Moon Flower

During the negotiating part of the flower ceremony—as Galen had come to refer to it—he tried not to pay too much attention to who had selected Azriel, other than noting the gentleman wore a waistcoat that did nothing to flatter his coloring. Instead, he purposely focused on Oscar’s obvious excitement about Mr. Walters and his large prick. He found himself smirking at Oscar’s antics, then reining it in to greet Mr. Murphy, a handsome older gentleman, who approached him to take his flower.

It was the kind of evening he’d never been able to enjoy with a customer in the safety of a private room with an actual bed—not to mention other useful props, if they chose to use them. But based on what Mr. Murphy had negotiated with Madam Langley, he only wanted to fuck Galen, no frills.

In fact, when they entered the room, Mr. Murphy lit a pipe, and at a leisurely pace discussed any number of topics, including his wife, who apparently knew of his proclivities and allowed him to partake whenever he saw fit.

It again made him wonder about Mr. Blackburn, and he felt guilty for getting distracted by the thought, but Mr. Murphy didn’t seem to notice. Once he’d finished smoking, he began stroking his cock and asked Galen to disrobe, then used the oil liberally to prepare Galen. He fucked Galen at that same leisurely pace as he knelt on the bed. Galen had plumped up from the encounter, a simple physical reaction, but perhaps also because this time the act wasn’t so rushed that he barely had a chance to process it.

After they cleaned up at the water basin, using the fresh towels left by the maid, he bid Mr. Murphy a good evening and returned to a darkened room. Percy, Charles, and William were already asleep, or at least lying in their beds, and as Galen climbed into his own, he noted that the twins were still with their gentleman, as was Oscar, who otherwise would’ve been boasting about being properly debauched by Mr. Walters’s enormous prick.

Azriel’s bed remained empty as well, and Galen tried to dismiss the souring in his stomach. Instead, he imagined watching him again through the aperture, in the throes of passion, now knowing that Azriel was not sorry he did.

He began to plump from the pretty picture it painted, but chose to ignore his erection. He’d heard others seeking self-pleasure in the middle of the night, but he didn’t want to be caught unawares.

His thoughts drifted to the story Azriel had told him about Cecil and Joseph and Joseph’s burning jealousy. To Galen, servicing gentlemen was what he did to survive, and that was no different from what he and Azriel had done in the room with Mr. Blackburn while he watched.

And no matter what Galen told himself about how Azriel had responded to his touches, that was separate from the friendship he’d formed with him, as well as with the other lads at Moon Flower. Still, his gut burned with a longing he was wholly unfamiliar with. He was afraid the lines were beginning to blur together, and that must’ve been where Cecil and Joseph had gotten themselves in trouble. Not that he was jealous of the men fucking Azriel—only envious of the time they got to spend with him behind closed doors.

That was different, wasn’t it?

“You’re a romantic,” Azriel had said.

He’d always thought himself a dreamer, but he supposed the two notions were not so far apart.

The following evening, Galen’s breath caught when he spotted Mr. Blackburn being ushered inside last-minute by the footman. They were just about to leave the sitting room to line up in the vestibule, so Galen couldn’t read Azriel’s expression.

His hands grew clammy as he and the other lads stood side by side, waiting for the gentlemen to deflower them. He tried to calm his nerves, as he didn’t want to exude any obvious disappointment should Mr. Blackburn decide not to include him in his evening’s plans, so he avoided eye contact with Azriel.

Azriel appeared to be doing the same while the twins were chosen by a different gentleman than the previous night, and then different pairings followed. Galen scolded himself for feeling so forlorn, when just days before he’d been living under dire conditions. Still, he held his breath when Mr. Blackburn stepped toward Madam Langley and proceeded to negotiate, the two of them agreeing immediately.

Galen’s face grew hot when Azriel’s flower was taken from behind his ear, followed by his own. After all the effort he’d exerted wishing for this very thing, he suddenly felt nervous as they followed Mr. Blackburn to the room.

Once inside, Azriel helped Mr. Blackburn remove his coat, and when Galen lifted the latch on the wardrobe to give his hands something to do, he felt Azriel shiver as he hung it inside.