Second Time Around

by Max Hudson

  “It’s on the other side of the city, so probably forty-five minutes to an hour even this late at night.”

  “Are you sure you’re going to be able to make it?”

  “I’m going to give it a try. I don’t know the area well enough and hotels are expensive.”

  “I mean, you could crash at my place if you’re too tired to drive all the way home.” Bowie made the offer quietly. He knew what may happen if the man came over to his apartment with him. And he wasn’t sure that he didn’t want that either.

  “I might take you up on that, depending on how I feel after dinner is over.” Hero nodded.

  Bowie’s heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t thought that Hero would even consider it. That was what he had been hoping for to cover the mistake that would put him in private and alone with a man that he wanted to be with.

  Chapter Eight

  Hero pulled in front of the apartment building and checked the address again. He had beaten Bowie over there this time. This was the right address. This was where he was supposed to be.

  He glanced around and saw Bowie’s car as it pulled up to park next to his. Bowie didn’t have a great car, but it wasn’t an old one either. It said something to the band’s success. And Hero was happy about that.

  Hero rolled down his window. “Hey!”

  “Hey.” Bowie smiled. “Parking is open, so you can go ahead and park here. No assigned spots or anything.”

  “Sounds good.” Hero climbed out of his vehicle.

  Bowie took a minute or so longer to fully park and climb out of his car. “How are you feeling?”

  “Not too bad. I’m ready to get some sleep.”

  “No problem. I’ll crash on the couch. You can have the bed.”

  Hero almost argued with him, but he remembered that it was just the polite thing that every host did. He nodded. “Yeah, sounds good. You sure you don’t want the bed?”

  “You’re the guest. You take the bed.” Bowie nodded. “It’s just the right thing to do.”

  “All right.” Hero waited for the other man to lead the way up the stairs and let them into the one-bedroom apartment. It wasn’t much more than what he had on the other side of town, but the rent was probably a bit cheaper simply because of the neighborhood it was in. “Nice place.”

  Bowie looked a little shy. “It’s not exactly big, but I like it.”

  “It’s home.” Hero let himself inside after Bowie had walked through the entrance. He looked around. “And it looks like it’s a good home for a single guy in the city.”

  Bowie laughed. “Are you trying to flatter me so I don’t feel as bad about it?”

  “Nah, this may be a bit bigger than my place. It’s not much, but it’s home. And that’s nice.”

  Bowie laughed. “I thought you were doing better.”

  “I do all right, I was just rarely in town, so I didn’t need a big place.” Hero shrugged. “It’s just not worth the investment. I may regret it doing this job.”

  “Do you like having more space?”

  “Well, it’s still more space than sharing a hotel room on the road.” Hero shrugged.

  Bowie walked into the bedroom and came out with an old folded blanket and a pillow. “Yeah, we share a room when we travel too. Or get one of those vacation rentals. It saves a lot of money.”

  Hero nodded, watching as Bowie placed the blanket and pillow onto the couch and then walked into the kitchen. “I’m sure. The three of you in one room?”

  “Yeah, two beds and we usually get the one with a pull-out couch, if not we bring a cot along and take turns on who gets the shitty bed. Want some water or something?”

  “Sure.”

  “I usually keep some next to where I sleep because my job can be kinda hard on my voice. It’s good to stay hydrated.” Bowie smiled as he filled up two glasses. “Keep in mind that I’m a bachelor, so I live a little like I’m one.”

  “Can I expect a mess?”

  “I may not necessarily worry about putting my clean clothes up and have a full hamper.”

  Hero laughed. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

  “If it was too bad, I wouldn’t let you stay in that room.” Bowie shook his head laughing. “The room is pretty good. You can get around in there. There are just clothes and stuff around.”

  “How often do you do laundry?”

  “Once a week. And laundry day is tomorrow.” Bowie shrugged. “So it’s about as bad as it can be.”

  “I doubt it’s unmanageable.”

  “I would have to be around more often for that to happen.” Bowie laughed. He seemed to be fine discussing it. “Life on the road isn’t exactly easy.”

  Hero moved over to sit down on the couch next to Bowie. He didn’t know why he did it, but he just wasn’t ready to let go of the conversation yet. “Yeah, you’re preaching to the choir.” Hero laughed as he found a comfortable place to sit.

  “Not tired yet?” The singer asked, cocking an eyebrow in his direction.

  “I might have woken up a bit.” Hero couldn’t say what had come over him, but he didn’t want to be separated from Bowie right then. He wanted to be close to the singer, basking in the sex appeal that the singer threw off. “Do you mind if I sit and visit for a bit?”

  “Sure.” Bowie smiled. He seemed a little bit shy. “I don’t mind at all.”

  “Ok.”

  The silence started to stretch out between them. It was like they both knew exactly what they wanted to do, but neither quite dared to start.

  Hero shifted, turning to the man that he was sitting next to. The man was there, and for a moment it was like time went backward. It was like they were back in the heat of their younger years and got way in over their heads. Before they knew how it all ended.

  Bowie was looking right back at him. Their eyes were locked together as they both slowly leaned in. The dancer couldn’t drag his eyes away from the man that he was sitting with. Maybe it was a mistake to stare that hard, to see that far back into the past, but he didn’t care. Not right then. He might regret these urges later, but he knew that he was going to give into them. It was like fate drew him in. The need was extraordinary, pulling on his gut and his heart.

  Time slowed down until the explosion of a kiss happened between them.

  After that, there was no turning back. Hands touched and felt, bodies pressed against each other, Bowie laying on the couch under Hero.

  Hero slowly peeled the t-shirt off of the singer, letting the other man shift to make it easier. They were both already breathless.

  As soon as the singer was free of the shirt his hands reached up to climb under Hero’s shirt. The dancer shivered as he felt the touch on his bare skin. He loved the feel of the man’s hands on his chest, running over the lines and muscles that had built up over years of hefting people into the air.

  Hero wasn’t a large man, but he was a strong man. A dancer’s build. That’s what it was called, wiry and strong. A powerful frame that was toned over so many years. He groaned as Bowie appreciated the work that the dancer had done to stay strong. “Don’t stop.” His voice was breathy as he whispered the words.

  “God, I don’t want to stop.” Bowie shook his head, pulling Hero down for another kiss.

  More breathless kissing as Bowie started to tug Hero’s shirt off so he could toss it to the side.

  “Should we… go to bed?” Hero tried to make his mind make sense, but it was proving to be incredibly difficult.

  “Can we even make it that far?” Bowie’s eyes were pools of lust as they stared at the man on top of him.

  The look in the singer’s eyes made Hero melt into a pool of lust. He needed more. “We should probably try.”

  But neither of them tried to move. There was simply nothing to be done. They were already too far, fallen too deep into a history that would probably end up with both of them hurting later. Hero was aware that this was probably not a very good idea, but he didn’t care. He wanted this. He wanted this man. He needed
him. He could feel the man wanting him just as badly, the bulge in the rocker’s pants pressed against the dancer’s leg. “God, I can’t keep my hands off of you.” Bowie groaned heavily.

  “Then don’t.” Maybe it was the wrong response, but Hero didn’t care. His fingers started to roam over the man below him. “Don’t keep your hands off me.”

  Bowie moaned as Hero’s body rubbed against his. They were both too far gone to turn back now. They couldn’t resist. Couldn’t stop themselves. They had to do it. There was no stopping what was to come.

  Hero moaned, intertwining his fingers with the other man’s fingers for a moment. Another kiss as their bodies rubbed together, both men getting hotter and hotter as they moved like that.

  There was no stopping, bodies pressed together, hungry kisses raining down on them. They didn’t want to stop. There was too much there, the history playing with their minds and making them forget all the time that had passed. Hero shivered as the singer started to pull his jeans down. It took less time than he had originally thought to end up completely naked and at the mercy of the man that he knew better than to get involved with again.

  But he was falling. He could feel it again. Hero was falling for this guy once again. And he moved to help, to start to peel the jeans off Bowie and reveal more of the body that had caused such an uncontrollable lust in him. He moaned, pressing against him whenever he could, pained by any kind of separation that they had to take just to get fully undressed and toss the rest of the clothing to the side.

  Then they were naked, basking in the glory of the naked body, feeling the need that had permeated the air.

  The touches turned electric, pushing them further with each one. Hero could feel it, how much this man desired him. The proof was pressing right up against him. He moaned, reaching up to wrap his hand around the shaft. There weren’t many more questions to be asked right then. They had barreled past all inhibitions or restrictions on their desire.

  Bowie’s hands on his body caused his nerves to flare up in need. He needed the touch. Hero pressed himself against the man. They ground their bodies together, bringing them both closer and closer to the edge of release, but they needed more.

  Bowie shifted and turned. “Bedroom.” His voice was husky.

  “What about it?”

  “Lube.” It was like Bowie couldn’t speak in more than one word at a time.

  Hero groaned and pulled away. They needed it, but it didn’t feel good to have to rip his flesh from the searing lust of his partner.

  Bowie got up and pulled Hero with him toward the bedroom. The bedroom had some laundry on a chair and an overfull hamper. But it wasn’t that bad. The floor was pretty clear and Hero didn’t care to pay much attention to anything other than the bed. He flopped back onto it, trying to pull Bowie down with him. They landed in a roll, limbs tangling up in each other as they went from one side of the bed to the other and back again.

  Bowie laughed. “Someone’s in a hurry.”

  Hero kissed the man. “Yeah, both of us from the feel of it.”

  “Maybe.” Bowie groaned as he felt the man there with him.

  Hero felt the touch send heat that covered his entire skin. It spread out until he couldn’t resist it anymore. He reached over and took the lube from the other man’s hand. “I need you right now.”

  Bowie groaned shifting to spread his legs wide for the other man.

  Hero slowly worked the slick liquid around his shaft.

  Bowie stared up at him.

  Hero wondered if he should stop this. There would be no going back once this step was taken.

  He looked down at the man who was laying below him. There was no way that he was going to stop now. He couldn’t stop. He had to be with Bowie. The past was rearing its head up to them. And he was going to meet it head-on, face the past and go reeling down into it. He had to feel this man who lay beneath him.

  As they joined together both of them moaned in unison. It was something that felt so right and so pure that it was terrifying to live through. Too much. Hero paused, looking down at Bowie with wide eyes. Bowie’s face mirrored his.

  Then he started to move, shifting back and forth with slow easy thrusts. Neither of them could speak. The dancer’s hand moved around to stroke the singer’s shaft as he moved in and out of the man. They couldn’t stop. They wouldn’t stop if they could. He moaned as he moved, pushing in and out. He sped up, working faster and faster. The need was undeniable. They were both tumbling down head over heels into the unstoppable wave of lust that was washing over them.

  They felt like they were joined like it was the piece that had been missing. Hero couldn’t deny it, but he knew that he would never admit it. He still loved this man. He still loved Bowie. Even after all those years. After convincing himself that he had just been stuck in a romantic idealization of what love was. Even if he had put that part of his past to the past, condemning it to languish and never be relived.

  The speed increased, pushing harder and harder until the climax overtook them. They couldn’t stop until they collapsed breathless on the bed, lying next to each other.

  Chapter Nine

  Bowie woke up with arms around him. Hero. He had to remind himself that it was Hero who was there with him. This wasn’t some kind of dream. It was real. He had dreamed about this before, but it had never been something that he considered possible.

  He felt Hero at his back. He had somehow become the little spoon overnight. The dancer’s body was pressed up against his back. He could feel the man breathe slowly in and out. It was like a little bit of heaven like they were back in the summer after graduation when they had fallen so hard together. Then college had come and it had ended as fast as it had started. Bowie sighed.

  He wrapped his hand around Hero’s fingers, lacing his fingers with the dancer’s. The dancer had his arm tossed over the singer and it made him smile as he ran his hand down the man’s arm to intertwine his fingers with Hero’s. There was something about the way Hero’s hand seemed to mold itself to his. Something about the way that Hero responded to his touch, holding his hand back even in his sleep. The way the dancer murmured the singer’s name in his sleep while he nuzzled closer. It was heaven and it belonged in his memory forever.

  They had been a couple that was pure magic back then, everyone had thought they were the couple that was going to make it, at least the ones that understood what they saw in each other. Not everyone had seen that, but they had been able to ignore the ones that didn’t get it most of the time.

  He sighed heavily, feeling the warmth behind him and basking in it.

  Hero murmured behind him. “Mornin’.”

  “Morning.” Bowie smiled. “How are you feeling?”

  “Good.” Hero was still half asleep. There was a cute little sleepiness in his voice. It made Bowie melt.

  Bowie couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face. “Sleep well?”

  “Like a baby.” Hero was starting to wake up more as he spoke. But the dancer didn’t pull away. He stayed right there, pulled up against the singer. There was a smile in the dancer’s voice, a soft contentedness to the voice that made Bowie want to sing some happy peppy song that he wouldn’t have been caught dead singing in any other instance.

  Bowie nestled up against the man behind him. “Do you want to sleep more?”

  “Yeah. All morning.” The dancer nuzzled his nose into the back of Bowie’s neck.

  The motion sent a shiver down Bowie’s back.

  Hero pulled him closer in response.

  “Why did we wait so long to meet up again?” Bowie whispered to himself.

  He must not have realized exactly how close Hero was to him. “Dunno. Must have been stupid.” The dancer was still half asleep, but the singer could hope that Hero was going to remember feeling that way when he fully woke up.

  He didn’t ask any more questions. It would be wrong to try to question him when he was halfway between the sleeping and waking worlds. Instead, he snuggled in c
lose and basked in the warmth of the body that was in his bed, feeling the man close by him.

  He knew that it wouldn’t be as easy as it had been to fall into each other’s arms again. What if it did go beyond them making love again? Could he live with that? He would have to if that were the choice made. How hard it would be to make that work after all these years. So much had changed with age and maturity. But it felt possible. Everything felt possible when Hero had his warm arms around him.

  It took almost ten minutes for the dancer to fully open his eyes. “Hey.” Hero sounded a little shy.

  Bowie smiled. “Hey.”

  “Uh, so, last night happened.”

  “It did, yeah.” Bowie nodded. He bit his lip after he agreed with him. It wasn’t clear how Hero felt about it yet. He didn’t ask. It would just put more pressure on an already unsure situation.

  It didn’t take long for Hero to announce that the confusion was the emotion going on in his head. “I don’t know.” Hero pulled away from the singer.

  Bowie felt a sharp pain in his chest but refused to acknowledge it. “I know, I wasn’t expecting it either.”

  “Yeah, it was probably a bad idea.”

  Bowie didn’t know what to say to that. It all just felt wrong. He didn’t want to agree but arguing with what the man had to say wouldn’t end well for him. It would be pushing for something that made the dancer nervous. “Yeah, we still have to work together after this.”

  “Are you going to be able to do that?”

  “I’m not going to take your job away from you because we did this. It isn’t right.” Bowie couldn’t look at the man. He was grateful at having started this conversation facing away from the other man. It worked well for him not turning to face him. “You don’t have to worry about that. But I can understand if you don’t want to work with me anymore.”

  Hero fell silent. Bowie couldn’t believe it. The man must have been considering it. That hurt more than he could explain. Not that there was any explaining to do. The truth was that there were no promises made. There had been nothing but the need and desire that flowed between them. It was just the way that it was. “I’ll still work on the project.” Finally, the man answered the offer that was made. It didn’t make Bowie feel any better because Hero sounded like he was pained by the idea. “I want to work on it. It still sounds like it’s going to be a pretty nice project.” There was something left hanging there, however.