The Attendant Ch. 01

Editor's note: this story contains scenes of gay male sexual content.

In a world where gay men have been stripped away of their basic human rights through the "Attendant" status, Peter becomes a slave in his own household. Soon, his step-father and younger brother learn to take their roles of "Masters" very seriously.

This is a dark, authoritarian, dystopian fiction. It includes numerous elements of non-consensual sex and submission practices, including slavery and rape, as well as incestuous relationships. The story does not, in any way, reflect the views or political opinions of the author.

If you know me through the "My First Year in College" story (the sequel is coming!!), this new story will be very different both in tone and subject matter. You have been warned!

All characters are above 18 years old.

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The Attendant.

Chapter 1: The Confession.

When they said that they would go back on gay marriage, no one believed them, or maybe people just did not want to hear them. It was simply unpractical. Were they really about to unmarry hundreds of thousands of couples? And what about their kids?

Sure, homosexuality was listed among the sins which led to the United States' decline but it was far down the list, featured after the desacralization of God, the numerous failures of the educational system, the destruction of traditional families, abortion, the pointless entertainment culture...

Everybody knew that World War III was more than just a possibility at that point and the Traditionalist Party was very reassuring on this front, they were supported by high ranked military officials. Basically, everyone was scared since the bombings in Hawaii and the rates of unemployment had left the whole country in shambles.

I am not sure as to why I am trying to explain or excuse the behaviour of my parents and of their peers. I was only 10 years old when Lydia Ganderson was elected President of the United States and she did everything she had promised during her campaign, and more.

Now that I am 21 years old, she is still President and the country is very different from what I have known in my early years.

Of course, gay people can no longer get married and were indeed "unmarried", but gay people simply do not exist anymore. A lot of things do not exist anymore.

When it started, each new law was welcomed by a wave of protests, irremediably followed by a wave of repression. Thinking that people actually marched down the streets to defend gay marriage is almost laughable these days, unconceivable. By the time the laws had become so cruel that even the worst of the conservatives would have stood up against them, the right of free expression had been taken away.

The country was battling several wars abroad and we should have considered ourselves so lucky that our brave soldiers prevented the main land to be attacked. This new global war was the one of chemical weapons and despite of everything, the U.S. had been relatively preserved from that. God bless the Ganderson Administration.

The fit young man that I am should have been fighting the good fight, should have gone overseas, but I was excused from my duty thanks to the role occupied by my step-father in the Government. My mother had remarried when I was only five and my little brother two, so Stephan was basically my father. At the time, divorce was allowed but later on, my parents had learnt to be discreet about their origin story. To the eyes of everyone we know, Stephan has always been my dad.

I have always seen my parents deeply in love and I know I have been lucky in that regard.

Consequently, and until recently, my situation was pretty fortunate. I was working as a biologist for the state of Ohio, far away from the battlefields and was a prime candidate to a beautiful marriage with one or the other girl, also born in the right family.

Another calamity accelerated the downfall of the country and the rise of the Traditionalist Party: a strange disease which only hit women in their forties. In my previous life, this was the main focus of our laboratory's research. The disorder began when I was a child but as an adult, it seems to have become worse and worse, now affecting one out of two women. I lost my own mother last year; she was gone in just a few months.

From then, it was just Stephan, my "dad", and my baby brother, Martin.

Well, Martin is not a baby anymore; At 18 years old, he is very smart and is finishing highschool with the best grades of his class. School has changed a lot too, but he has excellent results in every subject: sports, sciences, handling of firearms...

I have always sensed a strong urge to care for my younger brother. When he was a child, I had a gut feeling he was different from the rest and that I should protect him. Later on in life, I understood that he was gay. I know that my mom knew too but by the time he was a grown man, the laws that prohibited the "propaganda of homosexual and bestial behaviours" were already in place and it is fair to say that coming out was no longer an acceptable thing to do.

I wonder if my step-dad knows. Sometimes I believe so and sometimes I am not so sure.

My instinct to protect my brother only grew stronger as I could see he was battling a war with himself. At school, at church, even at home through the voice of my step-dad, we were educated on the horrors of homosexual behaviour. It is difficult to explain how and when, but gay people had become the scape goat, the responsible. "Overcoming homosexuality and other deviant behaviours" had become the obsession of the new Government.

I guess it was easier to take actions towards gay people rather than ending wars or curing actual diseases.

My step-dad, despite his rank and discourses at home, was far from being the worst of them. Surely, he was not a gay right activist but he voted against the immediate castration of all male displaying a homosexual behaviour. He had grown in a very liberal America and even if he will never admit to it, I knew he had gay friends back then.

The younger people were probably the worst -- the new regime was all that they have ever known - and even though we never mentioned it with Martin, I knew he was living in constant fear of being caught staring at other guys, especially during his swim practice.

Government officials very proud to announce that year after year, their fight against homosexual propaganda was working. The numbers were undeniable: less and less people claimed to be gay! Soon, homosexuality would have disappeared completely.

Obviously, when coming out as gay means being stripped of your rights, you would rather keep the info to yourself. However, this was not taken as a factor in the official numbers.

First, there was the law forbidding representation of gay people in any sort of media and entertainment materials. Then, there was the law forbidding gay people to work at places which welcome public: the biggest fear was that the general public would come into contact with a gay man (laws were not more tolerant with gay women) and that "homosexuality would spread". Soon after, gay people were forbidden to have any sort of job and then, there was this ultimate question: what should we do with them?

At that stage, a lot of gay people had fled the country, others had been imprisoned for "propaganda", others had been killed by militia -- which were not formally endorsed by the government -, a few of them had been officially sentenced to death (mainly the activists).

Texas was the first state to consider that gay people should have rights, just not the same rights as humans. You see, there were already so much derogations and exceptions for gay people in the Legislation that it had just become simpler to create a whole new set of laws and a whole new status for them.

The Traditionalist Party was not cruel, they were not about to kill them all. Although, the prisons were already full and it appeared that gay behaviour was getting worse when we locked them together in cells.

Also, there was this increasing shortage of women, half of the housewives tended to die in their forties. A lot of adult men found themselves alone in their home. Of course, they could remarry younger women after a period of mourning of one year but still, who would do the house chores? At this point, there was just no longer enough woman for every man.

Just like that, it was decided, Men and Women would cohabit with "Attendants".

The word Attendant itself had been carefully chosen. "Maid" would be degrading to the actual maids, still working. "Slave" was heavily considered but the liberals would make a whole thing about it, and there was no need to get everyone worked up over a word. "Attendant" was somewhat neutral. It was perfect.

The creation of this status did change a lot of things. It would mean that a young boy discovering he is a homosexual, could simply register himself, or rather itself, as an Attendant and abide to the "Attendant Code".

It made sense, gay men were known to be effeminate, obviously they were not real men, but they were not women either. They were something else. They should serve another purpose in society, especially now that women were dying at a relatively young age.

The new system was apparently a huge success in Texas and the Attendant Code has been recently made enforceable throughout the country. There are some differences between states - I heard that a law had passed in one of the southern states allowing the Owners (and not the "Masters", again the words were selected carefully) to sentence their own Attendants to death -- but overall, the system is now harmonized.

I still have some difficulties believing it but he Attendant Code is now the sole book allowed in my room.

My own life took a drastic turn for the worst just a few months ago.

I came home from the biology department to find my father, well rather step-father, out of himself, pacing around our dining room. I was supposed to go on an arranged date with a potential future wife later that night but the plans had changed.

"The date is cancelled." Settled my dad in a very authoritarian tone. I love, well I loved my step-father very much, but this tone he could take sometimes always felt scary. I noticed my younger brother, sitting in a chair in a corner of the room, looking at the floor.

"Sit." My father said to me.

Nervous, I obliged.

"We are screwed Peter." Hearing him employing such a familiar language was more concerning than his attitude so far. He was normally so well put together.

"What's happening dad? You are worrying me."

His hands were visibly shaking as he was still pacing around the table, he explained:

"I was informed by a friend of mine that we are about to be inquired. Tomorrow, hell, maybe even tonight, the inspectors will come to our house."

This was a very bad news. I felt my heart racing.

"What? Why?"

"Are you both so stupid that you do not know that the internet is monitored?" He hissed at my brother's direction and then at me. I noticed Martin was on the verge of tears but he did not make a sound.

"What's happening?" I asked again.

"Apparently, someone from this household had logged into a forbidden website." My father took a deep breath. "A homosexual website."

Fuck. We were indeed screwed. Checking a website with gay content -- porn or otherwise - was obviously prohibited by at least a dozen of laws. Internet was still a thing but it was now mostly limited to the Government propaganda websites - YouTube for example was one of the first websites disabled due to the "homosexual propaganda" it contained. But if you were smart enough, you could still have access to the "dark web" which was pretty much the regular web as I had known it as a child.

My brother was good at bypassing the official websites. Maybe not good enough though.

I did not say a word. I did not look at my brother. What was going to happen to him? Was he about to become an Attendant? Go to prison? Be sentenced to death?

"How... Dad, are you sure?"

"Do you think I would joke about that?" My father slammed the table with his fist. He had an impressive stature and I thought the table was about to break down. "I promised your mother on her death bed that I would take care of you both! And you are doing this!"

"Daddy..." Started Martin in his corner, but my father did not pay attention to him.

"There is no way of denying it! My source told me there were multiple connections on several websites. I don't even know how you... Well, first of all, which one of you is it?" His furious gaze was going from one brother to the other.

"It's not me!" Shouted Martin, crying out and breathing with difficulty. My heart sank seeing my handsome younger brother in this state.

"Dad... There is just no way. Look, we could say that our internet was hacked! Maybe it was a set up. You know this is not true! This cannot be." I said, not really convinced nor convincing.

"Oh please, Peter! Be serious!"

"Then, we need a plan! We have to figure something out!"

"A plan? I am about to lose my job. One of my own sons accused of homosexuality! Can you imagine the scandal?" Then, with even more terror in his eyes, he said: "They could even think it was me!"

My step-father stopped himself at that thought. He fought back his frustration, took a few deep breaths and tried to speak in a calmer voice:

"Look guys, being a homosexual is not forbidden by the law, per se. Propaganda is forbidden. Indulging in homosexuality is forbidden. But the status of Attendant has been created for this purpose exactly, so there is a place for people like... for people like that in our society. Because of my rank, maybe I could keep you as home. General Thompson did that, his son is now an Attendant at his home."

"Dad, we should run away!" I suggested. "You, Martin, and me! This country is going to shit anyways!"

"Where? Half of the globe is suffocating! How? I would be tracked down for crime of high treason and be sentenced to death! Is this really what you want Peter?"

I started crying too, seeing my options disappeared.

"Of course not! Of course, this is not what I want!"

"So, which one of you is it?" Asked my father, again.

My brother and I remained silent. It was not me, but I could not say anything. Saying a word would mean that my little brother was doomed.

My step-father was not the only one who promised things to my mother. When she got sick, I made a promise too, I would protect my brother at all cost. She said "Martin is way more sensitive than you." "Sometimes I'm afraid Stephan will be too absent; he has his own things going on." "Being a big brother is a very important responsibility." She was right.

"I should make dinner." Said my step-father at some point, walking to the kitchen. The issue we were facing seemed unsolvable.

"Martin", I walked towards him: "Are you ok?"

"It's not me. I fucking swear it's not me! I have never been on forbidden websites, I promise you!"

"I know Martin, I know."

Martin was now a young adult, he could be a cocky teenager at times, proud of his good grades, his good looks, his rank in the society inherited from his (step)father. We were only three years apart but it made all the difference as he did not remember the World as it was before. Sometimes, it made me hate him, seeing how prejudiced he could be. But right there, he was just a terrified kid. My baby brother I loved so much. I knew he had grown in a society which made him hate himself for who he was and I felt obligated to give him the double amount of love to compensate.

"Pete, they must have made a mistake, I don't know. I cannot go to prison. I cannot become an Attendant; I don't know how to cook or how to care of a home. They beat them! I know they beat them! They are not allowed to wear clothes! I saw one in the supermarket the other day; he was wearing an apron! Nothing else but an apron!"

"Calm down Martin, this is going to be ok. Dad is very important where he works. We are going to figure this out!"

Our dad came back in the room a few minutes later. He looked at us hugging suspiciously.

During dinner, neither of us managed to eat more than a few bites. At some point, dad broke the ice:

"You know, in these circumstances. A confession is better than anything else. The State is tolerant to those who confess their sins, this is why the Attendance exists."

Confess their sins. What a joke, half of the men in congress had been caught raping women.

Soon, it was clear that my father would not let go of his idea. His plan was clear, one of us should confess the "crime" and then, he would make sure we could be an Attendant right here, at home.

As my father was speaking, trying to convince us to denounce ourselves, someone knocked at the door.

Or rather, banged at the door.

My dad went to get the door, three men in suits entered the house, nodding at my father. One of them seemed very unease and stayed behind, he was not older than me. Before him, an older man, with a grey beard and tiny round glasses seemed to be in charge, and beside him, an impressive guy who looked much like my father, except even more muscular, was armed. He looked frightening.

"Good evening gentlemen." Said my father politely.

"Good evening, Stephan." Replied the older man, extending his hand. He was courteous but seemed also very concerned.

The younger guy mumbled: "Good evening, Mr. Clarck." I think he was working for my father.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Sadly, the circumstances which bring us here are not very favourable Stephan." The older man marked a pause and looked through the room. "We had detected some rather unusual activities inside of your household."

"Oh really?" My dad pretended to be surprised. I could have thrown-up.

The younger guy gave the man in charge, Mr. Xavier Richard, a paper.

"We have been aware that your internet connexion was used to log in to various deviant websites. Homosexual websites." Said Mr. Richard.

"Oh! This is outrageous! Are you absolutely certain? This cannot be!" My father replied, still pretending to be shocked, looking at both my brother and I.

"Absolutely certain. We have all necessary evidence. I am sorry Stephan; you know the law."

"Of course, I do Xavier. If it were to be true... I..."

I looked at my brother, he was utterly terrified.

I had only one thing left to do.

"It's me!" I cried out, standing up. "I... I'm sorry dad... I... it was just a moment of curiosity..."

The beefy man who had remained silent since they arrived addressed me, a disgusted look on his face:

"A moment of curiosity? We have registered no less than 142 connexions."

Even I, was surprised by this number. I exchanged a brief look with my little brother. He looked like he was about to pass out.

"I... I am sorry!" I said again.

"Peter?" The coldness I could read in the eyes of my father was even worse. "How could you?".

Mr. Richard readjusted his glasses on his nose and held an empathetic hand on my father's shoulder:

"Well... This, hum, condition, remains a mystery. How could we have thought that a fit strong man like that one would endorse in such... distorted activities?"

I felt tears sliding down my cheeks without being able to stop them.

"You know the protocol, Stephan; we have to take him."

"NO!" Shouted my brother who grabbed my arm instinctively.

"Martin, silence!" Barked my father. "Xavier, please excuse my youngest son. This comes as quite a shock for all of us."

"This is not an easy situation."

My brother did not stop though:

"Where do you want to take him? This is not right!"

"That's ok Martin. This is going to be ok." I mumbled; despite the terror I was feeling myself.