How could he send me to such a place? My lover... he had given me a sad look, and then told me of his final gift to me. He had said, "Forget me, and go there to heal... I don't want you to be burdened by me." Then, he had turned away and left me with a ticket in my hand...

Why had I come here? I don't know... curiosity? Because I wanted to forget... I just can't believe that this was how he had spent- I shake my head, and put that out of my mind. An obsequious servant comes up to me, and escorts me into the compound. All around me, I see marble and lush plants- just the sort of exotic fripperies that I had expected, considering the outside.

The servant bows to me, and motions for me to stop at the foot of the hallway. There, he hold up a little lacquered box, which I open. In it, I see keys of many different colors and shapes. "Please, honored sir. Choose one, and enjoy your stay at the palace." I look at all of them, wondering which one to pick. Finally, I pick the key with a copper tassel... copper for the shade his hair would turn in the sun...

The man glances at me and smiled. "An excellent choice, sir. You shall be served well here." Then he claps imperiously, and two young men wearing nothing but loincloths come up to us. One of them takes my bag while the other looks at the key, and bows. Then they escort me to a small, discreet door. I had noticed more esoteric designs, but this one seemed relatively normal...

"Master, if you would wish for anything, this is where we shall be. The ones inside should see to your every wish, but if they do not..." The tone made the threat implicit. I nod, and wait until they leave for a moment before I pick up my bag, and then unlock the door. As I peer into the twilight of the room, I see that it is a "hidden" room, with a glass partition and vents that allow me to hear whatever is said in the connected rooms.

As I walk into the little hidden room, I am greeted by the whispers of two sweet-voiced young men. Looking at the key that I had chosen at the front gates, I wonder at what I will find here- after all, there are many things spoken of, but there are very few who have the resources or the bravery to come and see this place...

My first view of the room through the looking glass makes me truly speechless. It is a room with furniture made totally of marshmallows. Soft and plush, they looked as if it would melt at the first touch of any skin... The room itself is marble and wood, with covered, barred windows- probably so that the marshmallows wouldn't melt completely.

I see a toy box off to the side of the room, and a slide that leads down into a basin full of downy, soft pillows. There are stairs that lead up to a balcony that overlooks some amusement park full of people, and that is what this little rooms seems to be situated over... My eyes are pulled toward the basin, which currently holds two young men... I listen to their conversation, and can't help but wonder what they must feel at this sort of life...

"Winter, what do you think our new master will be like?" The one with a chestnut waterfall of hair speaks to his older, blond compatriot as he arranges the platinum hair into an intricate arrangement atop of the older one's head. Winter holds his head still, and answers his younger friend. "Does it really matter, Summer-chan? After all, whoever our new master is... he can do what they like."

Summer looks at the complicated hairstyle that he has just put Winter's hair in, and smiles. Going to face Winter, he snuggles into older one's arms and they sink together into the downy pillows that fills the basin. "I know that- I'm sure we'll like our master, no matter what! But..." The innocent eyes seem to look far off into the distance for a moment, sad and knowing.

Winter looks down at Summer and smiles into his saddened blue eyes. "Don't worry... No matter what! I won't let anyone separate us, ok?" Summer looks up at him with utter trust in his eyes, and nods. As he gets up from his comfortable position, the little bells that he has around his ankles and wrists jingle. "What do you want to do until our master comes?"

Winter answers with a smile, "Let's play a little with our toys... what were you building with the blocks, anyway?" Their voices become a little distant as the two go off to the side to play with their toys, leaving me behind to think. I can't help but feel a bit of delight along with the shock...

I had heard things about this place, but this- I shake my head, wondering if Joel had known that this place was like this... but he wouldn't have sent me if he hadn't known. Joel was rather meticulous about his facts, and he would have found out everything... sometimes, he'd seemed almost obsessive about that- as if making up for one mistake by not making any, ever again...

I'm not sure what to do... perhaps I should just leave? But what would Joel say to me? He had been the brave one, not I, and I could just hear his voice telling me to go on. "Enjoy life while you have it, Lucas. Or else you'll never know what you missed..." Odd, that somehow he had known, even before-

Shaking my head, I am determined to see this through. I'm not going to forget him... never that. But maybe, for a night? I go to a small door that opens to the balcony. Going through it, I whisper, "Hello?" Summer and Winter both look up, and then abandons their toys to come running up to me.

Once the two are in front of me, they both kneel with their hands entwined, and look up at me. I notice that Summer gazes at me with more innocent adoration, while Winter's blue eyes hold a bit of willfulness. I suppress a smile- after all, it's not as if I'm going to be doing anything with them...

Looking at both of them, I point to the chestnut-haired one. "You're Summer?" Summer nods shyly and then looks away. Winter comes up next to Summer in a dominant and protective position, and gazes at me with a little defiance. Just a little... "I am Winter, master. What would you have us do?"

I look at the two for a moment, and then shake my head. "First of all, stop calling me master- it makes me feel strange. How about just Lucas?" Summer looks at me with something akin to shock on his face, while Winter gives me a searching look. Finally, Winter nods. "Yes, Lucas-sama."

Well, not quite what I meant, but better than nothing, I suppose. Looking around, I say, "I am a little tired from the trip. Can I-" Summer comes up to one side of me, and Winter goes to the other. They lead me gently to a side door, which opens to a bathroom that clearly follows the marshmallow motif.

There is a fluffy, cloud-like atmosphere to the decor, from the white rugs on the floor to the white fuzzy toilet covers. I look at the white marble bath sunk into the middle of the room, and then at the two young men. Summer smiles at me, and then says in a quiet voice, "Ma- Ah! I mean, Lucas-sama... Would you like to take a bath?"

I smile at the younger of the duo, and nod. Winter comes up to me and starts to take my shirt off for me. I leap back a little and give him a startled look. "What do you think you're doing?" Winter gives me a puzzled look, and then says as if stating the obvious, "Undressing you, Lucas-sama."

I give him a searching look, trying to see if he truly feels that this is so evident. It seems so, for now Summer is giving me a look that seems a bit scared. "Lucas-sama, did we displease you? Winter was just doing what we always do if our master wants to take a bath..." Winter nods, and then goes over to Summer.

Standing between the chestnut-haired young man and me, he seems ready to challenge me if I was about to hurt his friend. Wondering at the ferocity of the reaction, I shrug mentally. After all, if Joel were here... "It's all right, Summer, Winter- I just wasn't expecting you to help me with my clothes."

Winter backs down at my placid remark, and then seems started at just how ferocious he had seemed. Going over to me with less of an attitude, he looks at me for a moment. I nod, and then he starts to help me out of my clothes. Summer follows him, and soon, I have nothing on at all.

I go into the tub, which has already been filled with rose-scented water, and had the white bubbles that were needed to complete this picture of almost virginal purity. I close my eyes and sigh as the hot water hits my skin, and then stiffen as I feel hands upon my body.

Opening my eyes, I see the pair has come into the bath with me. Summer is sitting in the water at my feet, while Winter has come to near my shoulder. Looking at the two of them in the water, I realize I'm not sure what to say. As long as I'm not going to do anything, shouldn't I let them do what seems to be their job? I suppose...

Winter sees my tacit approval and reaches to a small basket near him. Getting out a bottle, he puts some on his hands and rubs it together. Then, he runs it through my short, wavy black hair, and starts to shampoo it. At the same time, Summer gets a small container of liquid, scented soap which he lathers in his hands. He starts to rub it on my body, starting at my feet and moving up.

I luxuriate at the feel of the knowledgeable fingers at my head and feet at the same time, and can't help but gasp as sensitive spots are hit, and expertly massaged. Soon, I feel as if I am floating away, anchored to the earth only by the two pairs of hands that were imparting such pleasure upon my body. The tension that had come to define part of my existence finally swept away from my tense back, leaving me utterly relaxed.

As they ply their wondrous arts on me, the two boys start to enjoy themselves in the water. I feel almost like a toy to them that they had to care for- their real focus is each other. Not that I mind... after all, why should I? I smile as I hear Winter giggle genuinely, and Summer give a responding laugh that was not at all timid.

"Having fun?" My soft voice echoes in the great bathroom, and makes the small nattering conversation between the two stop. Summer speaks up in an almost terrified voice, "Ye-yes, Lucas-sama..." The change in mood is so great that I have to look up at the two. "Summer-chan, what is it?"

Summer looks at me with wide eyes, while Winter moves slightly away from me, as if wanting to go over to protect his young friend. Summer whispers in a tight voice, "Lucas-sama... if you want us to do something now..." Looking at him, I understand- of course, this would be a perfect time for anyone who wanted to do that sort of thing...

I can't help but to laugh just a little. "Summer-chan, don't worry about it. I won't make you do anything you don't want to do- or you, Winter. I came here because my last lover gave me a ticket and told me that I should go- that is all." Winter gives me a skeptical look.

"I know that coming here costs a lot of money- why should someone that's your ex-lover pay that much money?" I give him a serious look, at which he stares down at the bubbles and blush. I give him a gentle pat, making his head come back up again. "Because he's not my ex-lover... at least, not by choice. He's my love, and he's dead."

Double looks of shock cross their faces as I look at the ceiling, remembering. "Joel- he was always a guy who had a dual identity. His one face was that of a responsible, hardworking lawyer. The other was that of a man who had numerous partners and one night stands with either sex- a very active, promiscuous, wild kind of guy."

I can't help but smile as I recall how I'd met him. "I was a college student in my third year at Princeton, majoring in Political Science. I was one of the interns at his law office, and I couldn't believe that I was seeing the same guy hit on and flirt with three people at once! He saw me, and came over to say hi, and from there..."

Summer and Winter come closer to each other, and to me as I rest my head on the rim of the marble tub. "I suppose it was supposed to be a fling, but it didn't turn out that way. Somehow, it became more... and soon, I'd been living with him for eight months, and it was time for graduation already. He threw me a huge party, and as usual, we ended up having sex out in the grass..."

My smile fades away as I remember the rest- it still hurts too much. "Joel... he found out later that month that he had AIDS. We had always been careful- after all, we were two gay men living in New York City- but he hadn't always been so clean. I know that I'm not infected, but... he died a month ago. He left me two months ago..."

I feel tears running down my cheeks, but how can I care? Instead, I can't help but see the last conversation I had ever had with him. It had been in a hospital room, where he'd had to go after he started to catch too many opportunistic infections. I had wanted to stay with him, but he grew colder and colder, and then finally threw me out.

"He told me, 'I don't want you to see me like this- just leave me... please.' and I listened to him- I let him lie there in the dark to die, because I didn't want to face his death... I let him give me this ticket, and then just left back to my every-day existence, trying to ignore the fact that he was going to go away... I lived a month in a limbo, until a call came from the hospital."

Summer and Winter have become two silent witnesses to the agony that had become the focal point of my existence. I need to say this... "On it, this impersonal voice tells me that a Mister Joel Prince had just passed on, and asked if I would like to make arrangements for the body. I said yes, of course, and then hung up. For a while, I just sat there, and then suddenly, it hit me."

I remember the darkness, the roar in my ears as I had collapsed on the bed. "It hit me that there Joel wasn't going to be there to make breakfast with me, that he wasn't ever going to tease me by calling me his Greek Adonis, that he wasn't going to be there for me to discuss cases or just to have a conversation with him... there was this empty void, and the one that had filled it was gone forever."

"I went through the funeral in a daze... I went through a lot of the next few weeks not seeing, not hearing. Finally, I found myself back in my room, with his last gift in my hand, and I took it, and did what it said for me to do. Why not? It's not as if it matters anymore..." I start as I feel Summer's face on my arm. I look down and see him clutching at me, sobbing.

"Lucas-sama... I'm so sorry..." His heartbroken little statement made in total empathy made me stroke his lovely brown hair gently. After all, true compassion was rare... I lifted my face to see Winter looking at me with an echo of that in his eyes as well. I must have had a surprised expression on my face, because he gestures to the sobbing young man in my arms.

I understand. Summer is to Winter like I must have been to Joel... protector, elder, wiser than their lover, trying to plan ahead, guard the weaker with all of their power and love... I nod sadly, and push the younger of the two into Winter's arms. I watch as the two cling to each other, and get out of the tub. No point in getting wrinkled like a prune because of my outbreak...

The pair also get out of the tub, and we wrap each other up in the thick, fluffy, and of course white towels that are in the cabinet at the side of the bathroom. As I leave the bathroom, I feel better than I have in a long time... Exhausting as it had been, the catharsis has been good for me, too.

I look around at the marshmallow furniture, wondering where I'm going to sleep. I turn as I hear the two whisper behind me. They smile as they look at me, and then nod. Before I know it, Summer has thrown himself on top of me so that I've landed in what looks like a couch- a soft, squishy couch...

"Summer! What are you-" I stop as Summer's delicate lips start to nibble at my ear. From behind me, Summer starts to do the same to the back of my neck. I sputter a little and try to get them off, but the marshmallow stuff throws me off balance, sticking to me and the towel that has now been pulled off...

Winter whispers in the ear that Summer isn't occupying, "Most of our masters are nice enough, but they always make us play when we don't want to, and they're usually kinda old and ugly. You're a lot nicer looking, and you don't force us to do anything... and you understand about Summer and me. Not a lot of masters would let us be this way."

He starts to lick the rim of my ear, and then breathes out, "So, we're going to make sure you have a good time here..."

I hear Summer giggle against my ear as he starts to move down, slowly. I feel almost like I'm a piece of candy as he nibbles and licks his way down my neck to where my Adam's apple is. He keeps on going down, while Winter watches him with an almost wondering smile. Then, Winter glances at me, and then grins.

How odd for me to feel so overwhelmed by the two who are supposed to be my slaves... But I am helpless as their mischievous hands and lips start to make me gasp and squirm. I give feeble attempts to try to get away from the wondrous torture that their teasing mouths are raising, but it is useless. As Summer and Winter go down on both my left and right toward my navel, and then toward-

"What the-" The wonderful, sexy mood that had begun to build up disperses as the
marshmallow couch under me suddenly gives away, leaving me almost totally covered with the white, sticky fluff. Summer and Winter, who had let me go in surprise, starts to laugh uproariously. I blink at them, which makes the sugary stuff stick to my eyelashes as well.

"Lu-" Summer tries to say my name, but his giggles are making him almost hyperventilate. I look at him, a bit disgruntled, as he tries to get a hold of himself. I hear snickers coming from Winter, and I turn my head to see him stuffing his knuckles into his mouth to muffle his laughs.

Summer tries again, and is a bit more successful this time. "Lucas-sama, are you all right?" I can't help but give him a look that tells him how all right I am. He sobers up immediately, and then bows to me timidly. The instant reaction of a slave... I'm about to jump in with an apology, but then Summer looks up with a playful smile. "Winter, do you think..." Summer's musing voice makes me turn my attention to Winter, who is giving Summer an incredulous look.

"Summer-chan!" Then Winter looks at me and grins. Seeing my confused expression, Winter explains, "Summer-chan and I have always expected this to happen someday. After all, marshmallows don't make very stable furniture... But all our old masters never had any real fun with us... they always stayed in the bath, or on the balcony. They never wanted to play!"

He leans over to me, and then pushes me deeper into the sweet fluff. "But you're a lot better than all of them..." Coming closer, he gives me a light kiss on my mouth, while Summer goes to retrieve something from a small cabinet at the side of the room, near the toy box.

Summer comes back a moment later with two jars, and hands one to Winter. They both smile at me, and then both comes to either side of me. They lift me away from the collapsed mass, and they both push me down onto the clean wood floor. They both look at me speculatively, and Winter asks, "Caramel or Fudge, Lucas-sama?"

I don't know what to say, which they take as an affirmative for both. Laughing a little, both attack a part of my body. Summer takes a finger's worth of chocolate and starts to paint my nipples, while Winter artistically drips caramel over my stomach in cute little designs.

Then, as if working from a signal, both start to lick that, and the marshmallow off. Summer starts to suck on my nipples, making me gasp, while Winter attacks the designs that he has made on my stomach with a vengeance. Licking that and the fluff off, he starts to move downward.

Summer moves up from my chest to my face, and his sweet, chocolate laced breath makes me shiver a little as he starts to delicately lap up the fluff on my eyelashes. I stay absolutely still as two pairs of mouths move in opposite directions, each imparting a butterfly touch of pleasure...

I see Winter lift his head from my body, while taking deeper breaths as an attempt to clear all the sticky mess from his mouth. As much fun as it has been, I'm not going to let him get sick because of me... I stand up, pulling myself away from Summer's ingenious mouth... more than a little regretfully, I suppose.

"Winter, why don't you go get something to drink? You don't look too good. I'm going to go take a shower..." Summer moves toward Winter, but then gives me a torn look, expecting to be called on. "Summer-chan, help your friend. I'll be fine by myself." As I turn, I see the confused expression has turned to one of concern for his usually stronger comrade...

I walk into the white, somewhat splattered bathroom, and go to drain the bathtub. As I watch the water spiral down, I can't help but sigh. It was a nice attempt... and I know that Joel understands, but still- it just feels wrong. Obviously pleasurable, but wrong.

Maybe it's because of the obvious love the two have for each other. Although they look
startlingly alike, I know that they can't be brothers- or at least, they don't seem to see themselves that way. Maybe cousins, if I had to guess. There is more than just dependency between the two of them, more than just circumstance. There is love- they show more caring for each other silently than many I've seen who proclaim their emotions out loud.

The smallest touch, the littlest gesture. Those little signs that show how much the other means to oneself- that is present between the two. Like I had with Joel... I know what it's like to live life thinking him and me- always we, never just I. And now that there is no 'us' for me anymore, why should I do this to a duo that still has this? No matter that they're supposedly my slaves...

I step into the bath, and turn on the shower that is cunningly hidden near the top of the room. Feeling the stickiness running away, I sigh, and do a better job than before of washing myself. Letting the water run over me, I close my eyes and wonder at what I am going to do.

No matter what Joel meant this for- therapy, perhaps, or just a little fun to forget- this can't just be that. Not after this... those two. If nothing else, I'm going to make sure that those two have a chance to be happy, appreciating the fact that the other is there... Not like the way Joel and I took each other for granted...

I shake my head sharply at the thought, and then turn off the shower. After all, what can I do now? I'm obviously not going to be able to stay here forever, even if I wanted to, which I didn't. My life... I need to start putting it together. I had dropped everything- my job, my friends, my family.

They had tried to understand, and had been forgiving, even my father. Even that old bastard had come to the funeral... no matter that he had left immediately afterward... at least he'd come. But I'd shut them out anyway, not even telling them that I was going to go away to come here.

How much power did I hold over my so-called slaves? Would I even be allowed to free them, and then for what? I saw that they would be totally unfit for life out of this opulent prison- after all, what would they do? What could they do? All they knew was this, and perhaps some of what their previous masters had taught them- nothing else.

But to leave them here at the mercy of any other with enough money to purchase a key- what good was that? From what Winter had told me, from how he had acted, you could tell that the usual master did not care for either of them- only the physical gratification. Watching, if they felt like it, but then moving on to their own selfish needs...

I reach for a towel, and dry myself off. Wrapping it around me, I try to lose the heavy thoughts from my mind. After all, I'm here to indulge myself in whatever perverse pleasures I may have, right? That's what the palace is known for- its acceptance of any aberration, as long as payment has been delivered...

No. I smile almost bitterly as I look at myself in one of the many mirrors around this room. If I was that kind of person, Joel and I would never have been able to stay together. As cynical and wild as he was sometimes, beneath that, he was always so much more idealistic and hopeful than I could ever be. To become that shallow... that would betray everything we'd had together, he and I.

The sex would be awesome, I'm sure. Probably the best of my whole life, even counting Joel. But that's not enough, even if it is to forget, to heal. In order to heal, I need to do something more, not something like this, that almost degrades the ones who need such things as much as the slaves...

I step out into the cool air of the room, and smile at the two, who had curled up together on what I assume to be their usual sleeping spot, in the pile of pillows at the base of the slide. Winter's arms are around Summer's protectively, while Summer has angled his body as if to intercept any hit for his older friend...

I leave them there and go out of the room with my key. Immediately, the two who had been with me in the beginning comes up to me. The one who had spoken before does so again, asking in an almost anxious tone, "Is there anything wrong, Master?" I look down at him for a moment, wondering what I should say.

Finally, I ask, "Is there a way to free one's slaves?" The other young man looks at me with alarm, while the speaking one doesn't meet my gaze. He replies in a serious tone, "Yes, Master- if that is your wish. You may grant your slaves their freedom, but then they are left to fend for themselves... if you do not have the resources to indulge them as the palace does, then..."

The silent one breaks into the reply sharply. "Don't free them." It is all he says, as I give him a puzzled look. Finally, he goes on. "If you free them, what are they going to do? All they know is this place, this life. One day, when they are not attractive enough, they will be sent to work as servants around the palace- but if you free them, they will lose the comforts they might have had for the years they have left."

He looks up at me with bitter eyes. "Unless you're willing to take them away, to care for them, don't make them suffer. They're going to be like us one day, but for now, they're at their peak- they're as happy as they're going to get. In a few years, they'll get this-" He shows me a thin metal bracelet that he has on, that the other has on, and then goes on.

"They'll get what remains of their key, and then this will be what rules them- this sign that they truly have no power-" The first servant stops the bitter one's tirade then, with a fierce look and a restraining hand. Silence rings through the hallway for a moment, before the angered servant bows his head.

Suavely, the appointed speaker says, "Master, we will obey your wish. That is all. If you wish to free them and take them away, their train fee will be on us, of course, and they may keep what they wish. They will be supplied with identification, and all the items necessary to be a member of society..."

Then, even he seems hesitant to go on. He finishes in a lower voice, "But they'll probably be back here... and I won't tell you that they'll be happier in the outside world." I look at the two, and then I nod. I turn back to my door, and step inside to the duo's necessary prison.

What can I do? I can see a future for the two in which I can't be a part of, either way. There is no way I can train and support two high-school age students who haven't even had preliminary schooling, and have no idea how the outside world works. At best, they'll be almost-children for many, many years, and at worst... I can think of a few places which would be delighted to have these two.

Innocence. That is what I see when I gaze at the two intertwined in the pillows. No matter what their sexual experience, they're blindingly innocent when it comes to life, to the life beyond the palace, beyond this room. Their thoughts are of each other, of pleasuring, of being subservient- they would be total victims out of this gilded cage.

So I leave the two, taking my things and going quietly. They have shown me something that I am not likely to forget... made me feel something that I thought I couldn't after he died. Not love, but passion, caring- wanting to help, free. All those things that Joel had felt so powerfully about, that he had wanted everyone to feel- all those principles he lived every day sticking by his convictions of helping everyone and anyone... I feel that now.

Maybe... I nod to myself. Leaving the room, I see that the one who had made the outburst was now gone, leaving only the first servant. I ask quietly, "May I keep these two for myself as long as I wish?" He nods, answering, "Most give in their keys after a time for various reasons. But there have been some who have held theirs in reserve, visiting at certain times..."

He looks at me cautiously, and then adds, "They are kept where they are, as long as the master wants them. It usually makes the slave unhappy as he is left alone, but..." I smile, and he understands. He helps me find the entrance, where it is light, and dazzling. Gazing back at their prison, at their only home, I look beyond. That is all I can do.

---Finis---