You Can't Go Home Again

I first met Joel Herndon in the local comic book shop. I was running through some back issues of

Marvel Team-Up

and he stood beside me and began rummaging through

Marvel Premiere

. We both politely acknowledged one another before resuming our respective searches. After about a minute, he said, "Oh, snap! I've been looking for these."

"What did you find?" I asked.

"Someone must have put them in here to hide them," he said as he held up a

Giant-Size Spider-Man

#1 and a

Marvel Team-up

#23.

"Dude, those are literally the only two comics I need to finish out my MTU collection," I told him.

"And I was lucky enough to find them," he said with a smirk.

"Any chance you'd let me have them?" I asked, clearly salivating at the chance to own these timeless treasures.

"This is Iceman and the Human Torch," he reminded me. "I've always wanted to read this story, and the fact that I have them and you want them makes them extra valuable, wouldn't you say?"

I could knock the shit out of him, pay for them, and be gone before he woke up

, I thought to myself, but I wasn't that dastardly a fellow. "What do you want?" I asked him.

"I dunno. What do you have?"

My collection was pretty streamlined, but I did have dupes of a couple of books. "I have a

Tales to Astonish

#59."

"Ooooo, first appearance of Hulk in that series. I'd be interested in that."

"Then we have a deal?" I asked a bit too optimistically.

"That's just for starters," he said. My face dropped. He pulled out his phone. "Give me your number." I did. "Okay, I'll call you later and let you know. Oh, my name's Joel, by the way. Joel Herndon, and you are?"

"Will Saddler," I said as I offered my hand. He looked at it for a few seconds, then shook it. "I don't have much else I can offer you, unless you want cash."

"I'll call you tonight," he said again, then left to make his purchase. I checked the

MTU

box and the

Spider-Man

box to see if other copies of the books were present, but to no avail. I asked the shop owner, but he told me that those he had sold to Joel were his only copies. I know I could order them online, but my id wanted instant gratification. All I could do was wait to hear from Joel, who seemed dead set on extortion.

I was on pins and needles the remainder of the day as I awaited Joel's call. Finally, at seven p.m., my phone rang. "Yes-Hello?"

"This is Joel," he said. "You still want those comics?"

"Yeah."

"You know where The Commons is?"

"Yeah, off St. Augustine, right?"

"Right. I'm in apartment two-thirteen. See ya when you get here." Then he killed the connection.

It was a good thirty-minute drive for me, but I didn't mind it in the least. It would be worth it to get those comics from him. I grabbed my

Tales to Astonish

#59—the one in Fine condition, not my Near Mint copy—and I was on my way. Once there, I knocked, he greeted me, ushered me in, and I looked around as I stepped over the threshold. "Hey, nice place."

"Thanks," he said. He saw the comic in my hands. "Is that for me?"

I passed it to him. "Yeah. It's a nice copy: flat, no creases, plus it's in mylar, so there's that."

He held it at eye level, turned it this way and that. "Nice. Want to see my collection?"

"Sure," I said, and followed as he led me to a bedroom. "Whoa," I said as we entered. "What is this, about five thousand comics?"

"Closer to six," he corrected me, "and here's my crown jewel." He opened a drawer and pulled out a CGC graded 9.0

Batman

#1. My jaw dropped.

"Are you serious?" I whispered.

"I had a

Captain America Comics

#1 in Very Fine that I traded even for it," Joel said with much pride. "I think it was a pretty fair trade."

"So, how did you come by the Captain America?" I asked as I gently took the Batman from him. It was encased in a plastic display case, so there was no threat of me damaging it. Even still, this was one of the holy grails of comics. I had to treat it with respect.

"It was my grandfather's," Joel told me. "I inherited his collection since my dad never got into comics. Good for me, right?"

"And then some." I handed the comic back to him. "What else do you have?" Joel went through a list of about fifty high-end comics, then I said, "I have the six original issues of Hulk—"

"Sweet!" Joel said.

"...along with Daredevil #1 in Near Mint, Avengers #4 ..." and I named off about twenty others.

"Man, I'd like to see your collection sometime."

"Sure," I said. "Come by after I get off work tomorrow. I'll throw a couple of steaks on the grill, we'll knock a few back ... yeah."

"Cool," Joel said, then he returned the Batman to its rightful spot and we exited the room. As we made our way into the living room, I noticed the two comics he promised me on the coffee table. I didn't dare reach for them; I waited until he offered them to me. He picked them up. "I read them. Cool story." He looked at them, then at me. "How badly do you want them?"

"Come on, man," I said with a disgruntled look on my face. "I thought we just bonded back there in your comics room. Don't play games with me over this."

"Oh, it's no game," Joel said as he lay the comics on the arm of his recliner. He then dropped his shorts and underwear, stepped out of them, and sat.

"What the fuck is this?" I asked as I watched his cock harden. "I thought we agreed on the

Tales to Astonish

."

"If you recall, I said, 'for starters,'" Joel reminded me. "You want these books, you're going to have to suck my dick."

"Are you gay?" I asked.

"No, no," he replied. "I'm just a man who likes to have his dick sucked. Now, why don't you kneel down in front of me and suck this motherfucker?"

"You're serious," I asked unbelievingly.

He grabbed it and pulled the skin taut, causing the head to purple, and in that second I wanted nothing more than to take it into my mouth, feel its length and width as it slid between my lips and down my throat. It must have been a good seven and a half inches long, and it was pretty thick as well.

Here's the thing. I had always wondered what it would be like to suck a dick. I was just too scared to ask anyone. Well, here was opportunity literally staring me right in the face. I knelt before him, placed my forearms on his quads, and allowed him to place the head of his cock in my mouth. We moaned simultaneously. I slowly took as much of it as I could, about three-fourths of it, before it hit my gag reflex. I moved back to the head and sucked it as Joel moaned.

"That's it," he said to me. "Suck it good."

I continued to go up and down on it, trying again and again to take it all onto my throat, but I kept hitting that damned gag reflex. Every time I tried, though, I could feel him stiffen more and more. About ten minutes in and he said, "Oh, shit, Will. Here it comes," then I felt my mouth fill with his semen. I continued to suck him, lightly. Finally, he said, "Pull back and let me see it in your mouth." I showed him. "Now swallow it," he said, and I did, then I began sucking him once again. "Oh, yeah. Get that last little bit," he said to me, then he shouted, "WHEW!! That was one hell of a blowjob." He handed the books to me, and I took possession of them.

I stood and backed up; he stood and dressed himself. "Are we still on for tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure," I answered.

"Cool." We just stood there looking at each other. After about a minute's silence, he said, "What time tomorrow?"

"Let's plan on six," I told him.

"Uh, see you then?"

"Yeah. See you then." In all honesty, I was glad to leave. I really felt awkward standing there after just having sucked him off. It was worth it, though. Not only did I finally get to experience sucking a dick, but I got the two books that would finish my

Marvel Team-Up

collection.

Upon arriving home, I jerked off, read both comics, jerked off again, then went to bed.

I called Joel at four-thirty to let him know we were still on for six. I gave him my address and he said he'd be there, and sure enough he was. He brought a six-pack of Yuengling to go with dinner, and we drank them all during the meal. I showed him my comic collection, and he was just as starstruck over mine as I was over his. When we returned to the living room, he said, "Oh! I don't know why I'm just thinking of this, but sad news about Stan Lee, huh?"

"Dude, it was harsh," I responded. "I have so much respect for what he did for the comics industry. You know, along with Kirby and Sinnott and the others."

"Yeah. Did you happen to read that article in the paper today about him?"

"No. What did it say?"

"He apparently wrote a Spider-Man one-shot before he died. Alex Ross did the art work for it. Both Ross and Lee signed one thousand copies of it and it goes on sale next month."

"How much?" I asked tentatively.

"Five hundred a pop," Joel answered, "and Wes at the comics shop said that he's getting in just five copies, so whomever wants one will have to pay their money up front."

"Damn," I said as I shook my head. "I'd sure love to have one, but I can't afford it right now. I just have too many bills."

"Sell off some of your stash," he said to me.

"I can't," I told him. "Everything I own is everything I want."

"Sell it now and buy it back later," he said. "This comic is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, man."

I thought that over, and even though I wasn't completely sold on the idea, I said, "I suppose you're right."

"Of course, I am," he snickered, "and if you've half a mind to do that, what would you say to trading me your Daredevil #168 for my Conan #1?"

"That's first appearance of Elektra," I said. "Your Conan is what? Fine?"

"Fine-plus to Very Fine," he corrected me.

"Even still, my Daredevil is Near Mint. You'd have to throw in your Superman vs. Spiderman #1 for me to even consider it."

"Damn!" Joel said, but he was thinking hard on it. Finally, he responded with, "Can I get another blow job out of the deal?"

"I'll give you another blow job whether we do the deal or not." I blurted the words quicker than I could form them in my mind, which shocked even me.

Joel laughed, stopped, and asked, "Where do you want to do it?"

"On my bed," I answered, and led him to my room. He was already hard when his shorts came off. He lay down and I got in front of him. I took his cock into my mouth and began my slow journey to getting him off.

"Oh, Will. I love the way you treat my dick."

For some reason, I felt immense pride when he said that, for it seemed to validate me as a cock sucker,

his

cock sucker. I continued up and down his thick shaft for a few minutes, then I went to his purple head and allowed my lips to softly caress it, then I slowly began a trek down his cock, destination: hilt. I gagged a few times, but I was intent on taking his fill tonight. I pushed hard past my gag reflex, then I felt my esophagus stretch to accommodate the large, purple head of his thick cock. As I held him there, I pulled my own dick out and began to furiously masturbate.

"That's it," I heard Joel say. "Beat that motherfucker good." I came off his dick and slurped all around the head, then I stopped and growled as I shot off all over my bed spread. "Jerk me off now!" he said with wild abandon in his voice. I jerked him hard and fast, and when he finally announced his oncoming orgasm, I wrapped my lips around the head once again and waited to receive my prize. "Drink that sperm, baby!" I continued to flog his cock, ensuring I emptied his balls of any and all cum, then I swallowed, then I sat up. "Man, Will. That was fucking great."

"I'll do it for you anytime you want me to," I told him as I bent and kissed his cock again.

"Come up here, man," he said to me, so I did. I lay next to him, then he continued. "Like I told you last night, I'm not gay. I just like having my cock sucked. As long as you're cool with it being one-sided like this, I'm all in, but don't ever ask me for more, okay?"

"Yeah. Sure," I said. I reached out and grabbed his cock. It was still half-hard. "Would you like to go for two?"

"It would probably take you twenty-thirty minutes," he told me.

"And?"

"Oh, in that case, be my guest." I did. He came in fifteen.

Our friendship was fast, and we were hanging out every night, which meant that I was sucking his cock every night also. I had taken to watching porn so that I could find ways to please him better. I tried watching gay porn, but it seemed they were more concerned with just reaching an orgasm as opposed to enjoying the journey, so I watched women perform fellatio, and what I got from them was a whole different dynamic, lots of tips I could use to ensure Joel has intense orgasms every time out.

One particular night I lay on my back and told him to straddle my face. He hovered above me. I pulled him down and took his balls into my mouth, slowly working on one, then moving to the other. I went back and forth like this for a good twenty minutes. He finally pulled off me as he began, "I really need to—" but I pulled him back down and continued to give loving attention to his scrotum and testicles. He reached for his cock and began to jerk it as he said, "Well, at least let me—" but I grabbed his hands and held them in place at his sides as I continued. Finally, with almost a cry of torture, he said, "Will, I really need to cum, man. Come on."

I removed my mouth from him and said, "I want you to fuck my mouth as slowly as you can."

Joel placed the head of his cock at my lips, then pushed past them. "Oh-h-h-h-h-h," he whispered a moan. He ever-so-slowly worked about half his cock into me, then made slow love to my mouth. "I'm not going to last long," he told me. I felt his cock stiffen, then he flooded my mouth with his semen. Each spurt worked to filling me to the max with his cum, and once that final spasm hit, I pulled away and swallowed.

"Fuck my mouth again just like that," I said to him. He eagerly slid his cock back inside my mouth and slowly began to fuck me just as I had requested. I ran my fingernails across his scrotum with one hand and used the middle finger of my other to massage his anus. He did not protest this as I did not try to gain entry. I just massaged and applied a little pressure, and it seemed to drive him crazy. He began to pump hard and fast, and a few minutes later he was emptying himself inside me again.

We lay side-by-side afterwards in complete silence, as we often did after sex. Joel raised up on an elbow and said, "You know, it really doesn't matter, so don't make a big deal out of it, okay?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked as I looked toward him.

Joel stared at me for all of ten seconds, then he slowly lowered his head, then his lips found mine and he kissed me. Needless to say, I was shocked at this, but I soon found his groove and we kissed like we had been doing it all along.

He reached into my underwear and grabbed my stiff cock. I moved my left hand behind his head to hold him in place while my right was removing my underwear to grant him better access to me. He jerked me at a moderate pace even as we continued to kiss. Five minutes into it and I pulled from him and whispered, "Here it comes," then a long, drawn-out grunt the likes of which one could surmise would emanate from some Neolithic beast filled the room as I unloaded all over my chest and belly and his hand. I lay there out of breath. He smiled, held his hand up, then held it at my mouth. I licked my semen from him. He kissed me again, then lay back beside me.

I said nothing afterward, nor any time since. It was a big deal, but I didn't want to make it such. Translation: I didn't want to say anything that would make him not want to do that again.

We continued to have great sex ... Well, what one could call me blowing him as great sex, and he was jerking me off about three times a week now. We still never talked about his active role, as much as I wanted to. I had to respect his boundary.

A little over a month into it, Joel called me and told me to stop by his place immediately after work. As we entered his living room, I noticed a comic on the coffee table. "What's this?"

"Oh, that old thing? I was thinking of throwing it out," he said.

I bent to look at it. "Oh, shit. You bought it?" I was talking about the Stan Lee / Alex Ross Limited Edition Authenticated Signature Series

New Adventures of Spider-Man

#1.

"That's right, bitch," he answered with a laugh. He stopped abruptly. "Uh, didn't you get one?"

"I couldn't part with my stash," I told him. I observed the book closely. "This has a factory seal on it. You're not going to break it, are you?"

"What?" he asked. "You nuts? Of course, I'm not."

"Good. What say we celebrate your good fortune? You can take me out to eat. I'm feeling Chinese tonight."

"Yeah. Sure," he said. "Let me get my wallet." We had Chinese, then it was back to his place where we watched a few episodes of

The Prisoner

before I went down on him and he jerked me off. After that, we called it a night.

A week later, while still at work, I received a call from Joel. He sounded frantic. "Dude, I'm so busted. I really need to talk to you."

"What's up?"

"No. No. Not over the phone. Can you take the rest of the day off?" There was shouting in the background. The sheer desperation in his voice prompted me to act as I never had before. I assured him that I would be there, then I approached my supervisor and told her that a family emergency had arisen and my presence was needed posthaste. She allowed me the time off. I made a beeline for Joel's place.

As I arrived, I made to knock on the door, but it flew open. A man in his forties came out the doorway, pushed past me, and walked away in a huff. I entered and called out for Joel. "I'm over here," he said meekly.

I walked into his kitchen to find him nursing a beer. "Hey, man. What's all the fuss about?"

"I fucked up, man," he said to me as he pitiably shook his head. "I fucked up big time."

"What did you do?" I asked as I helped myself to a beer.

"The Stan Lee / Alex Ross book?" I nodded my acknowledgement. "I used my grandma's debit card to buy it. I honestly thought my student loan money would drop in time for me to put it back in her account before she noticed, but it arrived late, which means all the checks she wrote to pay her bills bounced."

"Oh, shit," I said in disbelief. "How could you be so stupid as to do something like that?"

Completely disregarding my question, Joel added, "Between the bank and the businesses, there's over seven hundred dollars' worth of fines. Dad says I have two options: I can either go in the Marines or he will press charges against me."

"So, whatcha gonna do?" I asked.

"Only thing I

can

do: go in the freakin' Marines," he told me. "I can't afford to go to jail or have a police record."

"When is this supposed to happen?"

"I'm going to try for semester's end," he answered.

"That will at least give you time to get your shit in order," I said. He nodded. "Did you at least apologize to your grandma?"

"No. I've been too ashamed to call her."

"Want me to go by with you? You know, for moral support?"

"Yeah. That'd be great. Um ... Would you mind going down on me first, though? You know, just to ease my tension and what-not?"

"Sure," I said as I moved to his side, "and when we get back, too, if you want."

"You're such a good friend to me, Will," he said, then he inclined his head toward mine. We began to kiss, then we made our way to the bedroom. He lay on his side and lifted a leg. I turned opposite him and began sucking his cock while I jerked off. We weren't thirty seconds in when I felt his hand brush mine away, then he pumped my cock a few times, then I felt his mouth on me. It sent a chill throughout the entirety of my body. We lay there in that sixty-nine gently sucking one another off. I was the first to cum, but just as soon as my sperm invaded his mouth he shot a hefty load into mine. I turned and we kissed for about ten minutes more, then it was off to Grandma's house.