Dave hurried down the stairs, his lips still tingling from the kiss he had unthinkingly planted on his new roommate. It had been years since he’d kissed anyone, even his fiancée. Once she’d started to grow bored with him, the cute little ‘Have a nice day!’ kisses had been one of the first things to go. And yet, after only less than a day of living with Todd…
“No, it doesn’t mean anything…” Dave told himself as he reached the ground floor of the building, walking past the bar where he’d gone drinking with Todd the night before. Walking down the street to where he’d parked his car a few away, he grimaced as he saw all the wrinkled clothes and junk food wrappers that had accumulated in the past week of living out of his car. Committing himself to a fresh start, he quickly folded up all the clothes and put them away in a cardboard box and gathered up as many wrappers as he could. “No way in hell I’m meeting Cher looking like some kinda slob,” he said, feeling satisfied as he looked over his handiwork.
The drive over to his old apartment felt like it dragged on forever. The vibrant, young, and trendy neighborhood where Todd lived soon gave way to a dull, upper-class district of the city where Cherise had insisted on renting. ‘To be closer to where the important people were’, she’d said over and over again.
“Yeah, but nowhere to have any fun,” Dave growled to himself as he pulled into the parking lot near the apartment building and hopped out of his car. He had a quick stretch as he mentally prepared himself for having to face Cherise again, unknowingly tugging his t-shirt up a few inches and giving the people nearby a great view of his newly rippling abs, and getting a few murmurs of appreciation from men and women alike.
“Damn, is he here to help someone move in?”
“He looks a little familiar… Nah, I’d definitely remember if a hottie like him lived in this building…”
Dave brushed off the comments, figuring they must have been intended for someone else, and headed inside the building. Cherise’s apartment was on the 10th floor, with an impressive view of the skyline, so Dave had always taken the elevator, but somehow he felt like he was bursting with energy that day. So, for the first time in almost a decade, he decided to take the stairs all the way up, jogging at a brisk pace and even skipping a few steps as he made his way upward. By the time he had made it there, he had worked up a bit of a sweat, lightly staining the front of front of his t-shirt and giving him a strong, manly scent that was sure to be noticed by anyone.
“Okay, time to face the music…” Dave thought to himself as he slowly walked down the hall to the apartment’s front door. He hesitated for a moment, intimidated a bit by having to face his ex-fiancee for the first time in a week, but out of nowhere a sudden surge of confidence filled his newly muscled body. The old Dave might have been scared and henpecked by that woman, but the new Dave? He had a thing or two to say to her face. Taking a deep breath, he knocked hard on the door.
“Coming…” he heard Cherise muffled voice behind the door, and the quiet bump of someone pressing their face to the peephole. “What, it isn’t even him? What’s taking that man so long…?”
The door swung open and Cherise stood there in front of him, wearing a big fake smile on her face as she looked Dave up and down appreciatively.
“Hello there, handsome,” she cooed, a glass of wine cradled in one hand. “Anything I can help you with?”
Dave raised an eyebrow, thinking it a bit strange that his fiancée was pretending not to recognize him. He had to admit, he was noticing a few odd things about his appearance, and his stubble had grown out a little bit more than usual, but nothing that would make him that unrecognizable, right?
“Very funny, Cher,” Dave said, rolling his eyes a bit. “I’m here to get my stuff. Unless you’ve decided to just sell it all and burn the money for fun.”
Cherise’s eyes went wide and she nearly spat out a mouthful of her wine. “Dave!? Jesus, I hardly recognized you!” she exclaimed. She bit her lip and looked him up and down, a smile forming on her face as she admired Dave’s body and took in the strong, musky scent he was emitting. “Yeah, of course. I’ll go grab the boxes… Say, do you want to come in? Maybe have a little drink and have a chat? I feel like we left on such bad terms, so-“
Dave tuned out Cherise’s blathering, his mind completely set by now. He’d had more fun in the past day with Todd than he’d had in years living with Cherise, and he had no intention of letting her pretend this past week hadn’t happened just because she was having second thoughts.
“Just the boxes, Cher. I’ve got things to do today, so I just want to be out of here,” Dave said quietly, making Cherise’s face fall a bit and her eyes narrow. “What’s in there, anyway? I figured you’d just keep it all.”
“Now there’s the Dave I remember,” she sighed before heading back inside. “Just some of your clothes and old books, stuff like that.” She returned in a few minutes, pushing a few cardboard boxes up to the door and folding her arms.
Clothes and books… is that all that he really owned that was worth keeping? He’d lived for years with this woman and that was all it really amounted to? Just thinking about it made him even more convinced that he needed a new start, to put his foot down and make a clean break.
“You know what? Just donate them,” Dave said without missing a beat. “I don’t think I’ll need them, now that you mention it.”
He started to walk off, making Cherise’s face turn red with anger and clench her fist.
“Are you joking? There’s thousands of dollars in suits in there! I picked some of them out for you, don’t you remember!?” she raged, not used to anyone ignoring her like this. Dave stopped and looked over his shoulder and smirked at her, enjoying seeing her lose her cool like this.
“Really? Well, in that case maybe you should wear them?” he laughed before waving sarcastically to her. “Later, Cher. Have a nice life!”
----------------------------------
“You didn’t really say that. God, she must have been so pissed off!” Todd laughed as he drained his third beer.
“Okay, maybe I didn’t use quite that colorful of language, but she was definitely mad,” Dave admitted with a big smile on his face. He balanced his empty can of beer on top of the others, adding to the wobbling tower of cans he’d been building with Todd over the past hour. He’d picked up a few six-packs on his way back and the two men had immediately gotten to work enjoying them as soon as Dave got back from his errand.
They had decided to head up to the rooftop of Todd’s building, a cozy little public space with a community garden and a few pieces of cheap lawn furniture for the tenants to make use of whenever they needed. The late afternoon sun was beating down on them, egging them both on to keep on drinking all their beer before it got too warm, so it wasn’t long before they were both sweaty and blissfully buzzed out of their minds.
“Y’know, Dave… I’ve been really enjoying myself since you moved in,” Todd smiled, leaning up against Dave on the cheap wicker bench they were sharing. The younger man’s wavy hair tickled the side of Dave’s neck and the gentle scent of their sweat mingled in the air around them. “Can I tell you something? I’ve always thought you were cute… around the office, I mean.”
“Me? Cute?” Dave laughed, grabbing another beer and nearly draining it in one gulp. “You sure you haven’t had too much to drink? No way anyone would think an old slob like me is cute…”
“Maybe I’ve just got weird taste in men, then,” Todd said, eyeing up Dave’s strong muscles that were clearly outlined against his tight, sweat-dampened t-shirt and the perfectly shaved stubble that dotted his chin. “Or, maybe you just need to have a little more confidence in yourself.”
“I guess so… I’ll be honest, I’ve been feeling a lot better recently. Better than anyone who just got dumped and kicked out of their apartment should feel,” Dave muttered. He knew that something odd was happening around him, but it all felt so right that he couldn’t bring himself to say anything lest he sound like he was complaining.
Maybe it was something in the beer, maybe it was the high of finally being rid of his ex, or maybe it was just something about Todd, but Dave felt like his hands were moving on their own as they slowly moved over and began gently stroking the front of Todd’s chest, feeling his rock-hard muscles and perky nipples outlined against the fabric and earning a quiet moan of pleasure from the other man. Spurred on, his hands dipped down deeper, running down over Todd’s washboard abs before delicately slipping under the waistband of Todd’s jeans. Dave could feel a little bush of trimmed hair just above Todd’s quickly stiffening cock, and he gently wrapped his fingers around the sweaty, throbbing organ and began to stroke it slowly. Dave certainly had more than a little experience jerking himself off, but doing it with another man was a bit new for him, so he hoped he was doing it right.
“Yeah… Mmm, Dave that feels reeeeee-al nice~…” Todd moaned, leaning over and pressing his lips against Dave’s and playfully slipping his tongue into Dave’s mouth. They could both taste beer on each other’s breath, and just the taste was enough to make them feel even more buzzed as they passionately grinded their faces and hands against each other under the slowly setting sun.
Once the beer was gone and the sun had fully set, Todd chuckled to himself and grabbed an empty bottle and offered it to Dave.
“You ever hear about the genie in a bottle? Just rub it and make a wish…” Todd teased, slurring a bit after having so much to drink.
“Right now? I wish I’d stopped after 12 beers…” Dave groaned, barely able to stand.
“Come on… have a little fun! Besides, you never really answered me last night when I asked you what you wanted out of life,” Todd said as the light of his his eyes flickering a bit and he suddenly looked rather serious.
“Fine, fine… Let’s see here…” Dave said, taking the empty beer bottle and giving it a quick rub. He leaned in and spoke into the bottle like a microphone, trying to play along with Todd's silly little game “I wish…”