Behind the Curtain

by Jerry Cole

  Nick leaned closer to Clay, squeezing the other man close.

  "I'm a very patient man," Damien promised, chuckling. "When you're ready, I'll be waiting."

  Clay gave Nick a curious look, and Nick promised to tell him later. They watched Damien leave, then turned away themselves, the little group making their way through the snow covered street.

  "Rehearsals start again the day after tomorrow," Walter told Nick. "I expect you there bright and early. You will have become rusty with two weeks off."

  "I'll be there," Nick promised.

  "Oh, and I'm having a dinner tomorrow," Walter said. "For those of the company without other Christmas plans. It will just be a few of us if you would like to attend."

  "My family is in town, so I'm eating with them," Clay said regretfully. "But I might drop by after. Uh, Nick, I was kind of hoping actually, uh, that you might come with me? To dinner with my family I mean."

  "We only started dating about five minutes ago," Nicholas frowned. "You sure you want to tell your family so soon?"

  "No!" Clay turned white as a sheet. "God no. I'll probably never tell them about that. I already know how they'd react, and it isn't worth it. I just want to tell them about staying in the city. Because I want to keep acting."

  Nick felt a glow of warmth at the other man's plans, delighted Clay was deciding to do what made him happy rather than returning to the farm.

  "And they're going to be pissed," Clay sighed. "So it'd be nice if I had some backup, you know? Having you there always calms me down."

  Nicholas grinned.

  "Yeah," Nick agreed, "I'll go with you. So we'll be at your party a little late, Walter."

  "That's fine," Walter shook his head and chuckled, entertained by Nick and Clay's blushing newborn romance. "I'll save you some pie."

  Chapter Twenty

  They separated from Walter and Charlotte a little after that, and after a murmured discussion, Nick and Clay headed back to Nick's apartment together. Nervous as teenagers on prom night, they carefully avoided touching each other, even as they were pressed together on the packed train, and Clay asked no questions when Nick stopped at a convenience store to buy condoms and lube. There was a hum of anxious excitement between them, a kind of illicit thrill that left them giggling and giddy as they reached Nick's apartment and Nick locked the door behind them.

  As he turned around, Clay pinned him to the door with a kiss at once. Nick felt the heat he'd been struggling to suppress flare up. He wrapped his arms around the other man and pulled him closer, the kiss deep and sloppy with their rushed excitement. Clay began tugging at Nick's clothes, and they began shedding coats and scarves across the living room as they stumbled toward the couch and fell onto it. Nick landed above Clay, sliding a hand under the other man's shirt as he kissed him into the cushions.

  "Wait," Clay gasped, breaking the kiss. "Sorry, weird question."

  "What?" Nick asked, breathless and eager to go on.

  "Who's gonna be on top?" Clay asked seriously, his face flushed and his golden hair mussed, curling around his cheeks.

  "Uh, you mean, who's going to…" Nick made a crude hand gesture and Clay nodded. "Are we going that far tonight? I mean, I figured we'd start slower."

  "Aren't you supposed to?" Clay asked, frowning. "Like, does it count if you don't? In the porn I looked up—"

  "Clay," Nick laughed softly, "do you really think gay porn is any better an example of what sex is really like than straight porn?"

  "You have a point there."

  "I'll tell you what," Nick sat up and pulled his shirt off over his head, throwing it aside, and then started on his pants. "We have all day and most of tomorrow to experiment. If you really want to try that, how about we both take turns on top?"

  Clay was staring at Nick in awe as Nick, now mostly naked, squirmed down between Clay's thighs, caught the other man's zipper in his teeth and dragged it down slowly.

  "I'll go first," Nick said with a wink.

  "Oh my God," Clay swallowed hard, a hand in Nick's dark hair as the other man stroked his growing erection through his underwear.

  "Not having any second thoughts, are you?" Nick asked, pausing. "We can stop any time if you're not feeling it."

  "I'm feeling it," Clay's voice broke and he cleared his throat. "I don't know how it took me this long to figure out I was into this. Seeing you between my legs is about the sexiest damn thing I've ever conceived."

  Nick laughed a little, blushing, and got back to it, running his tongue over Clay's bulge, dampening the cotton of his briefs where it stretched over the heated flesh of his quickly stiffening cock. Clay cursed under his breath, running his fingers through Nick's hair to encourage him. Nick didn't need much encouragement. He'd been pretty nervous about this the first time he tried it with Damien, but in the end, he found he actually preferred it to going down on a girl, and Damien had been a patient, vocal teacher. Nick couldn't wait to see how Clay reacted to some of the tricks he learned.

  He rolled Clay's underwear down, and his eyes widened in surprise as the other man's cock sprang out, bigger than he'd been anticipating. The realization both worried and excited him. He'd love it if he could handle it. But would he be able to handle it? He wouldn't know until he tried. All he could do was dive in and hope for the best.

  He ran the flat of his tongue from the base to the head in a long slow swipe that had Clay's hand tightening in his hair. He glanced up every few moments to check Clay's expression as licked his way over Clay's shaft until every inch was slick with saliva. He couldn't stop staring at the other man's face. His expressions were too honest. He didn't seem to even try to hide anything. It was mesmerizing, the way his eyes glazed and that little furrow appeared between his eyebrows. The way his lips glistened wetly after the nervous swipes of his tongue, begging to be kissed. The flush on his tanned cheeks. Nicholas wanted to see him completely undone, losing himself to the pleasure he was experiencing. And to that end, Nick took a deep breath and wrapped his lips around the head of Clay's cock, plunging downward all at once to take as much as he could into his mouth. Clay swore, his hips bucking, and his hand in Nick's hair pushed down, wanting more, but Nick stubbornly maintained his own pace, looking up to enjoy Clay's flustered expression.

  "God damn," Clay stammered, breathless. "You look so hot with my cock in your mouth."

  Nick choked, blushing scarlet, and had to pull off for a moment to recover.

  "I would never have guessed you were into dirty talk," he laughed through his coughing, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Clay shifted in embarrassment.

  "It's not like that,” he mumbled. "I just say what I think, you know?"

  "What you think is pretty blunt, huh?" Nick teased, leaning up to kiss Clay briefly on the lips.

  Before Clay could stammer a reply, Nick was back between his legs, bobbing his head along the length of Clay's cock, sliding it as far toward the back of his throat as he dared. Clay squirmed and gasped and kept up a running commentary of shockingly lewd statements, making his enjoyment clear. Nick found himself getting excited just doing this, his own erection beginning to feel uncomfortably compressed by his underwear. He rocked his hips to grind against Clay's leg, wishing he could reach back and touch himself but wanting to focus instead on making Clay feel good.

  "Hey," Clay suddenly stopped him, pushing Nick's head off of his cock to look at him. "Turn around. I want to make you feel good too."

  Nick felt an instant rush of blood to his dick at the idea, but he hesitated.

  "You don't have to," he said before he could stop himself. "I don't want you to force yourself."

  "I want to," Clay said, with that adorable stubborn expression Nick was too helpless to resist. "I want to try it. And I want to see you feeling good."

  Nick had to hide his face in Clay's thigh for a moment, overwhelmed by how cute the other man was. But at last he moved, positioning himself straddling Clay's chest with his head toward the other man's cock.


  "Remember if you change your mind it's fine!" Nick said as he felt Clay's hands massaging the back of his thighs, craning his neck to try and see Clay's expression, worried the other man was not going to be able to handle it. "Just tell me and we can switch back or stop for a minute."

  "You really worry too much," Clay teased him, and Nick shivered as he felt the ghost of Clay's fingers brushing down the length of his shaft through the barrier of his underwear. "This is exactly where I want to be."

  He pulled Nick's underwear down under his ass and began kneading his butt cheeks, squeezing them playfully. Nick, who was stroking Clay, trying to gear himself back up again, couldn't help squirming.

  "That tickles!" he complained, and Clay responded with a light, playful slap that made Nick gasp. "Hey!"

  "Did anyone ever tell you that you have an amazing ass?" Clay ignored Nick's complaints. "So soft. You should see the way it jiggles when I hit it."

  "Don't—!"

  Clay smacked him again, harder, and Nick felt a flush of need run through him, prolonged by Clay's hand groping and squeezing the heated flesh after.

  "It turns this cute pink color too," Clay continued teasing him. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be doing something down there? Focus, Nick."

  Nick scowled, flustered and aroused, and bent to run his tongue over Clay's head, only to yelp as the other man spanked him again, this time hard enough to sting. His skin tingled in the wake of the impact, his body tensing and then relaxing all at once.

  "Was that a moan?" Clay asked, still fondling Nick's ass lovingly between smacks. "Are you into spanking, Nick? Dirty boy."

  "You're the one doing it!" Nick sputtered, beet red.

  "Just focus on my dick," Clay laughed. "I've got this handled."

  He smacked Nick's ass again and Nick, in retaliation, sat down heavily on his chest.

  "You do that again and I am going to bite you," Nick threatened as Clay wheezed, laughing even as he struggled to breathe past Nick's weight on his chest.

  "All right, all right!" he gave in and Nick moved off of his chest and back into position. "Memo to self. Invest in fuzzy handcuffs."

  Nick let his teeth just barely scrape against Clay's cock and heard him inhale sharply.

  "And a gag, while I'm at it."

  "Exactly what kind of porn have you been watching?" Nick asked with a laugh.

  "You were stuck with Matthers for two weeks," Clay replied. "I had a lot of time to myself to contemplate what doing it with a guy would be like."

  "And your conclusions?" Nick asked, stroking the other man slowly, enjoying the way the other man's stomach muscles flexed when Nick did something he liked.

  "First of all, I'm a lot kinkier than I thought I was," Clay pulled the front of Nick's underwear down to release his trapped cock at long last and Nick groaned in appreciation. "Second of all..."

  He trailed off, running his fingertips over Nick's cock slowly, like he was learning the shape.

  "Second of all?" Nick asked, having difficulty focusing past how badly he wanted to be in Clay's mouth.

  "Second of all," Clay paused to run his tongue up Nick's shaft experimentally. "I don't think there's a person on this earth I want to fuck more than you. All those porn stars and you were the only one I could think of."

  Nick lost focus again, heart trying to escape his chest with just how delighted Clay's words made him. Replying sincerely to such a statement was out of the question, so he pushed past his embarrassment to focus on the dick in front of him.

  "You're doing an awful lot of talking for someone whose mouth should be full," he said, and Clay laughed, then groaned as Nick engulfed him, swallowing him slowly, pushing to get him to the hilt and bury his nose in Clay's golden curls.

  Clay responded with a stream of blasphemous profanities, then seemed to take it as a challenge. Nick moaned around the cock in his mouth as Clay, grabbing his hips to make him move lower, wrapped his mouth around Nick and began sucking, clumsily moving his head back and forth as he figured things out.

  Clay was a fast and attentive learner as always, and Nick was soon struggling to keep up, too preoccupied by the torture Clay was inflicting with his clever tongue. The heat of Clay's mouth seemed to be melting Nick, dissolving his senses like sugar in water. He fought to hang on to his self-control, determined not to lose in this. He put all his effort in, taking Clay to the hilt in long, smooth motions, tongue lashing the underside, trying to ignore how Clay was swallowing him, his hands still wandering over Nick's thighs and backside. Suddenly Clay pulled off, groaning.

  "Nick," he gasped, "Nick, I'm about to—"

  Nick felt the other man throb on his tongue and pulled back instinctively. Clay popped out of his mouth just in time to spray cum across Nick's face, and Nick sat back with a shout, trying to get out of range too late. Clay chuckled, rubbing Nick's back.

  "Sorry about that," he said. "I did warn you."

  "Not soon enough," Nick muttered, trying to wipe it off of his face. "Gross."

  He climbed off of Clay to get something to wipe his face off, grabbing the lube as he came back. Clay grabbed a tissue to clean up what hadn't ended up on Nick's face, and as Nick came back he gave the other man an apologetic smile.

  "I really am sorry," he said.

  "Oh, don't worry," Nick climbed back onto the couch, pushing Clay's legs apart. "You're going to make it up to me."

  Nick slid a hand under Clay to press against his entrance and felt him tense, inhaling sharply.

  "I—I don't know if I'm—" he started to stammer and Nick laughed, bending to kiss Clay's knee as it was the closest part to him at the moment.

  "It's fine," Nick reassured him. "You're not prepared for that anyway, and I don't want to wait. So we're going to do this instead."

  He caught Clay's legs under the thigh and pushed the other man back. He grabbed the lube from where he left it on the coffee table and began spreading it over Clay's inner thighs and cock.

  "What's this?" Clay watched, curious.

  "You never did this with a girl?" Nick asked, pressing Clay's now slick thighs together. "I had a couple of girls in high school who wanted to save it for marriage or whatever, so this is all they would do."

  He flagged a little during the down time, but rubbing against Clay's warm thighs soon had him hard again, and he pressed slowly into the tight space between them.

  "Hold them together tightly," Nick instructed, and Clay put his arms around his legs to hold them better. Nick groaned in appreciation as Clay's thighs squeezed him.

  "Just like that," he encouraged. "Try to hold that as long as you can."

  He began rocking his hips, slowly sliding in and out of the warm, wet grip of Clay's thighs. It had been a long time and it felt amazing, especially when he could look down and see Clay's embarrassed, aroused face watching him. As Nick ground against him, Clay slowly began to warm up again as well, and before long he was gasping and squirming while Nick's cock slid against his, the friction making them both dizzy with pleasure. Nick slowly picked up the pace, thrusting more quickly into Clay's thighs, loving the feeling of the other man's skin against him.

  "Almost there," he gasped as he felt the coil of orgasm tightening in his gut. "Hold it tight, Clay."

  "I'm trying," Clay gasped, and Nick sped up, the sound of skin striking wet skin filling the little apartment as Nick reached his limit, pushing Clay's thighs away at the last moment to cum across his chest and stomach.

  "Ha," Nick said, breathless, as he fell back against the arm of the couch. "Now we're even."

  Clay ran his hands through the cum on his chest and chuckled.

  "I don't know," he said. "I kind of like it. Besides."

  He sat up, still hard from the friction and ready for round two.

  "Now it's my turn."

  ***

  They kept each other busy most of the night, trying everything they could think of together and giving a few things more than one try, just for the sake of thoroughness. They passed
out around four, then woke around eight and didn't even make it to breakfast before they were at it again, unable to keep their hands off of each other. Nick particularly enjoyed the shower, and was continually impressed by Clay's creativity and seemingly endless ability to say just the right thing to make Nick collapse with simultaneous arousal and embarrassment. Nick had never felt so in love.

  As the day dwindled toward afternoon, however, Nick became increasingly aware of the time, and how soon he and Clay would have to leave the safe paradise of this apartment and go to meet Clay's family. After how it had gone with his own family, who were fairly liberal, he wasn't eager to have the same conversation with a bunch of deep-south Baptists. He reminded himself as he lay on the couch, wrapped around Clay, neither of them wearing anything but a blanket that Clay wasn't coming out. He was just telling them he wanted to act. It wouldn't be that bad, probably.

  "You're getting tense," Clay had his arms around Nick, rubbing slow circles on his stomach. "Thinking about dinner?"

  "Don't tell me you're not nervous about it?" Nick scoffed.

  "Of course I am," Clay squeezed Nick closer, burying his face in the other man's hair. "I'm trying not to think about it to be honest. You're the best distraction."

  He started dropping kisses down Nick's throat, which they discovered was a serious weak point for him. Nick hummed in approval, unable to resist tilting his head to give Clay better access.

  "I'm just really worried about how they're going to react," he muttered. "What if they blame me?"

  "Nick, relax," Clay purred, kissing his way down to Nick's chest, tipping the other man back against the couch. "What's the worst that can happen? They yell a lot and get us thrown out of the restaurant? They can't hurt you."

  "The worst that can happen is they convince you you're wrong and take you back with them," Nick said seriously, catching Clay's chin to look him in the eye. "The worst thing that can happen is I lose you."

  "That's not going to happen," Clay took Nick's hand and kissed his palm. "If I wasn't completely sure about what I was doing before, I am now. I know this is new for both of us and a lot could change. But I know how I feel. You make me happy in a way I didn't know was possible. Acting makes me a million times happier than taking care of cows ever did. And if I can have both of you at the same time then there's not a force in heaven or on earth that could make me leave. I know I'm not great with words. All I can do is say it plainly as many times as you'll let me. I love you, Nicholas Bellerose. I love you."