***

“I must inform you that I’m summoned tomorrow at Milo’s house to study,” Sebastian told the mother as soon as he reached home. Operating the elevator by himself had been quite the experience, but it was in his blood to be unafraid of the unknown. 

The mother was in her room, reading something while already in bed. She wore something over her eyes, a metal frame of some kind, and took it off when he entered after knocking politely. “Kai, are you all right?” she asked.

“Yes, thank you for your question.”

“Did you suddenly decide to practice being polite?” She smiled.

“I don’t understand.”

“Never mind. So, are you and Milo really going to study tomorrow? I know you don’t care much about school, but you should at least consider graduating. I don’t dare to say anything more.”

Sebastian was intrigued. “Please, do dare say.”

The mother abandoned the book she was reading. “Come and take a seat here.” She patted the bed.

“I would rather stand.”

Mrs. Martin sighed. “I know things haven’t been easy ever since your father passed.”

Oh, that explained their situation. The family’s patriarch must have fallen in battle.

“Do you need someone to put food on the table?” he asked directly.

Mrs. Martin stared at him, a bit confused. “Are you offering to do the groceries, or are you making fun of me? Just so you know, Kai, you’re not that funny right now.” She wagged a finger at him in warning.

“It is quite obvious that this family is down on its luck,” Sebastian said. “Tomorrow, I will do some hunting. We will not go hungry.”

With that, he addressed Mrs. Martin a polite ‘goodnight’ and stepped out of her room. She was still staring in obvious surprise when he closed the door behind him.

Now, he had more important things to learn about. He took out his phone. “Soon, we will be alone, and you will spill all your secrets,” he whispered.

***

“Milo’s here,” he heard the mother’s voice from behind the door. “Are you still asleep?”

Sebastian woke up and stared around, feeling completely disoriented. He had talked to the phone all night long to learn about the proper way to speak like a high school student, as well as about studying, along with many other wonderful things. 

“Just let him… I’m coming!” he yelled, remembering that his natural way of talking was considered too formal for this world.

He pulled a shirt on and a pair of pants and rushed to the door.

“I have to go to work. Make sure to grab at least a sandwich. I left enough for you and your sister on the table,” Mrs. Martin said quickly. 

He nodded without questioning anything from what he had just heard. One thing he had decided was to keep quiet when there were things he didn’t know and just ask his phone about them later. 

Milo appeared from behind his mom. “Dude, what the hell? You’re still sleeping?” he asked cheerfully.

Sebastian ran his hands through his hair. “Yo, dude,” he said, too, putting up a stiff arm. Hmm, he had to be more relaxed while talking like that. More chill.

The mother shook her head. “You two, make sure you’re not running late, okay?”

“We won’t run late, Mrs. Martin, I promise.”

It looked like Milo could assuage the mother’s worries with just a few words. Sebastian decided that it was a skill he should master, as well. 

He pulled Milo inside after bidding a hasty farewell to the mother. “What classes do we have today?” he asked.

Milo snickered. “You’re hopeless, right? Math, chemistry, and physics. And the bane of our existence.” He made a face as he had just had sour grapes. “French.”

Sebastian searched his brain. He had also studied some literature last night, but he knew at least the basics of the topics Milo mentioned. And he hadn’t found French that difficult. In his world, he was a master of foreign languages. His superior intellect helped a lot, too. 

“I’ll go wash,” he informed Milo. Now he knew what a shower was, and he considered it a pretty marvelous invention, as well. To have a waterfall indoors sounded like decadence, but it appeared to be a common occurrence in this world. Also, it was an enjoyable experience.

When he returned, Milo was stretched on his bed and had a silly smile on his face. He kept one hand on his lower belly and looked dreamily at Sebastian. “I’ve dreamed about you last night.”

“I studied,” Sebastian said promptly. 

“You did? That’s a first.” Milo snickered like he found that amusing.

“I must graduate,” he said.

“Well, yeah, that’s true. Come here,” Milo said and blinked lazily.

Going to school was part of the graduation quest, but it looked like Milo didn’t care about such priorities. Last night, Sebastian had stumbled over some peculiar videos, and he had found himself in the impossible situation of being aroused and having no one to help him get rid of it.

He climbed on the bed and placed one hand over Milo’s crotch. “Yours appears to be of a good size,” he said as he fondled the young man’s manhood. It had to do for what Sebastian had in mind.

Milo pushed his hand away and laughed. “Oh, man, you’re something.” He hesitated for a moment, but then he grabbed Sebastian by the front of his pants, too. “And yours is not small, either.”

They had no time for that. Sebastian only wanted to assess the situation. And the situation, well, was quite satisfying. Even if Milo wasn’t schooled in the art of lovemaking, with what he had, there was promise that he would become a most pleasant lover.

He surely didn’t lack passion. Milo bit his bottom lip and grinned. “I can’t wait. I thought about it last night, and man, I want to do everything you want to do. I even stopped by the drugstore this morning, for, you know.” He wiggled his eyebrows and winked. 

Ah, drugstore. Milo wrongly thought that one of them would need the help of miracle potions that caused their manhood to grow. Sebastian didn’t believe they required such a thing. 

“You don’t need it. And neither do I,” Sebastian said sternly. He found such magic at least a bit disturbing. What was gained had to be gain through natural means. Like he got his ice magic from his mother, the Ice Goddess. The size of one’s manhood didn’t have to be modified using obscure means. He was starting to think those vivid images of nude men were following him everywhere.

Milo stared for a moment at him and then burst into laughter. “If you say so. I have a feeling we’ll need them, though. A lot of them.” He wiggled his eyebrows again.

Sebastian consulted the time on his phone. Among its many uses, the magic item was also capable of telling him that. He had already decided that he would carry the phone with him all the time. It was as trustworthy as his sword, and, in this world, people didn’t carry swords, as far as he could tell.

Preoccupied as he had been with studying and learning about arousing topics, he had failed to find the needed time to establish an important aspect. 

“Where do you go to hunt for food?” he asked Milo.

Ah, he must have said something strange again. He looked at his phone and typed in the question. “Ten best places to hunt in --” he began to mumble.

“What would you like to eat?” Milo interrupted him. “I have all kinds at my house.”

“I need to support this family,” Sebastian said. “I cannot rob your home of its supplies.”

“Ah. Well, you still have your part-time at the supermarket, right? If you care about helping your mom with grocery shopping, maybe you can get some discounts. Wait, is the situation that bad? I thought your mom worked full-time.”

“It’s rather vexing… It pisses me off,” Sebastian reformulated quickly, “that she has to do that.”

Milo shrugged. “You told me she loves her job. And that it’s not like you don’t have money. Everything you make goes on video games and manga, and I never heard your mom complain. Or you.”

Ah, well, maybe they still had their pride as the house of Martin. He would have to figure out things without Milo’s help. He didn’t appear aware of the direness of the situation, and Sebastian believed that Mrs. Martin shouldn’t be made to feel ashamed about their household’s situation.

“Don’t tell me,” Milo said teasingly, “that now that you got yourself a boyfriend, you suddenly feel all responsible and grownup?”

“What boyfriend?”

Milo chuckled. “Me.” He pointed at himself. 

Well, he was a boy and a friend. Hardly a boy, though, Sebastian thought, while giving Milo another once-over.

“You are so totally undressing me with your eyes,” Milo said in a funny voice and laughed. “Now let’s go or we’ll miss first period.”

“Sure.”

“Don’t forget to grab your sandwich. And your sister.”

“Do I have to?”

“She’s a freshman at our school. Of course you do.”

If that was what he had to do, he had no qualms with it. He put his uniform on, ignoring Milo’s annoying whistles, and walked out of the room. Tani was already in the kitchen, wolfing down her sandwich.

“What took you so long?” she asked with suspicious eyes. “Don’t tell me you two kissed all this time.”

“No,” Sebastian said sharply. “And a young lady like you shouldn’t ask such questions.”

Tani rolled her eyes. “Sure, grandpa.”

Puzzled by her words, Sebastian hurried to correct her. “I am not your grandfather. I am your brother.”

Tani stared over him at Milo. “Did he hit his head?”

“Not that I know of,” came the reply.

“I didn’t hit my head,” Sebastian intervened sternly.

Tani shrugged. “Just my luck to have a weirdo for a brother. But, don’t worry,” he patted him on the shoulder, “you’re my only brother, so I love you.”

Sebastian stopped and looked at her.

“What?” she laughed. “You know I do.”

“If your thirteen-year-old sister tells you that, you should believe it, man,” Milo chimed in. 

Love? That was a strange word to throw around.

“Now, tell me,” Tani whispered, ignoring him completely, and her whole attention trained on Milo, “did you two, you know?”

“You’re only thirteen. You’re not allowed to know that.” Milo took the liberty to pull Tani’s pigtails upward, making her look like a rabbit. 

“Almost fourteen,” she objected and pulled her hair free from Milo’s hands. “And it’s not like I didn’t know you two were suspicious.”

“Suspicious? In what way?” Sebastian asked.

Tani rolled both her head and eyes to stare at him. “No girlfriends? Spending all your time together? And you’re already eighteen? Bruh, that’s pretty sus.”

“For your information,” Sebastian began, “until yesterday, we didn’t even kiss.”

Tani stared at him for a long moment and then began shouting. “I knew it! I knew something was up! You two were staring at each other with lovey-dovey eyes yesterday! Who’s the seme? Who’s the uke?” She turned around fast, looking at Milo, then at him, and then back at Milo.

“Man, are you spilling the beans to your sister like this?” Milo complained.

Sebastian looked around and saw no beans spilled. It was probably a way of saying that he shouldn’t have told Tani about how they kissed. 

“I didn’t know it was a secret,” he said primly.

“A secret?” Tani started again. “Don’t you dare keep secrets from me!”

If only she knew who he truly was. That was quite an important secret her brother was keeping from her right now.

“Come on, my dudes,” Milo said, grabbing him by the shoulder and taking Tani’s hand. “We should get to school today.”

“Why are you holding my sister’s hand?” Sebastian asked.

Tani burst into laughter. “You’re barely boyfriends for a day and he’s jealous. Don’t worry, big bro, I’d never steal your boyfriend. Sister honor.”

That wasn’t what he thought. It was just inappropriate for a girl her age – and a princess on top of everything – to hold hands so casually with a commoner. 

But, as he had learned from his mistakes already, he chose to remain quiet.

TBC