Chapter Three
Matt slid down and sat on the floor, leaning his head against his knees. He had a terrible headache, a pounding, throbbing, biting headache. More than that, he wanted to throw up. His stomach was churning and he swore he could hear the gurgling of whatever it was he'd eaten yesterday. He didn't remember what he ate for lunch. Something leftover, probably from one of Davis's trips to the Jack in the Box down the road.

Thinking about that made disaster even more inevitable. Matt scrambled to his feet and dashed to the bathroom. Vaguely, as though from miles away, he heard Davis's door open. In his peripheral vision, he saw his roommate standing in the bathroom doorway as he bent over the toilet and vomited up a disgustingly large amount of his stomach contents. He continued vomiting until he had the dry heaves, all the food and bile long gone, staring up at him from the toilet bowl. "Shit," he said, and he fell back with a thump, landing on his ass on the cold, sterile white tile.

"Matt!" Davis cried in concern. He hurried forward and lifted Matt to his feet, holding onto him as he helped him wash off his face with a warm washcloth. He picked him up easily, like a little kid, and hauled him into his bedroom. Matt lackadaisically noticed that Davis, too, had a crack in his ceiling by the light fixture. Davis put him on the unmade bed, pulled the rumpled, heavy blankets up over him, and left to flush the toilet. He returned with a small glass of water. Matt took it gratefully and sat up to drink it down in three gulps. It was lukewarm, not his preference, but it had to work. He slumped back against the pillows, burying his face in the smell of Davis. It was some kind of spicy cologne, mixed with soap and something like shaving cream. He loved it.

"Smells good," Matt murmured dully.

"Matt, what's going on?"

Matt didn't respond. He just fell asleep with Davis's smell and Davis's presence all around him in a lulling shroud.

"Get up." Matt opened his eyes.

He looked first at Davis, who looked terribly worried. Apparently, he had gone without sleep. "What's today?" Matt asked.

"It's Sunday, eleven twenty-eight." Matt realized that it was morning, thanks to the open curtains. "How're you feeling?"

"Okay." Matt didn't move from his spot, though. He pulled the covers up over his head and breathed in more of Davis's smell. "Mmmm. Smells good."

"You said that before," laughed Davis. "Are you hungry?"

Matt took another sniff of the blankets and said, "No."

"Do you want something to drink?"

"No."

"Can I get you anything?"

Matt thought about it. He was sure he could pervert that somehow and say something obscene. He decided against it, since Davis would easily pick him up, drag him out of the deliciously warm bed, and toss him out into the living room or, worse still, out into the corridor. "Nope. I just want to go back to sleep."

"Okie dokie." Davis didn't move. Matt could still feel his weight on the edge of the bed. He wasn't sure why he found it comforting, but he did. He remembered Davis staying there the entire time he was dozing off again. What was odd, though, was that he swore he felt Davis squeeze the hand that he left outside the blankets right before he fell asleep. Matt wrote it off as a figment of his overactive, sick imagination.

After waking what felt like the following morning, Matt tried to forget about Davis. He got up from his friend's bed, took a shower, and went into the kitchen to get breakfast. Davis was gone. Another note on the fridge confirmed his recent antics. Matt frowned as he read it.

Going to the nightclubs to see if they need anyone to strip or whatever. I'll be back this afternoon. Maybe.

That was too typical of Davis. Matt put the note down on top of the other one on the counter and got himself some coffee. He wasted the entire day snacking on Davis's potato chips and watching a Queer Eye marathon. It wasn't his idea of a great use of time, but he no longer particularly cared. He was too occupied waiting for Davis to come in to notice that there was a cute guy on TV, or to pay attention when he saw any examples of especially bad fashion.

The front door opened at six o'clock on the dot, right after Matt turned off the TV and put the empy chip bag in the garbage. "Davis! Where were you for so long?"

"Didn't you get my note?" Davis looked bemused.

"I did, but how long can it take to look for work?" Matt demanded.

Davis chuckled. "I got a temporary job at Rio, Matt. You should be happy."

"Rio?" squeaked Matt. He frequented the club. Not as often as some of the others, of course. But he went often enough for the situation to be uncomfortable. "What do you do there?" He hoped his voice sounded normal to Davis, because to him, it sounded pinched, anxious.

"I'm a stripper, what else?" Davis laughed at him and got the milk from the fridge. He took a drink straight from the carton and put it away again. "They're not sure if I can stay, though. They want me to dance tonight so they can see." He grinned, wiping milk off his upper lip. "You gonna come?"

"No."

Davis left to change. "Your loss."

Matt spent the night alone.

For the next week, he spent nights alone and days working overtime. Davis was occupied with work and he didn't want to go out to the clubs in case he should run into his roommate there. He didn't feel like dancing, getting drunk, or fucking anyone. He felt like staying at home, laying down in Davis's bed, and never leaving again.

Did that mean he was in love with Davis?

Matt took another pair of ibuprofen and called Lina. She'd told him once, a few months ago, that if he ever wanted to do anything, she would make herself available. "Not for a date," she had assured him. That was fine with Matt. He liked Lina, and she was the one to originally point out that he had problems, and bring him onto the subject. She was the one who would know something to do about those problems. He waited while her phone rang, and then he heard her familiar voice. A rush of relief flowed over him like the waves at the San Diego beaches he'd visited when he was a kid. Warm, comforting, and washing away the nervous sweat. "Hello?"

"Lina, it's Matt."

That was how he ended up sitting at Starbucks with a grande latte in front of him and Lina's concerned blue eyes focused on his downcast face. "I told you that you had problems," she said, patting his hand kindly after he finished trying to explain what was happening with Davis. "Either you seriously lust after him, or you're in love."

"I'm not in love. That's...silly."

"Not really, you dork. You realize you've been moping around, not even getting drunk, because your 'friend' is out taking off his clothes for other people? You want something to do with him. Prob'ly not just sex, either."

"How do you know everything?"

"How can you deny everything?"

Matt went home that evening with a new hope and a strengthened resolve. He sat up in silence, waiting for Davis to come in the door. He did. At four-thirty, he unlocked the front door and slid in, trying to be quiet. He was a little sweaty and his hair was mussed, but otherwise, he looked perfectly normal. Kind of like a legitimate worker who didn't take off all his clothes and hump a pole for money. Matt kept himself in the shadows until Davis put down his keys and was headed towards his bedroom. "Good morning, Davis," Matt murmured silkily, standing up and sidling up to his roommate. "Have fun at work?" He wrapped his arms around Davis from behind and reached down the taller man's front to cup his erection. "Mmm, I can tell you did."

"N-no. Hey, Matt, uhh, what're you...what the hell are you doing?" Davis's voice faltered and he gasped as Matt began stroking his cock through his tight leather pants. "Oh, God..."

"What does it feel like I'm doing, Davis?" asked Matt in a sibilant whisper.

Davis could only moan and grind his hips against the touch. "Listen to me," Matt ordered softly, "you're going to go to your bedroom and take off your clothes, and then you're going to lay on the bed and wait for me. If you touch yourself, I'll know, and I'll punish you." He gave Davis's now-throbbing cock one more stroke and let his friend go. Davis didn't hesitate. He walked as quickly as he could with such an erection and took care of business. Matt could hear the rustle of cloth that meant Davis was indeed stripping. With a nod to himself and a mental cheer for his brilliance, he went to his room and fetched the handcuffs from his underwear drawer.

Ooh, this would be fun.

"Davis, you better be waiting properly," he called, feigning lightness in his voice as he entered the room.

Davis was on the bed, and his hands were pinned at his sides, as though he were fearful that Matt's punishment might be death for touching his straining hard-on. "Good." Matt brought out the handcuffs and smirked as Davis's face went from nervous to downright frightened. "No, no, no, don't you dare move. I have a cat o' nine tails in my room and I don't want to have to get it." That made Davis obey. He laid back down again and tried to calm himself down. However, it was evident to Matt from the expression in his eyes and his labored breathing that he was definitely not calm. "Stay still." Matt closed one of the handcuffs around Davis's left wrist, then jerked on it so that Davis had to lift his hand above his head. Matt wrapped the short chain around the headboard and pulled Davis's other hand up to close the other handcuff around his right wrist.

Having finished, he looked over his handiwork. Davis made quite the pretty picture with his power taken away and the look of a terrified, hunted rabbit with a wolf in hot pursuit. This was too good to pass up, and so good that he wondered why he hadn't done it before. Putting the key to the handcuffs down on the side table, he purred, "Be quiet and stay there while I get something...else." He let the last word hang in the air, a sinister warning with an even more sinister implication. Davis fidgeted in the handcuffs, trying to get comfortable, but Matt left the room and returned to his own, where he searched the underwear drawer till he found what he was looking for: the long piece of cloth that he used for a gag. Personally, Matt didn't like ball gags, so this was what he used. He rolled it up as he walked back into Davis's bedroom, making sure his roommate saw it and knew where it was going. "This is to make sure you're quiet. If you do make noise despite it, I'm going to have to bring in that cat o' nine."

Davis obediently allowed Matt to gag him, going so far as to move his head forward to make it easier to tie the gag. He stared at Matt in scared confusion, watching as Matt pulled off his clothes. Fortunately, he wasn't dressed to the nines like he usually was when he fucked someone, so it didn't take long for him to toss his clothes to join Davis's on the floor. "Now," Matt began, climbing onto the bed, "you will do what I say, when I say it. If you don't..." He smirked at Davis and commanded, "Spread your legs."

Davis did it in record timing, offering a perfect view of his perfect body. Matt licked his lips. He pondered whether to go down on Davis or not, and chose the latter. He could save that for another time. Right now, he would establish who was boss. Sliding three of his fingers into his mouth, he sucked on them for a few minutes, getting them decently wet. Satisfied, he slid the first two inside Davis's waiting ass.

For a stripper, Davis was incredibly tight. Matt would've expected Davis to at least feel a little...used, or something to that extent. But he didn't. He felt tight as a virgin, and it drove Matt crazy even with only his index and middle fingers inside Davis. He pushed the third finger in, letting Davis get used to that. "If you obey me, Davis, I will let you come. Do you understand?" Davis nodded eagerly. "Excellent." Matt thrust his fingers in, hard, searching for Davis's prostate. He found it quite easily, smirking more at the squirms and stifled moans he elicited upon pressing his fingers against it. A few more thrusts against his prostate and Davis was limp in his handcuffs, breathing hard against the gag, delightfully sweaty, and beginning to look crazed with need. Matt made a show of wiping off his fingers and leaning down so that his head was level with his roommate's ass. "Do you want this?"

Davis nodded even more eagerly than before, trying to press his ass down towards Matt's face, searching for some kind of penetration or pleasure. He got what he wanted. Matt licked the stretched entrance before him, taking advantage of the need for lubricant and pressing his tongue inside. Davis attempted to keep his moans silent, and although Matt noticed this, he did nothing. He was too involved with working his tongue in and out of Davis to care very much about small transgressions. The true test would come in a minute.

Matt sat up, withdrawing his tongue and licking his lips. He looked Davis over in a predatory manner, reminding his prey of exactly what was to come. He held Davis's legs apart. Uncharacteristically, he asked the one question he would never ask anyone else. "Ready?" By the time this was over, Davis's head would fall off his neck from all the energetic nodding. Matt smiled - didn't smirk, he sincerely smiled, albeit a small one - and moved so that the blunt head of his erection was pushing against the tense ring of muscle. "I'm only going to say this once: relax." Matt regained his complete control of the situation and pushed the first half of his cock inside Davis.

He had promised himself that he wouldn't moan, swore that he'd make sure Davis had no power whatsoever over him. Even halfway in, Matt broke his promise to himself and couldn't help letting out one light moan at the tightness. Davis was everything a good lay ought to be, and more, probably because of all that sappy emotional attachment business Matt was battling recently. "God," he choked. The admission of his pleasure was the last straw. He shoved all the way into Davis, moaning again, breaking another promise. It felt so good that he couldn't hate himself for it. Hearing Davis moan against the gag and try to thrust his hips up to meet him was enough. Being inside Davis was enough, too. Definitely it was the best fuck he'd ever had.

Moving proved to be difficult, and it was with great reluctance that Matt pulled his erection out of Davis's hot passage and penetrated him again, slower than the first time. Observing his lover's - not roommate or friend any longer - reaction, he smiled a genuine smile that was more like a small grin and maintained the slow, torturous pace. He would only penetrate one little tiny bit at a time, his grip on Davis's legs steady, his eyes never straying from the brown ones that held his gaze captive. Just like heaven, he managed to think. If this was sex with someone he truly loved, he wanted to keep the feeling locked up inside him and feel it all the time. "Mmmhhh," Davis cried out against the gag when Matt's movements began to brush against his prostate. Matt grinned, this time with only a trace of mischievous amusement.

For his own sake, and secretly for Davis's, Matt had to pick up speed. He started literally slamming his hips against his lover's, burying his cock balls-deep in that beautiful ass. Davis moaned louder, the noise escalating to a suppressed cry of pleasure. Matt shook his head threateningly. "I may have allowed it -" a harder thrust, directly hitting Davis's prostate and making Matt resist the need to moan himself "- before -" an even harder thrust, again making Davis bite down on the cloth in his mouth in a last-ditch attempt to shut himself up "- but I won't -" Matt slammed his hips down again and groaned when Davis moved to meet him "- allow any more noise -" he gave the hardest, deepest thrust yet "- from you!"

One last, hard, painful, and entirely heavenly shove into Davis and all that tight heat that his ass offered, and Matt was finished. He let out a cry of abandon and came with such thunderous force that he marveled at his ability to reman conscious. It took amazing willpower to withdraw from Davis and relinquish his still-hard cock, but he did it somehow, leaning up to untie the gag and throw it away somewhere on the floor. Davis remained silent as Matt found the key to the handcuffs once again and unlocked them, freeing him from his compromising, vulnerable position. "What just happened?" Davis asked tentatively.

"I'll tell you what just happened," Matt said softly, slithering up to wrap his arms around Davis and press his face into a broad, tanned shoulder. Davis was damp and smelled of sweat and the same cologne that scented his bed. Matt smiled and kissed the skin in front of his lips. "I'm in love with you."

"But you just bound and gagged me," Davis said, not understanding what was going on. It was perfectly obvious.

Matt didn't roll his eyes or make any snarky comments as he usually would. "I didn't know what else to do about it. I didn't think you'd do what I wanted unless I established boundaries," he explained. He hoped it made sense. He didn't feel the need to go into excess detail right now. Right now was the time for the afterglow, the cuddling and them falling asleep together for the first time. "I mean it, though. I love you."

Davis shifted so that he could slide beneath the covers and brought Matt with him. He wrapped his arms around Matt to pull him close and kiss him. Their tongues slid against each other, slick and hot and each tasting the other. They explored new territory in one another's mouths, lips working together, tongues brushing and teasing. Davis broke the kiss for air, and in a breathy voice, he stated, "You know, I had the biggest thing for you for so long."

"What?" Matt sat halfway up in shock. "You mean you - you liked me, and you never told me?"

"I thought you weren't interested in your dumbass of a roommate," Davis mumbled, using his dark brown hair to hide his disappointed facial expression. "I mean, yeah I stripped and screwed guys in the back, but I..."

"You?" urged Matt. He couldn't take anymore hesitaton. They'd wasted enough time dancing around one another, pretending not to be interested, messing around with other people who didn't matter worth shit in comparison to even one kiss shared between them.

"I pretended it was you a lot of the time. Or I tried to get my mind off you." Davis rolled over, giving Matt a good view of his smooth back. "It worked in turns. One minute I wanted to fuck you, the next I wanted you to get out of my life. I didn't think you'd, y'know, actually like me, too."

"Love you," Matt corrected. Laying down, he spooned around Davis, resting his chin atop his lover's shoulder. "I only just figured out that you were what I wanted." Davis smiled at that, and Matt continued, "It's really sappy, but do you think...do you think you can give up your stripping jobs to be monogamous with me?"

"Why not? Do you think you can fuck only me and not play sadistic games with other guys?" Davis was laughing now, too happy to contain himself. Matt could tell. He knew Davis better than he knew anyone else, and better than anyone else knew Davis.

"I swear I'll only dominate you."

"You do it well enough, I bet you can restrict yourself to only one lucky mother fucker." Davis turned his head to kiss Matt's cheek softly. "I love you, too, you mean little bitch, and don't you forget it."

"I'm your mean little bitch, mother fucker," giggled Matt. "Don't you forget it." He kissed back.

"Good."

It figured that Matt woke late the next morning and heard Davis in the kitchen, pouring cereal. He smiled to himself and pulled on his pants from the previous day before waltzing in to join his roommate-turned-soulmate. Hopping up to sit on the counter, he commented, "You left me alone in bed."

"Don't worry, Matt," Davis smiled, pouring milk over a bowl of what looked like store brand Lucky Charms ripoffs. "I only left you because I care. I made you your coffee and everything." He handed the steaming mug to Matt. "Is there enough milk in there for you?"

Matt took a ginger sip and nodded affirmative. "Thanks."

Davis nodded back and started chowing down on his cereal at top speed, like it was any other day. If it weren't for the amazing night they'd shared, Matt would've written it off as more of his imagination or an incredibly detailed, uncommonly lewd dream. "Hey, Davis?" Matt asked.

Davis cocked his head to show he was listening, continuing to eat. "Can we watch pornos together from now on?"

Matt laughed when Davis snorted into his cereal. He took that as a yes.

But as it turned out, they didn't need to watch any more pornography on television, or go to any clubs, unless the latter happened together. Why waste time with that when they could fuck each other's brains out? Why bother with other people when they had each other? Indeed, why think too much about any of it, when monogamy was so eminently easy that Matt was shocked he'd never, ever considered being in love with Davis before?

Whatever conclusions they drew, it didn't matter. Thinking about that stuff too much was just another waste of perfectly good sex and conversation time. Matt, for one, didn't want to miss out on either.