(So this one’s a little late, but that’s kind of been my thing lately… This is a new kind of story for me, with a different perspective and a different kind of bond. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks to Jeff and @boymercuryx for encouraging me to do it, and especially to Joe for being such a bro with edits and advice.)

AUTHOR’S NOTE: the original image accompanying this post has been removed due to new Tumblr adult content guidelines.

They were halfway up the driveway when Ethan realized he was feeling a little nervous all of a sudden.

“C’mon, E!” Max said, tugging at his hand impatiently. “It’s startin’ to get dark, and we still got the other side of the street to go!”

Ethan rolled his eyes good-naturedly, then cast them up at the house and felt that twinge again. He’d half been hoping the porch light wouldn’t be on, ready to receive trick-or-treaters, but of course it was. The other half of him was intrigued, eager to fill in the blanks of what he knew about the guy who lived here.

The man was still fairly new to the area, and Ethan had picked up a lot about him since the guy had showed up back in the early spring in his little Audi, a mover’s truck right behind him, and pulled the SOLD sign out of the front lawn. The guy looked to be in his 30s, fit and trim, clean-shaven, brown hair buzzed short to cover some thinning. Didn’t seem to have a girlfriend, or wear a wedding ring. Liked to run on the trails around the lake behind the subdivision in the evenings, just when Ethan liked to run. The man had nodded at him the first time as they’d passed each other, Ethan getting his first clear, up-close view of his features. A handsome guy, regular height, lean and tight like he probably played baseball back in the day. That first passing encounter, the guy’s nod of recognition at him had come as a surprise to Ethan, but he’d nodded right back, more out of automatic, neighborly politeness than anything. Then he’d found himself thinking about the guy for the rest of his run around the lake, his regular guy-next-door-handsome features nothing particularly special, but somehow stuck in Ethan’s head. The sweat gleaming on his forehead. The shift of the muscles in his long legs below his running shorts. The half-tilt of a smile on his lips as he’d nodded at Ethan and kept right on his way.

The next time it happened, a couple days later, Ethan found himself turning around to watch the guy’s retreating form, the sweat making his T-shirt cling to his shoulders, the way the seat of his shorts clung to his ass. The third time, the guy had nodded again, smiling bigger this time, and huffed out a quick “Hey” as they approached each other. Sweat shining on the top of his head, where the hair was all buzzed down and his scalp gleamed through. Some bank logo on the chest of his shirt, over the top of the shape of his pecs beneath, firm and squared-off. Ethan had nodded and said “Hey” back, getting a bigger smile in return. That time, when he’d turned his head to watch the neighbor guy’s retreating form, the sight of the guy’s head turned back watching him had nearly made him trip over his feet.

He thought about the guy when he came in the shower afterwards, shooting his load into the swirling water gurgling down the drain.

“Maybe we should…” he started to say, trying to pull back on Max’s hand now, but his little brother wouldn’t be denied, already climbing the stairs to the guy’s front porch, a candy-seeking missile in a slightly baggy Spiderman costume. All Ethan could do was sigh and try to get on top of whatever it was that was suddenly making his insides churn, and wait for the inevitable as Max rang the doorbell.

“Trick or treat!” Max yelled when the door opened, the guy grinning at him as he opened the storm door with one hand, a big plastic pumpkin full of little candy bars in the other. Then the guy looked up, saw Ethan standing behind his little brother and smiled… differently, somehow. Nodding the way he always nodded when their paths crossed on the lake trail, or when Ethan drove past him in the street.

Max burrowed excitedly in the big plastic pumpkin, coming up a bunch of candy in his hand, and was about to reach in with his other for a second fistful when Ethan put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

“Easy there, buddy,” he said, glad to have something else to focus on than the guy smiling at him, the one he’d thought about several times now as he got himself off. “No double-dipping. Leave some for the other kids, OK?”

“It’s all good,” the man laughed. “This is my first proper trick-or-treating Halloween, so I think I might have bought too many supplies. I’ve always lived in apartments before now, so…”

The guy’s voice tapered off as he looked back up at Ethan, and sure, Ethan might have been young, but he knew a vibe when he felt one. It was like the looks he sometimes saw the guy give him when they encountered each other running, something appraising but friendly. Probably the same kind of looks Ethan gave him. He’d been checked out before, and a lot more obviously lately now he was in college, but there was something to the way this guy looked at him that tingled deep in his belly. Something grown-up, different from the way girls looked at him.

“Guess I should introduce myself properly,” the guy said, standing up straight and putting his hand out to shake, as Max took the opportunity to snag a second fistful of little candy bars. “I’m Joe.”

“Nice to meet you,” Max piped up. “I’m Max, and this is Ethan. He’s my big brother. Well, my half brother. But still pretty big!”

Ethan blushed and looked away, feeling Joe’s eyes on him as the man laughed. But he still stuck out his hand to shake, feeling the strength in Joe’s big, manly hand.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you both,” Joe said. “And nice of you to escort Spider-Max here, Ethan. You’re getting a cut of the haul, right?”

Joe had a real nice smile up close, something warm in his eyes, and Ethan wondered what it would be like to be on the receiving end of his charm without an antsy seven-year-old between them. Found himself chuckling along with the guy.

“Nah, he’s working hard for what he’s got,” he said. “I won’t say no to a Reese’s cup if he offers me one, though.”

“Well here, might as well take one for the road,” Joe said, pulling a couple of Reese’s out of the pumpkin and handing them to him. He gave Ethan a long, assessing look, then set the pumpkin down on the doorstep and reached back inside.

“This is something we used to do for Halloween when I was in college,” he said, holding a little plastic sample cup full of red Jello in his hand. “Treats for the grown-ups, I guess. Maybe the rules are different in the suburbs, I dunno – not so many takers tonight. I don’t know if you’re old enough…”

“He’s in college,” Max said matter-of-factly, eyeing Joe’s pumpkin full of candy again.

“Yeah, I’m pretty familiar with them,” Ethan chuckled. “I’d, uh, be happy to take one off your hands…”

“Yeah, no doubt,” Joe chuckled, looking at Ethan, who suddenly felt kind of squirmy inside, but in a good kind of way. Joe reached back inside and came back with another of the cups, popping the lids off both of them with his thumb and offering one to Ethan. “Well in that case, Happy Halloween, fellas.”

Ethan had a good amount of experience with Jello shots, but there was something about the dexterous way Joe ran his forefinger around the inside of the little cup, loosening the Jello before lifting the cup to his mouth and kind of sucking it free, that made Ethan’s mouth a little dry as he followed suit. The Jello was cherry-flavored, with the throb of alcohol buried deep inside it, a faint heat sliding down Ethan’s throat as he swallowed.

“Well, now you got a roadie,” Joe said, nodding at the other Jello shot in Ethan’s hand. “I’ll probably have a bunch left over, so feel free to stop by on your way back again, if you want.”

“Thanks man, I might need one by the time this dude’s dragged me all the way up and down the subdivision,” Ethan said, giving Max’s masked head an affectionate rub that the kid did his best to wriggle away from. Giving Ethan an excuse to look away from Joe, too.

Joe laughed, a nice deep manly kind of chuckle, and Ethan felt that tingly feeling all through his guts. It was weird – he’d been kind of covertly checking this guy out for the better part of six months now, wondering about him, building up all kinds of ideas about him in his mind. Now here they were on his front porch, shooting the breeze just like a couple of regular dudes, and Ethan felt like he could just stand there all night, getting to know the guy. Like there was no place else he’d rather be. But Max had already grabbed his hand and was tugging at it, impatient to get to the next house, and the next candy offering.

“Guess that’s my cue,” Ethan said, chuckling nervously. He lifted the other Jello shot in his hand in acknowledgement. “Thanks for the roadie. I’ll, uh… I’ll see ya.”

Joe nodded, still smiling, and Ethan could swear he felt the man’s eyes on his back as Max tugged him back down the stairs to the sidewalk.

It took longer than expected for Ethan and Max to work their way up to the end of their long, winding street and back down again, and by the time they were approaching Joe’s house again from the other side of the street, most of the houses had turned off their lights. Joe’s porch light was still on, and Ethan’s eyes locked onto it. But Max’s candy bucket had grown heavy enough for him to start complaining, the little guy starting to show the signs of fatigue and readiness to go home, and as they got closer and closer to Joe’s house, Ethan felt whatever nerve he’d worked up starting to fade.

Responsibilities, dude, he told himself. Yeah, whatever, he told himself too, as he took Max’s candy bucket for him and walked his little brother the rest of the way home.

                                                        *****

An hour or so later, Max sound asleep in his room, Ethan lay on his bed, contemplating the unread messages on his phone. Three from Kelsey, the girl from his Comms 212 class, who’d pulled him into a dark bedroom at an off-campus apartment at a Halloween party last weekend, tugged the tights of his Flash costume that he shouldn’t have worn down his thighs, and sucked his cock eagerly but unskilfully until he’d pulled up enough mental images of what he really wanted to get himself over the line.

He swiped the unread messages notification off his screen, stared at the phone for a few minutes, then scrolled until he found the icons he kept off the main screen. Stared at them some more, then thumbed the Scruff icon, and waited for the grid to fill.

Ethan never did much more than look, and when Trvlr919 had appeared on the Nearby grid a few months back, it hadn’t taken him long to ID his new neighbor. Ethan had checked out his profile a few times, and been checked out in return, but his own profile was almost blank, no pic, few details, none of them precisely true. Every time he thought about filling it out more, maybe putting a pic of his torso or something in there, Ethan thought about what it would mean, and always wound up closing the app instead.

Trvlr919’s green dot – Joe’s green dot – was lit up tonight. Like his porch light had been. Ethan thought about it. Looked at the green dot. Looked at himself in the mirror over his dresser. Looked at the time on his phone screen.

Just go, he thought to himself. Just go, now.

“Going out for a run,” he said over his shoulder as he passed by the living room, his stepmother engrossed in her Kindle on the couch.

“OK, have fun, be safe,” she said, and he hoped she couldn’t pick up the tense energy coursing through him as he headed out the front door.

Ethan did run, a slow jog at first, warming up his muscles as he headed down the street. Joe’s porch light was off, but the lights of his entry hall were still on, the blueish glow of a TV screen flickering through the living room window. Still, Ethan jogged slowly past, winding down the street a good quarter-mile to the T-junction halfway to Sutcliffe Road. He stopped there for a moment under the streetlight, as if deciding which way to go, but there was only one way to go tonight. Ethan turned around, and jogged back in the direction of home, back in the direction of Joe’s house.

Something about ringing the doorbell seemed intrusive at this time of night, so Ethan knocked on the narrow glass window inset beside Joe’s front door. He waited, and in the few seconds before the sound of footsteps came from inside, he might have turned and ran home. But he waited, his heart starting to pump when Joe’s shadow loomed in the window, looking to see who it was.

“Hey,” Joe said, his face half in shadow when he opened the door, but Ethan could see the smile on his face, half-surprised, half-pleased.

“Hey,” Ethan said back, at a loss for what else to say. Usually he was pretty confident and easygoing, but something about this guy seemed to suck all that out of him.

“Did you lose a kid?” Joe said with a grin, glancing over Ethan’s shoulder.

“Nah, just me this time,” Ethan said, shifting from foot to foot, feeling restless and uneasy all of a sudden.  “I thought maybe I’d take you up on your offer earlier. You know… stop back by.”

“Cool,” Joe said, still smiling, but Ethan could feel himself being sized up, too, in a friendly kind of way. He started to feel the nerves setting in again, sinking their teeth into his belly. This was one of those be-a-man moments, he knew. One of those times to prove to himself, and somebody else, that he wasn’t a kid anymore. He could step up and show himself, or he could turn tail and head back home, back to his bedroom, and stare at the ceiling while he kicked himself for fucking up another opportunity.

“Sorry, I guess it’s kinda late,” he said, trying not to sound like a kid. “You’re probably winding down, I didn’t mean to interrupt…”

“Not at all, man,” Joe said, easing the door open a little more. “Just me and the TV, another exciting night in the suburbs.”

“Heh, welcome to my world,” Ethan said with a rueful chuckle. Another silence fell between them, and he knew Joe was giving him an in – he just had to take it. He squared up his shoulders and looked the man in the eye.

“If you’d like some company,” he said, “maybe I can come in?”

Joe gave him that long, assessing look, that half-smile at the corner of his mouth. It felt like an eternity to Ethan, trying to look all chill and easy while his insides churned, and when Joe’s smile spread and he pushed the storm door open all the way and stepped to one side, it was all Ethan could do not to sigh with relief.

“Yeah man,” Joe said, nodding his head back towards the foyer. “That’d be great. Come on in.”

His stepmother had insisted on checking this place out when they’d held an open house back in February, so Ethan was kind of familiar with the layout, but he liked what Joe had done with it. It looked masculine and modern, but homey too, settled, grown-up, nothing like his buddies’ places. Kind of like the place he wanted for himself one day. He nodded politely as he followed Joe through the house, listening to the man’s idle chit-chat about the place, what he wanted to do with it, but Ethan was mostly focused on Joe’s back, the breadth of his shoulders, the hints of muscle under his grey T-shirt, the shape of his ass in his cargo shorts, the flex of his hairy runner’s calves. Ethan was pretty sure he might actually be bigger than Joe, more muscled for sure, his body the product of hard work in the campus gym, building on everything he’d gotten from organized sports all through high school. But there was something to the way Joe moved, his easy, masculine self-confidence, a fit guy at home in his skin, that had snagged Ethan’s eye, and a part of his brain, since he’d first seen him. And now, here he was, alone with Joe in the man’s house, in private, in a place he never really thought he might get to be. Getting into a situation that he’d only ever imagined.

They wound up in the kitchen, at the back of the house, and then it seemed like there was nowhere else to go. The conversation faltered, and Ethan felt his nerves starting to tighten up again. Joe was looking at him, a quiet smile on his face, and Ethan felt himself starting to blush at the attention. But he took Joe’s lead, and looked right back at the man, taking in the sight of him without feeling like he had to look away, or do it furtively. It was like Joe knew just what he was doing, and it seemed almost like the man was presenting himself for Ethan’s inspection.

Again, Ethan found himself thinking that Joe really wasn’t anything extraordinary – just a guy-next-door-handsome kind of guy, fit and trim and unremarkable. The kind of guy you might see around an office building, or maybe a youngish professor at school. The regular guy on the treadmill next to you down at Planet Fitness. But his pecs were strong and solid under his old grey Abercrombie T-shirt, his calves strong-muscled and covered in curly dark hair, his forearms sculpted and similarly furred. There was a little tuft of dark hair peeking over the collar of his T-shirt, down at the base of his throat, that kept drawing Ethan’s eye especially. He wasn’t anything like the guys Ethan lingered over on Tumblr, late at night. Nothing like the muscled-up specimens on the cover of Men’s Fitness. But he was here, in the flesh, alive and breathing and just a few feet away, an ordinary, masculine guy who seemed just as interested in Ethan as Ethan was in him.

Just as the quiet between them was starting to feel a little oppressive to Ethan, Joe turned and stepped over to the big double-door fridge, pulling out a tray mostly full of the little Jello shot cups he’d handed to to Ethan earlier.

“Just like I thought, I got leftovers,” Joe said with a grin, setting the tray down on the island and picking up a couple of the little cups, then fixing Ethan with that assessing look again.

“You’re sure you’re old enough for these, right?” he said.

“I’m 19, sir,” Ethan said, sticking his chest out a little without knowing he was doing it, but smiling too. “I’m not a virgin, don’t worry.”

You dumb fuck, he thought exasperatedly. Why’d you put it like that?

Joe laughed, and held one out to Ethan, who took it gratefully, glad to have something, anything to do.

“Well alright, I’m sure you’re not,” Joe said. “So long as you’re cool, I’m cool.”

They thumbed the lids off their Jello shots, and Joe held his up in a toast.

“Well, here’s to getting to know your new neighbors,” he said with a grin. They clicked the little cups together, and again Ethan got to watch the practiced, oddly sexy way Joe’s finger ran round the inside rim of the little cup to free the Jello, and then the even sexier way his lips and tongue worked to slurp it free.

The both set their empties down on the island, and Joe caught Ethan’s glance towards the tray.

“Hey, old enough is one thing, but I don’t want to put you on your ass,” Joe said. “I don’t want you to get the idea I’m that guy…”

For the first time, Ethan got the sense that Joe was a little nervous too, and when he thought about it, yeah, it was no wonder. The new single-guy neighbor, with a teenager in his kitchen, a tray of Jello shots… Joe’s uneasiness gave them both something in common, and Ethan felt a weird sense of relief. He wasn’t the only one. He reached over to the tray and picked up two more of the little cups, a bold move, but he knew this was one of those times that called for one.

“Don’t worry, I can handle myself,” he said, almost surprised at how deep and grown-up and self-confident his voice sounded. “I’m a big guy.”

Ethan handed one of the cups to Joe, hoping he hadn’t been too bold, hadn’t overplayed his hand. Joe gave him a quick up-down scan with his eyes, as if to confirm what Ethan was saying, taking in Ethan’s well-built frame, the breadth of his shoulders, the swell of his big young pecs under his T-shirt. After a moment, he smiled, nodding as he held his cup up again for Ethan to toast.

“Well alright then,” Joe said. “Didn’t want there to be any, uh… questions about my intentions.”

Ethan blushed at that as they toasted, then swallowed the Jello, feeling a nice warm little glow starting to set in from the alcohol embedded in the cold cherry sweetness of it. They set their cups down on the island at the same time, and that heavy quiet fell between them again for a moment. Joe’s gaze on him felt like it had a physical weight, and Ethan responded to it like he responded to the weights in his workouts – he squared his shoulders, sucked up his doubts, and gave Joe a level gaze back.

“How about you though, bud?” Joe said, leaning up against the island easily. “What about your intentions?”

Ethan felt his confidence falter at that, Joe putting the ball in his court. It was easier with girls, all this. Expected. Like everyone knew the rules of the game, and was just looking for a chance to play. Ethan didn’t really know the rules of this game. They didn’t cover this in porn. But still, he knew he needed to step up to the plate. Show some initiative. Be a man.

Ethan’s hand reached out, crossing the space between them, lingering in the air for a moment, as if deciding where to land, before tentatively touching the muscle of Joe’s forearm. His skin was warm, dusted with straight, darkish hairs, muscles defined beneath the skin. Ethan felt his breath hitch a little, watching as Joe looked down at his fingertips touching his arm, then looked back up at Ethan with a smile. Then Joe reached out with his other hand, and just lightly touched Ethan’s hip. Not much more than a graze of his fingertips, but even through the fabric of his sweatpants, it felt like a brand on Ethan’s flesh, all hot and pulsing, radiating through him. It felt like an invitation. He felt his insides start to knot up again, but before he could second-guess himself, his body was moving, stepping into Joe’s personal space, right up close to him, close enough to feel the man’s breath on him as Ethan leaned in and pressed his lips to Joe’s.

It took a second, but Joe’s lips shifted against Ethan’s, and just like that, Ethan was kissing his first guy. He thought of himself as a pretty good kisser, but that was with girls, and the sensations were all different. There was softness to this man’s lips, sure, but there was a kind of… muscularity to it too, as Joe joined him in the kiss, not yielding to his lips the way girls tended to do, but moving with him. There was the rasp of Joe’s stubble against his skin, the firm squeeze of the man’s hand on his hip, and then the awesome sensation of Joe’s tongue meeting his for the first time. Ethan hesitated for an instant at that first touch, the moist tip of the man’s tongue against his, and then he let out a little whimper from deep in his chest and pushed his tongue deeper into Joe’s mouth. His hands moved of their own accord, one reaching up to touch Joe’s firm, trim flank, the other gripping his forearm more firmly, and he whimpered again as Joe let out a soft, deep noise of his own and kissed Ethan back with enthusiasm.

Joe’s other hand clasped Ethan’s other hip and drew him in closer, guiding Ethan further into their clinch as the kiss deepened. Ethan’s arms shifted around the man of their own accord, his body following its own instincts and drawing closer to Joe’s warm frame. Ethan was suddenly aware that his cock was hard, fucking hard inside his underwear, gone from 0-60 in no time flat as he and his handsome neighbor kissed deeper, wetter, lips working together as their tongues danced, feeling the subtle squeeze and shift of Joe’s hands on his hips, and then the surprising, but thrilling press of the man’s cock, nudging against his hip, as hard as Ethan’s. This wasn’t like any other kiss Ethan had ever experienced – it was better, miles and miles better, and he got the sudden contented, excited feeling deep inside that he’d finally found something he’d always been looking for.

The two men kissed like that for several minutes, Ethan getting completely lost in it all, until Joe gently disengaged, pulling his face, but not his body back. Ethan felt a little dumb in the head, doped up on good kissing, his cock throbbing inside his sweats, his tongue thick in his mouth, and suddenly self-conscious as Joe looked at him quietly, then smiled.

“Guess that answers my question,” he said, and when Ethan blushed harder and looked down, Joe’s hands squeezed his hips.

“You OK, bud?” Joe asked quietly. Ethan nodded, still looking down, afraid to meet his eyes all of a sudden, but Joe’s fingers tucked under his chin and lifted it up so they were face to face again. Joe looked right into his eyes, and there was a kindness there Ethan would never have expected – kindness, mixed with desire, and interest, a look Ethan had never really experienced from somebody else before.

Instead of saying anything more, Joe leaned in and kissed him, taking the lead, showing Ethan what he’d been missing, what was possible. The man knew what he was doing, cupping the back of Ethan’s head with a kind of masculine intimacy as he coaxed Ethan’s tongue with his, the taste of vodka-infused cherry Jello filling both their mouths as they reengaged. This time, Joe pressed his hips into Ethan’s, letting him feel the fullness of the man’s hardon pressing against him, sending waves of warm, pleasurable tingles through his groin, up into his belly. Ethan whimpered again and kissed Joe back harder, and when Joe pressed him back against the edge of the island and really started to feast on his mouth, Ethan whimpered into his mouth with pure joy and gratitude, and pushed his hips harder into Joe’s, letting the man feel how much he’d been needing this.

“You want to…?” was all Joe had to say a little bit later, nodding his head towards the front of the house, where Ethan knew the master suite was. He nodded, face flushing with heat, and when Joe smiled at him he found himself smiling back, trying not to seem too much like an eager little kid. He almost wanted Joe to take his hand and lead him back there, but instead he followed his handsome neighbor down the hallway, stopping just outside the door to the master bedroom as Joe stepped in and clicked on the bedside lamp. The soft, warm glow of it illuminated the big neatly made bed, and Joe standing there beside it, looking back at him, his cock a big, prominent shape inside his shorts, angled hard up towards his hip. Ethan swallowed his nerves, and stepped across the threshold to join him.

“Jesus, you’re a hot guy,” Joe murmured, a hungry kind of sincerity in his voice as Ethan tugged his T-shirt the rest of the way off and dropped it on the floor beside them. Joe stared hard at Ethan’s torso, and he found himself tightening his muscles up for the man’s inspection, for his approval, glad he’d hit the gym this afternoon before trick-or-treating had gotten underway. He knew he looked good, but it was a whole different thing to have it confirmed by somebody else, and a whole other thing entirely when it was another man doing it.

Joe looked up at him, his eyes asking a question, and Ethan just nodded and let his arms rest at his sides as the man touched him, a little tentatively at first, fingertips glancing over the defined muscles of Ethan’s chest, his stomach, down the mass of his upper arms. Ethan watched him grow more assured in his touch, his young cock throbbing even harder as the man caressed his well-built body, his touch all manly but sensual at the same time. When Joe leaned in and pressed his lips to Ethan’s pec, Ethan moaned softly, hand coming up to cradle the back of Joe’s buzzcut head, encouraging him to go on, to nose and kiss his way over the body Ethan worked so hard on.

The next round of kissing was deeper, more intense, somehow more masculine. Ethan’s hand roamed up beneath Joe’s T-shirt, feeling the firm, defined runner’s musculature of his torso, all hard muscle dusted with manly hair, his touch echoing Joe’s on his own muscles. He wanted to see more, wanted to stroke and kiss and smell the masculine terrain of Joe’s torso, but Joe was guiding him back onto the bed, laying him out, breaking the kiss as Ethan dropped onto the covers. Joe kneeled beside him, his cock tenting the front of his shorts hard, his strong hands roaming over Ethan’s chest and torso, making him tingle deep inside. The tingles turned into a throb as Joe’s fingers roamed down his abs, playing a little with the fine blond hair that formed the trail from his bellybutton into the waistband of his sweats. Joe’s hand was just a scant couple of inches from the hard, bulging mass of Ethan’s cock throbbing impatiently inside his sweats, but the older man’s experience showed in the way he held off from pawing at it too eagerly.

“You haven’t done this before?” Joe asked him, and Ethan nodded.

“Not really, I guess,” he said. “Not with a guy, really, I mean…”

Joe leaned in and kissed him again, slower and softer this time, almost distracting Ethan from the feeling of his fingers grazing over the thick mound in his sweats. His hips pushed up, eager for more, and Joe obliged, encasing him with his palm and pressing along his length, making Ethan grunt into his mouth as the man fondled him. Joe’s tongue drew his out as his hand tugged at the waistband of Ethan’s sweats, and then his hand was sliding over the cotton of Ethan’s underwear, over the hot pulsing length of his young cock trapped inside. Joe’s hand rubbed back and forth, savoring the length and thickness of his college-kid cock, making Ethan whimper with need into his mouth as the man made him leak inside his shorts.

Joe didn’t outright ask for permission to do anything, which was probably for the best, since Ethan wasn’t sure he had the words to respond. He let the older man show him what they both wanted, let Joe take him along for the ride, lifting his hips when Joe tugged lightly on the waistband of his boxer briefs, giving him permission to tug them down and let his aching cock loose.

“Shit,” Joe murmured at the sight of him, the impressed tone in his voice making Ethan feel even bigger than he was. Ethan had a nice cock, the kind of thickness that felt really good in the hand, a big helmet head on him. He’d compared it to some of the guys in the Sean Cody videos, and been pretty satisfied with how he measured up. Even more now as Joe caressed it, teasing the length of it, making him bead precum at the tip as the man skilfully explored the length of him. Finally he took Ethan fully in his grip, giving him a warm, slow stroke that made his big young balls hum.

“Hot, built and hung,” Joe said, grinning at him. “Looks like it’s me getting the treat tonight.”

Ethan chuckled at that, blushing modestly, but he couldn’t help but beam up at the guy. He’d never been complimented quite like this before – not just Joe’s words, but his almost reverent touch, the sort of eager look on his handsome face as he took in Ethan’s half-naked form, and the hard young thickness pulsing in his experienced grasp.

Joe didn’t need to ask permission, and Ethan was glad he didn’t. There was something super hot about this experienced older guy taking him in hand, literally and figuratively, stripping his sweats and his boxer briefs down his athletic thighs, stroking his hands slowly up the firm muscles of Ethan’s legs. Treating him not so much like meat, but like a piece of art or something, exploring the contours of Ethan’s flesh in a way nobody had ever done for him before.

“Nice,” he said simply, stroking Ethan’s quads, over his inner thighs, making him shiver with ticklish thrills.

“I want…” Ethan finally said falteringly, reaching to pluck at Joe’s T-shirt. “Can I…”

Joe smiled up at him, sat back on his haunches, and peeled his shirt up and off. His torso was leaner than Ethan’s, with a kind of manly solidity to it, his pecs firm and square and defined, his midsection not nearly as cut as Ethan’s, but manly and solid and neatly dusted with dark brown hair. Ethan’s touch was tentative on him at first, but when Joe shuffled back up closer to give him an easier reach, Ethan’s hands moved by instinct, tracing, then caressing over Joe’s fit older form the way Joe had done to him. The difference was, Joe had experience with this, but Ethan was quickly discovering his instincts were doing a damn fine job of making up the difference.

Joe slid up alongside him, stretching his body out along the length of Ethan’s, and they both turned in to kiss at the same time, as Ethan stroked down Joe’s lean runner’s flank, searching for the button of his shorts. Joe’s hand covered his, guided it to the button, helping Ethan get his shorts open. He lifted his hips and let Ethan clumsily yank his shorts down, revealing a trim little pair of black briefs absolutely stuffed with cock, thick curls of dark fur overflowing the waistband. Ethan’s mouth felt suddenly dry as his fingertips traced over the narrow strip of material across Joe’s lean hip, barely an inch away from the hot bulge where Joe’s cockhead pressed at the fabric, eager to escape. His touch faltered, but Joe covered his hand almost gently with his again, and guided Ethan’s fingers down to the long, hard shape hidden inside the snug black fabric, kissing him slow and deep, swallowing Ethan’s stifled whimper as he touched Joe’s bulge, answering it with a deep, approving grunt of his own as Ethan clumsily started to explore him.

Joe’s cock was like the rest of him, kind of regular, but handsome too, hard and straight, maybe a little longer than average, standing proud from a thick, trimmed bush of dark hair. Ethan’s touch on it was tentative, but the heat of it, the sense of pliant flesh stretched taut over hot steel, drew him in, and he soon found a rhythm on the man’s hot flesh as they kissed deep and long. He  found himself mirroring Joe’s hand on his own cock, and they both grunted deep and lustily into each other’s mouths as they kissed and explored each other as men.

When Joe broke off from the kiss and started to slide down the length of Ethan’s body, Ethan’s pulse began to beat faster, as he stared down at the man, watching and feeling Joe kiss his way down his young muscles, down into the blond fur that was starting to spread across his loins. The rasp of the stubble on Joe’s cheek against the hot throb of his cock made Ethan gasp, but when Joe looked up at him, checking in on him, Ethan just nodded fast. Then he gasped again as Joe took his pulsing cock in his hand, stroked it up and down, then stretched his long, agile tongue out and licked up the length of him.

“Awww fuck dude,” Ethan moaned at the feel of Joe’s lips sliding over his cockhead, the warm wet slide of his tongue bathing the underside, savoring his young flesh, then enveloping it. The close-cropped stubble on Joe’s head was like sandpaper under Ethan’s palm as he clasped the back of the man’s head, not wanting to push him down his length, but not wanting to let him up, either. Not wanting him to ever stop, as Joe expertly worked his lips and tongue down the throbbing hardness of Ethan’s cock, the man’s eyes deep and brown and warm and locked on his as he took Ethan slowly down to the root.

“Fuck!” he grunted again when Joe bottomed out on his cock. Nobody had ever taken him like this before, not this far and never this well. Even better, Joe’s satisfied grunt around his flesh told him the man didn’t just like this, he loved it, and that was something else Ethan had never experienced before, either. Joe showed him how much he loved this, loved sucking another man’s cock, as he slowly worked his way back up Ethan’s shaft, lips and tongue and spit flowing around him with skill and passion, making Ethan’s toes curl as he clutched the back of Joe’s head with one hand, and the covers with the other.

Ethan didn’t really have any words, just grunts and gasps and moans to encourage Joe on with, as the man grunted and slurped and sucked and swallowed, head moving up and down on Ethan’s cock like a piece of machinery, almost, polished and skilled and full of purpose. He kept one hand on the base of Ethan’s cock, fingers caressing his big young balls, the other stroking over Ethan’s muscles, the thickness of his thighs, the squared-off muscles of his abs, reaching up to tweak his stiff little nips, making him writhe against the bed even more. Joe just seemed to know how to touch him, the ways he touched himself, seeking out the spots on his body that nobody else had ever gone looking for before. It was a man’s knowledge, for sure, the way his lips and tongue seemed to know Ethan, like none of the girls ever had. The way Ethan wanted to know another man, wanted to know Joe, the shape and feel and taste of his cock too.

Ask for what you want, dude, he thought to himself. Be a man.

“I wanna suck you too,” he blurted, feeling his face flush as Joe looked up at him, lips wrapped around the thickness of Ethan’s shaft, sliding up and down it slowly. Joe let out a low, deep murmur that vibed all the way down Ethan’s cockshaft, into his balls, and made him clutch the back of Joe’s head a little tighter. But Joe backed off him, coming up slowly, up off the head of Ethan’s cock with a kind of slurping pop that was the lewdest and hottest thing Ethan had ever heard.

Joe knee-walked his way up the bed alongside him, and Ethan leaned up and reached for the man’s dick again, taking it in his hand, stroking his way over it, taking the measure of him. He was nervous about doing this, but he wanted to do it even more, so he leaned right up close, inhaling Joe’s manly scent, then kissed the tip of him. There was a little precum there, a mineral kind of taste Ethan knew well from his own cock, filling his mouth as the man’s musk filled his nose. They were like a trigger on him, and Ethan parted his lips and licked the tip, letting out a muffled moan at his first real taste of another man.

“Damn you’re fine, buddy,” Joe murmured, running his hands through Ethan’s hair, then letting out a low, rumbling moan as Ethan opened wide and took him in, just like he’d watched Joe do to him. Just like he’d watched girls do to him, the few times he didn’t have his eyes closed, picturing someone else.

He kept one hand on the base of Joe’s cock, the other gripping his strong, lean thigh, and set to working his way down the man’s length, taking in the taste, the texture, the throb of him on his tongue, remembering not to let his teeth scrape him. He knew he wasn’t doing very good, but he must have been doing OK, based on the noises Joe was making, the way his fingers tightened in Ethan’s hair. Besides, I can get better, he thought, and that made him tingle all over and want to work even harder.

Ethan sucked down as far as he could, most of the way down, then slowly drew back, sucking as he went, making Joe grunt and the muscles of his thigh tense. Ethan continued to work his way up and down, savoring the richness of the man’s cock, the way his precum had started to flow in earnest, filling Ethan’s mouth with even more of his taste. He reached to cradle Joe’s balls, surprisingly big, covered in hair and heavy with his cum. Joe hissed as Ethan palmed the sac, being as gentle as he would with his own balls, and soon both hands were clutching Ethan’s head. Ethan looked up at him, saw the heat on Joe’s face, the lust making him even more handsome as he stared hungrily down at him, and nodded.

“Real good, bud,” Joe murmured. “You’re doin’ great.”

Ethan felt his chest swell up with pride, and yeah, he felt like he was getting it, getting the lick-suck-nuzzle-swallow-stroke-slide rhythm of it down. Yeah. He was gonna get better at this, for sure. He was ready to keep practicing, maybe all night if need be, work this guy’s cock until he got him to cum, all over Ethan’s tongue, and that just made him work harder, until Joe’s hands tightened on his head and pulled him gently but firmly up off his piece. Ethan looked up at him, scared he’d done something wrong. Joe’s firm pecs were heaving with his breath, his stomach muscles tight and defined as he sucked in deep breaths, his face handsomer than ever, all beaded with sweat and on fire with hunger.

“Too close,” Joe grinned.

Joe leaned down to tug his face up and feed him a slow, hungry kiss, his spit tasting like cock, just like Ethan’s must now. Ethan came up to his knees, kissing Joe back just as hungrily, really finding his groove now. Their cocks pressed together, sliding all over each other, and Joe’s big, strong hands clasping the muscles of Ethan’s butt made him hump against the man and seek out his muscular runner’s glutes. They went deep like that for a few minutes, Ethan letting the older man pull him with him into the zone, hungry and assertive and passionate all at once.

Ethan was the one to break the kiss this time, reaching down for Joe’s hand, guiding it to his cock with a kind of bravery he never thought he’d get the chance to summon up. Joe took hold of his flesh firmly, but almost respectfully too. Treating it like he’d treat his own. Ethan ran his hands over Joe’s flanks, down his muscled arms, feeling the guy up, savoring all the fur and the muscles under his warm skin.

“I want you to suck my cock, man.” Ethan said, loving the spark in Joe’s eyes at his words. Loving the way he felt inside, saying them. Like a man. Fuck yeah.

Joe grinned, looked down at his cock, then took hold of him and stroked up to the tip, rubbing his thumb through the steady flow of Ethan’s pre, glazing his cockhead with it. Ethan shivered all over, and Joe used the moment to grab his hip and tug him towards the side of the bed. Ethan worked with him, picking up where they were going immediately, sitting on the edge of the mattress as Joe slid down to his knees on the floor before him, spreading Ethan’s muscled thighs wider and leaning in between them, hands coursing over the long, thick muscles as he moved in close.

Joe dropped his head low and nuzzled at Ethan’s balls, making him moan, thrilling to the sensation of the man’s lips sucking on his orbs, wrapping round each one and laving it with his warm, wet tongue. Joe held his cock up and back with one hand, a firm grasp around his flesh, thumb grazing up and down at that buzzy spot right below the head, making Ethan quiver and moan and clutch the buzzcut sides of his head with both hands. Joe came up off his nuts, dragging his nose up the underside of Ethan’s shaft, the wide wet tip of his tongue following close behind, all the way up his piss slit. Then his lips sank down around Ethan’s cockhead, tongue working as it went down, down, down, almost all the way to the base of him. And Joe began to suck.

This wasn’t the same kind of lovemaking Joe had done before. This was a man at work, one hand holding Ethan’s churning balls, tugging gently on them just like he sometimes did to himself when he jacked off, the other kneading the top of his thigh, thumb digging deep into that spot high on the solid meat of his inner thigh that tingled all through his loins. Joe sucked him long, deep, wet, his spit painting the throbbing flesh of Ethan’s shaft, his handsome head bobbing up and down, really working him, tongue working just as hard as it lashed Ethan’s cockflesh. Ethan moaned deep and long. He’d never been done like this before, and God, he wondered what else Joe could do to him… how well he could do it… what the man could show him how to do… but no sooner had he thought that than he felt the onrush of his orgasm, coming up hard and fast.

“Fuck, Joe, dude,” he moaned, clutching the man’s working head tighter. “Gonna fuckin’ cum, man…”

Joe murmured deep and low around him, adding more fuel to the fire, one hand tugging his tightening nutsac, the other reaching up to tweak his tit, thumbing over it and pinching it, pulling at the stiff little peak, and from there it was inevitable. Ethan felt his muscles tightening all over, toes curling into the carpet, his breath starting to hitch and get all shallow, and then it was all happening. He felt his ass come up off the mattress as he grabbed hold of Joe’s head, holding him in place as his cock throbbed and pulsed and started to shoot. The shots kept coming and coming, Ethan counting them off in one corner of his cum-fogged brain, six… seven… eight… nine… Joe gulped and grunted, his throat working, breathing hard through his nose, tongue coaxing the underside of Ethan’s cock, like he was coaxing even more cum from him, pulling it up from somewhere deep inside him.

Ethan fell back on one elbow, feeling the sweat prickling his face and chest, catching his breath as he stared down at Joe, the man still holding his throbbing cockhead in the hot, wet cave of his mouth. He seemed to know just when to back off, when Ethan would start to get too sensitive, his lips slipping slowly back off Ethan’s cockhead with another lewd, slurping smack that sent a hot thrill all through him. Joe stroked Ethan’s inner thighs and sat back on his haunches, meeting Ethan’s eyes and swallowing noisily, his throat working as it gulped Ethan’s hot young seed down. It was one of the hottest fucking things he’d ever seen, and Ethan let out a low grunt at the sight, this handsome older dude swallowing his young cum, then licking his lips unselfconsciously as he grinned up at him.

Ethan found himself curling up to meet him without thinking about it, taking Joe’s handsome, sweaty face in both hands and pressing his lips to his. He knew his own taste, knew it well, and recognized it all over Joe’s lips, his tongue, the walls of his mouth as Ethan’s tongue lashed against Joe’s, feeding on each other and the remnants of Ethan’s cumload. Joe started stroking his cock as they kissed, grunting into Ethan’s mouth, his shoulder bunching, biceps bulging as he jacked his cock, fast and hard, a man sprinting for the finish line. Ethan kissed him harder, reaching down to thumb over Joe’s stiff nips, bigger than his and lined with hair. Joe grunted harder, even more as Ethan tugged on the stiff peaks of flesh, then almost whimpered into his mouth as his body started to hitch and tense up all over. Ethan could hear the hard, wet splat of his cumshots, shooting into the side of the bed between his knees as the man grunted and panted into his mouth, sucking harder on Ethan’s tongue as he unloaded his big balls.

“Fucking hell,” Joe grunted, sitting back on his heels, panting, his chest gleaming with sweat under the neat mat of dark fur. His muscles really stood out now, all pumped up from his orgasm, and once again, Ethan wondered at all the intense, masculine hotness hiding beneath Joe’s everyday, guy-next-door exterior. Even more with the man grinning at him, a happy, sated look on his face. Ethan found himself grinning back easily.

Joe wet a hand towel and swabbed up the trails of his cum that had hit the carpet, and all of a sudden Ethan wondered what he should say or do next. Joe fixed the problem for him, reaching for his hand and pulling him upright, into his body, arms slipping round Ethan’s waist. He gave Ethan another easy grin, and again he couldn’t resist grinning right back.

“How was that, bud?” Joe said, and shit, where to start…

“Amazing,” Ethan murmured, making Joe smile wider.

“Glad you enjoyed,” he said. “I sure did.”

Ethan blushed, but felt that sense of pleasure inside. Accomplishment. Pride.

This is how it could be, he thought to himself, and felt his insides thrill.

They pulled their clothes back on and wandered back out to the kitchen, where Joe poured a couple glasses of water that they both gulped down fast. When they were done, Joe looked at the tray of leftover Jello shots and reached for another couple, handing one to Ethan.

“To new neighbors,” Ethan said, holding his shot cup up.

“To new friends,” Joe said with a smile. “And to double-dipping.”

Ethan laughed at that, his first good laugh of the evening, and fuck, all of this felt so good. So right. They tossed back their shots, and this time when Ethan leaned in to kiss Joe, he could taste vodka and cherry Jello, and beneath it, the acrid tang of a man’s cum. His cum. It hung heavy in his mouth, on his tongue, and Ethan decided it was the best thing he’d ever tasted. He knew he wanted to taste more.

They made their way to the front door, where Joe stopped and regarded him for a long moment.

“I dunno if you’d ever be interested in… more,” he said. “But if you are…”

“Yeah?” Ethan said, his head suddenly full of all the things he’d been thinking about, and stroking himself to, for years now. The stuff he watched on his phone screen, late at night, the volume so low it was almost silent. More.

Joe grinned at whatever he was seeing on Ethan’s face, and nodded, then reached up and gave his shoulder a manly kind of squeeze, making Ethan’s skin feel like it was glowing there. Again, Ethan had that sense of being presented with an opportunity. A chance to man up, and show himself some more.

“Next time you go running, come find me first,” he said. “We can run together. Stop by here on the way back, maybe…”

Joe grinned at that, a kind of intrigued spark in his eyes, and Ethan felt that tingle in his loins all over again. He was pretty sure he was gonna jack off again as soon as he got home, imagining all the possibilities.

“Yeah bud?” Joe said, warm and interested.

“Yeah man,” Ethan nodded, grinning back. He thought about it a second, then reached out and ghosted his fingers down over Joe’s lower stomach, to the top of his shorts. Let his fingers linger there for a moment. He could swear he saw Joe’s cock jump inside his shorts.

“You’re on, man,” Joe said, nodding, and Ethan felt the warm weight of that word as he smiled and opened the door to the night. Maybe he could have started something else up with Joe right there, but a man knew when to bring things to a close, and when to start them up again.

A man knows how it’s done, Ethan thought as he set off towards his house, smiling as he sketched a wave over his shoulder to Joe, looking ahead as he settled into a jog through the quiet night streets. He reached the corner before his house, then on a whim, took the cross street. He wanted to coast on this feeling for awhile, let it sink into his muscles, into his bones.

You’re a man now, he thought to himself, breathing deeper as he picked up the pace, feeling his muscles loosen, warming up inside as his stride lengthened. Let’s go.

“Yeah,” Ethan said aloud to himself, and smiled wider as he ran deeper, stronger into the suburban night streets. “Let’s go, man.”

The End

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