It was a complete coincidence that three of us men went to one of my theaters to watch a special large-screen performance of the aptly-titled movie "The Third Man," the Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten film noir from 1949 set in Vienna.  I had invited Greg to join Steven and me for the classic movie.  Steven and I had seen it before.  It's one of those films which is always more fun to watch with someone who is experiencing it for the first time.  As expected, Greg seemed to love it as much as we did, raving about the aura created by the city's post-war rubble and the cat-and-mouse chase scenes in the underground tunnels.

After the show the three of us went to a lounge for a drink.  It was in the lobby of one of the nicer hotels in town, though rarely crowded, and had retro high-backed booths for privacy and a piano player who snuck modern tunes inside classical pieces.  Greg told us about his trip.  Despite retiring from his sport relatively young due to chronic elbow injuries, he said his endorsement deals and tennis media features were humming along as strong as ever.  Steven told us he had met someone online—someone outside of our neighborhood—and that the early dates with this new man were promising.  Like Steven, the guy was in the financial services industry and eager to find someone to share fine dining and travel experiences with from time to time.  I remained mostly quiet, offering no updates on myself, but genuinely interested in my two friends' life events.

When Steven left our booth to use the men's room, I lowered my voice and spoke to Greg in an intentionally conspiratorial tone.  

"I may be ready to try something we talked about, Greg.  With one twist, though."

"Hmm.  Like before?"

"Not exactly.  Remember when you mentioned a third party possibly joining us?"

"Mike, are you talking about Steven?"

"No."

"Colton?"

"Yes.  Didn't you say you wanted to watch him work me over?" I asked.

"Definitely," Greg answered, lifting his eyebrows in disbelief.  "You're willing?"

"Well, that's the twist here.  I just want to be a voyeur, in the room, while he does all of his tricks on you."

"That's cool, too."

"Has anyone ever watched Colton with you?"

"Not yet."

"Do you think he'd do it?"

Greg nodded.  "He might.  Can I tell him it's you, in advance?  We need to be as forthright with him as possible."

"Yeah, but I'm only watching.  Just an observer.  That's the deal, okay?"

"Sure.  I won't pressure you.  How soon do you want to do this, Mike?"

"I'm ready."

"Tonight?"

"If you can put it together that fast, yeah."

Steven returned to the table as Greg sent text messages by phone to Colton.  We didn't speak an additional word about it.  The three of us spent a quarter hour talking more about the film we had just seen, finished our drinks, and piled into Greg's SUV for the drive home.  Greg just parked in his driveway since we all lived so close to one another.  Steven and I said goodnight and began walking in opposite directions down the sidewalk.  I was about halfway to my house when I heard footsteps rumbling up behind me.

"Mike."

I turned around and Greg came to a halt at my side.  "Get showered and come right back," he said.

"Showered?"

"This is happening tonight."

"Very fast.  Okay, but why am I bathing if all I'm going to do is watch you two?"

"Just do it.  I don't think you understand what you are going to experience.  You may not be able to keep your hands to yourself."

I laughed.  "Trust me.  I will be keeping my hands to myself."

"Don't argue.  I set up everything like you wanted.  So do this one thing for me.  Just shower real quick and get to my house as quickly as you can."

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