It was a cool morning and the hot cereal and buns had really hit the spot.
T.J. wasn’t lying in wait to ambush them when they passed the house, but maybe it was too cold for a little guy to be out, the boys speculated.
"Hey, wait up!" a voice called.
Todd and Darren were just a few houses away from them. More hugs ensued and Todd asked if Liam’s dad had returned.
"He’s back safe and sound; we didn’t talk about his trip though," Liam stated.
"I’m happy for you Liam, I can tell your dad is special to you," Todd offered.
"Me too, Liam, I’m glad he’s back. Did you get a chance to talk to him about Dave?" Darren asked.
"A bit, I had a bad dream about Dave going after T.J. and it was right about the time Da showed up. He woke me and got me settled."
"I wish I could tell you Dave wouldn’t do that but I can’t man; he’s a coward and unless he can get some help taking you on, he would probably do something to get at you. Maybe Danny or Cheri. Well maybe not Cheri, she’d kick his ass but maybe Amber."
"I may be small but I’m not a wimp, and I’m going to get some training at Liam’s dojo or whatever they call it."
"Studio actually, Danny, and I know you’re no light weight but you’re no match for Dave. He’s had some Karate or something, even though he’s shite at it I don’t think you’d fare well against him. If he does corner you, go for his knees and if he goes down get his balls and get out."
"What do you mean get his balls? You mean cut them off?!"
"No Danny, I just meant give him a kick. He’ll probably go fetal and hold his knee, so put your foot where it will do the most good from behind.
"Okay, I get it. I’ll be careful though, that guy is sick. He shouldn’t be around regular kids."
"You guys knew him from before he was like that, right? Did something happen to him to make him this way," Liam asked.
"I don’t know if anything happened but he hung out with Aaron. He was like four years older than us and he put his hand down my pants once. I avoided him after that," Darren said.
"That might be it; if this Aaron guy messed with him it could bend his head a bit."
"I heard stuff about Aaron, mostly older guys telling me to stay away from him. They weren’t specific though. One guy did say Aaron would rape me if I was alone with him. I avoided him anyway," Todd grunted.
"There was a guy like that in my old building, but he mostly went after the little Filipino boys. The parents made his mother move out," Danny pointed out.
"That explains how Dave got the way he is. I’ve read that molesters have usually been molested themselves," Liam said.
Just as Danny was about to step into the crosswalk, Todd screamed, "Look out!"
A woman with a phone to her ear blew through the stop sign and turned the corner, right in front of the four boys.
The Escalade pulled over to the curb with the back end sticking out in traffic. A girl flung open the passenger door and treated everybody to the loud conversation she was having with the driver.
"Sunny, you stupid bitch, you almost hit that kid. I’m telling my dad about this. You drive like shit and you’re going to kill somebody."
She didn’t wait for a reply and slammed the door. She walked back to the corner and asked Danny if he was okay.
"I’m fine, Todd saw her coming and warned me in time. We were talking and I didn’t look behind us when I stepped off the curb."
"She always drives like that and you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m Melanie by the way. It’s nice to meet you guys, but anyway sorry, my stepmom is a real piece of shit. How she convinced my dad to marry her is a mystery."
The boys introduced themselves and Melanie shook hands with them.
"You two hang out with Cheri, right? She’s cool, I like her and her friend Amber. I like the music you played in the quad. Who would have thought our janitor could sing like that? That whole thing was so cool."
They all stood together and chatted, Cheri and Amber arrived, and Cheri greeted Melanie and chatted with her. Todd and Darren spotted someone they wanted to talk to and took off.
Melanie split off after they entered the gate and Liam asked Cheri and Amber about meeting the boy from the park.
"Yeah, I could do that. I’ll have to clear it with my mom, but I don’t think it’s a problem."
"Same for me," said Amber. Somehow I’d like to know what he’s like when he’s not wigged out."
"Wigged out?" Cheri asked.
"It’s something my dad says."
"My turn to buy, who wants what to drink?" Danny asked.
They sat at an open table, drank and nibbled pastries. They watched people pass and chatted with those that stopped.
"I was proper cheesed off when they sent me here but now I really like it. Hart was nice but this place has more of an open feel to it. Besides, I would have missed out on meeting some great friends," Liam said, grinning at them all.
"Liam, you are a very sweet boy, don’t you ever lose that," Cheri cautioned him."
Liam spotted Dave walking on the far side of the quad. He spoke to no one although several students looked in his direction as he passed.
"He doesn’t have a lot of friends, mostly the dumb ass contingent. There’s a few in every school," Cheri supplied.
"Any of them worth worrying about?"
"Maybe as a group, but they’re all cowards and they’d probably scatter like hyenas."
"Maybe you can point them out to me so I know who to watch for, just in case."
"I’ll do that."
During the later breaks, Cheri called his attention to five different boys who were clustered together. "That’s Willis and Donny and the other three are Adam, Brian and Scott. They’re mostly wasted space. I think they’re competing to see which one can act the dumbest," Cheri chuckled amiably.
Cheri had heard from her mom and they would just need to know when the meeting would be. Amber hadn’t received an answer yet, but she would text Liam a bit later.
Todd and Darren were waiting when Danny and Liam came through the gate. They walked towards Danny’s house and noticed Bryce in the front yard tending to his lawn.
"Hi Bryce, how are you today?"
"Not bad, I’m making use of my days off to catch up to my yard work. T.J. caught a cold and he’s conked out right now."
"Let him know we asked after him, okay?"
"Will Do, I expect he’ll only be down a day or two. It’s just a bug going around his school."
"Um, hey Bryce, do you know anything about a guy named Aaron, um, I don’t know his last name but it has something to do with Dave Parker," Liam asked.
"Helman I think," offered Todd.
"Yes I’m familiar with him and his activities. He’s currently in custody up state, serving a sentence for raping an eleven year old boy in Pomona."
"I’m thinking he’s the one that twisted Dave, they hung out together," added Liam.
"Aaron tried to feel me up but I ran away and stayed clear of him after that," Todd said grimly.
"I mentioned Dave to the detective that deals with that stuff and told him what you told me. The detective will look in on him to see if he’s following the terms of his probation. But you didn’t hear that from me, okay?"
"Hear what?" Liam asked.
Bryce grinned and picked up his rake, "I’ll see you guys, I need to finish up before T.J. wakes up."
"Give him hugs for us please," Darren said. The boys walked the short distance to Danny’s and entered by the kitchen.
"Soda, anybody?" Danny asked.
"Do you guys want to watch TV or hang out in my room and talk?"
"Or?" Liam grinned.
Danny blushed, "Well, maybe if you guys want to we could mess around some more."
They all giggled and walked to Danny’s bedroom.
As they undressed, Todd asked if they had tried oral.
"It’s wonderful, we’ve only done it a few times but I can’t get enough," Danny said.
"Which do you like doing more, getting sucked or doing the sucking," asked Darren.
"Both, I love Liam’s taste and feel and I love how it feels when he does it to me."
"Same here, but it must be different to suck someone with a skin."
"I don’t know about that, I pull his skin back so I don’t know if there’s a difference I’ve never done it with anyone else."
"Maybe we could trade sometime when you’re used to doing it. Sorry I’m so hung up on foreskins but I can’t help it."
"Have you guys tried fingering the butthole while you suck?"
"Liam did it to me but I haven’t done it to him yet. But I will."
"Then you know it can feel really good," Todd explained. "You should work his nipples with your tongue. It feels great, well at least I like it."
"They don’t mention that in sex ed do they?" Danny giggled.
"Well a little, they talk like five minutes about erogenous zones. But that’s it, and they’re not specific."
"I don’t think Liam and I are ready for the whole butt sex thing but I’ll remember what you said about fingering the hole," Danny said.
"Hey, Todd do you think Brian and Calvin have something going?" Liam asked.
"You noticed too? I think maybe they do but I haven’t asked Brian."
"Since you two are the youngest on campus have you had any trouble with guys in the showers?"
"Not me, and I’m always there when Danny is, but he was in there before I got here, ask him."
"What about it, Danny?"
"Nobody but Dave the time he grabbed my balls."
"Good thing Sean was there, he’s terrified of Sean," Todd reported.
"That’s because Sean gives zero fucks about beating the shit out of a scumbag like Dave," Darren said.
"I don’t want to involve Sean if it’s not necessary for that reason. Sean goes to the sword too quickly for my taste. I prefer to warn someone and then discourage them permanently if they don’t get it the first time. I don’t want Sean getting expelled on my account, and he would do, he’s a solid mate. Fortunately I’ve never had to give anyone a permanent reminder of their poor judgment."
"Ha, that’s gotta be the most eloquent way of saying you’ll fuck somebody up I’ve ever heard."
"Well us Irish are blessed with an agile tongue."
"Oooh, that sounds interesting," said Darren.
Hah, not quite what I meant, but I get it, Liam chuckled.
"Would you guys like to help me get Todd off?"
Three of them concentrated on Todd's pleasure while deriving a bit themselves while Darren did the heavy lifting. Todd enjoyed being the center of attention and was in true ecstasy when they were through.
Oh yeah, you might want to open a window for a while, we can’t smell it now but semen has quite a smell and your mom might smell it again like last time," Darren suggested.
"Oh man, that’s what she meant, I hope she thought it was B.O."
"Probably, but you never know. Just stick your head out the window and breathe in a few times and then take a whiff inside."
Danny cleared his sense of smell and then drew his head back into the room.
"Oh jeez, that’s like bleach or something"
"It goes off quickly, eh?" Liam said.
"Danny ran down the hall and returned with a pump bottle of Febreze and sprayed it around.
"That’s better," Darren said as they walked back in. We rinsed out the towel and wrung it out, do you have a hamper?"
"Right by the door, that wicker thing. I was going to do my laundry tonight so I’ll start with the towels."
"You do laundry?" Todd asked.
"Yeah, so?" Danny uttered, a little defensively.
"No man, it’s cool, I just thought I was the only kid that did his own laundry. Actually I do most of it except when Dad pitches in; but he does the cooking, if I did the cooking we’d probably both die."
"Mom and I trade off except for her delicates, I guess they’re easy to ruin," Danny explained.
"Me da and I share everything, we clean and cook together or trade off. Our house is easy to keep clean. And we don’t use most of it very much."
"Do you and your dad hang out together? Todd asked.
"Oh yeah, we snuggle up in front of the TV or the fireplace, it’s really nice."
"I’m not allowed to do laundry anymore, I broke the machine twice and ruined some clothes, but the dryer fire wasn’t my fault, the firemen said so," Darren shared.
"I know Darren, but you do other stuff, like vacuuming and loading the dishwasher," Todd offered.
"Yeah, but I feel bad about Mom having to wash my stinky clothes. I’m, um, what did my Mom call it? Oh, "Fastidious" and you’ll never find brown stains on my underwear unless I’m sick. I use little moist wipes after I wipe. And the ones I use are biodegradable so they go in the compost. But, my sister is a different story, hygiene-wise she’s kind of a skank. Her panties look like she got hit by a bus and that’s just her regular stuff, her period panties are really disgusting."
"Dude, we get it. We can do without the graphic details," Todd laughed.
"So are you guys going to do something? Darren asked.
"Um, we were but it’s later than I thought and Terri might be here soon, I was thinking about getting dressed in case…"
Liam didn’t get a chance to finish, Danny’s phone rang with Terri’s ringtone startling Danny.
"Hi Mom, just a couple friends, Todd and Darren; you’ve met them. Yes, he’s here too. Okay see you soon; love you, bye."
"Whoa, she’s going to be here soon, we have to go with her so we better get dressed. If you hang out we can drop you at home before we go to meet Connor."
Liam had already dressed and was sorting Danny’s laundry pulling out towels and washcloths.
"Sorry guys, we’ll have to do this another day."
"It’s cool, but could I do one thing? I’d like to kiss you both on the lips."
"I’m okay with that, Liam?"
"Sure, you guys mean a lot to us."
Todd gave Danny a tender kiss and did the same with Liam and then Darren did the same.
"You guys are really in our hearts now. We’ve never been with another couple before and it’s really cool."
"I think so too, and you guys mean a lot to us, as well," Danny replied.
There was a four-way hug and the three remaining boys began dressing.
Danny raided his mother’s hamper for dirty towels and started a load after Todd and Darren started for home.
"Liam, I need the toilet. Would you let my Mom know I'll be out in a few minutes?"
"Sure, are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, just that cafeteria food sneaks up on me sometimes."