Others, 56

Dream Fox woke up with his dad’s cock in his ass, and he smiled as he pressed back against him. He had a sleep boner, which he didn’t touch, just laying there, letting the sleep leave his brain while his dad made him feel nice.

He did wonder how long Dad had been going before Dream Fox had woken up. It felt pretty early, but Dad normally left pretty pretty early, and he was taking his time. He usually went pretty fast but this morning he was fucking Dream Fox slowly, like he was breakable.

It was a bit boring, actually, but Dad had never really understood what Dream Fox needed.

Swim Class

Moe wasn’t sure if the other kids on the bus were loud because they were excited to learn how to swim, or because learning how to swim meant they got part of the morning out of school, but they sure were being loud.

He wasn’t being loud, because he wasn’t that excited. Even though it was nice to get some time out of school, but he didn’t know how to swim and he was sure he’d drown and then everyone would come to his funeral to laugh at him for being so bad at swimming. Unless they forgot who he was because he was weird and didn’t know how to be friends with kids who didn’t aspire to be full-time cockwarmers.

Soothsayer, 16

“So what is the Tin Scale?” Maple Song asked, tracing the elaborate black tattoo that now adorned Mads’s back.

“It’s called the Sentinel,” Dream Fox corrected. He was sitting beside Mads, tugging at his foreskin curiously, as if he hadn’t had it his whole life.

“That’s what I said.”

Soothsayer, 15

“Mads, if you partithipate in this fucked-up ritual I’m going to thtab you in the face myself,” Nuka promised, glaring at Mads as he hesitated.

“I…I have to, or they’ll…”

“Fuck, fuck that,” Nuka spat. “You literally told me that boy’th life was the motht important thing. Save, save him!”

“You should listen to your boy,” said the cult leader, smiling thinly. “You wouldn’t want us to kill him.”

“Fuck you, you’re going to, going to kill us anyway,” Nuka snarled. “Mads, rescue the fucking boy.”

Soothsayer, 14

“Mads,” said Crow’s cracked voice, quieter than it sounded in the dark.

Mads shook himself, sitting straighter. Shit. “Did I fall asleep?”

“Yeah,” Crow whispered, foot touching Mads’s shoulder. “You seemed like you needed it.”

“I’m sorry,” said Mads, reaching up and stroking Crow’s leg. His chains clinked a little bit as he tried to move into the touch. Mads didn’t even want to think about how long it had been since he’d been touched for reasons other than torture. “I didn’t mean to leave you alone.”

“You didn’t. You were still here. Your friend is waking up.”

Soothsayer, 12

“I’ll break into Ogwen’s Tower tonight,” said Knifebird, Dawn Thunder’s human boyfriend. He was a pretty, unassuming Dolovin guy with striking eyes and an impish voice, and it was easy to see why Dawn Thunder liked him so much.

Except for he was clearly also crazy. “You can’t just break into Ogwen’s Tower,” Mads told him. “It’s fortified, and crawling with Imperials. The walls are sheer even when they’re not covered in ice and half the windows don’t open anyway. They actually guard the servants’ entrances. There’s no way in.”

Knifebird’s teeth flashed. His human name was Robin, but like Mads and Nuka, the pack had given him a name as well. One that fit his smile perfectly. He’d only been with Dawn Thunder since the summer, so it had happened pretty quickly, too. “Don’t worry about that. They won’t be expecting someone to sneak in tonight. I’ll be fine.”

Soothsayer, 11

“And of course it was so easy to say it wasn’t my fault,” Juniper said, leaning against the wall. “Because what else was I going to do at a party where my exes were making out with each other except for drink a lot? It wasn’t like there was anything else to do. But it was my fault, because nobody made me drink. So I don’t know.”

“I don’t think it was entirely your fault, Juniper,” said Mads. Juniper had a lot of problems and all of them were tied to his inability to hold down a relationship and also what sounded like some very serious addictions. “I think what you need is someone in your life who can stop you from drinking and doing drugs. And I don’t mean like a boyfriend who guilts you into not getting drunk or high, I mean like someone who will just make you stop if you need them to.”

Juniper nodded, sighing. “Yeah. There is someone who always tells me to stop, but I never listen. I joined this group for people with addictions and it’s helping, a little, I think. I haven’t had a drink or done any drugs in thirty-four days.”