Jessie stepped onto the sand, still out of breath from the run down from his house to the beach. He scans the courts and finds his friend Tony doing some practice serves with another young guy. He smiles and jogs over to say hi to his buddy.
"What's up stud?" Tony exclaims as he gives Jessie a hug.
Jessie blushes -- he's entirely out and proud but he's still taken aback sometimes by Tony's audacity when it comes to public comments about his body. He admires Tony's complete confidence when it comes to his homosexuality. He truly embodies the word "pride." Even though he's barely out of college, his emotional maturity exceeds that of most older gay men.
But all humbleness aside, Jessie is a stud. Just under six feet with a lean runner's build, a crisp jawline, and bright hazel eyes. He goes about his activities in this lazy beach town with a quick confidence that often stands out in the sea of bums.
And Tony isn't too hard to look at himself. Soaring well over six feet tall (and still growing!) his light tan skin and sparkling eyes draw him lots of looks. He has a strong charisma and a musical soul that is hard to resist.
Jessie waves hello to Tony's warmup partner, a nice young bloke, definitely straight, but kind and fun to play with. What's his name again? Ah yes, "Adam!"
"So we just need one more?" Jessie asks.
"Not it!" Jessie and Adam declare simultaneously.
"Fineeee, I'll go ask around." Says Tony as he drags his feet through the sand begrudgingly.
The two look on as Tony scours the beach for a lone person looking to play. From afar, they see him start chatting with some guy, who Tony then leads over to the duo. At first, he looks like a generic white, lean volleyball dude. With his hoodie up and big sunglasses on, it's hard to actually identify him. "Have I met this guy before?" Jessie wonders.
He soon joins the groups and introduces himself: "Hey, I'm Nelson!" His voice is deep and slightly raspy, perfectly matching his surfer's drawl. Before he knows it, Jessie is shaking his hand, which is notably large and rough, and firm. Oh and without the hoodie, his adorable face and bright white smile shine beautifully. Jessie feels blood rush to his head and his crotch. "Hi, I'm Jessie!" he manages to fumble out in a slightly shaky voice.
They split into teams (Jessie and Tony as usual) against the two new guys (Adam and Nelson). Nelson serves first, hitting a graceful, but speedy, bullet right at Jessie. Jessie shanks the ball and mutters "Crap."
"It's all right, let's get the next one," Tony says encouragingly.
But Jessie doesn't get the next one or the one after that. He's trying to get his head in the game but can't help fixating on Nelson's easygoing demeanor on the other side of the court. He's already joking around with his new teammate. And he can really play. The way he hits the ball is effortless but powerful.
In only a few minutes Tony and Adam are down 6-1 and it's time for the first side switch. Ducking under the net, Jessie gives a low high five to Adam and Nelson, as is customary. He murmurs "Nice serving!" to Nelson and feels a rush when their hands touch and Nelson flashes his a full-toothed smile. Even during the brief touch, Jessie relishes those large calloused hands. His mind is already roaming to thoughts of those hands on other parts of his body.
The game is quickly over and Jessie's embarrassment over his terrible play is lessened by Nelson's good-naturedness.
"Should we run it again and switch up the teams?" Nelson asks.
"Yes let's do it!" Jessie replies, a little too excitedly. It's quickly followed by a brief panic. He's not ready to be teammates with this new and gorgeous man just yet. So he slides over to Adam and says "Me and you?"
During the second game, Jessie is finally starting to feel more warmed up. He's making solid passes to his teammates and getting good reads of the defense before placing shots over the net. These teams are more evenly matched and they get some great rallies. Ultimately Tony and Nelson come out on top.
After a brief water break, Nelson asks "Ready for the grand finale?"
"Yessir," Jessie replies and slaps his palm against Nelson's. He can't get enough of those hands. But he's finally feeling more confident and ready to build chemistry with his new teammate.
Before they start the game Nelson and Jessie chat about their defensive strategy. Nelson demonstrates how he'll stand at the net when Jessie is serving and use different combinations of fingers behind his back to signal where he's going to block the offense. This is the first time Jessie has really looked at Nelson's back and he can't help following his fingers down to his ass. It's small but looks firm and muscular, gently outlined by his athletic shorts.
Jessie feels the blood rush to his crotch again. "FOCUS!" he commands himself.
Before serving, he finds that he's unable to actually look at Nelson's finger signals because that angle is just too distracting, so he intuits what the signals are and focuses on his serve. Miraculously he manages to start out the game with a couple of powerful serves that he and Nelson are able to convert to points to take the early lead.
However, Tony and Adam quickly take the momentum with a few shots that hit the net and roll just in their favor. After one of these small dinks falls short on Nelson's side of the court, he launches his full body into the sand to try and get it up. He just misses and lets out a frustrated cry coupled with a laugh about the absurdity of the situation. He seems incapable of actually getting mad, but playfully teases the other team about their good fortune. He's so sexy in this moment. As Jessie grabs his hand to help him up, they really lock eyes for the first time in the evening. The energy connection is almost tangible. Jessie's heart flutters uncontrollably in his chest. After what feels like minutes of contact (but is probably only a second or two), Nelson lets go of Jessie's hand and proceeds to slap Jessie's ass while saying, "Come on, let's get this next point!"
Ass slaps are a common act of camaraderie between teammates, but this one feels different. It felt like Nelson's palm was more open than is typical, and maybe lingered a second too long. It wasn't quite a grab but also wasn't a pure slap either.
Jessie pushes the flood of fantasies out of his mind and doubles his focus on the game. Somehow his compartmentalization works, and he's able to find flow in his serves and hits. It's still a super close game, with the teams trading point for point. But eventually, he and Nelson are one point away from the victory. Jessie serves a solid floater into the middle of the court. Tony receives it and delivers a solid pass to Adam, who sets him right at the net. After playing with Tony lots, Jessie is able to read his body language and predict what happens next -- a hard-driven ball to the back of the court. Jessie is perfectly positioned to receive it and launches it high and toward the middle of the court, where Nelson is waiting. Perfect. Nelson sets him butter and Jessie jumps and swings hard -- launching a spike over the net that Tony and Adam can't return.