Jack quickly finished up his meal, before taking the bowls into the kitchen to clean them. Rinsing the bowls out, he slipped them into the dishwasher. Then started working on putting the extra food away in the fridge, when Mark stepped out of the steamy bathroom. It was too late to stop himself from looking. Mark thankfully had a towel around his waist but barely. It hung precariously off his wide hips, revealing the contours of his strong hipbones and alluding to the thin happy trail beneath his belly button that led down to dark pubic hair. Rubbing a smaller towel over his head, Mark dried his short dark hair in such a way that Jack caught sight of a diamond earring in his right ear. Seeing the contrast of the bright white diamond against his dark hair made him look a little dashing as far as men went. Realizing he was spending way to much time on his looks, Jack quickly turned away, but not before becoming strangely jealous over how the water streaked down Mark's tanned and muscular skin.

He'd always longed for a body like Mark's. Yet, he'd only managed to be lanky, and pale skinned. He was meatier than he had been as a teen, but that wasn't saying much when someone like Mark existed. It was downright unfair. Mark slipped into his room without so much as noticing him, causing Jack to grit his teeth. Was he deliberately doing things to get a rise out of him? Or was he just genuinely that confident in his own skin? Starting the dishwasher, Jack moved to the living room and turned on the TV. He just wanted something to play in the background while he studied. He hated too much silence. Gathering his books from the other room, he organized them on the coffee table and began to take notes of things he wanted to remember. He had gotten a whole page done, when Mark stated before behind the conch. "Are you studying? You know college starts tomorrow morning, right? That's when they assign you work to do." Rolling his eyes, he mumbled out to him. "Yes, but I'm trying to get into a good job, remember? That requires studying to keep my grades high."

Jack heard Mark lean on the back of the couch, asking in a drawling tone. "Oh, good god. They stuck me with a workaholic." Shooting Mark a glare over his shoulder, he stated back flatly. "Don't you have somewhere to be? Some poor virgin to deflower, or weights to lift? Something. Anything." Mark's grin was blinding, when he playfully teased back. "Ooo, jealous?" Scoffing, Jack turned his attention back to his books, muttering under his breath for the first time in his life. "Go fuck yourself." A throaty chuckle left Mark, before he leaned in closer to his shoulder to say in a deep serious voice that made Jack shiver. "I have. It's called sex toys, virgin. Want to borrow one? I've got just the one to help strengthen up your mouth to properly deliver a threat like that." Jack pressed too hard down on the notebook, causing his pencil lead to snap as his cheeks burned. He could almost feel the heat from Mark's smug grin, when he leaned over his shoulder to whisper closer to his ear. "Was that your first time cursing, virgin?" Jack swallowed but said and did nothing hoping he'd go away. He didn't.

Jack's heart slowed as Mark's lips drew even closer to his ear, setting his skin ablaze with his warm breath when he teased. "It was. Wasn't it? Now what did I do to make that happen?" Unable to stand it, Jack scooted farther down the couch and snapped back at him. "You kissed me without consent!" Mark crossed his arms on the back of the conch, raising an eyebrow as he calmly said. "That's it? You're all flared up over a kiss on the cheek? I kiss my own mother like that. Jesus Christ, virgin." Straightening up off the couch, Mark chuckled as he slipped on his dark acid washed jean jacket. Jack hated that he felt silly for being upset, while Mark walked to the front door, adding over his shoulder a little amused. "Do yourself a favor and read a dirty magazine or something. You stay that pent up and your dick will shrivel up and fall off from lack of use." Jack tried to think of something snarky to say back, but he was well and gone out the door. Scowling, Jack turned his attention back to the tv and blurted out in shock. "Oh! Just great! Son of a..." The score panel had dropped down to zero again.

Slamming one of his textbooks on how to make computers closed, he slumped on the conch. This was going to be so much harder than he thought. Reluctantly, getting up, he snatched his keys and decided to head out himself. He didn't plan to go far. Just to the main college building. Heading into the building across the street, he buzzed in with his student ID tag and headed up to the library. Trudging through the aisle of books on how to make relationships work, he groaned to himself. None of these were helpful. What was he supposed to do about a partner that he wasn't attracted to? How was he supposed to pretend to like him? Overhearing a couple excitedly find out that they liked the same book, Jack's heart sank further into his gut. Why did everyone make this look so easy? What was he missing? Resting his forehead on a shelf, he mumbled to himself. "Maybe I should focus on psychology instead of computers." Getting up the courage to pull a few books down, he picked a table by the window and began to read.

The hours passed and the light from outside faded, prompting the librarian to tell him reluctantly. "Sorry. I'm gonna close now. Wanna check out anything?" Shaking his head, he returned the books to the shelf and headed back out. Nothing he read had helped. It just made his head swim with stuff, he barely understood. Upon turning the corner to head down the last steps to the glass front doors, he stopped short. A small group of friends were chatting amongst themselves. One of the woman in the group handed a poster to another, blushing as she told the others excitedly. "You have to trust me. Come with me to the next showing. You won't regret it. It will change your life." One of her friends scoffed sarcastically, until her eyes fell on the poster. Then her jaw dropped, and she cleared her voice, asking shyly. "So... Next showing is when?" Her friend laughed hard, answering as they made their way up the steps. "Nine. I told you. You won't regret it. Just don't spread it around. I'd prefer to keep it our little secret."

The group of friends made their way up the steps, giggling and speaking in quieter voices. When the poster slipped out from the bundle of papers that one of the girls was holding. Jack watched the poster drift to the floor, listening to one of the woman telling the others. "We need to grab those snacks quick if we want to make the showing." He wanted until they were farther down the hallway before picking up the poster to look it over. Jack's jaw dropped. The man on the poster was Mark. On the little poster, Mark was posing naked. His arms were up with his fingers running through the sides of his short hair. He wasn't looking at the camera, allowing everyone to see the diamond in his ear. Between his spread muscular thighs was a set of strategically placed masculine hands that clearly didn't belong to Mark and perfectly cupped his crotch from view. The photo had to of been taken rather recently because Mark didn't look any different than he does at present. The only thing that concerned him about the picture was that the hands cupping Mark... looked older. Much older than him.

At the bottom of the poster was a list of showtimes and in bright neon pink was the bold title. 'Manhole XXX Theater.' Biting his lower lip, he wanted to bunch it up and throw it in the trash but couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, memorizing the address, he folded the poster to put into his suit jacket. Every part of him told how crazy he was, but curiosity got the better of him. Heading out, he tried to convince himself to go home... but found himself heading out to find the theater. He just had to know if it really was Mark or just someone that looked like him. Finding the theater, he dragged his feet as he made his way up to the ticket booth. Removing some cash, Jack slid it to the woman behind the glass. Without a word, she printed out a ticket and slipped it to him with a wink. Blushing bad, he checked the seating number on the ticket before slipping inside the dark theater. He expected the place to be dirty and smell like a sewer. Instead, the place was clean and smelled of leather.

There were crowds gathered around the bathrooms and at the snack counters, but he managed to make his way through them to the doors of the auditorium. A few guys whistled at him, or touched his legs, but he merely shied away from them. He didn't feel comfortable here. He certainly felt overdressed. Yet, he couldn't convince himself to leave. Had Mark's teasing gotten to him that badly? Did he need to prove something to himself? To Mark? Making his way in through a set of double doors, he gawked at the auditorium's size. It was similar to a theater for opera, musicals, or Broadway. It was nothing like he had expected. Finding his seat near the stage, Jack eased into the comfortable seat. He wasn't right up against the stage, but close enough to see without squinting. Taking the time to look over his ticket, he tried to catch the name of what he was going to watch to distract himself. The title of it read; 'Paradice City.' Raising and eyebrow, he mumbled out to himself. "What am I doing?"

Tapping the ticket against his palm anxiously, he shifted restlessly as people flooded in to find their seats, until the lights dimmed. From behind the heavy red curtain, the sound thumping club began to play before the curtain started to rise. Jack's eyes were immediately drawn to the center stage where a glowing stripper pole was located. All around the stripper pole were dining tables with men smoking and drinking cigars. The music turned down as an older man entered the stage with another actor. They spoke of the club called Paradice City going under and needing a new act or a new gimmick to draw in a crowd. Jack didn't expect there to be a story and was pleasantly surprised and hooked in by it. The actors all clearly had experienced backgrounds in preforming. Resting his arms on the seat in front of him, Jack laughed along with the audience and enjoyed himself. Then as the older man was interviewing new talent by testing them out in front of his audience, Jack's breath caught in his throat.

It was Mark. Stepping out from the other side of the stage, Mark walked up to the glowing stripper pole with confidence. Giving the older man a shrug, he announced his character's name and gestured to the dark wall for the stage DJ to play. The older man nodded to the DJ and the music for the club turned up. Mark began to dance around the pole with a mix of masculinity and wild bad boy energy. Something that contrasted with the older club man's composed methodical and dominating personality. Jack sank his teeth into his arm, watching Mark. He could tell from the way the older man puffed on his cigar that he saw Mark as something he wanted. His partner warned him that Mark's character was a kid with a discipline problem. Full of talent but had been kicked out of every club in strip for fighting. The older man never took his eyes off Mark, when he blew out smoke and answered coolly. "Give me a month. I'll have him ready." Jack had to force himself to swallow. Something about the way the older man said that in a deep voice gave him goosebumps.

They play continued with Mark showing how much of a problem he was and the older man simply observing his behavior. Then when Mark's character was about to put the club's name in hot water for fighting, the older man finally stepped in to stop him. Taking him away to his house with the promise of helping him get out of the slums to the glamour that few reach in paradise city. Mark resisted and then... things took a turn. Jack had never blushed so hard in his life. The older man tied Mark up. Stripped him down. Gagged him and sexually tormented him until Mark was moaning. Every sound Mark made had Jack crossing his legs and his heart pounding. He'd never seen anything like this. It was dirty. It had to be bad. He couldn't imagine a world where that was fun. Yet, he felt shame for liking the way Mark's wildly defiant character was slowly broken by the older man. He loved hearing his distressed moans and cries. He loved seeing Mark obey the older man's every desire.

By the time the play ended, Jack felt like the temperature in the auditorium was in the hundreds. His cheeks were burning, and he was afraid to stand up. He wasn't the only one. There were others struggling to hide their bulging cocks. While others were making out with people they brought or rushing to the bathrooms. Staying where he was, he tried to breathe slowly. When he felt soft enough to stand without his cock being noticeable, he started to make his way out of the theater. The cold outside felt great against his burning skin, except for the downpour. Staying huddled under the awning, he grimly muttered to himself. "Great..." He really hated not having a car... or an umbrella. Suddenly a voice beside him asked curiously. "Need a cold shower? Step out into the rain." Jack turned to say something snarky but stopped as he caught Mark's eyes. Mark took a quick puff from a vape pen, then grinned as he exhaled the smoke, his eyes boring into him.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Jack shrugged out nervously. "I don't know what you mean. I was out walking and... got caught in the rain." Walking closer to him, Mark whispered over his shoulder. "Sure. Did you follow me here?" Jack aside stepped away, shaking his head as he blurted out. "No! I was exploring and got lost!" Mark clearly didn't believe him. Expanding an umbrella, Mark chuckled to himself. Jack was going to blurt out a response, until the older man brushed passed him to touch Mark's shoulder. Mark turned to look at the man who kissed his cheek and told him beautifully. "Great job today, Mark." Mark actually blushed, averting his eyes as he replied bashfully. "Thanks, Taran. You too." Jack glanced between them, watching the way Mark watched Taran go, before asking curiously. "Do you like him?" Mark's bashfulness vanished, when he turned to inform him bluntly. "See you at home, Virgin."

Mark started to walk out into the downpour, spurring Jack to call out desperately. "Mark, wait! Please?" With a sigh, Mark stopped and turned to lookback. Shifting on his feet, Jack hugged himself as he shrugged out. "Can you...Can you walk me home? I'll buy dinner?" For a minute, Mark just stared at him. Then giving him a smile, he walked back over and said in a sweet tone of voice. "Ya. Alright. I could eat. I'm starving."  To Be Continued...