“Gay chicken,” Duke whispered, leaning in. The idea was for two guys to get as close to kissing as they could. The one to pull away first was the loser. Duke always won because he was a fierce competitor where any sport was concerned—be it soccer, baseball, basketball, football, table tennis…or gay chicken.
“Come on, Duke, stop it,” Mav murmured as his roommate got closer and closer. He could see the little gold and green flecks in Duke’s chocolate brown eyes, could smell the faintly spicy aftershave he wore and under it, the warm scent of his skin.
“Can’t stop unless you give,” Duke murmured, moving in. “Gotta play to win, Mav. And you know I always win.”
Mav sighed, still looking deeply into his best friend’s eyes. For some reason it reminded him of the picture he’d seen on the website of the two guys looking at each other. “Yeah, you always have to win, fag,” he muttered, not sure if he was angry or…something else. By now his cock had gone from half-hard to full-alert status and he didn’t dare move. Or maybe he didn’t want to? It was all very confusing. He’d never let Duke’s mouth get this close to his own before. Always in the past he’d pulled away, turned his head, admitting that the game was getting to be too much for him, too intense. But this time he felt frozen in time and space, helpless to do anything but watch his best friend’s infuriatingly handsome face get closer.
Duke’s warm pink lips brushed his gently at first and then more firmly. He held the kiss for a long, breathless moment before pulling back a fraction of an inch. “Who’s a fag now?” His deep voice was low and intimate. “Do you give, roomie?”
Mav felt like someone had stuck a lighting rod down the front of his pants and sent a bolt of electricity straight through his cock. What the hell was wrong with him? Duke’s posturing and games had never affected him this way before. Well, not until recently, anyway. He thought again about jumping off the couch and running up to his room. But that would look weird and besides, his hard-on would be way too obvious, even if he moved fast. He was stuck, pinned to the couch.
“What are you gonna do if I don’t give?” he asked, hating the rough, breathless tone in his own voice.
“Maybe nothing. Maybe this.” Duke leaned forward again. This time when their mouths met Mav felt something warm and wet brush against the seam of his lips. His tongue, he realized, a shiver running through him. Damn, he’s actually licking me!
He opened his mouth to protest and suddenly Duke’s tongue was right there, probing delicately between his lips, forcing him to react.
Without knowing why he was doing it, Mav reached up and took a handful of his best friend’s spiky blond hair. Pulling Duke closer, he pressed his own tongue deep into the warm, luscious mouth covering his own. Duke tasted like cinnamon and beer and heat. He tasted delicious.
Then Duke was pulling away abruptly, pretending to spit and wipe his mouth. “Dude, you kissed me! You were actually frenching me or some shit!”
Mav frowned. “That’s what you get, asshole. Do you give?” he asked, trying to cover his own confusion. What just happened? Did I kiss him? What the hell?
Duke scowled. “Damn it, Mav. I never lose at gay chicken.”
“Maybe because I always let you win.” Mav held his best friend’s gaze with his own, refusing to look away.
“I think you better give, Duke. Unless you want to be getting a whole lot gayer than you ever have before.” Ethan’s dry voice pulled Mav back to the present. The other man was still sitting in the wicker chair, watching them. But for a moment Mav had completely forgotten there was anyone else in the room but him and his best friend.
“Huh?” Duke looked slightly confused, as if the kiss had caught him unawares too. Which it shouldn’t have since he’d initiated it, Mav thought half angrily.
“I said, I don’t think your boy Maverick is going to back down this time.” Ethan grinned. “So unless you want to bend over and let him fuck you to prove how extremely ungay you are, I think we have a new reigning champ of gay chicken. And on that note…” He stood and stuffed the iPhone in his pocket. “I think I better get going. Ev wants me to go to brunch with him and his mom. I’m not looking forward to it.” He made a face.
“Uh, sure. Okay.” Duke still sounded dazed but at least he’d stood up from the couch, putting some distance between himself and Mav. “See ya, Eeth. Thanks for comin’ by.”
“Talk to you later, straight boy.” Ethan gave them one last searching look before letting himself out of the apartment’s front door.
“Uh, well, I gotta go. Gotta…get something in my room.” Duke nodded vaguely in the direction of his bedroom.
“Sure. See ya.” Mav nodded, feeling a strange mixture of relief and disappointment that his annoying best friend was finally getting out of his personal space. But as Duke turned to go, something caught Mav’s eye. There was a definite bulge in the crotch of his roommate’s jeans.
Duke was hard too.
Chapter Two
Maverick shifted in his bed and sighed. He squeezed his eyes shut and took a different grip on his cock. Big, round, full tits. Tight pink nipples. Wet, hot pussy… He rubbed harder but it wasn’t happening—despite how achingly hard he’d been earlier sitting on the couch with Duke, now that he was in a position to do something about it, his cock was only at half-mast.
Frustrated, he opened his eyes and glared at the ceiling. Damn it, what was wrong with him? He’d been lying here for what felt like hours, trying to get off so he could get a good night’s sleep. It was his usual routine because jerking off put him out like a light. It was better than a sleeping pill as far as Mav was concerned but tonight he just couldn’t seem to manage it. He had an organic chem test tomorrow that was going to kick his ass if he didn’t get some shuteye, but his usual library of mental images—most of them consisting of hot girls in little or no clothing—just wasn’t working tonight. Instead he kept thinking about what had happened with Duke on the couch. That kiss—had it been a kiss? If not, what the hell was it? What was going on? Because this was definitely not the first weird incident that had taken place between them in the recent past. Even weirder than the way he and Duke shared a bed most nights which, to be honest, Mav had stopped thinking of as weird at all.
Their sleeping arrangements had just happened so naturally it hadn’t seemed strange at the time, although he was aware of how odd it would look to an outsider. Not that anyone was ever going to find out. And if Mav didn’t want anyone knowing about his and Duke’s sleeping arrangements, he sure as hell didn’t want them knowing about what else had happened between them recently.
Mav’s mind shied away from that thought—that memory. We were drunk that night. Well, Duke was, anyway. It doesn’t count.
Except if it didn’t count, why couldn’t he stop thinking about it? And why was his cock suddenly rock hard when it had been like a piece of week-old celery a minute ago? Mav closed his eyes again and stroked, trying not to think about it, trying not to remember, but somehow the memory came to him anyway…
***
“Dude, are you watching that one again?” Duke’s voice startled Mav, ruining his concentration on the scene playing out on the flat screen in front of him. He put down his beer and frowned at his roommate.
“I like it. So?”
“So it’s kinda gay, doncha think?” Duke grinned and plopped down beside him, close enough that his thigh rubbed against Mav’s.
“It’s a girl giving two guys blowjobs.” Mav gestured at the screen in irritation. He’d been really getting off on the DVD called A Pole for Every Hole, which was by far his favorite in his roommate’s extensive collection and he didn’t like being interrupted. “What’s gay about that?” he demanded.
“Well just look at them.” Duke gestured at the screen himself. “I mean, she’s sucking both of them off but like, at the same time. Their cocks are all rubbing together and shit while she licks them. You don’t think that’s gay?”
Mav hunched his shoulders. As a matter of fact
, he’d been thinking the same thing. and watching the two cocks of the male actors a lot more than the large, naked and obviously fake breasts of the porn star that was blowing them. Having his personal thoughts spoken aloud by his best friend was unsettling.
“They probably just do that so they can get a good shot,” he muttered, taking a sip of the beer sitting on the end table beside him.
“Gimme some of that.” Duke held out his hand and Mav passed the silver can over. Duke took a long swig before passing it back. “Hey, man, I don’t care. Whatever gets you off. It’s really giving you some serious wood though, huh?” He cast a glance at Mav’s lap where the outline of his thick erection was visible through his sweatpants.
“None of your goddamn business,” Mav growled. He had the sudden urge to cover his cock with his hand but that would look like he was touching himself.
“Hey, Mav, we’re best buds. You can tell me.” Duke’s words were slightly slurred, his breath furred with scotch fumes. Maverick realized that the sip of beer wasn’t the first thing his roommate had had to drink that night and relaxed. Duke always got mouthy and a little crazy when he was buzzed so it was no wonder he felt free enough to remark on Mav’s hard-on.
“Okay, yeah, it turns me on. It’s my favorite DVD. Happy now?”
“Not as happy as you, ’pparently.” Duke was still slurring, obviously drunk. But his hand on Mav’s cock still caught Mav by surprise.
“What the hell, man?” he asked when he felt Duke’s big hand grip him through the loose sweatpants material.
“Extreme gay chicken.” Duke’s brown eyes gleamed in the light from the flat screen. “Ever heard of it, Mav? ’S like, both guys grab each other’s cocks and the first one to move their hand loses. Wanna play?”
Mav knew he should say no. His best friend was drunk and didn’t know what he was doing. Then again, knowing Duke, he would have done the same thing when he was dead-cold sober if the notion took him. He was fearless—which was what explained the fact that he wasn’t afraid to grab his best friend’s cock. A cock that was currently throbbing for release.
God! Shouldn’t do this… “Fine.” Knowing he would regret it later, Mav reached over and cupped the bulge in his friend’s jean shorts. Duke was hard too.
“Is this too gay for you?” The slur was gone from Duke’s deep voice, replaced by a low, sensual note Mav had only heard when his roommate was seducing some coed on the couch.
“Nah,” he said, playing along. “Not too gay.” The porn on the flat screen went on but he was blind to it now. All he could feel was the large, masculine hand cupping his erection. All he could see was his own hand returning the favor. His best friend’s cock felt strange under his hand—strange, but not bad. Just different.
“How about this?” Duke’s hand moved, stroking slowly from root to tip and back again through the gray sweatpants Mav was wearing.
Mav bit back a groan. He could feel everything through the thin material and God, did it ever feel good! What the hell is going on here? But whatever it was, it felt too incredible to stop.
“Nope,” he managed to say and matched his roommate’s hand action with a slow stroke of his own. He could feel Duke’s cock throbbing under his palm but for some reason instead of repulsing him, the feeling intrigued him.
“How about this, then?” Without hesitation, Duke slid his hand up and his fingers were suddenly inside the waistband of the sweatpants. Deliberately, he brushed over the slippery head of Mav’s shaft. “Is that too gay for you, roomie?” he asked softly, stroking over the broad, wet tip of Mav’s cock.
“That’s…that’s a little gay, man,” Mav managed to gasp. But at the same time he was working his hips, just a tiny bit, trying to get more of his best friend’s hand in contact with his aching cock. Part of him wondered what had gotten into Duke. They’d been roommates for almost four years and he’d seen the other man smashed out of his head before, but Duke had never done anything this blatant, this sexual. Did this have something to do with the fact that they were graduating and parting ways soon? But another part of him didn’t give a damn about the whys of what was happening. That part just wanted the delicious contact to go on and on and never end.
“But is it too gay is what I’m asking,” Duke murmured, reaching further into Mav’s sweats and wrapping his fingers around his thick, aching shaft. “Do you give?”
“I…I…no. I don’t give,” Mav gasped. By now he was actively thrusting into his friend’s warm palm, almost unable to think because of the slow, hot pleasure that was starting in the base of his balls and working its way up.
“What would make you give, Mav? You know I always win.” Duke’s hand traveled even lower, cupping Mav’s balls briefly with ticklish fingertips before grasping his cock again.
“I…I don’t know,” Mav groaned. The hand on his shaft felt so good he could barely string together a coherent sentence but inside his thoughts were going crazy.
God, what the hell? Is he actually going to jerk me off? Should I let him? Why does he want to?
The hot, forbidden feelings and his confused thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a knock on the door.
They sprang apart as though they’d been burned and Mav fumbled desperately for the remote while Duke went for the door.
“Coming! Who is it?” he bellowed as he grabbed the knob.
That wasn’t all he was grabbing just a minute ago.
The thought got Mav moving. Within a matter of moments, he was up on his feet and flying up the stairs to seek sanctuary in his room. Once there, he ripped down his sweats, grabbed his cock and came in two short, sharp strokes. Damn, he was a mess. What had Duke done to him? And why?
***
Mav sighed as he looked up at the dark ceiling above and remembered the interrupted session of mutual masturbation—or “extreme gay chicken”, whichever you wanted to call it. He’d thought about asking Duke about it, but the next morning his roommate had complained about a massive hangover and had said he couldn’t remember where he’d been or even how he’d gotten to bed the night before. So Mav had decided to leave it alone. After all, he could hardly go to Duke and say, “Hey, buddy, remember last night when you were grabbing my cock? What made you do that?” He could just see Duke’s blank look and hear his, “Dude, what have you been smoking?” No, asking his roommate what the hell had happened between them that night was definitely out. They couldn’t talk about it any more than they could talk about the weird kiss that had happened tonight.
Deep down inside, Mav knew he ought to be upset about it. About both the mutual jerk-off session and the strange but intense kiss he and Duke had shared that evening. If either of those things had happened with any other guy, Mav would have ripped the jerk’s head off, no question about it. But with Duke, things were different.
Duke was his best friend, his go-to guy. Duke would take a bullet for him and Mav knew he would take one for his friend. They’d been together through so much—victory and defeat on the soccer team, breakups and makeups with girlfriends. And then there was that time Mav had been accused of cheating on his physics final—no one but Duke had believed him when he’d sworn he hadn’t done it. When the real cheater had been caught, Duke had wanted to go kick his ass as payment for the emotional distress the whole incident had caused Mav. Of course, he hadn’t put it that way. His exact words had been, “I’m gonna fuck ’im up for what he did to you, man. Gonna fuck ’im up bad.” Mav had stopped him, but it was nice to know someone cared enough to want to get physical for him.
Except lately Duke had been getting physical with him. And what the hell was up with that?
As if right on cue, a short rat-a-tat-tat sounded at his door and Duke came in. “Hey, Mav, already in bed?” There was a quick slice of light from the open doorway before he shut the door. Without waiting for an answer, he threw himself on the mattress beside his friend and rolled over so he was looking down into Mav’s upturned face.
“You have no concept of
personal space, you know that?” Mav asked without anger. If Duke was in the room with you, he wanted to be right up on you for some reason—that was just the way he was. It had bothered Mav for the entire first month they roomed together and then he’d made a conscious decision to get over it. It was just one of the things about Duke and there was so much to like, why should he let this one little thing get him down? Besides, it was kind of nice most of the time. Nice to have another warm body close to yours on the couch or even in the bed. Not that he could ever admit that out loud to anyone. Anymore than he could admit to the fact that most nights Duke ended up in his bed or he ended up in Duke’s.
Mav hated to think what the rest of the soccer team would think if they knew that the captain and goalie of their team regularly spent the night lying all over each other like sleepy puppies. No doubt the word “faggot” would come up pretty quickly and then there would have to be a fight of some kind. Even though he was the biggest guy on the team, Mav didn’t like to throw down. Not unless he really had to.
“Hey, Mav, whatcha thinkin’?” Duke interrupted his train of thought and Mav looked up to see that his best friend was still staring down at him. It was hard to see in the darkness but he could make out the faint gleam of Duke’s deep brown eyes above him—way too close for comfort.
“Thinkin’ you should get out of my face,” he said gruffly, since he couldn’t very well tell the truth and say he’d been thinking it was nice to have someone in bed with him.
“Fine. I’m cold anyway.” Again without asking for an invitation, Duke crawled under the covers with him and snuggled close, putting his head on Mav’s shoulder. He was wearing only a pair of boxer shorts and his broad, muscular chest was warm against Mav’s arm and side.