They may not mean to, but they do - 9. Nine

Wednesday saw Keith on tenterhooks, hardly believing what was happening. He hadn’t lived in his own place, ever. He’d moved from his Dad’s to lodgings, then shared flats and houses. He’d had some great mates but had never had the experience of being all on his own.

And that evening, he was on his own. Bart and Greg were away, but there was a bottle of wine to welcome him. Putting his stuff away didn’t take long; the place still looked a bit bare. He’d need to get things and some bits of colour. Plants? He sort of had a memory of Gran saying you shouldn’t put plants in bedrooms at night, and this was all his bedroom. Pictures, of what? And a computer. What sort? He got out some paper and started to make a list, then stopped, opened the wine and continued with the list. It turned into more lists.

Perhaps he should learn to cook? His stomach rumbled, and he automatically went to the fridge. To find there was cheese, cold meat, butter, and a note (in the fridge!), bread in bin. What bin? Ah, there, and there was bread. That was food sorted.

It was strange, waking up in a new bed, in a new room. It was so quiet, for one. There was distant noise from the main road, and a few birds, but that was it. It would take some getting used to. Once he’d showered and stuff, he tidied the bed and then took some pictures on his phone. He sent them to Thomas with a wry, ‘not a palace, but its mine’ and they ended up with a silly back and forth.

The following couple of days were spent getting used to things, finding where to put everything, and adding to his lists of stuff he’d need. It was only on Saturday morning that he realised that they would need food for the evening. He ought to have asked Bart last night. Bart and Greg had kept out of his way, but they had had celebratory drinks on Friday. Today the two were off to friends. Keith was a bit relieved, it meant he wouldn’t worry if he and Thomas made noise (Greg had discreetly assured him that the walls were very thick!). So, what to buy?

He went to the deli; Stan wasn’t there but the older woman behind the counter recognised him, and he came away with mountains of food, they certainly wouldn’t starve. And he popped into the off licence and got some wine.

He sorted stuff, did his smalls, all that sort of thing. Tinkered with the van. There was still lots of time left, so he went for a run. It was something he’d not done for ages but living in amongst the fields rather tempted him. After going further than he’d intended, and taking longer about it, he was running along a field edge, approaching the road when he noticed a car pulled over. Strange place to stop. Then he recognised the car and jogged over. Thomas was poring over a book, not aware of Keith so he tapped on the window. Surprise and embarrassed smiles all round. Thomas had been early and not known what to do, he admitted to being a bit nervous as he was out of practice. Keith grinned and said he’d felt the same, after all, it was the first time he’d done this sort of thing with a bloke and was even a bit out of practice with birds.

They drove the short way down to Bart and Greg’s place, both a bit easier, that their anxieties were mirrored in the other. But sitting in the car, Keith became a bit embarrassed again, he was hot and sweaty, wearing an old t-shirt and ratty shorts, and at home everything was tidy, but nothing prepared. He started to apologise, but Thomas put his hand on Keith’s naked leg, slipping it up and pushing the edge of Keith’s shorts up, and said that there was nothing to apologise for, he thought Keith looked rather sexy. Keith went bright pink; he didn’t know whether it was true or not, but no-one had ever said that to him before, and certainly not one of his girlfriends.

When they got in the flat, Thomas was most complimentary, commenting that it rather outdid his room at his brother’s. So, not all vicars lived in grand Victorian houses as Keith had imagined. Thomas pointed out that the parish’s original vicarage had been sold years ago, and Nate’s house was a 1960s build – nice enough but cramped.

Keith announced he was getting a shower, and would Thomas like to join him?

"Is there room?"

Keith waggled his eyebrows, "Come and see."

When creating the flat, Bart and Greg had abandoned the idea of a bath and turned the bathroom into a large walk-in shower. Effectively one whole wall of the room was taken up with the shower; there was plenty of room for fun with friends, as Bart had gleefully pointed out when showing Keith round. At the time, he had not thought much of it but now...

Keith smiled nervously at Thomas and slipped off his t-shirt and then his shorts. Shit, he’d only got a ratty pair of knickers on, he’d been saving his sexy ones till he got dressed properly. But Thomas had started to strip off himself. His were white and sensible, he saw Keith look and shrugged ruefully. Thomas didn’t have any to compare to Keith’s “sexy knickers”. Perhaps they should do some shopping on-line. But first, a shower.

It was indeed capacious, with a good flow of water. But after the first novelty, the two didn’t really notice, they were too busy doing other things. It was a long shower indeed, and far more than washing took place. It was a getting to know each other, the first time they had been comfortably naked together with a chance to look, appreciate and explore. Their previous encounters had been short and intense, without the luxury of being completely open.

This was the first time Keith had seen Thomas entirely without clothes, and by the time both got into the shower, both were excited. And a bit bashful. Thomas was the first guy Keith had seen naked and properly aroused, he wasn’t just any guy, but Thomas. Slim, smooth, not overly muscled, nicely put together and with a dick that Keith wanted to…

As if Thomas could hear Keith’s mental processes, the man stepped closer, right into Keith’s space, kissed him and took Keith’s soapy hand and put it on his own dick, then Thomas put his hand on Keith’s. They kissed again and hands explored. It ended up being quite free-form, both were discovering about the other and soapy hands and fingers got to slip in and out of tempting places.

Afterwards, wrapped in towels (another item on the list, get a towelling robe, or two) they sorted out food and wine. Thomas had brought a bottle and a small present. Keith unwrapped it to find a picture, full of bright colours, a sunset he thought. And it was real, someone had actually painted it. He looked at Thomas enquiringly,

"It's done by a guy called Obiyé. He’s a former pupil who wants to be an artist and before I left Ghana, he gave me a selection. You said that the room was a bit lacking in colour, so I thought it would brighten it up. It needs a frame and glass because it’s watercolour so will damage. It’s a sunset near Obiyé’s hometown, you can see…" He ground to a halt.

Keith had been silent, simply staring at the picture. He became aware that Thomas had gone quiet as well and was looking at him. Reddening a bit, he leaned over and kissed Thomas, "Thank you, it's wonderful. No-one’s ever given me something like this and..." He gave up and kissed Thomas again. "Where is it?"

"Well, I could tell you, but I don’t imagine the name will mean anything. Get your phone and we can look on Google Maps." So, they pored over Keith’s phone (thankfully use of Bart and Greg’s Wi-Fi was included in the rent), to see where the tiny spot was in Ghana. Keith propped the picture up and looked forward to getting it framed.

Then Keith had a thought, "You fancy a swim?"

"Here?"

"Sure, Bart and Greg said I can use the pool when they’re not here and Greg showed me how to switch the filter on and all that. It's not heated but this time of year it's a decent temperature."

"I don’t have a costume."

"No need, do it in the all-together. Greg and Bart do, and I’ve even got into the swing of it as well. It's fun."

They made sure their towels were firmly fastened, left the flat and strode manfully across to the pool. Keith switched everything on and jumped in. Slightly slower to follow, Thomas tested the water first and grimaced comically when he put his foot in, making Keith laugh. Not much swimming happened, but a lot of larking about and physical contact. It was only a short swim, a quick refresher.

"You do this regularly, swim, get naked and stuff?"

"Nah, weather for one thing and Bart and Greg are often away. Before I lived here, I’d drop in for drinks, but we were only ever naked to swim. I don’t think the back yard’s private enough to be naked. Leastways, I’ve never seen them chance it."

"You never do other stuff with them?"

Keith’s antennae were not the most finely tuned of instruments, but he realised that the question was more loaded than it seemed, and an element of jealousy might be a factor. From the outside, his relationship with Bart and Greg could seem… Shit, did those guys want to do that?

"Christ, no. It’d be like having sex with one of your mates."

"You’ve never done that", Thomas grinned.

"Nah, ‘sides most of ‘em are straight."

"You think", Keith’s eyebrows raised at Thomas’ comment, "You’d be surprised at what straight mates can sometimes get up to."

"So, you’ve done it with mates?"

"Not recently, but at Uni and after. Getting drunk at a party, girl-friend problems, the usual. Nothing heavy, just a bit of 'helping out'", Thomas used his hands to put the words in quotation marks.

"Blimey. Not sure I fancy that; you’ve never met my friends."

"I look forward to it!"

They smiled and continued drying themselves off, but there was something still nagging Keith, "You think Bart and Greg might have fancied a bit of nookie with me?"

"I don’t know, some couples don’t feel the need to do anything outside the relationship, and others enjoy having fun with others, threesomes or just a bit of playing away. I’ve never fancied that myself, if you’re in a relationship then it’s just the two of you."

Keith thought about it, "Me neither, having a partner’s complicated enough without adding others." He gave a shamefaced smile, remembering Maria.

"Well, you never know. Perhaps they might invite us for a foursome?"

"Bloody hell, a foursome? Not sure about that. You ever done that?"

Thomas shook his head, "Not really. A couple of occasions when it was sort of like a group hug, but nothing more. Has always felt a bit complicated, the logistics of who puts what where, like Rubik’s cube sex."

At that, both started laughing. The conversation had been light, but it had covered important areas, things that Keith had never really considered before. Fancying blokes came with a hell of a lot more complications than he’d ever thought. He commented on this to Thomas, who pointed out that it was what made us people, human relationships were complicated.

But there was no complication to their relationship at that moment, it was clear what both wanted to do. If nothing else, the bulges in their groin areas, hardly disguised by the towels, made it obvious and ignoring the food and wine, they made a bee-line for the bed.