The Once Future King:
Part One: The Boyhood
An EVELMYS Story

Chapter V:
Stuck

His heart beat near uncontrollably fast, as he felt Nick pull away from his face. His mind was reeling, his heart was racing, and his body needed and wanted more.

"Wha…" he was stumped by Nick's actions. Though, he had dreamt about it many times. He had wondered what Nick's lips would taste and feel like as they gently embraced his own. In his wildest imagination, he never foresaw Nick actually kissing him. The complete shock of the event which just unfolded still kept his mind sprinting.

"Please, don't say I have made a mistake," he looked near pale as a ghost. His eyes were wide, nervous, and nearly scared to death. There sat Greg, after one of the most amazing events in his life and the person who gave it to him looked as though Greg was about to kill him.

"No," promptly answered Greg as his face reddened in a deep maroon blush. "I just, I wasn't expecting you to kiss me."

There he was sitting there, his mind reeling with emotions and sensations he had only dreamt about having played out before his very eyes. He looked over towards Nick and then returned his gaze back internally and asked himself silently what it was that he exactly wanted from Nick. Images of the forbidden kiss played through his head, the sensation of the embrace burned to his skin and etched into his memory. His brown eyes searched for understanding and knowing in Nick's eyes, and he found the same want, the same lust, and passion that lay beneath his chest and behind his own beating heart.

There was no thought. Only want and need were left in Greg's mind. So, before he could have a chance to understand just what it is that he was doing, his body was doing it for him. The distance between them closed, the breath in Greg's lungs slowed to a crawl, his eyelids fluttered down as his lips gently brushed over Nick's lips. The kiss was hungry and wanted. It was as if everything in Greg's life has led him to this one moment. His heart beat hard in his chest, his need and want powerfully took over his control. It was as if his whole life was missing something and Nick right now had filled in every missing gap. He never felt so complete.

He pulled back, looked at the older boy and smiled shyly, hoping he didn't do something wrong. Nick's face was livid with emotion and he nearly appeared to be a child in a candy store with a million dollar bill clinched tight in his hand. He appeared to be in heaven.

It was the last thing he had expected though. He had not expected Greg to return his kiss. He wasn't expecting him to return his feelings of lust and attraction. He most certainly wasn't expecting that juicy tongue to slip between his lips. He wasn't expecting the way his body responded to the actions. Never before had he seen Greg's eyes so blacked with lust and need. The floodgates had been opened and suddenly, they couldn't keep their hands off each other. They sat there holding each other kissing desperately.

Their need for each other's approval was magnificent and intense. Even to Nick, the quietest of Judge Stokes's boys felt strong needs to have and to hold Greg's approval for him and the way he felt. More than anything, he needed to know that Greg understood and accepted him for who he was. With this kiss, and the ones that followed, Nick knew Greg understood perfectly. While they both needed each other badly, near desperately in fact, they both also knew just how important it was to keep this thing a secret. The fact that Nick believed he loved Greg, and Greg's response, was something that was on the never tell Bill Stokes list. It was a secret both guys would have to keep if they valued their lives.

The summer was filled with the two of them sneaking away; laying on blankets lost, in the frenzy of hot kisses and ecstasy of lust. Day by day, the days got warmer, and day by day, the two grew closer. They were two minds with similar needs and similar wants. They needed each other to scratch their ever-itchy backs, and to relieve themselves of the stress the family placed upon their shoulders.

The time escaped them as the beginning of the new school year quickly approached them. The time they had together was quickly becoming less frequent, and yet still so desired.

It was a sunny hot day, with dry heat and the two of them barely snuck away from each other. The mood was desperate, as they looked each other in their loving eyes.

"I'm going to miss you," said Nick. The kiss that followed was hot and desperate, as his feelings for Greg too were desperate and taking over. "I don't want to go," he cooed miserably.

"I don't want you to go either," admitted Greg. "I hate it here without you."

They took comfort in each other's arms. The moments they shared together were waning away into the darkness as the school year loomed ahead of them.

Greg always hated it when Nick would go off to school. Over the last two months, he had grown very fond of him and loved him in a way he never thought he would. For Greg, who normally experienced horrific summers, found that this summer was the best summer he could remember. Never before could he remember having been the focus of attention. Never before, had the needs of this small boy been met.

From his attic window the very next day he watched, through the tears dripping down his face, as his beloved Nick placed his trunks into the bed of the pick-up. His brown eyes for a moment gazed to the upstairs window and the goodbye was said silently through the panes of glass. Moments later, Nick was gone.

The hot summer days faded to livable days of fall. The leaves were turning brown now and falling from the trees, as November came to an uneventful conclusion. Though there was precious little going on, Greg still found himself rather excited that Christmas break was coming. Christmas break meant no school; no school meant that Nick would be coming home. Oh, Greg was ecstatic.

The weeks passed quickly, and before Greg knew it, winter break was upon him. He waited by the trapdoors each night, hoping for Nick to walk through the door, but he never came. Every night he convinced himself that Nick might arrive the next day, and every night he was disappointed. It was moments like this that made Greg realize just how much he missed Nick.

The last day of school arrived, and all Greg wanted was for it to last forever so he wouldn't have to go home to a Nick-less house. The worst part about it was that Judge Stokes had gotten a month off, which meant Greg would be spending most of the break locked away in the attic bedroom he hated so much.

He had barely gotten to school, and the despair was as plain as day written upon his face. "Cheer up," said Lily. Lily was a sweet girl, with a short stature, and long shiny brunette hair. But, what Greg could remember most was her eyes. She had the most amazing blue eyes Greg could ever recall seeing. Though she was beautiful, she must have been as lonely as Greg. She was called the Lily of the West by some, and the name fit her well. Others, though, called her the forbidden Lily for her father's wishes. She was a darling to the town, and a jewel in her father's eye.

That was the problem. Lily Knotweed was the youngest daughter (and the far better looking daughter) of Spade's Mayor Phlox Knotweed. Phlox was a good man, however you get one toe out of line regarding his precious Lily of the West, and his eyes could skin you alive. Many boys tried to seduce her and every time their ears would be boxed. However, Mayor Phlox took an unusual liking to Gregory Stokes, the honorable Judge's youngest son. He liked him, for the simple reason that even though his daughter Lily had taken a liking to Greg, and often voiced her adoration of the young man. Phlox smiled kindly, knowing that Gregory Stokes had never once attempted to return his beautiful daughter's attentions.

So despite the fact that she was forbidden, the two remained good friends, much to the envy of the rest of the schoolboys in Spade. Because Greg was the only one who could ever get close to Lily Flora Knotweed, and none of them understood why he didn't attempt anything.

They sat in the cafeteria together as usual, Greg slouched over, dreading the day to come, and Lily hopelessly in love with a guy who could never return her feelings.

"It couldn't be all that bad," she said with a pretty little smile.

"Oh, it can be that bad," grumbled Greg talking rather pointedly to his forearm. Judge Bill Stokes being home all winter break long, and still no sign of Nick, this was about as bad as things could get.

"It's Christmas and we have no school, what could be bad about it?"

He wanted to say it was because money was thin and the cotton crop didn't produce as expected. He had wanted to say anything to make the interrogation stop. The problem was, Greg had a very good reason for disliking the winter holiday, and he wasn't about to divulge the information to his best friend. The last thing Greg wanted people to know was that he was locked up for countless hours and nearly forgotten about every summer and winter break.

He arrived home in low spirits. Nick was still away at some prep school, Judge Bill Stokes was home, and Jillian was looking still yet graver by the day. She had been sick recently, and it had driven Greg into hard anxieties. Jillian was the only reason he got out at all. Jillian was the reason why he didn't just hate life. She made it bearable and now she might be stuck in the hospital with a bad case of Staph Pneumonia.

To Be Continued...