Work hours persisted for roughly two and a half hours, as Rai had promised. Then, at around five PM they were dismissed for a short recreational break before dinner. The showers were reserved for the factory workers until later, Rai said – but it was a loosely enforced rule, and if Fang ever really felt like showering with lots of big sweaty men, then he should walk right in. While they waited for dinner to come around, Rai took him on a walk around the high-security wing – pointing out the courtyard, which was usually only open for a short period of time between work and the end of dinner – as well as the library, lounge and computer lab. They circled very briefly past a hallway that led down the infirmary, but Rai didn’t elaborate too much on that side of the prison. In the end, with twenty minutes left to spare, they joined Han in the lounge and watched the last half of an old Chinese drama on the big television. 

At dinner, they were given rice with pumpkin curry and a side dish of vegetables. Aris wasn’t at the kitchen window, but he wasn’t at the table with them either. Again, Fang sat alone on his side of the table, but this time Han and Rai shared their conversation and he ended up barely noticing Aris’s absence. The man rarely said anything, anyway. 

Once dinner was finished, Rai took Fang to the showers, where they stripped and washed their bodies. Naughty jokes were dropped throughout the entirety of the shower, and when they were finally done they rejoined Han in the lounge – refreshed, flushed, and breathless from laughing. 

Han’s thick eyebrows lifted in faint amusement when he saw the two boys approaching his table, arms around each other’s shoulders and giggling like a pair of drunken girls.  

“Hey, listen to this,” Rai blurted out as they sat down, slapping Fang’s hands away as the dark-haired boy tried to muffle his mouth with an indignant squeal. But despite fingers clamping over his lips, Rai managed to finish his sentence, anyway. “Fangie’s an eighteen-year-old virgin –” 

“Damnit Rai!” Fang exclaimed, flushing harder as he saw Han chuckling. “It’s not my fault okay, it’s all because of circumstances – circumstances!” 

“Ri-ight.” Rai laughed with a roll of his eyes.  

“Don’t worry,” Han reassured him, smiling in a kind sort of way as he looked at Fang. “I wasn’t able to do anything until I was eighteen, either.” 

“Liar,” Rai jeered, reaching over and poking the man in the cheek. “What about that nurse who sucked you off in high school –” 

“That doesn’t count,” Han said irritably, brushing the boy’s hand away. “Why are we talking about this anyway? Come on, there’s better things to do,” he said, tapping the stack of cards he’d placed in the center of the table and looking at Fang again. “Do you know any card games?” 

“Hell yeah?” Fang raised an eyebrow in faint indignance and grinned. “I know all of them. I know how to play mah-jong, too. The grams get me to play with them all the time.” 

“Oh, really?” Rai snickered, grabbing the cards and shuffling them. “If they knew you were a virgin I bet they’d offer you a go –” He broke off with a high-pitched laugh as Fang lunged at him, cards flying everywhere as they tumbled off the metal chairs and onto the ground. 

As the two guards who had been watching the room started walking over, Han lifted his hand hastily and reassured them. “It’s fine, it’s fine – they’re just playing.” Then, brows knitted in faint irritation, he pulled Fang away by the back of his shirt and started collecting up the cards with a heavy sigh. “Rai, let it go already. It’s normal to be a virgin at eighteen.” 

At the mention of the v-word again, Rai let out a muffled laugh, and Fang pressed his lips together in a pout. But eventually both boys joined in helping Han pick up the cards, and soon everybody was sitting back at the table again. 

“Whoever loses has to draw a mustache on Aris’s face without him noticing,” Rai declared, as the cards were distributed and they started checking their hands. 

“Rai, no,” Han protested in dismay, his complaint muffled by Fang tilting his head back with a loud chortle. “No bets. And that’s dangerous.” 

“But it’s not fun that way!” Rai said, lifting his foot under the table to kick Han lightly in the shin. “Okay, fine, whoever loses has to give the winner a blowjob.” 

“Rai…” Han said exasperatedly, seeming to give up as he turned his attention to his own cards. 

Glancing between them, Fang felt his amusement fade a little when the game started without any more disagreement – wait, so was that bet on or not? A little nervously, he opened his mouth to ask, but then Rai placed down a pair of three’s and he pushed the thought away. Whatever – he wasn’t planning to lose, anyway. 

In the end he didn’t win, but he wasn’t last either, so it was alright. They played a couple more times before Rai, evidently tired of losing, stood up and declared that he wanted to watch TV. 

The other guys were watching a soccer game on the big television, so Rai went to one of the smaller ones in a corner of the room and found the drama channel. The boy was soon immersed into the show and had crawled up in front of the TV to watch, leaving Han and Fang sitting together on the sofa.  

“… Where’s Aris?” Fang asked after a while, glancing at Han. Maybe this man was a little more willing to talk about Aris.  

“He’s probably at the infirmary.” Han replied in a nonchalant voice, dark eyes hazy and reflecting the lights of the television as he watched the screen distractedly.  

“Infirmary? Is he sick?” Fang exclaimed in alarm, thinking immediately of the infamous flesh-eating virus that the grams were always murmuring about.  

“No, no.” Han shook his head dismissively. “He volunteers there sometimes.” 

“But isn’t it dangerous?” Fang said, more curious than worried now as he leaned back in the sofa and stared at the TV. “What if he gets sick, too?” 

For some reason, Han chuckled. “Don’t worry about Aris,” the man murmured, lifting a hand and patting Fang’s head. Surprised by the gesture, Fang glanced up at the man hesitantly, suddenly feeling shy. But Han was still watching TV.  

At that moment, commercials came on and Rai turned his head only to freeze when he saw them. Then, lips pressing together a little irritably, the boy jumped onto the sofa and wrapped his arms around Han’s shoulders, pulling the man down onto the other side of the sofa. 

Fang blinked at them for a couple seconds before realizing they were making out. Then, feeling strange, he turned and looked at the TV, his heart suddenly racing. Despite what he’d believed before, seeing two guys kissing didn’t feel as gross as he’d thought it would. 

Like that, they sat in front of the television for a couple more shows. For a while, Rai behaved, and Han was free to initiate conversation with Fang. After learning that they were both from Zhuhai, Han brightened considerably and they started talking about the local things, sharing their favourite places to eat and such. But eventually Rai claimed him back, and after half an hour of unconsciously peeking at the touchy-feely couple, Fang got up.  

“I want to return to my cell,” he said hoarsely, hoping they wouldn’t notice his erection underneath the baggy inmate uniform.  

The other two pulled away, Han’s look of nonchalance becoming concerned as he looked at Fang.  

“Are you okay?” the man asked, pushing Rai off and sitting up properly. 

Ruffling his hair with a disgruntled look, Rai got up as well. “I’ll take you back,” he offered, grabbing Fang by the arm before he could say anymore and pulling him away.  

“I could’ve walked back by myself,” Fang pointed out, as they left the lights and chattering of the lounge behind them. At this time, the empty hallways looked a little bit grey, and the windows only showed a completely black landscape outside. It was only nine o’clock – curfew was at ten. He was calming down, but if he got back now he could jerk off quickly before Aris returned. 

“Yeah, but just for the first day, I have to make sure you don’t get lost,” Rai said adamantly, letting go of him once they’d turned the corner. The recreation area was quite close to the their cells, just two turns and a short hallway away. “Ah, this one is ours.” Rai paused outside a similar-looking metal door along the way, tapping on it. “Mine and Han’s.” 

“Okay.” Fang nodded, glancing down and realizing that he was glad Rai had offered to escort him. All the metal doors looked exactly the same, and he hadn’t exactly paid attention to his cell number.  

“You guys are a little ways down,” Rai continued, moving past the boy. He led Fang all the way to the end of the corridor, then turned left and walked for another five cells before stopping and pulling open the metal door to the right. “This one’s yours.” 

“Thanks,” Fang said fervently, stepping inside only to jump in surprise when he saw Aris already lying in his bunk. The lamp was on, and the man was sitting against a propped up pillow with a book in hand. But he glanced over at them with narrowed green eyes when they opened the door.  

“Aris!” A strange sort of warmth flooding him after a long day of not seeing the man, Fang stepped forward with a grin.  

“Aren’t you a little early?” But the man’s voice was thick with irritation as he ignored Fang and pointedly returned to his book. “Curfew isn’t until ten.” 

“He said he wanted to come back.” Standing by the door, Rai cast Fang a smile that wasn’t wholeheartedly sympathetic. “Ignore him, Fangie. He’s just a grouchy hermit.” 

Suddenly not so sure about returning to his cell early, Fang glanced back at the boy, about to open his mouth and suggest coming back later, but Rai had already turned away. 

“Well, see ya guys later,” the boy said airily, lifting a hand in goodbye and letting the metal door shut. 

Left alone with Aris, Fang stood there for a couple seconds before attempting to pipe up. “I didn’t really get to see you today. How are you?” 

“… Don’t talk to me,” Aris grunted, flipping a page of his book. “I’m in a bad mood.” As though sensing Fang’s next retort, the man shot him a brief glare. “More than usual.” 

Mouth closing, Fang puffed out his cheeks for a moment of disappointment before deciding there was nothing else to do but climb to his bunk. Doing just that, he winced as pain shot through his left hand – by now, it was almost his entire left arm that was weak – but managed to haul himself up quickly. Then, stripping his uniform and tossing it into a corner of the bunk, he collapsed gladly into bed. After pulling the covers firmly over his weary head, Fang closed his eyes and sighed deeply. 

A half-familiar musk floated into his head, and with a jolt Fang remembered that Aris had slept here yesterday. It still smelled like the man.  

Ah… I’m hard again… Fidgeting, Fang squeezed his eyes shut, trying his best to ignore it as he willed himself to pass out quickly. Some things just didn’t always have a logical explanation, his mother used to say – a teenage boy’s erection being one of them. It was probably just because he was pent-up, Fang reasoned as he dizzily breathed in Aris’s scent. It smelled faintly of soap, manly warmth, and food – maybe because he worked in the kitchen. Fang found it ridiculously irresistible. The next thing he knew, his hands had wormed their way into his cotton briefs, and his breath was growing hot underneath the covers.  

Below, he heard the faint rustle of pages turning and remembered with a jolt that Aris was sitting right underneath him. Ah, shit, what am I doing… But along with the surprise and alarm had been a sting of pleasure, and Fang cringed as he found himself unable to stop. On the contrary, he unconsciously wished for more – he wanted to hear Aris sigh, or speak up, or moan –  

Abruptly, Fang came, tensing up and biting his lip hard in an attempt to make sure he didn’t make any noise. When it was finally over, he let out a shaky sigh and lay still under the covers for a stunned moment. 

Then, from below, Aris really did let out a heavy sigh, and Fang blinked as he felt a tremor rake through his already sensitive body.  

Startled by his own reaction, he kicked off his blankets, head suddenly an alarmed mess. No, no, hearing a guy sighing shouldn’t turn me on. Annoyed at himself, Fang lifted his soiled hands forlornly into the air. Crap, I didn’t think this far. The only thing he had to wipe it on was his uniform. Well, that would have to do… he could change into a spare one tomorrow at work.  

Finding an inconspicuous corner to wipe his hands, Fang then fell back against his pillow with a heavy sigh and closed his eyes. It hadn’t even been a particularly long or tough day, but for some reason he was exhausted.  

There was a long silence, then a faint click and the lamplight behind his eyelids turned dark. In his barely awake consciousness, Fang realized that Aris had turned off the lamp. Then the man sighed, and the last thing he heard before dropping completely off to sleep was Aris’s faint murmur. 

“…This brat…”