The following Monday, Mark headed to the weight room to see how the gym-rats were doing. He also wanted to see what sort of mood Zach was in. Mark quite enjoyed their first date, which had occurred during the previous weekend, but he wasn’t sure if Zach felt quite the same way. Mark was pretty insistent on changing the dynamics of their relationship by treating it as a true first date.
~~~
Zach had picked Mark up and they went to a local steakhouse. It was pretty similar to one of the Texas steakhouse franchises but locally owned and operated. Zach ordered a giant steak and Mark ordered barbequed chicken. Mark picked at Zach’s plate a bit, just to see if it annoyed him. In retaliation, Zach taunted Mark as he sipped on his mixed drink.
The meal was quite good. They stopped at a convenience store on the way back to Zach’s apartment and picked up a couple of sixers of beer. They chilled on the couch watching episodes of “Ozark”. Neither of them had watched it at all, so they thought that it was something that they could do together.
Zach seemed to think that it was going to be a dinner and hookup, but Mark had other plans. He shut Zach down pretty quickly and they spent the night talking and getting to know each other better. Mark told Zach about coming out to his sister and his recent escapade with Pak.
Zach thought that it was rather funny that Mark had actually fucked Pak. Mark told Zach that he quite enjoyed it. Mark also implied that the two of them should try it sometime. Zach reluctantly agreed to consider it. The evening ended with nothing more than a goodnight kiss.
~~~
As Mark walked into the weight room, Zach's eyes lit up. He tried to hide a smile, but he was decidedly unsuccessful at it. Mark pulled Zach to the side and expressed that he had a great time the previous weekend. Zach agreed and said that they should do it again the following weekend.
Mark offered to stop by Zach’s apartment this time, so he wouldn’t have to drop him off at the end of the night. Zach responded that Mark could stay the night. Mark’s only response was, “Maybe... sometime.”
Mark excused himself and got a quick workout in. Afterward, he headed to the basketball facility to meet with Devonte. As Mark hit the locker room to change, Devonte was already there. There was a bit of small talk while the two changed into their gym clothes. Mark was trying to subtly get a good look at what Devonte had to offer, but he kept his back turned as he changed into his compression shorts. Mark did, however, get a bit of a look at Devonte’s thick, muscular ass.
They headed to the gym and worked on a few things. Mark expressed to Devonte that the team had lost their starting shooting guard to graduation. Although Justin was a capable replacement, they were in need of a more athletic player to complement his shooting skills. Mark was impressed with Devonte’s quickness and agility and thought that he might be the right man for the job.
After a bit of practice together, Mark started to ask Devonte about his many tattoos. As Mark suspected, he was eager to talk about them and show them off. Apparently, Devonte had a cousin that was a bit of an artist. He had been gifted a tattoo pen under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Friends and family frequently came over for tattoo parties and the only cost was a few dollars to help cover supplies.
Devonte quickly peeled his shirt off and started explaining them all. As he started to explain the tattoos on his back, one caught Mark’s eye in particular. There was a large phoenix tattoo across his upper back which extended out to his shoulders.
As Devonte was talking, Mark ran his hand across the length of the tattoo. He could see Devonte’s head slowly rock backward and he stopped talking for a second.
Suddenly, Devonte jolted forward. He shouted at Mark, “Hey, hey! Don’t you be trying any of that shit with me! I heard about you and I am not down with that shit!”
Mark apologized and said that he didn’t mean to make Devonte feel uncomfortable. That wasn’t entirely true, but Mark didn’t want to do anything unwanted either. The two quickly worked out the disagreement and shook hands. Mark couldn’t help but notice that Devonte had a bit of a different reaction inside his snug basketball shorts, though.
Devonte put his shirt back on and the two got ready for the official practice session. Practice was pretty routine for the most part. They did some five-on-five drills for the first time. Mark made sure that Devonte was on his team. Mark set him up in several situations to show off his skills. The two seemed to be quickly building some chemistry.
As practice was winding down, Mark asked Sam if he could stay on the court for a bit. Sam was another of the new freshmen and he was projected in as a backup at the power forward position. Mark had noticed that Sam’s basketball shoes were in very shoddy condition and wanted to see what he could do to help the situation.
When Mark mentioned the condition of Sam’s shoes, he was visibly embarrassed. He claimed to be saving up for a new pair but hadn’t quite gotten there yet. Under closer examination, Mark noticed what looked to be some sort of tape that was colored over with a Sharpie. It was clear that Sam had been wearing those shoes for several years. Mark didn’t want to embarrass Sam in any way, but it was clear that he needed some better footwear if he was going to be a productive member of the team.
Mark told Sam that he understood. He told Sam that he would happily buy him some new shoes, but he didn’t really have the money to help him out that much. Mark asked for Sam’s permission to try to acquire a decent pair of shoes for him. When Sam agreed to that, Mark asked for his shoe size. Mark told him that he was going to see if he could get a deal from the local sporting goods shop. The two joked around a bit and got to know each other better then they headed to the locker room.
Mark noticed that Devonte was hanging back in the corner of the locker room again. He was pretty sure that he knew what was going on because Mark used to do the same thing himself. It seemed clear that he was stalling and trying to avoid too many sights in the shower that might expose his true nature.
Mark decided to stall a bit, also. Many of the guys were either getting dressed or leaving the shower. Mark saw Sam head in the shower and waited as long as he could. He thought that surely Devonte would have to show up soon.
As Mark entered the shower, he knew that he would get the opportunity to get a good look at Sam. Maxi and Luke were at the back wall of the shower. Sam was in the first spot on the left. Mark took the third shower on the left so he could get a decent look at Sam without crowding him.
Sam was about 6’ 8” and 210 pounds. He was an African-American and had a moderately dark skin tone. He was even leaner than Mark had noticed previously. He was not muscular at all, but he was rather trim so every muscle that he had was quite visible. There didn’t seem to be much body hair to obscure the view, either.
He had short, buzzcut hair, full lips, and green eyes. His face was a little pitted, but not enough to be unattractive. But as he turned around, Mark was pretty stunned.
Sam’s cock was roughly three inches long. It seemed to be fairly thick, but Mark guessed that it was five to six inches long hard. Sam’s impressive height and the fact that there was a fair bit of curly pubic hair didn’t seem to make it look any more impressive.
That was not what Mark expected of Sam. He was a bit surprised given Sam’s tall frame. Mark noticed that Luke and Maxi had exited the shower. Shortly thereafter, Devonte walked in and took one of the showers opposite Sam and Mark.
Mark didn’t get a good look at Devonte as he walked in. Devonte clearly was keeping himself positioned away from the other guys. Mark shouted over to him a couple of times, trying to get him to turn around. It didn’t work. Occasionally Devonte would turn his head, but that was about as much of a response as Mark could get from him. A little bit later, Mark turned around and caught Devonte staring at his ass. He noticed that Devonte was turned away toward the corner of the shower and getting nervous.
Mark walked over to Sam and politely asked him to leave. Once Sam had exited, Mark walked over to Devonte and placed his hand on his shoulder. As soon as he did, Devonte turned around and pushed Mark. Devonte shouted, “I told you not to touch me, man!”
As Devonte shoved Mark, Mark slipped and landed on the shower floor with a splat. Luke and Maxi scurried back to the shower to see what had happened. When they got there Mark told them not to worry, he had just slipped. They headed back to their lockers, content that Mark could handle whatever the situation was.
At that point, Devonte was getting a bit emotional. He finally walked over to help Mark up from the floor. As he extended his hand, Mark said, “I know who you are, and there is nothing wrong with that.”
Mark took a long look at Devonte’s cock. Although Mark had assumed that he was at least partially aroused, it had gone fairly soft in all of the excitement. It was still well over six inches. Mark made sure that Devonte saw that he was staring at it, then he reached his hand upward and let Devonte pull him to his feet.
The two stood there facing each other, just inches apart. Devonte started to apologize softly to Mark, although he was trying not to look at him. Mark said to Devonte, “You said that you are going to kick my ass, but I think that you would rather fuck it.”
The mere mention of fucking Mark’s ass got an immediate response from Devonte. His cock was quickly on the rise and the head began to poke at Mark’s midsection.
Mark put a hand on Devonte’s chest and leaned in, “Listen, man, I get it. I hid my own sexuality for a long time. You need to know that it is safe inside this program. You and I aren’t the only gay men in here, there are several others.”
Devonte took a deep breath, “Ever since I was in my late teens, the only thing that interested me sexually was smaller white boys. Just the thought of my dark, black skin against their pale, white skin drives me crazy. I have always struggled with locker rooms. All of those pale, little, white asses just… I can’t control myself.”
“So, have you ever acted on it before?” Mark asked.
“Not really,” Devonte answered. “My friends hooked me up with different girls a couple of times. That was always tough. I would usually try to fuck them from behind and pretend that they were guys. I could never successfully talk them into anal to help the illusion. It was a bit better with white girls, but still, it was not what I was looking for.
“Last year I started hanging out around a gay hangout spot. There was a shopping center in our town with an adult bookstore, a bathhouse, and a gay nightclub. I went there a few times, but I never worked up the nerve to go in. Then, one time, I finally was able to get out of my car. I started walking toward the nightclub. I got about halfway there, freaked out, and turned around, and headed back to my car. On my way back I bumped into this little, white guy. We looked each other over and I asked him if he wanted to chill in my car for a bit. He gave me a quick blowjob and then took off. I did that a few other times afterward.”