My Roommate the Alchemist

Concordium 30

My Roommate the Alchemist chapter 14

First Friday of the School Year

Kieran

The clock said 7:00 a.m. when I woke up with Jason kissing my neck. He was spooned up behind me and I was resting my head on his left arm. His right arm was gently rubbing my stomach, brushing against my morning erection on each pass. Jason's hard cock was pressed between my thighs and was pushing up against my balls.

"Rise and shine, beautiful prince," he whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

I pushed my butt back against him and moaned, "You make me feel so good, Sir."

He nibbled my ear and slid his right hand between my butt cheeks and teased my hole. "Let's see how much effect the unguent of Li Pei has had."

He snaked his finger inside me without much resistance. It was like my ring was welcoming him. I was still tight, but it felt good to be stretched. And this morning his fingers felt so good going in, that I took a deep breath and sighed. "I want to wake up this way every morning, Sir."

"I thought about trying to slide inside you lying just the way we are, but I'm afraid to hurt you," he said, bending around to kiss my lips.

"I'd like to try, Sir," I mumbled against his lips.

Jason pulled his hips back and lifted my right thigh a little. I could feel his cock lined up with my hole and I wanted it inside me right then. But Jason said, "I must go slow, and if it's too painful, I need you to let me know. It won't disappoint me. It will just give me an opportunity to relax you with my tongue. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir," I said, vowing to myself that I was going to make this work no matter how it felt.

Jason slid two fingers inside me. I clamped down on them with my ring. They felt so good. Then he worked a third beside them and spread them out a little. I groaned in happiness and bit his left arm gently. I knew that his cock was bigger than three fingers, but I wasn't in any real pain. Pressure yes, pain no.

He pulled his fingers out and pressed his cock against my hole. "I'm going in now, baby," he said. "Don't forget to let me know if it's too much."

"Mm-hmm," I moaned.

There was pain. It wasn't overwhelming or blinding in intensity, but I felt it. I clenched my ass then released the pressure, allowing him to slide the head inside me. I whimpered a little and bit the knuckle of my right index finger.

"Are you alright?" Jason asked. "Do you need me to work on your pretty little rose bud for a while?"

He was sweet and solicitous, always looking out for me, but now I kind of wanted him to be my master and just force his way inside me. "It's good, Sir," I whimpered. "It's really good. You can just push it in. I'm ready."

Jason gave a low chuckle against my neck. "I have no desire to hurt your pretty little hole, Kieran. We're going to do this slowly, but I am going to try and get all the way inside you this morning."

"Haven't we been doing that, Sir?" I asked.

"No, baby, we haven't," he replied with a laugh. "My cock isn't small, and you were a virgin until a couple of days ago. I'm going to try and fit all eight inches inside today."

He kissed my neck some more. If he was trying to distract me, he was doing a good job. "But I want you to know that you won't disappoint me if we can't do it yet. We have a long time to keep working on it."

He slid further inside me, and I gave a little gasp of pain as he hit something. "I think you're trying to break through the wall, Sir," I said through clenched teeth, trying to sound as relaxed as possible, but sure that it was a paper thin attempt.

"It's not a wall, baby," he said. "It's another doorway. So far you've let me inside your antechamber, but I think I need to peek inside the next room. Just let me knock a few times and see if you're ready to open."

I wasn't sure I understood his metaphors, but I knew two things for sure. I wanted him inside me all the way, and it was beginning to hurt a lot. He poked me again and I gave a gasp.

"Shh, just one more time," he said. Then he pressed against me, and I felt a blinding pain for a moment, then it began to recede. He must have felt the tension in my body. He hugged me tight against his chest and said, "You did it, little prince. I've got all eight and an eighth inside you. I'm going to leave it there until the pain goes away."

He kissed my neck and shoulders and rubbed my belly some more. "The good news," he said, "is that your body will open the inner door a little faster each time."

Then he pushed my right leg up so that it lay at an acute angle to my body, and he put his own right leg up behind it, giving him easier access to my butt. He started fucking me for real. He pulled almost all the way out, then slid inside again. I guessed that my "inner door" was still open for him because I didn't get that painful experience again. Instead, there was an incredible feeling of fullness.

"Your cock is so big, Sir, and it feels so good inside me," I said. "I wish I could feel like this all the time."

Jason nibbled my earlobe and said, "Your body was made for me, and my cock was made for you. From the moment I first saw you, I knew that this was where we belonged, joined together, two bodies becoming one."

Each time Jason moved inside me, he was hitting my prostate which made every breath quick and shallow. My cock was hard and throbbing, but that was its normal state these days;  when I did cum, I was hard again after a few minutes. My skin was getting warm, and I was tingling from my head to my toes.

"I'm going to cum, sir!" I cried, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps.

Jason pulled my hair back off my sweaty forehead and said in a low, sexy voice, "Do it baby. Cum for me. Show me how much you love it."

His hand moved down to cup the head of my cock, barely touching it, but prepared to catch my seed. He purred "Cum for me" repeatedly until my whole body tensed and then released in waves. My spunk flowed out of my cock into his waiting hand. My ass clenched his cock as hard as it could, and I felt him getting close. Less than a minute later, he came.

"My baby cums first; you always come first with me," he said, wrapping me tight in his muscular embrace. It's what I'd always wanted. Before I'd shrunk, I would have needed a lover six foot six or taller to make me feel so cocooned in his arms, like a cage of firm, masculine muscle wrapped around me.

We lay like that for I don't know how long, him holding me and my ass holding onto his cock as it slowly became detumescent. He kissed my neck again, and I pulled his hand to my mouth and licked my own cum from his palm. I could have lain there forever, but Jason was more practical than me.

"We can't lie here all day long making love," he said. "One day we will, but not on a school day. We must get up now."

He climbed out of bed. I didn't follow him. Instead, I rolled over onto my back and beckoned for him to kiss me again. He leaned over me, his naked body flexing as he did. I thought he was the most attractive man I'd ever seen, with his light, golden brown skin covering a thin musculature that rippled when he moved. His face was the visage of a warrior, with slanted deep brown eyes above high cheekbones. His collar length black hair hung straight down in a shiny cascade. I couldn't believe that this powerful man wanted me. The image of my childish drawing of the heart surrounded by roses, with the motto "Jason and Kieran Lee" emblazoned on a ribbon came to my mind.

He wrapped his left arm under my neck and kissed my lips, his tongue taking full possession of my mouth in a way it couldn't while he was spooning me from behind. His left hand slid under my butt and then he lifted me out of the bed and stood me on the ground next to him. The top of my head came up just a tad further than his lips.

"You clean up this mess," he said, gesturing at the bed and the clothes we'd thrown on the floor last night, "and I will get the tea ready."

I scrambled around to get everything neat. Luckily both Jason and I liked a neat and orderly living space, so I never had too much to do to keep our place clean for my man. I was done just as Jason was finishing the tea. He never brewed it long. He'd told me that Americans always over brewed their tea. This one had a stronger flowery flavor, richer and more pungent than the Jasmine he'd given me earlier. I liked it. It almost tasted sweet, although I knew Jason wouldn't have added sugar. The faint bitterness from the powders Jason added to my tea were less noticeable this time. The glass teapot he was pouring from had large yellow flowers floating in the water.

I drank it down as I swallowed all the pills Jason gave me, while he was preparing some for Alonzo and Erik. I thought there were more of them than before, but I knew he wouldn't tell me what I was taking. He expected me to take whatever he gave me, without question. He wrote up a note and left it on the tray for our suitemates. He asked me to leave it in their room before using the bathroom. He joined me just as I was finishing my morning poop. He looked in the bowl and nodded, like he approved of what he saw. I thought it a strange habit, but Jason said he could tell a lot about my health just from looking at my poop.

My gorgeous warrior man stood behind me and carefully brushed out my hair. It was hanging over my shoulders this morning. After getting all the knots out, he braided it quickly and had me put on a shower cap. He'd purchased one in blue with golden dragons on it. Then we showered. I loved washing his body; I loved feeling his muscles under his skin. He wasn't hairless like me, but his body was only lightly dusted with fine hair. After he'd dried me gently with a big fluffy towel, he pulled the shower cap off my head and unbraided my hair again.

Back in the room, we stood before the mirror, like we did most mornings. I could see my pale, naked body with his larger golden brown one behind me. Damn we look good, I thought. Still, I was noticeably smaller than yesterday.

"I think you have finally become, or are almost finished becoming," he said, rubbing my chest and kissing my neck. My knees threatened to give way, so I lay back against him.

"I don't know what you mean, Sir," I said, "becoming what?"

"Becoming yourself, Kieran," he explained with a typical Jason non-answer. "When I first met you, your soul was in pain because your spiritual self and your physical self were so far out of alignment. I love what you have accomplished over this week."

"I haven't done anything, Sir," I said. "You have, but I think I like it too."

Jason stood behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. He looked into the eyes of my reflection in the mirror. "I'm just your mentor, your guide along this journey. Once you have achieved the moment of dunwu, you will understand, and you will be as amazed as I am."

I was perplexed. I furrowed my brown and pursed my lips. "What's dunwu?" I asked.

"Epiphany, my lovely prince," he said. "You're almost there. I can only help you along the way. When it comes to mental and spiritual journeys, I cannot pick you up and carry you there, no matter how much I would love to."

Jason took my measurements again. I was 64 inches tall, and I weighed 120 pounds. My penis was almost four inches long, but it looked perfectly proportional to my new stature. I'd lost the jock musculature that I'd put on over the years, and now I was a slender boy, with pale skin and reddish blond curls falling past my shoulders.

"I will continue to give you biantai until I am sure that you have fully become, then it will be time to celebrate. I will take you to a tailor in town and get all your measurements done professionally. Then I will buy you a wardrobe fit for a prince," he said. "I want to order your clothes for the Heritage Day Dance in enough time for them to arrive, fitted to perfection."

"But now," he said, "it's time for us to get you dressed for the day."

He rummaged through my clothes and pulled out a light blue jock with golden trim, a pair of knit shorts, also in light blue and a sleeveless t-shirt in a light rusty orange with a coiled dragon in darker red rust on it. None of these clothes had been these colors when Jason bought them. Somehow he was changing them.

He helped me dress and then handed me a pair of pale blue ankle socks and my glittery rainbow sneakers that I knew he bought in the girl's section. I put them on while Jason was laying out his much more sober and masculine clothing. I helped him get dressed.

He was wearing dark rust denim and a black t-shirt that hugged his chest nicely. He was wearing his boots today because he had a lab, and he had to protect his feet in case of accidental spills.  Under his clothes, he was wearing silk boxers and even this soft and shiny fabric seemed so masculine on him . We looked like a young adult and his extremely gay little brother. His much, much younger brother. Before we went to breakfast, he handed me a big package wrapped in rainbow paper, with a big bow on top. He had me sit down on the bed to unwrap it. Inside was a beautiful wooden drawing board, with five adjustable heights. It had a cloth carrying bag with a shoulder strap, and the bag had compartments for my sketch pads and pencils. There was even a compartment for a notebook computer. And when I opened that compartment I saw that there was a computer in it. I didn't know much about computers, but this one looked expensive.

"Jason!” I exclaimed, my voice both showing my delight and betraying my embarrassment. “How much did this cost?"

He shook his head and said, "It's a gift. You don't ask how much a gift costs. It's already set up for you. You're logged into my windows account, so you have everything you need. I already linked it to your phone so you can use the two of them together. When you take pictures on your phone, they'll automatically be in the picture folder on your computer."

My first reaction was to protest. I'd bought a laptop from my uncle's church at the end of the summer, and I was proud of the fact I had managed this by myself. But I couldn’t deny it was slow… and the hinges were cracked on the monitor… and I couldn’t do anything more than write a paper on it... and I knew Jason had seen me working on it and had shared my frustrations. "Thank you sir," I said. "I can't ever pay you back or get you anything this nice."

"You pay me back every day," he said, "with your smile and your laugh. I'm happy when you are happy. Besides, it's not that expensive. I put it on my father's credit card. If he asks me about the expense, I'll tell him it was for my luantong."

"I don't want your dad to hate me and think I'm... sleeping with you... just to get your money. He'll think I'm a gold digger," I said.

Jason shook his head. "He knows me better than that," he said. "He may reserve judgment, but when he meets you, he's going to love you. How could he not love you? You're perfect. My dad will probably put you on his lap and tell you all my worst secrets and then offer to save you from me."

I was laughing now. There was no way Jason's parents would think I was too good for him. "Fine," I said, "Everyone will know that I can't afford anything like this. Then they'll know that I'm your kept boy."

Jason bent down and kissed me again. "You're not my kept boy," he said. "You're my other half, so really I am just a selfish man buying something for himself. Now let's go. I want to feed you something healthy for breakfast and watch you eat it without complaint because you'll feel guilty not obeying me since I bought you a gift that you don't think you deserve."

I stood up and pulled the bag over my shoulder. "I don't deserve you, Sir," I said. "I was just lucky that you seem to like me, despite all my neuroses."

Jason took the bag off my shoulder and put it on his, then he handed me the over the shoulder bag with my phone and wallet in it. "You deserve everything, Kieran," he said. "Now let's go."

Jason rarely let me carry anything. If he could walk me to class every day, I'm sure he would. He'd probably carry me too if I'd let him. But he was right about one thing. I ate all the healthy food he put in front of me, whole grain toast with avocado, a single hard-boiled egg, and some fresh fruit slices. If I continued living with Jason, I may never taste sausage and eggs again. And the last time I'd mentioned bacon, he'd scowled at me and said, "too much fat for a pretty boy like you", then he'd given me a bagel with cream cheese and nutritional yeast, and a plain yogurt with strawberries.

Jason had no classes until his Chemistry Lab at 2:00 p.m., but I had a morning Art Studio Class that met at 9:00 a.m. He walked me to the art building, carrying the big bag that contained my drawing board. As we were coming near, he said, "Sally Minh is in the studio with you, so I want you to stay close to her. We have an appointment at 1:00 p.m. that we can't be late for, so I may be back to look in on you, but I'll be here when the class lets out for sure."

The studio was held in a larger room with one glass wall that looked out over a flower garden. When we got there, the handsome dark-skinned guy with the goatee who'd tried to talk to me yesterday came up and waved. I remembered that his name was David. Jason stepped in front of me and held his hand out, "Hello," he said, "I'm Jason, and I see that you've met my boy Kieran."

David seemed taken aback. He looked Jason up and down, and stammered, "Oh, yeah. I... uhm... we're in the same class, and I was just looking to get to know my classmates. You know, networking and all."

I felt sorry for David. He seemed intimidated by Jason. I wanted to jump in and shake his hand, but Jason's body language was telling me to stay put, so I just stood there in the crook of his arm waiting.

Jason said, "Say hello to David, Kieran, and shake his hand."

I held out my hand and said, "Hello David. My name's Kieran, and I'm pleased to meet you."

David shook my hand, then looked at Jason and said, "You really keep your boy on a tight leash. It reminds me of my dad's youngest brother. He has a boy he met in college back in Chicago. You know I wasn't trying to scam on your boy, right?"

Jason snorted, "Yes you were, but you know better now, right?"

David smiled and admitted, "You can't really blame me, can you? I mean, if he didn't already belong to someone, I would have been doing him a favor. A boy like him needs a protector."

Jason pulled me closer to him and stared David in the eye. "You see that he has a protector," he said. "And his protector always has someone keeping an eye on him."

David looked at Sally Minh who had just walked over to us. "I can see that," he said. "Are we good?"

Jason nodded. "We're good, so long as you remember Kieran is my boy."

"No problem, man," he said as he walked away.

I looked up at Jason and said, "Did you have to scare him so bad, Sir?"

He kissed me again and patted my bottom in front of everyone in the class, marking me so that everyone saw that I was his. "I'll see you later, Little Prince," he said. "I'm going to let Sally explain it to you. I'll see you at noon. Text me if you're getting done earlier."

Jason put my bag down on the table, kissed my forehead and left. Sally asked, "What's in the bag?"

I opened it up and pulled out my new drawing board. "Wow, that's a nice one, Kieran. It must have cost you a pretty penny."

I shrugged. "I don't know, Jason bought it."

"Of course, he did, sweetie," she said. "He'd do anything for you. You saw that just now."

"What? David?" I asked, incredulous. "Jason didn't need to scare him. He was just trying to be friendly; I think. If I told him I was with someone else, he would have just backed off."

Sally laughed at me. "David was on a hunt," she said, "and you were on the menu. I don't mean that he’s dangerous, but if you'd been nice to him you would have been trying to get rid of him all semester. Even now that he knows about Jason, he'll make a nuisance out of himself if you give him any encouragement at all."

I had a lot to think about. I wasn't used to being viewed as a sex object by men. All my defenses were geared toward avoiding girls. That was less of a problem for me now that I looked so gay, but apparently I had to learn new avoidance techniques to deflect the guys.

"Sally," I asked, "what should I do? Should I tell them that I'm seeing someone?"

She sighed, "That might help with the less creepy guys, but some of them are going to take it as a challenge to try and win you away from another guy."

"Should I just ignore them," I asked?

"That might help a little, too," she said. "But some guys will think you're shy or playing hard to get, and that turns some guys on. They think it's a game."

"I don't know what to do then," I said, my voice getting a little tight and panicked. "Do I have to stay inside all the time, or just go out when I'm with Jason? It's not fair."

She put a friendly hand on my shoulder and said, "You’re right, it's not fair, Kieran. Welcome to my world! Do you remember why I said I needed to sit next to you the first day? I get tired of guys always coming on to me. You're my safe person in class. Your best bet is just to be aware. Most guys aren't like that, but you can't always tell who the creeps are. Try to hang out with the girls or get yourself some little gay boys to go out with you, so you can help watch out for each other."

I shook my head. "Do you think Jason has to put up with this?"

She laughed. "No, I think he’s probably safe from guys like David because he projects that strong, dominant aura. But he probably gets a lot of attention from girls, especially girls with daddy issues, or those girls who are only in college to look for an MRS degree. But Kieran, dear, you are like bait for aggressive gay guys who want someone more submissive. Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out. This is all so new to you, sweetie. But in the meantime, find someone emotionally safe wherever you go. It works for me! Isn't Jason arranging that for you anyway?"

I thought about Darren, Meghan, Clarissa, and Sally. "I guess he is," I said. "He also put a panic button on my phone."

I showed her the panic button app; she smiled and said, "Jason leaves nothing to chance." She played with the app for a minute and then showed me the control screen. "If you're somewhere where you don't feel safe, put it in this mode so that it's on a dead man switch. Once you put your finger on it, it activates, and it will go off if you take your finger off the button. The only way it will stop is if you put your pin in. It will also make a panic alarm even if you have the volume off. Everyone around you will hear it."

The rest of the class went well. We were given a task to draw a complicated flower arrangement and then to incorporate it into a larger image. It could be the windows in the background or anything else. Since we had two and a half hours, we were able to put a lot of detail into our work. Sally and I had completely different artistic styles. She drew the flowers with detail, but clean lines. Then she drew two yaoi boys holding the bowl with the flowers, laughing, and sitting in front of a fire. My style was more traditional with three dimensions represented by shading and chiaroscuro. I drew a little dragon curled around the bowl, which was sitting on a table in a fancy sitting room. A wizard who looked much like Jason sat on one chair. Across from him was a smaller man with curly hair. They were toasting with fancy goblets.

Neither of us finished, but we had a strong enough base that we could finish before the next studio. Professor Gordan agreed, during his feedback near the end of the class, that we each had a good start. While we were packing up, I noticed that several students had penciled in the windows in the room, the default background. The professor had praised our creativity, so I wondered what he thought about these other pieces.

I could swear that he liked mine and Sally’s more than the other’s at our table. In fact, I thought I heard his voice saying, “Three. Just three out of a class of eighteen who have anything more than a mediocre talent. I should ask Angela to come sit next to Kieran and Sally so I can focus my mentoring where it will help.”

It seemed rude and out of character for him to say things like that aloud where anyone could hear him. I turned to see who he was talking to, and realized his lips weren’t moving. I must have imagined it.

It was also a little strange that Sally and I had drawn two very different pictures with such similar themes. We seemed to think a lot alike. And somehow I knew that she liked me. Not in a threatening way, but in a friendly way. She did make me feel safe, so I guess that did make her mind “safe person” in this class.

I felt a hand on my back, and I whirled around to see Jason standing there. He pulled me into a kiss and said, "We have about an hour before our appointment. Let's go get something to picnic on and walk along the trailhead for a while. We can eat in the woods just before walking back."

"That sounds good, Sir," I said, leaning my head on his chest.

Jason saw Sally packing her stuff up quietly, and he asked, "Would you like to join us Ms. Minh? We're not going on a date, and I would like to get to know some of Kieran's friends."

She perked up at that and said, "If you don't think I'll be intruding...?"

"Not at all," Jason said. "We'll run by the Student Union and pick up some healthy food, and then drop our stuff off in my car on the way to the trailhead and pick it up on the way back."

I was excited that Sally was accompanying us as well. I wanted to do things with other people sometimes. I loved Jason, but occasionally I needed other people too.

Our plans were laid, so we picked up some fruits, vegetables, and cheese, along with some sparkling water, then headed for the parking lot by our dorm. Jason had paid for the more expensive covered option, with an assigned space just for him. We walked into the woods and had a nice picnic under the shade. Jason had brought his fold up picnic blanket, so we didn't get too dirty. It was nice socializing with someone else, and Sally didn't seem at all uncomfortable with me sitting between Jason legs and him feeding me. Later she would show me the yaoi version she drew of us. I thought she was a little fixated on us, but her real fixation was yaoi art, and she thought Jason and I were like real life seme and uke.

Sally and Jason exchanged stories about their immigrant grandparents. Jason surprised me and Sally by speaking a few words of Vietnamese to her. He claimed to not be very good at it… and so did Sally which made us all laugh. He had an aunt and an uncle who were half Vietnamese and half American so he'd learned a little just to show his cousins (his uncle's kids) that he could, and Sally's grandmother had come to the US in the 1970s from Vietnam. She only knew a few phrases from growing up in the same house as her grandmother.

I mostly listened to them talk, but I was happy they were getting along. I loved Jason, but since he was the only one I'd seen outside of class this last week, I felt like I was disappearing inside of him. It’s not that I couldn’t find a moment to speak my mind, I had never been one for talking. I was too shy and in the past I'd been afraid of accidentally revealing too much. Which I now realised meant showing my gayness. My true self.  I was most comfortable lying there with my head resting on Jason's chest, his hand idly stroking my thighs, while I enjoyed his attention. So, that’s what I did.

After lunch, we walked back to pick up our stuff. Following a brief stop in our room, we headed for Professor Thorne's office. It was a normal sized room that only seemed small because each of the walls was covered with overflowing bookcases, except for a single section of wall that had a cloth hanging on it that was embroidered with geometric designs, seemingly out of place in the design scheme. Professor Thorne, Clarissa, Sebastian, and Alonzo were already there, and it was crowded in the room. It became more crowded when we were joined by four freshmen I didn't know, three girls and a guy,

"Squeeze up and give me a little room," Professor Thorne demanded. Then she tapped the cloth, and traced a pattern along certain lines, with a slender wooden wand and said, "Via interstitia nobis manifestetur."

My mouth fell open as I watched the cloth, which seemed to unfold into the wall, leaving a narrow passage three feet wide and seven feet tall that stretched for about thirty feet. I looked around to see everyone else’s reactions, but they all looked calm. So I took a breath and accepted what I saw before me. One by one, she ushered us through the passage, leaving Sebastian to bring up the rear and make sure there were no stragglers. On the other side of the long hallway there was a circular room also about thirty feet across. A twenty-foot diameter circle was inscribed on the floor, with symbols I didn't recognize running along the interior. Inside the circle was a five-pointed star.

Professor Thorne invited us into the circle to stand around a bronze bowl on a stand that contained a fire. Once we were gathered, the professor spoke in her strong voice, "We are gathered here today for an induction ceremony. Six stand before us, preparing for initiation into Concordium, the most important bond in all magical society. Because the aspirants do not understand Latin, we will be conducting the ceremony in English."

There was some murmuring from the room, but everyone seemed to know what was going on but me. I looked to Jason for some explanation. Professor Thorne, Sebastian and Clarissa were lighting candles, so he leaned down and whispered to me, "I had hoped to hold off on this ceremony until later, but you told me that you knew about magical society, so I had no choice. It's simple. Swear not reveal the secret of magic to anyone; swear to uphold the secrets of the Conclave of Mages; and mean it. It's a magically binding oath. Once you've taken the oath, I can be a little less mysterious with you."

I doubted that it was in Jason's nature to be completely open about anything. He usually just expected me to do what he told me, and most of the time, I was okay with that. I nodded my head and leaned against him. I trusted him not to ask me to do something I shouldn't.

Professor Thorne invoked the guardians of the four quarters of the world. I couldn't tell if she was talking about angels or some other spirits. Then she invoked the quintessence, which sounded a lot like the world itself. Finally, she called us forth one by one and took our oaths. Each of us had a sponsor, but I was the only one with my own. Alonzo and the other boy, whose name was Alan Somers, were both sponsored by Sebastian and all three girls were sponsored by Clarissa.

When it was my turn, I repeated the words, "I, Kieran Finley Morgan, swear on my very mind, soul, and body to protect the great secret behind the veil, neither revealing said secret nor allowing it to be revealed through my inaction insofar as I am able. Furthermore, I swear on my very mind, soul, and body to reveal no secrets of the sodality of mages to those who are not also bound to that sodality, and to not allow such secrets to be revealed through my own actions or inactions insofar as I am able."

As each of us swore, the flames in the brazier shot higher for a moment, as if something were acknowledging our oath. I may have been imagining it, but I also felt different in some undefinable way. When all had sworn, Professor Thorne broke the magic circle that had surrounded us and reopened the doorway at the end of the hall, and we filed into her office. She hugged and welcomed us all into the sodality of mages. Then we left her office, going back the way we came.

Jason walked me back to our room before going to his lab.

On the way, I said, "I'm meeting a friend from my writing class to study at 2:00 p.m. He's coming to our room, so I was wondering if I could wear clothes while he's over studying, Sir?"

"Who is this friend?" he asked, with a worried look on his face. "Have I met him?"

I replied, "You haven't met him, Sir, but his name is Joe Peters and I've known him since school started. We were in the same program the week before school. The church program that paid for my books."

"I don't like this, Kieran," he said. "You shouldn't be meeting with people unless I know them. For all I know, he'll try to take advantage of you. You should have told me earlier; better yet, you should have arranged to study with Darren or asked for my help with your classwork."

Jason was upset. I’d known he would be. That was why I was asking for permission after I’d made the arrangements instead of beforehand.. He frowned and pursed his lips. I begged him, "Please, Sir, I won't do anything you wouldn't approve of. We'll just study and talk. He won't try to take advantage of me. He isn't even gay."

Jason said, "I disapprove of you meeting up with people I don't know. And how do you know he won't try to take advantage of you? How do you know he's not gay?"

I laughed and said, "We met in that church group. Trust me, he isn't gay. That group was very anti-gay."

Jason sat down on a bench along the sidewalk and pulled me down onto his lap. "That doesn't mean he isn't gay. You were in this group and you're gay. And what if he isn't? What if he's anti-gay and he says something mean to hurt you, or he tries to get physical with you? I don't think I like the idea of you meeting him. If he hurts you, I'll have to kill him and getting rid of bodies isn't easy on campus."

I couldn't tell whether Jason was serious or not when he got like this. He was seriously overprotective, but I didn't think he'd really hurt anyone. And I didn't think that it was me he didn't trust. It was everyone else.

"He was nice," I pleaded. "He gave me a copy of his notes on the day Darren and I missed most of class. I want to talk to someone who isn't there to babysit me, Sir. I love that you're so protective, but you can't protect me every minute of every day."

Jason wanted to say no. I could see it in his eyes. "You can meet this boy," he said grudgingly, "but not in our dorm room or in his. I want you to meet him in a public place so everyone can see him if he tries anything. And if he hurts my little prince, with his words or his hands, or if he touches you in any sexual way, I will chase him down and teach him the error of his ways."

"Thank you, Sir!" I said, pleased that he'd agreed to let me meet up with a classmate. It seemed a small victory. It wasn't like I'd won something; I'd never compete with Jason in that way. It was more like I'd convinced him to give me a treat.

Jason walked me into the room and put my bag down. He told me to put my new notebook computer in my backpack and to call him or text him if there were any problems. He also wanted me to take a picture and send it to him so he would know what this Joe looked like. I already had one from the Success program, so I forwarded it to him.

He kissed me goodbye, then went to leave. On the way out the door, he said, "I put money in your wallet in case of expenses. Don't go buying all the junk food while you study."

I texted Joe; My boyfriend says we must meet in a public place, so where do you want to meet?

Then I opened my wallet to discover that Jason had put five $20 bills and four $50 bills inside. He never did anything without going all out. What kind of expenses did he think I'd run into?

Joe responded, He keeps you on a tight leash, doesn't he? We can meet at your dorm parking lot. I'll take you to a frozen yogurt place I found. It will be less busy than anything in the Student Union.

I replied, Sure. Since you're driving, I'll buy.

That should make Jason happy, I thought. Frozen yogurt couldn't be too bad for me, and I promised myself that I wouldn't have them put any candy pieces on it. I'd stick to fruit and nuts, just like Jason would expect me to do. And it would be public, so I'd be safe from being touched or hurt.

I was waiting down in the parking lot when Joe drove up in his little Kia Forte. I put my backpack in the backseat, then I got into the passenger side and put my seatbelt on. Joe looked over at me and grinned. He was nodding his head like he knew something I didn’t.

He said, "You look so different from two weeks ago. Most people wouldn't have guessed you were gay before, but dude you are super-gay now."

I blushed a little and admitted, "Yeah. I always knew I was gay, but I was hiding it. But I can't hide it anymore. My boyfriend likes me to show off my gayness. Although it is taking some getting used to."

Joe chuckled at that and said, "You dressing like that is going to take some getting used to for me, too. If you don’t mind my asking, do you do whatever your boyfriend tells you to do?"

"Yes, I do," I said proudly. "I'm his boy and he's my man."

"You mean that fat guy in the jeans and t-shirt you were with in class?" he asked. "He's the one who's fu... sleeping with you and bossing you around?"

"No, that's not my boyfriend," I said. "That's Darren. He's a friend of mine and Jason’s, and he's nice, when you get to know him."

"Nice and fat," he chuckled. I was beginning to get angry, and I guess it was showing on my face because Joe said, "Sorry to make fun of your friend, but he was looking at me like he wanted to beat the crap out of me the other day in class. Not that I'm afraid of any lard-butt."

I was beginning to regret meeting up with Joe. He was making me uncomfortable, which was strange because I was sure that he liked me. It was only a feeling, but it just felt true. I sat there in silence for a while. Finally, Joe heaved a loud sigh and said, "Okay, I'm sorry I made fun of your friend. Let's just start over here."

"Fine," I said, without much enthusiasm. "Are you meeting any new people?"

"Sure have. I've met a lot of new people. I've met you twice, the ‘pretending to be straight’ you and ‘see how gay I am’ you."

"I was always gay, Joe. You don't just turn gay. I hid it all my life until I met Jason."

"I don't know, Kieran. You're prettier than my high school girlfriend was. If I'd met you back in high school, maybe I would've been openly gay too."

He was laughing and being friendly, at least on the surface, but underneath there was something else. Joe had just referred to being “openly gay”, and I could feel that he was attracted to me. And if he was attracted to me, why did he seem to enjoy my discomfort a little?

I wanted to get out of the car. I took a deep breath to calm myself, like Uncle Kamon had taught me. I had a feeling that Joe wasn't as safe as I thought he was, at least not emotionally. I knew that he wasn’t going to hurt me, I was certain of it, but there was something else.

I concentrated on that feeling and cleared my mind. Then I heard Joe's voice in my head. It was broken and difficult to make out, but I picked up a few phrases. I knew that the longer I listened to his thoughts, the clearer they would become.

"...pretty little twink for sure ... said he just wanted to talk but... must watch out... don't want the pretty little guy hurt... see who comes... long fucking legs for a short dude, of course he wasn't that short before... bet he's tight as fuck… missed my fucking chance… unless…."

I didn’t realize it until later, but somehow Joe knew that I had gotten smaller. Jason had said that those who couldn't see through the veil wouldn't notice that I was smaller. My internal alarms would have gone off if I'd realized then that Joe could see the magical world. As it was, I missed that fact until later.

Joe wanted something, but he didn't seem to want to hurt me. He was definitely attracted to me, despite seeming so straight. I should have called for Jason; I wanted to, but I resisted. I'd made him leave class early twice already this semester. I could just see where this led and tell Jason afterwards. There didn't seem to be any immediate danger. And I was feeling a sense of pride that I wasn't melting down or breaking out in tears. Besides, if I called Jason in now, he would never let me see anyone he didn't know again.

We stopped at a red light and Joe snapped a picture of me. "I don't want to forget about that outfit, dude," he said. "Did you know your little blue straps are showing?"

I looked down and saw that he was right. I'd slunk down in my seat a little, and that had pulled my shorts up on the side. I quickly readjusted them, so the strap was no longer showing. Jason always made me feel good about my body, but now Joe was making me feel ashamed… or maybe not ashamed, maybe just self-conscious. The more he looked at me, the more sure I was that he wanted me. And that desire was growing.

We pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall. We were all the way at the back of the lot, so I followed Joe toward the yogurt shop. We had to walk by a white panel van on the way. I had a sudden flash of danger from Joe. The side door opened, and Joe pushed me inside. A larger, more solidly built man grabbed my arms and dragged me all the way into the darkened interior. Joe followed me and pulled my cellphone out of my hand and threw it in the far back of the van. I should have put the panic button on the dead man switch, but it was too late now.

Now I was panicking. I was kicking with my feet and twisting my body, but either of these guys could have overpowered me alone. I had no chance against them working together. At some point I started crying hysterically. It felt like someone was pulling my shorts off.

When my head cleared, I was riding in the back of a van. Joe was holding me on his lap, his arms wrapped around me; he was trying to calm me down. The driver looked back to ask if I was okay, and I saw that it was Pastor Mercy from the College Success program.

Joe said, "I think he's calmed down."

Then to me he added, "Nobody's going to hurt you Kieran. Pastor Mercy just wants to talk. We all pledged that we'd look out for one another and that's what I did. He just wants to talk to you about your choices."

He was lying to me. I could feel it. I believed him when he said that Pastor Mercy just wanted to talk to me, but that wasn't why he'd brought me here. He thought someone was going to do something terrible to Pastor Bill and he wanted to see it. I couldn't get any more detail about what was going to happen, but what I had was enough.

"I'm not going to ask for details, Kieran," Joe said. "But you went into hysterics when I tried to straighten your shorts. I thought you were going to fall out of the leg hole, so I just tried to straighten them up for you. I swear that's all I was doing."

It came back to me in a flood. I had melted down into hysterics again. I'd been screaming, "Don't touch me. Please. I don't want you. I only want Jason."

These guys must have thought I was nuts.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I panic sometimes. I... I don't want to talk about it."

"You don't have to, Kieran," he said. "But that looks uncomfortable and I'm going to untwist your shorts now because it's making me ache to look at it."

He grabbed the side of my shorts and jerked them sideways, so they were no longer twisting my cock and balls into knots. I wanted to get up and sit by myself, but Joe's arms held me tight on his lap. I could feel his erection pushing into my butt, and his thoughts were coming through in spurts.

"... want to get inside this little twinkie... won't let them hurt him... not after him... not one of them... couldn't be dangerous... pretty cocksucking lips... too sweet to be one of them… if I do this, I get to meet the real boss, the one that fucking hypocritical pervert doesn’t even know he’s working for… Mercy my ass. I hope he’s begging for mercy… "

We pulled into the parking lot of a church on the other side of town. Pastor Mercy parked the van and Joe put his arm around my shoulders and led me into the community building behind the church. He was making sure I couldn't run, not that there was anywhere to run to. One room had been set up like a counseling room, with chairs in a circle. Joe sat me down in one of them and took the seat next to me. Pastor Mercy sat at the other end of the circle and started talking in a calm, soothing voice. I acted like I was paying attention to him, but he wasn't saying anything I hadn't heard before. He could have been my Uncle Craig; except he wasn't yelling.

He was trying to convince me that I'd been led astray by a gay predator on campus. I heard Uncle Craig's voice inside me saying, Jason turned you into a faggot. He made you small and weak and he's taking your cock away, so you'll always need him. God made you a boy and he's making you a weak little girl.

I thought about Meghan and Dawn when the voice said that. Neither of them was weak. They'd probably tear Uncle Craig apart in a fight. And Jason said that he wasn't making me smaller. Did I believe the voice in my head, or did I believe Jason? I wanted to believe Jason. If I trusted him then I had to believe him when he said he wasn't changing me. But he'd admitted that it was the Biantai Elixir that was doing it, and he's the one who gave it to me. So, why was he proud of me for what was happening?

Then I remembered Uncle Kamon telling me that my dream self was a small boy, and Jason telling me that my dream self and my physical self were out of alignment, but they were coming into alignment. If the elixir was allowing the change, but Jason wasn't doing it, the only possible answer was that the elixir was empowering my own mind to bring about alignment between my two selves. And that was why he was proud of me.

Jason had asked me about what porn I preferred back when I used to masturbate. I had always preferred porn about smaller guys submitting to larger, stronger guys. Uncle Kamon told me that my dream self looked like a teenager. It was me. I was the one who envisioned myself smaller. I was the one who'd fantasized about being held in the arms of a bigger, more powerful man. I was the one who was using the Biantai Elixir to change myself. It was a sudden revelation. I had my dunwu and Jason wasn't here to hold me and pat my back and tell me how good I was.

"Jason didn't make me do anything," I said, interrupting Pastor Mercy. "Everything I've done is because I wanted to do it. All Jason ever did was protect me so no one could hurt me while I was making the changes I needed."

"Kieran," Pastor Mercy said, "You're not a faggot. This Jason has convinced you that you are. When I met you..."

"... I was already gay, sir," I said. "This is who I've been my whole life. I've just been too afraid to admit it to anyone. I was a jock on the outside but on the inside..." I let my voice trail off and I just gestured at my outfit.

Pastor Mercy changed tactics. "You made a promise when you accepted the scholarship," he said. "You promised God that you would live according to his plan."

"I am living according to God's plan for me, sir," I replied. "God knows who I am because he's the one who made me, but I can't live according to your plan for my life, or anyone else's plan, not anymore. All my life I've been listening to grumpy old men telling me who God wanted me to be, but they didn't have a clue."

I’d had enough of his hypocrisy. Pastor Mercy had been staring at my legs and my face all during his diatribe. And back in the College Success program, I’d somehow known to stay away from him, the same way I’d known to stay away from my Uncle Craig when he was drinking. It must have been the look in their eyes that told me to keep my distance.

“Dear Lord, this one is a temptation sent by Lucifer himself… must keep him pure…. I can resist because A Mighty Fortress is My Lord!”

It was Pastor Mercy’s voice in my head, but he wasn’t speaking. And then I heard Joe’s voice. “Keep his filthy pervert eyes off him…  that’s the deal… I get him… the boss gets the information he wants… and then the pastor… couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”

My head was ready to burst. I was on the edge of a headache and I was feeling a little fatigued. I stood up and pulled my wallet out of my shoulder bag. I pulled out the money Jason had put in there. "Here's $300, Pastor. I can get you the other $200 when I get to an ATM. I can't be bought, or threatened, anymore."

The Pastor started speaking again, but I sat down and stared into space, ignoring him.

 

Jason

It was only a little past 3:00 when I felt Kieran calling. I'd half expected it. I knew that I should have forbidden him to meet up with this Joe character, but I didn't want to push him into defiance. Luckily it was the first lab meeting of the semester. I'd gotten all the questions right on the pre-knowledge quiz and didn't need to stay for the remainder of class. The TA wasn't happy when I left, but I didn't care at this point. When I checked the app on my phone, I saw that Kieran's phone was on the other side of town. I texted all the protectors who were helping me keep an eye on Kieran. Only Darren was available right now. And he agreed to meet me in my room as soon as he could. I headed straight there and grabbed an arsenal of alchemical weapons I could use.

When Darren arrived, I saw that he had a survival knife in his jacket pocket. "I'm supposed to be back here before 6:30. I have a thing with the pack, but my priority is getting Kieran back safe and sound," he said. "Are we killing anyone?"

"I don't know," I replied. "If Kieran is hurt – even if he's scared – I'm going to show no mercy."

"Good," Darren said. "I imagine you and I are the same in this way. If someone threatens one of mine, I'll rip them apart." He looked over at me and added, "I'm not joking around. If we must dispose of some bodies, I know where it can be done, and I'll sleep like a baby tonight."

Darren opened the door to his truck. "I'll drive so you can track him with your phone or a spell, if necessary.” I nodded, too focussed on reviewing possible plans and outcomes to speak. “So, what happened to him?" he asked.

"Some guy he knows named Joe Peters met him to study, and now he's on the other side of town," I said.

Darren growled, "Joe fucking Peters! I told Kieran to stay away from him and he promised he was going to tell you that I said he was dangerous. I didn't trust him from the moment I smelled him."

He told me his version of the incident from Wednesday's writing class, and we concluded that Kieran must have honestly forgotten after what happened that day. He'd suffered a meltdown and was in no condition to tell me anything. I was going to trust my instincts from now on. I never should have allowed Kieran to meet this guy. He was my boy. From now on, he was going to follow my instructions, or I'd find some way to punish him. He didn't eat enough for me to risk sending him to bed without dinner. I could make him sleep alone for a few days, but I didn't think I could take that. He liked spankings too much, but he hated me taking his orgasms away. Maybe I'd take his erections for a week.

"This may be a bigger threat than it appears," I said. "I don't know if word has gotten to you yet, but we may have a problem with one of the anti-magic groups that can see through the velamen arcanum. Someone assaulted Kieran yesterday in the 2nd floor study lounge in the psychology building. I was goaded into using alchemical weapons to teach the attacker a lesson. It turned out that he wasn't even a student here. I think someone was watching. If they're involved in this plot, then they'll be waiting to see who shows up, so they can identify us."

"We'll drive by first," he said. "See if anyone looks suspicious, then go in."

We drove slowly until we were at the edge of town, approaching a church. Kieran's phone was in the parking lot, and there was only a van parked there. We saw a couple of places where observers could watch the church, so we drove around and parked up the street. Darren had a couple of ski masks in his truck. I had no idea why he carried them around and decided I didn't want to know.

"The moon is waning," I noticed, "so you need to be careful. You may be tough, but you're still practically human right now."

Darren smiled at me and then shifted so that he was half man and half wolf. I had no idea shifters could do that outside of the movies. He sounded strange when he talked. His mouth was half muzzle. He snarled, "I can do a lot of things most weres can't."

Then he pulled his ski mask over his face. He looked strange, but he could pass for normal at a distance. He took a deep sniff. "Two in the treeline over there," he growled.

We walked in that direction as quietly as we could. They were looking out in the other direction, toward the church and the road. We got close before they noticed us. When they spun around, Darren was on them in a flash. Neither of them got a shot off with their rifles before they were disarmed. I yanked their headpieces off before they could use them to report our position.

I helped Darren to wrestle them to the ground, but he did most of the work. "How many of you are watching," I asked.

They didn't seem inclined to help. In fact, one of them sneered at me and said, "Fuck you, witch!"

Darren pulled his mask off, revealing his hybrid face. The man tried to scream, but Darren's clawed hand closed over his throat. Saliva dripped from his jowls onto the man's face. The other one said, "Us and two more on the other side. That's it!"

We questioned him some more and he told us that they were field operatives and didn't know the name of their handler on the other end of the radio. We searched them and found the recording devices they had hidden on their bodies. Then I held out a potion bottle to the guy who talked. "If you drink this, I won't have to kill you," I said.

He grimaced and looked panicked, but in the end, he swallowed it. His eyes glazed over, and he lay back peacefully. Then I pulled out an identical bottle and held it out to the other man. "Same deal," I said. "Take it or leave it."

"What did you do to him?" he gasped hoarsely because Darren still had him by the throat.

"I didn't want to be recognized, so I made him forget," I said. "That's it. Drink this and you'll forget as well."

He grabbed it out of my hands and said, "I can't wait to forget you." Then he swallowed it.

Darren and I grabbed their surveillance gear and then crept toward the back of the church. "You went easier on them, than I thought you would," he said. "If they had little Benjy in there, I'd be leaving a trail of blood and guts all over this place."

"It wasn't that easy," I said. "This is a powerful transmutation. I can't make this one into a weapon because  they must drink it. This potion makes them forget everything they've ever learned. Their minds will be like a newborn baby. This is the reason alchemy is more powerful than spells. When you consume a concoction, it slips past all the magical defenses that even mundanes have. The best defense is not drinking it all. And this potion is devilishly difficult to brew."

"Can it be reversed?" he asked.

"There's a specific antidote. I specially formulated this one with essence of moly. That herb resists magic, making it especially difficult to work with, but it makes the potion resistant to moly as well. I doubt a dozen alchemists in the world could brew the potion or the antidote."

Darren said, "They smelled of moly."

"I think they wear a lotion made from it to protect them," I said. "It helps them resist spells, and even alchemical weapons. It will also prevent them from transforming into shifters or rising as the undead if they get bitten, but it doesn't protect you if you willingly drink a potion and let it work from the inside out."

Darren said, "I heard it's the only magical trick they know."

"According to legend, the secret was given to Odysseus by Hermes himself to reverse the transmutation Circe had put on his men. Since then, the secret has been passed down among some mundanes. Of course, most of them wouldn't know magical moly from common moly, so they end up smearing themselves with wild onions instead, which provides no real protection."

Darren asked, "Both those guys had tattoos on their inner arms that said `X22:18', do you have any idea what that means?"

I sighed, "Witch hunters. It's a reference to Exodus 22:18, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. As a rule, my family terminates anyone we see with that symbol on them anywhere. My sister once gassed a whole van full of them just for having the reference on their bumper. I think the custodes have the same policy. You can't reason with a fanatic."

We found a gate in the fence surrounding the back of the church yard. It had a padlock, but Darren pulled off his gloves and scraped the wood around the lock until he could fit his claw under the metal plate. Then he pried the plate off, leaving the lock to swing uselessly from the post. We snuck around the courtyard, listening at doors and windows until we heard voices.[1] 

"Kill them all?" Darren asked.

"I don't think so. We'll check for moly lotion and tattoos. If they don't have them, they may be stalking horses," I said.

Darren put a claw on my shoulder and whispered, "Stalking what?"

"Stalking horses," I said. "They may have been sent to pick up Kieran for their own reasons just so the witch hunters could observe what we do to the kidnappers. Unless they've hurt him, I don't want to kill them. I'm trying to cultivate a little rational caution."

Darren chuckled, "Sebastian gave you a lecture, huh?"

I nodded. "Right after I blinded the last one who touched Kieran. And… er… made his tongue swell up. I don't know why he was so upset. It'll wear off in a month."

 

Kieran

I don't know how long Pastor Mercy was droning on, but I'd been tuning him out. The longer I concentrated on him, the more detail I could hear from his mind. He only half believed the stuff he was spewing. His faith was unsteady, and he was trying to convince himself. And he was definitely hot for me. He wanted to “save” me, but he also wanted me. His eyes were scary. If Joe weren’t here, I think he would do something to me. With a sudden certainty, I knew that he had done it to others.

Joe on the other hand was watching me, looking for signs of something unnatural. He was pleased to have found nothing so far. His thoughts were lewd. Nothing specific, but I could tell that Joe wanted me badly. He didn't have a very high opinion of me, though. He thought I wasn't very smart and was easily duped by unnatural creatures.

The door slammed open, and Jason and Darren burst in. Jason threw a chair out of the way so he could get into the circle more easily. He ignored Joe and Pastor Mercy and picked me up out of the chair and pulled me to his body. I wrapped my legs around him and buried my head in his chest.

Joe stood up and started to say something, but Darren grabbed him by the hair and pulled him backwards over the chairs and threw him to the floor. "Get up and I'll break a few ribs," he growled.

"Are you okay, little prince?" Jason asked me.

"Yes, Sir," I said. "I'm better than I was before. Believe it or not, talking to Pastor Mercy helped me put things in perspective."

Jason set me down next to him and kissed me again. He wrapped his arm around me protectively. "What great revelations did you have talking to this... man?" he asked, glaring at Pastor Mercy.

"I'll explain later, if you don't mind, Sir," I said. "My thoughts aren't for him. I think I understand everything now." I leaned against him, and he stroked my hair. My headache started to recede.

Jason glared at Joe and the pastor. His cold eyes showed disdain and anger. "Come near my boy again, and I will hurt you in ways you cannot imagine." There was no way they could fail to believe he meant what he said.

Darren pulled off his mask. His bearded, but human face was twisted in anger. He looked down at Joe Peters and said, "Whatever game you're playing, it stops here. You won't get another warning."

He grabbed Joe's left arm and pulled up the sleeve. He seemed a little perplexed, but he dropped it right away and shook his head.

"Where's your bag, Kieran?" Jason asked.

"It's in Joe's car at the yogurt place," I said, "but I don't know where that is, Sir."

"That's okay," Jason said. "Joe will tell us where it is, and we'll go get it. But tell me Kieran. Is that the money I gave you thrown all over the floor?"

I looked guilty. "I'm sorry, Sir. I was trying to give back the scholarship money so he would leave me alone. I was upset, so I didn't think about it being your money – not mine."

"No," he said, "I gave it to you. If you want him to have it, he can have it. Besides, everything I have is yours anyway. You're my other half."

"I don't want your money," Pastor Mercy said. "I want to save your soul."

Jason laughed at him. "You don't know anything about souls. You are ignorant, sad, and pathetic, like all your kind. Just pick Kieran's money up and hand it back to him neatly."

When he didn't move, Jason gave him a cold smile. "Do it now! You were party to a kidnapping and my lawyers are better than yours. I will ruin you completely."

I guessed he'd decided to fight Pastor Mercy American style. The pastor began scrambling around on the floor picking up the money, then he held it out towards me with trembling hands. "We weren't kidnapping you, son, we..."

"You just grabbed him and dragged him off here without his permission," Jason interrupted. "He had a reasonable cause to believe you were going to assault him sexually. The case will be devastating, poor little gay boy abused by crazed fundamentalist hatemonger."

Jason looked down at me and saw the expression on my face. He could tell that I was getting anxious with the direction of this conversation, so he hugged me tight and reassured me. "We'll forget about it for now, but you owe me a favor. And I will come to collect someday. Or I will come with the names of everyone else you've done this to over the years. The case and the press coverage will be devastating."

We went out the back gate and Darren dragged Joe out to the parking lot to get Kieran's wallet and phone. He joined us before we got to the truck. "I've got his keys. He'll catch a ride back to his car with the pastor in thirty minutes. No moly by the way, or tattoo. I think he's just a sad minion to a sad pastor who doesn't understand what he's talking about."

"I don't think so, Sir. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I was able to hear his thoughts after I concentrated on him for a while. Joe was hoping something would happen to Pastor Mercy so he could watch it and see who was involved. He kept thinking `unnatural' but I'm sure he meant `magical' whenever he thought of it. And I’m pretty sure he was thinking about werewolves, no offense, Darren."

We got in the truck. Darren had bucket seats, so I was sitting on Jason's lap. It was illegal, but I enjoyed it. With every bump on the road, I bounced a little on Jason's lap. His hard cock was poking into me. I was lying back against his chest and Jason was rubbing my belly.

I decided I was ready to talk to Jason about my revelation today. And I didn’t mind Darren being there. Especially considering he was part of my rescue operation. "I know you're not making me smaller, Sir," I said.

"Tell me what you know," he replied, bending down to kiss me on the neck, sending a thrill of pleasure running through my body. He loved my neck, and I loved his lips kissing me there.

I put my arms over my head and wrapped them around him. "I think I'm the one who's been making me shrink."

He mumbled against my neck, "Why would you do that?"

"Because I like being small enough for you to hold me in your lap, and I like the way your arms feel when they wrap all around me," I said. Then I wiggled a little on his lap and he pulled me closer to him.

"And your penis," he asked.

I glanced over at Darren. He was trying to pretend not to be listening, but I didn’t want him to feel bad. "It’s ok Darren, I trust you and I’m not embarrassed,” I said, then turned back to Jason. “It's like you said. I don't need a big penis. I like the fact that your cock is bigger than mine. It feels right the way it is right now."

"You're not just a pretty face," Jason said, letting one hand rest on my thigh and the other rub my belly some more. "You're a smart little guy as well."

We were pulling into the parking lot and Darren parked next to Joe's truck. He jumped out with Joe's keys. Then he walked over and broke out the rear passenger window and grabbed my bag. He threw the keys on the rear floorboard, then broke out the front passenger window as well. When he got back in the car, Jason laughed at him.

"You used the key to turn off the alarm, then you broke the window," he said.

Darren shrugged, "I didn't beat on him half as much as I should have back at the church. So now he can replace the windows. He made me miss out on some quality time with my boy Benjy."

He reached over and tousled my hair. "Don't think I begrudge coming to rescue you, Kieran," he said. "If you're in trouble I'll always be there, even though I have my own sweet little boy waiting for me now."

Jason seemed more relaxed around Darren today, and I was glad. I wanted them to get along. I liked Darren a lot, but I loved Jason. And I needed some friends other than Jason. Even Erik had been distant with me lately, and Alonzo seemed to be avoiding me. I was going to fix it. It was probably my fault for crying all the time and making everyone uncomfortable.

We got back to the dorm and changed for our run. It was nice to be jogging the long track around the campus instead of the smaller track around the field. Jason kept increasing the pace until I was struggling to keep up. Then he backed off just enough, so I wasn't struggling anymore. Back in the room, I started to take my clothes off, but Jason picked me up and threw me on the bed, fully clothed.

"It's my turn today, little prince," he said. Then he pulled off one of my glittery shoes and sniffed my foot, letting his eyes roll back like it was the best thing ever.

"Do you like my scent, little prince?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir, I do," I replied. And Jason kicked off his shoes and threw one of his socks to me. It smelled like him, and my cock began to ache. I held it to my nose and breathed through it. Jason pulled off my other shoe and sniffed that foot as well.

"Your smell is like heaven to me as well, little prince," he said, as he pulled my sock off and began to lick my foot. I was giggling and wiggling my toes because it tickled so much. But he didn't let up for a minute. He sucked each of my toes into his mouth, one by one and sucked them like they were candy.

"You taste so good, baby. I'm going to lick your whole body before I fuck you. I'm going to taste every part of you."

I was leaking precum. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it on my hairless groin. His tongue felt amazing and so did his words. Jason's resonant voice always sent shivers down my spine. He pulled off my muscle shirt and held it to his nose and inhaled deeply. He raised his eyebrows and inhaled again. Then he pulled his own shirt off and threw it to me. I immediately buried my face in it to absorb his sweat through my pores. Jason lifted my arms and licked my smooth armpit. Jason never wore deodorant, and he'd thrown mine away as well. He said he preferred the natural scent of my body, just soap and natural body odor. We showered a lot, so I'd come to like it as well.

Then he licked his way down my chest, pausing to bite my nipples gently. He licked between my pecs, down to the waistband of my shorts. Grinning, he pulled them off and held them to his nose. "You have the most delightful scent, boyish and barely musky at all, just enough to give depth and complexity, like fresh honeysuckle."

He stood up and slid out of his own shorts and threw them to me. I greedily inhaled his musky scent. I'd sniffed my own clothes and they did nothing for me, but Jason's scent drove rational thought out of my head. It was like my mind became centered in my cock. My musings were interrupted by Jason's tongue sliding along my groin, right where my pelvis met my upper thigh. He licked both sides of it, while I inhaled through the very crotch of his shorts. I could see the part of him I was craving. His cock had grown hard, and it was pushing against his silk boxers. If he’d moved even the slightest, it would have leapt out the hole of the leg, if it weren't restrained by his sexy black jock.

Then he slid down his boxers and jock, handing them to me as his cock sprang forth in all its glory. I reached up to touch it, but Jason pressed his underwear into my hand instead. I pulled it to my face and was overcome with the pure Jason-ness of it. My cock spurted a little cum. Jason bent down to kiss it lovingly. He didn't stroke it, and he didn't suck it, but the light touch of his lips made it dance.

Then Jason lay on the bed next to me, with his feet near my head. He grabbed my body and lifted me on top of his. His cock was brushing against my face. "Do you see what you do to me, little prince?" he said. "All day long, whenever I think of you, this is what happened to me. Take it in your mouth now and show me how much you love your man's cock."

I didn't have to be asked twice. I fell on it and took as much as I could into my mouth without gagging. Jason lifted my hips so that my butt was right next to his lips. He kissed me gently on the cheeks and then parted my cleft. His tongue was like magic as he worked it inside me. I was responding to him much faster these days. It always hurt when he entered me, but he did his best to relax me before he tried. I could feel him getting close, but he said, "Back off, little prince. I want to plant my seed inside your beautiful boy hole. It's almost ready for me."

Then he went back to massaging my hole with his tongue. I felt myself relax completely. "Your little flower has opened for me. It knows who it belongs to and it's ready. He maneuvered me so that I was squatting over his cock. His knees were bent so he could support my back. Then I felt him nudging against my hole. I was relaxed enough that the head slid inside. I grimaced and cried out in pain, but I wanted him inside me.

"Relax, Little Prince," he said in soothing tones. "Open up for your lover. Let me inside you."

I always had to work my anus to get him inside, tightening, and then relaxing as I pushed out. And Jason knew exactly how much force to use, enough to hurt a little, but only the kind of hurt that soon goes away, to be quickly replaced by pleasure. He only had to knock twice on the door to my inner chamber before that too opened to welcome him and I slid down to rest on his pelvis.

Neither of us was going to last long. He lifted me up and let me slide back down. My hairless, little cock throbbed with his thrust and a little cum oozed out the tip. It was like his cock was pushing the cum out of my body. I could feel the tingling starting in my anus and perineum then spreading throughout my body. I could feel myself moving, but I felt like I was floating. Then we both came.

It was like my body dissolved into his, like I was contained within his muscular embrace and he was contained within my soft bottom. At that moment, our souls became one. Our minds became one. We stood outside time and space. We understood the beauty of the universal truth and we were able to feel the presence of everyone in the dorm at once, like we were present in their minds. Then we saw the dorm around us, but not the building. We saw the molecules and the fields of energy that made it up. We could see the energy of the spells around Sebastian's room, and Clarissa's. We saw the healing energy flowing into Marvin's room and knew that he was healing some injury on one of his companions. It was transcendent.

Then we were two separate beings again, exhausted and covered in sweat. Jason was crying and I kissed his tears away. "What happened, Sir?" I asked, still very much in awe of that experience.

"We did it," he said. "I knew that we could. For just a moment, we were joined in the sacred marriage of opposites, the perfect combination of flesh and spirit. No matter what happens after this, we are joined. We may not achieve that state of perfection again for a while, but we will find it again in time."

"We will, Sir," I said, resting my head against his chest and listening to his pounding heart. "When we were outside the limits of time and space, I saw something. I think it may have been a… a vision?. There were candles and a magic circle. And we were not alone. Erik and Alonzo were with us, and we drew them into the union with us and then others. I don't know how I saw it, sir, but I did."

The shower afterwards was almost anticlimactic. So was dinner. Jason ordered Chinese food again, nothing that was offered on the menu on the website. It was like there was a secret menu, only for us. Jason ran down in his robe to get it when it arrived, and then we lay naked on the bed while we ate. Jason insisted on feeding me. I didn't even complain when he made me eat fish and tofu. After putting the food up, and getting ready for bed, we curled around each other and slept, a deep and restful sleep.

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You can read each story in The Concordium Cycle independently, or you can follow the author's preferred reading order that will blend the stories together. The next chapter in the author's preferred reading order is Wishcraft Chapter 9.

Special Thanks to my editor [email protected].

Nota Bene!

This is the last chapter of My Roommate the Alchemist and Wishcraft Chapter 9 is the last chapter of Wishcraft. The story of Erik, Alonzo, Jason and Kieran will continue in a new storyline called Alchemy and Songcraft.