Parallel Process

by Barbara Sheridan

  Snapping forward, Haku stammered, “No, no! There’s still plenty of time left to, uh, double-check those multiple choice answers.” In a more throaty voice, he added, “Almost ten minutes left, actually.”

  Not missing the hint, Matt got to work. He smothered the thick, throbbing cock in his hand with kisses and sucked on the swollen, prow-shaped tip until his jaw started to ache. He pulled back until the ache subsided and Haku’s cock began to soften, then went at it again. Haku panted heavily, his hands tapping on the desk in time with Matt’s tugs. Students started to shuffle out of the room.

  “Will the exam be graded by the end of the week, Mr. Nishikawa?” another faceless freshman asked as she left her paper on the desk.

  “Yes…oh, God… Yes!” Haku cried out.

  The exam period ended in an orgasm that made his insides turn to a puddle of goo as thick as that weird ectoplasmic substance he and Matt had discovered last summer near an abandoned mission in San Juan Capistrano.

  Managing a smile as the class turned in their papers and filed out, Haku collapsed against the desktop once the door banged shut behind the last student.

  “My knees are cramped,” Matt groused from beneath the desk.

  Haku rolled the chair backward, his cock half-hard and glistening with the combination of Matt’s saliva and his own cum. He tucked himself back into his pants and zipped up as Matt crawled out and stretched his aching back and legs.

  “Ow,” Matt mumbled weakly. He flashed Haku a cute, disarming grin that brought out the dimples in his cheeks.

  “Don’t give me that innocent look, Matt Gavin.”

  “Admit it.” Matt’s smile broadened. “That was really hot.”

  Haku didn’t even try to hide his grin.

  He tangled his fingers in the front of Matt’s shirt and pulled him in for a kiss.

  The door to the room burst open, making both men jump in place. Their bombastic department head barged in, waving a sheet of paper.

  “What is this bullshit? How dare you think you’re going to protest the budget cuts to the Board of Regents tomorrow? Where is that idiot, Adler? Why isn’t he keeping you chimpanzees in check?”

  “Hey, Beaglewhore.” Matt jabbed a finger at the man. “We turned over all the monkeys to Chimp Haven last semester.”

  Haku groaned under his breath and looked away, rubbing the side of his head.

  “For the last time, Gavin, the name is Beaglehole!” The man’s round face turned purple right up to the crown of his bald head. “The school should’ve kept the monkeys and donated you to the animal shelter instead.”

  Matt squared his jaw and took a step forward. Haku grabbed his elbow. “We’re going to be late for classes,” he said, trying to diffuse the situation. “If there’s anything we want to say about our proposal, it’ll be at tomorrow’s meeting.”

  “Save your generalized, circumventive speeches for some half-wit, Nishikawa,” Beaglehole fumed. “I’m getting sick and tired of having to deal with this joke of a program Adler is running, with you two acting like his grunts. Withdraw the protest, or what’s left of both your academic careers will go down the toilet, got it?”

  “With over a hundred and sixty credit hours in our transcripts, you can’t do shit.” Matt smirked.

  Beaglehole narrowed his watery little eyes and puffed until his nostrils flared. “We’ll just see what happens when Adler submits your thesis for the department’s review.” He stomped out and slammed the door behind him.

  Haku moved back around the desk and started gathering up the students’ papers. “Get lost, Beaglewhore,” he muttered.

  “He’s an ass.” Matt shrugged it off. “And full of hot air, too.” He grabbed his backpack from the floor and slung it over his shoulder.

  “We might be screwed.” Haku joined his friend by the door, messenger bag in hand. “You realize that, right?”

  Matt smacked him on the shoulder. “The hell we are. Even if he trashes our graduate work, we’ve still got our BAs.”

  “In human science.” Haku gave him a pissy look and stepped out into the hall. “We can work at a high school, administering placement exams. Great plan.”

  “You like teaching, don’t you?” Matt rolled his eyes. “Come on, Haku ‑‑ it’s not like the career options are unlimited for people with a master’s in paranormal psychology anyway.”

  Haku gave him a dark look. “There was always research.”

  “Pffft.” Matt tried to punch him on the arm, but Haku dodged the blow.

  “I should never have let you drag me out of the clinical program for this.” Haku shook his head. They pushed through the glass doors at the front of the building and started down the cement walkway toward the Arts & Humanities offices at the bottom of the hill. A grassy field spread out to the left, with a dozen or so students between classes lounging under the banyan trees. Some guys from their sports club waved from one of the picnic tables as they passed, and Haku had to grab Matt by the back of his shirt to keep him from running off to start a pickup game of volleyball.

  “I can’t really talk you out of or into anything, Haku,” Matt reminded him. “Otherwise, you still wouldn’t be dorming here on campus and having roommate trouble.”

  Haku cleared his throat to change the subject. “I’m just wondering why we’re doing this program.”

  “We’re doing this because we know there are things out there that can’t be explained by ordinary science.” Matt moved a step ahead and turned so he could face Haku while walking backward. “People brush these experiences off or rationalize away what they’ve seen for the sake of society’s post-Industrial Revolution mindset that the extraordinary can’t exist. Screw research; we have to expose the real reality.”

  “And Beaglehole’s the one full of hot air,” Haku mumbled as Matt fell back into step beside him.

  But the truth was that Matt’s words resonated in him, too. He glanced sideways at his friend, swept up for a moment in Matt’s passion and energy. Matt caught him looking and flashed an annoyingly triumphant and simultaneously charming grin.

  Pretending not to care, Haku rolled his eyes. “Can I burn your soapbox now?”

  “If we’re working at a shoe store at the end of the year, sure.”

  Chapter Two

  When Professor D.P. Adler wasn’t on the grounds of Santa Monica State University, Haku was certain others saw him as some stoner hippie version of Albert Einstein crossed with a stereotypical Southern California beach bum.

  Adler’s typical uniform consisted of flip-flops, baggy shorts, and an obnoxiously loud flower print shirt that would make a Hawaiian tourist blush. So when he and Matt entered the professor’s office and found Adler in a pair of chinos, a blue button down shirt, and black sneakers, his wild, shoulder-length gray hair pulled back into a ponytail, they both stopped dead and stared at one another before turning their questioning looks to their mentor.

  “You guys ready? Why aren’t you dressed up?”

  “Ready?” Haku asked. “For what?”

  “The meeting. It’s in forty minutes!”

  “We don’t know about any meeting,” Matt said.

  Adler threw his arms up. “It’s been planned for weeks! I wrote you a memo and put it…not in your in-boxes,” he said, reaching out to pluck a pink sheet of copy paper from the center of one of the tottering piles on his desk. He handed the paper to Haku, then busied himself with plucking other papers from the various piles to stick into his battered briefcase.

  Matt grinned. “Hey, you found us outside funding!”

  “Potential funding,” Haku corrected, pointing to the relevant sentence on the memo.

  “Potential schmotential. These guys sponsor a crapload of ‘educational TV specials’; they’ll go for this.”

  “Hopefully,” Adler said, snapping the briefcase shut. “Unfortunately, I know the executive in charge, and he hates me.”

  Haku set the memo back on the desk. “Why?”

  Adler grimaced and wave
d his hand. “We went to school here together, and there was a harmless little experiment involving some blue ink and the campus pool that he and his girlfriend shouldn’t have been skinny-dipping in anyway.”

  Matt howled with laughter. “Talk about getting a case of blue balls.”

  Adler grimaced again. “Yeah, the night before the whole Homecoming thing and he and his girlfriend were the King and Queen…” He shook his head. “She clashed with her dress. It wasn’t pretty.”

  Matt was laughing so hard he doubled over. “Whatever grudge the dude is holding against you now, it has to be worth it.” His chuckles ended with an “ow,” and he rubbed the side of his face. “My jaw hurts.”

  Haku gave him a smug look. “No kidding.” After fifty minutes straight working on a blowjob, even Matt’s mouth had to be sore. The way he’d kept sucking and lapping at Haku’s cock, his tongue gliding over and over the most sensitive places on… No. Haku shoved those thoughts as far to the back of his mind as he could. He most certainly did not want to turn himself on while standing in Professor Adler’s office. He had some shred of propriety left, dammit. At least until he and Matt could find a room with a lock on the door and ‑‑

  “Earth to Haku Nishikawa.” Matt flicked a finger across Haku’s nose. “Wake up, buddy. The mother ship hasn’t come for you yet.”

  Haku swatted at his friend’s hand. “I’ve been paying attention to everything,” he huffed. The two men blinked at Haku, waiting for some kind of acknowledgement for something he actually had no clue about. Haku’s shoulders slumped forward. “Or not.”

  “He’s sleep deprived.” Matt draped an arm over Haku’s shoulders and shook his head at Adler. “Poor thing.”

  “More like sex deprived,” Haku muttered from the corner of his mouth, just loud enough for Matt to hear.

  Matt grinned. “That’s more fun to deal with.”

  Adler stared a moment, then shook his head. “I’m heading to the restaurant. If you two get a move on, you can tidy yourselves up and meet me there without being too late.” He fiddled around with the papers in his briefcase, then scurried out without further comment.

  Haku frowned. “No way can you make it back to your place to get changed. I’ve got some of your shirts at the dorm.”

  Matt grinned and rubbed his hand over the front of Haku’s crotch. “I’d rather get you out of these pants.”

  “You already did,” Haku argued, despite the way his hips tilted into the touch.

  “But I’m in need of the release you already got.” Matt hovered in, taking Haku’s lower lip in his mouth and tugging persuasively on the soft flesh. Taking Haku’s hand in his, Matt placed it palm down over the growing erection at his own front.

  Haku pulled away with a smirk. “Suffer.”

  “I suffer, you suffer,” Matt teased.

  “We’ll see.”

  * * * * *

  Haku’s roommate was gone, the two-hundred-square-foot room empty, and one window open over Haku’s bed on the right. Matt locked the door once they entered and wiggled his eyebrows.

  “No time for your games, Matthew,” Haku said, peeling off his T-shirt and heading to the bathroom. He closed the door before Matt could follow him inside, figuring his lover would take the hint.

  Haku washed quickly and brushed his teeth. He went out to get dressed and froze in the doorway. Matt lay naked and spread-eagle on his bed, one arm tucked behind his head and playful smile on his lips.

  “Maaattt, no…” Haku whimpered.

  “Yesssss,” Matt drawled. He held up a condom in one hand and a tube of lube in the other.

  Taking a deep breath, Haku closed his eyes and turned toward the closet, determined not to be swayed by the sight of the hot abs, well-toned thighs, or the long, hard cock that he wanted to feel buried deep inside him.

  “Haku-chan,” Matt called in a singsong voice that gave Haku a shiver.

  “I’m not listening,” Haku retorted, forcing himself to stare at the white button-down shirt in front of him. He put the shirt on, grabbing a pair of navy Dockers for himself and a pale blue shirt for Matt. “Those black jeans of yours don’t look too shabby. You’ll be able to get by.”

  “The only thing I want to get is into you.” Most of the time Matt’s deep voice had an affable tone that matched his friendly, easygoing personality. But damn if he couldn’t lower his timbre into a husky, seductive purr that was pure sex. Haku refused to acknowledge the burning attraction.

  Of course, his cock and balls had other ideas.

  “Matt. No,” he said, taking the clothing and turning to face his best friend and lover. “Oh, God…”

  Matt hadn’t moved from the bed. His legs parted and cock hard, he arched his back, making his penis stand up farther as he rolled the condom all the way to the organ’s thick base. He held the shaft upright to let a stream of lube trickle down the firm length.

  “Come on, Haku. You know you want to.”

  Haku bit his lip and closed his eyes to take a long, slow breath. They didn’t have time for this. They had important things to do. His roommate might come in at any second.

  “Haku-chan.”

  Oh, shit. That sexy drawl went straight through him. He opened his eyes, cursing the allure of Matt’s charming grin and perfect body. Nevertheless, he found his clothes gathering into a pile on his dresser as he got naked, then padded over barefoot to the bed.

  “This opportunity was just too good to resist.” Matt settled back against the pillows.

  “I’m making no such admission,” Haku said, mustering the harshest look he could. He climbed onto the mattress and straddled Matt’s waist.

  “After a few orgasms, I’ll change your mind about that.” Matt grinned, sliding his slick finger slowly up and down the crack of Haku’s rear.

  Murmuring, Haku pressed back into Matt’s touch before leaning down to kiss him. He shivered as Matt slipped two fingers inside his tight opening and slid them in a lazy circle before withdrawing to position the tip of his cock.

  “We shouldn’t do this,” Haku feebly protested even as he eased himself down onto Matt’s cock.

  Matt sat up and pulled him into another kiss, and every thought faded from Haku’s mind save one.

  Fucking Matt Gavin’s brains out.

  Haku slung his arms around Matt’s neck, tilting his face into the kiss. Matt’s hands settled at the small of Haku’s back and rubbed the tense muscles with strong, firm strokes. A groan vibrating in his chest, Haku arched backward. Matt’s lips caressed his exposed throat with their warm, silken touch before settling to suck and nip at the place where Haku’s neck curved to meet his shoulder.

  Another wordless murmur of pleasure tumbled from Haku’s lips. The skin along his lats and down to his chest tingled from the touch of Matt’s strong hands. Responding to his arousal as Matt continued kissing and teasing one of his most sensitive places, Haku’s nipples stiffened until they ached. Haku pressed down with his hips, groaning as his lover’s cock pushed further into the tight passage.

  Breathing heavily against the side of Haku’s neck, Matt dropped his hands to squeeze Haku’s backside. Sliding forward in preparation to ride the length buried deep within, Haku stifled another strangled noise as his erection jabbed into Matt’s taut waist. Beads of perspiration trickled into his eyes, and he moved one hand from Matt’s shoulder to brush the sweaty strands of hair back from his lover’s face.

  “Feels good?” Matt panted.

  Haku grunted, nodding slowly as he rocked his hips back and forth against the shaft pushing into his body.

  Never missing a cue, Matt pumped his hips faster. Haku sucked in a gasp of air, his body bouncing on top of Matt’s thrusts. Anyone who thought the phrase “getting banged” was purely metaphorical had never ridden a sex machine like Matt. Haku latched onto the other man’s shoulders as the pace shifted, and Matt’s thrusts came faster and harder. Not that Matt was rough ‑‑ just enthusiastic.

  And, God, it did feel good. Matt’s
organ filled him entirely, the slick length rubbing against sensitive areas that made Haku want to cry out in ecstasy. His passage clamped down around the throbbing cock, the only signals reaching his brain centering on the pulsing sensation in his ass and the ache in his cock.

  His conscience tried to make him feel guilty with a gratuitous, What about Professor Adler and the lunch meeting? To hell with that. Haku pressed his forehead to Matt’s shoulder, whining, “Slow down.” He licked Matt’s skin, shivering at the salty taste of his lover’s sweat. “You’ll come too fast.”

  But if his own brain was having trouble wrapping around common sense, Matt’s was long gone. Running on pure sexual drive, he rocked faster and harder still. The springs in the flimsy mattress beneath their jouncing bodies protested with shrill creaking sounds. The bed wasn’t the only thing making funny noises; Haku became aware that he was making little high-pitched cries with each pant.

  “Matt, slo-ooohh.” Haku’s words melted into a throaty moan. He jetted against Matt’s waist, some of the hot cum splattering back onto this own belly.

  Matt collapsed back onto the mattress, gasping for breath. “Wow.” He closed his eyes, his body going limp under Haku.

  Haku eased down on his hands, whining again when he felt Matt’s cock slip out. Grabbing a corner of the rumpled bed sheet, he tugged it free from under Matt and wiped at the sticky mess on his friend’s abdomen.

  “Sorry,” Haku mumbled sheepishly. “Guess you’ll have to wash up after all.”

  “I’m taking a nap,” Matt whimpered.

  Haku tossed the blanket aside. “We have to go.”

  “Right now?” Matt groaned, eyes still closed.

  “You’re the one who had a full night’s sleep!” Haku grabbed Matt by the shoulders and gave him a good shake before collapsing on top of him. Haku turned his head so his ear pressed over Matt’s left breast and listened to the deep, steady beating of his lover’s heart for a few counts, then kissed Matt on the chest.

  “Come on.” Haku smiled.

  A soft snore buzzed out of Matt.

  “Noooooo! Dammit, Matt, don’t go to sleep!”