Moving On - Chapter Twenty
By Jack Frost
Un remerciement spécial à François pour la correction des textes français et pour le « betareading » !!!
And finally, many thanks to a certain goat with sunglasses, CJames the betareader!
After a week of being back in
school, the weekend came up again. Ben and I were sitting down at the dock
watching some ice hockey between Krist’s team and the guys from across the lake
late in the morning. Krist’s team was being quite vicious, but that was normal
since they have been playing against each other for years. Despite all of their
hard effort, they lost to a tie-breaking goal, but Krist didn’t care much since
the game was just for fun and an excuse to get out of the house during the
winter.
We followed Krist and Jake to Krist’s house where Birna had already prepared us
warm bowls of vegetable beef soup. Krist’s brothers were already seated and set
to eat. Krist and I sat next to Jónsi while Ben and Jake got stuck with the
twins on the other side of the table.
“Hæ, borðið súpuna ykkar hægt... Hún er heit!” (Hey, eat your soup slowly...
It’s hot!) Birna warned the twins, but it was too late when they had to glup a
half of glass of coke to cool down the burning in their throat.
“Eg sagði ykkur það...” (I told you so...) Birna rolled
her eyes as she sat down next to me with her soup.
“En hún er mjög góð!” (But it’s really good!) One of the
twins said and Birna smiled.
“Amma ykkar lærði það af amerískum hermanni sem í herstöð var á Íslandi í Seinni
heimstyrjöldinni og hún kenndi mér það,” (Your grandmother learnt it from an
American solider who was stationed in Iceland during World War II and she taught
me) Birna added.
“Oh vá...” (Oh wow...) Krist replied jokingly while still eating. Birna reached
around behind me to lightly slap his shoulder.
“Vertu góður!” (Be nice!) she smirked, “Is it good enough, Jake, Ben and Steph?”
She asked us.
“Já!” Jake and I grinned, knowing that Birna has always been a good cook, pie
baker, and coffeemaker. Ben seemed clueless.
“Well…I can’t say it in Icelandic, but yes…it is too good,” Ben grinned.
“Hún er góð,” Krist told Ben.
“Huh?” Ben had no clue.
“That’s how you say it… ‘the soup is good’…‘hún er góð,’” Krist noted, “Since
‘soup’ is feminine in Icelandic, you have to use ‘hún’, which literally means
‘she’… ‘she is good.’ Weird, I know, but that’s how it works.”
“Oh…well, it’s not weird since French works like that too… ‘elle est bonne,
cette soupe,’” Ben replied, “But thanks, I’ll try to remember that.”
After the soup, we decided to go to Ben’s house so he could take me down the
mountains to the mall. We walked through the woods, hearing nothing but the
crystallized snow crunching under the weight of our feet. We saw the treehouse
and Ben stopped me there.
“I wanna go up there,” Ben took my hand to lead me up, but I told him we had to
go one at the time up the ladder since it was a little weak to be holding two
people at once. Flashes of my childhood with my friends there came to my mind,
and I grinned at the thought of more to come with Ben at this little special
place in the woods with all of the privacy any person could ask for.
“Hmmm…I miss your lips. Lemme warm them up,” he pulled me to him and kissed me
hard. Then he positioned me against the wall of the treehouse. I could hear some
creaking.
“Ah Ben… Easy,” I chuckled, “I don’t wanna fall out.”
“Do you mean ‘we’?” he smirked, “If you will jump off the bridge now, I’d follow
you. We should be doing the same thing together now,” he grinned, “and if one of
us has the reason to jump, that reason should be for both of us, not just only
one of us. Do you understand? That’s what I want from you.” I could feel
emotions trying to overwhelm me.
“That’s just…whoa…just damn…” I hugged him hard, “Of course, only for the
benefit of both of us and nothing else,” I replied softly. He rubbed my chest
before going for the side of my neck just below the ear. Hmmm, I love this. Ben
kissed and kissed there for a long time, before putting some teeth into it.
“Ah, watch the teeth,” I moved back a little to avoid them.
“Oh sorry,” he seductively whispered at my ear, and then nibbled the lobe
lightly.
“I’m serious,” I giggled, “I love your soft lips much more.” Ben complied and
went down my neck, slowly working up my hormones and nerve sensitivity all over
my body. I unzipped his coat so I could better feel his chest through his
t-shirt. But it wasn’t enough, so I just simply put my hand under it so I could
feel the warmth of his skin. Ben did the same for me; we wanted to enjoy our
skin and lips for a long time so we could learn every perfection and flaw on our
body. It was to know each other so we could recognize each other’s body without
using sight and voice.
“Drop our jeans…” I unbuckled and unzipped Ben’s jeans and he did the same for
mine. It didn’t really feel cold anymore, even without our coats and t-shirts.
It felt like we had created a warm glowing bubble around us. All that was
missing was some sunrays to show to the world that here is Ben and Steph,
together.
“Anxious, eh?” he smirked.
“Yes…so I can do this…” I smacked his ass with his belt, causing him to jump,
rubbing his crotch against mine involuntarily.
“Ow! Pervert…” Ben said, but I just smacked him again. He jumped, involuntarily
rubbing his crotch against mine again.
“Hmmm, look what you’ve done…” he pointed at an outline in his undies.
“Well, that will be a nice reward to give me after wasting some of my energy
smacking that fine ass,” I grinned and kissed him as I put my hand down in his
undies to feel his boner, caressing it. Ben returned, humming lightly, to kiss
that same spot on my neck, and then started to caress my dick, giving it the
same treatment I was giving to his.
“Ch’t’ême…” (I love you) Ben slurred in my ear.
“Moissi...” (Me too…) I replied, with my eyes closed,
enjoying the tingling feeing of Ben’s hand on my crotch.
“Screw me…” Ben continued. I didn’t even hesitate and I pushed him around to
another wall. That wall was being held up by a tree’s main trunk, so there was
support to hold us there. I pushed down his undies and he pulled mine down,
freeding our aching hard on’s. Ben took out some lube, but suddenly his eye
widened.
“I heard something…like a snap of a twig and crunching snow” Ben peeked out of
the small window, “Oh ben câlisse… Krist!” (Oh fucking hell…)
Ben hissed. We instinctively pulled up our undies and pants.
“Shit…gonna be a bitch hiding this boner, it’s definitely not going away without
any relief!” I groaned as I tried finding the right spot to make it less
obvious.
“Your coat!” Ben threw me mine. I put it right on and looked out. Krist was
heading straight to Ben’s house with a book bag.
“Krist!” I called out. I could see I scared the shit of him. I held back my
giggles seeing that.
“Yo!” Krist turned around to see me. I climbed down the ladder. Ben followed.
“Where were you going?” I asked Krist.
“Ben forgot his book bag…” he gave it to Ben, “And what were you doing up
there?”
“Well, I was just showing Ben the treehouse and the view… He wanted to…” I
explained carefully. Krist arched his eyes.
“Erm…what’s that on your neck?” Krist asked.
“Huh?” I was confused.
“You got a light red circle just below your ear on your neck,” Krist said.
“Oh…” I went to feel the spot. It felt quite a little sore.
“I think it’s a bruise coming out…” Ben inferred, “I accidentally let go of a
branch and it smacked him hard right on his neck.” Oh thank you, Ben… You’ve
saved my ass once again. I still didn’t know how I got it, but I wondered why he
was hiding a big grin.
“Yeah, that’s probably why.”
“Ehmmm, já...en ég var búinn að átta mig á að þið tveir væruð hommar,”
(Hmmm, right…but I already figured out you two are homos) Krist whispered
faintly under his breath.
“Eh?” I looked at him curiously.
“Huh? Oh…sorry… My mind was in Icelandic mode,” Krist nodded, “But yeah, I said
that probably explains the mark.”
“Anyway… Thanks for bringing the bag to me,” Ben said, “Wanna come with us down
the mountain?”
“Sure… I’d love to,” Krist grinned.
We walked toward Ben’s house where he managed to get permission from his mother
to take the car down the mountain. It was funny that Ben threw his mother’s
Celine Dion CD out of the car stereo and onto the backseat because it was
nothing but screeching to our ears, and Krist put in a Björk Gling-Gló CD from
his CD booklet in his backpack. First song played out immediately in jazz-rock
mix:
Gling gló, klukkan sló
máninn ofar skýjum hló
lysti upp gamli gótuslóð
þar glaðleg Lína stóð
Apart from Sigur Rós CDs, Gling-Gló was the only CD almost purely in Icelandic
that Krist and I could find here in the States. Krist always loved hearing songs
from Iceland, but importing CDs from there is really expensive because…that’s
just Iceland, according to Krist and Birna. Birna probably still has some vinyl
records and some cassettes of Icelandic rock bands from the 70s and 80s, but we
never really listened to them. Pity Björk doesn’t often make many songs in
Icelandic. It’s neat that I get to hear a language only spoken by 300,000 people
around the world almost daily from my friend and his family.
Gling gló, klukkan sló
máninn ofar skýjum hló
Leitar Lási var á leið
til Lína hanns er beið
On this clear February day, the ice-covered branches of the trees covering the
mountains started to crack and melt under the strength of the sun. Nevertheless,
I wished I had brought my camera so I could take a photo of this rare day. Since
winters here are often grey and cloudy, one could go for a week or two at a time
without seeing any sun. We descended progressively down the mountains on I-81
down to the valley.
Unnendum er máninn kær
umm þau töfraljóma slær
Lási á biðilsbuxum var
brátt frá Línu fær hann svar
Krist seemed to be a little worn out from playing his hockey game as he fell
asleep, drooling just a little. I snickered and reached over to wipe it off.
Krist snapped awake, wondering what happened. I wiped my hand on his coat,
explaining, and he blushed a little. The song went into its last verse and
finished with a bang.
Gling gló, klukkan sló,
máninn ofar skýjum hló
Lási varð svo hyr á brá
þvi Lína sagði “já”
(Translation is at a link in the footnote)
We stopped at the mall in Wilkes-Barre Township, not far from Wilkes-Barre City.
"Naw, those polos don't look great when they have a bumpy texture. Go for the
smooth ones," I told Ben while he checked out Aéropostale for the first time in
his life. Krist rolled his eyes, and then grinned big at a girl salesperson who
had just greeted him. Then he went to check out the jeans and beanies away from
us.
"Steph, c'est-tu juste moi ou y'a des suspicions de nous?"
Ben asked. (Is it just me or does he have some suspicions about us?)
"Chsé pas. Je le connais ben. C'est pas la première fois qu'il
agit comme ça," I brushed it off. (I dunno. I know him well. It's not the
first time he did that)
"Ok, si tu l'as dit..." (Ok, if you say so) Ben gave me a look, and then decided
there was nothing that he liked, "Vas-y." (C'mon on)
I tapped Krist to distract him from browsing and to let him know we were about
to leave.
"Oh..." he threw down the jeans in a messy pile, "Whoops...sorry..." he turned
around to say that to the salesperson who was going to fold it.
After an hour of shopping, we'd decided there wasn't even anything worth buying,
and we went to a Chinese buffet for an early-bird dinner. We were each filling
our own first plate with a bowl of wonton soup and sushi when some guy greeted
Ben.
"Well...well... What a pleasant surprise, Ben," he said.
"Oh...hey..." Ben grinned, but obviously, I could see he was shy. Krist and I
just nodded, with no idea who he was.
"Looking forward to the first practice on Monday?" he smiled and went to sit at
his table.
"Of course!" Ben replied, but it was a little too late as the guy was out of
earshot.
"Who was that?" Krist asked as Ben added some white rice to his plate.
"Mick," Ben answered.
"And what practice?" I asked next.
"Well...for the swim team," his face showing a slight hint of blush.
"Oh my..." Krist snickered.
"Nice!" I mentally thought of him walking around in a speedo, showing off his
stuff. Oh damn, I will so not miss any of his competitions for sure. He's gonna
be quite a sight there.
"Chsé ce que tu penses asteure," (I know what you're thinking now) Ben grinned
as we headed to the table, wiggling his eyes.
"Ah ouaisss..." (Oh yeahhh...) and I once again pictured him in a speedo.
Ben had a little cultural shock as we ate because he kept getting free refills
for his iced tea, even without asking for it. Ben told us that would never
happen back in Quebec and you would have to pay to refill your drinks there.
Now, paying for your refills…I’d just faint. It would be a huge crime against
humanity.
After the Chinese food, we decided to skip Starbucks and went straight home. Ben
dropped Krist off at his place and told me something as Krist got out of the
car.
“Steph, je veux qu’on retourne à la maison sur l’arbre,” he
grinned. (I want to go back to the treehouse)
“Shhh…” I shushed him and waited till Krist was a little further, “He could’ve
overheard us.” He just waved bye at us and went inside.
“Oh sorry…but could we?” he pouted, “To finish where we had to stop.”
“Sure…it’s dusk now, but there’s enough light to get it done,” I smirked.
Ben grinned all the way back to his house. He told me to wait outside by the car
as he went in to tell his mother that he ‘might’ have lost his cell phone in the
woods and was going outside with a flashlight to see if he could find it, that
way we’d have some light just in case we got too carried away.
Ben got his flashlight in a snap and said a couple of last words to his mother,
and we went out into the woods. It was already dusk and the trees were devoid of
foliage, so the weak light had no problem penetrating to the forest floor. We
walked carefully, trying not to crunch the snow or snap the twigs too much, but
the thought of being together dripping with sin out in nature kept us moving
quickly. There were no animal tracks, especially bears, so we would be fine, but
animals would be in the back of our head anyway. I snorted at the thought. Ben
noticed.
“What?” Ben asked.
“Nothing, just thinking of the stuffs we’ll do in just in a few minutes,” I
smirked.
Ben giggled and pushed me for no reason.
“Bitch…” I told him and then Ben’s cell rang.
“Hello?” Ben picked up, “Oh! Haha, ouais ben pis toé?”
Ben covered the mouthpiece and told me, “It’s Julien… Euh ouais,
mais hey, je te rappelerai à plus tard parce que Steph pis moi ont BESOIN de
fourrer!!!” And I could hear Julien laughing before Ben hung up. (Yeah,
fine and you? Euh yeah, but hey, I’ll call you again later because me and Steph
NEED to fuck!!!)
We climbed up the ladder and almost forgot that it could only hold one person at
one time. It cracked and popped too loudly for my comfort, so I jumped off until
Ben reached the top and climbed into the treehouse. I quickly followed him up,
ignoring the faint groaning noises.
“Which wall is the strongest?” Ben wondered.
“Erm, that one against the tree trunk…” And before I know it, Ben pushed me
against the wall that I had just pointed out.
“Ow…sh…” Ben pressed his lips on mine to shut me up. Ben unzipped my coat and I
proceeded to undo his, and we took them off. Then our shirts flew off of us, but
the icy cold stung our skin, so we put the coats back on.
“Oh fuck… You look so hot like that…” I told Ben as I watched his bare chest
showing from his coat opening. His coat was dark brown with fur trimming around
the hood. He was just beyond delicious. I went straight for his nipples, still
one of my favorite toys. Ben naturally hummed, reacting well. I unbuckled his
pants, unfastened the zipper, and freed his boner from his tight kiddie comic
briefs. I stroked his boner slowly while I still worked on his nipples, bringing
him to heaven. He pushed his pants and briefs down further to give me more room.
“Julien...may be right… The cold helps somewhat…” Ben whispered and sighed, “It
numbs the feeling, but it turns out to be more intense once it explodes out…” I
pressed his lips with mine to keep him quiet.
Ben dropped my jeans and briefs freeing my boner and pressed me against the wall
again, so he could kneel and give my cock a royal treatment. I pressed my hands
against the wall and planted my feet on the floor, gasping for breath
irregularly as Ben showed off his suction and deep-throating skills on me. I
pulled his head away from my aching dick that was about to burst. I flipped Ben
around and pressed him hard against the wall.
“Last time you asked me to screw you, so this is where we left off…” I smirked,
and kissed him as I grabbed the lube out of his bag that was sitting on an old
small table next to us. I put a quarter-sized amount on my fingers and reached
down to slowly massage Ben’s asshole. Ben spread his legs a little to give me
more access while I still worked my lips on his. I pierced two of my fighters
into his asshole, just to work the lube around the ring muscle. I wondered how
he would react if I went a little further, so I didn’t hesitate. Ben nearly
jumped.
“Easy, Steph…you just hit my prostate a little too hard,” he giggled.
I moved my fingers back a little and felt the walnut-sized gland, and I twirled
my fingers around massaging it. Ben moaned and his dick grew to its limit as it
looked beet-red and hard. Ben pulled my fingers down right away.
“Don’t hit my g-spot now…or I’ll explode in a second,” he took the tube and
greased up my dick, “Do it now and quick…” he said, biting my lower lip lightly.
I aimed my dick over his hole and dove in without any barrier. Ben released my
lip and looked up at the ceiling, and hummed with his voice box. I felt a
pillow-like cushion grasping around my dick, warming it up and teasing every
nerve ending on it. I slowly moved in and out, like you always have to do in
order to fuck well. Ben seemed to be high on ecstasy and so was I.
After a while of self-teasing, it didn’t take me long to get to the edge.
Looking at Ben’s bare chest exposed from the opening of his coat, and his face
deep in pleasure only turned me on even more. He’s so fucking sexy… I’m screwing
the best guy around for miles.
“I’m coming… Just in a few seconds…” I warned him as I made my pace faster at
the glowing signs of incoming orgasm. It kept coming…and coming… I froze and
unintentionally slowed my pacing, trying to shoot deep in his hole.
“Ah…please shoot…god…so…strong…” I closed my eyes hard as the strong orgasm had
just got even stronger, and finally I released and my body spasmed at every shot
of white stuff into his ass.
“Ah, dammit…looking at you like that is making me go…” Ben gritted his teeth,
and in no time, his dick swelled and shot wildly all over our chests. His hole
clamped down hard on my dick forcing out the last drops of semen. I moved my
dick unintentionally hard against his prostate, and Ben screamed. His dick
continued to shoot and kept on shooting even when there were no drops left. Ben
yanked my dick out of his hole and his dick stopped pulsing.
We stood there, naked with coats on and pants down, chest and dick covered in
cum, and panting hard. Ben snorted and covered his mouth. The icy cold returned
to our skin that had previously warmed up from the foreplay.
“Holy shit, Steph…you crashed hard onto my g-spot. That’s why I couldn’t stop,”
Ben noted.
“No kidding…” I kissed him, pressing my cum-drenched chest onto his, “Hopefully
this will make you pregnant this time.” And Ben laughed at that remark, but he
suddenly froze to listen.
“What is that noise?” he asked. My heart suddenly skipped a couple beats at a
familiar creaking sound. Someone was coming up the ladder.
“Shit...” I hissed and I looked around in panic. I knew it would be way too late
to get dressed and cleaned, so I desperately pulled our coats closed to cover
our soaked chest and private parts. I glared over to the opening of the
treehouse, and a glimmer of blond hair appeared though the darkness.
“Krist…” I whispered. I wanted to die right now and not
live through this shame.
“You got that right,” he looked at us with a blanked face, “Nice butt, Steph.”
“Krist…” I began to say.
“Shut up… Get cleaned up and dressed. We gotta talk obviously. I’ll wait for you
down at the bottom of the ladder,” he went down.
“Oh my god… Oh my god… Oh my god… What should we do?!” I asked Ben, obviously
panicking.
“Don’t worry about figuring out what to do. Just get fucking dressed,” Krist
hollered from outside.
“Let’s just get cleaned up…” Ben took a washcloth from his bag, “And we’ll see
what our sentence is.”
“I hope it’s a death one…” I answered gravely.
After straightening ourselves, I motioned Krist to come up, and I knew I would
have to face the reality. This might be the end of our long friendship, and he’d
tell everyone else…leaving me without any friends left. My life had come to end.
“And no Ben, you didn’t forget your bag,” Krist said to Ben with dry sarcasm.
“Krist, lemme start…” I told him.
“Yeah, maybe I should,” he crossed his arms, “What the fuck is going on? What
the fuck are you hiding from me?”
“I’m gay…” I blushed deeply in shame.
“No shit, Sherlock,” Krist rolled his eyes. Every word from his mouth was like a
knife through my heart.
“So I’m sor…” I continued.
“Quiet. No need to say you’re sorry,” Krist cut me off with a swipe of a hand,
“Now my turn,” he sighed deeply, “I knew that you might be all along. For like a
couple of years now.” I stood there shocked.
“How?” I barely made myself audible.
“Signs… Glances at some guys… And the past month, since Ben moved here, pretty
much confirmed everything,” Krist answered, “Also…” Krist took my hand and
pulled up my coat and shirt sleeve, and pointed to the scars I had inflicted on
myself with razor blades, “These as well… You’ve been torturing yourself… I knew
it was hard on you, way more than it was on me. So I won’t make it any harder
now.”
“That means you’re…” I was almost speechless.
“You should know me well enough. Mom raised me too well to respect diversity in
humanity no matter what,” he said, “Of course I can live with it.” Oh god, he
can live with me being me!
“But those scars…” Krist looked at them again but I pulled down the sleeve, “I
failed as friend there because I knew what was happening. But I didn’t
interfere. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for it. I was blind.”
“Oh Krist… It’s ok…” I told him, “Actually, I’m past that stage now.
Don’t fret, really… I should be sorry for hiding the real me for so long.”
“Well, then that should make us even then,” Krist said.
“Heh, I thought you were going to execute me, when I heard that usual tone of
voice when you caught me,” I said.
“You know… I’ve been hinting at you to come out, and I got frustrated…so I was
annoyed I had to ‘catch’ you in the act. I was going to do it while you were
doing it, but then I didn’t want to see that…so I waited till you two were done.
I knew you were done when I heard the loudest scream from Ben.” And I saw Ben’s
face turning beet red, blushing so hard.
“But…” Ben finally spoke, “How did you know we were here?”
“I kinda overheard and understood your French when I got out of the car. And…
Steph, the bruise on your neck, that’s how I knew you’ve been messing around
with each other,” Krist pointed at the mysterious bruise.
“Huh?” I rubbed the spot, “How does that tell you anything?”
“It’s a fucking hickey!” Krist rolled his eyes. Then I blushed furiously and
gave a very threatening glare to Ben, who was trying to stop himself from
giggling uncontrollably. Oh someone is going to die tonight.
“Ben… When I am done with him, I’m going to kill you and bury your body in a
landfill,” I hissed. I looked at Krist, who still looked blank, but not upset as
before. He was just relieved that everyone was ok. I should’ve known my best
friend better than that, but I wished I hadn’t let him find out like this. I
shed a couple tears from my eyes, and since I was still staring at him, Krist
noticed.
“What?”
I went and hugged him so hard, “Thank you…” and kissed him on the cheek, “And I
love you like hell.”
“Ahhh…get off of me!” Krist pushed me off, “Fucking homo…I got pixiedust all
over me!” he growled, but then he grinned hard, “But yeah…I love you too, but
don’t get that sentimental on me. I like being a cold-blooded bastard sometimes,
you know?” Ben laughed, whispering ‘pixiedust’.
Translation for Gling-Gló, which was written by Björk
Guðmundsdóttir in 1990.
http://bjork.com/facts/lyrics/album.php?album=Gling-Gl%C3%B3&era=Bj%C3%B6rk#Gling%20Gl%C3%B3
Author’s note: This is the twentieth chapter of Moving On, and also the first
anniversary of the story (well…almost…just less than a month early). So I spent
quite a bit more time than usual crafting this story to make it special to mark
this occasion. It seems like it was just yesterday on a hot summer day when I
was working at the supermarket, using my breaks to sit outside on the bench with
a pen and notebook, writing down the characters’ names, descriptions, and then
the first chapter. So far, I put in a lot of my own and some other people’s life
experiences, but somehow Steph and Ben were just a fiction of my vast
imagination with no connection to some real people in real life. I wished I
could meet people like them, but sadly, I won’t. At least I can have them all to
myself for life and no one may take them away from me. Anyway, I’m still
enjoying writing this story and plan to further expand the adventure of Steph
and Ben. For the readers who have been following this story from chapter one a
year ago, thank you for sticking around with me. For the readers who caught my
story in the middle of writing, still…thank you as well. For the rest, still
(!!!), thanks to all of you. Without you, I probably wouldn’t have written this
far. The perfection of the spelling and grammar in this story wouldn’t be done
without my editor, Sharon (sat8997). She’s a goddess…so respect her! Also,
credits to CJames, the silly “lurking” black goat with sunglasses for some
advice and unintentional phrases that made me to create some scenes. Then
Bondwriter for keep my French as flawless as it could be, and also for some
advice and some idea-inspiring hints. Thank you all and stick around…I’m still
far from done. -JF
Discussion topic on GA can be found here through the link below.
http://www.gayauthors.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=5530
unpetitpoissonbleu@yahoo.ca
E-mails and feedbacks are highly appreciated.
Copyright © 2007 by Jack Frost. All Rights Reserved. No parts of this story may
be copied, reproduced, in print or in any other format, without express written
consent from the author.