Off Base

by Annabeth Albert

  Wait. Not his guy. His friend. Roomie. Hell, even here, Zack’s thoughts were all messed up. He probably needed food. That would help. He grabbed a plate from the start of the buffet line.

  Pike had ducked off to use the restroom, but Zack figured he could catch up when he got back. Still, though, he couldn’t help his eyes from darting down the hallway Pike had disappeared down.

  “You guys are so cute.” A woman around the same age as Cynthia and Joanna broke into his thoughts as he finished fixing his plate. “How long have you two been together?”

  “About two months,” Zack said without thinking.

  “Ah. Still in the stupid love phase.” She gave him a knowing wink. “Michelson in computer science asked me the other day if Reynolds was single and I told him I’d heard not. Guess I was right. That’s him over there next to my wife.” She gestured at a handsome man with glasses across the room who had turned to greet Pike as he came back into the room.

  Fuck. Zack did not like this, not one bit. The guy probably had five or so years on Pike, maybe ten even, but he was suave and sophisticated, and Zack was not letting him home in on his guy.

  “Cynthia’s always so great about bringing the LGBT faculty together,” the woman at Zack’s elbow continued.

  Zack needed to deny that he and Pike were a couple, but he was still seething over Professor Hot Stuff over there talking to Pike. And if almost everyone here was LGBT...did it really matter? Pike was right that no one he’d met had any connection to the base. What if he simply didn’t correct her? Some little part of Zack wanted her to spread it around that Pike was taken, keep the other sharks from circling Zack’s catch.

  Cynthia had made it clear that Pike was freaking brilliant, going on about his research. And he looked so good in his pale green dress shirt. Who the hell wouldn’t want a piece of that?

  “If you’ll excuse me,” he said to the woman, grabbing two cups of apple cider to juggle with his plate before heading over to where Pike stood.

  “Hey,” he said to Pike, standing a bit closer than he had the rest of the evening. That felt right. “Got you a drink, but you’ll need to get your own food unless you want to share mine.”

  Pike’s eyebrows went up. Yeah, Zack knew he wasn’t exactly standing in the friend zone and sharing a plate was distinctly boyfriend-esque, but damn it, how else was he supposed to stamp a claim? Pike introduced him to the other professor and only his full hands stopped Zack from putting a proprietary arm around Pike’s shoulders.

  “Thanks.” Pike swiped a piece of cheese bread off Zack’s plate. The smile Pike gave him was worth every ounce of discomfort. God, there wasn’t much Zack wouldn’t do for this guy.

  After Michelson went to get his own food, Zack and Pike drifted to one of the couches. There was barely room for both of them, but Zack really didn’t mind the squish at all. Bless the blonde woman sitting next to them, really. Because it meant that Pike’s leg was pressed against his, warm and solid. The food was mainly substantial finger foods and appetizers, and he and Pike shared his plate. It felt...natural. So natural that when the first plate emptied and Pike brought back another loaded-down plate, it made sense to keep sharing.

  Who the fuck cared if it was cutesy or if the guys on his team would call it “gay” or laugh at them? They could all go fuck themselves, because right then, being there with Pike made his insides all warm, his muscles unkink and his soul sing. If this was what being a part of a same-sex couple was like, Zack could get used to this—cozy dinner parties and good food and soft music and laughter.

  So much laughter. And yeah, most of it was academic humor that Zack didn’t entirely follow, but it was nice to be around such a happy bunch. Several people mentioned some job opening to Pike, who deflected the questions, but it was clear that they’d all love Pike around permanently.

  Now, wouldn’t that be perfect? Him and Pike keeping their little oasis going? Zack nudged him on the way to the car.

  “You should apply for that job.”

  “Yeah?” Pike’s eyebrows went up.

  “Yeah. Stick around here.” Zack unlocked the truck for Pike.

  “You’d like that?” Pike asked as he got buckled up. “If I stayed in San Diego?”

  “Well, yeah. I’m likely to be stationed here a good while. I mean, sometime next year we’ll get deployed, but this will be my home base.”

  “And you’d want me around?” Pike spoke carefully, like each word was a live round.

  “Of course.” Zack reached over and squeezed Pike’s leg. God, touching him felt so good. How had he gone most of the evening without that contact? How will you go the rest of your life without it?

  He wouldn’t. It was just that simple. Pike would get this job, stick around, and Zack could have all the private touching he needed, could have Pike to come home to after deployment.

  “And you mean continue the jerking it together and stuff? Just clarifying.”

  “Well, yeah.” Duh. Wait. Maybe Pike meant something by the question. “Aren’t you having fun in bed?”

  “Dude. I’m not sure I’ve ever had more fun.” Pike gave a funny-sounding laugh.

  “Good. Cause...” Damn. Zack had been trying all week to figure out how to broach this subject, and it wasn’t coming out as easily as he wanted. “If you need something...different, we could do that. Too. Instead. Whatever.”

  “Different like sheep masks or different like fucking?” Pike joked. Ah there was Zack’s sarcastic guy. The tightness in his chest loosened.

  “Um... I’m up for whatever, but... I’ve been thinking a lot about fucking. Just wondering stuff.”

  “Well, ask away. I may not be an expert in much, but trust me, I can answer your sex questions.” Pike’s laugh this time was easy and free as Zack turned onto the main road that led back to their small neighborhood near the base.

  “Um. I keep thinking that it has to hurt. But you like it, huh?”

  “I like both giving and getting, yeah. But if you’re asking specifically about getting fucked, I love it. And if you know what you’re doing, it doesn’t hurt.”

  “Um.” This was the problem. “And what if you don’t know what you’re doing?”

  Pike’s laugh filled the whole truck cab. “Oh, babe, if that’s your worry, stop it. You’re good at everything you try. You can disarm bombs. Trust me, you can operate a lube bottle. And if you’re asking, I’m totally game for talking you through topping.”

  “Really?” Zack’s voice was higher than usual as he turned onto their street.

  “Zack. You’re hung like a porn star and rubbing off with you sends me to the moon. Yes, I’m dying to have you fuck me...” Pike gave him a Chesire-cat grin as Zack parked. “Actually... I’ve got an even better idea than talking.”

  “Yeah?” Zack’s voice was wary. He wasn’t sure he trusted that smile.

  “Get in the house. We’re going to watch porn. You can take notes.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “You’re serious about this?” Zack hung back in the door to Pike’s room, heart thumping, as Pike stripped off his his dress shirt and pants, let them fall on his floor. Then, clad in his boxer briefs, he tossed his laptop on the bed.

  “Hell yes. I’m serious. And lose the missionary wear. I can’t do this with you looking like you’d like to talk about the state of my soul.” Rummaging in his nightstand, Pike pulled out a condom and a bottle of lube. Holy cow. We’re really going to fuck.

  Zack started in on his buttons. Being inside Pike’s room was still strange. When they messed around, somehow it was always Zack’s room. Unlike his stark walls and neat stacks, Pike’s room was an explosion of color and items. After they’d finished painting the space, Pike had carefully put up his video game posters with that gummy stuff that didn’t pull up paint, and at some point, he’d unpack
ed all his books onto bulging shelves. Pike had taken it upon himself to paint all the miles of trim in the house, and the gleaming white molding contrasted with all the color Pike had added to the room. A bright blue throw rug had appeared between his bed and dresser, and the plaid quilt at the bottom of the bed had more colors than Zack could count. His desk and gaming computer sat in the corner, surrounded by empty soda cans, cat asleep in the chair.

  Overall, it was a homey space, but one that still felt a bit alien and strange. Or more like he didn’t exactly know what to do with how much he liked the changes Pike made to his space, to the house, to Zack’s life. And he really didn’t know what to do with this fluttery feeling in his gut. Trying to find his resolve, he mimicked Pike, stripping down to his briefs and sitting on the edge of the bed.

  That lasted all of ten seconds before Pike was tugging him down, arranging them so that they were both lying on their stomachs, Pike’s leg wrapped around him, laptop in front of them. Pike opened his browser, clicking around.

  “Trust me, this will help you feel less nervous. Still can’t believe that you’ve never seen porn. You should—”

  “Hey.” Zack cut off his rambles. “I’m not nervous.” Strangely he wasn’t, the uncertainty he’d felt all week finally gone now that the moment was actually here.

  “You’re not?”

  “Nope. And not because we’re doing some sort of porn class. Because it’s you, and I don’t get nervous with you.”

  Pike’s face softened and he blinked a bunch before pulling Zack in for quick, hard kiss. “Good.”

  Zack leaned in for another kiss, one that went from a quick peck to leisurely exploration.

  “So this is one of my favorite scenes.” Pike’s voice was unusually hoarse. “You can trust Peppy Boys to deliver quality, but this scene is special even for them. The guys have real chemistry.”

  On the screen, two clean-cut guys around Zack’s age, shirtless and in jeans, were laughing on a couch. They did seem rather into each other, a definite I-want-to-kiss-you vibe between them. “That’s the thing I’ve never gotten about porn. You mean they never met before being paired up to fuck on camera, and just got lucky that they like the other guy?”

  Pike laughed and gave him another kiss. “You really are a die-hard closet romantic, aren’t you?”

  “I don’t know about that.” His face went all hot. “Just think you should know more than some fake name about the guy you’re going to do that with.”

  “You’re adorable.” Pike squeezed his shoulder. “And I agree. It’s so much better when you know each other. When you’re friends.”

  “Like us.” Zack’s heart sped up. That evening had brought him perilously close to wanting a different word to describe what they had between them. All the people at the party with partners, wives and girlfriends or boyfriends—it made friends seem so inadequate to describe what Pike was to him.

  “Yeah.” Pike clicked the touch pad, moving the video ahead a few minutes. Now the guys were down to designer briefs, the shorter one sitting on the taller guy’s lap, making out. Fuck. That was sexy. It reminded him of the last time him and Pike had kissed on the couch. Hmm. Maybe they could get off that way sometime...

  “See how they’re kissing and not getting right to it?” Pike was clearly still in teacher mode while Zack was over here with a stiffy.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “That’s important. Not that rough and fast can’t work—sometimes that’s just what you need—but it’s not my favorite. I like a slow build.”

  “I can do that.” Zack’s pulse gave a happy thrum. He liked having a road map to follow for how to please Pike.

  “Good.” Pike shot him a fond look. He dragged the video forward again. “We’ll skip the oral since you’re already getting an A in that class and the rimming as that’s more of the graduate-level—”

  “Show me.” Zack totally wasn’t confessing that he wasn’t entirely sure what rimming was. He could make a good guess, but he wanted to see.

  “Okay, but you absolutely don’t have to try it. Plenty of guys don’t really like giving it—”

  “Just push Play already.” Zack bumped shoulders with him.

  Rimming turned out to be the bigger guy licking the smaller guy’s ass, which was about what Zack had figured. But what he hadn’t figured on was how seeing it would make him feel—hot and needy and restless. It was dirty. And kind of wrong. And hot as hell, especially the way they were both into it, the guy doing the licking not hesitating at all, spreading the other guy’s cheeks and going to town on the tight pucker of his ass.

  “Hell. I can’t decide which one I want to be.” Zack’s cock was painfully hard, cutting off blood flow to his few remaining brain cells, and he didn’t realize he’d spoken aloud until Pike laughed.

  “We’ll make a switch out of you yet, toppy-ass.” Pike rubbed his back. “And trust me, both are fun if you’re with someone who’s into it.”

  Zack was pretty sure he could get into it. The guy on the screen getting licked moaned and wiggled, hands grabbing the sheets on the bed they were on now.

  “He needs to hold him down better,” Zack mused, half forgetting that Pike was still there.

  Pike made a strangled sound. “You would think that. Sure. Pin him to the mattress while you rim him.”

  Huh. Zack wasn’t really picturing himself with the dark-haired guy in the porn scene at all—it was him and Pike that he kept seeing, and he was definitely into pinning Pike’s wriggly ass down. The porn guy? Eh. Porn dude could have the tan guy eating his ass. He didn’t need Zack. On screen, the camera jumped and when the frame resumed the tan guy had some sort of slick stuff on his fingers and was rubbing the other guy’s rim.

  “This is what I wanted to show you. So much porn doesn’t have fingering or stretching. But that’s what I love about this one—they don’t cut straight to the fucking. And look at how into this they both are.”

  Indeed, the smaller guy was moaning and thrashing as the other guy pushed his fingers in. And fuck, that was the hottest thing Zack had ever seen, the way the guy’s ass swallowed those fingers, stretching and contracting around them. Zack’s breath caught in a swift intake of air. “You like that?”

  “Yes. It’s my favorite part. Sometimes I even like it more than the actual fucking.” Pike sounded all pleased that Zack had figured this out. “Now plenty of guys don’t like fingers or don’t really need that, so you should—”

  “Pike.” Zack kicked him in the calf. “I’m not thinking about doing this with other guys.”

  “You’re not?”

  “I’m here with you. You’re the only one I want to do this with.” Ever. Zack kept that part to himself because it wouldn’t be fair to say it—he couldn’t make any promises or offer Pike a future, and Pike wasn’t exactly the exclusive forever-and-ever type. Just because Zack didn’t want to ever think about kissing or touching someone else didn’t mean that Pike felt the same way.

  Pike sighed, a happy sound as if Zack had handed him a present. “You’re pretty perfect, you know that, Muscles?”

  “I’m just me.” Zack ducked his head so Pike wouldn’t see his blush. But Pike wouldn’t let him hide, grabbing his chin and pulling him into a kiss. Their tongues met and tangled, hot flames licking down Zack’s spine with each thrust and stroke. He pushed the laptop away so that he could roll, trapping Pike under him.

  “Hey. We didn’t see the fucking yet—”

  “I don’t need porn. I just need you. You can tell me when I screw up.” Please don’t let me screw up.

  “You’re not going to mess up. Impossible to, the way I want you.” Pike gave a shaky grin, pulling Zack down for another kiss.

  “I want you too,” Zack whispered against his lips. “So much.”

  Not breaking the kiss, he reached over, shut the
laptop, moved it to the nightstand. Pike arched up beneath him. Without the risk of sending the laptop to the floor, Zack let him wiggle while he plundered his mouth, but eventually the urge to hold Pike down got the better of him, and he grabbed Pike’s hands, stretching them overhead, pinning him in place as he kissed his way down Pike’s chest, only letting go when he was satisfied that Pike was going to stay put.

  He licked all along the waistband of Pike’s blue boxer briefs, teasing until Pike’s hips bucked, cotton-covered dick rubbing against Zack’s chin. Getting the message, Zack peeled the boxers down, kissing and sucking the skin he exposed. In the weeks since the first frantic time in the hall, Zack had gotten more confident with oral, more sure that he knew how to please his man. My guy. And maybe he couldn’t be, not really, not out in the real world, but right here where it counted, Pike was all his, and Zack was going to appreciate the hell out of him.

  He sucked Pike’s dick into his mouth, tongue dragging along the underside in the way he knew Pike liked. Sure enough, Pike moaned, low and lusty.

  “Fuck. This isn’t...a requirement...fuck.”

  “Not going for an A in fucking, Professor.” Zack released Pike’s dick, letting it flop back against Pike’s belly, painting a wet stripe that was sexy as fuck. “Just love sucking you. Love the sounds you make.”

  “Ah. In that case, knock yourself out.” Never shy about what he wanted, Pike rolled his hips, making his dick brush Zack’s mouth.

  Zack did just that, sucking Pike a good long time, teasing and playing the game where he tried to see how deep he could go. Finally, though, his fingers got curious, venturing over Pike’s balls, stroking the smooth skin behind them, dipping lower—

  “Lube!” Pike gasped the reminder as Zack continued to suck his dick, fingers tracing light circles around Pike’s rim.

  Reluctantly, Zack let go of Pike’s dick, fumbling for the bottle of lube. Simply feeling the tightly puckered skin under his fingertip was a rush, but he wanted more.

  “Don’t be stingy with the lube. No such thing as too much.” Pike was still in educator mode, so Zack stretched up, trying to kiss that impulse right out of Pike’s head.