Guide To Surviving Prison Is Getting Screwed By General Lily! [BL]

Chapter 57: Cullen’s Transfer, Seo’s Floor Activities, And An Interesting Night!

Seo burst out laughing.

It wasn’t a small laugh, but a full one, his head going back and his hand coming up to cover his mouth too late to do anything useful.

Cullen looked at him, wondering if he had asked something funny.

Even Ruaan looked at him.

Seo composed himself slowly, pressing his lips together, his shoulders still shaking slightly. He pushed his glasses up and looked at Cullen with the pleasant unbothered expression of someone who had found something privately hilarious and was not going to fully explain why.

"I’m not sure I’m obliged to tell you anything about us," Seo said. He tilted his head. "Why? Are you jealous?"

Cullen’s expression flattened. "You can’t answer a simple question. Which means something is going on."

"Or it means I don’t answer to you," Seo said cheerfully.

"You’re bottom ten. You don’t speak in front of me."

"You just said you wouldn’t do that again," Ruaan said.

Cullen pressed his mouth shut.

Finn was looking at his plate. He had been looking at his plate for the last several seconds with focus. His lips were pressed together.

He swallowed once until the buzzer sounded.

Dinner was over.

Ruaan grabbed a handful of fruit from the bowl in the centre of the table and stood up. He had not eaten as much as he wanted. The conversation had taken up too much of the meal.

"Thanks for the food, Cullen," he said, already moving.

"Wait."

Ruaan turned back.

Cullen was still seated, forearms on the table, looking at Ruaan with the expression he had been wearing more frequently lately. The one that was calculating something.

"I’m thinking of transferring to electrical," Cullen said. "Starting tomorrow."

The room went quiet.

Ruaan looked at him. "What?"

"Skill day transfers are allowed. Anyone can change departments." Cullen said it simply. "I’ve been in woodwork for a while. I want a change."

"You’ve been in woodwork for four years," Ruaan said.

"And now I want a change," Cullen said with the same steady tone again.

Ruaan turned to Seo with an expression that asked the question ’Is that fucking true?’ without words.

Seo nodded once. "It’s true. Anyone can transfer. There’s no restriction."

Ruaan turned back to the table and looked at Cullen and thought about the electrical room. About Seo’s charging station. About the master craftsman who slept through most of the session. About the one space in this facility that had been reliably Cullen-free. That’s why he had gone there.

"Do as you want," Ruaan said. His voice was even. "But I want to be clear about something." He looked at Cullen directly. "Whatever you’re doing, whatever you think this is. I can’t give you anything back. I want you to know that before you make any decisions."

Cullen looked at him and said nothing, except smiling. He watched Ruaan leave. freeweɓnovel.cøm

Seo followed, offering a small wave to nobody in particular as he went through the door.

.

.

Finn sat at the table after they left and looked at the door.

Cullen was still there, in his chair, looking at the same door.

He had not looked at Finn once during the entire meal. Not when Finn had come in with the tray. Not when he had offered to serve. Not when the conversation had moved through three different topics and Finn had been sitting right there at the same table.

Finn looked at Cullen’s profile.

He had spent months building something around this man. Had made choices that had cost him things he was not going to fully account to himself for right now. Had sat in a dark cell for two days and come out with what he thought was a decision.

He watched Cullen’s eyes stay fixed on the closed door.

’I made a mistake,’ Finn thought. ’Ruaan isn’t even trying to get his attention. He’s not doing anything. He’s not chasing Cullen or playing any game. He’s just existing and Cullen can’t stop looking at him.’

He looked at his hands.

’I went after the wrong person.’

He clenched his fist slowly under the table.

’I should be teaching this bastard a lesson.’

He unclenched it and put his hand flat on the table. He said nothing and waited for the evening to be over.

.

.

The room was cold and quiet when they got back.

Ruaan opened the fridge and pushed the fruit in and closed it and turned around and wiped his hand on his uniform.

"Cullen Ray is genuinely interested in you," Seo said from the bed. "I’ve been in this facility for months. I’ve never seen him look at anyone like that."

"He’s not interested in me," Ruaan said. He walked to the other side of the room. "He just likes the fact that I don’t bend for him. It’s novelty."

"He was staring at you the whole dinner."

"He was eating."

"He was staring at you while eating. Those are two separate activities he was doing simultaneously."

"Seo."

"I’m just saying what I observed."

"He has Finn," Ruaan said. "Whatever is happening with Finn is Cullen’s actual situation. I’m not part of it."

Seo opened his mouth.

Ruaan pointed at him.

Seo did an imaginary zip across his lips and sat back against the headboard and said nothing.

Ruaan lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.

The room was comfortable. The AC was doing what it did. He could hear Seo shifting on the bed beside him and the small sounds of the facility outside the room and somewhere distant a door closing.

He was not sleeping. His mind was still moving. He was thinking about Cullen’s face when he had said ’I can’t give you anything back.’ About the way Cullen had not pushed it. About how that restraint was somehow more unsettling than aggression would have been.

’What exactly is he up to?’

"Aren’t we showering?" Seo asked.

Ruaan kept his eyes closed. "Not yet. There are too many people still awake."

"When then?"

"Harolin knows the timing. When he gets back." He turned toward the wall. "Wake me when he comes."

"Sure," Seo said.

Ruaan felt himself starting to actually drift. The exhaustion of the day settling over him now that the food was in him and the room was cold and there was nothing immediate requiring his attention.

He did not notice when he fully crossed the line into sleep.

He did not see Seo watching him.

Seo looked at the profile of his face against the pillow. The lashes. The open buttons at the collar and the pale skin visible beneath. He sat with that for longer than was reasonable.

Then he looked at his LEGO box in the corner.

He got off the bed quietly, pulled his duvet to the floor, and settled in.

The small vibration that started shortly after was quiet enough that it didn’t reach the bed.

Seo said Ruaan’s name under his breath once, while moaning softly.

.

.

He woke up at midnight and saw that the bed was empty. There was no sign of Ruaan.

He blinked at the ceiling for a moment and then looked at himself and then at his toy he had been playing with before he drifted off.

Then he stared at the mess he had made of his own uniform and exhaled through his nose.

He cleaned up as best he could, changed, grabbed his things, and left the room.

He knew they wouldn’t be in the prisoner block.

The officer’s shower block was at the end of the corridor. He pushed the door open softly and stepped inside and followed the sound of running water.

One shower running. Just one.

He turned the corner.

Ruaan was standing under the water, naked, both hands in Harolin’s hair. Harolin was sitting on the low stool at the edge of the shower space, eyes closed, a small towel across his lap. Ruaan was washing his hair with the careful focused attention of someone doing something they had decided to do properly.

Ruaan looked up when Seo appeared.

"You’re awake!" Ruaan said, with bright energy. Water ran down his face and he blinked it away.

Seo did not move his eyes from Ruaan’s body immediately.

He took a moment.

Then he looked at Ruaan’s face and said, "Why didn’t you wake me?"

"You were busy," Ruaan said simply. He worked his fingers through Harolin’s hair. "I could hear the vibration through the floor, so I told Harolin not to disturb you."

Seo’s face went red.

He looked at Harolin.

Harolin had not opened his eyes. He was sitting with the patient stillness of a man allowing something to happen to his hair and having decided to be fine with it. The small towel on his lap was doing its job, to cover his dick but the shape beneath it was communicating something different from Harolin’s composure.

Seo looked at that and looked at Ruaan.

Harolin was obviously having an erection just from having his hair washed. He pushed his glasses up.

"Well," Seo said, "this night should be a bit interesting."