"Meeks is asleep," said Charlie in a low voice as he slipped into Neil and Knox's room. "I thought he'd never drop off, you'd think Christmas was tomorrow."

"Why didn't you guys want him here, anyway?" asked Knox, yawning a little himself.

Charlie snorted, flopping down onto the floor in his robe, lounging against Neil's bed. "Are you kidding? He's still just a kid, not like us."

"Yeah, we're practically men," said Neil dryly. "Just three more terms at Hellton!" he added with an excited grin, pulling his blankets down with him to sit next to Charlie. "A year and a half, and we'll be free."

"We'll be in college, doing what our fathers want us to do, you mean," said Charlie with a snort. "Come on, Knox, are you a man or a mouse?"

"I'm still not sure about this," said Knox, but he slid down to the floor anyway.

"Whaddaya mean?" said Neil, giving his shoulder a slap. "You're the one that figured it out for us."

"I just told you what I heard," said Knox, huddling in his blankets a little more, cheeks pink as he glanced from Charlie to Neil and back. "Is this really a good idea?"

---

"Neil, you'll never guess what Johnson was talking about," murmured Knox, glancing around the study hall to be sure no one was paying them any mind, as usual. "Did you know guys touch their, you know, things, on purpose?"

"Finally learning how babies are made?" said Neil, though Knox could tell he was intrigued.

"It's supposed to feel really good," said Knox, sitting down next to Neil and pretending to study his trig notes.

"What feels good?" asked Charlie, sliding in on the other side of Neil and nearly scaring Knox out of his wits. "The love of a good woman? Or a not so good but very accommodating one?"

"No," said Neil, shooting him a look. "Touching yourself," he clarified, glancing down at his crotch to make it clear where he meant.

Charlie raised one eyebrow, glancing down, then from Knox to Neil and back. "Well, then, I say we go for it."

"What? No," said Knox, wishing he'd never brought it up, though in truth he'd done so half hoping that one of them would want to try it, so he didn't have to risk blindness or going to Hell just to satisfy his own stupid curiosity.

"Chicken," said Charlie, managing somehow to lounge in his seat without ever looking like he'd moved. "If it feels good, I'm all for it."

"We knew that about you," said Neil sardonically, "but, this time I agree. We should try it out. Term's out for the winter next week, we should do it before we go."

"Your room, night before term lets out," said Charlie with a wicked grin. "I'll bring a box of tissues in case Knox cries for his immortal soul."

They all laughed at that, though Knox was squirming inside at the idea. He had a strange urge to ask the priest if it was a greater or lesser sin if you did it with your friends, but he had a feeling that would open a whole can of worms he wasn't ready to face. At least this way, he wouldn't be going to Hell alone.

---

"Well, boys, whip 'em out," said Neil, hand digging into his pajamas. "If we're going to do this, we're gonna do it all together. No guts, no glory."

"You got it," said Charlie, hand in his own pants, the motion made all the more obvious since he only had his robe and not a bundle of blankets like Neil and Knox.

Knox shivered, though he wasn't cold; he could feel himself hardening a little, watching his two friends fumble with their clothing, but he couldn't seem to bring himself to touch his own dick. "Why does it have to be together?" he asked, eyes going from their faces to their crotches, from where he could just see the tip of Neil's boner like one of his mother's rose pearls, all shiny and pink, to where Charlie had exposed the whole fat, naked length of his dick to the room.

"Just pull it out, already," said Charlie, reaching into Knox's pants for him.

Knox twitched and gasped, growing so hard he could practically feel the skin getting tight. Charlie's hand was warm and slightly sweaty, and it felt so good on his thing that Knox couldn't speak, could only swallow and stare as Charlie brought it out into the light, the whole thing browner than the rest of him, almost purple in the dim light. "Charlie, what're you doing?" he protested belatedly, his voice a choked whisper because, really, he didn't actually want Charlie to stop.

---

"So, we're gonna do this thing, right?" asked Charlie, leaning between Neil and Knox by the sinks with a hand on each of their bare shoulders while everyone bustled around them, getting ready for bed. Knox shivered, though the casual warmth of Charlie's fingers wouldn't have bothered him any other day.

He didn't have a chance to protest before Neil said, "Of course. Right, Knox?"

Knox shrugged; he couldn't deny that his curiosity had grown, though he was still nervous about doing it in front of them, with them. "I'm ready if you are," he said unconvincingly, not missing the look that Charlie shot him in the mirror, a look that warned him not to back out if he knew what was good for him.

---

"Oh, stop being such a wuss," said Neil, snagging Knox's hand and putting it, not with Charlie's on his own boner, but around Neil's slender, smooth dick. It was hot, hotter than he'd expected, and it felt really weird and kind of good. Neil's breath caught at the contact, and his hips thrust just a little when Knox's fingers closed over it. Knox couldn't help but stroke just a little, like the seniors had mimed, shivering when Neil let out a little noise that was probably, hopefully, pleasure.

Neil reached out a fumbling hand and Charlie scooted closer, and suddenly they were all doing it to each other, hands stroking and Knox's brain shorting out entirely between the feel of Charlie's soft fingers on him, and the hot thrust of Neil's dick into his sweaty hand.

"That feels so good," said Neil softly, his voice low and, oh god, sexy, and Knox stroked more, loving the feel of it, the power to make Neil bite his lip against his cries, the surge of pleasure that went through his own body as Charlie picked up the technique, and the sight of Charlie all undone, that stupid smirk wiped away by Neil's graceful touches.

"It's gonna be over soon," announced Charlie, all his usual cool gone and not the least bit missed as he thrust and squirmed and finally let out a choked cry and spilled, thick and white, all over Neil's hand.

Knox couldn't believe it, and suddenly something slammed into him and it was all he could do not to cry out himself as his thing jumped in Charlie's hand and spattered the same pearly fluid all over the floor in front of them, staining the tile and even his blankets a little. "That, oh," said Knox, staring at the mess and thinking he ought to care.

"Little help here," whispered Neil, and Knox flushed and went back to stroking, faster and harder now that he wasn't thinking about Charlie at all, watching Neil's face while his hand moved over Neil's boner, trying to coax it out of him so they'd all be together in this, like they were supposed to be.

Neil let out another of those gasps, and Knox could feel it getting bigger in his hand, pulsing as it spurted out more of that goo, adding to the sharp scent that filled the room, hot and sticky on his hand where he kept stroking until Neil pushed him away. "Too much, sorry, sorry," he said, reaching under his bed for Charlie's purloined tissues and handing them out so they could all clean up as best they could.

"We're doing that again next term, right?" said Charlie, dick cleaned up and tucked away, back to lounging once again, though his grin was looser, more real.

Knox swallowed, dabbing at the spot on his blanket some more just to avoid looking at them a few moments longer. "Swear it's just between us?" he said, knowing in his gut that this would be much, much worse than the time they'd been caught raiding the kitchens.

"Swear," said Neil, spitting into his palm and holding it out.

"Swear," echoed Charlie, doing the same.

Somehow, it seemed more adult, knowing their hands had all been covered in a much more personal bodily fluid just a minute ago. Knox spat into his hand, then they all shook awkwardly. "Swear."

Knox found himself grinning. "I guess this makes us best friends, huh?" he said shyly; he'd never quite felt like he was on par with Neil, who could lead them all anywhere with his grinning enthusiasm, or cool Charlie who always had cigarettes and an irreverent joke for every occasion.

"Yeah," said Neil, glancing from one to the other, wiping his hand on his leg, "I think it does."