Chapter 4

A Night Time Confession

It was dark when Nick opened his eyes. The tiny amount of light creeping under the bedroom door from the lounge made it just about possible to make out shapes, but that was all. Something had disturbed his sleep. He turned onto his back and lay still, holding his breath as he strained his ears for any sound. Nothing. He gave a mental shrug and wondered what the time was. His first thought was that it must still be the middle of the night, but then he remembered that there were no windows; it would remain dark in here all day if no one turned on the lights. Carefully he reached out to the bedside cabinet where he’d put his watch, locating it by touch. Bringing it close to his eyes he pressed the button for the backlight. 3.30 a.m. His first guess had been correct, it was still the middle of the night. He put the watch back and rolled onto his side. His biological clock was still out of sync with the local time and he didn’t feel at all sleepy, but what can you do at 3.30 a.m. except try to sleep?

From the other bed came a muted sound. Nick’s ears immediately pricked up. The sound came again. It was a sound with which the young prince was quite familiar, though he hadn’t heard it now for some years. It brought back memories of his first days at boarding school, when he’d shared a room with five other boys, some of whom had never been away from their parents before. It was the sound of soft crying in the night.

“Jayden?” Nick’s voice was little more than a whisper, yet it was still loud in the quiet of the room. He looked towards the other bed, just managing to make out the outline of the boy beneath the bedclothes. “Jay?”

There was no reply and the sound immediately stopped.

“Jay, are you OK?” Nick asked, gently. He pushed back the bedclothes and swung his legs over the side of the bed, sitting up. There was still no reply. His feet sinking silently into the soft carpet, Nick took the couple of steps necessary to bring him over to other boy’s bed. He carefully sat down on the edge of the mattress. “Jay, I know you’re not asleep. Talk to me.”

“I’m alright. Leave me alone.”

“Not until you tell me what’s wrong.”

“It’s none of your business. Just leave me alone.”

Nick put out his hand, his fingers coming to rest on the soft skin of Jayden’s bare shoulder; the boy was laid on his side, facing away. “It’s the middle of the night and you’re crying. That means you’re not alright.”

“I said leave me alone!” This time the words were said with much more conviction. Jayden’s hand shot up, his fingers wrapping tightly around Nick’s wrist as if to yank the intruding hand away from his shoulder. However, he didn’t follow through; almost immediately, his grip eased and his fingers slid down Nick’s wrist until they rested on the back of the prince’s hand. “I miss him,” he said, his voice barely audible, “I really miss him.”

Nick gave the boy’s shoulder a comforting squeeze. He wondered who Jayden could be talking about. “You miss who? You might find it helps if you talk about it.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“I might.”

There was a long silence and then Jayden rolled over onto his back. As he turned, he kept his hold on Nick’s hand. Nick felt smooth skin slide beneath his fingers, his palm now coming to rest on the boy’s chest. This level of intimacy made him feel a little uncomfortable and he would have pulled away if not for Jayden’s hand on top of his own.
“His name was Eric.”

Nick immediately picked up on the use of the past tense. “Did something happen to him? Was he someone close to you?”

“He was my best friend. He’s dead. He died three weeks ago,” said Jayden, his voice distant.

“Oh no. I’m sorry,” said Nick. It was one of those situations when it seemed almost impossible to find anything suitable to say that wouldn’t sound like insincere platitudes. “What happened?”

There was a definite tremor in Jayden’s voice as he replied. “He was walking down the street when a car came off the road and ploughed straight into him. He never stood a chance. He probably didn’t even see the car that hit him. They took him to the hospital, but he never woke up. He died two days later.”

“Oh, Jay.”

“They wouldn’t even let me see him at the hospital.” There was bitterness in the boy’s voice. “He was my best friend and I never got to say goodbye to him. There was so much that I wanted to tell him, but I didn’t get the chance. I never told him how I felt about him.”

“Best friends don’t need to tell each other those things,” said Nick. “I’m sure he knew how you felt about him without being told.”

“No,” said Jayden, softly. “I’m not talking about just being friends. It was more than that. I’d been meaning to tell him for ages, but I kept putting it off; I was scared about how he would react. I loved him, Nick; more than just a friend’s sort of love.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” said Nick.

“I mean I loved him like a boy loves a girl. Except that he wasn’t girl, he was a boy.”

This had come right out of nowhere. “You… you’re gay?”

“Yeah, I guess I am.”

Even in the darkness, Nick could feel Jayden’s eyes on him, waiting for his reaction, almost daring him to react negatively to this bolt from the blue. Suddenly, having his hand on Jayden’s bare chest seemed even more intimate than ever and the teen had to resist the impulse to jerk away. But even though this had come as a shock, was being gay really that bad? Nick had friends back a school who were gay, or at least did stuff with other boys. It was an all boys school and this sort of thing went on all the time. There had been times back when he was in the six bed dorm where he himself had compared boners with the other boys; all boys did that sort of thing. There had even been a couple of occasions later on where he and his roommate, Edward, had jerked off together, looking at a porno mag that Edward had borrowed from another boy. They hadn’t actually touched each other, but they had had a good look at each other’s hard dicks and giggled and joked as they compared techniques. No, Jayden being gay wasn’t such a big deal.

“So, now you know. You wanted me to tell you and I have. Aren’t you going to say anything?” asked Jayden. “Isn’t this the point where you run to Mark and tell him that you don’t want to share a room with me?”

“Does anyone else know how you felt about Eric?” Nick asked, in a quiet voice. “Have you told your parents, or anyone?”

“No. No one knows.”

Nick felt a huge wave of sympathy for this boy and the situation he had found himself in. “No wonder you’re so unhappy. I can’t imagine what it must be like to lose someone you care about and not even be able to talk to anyone about it. If that happened to me I’d probably be crying myself to sleep for months.”

“I miss him, Nick.” Jayden’s voice trembled as he gave in to a fresh wave of tears.

“Yeah, I know.” Nick took the boy’s hand in his own, squeezing it tightly.




Nick awoke with a stiff neck that sent an aching pain down through his shoulder. He lay for a moment listening to the soft breathing of the boy next to him, then, moving as quietly as he could, he eased himself off the bed, stretching his aching muscles. As he stood upright he noted, wryly, that his neck wasn’t the only thing that was stiff; he rubbed his hand across the front of his shorts, giving his morning erection a quick squeeze.

It hadn’t been the most comfortable of nights, but sometimes there were more important things than being comfortable. He’d sat with Jayden, holding his hand, until the boy had stopped crying and drifted off to sleep. Then, so as not to risk waking him up again, he’d stayed where he was, sleeping above the blankets on the edge of Jayden’s bed.

He fumbled for his watch in the darkness, activating the backlight.

“What time is it?” Jayden asked, his voice husky.

“I thought you were still asleep.”

“I heard you moving around.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s OK.

“It’s 7.30.” Nick turned on his bedside light, screwing up his eyes against the sudden relative brightness. “I suppose we ought to be getting up; I don’t know what time we’re supposed to be ready for.” As he looked over at Jayden, he noticed the boy was staring intently as the large bulge in the front of his shorts.

“Sorry,” Jayden muttered, quickly looking away, his face reddening.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Nick, feeling his own face start to flush. He sat down on his bed so that the bulge wouldn’t be quite so obvious. “How do you feeling this morning?”

“Not so bad. I’m really sorry about last night, all that crying and stuff.”

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for.”

“And that stuff I told you about me…” Jayden looked uncomfortable. “Even though you know about me, we can still be friends, can’t we?”

“Of course we can. It’s not going to make any difference at all.”

Jayden gave an embarrassed grin. “I can’t believe you’re so cool about it.” Then he gave a worried frown. “You’ll keep it to yourself though, won’t you? Tim would probably freak if he found out. And if Mark and the others got to know they’d probably kick me out before my training had even started.”

“I sort of got the impression that you didn’t really want to be here anyway.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I don’t know where I want to be at the moment. Besides, when it comes down to it, there’s probably more for me here now than back at home. It’s sort of like an adventure. Mark and the rest seem really nice, and I’m sharing a room with you; what more could I possibly want?” Jayden gave a bright smile.

“It’s nice to see you smile,” said Nick, responding in kind.

Jayden pushed back the bedclothes and sat up on the edge of his bed. As he did so, he gave a pained grimace and rubbed the side of his head.

“You OK?” Nick asked, concerned.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a headache. I get them all the time.”

“It’s probably the stress and upset of everything you’ve been through.”

“Could be,” Jayden shrugged.

“Maybe you should think about talking to Mark. I don’t know how this healing business works, but he might be able to help you with your headache, and I’m sure he’d understand about all the other stuff. I’ve a feeling you might not be the only one around here who likes other boys.” Nick was thinking of the previous day, back at the palace, when he’d stood bare-chested in front of Mark and Paul. The look on Paul’s face and some of the comments the young teleporter had made seemed inappropriate for someone who was interested solely in girls.

“You think Mark might be gay?”

“Not Mark. Well, not as far as I know anyway; look, it’s not for me to say. Though from what I’ve seen, I would be very surprised if Mark was in the least bit bothered about you being gay.”

“I’ll think about it,” Jayden agreed, not looking convinced. He stood up. “Shouldn’t we be getting ready?”

“Yeah, I’m going to get a shower.”

“Alright. I’ll let you go ahead, then I’ll go when you get back.”

“Why wait?” asked Nick. “The shower’s huge, it’s almost as big as the one we have back at school; it was obviously made like that so that more than one person can use it at the same time.”

“You don’t mind?”

“Of course I don’t mind.” Nick had been taking communal morning showers since he was four years old.

“Not even now that you know about me being gay?”

“Look, we’re sharing a room, right? So unless we go to a lot of trouble we’re going to see each other undressed from time to time anyway.”

“Something else that will take some getting used to,” Jayden sighed.

“Are you trying to tell me that you’re shy?” Nick grinned. He gave Jayden’s arm a friendly jab with his elbow. “Don’t worry, I won’t look. Come on, let’s get going.”

“Doesn’t look like Tim is up and about yet,” Jayden observed, as the boys made their way across the silent lounge.

“Maybe we should give him a call,” Nick suggested.

“Let’s get finished in the bathroom ourselves first,” Jayden replied. “We can give him a shout on our way back.”

“If you want. Are you sure you’re OK?” Nick asked. He’d noticed the other boy looking uncomfortable and putting his hand to the side of his forehead.

“I’m alright. The headache is just a bit worse than usual, that’s all.”

“You could always go back to bed for a while, see if that helps.”

“No, really, I’ll be fine. It’ll go off once I’ve been up for a while.” Jayden forced a smile.

In the bathroom, Nick turned on the shower and set the temperature dial to somewhere in the middle. “I hope this is better than the one at school,” he said. “Sometimes the hot water stops and it suddenly goes freezing cold. It’s quite funny to watch if you’re waiting your turn to go in, but not half as funny if you’re under the water at the time.”

On the bathroom wall was a row of small cupboards for storing toiletries and things of that nature. One had been allocated to each boy. Nick went to his and took out a bottle of shower gel.

“Guess I’m going to have to use ordinary soap,” said Jayden. “I use gel at home, but I was in such a rush I forgot to pack it.” Then he had a thought. “I wonder if Tim brought any.” He opened his brother’s cupboard and gave a frown; except for a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste, the cupboard was empty. “I should have known better. The last thing that my little brother would think to bring would be something to get washed with.”

“It’s not a problem,” Nick laughed. “You can share mine.” He pushed his shorts to the ground and stepped out of them, kicking them over towards the wall. “I think the water should have warmed up by now. Shall we risk it?”

“Yeah, I suppose.” Much more self-consciously, Jayden removed his own shorts, standing uncomfortably as he waited for Nick to lead the way into the shower.

“It’s perfect,” sighed Nick as he stepped under the spray and felt the hot water splashing down his body. “Come on in.” He moved further along to make room. The shower was easily big enough for five or six at a time, and with generous jets of water coming from the two opposite walls it meant that he didn’t have to choose between having the spray on his front or back, he could enjoy both at the same time.

Nick watched as Jayden followed him into the shower, getting his first good look at the boy’s naked body. There was no denying that the young teen was good looking, even to someone like Nick who had never had a particularly strong sexual interest in other boys. His upper body was nicely shaped with a firm chest, coming down to a slim waste and hips. The prince allowed himself a quick glance at the boy’s groin, noting the small but thick patch of pubic hair at the base of his dick, similar to Nick’s own except for the fact that Nick had a few stray hairs making a faint line pointing up towards his bellybutton, whereas Jayden’s lower stomach appeared completely smooth. Jayden’s soft, slim, uncut cock was probably about three inches long, though Nick wasn’t very good a guessing these things, and behind his cock were a pair of loosely hanging balls. Nick decided that if he had been gay, then Jayden would almost certainly be a boy that he could go for.

Brief though Nick’s appraisal had been, it had not gone unnoticed. Jayden was wearing an embarrassed grin and his face had a red glow that was caused by more than just the heat of the shower. “You said you wouldn’t look,” he said, shyly.

“Yeah well, I lied,” Nick grinned back. “It’s a guy thing. We all look at each other in the showers; it’s what boys do. Don’t tell me you’ve never looked at other guys when you’ve had the chance.”

Jayden’s blush deepened. “After what I told you last night, what do you think?”

“I guess you have,” Nick laughed. “I can’t understand why you’re quite so shy though. Surely you’ve showered with other boys before.”

“Yeah, we have to shower after sports at school. But that’s different.”

“In what way?”

“I don’t know, it just is. This seems so much more personal, just the two of us.” Jayden looked Nick straight in the eye, then slowly lowered his gaze down the teen’s body to his groin.

Now it was Nick’s turn to feel a little uncomfortable. It didn’t bother him in the least that the boy he was sharing a shower with was gay, or that’s what he told himself anyway. But for some reason it had never occurred to him that Jayden might be wishing he could do more than look; not until now. Nick wondered what thoughts were going through the other boy’s mind. One of things that disturbed him was that he found the idea of Jayden looking at him in this way strangely exciting. For the first time in his life he found himself seriously considering what it would be like to have sex with another boy; up to now all his sexual fantasies had involved girls. He remembered the feeling of his hand on Jayden’s chest the previous night and how soft and warm the skin had felt, even how nice it had been simply to hold the boy’s hand in his own. For reasons he didn’t understand, his mouth felt dry and his heart was beating much faster than it should have been. Worst of all, he was acutely aware of Jayden’s eyes on his penis, an almost physical sensation, and he knew that this sort of sensation could only have one possible outcome; already he could feel stirrings between his legs.

Jayden raised his eyes. He had a frightened, nervous look, but there was something else there as well, a sort of silent pleading.

Almost without thinking, Nick took a step towards the boy. “Jay, I…”

“Hey guys!” Tim stood at the shower entrance, beaming widely.

“Oh, erm, morning Tim,” Nick replied, raising his voice slightly so as to be heard over the sounds of the water. He noticed a look of disappointment cross Jayden’s face, quickly hidden.

“Do you want me to wait until you’re done?” asked Tim.

“Don’t be silly,” said Nick. “There’s plenty of room, come on in.” If anyone had asked him at that moment, he would have been unable to say whether he was disappointed or relieved at the younger boy’s interruption.

“Here I come,” laughed Tim. He quickly stripped off his shorts and, his hands held lightly over his groin he stepped under the water. Then with an embarrassed giggle, he lifted his hands up to push his wet hair away from his forehead.

As he’d done with Jay, Nick gave Tim’s body a quick appraisal, looking the boy up and down. The thirteen year old was much smaller than his brother, in every respect; there was a slim, litheness about his body that made him, if anything, look even younger than he really was. The only body hair visible was a whispy presence at the base of his penis, really just a promise of things to come. His penis was small and slim and his balls tight. One thing that was impossible to miss were the quick, furtive glances that the youngster kept directing at the groin areas of the two older boys. Nick was unable to suppress a smile at the young teen’s natural curiosity.

“We’d better get on with what we’ve come here for,” Nick stated, removing the top from the shower gel. “I suppose you want some of this?” he asked Tim.

“What is it?”

Nick gave a shake of his head and squirted some of the gel onto Tim’s chest. “Rub it all over. Besides getting you clean, it’ll make you smell nice.”

“That’ll make a change,” Jayden observed. He held out his hand to receive some gel of his own.

“That’s not a nice thing to say about your brother,” Nick laughed.

“He’s always like that with me,” complained Tim, rubbing the lather over his chest and under his arms.

“Don’t forget your other bits,” said Nick, nodding his head down towards Tim’s groin.

Tim pulled a face, then deliberately turned away in order to wash his dick and balls.

“Down the back as well,” said Nick, mischievously trying to provoke the boy.

Tim looked back over his shoulder, a scowl on his face. “What’s with all the advice? Why don’t you just do it for me?” he snapped.

“OK,” His hands out, Nick took a step towards the boy.

“Nooo!” Giggling, Tim leapt away. “I didn’t mean it.”

Laughing, Nick turned his attention back to his own washing. Tim was obviously an easy target; he was going to have fun teasing the boy.

“Ugh!”

Nick looked around to find Jayden leaning against the shower wall, his hand pressed against the side of his head.

“Jay, what’s the matter?”

“I’m alright, just give me a minute.” The words came out through gritted teeth; it was quite obvious that Jayden was in a great deal of pain.

Nick put out his hand towards the boy, but before he could reach him, Jayden doubled over and vomited onto the shower floor.

“Yuck! Gross!” Tim yelled, jumping back as far as he could.

Nick shot the youngster an admonishing glance then quickly put his arm around Jayden’s shoulder, helping him to stand upright. “Take it easy,” he said, gently, catching water in his hand and using this to rinse the remains of the vomit from the boy’s lips and chin. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Jayden appeared pale and weak, but with Nick’s help he stumbled out of the shower into the bathroom. Tim followed behind, now looking concerned and a little frightened.

“Does it hurt bad?” asked Nick, his hand on the side of Jayden’s head.

The young teen gave a slight nod. “Yeah.”

“Do you think you might need to throw up again?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so.” Jayden’s words were slightly slurred, it was almost as though he were half asleep. “I’ll be alright.”

“I think we should get you back to bed; you need a doctor.” Nick looked towards the younger brother. “Tim, throw me one of those towels. Bring one yourself and help me get him dried off.”

They didn’t exactly do a thorough job, running the towels quickly over the teen’s chest, back and arms, but Nick was too worried about the boy to be thorough.

“That’ll do,” Nick announced, throwing the damp towel aside. “Can you walk back to the bedroom?”

“I think so,” Jay replied, weakly. He reached for his shorts and staggered as if about to fall.

“Leave those,” said Nick. “Come on, let’s get you back.” Once more he put his arm around the boy’s shoulders and helped support him as they walked back across the lounge to their bedroom.

Just before they entered their bedroom, Nathan appeared, fully dressed, from his own room. His eyes widened as he took in the scene of the two naked fifteen year olds, one supporting the other, followed closely by Tim, who had a towel around his waist.

“Jayden?” Nathan rushed over.

“Nathan, go find Mark or Adam,” Nick instructed the boy. “Tell them that Jayden is ill and needs a doctor, now.”

“I’ll get Mark,” said Nathan, and he went off at a run.

Nick helped Jayden onto his bed, where he lay on top of the bedclothes. The prince turned to the younger brother. “Tim give me your towel, let’s finish getting him dried off.

“But…”

“Just give it to me, Tim. His legs are still wet. We need to get him dry so that he can get into bed properly. You can go get yourself another one.”

Looking far from happy, Tim peeled the towel from around his waist and handed it over. He covered himself with his hands but made no move to go and fetch himself a replacement.

On the bed, Jayden moaned softly. His face was pale and his eyes were half closed.

“I hope they can get a doctor here quickly,” said Nick, to no one in particular, as he started rubbing the towel over the boy’s legs. He paused in his drying and moved to the top of the bed, gently stroking the side of the Jayden’s face. “Don’t worry, Jay, you’re going to be fine.” He wished he felt as confident as he was trying to sound.
 

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