Summary:
Jared, Mike, and Adrian are like brothers from different mothers, and, like all siblings, whether by genes or chance, they like different things.
Jared wants a relationship, preferably one that lasts beyond a one-night-stand, Mike hides his vulnerable self under the pretense that he is into a niche fetish, and Adrian just likes to have fun.
In their quest to find the particular things that they believe would make them happy, they hook up, meet lovers, strike new friendships, and learn the taste of love and betrayal.
Whether they find what they're looking for or not, is all a matter of perspective. Or, in other words, as that adage goes, be careful what you wish for.
Chapter One - Meet The Boys
Jared pressed his index fingers against his temples and stared dejectedly at the non-alcoholic drink in front of him.
"Are all your ships sinking right now or something?" A heavy hand landed on his back, making him wince and straighten up.
"How come you're not already hooked up?" Jared questioned Adrian, his longtime friend.
Adrian shrugged and took a seat next to him on a high stool.
"I have yet to see something I like," he said, grabbing a handful of peanuts and throwing them into his mouth with perfect skill.
At six point two, with the body of a Greek god, and the face of a sinner, Adrian never lacked bed partners. The guy knew his longish black hair and olive complexion were putting him in the same category with celebs on the dance floor and not only, and he took advantage of that, whenever and wherever he could. Also, as many times he could.
Jared eyed the way Adrian's tank top stretched over perfect pecs and sighed. He wasn't exactly a twink, but there was no way he was in Adrian's league. Also, he was still not over his rock phase, so he was still keeping his brown hair too long, which might not have drawn as many prospective partners as he wanted. Everyone wanted a picture-perfect partner, with perfect abs, perfect pecs, perfect haircut, perfect everything. Jared had a bit of a thing for flawed things, or so he wanted to flatter himself.
Not that Jared liked sleeping around. He wanted to go steady with some dude, at least for a while. Well, his problem was probably that he kept frequenting the same places as Adrian, who was the king of hookups. There was no way he would find the love of his life in a place like that.
He almost missed Mike, his other best friend, taking a seat by his right. At least the redhead was in as much a foul mood as he was. Mike, just like Jared, was searching for something. Not the same thing, mind you, but still, he was as unsuccessful as the more unfortunate of his two friends.
Mike was, unlike Jared, the perfect twink. Also, he was insecure about his looks, and that made him cute. Jared had pointed that out on more than one occasion. Adrian had been a bit blunt, touching Mike's butt, and telling him he had a perfect ass and he would likely tap it.
Of course, right after that, Mike had pushed Adrian playfully aside and told him that he wasn't into incest. That because the three of them were like brothers from different mothers, no matter how different they were, at first glance.
"So, no alpha top in the mood to get screwed by a cute twink?" Adrian asked Mike over Jared's head, giving voice to what both of them were thinking.
Mike pouted and leaned over the bar to draw the bartender's attention. "What can I tell you, man?" he complained after, finally, the bartender took his order. "That's what I get from being into such a narrow niche fetish."
"Maybe you don't have the right approach." Adrian grinned. "Thought about Grindr?"
Mike made a face. "C'mon, man, do I look like I need some dating app to get laid?"
Adrian seemed to examine Mike for a while. "Yeah." He nodded, and Mike stood up so that he could punch Adrian's shoulder without hitting Jared in the process.
"Can the two of you act more like your age, for fuck's sake?" Jared protested as the stool shook under his ass, due to what soon degenerated into an exchange of punches between his two best friends.
"Oh, sorry, grandpa, is past your bedtime or something?" Adrian joked. "Seriously, by your sour face, people would think you're ninety-three or something."
Jared pouted. "I'm younger than you."
"By three months," Adrian replied.
"You're already twenty-five, Adrian." Mike snickered. "Ancient. Ah, is that why you don't seem to score that easily lately?"
"Shut the fuck up." Adrian pretended to be upset over the friendly jab. "It's just that I'm picky, that's all."
"Sure, sure." Mike nodded like he didn't mean it. "At least Jared and I are owning up to our failures. C'mon, old man, admit it. You lost your shine to this young crowd."
"You and Jared want the impossible," Adrian said as he linked he fingers and placed his chin on them, elbows set on the shiny counter.
"Really?" Mike glared.
"Seriously?" Jared exclaimed, almost at the same time.
"Yeah," Adrian continued, sure of his opinion. "Jared, stop thinking about getting some house in the suburbs and settling down with a husband and two kids from two different surrogate moms. Gay guys still in their twenties don't do that. Seriously, you're making me wonder if you're not some crazy result of plastic surgery and you're actually eighty."
"We've been in kindergarten together, fucker," Jared said, amused by his friend's assumptions. "And I don't want a house and kids, what the fuck? I want a relationship."
"And?" Adrian shrugged. "You can have a relationship. Only that it might last between the time you say 'hello' to the guy and 'bye' after a crazy one night stand."
"Ugh." Jared rolled his eyes and pushed his hair back. "You're clearly not the right guy to go to for relationship advice. I want at least a three-week relationship. Or three days! Is really that much to ask?" He opened his arms and looked at the ceiling, only to be met by stroboscope lights.
"What can I tell you, man?" Adrian stretched and yawned. "Everything happens fast in this day and age. We have fast food, fast news, speed dating -"
"Speed dating?" Mike intervened. "Have you ever been to one of those?"
Adrian stared at his friend as if he had trouble understanding the question. "Of course I haven't, what the hell? When you look like me, you don't go to speed dating." He pointed at his body as if it was unfathomable how anyone could ignore it and assume such things about him.
"Well, not everyone's lucky like you, Mr. I-Top-Everything-From-Top-To-Bottom," Mike said with a grimace.
Adrian smiled at the compliment. Jared was sure that if he rolled his eyes each time Adrian was smug about himself, he risked developing some eye condition. But Adrian did have a reputation of being an uncompromising top, and that, of course, had triggered many conversations around the subject. Adrian even liked topping other guys pretending to be as incorrigible as him. And he had many notches on his belt to prove his prowess on the matter.