Green put away the Jack Daniel’s. He’d thought about dumping it but changed his mind. He’d noticed his partner’s drinking had picked up substantially in the last few months. Drinking to the point of getting completely smashed. It was one thing to drink socially with friends to have some fun. It was completely unacceptable to drink to numb emotional pain. He’d leave things for now. But if it began to get too out of hand, he’d veto the drinking. He wouldn’t have Ruxs picking up an addiction. Number one, it would ruin his career and number two, it would be ten times harder on him since he loathed his mother’s addiction so much.

Green turned all the lights off and scanned the outside parking lots for anything out of the norm before going up to his bedroom. He could hear Ruxs in the shower so he changed into some thin sleeping pants and removed his tank top. He was just coming out of his room when he heard the bathroom door open and a big cloud of steam followed his partner out.

Green met him at the guest bedroom door and opened it for him. Ruxs had to turn to the side to walk through. He smelled wonderful. Goodness. Water dripped from his short hair, down over his muscular torso. What was always intriguing to Green was that Ruxs didn’t have one single tattoo or piercing. His body was a large, ripped, unaltered canvas. Perfection. Ruxs’ towel was wrapped low on his hips and Green saw the long treasure trail that lead up to all that slick, black hair on his chest, which looked absolutely delectable when wet. Green never liked baby smooth, hairless men. It just wasn’t something he went for. Well, lately he hadn’t gone for anything, but it’d been years since he’d thought about what he preferred in a man. His life had been consumed with work. Consumed with Ruxs, too. He should change that soon. Ruxs was dating now. He should too.

“Lie down,” Green told him. The room was dark and chilly. The temperature had begun to drop in the late September days but they were still running the air conditioning. He assumed that’s why Ruxs’ dark nipples had goose pimples around them, the brown buds firm and taut. Green yanked his eyes away.

Ruxs pulled out a wife-beater from his dresser but Green took it from him. He was going to rub all that stress, tension, insults, despair, and all the other mess his mom packed on him today right out of him. He took the CD from the nightstand and popped it into Ruxs’ stereo. Green thought of putting it on the thunderstorm track, but thought better of it. The sound of a trickling brook playing over a melodic tune was soft and mellow in the dim room. Green held the eucalyptus-spearmint massage oil in his hand – he meant business tonight.

He could feel the anxiety pouring off of his friend in waves. It was thickening the air and stifling him. Ruxs kept his towel on and stretched his long body across the king-sized bed. Green climbed up and straddled Ruxs lower legs like he always did and slicked his hands up, rubbing them together to make them nice and warm.

At the first touch of Green’s hands to Ruxs’ lower back had him jumping against it. “Shh. Relax, Mark. It’s okay,” Green whispered. He could see the frown-line between Ruxs’ closed eyes.

“Just breathe in deep,” he said while smoothing his palms in an outward motion against the firm muscles. His touch was light at first. Simply letting the aromas permeate through his system to relax him. When he saw the creases began to smooth out on Ruxs’ handsome face, Green began to use his palm over palm technique, rotating in circular motions on one side of his spine and then over to the other. When he started driving out the strain by using a palm on either side of his spine and driving up to his neck. Ruxs began to moan quietly.

Oh god. He’d never heard him sound so relieved.

“Chris,” Ruxs groaned.

“I know it feels good. Relax, I got you,” Green said softly against Ruxs’ ear. He felt Ruxs’ hips flex under him and he wondered for a second if he was putting too much weight on his thighs. So he rose up some and rubbed more oil and began to focus on Ruxs’ broad shoulders. He worked his palms and knuckles into the knots until he couldn’t feel them anymore. Ruxs’ breathing was heavy, almost panting. He should be more relaxed by now. He’d been massaging for over thirty minutes. If it was him, he’d probably be sleep already, but Ruxs seemed to be getting even more anxious. Damnit.

“Come on, man. Try to calm down.” Green leaned in again. He pressed his chest against Ruxs’ slick back and felt him take a stuttering breath. He spoke in the most calming tone his deep voice could muster. “Hey. Shhh. Breathe deep for me. You’re gonna be okay. We’re gonna get through this, man. I’m not going to ever let you go through anything alone. You have me, always.”

Oh my fuckin’ god. He’s killing me. Ruxs tried to take a deep breath but he couldn’t. Green probably thought he was losing his mind or still freaking out about his mom. But Ruxs was struggling with the enormous amount of passion coursing through his body. Green was all over him, pressing that solid chest into his back, pushing him deliciously into the plush mattress with all that brawn, and oh god, it felt so good – too good. He struggled to breathe, not because he was stressed, it was because his sensitive nipples were hard and aching to be flicked, and his cock was like steel trapped beneath him, throbbing and pulsing with every strong stroke Green pushed into his muscles.

Green’s voice was deep and soothing as he tried – to no avail – to calm him. Only thing that would work is if Ruxs flipped over and Green let him rut against him like a wild beast until he came with a roar. Just like —

Fuck. Fuck. Ruxs moaned before he could stop it and his hips flexed just slightly before he caught himself. He was on the edge, he was going to explode. I got to get him off me. I’m going to end up coming. In all the years that they’d massaged each other, nothing like this had ever happened. They’d never turned each other on. That I know of. They were friends. That’s it. Green had massaged most of the guys in the office. He had the best hands. No one – to his knowledge – had ever tried to attack him afterwards, like he was considering doing now. Shit.

Ruxs coughed to try to dislodge the nervousness from his throat before he spoke, but it still came out sounding like a croak. “I’m good, Green. Thanks, man. I think I’m just going to go to sleep. I’m exhausted.”

Green paused for a minute. “Are you sure? You still seem pretty wound up to me.” Green’s fingertips moved ever so lightly against the side of his neck.

Ruxs’ body vibrated and he tensed to try to keep it under control. His cock pulsed. Oh no. “I think I just need to sleep.” He ground out.

“I can rub your front. Maybe that’ll do it. Flip over,” Green suggested.

“No!” Ruxs practically shouted. His cock throbbed and precome was wetting the sheet under him. He focused on not pumping his hips like he needed to. He quickly lowered his voice, trying to speak in a nonchalant manner. “I’m too whipped to even turn over. I’m really about to crash, dude. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Okay,” Green said unsurely, climbing off the bed. Ruxs heard him stop the CD player. Now his ragged breathing could really be heard. He buried his face in the pillow, damn near suffocating himself. He could hear Green’s footsteps heading to the door, but paused.

Uggh. Just go. Hurry. Aching, pulsing. 

“Don’t sleep in. I’m going to make some breakfast for Curtis before he has to leave for school. Okay?”

“Sure, no problem,” he said around a fake yawn, hoping that would move his friend along.

As soon as Ruxs heard Green close the door behind him, he pressed his groin as hard as he could into the mattress. Keeping his head pressed in the pillow, he groaned long and deep. That massage was more like torture inducing instead of stress relieving. As soon as he heard Green’s bedroom door close, he grabbed his aching cock and squeezed the head. His eyes slammed shut. He was getting ready to come. His nipples screamed to be tugged. He took his nail and flicked one sensitive bud, making him clench his teeth to hold in the yell. His nipples were practically more sensitive than his cock. He loved to have them pinched, licked, sucked, anything anyone wanted to do to them, it was a sure way to get him off fast.

Oh fuck! It’s coming. I’m coming. Chris! Damn, he wanted to cry out. He tried to concentrate on shutting the hell up. He had Green and Curtis next door. His body didn’t give a damn who was where. His balls tightened to his body. Ruxs squeezed the head of his cock and felt it pulse in his shaking palm. He let go and took both hands and pinched his nipples as his cock shot the first jet under him. The jolt of electricity that exploded down his spine made his back bow. He thrust his hard dick again as the next powerful stream of come burst from him. His chest shook violently, but he couldn’t stop squeezing his nipples. It was the best sensation in the world. It intensified his orgasm ten-fold. Another jolt. He pounded his fist into the soft bedding, and took the pillow and shoved it harder into his mouth. So much come, damn he was backed up. Oh my god. Ruxs didn’t think it was going to ebb. After another few seconds his body finally began to convulse from the aftershocks. He moaned softly.

Damn, Green had him turned on like no one ever had. Anytime he’d jerked off, it had been just a means to get off. It felt good but never like this. He knew exactly what this meant. It was so powerful this time because his partner had worked him up to that. Drove him crazy. And regardless of all the massage aromas that lingered in his room, he could still smell Green’s cologne on him.

Ruxs’ breathing finally evened out. He flipped over and out of the mess he’d made. He draped one arm over his face and the other lightly grazed over his pleased cock. Ruxs sat up and swung his legs over the bed. He used his towel to clean up the best he could.

He climbed back in the bed completely naked and closed his eyes, thinking about his best friend, his hopefully potential lover in the next room over. How could he do this? What could he say to his best friend? He was sure he wouldn’t be able to keep going on like he’d been. His feelings were sure to get stronger. Every word Green whispered to him – the promises to take care of him, to always be there for him – he didn’t want to hear from his friend, he wanted to hear it from his boyfriend. Should he take the risk of telling him how he was feeling, only to have Green rebuff him? What if Green told him he wasn’t gay? That thought made Ruxs’ post-orgasm bliss wane. Green was so free-spirited, just like him. He would have to be open to him, right?

Ruxs smiled drifting off to sleep on his last thought. If he doesn’t agree to date me, I’ll simply have to veto his decision.