, – bottom and ± versatile. Now I am not going to embarrass anybody by reading more names out at this stage, but what I will say is that nobody here has his name in the book. In fact there is only one member of the present Year 10 in there and I'll have a word in his ear when the moment is right. I think that says a lot for our character judgement. That's it really." There was a lot of nattering and discussion until the chairman of the day, Paul, rapped the table with his knuckles. "When I've had time to think through the implications I'll give those of us that are interested two or three names each and they can enquire discreetly whether they are out or not, whether they need any advice and probably most important whether they are actually gay and not just using their bodies to make a bit of cash, but the accounts part will give a good indication there. Also, Tony, we might be able to help William to find a boyfriend, but I'll talk to you and him about that later." The school bell rang. Off to rugby training, but at least a drying wind had sprung up to help dry out the grass, but they would have to keep off the pitches.

'A quiet word with Tony and William' was easier said then done. The school day was so organised that it wasn't practical to get Tony and Will together for more than five minutes. However, on the following Saturday they would be able to meet in the afternoon. Divided loyalties for Tony. He would go with the Carltons to support Ben at his morning match, while Will would be supporting Adam (and the School, of course) at his morning game. Ben and Tony were then going to the van den Bergs' for a sleep over and Will could join them for the afternoon. Simon agreed to take the older boys down to the games room while Adam could talk to William privately in the downstairs office.

"Have you had a good week, Will?"

"Yeah, all right, except that Ben's school lost this morning."

"I'll tell him about our win later."

"Tony told me he did get a try though. It was one of those where because he's smaller than most of the team he can get through gaps easier and he's harder to tackle. And you've got to admit he's very strong. Still the main thing is you scored a try as well." **Batting of eyelids and sweet smile**

"Yeah," said Adam. **Twitching in the trouser department, shudder down the spine and odd feeling in the pit of the stomach** "Simon tells me that all the time I keep scoring, they can't chuck me out of the team. Still, we've got a job to do.

"I've got Bedford's notebook here and I'm going to read out to you the names of the boys in your year that appear in it." William listened while he did it. "Now, did you know that any of them was gay?"

"No. I don't know any gay boys in my year."

"But you know who these people are?"

"Oh, yes. All of them."

"And all except one was paid money by Bedford for sex with older boys. Now let's make some assumptions, always keeping in the back of our minds that they may well not be true."

"How do you mean?"

"We could assume that they are all gay, but they may not be because they are doing for money, not because they like it. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"If they are not gay, then they are gay friendly. Agreed?"

"No, I don't agree. Suppose they were forced into doing something gay like I was. They might then have become very antigay, you know, homophobic."

"Brilliant thinking, Will. Now if you want to do what the Cockatoo Club hopes to achieve, you need to talk to them."

"What do I say if they ask me how I know about them?"

"Just say you saw them with Roly Bedbug and ask them if they feel the same way as you do about him. It doesn't matter whether they do or don't. The main thing is you have started a conversation and you've got something in common. Now being a good gayboy, you've presumably checked them out?"

"Not all of them. Some are in different tutor groups and games groups."

"Are any of them your particular friends?"

"Not really. I get on with most people and most people get on with me."

"Is there anyone there you particularly like... or fancy?"

"Mark."

"Now he's the one that didn't get any money from Bedford. So either he was coerced or he did it for enjoyment. Why do you like him?"

"He's quite funny, he's good at gym and he's got a nice butt."

"So that's given you something to start on. Has he got any close friends?"

"Don't think so. He's a bit like me, gets on with everybody."

"If you're looking for a boyfriend, do you think that's a good place to start?"

"I wouldn't mind that. He looks ever so good in his gym shorts. They're those very short ones. What do I have to do?"

"You've got about a month before the Christmas holidays. As I said before, talk to him, get to know him, ask him if he wants to hang out with you, suggest you go out on a date, but don't call it a date. You know the sort of things – Burger Star, cinema, even a sleep over. And if he's not gay, you will still have a good friend... hopefully. Does that help?"

"Yeah, sure. Thanks."

"Here's Bedford's vocab book back."

"You can keep it, Adam. I don't want it. I want to forget the creep."

Tuesday morning break Adam saw William and, presumably, Mark together chatting. He thought he would turn the tables. He walked up to them, said 'hi, guys', smiled and waved tartily and walked on.

"Who's that?" said Mark.

"That's Adam, Adam Neave, he's one of my brother's best friends."

"Is he gay like y... er, like your brother?"

"Yeah, sure. You were going to say 'like you', weren't you?" Mark gave himself away by blushing deep red. William fixed him with his eyes. "Do you think I'm gay then?" Mark blushed even deeper and started to stutter. "I don't mind if you do, Mark, because I am. Everybody knows, well... not everybody. You obviously knew." They were both thrown into a state of confusion. Then William suddenly thought. "You don't mind if I am, do you?" Mark was close to tears. Will put his arm round him.

"Can we walk out onto the fields? There are less people there. I don't want them to think I'm a crybaby."

"I don't think you're a crybaby."

"It's just that I feel so alone. I've got no one I can talk to about it."

"You can talk to me." At that moment the bell rang for the end of break. "Meet me for lunch, Mark? We can go onto a separate table and talk then. Go and wash your face and I'll see you after lessons."

William and Mark caught up with one another in the lunch queue. They got their food and went up into the corner of the dining hall near where the Cockatoo Club met. They put their trays down onto a table a couple of tables away. Mark was himself again, the funny Mark that had first attracted Will.

"You don't mind talking about this, do you?"

"No, I want to, Will. There's no one else I can talk to about it."

"Not your parents?"

"They're the last people I'd want to discuss it with. They'd go spare and be knocking on the Headmaster's door to take me out of the school."

"So what happened?"

"Do you remember a boy called Roland Bedford?"

"Do I! But that's another story."

"Last year he used to take me to see other boys and they'd want me to take my trousers down and they'd do things."

"And didn't you mind?"

"No, that was it. I really enjoyed it and they let me do things back to them and I'd enjoy that too."

"What sort of things?"

"Like jerking off, and sometimes sucking their dicks, and it was all great fun. Then towards the end of term I found out that they were paying Bedford money for it and he hadn't told me, or given me any of the money, and I felt that was unfair. I felt used, taken advantage of. I was thinking what to do about it when he got suspended and then didn't come back this term."

"You know why he got suspended, don't you?"

"No."

"He took me in the bogs, undid my zip and touched me up. Eugh, it was horrible. When I told my brother, he was going to beat him to pulp and was stopped by Simon and Adam who held him back until he had calmed down. Then my mother went to see the Headmaster about it."

"So you are gay, but you don't like people touching your dick?"

"I didn't say that, Mark. Last term my balls hadn't dropped and there wasn't much to touch. Not like now. And I only like them touched by people I want to touch them. You can touch them, if you like."

It was over a week before Adam found William on his own.

"How's it going, Will?"

"It's going."

"And Mark?"

"Great."

"Good choice there. Cute looking boy. Love the neatly razored black hair and blue eyes. Have you checked him out yet?

"Several times. Okay. No, more than okay, and he's checked me out. Seems to like what he sees." Adam patted him on the back in approval. "I took your suggestions and we're going on our first date on Saturday. We're going to meet in town, eat burgers and go to the early showing at the pictures. Then his dad's going to pick us up and we'll hang at his place until it's time for my dad to come and take me home."

"No sleep over yet?"

"Working on it. See how this Saturday goes first."

"Good luck, Will," and they went their separate ways. Adam looked over his shoulder and called back to him "If you need any tips, just ask."

"Might well do." 'My, how that boy's growing up,' Adam thought to himself.

William did want some tips. On the Friday before theSaturday he walked over to the Club's table, smiled tartily and waved, saying 'hi, guys'. He went up to Adam and whispered

"Can I have a word, please? It's about tomorrow." Adam moved onto another table with him.

"Far be it from me to put any ideas into your head, Will, but if it is a date with romantic intentions..." Will went deep purple. "...take it very slowly and be prepared to retreat. Try holding hands to begin with, even if it's only with little piggies. If that goes all right you can move closer and do what you both like. Remember that the first kiss is the kiss you both will remember. Be certain you both want to. I don't suppose you've kissed with tongues yet. Try it. You'll be amazed what it does to you. You said he already has some experience. So he might take your hand and place it over his package. That's a great come-on signal. Which brings me to another point. Try and get seats at the back away from other people. The early showing won't be that crowded, even on a Saturday. Take your coats off and place them over your knees. It might be a bit warm, but you can play around underneath them without anyone seeing what you're doing. Don't wear sweats or 501s. Wear light trousers with a zip that moves easily in case he wants to go gold digging."

"Gold digging?"

"C'mon, Will. You're a bright boy. Think about it." William burst out giggling and said

"Oh, gold digging."

"Otherwise, have a good time and report back Monday morning. Second thoughts... ring me on Sunday, but not too early." Adam went back to his table and said to Tony "Well, I think that's your baby brother sorted out for his first date." A cheer went up from the rest of the table.

On Saturday evening Philip took Adam and Simon to the theatre to see an English version of the French play Cyrano de Bergerac. It was an excuse to dress up in their best suits and wear the new shirts they had bought on their London shopping trip. Adam was buoyed by the fact that the U15s had won their match and he had scored a try, and Simon and Philip were there to see it. Before the performance they had dinner in the town's top hotel. They certainly looked something special when they were decked in their best clothes and they made a beautiful couple, not looking like schoolboys any longer, but young men. They enjoyed the play, both for its comic side and the sad, ironical death of Cyrano at the end. It took Adam's mind off the date between William and Mark. He did feel some responsibility for what might have been going on during it and he experienced a great deal of satisfaction for bringing the two together. Had he been a couple of years younger and not so happily monogamous he might have fancied Mark himself, but then Simon was so awesome in a masculine way that he was sufficient to keep Adam on the bent and narrow. He just didn't know what he'd do if he lost Simon, but that didn't stop him having an 'intellectual' appreciation of other boys, as he called it. It was midnight by the time they got home and they decided to go str8 to bed. The late hour did not prevent Adam from making slow and passionate love to Simon before they went to sleep, so passionate that they both shouted out in a simultaneous orgasm. They hoped they hadn't woken Philip. One scream could easily be explained away with an attack of cramp, but an attack of cramp for one and a fearsome nightmare at exactly the same time for the other would be stretc hing the bounds of credulity.

Consequently it was ten o'clock before two dishevelled and unshowered boys made their appearance at brunch, dressed in dressing gowns and very little else underneath. Philip had had the foresight to ask Brabazon for Sunday lunch at dinnertime. There was a ring at the front door and Lucy barked. Brabazon went to answer. He returned and before his funereal voice could complete announcing 'Master Anthony and Master...', William had burst into the kitchen with his usual élan.

"Sorry about that," said Tony after saying good morning to Brabazon. "I couldn't hold him back any longer. He'd have been on the doorstep at eight if we'd let him." Philip arrived in the kitchen, likewise in dressing gown, but showered, not dishevelled and with something on underneath. He was pleased, though, to find his kitchen full of noisy teenage boys. It livened up the house. Perhaps his enthusiasm was not quite shared by Brabazon who had withdrawn to his pantry.

"I'd like to speak to Adam in private." From anybody else this imperious tone would have been odious, precocious, but from William it strayed across the boundary into the comical, except that he couldn't see it. "What?" he asked, those big blue eyes fixing the others in turn and in wonderment.

"Come on, Will," said Adam. "We'll go and talk in the office." As the door closed on them Tony said

"First date last night," and put his forefinger on the side of his nose and gave the others a knowing look.

"You and Ben are coming to stay with us next weekend, aren't you?" Philip said to Tony.

"We hope so. That reminds me. Mum gave me a note to give you about it."

"Yes, Mrs Carlton rang me yesterday."

In the office with Adam, William was so excited he could hardly remain seated on the chair.

"You were right, Adam, with all your tips. When we first held hands I stroked his palm and he stroked mine back. I thought that was a big 'go ahead' signal and so I took his hand and slid it inside my trousers. It made me give a really big shudder and I got ever so hard. Later on he put his arm round me and wanted to kiss my cheek, but I made him kiss me on the lips, and with tongues, and that made me shudder again. When we got back to his place, his mother had made dinner for all of us and I met his little sister. She's cute, but not as cute as Mark. After dinner we were allowed to go up to his room and play video games... except we didn't. We played another sort of game," and William giggled. "We played the one Otto and Iplayed after swimming that time and I know Mark enjoyed it 'cos he wanted to do it to me. And do you know something else? When his dick goes soft again it doesn't sorta hang all loosely, but it sticks out at forty-five degrees and that's what makes him look good in his gym shorts and when he wears a speedo, it doesn't lie flat, but sticks str8 out inside his speedo, especially after he's been in the water, even though it's not stiff." Listening to this had made Adam half hard and he hadn't noticed that his dressing gown had opened. "Hey, Adam, I can see your nob. Can I touch it?"

"No, you've got Mark's to touch now. This is Simon's property."

"But he's lent it out to Tony and Ben and Otto," said William giggling again.

"Don't get cheeky and that's none of your business." Adam tried to sound annoyed, but he just couldn't get cross with William. "We'd better get back to the others. I'm pleased you had a good time."

"Next weekend, when Tony's staying here, Mark's coming to sleep over with me. So can I bring him across to go swimming? You'll be able to see why I think he's so hot then."

"I expect so, but we don't know what the arrangements for next week are yet." At last Adam got William to stop talking and he took him back to the others in the kitchen.

Finally William had talked himself out and Tony could take him home. Simon and Adam went to get dressed for a run. They took Lucy with them and covered the full course, allowing her to wag her tail and greet the wild ducks and geese who simply swam out into the lake until they found that Lucy could swim too. Once they were back home the boys showered and Adam completed his Sunday routine by having a shave. They ate their second brunch and spent the rest of the day chillaxing. Adam read and Simon gave Lucy a brush and comb. They tried watching television, but nothing appealed. The early sunset soon brought gloom, closely followed by night.

The week passed in a routine manner. The Club discussed the possibility of a new member in the junior section. Sam Welham announced that he was looking for a partner in the senior section because after what he'd heard at meetings he felt that he was missing out on something. At that point they didn't realise that 'partner' was going to become a technical term in the Club. The U15s' rugby match was at home in the morning, as was Ben's at his school and so it was shortly after two on Saturday afternoon that he and Tony were delivered to the front door of the van den Bergs' house and Mark was delivered to the Legges' home.

"It looks as if we have lost one son and gained another," Amanda Legge remarked to her husband.

"Well, it's only for a weekend and it's a new experience for us to have a replacement," he replied. "I gather it is part of the Sleep Over Booklet of Regulations that we as parents are not required to entertain them, just feed them."

"I suppose we don't see much of our children which could be a blessing."

"I'm sure Angelica would go on sleep overs with her horses if she could find one to have her."

"I heard that, Dad," came a young female voice as Angelica, dressed in her jodhpurs, came in through the back door and strode through the kitchen. "Hi, Mum." She and William passed as ships in the night.

"Introduce me to your cute friend then, Will."

"This is Mark, my cute friend from school, and this is Angelica, my not so cute sister from home," he added facetiously. Mark blushed deeply.

"Have you ever ridden a horse, Mark?" He shook his head. "You're quite safe, then. He's not my kind of guy."

"Angelica, you shouldn't tease," said her mother. "You can see you've embarrassed him."

"Don't take any notice of her, Mark," said William. "She's quite good really... as far as sisters go. I've heard some quite horrific stories about sisters from the boys at school, especially big sisters."

"All right, you two," said David. "Enough. Remember you've got a guest." Angelica tickled William under the chin and smiled. William gave her a light smack on her horse-rider's bottom and grinned. They went their separate ways.

"We're off into town," said William. "We should be out of the cinema in time to catch the bus back, but if we miss it I'll give you a ring."

"See you later," said Amanda "and don't get into any trouble."

William and Mark arrived home safely from the cinema. As they were spending the night together, the visit had been less passionate then the previous week and had just involved holding hands and the occasional peck on the cheek to get them into the mood. Amanda Legge fed them and they disappeared upstairs to William's room, surprised to discover that she had laid out an inflated air mattress and rolled out his sleeping bag on top. An hour or so later the boys were called down for a bedtime drink after which they said good night and disappeared back upstairs. Once they had used the bathroom they retired for the night and William slipped the bolt across on his bedroom door. He took hold of Mark's hands and big, soft, pleading eyes looking into sparkling sapphire eyes he said

"You know you don't have to use your sleeping bag if you don't want to?" Mark released a sigh and looking back into Will's eyes and squeezing his hand said with a relieved smile

"I'm glad you said that. I was wondering..." He didn't have to finish the sentence. He took his hands out of Will's, placed his arms round him and pulled him in so that their faces were inches apart. The taste of toothpaste in Mark's mouth neutralised the smell of toothpaste on Will's breath and prompted by Mark they came together in a kiss, a kiss with tongues, sufficiently passionate for their bulges to grow and feel hard as they pressed together.

"Will, I want to you to undress me... slowly." Mark held his arms in the air as William pulled his pullover over them. "Now my tee shirt." Will did the same with that, releasing the sweet natural odour of Mark's body. Will found it intoxicating, his breaths became slow and deep. He looked at Mark's nipples, brown against his pale skin, perfectly formed circles, erect, engorged with blood. This was the first time he had even considered a boy's nipples. There had always been more important things to look at. His eyes followed Mark's body down to the bottom of his ribcage where the skin was stretched and accentuated the individual ribs, down to his navel, a perfect innie like Tony's and his own. He knew not what drove him on, but he had this irresistible urge to lick Mark's nipples, to enclose them with his lips and suck them. This was instinct at work, not instruction. He ran his tongue down until he could poke it into his navel. Mark's body shuddered. Will was on autopilot as he peeled Mark's sweats over his compact little butt, careful not to drag his slip with it. Mark shucked his trainers off and Will helped him out of his sweats and his socks. And finally there he stood, just in his tighty whities, his adorably pointy cock thrusting forward in them, his balls making a deep bulge and a large damp patch where the undies had been soaking up a surge of precum. Will looked up at Mark's face as if searching for permission.

"May I?" whispered William in a hoarse voice that made him sound so sexy. Mark nodded. Will completed the final act and there was Mark standing before him in all his glory. Will held his breath. This was a moment frozen in time.

The moment melted and passed and Will was filled with a peculiar feeling. Whether it was love or lust he was too inexperienced to know and in this moment of sexual urge to care. He snatched off his own clothes – no finesse here – took Mark over to his bed, pulled back the duvet and invited him to climb in. He put out the lights apart from his bedside lamp, got into bed beside him and pulled the duvet over them. Their carnal desires took over and neither calmed down before they had both released their seed and they fell asleep in each other's arms without extinguishing the light.

It was gone two o'clock when Mark woke and as he stirred he woke William. They looked at each other and smiled, laughed when they realised what they had been up to and felt a sense of fulfilment. Will reached over and switched off his bedside lamp, but they were now wide awake with no desire to go back to sleep. They lay on their backs, their arms round each other's shoulders.

"Mark, I want to ask you something. How did you find out you were gay?"

"It's complicated and a long story."

"Go on. We've got nothing else to do."

"I hope we have," giggled Mark. "It goes back to last June at school. You know I told you I got involved with Bedford. He told me he had a boy who wanted to talk to me and so I followed him. We met this Year 11 boy behind the pavilion and Bedford disappeared. The boy told me he was called Harry and he said nice things to me. To cut this long story short he asked if I wanted to see his prick. Oddly enough I did. I had to unzip his flies and his dick popped out. He was going commando. He wanted me to stroke it. He said it would be easier if I stood behind him because if I hadn't I'd have got covered. After a couple of minutes he shot his load and that was my introduction to sex, the first time I saw someone have a wank, the first time Isaw spunk. After that Bedford got me to meet other boys. Sometimes I would jerk them off, sometimes they would jerk me off, and I enjoyed it. Then Bedford got suspended, but I didn't really know why at the time. When school broke up, I missed having sex with other boys and it was then that thought I must be gay, but there was no one I could talk to about it. Then when I got back to school in September I found out Bedford had left the school and why. But the thing that made me really sick was when I learnt that he was making money out of getting me to meet boys. Of course the boys I met didn't want to know me in case they got associated with Bedford and got into trouble themselves. I had a wretched time and took home rather a bad report card at half term and I couldn't tell my parents why. Then you started to talk to me. Idon't know how you knew I was gay."

"Easy, Mark. I found hidden in a desk a notebook belonging to Bedford and in it were all the details of his shady business deals. I was looking for a boyfriend my own age. The names of several boys from our year were there, but you were the only one Bedford hadn't paid. So I thought you must have done it because you were gay and enjoyed it. Then I decided to get to know you and I'm so glad I did."

"We can't be boyfriends. My parents would go spare if they found out and would make me go to another school."

"But we can be best friends, can't we? Everybody has a best friend. Or we could be partners, but we won't tell your parents that."

"Okay, best friends, definitely. Partners maybe."

"Have you heard of the Cockatoo Club?"

"No, what's that?"

"It's an unofficial club my brother helped to found at school with his friends."

"Is you brother gay too?"

"As a rainbow. That's what made it easy for me to tell my parents I am. Anyway, this club is there to give help to any gay pupil in the school that needs it so that they always have some support. There are nine or ten of us now, including my brother's boyfriend who goes to another school. You'll meet him tomorrow when we go swimming at the van den Bergs' house."

"Swimming? But I haven't brought my swimming kit."

"That's all right. They always have plenty of spare towels."

It was then that sleep overtook them and two sleepyheads did not appear at breakfast till half past nine.

"You two were talking late last night?" said Mrs Legge.

"No, we were talking early, Mum." Amanda gave him a look. "We fell asleep with the light on and when we woke up we couldn't get back to sleep, and that's when we were talking."

When they were finished, William said

"Mum, we're off to the van den Bergs' now."

"Okay, dear. No need to hurry back. We're not having Sunday lunch until this evening."

"Oh, why's that?"

"We have to fit in with the van den Bergs, Carltons and Kettrees when you have these sleep overs. There's no magic wand. There's planning involved."

"Okay, Mum. See you later. Mark, you can borrow my old bike."

While the boys were cycling across town, William said

"You'll love the van den Bergs. They've got a butler called Brabazon and you have to call him Brabazon. He'll tell you off if you call him Mr Brabazon." When they arrived, William boldly rang the doorbell. "Good morning, Brabazon."

"Good morning, Master William." He introduced Mark. They followed Brabazon into the kitchen. "Master William Legge and Master Mark Kettree."

"Come on in, boys," said Philip. "I'm Simon and Adam's father." Adam introduced Mark to Philip and Ben. The others knew him, of course. "There's plenty of food here. So just help yourselves, but if you're going swimming, you'd better wait till afterwards."

"Puke blocks up the filters," explained Simon.

"Thank you, Simon," said Philip. "I think you could have spared us that." The others laughed.

The boys and Philip chatted among themselves. Adam quietly said

"Everything all right, Will?"

"Sure, great."

"And with you, Mark?"

"Yeah, wicked." Mark looked at Adam puzzled.

"Something's not all right, is it, Mark?"

"If you're Mr van den Berg's son, why are you called Adam Neave?"

"It's complicated, but he adopted me as his son because my parents died a year ago. My full official name is Adam Simon Neave van den Berg, but at school I'm just Adam Neave."

"Oh." At that moment Lucy pushed the kitchen door open, came in and had to shake paws with Mark.

"Let's go and swim," said Simon. "We'll let you know when we're finished, Dad." The boys moved out of the kitchen and followed Simon down to the swimming pool. Mark followed the flow. Despite the approach of winter the water temperature kept pretty constant as the room was well insulated and the air heated. Only when fresh water was used to top up the pool was any serious heating needed. When they reached the changing room, Adam took six towels out of the linen cupboard and handed them round. The boys soon had their clothes off and were by the edge of the pool. Mark suddenly understood why he didn't need his swimming togs. He was happy to strip off, indeed more than happy to find himself, as the newcomer, the momentary centre of attraction. If he was being checked out, it must be okay for him the check the others out and as he did his pointy-out dick soon expanded and climbed from forty-five degrees to the horizontal to forty-five degrees to the vertical. The assembled crowd broke out into cheers and clapping, and furthermore he felt no embarrassment whatsoever, rather the benefit of those experiences gained under Roly Bedbug's money-spinning enterprises.

"I think he has just qualified to join the Cockatoo Club," exclaimed William. The cheers denoted agreement and Will said he would bring Mark along at lunchtime the next day. After a quick explanation about someone standing guard in rotation on the side as a safety measure, the swimming commenced.

After their swim the boys ascended on the kitchen. They had worked up an appetite and their effect on the brunch would have put a swarm of locusts to shame. On the cycle ride home Will said

"Okay, Mark, what do you think?"

"What about?"

"My friends."

"Are you telling me they're all gay?"

"Yes."

"And I thought I knew all the gay kids in the school."

"You only knew the ones corrupted by Bedford."

"And yet they all seem like normal kids."

"We are all normal kids," protested William. "It's just that we find boys sexy and don't find girls attractive. What was that we did in English last week when we were reading The Merchant of Venice? 'If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?' Mr Theobald said although that applies to Jews in the play, it applies to any persecuted minorities, not just races, but gay people as well."

"Do you think he's gay?"

"No idea. We're normal people. I haven't seen a rainbow sticker on his car bumper."

The following day the Cockatoo Club was in session over lunch with two items of business. The first was brought up by Paul Taylor.

"Are we going to have a Christmas or a New Year's party, lads?" The body language was definitely in favour, the tongues had fallen silent.

"Don't look at us," retorted Simon. "We're off to Florida just after the end of term."

"And we're back on the Saturday before next term begins," added Adam. The mood fell rather flat after that.

"Are you taking your butler with you?" enquired Fran rather tartly.

"No," said Adam. "He has duties to attend to in the house while we're away." A str8 answer was often the best way to deal with a provocative or a sarcastic remark.

"We'll be hiring another one in the States," said Simon. "Just for the time we're there, you understand."

"We'll defer the other matter until William's finished his lunch," announced Sam who was chairman for the day. "Oh, here he comes now and I take it that's Mark with him. Impeccable taste your brother has, Tony."

"Hi, guys," said William, giving them a tarty circular wave with his hand. "This is Mark." Mark knew how to use his sapphire eyes to impress older boys.

"Shift along, Simon," said Sam, "then we can make room for Mark, and Will next to Tony, and then we can sit with our Legges together."

"A first time for everything," quipped Fran, still not fully recovered from his disappointment concerning the Christmas party. The rest of the assembled Year10 boys slipped into laughing policeman mode.

"So, Mark, you know what the Cockatoo Club is all about?" asked Sam.

"Will told me it's a group of gay pupils who like being with one another and who want to help any gay kids in the school who need help."

"That just about sums it up, and you'd like to join us? Are you and Will boyfriends?"

"No. We're just good friends because I can't come out... things at home and that." Mark shifted in his seat.

"Is there anybody that thinks that Mark shouldn't a member?" A general shaking of heads. "Well, Mark, welcome among us and I'm sure we'll all enjoy your company. There was a round of applause and general congratulations, enough to make the duty master wander towards the end of the dining hall to make sure things were okay.

"We like to give our members one of these." Adam fumbled around in his jacket pocket and fetched out a rainbow bracelet. "But in view of things at home we'd better look after it and when you're ready, just tell me and we'll present it to you." The bell rang for afternoon activities and Sam closed the meeting. Simon and Adam went off to get changed for rugby.

Time was rushing on, into Advent and out of November. The school had less than three weeks left in December and the final rugby match arrived. Unfortunately it was away, but not too far, and in the afternoon. Adam had survived the season without being dropped and he felt that the training and attention he received at his new school had made him a better rugby player. He certainly felt fitter and stronger than he had ever done before. He and Simon climbed aboard the coach. It was a dull, grey day with a promise of rain. He hoped that it would keep off until after the final whistle. At least the players wouldn't be dazzled by the low sun typical of that time of year.

Adam ran out onto the field with the team, Simon was on the touchline with his flag and Philip was among the small group of parents who driven over to support the their boys. The game was as dull as the weather and although he had lost count of the score Adam knew there was not much in it. There couldn't be much time left or they would need floodlights. His team was being pressed by the opposition in their own twenty-two. A mistake at this stage would settle the match. He was alert now, more than he had been throughout the game. One of his team had knocked on and it was a scrum against. Predictably the ball came on the opposition's side. Would the scrum half go blind? Would the fly half kick? Either a drop goal or for space? Doubtful. Possession was more important. Or would the ball go down the three-quarters line? The opposing three-quarters were lying deep confident of getting up some speed. Then the unthinkable happened. Either the inside centre had misjudged the position of his outside centre or the outside centre had positioned himself too far away, but suddenly the ball was in mid air, free in an impossible pass in front of him. Without even thinking Adam ran on to it, seized it and continued running down the pitch. He had the fitness to run as he had never run before. The opposition's fullback had come up as part of the anticipated attack and there was no one left in defence on the opposition to catch him or on his own side to run in support of him. He sprinted the whole length of the field solo and grounded the ball between the posts, then ran back to his cheering teammates. The opposition was finding it hard to jog back to their own touchline. The try was an easy one for the fly half to convert into a goal. The final whistle blew and Adam's try had won the match for the School. After the team had been clapped off the field he was carried shoulder high back to the changing room, somethin g previously unknown. And something else previously unknown. As he was riding high atop his team Adam felt a warm hand gently groping his groin. From his lofty position he couldn't see who it was, or even who it wasn't. Whoever it was didn't get much joy for Adam's tackle was held pointing north and tight against his body à la danseurfor it is only too easy to get grabbed, accidentally or intentionally, in the mauls or rucks. He felt flattered rather than annoyed to have gained such attention, frustrated that the perpetrator had waited the whole season until the last match to reveal his affections, and even more frustrated that he didn't know who it was. In the changing room he teasingly stood on the bench wearing only his rugby shirt in that hope that he might allure the phantom toucher out into the open to strike again, but without success.

The final week of term had a routine of its own. Outdoor activities were forced to cease by three-fifteen because of the light. After the last match rugby training had given way to pre-season hockey training. Simon was in his element. Adam ran the short cross-country course. There was no prep and boys were free to go home at four. Tuesday and Wednesday saw productions of the school play, Thursday the school carol service. On Monday Adam and Simon had to hurry home, for in the evening was the rugby dinner, attended by all the school team players from the U12s up to the First XV. They returned for seven pm dressed in their best school uniforms. The tables in the dining hall had been re-arranged into a top table for the rugby staff, the Headmaster and the guest of honour who was a well known player from the local rugby club, and a sprig for each of the teams. It was an honour for Simon as a non-player, but the regular touch judge to attend, but usually the touch judge was whoever could be roped in and it was a luxury for the team to have someone who not only took an interest in the job, but had undergone the same gruelling training as the rest of the team and who could, if push came to shove, sub for an injured player. The highlight of the evening was the announcement that Adam had in company of two others in his fifteen been awarded his colours and would receive them in front of the whole school at the final assembly on Friday.

Tuesday evening Simon and Adam could spend at home relaxing, if swimming fifty lengths of the pool counted as relaxing. They always trained in speedos. They made their swimming appear more serious. Skinny dipping was for fun. They were considering buying jammers, but that would have to wait until they were on holiday. They fancied themselves and each other in jammers and promised that they would not buy black. Wednesday they attended the school play where they could wear their best suits. It was a production of Oklahomaand the cast members were obviously enjoying themselves. The carol service on Thursday evening was a family affair and the Legges had invited the Carltons to come with them as their guests. Isabella couldn't quite make the event which was probably not a bad idea as Angelica was making one of her rare appearances sans chevaland in a dress. Ben was made to feel welcome, not only by the Cockatoo Club, but by members of the U15 rugby team who remembered from four seasons of matches. He was sufficiently streetwise not to turn up in his school uniform. For afterwards Philip had arranged a little party for the Carltons and the Legges, and at request of the boys, it included the Kettrees with Mark which delighted William. Friday, the last day of term, consisted of an admin session, tidying up lockers, handing out Christmas cards and gifts, attending the Headmaster's assembly and the end of term service. At the assembly it was announced that Simon was to be the captain of the U15s' hockey XI and Adam officially received his rugby colours. At midday a stream of boys was released as the school bro ke up for three and a half weeks' holiday.

Once home and after lunch there was no time for our boys to relax. They had to get ready for the following day when at six o'clock in the morning they would be heading for London with Philip in his car. Later that day they were looking down at a grey, cold and mournful England as their plane took off and carried Philip, Simon and Adam away for their winter break in Florida.

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We support Ukraine — Мы поддерживаем Украину — Ми підтримуємо Україну
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