Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 22:57:08 +0000 (GMT)
From: Mike Arram <mikearram@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Henry in High Politics - 15

The Michael Arram stories are now beginning to appear together at:
http://www.iomfats.org/storyshelf/hosted/arram

This story contains graphic depictions of sex between young males.  If the
reading or possessing of such material as this is illegal in your place of
residence please leave this site immediately and do not proceed further.
If you are under the legal age to read this, please do not do so.

XV

Try as he might, Henry found it very difficult to acclimatise back to
school.  First there was the celebrity.  It was known that the three of
them had been with Rudi in Strelzen and saw him become overnight
Medwardine's most celebrated pupil.  Of course, they couldn't do more than
talk of the state ceremonial and the popular reaction to Rudi's appearance
in the country.  The more exciting stuff had to be buried.  Henry got the
principal attention, as David had come back sulky and moody.  Even his
tennis mates got fed up with him.  It was not till the school tennis team
beat the crap out of Harrow that he became anywhere near tolerable as a
companion.  Ed was off to the nets and on to the cricket field as soon as
he was back and was more or less inaccessible, even to Henry, which was his
major complaint against summertime.
  So Henry became the only reliable source of information about King Rudolf
of Ruritania who was, it seems, going to be the school's most famous pupil
next year.  Even the Head got Henry into his study and quite shamelessly
pumped him about what was going on in Rothenia.  `Seems that you were right
about the boy all along, Atwood.  He's certainly been good for next year's
recruitment.  Parental enquiries are up by 250%.  If we admitted girls it
would be 1000%.  I heard from the countess his mother that he shall
undoubtedly be returning ... apparently he likes us.'
  `He does, sir.  He intends finishing his A Levels here and going on to
Oxford.'
  `Should I make him a prefect, I wonder?'
  `He might think you're sucking up, sir.  And he does have a bit of a
short fuse.'
  The Head laughed. `Well, perhaps not.  Cornish tells me that you're
fluent in Rothenian.'
  `Cornish exaggerates where I'm concerned, sir.'
  `Have you thought of a career in the Foreign Office when you leave
university, Atwood?'
  `Er ... no.  No I hadn't, sir.
  `You should do.  You seem to take kings and revolutions in your stride,
and you have a facility with languages.  Think about it.' Henry promised
that he would.
  The first fortnight he was back Henry tried to get David back into some
approximation of his usual cheeriness.  But David was having none of it.
In the end Henry gave up.  He wouldn't put up with the rudeness, and if it
got much worse, he rather feared that Ed would step in and give David a
forcible lesson in manners.  Henry hated giving up, but talking to David
just seemed to make things worse.  So he doggedly pursued his A Level
studies (he decided to keep up his French and take the risk of doing four
subjects at A2) and just contented himself with being friendly to David
when he ran into him.  That stopped too, however.  David came back from
Rothenia apparently heterosexual, or so you might assume from his joining
in with the leching after females which was part of the sixth form
subculture.  Henry could take no more.  He started avoiding David Skipper.

And so June passed into July and at the conclusion of the second week Henry
emptied the contents of his locker into a bag and prepared to vacate the
premises.  It was always intriguing what he found in his locker: letters
from the school which he should have delivered to his parents; an essay he
would have sworn he had handed in; a bar of chocolate he had forgotten and
which defied even his sweet tooth in its present state.  At the back he
found the picture of the three of them that Bolslaw had taken in his studio
on the day Rudi had rode into the Rodolferplaz.  Somehow it made him feel
depressed.  The three boys laughing at him out of the picture seemed
strangers.
  Ed came home in the school minibus with Henry that last afternoon.  They
got off at Huntercombe with Mark Peters rather than go the whole way to
Trewern.  They were going to have a few post-school drinks at the village
pub, the King Billy.  Henry's big brother Ricky was already there, sitting
at the bar, gazing with rapt attention at Helen, Mark's sister, who worked
there as a barmaid during holidays.
  `Mine's a lager, Henry,' he said, without shifting his gaze from Helen.
  `OK Ricky, but why am I paying?'
  `It's getting expensive spending the day here with Helen, Ted gets grumpy
if I don't buy a drink.'
  `How do you work out that I can afford it?'
  `You have precisely £156.00 in your post office account, which is exactly
£156.00 more than is in my account, leaving out the overdraft of course.'
  `And how do you know this?'
  `I looked in your account book.'
  `That's private, that is.'
  `Yeah, `spose it is.'
  Henry got the drinks and gave his brother his pint with a polite
suggestion that he should get a job.  He went over to the window seat in
the snug with Mark and Ed. As he put the drinks down Mark was saying that
David Skipper had got to be a real pain in the arse the last few weeks of
term.
  `What happened to him in Rothenia?  He came back all moody and withdrawn,
and ... you ain't gonna like this you two ... but he was quite nasty about
you behind your backs.  Saying stuff about you -- not exactly homophobic,
but sneering like.  Course, there's always a few morons who'll laugh at
crap like that, especially in this year's lower sixth, who're a right
bunch.  So what d'you know?'
  Henry looked at Ed, and all he could do was shrug.  There was no way they
would out David, especially as now he seemed to have decided that it was an
episode in his life he wanted to forget.
  `What are you doing this summer, Marky?' Ed asked.
  `Dad wants to take me golfing in Bermuda for a fortnight, and mum and the
girls -- except Helen of course -- want to go to Florida.  I know it sounds
boring but I'm keen to try out golf.  What about you guys?'
  `I'll be here in Shropshire, I think,' said Henry.  `In the end Dad
couldn't get another exchange; he left it too late.  But I may get up to
London for a week with Ed, and Ed'll be down here for another week.  So
it'll be just about tolerable.  I'd get a job, but there's nothing out here
in the sticks other than the bacon factory at Wallerstone, and you've got
to be eighteen and tired of life to work there.'
  Ed added, `My fosterdads haven't told me what's up, if anything.  They
usually travel a bit in Europe, and if they do I may go along with them, or
I may be packed off to some mates near Ipswich, or I may go up to Edinburgh
to see my gran.  It's very much up in the air is this summer.'

It began as a very tedious summer for Henry.  His mother and father were
working, so sometimes a whole day might go by without speaking to anyone
between breakfast and dinner. Henry began to worry that he was losing the
power of speech.  From e-mail and text he found that Ed wasn't in a much
better state.  Matt was working and Andy was involved with a youth project
in Peterborough.  He was reduced to playing cards with the housekeeper some
days.  He had no friends in London to hang around with.  The second week
things improved for him as, observing his boredom, Matt found him a
temporary job in his firm in Camden.  Mostly it was just photocopying and
stapling, as he told Henry, but at least he got to talk to people.
  Halfway through the second week, Matt White called his Dad and said that
from what he was hearing from Ed, Henry was in terminal boredom, and that
he'd be happy to offer him similar work experience in his company.  Henry
accepted with alacrity, and took the train up to London the very next day,
expecting to stay the best part of a month.
  He reached Highgate just as Ed was returning from work that Wednesday and
there was a joyous and sweaty reunion almost immediately, followed by
dinner with Matt and Andy, and then a further reunion, involving a bath and
a lot of splashed water.  Henry had the best night's sleep he had had for
weeks, naked, wrapped in his Ed's arms and legs.  After that things moved
along nicely, and at the end of the second week, Henry looked in awe at the
brown envelope which was his first paypacket.  It wasn't much, but he
tucked it away to put in his box of life souvenirs, which included copies
of the pictures that Bolslaw had taken in Strelzen and the programme for
Rudi's royal investiture.
  They used some of the cash to buy tickets for Ipswich and spent a weekend
with Justin and Nathan.  Justin was very different in the garden centre.
Dressed smartly in green sweatshirt and trousers, he was cheerful, polite
and knowledgeable to the customers, of whom there were quite a lot.
  `We're close enough to Ipswich to get the suburban trade, and of course
we get the passing trade from visitors to Haddesley Hall.  So we've had to
expand the staff.'  There were in fact three sixth formers working the
tills and shelves under Nathan's tight supervision.  `They're easier to
manage than Justin,' he said with a smile. Henry and Edward did some local
sightseeing, but were just happy to spend the evenings in the cottage.
Uncle Phil had modernised it for Nathan and Nathan kept it neat, with very
little help from Justin, but he said he didn't mind.
  The stay at the cottage was somewhat erotic, in that the sex together in
Amsterdam had dismantled sexual barriers between the two couples.  They lay
together in the little front room the Friday night, and Justin soon lost
his shorts as Nathan played with him.  After that, it didn't take long for
Ed to remove any obstacles to wanking off Henry and before too long Henry
and he were cuddled naked together, as were the others.  They did not get
more active in their joint sex than foreplay, but the later climaxes in bed
were all the more enjoyable for the fact that they had done it in front of
another couple.
  `What a pair of pervs, eh?' smirked Ed.
  `Maybe, but sexually gratified pervs,' Henry said. `That Justin's an
animal when it comes to sex.  Totally up for it and totally shameless.  He
wants us up his bum, believe me.'
  `That's one step too far, and I have Nathan's authority for stating that.
He likes the relaxed atmosphere we've got going at the moment.  But he has
too many issues about sharing Justin, and I for one would not share you.
Don't forget the reaction when you played with poor Davey.  It'd be both me
and Nathan tanning your hide if you tried it on with Justin ... and don't
deny he attracts you, I can see it on your eyes, you randy little Henry.'
  `No, no ... I wouldn't do anything like that, but he is so totally hot
when he's with Nathan, I'd never imagined someone could lose themselves so
completely in sex.'
  Ed gave him what could only be described as an old fashioned look, which
made Henry a little worried.
  On the Saturday afternoon there was a surprise and very welcome visitor
as Terry turned up in an impressive Jaguar.  Henry whooped and leapt into
his arms, as Terry laughed delightedly; he hadn't realised that Henry and
Edward would be there.  He refused to sleep on the couch at the cottage but
put up at a local pub, saying he wanted to see them all that evening.  He
had been at the cottage on several weekends, Justin later said, and it
seemed to do him good.
  As they sat together in the lounge Terry talked Henry into joining him in
a gin and tonic, despite the scoffing of the other boys.  `Mmm,' approved
Henry, `I thought it was a rule that alcohol had to taste awful.  I'll have
a pint of gin and tonic next please Ed.'
  Terry asked after David, and frowned at the news from Medwardine.  `The
silly boy's gone and lost the plot.  But he wouldn't be the first, I
suppose.'
  `How's the business going?' asked Ed
  `I haven't started it officially, but the launch event's in a fortnight.
You can all make it, I hope?'
  `Justy's got to be there, so I shall,' said Nathan.
  `It's our last weekend in London, so we'll be there,' confirmed Henry.
  `Good,' I've hired the hall of the Quiverers' Company, off Cheapside.  I
thought I might as well push the boat out, now I'm pushing me boat out.
There's a fair take up on the invitations from former clients, especially
from the Roedenbeck Corporation and PeacherCorp.'
  `What sort of work are you looking for Terry?'
  Terry grinned, `You can bet very little of it will be as exciting as what
we did in June.  Mostly it'll be corporate security consultancy, but I'm
well known in the circles of personal security and dealing wiv the paps, so
there'll be a fair bit of minding for the rich and famous.  They can be
primadonnas thass for sure, but I don't mind the fuss, being a pretty
easygoing kind of guy, now Ramon ...' Terry went unfocussed for a space and
when he came back it was with a sad little smile.  `It don't get easier,
babes, it really don't.'
  Henry, who was sitting next to him, reached out and squeezed Terry's
hand.  Terry pulled him over and kissed the top of his head.  `Pity you're
spoken for little Henry, or I know what I'd be doing.'
  Ed smiled, `You can borrow him for a bit, providing you promise to return
him in the condition you took him in.'
  `No,' said Terry, `You two were meant for each other.  Bless the pair of
you, you don't half cheer me up you kids.  All full of life and beans.'

Quiverers' Hall in the City of London is a fine Classical building, still
on the same site as the first hall, built in 1334.  For Terry's launch
event, the garden at the back of the hall was hung with hundreds of lights,
and the buffet tables were laid out on the master's terrace.  It was a very
fine August evening and the city traffic was muted in the shelter of the
enclosed garden.  A giant screen was up against the medieval brick
perimeter wall that had survived the Great Fire, and it was playing a very
professionally produced promo video for O'Brien Associates.  Guests were
arriving, and the four lads were already investigating the free bar.
  They were in evening dress, and Henry had still been able to fit
comfortably into the evening suit that Matt had got tailored for him for
Justin's eighteenth, the previous October, which had been still hanging in
Ed's wardrobe in Highgate.  `Just an orange juice for me,' said Henry
moderately.
  `Champagne for me, mate,' Justin ordered, `and make that a double ... nah,
juss kidding.'  Justin was looking very pleased with the turn out.  There
were a dozen City CEOs and corporate presidents already there, with a dozen
more promising to come.  The catering had been on the grand scale, and
would have done credit to the imperial palaces of ancient Rome.  If there
were no larks' tongue pasties amongst the pyramids and towers of food, it
was an oversight.
  More guests surged in, and Henry homed in on Matt's cousin, Katy
Amphlett, who had come across by taxi from the High Court on the Strand,
where she was currently defending in a major criminal trial.  She was still
twirling her wig absent mindedly.
  `Hello Henry, dear,' she smiled.  They had met at Matt's New Year's
party, and she had made a sympathetic link with Henry.  She gave him a
little kiss and grabbed his arm.  They were much of a height.  They walked
down into the garden.
  `So did he do it?'  Henry asked curiously.
  `Eventually,' she smiled.
  `That's fantastic.  Congratulations Katy!  You'll make another mismatched
couple in the height department, just like me and Ed.'
  Katy laughed again, `The wedding'll be next December, want to be a
bridesmaid?'
  `Now, now.  Does Matt know?'
  `I told him just after his brother popped the question.  I'm going to be
his sister-in-law.'
  `Carl is one hell of a hunk.  You have all of my envy.  Shame he's not
gay like his brother, or I'd be fighting you for him.'
  `You'd lose, Henry.  I fight dirty.'
  `How are you two ever going to meet up?  He's always in swimming pools
here and abroad, and you're always in the High Court or the Old Bailey or
somewhere.'
  `We'll be imaginative.  You and Edward manage it, despite the
difficulties.'
  `But we're never going to have babies!'
  `People manage ... now there's a face I've not seen for a while.'  Katy
stopped at the sight of a stocky and cheerful twenty something just coming
down the garden steps.  `Alex Johnson ... you've put some weight on you.'
They kissed, and Alex shook hands with Henry, whom Katy introduced as one
of Matt's young proteges.  `Alex was at uni with me, Matt and Andy.  He's
Washington editor of Reuters.'
  `Was ... Katy, I'm coming back to the UK as foreign affairs editor of the
Guardian, and that was an unkind cut about my weight.'
  `You're half again the man you were.'
  `It's Benny's cooking ... I take it you're gay, Henry, or you wouldn't be
one of Matthew's ducklings?  Well Benny and I are a couple.  Ben's in
publishing.'
  `Is he coming back too?'
  `Depends.  He's already got transferred once to keep us a couple, I doubt
his bosses will be sympathetic if we do this every couple of years.  So I
may lose weight as a result. Tell me Henry, how did you come to be part of
the Peacher menage?  Are you a friend of that odd Peacher-White lad?'
  `I am as it happens and I met Justin first in Strelzen on holiday, but my
boyfriend Ed -- that's him over there -- was fostered into Matt and Andy's
house when his parents broke up.'
  `You know Strelzen, then?  I'm off there at the end of the week to
coordinate a feature on Europe's latest restored monarchy ... with an
English-born king what's more.  When were you last there?'
  `June.'
  `What, at the time of the election?'
  `Yes.'
  `Did you see the king at all?'
  `I went there with him, he's in my sixth form.'
  Katy was by now having near hysterics as Alex was grappling with far more
revelations than he could easily cope with.
  Alex took a deep breath, `Does the entire world revolve around you then,
Henry?'
 Henry nodded, `Pretty much.'
  `Seems like I can forget about the trip to Rothenia, I might as well stay
here and interview you.'
  `No comment.'
  `What none?'
  `Nope.  I don't trust the press, and Rudi's a big mate, so I wouldn't
tell you anything he hadn't cleared me to tell you.'
  `The reputation of the press, and what it's done to the free interchange
of information,' Alex gave what seemed to be a genuine sigh. `OK, you can
at least tell me if he's coming back to the UK to carry on his education.'
  `Yes he is ... but that's already in the public domain.'
  `Fantastic.  I'm gonna get me a drink.'  He ambled off, and Katy hugged
Henry's arm.
  `Nicely done Henry, Alex is a friend but I'd never trust him either when
he had his reporter's hat on.  You did very well there.  Look.  It's the
main event.'
  The CEO of the Roedenbeck corporation, a friend of Terry's, tapped a
glass and the large crowd of City people and journalists paused in their
gabbling.  He introduced himself and Terry, told a few funny stories
involving embezzlements that Terry had foiled, and announced he was
awarding O'Brien Associates its first major contract.  There was applause
and Terry gave his marketing spiel and introduced his management team.
Then it was back to the drinks and food.  The whole thing wrapped up around
nine.
  Justin and Nathan had hoped to carry on in the City pubs, but being
Saturday everything was closed, so instead they got a cab to Soho, and
found a heaving gay bar in Old Compton Street that Justin knew.  They were
crushed into a corner, but Nathan and Ed shouldered their way to the bar
and got drinks.  Henry cast an eye around.  It was not like Club
Liberation, much more grungy and -- he thought -- oppressive and
suspicious.  There was none of the relaxed good humour of Rothenia.  This
was all tense and metropolitan, and their evening dress was attracting
attention.  Henry wanted to go home.  But Justin would have his fun, and
was not to be denied.  It was way past midnight before they spilled on the
street, passing a man being publicly screwed by another man against a wall,
their trousers round their knees, with passers by staring.  It made
Justin's night; it just made Henry feel ill.  He would have been glad to
get on the train the next morning had he not been leaving Ed behind.