Gimme Shelter, 6

So Boy's brother had been forcing him to have sex with him? That's not nice, but – lucky brother! Ronnie would've loved to do that stuff with him, to touch him, hold him and cuddle him, to kiss him and peel off his clothes and do whatever else it was that people did together, when they did sex stuff.

It happened, he knew that. Lots of people did stuff together; he just didn't know much about it really. Mostly, he'd just like to get as close as possible to him. He'd get inside his skin if he could, but only if he wanted to. He wouldn't force him or anything, he wouldn't do that to Boy.

He wanted this beautiful boy to love him. How was he going to tell him that? He hadn't a clue. There was no way of telling it, of course, but Boy was feeling exactly the same way about him. They were both a bit whakama, so they both sat smiling quietly and just delighting in being with each other.

Boy really was a beautiful boy. He was 100% gorgeous. He had medium-length, dark-brown, almost black, hair with big sweeping curls in it. His eyes were brown, big warm and soft and perfect, totally flawless and hairless golden-brown skin.

He was long and lean and kind-of elegant. His butt, when he saw it, and Ronnie certainly looked, was high and firm, small, shapely and a little protruding. It was pert and perfect. When he walked, he almost bounced, like he was walking on springs, he was that full of life and energy.

Apart from his warm, rich, colouring, the only obviously 'maori' thing about his features was his mouth – thick, dark-red lips, usually parted in a smile. His infectious smile was his best feature.

Boy was also looking at a beautiful boy, slight build, dark hair and dark eyes with fresh-faced porcelain skin. He was a cute kid, but maybe a bit pale, like he needed to get out more. The wire-rimmed glasses didn't spoil his looks at all, they made him look studious and intelligent.

They both sat looking and grinninmg at each other, both thinking, 'Beautiful boy!' They didn't say it out loud, of course, but if they had they would've slapped hands and cried, “Snap!”

“So. Umm.” Ronnie was starting to feel a bit awkward, like he had to do something to entertain his guest so he'd want to stay a while and come back another time. “This is good.”

“Yeah, it's good,” Boy grinned back. “What d'you want to do?”

“We could go down and see the trains.”

“The little toy trains? Whose are they again?”

“They're models – toys for big boys. They're Dad's trains really, but we're allowed to work them. There's a big room full of them with little houses and cars, streets and everything. They are downstairs.”

“Down underground?”

“Well, yeah, kind-of. You have to come and see.”

“Yeah, some other time I might. This is nice, being up here. Can we sit in the window and watch the street?”

“Sure we can. Do you want a coke?”

“The coke is downstairs, isn't it? No, I don't want a coke, thanks. Let's just sit and talk.”

“Okay. Talk about what?”

“Anything!”

They sat together in the open window, with their legs hanging out in the sunshine, looking down over the front street.

“Those books,” Boy asked. “Any dirty ones amongst them?”

“Dirty ones?”

“Yeah, you know – nude pictures and stuff.”

“No there's not!” Ronnie laughed. “There's nothing like that, not likely! It was a public lending library.”

“Public? I thought you said it was private?”

“Well, yeah it was owned privately, but they were rented out to the public. That's how the guy made his living. There's no nudie magazines or anything; it was a long time ago and they wouldn't have been allowed.”

“Shame. I bet they would've been popular.”

“Yeah, probably, with some people, but they would've been illegal way back then, he would have got shut down.”

“Hell, if I had a library, I'd have lots of pornos and make a fortune from horny kids.”

“You might, but you'd be in huge trouble if you got caught.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Still a shame though. I suppose they'd all be old ladies anyway and – eww!”

“They'd be old ladies by now and, yeah, eww!”

“Is there any nudist club magazines? They've been around forever.”

“I think they have, but I haven't got any. They'd be all tits and front-bums anyway – doesn't interest me.”

“Yeah, me either. Eww!”

“Yeah, eww.”

They sat and talked for hours, watching the day slide into night. Ronnie was as happy as he'd ever been in his life. They lived in different worlds and had next to nothing in common, but it didn't matter. He really, really liked this boy and he knew that he liked him too. It'd be great if they were to have sex together, he'd love it! But if they didn't, it didn't matter, (much). He'd still be happy to just be with him.

Their idyllic time together ended with a pounding on the door and Reggie burst into the room.

“You are here. I knew you would be. Why isn't the intercom turned on?”

“Is it off? Sorry, I didn't know. Do you know Boy? Boy, my brother, Reggie.”

“Hey Reggie,” Boy smiled.

“Boy Manawatu, right? Hey Boy. Ronnie has to come for dinner before Gran explodes. Do you want to come and eat with us?”

“Thanks, but no. Some other time, maybe. I'd better get home, I should've been there ages ago and they'll be looking for me, so I'd better go. Thanks, Ronnie. I've had a great day.”

“Thank you and me too. When can we do it again?”

“If I can get away, I'll come back tomorrow, but I might not. There's lots of family around but they're all on the booze and someone's got to watch the little kids and make sure they don't get into trouble.”

“Well, yeah. Great if you can, but don't worry if you can't and I'll see you at school. I'll be up here tomorrow and I'll leave the street door unlocked, okay?”

“Yeah, good. See you, Ronnie. 'Bye, Reggie.”

Boy came back again the next day. He was early arriving, so early that Ronnie hadn't even come up yet. When he did he was delighted to see Boy already there waiting for him.

They spent the rest of the day sitting in the reading-room, talking about everything and anything, almost. They were both at the age when sex is supremely important for the first time. They were attracted to each other but too shy to talk about it. They both wanted to but didn't know how to begin, so they didn't.

Almost anything else was open for discussion including the hundreds of books that Ronnie wanted to share with his new friend. In the days that followed, and right through the winter school holidays, most of their free time was spent together, mostly up in the reading room but sometimes out walking and fishing off the wharf. (They never actually caught any fish but they drowned a few worms).

When Ronnie finally persuaded Boy to come and see the rooms downstairs he went, reluctantly, looked and wanted out. Not even the trains could get him to stay for long. He agreed that the rooms were all very cool, especially the enormous living-room, he just didn't like being underground. He'd never be a miner, no matter how well it paid.

Ronnie tried to tell him that the rooms were as safe as any others, but he wasn't buying it. There was no logic in it, he just felt like he was buried alive down there and didn't like it one little bit.

Boy slept over on a few nights, but they slept on cushions in the reading-room. Ronnie was too shy to sleep-over at Boy's house, but he ate there a couple of times. The people there made him welcome, well, some of them did, most of them ignored him, kind-of. Carrie's parents, (and they looked far too young to be her mum and dad), were real nice to him and couldn't stop thanking him for saving their girl. So that was good.

Boy's Koru, his grandfather, was just a little old man but there was something impressive about him. He was very much the head of the family and his word was law. Impressive.