Just after half past seven on Monday morning Simon and Adam were cycling off to school after saying goodbye to Philip.

The boys were sorting out their things into their lockers, chatting with their friends whom they were pleased to see after three and a half weeks' holiday, with Adam at the centre of two minutes' attention because of his new hairstyle, when a prefect pushed his way through the throng and said

"Neave, the Headman wants to see you in his study str8away." Adam and Simon looked at one another. Adam shrugged his shoulders, closed his locker and made his way along to the Headmaster's study. Going through his PA's office, he noticed a boy sitting there that he didn't recognise. He quickly checked him out before knocking on the Head's door. Their eyes met briefly and moved away again. The door was opened by the PA who turned and said

"Adam Neave, Headmaster." Adam entered while she held the door. "Thomas, would you go in now, please?" Full of trepidation at first, until he realised he was not alone with the Headmaster, Adam said

"Now I want you to meet Thomas Bowler." Adam looked behind and saw Thomas standing there. His first instinct was to check him out properly this time and in doing so got the impression that Thomas was doing the same to him. Adam offered him his hand. Thomas's was pliant and accommodating, but still firm, not limp or sweaty. "This is Adam Neave. Thomas is joining the school today and will be in your tutor group. Since he is joining in the middle of a school year in the way you did, we thought you would be the best person to help him settle in. Adam has just won the inter-county cross-country championships at Under 16. I shall be saying more about that in my Assembly. You had better cut along to your tutor room or you'll be late." The two boys turned to leave. Just as Adam was going through the door, the Headmaster said "Adam, I like the new hair style. Just don't think of colouring it green or pink. That would be a step too far."

"Thank you, sir," and Adam closed the study door behind him and exhaled a long sigh of relief."

"So, Thomas, why have you come to our school? Have your parents moved or something?"

"No, we live on the other side of town. I used to go to boarding school, but I had to leave."

"Expelled we called it, but no, nothing like that. I was getting bullied and everything went downhill from there. This school's got a reputation for being very tolerant." Adam looked at him. Average height for Year 10, normal appearance. No, better than that, stonking appearance with his healthy ruddy cheeks, shining, str8 sandy coloured hair, cut short. His face was more oval than round, athletic looking, as he guessed his body was as well. He hadn't got as far as inspecting his package and his butt. "By the way, I'm normally called Tom. Thomas usually means I'm in trouble."

"Ah, yes, Thomas Bowler, good morning, I was expecting you." Meanwhile the boys in the tutor group had stopped talking out of curiosity concerning the new arrival. The form tutor introduced him. Several pairs of eyes were checking him out, and some of them sexually. Adam showed Tom to an empty seat by Simon who shook his hand. The admin period passed quickly during which Tom received his timetable and made sure he was doing the right options. The bell rang and Adam and Simon took him off for the Headmaster's Assembly. Both Adam and Simon were congratulated for their achievements in the holidays at cross-country and hockey and received a round of applause from the School. Then first morning break. The boys crowded round Tom as they wanted to get to know him, find out why he was here, know what sports he was good at. It made Adam feel quite nostalgic as he thought back to himself in that same position one year ago.

"If Tom likes his new school as much as I do, he'll soon settle in. What do you think of him, Si?"

"Come on, Simon, he's probably not like that." **Sigh** "Unfortunately. I'm looking forward to games, though, to check him out properly."

"Really there are only two possibilities if I'm looking after him, and I don't know how long that will be going on for. A week? I don't know. But as I said, there are only two things we can do. We take him with us to have dinner with the Cockatoo Club, or we take him off, or I take him off, to eat somewhere else in the dining hall."

"I think we ought to take him with us to join the Cockatoo Club. After all, tolerance works both ways. He's got to learn to tolerate us as much as we've got to tolerate him."

"Simon, I fully agree. When he gets to know a few more people, he can choose his own friends. I just wish I knew why he was bullied at his last school. I would never support bullying, but on the other hand in schools like ours where there's no... what shall I say?... criminal element like there was at my last school and in the orphanage, there's usually a good reason."

"We mustn't be too superior, Adam. We had our Roland Bedford and he was part of the reason we founded the Cockatoo Club."

"Anyway, we're agreed. He eats with the Club and providing Fran is not too outrageous, he can draw his own conclusions." The bell for the end of break rang and Adam reclaimed his charge from the masses and took him off to chemistry.

By second break Tom was no longer a novelty and our boys were going to show him where the tuck shop was.

"Where are the toilets?" said Tom. "I need them urgently." When they arrived there they were surprisingly empty. Tom locked himself in a cubicle. Standing at a urinal Simon said

"Shh! Listen," said Adam in a whisper. They could hear some heavy breathing, then some paper being pulled from the roll. "Nothing dropped into the water. Did you notice that?" Simon and Adam purposely took a long time washing their hands, waiting for Tom to emerge. With eyebrows raised, Simon moved his right hand to and fro with the forefinger touching the end of his thumb. Adam sniggered. They heard the lock being released. Tom emerged and washed his hands.

"That's better. The boarding school routine dies hard." Adam and Simon acknowledged the remark without saying anything. The three boys went off to the tuck shop.

With two more periods under their belt they all went off to lunch. They were some of the first in the queue and took their trays across to the Club's table at the end of the dining hall. One by one the others turned up and Tom was introduced to those in other tutor groups he hadn't met. He was a little overawed with what was happening and was unaware of the subtleties of grouping and pairing, which was probably for the better on his first day. Simon was sure Fran was wearing false eyelashes, but as he was behaving Simon thought it better to let sleeping dogs lie on this occasion. William and Mark had to come past and William insisted on introducing himself. Tom could see immediately he was Tony's brother. Paul and Robin were there, and of course Sam who sat himself opposite Tom. Miles was over on the other side of the dining hall with friends from his own year, and Steve, who had grown so much bolder over the past months, was there as well. Much of the meal was taken up with discussing the activities programme for the summer term. Each said in turn what they thought they would be doing and there was surprise when Simon said he would join the cricket/softball group twice a week while Adam said he would join it only on Mondays.

"The atom has been split at last," quipped Fran in his best waspish manner. Tom didn't ask.

"I need to fit some music in there somewhere," he said. "Otherwise I'm not worried what I do."

"We do dance," said Adam. Tom was surprised when no one took the mickey out of them, but kept the notion to himself.

"Do you swim?" asked Simon with the ulterior motive of wanting to see Tom in a speedo.

"Yes, I did a lot at my last school. We had a pool and inter-school competitions."

"Simon and Adam have got a pool at home," said Tony. "We go skinnydipping there." Tom raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"We'll tell you about it some time," said Simon. The Club was very good. No hint was given of the basis of their relationship, nor even why that particular group came together at lunchtime.

The members adjourned their meeting, stacked their trays on the trolleys on the way out, collected their kit bags and made their way to the lecture theatre where Year 10 was due to meet to sort out their activities options. Sam persuaded Tom to follow his choices, except that he put the music option in place of the tennis. Adam fitted in weights and athletics in the place of one cricket/softball session.

Everything settled, the boys moved off to the changing rooms. Sam explained about compulsory showers. Tom replied that coming from a boarding school that was of little consequence. While Sam had Tom's attention, Simon and Adam were hatching their own little scheme.

"I know it's his first day, but I think we'll subject him to the test. Let's face it. We had a ninety percent success rate when we tried it before."

"OMG," said Simon, "we're not becoming one of those old married couples who always think the same thing, are we?"

"And if we are?" smiled Adam. With that they dumped their sports bags on the bench, took off their shoes and socks, stood on the bench and, facing outwards, stripped completely before starting to put their cricket kit on and making a great fuss of tucking their bits and pieces into their jocks. It had the desired effect.

"Come along, Tom," said Adam. "Hurry up and get changed or we'll be late." Sam joined them on the bench, but as the new boy Tom decided he ought to remain modest.

"Oh dear," Adam said quietly to Simon. "Now we'll have to wait till shower time."

Tom looked superb in his whites. He had certainly adopted that part of the school ethos - smartly dressed in the correct kit for the activity. The flat fronted cricket trousers gave away a bulge, but little more; the translucent back betrayed a slight bubble butt and its crack, and, even more sexily, the straps of his jock across his buns.

When the lesson had finished, Simon and Adam hurried back to the changing room, while Tom followed up slowly talking to Sam. It gave them an opportunity to bag the showerhead nearest the door and so they could inspect everyone as they came in. At long last the moment arrived. Still accompanied by Sam, Tom walked into the shower.

"OMG," Adam whispered to Simon. "He's absolutely gorgeous. Centrefold material for GY mag."

"It doesn't matter. Just look at his nipples. Perfect circles and contrasting colour, completely flat stomach and lower abdomen, and that tackle! It hangs absolutely str8 down and his balls. Perfectly round. You can't call them low hangers cos they're level with the tip of his dick. Medium hangers."

"Years of conscientious training. I'm beginning to enjoy the benefits of all the hard work I've put in."

"And I don't think Sam's missing much either, and yet Tom's almost... I don't know what... not ignoring it exactly, but taking it all in his stride... sort of been there, seen that, done it, got the jigsaw attitude."

"Hey, look, Adam. I think Sam's about to let himself down. Oops! He has." Meanwhile a small group had gathered round and started clapping rhythmically as Sam popped a boner.

"Nothing we haven't seen before," giggled Adam and he and Simon got on with their shower.

Adam and Simon took Tom across to tea. Half an hour until prep, not that they had been given much as it was the first night of term, but they always had books to read for English lit if there was nothing else. Animal Farm was easy, but now they were following it up with 1984 and that was not so simple. Meanwhile Sam had caught up with them.

"You said you left your last school because you were bullied?" said Adam. "I would have thought a well set up chap like you could have looked after yourself."

"It wasn't physical bullying. It was mental. When people won't talk to you and you have to eat your meals on your own or surrounded by a wall of silence, it soon gets to you, especially when you're with these people 24/7."

"So what did you do to begin with?" Tom blushed. Adam spotted that he blinked back a tear.

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to." Tom was silent. Where was that stonkingly hot boy who had exuded so much confidence during his first day at school?

"Okay, you're going to find out sooner or later." Tom composed himself. "I told you my last school was a boarding school. We slept in two bed studies and one night my roommate and I were fooling around, just horseplay to begin with, and it ended up with me jerking him off. And he really seemed to be enjoying it. The next morning he blabbed about it over breakfast. What was worse he made it look as if it had all been my fault and that I'd molested him against his will, but he enjoyed it as much as I did. Oops, I shouldn't have said that. Anyway the gossip went round the school like wildfire, and I got shunned. Not for a day or even a week, permanently. My roommate requested a change of study. I'd like to know the reason he gave. Finally the school called my parents in and so here I am. I haven't been to school since last half term. I think I said earlier I'd been told this school has got a reputation for tolerance. I hope so because I don't want to go through that again."

The shock of the story silenced the other three. Adam and Simon looked at one another. Sam got up, walked round the table and gave Tom a great big hug.

"You've probably guessed it, but..." Sam looked across at the other two for support. They knew what he was going to say and nodded. "All three of us are gay, and we take it from what you just said that you are as well." Tom breathed a big sigh of relief and slumped down on the table.

"And I don't know whether you noticed it or not," added Adam "but all the people we had lunch with are gay as well."

"We call ourselves the Cockatoo Club," said Simon. "We try to help any gay pupil who needs helping."

"We are," said Adam "and it's no secret, we're boyfriends too and one day we want a civil partnership."

"Give us your phone number, Tom," said Simon "and we'll give you our mobile numbers. Then if you want a chat you can ring us up at home."

"There's mine," said Sam "and my e-mail address." Adam noticed that Sam had drawn a little heart where the @ sign should have been. A bell rang. It was time to move off for prep.

The boys arrived home at about quarter past six. Philip was already there to greet them. Brabazon announced dinner for seven and enquired whether he should serve it in the dining room or the kitchen.

"The kitchen, I think, Brabazon," replied Philip. "Nothing too formal." The boys went upstairs and changed into cargo shorts, tee shirt and trainers, bringing their school uniforms down with them for valeting. There was just time to give Lucy a short walkies before dinner. They returned as Brabazon was sounding the gong.

"So how did the first day back at school go?" enquired Philip as they all started eating.

"Interesting," said Adam and the boys told him about the arrival of the new boy, the round of applause they got in Assembly and the Headmaster's seal of approval on Adam's new hairstyle. When they were finished the boys retired to the sitting room and Philip to his study. He'd left work early to avoid the rush hour and so had to bring some home with him. Adam felt his iPhone vibrating. He had a little panic for although he could feel the vibrations, he'd forgotten which pocket he put it in. He looked at the screen.

«I've rung to ask a big big favour. You know you're helping him settle in. Do you think you could let me do the job instead?»

«C'mon, Adam. He's a hunk, I'm single and you're not, and the one-eyed trouser python is getting rather excited.»

"You fancy him, don't you? If you don't, then your dick acted doubly disgracefully this afternoon."

"With the clapping and cheering how could we not notice? And by the way, thanks for outing us."

"Keep me up to date with anything I should know in case I have to report back to the bossman."

«You now know the real reason why you were chosen for the job of looking after him, don't you?»

«Don't kid yourself. The Head knew he was gay when he accepted him and he knows you're gay.»

"Thank you, Mr Golden Tongue. Ever thought of a career in public relations? We'll see you tomorrow. Hugs from both of us." Adam switched his phone off.

Earlier, over on the other side of town, another Year 10 boy climbed off the bus and walked the few yards to his front door. He was weary after a demanding day at his new school, and yet exhilarated, far happier than he had felt for months. As he put his key into the lock and opened the front door, his mother, father and sister, their emotions ranging from anxiety to apprehension, were there ready to greet him. From the smile on his face they could immediately see that they could relax. His sister ran forward and gave him a hug.

"I've cooked your favourite," said his mother. "Scrambled egg on toast with mushrooms. Go and change and tea will be ready in five minutes. Then you can tell us all about it."

Five minutes later the Bowler family was sat round the kitchen table and the two children were hungrily attacking a large plate with two slices of toast more than amply covered with hot lightly scrambled egg almost invisible under a covering of mushrooms.

"You know, Tom, I love having you home," said Ellie, his twin. "It's not so lonely."

"Dad! I told you. It's not a problem. It's what I am and it's only a problem if I make it a problem." His mother gave her husband a look and he decided not to pursue it any further.

"Well, first of all it's true what they said about the school. It is tolerant, and there's a whole group of boys like me. When I got there the Head's secretary took me to his study where he welcomed me, said he'd read the report from St Talbot's and that he did not expect anything like that to happen in his school and if it did, I should let a member of staff know immediately. Then I had to wait in his secretary's office until a boy arrived who was going to look after me. His name's Adam and he's adopted and he's got an adopted brother in the same year and they're..." He dropped his voice to a whisper here. "...an item."

"Thank you, Ellie," said Mr Bowler. "Your decrepit and old fashioned parents can work that bit out for themselves," but he said it with a smile.

"Then at first break all the boys in the tutor group crowded round and wanted to get to know me. We started lessons after that." He didn't tell his family what he did during second break. "At lunchtime Adam and his brother Simon took me to meet all their friends and I sat on their table. After that it was games. We do something different each day."

"Yes, I've got that on Thursdays with dance on Tuesdays. I met another boy who seems very nice. He's call Sam Welham. Then between activities and prep we have tea and Simon, Sam and Adam wanted to know all about the bullying and because they were so concerned I told them it was because I was gay and then they said that they were too and that all the boys on their lunch table were and everybody knew it. So that's about it. We did prep and now I'm home I've got the whole evening free."

"You lucky so and so," said Ellie. "I've still got loads of homework and you can help me with my maths."

"As I said, I've got the whole evening homework-free." Ellie dug her brother in the ribs.

Tom had just finished Ellie's maths homework when his mobile vibrated and buzzed.

"I must get you a cool ringtone," said Ellie. He didn't recognise the number, but he did the voice.

"Hi, Adam," said Tom. "Sorry, just a minute. I can't get a very good signal here. I'll call you back if we get cut off." He could, but he didn't want his sister earwigging and so he went out into the garden. "No, everything was strange at first, but I settled in str8away. Everybody seemed so kind and interested. Such a relaxed atmosphere after St Talbot's College."

«No, never heard of it. Anyway, besides wanting to know that you were okay after your first day, there was something else I wanted to ask. I had a call from Sam Welham and he asked if I had anything against it if he took over from me as your minder. I don't mind, but it's really your decision, not mine.»

"He's the one that got that boner in the shower this afternoon and has just split up from his boyfriend, isn't he?"

"I don't know. I've never had a boyfriend before. But if he wants to be my minder, that's okay with me. He seemed nice enough to me."

Ten minutes hadn't gone by before his phone rang again. Again he moved out into the garden. This time it was Sam. 'I must enter these numbers properly with their names,' Tom thought as he said hi!

«Hi, Tom! Just had a text from Adam Neave. Says it okay for me to show you the ropes at school. I'd be pleased to do it if you can cope with me.»

"Sorry, Sam. It's just that I'm being made to feel like a commodity being bartered for."

«Don't take it like that. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow morning. Did you enjoy your first day?»

"Yeah, it went a lot better than I thought it would. Tell me. If Adam's surname is Neave, what's Simon's?"

«Three, with only a capital for the B... unless it's at the beginning of a sentence, of course.»

"Cheers, Sam. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't know what time. It depends whether I get a lift or have to catch the bus."

"Did I hear the name van den Berg, Tom?" asked Mr Bowler as he returned from the bottom of the garden after inspecting the fruit trees and seeing whether the bees had been doing their job and the fruit had set. Tom blushed to think that his call had been overheard. "It's all right, son. I didn't hear anything else."

"Yes, that's right." Tom answered diffidently. "It's the name of a boy at school, Simon van den Berg. Why?"

"It's just that it's an unusual name and it's also the name of one of my golfing partners - Philip van den Berg."

"I'll ask him when I see him tomorrow. By the way, are you giving me a lift in tomorrow or have I got to catch the bus?"

"A quarter to eight will do fine. I only had to be there at half past seven this morning, because I had to see the Headmaster first."

"Yes, should be okay. At least it makes me get an hour's work done in the office, undisturbed before the staff arrive. Looking back, I don't know why we sent you to boarding school. We had Ellie here at home. So it didn't really free us up at all."

"Probably because you went to boarding school and Granddad went to boarding before you."

"Thomas, I don't know where you get your cynicism from. I'll ask your mother. She'll remember."

Back at the van den Bergs' house the boys were relaxing. Simon was giving Lucy a brush and comb. She didn't go much on the combing part, but she loved the brushing bit, and the biscuit she knew she would get afterwards for being a good girl. While he was doing that, Adam was sitting at the kitchen table reading GY mag.

"Mmm, usual stuff. 'What is the correct etiquette when giving a BJ. Should you swallow? I keep on getting erections for no reason at all. Is this normal and what can I do about it? I'm going out with a new boyfriend. How far should we go on our first date?'"

"I'll tell you what, Si. You give me your answers and then I'll read out the ones in the magazine." Just at the moment Brabazon came in to enquire what time he should prepare cocoa and biscuits.

"I need to think about that, Adam," replied Simon just as he was finishing off brushing Lucy. "I'll tell you later." She gave a little woof in anticipation of getting her dog biscuit.

Philip joined them for drinks and afterwards the boys kissed him good night and disappeared up to bed.

"Oh, tomorrow will do. I'd much rather have your body snuggling up to mine before we go to sleep. The first day back at school is always a shock to the system and we've got to be up sharp tomorrow."

"Oh, I'd forgotten it's Tuesday tomorrow. And you, young man, will have to get used to shaving every day. I don't mind cuddling, but snogging's out until you do. You'll rip my face to bits." They stripped off their clothes, divided them between the linen basket and the wardrobe, climbed into Adam's bed and put the light out.

"Oh, damn," said Simon. "I've forgotten to clean my teeth." But he was talking to himself. Adam was already fast asleep.

Tuesday morning and the sun woke them before the alarm. There was still no time for a kiss and a cuddle, especially as Adam had to shave. He'd made up his mind that daily shaving was going to be a fact of life until he left school and even then Simon would ensure it continued after that.

Their cycle journey to school seemed to be at a faster pace that morning. Adam was anxious to get there as soon as possible to hand over his charge to Sam. Should he tell the Headmaster? He came to the conclusion that he needn't for it would be sufficient to say that he had conscientiously looked after Tom until he made his own friends, which he had done very quickly, and that he had full faith in Sam Welham as his new mentor. The handover ceremony was carried out most unceremoniously and scarcely lasted a minute. Tom thanked Adam who replied by saying that he and Simon were still available for help and advice, and that he and Sam might like to come for a sleep over at their house sometime. Sam was the only one of the pair who comprehended the full implication of the invitation, and he certainly wasn't ready to share it yet. He did, however, confide later in the day to Simon and Adam his determination to become Tom's boyfriend at the earliest opportunity and that he would be grateful for any assistance in that undertaking. Simon answered that the farthest they would be away the following weekend would be when they were taking Lucy for her walkies, for their father was catching up with his golf, and that a call to their mobile phones would settle any arrangements.

The 'handover' complete Adam and Simon adopted a watching brief as far as Tom and Sam were concerned. Tuesday morning school proceeded as normal. The four met up at first break and Simon and Adam were anxious to see whether Tom would disappear at second break as he had done the previous day. He did, but Sam wasn't to be found either.

"I would have thought it a bit soon for that, Si," he replied. "Whatever that is," he grinned. They soon found them some dozen or so ahead in the tuck shop queue. Adam thought Simon appeared a little disappointed.

The afternoon's activities were dance followed by gym. Our two boys were impressed at Tom's standard in both those classes, so much so that they forgot to check him out in his tights and leotard and only realised they had missed the opportunity when their curiosity and lust returned at shower time.

"We've got gym again on Thursday and so it won't be too bad," Adam consoled him.

"So what sort of week have you two had?" asked Philip while he and the boys were having supper on Friday evening.

"Great, but tiring," Adam answered. "The first week always is. And I've got to work up my fitness again."

"I'm glad we get the whole weekend to ourselves this term," said Simon. "We told you Adam had a new boy to look after. He's called Tom Bowler. The Head said it was because he arrived midyear like Adam, but we believe it was because he was gay. He wanted someone sympathetic to look after him."

"Yeah, he had to leave his last school because he was getting bullied for being gay."

"Well, Bob Bowler is one of my golfing partners and come to think of it he said his son was changing schools, but he didn't say why or say which schools it was. I wonder... I'll find out tomorrow." They continued their meal. "We must sort out our calendars tonight. I have a little bit of news for you." But the boys were going to be kept in suspense until everybody had finished pudding. Philip went to his study to fetch his diary and two letters. One letter the boys recognised immediately from the quality cream envelope and the large handwriting in black fountain pen. "I've received two invitations. Golf this weekend, as you know, then next weekend I have been invited to spend at Belinda's house." The boys looked at one another and grinned.

"All right, boys, thank you," said Philip. "I don't make comments when you have house guests." He smiled as if to say that he wasn't cross with them, but could see the humour too. "I shall travel str8 to Belinda's house from London on Friday and back to London on Tuesday. Then I'll see you Tuesday evening."

"Yes. Look at your diary properly and you'll see it's the early May bank holiday then."

"Okay," replied Philip, "but maximum of two boys sleeping over. I assume they will be boys," said Philip getting his own back a little, "and don't make it too hard for Brabazon. He's well over retirement age and does very well."

"Two boys per night is that?" said Simon pushing the boundaries, and his luck. "Not per weekend?"

"The weekend after that we've all been invited to the Carltons' for dinner on the Saturday."

"We all have our crosses to bear," said Philip. The meal broke up and they all retired to the television room to watch Who wants to be a Millionaire?.

By Wednesday school had settled in to its summer routine. Sam Welham was most conscientious in the care of his protégé Tom. Tom fitted well into the ethos and atmosphere of the lunchtime sessions of the Club. He had them all laughing when, as lunch was breaking up, he naïvely asked

"Why is it called the Cockatoo Club?" Once the laughter had died down Tony Legge took pity on him and explained the origin. It was the parting of the ways for Simon and Adam. Simon went off with all his friends to an afternoon of cricket while Adam went to the weights room for his session on the machines. He was very much a beginner and received more instruction than practice that afternoon, once his teacher had ascertained what he wanted to train for. It was easy to explain about his rugby and running, less so when it came to developing his pecs and abs because he was homosexual and wanted to look good for the boys in general and his boyfriend in particular. In fact he left that bit out and just said he wanted to develop them to look good and feel good. That provided sufficient information for a programme to be worked out. He was the only new member of the class. The others were old hands and were getting on with their own programmes. For the second session of the afternoon he joined an athletic group and was allowed to get on with training for the 5000m race on Sports Day. He felt good in his uniform lycra one piece. He felt even better looking round at his classmates in their kit. A lot of them he only knew vaguely by face, even after a year, for he had never attended classes with them before and there were a hundred in a year group and pupils in this group were taken from both Year 10 and Year 11. One thing Adam had learnt at his new school was that if you developed a reputation for reliability and self-reliance, you were allowed to get on with things by yourself and seek guidance whenever you needed it. This worked in his favour as the 5000m was not the most popular athletic event in the school, but he would have liked some competition other than the stopwatch.

Thursday afternoon Tom had his first music session. The first part was spent on his individual piano lesson. He had passed grade 6 at his previous school, and while working for grade 7 and eventually grade 8, he was excited to learn that eventually he might be able to go on to the organ. The second part of the afternoon he sang with the school choir.

As soon as Sam Welham had showered and changed after cricket, he made his way towards the music school and met up with Tom before tea. Wandering across to the dining hall Tom said

"Can you get across to my house for half past nine? Breakfast should be over by then."

"Agreed," repeated Sam. They high-fived. The touch of Tom's hand sent a tingle though Sam's body which ended up at his nob and made it swell.

For Sam and Tom the weekend could not come quick enough. Saturday morning Sam was up early. He wanted to check his mountain bike over and make sure the tyres were hard. Just before leaving he changed into his cycling gear - light blue shorts and tight yellow top. He checked in front of the mirror that everything fitted in the right place. He was out to impress. He said goodbye to his parents and assured them he would be home for one o'clock lunch. He put on his helmet and cycled sometimes fast, sometimes slow, across town. He wanted to arrive at half past nine on the dot. The houses here were large and detached, obviously owned by wealthy people. He found the Bowlers' avenue with no difficulty and looking at his watch saw it was 9.29. He had a minute to find the house - number sixty-nine. That gave his randy little mind a boost of confidence and he felt that nothing could go wrong. He rode up the drive, parked his bike and rang the doorbell. Tom answered and by the way his eyes widened he was obviously impressed. Tom himself was dressed in olive green cargo shorts and a tight olive green tee shirt.

"Is that Sam?" he heard a voice in the background, obviously Mrs Bowler's. "Don't keep him on the doorstep, dear. Invite him in." That broke the spell and Tom said hi! and asked Sam in. He took him into the kitchen and introduced him to his mother and Ellie. Ellie let herself down by being dumbstruck and there was no doubt in either boy where her wide eyes were staring. The friction of pedalling against lycra presented Sam's bulge in a very favourable light. Fortunately Mrs Bowler had noticed nothing.

"Dad's playing golf," said Ellie. A little polite conversation and the boys said they would set off and Tom fetched his mountain bike from the garage.

"Lunch is at half past twelve," said Mrs Bowler. "We shan't be waiting for your father." The boys said goodbye and set off down the road.

"Do you know the park with the lake on the other side of town?" He nodded. "There's a BMX circuit there and when you've done that you can ride up through the wood to the wishing well at the top of the hill."

They reached the park in no time and cycled on towards the mountain bike track on the other side of the lake. They found the circuit quite demanding in terms of skill.

"That's nothing compared with the hill climb," said Tom. "That was skill. The hill is strength and stamina." They cycled round the lake and found one of the paths leading up through the woods. It was bumpy and slow going in low gear, but eventually they reached the summit when a dog bounded up to Sam, wagging its tail.

"Hallo, Lucy," said Sam as he patted her back and stroked her behind the ears. Where there was Lucy, there was going to be... yes, here they come... Adam and Simon in their best running kit, corporate identity naturally, and looking as hot as ever. If the Devil could cast his net now... he would capture four of the six greatest looking guys in town, seven of you counted William who was almost a clone of Tony.

"Hi, guys," Sam said and they greeted one another spontaneously with hugs, not thinking that Tom might not be used to such intimacy, especially as the hugs always had the hands on the butt rather than the back and the closeness always caused packages to meet. Tom began to bulge in his cargos, but no one said anything.

"Lucy," called Simon. "Come and meet Tom." The spaniel came and sat in front of Tom and offered her paw which he gently shook. The four boys got talking and Simon and Adam told Tom about how they had first met at the wishing well and that it was a sentimental part of their lives. Sam pulled a coin out of his bumbag, tossed it into the well and made a wish.

"Not a lot," said Sam. "Helping in the garden probably if I don't find anything else to do."

"Hey, that's great," said Tom. "I'll bring my bathing togs." There was a tacit conspiracy among the other three not to disabuse him. They didn't want to frighten him off. Tom looked at his watch. "Gosh, I've got to be home at half past." He and Sam put their helmets back on and as Adam and Simon ran off down the hill Sam and Tom followed them on their bikes. When they reached the bottom, they went their separate ways.

"I'll text you if I can't make it," shouted Tom as he cycled off to the north side of town.

"So will I," called Sam heading off in a westerly direction. Simon put Lucy on the lead as Adam sprinted on ahead. For him this was serious training.

Simon and Adam arrived home, had a quick shower and changed into tee shirts and lycras, corporate identity with a difference. Adam wore a black tee shirt with white shorts, Simon a white tee shirt with black shorts, both tees just long enough to prevent Brabazon's eyes from popping out of his head.

"Have I ever told you what a lovely butt you have, Si?" Adam patted and fondled it as they walked down the broad staircase on their way to the kitchen. Brabazon must have been lurking in his pantry. No matter for there was ample food laid out for second brunch, particularly as neither lad had eaten much before going for their swim and run. They were ravishing.

"No, ravenous," corrected Simon. **You use your word and I'll use mine (author).** Brabazon emerged from his pantry, glared at the hound who was doing no more than sitting up in her basket, noticing that food was being devoured and hoping some morsel might hit the floor, a vain thought, even for the most intelligent dog in the world, which of course she was to her humans.

After they had finished eating the boys went and relaxed in the sitting room until their friends arrived. Adam looked out of the window and noticed that it had come on to rain. As he did, Simon's mobile vibrated. The lycra enhanced the vibrations. He unhooked it from the top of his shorts and noticed he had a text.

"Message from Tony. Cricket rained off. Same for Ben. He's with me now. Can we come across?"

"That's a point," and Simon texted back. As he replaced his mobile, the front doorbell rang.

"Master Samuel Welham and Master Thomas Bowler," boomed Brabazon's funereal voice. They had been shown into the library and when Adam and Simon went there they greeted their friends. Tom was avidly reading a backnumber of GY mag which Adam had left in there.

"Tom!" shouted Adam. "You can look at that later. In fact you can take it home with you. We've finished with it." On their way up the stairs Simon explained that they were expecting Ben and Tony now that their cricket matches had been rained off.

"Nothing at all," he hesitated. "It's just that after the St Talbot's experience I couldn't imagine anyone having a boyfriend, let alone going public on it."

"Paul and Robin are boyfriends, William, Tony's baby brother, has got a boyfriend," continued Sam.

"Why was that?" asked Tom without thinking how personal a question that was. Then he blushed.

"It's all right," said Sam. "Everybody knows. He decided he wasn't really gay any more and didn't like doing stuff."

"What about you two?" said Tom, addressing Simon and Adam. "Have you two got boyfriends?"

"Didn't we tell you Adam is adopted?" continued Simon. "So we don't share any genes."

"And so it doesn't matter if I get Simon pregnant," said Adam with a str8 face. "We're going to get engaged when we've left school, just before going up to university."

"You'll soon get used to it, Tom," said Sam giving him and encouraging smile. Now Tom really had the bit between his teeth. Looking around the room and admiring the kingsize bed he said

"There have only been two occasions we haven't since we got together," said Adam. "Once when Simon was away on his hockey tournament and the other when we were on the Scottish sleeper even though we shared a compartment."

"No, never," said Simon. "Skin against skin. You never need a hot water bottle that way." Tom just stood there dumbstruck at what he was being told.

"Yes and no," said Adam. "Yes, we do go all the way. No, we don't use the F-word because we think it is too violent, crude and coarse, and we prefer to say shag. But when we do it we'd rather call it making love because we are in love with one another."

"It's all right," said Simon. "If we were ashamed of it, we wouldn't do it. We thoroughly enjoy our lovelife."

"And to answer your question, as often as we can," said Adam. "It could be as much as four times in twenty-four hours during the school holidays. And I can tell you, it's a darn sight more fun than playing computer games."

"I think I've got two somewhere in the cupboard," said Simon "and they probably don't work on our new computers anyway..."

At that moment the house phone buzzed. The whole room could hear Brabazon announce Master Benjamin Carlton, Master Anthony Legge, Master William Legge and Master Mark Kettree.

"We'll cope," said Adam. "We'll tire the little ones out swimming." All four descended to the library and greeted the new arrivals with hugs. They hadn't seen Ben for a week. They introduced him to Tom. The facial expressions and body language gave away that they were impressed with one another. Simon went into the kitchen to tell Brabazon what they were up to.

"Don't worry about that. We've plenty of spare stuff for guests," and looking around Tom suddenly realised that none of the others had any kit with them. They went downstairs. Adam and Simon showed Tom the games room. Adam looked at the weight machines and thought to himself 'I'll soon be qualified to use them.' Simon picked up the key, unlocked the changing room. Everybody went for a pee in turn, explained to Tom why and he followed suit, then they stripped off and went through the footbath and dived into the pool. Tom just did what the others did, except, being new to the situation he just had to pop a boner at being surrounded by all these attractive boys. No one took any notice, apart from little Mark who came up to him and whispered in his ear

"It doesn't matter, Tom. It usually happens to me, but now it's no big deal. Just dive into the water and get on with swimming." Mark stayed on the side acting as lifeguard until Sam took over from him.

They spent most of the afternoon in the pool, enjoying themselves. No one had a watch. Finally their stomachs told them it must be getting on for teatime. Simon called them all out. They went under the shower and grabbed a towel from the pile and dried themselves off. Adam led them to the kitchen to see if Brabazon had any snacks and found Philip there returned from his golf sitting at the table having a cup of tea with one of his golfing partners, Bob Bowler.

"Your mother texted me to say you were here and asked me to pick you up as it was raining." Introductions were made. "So these are your new schoolfriends, Tom?" said Mr Bowler.

"Yeah, they're better than the ones at the last place." Meanwhile Brabazon had provided squash and biscuits. Simon and Adam held back for they knew they had a family meal to come in the evening. During the general babble of conversation Tom noticed Adam and Simon had swapped clothes after swimming.

"We quite often do that," explained Adam. "We share most of our possessions and it gives us a buzz when we can smell the other one's body on the clothes, and if one of us had the lurgy we'd have passed it on by now after a year of sleeping together."

"Come along, boys," said Mr Bowler. "It's time we were getting home." Tony rang his parents on his mobile. "I'll take you home, Sam. Oh, your bike's at our place." When they went out to the cars, they found that it had stopped raining although the water was still dripping from the trees. Philip and the boys waved them off. When they went back inside, he said

"I've known Bob Bowler for years, but I had no idea about the problems his son was having and it was your school he was transferring to, even less that the problems were because he is gay. I probably could have given them a bit of help if I'd known."

Lying in bed that night, Tom thought back over the day and then over the week. It had been a very steep learning curve for him. He couldn't get over the fact his new friends were so normal, so open about their homosexuality, so content with it and even had boyfriends. He thought about the afternoon's skinny-dipping session which made him hard again. He slowly wanked himself off, turned over and immediately fell asleep, but with a smile on his lips.

Lying in bed that night, Sam thought back over the week and then over the day. Today had brought him great opportunities and he saw the beginning of a great bonding process. As he thought back to Tom standing on the side of the pool sporting a massive boner, he got one himself. He gently pulled his foreskin back and forth, gradually getting quicker until he shot his load. He didn't bother to clean up. He simply turned over on his side and with a smile on his lips closed his eyes. His last thought before dropping off to sleep was 'I'm going to make that boy mine.'

Lying in bed that night, Tony didn't give the past week or day a single thought. He just said

"Ben, snuggle up closer to me and give me a kiss." Those two weren't going to get much sleep that night.

Lying in a tent in the back garden that night, despite the earlier rain, William wasn't thinking of the first week of term either.

"Mark, can I come and sleep with you in your sleeping bag?" Mark undid the zip a bit to make it easier. Will dropped his undies and slipped in beside him.

At that time Adam and Simon were already fast asleep in Adam's bed, having enjoyed a prolonged session of lovemaking.

It was Sunday lunchtime before the van den Berg household had calmed down sufficently to hold a rational discussion. Philip had been too hyped up after winning his golf match with Tom's father as his partner and the boys were hyper after the success of bringing Sam and Tom together. Sitting round the table in the dining room and being dressed in jacket and tie leant themselves to a more serious atmosphere. Brabazon had surpassed himself with serving a piece of sirloin which just fell apart when Philip tried to carve.

"I ordered that joint six weeks ago and the butcher has been hanging it ever since," Brabazon explained. "Meat is kept too cold and served too fresh these days."

"Brabazon likes his meat well hung," sniggered Simon after he had left the room. Adam guffawed.

"Thank you, boys," admonished Philip. "A little more decorum at the meal table, please."

"I'm just so astounded I knew nothing about him until yesterday. It didn't even click when you told me. Bob had told me that he had a son and daughter who were twins and that's about it."

"Can we talk to you about next weekend, Dad?" asked Simon. Philip nodded. "Tony and Ben are only stopping Saturday night as the Legges are going off for the day on bank holiday Monday. Angelica's in a gymkhana or something and they want to give her full family support."

"We'd like to invite Tom and Sam to sleep over sometime, but it's too early yet."

"I'll give you a call from Belinda's sometime, just to make sure everything's okay here. Brabazon's got all the phone numbers and the address."

"I think that would make it rather a restrictive weekend," retorted Philip. "I'll probably do lots of things you wouldn't do." Suppressed sniggers and guffaws and great attention to dinner plates.

"In London, but I'll be home each night. Train till Thursday, then I'll take the car up on Friday morning."

"I know we've got theatre tickets for Saturday night and I expect we'll dine out at least one night. And there are some nice walks down there."

"One other little matter before Brabazon clears away. Mrs Green has mentioned the state of your bedsheets. Could you be a bit more thoughtful, please?" Both boys blushed deep red. "Let me know if there's anything special you want to do at half term, just in case we need to book up." That removed the embarrassment from the conversation. Brabazon came in and cleared the main course, then brought in the pudding.

After lunch the boys changed into jeans and polo shirts and Philip drove out with them to take Lucy for a longer walk.

The following week at school went without any great excitement, at least until Thursday when at morning break Sam ran up to Simon and Adam and confided in them.

"Tom, of course. We've just got to work out the transport tonight with our parents."

"Great," said Simon. "Call us and tell us how you get on afterwards. We won't be able to wait until Tuesday to find out."

"You're obviously not keeping your boyfriend properly serviced, are you?" said Adam, giving Sam an odd look and tapping the side of his nose with his forefinger.

"That's because he's not my boyfriend..." answered Sam with a pause, then added "yet."

"Anytime you want some quality time together," said Adam. Simon sniggered again. "Just let us know."

"Adam hates the phrase," said Simon "and so when we use it, it means one thing - sex or making love."

"Adam, why don't you piss off?" and he jabbed his courting finger up Adam's crevice making him jump and cry out.

"Ooh," said Sam, "a lovers' tiff." At that moment Tom rushed up to them, looking flushed."

"Hey, they are done up, you sod." They all laughed good-naturedly. "Are you going to the tuck shop?" he said.

The weekend came as the weekend must at the end of Friday. The boys still had prep even though there was no school on Monday. At six o'clock they went their several ways. Adam and Simon arrived home to find Mrs Green in charge of the household. After packing Mr Philip's cases for the weekend, Brabazon had gone off to spend the day with his sister.

"Are we ever?" said Adam. "We had swimming and athletics this afternoon. Hard work."

"Take Lucy for a run and by the time you get back I shall have something cooked for you. Egg, sausage, bacon and beans all right for you? And Mr Brabazon sliced the chips before he went. Have you brought home your games kit?" The boys nodded. "Bring it down with your school uniforms when you've changed." They enjoyed it when Mrs Green was in charge. It was more homely, softer somehow. Her fare was simpler, more down to earth. Her being there gave the boys back something that not having mothers had robbed them of. Our two boys might be gay, but in no way were they misogynists, despite Brabazon's efforts. After supper they went into the television room and read until it was time to watch My Family with the recently come out Michael.

"God, I'd like to get my hand inside his boxers," said Adam. The programme was followed by Outnumbered.

"I know, but they still make my flesh crawl. Mind you, I could go for Jake. Now his voice has broken, he's just ripe for breaking in and I wouldn't mind doing it. You look at his eyes on the HD screen. They're absolutely beautiful."

"Okay, it's a deal," said Adam. "You break in Jake and I'll show Michael what it's really like to be queer."

"I'd think from the years he's been in the acting profession he'd show you a thing or two that would make your eyes water."

"Mmm, I like it. That Jake kid's name is Tyger in real life. What sort of parents would call their son Tyger. They couldn't even spell it right."

"No, it's not, Si. He goes to a public school in Surrey and his name's on their website." When the programme was over, they had their cocoa, said good night to Mrs Green and good evening to Brabazon just as he arrived back and they went up to bed. During term time Friday evening was their favourite time of the week, especially when there were no school matches the following day. All the cares of school were over for two days, they could put the cares of school behind them and make love for as long as their bodies would allow without having to worry about the time they got up the following morning.

The following morning Tony and Ben turned up at about eleven for their sleepover. The first thing they did was to plan what they were going to do. They decided on going to the cinema. If they went to the early evening performance, it would be light still and safe for the four of them to walk home or catch the bus. It just remained to decide what to see and ask Brabazon to provide something to eat when they got back. They decided to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid. As always they found plenty to amuse themselves with until it was time to go into town, and as usual they filled up on burgers and Pepsi in Burger Star. They were always mindful of their vulnerability as gay boys. Because of that, and because they were posh kids, they were always prepared to pay the extra and go up into the balcony to keep away from any trouble. They climbed the stairs and pushed their way along the empty back row to their seats. Not that they wanted to snog. There was plenty of opportunity for that when they got back to the van den Bergs' later. They chatted in a lively manner, as was their wont, until the lights went down. While they were talking, Tony said

"Sam said they were going on a date," said Adam. "Leave them alone. We'll say hi! on the way out."

"Just leave them alone," repeated Adam. "This is their first date. We don't want to spoil it for them." The lights went down and the interminable series of trailers started.

Down at the front of the balcony Tom and Sam were just getting comfy. They'd taken their hoodies off and laid them across their laps.

"You'll see." Sam already had his arm round Tom's shoulder and pulled him in so that their cheeks were close, so close that they could feel the warmth radiating. "All right?" he asked and as Tom nodded, he planted a light kiss on his cheek. Tom shuddered and snuggled up closer. He took hold of Sam's free hand and squeezed it. Sam took this as a come on signal and gave Tom a full kiss on the lips. Tom had never kissed a boy before, nor a girl except his sister, but she didn't count. Neither did adult relations. He didn't know what made him do it - these were uncharted waters - but without thinking twice he caressed Sam's lips with his tongue and then pushed it into his mouth. It seemed so natural. It met Sam's tongue. He didn't know what was making him do it, but it made him feel good. It was also making him go hard. He could feel that his boxers were moist, but it was a warm, pleasant feeling. Again he didn't know what made him do it, but he took Sam's hand, pulled it under his hoodie and placed it on his package. As they broke the kiss Sam said "Now you know why we put our hoodies across our laps. Unzip your trousers. That's better," and he slipped his hand inside Tom's fly. He stroked his dick as he gave him another kiss. He didn't know what was happening to him. He couldn't control himself when suddenly he felt a spurt of hot liquid come out of his dick and into Sam's hand. Sam left it there for a few moments, but when it started to grow cold, he withdrew it and wiped it on his handkerchief. They settled down to watch the rest of film, content with the occasional kiss and cuddle. Tom pulled up his zip.

When the film was over, they climbed the stairs up to the exit at the back. As they got there, Sam bumped into Tony, literally.

"Watching the film," answered Sam in a str8 tone and without any sense of irony. "What about you lot?"

"It's okay, thanks," replied Sam. "My dad's picking us up - like now." Adam winced at the 'like', but kept his thoughts to himself. The boys all said 'see ya later', although that obviously wasn't true, and said hi! to Mr Welham as they passed his car. The sun was setting fast, but once they had left the centre of town they felt safe. They didn't want to wait half an hour for a bus.

When they reached the van den Bergs' house, they found that Brabazon had left them one of his cold collations. While they were devouring that, he came in and made the cocoa. Afterwards he said he was retiring to his flat and would see them in the morning. If they needed anything urgently they should use the house phone, then he wished them good night. Once finished the boys went down to the games room and played snooker until it was time to go to bed.

"I shouldn't even bother," said Adam. "You'll have a fight on your hands with Sam. He's determined to make him his boyfriend and get him into bed."

The snooker finished, the boys made their way upstairs. They hung the 'Do Not Disturb' notices on their door handles and nothing more was to be heard from them apart from Adam reminding Tony and Ben to lay towels over his bed or he'll get it in the neck again from Mrs Green.

It was nine o'clock before anybody appeared in the kitchen for brunch. Finally all four were gathered and Brabazon served a pot of tea. Adam's iPhone vibrated. He took it off his belt and looked at the screen.

«Fantastic.» Adam held the phone so that the others could hear. «Well, you know how we got on at the cinema, since you had a grandstand view.»

"Us? Not us. We were all too absorbed in the film." This was accompanied by a mixture of laughter, coughing and spluttering. "It's all right, Sam. The gang's all here. We had a sleep over." Sam saw the funny side of it.

«You're all a load of voyeur weirdos,» he shouted over the phone. «Anyway, Dad took us back to our place. We'd arranged that Mr Bowler would pick Tom up at eleven and so once Mum had fed us it left us a couple of hours or so. We went up to my room and I showed him my computer, the games and my CDs and DVDs. He said he wasn't interested in computer games, but he was interested in my music and said he often played piano and keyboard at home, and sometimes composed his own music. We then got on and started talking about our cinema trip. One thing led to another and he said he'd never kissed anyone like that before and it made him feel all tingly and good. I asked him whether he wanted to do it again and he said okay. Well, nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more. I won't go into any detail, but it ended up with both of us shooting our load. He's got an absolutely fantastic body.»

«Yes, but the best bit's to come. When his father phoned him and said he was on his way, as we were putting our clothes back on he said 'Do you think we could become boyfriends like Adam and Simon?' I asked him if he really meant it and he said 'Yes, I need someone who understands what it is to be gay and someone who's special to me and, I hope, I'm special to him. I want us to be able to do stuff together, like this evening and even more maybe.' It made me grow hard again, but I had my undies back on by then. We sealed it with a kiss and finished getting dressed about a minute before Mr Bowler rang the front door bell. We're not going to tell our parents we're boyfriends. Not yet. We'll just let it come out sometime that we're best friends. They all know we're both gay. So they can come to their own conclusions. Same at school.»

"Who's for a run?" Adam called out. Lucy was the first in the queue. Tony and Ben, although not fitness fanatics, knew it was part of the routine of a sleep over at the van den Bergs' house, the price they had to pay for a night (and a morning) of unbounded love and lust, and they were willing to pay it. They reluctantly admitted to each other that they did feel better for it, that they were excited by being surrounded by the radiated warmth and arousing odours from attractive male bodies of their own age, and that Ben in particular needed the fitness if he was to keep on top of his sporting activities. There had been sufficient time for their light breakfast to go down and so they went up to their rooms to get changed. Tony and Ben looked great in their white shorts and yellow singlets. They were both below average height, but anyone looking at them could tell they were all man. It was impossible for Tony to disguise his bulge. That had become a fact of life. Similarly Ben's dick would always point forwards and show a clear outline in his shorts and certainly neither was going to give in to the hot and sweaty discomfort of wearing joggers. Simon and Adam had gone for wearing their school gym kit, uniform leotard and white shorts. Despite their different appearances they made a stunning couple, all the more so when they were observing corporate identity. They followed the established routine. Adam was training and so he steamed on ahead. They would meet at the wishing well. After that they would run down to the area called the common, play ball with Lucy, let her swim in the lake and wag her tail at the ducks. Then when it was time to go home Adam would run on ahead while the other three returned at their own speed.

After that came the fifty lengths swim. Tony and Ben were not so familiar with that.

"Why are you putting on costumes?" Tony asked when they were all gathered together again in the changing room of the swimming pool.

"This is hard training, not funtime," replied Adam while he was doing up the drawstring on his light blue Tom Daley Olympic speedo and adjusting his swimcap and goggles.

"You do what you want," said Simon, tucking his balls up inside his red speedo. "There are plenty of spare costumes if you want one." Ben and Tony decided they would skinnydip as usual, but remained on the side for some minutes, impressed with how both Adam and Simon powered their way through the water and smoothly performed perfect tumble turns at each end of the pool. The naked boys dived in, making sure that they kept out of the way of the two serious swimmers. They watched Adam complete his fiftieth length with Simon on forty-seven. Whatever he tried he could not make up the difference. As Simon improved, so did Adam and the difference never noticeably diminished. Adam and Simon climbed out of the pool, discarded their speedos, goggles and swimcaps and joined in the fun with their friends.

"Why did you bother with the swimcap in the first place?" asked Tony. "You've got your hair wet now."

"You cut through the water better," said Adam. "Haven't you noticed how many competitive swimmers actually shave their heads?"

"Oh," said Tony dully. "I thought they were naturally bald." Ben looked at his boyfriend rolling his eyes and shaking his head in despair.

By the time they had showered and dressed they were beginning to feel hungry. Adam stopped to look at Ben.

"You are looking absolutely hot today and I can't work out why." Ben posed and did a twirl. "Ah, yes. I've got it. It's your new tanktop. It was when you did that twirl. Do it again." Ben's Levi's simply rested on his hips - he was not even wearing a belt. They clasped his butt and showed off his package, but after that appeared not to touch his legs at all, but hung there, floating. His tanktop was of light blue cotton, tight, but only came down to an inch above his navel, and with such an alluring outie he was in the minority. His hips moved with the motion of a marionette. Adam found that he was drooling and quickly wiped his mouth with his handkerchief.

Arriving in the kitchen they seated themselves round the table while Brabazon brought in the hot dishes for a buffet. The boys served themselves. Brabazon asked them if there was anything else they needed and when all requirements had been satisfied he disappeared back to his pantry.

"Adam, I hope you don't mind my asking this," said Ben. Adam steeled himself thinking it might be an embarrassing question after he had busted him drooling at him. "Why do you do so much fitness?"

"Do you want the long answer?" Ben nodded. "Good, because there isn't a short answer." The other three boys finished filling their plates and settled down to eat and to listen to what Adam had to say. Simon was as interested as any of them for after more than a year there was still much that he didn't know about his lover. "It started at the time I was at my last school. It was a large comprehensive, probably twice the size of ours. You went to school, had lessons and came home. You knew a few people in your own year. You had a games lesson and a PE lesson once a week. There was a rugby team one term, soccer another and not much in the summer. I couldn't get a regular place in the rugby team and as you might know, Simon does, I was called up as a reserve one Saturday at the last minute. Otherwise I would have been in the same accident that killed my parents. I then had to go into an orphanage and to get out of the ghetto I used to go running. You've heard it all before, but that's how Simon and I met and eventually I ended up being adopted by Simon's dad and going to your school... our school. It wasn't until I got there that I discovered I wasn't bad at sport and I got a lot of encouragement, something that never happened at the comp. I could swim at home and I had Simon to do it with. Well, I've got to the stage, and, Si, you feel a bit this way now as well, that if I don't do any physical activity, and I mean strenuous activity, like running and swimming, I don't feel good within myself. Not ill, but restless, as if I've got ants crawling all over me under my skin. And there you are, plus the fact it's made me county cross-country champion against boys a year older than me, and a regular player in the school XV."

"Look," said Tony "the old married couple are arguing already," and there was laughter all round, plus a punch on the arm for Tony.

"Who's the old couple arguing now?" said Simon, accompanied by a whole lot more laughter. When it had died down, Adam continued

"No, I mean generally at school. He must have had a pretty rough deal at his old school. What was it called? St Talbot's?"

"Great," answered Simon. "The others seem to like him. He needs time to settle, of course. He's had to start a new syllabus in some subjects, but maths and science and languages he's okay, except he hasn't done any Latin and it's too near GCSE to start it now."

"Of course, it's no secret he's gay, you see, because of the company he keeps," said Adam.

"Exactly. The str8 community has accepted him and we'd soon sort them out if they hadn't," said Simon. By this time they had all finished eating and so they decided on a little post-prandial R & R before going out and playing football on the back lawn.

Finally Ben and Tony were picked up and taken home. Without them there the house became eerie in a way it hadn't been before. Philip would be away until Tuesday and although that had happened before, since he had divested the family concern of the South African business, both Adam and Simon had got used to having him around. Brabazon was growing noticeably older and more sepulchral, even in the year that Adam had known him. Simon wondered what his life would have been like if Adam had not come into it. He would have coped in the way he had coped between his mother's death and Adam's arrival. He could not underestimate what Adam had brought into his life. It was easy to dismiss their relationship as consisting of sex and nothing else, a 'fuckfest' some had dismissed it as, but although admittedly their active lovelife was central to the relationship, it was in no way the whole. Companionship was the essence, mutual dependence was developing as time went on. Perhaps they had got it backwards. Wild oats should be sown before a stable relationship is formed. They formed a stable relationship and still have to deal with the wild oats, largely by being open with one another about their lusts and feelings. Sam had already been one victim of their lust. They had discussed this with Tony and Ben, and over the weekend broached their idea of a 'husband-swapping party'. Now Tom had come on the scene and neither boy denied being interested.

At that moment the telephone rang and Brabazon announced it was Mr Philip. The boys went into their downstairs study and put the phone on speaker. They exchanged news and after the call was ended Simon said to Adam

"I don't know about you, but I suspect at some stage Belinda is going to become a more significant part of our family life."

"Whatever you feel about that," said Adam "remember I will always be here for you."

"So what are we going to do tomorrow?" said Simon, nonchalantly changing the subject completely.

"We could always end up at the Banks's farm. They don't get public holidays. Or we could cycle out and join the Legges at Angelica's gymkhana. Or we could try that new cycle path they've opened, the one that goes along the old canal towpath."

"And we'll take some money and buy lunch out rather than take sandwiches," said Adam. They retired to the media room to watch Last of the Summer Wine.

The week at school passed quickly, probably because it was only a four day week. On Monday the boys did take a bike ride and ended up doing all four suggestions. Angelica was rather flattered that they should have taken the trouble. Philip was buoyant after his long weekend away. Saturday arrived and the boys had asked Brabazon to make an appointment with the travelling hair stylist. Adam wanted to look his best for the evening. This was one of the differences between him and Simon. Simon was one of those people who always looked neat naturally, even after being pulled through the proverbial hedge backwards. Adam had all the physical attributes; he was stronger, had the perfectly shaped body, but he needed the care and attention to appear at his best. He had to work on it. Adam knew that Simon inherited his natural beauty from his mother. He had seen the photographs. He had inherited other qualities from Philip.

On Saturday evening Philip drove his besuited family to the Carltons' house. It was situated in the countryside midway between their own town and the city where Ben attended school. Simon and Adam mused how it must just have been a question of luck that their school had missed out on having Ben as a pupil and wondered if things would have been different if he'd attended their school. Later that evening they were to find out that Mr and Mrs Carlton had wanted their children to attend the same school. Adam and Simon's school was the last bastion of boys only schools in the locality and by going against the trends of fashion it was thriving on the fact.

The van den Bergs were the first to arrive and they were welcomed by the Carlton family. Isabella appeared in a long turquoise gown and warpaint and in the company of her new young man, introduced as Rupert. The opening stakes for her battle with Angelica for female supremacy were high. He was introduced to Simon and Adam who were visibly impressed (with him, of course) and the boys' tacit looks spoke volumes, but centred on a single thought. Do you think we can get our hands inside his trousers before the evening is out? Simon's subsequent looked spelt out 'Don't even go there' while Adam's next look was an innocent 'Now would I?" The final look exchanged was one of a different kind of agreement: 'Yes, given half a chance we both would.' This conversation without words was interrupted by the arrival of the Legge family. Ben and Tony kissed each other on the cheek on greeting, something they staunchly refused to do with their prospective mothers-in-law. That would have been a step too far. Adam and Simon approved. However, the star of the show, unforgivably so as far as Isabella was concerned, was our Thelwell girl, Angelica, who had decided to keep things simple and wore a black cocktail dress and minimal make up. The look Isabella gave her as she came into the room promised an interesting evening. William was as bouncy as ever.

But herein lay the error of Isabella's ways. She had pretentions whereas Angelica had none. She enjoyed life, whatever it threw at her, whilst Isabella was inside an unhappy person who expected life to come to her. She exuded discontent in the same measures as Angelica dispensed happiness. If only someone could discover why and explain it convincingly to her, she might, just might, find happiness.

The three families stood or sat over drinks in the living room while Judith Carlton made the final preparations in the kitchen. Amanda and Angelica Legge offered to help, but were assured that everything was proceeding as planned. Peter Carlton continued to dispense drinks while Ben looked after the younger element. Finally the assembled company was called to take their places at the table in the dining room. As they took their seats, Amanda noticed that there was an empty setting.

"No, Amanda, one of those annoying little things. When I came to counting up, I noticed we'd invited nine, which with us four made thirteen at table which would never have done. And so we have the absent friend."

"Oh, you should have telephoned us. We could always have left William at home with a takeaway from the fish and chip shop."

"It's all right, Will," said Tony, gently placing his arm round his shoulder. "Mum's only winding you up."

"Because Angelica and I are far too intelligent and mature to be wound up by a little thing like that."

"Ooh!" William's attitude softened immediately and he started to giggle. However, hearing Angelica described as intelligent and mature, did not go down well with the young lady in turquoise, as her face betrayed. The irony, even though William would not have viewed it as such, was that he was acknowledged within the family as probably the brightest of the three Legge children. Mature was a different matter.

It was interesting that the places were set so that the couples were split up, with one exception, Isabella and Rupert. That was part of a tantrum prevention exercise. Adam and Simon were seated either side of Angelica and they were quite content to talk to her about her riding, gymkhana and horses. The absent guest was seated next to Isabella, not that she noticed as she alternated between her budding affection for Rupert and being driven by the green eyed monster. Across the table Simon and Adam chatted affably with Rupert, not that the motive was entirely sociable. They were driven by something else, the one eyed trouser snake. Peter Carlton carved from a large joint of pork. William, innocent William, tried to talk to Isabella, but irrepressible as he was by nature, even he found it hard going, but then, he didn't realise how the odds were stacked against him - simply because he was so young. She had obviously forgotten that he was gay or he would have been metaphorically cast into outer space. Only Philip and Rupert managed to get a civil word out of her.

Despite all that the evening passed with a very cordial atmosphere. The boys were always very good value and if there was a lull in the conversation William could be relied on to say something that would provoke it back into life. This is where David and Amanda had been so sensible in his upbringing. He could at times be a little wearing, but they had deemed it sensible to allow him to talk freely - none of this 'children should be seen and not heard' business - and let him reach his natural level among those surrounding him. They had made all their mistakes bringing up Angelica and Tony and learnt from the experience, or so they thought, but William, as is natural for the third child in the order of arrival, ploughed his own, but often a new furrow. The Legges were fortunate that there was not an ounce of malice in any of their offspring.

At the end of the meal the ladies retired to the kitchen for communal feeding of the dishwasher, a synonym for girlie gossip, while the menfolk withdrew to the withdrawing room to discuss the way of the world. In the olden days they would have smoked cigars and sipped brandy, but that was all a thing of the past. William was proud to be allowed to join the men. After five minutes or so it dawned on our boys that Ben, Tony and Rupert hadn't joined them.

"Oh, they're showing Rupert Ben's room," elucidated William. "I wanted to go up with them, but they said it was too small for four. Still, I don't mind. This is where the real men are."

"Washing his hair. Mum wouldn't ask if he could come along too. She thought it a bit of a cheek. She said that if Mark and I had been engaged it would be different. Still, that's mums for you." At times Will could sound so comical without intending to be so. That was part of his charm. He sounded so ridiculously grown up because his brother and sister were that much older.

"Rupert, you realise that apart from you all the teenage boys here are gay, don't you?" said Ben.

"Well, I'm twenty. So you can say all the teenagers are. No, I didn't. They don't appear gay."

"If you're going to be Isabella's boyfriend, you will have to be gay friendly. Can you prove you're gay friendly?"

"Not really. If you think I'm going to kiss you all, you've got another think coming."

"Feel my balls," said Ben. Rupert gently put his hand up between Ben's legs. "Mmm, you've done that before. Now Tony." Tony breathed in deeply and rolled his eyes as he felt Rupert lift his package. By his face Rupert was suitably impressed. "Now let Tony feel yours."

"What did you expect? You probably don't know this, but I did spend seven years at a boys' boarding school."

"You can undo my zip if want to." Ben did just that and Rupert's dick sprang out. "Right, you let the genie out of the bottle, as it were. Now suck it." Ben didn't need asking twice. He got Rupert to sit in the swivel chair at his desk, knelt between his knees and did the stuff. Rupert gave a little yelp as his orgasm came and Ben took all his seed in his mouth. "Now do you believe I'm gay friendly? And you've done that before, haven't you?"

"We'd better be getting downstairs. They'll be wondering where we've got to." He went off to the bathroom to rinse his face and the three of them went down and appeared in the living room, looking like the cat that got the cream. At least Ben did.

"Oh, Ben, darling," said his mother. "You've spilt something down the front of that nice clean shirt." Ben blushed and mumbled

Isabella and Rupert talked among themselves. Adam and Simon were talking to Angelica to give her support and the conversation got round to horses again.

"I think," said Adam "we've just found something to do at half term. What do you think, Si?"

"Oh, horses for courses," said Adam and laughed at his own joke. Simon looked at him apologetically and Angelica smiled charmingly.

"I'm going there again at half term too," she said. "I'll give you the web address. You can download their brochure."

"Riding breeches rather than jodhpurs. Two reasons - personal comfort. The seams are in the right places and they stop you sliding about in the saddle."

"Riding boots because of the shape of the heel. What you do need, so the lads tell me, is good quality, well padded underwear designed to keep your wedding tackle from bouncing up and down on the saddle. You can get that at any shop that sells riding accessories. A tack shop it's called." Simon and Adam looked at one another grinning. "And one thing that is essential is a hard hat, and your cycling helmets will not do."

"Right, we'll have a talk with Philip and let you know. And Angelica, is it true that girls like horse riding because it gives them an orgasm?"

"Adam Neave, I am not even going to entertain that question. It's for us girls to know, and you boys will never find out, and it can be of no possible interest to a gay boy," she said coquettishly and all three of them ended up giggling away.

"You haven't been at the port, you three, have you?" said Philip as he walked across the room to join them.

"No," said Simon. "We've been talking about horse riding and wondered if you'd let us go on a beginners' course over half term."

"No, I don't mind. If you two are away it might just give me some time to perfect my golf swing and Belinda's partial to playing a round. OMG! What have I just said?" It was Philip's turn to blush.

"It's called a Freudian slip, Dad," said Simon drily. The boys then joined up with Tony, Ben and William.

At eleven thirty it was time to take leave and the two families gathered, said their thank yous, complimented their hostess on the quality of the meal and said good night. Ben and Tony kissed, this time on the lips. The Carltons hoped that the inevitable revving of car engines and shutting of doors wouldn't disturb the neighbours.

Back at home the boys went to bed str8away. They were tired and content to snuggle up to each other's body until they quickly went to sleep. Sunday morning would be time enough to make love, slowly and passionately. The boys all met again at school on Monday. It wasn't until lunchtime's meeting of the Club that they had a chance to talk about the weekend.

"Simply loved it. It's great fun to dress up and be treated like adults." Tom and Sam were all ears and wanted to know everything about it. Adam explained how the two families had been invited to the Carltons' for dinner and what they had done.

"You know, Simon, we started that trend with our anniversary dinner," said Adam proudly.

"He doesn't deserve that Isabella. Don't take that the wrong way. I don't mean she's too good for him. Quite the opposite." He lowered his voice in a conspiratorial tone. "You know Ben gave him a BJ?"

"What?" exploded Adam. He and Simon struck an exaggerated pose, wide eyed with their open mouths covered by their fingers and a shocked expression on their faces. Then they looked at one another. Sam and Tom, though saying nothing, were by their looks growing more and more interested by the second. "To think that out of courtesy we made the definite decision to leave him untouched. Wait till I see that Benjamin Carlton. I'll have a thing or two to say to him."

"So will I," added Simon and tutted. The mini-pantomime over he leant over towards Tony and said "Well, aren't you going to give us the lowdown?"

"Nothing to tell really. It's just that between dinner and coffee we took Rupert up to Ben's room. He wanted know if he was anti-gay since he was going out with his sister and it happened."

"More or less just like that," replied Tony without going into detail. "Anyway, Ben now knows that Rupert isn't in the least homophobic." The first bell rang and none of the Club members had even finished their meal. William walked past with Mark in tow, waved in a circular manner, said

"Hi, guys. Great night on Saturday, wasn't it?" and moved on without waiting for an answer.

"That brother of yours, Tony, is becoming a bigger and bigger tart each day," said Sam. "If he goes on like that, I couldn't guarantee his virginity any more."

"What virginity?" laughed Tony. "He lost that ages ago. You'd be better off spending the time guarding Tom's chastity."

"Hey, guys, do I get a say in this?" interjected Tom. With everybody laughing at the adolescent posturing, the boys moved out for their various activities.

"Don't know yet. I've got to be careful. I want to strengthen my legs for rugby and running, and I want to develop my abs just to look good on the beach, and for you of course," he added with a grin, "and maybe my pecs, but I don't want to turn into beefcake. Beefcake and bears are not exactly to my taste. After Wednesday's session I'll be able to use the machines we've got in the games room. Will you spot for me?"

At second break the following day Sam came up to Adam and Simon in the school yard.

"In the you-know-what having his morning you-know-what. And that's one of the things I want to talk to you about."

"S'pose so if you put it like that. It's just that you are probably the most experience queers in the school."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," said Adam "but I would say there are one or two masters certainly more experienced than we'd know how to be." He gave Simon a knowing look.

"Yeah, okay, I've had my bottom patted by Mr Bennett," said Sam "but I can't exactly go up to him and ask what I want to ask you."

"Why? I quite like it and I always get good marks from him. And if it gives him a little bit of pleasure, so what?"

"Yeah, sure, couldn't be better. Well, yes, fine and it could be better. That's what I want to talk to you about."

"As I said, everything's fine between us. I adore him and I think he likes me too, but that's just it. We want to take it further, like you two, and like Tony and Ben, Paul and Robin, but we can't get any private time together."

"Okay," said Sam, "Mum and Dad make him welcome at our house and his parents make me welcome at theirs. But we can't get any real privacy, know what I mean?" Adam winced at the cockney cliché. "You can hear everything that's going on in our rooms and you can't exactly be intimate to heavy metal, even if it does drown the sound out."

"You know what, Adam?" said Simon. "I think we'd better get Dad to have a chat to Mr Bowler when they're playing golf. You see, Sam, our family with the Carltons and the Legges have shared what they like to call 'our little problem' for over a year and between them they've gained a lot of experience. But what experience have your parents and the Bowlers got? Who do they talk to?"

"No one as far as I know," said Sam with a shrug of the shoulders. "I'm beginning to see what you mean."

"I'm sure Simon's Dad has a pretty shrewd idea about what we get up to and he chooses not to mention it. He gives us space. I'm sure it's the same with Tony and Ben's parents."

"You've got to remember that parents are usually fully paid up members of the Heterosexual Club and therefore haven't the slightest idea of what our needs are," said Simon.

"And one of your needs," said Simon "is that you and Tom spend some time at our place on a sleep over. Not only will you both be able to do what you want to do together, but it will give your parents a chance to chat to our dad and perhaps the Legges as well."

"And after that you'll probably find that Tom won't have to go for a wank in the bogs every morning."

"You don't realise how much noise you make, especially when you come," said Simon, lying through his teeth. "I should think the whole school knows."

"That's what you've got a boyfriend for," said Adam. "To give Tom Thumb and his four helpers a rest."

"My god," said Tom Bowler, "this school is soo different from my last one. I'd have had my balls cut off if this conversation had taken place there."

"Well, that's got that out into the open," Adam said quietly to Sam as Simon took Tom off to the next lesson.

That evening Simon and Adam cycled home and found Philip there when they got in. They soon had supper together which gave the boys a chance to have a chat with him.

"I think I know what quality time means when you two use the term," said Philip, not wanting to sound sarcastic. "So what do you want me to do?"

"The first bit's easy," said Adam. "Can we invite them for a sleep over, please?"

"Sure. That's fine by me. We know Sam. He's been here before and I've known the Bowlers for years. Bob and I are in the same Lodge. They're a good family."

"Well, could you have a chat with him" said Simon "and explain that they need a bit of space and how you give us space?"

"What you have to remember, boys, is that when you discover your son is gay, it can be quite a shock."

"No, it was different with you. At the time I was dealing with your mother's illness. I think when you discover that your wife is battling against a life-threatening disease, nothing else can shake you more than that. Looking back I probably didn't give you the attention you needed at the time."

"I'm pleased about that. We both had a lot to thank Brabazon for then, and Mrs Green. Still, we're digressing. What you want me to do is to talk to him, and perhaps Tom's mother, about being parents to a gay boy."

"And, if possible, get them together with the Legges and the Carltons," said Adam.

"Leave it with me, my sons." Simon liked it when his father included Adam as his son. He would like Adam to call him dad, but except for the odd occasion that was still a long way off. "I'll see what I can do, but don't expect miracles and don't expect it to happen tomorrow. I shan't see Bob Bowler until Saturday. Then it's got to be just the two of us talking together and it's certainly not a thing I want to discuss over the telephone."

"And yes, go ahead with the sleep over. The weekend after next I've got golf on Saturday and Sunday. So that will give you plenty of space... and me."

After dinner Lucy took Adam and Simon for walkies. Now that it was mid-May it remained light until nine, or later still when the sky was clear.

"We'll have to talk to Brabazon about arranging dinner. We can't run on a full stomach."

The next morning, Thursday, the four lads met for a walk round the fields during second break. Unusually Tom joined them right at the beginning of break that day.

"We've had a chat at home with our dad," said Simon, "and he'll have a chat with your father, Tom, when they're playing golf at the weekend. He's got one or two ideas that might help."

"Meanwhile," said Adam "we'd like to invite you both to a sleep over at our place, not this coming weekend, but the following one. Let us know tomorrow, if you can, and Simon's dad will then telephone your parents to make it official."

"We suggest you turn up after school on Friday and leave after breakfast on Monday and that'll give you three nights."

"...and don't bother with any swimming kit," added Simon. "We've got plenty of spare towels. Oh, one other thing. A proper shirt, tie and trousers. Dad insists on us dressing properly for Sunday dinner."

"Your school stuff will do," said Adam. One circuit of the fields and they heard the bell for the end of break.

Midday on Saturday Philip and his three friends had just finished playing the eighteenth hole. There was rain in the wind. Bob Bowler had won the round, but he wasn't Philip's partner that week and Philip had come third.

"Thanks, but I ought to be getting back for lunch," said one of the others. "I got it in the neck last week for being late, and a lunch that had gone cold."

"Many a good business deal done on the golf course, or rather at the nineteenth hole," joked Bob.

"Nothing to do with business. It's our boys' little problem," said Philip. "There I go again. My two would castigate me if they heard me call it a 'little problem'. They always say it's no problem as far as they are concerned." They put their clubs into the boot of their cars, went into the changing room to change their shoes and made for the bar. "No, half of bitter will do me fine, thanks, Bob. I've got to drive."

"I don't know how much your Tom talks to you about things. My two are quite good, though they don't tell me everything and I wouldn't expect them to. They need some privacy. I know what I was like at their age. So forgive me if I am telling you what you already know." They both made themselves comfortable on the leather sofa. "Simon and Adam are quite open about their homosexuality, at home and at school. They have this thing going at school - they call it the Club and they take over a lunch table with all their gay friends, and this is how they got to know Tom and I gather they like him. I may be telling tales out of school, but Tom has acquired a best friend called Sam Welham. I'll say no more than that for the moment."

"Anyway, my two have interceded on their behalf because they haven't enough space to develop their relationship. Quality time they've nicknamed it."

"Yes, but it probably means the holding hands and kissing end of the scale, Bob."

"Betty and I are finding all this difficult at the moment. We're just getting used to the idea that Tom's gay. I doubt whether we've known for three months yet. We try to compare it with his getting a girlfriend, but that gets us absolutely nowhere. You see, we've got absolutely no one to turn to for experience and advice. Betty's been to bookshops and the public library. Nothing."

"We're not going to social workers. With what I've seen and what we've read in the papers we've no confidence in them whatsoever."

"I'm not talking about social workers," said Philip. "We've joined forces with some other families in the same position. I don't whether you know the Legge family, then there's the Banks's and you won't know the Carltons because their boy goes to a different school. We've gained a lot of strength from one another, largely through support and exchanging experiences. Would you like another drink, Bob?"

"Just before we go, a couple of things. I suggest we have a little get together one evening at our place so that you and Betty can meet the others, and my two have invited Tom and Sam to ours for a sleep over next weekend and I wanted to check that was okay with you."

"I'm sure it is," said Bob, "but I must check with the other half in case there's something on the family calendar. Thanks for that. It's nice to know we're not alone after all. And I'll see what we can do about giving Tom and Sam some space... sorry, I mean quality time," and he grinned to show that he'd seen the joke.

"I take the view," said Philip "that if they're going to get up to anything, they will anyway and saying no just makes it a greater challenge and devalues the word no when it becomes really important. I'm just grateful that my two are not into alcohol and have nothing to do with drugs, and that's why openness is so important to me."

"Oh, of course. That comes round so quickly. I don't know where the months go to."

"And I'll give you a ring on the other things later today as soon as I've had a chance to talk to Betty."

"I had a chat to Tom's dad when we'd finished our round. I'm going to ask Brabazon to organise a get together one evening for all the parents of your gay friends and they can get to know one another and exchange stories. You can make yourselves scarce for that. In fact I'll try and arrange it for when you're away learning how to fall off horses. And the other thing is that Tom and Sam have got permission to sleep over here next weekend."

Accordingly arrangements for the big weekend were made. Simon and Adam left their cycles double padlocked together in bike sheds at school and were taken home along with Tom, Sam and their kit by Mrs Welham. They were greeted by Brabazon who invited them into the library. It was the first time Mrs Welham had met Brabazon and since she had met neither Philip nor heard of Brabazon before wondered why Mr van den Berg was dressed in striped trousers, black jacket, winged collar and black tie. She wondered if the family business was an undertakers. When he announced that Mr van den Beg apologised for not being there, but he had been delayed, things became less unclear. Brabazon offered her a cup of tea, but she declined, saying she had to get home to the family. She was shown out and the boys watched the spacewagon disappear down the drive. Brabazon organised the boys.

"Now young gentleman. Master Simon and Master Adam, please show Master Samuel and Master Thomas to their quarters. I understand the guest rooms are not required." He emphasised 'the guest rooms not required' and double stressed the plural in a way that only a trained butler could. "I suggest you all change and bring your school uniforms down for valeting. Dinner will be at eight. I expect Mr Philip at seven thirty." Adam and Simon were used to the routine, but Tom and Sam just stood there open mouthed.

Our boys took them up to their rooms, told them to stow their kit in Adam's room because that was where they would be sleeping.

"We just didn't think..." said Tom. "We thought it would be a couple of camp beds or a sofa when you said don't bring sleeping bags."

"You wanted quality time together," said Simon, "you've got quality time together."

"This is my room, by the way," said Adam. "I just move over to Simon's. If you need anything, you'll find it in my bedside table." Sam opened the drawer and his eyes opened wide when he saw what was there.

"We'll explain later." They showed their guests the communal bathroom. "There's another one at the end of the landing. Dad's got his own private one in his room. So you can use that one freely."

"If you don't want to be disturbed, and who does on a Saturday morning," continued Adam, "put the 'Do Not Disturb' notice on the door handle outside and bolt the bathroom door on your side."

"Get up when you feel like it in the morning. We have help yourself brunch throughout the morning and into lunchtime. Brabazon will look after you. Dad will be off playing golf and if we're not around, we'll either be out on our morning run or still in bed."

"There are plenty of things to do," said Simon. "You can go on the internet, but use the computers in our downstairs study. Brabazon will show you. You won't get into our personal ones up here."

"Or you can use the games room," said Adam. "But keep off the weight machines. I only got trained up enough to use them last week and then I can only use them if Simon spots for me. The swimming pool is locked. We can use that later."

"Anything else, just ask," said Simon. "You've got Adam's television and DVD and CD players."

"And we forgot. If you want to read, you can use the library. There are plenty of back copies of GY mag there."

"Gay Youth Magazine." Sam and Tom couldn't believe what they were hearing and seeing. It was a different world.

"Come and have a look at my room," said Simon "and then we'd better get ready for our run or we won't have time before dinner."

"And don't forget to give your school uniforms to Brabazon before we go," added Adam. "You can use those hangers."

Adam and Simon showed Tom and Sam Simon's room and then they went back through the bathroom to Adam's to get changed.

"Our athletics kit from this afternoon." They fetched it from their sportsbags. "Come on, Si, swapsies. I want to wear your lycras and breathe in your BO." They threw their lycras to one another. Adam caught Simon's and immediately sniffed the crotch. "Ah, that's better. Hey, you dirty little devil. I can smell precum."

"Yeah, I cannot tell a lie. I leaked a bit when I looked at your butt as you were bending over doing your warm up. Instant stiffie and I didn't leak a bit. It was quite a lot, actually. I was afraid someone would notice a damp patch." Adam sniffed it again, stripped off and pulled the lycra singlet on in one smooth, practised motion and adjusted his balls.

"Not today, Si. I've been held too tight all day and I'm in that sort of mood. And we've got guests to entertain, don't forget." Simon wasn't so bold. "Which reminds me," continued Adam. "Let's get our strategy sorted out. You know when we run up to the wishing well? I want to take Tom up on the north path while you take Sam and Lucy up on the west path and we'll meet at the top, okay?"

"As if... I'd only do that with your permission... but now you come to mention it..." Simon gave him a look. "No, I don't want to spoil their night. I just want to have a one to one Uncle Adam talk because I don't think our Thomas is very experienced and I want him to enjoy his weekend with us."

"Yeah, good, isn't it," replied Adam admiring himself in the full length mirror. "You know, Si, I do get excited when we're breaking in a new brother."

They set out. Sam and Tom were wearing their athletics kit from the afternoon session, but a little more modestly than Adam. He smiled to himself, catching Simon's eye, whenever he caught them checking him out. They didn't have time to let Lucy anywhere near the lake or to play ball with her. The manœuvre worked. Simon explained that Adam always preferred to take the steeper route up to the well and he and Tom were gone before Sam could do anything but follow Simon up the longer route. To Adam's amazement Tom was keeping up with him well. He might at last have some competition. He decided to get to the wishing well as soon as possible and they could talk there. He knew he could depend on Simon to slow Sam down.

Fortunately there was no one else around by the wishing well at that time of the evening.

"I don't know what you're going to do, but I take it from what you've said that you're still a virgin."

"No, but if you decide you're going to lose your virginity, Sam will have to be gentle with you. He knows that. We trained him... but it cost him his virginity. Use lots of K-Y. There's plenty in the drawer by my bed, and condoms. You'll have to talk to him about that, protected or unprotected sex. It's probably better with, as the inside of your bottoms could be a bit yeuky, even after a good shower. That's what the enema kit's for."

"It's there to make your bottom really clean, for barebacking or rimming, cream pies. It's got all the instructions. Just make sure you use lukewarm water, not hot and certainly not cold, and as near to body temperature as possible. And don't do anything that both of you aren't absolutely happy with. You don't have to shag on your first weekend together." At that they could hear footsteps and heavy breathing. Long before any humans appeared a spaniel did, and came up to Adam, wagging her tail and trying to lick his face. "Just enjoy yourselves and be gentle with one another."

After a few minutes' breather the boys started the run home. They had to go down the path in pairs because it was so narrow. Adam ran with Sam this time.

"I asked him when I told him that Simon and I don't and whether that would spook him."

They arrived home, took off their trainers and left them in the scullery. Upstairs Simon said

"You two use the shower in the bathroom. Adam and I will use the one on the landing." At that moment the gong sounded.

"Fifteen minutes to get showered, changed and into the kitchen for supper," said Adam.

"And you won't make it in time unless you shower together," added Simon mischievously.

When they arrived in the kitchen with half a minute to spare, Philip was there to greet them. He shook hands with Tom whom he hadn't met before.

"Hallo, Tom. I've heard such a lot about you from your father." Tom coloured up wondering what could have been said. "Your father and I have known each other for years." Brabazon served the food which was one of his substantial cold meals, a selection of meats to which the diners added their own assorted salads and pasta, hot new potatoes and relish. He then retired to his pantry. "So what are you lads going to do over the weekend?"

"Make sure you do," said Philip. "If I know you lot, it'll be training for this, swimming for that, and it will be no rest at all from what you do at school all week."

"Amazingly. Dad's already said he doesn't know why he and Mum didn't send me to school here in the first place. Ellie goes to day school."

"And without the need for a surgical operation," added Adam. All four lads dissolved into giggles, to Philip inexplicably so.

"We must do something about that. I'm thinking of asking Brabazon to organise a little hospitality for all your parents. Probably over half term."

"That's okay. It's going to be parents only. We all love our children, but there is the saying 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'."

"Why is it called the Cockatoo Club," asked Tom who still hadn't been enlightened.

After the lemon meringue pie had been demolished, the boys disappeared to the media room to watch a DVD on the big screen.

"We won't spoil the story," said Adam, "but it's very funny and Simon's got a big crush on Ben Silverstone because he reminds him of me. Look, he's got a stiffie already, just in anticipation."

"He'll be a complete animal in bed tonight now. I shan't be able to control him. I'll show you the scratch marks down my chest and back in the morning. And my earlobe will be bleeding where he bites it. That's why I can't have a stud. We're scared he'll swallow it." Meanwhile Sam and Tom were rolling around with laughter.

"Oh, we've forgotten all about him. Anyway, that's not what I said, Simon," corrected Adam. "He's very sexy, extremely good looking and seductive, and he's got star quality. You two can make up your own minds about him," he said to Tom and Sam who were absolutely amazed. They had never seen this comedy double act before at school.

"Usually we've got to have an audience first," answered Adam. He put the DVD into the player and the two couples settled back into the two deep settees with their arms round their boyfriends and quietly watched the film.

When it had ended the boys went off to the kitchen for cocoa and biscuits, then said good night to Philip and Brabazon and went up to bed. The boys split and went to their respective rooms. As Adam and Simon were getting undressed, Adam said

Meanwhile in the other bedroom two diffident, giggly adolescents were making eyes at one another, unable to cope with the fact that they were at last together, alone and in private, not to be disturbed for the next ten hours or so. Sam hung the notice on the bedroom door handle. Tom slipped the catch across on the bathroom door.

"Sam, I want to watch you undress. Slowly." He started by taking his shoes and socks off and putting his socks inside his shoes. He stood and slowly pulled his tee shirt over his head. "Stop there a moment." Tom just stared at first, then ran the palm of his hand over Sam's flat stomach. The muscles were hard. He stuck his courting finger into his belly button, sniffed it, licked it, then ran his wet finger round his nipples. All this had an electrifying effect on Sam. It not only made him hard, but also made his body tingle all over and forced him to draw in deep breaths. "Now your trousers. Nothing else." Sam now stood there in his tighty whitey Calvin Kleins. Tom could see he was already hardening up. "No boxers?"

"Not these days," replied Sam. Tom continued to stare at Sam who didn't feel in the least bit uncomfortable or embarrassed, but increasingly horny. Finally Tom could hold back no longer, but took him in a hug and kissed him deeply, in a way he hadn't kissed him since their date in the cinema. "Your turn now, Tom," said Sam as he desperately tried to re-arrange his burgeoning cock and keep it inside his slip. Tom did exactly the same. Trainers and socks off, polo shirt over his head and stop. Sam just looked. He nodded. Tom lowered his sweats and stood there in his boxers, his semi-hard dick peeping out of the slit. Sam walked over to the bed, pulled back the duvet, sat on the bed and patted it to entice Tom to come and sit beside him. When he did, he lifted Tom's legs onto the bed, lay down beside him and kissed him deeply. During the kiss he slid Tom's boxers over his buttocks, broke the kiss, took the boxers off completely, dropped his own slip and took Tom in his arms again for another kiss. His free hand started to explore. 'This is no Miles Long,' he thought to himself. 'However long it takes, I shall be sinking in between those butt cheeks and squirting my seed.' Tom was in heaven.

Tom and Sam woke at about eight o'clock. The sun was trying to shine through the curtains and so it was quite light in the room. They woke together entwined in one another's arms, their rampant, red hot cocks pressed against the other's body. As their eyes opened they looked at each other, smiled at first and giggled. This was the first time Tom had ever woken up with another boy in his bed. They heard movement in the bathroom and the next bedroom.

"It's only Simon and Adam going for their morning run," said Sam. "You don't want to join them, do you?"

"Not this morning," answered Tom and smiled. "But there is something I must do." He hoisted himself out of bed and went into the bathroom to relieve himself. He washed his dick before going back to bed.

"I'll do the same," said Sam. Back in bed they cuddled up to each other under the duvet.

"I used to up until the beginning of Year 9. I found I kept getting stiffies when I least wanted them. I couldn't get my balls comfortable and kept fiddling with them. So I swapped over to slips. They control the boners and I'm getting used to the way they hold my balls. I even like it now."

"I know what you mean," replied Tom. "I might change myself. I'm becoming more and more conscious of the dingly-danglies and then I grow hard at the wrong moment. Usually when everybody's looking at me. Give me a kiss, Sam." They kissed, finally coming up for air. "That's made me hard again."

Tom put his hand down into Sam's groin and felt how stiff and hot his prick was. He nodded.

About nine Sam and Tom appeared in the kitchen just as Simon and Adam were returning from their run with Lucy. They said good morning. Adam went on

"We'll do our fifty lengths later," said Simon. Tom and Sam helped themselves to breakfast. Brabazon came in from his pantry to wish them good morning and ask if there was anything else they needed. They tucked in to cereal, then helped themselves to a cooked breakfast. Their nocturnal activity had made them hungry. Adam and Simon very quickly joined them, dressed in 501s and identical white sleeveless tee shirts with navy blue braiding round the neck and where the sleeves should have been which showed off that both had the beginnings of armpit hair. The two boys wore their 501s differently, though. On Simon they were tight and emphasised the outline of his body; on Adam they were loose and hung str8 down and the only interruption in the line was the bulge of his package: identical garments, but different in their fitting.

"Crashed out as soon as we put the light out," said Tom " and didn't wake until eight."

"Yes, very comfortable mattress," repeated Sam. Simon and Adam gave in. They were obviously not going to find out any more. Well, not yet. They charged their plates from the brunch buffet, went and sat down at the breakfast table and got on with their food.

"We can go boywatching," said Adam, "then to Burger Star, and then go and see Colin and pick up a vid for this evening."

"Yeah," answered Simon. "We sit on a bench in the main square where everybody gathers on non-school days and take in the eye candy."

"There's a little game we play, but we'll explain that later," said Adam. "And let's take our skateboards. We don't get much of a chance to use them."

"By the way," said Tom "why is it called the Cockatoo Club?" The other three burst out laughing, but Adam summoned enough pity to put him out of his misery at long last and he burst out laughing too.

After cleaning their teeth the four of them got underway to the town centre. They took turns using the skateboards. It was the first time Tom had ridden one and he caught on quite quickly. Considering it was still quite early for a Saturday morning there was already quite a gathering of the town's youth. The majority of them sat on the steps leading up to the plinth with the statue of William the Conqueror. Adam and Simon always kept themselves slightly apart. It was a form of self-protection after they got threatened that time for being gay and it gave them space to run if it came to a confrontation. They were naturally always on the look out just in case. The four of them fitted nicely onto one of the benches at the edge of the square and it gave them a good view.

"You see that boy over there in the khaki cargo shorts and the checked blue and white shirt?"

"Yes, but you don't get any points for that. Firstly do you think he is wearing briefs or boxers, or going commando even?"

"Fair enough answer," said Adam, "but it doesn't get you any points. You've seen Simon and me in the showers. We're different, aren't we?"

"Well, Simon's hang down, you can see the individual shape of them and they tuck in. Yours are bunched up together, you don't see them individually and they stick out from the line of your body. His are tight like yours."

"Mmm, you have been checking us out, but you're correct. You get your point. And for a bonus point, is he cut or uncut?"

"You don't get your point, though, because you used logic to infer a conclusion you've no proof for."

"I think I'm going to like this game," said Sam. "Oops, it's given me a stiffie," and put his hands into his pockets to re-arrange himself. Meanwhile there was a kid of about twelve or thirteen walking past with his mother and staring at Sam.

"Come along, dear," she said. "It's rude to stare." Sam went red and the others tried to stifle their sniggers in case the mother heard them.

They let Tom have a couple of goes, then Sam again, and then finished off with Simon and Adam each giving a virtuoso performance on kids that Sam and Tom picked out of the crowd. Meanwhile the sun had come out again and the square was filling up.

"You can't be," said Simon. "We've only just had our breakfast." Adam looked at his watch.

"Two hours ago." They made their way across to Burger Star and went in, and who should they see sitting there but Paul Taylor and Robin Banks.

"Hey, guys. Keep us a seat." Our four went to get their burgers and sat down with their friends.

"Plenty, but it's Martin's turn to help with the milking and so I decided to take some time out. It's not very often that Paul and me can get some space. We're going ten-pin bowling this afternoon, taking in a movie, then I'm sleeping over at Paul's place."

"I'm surprised you haven't got your own private lane at your place," said Paul enviously.

"We used to have, but we had it demolished to make way for the eighteen hole golf course," answered Simon sarkily.

"If you've got an eighteen hole course, why does your dad go to the club to play?" The five turned on him and shouted

"Sorry, it's quite a culture shock being with you guys after what I've been used to."

They looked around and saw one or two other boys from their school, different years though. Burger Star had a good name there and the pupils tended to avoid the two big international chains, if only for the personal service they got from the independent group and the extra choice of relishes.

"Another time maybe," answered Simon, "but we've got things planned today." The lads stacked their trays and the two groups split. Our group crossed the square and went to the video shop.

"It's not new, but I don't think you've had it before. Beautiful Thing. It was a Channel Four TV movie."

"See you later, guys." He had learnt not to say 'Have a nice day', to Simon and Adam at least, then got the reply from Adam

"We've one job left to do," said Simon and they made their way across to the outdoor market, two walking and two skateboarding. "We've got to get Tom kitted out." They soon found the right stall and selected a plaited rainbow leather bracelet and necklace which fitted him perfectly. Adam and Simon paid for them and presented them to him.

"The only formality that now remains is your entry in our guest book when we get back. Now you're a full member of the Cockatoo Club."

They arrived home and Brabazon immediately stocked up the brunch table with hot food.

"Yes, please," replied Simon and Adam enthusiastically and from their reaction the other two thought it best to agree.

"That is rather late for high tea," he replied, "but providing your father has no objection, I will see what I can do."

When the boys had finished eating Adam announced that it was time for some R & R.

"Rest and recuperation," he replied. "We like to let our food go down before we do any more strenuous exercise and so we go and lie on our beds for an hour." The boys climbed the stairs and went into their separate rooms. Sam slipped the catch on the bathroom door so that they wouldn't be disturbed, but forgot about the 'Do Not Disturb' notice on the other door. He and Tom kicked off their trainers and climbed onto the bed and just lay there, quite content, with their arms round each other, not even feeling the need to say anything. They even dozed a little, falling into that trancelike state halfway between sleeping and waking where the hearing becomes more acute and the surrounding sounds amplified. When they came to, Sam rolled over onto his side and looked Tom in the eyes.

"Mmm," Tom nodded, "but in some ways I felt it wasn't enough. It was fun, but it wasn't... what shall I say? Satisfying. I wanted more."

"Lots, Sam. With the effect you have on me I want you inside me, but I also need to shag you to feel complete. Can you take that?"

"I can take anything from you, Tom. How long have we known one another? Three weeks? A month?"

"And now I need you. I want to be with you, I want to touch you, I want to smell you, taste you. Kiss me." Tom leaned over. Their lips touched, the tongues met, their loins swelled.

"This is what I needed when I was at boarding school, what I couldn't get and what you can give me. Why did you dump your last boyfriend, Sam?"

"Because he didn't give me what I needed. We were never in love and that's probably why he couldn't give himself to me sexually."

"Then my answer is yes, and we'll seal it tonight and tomorrow morning." Their reverie was rudely interrupted by a rap on the bathroom door. Tom opened up and I think Simon was surprised to see both Tom and Sam fully dressed, apart from their trainers.

The boys made their way down to the games room and Adam popped into the kitchen to tell Brabazon what they were doing. He saw Philip there, returned from his golf and enjoying brunch.

"Great, thanks, Adam. I managed to beat Tom's father, which doesn't happen every week, and the other two in our group."

"Congratulations. I'll let you break the news yourself later." By the time Adam got down to the pool Simon had explained the routine to Tom and they were all naked poolside ready to jump in. Adam still needed to do his fifty lengths. They were not so important to Simon. Adam donned a black speedo, swimcap and goggles. "Don't wait for me," he shouted through to the others. They jumped into the water. When he was ready he went through and dived into the water. Tom and Sam were surprised, first of all to see him in full swimming kit, but then secondly to see the way he ploughed through the water and completed each length with a perfect tumble turn. Simon explained why he was kitted out. Finally he completed his fiftieth length, got out to a round of applause and as if to prove there was no side to him pulled off his swimcap and goggles and dropped his speedo and jumped into the water to join in the fun with the others. Finally they had had enough. They got out, showered and dressed. As they got to the kitchen to tell Brabazon that they had finished in the pool he said

"I am about to serve tea in the living room. Mr Philip would be pleased if you were to join him." Adam and Simon could decipher the code and knew it was an invitation not to be declined.

The boys obediently made their way to the living room and made themselves comfortable. Philip poured the tea.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but when you have houseguests it's nice to find an opportunity to talk to them. This is a big house to rattle around in by yourself and it's good to fill it with people. Help yourselves to sugar." Philip got the boys talking about the weekend, themselves and school. "With no team to support this term I don't hear much about school. By the way I shall be attending church tomorrow morning. I don't want the rector organising my funeral service just yet, and it is Whitsun this weekend, or Pentecost as they insist on calling it these days. It would be a good idea, Simon and Adam, if you two were to put in an appearance next weekend, unless you have more houseguests coming."

"Nothing fixed up yet," replied Simon, which implied acquiescence. The conversation continued and contained what seemed like a blow by blow account of the morning's golf. At least Tom had something to rib his father about when he next saw him. Philip looked at his watch.

"Excuse me, boys. I have to make a telephone call." Brabazon came in and cleared the tea things away.

The boys had no inclination to move. It was Sam that spoke up apropos of nothing.

"Okay, but I don't think you'll get much opposition in this company," said Adam.

"Unless you meet a group of homophobes like I did at St Talbot's," disagreed Tom. Adam went on

"But you can't go round making grand statements like that without backing them up."

"Thank you, Simon. As my friend, the master of wit and repartee, once said, why don't you piss off?"

"Ah, we now have the true level of this serious debate," said Adam. "Carry on, Sam."

"A man and a woman can snog and shag, front and back, suck nipples and... and that's about it.

"Two blokes can do all that, but shag only back, not front, admittedly, but they can also suck each other's dick, but the great advantage blokes have is that you can double all that because they can change position and do it the other way round. Then finally a healthy male is always ready for action whereas a female often has to be coaxed into feeling sexy, and either because she can become pregnant or because of her periods she is out of action for several days a month, and moody."

"I don't think we even need to take a vote on that," said Adam. "Thank you for your thoughts, Sam."

Unable to sit around in a quiet and contemplative manner for too long the boys went out and kicked a football around on the back lawn, with a little competition from Lucy who kept chasing after the ball. After that they disappeared into the games room where Adam did his exercises on the weight machines closely watched over by Simon while Tom and Sam played snooker. After supper the boys - they had no objection to eating burgers twice on one day - retired to the media room to watch their DVD.

"Unless you boys have any other plans," said Philip, "I suggest we motor down to the coast and watch the tall ships come in. They're mustering in the harbour before taking part in a race over the next week."

"School. What else?" replied Sam unconvincingly. 'That's just what I wanted,' Adam thought to himself. 'It'll give me a bit of competition.' Simon took Lucy outside to settle her down for the night, the others drank up their cocoa and when Simon came back they decided it was time to go up to bed. It was Saturday night, after all.

Locked in Adam's bedroom Sam and Tom took what they needed out of the drawer in Adam's bedside table. They were about to become real boyfriends. Simon and Adam were too wrapped up in one another to worry about was going on next door.

Again the morning sun shining through the bedroom curtains woke up all four boys. They were used to waking early anyway on schooldays, but managed fall back to sleep. Tom and Sam, however, were not going to waste the golden opportunity presented to them and they had a good two hours before Adam went running. In their nakedness under the duvet they embraced in a deep kiss and that was only the beginning.

"Just a moment," shouted Tom as he unwrapped himself from Sam and went across to unbolt the bathroom door.

"I'll just get some kit on," said Tom cheerily. "You know, I feel better this morning than I've felt for ages. I'll just go to the other bathroom and I'll see you downstairs." He looked good in his white shorts, the front betraying a large, but symmetrical bulge, the back a glimpse of the bottom of his butt cheeks. Despite the nocturnal activity Adam felt an expansion in his loins.

The boys said good morning to Brabazon, then ventured out into the fresh air of a May morning. The sun was hidden by a cloud, the temperature consequently a little lower. They headed for the park and the lake, unimpeded by either a dog or their other halves, with Adam setting the pace. He wasn't pushing it too hard to begin with, but noticed that Tom was keeping up. Simon would have been a couple of yards behind at this stage. Adam stepped on the gas a little, but there was Tom still on his right shoulder. Once they reached the park and the open grass, Adam could open up a little more. Tom only fell a yard behind him and didn't seem out of breath. 'We'll see what he's like on the north path,' he thought. Adam headed for the wooded hill with Tom following him. Adam still had plenty in reserve, but in climbing the hill path you not only had the challenge of the gradient, but also the unevenness of the track with the occasional tree root. At least the western path had a regular surface. Adam piled on the pressure and noticed that Tom was dropping back. He slackened his pace, arrived at the wishing well and sat down on the edge prepared to wait. However, he could only have been there seconds before Tom caught him up.

"You're a damn good runner, Tom," said Adam and the two boys hugged. 'Whoops, shouldn't have done that,' thought Adam as their two jock wrapped packages met.

"I haven't had a lot of practice recently, but I used to hold my own okay at my last school."

"Come and train with me at school. My problem is that I have no real competition. Simon does his best, but then, what would I be like with a hockey stick? Pretty crap probably. He's a magician once he gets one in his hands."

"Shall we start getting back? I'm starting to chill." They took it easy going down the west path, but once they were back to ground level Adam opened up and Tom was never far behind him.

They went into the house, left their muddy trainers in the scullery, walked through to the kitchen and said good morning. Philip, Simon and Sam were already tucking in to their breakfasts.

"What's this? Care for the environment? Save heating and water, not to mention time?"

"Don't be silly, Tom. I'm not one of these green wusses. It's just that you make me feel horny and I think it'll be fun... for both of us."

"An offer I certainly can't refuse," and Adam grinned from ear to ear. They dropped their kit on the bathroom floor and were just about to get into the shower when Adam bent over, picked up Tom's jockstrap and went to put it to his nose when Tom said

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I've been wearing it for three days and haven't been home to get it washed."

"Yummy." Adam took an extra deep breath and sniffed. "Mmm, your sweat's got a delicate bouquet to it."

"No, I'm not. Honest. Look, I'll make you a deal." He went into his own room, to his desk drawer, then to another drawer and came back with a resealable plastic bag and a small cardboard packet. "I can keep your old unwashed jock and you get a brand new one to keep."

"Yeah, but what do I say at home when I get Mum to sew a new nametape on it for school?"

"Say you lost it here and when we found it Lucy was lying on it in her basket and we thought we ought to replace it. Or between the four of us we can get a needle and cotton and sew the old nametape on. Hey, time's getting on. We really do need to shower together now. Think about it. I'll put yours in the plastic bag to preserve it, otherwise it will have to go for a refill," said Adam with a guffaw, "and you choose."

The boys climbed under the shower, Adam turned it on and Tom grabbed the shower gel. He started soaping Adam up and Adam reacted immediately to the axiom that a standing dick knows no conscience. With all his experience even he was surprised to feel Tom's finger probing his crevice. He handed over the gel bottle and Adam soaped Tom up with the same effect and touching all the right places. Finally they both orgasmed, rinsed themselves down, got out and Adam checked that all the evidence had been washed down the plughole. They dried, dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen to eat a hearty breakfast, as if nothing had happened.

Philip and the boys had an enjoyable day at the seaside. Lucy was a little puzzled when she found the water she was paddling in was salty, but she soon got used to it. They watched the tall ships in full sail coming in towards the harbour, carefully navigating the narrow entrance. Some cheated as they had to start their engines to avoid going aground in the narrow entrance. Philip then drove them round to the harbour where they could see all the ships either moored or mooring. In two days' time they would start off on the race. Our group arrived home towards six and Brabazon announced that dinner would be served in the dining room at seven.

"We still haven't put you in our guest book, Tom," said Adam. "We'd better do that now as it will be the last opportunity." He went to fetch his camera and after taking a few shots of him, with and without Sam, in the garden they all moved into the summerhouse. It was easy enough to hang the white sheet as a background. Tom didn't have to be asked twice to strip, obviously proud to show his physique off to the camera. "We'll download these after dinner and show you the other entries in the guestbook."

The photo call over the four lads went back into the house to get ready for dinner. They could smell the cooking as they passed the kitchen and took bets on what Brabazon was preparing. They were just putting the finishing touches to knotting their ties when they heard Brabazon strike the dinner gong.

"Si, I really must get my hair done," said Adam. "The perm's starting to come out."

"You'll have to wait until the weekend now, unless Brabazon can persuade Sandra to come one evening."

"I do adore the curls, Adam, with or without the highlights." They made their way through the connecting bathroom to see if Sam and Tom were ready. As they opened the door they caught them in a clinch, in the middle of a long French kiss. It took them ten seconds to realise that Simon and Adam were there, not that they were all that concerned when they did.

"Come on, you two," said Simon. "You go on eating one another like that you won't want any dinner." Tom and Sam grinned at them.

On going downstairs they met Philip coming out of his study and they went into the dining room together. On the dot of seven Brabazon brought in a platter on which reposed a joint of sirloin. Philip started to carve. The meat just fell apart. The bone had been taken out beforehand by the butcher. The centre was a healthy pink.

"Thank you, Mr Philip. I asked the butcher to hang it some weeks ago. A joint of beef should be black on the outside before roasting. I like my meat to be well hung..." Simon almost spat his mineral water across the table. Then the other three boys had difficulty stopping themselves laughing, not because of what Brabazon had said. They controlled themselves perfectly at that point. It was the way that Simon had been caught out at the wrong moment which amused them.

"You had better use your napkin," said Philip. "Are you all right?" In the meantime Brabazon had retired post haste to his kitchen. Once Simon had recovered, the conversation flowed again. At one point Philip apologised to the guests for talking about family business, but he needed to let his sons know what was happening.

"I shall be working in London this week, but home each evening. I'll travel by train. Now I've some news for you. Your riding course at half term has been confirmed. Now that's less than a fortnight away and so we'd better get you kitted out next weekend. I've got the name of a shop that's open on Sunday. We could do it then. And the other thing is that Belinda will be visiting over the bank holiday weekend." Adam and Simon looked at one another and grinned. Philip either didn't see them or chose to ignore them. "Going back to your riding, the Legges are going to take you along with Angelica on the Saturday morning and I'll collect the three of you the following Saturday. So, Tom and Sam, have you enjoyed your weekend with us? We don't seem to have provided you with much entertainment."

"We don't want to be doing things all the time," answered Tom. "We get enough of that at school."

"Tom is going to play the piano for us and then we're working on our guestbook on the computer," Adam interrupted hurriedly in case one of them let the cat out of the bag.

"I suppose that's better than looking at pictures of naked boys on the net," said Philip. Simon and Adam blushed deeply. Tom and Sam's faces were not exactly their natural colour either. "It's all right," said Philip. "I expect at your age I would have been looking at naked girls if the internet had been invented. Your gay world is still closed to me and I expect the hetero world is a mystery to you." Sam and Tom were surprised how open Philip was, indeed, how open the whole van den Berg family was. While they were conscious, even convinced, of their own families' tolerance towards their sexuality, it was still something spoken about in hushed tones.

The meal drew slowly to an end. After the main course had been cleared, Brabazon brought in a selection of fruit and cheeses. Finally the boys made their excuses and retired to the library. Tom simply sat down at the piano, started by vamping and then moving on to tunes more familiar from journeys back from rugby or hockey matches. After they had aired their lungs, Tom finished by playing one of his grade pieces, suitably impressing the other three. The recital over, they disappeared upstairs, first to upload the pictures Adam had taken, secondly to look at the guestbook so far and thirdly to work on Tom's entry.

"Yes, and I know I would as well when I haven't got the real thing." The house phone buzzed. It was Brabazon to tell them that cocoa and biscuits were ready and to remind them that the next day was a schoolday.

"By the way," said Adam to Tom and Sam, "before I forget, will you strip my bed in the morning and put all the bed linen into the linen basket ready for Mrs Green to launder?" The boys went downstairs to the kitchen. Philip was already there. Adam took Lucy out for a quick walk and then consumed his cocoa with the others. Before saying good night Brabazon handed the boys their perfectly valeted school uniforms. They thanked him and said good night.

Monday morning and two sleepy boys piled into Mr Bowler's car, after putting all their kit into the boot. They were followed by two not so sleepy boys who had learnt how to pace themselves in their private life.

"Awesome," said Tom, speaking on behalf of Sam and himself. "How did your golf go on Saturday?"

"Great. Didn't Mr van den Berg tell you?" replied his father, suspecting there might be a wind up.

"He might have mentioned it casually in conversation. Didn't he come first or something like that?"

"Something like that," Mr Bowler answered. He dropped the boys off at school. They took from the boot what they needed for the day ahead, leaving their weekend kit behind, waved goodbye and walked in through the school gates.

Within a couple of minutes they had reached their lockers and were greeted by Tony Legge with William lurking somewhere in the background.

"Gosh, what have you two been up to?" he said to Sam and Tom as he greeted the gang of four.

"They've had rather a heavy weekend trying to keep up with us men," said Simon with a laugh. "It was all too much for the boys." Tom and Sam blushed not knowing what to say. Whatever they said would have betrayed what they had been up to.

All four boys were pleased to get home that night. Sam and Tom crashed out early. Their concern was that their mothers might not let them have another sleep over during term time. Adam and Simon, much as they enjoyed having company were glad to be on their own again. Adam went and swam fifty lengths before supper and Simon took Lucy out for walkies. Philip returned home from work and they finally sat down for a meal in the kitchen at half past seven.

"Yes," Simon replied, "but much as we enjoy having them and they're good fun, it's hard to relax when you've got guests."

"First time for what?" asked Adam who was not going to permit any sloppy thinking or innuendo.

"Mr and Mrs Bowler like Sam and think he might be good for Tom," said Philip, "but I don't know the Welhams. You know I spoke to you about getting the parents we know together. I'm going to try and do that over half term. If it's fine we can have drinks outside and a buffet."

"I wouldn't say that. It sounds terribly rude and as if I'm using her. So how was school today?" Philip had closed the Belinda topic and opened another one.

"Not knowing worries me. If they are more than friends, that doesn't. That's because Dad welcomed you into the family and I feel in return I owe it to him to welcome Belinda... that is to say if she were to become family. What do you think, Adam?"

"Along your lines. Your dad welcomed me into the family and so I should do the same for him as far as Belinda is concerned. Do you think they will get married then?"

"Redundant then. Then doesn't mean anything in your question 'Do you think they will get married then?'"

"I suspect yes in the long term, and I don't mind. They're about the same age, both widowed. I don't want to see Dad left by himself when we go to university. He'll just bury himself in his work. Brabazon, let's face it, won't go on forever and I can't see Dad replacing him, if that were ever possible. Belinda's got her own means and is quite well off and so she wouldn't be marrying him for his money, and I'm quite pragmatic about the fact that Mum is dead. In fact, one of the things she said to me before the end was that if Dad wanted to get married again, don't stand in his way, especially for her sake." Adam pulled Simon across to the bed and put his arm around him.

"Some thought, yes. You know we really ought to ask Dad if we can have a two-seater sofa in our rooms. It's uncomfortable sitting on the bed." The topic was obviously dead. "I'm going to sort out these photos and send them to Sam and Tom."

"I'm going to sort out my room after Tom and Sam. I see Mrs Green has put clean sheets on my bed. I won't have to do anything in the morning now."

"I don't know what they were doing over the weekend, but they've used six rubber jonnies and nearly a whole tube of K-Y."

"And no sign of the enema kit being used," said Simon. "That's an idea for Christmas presents for our close friends, enema kits. There was an ad for them in GY mag, special 'use and dump' versions."

"That sounds quite a good name for them," said Adam and both boys burst out with a fit of the giggles. "Might not go down too well with their parents, though."

"I think by the time Dad's finished educating them they'll just accept it as part of having gay sons."

"Still, it's only May. It's a bit sick to be thinking about Christmas already. We're not in Asda." At that moment the house phone buzzed. It was time for cocoa and biscuits. "Nookie afterwards, Si?"

"Yeah, okay. You know I can't say no to you, but a quickie. I don't want us turning up at school tomorrow looking like Sam and Tom did this morning. Everybody knows what we get up to..."

Time sped past for our two boys. Tom changed his activities options so that he could spend more time on running training with Adam. Adam still had the upper hand, but at least he was being pushed. Ten days later two sofas appeared in Simon and Adam's rooms while they were at school. The following Sunday after church Philip took them out into the country to buy their hard hats, riding boots, breeches and padded underwear for riding and they also came back with a new pair of Levi's each. Philip had sent out invitations to the parents of the boys' friends, and suddenly it was the Friday afternoon before half term. The boys could go home after activities, rather than staying for tea and prep.

Simon and Adam were growing excited about their impending course at the riding school. They spent the evening getting their kit together for David Legge would be calling early the next morning to take Angelica and them off for the week. Adam wanted a body shave. That would last him a week and 'you never know who you might meet'. They went to bed early that night since they didn't know whether the accommodation would provide sufficient privacy for them to indulge their love life.

The following morning they put their kit into the boot of Mr Legge's car with difficulty for Angelica always took her own saddle. On arrival they registered. Angelica was greeted like a long lost friend by staff and other participants. She introduced Adam and Simon and a little apprehension, if not downright fear, crept into their faces as the girls started checking them out and making salacious, albeit complimentary remarks to Angelica about their sexiness and about the high standard of her friends. The boys, if they had not known before, immediately understood the meaning of 'horsy' when applied to girls and women. They were taken to their accommodation, fortunately a twin-bedded room, in the top of a converted stable block. They did not relish the idea that they might have dormitory accommodation as that would have put the kibosh on any intimacy, and worse still their anatomy might have misbehaved if they had to get changed in a room full of cute adolescent bodies. It was different at school. They were known and accepted, but being among strangers had its hazards. The course began with lunch followed by an introductory meeting. Simon and Adam were taken aback to be surrounded by so many pubescent girls of various ages, sizes and shapes, all at the advanced stage of riding, whilst as far as they could make out there were six boys, one of them an advanced rider, the others like themselves beginners. As the introduction broke up, Angelica came up to them and whispered in their ear

"Don't worry, my dears. I've put the word about that you're gay. I don't fancy the chances of the other four though."

"I thought all the women here would be lesbians getting their orgasms from the hot throbbing beasts between their legs," said Adam. Angelica gave him one of those thunderous looks she usually reserved for Isabella Carlton.

The afternoon consisted of introductions, an introduction to the equipment, basic riding skills and, most important and finally, to the ponies they would be riding over the next week and how to care for them. They would not get mounted until the Sunday and the five male beginners appreciated that they were going to ride calm mares while the girls and one remaining boy were provided with full size horses. The meal arrangements were interesting. At supper that Saturday six boys occupied one table as a form of self-protection. By the following Friday evening that had only partially changed. But str8away on Saturday evening Adam and Simon set about getting to know the other four boys, and as a twosome they were able to exhibit confidence and exercise leadership. Roderick was the advanced rider, fourteen or fifteen perhaps, very county and definitely the male equivalent of all the Thelwell girls on the course.

"Might be worth getting to know better," Adam whispered to Simon. Ross was a year younger. Shock of fair hair, blue eyes and a ready cheeky smile.

"Don't you think?" mimicked Adam. "You sound like Roderick. I adore Ross's voice." Richard and Ross roomed together. Richard was fifteen, but small for his age. However, he compensated for that by bulging in his tight clothes and one particular bulge, the one in his loose sweats, would provide our two with both temptation and a challenge during the rest of the week. Finally came Brian. If there were ever such a thing as a normal fourteen year old, he was it - brown hair rather severely cut round the back and sides, brown eyes, interested in football and computers, a stud in his left ear, and basically here because his twin sister was here too and their parents wanted to holiday abroad to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

"The great thing about having a twin sister," said Brian "is that she brings the crumpet home, and at the right age too."

"We're here to learn how to ride a horse," he said, his voice betraying some doubt and trepidation.

"Never travel without them. You brought your valise, didn't you?" Simon shook his head.

"It's a good job I brought mine," said Adam "and restocked it. Come on, let's get to know our lambs."

"Oh, no. We mustn't rush these things. It's like with the horses. We had to get to know them today before mounting them tomorrow. OMG, I didn't realise how apt that was. One piece of strategy. Showering. Sod's law that the showers are right at the other end of the corridor from our room, but..."

"But whenever we walk to and from we wear our towels over our shoulders, not round our waists. Ground bait. Come on. Let's be sociable. We don't mind being thought of as queer, but we don't want to appear stand-offish."

"Hey, you two, come and meet the girls. They don't bite, well not unless they're kissing."

"It was like that for all of us when we started riding. Just be patient. You'll know after the first day whether you like riding or not," continued Deirdre. "I'll give you one tip. When you're up in the saddle, sit upright of course, but otherwise try and keep your limbs loose. If you look at a relaxed rider, she'll look a bit like a ragdoll, but at least your body absorbs a lot of the horse's motion and it's a more comfortable ride."

"That's right," added Angelica. They continued talking until Simon looked at his watch and said

"We'd better turn in, I suppose." He wasn't thinking so much of getting eight hours sleep, but of the delights Adam's body had prepared for him. When they got back to their room he said

"What were we talking about? Oh, I know. Seducing the other lads. I had another evil idea."

The following morning Simon and Adam carried out their plan, wandering down the corridor to the shower room butt naked apart from their flipflops and the bath towels slung over their shoulders.

"Well, that was a complete failure," said Simon when they got back to their rooms. "There's no one else up and about yet."

"Never mind. We'll try again when we shower for dinner. I'm more worried about those narrow beds. They're all right for making love... just, but useless for sleeping together. And the springs creak."

"I thought of that, but I don't think it will work. We'll fall down the middle."

"We're going to have to," said Adam. "I can't go for a week without any nookie."

"Let's go for Roderick. I just have a feeling about him. He'll be the one most up for it."

"No," said Adam. "I don't even think he's gay. I don't think any of them are actually, but as I said, he's the most likely to come across."

"Unless of course our walking down the corridor naked causes a twitch in the right place."

The first full day as equestrians had been strenuous for Adam and Simon. They were just pleased that they were fit, but even so, every muscle seemed to ache, every bone felt bruised. Adam had intended to go for a run before changing his clothes for the evening, but he changed his mind first.

"I think I'm going to have to make up my mind that I'm neither running nor swimming this week." He had resigned himself to the fact that the nearest swimming pool was a bus ride away in town. But no running - that he did have to come to terms with and the school's sports day was only six or so weeks away. However, the positive side of the day was that neither of them had fallen off. Their class had consisted of eight, the boys minus Roderick plus three girls younger than them. They had all got on well together and Simon and Adam had started investing in their plans for the rest of the week. Over lunch where all the course members were together again they overheard one of the girls telling her friend

At the end of the afternoon the boys got back to their room and taking their boots off they lay without further ado on their beds and went to sleep. Half an hour later Simon got off his bed and went across to Adam, giving him a shake.

"You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to fill up the bath tub and have a nice long soak in hot water."

"I've seen that bath," said Adam "and I reckon it will take the two of us easily." They stripped off, put their flipflops on and washing kit in one hand and towels over their shoulders they wandered down the corridor to the communal bathroom. After half an hour of emptying the cold water and refilling with hot they got out and dried themselves off.

"Probably because we've had one most of the day from riding." Flipflops on, towels over shoulders, washing kit in hand, they wandered down the corridor back to their room when who should suddenly come out of his room but Roderick?

"Both of you," came the reply from the bathroom end of the corridor. Back in their room they locked the door and fell into each other's arms. They kissed deeply before going to lie down on Adam's bed.

Dressed in sandals, identical polo shirts, cargo shorts and everyday underwear, they went down to the communal area where they met Angelica.

"Come on, you two," she said. "You can help us lay up for supper. You boys can't leave it to the girls all the time." Adam and Simon acquiesced.

"Apart from feeling sore in every muscle, joint and bone, it was great," replied Simon.

"You'll get used to it by the end of the week," said Angelica. "The main thing is that you enjoyed riding. I don't know whether you'll do any more after this week, but you'll know you've made it when you feel that you and the horse are acting as one unit."

"No, Tony. William's a bit of a copycat really and at the best friend stage with his relationship." Interesting insight, thought Adam.

"It's all right. I can cope all the time I've got my horses," said Angelica. "And that's something you two boys can do for me. Convince both Tony and William how great horse riding is. Not that I want them to take it up necessarily, just appreciate it."

As half past six approached, the dining hall filled up and the boys found themselves together again on the same table. Ross was sitting between Simon and Adam, which clearly put him in the danger zone. After the general table chat about how the day had gone they started talking to him.

"We're not all Jasper Carrotts," he replied. "Anyway, I live outside Brum and travel in on the train every day."

"You've probably heard we're gay and you'd be popular with us because you're so good looking." Adam couldn't believe what he was hearing. Normally this would be a sure way of getting beaten up, though they did feel safe here.

"No, they're different," said Ross. "For a start I never go after senior boys; they come after me. A tart doesn't have to be good looking, either, but it helps."

"Of course I do. You have to be realistic about such things. Firstly I get told and it's not flattery and secondly I know the seniors like me because I've got blond hair, blue eyes, a good body shape, loose balls and a big dick."

"I said you have to be practical. Modesty doesn't come into it. I've got what people want and I'm prepared to exploit it. As I told you, the senior boys like me and some like to put their hand up between my legs and feel me."

"Of course. I'm not gay, but I am a good businessman like my father. So it's a quid for a feel and five pounds if they want to jerk me off or give me a BJ as that puts me out of action for a bit. It's only two pounds if they want me to jerk them off and I don't give BJs. And I don't do anything else either."

"But we are strictly amateur," added Simon. "We've never paid for sex and we don't charge to give other blokes the advantage of our expertise," said Adam.

"Mmm. I might even take you up on that. My roommate Richard says he's going to get his length this week. So I don't think I'm going to have much luck there and I haven't seen any girls I fancy, either."

The meal drew to a close and the young equestrians had a choice: normal self-entertainment in the common room, games outside or a showing of a DVD. Tonight's choice was The Horse Whisperer. Adam and Simon, because they felt so tired, decided on the film.

"Only insofar as he runs a sex business at school. But he is the product and, if he's telling us the whole story, he's not a pimp like Roly, coining it in by exploiting others." They were too tired for any carnal enjoyment that evening. They kissed each other good night and went to sleep in their own beds.

Monday morning dawned grey and ominous. It wasn't actually raining, but it probably would do before the day was out. However, work went on. If you rode a horse, you would need to know how to handle it in the wet as well as in the dry. Whatever it was like outside, events inside took a far better turn than the boys could ever have anticipated. After Adam had shaved, he and Simon hoped that they would have the shower to themselves after a night of abstinence. As they were walking down the corridor, towels slung over their shoulders and highly conscious of the weight of their under employed dicks hanging - at least they were hanging, but for how long? - between their legs, they met Roderick returning from the shower.

"Morning, Roderick," our two returned the greeting as they passed in the corridor.

"We've got to lay him, Si," said Adam. "He's just provoking us." They walked into the shower room just as Ross was to step under the water.

"OMG," Adam whispered to Simon. "They certainly get their money's worth in Birmingham."

"Hi, guys," said Ross and then to their astonishment he popped a boner the instant he saw them. He was obviously checking them out and made no effort to hide the fact or himself. Then half in a whisper he said

"Can you two do me a favour? Will you jerk me off? With Richard in the room I can't even have a quiet wank and I was just going to do it myself until you turned up." Adam looked at Simon. Simon looked at Adam and grinned.

"We told you," said Adam. "We're strictly amateurs, in every sense of the word. It'll cost you all right. Not money, but your arse." Even Simon was taken aback at the bargain offered so up front.

"Okay, it's a deal," said a desperate Ross, "but get on with it." Without further ado Simon took him under the showerhead, stood behind him and meanwhile his own dick had given in and stiffened, and he lined it up against Ross's crack, put his hand round his body and, slowly at first, started to work his foreskin. Ross's body bucked and forced Simon against the shower wall. Adam stood in front of him, fondling his balls and French kissing him. Ross was obviously no stranger to that, either. And then the naughtiness began. He was too far gone in his sexual ecstasy either to notice or protest, but Simon nibbled the side of the neck, then sucked vehemently while Adam did the same on his throat the other side. Without warning he shot his load all over Adam's navel and with help from the water already on his body it dribbled down into his pubes. Ross sighed as his passion quickly subsided and he cleaned himself off. "Thanks, guys. I've never really had anything quite like that before. The deal's on."

"After supper in our room," said Adam imperiously. Ross dried himself, put his dressing gown on and went back to his room to dress. "C'mon, Si, let's finish each other off. We haven't got time to do much else." When they had finished showering, they returned to their room, towels slung over their shoulders. In the corridor they passed Brian and Richard.

When they got down to the dining room for breakfast, there was quite a commotion going on.

"It's Ross," said Angelica. "He came down sporting two enormous bright purple lovebites. Evidently he didn't even know he had them until one of the girls pointed them out and now they want to know the ins and outs."

"One girl got lucky last night," said Deirdre. Simon and Adam smirked at one another without the girls noticing.

As they made their way to the stable it started to drizzle. There was no wind to clear the rain. It just went on and on. They practised their exercises, making the most of it, and were pleased to go in for lunch. After lunch more of the same. With his collar turned up Ross's hickeys were at least under wraps and drew no attention. In the end their instructors called it a day. They spent the extra time on looking after the horses, drying them off and making sure that after a day in the rain they would be comfortable for the night. As they left the stables the rain ceased, the clouds lifted and the warm June sun broke through. Adam and Simon went back to their room to change. They did not feel so stiff as they had the previous day. After showering they dressed and spent time in their room just being together and reading. They were saving themselves for the exertions after dinner. When entertaining guests they always wanted to be at their best. Half an hour before supper they went down and socialised in the games room. With three or four times as many girls as boys it was not easy. Girls tend not to do sensible things like playing pool or kicking balls about, but they sit around in groups talking and complaining that boys don't know how to make conversation. Horsy girls can come across highly exclusive because horses are their life. Angelica and Deirdre came to their rescue.

"I might be saying this myself and ought not to, but I think we did a pretty good job on Ross this evening."

"I found it hard to believe that he was a virgin, the way your dick slipped in," said Simon.

"That's all right. We've got plenty. We'll run out of K-Y before we run out of jonnies."

"No, it's okay. I don't want to have to go down to the kitchen and beg for some margarine. C'mon, Si, tonight's little adventure has whetted my appetite for more. Get your clothes off and I'll lube you up."

During the afterglow they lay in each other's arms under the bedclothes, a little cramped from the narrowness of the bed.

"We may as well get that notch on our bedpost next. The way he's been acting, he knows our reputation and he'll be quite ready for a piece of the action. Brian and Richard, however, will be a completely different matter, especially Richard as he's already made it clear what his first priority is, and it isn't horseriding."

Tuesday and Wednesday went better. The weather had cheered up considerably and the weather seemed set fair and warm. As Simon and Adam were returning to the accommodation block, they were chatting about how they were getting used to riding and for a brief moment Adam experienced that feeling Angelica had talked about, feeling at one with the horse. His mare, Daisy, was pretty docile anyway and as long as he had an inexhaustible supply of carrots she would do whatever he wanted. They hadn't galloped anywhere on their ponies. In fact they wondered whether they were actually capable of a gallop.

"That's just what I could do with, a nice long hot shower." They stripped off their kit, put their flipflops on, slung their towels over their shoulders and sauntered along the corridor towards the bathroom. They could hear the water running.

"Fancy us, do you?" said Simon as he put his hand up and felt Roderick's balls. The next thing he knew, he was reeling across the shower room after Roderick had punched him hard in the stomach, winding him. But Roderick had forgotten about Adam who without hesitation landed a str8 right on his chin. He fell backwards. Adam had floored him. Adam went across to Simon to see how he was.

"I'm okay, Adam. He only winded me. You'd better go and have a look at him." He went across to Roderick. His eyes were open and so he helped him up. Roderick was still a bit unsteady on his feet. Adam held him by the shoulders to steady him. He looked him str8 in the eye and said

"The next time you act the upper class smart arse prick teaser, just think you might succeed, and if you don't want to play, don't do it in the first place." Roderick wrenched himself free, grabbed his towel petulantly, wrapped it round himself, glowered at Adam and Simon and stomped off.

"Thanks, pal," Simon said to Adam, taking him in a hug. "I'd do the same for you." They broke and went under the shower.

"Oh, shit," said Adam. "There's no hot water left." They cleaned themselves up quickly the best they could and their dicks shrivelled with the cold water effect. "Hey, Si, I've never seen your balls so tight before."

At supper there were only five on the boys' table. Simon stood up and looked around. Roderick was on the other side of the room being fussed over by a group of girls, including Brian's sister.

"Nothing much," said Simon. "He learnt the lesson that if you're a PT, you might actually tease someone and be expected to deliver." Ross looked up from his meal, interested, but also with a knowing look on his face.

Thursday proceeded without incident. It was as if Roderick had disappeared from the face of the earth. The boys did have an opportunity to 'entertain' Ross again, the price being the full story about Roderick. Friday morning they walked into the shower to find Brian having a wank. He blushed.

"Don't worry, Brian," said Adam. "Talk to us nicely and we'll do it for you." And he did speak to them nicely. Back in their room Simon said

"Mmm, that's the trouble with a quickie. Of course now he's had a taster we could try again tonight."

"That'd be cruel to send him home tomorrow with a fresh lovebite, especially as his sister will know it wasn't cause by one of the girls."

"True," conceded Adam. "Let's do it anyway," and they went down to breakfast with smiles on their faces.

Friday morning's course consisted of revision of skills prior to the final test in the afternoon. During a break Adam said to Richard

"Nah. One thing I have learnt this week is that you cannot separate a girl from her horse. I really thought that I was going to lose my cherry this week."

"We'll forgive you," said Adam "and the offer's still open. We've helped quite a few boys dispose of their unwanted virginity and we've never had any complaints."

"Come along, lads and ladies, it's time to get on with our revision," said the instructress. "Fill your pockets up with carrots. You'll need them."

"We've done these courses before and there has always been the 'exam' on the last day. Personal pride apart, does it matter if we don't pass?"

The afternoon passed pretty well as expected. The boys went through their set pieces and their ponies behaved themselves. Afterwards they took them back to the stables and said goodbye to them and the horses knew that they had twenty-four hours' rest until the next course started. The ponies had a pretty easy life. They were well fed, well looked after as that was part of the course and since they were only used for the junior courses they were never strained. Simon and Adam went to the dining hall where snacks were available. They saw Angelica and Deirdre there and went and sat with them.

"Oh, we've got nothing left to pass," replied Dee. "We just do it for fun and we help with the instructing. The only time we get anything is if we win at a gymkhana."

"Funny you should mention him," said Dee. "He got thrown from his mount earlier in the week. He must have done something to upset it. Our horses don't usually do that."

"Oh," said Angie "you know why that was. He rides with a hunt and huntsmen can treat their horses a little roughly at times. Ours aren't used to that sort of thing."

"He was lucky really," said Angie. "No broken bones and he wasn't trampled. He just had this badly swollen and bruised chin."

"You know," said Dee "you two have built yourselves quite a reputation since you've been here."

"You don't have to be femme to be gay. We're just ordinary boys who happen to like boys rather than girls," said Simon.

"That's what they all moaned about," said Dee. "You could have snogged any one of them."

"Except Roderick," said Angie. "He said for some reason he just could not get on with you."

The boys went back to their room to change. They walked along the corridor, dressed only in flipflops and towels slung over their shoulders. No sign of Roderick, but they could hear somebody in the showers. Just like that morning it was Brian. They checked him out and came to the conclusion that he was just so ordinary. There was absolutely nothing that made him stand out as a human being. If he had been ugly, it would have been an improvement.

"Talking of that, you know what you did with me this morning? You wouldn't like to do it again?"

"With pleasure," said Simon, "but have your shower first, then come back to our room with us. That was a quickie this morning. We'll do it properly this time." Brian instantly popped a boner, but even that was ordinary.

They finished their shower and dried themselves off. Brian put his towel round his waist and followed the other two. He only had their butts to look at as they strolled down the corridor. Adam locked the door behind them and Simon explained that a gentleman always kisses his partner before sex.

"If it's a good as this morning, it must be okay." Adam drew him back so that he could lean against the wall and Brian could lean against him. They then went into what for them was a well rehearsed routine. At Simon's first kiss Brian gave a little groan and his cock stiffened. Between them Adam and Simon managed to brand him without his noticing and once he had shot his load, they cleaned him up, smacked his bum and sent him on his way rejoicing.

"I'm glad we didn't come off," said Adam because I have got a feeling we are going to get another visit before bedtime. Come on, Si, let's get some grub. I'm starving."

Breakfast at eight, clear of the rooms by nine. The system worked as the course members brought their luggage along with them and stacked it in the yard. Angelica had stowed hers, plus her saddle, with the boys'. There was no sign of Roderick. It was rumoured that he had been collected late the previous evening and Simon and Adam had been too busy to notice. They were bright eyed and bushy tailed as they sat at breakfast. It had been a relaxing week for them. No runs, no swimming, no weights, no fitness training. Sitting at the breakfast table they wanted to make sure that they didn't spill milk on their certificates or crush their rosettes.

"Yeah," he grinned back. "It wasn't quite what I was looking for, but it was fun all the same." Ross started to show an interest. He didn't realise the previous night that when he knocked on the boys' door he was their second 'client', a tribute to the boys' 'professionalism'.

Philip swept into the yard at five past nine. Angelica put her saddle into the boot and the luggage was fitted in around it, except that this time it was easier as it was a bigger car. She gave Dee a great big hug before climbing in.

"I heard that, Simon van den Berg, and expect that remark to be repaid. The Legge siblings are strictly into boys." All three burst out laughing. Philip maintained a po-face as he considered he was excluded from the conversation. The boys sat in the back while Angelica took up position with Philip in the front.

"Very well," answered Philip. "Belinda helped me to host it. Now, who did I meet that was new? The Welhams, certainly, the Taylors, Fran's parents were there. They all seemed appreciative to be able to talk about their son's little problems..."

"It's all right. I'm only winding you up. I know. ...to be able to talk to other parents who had gay children. Belinda went home this morning. She thought you two boys ought to have my undivided attention over the weekend."

The first stop was at the Legges' house. Naturally they were invited in and greeted, not only by David and Amanda, but also by Tony and William, accompanied by Ben and Mark.

"Yes," said Amanda "we're going to have to build an extension for the extended family. We didn't realise what we were letting ourselves in for." Everything stopped for elevenses with Amanda's home made cake and when the van den Bergs eventually reached home Lucy ran out onto the drive and madly greeted Adam and Simon. Philip went off to catch up with his golf pals. Before a light lunch the boys had to unpack and put all their dirty washing into linen baskets.

"They're Ross's. I recognise them. How could he not have missed them when he left us last night?" Adam sniffed them. "What are we going to do with them?"

"I don't want them," said Adam. "If it had been a jock, yes. We'll put them in the laundry, then send them back to him."

"No, but we know which school he goes to. Should be interesting if he opens the jiffy bag in front of his mates." After lunch they just relaxed on the patio sun lounger. Then on Sunday they had a run and swimming training. Lunch was a traditional roast and it was then that Philip started to hear about some of the happenings on the riding course, but the name Roderick passed no one's lips. They slowly prepared themselves for school on the Monday.

For the next few weeks life became serious again. It was school policy for pupils to take maths and English language GCSE in Year 10. They were expected to get top grades while taking the exams in their stride. It freed up time to concentrate on English literature and they took the additional maths course in Year 11. The potential A-level mathematicians had to pass ad maths to be accepted on the sixth form course, and the non-mathematicians could please themselves whether they took the exam or not. There was also the minor matter of school examinations. That apart the summer term was a fun term, especially at the end. Adam and Tom trained hard for the 5000m at Sports Day, which Adam had to work at this year to win. Simon, Adam, Sam and Tom took part in the dance show in the last week, but very much as the chorus this year, and Adam and Simon starred at the swimming gala, but they had an inbuilt advantage. And so another school year came to an end. The term broke up and everyone went off for the holidays. One significant thought dominated the boys. In less than two months' time and before they returned to school, they would celebrate their sixteenth birthdays. They would be legal at last!

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The Ghetto, Gone but not Forgotten

Part 5

by N Fourbois