Clone

by Todd Young

  Theo puzzled over it for seconds, turning it one way and another, until he had his fingers spread in the waistband. He lifted his eyes to Riley and smiled. “They look comfortable.”

  Riley felt his face growing hot. He opened his mouth to say something, to try to explain that they weren’t the sort of thing most guys would be wearing, that they were … hell. Theo wasn’t seeing anything odd about them.

  “At the barracks, we had to wear these black underpants. They were all plasticky, and like shorts, like these,” Theo said, plucking at his boxer briefs, “but they came right down to your knees and they didn’t have a slit at the front. They were so fucking tight they squeezed my balls and my dick flat. They called them compression shorts, and said they were good for our muscles, but we had to wear them all the fucking time. And half the time, almost all the fucking time, when we had combat or obstacle or running or whatever, my balls would get forced right up here.” He poked his fingers into his groin and wiggled uncomfortably. “And they’d disappear. It was so freaking painful. They’d sit up there for hours.”

  He stopped and glanced at Riley, but Riley’s eyes were locked on Theo’s groin. He could just make out the shape of Theo’s genitals under the flimsy cotton fabric. He cut his eyes away. His cock was swelling.

  Theo eyed him with suspicion as he lifted the colorful thong to his face. He smoothed the fabric against his face and sniffed it. “Can I put this on?”

  Riley glimpsed what he might look like in it, along with the shoes and the hat, and said, “No, Theo,” his voice a croak.

  “Aww!”

  Riley shook his head in sudden frustration. His cock was all but hard. He got up, turned away and repositioned it. Then tugged his T-shirt over it. When he turned back, Theo was lifting a pair of suspenders out of the package.

  “What the hell is this?”

  “Suspenders. They hold your pants up. You clip them onto the waistband.”

  “Yeah?”

  Riley nodded, and then swallowed heavily. He looked down at Theo, and felt an upwelling of tenderness again, the feeling somehow connected to standing over him.

  Theo got to his feet, his attention fixed on the suspenders, and Riley stared at his downcast eyes, at his lips. He wondered again what it would feel like to kiss him. Theo tucked his chin onto his collarbone and clipped the suspenders to his waistband. Oh, hell, Riley thought, as he realized what he was doing.

  “Can you show me?” Theo said, looking up from beneath his lashes.

  “They’re for …” trousers, he wanted to say, but it was hard to explain everything. “That one goes on the back. You clip the other two just here, at the front.” He positioned his hands at his waist.

  “Here. You clip it on at the back,” Theo said, handing the suspenders to him.

  He turned away.

  Riley glanced at his butt and felt his cock jerk. The head of his dick was trapped uncomfortably under his waistband. It was as stiff as it could get now, and he could feel moisture.

  He reached for Theo’s waistband, but at the sight of his bare back, pulled his hands away. He swallowed, and reached forward tentatively again. The tips of his fingers brushed Theo’s lower back, sinking toward his underwear. As they slipped beneath the waistband he exhaled sharply. He plucked it out a little, struggled with the clip, then realized he had it backwards. He tried again. But as he turned it over, the gap between Theo’s back and the waistband gaped. He could see right down it. He tugged it a little wider and looked at the cleft between Theo’s cheeks. The skin was so taut and so smooth, his bottom so firm. Again the thought came to him that this was his body, his butt, and along with that thought came the idea that he had the right to look, and even the right to touch.

  As he fastened the clip he tugged the waistband even wider still and felt his heart give an almighty thump. His breath was coming raggedly. He wondered what it would feel like to grip Theo’s hips and draw him against his cock.

  He let the clip go.

  “Ow!”

  “Sorry.” He passed the straps over Theo’s shoulders.

  Theo bent forward and he watched in dismay as the single strap at the back tugged Theo’s boxer briefs into the cleft of his ass. They inched upward a little, and then a little higher, and then with one almighty stretch, his underwear climbed up his back, pinched in the center, until the boxer briefs sucked firmly into his crack. Now Riley could see the lower part of his cheeks and the creases at the inner sides.

  He closed his eyes, and scratched his head distractedly.

  “What have you got your eyes closed for?” Theo said.

  He opened them, and Theo’s face was very close. He took a couple of paces backward and blinked. It occurred to him all at once that the suspenders were adjustable, and had been packaged tightly adjusted. The waistband of Theo’s boxer briefs was sitting above his navel, the legs of them splayed at his hips, the entire length of his thighs naked. Theo had his hands in his groin, stretching the fabric around his balls. He settled it and moved his hands to his hips, standing with his chest thrust out. He lifted his chin.

  “Is that how they’re supposed to be?”

  Riley shook his head and started laughing.

  “What?”

  “They’re too tight. You have to adjust them.”

  Theo nodded, frowned down at his underwear, and then twisted his head, trying to look over one shoulder and then the other. Riley stared at his balls, separated by the seam, each globe vulnerably cupped in a snug little package of cotton, his cock curled on the left.

  “Can you fix it?” Theo said.

  “It’s at the back.”

  Theo turned, and if anything it had got worse. Half his cheeks were bare.

  Riley ducked forward quickly, almost to his knees, and pressed his face right up close to Theo’s ass. After taking a quick look at the creases, he straightened up and adjusted the strap, shaking. He couldn’t help wondering what it would feel like to run his hand up Theo’s inner thigh. He’d never seen those creases before. He’d like to trace them with a finger. Maybe later, he’d check to see he had them.

  “Hey,” Theo said. “You’re pulling it higher.”

  “Sorry.”

  “My cock’s flopped out.”

  Riley managed to get it right after struggling a little more. He loosened the straps, but left a little tension.

  Theo settled the boxer briefs on his waist again. He turned and smiled.

  “I’ve got to empty out the closet and the dresser,” Riley said. “I’ll give you half of each.”

  Theo nodded.

  There wasn’t a hell of a lot in the closet, but Riley figured that’s where most of the clothes he’d bought would have to go. Fortunately, it was big. It was a built-in, and stretched all the way from the bathroom door to the wall. Earlier today, he’d pictured throwing his old clothes away, but when it got down to it he found he couldn’t do it. He decided he might want to wear a pair of jeans or a T-shirt again some day, so in the end he folded everything into a stack, and put it at the bottom, in his end of the closet, the end near the bathroom door, which was the side he wanted.

  Then, together, they cut the labels off the clothes and put them away, hanging the coats and the jackets and the shirts and the trousers in the closet. Theo watched him carefully and did it all the same way, putting everything on his side into the same places. They hung the neckties on the coat hangers with the shirts on them and found a place for the shoes at the bottom.

  Riley asked Theo to hang Akam’s clothes from yesterday up, and then they moved on to the dresser. Riley put his socks and underwear into the top drawer on the left-hand side, and Theo did the same on the right. He wanted to unfold every pair and look at them before he put them away, but Riley told him to hurry up. It was taking forever.

  They moved on to the knit undershirts, put those into the second drawer, put the sweaters in the third drawer, and then turned back to the overalls.

  Theo picked his up and they unfolded in hi
s hands. “What are these for?”

  “Usually for painting or for doing dirty work. But I bought them for wearing around the house.”

  Theo nodded. They folded them into the bottom drawers, closed them and then stood back. Riley glanced at the paper and the twine, began to move toward it, but at that moment Theo lunged at him. He wrapped his arms around him and hugged him tight.

  “Thanks,” he said. “You’re the best.”

  Riley nodded, and tentatively put his arms around Theo’s back. He felt bare skin and one hand slipped beneath the strap of the suspenders. Theo’s hat fell off and Riley’s heart began to thump. He felt his cock swelling and knew he had to move back. At that moment Creig knocked on the door.

  “Riley, can you give me hand?”

  They moved apart. “Just a minute.”

  He gathered the paper and the twine and crumpled it into a ball. When he turned back Theo had his ID card in his hand and was turning it over.

  “Is this how it’s supposed to be?”

  Riley nodded. He’d forgotten about Erran’s visit, but he’d ask Theo later.

  Theo put the ID card into his top drawer, then turned back and leaned against the dresser. He smiled, but it was faltering. He didn’t look very happy.

  “You okay?”

  He nodded.

  “Have a shower before dinner, huh? And take those damned underpants off.”

  14

  Creig wanted him to set the table, which was fair enough. He often cooked, as he liked it, he said. Riley didn’t enjoy it at all. His job was to clean up and set the table beforehand. They’d fallen into this pattern over the past couple of weeks.

  “I like your brother,” Creig said, as Riley was reaching for the salt and peppershakers.

  “Yeah?”

  Creig nodded. The lasagna was in the oven, and he was eating the leftover meat sauce out of the fry pan with a spoon. “I like him a lot.”

  Riley didn’t know what to say. He was starting to feel the same way about Theo, or maybe not the same way. Maybe he was starting to feel a little too much.

  He carried the salt and peppershakers into the living room along with the plates and the cutlery. There was a small table by the window, a rectangular table only big enough for four, really. No tablecloth at the moment, but there were some place mats in the sideboard. He turned to get them and saw Creig. He’d followed him out of the kitchen, eating from the spoon.

  “You should have seen him play. It was incredible.”

  Riley nodded, but again didn’t know what to say. He concentrated on setting the places.

  “He went straight through to Level Twelve without making a single mistake.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Mmm. And he said he’d never played before.”

  “Not that game maybe. But he’s certainly played.”

  Creig lifted his head and lowered it again, taking this in with a thoughtful nod.

  Riley wondered what Theo had said. “So when did you get home?”

  “Around four.”

  “Was Theo playing when you came in?”

  “No. He was watching Days of our Lives. I was the one who wanted to play.”

  Again, Riley simply nodded, though he had to wonder what Theo had thought of Days of Our Lives. He finished setting the places and turned to Creig.

  “So? How long’s he going to be staying?”

  Riley shrugged. “Not sure yet. A couple weeks. Maybe longer. Is that okay?”

  “Yeah.” Creig’s voice was a rising inflection. “He can stay as long as he likes.” He nodded at Riley, emphasizing this, and then turned away.

  Riley stared after him as he walked into the kitchen. Something about the tone of Creig’s voice left him uneasy. He’d been talking about Theo the way someone talked when they were in love. As though he had to find a reason to talk about him. And then there was the way he’d been looking at Theo in his underpants. He really had been looking, hadn’t he?

  Riley shook his head and turned away. He took a seat on the couch and reached for the remote. The news would be on, he figured, so he switched the 3TV on. An image burst into the room. Creig had left it life-size, and the newsreader was three feet from him. He resized the image to the space in front of the player. Then he leaned back, trying to get comfortable.

  He was tired, more tired after work than he usually was. There’d been all that fuss buying the clothes today, Fiona in the secure room, and compiling that stuff on Taylor. And yesterday, the stress of meeting Akam, and then Theo, talking last night, and then sleeping beside him. He’d never shared a bed with anyone, and it had taken a while to get to sleep. Still, he didn’t think he’d ever felt as good in his life as he had this morning, when he woke, with Theo’s warm body close to his, his soft cock and balls pressed against his ass. He closed his eyes and let the memory wash over him.

  “… and the pundits are predicting a Taylor win.”

  He opened his eyes.

  “Are you sure about that, Marianne?”

  The newsreader was interviewing a reporter in the field. It looked like the site of the demonstration he’d passed on his way home from work.

  “Well, Rog, it’s a long time since we’ve seen people on the streets.”

  Riley’s bedroom door opened and he turned his head.

  “Theo!” Creig said. He was standing in the kitchen doorway.

  Riley turned all the way around, saw Theo, and felt his contentment draining away. He was wearing his white overalls, but didn’t have a shirt on. The bib was sitting low, the top of it beneath his nipples, the straps so loose that his hips were visible. His hair was slicked back over his head, wet from the shower, and he’d put the tan shoes on again, but again without socks. He had the trousers cuffed above his ankles.

  Creig was grinning, his eyes bright. “Enjoy the shower?”

  Theo nodded, but was wide-eyed, trusting and gullible.

  Riley felt like slapping him. After all the explaining he’d done with the clothes. He got up, with the intention of telling him to put something else on, something that didn’t make him look like a farm boy on heat.

  “This is ready,” Creig said.

  Riley nodded. It was too late. He waved Theo into the kitchen. Creig carried the lasagna through. Riley handed Theo the salad, pulled the wine out of the fridge, but then realized he’d forgotten the glasses. He reached up to get them, and as he was opening the cupboard door, twisted toward Theo, who hadn’t moved. He glanced down the front of his overalls and caught a glimpse of his genitals, shadowy beneath his abs.

  He dropped to his feet. “You haven’t got any underwear on,” he whispered.

  “You told me to take it off.”

  Riley closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “I bought you fifty new pairs.”

  “Thirty-seven. But you said I couldn’t wear them.”

  “What?”

  “I wanted to put them on, but you said I couldn’t. I thought I wasn’t allowed to.”

  “Here,” Riley said. “Put that down.”

  Theo put the salad on the countertop and Riley reached for the straps of his overalls, thinking he could tighten them, but at that moment Creig appeared in the doorway. Riley had his hands on Theo’s chest.

  “Everything okay?” Creig asked.

  “Yeah.” He brushed a non-existent speck of dust from Theo’s bib. “You want to take that through?” he said, handing Theo the salad again.

  Creig turned side-on in the doorway as Theo passed. He lowered his chin and gawped down the back of his overalls, getting an eyeful of naked bottom, no doubt. He turned, as though attached to Theo by a leash, and followed him into the living room.

  Riley gathered the glasses and the wine. His face and neck were hot.

  When he reached the table, Creig was taking the place adjacent to Theo, at the head of the table, where Riley had sat last night. He thought it a little odd, but took the seat opposite him.

  “So, how was work?” Riley said, lifting his eyes
to Creig’s.

  “Same old, same old.”

  Creig worked in a bank. He was a financial adviser. He dipped a serving spatula into the lasagna and lifted a slice onto Theo’s plate. Then he fumbled and dropped the spatula, on Theo’s side of the table, and bent over to retrieve it.

  “You like lasagna?” he asked Theo as he came up again.

  Theo nodded.

  Riley served himself some salad and then handed the bowl to Theo. He poured the wine, and a moment later saw Creig lean very deliberately to the left. It looked as though he was gazing at Theo’s naked hips, but could most likely see his groin if the bib was bulging forward, maybe his pubic hair.

  Hell, Riley thought. He’d most likely dropped the spatula on purpose. He should have realized Theo had no underwear on when he saw him in the bedroom doorway, his hips bare.

  They ate in silence for a few minutes. Creig asked Theo if he liked New York and Theo said, “Mmm. I like it a lot.” He glanced at Riley and smiled a wan smile. Then they were eating in silence again, knives and forks scraping against plates.

  Riley reached for his glass. He sipped some wine and glanced at Theo. He was chewing absentmindedly, his thoughts elsewhere, but his nipples had somehow aligned with the steel rings that supported the straps of his overalls, one on each corner of the bib. Riley turned back to his meal, but couldn’t help looking up again. Each of Theo’s nipples was circled by a silver halo. And once again it occurred to him that they were his nipples. They were dark, almost purple, and puckered into hard nubs. He lifted his hand to his right nipple and rolled it between a finger and thumb. He stared at Theo’s right nipple intently. He wondered what it would feel like to touch it. Maybe they could even have sex. He could fuck Theo.

  Theo caught his eye and smiled. Riley smiled in reply and it became a shared smile, a secret smile, Theo’s eyes sparkling with conspiracy and laughter. He was chewing, and went on smiling, and as Riley smiled back he felt as though he was breathing an intoxicating gas, his chest swollen with it. Theo’s lips were pressed together, plump and red. He pictured what it would feel like to press his own against them, the very same lips, just as plump and just as red.