Catalyst

A month passes, and Leo has begun to enjoy his usual popularity. He has been made principal trumpet and has helped the teacher pick out music that suitably challenges the musicians. He slips into different social circles daily, in order to associate with different groups, no matter how offbeat they are considered by others. He is well-liked by students and teachers wonder how a boy like him was sent to a school like this.

Leo knows it’s because he was careless before, and has taken the time to cultivate his friendships first before starting his usual routine. By doing so, his friends and staff excuse the occasional absence for one reason or another, when in reality he has locked himself and another boy in the janitor’s closet, or an empty classroom, where he seduces his target. Leo is like a spider, and he has caught many boys in his web with his methodical approach.

It is a thrill for Leo, and he’s especially pleased to find that, in a school for such ‘troubled’ boys, hardly anyone comments unexpectedly when one or two are tardy from the occasional class. He makes a name for himself in this way too, but is too well-liked for his friends to judge him, and others simply make more unbelievable rumors about it.

It is only when he returns to his dorm each night, holding the quiet boy in his arms as they drift to sleep, that guilt begins to gnaw at his conscience. He wonders if the boy knows of his excesses, judges him silently, but knows better than to ask him anything other than yes or no questions.

It is Friday night, and once his companion's breathing has evened out and they've tangled comfortably against one-another, Leo considers what he knows about the silent youth snuggled against him.

The first thing he has learned is that third-year transfer students aren't placed in a first-year dorm by policy. Perhaps it had been a clerical error, laziness, or some mishap in the system; it's unlikely he'll ever know. Leo discards it, for now.

The second thing he has learned is that the other first-years in this dorm had all requested new room assignments. Leo had managed to question one about it, but all the boy would say was that the silent child was 'unnerving.' Leo was only able to get pleasant moans from the student afterwards.

Finally, Leo had been able to see the principal about his boarding situation, and was able to learn a few things about the boy specifically. He found out that his roommate had one day just stopped talking, which was why he had been sent  to the academy. That alone had been worth the lecture he'd gotten about his...indiscretions.

Learning the boy's name - Roethe Jarik, which felt pleasing to say - was worth being forced to his knees before the larger man.

Tomorrow, Leo plans to speak with the boy - no, with Roethe. His sleep this night is peaceful.