Cuba steps into the doors of Raphael’s apartment with a bottle of wine that he spent half his paycheck on, Mollie and Ro in tow. Cuba interrupted their reality show marathons three nights in a row talking about Raphael Kapoor, so they gave him an ultimatum. Either let them meet his mystery man or shut up about him forever.

Raphael said there were going to be seventy people here. Cuba is overwhelmed by the waves of chatter and body thumping from what seems like hundreds.

“Cuba!” Raphael shouts from across the room.

From another part of the room someone yells, “Bermuda,” and another, “Bahama.”

Cuba can’t help but give in and giggle. He stands on his tippy-toes to look above the crowd. He sees Raphael like he’s never seen him before. His beard is shaved down to just scruff, but his mustache remains. A gold chain lies on his bare chest, revealed by a Hawaiian shirt that’s more unbuttoned than buttoned but still all tucked into his signature short shorts.

“You look so cute,” Cuba shouts over the music when Raphael gets close. He’s never said that to a man before, but it feels right.

“Thank you, kid, so do you,” Raphael shouts back, giving Cuba a quick smooch. Cuba can taste a few things—tequila, curry, and nicotine.

“This is for you,” Cuba says. He hands him the bottle of wine.

Raphael fans his eyes, faking that he’s overwhelmed. He looks to either side of Cuba at Mollie and Ro. Cuba jumps up when he catches the hint and introduces them all. Raphael pulls all of them into a hug. Mollie and Ro look at each other, but Cuba doesn’t notice, all he notices is Raphael.

Raphael pulls away. “Thank you for coming to my party!” he screeches, throwing his hands up into the air like a frat boy. The party seems to yell back, and the music and movements amplify.

Raphael sighs and puts his hands down. He grabs Cuba’s free hand and beckons Mollie and Ro to follow. “Let me put some drinks in you all.”

Raphael walks them to the bar. He puts down the wine bottle and leans over the counter to grab four souvenir shot glasses. He pulls out a bottle of white rum and one of tequila.

“What are we drinking ladies?” Raphael asks Mollie and Ro.

“Absinthe,” says Ro.

“Fireball,” says Mollie.

Raphael tilts his head to the side and smirks. He reaches behind the bar and pulls out bottles of blue absinthe and Fireball whisky.

“You joke, but little Rapphie Kapoor stays stocked.”

Mollie and Ro bow their heads in respect. It makes Cuba like Raphael a little more, and that makes his heart beat wild.

He hands the multi-colored shots out. Cuba looks down at his. It’s a beach scene that reads sᴏᴜᴛʜ ʙᴇᴀᴄʜ, ᴍɪᴀᴍɪ. Cuba scoffs. Of course.

Raphael raises his shot in the air. “What are we drinking to?”

Mollie raises her Mexico shot glass. “To endless orgasms.”

“To orgasms that do ultimately end though,” says Ro, raising Sydney, Australia.

“To the asshole who threw up in my succulents,” Raphael says, raising his voice and his Chicago shot glass.

All eyes fall on Cuba. He looks at his friends and at Raphael, then raises his glass. “To losing my virginity,” he yells. “Tonight!”

Cuba’s friends, and more importantly, Raphael, cheer and clink their glasses together in a toast.

* * *

Mollie and Ro dive into the crowd of partygoers to mingle and befriend a tech millionaire. Raphael and Cuba sit on the couch and speak into each other’s ears, the way you do when you’re trying to seduce a stranger at a club. They’re in their own bubble and all they’re paying attention to is each other.

“I hope you’re ready to get dicked down tonight,” Raphael says, with a hiccup. He’d taken a couple more tequila shots after the one he’d taken with Cuba, Mollie, and Ro. “I’m going to do such a good job.”

Cuba raises an eyebrow. Sober Raphael is a lot suaver than this. “Maybe you shouldn’t have taken that last shot.”

Raphael closes his eyes and shakes his head, then gets caught up in the feeling of his head rubbing against the couch and continues shaking for quite some time. Cuba lightly puts a hand to Raphael’s face to stop him. He reaches down and picks up the bottle of water he took from the refrigerator earlier. “Here, drink.”

Raphael puts the closed bottle up to his mouth and pries it open with his islander teeth. Cuba watches as he gulps down the entire bottle.

“Done,” he says, passing the empty bottle to Cuba. He puts his hands all over his shirt and pant pockets like he’s frisking himself. He emerges with his lighter and cigarette.

Cuba rolls his eyes. “Raph, please. Don’t you know those will kill you?”

Raphael holds the cigarette between his lips and looks at Cuba through the corner of his eyes, just blinking. “I’ve never heard of this.” he says, finally.

Cuba taps Raphael on the shoulder. He’s swaying so much that it nearly knocks him over.

“Well, they’ll kill me if you keep smoking around me,” Cuba says.

“Don’t worry, Cuba,” Raphael says with a sigh. He puts the lighter and cigarette back into his pocket. “I won’t kill you, but I will get up in your guts, just like you said you wanted.”

Cuba smirks. “I don’t think you’ll be able to get up in anybody’s guts tonight.”

Raphael takes a few deep breaths, then leans on Cuba’s shoulder. “Did I ever tell you about Robert, Bobby Leibowitz?”

“Is Robert Bobby his legal name?”

“Bobby is a nickname, Cuba. Be serious.”

Cuba holds his breath to keep his laughter in and nods.

“Bobby was the first guy that I ever had sex with,” Raphael says.

“Oh yeah, you did tell me about him. The guy who lived across town?”

“Exactly. And you know how I was a teenage millionaire, right?”

Cuba pulls away and Raphael’s head rolls off of his shoulder and back onto the couch. “You were?”

“Yes,” Raphael says. He can barely keep his eyes open. “I invested in tech companies, I told you that.”

“Yeah, you told me you invested a couple bucks.”

“That multiplied, obviously, Cuba. Anyway, I was a teenage millionaire—please, can I just lay down on you again? You were so warm.”

Cuba shakes his head but smiles. He’s kind of enjoying drunk Raphael. He leans back onto the couch and Raph settles back onto his shoulder.

“I met Bobby Leibowitz at a football game and he was dreamy, I mean a real SoCal surfer boy. I liked him so much, I mean, you would’ve thrown up if you saw me around him.”

Cuba can hear Raphael’s stomach churning.

“So, I chat up Bobby at the football game, and I let it slip that I was, in fact, a teenage millionaire. And Bobby either really liked me, or liked that I was—”

“A teenage millionaire,” Cuba finishes.

Raphael shoots a finger gun at him. “Bobby Leibowitz lived an hour and a half away from me. He would ask me to pick him up, so he could come over to my house. Play with all my stupid video game systems and watch movies on my big TV. And after all that was done, I’d take him back to his house. So, if you were counting, that’s one and a half hours to get to his house, then one and a half hours to come back to mine. Then I’d do that again to drop him off. I spent six hours in the car every day just because I wanted this boy to like me.”

“Oh, Raph,” Cuba says. He leans his head onto him. “I’m sorry that happened.”

“There’s more,” Raphael sings, like he’s in an infomercial. “Bobby Leibowitz mentioned that this would all be easier if I could get him a car. I’d save three hours of time. Then, and maybe these are correlated, you let me know, Bobby Leibowitz fucked me for the first time. Sooner or later I bought him that car. Then I never heard from him again.” Raphael laughs bitterly. “I don’t even think he was gay. He just knew that I was.”

“That’s so shitty, Raph. You didn’t deserve that,” Cuba says, holding him close.

“Yeah,” Raphael says. He gains enough composure to sit up straight without wobbling. “If you only people gave you what you deserve.”

Raphael lurches forward. “I think I’m going to throw up.”

Cuba looks around for a receptacle, but all he can see is the chaos of the party around him. He takes a breath and steps up onto the table in front of him.

“Hey!” he shouts. He’s surprised when the entire party, even the music, gets quiet at once. “You don’t have to go home,” he says, repeating a mantra he’s only heard other people say. He’s a bit giddy that it’s finally his turn. “But you’ve got to get the fuck up out of here.”

* * *

Cuba wakes up to Raphael’s groaning. He opens his eyes and sees shirtless Raph sitting up under the sheets, rubbing his eyes. Raphael looks down at Cuba.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Cuba says.

Raphael puts on the best smile he can muster. “I’m sorry about last night.”

“Don’t be sorry. I got to hear the legend of Bobby Leibowitz.”

Raphael pulls the sheets back and steps out of the bed. He walks into the bathroom, the only place in the apartment that has walls and a door.

“Bobby Leibowitz was an asshole,” he says from the bathroom. Cuba hears his toothbrushing.

“Why did you tell me about him?” Cuba asks.

The brushing sound gets closer, then Raphael appears in the doorway of the bathroom. “I don’t know. That’s what happened to me after my first time. I thought I should warn you.”

Cuba lowers his eyebrows. “The only person you would’ve been warning me about is you, Raph. Should I be warned about you?”

Cuba hears spit, and the faucet running. Raphael steps out of the bathroom.

“Kind of,” he says.

Cuba is taken aback. Raphael sits next to him on the bed. “Bobby Leibowitz messed me up, Cuba. The first person I thought I liked was using me, so I stopped expecting anything better. After that, I never stuck around long enough to like anyone the way I liked Bobby. And I never got close enough to find out if they were going to try to use me too. I’d go on dates with guys, we’d both get what wanted, and then we went our separate ways.”

“Okay,” Cuba says. He’s nervous. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying,” he says as he puts his hand behind Cuba’s neck, “Since we’re not having sex, I got to stick around long enough to realize that I like you.”

Cuba looks Raphael up and down. He turns to fully face him and put his arms around him. He pushes his forehead up against Raphael’s.

“So now I’m close to you, Cuba. Close enough for you to use me.”

“I won’t do that, Raphael.”

Raphael pulls away. He and Cuba look all over each other’s eyes.

“I really did want to have sex with you, Cuba. I just freaked. You were so ready and I was scared of what could happen.”

“I like you, Raphael. I don’t care about the things you have. You need to know that,” Cuba says. He drops his hands and rubs them up and down Raphael’s arms. “And you know, it’s not too late. Do you want to have sex with me now?”

Raphael nods quickly, like he’s worried that Cuba might change his mind.

“Then what are you waiting for?” Cuba says.

Raphael hesitates for a moment, then lays Cuba down onto his back and leans into him with a kiss. There isn’t a single waiting moment after that, their tongues are in each other’s mouths immediately and their hands are gripping all over each other so tight there will be bruising later in the afternoon.

Without losing the lock between their lips, Raphael pulls Cuba’s boxers off, and Cuba returns the gesture. Their cocks fall flush against each other. Raphael grinds his hips down, mixing his dick up in Cuba’s. Cuba feels himself swelling. He grips Raphael tighter and bites his lip, hard.

Raphael drives into him harder still. He reaches his hand down and aligns the tip of his cock to the tip of Cuba’s and rubs it in circles. Cuba shakes and holds Raphael tighter. He’s fully hard now and craving more.

Raphael can sense it. He finally pulls away from Cuba’s lips and leans over to his nightstand to rifle through the drawer. Cuba plants kisses on Raphael’s nipples, then works his tongue around in circles. He feels Raphael tremble, just a little, above him.

Raphael returns with a bottle of lube. He perches straight up on his knees and pours lube onto both of their dicks. Cuba just stares up at him. He’s as scruffy as ever, his entire body lined in thick hair. He’s a man. He’s exactly what Cuba wants.

The thought escapes Cuba when Raphael takes his cock into his hand. Cuba closes his eyes and moans. It’s guttural, animalistic even. Raph’s firm hand, that Cuba has grown to know so well, wraps him up as Raphael strokes his dick. With his other hand, Raphael takes Cuba’s wrist and guides Cuba to his own dick. Cuba opens his eyes, getting a good look at the man and the cock in front of him. He closes his fingers around Raphael’s dick and strokes, trying to match the sensation that Raph is giving him.

They look into each other’s eyes, each thrusting into the other’s hand, both holding on tightly, both quivering just a little. Raphael kisses Cuba again. It’s rushed and wet, but Cuba keeps him close. Raphael’s dick is rock hard beneath his hand and his tongue is filling his mouth. He wants to be completely full.

“Fuck me,” Cuba says. The words are muffled into Raphael’s lips.

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

Raphael all but jumps to grab a condom, making Cuba laugh, and making him even more sure that this is what he wants and Raphael is who he wants it with. Raph returns with the condom already unwrapped. He rolls it slowly over his cock. Cuba stares at it and bites his lip, thinking about how that will feel inside him.

Raphael pulls a few of the many pillows down from the head of his bed and puts them under Cuba’s back. He looks down at Cuba’s hole. It’s perfect and pink. He shakes a bit as he grabs the lube and pours some on his fingers and more on Cuba’s hole.

Cuba sees Raphael fumbling and puts a hand on his arms. “You okay?”

Raph releases a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding in. “I want this to be good for you.”

Cuba pulls him into a slow kiss, their cocks rubbing against each other like before. He tries to drive nothing but pleasure.

“If we don’t do anything besides just this, it will still have been good for me, Raph.” Raphael looks into his eyes and nods. He slips two fingers into Cuba’s asshole and sees him nearly break. Cuba inhales and holds his breath, like he’s trying to capture the hot pleasure radiating through him. He exhales with a moan. Raph smirks, then curls his fingers forward to watch the display all over again.

Cuba runs his hands through his hair while he moves to the rhythm of Raphael’s fingers. He wants more. He speaks through another moan, “I want your dick.”

Raphael looks down into Cuba’s face and his heaving chest. He gives him what he wants. He takes his fingers out of his ass and takes Cuba’s ankles in his hands. He raises them up to his shoulders. Cuba opens his eyes, so he can watch.

Raphael aligns the tip of his dick up with Cuba’s asshole and he stays there, moving just a little to tease Cuba. Cuba grins and pushes down onto him, letting the head pop in. Cuba moans again and shudders, the shock of pleasure and pain rising then falling. He can feel his hole stretching and tensing, like it’s trying to pull Raphael’s dick inside all on its own.

Cuba bears down a bit more while Raph pushes in. He locks Cuba’s legs in his arms and leans his face all the way down to Cuba’s, working deeper inside in the process. Cuba’s moan echoes throughout the room but is muffled by Raphael’s lips. Cuba moans into Raphael’s mouth even more still when Raphael reaches the point where the initial resistance disappears, and his entire cock is inside Cuba, filling Cuba up just like he wanted.

Cuba locks his ankles behind Raphael’s head and takes his dick. He rocks with Raphael, moaning deep each time Raph hits that spot inside that radiates white-hot pleasure through his body. Somehow, the feeling in his ass is channeled into the head of his dick. Raph drives inside him, deeper and deeper, and Cuba feels himself tightening around Raphael and pulling him deeper still. He convulses once and can feel the pleasure rising. He convulses again and feels it rush out of him all at once, sending shockwaves to his head, and toes, and fingertips, and cum between him and Raphael.

He holds Raphael tight as his heart beat slows and his dick grows soft, trying to savor this moment for as long as he can.