The Misfits meet System-san

Cassy:

The following afternoon, they again formed a single group as they approached the clubroom. This time, they found an oldish man dressed in workman's overalls and carrying three bags of fertiliser with casual strength. He nodded to them amiably as he pushed open the door, ready to step in.

Who’s this bloke?

"Oh, hi, you must be the members of the Misfits club."

Ahh, he’s the chief gardener who allowed us to use this little shed.

"Yes, that's us. Sorry, are we too early?" said Cassy.

"Nah, it's fine. I had a late delivery of a ton of fertiliser. Just wait a moment."

He disappeared inside. There was the sound of three heavy bags thumping down. Then he reappeared.

"Right, that's it for me. Us gardeners start early and finish at 3:00 pm, which I guess is very convenient for your usage, isn't it?"

"It sure is, Mr Gardener," said Alice.

"So polite... Anyway, sorry, but you have slightly less room than yesterday, but you can still fit in, no problem."

He brushed some dust off his shirt, then hesitated before speaking again.

"Say, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to, but you left behind your piece of paper last night..."

Shit!

“That is unfortunate; did anyone else see it?" said Cassy.

"Nah, I was in first, and when I saw it, I folded it up and put it under one of the sofa cushions."

"Thanks." said Bronsen.

A chuckle from the man. "No problems. I don't want to be too intrusive here, but I hope you are not worrying too much about things. Being a teenager is meant to be a difficult time, you know. What with all the working out what you are going to do in the future about jobs and future education and money, let alone all of the sex stuff. So, there's no need to panic or feel overwhelmed. You will eventually work things out. Well, probably, there were some unfortunate kids back then when I was a youngster - ah, never mind. But, anyway, you lot look sensible; you might have a bullshit time now, but you will grow past all of this. Just about everyone has to go through similar turmoils; I know that my past wife and I certainly did!"

What did he and his wife get up to, I wonder?

"Oh, right. Thanks for your support," said Alice.

"Say, none of my business, of course, but if you don't mind, which of you are in which couples?"

Cassy rolled her eyes and shrugged, "That's our big problem now; we can't decide! And it's a bloody pain!"

"Yeah, we are in a perfect love square at the moment," said Drayden.

The gardener blinked his eyes in surprise. "Oh, well, that's a new one. But I'm sure you'll cope. If you excuse me, I must be off; I gotta get ready for my part-time bus driving job. See ya."

He waved to them and left the scene.

The teenagers went inside, with Alice carefully closing and locking the door. As promised, the wall of fertiliser bags on one side and the stack of hay bales on the other were closer than before. But this didn't concern the teenagers. They had more important things to be worried about.

Just before Alice sat down, she realised she was next to the last three bags the gardener had carried in. She made a brief attempt to lift them, only to utterly fail.

Drayden laughed. "Don't worry, it's not for your strength that we love you."

Alice gave him a look of disdain and then flopped onto her place on the sofa.

They were now sitting in their accustomed places on the two sofas, which were a bit closer. So their knees were almost touching.

I bet the boys don't mind this at all! Hmm, I don't either.

Cassy was holding the piece of paper she had retrieved from under the cushion. She had also made a show of putting her knees together and spreading her skirt as far down as possible, as did Alice.

"That man was quite nice, wasn't he?" said Alice.

"Yeah, the school teacher who let us have this room said it was mostly because the chief gardener was so amicable and laid back about the whole idea that she saw no reason to refuse," said Bronsen.

"I wonder what turmoils he and his wife went through when they were teenagers?" said Cassy.

"If we are anything to go by, it would probably be illegal for him to tell us since we are students at the school he works in," said Alice.

"Ooh, yeah, it certainly is interesting here, sometimes!" said Drayden.

"Like just barely seeing your panties!" said Bronsen.

Oh, please don’t remind me of that!

Cassy's face went red.

"I never knew I could get so carried away with things; just thinking about it causes me to meltdown in embarrassment," she said.

"You too? I thought you were so confident then. Unlike me. So, please, boys, never tell anyone else about that!" said Alice.

Don’t the boys look so disappointed! Well, tough luck.

"You mean, can't we have such a display again? Like, right now?" said Bronsen, voice filled with dismay, “I mean, it wasn’t really all that much, was it?”

Both girls simultaneously said, "NO!"

"After all, it is almost an infraction of the 'no group sex' rule, isn't it?" said Cassy.

"Oh, definitely," said Alice, "But look on the bright side; you have something to look forward to when we decide who we will be dating."

"But, when you think about it, it's no different to being on the beach and you wearing bikinis, is it?" said Drayden.

Raised eyebrows from Cassy. "Sure, but right now, we aren't on the beach, are we?"

"And, besides which, while I own a bikini, I haven't ever worn it in public," said Alice.

"Hey, that's the same as me!" said Cassy.

"Hmm, I think we could arrange a beach visit when the weather is warmer," said Brosen.

"Oh, I wouldn't be against it, but it's too cold now," said Cassy.

"OK, I know, how about tomorrow, Saturday, we go to the local amusement park?" said Alice. "Although it has to be the afternoon since I work in the mornings."

"Sounds like a good idea. And if we split up into different combinations of twos for the various rides, then maybe something will 'happen', and we will finally collapse into two couples." said Drayden.

"Collapse?" said Cassy.

"Whatever," said Drayden.

Having made this critical decision, the group was silent.

Nobody wants to go home, but they are too scared to ask for more.

We're hopeless.

"I bet you boys want a little bit extra before we go home, don't you?" said Cassy.

"You bet we do. But, ah, will you suggest something?" said Bronsen.

"Yeah, like what?" said Alice.

Cassy sighed. "I don't know. Anything too, you know, explicit, is totally against the rules. Perhaps we can hug each other again?"

"But slightly longer, this time!" said Alice, "Err, not that I want to go against the rules, mind you... Well, not too much..."

So, Cassy had a hug with Bronsen and then with Drayden. As did Alice, but in the reverse order.

Cassy had to suppress a giggle.

My my, we somehow have forgotten all about the same-sex hugs, which is all right by me.

And both boys have erections! It's time to tease them a bit.

"Are you two boys going to walk home with such visible, err, you know whats?"

A giggle from Alice, "At least us girls don't have that problem!"

"Ah, no, never mind us; once we leave your company, I'm sure we'll deflate," said Bronsen.

Drayden nervously giggled.

So, being careful to take their piece of paper, they left, locking the door behind them.

Alice:

The local amusement park was quite a hike from their homes, so they caught a bus. Right now, they were standing just outside the park's entrance.

We're all a bit reluctant to go inside, aren't we? I bet I know why, too.

"Say, how about we stroll up the walking trail for a bit?" said Alice.

The park was on high ground, overlooking the city they lived in. And the walking trail skirted a sudden drop in elevation. For safety reasons, there was a vehicle arrestor fence, with thick cables, on the side of the trail that was away from the drop, while between the path and the steep drop was a chain link fence. So, as they strolled along, gradually gaining elevation, they could see out across the city they lived in, and in the distance, a glint of blue that was the ocean. To the other side was a grassed sloping area and then the fence that was the boundary for the amusement park.

A bit further above them was a bus parking area. They could see a single bus and a small mob of children milling around. They must have been playing ball games since two tennis balls were now rolling down the slope. Bronsen, the most athletic of the four, easily intercepted and scooped them up. He amused himself by juggling them a bit as they continued walking upwards.

"Ah, everyone, we did plan on going in and trying various rides in all possible pairs..." said Alice.

Bronsen stopped juggling the balls. "Yeah, we did, but I don't know..."

"Face it, we are scared of taking the next step, aren't we?" said Cassy.

"That's right. It just seems safer to stick to our foursome for now," said Drayden.

They stopped and lined up close to the chain link fence, looking out over the city. At this point, the ground dropped off in an almost vertical cliff.

"Do you think the other students have the same fears as us?" said Cassy.

"Well, watching the stud in my class, plus some of the others, they don't appear to do so." said Drayden, "The stud seems pretty much relaxed and confident in himself, and his girls don't appear to be particularly anxious, either."

"By the way, how do you know he is intimate with at least two of the girls?" said Bronsen.

"Well, he's always patting their bottoms and generally carrying on, and they give out squeals of laughter but otherwise don't seem to complain, so, I mean, what else could it be?"

"Hmm, I certainly wouldn't allow any other boy to pat my bottom, and I haven't gotten around to allowing you two to do so, so I suppose that's a pretty good indicator," said Cassy.

"Yeah, letting you boys pat my bottom is a step or two further along in our relationship," said Alice.

"And, in my classroom, I'm always overhearing fragments of conversations, which suggest there must be a lot of screwing around. But, no one seems to express any doubts or fears," said Bronsen.

"How annoying! It's just us that can't get our act together," said Alice. "I wish we could make more progress than we already have!"

"Well, we have made quite a bit of progress, haven't we?" said Drayden. "After all, we have become good friends; we have our own private space to be together, and we are having this conversation. I certainly have never talked like this with anyone else before."

"Yes, but! Our relationship progress has been as a perfectly balanced love square!" said Alice.

She stamped her foot in exasperation.

"I suppose we all agree that having a four-way group sexual relationship is just not practical?" said Drayden.

Of course it isn’t! And you know it.

"Of course! Everything I have read about sex and relationships suggests that it is difficult in the best of circumstances, with only two people. To try to keep it all together with four is just a recipe for disaster." said Alice.

She grabbed the two tennis balls from Bronsen's hands and balanced one ball on top of the other.

"It's like trying to keep this ball on top of the other. It's just not going to work very well, is it?"

As if in agreement, she lost her balance, and the top ball fell off. To be caught deftly by Bronsen.

"I agree. It would probably require some external forces to keep the balls balanced. Like someone's hand, continually pushing the top ball back into place," said Bronsen.

"I wonder how the stud manages to keep his threesome going, then?" said Drayden.

"Dunno. Maybe it won't last much longer, perhaps?" said Cassy.

"Or, maybe they are better at it than we are?" said Bronsen.

"Yeah, probably," said Alice.

So why can’t we be like that? Instead, we are stuck in this miserable, indecisive state.

They set off strolling again, slowly making their way up the trail. As they did, they passed a maintenance worker disconnecting the cables on the arrestor fence and laying them out on the grass, which meant an easy-to-cross gap.

Accordingly, Cassy suggested, "Shall we walk over to the bus parking area and return these balls?"

In silence, they did so. As they neared, they could see about thirty or so little children, most of them about seven years old, running around with great energy. Four old ladies appeared to be in charge of them. The old ladies did minimal running; instead, they managed to keep the kids under control through a continued stream of suggestions and outright commands.

"Hey! I recognise some of those girls! This must be the outing that my sister was going to go on." said Cassy.

"Oh, so she's not here?" said Drayden.

"Nyah, Dad put his foot down and decreed that this morning was the time for Mum to take her shopping for new school uniforms. My sister was disappointed, but Dad's always a pain like that."

At this point, two of the kids, a boy aged about 7 holding the hand of a girl aged about 5, saw the teenagers and shouted out in great excitement-

"Granddad, they found the missing tennis balls!"

Granddad must have been just to the other side of the bus as he came out and had a look. He had on overalls with 'Bus Driver' stencilled on in front. And he looked familiar.

"Oh, we know you, you're Mr Gardner from our school!" said Cassy.

He looked at the four and recognised them.

"Ah, the Misfits. Oh, and my name is Jenkins."

"Right. Mr Jenkins," said Cassy.

He laughed. Then he pointed at the two kids, still holding hands. "And these two adorable kids are my grandchildren!"

Alice barely managed to stop herself from patting their heads.

Aww, they are sooooo cute. Cassy thinks so, too.

Oooh, wow, the boys also think so. That's wonderful.

Jenkins took the two tennis balls and put them inside the bus. Then he had to answer his mobile.

"Huh? Why do I need to - OK, I'll deal with it now."

He shouted to the four ladies, "I got to deal with something. Can you get the kids onto the bus and pack the picnic stuff?"

The ladies agreed, and Jenkins, muttering to himself, rapidly walked off towards the entrance to the amusement park. Due to the surrounding trees, he was soon out of sight.

Perhaps we can play with the kids just a little bit?

But before Alice could say anything, Bronsen spoke up.

"How about we hide in that thicket of trees and have a little club meeting?"

Cassy raised her eyebrows. "Hide ourselves? What might you be trying to do?"

"Who knows? He might have designs upon our ever so innocent bodies!" said Alice.

"In which case, the faster we move there, the faster we can find out!" said Cassy.

The Misfits

A little while later, they were in a compact little group, sitting on the ground, the two girls facing the two boys, their knees almost touching. By looking to the side, they could see the bus and the kids being slowly herded into it by the four ladies, but because of the hedge in front of them and the overhanging tree branches, the teenagers were not all that visible.

The girls sat cross-legged, just like the boys.

"Well, bro, we can't see their panties, but still, don't they have absolutely gorgeous legs!" said Drayden.

"Yes, don't they!"

Alice and Cassy exchanged looks.

"They're quite predictable, aren't they?" said Alice.

"Yeah, they are," said Cassy.

"But we're still all frustrated," said Alice.

"I don't like saying this, but I think we will just have to put up with being stuck at this stage for some time," said Drayden.

"I agree. Unlike all of those other students who are ever so happily fucking each other like bunnies, we don't have a clue about such things," said Bronsen.

"It's all so much bullshit; we can't even do a simple thing like make a choice. So, yes, let's continue as we have been for the time being," said Cassy.

"In that case, why don't we pretend to be in that hypothetical state of a perfectly stable love square with sex? But, of course, without the actual sex." said Alice, "After all, if we don't have the sex stuff, then we should be able to keep it stable, right?"

"Sure. But, still, we do some sexy stuff, right?" said Drayden.

"Yeah, like we can build upon the stuff we have already done," said Bronsen.

"Well, maybe..." said Cassy.

"We need some rules!" said Alice.

"Let's see, we should..." said Bronsen, only he was cut off by Cassy.

"Hey, us females will make the rules, right, boys?"

"Oh, yes, I guess so," said Drayden.

"Isn't that a bit unfair?" said Bronsen.

"It is quite fair. After all, the girls are the most concerned about their boundaries, and if they don't lay down some firm rules, us boys might get a bit carried away. We gotta make sure we have their full consent for anything we do." said Drayden.

"How does a virgin boy get to be so responsible and knowledgeable about such matters?" said Cassy.

“Yeah, how does he?” said Alice.

"Oh, well, don't tell anyone, but, you see... My older sister, Deborah, was - raped - last year. By a boy she knew and thought she could trust. And, well, he just kept on making moves on her and disregarded her noes. She was freaked out for a month or so afterwards. The police didn't bother doing anything because - quote - she knew him and willingly entered his house - unquote - and, well, since then, I have done quite a bit of serious thinking about getting consent when it comes to girls and their bodies, and, well, that's the way it is." said Drayden.

In the subsequent silence, they all looked sideways. The four little old ladies were slowly marshalling the children into the bus, with much excitement and enjoyment on the part of the children.

"Is she better now?" said Bronsen.

"I think so? Sometimes, I wonder, but I think she is back to normal. Except maybe not. I don't know." said Drayden.

"Then, in which case, I have no objection if the girls make all the rules. And I will do my best to abide by them," said Bronsen.

"You damned well better do so! And I feel for Drayden's sister. I'm terrified of being raped. I think I would rather die." said Cassy.

"Ah, please don't!" said Alice as she put her arms around Cassy.

Bronsen and Drayden showed concern by holding one of her hands. Cassy very rapidly perked up and looked brighter.

"Of course, consensual activities are a different matter!" she said.

"Good, good. Now, getting back to the rules. That is, the rules for our strictly hypothetical group, err, marriage?" said Alice.

"Well, since this is all high fantasy, then, sure, let's call it a group marriage," said Cassy.

"Of course, the number one rule is -" said Alice.

"No group sex!" said both girls.

They both giggled like crazy.

"Yeah, it's too gross!" said Alice.

"Sex is private!" said Cassy.

The boys nodded their heads.

"Considering that all of my sex up to now has been extremely private, all by myself, then that shouldn't be all that difficult a constraint," said Bronsen.

"Remember, this is all ridiculous fantasy; we won't be having sex!" said Alice.

Both boys nodded their heads. Again.

"That's right. And that leads to rule number two, which is, 'It's all bullshit!'." said Cassy.

"Of course!" said Drayden.

"And rule number three is that the girls have the final say in what happens with our sexuality," said Alice.

"I guess if we have both of you, then we certainly need to make some concessions..." said Bronsen.

"Yeah, I've no problems with that one," said Drayden.

"And rule number four is, 'You boys don't take any notice of any other girls in any sexual way at all! Nor look at any pornographic images! When it comes to sex and romance, you are devoted to us to the exclusion of all others!" said Alice.

"That rule is a bit longer than the previous rules, isn't it?" said Bronsen.

"Yes, however, the concept is straightforward, so I agree. But in return, that also has to apply to you girls," said Drayden.

"Ah, yes, OK, I somewhat reluctantly agree," said Cassy.

"Hmm, yeah," said Alice.

"Hey, how about a rule that says there is to be no expectation of any BL, OK?" said Bronsen.

"Are you sure you don't have the slightest bit of inclination..." said Cassy, very hopefully.

"No!" said both boys.

"Yeah, then fine. Of course, no girl-on-girl love is expected, right?" said Alice.

"I suppose so," said Drayden.

Bronsen nodded his head in reluctant agreement.

"Now, if us girls can return to making the important rules?" said Cassy.

She didn't get any disagreements from the boys, so she continued.

"Let's see, if we are to be a stable group marriage - say, does anyone else find it a bit weird to use that phrase?" said Cassy.

"I guess so, but it's all fantasy, so why not?" said Bronsen.

"OK, then, to be stable, we need to; how can I say this, we need to have a shared destiny? Or something? We need to have our lives entwined so much that one person's self-interest is the same as the self-interests of the other three. Err, or something like that." said Cassy.

"Sort of like we are soul-bound somehow?" said Alice.

"Whatever that might mean. Let's go to the extreme and say that our destinies are entwined so much that when one of us dies, the rest die soon after?" said Drayden.

"Wow, that's doing the shared destiny thing to the max, isn't it?" said Bronsen.

"But if we want a stable group marriage, then it's going to require some potent forces to keep us together," said Alice.

"So, rule number six is that we have a shared destiny, and we die together!" said Cassy.

"And, of course, rule number seven is that we four are exactly equal to each other, as far as the relationship goes," said Cassy.

"That's fine by me," said Bronsen.

"Yep, sounds good," said Drayden.

All four exchanged looks.

"We're bullshitting like crazy here," said Cassy.

"Yes, but you realise, in the two months that I have known you all, it's been so much fun!" said Alice.

"Yeah, my school life has become so much brighter and enjoyable," said Cassy.

"I agree; you are all wonderful company!" said Drayden.

"So let's try very hard to make it continue for as long as possible," said Bronsen.

"Course, once we split into two couples, who knows what might happen," said Cassy.

"Then, that leads to rule number eight, 'We face our fears and do our best, anyway!'" said Drayden.

"That sounds good! Everyone agrees?" said Alice.

Everyone nodded their heads.

"Yep! We're in!" said Bronsen.

"Right! Let's hold hands, ensure everyone holds everyone else's hands, and vow to keep these rules for eternity!" said Alice.

"Or until we split up into couples," said Drayden.

"Fine, fine, whichever one comes first," said Cassy.

They shuffled around slightly so that they were sitting in a square. Then they put out their right hands and made a four-sided handshake, which meant that the people straight across from each other weren't touching. So, everyone put out their left hand and held the opposite person's left hand.

By this stage, they were all on the verge of giggling or outright laughter.

"Hey, this is serious!" said Cassy.

"Yes, everyone! This isn't funny bullshit; it is serious bullshit!" said Bronsen.

"Say after me, 'The Misfits vow to commit themselves to each other for eternity!'" said Alice.

They did so, producing a very ragged chorus. Then they all burst out laughing.

As they did so, there was a faint glow of light, presumably from the sun filtered through the tree branches, on their hands, and a ding sound.

After they managed to calm down, Drayden said

"Say, did somebody's mobile make a sound?"

They all shook their heads as it appeared that nobody's phone had a ringtone that was a ding.

Drayden shrugged his shoulders.

"Never mind, it can't be important."

They sat back and relaxed.

"Say, what do we do now?" said Bronsen.

"I know what you two want to do, but it's far too public here," said Cassy.

"Not to mention, we don't know what the next step should be... Cassy and I will have to have a little talk about it," said Alice.

"Well, anyway, if we go into the amusement park, at least we agree that there won't be any splitting into pairs? At least not yet," said Cassy.

"For sure." said both boys.