Different visits have different rhythms and different interactions, and this visit seemed to be straddling an unusual line.
Sometimes, there is a strange aloofness in the air, with nothing much sparking even as the baths get increasingly crowded. Generally, avoiding getting caught in such periods is avoidable, but it does happen.
The start of the visit had been promising enough, though possibly also providing a foretaste of much that followed.
Entering the porn area, a man was jacking off along the top row on the opposite wall. Going up to the same level, I spread my towel and dealt with condoms and poppers. The porn was not that interesting, but watching a man stroke his turned on cock were the way that I achieved my first orgasms shared with another person, and being able to enjoy the experience again while looking and touching a variety of cocks at the bathhouse remains a pleasant surprise.
Enjoyable though it was, the lack of returned contact most the time was notable. No question we were watching each other, and that our hands were moving at a rate that blurred vision, but after a while of pleasuring him without any contact in response, I left. Over the decades following those first shared orgasms, my standards have changed. Touching needs to be mutual at some point, at a minimum.
Yet there are times at the bathhouse where other men are simply not interested or engaged, even when hard. After that initial porn room experience, I spread out in the darkroom. A man entered and soon, my hand had found his stiffening cock. He got hard when being stroked, yet with zero response. This is always a bit bizarre to me, as playing together is always so satisfying, yet it does happen that your partner might as well not be there.
I let him enjoy himself for a good while, until it was obvious that he was completely self-absorbed.
The next period was spent wandering, including bit more time in the darkroom, enjoying a fleeting few minutes of gloryhole fun. Getting another man hard turned into a repeat of the first experience, something I decided to consider amusedly, recognizing how sometimes sequences just turn against you.