A Lot in Common Underneath

Copyright 2007 by the author.

*

When my cell phone finally rang about 4 o'clock I almost dropped it in my haste to answer. I finally got the right button pressed, and heard his voice for the first time in five years.

"Mike?" Ethan said. "How are you doing, buddy?"

I had to swallow hard before I could talk. My heart was pounding so loud I was sure he could hear it over the phone.

"Where are you, Ethan? I'd thought I'd hear from you before now."

"I know, I know," he said, sensing the strain in my voice. "My plane was delayed last night due to the bad weather at O'Hare, didn't get to the hotel till midnight. Then the meetings started first thing this morning. I just got out. Literally."

"Well, are you going to be able to come by?"

He sighed. "I don't know. My return flight's going out at eight. It's going to be tight, Mike."

I was surprised at how upset I was. I made my voice low and flat, the only way I could keep it from shaking. "Ethan, I've really looked forward to this. Even if you just stopped by the office that would be fine. Please."

A pause. "Okay. If you don't hear from me otherwise, I'll be there in about twenty minutes."

"Thanks." I cut the connection and let my hand holding the phone drop into my lap. Inside me, anger fought with relief.

You were going to leave without seeing me, Ethan. After all that we had together. Fuck you.

"Burning the midnight oil again, Mike?" It was Brad, one of my co-workers, at my office door. I shrugged.

"Not for too long, I hope."

"You work too hard. See you tomorrow, man."

"See you." I forced a smile.

Half an hour later I was the only one left. The entire floor was silent except for the distant roar of traffic far below. The late fall day was ending--darkness was already falling. I sat at my desk, staring unseeing at the computer monitor, fingers drumming.

Then down the hall I heard the soft chime that meant the elevator had arrived at my floor. In a flash I was out of my chair and hurrying down the hallway.

I nearly bumped into him coming around a corner, carrying a briefcase and rolling a small bag behind him. Ethan smiled, and my hurt and anger dissolved in an instant. "Mike," was all he managed to get out before I threw my arms around him. I didn't even think to check that we were alone. I just knew we were.

Ethan dropped the handle of the carry-on and hugged me back without hesitation. His beard scratched my face. I drank in his scent, cologne and good clean man, trying to make up for five years without it.

When I let him go he stepped back and looked into my face.

"How did you get past security downstairs?" I asked.

He smiled. "Good old Joe remembered me. Can you believe that?"

I shrugged. "You're a memorable guy."

His smile vanished. "Mike, I could tell you were really upset. I can't believe I even thought about leaving without coming by."

I shook my head. "Forget it." I took his hand and led him down the hall. "Come on in."

He whistled when he saw my private office. "Very nice. You've gone places," he said, shutting the door firmly behind him.

"Not as far as you, but I've done okay." I sat on the couch and patted the spot next to me. "Sit down a minute and tell me what's been going on."

"So that's all we're going to do, talk?"

I looked up, startled. Ethan gazed steadily down at me, a small smile playing on his lips. A tingle raced through my body and I felt my cock stiffen inside my pants. I licked my suddenly dry lips.

"You had something else in mind?"

Ethan's stuff hit the carpet. The smile became a broad grin. His wool-clad crotch was directly in front of my face, bulging.

"I've got something for you. Pull down my zipper."

I started to laugh, but Ethan shook his head. "I'm serious. Do it."

I fumbled at his fly until I found the metal tag, and pulled. I snaked my fingers into the opening and past his shirttails. Suddenly I stopped. My eyes widened.

"You are a fucking devil." I'd seen the rough, yellowed material underneath-the elastic cloth of the pouch on a well-used Bike #10 jockstrap.

"Did you think I wouldn't remember?" His voice was low and husky.

In a flash I had unbuckled his belt and pushed his dress pants down to his ankles. He was, of course, wearing my old jock that I had given him the last time we had been together in that hotel room, so long ago. I pulled the pouch aside and the cock that had been just a memory since then sprang free, as long and hard and veined as I remembered, a drop of precum already oozing from its tip.

I groaned in delight. My hands slid underneath the leg straps and grabbed his butt cheeks while my lips surrounded the flaring, perfectly shaped head. The next moment it disappeared down my throat as I took him down to the root, my nostrils drinking in the musk of his coppery pubes. Ethan groaned and thrust his hips gently at my face.

"Fuck yeah," he whispered.

Incoherent slurps and moans were the only sounds I made for the next few moments as I blew him for all I was worth, sliding back and forth on his steel hard shaft, tugging at his balls, flicking my tongue into his piss hole to lap up the salty nectar flowing out of it. I was like a man dying of thirst who'd suddenly found an oasis.

"You're as hot as ever, Mike," Ethan said.

I let go of his rod with a smack and looked up into my friend's face, past the glistening pole of flesh resting on my nose. "Back at ya," I croaked, hoarse from his dick head bumping the back of my throat. My own crotch throbbed painfully. I'd been too caught up in servicing Ethan's cock to think about releasing my own from the confines of my clothes.

The same thought must have crossed his mind.

"So do I get to see what you're wearing underneath?"

I grinned. "Not much." I stood up and looked him in the eye. "Just so you know, the door's locked from the outside. But let's make it a little safer."

I took a few steps away and flipped the light switch by the door. Now my office was lit only by the glow of the city and the twilight sky, filtering in through the practically floor-to-ceiling windows.

Even in the middle of a quickie my mind was ticking away. We didn't have enough time to do everything I would have wanted to do with my best friend. What did I want most?

I turned my back to Ethan, undid my belt and let my own pants fall to the floor. I was wearing one of my favorite black fashion jocks. I hoped my butt still looked good enough framed by the leg straps.

I didn't have to worry. "Aw fuck, Mike!" Ethan exclaimed, his voice sludgy with lust. "You remembered too." I felt his hands pushing my shirttails up my back to get a better look. "Damn. It's been so long since I've had your ass."

He stripped off his suit jacket, dropping it on the couch, and moved closer. I felt his erection poke into one of my cheeks and slide into my crack.

"So you want my ass, Ethan?"

"Fuck yeah."

I chuckled. "I've never messed around in my office."

Ethan bent forward and wrapped his burly arms around me, hugging me hard. "You mean I get to be the first? Damn."

"You do." I'd already decided exactly where we were going to do it too, and how.

"I hate to say it, but I don't have a rubber."

I turned and looked at him. "We stopped using them, remember? I'm still clean."

"I know you are, Mike. But-"

I turned and saw his troubled gaze. In a flash I knew what he was getting at.

"I trust you, Ethan. You'd never give me a disease. Or Dore either, right?"

Relief crossed his face. "Course not."

I teased him, trying to lighten the mood. "I don't have any lube either. There'd better be a lot of spit on that thing. Want me to help?"

I didn't wait for an answer before I hit my knees. It took only a few moments more of my slobbery sucking before Ethan pulled back.

"Stop, stop. I'm going to blow right now."

"Wouldn't want that." I got up, hitched my trousers up enough so I could walk, and headed toward the window. When I got there I let everything below my waist hit the carpet. I bent and placed my hands on the sill, then looked over my shoulder and grinned at him.

"Come and get it, buddy."

In his eagerness Ethan forgot that his pants were around his ankles. He took a step, tripped and almost fell, saving himself only by grabbing the arm of the couch. He caught my eye and we burst out laughing. His cock jutted out, a dark, veined prong beneath the tails of his white shirt. His tie was still impeccably knotted around his neck. He was a ridiculous and smoking hot sight, all at the same time.

He finally managed to get over to where I was. I felt his big paws on my hips, his cock bumping my butt once again. All of a sudden he stopped moving. I looked back. Ethan's gaze was fixed outside, taking in the magnificent skyline.

"Great, isn't it? Did we ever fuck with a view like this?"

He smiled and shook his head. "All those hotels we stayed in too. We were too busy with each other."

I reached up, grabbed his head and drew it to mine for a quick kiss. "Better hurry. You'll miss your plane."

"Scrunch down a little," Ethan said, as he took hold of himself. I felt the head of his slick cock nudge my hole. The next moment shouts of "AH!" erupted from both of us, his ecstatic, mine agonized. Ethan was hung and it had been a long while, never mind that we weren't using real lube. As the fireball exploded in my gut I squeezed my eyes shut, my breath escaping in short, desperate hisses between my gritted teeth.

My buddy had no idea what was going on, but mercifully he stopped partway in. His arms enfolded me and I felt his hot breath against my ear. "Oh baby," Ethan breathed. "You're worth waiting five years for."

I nodded, trying frantically to relax and unclench my violated bowel. "Give me just a minute," I said, terrified at the thought of him thrusting his tool further into me.

He kissed my ear. "I won't move. I'm about to cum right now."

So we stood, absolutely still except for our rapid breathing. I let the lights of the city outside blur into misty points of brightness in my vision. Finally I felt my insides give. I drew a long, shuddering sigh as Ethan's cock began to move again. Another few seconds and I grunted as his pelvic bone hit my butt. He was all the way in.

"Oh, fuck," Ethan said.

I pushed back against him, extending my arms and ducking my head down between them. "Fuck me, Ethan."

"You got it," he said, his body grinding into action, slowly pulling his cock out so I could feel every inch, then ramming it home in one huge thrust. His hips moved faster and faster, and every time he hit bottom I cried out. Soon he was drilling me like a great machine. My separate noises of pleasure became one long wail punctuated with obscene hiccups, caused by the staccato impacts of his pelvic bone against my butt cheeks.

I looked back underneath our bodies. In the dim light I could just make out the shadowy cylinder of his shaft sliding in and out of my hole, stretched to its limit by the invader. Just in front of it our balls swung in tandem, along with my own rod.

As much as I would have liked it to go on and on, it was a short fuck-we were both too aroused. When Ethan grabbed my cock it only took a few moments of his jacking it for the orgasm to rise in me.

"Aw fuck," I groaned as he pushed me past the point of no return. Hot spurts flew from my dick, hit the wall beneath the window and ran down onto the carpet. Fuck it, I'd worry about that later.

As I shot my sphincter clenched tighter around Ethan's cock inside me. Behind me I heard his breath grow deeper and faster, then turn into hoarse grunts.

"Take my fucking load, Mike!" he shouted, as he arched his back and drove as deep as he could into me, turning his face to the ceiling. "Oh God!"

I felt his rod pulsing in my ass as he dumped his load in my gut. Then Ethan collapsed onto my back, his gasps ringing in my ear, his hot breath tickling the back of my neck. One hand still grasped my gradually softening cock. His other arm wrapped around my chest and held me close.

We stayed locked together in that position as our breathing gradually returned to normal. Finally we stirred to life. He rose up and I turned, letting his cock slip out of me.

There was one more thing I had to do. I knelt in front of him and lifted the front of his shirt. His superb organ, still swollen, hung down, catching the dim light, slick with his cum, my spit and whatever else. I took it in my mouth. Ethan jumped and tried to draw away, but I held him insistently, laving the head and shaft with my tongue and swallowing it all down. Not until I was satisfied that he was clean did I let go and look up. My buddy was looking down at me with that half-fascinated, half-appalled expression I remembered so well.

"Mike, why'd you do that?"

"A good bottom always cleans up his daddy," I said. I grinned and stuck out my tongue at him. "Don't worry, I won't make you do that the next time I fuck you."

"Damn right. Else you never will again." He smiled and shook his head. "Mike, you're something else."

"So are you." I rose up and caught him in a bear hug. He hugged me back, and we stood rocking, holding each other.

That moment is what I remember the most.

All too soon it had to end. Ethan let me go and started pulling together his disheveled clothes. Despite the air-conditioning we were both sweating from the exertion.

"You got a restroom nearby?"

"Out the door and to your right." When he left I tried to put myself together. My thigh muscles were stiff from the unnatural crouching position I had assumed. My asshole burned from the friction of our under-lubricated fucking.

None of that mattered. I sat on the couch with a light heart, my earlier frustration a dim memory. My friend was back, and he still wanted me. Being alive was pure joy.

Ethan came back in at that moment through the open doorway and snapped on the light. He was back to his impeccably neat self. His smile when he saw me was tempered with anxiety.

"Geez, it's late. Sorry, Mike, but I've really got to run."

He picked up his briefcase and jacket where he had let them fall, fished out his cell phone and put it to his ear. I watched, gloom descending over me at the thought of his impending departure. Then his face changed. He snapped his phone shut and put it away, no longer hurrying.

"Well," Ethan said.

"What?"

"My flight out's delayed at least an hour and a half. Means I won't get back until two in the morning."

We stood silent, looking at each other. Then I shrugged.

"Not enough time to get a hotel room."

Ethan shook his head. His eyes had a strange expression in them that I realized, with a shock, could only be tenderness.

"You know, Mike," he said. "Not that sex with you hasn't been great, but-"

He reached out and grasped my shoulder.

"I'd love to go have a quick bite to eat. Talk. Catch up."

I nodded. "I know just the place."

Ten minutes later we were in a little Greek cafe just around the corner from my office building. Over plates of gyros and tabbouleh we sat, deep in laughter and conversation. Ethan now had two children, a boy and a girl, who were doing fine, as was his wife. The only problem was spending enough time with them.

We talked of the separate ways our careers had gone. After rising to an executive position with a major company Ethan had quit to start his own consulting firm. With his smarts, social skills and contacts he had done, to say the least, extremely well.

He asked me how I was doing in my work. Well enough, I replied. I'd never had Ethan's ambition, but I'd always been a good worker and had gotten my share of rewards.

"Truth to tell," I said, "I think I've hit the glass ceiling."

He scoffed. "You're a white guy. What are you talking about?"

"Well, yeah, but hello, Ethan. I've never tried to hide what I am. After a while the out gay guy just doesn't get the big promotions."

"That sucks."

I shrugged. "I'm doing okay. Actually the company's been very supportive. Besides, I don't have a family to feed."

He smiled. "No domestic partner?"

"No." I looked him in the eye. "Think you've spoiled me for anyone else."

He shifted, uncomfortable. "Aw, Mike." He fell silent. I knew what he was thinking.

Move on. Stop carrying the torch for me.

"Don't worry," I said. "I'm not wasting away pining for you. I have a life. Can I help it if I don't want to just cut you loose forever? Are you saying that's what you want?"

"No!" The quickness of his answer made me feel better.

"It's not just that-" I lowered my voice. "It's not just that you're the hottest guy I know, Ethan. You're a good friend. I never talk like this with anyone else."

Ethan smiled. "We make a good team. I wish we still worked together."

My heart gave a leap. "So," I asked, trying to keep my voice even, "Want to swap?"

He looked puzzled, then his eyebrows shot up. "That's right, I forgot." He grinned. "We should have done that first."

I looked at my watch. "We'd better hurry." I glanced toward the back of the restaurant. "We could do it here."

"Isn't that risky?"

I looked around. There was hardly anybody in the place. The men's room was at the end of a long corridor and I knew the door locked from the inside.

"I think we can pull it off. I'll go first."

When he slipped in the restroom a few moments later, awkwardly stumbling in with his luggage, I already had my pants off. My hard cock strained at the confines of my jock pouch.

"Looking good, Mike." He unbuckled his belt, kicked off his shoes and quickly stepped out of his trousers. A few swift movements of his legs and the Bike #10 was in his hand. He offered it with a smile.

"Here you go."

I pulled my own strap off more deliberately. My erection sprang upward as soon as it was free. Ethan looked down and licked his lips. To my utter surprise he dropped the Bike jock and fell to his knees.

"I want to taste you."

My cock was engulfed in hot, slippery pleasure. "Oh God," I cried, slapping my hand over my mouth so we wouldn't be heard. "Ethan," I hissed at him, "Are you crazy?"

He paused in his labors, looked up and grinned. "Guess so. You better cum quick, Mike."

"That's not going to be a problem," I said, closing my eyes as he took me into his mouth again.

There wasn't any time to be gentle. I grabbed his head and started fucking his face with quick, violent thrusts. Less than a minute later I unloaded down his throat, making the strangest noises as I tried not to let loose with my usual scream of pleasure. Faint gulps rose from Ethan's throat as he drank every drop.

He released me with a gasp and got to his feet, bathing my face with cum-scented breath. "Wonderful," he breathed as he put his lips to mine. We shared spit and what remained of my sperm in his mouth.

"Damn, Ethan," I said when we broke apart. "You never liked to swallow before. Or kiss."

He paused, and I saw a faint echo of the look he'd given me back at the office. Things had happened to my friend in the five years since we'd last been together. What they were, I didn't know. I'd have to find out--next time.

I patted his cheek. "That was great. We've got to get going."

In record time we were out on the curb, dressed, groomed, jockstraps exchanged, Ethan's luggage accounted for. It never happens in the city, but the first cab that he hailed pulled up and stopped. It saved us from any mushy farewells. One quick hug, a last "Take care, buddy" and he was gone. I watched the taillights of the cab recede down the busy street, the cold breeze of approaching winter ruffling my hair, my heart full of mixed emotions.

Ethan's giving me back the Bike #10 had been an unspoken promise. Whatever we had would continue a while longer. Were we lovers? Friends? Fuck buddies? It didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was out there, and returned my feelings in some small way. For the moment, that was enough.