The Embarrassment of Riches

The Embarrassment of Riches Chapter Twenty-Four: The Sense of an Ending

The people, places and events in this story are entirely fictional and any resemblances to real people, real places or real events is coincidental.

The last bloody day of school seemed to be lasting forever...

Tom had accompanied Ephraim to the cafeteria with worrying ease; no-one seemed to care that the older lad was wandering around the school, indeed there was no adults to speak of, save for the jaded twenty-one year old serving the lunches. In part the ease with which Tom moved around was due to the fact he looked younger than Ephraim. It was in the cafeteria that Kazuo found them and regaled the epic tale of Martin and Sean, though quite how that story was progressing at this moment was a mystery.

Lunch was half way done when the headmaster found them and Mr Hughes did not seem very comfortable having to summon them.

"Mr O'Connor and Mr Saito," the headmaster addressed Ephraim and Kazuo while Tom melted into the background; "Come with me, I think we should talk."

They went to his office and Mr Hughes sat behind his desk with as stern a look as he could manage. Reluctant to summon them for whatever purpose, but there was humour beneath it.

"I was, as you can imagine, surprised when several of my colleagues reported Mr McGuigan was wandering the school in swimwear just before lunch," Mr Hughes said.

Connor was glad he had been updated by Kazuo on this particular circumstance.

"I do wish I had been informed of this before you did it. We do have rules and safety concerns and there is the issue of decency to consider," he said.

All true, though that opened the door of how decent it was for seventeen year old boys to ever wear Speedo's if their skimpiness was a genuine concern for the man. Neither Connor nor Kazuo spoke as they had not been asked a question and they didn't want to dig a hole for themselves.

"I was rather cross about it until Mr McMann informed me that you had succeeded in raising an impressive sum in the name of charitable fundraising. Well done," Mr Hughes congratulates them.

"Well, thanks," Connor replied.

"Given the success of this morning, I was therefore more than happy to grant your request for this afternoon," Mr Hughes continued.

"Oh, excellent," answered Kazuo.

One look between Kazuo and Connor communicated a total lack of ken as to what their headmaster was talking about. Luckily he elaborated without prompting.

"Mr McMann made the point very eloquently," Mr Hughes said and the mention of Mitchell caused an immediate sinking sensation; "that as the swim team's captain. Or rather captains. You two were the perfect lads to carry the fundraiser forward this afternoon."

"Oh, excellent," Kazuo repeated himself.

"Yes, I rather thought so. I think it is good of you two to use your profile on the last day to engender generosity amongst the pupils. If I could get the year one to four boys back, I'd have the entire school packed," Mr Hughes admitted.

"I don't think that's necessary," Connor told him.

Bloody Mitchell. Connor wanted to punch bloody Mitchell McMann but there was also something fun about the idea and Tom being around made him feel his security blanket was not too far away.

"So I am going to authorise you both to pop your trunks on for the afternoon and see if we can drum up some interest in the swimathon and get boys interested in you both," Mr Hughes sounded delighted but couldn't possibly be so naive, could he?

Kazuo unhelpfully replied with, "Boys are already interested in us, sir."

Five minutes later and Connor and Kazuo were in the changing room and striping off their clothes to deposit them in a locker. Mitchell inevitably showed up with his encourage just as they got to their underwear.

Mitchell was all innocence; "It sounded like the right thing to say to persuade him Martin's exposure was all above board."

Mitchell deliberately used the word "exposure" to remind Connor and Kazuo exactly what he knew about them and their adventures.

"I saw your boyfriend exit stage left by the way," Mitchell said with sincerity this time; "I covered for him so he could leave by the side door. He's going to hang about out of view of the teachers and catch you later."

"Right, thanks," Connor manages, albeit reluctantly.

Connor pushed down his underwear to expose his hairless crotch while Kazuo's very tidy pubes were also revealed to the changing room. They dumped their clothes in their respective lockers and then moved to a separate cabinet where new and clean Speedo's were kept; the school invested in their swim team and liked them to look pristine.

Mitchell moved behind them and stalked towards their lockers, pulled off the padlocks and secured one's supplied by himself; he closed the lockers and then locked them so only he would be able to open them again. It was around that moment that Connor and Kazuo discovered the cabinet where their Speedo's should be was locked.

Connor whirled around to see the glee on Mitchell's face; he might have been trying to be a good boy, probably to ingratiate himself to the director with whom Martin and Sean were spending their day, but he could still be a ruthless git.

"You know I hate you, right?" Connor asked Mitchell.

"Well I was going to give you a gift but..." Mitchell started to say.

However his stepbrother Damon admonished him; "Mitch!"

"Yea, ok," Mitchell conceded.

Mitchell handed over two slips of fabric for the boys to wear. They were rather obviously made of swimwear fabric but they were much smaller. Speedos were already neat - as in small - but these things were even worse. The pouch would only just cover their cocks and balls but if they got hard, their testicles would definitely pop out. The straps around their hips were as thin as string and their bums bulged out of the inadequate seat at the back. Sure their bums were covered, sort of; at least their holes would not be shown but it was (only just) a step above a thong.

Connor and Kazuo pulled on the offending items.

"Hold on, I promised your boyfriend I'd let him see the final result," Mitchell said.

He pulled out his mobile phone and in an instant the obscenely small swimwear was immortalised. Their cocks, even soft, pushed against the fabric and both boys were glad their shaved their balls as it blurred the line between thigh as scrotum just enough to get away with it.

"Righto, let's go then."

The bell to announce the end of lunch rang just as they left the changing room and Mitchell suggest it was the perfect opportunity to meet the crowds before hitting the classrooms. It occurred to Kazuo that it had been his and Sean's stupid idea in the first place to embarrass and expose Martin in Speedos, so maybe this was his just rewards.

Mitchell left Damon and John in charge of Kazuo, who was stationed near the main entrance of the school to catch pupils passing through there; meanwhile Mitchell himself escorted Connor to the rotunda. The rotunda would be packed with boys and three quarters of the boys in the building would pass though on their way to their first class of the day.

And so it was that Connor was met with the gleeful, astounded and lustful looks of many a lad. He had a boyfriend who he loved very deeply but the attention was still flattering. Only a few boys touched the merchandise, the others were too scared, demure or possessing of decorum; the few that did touch slipped a hand into the side of the Speedo to tug the string around the hips.

The string gave a vulnerable pop of its stitches and Connor knew he would not want to test its strength.

Kazuo's experience was much the same, though it began more acrimoniously with the arrival of Glen. Glen was Yoshi's ex-boyfriend, Yoshi being the nice boy who had sculpted a facsimile of his hard-on that morning. Was that really only this morning? It felt like two weeks ago.

"I hear you were with my boyfri-," he stopped mid-word and corrected himself; "...with Yoshi this morning?"

"Says who?" asked Kazuo mildly.

"Says Simon and Nate," he replied tightly.

Simon and Nathanial - the cutest couple in school - the boys who had walked in when he was being sculpted.

"Ah... yes... so?" Kazuo replied, a smile pulling at his lips.

"So... I'd rather you didn't do that," Glen said.

"Why? Are you jealous?" Kauzo asked.

Money was dropped into his bucket and a hand tickled the cleft on his bottom as another boy passed by.

Glen's reply to Kazuo was a series of non-word splutters that translated to "yes" but unwilling to just say so.

"Yoshi says it was you who broke things off. Seems to me if you're jealous when he gets attention from other boys, maybe you should rethink how you feel about him," Kazuo said patiently.

Glen just looked at him with a staggered expression: "You did that to make me jealous?"

"Yoshi was really hurt when you broke up. I did it to see if you still felt something... only you know if being jealous means that you still want him," Kazuo replied. "Also he stroked me off a little bit. I did it for that too."

Glen took a minute for it all to sink in; "I dunno if that makes you a good friend to Yoshi or not. But thanks."

"Yea," replied Kazuo, suddenly serious. "If you still want him, you should go get him. Before someone else does."

Glen watched Kazuo's face and realised that perhaps Kazuo had wanted to make a move of Yoshi but he had sacrificed the chance in order to reunite the broken couple. What kind of a man does that?

"Thank you," Glen said softly. "Thank you."

Five minutes after the bell had called the end of lunch, the throng had subsided and school boys were back in class rooms to learn not very much. It was the last day of school; no-one had thinking caps on, there would be time for that when all the exams started making them mentally ill.

Connor and Kazuo were relieved to be reunited – strength in numbers.

And so Connor and Kazuo began a tour of the school, shocking every class - mostly the teachers supervising it - with their appearance. No matter how many times their peers saw them, their shock and envy was the same. Almost naked boys will achieve that, one supposes.

Naked boys achieve that too.

Their tour of the school was supervised by faceless stooges - otherwise known as friends of Mitchell McMann's. They were finally led to the top floor of the school and had just exited the stairwell when their two seventeen year old escorts (not THAT kind of escort) carried out their final instruction. Connor and Kazuo knew it was coming, it had been so obvious. On the top floor they were as far from clothes and cover as was possible. The two lads pulled the swimwear, such as it was, and the strings snapped with nary a pain in neither the balls nor bum cracks. When your only stitch of clothes are being taken, the absence of wedgie pain is worth being thankful for.

Now naked, Connor and Kazuo covered up.

Connor's total hairlessness was always striking, but never more so than now when not even a trace of stubble peeked from beneath his hands.

"Well, see you guys soon," Mitchell said - he'd been waiting on the landing of the stairwell. Had he really just turned up to make pithy comments? "Don't call us, we'll call you."

Yup. He'd just turned up to make pithy comments.

So... naked on the street with nowhere to go or hide, skin still shiny with oil, cum still drying on Sean's back; cum still odorous from Martin's cock and the sun still high in the sky. The breath of wind touching their skin made it impossible not to feel completely exposed. From around the bend a car emerged and Martin and Sean stood dumb to any action other than to wait for the driver to see their semi-hard cocks.

Should they turn around and display their arses instead?

The car slowed down and Martin and Sean realised it was Gordon who rolled down the window and leaned over.

"Sorry guys, I've never been good at the turn in the road so I used the roundabout just up the road," Gordon said.

Martin and Sean reached for the door and tugged several times; the handle didn't respond and Gordon relieved he had not unlocked the door. When it finally opened, they dived in beside each other and breathed easily. The trip back to their school would take ten minutes or so and lunch would already be over – they were going to be late and they still didn't have any clothes to wear.

Stopped at a set of traffic lights, Martin and Sean were deep in thought; so deep in thought they failed to notice the cyclist beside them.

He was early twenties and looked open mouthed at their exposed cocks for the duration of the red light. The erection he now sported could not have made it easy to ride his bike. The rest of the journey was fine and uneventful, with Gordon pulling into the same space he had vacated a little over an hour before.

"You guys were magnificent," Gordon said to them; "Last week I told Mitchell his attitude stinks and he wouldn't make it anywhere by being so selfish, cruel and crass."

That explained the attitude adjustment.

"But I must admit, suggesting you two for my film was an inspired gesture. I can't wait to look at all the footage I got," Gordon said.

Martin and Sean nodded dumbly.

"No, seriously. I can't wait. Get out," Gordon said.

And so ended their glorious acting careers – pushed naked out of the directors' car into the school car park.

The car park was deserted and none of the overlooking windows seemed to have faces watching them but it was hard tell for certain. The moment they got back inside, through the door just opposite the cafeteria, they were accosted by solitary figure.

Luckily it was Mitchell who told them where to go.

Martin and Sean were tempted to tell Mitchell where to go but they didn't like to be rude. They covered their cocks and balls as best they could, but pubes peeked above Martin's hands. After everything they had both been through -that day alone, never mind their previous misadventures - it seemed strange to cover up. By the time they reached to top floor of the school, they were wondering why they had made the bloody trek because the only place to go from there would be back downstairs - almost certainly to the changing rooms.

Mitchell made a pithy comment and then abandoned them to their fate - to be caught naked by a teacher of class full of boys or to escape to the relative safety of the changing rooms. They could hear Mitchell and his friends laughing down the stairwell.

Martin and Sean looked down the long corridor and wondered exactly what to do next. A shadow crossed the floor inside the nearest classroom where the door stood ajar. The class appeared empty but Martin and Sean still took caution as they peeked inside.

"Oh, hi guys," said Connor.

Sean immediately saw that Connor and Kazuo were naked and Martin stood behind him, looking over his shoulder to see the same.

"Hey," said Sean.

"So, how have you guys been?" Martin asked conversationally.

"Not bad," Kazuo answered casually; "You?"

Sean and Martin squeezed into the room to reveal their nudity too.

"Yea... fine thanks," Martin replied.

"So..." said Sean; "Nice weather today."

"Hmm," replied Connor who then smiled wickedly; "Is is cold out or something?"

Connor had nodded to Sean's flaccid penis - something about the emasculating comment made the whole group giggle. Even Sean, though he looked down to check his dick didn't actually look small.

There was a long pause as they all adjusted to the circumstances surrounding them.

Sean finally rallied the troops; "Now what should we do?"

They intended to descend the staircase directly outside of their bolthole but voices floated up; not Mitchell or his associates either and so not people they could risk confronting. Admittedly just about everyone had seen each of them in swimwear and a great number had seen Martin and Sean naked in the cafeteria but that was no need to expose themselves to who knew who. Besides, it might be a teacher.

The four lads moved swiftly along the corridor, ducking as they got to each classroom door as every single one had a window that looked out into the corridor. Once again, they did not fancy exposing their genitalia to every single person in the building – Speedo exposure had been quite enough.

This misadventure was not on Connor's bucket list, but it was an event that would spice up his and Tom's sex life for a few weeks; the whole escapade was enough to make him cum a pint.

Sean, Kazuo and Martin were rather more inclined to check out their naked companions but it resulted in semi erections that hardly made their predicament earlier to handle – nor to explain if caught by a teacher.

The four lads had reached the far end of the corridor where another staircase also descended back to the ground floor and this one did not have voices climbing from below. Connor was the last to reach the stairwell so he looked back to the other end of the corridor to see who had come up the other stairs. Their esteemed head master headed up the group but Connor was hardly going to stick around to see who else was there. It was a good thing that none of the adults had seen any of them.

"Hold the door," Connor said as he stepped forward.

"Hodor, Hodor," Martin said as he held the door for Connor to pass through.

"Oh, cool," replied Connor with a cheeky grin; "We've finally found your intellectual level."

Martin laughed and replied, "How very dare you."

They all descended two floors before having to go into the first floor corridor to avoid a group of boys, recognisable by their energetic exchange of opinions... and also the swearing. They waited until the boys had passed and raced back into the staircase. They were at the landing between floors before they saw him and by then it was too late because he had already spotted them. Mr Jones, their charming/ spivvish History teacher had seen the four boys naked.

His expression gave nothing away as he slowly moved up the stairs towards them.

Connor took the lead, as usual, and played for nonchalant.

"Hi, Mr Jones. How's your last day going?" asked Connor.

"Uneventfully. Yours?" he replied dryly.

"Great. Good. Ok." Connor replied, downgrading his assessment with each word.

"You should probably go," Mr Jones said with a laugh.

"Oh thank goodness," Kazuo said, pushing past him in haste.

He was followed by Martin and Sean, leaving only Connor exposed to the man's gaze.

"Do you like what you see, Mr Jones?" Connor asked.

It was not intended as a flirtation. Connor's interest was more curious than that.

"I think you're a bit young for me, Connor," Mr Jones replied.

Connor smiled as he bounded past the others but was all too aware the answer had been an evasion. Mr Jones had not said no; he had merely admitted that admiring boys was not a safe occupation for a teacher. Mr Jones glanced back to enjoy the boys' hot arses as they slipped from view - with Connor's naked bum being the last disappear.

"Did he say anything? Give you into trouble?" Sean worriedly asked Connor when he caught up.

"Nope," Connor replied.

"Wow, he really isn't one hundred percent a dick," Sean replied - recalling their shard joke from assembly that morning.

"They got my dick message," Connor quoted with a laugh that Sean shared as they raced to catch up to Martin and Kazuo.

Navigating the school totally naked was a surprisingly difficult enterprise that was thankfully closer to its end than its beginning. Unfortunately they were now on the wrong side of the school; the original staircase would have been a hop, skip and a jump from the changing rooms of the P.E. department.

Now however, they had to traverse the rotunda – the biggest open space inside the school.

During classes it was a quiet place to be so they darted through it, alert to any sound, and got to the other side without any surprising plot twists.

From here the most direct route, the one they had all been working towards, went right past the school reception, the offices and the assembly hall but something gave Connor pause.

"Wait," Connor warned; "I know Mitchell attempted to be a human being earlier today but..."

"But us being caught with our balls out is too good a chance to miss?" finished Sean.

They all nodded in agreement – Mitchell would aim to have them caught and exposed at the reception somehow.

"Side exit," Martin said.

"Ok, I think you might have forgotten to have the rest of the conversation out loud," Kazuo said of the apparent non sequitur.

"The side exit is just up there opposite the cafeteria," Martin shared a look with Sean; "We went out that way earlier."

Sean was catching up to the idea; "We go out that way, and around the outside of the school. We can sneak back in through the gym hall storeroom. Assuming that door is open."

"It is..." Connor said with confidence, recalling his morning adventure outside. When everyone looked at him he finished; "...I'd wager."

They darted across the hall and up the corridor then outside and ducked under the classroom windows with more difficulty than they had anticipated. The main problem was that they were all so damn tall; as far as they could tell though, no-one inside had seen them running around naked.

They got to the other side of the building however and came into the unobscured view of ten lads playing football.

The boys in question all thought it was funny and approached with good spirits.

"Hey, Connor," said one lad.

Another looked at Martin in his resplendent nudity before turning to Connor and saying; "but he naked, I thought the plan was to..."

"Shhh!" Connor shot at him.

Martin knotted his brow but noticed the others smile so whatever was about to be said was common knowledge to people who weren't him.

"We'll see you soon. Need to get dressed for the occasion," Connor said.

Their target entrance was open and, luckily, the gym halls were empty; the changing room was also empty and their lockers were open for them to get dressed. Whether it was Mitchell who had made the arrangements for them to be able to be made decent again was an unresolved mystery; Connor in particular suspected John and Damon had something to do with it.

However, the changing room was not quite empty...

"You took your sweet ass time," Tom said happily.

"Ah, you noticed my ass, did you?" Ephraim asked.

"Hard to miss," Tom mocked.

Martin, Kazuo, Sean and Ephraim all redressed: trousers, white shirts, ties and blazers. And so it was that half an hour late for his final class, Martin arrived. The teacher looked theatrically at his watch and then at Martin; then he looked at his watch again.

"Perhaps you would like to venture a solution to the problem on the board?" his teacher asked before Martin had even sat down.

Martin looked at the board and realised the statistically most likely answer was already proven incorrect.

"L?"

The teacher smiled cruelly; "No, there's no L."

A taxing game of hangman was not how he had imagined the day ending.

On reflection, Martin would struggle to recall any moment when he actually learned anything on this last day of school. Actually, he did learn that boys en masse can be filthy. Friday afternoons always ended early for Martin, whose timetable scheduled a free period in the last slot of the day; thus, his time at school had ended and it was a melancholy moment.

For about thirty seconds.

Redressed in his pristine uniform, Martin began to recall what his dad had said that morning: "You know if you don't come back with your uniform in disarray, you haven't done it right?" Martin had just entered the rotunda which he intended to pass though on his final whistle-stop tour of the school when Sean appeared.

"I figured you'd come through here," Sean said.

"You know me so well," Martin replied.

He had intended it to be a light comment but its veracity hit a nerve – Sean did know Martin well, cared for him, wanted him warts and all. Yet Martin "didn't see him that way," and it stung. It stung every time, and Sean pushed the feeling down and ignored it in favour of good times.

"We have a going away present for you," Sean said.

"We?" Martin asked.

Martin found himself man-handled into the middle of the rotunda and standing on a large square or plastic. Was he going to be murdered? Isn't this how they execute people in gangster movies? Then Sean was joined by the ten boys who had been outside playing football less than an hour ago. As his blazer was pulled off, Martin rather thought he knew where this was going. He was going to be stripped naked again.

He didn't. And he wasn't.

The ten footy boys were all sixth year leavers as well and they were shortly joined by Connor and Tom; Sean, but not Matt who had been absent from events all day; and finally half a dozen boys, all friendly guys, whom he recognised from various classes. Martin was asked to kneel down and his notion of what was going to happen change, he began to suspect he was going to have a sore jaw soon and rather thought he knew where this was going. He was going to suck about nineteen cocks.

He didn't. And he wasn't.

The nineteen boys pulled out their cocks with surprising confidence. Most people would be reluctant to show their cock off, but the whole group were quite content with it; maybe after everything they had seen today, it didn't seem like such a big deal.

All nineteen of the seventeen year old boys, began to stroke themselves to erection but none made to push their cock in his mouth. Instead, all nineteen boys stroked themselves and pumped until they came.

Tom and Connor helped each other but seemed to be trying to stave off early ejaculation, instead edging even as streams of cum began to spurt. Shots of hot cum from the boys above him hit Martin in the face and chest and he realised the turnaround was rather poetic. For a boy who had been naked so many times, especially as he had been naked pretty much all day, a cum shot while fully clothed was a clever twist.

His uniform was going to be a mess. "Disarray" was rather underselling it.

The five aside team spent their cocks and departed in high spirits. The six boys also came and tucked themselves away after spurting their sticky stuff all over Martin's shirt, tie and trousers. Sean, Connor and Tom were still fondling and drawing out their orgasms. The rotunda seemed emptier without the other sixteen boys in the company. Luckily Kazuo arrived with John Davies, Mitchell's step-brother Damon and his boyfriend who didn't even attend the Earl of Lennox Boys School; also, half the swim team.

While the thirteen new comers unzipped to add their own cum to the current mixture marinating Martin's face and uniform, Martin caught Sean's eye. Sean was somewhere else and Martin felt a pang of guilt about their current relationship; officially it was casual, but he knew that in Sean's head it was complicated. It was only now that Martin realised that when he came in Sean's ass at North Forth Academy, Sean had not reached orgasm... Martin hadn't even noticed. He felt rather selfish, then he felt Sean's cum on his lips.

Sean smiled as he put his dick away and Martin drew his attention to the other cocks; it was a rather nice treat to see so many dicks around him. Big ones, not so big ones, thick ones, skinny ones, big heads, cut or uncut.

More cum came and multiple shots made it feel like it was raining indoors. Briefly Martin wondered what would be said or done if a teacher happened by but, conveniently, none did. Sean had disappeared from view and as Tom and Connor finally unloaded across his chest. Sean qucikly returned with the other half of the swim team, including Raymond who had been the first to see him exposed outside in the late morning sun all those hours earlier.

Joining Raymond was virtually a whole classroom worth of fifth year boys, including the schools cutest couple: Simon and Nathaniel. The sixteen and seventeen year olds whipped out dicks and Martin was getting hornier by the minute.

More cum. And then even more cum. A ridiculous amount of cum.

Shots hit just about everywhere: Martin's face, his hair, his shirt-clad chest and back, his trousers. It dribbled down his neck and beneath the collar of his shirt, sliding down his bare back. And still the boys arrived, group after group; each ignoring the convention of not whipping one's cock out in company, each comfortable with the circle jerk. Martin's shirt was made virtually transparent by the cum that liquidated it, his nipples shone through beneath the slick.

Martin lost count at seventy boys, primarily because his hair and face were so plastered with cum that he couldn't see anymore. Moreover, time is elastic so the same five minutes can pass in the blink of an eye or last a lifetime. How many more came to make their deposit after the eighteenth was hard to even guess but Martin would have rounded the number up to an even one hundred.

Martin needed help to stand when it was all done and he suspected it was Sean who provided the cloth with which to wipe his eyes of the goo that covered them. The smell was unbelievable and he could hardly move from the weight of semen covering his uniform. He did the only thing he could and stripped to his briefs but the cum had seeped though to contaminate even them.

Martin was escorted by his friends but the soundtrack to his exit was pretty neat. Bemoaning cries from the boys who had to try and dispose of the cum-coated plastic sheet that Martin had been defiled on.

Martin made his way back to the changing room in his pants but to the casual eye they might have passed as Speedo's. That was certainly the excuse they would go with if anyone asked why he was undressed.

When Martin reached the changing room, with a little help from his friends, he looked in the mirror.

He looked like his head had melted.

Martin took a shower to wash the unbelievable quantity of cum out of his hair and emerged feeling almost human. It came as no surprise that no replacement uniform was available, instead he pulled on a pair of tiny shorts and a vest. And so ended Martin's last day of school – in a uniform fit for a boy half his age. He did look adorable though. When the last school bell sounded, the excitement was palpable: sure, there were still exams to sit but for many this was it.

"I go, and it is done; the bell invites me..."

He'd spent most of the day naked, but people still drew Martin queer looks as he talked to himself.

This was the end of a long road and they would never return to this school. University, work, travel, family, kids, mortgages – all these things awaited. And the greatest of these is love.

There was a melancholy that Martin shared with Sean, Kazuo, Connor and Matt. Matt, who had made himself scarce for much of the day: "Some of us actually care about school, you know," Matt joked - but that was a lie, he'd dogged (in the Scottish sense of the word: i.e. skipping classes) most of the school day to see his girlfriend instead.

There was also the school formal in a month's time; a dance and celebration that would mark the end of their exams, a symbol of graduation.

Melancholy. The sense of an ending. They all felt it as they left the Earl of Lennox Boys School for the last time.

Martin felt he had got it right... he had the uniform in disarray to prove it.

Frazer hadn't realised how quiet things were until the knock at his office door resounded like a knell summoning him to heaven, or to hell.

"So... I was thinking."

It was E.J., still standing in the threshold and eventually inviting himself in to Frazer's office. It was several hours since they had had lunch together and the afternoon had held enough work to make those hours fly by.

It was a half hour after both of them should have finished for the day, yet they had each found work that still needed to be done. It caused Frazer a pang of dismay that he had nothing better to do with a Friday afternoon than to sequester himself in his office and fail to notice the hour had passed for clocking off.

Frazer had looked up at E.J. and took in the sight of his boss; slim-fitting black trousers, white shirt that showed off his slim and toned body; a skinny black tie to complete the trim look. He looked great and Frazer tried not to look at him with desire; E.J. was recovering from a complicated relationship and wasn't in a place to reciprocate any feeling Frazer might have. Right?

"Are you going to tell me what you were thinking or should I just guess?" Frazer replied because it had been a while since either of them had spoken.

Their conversation at lunch had broken barriers that each of the men had. It also sowed a sense of understanding between them but it was also hard to follow that conversation with normality.

E.J. chuckled; "Yea, why don't you guess?"

"I should be home by now?"

"You should, yes. But that's not what I was thinking."

"I'm not getting paid overtime?"

"No, you're not. But that's not what I was thinking either."

"I deserve a raise?"

"You're fired."

They both smiled warmly and laughed and then sighed in unison.

Sitting on opposite sides of the desk, each was aware that the desk was a barrier between them. It was a safety net.

"I've handed over the keys to the function suite. The guys will lock up when it's all done," Frazer said in order to fill the silence.

"Hmm," relied E.J.; "Johnnie tells me he's planning to go along to the speed dating thing... Try to meet someone new."

Frazer's mouth felt dry.

"It's hard to meet people."

E.J. just nodded, then; "I..."

"I was thinking..." Frazer parroted E.J.'s intended words.

They both started and stopped at the same time.

"Frazer," E.J. said; "I could use a new... friend... right now. Do you want to out for a drink?"

Frazer nodded.

He wasn't sure how he felt about relegation to the friend zone, nor whether that was what had just happened. The pause before and after the word "friend" gave Frazer pause himself. So far their relationship had been substantially professional, but today felt like a step towards something more personal and meaningful and Frazer wasn't going to miss it.

Friendship is constant in all things, save in the office and affairs of love...

Johnnie really wasn't sure about the whole speed dating thing but when he got home he showered shaved and dressed to impress. He was still living under E.J.'s roof, with Victor as E.J.'s only other lodger. Johnnie could go days without seeing Victor – between Victor's classes at university and his own schedule at work. Somehow Victor always found the time to tease him just when he needed it the most.

"Wow! I'd date you," Victor said as Johnnie came out of his room.

"Really? You wanna date me?" Johnnie asked almost pleadingly – still hoping to avoid the terrible fate that was speed dating.

"No sorry, honey. I'm washing my hair," replied Victor with a deep throaty chuckle.

Victor was a very tall black man with his hair shaved almost to stubble, only a short black outline remained.

"Very funny," Johnnie said humourlessly.

"Why are you going if you don't want to go?" Victor asked as he took a bite out of an apple that had been hidden in his massive paw.

"Peer pressure," Johnnie answered.

Victor tutted; "They just want you to be happy," Victor said, implicitly referring to Daniel and Calvin. "You know, because they feel guilty that they're so happy..."

"They don't need to feel guilty," interjected Johnnie.

"...While you're still a sad, pathetic singleton," finished Victor.

Johnnie laughed and headed down stairs, calling back; "I don't have to stay here and take insults like that. I can go anywhere to be insulted."

Victor followed, putting his big hand gently on Johnnie's shoulder. For a big guy, Victor could be surprisingly gentle; his hand would have been equally capable of collapsing Johnnie to his knees.

"You know I'm only joking, little man," Victor said.

"I know."

"You're a real catch," Victor continued.

"So people who don't want to date me keep saying," Johnnie rebutted.

Victor laughed his throaty chuckle again; "When you find the right guy, you'll know."

"Did you ever find the right guy?" Johnnie asked.

"Every night, man. Every single night," Victor the lothario replied.

That was the difference between Victor and Johnnie – Victor did not take his relationships, if you could even call them that, seriously. Conversely, Johnnie had found over the last nine months that he could think of nothing else but a serious relationship. Ever since Calvin had started talking about finding "the real thing" without looking to him. Falling for Calvin had changed Johnnie and seeing what his friend had with Daniel, also seeing how great Tom was with Connor, made him yearn for that deeper connection. Missing that connection, as he did when he failed with Dean, made him yearn even more.

"I think I'm trying too hard," Johnnie admitted to Victor as he headed for the door.

"If at first you don't succeed," Victor suggested

"Try, try, try try, try..." Johnnie said but in his heart he doubted cupid was on his side tonight.

In his efforts to appease cupid, Daniel had insisted on giving Johnnie a lift to the Symposium and naturally Calvin had accompanied him. The journey was short and Cal and Daniel obviously had Johnnie's best wishes at heart, but he could help but feel pressured. Pressured and pitied.

They hadn't meant to make him feel that way, never the less Johnnie could not help but think he was a sad and lonely single gay man who should just join Grindr like any other self respecting homosexual.

"Grindr? You might as well just stand on a street corner with your arse out," Calvin had said at the mere mention of it.

"Sounds good to me," Johnnie muttered in a sotto voice. "So what are you guys doing tonight?" Johnnie asked aloud.

Cal answered while Daniel concentrated on the road ahead; "We're meeting up with Tom and the Connor entourage. Pubs and clubs, probably."

"I see. And you think buying under-aged boys alcohol is acceptable, do you?" teased Johnnie.

Connor, Kazuo, Martin, Sean and Matt were all still seventeen and the legal age for buying alcohol was eighteen so technically, they couldn't drink for another few months. Calvin did not respond to Johnnie's mock indignation because he knew his friend was joking. Cal duly recalled that when he and Johnnie were seventeen and had just finished school forever, they shared a bottle of vodka and fell asleep on a golf course.

"Of course not. I'm going to buy me alcohol and if they happen to drink some of it..." Calvin shrugged the rest of his reply.

Johnnie got out of the car at the Symposium and thanked his friends for the lift. He hadn't been inside the function room of the Stirling Symposium Athletic Club as a patron since Halloween – even as an employee he had seldom been in it.

A dozen or so individual desks, perhaps fifteen or sixteen, were arranged in rows and columns. It reminded Johnnie of sitting exams at school and university. Randomly selected, Johnnie found himself sitting at one such desk which was numbered "06" and the remaining desks were also occupied by men awaiting suitors. Around the room, the remaining men loitered until they were given six random numbers.

Each person at a desk would be visited by six men, each man around the room would visit six desks. The idea was to give people a chance to connect with someone; after ten minutes a bell would sound and the musical chairs would begin again.

Johnnie was already regretting his decision to attend.

"Hi, I'm Yang. It means model," said the handsome Chinese man sitting in front of him - he was suave and flirtatious.

His skin was sallow and smooth; his brown eyes, bright and kind; his hair thick and black. He was charming and very attractive, about twenty to twenty-five years old but it was hard to tell his age exactly and Johnnie had to admit the meaning of his name was apt.

"Well, the meaning of your name is apt."

Yang smiled gratefully and was clearly a man used to a complement and agreed with every one proffered, especially when he solicited it.

"I'm Johnnie, it means gracious," he replied smoothly.

"That's not how I use a jonny," quipped Yang.

"What do you do for a living?" Johnnie asked to ignore the innuendo.

"I've just finished my degree in Electrical Engineering. It's pretty cool," Yang answered smoothly. "What about you?"

"I did some Uni," Johnnie answered.

"Some?"

"Some felt like enough," Johnnie said with a shrug.

"Ha ha, funny," Yang said, though it didn't really sound like he thought it was funny.

Johnnie didn't click with Yang and when the bell sounded, he felt relieved. Still checked out Yang's arse though.

"Hey, I'm Billy."

"Johnnie."

"Boy am I out of my league," Billy commented.

Johnnie appreciated the compliment.

Billy was a little short with a narrow frame and skinny arms and legs. His eyes were blue and when he smiled little dimples appeared around his mouth. He was cute. Johnnie felt guilty for almost immediately knowing Billy wasn't the man for him.

Tom once told him that according to some psychological studies, first impressions can occur in one-tenth of a second. Which didn't give poor Billy or Yang much time to impress.

Johnnie couldn't help but wonder, assuming Tom was correct, if first impressions formed almost instantly then why was he spending ten minutes with each suitor?

"You ever done this kind of thing before?" Billy asked.

"No. Have you?" Johnnie asked.

"Yea. It's kinda nerve wracking but when I ask out guys in Costa they tell me they're straight. Even the gay guys," Billy joked.

Johnnie appreciated the levity and saw Billy was shrewd with humour.

"Also my manager tells me to stop hitting on the clientele," Billy added glibly.

"I hit on my clientele too," Johnnie replied; "I work in the gym here so hitting on them usually involved a pat on the bum."

"Sounds good," Billy answered.

Then Billy leaned over and kissed Johnnie with big wet lips. It was unexpected for a man who appeared so meek and mild mannered.

"So, you feelin' the love?" Billy asked.

"Mostly I feel saliva."

Anwar was brown-skinned and dark haired; his beard was also impressive - almost as impressive as his eyebrows. His accent was faint enough to imply to Johnnie that he grew up in a household that still spoke something other than English, but that Anwar himself was born and bred in Scotland. Not that that mattered, Johnnie was more concerned with the man himself – late twenties at least, with round spectacles.

"What do you do for a living?" Johnnie asked.

It was one of those stock `getting to know you' questions that people asked when trying to get to know someone.

"I am a doctor. My father, he told me I was to be a doctor or a lawyer," Anwar replied and then smiled; "I wanted to be a Bollywood actor."

Johnnie wasn't certain if he was joking or not.

"And you, Johnnie. What is it you do?"

"I..." Jonnie started to answer and realised how unsatisfying his answer was.

Unsatisfying for himself that is. When he had left the James VI of Scotland University four months ago he had indented on finding a new direction for his life. He had languished since then and still had no clue what to do with his life or career.

"I work in the Symposium here, I'm still figuring out what I want to do next," Johnnie replied.

There was a faint look of disappointment on Anwar's face, perhaps he was looking for someone slightly more educated?

"Is that a scar I can see? Hidden just above your eyebrow?" asked Anwar, changing tack.

"Yea. I don't think we have time to get into that," Johnnie answered.

Johnnie self-consciously rubbed the scar that would have been invisible to most people but felt like a major flaw when exposed by Anwar.

"Perhaps not."

Johnnie really didn't want to reminisce about life-saving brain surgery at a time like this.

"Does medicine leave you much time for dating?" Johnnie found himself asking.

"It is not so bad. I work hard now, I plan to work for father later. He is a GP," Anwar answered.

"So medicine runs in the family?"

"My mother a lawyer," Anwar added wryly.

"Hence the option of doctor or lawyer," Johnnie said.

"Quite so."

"And how do they feel about you dating guys?" Johnnie wondered.

"They are happy if I am happy," Anwar replied; "Islam's attitude toward homosexuality however... well, I do not think we have the time to get into that."

"Perhaps not," replied Johnnie and Anwar smiled at the witticism.

Then the bell sounded and Anwar left the table.

Johnnie was preoccupied with thoughts about the intellectual man who had just left his table that it took a moment for the tall blonde man who was now sitting across from him to register.

"I'm Toby," the lad said with his hand out to shake.

Toby was tall and blonde, his hair very short; his eyes were a shade between green and grey and the orbits of his eyes were smooth and round. His whole face had a rounded, boyish quality that went with the humble voice.

In contrast to the almost, but not quite, effeminate voice, was Toby's tattoos. Toby had alabaster skin but his whole left arm had a colour depiction of hell.

"I'm Johnnie. I can't help but notice your tattoo," Johnnie replied.

"Yea, cool isn't it. It's an illustration of hell from Dante's Devine Comedy," Toby answered.

It's always the quiet ones.

"Nine concentric circles, the worst of the worst sitting in the mouths of a three headed beast in the frozen centre," Toby said.

"Traitors," Johnnie said.

"You've read it?" Toby said brightly.

"No, I watch lots of movies and T.V."

Toby laughed at that.

"So, Johnnie. Why are you here?" Toby asked.

"Same reason as everyone else, I guess," Johnnie answered but felt uneasy under the spotlight of Toby's piercing eyes.

"I broke up with a guy I'd been seeing for four years," Toby admitted; "I just don't like being single."

Johnnie nodded in agreement; "My friends want me to sign up to Tinder, Grindr, Match-dot-com, etcetera... But I'm newly single too and, to be honest, new to the whole dating thing."

Toby's eyes lit up; "Ah, did it take you a while to figure out you're gay?"

Johnnie sniggered; "No, I just didn't date. I had a... a friend."

"Oh, say no more," Toby said animatedly; "Let me guess, said friend found a boyfriend."

"You got it," Johnnie answered quietly.

"And do you want a boyfriend because you want a boyfriend or because he had one and you wanted to compete?" Toby asked insightfully.

"I want a boyfriend because I don't want be alone, I guess. Everyone needs someone," Johnnie answered.

Toby's hand slid across the table, his hand offering his number on a scrap of paper; "You can call me sometime if you want."

Johnnie wondered about Toby's phone number and wondered if he could, or would, really call it. Had there been a spark? Johnnie thought so, enough to give it a try at least...

"Hello, Johnnie."

Johnnie looked up to see David DeSotto.

Last time Johnnie had seen him had been at the Symposium two weeks ago; the first time they had met was when Johnnie had posed naked for an art class two months ago. He looked great: the same beefy arms complemented by firm pecs and a slender waist. It was the big brown eyes and the bronzed skin of a Spanish parent that really attracted Johnnie however.

"David."

David sat down, his long legs clad in skinny black jeans brushed Johnnie's foot. By intention or accident, Johnnie neither knew nor cared.

"Fancy seeing you here," David said neutrally.

"Yea, you too. I'm surprised you need speed dating to meet guys," Johnnie replied.

"I can meet guys easy. I'm trying to meet the right guy," David replied honestly.

"How's that going?"

"Well, there was this one guy. But he told me he was dating someone," David answered smoothly and with intense eyes locked on to Johnnie's in the hope of divining an explanation before Johnnie even had a chance to give it.

"Well, maybe he was at the time... Then maybe the guy he was dating turned out to be a cheat who dumped him for someone else," Johnnie said.

David's eyes dropped and face was unreadable. Johnnie wondered if he had gone too far, explained too readily and too honestly.

"I'm sorry," David replied quietly.

It was such a simple thing but Johnnie was touched.

"Well, I'm sorry I didn't agree to date you back then. Now I might lose you to one of these fine gentlemen," Johnnie said tongue in cheek.

David looked up to find Johnnie struggling to restrain the smile pulling at his mouth.

"They're not my type," David said.

"Who is your type?" Johnnie asked unnecessarily.

"You ever heard that Roberta Flack song? First Time I Ever Saw Your Face..." David sang the seven words and Johnnie felt overwhelmed.

"Is it just my face you like?"

"I want to get to know you better," David told him.

Johnnie thought and then answered; "I'm nineteen, I want to an expensive school, I lost my little brother when I was ten, I recently had brain surgery... again... I've had one proper boyfriend and it only lasted a month, I dropped out of Uni and don't know what the heck I want to do with my life now. Also, I like coffee, scones and ice cream."

David thought and then said in equally careful sentences; "I'm also nineteen. I've had two boyfriends but only lost my virginity this year. My dad and I don't get along. I've got a sister and a brother. I'm training to be a police officer."

The last one echoed in Johnnie's head and sowed a seed.

"Tell me something," David said after a short silence and then waiting for Johnnie to consent to the asking of a question.

"Anything," Johnnie agreed.

"Do you remember when we last talked and I told you that I hoped this guy you were seeing deserved you?" David asked quietly.

"I remember," Johnnie replied thoughtfully. "I thought it was very gracious."

"Sounds like he really messed you around," David reasoned.

"I suppose."

"Are you really ready for another try at the boyfriend thing? Because I don't want to be a rebound guy," David said.

"You're not a rebound guy. I really like you and I really regretted saying no last time. Especially after the way things worked out with Dean," Johnnie admitted.

"You're disappointed in him?" David asked gently.

"I thought... I thought I might love him one day," Johnnie said honestly because he knew David would understand.

"Well, I think it's ok to love someone who doesn't love you back... As long as they're worth it... as long as they deserve it," David seemed wiser beyond his years just then.

"And if it turns out they didn't deserve it?" Johnnie asked.

"Then it's time to move on."

"I don't deserve another shot with you," Johnnie thought out loud.

"Don't say that, I'll blush," David said facetiously.

The bell signalling the end of their date sounded and around them the bustle of activity exploded as each desk received a new man. Except David made no move to relinquish his place in front of Johnnie, instead they sat and watched one another in companionable silence that could have lasted ten seconds or a minute.

"Do you want to get out of here?" Johnnie asked.

David thought for a moment, then said; "I thought you'd never ask."

Please donate to Nifty to keep it free at point of access. http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html

I originally intended the next chapter to be the final instalment but it is now the penultimate chapter. It's been great to hear from readers who are enjoying the story - many thanks if you've emailed. You can still get in touch to comment or say nice things and I reply to all messages: niftyencomiums@gmail.com

If you are enjoying this story, I have also written:

School Exhibitionism - http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/school-exhibitionism

The Symposium - http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/authoritarian/the-symposium/