Fourteen is the only name he’s known since he arrived here in the spring of 2008. His preteen mind struggles with this same question every single night. He knows that one part of his name is Lu… or was it Liu? Or La maybe? Okay, he knew it couldn’t be La. That was just ridiculous. But today Fourteen has far more time on his hands than he needs. Today Sooman isn’t taking any of his Consorts at all. Instead he’s trailing after Thirteen to make sure the boy does his job thoroughly. Fourteen had seen Thirteen crying into Nineteen’s shoulder earlier. He knew why the slightly older boy is being punished but he also understands why he had been crying to begin with. Usually on days like this (which were rare) he’d spend the day exploring the area around the old house with Eighteen and Twenty-One. Sometimes even Ten and Four would join them, but not Three. Three was the only Consort that locked himself in his room whenever Sooman didn’t request him. Something never quite seemed right about Three, but Fourteen had always been jealous of the boy’s beautiful face. Not that Fourteen wanted higher chances of being called into Sooman’s room, heaven forbid that was the last thing he wanted, but the only thing he truly valued in life was his pretty face. Some of the only memories he has from before this hellhole are of him cross-dressing and waltzing around a lush yard in a princess dress.

Today, however, Fourteen decides on a change of pace. Instead of hanging out with all the other Consorts, he’d wait for one of the regular boys to finish his work for the day and then pounce on him. There is one boy in particular that Fourteen has been finding more and more intriguing as of late; Twenty-Four. Something about the little boy seems to be changing. It’s not puberty (not that Fourteen would know what that is yet) considering that Twenty-Four looks like he’s barely even 7 years old (and the fact that he’s actually 9). The boy had arrived here at a much younger age than Fourteen had, but only now did he seem to be adjusting fully to his life. Something in his eyes read trouble every time Fourteen caught a glimpse and maybe that was the bait right there. Fourteen had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.

His heart flutters a little as Twenty-Four stumbles across the snow-dusted lawn toward him. That is something the elder had never expected from the younger. The “Pretty Ones” as they called themselves sometimes never said more than necessary to the normal ones, which made it really freaking hard to be friends with them. But Twenty-Four is (thankfully) still too naïve to understand why the boys don’t all talk to each other equally. When he finally stops moving right in front of Fourteen, he starts doing a little dance where he shifts his weight from one foot to the other. Fourteen knows that dance all too well. He also knows that the house is too far away once anyone starts doing that dance. And worst of all if Twenty-Four’s clothes smell at all like urine; he’ll have to go a day without food. Fourteen can’t let that happen, especially not to such a little boy (who he happens to really want to be friends with)

“Follow me, hurry,” he says quickly as he takes Twenty-Four’s hand and drags him towards a somewhat steep hill nearby.

The younger wordlessly follows, but soon reaches down and holds himself as he follows the older. The two boys race down the hill where Fourteen quickly starts digging a hole in the snow. Once he uncovers a patch of grass he looks around to be sure no one has spotted them. All clear thankfully. He looks at Twenty-Four again worriedly and turns the boy so he faces the patch of grass. The younger looks confused and desperate.

“Pee there,” the elder instructs.

Twenty-Four just blushes madly and starts hopping a little in place. His mind is more focused on holding in the tidal wave that’s about to explode from his bladder than making sense of what his hyung is saying. Fourteen rolls his eyes and stands behind Twenty-Four. Before long he’s tugged the smaller boy’s pants and undies down far enough to let the little boy pee. At first the younger doesn’t even try to aim, which could easily ruin Fourteen’s plan of hiding the evidence later, but he soon regains some of his senses and aims right for the patch his kind hyung had cleared for him. Fourteen buries his face in Twenty-Four’s neck to reassure him that he’s not being watched even though his hyung is holding his pants up for him so they don’t get soaking wet. That was another thing that Sooman hated; wet clothes. Peeing yourself usually earned about 10 spanks and no food for a day while getting your clothes wet in any way would earn you 15 spanks and you’d have to light the fire to dry them yourself.

As soon as Twenty-Four finishes relieving himself he tugs his jeans up and spins around to look at Fourteen curiously. No hyung (especially not a Consort) had ever saved him from a punishment like that. He used to get hints from the older boys back when he was new here, but a few years had already passed since then and newbies had been added after his number. Those were the boys getting all the attention, so why had this hyung decided to save his ? But Fourteen only smiles then crouches down to carefully hide as much of the yellow snow as he can. Twenty-Four has to admit that he’s doing a good job. Maybe Sooman really wouldn’t spank him after all.

“Fourteen hyung… Why are you doing this?” he finally asks when said boy stands up again.

At first his voice seems to startle the boy, but soon he’s smiling again.

“Because we should all be friends. This whole pretty versus normal thing is really tiring me out, you know? We’re all in this together, so why should we not talk to everyone?” Fourteen says in more of a questioning tone than anything.

To this Twenty-Four finds no decent response other than to shrug. He’d never really thought about it this way before. But the more he thinks the more it starts to make sense. And the more everything starts to make sense the more he really wants to just hug Fourteen and tackle him into the snow.  After a few moments of considering the consequences, he finally decides that sharing a few spanks and drying his clothes with his new friend could be really fun. So he does just that. And before long the two are locked in the ultimate snowball fight. Eventually some of the boys that fill in the gap between their numbers even come out and join them.

“But what about Thirteen?” one of them asks suddenly.

All boys stop and blink at the one who has spoken out; Nineteen.

“He has chores and is being stalked today by Sooman. If he comes outside, we’re all in deep trouble,” Sixteen says logically.

“He’s my friend though… and he’s really hurting right now,”

“Pfft, he’s just a big baby. He probably just misses his mommy cuz today was the day she decided to drop him on his head on that doorstep and run for it,” Twenty-Three says with a sneer.

To that, he simply gets a snowball to the face courtesy of Nineteen. All 9 of the other boys stare at the fuming 11-year-old. Seventeen steps forward and rests a hand on Nineteen’s shoulder. At first he nearly gets shoved to the ground, but Fifteen catches him then glares at everyone with a number higher than Nineteen.

“You guys don’t understand. He doesn’t even remember his parents. But what he does remember is the day that Seven died. None of you guys would know though… It happened before Twenty got here. If any of you ever tell him what I just told you, I’ll slap you upside the head since I know most of your butts are basically immune to being spanked at this point, especially you Twenty-Three,” he growls angrily.

His words frighten the younger boys so much that Twenty-Four starts to cry softly. He can’t risk being heard by Sooman, wherever he might be. Fourteen rushes over and hugs Twenty-Four tightly, shocking everyone now. No one had ever seen a Consort hug a normal boy. The other two Consorts shift uncomfortably at the sight at first, but soon Eighteen walks over to Twenty and hugs him shyly. Once more of the boys adjust to this new sight they turn and look at Twenty-One, the only remaining Consort of the group. He quickly shrinks under pressure and clings onto the nearest victim, which just so happens to be Twenty-Three. The boy goes rigid when he’s first touched by his pretty hyung. Then everyone freezes when they hear Sooman’s voice shouting out different numbers as he tries to locate some of the boys who had yet to finish their chores. Thankfully, none of their numbers are called and they all manage to sneak back into the house quietly and hide their wet clothes in their bedrooms.

No one but Thirteen receives any kind of punishment that night.