Bear Beach

By Tyranitar Tf

It had come in the mail.

“Gregory Thompson, you are cordially invited to the annual Bear Beach Festival, held at the titular location on Saturday July 21. Your roommate Landon Akerson is also welcome as an extension of your invitation. The festivities are to start at 10 AM sharp. Please be aware of the dress code, and the standards of behavior pertinent to the event. We look forward to seeing you!”

What a joke, Greg scoffed as he tossed the gaudy invitation on the countertop. An invitation to some festival he’d never heard of before at a beach similarly unknown to him? With nothing clear on what it actually entailed or what the “dress code” to be aware of was? The only semblance of legitimacy that the invitation had was his full name and that of his roommates, which would make it a prank at best.

He poked around in the kitchen and sighed. There was nothing worth eating. Though Greg was working, the kitchen in their apartment resembled that of a college student – simple basic foods with minimal effort. There was only so much boxed pasta he could make though without going insane. He closed the cupboard he was looking through. Maybe he’d order food later, or come back hungrier and throw something on out of desperation.

Greg’s lifestyle and attitudes still largely resembled those of a college student. Though he had a full time job, his style was still largely casual, just as it was in his time throughout college. He mostly wore tshirts and jeans, a polo shirt if he was feeling really fancy. As far as he was concerned, there was no reason to put in any effort to stand out.

He slid to his room and laid on his bed. He was so bored. Work had been especially slow lately, with nothing more to do than cross-check spreadsheets during a business lull. The perks of being a new employee. There was some irony in that freaky “invitation” being the most exciting thing to happen in a while. He lied back in thought, trying to think of anything interesting to do, but found himself blanking.

His train of thought, or perhaps lack of one, was interrupted by the noise of the door unlocking. Greg leapt out of bed and headed to the kitchen to greet his roommate. Landon was slinging his bag on the ground by the door and saw his roommate approaching. “Hey Greg,” he greeted the other man. “What’s up?”

“Bored to hell.” Replied Greg. “I’m sick of all this same shit day in day out with work lately.”

Landon laughed, “Could be worse bro. At least you’re not still in school. I can’t wait to put this behind me.”

“Careful what you wish for man,” laughed Greg. “Least you’re not in a dead end.”

“I guess.” Landon replied. His expression didn’t quite look like he agreed, but perhaps it was the perpetually exhausted college student demeanor he carried. While Landon was still pretty outgoing and had a relaxed composure, senior year had been rough on him. With minimal maintenance, his hair had taken on a slick flow, and he was more often than not seen with scruff. He was slightly more put-together in dress than his roommate, but only to the extent of minor details such as wearing khakis over jeans.

Greg picked up the letter on the counter and handed it to Landon. “Look at this bogus invitation I picked up in the mail today.”

Landon grabbed the paper out of Greg’s hand and started reading it, mumbling out loud. He rose an eyebrow as he went over the details. “The hell is this about?” he asked.

“Fuck if I know, man. It’s gotta be some prank or something.”

Landon mulled it over. “Honestly, I’m not so sure. I mean, they have our names, right? It’s personalized, and there’s a time and a place.”

“I don’t think that means much.” Replied Greg.

“I mean, do you have anything better to do this weekend?” asked Landon. “Worse comes to worse we hang out at the beach for a bit.”

Greg knew the answer to the question was no, and that his roommate knew that too. He hadn’t been doing much of anything lately. Work, and hanging out trying to pass the time until he had to work again. “Eh, ask me again tomorrow.” He replied, dismissively. “It’s only Wednesday, so we have a couple of days to decide.”

The next couple of hours were uneventful. Greg and Landon both retired to their rooms, where Greg spent more time stewing while Landon did homework. Eventually, Greg caved to laziness and decided to order a pizza. The order didn’t take long to arrive, and soon there was a known on the door. Greg picked up the pizza and left a small tip, and pulled it inside, opening the box on the kitchen counter.

It must’ve been the fresh pizza scent that Landon had picked up on, because he’d left his room to go poke around in the kitchen. “How generous of you to buy a pizza to share!” he laughed.

“You mooch,” teased Greg. “Go nuts. I wouldn’t finish it all tonight by myself.”

“Thanks bro, I’ll pay you back sometime.” Said Landon. He pulled out some plates and handed one to Greg before loading up pizza on his plate.

As Greg filled his plate, he thought about the evening ahead. The thought of sitting around and waiting to go to bed filled him with dread, and on a whim he spoke up. “Hey, you doing anything tonight?”

“Um, homework I guess, but nothing serious. What’s up?” asked Landon.

“Did you want to watch a movie or something? I can move my TV to the living room. I know we don’t usually hang out much but I’m so fucking bored and it’d be cool to hang out for a bit.”

“You don’t have to justify it man,” laughed Landon. “I’d be glad to. Have anything in mind?”

“Eh, we can just browse Netflix. Unless you have something you’ve been itching to watch?”

“Nah. Let me wrap up a couple of paragraphs on my report and I’ll get back to you.” Said Landon, bringing his plate to his room.

Greg headed to his room and unplugged the TV, getting ready to move it over to the apartment’s common area. He was glad that Landon was down for hanging out for a bit. It wasn’t like Landon was a stranger by any means, but to say that the two men were close would be a stretch. Just being around each other chilling wasn’t something they often did. But it would be a good boredom killer.

Setting up the TV was quick – Greg sat down on the couch with his laptop plugged in through an HDMI port. He mindlessly browsed Netflix searching for anything mildly interesting while he waited for Landon to be done with his homework. There didn’t seem to be anything suitable at a glance.

It was a few short minutes until Landon arrived and sat on the other end of the couch. “Find anything good?” he asked.

“Not at all. You sure you don’t have anything in mind?”

“Eh, not really,” Landon said, pausing to take a moment on the screen, before pointing towards a title. “Why don’t we put on Terminus Road? Can never go wrong with an action movie.”

“Sure, I’ll boot it up.” Said Greg, clicking the title and starting it. The opening credits roared to life, the movie quickly showing its over the top action nature. It wasn’t every movie that managed to start things off with a road fight scene.

After the opening scene was over, it cut to two men in a car. “Why are you doing this anyway?” asked the passenger.

“To get revenge and save my husband.” The driver replied, his voice gruff and over the top.

Greg was taken aback for a moment. It was a bold choice to have a gay man leading the movie. He wondered if Landon knew about that in his decision, and looked over. Landon seemed far more engrossed in the movie than Greg was, so Greg decided that maybe he wouldn’t talk during the movie.

Despite the protagonist being gay taking Greg by surprise, the rest of the film was fairly bread and butter. The men drove to destinations and killed bad guys, had to outsmart a villain, and were able to rescue the captive husband at the end. The protagonist and his husband enjoyed a nice smooch as the camera cut and the credits began to roll.

Landon stretched and made a loud noise, before turning to Greg and smiling. “Pretty good movie, huh?” he asked.

“It was alright. Pretty basic in terms of plot, but the action was fun.” Replied Greg. “Was pretty surprised that the main character was gay though.”

“Oh..” replied Landon, sounding a little surprised. “Yeah, I mean I guess in this day and age it’s pretty normal, right?”

“Sure, it’s not bad, was just surprised, that’s all.” Greg explained. Landon seemed to be acting a little strange. His response seemed practically defensive.

“Yeah.” Landon replied, noncommittally, then swerved the subject rapidly. “I’m going to grab a beer from the fridge. Want one?”

Greg stopped to think. “I mean, I have to work tomorrow. What time is it anyway?” he asked, looking at his computer. 9:30, it read. “Eh, one won’t kill me, sure.”

Landon got up and returned with two cans of cheap beer, handing one to Greg.  “Thanks for pitching the movie tonight man, that was a great idea.” He said, much more relaxed than before.

“Hey, I’m glad to. It’s a good thing to spend more time with my roommate.” Replied Greg.

Landon cracked his beer. “Yeah. I feel like I’ve been so busy lately with classes and everything that I barely have time for anything else.”

Greg laughed. “I don’t miss that at all,” he said, sipping his beer afterwards. “School was so much bullshit.”

“I mean, yeah,” Landon nodded. “But that’s the price of getting a degree. That and a shitton of debt.”

Greg laughed, “Yeah. God, I wish I didn’t have to deal with that.”

The two kept their conversation going until Landon finished his beer and pardoned himself to clean up for the night and study a little more before heading off to sleep. Greg wished him a good night and hung out in the living room a little longer to nurse his beer before simply retiring to his room and closing the door.

After stripping his clothes off, Greg laid in his bed, mulling over some thoughts before he fell asleep. It was nice to have company for once and spend time with his roommates. It wasn’t that Greg didn’t have friends, but he hardly spent time with them these days, and he wasn’t a big texter. Getting some social interaction for a change was a good way to break up the boredom. He’d have to spend more time with Landon for sure.

What was bothering him though was Landon’s strange behavior after the movie. Was his roommate gay? It wasn’t like that was something that bothered Greg, but he thought it was strange that Landon wouldn’t tell him. Greg had never seen his roommate have a guy over, but trying to think about it, he couldn’t remember Landon having any girls over either. Greg knew it was none of his business, but his idle curiosity didn’t let him have peace with that. What did win out was a sleepy sensation that faded in as Greg slowly fell asleep.

–

Thursday morning came and Greg woke up, grabbed a towel, and headed to the bathroom. Showering immediately was routine for him at this point, and if he had enough growth, he’d shave afterwards. A quick look in the mirror today indicated that he could get away with probably one more day of not shaving.

Wrapped in a towel, he headed back to his room and got dressed with minimal thought involved. He made his bed quickly and headed to the kitchen, where he saw Landon stirring. “You’re early today!” Greg exclaimed, knowing that his roommate’s schedule didn’t start classes until later in the morning.

“Yeah. Feeling alert for some reason this morning.” Said Landon. “No idea why, but feeling alert in the mornings is nice for a change.”

“I guess that’s one of the few benefits of working a regular 9-5,” laughed Greg. “No matter how mind numbing the work is, I can still get up and be alert in the mornings with ease.”

“Not really much of a student talent, I have to admit.” Replied Landon, digging through the fridge and looking for something suitable to eat. He stopped on the pizza box, pulling it out. “Leftovers are good, I guess.” He made a gesture to offer some to Greg.

Usually Greg would be all over leftover pizza for breakfast, but something was nagging him about making better choices. “Nah, I’ll eat something healthier.” He said, poking around and settling on some prepackaged oatmeal. He filled their kettle with water and turned it on, resuming small talk while the water heated up.

He was interrupted by a beeping noise from the counter behind him. He turned his head and saw a coffeemaker there, that had been gifted to him and collecting dust. “You booted up that old thing?” Greg asked.

“Um, yes?” replied Landon, as if Greg was asking a stupid question. “Morning coffee is important.”

“Since when do you drink coffee?” Greg asked.

“Why’s it matter so much to you?” asked Landon, confused. Greg went to reply, but found himself unable to reply. He had no idea why he was so focused on the trivial detail of his roommate’s morning habits.

Landon broke the silence. “I’ve been ordering on campus for a while, I guess. Don’t know when it started. But I feel it’s important to have better habits, I guess. More mature, right?”

“Yeah,” affirmed Greg. “More mature.”

“Have you thought about the beach any?” Landon asked, changing the subject as Greg went on to make his oatmeal.

Greg picked up the paper which had been placed back on the counter, reading it over once more and taking his time with it.

“I’m going to take that as a no.” Landon responded.

Greg laughed. “Yeah, it wasn’t really on my mind last night after that movie. I swear, I’ll give it more thought today at work. Not like I have much occupying my mind there.” He paused for a moment. “Speaking of movie, did you want to watch another one tonight?”

“Sure, that’d be nice.” Agreed Landon.

“Great! I’ve gotta head out, but I’ll see you when I get back, okay?”

“Sounds good man, have a good day at work.”

Greg laughed. “Yeah, as if. Appreciate the laugh though.” He headed out of the apartment and walked to the nearest train station for his commute in.

Sooner rather than later Greg was in his office, staring at an Excel spreadsheet and running the simplest of calculations on the boxes. He found himself wishing he could be doing literally anything else as he multitasked by playing a game of minesweeper on his phone. He was finding the puzzles fairly difficult, but they had a sense of nostalgia to them that he couldn’t quite place his finger on, so he kept doing them.

With yet another click on a box with a mine on it, Greg sighed. He couldn’t be this bad at the game. Maybe he was more tired than he alluded to earlier. His thoughts raced back to the morning when Landon told him about his coffee habits. Greg reasoned it was worth a shot to try a cup of java to get his alertness back. Getting up and stretching, he made his way to the coffeemaker.

The coffeemaker was in the break room, which thankfully was empty. This meant that Greg could fumble around with the machine and not have anyone ridicule him for not really knowing how to work it. He knew there was a filter basket, so he pulled it out. Whoever had used it last had left the old grinds in it, which he knew was definitely not right – so he dumped those and put a new filter in.

He started poking through the cupboards and looking for coffee. He saw a big tub of brand name coffee grounds, but it wasn’t very appealing to him. He continued to scrounge and found a bag of coffee located in the back from a company called Berry & Axe. He’d never heard of it before, but opened it up and took a whiff. It smelled strongly bitter, with a slightly sweet aroma behind it. That’s what good coffee was supposed to smell like, right? Greg poured some of the beans into the filter basket and closed it, before pouring water in and starting the machine.

He was watching the coffee pour as one of his coworkers opened the door to the break room and went in. Upon hearing the coffee machine whirring, he asked “Since when do you drink coffee?”.

“Oh, hey,” Greg said, acknowledging the other man’s presence. “Just had an urge, I guess.” He turned around and went over to the minifridge, bending down to open it.

“Uh, dude, I don’t know how to say this politely, and no homo, but your ass is showing.” The coworker spoke up.

Greg immediately stood up and pulled up his pants. “Jeeze, sorry!” he exclaimed. Greg was never the type to wear a belt, but his underwear had always fit well enough that he would never expose himself.

His coworker mumbled something, but Greg was too embarrassed to catch it. The coworker awkwardly shuffled out of the room. It was just in time for Greg to pour the coffee in a mug, add milk and sugar, and head back to his desk, one hand holding his pants up the entire way.

Greg sat down, and realized his butt felt a little weird. It was a little colder, and felt almost like he was sitting directly on the denim of his pants. He tried to ignore it as he went back to his spreadsheet and quickly got into a groove of work – it was still boring but at least this time he was able to get it done without playing minesweeper.

After a reasonable time had elapsed for his coffee to cool down Greg took a sip, and nearly sputtered. It tasted nothing at all like the beans had smelled. It was weak, and terrible tasting. He forced himself to swallow it down, and quickly did an online search for “why is my coffee weak”.

He skimmed through some results and quickly came across the possibility of “Your roast is too coarse.” Coarse? You were supposed to grind the beans? It seemed so obvious now that he was drinking shitty coffee. Why would the coffee be coarse in the first place then? If anything, his coffee journey had managed to only make Greg more annoyed than anything.

He scratched his lower back, moving the band of his underwear a little. Why did they feel so weird today? He shuffled in his seat and started poking around in the spreadsheets again. His attention was briefly interrupted as his email client pinged him, letting him know he had another sheet to fill out.

Greg groaned as he opened it, looking at its contents. He was surprised to find that it seemed fairly simple actually, after a glance. It was an inventory balance sheet, with various coffee supplies in it. Was this for HR? Greg was usually doing financial balances. He checked the email again, and saw that it was clearly addressed to him, starting with “Gregorye Thumpson,”. Well, probably addressed to him even if it was riddled with typos. He knew the women from HR, and they definitely did not have that name.

Greg started filling out the sheet, somewhat arbitrarily. He was doing what he felt was right, even if he couldn’t exactly reason why it was right. Soon enough he had filled the sheet out in entirety and forwarded it along. He nodded, satisfied with his work as he took a drink from his coffee, the bitter black brew with a tinge of fruit bringing him a small happiness.

The rest of the day went fairly uneventful. As Greg left the office and said his goodbyes, a few people seemed to give him momentarily perplexed looks, but it didn’t phase Greg much. He was in an unusually good mood today compared to the recent rut he’d been in at work. Had to be offputting to a couple of people, but not a bad thing!

He arrived home and started rooting through the fridge. The pizza box was gone, which Greg found a bit surprising. Landon wasn’t really kidding when he said Greg had generously bought him pizza. Greg groaned, figuring that he’d actually have to cook something. He started boiling some water to put on rice, and rummaged through the fridge again.

Again, nothing really appealed to Greg, but the thought of eating out again seemed even worse, somehow. Plus, there was meat in the fridge that had to be cooked, even if he didn’t feel like making it, having it go bad would be unfortunate. He pulled out some chicken breasts and dug around in the cupboards, finding a Dutch oven. Greg preheated the oven and then applied some basic spices to the chicken while he waited.

As the oven beeped, Greg put the chicken in and set the timer. It was a while since he had cooked anything properly, but he knew the time from some memory and set it properly. As he did, the water in the pot started to boil. Greg sighed, guessing he’d have to eat his dinner sequentially tonight. He threw some raw rice in the pot, waiting for it to come to a second boil. Soon it did, and he covered it over.

It wasn’t too long before the rice cooked, and Greg removed the lid, fluffing it with a fork that he pulled out of the utensil drawer. Scraping the rice onto a plate had Greg wide-eyed at just how much he had prepared – he thought it would only be a cup but what he had made was easily at least three, likely more. A quick thought passed through his head, “Gotta eat big to get big.”.

It was a strange thought, but Greg found himself loading all the rice onto his plate, and after a short period where he allowed it to cool, he started shovelling it into his mouth. It wasn’t long before his plate was empty. Despite the sheer amount of carbs that he’d just consumed though, he still felt hungry. Thankfully, there was still a good 20 minutes left on his chicken.

Greg sat down at the table, trying to waste time. Even though his work day was better, he found himself still bored as he sat and stared at the oven timer, as it took eternity to count town from 0:22 to 0:21, and yet another eternity to 0:20. Greg tapped the table with his fingers in impatience, waiting for anything to happen. Wasn’t his roommate usually back by now?

After what felt like forever but was likely only a few minutes in reality, Greg heard the door jingle. In walked Landon, who gave him a head nod. Greg responded with a look of shock, and a confused “Hey.”

Landon was decked out in black gym gear – a tank top and shorts. He was still sweaty, clearly from a recent workout. Greg had never seen Landon go to the gym in his life, but with the definition on his arms, he must’ve been going without Greg noticing. That definition didn’t come from nowhere. Quickly noticing that he had been staring at his roommate’s biceps for a little too long, he spoke up. “I didn’t know you went to the gym.”

“Yeah.” Replied Landon. “Wanna look good, you know?”

“Makes sense, maybe I should go myself! Your biceps look great. No homo though.” Greg laughed, as Landon slung his gym bag off his shoulder. Landon looked at Greg quizzically, as if he’d made a misstep, which made Greg feel weird. This nearly confirmed his thoughts from last  night, but it didn’t matter. He awkwardly smiled, as Landon walked by, giving Greg a friendly pat on the head.

Landon wasn’t usually so touchy-feely, and Greg was a bit weirded out. “A bit physical?” he asked.

“What, at the gym?” Landon asked in earnest. “Yeah, that’s what I do there.” He started poking through the fridge. “You want a drink?” he asked.

“Uh, sure. Beer me.” Greg responded, and was met with beer in hand. He sat at their table and cracked it open, and was shortly met by Landon who had some chicken dish in front of him. “We had chicken?” he asked. He didn’t see that in the fridge when he was looking earlier.

“Yeah, I was cooking this afternoon.” said Landon.

“No class? It’s nice to see you take some time off from your busy schedule.” Said Greg, with a smile.

“Um, yeah.” Replied Landon. Was he always this awkward? Greg was finding himself a little offput about his roommate’s behavior, but Landon broke the silence, “You think about the beach any more?”

Shit! The beach! “Oh, yeah, sure.” He said, on a whim. “I don’t really have any reason not to I guess.”

“Strong reason.” Replied Landon.

“Hey, it’s the answer you wanted, isn’t it?” asked Greg, smiling.

Landon chuckled. “You got me there man.” He said, before adding another comment. “What are you making? Smells pretty good.”

“Just chicken. Was in the fridge and needed to be cooked before it went bad.”

“Did you buy chicken? I don’t remember buying it.”

Greg paused. He usually only cooked things that were pre-made, if he didn’t order out. He couldn’t remember buying the chicken, but figured it had to come from his last grocery run. Which was.. some time ago. Probably. “Yeah, I guess.” He said, then his tone changed, “Wait, aren’t you eating chicken now?”

Landon looked at his plate. “Oh, yeah. Guess I didn’t see yours.” He commented nonchalantly.

“I didn’t see yours either when I was going to make this.” Replied Greg. “Weird, huh.”

“Yeah, weird.” Landon replied, poking at his dish.

The small talk continued until the oven beeped and Greg was able to take his food out of the oven. He let it cool for a few minutes before loading it onto his plate, and quickly ate it all.

Landon was finishing his plate at the same time. “Hungry?”

“Ravenous.” Greg replied. “Gotta eat big to get big.”

“Amen, man,” laughed Landon. “It’s important to take care of the body.”

The two chattered away before Landon retired to his room for more homework, agreeing to some Netflix when he was done. Greg wasn’t sure what to do in the meantime, and went to his room and browsed the internet after cleaning his dishes.

He ended up browsing social media, looking through various posts as he scrolled. There seemed to be a lot of ads about health food and gym equipment, more than usual. Even in his video game forum, Greg came across a new skin for a character celebrating Gay Pride: one of his mains in a leather vest with an exposed hairy chest. It was a bit much for Greg, but he appreciated what they were doing, at least.

His phone buzzed, a message from Landon lighting up his screen saying he was ready. Greg closed the tab, thinking it would be weird for Landon to see it, and headed over to the living room where he plugged his laptop into the TV projector.

Greg sat down, browsing through Netflix again. He wasn’t in the mood for an action movie again, but the list seemed the same as yesterday – boring. His scrolling was interrupted as Landon jumped on the sofa right next to him and smiled. “Anything good?” he asked.

“No. Looking for a comedy or something.” Replied Greg. “I guess we could click something random?”

“Sure.” Said Landon, as Greg selected a movie in the comedy section with no thought to it. He put the computer mouse down and laid back on the sofa.

The opening scene started as Landon slide up right next to Greg, sitting shoulder to shoulder with his roommate. Greg found it a bit uncomfortably close, but decided not to do anything about it as he tried to focus on the movie.

It turns out that wasn’t very helpful, as the movie wasn’t particularly funny. Neither Greg or Landon were laughing as they sat shoulder to shoulder. Greg found himself appreciating the closeness as they were both failing to enjoy the movie. It was some weird form of solidarity.

The movie dragged on and on and Greg found himself starting to get very bored. He leaned over in tiredness over into Landon’s shoulder, resting his head on it. Landon responded in turn with leaning his head on Greg’s. It felt good, as the movie continued on and on with its failed attempt at humor.

The movie slowly dragged to a conclusion, and the credits started to roll. Not wanting to move, Greg sat there leaning into his roommate as they scrolled up the screen, Landon keeping him in place. He could’ve stayed there forever, but the credits eventually reached their conclusion and Landon disengaged, stretching. “Not a great movie, huh?”

“No, serves me right for picking random, I guess.” Replied Greg. “Still, I really like spending time with you.”

Greg couldn’t quite tell if Landon was blushing or not, but he smiled, “Thanks man, me too. You’re good company.”

Greg certainly blushed at that comment, and let out a small laugh. “Another one tomorrow?”

“I’d be thrilled to.” His roommate responded. “I’ve gotta do some homework now though, so we can talk about it tomorrow, okay?”

“Well, it’s basically a routine thing now, I guess.” Said Greg. “Don’t have to plan too much.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Just a normal night.” Said Landon, heading off to his room. “Good night!”

“Good night Landon.” Said Greg with a smile as he pulled his laptop out and brought it into his room, setting it on his desk and closing it before taking a large stretch.

Greg closed the door and started to strip, whipping his shirt off and throwing it into his laundry basket. Soon followed his socks and jeans, but he paused after he pulled his underwear off. Bringing the underwear in front of him to take a better look, Greg was shocked to see a wide hole below the band of the underwear, almost like a handle.

“Crap, no wonder sitting in my office chair felt so weird.” Greg muttered to himself. “I’ll have to throw these out.” He mumbled, deciding to throw them on the floor for the time being and crawling into bed.

He sighed, thinking about his day. Landon had been acting strange today, and Greg couldn’t place his finger on why. Still, he felt bad about the “No homo” comment he’d made earlier in the day. It was clear as hell that his roommate was gay now, but at least he seemed comfortable when they watched the movie together when Landon sat right next to him.

Thinking about it made Greg feel almost.. lonely. The human touch was so nice, and now he was lying in bed, alone. Shit, was he gay? Just even thinking about it felt uncomfortable to Greg. There was nothing gay about sitting next to a dude, he reasoned, no matter how great it felt. No matter how much he wanted it again. Trying to quell the thoughts in his head, Greg fell into a restless sleep.

–

Friday. Greg got up and showered, and his reflection confirmed that it was probably time to shave. He lathered shaving cream on his face and cleared his stubble, leaving behind a smooth face. Greg considered himself lucky that he didn’t have to shave very often, as he preferred to keep his face clean and youthful looking.

He went to his room and got dressed in his usual attire, and headed out to the kitchen to get breakfast. He wasn’t particularly hungry this morning, but knew that wasn’t an excuse to not eat as he cracked four eggs and threw them in a large frying pan. As the eggs cooked, Landon came out of his room.

Landon was completely shirtless, and to Greg he looked impressive. His biceps looked even bigger than yesterday, and his pectorals were on full view. The beginning of some abdominal definition could be seen as well, over his thick thighs.

“Thank god it’s Friday, huh?” Landon asked, failing to notice Greg giving him a look over.

“Yeah, just one more day of work and then tomorrow is that beach festival or whatever.” Greg replied.

“You don’t sound very excited.”

“I am, I just don’t know much about it still.” Said Greg, looking on the counter. “Where did the invite go?”

“Invite?” asked Landon. “Haven’t seen anything like that around.”

“Ah well,” said Greg as he pulled his eggs out onto a plate, motioning to Landon that the kitchen was free. “It was Bear Beach, right? Should be able to GPS it.”

Landon didn’t reply as he pulled a frozen sausage patty out of the freezer and started to fry it alongside an egg. Greg tried to ease into conversation, “You up to much today?”

“Not really. Campus stuff, then the gym.” Said Landon. “Routine.”

“Yeah, routine.” Said Greg. “Work’s been getting a bit better though lately, which has been alright.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I guess I’m doing different spreadsheets now. Inventory and whatnot.”

“Makes sense.” Said Landon, as if he knew all about Greg’s work.

Greg finished up the eggs on his plate. “Yeah, it feels more natural and less boring. Still wish I was doing more though than just sit at the computer.” He threw his plate and utensils into the dishwasher and stretched. “I gotta go, though.”

Landon turned from the stovetop. “Already? Alright, I’ll see you tonight.” He said, approaching Greg and pulling him into a big hug, which Greg fully reciprocated before leaving and heading out for the drive to work.

Greg arrived at work and went straight to his cubicle, his coworkers giving him some strange looks as he headed straight to the break room to brew some coffee. Not repeating the same mistakes from yesterday, he pulled out a coffee grinder out of one of the drawers and finely ground the beans to an acceptable size before running it through the machine.

The same coworker from yesterday entered the office, and took a deep whiff. “Wow, Greg, that smells amazing.” He said. “New blend?”

“It’s a Berry & Axe signature.” Greg replied. “We are trying some new blends though, but for a morning coffee it’s best to go with a classic.”

“We?” his coworker asked. “As in the royal we?”

Greg laughed at his mistake, “It’s still early. This royal we needs our coffee to really get going.” He fished a mug out of the drawer and took a good look at the design. There was a man standing up on the side of the mug, just kind of standing awkwardly. Greg thought it was kind of strange, but a mug was a mug, so he poured the fresh black brew into the mug before returning the pot to the brewer and taking the fresh coffee to his desk.

“Let’s see what we have today.” Said Greg to himself as he booted up his emails. There was another inventory sheet, as well as some emails for “customer management”. It seemed like a strange practice that they wanted him to do it when his usual job was balancing budgets for the insurance company, but he was happy to have a different task to do.

He opened up the document to see a list of messages with email addresses attached to them. They seemed to be addressing various praises or complaints about some restaurant or something, the content was vague enough that Greg couldn’t quite tell. At the very end were the login credentials for an email account – CustomerService@BnACaf.com. Greg assumed he had to send his replies from there, so he logged out of his email and signed into the new one. Sure enough, the same messages were there in the inbox. That was convenient, as he could reply to each email alone.

He scrolled to the lowest unread message and read its contents. It was a message praising some new product, a frozen chilled beverage. Greg had never really liked such things, but he knew they were very popular, especially among younger people. He stood out, he supposed, among his age bracket. He started typing an eloquent reply thanking the customer for their praise, and paused once he had finished the body of the message.

It was certainly odd that the company was being used for outsourcing when their usual expertise was insurance, but the new work was welcome, even if he didn’t really have the context for it. Still, he couldn’t sign off with his own name and the name of the company he worked for. An idea came quickly to his mind, he could sign off using the name that he’d received yesterday from the email that had butchered it.

Thinking he was clever, he typed out “Sincerely, Gregroye Thumdson, Berry & Axe Café” and sent off the message. He gave himself a mental pat on the back for his ingenuity, and continued replying to the emails. It felt very second nature to send them off, and even though it was behind a computer, being able to interact with real people in some capacity felt far more fulfilling. Work had been good to him this week.

Between emails, Greg reached for his coffee mug and went to take a sip, noting that it was empty. ‘Already?’ he thought, but when he looked at the clock it was already 12:15 PM. He supposed that time flies when the work is actually enjoyable, but coffee was a necessity. He got up and tucked in his chair, heading to the coffeemaker.

A few men were sitting around the lunch table as Greg walked in with the intent of refilling his coffee. He was happy to see that there was already coffee waiting in the coffeemaker. He said his hellos as he went to refill his mug.

“Your mug’s a little risqué, don’t you think?” asked one of the men sitting at the desk.

“Huh?” Greg piped up, looking closer at it. The color of the mug seemed a bit darker. He spun it around in his hands and saw the drawing of the man there, standing with his arms behind his head, wearing a black cap, leather pants/boots, and a harness. “Just stylistic.” He said.

“I’d call it a bit showoffy, but you can do as you please, I guess.” The office worker replied, a bit of a huffy tone in his voice.

Greg hmphed, filling his coffee quickly. If the atmosphere was so rude in the break room, he had no intention on staying and fraternizing. He quickly paced back to his desk, where he took a sip of the coffee. It was disappointing in flavor – clearly some cheap brand instead of the speciality stuff from earlier. How people could have such garbage taste in coffee eluded Greg, but it was better than nothing he supposed as he nursed it while going over his documents.

Replying to more emails and filling out an inventory sheet went by quickly, as well as some quick balances on a financial sheet left for Greg from the same company. It was only 2:45 and he found himself finished for the day. Rather than sit around, Greg elected to leave as he signed out of his email, shut the computer off, and picked up his mug to head to his car. His exit turned some heads, which Greg presumed was only because he was leaving so early on a Friday. But hey, with no work to do he figured the time would be wasted sitting in a cubicle.

Greg got in his car and turned the ignition, realizing he had a couple of hours to burn and nothing to really do with them. His brain was on autopilot as he pulled out of the lot with the intent to return home. He wasn’t really thinking, just embracing the happiness of being off early on a Friday. He hardly even noticed when he’d pulled up into a drive-thru and was at the speaker being asked his order.

He snapped to it, as he spoke up, clearing his throat heartily before speaking. “Yes, I’ll have a large Dark Roast, black.” He coughed afterwards, trying to clear his throat again. His voice was coming out deep. Greg hoped he wasn’t sick, especially with that beach festival tomorrow.

“Got it boss!” the voice on the other side end. “Drive up through.”

Greg readied his wallet and drove up to the window, waiting for only a single car to pass before he was through. He was met by a chipper young lad. “Hey boss, what brings you by on your day off?”

“Never a day off,” laughed Greg. “I just needed coffee, I guess.”

“Nothing like your own brews, huh?” asked the employee. “I’d say that’s narcissistic, but we do make excellent coffee at Berry & Axe.”

“Mmm, yes you do.” Said Greg, ignoring the strange comment as the employee handed him the coffee. “Aren’t I supposed to pay you first?” he asked, confused.

“You? Since when?” the lad asked very honestly.

Greg was puzzled. He couldn’t quite remember ever paying for the Berry & Axe coffee. He felt like he should be, but couldn’t come up with any examples of him actually doing it. He settled on free stuff being good, and laughed. “Good question.”

The employee laughed along, “Good seeing you boss. Have a good weekend, and I’ll see you Monday.”

Greg nodded and thanked the kid again for the free coffee, and drove off. Being called boss was good. He liked that. He liked free coffee, too. The comment about Monday didn’t strike him as odd. It was good to be a regular… or something like that.

The rest of his drive was peaceful. A perk of being off early Friday was that there was no traffic, so he arrived home quickly. He parked the car and brought everything inside, sipping the fresh coffee out of the paper cup. He looked at his mug again, the drawing of the proud man on it fully decked out in leather with his hairy pits shown to the world. Greg rolled his eyes as he thought of the comment he’d received at work today. Some people were just buzzkills, he thought as he placed it in the dishwasher.

With extra time to spare before dinner, Greg was struck with the urge to try and work out. Landon was probably at the gym, but Greg could work at home. Thankfully, there was a big clear space in the common area that he could use. He went to his room and pulled out a yoga mat, setting it down out in the clearing.

What constituted a home workout? Greg wasn’t entirely sure. Pushups sounded like a good start. He dropped down and got into the position, gripping the yoga mat with his hands and toes, and started doing pushups. As he did them, his breathing got heavier and he was starting to tire after only a few. “What the hell?” he gasped, wondering why it was so difficult to do just a few pushups. He couldn’t be that out of shape.

Greg got up to check his phone. Maybe his form was off. He did a quick stretch – putting his arms above his head and sticking his chest out. As he pulled back into a regular posture, his chest stayed where it was as his pectorals grew in size, filling out. He thumbed through the browser on his phone until he came across some photos on proper form. “Oh, duh!” he exclaimed, “Gotta keep my elbows in.”

Greg dropped back to the floor, holding his arms steady to his body, as he resumed his exercise. This time, Greg had no problem easily clearing 10 pushups. He continued going up and down, as his arm muscles grew wider to support him. He swore he could’ve seen his hands growing larger, but laughed the idea off as his vision getting a bit off from exercise, which he hadn’t done in a while.

Still though, Greg felt good as he went through various motions: situps, crunches, lunches, without tiring or running out of breath. ‘I should really start doing this daily’ he thought to himself, and then realized that he could just accompany Landon to the gym. It was that simple, and having a workout buddy was always good.

He wrapped up, and wiped some sweat from his brow, as Greg went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. He pulled out some homogenized milk and poured it into a waiting blender, along with several scoops of protein powder, some spinach, berries, and peanut butter. Greg blended the ingredients for several seconds, making sure it was well mixed, and poured himself a thick protein shake into a large glass.

He went to make rice in the same manner as yesterday as Greg started drinking the shake. It was delicious, he’d really perfected the art of balancing the ingredients to get the perfect taste. It was, after all, second nature to him, he thought as he enjoyed the smooth beverage. It wasn’t long before it was empty, and the rice was started on the stovetop.

Greg was cooking away as the door jingled, Landon coming in from his daily workout. He set his gym bag down and went in for a sweaty hug which Greg fully embraced, hugging him back and not caring about the warm sweat on their bodies. “How was your day?” Landon asked.

“Great!” exclaimed Greg, “I got off early and had some time for a home workout.”

“Oh, you went here? I wish you would’ve come with me.” Said Landon.

“Yeah, I realized I should’ve mid-workout but that’s fine, I’ll go with you Sunday.” Greg affirmed.

“Great, looking forward to it.” His roommate replied. “What are you making?”

“Huge pot of rice with some veg, going to fry some pork soon.”

“Sounds good. I was planning on ordering takeout if you wanted any?” Landon asked.

“You know I don’t eat takeout,” Greg replied. Health food was much more important to him, and eating takeout after a workout would be a waste. “Bad habit.”

“It’s a treat, Greg.” Landon laughed. “But if you’re cooking for us I’d rather have your cooking anyway.”

“Thanks,” Greg replied, beaming with pride. “It shouldn’t be too long before it’s ready.”

“Great. I’m gonna go shower,” said Landon, looking at Greg and noticing just how sweaty he was. “You didn’t, eh?”

“Hey! Don’t need to call me out!” Greg exclaimed, defensively. “And why bother? Since when are you afraid of the scent of a man?”

“Gross, dude.” Landon replied, half-heartedly, but it sounded like he was thinking something over. “But not wrong. I’m going to shower anyway.”

Greg smirked as Landon threw his bag in his room, grabbing a towel and headed to the bathroom. While he waited, he threw some pork on the stove. It wasn’t long until it was fried, and Greg loaded up two plates heaping with rice, veggies, and meat. He poured some glasses of milk along with it.

In a couple of minutes, Landon entered the kitchen and sat down next to where Greg was eating. “Thanks for dinner, man. Your cooking really is the best.”

“Always glad to cook for you, Landon,” Greg said, smiling. “And I will always accept compliments, too.”

Landon chuckled as they ate their dishes, talking about their workouts. As Landon talked about his back day, Greg thought over that he really did need to start going to the gym with his roommate. Bodyweight exercise was sufficient, but not being able to use machines and weights put him at a disadvantage when it came to getting big. He affirmed again that he’d go with Landon on Sunday to the gym.

Soon after, the two men finished eating, and all the dishes were in the dishwasher, which Landon started after putting in some detergent. “Movie soon?” he asked as they walked into the common area, by where Greg had laid out his mat.

“Sure, I’m doing nothing for the rest of the night other than that.” Replied Greg, picking the mat up and rolling it up for storage.

Landon replied, “Great. We can do it now, then. Just let me get a bit more comfortable.” He said, heading to his room.

Greg nodded as he returned his mat and grabbed his laptop, thinking about what movie they could put on. Nothing came strongly to him yet again. He made his way to the TV, going behind it to make sure the settings were still good and the cords were all in the right places. Landon came over and stood behind him. When Greg affirmed everything was good to go, he turned and was gifted with the vision of Landon, standing shirtless right in front of him.

“Jeeze man, you really need to do some manscaping. There are hairs poking out of your shoulders.” Teased Greg.

“Speak for yourself, I can see dark hairs poking out of your neck!” retorted Landon.

Greg paused. “Looking at my chest, huh? Like what you see?”

Landon let out a cheeky grin. “Sure do, bud.” He stepped forward and gave the top of Greg’s chest a rub. “Like what I feel too.”

Greg laughed awkwardly. Landon’s touch felt good, getting his chest fur rubbed – wait, his chest fur? Greg made a note to shave. He snapped back, “A bit forward there, huh?”

Landon just smiled, stepping back. “What do you have in mind for a movie tonight?”

“Well, we’ve already done an action movie and a comedy, so why not keep the genre rotation and put on a romance movie tonight?” asked Greg.

“Sounds like a good idea.” Landon replied, heading to the kitchen briefly. “I’ll bring back some drinks.”

Greg plugged his laptop into the TV and searched through movies. He scrolled through the list of romantic movies, trying to find something with gay protagonists. He wanted to make sure that Landon knew that he was okay with his sexuality, even is Landon wouldn’t outright tell Greg that he was gay. He settled on one as Greg brought a bottle of whiskey and two glasses to the sofa and sat right next to Greg, handing him a glass.

“Where’d you get this? That’s a high quality brand!” Greg exclaimed.

“Liquor store.” Landon replied, matter-of-factly, before taking a sip of his drink.

Greg nodded and took a sip, shuddering for a moment afterwards. It was definitely stronger than the beers he normally drank, but he did have to admit that he felt.. grown-up, having this strong whiskey. He leaned over to start the movie.

The opening narrative started, as Greg felt Landon lean into him, and pull his arm around Greg’s back, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him in a bit. Greg took a large gulp of his drink, and on a whim decided to cuddle right into him. It was comfortable, and warm. Greg had to admit, this felt good, even if he wasn’t gay. Probably.

The roommates sat there cuddled up for quite some time watching the movie, only occasionally taking a break to refill their drinks. Neither man was keeping track of their intake, so they found themselves mildly tipsy as they watched the movie, sharing their warmth. On screen the two protagonists were sharing a dance, and talking about their love.

“They’re gonna kiss..” said Landon, as Greg looked up to the man holding him tightly. He felt something burning inside him as he paid half attention to the movie, staring into his roommate’s eyes. They were so pretty. Without another thought Greg leaned up and pressed his lips against Landon’s.

His roommate reacted in brief shock, but quickly calmed down and mutually responded, opening his lips and inviting Greg’s tongue in. Greg broke the kiss, seemingly shocked at his own behavior. “Sorry, I don’t know what came over me, I -” he stammered, but was shushed by Landon, who was giving him a warm smile.

Landon motioned to Greg’s crotch, where his bold erection was not hidden at all in his pants. “You don’t have to tell me anything, Greg,” he said, “But we can just watch the movie.”

“Yeah. Sorry.” Replied Greg. “I uh.. I’m not gay. I think.”

“It’s okay, man. Seriously.” Said Landon, turning his attention back to the movie.

Greg sat there, awkwardly, trying to focus on the movie, but he couldn’t help but feel like a dumbass instead. Why was he acting like a stupid schoolgirl with a crush? This was his roommate, someone he knew well. He sighed, and leaned back into Landon. “We don’t have to talk about it, but can you go back to holding me? …I liked that.”

Landon simply nodded as Greg curled into him. It was comfortable. The TV was continuing to play the movie, but Greg was hardly paying attention, in mixed emotions from the warmth of the cuddle to trying to process the kiss he just had. He ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it to rack his brain, and sat there, semi-spaced out as he watched the movie and sipped whiskey.

Soon enough the credits were rolling, and Greg looked up to see Landon smiling warmly at him again. “We can pretend this never happened if you don’t want to talk about it.”

Greg sighed. “I mean.. I like this, and I don’t want to pretend it never happened, but it’s just so.. sudden. You know? Maybe we shouldn’t talk about it.”

“That’s fine.” Replied Landon, letting go. “Though if you ever want to do it again, I’d gladly do so in a heartbeat.”

Greg felt his heart go aflutter for a moment as he blushed and let out a small laugh. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, motioning to get up. He felt a bit of a head rush as he stood, no doubt from the liquor. “Ugh. I had more than I thought.”

“Since when do you have trouble holding your liquor?” asked Landon, shuffling to a more comfortable position on the couch now that he was sitting alone.

“It’s fine, just a small rush. I’m going to go to bed though.” Greg said, smiling at Landon and heading to his room.

He stripped his clothes off and threw them in the hamper, hardly noticing that nearly the entire bottom of his underwear had given way, far more than the pair yesterday. He hopped into bed, fully naked, and tried to sort out his thoughts.

Landon liked him. And Greg was pretty sure he liked Landon back. But that would be gay, which he wasn’t, unless he was, and he didn’t know if he wanted to be, as if he even had a choice. He’d never thought about being with a man before, not even given one a second look in public or at the gym. And now he was hardcore crushing on his roommate, wanting to be held.

At least Landon said they didn’t have to talk about it, which meant that Greg had all the time in the world to process it. Or deny it, forever. Tomorrow they’d drive to the beach and hang out and drink beers and talk about girls. Or he’d talk about girls and Landon could do whatever. It wouldn’t be awkward at all.

As Greg gave himself a pep talk in his head, the little voice in the back of his head kept saying he was in denial. He was trying his best to shut it up, but he had to admit that more than ever he wanted Landon to hold him tight as they drifted off to sleep, cuddled up. Instead, he suppressed his thoughts, painfully, as he hugged a pillow and fell asleep.

–

Saturday, and Greg was up early. He knew that he’d agreed to go to Bear Beach with Landon today, but he’d practically woken up at the same time as a work day, so early. He did feel alert enough to continue on with his routine though, so he got up and showered. It was also probably useful to have some time to himself to process what happened last night while he showered.

He stepped out and looked in the mirror, puzzled at his reflection. His stubble was back in full force. Greg could remember shaving yesterday, as clear as day. Maybe he was going through some adult second puberty? He was aware that men grew into facial and body hair as they aged, but to gain it so suddenly was a bit of a shock. In any case, Greg wrote it off as a practical problem and removed the stubble from his face, checking that it was clean afterwards. He looked down at his chest. The little bit of fluff that was there yesterday seemed a bit thicker. After a bit of debate, Greg decided to keep it. It was masculine, and he liked that.

He walked down the hall clad only in his towel and headed back to his room where he got dressed. The fact that it was a beach day meant nothing to Greg, as he dressed the same as every other day – a blue graphic tee with a superhero logo and some jeans. He threw some beach gear into a bag, a different towel, sunglasses, slides, simple stuff that he thought he would need.

Greg stepped out and quickly prepared breakfast. If things started at 10AM they wanted to be there at least an hour early. Greg told himself it was good etiquette, and also they could secure parking that way. With that in mind, he started frying a large pan of scrambled eggs.

The scent must have woke up Landon, as he came out of his room fairly groggy looking. “Morning buddy.” Said Greg. If he made this normal, they could ignore last night and everything would be fine.

“Morning man,” Landon replied. “You making breakfast for us?”

“Yeah. Lots of scrambled eggs. Protein and the good cholesterol.” Greg nodded.

“Great. I guess I’ll get changed then, we can go right after we eat.”

Landon disappeared into his room as Greg finished up the eggs and plated them, distributing half onto his own, and half for Landon whenever he got back. Greg salted and peppered his own eggs and started eating. Time was of the essence. Landon must’ve thought so too, as momentarily he was out of his room, fully dressed. Greg looked him over.

“Black shorts?” asked Greg. “That’s a fashion statement. And you’re going to melt in the heat out there.”

“Commenting on my fashion choices is rich coming from you, Greg.” Landon ribbed his roommate. “I don’t think I’ve seen you in anything other than what you’re wearing now.”

“Hey, I’m nothing if not consistent.” Greg replied.

Landon had to concede that one, raising his eyebrows and smiling. “Thanks for the breakfast man.” He said, starting to eat.

“My pleasure.” Greg replied, as the two sat and consumed their food. Within a span of minutes the two men finished their eggs and the plates were in the sink, along with the frying pan and spatula.

“Hold on,” said Landon, going to the bathroom briefly before Greg left their apartment. He returned with a bottle of sunscreen. “Probably important.”

Greg nodded in agreement and waited his turn as Landon squeezed a large glob of sunscreen into his hands before passing it over to Greg. Greg did the same and started rubbing the cream into his skin, making sure to get all over. He looked at Landon. “That hair doesn’t get in the way?”

“What hair?” asked Landon.

“Your shoulders, they look a little fuzzy.” Replied Greg, pointing at one of them.

“So? I can still sunscreen my skin.”

“Fair enough.” Said Greg, finishing up the sunscreen. “Let’s head out.” He grabbed his bag, and headed out the door as Landon followed suit. Greg climbed into the passenger seat of Landon’s car and threw his bag in the back. Landon followed suit, getting in, depositing his belongings, and turning the ignition.

“So, do we actually know where this is?” asked Greg.

Landon tried to think for a moment. “Thought I did, but doesn’t come to mind. GPS it?”

Greg did so as if it was an order, clipping his phone into the waiting mount and plugging in directions. It quickly calculated a route which Greg approved, and they were off.

The ride was fairly quiet. As the GPS barked out directions, Greg wondered if Landon didn’t want to talk to him due to the events last night. He figured that wasn’t true though, as if it were that bad they probably wouldn’t even be going to the beach together in the first place. He couldn’t think of anything worth saying though, so he stared out the window.

The scenery felt very familiar to Greg. Though he had never been to this beach before, the route felt familiar, in an almost nostalgic kind of way. He pressed the button to open the window a crack, feeling a nice breeze.

The car pulled onto the gravel parking lot of Bear Beach, as directions from the GPS instructed. The sun shone brightly, the morning sky a bright blue, but the beach was practically deserted. “Not a single car in sight!” exclaimed Greg. “There’s no way this isn’t a setup.”

“Look, though.” Said Landon, taking one hand off the wheel to point down at the beach. “I don’t see any people, but there’s definitely some stuff down there. Besides, we’re massively early.”

Sure enough, he was right. It was hard to see, exactly, but there were various scatterings on the beach. Greg could make out a volleyball net, some booths. It even looked like there was a little beach hut. “Maybe we’ll have a private beach getup!” he exclaimed. Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.

The two men got out of the car and descended the wooden stairs, meeting the beach. “I’m starting to rethink my wardrobe choices.” Said Greg, realizing that jeans were definitely less than ideal for whatever they were doing. “Didn’t they say something about a dress code, too?”

“They?” asked Landon.

Greg sighed, clearly his roommate wasn’t going to be any help here. He surveyed the beach. It was a beautiful day and the beach reflected that – the ocean was a beautiful blue and the sand’s light shade contrasted it. Greg looked east, seeing the volleyball net set up, and what looked like booths. He wondered what they could be for, as they had no labels and nobody in them.

To the west there were more booths, as well as a beach hut type building. Greg assumed that the restrooms were in there, because there were no portapotties in sight.

“Well. We’re here. Did you want to like, lie on the beach or something?” asked Greg, unsure of what to actually do. “I don’t really feel like swimming right now.”

“Sure. Let’s get a nice spot.” Said Landon as they walked towards the beach, watching the waves come in and out. He stopped after a short walk and pulled out a towel from his bag, laying it out on the sand. Greg did the same and looked back. They were directly between the beach hut and the ocean. Landon laid down on his towel, spreading his arms out.

“That’s it? We’re just here to lay down and stare at the sky?” Greg asked, displeased.

“I’m sure people will come,” Landon said, “But for now all we can do is wait.”

“I guess so.” Said Greg, taking his spot on the towel he had set down next to Landon, sitting rather than committing all the way to relaxation. He watched the waves of the ocean go in and out, reaching various depths along the shoreline as they alternated between stronger and weaker motion. It was fairly relaxing, he did have to admit, as he got lost in the motion of the ocean.

His trance was broken as he heard distant murmuring behind him, and turned his head. People! It was only three or so men, but it was nice to actually see some other guys on the beach. One of them waved, and Greg waved back, smiling even though they certainly couldn’t see from that distance.

“What’re you doing?” asked Landon.

“People are here!” exclaimed Greg.

“Oh. Great.” Landon replied, making no motion to get up or do anything. “I think I’ll wait a bit longer. Hey, can you pass me my cap?” he asked.

“Sure.” Greg replied, getting up and fishing through Landon’s bag. He rummaged through it, but couldn’t find any such item. “Doesn’t seem to be here.”

“Crap. Must be in the car. You don’t mind?”

“Uh, no. Keys?” Greg asked.

“Don’t you have your own?” Landon asked. “Why would you pull my car key off your key ring?”

Greg was about to retort asking why the hell he’d have the key to Landon’s car, but as he dug out his key ring, there it was, sitting between his own car key and the house key. “Oh, yeah. Forgot, I guess.” Greg replied, before clarifying. “I have it. I’ll be back with your cap.”

He stood up and turned around, only to see that the newcomers to the beach were no longer standing where they were before, instead way off to the side at one of the beach booths. It looked like they were setting up something? Greg made a note to check it out later, but for now he’d do as Landon asked.

Climbing up the stairs and heading to the parking lot, Greg could see a multitude of vehicles in the parking lot. It was far from packed yet, but the number he estimated was in the low teens. He wondered where all the people were, as he unlocked Landon’s car and positioned himself in between the front seats to get a good look at the back.

Sure enough, there was one cap on the floor, but Greg didn’t recognize it. He leaned over, a bit of a difficult task to squeeze between the two front seats, and picked it up, dusting off the part where had contacted the ground. The ball cap was black, which would complement Landon’s monochromatic look well, and had some design of an eagle or some bird on the front.

Greg stepped out of the vehicle and re-locked it, taking a moment to look around again. When had so many people arrived here? The parking lot wasn’t packed, but it was certainly starting to be the bare minimum of what could be defined as a crowd. He let out a loud yawn as he went back to the stairs.

As more of the beach came into view, Greg could see that the traffic in the parking lot wasn’t random; there were a lot of people on the beach. He looked east towards some of the booths and could see that there were men standing inside them, with others on the other side. It looked like they were exchanging.. food? Or something.

Another thing that Greg noticed was that there wasn’t a single woman on the beach, it was all men. He wondered why, but couldn’t come up with any good reason. After all, it was just people showing up. Or something like that.

Greg saw Landon up ahead as he turned by the beach hut. He was standing and talking to two men. His company was a short guy, standing with his arm around the waist of a man a good few inches taller than him. The short guy was absolutely jacked, while the taller guy was fairly lean. It was easy for Greg to tell at a distance due to the revealing clothing they were wearing. He observed, walking closer, as Landon struck a bodybuilding pose and the three men burst into laughter.

They were still chumming it up when Greg arrived. He stuck his hand with the cap out to Landon, “Here you go man.”

Landon took the cap and put it on his head snugly and thanked Greg. The shorter man spoke up, his deep and gruff voice surprising Greg. “This ‘yer man, Lanon?”

“It’s Landon,” he corrected. “And we came together, if that’s what you’re asking for.”

The shorter man mumble something about having an accent, while the taller man took over the conversation. “Came together, eh? Me ‘n Chuck know a lot about that, too.”

Greg’s cheeks flushed red as the men around him all burst into laughter, Landon included. So much for trying to avoid the gay thing, he supposed. His fight or flight response kicked in, the latter activating. “Ha ha ha!” he very awkwardly chimed in, “I’m going to go over to the beach hut. Make sure everything’s uh… going smooth.” He stammered. Wow, what a terrible lie.

Surprisingly though, everyone bought it. “Sounds good, Greg.” Landon replied. “I’ll catch you in a bit.”

Greg nodded, walking away from the scene at a pace faster than his usual walking one. As he headed to the hut, he did his best to ignore everyone on the way there. Though Greg refused to make eye contact with anyone, staring at the sand below him, there were plenty of eyes on him, and he could feel it. Was he radiating embarrassment? He didn’t even want to think of it.

Thankfully, the beach hut wasn’t too far away – he swung the door open and sighed a breath of relief upon finding it empty. While gathering his bearings he took a good look around the room. It looked like some kind of community center, in the sense that there was plenty of open space, and not many fixtures. There were no tables, but there were a few chairs set up at a bar. Basic spirits and liqueurs sat on the shelf, spaced evenly apart for what Greg assumed was display.

There was no appeal in drinking before noon to Greg, and he figured any shack like this ought to have water, so without a care he simply wandered behind the bar and entered the door behind it. The kitchen was impressively large, the building being the type that was bigger on the inside.

His eyes were drawn to a large coffeemaker, which he promptly walked over to and opened the basket, seeing the oversized filter. This had to be a coffee urn, he figured. As if he’d done it a million times, he maneuvered the device around so that it was close to the tap before removing the basket and filling the urn with cold tap water. Nothing wrong with helping himself, he was invited here after all, he figured.

Greg looked through various cupboards in the kitchen and came across a familiar blend of coffee, smiling to see the Berry & Axe branding. Unlike the one at that office, this one was already ground, so he was able to pour it directly into the filter basket. He closed the lid and turned the urn on. It would be a long time until the coffee was ready, about an hour, but at least this way the people here would have access to it. No need to be selfish, right?

Greg plugged in an old coffeemaker in the corner for his own brew, putting in a filter basket and some grinds, with just enough water to fill a paper cup that he’d fished out from a stack in a cupboard. There was some kind of a claw on it. Weird design, Greg thought. He set it down on the counter by the coffeemaker.

Standing and waiting had no appeal, so Greg decided to walk the hut and check it out in a bit more detail. He stepped back out to the main part, and was again greeted with the open space. There would be people in here eventually, he figured, judging from all the cars he’d seen earlier. A good way to pass time and be a good Samaritan would be to unfold some tables and chairs. The bar was there, but surely people would want to sit around in other places.

Greg got to work by heading over to the wall where there were folding tables and chairs tucked away in the corner. He swung the legs out of the frontmost table and turned it 90 degrees, before picking it up with ease. Greg felt that it should’ve been heavier than it was, but wasn’t complaining. His hard work at the gym must’ve been paying off recently, he figured.

He had easily assembled a couple of tables with some chairs around them when he heard the front door of the shack open. He was just placing a table down when he turned his head up to see the guy who had walked in. It looked like some corporate type. Well dressed, with sharp stubble, but he exuded a keep-your-head-down attitude.

He locked eyes with Greg. “Hey, um, is this the Bear Beach festival?” he asked. “I received an invite, but it was pretty vague about what’s actually going on.”

“Uh, I guess.” Greg replied. “It’s Bear Beach, at least.”

“Thanks man. Something confirmed is good. Do you know about all those booths outside?”

“Uh, looks like they’ll be vendors, I think. There were some people setting up in one before I came in here.”

“Gotcha, thanks. I think the invitation said something about a dress code to be aware of too. I’m not sure what that meant, but I brought beach gear. Is there somewhere I can change?” he asked.

His questions were starting to get annoying and Greg was a bit weirded out by them. He was certainly no authority here. Maybe the other man was only acting like he was because Greg was in the shack alone?  “Washrooms over that way.” He said, pointing to one of the walls.

“Thanks. I’ve gotta change. Yeah.” He said to himself, as he walked across the room. Greg heard one last mumble, “That’s what I gotta do,” before the door opened and closed, the locking mechanism making its noise.

What a weird guy, Greg thought, as he resumed putting tables and chairs up, making sure the space was navigable. He headed to the kitchen where he poured his coffee in the paper cup, disposing of the grinds. He took a sip. Tasted good. Sharp, just the way he liked it. The urn was making noises which sounded like coffee was brewing. Whoever stopped by later would be very happy with him, Greg thought as he entered the main room again.

As he stepped out, Greg heard the bathroom door opening, and watched as the man from before stepped out. He was wearing short shorts and a stringer tank top. Beneath his semi-formal clothing from before it turned out there was a fairly strongly built body, and he had really hairy arms.

The man was exuding confidence, which was also new – he had seemed fairly meek before, but he flashed a killer smile and winked at Greg, who was a bit taken aback. The man didn’t seem to notice or care as he walked right up to Greg and aggressively stood within an inch of the man.

Greg was shocked as he felt a hand caress his nipple. “Woof.” The man said, in a guttural bass. “You got some nice tits, daddy bear.”

Greg shook his head, as he managed to sputter out a confused “What!?” Sure, chest day was his favorite day at the gym, but the man was coming across as quite forward to him.

“Playing coy, I see.” The man said, seductively.

“I assure you not, I’m very busy here!” Greg lied, hoping it would make the man go elsewhere. Instead, the hot stud standing beside him only pouted.

“I guess that happens when you’re the heart and soul of Bear Beach, huh. Well, if you want a break, daddy, you know where to find me.” The man said, with a wink, as he exited the beach hut. Greg stared at his ass on the way out as it swung from side to side in the assless chaps he was wearing.

“What the hell was that?” he asked to himself. “I’m going to need a drink.” He said, stepping behind the bar inside the shack. As he went through the various shelves, he saw that there was a lot more there than what he thought earlier when he took a glance. He smiled as he pulled out a nice bottle of brandy and poured a generous shot into his coffee cup before taking a sip. Delightful, he thought, as he put the bottle back.

Greg didn’t have long to rest before Landon walked into the hut. “Grerg, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” He stated.

“Eh?” asked Grerg, moving away from behind the bar to get closer to Landon “Why?”

“Missed you.” Landon said. “It’s getting busy out there.”

“Well, it’s a festival, right?” Grerg said. “Bound to be busy. That’s a good thing. Don’t know about the people showing up though. Someone just came in here and straight up groped my pecs.”

“Oh?” said Landon, smirking, as he moved closer to Grerg and put his hand on Grerg’s big right pectoral. “Like this?” he asked, giving it a squeeze.

Grerg smiled, “Yeah, just like that. But it’s different when you do it, Lanon.”

“I know you well, never been one to shy away from attention.” Replied Lanon, moving his hand under Grerg’s tank top, starting to play with the swirling hair around his nipple, giving the ring in it a little pull, before going for a squeeze.

“We’re in public, man.” Whispered Grerg. “Not that I don’t like this, but..”

He was interrupted by a number of people entering the shack, blatantly seeing Lanon’s hand right under Grerg’s shirt. One of the men whistled, and a few “Woof!”s were heard from among the group. Grerg hated to admit it, but there was something hot about the display of lust being seen by a group of men.

Lanon disengaged, smirking one last time at Grerg. “You should check around outside.” He said, giving Grerg a quick peck on the cheek before going to fraternize. His kiss felt a bit prickly, and as Grerg went to rub it he felt a sandpapery itch on his cheek. He gave it a bit of a scratch before letting it go, as he walked by the group of men laughing and having a rambunctious conversation to see what it was like out on the beach.

It turned out that Lanon was not exaggerating. To say the beach was packed would be a lie, but it was certainly busier than before. There were men playing frisbee, some frolicking in the water, and others just tanning. Grerg still didn’t see a woman in sight, but figured it wasn’t important. If they didn’t want to come, they didn’t have to.

Grerg supposed that he would go check out those booths where the men were setting up earlier. Maybe one of them would have food or something. He walked, taking drinks from his paper coffee cup as he finished the beverage while arriving by the big black wooden stands.

Grerg was lucky, it seemed. There were several booths selling food. A couple were for clothing or having photographs done, but largely it seemed that there were grills and barbecues set up, for several types of food. His stomach growled as he pondered the options, but there was one clear winner in the set: Rocky Mountain Ribs.

He approached the booth and saw a mousy man behind the stand, smiling. “Hey, here for ribs?” the vendor asked.

“It would appear that way,” Grerg replied. “What brings you to the festival?”

“An invitation.” The vendor replied. “I’ve been doing home cooking for a while, but this is the first time I’ve done anything for an event. I have no idea who set me up for this, but look, I have my own sign and name, so I have to be doing something right, huh?”

Grerg hmmed. “Interesting. I’d say so though, yes. How about you rib me?”

“Sure, what kind do you want?”

“Uhh. Barbecue. I guess.” Grerg said, thinking over the weird spiel the vendor had just gone on. Weren’t the food vendors usually a little more established?

“On it!” the vendor replied, turning to a grill behind him and throwing some ribs on it.

“Great. How much?”

“For you? Free.” The vendor smiled.

Grerg couldn’t tell if he was flirting or just being kind, but he wasn’t going to turn down free food. He continued small talk, “So why Rocky Mountain?”

“Well,” the vendor began. “I guess I always was inspired by northwestern food, and culture. Even though we’re pretty far from it, I’ve had this fascination with the Rocky Mountains for years. They’re just a real swell place, you know?”

“I’ve heard,” Grerg replied.

“Yeah, I spent some time there for work, before I decided I wanted to be a chef, right? But where you start learning has a direct uh… impact, yeah, on what you make.” He continued on. His speech was coming at a bit of a slower pace as the pronunciation of some of his words changed, dropping the ends of them or the sound of the letter ‘t’.

“Oh, you lived there?” Grerg asked.

“For years! I love it there, but there’s more opportunity out this way. And festivals like this one. But yeah, one thing I really miss is the grub. Ah well, I can cook my own, and people like it tons! That’s why I founded Rocky Mountain Ribs. More than enough places to get oysters, even if they ain’t the real thing around here.”

“I see, when did you move here?” Grerg asked, throwing his now-empty coffee cup in the garbage bin by the booth.

“Hmm, three or four years back? Big leap to leave the Rockies, given I grew up there, but I think it was the right choice. I’ll go back some day. I miss the Avs and the Donkeys too much, watching it on TV isn’t the same.

“The who?”

“Oh. Hockey and football teams.” The vendor said, his accent thick. “Big sports guy, if you can’t tell.”

“Wouldn’t have guessed, sorry. I don’t really follow myself. Baseball sometimes.” Grerg replied.

“S’alright. Slow for my tastes but the Rox are big too.” The vendor said, before turning and plating some hot ribs in a basket. He set them on the counter. “Here. All yours.”

“Thanks, pal.” Grerg replied, taking the basket. “A pleasure chatting with you, you give the Rockies a good name.”

“Shucks,” The vendor replied, flustered. “Enjoy the ribs!”

Grerg nodded, taking the basket and moving away from the activity to find a place to sit down. He considered moving back to his towel, but there were a number of people there now. His ass getting a little sandy wasn’t the end of the world, he figured as he took a seat in a fairly isolated spot.

He took a cautious bite of the ribs. The vendor had used a lot of sauce. Must’ve been a local thing from where he was from, but it was quite good. Not as hot as Grerg was expecting either. He quickly ate the meat off of the bone and threw it in the basket, taking another out to chew on.

As Grerg chowed down on the ribs, he felt an itching sensation around his lips. He finished the rib he was eating and returned the bone to his basket before realizing his hands were dirty and he couldn’t scratch himself with BBQ-sauce stained fingers. “Shit.” He said to himself as he walked back over to the booth.

“Back again?” the vendor asked. Grerg looked at him a bit funny. Was it the same guy? This man looked a little.. huskier. Like he had some meat on his bones, just like the ribs he was selling.

It didn’t matter. “Yeah,” Grerg replied. “You got any napkins or wet-naps or anything? Didn’t stock up.”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” The vendor replied. “Give me a sec.” He ducked under the counter, and starting humming and hahing to himself. Grerg set his basket down on the counter while he waited, and started drumming on the counter with his fingers, thumb to pinky, while he waited.

“Sorry about that.” The man said, popping back up. Grerg jumped a little standing in place – the man was absolutely massive, how had he not noticed before? He was wearing only a vest, which with the sheer amount of hair there Grerg was sure was some kind of health violation, but he also kind of didn’t care.

The man noticed him staring and bounced his pecs for a moment. “I know you came here for napkins, but you can give ‘em a touch once you clean your hands if you want.”

The aggressive flirting took Grerg back to reality. There must’ve been some horny energy on the beach today, having the gay men flirt with him like that. He spoke up, “I love your pecs, Cliff, but I can’t,” he quickly tried to come up with an excuse that the vendor would buy, without realizing that he’d namedropped him. “Don’t think my husband would like that.”

“Boo.” The vendor replied, setting the wet-naps down. “Since when is Lanon so possessive over a quick touch?”

Wow, his friendship with Lanon was so close that it was immediately bought as the truth. “Uh, dunno. Just doesn’t feel right.” Grerg replied, taking a wet-nap and opening the package, wiping his hands with it. He then wiped his lip with the same napkin, as Cliff continued talking.

“I guess. Looks like you’ve missed a spot, buddy.” He said. “Try your lip again.”

Grerg grunted as he took the wet-nap to his upper lip and rubbed it vigorously, making sure to not miss anywhere. As he covered his skin, it began to itch even more, which he found very annoying. It felt like he was being… poked. He pulled the napkin away, “Got it?”

Cliff laughed, “How’d’ya manage to clean your upper lip and get sauce on the sides? Almost, Grerge.”

Grerge sighed. The itching wouldn’t stop, so he took the cloth to his upper lip again first, wiping the skin. As he swiped back and forth, the poking sensation grew stronger as soft brown bristles started to grow out of his follicles, an impressive mustache forming over his clear skin. He continued to swipe down the sides of his mouth as new hairs burst out of his face, making a point to wipe all the way down to his chin so that he’d be sure to get it all. He’d give Cliff no reason to rib him again.

As he removed the wet-nap from his skin and tossed it in a waiting garbage pail, he grinned at Cliff, his prominent horseshoe stache featuring on his face. “How do I look?”

“Like a piece of prime rib yourself. Woof.” Said the bear behind the counter.

“Feel free to compliment me as much as you like, Cliff.” laughed Grerge.

“Always known you to like attention, pal.” Cliff responded as Grerge resumed eating his ribs, careful to not get any sauce in his luxurious mustache hairs. “No wonder Lanon gets jealous.”

“Eh,” replied Grerge between mouthfuls of meat, keeping the illusion up that he’d made earlier. “He’s my number one, and he knows it.”

“That’s cute.” Cliff replied, “Y’all are really model citizens.”

“Something like that.” Grerge replied, finishing the last rib in his basket. He wiped his hands and discarded the wet-nap and the disposable basket. “I’ll pop over later, ‘right Cliff?” he asked, then reached in and gave Cliff’s hairy pec a squeeze. “Woof.”

“Heh, knew you couldn’t resist.” Cliff chuckled, winking. “Go do your stuff.”

Grerge nodded, stepping away. He wasn’t sure what Cliff meant exactly by “his stuff”, but he could keep wandering the beach and seeing what there was to see. It was getting quite busy out, there were a large number of men of all sizes standing around the volleyball area, bumping a ball around. One saw Grerge and turned his body to face him. “Grerge! Grerge! You’re here!”

Grerge walked over to the muscular man calling his name out. A name came to his head as a smile crossed his face. “Cam!” he said enthusiastically. He wasn’t sure where from, but Cam was familiar to him from somewhere.

“Glad you can make it!” the muscled young man said, “I was wondering if work had been too tolling on you lately, old man.” He laughed.

“Of course I made it, and who’re you calling old man?” Grerge asked, somewhat defensively. “And this week at work has been great!”

“I know, I was there.” Cam laughed. “I don’t know why, but the café has been really vibrant this week.”

“Berry & Axe? I was answering emails for them the other day.” Replied Grerge.

“Uhhh.. I would hope so.” Cam said, as if Grerge’s comment was awkward. “Still great to see you here outside of work.”

“Yeah, what can I say, I try to keep my life varied.” Grerge said, giving a generic reply.

Before Cam replied, another voice hollered for him to rejoin their volleyball game. “Hey boss, I gotta get back to the game, but thanks for all this, alright?” he said, running off before Grerge had a chance to reply.

Grerge pondered over how odd that exchange was while going back to his beachcombing, taking a slow look-see of what was around. Cam was usually a pretty laid back guy, he knew… for some reason. Athletic too, Grerge didn’t know how he had the time to do full time classes, work at Berry & Axe, and also do as much sport as he did.

Jeeze, it was a long time ago since Grerge had done the same. He thought. College felt like so long ago, but as he tried to recall his time there, he was coming up with a blank. The prime of his youth felt so long ago. As he strolled along the beach, watching the volleyball game, the years started to catch up with his physical appearance as forehead lines and crow’s feet by his eyes made themselves visible.

Small hairs started to poke out on his cheeks and under his lips, a stark white in contrast to his brown mustache hairs. They rapidly grew in to fill the gap areas on his face, the same silky smooth texture as his mustache. The hair on his chest was undergoing a similar change, thickening and turning brilliant white as it became smoother and fluffier. Within a minute, Grerge’s face was the paragon of maturity – his age complementing his handsome appearance rather than detracting from it.

As Grerge was enjoying the muscular hunks playing volleyball, he saw a shadow from his peripheral vision and felt a swat on the butt. He jumped as his glutes vibrated, growing out just a little thicker. He turned to see a familiar face. “Lonan!”

“Enjoying the game?” his roommate asked, giving a warm smile through his thick goatee.

“Enjoying the view.” Gregre replied with a knowing tone-of-voice. “But it’s better now that you’re here.”

Lonan made an affirmative sound as he put his shoulder around Gregre and started to pull him tight. Gregre recoiled at the touch, as he felt something hot contact his skin. “Yow!” he exclaimed as Lonan let go. He looked at Lonan, who had leather patches on the arms of his shirt, going three-quarters of the way down his sleeves. “What are you wearing?” he asked. “The leather is hot to the touch in this sun.”

“No problem with being hot, Gerge.” Lonan said, as Gerge rolled his eyes.

“I mean, looking at you, no there isn’t. But I don’t know how you wear that leather – no matter how much you pull it off.” The leather sleeves did look kind of weird on Lonan, as did the hat with the short leather brim angled down. His leather shorts and tall boots did look good though, even if the small ring of hairy leg between them did look a bit comical.

“Used to it.” Lonan replied, motioning to Gerge that he was available if he wanted to hold arms again.

Gerge moved in, “You know, Cliff today was hitting on me hard, and I was intimidated for a moment so I told him we were married to get him to back off.”

“Heh. Could you imagine. Us? Married?” Lonan replied.

Gerge paused for a moment. For some reason that comment hurt a little, even though the idea was truly absurd. He laughed, not really hiding the pain that well. “Definitely not.”

“Since when do you turn down flirting anyway? This festival is paradise, and there are plenty of guys here who’d give you more than the time of day.”

“I was just nervous.” Gerge said. “I ended up squeezing his pec. He’s got really big ones.”

“As good as mine?”

“No one’s are as good as yours,” Gerge said, before cracking a joke, “Except maybe mine!”

“Of course you’d say that.” Lonan replied, looking over at Gerge as he made a point to reach his hand into his shirt and scratch his chest. As he did, the neck of the shirt gained depth, staying deep while Gerge pulled his hand out. A thick tuft of white hair was visible poking out of the chest, and though it was hard to see under the fur, a tribal tattoo could be seen.

“I mean, am I wrong?” Gerge asked, puffing his chest out so Lonan could see.

“No. I like your chest.” Lonan said, before airing out his confusion, “Since when do you have a tribal tattoo?”

“Um, since forever? I don’t know, I got it sometime in the 70s.” Gerge said, before pausing. That didn’t sound right, but he knew it was true.

“Right. Forgot.” Lonan said.

The two stood there, arm in arm until the match ended. Cam’s team won, which made Gerge happy to watch. As the men disbanded for the next group to start their game, Gerge wormed his way out of Lonan’s embrace. “Alright, I’m going to check up on things. I hear a distinct lack of music that I think could be addressed.”

“Alright. I’m going to talk to some of the leather bears.” Lonan said. Before Gerge could get away, Lonan grabbed his hand and Gerge turned around to see Lonan leaning down towards him. Gerge knew what was coming and embraced for a quick kiss on the lips. “See you soon.” Lonan said after as he turned and walked away, leaving Gerge there.

Gerge was stupefied. He couldn’t believe that just 10 minutes ago he’d said that he couldn’t imagine being married to Lonan. His cheeks flushed red as the idiotic comment replayed itself again and again in his head. Screw whatever happened yesterday, he did want to talk about it. He and Lonan had something more than.. nothing. It was just chemistry.

Gerge steeled himself as he took a deep breath. He’d talk to Lonan and assert himself when he saw him next. Until then, he did say he was going to do something about the lack of the beach music, and Gerge was a man of his word.

The big speakers were easy enough to spot, sitting below a large stage even further east of the volleyball game. A curtain separated the stage from the crowd. There were a number of men around standing below it, in various states of dress: leather, sportswear, casualwear, some even wearing nothing. Gerge adjusted his dick in his crotch as he walked by the crowd, heading behind the stage where a couple of confused men were standing.

Gerge’s presence quickly caught one of their attention. He looked fairly out of place among the men on the beach, being a bit on the weedier side and wearing a polo and jeans. “Oh, hey! I recognize you, you’re uh..”

“Gerge.” He introduced himself. “I’m here to get some music rolling, it seems it’s delayed. Can I help you men?”

“Uh, yeah.” Spoke the other one. He was similarly plain looking, Gerge noticed as he looked at his khakis and tee. “We got some invitation about the Bear Beach Festival? The guys we’ve spoke to have kind of pointed us in this direction. Apparently we ‘look techie’ and can fix the sound, though I’m not sure that’s true.”

“Oh? What do you do?” Gerge asked.

Polo shirt spoke up. “I’m an electrical engineer. The name’s Andrew.” He stuck his hand out, to which Gerge gave a handshake with his meaty paw.

Khakis followed suit after he caught Gerge looking his way after a small pause. “Oh, I’m uh, Shawn. I work in marketing.”

“Interesting. You boys know how to work a soundboard?” Gerge asked.

Simultaneously, Andrew said “Yes.” while Shawn said “No.”

“Well,” Gerge replied. “One of you’ll do. Here Andrew, come with me.”

“Sure,” said Andrew, as Gerge took him backstage.

Gerge started monologuing as Andrew took in the large stage, seeing everything all around. “I’ve always said a festival isn’t a festival without live performance, right? It’s what makes things lively. We can sit around and play volleyball and eat and drink all day, but people love live music, drag shows, comedy, the whole nine yards.”

Andrew found himself agreeing as Gerge spoke up, “It’s great that you’re able to do this for us, Ardrew.” He paused for a moment. “For the festival, yeah.”

Ardrew nodded, “I’m glad to. You have an amplifier set up at the back, right?”

“Umm,” said Gerge, turning and looking behind him. “I think?” There was some large device with several plugs and sliders which a computer was plugged into. An electric guitar sat against it.

“Yeah, I recognize one when I see it.” Ardrew said. “I guess I’m almost ready, then?”

“The sooner you start, the better.” Gerge replied, but took a moment to look Ardrew over. “But are you really going to wear that on stage, Ardrer?”

“Huh?” Ardrer asked. “I guess my tight shirt isn’t the best look, huh.”

“I don’t care about that, but you’ll blend into the stage.” Gerge replied.

Ardrer was already ripping the shirt off, pulling the fabric over his head. It was much tighter than it had been a moment ago – as he slowly pulled the shirt up a hairy ball gut was revealed, freeing itself with a heavy sigh from Ardrer. He struggled with the shirt as he tried to get the collar over his neck, letting a series of deeper and deeper grunts out until he finally removed his shirt, now inside out, and threw it onto the side of the stage.

“Much better,” Ardrer said in a smooth bass, the perfect velvet voice for projecting over a large crowd. He adjusted the waist of his pants as they expanded for his thick stature and became a comfortable leather pair.

“Looking good, Arthur. I trust you can start the show?” Gerge asked.

“Yeah, easy. Thanks for coming over and checking on everything. Good when shit runs smoothly, eh cap’n?” Arthur asked.

“Cap’n, huh? That’s a new one.” Gerge replied.

“Was referring to your tat.” Arthur said, pointing at Gerge’s right shoulder. Sure enough, there was art of a wooden boat with a disproportionally large anchor hanging from it. “Looks good on you, by the way. Woof.”

“Woof right back at ya, stud. Plenty of time to flirt later though, the crowd can only entertain itself for so long.” Gerge replied. “Looking forward to hearing more.”

Gerge left backstage as he saw Shawn awkwardly waiting around. “The hell are you doing, boy?” he asked.

“Um, waiting. You only took Andrew with you.” Shawn replied, his nerdy and nasally voice contrasting Gerge’s authoritative deep voice.

“The music won’t start without you, bud. Get back there, things are on a timeline here.” Gerge commanded.

“Uh, yes sir!” Shawn said, before awkwardly speedwalking backstage.

Heh, sir. Gerge liked being called that. He began his walk back towards the hut with a newfound confidence in his step. As he paced, his jeans began to tear apart at the bottom edge, the unravelling string fading into nothingness, leaving his furry legs on display over some dad sneakers and tall Nastypig socks pulled up all the way. The action stopped just above his kneecaps as the waist gained some elasticity, enough to make his booty stick out a little more.

As Gerge was making his walk back, he heard cheering behind him when he was at the volleyball court. He turned, and could hear clearly over the microphone Arthur’s voice: “Hey Bear Beach! Make some noise for Goldilocks and the Gay Bears!”

Gerge smiled, happy everything was going smoothly. This was clearly a good sign, and gave him the energy he wanted to go talk to Lonan about his feelings.

It was another few minutes of walking until Gerge found what was clearly the group that Lonan was talking about. He didn’t see a single person who was wearing a piece of clothing that wasn’t leather among the group. He reasoned it would be easy for Lonan to find him, at least, if he was going to stick out like a sore thumb.

Gerge weaseled his way through the group, many of the man giving polite greetings on his way as Gerge nodded and said simple hellos. There was a lot of talking, but music from a speaker Gerge couldn’t see was still audible as some men were dancing or at least tapping their feet. He quickly found Lonan grinding up against a taller, muscular man wearing a leather harness and jockstrap, who was clearly into it.

Trying to be smooth, Gerge walked up to them, keeping the beat, and caught the eye of the tall man, who winked at him. Both the tall bear and Lonan angled themselves outward so that Gerge could enter their grinding circle, which he gladly did with sexual energy. Lonan quickly grabbed Gerge’s crotch and gave it a squeeze, which made his boner spring to life.

“Wow, loverboy, feeling frisky?” Gerge asked, and Lonan just grinned, the devious sexual energy radiating from his smirk.

The taller man spoke up. “Man, even if you two are some of the funnest guys I’ve ever met, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cuter couple.”

Gerge blushed, and thanked him as he walked away. “Sorry to ruin your fun, Lonan. I uh, wanted to talk.”

“You? Ruin my fun? Never.” Lonan replied. “Let’s get out of here.” He grabbed Gerge’s hand and started to pace out of the crowd back to the south end of the beach, away from the water. Gerge was jolted only for a small moment, but quickly regained his balance and followed suit. It was only a few steps out of the crowd when he realized that Lonan was still holding his hand, even though there wasn’t any need anymore. Whatever this was, it had to be reciprocal. These things didn’t just happen.

When they arrived by the coarse rocks below the parking lot, Lonan let go, putting his arms by his sides. “What did you want to talk about?” he asked, to the point.

Gerge gulped. “I uh, you know.” He said, stammering over his words all of a sudden. “You know how we agreed we didn’t have to talk about it? Yesterday?”

“Mhm.” Lonan replied, to show he was listening.

“I want to talk about it. I really like you. I mean. In a hot way, yes, I could look at you all day, but also like, in a real way, you know?” Gerge, getting flustered, shook his head. “Sorry, this isn’t easy, I’m acting like some gay kid in his 20s or something-”

Lonan interrupted him. “It’s fine, George. You don’t have to ramble.” He stepped forward, closing the distance between them.

“I’m trying not to! I’m usually good with people, it’s part of my job. I literally talk to people all day at Berry & Axe. But with you I get all nervous and I..”

His words were interrupted as Lonan embraced him in a hug. “Relax. I know how you feel. It’s not just you. We’ve been in this together for how long, now?”

“I don’t know.” George replied. “It’s been years. Or something. Feels like forever. I don’t know why I feel all aflutter now.”

“Hey.” Lonan said, as George stopped speaking.

George stared into Lonan’s eyes, and seemed to understand everything. They were both having trouble expressing themselves, but there was just something in those eyes which told everything. George embraced Lonan in a big hug, which Lonan fully reciprocated. It was truly a moment of intimacy.

Who knew how long it lasted, before it was interrupted by a whistle. “If it ain’t the Hudsons! Look at you lovebirds!” the rich tenor exclaimed.

George let go and turned around, fiddling briefly with his wedding ring’s fit. “Lance! You’re here!” George exclaimed, instantly recognizing an old friend, one of the first people he’d met when he’d moved to the city and started working at bars downtown to make a living.

“I’d never miss Bear Beach Festival, you shouldn’t be surprised. I am surprised though at the life of the party hiding out of sight, been looking for you two all over the place!” the big bear exclaimed.

“Heh, got tuckered out for a moment. It’s been a much busier event this year than ever, and I had to go make sure Goldilocks and the Gay Bears had their setup ready. They started late. Stressful, no matter how much fun we’re having.” George said.

“Ah, well I heard some of their set. You’ve definitely done a good job attracting talent this year.” Lance replied.

“Thanks, though it’s not all me. I’ve Nolan with me every step of the way.” George beamed, his husband smiling quietly beside him.

“Not surprising,” Lance replied. “You two are a power couple. I’d really like to thank you guys for taking the time to organize all of this. You’re real standouts in our community, you know.”

“It’s our pleasure,” Nolan said.

“Yeah, being able to host such a big event for the community is its own reward.” George added.

“Heh, I bet,” laughed Lance. “I’m going to go get drinks. Hope to see you back in the throng.”

George and Nolan took a moment to watch him walk off towards the crowd.

“Friendly guy. Didn’t have to interrupt us though.” Nolan said.

“It’s okay, we are being a bit reclusive. Though it’s nice to reflect, he is right that we should get back out there soon.” George responded, then paused. “But.. maybe we can take another of couple minutes to ourselves.”

George wrapped his arm around Nolan, the leather Nolan was wearing still warm to the touch from the beating hot sun. Nolan was never the type to be vocally affectionate, but as his arm slid across George’s back, grabbing his side and pulled him in a little closer, George felt a warm fuzzy feeling go through him as the two husbands stood back and took in the crowd.

“You know, I really think we’ve outdone ourselves this year.” Said George.

“Mm,” Nolan affirmed. “Bigger turnout than ever.”

“That, and more going on. Every year is better than the last, but this was a big step. Geeze, to think we’ve been doing this for so long now..”

“20 years.”

“Yeah. Only a couple after we got married.” George said.

“Best day of my life.” Nolan smiled.

“Mine too. I love you, Nolan.” George said, heartfelt.

“I love you too, George.” Nolan replied, as George’s heart melted from one of Nolan’s rare affectionate sayings. He leaned in to give his husband a kiss, as the two embraced as lovers.