The Fire Down Below (Part 40)
Title: The Fire Down Below (Part 40/?)
Authors: wrestlemanix and eric_idle_rules
Pairings: Ted DiBiase Jr./Cody Runnels, John Cena/Randy Orton, Justin Gabriel/Wade Barrett, Evan Bourne/Chris Jericho, Joe Hennig/Windham Rotunda, Joe Hennig/Heath Slater
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Takes place at an English all boys boarding school during the Victorian Era in which prefects roam the halls and rugby and cricket are the sports of choice.
Word Count: 9333
A/N: While I don't know much about the Victorian Era, I do know that while everyone kept up appearances to the world, behind closed doors, it was a whole other story... Please review! We finally have a title, guys! A very fitting one considering the subject matter ;)
Disclaimer: Neither of us own the WWE.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31, Part 32, Part 33, Part 34, Part 35, Part 36, Part 37, Part 38, Part 39
Finishing lunch moments later Justin and Ted then fell into step with Cody to take their trays back to the front of the dining-hall.
“What’s your house like?” Ted asked interestedly. Of course he knew the general layout of a fine house as he and Cody both had one but he was curious all the same.
“Um…” Justin seemed perplexed momentarily.
He’d never been asked that before really.
“It’s big,” he finally settled on.
Cody then smirked slightly and lowered his voice, “The house? Or Wade?”
Justin gasped lightly and flushed, looking down at the ground as he tried to fight a smile despite himself; occasionally Cody’s brassy comments could be highly amusing indeed. “It’s really nice but compared to what I saw as a child Wade isn’t frivolous with his spending. Lots of pictures… Wade likes art.”
That was mildly surprising. “Oh!” Justin said, “And he has a trophy room-“ Ted was about to comment on what it was like differently than his own when Justin finished, “It’s got all of the trophies he won from bare-knuckle boxing as a youth.”
“Wait, what?” Cody asked, turning his head towards Justin, eyes wide.
“You didn’t know that about him?” Justin cocked his head slightly.
“No. No I didn’t know that about him,” Cody answered. “He did bare knuckle fighting?”
“How do you think his nose got so crooked?” Justin asked with a little smile.
“I guess I never thought about it before,” Cody said. “I never would have thought… Wow.”
“I know. He was really good at it, too. I mean, obviously some people got some shots in on him, but you should see all the trophies he has. He wasn’t much older than us when he started. He actually used his prize money to put himself through school. His parents were working class so they couldn’t afford for him to go to school, so he found his own way,” Justin told them.
“That’s incredible. There’s so much about our dear Headmaster that I don’t know,” Cody muttered.
“It’s a very inspiring story,” Ted agreed. “Does he ever still box?”
“He’s got a punching bag that he uses every now and again, yes, but it’s nothing serious. It’s not like he’s stepping into a ring again, or anything.”
“Would you be scared if he did?” Ted asked curiously and Justin nodded.
“Have you seen the state some of those men can get into?” he asked.
“I’ve heard rumors… never actually seen a proper fight though,” Cody nodded in agreement.
Both his and Ted’s mothers were staunchly against it, but Cody knew that their fathers were planning to take them along one time when they could get away with it.
“He’s definitely not interested in returning to competing, though I’m sure he must miss it.”
“I can’t imagine that… Wade seems so,” Cody’s brow furrowed a little, “Mild-mannered.”
Justin chuckled slightly at that one, shaking his head but not speaking.
“Oh!” he then remembered, “You’ll be able to see some pictures of Wade as a teenager,” he grinned.
They were fight photos published in the newspaper, and when Justin had asked Wade had managed to locate photos of him in his childhood. The curly hair had plagued him all of his life, Justin had learned, and from being an adorable baby Wade had been a devastatingly handsome young man even with the broken nose. “Ooh, I can’t wait to see those!” Cody beamed enthusiastically.
“Of course you can’t,” Justin said, grinning and shaking his head.
“What? Who wouldn’t want to see a little bit more into the life of their headmaster?” Cody asked.
“I can’t say that I’m anywhere near as curious as you are,” Ted told him.
“That’s because you’re a party pooper,” Cody said.
“I just think you’ve got an over active imagination and that you’re far too curious for your own good.”
“One can never be too curious,” Cody replied.
“Didn’t Oscar Wilde say something like that before he got arrested?” Ted asked, raising a brow.
“How the hell should I know?” Cody rolled his eyes.
Ted rolled his eyes back at his lover, shaking his head somewhat.
Sticking his tongue out in response Cody then said, “There’s nothing wrong with curiosity, Theodore.”
“Whatever you say,” Ted said as they headed towards their next class.
Heath, Windham and Joe were already waiting there.
“Hm,” Cody pretended to inspect them, lowering his voice, “Nope, I don’t think that they snuck off for a three-man quickie.”
“Cody!” Ted slapped a hand over his eyes and groaned.
Justin fought laughter as Cody ignored Ted’s exclamation.
The other three boys’ faces went interesting shades of red, it impossible to tell who was the most embarrassed.
Cody smirked at them. “One day it’ll happen. I’m calling it now,” he said. “They’re all just gonna be in class looking utterly shagged out.”
“Cody!” Ted exclaimed once again.
“I’m simply stating a fact, Teddy.”
“Well, must you state it in so public a place?” he asked.
“Of course,” Cody answered, thoroughly enjoying the blushes on the other boys’ faces. “Joe, I didn’t even know you could turn that colour.”
“Yeah, well…” he trailed off, ducking his head down into his arms, which were crossed across his desk.
“You’re tactless,” Heath muttered. Of course, he couldn’t deny that he was pretty much the same.
Cody was about to make his retort when their professor walked into the class, requiring them to all stand and greet him. Once they sat, the bell rang and he had no chance to reply, so he had to hope that he could remember his comeback by the time class was out, though it probably wouldn’t even be relevant anymore.
The secondary trio that comprised their usual six-some was still bright red in the face and at one point this prompted their professor to ask them if they were alright. It was only Ted’s foot pressing firmly down on his own in warning which stopped Cody from laughing out loud at the naïve question that had been posed to them.
Joe sent Cody a look (once the professor was focused back on class) that said quiet plainly that he was going to regret his little stunt soon.
The actor raised a brow in haughty challenge.
When class ended they moved to their next, and then to their final one before the gap until dinner. As a group they headed to the dorm to wait.
“You’re such a fucker, Cody,” Heath was saying to the other.
“You people are all just so uptight--- that shag I mentioned would really help with that retained tension you know.”
“Is sex all you think about?” Windham asked.
“When you’ve had sex the way I’ve had sex you can ask me that question,” Cody said in all seriousness.
“You’ve had sex, what, once?” Joe asked. “Because I’ve done it way more than just once.”
“A few more times than that,” he answered. “But I can promise you, Joey, the sex I’ve had? Was far better than anything you ever had with any girl.”
“It helps, that whole thinking about sex all the time, though, when your lover is sitting right next to you,” Heath said, waggling his brows at Ted and Cody.
“Do you all really need to talk about this now?” Ted asked.
“We’re the only ones here right now, so… yes,” Heath answered. He then turned back to Joe and Windham and said, “He’s got a point, though.”
“About?”
“Sex with men being better than with a girl.”
“Please, none of you have slept with a man,” Justin added, looking around at his group of friends.
“Terribly sorry Ted’s not ancient,” Cody replied, smirking.
Justin gave a gasp of affront before lowering his voice, “Wade is not ancient,” he said, huffing at Cody.
Cody waved a hand, grinning at Justin’s irritation only because it was a triumph to be able to goad the other enough to make the emotion appear at all.
“Alright, but he’s significantly older than any of us here,” he said.
Though he was less than impressed he could hardly deny a fact.
“Still, my point remains valid,” Justin mumbled, turning away.
Their conversation was momentarily stilted when a few more boys came in but they merely headed over to the other side of the room so they continued.
Albeit with lower voices.
“You’ve never slept with a girl Cody,” Windham said suddenly, Heath and Joe nodding to back him up, “How would you know it’s better?” he asked.
Cody’s mouth opened, and then closed. A genuinely bemused expression settled on his face, “Because it just is.”
Heath continued to nod at Cody’s response, he being the only one in the room to have experience with both genders. Cody then went on to ask, “And it’s not like any of you have slept with a guy before, so how do you know it’s not better?”
“Well, I have, and I would agree with Cody,” Heath said.
“You have?” Cody asked.
“I can tell you about it later,” he said, to which Cody’s eyebrows rose. No one ever willingly gave him juicy details. So he nodded his agreement.
“So, you really liked having something shoved up your bum more than you liked a nice, wet cunt?” Joe asked.
“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it,” he told Joe. “I’m sure you’ll be tryin’ it pretty soon, though, right?”
Heath managed to get Joe to blush yet again, Windham, as well. “I don’t know,” he muttered.
Heath looked to Cody and they shared a customary eye-roll; Ted had been just as reticent as those two and given that they were knocking what they should technically be doing those two felt justified in carrying some frustration towards them momentarily.
“You can both stop acting like the authorities on sexual acts now.”
“Yeah… you want to do that you should start charging,” Joe sniped a little in his embarrassment.
“You certainly wouldn’t be able to afford me,” Cody sniffed and lifted his head haughtily.
“Good job Ted’s rich then aye?” Justin joked lightly.
Heath, Justin and Cody laughed, Joe still pouting somewhat as Windham merely seemed to be attempting to pretend not to listen to what was being said.
Ted’s head was in his hands and his posture essentially said How did I end up with you people as my friends?
“Oh, come on, Teddy,” Cody said, grinning as he wiped away a tear of laughter, “lighten up a bit.”
“Lighten up? But you… he…!” he began, pointing at Cody, then Justin.
“He was only joking. I’ve never charged you a dime.” Ted blushed a nice, deep red before ducking his head into his hands again, so Cody placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to bite back a laugh. Out of kindness to Ted, he then changed the subject, “So Heath, you promised me details.”
“That I did. Those two have already heard it, though,” he said, pointing to Windham and Joe.
“So?” Cody asked, raising a brow.
“Well, I for one don’t really need to hear about other people’s sex lives,” Ted muttered into his hands.
“You’re just no fun, Teddy,” Cody said, to which Ted huffed.
“If you don’t want to listen cover your ears,” Cody said simply, causing Ted to give his lover a look.
Justin quirked a slight smirk, “The rate you’re going Cody you won’t be getting anything from Ted for a while.”
“He wouldn’t do that to me,” was Cody’s offhand comment.
And, sadly, he was right--- if only because of the hysteria that had occurred last time around.
Cody didn’t handle indications of abstinence well, he knew that well now.
“So, Heath?” Cody prompted, leaning forward a little to hear.
He was fascinated about Heath’s story to do with the servant David, curious as to how they had ended up sleeping together and also how they had managed to get through the situation unscathed. “It’s so worth the pain though, huh?” Heath asked and Cody nodded, Justin finding himself nodding as well.
“Teddy, you’re not agreeing with us?” Heath asked, quirking a brow.
“I… uh… that is…” he stuttered, wishing that the blush on his face would go away, because as of right then, he was sure it would simply become a permanent fixture.
“He hasn’t been on the receiving end yet,” Cody then supplied them.
“Teddy, you really don’t know what you’re missing,” Heath told him.
“After you all talking about the pain that goes along with it, I don’t know, I might have to agree with Teddy here,” Joe said.
“I did say yet,” Cody repeated. “He’s not getting out of it that easily.”
“Cody, do we really need to be talking about this right now?” Ted asked.
“What? You’re not going to try and tell me again that you don’t-”
“No! I didn’t say that I never would… I just don’t like talking about that in front of everyone!”
“So you will let me fuck you?” Cody asked, grinning.
Ted clearly looked uncomfortable as he settled on, “We’ll see, Ok?”
It wasn’t quite the complete agreement that he was hoping for but it would do, and Cody shrugged before saying to Heath and Justin, “Really, he’s so panicked about it…”
“You can’t pretend that you weren’t a little nervous,” Heath said and Cody nodded his head, “But I knew I wanted it, so it was Ok.”
The others nodded and then Heath turned to Justin, seemingly forgetting the other three.
“Surely you must have been the most concerned, I mean, Wade’s…”
“A full-grown man?” Justin supplied and the other two nodded fervently.
“Of course I was,” Justin blushed, “Wade’s definitely not got anything to scoff at.”
“Really?” Heath asked and Cody grinned impishly, nodding his head.
“Yeah, Justin gave us a demonstration of how big Wade is before.”
Heath immediately requested another demonstration.
“Good Lord, why do you people even care?” Justin asked.
“Because we’re curious little shits. Come on, then,” Heath encouraged.
“Oh… fine,” he said, holding up his hands to give his other three friends a quick demonstration as to how big Wade was.
“No!” Heath exclaimed. “Is he thick, too?”
“Wasn’t that enough information for one day?” Justin asked. He couldn’t believe he had indulged his friends’ curiosity at all.
“No,” Cody and Heath answered at the same time. Windham and Joe were still attempting to not listen in on the conversation, though both of them couldn’t help but look impressed when Justin showed them just what Wade had to offer.
“Ok, ok,” Justin muttered, this time showing them how thick around his lover is.
“Well, shit,” Heath said. “I mean, David was pretty big, but… damn, Justin, you must have been limping for days.”
A blush warmed Justin’s exotically coloured skin, “Maybe I was a little bit.”
But he also knew Wade couldn’t have taken better care of him then he did that time.
“Man… I’m impressed,” Heath said, leaning back in his chair.
Joe, Windham and Ted however were trying to hide their wide-eyed looks of disbelief; Justin had managed to take something of that size?
“Well, Wade is a big man,” Cody mused to himself.
“Big all over in fact,” Heath smirked and Justin rolled his eyes slightly but didn’t deny it, “Though, I don’t know why we were surprised.”
Ted couldn’t help but pout slightly at the contemplative look that had crossed Cody’s face. Stop thinking about it!
“Aww, Teddy, you feeling jealous?” he needled, “Come on Cody, Justin told us how big Wade is, I’ll tell you both how big David is if you tell us how big Ted is.” Before Cody could even open his mouth Ted hissed, “Don’t you dare, Cody!”
~~~
The pair dressed quickly and attempted to pat down their hair before they headed to the dining hall. John and Randy were about halfway through their own meal when the two of them sat down with them at the table.
“Nice of you to show up,” John said, nodding his head to them.
“Yeah, what kept you?” Randy asked just before taking a bite of his lunch.
The blush that covered Evan’s entire face gave them away, as if they hadn’t already known. However, Chris said, “We were just having a little talk.”
“A little talk, huh?” Randy turned his head towards John and asked, “Is that what they’re calling it these days?”
“Seems like,” he replied.
“We did talk, though,” Evan said. “Really. It wasn’t just… really,” he said once more.
“Ok, I believe you. You talked. John and I talk a lot before we fuck, as well,” Randy then added, getting Evan to blush even deeper.
“It was important!” Evan told them. “Then things just… went from there.”
“Really?” Randy seemed to turn a little more serious then, looking between the both of them. “There’s only three occasions that lead to sex through talking,” he leant forward and lowered his voice a little more before continuing.
“You were fighting, talking dirty, or one of you was upset about something.”
Evan immediately glanced away and Randy’s brow furrowed when he noticed.
“What happened?” John asked them, Chris shaking his head slightly and giving a more genuine smile than he would have managed earlier on.
“It doesn’t matter now, Evan and I have sorted the issue out,” he said, Evan nodding alongside him to support his words.
“If you say so,” John conceded.
Randy pouted; sometimes John gave in to easily and he could have done with the support to badger the couple in getting them to fess up.
“Yes,” Evan responded, beginning to eat, Chris having already started his own meal.
“That must have been a vigorous shag to make you both that hungry,” Randy teased.
Evan coughed as he swallowed too big a piece of food in shock. “Randy!” he exclaimed.
“What? It’s true. Isn’t it, John?” he asked his own lover.
John nodded.
“It’s not fair to ask him!” Evan said. “He’s always hungry no matter if he’s had a… vigorous shag or not.”
“Well, to be fair, we do fuck a lot,” John added.
“You two are disgustingly crude,” Evan muttered, but then he heard a chuckle coming from Chris. “You, too?”
“What? It’s funny. And they’ve got a point.”
“That doesn’t mean it has to be brought up at the lunch table!”
“Besides,” Evan said suddenly, his voice growing quiet all of a sudden, “That wasn’t a shag.”
Chris’ laughter immediately stopped and his expression softened.
“No, no it wasn’t.”
He seemed to be reaching to hold Evan’s hand before he remembered himself and corrected the action, drink being picked up instead.
Randy looked at John, his lover equally confused.
“Seriously you two,” John said, “Is everything alright?” Randy eyed his cousin, the smaller male still seeming distant.
“Yes, we’re both fine,” Chris repeated as before.
“We’re definitely missing something,” Randy said and John nodded.
“Really, we’re fine… we’ve talked things out,” Evan said to them.
“But what was it that you had to talk about in the first place? It seems as though it was a pretty… heavy topic,” Randy said.
Evan shrugged. “It’s ok now.”
“I don’t think it is,” Randy told him. “I can say from experience that topics like that, ones that you talk about that lead to sex? They don’t go away as quickly as you’d like to think.”
“God! I’m worried about him going back to Canada, ok!” Evan exclaimed.
“Oh,” Randy and John both mumbled at the same time.
“Are you happy now?” Evan asked. “Will you stop bothering me about it now?”
“Evan, calm down,” Chris chided gently, a hand going to his shoulder.
Knowing he’d snapped a little, tiny bit unnecessarily Evan sighed, “I apologise.” Randy and John immediately waved him off.
“No, we’re sorry… we wouldn’t have pushed if we’d known.”
Randy was glad he knew about what his cousin was thinking about though...
Evan didn’t rely on him as much as he used to.
“You’re going back?” John asked and Chris shook his head in response to the question.
“I’ve decided that I am going to tell my family that I intend to stay here for university. And then, when I graduate, they won’t find the situation so odd if I decide to set up residence.”
“Really? You want to stay out here?” John asked. “Just for…?” he flicked his eyes towards Evan.
“Mostly for that reason, yes,” he answered. “I do like it over here, though, quite a bit.”
“But if you hadn’t met Evan…?” John trailed off, then raised a brow.
“If I hadn’t met Evan, then I would probably have gone back home to complete my education,” he said.
“So, then, you two are planning on attending University together?” Randy asked.
“I hope to,” Chris replied. “I haven’t exactly begun applying, since even though I’ve been thinking about this for a little while, it’s still a bit of a last minute decision.”
“Have you at least talked about where you want to go?” He and John had discussed it before, and they just had to hope that they both got accepted into at least one of the schools they agreed upon.
“I haven’t exactly thought about it much,” Chris pointed out again whereas Evan looked a little uncertain.
“You still haven’t decided?” Randy asked his cousin and the ravenette sighed slightly.
“No,” he admitted. He’d really been struggling with deciding on one.
“Where have you looked at?” John asked; Evan was clever enough to get in anywhere he would bet.
“Anywhere locally… I’m really not too fussed about moving away somewhere new.”
“I’d be happy to go anywhere Evan would,” Chris said, “Because I know he’ll pick somewhere that’s academically sound,” they’d not disadvantage one another that way at least.
“You could always just come to the same one as John and myself,” Randy pointed out with a shrug, “It’s very solid academically and it’s got great sports programs… I think that’s the only reason John settled on it really.”
“Why else would I settle on a school? No sports program, no John Cena,” he said.
“It sounds like it could be a good place to go,” Chris said. He liked being challenged academically and it could give him a chance to get back into sports (though he would greatly miss his ice hockey).
“Yes, and my father went there, as well,” Randy said. “Both our fathers, actually, that’s how they met,” he told Chris, pointing to John.
“So your families have known one another for a while, then.”
“Sure have,” John chimed in. “So, would you both consider going there?” he asked.
“I would, yes,” Chris answered.
“Yes, of course,” Evan said. It was already on his list of schools to consider… he just hadn’t really thought about it all that much.
“I know mother’ll be pleased if you attend there too,” Randy mused lightly, “Keep the tradition going and all that, plus you’ll still be close by.” Traditionally it wasn’t expected that you would leave the household until after university.
For women, of course, the rule was that you stayed with your family until you married.
However, the prospect of returning home on occasion didn’t dampen John or Randy’s intention to be together; they’d board at university and all.
“Yes, she will be pleased about that,” Evan acknowledged absently.
“Will you be able to move so far away from your family though Chris? I mean afterwards,” John clarified when he realised his question was a bit ambiguous.
“I’m sort of used to it thanks to schooling here, and it’s not like I’ll be alone,” he said.
He would have Evan by his side.
“I don’t think I’d be able to do that,” Randy said. “Leave my family for some other country…” He looked to Evan, then to John, and thought about his parents and knew that he couldn’t leave like Chris was considering doing.
“I have got relatives out here, so it’s not like I’m also completely without family.”
“Christian?” Randy asked.
“Oh, no, he’s in Canada, but he was here for a time visiting. My grandmother was from here and her family immigrated to Canada, but her older brother, my great uncle, stayed here to raise his family, as he and his wife had small children and didn’t want to bring them across the Atlantic at the time. And he ended up staying, so we still have family here,” he explained.
“Well, that’s fair, I guess. All my family is still here,” Randy said. “I don’t think I could ever see me or anyone in my family just up and leaving the country. Actually, no, I think Nathan would do something like that. He’s got that kind of spirit in him.” His little brother, who was at the academy with him, though several years younger, had a restless way about him and Randy could see him picking up and moving across the globe in his older years.
“I can’t imagine you as the responsible elder sibling,” Chris teased lightly to try and distinguish some of the seriousness of their conversation. John laughed slightly at that, shaking his head a little bit, clearly amused.
“Believe it or not Randy actually cares about his siblings greatly,” John told Chris.
“Does he?” Chris looked at him.
“Oh yes,” John ducked the hand that was trying to clamp over his mouth, Randy’s face having coloured just slightly in embarrassment, “He’s very protective of his sister, who’s in the sister girls’ school to our own. Any boy goes near her Randy will quite literally castrate him where he stands. And he and Nathan fight a lot but he has his eye on him too-“ the hand landed.
As John mumbled underneath his lover’s palm, sending a look to him of protest and then pleading as Randy muttered something about, “Bloody gobshites…” Evan then looked to Chris, chuckling, “You’ll meet them both when you come over,” Evan said shyly, “Nathan’s probably going to try and drag you into one of his epic games of soldiers.” The boy had received a brand-new set of toy soldiers for his last birthday and when they were home they got broke out.
“Soldiers, eh? Sounds like it could be fun,” Chris said.
“Oh, you should see him. I’m pretty certain that he’s recreating the Hundred Years War with his soldier set,” Evan told him. “For being rather young, he’s quite good with his historical facts.”
Randy nodded, a smile working its way onto his face as they talked about his brother. “It’s true. You know, he’s attempted to figure out a whole new battle plan for our war against America in which we would win.”
“Did he?” Chris asked, and all three other teens at the table nodded their heads.
“He’s a bright boy. Could even give me a run for my money in academics,” Randy said.
“How old are they?”
“Becky is two years younger than me, Nathan is seven years younger,” Randy answered.
“He’s ten and he’s that into history?” Chris asked, impressed.
“Yup. I’m pretty certain that he knows more about our history than most of the history professors here,” Randy said.
“He’s a smart lad,” John nodded, “Family got high hopes for him.”
And obviously in Becky’s case those high hopes stemmed to who she would marry.
“Any more people petitioned your parents over their sons courting Becky yet?” John asked.
Randy pulled a face, “If there have been no one has mentioned them to me,” he said.
“That’s because you scare them,” Evan said simply to him.
“They both seem interesting characters.”
“They are,” Evan agreed, “And Aunty will spoil you rotten just like she does John.” John grinned like a fiend at those words; Mrs. Orton did love him to bits. “Uncle may take a bit longer but he’ll warm up to you too.”
“I’m really looking forward to visiting now,” Chris said honestly, smiling at his lover and feeling pleased that Evan had cheered up.
Their talk could have gone much worse, but regardless of the consequences they would have had to have it out. Chris just thanked whatever fate was guiding him that things between he and Evan remained solid.
“I’m glad,” Evan said.
“Mum will be quite pleased that Evan’s actually made a friend at school after spending more than half his life here,” Randy teased.
“I have friends,” Evan muttered.
“John and I don’t count.”
“Who do you have for other friends?” Evan then asked. “I mean, you’ve never had anyone but John over, really.”
“That’s true… but we do have other friends.”
“And just because you’ve slept with someone, it doesn’t make them your friend, either,” Evan added.
“Well, that narrows down the list considerably,” John joked, nudging Randy in the arm.
Randy snickered slightly.
Evan rolled his eyes but Chris was genuinely curious, “Just how many boys have you both slept with?” he asked, looking between them.
Evan blushed at the boldness of the question but John and Randy seemed completely comfortable.
“It’s probably not as many as you may think, Chris,” Randy settled for initially, tilting his head in sudden thought.
“We don’t have full sex with just anyone,” John said.
“Generally we just fool around doing the smaller things,” Randy added on afterwards.
“Jezebels,” Evan clucked without too much heat.
“Cheers Ev,” they grinned.
Randy, still grinning, then turned to Chris and said, “One. I’ve had sex with one person. Ever. But I have lost track of the number of people who I’ve done other things with,” he admitted.
Figuring he should come clean as well, John said, “Two. One of them was a girl, and that was only one time. But, also like Randy, I’ve no idea how many people I’ve done other, lesser things with.”
“You’ve really only slept with one person?” Chris asked, looking to Randy.
“Yes. When I was younger, I thought I could sleep with other people, since we agreed on it, you know? But… at the last second I had a change of heart. Damn, John, I loved him before I even knew I loved him,” Randy told him.
“And what about you?” John asked of Chris.
“Well… back home I’d fooled around with people, but I’ve also only been with one person.”
“Really?” Evan couldn’t help the shocked hopefulness that came out in his voice. He had known that he was a complete virgin but he wouldn’t have been shocked if Chris hadn’t been.
At least, not entirely virginal anyway, he amended.
“Yes,” Chris nodded, face softening, “Really.” Randy chuckled softly and shook his head, leaning back slightly in his chair, “I guess this proves none of us deserve our reputations… they are funny though,” he mused to them.
“That’s true,” John said, “For instance there’re several boys who reckon they’ve slept with me and I don’t recall any such occasions. Others have had Randy as well according to rumor, isn’t that right?”
“Last time I bothered listening, yes. It’s only Evan who they’ve got right.”
“Me?” Evan asked, startled by his sudden inclusion in the conversation, “What about me?”
~~~
“But, Teddy, Heath said-” Cody began to protest.
“No, Cody. I can’t believe you were even contemplating it!” Ted said to him.
“But-”
“No,” he said once again.
“Guess you won’t find out how big David is, then,” Heath told them.
“Teddy, please?” Cody asked.
“No!”
“Why not? You embarrassed by how small you’ll be in comparison?” Heath goaded.
Ted raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about, I assure you, but, unlike the rest of you, I’d like to keep what I do in private just that: private.”
“But you’re fucking Cody. Nothing’s private with him,” Heath said.
“If I wasn’t sitting here right now,” Ted began, looking over to Cody, “would you have told them, just to find out about David?”
Cody shiftily looked down at the table before looking up to them all once again.
“Yes,” he said, refusing to be cowed, “I probably would.”
“CODY!”
“Well, you said it yourself that you have nothing to be ashamed of!” Cody protested, scowling at his lover a little, “It’s not like you’d actually have to show them it for real!”
“You little-“ Ted coloured significantly.
“Teddy, really, you’re not bad looking and all but I’d rather not see that much.”
Justin decided not to comment that technically he had seen thanks to the fact that they always changed and bathed in close quarters...
Though technically he’d never seen Ted hard for that would be different.
“Calm down Teddy, it’s complimentary that Cody would want to admit it.”
“How?” Ted demanded of Heath.
“It just is.”
“That’s not much of an answer,” Ted muttered.
“Sure it is,” Heath said.
“It just is? I still don’t understand how it’s a compliment that he’d want to tell everyone about… that.”
“Because he wants everyone to know what he gets and we’re all missing out on,” Heath replied.
“Well, that’s just weird,” Ted told them.
“It’s not weird,” Cody said. “I’m just proud to show off what my boyfriend is working with.”
“So, what, you wouldn’t care if I told everyone how big you are?” Ted asked, raising a brow.
“I’d tell them myself should they ever ask,” Cody answered.
“Cody,” Heath was grinning like a fiend, “How big are you?”
And, to Ted’s shock, Cody demonstrated for them.
“I’m bigger,” Heath bragged.
“No you are not,” Justin snorted in amusement.
Before Ted or Joe could ask Windham was saying, “And just how do you know that?” Justin shrugged.
“Not for a reason you’re probably thinking,” he said simply, not elaborating any further on the point then.
Joe privately agreed with Justin; Heath wasn’t as big but he wasn’t very far off overall.
Ted was looking at Cody in abject disbelief, “I can’t believe that you actually told them how big you are.”
“What? We’re all males here, Teddy; we all know what a cock looks like,” Cody reasoned. “And none of us here are virgins, either, so we all know how a cock works,” he added.
“That still doesn’t mean they need to know the size of it, though!” he protested.
“Well, it’s not like I’m about to just whip it out and show everyone, and you’re the only one here that’s seen it,” Cody said.
“That may be… but others have seen it, too.”
“And I’ve already told you, they meant absolutely nothing! I was with them for the fun of it, not because I was head over heels in love with them. Plus, it’s not like I have slept with any of them, you know that,” Cody told him.
“I know. But that doesn’t change the fact that others got to see all of you before I ever did.”
“No one else will, Teddy, ok?” he asked. Although he still really wouldn’t mind if Cena or Orton did…
“Your jealousy needs to be worked on mate,” Heath said, slapping Ted heartily on the shoulder before standing. “I’ll catch up with you lot later,” he then announced jovially.
“Where are you going?” Joe found himself asking Windham trying not to huff over the fact that he would be the one to ask first… the way things were he now sometimes he wondered whether his own jealousy needed working on.
“Just meeting someone,” Heath said evasively and all of his friends’ brows rose.
“Just meeting someone?” Cody repeated with a look that said quite frankly that Heath wasn’t going anywhere until he spilled.
“I do have other friends you know,” Heath drawled.
Their assumptions might not be far wrong though; this was one of the friends he visited when suffering as he was currently.
Sexual tension from his not-quite-boyfriend situation was really not doing him any favours.
“Other friends, huh? Like David?” Cody asked.
“It’s just a friend,” Heath said once more. “I’ll see you all later,” he told them all before quickly heading out the common room door.
“Well, Joey, seems like someone isn’t being properly seen to,” Cody said once the door was shut behind Heath.
Joe blushed and Windham’s scowl seemed to get even scowlier. “He’s being seen to a little too well, you ask me,” Windham huffed.
“Oh, yeah? How well?” Cody then asked.
“Too well,” Windham repeated.
“Someone’s mighty jealous.”
“Yeah, well, it’s bullshit that I have to share Joe, anyway!” he finally exclaimed. “Especially if Heath’s going off fucking around with someone else anyway!”
“Ah, the true feelings come out,” Cody said, watching on with interest.
Joe was staring at Windham in clear surprise.
“You look like you weren’t expecting that,” Justin said, thinking that it was a good job they were all seated as Joe looked almost shaken.
“W-Well, I wasn’t,” Joe admitted, “I mean, it wasn’t me who came up with the sharing thing anyway…” he pointed out and Windham huffed.
“What if I said right now that I don’t want you to be seeing anyone but me?” he asked, straight-forward even for him, and that was saying something.
“Well I, um, that is…” Joe floundered and it was apparent to all that whatever situation he thought they were in that was different.
“I guess I’d say um, Ok then…” Joe said.
In truth he felt Windham was right about Heath messing around with others.
If he was serious about him why mess around?
Then again, monogamy had never been super-important to him.
“Wait, what happened to you having feelings for Heath, too?” Cody asked at this sudden new turn of things.
“Well… I mean… if Windham really doesn’t want to… I mean, there’s still some feeling for Heath, I guess…”
“But you still like Windham more,” Cody supplied. When Joe blushed, he knew that to be the truth.
“He’s the only one I’ve really considered being with, just him,” Joe said. “Not just some fling or to pass the time…” He’d never had a girlfriend, all the girls he’d been with had just been little flings. A little fun here and there.
“How do you think Heath will take that, though?” Ted asked.
“He’s off visiting a friend right now,” Windham said, “so I would say he wouldn’t mind too much.”
“I thought things were working out well between the three of you,” Cody said.
“There hasn’t really been anything between the three of us to work out,” Windham said without hesitation.
“Don’t you think that maybe that’s why Heath might be going elsewhere?” Cody asked and then paused slightly.
His brow furrowed as he reasoned, “But if that was the case I don’t see why he didn’t come to you.”
Joe coughed something into his fist, face very red once again.
“What?” this time Justin was the one to speak as opposed to Cody, the brunette scowling at them both before looking embarrassedly at the ground again. Windham had coloured as well but as always seemed more composed.
“Joe established that he would much rather his first time with me,” Windham eventually told them all.
“Oh I see…” Cody nodded, he and Justin exchanging a look with each other.
“That’s got to be a pretty bothersome thought,” Ted then chimed in with his own opinion.
“Are you on Heath’s side right now?” Joe asked, raising a brow.
“Well… I don’t know,” Ted shrugged. “He doesn’t really seem like the type that wants to be in any sort of a relationship. But at the same time, maybe he does and he just doesn’t want to say anything.”
“If he wanted a relationship with Joe, he’d still be here, not running off to some fuck buddy,” Windham said to him.
“But he also knows that you want Joe and don’t actually want to share him,” Cody said.
“I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to have to share you, knowing that you’d be in bed with someone else the night after you were in bed with me,” Ted told them, though that was a secret to none of them.
“Why’s Joe being made out to be the bad guy here?” Cody demanded, feeling a kinship with him since he knew well and truly how Ted had acted at the thought of sharing him, and if Windham was even half as bad...
“I’m not saying that,” Windham said, frowning, Ted chiming in with a similar affirmative almost immediately.
“Look, whatever happens I don’t want Heath to fall out with us Ok?” Joe said in a firm tone.
Windham sighed; he didn’t want them to lose their friendships either.
“Maybe you should try talking to him before jumping to any conclusions,” Justin, the ever-present voice of reason chimed in, “If that’s one thing I’ve learned you lot need to do more it’s talk to each other.”
Joe groaned, head slumping forward onto the little table they were seated around. Why did it all have to be so complicated?
“Talking’s what got us into this damn mess in the first place,” Windham said, seeming to read Joe’s mind.
“I don’t think any of you have really given this whole thing a fair shake,” Cody said to them. “And that’s just made everyone miserable, when instead you should all be rather happy in the arrangement.”
“How the hell am I supposed to be happy knowing that Joe not only was with Heath, but will be going back to him when he’s with me?” Windham asked.
“Don’t think about that. Just think about what it’s like when it’s just the two of you and how much you enjoy it,” Cody said.
“Then why can’t I be able to have Joe for myself? Because, like you said, our time together is enjoyable.”
“Because Joe also wants to spend time with Heath. And, you know what? Maybe you and Heath need to spend time alone together, too,” Cody suggested. “No Joe at all, just you and Heath.”
Windham paused and eyed Cody a little, “Do you mean in the matey sense or the…?” he trailed off.
“Well, that depends… what are you interested in?” Cody returned immediately and Windham didn’t hesitate, “No, I don’t.” He didn’t have any romantic desire towards Heath. Cody shrugged, “So, there you go.”
Windham wasn’t the only one who looked confused--- Ted seemed to be trying to understand as well. Cody looked at Justin and they both sighed somewhat in exasperation. Really, these people were so dense.
“Re-affirm your friendship with each other, get to know each other better. That way you may not be so… dominant-male towards each other and Joe,” he waved a hand.
“Hey, wait---“ Joe suddenly cut in with something of a frown, “Are you trying to say that I am not a dominant male?” he asked.
“Not right now you’re not,” Cody shrugged, saying it as though it was completely simple. “But that’s OK.”
“How’s that ok?” Joe asked.
“Are you saying that I’m not?” Windham asked, turning his head to Joe and raising a brow.
“That’s not what I’m saying at all!” Joe exclaimed. “Cody, what the fuck are you even talking about?”
“I mean… sometimes you just need to let it all go. You’re really not in control here. You’re more like… the damsel in distress.”
“The fuck?” Joe asked, offended. “I’m not a-”
“You’ve got two men fighting for possession of you. You’re kind of like Cleopatra vying for the attention of Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony. But like I said, it’s ok for that to happen.”
“Why you-“ Joe started for Cody.
It was almost a reflex where Ted inserted himself between the pair, giving Joe a steely look of warning.
“You’re one to preach when you’re exactly the same!” Joe shot back to Cody then. To his consternation however Cody merely shrugged before leveling him with an amicable look.
“Joe, I know I am. And, what makes you think I have a problem with it?” the question was so simple that it almost surprised everyone.
“I--- but that is--- you-“ Joe stammered, off-guard.
“Justin’s one too. It’s just the natural way that these things work,” Justin nodded his head.
Joe couldn’t think of a thing to say. He’d never in a million years think he’d be in a situation where he wasn’t the dominant male.
“Look, I know it’s odd for you to think of,” Justin began, “but really, it’s ok to relinquish that control from time to time.”
“When you think about sleeping with Windham, who do you picture being on top?” Cody asked.
“Excuse me?” Joe asked in return, eyes wide.
“Who’s on top?” Cody asked again.
“You’re seriously asking me that?”
“I already know your answer,” Cody told him. “You picture Win on top.”
“Fine, ok, yes. I picture him on top,” Joe said, face in his hands.
~~~
“That you’re a prude,” Randy answered. “I told you they got it right.”
“I’m not a prude!” Evan replied instantly.
The other three with them raised their brows at him. “Evan… if it weren’t for Chris, you would still be a virgin, right? Had you ever kissed anyone before Chris?” Randy asked him.
Evan shrugged and shook his head. “No.”
“Had you ever touched yourself before?” was Randy’s next question.
“Do I have to answer that?”
“Does that mean you had?” Randy asked, actually surprised by that.
“Well… it’s not like… I mean, when I woke up it…” Evan blushed furiously, unable to finish his sentence.
“Such a sheltered child…” John playfully cooed and then shouldered Randy jokingly, “How did you turn into the raging whore that you are?” Randy flipped him off, John laughing.
“It’s all your fault; you’re such a deviant influence on me John Cena.”
“So,” Chris addressed his lover, mildly surprised, ignoring John and Randy’s playful bickering, “You never…?”
“No,” Evan blushed; it just seemed unnecessary to him to be truthful.
He’d never been genuinely sexually attracted to someone before Chris.
“Oh…” Chris looked almost awed at him.
“See, if you’d left him a virgin Chris we could have made him a saint.”
“Fuck off you two!” Evan huffed.
“Ooo, language, Evan!” Randy teased.
“I’d still have been a virgin, though, had I not slept with Evan,” Chris said.
“But you were no saint before that, were you?” John asked.
“No, I suppose not,” Chris replied.
“Not like our Evan here. Pure as snow, that one… until the blonde Canadian boy came along and tainted his innocence,” Randy said.
“He could have been a monk had it not been for you,” John said, nodding his head.
Chris grinned and shrugged, “Whoops.”
“I think you should make him take responsibility, Randy,” John grinned playfully as Evan groaned, “He tainted your precious cousin.”
“There’s an idea,” Randy looked mock-serious, “You best intend to look after him, Chris.”
Even though Evan was muttering under his breath they knew he wasn’t angry.
At least they all seemed to assume so as Chris played along.
“Of course I intend that! Shall we discuss dowry?”
“Who said I’d be the bride?” Evan cut in.
“Chris doesn’t have the hips for a dress,” Randy deadpanned.
“Excuse me?” Evan protested.
“It’s true. You’ve got a much smaller figure, almost hourglass, even,” Chris said. “Plus, it’d look much more fitting me carrying you over the threshold.”
“Hmph!” was Evan’s response.
“Ooo, that’s a fair point,” Randy said, looking to John and pointing at Chris. “He’s clearly been thinking about this.”
“Have you?” Evan then asked, sour mood instantly dissipating.
“Have I?” Chris asked in return. He’d certainly thought about them living together in the future, somehow, some way.
“I hate it when you do that.”
Chris merely smiled back to him.
It always drove Evan crazy when people gave him cryptic responses and sly digs, and Chris refusing to go into detail about this would really niggle.
“I think you’ve got the legs for a dress between the two of us babe,” John said in all seriousness to Randy, eyes glinting.
“Eh, no,” Randy said immediately, “The only dress-wearer would be you.”
And before John could reply he explained, “Because an ass like yours would look amazing in tight material, end of.”
“I’m flattered, but I think your figure is much more suited towards a dress,” John said. “You’re far slimmer, all lean, you know? I’m a tad bulky.”
“But your backside would look incredible.”
“My backside always looks incredible,” John returned, and Randy had to nod his agreement.
“I’m too tall, though,” Randy went on. “A dress wouldn’t fall right on me.”
“Why are you guys even still talking about this like it’s actually going to happen?” Evan asked, quirking his head.
“Who says it won’t?” John asked.
“You two are weird.”
“Are you saying you wouldn’t marry me?” Chris asked, pretending to look wounded and causing Evan to blush anew all over again, sighing.
“You’re just as bad as those two.”
“I love the way he says it like it’s a bad thing,” John mused, grinning at him.
“It is,” Evan responded.
“See if I share my sweets with you again,” John play pouted and Evan fought a smile then.
They had one night a week where they’d get together in one of their rooms and pool their sweets together, playing cards and stuff.
“Don’t be like that-you know you get the good ones.”
“And that’s why you’re not getting any of mine,” John replied. “I’ll just keep them all to myself.”
“Oh, you’re not that selfish, John,” Randy said. “You’d at least share with me, right?”
“Nope,” John answered.
“Well, you are a dickhead, then” Randy muttered. “See if I ever share any of my sweets with you.”
“Not even those almond ones?” John asked.
“Especially not the almond ones,” Randy said.
“You don’t even like them.”
“I bet Evan or Chris does.” When Chris nodded in the affirmative, Randy went on, “There, problem solved. Chris can take the almond ones.”
“Fine, I’d share with you,” John amended.
“Too late.”
“Bitch,” John pushed Randy, who then pushed him back, the pair trying not to grin at their actions.
“That’s not what you called me last night,” Randy threw back to him and John snorted lightly, “I didn’t call you anything last night, remember?”
“Details, details,” Randy dismissed.
“Do you fancy a sweet night then?” Evan asked, the talk of sweets making him want some.
“I think so…” Randy then grinned, “And maybe now John and I can teach you a few sweet-themed games.”
Evan blushed and glanced sideways at Chris.
“Why do I get the feelings they won’t be innocent?”
“You don’t trust us?” John feigned hurt.
“Déjà vu,” Chris commented.
“So it is. Fair point.”
“But I’m right, though, aren’t I? The games aren’t exactly innocent, are they?” Evan asked.
“Not in the least bit,” Randy answered, grinning.
“You know I love you, Randy, but after seeing you and John together in bed that day you were… sick… was enough for me. I really don’t need to know what else you do behind closed doors,” Evan told him.
“No different than what you and Chris get up to, I’m sure,” Randy said.
“Well, it probably is. I mean, we’ve been together since we were quite young, so we’ve had a lot of time to figure out new things,” John then said to Randy.
“True enough. True enough… We’ve probably done things they’ve never even dreamed about.”
“Most likely,” John agreed.
“Besides, none of the games involve getting naked,” Randy said as an apparent afterthought.
“No, those are the private games,” John snickered.
Evan rolled his eyes a little.
“The removal of a shirt is probably the worst it gets, but if you’re really that against it…” Randy shrugged, “More treats for us.” Evan growled slightly and the stubbornness the Orton/Bourne’s possessed was apparent.
“Oh, fine! But as soon as it becomes more about the sex than the sweets I’m leaving,” he said. John exchanged a look with both Randy and Chris, grinning.
“There’s something I bet you never thought you’d say before,” he teased.
Evan blushed and Chris said, “I think I have some sweets left from our trip to town a few days back.”
“Good, tonight in my room, then?” Randy asked the group. “You can ask Phil along if you’d like,” he said to John.
“Phil? All he’ll do is bitch about how much we’re groping each other,” John said.
“Exactly. I guess I should give him a fair shake, I mean, we were roommates for years and I know hardly nothing about the guy asides from the fact that he doesn’t drink or smoke and is now engaged,” Randy said. Obviously he did know more about the man, but those were the things he remembered the most about him.
“It wouldn’t hurt to ask him. Especially as he’s been so nice about covering up for my absence.”
“No one should be concerned about you being in your own room, or not. You’re sports captain and you’re in your final year here. Please… it won’t make one lick of difference whose room you’re in, so long as you continue to do well.”
“You’re still bothered about him aren’t you?” John asked, though he seemed more amused than wound up this time.
“I won’t stop being bothered by him until we’ve graduated from here,” he said flatly.
“Alright…” he didn’t want to get into it again, but then stood and clapped both Evan and Chris respectively over the shoulders, “We’ll see you both soon then. I’ll go and see if I can find Phil.” Chances were his friend was most likely in their room writing a letter to Beth or reading one of his many, many complicated books.
As John headed off Randy looked after him and then looked back again before tilting his head and smiling.
“Don’t skimp out on the sweets, boys, and don’t think you can chicken out of play Ok?” he winked and headed off back to his own room to gather his sweets together and ready for the evening of fun. He found he was looking forward to it.
“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Evan said as he and Chris stood and headed back to their own room.
“Oh, it’ll be fun.”
“A rip-roaring good time, I’m sure,” Evan replied sarcastically.
“Ev, you know you always enjoy yourself when you’re with them, so stop trying to act like you won’t this time.”
“What do they even mean, though? Play… I don’t like the sound of it.”
“Why not?” Chris asked.
“I just mean… with them… who knows what kind of weird things they do,” Evan muttered, blushing.
“Do you think they’re going to do anything that bad?” Chris asked, “I mean, you and Randy are related to each other.”
Evan supposed he had a point; even Randy wouldn’t be that indiscriminate about his sexual partners as to pursue a relative.
“Besides,” Chris smiled, “I’ll be too jealous to let even those two near you.”
Evan blushed a little more.
It was still so odd to be considered a figure of sexual admiration.
“So, we’ll go and have fun Ok?”
“Alright,” Evan conceded, heading with Chris back to their room to get the necessary things together.
“Good,” Chris said, smiling. “You know, it’s been really nice getting to know your cousin and John better.”
“I like that you’re getting to know them, too,” Evan replied, keeping in step with Chris. “I’m sorry that I didn’t introduce you to them properly sooner… enough that it got to the point where they thought you were hurting me.”
“I know, but they know the truth now, and that’s what matters. They know now that I could never hurt you,” Chris told him.
“I’m glad they know the truth. Even if they did have to spy on us to get it,” Evan said with a blush.
“And now you know that you had no reason to be so stubborn and reluctant to tell them in the first place,” Chris said as he opened the door to their room.
Authors: wrestlemanix and eric_idle_rules
Pairings: Ted DiBiase Jr./Cody Runnels, John Cena/Randy Orton, Justin Gabriel/Wade Barrett, Evan Bourne/Chris Jericho, Joe Hennig/Windham Rotunda, Joe Hennig/Heath Slater
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Takes place at an English all boys boarding school during the Victorian Era in which prefects roam the halls and rugby and cricket are the sports of choice.
Word Count: 9333
A/N: While I don't know much about the Victorian Era, I do know that while everyone kept up appearances to the world, behind closed doors, it was a whole other story... Please review! We finally have a title, guys! A very fitting one considering the subject matter ;)
Disclaimer: Neither of us own the WWE.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31, Part 32, Part 33, Part 34, Part 35, Part 36, Part 37, Part 38, Part 39
Finishing lunch moments later Justin and Ted then fell into step with Cody to take their trays back to the front of the dining-hall.
“What’s your house like?” Ted asked interestedly. Of course he knew the general layout of a fine house as he and Cody both had one but he was curious all the same.
“Um…” Justin seemed perplexed momentarily.
He’d never been asked that before really.
“It’s big,” he finally settled on.
Cody then smirked slightly and lowered his voice, “The house? Or Wade?”
Justin gasped lightly and flushed, looking down at the ground as he tried to fight a smile despite himself; occasionally Cody’s brassy comments could be highly amusing indeed. “It’s really nice but compared to what I saw as a child Wade isn’t frivolous with his spending. Lots of pictures… Wade likes art.”
That was mildly surprising. “Oh!” Justin said, “And he has a trophy room-“ Ted was about to comment on what it was like differently than his own when Justin finished, “It’s got all of the trophies he won from bare-knuckle boxing as a youth.”
“Wait, what?” Cody asked, turning his head towards Justin, eyes wide.
“You didn’t know that about him?” Justin cocked his head slightly.
“No. No I didn’t know that about him,” Cody answered. “He did bare knuckle fighting?”
“How do you think his nose got so crooked?” Justin asked with a little smile.
“I guess I never thought about it before,” Cody said. “I never would have thought… Wow.”
“I know. He was really good at it, too. I mean, obviously some people got some shots in on him, but you should see all the trophies he has. He wasn’t much older than us when he started. He actually used his prize money to put himself through school. His parents were working class so they couldn’t afford for him to go to school, so he found his own way,” Justin told them.
“That’s incredible. There’s so much about our dear Headmaster that I don’t know,” Cody muttered.
“It’s a very inspiring story,” Ted agreed. “Does he ever still box?”
“He’s got a punching bag that he uses every now and again, yes, but it’s nothing serious. It’s not like he’s stepping into a ring again, or anything.”
“Would you be scared if he did?” Ted asked curiously and Justin nodded.
“Have you seen the state some of those men can get into?” he asked.
“I’ve heard rumors… never actually seen a proper fight though,” Cody nodded in agreement.
Both his and Ted’s mothers were staunchly against it, but Cody knew that their fathers were planning to take them along one time when they could get away with it.
“He’s definitely not interested in returning to competing, though I’m sure he must miss it.”
“I can’t imagine that… Wade seems so,” Cody’s brow furrowed a little, “Mild-mannered.”
Justin chuckled slightly at that one, shaking his head but not speaking.
“Oh!” he then remembered, “You’ll be able to see some pictures of Wade as a teenager,” he grinned.
They were fight photos published in the newspaper, and when Justin had asked Wade had managed to locate photos of him in his childhood. The curly hair had plagued him all of his life, Justin had learned, and from being an adorable baby Wade had been a devastatingly handsome young man even with the broken nose. “Ooh, I can’t wait to see those!” Cody beamed enthusiastically.
“Of course you can’t,” Justin said, grinning and shaking his head.
“What? Who wouldn’t want to see a little bit more into the life of their headmaster?” Cody asked.
“I can’t say that I’m anywhere near as curious as you are,” Ted told him.
“That’s because you’re a party pooper,” Cody said.
“I just think you’ve got an over active imagination and that you’re far too curious for your own good.”
“One can never be too curious,” Cody replied.
“Didn’t Oscar Wilde say something like that before he got arrested?” Ted asked, raising a brow.
“How the hell should I know?” Cody rolled his eyes.
Ted rolled his eyes back at his lover, shaking his head somewhat.
Sticking his tongue out in response Cody then said, “There’s nothing wrong with curiosity, Theodore.”
“Whatever you say,” Ted said as they headed towards their next class.
Heath, Windham and Joe were already waiting there.
“Hm,” Cody pretended to inspect them, lowering his voice, “Nope, I don’t think that they snuck off for a three-man quickie.”
“Cody!” Ted slapped a hand over his eyes and groaned.
Justin fought laughter as Cody ignored Ted’s exclamation.
The other three boys’ faces went interesting shades of red, it impossible to tell who was the most embarrassed.
Cody smirked at them. “One day it’ll happen. I’m calling it now,” he said. “They’re all just gonna be in class looking utterly shagged out.”
“Cody!” Ted exclaimed once again.
“I’m simply stating a fact, Teddy.”
“Well, must you state it in so public a place?” he asked.
“Of course,” Cody answered, thoroughly enjoying the blushes on the other boys’ faces. “Joe, I didn’t even know you could turn that colour.”
“Yeah, well…” he trailed off, ducking his head down into his arms, which were crossed across his desk.
“You’re tactless,” Heath muttered. Of course, he couldn’t deny that he was pretty much the same.
Cody was about to make his retort when their professor walked into the class, requiring them to all stand and greet him. Once they sat, the bell rang and he had no chance to reply, so he had to hope that he could remember his comeback by the time class was out, though it probably wouldn’t even be relevant anymore.
The secondary trio that comprised their usual six-some was still bright red in the face and at one point this prompted their professor to ask them if they were alright. It was only Ted’s foot pressing firmly down on his own in warning which stopped Cody from laughing out loud at the naïve question that had been posed to them.
Joe sent Cody a look (once the professor was focused back on class) that said quiet plainly that he was going to regret his little stunt soon.
The actor raised a brow in haughty challenge.
When class ended they moved to their next, and then to their final one before the gap until dinner. As a group they headed to the dorm to wait.
“You’re such a fucker, Cody,” Heath was saying to the other.
“You people are all just so uptight--- that shag I mentioned would really help with that retained tension you know.”
“Is sex all you think about?” Windham asked.
“When you’ve had sex the way I’ve had sex you can ask me that question,” Cody said in all seriousness.
“You’ve had sex, what, once?” Joe asked. “Because I’ve done it way more than just once.”
“A few more times than that,” he answered. “But I can promise you, Joey, the sex I’ve had? Was far better than anything you ever had with any girl.”
“It helps, that whole thinking about sex all the time, though, when your lover is sitting right next to you,” Heath said, waggling his brows at Ted and Cody.
“Do you all really need to talk about this now?” Ted asked.
“We’re the only ones here right now, so… yes,” Heath answered. He then turned back to Joe and Windham and said, “He’s got a point, though.”
“About?”
“Sex with men being better than with a girl.”
“Please, none of you have slept with a man,” Justin added, looking around at his group of friends.
“Terribly sorry Ted’s not ancient,” Cody replied, smirking.
Justin gave a gasp of affront before lowering his voice, “Wade is not ancient,” he said, huffing at Cody.
Cody waved a hand, grinning at Justin’s irritation only because it was a triumph to be able to goad the other enough to make the emotion appear at all.
“Alright, but he’s significantly older than any of us here,” he said.
Though he was less than impressed he could hardly deny a fact.
“Still, my point remains valid,” Justin mumbled, turning away.
Their conversation was momentarily stilted when a few more boys came in but they merely headed over to the other side of the room so they continued.
Albeit with lower voices.
“You’ve never slept with a girl Cody,” Windham said suddenly, Heath and Joe nodding to back him up, “How would you know it’s better?” he asked.
Cody’s mouth opened, and then closed. A genuinely bemused expression settled on his face, “Because it just is.”
Heath continued to nod at Cody’s response, he being the only one in the room to have experience with both genders. Cody then went on to ask, “And it’s not like any of you have slept with a guy before, so how do you know it’s not better?”
“Well, I have, and I would agree with Cody,” Heath said.
“You have?” Cody asked.
“I can tell you about it later,” he said, to which Cody’s eyebrows rose. No one ever willingly gave him juicy details. So he nodded his agreement.
“So, you really liked having something shoved up your bum more than you liked a nice, wet cunt?” Joe asked.
“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it,” he told Joe. “I’m sure you’ll be tryin’ it pretty soon, though, right?”
Heath managed to get Joe to blush yet again, Windham, as well. “I don’t know,” he muttered.
Heath looked to Cody and they shared a customary eye-roll; Ted had been just as reticent as those two and given that they were knocking what they should technically be doing those two felt justified in carrying some frustration towards them momentarily.
“You can both stop acting like the authorities on sexual acts now.”
“Yeah… you want to do that you should start charging,” Joe sniped a little in his embarrassment.
“You certainly wouldn’t be able to afford me,” Cody sniffed and lifted his head haughtily.
“Good job Ted’s rich then aye?” Justin joked lightly.
Heath, Justin and Cody laughed, Joe still pouting somewhat as Windham merely seemed to be attempting to pretend not to listen to what was being said.
Ted’s head was in his hands and his posture essentially said How did I end up with you people as my friends?
“Oh, come on, Teddy,” Cody said, grinning as he wiped away a tear of laughter, “lighten up a bit.”
“Lighten up? But you… he…!” he began, pointing at Cody, then Justin.
“He was only joking. I’ve never charged you a dime.” Ted blushed a nice, deep red before ducking his head into his hands again, so Cody placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to bite back a laugh. Out of kindness to Ted, he then changed the subject, “So Heath, you promised me details.”
“That I did. Those two have already heard it, though,” he said, pointing to Windham and Joe.
“So?” Cody asked, raising a brow.
“Well, I for one don’t really need to hear about other people’s sex lives,” Ted muttered into his hands.
“You’re just no fun, Teddy,” Cody said, to which Ted huffed.
“If you don’t want to listen cover your ears,” Cody said simply, causing Ted to give his lover a look.
Justin quirked a slight smirk, “The rate you’re going Cody you won’t be getting anything from Ted for a while.”
“He wouldn’t do that to me,” was Cody’s offhand comment.
And, sadly, he was right--- if only because of the hysteria that had occurred last time around.
Cody didn’t handle indications of abstinence well, he knew that well now.
“So, Heath?” Cody prompted, leaning forward a little to hear.
He was fascinated about Heath’s story to do with the servant David, curious as to how they had ended up sleeping together and also how they had managed to get through the situation unscathed. “It’s so worth the pain though, huh?” Heath asked and Cody nodded, Justin finding himself nodding as well.
“Teddy, you’re not agreeing with us?” Heath asked, quirking a brow.
“I… uh… that is…” he stuttered, wishing that the blush on his face would go away, because as of right then, he was sure it would simply become a permanent fixture.
“He hasn’t been on the receiving end yet,” Cody then supplied them.
“Teddy, you really don’t know what you’re missing,” Heath told him.
“After you all talking about the pain that goes along with it, I don’t know, I might have to agree with Teddy here,” Joe said.
“I did say yet,” Cody repeated. “He’s not getting out of it that easily.”
“Cody, do we really need to be talking about this right now?” Ted asked.
“What? You’re not going to try and tell me again that you don’t-”
“No! I didn’t say that I never would… I just don’t like talking about that in front of everyone!”
“So you will let me fuck you?” Cody asked, grinning.
Ted clearly looked uncomfortable as he settled on, “We’ll see, Ok?”
It wasn’t quite the complete agreement that he was hoping for but it would do, and Cody shrugged before saying to Heath and Justin, “Really, he’s so panicked about it…”
“You can’t pretend that you weren’t a little nervous,” Heath said and Cody nodded his head, “But I knew I wanted it, so it was Ok.”
The others nodded and then Heath turned to Justin, seemingly forgetting the other three.
“Surely you must have been the most concerned, I mean, Wade’s…”
“A full-grown man?” Justin supplied and the other two nodded fervently.
“Of course I was,” Justin blushed, “Wade’s definitely not got anything to scoff at.”
“Really?” Heath asked and Cody grinned impishly, nodding his head.
“Yeah, Justin gave us a demonstration of how big Wade is before.”
Heath immediately requested another demonstration.
“Good Lord, why do you people even care?” Justin asked.
“Because we’re curious little shits. Come on, then,” Heath encouraged.
“Oh… fine,” he said, holding up his hands to give his other three friends a quick demonstration as to how big Wade was.
“No!” Heath exclaimed. “Is he thick, too?”
“Wasn’t that enough information for one day?” Justin asked. He couldn’t believe he had indulged his friends’ curiosity at all.
“No,” Cody and Heath answered at the same time. Windham and Joe were still attempting to not listen in on the conversation, though both of them couldn’t help but look impressed when Justin showed them just what Wade had to offer.
“Ok, ok,” Justin muttered, this time showing them how thick around his lover is.
“Well, shit,” Heath said. “I mean, David was pretty big, but… damn, Justin, you must have been limping for days.”
A blush warmed Justin’s exotically coloured skin, “Maybe I was a little bit.”
But he also knew Wade couldn’t have taken better care of him then he did that time.
“Man… I’m impressed,” Heath said, leaning back in his chair.
Joe, Windham and Ted however were trying to hide their wide-eyed looks of disbelief; Justin had managed to take something of that size?
“Well, Wade is a big man,” Cody mused to himself.
“Big all over in fact,” Heath smirked and Justin rolled his eyes slightly but didn’t deny it, “Though, I don’t know why we were surprised.”
Ted couldn’t help but pout slightly at the contemplative look that had crossed Cody’s face. Stop thinking about it!
“Aww, Teddy, you feeling jealous?” he needled, “Come on Cody, Justin told us how big Wade is, I’ll tell you both how big David is if you tell us how big Ted is.” Before Cody could even open his mouth Ted hissed, “Don’t you dare, Cody!”
~~~
The pair dressed quickly and attempted to pat down their hair before they headed to the dining hall. John and Randy were about halfway through their own meal when the two of them sat down with them at the table.
“Nice of you to show up,” John said, nodding his head to them.
“Yeah, what kept you?” Randy asked just before taking a bite of his lunch.
The blush that covered Evan’s entire face gave them away, as if they hadn’t already known. However, Chris said, “We were just having a little talk.”
“A little talk, huh?” Randy turned his head towards John and asked, “Is that what they’re calling it these days?”
“Seems like,” he replied.
“We did talk, though,” Evan said. “Really. It wasn’t just… really,” he said once more.
“Ok, I believe you. You talked. John and I talk a lot before we fuck, as well,” Randy then added, getting Evan to blush even deeper.
“It was important!” Evan told them. “Then things just… went from there.”
“Really?” Randy seemed to turn a little more serious then, looking between the both of them. “There’s only three occasions that lead to sex through talking,” he leant forward and lowered his voice a little more before continuing.
“You were fighting, talking dirty, or one of you was upset about something.”
Evan immediately glanced away and Randy’s brow furrowed when he noticed.
“What happened?” John asked them, Chris shaking his head slightly and giving a more genuine smile than he would have managed earlier on.
“It doesn’t matter now, Evan and I have sorted the issue out,” he said, Evan nodding alongside him to support his words.
“If you say so,” John conceded.
Randy pouted; sometimes John gave in to easily and he could have done with the support to badger the couple in getting them to fess up.
“Yes,” Evan responded, beginning to eat, Chris having already started his own meal.
“That must have been a vigorous shag to make you both that hungry,” Randy teased.
Evan coughed as he swallowed too big a piece of food in shock. “Randy!” he exclaimed.
“What? It’s true. Isn’t it, John?” he asked his own lover.
John nodded.
“It’s not fair to ask him!” Evan said. “He’s always hungry no matter if he’s had a… vigorous shag or not.”
“Well, to be fair, we do fuck a lot,” John added.
“You two are disgustingly crude,” Evan muttered, but then he heard a chuckle coming from Chris. “You, too?”
“What? It’s funny. And they’ve got a point.”
“That doesn’t mean it has to be brought up at the lunch table!”
“Besides,” Evan said suddenly, his voice growing quiet all of a sudden, “That wasn’t a shag.”
Chris’ laughter immediately stopped and his expression softened.
“No, no it wasn’t.”
He seemed to be reaching to hold Evan’s hand before he remembered himself and corrected the action, drink being picked up instead.
Randy looked at John, his lover equally confused.
“Seriously you two,” John said, “Is everything alright?” Randy eyed his cousin, the smaller male still seeming distant.
“Yes, we’re both fine,” Chris repeated as before.
“We’re definitely missing something,” Randy said and John nodded.
“Really, we’re fine… we’ve talked things out,” Evan said to them.
“But what was it that you had to talk about in the first place? It seems as though it was a pretty… heavy topic,” Randy said.
Evan shrugged. “It’s ok now.”
“I don’t think it is,” Randy told him. “I can say from experience that topics like that, ones that you talk about that lead to sex? They don’t go away as quickly as you’d like to think.”
“God! I’m worried about him going back to Canada, ok!” Evan exclaimed.
“Oh,” Randy and John both mumbled at the same time.
“Are you happy now?” Evan asked. “Will you stop bothering me about it now?”
“Evan, calm down,” Chris chided gently, a hand going to his shoulder.
Knowing he’d snapped a little, tiny bit unnecessarily Evan sighed, “I apologise.” Randy and John immediately waved him off.
“No, we’re sorry… we wouldn’t have pushed if we’d known.”
Randy was glad he knew about what his cousin was thinking about though...
Evan didn’t rely on him as much as he used to.
“You’re going back?” John asked and Chris shook his head in response to the question.
“I’ve decided that I am going to tell my family that I intend to stay here for university. And then, when I graduate, they won’t find the situation so odd if I decide to set up residence.”
“Really? You want to stay out here?” John asked. “Just for…?” he flicked his eyes towards Evan.
“Mostly for that reason, yes,” he answered. “I do like it over here, though, quite a bit.”
“But if you hadn’t met Evan…?” John trailed off, then raised a brow.
“If I hadn’t met Evan, then I would probably have gone back home to complete my education,” he said.
“So, then, you two are planning on attending University together?” Randy asked.
“I hope to,” Chris replied. “I haven’t exactly begun applying, since even though I’ve been thinking about this for a little while, it’s still a bit of a last minute decision.”
“Have you at least talked about where you want to go?” He and John had discussed it before, and they just had to hope that they both got accepted into at least one of the schools they agreed upon.
“I haven’t exactly thought about it much,” Chris pointed out again whereas Evan looked a little uncertain.
“You still haven’t decided?” Randy asked his cousin and the ravenette sighed slightly.
“No,” he admitted. He’d really been struggling with deciding on one.
“Where have you looked at?” John asked; Evan was clever enough to get in anywhere he would bet.
“Anywhere locally… I’m really not too fussed about moving away somewhere new.”
“I’d be happy to go anywhere Evan would,” Chris said, “Because I know he’ll pick somewhere that’s academically sound,” they’d not disadvantage one another that way at least.
“You could always just come to the same one as John and myself,” Randy pointed out with a shrug, “It’s very solid academically and it’s got great sports programs… I think that’s the only reason John settled on it really.”
“Why else would I settle on a school? No sports program, no John Cena,” he said.
“It sounds like it could be a good place to go,” Chris said. He liked being challenged academically and it could give him a chance to get back into sports (though he would greatly miss his ice hockey).
“Yes, and my father went there, as well,” Randy said. “Both our fathers, actually, that’s how they met,” he told Chris, pointing to John.
“So your families have known one another for a while, then.”
“Sure have,” John chimed in. “So, would you both consider going there?” he asked.
“I would, yes,” Chris answered.
“Yes, of course,” Evan said. It was already on his list of schools to consider… he just hadn’t really thought about it all that much.
“I know mother’ll be pleased if you attend there too,” Randy mused lightly, “Keep the tradition going and all that, plus you’ll still be close by.” Traditionally it wasn’t expected that you would leave the household until after university.
For women, of course, the rule was that you stayed with your family until you married.
However, the prospect of returning home on occasion didn’t dampen John or Randy’s intention to be together; they’d board at university and all.
“Yes, she will be pleased about that,” Evan acknowledged absently.
“Will you be able to move so far away from your family though Chris? I mean afterwards,” John clarified when he realised his question was a bit ambiguous.
“I’m sort of used to it thanks to schooling here, and it’s not like I’ll be alone,” he said.
He would have Evan by his side.
“I don’t think I’d be able to do that,” Randy said. “Leave my family for some other country…” He looked to Evan, then to John, and thought about his parents and knew that he couldn’t leave like Chris was considering doing.
“I have got relatives out here, so it’s not like I’m also completely without family.”
“Christian?” Randy asked.
“Oh, no, he’s in Canada, but he was here for a time visiting. My grandmother was from here and her family immigrated to Canada, but her older brother, my great uncle, stayed here to raise his family, as he and his wife had small children and didn’t want to bring them across the Atlantic at the time. And he ended up staying, so we still have family here,” he explained.
“Well, that’s fair, I guess. All my family is still here,” Randy said. “I don’t think I could ever see me or anyone in my family just up and leaving the country. Actually, no, I think Nathan would do something like that. He’s got that kind of spirit in him.” His little brother, who was at the academy with him, though several years younger, had a restless way about him and Randy could see him picking up and moving across the globe in his older years.
“I can’t imagine you as the responsible elder sibling,” Chris teased lightly to try and distinguish some of the seriousness of their conversation. John laughed slightly at that, shaking his head a little bit, clearly amused.
“Believe it or not Randy actually cares about his siblings greatly,” John told Chris.
“Does he?” Chris looked at him.
“Oh yes,” John ducked the hand that was trying to clamp over his mouth, Randy’s face having coloured just slightly in embarrassment, “He’s very protective of his sister, who’s in the sister girls’ school to our own. Any boy goes near her Randy will quite literally castrate him where he stands. And he and Nathan fight a lot but he has his eye on him too-“ the hand landed.
As John mumbled underneath his lover’s palm, sending a look to him of protest and then pleading as Randy muttered something about, “Bloody gobshites…” Evan then looked to Chris, chuckling, “You’ll meet them both when you come over,” Evan said shyly, “Nathan’s probably going to try and drag you into one of his epic games of soldiers.” The boy had received a brand-new set of toy soldiers for his last birthday and when they were home they got broke out.
“Soldiers, eh? Sounds like it could be fun,” Chris said.
“Oh, you should see him. I’m pretty certain that he’s recreating the Hundred Years War with his soldier set,” Evan told him. “For being rather young, he’s quite good with his historical facts.”
Randy nodded, a smile working its way onto his face as they talked about his brother. “It’s true. You know, he’s attempted to figure out a whole new battle plan for our war against America in which we would win.”
“Did he?” Chris asked, and all three other teens at the table nodded their heads.
“He’s a bright boy. Could even give me a run for my money in academics,” Randy said.
“How old are they?”
“Becky is two years younger than me, Nathan is seven years younger,” Randy answered.
“He’s ten and he’s that into history?” Chris asked, impressed.
“Yup. I’m pretty certain that he knows more about our history than most of the history professors here,” Randy said.
“He’s a smart lad,” John nodded, “Family got high hopes for him.”
And obviously in Becky’s case those high hopes stemmed to who she would marry.
“Any more people petitioned your parents over their sons courting Becky yet?” John asked.
Randy pulled a face, “If there have been no one has mentioned them to me,” he said.
“That’s because you scare them,” Evan said simply to him.
“They both seem interesting characters.”
“They are,” Evan agreed, “And Aunty will spoil you rotten just like she does John.” John grinned like a fiend at those words; Mrs. Orton did love him to bits. “Uncle may take a bit longer but he’ll warm up to you too.”
“I’m really looking forward to visiting now,” Chris said honestly, smiling at his lover and feeling pleased that Evan had cheered up.
Their talk could have gone much worse, but regardless of the consequences they would have had to have it out. Chris just thanked whatever fate was guiding him that things between he and Evan remained solid.
“I’m glad,” Evan said.
“Mum will be quite pleased that Evan’s actually made a friend at school after spending more than half his life here,” Randy teased.
“I have friends,” Evan muttered.
“John and I don’t count.”
“Who do you have for other friends?” Evan then asked. “I mean, you’ve never had anyone but John over, really.”
“That’s true… but we do have other friends.”
“And just because you’ve slept with someone, it doesn’t make them your friend, either,” Evan added.
“Well, that narrows down the list considerably,” John joked, nudging Randy in the arm.
Randy snickered slightly.
Evan rolled his eyes but Chris was genuinely curious, “Just how many boys have you both slept with?” he asked, looking between them.
Evan blushed at the boldness of the question but John and Randy seemed completely comfortable.
“It’s probably not as many as you may think, Chris,” Randy settled for initially, tilting his head in sudden thought.
“We don’t have full sex with just anyone,” John said.
“Generally we just fool around doing the smaller things,” Randy added on afterwards.
“Jezebels,” Evan clucked without too much heat.
“Cheers Ev,” they grinned.
Randy, still grinning, then turned to Chris and said, “One. I’ve had sex with one person. Ever. But I have lost track of the number of people who I’ve done other things with,” he admitted.
Figuring he should come clean as well, John said, “Two. One of them was a girl, and that was only one time. But, also like Randy, I’ve no idea how many people I’ve done other, lesser things with.”
“You’ve really only slept with one person?” Chris asked, looking to Randy.
“Yes. When I was younger, I thought I could sleep with other people, since we agreed on it, you know? But… at the last second I had a change of heart. Damn, John, I loved him before I even knew I loved him,” Randy told him.
“And what about you?” John asked of Chris.
“Well… back home I’d fooled around with people, but I’ve also only been with one person.”
“Really?” Evan couldn’t help the shocked hopefulness that came out in his voice. He had known that he was a complete virgin but he wouldn’t have been shocked if Chris hadn’t been.
At least, not entirely virginal anyway, he amended.
“Yes,” Chris nodded, face softening, “Really.” Randy chuckled softly and shook his head, leaning back slightly in his chair, “I guess this proves none of us deserve our reputations… they are funny though,” he mused to them.
“That’s true,” John said, “For instance there’re several boys who reckon they’ve slept with me and I don’t recall any such occasions. Others have had Randy as well according to rumor, isn’t that right?”
“Last time I bothered listening, yes. It’s only Evan who they’ve got right.”
“Me?” Evan asked, startled by his sudden inclusion in the conversation, “What about me?”
~~~
“But, Teddy, Heath said-” Cody began to protest.
“No, Cody. I can’t believe you were even contemplating it!” Ted said to him.
“But-”
“No,” he said once again.
“Guess you won’t find out how big David is, then,” Heath told them.
“Teddy, please?” Cody asked.
“No!”
“Why not? You embarrassed by how small you’ll be in comparison?” Heath goaded.
Ted raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about, I assure you, but, unlike the rest of you, I’d like to keep what I do in private just that: private.”
“But you’re fucking Cody. Nothing’s private with him,” Heath said.
“If I wasn’t sitting here right now,” Ted began, looking over to Cody, “would you have told them, just to find out about David?”
Cody shiftily looked down at the table before looking up to them all once again.
“Yes,” he said, refusing to be cowed, “I probably would.”
“CODY!”
“Well, you said it yourself that you have nothing to be ashamed of!” Cody protested, scowling at his lover a little, “It’s not like you’d actually have to show them it for real!”
“You little-“ Ted coloured significantly.
“Teddy, really, you’re not bad looking and all but I’d rather not see that much.”
Justin decided not to comment that technically he had seen thanks to the fact that they always changed and bathed in close quarters...
Though technically he’d never seen Ted hard for that would be different.
“Calm down Teddy, it’s complimentary that Cody would want to admit it.”
“How?” Ted demanded of Heath.
“It just is.”
“That’s not much of an answer,” Ted muttered.
“Sure it is,” Heath said.
“It just is? I still don’t understand how it’s a compliment that he’d want to tell everyone about… that.”
“Because he wants everyone to know what he gets and we’re all missing out on,” Heath replied.
“Well, that’s just weird,” Ted told them.
“It’s not weird,” Cody said. “I’m just proud to show off what my boyfriend is working with.”
“So, what, you wouldn’t care if I told everyone how big you are?” Ted asked, raising a brow.
“I’d tell them myself should they ever ask,” Cody answered.
“Cody,” Heath was grinning like a fiend, “How big are you?”
And, to Ted’s shock, Cody demonstrated for them.
“I’m bigger,” Heath bragged.
“No you are not,” Justin snorted in amusement.
Before Ted or Joe could ask Windham was saying, “And just how do you know that?” Justin shrugged.
“Not for a reason you’re probably thinking,” he said simply, not elaborating any further on the point then.
Joe privately agreed with Justin; Heath wasn’t as big but he wasn’t very far off overall.
Ted was looking at Cody in abject disbelief, “I can’t believe that you actually told them how big you are.”
“What? We’re all males here, Teddy; we all know what a cock looks like,” Cody reasoned. “And none of us here are virgins, either, so we all know how a cock works,” he added.
“That still doesn’t mean they need to know the size of it, though!” he protested.
“Well, it’s not like I’m about to just whip it out and show everyone, and you’re the only one here that’s seen it,” Cody said.
“That may be… but others have seen it, too.”
“And I’ve already told you, they meant absolutely nothing! I was with them for the fun of it, not because I was head over heels in love with them. Plus, it’s not like I have slept with any of them, you know that,” Cody told him.
“I know. But that doesn’t change the fact that others got to see all of you before I ever did.”
“No one else will, Teddy, ok?” he asked. Although he still really wouldn’t mind if Cena or Orton did…
“Your jealousy needs to be worked on mate,” Heath said, slapping Ted heartily on the shoulder before standing. “I’ll catch up with you lot later,” he then announced jovially.
“Where are you going?” Joe found himself asking Windham trying not to huff over the fact that he would be the one to ask first… the way things were he now sometimes he wondered whether his own jealousy needed working on.
“Just meeting someone,” Heath said evasively and all of his friends’ brows rose.
“Just meeting someone?” Cody repeated with a look that said quite frankly that Heath wasn’t going anywhere until he spilled.
“I do have other friends you know,” Heath drawled.
Their assumptions might not be far wrong though; this was one of the friends he visited when suffering as he was currently.
Sexual tension from his not-quite-boyfriend situation was really not doing him any favours.
“Other friends, huh? Like David?” Cody asked.
“It’s just a friend,” Heath said once more. “I’ll see you all later,” he told them all before quickly heading out the common room door.
“Well, Joey, seems like someone isn’t being properly seen to,” Cody said once the door was shut behind Heath.
Joe blushed and Windham’s scowl seemed to get even scowlier. “He’s being seen to a little too well, you ask me,” Windham huffed.
“Oh, yeah? How well?” Cody then asked.
“Too well,” Windham repeated.
“Someone’s mighty jealous.”
“Yeah, well, it’s bullshit that I have to share Joe, anyway!” he finally exclaimed. “Especially if Heath’s going off fucking around with someone else anyway!”
“Ah, the true feelings come out,” Cody said, watching on with interest.
Joe was staring at Windham in clear surprise.
“You look like you weren’t expecting that,” Justin said, thinking that it was a good job they were all seated as Joe looked almost shaken.
“W-Well, I wasn’t,” Joe admitted, “I mean, it wasn’t me who came up with the sharing thing anyway…” he pointed out and Windham huffed.
“What if I said right now that I don’t want you to be seeing anyone but me?” he asked, straight-forward even for him, and that was saying something.
“Well I, um, that is…” Joe floundered and it was apparent to all that whatever situation he thought they were in that was different.
“I guess I’d say um, Ok then…” Joe said.
In truth he felt Windham was right about Heath messing around with others.
If he was serious about him why mess around?
Then again, monogamy had never been super-important to him.
“Wait, what happened to you having feelings for Heath, too?” Cody asked at this sudden new turn of things.
“Well… I mean… if Windham really doesn’t want to… I mean, there’s still some feeling for Heath, I guess…”
“But you still like Windham more,” Cody supplied. When Joe blushed, he knew that to be the truth.
“He’s the only one I’ve really considered being with, just him,” Joe said. “Not just some fling or to pass the time…” He’d never had a girlfriend, all the girls he’d been with had just been little flings. A little fun here and there.
“How do you think Heath will take that, though?” Ted asked.
“He’s off visiting a friend right now,” Windham said, “so I would say he wouldn’t mind too much.”
“I thought things were working out well between the three of you,” Cody said.
“There hasn’t really been anything between the three of us to work out,” Windham said without hesitation.
“Don’t you think that maybe that’s why Heath might be going elsewhere?” Cody asked and then paused slightly.
His brow furrowed as he reasoned, “But if that was the case I don’t see why he didn’t come to you.”
Joe coughed something into his fist, face very red once again.
“What?” this time Justin was the one to speak as opposed to Cody, the brunette scowling at them both before looking embarrassedly at the ground again. Windham had coloured as well but as always seemed more composed.
“Joe established that he would much rather his first time with me,” Windham eventually told them all.
“Oh I see…” Cody nodded, he and Justin exchanging a look with each other.
“That’s got to be a pretty bothersome thought,” Ted then chimed in with his own opinion.
“Are you on Heath’s side right now?” Joe asked, raising a brow.
“Well… I don’t know,” Ted shrugged. “He doesn’t really seem like the type that wants to be in any sort of a relationship. But at the same time, maybe he does and he just doesn’t want to say anything.”
“If he wanted a relationship with Joe, he’d still be here, not running off to some fuck buddy,” Windham said to him.
“But he also knows that you want Joe and don’t actually want to share him,” Cody said.
“I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to have to share you, knowing that you’d be in bed with someone else the night after you were in bed with me,” Ted told them, though that was a secret to none of them.
“Why’s Joe being made out to be the bad guy here?” Cody demanded, feeling a kinship with him since he knew well and truly how Ted had acted at the thought of sharing him, and if Windham was even half as bad...
“I’m not saying that,” Windham said, frowning, Ted chiming in with a similar affirmative almost immediately.
“Look, whatever happens I don’t want Heath to fall out with us Ok?” Joe said in a firm tone.
Windham sighed; he didn’t want them to lose their friendships either.
“Maybe you should try talking to him before jumping to any conclusions,” Justin, the ever-present voice of reason chimed in, “If that’s one thing I’ve learned you lot need to do more it’s talk to each other.”
Joe groaned, head slumping forward onto the little table they were seated around. Why did it all have to be so complicated?
“Talking’s what got us into this damn mess in the first place,” Windham said, seeming to read Joe’s mind.
“I don’t think any of you have really given this whole thing a fair shake,” Cody said to them. “And that’s just made everyone miserable, when instead you should all be rather happy in the arrangement.”
“How the hell am I supposed to be happy knowing that Joe not only was with Heath, but will be going back to him when he’s with me?” Windham asked.
“Don’t think about that. Just think about what it’s like when it’s just the two of you and how much you enjoy it,” Cody said.
“Then why can’t I be able to have Joe for myself? Because, like you said, our time together is enjoyable.”
“Because Joe also wants to spend time with Heath. And, you know what? Maybe you and Heath need to spend time alone together, too,” Cody suggested. “No Joe at all, just you and Heath.”
Windham paused and eyed Cody a little, “Do you mean in the matey sense or the…?” he trailed off.
“Well, that depends… what are you interested in?” Cody returned immediately and Windham didn’t hesitate, “No, I don’t.” He didn’t have any romantic desire towards Heath. Cody shrugged, “So, there you go.”
Windham wasn’t the only one who looked confused--- Ted seemed to be trying to understand as well. Cody looked at Justin and they both sighed somewhat in exasperation. Really, these people were so dense.
“Re-affirm your friendship with each other, get to know each other better. That way you may not be so… dominant-male towards each other and Joe,” he waved a hand.
“Hey, wait---“ Joe suddenly cut in with something of a frown, “Are you trying to say that I am not a dominant male?” he asked.
“Not right now you’re not,” Cody shrugged, saying it as though it was completely simple. “But that’s OK.”
“How’s that ok?” Joe asked.
“Are you saying that I’m not?” Windham asked, turning his head to Joe and raising a brow.
“That’s not what I’m saying at all!” Joe exclaimed. “Cody, what the fuck are you even talking about?”
“I mean… sometimes you just need to let it all go. You’re really not in control here. You’re more like… the damsel in distress.”
“The fuck?” Joe asked, offended. “I’m not a-”
“You’ve got two men fighting for possession of you. You’re kind of like Cleopatra vying for the attention of Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony. But like I said, it’s ok for that to happen.”
“Why you-“ Joe started for Cody.
It was almost a reflex where Ted inserted himself between the pair, giving Joe a steely look of warning.
“You’re one to preach when you’re exactly the same!” Joe shot back to Cody then. To his consternation however Cody merely shrugged before leveling him with an amicable look.
“Joe, I know I am. And, what makes you think I have a problem with it?” the question was so simple that it almost surprised everyone.
“I--- but that is--- you-“ Joe stammered, off-guard.
“Justin’s one too. It’s just the natural way that these things work,” Justin nodded his head.
Joe couldn’t think of a thing to say. He’d never in a million years think he’d be in a situation where he wasn’t the dominant male.
“Look, I know it’s odd for you to think of,” Justin began, “but really, it’s ok to relinquish that control from time to time.”
“When you think about sleeping with Windham, who do you picture being on top?” Cody asked.
“Excuse me?” Joe asked in return, eyes wide.
“Who’s on top?” Cody asked again.
“You’re seriously asking me that?”
“I already know your answer,” Cody told him. “You picture Win on top.”
“Fine, ok, yes. I picture him on top,” Joe said, face in his hands.
~~~
“That you’re a prude,” Randy answered. “I told you they got it right.”
“I’m not a prude!” Evan replied instantly.
The other three with them raised their brows at him. “Evan… if it weren’t for Chris, you would still be a virgin, right? Had you ever kissed anyone before Chris?” Randy asked him.
Evan shrugged and shook his head. “No.”
“Had you ever touched yourself before?” was Randy’s next question.
“Do I have to answer that?”
“Does that mean you had?” Randy asked, actually surprised by that.
“Well… it’s not like… I mean, when I woke up it…” Evan blushed furiously, unable to finish his sentence.
“Such a sheltered child…” John playfully cooed and then shouldered Randy jokingly, “How did you turn into the raging whore that you are?” Randy flipped him off, John laughing.
“It’s all your fault; you’re such a deviant influence on me John Cena.”
“So,” Chris addressed his lover, mildly surprised, ignoring John and Randy’s playful bickering, “You never…?”
“No,” Evan blushed; it just seemed unnecessary to him to be truthful.
He’d never been genuinely sexually attracted to someone before Chris.
“Oh…” Chris looked almost awed at him.
“See, if you’d left him a virgin Chris we could have made him a saint.”
“Fuck off you two!” Evan huffed.
“Ooo, language, Evan!” Randy teased.
“I’d still have been a virgin, though, had I not slept with Evan,” Chris said.
“But you were no saint before that, were you?” John asked.
“No, I suppose not,” Chris replied.
“Not like our Evan here. Pure as snow, that one… until the blonde Canadian boy came along and tainted his innocence,” Randy said.
“He could have been a monk had it not been for you,” John said, nodding his head.
Chris grinned and shrugged, “Whoops.”
“I think you should make him take responsibility, Randy,” John grinned playfully as Evan groaned, “He tainted your precious cousin.”
“There’s an idea,” Randy looked mock-serious, “You best intend to look after him, Chris.”
Even though Evan was muttering under his breath they knew he wasn’t angry.
At least they all seemed to assume so as Chris played along.
“Of course I intend that! Shall we discuss dowry?”
“Who said I’d be the bride?” Evan cut in.
“Chris doesn’t have the hips for a dress,” Randy deadpanned.
“Excuse me?” Evan protested.
“It’s true. You’ve got a much smaller figure, almost hourglass, even,” Chris said. “Plus, it’d look much more fitting me carrying you over the threshold.”
“Hmph!” was Evan’s response.
“Ooo, that’s a fair point,” Randy said, looking to John and pointing at Chris. “He’s clearly been thinking about this.”
“Have you?” Evan then asked, sour mood instantly dissipating.
“Have I?” Chris asked in return. He’d certainly thought about them living together in the future, somehow, some way.
“I hate it when you do that.”
Chris merely smiled back to him.
It always drove Evan crazy when people gave him cryptic responses and sly digs, and Chris refusing to go into detail about this would really niggle.
“I think you’ve got the legs for a dress between the two of us babe,” John said in all seriousness to Randy, eyes glinting.
“Eh, no,” Randy said immediately, “The only dress-wearer would be you.”
And before John could reply he explained, “Because an ass like yours would look amazing in tight material, end of.”
“I’m flattered, but I think your figure is much more suited towards a dress,” John said. “You’re far slimmer, all lean, you know? I’m a tad bulky.”
“But your backside would look incredible.”
“My backside always looks incredible,” John returned, and Randy had to nod his agreement.
“I’m too tall, though,” Randy went on. “A dress wouldn’t fall right on me.”
“Why are you guys even still talking about this like it’s actually going to happen?” Evan asked, quirking his head.
“Who says it won’t?” John asked.
“You two are weird.”
“Are you saying you wouldn’t marry me?” Chris asked, pretending to look wounded and causing Evan to blush anew all over again, sighing.
“You’re just as bad as those two.”
“I love the way he says it like it’s a bad thing,” John mused, grinning at him.
“It is,” Evan responded.
“See if I share my sweets with you again,” John play pouted and Evan fought a smile then.
They had one night a week where they’d get together in one of their rooms and pool their sweets together, playing cards and stuff.
“Don’t be like that-you know you get the good ones.”
“And that’s why you’re not getting any of mine,” John replied. “I’ll just keep them all to myself.”
“Oh, you’re not that selfish, John,” Randy said. “You’d at least share with me, right?”
“Nope,” John answered.
“Well, you are a dickhead, then” Randy muttered. “See if I ever share any of my sweets with you.”
“Not even those almond ones?” John asked.
“Especially not the almond ones,” Randy said.
“You don’t even like them.”
“I bet Evan or Chris does.” When Chris nodded in the affirmative, Randy went on, “There, problem solved. Chris can take the almond ones.”
“Fine, I’d share with you,” John amended.
“Too late.”
“Bitch,” John pushed Randy, who then pushed him back, the pair trying not to grin at their actions.
“That’s not what you called me last night,” Randy threw back to him and John snorted lightly, “I didn’t call you anything last night, remember?”
“Details, details,” Randy dismissed.
“Do you fancy a sweet night then?” Evan asked, the talk of sweets making him want some.
“I think so…” Randy then grinned, “And maybe now John and I can teach you a few sweet-themed games.”
Evan blushed and glanced sideways at Chris.
“Why do I get the feelings they won’t be innocent?”
“You don’t trust us?” John feigned hurt.
“Déjà vu,” Chris commented.
“So it is. Fair point.”
“But I’m right, though, aren’t I? The games aren’t exactly innocent, are they?” Evan asked.
“Not in the least bit,” Randy answered, grinning.
“You know I love you, Randy, but after seeing you and John together in bed that day you were… sick… was enough for me. I really don’t need to know what else you do behind closed doors,” Evan told him.
“No different than what you and Chris get up to, I’m sure,” Randy said.
“Well, it probably is. I mean, we’ve been together since we were quite young, so we’ve had a lot of time to figure out new things,” John then said to Randy.
“True enough. True enough… We’ve probably done things they’ve never even dreamed about.”
“Most likely,” John agreed.
“Besides, none of the games involve getting naked,” Randy said as an apparent afterthought.
“No, those are the private games,” John snickered.
Evan rolled his eyes a little.
“The removal of a shirt is probably the worst it gets, but if you’re really that against it…” Randy shrugged, “More treats for us.” Evan growled slightly and the stubbornness the Orton/Bourne’s possessed was apparent.
“Oh, fine! But as soon as it becomes more about the sex than the sweets I’m leaving,” he said. John exchanged a look with both Randy and Chris, grinning.
“There’s something I bet you never thought you’d say before,” he teased.
Evan blushed and Chris said, “I think I have some sweets left from our trip to town a few days back.”
“Good, tonight in my room, then?” Randy asked the group. “You can ask Phil along if you’d like,” he said to John.
“Phil? All he’ll do is bitch about how much we’re groping each other,” John said.
“Exactly. I guess I should give him a fair shake, I mean, we were roommates for years and I know hardly nothing about the guy asides from the fact that he doesn’t drink or smoke and is now engaged,” Randy said. Obviously he did know more about the man, but those were the things he remembered the most about him.
“It wouldn’t hurt to ask him. Especially as he’s been so nice about covering up for my absence.”
“No one should be concerned about you being in your own room, or not. You’re sports captain and you’re in your final year here. Please… it won’t make one lick of difference whose room you’re in, so long as you continue to do well.”
“You’re still bothered about him aren’t you?” John asked, though he seemed more amused than wound up this time.
“I won’t stop being bothered by him until we’ve graduated from here,” he said flatly.
“Alright…” he didn’t want to get into it again, but then stood and clapped both Evan and Chris respectively over the shoulders, “We’ll see you both soon then. I’ll go and see if I can find Phil.” Chances were his friend was most likely in their room writing a letter to Beth or reading one of his many, many complicated books.
As John headed off Randy looked after him and then looked back again before tilting his head and smiling.
“Don’t skimp out on the sweets, boys, and don’t think you can chicken out of play Ok?” he winked and headed off back to his own room to gather his sweets together and ready for the evening of fun. He found he was looking forward to it.
“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Evan said as he and Chris stood and headed back to their own room.
“Oh, it’ll be fun.”
“A rip-roaring good time, I’m sure,” Evan replied sarcastically.
“Ev, you know you always enjoy yourself when you’re with them, so stop trying to act like you won’t this time.”
“What do they even mean, though? Play… I don’t like the sound of it.”
“Why not?” Chris asked.
“I just mean… with them… who knows what kind of weird things they do,” Evan muttered, blushing.
“Do you think they’re going to do anything that bad?” Chris asked, “I mean, you and Randy are related to each other.”
Evan supposed he had a point; even Randy wouldn’t be that indiscriminate about his sexual partners as to pursue a relative.
“Besides,” Chris smiled, “I’ll be too jealous to let even those two near you.”
Evan blushed a little more.
It was still so odd to be considered a figure of sexual admiration.
“So, we’ll go and have fun Ok?”
“Alright,” Evan conceded, heading with Chris back to their room to get the necessary things together.
“Good,” Chris said, smiling. “You know, it’s been really nice getting to know your cousin and John better.”
“I like that you’re getting to know them, too,” Evan replied, keeping in step with Chris. “I’m sorry that I didn’t introduce you to them properly sooner… enough that it got to the point where they thought you were hurting me.”
“I know, but they know the truth now, and that’s what matters. They know now that I could never hurt you,” Chris told him.
“I’m glad they know the truth. Even if they did have to spy on us to get it,” Evan said with a blush.
“And now you know that you had no reason to be so stubborn and reluctant to tell them in the first place,” Chris said as he opened the door to their room.