Schools such as the Queen's School exist all over the country. Perhaps they do not have the open policy towards gay pupils which Queen's was developing, but all independent schools are in the marketplace and create their own niche or speciality to win the competition for pupils. What they do have in common is the ethos of hard work, sometime referred to as the Protestant work ethic, and so it was not unusual for staff and pupils to end term physically, intellectually and emotionally drained.

While recognising this ethos, Gramps was not insensitive to the fact that this behaviour was not typical of Oscar. He pulled into the next lay by, stopped the engine and put his arm round Oscar's shoulder without saying anything. He left Oscar to let the tears flow until there were none left. Instead of a handkerchief the only thing Gramps had to offer his grandson was the duster he used to wipe the inside of the windscreen.

With the cold air outside, the windows soon misted up. Oscar was on the point of recovering when there was a tap on the window. "Is everything all right, sir?"

"Yes, thank you," replied Oscar through his sobs. "Just a bad moment." During this conversation the policeman had sufficient time to assess the situation. Boy in distress, also in school uniform, no clothes in disarray and so he quickly came to a conclusion, the right one fortunately, and he made a tactful retreat."

"He was checking to see if I was molesting you." That brought a wry grin to Oscar's face.

"He didn't need to. He already knew that from the car registration number and the computer in his car and I don't mind betting his mate was filming it all on a camcorder." Oscar looked shocked at the intrusion into their privacy. "Do you feel fit to carry on, Oscar?"

"Sure, Gramps. Like you said, it was just a bad moment." With that Gramps started the engine and it was not long before Oscar was being hugged by Grandma in a warm kitchen.

The weekend ahead was no time for rest. Grandma had Oscar and Alison to get ready to fly to Canada on the Monday morning. Besides housekeeping matters she had to make sure that passports and tickets were in order. This had been arranged by the Daintrees, but there was the physical job of making sure they were together and accessible. As said before, the children did not need to pack much in the way of clothes nor anything which depended on mains electricity. With a five year tour it would be easier for the Daintrees to have a wardrobe in each country, although while he was going through his growth spurt, clothes were a highly temporary affair for Oscar anyway.

Alison came home from school, having broken up at four on the Friday. Both children had hair appointments on the Saturday. Oscar needed to do some Christmas shopping, if only for Gramps and Grandma. He knew what he intended to give Toby, but he wanted to bring that back from Canada. Fortunately they all had so much to do that Oscar had little time to dwell on his boyfriend. All the same he was never far from his thoughts. He carried his photo in his wallet and while if you opened it, you would see a headshot through the clear plastic, if you took it out and looked at the reverse, there was a full frontal of both Oscar and Toby posing naked for the camera. The Squalor had proved a very good photographer, both in setting up the pose and taking the picture, not forgetting the patience he displayed while waiting for both of them to be flaccid at the same time. He was anxious to explain to them that if either or both were erect, the picture became pornography, and to make matters worse under-age pornography. The picture was taken post-shave and there was sufficient UV in the flash to show the tattoos of the crown, but unless you were actually looking for them, you were unlikely to notice them and David had deleted the pictures from his camera after transferring them to Oscar and Toby's laptops.

Saturday morning Oscar was on the doorstep of the barber's shop at eight-thirty. It was the full treatment with his hair being dyed and permed. He wondered about his parents' reaction, for although they had seen it in 2D on skype, they had not seen it in all its glory in 3D. However, the main point for him was that Toby liked it. After a good night's sleep Oscar was in a much improved mood and so out of naughtiness he stuck his elbows out over the armrests of the barber's chair. He was not disappointed. Before he left, he made an appointment for the day before he had to be back at school. The weekend passed very quickly.

Soon it was five-thirty on Monday morning. The luggage was packed and Gramps, Grandma, Alison and Oscar climbed into the car for the journey to the airport. Booking in two hours in advance of the flight was a killer. Grandma and Gramps said goodbye at the security check and Oscar and Alison went through to wait.

The flight was a peculiar experience for them. It soon grew dark again as they flew north over Iceland, the Arctic Circle, Greenland and the lands of twenty-four hours darkness. By now they had been served with breakfast and it was time to settle down. Mr Daintree's company had booked them into business class. Alison and Oscar could make themselves comfortable, but there was no opportunity, at least for Oscar, of sleeping. This was Alison's first chance of getting Oscar alone and catching up with the 'goss' as she called it.

"SIS! Whoops." Oscar went red. He hadn't realised how loud his voice was until everyone looked round and stared at them. "Sorry, everybody." He then lowered his voice to a whisper. "You just don't understand, do you?"

"We're homo sexuals. Homo is Greek and means 'the same'. Homo genised milk. The same all the way through. No cream floating on top. There is no man and woman. We're both males. That's the basic qualification for being gay." Alison was getting impatient. This was not what she wanted to hear.

"That's another thing about you heterosexuals. You all seem to think we do nothing else but go round wanting to stick our dicks up other guys' arses. Firstly it's not as easy as it looks. Bottoms, unlike vaginas, are not made to have dicks shoved inside them and so there is an art and it takes time, preparation and care, unless you want to hurt your loved one. We're more likely to suck each other or jerk each other off than pound our partner. But since you ask, the 'top' puts his dick in, the 'bottom' takes it and in a lot of cases you are either a top or a bottom, but Toby and me are versatile. We do it whichever way we feel like doing it at the time."

"Being adolescent boys we're competitive and so we have a nude wrestling match where we try to be the first to stick our dicks in the other one's bum and at the same time stop our partner from sticking his in."

"It might with some, but Toby and I are in love. You're not supposed to fight with someone you love." Alison could tell Oscar was becoming pissed off and she backed off. The flight attendant was coming round with drinks.

"Don't even go there, sis. He's gay. He'd be more likely to go down the back of the plane with me than you."

Alison gave Oscar a few moments respite. He pretended to be asleep, but it didn't work. "So tell me, Oscar, is Toby big?"

"Is Toby big? For crying out loud, sis, you've seen him. He's probably the smallest boy in the school."

"I don't think he's ever been to Australia," retorted Oscar, now being deliberately obtuse.

"Not down under, drongo, down there." At that Alison put her hand between his legs and gave a gentle squeeze.

"Ow!" Everybody that was awake looked round, and some who hadn't been. The flight attendant pursed his lips and gave a look of approval. Oscar did not expect that from any female, least of all from his sister.

"Well, I take you as the norm, the average, my benchmark and anyone who is bigger than you… well… he's big and anyone smaller is small."

"You certainly know how to make a fellow feel good about himself, sis. So how does Rick fit into this assessment?"

"Answer the question, sis." She tried to prevaricate, but Oscar stood his ground. "Come on. You've got me interested."

"Oh, all right. His cock is about your size, but he's got weenie bollocks. They look a bit funny, but they work okay, and he's very good in bed." Then her voice went down to a whisper. "Oscar, I'm going to tell you something very secret now. Not a word to Mum and Dad now, okay?"

"Whatever, considering I've never done it in the past and I would never even mention my own?"

"Well, that's what a fag hag does. Except Jimmy's supposed to tell me about his and to put it bluntly, he hasn't got a love life."

"If he has the same effect on other boys as he did on Toby, I'm not surprised. Now that's a thought. If Jimmy can get himself across to Queen's, I'll get him to meet Jackman. If it's got a hole, he'll shag it and if it's got a dick, he'll suck it. Doesn't have to be human."

"Oscar!" said Alison in a stage whisper. "But what did happen there between Jimmy and Toby?" Oscar shrugged his shoulders.

"That's because you didn't let me get a word in edgeways. Well, using the Alison Daintree size gauge, free with every copy of GY mag this month…"

"As if… I wonder about you at times, sis. You saw him. You know, that time when you smashed a mug of hot tea on the kitchen floor?"

"Oh, yes. I wasn't in Gran's good books for that. Yes, I had a glimpse, but I didn't get a proper look."

"Do you want to see something?" Alison nodded. "I don't show everybody this." Oscar struggled to get his wallet out of his back pocket. "See that picture of Toby." She nodded. Oscar pulled it out of the plastic pocket and turned it over.

"Wow!" She ogled at it. "He is big. And you're not so small, either. You've grown while you've been away at boarding school. I think I'm going to have to revise my idea of average."

"And I expect you're going to as well, sis. Okay, to give you the gruesome details, Toby's balls are bigger than mine, his dick is fatter, but my dick is longer, both soft and hard. Satisfied?"

"S'pose so," sighed Alison. "The sad thing is that I'll never get to play with them."

Another natural pause and Oscar closed his eyes. This time he wasn't pretending and he slept through until lunch was served. As the flight attendant cleared the table ready, he spotted the photo that Oscar had still to put back into his wallet. "Is that your young man?" he said to Alison. Oscar looked at the flight attendant, smiled and said with pride.

After lunch Oscar turned to Alison and said "Sis, you never did tell me that big secret I was never to mention to Mum and Dad."

"Ooh, yes." Alison lowered her voice. "Jimmy told me this happens with gays. On Saturday when we were making love – I try to keep Rick in there for as long as possible after climaxing – he pulled out and there's all the mess with the white stuff. Well, this time he licked me clean and it was fantastic."

"Toby and I have been talking about doing that, but we haven't done it yet. I think we will in the new year, but we're in no hurry. We don't talk to the other lads about what we get up to and it's not as if we're in a competition with anybody. We call it rimming, if we do it as foreplay, and felching or a cream pie, if we do it after coming. I don't know if you girls have your own terms for it.

"Takes a bit of getting used to because it's not so sensitive during foreplay, but once it's in, business as usual."

"We've talked about that and we've decided we're sex buddies. I'm practical enough to know that he is so hunky that he's not going to say no, if some girl gets him under the mistletoe, and I know that if the Biebs gets me up against a wall in Canada, I'm not going to say no, either."

"No, but a girl's allowed to dream and I'm sure I'll find a lookalike. And of course, I'm circumcision trained now."

Eventually the aeroplane headed south into the light and began the descent into Vancouver airport. The odd thing was that because the flight lasted eight hours and Vancouver time was eight hours behind GMT, they landed at approximately the same time as they took off. As Oscar and Alison left the immigration area, their parents were waiting there to meet them. It was Alison's turn to burst into tears.

Oscar was all eyes as Mr Daintree drove the family to their apartment in Vancouver. Oscar was surprised how large the flat was. Mrs Daintree's plan was for the children to rest up for the remaining part of the day with the hope that they would be back to normal by the following morning. The next day was a working day. The children had to orientate themselves in a large and strange city. Then there was shopping to be done, particularly for clothes to tide them over during their stay. Oscar liked the fashions and thought the clothes were cheap compared with England. It was his first experience of tax, GST and Provincial tax, being added to the prices. After the first day it was considered safe to let them out on their own. The priority during the day was to get the Christmas shopping done. He was already in touch with Toby by e-mail. He had to share the family computer as his own was safely locked up in Tippett House. His next task was to establish contact by skype, but the difficulty was to find a convenient time. Eight in the morning until two o'clock in the afternoon provided a reasonable window, but then both parties had to be at home. When they finally made contact, Toby was anxious that Oscar should meet his parents. Oscar could immediately see where Toby got his good looks from. He met the family spaniel, but Toby's much older sister was not at home.

The important call was the one on Christmas Day. Toby said that Oscar would find his present attached to an e-mail, but that it was encrypted and he should be alone when he opened it. That just roused Oscar's curiosity. He took the password down from Toby there and then. Oscar said he was bringing Toby's back from Canada and refused to say what it was. A couple of days after Christmas Oscar was alone in the flat. He decrypted the attachment and found that Toby had put together a blog of their first term together at Queen's. Oscar hadn't realised he had taken so many photographs. The blog was packed with them and he realised why his parents ought not see quite a number of them. More interesting still was Toby's description of the agonising moments he went through before he and Oscar became an item and then the pressure on them to remain virgins without any explanation why. The blog ended with picture that the Squalor had taken of them both and which in a smaller format Oscar kept in his wallet. If nothing else, the blog revealed to Oscar how deeply in love with him Toby was.

The days over Christmas and New Year flew passed with the usual round of social events. Alison intimated to Oscar that due to an excess of mistletoe, she had been laid by three different guys (not at the same party), of which one was a virgin, one taught her a couple of new tricks, one who learned something from her, and they were all cut. "Watch this space, Oscar, my dear baby brother, for more news." Oscar's sex life had been confined to fantasies about Toby and playing with himself, despite one kid's attempt at seducing him at the New Year's Eve party, and a more futile attempt by a girl there.

However, all good things come to an end and not long into the new year Alison and Oscar were being driven to the airport for the return flight to the UK at midnight. Just before they went through security his mother and father told Oscar "We'd like to invite Toby to spend the Easter holidays with us. If he can find the money for his flight, we'll provide all the rest."

"Will you? That'd be great." With that and a great number of hugs the children said goodbye to their parents and Oscar almost skipped through emigration.

The return flight lacked the interest of the outward bound one. It was entirely in the dark and except for meals Alison and Oscar slept for most of it. Gramps was at the other end to meet them and he whisked them back to one of Grandma's full English teas with scones, home made jam and clotted cream.

Oscar had a weekend to 'turn around' and that included on Monday morning having his hair set. He was relieved that it had gained approving noises from the 'rents in Canada. In the afternoon Gramps drove him back to Queen's.

Oscar reported in electronically, then to his Housemaster personally. After the seasonal pleasantries he went up to Alexander, unpacked his school uniform and his weekend bag, fetched and tidied away the belongings he had stored in the basement and tried to settle. All he succeeded in doing, after looking out of the dorm window, was to pace the length of the room and back to the window to see if Toby was returning yet. How many times he did that he did not know. He was just concentrating on looking out into the dank day which was already drawing to a close in the hope of seeing his returning loved one. His concentration was such that he didn't hear the door open and suddenly there was someone standing behind him who plunged his hands into his jeans' pockets, lifting his balls with the left hand and rubbing his dick with the right, while planting a vacuum cleaner like kiss on his neck. He knew it was Toby. He detected the pheromones. Oscar's reaction was to let Toby continue and at the same time to burst into tears.

After comforting Oscar, Toby unpacked his things and Oscar could give him his Christmas present. Toby pulled out of the wrapper a brand new pair of 501s. "Wow!" said Toby. "That's wicked. How did you know I needed some new jeans? And how did you know my size?"

"Over the last term I have managed to become quite well acquainted with your trousers. And the contents," he added facetiously, a good sign that he was recovering his normal humour. "But look, Tobes, these are not the same 501s that you buy in England. These are real American ones. If you set them side by side with your old ones, you'll notice the difference. Tougher denim and the flies are wider."

"I loved your blog. I'll treasure that. But I'm leaving the best to last. Mum and Dad said that if you can organise the flight, you can come and stay with us in Vancouver for the Easter holidays and it won't cost you anything more."

"Hey, that's fantastic. I'll give my parents a ring tonight when they get home to see if they'll let me go. Ooh, I almost forgot. I had to get some new jockstraps."

"If only… No, they were just getting worn out. The elastic wasn't elastic any more and it was just too easy to show a bollock. I don't think the school laundry is exactly gentle with them. As you know, I like to wear pink ones as part of my personal gay pride campaign. Well, Mum bought a spare one and dyed it along with mine. So this is like an extra Christmas present, but from the family."

"Ooh, you fibber," he laughed, "but thank you very much." He took off the wrapping, and despite all the banter he was relieved to see it was a size M. "Give me a hug."

Unusually it was a chaste hug, no frotting, no chubbing up. Oscar simply wanted to feel safe in Toby's arms and Toby was just pleased to have him there as a symbol of normality in their lives. The dormitory door opened and they heard "Happy New Year, guys. OMG! You two rabbits at it already?" They broke and Oscar greeted Marcus with a deep French kiss.

"No, Marcus. We're just pleased to see each other," Toby replied meanwhile. "I'm not even hard or moist.

"Mmm, can't feel much through those brand new Levi's of yours," complained Marcus. He re-arranged himself in the trouser department and said "Hey, guys, have I got news for you! Do you want the good news first or the bad news?"

"We'll take the good news first. The suspense is killing us," said Oscar in a near monotone.

"Weeell… the good news is that Olly Salmon is transferring into Tippett this term." Oscar and Toby gave each other a look and grinned.

"He's being billeted in Alexander?" said Toby to finish off what Oscar was saying.

"No, the bad news is he's being billeted in Turing," corrected Marcus, completely unable to comprehend the irony. Another glance between Oscar and Toby silently communicated their appreciation of the hidden power of the IC. They deemed it wise to move on.

"Look in the mirror." Oscar looked in the mirror and saw that where Toby had given him a welcoming kiss, he was sporting rather a large love bite.

"You two really are disgusting. You ought to be castrated like our ginger tom at home." More tacit communication between Oscar and Toby and before he knew what was going on, they had seized Marcus and each given him a Dracula kiss on the neck either side of his Adam's apple. In less than a minute it was all over and our boys released him and left him to recover. "Fuck me, I'm hard again," he said.

"That's a belated Christmas present from us to you," said Toby. By the time five minutes had passed, it was obvious that Marcus too was really disgusting and ought to have been castrated like his ginger tom at home.

The boys carried on with their unpacking and got their stuff ready for school the next day. While they were doing that, in breezed the Squalor and the Busker. "Happy New Year," shouted the pair cheerily. Instead of cases and bags Chris was carrying his brief case of sheet music. It was obvious that they had arrived much earlier. The three looked at them.

"If I want to practise, I have to go down to the local church when I'm home," said Chris, almost apologetically. The three continued to look at the pair. "It's just that when you get to my level, you have to practise as much as possible and I've got my first grade exam on the organ next week." They continued to stare, but now had grins all over their faces. "Wot?" But they were no longer staring at both of them. They were concentrating their gazes on David.

"Dracula been busy in your house over New Year?" said Toby. Both David and Chris turned to look at one another and then dark crimson. It was the first they knew that David, David the Nerd of all people, had joined the hickey club. Of course he knew everything there was to know about love bites in theory, but he thought he would be the last person on earth ever to gain practical experience.

It was soon time to go across to supper. The five from Alexander walked across together exchanging anecdotes from the Christmas holidays. One was dressed in a thick polo necked pullover and scarves had become fashionable with two others.

After supper the boys had free time until Prayers. Oscar and Toby decided to pay a visit to their mentors. Oscar received a warm welcome with a hug from Dominic. "Like the neck, Oscar." They chatted about what they'd done in the holidays and Oscar naturally had more to tell. "So, Oscar, what are you planning to do this term?"

"I don't know yet. They say the main game is hockey, but I've never played it before and I wouldn't know where to begin."

"I thought about rowing, but they want you for the whole year and I don't fancy catching a crab in January. That leaves squash, minor sports and cross-country."

"Squash and minor sports, that's for wankers and wimps," interjected Dom, "especially in the cold term."

"You do, but the serious squash players in the school play in their own time. The ones that do it for games in the Lent term just don't want to go outside.

"Or you could combine the two. Cross-country, say, on Tuesday and swimming on Thursday. "You're more likely to get that because there's quite a heavy demand for swimming and that way they can offer it to a hundred boys rather than fifty with double swimming."

"Couldn't be better, specially now the holidays are over. We're both dying for a bit of proper sex at the moment. Oh, and the big news is, and I'm waiting to hear from him now, that my parents have invited him out to Canada for the Easter holidays."

"That's great, and the other thing is Nik and I will be spending our usual Saturday night together. So if you and Toby want to, you can sleep in here." Oscar got up and hugged Dom as a form of acceptance.

"There is something else we'd like to do." Here Oscar lowered his voice even though they were alone in a soundproofed room. "Toby's working on it and this might sound a bit pervy…"

"Oscar, pervy was taken out of the Tippett English Dictionary years ago. We're all homos together and so we might do things in a different way, but we never call them pervy."

"… We want to see Nik's dick." Oscar waited for a reaction, but there was none. "We've never seen a black dick before."

"I'm sure it can be arranged, but at the very least he'll want to see yours. And I mean at the very least. You might be in for a lot of fun and since he's my boyfriend, I want to be there as well to make sure that you two don't gangrape him."

"I remember when we were new in the third form, six to a dorm then in Turing, we used to have quite a bit of fun with Nik, and he was always up for it, but by half term the novelty had worn off and he's got a black dick. So what? I find his pink tongue more fascinating, particularly when it's licking my tonsils." Dom looked at his watch. "Come along then, Oscar. It's five to eight. Prayers in five minutes. Have a good term. I'm sure you will. Give me a hug." Oscar did. Dom was already hard.

When Oscar got back to Alexander, he found Toby alone, just saying goodbye over his mobile phone. Toby looked up. "Hey, Oscar babes, it's on."

"I can go to Canada with you at Easter. Just that there are certain conditions attached."

"I'm coming anyway, but… The 'rents will pay half of the airfare. I have to pay the other half myself, but… and this is the important bit, if I get a good report at the end of term, both academic and for my sport, they will re-imburse me for the other half. So I'm going to make sure I get a good report. Simples."

"Yes, but who cares? I've got the money in my savings account and a birthday in between. So by the time I've talked to both sets of grandparents I might even have made a profit."

"Now, after Prayers I'll skype home and let Mum and Dad know you're coming. I'll try and get the flight details. It should all be booked by now and if you can't get on our flight, book up for another one and we'll meet you at the airport. Look, Tobes, to change to subject. I'm feeling a bit desperate tonight. Any chance you can sleep in my bed?"

On their way down the stairs Toby said "I almost forgot. Mum and Dad would like to invite you to spend half term with us so that they can get to know you."

"Sounds serious. Yeah, of course I'd love to come. Again I'll talk to Mum and Dad, and Gran and Gramps. Don't forget you're spending exeat with us." They moved into the mêlée in the common room. The Housemaster and Mrs Forrester were there along with the house tutors to welcome the boys back formally. Mr Forrester was pleased to welcome in addition Oliver Salmon who had transferred to Tippett from Lee-Berners House and hoped he would be happy in his new home. Marcus tried to start a round of applause, but it was not taken up by any of the others and it would have been interesting to know the reason why.

After dismissal Oscar took his laptop up to the library and skyped his parents. This was the second time since his return from Vancouver. Naturally they were pleased to hear from him and also pleased that Toby would be coming to stay with them at Easter. While Oscar's mother was talking, his father got together all the details Oscar needed. His mother also gave him permission to spend half term with Toby's family and said she would speak to Gran and Gramps about it first, but she knew that they wouldn't mind because as much as they enjoyed having Oscar there, they did find Alison a bit if a handful at times and felt that they were neglecting Oscar. He could easily surmise what sort of a handful she could be. Boys, even gay boys, were much easier to deal with.

Oscar went back down to Alexander, brought Toby up to date with the arrangements for half term and Easter and everyone in the dorm got ready for bed. To celebrate the new term they got together in a mass naked hug before getting into bed in their preferred night attire. David, as you would expect, wore traditional winceyette striped pyjamas, Toby nothing, Marcus shorts, Oscar tee shirt and shorts and Chris paisley patterned pyjama bottoms. Oscar went off to the bathroom to clean his teeth and then locked himself in a cubicle for a few minutes.

The five boys got into bed. Apart from Oscar they were weary from travelling back. As soon as he was convinced the other three were asleep, Toby slipped out of bed, made his bed up to look as if he were still lying in it, drew the curtain and crawled under Oscar's duvet, snuggling up to him. Oscar was no longer wearing his shorts. "Toby," he whispered, "I've just lubed up my hole. I want you to take me as deep as you can." It was just gone six when Toby returned to his own bed.

The shrill bell woke everyone at seven for breakfast and the new term. It wasn't light yet. Marcus and Olly Salmon walked over to breakfast together. The day continued. It did not appear as chaotic as the first day of the previous term. Everybody knew where they were going and what they had to do: chapel, Headmaster's Assembly, brief administration period and normal lessons after morning break.

After school that day Oscar said "Toby, I want to go back to the house by the scenic route."

"Oh, okay." The evenings were noticeably lighter than they were at the end of the previous term. "Holly bush?"

"Now come, come, Michael. Our New Year's resolution is to be nice to you. You don't want us to break it on the first day of term, do you?" Jackman looked at them sideways out of those slitty eyes of his. Then it occurred to Oscar what made Jackman look so odd. He had no eyelashes. "And we're here to do you a good turn." That made him even more suspicious.

"My sister has a friend who would like to meet you. I'm meeting them in town on Saturday afternoon." He knew Toby would be involved with games then. "Naturally I can't bring him onto school premises, but I don't think you'll be disappointed." Jackman was still giving him a look of distrust.

"Can't you guess? Jimmy Butterworth. So steer clear. I don't want you coming over all queer on me again."

The following day Oscar revisited Jackman and firmed up with him. No, that's the wrong expression. He confirmed the arrangements for Saturday. Against his better judgement, Oscar would walk into town with him, praying that he wouldn't meet anyone he knew. They would go to MacDonald's where he would make the introductions and Oscar would go off with Alison to do whatever took their fancy, and then everybody would then make their own way home.

It was one of those rare daytime occasions when all the inhabitants of Alexander were in the dormitory at the same time, doing their prep. Marcus spoke up. "Hey, lads, I've been thinking."

"How can he piss off and listen?" asked David, taking his friend's side. Marcus gave a big sigh and started again.

"Look. There may be times, if you wake up in the middle of the night, you might find I'm not here. Don't panic."

"Sounds okay to me," said Toby. "Preferable to him visiting us." They got on with their prep.

It was dark by the time they were walking across for supper. Oscar and Toby loved these dark evenings because they could fade into the black of night and spend a few brief personal minutes together. Nothing serious, just fleeting moments of contact that re-affirmed the emotional bond they were building. However, tonight that would have to be saved for the return from supper for their thoughts were interrupted by a 'Hey, guys' being hailed form behind. They turned to see their mentors running to catch them up. Nik arrived first. "I hear you two want to see my liquorice," he said.

"Liquorice?" repeated Toby, who was having confused thoughts about a black sweetmeat originating from Pontefract in Yorkshire.

"It's all right," said Dom. "Don't forget that Nik's from London. It's Cockney rhyming slang." Nik was another boy at Queen's on a scholarship, this one from his local authority provided for intelligent boys with an inner city background. It would be just too patronising for his interview panel to admit that he clinched it on the fact that he was black and gay. Nik was under no illusions, especially as with its 'speciality' Queen's was the recommended destination for him.

"That's right," said Nik. "My liquorice, my liquorice stick, prick." Oscar had arrived at the same conclusion by a different route, which need not concern us here. "Like titfer, tit for tat, hat," continued Nik. "Just to confuse you country bumpkins it's never the rhyming word that's used. Still, what were we talking about? Oh, yeah, about you two having a butcher's at my liquorice."

"Hey, smart boy. We might even have to make you an honorary Londoner if you understand our slang."

"Cor, blimey, strike a light," replied Oscar. He chose not to reveal that he had been brought up in London in his early years before the family moved to the country.

"Not money, dear boy. Payment in kind. I get a butcher's at your dicks. Tit for tat." He grinned. "And the profit is I then get to suck them." Oscar and Toby looked at each other. The lovers' telepathy was working.

"Too high a price," said Toby. "We bid you suck our dicks, but we also share a suck of yours."

"No, a step too far 'cos we might have other plans for later," and they shook on the original deal.

"Hey, what about me?" protested Dom. "I'm getting left out." Meanwhile they had reached the dining hall.

"Nothing like that. My sister's got a friend. She's his fag hag. He's a bit desperate and so I'm arranging for him to meet Jackman in town."

"Desperate is desperate and let's face it, that must be true of all Jackman's contacts. Still, what are we doing Saturday evening, Tobes?" By now they were standing in the queue for the servery in the dining hall.

"I was planning having a quiet evening in and making mad passionate love to my boyfriend," said Toby.

"Do you know what?" said Oscar. "It might be coincidence, but I was reckoning on doing the same."

"Well," said Nik, "how about changing your plans and making up a foursome with us and we carry out the dirty deed?" Oscar and Toby indulged in a few seconds of telepathy.

Saturday afternoon came round quite quickly. Oscar and Jackman met up as arranged at the school gates. Although it wasn't all that cold, even for January, Oscar had wrapped a scarf round his neck and over his mouth and nose so that only his eyes were visible and then he pulled the hood of his hoodie up to cover his hair. "Are you scared of being seen with me or something?" said Jackman.

They walked into town in silence at first. There was still an air of suspicion between them. It was Oscar that broke the silence. "So, Michael, when did you find out you were gay?"

"Dunno. In the orphanage, I s'pose. Always been gay." At least Oscar got an answer out of him, albeit it a surly one.

"Did your Mum and Dad know?" Then it occurred to him it was rather a silly question.

"I haven't got a father. He left when I was young, then got knocked over and killed by a taxi in London."

"I stay with an aunt. She never disguises the fact it's her duty to my father." Oscar was beginning to understand something about this oddball in the school community. "I hate the holidays. Can't get much sex for a start. I need sex, but I'm scared of getting arrested if I go out on the street looking for it, or getting beaten up. I'm safe at school." A Queen's boy came walking towards them on his way back to school.

They arrived at MacDonald's and walked in. Oscar pulled back his hood. There were Alison and Jimmy Butterworth sitting together, she daintily sipping a cup of hot anaemic coffee, he tucking into a double burger with bacon, cheese, salad and added mayonnaise Whopper. The introductions were made and Oscar and Alison left them to get on with it.

Toby was already back in Alexander, freshly showered and changed into trainers, sweats, and a tight tee shirt that clearly showed his nipples. "Hi, Tobes, how did the trials go?"

"Okay. As good as can be expected since I've never played hockey before. I'm being fasttracked with special coaching and if all goes well, I should be representing the school by half term, even if it's only in the C XI. How about your afternoon?"

"Won't know until I see Jackman. Introduced him to Jimmy, then I cleared off to do a bit of boywatching with Alison. After that she helped me stock up with hair care products. Then it was time for us to split. Tell you what. It's much easier to boywatch if you're with a girl. The QTs are more likely to put on a show and it keeps the homophobes off your back."

Oscar and Toby, Dom and Nik walked back from high tea to Tippett and all four carried on up to Wilde. Oscar and Toby were a little apprehensive for this would be the first time either of them had sexual contact with anyone else but each other. "So you still want to see my dick? Sure? Both of you? And you're both happy with the bargain – I see yours and gobble you both? It won't spoil your evening together?" Nik took his trainers and socks off.

"Nah," said Toby. "It'll just get the excess water off our bellies before the real fun starts later."

"C'mon, you honkies, lend a bruvva a hand." Toby eased the tee shirt over Nik's head. "Do you want to see me soft or hard?" While all this was going on, Dom was taking pictures with his smartphone.

"Both," they chorused. Nik dropped his black sweats and there he stood in just his briefs. They glowed brilliantly against his matt, jet black skin. An ultraviolet light had been switched on somewhere in Nik's room. He went into posing mode. Our boys didn't know what to look at first and the finale was yet to come. The tight fitting briefs hugged every nook and cranny of his lower body. The package bulged. As he twirled, they admired his bubble butt, something they had never noticed before, let alone admired. His body was hairless, he showed a sixpack, more natural than cultivated, and his nipples stood erect from his firm pecs, contrasting with a deep innie.

"Ready for the pièce de résistance ?" Oscar and Toby nodded. Some dribble ran down Toby's chin. "I don't want you ladies swooning in a faint at what you're about to see." Dom, between continuing with his photographic essay, was leaning against the door in case an errant visitor should barge in, unlikely as that was for a Saturday evening. Nik let his briefs drop to the floor and he stepped out of them and posed in Rodin's Thinker 's pose. As he recovered, Oscar and Toby did not know where to look first as Nik's liquorice stick appeared in all its glory. The same length as Oscar's, not as thick as Toby's, it lay resting and limply protruding on his ballsack, as black and hairless as the rest of his body below the neck. Just a tuft of short, tightly curled, black pubic hair resembling the hair on his head, and finally the original question was answered by a healthy pink glans covered by its three-quarter length matt black foreskin. It was the centrepiece of an amazing body of great natural beauty and powerful physique, and the boys' eyes were glued to it as slowly, but surely Nik's penis gorged itself with blood, the foreskin rolled back to reveal the whole shining pink glans and rose to the near vertical without gaining much stature. This show-er didn't need to.

Dom, of course, was used to this cabaret, but our boys were wowed into a sense of awe and wonder. "You can touch it, if you like," said Nik. In turn both boys gently tugged at his dick and felt his loose balls with care and reverence such as is usually reserved for a fragile religious artefact. Eventually it subsided and after one last lingering look of aesthetic admiration and erotic attraction from our boys, Nik pulled his briefs back on and instead of sweats he put on a pair of black lycras which blended into his skin colour. "These are called compression shorts. They flatten the bulges. I have to wear them when Dom is around because he's incapable of controlling himself. He's the one who really needs them. He's quite an animal when roused. I was thinking of giving him a pair for Christmas, but I couldn't find any pink ones."

"Ooh, you do tell some stories, Nik," protested Dom. The truth was that Nik was wearing them to control himself during the task ahead.

"Oscar," said Toby, "because I don't want you to be disappointed after you've done me."

"As if…" replied Oscar. "It's not what you've got, it's the way that you use it that counts."

"Get your tee shirt off, Oscar. I don't want you splashing all over that. And your trainers. I'll deal with the rest. Ready to go?" asked Nik as he slipped his hand up between Oscar's legs. "Oh, yes. I can feel it. You must have been hard for the last five minutes from the heat coming out of there. Do you always wet your pants?"

"No, only when I'm being touched up by a gorgeous boy." Nik pulled Oscar's sweats and briefs down in one go and his impatient cock boinged into the erect position."

"Mmm, no hair," purred Nik. "Just as I like it." He started by licking Oscar's loose balls, progressed to his shaft, then his glans and he finally took Oscar's cock the whole way into his mouth. Being a good mannered and well brought up boy, Oscar observed etiquette and warned that he was coming, but Nik lost control and Oscar ejaculated all over his face. White on black made an amazing combination and Dom just had to take pictures, particularly of the spunk dripping from Nik's nose which made him look as if he were suffering from a particularly bad cold.

Nik cleaned himself up with tissues. Oscar scooped up a remaining dribble of the white stuff from the end of his cock with his courting finger, sucked it clean and got dressed. "Your turn now, Toby," said Nik. I've been waiting for this moment ever since the Prefects' Shakedown last September. You won't have known it till now, my little hunk, but I have had to wear these compression shorts every time we've had a mentoring session. Did you know that, Dom?"

Nik got on with the dirty deed. "I see you shave as well, Toby, and if I'm not mistaken, under the UV light I can see the faint remains of a crown tattoo." Nik got on with the job, gave Toby full satisfaction and was careful enough to take all his ejaculate in his mouth."

With ambitions fulfilled until new ones evolved, the boys were ready to go. "You'll find the pictures on your computers, lads," said Dom. "Maybe even tonight, if you're lucky. I take it you're sleeping in Isherwood tonight?"

Oscar and Toby walked down to Alexander. Marcus was in town with Olly at the cinema. The Busker and the Squalor were discussing the music for the next day's chapel service. They said 'hi' as our two walked into the room. "You two look flushed," said Chris. "Have you been doing that which you ought not to have been doing?"

"Oh, that's all right then," said Chris casually and got on with discussing music with David.

"I'd better finish off my prep and then we can have tomorrow entirely free from schoolwork."

"I'll go and skype my parents. Probably be getting them out of bed." Oscar pulled out his phone to see what the time was. "Oh, perhaps not." He took his laptop up to the library. Toby got on with his prep and Chris and David thought it was time to head for the chapel organ loft.

Oscar updated his parents on the arrangements for Toby to come to Vancouver at Easter. His mother had explained everything to the grans who were now expecting him to spend half term at Toby's and Toby would come to them for the exeats. He said he had seen Alison that afternoon. On finishing the call, he spotted a message saying that there was a folder in his Dropbox from Dominic, but when he downloaded it, he saw it was encrypted and he would have to wait until the morning to get the password. He locked his computer away in Alexander, updated Toby about the holiday arrangements, told him the photos had arrived, but he needed the password, said he was off to the television room and would it be all right if he topped Toby later that night. It was just that he was in that sort of mood and instead of curbing his libido, that session with Nik had just made him feel hornier. He kissed Toby's forehead, took his copy of GY mag with him and left him to get on with his prep.

Up in the TV room there were a couple of others watching Dr Who . They quickly moved apart when Oscar came in. He couldn't get interested in the programme. He leafed though GY , but was even distracted from that by visions of Nik, particularly the one of him posing there just in the white briefs contrasted against the black body, which stiffened him up, but he didn't want to do anything about it because he was on a promise that night.

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All the Queen's Men

by N Fourbois

Part 6

Christmas Holidays