I went to the kitchen, humming and carefree, enjoying the afterglow of this morning. Maybe I should be worried about Nate, but I realized that I don’t mind him seeing any of that, and if Jerry was right, and he indeed sported a boner, all the more fun.

Nate didn’t leave his room until the evening when the courier rang the bell with the package he had left at the doorstep. I went to look and realized Nate was down, also. There were two boxes.

“One should be for me. I ordered it a couple of days ago,” I said leisurely, walking down towards him.

“Yeah, this one,” Nate said, glancing at me

“Your boyfriend left?”

“You’d hear if he stayed; trust me, you could take a look again. Jerry loves attention,” I said with a grin.

“Not my style, but thanks.”

I just raised an eyebrow but let it go as there was something more interesting.

“You ordered a punching bag?”

“Yeah, since you took my room, and most places can’t be open in this damn pandemic, I thought it would be a good thing.”

“You box?”

“Not really; I just felt lately that I wanted to punch something.”

“I get that,” I chuckled

“What is that?” He pointed at my box.

“Still rings.”

He looked at it with interest.

“Where were you planning to hang that bag?”

“Probably up in the hallway.”

He seemed like he wished to act as if nothing had happened today, and I didn’t mind.

“We should have enough space for both there, next to the bars, even though I never tried rings. Can I?”

"Sure, I can show you some moves if you want."

I meant it innocently, but he stopped and looked at me suspiciously for some reason. "With them," I pointed at the wooden rings in my hand and winked at him flirtatiously.

We both went upstairs, and the rest of the evening was spent deciding where to hang all of it and installing both his punching bag and my rings. I must say working with him on this was fun. We chatted a bit while working, and we were a pretty good team.

He asked about Jerry, and I explained to him how Jerry prefers his daddies and no commitments. Nate silently listened without judgment on his face. He just said, “To each his own,” and shrugged his shoulders.

I asked about Ash, and he told me that she had important business abroad and he took her to the airport. But because of the pandemic, she will have to stay two weeks in quarantine over there after her arrival, then a week or two working there, and upon returning, the same deal over here. So, she will be gone for three to six weeks. This day is just the best! I beamed with happiness.

When it was all done, we tried it and everything seemed sturdy. We both goofed around with the new equipment and took turns. Nate got hang of the rings fairly quickly, but I had to cringe when he put his gloves on and punched the bag.

“You are hurting your wrists like this.”

"Do I? I suppose it was a long time since I punched something. You box?"

“I used to, a little when I was younger and wasn’t so built. I felt I needed some form of protection being gay. It got me addicted to gym life, but I stopped boxing after a while; I am not a big fan of violence.”

“Didn’t seem that way with your boyfriend.”

“Again. He’s not my boyfriend, and he loves it rough, and I like to oblige,” I smiled teasingly

“You seemed to enjoy it.”

“Did you take a good look?” I said, leaning back to the wall behind me and putting my hands in my pockets. It gave him space when I knew I was pushing far into his comfort zone.

“Why? Are you disappointed?” I changed the tone looking him in the eyes.

“About what?”

“That I am not just some rough brute.”

“Seems you can play the part quite skillfully.” He turned back to punching the bag.

I smirked. “When both sides are willing, I love to be rough, but still, I prefer changing the pace and demeanor, so my lover can’t guess my next move. I love the way they twitch with anticipation. When they get startled and confused sometimes. It makes the thrill of owning some pussy more real,” I was gradually speaking deeper as I talked, with the last sentence becoming a kind of growl.

All the time, I was watching his reaction as he slowed down his movements and then stopped and took a sharp breath at the word “pussy”. He got composed fairly quickly, but I was sure I saw the rush in him. I have a good sense of depicting what makes my boys tick, and for the first time since meeting Nate, I could see cracks in his stone-calm demeanor.

“So, you could fuck me like a brute if I wanted,” he said it quietly, like he didn't even realize his words were creating a sound. The moment he said it, he looked like someone threw an ice bucket over him, realizing what he just had said. I stayed put, and didn’t move, but I looked at him intently.

“Do you want me to fuck you like a brute?” I asked in a deep low voice, giving him space to react. If I make my move too soon, he will run or fight this, and I know from experience that the biggest fight right now is happening within himself. And as much as I’d enjoy it, I don’t want him second-guessing his decision and destroying the little good between us right now. From what I gathered, he didn't seem like the cheating type. If he wants me, I want him to keep coming back for more, not blaming me.

He looked flustered. “Sorry, that came out weird. I... I misspoke. I meant you could fuck them like a brute if they'd want that.”

“Yeah, I definitely could,” I said slowly, luring his eyes to look at me again, but he pretended to be focused entirely on the bag and his punches.

“Well, good for them,” he said rather quickly, composing himself, but damn I knew now all too well, and it was driving me wild. I decided to move slowly. I forced an innocent smile and changed the topic so I won’t scare him off.

“How about I show you some moves so I won’t have to worry that you'll ruin my vacation by having me drive you to the hospital with a hand injury? If you want, can we work out together?”

“You have a vacation?” he looked at me without thinking, surprised.

“Yeah, from my sister,” I grinned; he frowned but let me come closer and explain a few key things about boxing. He looked suspicious, but after a while, he seemed to relax. He was probably expecting more touching from the way he looked at me worried, and then I sure saw slight disappointment as I concluded my “lesson” and told him now to try it himself.

I walked away and went to change into proper workout clothes. When I returned, I left the door open with words that if he wanted to use the weights or bench, he could just go there, but it was too much hustle to bring them all out. Then I started some light exercises on rings and bars without a word or looking at him. It was close to midnight when we decided it was time to sleep. I went to shower first, and only in sleeping shorts came to tell him the shower was his. I closed the door and lay in bed, listening for him to shower.

Given that Ash was away for a few weeks, we felt a little bit at ease talking during workouts since that day, and by day five, we both did regular breaks from work doing some light exercises.

Because of social distancing, we spent most of our days indoors with one morning run. But running in the mask was not much fun anyway. By the second week, we started making jokes and speaking like old buddies, Nate even took off his shirt once and told me mockingly that he hates wearing it while working out, but after he saw me with Jerry, he felt worried I’d take his ass. I smiled at him seductively and spoke.

“If I ever fuck you, you will be the one begging for it, boy,” his smile disappeared for a second as he looked me in the eyes and then forced a laugh and returned to his push-ups.

“Yeah, sure I will, man.”

The thing is, I started to notice more and more signs of him checking me out. Those little moments of lust and curiosity in his eyes, which he always tried to somehow cover with that stone mask, but by now, I was very vigilant about it. And I started making him uncomfortable with puns, slight innocent touches, and stares in small but frequent doses. Nothing on the nose, so he didn’t have any chance to confront me about anything, but with this move, he opened just another door for me.

To be completely honest, I still wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to fuck him or not. One moment I am thinking of things I'd do to him. The next I decided that I would not pursue this thought any further.

“Anyway, you can work out in whatever you like, it’s your home, but if you can, I do not want to have this sweaty shirt either.”

With an intense look into his eyes, I slowly removed it, flexing all muscles on my chest and tossing it aside. He looked at me like deer but said, “Sure.”

The next couple of days were amazing. I started to work around the house, even enjoying mundane chores. I could park my laptop anywhere in the living room or kitchen and work freely. Heaven! Once you get used to staying mainly in a single room, talking with people only through screen or phone, the chance to roam around the whole house freely, with one living person talking casually with you as a bonus, it seems like a first class upgrade.

Sure, I know how sad this is compared to my everyday life before, but damn, this freak show out there changed way too much. I don’t feel like making this story about the pandemic, so I purposely don’t speak about all those fucked up things happening in stores, government, or other sweet craziness, but I am sure some of you can relate in a way.

So, from hero to zero in a month, and then we get upgraded to 0,3, and damn I can appreciate that! Nate mainly returned to a calm, kind host with occasional jokes and teasing. We even spent some evenings chatting like old friends over a beer on the couch, and I started to like this guy as a person. He enlightened me on a couple of things about Ash, and I have to say that she seemed like a sweet, decent girl from his point of view. I was jealous, but I wished it for her. I cannot say I forgave her, there was too much dirt to clean for that yet, and she has done a few things I don’t know if I will ever be able to forgive, but I started to view her as a person with flaws instead of fucking bitch that made my life a living hell. So as you can tell, a significant shift for me.

I learned a lot about Nate and how and why they got together, listened to how they both view their work as their priority, and it works for them to find a similarly driven partner. And I honestly tried his “Each his own” approach, but still, it seemed cold and lonely… Well, who am I to judge?

Then there were more than a few instances when I felt his long look on me; sometimes, when I turned, I saw he was checking me out, especially now when we worked out only in shorts. Sometimes in the evenings, we exchanged long, silent looks, but none of us ever did or mentioned anything about that.

To be completely honest, I decided that I finally had a friend here, and in a few days, my sister will come back, and I would rather have a workout buddy than a freaked, guilt-tripping hookup. So, I played it safe, constantly reminding myself that he was my sister's husband.

It helped a little, but seeing him work out, flexing those muscles in front of me, especially when he found love for those damn still rings, was torture sometimes. Cos, from time to time, he needed advice, and you just had to look to be able to answer.

But I’ve been good. Always waiting till we went to bed, furiously jerking myself off, trying my best to find suitable porn that didn’t remind me of him in some fucked up way, or at least not too much.

Then one day, everything changed. One evening after we finished our workout, we showered and spent some time talking over a beer in the kitchen.

After a while, he went to sleep but left his phone on the table. I didn’t care for it. I stayed there after he went and watched some videos when his phone, probably on silent, started vibrating. I looked there and swallowed a curse. Ash was calling. It was maybe over half an hour since he went up, and I thought he probably wasn’t sleeping just yet. So, I took it and sprinted up the stairs with a ringing phone in hand, well vibrating. There was light coming out from under the door, so given the situation, I quickly knocked a few times and just opened the door, saying something like his wife was on the line.

But my words died in the spectacle in front of me.

He was naked on all fours, headphones on his ears, in his mouth black fabric as a gag. His hard red dick with cock ring around it leaked like crazy, and his ass was impaled on a massive dildo or vibrator mounted on a bed frame. Probably one of those dildos that you mount somewhere with suction. I found out by the silent sound while he rapidly took out his gag that it was vibrating.

I had never seen anyone like this; I mean his expression; he looked scared, angry, and on the verge of crying but, at the same time, cold-faced and focused. I can’t describe it. He jumped from bed with that familiar sound when something was leaving hungry asshole and grabbed his phone.

Looking at me with that look, he said, “Get out, now!”