They walked in a line, following a young soldier that Ethan hadn't seen before. The soldier led them through a narrow corridor to a room that resembled Ethan's classroom. It had six rows of simple desks with a single chair. There was a dirty blackboard that was more ivory than black from leftover chalk that had never been properly washed. Ethan took a random desk nearer to the back and soon everyone was waiting nervously. As if it couldn't get any worse, now they were supposed to study?
The soldier didn't exactly look like a teacher, though. He went to a metal cabinet and opened it with a small key. From there, he took a stack of books and walked along the rows, placing one before each boy.
When given his copy, Ethan took it in his hands. It seemed old but was in great shape. Most of his school books were damaged after only a few weeks, and this one seemed to be decades old.
The title of the book was Being and Nothingness: A Phenomenological Essay on Ontology, by Jean-Paul Sartre.
Ethan looked at the cover in confusion. Ontology? Why would they make them read about birds, out of all things? He opened it to the first page.
He didn't understand anything, nor could he connect it with birds. Or was it about cancer? It didn't seem to make much sense.
"Attention!" the soldier yelled when all the books had been handed out. His voice was harsh and commanding, without a hint of playful roleplay that Ethan would have expected from a military-themed school excursion. "This is a book you all have to read before you can go back to your mommies and daddies. Don't ask me what it is; I didn't read it, and I'm not going to. You'll find a notebook and a pen in drawers under your desk. When leaving the room, leave everything back in there. Oh, and if you're called to the doctor's office, leave your things immediately and go. Any questions? No? Good!"
Letters danced before Ethan's eyes as he tried to read. He had no idea what he was looking at. He could only take a sentence or two before losing focus, his mind drifting in all directions, as long as away from the cryptic text. His eyes found Levi. He was looking back at him with honest helplessness. His awkward smile made Ethan feel better. But it also made him think of Spencer not without a hint of guilt.
He forced himself to read some more. Was this supposed to be a joke? Even if, by some miracle, he managed to read the whole thing, he'd never be able to pass a test. He skimmed to the last page. 640 pages. His head spun.
NEGATION has referred us to freedom, freedom to bad faith, and bad faith to the being of consciousness, which is the requisite condition for the possibility of bad faith.
"Number 2!" A voice blared, and only then did Ethan notice a speaker right above the classroom door. The tall boy with braces stood up and walked out of the room amidst complete silence.
It felt like half an hour had passed before the next number was called, and Ethan had only read a single page. He still had no idea what it was about. He hoped some action would start soon because for now, it had seemed like just random thoughts of some dude. He could write something like this, and it would make more sense, he thought to himself. The other boys had their eyes glued to their copies. Some had to support their heads with their hands, as if the weight of the book was too much for their necks to bear alone.
"Number 16!"
A chubby boy with a dreamy face left the room, breathing heavily. There hadn't seemed to be a pattern or order in which they were called. Everyone was on edge. Ethan pretended he knew what he was reading.
A feeling, for example, is a feeling in the presence of a norm; that is, a feeling of the same type but one which would be what it is. This norm or totality of the affective self is directly present as a lack suffered in the very heart of suffering. One suffers and one suffers from not suffering enough. The suffering of which we speak is never exactly that which we feel.
"Number 10!"
Ethan noticed that none of the previously called boys had returned. The classroom was slowly emptying itself.
"Number 7!"
Not a single head had turned towards Levi when he stood up and walked to the door - except for Ethan's, who followed him with wide-open eyes and a knot in his stomach. Levi looked back at him from across the room, and for the first time, Ethan saw what could be insecurity in his eyes.
After Levi left, Ethan found it hard to focus on reading. The uncomfortable wooden chair dug into his back, and he longed to lie down. The soldier who had led them there was reading a magazine, with his legs propped up on the desk, paying them no attention. One of the boys next to Ethan was asleep, snoring quietly with his head buried in an open book. Ethan decided to follow suit.
Suddenly, a new voice interrupted his nap. Dabrowski had entered the room and was whispering to the soldier, who nodded in response. After a brief conversation, the soldier turned to the boys.
"Class dismissed. Meet your assigned guardians outside and head to your rooms."
"What happened?" Ethan asked Dabrowski as he was escorted out of the room.
"The machine broke again," the man replied, his voice trailing off as if he wanted to say more.
"How? Did something happen?"
"I'm not sure. Nothing serious, though. But there won't be any more sessions today."
"Hey..." Ethan began, feeling bold. "You mentioned you've been through it before. Is that true?"
"Yes...and no. It didn't look anything like this back in my day."
"Uh...what did it look like back then?" Ethan asked, feeling like he was pushing his luck.
"Maybe I'll tell you one day, when you're older."
"Come on, just give me a hint."
Dabrowski chuckled at Ethan's persistence. "One day I'll tell you. Just so you know, lots of the inventions they tested on us are out on the market today."
"Like what?"
"Now, that's enough. Hey, how about a quick game of basketball before you head back to your room? I bet you can't beat me one-on-one."
"Can we...is that okay?" Ethan asked, looking around nervously, half-expecting Maddox to jump out from around the corner and order him to his knees.
"Sure we can. Maddox is away on business today."
They played together for a while, alternating between one-on-one duels and just shooting hoops. Dabrowski talked about his life in Atlanta before joining the army and asked Ethan about his affairs. Ethan kept it vague, not trusting the man enough to tell him about Spencer. He didn't really want to talk about his parents either. He still didn't know where he stood with them. He missed them a lot, but at the same time, he wanted to punish them for their betrayal.
"Okay, that's enough," Dabrowski said after an hour or so. "Let's hit the showers and get you to your room. It's getting late."
"How do you know?" Ethan asked.
"After a while, you know. Come on."
It wasn't until Dabrowski started undoing his belt that Ethan became worried.
"You go first?" he asked as casually as he could with his throat squeezed.
"Are you joking? We're all boys here. Also, if I take my eye off you for a second, then I can kiss my job goodbye."
Ethan stalled, throwing sideway glances at Dabrowski who undressed casually. He inhaled abruptly when the man exposed his muscled butt. His body was perfect, manly, and sexy, straight from the Men's Health cover. Ethan had to look away to stop the swelling in his pants from escalating.
"Don't make me wait for you," Dabrowski said before disappearing inside the shower room.
As he heard the water running, Ethan continued to unbutton his shirt one by one, feeling young and inadequate next to the soldier. Eventually, he couldn't stall any longer and followed him into the shower, now naked.
Fortunately, Dabrowski was facing the wall while soaping his hair. Ethan did the same and tried to act nonchalant. After all, it was just a shower. He should have already been used to it.
He jumped when he felt strong hands cup his shoulders from behind.
"Mind if I wash your back?" Dabrowski asked.
"No," Ethan replied, his voice turning into a whisper against his will. Despite the warm water, he felt Dabrowski's breath on his neck. The soldier rubbed his shoulders and neck sensually, which was relaxing but made Ethan want to panic. Then, Dabrowski grabbed a soaped washcloth and made small circles on Ethan's back, starting at his neck and slowly going lower. His other hand went around the boy's body and rested on his chest. Ethan stood motionless, breathing deeply and quickly, feeling his excitement building. He worried about what Dabrowski would think if he saw Ethan getting aroused from a mere backwash.
Ethan groaned in pleasure as the washcloth reached his butt and slid in between his butt cheeks.
"Part your legs for me, big boy," Dabrowski whispered, electrifying Ethan's skin and making the soft, white hairs on his neck stand up. Ethan put his hands against the wall and did as the man asked. With better access, Dabrowski gently slid the washcloth back and forth along the boy's crack. His dick was now fully erect, his scrotum shrunk into a smooth, tense ball, ready to fire. Ethan shuddered when he felt the soldier's full lips on the left side of his neck. His coarse chin grazed the boy's velvet skin and made his nipples harden.
"I miss my little brother, Tommy," Dabrowski said between kisses he placed on his neck. "When I was fifteen and he was your age, Mom told us we're too big to keep showering together. But we didn't listen." Dabrowski's right hand slowly descended from Ethan's chest, making slow circles down his smooth abdomen, getting dangerously close to Ethan's sensitive dick. "I'd wash him just like this, every day. He fucking loved it." With that, he dropped the washcloth and pushed his index finger against Ethan's tight hole. Ethan squealed and Dabrowski's hand left his belly and covered his mouth. The other one kept probing his back entrance. "I always made sure he was squeaky clean, inside out," he whispered sensually into Ethan's ear. Then he gently bit his earlobe and continued. "It feels good, doesn't it? We had to keep it very quiet, me and Tommy. Then we had our special cuddles in his bed, do you know what I mean? I think you and I could be special friends, too. I know what you are."
At that moment, Dabrowski removed his finger and replaced it with something bigger and hotter. Ethan felt the young man's soapy penis slide up and down his butt crack. The soldier grunted roughly as he shamelessly humped the boy, getting off against his back.
But just then, they heard steps right outside the sower. Dabrowski backed away with no rush.
"We'll finish another time. And if you play it right, maybe I can answer some of your questions. What do you say?"
"Maybe," Ethan managed, begging for his erection to wind down.
"What a team we make, right?" Dabrowski laughed and walked back to his shower head. Ethan didn't answer. He let the water rain down on him and tried to understand what had just happened.
Ethan opened the door to his cell, eager to lock himself away. He didn't feel like he'd ever be hungry again. Maybe he could stay here and wait for it all to be over. They could drag him away with force if they wanted.
Just as the door was about to close behind him, he stopped and held it. He took a few deep breaths, listening for sounds. Only when he was sure no one was coming did he reopen the door. With his bare feet firmly inside the room, he leaned out and turned his head towards Levi's room. He couldn't be sure from afar, but it looked like there was a piece of fabric where his door touched the floor. He had made his decision then, but he took another minute to convince his legs.
He clenched his teeth, tiptoed along the corridor and pushed Levi's door open. It was against his nature. His parents would never approve of invading someone's privacy without knocking. But his parents were far away, safe in their house, doing whatever, while he had to risk his life for scraps of human contact.
Levi was sitting in the far corner, his chin resting on his knees and his arms hugging his legs close to his bare chest. He didn't even blink or look at Ethan when he came in. He looked so haunted that Ethan took a step back, ready to spend the next few hours in the corridor.
But then Levi said, "come in," his face still absent, but his voice bright and confident.
Something was wrong. Ethan closed the door as quietly as he could and took a few slow steps towards Levi. There was still no reaction from the older boy, so Ethan sat a few feet away, ready to be told to leave despite the invitation.
Levi wrinkled his nose and from time to time opened his mouth just to let out a long sigh and shut it again. He reminded Ethan of his dad whenever he was gathering his thoughts. At such times, it wasn't wise to interrupt. So Ethan waited. And then waited some more.
And then, slowly, Levi turned to him, as if he was a robot only able to turn his head in one axis.
"They raped me, Ethan," he spoke and bit his lower lip. "They let this machine do things to me. Unethical things, Ethan. But I didn't cum, you hear me? I did not. I didn't give them the satisfaction."
Ethan nodded in silent support. "I heard the chair broke again. Did you break it?" he asked.
"Like hell I did." For the first time, a hint of a smile widened Levi's mouth. "I think they broke it trying hard to give me an orgasm. But it's not gonna happen. And you know why? Because I'm not in love with any of them or their evil devices. That's not love, Ethan. No matter what illusion they push in front of your eyes."
"Did they... show you things?" Ethan asked shyly, finally able to relate to someone.
Levi turned his head away, but only for a few seconds. Then he crawled over to Ethan so they were almost touching.
"Will you tell me what you saw there if I tell you what I did?" Levi asked, his breath surprisingly fresh.
"Well..." Ethan could barely stand Levi's hazel eyes gazing at and through him. "I think so. But I don't feel like talking about it right now."
"Do you have a girlfriend?" Levi winked.
"Maybe..."
"So you don't. That's fine. I don't either. But back in my town, I used to be in a relationship with almost everyone around my age. Sometimes older."
Ethan only nodded and looked away. It didn't surprise him that Levi was experienced, but his use of "everyone" instead of "every girl" confused him.
"Is everything fine?" Levi asked.
"No, not really," Ethan said, still feeling Dabrowski's hands on his body. "But I don't want to talk about it."
"Fair enough. As my granddaddy said, 'if problems get you down, go play some footbag.'" He jumped to his feet and produced the small ball out of nowhere. "Frankly, he didn't really say that, but I bet he would."
Ethan stood up reluctantly and they played for a while. They had a few laughs at their particularly good or clumsy efforts, and for a minute, the prison turned into a gym.
Some time later, Ethan fell on the carpet, breathing hard. The air in the windowless room could get stale pretty quickly, with two exhausted young pairs of lungs burning out the oxygen at double time. The boy looked at the vent crate right below the ceiling. With Levi's help, he could easily reach it, but it was far too small to fit even his slim frame.
As if reading his mind, Levi fell on all fours on top of Ethan. "I can get us out of here."
Ethan wasn't sure what caused his increased heartbeat. He looked into Levi's eyes hovering just a few inches above him. "You can't. This is a fortress."
"Every fortress has a hole in it."
"Stop it. We're twelve floors below ground. And even if we do get out of here, then we'd have to sneak through the whole base without raising the alarm. Then, jump through the wired fence. And even if we do, we're in the middle of the desert, and no one is looking for us. Even if I can somehow run back home, my parents will just give me away again."
Ethan said the last words through a squeezed throat, and he couldn't fight back tears any longer. He barely registered when Levi lowered his bare torso on him. His arms instinctively wrapped around Levi's toned body and squeezed hard.
"There, there," Levi whispered, ruffling Ethan's hair. "You're thinking too far. First, we need a plan to get to the surface. We'll think about the next steps later. You can live on our ranch if you want. My folks don't keep track of their offspring anyway."
"I wanna go home," Ethan sobbed. His dam broke, and he didn't care if Levi thought he was lame.
"We will. We will get you home."
They cuddled for a few more minutes, and suddenly, Ethan felt very tired. Levi rocked him gently back and forth like a baby. He drifted into sleep, barely registering where he was.
He was lying on his bed once again, finding comfort in its cozy embrace. An invisible weight was pulling him down, and he surrendered to it without hesitation.
"Ethan."
Someone was in bed with him. It was Spencer, his whole face grinning. Ethan reciprocated the smile without hesitation.
"Spencer."
In no time, their hands were exploring each other's bodies, and their mouths met in shy kisses. As they grew bolder, Ethan's hand slid under Spencer's shirt, feeling his smooth and warm skin. But Ethan did not want to linger too long. His hand traveled further down until it reached Spencer's shorts, where he found a surprisingly large bulge.
"Ethan..."
"Spencer..."
"Ethan..."
"Spencer..."
"Ethan!"
Levi sounded more amused than annoyed.
"Who's Spencer?"
When Ethan opened his eyes, he realized his fingers were groping something hot and very hard. He snatched his hand away, but Levi giggled.
"I didn't tell you to move it." He took Ethan's wrist and guided it back to his rock-hard cock.
"I'm sorry... I can't," Ethan whispered, but he didn't pull away this time. Instead, he stared at the banana-like shape he was holding through Levi's pants.
"Why not?"
"Because... I have someone."
"Spencer?"
Ethan's blushing cheeks served as an answer.
"Listen up, pal. You either lose your virginity to me or that freaky rape chair."
Or to Dabrowski, Ethan finished in his head. Both options seemed infinitely worse than Levi.
I'm sorry, Spencer.
Ethan didn't resist as Levi pulled him in for a kiss. He yipped when the older boy touched him through his pants but quickly calmed down. They kissed and stroked each other through their clothes, rolling on the floor to find a better position. After a few minutes, the hazel-eyed boy lay back, his erection the highest peak of Mount Levi. Without a word, he raised his hips, allowing Ethan to remove his pants in just a quick pull. Ethan grabbed hold of Levi's impressive member. He tugged on it, his eyes glued to the steel beauty before him. A brown bush that sat at the base was still small, but the shaft itself was fully grown.
"It's 7 inches," Levi said, answering a question Ethan had wanted to ask.
"It looks more like 8 or 9," Ethan replied.
"Because it's so thick, aah," Levi moaned as Ethan eagerly took the tip of his cock into his mouth. He shamelessly slurped on it, covering it with his saliva inch by inch. He could only take in two-thirds before it touched the back of his throat and he gagged. Pulling back, he focused on the shiny red head and sucked gently, then harder, lapping at it with his tongue, savoring every drop of precum.
Ethan didn't resist as Levi pulled him down for a kiss. He yipped when Levi touched him through his pants but quickly calmed down. They kissed and stroked each other while rolling on the floor, trying to find a better position. After a few minutes, Levi spread out like a snow eagle, his erection the epicenter of the room. He didn't have to say anything; he raised his hips, allowing Ethan to pull down his pants. Once naked, Ethan quickly grabbed his impressive penis, as if it was about to fly away. Ethan tugged on it, his eyes glued to the steel beauty. There was only a small brown bush at the base, but the penis itself was fully grown.
"It's 7 inches," Levi said, answering a question Ethan had wanted to ask.
"It looks like 8 or 9."
"Because it's so thick, ooh."
Ethan eagerly swallowed the tip of Levi's cock. He slurped on it shamelessly, coating it in saliva inch by inch. He only managed to take in two-thirds of it before it touched the back of his throat and he gagged. He backed away and focused on the swollen head. He sucked gently, then harder, and finally licked off every drop of precum.
"Holy cow, Ethan, you're doing great," Ethan moaned. "I haven't cum in days. Shit, this feels good."
Levi put his hands on the back of Ethan's head and let the smaller boy worship his sensitive dick.
"Stand up," Levi ordered after a few minutes. He pulled Ethan's pants down to his knees. Ethan's five-inch boner pointed slightly upwards and glistened with watery boyish precum. Ethan shivered when Levi licked it off. Then he swallowed the whole thing in one go and sucked using long, careful movements. Every now and then, he let it pop out just so he could swallow it all again and bob on it happily, his nose prodding Ethan's almost hairless pubic area. Ethan's legs were weak and he had to hold Levi's brown-haired head for support.
Ethan felt his orgasm approaching, but just then Levi let go and sat on the floor, his moist dick sticking out like a flagpole.
"Sit on my legs," he said.
Ethan complied and the boys kissed again, jerking each other off. Levi had to reposition Ethan's hand lower, but then they were at it again, sweating and moaning into each other's mouth.
They came at the same time. Ethan shot three small squirts of watery cum. One landed in his belly button and two trickled down Levi's hand. Levi shot six powerful volleys of white ejaculate. All of them hit Ethan's chest before Levi's mighty cock started oozing. They rest their heads on each other's shoulders, calming their breaths and going down from their highs.
As soon as Ethan caught his breath, he wanted more kisses and Levi let him. They ran their hands over their sticky bodies and they were pleased.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think archhunter420@gmail.com