On the way out, Matthew caught Mr Sorensen in the hall, and he wanted to speak to Matthew. He stopped him, and asked him if anything had happened to upset Lukas while he’d been away in Melbourne. Lukas didn’t seem to be his usual self, Mr Sorensen said, and he was worried about him.

Matthew said he thought Lukas was okay, though he knew, as he was saying it, that he had castrated Lukas less than an hour ago. He was feeling sick in the stomach, which was the blood, he supposed, and not the testicles themselves. You couldn’t swallow any quantity of blood without wanting to vomit.

‘So you think he’s alright?’

‘Yes,’ Matthew said. ‘If anything, I think he’s happier.’

‘You’re a good friend, Matthew,’ Mr Sorensen said, and then he nodded, studying Matthew’s face closely, and put his hand on Matthew’s shoulder.

Matthew was wearing those same jeans again, the high-waisted ones that he had said he wouldn’t wear, that he had had since he was fifteen. He had worn them deliberately, because they squashed his gear up, so that it wasn’t so noticeable, but now that he had flushed his bloodied jockstrap down the toilet, his cock was stretched down against one leg, and his balls were held in a vice grip on either side of the seam. The things were so tight, he may as well have been wearing tights.

You may as well be wearing tights, he said to himself as he closed the front door and walked down the path through the garden to the gates.

When the taxi came, it was a woman driver, and he had to sit in the front. She looked at his groin, like everyone did now, like he was some sort of freak.

By the time he got home, his eyes were watering from the pressure on his balls, and he supposed Lukas was lucky in one way, never having to feel that pain again.

The pain didn’t help with Matthew’s nausea, and as he was paying the driver, he had almost decided to push his fingers into his throat, and vomit Lukas’ testicles. Still, though, he didn’t want to do this, unless he had to. He liked the idea of them being part of him, of them being taken into his body and forming his cells, as though they would make a man of him, like he was some ancient warrior. There couldn’t be too many guys in this day and age, he told himself, who got to eat some other guy’s nuts. The thought of it started to make him hard, but his dick was trapped against his leg.

‘Matthew! Come in here,’ his mother said, as he was walking past the sitting room.

She was standing by the drinks cabinet and looking at the carpet.

‘What do you think this is?’

Matthew knew what it was. It was wine. A wine stain. And it had been there for weeks.

‘I think its wine,’ he said. ‘Or it might be coffee.’

‘I’m going to have to get these carpets done,’ she said, straightening up. ‘I think the whole house needs doing, don’t you?’

Matthew shrugged.

‘Aren’t you wearing any underwear?’

‘I’ve got shorts on.’

‘Well I don’t think that’s good enough, Matthew. You need some support. You can’t walk around like that.’

She was a little tipsy, or she wouldn’t have said it. Still, though, Matthew felt himself turn red in the face.

He nodded, biting his lips, and felt like he was going to cry.

He turned around and walked out of the room.

When he had climbed the stairs, and locked his door, he sat down on his bed, hard, thrusting his head into his hands, and feeling both of his balls pop up into his groin under the pressure of the jeans, trying to get back to where they came from.

He stood up, with tears streaming down his face, and peeled the jeans down, having to turn them inside out to do it. He found his balls, and pushed them out of his groin with his thumbs.

His phone rang while he was doing this, while he still had his jeans around his ankles. It was an unknown number, but he answered it.

‘Hey dude.’

It was Rodney.

‘Oh, hey,’ Matthew said. He felt his cock jump up erect, just from the idea of standing there, with his jeans around his ankles, hearing Rodney’s voice on the phone.

He sat down on the bed and put one hand on his cock.

‘What’s up?’

‘Not much,’ Matthew said, pulling on his cock gently.

‘What’s happening with Lukas?’

‘Not much.’

‘Have you done his cock yet?’

Matthew felt a surge of pleasure flow into his loins.

‘He won’t let me.’

‘Oh, dude. You ought to convince him.’

‘I’ve tried.’

Rodney said nothing.

‘Do you want to hear what I did do?’

‘What?’

‘I cut his balls out of his sack.’

‘No way.’

‘Way.’

‘Oh, shit, dude, that’s epic. Have you got them?’

‘No.’

‘Can you get them?’

‘I flushed them down the john.’

‘Matto! Fuck dude. You should have given them to me.’

‘What would you have wanted them for?’ Matthew said, pulling on his cock a little harder.

‘I would have cooked them up. Shared them with some of the guys at school. Taken them in on a sandwich or something.’

Matthew came, thinking of Rodney, with his full lips and white teeth, his golden brown hair, and his dark blue eyes, chewing away on Lukas’ testicles in a sandwich with a group of his mates.

‘Are you there, dude?’

‘Yeah.’ Matthew was breathless.

‘What’s up?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Do you reckon you’re gonna come up here again? You could show me. Like last time.’

‘We might come up on Friday.’

‘Yeah. Well if you do his cock, I want it. Is that a deal?’

‘He won’t let me.’

Rodney said nothing.

‘You haven’t told anyone have you? About his nuts, I mean.’

‘Fuck, dude, you really are a shitarse. What do you think I am? Some idiot kid?’

‘No. Of course not. Sorry. It’s just…’

‘I told a few of my mates, okay, but it’s not like I mentioned any names.’

Matthew nodded.

‘Are you there, Matto?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Well, come up on Friday.’

‘Okay. Yeah. We probably will.’