Page 13 of Sweet

“Yes, you can. And it’s notmakeup,it’s an SFX makeup competition. The kind people do in movies and stuff.”

And really, he shouldn’t complain when I could’ve picked something much worse. He’s well aware that I have only one interest when it comes to television, and that’s competition shows. Not quite game shows where the contestants are pitted against each other, but the kind where the contestants have to display their skills to win: baking, tattooing, or even forging weapons. Jess shouldn’t whine about something as cool as special effects makeup when I got him to watch an entire season of a modeling competition with me the last time he came over. He bitched the whole first episode, but by the finale he was yelling at the judges for sending home his favorite contestant.

So, we’ve got eight episodes, about forty-five minutes each, and likely enough pizza and beer to last us the six hours we’re about to kill on my couch. Let the binge begin.

The second to last episode, the challenge is anthropomorphic bugs. Jess and I both have our pick of who we’re hoping to make it to the finals. He’s rooting for the guy making a firefly, which I will admit looks ambitious and impressive. My favorite contestant is a lady recreating a cockroach. I kinda admire how she chose something common and ugly—while simultaneously terrifying at this scale.

The other two each pick something elegant: a dragonfly and a mantis. Admittedly, the mantis stands out to me. I don’t live under a rock. I know what a praying mantis is. Never have I seen the orchid variety, which somehow appears floral—a perfect mimicry of something beautiful. And that gets methinking about Mantis, to the point I’m not focusing on the screen anymore. Jess notices.

“Is it weird I almost feel bad for not calling Mantis tonight? Like I’m standing him up or something.” I’m half speaking my thoughts aloud and half asking Jesse’s opinion.

Jesse mutters something mostly to himself.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing,” he grumbles.

More and more, I’ve noticed this when I bring Mantis up in conversation. I can’t tell if he’s sick of hearing about him or what. Even when I recounted to Jess what happened last night, it’s not like I went over it in graphic detail. Maybe he’s not used to it since I haven’t dated many guys since we became friends, or maybe someone has some latent homophobia to unpack. Really hoping that’s not the case, though.

“If he’s as great a guy as you say he is, then he’ll understand you’re with your friend,” Jesse says instead.

“He is great.” I give him a sweet smile. “He reminds me a lot of you in some ways.”

“Only he’sromantic.” His tone is all mocking, and he rolls his eyes.

“Well, yeah, that and… into guys.”

Jesse crosses his arms while he keeps his eyes forward, facing the television. His jaw ticks and he sounds more annoyed than ever when he says, “Who said I wasn’t?”

Uh… what? My thoughts come to an end like a needle scratch and I whip my head over to stare right at him.

“Did I eversayI was straight, or did you justassumeI was?”

Maybe it’s the beer, but I can’t remember if he did or didn’t. “No, but you… you dated the girl who quit before I got hired. You told me yourself.”

“And before her, I was still trying to make long distance work with my boyfriend from college. Thanks for the bi erasure.”

“No.” I don’t mean to scoff, but… he’s not being funny right now. “Quit fucking with me.”

Jess grabs hold of my shirt and pulls me closer, bringing his lips to mine—not in a peck, but an actual kiss. One where his tongue invades my mouth, and he ends up taking my bottom lip into his teeth. Despite the heat between us, I suspect he’s trying to make a point more than anything else. And I’m already horny. Making out with me is only going to make me hornier. This feels more like gay chicken, except IknowI’ll win and I’m going to be pissed when I do.

The second Jess pulls away, I shove his head down toward my lap. Jess drops his whole body lower onto the couch and starts undoing my jeans for me. Once my cock is in his mouth, I’m starting to believe no one wants to win that badly—not if they’re straight. I lift my hips and pry him back up so I can lean forward and push my pants all the way down my legs. Then we’re both tugging our shirts over our heads, but I go back to yank his pants off him, too. Jess turns and leans back into the arm of the couch so I can peel his unzipped jeans down his hips and toward me.

“Let me see how hard you really are,” I whisper right before freeing his cock. Once again, almost to myself, while still asking him.

And the answer is incredibly hard. Fuck, my best friend has a nice cock, too. Jess melts further back into the couch from passion, but I want him closer to me. I pull him up and turn him to face the back of the couch, then kneel right behind him instead. We can both hold the back for support while upright but for now I’ve got his hips while grinding against his ass and he twists his upper body enough to kiss me the entire time. My precum leaves him slick enough to pop my fingers in and he gasps against my mouth. Not taking my time and not fucking around.

“I bet you can take my cock, yeah?” His hole clenches tighter around my fingers at the mere mention, and that gets me to pant hard right in his ear. “You can do that for me. Can’t you, Jess?”

Jess nods slightly and I don’t really give him a chance to respond more or less than that. I spit on my hand and that’s all he’s getting before I shove my cock all the way inside him.

“Fucking asshole,” he chokes out.

Actually, yes, I am about to do that. Instead of being cheeky, I shush him and start to thrust. “You can do it. You’re already doing it, Jess.”

He makes the choked sound again, but his cock is fucking dripping when I reach a hand around to jerk him off for encouragement.

“You’re so tight, Jess,” I murmur right into his ear. “And I’ve wanted to fuck you since I first saw you.”

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