Even When You’d Rather Be Alone, It’s Good to Know You Have Friends
—
The sun was still up, but Geoffrey was considering going to bed. He wasn’t tired—any more tired than usual, anyway—and he wouldn’t go to sleep if he went to bed, but he could wrap himself up in a blanket and pretend it would protect him.
He could do that without going to bed, he supposed, but then it would make more work for Diego and the other servants who’d eventually have to make the bed again, and it would be annoying for Janus and Javier and Dalton, who wouldn’t have a blanket on the bed. Actually, it would annoy them all anyway if he did that and hogged all the blankets, wouldn’t it? Why hadn’t Geoffrey thought of that, of course it would. They’d all say it was okay and maybe it would be, but it would still be annoying for them not to have any blankets because Geoffrey wanted to be a baby.
He sighed, tapping his fork against the table. He’d managed to eat a good amount of his supper, and now he was just sitting here, waiting for the day to end so he could wake up tomorrow.
Tomorrow, the first day of his new job.
Who would be the first person to use one of his holes, he wondered? Diego hadn’t spoken to him again since the other day. The other servants had mostly ignored him too. Maybe they were just waiting. He’d thought he’d seen Miles looking at his ass while he was making the bed earlier, measuring it as if to see if his dick would fit inside. It would, of course. Everyone’s would.
Maybe it would be one of the other boys in the house. Geoffrey hadn’t seen any of them. Heard them a few times, going past his room, but never seen them. Was it because they felt bad for him? Or because they hated him, knew what he was and didn’t want him near them for it? Either way, Geoffrey wouldn’t blame them.
There was no point in worrying about it. Someone would come tomorrow, and in a way it was a relief. The waiting would be over and Geoffrey could just learn to adjust to what he was now. A pair of holes. It was more than he deserved.
A knock sounded at the door, and Geoffrey didn’t look up, tapping the fork closer to his finger. Javier got off the bed where he was reading, went to the door but didn’t open it. “Who’s there?” he asked.
Geoffrey heard a muffled voice respond with something, but he didn’t hear what it said.
“Is that Uri?” Janus asked, from in front of the fire. He was from the warmest part of the country; no matter how hot the servants were keeping the house, he was cold in just a sheer loincloth in the winter.
“Yeah,” said Javier. He looked at Geoffrey. “He wants to come in.”
He came dry, Geoffrey thought. So he could cum in all he wanted. He could be the first. Yeah, Geoffrey might like that. He liked Uri. Not that his likes and dislikes mattered anymore, but he liked Uri. “Let him in,” he said.
Javier opened the door and Uri came in by himself, Fabien absent. “Hi,” he said to Geoffrey.
“Hi,” Geoffrey said, gesturing with the fork for him to sit. “It’s good to see you.” He looked good in that loincloth. Had he gained a little weight? It was hard to tell.
“You too. I’m really sorry about, you know.” Uri sighed. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
He was so young. “No,” Geoffrey told him. “Don’t worry about me.”
“I am worried about you, though. I’ve been thinking about how…about how gentle you were with me, my first time. And how you made sure I liked it, and made sure it was…special.” Uri swallowed, looking at the fork in Geoffrey’s hand. “And I know it wasn’t your first time but I just hate that you got hurt the way you did. It wasn’t fair.”
“It wasn’t any more than I deserved,” Geoffrey assured him. “Don’t worry about…”
“Yes, it was,” Uri said, voice rising just a bit. He must have seen Geoffrey flinch, because he looked guilty. “Maybe you did some bad stuff, but you didn’t deserve…all of that. Not even a little bit.” Uri sighed, scratching his belly. “All of us feel like that.”
Geoffrey doubted that very much. “You guys don’t have to feel bad for me.”
“Well, we do,” Uri insisted. “You’re our friend.”
“Giacomo’s your friend.”
“I know how to have two friends, Geoffrey. And Giacomo was a jerk to you, even if he is my friend.” Uri looked away, then back at Geoffrey with obvious effort. “A bunch of us are hanging out in the big parlour and playing games and stuff. We’re going to have cake in a bit. I came to ask if you wanted to come sit with us.”
“That might be a good idea, Geoffrey,” Janus told him. “You haven’t talked to anyone but us since you got here.”
Geoffrey started to say that was a bad idea, that he’d just ruin their fun by being there. But he realized what Uri wanted. Geoffrey could come to their party and entertain them all. Why wait until tomorrow to start?
Geoffrey wanted to go to bed and curl up in a blanket so badly so nobody could ever touch him again.
But what would be the point of that? It was going to happen eventually. At least this way it could be with a group of boys he liked.
“Okay,” said Geoffrey, standing up. “Sure, let’s go.”
Uri blinked at him. “Really? I thought you’d put up a fight.”
Geoffrey shrugged. “Putting up a fight has never gotten me anywhere, right? Let’s go.”
Javier slipped his hand into Geoffrey’s as they left the room. “If you end up not being up for it, we can come back,” he said. “We don’t have to stay long.”
Geoffrey nodded, taking Janus’s hand in his other. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine.” How he’d be didn’t matter.
The big parlour was down a flight of stairs, around a corner, and had big windows that faced the back grounds. There was gentle snow falling outside, frosting those windows up. Inside, the boys had pushed all the sofas and chairs against the walls, the middle of the room filled with pillows and blankets they must have pilfered from everywhere in the house. There were several cakes on tables off to one side, and the big hearth had a big fire going in it.
The noise hit him hard, and for a second all Geoffrey could see was a street, a mob of people, hands and cocks all over him, using him. Javier squeezed his hand, and Janus too, and it brought him back. The boys were talking, playing cards and stones and other games, having sex. Pietro was sucking Hector DiWynn off on a couch near the door, and Colin was getting spitroasted by the Chesthower twins—both of them were here, Geoffrey hadn’t expected that—near the fire while a few boys watched, jerking off.
“Hey, Geoffrey,” said Raoul as Uri led them into the room. Geoffrey tried to smile at him, and then at Tobias Fellendart, his card partner.
Geoffrey sat down on a free couch. “I’ll get you some cake,” Janus said, kissing Geoffrey’s hand before departing.
The room was warm, which was nice, but Geoffrey wasn’t sure what was happening. People were saying hello to him, waving at him, smiling at him, asking how he was doing. Nobody was touching him. Why bother with all this?
So he asked. “When are you going to start?”
“Start what?” Uri asked, looking at Donovan DiMeck, who was trying to stand on his hands across the room.
“Using me,” Geoffrey explained. “That’s why you brought me here, right? So you could…”
“Geoffrey…” said Javier.
Uri scowled, but then looked sad. “No, Geoffrey. I brought you here because we all miss you and I wanted you to have fun with us. You didn’t…you didn’t really think I’d bring you here just to hurt you, did you?”
“I…” Geoffrey choked, coughed, and started to cry. Shit, shit. “I…I’m sorry…”
Javier’s arm was around him, and Uri sat right in his lap, cuddling up against him. “Don’t be sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just want you to remember that we’re your friends. That’s all, promise.”
“We all agreed,” said Terry, at Geoffrey’s feet. When had he gotten there? “We’re not going to force you to be our butt-boy. It would be fun if you were into it, like a game or something, but we don’t want to do it if it’s going to hurt you for real. So we’re just not going to.”
“Oh,” said Geoffrey, not really understanding. Why wouldn’t they? “I’d have done it to all of you.”
“No,” said Uri. “You wouldn’t have. You’ve never been anything but gentle with us, never done anything we don’t want.”
Fabien was sitting nearby, and Geoffrey couldn’t help but look at him. “That’s not true,” Geoffrey said quietly.
Sighing deeply, Fabien moved a little closer. “Just cause you got a little too pervy once or twice doesn’t mean you’re a monster. You made a few mistakes. It’s not like we hate you for it.”
“You…you don’t?”
“Of course we don’t,” Uri told him, snuggling closer. “And we’re glad you’re back, and that you’re here with us.”
Oh. “Do you really mean that?”
“Obviously they mean it,” Javier told him, quietly. “We keep telling you, these are your friends.”
Geoffrey nodded, tears in his eyes. He put an arm around Uri. “Okay,” he whispered. “Um. I don’t think I know everyone here.”
“Yeah, there were a few boys who weren’t in Giacomo’s club,” Janus said, coming back with cake. “They’re learning.”
Swallowing, Geoffrey took the cake. “Introduce me to them?”
It was hard to know how he’d feel tomorrow. But this was going to be his life, Geoffrey thought, he should know who his friends were, if nothing else.
—
How Best to Use a Sword 