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Started at the Bus Stop Chapter 49
The next couple of days passed without anything significant happening, except that Percy's mother also picked up on the change in Percy and asked him about it. They had a short discussion about it and Grace showed the same understanding as Adam had.
Wednesday was going to be the real test, when Percy had to strip to get into his swimming gear for PE. The change before the class went relatively smoothly and no one seemed to notice. When they were sitting at the poolside, waiting to be told what to do by Mr. Wilson, Nicky was sitting beside Percy and slid his hand along the top of Percy's leg, "Seems you've lost something here?" he asked, quietly so that others nearby wouldn't hear.
"Yeah. An experiment," Percy replied.
"I'll talk to you later when it's more private," Nicky responded and left it at that.
Fred Wilson arrived at the pool and got the class doing warm-up exercises, then told them to hit the water and get in ten laps each. Those who finished sooner were told to move to the deep end and practice treading water while passing a polo ball to each other. The ball was never to hit the water, and it wasn't to be held in anyone's hand longer than three seconds. It didn't matter that there were both sexes in the group nor that not all of them actually played water polo as a sport. This was just a bit of fun and practice to keep them occupied while the slower swimmers finished their laps. His plan was to not have anyone waiting around and making sarcastic comments to the slower swimmers. He had found this helped to maintain a level of camaraderie amongst the whole class. The students recognised what he was doing and respected him for it. He was a fair teacher and often would have a joke ready to share with his pupils. They also knew that he would never be sarcastic about their differing levels of ability in whatever activity they were enjoying in his classes.
Just before the end of the lesson, Wilson had them doing cool down laps but called Percy out to talk to him. "Mr. Nisbett, I notice that you seem to have lost something. This isn't the result of being bullied is it?"
"No sir. It is a bit of an experiment," Percy answered.
"Aah, you and Mr. Chesterton?"
"Er, yes, sir."
"Okay. Well, if anyone gives you trouble over it, let me know and we'll see what we can do to stop it. It's not my thing, but we're all allowed to be individuals. Go and join your friends."
"Thank you, sir." Percy turned and dived back into the pool and joined William and Nicky as they swam.
The three boys stopped and treaded water for a bit. "What did Flintstone want?" Nicky asked, using the nickname they had christened Fred Wilson with.
"He was just checking that I hadn't been bullied," Percy said.
"Oh, you mean about this?" Nicky asked as he slid his hand down Percy's torso.
"Yeah."
"That was nice of him. We'll talk later," Nicky said and took off to swim again.
"Nicky's noticed the lack," Percy explained to William's unasked question. The two boyfriends began swimming again.
Wilson gave them the last ten minutes of their time as free to just mess about in the pool, which got all the class into a jovial mood before he blew the whistle and sent them all off to shower and get back into their school uniforms.
As they were walking to the cloakrooms, Martyn approached and asked if Wilson had given Percy any `grief'. Percy assured him he hadn't, and they continued on to strip off and hit the showers. The showers were at one side of the cloak room and consisted of a row of shower heads sticking out from the wall with timed, pushbutton taps. All the boys had learned to stand to the side and push the button first and let it run for its allotted time before pushing it again and getting under the spray. When the button got pushed for the second time the water would be warm rather than cold. There weren't enough heads for the boys to have one each, so they had to double up and even share between three at times. No space nor allowance for privacy or modesty. They did know that when new cloakrooms were designed they would have individual cubicles, but until that time they enjoyed being able to talk to each other and share a bit of banter. Before the change in Percy's status he was usually pushed out and made to wait until there was a shower free that he could use solo. This was generally after all the hot water had been used and he got at best a lukewarm shower. Now he enjoyed what the others had taken for granted all along. He also joined in with the banter and was on the receiving end of some, only now the banter aimed at him was funny and not spiteful.
It didn't take long for guys to notice that he was devoid of body hair, but instead of a loud call to alert everyone, those who noticed just let Percy know they had seen it and left it like that. A couple of them asked William if he was going to join Percy and got the answer that the jury was still out on it.
Percy and William were walking together to the place where their little group always met at breaktime when Nicky caught up with them. "So how does it feel?"
"How does what feel?" William asked.
"Being all smooth," Nicky said.
"I quite like it, although the hairs are already growing back and are a bit prickly now," Percy answered.
"And does it make the sex any better?"
"What sex?" William asked.
"Whatever you two get up to when you're alone together," Nicky said.
"Well, I think that is for us to know and no one else," William said.
"Not even a threesome?" Nicky asked.
"What do you mean by that?" Percy asked.
"I'm curious. I'd like to find out what it's like," Nicky admitted.
They had to end the conversation at that point because they were joined by Abram and Barrie and were close to their meeting place.
None of them had a chance to talk about anything of that nature again that day until Percy and William were walking home. Juliet was not with them as she had an extracurricular activity to attend.
"What do you think of Nicky's conversation with us today?" William asked.
"I think we need to let Nicky know that we're a couple and want to stay that way. And then somehow get him and Dan linked up."
"That's a good idea. Any thoughts on how we could do that without outing them to each other?"
"Maybe a trip to town and lunch in the food court," Percy suggested.
"Yeah, invite them to join us and then see if the penny drops as to why we invited them only."
"Okay, let's try and set it up for this Saturday. I reckon we ask Nicky first. I think Dan will be more flexible with his time, as they are not playing matches yet."
On Thursday, William spoke to Nicky and invited him to join them in town for lunch and possibly a movie or something after it. Nicky didn't take long to think about it and agreed. Hoping that his two friends were going to make him an offer, he was careful not to mention it to the rest of their group.
Percy waited until Friday to talk to Dan, because he wanted to know for certain that Nicky was going to join them. Dan didn't stop to think about it. He accepted the invitation immediately.
Percy and William made sure they were at the precinct a little earlier than the agreed time; they wanted to make sure the two boys didn't discover they had accepted similar invitations without them there to prevent any problems. Nicky was the first to join them. After greetings Nicky asked what they planned on doing first.
"We have to wait for someone else first, and then we can all discuss it and agree," Percy said.
"Oh, who else is coming?" Nicky asked.
"I can see him heading this way now," William said and waved his hand above his head.
Dan saw it and hurried across to them. He hadn't realised it was Nicky with them until he was just a couple of feet away. "Hi, guys. I didn't realise there were going to be others. Are the rest of your gang coming too?"
"No. It's just us four. We thought you two might want to get to know each other better," Percy said. "Any thoughts on what we could do before we get a bite to eat?"
"I quite enjoyed doing that window shopping with you guys the other week," Dan said.
"Nicky, any thoughts?"
"A lot, but I'm not sure I want to voice them here. Okay to do some window shopping. I can't afford to do much else."
"Well, lunch is on me. It was my idea to invite you guys to join us and I'm happy to cough up for that," Percy said.
"I wasn't meaning that. I was thinking more of the prices of some of the designer label shops in this place. Put a fancy name on a tag and add another hundred quid to the price. You know what I mean?" Nicky said.
"Yeah, you old tightwad. Are you sure your name isn't Ebenezer Scrooge MacStratfoldstein?" William asked, grinning. Dan and Percy both chuckled.
The four wandered around for about three quarters of an hour, popping into a couple of shops to take a closer look at something that had caught their interest. William and Percy were happy and encouraged when both Nicky and Daniel joined in with the banter and other aspects of their conversation.
Their window shopping eventually ended at the food court. They all plumbed for KFC, and Percy placed their order for a "Big Daddy Meal" each. Large, of course. They got their boxes and moved off to find a suitable table. It was a bit early for the lunchtime rush, so they were able to get a table where they could watch the crowds and still be relatively private in their conversation.
"So, do you want to go to a movie once we've eaten? I'm not sure what's showing, but with four screens there should be something interesting," Percy said.
"Yeah, I'm cool with that," Dan said
"Sounds good. But what's more interesting is why you two thought us two would like to get to know each other better," Nicky replied.
"Oh, I hadn't thought of that. Is it something to do with what we did the other week?" Dan asked.
"Well ..." William started
"Hold on a bit," Nicky interrupted. "Has this something to do with what we talked about after our PE period?"
"Are you suggesting we might have a mutual interest?" Dan asked.
"We just thought that you two might find that you'd like to become better acquainted and possibly even good friends. We think you have some things in common," Percy said.
"And that's all we're going to say about it. The rest is up to you two to work out," William added.
All four fell silent and concentrated on eating their meals for several minutes. The changing expressions on both Nicky's and Daniel's faces was testament to the battles going on inside their heads.
Eventually Daniel broke the silence. "Nick, you've been William's friend for a long time and more recently become Percy's friend. What's your take on them being a couple?"
"And you're asking me that in front of them! What if I wanted to say that I hate gays and think they all should be sent off to the colonies?" Nicky responded.
"I wouldn't believe you," Daniel replied.
"Okay, William and Percy know anyway. I haven't tried it, but I'm not against it or them. They're my friends, and I'm happy for them," Nicky said.
"Now that I'll believe. You haven't tried it, but does that mean you're curious about it?" Daniel asked again.
"Have you tried it? Are you curious?" Nicky asked back.
"Yes and yes," Daniel admitted. He then held his breath, tensed, fearing an adverse reaction from Nicky.
"How did you feel about it?" Nicky asked.
Daniel let his breath out slowly as he relaxed. "Actually, I enjoyed it, but I haven't found someone to try anything more with yet."
"Wow!" Nicky responded. "Does anyone else know?"
"No one else at school," Daniel avoided telling Nicky that he had done something with Percy and William. They had asked him to keep it secret. "So, what's your answer?"
"Err, umm, no and yes," Nicky said. "And no one else knows either."
"I think we'd best be heading to the cinema, or we might be too late to catch the early afternoon show," Percy said. They had achieved what they set out to do. It had happened faster than they expected. Percy put it down to teenage hormones making their two friends rather desperate. He also thought that maybe being with two who were known to be gay gave them the courage to talk more freely than they might have done otherwise.
When they got to the Cineplex it took them all of about five seconds to agree on the film to see. With their four tickets they headed inside and got drinks but opted against popcorn. They had just eaten, and the popcorn was so expensive they felt the drinks were enough of a rip-off. Ten minutes later they were happily seated in the cinema waiting for the film to start. While the lights were up, they chatted amongst all four. When the lights went down, William and Percy held hands and began to whisper between themselves. Daniel was sitting next to Percy and Nicky on the other side of him. When Percy turned to whisper to William, Dan turned and said something softly to Nicky. He responded in a whisper. While Dan and Nicky could hear what each of them were saying, Percy was only able to catch odd snippets of their conversation. Percy was glad that the two were talking quite freely together and hoped that it would lead to them at least giving each other some experience to remember. After the film, both Dan and Nicky thanked William and Percy for a good afternoon and said they would catch them at school on Monday. William and Percy got their bus home. Percy stopped by at William's house for a little bit to say `hi' to Juliet and Clive before he carried on up to his own home.
Clive was his usual bubbly self and proudly told Percy that he had got all his homework done without needing any help.
"Well done, boykie!" both William and Percy said together. Clive beamed at the praise.
"And what else have you done while William's been in town?" Percy asked.
"I did some gardening for dad and tidied my room and watched some TV and had lunch," Clive said in one breath.
"And I did some sewing. Dad's out so I got some work done on improving the finger pants. But before you ask, they're not finished, so you can't see them yet," Juliet said.
They hadn't sat down, and Juliet suggested they move to the kitchen so that she could start on getting the meal ready for their tea. Percy and William described how they had got two guys who might be gay together and told Juliet and Clive about the film they had just watched. Then Percy said he had better get off home to his mother and check if Mavis had done anything for their meal.
When he got home he found his mother in her study working on some research. When he greeted her, she stopped what she was doing and suggested they have a cup of coffee or something so Percy could tell her about his day.
Percy described how they had got Dan and Nicky together without revealing their names and explained how both had suggested they might like to try something out with him and William. "But William and I are a couple and we're not too keen on doing stuff with others. We thought if we could get them together they might be able to help each other."
"And that's the best thing you two can do. I'm proud of you and William. You are so good for each other," Grace said.
They chatted for another half an hour before Grace suggested they go to the kitchen to see what they could fix for their tea. "I told Mavis we would sort ourselves out. Her sister is not well, and she wanted to go see her."
"I didn't know Mavis had a sister. Where does she live?"
"I think Mavis said she's in Sevenoaks, but I'm not sure. Wherever it is, she had a few hours of driving to get there. I told her that if she needs to stay over, she can take some leave and we would fend for ourselves for a few days. So, you might have to do some laundry, and cook some food. But I'm sure between us we can take care of the housework that has to be done."
"No problem. Tell me what you want, and I'll do my best to get it done. Do you know if the sister is older or younger than Mavis?"
"She's fourteen years younger than Mavis and has two young boys. There's no father. I don't know what happened there," Grace said.
Between them they got their meal ready and sat down to eat. When they had finished Grace said she had a deadline and needed to get back to work.
"Thanks for stopping for me. I really enjoyed our chat. But if you need to work on something for a deadline, I understand and I'll keep out of your way," Percy said.
"Thank you, Percy. You are a good son."
Grace went back to her study and Percy went up to his room and his laptop. Pretty soon he was naked and his hand was busy, helping him to settle for the night.