The distinctive bass staccato from Queen & David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” erupted from the phone on the bedside table, its pulsing rhythm nudging it in tiny, jerky movements. Finn, stirring from his sleep, made a half-hearted attempt to reach for the source of the noise, but instead of silencing it, found himself captivated by the rhythmic bass.

Mm-noom-ba-deh ♪
Doom-boom-ba-beh ♪
Doo-boo-boom-ba-beh-beh ♪

Easing himself awake, he rubbed his eyes and pushed himself upright, stretching his arms with a deep, hearty yawn as a cascade of blonde locks tumbled down his pajama-clad shoulders. The ceiling above twinkled with countless glow-in-the-dark stars, their faint glow fading as they were outmatched by the soft sunlight seeping through the curtains. He loved his little corner of the universe. As his bare feet brushed the carpet, he blinked away the last traces of sleep, a gentle smile unfurling on his face. 

Pressure pushin' down on me ♪
Pressin' down on you, no man ask for ♪

Shuffling over to the door, he grabbed a marker from his cluttered desk. His space calendar hung on the wall, a field of crossed-out squares with that day’s square boring a crudely drawn crescent moon. With a quick, decisive arc, he laid another X across it with a satisfied grin. He pivoted and headed towards the staircase, the sturdy wooden steps creaking beneath his paltry eighty pounds.

When he finally reached the bottom, the comforting scent of cinnamon and nutmeg wrapped around him like a warm hug. His father, a tall man with aging features, sat at the breakfast table, his newspaper crinkling as he turned the page. He looked up with a gentle smile at the sight of Finn.

“Är du redo för ikväll, sport?” he asked in his deep, warm voice.

Finn slid into his chair where a steaming bowl awaited him, and beamed at his father. “Ja, Pappa!” he responded eagerly. “I feel like we’ve been waiting for this one forever. I remember marking my calendar back in January.”

“Good! That’s the spirit.” He folded the newspaper and set it aside as he leaned back in his chair. “Just remember, Mamma and I have the fundraiser tonight for the local hospital. We might be home late, but I’ll leave the box for you in the garage.”

Finn’s mother, cradling her baby, chimed in as she emerged from the kitchen. “Another one already?” she teased.

Finn chuckled, his spoon clinking against the bowl. “Ja, there always seems to be something going on out there.”

A reminiscent smile graced her lips. “When I about your age,” she began, her voice soft with the lilt of her Swedish accent, “we visit Morfar’s cottage. Winter times. Small house in woods, so much snow.” Her gaze focused somewhere in the distance as she continued, “Day full with laughing, stories. Food good. Night, we gather outside. Bonfire. We wear warm clothes. Morfar makes hot chocolate. Best ever. We drink under sky with many stars. Our magic.” Turning to look at Finn, her eyes were bright, “These memories, my best. Simple, but full with love. I hope you have such times too, Finnley.”

“Thank you, Mamma! Tonight will be just like that,” Finn said, grinning, “well, minus the hot chocolate… and the family.”

“And the cold,” his mom added.

“But still good!” Finn turned his attention back to the oatmeal. As he ate his first spoonful, he closed his eyes, imagining a magical snowy kingdom, the laughter of family, and the sweetest hot chocolate under a starlit sky.

Ray’s leg bounced restlessly as he stared down the aisle of the bus. All day, night, and morning he’d been thinking about his interaction with Elijah during the lab. He’d finally found an actual, real connection to the Omen Rose! The sound of the bus doors opening snapped him back to reality, and his heart skipped a beat as he saw Lucas come bounding up the steps.

“There you are!” Ray blurted out as his friend slid into the seat next to him.

Lucas swiveled towards him, a lopsided grin on his face. “Waiting for me, huh?” he teased.

“You weren’t on the bus yesterday!”

“Yeah, Nico came over. My sister picked us up,” Lucas explained, still grinning.

Ray scoffed. “Well, something happened,” he said, barely able to keep his bubbling excitement contained.

Luca’s grin widened. “Same.”

Ray ignored his quip, focused solely on the revelation at hand. “I found the owner of the card!”

Lucas’s eyebrows shot up, his playful demeanor replaced with genuine intrigue. “No shit? Who?” he urged, leaning in.

Ray leaned back in his seat. “Guess,” he challenged, crossing his arms.

Lucas frowned. “What? Just tell me!”

Ray shrugged, his grin only widening at Lucas’s impatience. “Well, you made me wait all yesterday,” he pointed out, “so now I’m making you wait. It’s only fair.”

Lucas let out an exasperated sigh, lifting his arm in a mock punch toward Ray. “Man, if I had any muscle, I’d pop you in the mouth.”

Ray leaned back in his seat with a triumphant chuckle. “Okay, okay, it’s Elijah. Elijah Swift.”

“Shit, really?” Lucas muttered, musing over the revelation. “Swifty? The hell is he doing in or around secret clubs?” He looked down at the floor. “What did he say?”

“Er, that was the problem,” Ray admitted, looking out the window. “I couldn’t get anything out of him. He was being really defensive about it. I was kinda hoping that, um, that you’d be able to crack him.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “So you’re saying I gotta do your dirty work?”

“C’mon,” Ray said, nudging him gently with his elbow, “you have a way with words that I… well, just don’t.”

Lucas let out a resigned sigh, extending his hand. “Fine, gimme the card and I’ll try to force it out of him.”

Ray looked down sheepishly. “Well, about that…”

“Ray,” Lucas warned, his tone filled with a mix of frustration and expectancy.

“I kinda gave it back to him…”

Lucas cringed, pressing his palm to his forehead. “Damn it! Bruh, that was our leverage!”

“He really wanted it back…” Ray mumbled, almost defensively.

Lucas sighed. “Alright, alright. We’ll just have to take a different approach. Only problem is, I don’t have any classes with him today.”

“We could corner him at lunch?” Ray suggested with a shrug.

A smirk tugged at the corner of Lucas’s mouth. “Bet.”

“You’re really up for it?”

Lucas chuckled. “You’re gonna need my charm.”

“Your ‘charm’, right…” Ray drawled, earning him a shove from Lucas.

“...so it’s like the moon gets swallowed in red,” Finn explained, holding up a slice of apple. “Like this apple, but even darker. Can you imagine seeing that in the sky?”

Ray, Nico, and Lucas glanced at each other, then at the apple slice Finn held above his tray.

“Didn’t the moon already do that over the summer?” Ray asked. “I remember it was super orange-looking one night. So weird.”

Finn shook his head. “No, not quite,” he said. “That was something else called a ‘moon illusion’, where the moon appears large and orange because it’s close to the horizon.”

Picking up a chocolate chip cookie from his tray, Finn began his explanation. “See, during a lunar eclipse,” he began, his keen blue eyes focused on his makeshift solar system, “the Earth, or this apple,” he said, glancing at the apple on his tray, “is between the sun,” he lifted the cookie, “and the moon,” he lifted the apple slice.

Carefully maneuvering the food, he positioned the apple in a way that the real sun cast a shadow over the apple slice. “When that happens, the Earth blocks most of the sun’s light from reaching the moon, so the light that does reach the moon has to go through the atmosphere, which gets rid of most of the blue light, leaving only the opposite of blue, which is,” he said, gesturing to Nico.

Nico, looking like a deer caught in headlights, blurted out, “Uh, green?”

“Red! And not green, or orange,” Finn said, chuckling to himself. “It’s really something else.”

He looked up, eager to see his friends’ reactions. Instead, he was met with their bored faces.

Ray scratched his head, staring blankly at the lone orange on his tray. “I’m confused. What was the apple supposed to be again?”

“Is there any way the moon can be green?” Nico asked.

Lucas started clapping, a smirk on his face. “Well, professor,” he said, nodding at Finn, “I gotta say, as lame as that all sounds, I don’t even have a pair of those special glasses you need to watch it.”

Finn let out an exasperated sigh. “No, stupid, you’re thinking of a solar eclipse. This is a lunar eclipse. You don’t need glasses to watch a lunar eclipse.”

Lucas scoffed. “Whatever. I’ve got more important things to do tonight, thank you very much.”

“Oh, yes, like what?” Finn prodded.

“Like beating off, for one,” Lucas said, beginning to count off on his fingers.

“Yes, real productive, Lucas!” he said sarcastically. “Wasting your time with primal urges, and I’m the one who’s being ‘unproductive’?” He shook his head. “God, you are a stupid.”

“You probably don’t even know how to do it,” Lucas retorted.

“I do,” Finn shot back, “but why would I? It’s a waste of time. There are a million better things I could be doing.”

“What?!” Nico gasped. “No! Jacking off is the best! How could you say that?” he squealed.

Ray blinked in surprise, his heart beating faster as he listened to his friends discuss such a forbidden topic.

“It sounds stupid,” Finn said with a wave of his hand.

“What do you mean it sounds stupid?” Nico cried.

Lucas raised his eyebrows. “Hol up, you’ve never done it before, have you?”

“No. And I never will.”

Nico gasped and Lucas clicked his tongue.

“Finn, sweetheart,” Lucas said mockingly. “Beating your dick is a billion times more fun than watching the moon turn a different color.”

“Yeah!” Nico said, “Cumming is awesome! It’s my favorite thing ever! You can do it a bunch of times every day, it’s free, plus, it makes you feel, like, closer to the Earth, and nature!”

Lucas nudged Ray, who sat up and cleared his throat. “Um, yeah. It feels really good.”

Finn stared at him with uncertainty in his eyes. “Like what does it feel like?”

Ray exhaled in a dreamy sigh. “It feels like, er, like the best thing ever. Like, if you died and went to heaven. Or, like eating poutine when you’re super hungry.”

“What’s poutine?” Nico asked.

“Some Canadian french fry thing,” Lucas said dismissively, waving his hand.

Nico’s eyes widened. “Oooh, I like those.”

“Hrmph,” Finn grunted softly. “No one ever told me it felt good,” he mumbled to himself.

Lucas slapped an arm around Finn’s shoulder. “You must be backed up as fuck, dude. I feel sorry for you.” His grin returned as he added, “Now, if you’ll excuse us, Ray and I have important matters to attend to.” When Nico grinned knowingly at him, he exclaimed, “Not that!”

In one swift motion, Lucas sprang to his feet, pulling a surprised Ray along with him. “Wait, but my cookie!” Ray protested, reaching an arm towards the unfinished chocolate chip treat on his tray.

“Nico’ll eat ‘em,” Lucas declared, glancing at him. “He could use the extra carbs.”

“But—” Ray started.

“I can’t—” Nico began, but Lucas was already dragging Ray through the doors to the cafeteria.

“Elijah!” Lucas called out, steering Ray through the tables of chattering kids. Most of them either ignored him or shot him a curious glance before returning to their conversations. “Elijah!” he bellowed once more, but his words were swallowed by the cacophony.

“Maybe he’s not here today,” Ray said.

“Anyone seen Swifty?” Lucas persisted.

One kid looked up from his book and pushed his glasses up his nose. “Library,” he muttered before turning his attention back to the book.

Lucas shot Ray a triumphant glance before pulling him out into the hall. The bustling sounds of the cafeteria faded as they made their way toward the library. They paused at the entrance, their eyes darting around while they searched for Elijah’s recognizable hair in the crowd. It was nearly silent, the quiet punctuated only by the occasional rustle of turning pages and the clatter of typing.

They split up and Ray scanned the aisles, while Lucas passed by the study tables, eventually meeting up and exchanging shrugs. Then, by the glow of a computer screen, they spotted him at the very end of the line of computers, eyes focused on the bright monitor. A shared glance of triumph passed between them before they weaved their way towards him.

Lucas stepped up behind him and craned his neck over Elijah’s shoulder. “Whatcha writing?” he asked, his voice shattering the library quiet like a glass pane.

Elijah jerked in surprise, spinning around in his chair. “An essay,” he answered in a soft voice. His eyes widened when they landed on Ray, then narrowed suspiciously. “Oh, hey, Ray,” he muttered, turning back to the computer.

“Ancient Greece, huh?” Lucas said, scanning the document on the screen.

Elijah sighed. “Yeah, and it’s due next period.”

“Well, we’re not going anywhere until you tell us about this club of yours,” Lucas declared, crossing his arms.

Caught off guard, Elijah swiveled around to face them. His eyes darted between the recently vacated seats and the two boys, annoyance etched across his freckled face. “Club? I already told Ray I can’t talk about it, and that’s the end of it.”

“Why not?” Lucas persisted. “C’mon, we’re trustworthy dudes. I kept my sister’s secret that she's still afraid of the dark to this day!”

“Yeah,” Ray chimed in, “we swear we won’t tell anyone you told us.”

“Look,” Elijah said, his voice now a whisper. “It’s not about trust. There are rules that I can’t break, so drop it, okay? Now can I please finish my essay in peace?”

Lucas scoffed. “Rules? What is this, Fight Club? Just let us join and we can figure it all out for ourselves. You won’t even have to tell us yourself.”

Elijah balled his fists and quickly glanced around, spotting the librarian at her desk. “Mrs. Schwartz!” he called out, trying his best to keep his voice low yet audible enough for her to hear. “Could you please tell these guys it’s not cool to—”

Lucas stuck his hand over Elijah’s mouth, muffling his voice. “Okay, hang on! Listen! We just have a message from Paris for you. We’ll leave after!”

Ray’s eyes mirrored Elijah’s initial surprise, but his expression shifted to a confident grin as he realized Lucas’s bluff. “That’s right,” he said, “um, he wanted me to tell you something. He said it’s super important.”

Mrs. Schwartz strode over to them. “Is there a problem here, boys?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowing behind her glasses. Lucas and Ray froze, their eyes darting nervously to Elijah.

Elijah took a deep breath. “Yes. Um, where are the books on Ancient Greece?” he asked innocently.

“I believe you’d find them towards the end of the second row, by the windows,” she said, placing her hands sternly on her hips. “Please come up to my desk if you have any more questions like this. Remember, no disturbances, please,” she said, glaring at Lucas before shuffling away.

When she was out of earshot, Elijah leaned in. “Paris had a message for me? I was wondering where he’s been.”

Ray met Lucas’s gaze, and Lucas nodded at him. Standing up straight, he began speaking. “He said, um, it’s okay for you to tell us what it’s for. It’s, er, not a big deal.”

Elijah furrowed his eyebrow. “Really? That’s the message?” he asked with a hint of skepticism. It wasn't so much a question as a challenge for them to convince him.

“Hey, don’t shoot the messengers!” Lucas said. “That’s just what he said. Ray asked him about the card after you blew him off, but he just told us to ask you again.”

“Yeah, uh, we went to camp together so I have his phone number,” Ray said, hoping that was enough to convince him of their connection. “I called him after school yesterday and asked him. He was super busy though, so he couldn’t tell me more.”

Elijah considered this. “Fine,” he eventually grumbled, “it’s an invitation card, alright?”

Lucas broke into a triumphant grin as he thrust his pointed finger at him. “A-ha! So you can invite us!”

“Liars! Heck no! I’m not inviting either of you bozos,” Elijah said, swiveling back to the monitor. “Can you go now? I only have fifteen minutes to finish this up.”

Lucas was unswayed, clasping a hand on Ray’s shoulder. “Just invite us, Elijah, real quick! You have the power! Say the words, it’s easy, let us join! C’mon, this is about Paris—my literal biggest celebrity crush! You will not take this opportunity away from me!”

“I thought you said—gah!” Elijah said, raking his fingers through his hair. “Leave me alone, alright?”

“No!” Lucas shouted. “Let us join the Omen Rose!”

“Do not say that out loud!” Elijah hissed in a frantic whisper, looking around the library.

“Omen Rose! Omen Rose!” Lucas shouted, his voice ricocheting off the library walls. Several kids turned to look at them.

The sharp clack of Mrs. Schwartz’s heels resonated through the library as she marched over to them, her lips pursed in disapproval. “Enough! Out, both of you!” she said to Ray and Lucas. “This is a place for quiet, not for shouting about roses!” She gestured pointedly to the door.

Ray walked away with his head down, while Lucas continued yelling over his shoulder, “You’ll invite us whether you want to or not!”

Out in the hall, Ray turned to Lucas, his eyes practically shimmering with admiration. “That bluff about Paris was genius! It really worked! How’d you come up with that?”

Lucas shrugged, a smirk forming on his lips. “If you just sound like you know what you’re talking about, people will usually believe you. One time, I told Nico that zebras were just painted horses. I’m pretty sure he still believes it!”

Ray chuckled. “That’s cool, but how do we get Elijah to invite us now? He seemed kinda pissed… and sorta like he never wanted to talk to us again.”

Lucas paused for a moment, letting the silence hang in the air. "We gotta steal the card back."

Ray stared at him in disbelief but nodded. “Okay, but how do we do that? And then what do we do with it?”

Lucas sighed. “I dunno Ray, let’s take things one step at a time. Maybe we can break into his locker, or look through his backpack when he’s distracted.”

Ray nodded again, then cracked a grin. “Once we get into the Omen Rose, think they’ll have free food at their secret meetings?”

Lucas snorted. “Oh man, I can picture it now. Swifty and his group of weirdos chowing down on some nachos in some candlelit basement while Paris models for entertainment.” He rubbed his stomach. “Oh my God, I could really go for some nachos right now.”

“That’s because you didn’t finish your lunch!” Ray shouted. “And neither did I! I hope my cookie’s still there.”

“Fine, go get your stupid cookie, I gotta get ready for English.” He shot playful finger guns in Ray's direction. “Scheme on the bus later?”

“Heck yeah!”

A single fluorescent light cast its cool, sterile glow onto the garage floor, where Finn was hunched in his rumpled pajama bottoms and an old nebula t-shirt stretched over his pale, thin frame. He stared at the matte black case opened before him, its insides a velvety, recessed terrain housing a myriad of gleaming metal parts.

Humming to the tune of “The Sign” by Ace of Base, he gently picked up one of the complex parts, connecting it to another, his smile growing as the disjointed components slowly began to form something more substantial. His platinum-blonde hair swayed with his movements as his fingers deftly spun dials and locked joints into place. As the minutes ticked by, his anticipation grew, until finally it was done, and he sat back as a great sense of accomplishment washed over him. The telescope was now whole, standing proudly beside him like a loyal companion. Casting a glance at the final remnants of daylight filtering through the garage window, he checked his phone. Three more hours to go.

He left the garage and went up to his room, trying to tuck away his anticipation. Settling into his desk chair, he pulled the bulk of his assignments out of his backpack and began to work. The house sure was quiet without his family around. Now and then, his eyes flicked to his phone’s clock. How was this going so slowly; only ten minutes had passed!

After what felt like an eternity, he smiled triumphantly as he set his pencil down. Homework: complete! As he glanced at the time once more, his smile lost its brightness: still two hours and fifteen minutes left. 

He grabbed his worn copy of “The Phantom Tollbooth” from the nightstand and hopped into bed, flipping to the bookmarked page. As he read, getting lost in his favorite adventure, a small corner of his brain continued to keep track of time. Eventually, he found it too difficult to stay invested in the story and frustratedly tossed the book aside. He was debating going back to the garage when a familiar urge tugged at him, and he hobbled out of his room toward the bathroom.

Closing the door behind him even though no one else was home, Finn stepped up to the toilet and lowered his pajama bottoms. He looked down at his little penis, small and white, with a foreskin that stretched well past the end of his tip to form a small nozzle; what a strange appendage. Breathing a sigh of relief, he emptied his bladder. As he peed, Ray’s words echoed in his ear.

It’s really the best feeling ever, of all time.

Shaking away the last few drops, he stared at his pale snopp, as Pappa always called it. The best feeling ever? That didn’t make any sense. Only bad kids like Lucas and Nico played with theirs, and he desired to be nothing like them. But didn’t Ray say he did too?

This situation called for a little more research. Finn raced back into his room and fetched the book he kept hidden behind his encyclopedias, Puberty For Boys, and hobbled over to his big bean bag chair. Flipping through the pages, he passed by sections on Tanner stages, muscle growth, hair growth, and acne, until he found a page on masturbation. It was a single page, short and straight to the point. He quickly read it over, taking in all the details, and let out a reluctant sigh. Was he really about to do this? There was an odd feeling stirring within him—some kind of nervous excitement. 

Tugging his pajama pants down around his ankles, the fuzzy fabric of the bean bag chair tickled the bottom of his balls. His lower body was smooth as polished ivory, his pubis and thighs completely free of any hair or blemishes. He grabbed his dick with several fingers, feeling the prominent ridge of the head underneath the skin, and pulled it aside. His ballsack was small and tight, the slightest shade darker and redder than the rest of his skin. He rubbed it with his other hand, feeling the little orbs within, and his penis began to elongate, growing outward and upward until the cute little snopp was a rigid, twitching tower. Despite his full hardness, the tip remained firmly inside the boundary of his foreskin, forming a pronounced lump at the end of his shaft.

Tentatively, he gripped it in his fingers and slid his hand up, then down. It didn’t feel good—pretty much like rubbing any other part of his body, like his leg. Nevertheless, he kept at it at a slow and steady rhythm, his hand slapping against his pubic mound with every tug. Fap, fap, fap, fap, fap. 

More than the actual physical sensation, the excited feeling inside him of exploring something new fueled even more excitement. This was so strange and so dirty. Still, he didn’t feel much inside his penis until after several minutes, when a sharp and short-lived unknown sensation shot through him. He opened his mouth in surprise, slowing his speed for just a moment before going even faster. The sensation returned, the frequency accelerating with his increase in pace until they were many, all popping all around inside his body. He squinted as they became stronger, a ticklish feeling in his penis growing.

“Shit,” he gasped. This was so far beyond anything he’d experienced before. What was happening? Was this the feeling his friends were talking about, or was something wrong? He decided to stop—this was too crazy—but his hand wouldn’t let him. It kept rubbing his dick as a warm feeling manifested in his balls, small at first, but rapidly expanding in size until it seemed to overtake his whole body.

“Oh!” he cried. He was going to pee! What a disaster, but still, he couldn’t stop himself! He tried to stand up to run to the bathroom but forgot about his pajamas around his ankles and tripped over them, landing on his knees while he continued to masturbate, almost in a trance.

His pace quickened, breathing picked up, and he pumped with all his might until the feeling seemed to explode. He slammed his eyes shut, his vision filling with stars, and cried out. It was as if he were being pierced by a million rays of sunlight; the deepest sense of euphoria and warmth. His breaths raced through his nostrils, gradually slowing until the room fell silent, and he collapsed onto the carpet.

“And then Lucas yelled, ‘You’ll invite us whether you want to or not!’” Ray said, his eyes sparkling with the excitement of the retelling. Nico listened in awe, wearing a wide grin.

Lucas nodded his head, a cocky smirk lining the corner of his mouth. “It’s true, we’ve got our foot in the door now, and we’re gonna bust it down. Sexual style.”

“I think I heard about the ‘Omen Rose’ somewhere. Will you guys invite me when you get in?” Nico asked.

“We’ll see,” Lucas said, “there’s a lot of rules, apparently.”

“Cool! What about Finn?”

Lucas laughed, shaking his head. “Nah, he’s probably too dorky. Actually, where is Finn?” The boys all looked around.

“He’s usually the first one here,” Ray said. “Is he out sick?”

“I saw him in math class,” Nico said. “He was being all fidgety. I didn’t get to talk to him, though.”

As if on cue, Finn strolled up to their table, humming a cheerful tune. “Hallo,” he greeted, setting his lunch tray down next to Ray.

“There you are!” Nico exclaimed, turning towards him. “Pretty cool eclipse, huh? I watched from my roof. Blood moon,” he said, adding a playful, evil giggle.

Finn gave a noncommittal shrug. “Ja, it was fine,” his attention seemingly more focused on demolishing a roll of bread that lay on his tray.

“Fine?” Lucas blurted out. “That was literally all you were talking about yesterday.”

“Guys,” Finn said, his voice dropping to a lower pitch. He glanced around the table with a secretive twinkle in his eye and leaned in slowly. The rest of the boys found themselves unconsciously leaning forward as well, the anticipation palpable. “Jerking off is amazing!” he exclaimed in his little Swedish accent.

Lucas burst into laughter while amused smiles spread across Ray and Nico’s faces. Nico reached across the table to give Finn a resounding high-five.

“My man! I knew you’d love it!”

Lucas sat back and folded his arms, a smug smile lining his face. “I’ve been beatin’ my meat for years, who cares if you just figured it out?”

The other boys ignored him, marveling at Finn’s newest discovery.

“You actually did it? All the way to the feeling?” Ray asked.

“About ten times!” Finn replied, grinning madly.

“Jeez, ten times?” Ray moaned. He recalled one day during the summer when Cameron was staying over, where after his fourth dry cum his dick felt like it’d just lost a boxing match.

“Ya, I pretty much did it until I fell asleep! Then I did it two more times in the morning, and I just finished doing it again in the bathrooms! That one was extra good!”

“I know all the best jack-off spots in school,” Nico said, leaning forward. “Want me to show you later? They’re less gross than the bathroom, and nobody ever visits them.”

“Yes, please! All the stalls were occupied earlier, I was about to explode!”

Ray stared at them, his jaw dropped. “You guys are crazy! I’d never do that at school!”

Lucas’s eyebrows knitted together in a frustrated scowl. “Can we get back to how we’re this close to figuring out this Omen Rose biz? All thanks to my ingenious tricking of one of their members?”

“Mr. Ostrande caught me once,” Nico said, continuing the previous conversation. “I snuck away during gym ‘cause I was thinking about Logan, but he realized I was gone and came looking for me.”

“Wow, that is so naughty!” Finn exclaimed with a giggle. “What happened?”

“I was under the bleachers and he saw me and shouted ‘What the hell are you doing back here, kid?’. He pretended to look away, but I’m pretty sure he was checking me out, so I let him look while I pulled my shorts back up. Then I had a big boner for all the rest of gym that wouldn’t go away!”

Ray tried to picture Nico with a big bulge in his gym shorts. He knew from experience how prominent that would be without underwear.

Lucas clenched the rim of his tray and stood up. “Alright Finn, wanna know about something way cooler that feels even better than jackin’ it with your boring ol’ hand?”

Finn’s eyes brightened as he looked up at Lucas. “There’s something better? What is it?” he asked, leaning in.

“Top secret,” Lucas whispered, dramatically pressing a finger to his lips. “Nico has an idea. Swing by my place tomorrow after school.”

“Wait, no fair, I wanna come too!” Nico immediately piped up.

Ray straightened in his seat, not wanting to be left out. “What about me?”

“Whoa, whoa, okay guys,” Lucas said, holding his hands up, “I’d love to invite you all over, but my mom would kill me.”

“What about somewhere else then?” Finn asked. “You could all come to my house!”

“I ain’t going to your weird Swedish cottage. What about your house, Ray?”

Finn frowned as Ray’s eyes dropped to the table. “Um, actually, my house is kinda small,” Ray said. That much was true, but another concern gnawed at him—the unpredictable reaction of his parents to his new friends. He’d talked about them a lot before, but there were certain things he liked to leave out. “Maybe not.”

“Well that sucks big hairy balls,” Lucas said. “How do we make this work?”

“I know!” Nico shouted, his face lighting up with a sudden realization. “Let’s go to my house! It’s really big, and my mom’s always asking me to invite friends over.”

“Yesss! Stunning, Nico!” Lucas said, gripping Nico’s shoulders. “You in, Finn?”

Finn eyed him suspiciously. “I still don’t know what you’re planning, but if it’s really better than my hand, then yes, count me in.”

“And you?” Lucas swiveled to find Ray observing him with wide, astonished eyes. “What?” he said with a chuckle, “Don’t give me that look, it’s gonna be fun!”

Ray’s attention shifted abruptly, and he managed to stammer out, “Uh, hey, Elijah,” his smile a bit strained as he tried to conceal his confusion.

Lucas, catching on, turned around and smirked at the boy standing behind him. “Well, look who came crawling back!”

Elijah stared at him with a measured gaze, his eyes giving off an unusual intensity. “Yeah, hey, Lucas,” he began. “Can I show you guys something?” he asked, his hand wavering as he motioned to both Ray and Lucas.

Ray could sense that something was off. Elijah’s words, usually smooth and confident, came out with an uncharacteristic wavering, an uncertainty that was disconcerting.

Lucas looked around and shrugged. “Sure,” he said, kicking Ray’s leg under the table. “C’mon, Ray!”

Finn and Nico watched curiously as Ray and Lucas followed Elijah through the cafeteria doors, giving each other confused glances. Ray and Lucas deliberately reduced their pace, dropping a few steps behind Elijah, the clatter of the cafeteria just enough cover for a hushed conversation.

“Holy. Fuck. We’re getting invited!” Lucas whispered.

Ray gasped. “Is that what's going on?!” he returned in an excited, harsh whisper.

Lucas nodded, his mouth curling into a grin. “Dude, I get to meet Paris! The Paris, and not that stupid French place!” He trudged forward, bridging the gap between himself and Elijah so he could sling an arm around his shoulder. “Ey, buddy, thanks for reconsidering! I think you’ll find that Ray and I are perfect new member material.”

Elijah glanced at him through the corner of his eye, then looked ahead again. “Just follow me,” was all he said, simple yet commanding. He shrugged off Lucas’s arm to reclaim his space and lead the way. A hush descended upon them as they navigated through the school, a palpable sense of anticipation keeping them in stride with Elijah’s brisk pace.

With a firm push against the cold metal bar, Elijah swung open the door and ushered Lucas and Ray through into the cool outdoor air of the back parking lot. The afternoon was getting cloudy, and a gentle breeze played at their clothes as they followed Elijah across the concrete. Not far from them sat a black SUV, with dark-tinted windows, shielded from the view of the school by a parked minivan used to take kids out to sports meets.

“Is that car going to take us to the clubhouse?” Lucas asked Elijah, grin almost splitting his face as he jiggled on the spot with excitement. “It’s so fancy! This is dope!”

“Just get in,” Elijah said quietly, swallowing to lubricate his throat. He looked nervous, and that made Ray nervous, though Lucas didn’t seem to notice. With a mechanical whir, the back door of the SUV slid open.

“C’mon!” Lucas chirped, pulling at Ray’s wrist to get him to follow. They climbed into the back seat of the car, joined by Elijah, who closed the door. The interior of the SUV was as imposing as the exterior, oozing an air of luxury and mystery, with plush black leather seats and ambient blue LED lights running along the edges of the floor. There was the sound of the locks clicking into place.

“Fuck,” came a low adult voice from the driver’s seat. Ray’s head immediately shot up—did he recognize the voice?

“What’s going on?” Lucas asked carefully, his voice wobbling with uncertainty. He eyed the two men staring at them from the front seat, dressed in intimidating dark red suits, with balaclavas revealing only their eyes and mouths like cartoon burglars. “Wh–who are you?”

“Listen up, boys,” the man in the front passenger seat said, each syllable crisp and measured. He didn’t sound threatening, though he certainly looked it. Lucas and Ray watched him, eyes wide. “Elijah mentioned to us that you’ve been causing trouble at school. Putting your noses in places they shouldn’t be.”

“Well he’s lying!” Lucas shot back instantly, words a jumble, his face glowing redder by the second.

“Am not!” Elijah growled under his breath.

“Are you the Omen Rose?” Ray squeaked out. He was expecting a group of kids—not this! His tummy churned and he fought to keep himself from squeaking at both ends of his body. The man in the passenger seat grimaced.

“Are we being kidnapped?” Lucas quailed, turning to Elijah. “Who the fuck are these guys?”

“Do not speak of the Omen Rose again!” the man barked. He looked between Ray and Lucas’s terrified faces. Suddenly, he reached across the seat to grab Lucas roughly by the front of his shirt, yanking him up against the seat back and drawing a fawnish yelp. “No more shouting in the library, no more pestering Elijah!” he growled, shaking Lucas, who had begun to cry, back and forth as he did so. “And, if you continue to draw attention to us, well, let’s say next time this meeting won’t be so friendly. Capiche?”

He gave Lucas a last shake. His face was tomato red, cheeks streaked with tears. He nodded meekly.

“And you, kid?” he turned to Ray, dropping Lucas into the footwell with a thud, where the boy crumpled. “You get it?”

“Y–yes!” Ray replied. “W–well, everything except ‘c-capiche’...”

“That’s good,” the passenger-side man nodded with stern satisfaction. Ray was trembling, and Lucas was still slumped in the footwell, wiping tears from his cheeks and trying to rearrange the front of his shirt. Elijah seemed to have shrunk into his seat, too. “Now, just to show you we’re serious about what happens to boys who fuck up and talk openly about things they shouldn’t… Elijah, open the door and step out of the car.”

“Me?” Elijah cried, before meekly croaking out, “Okay.” The locks clicked again, and Elijah was able slowly to open the door and gingerly step out into the parking lot, standing right beside the SUV and its open back door. The man lowered the passenger-side window while Elijah stood in place looking nervous, the sound of the electric motor the only thing breaking the silence, apart from Lucas’ occasional sniffles.

“Now boys, both of you watch Elijah,” their captor instructed. “Don’t you dare take your eyes off him for even a second. In fact, both of you move up close to the door so you get a real good view.”

Ray and Lucas instantly did as they were told. It didn’t even occur to them not to follow the instruction, or to try to make a break for it. Ray was covered in cold sweat, like his body had become an immovable icicle and started to drip in the sun. Lucas and Ray squashed together on the seat closest to the open door, close enough to reach out and touch Elijah if they wanted to.

“Okay, kid,” the man said coldly to Elijah. “You fucked up. You lost your invitation card and you ended up blabbing to these two morons about the good thing we have going here. You have not proved yourself worthy. So now you are going to pay the penalty, take it like a good boy, and maybe—just maybe—you will get the chance to rejoin our good graces. How does that sound?”

“Yes, sir,” Elijah quavered. His eyes flicked around without alighting on a single point of focus and he pulled at his fingers awkwardly. He looked scared. Terrified, even.

“You sure about this?” the driver mumbled lowly to his partner, but the passenger waved him away dismissively. The voice struck a chord of familiarity in Ray once again; it carried a deep timbre, punctuated by a distinctive southern drawl.

“Take off your sneakers, Elijah.”

“What?” Elijah asked, his eyes shooting up to look at the man through the passenger window.

“You heard me, kid. Take off your sneakers then pass them to one of your little friends, who will pass them to me. Got it?”

“Uh, yes sir.” Elijah knelt to begin untying his shoelaces, but the man immediately interrupted.

“No, no,” he said. “Stay standing, dumbass. Stand up this whole time.”

“O–okay,” Elijah replied. He had to lift his feet awkwardly and uncomfortably and balance on one leg to remove his shoes. He passed the first one to Ray, who held it blankly. The man in the passenger seat prodded him, so he quickly handed it over. Soon Elijah was stood on the hot, rough concrete of the parking lot in his sports socks, sneakers now in the front seat.

“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” the man mocked. “You’re going to do that piece by piece with everything else you’re wearing until you’re not wearing anything at all. Got that?”

“What?! But, sir!” Elijah squeaked, as Lucas and Ray both also sat bolt upright in their seat, eyes wide. “I’m outside, a–and… we’re at school!”

“But sir!” the man mimicked, chuckling to himself. “You’re getting off very lightly, Swift. Now you’re going to do as I say, and put on a little show for your little friends to show them what happens to bad boys who are too dumb to keep their mouths shut.”

“No…” Elijah whined, a sob escaping his chest and shuddering out through his mouth. “Please!”

“Do it.”

Quivering with fear and shame, Elijah reluctantly began pulling his way out of his t-shirt. He pulled it up by the hem to reveal a skinny, smooth torso and tiny pink nipples, eventually freeing the shirt from his head with a pop and a ruffle of his hair, bare armpits exposed by his reach. He shook and cried as he handed it to Lucas, knowing the two boys were staring at him in disbelief. Lucas was prodded roughly in the back of the head to hand the garment forwards.

“Good,” the man smirked, roughly snatching the thin, boyish t-shirt from Lucas’ hand. “Now your socks. Let's see those little feet standing on the asphalt.”

Elijah miserably did as he was told. Ray felt awful for him, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the show Elijah was being forced to put on. It was utterly terrifying, but Ray could feel his boner straining against the front of his underwear all the same. Soon enough, he had Elijah’s damp socks in his hand, and the sad boy hopped uncomfortably from foot to foot as the heat and texture of the parking lot irritated his feet. Without daring to incur the wrath of their captors, Ray passed the socks forward.

“Keep going, Elijah,” the man said. He watched Elijah like a hawk, licking his lips through the hole in the front of his balaclava. “He’s got a great skinny body. Not too athletic. Just soft. Know what I mean?”

“I’m enjoying the show too,” the driver agreed, talking quietly as if to mask his voice. “Can’t wait to see his little package on display for us again.”

Hands visibly wobbling as he moved them to his waistband, and bare toes curling with the strength of willpower required to force himself to do it, Elijah let out a rattling sob of defeat as he slipped his silky basketball shorts down to his ankles, throwing them indiscriminately in the direction of his watching classmates. Lucas soon had them handed off to their tormentor, and Elijah stood next to the car in only his tight boxer briefs, patterned with Chikoritas, Cyndaquils, and Totodiles against a bright yellow background, instinctively cupping his hands in front to hide the size and shape of his boyhood. His eyes darted rapidly around the back of the school, terrified that someone inside might see him.

“Nuh-uh,” the man in charge said, shaking his finger. “This is a punishment and an example to your little friends here of what might happen to them if they don’t keep their noses clean. Put your hands behind your head, Elijah.”

“P-please,” Elijah begged, slowly forcing his hands into position to show off his undies. His face and chest glowed with humiliation, his entire body consumed by the shivers and shakes of his misery. “Don’t make me do more. I–I learned my l–lesson real good! I swear!”

“Let’s say I stop and let you off,” the man mused, stroking his chin through the wool of his balaclava. “What kind of message does that send out about us, eh, Swift?”

“I d-don’t know,” Elijah replied, despondent. “P–please don’t m-make me…”

“It tells you three little screw-ups that we are not serious. That the consequences of messing with us are not serious. You don’t want people to think we aren’t serious, now, do you, Elijah?”

“N–no,” Elijah squeaked. “But–”

“But nothing!” the man snapped. “Take off your little cartoon undies and hand them over! This isn’t a game, kid, even if you still seem to think it is!”

Elijah groaned and quivered on the spot, momentarily swooning as if he were about to faint. He did not faint. He stood still on the hot parking lot with his hands on his head in just his tight undies that clung to the shape of his thighs and butt. Lucas and Ray also shook with embarrassment for Elijah and anticipation for what was happening before them. Lucas could feel only his heart beating and the strain of his boner. It was like the bottom had dropped out of his body and there was no other sensation, just the sight of Elijah being forced to humiliate himself before them, and the sense of horror and arousal it caused his watching classmates.

Painfully slowly, and with his tear-rutted face turned away in crimson shame, Elijah reached down to the black elastic of his Pokémon boxers and timidly peeled them down and off, the garment landing at his ankles. He turned sideways to the car—and Lucas and Ray—before they could get a proper sight of his dick, using the excuse of taking his undies from around his ankles to hand over.

“Turn back to face us, Elijah,” came the inevitable reminder from his tormentor. “Hand over your undies to your friends and remember where we put our hands afterwards, hm?”

Utterly conquered, and without being able to look at Ray as he did so, Elijah handed over his last shred of dignity to the boy who had found his Omen Rose card, paying the consequences. If the idea had been to show them how serious the Omen Rose was, Ray was certain it had worked. This didn’t feel like a game at all. He was terrified, and he could feel from how Lucas shuddered and sniffled next to him that Lucas had come to the same realization too.

“Wow,” the driver breathed heavily. “Perfection. I could chew on that little noodle all day long.”

“I’d rather watch it slap back and forth while I pound that tight ass,” the ringleader in the passenger seat remarked. He turned around to Lucas and Ray. “Check inside for skids or pee stains, boys,” the man instructed cruelly, reveling in Elijah’s debasement before his schoolmates. “Is he keeping clean?”

Ray didn’t want to inspect the gusset of Elijah Swift’s underpants, but he found himself doing it anyway. There was a hint of discoloration and butt smell around the seat, as well as fluff, but they were hardly soiled. He silently tried to hand them away to the man in the front seat again.

“Are they clean?” he insisted.

“Yes, sir,” Ray forced himself to whisper.

“Good boy, Swift,” the man smiled. Elijah, for his part, looked utterly hollowed out, stood naked in front of two other boys from his grade in the school parking lot. It was as if he had somehow gone to some other place inside. “Now, kids, take a good look at your little friend Elijah. He’s not having a fun time, is he? He’s not playing a game here. And neither are we. If you want to end up being left naked at the side of the road to find your own way home, keep on talking about the Omen Rose. This is just a taste of what might happen to you.”

Despite themselves, Ray and Lucas couldn’t help following the instruction to take a good look at Elijah’s exposed not-so-privates, as the boy stood to attention looking as if he wanted the ground to swallow him up or to be struck down from on high to end his complete and utter abasement and humiliation. He had a small, circumcised dick, which was cut in such a way that a ring of skin still surrounded the ridge of his glans with him shrunken like this, which lay over a little pink ball sac, his testes looking descended but not yet fully developed, his overall package definitely smaller than Ray’s if it were hard. Around the base of his cock and balls, where they met his body, were the beginnings of some wispy blond hairs, looking a little bit like duckling down, and behind them—the familiar black circular tattoo.

Ray nudged Lucas. “That’s the tattoo,” he whispered, to which Lucas merely sniffled in response.

No sooner had Lucas and Ray taken in the finer details of Elijah’s sadistic exposure before them, they felt a strong arm bundling them out of the door of the SUV, which was slammed behind them. Ray landed roughly on his backside on the concrete of the parking lot, almost getting a view of Elijah’s butthole as he suddenly found himself behind and below the naked boy.

“Scram, you little pests!” the man barked through the open passenger window. “Think yourselves lucky if you never see us again, and remember never to speak about any of this unless you want to end up like Elijah here.”

“Sir!” Elijah squealed as the SUV jerked forward. He clamped both hands over his crotch and began to hyperventilate, almost collapsing on the spot in terror at the reality of being left naked in his schoolyard.

The SUV had already stopped.

“Get in, dipshit!” the man said dryly, and Elijah wasted no time in doing just that, scrambling for the back door. No sooner was he in as the vehicle began to screech away, the door closing on Elijah’s moon just as it rounded the minivan and came back within potential sight of the middle school.

Lucas and Ray sat dumbly in the dust of the parking lot. Ray’s gaze followed the license plate as it disappeared—B4D0M3N.

“That…” Lucas eventually squeezed out, with a shudder between panting breaths. “That was fucked!”

“I… I know,” Ray responded. He realized his cheeks were wet. Both he and Lucas must have been crying whilst watching what was done to Elijah, and his boner had definitely long gone.

“They took Elijah! What are they gonna do to him?” Lucas pondered. “He’s kinda a jerk, but I hope he’s okay.”

“Yeah…” Ray agreed, picturing the mental image of Elijah’s naked body that was now seared into his brain. “That was horrible. I can’t even…”

“If that ever happened to me, I think I’d honestly want to kill myself,” Lucas replied. Ray gulped and nodded. Lucas continued. “Those guys are, like, total nutjobs! They must think they’re villains from a cartoon or something!”

“I… I think I know who that guy was,” Ray replied portentously.

“What? The psycho who made Elijah take his clothes off and tried to beat me up?”

“No,” Ray said softly, staring without focus at the school sports minivan. “The driver. I know his voice.”

Lucas stared at him with intense curiosity. “What? Really? Who is it?”

“It… it’s our handyman.”