Lukas made a sound that Matthew didn’t know a human could make, though it was certainly wretched enough.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘I don’t have any balls.’

He had his hands under the covers and was still feeling.

‘Well you’re not going to find them. They’re not there.’

‘How could that happen?’

‘Lukey, you let me crush them in a vice. They’re not just going to magically reappear.’

‘I didn’t let you.’

‘You wanted me to. You kept asking me to keep going.’

‘I wanted to come.’

‘Well. There, now. You have to pay the price.’

‘Here,’ Matthew said, wrapping his arms around Lukas. ‘Stop feeling them.’

Lukas took his hands out of the covers.

‘Don’t you want me to fuck you?’

‘Do you want to?’

‘Kind of. I kind of like it now that you’re like that.’

‘Really?’

Matthew held him tighter.

Lukas started suddenly, and pulled away from him.

‘What time is it?’ he said.

Matthew turned his head and looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table. ‘Twelve forty-three,’ he said.

‘McCady will be up here in a minute. She said she’d bring my lunch up at one.’

‘I put the bolt on the door.’

‘Well you shouldn’t have done that,’ Lukas said, getting out of the bed. He walked out of the room naked, and up the hall.

When he came back, Matthew had a look at his sack, and felt like laughing. It was just like that guy in the movie. It was hanging, and swinging from side to side, and you could see there wasn’t any balls in there. Just heavy mush drooping all into the centre. He felt his cock grow rock hard, and knew he was close to coming.

‘Do you want something?’ Lukas said, picking up his phone from the bedside table. ‘She’s making toasted sandwiches. Ham and tomato.’

‘Okay. But tell her to bring it in fifteen or twenty minutes.’

Lukas nodded.

‘Can you make some sandwiches for Matthew too?’ he said, when she had answered. And then he nodded his head a few times while she was speaking. He was like a boy now. More like a boy than he’d ever been, and his voice was different. Not higher, not really, but more fluting and sing-song. ‘Maybe in fifteen or twenty minutes. We’re doing something right now.’

Lukas closed his phone and bit his lips, frowning.

Matthew pulled his eyes away from Lukas’ sack.

‘I tried to call you, you know?’

Lukas shook this away with his head and his hands as though it was something he couldn’t acknowledge. He put the phone down, and got into the bed, kneeling up on it first, so that Matthew could see his sack swinging.

‘I’m supposed to give myself an enema,’ he said, kneeling down on his heels.

‘What’s that?’

‘It’s a gay thing. Hang on,’ he said. He got off the bed and walked out into the hall, to his bathroom by the sound of it. He closed the door.

‘Fuck!’ Matthew said, as the minutes ticked by. McCady would be here in ten or fifteen minutes.

Lukas reappeared, looking sheepish.

‘What did you do?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Come on then. Here, lay on your side.’ He pushed Lukas over and lifted one of his legs up, sliding his hard cock along Lukas’ arse where Lukas had put lubricant, by the feel of it.

‘Can you not touch my balls again?’ Lukas said.

You don’t have any, Matthew felt like saying, though he said, ‘You said I could.’

‘It hurts.’

‘It sounded like you enjoyed it.’

‘I couldn’t help it. I knew it was making me come, but it hurt like hell.’

‘Well you’ll just have to put up with it,’ Matthew said.

He slid his cock along Lukas’ crack and felt the head of it up against Lukas’ ring hole. He pushed a little harder, but nothing happened. It wasn’t going to go up there easily. He grabbed Lukas’ hips and forced it, feeling the head of it slide into the muscle, which felt as tight as a fist. He forced a little more, and felt his cock enter Lukas as Lukas made a sound.

Matthew slid his cock in all the way, exhaling, and came.

His body shuddered.

The idea that that had been so much better than it had been with Christian flashed across his mind briefly, and then he realised he could come again. He hadn’t even touched Lukas’ balls.

He reached between Lukas’ legs and grabbed his sack, gently at first, though he increased the pressure a little bit every time he pumped. By the end of it, Lukas was squirming, his legs jolting and juddering, both of his hands on Matthew’s as he tried to push it away from his sack. He made a whole lot of different noises, ending with his long drawn out “oo”, like a kettle, and then he climaxed, and relaxed, and Matthew came again, squeezing hard on the slush.

Matthew was relaxing, and breathing heavily, when he heard the door at the end of the hall close.

McCady was walking toward them.

Matthew jumped up and grabbed his clothes, his jeans, T-shirt, runners and socks, and hot-footed it into Lukas’ walk in robe, just as McCady entered the room.

‘Where’s that Matthew?’ she said.

‘He’s in the bathroom,’ Matthew heard Lukas say, though his voice sounded unnatural.

‘Were you crying out, Crumpet? I thought I heard something as I was coming along the gallery.’

Lukas said no, that he hadn’t, and she left.

Matthew sat next to Lukas on the bed again, though he had his jeans now, and was on top of the covers.

‘Was that your first time?’ Lukas said.

‘No.’

‘It was mine.’

‘Was it okay?’

Lukas didn’t answer.

‘It was only my second,’ Matthew said. ‘My first time with,’ he paused, and didn’t even know if he was telling the truth, ‘a guy.’

Lukas nodded, chewing on a mouthful of sandwich.

He seemed happy enough.

‘I’ve got an old wetsuit at home. We can go up to Whale again tomorrow and you can wear that. I mean, you can have it if you want. It’s too small for me.’

Lukas said nothing.

‘It’ll keep you warm.’

‘I’ve got to see Dr Mueller tomorrow.’

Matthew paused, took another bite of his sandwich, and chewed while he said,

‘Well, you don’t have to go and see him do you?’

‘I kind of do.’

Neither of them said anything for a long time.

‘You know, Lukas. I really do like you better like that. I wouldn’t have fucked you if you had balls.’