The Boy Who Came in From the Cold (8 page)

“No, problem. I was just getting up for a book. It’s a little early for me—”

 

“I’m sorry,” Todd replied. “I can stay up if you want.” “No, no. That’s fine. You need your rest. Look. Did you want to shower before you went to sleep?”

 

A smile crept across Todd’s face. “God, yes. I wanted to ask, but—”

“Then you should have. Come on. I’ll get you some fresh towels.”
With Todd following behind, Gabe went to the end of the hall, entered the bathroom, and reached up into the cabinets he’d installed over the tub. With the tall ceilings in such an old building, there had been plenty of room, and the space had only been wasted. It was only as he was grabbing a towel and washcloth that he realized he was flashing his butt at Todd.
Shit! Have I lost all sense of decorum?

He turned slowly, feeling the heat of a growing blush on his face, and saw Todd’s was the same. “Sorry,” he said, holding out the stuff for Todd.

Todd visibly gulped. “N-No problem. It’s not like I haven’t seen a guy’s ass before. Gym class, right?” He turned redder.

Once again they stood there and looked at each other, neither saying a word. Todd’s head was slightly cocked back, and the muscles in his neck stood out clearly. What would that skin feel like under his lips? Gabe’s gaze was drawn to Todd’s mouth. Wide and soft, with stubble on his upper lip. What a kissable, kissable mouth.
Gosh, what is this kid doing to me? You’d think I was fifteen with a runaway libido.

“Um….” Gabe noticed the stubble across Todd’s cheeks as well. He had wide sideburns, which Gabe didn’t usually like, but somehow they worked for Todd. He had a patch of hair on his chin as well, this fuller and obviously something the young man had elected, at least recently, to let grow. But Gabe would still bet Todd would like to shave. The growth down his neck had to be itchy. Gabe turned, started to bend over at the sink, thought better of it—giving the boy another view of his ass and possibly some dangly bits might not be a good idea—and turned back. “There’s a package of disposable razors in the

bottom drawer if you want to shave,” he said. “And an extra toothbrush or two.”

“For all those hot guys you have coming over?” Todd asked.

Gabe couldn’t believe it, but he was blushing all the more, despite how long it had been since he’d been with a man. No time for the most part, and tricks and one-night stands didn’t hold much interest for him. The fact that he’d invited Todd up for sex was not his usual modus operandi.

Liar. You know exactly why.
Fine. He knew.
Brett. He reminds you of Brett
.
They’re nothing alike!

“No men. I just have a dentist who gives out a new brush every time I go in. I like to get an extra appointment in every year. They stack up.”

Todd nodded. “Thanks. A lot. My mouth tastes like crap and my body feels like I’ve rolled in it. I needed this more than I can say.”

“No problem.” Another pause. For a second there, it felt like Todd was going to kiss him. Had he actually risen up on his toes…? He noticed Todd’s toes and damn, even they were sexy. A man’s feet. Wide, a scattering of hair across their tops, with strong-looking toes that lined up the way Gabe liked them and not with the second toe being longer than….

And then Todd did kiss him. Rose up and gave him a little chaste kiss that hit Gabe like a wrecking ball. He might have even moaned.
Please, God, no. Tell me I didn’t moan
.

“Thank you,” Todd said, his face totally pink. “Thank you for everything.”

 

Gabe nodded, not trusting his voice. He turned to leave the bathroom.

 

“Night,” said Todd.

“Night,” Gabe managed. He shut the door behind him and went straight to his room and closed his own, turned off the light, and headed

right to the bed. His nightshirt was up, over, off, and on the floor faster than a magician could have done. Gabe was on the bed and had barely touched himself when his semi-erection, heavy and thick, arched up and filled into an almost painfully hard pillar. He took his cock, already leaking, in his fist, the fingers of his other hand just grazing his nipples, and in record time he was splashing his chest and belly with his semen. He groaned in pleasure, biting down on his lower lip to try and suppress the shout he wanted to release. Shower running or not, he didn’t want Todd to hear.

Surprisingly, after that he was able to slip off to sleep.

T
ODD climbed in the shower and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror on the back of the bathroom door, saw his lightly furry butt and thought of Gabe’s. The abrupt view of the man’s ass had startled him. And what an ass. Big, but solid and muscular, and smooth as marble. He’d felt a strange compulsion to touch it, but hadn’t, of course, thank God. What would that have started? The thought made his cock rear up, tall and proud, with a suddenness that made Todd’s eyes widen. A wave of arousal hit him, unexpected and strong.

Shit. I’m hard thinking about a man’s ass.
Not gay. I can’t be. Just freaked out is all. Tired.
Weak.
He started the water, found a temperature just south of scalding,

turned on the shower head and discovered heaven. It felt good. So damned good. It hadn’t even been quite twenty-four hours since his last shower, yet it seemed like a century. He found a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo as well, sniffed both, and found he loved the scent of the bar. Something herbal and country smelling about it. It lathered quickly, and he was soon covered in suds, and the sight and feel and smell was more heaven.

Why in the hell did I kiss him?

 

He froze at the thought.

 

I kissed him. I really did. I kissed a man.
“And I liked it” came a familiar song in his head.

No!
Why didn’t it feel like it did when he kissed Joan? Kissing her had been like putting his mouth on that CPR dummy at school when they were teaching lifesaving techniques.
No. Gabe’s mouth was strong and warm and alive and real and

God!
Todd’s cock throbbed and showed no sign of going down. He was almost afraid to touch it. It felt like it wouldn’t take anything and he’d shoot. Why was he so fucking horny?
Should I just do it?
God, wouldn’t it be tacky to masturbate in someone else’s bathroom?

Well you can’t very well do it on the couch!

Gabe’s face came to his mind then, and that chest, and that bare butt. Gabe’s butt was so smooth while his was furry. Would Gabe like that? A hairy butt?

Todd thought of Gabe’s mouth. His smile. His tongue wet and demanding against Todd’s own.

 

No! No no no!

Todd focused instead on Joan and grabbed himself. He pictured her, with her round pale face and her wild explosion of dark hair. He thought of holding her close. Began to stroke the long yet slender length of himself.

Weird. It didn’t feel all that good. The thought of Joan wasn’t doing anything for him. Immediately, her whiney voice came to mind, and how she called him “Toddy,” even though he’d asked her not to a million times. He shook away her voice, focused instead on her body. But when he pictured her large breasts and that triangle of hair below— the slitted opening—he felt his semi-erection grow limper. Her private place just wasn’t attractive to him. Why did boys make such a big deal about vaginas? He was sure it was all bullshit. No one could really like that, could they? There was nothing there. What was all the foofaraw about? Now a guy on the other hand… a guy had something to get excited about. A guy had something to play with. And a girl’s butt. He’d never liked Joan’s bottom either. Nothing like the hard muscular asses of the guys in the locker room at school.

Unbidden, Gabe’s beautiful, hard, muscular bottom crept into Todd’s visionings again, took over the picture of Joan and—Oh! his dick felt good. Slick and—
Oh oh oh!
His legs started to tremble, and
Christ!
He was cumming hard, shooting in jets so strong he could feel it through the surface of his cock. He bit down on his lower lip, afraid he’d scream, because shower going or not, surely Gabe would be knocking on the door and asking if he was all right. Spots swirled before his eyes, and he marveled at the pleasure that rocked through him. Only when he finally came down, somehow not falling down while doing it, did Todd realize how he’d been thinking about Gabe’s butt.

God. God, no.
Am I a fag after all?
It just wasn’t fair. Not with everything else. Not fair at all.

Sleep didn’t come easy. All he could think about was that he was lying on this couch and a man who
wanted
him was just down the hall. The thought scared the shit out of him. And yet in no time, he was hard again thinking about it.

(
“You a faggot or something?”
)
Am I? Am I queer?
(
“The word is ‘gay’.”
)
Gay
.
Todd tossed and turned, and after a while, he finally fell asleep. In his dream, he was walking silently down the hall. It seemed as

long as a football field. On the way, he was passing other doors he recognized. Doors that shouldn’t be in that hall. The door to his mom’s room. The door to his stepfather’s. Joan’s bedroom door. Christ, was that Austin’s basement? There was the door to his own room at home. And the door to his apartment, 6-B. Finally, it was Gabe’s door. He felt a huge surge of relief and pushed it ever so quietly open. There was an enormous bed, and sprawled across it, nightshirt hiked up so his smooth muscular bottom was clearly visible, as well as a hint of large hairless balls, was Gabe.