No Matter How Hard You Try

Eric stood in front of a white door. Gold numbers proclaimed, in their own quiet way, that this was the door to apartment 16B. He shuffled his feet and looked down the hallway, hoping for an excuse not to enter, when no distraction appeared- he knocked. There was only silence on the other side of the door. He knocked once more before deciding to try the handle. It was unlocked.

16B was a wreck. It was, in fact, the messiest apartment that Eric had ever seen. He took a tentative step forward and yelped when his step crunched loudly. The cause was the shattered remains of a lamp. "Rex?" A faint clunk was his only answer. Oh, this is so much worse than I thought... what did I do?

There was more furniture carnage on his way through the living room and his feelings of guilt deepened. There was another noise off to his right and he followed it to a door in the hallway. It was slightly ajar- it was unable to close all the way due to an act of architectural violence.

Eric pushed the door open slowly and immediately wanted to close it again. The room was, once anyway, a charming bathroom. Rex was in the tub. He was fully clothed... in the clothes from two days ago. His unshaven face contained blood-shot eyes and when they looked up at Eric he let out a harsh, barking, laugh. "So, here he is! The Great and Terrible Eric: Destroyer of Lives!"

"Oh, Rex... I'm so sorry. I just meant to kind of shock you into being yourself... I never meant-"

"Shut up, goddamn it! It doesn't matter. Will you help me to the toilet?"

Eric hesitated; "Are you going to be sick?"

"No. I have to piss. Will you give me a hand now?"

"Yes. Yes, of course." He helped Rex up out of the tub. It wasn't easy and involved excessive use of elbows by both parties. They then awkwardly shuffled over to the toilet. "So, umm.. I'll just go-"

"No, wait."

"Excuse me?"

"I need you to help me."

"Dear lord, Rex, how much did you drink? I mean, you smell like a distillery, but I was hoping that meant you spilled a lot."

"Nope! I drank that whole bottle!" Rex pointed rather proudly to an empty fifth of gin in the tub. "Now help me aim this thing."

Eric, who had all but raped Rex on the subway, found this situation acutely embarrassing. He looked down long enough only to help Rex get out his dick and then make sure his stream was hitting the toilet. Then, blushing, he looked aside. To his great frustration the feel of Rex in his hand was making him very aroused- this was not how he had envisioned a second encounter. He had actually thought of himself as some kind of white knight saving Rex from himself. This was obviously not the case and he was feeling more like a villain by the minute. The visions of sweeping Rex off of his feet were quickly changing into visions of sweeping him into a rehab.

The sound of Rex urinating stopped. "Hey, Eric, I'm done!"

"Okay. Then let's get you... um.. and then.." Eric was suddenly flummoxed as to what he should do. "Let's get you some coffee."

"Hey..." Rex's voice was soft.

"What, Rex?"

"You're still holding my pecker."

Eric came to two sudden realizations. One, that Rex was right and his hand was still full of dick, and two; Rex was starting to get very aroused. "Oh, um, sorry.." He let go and stood there, rather lamely, trying to pretend that Rex's half-stiff prick wasn't sticking out of his trousers.

"You lied to me, Eric."

"I'm.. I don't know what.. " Eric sighed loudly and made an exasperated gesture.

"You never fucked me."

There was several seconds of silence that seemed very long. "What?"

"You said you'd fuck me- you never came to fuck me..."

"Er..." Eric felt more lost than ever. "Do you want me to... now?"

"Oh, god..."

"Rex?"

Rex chose that moment to sink to his knees and be sick. He was sick very loudly. He vomited , or tried to in deafening heaves, for a full two minutes. When it was finally over the flush of the toilet seemed a quiet and pleasant sound. "I feel better."

"That was... awful."

"Eric... will you kiss me?"

"Oh good Christ! After that? Don't be ridiculous." Rex began to cry. "Oh, Rex... come on, let's get you to bed. You need to sleep some of this off."

The trip to the bedroom was just as awkward and ungainly as everything else. After a long struggle down the hallway, and then an uphill battle with Rex's clothes (that Eric just abandoned halfway through), Rex was finally in his bed. There he curled up, still half sobbing, and was asleep almost instantly.

"Jesus. Well, I guess I could try to clean some of this god-awful mess up..." Eric had no idea how much work was in store for him. Rex had torn every room in his apartment to shambles. It took him over five hours to get the place looking decent again. However, the time went by fairly fast and he felt immensely better when he was all done. He started to feel like maybe he wasn't the worst human being who had ever lived.

He checked on Rex, for the thousandth time that afternoon, and couldn't help but smile at him. He was sprawled out, his body making a big x, covering the entire bed. So much for curling up next to him I guess. He considered waking Rex up but thought better of it. Instead he made himself comfortable on the couch, which was relatively without damage, and spaced out in front of the T.V. for awhile.

He was on his third episode of SpongeBob when Rex spoke up from directly behind him; "I've seen this episode like a million times."

Eric let out a high-pitched scream and jumped off the couch like his ass was on fire; "Holy Hell, man! You scared the shit outta me!"

Rex spared him a baleful glance and trudged into his kitchen. "I need coffee. And toast. Many toast." Eric followed him to the kitchen but hovered near the door nervously. "So... what are you doing here?"

"Oh, God, this can't be happening." Eric massaged his temple with one hand, looking pointedly at the floor, and took a deep breath.

Rex chuckled; "I'm just joshin' ya. I remember." He put a mug into the microwave and bread in his toaster. "Want some coffee? It's instant."

"No, thank you..." Eric sighed and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "Do you still want me here, Rex?"

"The coffee isn't that bad. I wasn't trying to scare you away."

"I'm being serious."

"Yes, I want you here. I called you, didn't I?"

"You called me while you were very drunk... I just thought now that you were sober..."

"Sober? Oh, no... I am about as close to sober as Michael Jackson is to normal."

"You seem to be feeling better about... things."

"Destroying half of your apartment is very cathartic. Plus, it's hard to put on false fronts when you're hung-over as shit." The microwave chose that moment to ding loudly and Rex turned to get his hot water. "I'm glad you're here, Eric."

Eric strode over, it only took him three steps, and hugged Rex from behind. "I'm glad I'm here, too."

Rex leaned into Eric's embrace and sighed deeply, contentedly, before speaking again. "It's weird, but I feel so safe in your arms... maybe I'm suffering from Stolkholm Syndrome."

"I never kid-napped you or held you hostage."

"You've kid-napped my heart."

"You smell like barf."

Rex laughed, good naturedly, and pulled away. "Let me get some food in me and then I'll go shower. I know, I must reek. Thankfully, I seem to be immune to my own stench."

The time passed easily between them with conversation and comfortable enough silences. When Rex went to shower Eric took up his place on the couch. He thought to himself that, all in all, he didn't regret his actions on the subway. It had been a stupid, thoughtless, act of desperation but it looked like things just might work out okay between them. It was with that, at least somewhat comforting thought, that he drifted off. He was awoken by soft kisses, first on his forehead, then on his lips.

"Eric... it's time to wake up.." Rex straddled Eric, sitting on his thighs, and slid a hand between his legs. "It's time to keep your promise."

Eric moaned, half from the sleep still in his eyes and half from his burgeoning erection, pulled Rex to him by his robe and kissed him deeply. His hand stole under Rex's robe and wrapped around his already leaking cock. The men spent several minutes simply exploring each other's bodies and kissing as much, and as deeply, as they possibly could.

Eric's shirt was pushed up to his arm-pits, his pants were open, and his cock was oozing pre-cum onto his belly hair. Rex was moving on top of him, rubbing their erections together with his head thrown back, and moaning like a bitch in heat. "Dear god, Eric, I've been waiting my whole life- fuck me..."

That was a request he simply couldn't refuse. Eric grabbed Rex's fuzzy, and oh so perfect, butt and guided him forward. He scooped some of the viscous liquid off of his belly and began to loosen Rex up. He worked in one finger (Rex squirmed impatiently). He worked in a second finger (Rex began to push back on his hand). He worked in a third finger (Rex gasped).

"I'm ready! Jesus!"

Eric chuckled darkly and pressed his cock up into his new lover. It was a moment he'd been fantasizing about for months and the look on Rex's face was every bit as good as he thought it was going to be. It didn't take any time at all for him to be in Rex to the hilt- Rex was an impatient and demanding bottom. "Alright, you want it Rex? Then move."

Rex slid up and down on Eric's cock slowly at first, unaccustomed to the discomfort, but after just a minute he was fucking himself as hard as he could manage. He braced himself by placing his hands on either side of Eric's head on the back of the couch. The fact that this made it very easy for him to lean in and kiss him wasn't lost on Rex. If he wasn't gasping and grunting his lips were locked with, as far as he was concerned, the hottest man alive.

"Rex, I'm gonna... cum inside you... ungh alright?" Eric grabbed Rex's manhood in his fist and started to stroke it roughly.

His only answer was vigorous head nod- Rex was biting his lip to keep from screaming. A few short moments after that it was all over. Eric's rough palm on his dick sent Rex soaring over the edge. He shot several sticky white ropes into Eric's chest hair. Eric had been close to began with and when Rex's body began to spasm around him he came with a deep groan.

They collapsed sideways onto the couch, not even bothering to disentangle themselves, and tried not to give into physical exhaustion. "My muscles are twitching..." Rex giggled.

"Your thighs aren't used to doing so much work." Eric kissed his lover's forehead.

"Neither's my ass."

Eric laughed and kissed Rex for real. "I was right, you know?"

Rex's answering smile was dark; "Yes, you were, but you also raped me and caused me to have a mental break down. I fucking own you now. You know that, right?"

Eric nodded, "I don't mind at all."