Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2006 06:45:51 +0100 (BST)
From: Mike Arram <mikearram@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Henry in Finkle Road - 29

  All the Michael Arram stories are gathered together now on
www.iomfats.org, if you would like to investigate further the characters
featured here.
  The story contains graphic depictions of sex between young males.  If the
reading or possessing of such material as this is illegal in your place of
residence, please leave this site immediately and do not proceed further.
If you are under the legal age to read this, please do not do so.


XXIX

It was Sunday, and the bells of Strelzen were ringing out for mass in its
many churches.  Henry was sitting in his room in the private wing of the
royal palace.  After Helge had shared the news of what had happened at
Terlenehem with a few selected friends, the king had insisted on Henry's
staying with him.
  `Henry, you really have done it this time.  You have exercised your
courage on a cosmic stage.  Do you think I can let that pass, even though
it cannot be acknowledged publicly?'
  The court gazette lay open on a side table.  `Saturday.  At a private
investiture.  The Grand Cordon of the Rose to Mr Henry Atwood OHL.  Henry
Atwood GCR commissioned kapitan-leutnant in the Regiment of Foot Guards and
appointed adjutant to HM the King.'
  `There,' Rudi said as he kissed Henry.  `My little gay Lancelot is now
truly a knight and a warrior, and some justice has been done to him.  Pity
you're so short for a guardsman, Henry.'
  `I'd rather have been a sailor.'
  `We're a landlocked country.'
  `Do I get paid?'
  `No.  The commission's honorary.  Your student debt's your problem,
Henry.'
  `Still, I'm one rank higher than Ed Cornish.  And mine's the premier
infantry regiment in the army.  He'll have to call me sir!'
  The king smiled.  `That's only right and proper.'
  Henry was awaiting the call to summon him to the Chapel Royal.  Mass was
at ten o'clock and he was in attendance with Fritz.  Bizarrely -- or
perhaps not, considering this was Rothenia -- Rudi and Fritz were better
friends than ever, despite the king's having almost killed the prince by
running him through the body with a cavalry sabre.
  Henry looked at himself in the mirror.  Gavin would have been blazing
with delight to see Henry in military dress.  Short though he was, he
looked magnificent in a dark blue, gold-buttoned coat with red and gold
facings.  A gold stripe ran down the seam of his red trousers, and golden
aiguillettes hung from the captain's epaulette on his left shoulder.  The
star of his order was pinned to his chest and the order of Henry the Lion
was around his upright collar.
  The bearskin cap was a problem.  Fortunately, he didn't have to wear it,
just keep it tucked under his arm.  The sword was another difficulty.  It
seemed too long for him.  A pity his face was so boyish.  He simply could
not look stern.
  The phone buzzed, a secretary asking him to join the king in the Grande
Salle.  So Henry trotted down the great staircase, unconsciously adopting a
military pace on reaching the public rooms.  He was unnerved when the
guards in the palace presented arms as he passed, only barely remembering
to return the salute.
  Rudi was in a blue suit, and Henry remembered to salute him too, before
shaking his hand.  Harriet Peacher was standing beside him, ravishing in a
beautiful summer frock from Paris.  It was pretty clear to the whole world
now that there was a love affair in full bloom at the palace.  Harriet and
Eddie's father was expected within days for some serious discussions with
the king.
  Harriet smiled brightly.  `My heavens, Henry.  You look gorgeous, quite
the gay blade.'
  `Oh very funny, Harry!'
  Strangely, he could not grieve for Gavin.  He somehow knew the boy was
out there somewhere and loved him still, even though Henry could not see
him.
  The king said, `Henry, I had a word with the archbishop.  He is more than
happy for you to take communion.  He even offered to issue an indult to
that effect.'
  `Then I will communicate.  Thanks, Rudi, that means a lot, especially at
the moment.'
  Mass was gorgeous, with a reconstituted chapel choir made up of choral
scholars whom Rudi was sponsoring from among the members of the university
music department.  The bishop of Luchau was celebrating.  The palace staff
were all in attendance, as well as the king's guests.  It soothed Henry
very much, and, despite the difficulties of the sword, he sank to his knees
at the elevation with deep reverence.
  While he contemplated the mystery of the mass, Henry tried to make sense
of what he had witnessed over the past few days.  He had seen the
inauguration of a new phase in the relations between the divine and
Creation, he was quite sure.  Something had come into the world as a
result.  Maybe God was responding to the development of human history, the
development that had brought forward so many people like Piotr Bermann.
  Henry wondered if he would see more of how it developed.  And always his
mind returned to his vision in the abbey of Medeln.  To whom had he been
talking?  It had looked like his friend Jed, but the presence had denied
that.  Could it have been Someone he dared not name, even in his head?
Only that Someone could have done for him what had been done in the tombs
of the Tarlenheim family.
  After Mass, Henry and Fritz wandered out into the palace grounds.  `I
would have thought you'd be a bit wary of coming out here, Fritzy, what
with all that garden equipment lying around.'
  `Ha bloody ha, as you might say, Henry.  No, it's hanging round Harry
that causes the pain.  I feel so abandoned and so regretful.  Though I know
she never loved me, still I think I really did love her.  It was like no
other feeling I ever had.  And how about you, Henry?  You too have lost
your love, and he was a wonderful person.  I can understand how you feel.'
  Henry took Fritz's arm and held it tight.  The prince leaned down and
kissed his hair.  `Come on, Henry, let's go in and have lunch.  Then we can
go over to the Tarlenheim palace and you can help me build King's Cross
station.  How about that for consolation?'
  `I couldn't ask for better.'
  Fritz gave him an odd look.

Henry smiled across the table at Fritz, who was working on the clock tower.
Henry was painting figurines, the sort of task he could be trusted with.
Fritz smiled back.  It was late in the evening and Fritz had got them
glasses of fruit wine.  They were very companionable.  He felt closer to
his friend than ever before.  It was a bond forged both in mutual sadness
and in mutual escape from death.
  `Your scar's mending, baby,' he said, then caught himself and blushed.
`Sorry Fritz, for a moment I forgot whom I was talking to.'
  `Don't mind me, Henry.  Call me baby.  It's quite nice.  Is that what you
called Gavin?'
  `Yes, though it was a bit patronising.  He was not at all babyish.  In
fact, he was -- is -- a more courageous and stronger man than I.  But
somehow we liked it, it expressed something about us.'
  `You usually topped with him, is that right?'
  `Your prurient curiosity again, Fritz?'
  `Oh yeah.  But the fact that you topped made him the dependent part of
the couple, at least sexually.'
  `I suppose.  It must be hard for a straight man like you to understand
how guys interact sexually in a relationship.'
  `Oh, I don't know about that.  The Internet is a great help.  I read the
story sites, there's a lot to be learned from them about all sorts of
sexualities, especially the way-out ones.  And when it comes down to it,
straight and gay are just opposite ends of a continuum.  Gay guys sometimes
father kids, and otherwise straight guys have sex with men for a lot of
reasons.'
  `Loneliness?' suggested Henry.
  `Amongst other things.'  Fritz put down his model and looked into Henry's
eyes.  Then he leaned over and cupped his friend's cheeks in his warm
hands.  `Henry, I don't want to sleep alone tonight.  I want to sleep with
you.  Will you do this for me?  We're lonely, we're unattached.  I think we
love each other, just a little.  I have to confess I have wanted to try gay
sex for many years.  Now I think the perfect time and the perfect partner
have come my way.  Will you?'
  Henry was astonished and so was his penis, which sprang erect.  Fritz
released him, and sat back looking hopeful.  Not trusting his voice, Henry
nodded.
  Fritz beamed.  `This is fantastic!'  Then he looked puzzled.  `Er ... what
do we do?'
  Henry could not help chuckling.  `Well, first we find a bedroom, and then
we take it from there.  Have you got lube?  I want you up my bum, Fritzy ...
but are you willing to take it?'
  Fritz nodded decidedly.  `I want the full experience.'
  Henry was a bit taken aback by Fritz's answer.  He smiled. `You've been
planning this haven't you?'  The only answer he got was a sheepish grin.
  Henry was getting very excited.  Even in his battered state, Fritz was
the most awesome- looking male Henry had ever seen ... and now he was
offering himself to Henry!  This was some dream, if it was a dream.
  Henry stood up and offered his hand to Fritz.  Fritz took it, and came
close to Henry.  For a moment they looked into each other's eyes, and then
Henry snuggled into Fritz's bigger body.  When their lips met, Henry knew
it was for real.  This was a lover's kiss, not a friend's.  Fritz forced
his tongue past Henry's unresisting lips and sucked Henry's tongue into his
mouth.  Fritz's arms embraced Henry and pulled him close.  His hands pushed
down past Henry's waistband and gripped his buttocks.  After a while, they
broke apart.  Henry was breathing hard and his heart was pounding.  Fritz
grinned and took his hand.
  They galloped down to Fritz's room, and even before the door was closed,
clothes were being shed in every direction.  Henry threw his briefs across
the room and turned to find Fritz fully nude, holding out his arms to his
friend.  Henry had not seen Fritz naked, and his revealed and beautiful
member was on the lines of Ed's, thick and proud.  He was fully erect.  All
of a sudden Henry was nervous.  It had been a while since he had
encountered the demands of something like that.
  Forgetting his doubts, he ran into Fritz's arms, was caught and lifted.
They kissed again, Henry moving his erection against Fritz's belly.  Fritz
carried Henry to his bed, and dropped him on it with a laugh, looking
tenderly down at him.  Henry lifted his arms to receive Fritz.  They spent
an age kissing and stroking.  Henry found Fritz's penis a formidable
handful, the urethra more like a band of muscle.  It was steel-hard and
velvety.  The foreskin had retracted right back and Henry could not in the
end resist closing his mouth over it.  Looking up at a suddenly ecstatic
Fritz, Henry flickered around the glans with his busy tongue, licking up
and down the length and massaging Fritz's heavy balls with both hands.
  He broke off.  `Hey!  You shave yourself, Fritzy.'
  Fritz laughed.  `Yeah, and right up to my ass too, Henry.  It's a hygiene
thing in Rothenia.  You'll have a clear field for your activities.  You
clip yourself close too, baby.'
  `You called me baby!'
  `Just for tonight.  God, you give good head, you little English satyr.
More please.  You're better than most girls.'
  Henry chuckled a little, `When you have the equipment you know better how
to service it.'  He returned to his devotion and soon followed his tongue
behind the balls.  Fritz gasped and pulled back his muscular thighs to
allow Henry better access.  He moaned as Henry's tongue worked its way down
his perineum and finally began to engage with his virgin hole.  Henry could
not believe he would soon be allowed in there.  He tested it with a finger
and found it very tight.  Fritz could take a lot of anal stimulation, and
when Henry pulled off he found evidence of Fritz's excitement leaking out
of him.
  Henry re-engaged with Fritz's penis, relishing the sweetness of his
precum.  He was going to take his time with this virgin prince.  He slowly
licked his way up Fritz's abdomen and chest, sucking at his nipples and
nipping at them with his sharp teeth.  The expanse of smooth, toned and
tawny chest was driving him into an erotic frenzy.  He could resist it no
longer.
  The time had come.  `You gotta get me ready, Fritzy, and I mean ready.
Your dick is gonna be quite something to take.'  Fritz nodded, but was
having trouble saying anything, such was his excitement.
  Henry flipped himself on to his stomach, pulling a pillow under his
groin.  He felt hesitant fingers testing him.  His anus received a cool
squirt of lube, which warmed as Fritz rubbed it around with his fingertips.
  `Henry, this is really new territory for me.'
  `But not the sucking off, was it?'
  Fritz laughed.  `No, back in Terlenehem my gang of kids were into hand-
and blow-jobs.  It stopped in Modenehem, more's the pity.  Am I doing this
right, baby?'
  `I'm ready for penetration, Fritzy.  Start with one finger and take it
gently.  I could get three of Ed's up with no real problem.  Aim for that,
and don't be frightened to stretch me.'
  Fritz applied himself and, as his confidence grew, his long fingers were
able to give real stimulation.  He soon had Henry squirming involuntarily
on the bed.  Eventually Fritz withdrew.  `I can see a hole there, baby.
But how do I know it's open enough?'
  `Time to find out, I guess.  Just take it easy, apply a firm pressure
till you pop inside the muscle ring and hold it there for a bit.  Never
mind the noises I make.  You won't need to bother with a condom, either.'
  Fritz sighed wonderingly, `I really can't believe I'm about to do this.'
  Henry felt a spongy warmth as the broad head of Fritz's penis probed his
entry.  Henry was experienced, but he had his doubts about this encounter.
He felt the pressure build up.  Fritz cursed as his erection bent and slid
off the mark, not just once but twice.  Henry looked over his shoulder and
grinned.  `Exactly the same thing happened to Ed and me when we first tried
it.  Don't worry about it.  Just hold your dick to stiffen it'.
  Fritz relaxed and tried again.  This time the pressure persisted, and
Henry willed his anus to relax.  An instant later Fritz was inside him!
Henry was immediately aware that this was a very different penetration from
those of his earlier partners.  Fritz was wide as well as long.  Henry gave
an involuntary groan.
  `Are you okay, baby?' came the anxious question.
  `Yeah.  Just rest for a few moments and start the pressure again.  How
does it feel?'
  `Man, this is the best.  So hot and tight!  Better than that girl's ass I
went up.  Hey!  You squeezed me.  That's a great trick.  Oooh!'
  Henry was determined to accept this boy's cock all the way.  With
patience and coaching he took it slowly.  The stimulation was awesome.  It
had been a long time since he had such a thing inside him.  Fritz too was
in transports.  By the time he had buried himself in Henry up to the root
of his penis, he was moaning and nipping at Henry's neck and shoulders.  He
began rotating his hips, then reached under Henry's armpits to pinch his
friend's nipples.
  Henry gasped.  This was what it had been like with Ed, the feeling of
being totally possessed by a big and powerful animal.  And this one was so
beautiful, too.  His fragrance was like an aphrodisiac in Henry's nostrils.
  Henry went over the top.  Damn the pain!  He begged Fritz to start
fucking.  He soon got his wish.  Although the friction against his inner
skin from such a thick member was hard to take at first, once the pumping
began Henry was gasping and crying with delight.  His arse was receiving
the best workout it had experienced since Ed and he broke up.  This was
what he used to enjoy night after night.  How could he have given it up?
  It didn't take long for Fritz to climax inside Henry, but Henry didn't
mind.  They lay clasped together, Fritz wrapping himself round Henry just
the same way Ed used to do.  Fritz had no hang-ups about kissing, either,
and it was not long before Henry was moving down his body and licking and
sucking at Fritz's balls, while beginning the penetration with his fingers.
  It was not easy for Fritz.  It wasn't that he was not keen to take Henry,
but his anus was new to penetration and he hissed and squirmed as Henry's
insistent fingers probed inside him.  Playing with such a magnificent
backside nearly brought Henry to the brink.
  Finally he couldn't stand it any more.  He got Fritz on his back and
moved his legs out, then began the long and patient process of penetration.
He managed it without too much pain for Fritz and was delighted to see the
stunned look of surprise on his friend's face as the sensations emanating
from his rectum began turning to pleasure.
  They kissed lingeringly.  Henry kept up a varied pace until finally he
could stand it no more and began slapping away at his friend's buttocks
with his groin.  He came with a shout and fell forward into Fritz's
welcoming arms.
  A little while later, Fritz pushed himself up, kissed Henry and smiled.
`How was I, baby?'
  `A totally fantastic fuck, Fritzy.  You should think of taking it up full
time.  What did you think?'
  Fritz smiled back at him.  `It answered a lot of questions I had, Henry.
Now I know what Oskar feels like when he gets mounted by Peter.  I think
Pete usually tops him.  I heard them once.  I couldn't believe queer sex
was anything but fun after that.'
  Henry reached up and traced the scar across the bridge of Fritz's nose
and cheek.  `So ... er, you wouldn't mind doing me again?'
  `What, now?'
  `You're seventeen.  Seventeen-year-olds are legendary, Fritz.'  Fritz
laughed.  Henry saw that his cock was indeed ready for action again, and
Fritz did not disappoint him, either then or when he took Henry for the
third time two hours later.
  They woke late the next morning, cuddling together a while in bed before
going off to enjoy a shower and then dress.  Over a late breakfast, they
waxed a bit clinical about their love-making.
  `So what have we learned, Fritzy?'
  `I like sex, I like it a lot.  And most of all, I like it with those I
love -- you for one, my Henry.  I don't think I'm lost to heterosexuality,
though.  Girls are great too.  But I know a lot more about myself now, and
what pleasures me.  Maybe you and I will never fuck again, but if a man
attracts me in future, I won't resist if I find I have feelings for him.'
  `You're so beautiful, Fritzy.  I can't imagine anyone not falling under
your spell.  Is there anyone else at the moment?'
  Fritz looked confidential.  He leaned forward.  `You may think less of
me, my Henry, and suppose it's a rebound thing, but ... have you seen the
Princess Royal?'
  Henry gave Fritz a disbelieving look.  Fritz appeared a little sheepish,
but came back defensively.  `She is my age, and she's so very pretty, so
cool and clever.  We danced the night of the ball, and if I hadn't been all
hung up on Harry, I would have said something to her then.  She came to
visit me in hospital, you know ... twice.  Although I don't want to get
ahead of myself, I do have her MSN address.  I'm going to chat her up on
line.'
  Henry laughed, reached over and pulled Fritz toward him for a loving
kiss.  Breaking off he murmured, `In all the centuries since St Fenice, no
Tarlenheim has ever made an Elphberg marriage.  Do you suppose perhaps the
time has come at last, Fritzy?'