The Locker Room

by Amy Lane

  “Wait a minute,” Audrey said, breaking into their conversation when she hadnt dared to before, because (Xander could practically see it glowing) the little light bulb had gone on over her head.“Where does Chris sleep when hes here? The only room that doesnt look like a hotel room is Xanders!”

  Xander put his face in his hands and tried for a mental twenty on his ibuprofen—his foot ached, yes, but more pressing was the sudden pain radiating from the back of his neck to the front of his eyeballs. Christ!

  “Oh.” Wait for it.“Oh!” There ya go, Audrey, and now for the finale.“Aww….”

  Xander looked up from his hands.“We are not puppies,” he muttered, feeling somehow as though his manhood had been assaulted with that last “aww.”

  He saw the little student with the big brown eyes looking at him with her head tilted to the side, her lips curved into a gentle smile.

  “Youre better,” she said wryly. “Youre star-crossed lovers and best gayfriends, all rolled into one.”

  “Right?” Mandy said excitedly, over a mouthful of potatoes.“And you think of all the times youve seen them slapping each others ass on court, and—”

  Audrey put her hand over her mouth.“Oh my God, thats so hot!”

  Xander looked at Penny with narrowed eyes.“I hate you. A lot. You know that, right?”

  Penny was actually wincing away from the other two women, and for a moment, Xander wanted to smack her with a pillow and howl with a little bit of glee. Meddling woman—see? See what happened when the world was up in your business?

  “Ewww, you guys!” she groaned. “Thats my brotheryoure talking about! So. Not. Hot!”

  Oh Christ!

  “Lucia?” Xander begged pitifully. “Lucia, you wouldnt know where my—”

  The little bottle clinked next to his plate, and Xander had never been so happy to see drugs in his life.

  “Thank you,” he groaned, taking two pills and washing them down with milk.“Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you….”

  There was a sweet little pat on his back.“No worries, Mr. Karcek. At least this time youre taking them on a full stomach.”

  Xander looked up from his life-giving drugs, and realized that the girls had all moved on to Adam Lambert (who was not attractive at all to Xanders point of view, so he didnt really see the fascination) and settled in to finishing his dinner, since everybody seemed to want a full stomach for him with such passion.

  He was halfway through his second bite when he saw Penny looking at him and nodding with a “See? I was right!” sort of look, and he fervently wished for that pillow again.

  “You are just as obnoxious now as you were in junior high,” he muttered, and Penny grinned like shed won something. The chatter continued, and Xander realized that he had actual honest friendships without the confidentiality agreements, and something in his back loosened to the point where his headache faded away. It might have been the drugs, but he was sort of hoping it was the roommates, because at this point, he didnt have the heart to kick any of them out.

  All-Star

  GOD, Chris looked good. There was a charity banquet this year, and they were both in their tuxes, and Xander was on one side of the room with Penny, who had become very adept at pulling little black sequined dresses out of her ear and going with him to shit since hed first gotten drafted. With her blonde curly hair tumbling down her back (tamed somehow. Girlgrooming left Xander boggled) and her big, dark eyes, she was a match for anybody at the banquet, and Xander was proud of her.

  Chris was on the other side of the room with Mandy. Theyd asked pretty-please-nicey-nice,and Mandy had said, “The All-Stars? Are you kidding? Fuck,yes!” and had flown out to Dallas to be Chriss date.

  They looked really good together. Mandy was mid-sized, but Chris was only“averagely tall,” and her dark hair and skin contrasted nicely with his blond hair (growing out nicely) and pale tan. Hed told Xander that hed gone skiing on his last day off, and he looked like it.

  Mandy seemed to be enjoying his company too. Her head tilted back as she laughed, and she put a delicate, manicured hand (blood red nails) on his arm and he patted it.

  Xander sucked in his breath as something totally alien slugged him in the pit of his stomach.

  “Stop staring at them!” Penny hissed.“Dammit, Xander, you look like youre going to kill something or fuck it until its dead.Whats wrong with you?”

  Xander looked at her a little greenly.“I… its just been so long since….” Chris looked across the room at him, and his eyes were hot and furious, and Xander realized that he was staring at Xanders hand on the small of Pennys back with scorching intensity. Xander blinked, mesmerized by Chriss glaring brown eyes, and slowly dropped his hand. Chriss expression grew no less intense, and Xander had to turn his head because he was starting to get hard, and they had to make it through this banquet, dammit!

  “Oh God,” he muttered, completely undone.“Penny, I can hardly breathe.”

  Penny started to rub his lower back, and as Xander looked at her gratefully, he saw her look up and across the room to her brother and stick out her tongue. Xander choked on a laugh, but some of the tension in his body eased up, and he relaxed the fists held stiffly at his side just a fraction.

  Penny laughed in his ear, and Xander muttered, “What?”

  “Theyre sticking their tongues out, back. Here.You can do it too.”

  Xander turned around and he and Penny did the totally adult thing and returned fire. A round of flashbulbs went off, and Xander and Chris both grimaced—they both knew what picture everyones blog or newspaper would lead off with, and good for them.

  The dinner was called, and they sat down across the room from each other at separate tables. Xander ate stiffly, hardly tasting his London Broil at all, and Penny made acerbic, charming conversation next to him.Xander didnt know any of the players or their dates, and he tried to contribute, but his entire being was focused on the man somewhere in the room behind him, and he felt like his stoic silence was keeping his atoms from flying apart and dematerializing.

  Then he realized that Vince Blake was talking to him and he mustered all his effort and pulled his attention forward.

  “So, are you and Edwards excited to be getting the team together?”

  Xander blinked, and then smiled widely. That was the other perk of the game—not only were they going to see each other again, they were going to play together again.“Yeah, man—I dont know if anyone else on the court can learn to read my mind like Chris.”

  Vince shook his head.“You two were like magic. I cant imagine what they were thinking about with that trade. The whole NBA is talking about it, and not in a good way.I mean, you know theres turnover in this job, but when somethings working?”

  Xanders smile was razor thin. “Im sure they had their reasons,” he said, “but I sure dont understand them.” And that right there was the honest-to-God truth.

  “Well, yours is not to reason why,” Penny said, downing her Cosmo with a long draught.“Yours is just to do or die, right,Xander?”

  Xander winced. God, she was like a dog with a bone.“There are times to fight and times to hold the line,” he said mildly, throwing Vince an apologetic glance because Vince had no idea what this was about.

  Penny cast him a challenging glance.“Are you gathering your troops, Xander?”

  Xander looked at her, and for the first time that evening, a real smile—a crooked one, but it was real—escaped.“I dont know, Penny, have you seen how full my guest bedrooms are?”

  A laugh wiggled out of her, and they both returned to their conversation with Vince. Silently, Xander was asking though, what else did she expect him to do?

  It didnt matter. Not this night. There were speeches, and then there were pictures, and then there was small talk. Mixing, mingling, representing. Somehow, he made it across the room casually, to meet Chris in the middle.

  “Jesus, Karcek, did you grow in the last six weeks?” Chris asked, and the center of Xa
nders body started quivering like a plucked string.

  “Is that all you got? We havent played together in six weeks, and thats your banter? Weak, Edwards. Bush-fuckingleague.”

  Chris grinned, that irrepressible, impish grin that hadnt lost its core of sweetness from when they were kids.“Ill show you bush- fucking,” he murmured, his voice so low Xander had to lean over to hear him, and Xander replied, his voice suddenly tense.

  “Youve been fucking any bush, and Ill just fuck you up,” he said, and instead of taking offense, like he probably should have, Chris looked at him, his eyes dark, and challenging, and violent.

  Xanders cock was suddenly very hard.

  Someone said, “Hey, guys, a reunion photograph?” And they turned toward a series of flashbulbs.Chriss hand was set behind Xander, and Xander felt a fumble and a slide into his hip pocket.

  “One more?”

  There was another series of flashes, and Chris mumbled the suite number, while Xander was trying not to blink.

  The cameras went away, and Chris looked at him and mouthed “Twenty minutes. Ill go first,” before sauntering off into the crowd.

  Xander had to keep his teeth from chattering.

  He looked across the room and found Penny. She and Mandy were deeply involved in conversation, and he could only dread what they were saying.If he caught the word “cat” he was out of there, because no one got between him and the dogs. Carefully, he made his way to them, and when he got there, he tried to be as casual as possible.

  “Im going up in a few,” he said quietly. “You both have your keys, right?”

  “Yeah. See you in the morning,” Penny said softly, “but you better make it early.Were both on the same floor, but still—”

  “Its a suite,” Xander said, with more confidence than he felt. God. God.He was really going to do this, and… he couldnt think. His whole body ran cold with adrenaline and the next fifteen minutes were a blur as he made one last pass around the room.

  He was practically hyperventilating in the elevator up to the top floor, and his hands shook as he put the keycard in the lock. The door hadnt closed behind him before Chris was there, kissing him savagely, his hands stripping off Xanders tux jacket with enough force to rip.

  Xanders hands were shaking as he whirled, practically throwing Chris into the wall next to the door. He framed Chriss face and kissed him, jaw, cheekbone, neck, anywhere, muttering, “No one touches you. No one touches you but me, you hear me? No one.No one… only me.”

  Chris arched his head back so Xander could kiss down the column of his throat, tickling his Adams apple before moving downward, to the broad expanse of chest revealed by the popping buttons under his shirt.

  “Only you,” Chris echoed, running his hands through Xanders straight, collar-length hair.“Only you… oh God.” Because Xander had found his nipple and was sucking on it, hard, and for a minute, Chriss hands were practically battering at Xanders shoulders as he fought for control.

  Xander didnt give him time to get any. He slid down to his knees, right there on the carpeted floor, and fumbled with Chriss belt and his slacks. As his hands pulled down slacks, boxers, everything, he felt the tremor in Chriss knees, and an answering one in his shoulders.Hed been going for target zero, but suddenly, he couldnt even focus that far.

  He buried his face into the taut muscles ofChriss stomach, wrapped his arms around his bare, tight backside, and just held there, Chriss full, hard erection crushed against his shoulder.

  They held that pose for a moment, while Chris touched his hair with tender fingers, and then Chriss hips began to undulate, and when he spoke, his voice was strained.

  “Cuddle later, fuck now!” he demanded, and Xander pulled back, grinned fiercely into his face, and said, “Pushy bottom!” before opening his mouth and taking Chris in all the way to the back of his throat.

  He couldnt always do that—Chris was really hung—but when he wanted it bad enough, when hed been craving the taste of Chris for, goddammit, six fucking weeks, it was easy. Breathing was secondary, there was no need for breathing when he could have Chris inside him, when Chris was panting and begging and thrusting his hips forward and fucking Xanders mouth and whimpering… oh God, was that a whimper? Xander growled and lunged forward, swallowing hard, and reaching behind Chris to find his favorite place and play with it.

  He grunted in surprise when he found the soft, small rubber plug back there, waiting for him.

  “I was afraid you wouldnt take charge,” Chris grunted when he felt Xanders tug on it. In response, Xander wrenched it out without mercy, and swallowed and swallowed and swallowed when Chris dumped come down his throat.

  Chris was shaking, his knees were trembling, and his fingers went limp after clenching in Xanders hair hard enough to hurt. He went boneless in Xanders arms as Xander released him and rubbed his cheek on the tails of Chriss shirt, but Xander wouldnt let him.

  “Im gonna fuck you,” he threatened. “Im gonna strip you, and take you, and make you scream all over again, you hear me?”

  Chris clenched him to his middle again, and whimpered, and begged.“Please? Oh, God, Xander.I need you… God, I missed you… just fuck me… need you inside me somehow… dont care how….”

  Chriss tux hit the ground, and he toed his way out of his shoes as Xander stripped everything that was left of his own clothes and then… oh God, he had no idea how it happened, but Chris was naked, facedown on the king-sized bed, arms helpless at his sides, ass in the air.

  Xander pressed down at his shoulders and with a long, solid arm under Chriss middle, positioned him perfectly, then grabbed his hips with hard fingers and—

  Oooooooooooooooohhhh….

  He slid home, insideChriss body, and the entire world stopped, crystallized, became completely about their merged flesh and the completed half of his soul. Chris was slick, the toy had been lubed, but he was strong, and he clamped around Xanders cock like a hot fist, and Xander groaned again at the feeling of home, and then absolutely needed to move.

  He did.

  He pulled back and snapped forward and again and again and again and again and oh my God, “Chris!”

  Chris moaned beneath him as Xander fell over his back and shuddered, spending inside his body while Xanders toes curled and calves clenched, and he convulsed and came until his entire body, tightened to the point of agony, climaxed and released in a rush so hard he collapsed.

  Chris lay flattened, used, barely able to breathe under his bulk, and laughed maniacally into the comforter.

  “Oh God,” he panted, even as Xander rolled sideways and pulled his mass of muscle flush against Xanders sweating, replete body.

  “Gods not here. I did the best I could.”

  Chris gave that manic laugh again.“Bullshit. Of course Gods here. If youre here, Xan, Gods here. Its the only time I know its the truth.”

  Xander couldnt help it. His eyes burned, and his breath came short, and his arms, wrapped aroundChriss shoulders, shuddered, hard, and the creases of his eyes stung as the tears slid through them and onto the hotel bed quilt under his head.

  Chris wrapped his hand around Xanders clenched hands, and brought them up to his mouth to kiss softly.

  “Xander? You okay?”

  Xander let out a shuddering sigh.“Obviously not,” he muttered. “Obviously Im a big stinking baby who cant even have sex right.”

  Chris grunted and shifted in his arms and said, “Get off the covers, genius, Im freezing my ass off and my balls are shrinking.”

  Xander laughed and passed his hand across his eyes while he was complying with the orders.“Your balls could stand a good shrink—you really are hung like a fucking goat, you know that?”

  “Yeah, whatever.” Chris rolled to his side and burrowed under the covers, holding the quilt back for Xander to crawl into bed with him. Xander did, and the feeling of their long, muscled, hairy man legs twining under the coverlet was enough to make him sigh, releasing that last bit of tension that he didnt know was s
till riding between his shoulder blades.

  As their bodies stopped shivering in reaction, Xander got a good look at Chriss big brown eyes, and saw that they were rimmed with red, and leaking at the corners too. He tried to smile in sympathy, but he couldnt. Instead he just caught the steady little trickle down the side of Chriss nose with his finger and tried to wipe it off.

  “Dont cry, baby,” he said hoarsely, knowing he was one to talk. “Im here.”

  They clung to each other under the covers for a long time after that.

  They talked, quietly, about stupid things—Cliffords wife (“Dont spill the potpourri for Chrissakes! Dammit, Edwards, that shit covers up your man-stink, leave it in the fucking bowl!”), and about the dogs (“Max is still loyal, man, but I think youre going to have to bring a pocketful of steak cubes if youwant to get Mercury out of your sisters room.I swear, I think shes been feeding him bacon in the middle of the night!”), and Xanders harem (“Theyre nice to have around, okay? But theyre not you. Besides. They keep treating me like some sort of exotic pet. Come see the big gay basketball player—hes white, hes awkward, and if we“accidentally” use his inhome waxing appointment when hes out with the dogs, hes really really hairy!”).

  Chris had laughed after that last one and stroked Xanders smooth chest with a droll lift to his eyebrow. Xander blushed.

  “I made another appointment,” he mumbled. “This one at the salon so three women wouldnt get all squeally about getting their pubes waxed by the cute guy who makes the home visits.”

  Chris closed his eyes and laughed some more.“Isnt Robbie…?”

  “Gay? Yeah.I didnt have the heart to tell them—it was just too tragic.”

  Xander thought Chris would laugh again, but he didnt. Instead, he looked up into Xanders rather sheepish expression and grew sober, then pulled Xander into another kiss. This time was slow, and quiet. They came in each others hands because kissing was the point, stroking bare patches of skin, touching lips to eyebrows, temples, the side of the neck, under the jaw, behind the ear. When they were done they took a shower, and then sat side by side on the bed, eating room service, watching an old movie. (The Great Escape—it was one of Chriss dads favorites, and the two boys had become fans.)