Chapter 6: Back at School

Friday morning. I was apprehensive. Not for myself, I’d been through this before, I had the tools to endure what I was sure was to happen. No, I was apprehensive for Tony’s sake. How he would ‘suffer the slings and arrows’ about to come our way. He was becoming more important to me than I had thought possible just a few days ago. I resolved to put on the brave face and provide him with any support and protection that I could. By the same token, I knew that I couldn’t always be there to provide that protection. It just wasn’t possible. But now I knew that he had a good home support structure. That should help a lot, and it was a lot more than a lot of folks in his position had. I’d provided him some tools and armor for dealing with what the assholes would dish out, but they were as yet untried. I’d just have to hope that it was enough, and that he was strong enough to endure what I knew would be coming for him.

Our differing schedules didn’t help me to protect him. The only class we had in common was that Athletics class, and it wasn’t until the end of the day, sixth period, where the ... events had occurred. Hopefully his teachers could keep control of the classes during instructional periods. That just left lunch and passing periods. I could help at lunch, but the passing periods between classes might be tough. Fortunately those were short, and problems could be usually dealt with a cold impersonal stare or a simple lack of recognition, but I wasn’t sure that he was ‘there’ yet. I was pretty sure that he could, eventually get to the place where he needed his head to be at so that he could survive, particularly with Phil’s help, but I’d seen others crumble under that load. Let’s face it: he’d had his world view pretty well rocked over the past few days. It was one hell of a load to take. He’d had sex with boys and men, discovered that he liked it and was good at it. He was accepting a master, however much I might balk at that title. He’d found out that both of his parents were gay, and both of them had fully expected him to make that discovery about himself. Any way you stack it, that’s one hell of a combo punch from the universe.

Well, it was too late now to undo what was done, and I wasn’t sure if it would have been a good idea if I could. Now we live with the consequences of our actions. In other words: just another dull Friday.

We met outside the school office about an hour before the start of classes. We received our clearances to return to school and our outstanding classwork after about a good 45-minute harangue from the administrators, and our promises that hatchets were buried and we’d be good boys.

Sure enough, as we made our way to our first period classes, (fortunately enough in the same building, ) one of the local knuckleheads, one Jeff Spicoli by name, started his shit.

“What’s up, Faggots?” he taunted.

“Jeff! C’m’ere!” I said quietly, and motioned him over. He strode up confidently and I took him aside. I could see others watching in the hallways. I’d counted on that.

I kept my voice low, even, and menacing. “Listen up, shitstain. I know that you saw what I did to Tony for less than that. I also saw you in Tony’s ... line. If I hear another word out of you, or hear from anyone that you’ve been spreading your shit elsewhere, what I did to him will seem ... kind in comparison. I’ll fuck your ass, in public. Then Tony will fuck you. And then we’ll round up every guy that you’ve ever irritated to fuck you senseless as well. You’ll need to wear a Kotex for at least a week to catch the spode and blood that will be leaking from your ass, you’ll walk funny for quite a while, and no one will ever hear you fart again in your life. Is that what you want to have happen to you?”

He could see that I was serious, and his eyes got big. He shook his head emphatically. “Um. No?” he said.

I put some extra menace into my voice. “No, what?” I asked.

“N-no, Sir?” he stammered.

“You don’t seem too sure of your answer,” I growled.

“No, Sir! That’s not what I want!” he nearly shouted.

“Good boy,” I nearly purred. “Just remember, anytime you want that, you know what to do. It’s no trouble. Really!” I was channeling my inner master villain, (hey, you’ve gotta let him out to play sometimes!) Jeff scampered off. Looking back occasionally with fear in his eyes.

“Hmm ... That went well!” I commented.

Tony had been looking like he would collapse into himself. He looked an incredulous question at me.

“Look at it this way: There were a lot of guys involved in your ... event the other day.”

He nodded, looking miserable.

“So, we can’t deny that it happened. We’ll need to lean in to it. I, and now, by extension, you, have reputations that we don’t accept that shit, and retaliation will be swift, sure, and public. Once Jeff’s story gets around, and it will get around, all of the folks who witnessed your event will be worried about being subjected to worse than what happened to you. In public. We shouldn’t have any more problems from them, at least for a while.”

Tony looked thoughtful, and then nodded his acceptance. I was starting to worry. He was being awfully quiet.

“Of course,” I continued, “in a few days their terror will release, their balls will drop back down, and we’ll have to do something very loud and very public to enforce the ‘fuck with us and you’ll get literally fucked’ message, but that’s a future problem. We’ll handle that when it comes up. In the mean time, there’s one more group that may cause us trouble.”

“Who are they?” Tony asked.

“The ones who really do want to be mastered.” I replied. “They won’t stop until we take real action. They’ll start approaching soon, particularly after Jeff starts spreading his word. We’ll deal with them as they come. The question is going to be how many will approach, and how many of those we accept, if any.”

We arrived at our first classes without further incident. Things seemed to be going well from my perspective. I got some looks. Some disgusted, some fearful, some speculative. Nothing new, a pretty normal Friday. No comments on the events earlier in the week, either. Some folks seemed ... friendlier. Interesting.

I caught up with Tony once during passing periods between two classes. (That’s not unusual, it was a big school, but not that big.) He seemed to be doing well from what I could see. He smiled when he saw me and didn’t look particularly upset about anything, from what I could see.

When Lunch rolled around we met up and grabbed a table off to the side of the cafeteria. No PDA, not between two guys. That really would have been a step too far in the mid ‘70’s. We ate and chatted. He seemed to be doing well.

“Hi! Do you mind if I Join you?” A shy, quiet voice asked, barely audible above the din of the crowded cafeteria. I looked up and saw a slight, slim young man in a large coat, slightly unsuitable for the climate, holding a cafeteria tray. “I’m Howard Cantor, he said. “Please call me Howie!”

“I motioned to the seat next to Tony. “Please, be my guest,” I said. He wasn’t particularly ‘swishy,’ but my gaydar, (honestly, never the most reliable, ) was pinging hard.

“I’d love to Join you, Sir!” Howie said with a cute, shy smile as he sat.

“We can see about that,” I said with a grin. “Tell me, what is it that you think that you’re joining, and why should we have you?”

Howie took a deep breath, obviously gathering his courage. He said, “I watched what happened in the gym the other day. I saw how it started. I saw how it ended. I think that I understand what happened, particularly since I see you two together now. I want that,” he finished quietly, his head down, as if he’d used up all the courage he’d gathered earlier. He lifted his eyes to look at me without bringing his head up. He looked like a beaten dog, hoping for a treat but expecting a kick. What could I say? The boy was adorable.

This would take some careful handling. I thought that I understood what he was asking for, and what he was offering, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted to accept that level of responsibility for him. That said, rejecting him outright would probably crush him. The Alpha Bastard that he obviously thought I was wouldn’t care if he was crushed. Hell, the alpha bastard would probably deliberately crush him just to laugh as he crawled away, broken. I knew that wasn’t me, and it wasn’t in me to be that cruel and vile. I still wasn’t sure what I was here, though. I was still feeling my way around the role.

“Howie,” I asked, almost gently, “What is it you think you understand about what happened?”

Howie turned to Tony. “He owns you, doesn’t he?” He asked.

Tony looked down, thoughtful. He nodded, raised his head again, and spoke, “He does. I couldn’t have imagined that just a few days ago, and wouldn’t have wanted it if you’d described it to me. A lot of the time, I don’t think, he wants it. But, yeah. He owns me, and I’m really happy about that.”

“Is it exclusive?” Howie asked.

“No. Not really. He can have as many others as he wants. I can have anybody he approves of.” Tony replied. “I suppose the approval thing might work the other way, as well, but I can’t even imagine wanting to override one of his decisions. Whatever this is, I like it!”

I reached across the table and gave Tony’s hand a quick, supportive squeeze. I turned to Howie and asked, “You said you watched. Did you participate?”

He shook his head and said, “No. My tastes don’t run that way.” I made a ‘go on’ gesture. He said, “I’d be more interested in being where he was.”

“So,” I clarified, “You’d be more interested in servicing cocks, and not so much into having yours serviced?”

He nodded and said, “That sounds about right.”

I looked thoughtful, but really, the decision had been made. “If you hang out with us, you’ll get both,” I said. I looked past Howie and saw Jeff looking daggers at our little group, and talking to a couple of his friends. Let’s call them the Head brothers: Chuckle and Knuckle. “In fact,” I continued, “probably sooner than we’d thought. Do you have some time after school today?”

“I ... can?” Howie replied, confused.

“Good,” I said. “Did you bike to school today?”

“Yes...” He obviously didn’t know where this was going.

Tony noticed where my attention was and rolled his eyes. “Really?” He said. “I’d have thought he’d have been down for at least a couple of days!”

“Never underestimate the power of human stupidity,” I replied. “Anyway, Howie, Meet us out by the bike racks right after last class. Don’t dawdle. Unlock your bike, but keep the chain handy. I’m not looking for trouble, and I’ll do my best to keep you safe. I’m just being prepared.”

We all finished our bland cafeteria food and proceeded to our next classes. Things were normal-ish, but a crackling tension seemed to follow us around.

We arrived at sixth period Athletics, and Jeff and the Head brothers were there, giving us dark looks.

After workouts and quick showers we went to the bike racks. There is a reason why the bullies tried to get their victims to meet there. The area was out of direct view of any school buildings, and supervision almost never showed up there. Usually that was bad for the victims, but the area would suit my purposes admirably. We met Howie, and the Stupid Trio showed up right on time. God, it makes you look good when you have incompetent opponents.