First Appearance (Chapter 2)

Anderson shook his head. "Come on, Josh. Different guys start at different ages. I didn't wank when I was your age... I only vaguely knew what it was…"

Palmer laughed. "I was already a three-a-day man, me. By ten or eleven. Couldn't get enough of it..."

Anderson nodded. "Yeah yeah yeah. And your balls dropped when you were three. Whatever."

Palmer was about to respond when we all heard the gasps of someone in another tent reaching his orgasm. Then a couple of other people sniggering.

Josh giggled, "That was Vaughan!"

Palmer shook his head. "Naah... it came from the wrong direction... it was Adams or Franklin..."

Anderson nodded, grinning.

Josh was adamant. "It was Vaughan."

Anderson shook his head. "You heard what Vaughan said last night. He likes to be discrete. That was Adams. Trying to make up with a few fake gasps what he lacks in style..."

We chuckled, hearing someone else's masturbatory rhythm take over from where Adams' - or whoever’s - had left off.

Then, abruptly, Anderson turned the torch off and said, "And now - if you guys will excuse me - I'd like to produce a few gasps of my own."

We all settled into our sleeping bags in the semi-darkness of the Arctic twilight.

I waited to hear sounds of Anderson masturbating but the four of us remained silent. Noises of other boys and, perhaps, of Vaughan or Connell, attending to themselves were obvious, but no-one from our tent seemed to want to join them.

Eventually Palmer whispered, "Come on then, big dick. Show us what you’ve got…"

Josh and I chuckled.

Anderson laughed a little nervously. "Well I feel kind of embarrassed. You guys are all listening out for me now."

Palmer seemed impatient. "Come on, Rob. I'm hard as hell. If you start up I’ll join in…"

Anderson remained coy. "I dunno. You guys are all waiting to listen to me wank. It’s freaking me out. I don’t think I could even get a stiffy, actually." He laughed again. "Many hopes have been raised but not the one between my legs."

"For Fuck’s sake," Palmer barked. "I always wank before I go to sleep. If I start it off, will you… you know?"

"Yeah I'll join in with you, mate…"

Someone in another tent grunted gently in pleasure. It sounded like Connell, but the direction was unclear.

Palmer needed reassurance. "Everyone else is doing it…"

"If you wanna wank, just fuckin’ wank," Anderson snapped. His voice, although a whisper, was so loud that everyone awake must have heard it. I could imagine Vaughan grinning with his eyes closed.

A gentle rhythm started up from inside Palmer’s sleeping bag. He sighed, obviously enjoying the feeling of his hand on his cock after so much anticipation.

Anderson whispered, "I can’t believe you're masturbating in the presence of two innocents, Palmer…"

Palmer said, "Fuck off."

The light beating noises from Palmer’s sleeping bag continued. His breathing was becoming slightly, almost imperceptibly, faster.

Eventually, Anderson whispered, "What are you thinking of?"

Palmer repeated, "Fuck off!"

Anderson chuckled. "Come on, mate. If you want me to join in…"

Palmer snapped, "I’m thinking of my dick fucking your arse. That get you going?"

Anderson laughed. "You’re thinking of Sophie Crooke. Aren't you?"

Palmer didn’t miss beat. "No. Actually."

Anderson chuckled. "In that case… could it possibly be one of those nymphos from the fifth form…?"

Palmer kept wanking, his rhythm becoming faster. "Getting warmer…."

Anderson kept at it, the sound of his voice making his grin obvious. "Pamela Craddock or that French girl Maria…?"

It became obvious that there were two independent rhythms inside our tent. Palmer’s hand was obviously moving faster than Anderson’s but he’d had a head start.

They continued chatting, both becoming more breathless, enjoying exchanging names and scenarios as their hands worked at their cocks.

Hearing them talking while they masturbated excited me a lot. I wondered if Josh was going to join in and if he did whether I ought to try to follow suit.

My cock was hard in my boxer shorts and I gently and quietly eased it out through the fly. It felt good in my hand; warm and thick. I slid the foreskin back from the head and that felt good too. My cock throbbed in my fingers, becoming longer and harder than before.

I was afraid to do anything else in case they heard me. I didn't want them to make a big deal of it after what I'd said earlier; I could imagine Palmer shouting, "Whoa! Stu's playing with his little pecker. Come on, Stu, fire some blanks for us!" And the whole thing getting agonisingly embarrassing.

So I just lay there listening to them, holding my aching dick in my hand.

I thought again about Josh. His breathing was deep and I wondered if he was masturbating already. Holding his sleeping bag up above his cock so as not to make it obvious.

But then he snored slightly and I realised he was asleep.

I was amazed that he could have gone to sleep while all this was going on. Perhaps, because he himself was already masturbating, it wasn’t such a big deal to him as it was to me. Perhaps it just didn’t interest him. Perhaps when I was masturbating regularly it wouldn’t be so interesting to me. Just like hearing guys taking a piss wasn’t interesting to me since I could watch myself doing it just about as often as I liked.